his kingdom: “The Lord said unto my Lord.” Here ye would look first
unto the saying and then unto the persons: “The Lord said unto my
Lord.” Ye know we used to observe, that there be two sorts of speech or
sayings: one that is secret within our breasts, and which we keep in
silence within ourselves, as long as we think convenient; another is
the expression of our thoughts, when we think meet to make them known.
Ye know there is one uses to be called λογος ενδιαθεκος προφορικος.
Like unto these two, there is in the Lord, (1.) His purpose, counsel,
and decree, kept secret within himself. (2.) There is the expression,
or the manifestation and proclamation of his purposes and decrees
unto the children of men, after what manner and in what measure it
seems good unto his wisdom. Of the _first_, the second psalm speaks,
“I have anointed him to be King;” and there the reason is given—“Thou
art my son,” &c.; then there is the revelation of it—“I have declared
the decree.” Many times was this said before Christ’s coming in the
flesh, and the prophets are full of it. I need not spend time on it,
especially in such an audience as this. Now, this is laid down as the
ground, “The Lord hath said:” his decree, prophecy, and predictions are
laid down as a ground of this princely office of the kingdom of Christ,
and of that high glory and dignity to which he is exalted; for what the
Lord has said, it must be done of necessity.
There is a very great difference between the sayings of men and the
sayings of God; for man’s sayings are nothing else but the expression
of his thoughts and affections of his mind; but, when the Lord speaks,
he not only expresses what he will have done, but also there is an
effectual power accompanies his saying, that cannot be resisted, but
must of necessity come to pass. Again, when we speak, we must speak
to them that are, and that have ears to hear, and understanding to
conceive, or else our speech is in vain. But, when the Lord speaks, it
is otherwise; he speaks to them that are not, and makes them to be; he
speaks to them that have nothing of the second creation, and, by his
Spirit, he creates it in them; by his speech, he makes darkness to be
light, he speaks to them that are dead in sin, and by his Spirit puts
life in them, new sense and understanding. _Thirdly_, Our speeches
and sayings have need to be confirmed by reasons and arguments;
and, therefore, we support them as strongly as we can. But when it
pleases God to speak, he speaks so as he needs no argument: he bids a
man leave his trade, and follow him; and the man will never ask the
reason, because he convinces him fully, and persuades him irresistibly.
_Fourthly_, It is in vain for us to speak to any that have no ability
or power to do what we desire. But the Lord will bid them do that has
no power, because, with the commandment, he infuses strength for the
performance of it.
It is a good ground that is brought here of the exaltation, dominion,
and dignity of Christ—“The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou,” &c.—for
he having said it, who can say against it? who can resist it? The
powers of hell, nor any powers in heaven, or in earth, suppose they
were all joined together, cannot obstruct him. If the Lord hath
said it, it must come to pass. Christ must be exalted, and his Kirk
established also. Ye know that in the 2d of Daniel, the prophet,
speaking of the kings of the earth, prophecies of another kingdom that
Jesus will set up; and he sets it up with this promise and quality,
“that it shall never be destroyed;” he that sets it up, shall uphold
it; as sure as it is once exalted and set up, it shall never be
destroyed, albeit the devil, and all his accomplices and sophisters,
with all their wit, were against it. Dan. vii., 13, 14:—“I saw in the
night visions, and behold, one like unto the Son of Man came with the
clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days; and they brought
him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and
a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and
his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” Luke i. 33:—“He shall
reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall
be no end.” And, Acts ii. 36:—“He hath made him both Lord and Christ.”
Then, beloved, let us build upon this ground against all the devices,
stratagems, and conspiracies of the world. Certainly he is Lord and
King, and he shall endure so world without end.
It were a good thing for us, if we could learn to take up the
conjunction that is between God and his Son Jesus Christ in his
kingdom. I speak it, beloved, for this cause, that there is a kind
of natural theology that men pride themselves in, that they gather
partly from the works of God, which a natural man may observe and
consider, and partly from natural reason. But this is not all; we must
take heed, that although it cannot be denied that there is a natural
sort of theology, yet we must advert that there is no natural kind
of Christianity; for the natural man, by looking on all the works
of God, and blowing up the sparks of nature all that he can, shall
never be able to know Christ, or receive him, before it be revealed
and proclaimed in the gospel; nay, when he hears it, he will condemn
it for the greatest foolishness in the world. Therefore we would not
please ourselves with this natural knowledge of God, but seek to know
God in Christ. This is true Christianity. He that knows not Christ
knows not God; he that resists Christ fights against God; he that
believes not in Christ—please himself as he will—he believes not in
God; and he that obeys the voice of Christ obeys the voice of God. I am
assured many men, both in church and commonwealth, and many that preach
theology, and perhaps Christianity, to others, consider not this, but
please themselves in a natural sort of knowledge; and they go easily
through with their forms; and all because there is nothing in nature to
oppose the work they are about; but the children of God find a great
difficulty—the infidelity of their heart, and other-like ills, fight
against it.
