Part 3
* He gave them as
the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow ; he pursued them, and passed safely, &c. Did God do thus then for one or two of his saints, and will he not go on ? What saith the 4th verse ? * Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning, and so having or
dained all the generations of Abraham to do the like exploits in their several
ages. I the Lord am the first, and with the last, I am he. I began to do this with Abraham, and I will go on to do so, even to the last, for the
sons of Abraham. And that this is plainly his meaning appears by verse 8, where he makes a general application of it to his seed :
* But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
Therefore, saith he, verse 10, Fear thou not (thou worm Jacob, verse 14) for I am with thee : be not dismayed, for I am thy God : I will strengthen
thee, yea, I will help thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee, shall
be ashamed and confounded : they shall be as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall perish. All the whole chapter is nothing else but encourage ment to all the seed of Abraham, from this very instance I have now given you. And the text here confirms it, premising unto all those instances, He hath remembered his covenant, the word he commanded to a thousand gene rations.
The next kingdom in the world that flourished in those first times, that
grew to any greatness that we read of, was that of Egypt ; and though Ham
the founder of Egypt was cursed, yet as usually those God lays the greatest curse upon he first begins to bless with outward blessings in the world, so he did the seed of Ham, in that infancy of that new world. How renowned a kingdom that then was, both for continued succession of kings in a race
(which Isaiah insinuates, chap. xix. 11), and for other greatness, the story of Moses, and Herodotus, and other profane stories, do celebrate. It was, as would seem, in those first times more flourishing than Assyria (the territories
of Assyria could not then be great, when such other three kings fore-men tioned bordered about it, and when Chedorlaomer of Persia was the chief of all
the four, Gen. xiv. 4, 5). Now, see how still the Lord doth follow on this
: he will have his saints to be cast upon this kingdom, and
his great design
to live therein ; and not only Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, but in the end all their posterity. It is the next story the psalmist gives instance of to
the purpose in hand, and let us take it but as he relates it : saith he, verse
PS. CY. 14, 15.] STATES AND KINGDOMS. 39
* He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant, whose feet they hurt with fetters (Potiphar only did it, yet God lays it upon the nation). But, as the psalmist observes, the Lord was even with them
17,
for it, ver. 21 and 22. He made this man not only Lord of Pharaoh s
house, but he adds, to bind his princes at his pleasure, as they before had done him. As Abraham afore, so Joseph now is another leading instance.
* To bind their kings with chains, their nobles with fetters of iron, such honour hath all his saints, Psal. cxlix. He made this man a saviour to them (as themselves acknowledge :
* Thou hast saved our lives, Gen. xlvii.
25), and whilst they dealt well with him and his brethren, as he blessed
Potiphar s house for his sake, so he blessed the prince and all Egypt also
for his sake. And whilst Egypt was the nursery, or rather the granary (as
it was called anciently Horreum Eomani Imperil) to these anointed ones, the
people of God, so long it greatly flourished. But, verse 25, God turned
their heart to hate his people, and to deal subtilly with his servants (for malice and cunning always go together in oppressing the saints), and how
they oppressed them you all know. But as he had reproved kings for their
sakes afore, and Pharaoh s progenitors among the rest, saying, Touch not mine anointed, as here, so he begins with a message by Moses his ambas
sador, sent to that king of Egypt, and therein useth the same kind of lan
guage, Exod. iv. 22, 23, Thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, thus saith the
Lord, Israel is my son, even my first-born. There is only this difference
in the expression : the psalmist here calls them his anointed ; there, his
first-born. And it is as if he had said, Tell Pharaoh, I, Jehovah, am a
greater king than thou art, and therefore my first-born is greater than thy first-born. And let my son, my first-born go, that he may serve me ; he
carries all high. And if thou refuse to let him go, I will slay thy son, even
thy first-born ; and so indeed he did in the end. They left not oppressing the people of God (and the great quarrel was to let them go to worship) till such time as God did overthrow that nation, with so great an overthrow as no kingdom could have a greater, not totally to be destroyed ; and indeed so
great, as you hear no more of them till Solomon s time. There is not a word of Egypt in all the time of Joshua, and of the judges, till you read of Solomon s marrying Pharaoh s daughter. Here you see Egypt both blessed while they dealt well with the people of God, and broken when they dealt
ill with them.
To let pass those petty kings of Canaan, overcome by Moses and Joshua,
let us come next to Assyria, which together with Babylon is reckoned the
first great monarchy. The beginning of the Assyrian monarchy being from
Babylon, Gen. x. 10, and the kingdom returning again to Babel, both are
justly reckoned but one, though in their several revolutions they were dis
tinct. This monarchy, in the infancy of it, Abraham had to do with, and as
you heard, overcame the king thereof. Egypt s king was also reproved for
their sakes, and Persia, and two kings more, God ordering it, that the
father and representer of the faithful should reprove and chastise those
kings whom his seed should after ruin. How the people of God were op
pressed, first by the Assyrian kings and then by the Babylonians, the story of the Kings and Chronicles do shew, the Assyrian often oppressing them, and at last carrying the ten tribes captive, as Babylon did the other two. Now, to make short work of both, you shall find one scripture, Jer. L, where
you shall see them both put together in their ruin, and the ruin of both put upon this, their oppression of the people of God. I mention that scripture only because it summarily contains the whole: verse 17, says God,
* Israel
is a scattered sheep, the lions have driven him away ; they were a scattered
40 THE GREAT INTEREST OF [Ps. CV. 14, 15.
people ; or as Junius and Piscator hath it, they were parva pecus, a little
flock, a few, and very small, in comparison of the nations, as the psalmist hath it here ; and the lions drave them away. Who were these lions ? First,
l the king of Assyria hath devoured him, he seized as it were on
saith he,
the flesh (Pul, Tiglath-Pileser, and Shalmaneser, oppressing and captivating them, 2 Kings xv.) ; and last, this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (he speaks of him with scorn and indignation, This Nebuchadnezzar) hath broken
the bones. And because that he came last, and took away all as a sweeping
rain, therefore his anger riseth most against him : verse 18, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I pun ished the king of Assyria. Merodach of Babylon subdued the Assyrian,* Nebu chadnezzar utterly ruins Nineveh, the head city thereof, and then Babel s time comes to be wasted also, and the whole land therewith. Here is that monarchy
gone, you see, both Assyrian and Babylonian ; and whosoever were the instru
ment, this was the cause from God s own mouth. Add unto which, that in the next chapter, Jer. li. 11, Because (says that text) it was the vengeance of
* The violence done to me, and to my flesh, be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitants of Zion
the Lord, and of his temple. And take in also verse 35,
say, and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say, then when they are destroyed.
