Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

afraid." He "reckoned that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us 2." He, that "stumbled," was "girded with strength 3." Peter owed it to the mercy of Christ that his FAITH did not entirely fail, and, sensible of that mercy shown him, his LOVE also was unfailing.

1 2 Sam. xxii. 5. Psalm xviii. 4.

3

1 Sam. ii. 4.

2 Rom. viii. 18.

CHAPTER VI.

THAT ST. PETER SPAKE, ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST, AS THE SPIRIT GAVE HIM UTTERANCE, IS A FACT, TO WHICH A PREVIOUS OCCURRENCE IN HIS HISTORY AFFORDS CONFIRMATION.

WHEN the Apostles, on the day of Pentecost, expressed themselves in the tongues of various and distant nations, the surprise, with which their hearers were struck, is strongly and naturally described. We read in the compass of seven verses1, that the assembled multitude were "confounded,” and "amazed," that they "marvelled," and again, that they were "all amazed," and were "in doubt 2" and suspense as to the design and issue of the prodigy. They said one to another: "Behold, are not all these, which speak, Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were

1 Acts ii. 6-12.

3

[ocr errors]

2 dinmóρovv-were in the greatest doubt and perplexity, not knowing what course to take.

3

τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ ἡμῶν—in our own proper language.

born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak, in our tongues, the wonderful works of God '.”.

The sacred historian affirms that THE SPIRIT gave the Apostles utterance, and St. Peter's ascription of the new and astonishing faculty, which they displayed, to the descent of the Holy Ghost obtained credit with three thousand, before prejudiced, Jews, who on this memorable day were gained over to the faith.

1

Τὰ μεγαλεῖα τοῦ Θεοῦ-Not only such works as God alone could have wrought, but works, in which the Majesty of Ciod was most clearly and illustriously apparent. Wolfius. It follows: "They were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, what meaneth this"-rí àv Oéλoɩ toõto ɛivaι;--To what will this lead? "Others, mocking, said, These men are full of new wine." The native Jews, ignorant of the foreign languages which the Apostles spake, and not knowing how to account for their ability to discourse in any other than their own tongue, thought that they were uttering unmeaning sounds, like men who had lost their senses. "When the speaking of foreign tongues was ascribed to drinking unfermented wine, a strong testimony was given of the fact, that foreign languages were spoken." Hey's Lectures, b. i. c. xxiv. s. 2.

2 66

They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance"καθὼς τὸ Πνεῦμα ἐδίδου αὐτοῖς ΑΠΟΦΘΕΓΓΕΣΘΑΙ. The Spirit enabled the Apostles to utter AПÕÞÕEÃMATA-words of weight

and power.

Whence, but from the Holy Spirit, could the Apostles have derived their ability to unfold the doctrines of Jesus Christ to strangers from not fewer than fifteen countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and to declare to them all, in their own proper languages, the riches of the Divine compassion in the salvation of a sinful world?

It will scarcely be asserted that the most persevering industry, directed by the keenest natural sagacity, could have accomplished the task, which these emissaries of the faith performed. To speak in any one foreign tongue with correctness and fluency', is a difficulty not to be overcome without long-continued application and practice; and rarely, without residence in the country where the language is used. But the time of the Apostles had been employed in labours widely different from the study of languages. Their "manner of life" from their youth had been open to the observation of "all the Jews 2." In the acquirements of education they were known to be

"If the Apostles on the day of Pentecost had expressed themselves improperly, or with a bad accent, as most people do, when they speak a living language which is not natural to them, the hearers, who at that time were not converted to Christianity, would have suspected some fraud, would have taken notice of such faults, aud censured them; which since they did not, it is to be supposed that they had nothing of that kind to object." Jortin. Remarks on Eccl. Hist.

2 Acts xxvi. 4.

deficient. The occupations, from which they had been called to attend upon Christ, and their engagements in His service, had not been of a nature to admit of literary inquiry'. They had visited no foreign lands. A power to speak in many different languages, displayed by such men, could be no other than a SUPERNATURAL endowment 2.

In the case of Peter, the interposition of God, as the giver of this faculty, is evidenced in a particular manner; for Peter's Galilean origin had been detected, fifty days before, through his incapacity to pronounce one brief sentence in any but his vernacular tongue.

The language spoken in Palestine, at the time of our Saviour's advent, was not the Hebrew of the Old Testament, which, during the Babylonish cap

1

According to Josephus, the Jews held in small esteem an acquaintance with foreign languages. He says, that they did not encourage this accomplishment, and that few among them cultivated it, for that praise was bestowed on no intellectual acquisition, but a proficiency in sacred literature, and skill in the investigation of Holy Writ. Ant. 1. xx. c. x.

2 Our Saviour had predicted, just before His Ascension : "These signs shall follow them that believe; in My name they shall cast out devils; they shall SPEAK WITH NEW TONGUES," &c. Twoσais Xaλýoovoi kaivais. Mark xvi. 17. So we are informed, Acts ii. 4. Ηρξαντο λαλεῖν ἑτέραις γλώσσαις.

We see in the Apostolical History (says Chrysostom,) the accomplishment of predictions, which Christ delivered in the Gospels, and the truth of those prophecies shining in the facts themselves. In Act. Apost. i.

« ÎnapoiContinuă »