here. How animating to remember, that all things are delivered to Christ of the Father-all nations-all kingdoms-all people; that Persia and Hindostan are his, as surely his, as if they were already subdued by the gospel, and the power of his grace; that the strong holds of caste, and superstition, and idolatry, cannot keep his gospel out of those vast regions, whenever it is his good pleasure to claim them as his own. China and its teeming population are his; they are his by grant, at this present moment; they are already delivered to him. Neither edicts nor laws, nor even the stupendous and formidable wall, by which that empire is said to be surrounded, shall for one single day shut out the gospel from that dark and dreary habitation of Satan, when our adorable Immanuel shall come, riding in his gospel chariot, conquering and to conquer its enslaved and benighted inhabitants. The Burmese empire is his, and all the islands that stud the Pacific Ocean are his: and in his own good time Dagon shall fall before the ark, and the banner of the gospel shall be unfurled, and thousands shall flock to it, as the doves to their windows, and shall cast their idols to the moles and the bats, and acknowledge Jesus as their only Saviour and Redeemer. Turkey and every country where the delusions of the false prophet blind and deceive the people are his; and whenever he speaks the word, the crescent shall wane before the cross, and Jesus shall be acknowledged as the true Prophet, to teach and enlighten; as well as a Priest, to atone and intercede. South America, and even Spain, and Italy-the seat of the beast, are his; they are already delivered to him, and when he pleases to say, "Let there be light," not all the powers on earth can prevent the rays of the Sun of Righteousness from shining on those dark and deluded countries.

"All power in heaven and in earth is given" to him; and, therefore, every thing in heaven and in earth is his, and is under tribute to him, to accomplish his gracious designs of mercy and love to a guilty world. The silver and the gold are therefore his; and whenever he sees it necessary, we are sure, that all the revenues of the different institutions, which are formed for the purpose of spreading his gospel, will be sufficiently replenished, and their treasures will be filled when he wants them, and has occasion for them. Whenever his cause requires it, "to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba, the kings of Tarshish and the isles shall bring presents, the multitude of camels shall come from Midian, bringing gold and incense" for his service.

All hearts are his; they are in his hand "as the rivers of waters." He can easily turn them whithersoever he will, and "dispose them as it seemeth best to his godly wisdom." He can incline the heart

of his servants to come forward and offer themselves for this great work. After having taken away their iniquity, and touched their lips with a live coal from off the altar, and fired their heart with holy zeal and heavenly love, He can easily constrain them to say, with his servant of old, "Here am I, send me" where thou wilt, when thou wilt, and as thou wilt. And thus, as the Lord of the harvest, he has power, in the course of his providence, by ways and means of his own choosing, to send forth, and even to thrust labourers into his harvest.

Again, the gifts and the graces of the Spirit are his. When he ascended on high as Mediator, he received those gifts for the purpose of establishing and carrying on the affairs of his kingdom in this lower world. The powers and faculties of the body, the endowments of the mind, and every attainment necessary to fit men for his service, are all delivered to him. He can, therefore, prepare and qualify his servants for the post and the duties for which he designs them. He can give them strength of constitution for the peculiar climate under which they may be called to labour, endow them with a facility for acquiring languages, and bestow upon them the gift of tongues in the sober and legitimate sense of the word; and having thus prepared them, he can, by the quickening influences of his Holy Spirit, warm their hearts with zeal for his glory, and tender compassion and ardent love for precious immortal souls.

Then, again, the very elements are at his disposal. Every particle of matter in the whole creation is delivered to him for the purpose of promoting his gracious designs in the world. The very winds and waves are under his control; so that he can easily carry his servants in safety over stormy seas and boisterous oceans, and bring them to the haven where they would be; or, to speak more correctly, where He would have them be; for sometimes, as we have heard, he has sent a wind from some particular quarter, to carry the man of God in a different direction to what he originally intended to go, and it has thus been the means of conveying the gospel of peace to a nation for whom human care and human counsel had taken no thought; and thus do we see in the most delightful and wondrous manner, "the stormy wind fulfilling his word.' But this is not all. Having prepared and sent out his ambassadors on the gracious errand of mercy and love, he can, by his mighty power, prepare for them a way in the wilderness, make straight a highway in the desert, and furnish to their hands, “ a people prepared of the

Lord."

He can remove opposing obstacles, and alarming difficulties and dangers. He can cause every valley to be exalted, and every

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mountain and hill to be made low; the crooked straight, and the rough places plain." He can dispose the hearts of those in authority to throw over his servants the wing of protection, and to sanction and countenance their labours; so that " Kings shall be their nursing fathers, and Queens their nursing mothers." He can remove prejudices, and cause his own word to "have free course and be glorified," in the conversion of many precious souls that are now immersed in darkness and the shadow of death.

