rejoice when they divide the fpoil; phrases expreffive of the greatest joy among men; as there doubtlefs was among the Galileans when Chrift was prefent with them, and his gospel preached to them; which is a joyful found, and brings good tidings of good things, peace, pardon, righteousness, and falvation by the incarnate Redeemer; and so joy along with it, wherever it comes with power, and is received and embraced; as it did in Samaria, and among the Gentiles. 5. The ground and reafon of this joy would be a deliverance from a burdenfom yoke, and from a staff and rod of affliction; which was effected by Chrift, who has delivered all his people, and fo thofe believing Galileans, from the yoke of the ceremonial law, a yoke of bondage intolerable; from the tyranny of Satan, and from the fervitude of fin; and which should be wrought as easily, and as fuddenly, as the deliverance of Ifrael from the Midianites by Gideon; Chrift's own arm bringing falvation to him, and his people, without the help of man: for every battle of the warrior is with confused noife; with the fhoutings of foldiers, blowing of trumpets, beating of drums, rattling of armour, and garments rolled in blood; the garments of the flain rolled in their own blood; but this fhall be with burning and fuel of fire; through the flaming love and burning zeal and affection of Chrift for his people, who, 6. Is prophefied of as the author of all this, and is the child that should be born, and the Son that should be given; for not Hezekiah is here meant, as the Jews would have it, who at the time of this prophecy was at least ten or eleven years of age, and to whom the august titles after given can by no means agree. The child here is the fame that is prophefied of, chap. vii. 14. that should be born of a virgin, and called Immanuel; even Jelus the fon of Mary, born in the city of David, a Saviour, Chrift the Lord, whose birth the angel declared to the hepherds; the Word that has been made flesh, and has dwelt among men he is the Son of God, his only-begotten Son, his Son in fuch fenfe as no other is, and is the unspeakable gift of his love to men. He is here represented as a king, on whofe shoulders the government fhould be; not meaning the government of the whole world, which belongs to him as God and creator; the kingdom is his, and be is the governor among the nations; but the government of the church, his mediatorial kingdom, which is delegated to him, and devolved upon him as king of Zion, king of faints; a kingdom appointed to him, and for which he is and will be accountable to his Father, and will give it up to him compleat and perfect, and God fhall be all in all: his names and titles follow, and his name fhall be called; not that he should be called in common by all the following names, but that he fhould be or answer to what is fignified by them: fo he is wonderful in his perfon as God and man, having two natures united in him; in his offices, in his life and death, in his refurrection from the dead, ascenVOL. I. N fion Pfalm xxii. 28. fion to heaven, feffion at the right hand of God, and fecond coming to judgment: counfellor, or, as the Septuagint render it, the angel of the great council; who affifted in the everlafting council held concerning the falvation of men; and who by his Spirit, in his word, and by his minifters, gives the most wholesom counfel and advice to faints and finners refpecting their spirtual and eternal welfare the mighty God, as appears from the perfections of deity in him, from the works done by him, from the worship given to him, and from his names and titles: the everlasting Father, who has a spiritual feed and offspring given him, whom he loves with an everlasting love, takes an everlafting care of, and makes everafting provifion for: the prince of peace, the author of peace between God and men, between Jew and Gentile, and the giver of fpiritual and eternal peace. Now all the above things the zeal of the Lord of bofts has performed already. " The things which remain to be performed, are the increase of Chrift's government, and the peace, order and establishment of it; which are predicted in the beginning of this verfe, the latter part of which I have read unto you. The kingdom of Christ is fet up in the world, and there was an increase of it in the first times of the Gofpel, both in Judea and in the Gentile world, but it was but fmall in comparison of what it will be; the ftone was cut out without hands, but is not yet, as it will be, a great mountain, which will fill the whole earth; as yet the kingdoms of this world are not Chrift's, as they will be, when he shall be king over all the earth; when the Jews will be converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles will be brought in. Little peace has attended the kingdom and church of Christ as yet, but there will be abundance of it, when there will be an increase of his government; when his kingdom