CHAPTER V.

CORNELIUS.

Acts x.

Ar the period of our Lord's advent, there existed amongst the Jews the same diversities of opinion and character as are found amongst ourselves at the present day, and the men to whom he preached were in very different states of preparation for the Gospel of the kingdom. There were Sadducees then, as there are sceptics now, who doubted or disbelieved the truth as it had been revealed by Moses and the prophets; there were Pharisees then, as there are formalists now, who rested in the form, whilst they denied the power of godliness; there were Pilates, who asked, "What is truth ?" and Gallios, who "cared for none of these things;"—but there were also not a few whose hearts the Lord had touched, and who waited, in faith and hope, for "the consolation of Israel." There were such men both among the Jews and Gentiles. Among the Jews we read of Zacharias, and his wife Elizabeth, "who were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord

blameless;"-and Mary, the mother of Jesus, whose song breathes the spirit of genuine piety, when she exclaimed," My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour;"-and Simeon, of whom it is said, that "the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him ;"-and Anna the prophetess, a widow of about four score and four years, who departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day, and spake of Christ to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem;"—and Nathaniel, of whom our Lord himself said, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" And among the Gentiles, we read of the Ethiopian who came up to Jerusalem to worship, and on his return read in his chariot the book of Isaiah the prophet;—and of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and a devout soldier who waited upon him,—“a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, who gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.” In these cases we have a most precious exemplification of the spiritual life which still existed in the bosom of the Jewish Church, and of the blessed fruits which had sprung from the faith of the Old Testament; and it is delightful to discover such instances of genuine piety in the retired walks of private life, at a time when their national character had been sadly deteriorated, and the scribes, and rulers, and Pharisees had made the commandment of God of none effect by their traditions. There was still amongst them a blessed remnant—a peculiar people, who cherished the

faith, and walked in the footsteps of faithful Abraham. And it is deeply interesting to mark, that, as they were prepared, on the one hand, by their spiritual acquaintance with the truth as it had been revealed in the Old Testament, for the reception of any other revelation which God might be pleased to make; so God was pleased to manifest the utmost care for them, and to give them the earliest and best opportunities of acquiring a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus,thereby fulfilling the law of his spiritual administration: "To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abundantly; while from him that hath not, shall be taken away that which he seemeth to have."

Of this we have a very remarkable instance in the narrative which relates to the experience of Cornelius, at the time when he was made acquainted with the full truth of the Gospel, and a change was wrought upon him, which cannot, I think, be considered as a case of conversion, for he was already a devout believer,—but as a case of advancement, or of translation from the lower form of the Jewish to the higher form of the Christian faith, but still in the same school and under the same teacher. This will become apparent, if we consider,

I. His state and character previous to the time when this change occurred. He was by birth a Gentile-by profession a soldier; but notwithstanding the disadvantages to which he was thus subjected, he had become a proselyte to the Jewish faith, and believed in and worshipped "the one only, the living and true God." His character is thus described-“ a devout

66

man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway;" and again, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nations of the Jews." I need not dwell on the proof which these words afford of his being a believer in the Jewish religion, and a worshipper of the true God. Suffice it to say, that such language is never applied in Scripture to any idolater or heathen; and that his was not a mere natural religion, appears from its being incidentally mentioned, that "at the ninth hour of the day, he was praying in his house," the hour of evening sacrifice among the Jews, when such as were not present at the temple prayed at home, as we read, "Peter and John went up together into the temple, at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour." And as he conformed to the Jewish worship, so it is evident that his prayers were addressed to the God of Israel, and not only so, but that they were accepted of him, for the angel said to him, "Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God,” whence we infer that he must have been a genuine believer, and a justified man, for "without faith it is impossible to please God; for he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him." He was acquainted, then, with God's revealed truth, as it had been made known by Moses and the prophets, and had embraced it with a lively faith which led him to fast and pray, to care for the religious instruction of his family,-and loving God, he loved his neighbour also, for he gave

and

much alms to the people; nay, it would seem that he was not altogether ignorant of the Gospel itself, although he had not been fully instructed or firmly established in the belief of its truth; for when Peter came to him, he said, "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all): that word, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached." We are to consider him, I apprehend, as a Gentile proselyte to the Jewish faith, who, without submitting to the rite of circumcision,-for we learn that he was uncircumcised, from the objection to Peter's conduct, which was afterwards founded on this consideration, -did nevertheless embrace the faith of the Jewish Church, and worship the God of Israel, being encouraged, doubtless, by the gracious provision which had been made for the admission of strangers to a participation in its privileges (2 Kings viii. 41; Isa. lvi. 6); and as a devout and conscientious man, who acted up to the light he had, and waited for more,-listening to the reports which had reached him of the miracles and preaching of Jesus, but without having yet arrived at a clear apprehension or certain belief of the Gospel. And on the whole, he may be regarded as a believer, in the same sense in which Abraham was a believer, or the cloud of witnesses mentioned in the 11th of the Hebrews, who "all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and