CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER

(Continued from last issue)

THUS the psalmist, calling upon his King by the appropriating title of My God, says, Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom (of all ages, from eternity to eternity) and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. And in another place, where he speaks touching this King-redeemer, he expresses himself, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. So Daniel still more directly, if possible, applies this eternity of dominion to Christ, where, prophesying the fall of the great empires of the world, he says, The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and this kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. This is confessedly the spiritual kingdom of Jesus Christ, which literally prevailed against all temporal dominion, and passed the bounds of the Roman empire, in spite of every opposition from the world. The evangelist Luke, reciting the words of the angel to the Virgin Mary, declares, that Christ shall reign over the house of Jacob (all his faithful people) for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. And the apostle Peter preaches to the church, that an entrance shall be ministered abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. These, and other texts, fully prove that the kingdom of Jesus is the kingdom of Jehovah, because it is an everlasting kingdom; and that Jesus was Jehovah, because Jesus had that kingdom to bestow, as his own, upon his people.

But, if there had been no positive evidence of this truth to be derived from the express words of scripture, the very enemies, which the Lord Jesus had to vanquish and destroy for his church, would furnish us with a strong and convincing proof that he must be far above angels and men, and no other than the omnipotent God himself. Satan, like the strong one armed, had forced the possession of man, and would have bound him like a miserable captive for ever, had not Christ been stronger than the united force both of him and his. The devil has had very great natural and spiritual influence in all ages; and the natural particularly before the manifestation of Christ, who came to destroy the powers of darkness, to confound the idolatrous attention that was paid to them and their oracles, and to establish a perpetual victory over them. Hence Satan is called the Prince of the Power of the Air, the Spirit working in the Children of Disobedience, the Prince of this World, and by other names, expressive of his subtle and mighty agency. Nay, his very adherents and dependants are styled principalities, and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, the authors of spiritual wickedness in the heavens, as well as on the earth. All these, “panting with rage of heart,” against poor, fallen, weak, and miserable man, are confederated in diabolical league against his salvation: and, beside all these, a law stood out against him, at once proclaimng its own purity, and his utter apostacy and defection. These enenmies Christ subdued, and this perfect scheme of duty he fulfilled for his people; so that, in him, it is truly an advocate for them, and both cancels their debt, and revokes the punishment which they had incurred by their transgressions. Nay, even Satan himself is judged and silenced both as the tempter to sin, and as the accuser for sin. He is judged by the life of Christ, who lived without sin, though tempted in all points like as we are, and who perfectly fulfilled all righteousness; and he is judged by the death of Christ, because he made a full satisfaction to the justice and law of God for his people’s transgressions, and thereby left no room for accusations against them. And that last enemy of nature and of man, Death, with all his horrors, who could have vanquished but God, on whom all things depend, and whom all must obey? To vanquish Death is to give immortality; and who can give immortality but Jehovah? Yet Jesus, we are assured, not only hath immortality, but gives it, in becpming the author of eternal salvation to all that obey him. He triumphed over Death in his own person, and vanquished him by laying down his life, for a season, and by taking it again at his will, when he had fulfilled the justice of the Godhead. He thereby manifested, that he was indeed the resurrection and the life in himself, at once the conqueror of Death and the Prince of Life, for the everlasting salvation of his redeemed. All these things, and many more which might be considered in the kingly office of the blessed Redeemer, most incontestably prove, that every power in heaven, earth, and hell, is subservient to his will; that, of course, he must be omnipresent, omnipotent, and eternal, and, therefore, that he is surely God over all, blessed for ever.

It may also be observed, by the way, that both the means of salvation, and grace wrought by those means, and glory the perfection of grace, are all described by one epithet, the kingdom of God; because, as it has been well remarked, “those whom God by means brings to grace, he will by grace bring to glory.” Now Christ, being the author of eternal salvation to all that believe, is the author of the means as well as the end, is the occasion and accomplisher of all its purposes, and for that reason is justly confederated in the kingdom with God the Father and the Spirit. The kingdom of God and of Christ, mentioned by the apostle, is but one kingdom; because God and Christ, with respect to the divinity of nature, are but one.

The scriptures are full of the Messiah’s kingly office, and no wonder, for if he were not a King and a Conqueror, what must have become of his people, surrounded as they are with innumerable enemies without, and troubled with treacherous and deceitful hearts within? The Psalmist, in particular, is ever exulting in the omnipotence and dominion of his Saviour, who was to set his throne upon the holy hill of Zion, to rule his enemies with a rod of iron, and to dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. He reiterates the praises of the King of Glory, and tunes his heart with seraphic melody, to celebrate his victories, his power, and his everlasting dominion. He displays in all the strong colouring of an oriental style (which, though generally hyperbolical when applied to human affairs, is much too low for the sublimity of this subject), the honours and dignities of his divine Redeemer; and he rises in idea upon idea, strengthening one strong expression by a stronger, when he contemplates the ineffable glories, and everlasting benignity, of his person and power. Nor is he content by himself to magnify him; but he calls upon all the faithful to join in praise, and endeavours to raise chorus, as it were, from the very universe of nature.

Prophets, as well as psalmists, are equally sensible of the transcendent glories of the Mediator’s kingdom and invite the church to rejoice greatly, and to shout, because her King cometh, just and mighty to bring salvation, lowly and gracious to bestow it.