Now there are a great many other kingdoms and nations, that bordered about the Jews, whom God (as I remember) calleth his evil neighbours, for
their ill-will to Zion ; these all fell either by or with Babylon. Of these you shall read in the 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th chapters of Ezekiel, and so on.
G-od there sends the cup round to all the nations. All those nations certainly had infinite provocations of national sins of all sorts against God amongst them ; but you shall see still God there lays his suit and quarrel against them only for their ill dealing with his people, to whom they were neighbours round about.
He begins with the Ammonites, chap. xxv. 2, and what was her sin that ruined her ? Ammon was but glad at the fall of the Jews.
* Behold (saith the 3d verse) thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned ; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate ; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity ; they did not help it forward, only cried Aha. Therefore, saith God, ver. 4,
* I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession ; and ver. 6,
* Because (as in speech, as afore, so
in gesture they expressed the like joy at it) thou hast clapped thy hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel ; behold, therefore, I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; I will destroy thee, &c. The next that he mentioneth is Moab. She did but cast out a word ; so verse 8, she did but only say this, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto
all the heathen ; now laid waste as they, and there is no difference in the
protection in their God over them, more than over the heathen themselves.
It was but this word cast out ; yet therefore saith the Lord, verse 9, Behold I will open the side of Moab. He would break through and open his strong frontier cities (as the next words explain it), break his ribs, and so enter into
< The Ammonites shall be no more remembered among the nations. No other sin is mentioned, but this word about his
his bowels ; and verse 1 0,
people.
He comes next to Edom, verse 12, who was the posterity of Esau and
their brother (as you shall hear anon), and of them he saith, Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and * Solianus Annales Tom, 4, An. Mund. 3333, An. 3452
PS. CY. 14, 15.] STATES AND KINGDOMS. 41
greatly offended, and revenged himself upon him ; therefore saith he, verse
13, I will cut off man and beast from it, and make it desolate. He riseth
still in his punishments proportionable to their sins, and to their dealings with his people. And I will do it, says he,
< by the hand of my own people, verse 14, that were oppressed by them.
From Edom he carries the cup to Philistia, who, because they had an old
* a despiteful heart, to destroy them for the
gradge against the Israelites,
old hatred, verse 15, Therefore I will execute great vengeance on them, verses 16, 17.
In the next place, he comes to Tyre, poor Tyre ; I call her so, because as
of all the nations they were the most ingenious in themselves (insomuch as
Christ says, they would have repented, &c.), and most ingenious of all
nations else unto the Jews, that helped them to build the temple, and were
confederates with David and Solomon. And what was her fault ? A mere
temptation of love to herself, such as might befall any in the like case. Read chap. xxvi. 2,
* Son of man, because Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people ; I shall be replenished now she is laid waste. The meaning is this, I shall now have all the trade. You know Tyre lay nigh to Jerusalem, and it was a place of the greatest trade and merchandise then in the world ; she was the mart of nations (so she is called in Isa. xxiii., and in Ezek. xxvii. 3), and though she had the
greater trade of the two already, yet she rejoiced in this, that Jerusalem should be laid waste, who had been the gates of the people, whither much
people came for traffic, as well as to me. Now, thinks she (and it was but
a self-loving thought), all the trade will wholly come to me, and I shall be
replenished and increased. No more. Yet, because it fell out to be uttered
against the church, for this, and for no other sin (there mentioned), must
Tyre be destroyed, as she was by Nebuchadnezzar, though, to fulfil the pro phecy, he served twelve years in the siege thereof. And see how God pro portioned her punishment to her sin : Wouldst thou have more customers ? Thou shalt have enow. Behold, I will cause many nations to come up ;
what, for traffic ? No ; to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up ; the Babylonian soldiers shall be thy merchants that
shall take off thy goods off thy hands. And because that Tyre was a most
glorious people, he therefore spends two or three chapters upon the descrip tion of her ruin.
In the 26th chapter he comes to Egypt. Egypt had been broken once
afore (as you heard) by the people of Israel, and reproved for Abraham s
sake. They were a false-hearted nation, that even Rabshakeh could aforehand prophesy so of them, in Isa. xxxvi. 6, Lo, saith he, thou trustest on the staff of this broken reed, whereon if a man will lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it ; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
It was the genius of that nation to all that dealt with them. And as Rabshakeh had foretold of them, so it fell out ; and therefore the prophet Ezekiel utters their sin against the church in Rabshakeh s language, chapter xxix. 7,
* Because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. It
is a most elegant comparison, the similitude it looks many ways
: 1, a reed was a hieroglyphic of that country. Sanctius upon those words, Ps. Ixviii.
* Rebuke the company of the spearmen (so we translate it), but look in the margins of your Bibles, and likewise the original will bear it, it is,
30,
* Re buke the beast of the reeds; and he interpreteth this to be meant of Egypt, the Chaldee paraphrase also interpreting it of that nation, it being a country
of reeds. On the bank of Nilus, and so throughout the whole country
(through the overflowing of that river), there were and are_such reeds and
42 THE GREAT INTEREST OF [Ps. CV. 14, 15.
canes growing, as nowhere in the world again besides (so Pliny* saith),
serving for pens, spears, arrowsf (as Pliny there), so for staves, arks, Exod.
