The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-14


mon at the Sixth Presbyterian Church yesterday
morning:
Matthew, vi: 10. 'Thy kingdom come; thy
will be done in earth as it is in heaven"
To-day at the close Of 1.-THE week of prayer
myriads unite more heartily perhaps than ever
before to pray Thy kingdom Gomez and as II
catching the echo of this prayer as 1t comes re-
verberating through the ages, they send 1t alongto
the future to announce to coming generations
that this kingdom, for which prophets and mar
tyrs and saints have so long worked, is coming
and will continue to come until the the time
when there shall be no more room or reason for
such q prayer upon earth.
This kingdom has been long coming. Adam
had a glimpse of it from affair, when the gates OF
Eden closed upon him. The priests family
heard its tread as they sacrificed for sin. The
prophets saw it's dim outline on the distant hori-
ION. and all passed away happy in the thought
that it was coming, though they could not live
to see it.
The Jews, in later years, Undertaking. in
their distress the prophecies concerning this
'ingdom, looked for an earthly ruler who should,
his might in battle, restore them to a grander
dom than any in their history. But though
-sly disappointed in their narrow expectations,
the kingdom still kept coming. and finally, with
its King, it came. And it has kept on
coming. The very petition, Thy Kingdom
come, is itself the evidence of its coming-its
fruit at once and its seed in mutual cooperation
between God and man. Truly it has been COM
ing slowly. But God works patiently. He is re-
storing His kingdom in a world disorganized by
treason. He presses on the work of restoration
with divine energy and skill. But as he suffered
four thousand years of anarchy and wretched-
ness to pass by before He sent His Son to speak
the word of deliverance: Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God-and thy neighbor as thyself,-
which is the very foundation of His kingdom,
so He may suffer untold generations yet to pass
before this kingdom of His grace shall be con
summated in the kingdom of His glory.
But though coming slowly, the kingdom has
heaO coming surely. There is nothing in all the
past but ~auguries of its future glory; while the
present is all bright with the stars Of hope; and
as for the future, we unite our voices to chant
holy psalms with prophets bold, and to hymn
harbinger songs with angels and archangels and
TO shout hosannahs with martyr heroes; being
fully persuaded that the time will come when
''the kingdoms of this world are become the
Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He
shall reign for ever and ever
And so we labor on for the grand eonsumma-
ton. Nor need we be faint hearted, for we are
ed-workers with God, and this in itself is an as
sArance Of victory. What Christ is to-day in all
that believe in Him and moro, He viii be by and
by to all mankind. The Lord of the world in
man is the Lord of the world of men.
More than all, the success already achieved is
by no means Insignificant; in many respects it is
wonderfully large. 1t seemed a fooIRardy ex-
pertinent for q handful of fisher
men to undertake, without a visible
leader, the moral conquest of the world!
And vet. what q victorious march has been
AGAAN " hNh my AAtt AShShN WV SbOA bShu
of faith and laid themselves down to rest from
their conflicts, their armor and arms were taken
up by others equally heroic. No gap was left
in the ranks, but compactly they marched on
ward. conquering and to conquer, with ever-in
creasing numbers. And to-day, instead of a
small band that scarcely filed the little upper
room at Jersualem, our glorious leader has under
his banners a mighty host, that by its weight of
numbers tells effectually for the discrimination
of the world II is recruited, too, not as of old.
from the poor and the outcast, but from the
mighty and the rich and the cultivated of the
earth. And as we follow in the footsteps of this
army, we can but be astonished that the
kingdom, whose coming in the earth it toiled
and died for, should have made
such a wonderful progress. There is
not a country on the face of the globe where the
sounds of the Gospel have not reached. Even
IN with all ITS innate selfishness, has
been made the handmaiden of Christianity, and.
o~ftentimes, its advance guard. The stone which
Daniel saw in his vision has rolled along crush
ing in its onward progress the kingdoms of dark
ness and death, and preparing the foundation
deep and lasting of the kingdom of life and light.
Idols have been destroyed; pagan temples have
been converted into sanctuarieS of God: tribes
and nations have been led from barbarism into
Christian civilization, and Christ has been made
to reign in many a heart that erst worshiped
stocks and stones.
And as we now seem to listen to 'the gloria
in excelsis1 of the angels, we are par
1ieularly reminded of one phase of
the progress of this kingdom. which we
are apt to overlook. ! refer to the peace which
theangeis song pledged us as a consequence ofthe
advent of our King. Prophets had already fore
told that "of the increase of His government and
of peace" there shall be no end. And they and
the angels were right. He that is peace to your
soul and mine that believe in Him. liz to be the
peace of the world. Just as peaceful was the
night in which the Prince of Light His reign of
peace upon the world began so will a day of
peace yet dawn upon the earth, that shall never
more be dimmed by wars or ruInoTs Of wars. Al
fbe14pl fha Gqanlva of nT1ra ou1, civ 20. hoe
scarcely yet lifted itself above the tree-trops;
though the clouds in the East are
Inurky with the coming tempest; though law
lessness is rampant and the very foundations of
society seem to be u~pheaving-stil all these
are but the signs of the coming kingdom-the
prelude of that peace that will come to stay. AS
in the angels song, Glory to God in the high
est" precedes peace on earth, so in the coming
of Christs kingdom, Gods glory must be first
secured before true peace can be established.
Many earnest but misguided reformers in their
despair, would arrange a truce, which is but the
ghost of peace. But this kingdom will have
only that peace which will be a reflex in man and
in the world of Him who is peace. So it wages
hot conflict against every false peace that is as
profitable as it is Indispensable. The wars Of
the past are but phases of this confict-a series
of severe developments that will bring about
true peace. Already We see riffs of light break
ing through the clouds that wrap up this war
cursed earth. Therefore while we are encour-
aged to pray for peace now in our day, we have
. NccpoT diiu hhoIO CohlprtHtnSlNt prayer
in Thy kingdom come For whatever of
peace the earth now enjoys is all owing to His
kingdom, and it il only as this kingdom shall
coime shall peace come also. Men may form
peace societies, but the best peace society is the
church of Christ. Christianity alone has in it
the power to command peace. All other systems
reach only the surface of humanity, whereas the
corruption that brings on war is hidden in the
heart, and can only be reached by the power Of
religion. In order to the thorough and perma-
nent healing of a fostering wound, the process
must from within outwardly. SO if
you desire to renew and pacify human society,
you must employ a power that can reach the in
ward seat of the evils that call for such a regen-
Grafton. And Christianity alone has that power.
Once let the principles of Christ dominate
kingdom of Christ come in its ~fullness upon the