Page 163 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

162 THIRD BOOK OF
solemn service of religion, drew respect om all
who beheld them.
2. Such is the character St. Luke has given us of the rst Christians of Jerusa1em. The virtues of the converted Gentiles were not less solid, as we gather om the epistles of St. Paul, though, upon the whole, perhaps, not so sublime. Be re the Apostles came amongst them, the Gentiles had imbibed no princi­ ple of true religion, and had seen no exercise of that pure worship, by which the sovereign Lord of all things is duly honoured in spirit and in truth. Be­ wildered in the labyrinth of in delity, they were not only destitute of real virtue, but deeply tainted with
almost every vice incident to corrupt nature. But, _ no sooner were they instructed in the principles of Christianity, and cleansed from sin in the waters of 1 baptism, than they became the ith l imitators of their evangelical teachers. A total change of prin­ ciples and manners made them objects of admira­ tion to tlie rmer companions of their irregularities. Prayer was the occupation of their leisure-hours, and
a sincere desire of doing the will of God in all things, sancti ed their most ordinary actions of the day.
3. Tertullian speaks of the pious custom they had of making the sign of the cross on every occasion, as a mark of their lively ith and con dence in the merits of their cruci ed Redeemer. Hence, in the midst of temporal concerns they never lost sight of eternal goods; while their hands were at work, their
hearts aspired to heaven. The prospect of an ever­ lasting reward, which they knew God had prepared r them in his kingdom of glory, quickened their diligence in the discharge of every social -and reli­ gious duty. Which of the two are we to admire most,