The Penn's Grove record., 1915-01-29
KINGDOM IS REAL
Jesus Words Had Reference Not
Only to a Condition of
the Spirit.

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 Nazarene 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 W day have we come to see just
what was meant by this idea and this
purpose.
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 rsed
by the master in a h~guratiye sense and
was intended to apply to the inner and
not the outer world, to things spirit
ual and not material. The establish
ment OF the Kingdom meant the estab-
lishment Of Gods purpose in the
hearts of men, and the coming Of the
Kingdom the transformation of the hu-
man soul from a state of depravity to
one of grace. THE Kingdom Of God
is within you" This has been &C
eepted in all ages as the final and per-
feet definition of the teaching.
Scope Of the Kingdom.
Very recently, however, have men
come to feel that, while Jesus undoubt-
eddy meant this, he also meant much
more than this. For what evidence
is there, in our records Of the Nazar-
enes 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 evidence, in
what he said and did, that he meant
very particularly that the Kingdom
should cover the outward as well as
the inward world, and work a reyolu-
ton in society as well as in the soul?
In Jesus conception" says Prof. Ru-
dolf Eucken, the most eminent living
exponent of spiritual idealism, "the
Kingdom of God is by no e mere
ly an inner transformation, affecting
only the heart and mind, and leaving
the outer world in the same condition.
Rather, historical research puts it be-
yond question that the new Kingdom
means 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 human existence Is
to be re~generated." Not "the King
dom of God is within you" is the cor
rect translation, but "the Kingdom Of
God is among you'll"
Its Source in the Heart.
Here, in this extension of our under
standing Of the gospel Of the Kingdom,
is the greatest religious discovery Of
u age. The Kingdom of God is in
deed within US, but it must not stay
there. On the contrary, it must go
out among" u 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 King
dom means the will of God done on
earth" which in turn e the estab-
lishment of justice among men. The
betterment of living conditions, the es-
adjustment of just relations between
employers and employees, the reduc-
ton of infant mortality, the protec-
ton of helpless old age, the allevia-
ton of poverty, the conquest of dis
ease, 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 SER
wants Of the Kingdom.
For the first time since the earliest
days of Christianity the masters pray
er, Thy Kingdom come" is being lit
tie by little answered. And this for
the reason that we understand that the
Kingdom means, to quote Eucken once
more, "a new order Of the world and
of life!"