And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.

"ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God," and is the medium by which he has been pleased to reveal the way to eternal life. It testifies of Jesus, and herein consists its beauty, its excellency, its value, its importance, and its sweetness; for "He is the way, and the truth, and the life." How essential is it, therefore, that faith should feel the footing firm on which she embraces the Scripture account of what he said, and did, and suffered for our salvation; and how wise and kind the provision he made for our full security and strong consolation, in appointing twelve credible men who should be the witnesses of his ministry, of his life, death, and resurrection ;—whom he constituted and ordained, (and in them, all the sincere and faithful ministers of his word who should succeed them,) to publish to the world the

glorious record, "that God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." My text contains the words of this commission; "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." In discoursing on which, I propose, with divine assistance, to consider, Its exalted source; its invaluable matter;-and its wide ex

tent.

I. Let us notice its exalted source;" He said unto them." The Gospel mission derives its authority and its efficacy from Jesus; and we hesitate not to pronounce his authority divine. For he is "the only wise God, our Saviour;" he is the same in essence with God the Father, equal in power and glory; in him" dwelleth all the fulness of the godhead bodily." He is " God over all blessed for evermore." It is he who commands his ministers to proclaim this message. How just his right to“ send by whom he will send" the proclamation of his mercy, and to dictate the manner in which he will communicate it. How ought the consideration, that their authority is divine, to influence ministers to be faithful to their trust; and how worthy of all reverence and all acceptation is the message they deliver,-sanctioned by the command of God!

This commission, we may observe, is given by our Lord in his mediatorial character, as the head of the church. "He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name... that in all things he might have the pre-eminence." He communicates life, motion, and strength to every believer. "Out of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." He is the King set upon the holy hill of Zion; his "kingdom is not of this world," but it extends its authority beyond the control of any earthly monarch, over the hearts and consciences of his people. He is "Head over all things to the church;" as the King of saints he reigns in and rules over his people; he manages and directs all the affairs of his church, and he subdues all its enemies. "All power is given unto" him "in heaven and in earth;" therefore he issues the command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature."

One remark more I shall make, and pass on to the next head. The Gospel mission derives its authority from that Jesus who lived and died to procure, and who rose, and ascended, and reigns, to dispense the blessings of that Gospel which he commands his heralds to preach in all the world. The command, then, under which the ministers of the everlasting Gospel hold their commission, is that of Jesus, the most high God; Jesus the King in Zion; Jesus, the author, source, and dispenser of all Gospel blessings.

II. Let us notice the subject of the apostles' commission ;-" Go, preach the Gospel."

The word Gospel signifies good news, glad tidings; it is God's message to man. What then is it to preach the Gospel? The following particulars are clearly implied in it.

First, We must plainly, faithfully, and affectionately lay before our hearers, the scriptural account of our ruined state by nature; for this is the Lord's appointed method, to wound before he heals, and convince men that they have undone themselves, before he informs them where help is to be found. We must represent the condition of mankind as having transgressed the law of God, and being obnoxious to all its heavy penalties; for it is written, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God;" and " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them... The wages of sin is death." Add to this, we must point out the pollution that is on us by reason of sin. Sin, like the foulest leprosy, has overspread our natures, and tainted our vital blood. "We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind have taken us away." We are also under the entire dominion of sin; Satan has bound us fast in his slavish chains, and leads us captive at his will. He worketh and reigneth in "the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children