ABSTRACT
The conquests of Alexander and of Rome had brought about such a change in the languages of the world, that all nations were able to understand each other in both Greek and Latin. As it has been remarked, "Aramaic, Greek, Latin- the three languages of the inscription on the Cross, were the media of intercourse throughout the empire. Greek alone was sufficient, as the New Testament shows us, for the Churches of the West, for Macedonia and Achaia, for Pontus, Asia, Phrygia". "That being so, the necessity for such a gift would not exist"- the gift of tongues, he means, in order to preach the gospel to the Jewish worshippers at Pentecost. The sermon Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost was spoken, it would seem, in Aramaic. It was addressed chiefly to the permanent dwellers at Jerusalem, to those amongst whom our Lord had wrought his miracles, and by whom he had been crucified.