fhall be from fea to fea, "and from the river to the ends of the earth," then there will be peace without and peace within; war fhall ceafe from among the nations of the earth, and they fhall learn it no more; the church will be free from perfecution, and no more annoyed with it; there will be none to hurt and deftroy in all the Lord's holy mountain; and there will be no more animofities and divifions among the faints; "Ephraim fhall not envy Judah, nor Judab vex Ephraim;" and though Chrift is upon the throne of his father David, and has appointed and ordered the form of government, and enacted laws, and fettled ordinances for the execution of it; yet it does not appear with that order and regularity as it will, when the church shall be established upon the top of the mountains, and fo continue, being an everlasting kingdom. Now from the exact performance of all the above things in the context, and of all others, we may reasonably and strongly conclude the certain accomplishment of all things relating to the increafe, peace, profperity, order and fettlement of the kingdom of Chrift; and this is what I shall at prefent infift upon, in the following method. I. I fhall Ifai. ii. 4. and chap. xi. 9, 13. I. I fhall confider the things that remain to be performed, and the certain performance of them. II. Shew to what the performance of them is to be afcribed; to the zeal of the Lord of bofts. I. The things that are not yet fulfilled, but will be, as may be argued from the performance of many things already relating to the fame fubject: and thefe are the destruction of antichrift, the more extenfive call of the Gentiles, and the converfion of the Jews, the fetting up by these means the kingdom of Chrift in greater glory in the world, and his second coming, which will introduce his perfonal reign. First, The deftruction of antichrift; which as I have obferved in the Sermont first referred to, is the leading event to the glory of Chrift's spiritual kingdom; which cannot greatly increase, nor the peace of it, fo long as this enemy stands in the way; and therefore he must be removed, as it is foretold he fhall be. All that believe a divine revelation allow that there is, or will be, what is commonly called antichrift; not only Proteftants, but even Jews and Papifts: though both thefe latter have very foolish and fabulous notions concerning him; yet a general notion they have, which is founded on prophecy. I fhall therefore lay before you the more confiderable prophecies concerning him, and observe what are fulfilled, and from thence argue the certain performance of those which relate to his utter and final ruin. I shall not take notice of what is only incidentally and occafionally dropped concerning him; fuch incidental and occafional hints we have as early as the times of David. In his Pfalms there are frequent hints of him, and of his deftruction; as that the man of the earth shall no more opprefs, when the Lord fhall reign for ever, and the Heathen or Gentiles, a name fometimes given to Papifts, fhall perish out of his land; and when the Meffiah is faid to wound the head over many countries; that is, antichrift; who has reigned over the kings and kingdoms of the earth: and respect seems to be had to his followers, when it is wifhed, that the finners be confumed out of the earth, and the wicked be no more'; at the end of which verfe the word Hallelujah is first used, and which is ufed at the deftruction of mystical Babylon. But I shall only observe fuch as purposely and largely predict him and his ruin, and shall begin, ft, With the famous prophecy of him in the virth of Daniel, in which the prophet is said to have a vision of four beasts rising out of the fea; that is, of the four monarchies rifing up in the world, the Babylonian, Perfian, Grecian and Roman: the fourth and laft beaft is the Roman empire, faid to have ten horns; 1 Pfalm x. 16, 18, and cx. 6. and civ. 35. N 2 horns; now among these rises up a little horn, different from them, and which plucks up three of them; and it is said to have "eyes like the eyes of a man, and a look more ftout than its fellows; to have a mouth speaking great things against the most High, and to make war with the faints, and prevail over them, and wear them out; and to think to change times and laws; " and thus it is to continue until a time, and times, and the dividing of time, and then to have his dominion taken away, destroyed and confumed. Now this horn cannot be Antiochus Epiphanes, as Grotius, Junius, and others have thought; for not a fingle person or king is meant by a horn, but a kingdom or state, and a fucceffion of rulers and governors in it; as by the other ten horns are meant ten kings or kingdoms, ver. 24. And befides, this little horn is a part of the fourth, and not of the third beast, to whom Antiochus belonged; and was to rife, not in the third, but in the fourth monarchy, not in the Grecian, but in the Roman