Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1916-04-13

LtSSON lChts avs 1O' SOt ''SS
Acts 10: 24-4S. Memorize vss. 1915.
Golden Text: "There is no distinc-
tion between Jew and Creek for the
same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich
unto all that call upon him" Rom.
10: IL.
1. Teaching Race Brotherhood
"While on tour of PASTORAL Wis
itation Peter stopped at Joppa in the
house of tanner named Simon.
Thirty miles away in Caesarea was
Cornelius, the commander of a COM
pany of Roman soldiers, a very de-
vout man and one who loved and gave
literally to the Jewish religion.
Cornelius was Gentle, however. and
scrupulus Jews thought it wrong TO
enter his house or eat with him. In
a vision Cornelius was commanded to
send to Joppa and bring Peter TO
Caesarea, a command which the sold
ier at once obeyed.
preached Joppa, Peter had vision
preaching Joppa, Peter had vision
in which he saw all manner of clean
and unclean creatures and was COM
manded to kill and eat of them.
While he was trying to solve the
meaning of the vision, the three mes
sengers arrived and told him they had
come to bring him to the house of
. Cornelius. Peter saw in their re-
quest divine call and made ready to
obey it." Meeting Cornelius Peter
declared that God had revealed to him
that his prejudices of race and re-
ligion We're wrong. His declaration
and action were revolutionary. He
was later compelled to defend his un-
precedented action. Since then chris
tianity has been steadily teaching that
all men are brothers. The brother
hood of man was never so generally
recognized. 1t will ultimately con-
ouer race prejudices and national
prejudices, however these may be ex-
pressed. "God is no respecter of per-
sons" rich or poor, black or white,
Jew or Gentle, English or German,
American or alien. See to it that you
are not exclusive, narrow, provincial.
ii. THE OPEN MIND.
Only an open-minded man can learn.
Christianity is essentially religion of
of the open mind. Therefore one can
scarcely be christian without being
open minded.
If you think of your own life it will
probably be easy to find that you
have some pet prejudice. One man
refuses to believe in missions. They
are a red rag to his consciousness.
He declines to reason about them or
to face the facts. Another is sure
that every christian is a hypocrite,
He once knew christian who was
He is not aware that there are ten
thousand true christians within range
of his knowledge and that they are
not hypocrites. Another man has
a closed mind about the church. TIC
him it is a decadent and useless in
stitution. Therefore he "knocks" it
does not attend or support it, and re-
ioices in it's weaknesses. He ignores
its growth thru the centuries, its con-
quest of sin and of itself, its heroes
and its war cry?
Have you an open mind on religion
III N;S;nnc asd TackS
Phillips Brooks once preached a re.
markable sermon on "Visions anG
Tasks" which every man should read
1t shows how these two are to be re-
lated in a fruitful life. Some one has
said: "The man who has visions anc
no tasks is a dreamer. The man who
has tasks and no visions is drudge
The man who has both visions and
tasks is the man who moves the
world"
Are you drudge or dreamer
Why either alone? God has Wis
ion for you which will exalt and bless
your life. He has task which vii
make it fruitful and useful. Why moi
seek from him your life vision anc
task? Then it will no longer be spent
i, selfish narrowness or fail of reach
ing its highest goal.
What vision have you of your tasl
to make religion respected in youl
community? Are you getting under
the load of work necessary to make
Christ and his church vital in the life
of your family, friends and neigh
bors? Are young people, even children
in your own family, growing up will
no knowledge of Christ, the Bible, so
cial service, and conquest of person
al and social sin? There is mucl
work to do before the night comes on
One uord moro no not halittla th.