The Day of Pentecost.

THIS was a solemn festival of the Jews, so called because it was observed on the fiftieth day after the passover. It was called, too, the feast of the harvest, because it was the time chosen for returning thanks for the harvest; and also the day of firstfruits, because the Jews presented to

God the firstfruits or the new corn made into loaves. On this day was commemorated the giving of the law on Sinai; and to the Jews this was a season of so great importance that no distance was too far to travel, and no expense too great to incur, in order to be present at Jerusalem at this time.

The synagogue was beautifully decorated with choice flowers, and services were there held, morning, afternoon, and evening, during the two days of holy convocation. All work was laid aside except such as was necessary to prepare for the feast; and the Jews thronged the synagogue to offer their sacrifices and their thanks.

In celebrating the offering of the firstfruits, the priests called to mind their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt; and in commemorating the delivery of the law on Sinai, each one read for himself the whole book of Ruth, to impress on his mind the necessity of praising God for His commandments, and of observing them in his own life.

The feast was being celebrated by the Jews as usual,-crowds had come from distant parts of the earth as before, though, perhaps, now in unusually large numbers, and there was no outward indication that anything was about to happen to distinguish this feast from all others that had preceded it.

But there was a new era to be proclaimed; this fiftieth day from the passover was to commemorate the shedding of the blood of the Paschal JUNE, 1870.

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Lamb, the offering of a sacrifice for the whole world. This feast of firstfruits was to witness the offering to the Lord of the harvest, of fruit, the seed of which Christ himself had sown; and a deliverance from sin—a worse tyrant than Pharaoh—was now to be recorded. On this day was to be commemorated with praise the giving of another law, not from Sinai, but from Calvary; a law, not of ceremonial observance, costly sacrifice, and priestly interference, but of forgiveness through Christ, and of communion with God by His Spirit.

This was not first made known in the temple to the priests and Levites, who were offering the sacrifices of the crowds that thronged the sacred building; but in an upper room, where the few humble and despised apostles and disciples of Jesus had met with one accord to worship Him. Suddenly they heard "a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. Then they saw tongues, as of fire, darting hither and thither, like lightning in the air, till they seemed to rest over each one of them; and then they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, so that they began to speak in foreign tongues of which they had no previous knowledge whatever.

Rumours of these miraculous powers soon spread through the city, and Jews from various foreign lands, who had come up to the feast, hastened to ascertain if the reports were true.

Jews from Parthia, from Media-descendants of those who had remained behind in that country after the return from the captivity—and from Elam and all parts of Persia heard the Persian language spoken as if by natives of their own land; dwellers from Mesopotamia, that large district lying between the Euphrates and Tigris, listened to as pure Syriac as was ever spoken; Jews from Cappadocia and Pontus, and other provinces further west of Asia Minor, heard their own dialect, probably a mixture of Greek and Syriac; those from Phrygia and Pamphylia, other provinces of Asia Minor where Greek was spoken, heard their own language; strangers all the way from Egypt and from other parts of Africa listened for the first time to their own Coptic in the holy city; those from Arabia gladly detected their own familiar Arabic; and Jews from Rome were addressed in their polished Latin. This was the first preaching of the word; this was the first outpouring of the Spirit, and the scene was worthy of the event.

This vast picturesque crowd, representing by their language and costume so many countries of the world, separating itself into distinct nationalities, each gathering round those disciples who spoke the language most familiar to them, and hearing truths of which they had remained in ignorance, made up a scene such as the world had never before seen.

Confusion of tongues fell on the men of old as a punishment for sin; but now gifts of speech were conferred on the disciples to proclaim a full pardon for all sin through the Messiah." The First Heroes of the Cross," by B. Clarke.

COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS FOR SUNDAY

SCHOOL TEACHERS.

THE Corresponding Secretary has handed us the following letter from the secretary of the Nelson District (Lancashire) Sunday School Union. The important suggestion which it contains may be said to form part of the plan which the Committee hope will be eventually realized, but the June Examination is necessarily tentative in its character, and will to some extent guide the Committee in subsequent arrangements.

NELSON, NEAR Burnley, 2nd May, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR,-I am pleased to find that you are starting Competitive Examinations of Teachers, to be open to the teachers about London, and I have been thinking it would be possible to make arrangements for throwing the examinations open to all the country unions.

You are doubtless acquainted with the way in which the Science and Art Department of South Kensington conduct their examinations throughout the country by means of local committees, who see that the regulations are honourably carried out and the papers duly forwarded to head-quarters to go before the examiners.

If your system were to be extended a question might arise as to the amounts to be given as prizes, or as to the larger funds which would be required. Anyhow, I think the thing would never fail merely for a money consideration.

I think it is possible that this new enterprise may become a great power for good, and I hope it will.

Any remarks which you may give in reply will be gladly received.

Yours truly,
JOHN HEAP.

INTRODUCTORY CLASSES-HINDRANCES TO THEIR SUCCESS.

