Q. 123. Which is the second petition?

A. "Thy kingdom come;" that is, rule us so by thy word and Spirit, that we may submit ourselves more and more to thee; preserve and increase thy church, destroy the works of the devil, and all violence, which would exalt itself against thee; and also all wicked counsels devised against thy holy word; till the full perfection of thy kingdom takes place, wherein thou shalt be all in all.

ALTHOU

LTHOUGH the glory of God shines abroad in the clearest manner by means of all his great actions in nature, nevertheless it is still more manifested by his work of grace in the church. In the world" he doth great things past finding out, yea, and wonders without number: he removeth the mountains, and they know it not, and he overturneth them in his anger," &c, Job

ix. 5-10. This manifests him wonderful in his glory: "I know," saith the psalmist, "that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. He causeth the va pours to ascend," &c, Psalm cxxxv. 6, 7. All these actions of God manifest "his invisible things, his eternal power and Godhead,” Rom. i. 20. But his glory beams forth still more in his church. David, calling upon "the children of the mighty to give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name," speaks not only of God's great works, of thunder, lightning, floods, and the painful calving of the hinds, but also of his glory, which he hath placed in his church, and in which he is praised on account of it more than elsewhere, saying, "but in his temple doth every one speak of his glory," Psalm xxix. 1-9. For he hath placed his children in his church, "that chosen generation, that royal priesthood, that holy nation, and peculiar people, that they should show forth the praises of him, who hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light," I Peter ii. 9. He dwells and converseth there as in his house, and "he hath his fire and his furnace there," Isaiah xxxi. 9. Yea, in his church he is like a king in his palace, he appears there on his throne, the theatre of his glory, which shines forth particularly in his giving of his Son, that he might forgive sins through grace, and nevertheless remain just; for to this end "hath he set his Son forth" in his church, Rom. iii. 25, 26.

He therefore who desires that the Lord should be glorified, must also promote the glory of the church. Therefore Jesus, the great Advocate of his people, teaching the children of God to pray for the hallowing and glorifying of their Father's name, commands them to pray for the promoting and "the coming of his kingdom" in his church, because his name is hallowed chiefly in his church, In order rightly to understand this second petition, we must attend to three, particulars,

I. What the kingdom of God is.

II. How it comes, and

III. Why we must pray for this.

1. Believers, calling upon their Father, speak to him concerning his kingdom. A kingdom is a state of a people, in which one per son: hath as king, the supreme power and authority, whereby he governs the subjects according to certain laws, protects the good, and punisheth the evil.

Such a supreme authority is ascribed to God, and particularly to the Father, with which he rules as king. We read of a twofold

kingdom of God: we find first an universal, and then a particular kingdom. The universal kingdom, called also the kingdom of nature, of power, and of common providence, is the whole world, in which the Lord governs all his creatures, according to a certain or der and laws which are innate in them, and also sometimes above and without those laws by miracles; and causes them to observe his beck and will, that he many manifest his supreme authority and sovereign power over them. All the creatures are subject to this jurisdiction of God: "The Lord hath established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all," saith David, Psalm ciii. 19. Even the great ones of the earth, the mightiest kings are subject to this dominion of the Lord. Although Pharaoh may attempt to shake off this yoke from himself and say, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go," Exod. v. 2, the great God and king, who is above all gods, will speedily compel him to acknowledge his sovereign power, and say, "The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked," Exod. ix. 27. Did the great Nebuchadnezzar think and say, that he was the supreme king, and the independent ruler of great Babylon, the Lord God manifested that he was nevertheless above him; for he caused "the kingdom to depart from that proud boaster; he was driven from men among the beasts, and a beast's heart was given him, until he knew that the heavens did rule, and until he blessed the Most High, and praised and honoured him who liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation; and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he doth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doth thou?" Dan. iv. The Lord is indeed "a king of kings," 1 Tim. vi. 15. The devil himself, though he is the god of this world, must submit with his angels to the dominion of the Lord, although it is contrary to his will. When the Son of God "commands those unclean spirits, they obey him,” Mark i. 27. When he doth not suffer them to speak," they dare not even mutter, Mark i. 34. They cannot enter into the swine, when he doth not permit them upon their request, Mat. viii. 31, 32.

But the Lord hath also a particular kingdom, called the kingdom of grace, in which he alone reigneth over his children, as his peculiar property above all other creatures, according to his free and royal law. This Christ calls "the kingdom of God and his righ

teousness," and he saith that "all other things shall be added to it," Matt. vi. 33.

