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you;" and so the meaning is, as if he had said, You are inquiring after the kingdom of the Messiah, and are not aware that it is already begun to be erected, ever since the commencement of John Baptist's ministry, who warned you that the_kingdom of God was at hand; and now it is already begun: the gospel is preached; the truth of it is confirmed by miracles; the Messiah is already among you, and there are multitudes who already believe in him, and yet you take no notice of all.'

But although this sense of the words is very agreeable both to the original and context, yet I shall at present follow the reading of our own translation, the kingdom of God is within you, which is also agreeable to the original; and so the mean

, ing is, as if he had said, “You foolishly dream of a temporal kingdom to the Messiah, like that of the kingdoms of this earth; but you mistake it: my kingdom is of a spiritual nature, and it is the glory of my administration, that I do not so much govern the bodies and outward liberties of men, as their hearts and consciences: The principal throne of my kingdom is in the soul, the more noble part of the man.'

3. We have the importance of this matter, in the note of attention, Behold. As if he had said, 'Your error, with respect to the Messiah's kingdom, is of a dangerous tendency, and, if persisted in, will certainly terminate in your rejection of the true Messiah, and the ruin of the whole Jewish church and nation; and, therefore, attend to what I say concerning the spirituality of my kingdom, as a thing of the last consequence; for behold the kingdom of God is within you. If I do not reign in your hearts, by the power of my grace and spirit, you can have no benefit by my administration.'

The doctrine I mention is this, " That the kingdom of Christ in this world is of a spiritual nature, and is principally seated in the heart and soul within a man;" The kingdom of God is within you.

We find Christ asserting this, when before the bar of Pi late, to be judged for his life, John xviii. 36: “My kingdom," says he, “is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” As if he had said, “Thou hast no reason to entertain any jealousy of my kingdom and government, as though it had any tendency to hurt or disturb Cæsar's government; for it is wholly spiritual, relating to the hearts and souls of the children of men, to reduce them to their obedience and duty they owe, both to God and to one another. Accordingly, we find, that, through the whole of the scriptures, his dealings are with the heart or inward man, Psal. li. 6 : “ Thou desirest

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truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” “My son," says the Lord by, Solomon, "give me thine heart." He stands at the door of the heart, and knocks; and it is the everlasting doors of the heart that are summoned, with so much solemnity, to be lifted up to him, Psal. xxiv. 7. But I do not stand farther, at present, in the confirmation of a truth so plain. It will be farther evident in the prosecution of the doctrine, which, through divine assistance, I shall attempt in the following order and method:

I. I would inquire a little into the situation and government of the heart, before the kingdom of God come to be erected.

II. I would inquire a little into the nature of this kingdom of God, that is said to be within us.

III. Why it gets the designation of a kingdom, and the kingdom of God.

IV. How, or in what way, this kingdom comes to be erected.

V. Give some qualities of this kingdom of God.

VI. Show how much the face of affairs within is changed to the better, when the kingdom of God is reared up.

VII. Make some application of the whole.

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I. The first thing is to inquire a little into the melancholy situation of the soul, or the inward man, before the kingdom of God is reared up by the power of divine grace.

In general, then, you may know, that, before the kingdom of God is set up within us; our hearts are just

a cage of unclean birds.” I will tell you of some sad guests that are within doors, before the kingdom of God be set up in the heart.

Ist, The devil is within. There are few bodily, but many spiritual possessions in our day: for he rules and “ works in the hearts of the children of disobedience,” Eph. iii. 2. He sits as commander and chief there, and says to one lust of the heart, Go, and it goes; to another, Come, and it comes, to do him service, and promote his interest in the world. Some, when cast into a passion, and injured by their neighbour, are ready to say, “The devil is in such or such a person. Although such a way of speaking discovers little of the fear of God, yet it is a certain truth, of every unconverted person, the devil is really in him; he reigns and rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience. It is his mint and forge, where he frames all his engines for dishonouring God in this visible world. Hence he that commits sin is said to be of the

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devil. They are his brats and offspring, the seed of the old serpent, “ Ye are of your father the devil,” for ye do his work, says Christ, speaking of the Jews.

2dly, The world and its vanities are within before the kingdom of God is within, Eccl. iii. 11, says Solomon, concerning the natural man, whose portion is in this life; “ Also, he hath set the world in their hearts;" that is, God, in a way of righteous judgment, gives up men to sensual and earthly affections; so that the serpent's curse cleaves to them, Gen. iii. 14: “ Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat.” The man is sensual, not having the Spirit of God, but the spirit of this world, which makes him to lie grovelling among the dust of the earth, “ feeding upon ashes," which are rank poison to his soul ; “ for to be carnally minded is death,” Rom. viii. 6.

