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tified. But lest any should think, that Christ is here only considered as the executor of the testament, bequeathed to us by God, the apostle twice repeats, that Christ was not pro mised to us, or that salvation was not promised to us through Christ, though that be also true; but that the promises were made to Christ himself, v. 16. That Christ was that seed, sayynalar, to which he had promised, or to which the promise was made; namely, concerning the inheritance of the world, and the kingdom of grace and glory. It is evident therefore, that the word dianan does here denote some covenant or testament, by which something is promised by God to Christ. Nor do I see what can be objected to this, unless by Christ we should understand the head, together with the mystical body, which with Christ is that one seed to which the promises are made. This indeed we shall not refuse, if it also be admitted, that Christ, who is the head, and eminently the seed of Abraham, be on no account excluded from these promises, especially as the promises made to his mystical body ought to be considered as made to himself; since he also himself hath received gifts for men, Psal. lxviii. 19.

VI. Nor ought those places to be omitted in which explicit mention is made of the suretiship of Christ as Psal. cxix. 122. be surety for thy servant for good; that is, as surety receive him into thy protection, that it may be well with him. In like manner, Isa. xxxviii, 14. I am oppressed, undertake for me, be to me a surety and patron. And that none but Christ alone could thus undertake, God himself says, Jer. Xxx. 21. who is this, that engaged his heart, or appealed his heart by his suretiship, or sweetened his heart by a voluntary and fiducial engagement, or in fine, pledged his very heart, giving his soul as both the matter and price of suretiship (for all these things are comprised in the emphasis of the Hebrew language) to approach unto me, that he may expiate sin? These words also shew, what that suretiship, or undertaking was, which David and Hezekiah sought for: namely, a declaration of will to approach unto God, in order to procure the expiation of sins.

VII. In fine, we may refer to this point, Zech, vi. 18. "the counsel of peace shall be between them both," namely be tween the man, whose name is the Branch, and Jehovah : for, no other two occur here. It will not be foreign to our purpose, to throw some light on this place by a short analysis. and paraphrase. In this and the preceding verse, there is a remarkable prophecy concerning the Messiah, whose person, offices, and glory, the prophet truly describes in a short, but

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lively manner, subjoining at last the cause of all these; namely, why the Messiah appeared as such a person, executed such offices, and obtained such a glory; namely, because of that counsel which was between him and the Father, the fruit of which with respect to us, is peace. Of the person of the Messiah he says, that he is wx, the man, that is, true man, see Hos, ii. 15. and indeed, the most eminent among men; not

ימינך איש which words denote tretched mann, but אוס or אנוש

"the man of thy right hand," Psal. lxxx. 17. Because Christ
is not here considered as in the abasement of his misery, but
as in the excellence of his glory. His name is the Branch,
because sprung from God, Isa. iv. 2. Zech. i. 12. A new
root of a new offspring, or of the sons of God, according to
promise and regeneration, the second Adam. And indeed, a
branch, which shall blossom under himself. Aben Ezra, n
from itself, which shall not be produced, or propagated, by
any sowing, or planting of man's hand, but shall spring from
virgin, by the peculiar power of the Deity. His office is to
build the temple of the Lord, that is, the church of the eleet,
"which is the house of God," 1 Tim. iii. 15. which Christ
xaraoxsuas framed, Heb. iii. 4. and built, Matt. xvi. 18.
Laying the foundation in his cross, and cementing it with his
blood. But because, in the same breath, it is twice said, "he
shall build the temple of the Lord," it may suggest to our
minds, whether besides the building of the church, which is
the mystical body of Christ, the resurrection of Christ's own
natural body may not be intended, which is called, "the build-
ing of the temple," John ii. 19, 21. which being done, he
will receive majesty," a name above every name, and sit on
the throne of God, to execute his kingly and priestly office in
glory. For a king to sit on a throne is nothing strange, but
for a priest, very much so; being contrary to the custom of
the ancient priests in the Old Testament, who stood daily,
often offering the same sacrifices; because their labour was
ineffectual to remove the guilt of sin, Heb. x. 11. But Christ
having once offered up the one sacrifice of himself, and by it
obtained eternal redemption, sat down for ever at the right
hand of the Father, never to rise to offer a second time, Heb. .
i. 3. and ix. 12, 14. He now does what his session gives him
a right to do, he makes intercession for his people, Rom. viii.
34. As was ingeniously observed by James Altingius, Hept.
3. Dissert. 6. § 49. But whence does all this proceed, and
what is the origin of such important things? The counsel
of peace, which is between the man whose name is the Branch,
and between Jehovah, whose temple he shall build, and on

whose throne he shall sit, Rev. iii. 21. And what else can this counsel be, but the mutual will of the Father and the Son, which we said is the nature of the covenant PIt is called counsel, both on account of the free and liberal good pleasure of both, and of the display of the greatest wisdom manifested therein. And a counsel of peace, not between God and Christ, between whom there never was any enmity; but of peace to be procured to sinful man with God, and to sinners with themselves.

