A Present to His Royal Highness - The Prince of Wales — Page 20
20 ministry he is recorded as saying; “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. ” ∗ and he continued to preach this even unto the end of his ministry as is apparent from the injunction which he laid upon his disciples when sending them forth to preach in the world: “And as ye go, preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand”† or, according to another version “And say unto them, the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. ”‡ The kingdom of heaven cannot be taken to mean the advent of Jesus himself, for he always described his own coming as the coming of the Son, and said that God would come after he had been crucified. He relates this in the form of a parable: “A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time. And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard, but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out. Then said the lord of the vineyards. What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him. But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, this is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, therefore, shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them? He ∗ Matthew iv: 17. † Matthew x, 7. ‡ Luke x: 9.