Let this petition then be offered by us with constancy, and with an earnestness proportioned to its importance. Let us pray that " the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified amongst us :" that he would *' gird his sword upon his thigh, and ride on in the cause of meekness and truth and righteousness;" till " all the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ."
God requires this at our hands ; nay more, the creation itself demands it of us. " The whole creation are represented as groaning and travailing in pain together" in expectation of this events ; and therefore may well be considered as calling on us to exert ourselves in every possible way for their complete de- liverance. Whenever then we contemplate the state of those around us, or extend our views to the Heathen world, let us lift up our hearts to God, and pray, " Thy kingdom come."]
Closely connected with this petition is that which next occurs, for,
IL The unlimited execution of his will —
This will flow from the former, as an effect in- separable from it. We cannot approve ourselves subjects of the Redeemer's kingdom in any other way than by our obedience to his will. Hence we are taught to pray, that God's will may be done by ourselves and all mankind, even as it is done in heaven : and that too,
1. In a way of cheerful acquiescence —
[The angels, notwithstanding they dwell immediately in the presence of their God, and behold " the works which he doeth for the children of men," are yet not privy to his ulti- mate designs ; nor do they understand the full scope of all that they behold. As, under the Mosaic dispensation, the cherubim upon the mercy-seat were formed in a bending posture, looking down upon the ark, in order, as it were, to search out the
g Rom. viii. 21—23.