Article July 8, 1911 Issue

"THY KINGDOM COME."

HELEN WARD BANKS.

To Jesus, sitting on the mount of Olives, came his disciples, asking, "What shall be the sign of thy coming?" They were looking, all of them, for a speedy and spectacular herald of the "forever coming of Christ" (Science and Health, p. 230); a material sign that should convince a material people against its will. In spite of Jesus' teaching, it was hard for them then, as it is for us now, to make real the fact that Truth is ever present, and the kingdom of heaven within. They had not yet learned that one never wins the kingdom of heaven by standing inactive, waiting for it to flash on his sight, but only by patient, insistent effort day by in his own consciousness to replace wrong thinking with right.

Read in connection with his question of the disciples, in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, the parable chapter that follows is full of significance. Every parable is an encouragement to faithful watching and working and waiting. There is no "Lo here!" nor "Lo there!" but each individual in thought and deed working out his own salvation, in order to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth. The wise virgins filled their lamps with oil every day, that they might be ready for the bridegroom's coming; the faithful servant, whether he had been given much or little to work with, daily utilized his portion to increase it against his master's return; those who were awaiting the final judgment fed the hungry and clothed the naked in daily, loving service.

The parables are for us in this day. We have seen the vision of Truth and it has shone on us almost bewilderingly, as the vision of the Holy Grail dazzled the eyes of Parsifal. But, like him, we do not find the truth itself till we have practically proved it in our daily thinking and living. Christian Science is not coming to convert the world by a sudden flare of light. It will convince and convert the world only through the individual living of its adherents. Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health (p. 514) that "diligence, promptness, and perseverance . . . carry the baggage of stern resolve and keep pace with highest purpose." How easy all of us have found it in the light of our vision of Truth to conceive that "highest purpose," and how very difficult have we found it to keep "stern resolve" with his baggage train of "diligence, promptness, and perseverance" in pace with it.

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