empire; and moreover was to continue until the coming of Christ, even until the spiritual coming of Chrift in the latter day, and when his spiritual kingdom will take place in the world: and as there is no other that has appeared in the Roman empire but antichrift, or the Pope of Rome, to whom the characters agree as to him; it may be fafely concluded he is intended, and as will more fully appear by the account of him; who is described, 1. By his name and title, a little born. An born is an emblem of strength, power and authority, and denotes a ftrong and powerful principality or kingdom, as the ten horns do, as before obferved; the allufion is to the horns of beafts, in which their ftrength lies, and with which they push their enemies and defend themselves: this horn indeed was but a little one, rofe from fmall beginnings, and at its height was but fuch, in comparison of others; fo the Pope of Rome, as to his ecclefiaftic power, was but at first a common minister, pastor, or bishop of a single church; then became metropolitan of all Italy; and at last commenced univerfal bishop: though this seems rather to regard him as a temporal prince; who was but very little indeed at his first appearance; and, when confidered only in his own domains, at higheft, was but little in comparison of the other horns or kingdoms; though being allowed to exercise power in the reft of the kingdoms, and their power and ftrength being given to him, he was fo formidable that none could withstand him, or make war with him, Rev. xvii. 13. and chap. xiii. 4. 2. By his rife and original from among the other horns or kingdoms, and his connexion with them; he is faid to come up among them. When the northern barbarous nations broke into the empire, and set up ten kingdoms in it, this little horn fprung up among them; and while they were forming kingdoms for themselves, he was contriving one for himfelf; they arofe at the fame time, and reigned together: fo the ten horns in the Revelation, which are the fame with these, and are there, as here, interpreted ten kings, are faid to receive power, as kings, one hour with the beast, the fame as this little horn. Indeed in ver. 24. this little horn is faid to rife after them, the other ten; not after the ten kingdoms were at end, but after they were set up, and constituted, and established; as it was proper they should,, fince they were to give their strength, power and kingdom to the beaft', by which he became a horn, a temporal prince. The Septuagint render it behind them; which Mr Mede" understands of his growing up unawares, imperceptibly, unnoticed, and unobferved by them, till he overtopped them. He is faid to be divers or different from the first horns; they only had and exercised a secular power, but he, befides his temporal authority, had and exercised an ecclefiaftic and fpiritual one; he not only had power over. the bodies and estates, but over the fouls and confciences of men; and even over the other ten horns or kingdoms, which they had not over one another. Hence he is represented by two beasts in the Revelation, the one describing him in his fecular, the other in his fpiritual authority, as we shall fee anon; and this made him different from other kings and princes: Moreover, before him three of the first borns were plucked up by the roots, or, as in ver. 20. before whom three fell, and which is interpreted ver. 24. of his fubduing three kings or kingdoms; which, according to Sir Isaac Newton", were the exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom of the Lombards, and the fenate and dukedom of Rome: The bishop of Clogher, more lately, has expreffed them thus, Campagnia of Rome, the exarchate of Ravenna, and the region of Pentapolis; these were plucked up by Pipin and Charlemagne, kings of France, and given to the Pope, and were confirmed to him by their fucceffor Lewis the pious; and make up what is called the patrimony of St Peter; and in memory of this a piece of Mofaic work was made, and put up in the Pope's palace; in which were reprefented St Peter with three keys in his lap, fignifying the three keys of the three parts of his patrimony ; and to fhew his fovereignty over them, the Pope to this day wears a triple crown. How furprisingly does the prophecy open unto us! An event is here predicted above a thousand years, twelve or thirteen hundred years, before it was accomplished. 3. This little horn is further defcribed by its eyes and look; its eyes were like the eyes of man; ftrange for a horn to have eyes, stranger ftill for the horn of a beast to have eyes as the eyes of man. These are thought by fome to denote the pretended fanctity and religion of the pope of Rome, or antichrift, who, thought a beast, would be thought to be a man, a religious creature; others think they defign. * Rev. xvii. 12. 1 Ibid. ver. 13. m Works, p. 778. » Obfervations on the Prophecies of Daniel, chap. 7. p. 75-78, 80, 84, 85. |