Editorial February 3, 1917 Issue

The Kingdom Within

Archibald McLellan

Throughout Jesus' ministry he spoke of the kingdom of God as a reality, and of the immanent possibility of its realization in the affairs of men. To the Pharisees he declared, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." When he sent forth the twelve disciples with "power and authority," he commissioned them to "preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick." To these same disciples he said, "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." Paul in his epistle to the Romans said, "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost;" and it was preaching of this kind, "with signs following," that animated the early Christians.

Mrs. Eddy has defined the kingdom of heaven as "the reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme" (Science and Health, p. 590). On page 281 of the same book she writes, "When we put off the false sense for the true, and see that sin and mortality have neither Principle nor permanency, we shall learn that sin and mortality are without actual origin or rightful existence." From this we learn that in Christian Science the kingdom of God is not a place which can be located geographically, or in a mortal, sensuous way, but that it is a state of spiritual understanding, which encompasses the reality of all being and discloses man to be the image and likeness of God, dwelling with the Father in righteousness and peace, guided and governed by that Mind "which was also in Christ Jesus."

When we sincerely pray, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven," which Mrs. Eddy has interpreted as, "Thy kingdom is come; Thou art everpresent. Enable us to know,—as in heaven, so on earth,—God is omnipotent, supreme" (Science and Health, p. 16), we realize that the kingdom is indeed not far from us, and will in fact be found to be within us as we conform our thoughts, desires, and actions to the words of our prayer. Through this affirmative petition, prayed with understanding and sincerity, we are putting off the false sense for the true, and as we are able to demonstrate "that sin and mortality are without actual origin or rightful existence," we rise into that "realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind," where God is supreme and man is found to be at peace, because he is seen to be what he in fact is, namely, the image and likeness of God, not controlled by mortal, finite passions and ambitions, but doing the will of the Father because that will is known and acknowledged as the only power, and the kingdom of God as the only kingdom.

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