AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS.

PROVIDENCE, R. I., SEPT. 11, 1857.

Resolved, That the thanks of the Board be presented to the Rev. Dr. THOMPSON, for his Sermon delivered on Tuesday evening; and that he be requested to furnish a copy for publication.

SERMON.

MATTHEW XXVIII. 20.

AND LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAY, EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE WORLD.

THE natural process of our minds, on reading this text, is first to consider Jesus-to look with adoring wonder to Him from whose lips such remarkable and gracious words proceeded; then our thoughts are turned to the little company of faithful and favored men to whom Jesus spoke, hearing not for themselves alone, but for us also, and for all that should come after them, having like faith to theirs; and finally, we ponder the words, and try to understand their meaning, and to get the weight of them on our hearts.

Who speaks? To whom does he speak? What does he say? And what should be the influence on us of his words?

Such, brethren, shall be the plan of my discourse. I desire to speak to you as on my knees, as it seems to me Jesus would have me speak, and, as well as I am able, the things which he would have me speak, and which he himself would speak, if he were personally present in our assem

bly. It is not by hearing new things that we are to have our missionary spirit improved; but by gaining a deeper impression and sense of old things. We do not need that a dealing should be had with our natural intellects, but with our spiritual understanding and our hearts. It is my becoming and proper office, as your preacher, therefore, to seek to "stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance," that you may be mindful, when this hour is past, not of my words, but "of the words which were spoken before" by the Lord himself.

The eleven were in Galilee, waiting for Jesus in a certain "mountain where he had appointed them." In due time their faith and patience were rewarded. They saw him and worshiped him. "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, 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."

It has been suggested by some, that these words may not have been spoken by our Lord on that mountain in Galilee; that Matthew, in the brief conclusion of his Gospel, recorded them without necessarily implying that they were spoken at that particular place or time, and that the real scene of them was in the Mount of Olives, near to Bethany, on that more interesting and awful occasion when, having given his final instructions to the

disciples, he lifted up his hands and blessed them, and while he blessed them, was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.'

There might possibly be something gained, through the influence of association, by adopting this view, and regarding the words of the text, with the exception of the words of that loving benediction which was yet upon the Savior's lips when he was taken up, as the last which were uttered by him previous to his ascension. What is mainly important, however, is to know that Jesus uttered such words; and whether on a mountain of Galilee, or in Olivet; whether some days before he ascended, or only a moment before, is comparatively of little consequence to us.

Having laid his commandment on the disciples to go and disciple all nations, Jesus added this for their assurance-" And lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

What we

I. Let us, then, consider - Jesus. want, my brethren, is to fix upon our minds a full impression of the true divinity of this gracious utterance. We want to feel that it is no less a being than God who speaks to us; else the words lose their power, and our interest in them We want this voice, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," to come to us, clear and definite and unmistakable, from the highest glory. We want it to fall upon our ears and upon our hearts, from the very throne of the kingdom. It is not enough for us to know that Jesus is God, as we know ten thousand other

ceases.

things, by a mere intellectual perception of them, which fails to bring them nigh to us, and to invest them with real and substantial forms. We want to know it in the living consciousness of our inmost souls, as we are sure the eleven knew it when they heard him speak, when they stood there on the mount, and he talked with them, and when they saw him ascend up into heaven, until a cloud received him out of their sight. They could say, in their Epistles to the churches, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life, (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us,) that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us." That is what we want, fellowship with them-fellowship with them in the knowledge of that peculiar experience which they had as companions of the Lord and eye-witnesses of his glory. We want to know and to feel that Jesus is God, having life in himself, and able to give life to as many as he will; that "it is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in; that bringeth the princes to nothing, and maketh the judges of the earth as vanity." What we want, before the words of Jesus in the text can fill us with joy as they should, and with strength and confidence and courage as they