ascent. The more that body is fed and | And he who, like Cornelius, "giveth much pampered, the more it clogs and weighs alms to the people, and prayeth to God aldown the soul. Abstinence from food, way," at the appointed seasons, will find a therefore, has been enjoined by God, and joy and comfort in so doing which may anpracticed by his people, both Jews and swer the same purpose with the appearChristians, among other ends, for the in- ance and message of the angel. crease and furtherance of devotion. And experience will soon teach us the wisdom and fitness of such injunction; for there is not more difference between one man and another, than there is between the same man and himself when full and when fasting, before his meals and after them. Fumes from the stomach arise into the head; they cloud the understanding, and render the mind dull and heavy; they make a man unfit for the business of this world, much more for that of another. From Cornelius we learn, therefore, what he must have learned from the people of God, that indulgence puts an end to devotion, and abstinence is the best preparative for prayer.

6. Cornelius was praying in his house at the ninth hour of the day, when he saw in a vision evidently an angel of God coming in unto him, and saying, "Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God." The ninth hour, or three o'clock in the afternoon, was one of the hours of prayer among the Jews, and the observation of it by Cornelius shows that he must have been instructed in their religion. At this hour it was, that a new and unexpected guest entered his apartment. A spirit from the regions of the blessed came down and visited him. Glorious was his appearance, and his garments were of the color of the light. "A man in bright clothing," says he, "stood before me." The message which this divine visitant brought, was one full of grace and comfort; cheering and refreshing as the dew of heaven, when it falls upon the grass of the field. Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thy alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God." Such are the blessings which attend the pious and charitable man. "God is not unrighteous, that he should forget his work and labor of love." His good deeds are done upon earth, but, like a cloud of incense from the holy altar, they ascend to heaven, and rise in sweet remembrance before the throne. We do not indeed expect angels from above to assure us of this. We should be unreasonable if we did; for the word of God speaks to our faith, as plainly as the angel did to Cornelius; it cries aloud to every true penitent and sincere believer, "Thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God."

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7. But the angel has something more to say to Cornelius-" And now, send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do." Two questions may here be asked. First, How could Cornelius please God, not having faith in Christ? Secondly, If he pleased God without faith in Christ, what more could he do with it? A short state of the case will afford us a satisfactory answer to both these questions. That Cornelius had faith in the true God, the God of Israel, appears from the manner in which he worshipped, and from the whole conduct of his life. This faith he must have received from the Jews and from their Scriptures. By them it is more than probable, that he had been made acquainted with God's merciful intention of redeeming mankind by a Saviour who was to come. Nor is it possible to suppose that he should have lived any time in Judea without having heard the common reports concerning Jesus of Nazareth, his wonderful works, his death, and resurrection. Nay, St. Peter, addressing himself to Cornelius and his friends, says, "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, that word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea," &c. But whether Jesus were indeed the person foretold, the Messiah in whom he must believe, and on whom he must rely for salvation, of this point Cornelius, like many of the Jews themselves, might be ignorant or doubtful; the Gospel not having been yet preached to him by any of the apostles. He was, therefore, ordered to send for St. Peter, who would inform and convince him of so important a truth. The Gospel was necessary for Cornelius, in the same manner that it was necessary for the whole Jewish church. They believed in the Messiah to come; it was necessary they should acknowledge him when he did come; otherwise their belief would have become unbelief, as unhappily was the case with the greater part of that nation, who were accordingly punished and destroyed as unbelievers. Had Cornelius rejected the Gospel when preached, and opposed Christ when made known to him, he would have been in the same case with them. From that moment, he had commenced an enemy to God, because an enemy to his Son; and

therefore God would have been an enemy to him. But far different were his tempers and dispositions, resembling those of the believing Jews, who, like old Simeon, only waited for the manifestation of the Saviour, ready to embrace him as soon as he appeared. The talent committed to him he had improved to the utmost; the knowledge obtained had been reduced to practice; and "to him that hath shall be given." So the angel directed him to the apostle, and the apostle to Christ. The angel did not himself convert and baptize Cornelius; for the dispensation of the Gospel was committed not to angels, but to men; and all things must be done "in order," as God has thought proper to appoint in the church. "Send for Simon, whose surname is Peter; HE shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do." An angel may come from heaven, but he will send us to an apostle for instruction.

