CHAPTER IV.

THE SECOND PETITION FOR GOD'S GLORY.

THE LORD'S PRAYER.

I.

Thy Kingdom come.

THE EXPLANATION.

I desire my Lord God, who is the giver of all goodness, that He will send His grace unto me, and to all people...that we may serve Him...as we ought to do.

Connection. Having in the previous petition prayed that the "Name of God," or that revelation of His Character and Attributes, which He has been pleased to make known to us, may be "hallowed," we are next taught to pray that His kingdom may come,” or, as the petition is explained in the Catechism, that He will "send His grace to us and to all people, that we may serve Him as we ought to do."

2. The Kingdom of God. The expression Kingdom of God, or Kingdom of Heaven1, is of frequent occurrence in the New Testament. Thus, when John the Baptist appeared on the banks of Jordan as the forerunner of the Saviour, his message to the multitudes who gathered round him was, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Mtt. iii. 2). Again, when our Lord commenced His public ministry, and went about all Galilee teaching in the synagogues, the theme of His preaching was the Glad Tidings of the kingdom of heaven (comp. Mtt. iv. 17, 23). When He

1 The expression ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν is peculiar to St Matthew, and was probably grounded on the prophecy of Daniel ii. 44, respecting the establishment of a Kingdom by the God of heaven, which should never be destroyed. Compare also Dan. vii. 13, 14, 27.

rose from the dead and shewed Himself alive after His passion to His Apostles, the great subject of His converse with them was the things pertaining to the kingdom of God (Acts i. 3). When He describes the scene of the last Judgment, He tells us He will say to those on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Mtt. xxv. 34).

3. The Kingdom of Grace. The passages quoted illustrate some of the senses in which the expression is used. Sometimes it denotes the visible Church, or Kingdom of Grace (Eph. iii. 2), which the Baptist proclaimed as at hand, and which Christ established on earth (Heb. ii. 3, 4), and described in various parables its slight and despised beginning1, its hidden, its mysterious working2, and its final assured triumph3. In this sense the Kingdom of God has come, and we pray in the Lord's Prayer that it may be extended throughout the world, that the earth may be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea (Hab. ii. 14), that its ministers may be

1 In the Parable of the "Mustard Seed," Mtt. xiii. 31, 32; Mk. iv. 30-32; see Trench On the Parables, pp. 107, 108; Tristram's Natural History of the Bible, pp. 472, 473.

2 In the parable of the "Hidden Leaven," Mtt. xiii. 33; Lk. xiii. 20, 21; Trench, p. 111; and of the "Seed growing secretly," Mk. iv. 26—29, the only Parable peculiar to St Mark, Trench, p. 282.

3 The Mustard Seed' and the 'Leaven' declare the victorious might,—the first, the outward, and the second, the inward might of the Kingdom; and therefore implicitly prophecy of its development in spite of all the obstacles set forth in the Parable of the Tares" (Mtt. xiii. 24-30), and its triumph over them." Trench, p. 142.

4 In opposition to the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Satan (Mtt. xii. 26), with "its 'Principalities,' its 'Powers,' its 'World-rulers of darkness,' its 'Spiritual Hosts of evil in the heavenly regions."" See Bp. Ellicott on Eph. vi. 12.

multiplied1 (Mtt. ix. 37, 38), that all men being delivered from the power of darkness (Col. i. 13) may be won to its holy company, may serve God as they ought to do, and "having strength and steadfastness by His divine power, restraining corrupt and crooked affections, subduing and taming lusts, conquering, vanquishing, putting to flight, and chasing away all vices, may increase and enlarge His heavenly commonweal"."

4. The Kingdom of God in the heart. Again, the Kingdom of God sometimes denotes the personal rule of Christ in the hearts of His followers, and is described as being within us1 (Eph. ii. 22; iii. 17), as not consisting in meat and drink, but in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. xiv. 17). In reference to the Kingdom of God in this sense, we pray that we and all who profess and call themselves its subjects, may be so not in name3, but in deed, not in pretence, but in reality; we pray that every member of His Church, in his vocation and ministry, may truly and

1 "Christianity is very particularly to be considered as a trust, deposited with us in behalf of others, in behalf of mankind, as well as for our own instruction." See Bp. Butler's Sermon for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

2 Noell's Catechism, p. 195.

'Evròs vu in Lk. xvii. 21 is better rendered among you, as in the margin of our Version. "Intra, non respectu cordis singulorum Pharisæorum (tametsi revera Christus habitat in corde suorum Eph. iii. 17) sed respectu totius populi Judaici." Bengel in loc.

