SERMON IV.

COUNSEL OF GOD.

AN ORDINATION SERMON.

FOR I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. —ACTS, XX 27.

THE apostle makes this declaration under peculiar circumstances, which carry the strongest evidence of sincerity. He is taking his final leave of those to whom he had preached the gospel with saving success. They expect never to see his face again, nor he theirs, until they meet in the world of spirits, before the Supreme Judge. In this situation he solemnly calls upon them to bear testimony to his ministerial faithfulness. "I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." This seems to be the spirit of the apostle's appeal: "I know, and you know, and the Searcher of my heart knows, that I have faithfully preached the gospel among you; for instead of using any mean arts or subterfuges to conceal the truth, I have laid open the whole scheme of redemption, with all possible freedom and plainness."

As this declaration breathes the true spirit of a faithful minister, so it naturally leads us to show, in this discourse, that faithful ministers mean to preach the whole counsel of God.

Paul was a faithful minister. He loved that gospel, which he once hated. He admired that divine Saviour, whom he once persecuted. He espoused that glorious cause, which he once opposed. His former views and affections being totally changed by divine grace, he was prompted to preach the gospel from an ardent desire to promote the Redeemer's kingdom, and increase the number of his cordial subjects. He knew nothing more desirable, than to be instrumental in turning men from

darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. He was willing to spend and be spent for the salvation of sinners. He was willing to sacrifice the most promising earthly prospects, and to endure the heaviest load of evils that the world could heap upon him, for the sake of Christ and the good of souls. He felt, therefore, no inclination to handle the word of God deceitfully, but sincerely desired, by the manifestation of the truth, to approve himself to his own and to every man's conscience, in the sight of God.

This was Paul's character. And this is the character of all faithful ministers. They all have the same spirit, act from the same motives, and pursue the same objects. There is, therefore, no occasion to spend time in proving that faithful ministers mean to preach as the apostle Paul did. This point is sufficiently clear from their Christian character. The only thing here that needs to be considered, is, how they preach so as to declare the whole counsel of God. This, indeed, deserves particular attention. And upon this let me observe,

1. That faithful ministers, in preaching the gospel, trace it up to its original source and fountain head.

The gospel is not an emanation of the divine nature, but a fruit of the divine will. God is a voluntary agent. He acts of choice, not of constraint. His nature lays him under no natural necessity of acting, or producing any effects out of himself. Had it been agreeable to his will, he might have existed, from eternity unto eternity, without giving being to any created object. His nature, therefore, by no means obliged him to give existence to men, and much less to give his Son to die for them, after they had forfeited every mark of his favor. Hence it appears plain and obvious, that the gospel of divine grace must have been a perfectly free and voluntary scheme, which the Supreme Being devised, determined, and adjusted in all its parts, before the foundation of the world. For God is a wise as well as a voluntary agent. And every wise, voluntary agent always forms his plan, before he begins to operate. The general concerts his scheme, before he orders his army to march. The master of the ship determines his course, before he launches into the mighty deep. And the architect draws a complete plan of his intended work, before he shapes his materials, or begins to put them together. So the only wise God, the Creator and Governor of the world, voluntarily determined and adjusted the whole scheme of redemption, before he brought men, the intended subjects of it, into existence. The schemes of men are often imperfect, because they determine the end, without determining and securing the means. But no such imperfection ever attends the divine counsels. God determines

the means as well as the end, and binds them together by an invincible connection. The gospel, therefore, as it lay in the divine mind from eternity, was one uniform, consistent, perfect scheme.

