A practical exposition of the Lord's-Prayer

1. The Kingdom of Grace is spoken of in many places, specially that Luk. 17. 20, 21. When he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the Kingdom of God should come? he answered them and said, The Kingdom of God cometh not with Observation. Neither shall they say, Lo, here, or, lo, there: for, behold the Kingdom of God is within you, (or among you.) He speaks of a Kingdom of God that was already come among them, in the dispensation of his Grace by Christ. And then, the other belongeth to the Life to come, called the Kingdom of Glory, Mat. 25. 34. Come ye Blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World. 1 Cor. 15. 50. Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

Now the Kingdom of Grace may be considered two ways; as Externally administered; and as internally received.

Now the Kingdom of Grace may be considered two ways; as Externally administred; and as internally received.

(1.) As Externally administered in the Ordinances and Means of Grace, as the Word, and Seals, and Censures, and the like. In this Sense it is said, Mat. 21. 43. The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a Nation, bringing forth the Fruits thereof. The Gospel, or Means of Grace, administered in the visible Face of the Church, they are called God's Kingdom upon Earth, and a very great Privilege they are, when they are bestowed upon any People. Surely, when Christ saith, The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, he doth not mean it of the inward Kingdom, that they had not, that cannot be lost, but of the outward and external Means.