IN "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 174) Mrs. Eddy asks the question, "What is the kingdom of heaven?" and straightway answers it in terms of the reality of Spirit and the unreality of matter, thus: "The abode of Spirit, the realm of the real. No matter is there, no night is there— nothing that maketh or worketh a lie." Then she puts another question, "Is this kingdom afar off?" replying, "No: it is ever present here." As one reads what the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science says about the nature of heaven, one is at once reminded of the words of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ Jesus, and of a statement by the Master himself on the sending forth of his twelve disciples on their healing mission: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand."
The kingdom of heaven, then, is not afar off; neither is it a material kingdom: it is the omnipresent "abode of Spirit, the realm of the real." Christian Science sets all doubt at rest on the question of the real, a question which has troubled mankind throughout all generations, and especially since men have been able to formulate their doubts and difficulties and to reason upon them. Before them there has ever seemed to stand forth a material creation,— the earth with its myriad material forms, the nearer and the farther-off stars in space,—all apparently very real. And they themselves? Do not they seem to live their brief material lives on a material earth? Mystery has always seemed to enshroud the sequel, except when faith has come to the rescue, pleading for immortality.
Faith has done great things for men. Many a time it has been their only guiding light in a phantom-haunted, sin stained, self deceived, apparently God forsaken world. We should be grateful for faith; grateful for what it has done; grateful for what it promises. For even when the darkness is densest, it still points to the kingdom of heaven as at hand; to "the realm of the real" as at hand —at hand even now. That was the truth which Christ Jesus definitely proclaimed and proved; that was the truth which the disciples understood from his teachings, and which inspired them in their efforts to spread the glad news of the healing Christ; that is the truth which Christian Science is endeavoring to tell all mankind to-day. It is a wonderful truth, that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand." But is it yet realized more than a very little, even by those who have healed many cases of sickness and sin through the knowledge of the fact? Still, those who have caught even a glimpse of it are deeply grateful; for to them the mystery has been dispelled—they now know that the kingdom of heaven is not afar off.