ii. 3 ; and Egypt is called a beast of reeds, alluding further (as I take it) to the crocodile, the proper beast of that country, which is an amphibion,
living both in land and water, and so usually lies amongst the reeds by the
river side, and there shrouds herself against the heat, as the elephant also is
said to do, Job xl. 21. And suitably we find that, Augustus having con
quered Antony and Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, caused by way of triumph to be stamped on his coin a crocodile and a reed,! as that which was put for
the hieroglyphic of that country, as the manner of the Romans was. And
the Holy Ghost here in Ezekiel long before seems to have given the same coat of arms for that country and kingdom (perhaps according to the common
use), using both these apart of Egypt also. For first, in the third verse of
this chapter xxix., he calleth Pharaoh king of Egypt the dragon of the
rivers (which I believe hath reference to the crocodile in those rivers, which
is a kind of serpent, and beast also), and in the 7th verse after, which we
are now upon, to a staff of reed. Whereas in that 68th Psalm you see both
are put together, the beast of reeds, here in this 29th of Ezekiel, the
prophet having in his eye the common hieroglyphic of the country, turns the
similitude to their being a staff of reed ; that suiting his present scope, which was to express their failing that confidence the people of God reposed in them, and so becoming the fatal occasion of their misery. Because
(saith he, verse 6) thou hast been a staff of reed to the house of Israel, when they took hold of thee thou didst break. They (as Cornelius a Lapide upon the place) had provoked the Jews to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar,
promising to assist them : but though thou wert bacillus in promissione, a
staff in promises, yet but arundines in executione, a staff of reed, vain and
helpless in the performance (as he speaks). The prophet goes on. Yea, thou didst not only break, but run up, and rend all the shoulder, and madest
their loins to be at a stand ; didst not only hinder, but hurt and weaken them. The Lord comes upon them with his former Therefore; verse 8, Saith the Lord, 1 will bring a sword upon thee, and I will cut off man and beast. And so he goes on in three or four chapters to set forth their punishment, and that relating, as the former had done, to this their unfaithful dealing with God s people, as that sin that was the cause thereof, which is the point in hand.
When the prophet had thus despatched Egypt, and threatened the like to
Assyria and Babylon (of which enough was touched before), he falls afresh
upon mount Seir and Edom, and contents not himself to have put them into
the common catalogue (which we have gone over) with the rest of the nations
in the 25th chapter ; but he returns again to a peculiar, special reckoning with them in the 35th chapter (the reason of it we shall see by and by, because they were their brethren ).
* Because, saith he there, ver. 5, thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel
by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their
iniquity had an end ; that is, when they had already suffered so much for
their sins that it might have been thought God had punished them enough,
* Lib. xvi. c. 36.
t Hence arundo for sagitta with the Latins, and the same word for a reed and a
spear (as here) in the Scripture.
t. And in Adrian s coins of gold also.
2 Esau, of whom both came, was called Edom from his redness, Gen. xxv. 30, and Seir from his hairy hands. Esau dwelt in Seir, Gen. xxxiii. 14, 16, and was given as a possession to his seed by God, Deut. ii. 5 ; and Esau was the father of Edom, Gen. xxxvi. 43.
Ps. CV. 14, 15.] STATES AND KINGDOMS. 43
yet then do they begin their misery afresh : Therefore as I live, saith the
Lord, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee, &c. ; and,
ver. 10, he adds another reason, Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine (namely, their own, and that of Israel
* and we will possess it. When Nebuchadnezzar had laid it
adjoining),
waste, they promised to themselves the possession of it, whereas the Lord was there, as the prophet adds. They thought they might as easily conquer, and enter upon the possession of it, as any of the other nations ; whereas
the Lord s presence was there, to keep possession for himself and his people that belonged unto it. This was their sin, then follows their punishment
Therefore as I live, saith the Lord, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy, which thou hast used out of hatred against them ; I will proportion my punishment accordingly. And he doth not
content himself only with his bringing of them in again here, but besides he
spends a whole prophecy upon them, the prophecy of Obadiah, whose mes
sage is taken up with nothing but threatenings against Edom, and resolving
* For thy violence against thy brother Jacob * Edom and Seir, as was said, coming of Esau, were brethren to the Israelites, and God takes it infinitely more unkindly at their hands than at the hands
all into the same quarrel :
of the other nations therefore shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be
cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodst on the other side (that is, behavedst thyself as a neuter that stood aloof),
* in the day that strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and
cast lots upon Jerusalem, thou wast as one of them, didst as much mischief
as the Babylonians.f Thou shouldst not have enured into the gate of my
people in the day of their calamity ; yea, thou shouldst not have looked on
their affliction (that is, as idle spectators, much less rejoicers in it), nor have laid hands on their substance (nor have spoiled them of their goods), in the day of their calamity, &c. Therefore is their punishment to a per
petual ruin, more heavy than any of the rest. Thus now you have also seen an end of all these kingdoms that were neighbours about Jerusalem, and how
they were all reproved, yea, destroyed, upon this quarrel of touching and
meddling with his anointed, as the text hath it. Now, let us go on to the other monarchies, the Persian and the Grecian ; you shall see still that the story of them also makes good this great point in hand. The Persian and the Grecian both had to do with the church ; but the first
of these, the Persian, seems rather an instance on the other hand, viz. of the
welfare and of the raising up of a nation and of a state for the people of God; for God hath given some instances of blessing as well as he hath given of ruin. The very raising up of Cyrus, and of that monarchy in him, it was for his
* Thus
people s sake. The Scripture is express for this ; read Isa. xliv. 28,
saith God of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure ; even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built ; and to the temple, Thy foun dation shall be laid. And go on to chap. xlv. 1, Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, &c. He calls Cyrus his anointed ; he calls Tyre an anointed
covering cherub also, Ezek. xxviii. ; and no other heathen princes else in all the book of God. First, Tyre an anointed cherub, because he was propi tious to the Jews, even as the cherub covering the ark.j Then Cyrus was anointed ; because, as Sanctius well saith, Non minus studiose res curabat Judaicas quam si Jud&orum esset, et non Persarum, imperator. He took as
* Deut. ii. 4, 5. God said to the Jews, Yon are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau ; meddle not with them, &c. t The psalmist also hath it, Ps. cxxxvii. 7. % (Ecolampad. in loc.
