April 3

"Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God." — Acts 10:33.

SUCH was the language of Cornelius, the centurion, to Peter. Here we have an account of the first Gentile congregation.

THEIR NUMEROUS ATTENDANCE. Every thing deserves our notice here.

The place where they met. It was in the house of a soldier. How delightful to see those who are enlisted in the military service of their country, fighting under the banners of the cross, and bowing to the Captain of our salvation! Cornelius's had been a house of prayer, but now it was made a house of preaching. It is not the architectural grandeur of the building that invites or secures the Divine presence, but the fervor and sincerity of the worshippers.

The circumstances under which they were assembled. They were peculiarly interesting, and are recorded at length in this chapter. The Gospel message was now to be delivered to the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, by the mouth of Peter.

The numbers in which they came together. "Now therefore are we all here present." Cornelius invited his kinsmen and near friends to hear Peter's sermon. A Christian does not want to go to heaven alone. "O Sir!" exclaimed a woman to Whitefield, "come and preach under my roof; I have a house that will hold a hundred, and a heart that will contain a thousand."

THEIR DEVOUT FEELINGS. They regarded themselves as in the Divine presence: "before God." The reality of God's presence, and the realization of it, are two things. In the sanctuary we are before an all-seeing God, and this should solemnize our minds; we are before a merciful God, and this should rejoice our hearts; we are before a faithful God, and this should inspire our confidence; we are before an all-sufficient God, and this should raise our expectations. We come to the mighty God, and not to feeble man; to the Rock of ages, and not to the bending reed; to the living Fountain, and not to the running stream; to the boundless ocean, and not to a broken cistern.

THEIR AVOWED OBJECT. "To hear all things that are commanded thee of God." There was on their part

A desire to listen to the Gospel. They came "to hear." How many visit the sanctuary to see and be seen! Knowledge, faith, love, and joy, come by hearing.

An acknowledgment of the Divine authority of the ministry. They came to hear "all things commanded of God." Ministers speak not in their own name, or by their own authority, but are ambassadors from the court of heaven.

An impartial regard to the whole system of truth. "All things." As the heralds of salvation must declare, so their hearers must receive, the whole counsel of God. Let us be thankful for the privilege of coming before God in the sanctuary below, and anticipate with joy the period when we shall appear before him in the temple above.