e "at hand."

The Lord Jesus Christ came to found a Kingdom. He is the King of "The
Kingdom of Heaven."

All who will accept Him as their King--all the men and women and
little children in the world, of every land and of every age--may be
admitted as the subjects of "The Kingdom of Heaven." For "He died for
all" (2 Cor. v. 15).

And "The Kingdom of Heaven," though it is a spiritual and heavenly
Kingdom, is as yet here on earth, and will not be in Heaven, until the
subjects of the King have been tried and found faithful, and the
number of the elect shall be accomplished.

It follows that the statements of Holy Scripture respecting "The
Kingdom of Heaven," which are to be considered in the following pages,
refer not merely to the world to come--to that which we commonly
understand by the word Heaven--but to that Kingdom which has been
founded here on earth; and into which, as Christians, we have been
already called. And the subject becomes of infinite importance to us
all, when it is understood that "The Kingdom of Heaven" is, at this
present time, that Kingdom of grace in which we may obtain salvation
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He has called us all to be
subjects of this Kingdom now, that, by obtaining a share in His
precious merits, we may be brought into a state of present salvation;
and that, by continuing in this state through His grace, we may be
recognised as His subjects in that great day, when the Kingdom of
Grace will have become the Kingdom of Glory Everlasting.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Christ is the Greek word which corresponds with the Hebrew word
Messiah, meaning "The Anointed One." Amongst the Jews three classes of
men were anointed to their official duties--Prophets, Priests, and
Kings. And the name "Messiah" implied that they expected the Deliverer
to bear office in these ways; and especially as King, the highest of
these offices.

[2] In a similar passage of S. Matthew the difficult expression
occurs, "The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent
take it by force" (S. Matt. xi. 12); but the meaning seems to be the
same. Our Lord was calling attention to the fact that the expected
King had come and His Kingdom was open to the eager zeal of such as
would seize upon it and press into it.

CHAPTER II.

THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM.

"This is He whom Seers in old time
Chanted of with one accord;
Whom the voices of the Prophets
Promised in their fai