of

an

kingdom of Christ in the hearts of his people is gradually carried on, until it arrives to the fulness of the stan Christ. 5. Christ's kingdom is durable; of his governt there will be no end; his throne is for ever and eve: j reign over the house of Jacob evermore; is kirgas everlasting kingdom. The Babylonian monarchy gave way to the Persian and Median, and was succeeded by that; the Persian to the Grecian; and the Grecian to the Roman: but Christ's kingdom will stand for ever; the gospel is an everlasting gospel, the word of God, which abides for ever: and the ordinances of baptism, and the Lord's supper, are to be administered until the second coming of Christ.

OF THE SPIRITUAL REIGN OF CHRIST.

THERE are two remarkabe periods of time yet to come; in which Christ will exercise his kingly office in a more visible and glorious manner; the one may be called, the spiritual reign and the other his personal reign; it is the former of these that will now be attended to; and which is no other than the present reign continued; and which will be administered in the same manner: but,

I. With greater purity, and to a greater degree of perfection both as to doctrine and practice. i. The kingdom of Christ will be carried on by the ministry of the word, as now, and in this the spiritual reign will differ from the personal one, in which there will be no ministry of the word, all the saints being in a perfect state but in the spiritual reign it will be preach. ed,—1. With more light and clearness than now. The light of the present time is fitly described as being neither clear nor dark. It is one day, a remarkable uncommon day; known to the Lord, how long it will last, and to him only; and at evening time, when a greater darkness may be expected to be coming on, it shall be light, Zech. xiv. 6, 7. a blaze of light shall break out, and that to such a degree, that the light of the moon, shall be seven-fold, as the light of seven days collected together. 2. The gospel will be preached with greater consistence ;

820

a principal fault in the present ministry of the word is inconsistence; not only in different ministers, but in the same minister at different times, and even in the same discourse; but the ministry of the word then will be all of a piece. 3. There will be an agreement in the ministers of it; now they clash with one another, scarce two persons think and speak the same thing; bat in the spiritual reign the watchman, Christ's ministers, shall see eye to eye. 4. There will be one doctrine of faith which will be preached, one religion professed by all that name the name of Christ,Zech. xiv.9-5.The gospel will have a greater spread than now; at present it lies in a narrow compass, chiefly in the isles; but hereafter evangelical knowledge w be encreased; the earth shall be full of it 6. The gospel Preached with greater success; there will be no more plaints, as who hath believed our report? the power God will go along with the word, to the conversion of mul tudes; the church shall break forth on the right hand and on the left, and her seed shall inherit the Gentiles, Isai. xlix. 18. 11. The same ordinances will be administered in the spiritual reign as now; the ordinances of baptism and the Lord supper will be celebrated; for they are to continue till Christ's second coming and personal appearance, Matt. xxviii, 19. 20. 1 Cor. xi. 26. but not as they are commonly 'adminis tered now, but as they were first delivered; clear of all inno. vation and corruption; we shall no more hear of that absurd notion of transubstantiation, or of the bread and wine in the ordinance of the supper being transubstantiated into the very body and blood of Christ; nor of withholding the cup from the laity ; nor shall we hear any more of the childish practice of infant sprinkling; the ordinance of baptism will be adminis tered only to its proper subjects, believers in Christ, and in its proper manner, by immersion. 111. The same discipline will be observed in the churches of Christ as now; only with grea ter strictness. Churches will be formed and governed upon the plan they were in the times of the apostles.

20.

