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. c. 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 1 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 minister 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 lxiv. 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

the same. Exalt him that is low; abase him that is high." Ps. ii. "The kings of the earth set themselves; the rulers take counsel together, saying, Let us break their bands, &c.— Yet have I set my King on my holy hill of Zion." Ps. cxviii. 22. "The stone which the builders refused, the same is become the head of the corner." And particularly this is agreeable to what the prophet Daniel says of the reign of Antichrist, that shall precede the glorious day of the Messiah's reign, who shall set up himself in the room of the Most High, as law-giver in his room, shall think to change times and laws, whose reign shall continue till the Messiah comes to overthrow it, by setting up his glorious kingdom. When David understands the opposition that was made to Solomon's reign by him that had usurped the kingdom, and by the rulers and great men that were with him, he solemnly declares his firm and immutable purpose and decree of exalting Solomon that day to his throne which was in mount Zion. 1 Kings i. 29, 30; agreeable to Ps. ii. "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed; saying, Let us break their bands.-Yet have I set my King on 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." Solomon was made king by a most solemn oath of his father, that he declares he will not repent of, but fulfil. 1 Kin. xxix. 30. "And the king sware, and said, As the Lord liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, even as I sware unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day." Agreeable to Ps. cx. 4. "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck." When the time came for Solomon to be proclaimed king, all the opposition and interest of his competitors, though very great, and of great men, (and though they seemed to have made their part strong, and to have got the day,) all vanished away as it were of itself, and came to nothing at once, like a dream when one awakes; agreeably to Ps. ii. "The Lord shall laugh at them. Yet have I set my King on my holy hill of Zion." Isai. xxix. 7, 8. "And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, shall be as a dream of a night vision. It shall be even as when a hungry man dreameth, and behold, he eateth; and he awaketh, and his soul is empty," &c. Ps. lxviii. 1, 2. "Let God arise; let his enemies be scattered; let them also that hate him flee before him, as smoke is driven away, as wax melteth before the fire." Isai. Ixiv. 1. " Oh that thou wouldest

And

rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence." Dan. ii. 34, 35. "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away." The followers of Adonijah were dispersed without any battle, only by what they heard and saw of what David had done in exalting Solomon, and the manner in which he was introduced and instated in the kingdom; which is agreeable to Ps. xlviii. 4-6. "For lo, the kings were assembled; they passed by together; they saw it, and so they marvelled. They were troubled, and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain as of a woman in travail." After David had declared the decree, that Solomon should be king in Zion, it was dangerous for the princes and rulers not to submit themselves to Solomon, and behave with suitable respect to him, lest he should be angry, and they should perish. Ps. ii. Solomon, in his way to the throne, is made as it were to drink of the brook. He first descended from the height of mount Zion down into a low valley without the city, to the water course of Gihon. There he had a baptism to be baptized with. then he ascended in the state and majesty of a king. Agreeable to Psalm cx. "He shall drink of the brook in the way, therefore shall he lift up the head:" and the many prophecies that speak of his humiliation, and sufferings, and glorious exaltation consequent thereon. Solomon, after he had descended into the valley to the waters of Gihon, ascended up into the height of Zion in a manner resembling the ascension of the Messiah, very much after the same manner that the ascension of the ark resembled it. For he went up with the sound of the trumpet, all the people following him with songs, and instruments of music, and hosannas, rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth rent again. 1 Kings i. 39, 40. Agreeable to Psalm lxviii., and xlvii. 5, and xxiv. That the peaceful, happy and glorious reign of Solomon should be introduced with such extraordinary joy, shouting, songs and instruments of music in Zion, is agreeable to what is often foretold concerning the introduction of the glorious day of the Messiah's reign. Zech. ix. 9. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy king cometh unto thee." To the like purpose, chap. ii. 10, Isaiah xl. 9, and lii. 7 -9. Psalm xcvi. 10, &c. "Say among the heathen the Lord reigneth; the world also shall be established, that it shall not be moved. He shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad. Let the sea roar and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful and all that is therein. Then