CSEC LIBRARY -- The Kingdom at Hand

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The Kingdom at Hand
JAMES PARKER NAUGLE

   There is probably no message of the Scriptures given to mankind which would afford more relief to the wayfarer in the wilderness of doubt and discouragement, discord and woe, than that proclaimed by John the Baptist, who said, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand," — the golden hour of "now" which dawned in its fulness through the ministry of Christ Jesus, the hour in which we may realize health, holiness, and harmony.

   Yesterday has gone; tomorrow is but an expectancy. There is no time for us to act but "in the living present." Thoughts that rest in the nowhere of yesterday or the vagueness of a tomorrow are wasted. The glorious reality of life, its beauty, purity, and perfection, is in the kingdom at hand. The only time for us to awake in God's likeness, in the "beauty of holiness," is in the eternal "now," which is from everlasting to everlasting, and knows no past, no future. Now is the hour of Christ's coming; now we may enter into the joy of the divine presence, where all tears are wiped away, all injuries forgotten, all wrongs forgiven, all trials and all hardships obliterated; into the kingdom forever at hand, hallowed by the enveloping presence of Love realized.

   Now may we enter into an understanding of harmonious being and rest from toil, worry, fear, and anxiety, secure in the ample provision of infinite good. When material sense argues perplexity, when the next step cannot be seen, when a decision cannot longer be deferred, when human wisdom is found helpless; when the heart is wrung within us, and we utter the cry, "What shall I do?" — without fail, without delay comes the answer, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." And now, "now is the accepted time;" "now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ," — the recognition of the one Mind, and a more positive faith in the operation of divine good; the present found to be hallowed with expectation; the open doorway to manifestation and fulfilment.

   In this kingdom at hand we may know that there is no intelligence, no power, no force or law, which can operate to destroy peace and harmony, since harmony is the only law that can govern man here and now, for "My peace I give unto you" is the Master's promise. The recognition of this law enables one to lift thought from the material to the spiritual and find the image of the perfect creator, made in His image and likeness, and thus to realize more fully the great truth that in Him "we live, and move, and have our being," — and to find that truth beyond the possibility of loss. Because life is not a mere breathing process, but a thinking process, we may in the twinkling of an eye turn from despondency to joyful expectation, from discord to harmony, from the contemplation of disease to the glorious view of man made in His image and likeness, and exclaim with Job, "Yet in my flesh shall I see God."

   No longer need we bow under the enslaving belief of sin, sickness, and death, for we may realize the declaration of the Scripture, "Now are we the sons of God," — now are we "joint-heirs with Christ." Can the heir to eternal life change, grow old, or lose one God-given faculty? Can the heir of the All-in-all be weak, buffeted about with evil passions, appetites, and desires? Can the heir to omnipotent good be in bondage to fear, doubt, and discouragement? Can he who truly listens for the Master's saying, "Seek, and ye shall find," lack anything? No, a thousand times no! for again it is written, "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine."

   There is something wrong with the whole attitude of thought when one who claims to be a child of the living God is in want. There is something wrong when those who claim to be "joint-heirs with Christ," do not lay claim to their inheritance of peace and harmony; there is something wrong with the belief that children of the King of kings are under the harrow of worry and anxiety in their daily life; there is something wrong with the entire view of life in which joy, gladness, peace, and prosperity are not expressed. What hope fills the heart, what joy fills the very being of one who has turned from the thought of heaven afar off, to the realization of the kingdom at hand! What glorious liberty awaits him who reaches the realization that man is spiritual now; that "Spirit is the only substance" (Science and Health, p. 335), thus reaching beyond the boundaries of want, transcending all limitations, penetrating all obstacles, reaching the very center, the very source of his being; and there rests in the amplitude of God's abundance, in the realization of the fulness of the psalmist's promise, "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasure."

   This is the glorious and inspiring message which has been given to the world through Mrs. Eddy's life and published works; a message she could no more fail to deliver than could Moses refuse to deliver his message of "I AM THAT I AM" to the captive children of Israel; nor could she, for the same reason, fail to lead. As in the days in which the angels proclaimed, "On earth peace, good will toward men," the days in which John came crying in the wilderness, this joyous and inspiring message of man's eternal sonship in Christian Science is again brought to humanity; and it literally unlocks the Scriptures, as may be found by the study of Science and Health. Since the advent of this teaching a new light has dawned upon the human understanding, and mankind is fast leaving behind old theories and dogmas, fenced about with doubts and fears, to enter the domain of Science, where the kingdom of heaven is at hand and God's presence and power is demonstrated with absolute certainty.

   "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite" (Science and Health, Pref., p. vii), — those opening their thought to the light of Love; those seeking the expression of the one and only intelligence, seeking hourly the direction of the one Mind, in the performance of every known duty, — to all such, can life's labor be a task? To these the kingdom of heaven can no longer be afar off; no longer can they be held in bondage by material belief; no longer need they surrender to creeds, or be the victims of want and woe, pain and disease, for all may now enter into the kingdom at hand, and here partake of the "hidden manna," the revealed truth in Christian Science, the great secret of secrets, — the secret of health, harmony, holiness, and happiness.

   In the light of this revelation of Truth, the honest seeker sees the true import of John's declaration, "When he shall appear [be manifested], we shall be like him;" and he seeks in every conscious act to awake in God's likeness, in "the beauty of holiness," and to dwell in the constant realization of the divine presence until his life becomes a continuous expression of love, gentleness, grace, and peace. He who has studied well the letter and entered into the spirit of Christian Science, will gladly face the light of Love's guiding, assuring presence, knowing that whatever the issue, God will abundantly prove Himself to be all that Holy Writ has declared Him to be.

"The Kingdom at Hand" by James Parker Naugle
The Christian Science Journal, December, 1914

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