by an
earthquake, and the Temple veil by an unseen Hand.

The Feast of the Weeks came on, and at the end of May--the day of
Pentecost (the fiftieth after the second day of the Passover), the
Lord's little church had gathered in their large public room to pray
and wait for the Promise. Suddenly there came a sound from the heavens
like the rushing of a mighty wind, and with it came a flash of fire
which was not lightning, but which divided into many, and sat above the
brow of each like a soft, bright tongue of flame.

Then the silence was broken, and they all began to praise God in other
languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance, for the Promise of the
Father had been given, and the Lord Himself had come to dwell in His
people--not only in these, but in all who should believe on Him through
their word.

There were some good Jews present who had come from foreign countries
to the Feast, and spoke other languages, and when each heard his own
language spoken by these unlearned men they were astonished. The news
spread and many came to hear. "Are not all these which speak
Galileans?" they asked, "and how hear we every man in our own tongue
wherein we were born? What meaneth this?" Others made light of it
all, and said that they were full of new wine.

Then Peter, strong in the power of the Holy Spirit, stood up and spoke
to the people. You will find Peter's sermon in the second chapter of
Acts, and his text was a wonderful saying of the prophet Joel,
beginning, as Peter gave it,--

"And it shall come to pass in the last days I will pour out of my
Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young 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 it shall came to pass that whosoever shall call on the
name of the Lord shall be saved."

Peter did not spare the enemies of our Lord in his sermon, nor did he
fear them. He preached to them of Jesus of Nazareth, and whom they had
taken and by wicked hands had crucified and slain: and whom God had
raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not
possible that He should be holden of it. He closed by telling them
that God had made that same Jesus whom they had crucified both Lord and
Christ.

There were many among the people gathered there who were pricked in
their hearts because of Peter's words, which had the power of the Holy