44 THE GREAT INTEREST OF [Ps. CV. 14, 15.
much care for the people of God, and the building of the temple, as if he had been king of Jewry himself. And God calleth him likewise his shepherd, even as he had done David, that was to look to his sheep. In the place I
quoted before concerning the Assyrian and Babylonian kings, Jer. 1., you heard how he called them lions, because they scattered the sheep ; so the
expression is there, but here he calls Cyrus his shepherd, that shall perform all his pleasure, and for that end raised him to all this greatness. For for whose sake was it he had the nations given him ? Read the fourth verse : For Jacob my servant s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name ; I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me ; not. for thy sake, but for my people s only. And although for a while some of them kings made edicts to interrupt the building of the temple, yet the gene-
r of those kings went on in that course of favour which Cyrus had begun, and were more favourable to the Jews than all of the other monarchies. Darius Histaspis, mentioned Ezra iv. 24, permitted the Jews to go on build
ralit}
ing it, as their poverty would suffer them ; and, after another interruption, Darius Nothus,* Ezra vi., did put Cyrus his decree in force again, and allows the expense of the finishing of it out of his own revenues ; and inserts this in his revived decree, that the Jews might pray for the life of the king and of his
children, ver. 10. They also had of the seed of the Jews great men at court with them, as Daniel, Mordecai, Ezra, and Neherniah, the two latter of whom were sent by Artaxerxes to build the city of Jerusalem ; yea, and another of their kings admitted one of that nation (through the providence of God) to the royal bed. Ahasuerus married Esther, of the seed of the Jews, under whom, and under othes of these kings, they had the greatest prosperity. Now, as this favour to the Jews was the cause of the erecting that monarchy at first, so surely of the continuance of it so long. Historians wonder that
it should stand so long, it being so loose and dissolute a court and state,f and having so many great shocks. I can attribute it to nothing but this, the eminent favour they shewed to the Jews, the people of God. And I shall but cast in this observation more about it : when was it that it came to be ruined and destroyed, but in the time of the latter Darius, then when Cyrus (who had been God s shepherd) his seed was wholly extinct ? J For though his seed by the male issue continued not to a grandchild, yet in the seed of Atossa, Cyrus s daughter, wife to Darius Histaspis, the kingdom was continued in his race. And to make the providence the more remarkable, whereas Darius had sons before by another wife, yet the interest of Atossa for Cyrus s sake, * Thus Calvisius, and Master Mede in his account of Daniel s weeks, pages 5-7, which doth fall in the best, to accord all the years of Daniel s weeks. But if (as most other chronologers) it had been Darius Histaspis that made that decree in Ezra vi. for the finishing the temple, then it affords a greater observation to my purpose in hand, namely, that God did take away Cambyses, Cyrus his son (whom they would have to be that Artaxerxes, Ezra iv., that hindered by force of arms the building the temple both in his father s days whilst he was prince of Persia, as Daniel x. 13 he is called, or prorex in his father s absence and in his own), and that without issue; and so Cyrus s issue male ended, being punished for recalling the favour granted. But Darius Histaspis being chosen by the princes, God established the kingdom in him and his seed, for his reviving Cyrus his edict. And, however, almost all agree in this, that this Darius he hindered it not, but gave liberty for his time ; and is that Darius men tioned Ezra iv. 24 (see Mede, Daniel s Weeks, page 7, in his marginal note), whom therefore God blessed accordingly ; and yet regarded Cyrus also in this, that by his daughter Atossa, wife to this Darius, his race continued.
f Therefore Daniel compares him to a slow unwieldy ram, as it were heavy with wool and flesh, chap. viii. 7. + Diodo. Imitio. lib. vii.
$ E?xt -TTUV 70 xK7is, says Herodotus of Atossa, giving it as the reason of this suc cession.
PS. CV. 14, 15.] STATES AND KINGDOMS. 45
carried the succession to Xerxes her son, Cyrus s grandchild. But that last
Darius, in and with whom that empire was destroyed by Alexander, was of another race.* Such regard had God to Cyrus his shepherd, and his seed, that favoured the Jews. But then it was, and not afore, that God threw down that monarchy, whether for anything done against the people of God
or no the Scripture is silent.
Let us come to the Grecian monarchy, for that was the third ; some of the story of which you have mentioned in Zech. ix., which is an apparent prophecy of the expedition of Alexander; and as a late learned writerf
rightly saith, you may better know the meaning of the first part of that chap ter out of Quintus Curtius and Josephus, than out of most commentators. You read there of a prophecy of Tyre, that it must be taken again, so ver. 3. Now Zechariah writ after the Babylonish captivity, therefore it is not that former taking of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, but that latter by Alexander. And what he says in the 5th verse of Gaza, and those other cities in Philis-
tia, Askelon shall not be inhabited, and the cutting off the governor of
Gaza, Quintus Curtius exactly relates the performance of it, and his cruelty therein ; and it is usually noted as the first and greatest act of Alexander s
degenerating to barbarous inhumanity. Now, all that his rage against all those cities that were neighbours to the Jews, was ordered by God, and fore told by the prophet, but only to set forth the wonderful care and protection of God towards his people, recorded ver. 8, that although Alexander was as much incensed against the Jews (for their answer sent him of their resolu
tion to cleave to Darius, to whom they had sworn), yet as that 8th verse fore
told, I will encamp about my house, says God, because of the army, be cause of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth. When Alexander went by, and when afterwards many other armies went to and fro, God still encamped about his house. And though Alexander plundered or
destroyed all the cities round about, yet still Jerusalem and the temple were
preserved. Yea, Alexander s heart was so changed (as Esau s), that he went
in peaceably. And the high priest shewing him the prophecy of Daniel, how the king of Grecia, that is, himself, should overcome the king of Persia, he was thereby encouraged to the conquest of the king of Persia, and not only spared them, but gave many immunities to the Jews ; and in that his expe dition against Darius prospered accordingly.
Now that monarchy thus raised by him was divided into four parts, Dan.
viii. 22, all which are accounted to make up that Grecian monarchy.* And in the latter end of their kingdom, says the 23d verse, when the
transgressions are come to the full, that is, when God meant to begin to break it, and to put a period to it, and to reckon with them for their other sins. This his wonted design sets his providence a-work, that they should fall foul upon his people, and so be broken, as the former had been ; and eminently, and above the rest, you have a little horn arising, Antiochus, the successor of one of them (the story is clear in Dan. viii.), who
magnified himself against the people of God, the daily sacrifice, against the truth, &c. ver. 11, 12, and in this God laid the foundation not only of his ruin, but of the rest of the Grecian monarchy. This I might shew out of Dan. ver. 25,
* He shall be broken without hand, &c. ; but I will rather do it out of the 9th of Zechariah (having already begun with that, and shewed out of it the rise and proceedings of that monarchy in the first
* Alexander the Great, in his letters to Darius, and his speech to his soldiers
against Darius, affirms it. Arrianus. Curtius, lib. vi. as also Justin.
t D. Jackson, 8th Book of Commentaries on the Creed, sect. iii. cap. xvii.
J Joseph. Antiq. Jud. lib. xi.
