of refpect for things facred, they are governed by their corrupt inclinations, and perpetrate with avidity what they ought to avoid with the utmost folicitude. The perfons intended, are lawless, enormous tranfgreffors, who, having thrown off all regard to piety, equity, and good confcience, employ themselves in working with greedinefs all manner of iniquity.People of this character, Jefus Chrift fhall flay with the breath of his lips. In the language of fcripture, flaying denotes not only a violent painful death, which is the proper meaning of the word, but likewife the troubles and calamities to which men are expofed, though they terminate not immediately in their diffolution. In this fenfe the expreffion is used by the church, where fhe thus addreffeth God: For thy 'fake we are killed (or flain) all the day long *. Both fenfes may be included in this prediction. In the exercise of his regal power, the great Meffiah fhall deprive the wicked of the comforts they enjoy, and inflict upon them thofe fevere calamities which fhall iffue in death and deftruction.This he will do With the breath of his lips. These words may inti mate the way and manner in which this prophecy thall be accomplished. It fhall be fulfilled by means of his word and command; or by the ministry of the gofpel, which proceeds from his mouth, and gives a fatal blow to thofe who are of the above defcription. Or the expreffion may denote, the ease and facility with which Jefus Christ shall flay the wicked. As he revives and comforts the hearts of his people with the light of his countenance, fo he overthrows the wicked by the breath of his lips. Life and death are entirely at the command of Jefus Chrift: by his breath he quickens those who are dead in trefpaffes and fins, and by his breath he flays the wicked. This prediction was remarkably verified, when the officers came with fwords and itaves to apprehend our bleffed * Pfal. xliv. 22. Saviour. Saviour. Having inquired of them, Whom seek ye? They answered, Jefus of Nazareth. Jefus faith C unto them, I am he. As foon as he had faid unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.' If these few fimple words had fuch power accompanying them, as to lay the officers upon the ground, how can the wicked refift his sharp rebukes, and the awful denunciations of his wrath? It fhall be farther fulfilled, when that wicked one fhall be revealed, whom the Lord fhall confume with the spirit of his mouth, and fhall deftroy with the brightnefs of his coming; when the man of fin, the fon of perdition, shall be deftroyed, and the throne of iniquity fubverted. And at the final judgment, the Son of God, by the breath of his lips, by the decifive fentence he will pronounce upon the wicked, fhall fully ac complish what is here written. He fhall rain upon ⚫ them fnares, fire and brimftone, and an horrible tempeft: this fhall be the portion of their cup. Such fhall be the complete triumph of Meffiah over the wicked, until wickednefs be utterly demolished, and righteousness established for ever in his kingdom.Let us reverence this glorious Perfon, and ftand in awe of the judgments of his mouth. This is the proper improvement which the fcripture teaches us to make of the fubject we have now been confidering. When God fhould deftroy and take away the wicked man, who boafted in mifchief, whofe character is defcribed in the fifty-fecond pfalm, it is declared, that the righteous fhall fee and fear' the power and glory of Jehovah, difplayed in rooting him out of the land of the living. May what we have now heard fill our minds with reverence of him who will fmite and flay all the wicked of the earth! 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulnefs the girdle of his reins. * Pfal. xi. 6. In this verse, are reprefented the amiable perfonal endowments of Meffiah the Prince, which were to be confpicuous in the administration of his government, and from the exercife of which it fhould ac quire glory and stability.—I apprehend that the righteousness here intended, is not the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jefus Chrift, of which the apostle Peter fpeaks, which the apoftle Paul calls the obedience of Chrift +, comprehending all the actions that the Son of God performed in compliance with the command and will of his Father, and all the fufferings to which he fubmitted for our redemption. This righteoufnefs the fcripture faith, is unto all, and upon all them that believe; and the cordial acceptance of this gift, as it is called, is always accompanied with the remiffion of fins, and a right to everlafting life. I do not fee how this righteoufnefs can with propriety be called the girdle of our Lord's loins; and, therefore, the