II. The spiritual reign of Christ will be more large and ample than now it is; it will reach all over the world. 1. The first step towards the increase and enlargement of Christ's kingdom, will be the destruction of antichrist; who, in the prophecy of Daniel, is spoken of as a little horn, Dan. vii. 2026. and xi. 45. In the New Testament he is called, the man of sin, because extremely wicked; and the son of perdition, because not only deserving of it, but shall certainly come into it. In the book of Revelation, he is described by two beasts one rising out of the sea, the other out of the earth; signi fying his two-fold capacity, civil and ecclesiastical; and his twofold power, temporal and spiritual: great things are ascribed to him, and said to be done by him; who shall continue long, but at last go into perdition; see Rev. xiii. and xvii. 8—16. The reign of antichrist is fixed in prophecy, for a certain time in Daniel vii. 25. for a time, and times, and the dividing of time; that is, for three years and a half; the same with fortytwo months, and one thousand two hundred and sixty days; which are so many years: but when these will end, cannot be said with any precision, because it is difficult to settle the be ginning of his reign; could that be done, it would easily be known when it would end; however, what is said of the ruin of antichrist, will be fulfilled by the Lord in his own time. 11. The next step to the increase and enlargement of Christ's kingdom and government in the world, will be the conversion of the Jews, which will follow upon the destruction of antichrist. There are many prophecies that speak of their conversion; as that they shall be born at once, and shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and this will be universal; all Israel shall be saved, the whole nation shall be born at once, suddenly. In the reign of the late king, and within our knowledge and memory, was a very surprizag event respecting this people, yet little taken notice of; a Bill was brought into our British Parliament to naturalize them; I then thought in my own mind it would never pass; God would not suffer it in providence, being so contrary to scripture-revelation and

prophecy, and the state of that people, in which they are to continue until their conversion; but the Bill did pass to my great astonishment, not knowing what to think of prophecy, and of what God was about to do in the world, and with that people. But lo! the Bill was repealed, and that before one Jew was naturalized upon it; and then all difficulties were re. moved, and it appeared to be the will of God, that an attempt should be made, and that carried into execution as near as possible, without crossing purposes, and contradicting prophecy; and to let us see what a watchful eye the Lord keeps upon the counsels of men, and that there is no counsel against the Lord; and that the Jews must remain a distinct people until the time of their conversion. These two sticks, Jews and Gentiles, will become one; but it will be in and by the hand of the Lord; it will not be effected by Acts of Parliament, but by works of grace upon the souls of men; the Jews will never be naturalized until they are spiritualized; and when they are, they will return to their own land and possess it, being assisted, as they will be, by Protestant princes, who will drive out the Turk, and establish them in it; this will be another addition to the kingdom of Christ. 111. By this means, a way will be opened for the great spread of the gospel in the Eastern nations, and for the enlargement of Christ's kingdom there; the river Euphrates, which will be dried up; an emblem of the utter destruction of the Ottoman empire; whereby way will be made for the kings of the East; or for the gospel being car ried into the kingdoms of the East; not only in Turkey, but Tartary, Persia, China, and the countries of the great Mogul ; which, upon the passing away of the second, or Turkish woe, the kingdoms of this world, those vast kingdoms just mentioned, will become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, Rev. xvi. 12. and xi. 14, 15. And now will the fulness of the Gentiles be brought in; and those vast conversions made among them, prophesied of in Isai. lx. Now will be the time

when the kingdom, and dominion, and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of

the saints of the most High, Dan. ix. 27. Yet such will be the spirituality of this state, that it will be a counterbalance to the grandeur and riches of it, so that the saints shall not be hurt thereby; as in the times of Constantine; which leads me fur. ther to observe,

III. That the reign of Christ in this state, will be more spiritual than now; from whence it has its name. 1. There will be more plentiful effusions of the Spirit of God upon ministers and churches, in this state; the wilderness of the Gentiles shall become a fruitful field, Isai. xxxiii. 15. 11. The saints in general will be more spiritualized than now; they will have more spiritual frames of soul; there will be less of that frothiness, vanity, and emptiness, which now too often ap pear in them; they will frequently meet together, and speak often one to another, about divine, spiritual, and experimental things. 111. The graces of the Spirit of God will be more in exercise. The grace of love will be the distinguishing character of this state; and which will answer to its name, Philadelphia, which signifies brotherly love. iv. There will be abundance of peace in this reign, even of outward peace; no more wars, nor rumours of wars; swords and spears will be beaten into plough shares and pruning hooks, and war shall be learnt no more. Wolves, and leopards, and bears, shall be as tame as lambs, kids, and calves; and shall feed and lie down together. v. There will be a great degree of holiness in all saints, of every class and rank; all the Lord's people will be righteous; Every pot in Jerusalem, and in Judea, that is, every member of the church, shall be holiness unto the Lord; in his sight, and to his glory; yea, holiness to the Lord shall be upon the bells of the horses.