fulfil them. But in order more fully to prefigure and illustrate the character and kingdom of the promised Messiah, and also to enlarge the views and confirm the faith of his existing people, God established a covenant with David, which is commonly called a covenant of royalty, 2 Sam. vii. 11–16; 1 Chron. xvii. 10-14. As the kingdom of Israel was an introduction to the kingdom of Christ; so the promises made to David, though in their immediate and literal sense, they respected the nation over which he was placed, and Solomon with his successors on the throne; yet in their ultimate and spiritual sense, they respected Christ and his heavenly kingdom. They are often referred to in the Psalms, and in the Prophets. The angel in foretelling his birth, distinctly refers to the covenant in question, by declaring, that he should inherit "the throne of his father David,” Luke i. 31–33.

Solomon, therefore, as a figure of Christ, placed on the throne of Jehovah over Israel, is represented as reigning there in the character of a son, and therefore, an heir of God. The promise to David, that the Lord would set up his seed after him, and would establish and perpetuate his kingdom, was of course a promise, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit

upon his throne, as was expressly declared by the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost, Acts ii. 30, 31. And the promise concerning his seed, “I will be his Father, and he shall be my Son;" is applied in the Epistle to the Hebrews to the resurrec

tion of Christ from the dead, and to his exaltation to the kingdom and the inheritance, of which, the kingdom and the inheritance of David were but faint emblems, Heb. i. 5. It was this view of the promise, which supported the mind of David himself in his dying moments. It delighted his heart to say, that the just one should rule over men, that he should rule in the fear of God, and that he should be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; and as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain; and with deep feeling, he said, "Although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure; for this is all my salvation, and all my desire," 2 Sam. xxiii. 3-5. Such were the last words of this eminent King of Israel. They unfold the ground of his hope and the cause of his joy, when about to shut his eyes on all that is below, and to enter the world of spirits. So far as the covenant respected the descent of the Messiah from his loins, the promise was peculiar to him; but as it regarded the bestowment of the blessings of mercy, it is common to all believers; and the latter view of it, was that which was the great spring of consolation to the departing spirit of the "sweet singer of Israel." This was the word on which Jehovah had "caused him to hope." It embraced all that was required for his salvation from guilt, and sin, and all their effects; and it comprehended all that he desired; for in the establishment of the kingdom of Messiah, and in

the enjoyment of its hallowed and manifold blessings, he rested with full satisfaction. There is a certain order visible in the developement of the plan of mercy. We have seen that when Abraham was called, and the promise was made that the Saviour should spring from him, there was a clearer view given of the gracious purposes of Heaven. And when his family assumed a new form in the division of the sons of Jacob as the heads of tribes, the tribe of Judah was distinguished in prophecy from the others, because Christ was to come of that tribe. And when for the same reason the family of David was singled out, a clearer view was given of the reign of the Messiah.

The reference which the promise had to Christ, is the reason why he is so often promised to the church under the name of David, Jer. xxx. 9; Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24, and chap. xxxvii. 24, 25; Hosea iii. 5. The throne of David was not perpetuated in his earthly house; so far from this, his family gradually declined, and at last was entirely deprived of the government; and when the Christ was born, his mother was poor in Israel, and he appeared as a small twig from the stock of a tree which has been cut down, Isaiah liii. 2. The kingdom of David was then fallen; but the kingdom of the Messiah was promised under the idea of raising up the tabernacle of David that was fallen, and repairing its ruins, Amos ix. 11, compared with Acts xv. 16, 17. And the angel said, when foretelling his birth: "The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David," Luke i. 32.

It is evident, then, that the covenant with David

consisted of free promises, and is thus illustrative of the great covenant of God. In so far as it respected the continuance of his family on the throne of Israel, the promise was connected with their obedience; and hence, they were at last deprived of the dominion, Psalm lxxxix. 30-32. Just as the enjoyment of the temporal benefits of Canaan by Israel, considered as a nation, was suspended on obedience to the law of their Lord. For the sake of his promise to David, however, God bore long with his family, instead of depriving them immediately of the throne on their transgressing his law, and for the sake of that promise, many signal mercies were conferred upon Judah, 1 Kings xi. 12-13, 32-34 and xv. 1-5; 2 Kings viii. 18, 19. Even after the captivity, Judah had a government of its own; and though its form was changed, the supreme rule continued in the family of David till a short time before the advent of the Saviour. But still, this long-suffering towards his family and this kindness towards Judah, flowed from regard to the Messiah, who was to descend from them. It was not for their sakes that he thus favoured them; but for the sake of Christ, and because of the mercy which he had in store for the world through Him. And as he promised that he would not destroy Judah for David's sake, though many individuals would be punished according to their ways; so he has promised that for the sake of the Redeemer, his church shall be preserved though many who call themselves of her shall be dealt with as their works deserve. Jehovah remembers all the afflictions of the Son and

the Lord of David, and therefore he bears with his people, and will ultimately call them to himself.

The kingdom of David, then, was a figure of the kingdom of Christ; and hence the peace and prosperity of the latter are often described by images borrowed from the reign of Solomon, when the former was in all its glory, Jer. xxiii. 5, 6; Micah iv. 3, 4, with 1 Kings iv. 25; Psalm lxxii. 7—11. And his ruling without as well as within the church, was typified by the government of David and of Solomon over the surrounding countries. The Philistines and the Moabites, and the Syrians and all they of Edom were subjected to David, 2 Sam. viii. 1, 2, 6, 14; and Solomon reigned over all the kings, from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the borders of Egypt, 2 Chron. ix. 26.

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The prophets often project, as it were, a proximate event upon one more remote; and that not merely for the sake of heightening the effect of the picture, but in many cases to afford by the accomplishment of the earlier and less important event predicted, an assurance of the acomplishment of the later and more momentous. We have an instance of this in our Lord's discourse concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the last judgment, both of which events are mingled up in the same predictions; and the former of which, in its speedy occurrence, furnished a solemn assurance of the ultimate occurrence of the latter. As respects the alleged mingling of things sacred with this prophecy,* it is

* 2 Sam. vii. 11-16.