be every way perfect perfect in the full Number of its Subjects and every Subject perfect in his entire and compleat Reward his Soul made for ever Blessed in the Beatifical Vision of God and his Body made unconceivably Glorious by the redundancy of that Glory that fills his Soul and both shall remain for ever with the Lord. And thus you see what the Kingdom of God is both universal and peculiar the Kingdom of his Power and the Kingdom of his Grace and that as it is Militant here on Earth both Visible and Invisible and as it is Triumphant in Heaven The next thing in order is to shew how this Kingdom of God is said to come This Word come implies that we pray for a Kingdom that is yet in its Progress and hath not yet attained the highest pitch of that perfection which is expected and desired for that which is yet to come is not as yet arrived to that State in which it is to be And therefore we do not so properly pray that the Vniversal Kingdom of God should come for his Dominion over the Creatures is actually the same and shall be so for ever But more especially we pray that the peculiar Kingdom of God should come and that as to both parts of it Militant and Triumphant Now this peculiar Kingdom is said to come in Three respects First In respect of the means of Grace and Salvation for where these are rightly dispensed I mean the Holy Word and Sacraments there is the Kingdom of God begun and erected and therefore we find it called the Word of the Kingdom Matth. 13.19 Secondly In respect of the Efficacy of those means when all ready and cordial Obedience is yielded to the Laws of God then doth this Kingdom come and the Glory of it is advanced and increased Thirdly In respect of Perfection and so it comes when the Graces of the Saints are strengthned and increased when the Souls of the Godly departing this Life are received into Heaven and when the whole Number of them shall have their perfect Consummation and Bliss in the Glorification both of Soul and Body after the General Re-surrection And thus we have seen how the Kingdom of God may come In the next place we must enquire what it is we pray for when we say Thy Kingdom come I Answer There are various Things lie couch'd under this Petition as First We pray that God would be pleased to Plant his Church where it is not according to his Promise giving all the Nations of the World to his Son for his Inheritance and the utmost parts of the Earth for his Possession That the dark Places and Corners of the Earth that are yet the Habitations of Cruelty may be illustrated with the Glorious Light of the Gospel shining into them That God would reveal his Son to those poor wretched People that sit in Darkness and in the Region of the Shadow of Death and would rescue them from their Blind Superstitions and Idolatries and from the Power of the Devil who strongly works in the Children of Disobedience and would translate them into the Kingdom of his dear Son especially that he would remove the Veil from the Heart of the Jew upon whom a sad Judicial Hardness hath long lain that they at length may be brought into the Unity and Fulness of Christ's Body We pray that all the World both Jews and Gentiles may be gathered into one Sheep-fold under Christ Jesus the great Pastor and Shepherd of Souls so that as God is one so his Name and Service may be one throughout all the Earth And thus we pray that Christ's Kingdom may come in respect of the means of Grace and Salvation Secondly This Petition Thy Kingdom come intimates our earnest desire that the Church of Christ where they are planted may be increased in the Members of the Faithful That those who are as yet Enemies to the Name and Profession of Christ may be brought into the Visible Church and that those in it who are yet Strangers to a powerful Work of Grace may by the effectual Operation of the Holy Ghost be brought in to be Members of the Invisible Church And thus we pray that God's Kingdom may come in respect of the Efficacy of the means of Grace Thirdly We pray that all the Church of Christ throughout the World may be kept from ruine that they may not be over-run with Superstition or Idolatry That God would not in his Wrath remove his Candlestick from them as he hath in his Righteous Judgment done from other Churches which were once Glorious and Splendid We pray likewise that God would make up all Breaches and compose all Differences and silence all Controversies and cut off all those who trouble the Peace and rend the Unity of the Church breaking it into Factions and Schisms which are the most fatal Symptoms and Portenders of God's withdrawing himself and carrying away his Gospel and giving of it to another People who will better bring forth the Fruits of it which are Peace Meekness and Love And if in any thing Christians be diversly minded that God would be pleased to reveal it unto them and that whereunto they have attained they may walk by the same Rule and mind the same Things And thus we pray that Christ's Kingdom may come in respect of its perfection and entireness Fourthly It intimates our humble Requests to God that his Ordinances may be purely and powerfully dispensed Hence as I noted before the Word is called the Word of the Kingdom Matth. 