Проповеди и лекции

r«l^l time in Nebochadnezxar, the head of gold; nor wax it without a diuliiicl pur[xiHe of Ond, as Di niel, in his exposition of tbe great linage, thi declarvtti. " Thou, O kinf?, art a kin^ of kings, for the God of heaven bath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and gtory< And whereso- ever ihf! children of men dwell, the beasts of^^^ field, and the fowls of the heaven bath he S^^^^l into thine band, and made thee ruler over ^lem oil/* This investiture from God, in tbe whole^g earth, it was permitted unto the dragon to cnjoy»^l in order to punish all the earth for their wick- edness, and e^peelully to brtn^ into captivity^ God*s own chnrch ; while at the^^ame time it wafl overruled to iranifet^t hts own hii^her sovercif^ty* in tlie resistance and victory which he enabled U» faithful servants, from Daniel downwards until the Paj>acy, to obtain over it; whose faithful^ teslittH)ny against this usnqiation^ in behalf of^^ God, the King of kings, and in expectation of Mc»»iab, the Prince of prinoe^t, did bring forth that body of prophecy, and wci>fht of evidence* to the only rule and sovereignty of (lod, which I I?] THKTJtnibi: UJ(CLKA?< SPlHlXft. 8&5 the Old aod New TestnrueiiU coiitaiii. 1 would say, that the saccessioa of autocratic and uqi- Tergal empire.^, which, from Nebuchadnezzar, coatinucd through Cyrus the Persian, Alexander the Greek, and the Romans, down lo the con- ittitittiou iif i\\v Mt-lchixedcc uxurpatiou of the 'apacy, which is prieit and king in one, though great device of Satan, to anticipate qik] Circamvent the office which belongeth onl^ to the ^on, — and, alas ! too auccea&[ul a device to oppress and huoiiliatc the church, and Chmt, tc Head. or the church, even unto the deuth,— LS yet. in %o far forth as it oppresveJ the shurch, orcmilcd to shew forth the ^lory of lod's justice and holiness, while in so jar forth m it was a usurpation hy Satan of that which irtaineth only to tlie Son, it was overruled lo iraw out thusc ample di^linimtion?; tif Mi^siah's kingdom, wherein the faithful now rejotce. For, !ver as the usurper appropriated another point of 'le&siah scomtni^ glor\', the Holy Spirit, jealous Tor the honour of Cliriat, did reveal unto his ser- vants the prophets, and through tttcm maltc ma- nifest unto ihe (Httirch, the right ownership ami future certainly of that which had been blaspbe- mously usurped, and so, by succeeaive acts of re* velalion, the glory of Christ, the King, was fully dcixlopcd. And this, no doubt, was the end for which God permitted that first form