Hobbes - Leviathan.pdf

and the Lord shall give 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 Caesar, 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 "That they did all of them contrary to the
decrees of Caesar, saying there was another King, one Jesus."*(2)
The kingdom therefore of God is a real, not a metaphorical kingdom;
and so taken, not only in the Old Testament, but 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.
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* Luke, 1. 32, 33
*(2) Acts, 17. 7
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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.
In short, the kingdom of God is a civil kingdom, which consisted
first, in the obligation of the people of Israel to those laws which
Moses should bring unto them from Mount Sinai; and which afterwards
the high priest, for the time being, should deliver to them from
before the cherubim in the sanctum sanctorum; and which kingdom having
been cast off in the election of Saul, the prophets foretold, should
be restored by Christ; and the restoration whereof we daily pray for
when we say in the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come"; and the right
whereof we acknowledge when we add, "For thine is the kingdom, the
power, and glory, for ever and ever, Amen"; and the proclaiming
whereof was the preaching of the Apostles; and to which men are
prepared by the teachers of the Gospel; to embrace which Gospel
(that is to say, to promise obedience to God's government) is to be in
the kingdom of grace, because God hath gratis given to such the
power to be the subjects (that is, children) of God hereafter when
Christ shall come in majesty to judge the world, and actually to
govern his own people, which is called the kingdom of glory. If the
kingdom of God (called also the kingdom of heaven, from the
gloriousness and admirable height of that throne) were not a kingdom
which God by His lieutenants or vicars, who deliver His commandments
to the people, did exercise on earth, there would not have been so
much contention and war about who it is by whom God speaketh to us;
neither would many priests have troubled themselves with spiritual
jurisdiction, nor any king have denied it them.
Out of this literal interpretation of the kingdom of God ariseth