Had the men who are to be censured and excommunicated the knowledge
of Jesus Christ—notwithstanding that some of them preached him often,
and all of them sometimes—I verily believe they could not have gone
on so long in this course, and stood it out with such obstinacy and
contumacy. Therefore let us learn, by their example, to search for the
knowledge of God through Christ; for they are so joined together, as
there can be no separation; and as they are joined betwixt themselves
so they must be joined in our knowledge. It is not possible for you
to know God but by the knowledge of his Son; and if we know not the
consolation, virtue, and power of Christ, we cannot know the comforts,
power, and virtue of God himself, but must remain strangers to the
knowledge of God; for there is no comfort, virtue, nor power for life
everlasting, but only through Christ himself.
“The Lord said unto my Lord.” You see here again, that the ground of
the calling of Christ unto his princely office is from the saying of
God—“The Lord said unto my Lord.” As he was called of God to be a
prophet and a priest, so it was God that called him also to be a King.
These three offices are all lawful offices in themselves. And likewise
he was lawfully called unto it; for the Lord said it. And these two
things, beloved, are necessary for a man that undertakes a calling.
One is, that the office itself be lawful, and have warrant from God
that the Lord has said, I will be served in such a place, and in such
a function and calling. 2. When the office itself is lawful, a man
must be lawfully called unto it. For ye know there is a difference
between these two: sometimes the office may be lawful, and the man
not lawfully called to that lawful office; and sometimes it comes to
pass that men are called to unlawful offices; not that any man can be
lawfully called to an unlawful office—and this is especially true in
churchmen and the office-bearers of the Church. God hath permitted
greater diversity of offices, and administration of these offices, to
be in the commonwealth, than in his Kirk; because in the government of
a state or commonwealth, there may be sundry forms of government and
administration of justice, and all lawful. Kings may have governors and
others acting under them; but it must not be so in the house of God.
All the offices in God’s house, from the highest to the lowest, if I
may lawfully say highest and lowest, must have a warrant from God; and
men cannot say they are called of God, except their calling be from
God, and have warrant from divine authority.
Beloved, I put no question but there are divers amongst us that have
had no such warrant for our entry to the Ministry as were to be wished.
And although the calling itself be not only lawful, but laudable,
necessary, and commanded of God, yet, alas! how many of us have rather
sought the kirk, than the kirk has sought us? how many have rather
gotten the kirk given to them, than they have been given to the kirk
for the good thereof? And yet there must be a great difference put
between these that have lived many years in an unlawful office without
warrant of God, and therefore must be abominable in the sight of God;
and these who, in some respects, have entered unlawfully, and with
an ill conscience, and afterwards have come to see the evil of this,
and to do what in them lies to repair the injury. The one is like a
marriage altogether unlawful, and null in itself; the other is like a
marriage in some respects unlawful and inexpedient, but that may be
mended by the diligence and fidelity of the parties in doing their
duty afterward; so should it be with us who entered lately into the
calling of the Ministry: if there were any faults or wrong steps in
our entry—as who of us are free?—acknowledge the Lord’s calling of us,
if we have since got a seal from heaven of our Ministry, and let us
labour with diligence and faithfulness in our office, and particularly
to be faithful in this, to get them expelled and put out of the Church
whose office is not from God, such as these men against whom we are to
proceed with the censures of the Kirk.
Now I come to speak of the persons. “The Lord said unto my Lord.” If
ye will cast your eyes upon the words, ye will perceive that there
are three ranks of persons here. There is, 1. THE LORD; he that was,
and is, and shall be for ever. 2. There is my Lord Jesus Christ, who,
after a special manner, is the King and Sovereign Lord of his Kirk,
whom he has redeemed with his own blood. 3. There is a king here,
David, who calls him _my Lord:_ “The Lord said unto my Lord.” David
calls Christ his Lord. And I may add a fourth, which may be understood
by analogy, and that is the people of God under David. And thus ye
shall draw out the line the full length, and make the subordination
perfect, consisting, 1. Of the Lord above, to whom there is no match
or equal, whose will is an absolute law unto all. And although men
curiously dispute, if there be any cause, ground, or reason of the will
of God, there is no question but in God himself there is a reason; but
looking downward to us, the highest reason is the will of God—he who
is divine and unsearchable Wisdom, is a rule for himself of his own
commandments; but for us there is not another reason but his will;
for he stands absolute in his sovereignty, none above, nor any equal
to him. 2. Then the next degree comes: he who is here called my Lord,
Jesus Christ the Son of God, whose will is full and perfect, conform to
the supreme will of God; and there can be no more a division between
the will of Christ and the will of God, than there can be a division
of two natures in the person of Jesus Christ. Now, as these two are
sure, _1st_, The sovereignty of God in his will; and, _2dly_, The Son
of God perfectly conform to him; were it not a happy thing if kings,
and princes, and superior powers would all strive to have their laws
and actions, especially and principally in the worship of God, conform
to the will of Jesus Christ, and these to stand in their own place of
subordination under Jesus Christ, and then the fourth will come in very
well—to wit, the people of God: first, the Lord; then Jesus Christ,
his son; next, the king, prince, or supreme magistrate; and the people
under them submitting themselves to their king and prince. And thus
ye may perceive the right line in the course of government, and the
right way of subordination; and there is no other right way beside
this. And whenever men begin to go out of line, and forget their own
subordination, then these that are under them become no way subject to
them, because they go out of the right order; but they must look to
them that are above them, and hold their eye on these, and so they will
keep the right line. “He that follows me,” says Christ, “must forsake
father and mother;” then, when the father and mother go out of line, we
must not follow them, because we are bound to subordination unto God.
