And in the New Testament, the angel Gabriel saith of our Saviour (_Luke_ i. 32, 33) _He shall be great, and be called the Son of the most High, and the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end_. This is also a kingdom upon earth; for the claim whereof, as an enemy to Cæsar, he was put to death; the title of his cross, was, _Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews_; he was crowned in scorn with a crown of thorns; and for the proclaiming of him, it is said of the disciples (_Acts_ xvii. 7) _That they did all of them contrary to the decrees of Cæsar, saying there was another king, one Jesus_. The kingdom therefore of God is a real, not a metaphorical kingdom; and so taken, not only in the Old Testament, but in the New; when we say, _For thine is the kingdom, the power, and glory_, it is to be understood of God’s kingdom, by force of our covenant, not by the right of God’s power; for such a kingdom God always hath; so that it were superfluous to say in our prayer, _Thy kingdom come_, unless it be meant of the restoration of that kingdom of God by Christ, which by revolt of the Israelites had been interrupted in the election of Saul. Nor had it been proper to say, _The kingdom of heaven is at hand_; or to pray, _Thy kingdom come_, if it had still continued. There be so many other places that confirm this interpretation, that it were a wonder there is no greater notice taken of it, but that it gives too much light to Christian kings to see their right of ecclesiastical government. This they have observed, that instead of a _sacerdotal kingdom_, translate, _a kingdom of priests_; for they may as well translate a _royal priesthood_, as it is in St. Peter, into a _priesthood of kings_. And whereas, for a _peculiar people_, they put a _precious jewel_, or _treasure_, a man might as well call the special regiment, or company of a general, the general’s precious jewel, or his treasure.