Abraham Booth > Quotes

“Covenantees, therefore, under the Christian economy, can be no other than the spiritual seed of Abraham: and such are the subjects of this kingdom. Hence the Gospel Covenant is called new, and is expressly opposed to the Sinai Confederation, from which it is extremely different. It is also pronounced a better Covenant than that which Jehovah made with the ancient Israel: and so it is, whether we consider its objects, its blessings, its confirmation, or its continuance.”
― Abraham Booth, An Essay on the Kingdom of Christ

“The empire of Christ, indeed, extends to every creature: for all authority in heaven and on earth is in his hands, and he is head over all things to the Church. But the kingdom of which we treat, stands distinguished from that of general Providence, as well as from every political state. It must be considered, therefore, as consisting of those persons whom he bought with his blood, whom he calls by his grace, and over whom he reigns as a spiritual monarch.”
― Abraham Booth, An Essay on the Kingdom of Christ

“None, therefore, but those who are born from above, are the subjects of Jesus Christ: for if the heart be not under his dominion, he reigns not at all as a spiritual monarch.”
― Abraham Booth, An Essay on the Kingdom of Christ

“The empire of Christ is not of this world: it is not a temporal, but a Spiritual kingdom. Our Lord, therefore, is a spiritual sovereign; whose dominion extends to the mind, conscience, and heart, no less than to the external behaviour. Consequently, all the subjects of his government must have spiritual dispositions, and yield spiritual obedience proceeding from an enlightened understanding, an awakened conscience, and a renewed heart. For, as is the sovereign, such are the subjects, and such the allegiance required. A spiritual Sovereign, and subjects yielding an obedience merely external, are manifestly inconsistent.”
― Abraham Booth, An Essay on the Kingdom of Christ

“Very different, then, is the kingdom of Christ from the ancient Israelitish Theocracy. For, of that Theocracy, all Abraham's natural descendants were true subjects, and properly qualified members of the Jewish church; such only excepted, as had not been circumcised according to the order of God, or were guilty of some capital crime. To be an obedient subject: of their civil government, and a complete member in their ecclesiastical state, were manifestly the same thing, because, by treating Jehovah as their political sovereign, they avowed him as the true God, and were entitled to all the emoluments of their National Covenant.”
― Abraham Booth, An Essay on the Kingdom of Christ

“Nor do the most shining mental accomplishments, or literary acquisitions, enter into the true glory of this kingdom. Genius and learning, like wealth and power, are frequently possessed by the worst of moral characters. They cannot, therefore, make any part of that excellence by which the subjects of Jesus Christ are distinguished from those secular princes. It is not by the gifts of common Providence, among which parts and learning make a conspicuous figure; but by the graces of the Holy Spirit, that any person, as a Christian, is worthy of regard. -- Yes, it is faith in Christ, and obedience to him; love to God, and benevolence to man; humility, patience, and resignation; spirituality; and heavenly mindedness, which adorn the subjects of our Lord's kingdom --- which distinguish them from the children of this world. These, and similar things, respect the state of the conscience, and of the heart. They form a character for eternity, and favour of the heavenly world.”
― Abraham Booth, An Essay on the Kingdom of Christ

“Under the Gospel Dispensation, however, these peculiarities have no existence. For Christ has not made an external covenant with any people. He is not the king of any particular nation. He dwells not in a palace made with hands. His throne is in the heavenly sanctuary; nor does he afford his visible presence in any place upon earth. The partition wall between Jews and Gentiles has long been demolished and, consequently, our divine Sovereign does not stand related to any people, or to any person, so as to confer a relative sanctity, or to produce an external holiness.”
― Abraham Booth, An Essay on the Kingdom of Christ

“From the time of Nimrod to the present age, secular empires have generally originated in the vile passions of their first founders: for, in almost every instance, avarice and pride, ambition and a lust of dominion, have been conspicuous. -- Not so, in the kingdom of Christ. The remote foundation of his dominion was laid in the counsels of Heaven before time commenced, by all comprehending wisdom and infinite goodness, for the glory of God and the benefit of man: and the immediate basis on which it stands, is his own vicarious obedience to divine law; both as to its precepts, and as to its penalty. Justice and goodness, therefore, are the foundation of his throne. Mercy and truth attend the whole of his administration.”
― Abraham Booth, An Essay on the Kingdom of Christ

“The state of things, however, under the New economy, is extremely different. For the great Proprietor and Lord of the Christian church, having absolutely disclaimed a kingdom that is of this world cannot acknowledge any as the subjects of his government, who do not know and revere him -- who do not confide in him, and sincerely love him. Having entirely laid aside those ensigns of political sovereignty, and those marks of external grandeur, which made such a splendid appearance in the Jewish Theocracy; he disdains to be called the King, or the God, of any person who does not obey and worship him in spirit and in truth. Appearing as the head of his church, merely under the character of a spiritual monarch, over whomsoever he reigns, it is in the understanding, by the light of his truth; in the conscience, by the force of his authority; and in the heart, by the influence of his love: for as to all others, his dominion is that of Providence, not that of Grace. --The New Testament affords no more ground for concluding, that our being descended from parents of a certain description, constitutes us the subjects of our Lord's kingdom; than it does to suppose, that carnal descent, in a particular line of ancestry, confers a claim to the character and work of ministers in the same kingdom.”
― Abraham Booth, An Essay on the Kingdom of Christ