The Government of Christ

Thomas Case, The Conclusion of the Morning Exercise in Puritan Sermons, 1659 - 1689, vol. v, pp. 520-521:

The government of Christ is to be owned publicly.

(i.) For, first, it is the will of Christ, who was appointed to be King of nations as well as "King of saints," (Rev. xv.3,) not only to erect himself a government in the hearts of his people, but also to be publicly owned by nations, as to the religion which he hath established. There is a national acknowledgment of Christ, as well as a personal and ecclesiastical. Christ is personally owned, when we receive him into our hearts: He is ecclesiastically owned, by his worship in the churches of the saints: and nationally owned, when the laws and constitutions of the civil government are framed so as to advance the interest of his sceptre, and the Christian religion is made a national profession. This is spoken of in many places of scripture. (Gen. xvii.8; xviii.18; Isai. lv.5; lx.12; Matt. xxviii.19, 20.)