Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-07-19

put them all forth, and Knee1ed down
and prayed; and turning him to the
body said, Tabitlia, arise. And she open
ed her eyes: and when she saw Peter sat
up. And he gave her his hand, and lifted
her up, and when he had called the saints
and widows and presented her alive. :
(Acts $40, 4D. We were not shown the
house of Dorcas! But little distance
out of the city, in very pretty spot
we were shown what purports to be her
tomb, for, of course, she died again. 1t
is situated in the garden OF the monas-
terry of the Greek monks. and is sur
rounded by beautiful palm groves, fruit
orchards and gardens of flowers.
PETERS VISION. n d
But as interesting as was the story
of Dorcas, stilr more interesting story
was that Of Peters vision, upon the
housetop of Simon the tanner After
he had restored Dorcas to life he went
to the home of, tanner by the name Of
Simon, who was evidently a, disciple, ana
stayed with him. While there he had
wonderful experience In the city Of
Caesarea, % miles up the coast, was
certain Roman. centurion, or as we should
say, captain, by the, name of Cornelius.
He was "a devout man, and one that
feared God with ali his house. which
gave much aims to the people, and pray
ed to God Away" About o'clock one
afternoon he saw the vision Of an angel
coming to him and telling him that his
prayers and aims had "gone up for "A
memorial before Cod and to send 20
Joppa for Peter. He. did SO at once.
The next day about II o'clock Peter had
vision-a very 2emarka bic vision He
went on the housetop of Simon. the tam
ner to pray These eastern houses, you
5o- so nfc xulNi Ch aik
them convenient places for resort. Fall
Ing into a trance he saw the heaven
opened and a great sheet let down,
Where in were all manner of four-footsd
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 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 was done thrice,
and the vessel was received up again into
heaven" (Acts 10:12-l6.) While Peter
was thinking over the vision and. wonder
ing what II meant, the man who had. sent
by Cornelius stood before the. gate, ask
ing for Peter. He went down, heard their
story, saw through it all, went with
them, preached to Cornelius and baptized
him and his household. .....
What was the meaning of the. vision?
Simply this: The Jews were very eXclu-
sive in their religion. They thought that
none but Jews could be saved. Or If any
one else was saved, 1T would only be by
becoming a Jew through the rite of cir
cumcision. Nearly all of the Apostles
and early disciples IF Christ were Jews,
Many of them had an idea that only
Jews could become Christians, and thai.
to be a Christian it was necessary first
TO be a Jew The Gentiles, by which
term was meant all who were not Jews;
were regarded as dogs common"
"unclean.' Peter as a former Jew had
these notions The vision of the house.
top, taken in Connection with the vision,
to Cornelius. showed him clearly that no
human being is common or unclean in
Gods sight, that Christianity is a relig-
ion not for race, but for the world, and
that, as he said TO Cornelius, God is
no respecter of persons; but in every ma
ton he that feareth him and worketh
righteousness is acceptable to him.
(Acts 1924, 35.) The vision produced
wonderful effect on Peter. 1t transform
ed him from a narrow, vbigoted Jewish
Christian into a broad world Christian.
He loved to relate his experience. He
related II to Cornelius. He related IT
Jerusalem hristians, but who believed
that 1t was necessary to. be Jews first
before becoming Christians. He related
it again in the council at Jerusalem re-
inforcing the experience of Paul and Bar
nabas in preaching to the Gentiles in
Asia Minor and seeing a number OF them
This vision of Peter, added
to the experience of Paul, led the council
to decide that it 10 not necessary to be
circumcised or to observe any forms or
ceremonies, to be saved. that there is no
distinction between Jew and Gentle in
the plan of salvation, that the heart Of
Gentle as we'll as the heart Of Jew, may
be cleansed by faith. that they should
not put a yoke upon the neck of the dis
ciples which neither they nor their. faith
ers were able to bear-the yoke of bond
age to forms and ceremonies, of obedi-
ence to the lawn other words, that SAL
walton is not a matter of works, but of
faith. The decision of the council. based
on the vision of Peter and the experience
of Paul, determined for all tife the ma
ture of Christianity as a religion, not cf
the outside, but Of the inside; not mate
rial, but SPIRITUAL; not a narrow provin-
cial religion of any sect, but a worldwide
religion as deep as sin ard as broad as
the needs of humanity. Thank God for
the vision on the housetop, shown first
to Peter, and then to the world.
The guide carried us to a house said 20
be the house Of Simon the tanner. 1t is
reached through narrow, crooked, dirty
streets. The house is near the seashorc.
We went upon the roof, which is fiat.
That may have been the very house
where the vision of Peter occurred.
do not know. l rather doubt it. 1t is
said the house shown tourists used to
be farther out but was located here for
the sake of convenience. Really. though,
I care very little about the exact loca-
ton of, the house. That makes little diff
ference ] know that somewhere here
the wonderful vision to Peter occurrd,
ana / know that the vision revolutionized
Peter and revolutionized the world.
THE CITY OF JOPPA..
Joppa is now a city of about $1,000 pop
ulation, 1900 of whom are Jews and g.
600 Christians The Christians are Ro-
man Catholics and Greek Catholics.
There are only about 50 Professionals IN
the place. The principal product is the
orange crop. Orange groves are all
around the city. About 100000 oranges