means, to become that which he now was. We behold in Paul an example of a believer, whose life was hid with Christ in God. He therefore adds,' For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting'—and the ground of this faith and peace is contained in the true and precious words, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.'

If we wish to attain the peace of God, and become heirs of everlasting life, we must first firmly believe the words of reconciliation and atonement, and then love and prize them with our whole hearts and souls, for this is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.' And this life we shall enjoy, if we, like the Gentile Cornelius, in all humility, hunger and thirst after righteousness and salvation. As the blind, the lame, and the unclean, came unto Christ while he walked upon earth, and were healed by him; so we must first approach, and by faith lay hold of our incarnate Redeemer, who came into this world and dwelt among us. For this reason the New Testament commences with the four-fold history of our Savior; and the Apostle Peter begins his sermon to Cornelius, with an account of the earthly pilgrimage of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us also contemplate it.

'That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with

the Holy Ghost, and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.'-Acts x. 37, 38.

In order to understand the commencement of our text, 'That word, which was published throughout all Judea,' we must observe that it is a peculiar property of the language in which the divine revelations were written, to express word and thing by the same combination of letters. The well-known sentence in Luke i. 37, For with God nothing shall be impossible,' might also be translated no word* shall be impossible.' In the same way the shepherds at Bethlehem say, 'Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this word which is come to pass,' or as it is in our translation, 'this thing which is come to pass.' That which we express by the term thing, signifies also, in the language of the people of God, word or words, and with great reason. Without God's word and will, nothing can be done; a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his permission. When He speaks, it is done, when He commands, it stands fast. Every thing before it takes place, is but a word in the mind of God; and afterwards, when it has happened, and become a fact, it again becomes a word in being related to another. The flood happened long ago, but in words it stands written as if still happening, forming a living picture before our eyes. The incarnation of the Son of God was from all eternity a word and counsel of the Almighty; and

*In the original To inua, literally 'the word,' which, like the Hebrew, signifies in the sacred writings, either word or thing.

it was also a word in the mouths of his prophets. At his birth in Bethlehem it became a fact, or a thing done; afterwards it again became a word, a preaching, an announcement, and a Gospel. The great subject to which Peter alludes, is the history of Jesus Christ, his actions and his earthly pilgrimage. This is what we must now consider.

'That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea.'-Cornelius had already heard of Jesus and his miracles; the report of them had spread through all Judea, through Syria, and the neighboring countries. The Apostles, but particularly Philip, had preached the Gospel in Samaria; and, at a later period, it had even reached Cæsarea. Certainly Cornelius would receive Peter's intelligence with far more eagerness, and it would arrest his soul far more powerfully, because he had all along expected that salvation should come from this Jesus of Nazareth. For the same reason, the Apostle, taking for granted that Cornelius and his friends, were already acquainted with Jesus and his miracles, thus addressed them, 'That word I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea.' Judea, that is to say, Canaan, was, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, to be the land of Emmanuel; and Micah also says, 'But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.'

'And began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached.'-Jesus lived in Galilee, in the little

town of Nazareth, in perfect seclusion, until his thirtieth year. It was out of Galilee he came when he began his office of teaching; here he called his first disciples; and here he performed the first and also the greater part of his miracles. Out of the obscure and despised Nazareth arose the light and salvation of the world, according to the words of the prophet, 'The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.' Isaiah ix. 2. The ways of God upon earth have always been different from the ways of men-as he, at the creation, called forth light out of darkness; so he now made the work of redemption arise out of obscurity and insignificance.

This great work commenced with the baptism of John; when this man of God, in the spirit of Elias, preached repentance for the remission of sins, announcing the approach of the kingdom of heaven, and the dawn of the Sun of Righteousness-and when Jesus came to him desiring to be baptized. Then that word, which had been concealed in the bosom of the Father from the beginning of the world, assumed a form in which it could be seen and heard; and that was done after the manner of men, which had never entered the imagination of man to conceive. The Lord of light and glory, in a form of deep humiliation, as though he had required the baptism of repentance, in order to fulfil all righteousness, permitted himself to be baptized by a man, who, according to his own confession, was unworthy to unloose the latchet of his shoes.

Thus the divine work, which was to remove for ever

the separation between heaven and earth, between the Holy God and the sinful human race, was begun in the deepest humility, and the divine nature must become human, before the human could become divine.

The Apostle now describes our Lord himself and his life upon earth. He calls him simply Jesus of Nazareth, as shortly before he had proclaimed him to be 'Lord of all.' He makes use of that human name which the angel had given him at his birth, and which had been a very common one among the Israelites since the time of Joshua.-'Jesus, with the addition, of Nazareth.' As the Lord himself, through the depths of humiliation, must perfect his work of righteousness before re-ascending to that glory and splendor which were his from the beginning; so must also his name, in the same path of obedience, shame and humiliation, become a name above all names, to which every knee should bow, and which every tongue should praise. Jesus our Savior and Redeemer,' is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.' Heb. vii. 25; it was he, this high and holy one, of whom the Apostle speaks. But Cornelius and his friends must learn to know him as the Son of Man, and the Messiah, who came into the world to save sinners, he is therefore called the Man of Nazareth.

'Ye know,' continued Peter, how God anointed him with the Holy Ghost, and with power.'-This expression is symbolical. Anointing with oil was an Eastern custom, meant to denote a peculiar honor,-it was principally used when kings were crowned, and was a token,