The Right Knock

by Helen Van-Anderson

  CHAPTER XXIII.

  "More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day, For what are men better than sheep or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer Both for themselves and those who call them friend? For so the whole round world is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God."

  --_Tennyson._

  "MARLOW, September, ----.

  "Dear Husband:

  "Your letter was so full of interest. How glad, oh how rejoiced I amthat we are privileged to know this beautiful truth. Don't you ever feellike stopping in the midst of your work and giving thanks that you wereborn in this age? As my eyes open more and more to God's goodness andlove and power, I am so full of thanks, there is no room for petitions;indeed, I should feel as though I were begging, to ask God for what Hehas already given me, and of course He gives every child alike, being'no respecter of persons.' Just think of it: 'Eye hath not seen nor earheard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, to conceive thethings which God hath prepared for them that love Him.' Negativethought, carnal mind _can not_ know these things, but as we arecleansed and purified, the new baptism 'creates in us a new heart,' theloving child's heart turned to its father, and love shall teach us moreand more to read the signs of love.

  "Oh, divine mystery of childhood, of parenthood, that brings us intocloser and sweeter knowledge of our Father whose love is infinite. Outof the deep silence around us, filled as it is with the all-abidingpresence of God, may we ask for a manifestation of whatever gift wechoose to have. These thoughts filled my mind as I went to class thisafternoon, and what was my surprise and pleasure to find the lesson tobe on the subject of prayer.

  "There is no theme or word so constantly in the mind and on the lips ofthe Christ follower as prayer. The oft-repeated injunction of Jesus was,'watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation.' 'Pray without ceasing.'As we study more closely into the life of the Master, we find him on alloccasions communing with the Father in prayer. Thus we find that this isthe most sacred and necessary of all branches of our daily work.

  "Prayer is the natural turning of the better self to God, in theattitude of thankfulness, praise, supplication or voiceless desire. 'Itmust be the spontaneous and almost irrepressible outpouring of thethoughts and feelings of the soul into the listening ear of a presentGod,' said an earnest thinker.

  "To what wonderful depths and heights our prayers lead us when they arethus spontaneous and irrepressible! How well David has expressed thegratitude, the holy trust and majestic praise common to every devoutchild of God. 'The Lord is my shepherd,' is blessed affirmation ofsupreme trust, the naming of God's glorious gifts, the gratitude forpeace, life, love, protection, friendship, all the heavenly blessings ofGod's presence in God's house. In this wonderful psalm we find, nodoubt, no thought of waiting for future blessings, but a grandoutpouring of thankfulness for the present. There are no petitions, nosupplications, no reserves of praise, but simply the glad recognitionand appreciation of the omnipresence and omnipotence of Good.

  "It was the same feeling, tempered with a deeper solemnity, thatprompted Jesus to say 'Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me,' ashe was about to perform the mighty miracle of raising Lazarus.

  "Thanks signify the accomplishment of the desire. His request of theFather was granted before he had even preferred it, for he knew the lawand realized it--that God is life and knows not death--but the form ofwords was observed because that makes the law a visible fact.

  "Father is the human naming for this divine Love that ever waits for thespoken word in order to be revealed. To Jesus it was the dearest andbest name of all by which to address or speak to the one great Helper,Guide, Friend. 'Father, I thank thee,' was often on his lips, and it wasto the 'Father who seeth in secret' that he bade his disciples pray.

  "In the secret consciousness of oneness with the Father there may be noreservations, no concealments, no hypocritical bigotry, no thought ofself, only a glad going out with all our heart and soul to the Father, atrustful acknowledgment of the Good. This is the attitude of trueprayer.

  "The devout soul is always praying, because it _consciously_ lives withGod. There are times of praise, adoration, extolment, when thankfulnessis more exuberant, runs over into bursting joy, and times when longingdesire carries us into the very bosom of God. We long for comfort, forlove, for peace, with an unutterable agony of longing, and are met withan unutterable joy of satisfaction, if we but turn to Him andacknowledge, but an indispensable preliminary to prayer is fasting. Thepower of accomplishment in fasting and prayer equals a decree.

