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with a garment down to his foot ;" and encourage yourfelves to do fo, from the kindness that he fhews by his words and acts. O what kindness has he fhewed in his word! "Come to me who will, I will in no wife caft out: Whofoever will, let him come, and take the water of life freely." O what kindly invitations doth he give to "come and eat of his bread, and drink of the wine that he hath mingled!" what kindness appears in his acts, particularly in becoming "bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, laying down his life a ransom for many, in spoiling principalities and powers, and making a fhew of them openly, triumphing over them in his cross! Now, let all this encourage you to creep near him, and to creep under the covering of his law-fulfilling righteoufness, and fay to our Goel, as Ruth did to Boaz, chap. iii. 9. "Spread thy fkirt over me, for thou art a near kinsman," or, as in the margin, "one that hath right to redeem." O Sirs, our bleffed Boaz, he will be fo far from taking this in ill part, that he will fay to you, as Boaz did to Ruth, chap. iii. 10. 11. And if you do this, our Kinfman will not be in reft, till he have finished the thing, according to your hearts defire, chap. iii. ult. And accordingly you find he finishes the redemption and mar◄ riage together in the last chapter,

I proceed now to the fourth branch of exhortation, from this fecond branch of the doctrine. Is it fo, that Chrift, our glorious Kinfman and Redeemer, has avenged our quarrel up on the powers of hell? Did he, in the refentment of our quarrel, invade Satan's kingdom, counteract his project for our ruin, destroy his firft-born, wreft the keys of hell and death out of his hand, make him a prifoner of war, and load him with chains of darkness, &c. ? I fay, has he thus avenged our quarrel upon our enemies? O then, let us have common friends and enemies with our glorious Kinsman, faying with David, Pfal. cxxxix. 21. 22. "Do not I hate them that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies." O Sirs, you and I are called Chriftians, after our bleffed Kinsman Christ, our very name bears that we are lifted under his banner, engaged in the fame quarrel with him, against Satan and all his auxiliaries; and therefore let our refentment point the fame way with Chrift's, when he said, The day of vengeance is in mine heart. Chrift's refentment did run against Satan, not as a creature, but as a finner, as a criminal. It was the ruin of fin that Chrift intended. This is the great pillar of Satan's kingdom in the world, it is his main and only bulwark, his "first-born, and the beginning of his ftrength." Chrift well knew, that if once this were cut off and deftroyed, VOL. II. Satan's

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Satan's kingdom in the world would fall like lightning; and therefore we find it fo frequently afferted, that this was the main and principal end of his manifeftation in the fleth, and of his manifeftation in the word and Spiric: For this purpose, fays the apoftle John, the Son "was manifefted to take away fin," John ini. 5. he came to "fave his people from their finst For this purpofe was the Son of God manifested, to destroy the works of the devil," that is, fin and death. Yea his very name was called "Jefus, because he faves his people from their fins." Now, 1 fay, was the vengeance of a Redeemer thus bended against this first born of Satan, in order to our redemption? O then, let me call and invite all that profefs the name of Chrift, or who have his name called upon them, to come forth "to the help of the Lord against the mighty;" join hands with the Son of God, in helping to pull down the works of the devil in the world. As Chrift fpent his blood " to finish tranfgreffion, and to make an end of fin;" fo let us even "refift unto blood, striving against it." This is what our glorious Kinsman and Avenger frequently calls us to in his word; and to arm us with the greater refentment against fin, he calls us to make war against fin, by a word borrowed from the kind of death that he fuffered in avenging our quarrel, viz. that of cru cifixion. He calls us to "crucify the flesh, with the affections and lufts." "I am crucified with Chrift," fays Paul. The Spi rit of God, no doubt, for holy ends, makes ufe of fuch an expreffion, particularly, that, by prefenting the death and cross of Chrift unto our view, the remembrance of his death for our fins, might make us breathe after nothing less than the death and ruin of fin in our own fouls: and therefore I fay, O" mor→ tify the deeds of the body of fin," and let nothing less than the total extirpation of it content you.

THE

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF ZION'S KING*.

BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF SEVERAL SERMONS, ON PSAL. ii. 6.

THE FIRST PREACHED AT PERTH BEFORE THE ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY, THURSDAY, OCT. 13.1737, AND AFTERWARDS ENLARGED UPON AT STIRLING, FOR SOME SABBATHS THERE¬ AFTER..

PSAL. ii. 6.-Yet have Ifet my King upon my holy hill of Zion.

THE FIRST SERMON ON THIS TEXT.

