[Greek: eltheto he basileia sou.]
_Adveniat regnum tuum._
BRANTWOOD, _14th July, 1879_.
DEAR MR. MALLESON,--Sincere thanks for both your letters and the proofs
sent. Your comment and conducting link, when needed, will be of the
greatest help and value, I am well assured, suggesting what you know
will be the probable feeling of your hearers, and the point that will
come into question.
Yes, certainly, that "His" in the fourth line[4] was meant to imply that
eternal presence of Christ; as in another passage,[5] referring to the
Creation, "when His right hand strewed the snow on Lebanon, and
smoothed the slopes of Calvary;" but in so far as we dwell on that
truth, "Hast thou seen _Me_, Philip, and not the Father?"[6] we are not
teaching the people what is specially the Gospel of _Christ_ as having a
distinct function, namely, to _serve_ the Father, and do the Father's
will. And in all His human relations to us, and commands to us, it is as
the Son of Man, not as the "power of God and wisdom of God," that He
acts and speaks. Not as the Power; for _He_ must pray, like one of us.
Not as the Wisdom; for He must not know "if it be possible" His prayer
should be heard.
[4] In a proof sheet of a book of the Editor's at that time in the
press.
[5] Referring to the closing sentence of the third paragraph of the
fifth letter, which _seemed_ to express what I felt could not be
Mr. Ruskin's full meaning, I pointed out to him the following
sentence in "Modern Painters:"--
"When, in the desert, Jesus was girding Himself for the work of
life, angels of life came and ministered unto Him; now, in the
fair world, when He is girding Himself for the work of death,
the ministrants came to Him from the grave; but from the grave
conquered. One from the tomb under Abarim, which _His_ own hand
had sealed long ago; the other from the rest which He had
entered without seeing corruption."
On this I made a remark somewhat to the following effect: that I
felt sure Mr. Ruskin regarded the loving work of the Father and of
the Son as _equal_ in the forgiveness of sins and redemption of
mankind; that what is done by the Father is in reality done also by
the Son; and that it is by a mere accommodation to human infirmity
of understanding that the doctrine of the Trinity is revealed to us
in language, inadequate indeed to convey divine truths, but still
the only language possible; and I asked whether some such feeling
was not present in his mind when he used the pronoun "His" in the
above passage from "Modern Painters" of the Son, where it would be
usually understood of the Father; and as a corollary, whether, in
the letter, he does not himself fully recognise the fact of the
redemption of the world by the loving self-sacrifice of the Son
being in entire concurrence with the equally loving will of the
Father. This, as well as I can recollect, is the origin of the
passage in the second paragraph in this seventh letter.--EDITOR OF
LETTERS.
[6] "Yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath
seen the Father" (John xiv. 9).--EDITOR.
And in what I want to say of the third clause of His prayer (_His_, not
merely as His ordering, but His using), it is especially this comparison
between _His_ kingdom, and His Father's, that I want to see the
disciples guarded against. I believe very few, even of the most earnest,
using that petition, realize that it is the Father's--not the
Son's--kingdom, that they pray may come,--although the whole prayer is
foundational on that fact: "_For_ Thine is the kingdom, the power, and
the glory." And I fancy that the mind of the most faithful Christian is
quite led away from its proper hope, by dwelling on the reign--or the
coming again--of Christ; which, indeed, they are to look for, and
_watch_ for, but not to pray for. Their prayer is to be for the greater
kingdom to which He, risen and having all His enemies under His feet, is
to surrender _His_, "that God may be All in All."
And, though the greatest, it is that everlasting kingdom which the
poorest of us can advance. We cannot hasten Christ's coming. "Of the day
and the hour, knoweth no man." But the kingdom of God is as a grain of
mustard-seed:--we can sow of it; it is as a foam-globe of leaven:--we
can mingle it; and its glory and its joy are that even the birds of the
air can lodge in the branches thereof.
Forgive me for getting back to my sparrows; but truly in the present
state of England, the fowls of the air are the only creatures, tormented
and murdered as they are, that yet have here and there nests, and peace,
and joy in the Holy Ghost. And it would be well if many of us, in
reading that text, "The kingdom of God is NOT meat and drink," had even
got so far as to the understanding that it is at least _as much_, and
that until we had fed the hungry, there was no power in us to inspire
the unhappy.
Ever affectionately yours,
J. RUSKIN.
I will write my feeling about the pieces of the Life of Christ[7] you
have sent me in a private letter. I may say at once that I am sure it
will do much good, and will be upright and intelligible, which how few
religious writings are?
[7] The Life and Work of Jesus Christ. Ward and Lock.