171 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are mine. 2 Are there not mockers around me? and doth [not] mine eye abide in their provocation? 3 Lay down now [a pledge], be thou surety for me with thyself: who is he that striketh hands with me? 4 For thou hast hidden their heart from understanding; therefore thou wilt not exalt [them]. 5 He that betrayeth friends for a prey—even the eyes of his children shall fail. 6 And he hath made me a proverb of the peoples; and I am become one to be spit on in the face. 7 And mine eye is dim by reason of grief, and all my members are as a shadow. 8 Upright men [shall be] astonished at this, and the innocent shall be stirred up against the ungodly; 9 But the righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall increase in strength.
10 But as for you all, pray come on again; and I shall not find one wise man among you. 11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, the cherished thoughts of my heart. 12 They change the night into day; the light [they imagine] near in presence of the darkness. 13 If I wait, Sheol is my house; I spread my bed in the darkness: 14 I cry to the grave, Thou art my father! to the worm, My mother, and my sister! 15 And where is then my hope? yea, my hope, who shall see it? 16 It shall go down to the bars of Sheol, when [our] rest shall be together in the dust.
181 And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said, 2 How long will ye hunt for words? Be intelligent, and then we will speak. 3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed stupid in your sight? 4 Thou that tearest thyself in thine anger, shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of its place?
5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the flame of his fire shall not shine. 6 The light shall become dark in his tent, and his lamp over him shall be put out. 7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down. 8 For he is sent into the net by his own feet, and he walketh on the meshes; 9 The gin taketh [him] by the heel, the snare layeth hold on him; 10 A cord is hidden for him in the ground, and his trap in the way.
11 Terrors make him afraid on every side, and chase him at his footsteps. 12 His strength is hunger-bitten, and calamity is ready at his side. 13 The firstborn of death devoureth the members of his body; it will devour his members. 14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tent, and it shall lead him away to the king of terrors: 15 They who are none of his shall dwell in his tent; brimstone shall be showered upon his habitation: 16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off; 17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name on the pasture-grounds. 18 He is driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. 19 He hath neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining in the places of his sojourn. 20 They that come after shall be astonished at his day, as they that went before [them] were affrighted. 21 Surely, such are the dwellings of the unrighteous man, and such the place of him that knoweth not God.
191 And Job answered and said, 2 How long will ye vex my soul, and crush me with words? 3 These ten times have ye reproached me; ye are not ashamed to stupefy me. 4 And be it [that] I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself. 5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and prove against me my reproach, 6 Know now that +God hath overthrown me, and hath surrounded me with his net. 7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, and I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
8 He hath hedged up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths. 9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. 10 He breaketh me down on every side, and I am gone; and my hope hath he torn up as a tree. 11 And he hath kindled his anger against me, and hath counted me unto him as one of his enemies. 12 His troops have come together and cast up their way against me, and have encamped round about my tent. 13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are quite estranged from me. 14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my known friends have forgotten me. 15 The sojourners in my house and my maids count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight. 16 I called my servant, and he answered not; I entreated him with my mouth. 17 My breath is strange to my wife, and my entreaties to the children of my [mother's] womb. 18 Even young children despise me; I rise up, and they speak against me. 19 All my intimate friends abhor me, and they whom I loved are turned against me. 20 My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. 21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, ye my friends; for the hand of +God hath touched me. 22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 Oh would that my words were written! oh that they were inscribed in a book! 24 That with an iron style and lead they were graven in the rock for ever! 25 And [as for] me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and the Last, he shall stand upon the earth; 26 And [if] after my skin this shall be destroyed, yet from out of my flesh shall I see +God; 27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another:—my reins are consumed within me. 28 If ye say, How shall we persecute him? when the root of the matter is found in me, 29 Be ye yourselves afraid of the sword! for the sword is fury against misdeeds, that ye may know there is a judgment.
