(1.) It is not the privilege of every subject, no, nor of one amono* many thousands, to see the king who is crowned over them, to hear his voice, or give their explicit consent in his presence; but every sub- ject in Christ's kingdom doth see Christ by the eye of faith. John vi. 40. " He that seeth the Son, and believeth on him." Seeing, and believing, are terms convertible ; they do all hear his voice, and give their explicit consent to take him for their King. Union with Christ is not a work to be done by a proxy, or representative ; but is the result of a solemn debate betwixt Christ and the soul.
(2.) Kings are crowned over many that love them not, but are filled with prejudice against their persons and government.
But it cannot be so in the kingdom of Christ; To them that believe he is precious^ 1 Pet. ii. 7. All Christ's subjects love him above father or mother, wife or children, yea, above their own lives ; otherwise they cannot be his subjects, Luke xiv. 27. They also delight in his government, and nothing would be more pleasant to their souls, than to find every thought of their heart brought into subjection to him, 9, Cor. X. 4, 5. They dare not confederate with his enemies, and will chuse rather to die, than forsalce him : They will esteem it a glorious thing, though their right arm should be severed from their shoulder-blade, for their regular endeavours to defend and support the crown upon the head of their royal jMaster.
(3.) The relation betwixt a king and his subjects, may, and must be dissolved by death : death fears not to arrest the most potent mo- aarch upon his throne, and translate his crown to another head.
554! A CORONATIOX-SERMON, PREACHED AT DARTMOUTH.
But our King, Christ, lives for ever ; death hath no dominion over him : his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion that which shall have no end, Dan. vii. 13, 14. Death is so far from se- parating Christ, and his subjects, that it brings them nearer together tlian ever they -were before ; it brings them into his immediate pre- sence, to his facial vision, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. and fixes them there for ever, 1 Thess. iv. 17.
(4.) Kings may degenerate into tyrants, and subjects into rebels; they may undermine the laws, liberties, and religion of their people : they that rule over the people, may make them to howl, Isa. lii. 5. The world is too full of such instances and examples ; but Christ can. never oppress his subjects, " The sceptre of his kingdom is a right sceptre,"' Psal. xlv. 6. " His yoke is easy, and his burden is light,"' Matth. xi. 29. And his true subjects can never shake off their alle- giance to him ; they shall rather die, than do it.
(5.) Kings will not permit their greatest favourites to sit in their thrones ; it is their peculiar honour, and not communicable to any. Gen. xii. 40. " Only in the throne, I will be greater than thou,'' said Pharaoh to his Joseph.
But Christ permits, and appoints all his subjects to sit with him upon his throne. Rev. iii. 21. The glory which God gave him, he hath given to them, John xvii. 22. What king is like Christ ?
(6.) To conclude : the joy and triumph at the king's coronation, is only among men, in this lower world ; but the joy and triumph at Christ's coronation, is among angels in heaven, Luke xv. 7. The city of God holds a solemn triumph at the conversion of a particular sinner ; what are the shouts of men, to the jubilations of angels ?
Thus you have six particulars wherein they agree, and as many in which they differ.
"We come, in the next place to enquire into,
Sdli/, The reasons why Christ's coronation over believers, is the day of the gladness of his heart. And it must be so,
(1.) Because it is Christ's marriage-day, at least the day of his es^ pousals ; and the day of marriage, or espousals, is a day of joy and gladness. Christ hath now a new spouse, a soul, in which he never dwelt before ; and as a hi^klegroom rejoicetli over the hi'kle, so doth Christ over believers, Isa. Ixii. 5. Here is a new relation entered, and that with the King of kings ; the angels of God rejoice exceedingly in it, but much more Christ, the blessed Bridegroom.
(2.) It is Christ's day of conquest and victory over Satan, the day in which he hath deposed him from his throne, jMatth. xii. 29. delivered a soul, of invaluable v/orth in his eyes, out of the power of darkness, and translated it into his own kingdom. Col. 1.13. and the day of conquest is a day of extraordinary joy and triumph, Isa. ix. 3.
(3.) It is the day in which he receives the fruit and reward of his bloodj^ travels, and bitter agonies : there is now a son, or daughter,
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born to God, an lieir born to the heavenly inheritance. Now it is most pleasant and joyful to Jesus Christ, to see of tHe travail of his soul, Isa. liii. 11. no satisfaction in this world comparable to it. When a young heir is born to the kingdom and crown of heaven, it deserves a triumph.
(4.) It is the day in which Christ finds a soul that was lost, Luke XV. 5, 6. What joy was it to the father of the prodigal, when he had found his lost son ? Luke xv. 20. there was mirth and music, feasting and rejoicing: " This my son was lost, and is found ; was dead, and is alive."
Poor sinners are lost creatures by nature, they have lost their God, and therein themselves too. God hath lost, and the devil found, every unregenerate sinner : all strayers from God fall to his share. But this loss is not irrecoverable ; the errand and end for which Christ came into the world, was to seek and to save that ■which was lost, Matth. xviii. 11. and when the sinner that was lost comes home to him by repentance and faith, he obtains the end of his incarnation, life, and death, upon that soul ; which cannot but be the day of the gladness of his heart.
If then the day of a king's espousals, or marriage, be a day of joy, and gladness to his soul ; if a day of conquest, and dividing the spoils, be a day of joy to the conqueror, after a sharp and bloody fight ; if it be a joy to a mother, after long and sore travail, to era- brace in her arms, and kiss the child, for whom she endured so many- bitter throws ; if it be a joy to a father to find and recover a child that was lost, and as dead to him : In a word, if it be high delight and satisfaction to see a great design, on which the heart is intently set, brought at last, by orderly conduct, to the desired happy issue ; then let us allow the day of a sinner's coming into Christ by conver- sion, to be as a coronation-day to a king, the day of his espousals, and the gladness of his heart.
Use I. This point, like a fruitful root, sends forth manj^ branches, and all loaden vvdth diversity of fruits. The first is for information, in several inferences from it.