and reverenced by us. 2. By living as in habitual communion and conversation with that God who dwelleth in us, and who hath made us his habitation by the Spirit. 3. And by readily obeying the moving operations of the Spirit of God.

And to contemn or resist these inward ideas, inclinations, and motions, is to profane the Name of God.

Q. 25. But what is all this to the sanctifying of God himself? A. The signs are but for him that is signified. It is God himself that is to be admired, loved, and honoured, as notified to us by these signs or Name, otherwise we make idols of them. In a word, God must be esteemed, reverenced, loved, trusted, and delighted in, transcendently as God, with affections proper to himself; and this is to sanctify him, by advancing him in our heart, in his prerogative above all creatures; and all creatures must be used respectively to this holy end, and especially those ordinances and names which are especially separated to this use: and nothing must be used as common and unclean, especially in his worship and religious acts.

CHAP. XXVI.

"Thy Kingdom come."

Q. 1. WHY is this made the second petition?

A. To tell us, that it must be the second thing in our desires. We are to begin at that which is highest, most excellent, and ultimate in our intentions, and that is, God's glory shining in all his works, and seen, admired, honoured, and praised by man, which is the hallowing of his Name, and the holy exalting him. in our thoughts, affections, words, and actions, above all creaAnd we are next to desire that in which God's glory most eminently shineth, and that is his kingdom of grace and glory.

tures.

Q. 2. What is here meant by the kingdom of God?

A. It is not that kingdom which he hath over angels, and the innumerable glorious spirits of the heavenly regions, for these are much unknown to us, and we know not that there is any rebellion among them which needeth a restoration. But

y Acts i. 15, and iv. 12; Rev. iii. 4, and xi. 13; Joel ii. 23; Deut. xxviii. 58; Exod. xxxiii. 19, and xxxiv. 6—7; 1 Kings v. 3, 5; Lev. x. 3; Num. xx. 12, 13.

man, by sin, is fallen into rebellion, and under the condemnation due to rebels and by Christ, the reconciling Mediator, they are to be restored to their subjection to God, and so to his protection, blessing, and reward. And because they are sinners, corrupt and guilty, they cannot be subjects as under the primitive law of innocency: and therefore God hath delivered them to the Mediator, or his Vicegerent, to be governed under a law of healing grace, and so brought on to perfect glory. So that the kingdom of God now is his reign over fallen man by Christ the Mediator, begun on earth by recovering grace, and perfected in heavenly glory."

Q. 3. But the Scriptures sometimes speak of the kingdom of God as come already when Christ came, or when he rose and ascended to his glory, and sometimes as if it were yet to come at the great resurrection day.

A. In the first case, the meaning is, that the King of the church is come, and hath established his law of grace, and commissioned his officers, and sent forth his Spirit, and so the kingdom of healing grace is come: but in the second case, the meaning is, that all that glorious perfection which this grace doth tend to, which will be the glory of the church, the glory of Christ therein, and the glorification of God's love, is yet to

come.

Q. 4. What is it, then, which we here desire?

A. That God will enlarge and carry on the kingdom of grace in the world, and bear down all that rebels, and hindereth it, and particularly in ourselves, and that he would hasten the kingdom of glory.

Q. 5. Who is it, then, that is the King of this kingdom? A. God, as the absolute supreme, and Jesus Christ, the Son of God and man, as the supreme Vicegerent and Administrator." Q. 6. Who are the subjects of this kingdom?

A. There are three sorts of subjects. 1. Subjects only as to obligation, and so those without the church are rebellious, obliged subjects. 2. Subjects by mere profession, and so all baptised, professing Christians, though hypocrites, are the

z Col. i. 13; Matt. xii. 28, and xxi. 31, 43; Mark i. 45; iv. 26, 30; xii. 34; x. 14, 15, 23, and xv. 43.

Luke vii. 28; viii. 1, 10; x. 9; xi. 20; xiii. 18, 20, 28, 29; xvi. 16; xvii. 21, and xviii. 3, 17, 29.

b Rev. i. 9; Luke ix. 27; xiv. 15; xxii. 16, 18, and xxiii. 51.

Acts xiv. 22; Gal. v. 21; Eph. v. 5; 2 Thes. v.; Rev. xii. 10; Matt. xvi. 28; 2 Tim. iv. 1; 1 Thes. ii. 12.

church visible, and his professed subjects. 3. Subjects by sincere heart consent, and so all such are his subjects as make up the church mystical, and shall be saved. So that the kingdom of God is a word which is sometimes of a larger signification than the church, and sometimes, in a narrower sense, is the same. Christ is Head over all things to the church. (Eph. i. 23.) Q. 7. What are the acts of Christ's kingly government? A. Law-making, judging according to that law, and executing that judgment.d

Q. 8. What laws hath Christ made, and what doth he rule by?

A. First, He taketh the law of nature now as his own, as far as it belongeth to sinful mankind. And, 2. He expoundeth the darker passages of that law. And, 3. He maketh new laws, proper to the church since his incarnation.

Q. 9. Are there any new laws of nature since the fall?

A. There are new obligations and duties arising from our changed state: it was no duty to the innocent to repent of sin, and seek out for recovery, and beg forgiveness, but nature bindeth sinners not yet under the final sentence to all this.

Q. 10. What new laws hath Christ made?

A. Some proper to church officers, and some common to all. Q. 11. What are his laws about church officers?

e

A. First, He chose himself the first chief officers, and he gave them their commission, describing their work and office, and he authorised them to gather and form particular churches, and their fixed officers or pastors, and necessary orders, and gave them the extraordinary conduct and seal of his Spirit, that their determinations might be the infallible significations of his will, and his recorded law to his universal church to the end of the world, his Spirit being the Perfecter of his laws and government. Q. 12. How shall we be sure that his apostles, by the Spirit, were authorised to give laws to all future generations?

