And when we are come to the end of our earthly life, and, after the rest of Paradise, are admitted into the Kingdom of our Father, though all the other petitions of this Prayer may be suspended, these words will remain for ever in our hearts, and on our lips. Then His Kingdom will have come, and His Will be done. We shall "Eat Bread in His Kingdom " (S. Luke xiv. 15), of which "he that eateth shall hunger no more" (S. John vi. 35; Rev. vii. 16, 17). "The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity" (Is. xxxiii. 34). Temptation and evil shall not be known there; "No lion shall be there; nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon: it shall not be found there" (xxxv. 9). Our sighs of sorrow shall be exchanged for songs of gladness, and the Hosannas of prayer for the Hallelujahs of praise.1

1 “Ubi ad metam pervenerit universitas filiorum Dei, mera fiet in coelo doxologia, 'Sanctificetur Nomen Dei.' Venit regnum Dei; facta est voluntas Ejus. Remisit nobis peccata; tentationem ad exitum perduxit; a malo nos liberavit. Ipsius est regnum, et potentia, et gloria in sæcula. Amen." (Bengel.)

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"THY KINGDOM COME."

As Creator and Supreme Governor of the world, God is the 'King of nations" (Jer. x. 7), "the King of all the earth" (Ps. xlvii. 7). Revolt and rebellion against His rule can only bring destruction on those who "will not have Him to rule over them" (S. Luke xix. 14, 27); "The Lord is King, be the people never so impatient" (Ps. xcix. 1). For reasons of His Own, He has suffered the devil to usurp His dominion in the hearts of many, but this usurpation shall one day be crushed, and, in the words of the prophet, "The Lord shall be King over all the earth in that day shall there be One Lord, and His Name One" (Zech. xiv. 9).

But He has now a special and peculiar royalty over His Church, and His people are ever praying that this sovereignty may be more largely acknowledged and extended. And they connect this petition with the preceding one, as it is written, "Their delight shall be daily in Thy Name: for the Lord is our Defence, the Holy One of Israel is our King" (Ps. lxxxix. 17, 19); for it seems naturally to follow the other, "the second supplication implying," as Olshausen observes, "the appearing externally of the Divine thing ministering internally, which is presupposed in the first supplication.”

Tertullian transposes this and the next petition; but his authority cannot supersede the general consent of the Church to receive the several petitions in the order in which they

1 Par. Lost, II. 323-5.

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stand.

There seems to be a certain method and order by which these three first petitions progress from one degree of blessedness to another. Tholuck says, the first of the three relates to the humble coming of the Kingdom; the second to the glorious manifestation thereof; the third to the perfection of our beatitude. Baxter says that there are clearly three gradations here: but the highest point is put first, the hallowing and glorifying God's Name and perfections; the second, is that in which this is chiefly notified to man, the coming of His Kingdom; the third is the effect of that Kingdom, in the fulfilling of His Will. Chesselius, a man of great learning and piety, distinguishes thus between the first and the second petition: that the first relates to that knowledge which is past, which the elect receive in this life; the second, to that knowing "face to face," which they shall enjoy in the

next.

Some writers have seen in these three petitions a reference to the Three Persons in the Trinity. As we saw that the word "Father" does not exclude the Son and the Holy Ghost, so it has been thought that by the "Name" of the Father we are to understand the Only Begotten Son, and by the "Kingdom" of the Father, the Holy Ghost; and S. Maximus, in a passage quoted above, renders the petition from S. Luke, "May Thy Holy Spirit come, and cleanse us." S. Gregory Nyssen also applies this petition to the Holy Spirit;1 as also S. Germanus, who founds this application on those words of our Lord, "the Kingdom of God is within you" (S. Luke xvii. 21). S. Cyprian applies it to God the Son, "for," he says, "as Christ

1 ή καθὼς ἡμῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ Λουκᾶ τὸ αὐτὸ νόημα σαφέστερον ἑρμηνεύεται, ὁ τὴν βασιλείαν ἐλθεῖν ἀξιῶν, τὴν τοῦ ̔Αγίου Πνεύματος συμμαχίαν ἐπιβοᾶται· οὕτως γὰρ ἐν ἐκείνῳ εὐαγγελίῳ φησὶν, ἀντὶ τοῦ Ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου, Ἐλθέτω, φησὶ, τὸ ̔́Αγιον Πνεῦμα σου ἐφ' ἡμᾶς, καὶ καθαρισάτω ἡμᾶς (de orat. Dom.).

