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| The Fourth Clause.
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Chapter 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?8790
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,8791
| 8791 Or,
“world,” sæculo. | when the kingdom of God, which we pray may
arrive, tends unto the consummation of the age?8792
| 8792 Or,
“world,” sæculi. See Matt. xxiv. 3, especially in the Greek. By
“praying for some protraction in the age,” Tertullian
appears to refer to some who used to pray that the end might be
deferred (Rigalt.). |
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 altar8793
cry in jealousy
unto the Lord, “How long, Lord, dost Thou not avenge our blood on
the inhabitants of the earth?”8794
for, of
course, their avenging is regulated by8795
| 8795 So Dodgson aptly
renders “dirigitur a.” |
the end of the age. Nay, Lord, Thy kingdom come with all
speed,—the prayer of Christians the confusion of the
heathen,8796
| 8796 [See Ad
Nationes, p. 128, supra.] | the exultation of
angels, for the sake of which we suffer, nay, rather, for the sake of
which we pray!E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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