greatest of miracles, and therefore to have reserved it for an instance of the power with which he was endued after his ascension to the right hand of God: the declaration and promise, made to his Apostles a little before his departure from them, seems to allude to it-" Verily, Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father." And what could these greater works be? Our Saviour had made the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, the lame to walk; he had fed thousands with a few loaves and fishes; he had stilled the raging of the seas and winds with a word; he had cast out devils; he had raised the dead. Now what miracle could possibly be greater than these? even that which we are now considering. learned men who before knew no tongue but their own, being able in a moment to speak fluently all the different languages of the earth." Unless by greater works our Saviour meant this, what did he mean? what else is there that himself did not do, which was done by his Apostles? This we are never told that he did, which if it had been so, we certainly should have been; but this he conferred on his disciples; it was the first sensible effect of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon them, after that he was gone to his Father. If we consider the matter, we shall perceive, likewise, that in this miracle deceit or imposition was impossible: the Apostles were well known

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at Jerusalem (where it happened) to be unlearned men, sprung from low parents, and themselves brought up to low employments; they never could have had the leisure or the means of studying these various languages of which they now all at once appeared to be such complete masters: if they had been strangers newly arrived from some distant part of the world, it might have been said that they had attained this proficiency in languages by hard study, but as they had always been on the spot, it is evident that this wonderful power must have been supernaturally conferred upon them. Add to this, that the Jews were very great enemies to them; and if it had been possible to have proved any imposition upon them, they would have been glad enough to have done it. Add, also, that the miracle was publicly wrought at the time, before great multitudes of various nations, and that it continued afterwards still to be wrought during the respective lives of the Apostles; wherever they travelled they were able to preach the Gospel in the languages of the people amongst whom they were. And though it may be said that these nations, which were strangers to them, had not such a clear proof that the ability of speaking va rious languages was given them from above, as their own countrymen had, yet they had certainly sufficient proof to induce them to believe it. The Apostles asserted that the gift of tongues was supernatural; and they had a right to be credited, because the other miracles which they performed,

such as the cure of diseases, and the raising of the dead, were as much out of the course of nature as this to which they pretended: the one, therefore, was a confirmation of the other.

This miracle, immediately on the spot and at the time, was followed by the most wonderful effects; so glaring was the evidence which it offered in favour of the truth of Christianity, that, after the sermon which St. Peter preached on the occasion, the people "gladly received his word and were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." This was a large portion of first-fruits, a great earnest of that spiritual harvest which the Apostles had begun to reap, of which the first fruits of the productions of the earth, offered at this very time by the Jews, were a representation. Nor was the utility of the gift conferred on the Apostles, less conspicuous afterwards; the thing, indeed, speaks for itself. The last orders of Jesus Christ were"Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." How were these orders to be fulfilled without a previous knowledge of the tongues of the nations whom these missionaries were to address ?—and how slow, very slow, must have been the progress of the Gospel if they had been left to acquire these tongues by the usual methods? On the contrary, with this assistance, its progress was

rapid beyond imagination; within the period of forty years, from the death of Christ, it had been preached and had obtained some footing in every considerable country of the then known world.

Let us then, now, and at all times, entertain the highest gratitude towards God, for this stupendous instance of his desire that all nations and kindreds should come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved; let us resolve to make the most we are able of this benevolent distribution of divine truth; let us pray to God that as his Holy Spirit at the first opening of Christianity gave such extraordinary power to the Apostles for our conversion, so he may continue the same blessed work by taking up his abode with each and all of us, by illuminating our understandings and purifying our hearts, that we may have a true perception of every thing which it concerns us to know, and may resolutely and uninterruptedly continue in the practice of it.

THE DUTY OF TAKING UP OUR CROSS FOR
CHRIST'S SAKE.

ST. MATTHEW XVI. 24.

Then Jesus said unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow

me.

TOWARDS the conclusion of our Saviour's ministry, having nearly perfected the work which he was sent upon earth to perform, he thought it necessary to give his disciples some account of the sufferings and death which he was about to undergo. Having done that, having told them what he was to endure for their sakes, he takes the same opportunity of informing them what he should expect from them for his :-" If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." That is, if any man will be my disciple, if he will entitle himself to the merits of my death, and to the glorious rewards I have promised, he must have the resolution to forego every pleasure, and to endure every pain,