EVERY project has its opposers and hinderers, as well as its advocates and friends, and "introductory classes" form no exception to the rule. Nor is there any use in simply deploring the fact, and lamenting the absence of sympathy and help, where their presence would be so welcome. The plain duty of those who desire to extend the benefits of such classes, is rather to ascertain what are the objections raised, and how the hindrances are to be removed out of the way. We propose to notice a few which have come under our own observation, and which are, perhaps, the most formidable we have to deal with.

One great obstacle-not objection—is a large amount of ignorance as

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to the true nature and objects of these classes. They are not understood, and therefore they are not appreciated and embraced. We have met with a very large number of persons who have had no conception of what could be done to help them in the work of teaching. One gentleman, who attended one of these classes, said to the conductor, "Before I came, I wondered whatever you could say that would help me in teaching; and I have been astonished to find that so much may be said, and listened to, with such profit." A London minister, who has taken a deep interest in this work, said to a member of his church, a conductor of a class, "I have spoken to a dozen people about your class, and not one of them can understand what you are going to do." These two sentences put plainly enough one of the chief obstacles and hindrances to the success of these classes,—they are not understood. This is a fact, moreover, not to be wondered at, for they are confessedly somewhat new. Our course in regard to this is, however, plain enough; every possible legitimate means must be employed to make known their character and object, and by practical demonstration to show what can be done to prepare any one for the work of Sabbath school teaching. This, however, is not all we have to deal with; there is active resistance—if not, indeed, opposition,—which comes out in the following forms :

We understand your object, which is a very good one, and we wish you every success; but we think that if a boy or girl has continued in school until old enough to take a class, he ought to know enough of teaching without such help."

"It is a very excellent thing, and very useful to those members of our churches who have not been scholars in our schools; but it is not so necessary to those who have been for years as scholars, and who therefore know what teaching is."

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They will have seen so much, and such variety of methods, that they will be able to do without further help." "We consider that after they have been in the Bible classes for some time they are sufficiently instructed to take classes." "We always get good teachers from our Bible classes, and therefore we do not see that there is any necessity to alter our course."

These sentences have been uttered in our hearing again and again, and they express the creed of not a few of the officers and senior class teachers in our schools, whose theory seems to be, that a boy or girl, passing up through the various classes, must needs acquire the knowledge necessary to enable him to fill the office of a teacher successfully; therefore they do not avail themselves of the classes, and no pupils come from their schools.

We have to deal with those who, knowing what we are aiming at, and wishing us success, consider that our help is not needed in their particular school. But will this argument bear analyzing? We will look at the teachers of these boys and girls first. Are they all models of excellence, which may be studied with advantage, and copied with success? Or take the very best teacher of all, the most successful, the

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most worthy of imitation; will the secret of that teacher's success be apparent to his class? Will his principles of action be very plain ? Will the source of the charm of his teaching be clearly revealed ? Need we say that he who is the most indebted to art, always hides his art the most—that it is, indeed, the perfection of art to conceal it? The art of teaching forms no exception to that rule, so that the more a class hang upon their teacher's lips, the less are they likely to discover what it is that renders him so interesting. But think of the scholars for a moment. Are they likely to study a teacher's methods and principles, so that they also may acquire the art of successful teaching? Presuming the thing possible-which it is not,-might our scholars be depended upon for carrying on the necessary study? "Well, they ought,” said one to whom we put such a query. OUGHT they? Do they come to school on purpose to study the art of teaching, as practised by their teachers, so that they may, by and by, form models for others in their turn? We trow not. "But they can see what good teaching is, and by imitation they may become good teachers themselves." Well, they may become imitators, so far as others are imitable and they have the power of imitation, but one who is merely an imitator is never possessed of much excellence; and, without any desire to be censorious or unkind, we feel that truth requires us to be plain in stating that our schools do not at this moment possess, generally, such models as it is desirable to imitate. It is precisely because so many have felt persuaded that our teachers are not what they might be that so much effort is being made to render them the needful aid to improve them in their work. All honour to your teachers and to your Bible classes, as having done what they could; but they do not aim at teaching the principles or rules of our work, nor is it their vocation to explain why this method or that should be employed. That duty is undertaken by our introductory classes, which are not intended to supersede but to supplement-your own most worthy deeds. Accept our help, therefore; offered, as it is, without the slightest desire, even by implication, to convey a reproach. Our one object is the improvement of the husbandry in our Master's vineyard.*

We will notice one more hindrance—a rather unexpected one-which is met with in our senior classes. Our professed desire is that none but those who are decided Christians should be recommended to prepare for the work of teaching. On applying to our senior classes for such persons, we meet with this reply," They are the very persons we want to keep. They are the salt of the class. Their presence and influence are most to be desired. We cannot part with them." And so those are kept back who would form the most desirable pupils for our introductory classes. The wants of the day, too, are alarming. Thousands of poor children in London and our large towns are living and dying in as utter ignorance of the gospel as the children of India and Africa. Shall we then, for some imagined benefit to our classes, keep these young disciples from their Master's work? Fellow-workers, * See "The Introductory Class," published by the Sunday School Union, price 1d.