Evening journal., 1916-02-14
The Coming of the Kingdom
preached yesterday morning by Dr. Lyon

Matthew vi; 10 - 'Thy kingdom
eOne."
Some years ago an English traveller
in South Africa. riding along a coun-
try road one afternoon, stopped to
water his horse by 2 wayside spring
near a native hut. While his horse
was drinking he observed the chill
dren were tossing some stones that in
the sunlight had a peculiar gilt
ter He was thrilled with the dis
covery, for his experienced eyes de-
tected their value lie inquired of the
children where they found the stones
They took him along the bank of
little stream that wound its way down
the valley from the spring. Not un-
willingly the children exchanged
their stones for a handful Of small
coins. Without delay the man sought
the owner of the land and purchased
as much of the valley as his limited
means and credit could command.
These stones proved to be gems OF
immense value and here was the be-
ginning Of the discovery of the great
diamond fields OF the Kimberley from
which already have been taken out
more than hundred million dollars
worth of gems
This incident is a modern counter
part of the old familiar story from
The parallels Of Jesus. THE kingdom
OF heaven is like unto the treasure
hid in a feld the which when a man
hath found he hideth and for JOY
thereof goeth forth and selleth all that
he hath. and buyeth the field"
Again the kingdom Of heaven is
like unto the merchantmen seeking
goOdly pearls; who. when he found
one pearl of great price. went and
sold all he had and bought it,
Just as for generations the simple
natives that passed up and down that
valley had their attention occasional
ly attracted by some small stone glis-
tening in the sunlight, but were more
concerned less some sharp corner OF
the stone should pierce the soles OF
their feet, so for twenty centuries the
attention of Christian students has
been largely absorbed with minor is
sues, while comparatively little con-
sideration has been given to the
greatest theme of religion; the king
dom of God. Christ spoke very di-
rectly about heaven. Very seldom did
He use the term. salvation but the
phrase, "the kingdom of heaven" OF
its synonym. the kingdom OF God.
was constantly recurring to His lips
At the outset of His ministry lie de-
clared that He came to proclaim the
gospel OF the kingdom. His first
10 fhr
kingdom OF God is at hand" He seni
His disciples forth to teach the things
Of the kingdom. He bade His fol.
lowers to seek first the kingdom OF
heaven. His parallels are all con-
cerned with some phase or another o.
the kingdom. In the model prayer
Jesus besought His disciples to pray
for the coming Of the kingdom, an6
after His resurrection He spent thu
forty days before His ascension
teaching the things OF the kingdom
With such an array Of facts as thes'
. il is amazing that Christian thinkers
and workers have given such scan
thought and attention to this suprem
subject
. The ancient Hebrews. as revealed
m the old testament scriptures. had
very narrow and limited conception
of the meaning OF the kingdom oil
God They believed that il belonged
+. exclusively to the Jewish people. Az
ter their exile and apostasy thei
+. prophets. discerning few present evi
dences OF the kingdom, foretold a tim
when peace and prosperity woul'
abound in that glorious future unde
the reign OF the heaven-sent Messiah
: But when Jesus came He declared a
the outset Of His ministry that tn
kingdom Of God was at hand. In
= peculiar sense then the coming oi
Christ ushered in the real existenc
Of the beginning Of Gods kingdom Of
earth. In other words. the coming Q
y the kingdom really began with tn
coming of the King.
It was not until the fullness o
time that the world was ready to hea
y the divine announcement The king
4 dof OF God is at hand" Jesus re
versed all the conceptions Of His da
regarding royalty. The prevalent ide
of a kingdom was coupled with arm
: les. and thrones. and crowns. regali
and ritual and revelling pomp an
lavish display OF self-indulgenc,
II that the kingdom of God was not ma
terlal bat spiritual. that true royalt
was not in crowns. but in characte
not in pomp. but in piety; not in dis
play. but in deeds; not in gold, bu
in &odliness. II we are to get a jus
and true conception Of this centra
principle OF Christ's teaching" tn
kingdom of God" we must hold firml
in mind His word that the kingdom
within YOU" When they tried {
place Him upon an earthly throne H
turned away and hid Himself frol
their presence. He declared His kinl
dom was not of this world; that 4
II was TO be in the world, but not {
The world.
II is time that protest be sounde
:. against the prevalent tendency towal
materialism. We have rs a civiliz;
ton been prone more and more {
1efy things Multitudes have bee