III.
What the Kingdom of God is.
" The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost."
1. In every life there is a holy of holies. It is an intensely secret place. The dearest friend we have on earth cannot enter it. It is our temple of secrets, of things which cannot be told. It is a place where only two can meet — our spirit and the Spirit of God. It is that inner sanctuary where God and we come face to face. That secret place is the abode of the Kingdom of God. We have to know that secret place, that innermost heart, to know finally whether or not men and women belong to the Kingdom of God. What are they in their most secret being, where only they and the Holy Ghost can meet ? We do not eat meat offered to idols ! What are we in our innermost self, where no eye but God's can see us ? We do not wear a crucifix ! What are we in our heart of hearts, where we meet the Holy Ghost ? It is in that utmost privacy of our life that we must look to learn whether we are or are not citizens of the Kingdom of God.
Now the text tells us that when the Kingdom of God is really in the life, there will be three things in that most secret place. There will be " righteousness," " peace," and " joy." When we are
* Sarah Knowles Bolton, Her Creed.
ROMANS XIV. 17 445
of the Kingdom of God we will be " righteous " in the secret place where only God and we meet ; we will have " peace " in the secret place where only God and we meet ; we will have " joy " in the secret place where only God and we meet.
2, " The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy." The Kingdom of God, then, is the realization of our human nature's dream and desire, the fulfilment for us of that which we are universally wishing to experience, and reaching out after. It is the object of universal pursuit attained ; the answer to the continual cry of humanity. For what is it that is really sought in our manifold and diverse seekings ? What is the real end and aim of all labour but these three things in which St. Paul represents the Kingdom of God to consist — righteousness and peace and joy ? Wide asunder as our paths may lie, we are all in quest of a common goal. " Who will show us what is good ? " " Where are peace and joy to be found?" is the language of all mortal scheming and toil. And as to righteousness, " Would that I could be made right ! " is the frequent sigh of thousands whom folly and error hold captive.
^ " Eighteousness, peace, joy": the human heart welcomes these three characteristics as marking the society which answers the promise of creation. In these three, that memorable triad, the battle-cry of revolution, which, in spite of every perversion and misuse, has found a wide response in the souls of nations, receives its highest fulfilment. In " righteousness, peace, joy " we can recognize " equality, liberty, fraternity," interpreted, purified, extended. They tell us that the community and not the individual is the central thought in the life of men. They tell us that the fulfilment of duties and not the assertion of rights is the foundation of the social structure. They tell us that the end of labour is not material well-being, but that larger, deeper, more abiding delight which comes from successfully ministering to the good of others. They tell us that over all that is transitory in the form of the Kingdom, over all the conditions which determine its growth, there rests the light, the power, of an Eternal Presence.^
i. Righteousness.
1. According to St. Paul, the first thing which characterizes the establishment of the Kingdom of God in human life is that we * Westcott, Social Aspects of Ckristicunity, 90.
446 A DEFINITION OF THE KINGDOM
become righteous, right with God in our innermost self. If I want the structure of the Kingdom of God to be built up in my life, then I must begin at the base, at the foundation ; and the fundamental requisite is that in the very depths of my being I must become right with God. This is the fundamental require- ment ; not that we should get peace or possess joy, but that we should be put right, rejoined to God. Our worship, our churches, our Christian institutions, have for their primary purposes the putting of man right with God. The great purpose of them all is this : to bring our lives into touch with God, to join ourselves to Him, that His life may flow like healing waters into ours, to make righteousness — agreement between ourselves and God our Lord — to make " righteousness in the Holy Ghost."
2. Eighteousness comes first, before peace and joy. How we do try to reverse the order ! We want the peace of the Kingdom before its righteousness, and God cannot give it. Suppose I go to a doctor with my arm out of joint, and say to him, " Doctor, I cannot get any rest or peace. I pass through painful days and sleepless nights. I want you to give me a sleeping draught that I may enjoy a little rest," I think the doctor would smile and say, " My dear sir, it is not a sleeping draught you need to give you a few hours of unnatural peace. You must get your arm into its socket ; set that right, and then Nature will give you her own sleep and her own peace." But is not that somewhat analogous to what we do in the spiritual life ? We seek for spiritual peace , we go in for all manner of sleeping draughts which make our consciences sleep but do not refresh us, and we do not find the peace we seek. And this Book, the great Physician's Book, says to us, " Men and women, your life is out of joint, and you will not get peace until the severance is righted. In your most secret being you must be joined to the Lord." That is the teaching of this Book, as it is certainly the findings of experience.