CHAPTER XII. Conversion of the devout Gentiles.—History of Cornelius, the first Gentile Convert. AMONG the Gentile nations who had intercourse with the Jews, there were many persons who had been converted to the knowledge of the true God, and had, in consequence, renounced idolatry, though they did not follow the whole law of Moses, and become Jews, as that Ethiopian I have mentioned did. These persons were permitted to worship in the outward courts of the Temple beyond the inner gates, and were therefore called proselytes of the gate. Proselyte has the same meaning as convert; it is a word which you are not used to, but I use it, because it is desirable to remember what the Jews called this class of converts. They were also called pious or "devout" Gentiles, and were the next persons to whom the Gospel was preached, after the Jews and Samaritans. The charge of preaching to them was given first, it seems, to Peter. I am going to tell you the history of his first convert, nearly in the words of Scrip ture. There was a certain man in Cesarea, called Cornelius, a centurion G in the Roman service, a pious man, and one that feared God with all his house, and gave much in charity to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in to him, and saying, "Cornelius-thy prayers and thine alms (or charitable deeds) are had in remembrance in the sight of God. And now send to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter, he will tell thee what thou oughtest to do." Here you see, my dear children, the use of prayer. Cornelius could not have known God as we do, through Jesus Christ, and yet he persevered in praying to Him, doubt less that he might know His will better. What must he have felt, when the angel told him that God had heard and accepted his prayers! He eagerly obeyed the divine commands, and sent to Joppa, where Peter was living. Now it had not yet been revealed to the Apostles, that the Gospelthe tidings of salvation by Jesus Christ, was to be preached to any besides Jews. They might indeed have understood this, from what their Lord had said while He was on earth, and from the Prophets; but it seems that they did not, and that they required to be informed of God's will in this respect. Accordingly, the |