January Seventeenth.
HEAVEN, THE STATE OF THE GOOD.
"Whom have I in heaven but thee?"—Psalm lxxiii. 25.
WHEN Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he replied, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke xvii. 20, 21.) What a depth of wisdom is contained in this reply! The Pharisees, a strict sect of the Jews, in performing with rigid exactness their external ceremonies, considered themselves more holy than others, and doubtless thought they should be highly favoured beings, when the kingdom of God should come; for they were looking for a Messiah to raise and exalt them. But alas! we are taught by our Lord's reply, how incapable is the mere man of the world to judge of the splendour of the kingdom of God. If, in truth, it could be said of the kingdom of God,lo here! or, lo there! the kingdom would be bounded by space, consequently limited, and such could not be the kingdom of an Omnipresent Being. Heaven, which is indeed the kingdom of God, is not so much to be considered in reference to space, as to an inward state of mind; where the soul of the good and pious man is fully and completely, as to affection and thought, under the government of the Divine love and wisdom of his merciful Father.
O heavenly Father and Redeemer, help us, we beseech thee, to look for thy kingdom within! It is in
