SERMON PREACHED IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF KENDAL, ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1849, At the Visitation of John Lord Bishop of Chester. SERMON. ACTS v. 20. GO, STAND AND SPEAK IN THE TEMPLE TO THE PEOPLE ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LIFE." THE words of this life refer to the words of the life which the Apostles had just been preaching, namely, the life in Jesus, both His own, which He received again through His resurrection from the dead, and that of His people, who, acknowledging the power of His resurrection in the death unto sin and new life unto righteousness, shall be raised by Him from the grave to a share in His eternal glory at the last day. This doctrine is the central point from which we are taught to survey the whole scheme of the Gospel, looking backwards to our Lord's first coming in humility, to His ministry on earth, to His sacrifice on the cross; and forwards to His second coming in glory, to His bishopric in heaven over His church, to His intercession as a High Priest that liveth for evermore. Hence it was the prominent object presented in the preaching of the Gospel by the Apostles; and especially at Jerusalem, where there were so many witnesses to the death of Jesus, it was necessary to announce it, and to prove it, most forcibly and distinctly. So had Peter and John preached a little before this, and we are told that the Sadducees (those deniers of the resurrection) were grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Still greater, therefore, was their indignation now, when the whole company of the Apostles were preaching the same doctrine, and with all the weight of authority which accrued to them from the miracles which they wrought. And the Lord was pleased to give in them an earnest both of the opposition which the preachers of His Gospel were to experience from men, and of the protection which they should derive from him. The charge here given to them is remarkable, were it only that the wonderful deliverance, which the Lord wrought for them, was to send them forth into greater danger and difficulty than ever. They were to resume their post in the Temple, and confront the Sadducean high priest with a repetition of the obnoxious doctrine, standing and speaking to the people all the words of this life. And the glorious company of the Apostles praised him indeed, with the very es sence of all praise to God, a thankful and faithful performance of His commandments. And they have left an example to all ministers of the word that shall come after them as to the uncompromising faithfulness with which they are to speak to the people all the words of this life: how hinderance from man must be patiently overcome- how help and deliverance from God may surely be relied upon. The application of this example in any adequate fulness would lead us over a wide field; but we have time to follow out some particular direction of it with profit; and with this object the present discourse will now proceed. The first thing to be done will be to answer the question, "What are the difficulties of our times with which our faithfulness has to struggle in speaking in the Temple of the Church of God to the people of God all the words of this life ?" that is, in delivering the full statement of that Scripture in which are contained the words of this life, and in which alone we maintain that they are contained. We need not wait long to be reminded here how that both lapse of time and aspect of the world plainly declare to us that we are living in the last days of perilous times: how that the mystery of iniquity, which was already working in the days of the Apostle, is now |