CONTENTS
God the Holy Ghost visits the Apostles in a wonderful and miraculous Manner. The Apostles, being filled with the Spirit, speak divers Languages, The Astonishment of the Multitude. Peter's Sermon; and the Conversion of three thousand Souls.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
The day of Pentecost was fifty days from the Passover. It was the second of those three great festivals in the Jewish Church, when all the males of Israel were enjoined to appear before the Lord, Deuteronomy 16:16. This was the feast, which was to be observed before the people began their harvest; it being unlawful to enter upon their harvest, until this feast to the Lord had been observed. See Leviticus 23:10-11. This was the sacred day, which God the Holy Ghost was pleased to appoint, for the more open manifestation of himself to the Church. And, as God the Son, in our nature, made the voluntary offer of himself in sacrifice, at the Jewish Passover; the first great feast among his people, being our Passover, and the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world: 1 Corinthians 5:7; Revelation 13:8. So God the Holy Ghost, consecrated this second feast to the gracious purpose, of assuming, in a more open manner, his Almighty ministry in his Church, by coming down in state, in a visible manifestation, on his Apostles: and from that hour to the present, and through all ages of the Church, to the consummation of all things, the Lord the Spirit, carries on all the efficiency of grace, in the hearts of the people, until grace is finished in glory. In this ever memorable and blessed day, the Apostles, (and it is probable the seventy, spoken of, Luke 10:1, or perhaps the whole hundred and twenty, spoken of in Acts 1:15, formed the complete assembly), were all with one accord met together, waiting in expectation, the sure promise of Jesus, Chapter one and verse five (Acts 1:5) Reader! pause, and contemplate, the sacred hour; and the holy solemnity of such a congregation! Oh! that the Lord would cause the review of such a season, and such an assembly, to operate upon the minds of the Lord's people now, that wherever two or three are met together, in the Lord's name, they might wait, in the humble frame, of sure expectation, of the Lord's presence, Matthew 28:20; Isaiah 41:1.