That life! We invite the people to live the true life, Christ's life, the life that death cannot touch. 2. .Announcement. "Words of this life." We proclaim facts, a Divine Person, a life that c.'tn be described by example, confirmed by testimony, studied in the written pages. Religion no dream of enthusiasts, no mere sentiment floating like a cloud in the air, no empty ritualism, but words of life translated into action. 8. Philanthropy. "All the words." Different from mere human teachers ,vith their reservations and selfishness. Philosophers taught for money. Christ says, "Speak all to the people freely." Religion in the hands of priests has made the people enemies, hut this new message in the temple would shake down the walls of superstition pre- ,iudice, and pride, and build up a new humanity. In our message we must put so ~uch heart that the people see we give them all that we have, because we love their souls first and their earthly interests as included in their spiritual welfare. 4. Aggression. "Go, stand . . . in the temple;"" Be not afraid of their faces." Bold policy always the wisest in spiritual things. Special necessity that the desecrated temple should witness the faithfulness of Christ's messengers. False religion the great obstacle to progress of the gospel. People misunderstand the message; think of priests as their enemies; ha,·e reason to think so. The gospel does not reject what is good in other systems, but plants itself in the midst of the world as it is; finds in the templo of the old re:igion a standing-place from which to preach the new tidings. Every fresh instance of Divine interposition should embolden us. You are free now, go to the work aaain. In all fields of labour discouragement must be absolutely excluded. Follow the a~gels of God, and they will point to ne\V platforms. ,ve shall speak with fresh power if we refuse to be thwarted by opposition or put out of countenance by suffering.-R. Ver. 29.-" We ought to obey God rather than men" ( or, " we must," Revised I" crsion). A great principle requires to be seen in the full daylight before it can be made the foundation of great action. Fanaticism borrows its strength from the night of ignorance, not from the noon of truth. Persecution may vindicate itself on the g-rouod of obedience to God, but it proves itself to have 110 title to such a principle because it destroys freedom. I. THE GREAT REQUIREME:t."T. Obedience to God. 1. It is a requirement abundantly set forth in the Scriptures, in conscience, in the teaching of providence in connection with revealed truth, and especially in that inspired guidance which no true and earnest man is left without. 2. Enforced by the work of the Church, by the dangers of the world, by the deceitfulness of the heart, by the promises of God's Word. 3. Rewarded by the sense of inward strength, by superiority to circumstances, by successes in Christian effort-if not in this world fully, in eternity. IL THE GREAT TRllL. 1. Human laws, human requirements, human errors, human passions, all may i;ay, "Obey the voice of man rather than of God." 2. Compromise the great danger of the Church. Under its new disguise of a pantheistic submission to inevitable law of development, specially subtle. 3. Lack of moral courage and conviction, obscuring principle and magnifying the strength of surrounding obstacles. We need the Holy Ghost, upholding the work of God in our own hearts, penetrating the decep- tions of the world, arming us with spiritual preparation against inevitable assaults from without. 4. Individually the same great question to be settled between ourselves and God. His controversy. "Yield yourselves to God."-R,
Vtr. 31.-The throne of mercy. "Him hath God exalted,"etc. The Jewish temple a material ~ymbol of the Divine method of grace. The chief chamber was the place of Gl)d's glory-the innermost presence-chamber of the great King; its chief feature, the mercy-seat, a proclamation of love to all. Yet access to the blessedness only by the appointed way, through the consecrated rites and persons; thus the will and righteous- ness of God sustained at the same time as his mercy. Compare heathen ideas of Divine favours--i;lavish, cruel, degrading, capricious, destructive of righteousness both in Goa and in man. Moreover, no heathen system appealed to a universal humanity. I. Tm: OOIWON WANT. 1. Deliverance from sin, both by remission and moral t:levation. Show that the conscience r~ains satisfaction, the life security, the heart peace. 2. A free and uupurchased forgiveness, lest we should be burdened by their inequalities, destroyed by their (\espair, seduced by theiurrors, enslaved b7 theirsuper• CH, T, 1-42.] THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 177