Verfe 7.

SERM, them that afflicted thee fhall come bending unto thee, and all XII. they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the foles of thy feet; and they shall call thee The City of the Lord, The Sion of the Holy One of Ifrael. Whereas thou haft been forfaken and hated, fo that no man went through thee; I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. Thou shalt also fuck the milk of the Gentiles, and fhalt fuck the breasts of kings, &c. And the Prophet Mic. iv. 1. Micah, fpeaking of the last days, (that is, of the evangelical times, when the mountain of the houfe of the Lord Should be established in the top of the mountains,) faith thus: And I will make her that halted, a remnant; and her that was caft far off, a strong nation: and the Lord fhall reign over them in mount Sion from henceforth even for ever. And the Prophet Joel, speaking of the fame times, (when God would pour out his spirit upon all flesh,) hath these words: So fhall ye know, that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Sion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerufalem be holy, and there fhall no ftrangers pass through her any more. All which places no man can reasonably doubt, and all Chriftians do firmly confent to respect the Christian Church. To which we may add that paffage of the author to the Hebrews, (ch. xii. ver. 22.) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerufalem; that is, to the Chriftian Church.

Joel ii. 28.

iii. 16.

4. The manner of this covenant's delivery, and confirmation by the Divine oath, argues the inconditionate, irreverfible, and perpetual constitution thereof: for to God's most abfolute and immutable decrees this most august and folemn confirmation doth peculiarly agree. So the Heb. vi. 17. Apostle to the Hebrews feems to intimate: Wherein, faith he, God, willing more abundantly to demonstrate the immutability of his counfel, (ἐπιδεῖξαι τὸ ἀμετάθετον τῆς βουλῆς,) interpofed an oath.

We may therefore, I fuppofe, upon these grounds,. folidly and fafely conclude, that this promise doth principally belong, and shall therefore infallibly be made good, to the Christian priesthood; to those who, in the Christian Church, by offering fpiritual facrifices of praife and

thanksgiving, by directing and inftructing the people in SERM, the knowledge of the evangelical law, by imploring for XII. and pronouncing upon them the divine benedictions, do bear analogy with, and fupply the room of, the Jewish priesthood.

From which difcourfe we may, by the way, deduce this corollary: That the title of priest, although it did (as most certainly it doth not) properly and primarily fignify a Jewish facrificer, (or flaughterer of beafts,) doth yet nowife deserve that reproach, which is by fome, inconfiderately, (not to say profanely,) upon that mistaken ground, commonly caft upon it; fince the Holy Scripture itself, we fee, doth here, even in that fenfe (moft obnoxious to exception) afcribe it to the Chriftian pastors. And fo likewise doth the Prophet Isaiah; And I will also take of Ifa.lxvi.21. them for priests and for Levites, faith the Lord: fpeaking (as the context plainly declares) of the Gentiles, which fhould be converted and aggregated to God's Church. And the Prophet Jeremiah: Neither shall the priests the Jer. xxxiii. Levites want a man before me to offer burnt-offerings, and 18. to do facrifice continually. Which prophecy also evidently concerns the fame time and state of things, of which the Prophet Malachi thus foretels: For, from the Mal. i. 11. rifing of the fun to the going down of the fame, my name fhall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incenfe fhall be offered to my name, and a pure offering. It were defirable, therefore, that men would better confider, before they entertain fuch groundless offences, or pass so uncharitable cenfures upon either words, or persons, or things. But I proceed to the

III. Particular, which is the matter of the promise, clothing with falvation. Where we may observe,

First, That the ufual metaphor of being clothed doth in the facred dialect denote a complete endowment with, a plentiful enjoyment of, or an entire application to, that thing, or quality, with which a perfon is faid to be clothed. So is God himself faid to be clothed with ma-Pf. xciii. 1. jefty and ftrength. And David prays, that they might be Pf.xxxv.26. clothed with fhame and dishonour, that did magnify them- cix. 29.

YOL. I.

XII.

SERM. felves against him. And in Ezekiel, the princes of the ifles, being amazed by the ruin of Tyre, are faid to clothe Ezek. xxvi. themselves with trembling. And that bitter adversary of David (in Pfalm cix. 18.) did clothe himself with curfing, as Job xxix. with a garment. And Job avoucheth of himself, I put on

16.

14.

righteousness, and it clothed me; my judgment was a robe 1 Pet. v. 5. and a diadem. And St. Peter advises us to put on, or to

be clothed with, humility. Finally, Ifaiah introduces our Ifa. Ixi. 10. Saviour speaking thus: I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,

my foul ball be joyful in my God: for he hath clothed me with the garments of falvation, he hath covered me with the Ifa. lix. 17. robe of righteousness; as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. So that, (as by these inftances we may difcern,) to be clothed with falvation, is to be perfectly endowed therewith; to be invested with it as with a garment, which wholly incloseth and covereth the body, fo that no part is left unguarded and unadorned thereby.

