Now these things Peter had declared: and they are no other than what every Minister of Christ must declare. His eternal ordination to his office, his complete execution of it for the salvation of a ruined Vvorld, his exaltation to glory, from whence he communicates all blessings to his people, and overrules every thing for their eternal good, this must be
made
" 1 Pet. i. 20. "ib. ver. 18, I9. & ii. 24. " I Pet. i. 21.
•* ib. ver. 3, 4. M Pet. ii. 5, d. ^ 1 Pet. iii. 22.
* ver. 2. '' ver. 3.
174 2 PETETl, T. \6. [IITI.
made known by every :Minister of Christ, and must be re- ceived by every child of man.]
2. The* power with which he will come —
[At a future period, that same Jesus, who was crucified, shall a])pcar again '• in power and great glory ','' and will come to "judge both the (juick and the dead''." Then shall " his glory be fully revealed';" and his kingdom be estabUshed for ever in the heaven of heavens'".
These things also the Apostle affirmed. And what less could be declared by any one that has undertaken to preach the Gospel ?
If they ai)pear to any to be a cunningly-devised fable, I ask, Why do they appear so ? The only answer that can be given is this ; That these things are too great to be comprehended by us, and too good to be expected or believed. They are great, no tloubt ; and they are good also, beyond all that any finite intelligence could have conceived. But they are not on that account to be questioned. The creation of the world out of nothing, as far exceeds our conceptions as the redemption of it. Both the one and the other are the offspring of in- finite wisdom, and power, and goodness : and, ifwe were not com))elled by the evidence of our senses to acknowledge the wonders of creation, we should be as ready to deny the pos- sibility of them, as we are to question the wonders of redemp- tion. But«the Apostle declares, that even these latter had, as far as they could be, been made objects of sense; and every evidence of them that could be submitted to the senses had been given to him.]
In confirmation of this the Apostle proceeds to state,
II. On what assured grounds he was enabled to bear his testimony respecting him — ■ The Apostle had all the evidence respecting the IMessiahship of Jesus that was possessed by the Church at large. He had beheld all the miracles that Jesus wrought, and heard all his discourses, and seen his bright example, and witnessed his re- surrection and ascension, and had received from him the Holy Ghost according to his promise on the day of Pentecost; and had beheld also the triumphs of the Gospel over all the power and policy of earth and hell. (Of the prophecies which he had seen fulfilled
in ' 1 Pet. i. 7. '' 1 Pet. iv. 5. ' ib. ver. 13. " ver. U.