ghteousness, peace,
joy"--three things. "The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, joy."
Righteousness, of course, is just doing what is right. Any boy who
does what is _right_ has the Kingdom of God within him. Any boy who,
instead of being quarrelsome, lives at peace with the other boys, has
the Kingdom of God within him. Any boy whose heart is filled with joy
because he does what is right, has the Kingdom of God within him. The
Kingdom of God is not going to religious meetings, and hearing strange
religious experiences; the Kingdom of God is doing what is
right--living at peace with all men, being filled with joy in the Holy
Ghost.

Boys, if you are going to be Christians, be Christians as boys, and
not as your grandmothers. A grandmother has to be a Christian as a
grandmother, and that is the right and the beautiful thing for her;
but if you cannot read your Bible by the hour as your grandmother can,
or delight in meetings as she can, don't think you are necessarily a
bad boy. When you are your grandmother's age you will have your
grandmother's kind of religion. Meantime, be a Christian as a boy.
Live a boy's life. Do the straight thing; seek the kingdom of
righteousness and honor and truth. Keep the peace with the boys about
you, and be filled with the joy of being a loyal, and simple, and
natural, and boy-like servant of Christ.

You can very easily tell a house, or a workshop, or an office where
the Kingdom of God is _not_. The first thing you see in that place is
that the "straight thing" is not always done. Customers do not get
fair play. You are in danger of learning to cheat and to lie. Better a
thousand times to starve than to stay in a place where you cannot do
what is right.

Or, when you go into your workshop, you find everybody sulky, touchy,
and ill-tempered, everybody at daggers-drawn with everybody else, some
of the men not on speaking terms with some of the others, and the
whole _feel_ of the place miserable and unhappy. The Kingdom of God is
not there, for _it_ is peace. It is the Kingdom of the Devil that is
anger, and wrath and malice.

If you want to get the Kingdom of God into your workshop, or into your
home, let the quarreling be stopped. Live in peace and harmony and
brotherliness with everyone. For the Kingdom of God is a kingdom of
brothers. It is a great Society, founded by Jesus Christ, of all the
people who try to live like Him, and to make the world better and
sweeter and happie