269 SERMON XVII. THE NATURE OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. JOHN Xviii. 36. My kingdom is not of this world. THERE was a time, when God thought fit, that only one corner of the world should be lighted up by his brightness, and that corner was Israel. There was a time, when his love, now so richly spread, seemed to be narrowed to one people of his own choice, and that people was Israel. What were the Gentiles then? ignorant of God and of his righteousness; ignorant of Christ and of the purposes of his grace; ignorant of themselves and the nature of those sins which kept them in perpetual imprisonment. The apostle has noted down what they were" filled with all wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, implacable, unmerciful." They had no light, but that miserably uncertain light of the conscience, by which their thoughts either accused, or else excused one another. But what are the Gentiles now? Behold, they have been visited in their blindness, and now they see-the vail is taken away from their hearts, and now they understand-to them is committed the word of reconciliation; it was offered to the Jew, and he trod it under foot; it was offered to the Gentile, and he gloried in it; and the Spirit taught him to know "how beautiful were the feet of them that preached the gospel of peace, that brought the glad tidings of good things. To some of these, chosen out of the people, Christ has become "wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; he has displayed to them the perfection of the scheme, by which as God-man, he armed himself with power to bring many sons into glory. He has expounded clearly all things concerning himself, so that, like the Athenians, we need not raise an altar to an unknown God; nor like the men of Lycaonia, do sacrifice to a weak brother, and honour an apostle as we honour Christ. He gives us, in few words, the most comprehensive view of his divinity. Of his prerogative as a Saviour, he says, "I am the resurrection and the life." Of his glory-"I am the bright and the morning star." Of his bound less power" I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of hell and of death." Of his love" I am the good shepherd;" and lastly, of the nature of his government and dominion, My kingdom is not of this world." This is the divine saying, to the consideration of which I am now to press your attention; it merits a full and serious examination, for it is of such a latitude that it will allow of my bringing under your notice many solemn and interesting truths. I shall first describe this world as it is; and, secondly, the kingdom of Christ as it ever will be. May the Spirit of might descend like a rushing wind into your hearts, and kindle a sacred fire within them, and then, when they come to be applied, you may hope for a lasting profit to your souls. Our present business is with the world, not as it came out of the hands of God, when the workmanship was without a blemish, but as sin has made it, a world deeply plunged in pollution. First, it is a shattered world; all the parts of it are out of order: how can it be otherwise, when all the nations under heaven have the print of the footsteps of that roaring lion, who has made a den and a lurking place of every abode of man. He has thrown the affections out of place; he has blindfolded the understand ing, and infused so much poison into the heart, that it has become "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." When we speak of the beauty of the world, and the harmony and admirable construction of its whole system, we speak of it as a world of dry land and seas, of hills and mountains, watered by fertilizing rains, and warmed by a sun that is never out of course. But even here, intimation is given us that it is not what it was; it bears the resemblance of a garden in confusion, precipitous rocks, and dreary desarts, and islands without verdure seem to say, that the earth itself is a sharer, in some measure, of the wrath and displeasure of God. Yet with all these signs of its altered condition, there is a charm and a fascination about it that plainly declares, though it has lost much of what it once possessed, it has not been deprived of it all. Can we say this of man? what has he remaining of the holiness he had in paradise? I am supposing him to be merely man, such as he appears when the breath of life is first breathed into his nostrils. In this character he makes one of the ungodly world, and as soon as ever he finds. the ways of pleasure open to him, he flies to them with all the endearments of nature, as if the only reason for his entering life was for the enjoyment of them. The power of thinking is left to him, but his thoughts are given in lavish profusion to objects that his eye and his heart fancy; they run not up to God. He has the power of choice, and he chooses earth and discards heaven. He serves what master he will, and he would rather wear the chains of a tyrant than try the pleasantness of the yoke of Christ. This cannot be the people to whom the Lord will give a goodly heritage and a pleasant land: "Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have they dealt treacherously with him, who died to redeem them from destruc-* tion. In that earnest supplication that he makes for his true Israel, these are his words-"I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine." Our Lord's adoption of this term was for the sake of brevity; he spoke not of the inanimate, but the rational world, if such can be called rational, which has more regard for the little concerns of time, than for the mighty interests of eternity. It is plain that in this word he would include all that live for the world, and with the world, and then his prayer is both reasonable and just, for the friendship of the world is enmity with God; and when he men tions the precious bequest with which he proposed to comfort the disciples after his departure, how careful he is to separate it from that T |