46 THE GREAT INTEREST OF [Ps. CV. 14, 15.
horn thereof, Alexander) ; let us see what it says of the ruin of it, in that which follows : ver. 13, When I have bent Judah for me, and filled the bow with Ephraim (it is an elegant similitude), and raised up thy sons,
Zion, against thy sons, Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man : and the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth
as the lightning, &c. Here the Grecian monarchy, in the last remainders
of it (the kings of Egypt and Syria, the Longidae and Seleucidae, who both
oppressed the Jews, being therefore called Greece,* because they were the
successors of it), is ruined : and by whom ? Even by the people of the
Jews, or for their sakes. God raised up the sons of Sion against these
4 sons of Greece ; God made Judah his bow, and Ephraim his arrows (and when God himself will be the archer, weak arrows and instruments will do
wonders). And besides, that for their sakes God used miraculous and won
derful ways to ruin these enemies, the Lord shall be seen over them,
1 &c.,
ver. 14. God used the Jews themselves, the Maccabees, to vindicate them
selves against these relics of the Grecian empire, as the story in the book of
the Maccabees shews plainly (as interpreters upon the text have observed), and particularly how Antiochus came to his end. And afterwards the ruin
of the whole by the Romans, it was for the Jews sake, and their quarrel, and at their prayer ; it was by Ephraim being his arrow, and Judah his bow, and God himself appearing from heaven against them. So then here the
Grecian monarchy is likewise broken upon the Jews. And thus we have done with the Old Testament.
Now let us come to the New Testament. There was, first, the Jewish state ;
and, secondly, there was the Roman empire. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, who was the eminent anointed one, he comes obscurely, and, as it
were, stealing into the world, who was to be King of all the world, in the
days of him who laid the first sure foundation and settlement of the Roman
empire, namely, Augustus ; and he comes to his own, to the people of the
Jews, over whom the Romans having the power, and a president amongst them, our Saviour came to have to do at once with both these states.
And first for the Jews. Because that which befell that state for their deal
ing with Christ and his disciples, is the leading case of the New Testament, as what was done to these kings and nations here in the text, and in the
story of Genesis, for their carriage towards Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was
the leading case of the Old, I will therefore begin therewith, and spend a
little time in the opening of it, so far as it concerns the point in hand.
And now you shall see that nation and state, of which hitherto you have
heard, that it had been for the rising or falling of all the monarchies, and
also lesser kingdoms round about it, itself to be the first of all other that was broken and ruined under the New Testament, as an example to all the
rest that follow ; and broken not upon another whole nation like itself, but
upon a few, and a very few anointed ones in that nation, namely, our Lord and his disciples
: God altering now the way of his dispensation under the New Testament, using but a few saints in nations (which is the most glo
rious) to effect the same design he did before by that whole nation of the Jews under the Old : Rev. v. 9, He hath redeemed us (say they) out of
all nations (who are to him a royal nation, typified out by that whole nation
of Jews), whom now he maketh to be to all kingdoms (where they are
found), either a stone of stumbling, whereby they shall be broken, or a
sure basis and foundation of their welfare, according to their usage of them.
* They are called Greece, as the king of Persia is called king of Ashur, Ezra
vi. 22 ; and as Cyrus, Ezra v. 13, and Artaxerxes, Neh. x. 6, are called kings of Babel, because successors to these kings.
PS. CV. 14, 15.] STATES AND KINGDOMS. 47
1 How the Jews used Christ and his disciples, we all know. The interest
of that nation, wherein stood it ? Not so much to have entertained Christ
for their temporal king, he avoided that ; hut to have received him for their
Messiah, and anointed Saviour. And that this was the interest of the nation and its welfare, is clear hy that speech of Christ, Luke xix. 42, Oh that thou
! he
hadst known, in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace
therein intending as well the temporal peace of that nation, as the eternal
peace of their souls. As Tyre had stood to that day if they had repented
(as Christ speaks), so had Jerusalem also if they had known and kept to this
their interest. But they were so far from doing this, that they clean diverted from it, and took up other worldly and politic interests of their own, to save themselves by, which were their ruin. Yea (which I beseech you mark and
observe), the Lord did order it so in his providence, that even reason of
state, and a worldly cross interest to this should be the chief motive to them of crucifying Christ, and so of the final desolation of that nation. For
* If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation. And what saith the great high priest further upon it ? Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it
which, consult first the llth of John, ver. 49, 50 ; say they (generally),
is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And although this is there said to be spoken as
a prophecy (God guiding his mouth therein), yet withal, if you look into
the 18th of John, ver. 14, it is charged upon him to have been a wicked counsel given (take it as it was intended by him), for there he is branded, This is that Caiaphas that gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. How it might be both these, as
directed by God, and intended by him, would be too long to shew. But take it as it thus came from him, and he takes on him as high priest to
speak as a deep oracle of state, and to utter a state maxim, with slighting of
his fellows, You know nothing, and his maxim follows, Better that one man, who is not considerable, be taken away, than a nation perish. And yet he
therein had an eye to the priest s interest, that is, of himself and his fellows, to keep up their honour, as well as to the preservation of the nation, though he colours it over with that of the whole nation. For, in John xi. 50, the words are, It is expedient for us (namely, priests), that one man should
die for the people. They were jealous of Christ getting the people from them. You shall likewise find, that when the matter was brought to Pilate,
it was state interest also caused Pilate to come off to condemn him : The Jews cried out, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caasar s friend : who soever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Ca3sar. And the text adds,
* When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he sat down and condemned him, John xix. 12, 13. When I read and considered this story, it made me understand that, in 1 Cor. ii. 6,
* We speak not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that comes to nought ; but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, which none of the princes of this world knew ; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. He
speaks of these very princes, the rulers of the Jews, and of Pilate ; and the Holy Ghost, you see, maketh the very same observation upon it that I have now done to you. They thought themselves wise, and they went upon axioms of state in doing of it ; but had they known their interest, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. And the apostle, you see, gives this as the
greatest and most eminent instance of the folly of state policy which often
princes take up against Christ, and the wisdom of the gospel, the true wisdom. And it is farther observable to this purpose, what likewise the apostle saith
