THE GOSPEL

OF THE

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

THE GOSPEL

OF THE

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN:

A COURSE OF LECTURES

ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. LUKE.

BY F. D. MAURICE,

INCUMBENT OF ST. PETER'S, VERE STREET.

'Come forth out of Thy royall chambers, O Prince of all the kings of the earth! Put on
the robes of Thy imperiall majesty! take up that unlimited sceptre which Thy Almighty
Father hath bequeath'd Thee! for now the voice of Thy Bride calls Thee, and all creatures
sigh to bee renew'd.'-MILTON.

BIBL. FAC. LIBRE THEOL.
LAUSANNE, Ch. d. Cèdres

T.P.2930

London and Cambridge:

MACMILLAN

1864.

AND
AND CO.

The Right of Translation and Reproduction is reserved.

LONDON:

R. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,

BREAD STREET HILL.

PREF A СЕ.

I HAVE called these discourses 'Lectures,' not sermons. They are strictly readings on the Gospel of St. Luke. But they were addressed to a congregation. The ordinary rules of preaching were observed in the delivery of them; a text was placed at the head of each. It was chosen because much of the sense of the surrounding passages seemed to be woven into it. That I presume is the meaning of a 'text;' the justification for its use in the pulpit. It should always suggest, and in some sort compel, the study of the book from which it is taken;

disquisition which

it should never be forgotten in the is appended to it. When I revised the lectures, and prepared them for the press, I might, along with other alterations, have dropped these headings. But I was unwilling to give the book the form of a commentary, or to lose any of the links which connected the Gospel that is written with the Gospel that is preached. Why I felt this reluctance will be evident if I explain the object of the course, and the circumstances which suggested it.