'the encamped foe held his strongest positions. "The kingdom of Christ, if anywhere, must be 'within us.' Beyond, we pray for Personal Conversion.

3. In Glory: when the kingdom of the world shall be the kingdom of Christ.

The final overthrow of all evil and the triumph of the Redeemer; when He shall be all in all. We pray for the triumph of all good and the perfection of all that is yet imperfect, for the ingathering of the elect and the unity of the redeemed. When He who has from age to age on the white horse of purity ridden, though often out of sight, yet still there, century after century unchanged and unchangeable, shall come, glorious in His apparel, and shall gather His elect from the four winds of heaven, treading out the winepress of the wrath of God, and triumphing gloriously, having on His vesture, and on His thigh His name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.'

And casting down their golden crowns before His throne, His faithful then will do the homage of satisfied love as now they are willing to count all loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord. This comfort they have, that when His kingdom 'shall come in its fulness, and all His enemies shall be trodden down for ever, then they shall be glorified with Him, and shall see His glory with exceeding joy. Therefore do they so 'often desire His coming, and are so weary of all they see here: and when he says Himself for their assurance and comfort, Surely, I come 'quickly, their earnest desire makes them echo, 'Even so, come, Lord Jesus.' (Leighton.)

His kingdom is over all. 1 Chron. xxix. 11. 2 Chron. xiii. 8. Daniel xxv. 32.

The Gospel of His Kingdom. St. Matt. vi. 33; ix 35; xxi. 31, 43; xxiv. 14. St. Mark iv. 11. St. Luke x. 9; xix. 12. St. John iii. 3, 5; xviii. 36. Col. i. 13. Heb. xii. 28, &c.

The Inner Kingdom. St. Matt. vi. 33; xiii. 30-43. St. Luke xvii. 20, 21. Rom. xiv. 17. 1 Cor. iv. 20.

The Future Kingdom. Dan. vii. 18, 22, 27. St., Matt. xxv. 34; xxvi. 29. St. Luke xii. 32. 1 Cor. vi. 9; xv. 24. James ii. 5. Rev. xiii. 25. St. Mark iv. 26. St. Matt. xviii., xxii., xxiv. XXV., xxix., &c.

CHAPTER VI.

THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH AS IT IS IN

HEAVEN.

LET the beloved One possess the soul, enter into it, and make it His abode; and what happens? At once all the powers of one's being become His; He rules within, and, like the great apostle, we rejoice to call ourselves the slaves of Christ. Our own will is not gone, that is still free, but it has become bent and submissive to His will. We enter into that likeness who taught us the perfect will, whose life was one calm working out of the purposes of Divine love, and whose will was ever in accord with the will of the Father. The unruly wills and affections of sinful men thus become changed, and it is not I, but Christ within me. Our Lord bids us pray for that without which perfection is impossible; the saintly life is one of self-oblation, and the nearer it is assimilated to His life the more the element of sacrifice runs through it, and the more in the daily exercise of self-control is obedience made possible. The saintly life is thus a life of obedience, not a passive, unemotional dull life, but an active energising of all the highest powers of the soul, and the

highest acts of the will sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and in submission to the will of God. Here we enter into the inner region of the soul, the seat of all longings and desires, and hopes and fears, the abode of self; for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, and with the heart also man believeth unto righteousness: so sanctification, which is the revealing by the Holy Ghost of Christ in us, and the directing our wills to the will and purpose of God, that will and purpose being holiness, governs our life, and we become new creatures. There, too, in the heart we discern as soon as we are conscious of anything the contest between the principles of good and evil, between the sin that dwelleth in us and the law of Christ. St. Paul, in Rom. vii. and on to Rom. viii., where he opens out the Divine predestination and the end of the perfect will, has shewn how this is. Here, then, we have the two great features. (1) The perfect will of God; (2) The will of man: so as His life was a constant consecration of Himself for our sakes, for their sakes I consecrate Myself,' so we pray for the same spirit, and in praying we make the same offering; we present our bodies a living sacrifice holy, and acceptable to Him. In the Eucharistic service this is brought out; each service is a fresh occasion to offer ourselves afresh, a fresh consecration of the will to be a living sacrifice.' Life is indeed a continued strife between the two wills, and we pray here for that peace which flows from self-oblation, and from wholly abandoning ourselves to the Divine guidance, knowing no other will but His, and desiring no other work but to do His will while it is

day, ere the night cometh when no man can work. 'How little you seem to take your 'troubles to heart,' was said to a great saint of our own time. Why should I,' he replied, care for them? I have committed them to Him, and they are now out of my hands; He 'knows best.' We are to enter into the purposes of His will as regards our own individual life. The child's prayer is, that in him and in his life, as well as in the world around, the will and purpose of God may be fulfilled. He prays that he may do his part, that part which from all eternity was marked out for him; that he may fulfil the will which was to be his from all eternity. He is thus to be identified with Christ, who came to do the will of God, and, as the perfect fulfilment was content, it was happiness to Him to do it. It should be our happiness. The prayer reminds us that it is more than possible it may not be our happiness, and that we have need of supernatural grace to work out that will, and to love that will. Almighty God reposes in His own perfections; His happiness is in His perfect life. That Christ alone could know, and that is the means of entering into His will, to know Thee and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. The world (He says) hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee; in the bosom of the Father, in the pure delights of heaven, in the all-enduring love of God, that will is known. But, observe, here are two subjects of knowledge which are the teaching of the Holy Ghost, who is our guide into all truth. These two are to be known, and thus shall we know what is that will we pray to do on earth as in heaven.