ment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." It is a part of what God in Jeremiah promised to dispense by him; I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.' It is one of the Messias's performances, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity;' to' sprinkle clean water' on God's people, and to save them from their uncleannesses.' In fine, the prophet Zechariah saith of his time, that in that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.'

Now to all this the preaching of Jesus did exactly correspond; it being indeed, as it was named, a gospel, or message of good and joy; declaring the special good-will of God, and his merciful willingness to be reconciled to mankind; offering peace and pardon to all that are sensible of their guilt, and penitent for their sin; imparting rest, comfort, and liberty to all that are weary and afflicted with spiritual burdens, grievances, and slaveries; taking off all grievous yokes of superstition, servility, and sin; and in their stead imposing a no less sweet and pleasant, than just and reasonable obedience; ministering all sorts of blessings needful for our succor, relief, ease, content, and welfare; wholly breathing sweetest love, (all kinds of love; love between God and man, between man and man, between man and his own conscience ;) filling the hearts of those who sincerely embrace and comply with it, with present joy, and raising in them gladsome hopes of future bliss. It was indeed the most joyous sound that ever enteredinto man's ears, the most welcome news that ever was reported on earth; news of a certain and perfect salvation from all the enemies of our welfare, from all the causes of mischief and misery to us; well therefore deserving that auspicious gratulation from the angel- Behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.'

3. Collateral unto, or coincident with, those performances, (the teaching such a doctrine, publishing such a law, dispensing such blessings,) was the formal institution and establishment of a new, everlasting covenant, (different from all precedent covenants, and swallowing them up in its perfection,) a covenant between God and man, wherein God, entering into a most

strict alliance and relation with us, should be pleased to dispense the blessings of spiritual illumination and assistance, of mercy and favor, of salvation and felicity; wherein we in way of condition, according to obligations of justice and gratitude, should engage to return unto God by hearty repentance, and to persist in faithful obedience to him: of such a covenant the Messias was to be the messenger and mediator, or the angel thereof, (as the prophet Malachi speaketh, alluding, it seems, to that angel of God's presence, who ordained the Jewish law, and conducted the Israelites toward the promised land;) of which covenant and its mediator, God in Isaiah thus spake : 'I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and I will hold thine hand, and I will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house :' and of the same he again; Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David-Behold, I have given him a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people:' so in general he speaketh thereof, and inviteth thereto then a special part thereof he expresseth thus; 'Let the wicked man forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon.' Of the same covenant God in Ezekiel speaketh thus ; 'I will set up one shepherd over them'-' and I will make with them a covenant of peace, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them'-' and I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore'-' they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.' Of the same, God thus declareth in Jeremiah, most fully and plainly reckoning the particular blessings tendered therein: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law into their

inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: and they shall teach no more every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more:' which words signify the tenor of that covenant on God's part to import that God would impart a full and clear discovery of his will unto them, whom it should concern; that he would afford to them all requisite means and helps, qualifying them for the performance of their duty; that he would bestow on them (complying with the terms of this covenant, and performing their duty) an intire remission of all their sins, with an assurance of his constant and perpetual favor.

Now that Jesus did institute such a covenant, wherein all the benefits promised on God's part, and all the duties required on our parts, do punctually correspond to the terms of that predesigned by the prophets, is apparent by the whole tenor of the Christian gospel; wherein a full declaration of God's will is held forth, so that no man (except out of wilfulness or negligence) can be ignorant thereof; wherein, on condition of faith and repentance, God's mercy and pardon are exhibited and offered to all; wherein the communication of God's holy Spirit of grace (for directing and assisting the embraces of this covenant in the practice of their duty) is promised and dispensed; wherein on our part faith in God (or heartily returning to him) and faithful observance of God's laws are required; wherein God declareth a most favorable regard and love (together with very near and endearing relations) to those who undertake and conform to his terms; of which new covenant Jesus is represented the Angel, the Mediator, the Sponsor; having by his preaching declared it, by his merits and intercessions purchased and procured it, by his blood ratified and assured it to us.

