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iron" and what the import and effect of this is, we have written in the second Psalm, from which it is taken. In that wonderful Psalm, the same confederation of the might, and dominion, and warlike prowess of the earth against God and his anointed, is set forth; and the Son is sent out against it; and what ensueth?" Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Can any similitude so describe the whole institution of power and priesthood, of church and state subverted for ever, irreparably broken, as a potter's vessel dashed upon the ground and shivered to pieces which can by no means whatever be repaired again or turned to any use whatever. Observe also the kind of exhortation founded upon this prediction, and addressed to the kings and judges of the earth. "Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little."-Now, that it is wrath which he cometh to execute with that sword of judgment and sceptre of iron, is expressly declared in the third of the synibols, which are used to express this action: "And he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." What this means, and with what effects attended, is set forth to us in these words (Rev. xiv. 19, 20): “And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winc-press of the wrath of God. And the wine-press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine-press, even unto the horsebridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs." I do not anticipate the matter by entering par ticularly into the exposition of their symbols, but merely transcribe them to shew what is the action thus variously set forth by "the sword of the mouth," "the rod of iron," and "the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." I am very patient, and some may think tedious; but I am very desirous to convince my brethren, both ministers and people, that there is an act of terrible judgment coming upon Christendom, to be done and executed by Christ, whereof the symbol is "the sword which proceedeth out of his mouth." For I feel every

night as if I should not see the morning: so near do I think and hope his coming to be, for the redemption of his people from these snares of Satan, which are on every hand of us.

Having thus satisfied every one, as I trust, that the radical meaning of this symbol is "execution of righteous judgment," I now proceed to explain wherefore it proceedeth out of his mouth, and is not placed in his right hand. Of this we have the exposition in the xlixth chapter of Isaiah, from which the symbol is manifestly taken. In the way of a proclamation, Christ thus issueth his word to the isles and peoples afar upon the earth (ver. 1—3): "Listen, O isles, unto me, and hearken, ye people, from far; The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me, and said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified." Now what can the expression "hath made my mouth like a sharp sword" mean, but that the words of his mouth could not by any means be resisted, but were sharp and powerful as the sword of a mighty man. It is an usual thing to give this similitude for the word of God. Eph. vi. 17: "The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Heb. iv. 12: "The word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." This attribute of the word of God to carry its own sharp execution into all regions, visible and invisible, of creation, is here given to Israel, which being interpreted is, "the Prince of God," not the son of Isaac, but "Him in whom God is to be glorified," Him, who, after wrestling with his Father's strength put forth against him all the night, doth in the morning receive the name of Israel, or Prince of God. Jacob was his name while serving for his wife, and bearing all extremes of ill but Israel is his name when, having redeemed her, he entereth into the presence of God, and is crowned King and Priest, Lord and Christ. Then a dialogue commenceth between the Father and the Son, and runneth on through the whole chapter unto the conclusion of it, which

is in these words; "I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine; and all flesh shall know that I am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer the mighty One of Jacob." This is the action for which "Israel's mouth was made like a sharp sword," and until the time of which he was hidden in the shadow of God's hand during this time of his absence. But when he shall be no longer hidden but revealed, then shall he come forth as the arrow of the Lord from the quiver, in which he is now hid. There is another prophecy in Isaiah, which doubtless referreth to the same final catastrophe, and which for its language might be characterized as the prophecy of the sword of the Lord. It is in the xxxivth chapter, and is likewise addressed or proclaimed abroad to all nations, verses 4 and 5: "And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse to judgment." That it refers to the same conclusive event of the seventh seal is manifest, as well from the quotation of the fourth verse under the sixth seal, which ushereth in the seventh (Rev. vi. 12, 13); and by the treading of the wine-press which is in Bozrah (1sa. Ixiii. 1), and by the sword of the Lord being bathed in the blood of the mighty ones of the earth. This chapter furnisheth moreover a key to the nature of the judgment which is to fall upon the territories of Rome, into which however we enter not at present; except to refer our readers to it for the fate of Idumea and Edom, with this intimation that under that name Rome is signified, as indeed the Jews have always believed, and also the few students of prophecy which there are among Christians.