In like manner, if a prince or a magistrate, who had such subordination
from God, depart out of the line, and command things unlawful, shall
the people obey them, and go out likewise from under the line? No, no;
whoever departs out of this line, cannot have peace and protection of
God, and the sweet influences that comes down alongst to all that keep
themselves under this line; for the blessing of God comes down the
straight line of subordination, and they keeping the line are sure to
get a blessing. So did Daniel, he held his eye upon this line; and when
Darius the king goes out of the line, he is forbidden by the God of
heaven to follow the king, but directs his eye upon the line to Jesus
Christ. Beloved, it is now counted jarring contention, and a turbulent
humour, for men to refuse subjection to every thing that superiors
please to command: but ye may see clearly what is obedience, and what
is disobedience: it is not obedience to follow the humours of men, that
goes out of this line; but this is obedience, when they obey them that
are above them in the line. Therefore we should look to two things,
when we hold our eye on this vista—1. We should consider whether these
that are above us have their calling from God or not, and if they be
our lawful superiors; and if not, then have they no place in this line;
for there is here God, Christ, king, and the people; and so unlawful
superiors have no place here. 2. If they be our lawful superiors,
look if their commandments be lawful: for in so far as their office is
unlawful, they go out of the line; and if they be unlawful superiors,
we owe them no obedience: and this day’s work is to delete the names
of such superiors out of this line. Again, when our lawful superiors,
to whom we owe obedience, command what is unlawful, we are not bound
to obey them. Therefore, let all and every one of us, as we would that
the drops of the sweet influences of God’s spirit should come down upon
us, hold ourselves under the line, otherwise the blessing shall fall
upon them that keep the line, but never a drop upon these that are
trangressors, or goes out of it.
We come, in the next place, to speak unto the dignity and dominion unto
which our Lord Jesus is exalted—“Sit thou at my right hand.” As I told
you before, it is not my purpose to enter upon any large discourse,
especially on this, which is so amply expressed in the Scripture—viz.,
the sitting of Christ at the right hand of God. Only a word or two,
so far as concerns the present purpose. 1. You see it is said here,
“Sit thou at my right hand,” or, as is expressed in the fifth verse,
“is at thy right hand;” which seems to be opposite—for here Christ is
at the right hand of God, but there God promises to be at the right
hand of Christ. And this is very comfortable to consider, if we take
it up right; for man is in a twofold condition that is very different.
Sometimes he is at peace and quietness, rest and ease, and in glory
and honour; and then, in this case, the right hand is the best place.
I need not clear this; for I think many here understand it perfectly.
Sometimes, again, man is in trouble and distress, in great danger and
fear, and then it is otherwise; he has need of one to be at his right
hand to help him, as in the 5th verse. And this is very comfortable,
that, in the time of trouble and distress, the Lord is at thy right
hand to keep thee, and guard thee with his right hand. But when the
time of honour, reward, and recompense comes, then the Lord, as he
sets down his Son at his right hand, so he will give every one their
own degree, honour, and glory. And this was it that God promised to
Abraham—“I will be thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward, to
defend thee, and be at thy right hand in the time of all thy troubles
and distress, and will not desert thee.” Again, on the other part, when
the time of honour and recompense comes, “I will be thy rich reward,
and will set thee on my right hand as sheep, when the goats are left.”
