The good Cornelius tried Peter, at the same point, on his first approach into his presence. He fell down before the apostle and was about to worship him. Peter told him to stand up—that he himself was also a man, and demanded of him why he had sent for him. After hearing the account given by Cornelius, of his prayer, his having seen an angel, and what the angel said to him, the apostle began upon the great burthen that he carried upon his soul. In a few words he declared that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. This was the great subject the apostles carried upon their hearts. Respecting themselves, they knew not what would befall them, save the testimony of the Holy Spirit, that bonds and imprisonment awaited them; nor did they count their lives dear unto themselves, but they counted all things but loss, if they could but win Christ.
[THE CHURCH OF CHRIST A PROSELYTING INSTITUTION.]
ONE of the most striking differences between the Mosaic and Christian institutions is, that the latter is a proselyting institution, while the former was not. Errorists among the Jews, contrary to the spirit of their institution, ran into great proselyting efforts; while errorists in the kingdom of Christ, contrary to the spirit of their institution, leave the spirit of proselyting. Those Jews who had such a desire for proselyting, should have been Christians, and the Christians who have no zeal for proselyting should have been Jews. It would have suited their capacity, views and feelings better, to have been born into a church as they were born into the world; and a sign in the flesh, such as circumcision, as a mark of distinction between them and the rest of mankind, put upon them when eight days old; and when the numbers of the church were replenished by natural generation and birth, and not in an institution where men can not enter except by being born again—where they are begotten, not of corruptible, but of incorruptible seed, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever—where men can not enter by natural generation, but must enter by regeneration or not enter at all.
If men who have no zeal to proselyte, had been born in an institution where every child born of church members is also a church member, they would have suited well to them the lessons from the law of Moses on the Sabbath day, and perform the dull and spiritless ceremonies of the synagogue. No doubt they could have gone through the performances with as much formality and as little grace as a Jewish rabbi. Many of these, if they had the priestly robe, Aaron’s rod, the pot with manna, the shew bread, etc., would figure much more decorously back among the types and shadows, than they do here among the good things to come. They are better adapted for the letter than for the spirit, for they almost convert the house of God—the spiritual building, where the spirit of God dwells, and where we are required to worship in spirit and in truth—into the dry and irksome ceremonies of the Jewish synagogue.