thigh, O Thou Most Mighty, according to Thy worship and renown. Thy arrows are very sharp, and the people shall be subdued unto Thee; even in the midst, among the King's enemies." And while conquest is spoken of, and sharp weapons, in order to conquest, it is also signified that these weapons are of a heavenly nature; "Ride on, because of the word of truth, of meekness, and righteousness." Again, "A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom; Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity." Parallel to this are the passages in the book of Revelation, where our Lord is represented as on a white horse, the emblem of holiness: "I saw, and behold a white horse; and He that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto Him; and He went forth conquering and to conquer"." Again: "I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations; and He shall rule them with a rod of iron *." war. These last words remind us of another celebrated Psalm, in which the conflict is described between Christ and the world, and the conquest of Christ predicted. "The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed. . . . Thou shalt bruise them with a rod of ... 1 Ps. xlv. 4. 6. 2 Heb. i. 8, 9. 4 Rev. xix. 11. 14, 15. iron, and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; be learned, ye that are judges of the earth. Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice unto Him with reverence'." Christ breaks whom He does not bend; the wisdom of kings of the earth to Christ. You see that and that it is bow down to In another Psalm: "They that dwell in the wilderness shall kneel before Him. His enemies shall lick the dust. . . . All kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall do Him service. For He shall deliver the poor when he crieth, the needy also, and him that hath no helper." You see that Christ persuades or destroys; and that kings of the earth must fall down before Him, or lick the dust. Again: "Let the saints be joyful with glory; let them rejoice in their beds. Let the praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hands; to be avenged of the heathen, and to rebuke the people; to bind their kings in chains, and their nobles with links of iron"." Such is the battle of the Saints, such the victory of the Christian army, though their weapons be not carnal. Once more: "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered: let them also that hate Him flee before Him. . . The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of Angels; and the Lord is among them, as in the holy place of Sinai. . . . God shall wound the head of His enemies, and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his wickedness. The Lord hath 1 Ps. ii. 2. 9-11. said, I will bring My people again, as I did from Basan; Mine own will I bring again, as I did sometime from the deep of the sea. When He hath scattered the people that delight in war, then shall the princes come out of Egypt; the Morian's land shall soon stretch out her hands unto God'." You see God promised to fight for His people, and His people were to make progress, and to spread while He fought as of old time. If we next take up the book of the Prophet Isaiah, we shall find promises made to the kingdom of Christ so many, and so high and awful, that there is neither time nor necessity to quote them at length. Thus in the text: "It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. . . . And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks. . . . The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." "In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people to it shall the Gentiles seek: and His rest shall be glorious"." Again, "The extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. And in mercy shall the throne be established, and He shall sit upon it in truth, in the tabernacle of : 1 Ps. lxviii. 1. 17. 21, 22. 30, 31. 3 Isa. xi. 10. Isa. ii. 2. 4. 11. David, judging and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness'. ... But, you will say, such passages in the Prophet speak rather of the victory of the faith than of the Church; and that the faith might spread, even though there were no Church. Let us, then, consider the following passages in addition, and see whether, taken all together, they admit of being thus explained. "Arise, shine," says the Prophet to the Church, "for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. . . . And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. . . . The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee. . . . The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet." Again, "Behold I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff." Again, "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. . . . No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn3." Again, ... 1 Isa. xvi. 4, 5. 2 Isa. lx. 1. 3. 10. 12. 14. 3 Isa. liv. 2, 3. 17. "Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the priests of the Lord, men shall call you the ministers of our God; for ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves." And again, "Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet '.' What is wanting in such passages to the picture of a great empire, comprising all that a great empire ordinarily exhibits? Extended dominion, and that not only over its immediate subjects, but over the kings of other kingdoms; aggression and advance; a warfare against enemies; acts of judgment upon the proud; acts of triumph over the defeated; high imperial majesty towards the suppliant; clemency towards the repentant; parental care of the dutiful. Again, these passages imply, in the subjects of the kingdom, a multitude of various conditions and dispositions; some of them loyal, some restrained by fear, some by interest, some partly subjected, some indirectly influenced. They involve, in consequence, though they do not mention, a complex organization, and a combination of movements, and a variety and opposition of interests, and other similar results of extended sway. Of course, too, they involve vicissitudes of fortune, and all those other characteristics of the history of a temporal power which ever will attend it, while men are men, whether, as in the case of the Jews, they are under a supernatural Providence or no. 1 Isa. xlix. 23. |