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SERMON IV.

Of the Power and Authority of
CHRIST.

[Preached on Trinity-Sunday. ]

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TACKS.

St M AT T. xxviii. part 18, 19, 20.
All power is given unto me in Heaven and
in Earth: Go je therefore, and teach all
Nations, baptizing them in the Name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghoft: Teaching them to obferve all
things whatfoever I have commanded you;
and lo, I am with you always even unto
the End of the World.

SERM.

UR Saviour in his laft Difcourse with his Difciples before IV. his fuffering; after he had inftituted the Sacrament of

the Lord's Supper, and was going out
with them towards the Mount of Olives •

SERM. in order to be betrayed: and had warned IV. them of their approaching Sorrow, ch. ~~xxvi. 31; All ye shall be offended because

of Me this Night; for it is written, I will fmite the Shepherd, and the Sheep of the Flock fhall be fcattered abroad; proceeds in the next verfe to allay their Grief, and fupport them against Despair, by giving them a remote profpect of Light after Darknefs, and of Comfort that fhould fucceed That melancholy Scene: But after I am rifen again, faith he, I will 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 him, and where they had with pleasure heard the greatest part of his divine Difcourfes it gave them a general Hope or Expectation, that after the prefent Time of Trouble, and after their leaving Jerufalem the conftant place of Perfecution; when he fhould be rifen 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 fhould again converfe SER M. with him freely and safely, in their antient places of retirement in Galilee.

IV.

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AFTER his Refurrection, This Promife was renewed and confirmed to them, by the Angel appearing to the Women at the Sepulchre, and faying, Mar. xvi. 7; Go, -tell his Difciples, -that he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye fee him, as he faid unto you. And the Fulfilling of it, is recorded in the words immediately before the Text; Then the eleven Difciples went away into Galilee, into a Mountain where Jefus had appointed them; And there they saw him,-and he

Spake unto them. What it was that he
fpake unto them; or what the Design was,
of his meeting them there; St Luke tells
us, Acts i. 2; He gave Commandments un-
to the Apostles whom he had chosen, and
fpake to them of the things pertaining to
the Kingdom of God; He gave them full
inftructions concerning the Nature of his
fpiritual Kingdom, which, before his Re-
furrection they did not rightly understand;
and, in feveral Converfations during the
forty days between his Refurrection and
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Afcen-

IV. ~

SER M. Afcenfion, he furnished them with all proper Directions relating to the Doctrine of the Gofpel, which they were to preach and propagate over the whole World. A Summary or short Abridgement of which Inftructions, 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 Ghoft: Teaching them to obferve 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 Syftem of Chriftian Doctrine: And, for Method's fake, we may obferve in them diftinctly the following particulars; f An Account of the Extent, of our Saviour's Power; that he is invefted with All Power, both in Heaven and Earth. 2dly, A Declaration, of the Original of that unlimited Power and Authority; All Power, faith he, is given me, i. e. from the Father. 3dly, The Commiffion he thereupon grants his Difciples; Go Ye therefore, and

teach

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IV.

teach all Nations; 4thly, The Doctrine, SER M. trine which all Nations were to be taught, and each into which they were to be baptized;

Baptizing them in the Name of the Father, hid and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft. si gtbly, The Practice, of those who were er i to be baptized into this Faith; Teaching th them to obferve all things whatsoever I ion bave commanded you; And Laftly, The the Promife of effectual Affiftance, to the Dif Jciples fent forth upon This Commiffion; And lo, I am with you always, even unto the End of the World.

Ift, HERE is an Account, of the Extent of our Saviour's Power and Authority; that hhe is invefted with All Power, both in Hea ven and Earth. The Jews, in their expectations of the Meffiah, imagined to themselves the Character of a Temporal Prince, who fhould deliver them from the Yoke of their Enemies, and reduce all the World under their Dominion; who fhould fubdue the People under them, and the Nations under their Feet: who fhould choofe out an Heritage for them, even the Excellency of Jacob whom he loved; Pf. xlvii. 3. And This indeed our Saviour bas begun, and will

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