I

That Adam figured Christ, and was intended to hold Him forth in respect of the supreme regard that God has to nations in His great work of redemption; comprehending men as nations in the constitution or constituency of the Second Adam; causing final effect to be given to His original purpose in Christ on their behalf, by their appearance as saved nations on the earth, and with this end in view, throughout the ages, making the nations supremely the objects of all His dealings with man.

This was clearly the importance attaching to nations in connection with the first Adam. In him, God comprehended, not individuals merely, but nations. Nations being comprehended in Adam, as the tree is in the seed, it was only in the appearance of the nations that God's purpose, and the creative fiat, could reach their last and highest result; and so also in dealing with Adam, and with the race in him, His dealings were supremely national, or such as had kings and their nations supremely in view. Hence we observed that under page 18 creation, the nation is to be regarded as the highest style of man. Only then does he reach the condition in which he is most capable of showing forth the wisdom, power, and goodness of his great Creator. Only then too, is he in circumstances to serve the divine purposes in his creation, whether as regards God, His Son, or man himself. And as it is only in a national condition, that he rises to the full measure of the responsibility of which he is capable, so it is only as a nation that he can manifest whether man's highest obedience, or contract his greatest amount of guilt, and so be, whether most gloriously saved, or most miserably lost. But if redemption restores creation, and if Adam figured Christ, then as it was in creation, so must it be in redemption, and from first to last, in creation and in redemption, the nation is the supreme object of divine consideration.

First, then, we have to observe that man, not merely as individuals, but as nations were comprehended in the constitution, or constituency, given to the Second Adam, then when He was set up from everlasting; and God's purpose in redemption comes to be fully manifested only in the appearance of saved nations on the earth. We do not say that all the nations foreseen as to fall in Adam, were thus comprehended in Christ; and, therefore, those comprehended in Him must be regarded as elect nations, chosen in Christ before the world began. Here, however, we are so much in the way of attaching all importance to the individual, and so little of the divine purpose as regards the nations has been as yet evolved, that we have difficulty in rising to the conception of elect nations, and in the language of the prophet, we are ready to ask in surprise, 'Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or, shall a nation be born at once?'—(Isa. lxvi. 8). But we must not so limit God, neither must we suffer our-selves lightly to set aside all that discovery of the divine counsels in the past, and all that prophecy of the future, which God's appointed figure set up, at the very beginning, in Adam, of Him who was to come, was intended to make. At the same time, we have the same truth otherwise expressly taught us.

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Thus, 'Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance'—(Ps. xxxiii. 12). Then, in the birth of Jacob and Esau, we have certainly the birth, not of two individuals only, but of two nations. 'Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels'—(Gen. xxv. 23); and yet, what do we read of these infant nations? ' The children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him who calleth, it was said unto her, 'The elder shall serve the younger.' As it is written, 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated'—(Rom. ix. 11-13). Moreover, as regards the accomplishment of the divine purpose in the appearance of saved nations on the earth, the promise to Abraham being, 'I have made thee a father of many nations'—(Rom. iv. 17).—Whence are these saved nations to come, or how is this promise to be fulfilled? It is fulfilled in the way of Abraham becoming the father of Him in whom as nations to be saved, these nations already were, from whom all their new being as such nations is to proceed, to whom rising as a branch from Jesse's root, and set up as an ensign for the nations, the gathering nations shall come, and for whose full development as the Good Olive Tree,—the engrafted nations participating with national Israel in his root and fatness'—(Isa. xix. 24, 25)—we must wait to see all that was comprehended in the Second Adam as a seed, or root, or branch.

But, secondly, we have to observe that, giving effect to His purpose in Christ, and showing how supremely He contemplates men as nations, we have Him throughout the ages making them the grand subjects of all His dealings, in His Providence, and by His Word, in both the Law and Gospel, and by His Spirit.

