CXLV. SERM. named it Cæsarea; it was about sixty miles from Hierusalem. The Roman president keeping his court here, he had several soldiers under his command, and over every hundred soldiers there was a captain, who was therefore called centurio, the commander of an hundred; and amongst others, there was one Cornelius, a centurion, or captain in the Apostles' days, about three or four years after our Saviour's ascension into Heaven. This Cornelius, a centurion or captain of the Italian band at Cæsarea, although by birth he was a Gentile, yet by his frequent conversing with the Jews in Palestine, he attained to the knowledge of the true God, the Creator and Governor of the world, (as many at that time did besides him,) and so he became a proselyte. But we must know there were two sorts of proselytes amongst the Jews; some were called, proselytes of righteousness, and proselytes of the Covenant;' those embraced the whole Mosaic dispensation, they were circumcised, offered, and sacrificed as the Jews did, and in every thing enjoyed the same privileges, as if they had been born Jews; the other were Dawin ona, proselyti inquilini, these were not circumcised, nor bound to observe the ceremonial Law, but only the more necessary points of the moral Law; as to avoid idolatry, but to worship only the true God; not to commit fornication, murder, nor robbery, but to be just and to abstain from things strangled; which were called the seven precepts given to Noah, as Maimonides a Jewish writer asserts. Now such a kind of proselyte was Cornelius, and many others in those times, and are often mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, under the name of vor, devout men,' or worshippers of the true God, as Acts xvii. 4; xiii. 43; xvi. 14. Cornelius therefore, although he was no such Jewish proselyte as to be circumcised, and observe all the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic Law, and therefore was reputed by the Jews but as a Gentile and unclean; yet notwithstanding, he was so far instructed in the knowledge of the true God, that he had not only renounced his former idolatry wherein he was bred and born, but he lived up too unto the light which he had received, constantly and conscientiously performing his devotions to Almighty God, to the utmost of his knowledge and power, and expressing his piety towards God, by his charity to the poor, as is here expressly asserted. And it is very probable, that there being now Acts 10.1,2. a new religion started in the world, wherein the true God was worshipped as well as in the Jewish, he made it his daily prayer and request to Almighty God, to be instructed in the right way, and directed to that religion wherein he might attain to everlasting Salvation. And although he certainly could neither pray nor do any good work as yet as he ought to do it, yet doing it as well as he could, God that never fails them that do what they can, was pleased to have so much mercy upon him, as to send an Angel on purpose from Heaven, to direct him to one of Christ's Disciples, Peter by name, who should tell him what he must further do. It is true, God might have given the Angel commission to have told him himself, that he must believe in Jesus Christ that was crucified at Hierusalem a little while before; but there being Ministers settled upon earth for that purpose, God chose rather to send him to one of them, to teach all after-ages that they must not now expect revelations from Heaven, to be directed in their way thither, but should apply themselves to the ministry for that end. The Angel that was sent came to Cornelius at the ninth hour of the day, that is, at three o'clock in the afternoon, at which time Cornelius was at his devotions, that being ch. 10. 30. anciently an hour of prayer. Cornelius being startled, as well he might, at the sight of so glorious a person, the Angel addresses himself unto him in this gracious and comfortable language," Thy prayers and thine alms are come up as a ver. 5, 6. memorial before God; and now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: he lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea-side; he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do." Where we may observe how punctual the Angel was in describing the person he was to send for; by the city where he lodged, Joppa; by both his names, Simon and Peter; by his name where he lodged, Simon; by his landlord's calling, he was a tanner; and by the situation of his house, it was by the sea-side; and all, to shew how accurate we should be in matters of religion, and in whatsoever concerns our eternal happiness, as the Angel here was in directing Cornelius to St. Peter, describing him by all these circumstances, lest he CXLV. SERM. should be mistaken in the man, and so fail in his expectations from him; which were to know what he should further do: "he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do." From whence it is plain, that notwithstanding the extraordinary piety and devotion of Cornelius, who was certainly as great a moralist as ever lived, yet he had something still to do, which as yet he did not know of, without which he could never get to Heaven; he must send to Simon Peter to be instructed in the faith of Christ; which doubtless is as clear a demonstration as possibly can be desired, that all the devotion and good works imaginable can never bring Acts 4. 