ter of the Church of Christ. By them was conveyed the authority necessary; and in them is included all which is essential to the ordinary administration of that kingdom of God which, though not of this world, shall yet subsist in the world till time shall be no more, and against which the gates of hell shall not prevail-St Matt. xvi. 18.

A few weeks before this power of adminis tration was thus delegated, the Divine Redeemer was arraigned with cruel scorn, and was actually consigned to a painful and an ignominious death, for confessing, as in the peculiar circumstances of the case he was obliged, that He was indeed the Son of God, and ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and deadActs, x. 42. As it was written and foretold, so it behoved Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory-St Luke, xxiv. 26. The singular concomitants of his death convinced the Roman centurion, who stood over against him, that this man was truly, as he declared himself to be, the Son of God-St Mark, XV. 39. His resurrection further manifested the important fact, and fully confirmed the truth of that confession which his deluded countrymen declared to be blasphemy worthy of death. His veracity and his condition be

ing thus incontestably proved, and his followers being now completely convinced of his claim to the character of the promised Messiah, he declares further, that all power is given unto Him in heaven and in earth. A portion of this sublime power of spiritual and moral dominion, which was conferred on the Son of God as the consequence and the reward of his voluntary humiliation, as the Son of Man, of his meritorious sufferings, and of his precious death-Phil. II. 6, &c: A portion of this power he, in the words of my text, conveys to his faithful followers, so far as it can be possessed, and may be administered by frail and mortal man. "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," he concludes, "I am with you alway, even "unto the end of the world. Amen."

The blessed Redeemer was about to remove his visible presence from the infant church. He was about to commence his mediatorial office at the right hand of God. It was thus expedient that he should go away-St John, xvi. 7.; but he promises to send to the sacred society which he had just constituted, the Holy

Ghost, the Comforter. It is by the mission, and through the continued ministry of the Holy Ghost, that the last words of my text are fulfilled;" and lo, I am with you alway, 66 even unto the end of the world. Amen.” These words were addressed personally to his immediate followers; but as their labours were limited, in most instances, to much less than half an age, this remarkable promise must, of necessary consequence, be understood to extend to, and to embrace the faithful ministers of Christ, and the faithful Christians who adhere to them, from that age to the present, and till time itself shall be no more-see Acts, ii. 38. and 39. He, the Son of God, and the Son and Lord of Man, on whom all power was given to be thus head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all-Ephes, i. 22, 23.—He must thus reign till He hath put all enemies under his feet, till death itself, the last enemy that shall be destroyed, be swallowed up in victory. When this final victory shall be won, and when the number of God's elect in Christ shall be accomplished, the Redeemer's mediatorial office, and the dominion which belongs to it (the object being fully attained) shall be resigned; for when all things shall be thus

subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all. 1 Cor. xv. 28.

In consequence of the commission conveyed, and of the obligations included in the words of my text, which formed the last personal act of our blessed Lord on earth, a polity was publicly formed, and a system was visibly established, of which we see some part of the plan, and discover some steps of the progress, in the Acts of the Apostles, and in numerous casual allusions in the Epistles. The Apostles received the power of order and administration. As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you-St John, xx. 21. They were utterly unequal to the task, therefore were they required to tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high-St Luke, xxiv. 47. This power refers, undoubtedly, to the promise of the Father, which the Redeemer was to send upon them, to the visible powers which they were to receive after that the Holy Ghost should come upon them, by means of which they were to become efficient witnesses unto Him in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth-Acts, i. 8. The power imparted in my

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text, includes all which belongs to the nent and ordinary exercise of the Christian ministry-implies all the essential doctrines and duties of the gospel, which the Apostles and their successors were thus commanded to teach; and embraces all the ordinary means

of

grace and salvation, in the exercise and administration of which the Redeemer expressly promises to be with them always, even unto the end of the world. It is remarkable, too, that the Apostles did actually exercise this power, by continuing, with one accord, in prayer and supplication-Acts, i. 14. and, more especially, by solemnly associating Matthias with the eleven, after prayer to God, to shew whether of the two by them selected he had chosen, that he might take part of that ministry and apostleship from which Judas, by transgression, fell-Acts, i. 25.

The extraordinary powers of the Spirit were conferred on the day of Pentecost, after this act of apostolic jurisdiction in the ordinary exercise of the authority delegated on Ascension day. Those powers were promised, and they were necessary, to enable the Apostles, in the singular circumstances in which they were placed, to give evidence and efficacy to their mission, in demonstration of the Spirit,