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Observe here, 1. The remarkable diligence and industry of St. Peter and the other apostles in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
At the third hour of the day on the feast of Pentecost, that is, at nine o'clock in the morning, St. Peter preached a sermon, Act_2:14 which by the blessing of the Holy Spirit accompanying it, converted three thousand souls. Here at three o'clock in the afternoon on the same day, (as the learned Dr. Lightfoot notes) he preached a second sermon, which converts five thousand more. This affords at once a good precedent, and a good encouragement to the apostles successors, the ministers of Christ, to the end of the world, for the preaching twice upon the Lord's day: If, in the room of three and five thousand souls, we be instrumental for the conversion of one single soul, it is infinitely worth the indefatigable pains and diligence of our whole lives.
Observe, 2. The place which the apostle preaches in, the temple; thither the apostles went, not to offer sacrifice, but to inform the Jews, that the law of sacrifices was now abolished by the death of Christ; not to communicate with them in their antiquated worship, but that they might have a larger field to sow the seed of the gospel in.
Observe, 3. The circumstance of time, at the hour of prayer. In all ages, since God had a church in the world, there have been stated times and places for solemn public worship; by which means a sense of God and religion has been preserved and kept up in the world, which otherwise would be in danger of being lost.
The worship of God in the closet will not do this, because it is unseen; but stated, solemn, public worship, glorifies God most, and he accepts it best, The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. The apostles went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer Psa_87:2. Sine stationibus no staret mundus.