S E R M O N IV. CHRIST. [Preached on Trinity-Sunday. ] St MAT T. xxviii. part 18, 19, 20. All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth : Go ye therefore, and teach all Nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you ; and lo, I am with you always even unto the End of the World. UR Saviour in his last Dif SERM. course with his Disciples before IV. O his suffering; after he had instituted the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and was going out with them towards the Mount of Olives xxvi. 31; Serm. in order to be betrayed: and had warned All ye hall be offended because go before you into Galilee. What he intended to Do in Galilee, he did not then think fit to explain to them more distinctly ; But Galilee being the place wherein they had used to converse most freely with hiin, and where they had with pleasure heard the greatest part of his divine Difcourses; it gave them a general Hope or Expectation, that after the present Time of Trouble, and after their leaving Jerufalem the constant place of Persecution ; when he should be risen again, (the meaning of which, whether it was literal or only figurative, they seemed not then fully to understand ; but when it were fulfilled, ) they they thought they should again converse Serm. with him freely and safely, in their antient IV. places of retirement in Galilee. AFTER his Resurrection, This Promise was renewed and cönfirmed to them, by the Angel appearing to the Women at the Sepulchre, and saying, Mar. xvi. 7;. Go, -tell bis Disciples, that he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye fee bim, as he said unto you. And the Fulfilling of it, is recorded in the words immediately before the Text; Then the eleven Disciples went away into Galilee, into a Mountain where Jesus bad appointed them; And there they saw him, -and he Spake unto them. What it was that he spake unto them; or what the Design was, of his meeting them there ; Șt Luke tells us, Aets i. 2; He gave Commandments unto the Apostles whom be bad chosen, and Spake to them of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God; He gave them full instructions concerning the Nature of his {piritual Kingdom, which, before his Resurrection they did not rightly understand; and, in several Conversations during the forty days between his Resurrection and VOL. VI. G Ascen Ser M. Ascension, he furnished them with all IV. proper Directions relating to the Doctrine of the Gospel, which they were to preach and propagate over the whole World. A Summary or short Abridgement of which Instructions, is delivered down to us in the Words of the Text : All Power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth : Go ye therefore, and teach all Nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : Teaching them to observe all things whatfoever I have commanded you ; and lo, I am with you always, even unto the End of the World. The words contain in brief, the whole System of Christian Doctrine : And, for Method's sake, we may obferve in them distinctly the following particulars ; ifis An Account of the Extent, of our Saviour's Power; that he is invested with Al Power, both in Heaven and Earth. 2dly, A Declaration, of the Original of that únlimited Power and Authority; All Power, faith he, is given me, i. e. from the Father. 3dly, The Commission he thereupon grants his Disciples ; Go Ye therefore, and teach I all teach all Nations ; Athly, The Doctrine, S E R M. ane which all Nations were to be taught, and IV. ch into which they were to be baptized ; A Baptizing them in the Name of the Father, ch and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. in stbly, The Practice, of those who were - is to be baptized into this Faith ; Teaching b : them to observe all things whatsoever I ens have commanded you ; And Lastly, The Eer, Promise of effettual Afiftance; to the Difeft: ciples fent forth upon This Commission ; cat- And lo, I am with you always, even unto the End of the World. Ist, HERE is an Account, of the Extent of our Saviour's Power and Authority; that he is invested with All Power, both in Heaven and Earth. The Fews, in their expectations of the Messiah, imagined to themselves the Character of a Temporal Prince, whọ should deliver them from the Yoke of their Enemies, and reduce all the World A under their Dominion ; who should subdue the People under them, and the Nations un- G2 will ole) for |
