Transcribed from the 1816 Brightly and Childs edition by DavidPrice,
SUBSTANCE
OF A
SERMON
ON THE BIBLE SOCIETY,
PREACHED AT
BECCLES, OCTOBER 29th,
AND AT
ST. MARY’S CHURCH BUNGAY,
ON FRIDAY, DEC. 1st, 1815.
SECOND EDITION.
By theRev. F. CUNNINGHAM. A. B.
RECTOR OF PAKEFIELD, SUFFOLK.
BUNGAY:
Printed by Brightly andChilds;
AND SOLD BYGOWING, LOWESTOFT; SEELEY, LONDON;
CONDER, IPSWICH; ASTEN, BUNGAY;AND
CATTERMOLE, BECCLES.
1816.
[Price six pence.]
p.3SERMON.
MARK xvi. 15.
Go ye into all the world,and preach the Gospel to every creature.
This was nearly the last command ofour Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, addressed to his disciples:and to it was annexed in another gospel, a promise, whichshows that this was not only intended as a commandment for thatperiod, but for the present day. “Lo I am with youalway” (he said at the same time) “even untothe end of the world.” The command then extends to aslong a period as the support is promised to be continued, i.e. tothe end of the world.
In placing myself therefore as an advocate for a society, thepurpose of which is, the distribution of the word of God, I havenot thought that I could choose a text which more strongly andpersuasively urges upon you a zealous promotion of this greatwork, than a command so directly laid down upon this subject, andto the fulfilment of which such large assistance ispromised. For what is the gospel which the disciples of ourLord are commanded to preach? The Gospel in itsstrictest sense is good news; it is all that good news ofhappiness now, which is promised in the ways of p. 4religion, andof salvation hereafter. The gospel which is hererecommended is all the communication of God to man, which hasbeen made to us in the holy Scriptures. It conveys all theinformation which man has of his condemned state by nature beforeGod, and points out at the same time a prospect of a fullpropitiation for his sins in the death of Jesus Christ. Itoffers to sinners, to all who are weary and heavy laden, a freeinvitation to come, without any merit of their own, to receivethe benefits of Jesus Christ’s death; it affords to thosewho are assured of their salvation, a measure by which they candetermine whether their hope of salvation be reasonable, orwhether it be founded upon their own delusions; it gives us astandard for every duty, an encouragement for every exertion, awanting against every sin; and whilst on the one hand it declaresthat “without holiness no man shall see the Lord,” onthe other it testifies that “there is no condemnation withGod to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after theflesh but after the spirit.” Such is the gospel whichwe are commanded to preach to every creature, and which isunfolded to us in the word of God.
I cannot in a Christian congregation for a