and of dreading the punishment to which we are obnoxious, we ought to be covered with shame, and overwhelmed with confusion, when we permit calamities to oppress which we can remove, and dangers to overtake our fellow-creatures, from which we can deliver them. Let us then, work together with these benevolent and blessed spirits, that we may, without a sense of impropriety, and a conviction of presumption, beseech the Almighty, mercifully, to grant, that, as His holy Angels, alway, do Him service in heaven, so, by His appointment, they may succor and defend us on earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord; to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, three Persons, and one God, be ascribed all might, dominion, and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

SERMON

SERMON XVI.

ST. LUKE THE EVANGELIST.

THAT celebrated Evangelist, whose memory we celebrate this day, was born at Antioch, where there flourished schools of the liberal sciences. In these St. Luke had his education, and, having passed through his preliminary studies, he applied himself to the study and practice of physic. That this was "the beloved Physician" mentioned by St. Paul, and "the brother, whose praise is in the Gospel," is acknowleged by Ignatius, who lived in, or next to, the Apostolical times. Some have thought him to be one of the seventy disciples. Whereas all antiquity make St. Luke the disciple of the Apostles, and not of Christ. The time when St. Luke joined himself to St. Paul, was soon after the contention happened between him and Barnabas, at Antioch, in the year of Christ 51. He wrote his Gospel about seven years after his conjunction with St. Paul, whom he never left till his death. He is recorded to have written this excellent work in Achaia and Beotia, whilst St. Paul staid there, which was in the year of Christ 58*; the design of which was, doubtless, to hinder the faithful from being poisoned by the heretical relations of the Cerinthians, a very early race of heretics sprung up in the Church. He wrote his Book of

See the Abridgment of the Elements of Christian Theology, Part II. Chap. iv. and vi.

the Acts of the Apostles in the year of Christ 61. There has been a general tradition concerning this Saint, that he was not only a physician, but an eminent painter-that he painted the Virgin Mary, St, Peter, and Paul, and our Blessed Saviour. How St. Luke disposed of himself after St. Paul's martyrdom at Rome is uncertain. He is said to have preached in Dalmatia, Gaul, Italy, and Macedoniaand when he left Rome, to have returned into the East; and, returning from thence, to have preached in Africa, and to have converted the Thebans to the faith. That he at last suffered martyrdom, the best authors of antiquity allow.

THE PROMISE AND ADVANTAGES OF CHRIST'S PRESENCE WITH HIS CHURCH.

MATTHEW XXVIII. 20*.

Lo! I am with you always, even unto the end of the

world.

'HESE words are, probably, some of the last our

TH

Blessed Saviour spake, when He was now about to "leave the world, and return unto the Father."

The work which his Father had given Him to finish, He had eminently fulfilled. And therefore, knowing, that in reward of His obedience, the Father had now "given all things into His hands, and exalt❝ed Him to be Prince and Saviour" of the Church

which He had purchased, He accordingly begins, pub

• Dr. St. John.

licly, to declare the extent and authority of the character He had assumed. "All power," says he, "is "given unto me both in heaven and in earth :" And then, as a subsequent act of this authority, He pro ceeds, in the next verse, to issue out commissions, and commands his Apostles to "go teach all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of "the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:" And lastly, to assure his Church, that He was not more its Prince to govern, than its Saviour to defend it. He tells them, in the words of the text, that all this power of His, as He had obtained it for their sakes, should be employed in their protection. And lo, I am with you always,

66 even unto the end of the world."

What promise now more gracious or express than this, could our Saviour Christ have made to his Apostles, upon his leaving of the world? What assurance less than this could ever have supported them in the labors of its conversion? And therefore, the better to prepare them for the trials they were in consequence to undergo, our Lord, we may observe, had very frequently acquainted them, not only with the certainty, but the advantages also, of His departure from them. "Ye have heard, how I said unto you, I go away; "but let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be "afraid:" be assured, "I will not leave you com"fortless." As if He had said-my short departure from you for a season, instead of dissolving, will improve the union betwixt my Church and me: For yet a little while, and again I come unto you; not as you now behold me, in my body, to be with you only as before, "but by the Spirit of truth, which I will "send you from the Father," I come, and enter in,

and dwell within you; your Comforter to defend you in danger, and support you in affliction; and your Advocate also, to give testimony to your doctrine, and assistance to your ministry.

Our Saviour's presence, therefore, with his Church, may, not improperly, be considered in these three respects.

First, In respect of the authority conferred by Christ himself on the persons of the Apostles, and for ever to continue with their successors in the ministry.

Secondly, In respect of the Grace and assistance of the Holy Spirit, proportionable, always, to the occasions of his Church, and the execution of its offices.

Thirdly, In respect of the immediate Providence and protection, by which He has graciously undertaken to provide for its security.

First, then, let us consider the presence of our Saviour with his Church, in respect of the authority conferred by Christ himself on the persons of the Apostles, and for ever to continue with their successors in the ministry.

It was the peculiar design and character of the Christian Church, that it should be larger in extent, and closer in communion, and longer in duration, than any one society in the world had ever been before. Now the increase and nourishment of so vast a body in its full proportion, and to so remote a period, was the work of many, and no otherwise to be effected, but by such regular communication of power and authority, without which, it is not possible, indeed, for any society, from the widest empire to the narrowest family, to be settled or preserved. And therefore, Christ, as the Apostle speaks, to the end that "the Church, His "body,