2. As you should be more holy, wary, watchful, that you do not break the laws of Christ, for you have consented to him ; so live as kings, exercising all acts of regality within your own souls, ruling your own spirits, exercising judgment over your own hearts, and over every affection that will not be bridled. It is a disgrace to tlie regal estate of the gospel for you to be over-mastered by a lust, to lie under the power of any sin ; yet thus it is, God's children are conflicting with one sin or other more than the rest. So far you have not experience of that truth : John viii. 32, ' And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.' A man that livetli in bondage to his •lusts, how can he choose but doubt of those glorious privileges ? Have you found the state of the gospel to be a kingdom ? do you walk worthy of the gospel ?
3. It teacheth us contempt of the world and earthly things : Phil, iii. 14, ' I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ.' It is not for princes to embrace a dunghill, nor for eagles to catch flies. Kemember, thou wilt one day be a king with God in glory, and therefore shouldst not be as low and base as the men of the world are, but walk worthy of God, who hath called you to a royal state.
4. A generous confidence in the midst of the troubles and abase- ments of the world. What though you be accounted as the scurf and offscouring of all things ? Though your outward condition be low and mean, know the worth of j^our high calling in Christ. How poor and despicable soever you are in this world, yet you are heirs of a crown and kingdom. Therefore remember you are princes, that walk up and down in disguise in a foreign country. If you are kept in a mean condition, it is but a disguise God hath put upon you. We are the sons of God, though for the present it doth not appear what we shall
Mat. VI. 10.] the lord's prayer. 99
be. God's heirs make little show in the world. But there is a high dignity, a mighty privilege put upon you ; you are called to be heirs of this kingdom, and this blessed and royal estate, which God hath provided for thcri that love him.
Use 3. Are we translated into this kingdom H Col. i. 13, ' He hath delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.' Every man naturally is under other lords, the devil hath dominion over him, and he is under the government of his own lusts; but now are we translated into the kingdom of Christ.
The second point is : —
Doct. 2. All those that are affected with God's glory should desire the coming of this kingdom, and seriously deal with God about it.
None else can rescue and pluck them out of the power of darkness, and deliver them from the thraldom of those other lords that hold them, and none else can defend and preserve them.
I shall handle the point : —
1. In a private respect.
2. In a public resj)ect.
First, In a private respect. Every man should desire that the kingdom of God should come down and be set up in his own heart. Here I must repeat and apply the distinctions of Christ's kingdom. He is to desire the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory may come to himself and others.
1. The kingdom of grace, that it may be begun, continued, and increased.
First, That this kingdom may be begun, and a throne erected for Christ in our hearts. The great necessity of this request will be evidenced in these considerations : —
[1.] That every man by nature is under another king, under the kingdom of sin and Satan. Satan is the monarch, and sin is the sceptre. Christ and the devil divide the world ; either we belong to the one or the other. Now the devil, by reason of the fall of Adam, he hath the start of Christ, and the Lord Jesus coming to possess the heart, doth not seize upon it as a waste which belongeth to the next occupier, but he seizeth upon it as already possessed by Satan. The devil quietly ruleth in the hearts of the unregenerate ; he keeps house, and all the goods are in peace, Luke xi. 21 ; and therefore wicked spirits are called, ' The rulers of the darkness of this world,' Eph. vi. 12. All the ignorant and carnal part of the world falls to his share, and he doth not easily quit possession. Christ indeed employeth men to wrestle with principalities and powers. The work of the ministry is to shake and batter the empire of the devil. You must be turned, you must be rescued. You must be turned: Actsxxvi. 18, 'To turn them from the power of Satan unto God.' You must be rescued and plucked out of this captivity by the strong hand: Col. i. 13, ' Who hath delivered us from the power of Satan ;' who hath taken us out of darkness by a powerful rescue. Even as the Israelites were brought out of Egypt ' by a strong hand and stretched-out arm,' so are we brought out of the power of darkness. By such an irresistible power of grace must God recover you, otherwise men yield themselves up