For

• He trufted in the Lord God of Ifrael, fo that af⚫ter him was none like him among all the kings * of Judah, nor any that were before him. 'he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments which the Lord commanded Mofes. And the Lord 'was with him, and he profpered *,' &c. He was a king that reigned in righteousness during the whole time he fat upon the throne of Judah, efpecially after the remarkable period wherein he was miraculously delivered from the threatening power of Affyria, and had a wonderful recovery from a mortal disease which brought him to the gates of death. By these memorable events, God was pleafed to honour him in the fight of all nations, and to bring him under peculiar obligations to the mild and righteous adminiftration of his regal power. Placed by divine Providence over a great nation, in his official character, this prediction received a partial accomplishment, whilft, in his public capacity, he exhibited an inftructive type of a more glorious monarch, who prefides over a more extenfive and powerful kingdom. You eafily perceive that Jefus, Christ the righteous, the promised Meffiah, is the great perfonage in whom this prophecy had its full accomplishment.-If the literal fenfe above mentioned is admitted, I do not fee why the fpiritual interpretation fhould be rejected. Our Prophet, who had fpoken of the Meffiah as a high priest and divine inftructor, here prefents him to view as the king who is feated on the holy hill of Zion, of whom he faw in good king Hezekiah, an eminent figure and reprefentation. Jefus Chrift is the King of kings, and Lord of lords; the Prince of the kings of the earth; the glorious, omnipotent, gracious, univerfal Monarch, whofe kingdom is not of this world. It is fpiritual, heavenly, unlimited, and eternal. is an adminiftration of mercy and righteoufnefs; it is the empire of grace and love; it is a difpenfation of wisdom and order, which extends its inVOL. III. fluence

D

2 Kings xviii. 5, 6, 7.

It

fluence to the whole universe, and which fhall exift through immortal ages. Under this Almighty Sovereign, kings reign and princes decree juftice: He exerciseth fupreme dominion in heaven and earth'; he rules in the midst of his enemies; he controuls every adverse power, and reigns over his innumerable happy fubjects in righteousness. He is emphatically denominated the Juit One, Jefus Christ the Righteous. He loveth righteoufnefs, and hateth iniquity; therefore God anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows; the fceptre of his kingdom is a fceptre of righteoufnefs. His laws and judgments are true and righteous altogether; he fpeaks, he doth judge, and make war in righteousness. He communicates abundance of the gift of righteousness unto all his people, making his grace to reign through righteoufnefs unto eternal life; and at the final judgment he will render to every one according to his works.-Who is there among you that defireth to enjoy the most agreeable tranquillity, and perfect fecurity from evil? let him refort to the banner of this bleffed potentate, and place himself under his protection. In him he fhall find peace and ferenity of mind, and know by experience, that the name of the Lord is a ftrong tower, to which the righteous run and are safe.

And princes fhall rule in judgment. The nobles and chief officers of ftate, who held the highest places of truft and authority under the king, were to adminifter the government committed to them, with an unbiaffed respect to equity and judgment. They were to exercise their several functions, not with rigour and feverity, but with mildness and mercy, according to the dictates of well-informed confciences, and the unerring ftandard of truth and juftice. Poffefling accurate knowledge of the duties belonging to their high ftation, maintaining ftrict regard to the laws of righteoufnefs, and firmly attached to the interefts of thofe over whom they prefided, they would endeavour to difcover the true ftate of the

matters

matters brought before them for decifion; that they might punish evil doers, and redress the grievances of those who had been injured. Acting in this manner with integrity and probity, they would acquire great refpectability among the people; they would become useful ornaments to the state, and prove acceptable to the Lord, who loveth them that follow after righteousness.-Such, in fome measure, were the princes appointed by good king Hezekiah, to occupy the places of power and emolument in his dominions. Thefe illuftrious men, imitating the pious example of their fovereign, like that eminent man of God, followed after righteoufnefs, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. With him they concurred in acts of devotion, and in the great work of reformation; with him they bleffed the Lord and his people Ifrael, and in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord *.-The prediction which was thus literally verified, hath a more full completion in thofe who are raised from the duft by the King of kings, that he may set them with the princes of his peopic, who are elevated to diftinguifhed dignity, poffeffed of a noble spirit, and conftituted a royal priefthood, that they may minilter unto the Lord of the whole earth. Such are true Chriftians in general, especially paftors according to God's own heart, and minifters of the gospel, who are advanced by their Lord to honourable ftations in the church. Faithful men of this defcription, who are made princes in all the earth, as here foretold, rule with judgment and difcretion, according to the will of God, their own fpirits and tongues; they govern their conduct, and manage the affairs committed to their truft, fo that God in all things may be glorified through Jefus Chrift.

