The farmer and mechanic., 1909-03-30
Some Curious Condolences.

Follow The Clean.
Some Curious Condolences.
While Cornelius was being given
ceiving another vision in Joppa.
These condolences Of the spiritual
and physical world are profoundly
suggestive. They hush into reverence
every thoughtful mind. Only the
Grass and the ignorant disregard them
or treat them lightly. Gods bells
all chime in tune. There is such a
thing as a divine coneatenation Of
events God was working in Caesa-
rea and in JOppa. The same omnis-
cient and omnipresent Spirit was
moving upon the hearts Of two men
whose lives had never before i'm
pigned.
The miracle is as common as life.
Why is it that one spark of love lights
the heart of any two persons whose
lives have been lived in different
spheres? Why is it that men with the
same purpose. working far apart, are
ultimately brought together: 1t is diff
fcult for a reverent spirit to escape
the conviction that God is managing
his own world.
The preparation of Peter was in
teresting. All unwittingly he had
been made ready for a new eXper
ience He was lodging with tam
ner, man whose trade made him an
outcast in Jewish eyes. Many Of Pc
ter's prejudiceS had been severely
jolted. Subsequently he could see, as
most Of us can see, how inexplicable
past experiences have led Up to q
great present.
The Sheet and the Beasts.
Fastidious Peters vision was of a
sheet let down from Heaven contain
ing all manner of living creatures.
upon which he was hidden to dine.
AS a correct Jew, he revolted, be-
cause he had never touched food that
was ceremonially unclean. The aver
age American cannot quite appreciate
Peters state of mind, nor the fact
that the same conditions exist today.
| thought of Simon Peter when one
day, in the holy city of Benares III
India, a Hindu merchant waved me
frantically away from his food bazar
lest my profaning hands should touch
and contaminate the ceremonially
clean food that was his merchandise.
Peter was reminded that man-made
laws shrivel into insignificance when
God speaks A distinguished South
ern gentltman went to Africa as a
missionary, and as his companion he
had a negro Christian. In this coun-
try, they both sedE1ously observed
the social usages that obtain in their
community in the relations between
white men and negroes. But in At
common need and a common mission,
they forgot that there ever was such
a thing as a color line, and they be-
came brother men. serving the one
Master for the welfare Of the race.
Henry Van Dyke pointedly has said:
Men are many, humanity is one"
In the higher realms fife and SER
vice we never hear the phrase, so
common in certain parts of the world: /:
only a Chinaman,'' only a niger"
only a dagO.'
! The Vision that Makes Duty.
After the visions Of Cornelius and
Peter, both RECEIVED an Interpretation
experiences. Both learned that God
was calling them forth not only to
| an Immediate service. but to the lead
! ing of a pioneer faith into a great,
| new territory of life. Along the way
| first trod by Peter and Cornelius. my
riads have since followed to the Cross
in whose blessed light all colors of
humanity art as one.
What if Peter or Cornelius had been
disobedient to the Heavenly vision
There is nothing so sacred IN TINS
world as the spiritual sense which
through the voice of duty the one
supreme concern of the heart should
be to hear and to make quick answer.
Concerning all such messages it may
he said, as God said Of the men at
Peters gate: Get thou down and go
with them, nothing doubling. for
nave sent them, Professor II. l..
Koopman has expressed the thought
beautifully:
when L am dead
May this with truth be said.
On the rude stone that marks my
;, e lovIy: head, z:.5s 2;-{.-
That spite of doubt and indecision,
IN : spite !. of weakness, Iameness.