SERMON XIII.
1 peter ii. 9.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
the apostle in the preceding verses speaks of the great difference between Christians and unbelievers, on account of their diverse and opposite relations to Jesus Christ. The former have Christ for their foundation, they come to him as a living stone, a stone chosen of God, and precious; and they also as living stones are built up a spiritual house. The Christian church is the temple of God; and particular believers are the stones of which that temple is built. The stones of Solomon's temple, which were so curiously polished and well fitted for their places in that building, were a type of believers. And Christ is the foundation of this building, or the chief corner stone. On the contrary, to the latter, to unbelievers, Christ, instead of being a foundation on which they rest and depend, is a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; instead of being a foundation to support them and keep them from falling, he is an occasion of their stumbling and falling.
And again, to believers Christ is a precious stone: "Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious.1 " But to unbelievers he is a stone that is disallowed, and rejected, and set at nought. They set light by him, as by the stones of the street; they make no account of him, they disallow him; when they come to build, they cast this stone away as being of no use, not fit for a foundation, not fit for a place in their building. In the eighth verse the apostle tells the Christians to whom he writes, that those unbelievers who thus reject Christ, and to whom he is a stone of stumbling, and rock of offence, were appointed to this. "And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed.2 " It was appointed that they should stumble at the word that Christ should be an occasion not of their salvation, but of their deeper damnation. And then in our text, he puts the Christians in mind how far otherwise God had dealt with them, than with those reprobates. They were a chosen generation. God had rejected the others in his eternal counsels; but themselves he had chosen from eternity. They were a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.
As God distinguished the people of Israel of old from all other nations, so he distinguishes true Christians. It is probable, the apostle had in his mind some expressions that are used in the Old Testament, concerning the people of Israel. Christians are said here to be a chosen generation, according to what was said of Israel of old. Deut. x. 15. "Only the Lord thy God had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day." Christians are here said to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, agreeable to what was said of old of Israel. Exod. xix. 5, 6. "Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shall speak unto the children of Israel."
But there is something further said here of Christians than there of Israel. There, it is promised to Israel that, if they obey, they shall be a kingdom of priests; but here, Christians are said to be a priesthood of kings, or a royal priesthood. They are a priesthood, and they are also kings.
I propose to insist distinctly upon the several propositions contained in the words of the text.
I. True Christians are a chosen generation. Two things are here implied.
1. That true Christians are chosen by God from the rest of the world, to be his.
2. That God's people are of a peculiar descent and pedigree, different from all the world besides.
1. True Christians are chosen by God from the rest of the world.
God does not utterly cast off the world of mankind. Though they are fallen and corrupted, and there is a curse brought upon the world, yet God entertained a design of appropriating a certain number to himself. Indeed all men and all creatures are his, as well since as before the fall; whether they are elected or not, they are his. God does not lose his right to them by the fall, neither does he lose his power to dispose of them; they are still in his hands. Neither does he lose his end in creating them. God hath made all things for himself, even the wicked for the day of evil. It possibly was Satan's design, in endeavouring the fall of man, to cause that God should lose the creature that he had made, by getting him away from God into his own possession, and to frustrate God of his end in creating man; but this Satan has not obtained.
But yet in a sense the wicked may be said not to belong to God. God doth not own them; he hath rejected them and cast them away; they are not God's portion, they are Satan's portion; God hath left them, and they are lost. When man fell, God left and cast off the bulk of mankind; but he was pleased, notwithstanding the universal fall, to choose out a number of them to be his, whom he would still appropriate to himself. Though the world is a fallen world, yet it was the will of God still to have a portion in it, and therefore he chose out some and set them apart for himself. Psal. iv. 3. "But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him." God's portion is his people, and Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. Deut. xxxii. 9. Those who are God's enemies, and to whom he is an enemy, are still his. But those who are his friends, his children, his jewels, that compose his treasure, are his in a very different manner. God has chosen the godly out of the rest of the world to be nearly related to him, to stand in the relation of children, to have a property in him, that they might not only be his people, but that he might be their God; he has chosen these to bestow himself upon them. He hath chosen them from among others to be gracious to them, to show them his favour; he has chosen them to enjoy him, to see his glory, and to dwell with him for ever. He hath chosen them as his treasure, as a man chooses out gems from a heap of stones, with this difference, the man finds gems very different from other stones, and therefore chooses. But God chooses them, and therefore they become gems, and very different from others. Mal. iii. 17. "And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and 1 will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." Psal. cxxxv. 4. "For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure." God hath chosen them for a most noble and excellent use, and therefore they are called vessels unto honour, and elect vessels. God has different uses for different men. Some are destined to a baser use, and are vessels unto dishonour; others are chosen for the most noble use, for serving and glorifying God, and that God may show the glory of divine grace upon them.