If the sword which destroys and devours the enemies of the Lord proceed out of his mouth, it may be asked what is meant by Psalm cxlix. ver. 5-9: "Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind

their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord." The difficulty consists in this, that here the saints are represented with the sharp two-edged sword in their right hand. Now it is not to be doubted that as he rules the nations in that day, his saints also rule them: for in the same language in which his Father gives him the dominion, doth he give the same dominion to us. Psalm ii. compare with Rev. ii. 27. If then he is not to draw the sword with his right hand, but speak slaughter with the breath of his mouth, we also, in like manner, under him should act: being that arrowy lightning, those whirlwinds and tempests, the ministers of his word to fulfil it: not then as at Sinai; for at Sinai he was served by the angels, then by his saints. And accordingly we find that in the emblematical vision (Rev. xix.), when he and they come out on this high emprize, they are arrayed in like wise with him, only that they have no sword in their right hand, or proceeding out of their mouth: the only weapon of battle amongst them all being the chilling breath of the lips of the Word of God. And how then is this to be reconciled with the passage quoted from the cxlix th Psalm ? By remembering this great canon of Prophetical interpretation, that while the letter of it is fulfilled by the Jewish people, the spirit of it is fulfilled by the spiritual people of the Lord: they in the visible and apparent, we in the spiritual and real, are the fulfillers of the Prophecy. To them I believe it is reserved in that day to arm against the apostate enemies of the Lord, and do exploits: to them is it reserved to bind the kings of the heathen with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron. The Lord shall yet bend Judah and fill the bow with Eprahim, and raise up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece. The tribes shall yet be the battle-axe of the Lord, and his weapons of war. But while this slaughter of the apostate nations is proceeding, I believe it will proceed under the banner and ensign of the Son of Man, who with his risen saints will manifest himself in the cloud; He, enthroned upon the cherubim which is his glorified saints, shall appear at the head, and shall fight for them as heretofore he did against the Egyptians and the Canaanites: so that while

the Jews stoutly and bravely under the leading of his banner achieve the victory, we shall serve the Lord Christ in being to them for a spirit of victory, and to their enemies for a spirit of confusion, and in many other ways which to the resurrection body may be easy and possible, yea, and proper, though as yet we know nothing of it. In this way will all the prophecy be harmoniously fulfilled.

This then is the sum of the matter with respect to the sword proceeding out of his mouth. The sword with two edges is the symbol of judgment, and execution of judgment; and being used against the church, is the symbol of discipline, -for all the judgment in the church, is dicipline of love. Therefore it is said (ver. 16), “Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them (that is, these heretical persons) with the sword of my mouth." It is called the sword of his mouth, because it is the word of his mouth. His word being sharper than any two-edged sword. By revealing himself to the church under this symbol, he teacheth two things: first, that he is not only a physician to heal, but likewise a chirurgeon to cut off; that he useth not only the balm of healing, but likewise the knife of excision; that he suffereth no unholiness in his house, according as it is written, Psalm ci., "Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off; he that worketh deceit shall not dwell in my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. I will early destroy all the wicked of the land: that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord." This office, as Bishop of his church, he early put in force against Annanias and Sapphira. Paul required it to be put in force against the incestuous person in the Corinthian church, and the Lord threateneth it against the heretical and impure persons in the church of Pergamos; and we may no more doubt that this is a standing office of our great Bishop, and a constant experience of his church, than we may doubt of the other aspects of his episcopacy already mentioned. The second thing which we learn from this character of our great Bishop is, that he useth not, he serveth himself not with the civil sword, but only with the sword of his mouth. He, as Head of the church, standeth not in need of help from the civil sword: His word is sufficient to execute itself; but that pestilent usurper

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