the supposed ignorance or prejudice which causes difference of opinion. But on the great fundamental truth of the spiritual nature of the kingdom there should be no difference.

6. The extent.—Other monarchies perish―

"Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage, what are they?"

But this kingdom shall widen and strengthen till the twilight of its dawn shall have developed into the glory of the perfect day, and God shall be all and in all. We have received "a kingdom which cannot be moved." His people shall fear Him "as long as the sun and the moon endure, throughout all generations : His Name shall endure for ever, and men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed." In contemplation of the rule of this King, shall not prayer be made for Him continually"? Shall not the Church without intermission send up this heaventaught petition" Thy kingdom come"?

III. THE COMING OF THIS KINGDOM.

Truly to offer this prayer is evidence that the kingdom has already come in the heart of him that utters it. It increasingly comes as the moral nature. yields to its sway. It comes to the intellect as we better understand its laws, to the conscience as we more readily approve them, to the will as we more resolutely respond to them, to the heart as we more ardently love them, to the life as we more loyally

conform to them. The King has been proclaimed in the citadel of man's soul, but in many by-ways, courts, and alleys His authority is not yet supreme. "You who have received this kingdom need to wish the coming of it in further degrees. Find you not many rebels yet unsubdued? They who search their own hearts often complain of them to their King. O such swarms of lusts, and unruly, irregular desires! When shall they all be brought into subjection?" (Leighton).

The prayer naturally expands from the individual to all who truly "profess and call themselves Christians;" all "congregations of faithful men ;' all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.". In this Church, as a whole and in each portion of it, we pray that God, in Christ, may rule. It is reasonable that every Christian should be chiefly concerned for the prosperity of the particular society which is the sphere of his own personal activity. He who is not in earnest for the prosperity of his own church is not likely to be so for the Church universal. And this prosperity consists not in circumstances which to the worldly view are most impressive, such as royal patronage, legal status, numbers, wealth, influence; good music, an ornate ritual, eloquent preaching; there may be these without the kingdom. The kingdom comes to a church when there is fidelity in the pulpit; when the preacher shows forth not himself but Christ, teaches not human theories but revealed truth, turns men "from darkness to light;"

and" feeds the flock of God." It comes when there is spirituality of worship; when hearts go up to God in earnest desire and grateful praise; and when "they who name the Name of Christ depart from iniquity; when sinners ask, "What must I do to be saved?" and, having believed in the heart, "confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus Christ;" when the real Presence of the King is revealed at sermon and sacrament, at prayer-meeting and mission-service; when spiritual life produces zeal in teaching the ignorant, tending the sick, succouring the needy, reclaiming the lost, doing good unto all men."

Such coming of the kingdom will necessarily promote its coming to the universal Church. When we find ourselves praying and labouring for "Our Church" rather than for "Thy kingdom," Thy kingdom," we are not praying "after this manner." It is so much easier to pray for ourselves than for Him, that when seeming to plead for His kingdom, we may be chiefly seeking our own exaltation: my system, my methods, my church. If in battle one regiment were to seek exclusively its own renown, breaking its line of connection, and indifferent to the progress of the fight elsewhere, such valour might prove a hindrance rather than a help to the whole army. Rivalries of churches, frivolous controversies, sectarian jealousies, must needs be reproved by earnest prayer for the kingdom of God. This is a prayer for all Christian missions. We pray that the kingdom may come to God's ancient people; to Romanists, who have disguised and distorted it;

to nominal Christians, as well as to gross idolaters; and to all, of whatever religion or of none, who know not God as our Father." Under the influence of this kingdom, laws will become more humane, rulers more righteous, the customs of society more pure, nations more pacific. Wealth will be less unequally distributed; the rich will care more for the poor, the poor will envy less the rich, and every subject of the kingdom will gladly admit that he is his brother's keeper. As Christ healed as well as taught, so, with the growth of His spiritual reign, the hungry will be better fed, disease more skilfully treated, the laws of Nature better known and obeyed, education more widely spread, and all evil more controlled by Him who "came to destroy the works of the devil." We need not dissociate ourselves from the interests of earth while praying for the kingdom of heaven. "The lofty expressions of contempt for the littleness of mere earthly transactions which some divines affect, are not learnt in His school, or in the schools of His prophets. The kingdom of God begins within, but is to make itself manifest without. to penetrate our whole social existence, to mould all things according to its laws. For this we pray when we say, 'Thy kingdom come.' We pray for the extinction of all tyranny, whether in particular men or in multitudes; for the exposure and destruction of corruptions inward and outward; for truth in all departments of government, art, science; for the true dignity of professions; for right dealings in the com

At last it is

monest transactions of trade; for blessings that shall be felt in every hovel. If God had not heard this prayer going up from tens of thousands in all ages, the earth would have been a den of robbers" (Maurice).

IV. THE MILLENNIAL REIGN.

By what means will this be accomplished? Many consider those in operation will suffice, with a fuller outpouring of the Spirit. Let the Church pray more earnestly for a blessing on existing methods, and the kingdom will extend until all shall know the Lord, "from the least unto the greatest." Then, after a millennium of such reign, Christ will come for the final judgment, and take His saints to His kingdom in the heavens. Why should we doubt the efficiency of God's Word and Spirit to convert and sanctify the soul? Have they not triumphed over the worst forms of sin? Have not the most degraded been raised to sit in heavenly places; persecutors become apostles; revolting sensualists and criminals made new creatures in Christ Jesus? Agencies thus effectual in a thousand instances might be equally so in a thousand millions. Such a coming of the kingdom would involve no change of dispensation, and would not seem to disparage agencies divinely appointed. It would be in harmony with the spiritual nature of the kingdom, involve no interference with political governments, and not look like a return to the Church's childhood.