2. To this throne eternity is attributed. It is }) priy,_« for ever and ever.’ So is the throne of Christ said to be in oppo- sition unto the frail, mutable kingdoms of the earth: “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth and for ever,” Isa. ix. 7. “His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed,” Dan. vii. 14; Micah iv. 7; Ps. Ixxii. 7, 17, exlv. 13. It shall neither decay of itself, nor fall through the opposition of its enemies: for he must reign until all his enemies are made his foot- stool, 1 Cor. xv. 24-27. Nor is it any impeachment of the perpetuity of the kingdom of Christ, that at the last day he shall deliver it up to God the Father, 1 Cor. xv. 24, seeing that then shall be an end of all rule. It is enough that it continue until all the ends of rule be perfectly accomplished,—that is, until all the enemies of it be subdued, and all the church be saved, and the righteousness, grace, and patience of God be fully glorified; whereof afterwards.
8. The second “ insigne regium” is his “sceptre.” And this, though it sometimes also denotes the kingdom itself, Gen. xlix. 10, Num. xxiv. 17, Isa. xiv. 5, Zech. x. 11; yet here it denotes the actual administration of rule, as is evident from the adjunct of “uprightness” annexed unto it. And thus the sceptre denotes both the laws of the kingdom and the efficacy of the government itself. So that which we call a righteous government is here called a “sceptre of uprightness.”
Now, the means whereby Christ carrieth on his kingdom are his Word and Spirit, with a subserviency of power in the works of his providence, to make way for the progress of his word to avenge its contempt. So the gospel is called, “The rod of his strength,” Ps. ex. 2. See 2 Cor. x. 4-6. “He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked,” Isa. xi, 4. And these are attended with the “sword” of his power and providence, Ps. xlv. 8, Rev. xix. 15, or his “rod,” Ps. it. 9, or “sickle,” Rey. xiv. 18. In these things consists the sceptre of Christ’s kingdom.
184 AN EXPOSITION OF THE CHAP. I.
4, Concerning this sceptre it is affirmed that it is a “sceptre of uprightness.” Evdbrqs, or , denotes either the nature of the sceptre, that it is straight and right, or the wse of it, that it is lifted up or stretched out, as was showed in the opening of the words. In the first sense it denoteth righteousness, in the latter merey. Ac- cording to the first sense, the following words, “Thou hast loved righteousness,” discover the habitual root of his actual righteous administration ; according to the latter, there is a progress made in them to a further qualification of the rule of Christ, or of Christ in his rule. But the former sense is rather to be embraced; the latter metaphor being more strained, and founded only in one instance that I remember in the Scripture, and that not taken from among the people of God, but strangers and oppressors, Esther v. 2.
The sceptre, then, of the kingdom of Christ is a sceptre of “righte- ousness,” because all the laws of his gospel are righteous, holy, just, full of benignity and truth, Tit. ii 11, 12. And all his administra- tions of grace, mercy, justice, rewards, and punishments, according to the rules, promises, and threats of it, in the conversion, pardon, sanctification, trials, afflictions, chastisements, and preservation of his elect; in his convincing, hardening, and destruction of his ene- mies; are all righteous, holy, unblamable, and good, Isa. xi. 4, 5, xxxii. 1, Ps. exlv. 17, Rev. xv. 3, 4, xvi. 5; and as such will they be gloriously manifested at the last day, 2 Thess. i. 10, though im this present world they are reproached and despised.
5. The habitual frame of the heart of Christ in his regal ad- ministrations: “ He loveth righteousness and hateth iniquity.” This shows the absolute completeness of the righteousness of God’s king- dom, and of his righteousness in his kingdom. The laws of his rule are righteous, and his administrations are righteous; and they all proceed from a habitual love to righteousness and hatred of iniquity in his own person. Among the governments of this world, ofttimes the very laws are tyrannical, unjust, and oppressive; and if the laws are good and equal, yet ofttimes their administration is unjust, partial, and wicked; or when men do abstain from such ex- orbitancies, yet frequently they do so upon the account of some self- interest and advantage, like Jehu, and not out of a constant, equal, unchangeable love of righteousness and hatred of iniquity, But all these are absolutely complete in the kingdom of Jesus Christ: for whereas the expression, both in the Hebrew and the Greek, seems to regard the time past, “Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity,” yet the constant present frame of the heart of Christ in his rule is denoted thereby; for the Greek translation exactly fol- loweth and expresseth the Hebrew. Now, there being no form of verbs in that language expressing the present time, there is nothing