" Thy kingdom come ! " This is the bur- den of our cries. Weary of man's rule, we long for God's. Sick at heart with this world's scenes of evil,— man spoiling man ; man enslaving man ; man wounding man ; man defrauding man ; man treading upon man ; — we long for the setting up of the righteous throne. Oh, what a world will this be, when man's will as well as man's rule shall be exchanged for Christ's rule and will ; when God's " will shall be done on earth even as it is done in heaven " !
It is our joy to think that this kingdom is near ; and that there are no centuries of sin and wrong still in reserve either for the church or for the earth. Its nearness is our consolation. The hope that it will come cheers us ; but the thought that it is com- ing soon cheers us more. For both faith
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and hope are fed by the thought of nearness.
We do not fret at delay, nor grow faint and
disconsolate. Yet in some respects our
feelings are not unlike those thus described
by one of other days,
... So tedious is this day, As is the night before some festival To an impatient child that hath new robes, And may not wear them, . . .
Our bridal robes are ready, and we long to put them on. Our priestly-royal raiment is also ready, and we desire to exchange for it these weeds of poverty, and shame, and widowhood. Yet " in patience we possess our souls."
We are on the daily out-look for a king- dom, lifting up our heads knowing that our redemption draweth nigh. It will not tarry. The signs of its approach are multiplying. The shadows are still passing and repassing along the grey cliffs, but their increasing rapidity of movement shows a momentous change at hand. Kingdoms are still rising as well as falling, but the deep force of the
170 THE KINGDOM.
vibrations — the brevity as well as the abruptness of oscillation — betoken a crisis. At this crisis the world's movements are brought to a stand. Then, touched by a Divine hand, they recommence. A better order of rule begins* Satan has been bound. (Rev. xx. 1 — 8.) " The oppressor has ceased." (Isa. xiv. 4.) He who " smote the people in wrath" is smitten. (Isa. xiv. 6.) The misgoverned world rejoices. " The whole earth is at rest and is quiet ; they that dwell in it break forth into singing." (Isa. xiv. 7.) The anointed King has ap- peared. The great kingdom has come I
* Ultima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas, Magnus ab integro sseclorum nascitur ordo Aspice venture* laetentur at omnia saeclo.
CHAPTER XL
THE GRACE.
Our fountain-head of blessing here is grace. It was to this grace or free love of God that we came when first the con- sciousness of want and sin awoke within us. This grace of God we found to be large enough for us, and altogether suit- able ; so that while we felt ourselves unfit objects for any thing else, we were just the more, on that account, fit objects for grace. Either for wrath or for grace we were fit, but for nothing else — for nothing between. We shrank from the wrath, and we took refuge in the grace. Between the one and the other, the blood of the accepted sacri- fice had made a way, " a way of holiness ;" q 2
172 THE GRACE.
we saw that way, we saw it to be free and unchallenged, we fled along that way, and soon found ourselves beyond, the reach of wrath, under the broad covering of grace, nay, under the very wing of the gracious One, of him who is " full of grace and truth."
It was the knowledge of this grace that rooted up our doubts, that quieted our fears, and made us blush for our unbelief and suspicious mistrust. It is the know- ledge of this grace that still keeps our souls in peace, in spite of weakness, and sin, and conflict. Being permitted to draw upon it without limit and without restric- tion, we feel that no circumstances can arise, in which we shall not be at liberty to use it, nay, in which it is not our chief sin to stand aloof from it, as if it had be- come less wide and free. With all this large grace placed at our disposal, to draw upon continually, what folly to be afraid of enemies, and evils, and days of trouble !
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