Article August 28, 1926 Issue

Kingdom of Heaven Within

CARL H. LEHMANN

IN the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," written by Mary Baker Eddy, we find these words (p. 192): "The good you do and embody gives you the only power obtainable." There is much food for thought in this statement, because he who first said, "The kingdom of God is within you," spent his earthly career in doing good and in teaching others the way to the heavenly kingdom. This spirit of goodness, or the divine Spirit, animated all his acts and gave him unlimited power over evil.

Jesus said, "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world." Now the word "name" in Scripture signifies the nature or character of the one bearing it. How many of us will be able to say we have manifested God's name unto those with whom we have come in contact during our sojourn on this earth? This same God, good, is round about each of us, guiding and governing us; and this fact would be as evident to us as it was to Jesus, if God's allness and ever-presence were as real to us as they were to him, and if we were as willing to do God's will in all things.

In Isaiah we read, "Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, This is the way, walk ye in it." The trouble with many is that they do not listen to His voice, but to the suggestions of self-righteousness, self-will, and self-love. In doing this, they are listening to that "old serpent ... which deceiveth the whole world." The same serpent which deceived Adam and Eve is heard to-day in the garden of mortal beliefs, and mortals are still partaking of the forbidden fruit, knowing good and evil. Do we not hear this serpent in business, in our homes, in our human associations, always urging us to listen to his voice? Christ Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice;" and in Revelation we read, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Let us open the door of our consciousness to the Christ, Truth, and listen only to his voice, instead of to the suggestions that whisper discouragement, fear, worry, revenge, hatred. In this way we open the door of our consciousness to their opposites, courage, trust, self-forgetfulness, love, and find that the kingdom of heaven within is indeed a right mental state—that of loving our neighbor as ourself—and is within reach of all, regardless of environment. But it is for us to enter through right choice. In Science and Health (p. 266) Mrs. Eddy writes, "The sinner makes his own hell by doing evil, and the saint his own heaven by doing right."

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