Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/823

 The following  virtues  are  to  be  found  in  Cornelius:

1. He  was  religious, for  he  prayed  continually,  and  honoured  God, and according  to  his  lights  strove  after  religious  truth.

2. He  was  conscientious, for,  as  far  as  his  conscience  taught  him, he observed  God’s  commandments,  obeyed  the  will  of  God,  and  kept himself from  sin.

3. He  was  charitable  and  compassionate, working  for  the  good  of his  neighbour. He practised  not  only  the  corporal  but  also  the  spiritual works of  mercy,  by  inviting  his  friends  to  hear  the  words  of  Peter,  and thus leading  them  to  the  true  faith.

4. He  was  obedient  to  God’s  command  to  send  for  Peter,  and  he thereby  obtained  salvation.

5. He  was  humble.  If  he  had  said  to  himself:  “What  can  an uneducated  fisherman  like  Peter  do  for  me,  a cultivated  Roman?”  he would  not  have  obtained  the  gift  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.

6. He  believed  the  word  of  God,  as  it  was  announced  to  him  by Peter,  and  therefore  he  received  the  gift  of  faith  from  the  Holy  Ghost, and the  grace  of  Baptism.

Indifferentism in  matters  of  faith.  The  sentence  in  Peter’s  discourse: “In  every  nation  he  that  feareth  God  and  worketh  justice  is acceptable  to  Him”,  has  been  interpreted  by  people  either  indifferent about, or  weak  in  faith,  to  mean: “It  is  all  the  same  what  people  believe, or  what  religious  creed  they  profess,  if  only  they  live  good  lives.” Now is  this  principle,  that  religion  and  faith  are  matters  of  indifference, correct? No! it  is  utterly  false  and  un-Christian,  and  that  for  these reasons: 1. Peter did  not  say:  “Faith  does  not  signify”; for  he  was,  on the  contrary,  most  anxious  to  convert  Cornelius  to  the  true  faith; but  his words meant  rather  that  nationality  does  not  signify — it  does  not  matter what nation  a man  belongs  to,  for  all  nations  are  called  to  believe  in Jesus  Christ,  and  all  persons,  to  whatever  nation  they  may  belong, are acceptable  to  Him,  if,  as  Cornelius  did,  they  keep  the  commandments and  strive  after  a knowledge  of  the  truth. Such men,  being  acceptable to  God,  are  called  by  Him  to  believe  the  true  faith,  and  thereby obtain salvation. 2. Peter,  at  the  end  of  his  discourse,  expressly  teaches that no  one  can  obtain  forgiveness  of  sins  but  through  faith  in  Jesus  (compare with  this  his  words  in  chapter  LXXXV: “There  is  no  other  Name under  heaven  given  to  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved”;  Acts  4,  12). 3. If  no  account  was  to  be  made  of  holding  the  true  faith,  St.  Peter need not  have  preached  to  Cornelius,  and  need  not  have  baptized  him. 4. If  it  be  a matter  of  indifference  what  faith  a man  holds,  then  the whole revelation  of  God  would  have  been  unnecessary,  and  it  would have been  quite  superfluous  for  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  have  come into the  world,  to  have  taught  the  true  faith,  and  founded  His  Church. 5. The  principle  that  it  does  not  signify  what  a man  believes  is  in direct  opposition  to  the  teaching  of  the  Gospels,  in  which  we  find  our