8. An opportunity of being instructed in his duty, of being told what he ought to do, was not, in the opinion of Cornelius, to be lost or hazarded. He "made haste, and prolonged not the time." No sooner had the heavenly visitant left him, than "he called two of his servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on himn continually;" for such he chose to wait on him, having adopted David's rule, in the establishment of his household-" Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way shall serve me." To these intelligent and well-disposed domestics he related all that had happened, and despatched them forthwith to Joppa. Happy the master, who hath such servants! Happy the servants, who have such a maser! Happy he who sends, and they who who are sent upon such an employment!

ants of Noah were upon an equal foot of favor and acceptance. The apostasy of the nations to idolatry occasioned the distinction; and therefore an unprejudiced mind must have perceived at once, that their repentance and reformation would, in course, abolish it again. The father only waited the return of the prodigal, to readmit him into his family. In the mean time, the children of Abraham were selected, to preserve the truth, and faith in that truth, because they were the believing children of a believing parent. The light, which otherwise must have been extinguished, was placed in that candlestick; but it was placed there to give light to all who should, at any time, come into the house. Never, surely, was there a dispensation more wise or more gracious! But it offended the Jews, as opposing their family and national prejudices, which were not without some difficulty effaced from the minds of the apostles them-, selves; insomuch that, while the messengers of Cornelius were upon the road, it was judged necessary to prepare St. Peter for their arrival by a figurative and scenical representation, and that thrice repeated, of the great change which was about to take place in the world, by the conversion of the Gentiles, and their adoption into the family of the faithful. For this purpose, while engaged at his devotion, he was cast into a trance-" He saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth, wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” This vision is evidently formed upon the legal distinction of clean and unclean creatures, which are here made to represent, as probably they were always intended to do, by their different properties and qualities, the corresponding different tempers and dispositions of good and bad men, believers and unbelievers, Jews and Gentiles; so that by the union of clean and unclean in the mystical sheet, which contained all manner of creatures, was denoted the purification of the Gentiles by faith, who were once unclean, and their junction with the believing Jews in the Christian or universal church.. The purport of the vision, thrown into pro

9. The admission of the Gentiles into the church of God, to enjoy its privileges, and share its blessings, was a doctrine against which all the passions in the breast of a Jew were armed, notwithstanding the many clear and evident predictions in its favor. The Israelitish church (as churches and sects are but too apt to do) had fondly arrogated to itself an exclusive right to the divine promises, forgetting to reflect, that those promises were not absolute, but conditional; that they were not made to the persons of men, but to their faith; so that when a Jew ceased to believe, he would cease to be an heir of the promises; and when a Gentile began to believe, he would immediately begin to be so. There was a time when no such distinction existed as that of Jew and Gentile, but the descend-phetical language, would run thus :-" The

wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the | is a Jew, to keep company and come unto leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the one of another nation : but God hath showed calf and the young lion and the fatling to- me," that is, plainly, by the creatures in gether; the cow and the bear shall feed, and the sheet, "that I should not call any MAN their young ones shall lie down together; common or unclean." The creatures, thereand the lion shall eat straw like the ox. fore, represented men; and to mankind, as And the sucking child shall play on the hole divided into Jews and Gentiles, St. Peter of the asp, and the weaned child put his transferred the idea suggested by the anihand on the cockatrice den. They shall mals distinguished into clean and unclean. not hurt nor destroy in all my holy moun- He goes on to declare himself at length tain; for the earth shall be full of the know- convinced, "that God is no respecter of ledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the persons, but in every nation he that feareth In that day there shall be a root of him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted. Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of with him;" that is, the partition wall is the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek." broken down, and people of every nation, as The arrival of those who were sent from well as the Jewish, are accepted, upon Cornelius, and the injunction of the Spirit, same terms of faith and obedience, whenever, "Arise, and get thee down, and go with by God's grace, they come into them, as them, nothing doubting, for I have sent Cornelius did, and as the whole heathen world them," fully satisfied Peter as to the inten-afterward did, upon the publication of the tion of the heavenly vision; and, in his own Gospel. "God is no respecter of persons ;" mind, he readily applied to Jew and Gentile, what he had seen and heard concerning the clean and unclean animals.

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he does not show favor to the Jews because they were the children of Abraham, if, by rejecting the Gospel they cease to believe and act like Abraham; which, if the Gentiles, by receiving the Gospel do, they will be accounted children of Abraham and heirs of the promises: "in every nation he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness," which without faith it is impossible to do—

10. Cornelius, in the mean time, impatiently waited the return of his faithful messengers; and with a truly open and liberal spirit, desirous that others should partake of the good which Heaven had sent him, he "had called together his kinsfolk and near friends," that they likewise might" is accepted with him." hear the word of life: as knowing, it is with the grace of God as with the light of heaven, of which no man has the less because a million of his brethren enjoy it as well as he. There is enough for all the world, and every individual has as much as he is capable of receiving.

