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NORTH SHORE BREEZE and Reminder 
“Thy Kingdom Come” 
Sermon by Rev. A. G. Warner at Manchester Baptist Church 
No saying of Christ’s is more im- 
pressive or more comprehensive than 
this. The Lord’s prayer is the pray- 
er of the whole Christian church. In 
this brief utterance are expressed or 
implied all the essential elements of a 
spiritual faith, the essential principles 
of a spiritual life and the essential 
pledge of a spiritual destiny. The 
progress of the years suggests no 
necessity of revising this simple, yet 
all inclusive petition. It stands to- 
day as the comprehensive expression 
of the purest longing, the largest as- 
piration and the loftiest ideal of hu- 
manity in its relation to God. It be- 
longs to all the world and to all 
time. It is the perpetual witness to 
the divine origin and spiritual destiny 
of man and to the Being, Sovereignty 
and Fatherhood of God. As we 
make this prayer our own we enter 
into and consciously appropriate the 
divine purpose which through the 
long procession of the ages 
is accomplishing “the one far off 
divine event to which the whole 
creation moves. Every thing that we 
can wish or hope or think of good 
is involved in the fulfilment of this 
all embracing aspiration “Thy king- 
dom come.” 
In -thesfirst place: there is) here: a 
confession that the world is not what 
it might be. The Kingdom of God, 
as the perfect embodiment and ex- 
pression of divine order and beauty 
and beneficence is not clearly mani- 
fest now. The world is the scene of 
much disorder. Love between man 
and man is far from being dominant, 
jutice is not infallibly done; the 
wicked often prosper and the good 
are oppressed. 
The evils of life are vast and mani- 
fold. Poverty and wretchedness hold 
great multitudes in a bitter and hope- 
less bondage. Grief and pain soon- 
er or later visit every heart. The 
best men fail of their ideal. Every 
human life is an illustration of in- 
completeness. Every conscience 
testifies of sin, every soul is an em- 
bodied want. Humanity, one in ori- 
gin, one in essential nature and one 
in the great obligations of the moral 
life is yet a congeries of divine and 
more or less conflicting races and na- 
tionalities. Some of these races are 
far advanced in civilization, others 
still linger on the dark borders 
of barbarism, and others still abide 
in a condition scarcely raised above 
that of the brutes. Individual 
strives with individual, and class 
with class in selfish competion. 
Putting the best construction on all 
that we learn of the life of human 
kind we must confess that the world 
is still very far from that condition 
of intelligence, virtue, harmony and 
good will which is involved in the 
least aspiring conception of the king- 
dom of God. 
In the very cry “Thy kingdom 
come” we confess not the ruin of the 
world, not the failure, nor the defeat, 
but the incomplete, the still waiting 
fufilment of God’s will in the world. 
But this acknowledgement of incom- 
pleteness in the world is accompani- 
ed by an expression of trust in the 
divine righteousness and good pur- 
pose. 
The belief in God which this pray- 
er expresses saves us from pessimism. 
It is a faithful acceptance of God’s 
sovereignty, and God’s purpose, 
and God’s method. The im- 
perfection and disorder of the 
world touch all of us. Other men’s 
sins scourge us. Other men’s virtues 
enrich and strengthen us. Other 
men’s knowledge makes our path 
clearer and our load lighter, other 
men’s joys mitigate our sorrows. In 
so far as we make this prayer truly 
we rise to God’s horizon and see 
things from His point of view. Be- 
hind apparent disorder is a growing 
order. Righteousness and judgement 
are the habitation of God’s throne. 
There is here also an aspiration 
and an ideal. The salvation of the 
soul is a process of spiritual quicken- 
ing and unfolding toward the perfect 
man. The salvation of the world 
is the spiritual quickening of human- 
ity and its unfolding toward the per- 
fect society which is the realized and 
manifest kingdom of God. The 
Christian ideal is the complete emer- 
gence of man from ignorance and sin 
and weakness to wisdom and_holi- 
ness and power. The aspiration for 
the coming of the kingdom of God 
means the salvation of man, by the 
disclosure of his relations to’God, his 
own guilt and need, his capacities for 
truth and righteousness and by the 
regeneration of his spirit that this 
disclosure may have its true issue in 
peace and joy and growth in all the 
graces and powers of the spiritual 
life. The kingdom of God is the con- 
secration and the elevation of the 
whole life of the individual. The 
kingdom of God means also the sal- 
vation of society in its organic life. 
It means better laws, better social 
customs, better industrial relations, 
better economic principles, better 
amusement, better schools, better 
books, better newspapers, better 
everything. 
The aspiration for the coming of 
the kingdom of God is an aspiration 
for the universal spread of love and 
the diffusion through the world of the 
benefits of comfort, peace, knowledge, 
liberty, righteousness and joy which 
love brings in its bosom. ‘This means 
that unselfish love shall be the motive 
in labor and trade, in invention, in 
teaching, in everything. This prayer 
expresses a supreme hope and a su- 
preme endeavor. The grand end of 
life from the Christian point of view 
is the kingdom of God. 
Here are gathered up all high and 
sweet hopes that blossom in the heart 
of the man of good will and in the 
heart of society. Materially every 
invention that gives man mastery 
over nature and liberates his spirit 
from drudgery promotes the coming 
of the kingdom. Intellectually every 
contribution to man’s knowledge of 
the earth, the history of the race, 
the nature and possibilities of his own 
soul promotes the coming of the king- 
dom. Morally and spiritually every 
deed done, every thought uttered, 
every sacrifice made for the emanci- 
pation of men from ignorance, sin, 
vice and wretchedness and every new 
infusion of faith and hope and love 
into human hearts promotes the com- 
ing of the kingdom. When we utter 
this prayer, it means: that we are 
committed to that faith, aspiration, 
hope and endeavor which have their 
end and fulfilment in the redemption 
of the world. 7 
It means that we have accepted the 
task of living the individual life of 
trust and obedience and love, that we 
are practising in our business and 
pleasure the principles of the Gospel 
of Christ, that we are trying to help 
those about us to a true knowledge of 
God. It means that by word and 
deed we are seeking in ourselves, in 
our homes, in society, in the world 
the fulfilment of our prayer—the ever 
more perfect reign of love and thus 
the realization of the kingdom of 
God. 
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ply Manchester Lawn Mower Co., 
61 School, cor. Vine st. Telephone 
327-W. adv 