1. This is very clearly the case as regards the Providence of God, or in His providential government of mankind. It was with a view to nations that God dealt with Adam. It was with a view to nations that He dealt with Noah. The covenant established with Noah on the ground of that sacrifice which he offered after coming out of the ark, and when page 20 the dominion of the earth was of new conferred on man, was a covenant for the nations, in which they were called on to abide, and in connection with which, as the national sons and children of God, they might have become great and happy nations on the earth. They apostatized, however, from Noah's covenant, and hence the calling of Abraham, and God's dealing with him with a view to nations; just as subsequently, consequent on Israel's apostacy, God threatened to cast them off, and make of Moses a greater nation, and mightier than they—(Num. xiv. 11, 12). As for Abraham, not only was he to be made a great nation, but 'a father of many nations have I made thee;' and so, from first to last, in the New Testament, as well as in the Old, in Scripture history, and in Scripture prophecy, God is found walking among the nations, and dealing supremely with them.

And observe how absolute is the dependence of the nations upon Him, and in what respects He has to do with them. They are 'the nations whom He has made'—(Ps. lxxxvi. 9). 'He divides to the nations their inheritance, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation'—(Deut. xxxii. 8; Acts xvii. 26). 'He is the king of nations'—(Jer. x. 7). 'Their governor'—(Ps. xxii. 28). 'The most high that ruleth in the kingdom of man, and giveth it to whomsoever He will'—(Dan. iv. 25). 'His eyes behold the nations'—(Ps. lxvi. 7), and, He observes them, that He may deal with them according to their deserts. In the exercise of His sovereignty, He distinguishes between them, as regards the communication, or withholding of His word and truth. 'The sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the hosts of heaven, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven'—(Deut. iv. 19). 'He showeth His word unto Jacob,' 'He hath not dealt so with any people'—(Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20). 'The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof'—(Matt. xxi. 43). He is the immediate scource of the peace, temporal prosperity, and good government of nations, and He gives or withholds them at His pleasure. 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but page 21 in vain'—(Ps. cxxvii. 1). 'There is no king saved by the multitude of an host'—(Ps. xxxiii. 16). It is 'He that giveth salvation unto kings'—(Ps. cxliv. 10). 'That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace; that our garners may be full, affording all manner of store; that our sheep may bring forth thousands, and ten thousands in our streets; that our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, or going out; that there be no complaining in our streets. Happy is that people, that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord'—(Ps. cxliv. 12-15). 'And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate'—(Isa. xxviii. 6). On the other hand, 'Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not because the Lord did drive them'—(Jer. xliv. 15). 'Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish'—(Isa. xix. 11). 'For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts doth take away from Jerusalem the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. 'And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them'—(Isa. iii. 1-4). He employs the nations for the accomplishment of His purposes of judgment or mercy. 'O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, I will send him against an hypocritical nation'—(Isa. x. 6). 'That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built; and to the temple Thy foundation shall be laid'—(Isa. xliv. 28). 'He chastises the nations'—(Ps. xciv. 10). 'Shall I not visit them for these things, shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?'—(Jer. ix. 9). 'For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me, take the wine cup of my fury at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it'—(Jer. xxv. 15, 28, 29). He pours out the curse on the nations, and destroys them, such as sin with- page 22 out law perishing without law, and such as sin with the law being judged by it. So he dealt with Sodom and Gomorrah, with the nations of Canaan, with the Jews themselves, and with the surrounding nations; the Jews coming under the curse for their apostacy from God and His covenant; surrounding nations suffering because they learned so little from the Jews, and because they took pleasure in their calamities—(Jer. xii. 14-17), Amos, chaps, i and ii; and then, in succession, the great monarchies of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome, perishing because of their idolatry, pride, and cruelty. On the other hand, there is mercy for the nations, as in the assurance 'It shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see my glory'—(Isa. lxvi. 18). It is commonly said that nations are capable of judgment and punishment only in this world. I suspect that this opinion has been too lightly formed. How is it possible for those who have been one in sin to be otherwise than one in their judgment and punishment for it? 'The Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.' 'When the son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, before Him shall be gathered all nations'—(Matt, xxv. 31, 32). 'The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God'—(Ps. ix. 17). And, already, 'Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire'—(Jude 7). On the other hand, 'The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof, and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it'—(Rev. xxi. 23, 24).

