January 1928
20
T h e
K i n g ' s
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Christian. Cornelius prayed. His prayer was heard, God answering it in some measure at least. It, was through the answer-to his prayer that God led him to Christ, who alone could meet his need and save him. The point of impor tance here is that the prayer was heard and was measurably answered by God before he accepted Christ and became a Christian. Was this an isolated case or is it possible that other men pray so that they are heard before they are Christians? In light of the revelation here, one would feel the burden of the proof would have to rest with the man who would deny the possibility of a like experience in the lives of other men. In the fifth place, it is very clear that this man was guided by God and received distinct information and direc tion from Him, making it possible for him to move in line with God’s'will before he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. The story also throws a. great deal of light on the way we are to approach men who may have had this kind of experience of God before they became Christians. Peter, who was moving under the direct leading of the Holy Spirit, did not ignore what God had done for Cor nelius., 'When he undertook to worship him,-immediately Peter corrected him and declared that he was a man like unto himself and, therefore, not to be worshipped; but he.did,riof condemn him and rail against the ignorance and idolatry that were involved in such an act. On the contrary, notwithstanding his ignorance in this regard, Peter immediately recognized what God had done for him and that He had spoken to him. In other words, Peter began with the things that he knew, recognizing that in spite of his,ignorance of the real way of approach to God, God had been dealing with him and that he was able to know something of the mind of God. On the basis of what God had already done, he ministered to him and to his friends. In fact, he went further than this and recog nized that God was teaching him something because of his dealing with-this pagan mystic. H ad a P artial K nowledge At this point it is well for us to remind ourselves that Cornelius must have known something about Jesus Christ, for Peter assumes, as he addresses him later on, that he and his friends knew about the tidings of peace that he was preaching, for he says, “The word which he sent unto the children of Israel, preaching good tidings of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), that saying ye yourselves know which was published throughout all Judea.” If God could deal with Cornelius in this way and could lead him into such a life as he was living, why can we not believe He may be dealing with people who are outside of Christianity in a similar way today? We must not forget the fact that this was after the death and resur rection and ascension of Jesus Christ and after Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. If Peter did the right thing in going to him and recognizing what God had done for him, why should it be wrong for us to recognize what God may be doing for the Hindu or the Chinese in instances where they seem to have a manifest touch with God and a recognition of some of the things that are right and desirable in Jesus Christ? If it was not wrong for Peter to begin with Cornelius where he was, recognizing where God had done something with him, why should it be wrong for missionaries today to begin with unlightened souls in China or India where they find them ? “He lighteth every man coming into the world.” Is it not our duty to discover the extent to which a man has responded to this touch and is enlightened, and from that point lead on to Jesus Christ?
C ornelius W as N ot S aved Now, having recognized all of this, we must not lose sight of the main fact in this story. In spite of the fact that Cornelius was a good man, offering alms and prayers that were acceptable as ä memorial in the sight of God, and enlightened so that he could know something of the mind of God and direct his life in accordance with it, there was one thing he did not have. He was not a saved man. Whatever was the value and significance of all that went before, he needed Jesus Christ to save him. This is the reason he was directed to. send for Peter, and this is the reason why Peter was directed of God to go to Cornelius at Caesarea. It was when Peter told him about Jesus Christ as his Savior and he accepted Him, that the Holy Spirit came upon him and the great mystic touch of God upon his life was consummated in the mystic union of the soul with God as a member of the body of Jesus Christ. In our dealings with the people of India and China, or, for that matter, the people in the homeland, we should never -forget that the thing that they need beyond all they have is Jesus Christ as a living Savior, vgho alone can make possible the realization of the final Word of God concerning each soul, Man was made for God. He never will be satisfied until at last he finds his rest in that union made possible through identification with Jesus Christ in a new birth. It was in this experience that this mystic came to find the full answer to his prayer and the full satisfaction for which his heart and life craved. If Cor nelius, being such a man as he was, needed Jesus Christ, surely the very best of India and China, as well as the very best of men outside of Christ in our own land, need Christ. If the very best in the first century, as well as the very' best outside of Christ of our day, need Christ, how infinite ly much more the great masses who do not seem to have responded at all to the touch of God in anything like this way, need Him for their perishing lives. Let us be very wise and frank in the recognition of what God has done for men in every touch of His upon their lives; but, on the other hand, let us beware of coming short and inferring that because God has recognized them in the matter of alms and prayer and even in the matter of illumination, they do not need Jesus Christ as Savior. This is; the one thing that is definitely and irrevocably settled for the Christian; namely, that he must preach Jesus Christ to all the world. No Self-Delusion in Christ T HE Christ of the Gospels shows not the faintest trace of fanaticism or self-delusion. On the contrary, He discouraged and opposed all' the prevailing carnal ideas and hopes of the Messiah, as a supposed political reformer and emancipator. He is calm, self-possessed, uniformly consistent, free from all passion and undue excitement, never desponding, ever confident of success even in the darkest hour of trial and persecution. To every per plexing question He quickly returned the wisest answer; He never erred in His judgment of men or things; from the begin ning to the close of His public life, before friend and foe, before magistrate and people, in disputing with Pharisees and Sadducees, in addressing His disciples or the multitude, while standing before Pontius Pilate and Caiaphas, or suspended on the cross, He shows an unclouded intellect and complete mastery of appetite and passion—in short, all the qualities the very opposite to those which characterize persons laboring under self-delusion or any mental disease. —Philip Schaff.
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