The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 353

gospel of Christ are mndo in tho personal hiHtory of Cornelius. 1. Ho is a Roman. No lu.rgor, !Jotter typo of the world could be cho8en. 2. He is a Roman of the profcssi011 of o.rms. No pr?fession could ho cho?en fitter to yield in fullest surrender to the messrigo of the Pnnce of peace. 3. He JM a _ma~ of large and liberal heart, of large and open eye. Ono detail a!'tor ~~other of ~his h1s~ory betrays it. 4. He is already of a relig10us and devout d1spos1t10n. He 1s. held rn ~onour for his practical goodness among the people. His character as a religious man 1s regarded by them as a consistent character. But past these, he has been a genuine seeker after God in prayer. Though a Gentile, he had a soul like that of the true Israelite. His gaze was to the East· lie would not bow down to the West. . Some of the gospel's grandest triumphs are, ana' are set forth in Scripture as, over the worst lives. But signally the grandest revelations of truth and of things to come have been vouchsafed to the pure and the watchful, those devout in heart and devoted in life-ay, from Enoch to the shepherds of Bethlehem, and on by the Ethiopian and Cornelius to John of Patmos. II. IN WHAT MANNER THIS GREAT TRANSITION IS FORMULATED. The one 2Teat effect is that we are impressed with the Divine iniLiative and the Divine conduct in even the details of what took place. 'l'he Divine purpose shall be carried out with Divine attention. 1. A vision, and an angel in the vision, appear to Cornelius. Instruction lies, uo doubt, both in what is said to Cornelius in this vision, and what is left even to him to fill up. (1) He is graciously and approvingly advised that his "prayers," though he was not of the favoured nation, and his "alms" have been noticed of Heaven, anci have been accepted, 'l'hey have availed-even as though they had been "incense" and the "evening sacrifice." (2) He is told to send to a certain place for "Peter," whose name, possibly enough, he had heard by this time; whom, however, it is eviuent he did not personally know, both from the mode in which the angel described him, and from what we read of the way in which Cornelius received him (vers. 5, 6, 25). (3) He is left to gather that Heaven's own clock has signified that the time is ripe for some event on earth worthy of its marking, and, with exemplary promptitude, he does to the letter what he is commanded-and waits the issue. Let alone what was left to Cor- nelius to surmise, it is left to us also to imagine how this interval was passed by him- how devoutly he mused, bow surely he expected what was divinely worth the Laving from the manner in which communication had been made to him, how h!;l talked a.bout it with any like-minded, and invited such together, that with himself they might share the privilege and responsibility of receiving the illustrious visitor, and hearing his mission. 2. A trance, and a vision in the trance, a voice distinctly repeated, and the direction of the Sririt (ver. 19), are given to Peter. These were to act as (1) strong impulse to him; (2) deeper instruction in the understanding of the one universal God and Saviour, and one large family of mankind "of one blood," though spread among many a nation of the earth; (3) literal guidance in the path of duty, and especially when the close of the trance and vision was timed to the hour of the arrival of the embassy from Cornelius. A wondering and awed and asking mind in Peter is in some measure satisfied as well as relieved by the errand and practical work to which he is immediately challenged by the three messengers. We may note that all this is mere myth and idle tale on the page of Scripture, or that it strongly begs our study of provi- dence and a very grateful faith in such providence. Though the age of vision and trance be passed, the age of providence and of the Spirit has not passed and never will pass. 8. A designed and manifestly adapted meeting of instructor and instructed carries on what may be designated without irreverence the divinely planned programQle of the occasion. Companions and witnesses go with Peter, who has already entertained for one night in the same " lodging" with himself the strange messengers of Cornelius, and arrived at the a.bode of Cornelius the next day but one after the "trance." Peter finds a little congregation of Gentiles to see him and receive, not so much him, as God's Word by him. All these things must bo viewed as the arrangements and preparation for that which was to follow, and to prove itself the great object in the Divine purpose. Forces long estranged are led toward one another in happiest and most impressive omens, and very soon they find themselves one in one" Lord of all." Often have there been larger congregations to hear Peter o.nd brother apostles and the true successors of these to the present• rarely have there been more expectant or more rightly allll tleyoutl,r pre~red.. ¾, •~o4'11 own great S!lJ'IIlOn w the worl<! is uow spoken by li1•s 350 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [011. x.1-48,