points the duties of the great (Mt 18^- ■* 19'*). The constitution and aspirations of the Kingdom, as embodied in the Sermon on the Mount, not only surpass all similar requirements of government, but seem to invert all that the world had hitherto counted great and noble. The innermost instinct of empire, the white ensign of this unique Kingdom, is the joy of harmonious relationship to the will of God. Government is bj^ beatitudes. The crucifixion of self for the sake of others is the recogiiition mark of its people. This pervades all gradations of its society, for He who is on the throne emptied Him- self, and what is done unto the least is regarded as done unto Him (Mt 25-*"). Instead of pride and ambition, the lust of power and possession that had created and controlled other dynasties, its regalia and administration are entrusted to the poor in spirit who claim no homage. The dispens- ing of the beatitudes is given to those who have become acquainted with grief and discouragement, whose necks have felt the pressure of the harsh forces and sharp limitations of life. Here also for exalted office there is the partaking of the Divine nature, but it is reserved for the pure in heart. So rich is the provision for its subjects, that even the ciy of hunger becomes a feast, and to bear a burden and cross with Christ is an immediate Paradise. By its connexion with the One Name of which the OT spoke it fulfilled the vision of the prophets which Judaism had obscured, and, on the other hand, included in due place and proportion those gifts for physical need and circumstance that had been the crown and consummation of Gentile desire (Mt 6^^). These are both represented in the familiar and venerated form of prayer which in its first part lifts the language of our possession above all gifts to God Himself, but makes it treason for His Church to covet the Name, the Kingdom, and the Will. In its second part it encourages the claim of our continual frailty, ignorance, and de- pendence.
Again, the same principle of looking and stoop- ing downwards and of uplifting what is beneath is the main subject-matter of the parables of Christ. The power that is seen exemplified in them is the counterpart of what is set forth in the Sermon on the Mount. Under various aspects, in whole or in part, they unfold the meaning of discipleship, the power of the Kingdom, and the dangers that attend its service. Here also, to be in the King- dom is beatitude ; and when this privilege of entrance has been prevented by any cause what- ever, the regret over the one wasted life and its great opportunity is described as weeping and gnashing of teeth (Lk 132*).
Thus in His life and death, in His teaching and labours, Christ conformed to the beatitudes of the Kingdom, and afterwards entrusted its advance- ment- to His disciples. ' Come unto me— take my yoke — learn of me,' — salvation, self-devotion, sainthood, — these were the steps into the Kingdom, and the power of its service.
In His last message to the disciples our Lord gave two special commands about the Kingdom they were to establish and extend in His name. This communication was accompanied by a touch- ing and solemn act of covenant, and endeared by the mention of all that He had been and would be to them. The first concerned the loyalty to Him- self that was to carry ■\\'ith it the invincible power of the Kingdom. It was, 'Abide in me and I in you ' ( Jn lo-*). In His cherished presence they would know His purpose, and that would be their way of power. This presence, however, could be granted only where they loved one another as He had loved them (v. '2). It was in vain to go out to the conquest of the world unless this base of operations was safeguarded. They were to tarry in Jerusa-
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leni until it became in each heart a conscious ex- perience beyond tlie reach of doubt or discourage- ment. This enabling supernatural power of the Kingdom came to be called the grace of God. In 1 Co 13 its essential meaning is breathed forth as from a vase containing the fragrance of what is no longer visible. Its power within tlie heart is exhibited in Ro 8, and its energy of diffusion in Rol3.
The second charge affected the world that was to 1)6 His possession, the nations that were to bring each its special riclies and glory into His Kingdom (Mt 2S^»-'^, cf. Mk W^). It was His greatest commandment, and is therefore the great- est test of love to Him. He recognized the right and claim of the world to wait until it received sufficient evidence that He had been sent to be its Ruler. He warned His disciples that the only evidence that could carry such conviction would be the sight of a Church so filled A\ith the spirit of His Kingdom and so devoted to the fulfilment of His command, that all things would give way in order to the presentation of that proof. The world that will sav the Church is one will say that Christ is Lord (Jn^lU'« IT-^-^^).
See also art. Force.