2 And a man fhall be as an hiding place

See 2 Chron. xxx. 12. and xxxi. 8.

from

from the wind, and a covert from the tempeft; as rivers of water in a dry place; as the fhadow of a great rock in a weary land.

The peculiar excellence and benign influence of the august perfonage mentioned in the preceding verses, is in these words emphatically defcribed by feveral beautiful allufions. In this prefent world, the people of God are expofed to various evils, fome of which affault their perfons, others diftrefs their minds. Againft both these the Lord their God is graciously pleased to affure them of defence. Like the children of Ifrael, fome of them are affailed literally by the ftormy wind and the tempeft; others are afflicted with drought and confequent fcarcity; whilft a third clafs are troubled with fatigue and laffitude, under the preffure of accumulated diftreffes. Now when individuals or focieties are thus oppreffed by diverse calamities, the Lord according to this promise, raises up a renowned prince, or fome perfon of confiderable eminence; to rescue from impending ruin, the oppreffed and the perplexed among his people; to cover them from the rude blasts that threaten to injure them, as the house protects from the form the inhabitants who fit under its roof; to impart to them agreeable refreshment, as the waters of the flowing brook quenches the thirft of the forlorn traveller, and to preserve them from the fcorching heat that threatened to confume, as effectually as the rocks and banks of fand prevent the land from being inundated by the boisterous waves of the fea. Thus God in the courfe of his provi dence, manifefts his tender mercy toward his people, in conveying from the fulness of his all-fufficiency seasonable relief, perfectly adapted to their various neceffities.-In Hezekiah, the pious, prudent, illuftrious king of Judah, the predictions under confideration were literally fulfilled. In that eminent man, the fervants of God who had been haraffed and vexed under the former reign, found a hiding place, a covert,

covert, and a fhadow, from those commotions, oppreffions, perfecutions, and vexations, which they had experienced. By means of his truft in God, his fervent prayers, and his wife conduct; he proved like a place of fecurity, when the storm of the Affyrian power beat upon them with confiderable fury. The abundance of falutary inftructions which he caused to be administered to his fubjects, and the large meafures of facred confolations which he was folicitous they should enjoy, who had formerly been reduced to great ftraits, were refreshing as rivers of water in a dry place. In fubfequent periods, the church, when diftreffed by threatening calamities, hath remarkably experienced the accomplishment of this prophecy. Such feems to be the literal import and primary accomplishment of the prediction, which there is reafon to believe, purposely inclofes another, a spiritual, and ftill more important fenfe. This I proceed to inveftigate, and to fhew how it ultimately obtains its object and end.

While our Prophet was immediately employed in foretelling the occurrences of the Jewish nation, it is probable, the Holy Spirit, by whom he was inspired, did enlarge his views, and bear out his expreffions beyond these objects, to the person and difpenfation of Jefus Chrift. Indeed the predictions before us are fo conftructed, as perfectly to fuit the difpenfation of grace they were given to atteft, and fully to juftify the application of them to the Redeemer of mankind, and Prince of Peace. To him they seem chiefly to refer, and in this view fignificantly reprefent the fpiritual benefits which he imparts to the minds of his faithful fubjects. He is the man whose name is the Branch; who, concerning the flesh, descended from the fathers, was born of a woman, took part of human nature, and appeared in the likeness of finful flesh. Of this man Chrift Jefus it is affirmed, that he fhall be a hiding place, &c. The wind of temptation fometimes blows with great violence, overturns hypocritical profeffors,