had been chosen, and admitted to "know the mysteries of the kingdom of God."

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

16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.a

These were the terms in which the message of God was to be carried through the world. It was to be addressed to mankind as in a lost or ruined state; it was to offer them deliverance from that state, for the sake of what Christ had done, on the condition of their becoming his disciples. As many as received the offer, and were baptized in the name of Jesus, should be placed in a new state towards God, being no longer under his wrath, which Jesus had taken away; and should be enabled to lead a new life, a life of righteousness and holiness. Being justified by the atonement made for sin upon the

4 To the inward confession of faith, the outward confession of baptism was required. To be baptized, was openly to profess the faith of Christ; and this was dangerous; as at this moment amongst the heathen, and the Jews. When a Hindoo or a Jew lay aside the religion of their fathers, and are publicly baptized as Christians, then it is that they are cast off by their friends and connexions, and exposed to the rigours of persecution. So that many might believe in Jesus, and yet not be baptized in his name; like those among the rulers whom St. John spoke of, who “believed that Jesus was the Christ, but did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue." (xii. 42.) To the same purpose St. Paul, (Rom. x. 9, 10,) "If thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

cross, which they had embraced in faith, in reliance upon its all-sufficiency, they should have peace with God; and walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit, they should be saved."

We must consider, however, what is meant, when it is declared, He that believeth, shall be saved. It is not in the way of reward or punishment, but from the nature of the case, that all depends upon our believing, or not believing in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who "taketh away the sin of the world."

The Gospel is proposed to us as a remedy, which can only be received by being trusted. Jesus Christ is set before us as the physician, who has in himself, and who alone has, the remedy of sin, and of the effects of sin. So that whosoever believes in him, resigns and devotes himself to him, has life, because he has the remedy against death; whilst one who "has not the Son of God, has not life,' "6 remains under condemnation, because he has not believed in the name of him who offers to reverse his sentence of condemnation, and set him free.

It may illustrate this, if we suppose a land to be ravaged by a pestilence, threatening to overwhelm both young and old with general destruction. This

is no far-fetched example; for sin is such a pestilence, and affects by its virulence the whole race of mankind.

Suppose, farther, a physician to traverse this infected country, and promise an antidote which

5 Rom. v. 1; viii. 1.

61 John v. 12.

should preserve from danger as many as applied to him. Such is the offer of Christ. "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”7

In that country there would soon be found three classes of persons. There would be some who neglected all precaution, distrusted the physician altogether, and were satisfied to take their chance with others. There would be some, who did not doubt the physician's skill, or the efficacy of his remedy: but finding that it required much care and selfdenial, a change in their manner of living, and habits different from those around them, they would silently reject it, and prefer the unseen evil to the immediate trouble of the cure. Whilst a third class would be found so convinced of the impending danger, and so confident of the physician's skill, as to apply for his advice and obey his counsels, relying on his word and promise, at whatever pains, whatever sacrifice of present inclination.

And this third class, believing the physician, and acting on their belief, would be saved: whilst they who disbelieved, and they who acted as if they disbelieved, would be left to perish: would remain liable to the pestilence which sooner or later would lead to their destruction, because they refused the only remedy which could avert it and preserve them. Still the cause of their death, would be the pestilence, and not the refusal of the remedy. No doubt their condition would be the more lamentable, because the

John v. 24.

remedy had come nigh them, and they rejected it. But neither the offer of the remedy, nor their refusal, would place them in their desperate state: it was their state before, as inhabitants of the country which the pestilence had entered, and where it raged. Like the sons-in-law of Lot, whom he warned to flee with him from Sodom: and "he seemed to them as one that mocked :" they refused to listen to him. When the Lord rained fire and brimstone upon Sodom out of heaven, they were swallowed up in the destruction. Yet they did not perish, because they rejected his counsel; but rejecting his counsel, they perished together with their countrymen. And therefore our Lord, when he declared, that whoever believed on him, should "not be condemned;" added also, "He that believeth not, is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God," who alone could avert his condemnation. "He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him :"9 he has not escaped it through the appointed way of reconciliation.

Let us rejoice in the assurance, He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved. There is a physician, who is come to seek and to save those that without him were abandoned to a devouring pestilence. There is an ark of safety, which we are invited to enter, and be secure; there is an unshaken rock, on which we can rest our souls. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners: and that 8 Gen. xix. 14. 9 John iii. 18, 36.

he is able to save unto the uttermost all them that come unto God through him."

LECTURE XCVII.

THE PROMULGATION OF THE GOSPEL.

MARK XVI. 17, 18.

17. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues ;

18. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

All had been now achieved, which was required in the counsels of God to save a ruined world. Jesus had announced this, from the cross itself; uttering the mysterious words, "It is finished:" all has been completed: all that was needed to make the work of redemption perfect.

What now remained, was to render that work available to its great purpose. Christ, by his own offering of himself once offered, had made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the