him to believe." Have you any measure of holiness ? this also has come from Him, " who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." Yet we must not suppose that no guilt attaches to us for the want of these graces: we are bound to repent, and believe the Gospel, and to obey the commands of God ; and shall be justly doomed to punishment, if we abide in impenitence or unbelief. Yet, for all these graces, so far as we possess them, we must confess our obliga- tion to the Lord Jesus Christ, who, in the distribution of them, acts according to his own sovereign will : so that we have no ground for glorying, if we possess a larger measure ; nor for repining, if we possess a less. We may " covet earnestly, indeed, the best gifts;" but, whatever be the measure of them which has been conferred upon us, we must be thankful for them, and improve them diligently, for the benefit of man, and the honour of our God.]
Whilst we acknowledge our obligations to Christ, it will be proper to inquire,
II. Whence it is that he is empowered to confer them —
Respecting this we are informed by David, who prophesied concerning our blessed Lord, and foretold that he should be invested with the power which is here ascribed to him.
Let us first understand the prophecy itself —
[The psalm, from whence it is taken, was written by David, on occasion of his carrying up the ark to Mount Zk>n. David, having subdued all his enemies, desired to honour God by bringing up the ark from Kirjath-jearim to Mount Zion, and placing it in the tabernacle there, as its permanent abode. In celebrating this event, he goes back to the days of Moses, when all the hosts of Egypt were destroyed in the Red Sea ; and the Hebrews, enriched with the spoils of Egypt, formed with them a tabernacle for the service of their God. In both events, the triumphs of Israel's God were seen, and the work of their Messiah was prefigured : " Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive : thou hast received gifts for men ; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them d."]
Nov/ let us see the application of it to the Lord Jesus —
d Ps. lxviii. 18.