  "The conditions upon which hinge our use of the divine power are,first,'putting away iniquity'--fasting; second, turning to God--prayer.Then comes the power to decree; then we see the truth of Jesus' promise:'All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye havereceived them, and ye shall have them.' Then we look into the face ofthe Almighty and reflect the same power, are able to do a like work,make visible the things of His creation by speaking the word ofacknowledgment, that they are already established.

  "It was this kind of prayer that enabled the disciples to heal the sick,cast out demons and do all the wonderful works. Failure was simply asign of unfaithfulness in prayer. 'Oh, ye of little faith!' was theMaster's explanatory exclamation.

  "Here was a most essential requisite--faith in the Father, who alone isthe power; faith and trust in the invisible All. Why do we pray so muchwith no answer to even our most devout aspirations? Because, like thedisciples, we have too little faith.

  "The heart-weary mother has prayed for her son, and he still goes the'broad way that leadeth to destruction,' as she thinks; but for herheart-weariness, which is but lack of faith, he might have been turnedinto 'paths of righteousness.' With her mind continually burdened withfear, dire forebodings and anxious doubts, she has asked, begged,beseeched the mighty Ruler of destinies to soften the heart of herwayward boy. Thankfulness that God has given to her child the commoninheritance to all possible blessings, a pure spiritual nature, thereflection of the All-Good, has never entered her thought to express.Her mind is divided between a conception of good and a conception of itsopposite--evil. The result is years of hopeless praying, years ofhopeless waiting. 'A house divided against itself can not stand.'

  "'Pray, believing that ye have received.' Thus, 'I thank Thee, Father,for the perfect reflection of Thyself in my son. He is whole because helives in and of Thy wholeness. I thank Thee that Thou hast already donemore than I could ask. 'It is finished.' Into Thy hands I commend myall.'

  "In this is the simple recognition of the All-Father, His love and Hisomnipotence. And after this, what? Trust--unwavering, childlike trust.So the burden is truly 'cast upon the Lord,' evil is overcome, swallowedup in the Good.

  "With such mighty faith, what a cleansing there would be! what asincere, glad rejoicing that the true relation between God and man wereproven, for faith is the bond between the invisible and the visible, a'basis of things hoped for, a conviction of things unseen.'

  "With what devoutness, then, would we name the needs and aspirations?With what certainty would we assert that we have 'already received?' Notfar off in the intangible somewhere, but here, there, everywhere may wefind the Good, and 'he that dwelleth in the secret place of the MostHigh shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.'

  "To dwell in the secret place, in the pure and righteous thought, is tobe always under the protection of the Most High. To be able to say, 'Heis my refuge and my fortress,' is the grand privilege given to the heirof the King, the heir that has come to the full knowledge of hisinheritance and thankfully uses it.

  "'The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,' wrotethe wise and righteous James. There is an infinite promise of thefulfillment of righteousness in these words. They contain the key to allaccomplishment or all failure. The righteous man is one who 'walkethrighteously, sp
eaketh uprightly, stoppeth his ears from hearing ofblood, shutteth his eyes from seeing evil' (prayer and fasting). Therighteous man decrees magnificently and trusts infinitely. He does notapproach God like a cringing servant, licking the dust at his master'sfeet, but like a Prince who enters his Father's presence with the simplestatement of his wants, and knowing his Father's will takes theglorious gift with thanksgiving and praise.

  "Is it health he would have manifested for himself or his neighbor? Heconfidently acknowledges the health, even though he can not see it, thehealth with which all humanity is endowed, if it would claim itsendowment. Is it peace, power, strength he desires, he again goes to theroyal treasury. With the right word he climbs the stair of heaven; withthe right faith he enters his Father's house, where all things abound.