2. But, having thus observed the supremely national manner in which God deals with men in His providence, let us now observe how He addresses them in His Word. Here, too, it will be found that, while it is subordinately with the family, it is supremely with the nations that He is dealing,—His word being primarily addressed to kings, subordinately to heads of families; and being thus addressed to them, because they are regarded as entrusted with the safety of page 23 their several constituencies, and the duty devolves on them of taking the steps by which this safety must be secured.

That, supremely, God's Word, throughout, is thus addressed to nations and their kings, may be made abundantly plain.

This already appears from the commission given to Jeremiah; for the whole Word of God having a common object of address, and a common end to serve, What was the commission given to Jeremiah? 'See, I have this day set thee over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to build, and to plant'—(Jer. i. 10).

But we proceed to observe more particularly:

(1.) That this was clearly the case as regards the Decalogue, itself a summary of the Word of God, addressed supremely to the nation, the address, at the same time, having a prime respect to the nation's king, or rulers, and calling for national action. So it surely was as addressed to Adam and his nation; but so also it was as addressed to the nation of the Jews. 'I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee—the nation—out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou—the nation—shalt have no other gods before me.' Again, inclusive of nation and family, but addressed supremely to the nation in its rulers, 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates'—(Ex. xx. 1-9). Accordingly, it was in terms of this law that, throughout, God dealt with the children of Israel, whether in showing them mercy, or in visiting them with wrath, and their kings are good or bad, and the nation is prosperous, or the reverse, just according to the conduct of their kings in relation to the Decalogue, and the manner in which the nation, as led and influenced by their kings and rulers, whether they departed from the Decalogue, or adhered to it. Thus, as regards the Sabbath in particular: 'Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the page 24 Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? Yet ye bring down wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath'—(Neh. xiii. 17, 18); see also Jer. xvii 19-25. Nor let it be for one moment supposed that what was God's law for the Jewish nation, is not His law, universally, for all nations. For 'Is He the God of the Jews only? is He not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also'—(Rom. iii. 29). Accordingly, the Decalogue being the rule of duty for all, 'At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them'—(Jer. xviii. 7-10).

(2.) But as with the Law, so precisely, and necessarily so, with the Gospel.

Thus the gospel as preached throughout the Old Testament is entirely of this description, a national gospel, a gospel for the nations, and primarily addressed to rulers and kings; although now this Old Testament gospel is so exclusively applied only to the individual. 'O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help'—(Hos. xiii. 9)—is precious gospel, but it is gospel for the nations. So also the nation and its rulers being addressed under the words, 'Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah'—(Isa. i. 10); and purity being demanded of them, this call for purity being an Old Testament call for the faith by which only it was attainable, ver. 16, 17, following on this call for faith, a precious gospel assurance is added, but it is an assurance for the nation and its rulers: 'Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool;' the certification being added, 'If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the page 25 good of the land, but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it'—(Isa. i. 18-20). The whole passage preaches to the nation, although in Old Testament language, the very gospel of the words, 'He that believeth shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned.' Then again we have the words, 'Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste'—(Isa. xxviii. 16). Here again we have the gospel, a gospel ordinarily preached to the individual, but which is the gospel which God Himself preaches to the nation, and, primarily, to its rulers, who are therefore addressed in the words of ver. 14, 'Wherefore hear the Word of the Lord ye scornful men that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.' These being the national builders were, according to the words of the next verse, building it on 'a covenant with death.' God therefore is pleased to submit to them the only but sure foundation on which to build the nation; the awful warning being added, in prospect of this foundation being rejected by the national Builders. Compare Acts iv. 8-11: 'Judgment also will I lay to the line—the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies—your covenant with death shall be disannulled—when the overflowing scourge shall pass through then ye shall be trodden down by it'—(Isa. xxviii. 14-18). We need not multiply passages, but the gospel of the Old Testament is thus national throughout, a gospel for the nation, supremely addressed to its king and rulers. So in like manner are its warnings and exhortations, and all the aspirations and prayers which are formed under it, and which, as in the Psalms, rising high above mere individual units, are all grandly national. 'God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine on us, that thy way may be known on the earth, thy saving health among all nations. O let the nations be glad, and sing for joy; for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon the earth'—(Ps. lxvii. 1-4). 'Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Him'—(Ps. lxxii. 11). O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise Him all ye people'—(Ps. cxvii. 1). 'Arise, page 26 O God, judge the earth, for thou shall inherit all nations—(Ps. lxxxii. 8). 'That men may bring unto thee the forces of the nations, and that their kings may be brought'—(Isa. lx. 11). 'And the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory'—(Isa. lxii. 2). Such passages, all indicative of the Old Testament view of the gospel, as supremely a gospel for nations and their kings, meet us everywhere in the Psalms and Prophets.

