But if any man would restrict this declaration of Christ to the period of the first promulgation of the Gospel, we are prepared with a refutation. For it has been a common opinion in all ages and nations, that those who are alienated from God, and pronounced accursed and children of wrath, cannot please him without a reconciliation. Here add the answer of Christ to the woman of Samaria: "Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews." (z) In these words he at once condemns all the religions of the Gentiles as false, and assigns a reason for it; because under the law the Redeemer was promised only to the chosen people; whence it follows that no worship has ever been acceptable to God, unless it had respect to Christ. Hence also Paul affirms, that all the Gentiles were without God, and destitute of hope. (a) Now as John teaches us that life was from the beginning in Christ, and that the whole world are fallen from it, (b) it is necessary to return to that fountain: and therefore Christ asserts himself to be the life, as he is the author of the propitiation. And indeed the celestial inheritance belongs exclusively to the children of God. But it is very unreasonable that they should be considered in the place and order of his children, who have not been engrafted into the body of his only begotten Son. And John plainly declares, that "they who believe in his name become the sons of God." (c) But as it is not my design in this place to treat professedly of faith in Christ, these cursory hints shall at present suffice. II. Therefore God never shewed himself propitious to his ancient people, nor afforded them any hope of his favour, without a Mediator. I forbear to speak of the legal sacrifices, by which the faithful were plainly and publicly instructed that salvation was to be sought solely in that expiation, which has been accomplished by Christ alone. I only assert, that the happiness of the Church has always been founded on the person of Christ. For though God comprehended in his covenant all the posterity of Abraham, yet Paul judiciously reasons that Christ is in reality that Seed in whom all the nations were to be blessed: (d) since we know that the natural (b) John i. 4. (2) John iv. 22. VOL. I. (a) Ephes. ii. 12. descendants of that patriarch were not reckoned as his seed. For, to say nothing of Ishmael and others, what was the cause, that of the two sons of Isaac, the twin-brothers Esau and Jacob, even when they were yet unborn, one should be chosen and the other rejected? How came it to pass that the first-born was rejected, and that the younger obtained his birthright? How came the majority of the people to be disinherited? It is evident therefore that the seed of Abraham is reckoned principally in one person, and that the promised salvation was not manifested till the coming of Christ, whose office it is to collect what had been scattered abroad. The first adoption therefore of the chosen people depended on the grace of the Mediator: which though it is not so plainly expressed by Moses, yet appears to have been generally well known to all the pious. For before the appointment of any king in the nation, Hannah, the mother of Samuel, speaking of the felicity of the faithful, thus expressed herself in her song: "The Lord shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed." (e) Her meaning in these words is, that God will bless his Church. And to this agrees the oracle, which is soon after introduced, "I will raise me up a faithful priest, and he shall walk before mine anointed." And there is no doubt that it was the design of the heavenly Father to exhibit in David and his posterity a lively image of Christ. With a design to exhort the pious therefore to the fear of God, he enjoins them to "kiss the Son:" (ƒ) which agrees with this declaration of the Gospel, "He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father." (g) Therefore though the kingdom was weakened by the revolt of the ten tribes, yet the covenant, which God had made with David and his successors, could not but stand, as he also declared by the prophets: "I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son, for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen." (h) This is repeated again and again. It is also expressly added, "I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not for ever." (¿) At a little distance of time it is said, "For David's sake did the Lord his God give him a (8) John v. 24. (c) 1 Sam. ii. 10. (ƒ) Psalm ii. 12. (i) 1 Kings xi. 39. lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem." (k) Even when the state was come to the verge of ruin, it was again said, "The Lord would not destroy Judah, for David his servant's sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, and to his children." (/) The sum of the whole is this: that David alone was chosen, to the rejection of all others, as the perpetual object of the Divine favour; as it is said in another place," He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh; he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: but chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion, which he loved. He chose David also his servant, to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance." (m) Finally, it hath pleased God to preserve his church in such a way, that its security and salvation