Several things may here be observed concerning this election of God, whereby he chooses truly godly persons.
First. This election supposes that the persons chosen are found among others. The word election denotes this, it signifies a choosing out. The elect are favoured by electing grace among the rest of mankind, with whom they are found mixed together as the tares and the wheat. They are found among them in the same sinfulness, and in the same misery, and are alike partakers of original corruption. They are among them in being destitute of any thing in them that is good, in enmity against God, in being in bondage to Satan, in condemnation to eternal destruction, and in being without righteousness. So that there is no distinction between them prior to that which the election makes, there is no respect wherein the elect are net among the common multitude of mankind. 1 Cor. iv. 7. "For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?" 1 Cor. vi. 11. "And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." And, therefore,
Secondly. No foreseen excellency in the elected is the motive that influences God to choose them. Election is only from his good pleasure. God's election being the first thing that causes any distinction, there can be no distinction already existing, the foresight of which influences God to choose them. It is not the seeing of any amiable-ness in them above others, that causes God to choose them rather than the rest. God does not choose men, because they are excellent; but he makes them excellent, and because he has chosen them. It is not because God considers them as holy that he chooses them; but lie chooses them that they might be holy. Eph. i. 4, 5. "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." God does not choose them from the foresight of any respect they will have towards him more than others. God does not choose men and set his care upon them because they love him, for he hath first loved us. 1 John iv. 10. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins;" ver. 19. "We love him, because he first loved us."
It is not from any foresight of good works that men do before or after conversion; but on the contrary, men do good works because God hath chosen them. John xv. 16. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." Nor did God choose men, because he foresaw that they would believe and come to Christ. Faith is the consequence of election, and not the cause of it. Acts xiii. 48. "And when the Gentiles heard this they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." It is because God hath chosen men, that he calls them to Christ, and causes them to come to him. To suppose that election is from the foresight of faith, is to place calling before election, which is contrary to the order in which the Scripture represents things. Rom. viii. 30. "Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified." It is not from the foresight of any, either moral or natural qualifications, that God chooses men, nor because he sees that some men are of a more amiable make, and better natural temper, or genius, nor because he foresees that some men will have better abilities, and will have more wisdom than others, and so will be able to do more service for God than others; nor because he foresees that they will be great and rich, and so possessed of greater advantages to serve him. 1 Cor i. 27, 28. " But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world, and things despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are." Nor is it from any foresight of men's endeavours after conversion, because he sees that some whom he chooses will do much more than others to obtain heaven; but God chooses them, and therefore awakens them, and prompts them to strive for conversion. Rom. ix. 16. "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." Election in Scripture is every where referred to God's own good pleasure. Matt. xi. 26. "Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight." 2 Tim. i. 9. "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."
Thirdly. True Christians are chosen of God from all eternity; not only before they were born, but before the world was created. They were foreknown of God, and chosen by him out of the world. Eph. i. 4. "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love." 2 Tim. i. 9. "According to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began."
