when all the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. It was this latter sovereignty which the disciples inquired about on the very day of his ascension,-saying, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" and to which he replied, that it was not for them to know the times and the seasons, &c.; but that they were to be witnesses of him to the uttermost parts of the earth: (Acts i. 6—9) just as in another place he declares, that "the Gospel of the kingdom must first be preached in all nations as a testimony to them." Matt. xxiv. 14. In the Apocalypse, the Lord clearly distinguishes between that throne on which he is now seated, and the throne on which he shall be hereafter manifested; when he says-"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne; even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." Rev. iii. 21.

And if the Lord Jesus has not yet been manifested in that glory which he is to exhibit, when he shall take to "himself his great power and reign," (Rev. xi. 17,) so neither have the saints as yet been made participators of that power and reigned with him. The saints in heaven have not, (i. e. if it be the departed saints who are represented in Rev. v. 9, 10,) for they are described as singing,-"Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth." The saints on earth have not; for the Apostle exclaims-“Would to God that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you" 1 Cor. iv. 8. No, they are exhorted "to walk worthy of God, who had called them to his kingdom and glory;"-"to walk, so as that they might be accounted worthy of the kingdom of God for which they suffered;"-they are called "heirs of the kingdom, which (it is still said) God hath promised to them that love him;"-they are admonished that the "unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God;"-they are assured that they shall be "preserved unto his heavenly kingdom," "and that to them an entrance shall be administered into it:"* all which passages, when viewed together, plainly bespeak, that the kingdom was considered as not yet come, at the time when the Apostles wrote these things. Indeed all notion of believers during this present dispensation enjoying this kingdom is excluded by that single declaration-"flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Cor. xv. 50, 53.

It appears indeed highly derogatory to the promises of God and to all just notions of the sovereignty which Christ is to

* 1 Thess. ii. 12; 2 Thess. i. 5; James ii. 5; 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10; 2 Tim. iv. 18; 2 Peter i. 11.

enjoy in the world, to call this the period of his kingdom. What nation acknowledged him, throughout the time when he and his apostles sojourned upon earth? Even the Jews did not acknowledge him: "He came to his own, and his own received him not:" (John i. 11.)—they declared that they would not have this man to reign over them; and insisting that they had no king but Cæsar, (John xix. 15) "they crucified the Lord of glory!" He was indeed nothing more than “a servant of rulers." Isaiah xlix. 7.

The same question nearly may be asked even now: at least we may safely inquire, Where is the nation in which the Lord's "glory is openly shewed in the sight of the heathen," and the whole people do manifestly submit to his rule? Isaiah says again, of the adversaries of the Lord,-"Thou never barest rule over them;" (chap. lxiii. 19) and if it was true in Isaiah's time, how can it be said in our own time, that the Lord bares rule over his adversaries, in such sense as to comport with the testimony of Scripture concerning Messiah's promised reign.. By far the largest part of the world is still heathen in name: and over that part even, which surnames itself with the name of Christ, he cannot be said to bear rule. In our own country, for example, where religion prevails perhaps as much as in any other, our laws are rarely framed and administered in the fear of Christ: to say nothing of the great mass of individuals, who openly gainsay his divinity, his power, or his precepts, or who scoff at and oppose his people, or who in some way or other betray, evidently, that they do not submit to his yoke. I repeat, it is derogatory to the Lord to call this his dominion over the nations! There is no king among men but would consider it quite incompatible with his honour, to allow any to live in defiance of his laws, or in habitual rebellion. The question therefore may even in this way be determined, by noticing whether the prince of light, or the prince of darkness have most adherents in the world, and whose principles chiefly prevail. No doubt will then remain that Satan is "the prince of this world," and has a kingdom in it which is wholly at variance with Christ's. The Lord does indeed get himself glory, by "enduring with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction;" (Rom. ix. 22) but, "We see not as yet all things put under him;" (Heb. ii. 8) and even his condition on the throne of his Father is one of "expectation, till his enemies be made his footstool," and it shall be said, "Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies." Psalm cx. 1, 2; Heb. x. 13. Then shall the rod of his strength come forth out of Zion; and with it he will dash his enemies to pieces like a potter's vessel; then

shall he have the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven; (Dan. vii. 27) then "all kings shall fall down before him, and all nations shall serve him;" (Psalm lxxii. 11) "all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him:" Psalm xxii. 27. "As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." Isaiah xlv. 23; Rom. xiv. 11.

4. There is still a question remains: viz. at what period is the kingdom of Christ to be manifested?—the consideration of which will further tend to clear this matter, and to prove that the kingdom is still future, in that sense in which it is the subject of promise. Now this period is evidently the second advent of our Lord.

Jesus himself tells us, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory;" (Matt. xxv. 31.) and further on he adds "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world." (ver. 34.) From these scriptures it is evident, that Jesus will be then personally on the throne of his glory; and that the saints will only then receive the kingdom.

