V. 8.— But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom, Christ is described, Psalmxlv. 6, from which this is a quotation, as God sitting on His eternal throne, holding a sceptre of righteousness. This is eminently the characteristic of the Mediator’ s government, which is conducted on principles of the most perfect justice. While He has taken his redeemed from the fearful pit and the miry clay, He has magnified and made honorable the law which they had broken, they are clothed with a robe of unsullied righteousness. His Gospel, which proclaims God to be just while He justifies the ungodly, is the revelation of this righteousness, Romans 1:17; and when He has reduced the creation to order and harmony, He will deliver up the kingdom to His Father, and for ever remain the glorious Head of that Church which He hath purchased with His own blood, as well as of all principality and power. The kingdom here spoken of is that kingdom upon the throne of which the King sits who reigns in righteousness, Isaiah 32:1, and on which He sat down after having finished transgression, made an end of sin, made reconciliation for iniquities, and brought in everlasting righteousness. Daniel 9:24. That the forty-fifth Psalm refers to Christ is evident, not only from the authority of the Apostle in this passage, but from the whole tenor of the Psalm. God promised David respecting him, “ I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever;” and when Gabriel announced his birth to Mary, he said, “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall he no end.” Luke 1:31-33. In the Psalm He is described as riding forth in majesty, vanquishing His enemies, and placing on his right hand the “ Queen,” the mother of a numerous offspring. It is evident that the Apostle here speaks of Jesus in the character of Mediator, the Son of man. In this character alone could any comparison be instituted between Him and the highest of created beings.