Therefore, the Roman governor condemned the Son of God; Roman soldiers executed him, on a Roman cross, with his accusation written over his head and in due time the Roman bishop seized on the supposed inheritance, and lorded it with a high hand over the vineyard, and ruled the nations with terrific power, as the vicar and vicegerent of Christ and of God.

Wonderful fulfilment of the character delineated in the parable!

"When the Lord, therefore, of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him: He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out the vineyard, unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons." (Mat. 21: 40, 41.) Not those only will the Lord destroy who demanded his death, but also those who gave sentence against him for the sake of the inheritance, and who actually executed him; and thought to have seized the possession of his inheritance and for many centuries have braved his laws, and denied his word, while they have sought to rule in his holy name.

"Therefore, said the Lord, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." v. 43. You, who are guilty of these things: from shall it be taken.

you

It would seem wholly unsuitable to take the kingdom from those who had demanded his crucifixion, merely to bestow it on them who had actually crucified him; and that not for any fault in him, but solely because they would be rid of him, as the heir; and would have undisturbed possession of the government of the world. It would seem also wholly unnatural, to take the kingdom from the Jews, and give it to the Romans, as a people who should bring forth the fruits of the vineyard, and render them in their season to the household.

er: for Jerusalem never furnished haughtier Pharisees, or more subtle scribes, or by far so imperial Pontiffs, as the Babylon of the New Testament has long furnished. Therefore, it cannot be that Rome has received the kingdom of heaven: because Rome does not yield the fruits of it in their season. Nor has any nation received it, least of all, the murderers of the heir, and the guilty authors of an attempt to seize on the inheritance of the Son of God: but the kingdom is taken from this world altogether, and from flesh and blood, and it is held in reserve, for the coming of the Son of man, in the end of the world; to be by him conferred on the generation of the just in the resurrection of the dead. They will render of the fruits of the vineyard in their season, in the world to come and in the life everlasting.

And who are the chief priests of the Jews, according to this parable, but the professors of religion, in all ages of the gospel dispensation, throughout Christendom, who have sacrificed their Lord and Master to the favor of the God of this world, and to the emperor, to the popular will, or the Cesar of their country and age? Those Jews have a generation of their own from that day to this, in the capitol of Christendoin, in the mistress of the kingdoms of this world, and its dependencies, of all nations, and denominations.

And who are they that do the will of the Jews, nailing the Lord of the whole earth to the wood, for the sake of the inheritance of the world; but the rulers of the nations, wherever they may be, who administer the laws for their own gain instead of the divine glory? Cesar has, also, a generation of men that, in every age, would not scruple to perform a deed of flagitious cruelty, and rank wickedness, in order to please the people, and to retain the power over the vineyard. And the kingdom of heaven is taken from the Jews, and not given to the Romans; but it is taken from both Jews and Gentiles, and altogether from the race of Adam in the flesh; and it will be given to the sons of the

second Adam; "who are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection," the chosen generation, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, who follow the Lord in the regeneration, and are "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." (1 Pet. 1: 23.) The Lord grant that you, my reader, with me, may be accounted worthy to receive the kingdom of God.

Other passages occur in the New Testament, to support the doctrine of the kingdom of heaven already come; but these are commonly presented, by my friends, in the way of testing my view, as the strongest that can be furnished. If these be satisfactorily expounded in any way, (and doubtless the learned reader will see often a better way, than I have taken,) to teach not the existence of the kingdom of heaven in flesh and blood, as we are expressly assured flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of heaven; ("Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God:" Cor. 15: 50,) then there are no other passages in the Bible, I think, that can be relied on to support it.

For when Paul gives "thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son;" (Col. 1: 12, 13,) he speaks the language of strong faith, which "is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen ;" and no reader will be misled by that word; except he may have imbibed his error from other sources, when this word will easily confirm him in it. "The inheritance of the saints in light" is well understood to be with every inheritance, an estate future, and here it is plainly the same thing, as the "kingdom of his dear Son," mentioned immediately after; and it settles the meaning of

the expression, to apply by faith to the future state; and not to a present kingdom.

It is only passages of this sort, that are left to oppose the positive and unqualified and oft-repeated declaration of our Lord: "The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." And these do not oppose it. No, no; by a strong faith they anticipate it.

PARABLE OF THE NOBLEMAN, AND TEN POUNDS.

"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun

"Does his successive journies run:

"His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,

"Till moons shall wax and wane no more."

Having now answered with candor, and I hope with general satisfaction, the hard questions out of the gospel, which are much urged in opposition to the views presented in this treatise; I, in turn, ask leave to propound one out of the gospel, for solemn consideration, before I take up the prophecy of Daniel.

Please open in Luke 19: 11, where it is written:

:

"And he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought the kingdom of God should immediately appear." Yes, they expected a millennium in earnest, and that quickly and they might with some show of reason; for the Messiah was with them; and they had preached his kingdom at hand; and they had heard of great changes to be made in Jerusalem, at this visit; and, therefore, they might be deceived by their hopes, as they certainly were; and the good Lord sought, in this parable, to undeceive, both them and us, in every age of the gospel.

"He said, therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return." The Lord himself is the "nobleman." "The far country" of which he speaks, is the existing absence of the Lord from the time of his ascension. "The kingdom" is that which the Father gives him, when all enemies are put under his feet; and, then, he is "to return, having received the kingdom."

"And he called his ten servants, and delivered unto them ten pounds; and said unto them: Occupy till I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying: We will not have this man to reign over us."

The ten pounds are goods, which he bestows in this life, on the people, for the use of which he will call them to account on his return in the life to come. "His citizens" are Christians, who are called after him, as the inhabitants of a city are called after the name of their city; Bostonians, Philadel. phians, New Yorkers. "And they hated him;" because they were corrupt, no doubt, and would have their own way, rather than obey his gospel. Their hatred appears to have manifested itself in sending after him, what they did not send directly to him, a message, saying they would have the kingdom without him: they would not have him to come back and reign over them. No; never, never!

"And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading."

The parable teaches that the Lord is now gone, "to receive a kingdom, and to return ;" and, again, that he returns when he has received the kingdom; and, then, on the judgment seat, he calls before him, both those who have well occupied his trusts; and those who have abused them: and he pronounces sentence upon each forthwith.