Part 7 (1/2)

I have three heads to give you. The first is ”Geography,” the second is ”Arithmetic,” and the third is ”Grammar.”

I.

First. Geography tells us where to find places.

Where is the Kingdom of G.o.d? It is said that when a Prussian officer was killed in the Franco-Prussian war, a map of France was very often found in his pocket. When we wish to occupy a country, we ought to know its geography. Now, WHERE is the Kingdom of G.o.d?

A boy over there says, ”It is in heaven.” No; it is not in heaven.

Another boy says, ”It is in the Bible.” No; it is not in the Bible. Another boy says, ”It must be in the Church,” No; it is not in the Church. Heaven is only the capital of the Kingdom of G.o.d; the Bible is the guide-book to it; the Church is the weekly parade of those who belong to it. If you turn to the seventeenth chapter of Luke you will find out where the Kingdom of G.o.d really is: ”The Kingdom of G.o.d is within you”--within YOU. The Kingdom of G.o.d is INSIDE PEOPLE.

I remember once taking a walk by the river near where the Falls of Niagara are, and I noticed a remarkable figure walking along the river bank. I had been some time in America. I had seen black men, and red men, and yellow men, and white men; black men, the Negroes; red men, the Indians; yellow men, the Chinese; white men, the Americans. But this man looked quite different in his dress from anything I had ever seen. When he came a little closer, I saw he was wearing a kilt; when he came a little nearer still, I saw that he was dressed exactly like a Highland soldier. When he came quiet near, I said to him:

”What are you doing here?”

”Why should I not be here?” he replied; ”don't you know this is British soil? When you cross the river you come into Canada.”

This soldier was thousands of miles from England, and yet he was in the Kingdom of England. Wherever there is an English heart beating loyal to the Queen of Britain, there is England. Wherever there is a boy whose heart is loyal to the Kingdom of G.o.d, the Kingdom of G.o.d is within him.

What is the Kingdom of G.o.d? Every Kingdom has its exports, it products. Go down the river here and you will find s.h.i.+ps coming in with cotton; you know they come from America. You will find s.h.i.+ps with tea; you know they are from China. s.h.i.+ps with wool; you know they come from Australia. s.h.i.+ps with sugar; you know they come from Java.

What comes from the Kingdom of G.o.d? Again, we must refer to our Guide-book. Turn to Romans, and we shall find what the Kingdom of G.o.d is. I will read it: ”The Kingdom of G.o.d is righteousness, peace, joy”--three things. ”The Kingdom of G.o.d is righteousness, peace, joy.” Righteousness, of course is just doing what is right.

Any boy who does what is RIGHT has the Kingdom of G.o.d within him.

Any boy who, instead of being quarrelsome, lives at peace with the other boys, has the Kingdom of G.o.d within him. Any boy whose heart is filled with joy because he does what is right, has the Kingdom of G.o.d within him. The Kingdom of G.o.d is not going to religious meetings, and hearing strange religious experiences; the Kingdom of G.o.d is doing what is right--living at peace with all men, being filled with joy in the Holy Ghost.

Boys, if you are going to be Christians, be Christians as boys, and not as your grandmothers. A grandmother has to be a Christian as a grandmother, and that is the right and the beautiful thing for her; but if you cannot read your Bible by the hours as your grandmother can, or delight in meetings as she can, don't think you are necessarily a bad boy. When you are your grandmother's age you will have your grandmother's kind of religion. Meantime, be a Christian as a boy. Live a boy's life. Do the straight thing; seek the kingdom of righteousness and honor and truth. Keep the peace with the boys about you, and be filled with the joy of being a loyal, and simple, and natural, and boy-like servant of Christ.

You can very easily tell a house, or a workshop, or an office where the Kingdom of G.o.d is NOT. The first thing you see in that pace is that the ”straight thing” is not always done. Customers do not get fair play. You are in danger of learning to cheat and to lie.

Better a thousand times to starve than to stay in a place where you cannot do what is right.

Or, when you go into your workshop, you find everybody sulky, touchy, and ill-tempered, everybody at daggers-drawn with everybody else, some of the men not on speaking terms with some of the others, and the whole FEEL of the place miserable and unhappy. The Kingdom of G.o.d is not thee, for IT is peace. It is the Kingdom of the Devil that is anger, and wrath and malice.

If you want to get the Kingdom of G.o.d into your workshop, or into your home, let the quarreling be stopped. Live in peace and harmony and brotherliness with everyone. For the Kingdom of G.o.d is a kingdom of brothers. It is a great Society, founded by Jesus Christ, of all the people who try to live like Him, and to make the world better and sweeter and happier. Wherever boy is trying to do that, in the house or on the street, in the workshop or on the baseball field, there is the Kingdom of G.o.d. And every boy, however small or obscure or poor, who is seeking that, is a member of it.

You see now, I hope, what the Kingdom is.

II.

I pa.s.s, therefore, to the second head; What was it? Arithmetic.

Are there any arithmetic words in this text? ”Added.” What other arithmetic words? ”First.”

Now, don't you think you could not have anything better to seek ”first” than the things I have named to do what is right, to live at peace, and be always making those about you happy? You see at once why Christ tells us to seek these things first--because they are

The best worth seeking.

Do you know anything better than these three things, anything happier, purer, n.o.bler? If you do, seek them first. But if you do not, seek first the Kingdom of G.o.d. I do not tell you to be religious. You know that. I do not tell you to seek the Kingdom of G.o.d. I tell you to seek the Kingdom of G.o.d FIRST. FIRST.

Not many people do that. They put a little religion into their life--once a week, perhaps. They might just as well let it alone.

It is not worth seeking the Kingdom of G.o.d unless we seek it FIRST.

Suppose you take the helm out of a s.h.i.+p and hang it over the bow, and send that s.h.i.+p to sea, will it ever reach the other side?

Certainly not. It will drift about anyhow. Keep religion in its place, and it will take you straight through life and straight to your Father in heaven when life is over. But if you do not put it in its place, you may just as well have nothing to do with it.

Religion out of its place in a human life is the most miserable thing in the world. There is nothing that requires so much to be kept in its place as religion, and its place is what? second? third?