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volent spirits, that it will give occasion to intelligences of the highest orders to study the Divine character with infinite advantage,that the cherubim and seraphim, the thrones and dominions, the principalities and powers, whose enlarged and elevated minds have, from the beginning of their existence, been employed in contemplating and adoring the Creator, will learn the manifold wisdom of God, in the redemption and increasing felicity of his church above, and be furnished with additional reasons for wonder and praise! May the Holy Spirit animate and enlarge our hearts! May He dispose us to live agreeably to the importance of our destiny, and assist us to anticipate "the glorious appearing of the great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ; who shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe!" "Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God our Saviour, the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see; to Him be honour and power everlasting. Amen!"

DISCOURSE III.

MATTHEW, vi. 10.

Thy kingdom come.

WHILE false religion renders the human heart indifferent at once to the glory of God and the happiness of man, that religion which is genuine awakens, in the Christian, a holy concern for both these objects, and induces him to present his sincere and ardent petitions to heaven for their advancement in the world. "The ancient Jews scrupled not to say;-He prays not at all, in whose prayers there is no mention of the kingdom of God.' Hence they were accustomed to say, 'Let him cause his kingdom to reign, and his redemption to flourish; and let the Messiah speedily come, and deliver his

people.' "* And we may assert, that, where this subject is generally omitted in public or private worship, there must be a serious deficiency of the piety and benevolence which should ever characterize the followers of Jesus Christ. On the contrary, it has been generally observed, that those who have felt much of the life and power of religion, have evinced an increasing solicitude for the diffusion and triumph of Divine truth.

The object of our Lord in visiting this world, was, to set up a kingdom. His illustrious forerunner had announced this intention to the Jewish nation. "In those days," says the evangelist," came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." But, although the approach of this kingdom had been proclaimed in terms which indicated its absolute certainty, yet our Lord would have his servants always bear the subject on their hearts; and hence he taught them to pray,- "Thy kingdom come!”

In this discourse, I propose,—

I. To make some observations on the terms employed in the text; and,

* Dr. Adam Clarke.

II. To show what is implied in the prayer which they contain.

I. Some observations are to be made on the terms employed in the text.

The phrases, "kingdom of God," and "kingdom of heaven," frequently occur in the New Testament; and with very different acceptations. In one place, the latter of these terms is used to denote the Divine administration, or that method of governing, which the Almighty Ruler adopts with relation to his accountable creatures. This is its signification in the parable of the talents. In another connexion it implies royal authority, as in that discourse in which Jesus Christ speaks of himself as a certain nobleman, who went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. It is used, also, in reference to the gospel dispensation, under which men are placed by the preaching of evangelical truth. This appears to be the signification of the term in the parable of the ten virgins. Sometimes it means a state of grace, and sometimes the world of the blessed. But in our text, and in many other passages, especially in those which speak of the kingdom of God as "coming," or approaching,

G

we are to understand the dominion, or reign of God; that is, the spiritual and universal authority which the Supreme Being will exercise over the human race.

Dr. Campbell contends, that the original word, Bao, should, in this place, be rendered reign; because the idea of motion, he says, is not applicable to a kingdom; and because it is evident, that our Lord used the word in allusion to the time of the Divine sovereignty, and not to the region over which it is to be exercised. To speak of the coming of a reign, it must be confessed, is much more agreeable to the nature of things than the coming of a kingdom; and the substitution of that term in our text would furnish us with a correct idea of our Lord's meaning, and prevent that confusion which naturally arises from the use of inappropriate words.*

It is well known, that the term kingdom, as employed in reference to the spiritual dominion of Jehovah, did not originate with the writers of the New Testament, but with the ancient prophets, "who spake of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." One of the most remarkable passages on this sub

* See Dr. Campbell's Dissertation 5, part i.