II.

But such being the manner and extent in which antichrist has attempted to parody Christ and His nations, in connection with what we have seen to be Christ's claim over them, we next take occasion to refer to the true duty and safety of nations and their kings.

In the sight of God nations are individual beings to whom He has given existence on His earth, moral creatures, but guilty, fallen, exposed to wrath; and, in view of the greater advantages under which modern nations live, their case calling for a more dreadful destruction than even that which came upon the cities of the Plain, or on the nations of Canaan. This is no exaggerated picture of the true condition of the nations, and hence, entrusted as they are with the safety of their nations, under supreme obligation in every way to provide for that safety, and, happily, so sure of success in the use of God's graciously appointed means:

The first duty of kings and rulers is to realise and truly to feel for themselves, and to endeavour to get their nations with them to realise, this their first and greatest danger, and cause of all else that they have to fear. 'Come near ye nations to hear; and hearken ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their armies'—(Isa. xxxiv. 1, 2). 'At His wrath,' too, 'the earth shall tremble, and the page 67 nations shall not be able to abide His indignation'—(Jer. x. 10). It was, therefore, no idle alarm with which Josiah was seized in his day, when on the discovery of the book it was read to him, and he rent his clothes, and sent Hilkiah and the rest, saying, 'Go ye, enquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us'—(2 Kings xxii. 13). On the contrary, we see exemplified in him the wisdom, and the very first duty of kings and rulers on behalf of their nations, in which, however, alas, they have been so little instructed, and to which, therefore, as yet, they have been so little brought; to which they may be brought only as the result of some tremendous experience, or exemplification of the indignation lying upon the nations, but to which they shall surely be brought at last, in fulfilment of the gracious promise, 'The kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider'—(Isa. lii. 15).

But there is a gospel for kings and nations, a gospel for every creature, and 'Which is now made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, to be made known to all nations for the obedience of faith'—(Rom. xvi. 26); and if it is the first duty of kings and their nations to fear in view of the indignation which lies upon them, their next duty is to hear, to consider, to receive, and in every way faithfully to act upon the gospel, that by the commandment of the everlasting God is preached to them for the obedience of faith.

This gospel for the nation, and the duty lying on kings and rulers in relation to it, may be illustrated by the gospel for the family and the duty in connection with it, incumbent on parents and heads of families; for just as, although supremely for the nation, the law was primarily for the family, its language to Adam being, 'Do this, and thou shalt live, thou and thy house,' so, although supremely for the nation, the page 68 gospel also is primarily for the family, its language addressed to the head of the house being, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house'—(Acts xvi. 31). This gospel, accordingly, the head of the house must receive, and in outward profession of his faith in it, and that it may be signified and sealed to him in all its family extent, he must be baptised, 'he and all his straightway.' But it must not only be received, it must be believingly acted on, in the believing, diligent persevering, agonizing use of the means to which a fulfilment of the promise will be given. With Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, and moved with fear, he must prepare an ark to the saving of his house—(Heb. xi. 7). He must exercise his parental authority carefully to separate himself and his house, and to keep them separate, from idolatry, false worship, profanity, and all that is inconsistent with his professed faith in the promise. He must remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, exercising his authority so as to secure that in it, 'Thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle.' And in connection with this, he must 'honour the Lord with his substance, and with the first-fruits of all his increase.' But, farther, he must evangelise his family, ministering to them himself, as well as bringing them under the public ministry of the word—(Gen. xviii. 19). He must pray with and for his house, keeping no silence, and refusing to let God go until the family blessing and salvation comes—(Gen. xxxii. 22-28). He must go before them in a Christian example, and exercise also his parental authority for the correction, or suppression, of uprisings of evil. To faith thus patiently manifesting itself is the promise given, and to such faith will it be fulfilled. Already there is a pledge, or a channel for success to run in, in that natural authority and influence of the parent on his child, which is the gift of God, and in the natural subjection of the child to his parent, and readiness to be influenced by him, which is also the gift of God, but enforced and sanctified as these come to be under the promise, success is certain. 'The hearts of the fathers being turned to page 69 the children, then the hearts of the children shall be turned to the fathers, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just'—(Mal. iv. 6; Luke i. 17). The outward sprinkling in baptism, by which the family promise was sealed to the parents' faith, has in due time its inward and saving counterpart, and to every such believing parent, when the deluge of wrath is ready to be poured out on others, it will be said, 'Come thou, and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation'—(Gen. vii. 1).

