The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-10-16

moral and spiritual. It's riches were
to be of the soul, its glory and bless
edness of the spirit. Jesus was to be
spiritual prince, teacher of right
eousness, a king in the realm of
truth and goodness: hence, his
kingdom must be spiritual, king
dom of truth and righteousness in
the hearts of men.
Hence, in the teachings of Jesus
concerning this kingdom we always
find two things, souls and sentiments.
In his doctrine of the kingdom these
two things are always associated.
The kingdom of God in his thought
is always composed of souls and sem
timents, believing hearts and Chris
tan sentiments or doctrines, the
truth he teaches, and the minds
who accept and obey that truth.
Sometimes he makes the one or the
other prominent but he never loses
sight of either.
Sometimes he emphasizes the doc
trine, but in that case he does not for
get the believing souls, and some
times he has the souls particularly in
mind, but then he does not overlook
the doctrine and sometimes he mixes
them up as in the parable of the
Sower," and we must sift the meta
phor to get the meaning.
Here then, we have the two things
that make up the kingdom of God as
taught by Christ, Christian senti-
ment and Christian spirits, Christian
doctrines and believing souls. Let
there be few or many of these souls,
there is the kingdom of God. 1t en-
braces at any and all times all
souls who know and believe the
teachings of Christ.
The kingdom of God in the jew
ish thought, therefore, was the reign
of God through the Jewish Messiah
in an earthly kingdom with physical
obedience and external glory. The
kingdom of God in Christian thought
is the reign of God through Jesus
Christ in the world within, in the souls
of men, with spiritual obedience and
inward glory. Primarily Christ does
not seek to rule the world without.
to reign in the external affairs of men
at all. What he seeks is to bring in
to his dominion and under his reign
the souls Of men, to rule their minds
and hearts. 1t must not be inferred,
however, that Christianity has moth
ing to do with the external affairs of
men. 1t has very much to do with
these affairs, but indirectly, not di
rectly. The kingdom of heaven is
first in the soul and then in the
hands. in the doings of men. 1t is a
thought and a spirit in the hearts,
! but it takes form in the institutions
of men.
1t takes form in the church, in the
Christian home and Christian nation,
in the religious, social and political
relations of men. AS we read the
New Testament then we see that it
was the great work of Christ and
his apostles to preach the kingdom of
God, to fill this old phrase with new
spiritual meaning, and bring the peo-
pie under the influence of its moral
and spiritual power. Thus we read
of Jesus that he came into Galilee
"preaching the gospel of the kingdom
of God" The spirituality of the
kingdom is set forth in such words as
these: 1.-THE kingdomof God cometh
not with observation, neither shall
they say, 10, here! or 10, there! for
behold the kingdom of God is within
you" THE kingdom of God is net
meat and drink, but righteousness,
peace and JOY in the Holy Ghost"
"The kingdom of God is not in word,
but in power"
Most of the parallels of Jesus if not
all, were drawn to set forth and illus
trate some characteristic or particular
side or experience of this kingdom.
Thus the kingdom of heaven is like
"the mustard Seed" like the ''leaven
in the meal" ''like the sower who
| went forth to SOW" like treasure hid
in the fields" "like the merchantmen
seeking goodly pearls" ''like the ten
virgins, five wise and five foolish"
''like the man travelling into a far
country" ETC., etc. All these para
bles are illustrations of the kingdom
of heaven or of God. They set forth
its peculiarities, its experiences in the
world, its reception or rejection by
men, its nature and law of growth, in
fine, every side and characteristic of
this reign of God in the souls of men.
Having now therefore before US the
nature of this kingdom, the avhot of
it, we will in another article try to