3. Now, because it is here fallen in my way, and is part of the
37^ Christ's kingdom and
vision at which the prophet was so much troubled, I shall give you some brief observations of what is clear and certain from Scripture relating hereunto, and so pass on. It is, then, certain, —
(1.) That the interest of particular men, as to this kingdom of Christ, is to look wherein the universal concernment of all saints, in all ages, doth lie. This, undoubtedly, they may attain, and it doth belong to them. Now, certainly, this is in that part of it which comes not by observation, Luke xvii. 20, but is within us, which " is righ- teousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," Rom. xiv. 17. This may ])e possessed in a dungeon as well as on a throne. What out- ward glory soever may be brought in, it is but a shadow of this; — this is the kingdom that cannot be moved, which requires grace in us to " serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear," Heb. xii. 28. Many have failed in gTasping after outward appearances: never any failed of blessedness who made this their portion. Oh, that this were more pursued and followed after! Let not any think to set up the kingdom of Christ in the world, while they pull it down in their own hearts by sin and folly. In this let the lines fall to me, and let my inheritance be among those that are sanctified. Yet, —
(2.) This is certain, that all nations whatever, which in their present state and government have given their power to the dragon and the beast to oppose the Lord Christ withal, shall be shaken, broken, translated, and turned off their old foundations and constitutions, into which the antichristian interest hath been woven for a long season. God will shake the heavens and the earth of the nations round about, until all the Babylonish rubbish, all their original engagements to the man of sin, be taken away.
This I have fully demonstrated elsewhere.^ All those great wars which you have foretold, wherein the saints of God shall be eminently engaged, are upon this account.
(3.) That the civil powers of the world, after fearful shakings and desolations, shall be disposed of into a useful subserviency to the interest, power, and kingdom of Jesus Christ. Hence they are said to be his kingdoms. Rev. xi. 15; that is, to be disposed of for the behoof of his interest, rule, and dominion. Of this you have plentiful promises, Isa. Ix., and elsewhere. When the nations are broken in opposition to Zion, their gain must be consecrated to the Lord, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth, Mic. iv. 13. Even judges and rulers, as such, must kiss the Son, and 0A\'n his sceptre, and advance his ways. Some think, if you were well settled, you ought not in any thing, as nilers of the nations, to put forth your power for the interest of Christ : the good Lord keep your hearts from that apprehension ! Have you ever in your aftairs received any en-
' Sermon on Ilcb. xii. 27.
THE magistrate's powee. 875
couragement from the promises of God ? have you in times of greatest distress been refreshed with the testimony of a good conscience that in godly simplicity you have sought the advancement of the Lord Christ? do you believe that he ever owned the cause as the head of his church ? Do not now profess you have nothing to do with him : — had he so professed of you and your affairs, what had been your portion long since !
(4.) Look, what kingdom soever the Lord Christ will advance in the world, and exercise amongst his holy ones, the beginnino- of it must be with the Jews; they are to be " caput imperii." The head and seat of this empire must be amongst them; these are the " saints of the Most High," mentioned by Daniel: and, therefore, in that part of his prophecy which he wrote in the Chaldean tongue,— then com- monly known and spoken in the east, being the language of the Babylonish empire, — he speaketh of them obscurely, and under bor- rowed expressions; but coming to those visions which he wrote in Hebrew, for the sole use of the church, he is much more express con- cerning the people of whom he spake. The rod of Christ's strength goes out of Zion, and thence he proceeds to rule those that were his enemies, Ps. ex. 2. AJl the promises of the glorious kingdom of Christ are to be accomplished in the gathering of the Gentiles, with the glory of the Jews. The Redeemer comes to Zion, and to'them that turn from transgression (that great transgression of unbelief) in Jacob, Isa. lix. 20. Then shall the Lord rise upon them, and his glory shall be seen upon them. The Gentiles shall come to their light, and kings to the brightness of then rising, Isa. Ix. 2, 3. I dare say there is not any promise any^vhere of raising up a kingdom unto the Lord Christ in this world, but it is either expressed or clearly inti- mated that the beginning of it must be with the Jews, and that in contradistinction to the nations : so eminently in that glorious descrip- tion of it, Mic. iv. 7, 8, " I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation ; and the LoRD shall reign over them ua mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem." When the great hunter, Nim- rod, set up a kingdom, the begmning of it was Babel, Gen. x. 10; and when the great Shepherd sets up his kingdom, the beginning of it shall be Zion : so farther it is at large expressed, Mic. v. 7, 8. No- thing is more clear to any, who, being not carried away with weak, carnal apprehensions of things present, have once seriously weighed the promises of God to this purpose. What the Lord Christ wifl do with them, and by them, is not so clear; this is certain, that their return shall be marvellous, glorious, — as hfe from the dead. When,