The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1916-04-22

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In the notes published last week
there was given an outline of the clos
ing part of the tenth chapter of Acts
In discussing the lesson for tomorrow,
We will follow that outline and one
other division as follows:
Peter Received BY Cornelius.
1t would seem perfectly natural for
Cornelius to suppose that since an
6ngel had called his attention to
Teter as the one who had a divine
message for him, he would conclude
that he was little above the ordinary
man. Therefore, when Peter enters
his home he falls down to worship
him. This act, though coming from a
commendable spirit, was evidence Of
the fact that Cornelius had a very inn
perfect idea of the Diety. He was in
clined to give to man, because he rep
resented God, a place equal with God
as a person to be worshipped. Peter
refusing to accept worship, sets an ex-
ample for men of all ages, both in the
matter of worshipping other men or
being worshipped by them.
Peter explains how through a vision
he had come to be prepared to receive
the messengers from Cornelius AMI
Row that his natural prejudice against
the Gentlies was dispelled by God
teaching him to call no man common
or as a person with whom Jew
should not associate.
Tho Gospel Preached,
From this record as well as from
the others in the Acts of the Apostles,
the one important thing is the preach
ing of the gospel. Peter was sent to
this home for this purpose. The one
thing Jesus stressed in the commits
sion was that this gospel should be
preached to every creature. Peter
recognized this to be his task and be-
gan to tell about Christ, the Savior
of the world. Our country is dotted
with church buildings in which Christ
is preached. No one need to go far
from his home to get hear this Won
derful message. Yet how few COM
paratively go to hear this gospel
preached. A Bible containing this
message of life and light is in nearly
every home, but it is not searched for
these truths by the great mass of HUI
manity who are now lost and whose
only hope Of salvation is in this
truth that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God" The reason why the
gospel is so sighted is not in the ma
ture of the message, but in the char
acter of the people to whom the gos-
pei should be preached and by whom
/. should be accepted.
Tho Holy Spirits Approval.
To convince the Jews present, that
God had accepted the Gentle, the
Holy Spirit fell on those in this home
who heard this sermon. 1t was not
the ordiary gift of the spirit as prom
Used to every believer who is baptized,
but a special baptism of the spirit.
This is evident from the fact that
these Gentiles were able to speak with
other tongues as were the Apostles
after their baptism on the day Of Pen
tecost. If in the other cases of con-
vrsion, this same experience had been
theirs, then 1t would seom that this
manner Of the gift of the spirit was
essential to conversion. But as such
was not the case II Is well to see that
this special spiritual baptism had a
special purpose, which was for the
benefit of the Jews present and not
for those of Cornelius household.
Commanded Them To BE Baptized.
To know what things are necessary
in the salvation Of an individual is to
take those things which are common
to all cases Of conversion recorded In
the Bible One Of these was baptism
in water. Peter so commands in this
case, as he and others commanded in
other cases. The special spiritual Wis
itations may be the experience of some
but no person should slight the ex-
pressed wishes of God by ignoring
this command. Those who were add
cd to the church in the Bible times
did not overlook this command. Why
should not the people of today be as