13.19 that is the Word whereby we are brought into the Kingdom of Christ here on Earth and fitted for his Triumphant Kingdom in Heaven It is the means of our New Birth the Seed of our Spiritual Life And as a Kingdom cannot be well established or governed without good Laws so for the Government of his Kingdom Christ hath established Laws which are contained in the Records of the Holy Scriptures And as his Word is the Law so his Sacraments are the Seals of his Kingdom for so every believing Partaker God doth under his Seal confirm the grant of Heaven and Eternal Salvation And therefore in this Petition we pray also that God would give his Church able Ministers of the New Testament that may know how rightly to divide the Word of Truth and to give every one his Portion in due season And that he would be pleased to accompany the outward Administration of his Ordinances with the inward Operations of his Spirit which alone can make them effectual to turn Men from Darkness to Light and to bring them from the Power of Satan unto God That the whole Number of God's Elect may in his due time be brought in by the means which he hath appointed and sanctified for their Conversion and Salvation These are the chief and principal things that we beg of God for the Church Militant when we say Thy Kingdom come viz. that it may attain a perfection of Extent
What is the Vniversal Kingdom or Church of God A. It is a Company of true Believers who have Eternal and Invisible Communion with God by his Spirit and their Faith Q. What observe you of both A. Its Mixture and Imperfection for in the Visible Church there is a great Mixture of Persons the Bad with the Good in the Invisible there is a great Mixture in Persons of Evil with Good and Sin with Grace Q. You have formerly told us that the Church of Christ in its Progress is the Church Militant either Visible or Invisible and that the Church of Christ in its Consummation is the Church Triumphant What is this Church Triumphant A. The general Assembly of such glorious Angels as never fell and such glorified Saints as are raised from their Fall Q. What is that Kingdom which in this Petition we pray may come A. Not the Universal Kingdom of God which is the VVorld for his Dominion therein is always the same but onely the peculiar Kingdom which is his Church and more especially that part of it which is Militant on Earth Q. In what Respects may God's Kingdom be said to come A. In Three 1. First In respect of the Means of Grace and Salvation which are the VVord and Sacraments for where these are dispersed there God's Kingdom is erected 2. Secondly In respect of the Efficacy of this Means in the Conversion of Sinners whereby they are brought into the Invisible Kingdom of Christ 3. Thirdly In respect of the Perfection of this Kingdom for then God's Kingdom comes when the Saint's Graves are increased when their Souls are received into Heaven and when both Souls and Bodies are consummated in Glory Q. What do we pray for when we say Thy Kingdom come A. 1. First That God should plant his Church where it is not That all the Kingdoms of the Earth may become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ 2. Secondly That his Ordinances may be purely and powerfully administred his word truly preached which is the Law of his Kingdom and his Sacraments duely dispens'd which are the Seals of it 3. Thirdly That God would send into his Church able and faithfull Ministers to be faithfull Stewards of the Mysteries of the Gospel 4. Fourthly That the Ministery of the Word may be successfull to the Conversion of those that hear it 5. Fifthly That all the Churches of Christ may be kept from Errour Schism Superstition and Idolatry and that true Doctrine and due Discipline may be continued in them to the End of the World Q. But may we not pray also for the Church Triumphant in Heaven A. We may for the fulfilling of what is promised 1. First That the Number of them may be compleated 2. Secondly That their Persons may be compleated That the Bodies of those Saints which now sleep in the Dust may be raised united to their Souls and both made Eternally glorious in the Kingdom of Heaven Q. Is not this praying for the Dead so justly condemned of Popish Superstition A. No for we pray not for another State as the Papists do when they pray for Souls to be delivered out of Purgatory but we pray for the Perfection of the same State in which the Souls of the Faithful already are we pray not for their Release out of Torments but for a joyfull Resurrection which both they and we expect and whatsoever may be the Object of our Faith and Hope may well be the Subject of our Prayers Q. Which is the third Petition A. Thy VVill be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Q. How is the Will of God distinguisht A. Into the Will of his Purpose or the Will of his Precept or into his secret and revealed Will. Q. What is the Will of God's Purpose A. His Eternal Counsels and Decrees whereby he hath fore-ordained whatsoever comes to pass Q. What is the Will of Gods Precept A. His holy Laws contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament wherein he hath revealed to us the Duties we ought to perform for the obtaining of Eternal Life Q. How do these two Wills differ A. 1. First In that there are many