Before passing on to the New Testament, we may just refer to Jonah. In him we have God, for the provocation of His people, making transference of Israel's national ministry to Nineveh; but, as this ministry was not brought to bear on Nineveh until after Jonah was three days and nights in the whale's belly, it is evident that we are to see in it a clear presage of that final transference of Israel's national ministry to Gentile nations which was to take place subsequent to the resurrection of Christ from the dead. As was then the word of Jonah to Nineveh and her king, such must we expect to be the word of the gospel,—a national word, a word to be preached in the capitals of the different nations, and primarily to be addressed to their kings and rulers, and this with a view to their taking dutiful national action in connection with it. Compare Jon. iii. 5-10.

Accordingly, coming now to the New Testament, what do we find? We find just what was to have been expected. It is the same national and family gospel of the Old Testament, and with its address primarily directed to rulers and kings, and to the heads of families respectively, that at once is preached in, and must be preached from the New Testament, and with the same expectations and prayers formed under it. We pass over, in the meantime, Christ's own ministry to the Jews, with all its supreme application to the nation, and come at once to the words of the great commission to preach the gospel, as given to the apostles.

'Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising 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'—(Matt, xxviii. 19, 20.) We cannot dwell at length on page 27 the words, but we observe that, seeing that Christ's word will not return to Him void, they contain (1.) an intimation or virtual prophecy of what shall be—the nations of the world shall be taught, that is, they shall be discipled—they shall be baptised, so, in outward sign and seal of an inward and effectual baptism, shall—'He sprinkle many nations'—(Isa. lii. 15)—and they shall observe all things whatsoever He has commanded. (2) They appoint and call into operation the agency and means by which these great results as regards all nations shall be effected. These means are in general the preaching of the word of the gospel to the nations, and so the application to the nations and their kings of the sharp two-edged sword of the Spirit. Under the ministry of the Letter, which is a ministry of death, the heathen nations of Canaan were literally exterminated by the literal sword; but under the ministry of the Spirit, which is a ministry of righteousness and life, the heathen nations will be exterminated by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, ministering to them the curse under which they lie, not so as to be borne by themselves, but as already borne for them by Christ, and to the effect of heathen nations ceasing to be, not by their literal ex-termination but by their conversion, and becoming churches, walking in the fear of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Ghost. Hence, with reference to what should be the continual attitude and expectation of the Church as regards the nations and their kings : 'Let the saints be joyful in glory, let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the nations, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute on them the judgment written'—(Ps. cxlix. 5-9).

