The advocate., 1894-04-11

SICdb uOf6Aucllh having IOI 4VO alll buS
actual realization of the ideal state of
society which socialism and anarchism
seek to realize tO-day-howeve mis-
taken these may be as to the proper
means to employ for the attainment of
that end.
That this was Christ'S object is per.
fectly clear. The phrase ofteneSt upon
His lips was, "The kingdom of hea-
ven' or "The kingdom of God" His
first public utterance was, "The king
dom Of heaven is at hand;" every para
bic is prefaced with, "The kingdom of
heaven is like unto;' the one prayer
He taught His disciples breathes the
petition, "Thy kingdom come" Is it
not obvious that if we would under
stand Christ's utteranceS at all We must
know what He meant by ''the kingdom
of heayenH" Is not the meaning of
that phrase the key to all He said ? Yet
this is never explained by the pulpit,
never taught in Sunday schools; and
here at the close of the nineteenth CEN
tury of the Christian era I find myself
obliged to explain to people raised up
in the Christian church the phrase so
frequently employed by Christ and
constituting the indispensable key to
all He taught! 1t is as if in lecturing
on evolution before an audience of pro-
feSsed evolutionistS, one should find it
necessary to devote half his time to an
explanation Of the word revolution"
Christ did not define the expression.
His hearers knew what he meant.
"Kingdom of heaven" meant to them
precisely what "millennium" means to
us; indeed, millennium is only another
name for the same thing. Says Nor
rison, in his work, "The Jews Under
Roman Rule" "In the expectation of
the Jews the messianic era CORE
sponded in many particulars to the
golden age Of which the poets of an
tiquity loved to sing. The rule which
the Messiah was to inaugurate should
be the reign of God on earth, and the
kingdom should be known as the king
dom of God, or in other words, as the
kingdom Of heaven" Gibbon tells us
that "the assurance of such a millen-
MUM was carefully inculcated by a
succession of fathers from ustin Mar
tyr, and Iren9us, who conVersed with
the immediate disciples of the apostles,
down to LactantiuS, who was preCep-
tor to the son of Constantine" and in
| Chambers's Encyclopedia we read:
"The unanimity which the early Christ
ian teachers exhibit in regard to mil
lenniarism, proves how strongly it had
laid hold of the imagination Of the
church. Not only the hereto Germ
thus, but even the orthodox doctors
such as Papias, bishop Of Hierapolis,
Irenaus, Justin Martyr, etc.-de
lighted themselves with dreams of the
glory and magnifcence of the millen-
nial kingdom" But what explanation
do we need other than the necessary
effect of Christ's own teachings? Sup
pose His precepts should be universally
obeyed- what would be the effect upon
society? Seliishness would be gone,
ambition to rule would be unknown,
and abandoning the clannishness now
deemed virtue every one would be
citizen of the world; monopoly would
be obsolete; money would be useless;
all would be brethren and all would
work for all; none would seek his own,
but each his neighbOr's good; instead
of rights, duties would occupy the
thoughts of mankind; there could be
no war, for no one would bear arms;
prisons would be empty, for no one
would keep them; as no one would go
to law, the courts would die of IMAM
ition; as no one would resist evil, but
all injuries would be forgiven, penal
law machinery would fall into disuse;
as no one would consent to "lord it,
over others, being mindful of the con
versation which ensued upon the am
bilious request of the mother Of the
Zebedees, all government by force must
come to an end and give place to per-
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