Accordingly, faithful ministers, in preaching the gospel, mean to trace it up to this original source and fountain head. So Paul tells us he preached. "I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." And in his writings, he appears to make a point of illustrating this leading and capital idea of the gospel. Permit me to read you a passage to this purpose, in his epistle to the Ephesians. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself; that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him; in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him, who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." The apostle here represents the gospel of God as the mystery of his will, as the good pleasure of his will, as the choice, the counsel, and purpose of his will, which he purposed in himself, before the foundation of the world. He is so far from aiming to conceal the original and eternal source of the gospel, that he uses a great variety of similar terms, to make it plain and intelligible to every capacity that the gospel took its origin from the volun- · tary purpose and design of God, which he completely formed and established in his own mind in the early ages of eternity. And every faithful minister means, in the same manner, to trace the gospel up to its fountain head, and so declare the whole counsel of God.

2. Faithful ministers mean to preach the gospel in its full latitude and extent.

The gospel is very extensive. It comprehends all the designs of the Creator. It is, strictly speaking, the sum and comprehension of all the divine purposes. Though the designs of God in creation and providence are very numerous and complicated, yet, numerous and complicated as they are, the gospel contains. them all. They are all but so many constituent and necessary parts of the one great design of redeeming love. When God concerted the scheme of redemption through the mediation of

Christ, he fixed on the works of creation and providence as the means to carry into effect this supreme and ultimate object. In this extensive view, the apostle frequently considers and represents the gospel. Speaking of the purpose of God in the work of redemption, he says, Ephesians i. 10, "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth." This intimates that Christ, in his mediatorial character, is the grand centre of union and of blessedness among both men and angels.

In the third chapter of this same epistle he says again, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ: And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known, by the church, the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." This passage exhibits the gospel scheme of redemption as that which lay a mystery or secret in the divine mind from eternity; as that which constituted the Lord Jesus Christ the Saviour of sinners; and, in a word, as that which comprehends all the manifold wisdom of God, which ever has been, and ever will be displayed in the works of creation, providence and grace.

This same apostle, in another place, gives us a still more full and particular representation of the universal extent of the gospel scheme. The text I advert to is in the first chapter of Colossians. These are the words: "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption, through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature: For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by him and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist: And he is the head of the body, the church: Who is the beginning, the first born from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in

heaven." Hence we are expressly told that all things, visible and invisible, from the highest seraph to the lowest insect, from the largest globe to the smallest atom, were universally created not only by Christ, but for him; that is, to promote and accomplish the great work of redemption, which shall finally terminate in the complete union and blessedness of all holy beings. Such is the length, and breadth, and magnitude of the gospel scheme. It involves all the divine counsels, and all created natures and objects. And in order to declare the whole counsel of God, it is necessary to exhibit the gospel in this wide and comprehensive latitude and extent. This leads me to observe

once more,

3. That faithful ministers mean to preach the gospel in all its full and final effects.

We have just now observed that the gospel is a great and extensive scheme, which takes in all intelligent natures, and comprises all the counsels and operations of God towards them, through every period of their existence. It must, therefore, most essentially and universally affect all their views and feelings for ever. It has, indeed, already deeply affected them. All the events which have hitherto taken place, in carrying forward this gracious design, have produced great and lasting effects in the minds of both good and evil spirits in this and other worlds. The solemn scenes which are this day passing before us may perhaps as much engage the attention, and as sensibly impress the minds of invisible as of visible beings. But however inattentive and unaffected we or they may be on this occasion, yet we should do well to remember that all these steps which we are now taking, as well as all those which have been taken, to promote the work of redemption, will eventually and eternally affect every intelligent creature. And this great and extensive scheme will have a growing influence upon the whole intellectual system, from age to age, to its final accomplishment. Heaven, earth and hell will be deeply affected by the general conversion of Jews and Gentiles; by the destruction of the power and authority of the Man of sin; by the restraints which shall be laid upon the malice and influence of Satan; and by the universal dominion which shall be given to the people of God for a thousand years together. But when God shall judge the secrets of men, as the apostle says, according to my gospel, then, and not till then, its full effects will be universally seen, and universally felt. Then it will appear that the gospel, in its rise, progress, and final issue, fixed the states and formed the characters of all the inhabitants of heaven and of hell: and that these amazing effects of it will not be transient and momentary,