CLAUSE XX
This mighty ideal has many aspects. It has been typified as the pearl of great price, for which all other possessions may well be sacrificed: in germ it is as leaven, or as growing seed. It will come sooner than is expected, though for a time longer there must be tares among the wheat: for a time longer there shall be last and first, and a striving to be greatest, and a laying up of earthly treasure, and wars and divisions; but only for a time,—the spirit of service is growing, and the childlike spirit will overcome:
“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.”
When realised, it will conduce to universal love and brotherhood; it is the reign of Christ’s spirit in the hearts of all men; it is accordingly spoken of as the second Advent, and its herald song is still, Peace on earth, goodwill among men. Wherever perfect love and willing service exist, there already is the Kingdom.
We have to realise that the Will of God is to be done on earth, that the Kingdom of Heaven is to be a present Kingdom, here and now, not relegated indefinitely to the future. Our life is not in the future, but in the present, and it will always be in the present: it is in our life that we have to apply our beliefs, utilise our talents, and bring forth fruit. The Kingdom of Heaven is not only at hand, it is potentially in our midst, and may be actually within us. These are its two chief aspects, the social, and the individual. The ideal is to be made real, in each and in all: nothing is too good to be true: each soul is to attain its highest aim: the world is to be transfigured and transformed.
The above formula must not be supposed to exhaust the meaning of the great Phrase, which many parables have still only partially explained, but it is a part of its meaning. And the strange thing is that the world, with all its competition, wrestling and contending amid unheeded calls to order, is really working towards that goal. No other ending is possible in the long run, though it has been long delayed. It is the condition towards which the whole of humanity, each individual man, as well as the race, is blindly and unconsciously struggling;
“Their prejudice and fears and cares and doubts
All with a touch of nobleness; despite
Their error, upward tending all, though weak,