The texts just instanced will also serve to determine the sense of two others, and to fix the period of time mentioned in them. The one is Matt. xix. 28. "Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me,-in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory,-ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." The sitting of the Son of man on the throne of his glory must be the same in both places; and therefore as the first is at this time of the advent, and the latter at the time of the regeneration, so the regeneration here spoken of must be at the advent; and can be no other than that mentioned in Romans viii. 18-23, when the earth shall be renewed, and the creature delivered, &c.

The other passage is Matt. xiii. 43. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." The context shows that the angels are sent forth at this time "to gather out of the Lord's kingdom all things that offend;" (ver. 13.) and the context shows in the former instance, that the angels come with our Lord when he sits on the throne of his glory; that a separation is made of the sheep and goats, in 'the same manner as in this instance of the wheat and tares; that as the goats are bid to depart into everlasting fire, so the tares are bound up in bundles for the burning; and that as the

righteous are in the former instance invited to come and "inherit the kingdom," so in this latter instance they "shine forth as the sun" in it. Both places refer to the same period; and this, (as we have seen by the former parallelism,) is at the regeneration, or millennial era, when the earth shall be renewed and yield its increase;* the same period again as that in Romans viii. 18-23, viz. "the manifestation of the sons of God," when the creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

The Lord further connects the period of the advent with his kingdom, first in Luke xii. 32-36, when he declares to his disciples, that it is the good pleasure of their heavenly Father to give them the kingdom; and then exhorts them to sit loosely to the things of this world, that they may be as men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding. Secondly, in Luke xxi. 25-31, he describes the signs which shall terminate the times of the Gentiles, and usher in the coming of the Son of man with power and great glory; (ver. 27.) and when they see these signs begin to come to pass, they are to understand that "their redemption and the kingdom of God are nigh at hand. Ver. 28, 31.

The apostles in like manner connect the advent with the kingdom, an instance or two of which connection will suffice.

In 2 Tim. iv. 1, St. Paul gives Timothy a solemn charge before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who (he says) shall judge the quick and dead at his appearing and his kingdom; thus making the judgment of the quick (or living) and of the dead, together with the appearing and kingdom of Christ, to commence or transpire at the same period. The mention of the judgment of quick and dead in this connexion, however it may prove that the kingdom is necessarily future, will with some appear to postpone it to a period subsequent to the millennium. This however only betrays, that their notions of the judgment are not according to the general tenor of the scriptures (as will hereafter be seen;) and that they must seek for some more just and comprehensive view of that important subject. For the present, it must suffice to bring forward one other passage from St. Paul.

In 1 Cor. xv. it is revealed, that there is an order in the resurrection, viz. 1st. "Christ, the first fruits;" (ver. 23.) with whom may be included that "handful" as it were of saints,

*To conclude that the judgment described in the parable of the tares is not before the millennium, is to suppose that the tares will grow with the wheat, to the great annoyance of the servants of the Lord, throughout the millen

who came out of their graves after the resurrection of Christ, (Matt. xxvii. 52, 53,) and who together constituted the sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest, (Lev. xxiii. 10.) 2nd. "They that at the coming of Christ belong to him;" (ver. 23.) in which must be included the dead in Christ, who are to rise first, and the living or quick, who shall be "caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." The 1st Thess. iv. 15-17, where this is made mention of, evidently relates to the same period spoken of in 1 Cor. xv. for here also it is said, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump;" and in Thessalonians it is declared to be, when the Lord shall descend, "with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God." But, 3dly, it is stated, "Then cometh the end," or, as it is in the original, "then the end," (ver. 24.) The three periods or epochs in this order of the resurrection are thus distinctly marked "Christ, the first fruits;"-"afterward they that are Christ's, at his coming;"-"then the end." And what is this end? It is declared to be the period "when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the FATHER; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power." Now there must be some period of time, during which the Lord shall reign, and the saints possess the kingdom with him: we have seen that this period cannot be in this present dispensation; but that it is to be at the Lord's advent; and we here see that after the advent, which closes this dispensation, is to follow the end when he shall have reigned. The interval therefore must be between the advent and that end when he resigns the kingdom unto God, who shall then be all in all. And this corresponds with what is revealed in Daniel vii.; where "the thrones are cast down," that is placed or set down (Tenor, Sept.) and judgment is given to the saints," and they take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it to the end;" at which period of the expiration of the fourth kingdom it is, that the kingdom of the Son of man is first spoken of as a kingdom. Compare verses 8, 9, and 21-27. It also corresponds with Rev. xx. 4. "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, &c. and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years:" after which the rest of the dead live, (v. 5.) and the books are again opened, and a judgment occurs, not of the saints, nor by the saints, but upon those only whose names are not found in the book of life, (ver. 12, 15.)

5. It remains only to notice a few of those passages, which may appear, at the first glance, to a person whose mind is prepossessed with the notion of the kingdom being this present