Apostles know the joyful sound which prophets has proclaimed, to join with them in rejoicing, because they saw, by faith, the spiritual majesty of their crucified Lord, and were witnesses of his spoiling the Powers of Darkness, and of his triumphing over them for ever. They understood, that of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; and, therefore, they ascribe the glory and dominion to him without end.

Angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven, adore also the worthiness and majesty of the Lamb, who is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and continually ascribe salvation, and power, and might, and dominion to him, for ever and ever.

And shall not believers on earth, who are to be companions of all these in heaven, join in their grand acclamations to this gracious Lord!—Yes; all who know him by faith must praise him in spirit. Out of the abundance of the heart their mouths will speak; and none can be silent in his praise but those who are silent in darkness.

The believer has a peculiar and internal argument which the world does not apprehend, for owning and blessing the sovereignty of his adorable Saviour. He knows what he himself is, and what he always was, by nature: he once felt himself entirely averse to every good word and work; and he sees, with irresistible evidence and clearness, that by any energy of his own, he could never have changed the apostacy of his heart, and the perverse rebellion of his will. On the other hand, he beholds a new nature implanted in him, which wars against these corruptions; he perceives in his soul a tendency to God, and the things of God, which was never there before. He finds a mind within him fully opposite to the “mind of the flesh,” and differing from the men of the earth in its sentiments of those things which are usually called great and good. He loaths, as perfect abominations, what were once the idols of his hopes and pursuits; and he perceives a light in his mind, and a joy in his heart, which are so far from being of the world, or having the least relation to it, that he possesses them, clearest and strongest, when he is most secluded from the world, or most persecuted by it. All this ensued, not by the preaching or the reading of metaphysics, or moral suasion, or the like genteel (or rather Gentile) divinity of the times, but by the preaching or reading of Jesus Christ alone, and by the declaration of his gospel: so contrary and humiliating as it is, in all respects, to the pride, passions, and corrupt inclinations of man. Prom all these he argues, and surely argues well, that there is a wonderful change passed upon him, that Satan could not, or would not, effect it if he might. That he had neither ability nor disposition to do it of himself—and that certainly, what could enable him to master so many corruptions ; to see such beauty in truth; to feel such a love for it, and to be made so happy by it, (all of these being a spiritual as well as new creation) must be necessarily above the common effects of nature, and nothing less than divine. The Scripture comes upon the mind, and describes these very circumstances as essential to, and consequent upon, faith; stating it as a universal proposition, that this faith is the operation of God alone, and the effectual working of his power. Can any thing be more conclusive with such a man, that Jesus Christ having done all this, and promised to do as much more, in him and for him, must necessarily be God as well as Man? If he had been mere man, he might have promised indeed: but all his promises would have died and perished with him. But because he is God, he hath both promised and done what only pertains to the truth and power of God to promise and to do. Indeed, to such a one all this is more than demonstrable. It is demonstration itself. Others may dispute, and cavil, and rail, about the divinity of Jesus Christ—he cannot. Christ has given him an understanding that is true, not visionary and floating in the head, but solid and joined with the experimental perception of the heart. Thus, believing on Christ, he hath the witness in himself; and, in this frame, can no more doubt of the godhead of his Saviour, than he can doubt of his own existence, and the evidence attending it.

It is remarkable, also, that among other proofs of the Redeemer’s divinity, and among other mysteries of godliness, the apostle pronounces this to be one: that Christ should be believed on in the world. And, indeed, when it is considered, on the one hand, what a mean and forlorn appearance he made upon the earth—how he was sustained in his body by our common ailment, through the bounty of his followers, that he needed clothing, and was exposed to pain and weariness, just like ourselves, and especially that he finally suffered a horrid and scandalous death; leaving to human view all expectations of his future life and success in irreparable ruins. And, on the other hand, that the mind of man is always intent upon schemes of temporal happiness, wealth, and grandeur, while his body is irreconcilably averse to pain and sufferings. When all this is considered, it is a demonstration of the kingly power of Jesus, that such multitudes have, in all ages, contrary to their carnal hopes and interests, and often with sure consequences of misery and death, declared themselves his subjects, and testified their only hope to be in his name. It is such a miracle, that nothing but his own almighty power could possibly have performed, carried on, and maintained it from time to time, or that can do so from henceforward, according to his own promise, to the end of the world. If the heart could be reached by any outward proof, here is one absolutely unimpeachable. But the heart cannot thus be reached. It needs the very same miracle of grace to bring it into this mystery of godliness which the church of God at large hath ever needed for its invincible support, and which it will continue to need to the end of time. The internal operation only of the Spirit of Christ, can render any outward testimonies of him effectual for spiritual life and salvation. But if the outward testimonies of the gospel itself are only efficacious by that divine power which is promised to accompany them, what force can those testimonies be expected to have which are not only without Christ but against him in all his offices; and which, in denial of, and direct contrariety to that power, lift up the pride and pretended capacities of a poor, fallen, ignorant, and miserable worm? We can only expect those consequences which have already appeared in the open blasphemy of his person and mediation, and in all the daring ungodliness and lawless immoralities of the times.

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