which is also a rod of iron, to govern his fubjects, and to dash his enemies in pieces. 5thly, We read of the laws iffued out by his authority from Zion, and for Zion, for the government of his fubjects. It was he that gave forth the law of commandments from mount Sinai, and it is he that gives forth the law of faith from mount Zion, If. ii. 3. "The law fhall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerufalem." 6thly, We read of courts, both for worship and difcipline, held in his name; fpeaking of Zion, or the church, it is said, "There are the thrones of judgement, the thrones of the houfe of David." In the church are courts for worship, where his fubjects attend him, both for hearing his voice in his word, and for paying the rent of worship and adoration they owe him. And then for courts of judgement or government, we fee a fynod held in his name, Acts xv. ; and whereever two or three of his officers meet in his name, for exercifing the keys of doctrine or difcipline, he promises to be in the midst of them. 7thly, We read of the officers of his kingdom, fuch as apostles, prophets, evangelifts, paftors and teachers, elders and deacons. And the apostle speaking of ministers of the gospel, calls them "ambaffadors of Christ," 2 Cor. v. 20. Every faithful minifter has commiffion from Chrift, as King in Zion; although, alas! many who pretend to carry his commiffion now-a-days, are changing their holding. 8thly, We read of the keys of the kingdom. Chrift fays unto his apoftles and minifters, "Unto you I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever ye thall bind on earth, fhall be bound in heaven." By the keys we are to understand the doctrine and difcipline of his appointment. 9thly, The power of peace and war, of life and death, are in his hand. He cafts out the white flag of peace to his enemies in the gofpel. We preach the gofpel of peace, publish the word of reconciliation, "That God was in Chrift, recon ciling the world unto himself." And if peace be not accepted, in his name we denounce war against finners that do not believe in him : " He will wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy fcalp of him that goeth on in his trefpaffes." "He that believeth not, is condemned already; and the wrath of God abideth on him." 10thly, He is conftitute the fovereign Judge of heaven and earth, of men and angels. The legislative and executive power is in his hand, "the keys of hell and death ;" and it is left folely in his hand, for "the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgement unto the Son." From all thefe things it appears, that Christ is a fovereign King, a Prince of royal authority. Secondly, I would give you a view of the excellent qualities of Zion's King, and let them ferve as so many motives to ftrangers to fubmit unto his authority, and as fo many cordials unto his friends and loyal subjects, in this dark and cloudy day. 1. then, He is a very ancient King. He is indeed " the Ancient of days:" he is no upftart; his throne was “fet up from everlasting;" none can compete with him for antiquity, "The everlasting Father; Ruler in Ifrael, whofe goings forth were of old, from everlasting." 2. He is a King of incomparable wisdom: "A wifer than Solomon is here." Solomon's wifdom was but folly compared with his ; for "in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." 3. A King of irresistible power, and abfolute authority : "All power in heaven and earth are his." He is "the man of God's right hand " the arm of JEHOVAH is in him: he hath" a name above every name, and at his name every knee fhall bow," &e. 4. He is a King of unfpotted holinefs and purity. "The holy One of Ifrael is our King; of purer eyes than that he can behold iniquity." His name is a holy name. His throne is a holy throne; he "fits upon the throne of his holiness." His laws are holy laws; "The law is holy; and the commandment holy, and just, and good." His covenant with his subjects is a holy covenant; "he hath commanded his holy covenant." The officers that bear the veffels of his houfe are, and should be holy. 5. He is a righteous King. "Righteoufnefs and judgement are the habitation of his throne. Behold a King fhall reign in righteousness,” lf. xxxii. 1. We have an account of the equity of his adminiftration, If. xi. 1-3. &c. Pfal. xlv. 7. "He loveth righteoufnefs, and hateth iniquity," &c. 6. He is a gracious King. His name is "the Lord, gracious." He is faid to be "full of grace;" and grace comes by him, and rivers of grace run from his throne, Rev. xxii. 1. Pfal. xlvi. 4. "There is a river, the fireams whereof do make glad the city of God." The throne whereon he fits is a throne of grace, and acts of grace are emitted from his throne, even the great and precious promifes, which are the edicts of the King, or beneficial laws iffued out for the benefit of the subject. 7. He is a moft merciful and compaffionate King. He has bowels of compaffion towards his enemies; he would have gathered gathered his enemies in Jerufalem, "as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings;" and when his enemies prove obftinate, he "weeps over them," &c. He is loth, at his very heart, to give up with a people that are giving up with him, Hof. xi. 8. "How fhall I give thee up, O Ephraim ?" &c. 8. Of wonderful fympathy with his fubjects. He is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities;" he reckons any favour or injury done to them, as done to himself, Matth. xxv. at the clofe. 9. A King of immenfe riches, and unbounded liberality and bounty. His riches are unfearchable: "Riches and honour are with him." And as for his bounty, he diftributes his grace as freely as the fun scatters his beams through the earth. He invites all the world to come and share of his fulness, If. lv. 1. "Ho, every one that thirfteth, come ye to the waters," &c. Prov. ix. at the beginning. 