Chap. V.—The Fourth Clause.
CHAP. V.—THE FOURTH CLAUSE.
"Thy kingdom come" has also reference to that whereto "Thy will
be done" refers—in us, that is. For when does God not reign, in whose
hand is the heart of all kings ?[3] But whatever we wish for ourselves
we augur for Him, and to Him we attribute what from Him we expect. And
so, if the manifestation of the Lord's kingdom pertains unto the will
of God and unto our anxious expectation, how do some pray for some
protraction of the age,[4] when the kingdom of God, which we pray may
arrive, tends unto the consummation of the age?[5] Our wish is, that
our reign be hastened, not our servitude protracted. Even if it had not
been prescribed in the Prayer that we should ask for the advent of the
kingdom, we should, unbidden, have sent forth that cry, hastening
toward the realization of our hope. The souls of the martyrs beneath
the altar [6] cry in jealousy unto the Lord "How long, Lord, dost Thou
not avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth ?"[7] for, of
course, their avenging is regulated by[8] the end of the age. Nay,
Lord, Thy kingdom come with all speed,—the prayer of Christians the
confusion of the heathen,[9] the exultation of angels, for the sake of
which we suffer, nay, rather, for the sake of which we pray!