Fourthly. God in election set his love upon those whom he elected. Rom. ix. 13. "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Jer. xxxi. 3. " The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." 1 John iv. 19. "We love him because he first loved us." A God of infinite goodness and benevolence loves those that have no excellency to move or attract it: the love of men is consequent upon some loveliness in the object, but the love of God is antecedent to, and the cause of it. Believers were from all eternity beloved both by the Father and the Son. The eternal love of the Father appears in that he from all eternity contrived a way for their salvation, and chose Jesus Christ to be their Redeemer, and laid help upon him. It is a fruit of this electing love that God sent his Son into the world to die, it was to redeem those whom he so loved. 1 John iv. 10. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." It is a fruit of the eternal, electing love of Jesus Christ, that he was willing to come into the world, and die for sinners, and that he actually came and died. Gal. ii. 20. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." And so conversion, and glorification, and all that is done for a believer from the first to the last, is a fruit of electing love.
Fifthly. This electing love of God is singly of every particular person. Some deny a particular election, and say that there is no other election than a general determination, that all that believe and obey shall be saved. Some also own no more than an absolute election of nations. But God did from all eternity singly and distinctly choose, and set his love upon, every particular person that ever believes, as is evident by Gal. ii. 20. "Who loved me and gave himself for me." God set his love from eternity upon this and that person, as particularly as it there were no other chosen than he; and therefore it is represented as though they were mentioned by name, that their names are written in the hook of life. Luke x. 20. "Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." Rev. xiii. 8. "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."
Sixthly. In election, believers were from all eternity given to Jesus Christ. As believers were chosen from all eternity, so Christ was from eternity chosen and appointed to be their Redeemer, and he undertook the work of redeeming them. There was a covenant respecting it between the Father and Son. Christ, as we have already observed, loved them before the creation of the world; and then he had their names, as it were, written in a book, and therefore the book of life is called the Lamb's book. Rev. xxi. 27. "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." And he bears their names upon his heart, as the high priest of old did the names of the tribes of the children of Israel on his breastplate. Christ often calls the elect those whom God had given him. John xvii. 2. "As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." In the 9th verse, "I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine." In the 11th verse, "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.John xvii. 11. "
This part of the subject may suggest to us the following reflections.
First. God's thus electing a certain definite number from among fallen men from all eternity, is a manifestation of his glory. It shows the glory of the divine sovereignty. God hereby declares himself the absolute disposer of the creature; he shows us how far his sovereignty and dominion extend, in eternally choosing some and passing by others, and leaving them to perish. God here appears in a majesty that is unparalleled. Those who can see no glory of dominion in this act, have not attained to right apprehensions of God, and never have been made sensible of his glorious greatness. And here is especially shown the glory of divine grace, in God's having chosen his people to blessedness and glory long before they are born; in his choosing them out of the mass of mankind, from whom they were not distinguished, and in his love to them being prior to all that they have or do, being uninfluenced by any excellency of theirs, by the light of any labours or endeavours of theirs, or any respect of theirs towards him.
The doctrine of election shows, that if those who are converted have earnestly sought grace and holiness, and in that way have obtained it, their obtaining it is not owing to their endeavours, but that it was the grace and mercy of God that caused them earnestly to seek conversion, that they might obtain it. It shows also that faith itself is the gift of God, and that the saints persevering in a way of holiness unto glory, is also the fruit of electing love. Believers' love to God is the fruit of God's love to them, and the giving of Christ, the preaching of the gospel, the appointing of ordinances, are all fruits of the grace of election. All the grace that is shown to any of mankind, either in this world, or in the world to come, is comprised in the electing love of God.
Secondly. If believers are the chosen of God, here is a great argument for their love and gratitude towards him. The consideration of the miserable condition in which God found you, and in which he left others, should move your hearts. How wonderful that God should take such thought of a poor worm from all eternity! God might have left you as well as many others, but it pleased the Lord to set his love upon you. What cause have you for love and thankfulness, that God should make choice of you, and set you apart for himself rather than so many thousands of others!
God hath chosen you not merely to be his subjects and servants, but to be his children, to be his peculiar treasure; he has chosen you to be blessed for ever in the enjoyment of himself, and to dwell with him in his glory. He has given you from all eternity to his Son, to be united unto him, to become the spouse of Christ. He has chosen you that you might be holy and without blame, that you might have your filth taken away, and that you might have the image of God put upon you, and that your soul might be adorned, to be the bride of his glorious and dear Son. What cause for love is here!
