Doubt in the reality of the miracle recorded in Acts ii. was not born until I found that Buddhist missionaries went out into distant lands, where their own tongue was unknown, and yet made converts. When once I felt dubious as regards the veracity of the historian, I began to notice what the apostles generally did when they went to a new country or town. Their practice seems to have been to have visited synagogues of the Jews living on the spot--and able, if they chose, to be interpreters--or, where there were such establishments, "the schools" were visited, where the students and the masters understood Greek. In the time of Paul the language of the Hellenes was spoken by Romans of high position, much as French was spoken at the court of Frederic the Great of Prussia, and as German is at St. Petersburg. The Apostle seems to have spoken Greek readily, and when he could use that tongue or the Hebrew he was fluent. I have sought in vain for evidence that either Paul or any of the Apostles ever addressed a foreign mob, whose language was neither Greek nor Hebrew. A study of the nineteenth chapter of the Acts will show this--especially, we must notice the end of the tenth verse, where we are told "that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both _Jews and Greeks_." When disturbance occurred in the theatre, Paul was not the orator put forward to appease the people--he probably could not speak their patois. Yet he tells us, 1 Cor. xiv. 18, that he spoke with tongues more than his fellows.* * There is much difference amongst ecclesiastical writers respecting what is called the "gift of tongues." The difficulty arises mainly from the desire to reconcile "the true" with "the absurd." Starting from the point that all "scripture" is written by "inspiration of God," the orthodox are obliged to receive the account narrated in Acts ii. as being literally correct. In plain language, the story runs thus:--The Apostles, twelve in number, were sitting in a room. Whilst there, a noise was heard, and something like fiery tongues, more or less split, appeared, and one settled upon each of the company. These all, at once, began to speak in languages which were strange to all. From the noise made, neighbours had their attention called, and from one mouth to another the tidings of the ranting ran, until it reached the ears of devout men, who, from every nation under heaven, were then assembled in Jerusalem. Whether these foreigners were Hebrews, or whether they, being strangers, had the gift of understanding the reports couched in Aramaic, we do not know. But it is narrated that, in the course of a few minutes--possibly an hour or two--the devout strangers came to listen to the Apostles, either speaking singly or at once.