SERMON X.

THE WORDS OF LIFE SPOKEN IN GOD'S TEMPLE.

ACTS v. 20.—“ Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people, all the words of this life."

EVERY circumstance connected with the utterance of these words deserves attention. Think of the time of the occurrence. It was when the Christian Church was yet in the opening dawn of its freshness and glory. Its Divine Founder and Head had just ascended to the throne of heaven. Its Divine Endowment, the Holy Spirit of God, had just been poured out with a copiousness and a power which enriched and filled it with miraculous influence. Its teachers were prophets and apostles-men whose words were revelations, and their acts miracles. Its numbers were increased, not by units, nor by tens merely, but by hundreds and thousands in a day. Numerous as its members were, and diversified as had been their previous character and circumstances, they were now all of one heart and one mind. In the midst of persecution and danger, they knew nothing of fear; in the employment of their property, they thought of nothing but the support of their poorer brethren, and of the general good. One theme employed their tongues-salvation by the cross. of Christ. One object animated and engrossed their soulsto promote the glory of that cross in the salvation of their fellow-men. One heart sent its pulsations through their whole body, diffusing life, and warmth, and spiritual vigour through every part.

Equally noticeable is the immediate occasion of these words. Bright as the morning of the Christian Church had

arisen, and early as it yet was, a cloud had already appeared in the horizon; though it hung there only for a moment. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira-compounded of ostentation and fraud, of covetousness and impiety—had lately startled the tranquillity of the Church, and had shewn that into this new, this spiritual Eden, the ancient serpent was essaying to enter. The apparent severity of the judgment which alighted on this guilty pair was doubtless real mercy to numbers. The dead bodies of the culprits seemed to lie in the very doorway of the church, and kept back many from entering, who would otherwise have intruded from sinful motives, and by their temper and conduct have blighted the Church in the very infancy of its being. "And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things." Within the Church, all was purity, vigour, life. Without, all was attention and high-wrought expectation. Other wonders followed; the neighbourhood of the Church became a Bethesda, to which the sick and the dying repaired for restoration; the circle of apostolic influence was thus enlarged; "and believers were the more added unto the Lord, multitudes both of men and women."

The result, as far as their enemies were concerned, was such as might have been expected; for persecution is one of the most ancient and highly-valued ordinances of bigotry. and power. “Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and were filled with indignation; and laid their hands on the apostles, and put them into the common prison." Vain and infatuated attempt! Did they think to imprison celestial light?—to inter, as in a sepulchre, immortal life? "The angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth."

The nature of the being who uttered the text is also remarkable it was "an angel of the Lord"-a being of an order of which we know comparatively little; but that little is of a nature to excite our curiosity and astonishment,

especially as it discloses the fact that they are in some way mysteriously related to us. Here, one of them is found appropriately engaged in liberating the newly-appointed messengers of mercy from their confinement-an agent from the upper province of the kingdom of heaven, ministering to the advancement of the kingdom of heaven, as newly set up in this lower province on earth. Force has been employed to coerce the apostles; but here is an agency employed to which walls are no impediment-to which fetters and bolts can offer no resistance. The parties who have employed this force are Sadducees-" who say there is neither angel nor spirit;" but here, in just retribution, an angel is employed to frustrate their designs. Bringing with him the laws of his own nature, and of his own region, by a mode of action. unknown to our material sphere, he made himself present in the prison, opened the doors for the exit of the apostles, and yet left them shut. This we call supernatural; to him, doubtless, it was natural-perhaps the only mode of action he had ever known. "The angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak unto the people, in the temple, all the words of this life."

Mark the instructive indefiniteness of their subject, as described in the phrase, "this life." This indefiniteness is a characteristic of Scripture sublimity. Such, for example, is the language of the apostle Paul, when he declares, "I know in whom I have believed"-though he does not specify in whom; "and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him"-though he does not specify what; "that he is able to keep it against that day”— but he does not name what day. This is the indefiniteness of a mind so absorbed with the grand outlines of its theme, as to forget the details and particulars-of a mind so full, so overflowing with its favourite subject, so constantly dwelling on it, as to take it for granted that every one addressed is full of it likewise-that words are almost unnecessary-that

mere hints are sufficient. So, here, the celestial messenger designates the Gospel by the grand generality of "the words of this life," or, "of this same life." By the phrase "this life," indeed, we commonly understand the present life; but the apostles had no controversy with the Jews about the passing affairs of this world-about the few days they were to live on earth. They were in no danger of mistaking the angel as to the nature of the life he meant. They well knew that it was this life and immortality which had been recently brought to light; this life which they had been divinely commissioned to offer to a death-stricken world-this life which they were always thinking and conversing about-this life for the preaching of which they had been cast into prison. When the angel spoke of this life, they well knew that he meant this peculiar life—this life, compared with which every other kind of life is only death-a life incomparably transcending every other kind of life.

And mark also where these words of life were to be proclaimed—in the temple. There, amidst an array of symbols, and types, and enigmatic signs, the apostles were to announce the living truth which explained and gave Divine significance to the whole. There, where the piety of the old economy had sunk into a dead formalism, and had found a grave-there the spirit of the new economy was to spring into life; and thence its life-words were to wing their way in all directions: thus fulfilling the prophecy, "Out of Zion shall go forth the law."

In these words, then, we may regard ourselves as supplied with an angel's estimate of the peculiar character and excellence of the Gospel-it is a system of life. Doubtless, as contemplated from different points of view, it presents different aspects; and, as regarded by different orders of beings, it exhibits various excellencies. But to the eye of that order of beings from whose ranks this angel had descended, its grand attraction appears to be that it is a life-giving system. Elsewhere, it is called "the word of this salvation"-of

salvation, that is, from death. But the phrase in our text includes this idea of deliverance, and the glorious life-giving effect which follows, in addition. And it is to this aspect of Christianity, as a principle and means of Divine life, that I would now direct your devout attention. May the Spirit of Life himself be present in His renewing power!

I.

Now, let us inquire, first, whence the necessity for this life? for its introduction implies that something was previously wanting or lost which this was meant to supply; that it comes in the stead of some kind of death. And the scriptural explanation of the fact is, that there is a profound sense in which men are dead while they live; that the introduction of sin has occasioned the loss of a whole order of life from our nature. This is a kind of death which men generally do not consider. The only death they think of is that of the departure of natural life from the body. They look abroad on the world, and see everything clothed with animation, and stirred with excitement; and they cannot conceive that death, in any sense except the animal life to which I have referred, can belong to such a state. And yet a little reflection might shew them that man can die in more senses than one. The criminal who has forfeited his life to the laws of his country, is dead legally-incapable of any civil transaction. Question him; and you may find still further that his heart is hardened, and his conscience seared-he is lost to virtue, morally dead. Wait awhile; and you may hear that his mind is gone-he is intellectually dead. It may be years after that before his animal life departs. And even when that is gone, and he has become insensible, another system of life remains-that which depends on the involuntary action of the heart and the lungs-and it may be hours. and even days before this last form of life becomes extinct. Now, observe, each of these kinds of life has laws of its own; and it is on the violation or cessation of these laws that its