Shepard - Houston-Packer Collection BV4500 .S43 1657

1 `.'.-isx -.^. __ s+;ts.^ti O AwholemeCaveat they had never feen thofe lamentable dayes; they had outward Ordinances;Oh,but here was the thing; the inward Kingdome of the Lord Jefus Chrift , and fubje- aion to the will of the Lord Jefus, and to be for the Lord Jefus . this the Lord law, was not in them, there- fore the Lord hath left them to be lamentable fpe tacles. Therefore dear brethren. I do beftech you, pray and keg for this Kingdome: Thou fayeff, I fall fhort of this : Know this Kingdome ofGod is at firfi like a grain of bluftard- feed, fome little lying under the will of Chrift ; if it be in truth, bleffed be God for it; The Kingdome of God is come, and the foul doth weep and mourn after the Lord, that the Lord would bring every thought into fubje&ion. Know it, the Kingdome of God is come to thy foul; and know it, thou haft Jefus Chrift at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for thee ; thertore, gohome and blefle the Lord, and wonder at his grace, that hash tranflated thee from the Kingdome of darkneffe, to the Kingdome ofhis dear Son : Ifthe Lord hath let thee finde the beginning of thefe things in truth, go home, and bleffe the Lord for it. S. 2. Try when the externall Kingdome of Christ in his Church is call off°, for we told you, this was Chrifts king- dome. 'Tis called the Kingdome ofHeaven, Matrix s 5. i. And 'tis it which the Lord gives up at the laft day to God the Father : and hence, Mat. 8. 12. the members thereof are The Children of the Kingdome; and hence we read of the rulers and governours of it; and the keys, riot only of doctrine; but of power and juriidiaion committed byChrilt Jefus to it, punctuallyexpreft in Scripture. Now we know, in the Church there is a three-fold power ofChrift in Government: i. The fupreme hlonar- chicall abfolutepower of Chrift, in and by his Ordinan- ces. 2. There is fome derivative power of the Church fromChrift joyntly together. 3. There is a Minifteriall power ofthe officers of the Church it felf. Hence the Kingdome of Chrift is overthrown when thefe threeare, when this three-foldcord is broken by the fons ofmen; and ifwhole America caft off thefe, or any of thefe; then theyfall tobondage; and if particular perfons in Churches do, the Lord will do the like to them much more: z Kings 9. 4, 5. When Solomon had been praying much, the Lord tells him i Ifhe would walk, before him4r Da- vid

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