he  "  laughs  them  to  scorn,  and  has  them  in  derision."  He
suffers  them  to  accomplish  their  own  will,  as  far  as  it  may
subserve  his  purposes ;  and  "  the  remainder  of  their  wrath  he
restrains."  Full  of  pride  and  blasphemy,  they  boast  what
great  things  they  will  do:  but  "  he  puts  his  hook  in  their
nose,  and  his  bridle  in  their  jaws,"  and  in  a  moment  brings  all
their  boasted  projects  to  an  endd.  Whatever  they  may  effect,
they  are  his  instruments,  to  "  do  what  his  hand,  and  his
counsel,  had  determined  before  to  be  done."  In  all  things
"  his  counsel  stands,  and  he  does  all  his  pleasure."]

By  means  of  this  supremacy,  he  is  enabled  to
carry  on,

II.  His  government  of  his  Church —

In  investing  his  Son  with  "  all  power  in  heaven
and  in  earth,"  God  had  especial  respect  to  the  welfare
of  his  Church.  He  constituted  his  Son,

1.  The  Head  of  the  Church-

[The  Church  is  called  "  his  body,"  and  "  his  fulness."
The  body,  we  know,  consists  of  many  members :  and  it  is  the
whole  aggregate  of  members  that  constitutes  the  body  :  and  the
body,  joined  to  the  head,  forms  the  complete  man.  This  is
the  precise  idea  in  the  text.  Every  believer  is  a  member  of
Christ :  the  whole  collective  number  of  believers  form  his
entire  body :  and,  by  their  union  with  him,  Christ  himself  is
represented  as  complete.  The  body  would  not  be  complete,
if  any  member  were  wanting;  nor  is  the  Head  complete  with
out  the  body :  but  the  body  united  to  the  Head  is  "  the  ful
ness,"  the  completion  of  Christ  himself6.
The  head  however  exercises  a  controul  over  the  whole  body.