4 The Kingdom of God, as not merely a general but an individual thing, is set forth in the Parables of (a) the Hid Treasure (Mtt. xiii. 44), and (b) the Pearl of great price (Mtt. xiii. 45, 46), which were addressed, not to the multitude, but to the more immediate disciples. See Trench,

P. 118.

5 On the awful danger of having only a name to live, see Rev. iii. 1, and Archbp. Trench's Commentary, Epistles to the Seven Churches, p. 155; compare the Parable of the Barren Fig-Tree (Lk. xiii. 6—9).

godly serve Him', may eschew2 those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same3, to His honour and glory,

6. The Kingdom of Glory. Again, the Kingdom of God sometimes denotes not the Kingdom of Grace now established upon earth, and chequered and marred with sin and infirmity, but that perfect Kingdom of glory, which shall hereafter be established over and in this earth, when the present order of things shall be closed, and having put down all rule and all authority and power, Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father (1 Cor. xv. 24). Respecting this Kingdom, we pray that it may please God shortly to accomplish the number of His elect, and to hasten its coming, that the Kingdoms of the world may indeed become the kingdoms of God and of His Christ (Rev. xi. 15), that we, with all those who are departed this

1 See the Collect for Good Friday. "Hoc desideras, hoc cupis orando, ut sic vivas, quomodo ad regnum Dei, quod est omnibus sanctis dandum, pertineas, ergo ut bene vivas, tibi oras, cum dicis, Veniat regnum tuum." S. Aug. de Serm. Dom. LVI. 6. "Cum ergo dicimus, Veniat regnum tuum, oramus ut nobis veniat. Quid est, ut nobis veniat? Ut bonos nos inveniat. Hoc ergo oramus, ut bonos nos faciat; tunc enim nobis veniet regnum ejus." De Serm. Dom. LVIII. 3.

2 Eschew (Job i. 1, 8; 1 Pet. iii. 11; Ps. xxxiv. 14) comes from the old Norman eschiver, Ital. schivare to flee from, shun, avoid). Bible Word-Book, p. 182, and compare Cranmer's Catechism, p. 143, "to be swift and redye to do all thinges that maye please God, and to eschewe those things that maye displease Hym."

3 See the Collect for the Third Sunday after Easter.

4 See Mtt. xxv. 34; Eph. v. 27; and see above, p. 58. 5 "Venturum est ipsum regnum, cum facta fuerit resurrectio mortuorum; tunc enim veniet ipse." De Serm. Dom. LVII. 5.

6 See the Prayer in the Burial Service; Noell's Catechism, p. 196.

life in His true faith and fear, may see Him for ever and ever in His eternal and everlasting glory (Rev. xxii. 17, 20).

CHAPTER V.

THE THIRD PETITION FOR GOD'S GLORY.

THE LORD'S PRAYER. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

THE EXPLANATION.

I desire my Lord God, our heavenly Father, who is the giver of all goodness, to send His grace unto me and to all people, that we may. obey Him, as we ought to do.

I. The Third Petition in the Lord's Prayer is closely connected with the two preceding petitions'. For if God's Name is to be hallowed, and His Kingdom come, His will must be done and obeyed by us, even as our Lord Himself has warned us, saying, Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven (Mtt. vii. 21).

2. God's secret will. Now the will of God sometimes denotes His secret will, or the secret Purpose, whereby He originally created and ever ordereth and determineth all things in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, so that none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest thou? (Dan. iv. 35). But this will is hid from us; it is unsearchable and past finding out (Rom. xi. 33), and when we pray to God, Thy will be done, we pray that we may be enabled, after the example of His blessed Son3, to 1 The Third_petition is wanting in the best MSS. of Lk. xi. 2. See Tischendorf's Greek Test.

2 "Voluntas absoluta." See Denton On the Lord's Prayer, p. 104.

3 Compare the Prayer of our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass