in the vision by " the stone becoming a mountain, and this mountain filling the earth." Christianity is to prevail over the whole earth. The idolatries of Pagan Rome yielded to the sublimer principles of the Gospel ; and the superstitions of antichrist, which for a long season obscured divine truth, have in a measure fallen, and shall in due time vanish before its light and influence. Nor shall the authority of Christ extend, like that of earthly monarchs, merely over the bodies of men : it shall reach unto their souls, and " bring into sub- jection the very thoughts and desires of their hearts." There shall not be one disaffected subject in his whole empire : the happiness of all his people shall be bound up in their Prince, whose will shall be their only law, and whose honour their only aim.
It was to excel all others also in its duration. All other kingdoms have fallen, and shall fall ; nor can the best con- stituted governments maintain their stability beyond the time allotted them in the Divine counsels. But the kingdom of Christ " shall stand for ever ;" his power shall " never be transferred to other hands ;" nor shall any revolutions shake the foundations of his throne. " He shall put down all rule and all authority and power, and reign till all his enemies are become his footstool6." The precise mode of administering his kingdom will indeed terminate when there shall be no more subjects upon earth to govern : but the kingdom itself will exist in heaven to all eternity, when it shall be delivered up into the Father's hands, and God shall be all in allf.]
To improve this subject aright, we must distinctly mark,
II. The practical use of the prediction —
Whilst it prepares us to expect the perfect triumph of Christianity, to the enemies of Christ's kingdom it speaks terror —
[Persons may be enemies of Christ's kingdom either by denying the truth of Christianity, or by resisting its influence.
e 1 Cor. xv. 24, 25.
f The perpetuity of this kingdom was afterwards revealed to Daniel, with some additional circumstances, in a vision similar to that before us. The four great monarchies appeared to him as four great beasts, the last of which had ten horns, corresponding with the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image, and intimating that ten smaller powers should grow out of that fourth monarchy, all of which should in due season fall before the kingdom of Christ, which was then to become universal in its extent, and everlasting in its continuance. Dan. vii. 3—7, 14.