This is not the ambition and pride of churchmen, in striving at the
right hand of kings, &c. No, no; and yet this hath been the ground of
meikle woe and mischief to the Church of God. Ye will find, and it is
worthie of observation, that seldom or never almost does our Lord speak
of his Cross, and of his sufferings in the gospel, unto his apostles
and disciples, telling them that he is to suffer, but his disciples
propone this question, “What place shall we have in thy kingdom?”
imagining an earthly kingdom; which surely was a prognostication that
the ambition and pride of kirkmen should be the greatest enemies that
ever the Cross of Christ should have. And it is not possible for men,
when the pride of their heart and ambition are seeking their own
greatness, and wealth, and honour in the world, and how to make their
houses great after them, and how to make their children live in delight
and wealth—I say it is not possible they can esteem of the Cross of
Christ as they ought to do. Such churchmen as these, if Christ were in
the flesh again, would think they would be rather his masters than his
servants, because they aspire after dominion and dignity, and have
only a natural sort of theology, whereof I did speak before, but are
ignorant of Christianity. Therefore let us strive in all our troubles
to have the Lord on our right hand, as in the 5th verse of this psalm,
that he may guard us against troubles.
Now, this sitting at the right hand of God is a very high degree
of majestie, glory, and dominion, given unto Christ above all the
creatures, above all the angels, for they all acknowledge him to be
King and Lord. To adventure on describing what particulars this doth
contain were a forgetting myself, and those to whom I am speaking. Only
I must say, a pity it is and lamentable, that he being exalted after
so bitter sufferings and so great abasement, we should not ascribe to
him his own due, his majesty, and glory, and dominion, as we ought; and
that we cannot learn to entertain communion between him who is at the
right hand of God and our souls—for surely there is a communication
between him and every believing soul: a pity it is, I say, that it
should be so insensible to us, or we so senseless that we cannot
conceive or apprehend it. Oh, what a comfort it were to us to have the
beams of that sun of righteousness, with light and heat refreshing
our souls; and that we would acknowledge his dominion and government
in our hearts! This were very comfortable if we were not strangers to
this communion with Christ, but were sending up our desires to heaven,
and receiving answers from our Advocate. The men of this age are gone
so far on, that they think this authority and dominion of Christ is
exercised over the visible Church only in secret, and spiritually;
but for the government thereof in the external order, they imagine it
is committed unto men, especially to civil men, and their authority,
which seems to me to be not very far from blasphemy; for it is strange
that any man should imagine the Lord would have his own house without
order, that holds all the world in order, and exercises a particular
providence in ordering every creature and subjecting them to one
another; for there is a perfect government to be learned out of the
word of God, and you must not dispute what ye think the best form
whereby our Church should be ruled, or that any country may reduce the
government to another form. But it is the question, what government
Christ and his Apostles have set down? Neither is it to be questioned
whether it agrees with reason or not; but whether it agrees with the
pattern shewn in the Mount. And this right government that he hath
established, if we had eyes to see it, we would perceive it to be the
most orderly, and the most beautiful and amiable thing in the world,
that any lover of wisdom would be enamoured with it. And surely if
wisdom could be seen with bodily eyes, it would have many lovers; so
if this government that Christ has established in his Church were seen
with the eyes of the soul, it would have many to reverence it. But I
may not now insist to speak of the order and government of the Church
of God. 2. As the order is beautiful, so is it powerful to keep out
many corruptions. And surely it is not possible that Christ’s kingdom
can be ruled with another order than Christ has established in his
house. And surely heresy and false religion, and an enumeration of all
evils, will come into the house of God, if that be not ruled according
to his word. And, 3. As it is powerful, so it is profitable for
advancement of piety, religion, and righteousness. And I am sure these
that have not seen Assemblies before will understand how profitable
this Assembly is unto our Church, when every man is heard patiently
till he speak his mind; and then is a contribution of every gift in a
nation joining together and making up a composition of an Assembly. Let
it be judged by any man whether the Episcopal power be likest God’s
own order in his house; and I put no question but the Kirk of Scotland
will be found to be the Church of Christ, and the Antichristian Church
shall be found to acknowledge it. 4. As it is a beautiful, a powerful,
a profitable order; so it is very pliable also, or of such a nature
that it can well agree with Monarchical government, or any other sort
of government in a Commonwealth. Therefore it is but a false aspersion
cast upon this order and government of the house of God, to say that
it is an enemy to Monarchical government, while as there is none so
suitable thereto as it. Oh, say they, there is nothing but confusion in
Presbyteries, where there is an equality. To these we would say, are
not the Senators of the College of Justice all equal? and are not the
Privy-Counsellors equal? And shall we say, because they are equal, they
cannot consist with Monarchical government? Nay, Presbyteries, Synods,
Provincial and General Assemblies, may as well stand with Monarchy as
the College of Justice, the Council, or any other judgment-seat: yea,
in all these there is a parity, and yet it occasions no confusion.
They will say there are some few that rule all the rest, and that is
Episcopal tyranny, which, alas! is a great mistaking of the gifts of
God; for when God furnishes one with gifts above another, why should
not use be made of that gift for the good of the whole Church of God?