News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1915-04-21
KINGDOM OF GOD
Today We See Just What Was
Meant in This Gospel of
the Nazarene.

| NO CuduSo III TellSlOuo lAou6hI 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 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 fgurative 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 state Of de-
pravity to one 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 I'M
doubtedly meant this, he also meant
much more than this. For what evil
dence is there, in our record of the
Nazarenes 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 we'll as the inward world, and work
a revolution in society as we'll 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 transforma-
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 means visible order as
well-that it aims at a complete
change in the state Of things. .
Never in history has mankind been
summoned to greater revolution than
here, where not this and that among
the conditions, but the totally 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"
viii of God on Earth.
Here, in this extension of our I'M
Outstanding of the gospel of the king
dom, is the greatest religious discov-
cry of our 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
realm of perfect righteousness and
peace. The kingdom must have it's
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 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
Of infant mortality, the pro-
lection of helpless old age, the allie
Walton of poverty, the conquest of |
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 that
We understand that the kingdom
means, to quote Eucken once more.
"a new order of the world and of life!"