on
earth. This was how they understood the Lord's prayer, "Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." They did not even
wish to separate from Judaism, and it is clear from Paul's letters that
there was at one time a great danger that the new faith might become a
mere Jewish sect. The Christians differed from the Jews, not in their
ideal concerning the kingdom, but in their greater moral intensity and
enthusiasm, as well as in their profound conviction that the Lord Jesus
was God's chosen instrument for realising this kingdom, and that He
would presently return to earth and do it. Any unbiassed reader of the
New Testament can see for himself that the primitive Christians lived
in hourly expectation that this was what would happen. Of course they
also believed in their Master's continual spiritual presence with them,
but the dominant thought in their minds was that of a dramatic second
coming and the inauguration of a reign of righteousness and universal
peace, the making of a beautiful world, something like the Utopia of
Mr. H. G. Wells. Nor was this altogether a delusion. If it had been,
Christianity would soon have died. But, on the contrary, it lived and
grew because of the great truth behind this belief, namely, that the
Spirit of Christ working in the hearts of men is gradually producing
this ideal kingdom in our midst. If, with this view of the character
of early Christianity in our minds, we go afresh to the gospels or to
the letters of Paul, we shall find it abundantly confirmed. There is
no getting away from it. All the earnestness and enthusiasm of these
first Christians were centred upon the belief in the near advent of a
divine kingdom upon earth with Jesus as its head. This belief even
affected the practice of these early Christians in regard to the
disposal of their property. To understand this, let us put ourselves
in their place and ask what we should do if we were possessed by the
conviction that the whole existing social order might come to an end
to-morrow morning or next week, and that after that no child of God
would ever want for anything. I think we should be sure to feel that
the holding of personal property would not matter much. If, in
addition to this, our hearts were filled with a divine enthusiasm, an
overmastering love for Jesus and for all our brethren, we should not
want to keep anything back that could serve to make anyone happier for
the short time tha