In the first, methinks I hear the voice of the people of Israel, 1 Sam. viii. 5, Make us a king, that may rule over us after the manner of the nations: rejecting the Lord ruling over them by his holy word, in the mouth of his prophets, and sheltering themselves under an arm of flesh; which arm of flesh God gave them in his anger, and cut off again in his wrath, after he had persecuted David, the figure of Christ Jesus, who hath given his people the sceptre and sword of his word and Spirit, and refused a temporal crown or weapons in the dispensation of his kingdom.
Where did the Lord Jesus or his messengers charge the civil magistrate, or direct Christians to petition him, to publish, declare, or establish by his arm of flesh and earthly weapons, the religion and worship of Christ Jesus?
I find the beast and false prophet, whose rise and doctrine is not from heaven, but from the sea and earth, dreadful and terrible, by a civil sword and dignity, Rev. xiii. 2.
I find the beast hath gotten the power and might of the kings of the earth, Rev. xvii. 13.
The seven-headed beast and the Lamb differ in their weapons.
But the Lamb’s weapons are spiritually mighty, 2 Cor. x. [4.] &c., his sword is two-edged, coming out of his mouth, Rev. i. [16.] His preparations for war are white horses and white harness, which are confessed by all to be of a spiritual nature, Rev. xix.
Naboth’s case typical.
When that whore Jezebel stabbed Naboth with her pen, in stirring up the people to stone him as a blasphemer of God and the king, what a glorious mask or veil of holiness she put on? Proclaim a fast, set a day apart for humiliation; and for confirmation, let all be ratified by the king’s authority, name, and seal, 1 Kings xxi. 8, 9.
Was not this recorded for all God’s Naboths, standing for their spiritual interests in heavenly things—typed out by the typical earth and ground of Canaan’s land—that they through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope? Rom. xv. 4.
Again, I demand, who shall here sit [to] judge, whether the magistrate command any other substance or ceremony but what is Christ’s?