2 ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ Πνεῦμα ἐστι τὸ ̔́Αγιον, ὡς λέγει, ἡ βασιλεία τῶν ovpavŵv évтòs úμŵv èσri (rer. eccles. contempl.).

is our Resurrection, because in Him we rise again, so also He may be understood as the Kingdom of God, because in Him we are about to reign."1 Pope Innocent III. refers it also to Christ, because He said, "If I with the Finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God is come upon you" (S. Luke, xi. 20)."

Stier also, observing that "the first three petitions are essentially Triune," says, "The Name to be hallowed is that of the Father just invoked, of the Son Whose Kingdom is to come, of the Holy Ghost, through Whose inworking the children of God are disciplined to do His Will.”

This Kingdom, of which we here pray that it may come, may in like manner be applied to all the Three Persons of the Trinity; and, as I hope to show, such would seem the most natural and comprehensive interpretation. For there is spoken of in Scripture a threefold Kingdom of God.

First, an invisible Kingdom, erected and established in faithful hearts by the operation of the Holy Ghost.

Secondly, a visible Kingdom, the Holy Catholic Church, which at present "gathers" within its pale "of every kind," "both bad and good" (S. Matt. xiii. 47; xxii. 10), but which shall one day be "a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing," which Jesus, the "King of Saints" (Rev. xv. 3), shall "present unto Himself" (Eph. v. 27), and which shall be called "the Kingdom of the Son of Man" (S. Matt. xiii. 41).

Thirdly, "Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father.

And

1 "Potest et Ipse Christus esse Regnum Dei, Quem venire quotidie cupimus, cujus adventus ut cito nobis repræsentetur, optamus. Nam cum Resurrectio Ipse nostra sit, quia in Ipso resurgimus, sic et Regnum Dei potest Ipse intelligi, quia in Illo regnaturi sumus (de orat. Dom.). 2" Sed et Ipse Christus dicitur Regnum Dei secundum Illud, ‘Si in digito Dei ejicio dæmonia, profecto pervenit in vos Regnum Dei'" (de sac. altar. myst. 1. v., c. 25).

when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him That put all things under Him, that God may be all in all" (1 Cor. xv. 24, 28). This shall be the Kingdom of the Father, of which more especially (though including the preparatory stages just spoken of, which lead up to it) we ought, probably, to think, when we use this petition.

I. To speak, then, first, of the Kingdom of God the Holy Ghost, of which our Lord says, "The Kingdom of God is within you" (S. Luke xvii. 21). To pray in this sense, "Thy Kingdom come," makes the progress of God's Kingdom a very personal matter; and we cannot but see how fearful a mockery it would be to offer up this petition, if by an evil life we are doing our utmost to retard its progress, and strengthen the kingdom of "the prince of this world" (S. John xii. 30). The Psalmist calls on the whole creation to praise God-"the angels that excel in strength, and all His hosts, and all works of His in all places of His dominion;" but he both begins and ends his Psalm with the words, "Bless the Lord, O my soul" (Ps. civ.). One chief reason, surely, why the world is not reformed is, that we all think others ought to be reformed, instead of reforming ourselves. "Believe the experience of all ages," says Archer Butler, "that the truest way to aid the cause of religion is, to be religious." But this is just where so many fail. "Men will wrangle for religion, work for it, fight for it, die for it; anything but live for it." And hence, all their busy labours and their burning controversies are neutralised and nullified by the inconsistencies of their lives. For nothing is so detrimental to the success of Christianity as the evil lives of many "who profess and call themselves Christians;" so that it is probably true, as Melvill says, "that thousands are Christians is practically the reason why millions are not.” And the louder the profession, the more injurious is the discrepancy between it and 1 Colton.