A PROVINCE under the control of a king is named a realm. It is administered by a government giving certain rights and privileges to its citizens. The kingdom of God is the realm or region in which the laws of God operate; therefore it is the realm of law, order, and harmony. In the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 590), Mary Baker Eddy defines the kingdom of heaven in part as "the reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind."

When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered (Luke 17:20, 21), "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." Many believed at that time that Jesus had come to set up an earthly kingdom, a kingdom that would overthrow the despotism of Rome, but his reply to the Pharisees indicated a mental or spiritual kingdom, a state of mind, or realm of consciousness. Jesus was not interested in establishing an earthly or political kingdom. His reply to the Pharisees pointed to the presence of the universal spiritual kingdom, which the spiritually minded could enter, enjoy, and understand.

The mental or spiritual realm is a realm of achievement, a kingdom in which spiritual activity is always taking place. Moreover, this kingdom is within us, that is, within reach of our consciousness; in other words, everyone is capable of understanding it.

A kingdom to which admittance is limited to an intellectual minority would not be of much use to the sufferer who feels incapable of great intellectual effort. Christ Jesus did not indicate that the kingdom of God was of this description. The kingdom of God was to be entered with childlike trust, humility, and obedience. It was to be possessed by the poor in spirit, the pure in heart and the persecuted "for righteousness' sake." It was to include power and glory; that is to say, strength and enlightenment.

The New Testament Scripture indicates that the disciples did not immediately realize the spiritual power they possessed as citizens of the kingdom of God, for we are told on one occasion that they failed to cast out a devil and came to the Master asking him to explain their failure. He pointed to the need of greater consecration when he said (Matt. 17:21), "This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting," indicating that spiritual power is exercised only by this means.

Towards the close of his ministry on earth, when death had been overcome and spiritual emancipation flooded his consciousness, he spoke to them with great conviction concerning the power they were capable of exercising. "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you," he said (Luke 10:19). Jesus did not speak of a vague or weak condition of consciousness when he spoke of the kingdom of God. In the consciousness of the kingdom is to be found power — power to subdue evil, power to destroy disease, power to annul the chemistry of mortal mind and thus cause poisons to become harmless.

Since the spiritually-minded have infinite power, they also have an infinite range of activity. There is a glorious strength in this consciousness, a magnificent intelligence, an omniscient knowledge, a divine dominion. The kingdom of God contains laws, and the power to enforce its laws is given to man by reflection, for man himself has no power which is not derived from God.

The kingdom and the power were not all the Master mentioned, for he gave the disciples another gift. He said (John 17:22), "The glory which thou gavest me I have given them." In other words, the glorious enlightenment of spiritual existence is a gift to us all; no one is debarred from receiving it. Let the Christian Scientist who complains that he cannot get spiritual light, or that he feels separated from God, or that his patients are not being healed, remember this promise of Jesus' and claim himself the glorious enlightenment which Christian Science bestows on him. Before he opens the Bible and the Christian Science textbook for daily study, let him lay hold on this precious gift; then it will not be surprising if he finds his consciousness illumined with heavenly inspiration. As he reads and prays, ideas will pour in so rapidly that he will thank God and say, "This surely is heaven come down to earth, for I can exercise the power of God and share the glorious enlightenment, or understanding, which heals and saves."

Mrs. Eddy writes (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 221): "There are no other heaven-appointed means than the spiritual with which to heal sin and disease. Our Master conformed to this law, and instructed his followers, saying, 'He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also."

Robert Ellis Key