A. Because he gave them such commission, to teach men all that he commanded. 2. And promised them his Spirit to lead them into all truth, and bring all things to their remem

4 Heb. vii. 12; Isa. ii. 3; viii. 16, 20; xlii. 4, 21, and li. 4; Mic. iv. 2; Rom. iii. 27, and viii. 2, 4; Gal. vi. 2; Isa. li. 7; Jer. xxxi. 33; Heb. viii. 10, 16.

• Matt. xxviii. 19; Eph. iv. 6-9, 16; Acts xiv. 23, and xv.

f Acts x. 42, and xiii. 47; Matt. xxviii. 19, 21; John xiv. 16, 17, 26; xv. 26, 27, and xvi. 7, 13-15; Rev. ji. 7, 11, 16, 17, 29, and iii. 6, 13, 22; 1 Pet. i. 11.

brance, and to tell them what to say and do. And, 3. Because he performed this promise, in sending them that extraordinary measure of the Spirit. And, 4. They spake as from Christ, and in his name, and as by his Spirit. And, 5. They sealed all by the manifestation of that Spirit, in its holy and miraculous, manifold operation.8

Q. 13. Have not bishops and councils the same power now?

A. No: to be the instruments of divine legislation, and make laws which God will call his laws, is a special, prophetical power and office, such as Moses had in making the Jewish laws, which none had that came after him. But when prophetical revelation hath made the law, the following officers have nothing to do, but 1. To preserve that law. 2. And to expound it and apply it, and guide the people by it, and themselves obey it. 3. And to determine undetermined, mutable circumstances. As the Jewish priests and Levites were not to make another law, but to preserve, expound, and rule by Moses's law, so the ordinary ministers, bishops, or councils are to do as to the laws of God, sufficiently made by Christ, and the Spirit in his apostles.h

Q. 14. What are the new laws which he hath made for all? A. The covenant of grace in the last edition is his law,' by which he obligeth men to repent and believe in him as incarnate, crucified, and ascended, and interceding and reigning in heaven, and as one that will judge the world at the resurrection: as one that pardoneth sin by his sacrifice and merit, and sanctifieth believers by his Spirit, and to believe in God as thus reconciled by him, and in the Holy Ghost as thus given by him. And he promiseth pardon, grace, and glory, to all true believers, and threateneth damnation to impenitent unbelievers. And he commandeth all believers to devote themselves thus to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, by a solemn vow in baptism, and live in the communion of saints, in his church and holy worship, and the frequent celebration of the memorial of his death in the sacrament of his body and blood, especially on the first day of the week, which he hath separated to that holy commemoration and communion by his resurrection, and the sending of his Spirit, and by his apostles. And he hath com

■ Acts ii. 4; Gal. i., and ii.; Mark xiii. 11; Luke xii. 12; Isa. xxxiii. 22. Jam. iv. 12; Acts i. 5, 8; ii. 4, 33, and xv. 28; 1 Cor. ii. 13; 2 Pet. i. 21;

1 Cor. vii. 25; Acts i. 2; 1 Cor. xiv. 37; Col. ii. 22; Matt. xv. 9.

1 John i. 9-11, and iii. 16; Matt. xxviii. 19, 20; 1 Cor. xv. 3—5, and xi. 28; Acts xiii. 47, and x. 42; John xiv. 21.

manded all his disciples to live in unity, love, and beneficence, taking up the cross, and following him in holiness and patience, in hope of everlasting life.k

Q. 15. But some say that Christ was only a teacher, and not a awgiver.

A. His name is King of kings, and Lord of lords, and all power in heaven and earth is given him, and all things put into his hands; the government is laid on his shoulders, and the Father (without him) judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son. For this end he died, rose, and revived, that he might be Lord of the dead and of the living; he is at God's right hand, above all principalities and powers, and every name, being head over all things to the church. 1

Q. 16. May not this signify only his kingdom as he is God, or that which he shall have hereafter only at the resurrection?

A. 1. It expressly speaketh of his power as God, and man the Redeemer. 2. And he made his law in this life, though the chief and glorious part of his judgment and execution be hereafter. How else should men here keep his law, and hereafter be judged according to it?

He that denieth Christ to be the Lawgiver, denieth him to be King; and he that denieth him to be King, denieth him to be Christ, and is no Christian.

Q. 17. Hath Christ any vicegerent, or universal governor, under him on earth?

A. No: it is his prerogative to be the universal Governor: for no mortal man is capable of it: as no one monarch is capable of the civil government of all the earth, nor was ever so mad as to pretend to it; much less is any one capable of being an universal church teacher, priest, and governor over all the earth; when he cannot so much as know it, or send to all, or have access into the contending kingdoms of the world: to pretend to this is mad usurpation. "

m

Q. 18. But had not Peter monarchical government of all the church on earth in his time?

A. No: he was governor of none of the eleven apostles, nor

John xiii. 34; Rev. i.; Matt. xxviii. 18; John xiii. 2; xvii. 3, and v.22; Isa. ix. 6; Rom. xiv. 9; Col. i.; Heb. i., and vii.

1 Eph. i. 23; Luke xvii. 9, 10, and xix. 15, &c.; Rev . xxii. 14; 1 John ii. 4; iii. 24, and v. 3.

m 1 Cor. xii. 5, 18, 20, 27-29, and iii. 4-6, 11, 22, 23; Matt. xxiii. 7, 8, 10, 11; Eph. iv. 5, 7, 8, 11-16, and v. 23, 24; Matt. xviii. 1, 4; Mark ix. 34; Luke ix. 46, and xxii. 24-26; 1 Pet. v. 2-4.