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Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."

Another direct testimony to our blessed Saviour's kingdom is in Dan. vii. "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."

Another testimony is our Lord's own declaration to his disciples, which we read in Luke xxii. "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Another is our Lord's answer to his disciples, in Acts i. when just before his ascension into heaven, they asked him, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be

witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth:" by which, we are sure, he meant, that they should be witnesses of his kingdom; should testify it to the world; and prepare the world for it; because we read in Matt. ix. that Jesus himself, "went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom" and in Luke iv. we are told that he said, "I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for therefore am I sent ;" and in Matt. xxiv. he said to his disciples, "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." The apostle Peter accordingly bore his testimony to the coming and kingdom of his Lord, in his first sermon, preached at Jerusalem to those very Jews, who only a few weeks before had taken Jesus, and put him to death. It is found in Acts iii. Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by

the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." In 2 Pet. i. is another testimony of the same apostle to the kingdom of our blessed Saviour, "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father, honour, and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts."

In the Epistles of Paul are many clear testimonies to the kingdom of Christ, and of God, of which I have time to produce only two; one in 1 Cor. xv. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and

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all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." The other is in Heb. ii. "For unto the angels hath he not put into subjection the world to come whereof we speak. But one in a certain place, (Ps. viii.) testified, saying, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou madest him, (that is, the man Christ Jesus) a little (for a little while,) lower than the angels, thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him." The last testimony which I shall bring from Scripture to the coming and kingdom of our Lord, is that of the Apostle John, in two passages of the Revelation; the first is in Rev. xi." And the seventh angel sounded

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and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." The other passage is in Rev. xx. "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were

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