that that was past; whereas this is spoken of as future; but when, (says the Doctor) 'I consider that Jehovah, and the Branch, are the only persons mentioned in the text, and so could only with propriety be "spoken of, though the counsel was between the three; and that in the Hebrew 'language, tenses are frequently put one ❝ for the other, the past for the future, and so the future for the past, and things are 'said to be when they appear to be, though they were before; the sense may be, 'that when the man, the Branch, should grow out of his place, and build the temple, and bear the glory, and sit a priest upon his throne, then it should 'clearly appear, that there had been a 'council of peace between them both, which was the ground and foundation of all. It is clearly revealed in the Holy Scriptures, that God has loved his people with an everlasting love. See his own declaration, (Jer. xxxi. 3.) "I have loved thee (says the Lord unto the church,) with an everlasting love." This love proceeds from the heart of God, and is the fruit of his own divine sovereignty: with

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out any cause or motive in the creature. It pleased the Lord, out of the riches of his own grace, and to the praise of the glory of his grace, to choose, appoint, and predestinate, his own co-equal and co-eternal Son, to be the great Head of his body the church. And having chosen Jesus Christ to be the Head, he chose his people in Christ, to be members in him their Head, before the foundation of the world. Christ was laid as the foundation, and the elect were laid upon him as the only foundation which could bear them up, and support them. And the Son of God, viewing the elect, as presented by the Father, in the glass of his own eternal decrees and purposes, in all that beauty, holiness, and glory, which the Father designed them for, and decreed to make them partakers of in heaven: he fell in love with their persons, and asked them at the hands of his Father, that they might be his bride and spouse, and God the Father gave them unto him, and gave him for them, with long life, even length of days, for ever and ever. And having chose their per

sons in him, and having accepted their persons in the Beloved, God the Father, loving the elect in Christ with an incomprehensible love, as boundless and bottomless, as vast and infinite, as Godhead itself, the Father blessed them in Christ with all spiritual blessings. (See Ephes. i. 3.) And God, unto whom all things past, present, and to come, are ever in view, foreseeing the fall, and the miseries which would be brought upon the elect hereby, was pleased to purpose, by an eternal purpose in Christ Jesus, the salvation of them from sin, Satan, death, and hell. In his vast and infinite wisdom, he found out a way, in which all the persons in the Godhead might be manifested, and all the perfections of the Godhead might be glorified. And the eternal Father laid help upon one that was mighty to save. He was Almighty. He being in the Godhead, a person coequal and co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, And Christ the eternal Son of God, who was the great Head of his church and people, was graciously pleas ed to undertake the work of bringing

many sons and daughters unto eternal glory, by his becoming man, and by his obedience and death, giving satisfaction to his Father's law and justice, and conquering in his own person, sin, death and hell. Now, if it be asked, why this divine compact between God and the Lamb, is called the Council of Peace? the reason is, because in this council and covenant of the eternal Trinity, it was contrived and agreed upon, that the Lamb of God should be cut off by the sword of divine justice, and that peace should be made by his most precious blood. The Son of God, in the council and covenant of grace, undertook to be the surety of his people, and engaged to assume their nature into personal union with himself; and in that nature to fulfil all righteousness for them, and to bear their sins in his own body on the tree. To bear the curse and wrath of the Father's justice, and the chastisement of their peace;" that is, the punishment for the sins of the elect, was to be inflicted on him, whereby their peace and reconciliation was to be made. And the Father's

promise to the Son in covenant was, that upon condition of his making his soul an offering for sin," he should see his seed, the travail of his soul, and should be satisfied." Now, as this counsel was concerning peace and reconciliation, how peace may be made between God and man, it may well be called a "counsel of peace." And it may very justly be called a council, because such resolutions that are taken after mature deliberation and consultation, are generally formed in the wisest manner. So the purpose and council of God, concerning the salvation of the elect, is the effect of his own infinite wisdom. Yea, it is the effect of the manifold wisdom of God.

Having spoken of the covenant between the Father and the Son, concerning the salvation of the elect, I proceed to consider the other particulars in our text, and shall begin, first, with the Promiser, "The Lord of Hosts." Even him, who is selfexistent, and who is independent of all creatures, beings, and things. The whole creation being unto him, but as the drop of a bucket, and as the small dust of the