The Coming of the Kingdom
It should not be forgotten that he who utters the petition taught us by our Lord, “Thy kingdom come,” is by it logically committed to a Christian life. That kingdom will not come by slow, insensible changes independent of conscious volition. Whatever we have seen of God’s kingdom so far emphasizes our Lord’s declaration that it is the reward of force. Every triumph of righteousness has cost blood, and has been won by men who counted not their lives dear. Error has never given up the ghost because pricked with a pin. The man who is not prepared to do something to bring in God’s kingdom has no moral right to pray for its advent. Every step of its progress is marked with the blood of the bravest. It cost the life of half the “Mayflower” passengers to plant the seed of civil freedom in American soil. It cost tens of thousands of lives to make the whites of this nation free, and hundreds of thousands of lives to raise labor from the degradation of the slave pen to the responsibilities of citizenship. The kingdom of God can not be established or widened in any community by men in their slippers or women wholly devoted to their clubs. It will take prayer and labor and self-denial, and sacrifice of much that is held most dear, to bring that kingdom in for which we pray. A life divided between business and amusements never yet brought in God’s kingdom anywhere; and God’s people are called, especially now at the beginning of a new year, to decide whether they will cease to offer the petition or do something to make the prayer effective. — The Interior.