I. The greatness of the Gospel dispensation —
To learn xohat the Gospel salvation is, we are re- ferred to the preaching of our blessed Lord and his Apostles —
[Our blessed Lord did not systematically lay down the whole nature of the Gospel salvation ; but he opened it with a sufficient clearness, that those who paid due attention to his word might easily comprehend it. What, for instance, could be plainer than the instruction given to Nicodemus " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up ; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life'^?" Here the perishing condition of the whole world is declared, and the means of their deliverance; namely, through the death of Christ as an atonement for sin, and by the simple exercise of faith in him*^. The same truth was repeatedly declared to others® and it was fully announced, that, as he com- pleted in himself the whole of the Mosaic ritual, he was the only medium of access to God, the only Saviour of the world : " I am the truth, the way, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father but by me^."
His Apostles after him preached the very same doctrine ; and to it, as preached by them, the Holy Ghost set his seal. When Peter opened the Gospel to the Jews, he bade them believe in Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins ; and in like manner when he opened it to the Gentiles : and on each occasion the Holy Ghost bare witness to it, by a visible descent from heaven s. So Paul also preached, and with the sarne effect, to the people at Antioch, and to the Jailor at Phihppi'i. In a word, this was the Gospel which they all preached ; and by this they prevailed, to establish the kino-- dom of Christ throughout the greater part of the knowTi worlds]
But how shall I declare the greatness of this sal- vation ?
[Consider it as imparted to us ; who shall estimate the blessings of it? Take it either separately or collectively; and tell me if you, or an angel from heaven, can ever calculate the value of pardon, and peace, and holiness, and glory ?
Eternity would be too short to count the mighty
sum. But consider it as purchased for us ; there all efforts to
<" Johniii. 14, 15. d See also ver. 16, 18, 36.
e John vi. 51. xi. 25, 26. xii. 32, 33. and Matt. xxvi. 27, 28. f John xiv. 6. s Acts ii. 38, 39. and x. 43, 44.
h Acts xiii, 38, 39. and xvi. 30, 31. ' Mark xvi. 15, 16.