things which God wills by his VVill of Purpose that he hath not willed by his VVill of Precept For God commands nothing but what is Holy yet he purposeth to permit many things that are Evil. 2. Secondly In that we may effectually resist his Will of Precept so as to hinder the Accomplishment of it as we do whensoever we sin but we cannot resist the Will of God's Purpose though many times to endeavour it is our indispensible Duty Q. Ought not the Will of the Creature to be conformed to the Will of God in all things A. Yes to the Will of his Precept for that alone is the Rule of our Obedience But in all things to conform to the Will of his Purpose may involve us in the greatest Guilt Acts 2.23 Being delivered by the determinate Counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain Q. Is there not then a manifest repugnance between God's Will of Purpose and of Precept A. No for the Object of God's VVill of Purpose is Event but of his VVill of Precept Duty and it is no contradiction for God to will or permit that to be which he hath willed or commanded us not to do Q. Which of these do we pray may be done A. VVe especially and absolutely pray that the VVill of God's Precept may be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Q. What considerations may excite us to be earnest in this Request A. First because there is a great reluctancy in our corrupt Nature against the holy VVill of God therefore we ought earnestly to pray that he by his Grace would subdue it Secondly because the Glory of God is deeply concern'd in doing his Will for by this we own his Sovereignty and our Subjection to his Laws and Kingdom Thirdly because our own Interest is deeply concern'd in it for it is onely by doing his Will we can inherit the Promises Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments Q. Ought we not absolutely to pray that God's Will of Purpose may be done A. No And that because many things are brought to pass by this Will which we ought to pray against as Temporal Evils and the Permission of Sin Q. How then do the Saints in Scripture pray for the Accomplishment of this Will of God as in 1 Sam. 3.18 And Samuel told him every whit and hid nothing from him and he said It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 2 Sam. 15.26 But if he thus say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good unto him Acts 21.14 And when he would not be perswaded we ceased saying The Will of the Lord be done And our Saviour Luke 22.42 Saying Father if thou be willing remove this Cup from me nevertheless
may persuade you to a diligent search and perusal of the Scriptures The Jews indeed were so exact or rather Superstitious in this that he was judged a despiser of those Sacred Oracles who did not readily know how often every Letter of the Alphabet occurred in them This preciseness God hath made use of to deliver down his word to us unvaried and uncorrupted It is not such a scrupulous search of the Scripture I now exhort you to but as God hath left it to us a rich Depositum a dear pledge of his Love and care so we should diligently attend to a rational and profitable study of it There are but two things in the general that commend any writing to us either that it discovers knowledge or directs practice that it informs the Judgment or reforms the Life Both of these are eminently the Characters of this Book of God And therefore David tells us Psal 19.7 The Law of God converts the Soul and makes wise the simple It is a light not only to our heads but it is a Lamp unto our Feet and a light unto our paths Psal 119.105 Let us consider it as to both First In point of knowledge as it perfects the understanding and so it will appear in sundry particulars how excellent a study it is For First The Scripture discovers unto us the knowledge of those truths that the most improved natural Reason could never sift out and are intelligible only by Divine Revelation God hath Composed two Books by the diligent study of which we may come to the knowledge of himself The Book of the Creatures and the Book of the Scriptures The Book of the Creatures is written in those great Letters of Heaven and Earth the Air and Sea and by these we may spell out somewhat of God He made them for our instruction as well as our service There is not a Creature that God hath breathed abroad upon the face of the Earth but it Reads us Lectures of his infinite Power and Wisdom So that it is no absurdity to say that they are all the Works of his mouth so they are all the works of his Hands The whole World is a speaking workmanship Rom. 1.20 The invisible things of God are clearly seen by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead And indeed when we seriously consider how God hath poised the Earth in the midst of the Air and the whole World in the midst of a vast and boundless nothing how he hath hung out those glorious lights of Heaven the Sun the Moon and Stars and made paths in the Sky for their several courses how he hath laid the Sea on heaps and so girt it in that it may possibly overlook but not overflow the Land when we view the Variety Harmony and Law of the Creation our Reason must needs be very short if we cannot from these collect the infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness of the Creator So much of God as belong to these two great Attributes of Creator and Governour of the World the Book of Nature may plainly discover to us But then there are other more retired and reserved Notions of God other truths that nearly concern our selves and our eternal Salvation to know and believe which nature could never give the least glimpse to discover What Signature is there stampt upon any of the Creatures of a Trinity in Unity of the eternal Generation or temporal Carnation of the Son of God What Creature could inform us of our first fall and guilt contracted by it Where can we find the Copy of the Covenant of Works or of grace printed upon any of the Creatures All the great Sages of the World though they were Nature's Secretaries and ransack'd its abstrusest mysteries yet all their Learning and Knowledge could not discover the Sacred Mystery of a Crucified Saviour These are truths which Nature is so far from searching out that it can scarce receive them when revealed 1. Corinth 2.14 The natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned The light that can reveal these must break immediately from Heaven it self And so it did upon the Prophets Evangelists and Apostles the Pen-men of the Holy Scriptures And if it were their singular Privilege that the Holy Ghost should descend into their breasts and so possess them with Divine inspirations that what they spake or wrote became Oracular how little less is ours since the Scriptures reveal to us the very same truths which the Spirit revealed to them God heretofore spake in them and now he speaks by them unto us Their Revelations are become ours the only difference is that what God taught them by extraordinary inspiration the very same truths he teacheth us in the Scripture by the ordinary illumination of his Spirit Here therefore whilest we diligently converse in the Book of God we enjoy the privilege of Prophets The same word of God which came unto them comes also unto us and that without those severe preparations and strong agonies which sometimes they underwent before God would inspire them with the knowledge of his Heavenly truth That is the first Motive and Argument Secondly The knowledge which the Scripture teacheth is for the matter of it the most sublime and losty in the World All other sciences are but poor and beggarly Elements if compared with this What doth the Naturalist but only busie himself in digging a little drossie knowledge out of the Entrails of the Earth The Astronomer who ascends highest mounts no higher than the Coelestial Bodies the Stars and Planets which are but the out-works of Heaven But the Scripture pierceth much farther and lets us into Heaven it self There it discovers the Majesty and Glory of God upon his Throne the Eternal Son of God sitting at his right hand making a prevailing and Authoritative intercession for us The glittering train of Cherubims and Seraphims an innumerable company of Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect So that indeed when you have this Book laid open before you you have Heaven it self and all the inconceivable glories of it laid open to your view What can be more sublime than the nature of God And yet here we have it so plainly described by all its most glorious Attributes and Perfections that the Scripture doth but beam forth light to an Eye of Faith whereby it may be inabled to see him who is invisible But if we consider those Gospel Mysteries the Scripture relates the Hypostatical Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ's incarnation the Mystical Union of our persons to his by our believing that the Son of God should be Substituted in the stead of guilty Sinners that he who knew no sin should be made a Sacrifice for sin and the Justice of God become reconciled to Man through the blood of God these are Mysteries so infinitely profound as are enough to puzzle a whole College of
former yet is it far more excellent and the Royalty of it is God's singular Delight Now this Kingdom of Grace is his Church and may be considered Two ways First In its Growth and Progress Secondly In its Perfection and Consummation In the former respect it is the Church Militant here upon Earth and in the latter it is the Church Triumphant in Heaven for both make up but one Kingdom under divers respects First Let us a little consider God's Kingdom here upon Earth or the Church Militant and that is Two-fold Visible and Invisible The Visible Kingdom of God upon Earth are a company of People openly professing the Fundamentals of Religion and those Truths necessary to Salvation which God hath made known unto the World and joyning together in the External Communion of Ordinances The Invisible Kingdom are a company of true Believers who have Internal and Invisible Communion with God by his Spirit and their Faith The Visible Church is of a much larger extent than the Invisible for it comprehends Hypocrites and Formalists and all those who have given up their Names to Christ and listed themselves under his Banner and make an outward profession of the Truth although by their Lives and Practices they contradict and deny what they own and profess with their Lips These belong to the Kingdom of God's Grace as to the External Dispensation