TEXT.--"Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life."--Acts 5:20.

      1. This message was delivered by an angel. Angels were often employed for such a purpose. The "angel of the Lord" directed the apostles to do this. They directed men to preach to their fellow men.

      2. This angel, however, incidentally reveals his conception of Christianity. It is surely very important to know what Christianity is. Some have supposed it a theory or system of doctrines. Others conceive it to be a form of rites and ceremonies. It has to do with human reason and has its doctrine; also has relation to man's outward, or material nature, for it is designed to embrace man in all the parts of his being, body, soul, and spirit. But it does not terminate in doctrine, or in outward forms. Its end or purpose could not be thus subserved. It is hence interesting to know what an angel thinks of it; how a being from the spirit world regards it; what conception is formed of it by a spirit, coming from the very presence of God himself, and bearing the very message of God, as to what Christianity is.

      3. What then is that view? It is this, that Christianity is a life-text.

      (1) In the view of heavenly ministers, and in the view of God himself, Christianity is a life.

      (2) How dear and beautiful to us, in all its manifestations, is life. Even in its lowest form, that of the plant, how charming and how precious!

      (3) How much more glorious in its higher [92] developments--the flocks herding upon the grassy slopes--the child at play--the philosopher in his profound investigations of mature--the philanthropist in his noble charities and toils!

      (4) How precious it is in all its forms. How the plant struggles to live. How animals cling to life, from the worm on which we tread, to the mighty monster of the deep. How man fears to be deprived of life. A man caught in the rapids of Niagara succeeded in taking hold of a rock. Multitudes gathered on the shore for aid. After many efforts were made in attempting to seize a rope, he lost his footing and was swept off by the tumultuous waters. At the brink of the cataract he was seen to lift himself, by a powerful muscular effort, entirely out of the water, while at the same moment he uttered a scream of agony and despair which was distinctly heard above the roar of the torrent. But we have no need to go to Niagara for an illustration of the fear of death. We see this everywhere around us, in the care men take to sustain and perpetuate life.

      (5) Life is more and more desirable as it is more and more exalted in its own nature. Plants are collected for their beauty; animals are exhibited; works of intellect are admired; moral heroism is reverenced. How much more terrible insanity, the derangement of the intellectual life, than any mere bodily disease. How awful the perversion of the moral nature in wretches unsuited by their crimes to be at large in society or to breathe the vital air.

      (6) Man possesses all these forms of life, intellectual happiness, superior to animal; moral blessedness above all. It is the feelings, the emotions, the qualities of the moral nature that introduce us to society. Friendliness and love bring us to the purest and highest enjoyments. The life offered by the gospel is a still higher development, and is presented to men in the possession of their powers, who alone are capable of receiving it. [93]

      (7) The value of everything is estimated according to the terms by which it is held. A diamond loaned for an hour, a farm rented for a year, are of little value compared with things possessed for life. But the spiritual is an eternal life; not a mere continued existence, but a life of blessedness, amidst the highest joys of the universe, while the unsaved and unsanctified spirit may experience the sorrow of the "second death."

      (8) The spirit is thus separable from the body. The vegetable and animal lives belong to the body itself. It is in the intellectual and moral natures that we have won a distinctive character; the divine image which imparts to him the power of communion with the spiritual system.

      (9) God is the source of all life, whatever may be its nature. We cannot obtain the living plant but from the seed. We cannot have the bird without the egg. To obtain any form of life we must use the means through which the life is bestowed. We must comply with the conditions which God has ordained. This is the part of wisdom, and men do it generally in all cases, except that of religion. But here, too, we must have respect to method.

      (a) This method, as stated in our text, is by words. The angel said, "Speak to them all the words of this life." And this is in full accordance with all Scripture--as the angel said to Cornelius, "Send for Peter, who will tell thee words whereby you shall be saved." So again says Peter, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." 1 Peter 1:23. Hence we see how an intellectual and moral being alone can receive the spiritual life; because such a being alone can receive and understand words.

      (b) What are these words? They constitute the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Its facts touch us most as intellectual and moral beings. The death for sin [94] which it reveals, imparts to us the hope of pardon and of deliverance from that which, is the cause of separation from God, of death and sorrow. The resurrection of Jesus inspires the hope of a triumph over death and the grave. The wondrous truths which it presents, like the vital power enclosed in a seed, work mightily in the intellectual and moral natures of man. Seed must fall into good and honest hearts in order to fruitage. The facts of the gospel meet all our wants, fears, and hopes. They expand reason and satisfy our moral nature, which finds justice and mercy here combined in the divine philanthropy. We can have confidence in returning to God.

      (c) In seeking for this divine life, it is most important that we carefully adhere to the method through which God is pleased to bestow it. We may not presume to dispense with any part of the divine plan. The angel said, "Speak all the words of this life." The whole counsel of God is to be declared. We do not dare, therefore, to omit a part of these words," and to say in pretending to quote Scripture, "He that believeth shall be saved." We must speak all the words, which are, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Mark 16:16. We dare not omit or trifle with baptism, which God has commanded to every believer, and in which he has been graciously pleased to bestow the assurance of personal forgiveness through faith in the blood of Jesus. The appropriateness and beauty of this institution as a symbol of the death and burial of Christ, of our death to sin and resurrection to the new life, of a birth into the kingdom of heaven, and its importance is shown in what Paul says, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy be saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Titus 3:5. It is comprehended in the word by which we are to be saved. Hence in the pure age of Christianity, before men had corrupted the gospel, every [95] believer was commanded to be buried with Christ in baptism, and to be thus constituted publicly his disciple. Nor are we to omit mention of that other blessed promise contained in the gospel, the gift of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon every obedient believer, to consecrate, strengthen, renew, and constitute him a child of God, and an heir of everlasting life. The blessed work of the gospel, in which all things are revealed to us, is then the work, in submission to which we shall enter upon the enjoyment of that "eternal life which was with the Father, and has been manifested unto us." [96]

[TP 92-95.]

      The electronic version of Robert Richardson's "The Words of This Life" has been produced from a copy of The Polymathist; or, Christian Pulpit, ed. N. E. Cory (Oskaloosa, IA: Central Book Concern, 1877), pp. 92-96, held by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. Inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and typography have been retained.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
373 Wilson Street
Derry, PA 15627-9770
e_stefanik@msn.com

Created 30 June 2000.