The Penn's Grove record., 1915-02-26
KINGDOM OF GOD
Today We See lust What Was
Meant in This Gospel of
the Nazarene.

No change in religious thought is
more remarkable than that which has
taken place in our Interpretation Of
Jesus oft-repeated phrase, the king
dom of God" That the whole Gospel
Of the Nazarcne is contained in his
Idea of the kingdom" and the whole
purpose of his life summed up in his
prayer, "Thy kingdom come" has long
been understood, but not until our own
day have we come to see just what
was meant by this idea and this pur-
pose.
In the past men have assumed that
the Kingdom of God" referred to a
certain inward attitude of mind or
condition of spirit. The word king
DOM" it has been agreed, was used
by the master in a %igurative sense
and was intended to apply to the
inner and not the outer world, to
things spiritual and not material. The
establishment of the kingdom meant
the establishment of Gods purpose in
the hearts of men, and the coming
of the kingdom the Transformation of
the human soul from a state of de-
pravity to mi of grace. "The king
dom of God is within you" This has
been accepted in all ages as the final
and perfect definition of the teaching.
Real Meaning Of the Lesson.
Very recently, however, have men
come to feel that, while Jesus un-
doubleday meant this, he also meant
much more than this. For what evil
dence is there, in our record of the
Nazarene's career, that he meant to
limit his idea of the kingdom to the
inward realm of the spirit? On the
contrary, is there not abundant evil
dence, in what he said and did, that
he meant very particularly that the
kingdom should cover the outward
a well as the inward world, and work
a revolution in society as well as in
the soul? "In Jesus conception, .
says Prof. Rudolf Eucken, the most
eminent living exponent of spiritual
idealism, "the kingdom of God is by
no means merely an inner transforms
ton, affecting only the heart and mind,
and leaving the outer world in the
same condition. Rather historical re-
search put it beyond question that the
new kingdom mean a visible order as
well-that it aims at a complete
change in the state of things.
Never in history has mankind been
summoned to a greater revolution than
here, where not this and that among
the conditions, but the totality of hui
man existence is to be regenerated."
Not "the kingdom of God is within
you," is the correct translation, but
"the kingdom of God is among you'll"
Will of God on Earth.
Here, in this extension of our I'm.
derstanding of the gospel of the king
dom, is the greatest religious discov-
cry of u age. The kingdom of God
is indeed within" US, but it must not
stay there. On the contrary, it must
go out among" our fellow men, and
there transform the social order into a
realm of perfect righteousness and
peace. The kingdom must have its
source in the heart, which, to quote
the great phrase of st. Augustine,
rests not until it rests in God, but, like
a river and not a stagnant pool, it must
then flow out, to clothe with beauty
the waste places of the earth. The
kingdom means the will of God "done
on earth" which in turn means the
establishment of justice among men
The betterment of living conditions
the establishment of just relations be
tween employers and employees, the
reduction of infant mortality, the pro
lection of helpless old age, the allie
Walton of poverty, the conquest oil
disease, the %furthering of knowledge
the war against war"-all these
things are the works of the kingdom
and the men and women everywhere
who are achieving these things are
the servants of the kingdom.
The Masters prayer, thy kingdom
come" is being little by little an
swered, And this for the reason thai
we understand that the kingdom
means, to quote Eucken once more
"a new order. of the world and of life!'