God the Father is the king of this kingdom of grace; for to him do believers speak, as we have shown before, in treating on the manner of addressing God in prayer. It is true," the Son of God is the king of Israel," as Nathanael confessed with an upright mind, John i. 50. But when the Son of God prescribed this prayer to his people, he did not appear like a king, but like "one whom man despiseth, like a servant of rulers, and one whom the nation abhorred," according to the prophecy, Isaiah xlix. 7. As "he also made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man," Philip. ii. 7. Having afterwards ascended into heaven, and sitten at the right hand of God, he manifested himself a king, when he poured out the Holy Spirit; but he did this on the behalf of his Father, who appointed him his vicegerent, that he might govern his church with, by, and in him. For to this end "the Father anointed him," Psalm ii. 6, 66 gave him the throne of his Father David," Luke i. 32, "exalted him by his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Is. rael, and forgiveness of sins," Acts v. 31, "made him sit at his right hand, and gave him the promise of the Holy Ghost, to shred him forth, and made him thus Lord and Christ," Acts ii. 33-36. And so he reigns, as Mediator, in the name, and "to the glory of God the Father," as Paul teacheth, Philip. ii. 9-11. "Which kingdom he will deliver up to the Father again," 1 Cor. xv. 24.

Although many reprobates join themselves outwardly to his church, and are on that account called "Children of the kingdom," they are nevertheless not proper subjects, and shall therefore be banished and "cast out" of the kingdom, as the King saith, Matt viii. 12. But those only are proper subjects, who have been chosen by the Father, and given to his Son; who hath bought them with his blood for himself, hath subjected them to himself, and bestows upon them the benefits of the kingdom, "righteousness, peace and joy through the Holy Ghost," Rom. xiv. 17, and whom he governs by his word of the law and gospel with his Spirit. Thus God promised to his Son, that "he, as the anointed King of God, should have the elect heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession," Psalm ii. 6, 8, and also "a rod of his strength, that he might subdue his enemies to himself, and render them a willing people," Psalm cx. 2, 3, as they, affected in this manner. do also " join themselves to him," and do homage to him, “to be his servants," Isaiah lvi. 6.

This kingdom hath also its enemies. The devil hath exalted himself with his angels against the King, and hath erected the king dom of darkness, in order to oppose the King, and the subjects of the kingdom of salvation; to whom Mahomet and his whole multitude have joined themselves, and also Antichrist, the whore of Babylon, with all the kings of the earth, who commit fornication with her; for "the coming of the man of sin, the son of perdition, is Heretics also in after the working of Satan," 2 Thess. ii. 3—9. general conspire with this power of hell; and that roaring lion, that he may the more easily devour the subjects of the Lord, stirs up traitors also within the kingdom of God, even all the false brethren in the church, and all the corruptions in the souls of the true subjects. But our great King will destroy him, with all that cleave to him: for "he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet," 1 Cor. xv. 25.

Although the kingdom of grace, with respect to the essentials of it, is always the same, nevertheless it must be considered, agreeably to the free dispensation of the King, in different situations. It is either the kingdom of the Old Testament, or of the New Testament, or of glory.

1. God erected his kingdom under the Old Testament, even in the beginning of the world, when he promised his Son, as "the seed of the woman," that he might cause him, as king, to "bruise the head of the seed of the serpent," Gen. iii. 15. He manifested himself also a king in the families of the patriarchs, until he adop ted the posterity of Abraham for his subjects, and erected his kingdom in a public manner among them, and undertook to govern them himself, without an earthly king. Gideon, knowing this, "would not reign over Israel, nor suffer his son to reign over them," because "the Lord alone ought to reign over them," Judges viii. 23. When the children of Israel afterwards desired a king, it displeased the Lord, because "they rejected him, that he should not reign over them," 1 Sam. viii. 9, and therefore he indeed "gave them a king, but it was in his anger, and he took him away in his wrath," Hosea xiii. 11. And after this the Lord did, as it were, tolerate the kingly government among them. He himself had indeed acted in the most perfect manner, as their king: he had led them out of Egypt, had brought them to Horeb, had given them there his civil, ecclesiastical and moral laws, had gone before them in a pillar of fire and of cloud, had fed them with Manna from heaven, had given them water to drink out of the rock, had brought them into Canaan, subdued their enemies for them, and maintained his throne, as a king