Ministry of Peter
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purpose of ting Cornelius in connection with the minister of God, who
would teach him how he and his house could be saved.
Cornelius was gladly obedient to the message, and sent messengers
at once to seek out Peter, according to the directions of the angel.
The explicitness of these directions, in which was even named the
occupation of the man with whom Peter was then making his home,
evidences that Heaven is well acquainted with the history and business
of men in every grade of life. God is cognizant of the daily employment
of the humble laborer, as well as of that of the king upon his throne.
And the avarice, cruelty, secret crimes, and selfishness of men are
known to him, as well as their good deeds, charity, liberality, and
kindness. Nothing is hidden from God.
Immediately after this interview with Cornelius, the angel went
to Peter, who, very weary and hungry from journeying, was praying
upon the housetop. While praying he was shown a vision, “and saw
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heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had
been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth;
wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild
beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a
voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord;
for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the
voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed,
that call not thou common. This was done thrice; and the vessel was
received up again into heaven.”
Here we may perceive the workings of God’s plan to set the ma-
chinery in motion, whereby his will may be done on earth as it is
done in Heaven. Peter had not yet preached the gospel to the Gentiles.
Many of them had been interested listeners to the truths which he
taught; but the middle wall of partition, which the death of Christ had
broken down, still existed in the minds of the apostles, and excluded
the Gentiles from the privileges of the gospel. The Greek Jews had
received the labors of the apostles, and many of them had responded
to those efforts by embracing the faith of Jesus; but the conversion of
Cornelius was to be the first one of importance among the Gentiles.
By the vision of the sheet and its contents, let down from heaven,
Peter was to be divested of his settled prejudices against the Gentiles;
to understand that, through Christ, heathen nations were made partak-
ers of the blessings and privileges of the Jews, and were to be thus