Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1916-04-09
7TlHIIE SUNDAY SCHIOOIL LESSON
EY REN NEVysONlE

Lesson for April 16, Acts l0:l-23.
The one outstanding truth above all
others in this lesson is that God is no
respector of persons. and 1t follows as
logical conclusion that man is try
ing to coutrovert Gods will when he
tries to make divisions and differences
in the worthiness of human beings.
Every individual human being is u
creature of the same God. is poten-
tial vessel of his will. is an object OF
his loving solicitude. and is an invited
guest to the feast of his blessing-it
resting only with the individual him
self whether he will make himself a
party to the covenant. IL was the
Savior himself who first impressed
upon us the impossibility of catalog-
ing our fellow beings, of sorting out
the sheep from the goats, of putting
the stamp of orthodoxy on one, of
heresy on another. and of condemna-
tion without hope upon another. His
life, as well as his preaching, was one
consistent, living protest against this
very fallacy. For purposes of keeping
the Israeltish race and religion un-
contaminated, the Mosaic law laid
down certain restrictions and limita-
tions; but when the Messiah came
the bars were broken down and all
humanity was included in the scheme
of the gospel. 1t took some time and
some thinking for the apostles to get
rid of the old prejudice which had
been drilled into the whole nation by
their religious teachers. and we can
not help but have little sympathy
for their slowness of understanding.
The fact is, we have not outgrown
this idea of eXclusiveness and separa-
ton in this twentieth century. We
have not entirely learned the lesson
that we cannot tag and classify hui
manity according to our finite human
understanding of good and evil, and
that judgment is the prerogative Of
God alone. We have not learned the
full meaning of Johns teaching tha,
as we judge others so shall Judgment
be meted out to us. Every time we
presume to bass judgment on fell
low-man we are adding to the re-
sponsbilities we will personally have
to answer for. The Lord taught us to
pray forgive us our debts as we for
give our debtors" Likewise the man
who is most considerate i'm his judg-
ment of other men is the man who
is going to receive the most considera-
tion. not only in this life, but in the
judgment day.
iNiHS NttouihS " IIIS iiSit
In Ceserea lived Cornelius. lie
was not Jew. but was an officer in
the army of mighty Rome, then the
mistress of the world. and held po-
sition in which we might have cX-
| pected him to have developed any
thing but a religious disposition. Yet
| the record tells that he was a good
man according to the light he had
and was living life of practical
Christianity without ever having re-
ceived the gospel. There are people
| today who try the same experiment
claiming that they can he just as good
out of the church as in it. Yet there
is one notable difference. While the
good works of Cornelius were counted
to his credit he was not relying on
them as the fulfillment of his long
ings. He knew in his heart there was
something more and he had beer
praying for light. That is where his
modern imitators fall short of the
measure. People can live good lives
outside of the church. but they don't
kPeople may do the best they know
how and expect to be saved on the
strength of their sincerity alone, wher
down in their hearts they are afraid
to acknowledge to themselves that
there is something yet lacking. Cor
nelius was seeking for more light, al
the same time that he was obedient
to the light he had. He did not stub
bornly pretend that he had grasped
the whole truth and stick to the light
he had without being open to greater