At the time when the Holy Ghost descended so miraculously upon the Apostles, "there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven." By "devout men," is meant worshippers of the one true God: these were mostly Jews, either from having been born so, or from having turned from idolatry to follow the religion of the Jews. These Jews were scattered over the face of the world; and wherever they went, they endeavoured to make proselytes: the Feast of the Passover would naturally bring numbers of them to Jerusalem, to add to those who dwelt in the city. "Now when this," that had happened to the Apostles, "was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded (or astonished beyond measure), because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed, and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, (or Persians), and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judæa, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." Most of the countries here mentioned are parts of what we call Asia: but in the New Testament, when Asia is spoken of, it seems to mean only the parts about Lydia; that part of Asia, in short, known to us as Asia Minor, which borders on the Archipelago, or Ægean Sea. Libya, as well as Egypt, was a part of Africa. One of the kings of Egypt, Ptolemy Lagus, the father of that Ptolemy who employed seventy-two learned men to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, did place a good many captive Jews in Cyrene, and other parts of Libya. The descendants of these people, and the proselytes they had made, were amongst the number of Jews gathered together to the city of Jerusalem at this time. Chapter II.--THE LAME MAN HEALED BY PETER AND JOHN. When the multitude of Jews from all parts of the earth, heard twelve poor ignorant men of Galilee, able to speak easily in many different languages, which they had most probably never even heard spoken before, "they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?" The great truths of the Gospel thus proclaimed, must indeed have startled them, for they could not but perceive that God was with these men in a very remarkable manner. Some of them, unwilling to believe the words spoken by the Apostles, tried to make out that they had been drinking so much wine, that they did not know what they were talking about, and ought not, therefore, to be listened to. "Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine,"--as if being drunk, could make any man speak a real language, of which, in his sober moments, he knew nothing.