(2c?.) External, in the course of his providence. Christ hath set up a government wherein he will favour and protect those that walk up- rightly : Ps. xi. 7, ' For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness ; his countenance doth behold the upright.' But with the disobedient ' God is angry every day,' Ps. vii. 11. Only it is the day of God's patience.^ God is preparing himself. Well, then, we must neither rebel against his government nor distrust his defence ; for Christ administereth justice in his kingdom, defending the good, and destroying the wicked, and he will in time earnestly espouse the cause of all holiness and righteousness.
Secondly, 1 come now to the unction of Christ, which is the conse- quent fruit of the former : ' God, even thy God, hath anointed thee
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Tvith the oil of gladness above thy fellows.' There you may observe — (1.) The author of this unction, ' God, even thy Grod ; ' (2.) The privilege itself, to be 'anointed with the oil of gladness ;' (3.) The partakers of this privilege, or the persons to whom it is applied. One principal and singular, who hath the pre-eminence, and that is the Mediator ; others inferior, and in a lower degree of participation, called here ' his fellows.' Let us a little explain these things.
1, The author of this unction, ' God, even thy God.' Is this spoken to him as God or man ? It may be true in both senses. As to his divine nature he is God of God, or, as it is in John i. 1, ' The Word was with God, and the Word was God.' As to his human nature, he is a creature made of a woman, and so God is his God, as he is the God of all flesh. But especially is this spoken of him as Mediator, so Christ is one of God's confederates. There is a covenant between God and him: John xx. 17, * I go to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' The sum of the covenant was, that after he had suffered here upon earth, and satisfied God's justice by being made a curse for us, he was at length to be raised out of the grave, and exalted to his regal power in heaven. All that belongeth to a covenant is found in this transaction between God and Christ.
[1.] God propouudeth the terms, or demandeth of his Son that he lay down his life ; and for his labour he promiseth that he shall see his seed, that God shall give him many children : Isa. liii. 10, ' He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands.'
[2.] The Sou consenteth, and saith, ' A body hast thou prepared for me ; Lo, I come to do thy will,' Ps. xl. 6, 7 ; ' Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire ; mine ears hast thou opened : burnt-offering and sin-oflering thou hast not required. Then said I, Lo, I come ; in the volume of the book it is written of me.' Here the eternal Son of God doth agree and contract with his Father to perform that perfect obed- ience to his laws, and to offer up himself such a divine and spotless sacrifice for the sins of the whole world as was necessary for the expia- tion of sin.
[3.] Christ hath not only consented, but doth with all joy and delight set about this whole will and counsel of God, and go through with the work and office assigned unto him very cheerfully and heartily, till he liad brought it to a good end and issue : Ps. xl. 8, ' I delight to do thy will, 0 my God ; yea, thy law is in my heart.'
[4.] After this ready and willing obedience he is to plead the cove- nant : Ps. Ixxxix. 26, ' He shall cry unto me, Thoii art my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation ; ' Ps. ii. 8, ' Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.' Upon this there is —
[5.] God's answer, ' God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows ; ' and Ps. ex. 1, ' The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot- stool.' Thus doth the scripture lisp to us in our own dialect, or in such language as we can best understand, concerning that bill of contract or transacted bargain between God and Christ from all eternity, wherein Christ, undertaking perfectly to fulfil the will of God, and to perform
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nil active and passive obedience even unto death, had the promise from God that he should become the author of eternal salvation to all that obey him. The redemption of sinners is not a work of yesterday, nor a business of chance, but well advised, and in infinite wisdom contrived. There was a preparatory agreement to that great work before it was gone about, and therefore it should not be slighted by us, nor lightly passed over.