41. And he gave her his hand, and lifted her ир, and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. 42. And it was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord. 43. And it came to pass, that he tarried many days in Joppa, with one Simon a tanner. : It is a pleasing account which is here given of Dorcas of the good works and alms-deeds which she did, and of the mutual affection which subsisted between her, and those to whom she had been kind. We see at once that a change had been wrought upon her heart. The way in which she employed herself, is not the ordinary mode of living. It is not that mode of living, to which the disposition naturally inclines us. The natural mode of living is that of self-indulgence, self-advancement. Men employ their wealth, their time, their thoughts, on themselves, and not on others; on some self-gratification or personal object, and not on increasing the comforts of those who need them. The wants, the privations, the sorrows, of those around us may be as much forgotten and left out of view, as if they were not heirs of the same nature, creatures of the same God. Here a different character is described. Dorcas had employed herself in improving the condition of those who had fewer comforts than she enjoyed; and now that she was taken away, the widows and destitute persons stood by weeping, and lamenting the loss which they had sustained. The reason of Dorcas's conduct is explained, when we are told that she was a disciple. She had received into her heart those truths, which led her, not having other duties, to employ herself in benefiting her neighbours. She was a disciple of Christ, who had loved her and given himself for her. Her first thought would be, how she could frame her life in a manner pleasing to him, to whom she owed even her own soul. And in many ways he has told us how he is pleased. He is pleased when those who have this world's good, are ready to distribute, and glad to communicate" it to others. He is pleased when his people "do good unto all men, especially to such as are of the household of faith:" when they clothe the naked, feed the hungry, relieve the stranger, comfort the sick, visit the prisoner. He considers these things as done unto himself. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Such was the Saviour's will, and she must comply with it. Even if command had been silent, she would still, as Christ's disciple, be actuated by feelings which would lead to the same conduct. Her fellow-creatures had acquired a new value in her eyes. They were no longer seen merely as persons born into the same world with herself, who might be convenient to her, and promote : her comfort, or increase the general wealth of the community. They were those for whom, as for herself," Christ died." This gave her an interest in them: an interest in their temporal and in their spiritual welfare and she would assist both, as God might give her power and opportunity. We find it mentioned universally as the result of faith in Christ. Believers were stirred up to " love and good works," and were "not barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus." That knowledge would supersede many worldly trifles which would otherwise occupy the mind and engross the time: but it would not leave the mind unoccupied, or the time unemployed. There will always be things which may be done, and may be usefully done, which will not suffer the Christian to be idle. There will always be the young who may be watched over, the ignorant who may be instructed, the sorrowful who may be comforted, the destitute who may be relieved. God shows his approval of this conduct, by the blessings which attend it; the inward comfort by which it is rewarded. It gives an interest to daily and ordinary life: it gives a value and importance to every passing day. And comfort it gives, too, in that hour to which Dorcas seemed to have come, and to which all must come: comfort from the evidence of faith which such a life attests. It proves that our faith, as Christians, has not been a barren creed, a lifeless profession, but an active principle in the soul: that the habits have been formed by it, the practice in agreement with it. We need, in that trying hour, a testimony that our religion has been real and true religion. And "true religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and keep ourselves unspotted from the world." " LECTURE XXVIII. A REVELATION IS MADE TO CORNELIUS. HIS CHARACTER. A VISION ALSO SEEN BY PETER.-A. D. 41. ACTS x. 1-16. 1. There was a certain man in Cæsarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, 2. A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. 3. He saw in a vision evidently, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.1 2 James i. 27. I There are no certain means of knowing the exact time when this event took place. Ancient authorities fix it at about two years from our Lord's ascension. Burton earlier on the general 4. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. 5. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: 6. He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. 7. And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually; 8. And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa.2 Hitherto the gospel had been preached to the Jewish people only. No others had been taught or invited to become disciples of Christ. His faith had been proclaimed in many countries beyond Judea; but only in the synagogues of the Jews who were settled in those lands. Such had been the design: "To the Jew first, and afterwards to the Gentile." The messengers (Luke xv. 21) who were sent to call the guests, and invite them to the banquet prepared, were first to visit the ground of the improbability of the "call of the Gentiles" being so long protracted. This argument still more strongly opposes the common chronology of our Bible, which dates it as late as the year 41. 2 Cæsarea was about a day's journey to the north of Joppa. 3 Rom. xi. 9. |