12. us to Heaven without Christ. And, therefore, although it be indispensably necessary that we do good works, yet we must not trust on them, but only on Christ for happiness and Salvation. But now for the excellency and necessity of good works, as likewise their acceptableness unto God, we have here a very remarkable instance in the first words of the Angel's message to Cornelius, "Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God," or "are had in remembrance in the sight of God," as it is expressed, v. 31; that is, God hath taken special notice of them all along, and still keeps them in His mind, so as graciously to reward thee for them. From whence it is obvious to observe, how acceptable prayers and alms are unto Almighty God, and how well pleased He is with them, and how graciously He was pleased to reward Cornelius for them, by directing him to the way that leads to everlasting life, yea, and to send an Angel from Heaven on purpose to do it; whereby Cornelius was not only very highly honoured, by having an Angel to wait upon him, and to bring this blessed message to him, but he was likewise thereby fully assured of God's special grace and mercy to him, and was so fully instructed in the way to happiness, that he is doubtless now a glorified Saint in Heaven. So that although his prayers and alms could not bring him to Heaven alone, they, it seems, were the occasion of his being directed in the way thither, as the Angel intimates to him in these words, "Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God." Seeing, therefore, we all, I hope, are desirous to do such works as are acceptable to Him that made us, and nothing being more plain than that prayers and alms are so, I shall To begin, therefore, with prayer, a duty continually incumbent upon us, and therefore the more necessary to be rightly understood by us. And that ye may clearly apprehend whatsoever is necessary to be known concerning it, I shall shew, I. The nature of it in general. II. The reasons why it is so acceptable unto God. III. The manner how we may so perform it, that God may accept of it. As for the first, the nature of prayer in general, it is rightly defined by Damascene, to be, Ανάβασις νοῦ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, 'the ascent of the mind to God.' When the soul lays aside the thoughts of all things else, and converses only with God, then it is properly said to pray; so that as in hearing God speaks to us, so in praying we speak to God. So that prayer hath an immediate reference to God Himself, the soul at such a time applying itself only unto God. And all that we ought to think or speak in prayer may be reduced to these general heads, confession, petition, and thanksgiving. i. For the first, when we speak to so glorious a Majesty as God is, we ought, in the first place, to acknowledge and confess our own unworthiness to appear before Him, or to receive any mercy from Him, by reason of the manifold and great transgressions that we have committed against Him. Thus Ezra, in his prayer to God, made an humble confession Ezra, 9.6,7. of his own and his people's sins; thus David prayed, and Ps.51.1–5. Daniel. And that this prayer of Daniel was very acceptable Dan. 9.3-5, unto God is plain, in that it was no sooner got to Heaven, but an Angel was immediately despatched from thence to certify Daniel that he was a person greatly beloved, and to ver. 20—23. acquaint him how his prayer was heard. And certainly nothing is more reasonable in itself, nor more acceptable to God, than to confess our sins every time we go to Him against Whom they were committed. ii. And as we are to confess our sins unto Him, so are we to beg for mercy from Him, which is that part of prayer which &c. CXLV. SERM. we call petition, which is so great a part of prayer, that it is ordinarily put for the whole. And the prayer which our blessed Saviour Himself composed and stamped with Divine authority, consisteth mostly of petitions or requests put up to our Father Which is in Heaven. Neither is there any thing whatsoever that is truly good for us, but if we want it, we may and ought to ask it of God, Who is not only the chiefest good in Himself, but the only fountain of all good to His creatures; so that whatsoever it is that we want, we are still to go to Him for it, whether it be for our souls or bodies, for this life or that which is to come; and that either for ourMatt. v. 44. selves or others, yea, for our very enemies. 1 Tim.2.1,2. iii. And as we must desire of God what we want, so must we praise Him for what we have, not only by giving Him formal thanks for such or such mercies which He hath bestowed upon us, but especially by magnifying and extolling His great and all-glorious Name, by confessing and acknowledging Him to be the supreme Possessor and Disposer of all things, that every good and perfect gift comes from Him that is above. Hence in the Hebrew, the usual word for thanksgiving is 77, which properly signifies 'confession,' because the thanks we give to God for the mercies we have received from Him, consists principally in confessing that it is from Him alone that we have received them. And this is the only way likewise whereby it is possible for us to praise God, even by acknowledging Him to be what He is, a God infinitely great and glorious in Himself, infinitely good and gracious in His Son to all that love and fear Him. Hence the same Hebrew word that signifies to confess, when it is referred to God, properly signifies to praise Him; as where Ps. 107. 8. it is said, "Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness;" in the Hebrew it is 77,Oh, that men would confess to the Lord His goodness; that is, confess Him to be good, and wonderful in His dealings to mankind. Thus the Divine hymn composed by St. Ambrose begins with the proper notion of praise, "We praise Thee, O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord;" that is, ' We praise Thee, by acknowledging that Thou art the Lord, the Supreme Being and Governor of the whole world.' And verily this is so necessary a part of prayer, that our |