But precisely corresponding to the faith, and believing action called for on the part of the head of the house under the family promise, is the faith and believing action called for on the part of kings and rulers under the gospel for the nations. They must receive this gospel, and Christ Himself as the nation's redeeming Prince and King, and His blood and righteousness must be recognised as the only but adequate foundation of the nations' safety. Union with Him must be sought for themselves and their nation, and all that believing action must be taken, which as appointed and blessed of God, shall result in the nation's being actually found in Him, built on Him as the tried and sure foundation, and maintained in a true, a consistent, a fruitful, and glorious national profession of the faith.

The duty thus incumbent on kings and rulers has already been prescribed for them in the Decalogue as of old imparted to the Jews; for this is God's law for all nations, primarily addressed to their kings, and holding forth the terms of a gracious covenant between God and the nations.

'I am the Lord thy God'—the nation's God, He says to the Jews—which have brought thee—the nation, out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage'—(Ex. xx. 2). It was Christ their Prince that brought them out, and we see how He effected it. 'Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness;' and He did it, on the one hand, by applying His blood and righteousness to the Egyptians in the form of the ten plagues, and to the effect of destroying them; and He did it, on the other, by the gracious application of the same blood and righteousness to page 70 the Jews, in their baptism in the Red Sea, and to the effect of giving them a dry passage through, and into a condition of national emancipation and liberty. And is any other nation saved from oppression, delivered from its enemies, and placed in a position of liberty and independence? Most assuredly they have to ascribe it not to their own merit or prowess, but to the hand and power of the same gracious King, and to the virtue of the same blood thus far extended to them; and the language in which the gracious dealing addresses them is just this, 'I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage.' More especially must this be held to be the case in such an exodus from the land of Egypt and house of bondage as Scotland got at the time of the Reformation from Popery.

But God confers this liberty for a purpose. He sets them free from their enemies, and gives them national independence, not that they may occupy themselves merely or chiefly in matters secular and outward, or in promoting their own national aggrandisement. He has something much better for the occupation of national thought, and energy and resources than that, and something, without which, even as regards that, they will spend their strength for nought and in vain. He sets them free, that they may, as a nation, serve Him, and that they may be His people, and that He may be their God, and hence, now, 'I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out,' and this prescription to the nations of the terms and way of a gracious covenant to be instituted between Him and them.

In order to this, however, and before adverting to the duty incumbent under the Decalogue on kings and nations, and especially on such as God has blessed with liberty and independence, we must observe how, as they are seen to be reproduced in the Tabernacle, God the Father, and Christ His Son, are to be regarded as revealed in the Decalogue, the great and gracious promises of the covenant which He comes to make, and the foundation on which they rest, and are to be enjoyed.^*

Here, first, then, in the fourth commandment, just as is to be seen in the corresponding Holy Place of the Tabernacle, God holds page 71 forth His Son Christ Jesus, invested with the riches at once of a spiritual kingdom, and of a supreme possession and dominion of the earth, as a spiritual Bridegroom for the nation, and calls the nation into marriage fellowship with His Son, first in His spiritual kingdom, and then in that which is outward, there, and in this fellowship, to find rest as in the house of a husband, sitting at his table, eating the bread and drinking the wine of His kingdom. At the same time He takes the nation's literal children to be the children of the spiritual kingdom, and promises that, through the nation in its marriage fellowship with His Son, and discharging that duty on behalf of their children, which the fourth commandment makes incumbent on them, their children shall be born again into it; and that thus, also, in terms of the fifth commandment, He will give such continuance and perpetuation to the nation in children's children, as is implied in the promise, 'Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayst make princes in all the earth'—(Ps. xlv. 16).

Then, next, in the first three commandments, as again is to be seen in the corresponding Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle, the Father reveals Himself, through His Son, and by His Spirit, showing Himself ready to bestow Himself on the nation in union and fellowship with His Son, and on the nation's children, as their God and Father, and receiving them as a national Son, to put His name as such upon it; yea, under the grace and baptism of His Spirit to make them a Son indeed, and so to qualify them for a worthy profession and bearing of His name, in terms of the third commandment.