and Regiment of it because they profess obedience to his Laws and live under the means of Grace by which many of them through the efficacious concurrence of the Spirit of God are translated into the Invisible Kingdom of his dear Son Now this Visible Kingdom of God upon Earth is but an imperfect State and Condition for though all that are Members of it are selected and taken out of the World yet there is a great deal of Mixture and Dross and many things that do offend For First There is in it a mixture of Wicked Persons with those that are really Holy Many are of this Kingdom only because their Consciences are convinced of the Truth of the Christian Religion although their Lives are not subject to the Power of it and these are taken out of the World only as they are brought into the Pale of the Church and profess the Name of Christ and his Religion as distinct from all other Religions in the World And therefore we find the Church or the Kingdom of Heaven in Scripture frequently compared to a Net cast into the Sea gathering every kind of Fish both good and bad Matth. 13.47 both sorts are embraced in the Bosom of this Net and no perfect Separation can be made until it be drawn to shore at the Day of Judgment and then the Good will be gathered into Vessels and the Bad cast away as it is there expressed Again it is compared to a Floor wherein is both Chaff and Wheat Luk. 3.17 and these will be mix'd together until the last discriminating Day and then shall the Wheat be gathered into the Garner and the Chaff burnt up with unquenchable Fire Again it is compared to a Field wherein there grows Tares as well as Corn Matth. 13.24 which must grow together until the Harvest and then shall the Tares be bound in Bundles to be burnt and the profitable Grain be gathered into the Barn This hath still been and will be the mix'd condition of God's Church on Earth wherein through Hypocrisie and gross Dissimilation many that are Enemies to the Cross of Christ will yet go under that Cognisance and keep up a Form of Godliness though they deny and hate the Power of it Secondly There is even in the Invisible Church here on Earth a great mixture too those who have a real and vital Union to Christ and maintain a Spiritual Communion with him yet even they have a sad mixture of Evil with all their Good of Sin with all their Grace and Holiness so that the Church is still imperfect not only from a mixture of Persons but from a mixture in Persons As we know but in part so we love but in part we fear we obey God but in part And with our Profession of Faith we had need also to prefer that humble Petition Mark 9.24 Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief Secondly The Kingdom of God may be considered in its Perfection and Consummation and so it is Triumphant in Heaven And this consists of such Glorious Angels as never Fell and of such Glorified Saints who are raised from their Fall and restored to a far better Condition than what they lost This is the most Glorious part of God's Kingdom here is his Throne especially established and here it is that he displays himself in the splendor of his Majesty being surrounded by innumerable Hosts of Holy Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect who continually Worship before him with a most prostrate Veneration and give Honour and Glory and Praise to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Now this Kingdom is altogether free from those former Imperfections and Mixtures There is no mixture of good and bad together neither is there any mixture of bad in the good but all are Holy and all as compleatly Holy as Creatures can be for into the New Jerusalem shall no unclean thing ever enter There are neither Temptations to try us nor Sins to defile us nor Sorrows to afflict us but perfect Joy and perfect Purity Where all Tears shall be wiped from our Eyes and all Sin the Cause of those Tears rooted out of our Hearts And yet if Heaven it self may be liable to any Defects or capable of any Additions there seems at present to be wanting in it these Two things First The Kingdom of Glory is not yet Full nor shall it be till the whole Number of the Elect shall be called and the whole Number of the Called Glorified Many as yet are conflicting here below and fitting themselves for their Eternal Reward many yet lie sleeping in their Causes unborn whom God hath Foreknown and Predestinated unto Eternal Life all of whom he will in his due time bring unto the Possession of his Heavenly Kingdom to compleat the Number of his Glorious Subjects And therefore it is said concerning the Saints that are already in Heaven that white Robes were given to every one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their Fellow-Servants also and their Brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled Rev. 6.11 Secondly Those Glorified Saints that are now in Heaven though their Joys be perfect yet their Persons are not but one part of them their Bodies continue still under the arrest of Death and the Power of the Grave but yet they sleep in Hope and through that Mystical Vnion that there is between Jesus Christ and every scattered Dust of a Believer they shall obtain a Glorious and Joyful Resurrection and then shall this Heavenly Kingdom