4. In coincidence also with those performances, it is declared that the Messias should erect a kingdom spiritual in nature, universal in extent, and perpetual in duration; by the power and virtue, whereof the enemies of God's people should be curbed and quelled; the subjects of which should live together in amity and peace, in safety and prosperity; wherein truth

and righteousness should gloriously flourish. The chief testimonies of ancient Scripture predicting this kingdom I had occasion before to mention, and shall not repeat them now; only concerning the nature and extent thereof I shall add somewhat, serving for illustration and proof of our main purpose.

That it was to be a spiritual kingdom (not a visible dominion over the bodies and estates of men, managed by external force and co-action, but a government of men's hearts and consciences by secret inspirations, and moral instructions or persuasions) may be several ways collected and argued it appeareth from the temper and disposition of its Founder, who was to be 'a Prince of Peace;' of a peaceable, meek, patient, and humble disposition: it may be inferred from his condition, which was not to be a state of external grandeur and magnificence, but of poverty and affliction; for he was to be as he is described, meau and despicable in appearance; having no form or comeliness, no beauty, that when we should see him, we should desire him;' being a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief:' it also followeth from the events happening to him, which were not to conquer and triumph openly in view of carnal eyes; but to be despised and rejected, to be afflicted, oppressed, and slaughtered by men; the same we may learn from the manner of its establishment and propagation; which was not to be effected by force and violence, but by virtue of a quiet and gentle instruction; by reasonable words, not by hard blows: so doth the prophet signify, when he saith of the Messias, that, with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked:' not by force of hands, or terror of arms, not in furious and bloody combats, but by the spiritual rod of his mouth,' with the soft breath of his lips he was to slay the wicked, converting them unto righteousness: so doth Daniel also imply when he saith, that' a stone cut out of the mountains without hands should break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms.' Yea the nature thereof itself doth argue the same; for the laws enjoined and duties required, the blessings ministered and rewards propounded therein are purely spiritual, not relating to a temporal state, yea hardly consisting

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with secular domination; as may appear by attending to its fundamental constitution, or to the covenant settled between the Prince and subjects thereof; wherein the divine spirit and grace, light and knowlege, mercy and pardon for sins, comfort of mind, and peace of conscience, God's especial love and favor, things merely spiritual, are expressly promised; but worldly power, wealth, and prosperity are pretermitted; and thence may justly be presumed no ingredients, or appurtenances thereof. Indeed the constitution of a temporal or worldly kingdom, with visible pomp and lustre, such as the Jews (a grossly conceited and sensually affected people) did, mistaking the prophets, desire and expect, had been a thing, as very agreeable to the carnal or childish opinions of men, so in reasonable esteem of no considerable value, benefit, or use to mankind: such a domination could only have concerned the mortal part and temporal state of man; it could only have procured some trivial conveniences for our bodies, or gratifications to our sense the settlement also, and preservation of such a kingdom (according to that vast extent and long duration which the prophets imply) seemeth, without quite altering the whole frame of human nature, scarce possible; and reasons there are obvious enough, why it would not be expedient or beneficial for men: but the founding and upholding a spiritual kingdom (such as we described) is evidently of inestimable benefit to the nobler and more divine part of men; may serve to promote the eternal welfare of our souls; may easily, without changing the natural appetites of men, or disturbing the world, be carried on any where, and subsist for ever by the occult influences of divine grace; it consequently is most worthy of God to design and accomplish. Such a kingdom therefore was meant by the prophets, being indeed no other than a church, or society of persons, with unanimous consent heartily acknowleging the one true God of Israel, Maker of heaven and earth, for their Sovereign Prince and Lawgiver; submitting themselves in all their actions to his laws and commands, expecting protection and recompense of their obedience from him.

As for the general extent of this kingdom, and the Messias's proceedings in settling and propagating it, that is also very perspicuously and copiously represented in the ancient prophets,