But let us take the great commission as given in another form: 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature'—(Mark xvi. 15.) How are we to understand it? Of course the creature, or creation, here spoken of, is a human creature, but is the gospel therefore to be preached as a gospel for and to individual men merely? The individual page 28 man is, indeed, a creation, but so also is the family, and so also, most of all, is the nation, and the gospel is not therefore preached to every creature unless it is preached subordinately to families and their heads, but supremely to nations and their kings. It is to be observed, that the word here translated creature is decidedly striking, as if intended, as no doubt it was, to call attention to the sort of creature supremely in view. It is expressive of a kind of creature which has many parts wisely put together, and whose parts, thus put together, work together, under a guiding head, in order to an organised existence; and while applicable enough to the individual man, it is not the word that would be naturally used if that was the only creature that was intended; the word being more applicable to the family, organised under its head, but, supremely, and directly applicable to the nation organised under its rulers and kings. Accordingly, not to refer to other passages, the proper meaning of the word is to be learned from 1 Peter ii. 13. 'Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king as supreme.' The words here translated 'every ordinance,' are the same as the one translated in the commission, by the words, 'every creature,' and should have been translated, 'submit yourselves to every creature,' or creation of man. The creation of man referred to, however, is not a creation of man's making, but a creation which is made of him; or, in other words, the direction is, 'Submit yourselves to every divinely constituted organisation of man;' and the organisation of man referred to in Peter being clearly that of the nation, to whose king therefore we have to submit ourselves for the Lord's sake, hence it is so in the commission also, and that the gospel may be preached to every creature, it must not only be preached to the individual, and family, but supremely to the nation and its king. Great wrath lies on all these national creatures; in particular, 'Thus saith the Lord concerning the Ammonites, shall I cause the sword to return into its sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity, and I will pour out mine indignation upon thee'—(Ezekiel xxi. 28-31.) A gospel for such a creature is therefore all the more acceptable, and if page 29 the gospel is to he preached to every creature, it must certainly be preached supremely to the nation and its king.

But we pass on to another form of the commission, that under which it is given in Luke. 'And he said unto them, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among, or, more correctly, —to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem'—(Luke xxiv. 44-47.) We are aware of the happy turn given by Bunyan in favour of 'Jerusalem sinners,' to the words, 'beginning at Jerusalem.' But the gospel must be preached,' beginning at Jerusalem,' for the same reason that a prophet 'cannot perish out of Jerusalem'—(Luke xiii. 33). Jerusalem is the seat of national authority, where the nation's rulers reside, and where its government is administered; and a prophet cannot perish out of Jerusalem, because his message being for the nation, he must present himself there in order that his message being submitted to the national authorities, he may, through their action, be nationally received, or, his message being rejected, he may, through them, and so by the nation, be put to death. Accordingly, Christ's words coming to be fulfilled, 'Thine own nation and the chief priests,' said Pilate, 'have delivered thee to me'—(John xviii. 35). But so it is as regards the gospel; the gospel message is for the nation, and it must be preached, beginning at Jerusalem, with a view to national action, whether in its reception or in its rejection, on the part of its national authorities. Hence, beginning at Jerusalem, and being filled with the Holy Ghost, Peter comes to say to these authorities: 'Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, be it known unto you all, and unto all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him, doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought by you builders, which is become the head of the corner'—(Acts iv. 8-11). Such then was to be, and such was the beginning of the gospel. It was first of all preached to a nation and its rulers, with a view to national action, whether in its national reception or national rejection; and as it was thus that under the commission the gospel page 30 began, in the same way must it be preached continuously, and to the end. It must be preached to all nations, beginning at their Jerusalems.

But, once more, a special dispensation of the gospel having been given to the Apostle Paul, let us glance at the manner in which he is found understanding his commission, and giving effect to it. The time, indeed, had not yet come, whether for the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, or for the kingdoms generally to be the Lord's. As yet, therefore, the gospel is to be preached to all nations only for a testimony, and to the effect only of saving a remnant; but, at the same time, also of educing and manifesting in the nations the same character and malignant opposition to Christ and His gospel as had already been manifested by the Jews; the design being to conclude all the nations in unbelief, that, at length, He may have mercy on all—(Rom. xi. 32); or, to lay a foundation for that humiliation and repentance which the retrospect of the character manifested by them will be the means of producing, when, at length, the Spirit of grace and supplication shall be poured out on them, as upon the Jews, and 'The land shall mourn, every family apart'—(Zech. xii. 12). Still, though only preached for a witness, we have the opportunity of observing how Paul understood the commission, and for whom he regarded the gospel as supremely intended. This we may observe—

1. In the expectations which we are taught to entertain regarding him in connection with his call and designation to the office of a preacher, 'He is a chosen vessel unto Me to bear My name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel'—(Acts ix. 15). Such are the words. He is to preach the gospel to every creature; but the objects of Paul's mission were supremely the nations and their kings, inclusive of his own nation, the children of Israel.

