The coming of the Holy Spirit makes this day a solemn feast for us; it is fifty days since our Lord's Resurrection, seven weeks of seven days. But seven sevens are only forty-nine, the extra one is added to draw our attention to unity.
What was the coming of the Holy Spirit, and what did it accomplish? How did he show us his presence, and how did he prove it; By everyone speaking the languages of all nations. A hundred and twenty men were there in the same place—the Holy number of the twelve apostles multiplied by ten. Did then those on whom the Spirit came each speak a single language, so that some spoke one and some another, and thus between them the languages of all the nations were spoken? Not so; but each and every man spoke the language of each nation.