"thine angry Justice, and love thy bound"less Goodness, and be always thankful for "thine innumerable Benefits, and truft in ( thy Wisdom and Truth, and call upon thy Name as long as we live. "Let thy Worship be every where main"tained and devoutly frequented, and thy "Praises be worthily fet forth in the Af"femblies of thy People. ༥ "Let thy Priefts, the Minifters of thy Glory in the World, that ferve in holy Things, be fupported by their Dues in thy facred Service, and in the Execution "of their great and high Office. May the folemn Times of thy Worship "be religiously Obferved, and the Places "where thy Name is recorded be had in due Regard, and may thy Sanctuary be never "laid wafte nor brought to Defolation. "May thy holy Word be had in Reveແ rence, and let us never take thy Name in "vain into our Mouths, nor defer to pay "the Vows we have made. "And thro' the whole Course of our "Lives may we fhew forth the Praifes of "him, who bath called us out of Darkness "into his marvellous Light, who bath called "us to his Kingdom and Glory, that others "feeing our good Works may glorify our Fa"ther which is in Heaven. Thus, O Lord, "let thy Name be hallowed. And And, my Brethren, let every one of us refolve that in all thefe Particulars we will do our Parts, what lies in us, towards the Sanctification of the Name of God, whilft we pray to God that it may be Sanctified. To whom, God the Father, the Son, and the holy Spirit, be all Honour, Praife, and Glory, now and for ever. Amen. SER SERMON V. The Third Sermon on the LORD's PRAYER. MATTH. VI. x. Thy KINGDOM come. THE HE Kingdom of God doth fometimes fignify in the Scripture his Abfolute Dominion over all the World. Thus faith the Pfalmift, The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens, and his Kingdom ruleth over all, Pfal. 103. 19. Verfes 21, 22. Blefs the Lord all ye his Hofts. Bless the Lord all his Works, in all Places of his DOMINION. This Kingdom of God is adminiftred by giving Laws to all Things, and governing them according to their Natures, Intellectual Beings, Men and Angels, by Moral Laws, by Rewards and Punishments, and all other Things by Laws of Neceffity. He com manded, manded, and they were created. He hath alfo ftablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a Decree which shall not pass, Pfalm 148. 5, 6. This is that which we may call the Natural Kingdom of God, in Confideration of the Perfections of his Nature; and that the Nature of all other Things must be dependent on him. But this Kingdom therefore is always the Same, from the beginning of the World, and for ever; and fo this Petition is not meant of this Kingdom of God; for it is not capable of Encrease or Diminution; for the Providence of God hath always extended to all his Works, and he doth what he will in Heaven and in Earth. But there are two other Notions of God's Kingdom in the Scriptures; Of both which the Petition is meant, as I fhall fhew you. The first is, that Kingdom which Chrift came to plant in the World. The fecond is, that Kingdom into which his true Followers fhall be admitted at the End of all Things, after the Resurrection and the laft Judgment. 1. That Kingdom which Chrift came to plant in the World, which is nothing else but the Government of his Church by thofe Laws upon which it is established. Here therefore I am to fhew, 1. Why 1. Why the Society of the Church, which is founded upon the Laws of the Gospel, is called the Kingdom of God. And, 2. In What Sense we pray that this may come, fince it hath been in the World now about 1700 Years already. 1. Why it is called the Kingdom of God. For that it is fo called in the Old Teftament by way of Prophecy, and in the New, where the haftening of its beginning is set down, I need not ftand to fhew. Now in answer to this Queftion, I am only to fhew in what Senfe the Church is God's Kingdom, diftinct from that in which all Mankind are his Subjects, and under his Dominion; for this will make the Reason plain why it is called the Kingdom of God. The Difference doth not lie in this, that God hath given Laws to his Church, and none to the rest of the World, for all Mankind are under the Obligation of God's Laws, and were fo from the beginning of the World, that is, the Laws of natural Juftice and Piety, which are unchangeable; nor doth it lie in this, that the Laws of Christianity extend to the Hearts and Souls of Men, whereas moftly Human Laws reach no farther than the outward Action; for the natural Laws of GOD bind the Thoughts as well as the Overt Actions of Men, and they are accountable to him for an evil Mind as well as for an evil Work. |