101 But a certain man in Caesarea,—by name Cornelius, a centurion of the band called Italic, 2 pious, and fearing God with all his house, [both] giving much alms to the people, and supplicating God continually, 3 —saw plainly in a vision, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming unto him, and saying to him, Cornelius. 4 But he, having fixed his eyes upon him, and become full of fear, said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Thy prayers and thine alms have gone up for a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa and fetch Simon, who is surnamed Peter. 6 He lodges with a certain Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. 7 And when the angel who was speaking to him had departed, having called two of his household and a pious soldier of those who were constantly with him, 8 and related all things to them, he sent them to Joppa.
9 And on the morrow, as these were journeying and drawing near to the city, Peter went up on the house to pray, about the sixth hour. 10 And he became hungry and desired to eat. But as they were making ready an ecstasy came upon him: 11 and he beholds the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as a great sheet, [bound] by [the] four corners [and] let down to the earth; 12 in which were all the quadrupeds and creeping things of the earth, and the fowls of the heaven. 13 And there was a voice to him, Rise, Peter, slay and eat. 14 And Peter said, In no wise, Lord; for I have never eaten anything common or unclean. 15 And [there was] a voice again the second time to him, What God has cleansed, do not thou make common. 16 And this took place thrice, and the vessel was straightway taken up into heaven. 17 And as Peter doubted in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold also the men who were sent by Cornelius, having sought out the house of Simon, stood at the gate, 18 and having called [some one], they inquired if Simon who was surnamed Peter was lodged there.
19 But as Peter continued pondering over the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold, three men seek thee; 20 but rise up, go down, and go with them, nothing doubting, because I have sent them. 21 And Peter going down to the men said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause for which ye come? 22 And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man, and fearing God, and borne witness to by the whole nation of the Jews, has been divinely instructed by a holy angel to send for thee to his house, and hear words from thee. 23 Having therefore invited them in, he lodged them. And on the morrow, rising up he went away with them, and certain of the brethren from Joppa went with him.
(Read Acts 10:1-8)
Hitherto none had been baptized into the Christian church but Jews, Samaritans, and those converts who had been circumcised and observed the ceremonial law; but now the Gentiles were to be called to partake all the privileges of God's people, without first becoming Jews. Pure and undefiled religion is sometimes found where we least expect it. Wherever the fear of God rules in the heart, it will appear both in works of charity and of piety, neither will excuse from the other. Doubtless Cornelius had true faith in God's word, as far as he understood it, though not as yet clear faith in Christ. This was the work of the Spirit of God, through the mediation of Jesus, even before Cornelius knew him, as is the case with us all when we, who before were dead in sin, are made alive. Through Christ also his prayers and alms were accepted, which otherwise would have been rejected. Without dispute or delay Cornelius was obedient to the heavenly vision. In the affairs of our souls, let us not lose time.
(Read Acts 10:9-18)
The prejudices of Peter against the Gentiles, would have prevented his going to Cornelius, unless the Lord had prepared him for this service. To tell a Jew that God had directed those animals to be reckoned clean which were hitherto deemed unclean, was in effect saying, that the law of Moses was done away. Peter was soon made to know the meaning of it. God knows what services are before us, and how to prepare us; and we know the meaning of what he has taught us, when we find what occasion we have to make use of it.
(Read Acts 10:19-33)
When we see our call clear to any service, we should not be perplexed with doubts and scruples arising from prejudices or former ideas. Cornelius had called together his friends, to partake with him of the heavenly wisdom he expected from Peter. We should not covet to eat our spiritual morsels alone. It ought to be both given and taken as kindness and respect to our kindred and friends, to invite them to join us in religious exercises. Cornelius declared the direction God gave him to send for Peter. We are right in our aims in attending a gospel ministry, when we do it with regard to the Divine appointment requiring us to make use of that ordinance. How seldom ministers are called to speak to such companies, however small, in which it may be said that they are all present in the sight of God, to hear all things that are commanded of God! But these were ready to hear what Peter was commanded of God to say.
