A Key to the Knowledge of Church History (Ancient) | Page 4

it should, so to {7} speak, lie dormant until the seal of the Holy Spirit was impressed upon it. During the days of expectation which followed our Lord's Ascension, we read that the holy company who were gathered together in the "upper room," "continued with one accord in prayer and supplication[12];" but we have no mention of any celebration of the Holy Eucharist, whilst immediately after the Descent of the Holy Ghost we are told of their daily continuance in "the Breaking of the Bread[13]."
Section 3. The Day of Pentecost.
[Sidenote: A.D. 33. Participation of the Blessed Trinity in the works of Creation, the Incarnation, and the Foundation of the Church.]
As the Three Holy Persons of the Ever-blessed Trinity had shared in the work of the First Creation of the world, the Father speaking by the Eternal Word, and the Holy Spirit brooding over what before was lifeless: and as in the work of the Incarnation the Father had sent the Son to take upon Him our human nature through the operation of the Holy Ghost: so, in the Foundation of the Church, the Power of the Holy Spirit co-operated no less than the Will of the Father and the Life-giving Grace of the Son.
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[Sidenote: The waiting at Jerusalem.]
The Apostles had received from their ascending Lord a command to await in the City of Jerusalem this "Power from on High," which was to be sent upon them[14]. We can easily see the fitness of this injunction, when we remember that they were about to become the founders of the New Jerusalem, the true "City of God" in which the many "glorious things spoken[15]" by the Old Testament Prophets were to have their performance to a certain extent even in this life, but fully and perfectly in the Life to come.
[Sidenote: St. Matthias chosen.]
Immediately after our Lord's Ascension the Apostles, under the immediate guidance of Almighty God, made choice by lot of St. Matthias to fill up the vacancy in the Apostolic Body caused by the apostasy of Judas, and then awaited in prayer and worship the promised Coming of the Comforter. [Sidenote: The coming of the Holy Ghost.] After ten days of expectation, on the morning of the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, the Promise was fulfilled: with the sound "of a rushing mighty Wind," with the brightness of "cloven tongues like as of fire," the Holy Spirit descended "and sat upon each of" the Apostles[16]. Thus they were inspired and enlightened with Power and Knowledge, and all the other sevenfold gifts of the Paraclete[17] in fuller measure than had ever been vouchsafed to the Prophets and Teachers of old, as well as with miraculous endowments, that so they might be enabled to carry out the Commission entrusted to them by their Master.
[Sidenote: The gift of Tongues.]
One effect of this wonderful Visitation was {9} immediately and strikingly apparent to all who stood by, for on these twelve unlearned men of lowly birth was bestowed the power of speaking fluently and intelligibly in languages of which, before, they had been altogether ignorant. [Sidenote: The people come together.] The fame of this great wonder soon spread amongst the multitude of foreign Jews who were then gathered together at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Pentecost; many of them were probably at that very time in the Temple, of which the "upper room" is thought to have formed a part, and they quickly came around the Apostles, anxious to judge for themselves of the truth of what had been told them. [Sidenote: Their amazement.] Very great was their astonishment at what they heard. It seems as if words are multiplied in the Sacred Narrative to impress us with a sense of their awe and wonder. It is said that they "were confounded" or "troubled in mind," that "they were all amazed and marvelled;" and again, that "they were all amazed, and were in doubt" at this startling exhibition of the "Power" of God[18]. [Sidenote: Though some refused to believe.] Some indeed "mocked," despising the work of the Spirit, as they had before despised the work of the Son; but many opened their hearts to the softening influence, and of them it may truly be said that "the fear of the Lord" was "the beginning of wisdom."
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Section 4. St. Peter's First Sermon, and its Results.
[Sidenote: A.D. 33. Conversion of the 3000.]
And now at once the converting power of the Church was exercised. St. Peter, the chief of the Apostles, took the lead, as he had already done in the election of St. Matthias, and preached to the impressed and eager multitude that first Christian sermon, which was followed by the conversion and baptism of "about 3000 souls[19]."
[Sidenote: The promise of St. Peter fulfilled.]
Thus was fulfilled, in one sense at least, the promise of Christ to St.