48 THE GREAT INTEREST OF [Ps. CV. 14, 15.
in the following chap. iii. 17, applying the same in substance which he
here had observed upon their crucifying Christ, unto the defiling or destroy
ing the church of God, the saints, which is the point in hand, whom Christ hath left behind him, out of the like carnal wisdom and worldly policy : If
any man defile or destroy the temple of God, him shall God destroy
: for
the temple of God is holy, which temple are ye. Let no man deceive him
self. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise ; for the wisdom of this world is foolish
ness with God ; for it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. As God caught those Jewish princes and priests in their own craftiness against
Christ, so he will forever do those that offer violence to his saints, especially when out of state and worldly interests. That these Jews were taken in their own craftiness, if it needed, might largely be shewn ; the thing they feared and avoided was brought upon them : the Romans came and took away their
place and nation to this day ; yea, and it was greatly occasioned by the same motive which in policy they embraced, whereby to avoid it.* For as the
rising of many false Christs was the curse of that nation for refusing the true, and is made the sign of their destruction by our Saviour, Mat. xxiv., so it was the Jews proneness to believe that their Messiah should come about that
time, and deliver them from the Roman yoke, that the more encouraged them
in their rebellion and revolt from the Romans, which occasioned their utter
destruction by them. And so Tacitus, yea, and Josephus also, did thereupon
interpret that Jewish prophecy, of the king of the world to come out of Jewry, of Vespasian himself, that was the destroyer of them (he coming a victor out
of Jewry, who was Lord of the world), God thus retorting out of the mouths
of these two witnesses, a heathen and a Jew, their former sin in rejecting their natural Lord, the true king (indeed) of all the world, his Son. Thus
returning, I say, with the highest reproof upon these Jews, by this, that that
emperor of Romef (their enemy and destroyer, together with his sonj) should obtain and carry away the repute of that prophecy (they relied upon, too late), and this because they came out of Judea, from the executing that
vengeance the Jews had by this brought upon their own heads ; this having been manifestly the destruction of that nation, and being likewise the pattern of the New Testament. Give me leave to give you this further observation
by the way about it : that God disposed in his providence so, that all states and sorts of men among them should have their hands in it, because God s
purpose is not to destroy any nation for his people s sake, till all sorts therein
* It is the interpretation of Dr Jackson, which, because it openeth a scripture, I will give in his own words : Out of this undoubted pre-notion, that this was the very time wherein the Lord had promised to deliver this people from the hands of their enemies, they became so prone (as the event proves they were) to take arms and rebel
against the liomans, partly about the time of our Saviour s birth, but especially after his resurrection. There was no man of great might or potency among them, which did not take upon him to promise this people s deliverance from the Eoman yoke ; and the multitude were as prone to believe every one that would take upon him the name and title of a saviour, or deliverer. The foresight of this proneness in great ones to promise salvation to this people, and the people s proneness to believe them, did occasion our Saviour to give those admonitions to his disciples, Beware of false
Christs, Mat. xxiv. 4, Mark xiii. 6, Luke xxi. 6, which would arise in Jewry before the destruction of Jerusalem, with such fair enticing promises and pretences of deliverance, that if it had been possible, the very elect should have been deceived by them. (In a sermon upon Luke xxi. 25.)
t Vespasian. + Titus.
t His blood be upon us and our children, said they, who had formerly said of the
greatest kingdoms in their ruins, My blood upon Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say, Jer.
li. 35.
PS. CV. 14, 15. J STATES AND KINGDOMS. 49
concur in their ill using of them. The second Psalm prophesying of the
crucifying of Christ, says, that the heathen, the people, the kings of the
earth, the rulers, took counsel against the Lord s anointed, which the
* That
apostles in their prayer (of which by and by), Acts iv. 27, interpret,
Herod, Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were
gathered together against his child Jesus. Both the ecclesiastical and the
civil state among the Jews concurred in it : the Sanhedrim first, and elders of the people ; and they with much ado persuade the people (the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude, Mat. xxvii. 10) ; and when that was with difficulty done, it was long ere Pilate did consent ; he kept off and washed his hands, though the people, priests and all, sought to him ; but in the end yielded. And what was the reason Pilate came in at length also ? Because God would have the Roman empire (which he meant to break upon Christ and his saints as the former), to be wound in, even in the guilt of Christ s blood, and to embrue their hands in it, as Pilate the Roman go vernor did by his sentence, and the Roman soldiers by execution. And
therefore we find, Rev. xi. 8, Rome to be called the city where our Lord was
crucified, because by the power and jurisdiction of that state, that so the blood of all, yea, even of Christ himself, might be found in her at her
destruction, Rev. xviii. 24.
But to proceed in this Jewish story. When our Lord was ascended, we read, Acts iv., that when Peter and John were preaching to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, ver. 1. And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold, ver. 8. And then, ver. 23, they being let go (only with threatening to
speak no more in his name) they went to their own company, and there they went to prayer. And what do they urge to God but the second Psalm, and
spread that before him, merely upon this occasion that they were fallen upon, and interrupted in his worship, and threatened to preach no more in that name, which they, being the relicts of Christ left behind him here, were to hold forth. They prayed over with one accord the second Psalm, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth, who by the mouth of thy
servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things ? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, (and now anointed with the oil of
gladness above his fellows), both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, &c. These his disciples, being his fellows in his anointing, did accordingly, as you here see, interest
their cause in his, by putting God in mind what they did unto their Lord, in
crucifying him, to provoke him thereby to consider what was now done to themselves by the rulers, scribes, and elders, priests, and band of the
temple, ver. 1-5.
Well, still the Jews go on, and follow the same trade as our Saviour
Christ, in Luke xxi. 10, 11, foretold his disciples that they should ; and
withal, he foretold them that there should be wars upon this, and commo
tions, nation rising against nation, &c. Before all these (says Christ) they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the
synagogues, and into prison, being brought before kings and rulers for my name s sake : our Saviour therein shewing that this persecution of the
saints should be the cause of all these wars, and so of that nation s ruin, as well as his own death, so involving his cause and theirs together. But they, as afore the wars, so after the wars, and during the time of them, Christ VOL. XII. D