Thirdly. If believers are a chosen generation, let all labour earnestly to make their election sure. If true Christians are chosen of God, this should induce all earnestly to inquire whether they are true Christians. 2 Peter i. 5, 6, 7. "And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity."
2. True Christians are a distinct race of men; they are of a peculiar descent or pedigree, different from the rest of the world. This is implied in their being called a generation. There are three significations of the word generation in the Scriptures. Sometimes it means, as is its meaning in common use, a class of persons among a people, or in the world, that are born together, or so nearly together, that the time of their being in the different stages of the age of man is the same. They shall be young persons, middle aged, and old together; or they shall be together upon the stage of action. All that are together upon the face of the earth, or the stage of action, are very often accounted as one generation. Thus when God threatened that not one of the Israelites of that generation should see the good land, it is meant, all from twenty years old and upwards.
A second meaning is, those who are born of a common progenitor.
A third meaning of the word in Scripture, is, a certain race of mankind, whose generation and birth agree, not as to time, but as to descent and pedigree, or us to those persons from whom they originally proceeded. So it is to be understood, Matt. i. 1. "This is the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham;" that is, this is the book that gives an account of his pedigree. And this meaning, viz. those who are of the same race and descent, must be given to the word in the text. The righteous are often spoken of in Scripture as being a distinct generation. Psal. xiv. 5. "There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous." Psal. xxiv. 6. "This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob." Psal. lxxiii. 15. "If 1 say, I will speak»thus: behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children."
That the godly are a distinct race appears evident, since they are descended from God, they are a heavenly race, they are derived from above. The heathen were wont to feign that their heroes and great men were descended from the gods, but God's people are descended from the true and living God, without any fiction. Psal. xxii. 30. "A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation." That is, a seed, a posterity, shall serve him, and it shall be accounted to the Lord for his posterity or offspring.
Now the people of God may be considered as descending from God, and as being his posterity, either remotely or immediately.
First. They are remotely descended from God. The church is a distinct race, that originally came from God. Other men are of the earth, they are of earthly derivation, they are the posterity of men; but the church is the posterity of God. Thus it is said, Gen. vi. 2. "That the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." The sons of God were the children of the church, of the posterity of Seth; the daughters of men were those that were born out of the church, and of the posterity of Cain, and those that adhered to him.
It was God that set up the church in the world, and those, who were the first founders of the church, were of God, and were called specially the sons of God. Seth was the seed that God appointed. Gen. iv. 25. "And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth. For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." Adam, in Luke's genealogy of Christ, (Luke iii. 38. "Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God,") is called the son of God; possibly, not only because he was immediately created by God, but also because he was from God, and was begotten by him. As he was a good man, and was the founder of the church, of which Christ himself became a son, he was the first in the line of the church, and as such he was from God. When the church was almost extinct God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, and afterwards out of Haran. Abraham was one immediately from God, and all God's people in all succeeding ages are accounted as the children of Abraham. God promised Abraham that his seed should be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand on the sea-shore, meaning primarily not his posterity according to the flesh. John the Baptist said., God is able of the stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Those are the seed of Abraham, as we are taught in the New Testament, that are of the faith of Abraham; Christians, as well as Jews, are the seed of Abraham. Gal. iii. 29. "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." So the church is the seed of Jacob, who is called God's son. Hosea xi. 1. "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." All God's people are called Israel; not only his posterity according to the flesh, but proselytes of old, and Gentile Christians now under the gospel. The sincerely godly, and they only, are the true Israel.
