David said of Saul, when he found him asleep in a cave, "God forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the Lord's Messiah."

These circumstances explain the peculiar phraseology of the second Psalm, which had such an important influence in shaping the language of the New Testament. In that Psalm, God, as the supreme King of Israel, is represented as having elevated David (or some other of the kings of Israel) to be his own associate in the Empire, as an earthly monarch adopts his son as a participant in the administration. To sit at the right hand of a monarch was the highest honor, and the sign of being exalted to the highest station of dignity and power under him. We have, at this period of the world, a phrase of similar import. To be one's "right hand man,” means to be entrusted with power, and to be employed in the most important affairs. Zion was the chief mountain in Jerusalem, which David fortified, and made the citadel of his kingdom. Here God is represented as enthroning the king of his people, and promising to extend his dominion beyond the bounds of Palestine, and advises the neighbouring kings to submit peaceably to his dominion; to signify their allegiance by kissing their superior, the usual sign of veneration and acknowledgment of authority in the East. "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed," literally, his Messiah, "saying, let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall

have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces as a potter's vessel. 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. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Such was the language of this Psalm, growing out of the Jewish Theocracy; such was the language applied to one of their Jewish kings, in consequence of the fact that he was considered to reign with, and under God, over the chosen people. There is another Psalm, of a similar import, the one hundred and tenth, composed in praise of David, or some one of the line of his successors. "Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thy enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion; rule thou in the midst of thine enemies." From these two Pslams, most of the language of the New Testament was derived expressing the dignity of Christ as the Messiah; and it was this language which led the converts from Paganism to exalt Christ into a Deity, or a Person of a Trinity. The Messiah was expected as the son and successor of David, as king of Israel, and, of course, son of God, as

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sharing his throne, he being the supreme King of Israel. This was precisely the meaning of the speech of Nathanael "Rabbi thou art the Son of God, thou art the king of Israel," while he supposed him the son of Joseph. These passages were the origin of those expressions of Christ and his Apostles, which represent him as being exalted to the right hand of God. For instance, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, Paul says: "Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come."

Carrying out these anticipations, at a later period of the Jewish Commonwealth, there are representations of the same character, which likewise had their influence in forming the language of the New Testament. "And

in the days of these kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." "I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And then was given unto him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."

These are the passages in the Old Testament, which exerted a controlling influence in forming the expecta

tions of the Jews concerning their Messiah. During the four hundred years which elapsed between the close of the Old Testament and the appearance of Christ, these expectations assumed continually a more and more definite form. He was to be a king, under the theocratic idea of a kingdom, that is, under God. Instead of ruling over Palestine, he was to extend his dominion over the whole earth. His dominion was not only to be universal, but complete. All things were to be brought under his dominion. He was to reign forever. How could he do this under the present order of things? To meet this difficulty, they supposed that he would not only abide forever, but raise from the dead the saints of old, and make them participants of the blessings of his reign.

When Christ came and assumed the office of the Messiah, he adopted all this phraseology in regard to himself. He called his dispensation "the kingdom of God," which he, under God, was to administer. When he commenced his ministry, he preached that “the kingdom of God had come." When he was arraigned before the Jewish council, for blasphemy, or profaneness, in pretending to be the Messiah, "And the High Priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell me whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus saith unto him, I am. And moreover from this time ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." Here you perceive, that both the high priest and Jesus quote the Messianic language of the Old Testament; one in asking him if he was the

Messiah, and the other in claiming to be the Messiah. And it is remarkable to see the meaning which Jesus puts upon the highly figurative language of the Old Testament. "I am the Son of God, and ye shall see that I am the Son of God, because ye shall see me, from this moment, sitting on the right hand of God, and coming with the clouds of heaven." The phrase, "from this moment," shows that there is nothing personal in his coming, but that he means the coming of his kingdom, and the establishment of his spiritual power. Sitting on the right hand of God, and coming with the clouds of heaven, means nothing more nor less than that his kingdom is to be established and sustained by God. That crucifixion, by which they intended to disgrace him, and ruin his cause, was the very means of his exaltation, inasmuch as it prepared the way for his resurrection, which raised him to the highest point of human veneration. That Jesus used this language, concerning his kingdom, in a spiritual meaning, and with perfect intelligence, appears from his examination before Pilate. The Jews, who wished to compass his death by any means, had no scruple to represent him as making himself a king in a temporal sense, and, of course, as guilty of treason against the Roman Emperor. "Then Pilate entered again into the judgment-hall, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him; Sayest thou this of thyself, or did others tell thee it of me ? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation, and the chief priests, have delivered thee unto me; what hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my