‘THE DAY OF PENTECOST. and said, “Ye men of Judea, and ~ all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, these wonderful things, which you now hear and see, are only the fulfilment of what God’s prophet Joel foretold many years ago. He said that God would, in the last days, pour out his spirit upon his servants, and teach them to prophesy. And so it is. And now hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth came among you, and worked miracles, as you know. He was taken by wicked men, and crucified, and slain. But God raised Him up; and we are wit- nesses of His resurrection, and say to you, that He is the Son of God, the true Messiah. And now He is ascended up to Heaven; and it is He who has sent the Holy Ghost upon us, and given us this wonder- ful power of speaking which you have heard to-day.” Were the people willing to attend to Peter, and to believe what he said? Yes; they were so much struck with his words, that they cried out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Peter answer- ed, “ Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus 489 Christ, for the remission of sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” ‘Then those who be- lieved were baptized, as Christ had commanded. ‘hey were about three thousand. = God is not now pleased to give His people that wonderful power of speaking different tongues, and of working miracles, which He gave to the disciples at the day of Pentecost. Those gifts were very useful and necessary at that time, to enable the disciples to preach the gospel to many nations at once, and to make the people believe that what they preached was really true. But this is not so necessary now; for the Bible is printed in almost every language in the world, and people may read it for themselves; and many missionaries go out to teach it. But God does still give the Holy Spirit to all who ask Him, to renew and sanctify their hearts, to teach and comfort them, and to make them meet for Heaven. Let us pray, then, for this good gift, and say, “Lord, for Christ’s sake, give us the Holy Spirit.”