I. His commission —
It is here manifestly intimated,
1 . That the whole world need to have the Gospel preached to them —
[We are apt to imagine that every man may be saved by the religion which he professes : and to intimate the contrary is deemed a libel even upon the Deity himself. But on this subject we can know nothing except as we are informed by God hhnself : and we must not set up our opinions in opposi- tion to his revealed will. We must receive with imphcit faith the declarations of his word ; and whether they accord with our preconceived views or not, we must rest satisfied, that the Judge of all the earth will do right. I am far from saying that God may not save some from amongst all nations, even tliough they have not a distinct knowledge of the Gospel : for God may do whatsoever seemeth him good ; and we are no more at liberty to limit the exercise of his mercy, than we are the rights of his justice. But " secret things belong to him; and the things which are revealed belong to us and to our chil- dren :" and the uniform testimony of revelation is, that men are all in a lost and perishing condition ; that they all need a Saviour ; and that "there is no other name given under heaven whereby any man can be saved, but the name of Jesus Clirist." This then is the testimony which we must bear, without pre- suming to be " wise above that which is written." Indeed the very circumstance of an angel being employed to preach the G ospel to the whole world, is itself a proof that the whole world needs to be instructed in it in order to their final salva- tion ; for we cannot suppose that God would use such means, for the information of the world, if the information itself were not greatly needed. We shall do well therefore to fix this as a settled px'inciple in our minds, that as Christ has offered him- self "a propitiation for the sins of the whole world," the whole world needs to be directed to him as the only ground of a sinner's hope.]
2. That the office of a Preacher is one which even an angel from heaven may well affect —
[Think you that this angel counted his office an indignity? or that he regretted even his absence from the throne of God, whilst he was occupied in the discharge of it ? No surely : a regard for God's honour and for the welfare of mankind would carry him forward with exquisite delight whilst flying through the vast expanse of heaven. And let me say, that the office, by whomsoever discharged, if executed with fidelity and zeal, is as honourable, as any that can be sustained on earth. We
justly
378 llEVELATIOX, XIV. 6, 7. [1212.
justly account it a great honour to be an ambassador from an earthly Monarch, and especially if for the purpose of effecting peace between contending nations. But how infinitely more honourable is it to be an ambassador from the court of hea- ven, and a representative of the King of kings, to proclaim to a rebellious world the terms on which they shall be restored to his favour, and receive all the benefits w liicli Omnipotence itself can confer upon them ! Let none then think lightly of this office ; let none imagine that talents of the most distin- guished kind can be employed in any service more worthy of them, or that in any line whatever the most strenuous exer- tions can be more richly recompensed : for if a Preacher be made an instrument of saving only one single soul, he has already gained that which is of more value than the whole world.]
Let us now turn our attention to, 11. His execution of it — ■
There are many who imagine that the Gospel con- sists merely in an exhibition of Christ as crucified for the sins of men. That this is the point to which all must lead, I readily acknowledge : but it is neces- sary that men should be awakened to a sense of their guilt and danger, in order to prepare their minds for a due reception of the Gospel salvation : *' The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick :" and, unless people feel their malady, it is in vain to speak to them of a remedy suited to it. The true mode of preaching the Gospel may be learned from the angel, in our text, who first calls men to a state of humilia- tion on account of sin ; then exhorts them to embrace the salvation offered them in the Gospel ; and then enforces his exhortation with a consideration calcu- lated to stimulate them to the utmost care and dili- gence.