50 THE GREAT INTEREST OF [Ps. CY. 14, 15.
says, should go on, and take no warning ; this you find in Mat. xxiv. 7-9
verses compared, And this (says Christ there) shall be a testimony unto
you.Now that second Psalm, whither the apostles have brought us, and which
the apostles in the beginning of the gospel prayed thus over against the
Jews, was by the Holy Ghost intended against all nations and kingdoms that should in like manner deal injuriously with the saints, as the Jews had
done with Christ, to the end of the world, so making this instance the pat tern and example to the rest. In the next words, if you read on, you find a
* I
solemn inauguration of Christ as king now when ascended into heaven,
have set my King on my holy hill, with a proclamation and declaration of God s decree, and great design under the New Testament, to be effected and
accomplished by this his new king set up : I will declare the decree, &c.,
ver. 7, which, as a preface, refers to all that follows, and is in effect no other
than the same you have all this while heard out of the Old. He gives Christ
as a boon, upon his inauguration, all the kingdoms of the world : I will
give thee (saith he) the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession. What to do ? Either to break them, or
convert them. Thou shalt bruise them with a rod of iron, and dash them
in pieces like a potter s vessel. And this drift the apostles well knew, and
therefore pertinently urged it in their prayer to God against the Jews, which
prayer of theirs had a concurrent influence into their ruin. Now, as the
destruction of Jerusalem is made by Christ the fore-running type of the end
of the world, so the destruction of that nation for these their doings to
Christ and his apostles, and their followers, is an example to all kingdoms that shall do the like afterwards unto the saints ; for which Christ hath and
will break them also. Therefore, how ends the Psalm ? Be wise, ye kings, and instructed, ye judges of the earth, &c. That is in effect, All ye states and princes of the world, learn to know this your interest. Although this
might be enough in the general for the whole New Testament,
Yet come we to the Roman empire. The book of the Revelation is a pro phecy of the destruction of that empire, either as heathenish in the whole, or else when Christian (yet persecuting then) in both the parts of it, east and west. That book is a tragi-comedy, which begins with a kingdom given to be won
by conquest,* and ends with the coronation of a king, and the marriage of
his bride ; and all between is but the removing of all such lets and impedi ments, namely, of the Roman monarchy, and all other kingdoms which that was broken into, so far as they stand in his way, and possess the room of
that kingdom which he is to set up. That this is one main argument of
that book, I refer you to what that great and learned interpreter, Master
Mede, hath largely opened.
And herein Christ, when he first began (the whole world then worshipping
idols) had work enough to do. He sets first upon conquering the whole Roman empire, as it was heathenish, and the worship of Satan and idols in
it, and in three hundred years he despatcheth that, and throws down all both idol worship, and princes that did uphold it. This the first six seals do shew, chapter vi. ; and then when the whole empire was turned Chris
tian, yet (as one well said) the devil did not turn Christian ; but under the name and profession of Christ, he stirreth up the Arian Christian world to
persecute the orthodox Christians as much as heathenish Rome had done. But Christ takes farther vengeance for this persecution under both these,
* Eev. vi. 8, when the seals begin to be opened, Christ goes forth conquering and
to conquer.
PS. CV. 14, 15.] STATES AND KINGDOMS. 51
heathenish and Arian Rome.* The empire having been divided afore into two parts, the eastern (all which now the Turk possesseth) and the western, this in Europe, he falls first upon the western European part, breaking that
by the incursion of those barbarous nations the Goths and Vandals, and this the four first trumpets do sound forth, chapter viii. Then for the eastern part of the empire (although his revenge was slower), yet he reserved them to the
sorest vengeance that could befall the Christian world, chapter ix., the con
quest and tyranny of the Saracens first, and afterwards the Turks, and these the fifth and sixth trumpets successively held forth. Thus here is an end of the Roman monarchy under the emperors, in the whole, and in the
parts of it. The western part in Europe was, by occasion of the Goths in
vasion, broken into ten kingdoms, chapter xii, which though helping the woman against the flood of Arian persecution, yet (through Satan s seducing of them) they set up the beast, or antichristian Rome, and these altogether did join together to make as great a war against the saints in the 13th
chapter, as the heathens and Arians had done. And so Christ was in a manner as far off his kingdom as at the first. What then is the next great counter
plot of Jesus Christ ? It is to overcome these ten kingdoms ; so you find, Rev. xvii. 14, They shall (saith he) make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them : for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings ; and
they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. The world, though turned Christian, yet in all the variations of it goes on still to per secute the saints. For why ? The world will be the world still, and the devil, who is the prince of the world, is the same still, and so he still follows that trade he had formerly practised, the same which you read of chapter xii. verse 17, even to make war with the remnant of the woman s seed, which
keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus. This
is his design ; and let the world turn never so much, and refine as much as
it will, Satan endeavours still to form a party up amongst them, whom he turns against the saints (or some of the saints), for that is the great interest of his kingdom (as that place shews) ; it is more to persecute the saints, than to carry men on to sin. And he will be content to fall but upon a few sometimes, rather than be put out of this his trade. And therefore now besides plain popery, which is prophesied of in 1 Tim. iv., to arise in the
latter days, you have in 2 Tim. iii. 1 another prophecy of a sort of men that shall arise in the last days (popery is prophesied of to be in the latter
days), who shall have a form of godliness, and be despisers of them that are good. Thus the devil hath carried on his design age after age, and Jesus Christ pursues more closely his great design also, and will never leave
till he hath overcome ; and he shall overcome, for he is the King of kings, and those that are with him are called chosen and faithful. And all this
(if it were not the scope of that book of the Revelation) yet story would make good. Why should I instance in more ? You know the little stone, Christ and his saints, shall dash all in pieces, Dan. ii. But enough. You have heard the truth of this point exemplified by all these instances. As for reasons of it, the Scripture affords a far greater plenty than of in
stances, and in many of the instances given you may find reasons adjoined by God himself: as here in the text, they are God s anointed; in that ex ample of Egypt s overthrow, God s first-born ; in that of Babel s, it was the vengeance of God s temple, and so on. The time will give me leave to
single out but a very few of many. The doctrine was this, that the greatest
* It was the cry of the blood of the saints slain under both, that brought on them the vengeance that followed. See chapter vi. 10, 11.
52 THE GREAT INTEREST OF [Ps. CV. 14, 15.
interest of all states and princes lies in their usage of the saints ; to deal ill
or well with them is that whereon their misery or welfare doth depend.