should depend on that head. David therefore exclaims, "The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed;" (n) and immediately adds this petition: "Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance:" signifying that the state of the Church is inseparably connected with the government of Christ. In the same sense he elsewhere says, "Save, Lord; let the king hear us when we call." (o) In these words he clearly teaches us that the faithful resort to God for assistance, with no other confidence than because they are sheltered under the protection of the king. This is to be inferred from another Psalm: "Save, O Lord! blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord:" (p) where it is sufficiently evident that the faithful are invited to Christ, that they may hope to be saved by the power of God. The same thing is alluded to in another prayer, where the whole Church implores the mercy of God: "Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the Son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself." (q) For though the author of the Psalm deplores the dissipation of all the people, yet he ardently prays for their restoration in their head alone. But when Jeremiah, after the people were driven into exile, the land laid waste, and all things apparently ruined, bewails the miseries of the Church, he principally laments that by the subversion of (k) 1 Kings xv. 4. (1) 2 Kings viii. 19. (m) Psalm lxxviii. 60, 67, 68, 70, 71, (p) Psalm cxviii. 25, 26. the kingdom, the hope of the faithful was cut off. "The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen." (r) Hence it is sufficiently evident, that since God cannot be propitious to mankind but through the Mediator, Christ was always exhibited to the holy fathers under the law, as the object to which they should direct their faith. III. Now when consolation is promised in affliction, but especially when the deliverance of the Church is described, the standard of confidence and hope is erected in Christ alone: "Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed," (s) says Habakkuk. And whenever the prophets mention the restoration of the Church, they recal the people to the promise given to David concerning the perpetuity of his kingdom. Nor is this to be wondered at, for otherwise there would be no stability in the covenant. To this refers the memorable answer of Isaiah. For when he saw that his declaration concerning the raising of the siege, and the present deliverance of Jerusalem, was rejected by that unbelieving king, Ahaz, he makes rather an abrupt transition to the Messiah: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son:" (t) indirectly suggesting, that although the king and the people in their perverseness rejected the promise which had been given them, as though they would purposely labour to invalidate the truth of God, yet that his covenant would not be frustrated, but that the Redeemer should come at his appointed time. Finally, all the prophets, in order to display the Divine mercy, were constantly careful to exhibit to view that kingdom of David, from which redemption and eternal salvation were to proceed. Thus Isaiah: "I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people." (v) Because in desperate circumstances the faithful could have no hope, any otherwise than by his interposition as a witness, that God would be merciful to them. Thus also Jeremiah, to comfort them who were in despair, says, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely." (w) And Ezekiel: "I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; and I will make with them a covenant of peace." (x) Again, in another place, having treated of their incredible renovation, he says, "David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one Shepherd. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them." (y) I select a few passages out of many, because I only wish to apprize the reader, that the hope of the pious has never been placed any where but in Christ. All the other prophets also uniformly speak the same language. As Hosea: "Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head." (z) And in a subsequent chapter he is still more explicit: "The children of Israel shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king." (a) Micah also, discoursing on the return of the people, expressly declares, “their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them." (b) Thus Amos, intending to predict the restoration of the people, says, "In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins." (c) This implies that the only standard of salvation was the restoration of the regal dignity in the family of David, which was accomplished in Christ. Zechariah therefore, living nearer to the time of the manifestation of Christ, more openly exclaims, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation." (d) This corresponds with a passage from a Psalm, already cited: "The Lord is the saving strength of his anointed. Save thy people:" (é) where salvation is extended from the head to the whole body. IV. It was the will of God that the Jews should be instructed by these prophecies, so that they might direct their eyes to (w) Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. (x) Ezek. xxxiv. 23–25. (d) Zech. ix. 9. (y) Ezek. xxxvii. 24, 26. (b) Mic. ii. 13. (e) Psalm xxviii. 8, 9. |