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and "became a whole earth:"3

"I saw in the

him." "I will gather," saith the Lord, "all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory." This is the kingdom prophesied of by the prophet Daniel, under the figure of a stone cut out without hands, which smote and brake in pieces the image representing the four great monarchies of the ancient world; great mountain, and filled the and again, in the 7th chapter: night visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him; and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; that all people, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." The same kingdom, as well as its nature and extent, is clearly foretold in the 2d Psalm: "Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession:" and again, in the 22d Psalm, which is so clear a

Ps. lxvii. 7.

2 Is. lxvi. 18.

3 Dan. ii, 34, 35.

prophecy respecting Christ: "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the Governor among the nations."1

Is such, my brethren, the clear and express language of Scripture, such the power of this Almighty Saviour, such the nature and extent of his dominion in heaven and in earth? Then consider within yourselves, what likewise is the nature and extent of that duty and allegiance which you owe him as his professed subjects, as coming here professing to own his authority, and to submit to his Almighty sway. This kingdom, though it is in itself all powerful, and shall finally possess universal dominion, is not to be established without opposition to it, nor without many efforts on our part in its behalf. This we are likewise as clearly taught in Scripture, and the reason amongst others is this: Christ's kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, to be erected in the hearts of his followers; their obedience must be a willing obedience, the obedience of the heart; and as God deals with us consistently with our nature and faculties, so we may refuse, as well as accept, the offer of salvation made us.

1 Ps. xxii. 27, 28.

But all opposition to Christ's kingdom, however permitted for a time, must eventually be in vain. The Lord, as possessing this kingdom, shall finally subdue all enemies, all opposition to it. "He must reiga till he hath put all enemies under his feet:" or, as it is expressed in the emphatic language of the text, "his enemies shall lick the dust." This, my brethren, is as clear as that he has this kingdom, and that it is given him by God his Father. If we believe the one, we must believe the other; for is not God almighty? is any thing too hard for Him? Whatever opposition may arise, can any opposition finally stand out against God? must not what he has promised, infallibly take effect, however improbable, however impossible, it may, at any given time or according to present appearances, seem to our eyes? As he is possessed of all power to accomplish all his designs, as he has pledged his own faithfulness and truth to bring about his counsel, will he not devise and place before us means? will he not dispose events in subserviency to this great end? Surely the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this." Whether, therefore, it respects nations or individuals, present or future times in the Church, those to whom the Gospel (as amongst ourselves) has been made known, or those whom its sound has never reached, the solemn and express decla

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ration is the same;-they who will not submit to his mercy, must feel his judgment: "those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me."1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his Anointed ...... He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision." Those who will not "kiss the Son," and be subject to the sceptre of his grace, must feel the weight of his indignation: "He shall break them with a rod of iron; he shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." These two points, then, are manifestly clear from the text: that Christ, as our Lord and Redeemer, has a kingdom; that this kingdom shall spread through all the world, and bear down all opposition to it; in other words, that Christianity shall finally become the religion of the

whole earth.

But has this glorious event yet taken place? have these prophecies yet received their full accomplishment? I need not say, far otherwise, my brethren. A rapid view of the history of the Church will show us how the Gospel has stood,

St. Luke xix. 27

2 Ps. ii. 1, 2, 4. 3 Ib. 9.

and how it now stands; and thus bring the next point under our consideration.

In the days of the Apostles, these prophecies began to be fulfilled in a very remarkable and miraculous manner. Exalted at the right hand of God his Father, the blessed Saviour fulfilled his promise on the appointed day of Pentecost, shed forth his Spirit on the assembled disciples, and by furnishing them with the supernatural gifts then communicated, enabled twelve poor, weak, uneducated, illiterate fishermen, to go forth and boldly and successfully combat the prejudices and passions of an opposing world. Let the enemies of Christianity account for this, if they can, on any other grounds than that of its divine origin. They never have; they never can: the single fact of the early propagation of the Gospel, and the success it met with, stands upon record as an historical fact; and were there no other evidence of the truth and divinity of our religion, this alone (to every candid, unprejudiced, and inquiring mind) would be sufficient. "Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." We read in Acts ii., that on the day of Pentecost, at the first Sermon of St. Peter, three thousand souls were converted

1 Rom. x. 18.

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