But what the foundation on which such proposals and promises, so great and precious, are made to the nation, and in which alone they can be communicated or enjoyed. This is what we see in the law's rigid exaction of righteousness, under penalty of death for any shortcoming, which the law makes, and which the Jewish conscience was made to feel; but which, though made of the nation, is rendered by Christ for it, and which is made of the nation to shut it up to the faith of Christ as at once the righteousness and life of the covenant, the end of the law for righteousness to every one page 72 who believes. As such, therefore, and in order to any fellowship with the Son and enjoyment of the Father, Christ comes to be revealed for the nation's faith, in the Tabernacle's place of public ministry, corresponding with the fifth commandment, first, in the brazen altar, as the foundation laid in Sion, and then in the laver, as the source of the nation's cleansing and life; and it is as such that He is to be ministered from the fourth commandment, and submitted to the listening children in the fifth, that, received and built upon by them, believing they may be saved, and their days be long in the land which the Lord their God gives them.

But such being the grace, character, and promises, in which, in His gospel, He offers Himself to the nations, the duty of nations, and that of their kings and riders under the Decalogue, is obvious.

1. In view of what God reveals Himself to be in the first three precepts of the Decalogue, through His Son, and by His Spirit, in the Inspired Word, one of the first duties incumbent on kings and rulers is, with all authority and zeal, if need be, to purge the national temple and the land of all idolatry and false worship—especially of papal and antichristian worship—of profanity, and of whatever is openly opposed to, or inconsistent with, the truth of God. It is to the nation, and primarily to its rulers, that God says, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me;' and on whom He makes incumbent the duty of the other two precepts of this part of the Decalogue; and these things they must do, not only to the extent of giving no countenance whatever to idolatry, false worship, heresy, and profanity, but by nationally discountenancing them, and using every legitimate means for their suppression. It was in the fear of God, and under the duty laid on them in these commandments, that such kings as Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah, acted in their days, God countenancing their zeal, making the people themselves willing, and accompanying it with protection and blessing to the land. It is prophesied of a time yet to come, that God 'will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also, I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to page 73 pass out of the land'—(Zech. xiii. 2); but, doubtless, this is to be done through the action of the kings and rulers of the land, under the call of these precepts of the Decalogue; and let unpatriotic latitudinarians say what they please, John Knox had the best of reasons for saying, that he was more afraid of the saying of one mass in the kingdom, with the countenance and favour of its rulers, than he was of the invasion of ten thousand men.

2. Another thing called for in the Decalogue on the part of kings and rulers, is authoritatively to institute the outward rest of the Sabbath, in terms of the fourth commandment, and to provide for its being observed, not only by the nation in its several families, but by 'the stranger within thy gates.' 'Thus said the Lord unto me: Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem : and say unto them, hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates : Thus saith the Lord: Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers—and it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein; then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain forever—(Jer. xvii. 19-25; see also Nehemiah xiii. 15-21). The Sabbath is Christ's own marriage ring, given to the nation, and which she must not only wear, but keep bright and clean, that she may give notice to the world of her engagement to Christ, and of her marriage fellowship with Him; nor is there anything by which a nation can, with more of provocation, indicate its apostacy, than by its casting off the Sabbath.

3. But under the fourth and fifth commandments, other duties, besides that of instituting the outward Sabbath rest, page 74 are incumbent on kings and rulers. The nation must build for God 'a Sanctuary, that He may dwell among them'—(Exod. xxv. 8). The civil magistrate, indeed, may not assume to himself the administration of the word and sacraments, or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven; yet he hath authority, and it is his duty, most earnestly and zealously, to take order, that all the ordinances of God be duly settled, administered, and observed. He must take order that the nation be adequately provided with ecclesiastical edifices, calling for and employing national resources for the purpose. He must see to it that a gospel ministry be provided for the nation, such a ministry as will minister, in the spirit, Christ and God's promises in Him, as of old they were exhibited and ministered to the nation in the letter; and he must take order also with a view to the national maintenance of this ministry.

Then, entering into Christ's Church, thus nationally established and endowed, by the door of the fifth commandment, which is the first commandment with promise, and whose obedience is the very obedience of faith, and placing themselves under the ministry of the fourth commandment, kings and rulers are called on, in the faith of Christ here submitted to them, as the foundation of all God's promises, to lay hold of these promises at once for themselves and their nation, believing in God, trusting in His faithfulness, and determined to wait patiently on Him, in the use of all the appointed means, for their full accomplishment.

