pose of leading the people thankfully to acknowledge God's goodness towards them in giving them the fruits of the earth, and of bringing them to implore His further blessings by offering up to Him, not only their devout thanksgivings, but the first-fruits of their harvest also. We will read the account of it by and by, in the book of Leviticus'. But our great object now is to look into the typical meaning; for it did doubtless prefigure that great effusion of God's spiritual benefits upon His people in that extraordinary event, which afterwards took place on this day of Pentecost; that great harvest which was then commenced, and those "first-fruits" of the Holy Ghost which were then presented unto Christ, as we shall see, if we proceed with our history.

Observe, then, Edward, the importance of this anniversary of the joyful day of Pentecost; not less important, indeed, than that day when God said, "Let there be light, and there was light;" for it was then that "He who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shined into the hearts of his Apostles, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Accordingly, we find this great event foretold by the Prophets, as well as prefigured by the Law. Eight hundred years before the coming of Christ the voice of inspiration had declared; "It shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions "." Another prophet had spoken in striking language of

1 Lev. xxiii. 10. 22.

2 Joel ii. 28.

"a day known to the Lord, when at evening time it should be light, and when living waters should go out from Jerusalem 1."

E. "Living waters!" those are the very words in which our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of the Holy Spirit to the woman of Samaria.

M. They were: and in many other parts of Scripture we find the refreshing and purifying influences of this Divine Being spoken of under the same appropriate figure. Indeed, there are scarcely any of the prophets, who have not foretold, more or less distinctly, the coming of the Holy Ghost, which was so necessary to prepare the Apostles of Christ for their arduous undertaking. For "as soldiers when about to engage a host of enemies are not permitted to leave the camp until they are armed, nor the courser to enter upon the race without his rider, so the Apostles were not allowed to array themselves against the world before the descent of the Holy Spirit, lest they should be, to their numerous enemies, an easy conquest and prey." prey." Our Lord had long before declared to the people that He was the light of the world, though He did not then explain to them that it was chiefly by the light of the Spirit that He would shine upon them. It was Christ, indeed, who, in His own blessed person, took upon Him the great work of our Redemption; but it was the express work of the Holy Spirit to apply that Redemption and to bring it home to the souls of men. He takes of the things of Christ and shows them to the Apostles. He is the great Lord of the harvest, the Spirit of Truth; and

so important, as we noticed before, was His coming, that Christ declared it expedient that even He should go away, that He might send them this Comforter, this Advocate, this Guide in the great work upon which they were about to enter, of evangelising the world. You know how unfit the Apostles were to undertake such a work without this extraordinary help. We have seen in many instances their ignorance of the truth, the continual mistakes they were making respecting the nature of our Saviour's kingdom, and the slowness of their hearts to believe all that the prophets had said of Him, or that He had taught them of Himself, and of spiritual things. Even at the moment of our Lord's departure from them, on the very Mount of Olivet, we find their views as worldly and

narrow as ever.

E. Yes; I remember they even then asked our Lord, whether He would "at this time restore the kingdom to Israel."

M. Placing their thoughts you see upon worldly greatness instead of raising them to those mansions in their heavenly Father's house, which their Redeemer was now going to prepare for them. Then how should these unlearned, if not uneducated, men find eloquence wherewith to persuade, or arguments wherewith to convince, mankind, of the excellence or truth of the Gospel of Christ, especially amongst people of all nations and languages? How necessary was it that God should "give them a mouth and wisdom, which all their enemies should not be able to gainsay or resist':" and that the Holy Spirit, by His Almighty

1 Luke xxi. 15.

power, should convince men of the sin and misery of rejecting Christ, and of the danger of neglecting so great salvation!

E. O Mamma, how much the Apostles needed to prepare them for their work! I see now of what consequence it was that Christ should send them the Holy Ghost.

M. For in Him all their wants were to be supplied; and by His strength they should go forth, with irresistible wisdom, with overpowering eloquence, with astonishing miracles, to conquer a world; a more glorious conquest than any of which we have read in other histories; yes, Edward, far beyond those of Alexander or Cæsar, of the Greeks or Romans. For now was the banner of the Cross unfurled, and the kingdom of heaven to be diffused upon earth by the chosen servants of the risen and glorified Messiah.

Such is the event recorded in the second chapter of the Acts. The Apostles were assembled to keep the typical feast, when the amazing benefits, there only faintly shadowed out, were poured down upon them; for then do blessings always find us best when we are engaged in our duties. Well can we imagine the wonder, reverence, and awe, with which their minds were filled, when the sound of that mighty rushing wind came all around them, and shook the very place and filled all the house where they were sitting.

E. That is like what our Lord said of the Holy Ghost to Nicodemus: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit'."

M. And how appropriate was this emblem! What could convey a better idea of the power of the Holy Spirit, mysterious and mighty, bearing like the wind all before it, and throwing down every obstacle which came in its way! Whilst the appearance of fire which accompanied the wind described as clearly His searching, purifying influences, and thus explained not only our Lord's words, but those also of John the Baptist: "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Nor is this the only time in which we find the immediate presence of God denoted by these two mighty elements of wind and fire. In the Old Testament, you know, we were quite accustomed to this symbol of the Lord's approach. You have not forgotten, I am sure, the burning bush from which the everlasting and unchangeable Jehovah made Himself known to Moses; nor the Mount which burned with fire, from whence He delivered His laws to the same faithful servant?

E. Nor that great and strong wind, and that awful fire, which visited Elijah on the same mountain, when "the Lord passed by.”

M. Then the glory of the Lord which rested on the tabernacle, and pointed out so clearly the presence of the Lord among His people Israel, is, no doubt, fresh in your memory. By recalling these circumstances to your mind, you will better enter into this astonishing history of the descent of the Holy Ghost under the appearance of cloven tongues of fire; the fire, as you see, pointing out the Divine presence, and the divided tongues plainly prefiguring that wonderful gift of languages, which was now bestowed upon the Apostles of Christ. For we read that "they were all filled