So the people of God are descended from God the Father originally, as they are descended from Christ the Son of God. Christians are called the seed of Christ. Gal. iii. 29. "And if ye be Christ's," &c. They are, as it were, his posterity; Christ calls them his children. Heb. ii. 13. "Behold I and the children which thou hast given me." So that if we trace the pedigree of God's people up to their original, they will be found to be descended from God: they are of heaven, they are not of this world. Other men are of the earth, and are earthly, but these are heavenly, and are of heaven. The wicked are called the men of this world. Psal. xvii. 14. "From men which are thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes." The first beginnings of the church were from God, the great founder of the church. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and those men, who under him have been founders, were of God, were of him. God chose them, called them, and created them for this purpose. Since which, God's people are descended one from another; the church is continued and propagated, as it were, by generation. If there were no ordinary and stated means made use of for the continuing and propagating the church, it would not be so; but God's people are made the instruments of one another's conversion, by begetting one another's souls. The church is continued by itself instrumentally through all generations, the people of God are begotten through the education, instruction, and endeavours of those who were God's people before. Therefore the church is represented in Scripture as being the mother of its members. Gal. iv. 26. "But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." Believers are the children of the church, as they are often called. Isa. xlix. 20. "The children which thou shall have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, the place is too strait for me; give place to me, that I may dwell." Isa. liv. 1. "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord." And many other places.
God's people are often, through their education and instruction, the spiritual parents of those of whom they are the natural parents. The ministers of the word and ordinances are spiritual fathers. The apostle tells the Christian Corinthians, that he had begotten them through the gospel.
Secondly. God's people are immediately begotten of God. When they become saints, they are born again, they hare a new nature given them, they have a new life begun, they are renewed in the whole man by a new generation and birth wherein they are born of God. John i. 12, 13. "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." They are born of the Spirit of God. John iii. 8. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou nearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." God is said to have formed the church from the womb. Isa. xliv. 2. "Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen."
This truth also may suggest to us a few profitable reflections.
First. Christians ought to bear with one another. It appears from what has been said, that they are all of one kindred, that they have a relation to other Christians which they have not to the rest of the world; being of a distinct race from them, but of the same race one with another. They are descended all along from the same progenitors; they are the children of the same universal church of God; they are all the children of Abraham; they are the seed of Jesus Christ; they are the offspring of God. And they are vet much more alike, than their being of the same race originally argues them to be: they are also immediately the children of the same Father. God hath begotten all by the same word and Spirit; they are all of one family, and should therefore love as brethren. 1 Peter iii. 8. "Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another; love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous."
It is very unbecoming those who are God's offspring, to entertain a spirit of hatred and ill will one towards another. It is very unbecoming to be backward in helping and assisting one another, and supplying each other s wants; much more, to contrive and seek one another's hurt, to be revengeful one towards another.
Secondly. Let Christians take heed so to walk, that they may not dishonour their pedigree. You are of a very honourable race, more honourable by far than if you were the offspring of kings, and had royal blood in your veins; you are a heavenly offspring, the seed of Jesus Christ, the children of God. They that are of noble race are wont to value themselves highly upon the honour of their families, to dwell on their titles, their coats of arms, and their ensigns of honour, and to recount the exploits of their illustrious forefathers. How much more careful should you be of the honour of your descent, that you in nothing behave yourself unworthy of the great God. the eternal and omnipotent King of heaven and earth, whose offspring you are!
There are many things that are very base, and too mean for such as you; such are a giving way to earthly-minded-ness, a grovelling like moles in the earth, a suffering your soul to cleave to those earthly things, which ought to be neglected and despised by those who are of heavenly descent; an indulgence of the lusts of the flesh, suffering the soul to be immersed in filth, being taken up with mean and unworthy delights common to the beasts, being intemperate in the gratification of any carnal appetite whatsoever, or a being much concerned about earthly honour. It is surely a disgrace to them, who are accounted to God for a generation, much to care whether they are accounted great upon this dunghill. So it is unworthy of your noble descent to be governed by your passions: you should be guided by higher principles of reason and virtue, and an universal respect to the glory and honour of God.
But Christians should seek after those things which will be to the honour of their birth, after spiritual wisdom, and knowledge of the most worthy and noble truths. They should seek more and more an acquaintance with God, and to be assimilated to him, their great progenitor, and their immediate Father, that they may have the image of his excellent and divine perfections:. They should endeavour to act like God, wherein they are capable of imitation of him. They should seek heavenly-mindedness, those noble appetites after heavenly and spiritual enjoyments, a noble ambition after heavenly glory, a contempt of the trifles and mean things of this world. They should seek after those delights and satisfactions that can be enjoyed by none but heavenly minds. They should exercise a spirit of true, universal, and disinterested love and confidence, and Christian charity. They should be much in devotion, and divine contemplation.
