The next day he set out with them towards Cæsarea, attended by certain of the brethren from Joppa, and on entering the house of Cornelius found him in the midst of many of his relatives and intimate friends, whom he had assembled to listen to the Apostle’s words. As he crossed the threshold (Acts x. 25), the centurion went forth to meet him, and falling down at his feet would have worshipped him. But Peter raised him up, and reminded him that he also was a man, and then addressed himself to the assembled company. They all knew, he said, that he was a Jew, and how unlawful it was for one of that nation to associate with or enter the house of a foreigner: but God had shewed him that he was not to call any man common or unclean, and therefore he had come without delay, and now desired to know the reason for which he had been sent (Acts x. 28, 29). Then Cornelius recounted the particulars of his vision (Acts x. 30–33), and requested the Apostle to announce to him and his assembled friends what he, as a messenger of God, had to say to them. Thus assured that all things had occurred under the Divine guidance, the Apostle opened his mouth, and having acknowledged that God _was indeed no respecter of persons, but accepted out of every nation all that feared Him and worked righteousness_, proceeded to proclaim the glad tidings of his risen Lord. He told them of His life of love; of His victories over disease and the spirit-world (Acts x. 38); of His death by the hands of men (Acts x. 39); of His resurrection, and His appearances afterwards, not to all the people but to chosen witnesses, even the Apostles, who had eaten and drunk with Him (Acts x. 40, 41); of His exaltation to heaven and His future coming to judge the world; of the commission he and the rest of the Twelve had received to proclaim to all that believed in Him the _remission of sins_ (Acts x. 42, 43). While he was still speaking, the events of the day of Pentecost were repeated in the house of the Roman soldier. To the astonishment of the Jewish Christians who had accompanied the Apostle from Joppa, the gift of the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the Gentiles, and they heard them speaking in various dialects and magnifying and praising God (Acts x. 46). Now fully awakened to the meaning of the vision on the housetop, the Apostle enquired whether any could forbid that these, who had already evidently received the gift of the Holy Ghost, should be admitted to the rite of baptism, and then ordered that it should be administered; and thus he who had first preached the resurrection to the Jews, baptized the first converts at Jerusalem, and confirmed the first-fruits of the church in Samaria, now, under direct communication from heaven, first threw down the barrier which separated proselytes of the gate from Israelites, and admitted them on an equal footing into the Christian Church[825].