in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, aud the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me speak freely unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" &c.Acts ii. 13-47.

SUBJECT:-The Pentecost the culminating period in the system of Redemption.

(Continued from page 72.)

E have already said that the Grand Epoch of the redemptive economy was characterized by three things,-A new manifestation of the Divine Spirit,-A new style of religious ministry, and-A new development of social

life. The first characteristic engaged our attention in the last section, and is developed in the first thirteen verses of the chapter. To the second, which is displayed from verses 14-37, we must now give ourselves.

"But Peter,

II. A NEW ORDER OF RELIGIOUS MINISTRY. standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice," &c. The address, or, if you will, the sermon of Peter on this occasion. is something strikingly fresh in the history of preaching. There had been religious preaching before :-Moses preached, Joshua preached, prophets preached, John the Baptist preached, Christ preached, but this preaching of Peter was, in many respects, a new thing in the earth. The occasion was new.

The spiritual excitement of the disciples, produced by Divine influence and leading to strange thoughts and miraculous utterances, which was the occasion of Feter's discourse, was something thoroughly new in the mental history of the world. The substance of his sermon was new. It was not a prophetic or a present, but a historic Christ,-a Christ who had been here and wrought miracles, had been crucified, had been buried, had risen from the dead to the throne of the universe. No one had ever preached Christ in this form before. It was Peter's honor to commence a new, but a permanent, form of religious ministry. The impression of his sermon was new. He convicted the multitude of This sermon worked a

having put to death their Messiah. new and terrible feeling in human souls. "When they heard this, they were pricked in their heart."

Now, in analyzing so much of the discourse as we have recorded-for "in many other words" did he speak to them— we find it consist of three distinct parts,-A statement for refuting the charge of the scoffer,-An argument for convicting the hearts of the hardened, and—An address for directing the conduct of the awakened.

First: Here is a statement for refuting the charge of the scoffer. The charge of the scoffer was, that the wonderful excitement and the miraculous speech of the disciples were

the result of intoxication. "Others mocking said, These men are full of new (yλɛúkovs, sweet) wine." They, in the spirit of derision, ascribed the Divine thing to wickedness, as the Pharisees before had done, when they ascribed the miracles of Christ to Beelzebub. Detestable as is ever the spirit of ridicule and derision, and frivolous and impious as were the expressions of these empty mockers, their conduct gave occasion to this ever-memorable discourse of Peter. "But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judæa, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: for these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day." How true is this verse to all we know of Peter! How prompt his zeal! Though “the eleven" stand up or step forth with him, he is the spokesman. No sooner does the impious aspersion of the scoffer fall on his ear, than his warm temper is up, and he is prompt to crush the upas in the germ. Nor does he speak in a whisper or with bated breath; but "he lifted up his voice," raised, perhaps, to its highest notes, so that vast multitudes might hear his refutation of the calumny. He spoke not to the few scoffers, but to the men of Judæa, and to all that dwelt at Jerusalem, whether they were Jews or proselytes. But his exordium shows that strong as was his zeal, it was, in this case, tempered by judgment. There is great rhetorical tact in his opening words. "Be this known unto you, and hearken to my words." Thus he bespeaks attention with the skill and grace not unlike that with which Brutus, in Shakspeare, attempts to justify the death of Cæsar.

"Hear me for my cause, and be silent that you may hear."

His refutation consists of two parts, the negative and the positive. Let us notice each. (1) The negative. "For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day." This negative part, consisting of one short sentence, includes, it has been said, three distinguishable points. A categorical denial.

"These men are not drunken." An

"As ye sup

intimation of the groundlessness of the charge. pose." Intimating that it was a mere empty assumption, not a belief built on evidence. An intimation of high im probability. "Seeing it is but the third hour of the day." The "third hour" of the Jews would answer to our nine o'clock in the morning. The improbability of it would appear, perhaps, from two circumstances. It was the hour of morning worship and sacrifice, and it was a regular practice with the Jews not to eat or drink anything until after the third hour of the day. So established was this custom, that Paul

tells us that it was not usual even for drunkards to become drunken in the daytime. "They that are drunken, become drunken in the night." Dr. Alexander thus paraphrases the sentence:-"As to the charge of drunkenness, it refutes itself; for unless you mean to class us with the lowest revellers and debauchees, which all who see us see to be absurd, it is inconceivable that all of us should be already drunk at this early hour of the day." Methinks I see Peter, directing, by his looks and his finger, the attention of his audience to the excited disciples on whom the Spirit of God had descended; and, with amazement mingled with holy indignation, exclaiming with emphasis, "These are not drunken.” Their radiant looks, their stately bearing, show that they are more like seraphs than drunkards. Let us notice now(2) The positive part of the defence. He now gives them the explanation of the phenomenon. He tells them that, so far from having to be ascribed to intoxicating drinks, it was the effect of Divine inspiration. "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit: and they shall prophesy: and I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into

blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come : and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." This passage is found in Joel ii. 28-32; and Peter quotes it not with verbal accuracy either from the Hebrew or Septuagint, but with substantial faithfulness. Peter here identifies the "last days" with that period which had now commenced. In quoting the passage, the apostolic orator seems to take it for granted that his auditory would understand that the "last days" meant the days of the Messiah, and that they regarded Joel as an undoubted authority. The days of the Messiah are indeed the last days of the world. No other dispensation of mercy will succeed them. The passage teaches four things in relation to these "last days," the first of which had now dawned. (1) It teaches that these "last days" would be connected with an extraordinary effusion of the Spirit. "I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh," &c. The inspiration of the Spirit in these days would not be limited to any particular class of persons-not limited to sex; "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." Not limited to age; "Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams." The Spirit of the Lord enables men to see visions, and to speak out Divine things by prophecy. "They tell out what they see. Oh! for more of this Spirit in the Church now-a Spirit enabling all to see the true thing, and to speak it out. (2) It teaches that these "last days" would be connected with prodigious revolutions. "And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke," &c. These words may perhaps be properly regarded as a highly poetic representation of that revolution in governments, churches, and all other human institutions which would inevitably follow the working out of the Divine ideas and spiritual influences of these last days (Isa. xiii. 10; xxxiv. 4). (3) It teaches that these “last days" would be connected with a notable day. "Before that great and notable day of the Lord come." “That notable day" refers most probably to the destruction