Chapter I.--THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST.

After the Four Gospels, there is in the New Testament a book called "The Acts of the Apostles," which gives us an account of the principal acts, or doings, of some of the Apostles, after the Lord was taken from them. This Book of Acts was written by St. Luke, who also wrote one of the Four Gospels; and it is the only Scriptural account we have of what the Apostles said and did, though we gather a few more particulars from the Epistles, or letters written by the Apostles themselves, to the brethren in different places.

The Book of Acts furnishes us with much that has been said of the Ascension, or "_going up into heaven_," of Jesus Christ. We have already heard that the Apostles returned to Jerusalem with "joy," which might seem strange when one they so dearly loved had just been taken from them. But they had indeed cause for joy: they had seen their Lord suffer and die, to purchase pardon for sinners; they had seen Him come to life again, thus showing that He had indeed made a sufficient atonement for all: and now they had beheld Him received up into heaven, proving that, for His sake, all His true disciples might follow Him: "where I am, there shall ye be also." Great therefore was their joy, and they showed it in the most fitting manner, by being "continually in the temple, praising and blessing God."

The first thing we have an account of after their return from Mount Olivet to Jerusalem is, that, "when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew (called also Nathanael), and Matthew, James the son of Alphæus (known to us as the Less), and Simon Zelotes, and Judas (or Jude) the brother of James." The word "Zelotes" means full of zeal, or eagerness; and this Simon was probably so called, because he was eager in doing the work of God. St. Matthew speaks of him as "Simon the Canaanite"; and it is supposed that he was a native of the city of Cana, in Galilee. Here we find the eleven Apostles all together: and they "continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and with Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren": waiting for the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

During this time, Peter proposed, that from amongst the disciples who had accompanied them all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among them, they should choose one to take the place of Judas Iscariot, and be with them a witness of the Resurrection of Christ; thus making the number of the Apostles twelve, as it had been at first, by the Lord's appointment. Peter's suggestion was at once followed. "And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias," both of whom appeared to be in every way fit for the office they were to fill; and then, not trusting in their own judgment, "they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles."

The mode of deciding doubtful matters by lot had been appointed by the Law of Moses; and was, at the time we are speaking of, a solemn way of seeking the Will of God, who directed the lot as He saw fit.

Matthias, now chosen to be an Apostle, was probably one of the seventy, whom our Lord during His life sent out by twos to teach the people, and work miracles, in order to prepare the way for Him. It is believed that Matthias first went about teaching in Judæa, and that he afterwards travelled eastward, where he met with cruel treatment from the barbarous nations of Asia. With great labour and suffering, he did convert many of the heathens to Christianity; but at last he was put to death for the sake of Jesus. But these things did not, of course, happen until many years after Matthias was chosen to fill up the number of the Apostles.

Jesus had remained on earth for forty days from the day of His resurrection; and during that time He showed himself at different times to His disciples. The day on which He rose from the grave we call "Easter Day," from an old word, meaning "to rise." The Apostles kept a feast every year afterwards on that day, in memory of this glorious event; and our Church teaches us also to observe Easter as a season of especial joy.

In consequence of Christ having risen on the First Day of the week, the disciples, and all Christians since their time, have observed that day as a day of holy rest, and called it the Lord's Day: this is Sunday, which amongst us is dedicated to the special service of God, instead of the Seventh Day, or Jews' Sabbath, our Saturday.

Forty days after Easter Day, Jesus went up, or "ascended," into heaven; and our Church keeps that day holy, and calls it "The Ascension Day," because "ascension" means going up.

For ten days after the Ascension, the disciples, who had seen their Lord ascend, remained quietly at Jerusalem, praising God for all that had been done, and praying continually both in private and in public. Another great feast of the Jews was now drawing near: this feast is spoken of under different names in the Old Testament, and we must now say something about it.