11. As Cornelius had been ordered by an angel from heaven to send for Peter, it was natural for him to regard the apostle in the highest light; and therefore, when he had the happiness to behold him entering his doors, "he fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; for I myself also am a man "one encompassed with the infirmities of mortality like yourself; a fellowcreature, whose duty it is to join with you in the worship of him to whom alone worship is due. This is one part of St. Peter's conduct, among many, which his pretended successors in the see of Rome have not been solicitous to imitate; or we should never have heard of the style, Dominus, Deus noster, Papa!

12. By the opening of St. Peter's address to Cornelius and his friends, it appears, that he understood the vision as we have above explained it. "Ye know," says he, "how that it is an unlawful thing for a man, that

13. After this introduction, St. Peter proceeds to confirm to his little audience the truth of that word which they had heard concerning Jesus of Nazareth. He declares to them his unction with the Holy Ghost and with power; the works wrought by him for the deliverance of poor mankind from the yoke of the great oppressor; his death, resurrection, and appointment to be the judge of quick and dead; with the consentient testimony of all the prophets to the doctrine of remission of sins through faith in his name. While he preached these interesting and glorious truths, the Holy Ghost fell upon those who heard the word, and they were immediately baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

14. In this manner were the first fruits of the Gentiles consecrated to God; and thus was the gate opened, through which hath since passed that "great multitude, not to be numbered by man, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, who stand continually before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, crying with a loud. voice, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb!" The same gate is still open, and blessed is he who desireth and striveth to enter in

thereat. In order to which, when he hath | have only to add-" Go, and do thou like considered the example of Cornelius, we wise."

DISCOURSE L.

THE PROVIDENTIAL DELIVERANCE FROM THE
GUNPOWDER TREASON.

PSALM LXIV. 9.

They shall wisely consider of his doing.

THE Psalm, from whence these words are taken, is one of the proper Psalms appointed to be used upon this day; and well suited indeed it is to the occasion. A king in danger of being cut off by the secret contrivances of his malignant adversaries, prays to God that his life may be " preserved from fear of the enemy;" speaks of the secret counsel of the wicked; of their shooting in secret, laying snares privily, and "saying, Who shall see them?" But he foretells that the Almighty, who surveys the darkest proceedings of the wicked, shall, in a moment when they least expect it, blast all their designs; "God shall shoot at them with an arrow, suddenly shall they be wounded!" He intimates the manner -that their schemes should be discovered and betrayed by themselves; " So shall they make their own tongue to fall upon themselves;" and then follows the effect that should be produced in the hearts of others by so awful an event, in the words of the text: "and all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing;" that is, men shall ascribe such deliverance to the providence of God watching over them; and it will be their wisdom so to consider it as HIS doing, and not the work of man or of human prudence, much less that of what we commonly style fortune or chance.

It shall be the business of the following discourse to point out,

I. The necessity there is of attention and consideration, to discover the hand of God, and the mauner of its working, in those events of which we are informed either by history or our own experience-"They shall consider of his doing."

II. The wisdom of thus considering"They shall wisely consider of his doings." III. Certain marks whereby we may at any time discern an especial Providence; applying them, as we pass, to the transactions of this day.

I. Consideration, and indeed no small degree of it, is necessary to discern the hand of God, and the manner of its working, in the affairs of men. Many there are who, for want of this consideration, have no apprehension at all of it, nor are affected with it. They are either too busy or too idle to attend to the history of Providence, and the marvellous things which God has wrought, and is now working in the world. Of some the prophet says, "the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine are in their feasts; but they regard not the work of the Lord, nor the operations of his hands:" that is, their minds are so sunk and lost in pleasures and diversions, as never to observe the remarkable occurrences of Providence.

Others see what passes, and, like the brute creatures, gaze a while at it, and turn away, making no careful reflection or inquiry into causes and effects. "A brutish man," saith David, "knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this." On one occasion he acknowledgeth himself to have been in this state: "so foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before thee."

Others there are, who pretend to consider and inquire freely, but all the wrong way. Instead of discerning and adoring the hand of God, they labor to deny, and shut it quite out, ascribing all that happens to human politics, or the working of men only. "How doth God know; and is