sciples to
whom he was speaking in this last instance were justified.

The household of Cornelius were ready with open hearts to receive all
that God had for them, and while Peter spoke the word of God to them
"the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word." This experience
was identical in character with that of the Jewish saints at Pentecost.

Peter's Testimony

In rehearsing this wonderful event to the brethren and apostles at
Jerusalem he testified to the unquestionable leading of the Spirit to
this company of believers. He said (Acts 11:15, 17), "And as I began to
speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Forasmuch
then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?" Upon
another occasion at Jerusalem Peter again spoke of the same event,
saying, "And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving
them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference
between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith."--Acts 15:8, 9.
But Peter testified to the fact that the Gentiles are placed upon a
level with the Jews, not only in the reception of the Holy Spirit, but
in the experience of cleansing. He testified to these two phases of
sanctification, equally wrought in the hearts of the Jews and Gentiles,
making "no difference between us and them"; and in this same testimony
he plainly states that "purifying their hearts" was an experience
co-incident with the reception of the Holy Ghost--"giving them the Holy
Ghost," "purifying their hearts," "even as he did unto us." Opposers of
this truth have argued that Peter's statement, "purifying their hearts,"
in the Greek text reads, "having purified their hearts," the word
"having" signifying that their hearts were purified previous to the
event of their reception of the Holy Ghost; but this objection has no
foundation in scripture, history, or experience. If there could be a
shadow of meaning in this form of this word in the Greek text, to
signify that the "purifying their hearts" occurred prior to the
outpouring of the Holy Ghost, it simply has reference to the order of
these two phases of sanctification, which were effected within them upon
this occasion.

It is evident that in the divine order of sanctification purifying the
heart by faith is preparatory to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. He
must have a pure heart in which to make his abode.