The first period, or that time which passed from our Lord's resurrection, to the diffusion of his Spirit on the day of Pentecost, may be divided into four component parts. We shall trace the occurrences which took place.

I. From his resurrection to his ascension. II. We shall consider the ascension itself. III. We shall examine the transactions which took place from the ascension to the feast of the Pentecost.

IV. We shall inquire into the nature of the feast of Pentecost, and especially direct our attention to the miraculous effusion of the Spirit, which took place at that time.

I. Let us inquire into the occurrences which took place, from the resurrection to the ascension of our Lord.

St. Luke, having written the Gospel which bears his name, and there given many particulars of the events which took place after our Lord's resurrection, is, consequently, very brief on this head in his second history; but, from his Gospel, (united with those of Matthew, Mark, and John,) we may gather many interesting particulars. We read of his appearing to the women, who stood weeping over his empty sepulchre, and afterwards to Mary, alone, in the garden; we hear of his

conversing, at different times, familiarly with his disciples, and especially of his friendly intercourse with two of them, whom he joined in their way to Emmaus. We hear him pronouncing to his Apostles that extensive commission, "Go, and preach the gospel to all nations;" and, having given them many valuable instructions relating to their future conduct, he takes an affectionate farewell, promising to send his Holy Spirit, as he had before informed them.

Christians! pause for a moment, and admire the grace and compassion of your Redeemer. He had passed the iron gates of death, and torn them down; he had disarmed the conqueror, and robbed him of his sting; but not all the difficulties he had encountered could abate the love he bore to his disciples, or lessen his solicitude for their future welfare; and he spends the remainder of his stay upon earth, in the most friendly and affectionate intercourse with them.

II. Let us attend a little to the fact itself, of the ascension.

Jesus having, with the eleven Apostles, gone a short distance from the city, while he talked with them, he was suddenly parted from them, and a cloud received him out of their sight. What must have been the sensa

tions, what the emotions of the Apostles at this moment! Were a parent torn from her infant offspring, how would they cling to her garments, anxious to learn, if, by any means, they could avoid the separation so dreaded. But Elisha parted with Elijah, and these eleven parted with their Lord.

While they stood gazing up towards heaven, in speechless wonder, two men stood by them, in white apparel, endeavouring to comfort them. Cold and frigid is that philosophy which denies the agency of celestial spirits on earth, which (while it admits millions of creatures below us in the scale of existence) believes that no intellectual beings exist from man up to Deity. While we admire, and justly admire, the beautiful chain which connects the rational with the brute creation, animals with vegetables, and vegetables down to inanimate matter; is it natural, is it reasonable to suppose, that here the gradation ceases? That man is the highest link in a chain of such infinitude? Most firmly do I believe, and I rejoice in such a belief, that, of all intellectual beings, man is the weakest, the meanest, and the least.

III. Let us examine the period from the ascension of our Lord to the feast of Pentecost.

We find, that after this great event had taken place, the eleven returned to Jerusalem, and assembled together in a large upper room, (probably the same in which our Saviour instituted the Lord's Supper,) where Peter, addressing himself to the company, whose number amounted to about one hundred and twenty, (the whole of the Christian Church at that time,) recommended the choice of an Apostle, in the room of Judas. "And they appointed Joseph, called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus and Matthias; and they prayed and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show 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." Much has been said, and the best commentators have differed respecting this latter expression; some supposing it to refer to Judas, going to a place of punishment, others considering it as alluding to Matthias, taking his place with the rest of the Apostles.

The Alexandrian copy of the New Testament, preserved in the British Museum, certainly favours the former opinion, as it is there expressed, "that he might go to his just place." I leave it with you, as I confess it is in my own mind undecided.

And having thus implored the divine blessing and assistance, they gave forth their lots, and the lot falling upon Matthias, he was numbered with the eleven Apostles.

IV. Let us inquire into the nature and design of the feast of Pentecost, and more especially consider the miraculous descent of the Spirit, which took place at that time.

This feast happened forty-nine or fifty days after the ascension of our Lord. It may be considered as emblematical, both of the giving of the law from Mount Sinai, and of the waving the first-fruits unto the Lord." Here the gospel was first preached, and its mild and benevolent doctrines promulgated; here was a harvest, not of corn, but of men, and the first-fruits of Christianity were thus devoted to the Lord. It occurred in the middle of summer, when it was likely for many strangers to be at Jerusalem, who would doubtless be struck with so extraordinary a miracle.

We read, in the beginning of the second chapter, that "when the day of Pentecost was fully come, being all collected in one place, suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the house where they were sitting, and there appeared cloven tongues, like as of fire,