Reason 1. One reason of it is (that which should indeed have been my
first observation out of the text, viz.), the nearness and dearness of the
saints to God. You see how tender he is of them, Touch them not. If you would understand the tenderness of God s heart expressed in that word,
* He that toucheth them toucheth the apple of mine
parallel it with that,
eye, and you have the expression twice, Ps. xvii. 8 and Zech. ii. 8. There
is nothing more dear than the eye, you would have pulled out your eyes,
says Paul, and of the eye the pupa, the black of the eye most. When the Ammonites required of the men of Jabesh-Gilead that they should thrust
out all their right eyes, 1 Sam. xi. 2, the text saith, ver. 6, that when Saul heard of it,
* the Spirit of God came upon him, and his anger was greatly
kindled, and he went and cut them off and scattered them, so that not two of them were left together. If Saul, their king, a tyrannical king, was
thus moved for this offer of an injury to the eyes of his subjects, much more God for those who are to him as his own eye, yea, as the apple of it ; or if
you will have this reason in an expression more nearly akin to the doctrine
itself, they are dearer to God than nations simply considered. The reason
is strong, that therefore the interest of all nations must needs lie in these
saints : Isa. xliii. 3, 4, I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba
for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee : therefore will I give men for thee, and people for
thy life. Thus he valued them under the Old Testament. But did he give nations for them then ? They have cost him more since, they have cost him
the blood of his Son. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him
up for us, how shall he not with him freely give us all things? Rom. viii. 32.
All things are theirs, the world, &c., because they are Christ s. Look what
reasons the Old Testament gives of this point in hand from their nearness
to God, the New Testament useth the same. They are my first-born, said God to the kingdom of Egypt, and therefore I will take away thy first-born. The New Testament speaks the same ; they are the
* church of
the first-born, written in heaven, Heb. xii. 23. Was it the vengeance of
the temple was Babel s overthrow ? The New Testament utters the same, and to the same purpose, If any man destroys the temple of God, him
: for the temple of God is holy, which temple are ye, 1 Cor. iii. 17. Again, Israel is holiness to the Lord, the first-fruits of his
shall God destroy
increase : and therefore all that devour him shall offend (offend greatly) ;
* and evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord, Jer. ii. 3. Thus speaks the Old Testament. The same reason and expressions are given, you see,
in the New : The temple of God is holy, and they are the first-fruits of all
his creatures, James i. 18 ; These are the redeemed from among men, and the first-fruits to God and the Lamb, and therefore prevail, Rev. xiv. 4.
And as because they are thus dear to God, therefore if they be dealt ill
withal, it is the cause of the ruin of a nation ; so on the contrary likewise,
if a nation deal well with them, it is a cause of his blessing upon them, yea, he doth give nations and states their being for their sakes. They are a
blessing in the midst of the land, Isa. xix. 24, insomuch as God spareth the tree for a small bunch of grapes (so he compareth his people in re
spect of the rest of a nation) ; Destroy it not, for there is a blessing in
it, Isa. Ixv. 8, or rather as the same Isaiah ; they are to the whole tree
(the nation they live in) what the pith, the heart, the substance is. As an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves, so the holy seed
(the saints) shall be the substance of it, Isa. vi. 13 ; that preserves life in a
PS. CV. 14, IS.] STATES AND KINGDOMS. 53
nation when the branches of it are hewn, or it casts its leaves. These things are spoken in relation to their being the cause of the preservation of a nation
in both these places. Saints that are as strangers to a nation, and only make it their refuge, yet their presence is in such a case a preservation to them. Moab (says God), Met mine outcasts dwell with thee, and be thou
a covert to them, Isa. xvi. 4 ; and ver. 5, And in mercy shall the throne be established. But much more native saints procure this blessing, their
* Of Sion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her ; and what follows ?
relation being nearer and dearer.
* The Highest himself shall esta
blish her, Ps. Ixxxvii. 3. Reason 2. Secondly, Another reason is taken from the great interest the
saints have in God the governor, and the privilege which themselves have vouchsafed them by God in ruling and governing this world, and the provi dences of God therein. They are privy councillors to the great King of
kings, who governs all the states and kingdoms in the world, and God doth
give these his saints a commission to set up and pull down by their prayers and intercessions. The Old Testament speaks in a high language in Isaiah
xlv. 11 (I might have quoted it before, for it comes in as the reason of God s
setting up Cyrus for his people s sake), Ask me of things to come concern
ing my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. Who
speaks this ? The words afore are, Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of
Israel, and his Maker. It would have been blasphemy for us to have said
it, but that the Lord himself first hath said it, and given them this privi
* Concerning the work of my hands command ye me ; and which makes
lege,
it the more observable, before he doth in this place mentioned confer this honour and privilege upon them, he first (as on purpose) minds them of
that infinite distance and disproportion betwixt himself and them (so to
put the more wonder upon it) ; he tells them, ver. 9, 10, that they were but
the clay, he the potter, that could not (therefore of right) say so much unto him about his matters as, Why madest thou me thus ? Yet behold, I that am thus your maker, give you leave to dispose by your prayers the great works of my hands, which concern my children, my sons, the affairs of king doms, even so far as they relate to their good. And he speaks it upon this
occasion, that for their sakes he had raised up Cyrus, and pulled down the
Babylonian monarchy, because they by their prayers had sought this. They are said elsewhere to decree a thing, so Job, chap. xxii. 28, and to bring
it to pass ; and God is said to fulfil their counsels, Ps. xx. And this inte
rest they have either for good or evil to the nations they live in : first, for
evil ; thus, Eev. xi. 6, the two witnesses have power to smite the earth with plagues as oft as they will ; and if any man will hurt them in this
manner, he shall be killed, that is, with the highest and sorest vengeance, and God avengeth them speedily, Luke xviii. 8. And so for blessing,
1 the innocent delivers the island through the pureness of his hands, Job
xx. 80. Thus one righteous Lot was (for the present) the cause of the rescue of the Sodomites, the wickedest people in the world, and afterwards ordained to the greatest judgment.
Reason 3. A third reason is the interest of Jesus Christ himself. And to shew that he is King, even King of kings, and hath a kingdom ordained to him and his
saints, supreme to all theirs in the mean while, his design and practice is, and hath been, to break all kingdoms that do oppose him or oppress his
* The God of heaven
saints. This reason I might enlarge out of Daniel :
shall set up a kingdom, which shall break in pieces and consume all these
kingdoms, but it shall stand for ever, chap. ii. 44 and chap. vii. ; but I shall
insist (in this head of reasons) only upon that eminent title of Christ s (which
54 THE GREAT INTEREST OP [Ps. CV. 14, 15.
holds forth this his interest), that he is entitled King of saints, Rev. xv. 3 ; which title is there given him, as in relation to the setting up his worship, so to the overthrowing and overcoming the nations that do oppose his saints, and this by the seven vials which their prayers have filled. And at that time (it is likewise there said) he doth marvellous works, being King of saints. In the Old Testament he is called the King of nations (though he was King of saints also then), so Jer. x. 7 ; and he gave demonstration of it to pur