有一天，約在申初，他在異象中明明看見 上帝的一個使者進去，到他那裏，說：「哥尼流。」 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, Cornelius!
哥尼流定睛看他，驚怕說：「主啊，甚麼事呢？」天使說：「你的禱告和你的賙濟達到 上帝面前，已蒙記念了。 Cornelius stared at him in fear. What is it, Lord? he asked. The angel answered, Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.
摩西寫著說：「人若行那出於律法的義，就必因此活著。」 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: The man who does these things will live by them.( \f55 10:5 Lev. 18:5)
惟有出於信心的義如此說：「你不要心裏說：誰要升到天上去呢？（就是要領下基督來；） But the righteousness that is by faith says: Do not say in your heart, <Who will ascend into heaven?>( \f56 10:6 Deut. 30:13) (that is, to bring Christ down)
他到底怎麼說呢？他說：這道離你不遠，正在你口裏，在你心裏。（就是我們所傳信主的道。） But what does it say? The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,( \f58 10:8 Deut. 30:14) that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:
你若口裏認耶穌為主，心裏信 神叫他從死裏復活，就必得救。 That if you confess with your mouth, <> and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
台
你若口裏認耶穌為主，心裏信 神叫他從死裏復活，就必得救。 That if you confess with your mouth,
羅
你（Lí） 若（Nā） 口裏（Tshuì lāi嘴內） 認（Jīm） 耶穌（Iâ-soo） 為（ûi） 主（Tsú）， 心（Sim） 裏（lí） 信（Sìn） 神（Sîn） 叫（kiò） 他（I） 從（tùi） 死（Sí） 裏（lí） 復（Iū又） 活（Ua̍h）， 就（chiū） 必（pit） 得（tit） 救（Kiù）。 T h a t i f y o u c o n f e s s w i t h y o u r m o u t h,
猶太人和希臘人並沒有分別，因為眾人同有一位主；他也厚待一切求告他的人。 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,
然而，人未曾信他，怎能求他呢？未曾聽見他，怎能信他呢？沒有傳道的，怎能聽見呢？ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
只是人沒有都聽從福音，因為以賽亞說：「主啊，我們所傳的有誰信呢？」 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message?( \f62 10:16 Isaiah 53:1)
但我說，人沒有聽見嗎？誠然聽見了。他們的聲音傳遍天下；他們的言語傳到地極。 But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.( \f63 10:18 Psalm 19:4)
我再說，以色列人不知道嗎？先有摩西說：我要用那不成子民的，惹動你們的憤恨；我要用那無知的民觸動你們的怒氣。 Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.( \f64 10:19 Deut. 32:21)
又有以賽亞放膽說：沒有尋找我的，我叫他們遇見；沒有訪問我的，我向他們顯現。 And Isaiah boldly says,I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.( \f65 10:20 Isaiah 65:1)
至於以色列人，他說：「我整天伸手招呼那悖逆頂嘴的百姓。」 But concerning Israel he says,All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.( \f66 10:21 Isaiah 65:2)
說：『哥尼流，你的禱告已蒙垂聽，你的賙濟達到 上帝面前已蒙記念了。 Cornelius answered: Four days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me
所以我立時打發人去請你。你來了很好；現今我們都在 上帝面前，要聽主所吩咐你的一切話。」 Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.>
彼得就開口說：「我真看出 上帝是不偏待人。 So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.
上帝怎樣以聖靈和能力膏拿撒勒人耶穌，這都是你們知道的。他周流四方，行善事，醫好凡被魔鬼壓制的人，因為 上帝與他同在。 You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached--
他吩咐我們傳道給眾人，證明他是 上帝所立定的，要作審判活人、死人的主。 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen--by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
因聽見他們說方言，稱讚 上帝為大。 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.
December 26 "Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder." (Matt. 26:36) ＩT is a hard thing to be kept in the background at a time of crisis. In the Garden of Gethsemane eight of the eleven disciples were left to do nothing. Jesus went to the front to pray; Peter, James and John went to the middle to watch; the rest sat down in the rear to wait. Methinks that party in the rear must have murmured. They were in the garden, but that was all; they had no share in the cultivation of its flowers. It was a time of crisis, a time of storm and stress; and yet they were not suffered to work. You and I have often felt that experience, that disappointment. There has arisen, mayhap a great opportunity for Christian service. Some are sent to the front; some are sent to the middle. But we are made to lie down in the rear. Perhaps sickness has come; perhaps poverty has come; perhaps obloquy has come; in any case we are hindered and we feel sore. we do not see why we should be excluded from a part in the Christian life. It seems like an unjust thing that, seeing we have been allowed to enter the garden, no path should be assigned to us there. Be still, my soul, it is not as thou deemest! Thou art not excluded from a part of the Christian life. Thinkest thou that the garden of the Lord has only a place for those who walk and for those who stand! Nay, it has a spot consecrated to those who are compelled to sit. There are three voices in a verb-active, passive and neuter. So, too, there are three voices in Christ's verb "to live." There are the active, watching souls, who go to the front, and struggle till the breaking of the day. There are the passive, watching souls, who stand in the middle, and report to others the progress of the fight. But there are also the neuter souls-those who can neither fight, nor be spectators of the fight, but have simply to lie down. When that experiecne comes to thee, remember, thou are not shunted. Remember it is Christ that says, "Sit ye here." Thy spot in the garden has also been consecrated. It has a special name. It is not "the place of wrestling," nor "the place of watching," but "the place of waiting." There are lives that come into this world neither to do great work nor to bear great burdens, but simply to be; they are the neuter verbs. They are the flowers of the garden which have had no active mission. They have wreathed no chaplet; they have graced not table; they have escaped the eye of Peter and James and John. But they have gladdened the sight of Jesus. By their mere perfume, by their mere beauty, they have brought Him joy; by the very preservation of their loveliness in the valley they have lifted the Master's heart. Thou needst not murmur shouldst thou be one of these flowers! －Selected.