Secondly, But now what is that falvation with which the priests of Sion fhall be thus clothed? I anfwer: Salvation, when it is put abfolutely, and not conjoined with any particular object, (or term from which,) doth in the Hebrew language properly fignify a deliverance from, or remotion of, all forts of inconvenience; and, confequently, an affluence of all good things; and, in effect, the fame which other languages call felicity and profperity, or defign by terms equivalent to those: the Hebrews having hardly any other word so properly correspondent to those, Deus. Zorng as this word, falvation. Whence that title of Saviour, and fæpe Platothe God of falvation, so often attributed to Almighty God, imports as much as, the Dispenser of all good gifts; the great Benefactor, Affifter, and Protector of men and to fave is promifcuously ufed for, to relieve the needy, to comfort the forrowful; to restore the fick to his health, the prifoner to his liberty, the captive to his country; to defend the weak from injury, and the humble from contempt; to deliver the distressed from imminent danger, the innocent from unjust condemnation, the flandered from undeserved reproach: in a word, all the effects of God's

ni.

goodness and power, the whole work of the Divine provi- SERM. dence and beneficence, are hereby expressed.

We will recite one or two of thofe many places which confirm this notion. Pfalm lxxxv. 9. Surely his falvation is nigh them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. His falvation is nigh; that is, his loving care attends upon them, to affift and preserve them; which in Pfalm cxlv. ver. 19. is thus otherwife expreffed: He will fulfil the defire of them that fear him; he will hear their cry, and will fave them. And again, Pfalm cxlix. 4. The Lord taketh pleasure in his people; he will beautify the meek with falvation: that is, he will, by his good providence, difpofe them into a convenient and decent condition of life. And again, Pfalm cxliv. 10. It is he that giveth falvation unto kings; that is, by whofe gracious disposal they prosper, and are preserved in dignity, plenty, and fafety.

I will not, by citation of places, labour to confirm fo obvious a notion: it may fuffice for that purpose, that the supreme accomplishment of all happiness, the enjoyment of perfect blifs in heaven, is, in agreement with this Jewish acception of the word, most commonly styled falvation. But I must add, that, whereas falvation may relate either to the outward estate of a man's body, life, and fortunes, or to the internal difpofitions of the mind; to our prefent condition in this world, or to our future and eternal estate it doth feem here (I fay not, to exclude the latter altogether, yet) more directly and principally to refpect the former, viz. that external and temporal welfare, which is confpicuous and vifible in this world. My reason is, because the other parts of this prophetical promise do, in their most natural acception, fignify that outward profperity wherewith God would vouchfafe to blefs his Church: that abundant benediction of her store, that fatisfying her poor with bread, that joyful exultation of her faints, that clothing her enemies with shame, being expreffions properly denoting a state of external good weal and comfort; and, in confonance to them, require that we thus likewise understand this phrase; the priests being alfø

XII,

SERM. questionless defigned to partake in this glorious felicity of XII. the Church. Which is also confirmed by other prophecies of the same tenor and intention: as particularly that in Jer. xxxi. concerning the recollection of Ifrael, and Verse 14. redemption of the spiritual Sion, it is faid, I will fatiate the foul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be Satisfied with my goodness, &c.

Now, although we may adventure fafely to interpret the declarations of the Divine favour according to the most comprehenfive fenfe of which the words are capable, where they are conceived: (it being the manner of the immenfely-good God, to exceed, rather than to be deficient, in the performance of his word; and to surpass the expectations he hath raised in us, than anywife to disappoint them :) yet, however, the least we can imagine here promised to the priests of Sion, will comprehend these three things.

1. A free and fafe condition of life: that they be not exposed to continual dangers of ruin; of miserable sufferance, or remediless injury: that the benefits of peace, and law, and public protection shall particularly appertain to them; fo that their adverfaries (if any they happen to have) shall not be incited, by hope of reward or impunity, to hurt their persons, rifle their goods, disturb their quiet ; but that they shall enjoy good degrees of fecurity, liberty, and tranquillity in this world.

2. A provision of competent fubfiftence for them: that their condition of life be not wholly neceffitous, or very penurious, deftitute of convenient accommodations, or depending altogether for them upon the arbitrary benevolences of men, which is, at beft, but a more plaufible kind of beggary; but that they fhall be furnished with such reasonable supplies, as are requifite to encourage them in the cheerful performance of their duty.

3. A suitable degree of respect, and so high a station among men, as may commend them to general esteem, and vindicate them from contempt: that they be not reputed among the dregs and refuse of the people; that their perfons be not base and despicable, their names made