Principalities and powers are delivered to him -the powers of darkness, so that they cannot defeat or frustrate his purpose, and the work which he is carrying on in the world. He can, with the greatest ease, overcome the strong man armed, however firmly entrenched in the hearts of sinners, and can take from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divide his spoils. He has power to silence the enemies of this great work, and check and restrain all who would lift up a hand, or move a tongue against it. He can stop the mouths of those lions, and break the heads of those leviathans in pieces. He can turn the counsel of those Ahithophels into foolishness, and can put the muzzle of restraint upon all the Sanballats and Tobiahs that would impede, or oppose, the building of his spiritual temple, and endeavour to obstruct the spread of his glorious gospel. He can even overrule the sinful passions of men, and so control them as to make them, though unintentionally, help forward the accomplishment of his gracious designs, so that "they can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth;" and thus "the wrath of man is made to turn to his praise, and then the remainder of his wrath does he restrain." He can easily make all his enemies as "chaff before the wind," and if they continue to resist and oppose the spread of his gospel, he will make them "ashes under his feet." "He will break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Thus "all things are delivered to him," and, therefore, whatever difficulties may appear to stand in the way, whatever changes and revolutions may occur in the world, he will be sure to carry on his great work. Hence there never was a time, since he ascended into heaven, when the spirit of missions has not existed; and hence has he raised up men, in all ages, endued with an extraordinary measure of missionary zeal. He has never been at a loss for agents and instruments to accomplish his purposes. Whenever the work was ready, the instrument was prepared. For this purpose, Augustine was raised up to bring the glad tidings of salvation to favoured Britain; Xavier, to India and Japan; Eliot, to America ; and Swartz, to Tranquebar; and thus we see that in order to

establish the Redeemer's kingdom throughout the world, all things were delivered to him. All nations, and people, and languages; all the gifts and graces of the Spirit; all enemies, and every thing that was necessary to accomplish this blessed and glorious work. They were all delivered to him by the Father. This leads us to consider,

II. The ground on which this declaration was made.

Christ is here speaking in his mediatorial character, and evidently refers to the transaction which occurred in the eternal counsels before the world began. The grant here made, has an express reference to the sufferings he should undergo, in order to satisfy the claims of Divine justice, to turn away the wrath of God, and to procure pardon and salvation for guilty sinners. The especial foundation of this grant is, in an eminent manner, expressed in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah: "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. He shall bear their iniquities: THEREFORE will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death." Here we see that his suffering for the sins of his church and people, according to the will of the Father, and the purchase he made in his death, according to the tenour of the covenant of grace, make it just and righteous that, as mediator, he should enjoy this part of his inheritance. The Father says, as it were, unto Him,* “Seest Thou these wretched beings, that lie perishing in their blood, and under the curse? They had once my image gloriously impressed upon them, and were every way meet for my service; but, behold the misery that is come upon them for their sin and rebellion! Sentence is gone forth against them for their sin; and nothing is wanting to shut them up under everlasting ruin, but the execution of it. Wilt Thou undertake to be their Deliverer, to save them from their sins, and the wrath to come? Wilt Thou make thy soul an offering for their sins, and lay down Thy life a ransom for them?" The Son replies: "I am content to do Thy will. Lo! I come for that purpose: my delight is with these sons of men; what they have taken, I will pay; what is due from them, let it be required at my hand; I am ready to undergo the curse for them, and to pour out my soul unto death." "Then," saith the Father, "Thou shalt see the

travail of thy soul, and be satisfied. To this end, all power is delivered to thee for the purpose of establishing thy kingdom in the

* See Dr. Owen's Coinmentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. i.

hearts of men, and extending it, in due time, throughout the whole world. Here are unsearchable hidden treasures of mercy and grace laid up from eternity. Take all these riches into thy power, and at thy disposal shall they be for ever." Accordingly we find, that after his sufferings have been detailed with the greatest minuteness in the twenty-second Psalm, how he was a reproach of men, and forsaken of his Father; how he was a worm, and no man; how his enemies compassed him about, and pierced his hands and his feet; and how he was at last brought into the dust of death; we are then told, in conclusion, that, as the fruit of all these sufferings, "All the ends of the world shall remember themselves, and turn unto him; that all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations." And again, when the apostle tells us, that "Christ made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant; that he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross," he adds immediately: "Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father;" in other words, that "all things were delivered to him of the Father." Accordingly, he is made Lord of lords, and King of kings, and exercises his dominion in a manner that answers to his title; and hence he has a right to send his gospel, his preached gospel, his written gospel, unalloyed and unmutilated, into all nations of the earth; and none of the rulers or governors of the world have any right to refuse or oppose it, nor can they do so but at their utmost peril. This universal dominion was the joy that was set before him, when he endured the cross, and despised the shame; and he now sits as priest upon his throne, at the right hand of God, presenting his sacrifice, and pleading his sufferings and death for the accomplishment of his gracious designs, and "asking," as a recompense, "the heathen for his inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for his possession."

Having thus considered the declaration of the text, and the ground upon which it is made, we now proceed,

III. To make a practical application of it to the subject before us. While we have been speaking of the certain final success of the gospel, and the establishment of the Redeemer's kingdom, secured as it is by covenant engagement, and by the grant of all things to the Lord Jesus, as mediator, by the Father, it may perhaps have