Page images
PDF
EPUB

the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" Eph. ii. 2); and, it may be added, their children, "the children of this world" (Luke xvi. 8); "who are taken captive by him at his will" (Tim. II. ii. 26).

And so likewise with regard to the abandonment or rejection of the Mystery after it has been accepted; whether this may proceed from levity or mature judgment, from the apostate's being wiser than he was, or not so wise, better or not so good, it is not for others to determine. It seems however a curious instinct in the human race, to be so fascinated as they are with new things, or things new to them, and that merely for their novelty: as on the other hand they are equally liable to be disgusted with old things, or things old to them, merely on account of their familiarity. It is fair to consider this habit as instinctive, for being most unreasonable, and consequently common to most; being in no subject or matter perhaps more observable than in the science of divinity, and in the Mystery of the Kingdom of God. Hence the impetuosity with which novices in such matters are apt to run into the first scheme of the sort,-be it true or false, wise or absurd, that comes home to their imagination: hence the indifference with which the wisest scheme is entertained after it begins to be familiar, if it was not before, and the ease with which some realities perhaps, as well as many illusions, are successively abandoned by the heedless enthusiast. "Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets; she crieth in the chief place of concourse; in the openings of the gates; in the city she uttereth her words saying, How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning? and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you: I will make known my words unto you" (Prov. i. 20, &c.).

Levity, caprice, enthusiasm, or its affectation, are highly reprehensible in relation to a matter of so serious importance; but, as before intimated, nothing after all is so bad

as a sober abuse of it: this fact, to every sincere judgment, must appear the worst of all, because it is a much lighter offence to have nothing to do with an institution that deserves all our attention and ability, even after we are pledged to it, than to continue and make a corrupt use of the same which must certainly be nothing at all, or too good for such a use,

VOL. I.

CHRISTIAN MODES.

PART I.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN CHRIST.

CHAPTER I.

INCIDENTALS.

1, 2. Name and Notion.-3. Birth and Station.-4. Place and Habitation. --5. Money, Stock, &c.-6. Dress.-7. Diet.-8. Intelligence, Records, &c.-9. Rights, Dues, &c.-10. Duties, Liabilities, &c.-11. Opportunity, Necessity, Impossibility.-12. Calling, Trade or Profession. - 13. Instruction, Example, Advice.

"All are yours."-COR. I. iii. 22.

1. THE word Kingdom is formed of two other words, ઠંડ King" and "Dome"; that denoting a political degree; and this the doom annexed to it. For there are dooms of various degrees, and not only of degrees, but of sorts like wise, particularly two, the personal and material; relating, one to a man's own condition, the other to that of his rank, estate or circumstances. And of either of these two sorts there are also some varieties; as first, of the personal, freedom and thraldom: next, of the material, kingdom, and others.

II. The kingdom of God, in general, is found to denote that boundless sphere which he whose part it is, to make the "weight for the winds, and he weigheth the waters by measure" (Jób. xxviii. 25); to mix up properties, whether material or immaterial, in whatever forms, quantities and proportions he may see fit, and to doom his

fate as well as sphere and jurisdiction to every creaturehas doomed to himself by the word of creation; and in which he still dooms inevitably the general course of all that he has created, having made originally all things for himself. This kingdom is not described by space; it does not depend on locality; numbers have nothing to do with it: its beginning and extent are in the centre and to the circumference of all that is, according to that expression of the Psalmist, "The Lord hath prepared his seat in heaven, and his kingdom ruleth over all" (Ps. ciii. 19). Among other items, this earthly planet, the world which we inhabit, is one in the kingdom of God, or in the Creator's doom, and celebrated accordingly by the Psalmist, where he says, "The earth is the Lord's, and all that therein is, the compass of the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and prepared it upon the floods" (Ps. xxiv. 1, 2). His throne he has placed in the moral and intellectual department: but every creature in the three kingdoms of nature is also subject to his dominion, and has its part assigned from him; the fowls of the air, though they neither sow nor reap; the lilies of the field, though they toil not (Matt. vi. 26-28); and even the salt of the earth, if it be only good for the dunghill (Luke xiv. 34, 35), however remote its sphere of operation from the seat of government.

Therefore, as the sovereign himself is intitled King of kings, so his sphere or doom may be intitled a Kingdom of kingdoms; since it includes not only all the kingdoms on earth, but also those of earth and heaven, or the kingdoms of nature and intellect as well. The latter, however, v. g. the kingdom of intellect, seems to be that which is ordinarily understood as the kingdom of heaven, or of God; and most likely on account of its pre-eminence over every other sphere or aspect of the kingdom. For here is the centre of business to all that is, the metropolis of the universe, the fountain of human interests especially, and of all the affairs of human life, whether present or to

« PreviousContinue »