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lieve in his name : it is not only 'necessitas præcepti,' because we are thereunto commanded, but 'necessitas medii' too, because he is the only ladder between earth and heaven, the alone mediator between God and man; in him there is a final and unabolishable covenant established, and there is no name but his, under heaven, by which a man can be saved.'

In consideration of all which, and for that I have formerly discovered the insufficiency of any either inward or outward principle of man's happiness, save only the life of Christ,I have chosen to speak upon this Psalm, and out of it to discover those ways, whereby the life of Christ is dispensed and administered towards his Church. For this Psalm is one of the clearest and most compendious prophecies of the person and offices of Christ in the whole Old Testament, and so full of fundamental truth, that I shall not shun to call it 'symbolum Davidicum,' the prophet David's creed. And indeed there are very few, if any, of the articles of that creed, which we all generally profess,-which are not either plainly expressed, or, by most evident implication, couched in this little model. First, The doctrine of the Trinity is in the first words; "The Lord said unto my Lord:"-There is 'Jehovah the Father,' and 'my Lord;' the 'Son,' and the 'sanctification' or consecration of him, which was by the Holy Ghost;' by whose fulness he was anointed unto the offices of king and priest; for so our Saviour himself expounds this word said,' by the sealing and sanctification of him to his office. Then we have the 'incarnation' of Christ, in the words, "My Lord," together with his dignity and honour above David, as our Saviour himself expounds it." Mine, that is, my Son by descent and genealogy after the flesh, and yet my Lord too, in regard of a higher sonship. We have also the sufferings of Christ, in that he was consecrated a priest, verse 4, to offer up himself once for all, and so "" to drink of the brook in the way." We have his eluctation and conquest over all his enemies and sufferings, his resurrection, "He shall lift up his head:" his ascension and intercession, "Sit thou on my right hand."-And in that is comprised his descent into Hell by St. Paul's way of arguing, "That he ascended, what is it but that he descended first into the lower parts of the earth?" We have a holy catholic church, k 1 John iii. 23. 1 Acts iv. 12. in John x. 34, 35, 36. n Matth. xxii. 42, 43. ⚫ Ephes. iv. 9:

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gathered together by the sceptre of his kingdom, and holding in the parts thereof a blessed and beautiful communion of saints; "The Lord shall send forth the rod of thy strength out of Sion; rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness: from the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth." We have the last judgment; "for all his enemies must be put under his feet," which is the apostle's argument to prove the end of all things P: and there is the "day of his wrath," wherein he shall accomplish that judgment over the heathen, and that victory over the kings of the earth, ("who take counsel, and bandy themselves against him,") which he doth here in his Word begin. We have the remission of sins, comprised in his priesthood; for he was to offer "sacrifice for the remission of sins, and to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." We have the resurrection of the body; because he must "subdue all his enemies under his feet," and "the last enemy to be subdued is death," as the apostle argues out of this Psalm. And lastly, we have life everlasting, in the everlasting merit and virtue of his priesthood;" Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek ;" and in his "sitting at the right hand of God," whither he is gone as our forerunner, and to prepare a place for us; and therefore the apostle from his sitting there, and living ever, inferreth the perfection and certainty of our salvation'.

The sum then of the whole Psalm, without any curious or artificial analysis, (wherein every man, according to his own conceit and method, will vary from other) is this: The ordination of Christ unto his kingdom, together with the dignity and virtue thereof, ver. 1: the sceptre or instrument of that kingly power, ver. 2: the strength and success of both in recovering, maugre all the malice of enemies, a kingdom of willing subjects, and those in multitudes, unto himself, ver. 2, 3: the consecration of him unto that everlasting priesthood, by the virtue and merit whereof he purchased this kingdom to himself, ver. 4: the conquest over all his

P 1 Cor. xv. 25.

Ephes. i. 7. Heb. ix. 26.
t Rom. vi. 8, 11.

• Heb. vi. 20. John xiv. 2.
Col. iii. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1 Cor. xv. 49. Phil. iii. 20, 21.
1 John iii. 2.

1 Cor. xv. 25, 26.
Ephes. ii. 6.

Rom. viii. 17.
1 Thes. iv. 14. Heb. vii. 25.

strongest, and most numerous adversaries, ver. 5, 6: the proof of all, and the way of effecting it, in his sufferings and exaltation: He shall gather a church, and he shall confound his enemies, because, for that end, he hath finished, and broken through all the sufferings which he was to drink of, and "hath lifted up his head again."

Verse 1.-"The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool."

