A supplement to the several discourses upon various divine subjects

(3.) 'Tis his part as a King to establish Zion in being, and govern her. The Prophets always ⟨p. 35⟩testified, that of his Government there should be no end. If the Church should cease for one moment in the world, what subjects would he have to govern here? Can he be a King without a Kingdom, or a governor without subjects, to bear a voluntary and sincere witness to his name? If he be King in Zion, he will also have a Zion to own him, and a Zion to rule in; not only a conquest of the Serpentine brood and infernal powers was promised, but the total and perpetual victory, Gen. 3.15. The stead of the woman was to bruise the Serpents head. When the head is bruised, there is no more wisdom to guide, or force to Spirit the arm and the other members of the body It was a promise made not only of Christ to man, but of a complete victory to Christ, that he should outwit the Serpents wisdom and utterly discomfit the Serpents power. If the conquest were not perfect and perpetual, it could not be called a spoiling of principalities and powers, as it is, Col. 2.15. but an interruption or temporary check, whence they might rescue themselves. He is therefore said to still the enemy and the avenger^*. i. e. Make them utterly silent, not knowing what firm Counsels to take, or what successful orders to give. And it being his end to destroy the works of the Devil, the destroying the works must be the root of the being and preservation of the Church. Did Christ then rise as a Conqueror out of the grave, and sit down as King upon his throne, to let the Devil and the world run away with the fruits of his victory? Will he be so injurious to himself, as to let his Throne be overturned by his enemies? And to let the adversary of Zion repossess himself of that, which he hath been so powerfully and successfully stripped of? Christ being King cannot be chased out of his Kingdom, nor wants power to keep it from being utterly wasted. To be the governor of Zion was as much in his first Commission as to be her Redeemer^*. Christ as King will never leave beating up the quarters of Hell, till he hath utterly routed their force, and made the partisans of it his footstool, and thereby established Zion beyond the fears of any tottering.