stroy them in a terrible tempest with thunder, lightning, earthquake, devouring fire, &c. is agreeable to many things in the prophecies of the Messiah. See what has before been observed, when speaking of the deluge and destruction of Sodom, and the destruction of the Amorites in Joshua's time. Other kings brought presents unto David and bowed down unto him. 2 Sam. v. 11. 1 Chron. xiv. 1. 2 Sam. viii. 2. 10. 1 Chron. xviii. 10. 2 Sam. x. 19. 1 Chron. xxii. 4; agreeable to Psa. lxxii. 10, 11. xlv. 12. lxviii. 29. Isai. xlix. 7, and Ix. 9.

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The honour, dominion, and crown of David's enemies was given unto him. 2 Sam. xii. 30, and 1 Chron. xx. 2. Ezek. xxi. 26, 27. Thus saith the Lord, Remove the diadem and take off the crown; this shall not be the same. Exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high: perverted, perverted, perverted will I make it, until he come whose right it is, and I will give it him." David's sons were princes. David's sons were chief rulers or princes, as it is in the margin; agreeably to Ps. xlv. 16. "Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth." David brought the wealth of the heathen into Jerusalem and dedicated it to God, and as it were built the temple with it. 2 Sam. viii. 11, 12. 1 Chron, xviii. 11, and xxvi. 26, 27, and chap. xxii. throughout, and xxix.; agreeably to Mic. iv. 13. "Arise, thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make thine horn iron, and thy hoofs brass; and thou shalt beat in pieces many people; and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth." Isai. xxiii. 17, 18. "The Lord will visit Tyre-and her merchandise and hire shall be holiness unto the Lord. It shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing." See also Isai. Ix. 5, 6. 9. 11. 13, Ixi. 6, and Zech. xiv. 14. David was a mediator; he stood between God and the people, both to keep off judgments and the punishment of sin, and also to procure God's favour towards them. For his sake God granted his gracious presence and favour with Israel. 2 Sam. vii. 10. Thus we read of favour which God showed to Israel, and withholding judgments from time to time for his servant David's sake. 1 Kings xi. 12, 13. 32. 34, xv. 4. 2 Kings viii. 19, xix. 34, and xx. 6. And he stood between God and the people of Jerusalem, when he saw the sword of justice drawn against it to destroy it. 2 Sam. xxiv. 17, to the end. So the Messiah is spoken of as in like manner the Mediator; being himself peculiarly God's elect and beloved, is given for a covenant of the people, Isai. xlii. 6. xlix. 8, and the messenger of the covenant, and a prophet like unto Moses, who was a mediator. And the prophecies speak of the forgiveness of sin, and the greatest mercy towards God's people, and

an everlasting covenant, and the pure mercies of David as being through the Messiah.

David as mediator saved the people of Jerusalem from destruction, by offering himself to suffer and die by the sword of the destroying angel, and by building an altar and offering sacrifice; 2 Sam. xxiv. 17, to the end, agreeably to the prophecies of the Messiah.

David not only made a tabernacle for God in mount Zion, and so provided an habitation for the Lord, but he in effect built the temple. He bought the ground on which it was built, built an altar upon it, and made provision for the building of the temple. It was in his heart to build an house to God's name, and he directed and ordered precisely how it should be built, and ordered all its services, 1 Chron. xxii., and xxiii., xxiv., xxv., xxvi.: agreeably to Zech. vi. 12, 13. Herein David was as the Messiah, a prophet like unto Moses, who built the tabernacle and the altar according to the pattern God gave him, (as he gave David the pattern of the tabernacle,) and gave the ordinances of the house, and ordered all things appertaining to the worship of the tabernacle. God by David gave to Israel new ordinances, a new law of worship, appointed many things that were not in the law of Moses, and some things that superseded the ordinances of Moses. This is agreeable to the things said of the Messiah. David made all manner of preparation for the building of the temple, and that in vast abundance; he laid up an immense treasure; 1 Chron. xxii. 14, xxviii. 14, &c., xxix. 2, &c., agreeably to Isai. xxv. 6. "And in this mountain shall the Lord make unto all people a feast of fat things," &c. Isai. lv. 1-9. "Ho, every one that thirsteth," &c. Hag. ii. 7. “I will fill this house with glory." Jer. xxxiii. 6. “I will reveal unto them the abundance of truth and peace.' Isai. Ixiv. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard," &c. Isai. lxvi. 12. "I will extend peace to her as a river." Ps. lxxii. 3. "The mountains shall bring peace." Ver. 7. "There shall be abundance of peace." Amos ix. 13. "The mountains shall drop sweet wine." Joel iii. 18." And it shall come to pass in that day, ⚫ that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Chittim." And Isai. Ix. throughout; besides the things which the prophecies say of the perfect satisfaction of God's justice, by the sacrifice of the Messiah, and the abundance of his righteousness and excellency. David made such great provision for the building of the temple, in his trouble by war, and by exposing his own life, which is agreeable to what the prophecies represent of Christ's procuring the immense blessings of his church, by his extreme sufferings and precious blood.

David was the head of God's people, the prince of the congregation of Israel, not only in their civil affairs, but in ecclesiastical affairs also, and their leader in all things appertaining to religion and the worship of God. Herein he was as the Messiah is represented in the prophecies, which speak of him as a prophet like unto Moses, and as the head of God's people, as their great king, prophet, and priest; and indeed almost all that the prophecies say of the Messiah, implies that he shall be the great head of God's people in their religious concerns. David regulated the whole body of the people, and brought them into the most exact and beautiful order; 1 Chron. xxvii., which is agreeable to what is represented of the church in the Messiah's days, as "beautiful for situation." Isai. xlviii. 2. "The perfection of beauty." Ps. 1. 2. "An eternal excellency, the joy of many generations." And what is represented in Ezekiel of the exact measures and order of all parts of the temple, the city, and the whole land. David built the altar in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, on Gentile ground; which is agreeable to what the prophecies represent of the church of the Messiah being erected in Gentile lands, and being made up of those that had been sinners.

