diminution, nor admits of increase; it has no other bounds but thofe of the universe. The latter, wide as it has spread itself from a small beginning, fometimes oppreffed, and fometimes profperous, may ftill enlarge its borders, as GoD shall bless what his right hand hath planted, and his providence preserved, till that come to pass, which the prophets have foretold, till "the earth fhall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the fea"." If this diftinction be applied to the text, though it is plain that the kingdom, in the notion first mentioned, as unchangeable and abfolute, cannot be that which is there intended; yet it may justly be regarded, and the doxology implies that it ought to be regarded, as the ground of the petition. Because GOD is "King for ever and ever the fupreme governor of heaven and earth, we therefore pray, that he may be acknowledged as fuch; that the gospel of truth may c Nam Deus quaħdo non regnat? in cujus manu cor omnium regum eft. Sec quicquid nobis optamus, in illum auguramur, et illi deputamus, quod ab illo expectamus. Tertull. de Orat. c. v. • Pf. x. 16. be be published and received throughout the world, and that those who enjoy its facred light may walk worthy of it, as faithful fubjects and obedient children of an Almighty Lord and heavenly Father, as redeemed from fin by the precious blood of the Son of GOD. Such is, obviously, the general import of this petition. If on the latter part of it any thing more is neceffary to be faid, we may recollect, how the infpired writers, with equal energy and fimplicity, ufe this and fimilar expreffions, in fpeaking on fubjects of the fublimeft nature. When "Mofes, the mar of GOD, bleffed the children of Ifrael before his death, he faid, The Lord came from Sinai, and rofe up from Seir unto them; he fhined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of his faints:" in thefe refpective places he declared his prefence, and imparted his bleffings to his chosen people. In like manner therefore, by the coming of the kingdom of GoD, or of Chrift, or his coming in his kingdom, may properly be understood any extraordinary manifeftation of his power or glory, during the continuance of his church upon earth, as well as his ap e Deut. xxxiii. 1, 2. f See Wall on Matt. x. 23. A 2 pearance pearance to judge the world at the last day. The words of the text at leaft, if we confider them as spoken by our Lord, and defigned by him for general use in all ages, may well be supposed to have this large and comprehensive meaning; to have carried in them, at first, a prayer for many events long fince accomplished; and certainly to have included, in the intention and foreknowledge of the divine Author of them, the entire scheme of his church, from the time when it was but a little flock, to that glorious æra, when it shall comprehend in its fold all the nations upon earth, and that day still more glorious, when he fhall come again, with his holy angels, to bestow on all thofe, who have believed and obeyed him, a crown of righteousness, that fadeth not away. Viewing the words therefore in this extent, let us confider fome of those passages in the Gofpels, where the coming of the Son of man, or of his kingdom, is mentioned. The intended course of these lectures will perhaps be a further illuftration of the fubject; but the scriptures, to which your present attention is requested, it is the more neceffary here to examine, because some of them are often applied, whether on good grounds or not we are are to inquire, to an event which will be brought forward, if GOD fhall enable us, for future difcuffion. But before we proceed to contemplate the appearances of the Meffiah's kingdom, it may be proper to state, with as much brevity as the point will admit, fome few of the prophecies respecting the advent of the Meffiah himself, when he "vouchfafed to pitch his tent among men, and dwelt in a tabernacle of human flesh." "The LORD thy GoD," faith Mofes, will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye fhall hearken "." This prophecy is several times in the New Testament applied to our Lord; and it has often been proved, that it cannot poffibly belong to any one elfe; for all the other prophets were in many refpects inferior to Mofes. But the paffage deserves particular notice from another circumftance. There are inftances of kings, both Pagan and Jewish, who were named and described, long before their birth, * Stanhope on 1 Sund, in Adv. toxywper ev ǹμm. Joh. i. 3 4. Deut. xviii. 15. by those holy men whom the Lord inspired 3. But, among the prophets themfelves, we find not that any one was ever foretold by an antecedent prophet; for it became the promised Deliverer of Ifrael, in this as in all things, to have the pre-eminence. Him therefore Mofes, the firft and chief of the prophets, forefhewed, in the paffage here adduced, as a prophet in dignity like to himself*. Still however by David, in a age, i Cyrus was foretold by Isaiah (fee c. xliv. 28;) above 100 years before he was born; and Jofiah by a man of God in the time of Jereboam, above 300 years before his birth. 1 Kings xiii. 2. Even the harbinger of the Meffiah, more honourable in this refpect than those by whom the word of GOD came of old, was foretold by Malachi under the character of Elijah the prophet. Mal. iv. 5. And perhaps this may be, in part at least, our blessed Saviour's meaning, when he mentions the fuperiority of the baptift: "Yea, I fay unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written," &c. Matt. xi. 9, 10. With refpect to his being foretold as "Elijah the prophet," poffibly that was not merely because he should come "in the fpirit and power of Elias" (Luke i. 17.) but for another reafon likewife. Had he been described fimply as a prophet, or the prophet, there might have been room for a doubt, whether the prediction did not relate to the Meffiah himself. See John i. 21. vi. 14. But he who was prefigured as Elijah, the Restorer of the law, could not be the prophet refembling Mofes, the Founder of the law. alted. |