SERMON ΧΙΙ. On giving Thanks for all Things. ΕΡΗ. V. 20. SERMON ΧΙΙΙ. Preached at St. James's Church, June 25, 1738, being the first Sunday that the Prince SERMO Preached on New-Year's Day, and the follow- ing Sunday. SERMΟΝ Ι. MATTH. xxviii. 19, 20. 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 alway, even unto the End of the World. Amen. T HESE Words contain that great Commission and Charter, granted by our Saviour to his Apostles and their Successors, by Virtue of which we and all Mankind have been called to the Knowledge and Practice of true Religion, inforced by the Motives of eternal Felicity or Misery. As it had been chiefly in Galilee, that he instructed his Disciples before his Death: so he appointed them to retire thither after his Refurrection, VOL. V. A that that he might add to his Instructions whatever then became proper; and more fully acThings, as pertained There, our Evange quaint them with such to the Kingdom of God. list informs us, he appeared to them on a Mountain: perhaps the fame, on which he had begun to open the Doctrine of Chriftianity, in that noble Discourse, which we have in the Fifth and following Chapters of this Gofpel; and given them a Specimen of his and their future Glory, at his Transfiguration. When they saw im, the Generality immediately worshipped him: but fome, we are told with the usual Fairness of the sacred Writers, doubteds. Whether thefe were only Perfons, who accompanied the Apostles, and had not yet seen him fince he rose again: or whether some of the Apostles themselves, who might not with Certainty know him at a Distance, is not clear. But the Doubts of either could not but vanish, when Jefus came up to them, as St. Matthew assures us he did, for so the original Word signifies d, and conversed familiarly with them. Many such Conversations he held with these his Followers: for St. • Acts i. 3. ► Grot. in Loc. faith, There is ancient Fradition for the last. See Reland Palæst. p. 334, &c. v. 17. Η Προσελθων, ν. 18. Luke Luke in their Acts informs us, that they continued Forty Days e. But the Substance of them all must be, what the Text expresses : where, in Consequence of that Fulness of Power, which he tells them, in the foregoing Words, was given him over all Things in Heaven and in Earth; as the Father had fent Him, He fends Them', to make Disciples, for that is the more accurate Rendering, not of the Jews alone, but of all Nations. And that they may do it rightly and effectually, he distinctly fets forth, I. The Doctrines, they were to teach. II. The Duties, they were to enjoin. III. The Protection and Happiness, of which they might affure, both themselves, and all those, who faithfully preached his Gospel, and who fincerely embraced it. 1. The Doctrines, they were to teach. Thefe are briefly, but sufficiently, comprehended in the Direction of baptizing Men in the Name • Acts i. 3. f John xx. 21. 8 Μαθητευω is not used in the Septuagint: nor Μαθητης. In the New Testament it is found thrice, besides the Text: and fignifies to make Disciples, Acts xiv. 21. to be a Disciple, Matth. xxvii. 57. and in the passive Voice may fignify, to be made a Disciple, Matth. xiii. 52. It fignifies also in Plutarch, to be a Disciple. See Steph. in Voc. 1 |