The things that are said of Solomon fall little, if any thing, short of those that are said of David, in their remarkable agreement with things said of the Messiah in the prophecies. His name Solomon, signifies peace or peaceable, and was given him by God himself, from respect to the signification, because he should enjoy peace, and be a means of peace to God's people. 1 Chron. xxii. 9. "Behold a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about. For his name shall be Solomon; and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days." This is agreeable to Isai. ix. 6, 7. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called-the prince of peace, of the increase of his peace there shall be no end." Psa. cx. "Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec," who as the Apostle observes, was king of Salem, that is king of peace. Psa. lxxii. 3. "The mountains shall bring peace unto the people." Ver.7. "In his days shall the righteous flourish and abundance of peace, so long as the moon endureth." Psa. xxxv. 10. "Righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Isai. lii. 7. "How beautiful are the feet of him that publisheth peace." Jer. xxxiii. 6. "I will reveal unto them the abundance of truth and peace:" and many other places. When Solomon was born it is said the Lord loved him. 1 Sam. xii. 24. And the prophet Nathan for this reason called him by the name Jedidiah; i. e. the beloved of the Lord. He is also spoken of as the beloved son of his father. Prov. iv. 3. "For 1 was my father's son, tender and only

beloved in the sight of my mother." Solomon was the son of a woman that had been the wife of an Hittite, a Gentile by nation; fitly denoting the honour that the prophecies represent, that the Gentiles should have by their relation to the Messiah. God made mention of Solomon's name as one that was to be the great prince of Israel and means of their happiness from his mother's womb; agreeably to Isai. xlix. 1. "The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name." God promised to establish

the throne of Solomon for ever, in terms considerably like those used by the prophets concerning the kingdom of the Messiah. 2 Sam. vii. 12. "I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thine own bowels: and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever." Also 1 Chron. xxii. 10. Isai. ix. 6, 7. "Of the increase of his government there shall be no end- -upon the throne of David and his kingdom-to establish it -from henceforth even for ever." Psa. cx. "Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec." Dan. vii. 14. "His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away; and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” Solomon is spoken of as God's son. 1 Chron. vii. 14. "I will be his father and he shall be my son." 1 Chron. xxii. 9, 10. "His name shall be Solomon- -he shall be my son and I will

be his father." Chap. xxviii. 6. "And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts. For I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father." Solomon was in an eminent manner God's elect. 1 Chron. xxviii. 5, 6. "And of all my sons (for the Lord hath given me many sons) he hath chosen Solomon my son, to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. And he said Solomon thy son have I chosen to be my son." Chap. xxxix. 1. "David the king said unto all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen." Though David had many sons, and many born before Solomon, yet Solomon was made his first born, higher than all the rest, and his father's heir and his brethren's prince; agreeably to Psa. lxxxvii. 27. "I will make him my first born, higher than the kings of the earth." Psa. xlv. 7. "Thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." The word which Nathan, the minis ter of the Lord, spake to Bathsheba, David's wife, and Solomon's mother, and the counsel he gave her, was the occasion of the introduction of the blissful and glorious reign of Solomon, 1 Kings i. 11–13. So the prophecies represent the preaching of God's ministers as the means of introducing the glorious kingdom of the Messiah. Isai. lxii. 6, 7. "I have set watch

men upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night-till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." Chap. lii. 7, 8. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing. For they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." This earnest incessant preaching of ministers shall be in the first place to the visible church of God, that is represented in the Old Testament both as the wife and mother of Christ. She is represented as his mother, Mic. iv. 10. "Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail;" with the next chapter, ver. 2, 3. "Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel-Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth." Isai. ix. 6. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." Cant. iii.

11. "Behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him." Solomon's father had solemnly promised, and covenanted, and sworn to Bathsheba long beforehand, that Solomon should reign and sit on his throne. So the sending of the Messiah and introducing the blessings of his reign was the grand promise, covenant, and oath of God to his church of old, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and in David's and the prophets' times. Ps. lxxxix. 3, 4. 35, 36. 2 Sam. xxiii. 3-5. Jer. xxxiii. 17 to the end, and many other places. The glorious reign of Solomon is introduced on the earnest petitions and pleadings of Bathsheba with his father. 1 Kings i. 15-21. So the prophecies often represent that the glorious peace and prosperity of the Messiah's reign shall be given in answer to the earnest and importunate prayers of the church. Ezek. xxxvi. 37. "I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them." Jer. xxix. 11-14. Cant. ii. 14. Zech. xii. 10. Bathsheba pleads the king's promise and covenant. So the church is often represented as waiting for the fulfilment of God's promises with respect to the benefits of the Messiah's kingdom. Gen. xlix. 18. Isai. viii. 17, and xxx. 18, xl. 31, and xlix. 23. Zeph. iii. 8. Isai. xxv. 9, xxvi. 8, and Ixiv. 4. Solomon came to the crown after the people had set up a false heir, one that pretended to be the heir of David's crown, and for a while seemed as though he would carry all before him. This is agreeable to the prophecies of the Messiah, which represent that his king shall be set up on the ruins of that of others, who should exalt themselves and assume the dominion. Ezek. xvii. 24. "I the Lord have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree," &c. Ch. xxi. 26. "Thus saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem, take off the crown; this shall not be

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