'N the first three verfes of this pfalm, we have an account of the ftrong oppofition that is made to the kingdom and government of the Meffiah. One would thought, that when he came into the world, every knee would bow unto him, crying, "Hofanna to the Son of David ;" and that all the fceptres of the earth fhould have been laid at his feet; but never was any government fo much oppofed. For, (1.) We are here told, that hell and earth take the alarm when he appears upon the ftage: "The heathen rage," &c. (2.) The oppofition they make is here defcribed; it is fpiteful and malicious; for they rage and gnash their teeth at him, filled with indignation against him, Luke xiii. 14. John xi. 47. Acts v. 17. 33. and xix. 28. &c. It is deliberate; they take counfel, &c. It is refolute; they "fet themfelves against the Lord," fet their faces like flint, and make themfelves a brow of brafs. It is joint oppofition; they combine. (3.) What they aim at by this oppofition to Chrift; they are children of Belial, that cannot en dure the yoke, they caft away his cords, his commandments, his

laws;

*The following difcourfes were taken from the author's notes, which he never intended, at writing, for the public, but only for the help of his own memory, and were enlarged in the delivery, as the Lord was pleafed to affift. Several difcourfes, particularly in the applicatory part, were omitted in the tranfcribing, to prevent their being too voluminous and large. Nothing but the clamours of enemies, and the importunity of friends, particularly with relation to the firft fermon at Perth, has made the author yield to the publication. And he judged that the first discourse, without any more, would been too lame upon fuch a subjest. No tongue, no pen can handle it according to its worth. "Who afufficient for these things ?**

laws; these are what they refolve to break through. (4.) See how all these defigns are baffled with the greatest ease, ver. 4. 5. (5.) Notice the ftability of Chrift's kingdom, notwithstanding of all these attempts of hell, in the words of my text, Yet have I fet my King upon my holy hill of Zion.

Where we may notice,

1. The royal office and character of our glorious Redeemer; he is a King; this name be hath " on his vesture, and on his thigh," Rev. xix. 16.

2. The authority by which he reigns; He is my King, fays God the Father, and I have fet him up from everlafting: "The Father judgeth no man; but hath commited all judgement unto the Son." The world difown his authority, but I own it; I have fet him, I have "given him to be head over all things to the church,"

3. His particular kingdom over which he rules; it is over my holy hill of Zion, an eminent type of the gofpel-church. The temple was built upon mount Zion; and therefore called a holy hill. Chrift's throne is in his church, it is his head-quarters, and the place of his particular refidence, "The Lord hath chofen Zion, he hath defired it for his habitation. His laws go out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerufalem. There are the thrones of judgement, the thrones of the house of David."

4. Notice the firmnefs of the divine purpose with respect unto this matter; Yet have I fet him King. 2. d. Whatever be the plots of hell and earth to the contrary, he reigns by his Father's ordination.

OBSERVE, That Chrift is King in Zion, the alone Sovereign of his church, by his Father's appointment and ordination. Yet have I fet my King upon my holy hill of Zion. In difcourfing this doctrine, I shall endeavour, through divine affistance,

I. To speak a little of this fovereign Prince.

II. Of the kingdom which he governs.

III. Why God the Father hath appointed and ordained him King in Zion.

IV. Apply.

I. As to the firft, I fhall endeavour, 1. To prove, that Chrift is a Prince of royal authority. 2. Give fome of his excellent qualities and properties, to recommend him to all.

As to the first, his fovereignty and royal authority appears, 1. From fcripture-prophecy: Gen. xlix. 10. "The fceptre fhall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come." Luke i. 32. 33. "The Lord God

And he

fhall give unto him the throne of his father David. fhall reign over the houfe of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there fhall be no end." Mic. v. 2. "The Ruler of Ifrael, whofe goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."

2. From fcripture-types. David, Solomon, aud others of the kings of Judah, who were active in building and repairing the temple and worthip thereof, did all typify him in his royal office; and though the royal family of David be extinct on earth, yet it is perpetuate in him for ever in heaven.

3. From fcripture-titles that are afcribed to him: "Meffiah the Prince," Dan. ix. 25. "The Prince of peace," If. ix. 6. "The Prince of the kings of the earth. The King of kings, and Lord of lords," &c.

4. From the concurring teftimony of enemies and strangers. The wife men of the east, when they come in queft of him, they inquire," Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" And it was not without the hand and counsel of God, that Pilate was directed, to the difgufting of the Jews, whom he had, contrary to his light and confcience, gratified with the blood of Chrift, to affix that title to his crofs, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin," Jefus of Nazareth the King of the Jews." Balaam, Numb. xxiv. 17. "A ftar fhall arife out of Jacob, and a fceptre out of Ifrael, that shall fmite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth."

5. From the badges of sovereignty every where afcribed to

him.

We read in fcripture, 1, Of his folemn inveftiture with the government; his mounting the throne, when he ascended up on high. See the folemnity of his inftalment, spoken of, Pfal. xlvii. 5. "God is gone up with a fhout, the Lord with the found of a trumpet," &c.

2dly, We read of his throne, Pfal. xlv. 6. "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever;" and his throne is "high and lifted up," If. vi. 1. The very fame throne upon which his Father fits, Rev. iii. 21. "To him that overcometh will I grant to fit with me upon my throne, even as I also overcame, and am fet down with my Father upon his throne.

3dly, We read of his coronation, and that both by his Father, and the church, called his mother. You read of his Father's crowning him with glory, Heb. ii. 7. "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedft him with glory and honour, and didft fet him over the works of thy hands." And you read of the church, his mother, crowning him, Cant. iii. ult. "Go forth, Oye daughters of Jerufalem, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his efpoufals," &c.

4thly, We read of his royal fceptre, the rod of his ftrength,

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