In the Law of Moses, the Jews were, as has already been said, commanded to offer up a sheaf of corn on the day after the Sabbath which followed the Feast of the Passover; that is, on the first day of the week, after the Passover week. This sheaf was offered up as a thank-offering at the beginning of harvest, for they began to cut the barley (the first corn crop) immediately after the Passover.

Seven weeks after this beginning of harvest, the Jews were to keep one of the three great feasts, ordained by the Mosaical, or Levitical Law. This great feast was called "The Feast of Weeks," because it was observed seven weeks after that of the Passover: seven weeks were called "a week of weeks," because seven days make a week, and there were seven times seven days in the Feast of Weeks. It was also called "The Day of First Fruits," because it was then the time to begin to gather in the other crops and productions of the ground; and in thankfulness for all these fruits of the earth, a new meat offering was offered unto the Lord.

The Jewish Rabbis also called this great feast, "The Day of the Giving of the Law," because the Law was given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, fifty days after the Children of Israel ate the first Passover in Egypt; and this feast, as we have said, was kept on the fiftieth day after the Feast of the Passover. In the New Testament this feast day is called "The Day of Pentecost": because in Greek, "Pentecost" means fiftieth, and as we have said, the Jews were to number fifty days from the morrow after the Passover Sabbath, and then to keep this great feast.

As Jesus rose on the morrow after the Passover Sabbath, our Easter Day (or Easter Sunday), the fiftieth day, would again be on the first day of the week, Sunday with us: seven weeks or fifty days from the blessed day on which our Lord rose from the grave, and ten days after His Ascension.

This Day of Pentecost, distinguished already as a day of rejoicing and thanksgiving for many blessings, temporal and spiritual, and called "The Feast of Weeks," "of First Fruits," and of "The Giving of the Law," was now chosen by God as the day on which the promised gift of the Holy Spirit was to be poured out upon the Apostles, to their great spiritual benefit, as well as to that of all who were to look to their teaching, for the knowledge of what Jesus Christ has done for sinners.

We read in the Book of Acts, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them." Fire was looked upon by the Jews as a sign of the presence of God. And those upon whom these tongues of fire descended, were at once "filled with the Holy Ghost": a visible and miraculous sign immediately followed, for they "began to speak with other tongues," that is, in strange and foreign languages, which they had never learnt, "as the Spirit gave them utterance."

Thus were accomplished the promises of Jesus, to send the Comforter upon His Apostles, and that they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

The power of speaking strange languages was a most valuable gift, enabling the Apostles to obey the command "to teach all nations," which they could not have done had they not been able to make themselves understood by all men.

One miracle had, as a punishment, confounded the language of men, so that they ceased to have intercourse with each other: now another miracle mercifully removed this barrier, so that all nations might hear from the Apostles the glad tidings of salvation--the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

At the time when the Holy Ghost descended so miraculously upon the Apostles, "there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven." By "devout men," is meant worshippers of the one true God: these were mostly Jews, either from having been born so, or from having turned from idolatry to follow the religion of the Jews. These Jews were scattered over the face of the world; and wherever they went, they endeavoured to make proselytes: the Feast of the Passover would naturally bring numbers of them to Jerusalem, to add to those who dwelt in the city. "Now when this," that had happened to the Apostles, "was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded (or astonished beyond measure), because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed, and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, (or Persians), and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judæa, 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."

Most of the countries here mentioned are parts of what we call Asia: but in the New Testament, when Asia is spoken of, it seems to mean only the parts about Lydia; that part of Asia, in short, known to us as Asia Minor, which borders on the Archipelago, or Ægean Sea. Libya, as well as Egypt, was a part of Africa. One of the kings of Egypt, Ptolemy Lagus, the father of that Ptolemy who employed seventy-two learned men to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, did place a good many captive Jews in Cyrene, and other parts of Libya. The descendants of these people, and the proselytes they had made, were amongst the number of Jews gathered together to the city of Jerusalem at this time.