"Come ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom which was prepared for you from the beginning of the world." [1] This kingdom the thief, acknowledging his crimes, begged of him in these words: " Lord, remember me, when thou comest into thy kingdom;" [2] of this kingdom St. John speaks when he says; " Unless a man be born again of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God;" [3] and of it the Apostle says in his epistle to the Ephesians: " No fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person (which is a serving of idols) hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." [4] To it also refer some of the parables made use of by our Lord, when speaking of the kingdom of heaven. [5]
But the kingdom of grace must precede that of glory; in him, in whom his grace does not reign, his glory cannot reign, Grace, according to the Redeemer, is "a fountain of living water springing up to eternal life;" [6] nor can we designate glory otherwise than a certain perfect and absolute grace. Whilst we are clothed with this frail mortal flesh; whilst, faint and wandering in this gloomy pilgrimage and dreary exile, we are separated from God, rejecting the aid of the kingdom of grace which supported us, we often stumble and fall; but when the light of the kingdom of glory, which is perfect, shall have shone upon us, we shall stand for ever firm and immoveable. Then shall every imperfection be eradicated, and every inconvenience removed; then shall every infirmity be strengthened and every weakness invigorated; in a word, God himself will then reign in our souls and bodies. But on this subject we dwelt already at considerable length, in the exposition of the Creed. [7]
Having thus explained the ordinary acceptation of the words, "kingdom of God," we now come to point out the particular objects contemplated by this petition. In this petition we pray that the kingdom of Christ, that is, his Church, may be enlarged; that Jews and infidels may embrace the faith of Christ, and the knowledge of the true God; that schismatics and heretics may return to soundness of mind, and to the communion of the Church of God, which they have deserted; and that thus may be fulfilled the words of the Lord, spoken by the mouth of Isaias: " Enlarge the place of thy tent, and stretch out the skins of thy tabernacles; lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes, for thou shalt pass on to the right hand and to the left, for he that made thee shall rule over thee." [8] And again, " The Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising; lift up thy eyes round about and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side." [9]
But it is a melancholy truth, that, in the church of God,
