lliam Crookes and Sir Oliver Lodge, men whose words are entitled
to respect from the point of view of modern science, have publicly
admitted the importance of such evidence; before long the scientific
world in general will have to take it into consideration. But to me
such evidence does not greatly matter, and I know very little about it
at first hand. I build my belief in immortality on the conviction that
the fundamental reality of the universe is consciousness, and that no
consciousness can ever be extinguished, for it belongs to the whole and
must be fulfilled in the whole. The one unthinkable supposition from
this point of view is that any kind of being which has ever become
aware of itself, that is, has ever contained a ray of the eternal
consciousness, can perish.

CHAPTER XIII

THE CHURCH AND THE KINGDOM Of GOD

+Order of the subject.+--From the consideration of the true
significance of such terms as Salvation, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, we
now turn to one which might be thought to occupy a relatively inferior
position and to precede them in order of time. But if we have been
right in holding that such terms as we have already examined represent
states of the soul beginning here and now, we have considered them in
their rightful place, for now we have to see how these states of the
soul find expression in human institutions. In a word, I wish to
devote some space to the consideration of the great subjects of the
Church and the Kingdom of God in relation to one another. What is the
Church? Where did the idea spring from? What had Jesus to do with it
originally? What is the Kingdom of God, and how do the various
Christian societies which call themselves churches stand in regard to
it to-day? To answer any of these questions we must try to place
ourselves to some extent in the intellectual and moral atmosphere of
those amongst whom the ideas first arose. Let us take the Kingdom
first.

+Origin of the idea of the Kingdom of God.+--At the time when Jesus
came every person of Jewish nationality was looking for the
establishment of what had come to be called the Kingdom of God. For
many generations the Jews had been a subject race. There had been one
brief period of national splendour and prosperity, namely, the reigns
of David and Solomon. After generations were inclined to idealise
these two reigns, especially the former, and to look upon them as a
kind of golden age. David they looked upon