SERMON XIV. (PREACHED FOR THE SOCIETY FOR PROPAGATING THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS.) PSALM lxxii. 8-11. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him and his enemies shall lick the dust, The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him. IN conformity with the notice which I gave on Sunday last, and the Royal letter which I read, it becomes my duty to bring before you the cause of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts; and I do it in the full confidence that it will experience at your hands that warm, and liberal, and Christian support which will become your profession, and which, since I have been placed here as your Minister, I have never found to fail, when called for on behalf of any work of Christian charity and love. The words which I have just delivered, will serve to illustrate and enforce the subject before us. The Psalm from which they are taken, is entitled a prayer for Solomon, or of Solomon, as it is in the margin. Together with the foregoing, it appears to have been composed by David in his old age, when he felt that he should soon be gathered to his fathers, and was to resign his crown into the hands of his son. But "a greater than Solomon is here," even Christ our Lord. It is acknowledged to be so on all hands; even the Jews themselves allow it to be a prophecy concerning their Messiah. It would occupy too much of our time, and draw me off from the particular object of this discourse, to attempt a general exposition of the Psalm; but it is well deserving your serious and attentive perusal, and with this key to it, you will all be enabled to see how beautifully it applies to our Lord, and how it shadows out that dispensation of love and mercy, which is made known so fully in the blessed Gospel, and which it is our unspeakable privilege to enjoy. DD The verses I have taken for the text, express in very forcible and sublime language the glorious kingdom of the Messiah-of our blessed Redeemer. The kingdom of Solomon was extended beyond that of any of his predecessors. He reigned "from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth;" and the most distant princes and potentates came to admire and acknowledge his greatness, his power, and his wisdom. But all this faintly represents the glorious kingdom of which Solomon's was only a type and shadow. The words of the text will lead us to consider : 1st. That kingdom of our Lord, which is here spoken of, and promised, by the word of prophecy; with something of its nature, power, and extent. 2dly. Whether this prophecy has yet received its full accomplishment; and if not, 3dly. Whether it be not the bounden duty of Christians (especially at this day) to use the means, which God places in their power, for this great end; with the encouragement which the state of things affords us. 1st. Let us consider that kingdom which is here spoken of; its naturé, extent, and power. Christ is represented to us in Scripture as a King. He is originally, and from all eternity, possessed of all power and dominion; and no addition, in this sense, can be made to his kingdom. But the kingdom, described as belonging to our Lord, in the present and similar passages, respects his Mediatorial kingdom; that kingdom, which it pleased the Father to put into his Son's hands, as our Redeemer and Mediator, when he constituted him Lord and Heir of all things. It is that kingdom, which, in the economy of Redemption, the Father hath given the Son, in his double nature of God and man, as the reward of his humiliation and obedience to death, even the death of the Cross. "Wherefore God also 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." It is that kingdom in which he is promised, by the sure word of prophecy, that he should "see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied;" that he should "justify many,' by bearing their iniquities; that, as the great Head of his Church, he should gather together an innumerable company out of Phil. ii. 9-11. all nations, tongues, and languages, throughout the whole earth, who should obey him as their King and Lord, serve him here, and reign with him hereafter. The text leads us to notice the power and extent of this kingdom. It is to be universal, both in power and extent. "He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth... Yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him." Conformably with this promise, and as the application of it to himself, our Lord just before his ascension to heaven declared, in so many plain words, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth;" and then he issued the sovereign command and commission to his disciples, "Go ye into all the world, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”1 This is the kingdom, revealed in the great Gospel promise made to Abraham: "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."3 It declared that "all the ends of the earth shall fear 1 Matt. xviii. 19, 20; Mark xvi. 15. 2 Gen. xii. 3. |