might be Lord both of the dead and living; and accordingly the angels in St. John's vision attribute his advancement to his regal dignity to the merit of his death and sacrifice, Rev. v. 12. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And hence his sitting at the right hand of God, which is the great scripture-metaphor by which his regal authority is expressed (of the sense and meaning of which vide Pearson's Exposition of the Creed, p. 277-279.) is mentioned as the fruit and consequence of his death and intercession. So Heb. i. 3. When he had by himself purged our sins, i. e. by dying for us on earth, and presenting his sacrifice in heaven, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high; and Heb. x. 12. But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God; and so also, 1 Pet. iii. 22. we are told, that it was upon his going into heaven, i. e. to present his sacrifice to his Father there, that he was advanced to the right hand of God, and that angels and authorities and powers were made subject to him. For his going into heaven was a priestly act, corresponding to the high priest's going into the holy of holies, to present his sacrifice to God there; so that Christ's first arrival into heaven, and presenting his sacrifice there, is the beginning and commencement of his intercession, in answer to which he first received of his Father the royal power and authority which he exercises both in heaven and earth; and it is by virtue of the continuance of that his priestly intercession, that this his royal power is continued and perpetuated to him. So that as he is a royal priest,

i. e. a priest invested with regal power to bestow the blessings he intercedes for, so he is a sacerdotal king, i. e. a king that holds his regal power in the right and virtue of his priestly intercession. For it is by the continuance of his intercession that he obtains the continuance of his royal authority to bestow those blessings on us which he intercedes for. So that as Christ intercedes in the virtue of his sacrifice, so he rules in the virtue of his intercession. And accordingly you find in scripture his ascension into heaven, there to intercede for us, represented as a triumphal progress to his coronation, wherein, after the manner of princes in that glorious solemnity, he scatters a royal largess among his subjects, Ephes. iv. 8. It is true, before his ascension, he tells his disciples, that all power was given him in heaven and earth, Matth. xxviii. 18. But this, it is evident, he spake by way of prolepsis or anticipation, a very usual scheme of speech in scripture, which is to express things of certain futurity, as if they were actually existing; according to which scheme, all power is given me, imports no more than all power is shortly to be given me, i. e. upon my ascension into heaven. For so it is evident our Saviour must be understood in that parallel expression, John v. 22. The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son; which words he spoke long before his death, when it is evident, that all judgment, i. e. universal, regal authority, was not actually committed to him, but there was only a certain futurity of it. For so he himself tells us, that his sitting down with his Father on his throne, or investiture with that regal authority which he now exercises, was the reward and consequence of his

overcoming, or consummate victory on the cross, Rev. iii. 21. By all which it is evident, that it was upon his ascension into heaven, and oblation of his sacrifice there, by way of intercession, that Christ was installed in his universal, mediatorial kingdom. It is true, our Saviour had a peculiar kingdom in this world, viz. the Jewish church, not only before his ascension, but before his incarnation, as I shall shew hereafter; but as for that right of dominion over the Gentile world too, by which he became universal Lord and King, he was not invested with it till his ascension into heaven. And therefore he himself tells us, that his mission into this world was purely to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Matth. xv. 24. and accordingly, in the pursuance of this his mission, when he sent forth his ministers to preach his gospel, he orders them not to go into the way of the Gentiles, nor to enter into the city of the Samaritans, but to go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Matth. x. 5, 6. which implies, that at that time he was not actually authorized to subdue and reduce the Gentiles under his dominion, but that his authority extended only to the Jewish nation: but when he had told his disciples, in that proleptical speech after his resurrection, that all power was given him in heaven and earth, it immediately follows, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, &c. as if he had said, Now my commission and authority is enlarged, and I am made universal Lord and King; go ye therefore in pursuance of it, and by your ministry endeavour to reduce all nations under my dominion. And hence it was that the mystery of the calling of the Gentiles into the kingdom of G g

VOL. II.

Christ was not revealed till after his ascension, (vide Acts xi. 18.) because it was upon his ascension that he received his universal, kingly authority over them, and till then it was to no purpose to reveal it. So that it was over the Gentile world peculiarly that he received power and dominion upon his ascension into heaven; he was King of the Jews long before, but upon his ascension he was invested with a right of dominion over the Gentiles too, and thereupon became the universal Lord and Monarch of the world under the most high God and Father of all things. But this I shall have occasion farther to explain hereafter.

In the prosecution of this great argument, I shall endeavour these six things:

First, To give an account of the beginning and progress of this kingdom of Christ.

Secondly, To explain the nature and constitution of it.

Thirdly, To shew who are the ministers of it under Christ.

Fourthly, To assign and explain the regal acts which Christ hath, and doth, and will hereafter exercise in it.

Fifthly, To give an account of the end and conclusion of it.

Sixthly and lastly, To shew the reason and wisdom of this method of God's governing sinful men by this his mediatorial king, Christ Jesus.

SECT. VIII.

Of the rise and progress of Christ's kingdom.

As for the first, viz. the beginning and progress of

Christ's kingdom, I shall endeavour to give an account of it in these following propositions:

First, That the kingdom of Christ is founded upon the new covenant.

Secondly, That the new covenant commenced immediately after the fall; and was afterwards particularly renewed to Abraham and his posterity.

Thirdly, That, upon its first commencement, Christ was the mediator of it, and so he continued all along in that particular renewal that was made of it to the people of Israel.

Fourthly, Therefore that, as mediator of this covenant, Christ was king of all that were admitted into it, and particularly of Abraham and his posterity, or the people of Israel, with whom it was renewed.

Fifthly, That after his coming into the world he still retained his title of King of Israel in particular, till they finally rejected him, and the covenant in which his kingdom is founded.

Sixthly, That though the main body of that nation rejected him, yet there was a remnant of it that received and acknowledged him as their rightful Lord and King.

Seventhly, That this remnant still continued the same individual kingdom of Christ with the former, though very much reformed and improved.

Eighthly, That to this individual kingdom of Christ, thus reformed and improved, were superadded all those Gentiles that were afterwards converted to Christianity.

First, That the kingdom of Christ is founded in the new covenant. For it is by the new covenant that he engages himself to us to be our gracious and merciful Lord, and that we engage ourselves to him