2. Or, secondly, we may understand how Paul understood his commission from his own express explanation of it. 'By whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among, or by, all nations, for His name'—(Rom. i. 5). 'Now to Him that is of power to establish you accord- page 31 ing to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith '—(Rom. xvi. 25, 26).

3. But once more, Paul's understanding of his commission, and the meaning of God Himself in it, may be learned from the effect which, under God, we find him giving at once to our expectations regarding him, and his own express explanation of the objects of his mission. We do not dwell on previous appearances before magistrates and rulers, nor on his remarkable appearance when brought unto Areopagus at Athens, and with the nation's senators before him, gathered on purpose to hear from him of his new doctrine, he preached to them that 'God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him'—(Acts xvii. 26, 27). We come to his arrest and imprisonment at Jerusalem, resulting in his being carried so remarkably to Rome. We are naturally surprised at this arrest. We regret such an interruption of his important labours, and we wonder that the Lord should have permitted it to take place. But 'He is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.' Christianity had not then the credit and standing in the world which might entitle it, as now, to seek the presence and claim the audience of kings; and the arrest was suffered to take place, not to interrupt his labours, but to give him the opportunity, then not otherwise to be obtained, of rising to the height of his mission, and of bearing the name of Christ before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel; and here,—

First—Beginning with his own nation, what a remarkable opportunity did his arrest at once give him of fulfilling what was expected of him in relation to the children of Israel, in that last grand application of the gospel which he made to the nation and its rulers at Jerusalem; when, from the castle page 32 stairs, and protected by Roman soldiers, he was permitted to address that vast assemblage of them which his arrest had drawn together; when, too, there was made a great silence; when, also, because he spake in the Hebrew tongue, they kept the more silence; and when, addressing the 'men, fathers and brethren' of his nation, he showed them what an enemy he himself had once been of the gospel, gave an account of his remarkable conversion to the faith, and proceeded to warn them of the danger which they had already incurred of God's utterly casting them off as a nation, in consequence of their past rejection of the gospel. It was, however, all in vain. The Jewish nation finally and passionately rejected Christ and His gospel, leaving the Apostle to his great sorrow and continual heaviness of heart because of them.

Secondly,—However, the night following, 'the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome'—(Acts xxiii. 11). The Jews and Romans were then the two great national candidates for the dominion of the earth. It was first offered to the Jews, but they rejected the only terms on which the kingdom can be enjoyed under Christ. Now, therefore, the Apostle is called on to turn to the Romans, that testifying to them nationally, as he had just done to the Jews, he might make a like offer of Christ, and of the kingdom to them. And, now, what remarkable opportunities did the arrest of the Apostle give him of preaching the gospel, and that in most favourable circumstances, in succession, to Felix, who trembled as Paul preached to him of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come,—to Festus, who said, 'Paul, thou art beside thyself, much learning doth make thee mad,'—to King Herod Agrippa, who said to Paul, 'Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian,'—and last of all before the Caesar, the notorious Nero himself, there at Rome, in his palace, seated on his throne, in his magnificent hall of judgment, surrounded by his twenty assessors, and these the men of highest rank and influence in the empire (see Howson and Conybear's Account of Paul's Trial). Twice also, with this august audience before him, had the Apostle page 33 the opportunity of preaching the gospel, and 'The Lord,' he says, 'stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known (or might be fulfilled to the utmost), and that all the Gentile nations might hear'—(2 Tim. iv. 17). Here, also, when he had risen to the height of his commission, and had given supreme effect to it by preaching the gospel to the king and princes of the greatest then existing nation, it was, that he finished his course, and fulfilled the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus.