Having thus entered in themselves, and continuing to go before their people in a reverent and assiduous use of all God's ordinances, they are farther earnestly to concern themselves in the evangelization of their people; in order to it, making liberal use of the nation's material wealth, praying with and for the nation, making every legitimate use of their authority in procuring a due and universal observance of all divine ordinances, and in maintaining the Church in the exercise of her spiritual worship and discipline; and finally, in connection with a national assumption and profession of the name of God, under the third commandment, pledging the nation in solemn covenant to be the Lord's people. 'If page 75 thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me; and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. And thou shalt swear the Lord liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory—(Jer. iv. 1, 2).

Once more, the promise being a promise, not only for the nation, but for the nation's children, the God of the fathers of the fourth commandment giving Himself to be the God of their children in the fifth, and so providing for a God given perpetuation of the nation, kings and rulers have to take an earnest interest in the education of the young, more especially in their religious education; providing the necessary means, taking care that their teachers are first of all men of piety, and of whom the Church approves, charging the Church with a special superintendence of the education of the young, and earnestly looking for the expected fruits in the up-rising of a God-fearing, and so king-honouring generation.

But, again, the nations having thus far sought first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and been, in terms of the first table of the law, duly constituted in her relations upwards, farther duty devolves on kings and rulers in connection with the second table of the law, and with a view to her stedfast maintenance in these relations. They must provide against the incoming of insidious and dangerous error, they must guard against any apostacy from Christ or from His truth, they must beware of yielding to evil under any of the great national temptations by which it may be assailed, and, according to circumstances, it is their duty to appoint days for national humiliation and thanksgiving.

In fine, it is as incumbent on nations as on individuals, to care not alone for their own things, but for those also of others; and under the name imparted to them under the third commandment, and which they must be careful profitably to bear, it is a nation's duty to arise and shine, to be as a city set on a hill; and not only by her national example, but by active efforts, and the employment of her ships and resources, to propagate the gospel, and to communicate it especially to page 76 kings and their nations, sending even ambassages to them on the business of the gospel, and taking the steps by which it may be solemnly, and with all the weight and authority of a nation, submitted to them. A nation itself blessed in Christ cannot but feel such a communication of the gospel to other kings and nations, as not only its incumbent duty, but its highest privilege; and, assuredly, the day is coming when there shall be such national communications of the gospel from one nation to another. 'Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons—thy national sons—from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee'—(Isa, lx. 9). Such is some general view of the duty incumbent, under the Decalogue, on kings and rulers on behalf of their nations.

But, in connection with all this national duty, we must now farther observe how it has all been confirmed in Christ. As King of the Jews, He, with authority and force, purged the temple. As King of the Jews and the Second Adam, He employed His national resources for the support of the national worship and temple; and for the same purpose He gave out of His national resources to others. As King of the Jews, and to discharge His duty to His nation, He assumed the functions of a minister, fulfilling this ministry to His nation with consuming zeal, and with faithfulness unto death; and thus did Christ not only fulfil the righteousness required of Him as King of the Jews, He authoritatively exemplified the duty devolving on all kings on behalf of their nations, provided for them the grace in which they shall be enabled duly to perform this duty, and at the same time constituted Himself a Fountain-head of that anointed ministry of which they must avail themselves, and which it is their duty not only to employ, but to maintain.

The builders of the Jewish nation rejected Christ. They would not come into union with Him themselves, nor would they build their nation on Him; but thus the very thing that they feared came upon them. The Romans came and took away their place and nation. Similarly, 'the nation and king- page 77 dom that will not serve Thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.' On the other hand, let kings and rulers conscientiously and dutifully labour to provide for the true safety of their nations, and they shall not do so in vain. Already, in the authority and natural influence which, with this very end in view, God has given them over their subjects, and again in the natural subjection to and readiness to follow their national leaders and guides, which God has imparted to their people, there is a virtual promise and pledge of success, but there is superadded now the blessing of God's promise. He who gives them grace to do their duty for their nation, will give their nation grace to do its duty to them, and to the gospel that has been so earnestly and influentially imparted; for the assurance is primarily applicable to the nation, that let the heart of the national fathers be turned to the national children, then also will the hearts of the children be turned to the fathers, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, in a true, universal, and national reception of the gospel, and walking in its truth.

Of the way in which God fulfils this promise, and prospers the efforts of pious and reforming kings, we have striking instances in Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah—(2 Chron. xvii. 3-9, and xxix. 3-11, 36; and xxx. 1-12, 27. In these instances, also, we see how marvellously, along with inward reformation, there came to be outward national deliverance and blessing. As having a special bearing on New Testament times, we may also observe the success of the national action taken by the king of Nineveh and his princes under the preaching of Jonah—(Jon. iii. 5-10).