10. He is a King of untainted veracity and truth. One may depend upon his royal word, "He is not a man that he should lie, neither the Son of man that he should repent." His name is "Truth, the Word of God." One may venture his salvation with fafety, on his word, for he never failed; "all the promises of God are in him yea and amen." He hath fealed them with his blood, and fets to his royal amen, as "the faithful and true witnefs," to every one of them, 11. He is an immortal King. Other kings they "die like men, they fall like the fons of the mighty;" death brings them out of their high feats, and fets them upon a level with the beggar; but the King of Zion "lives for ever and ever." It is true, he was once dead; but being "the Prince of life," it was not poffible that death, the king of terrors, could detain him in his territories, Rev. i. 18. "I was dead, but am alive," &c. And the life of all his fubjects is bound up in his life. 12. He is at prefent an invifible King, out of the fight of our bodily eyes. He has gone within the vail "to appear in the prefence of God for us;" he pleads the cause of all his fubjects in the highest heavens. But ftill he is visible to the eye of faith; "Whom having not feen, we love." And in a little, he will be vifible to every eye, Rev. i. "" 7. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye fhall fee him." 13. He is an eternal King: "The King eternal." As his kingdom is from everlafting, fo it is to everlafting; "and of the increase of his kingdom and government there fhall be no end." 14. He is an independent King, All the powers of the earth depend on him; "By me kings reign, and princes de cree cree juftice;" but he depends upon none. It is true his mediatory kingdom is committed to him by his Father, but his effential kingdom is as independent as that of God the Father, "he being in the form of God, and thinks it no robbery to be equal with God." 15. He is a puiffant and warlike King. He is "the Lord of hofts; he is a man of war." He encountered Satan, and wounded, bruifed, and destroyed him upon Mount Calvary, and he will wage war for ever against all that refuse his government, and fay, "We will not have this man to rule over us." He will fend out his armies and destroy them; and not only his own vengeance, but the vengeance of his Father will fall on them, Pfal. cx. i. &c. 16. He is "the King of glory," Pfal. xxiv. When the fummons is given to finners, to "lift up the everlafting doors" of their hearts to him, they are told, that it is no lefs a perfon than "the King of glory" that calls. Solomon, in all his glory, could not compare with the lily, far lefs with him who is "the brightness of his Father's glory," and on whom hangs all the glory of his Father's house, If. xxii. 24. &c. I should now proceed to the other things in the method; but I pafs them at the time, and fhall only offer a word of use unto what has been faid, in a few inferences. 1. See what happy perfons the true and loyal fubjects of Chrift (believers) are. As it was faid by the queen of Sheba, concerning the fervants of Solomon, fo may we fay of them, they are happy, for they dwell in the King's court, Pfal. lxxxiv. &c. All his fubjects are made fons and heirs, "kings and priests unto God;" their King hears them when they call, Pfal. xx. 9. They enjoy peace under his administration. They have trouble from the world; but "in him they have peace;' they dwell on high, dwell in fafety. They fhall all be well feen to in the day of famine and trouble. 2. See the dangerous rifk they run that invade his government, and contemn his authority. Queft. Who are these ! Anfw. 1. They that turn the authority, derived from him, to the hurt and prejudice of his kingdom and intereft. All power and authority, whether civil or ecclefiaftic, is derived from him. All civil power is from him: " By me kings rule." He fets up kings, and cafts them down at his pleasure. And therefore it must be a dangerous abufe of civil authority, to enact laws invading the royalties of his crown, and the liberties of his fubjects; laws countenancing witchcraft; laws for the profaning of his day and worship, and for modelling the courts of his houfe, and officers of his kingdom, according to VOL. II. 3 U their their mind; laws obliging the ambassadors of Zion's King to change their holding, and to become the heralds and officers of king and parliament. Again, as all civil, fo all ecclefiaftic authority is derived from him, as the fountain of it, having "all power in heaven and earth." And if fo, what a horrid confpiracy against the King of Zion muft it be, to employ that power for fcreening the erroneous, and cenfuring these that bear witnefs for him, for violating the rights and privileges of his fubjects, and carrying on violent intrufions of officers into his houfe, to the dividing, deftroying, and scattering of his fub. jects? We may eafily think what the King will do with fuch. courts and officers, when he reckons with them. 2. They invade his kingdom and authority, who adventure to model his vifible kingdom in the world, after their own fancy, and not according to the pattern fhewed in the holy mount of divine revelation. The land-marks of the kingdom of Chrift have been fet from the word of God, by our great and worthy forefathers in this land, and adopted by the oath of the great God; and they who go about to remove thefe land-marks, and to caft the government of the church of Christ into another shape, as Epifcopalians and Sectarians do, there is ground to fufpect them as being enemies to the King of Zion. And among other things that convince me of the error both of the Epifcopalian and Indendepent schemes of government, this is one, that I never heard tell of one of their way, that suffered martyrdom for Chrift, as King of Zion, particularly for his alone headship and fovereignty in his church. The fpeat and fpirit of malignancy and perfecution never ran against any of these ways, at least in this land; for the world loves its own. But it is well known, that all the power of hell, and of ecclefiaftic and civil tyranny, has been bended for fuppreffing that form of government, which has been fo folemnly adopted, from the word of God in Scotland; which to me, befide other things, is a convincing evidence, that it is of divine original. When King Charles II. was restored to the crown, against whom or what did he bend his power? Was it against Epifcopacy? No; he restored that form of government both in England and Scotland. Was it againft Independents and Sectarians, who had taken off his father's head? One would have thought, that the form fhould have broken in a way of refentment upon -them; but I do not remember to have heard, that one drop of their blood was fpilt during that perfecuting period; the ftorm lighted upon thofe of the Prefbyterian way, both in Scotland and England. Was this, because they had joined the ufurper, or endeavoured to cut off the family of the Stuarts? The contrary of this is well known to all who know the hif tory |