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VIII. It seems two things may be objected, to which we are briefly to answer. 1st. That by those two we are not to understand the Father and the Son, but the Jews and the Gentiles 2dly. That here it is not the counsel, which is the original and cause of all these things, and which ought to have been expressed in the preterperfect or present tense; but the counsel, which is the fruit of Christ's intercession, of which the prophet speaks in the future tense. To the first, I answer, that this exposition is asserted but not proved. There is no distinct mention made of Jews and Gentiles in the preceding verses of this chapter, and it is not lawful for us to add any thing to the text. What others allege concerning a priest and king, or the office of priest and king, or about the Jews of Jerusalem and Babylon, is quite forced. Our explica tion, says the very learned De Dieu, who here is of the same opinion with us, appears simple and plain. Neither is it new, since Jerome tells us, that this verse was understood of the Father and the Son. To the second, I reply, that there is nothing can oblige us to assent to it; as the words, by our analysis and explanation, yield a very just and profitable sense, and this covenant could not be expressed by a more significant term than that of a mutual counsel between the Father and the Son. What is added with respect to the difference of tenses, seems to be of small moment: for that the tenses in Hebrew are often put one for the other, and the future for the present, none can be ignorant of, but they who are indifferently skilled in that language: see Psalm xvii. 8. Thou hast tried me; and thou doest, or didst find nothing; literally, thou shalt find. Such changes of tenses often occur in the same Psalm. Besides something is then said to be done in scripture, when it is declared to be solemnly done; of which instances are to be met with every where, see Acts i. 36. We will therefore fully explain the words thus, the counsel of peace is between both. And if you entirely insist on the future tense, the meaning will be this: At the exaltation of Christ, and the peace advanced by him from heaven, there

But we need

will be a manifest execution of this counsel. not come to this: for if by this counsel, we understand that agreement, which subsisted between the Father and Christ, God-man, when assuming human nature, he appeared as the surety; the prophet might and ought to speak of it in the future tense: and he does so in a beautiful order, ascending from the effects to the cause, in the following manner; Christ God-man shall build the spiritual temple of the Lord; for which he shall receive as a reward, glorious majesty, and shall sit on the throne of God. And this needs not seem strange : for Christ clothing himself with human flesh, will, by a certain compact, on which our peace is founded, promise to the Father that he will do all this. The Father, on the other hand, will promise thus to reward that service. In this manner every thing runs smoothly. See more of this, chap. iii. §

II-IV.

IX. It is also a proof of this, that Christ, often in the Psalms and elsewhere, calls God the Father his God. See, among other places, Psal. xxii. 3. and xlv. 8. Isa. xlix. 4, 5. and John xx. 17. which is the form or manner of the covenant. In this sense Jacob promised that the Lord should be his God, Gen. xxviii. 21. that is, that he would so frame his whole life, as became one in covenant with God. The Israelites also, when they solemnly renewed the covenant, Josh. xxiv. 18. said, "we will serve the Lord, for he is our God." In like manner God promises in the covenant, that he will be the God of his covenant people; that is, display the riches of his allsufficiency for their salvation; Jer. xxxi. 33. "This is my covenant, that I will make with the house of Israel. I will be their God." Deut. xxvi. 17. Thou hast avouched the Lord, (thou hast made the Lord say) this day to be, that he will be thy God." The very meaning of the word, [which we render God] implies this: for, hx, Eloah, derived from hx, he swore or adjured, denotes him, whose prerogative it is to bind us by oath, to love and faithful obedience to him, and to whom we ought by oath, to give all obedience; and who on his part engages that he will be all-sufficient to his faithful servants for salvation. He therefore who professes Eloah to be his God, does, at the same time by virtue of the covenant of God, call himself the servant of God: For, 127, servant, is the correlate of n Eloah, or D'nhx, Elohim: and as in Psalm lxxxvi. 2. preserve thy servant, O thou my God. And in this

manner the Father calls Christ, in many places, his servant, Isaiah xlix. 5, 6. Besides, such a one professes, that he only depends on the promise and testimony of that covenant :

in these things the whole nature and design of the covenant consists. As therefore Christ calls God the Father his God; and on the other hand, the Father calls Christ his servant, both of them do by that name indicate a compact of obedience and reward.

X. But we come now more particularly to discuss all the parts of this covenant, that it may not only appear there subsists some covenant between Christ and the Father, but what that covenant is and of what nature. The contracting parties are, on the one hand, the Father, whom Christ calls my Lord, Psal. xvi. 2. On the other hand, the Son, whom the Father calls his servant, Isa. liii, 2. The law of the covenant is proposed by the Father, John x. 18. " this commandment have I received of my Father;" and John xii. 49, "the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment." To that law a promise is added by the Father, Isa. liii. 10-12. "when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, (when his soul shall make itself an offering for sin) he shall see his seed," &c. and Isa, xlix. 6—8. "it is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob," &c. On performing that law, the Son acquires a right to ask the reward, Psal. ii. 8. “ ask of me, and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Thus far the proposal of the covenant on the part of the Father. The acceptance on the part of the Son consists in this: that he willingly submitted himself to the law of the covenant, Psal. xl. 7-9. mine ears hast thou (bored) opened; that is, thou hast engaged me a willing servant to thyself, having agreed about the reward." Then said I, lo! I come. I delight to do thy will; yea thy law is within my heart:" see also John xiv. 31. Nor did the Son only undertake this, but actually performed it," being made of a woman, made under the law," Gal. iv. 4. John x. 10. "I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love:" and John viii. 29. "I do always those things that please him." Nor did he part with his life, till he had truly said, It is finished, John xix. 30. In the course of this obedience the Son comforted himself in the faithfulness of the Father, to accomplish his promises. "I said surely my judgment (reward) is with the Lord, and (the recompence of) my work with my God," Isa. xlix. 4. And when he drew near the end of his course, he claimed, with great confidence of mind, the promised reward, John xvii. 4, 5. "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine ownself, with the glory

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