(3.) In his first coming he did not purify, as by fire, all his living saints suddenly, as in his second he will do in being "revealed from heaven in flaming fire," (2 Thess. 1:8,) when he shall "burn up the chaff" and "the tares," gathering the wheat into his "garner." (4.) He did not ✓ then " come near" his enemies "to judgment," as he will when he shall come again literally to judgment; for while first on earth, he always declined judging, even in the smallest case, though yet he will judge the world in righteousness. (5.) He was not then " a swift witness against" sinners of every class here called " sorcerers, adulterers, false swearers, oppressors," and fearless of God, as he will be swift as lightning at his second" appearing and kingdom" "at hand;" and as he and John always spake of the event in holding it up as a motive for immediate, sudden, swift repentance to every soul not yet altogether prepared by faith in his atoning blood, to stand before him in that great day, however soon or late, the universe shall behold it.

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LECTURE II..

TESTIMONY FROM JOHN'S AND CHRIST'S

PREACHING.

Mat. 3:2, and 4:17.

"The kingdom of heaven is at hand."

THE DOCTRINE

Now to be maintained is the same as in the first discourse, viz. that "The kingdom of heaven-at hand," as preached by Christ and John, was and is the everlasting kingdom of God; that this kingdom of God, angels and saints at hand, is yet future; that it will come with Christ the Great King to judgment, together with the resurrection, and all the events of that great day; and that all the prophets and apostles on these subjects were designed to be understood as preaching the same "kingdom at hand."

Aware that this doctrine is not, in all respects, according to the general theology of the age, and that many have rather supposed, that this "kingdom of heaven at hand" was only the christian church, or "Gospel dispensation," now, and long already come, the subject will be taken up under the following

PROPOSITIONS, VIZ.

I. To establish the truth of the doctrine by an examination of JOHN'S PREACHING, in showing that he uniformly

preached the "everlasting kingdom" of "God at hand,” rather than the "Gospel dispensation;" and,

II. To establish the same truth, in showing its harmony with the PREACHING of JESUS CHRIST.

I. The doctrine is to be proved by the PREACHING OF JOHN on the subject.

1. John's calling" the kingdom," in the text, by a name as high as "heaven," and, indeed, his calling it "the kingdom of heaven" itself, is more naturally understood of God's everlasting kingdom in the high heavens, than" of the church below, or a mere earthly dispensation.

2. From the beginning to the close of John's preaching, it will be found that he never explained himself as meaning an earthly church or dispensation, by the terms "the kingdom of heaven;" and that, in fact, he never said any thing, directly or indirectly, either of the Jewish or christian dispensation passing or coming; leaving us to understand him as meaning literally the very "kingdom of heaven" itself, in declaring it at hand; and besides it seems unnatural to call a dispensation, or period of privileges on earth, a "kingdom" at all, and especially to call it GOD'S kingdom, while Satan is rather reigning on earth as god of this world, during the period of all this dispensation. (2 Cor. 4: 4.)

3. Both John and Christ, in our text, preached the king. dom of heaven at hand as an awakening motive to repentance, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And what alarming or awakening motive to repentance for dead sinners, has there ever been, or ever will be, in the simple fact of the natural passing away and coming of the different ages or dispensations? In seeing that the actual and full coming of the christian dispensation had nothing in it to arouse and convulse the world, it need only be recollected, that it did not, on coming, produce even ex

citement enough to furnish us now with a standing record of the precise time when it came, whether at Christ's birth, death, resurrection, ascension, pentecost day, or at the destruction of Jerusalem, said to be about forty years after the pentecost outpouring of the Spirit upon the christian. church. But when "the kingdom of heaven" itself shall really come, it will arouse and convulse the whole universe, so that all must know eternally, and understand alike, the precise period of its coming. This consideration, of course, is now, has been, and will be truly awakening to mankind, when properly preached, as a motive for immediate repentance, while the christian world is, at this very time, comparatively fast asleep in looking at the Gospel dispensation, or the christian church, in its fallen state, for their awakening motive to "flee from the wrath to come," or to prepare for the kingdom at hand.

4. In the very next words of John's discourse, after the announcement of his text, as it were, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," he said unto the unbelieving Pharisees and Sadducees, "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father ; for God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." (Mat. 3: 7-9.)

These viper characters, trusting in their literal Abrahamic descent, to save them "from the wrath to come," it seems, understood John's preaching "the kingdom" to come, against sinners, the same as "the wrath to come," and would be baptized as literal Jews, to prepare them for "the kingdom," or for the day of "wrath to come," rather than exercise repentance for it, as John was requiring in his preaching. John then proceeds to rectify their mistake, warning them against thinking of escaping "the

wrath to come," by a mere literal relation to Abraham, when nothing but "works" on their part, "meet for repentance," would prepare them to escape the wrath of the coming kingdom against sinners. This, it will be seen, is as the preaching of John on the text, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Now, then, if the kingdom then at hand was the Gospel dispensation in John's view, his sermon, or doctrine to those wicked Jews, is very foreign to that of his text; for here he is warning men of, and showing them how to flee from, the wrath of the great day which is to come, instead of agitating them with the subject of earthly dispensations. But if we understand John as adhering to his apparent text in warning sinners of the destruction of the coming wrath of God upon them, to mean the same as his warning them of the coming of the kingdom of God to "break in pieces and consume all" other kingdoms," (Dan. 2: 44,) then John was consistent, and certainly did preach the everlasting kingdom like Daniel, and not the Gospel dispensation. John continues and says:

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5. "And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees; therefore, every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hown down and cast into the fire." (Mat. 3: 10.)

According to this doctrine of John, and, as in our text, Christ is yet to lay the Almighty axe to "the root of the trees;" when, as he has himself said of the barren “fig tree," in the "vineyard"" Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?" (Luke, 13: 7.) Understanding this, as is generally done, to set forth the destruction of the wicked, as unfruitful trees in God's vineyard; and all to be accomplished in Christ's coming to judgment, and not before; then, in order to make John's text of the kingdom at hand, harmonize with this doctrine of his, we must understand "the kingdom at hand," which he preached, to be that