righteoufnefs of which our prophet speaks, feems to be that perfonal excellency whereby this illuftrious Perfon fhould govern the whole world, and particularly the fubjects of his fpiritual kingdom, with the utmost impartiality, according to the moft equitable laws, diftributing rewards and punishments to every one according to his real defert. He is juft in all his ways, and holy in all his works. All his laws, like himfelf, are holy, juft, and good. Poffeffed of confummate rectitude, which fhines with the brightest luftre in all his dif penfations, with the ftricteft equity he confers the richest rewards on his faithful fervants, and never punishes except on the cleareft evidence, always proportioning the reward to the fervice, and the punishment to the tranfgreffion. Thou haft loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 2 Peter i. I. + Rom. v. 19. Pfal. xlv. 7. Faithful Faithfulness, or truth, as the Hebrew word fignifies, may denote the exact correspondence that fubfifts between the declarations he hath published, and the objects which they are intended to represent, conjoined with his inviolable regard to the feasonable fulfilment of the promises he hath given for the benefit of his church. His knowledge being perfect and unlimited, he is intimately acquainted with every object that he reveals to men: he always remembers what he hath spoken: and his faithfulness being unchangeable, he never alters his mind; he invariably adheres to his declarations, and never faileth to perform whatever he hath promifed. Ye know in all your hearts, and in all your fouls, that not ' one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God fpake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath 'failed thereof *. All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by ust. Hence the doctrine of the gofpel, which contains the teftimony and promifes of Jefus Chrift, is called, by the apostle Paul, The truth of Christ ‡.” Faithful and true are all his fayings, who came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfil; and who hath folemnly affirmed, that till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle fhall in no wife pass from the law, till all be fulfilled ||. Faithful are all his promises, who himself is the truth, and was a minifter of the circumcifion for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. Perfect righteousness, and everlasting faithfulness, are happily united in his character, and shine forth with refulgent splendour through every part of his regal administration-they are foretold to be The girdle of his loins, and the girdle of his reins. Girdles of various kinds, made of valuable materials, *Joshua xxiii. 14. Matth. v. 17, 18. † 2 Cor. i. 20. + Eph. iv. 21. were were anciently worn by perfons of high rank, which distinguished them from thofe of inferior station, by whom girdles of fome fort were likewife worn. The girdles which the priests put on, were made of gold, of blue, of purple, fcarlet, and fine-twined linen. The military girdle was fometimes of confiderable excellence and value, as is plainly intimated in what Joab faid to the young man, who informed him he had feen Abfalom hanging in a tree: Why didft thou not there fmite him to the ground, and I would have given thee ten fhekels of filver and a girdle*.' Righteousness and faithfulness, agreeably blended together, compofe the girdle of the Meffiah. Thefe two amiable qualities cannot be feparated, and ferve mutually to illuftrate each other: faithfulness is neceffary to fulfil the promises of God; and righteoufnefs is no lefs requifite to difcern the characters of those to whom they ought to be fulfilled, in what measure, and in what time they fhould be accomplished. His praises, therefore, are often celebrated in fcripture, on account of the intimate union and har monious exercise of these amiable excellencies, many inftances of which occur in the book of Pfalms. With these valuable qualifications, the loins of the Meffiah's mind, and the reins of his heart, the feat of his affections and moft fecret operations, were to be encompaffed, ftrengthened, and adorned. The figure here employed, plainly fignifies, that righteoufnefs and faithfulness are virtues of which the Meffiah fhould be really poffeffed, and which should always clofely adhere to him, like a girdle, in the whole of his conduct, and particularly in the exercise of his regal of fice. That as a girdle furrounds a man's whole body, and is feen to advantage whitherfoever he turn himself, fo, in like manner, these two divine excellencies fhould every way appear moft confpicuous in the Meffiah's administration of the affairs of his king 2 Sam. xviii. 11, dom, |