Thirdly. We see here a reason why Christians are of so different a nature and temper from the rest of the world. The truly godly are very different in their disposition from others. "They hate those things that the rest of the world love, and love those things for which the rest of the world have no relish; insomuch that others are ready to wonder that they should place any happiness in a strict observance of the self-denying duties of religion; they wonder what delight they can take in spending so much time in meditation and prayer, and that they do not place happiness in those things which themselves do. 1 Peter iv. 4. "Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot; speaking evil of you." But the reason is, they are of a different race, and so derive different dispositions.
It is ordinary to see those who are of different families, of a different temper. The natural temper of parents is commonly in some degree transmitted to their posterity. Indeed, all agree in many things, for all are of the same blood originally; all are descended from the same Adam, and the same Noah. But Christians are born again of another stock, different from all the rest of the world; and therefore they are of a temper by themselves, wherein none of the rest of the world agree with them. Rev. i. 6. "And hath made us kings and priests unto God, and his Father: to him be glory and dominion, for ever and ever."
II. True Christians are a royal priesthood.
The two offices of king and priest were accounted very honourable both among Jews and heathens; but it was a thing not known under the law of Moses, that the same person should sustain both those offices in a stated manner; and while Moses himself is said to have been king in Jeshurun, yet his brother Aaron was the high priest. Those who were kings by divine appointment in Israel, were of another tribe from the priesthood, viz. the tribe of Judah. Before the giving the law we have an instance of one who was both king and priest, viz. Melchizedek. Gen. xiv. 18. "And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine; and he was the priest of the most high God."
Therefore, in some of the prophecies of Christ, it is spoken of as a remarkable thing of him, that he should be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Psal. cx. 4. "The Lord hath sworn and will not repent; thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek." The same again is prophesied of as a wonderful thing by Zechariah, that he should be a priest upon a throne. Zech. vi. 13. "Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." In this respect the gospel dispensation differs from the legal, that it reveals the compatibleness of the two offices. One person, Jesus Christ, is antitype of both kings and priests, under the law; and as it is the will of Christ, who became in all things like unto us, that his disciples should in many things become like unto him, so it is in this among others. As Christ is the Son of God, so those that are Christ's are the children of God; as Christ is the heir of God, so, as Christ liveth, it is his will that they should live also. As Christ rose from the dead, so it is the will of Christ that his saints should rise also. As Christ is in heaven in glory, so it is the will of Christ that they should be with him where he is. So, as Christ is both King and Priest, so shall believers be made kings and priests. What is said in the text, is either with respect to what they now are, or what they shall be hereafter. The apostle says, "ye are a royal priesthood;3 " that is, ye have those honours in reversion. Christians are kings here, as a king who is in his minority; who, though the crown is his right, has not yet Come actually to reign. The; are indeed in an exalted state while here, but not as they will be hereafter. Christians while here are indeed priests, but not as they will be. Christians are called kings, and priests here, in this world. Rev. i. 6. "And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father." But in Rev. v. the saints in heaven speak of this as the consequence of their glory and exaltation. Rev. v. 9, 10. "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests; that we should reign on the earth."
1. Christians are kings.
When Christians are called kings, the Scriptures include both what they actually have in this world, and what they have in a future state. The reward which our Lord Jesus promised to his disciples, was a kingdom. Luke xxii. 29. "And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me." Christians, having this promise, are therefore heirs of a kingdom here, which they are hereafter to receive. James ii. 5. "Hearken, my beloved brethren; hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?"
The reward of the saints is represented as a kingdom, because the possession of a kingdom is the height of human advancement in this world, and as it is the common opinion that those who have a kingdom have the greatest possible happiness. The happiness of a kingdom, or royal state, for which it is so much admired by mankind, consists in these things: