Holy Ghost resting upon them. It is not usually God's will to bestow the grace of Sacraments on any but by the Sacraments; yet, at the same time, He Himself is the Source and Giver of grace; and though men are tied to the use of the means which GOD has been pleased to appoint for the reception of Divine grace, yet His Power is not tied even to the most sacred Divine ordinances (S. John iii. 8).

4. S. Peter's Defence (ch. xi. 1–18).

Strange news reaches the ears of the Hebrew Christians in Jerusalem, that Peter, the chief of the Apostles, had consented to become the guest of a Gentile-had eaten bread in his house-had preached CHRIST unto him—and, strangest of all, had admitted him, though uncircumcised, to Holy Baptism. Such a total disregard of Jewish law and ritual shocked the Jewish Christians beyond measure. As soon

as S. Peter returned to Jerusalem the charge was brought against him: Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them' (v. 3).

The Apostle met the accusation with meekness and gentleness. He explained the matter fully to his fellowcountrymen, showing how clearly he had followed the guiding hand of CHRIST, and so convinced them that GOD had admitted the Gentiles to the like privileges with themselves, that all their prejudices were overcome. They held their peace, and glorified GOD, saying, 'Then hath GOD also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life' (v. 18).

Lessons to be drawn from the Narrative :

1. The priests of the Church are ambassadors of CHRIST, stewards of the mysteries of GOD (1 Cor. iv. 1; 2 Cor. v. 20), and should therefore be held in special honour and respect. Cornelius, as his name implies, was probably of noble birth, yet he was willing to be taught by a Jew of low birth, and

treated him with the utmost reverence as the messenger of GOD.

2. GOD is ever giving fresh light and knowledge, and increase of grace to those who, like Cornelius, make a good use of the light they have already received.

3. God gives His grace most abundantly to those who are best prepared to receive it. Humility, faith, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the best preparations we can

make to receive a more abundant outpouring of His Holy Spirit.

4. GOD is no respecter of persons.

He cares both for

rich and poor, for the learned and the ignorant, for old and young. It is His gracious will that all men should be saved, and should come to the knowledge of the truth.

Are we

trying to carry out His will by doing all in our power to extend His Kingdom, the Church, at home and abroad, and by our prayers, our alms, our influence, and our example to win souls to Him?

NOTE.-The calling of the Gentiles is frequently dwelt upon in Old Testament prophecy. (See Gen. xii. 3; xxii. 18; Ps. ii. 8; lxii. 8-11; lxvii.; lxviii. 31; xcvi. 3, 10; Isa. ii. 2, 3; xl. 10; xlix. 6, 7; lx. 1-3; Mal. i. 11.) CHRIST had spoken plainly, both to the Jews and to His disciples, about it (S. Matt. viii. 11; xxiv. 14; xxviii. 19; S. Mark xvi. 15; S. Luke xxiv. 47; Acts i. 8). But even the disciples were not prepared to see the wall of partition which had hitherto separated Jew from Gentile wholly removed; they imagined that circumcision would still be a necessary condition of entering into covenant with GOD.

The teaching of the Rabbis was carried far beyond the requirements of the Divine Law as regarded the separation of Jew and Gentile. According to their interpretation it was unlawful for a Jew to enter the house of a Gentile, 'to keep company or come unto one of another nation' (ch. x. 28), though no such prohibition is found in the Law of Moses.

So exclusive had the Jews become at this time, that contemporary historians say they would not show the way except to their fellow-religionists, nor guide any but a circumcised person to a fountain of which he was in search, and they cherished against all mankind the hatred of enemies.'

LESSON XXI.

The Church in Antioch.

Read Acts xi. 19-29. Learn 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25; 1 Pet. iv. 14, 16.

1. The Mother-Church of the Gentile World (v. 19).

From Jerusalem to Samaria, and further still, to Damascus, and to the cities on the shores of the Mediterranean, even as far as Antioch in the north of Syria, did those disciples travel who had been scattered abroad by persecution after the martyrdom of S. Stephen. Now, Antioch in those days was a very great city. In rank and population it was the third city in the Empire, yielding precedence only to Rome and Alexandria. Beautifully situated on the River Orontes, with a high mountain towering above it, and possessing ready communication with the Mediterranean, Antioch lay on the great thoroughfare of the nations in constant intercourse with Rome, and was the meeting-place of the Eastern and Western portions of the great Roman Empire.

Luxurious Romans had built their villas along the banks of its beautiful river; it abounded in handsome streets, magnificent buildings, gardens, statues, fountains, and shady groves. All that was beautiful in nature and in art seemed gathered together in that pleasure-loving city, whose inhabitants were looked upon as the most frivolous and dissolute in the whole Empire. Strange costumes might be seen, strange languages heard at all times in its streets, in which

people from all parts of the world jostled against one another. Roman soldiers, Phoenician sailors, Greek artists, Jewish merchants, Syrian vine-dressers, wood-cutters from Lebanon, negro slaves, Arabs, astrologers, and fortunetellers from the far East, made it their home; yet this gay, pleasure-loving city, so steeped in wickedness, was chosen by GOD to become the great Mission-centre and MotherChurch of the Gentile world.

2. The New Name (vv. 20–26).

Those first sowers of the seed who travelled as far as Antioch were not all Jews; some were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who gathered a congregation of believers from among the Grecian or Greek-speaking Jews. (There is much diversity of opinion as to whether the word translated Grecians (v. 20) should not rather be Greeks, according to the reading of many MSS. The former word signifies Greek-speaking Jews and proselytes; the latter, the heathen. On the whole, it seems improbable that the Gentiles, are intended; for if the reception of a single Gentile, Cornelius, and of a Jew with him at Cæsarea, made such a commotion in the Church, it is probable that the reception of the multitude at Antioch would have made more stir had they been Gentiles. Besides this, it is clear that S. Barnabas did not receive his mission to the Gentiles until after this had taken place (ch. xiii. 2, 46); and in ch. xiv. 27, Paul and Barnabas announce that God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, which would have been no news to them if those converted on a previous occasion had been Gentiles. There seems a peculiar fitness in this conversion of a large body of Hellenists or Greek-speaking Jews at this time, for S. Stephen owed his martyrdom, and S. Paul his persecution and flight from Jerusalem, to this very class; and now they are rescued from the death of sin, and brought to the saving knowledge of the Gospel, by those very people whom, in their mistaken zeal, they had persecuted, and who had now come from Jerusalem to seek and to save them in their own homes.)

H