That the church, under the gospel dispensation, is in a special manner the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom which Christ so often called his kingdom appears evident (it is thought) from many passages of Scripture. The prophet Daniel, while interpreting the symbols of the four great empires which were to arise in the earth, adds that "in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed." This kingdom could not be the Church Universal, for that was established in the family of Adam and had continued without being broken in a line of holy men down to the prophet's day. It must therefore have a special reference to something future. When John the Baptist came preaching, he said, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," fully implying that it had not then commenced. He preached repentance preparatory to ushering in that kingdom which the God of heaven was about to set up. In the days of the fourth great kingdom mentioned in the prophecy of Daniel the Lord Jesus Christ came into our world to establish his kingdom. As he entered upon his ministry he declared that the time was fulfilled and that the kingdom of God was at hand. When he first commissioned his disciples and sent them forth to preach, he directed them to say to their hearers, "The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." In speaking of John the Baptist, he says, He was the greatest of prophets; but adds, "He that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he"; which must be conclusive evidence that John the Baptist was not in the kingdom of God. At the Last Supper, after our Lord had blessed and partaken of the bread, he said to his disciples, "I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God." In like manner, after taking the cup, he said, "I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come." All of which seems fully to imply that the kingdom which the God of heaven was about to set up did not commence before the gospel dispensation. Christ came under the Mosaic dispensation, that is, under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, by the sacrifice of himself; "and being found in the fashion of a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above every name." After he arose from the dead he appeared to his disciples "by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Here we see the Mediator