We need not pursue the proof further. The gospel is not merely an individual gospel, it is a national gospel, which must be preached for their reception to every creature, and supremely to nations and their kings. And thus, from first to last, in the Old Testament and in the New, in the law and also in the gospel, it is with nations and kings supremely that God has to do.

Third,—In fine, in connection with the supreme consideration with which, throughout, God contemplates men as nations, we come to observe that they are the grand subjects of His promised outpouring of the Spirit. Christ, indeed, has been glorified, the Spirit has been given, and we now live in the days of the Spirit. Hitherto, however, God has been making proof of the nations; has been concluding them all in unbelief, that, at last, He may have mercy on them all. But He will yet pour out His spirit upon all flesh, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh will see it together. But will He pour out His spirit irrespective of, or so as to cause to cease, all national distinctions? Will He not rather pour out His Spirit so as to give each nation its own special dispensation, affecting at once its rulers and its people, in terms of a national gospel bringing them back to God, and effecting great and glorious national conversions? It is thus that the Jews are to be restored, and that, as a nation, they are to be 'born in a day.' It is the dry bones of that now spiritually dead nation—very many and very dry—that Ezekiel saw in the valley of vision, and of which we are told that, being simultaneously quickened by the Spirit, 'they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army'—(Ezek. xxxvii. 1-17).

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But similarly are other nations to he blessed—their kings and rulers taking the lead, and the nations, with one consent, and in their national capacity, yielding themselves to the Lord. Hence 'the kings shall shut their mouths at him'—(Isa. lii. 15). 'To him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship'—(Isa. xlix. 7). 'And the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory'—(Isa. lxii. 2). Hence, 'Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.' She has yet to embrace and reckon among her sons, her sons by virtue of a new birth, the worst of the nations. 'I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon among them that know me, behold Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this was born there. The Lord shall count when he writeth up the nations, this was born there'—(Ps. lxxxvii.). And so the glory attaching to Sion, the city of God, consists not in its being the birthplace of mere individuals, but in this, that it is to be the birthplace of nations—(see Hengstenberg on the Psalm).

Thus, then, by His providence, by His word in both the law and the gospel, and by His Spirit, dealing with men, throughout the ages, supremely as nations, will God, at length, bring His purpose in Christ to pass, and the earth will be occupied and inherited by saved nations. 'In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt, and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance'—(Isa. xix. 24, 25).

In fine, therefore, since God's purpose in Christ comes to be realised only in saved nations, we see that the same supreme importance attaches to the nation under redemption as under creation. If, under creation, the nation was exhibited as the highest style of man, if only then was man come to his best estate, much more must this be so in redemption, so that it is only in the redeemed nation that redemption's joy comes to be complete, or that we are to expect to see exhibited the height at once of the wisdom, and of the saving grace and power of the Most High. Again, if in creation, mere in- page 35 dividuals could not answer the divine purpose in the creation of man, so it is, and must be in redemption. Man was created, and man is redeemed that he may be a Church, and Christ's Church must be a nation, in order that in what it is as a nation, His Church may have existence on, yea, and may inherit the earth. His Church must be a nation in order that the Son may have in the nation such a full grown, stately, and prolific Bride as God's purpose and grace call for—(Ezek. xvi. 6—14). Christ's Church must be a nation, in order that in the children of a nation, taken to be the children of Christ's spiritual kingdon, and born again into it out of the nation's marriage fellowship with Christ, His spiritual house and family may be adequately replenished, adequately built up to all its destined fulness. And, once more, His Church must be a nation in order that, by all a nation's influence and resources, His cause and kingdom may be maintained and propagated on the earth—(Ps. lxvii). But, again, if it is in a national condition that man comes to be invested with his highest responsibility, and so, therefore, that he has contracted his highest guilt, and is most exposed to wrath, we see how suitably and how seasonably the grace of God interposes to the saving of a nation, in order that where sin hath abounded, as in national Israel, grace might much more abound.—(Rom. v. 20).