3dly, All the rotten stuff of a depraved nature is within ; every imagination of the thoughts of the heart is evil only, and continually evil." Wickedness, yea, desperate wickedness, is within the heart, before the kingdom of God is reared up there. Atheism lodges there : “ for the fool hath said in his heart, that there is no God." Enmity against God lodges there: “ The carnal mind is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, can be.” Pride is within, which is just the poison of the old serpent, that he infused into our nature : “ The wicked, through the pride of his heart, will not seek after God," Psal. x. 4. What but the pride of the heart keeps sinners from submitting to the righteousness of Christ, and going about, with the Jews, to establish their own righteousness? What but the pride of the heart makes the sinner, like Laodicea, to imagine that he is “rich, and increased with goods, and stands in need of nothing?" What but pride makes them to "say to God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways? What is the Almighty that we should serve him ?" Job xxi. 14, 15. “ We ourselves are lords, and will come

more unto thee.” Unbelief, which calls God a liar, is within, in its full reign, before the kingdom of God come to be set up. Oh, how much need of that caution! Heb. iii. 12: “ Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” It is because of the universal ascendant that the sin of unbelief has among sinners under the gospel, that the complaint is so often repeated, “ Who hath believed our report.” The darkness of hellish ignorance is within; by nature" we are alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in us.”

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VOL. III.

Not to multiply particulars upon this head, the heart, as Christ informs us, is the very source of all wickedness that is perpetrated upon the face of the earth; for “out of it proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries," perjury, and all manner of profanity, Mark vii. 21. It is first acted in the heart, before it be acted in the life. Hence is that exhortation to Jerusalem, which every one may apply, “ O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved; how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee?"

Thus 1 have given you a short view of what is within doors, before the kingdom of God come to be within.

II. The second thing is to show, what is this kingdom of God which he sets up in the heart and soul of man, which is so full of wickedness by nature.

For understanding this you should know, that God is said to have a fourfold kingdom ; his kingdom of nature; his kingdom of providence; his kingdom of grace here; and his kingdom of glory hereafter.

1st, His kingdom of nature. When God gave a being to this world, and all the creatures that are in it, he appointed them certain laws, by which they were governed to the ends he had before him, in giving them a being. Thus, as the God of nature, he gives laws to the celestial luminaries of sun, moon, and stars, to observe their annual and diurnal motions: and by the same laws of nature, the “birds of the air, the beasts of the field, the fish of the sea, and all that pass, through the paths of the seas,” are guided to their proper ends, with as great order and regularity, as though they were inspired with reasonable souls. By these laws of the God of nature, seed-time and harvest, summer and winter, day and night, observe their seasons: this, I say, is called God's kingdom of nature.

2dly, There is his kingdom of providence, by which he upholds and governs all his creatures, and all their actions, making them subservient to his own glorious design. And here his government is not so tied down to the laws of nature, but he can counteract them whenever he has a mind; he can invert the order of nature, and stop and countermand his creatures from following their natural course; as when he stopped the motion of the sun in the days of Joshua, and made it return back in the days of Hezekiah; when he restrained the fire from consuming the three children, and the lions from tearing Daniel ; and made the waters of the Red sea to stand up in heaps till Israel passed through, and the waters of Jordan to run back to their fountains. There is not any creature but is under the command of his providential kingdom

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and government. This, his "kingdom,“ ruleth over all things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth;" angels, men, and devils, and all creatures above, or below, do his pleasure.

3dly, There is this kingdom of his grace, where he erects his throne of grace, and displays the riches of his grace and love among the children of men, which is just the church militant.

4thly, His kingdom of glory, or church triumphant in heaven, where he reigns among saints and angels for ever.

Now, it is the third, namely, his kingdom of grace, of which I now speak. Now, God's kingdom of grace in this world, is divided into that which is visible and invisible.

1. God's visible kingdom of grace is either universal, consisting of all through the world that have a credible profession of faith in Christ, and subjection to him, as their Judge, King, and Lawgiver; 'or it is more particular, consisting of a society of men, professing the name of Christ in a nation, in a province, in a country, or yet in a particular family; for we read of the church of God in a house or family. But then,

2. We are to consider that God has his invisible kingdom, made up only of real believers; who are joined to the Lord Jesus as their Prophet, Priest, and King, not only by the bond of an outward profession, but' by an inward participation of his Spirit of faith. This invisible kingdom, I say, is made up

I of believers only, and they are called his invisible church or kingdom, because his government is principally seated in the hidden man of the heart, which is not obvious to the ocular inspection and observation, but only as the fruits of his internal government in the heart flow out in the life and walk; and hence it is, that Christ here says, The kingdom of God is within you. And by it I understand the work of grace in the heart of a sinner, by which every faculty and power, both of soul and body, which naturally were in rebellion against God, are new-moulded, and brought into subjection to the Lord: The darkness of the mind is made to give way to “ the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ;" the rebellion of the will to yield to God's will of grace, and pre- : cept, and providence; the affections, which were scattered among a thousand vanities, are made to centre upon God in Christ, as their proper and ultimate object.

Now, this kingdom within the soul, is described to us variously in scripture by the Spirit of God. I shall name a few of these scriptural characters of it, because we can have no right notions of divine and supernatural things, except we regulate our conceptions of them by the revelation of the word.

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