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Here the Holy Ghost begins with the kingdom of Christ, which he describeth and magnifieth; 1. By his unction and obsignation thereunto: the word or decree of his Father: "The Lord said."-2. By the greatness of his person in himself, and yet nearness in blood and nature unto us, My Lord." 3. By the glory, power, and heavenliness of this his kingdom; for, in the administration thereof, he sitteth at the right hand of his Father: "Sit thou at my right hand." 4. By the continuance and victories thereof: "Until I make thy foes thy footstool."

"The Lord said."-Some read it, certainly or assuredly said, by reason of the affinity which the original word hath with amen, from which it differs only in the transposition of the same radical letters; which would afford this observation by the way; 'That all which God says of or to his Son, is very faithful and true.'-For which cause the gospel is, by special emphasis, called, "the Word of Truth "," and words

ὁ λόγος,

Aoyos, "A faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation," or "most worthy to be believed and embraced." For so the words δέχεσθαι and λαμβάνειν, being applied unto the Gospel, signify; being opposite unto ἀποθέσθαι τὸν λόγον.

But the principal thing here to be noted is, the decree, appointment, sanctification, and sealing of Christ unto his regal office. For the Word of God, in the Scripture, signifies his blessing, power, pleasure, ordination. "Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God:" that is, by that command which the creatures have received from God to nourish by, that benediction and sanctification which maketh every creature of God good unto us. God's saying, is ever doing

u Ephes. i. 13. x1 Tim. i. 15. z Acts xiii. 46.

y John i. 12. a Matth. iv. 4.

John iii. 33.
b 1 Tim. iv. 5.

Acts xvii. 11.

something; his words are operative, and carry an unction and authority along with them.

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Whence we may note,-That Christ's kingdom belongs to him, not by usurpation, intrusion, or violence, but legally, by order, decree, investiture from his Father.-All kings reign by God's providence, but not always by his approbation. "They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it notd." But Christ is a king, both by the providence, and by the good will and immediate consecration, of his Father. He loveth him, and hath given all things into his hand." "He judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to his Son f." That is, hath entrusted him with the economy and actual administration of that power in the Church, which originally belonged unto himself. "He hath made him to be Lord and Christ; " "He hath ordained him to be judge of quick and dead";""He hath appointed him over his own house," "He hath crowned him, and put all things in subjection under his feet;""He hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name." Therefore he calleth him my king," set up by him upon his own holy hill, and that in the virtue of a solema decree ".

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But we must here distinguish between 'regnum naturale,' Christ's natural kingdom which belongeth unto him as God co-essential and co-eternal with his Father; and 'regnum œconomicum,' his dispensatory kingdom, as he is Christ the mediator;—which was his, not by nature, but by donation and unction with his Father, that he might be the head of his Church, a prince of peace, and a king of righteousness unto his people. In which respect he had conferred upon him all such meet qualifications, as might fit him for the dispensation of this kingdom.-1. God "prepared him a body," or a human nature", and, by the grace of personal and hypostatical union, caused the Godhead to dwell bodily in him. 2. He anointed him with a "fulness of his Spirit ;" not such a fulness as John Baptist and Stephen had P, which was still xarà Tò μéτpov, the fulness of a

c Tertul. Apolog. cap. 30. et ad Scapulam, c. 5.

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Dan. vii. 14.

g Acts ii. 36. m Psalm ii. 6. 7.

Matth. xi. 27. h Acts x. 42. n Heb. x. 5.

measure or vessel, a fulness for themselves only but a fulness without measure, like the fulness of light in the sun, or water in the sea, which hath an unsearchable sufficiency and redundancy for the whole church'. So that as he was furnished with all spiritual endowments of wisdom, judgment, power, love, holiness, for the dispensation of his own offices, so from his fulness did there run over a share and portion of all his graces unto his church'. 3. He did, by a solemn and public promulgation, proclaim the kingdom of Christ unto the church, and declare the decree in that heavenly voice which came unto him from the excellent glory; "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him "." 4. He hath given him a sceptre of righteousness,' and hath put a sword in his mouth, and a rod of iron in his hand, made him a preacher and an apostle, to reveal the secrets of his bosom, and to testify the things which he hath seen and heard. 5. He hath honoured him with many ambassadors and servants to negotiate the affairs of his kingdom, "some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of his body." 6. He hath given him the souls and consciences of men, even to the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession, and for the territories of his kingdom. 7. He hath given him a power concerning the laws of his church. A power to make laws, "the law of faith," (as St. Paul calls it ".) A power to expound laws, as "the moral law." A power to abrogate laws, as "the law of ordinances." 8. He hath given him a power of judging and condemning enemies. Lastly, He hath given him a power of remitting sins, und sealing pardons, which is a royal prerogative. And these things belong unto him as he is Oεáveρanos, as well man as God'. For the works of Christ's mediation were of two sorts. 'Opera ministerii, works of service, and ministry; for he took upon himself the form of

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