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Prejudice is one of the greatest enemies to human welfare. Of all the train of mental ills with which we are affected it is one of the most difficult to be eradicated.

1. Prejudice has given protracted vitality to countless social abuses. One of the best remedies for this evil is to inspect closely the grounds of our cherished prepossessions, and to ask, Why do I do this? Why do I feel so?

2. The strongest prejudices are religious. What is given to us by tradition from our forefathers, familiarised to our earliest associations, we can hardly bring ourselves to question or examine, and we often hold as enemies those who differ from us even in minor points. As we generally feel more earnestly about religion, to our prejudices here we may trace all those religious feuds and bitter persecutions which have disgraced the page of history.

3. In the context we have a memorable instance of relinquishment of the strongest possible prejudice, so strong even in a good and noble man that direct Divine interposition was necessary for its removal. Notice —

I. SPIRITUAL EXCELLENCE, AND NOT THE ACCIDENTS OF EXTERNAL CONDITION, ALONE AVAILS WITH GOD. Take some illustrations confirmatory of this from —

1. The Scriptures: e.g., the choice of Abraham, Moses, etc.

2. The dispensations of Providence.

(1) Wealth and power are administered impartially.

(2) Health is equally shared by rich and poor.

(3) Genius: our poets, legislators, inventors, orators, and divines have more frequently emerged from the cottage than from the mansion.

(4) So with the blessings of happiness, life, and age. Death which spares not the hovel spares not the palace, just as the wind fades the cottage flowers as well as the productions of the conservatory.

3. The administration of the benefits of redemption. Not many mighty are called, yet there are some — Wilberforce and Bunyan. Only one door of mercy to all. "Whosoever will," etc.

4. The day of judgment and its results. "We shall all stand before," etc.

II. WHY HAS GOD NO RESPECT OF PERSONS EXCEPT IN RELATION TO MORAL GOODNESS?

1. Accidents in condition seemingly great to us bear no such relation to Him. This world is like a grain in the balance of His mighty creation. Its revolving centuries are but "as yesterday when it is past." He surveys all toils, plans, etc., serenely as the stars look with undisturbed light on mortal things.

2. They are not the essential elements of our being. They spring from birth, etc. They are not the man, and pass away with time.

III. WHY DOES GOD SUPREMELY VALUE SPIRITUAL EXCELLENCE?

1. It is the true basis of worth in every intelligent creature. It is so of angels, and of man as man. "In every nation," etc.

2. It is God's own spiritual reflection, and therefore the true basis of friendship with Him. God's moral nature must take cognizance of its kindred elements. Here, then, is consolation for all. None are too lowly or poor to be the accepted friends of the Lord of the universe.

(J. Foster, B. A.)

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KJV: Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

WEB: Peter opened his mouth and said, "Truly I perceive that God doesn't show favoritism;