Show r I Ehe h Ki Kingdom 0 of God Godo By Edwin Markham I r I 1 f This Thin article artl le M is nn an extract from f 4 the manuscript of or a boot boon which I Mr Edin Markham Is writing 4 1 he P poem po m in It an advance I f page from Lincoln and end Other f 4 Poems whim which l will be published I this month T 4 I B have been bean taught to look for a heaven afar afrin t WE W in some lome spiritual space In the universe and to expect eX ct it IB Is I something to which we are going There is doubtless such a heaven but this is 18 not the heaven that is 18 the bur burden burI II I I den der of or words He looked Jook d for Cor n R RI fraternal commonwealth that should I I be the tho political realization of or tile Ser Sermon mon men on the Mount He told not of ot a kingdom m t tit which we vie are to go but of f a kingdom that thatis thatIs I is 18 to rome coma to t us Thy kingdom come comeL thy will be done on earth this is the th I prayer L 1 We Ve are told to pray for the king dom en n earth and ancl of Scours course this means to work for it For if a man does not work for what he lie prays pra s for he affronts God But where are the elements of this kingdom They are already here hereaU all allaround around us Now this very hour we weare weare weare are in Inthe the midst of the raw ra materials of heaven We Ve are daily dally trampling them under our feet All AU the materials of or heaven are here or they are nowhere Every day we weare weare weare are casting away the pearls of the heavenly gate Those pearls are love lovend loved ove nd d affectionate e justice They The are the I Golden Rule and the economics of the kingdom of ot heaven All An we need to do is to dramatize love put it into expression lon let it speak let it mow moo mo We have committed the Golden Goiden Rule to memory we now no need ned to commit it to life lite Watt WaS Christ Chrit philosophical in demand demanding demanding ing that the kingdom should be built on earth Indeed he was Christ proves himself in to be the su supreme supreme supreme preme philosopher opher aid ld statesman of the world He saw sew the time shaping force for of or social conditions He saw that the 1 human babe for fo instance is dependent I II I on its social environment for the evo evolution evolution evolution lution of ot the human quality The study of at the tIe social order then should be the chief concern of the re ms religious man For what Is religion Re Religion Religion Religion ligion is at bottom a social bond bonda a abond bond that binds all al men into one brotherhood in God GodA A man becomes religious only when he comes into brotherly relations with I his fellows not forgetting his hairy hatry and feathered of the field and sky I All AU Christs words have hae reference to this u s social ideal that should end in the kingdom that is to come on earth This is the meaning of ot the new birth that we must strive to be born out of our brute individualism Into the social spirit out of ot our brute Inheritance Inheritance inheritance tance into our divine Inheritance out u of Into r I out of selfhood Into And only the kingdom the fraternal commonwealth furnishes an organ for this new spirit furnishes a proper or 01 organ organ gan san for the expression of the Christ spirit In things Nothing short of ot this will lU answer We have hae tried substitutes but they fail faU We have hae tried but worthy as this Work ork Is it is not the one thing needful The world needs Justice affectionate justice It needs the extinction of or all private monopolies and special privilege We e have tried the of the world but despite the service ren rca rendered rendered dered by the church In the past It is not the ideal of Christ Now men everywhere are asking Where here is God They see no God because they see e no social providence Millions and generations go down in squalor disease poverty and misery So men are asking Where There is God 7 The answer is God is where men find him His providence is where men organize providence Let men find providence where men found the steam engine and the telegraph where they found the reaper and the printing t press Let men organize providence In 1 society and the world will have a providence Providence is latent let us bring it forth by evolution Men need a new will the will of or the social conscience So I prophesy the coming of the th so social social cial man to build the social kingdom He will be a practical Christian the theone one who really does the will of the Father He will be the divine flower of the ages age He will move In the power of oC the social passion He will reject ion lon in his pursuit of or the common good goodHe goodHe goodHe He will recognize the people as the ex ox extension extension tension of his own on body bod He will roe God and so win will recognize the theall theall theall all There will be no favoritism This practical Christian is coming he Is coming to do the Fathers Fath rs will wUl to build the social kingdom And we weare weare weare are told that Of that kingdom there shall be no end It will HI stand be because because because cause built upon the rock of DC affectionate donate justice All AU other kingdoms are built upon the sand They will perish they are le perishing All AU the records of the past bear wit witness witness witness ness that whatever is cruel or selfish is ephemeral and insecure Copyright 1901 1991 by Edwin Markham |