among them, he considered himself " a debtor unto them, as well as unto other Gentiles ;" and that " he longed exceedingly to see them, that he might impart to them some spiritual gift for the increase and esta- blishment" of their faith and love3 ; and that " he was sure, that, when he should come to them, he should come in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ."
That we may understand what it was that he thus taught them to expect, we shall shew,
I. The blessings which the Gospel is intended to impart — There is a fulness of blessings treasured up for men in Christ Jesus, and communicated to them by the preaching of the Gospel : and, in order to form any just conception of them, we must speak of them, not in the minuteness of detail, but in a large and com- prehensive view. We may say of the Gospel then, that it imparts a fulness,
1. Of light and liberty —
[It comes to men whilst they are " sitting in darkness and the shadow of death," and fast bound in the iron yoke of sin. And to them it proclaims " a Saviour, and a great One, who is able and willing to deliver themb:" yea, it bids them shake off their chains, and " come forth out of their prison house, and out of darkness0." The operation of the Gospel upon the souls of men may be not improperly illustrated by the deliver- ance of Peter from his prison. There he was lying bound with two chains, and sleeping, though on the very eve of his ex- pected execution. But God sent an angel to deliver him ; and suddenly a light shined into the prison; and Peter was awakened from his sleep : and the chains fell off from his hands; and all the gates that seemed to oppose an insurmountable obstacle to his escape, opened to him of their own accord ; so that, to the utter surprise of all his friends, he was brought forth at once to light and liberty d. We do not mean to say, that the effect of the Gospel is always thus sudden ; but, whether the operation be more or less gradual, this is invariably the issue of it, wherever " it comes in demonstration of the Spirit and of power :" the persons wrought upon by it, " have their eyes opened, and are turned from darkness unto light, and from the
a Rom. i. 11 — 15. b Isai. xix. 20.
e Isai. xlii. 7. d Acts xii. 6 — 16'.