Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-04-14
WAR IS BREAKING
DOWN PREJUDICES
Sunday School Lesson Upon
Tolerance and Brother
illness
The International Sunday School les
sou for April 16 Is Peter and Cor
lius.'-Acts 1O:1-23.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS

L.
proud Roman and a prouder Jew
one day lost their historic prejudices
and became not only tolerant OF what
was on the other side of the high wall
which divided them from their other
people, but actually crossed the wall
themselves. This lesson tells the
story. Crowded with incident, ii re-
Veals an angel talking to a heathen;
a pork-abhoring Jew who learned that
all meats are clean; and strict fol-
lower of the law of Moses visiting in
the home of a Gentle Roman, and
telling him a story that brought a sec
ond Pentecost.
Such a great experience is well
worth studying, especially when the
blasts of war are breaking down old
aversions and divisions and prejudices
ana at the same time creating new
ones. Never was a lesson upon toler-
ance and brotherliness timelier than
now. The Christian Church has not
always been tolerant of tolerance. 1t
is only OF recent years that we have
understood the Christian virtue of
bearing with another's beliefs which
are different from ours. Now our
horizons have been pushed out, and
we know that we ARE all members
one of another" and We sing:
For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of mans mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind"
If we want another "Pentecost like
unto the Gentiles' as the old church
fathers called the experience in the
house of Cornelius. it will come only
after fresh awakening to the truth
that God has present-day messages
for us; and after a new vision of the
inclusiveness of the Gospel.
The present popularity of the
preaching of the Gospel for all the
world may have consequences that
will extend far beyond our conven-
tional understanding of a foreign mis-
sion revival Our petty regulations
and codes and insularities and pre-
judices will have to give way to a
broader understanding of the world
of God.
4 Seeking Soldier
Travel, observation, reading and
maturity of thought all play havoc
with petty prejudiCes. There is no
class or calling or race or nation that
n wise man is willing to condemn. 1t
Will go hard with some students of this
lesson. so strong is a certain antipathy
to militarism, TO realize that God sent
his angel to a soldier. Captain Cor
nelius was n military man, stationed
at Caesarea. town on the Mediter-
ranean coast some thirty miles above
Joppa. His duties were altogether
those of a soldier. and outwardly his
life was controlled by the profession
of arms. Withal, beneath his breast
plate he concealed a heart hungry for
God. Spirituality belongs to no sect
or group or condition OF mankind.
our contact with Cornelius should
teach us that Godliness is a universal
aspiration.
This seeking soldier did more than
aspire. He prayed and he served.
Both his charities and his prayers
came up before God: for to such a
soul God would not deny himself. He
followed the light he had-and it is
to be recalled that although reared
among Roman polytheism, Cornelius
believed in one God, and so was given
more light.
To him an angel appeared and bade
him go to Joppa Tor Peter. Little as.
II may accord with our not:2nS UT n
Rcnac& eE:l:@.ion, tins sU1dier was of
.>.- sort to whom angels appear. and
he could look una has shed into the face
of heavenly visitant.
\ jew Who Broke Caste
Nobody discards ancient proiudices
or convictions in minute. Peter had
coming to him. Pentecost had broad
ened his horizon, so that at Joppa he
sojourned with a tanner, whose call
Ing was prescribed 10 the Jew. The
naturalness of the vision that came TO
Peter is apparent He was hungry.
He went 10 the common oriental
loungins place, the housetop, TO wait
until dinner should be ready. There
he fell into a trance and had a vision
Of food--a great sheet let down from
heaven containing all manner of
beasts and reptiles and birds. 4 voice
hade him Rise Peter, kill and eat"
AS man is prone TO do, Peter remon-
strated with God; for Il have never
Vet eaten anything unholy or impure"
Foolish braggart, hurting his pharisai-
cal righteousness into the teeth of
God. The voice answered again.
What God has purified you must not
regard as unholy." Three times this
was said. and then the vision was
withdrawn.
A twentieth century fault was that
of Peters. He was over-fastidious
We are in danger of being refined into
inefficiency. The church is so inter
ested nowadays in her grammar and
in her manners that she is alienated
from the toiing, dusty, sweatv crowd.
That. If anything, is proved by Billy"
successes. It is less import
ant that the Church he correct in her
outward forms than that she he close
TO people.
Clearly. though. our day is learning
the lesson that the program of God is
broader than the prescriptions of our
Creeds, and books of church govern
ment. We find non Episcopalians in
Episcopal pulpits: unimmersed Chris
tians at Baptist communion tables, |
and women in Presbyterian pulpits.
and Unitarian hymns in orthodox
hymnals. On the whole, our time is
learning with Peter the lesson of
tolerance.
Condolences That Are Providences
A certain man was accustomed to
:hou art preparing for me" God
works both upon the field and the
'orce. It exalts our thinking to recall |
he universally and the immanence