  "The righteous man is of one mind, the divine Mind that works throughhim. Were all the praying world of one mind, think you a Lincoln wouldhave been martyred, a Garfield sacrificed, or tender little childrenlost to our sight?

  "God is the same forever. There is no inharmony to come from Harmony. Beof one mind; let the divine Mind work through you; acknowledge only thedivine creation, and then all beliefs in the opposite of God will bedestroyed. The immaculate Christ (Truth) destroys the works of the evil(error) to-day, even as in the far away centuries of the past, 'if so beyou let the Mind that was in Christ Jesus be in you.'

  "The practical naming of daily prayer is denial and affirmation, denyingevil or undesirable conditions, and acknowledging the Good or absolute.

  "'Being is the vast affirmative excluding negation, self-balanced andswallowing up all relations, parts and times within itself. Nature,truth, virtue, are the influx from thence,' said Emerson, noting theabsoluteness of that which is. To become one with this affirmativeAllness, is to manifest the affirmative condition of Being.

  "Paul says in Titus: 'The grace of God hath appeared to all men,teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should livesoberly, righteously and godly in this present world;' and in the nextchapter, referring to the same subject: 'This is a faithful saying, andthese things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which hathbelieved in God might be careful to maintain good works.'

  "There is no ceasing of this most necessary process. It is only bydenying and affirming constantly that we fast and pray, thus fittingourselves for the cleansing ministry. It is to 'be diligent in seasonand out of season,' if we would gain the true reflection fromOmnipotence.

  What the sun is to the flower, Thou to us art every hour; Like the dew on lily's breast Fall all blessings from the Best. Not alone in day would we Turn our faces, Lord, to Thee, But through lowering clouds of night Would reflect Thy radiant light; Thanking Thee for all Thy care, May our lives be filled with prayer.

  "What an outpouring there was in the silence after this. Such a flood ofreverence and trustfulness filled my heart, and instantly it flashedupon me that God requires no outward forms or ceremonies of Hischildren, except they be the spontaneous and involuntary expression ofan overflowing heart.

  "Kneeling in prayer was first prompted by reverence and not the servileform into which it has too much degenerated. A form is only a sign atbest. If there is nothing to prompt the sign, what a mockery it is!Truly, 'the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life.'

  "Exactly how these thoughts came to me I can not tell, but after thesilence I knew by a great and sudden wave of understanding, things thatI had never thought of before, and to attempt to tell them would be liketrying to catch the sunshine. The hint I have tried to give seems veryfar from the reality of my experience--but what are words compared tothoughts, anyway!... My heart is too full. I know now what'inexpressible' means.

  "Good bye, with love to all.

  "MARION.

  "P. S. I had just finished my letter when Mrs. Dawn and Miss Singletoncame in. They too, had something wonderful in the silence. It seems toosacred to tell, but to you three who are so earnestly seeking the way ofTruth, I can say what might seem sacrilege to the thoughtless world.Miss Singleton had realized in those few moments the inexpressiblemeaning of the Lord's prayer. 'Why,' she said, 'why, if we could realizewhat it means, there would be no more sickness, sin or death. It seemedto me the very heavens opened, and I looked upon a broad white shininglight like a path, only it was broadened and broadened as I looked, tillit became wide enough to cover the whole earth. This is to be whereverthe kingdom has come upon earth. Wherever the thoughts are heavenly andpure there the Father is, there heaven, wholeness, health are, and Icould realize that the light is here, but ignorance keeps it veiled, sothat verily the 'light shineth in darkness but the darknesscomprehendeth it not.' Talk of sickness, trouble, sorrow, why, they arenothing! The _light_ is here, the kingdom of heaven _has_ come, and beenhere all the time. Jesus knew it, but he had to use language they couldunderstand. He knew if they prayed faithfully in that spirit, bye andbye the spiritual meanings would flash upon them. Oh, how much, how muchit means! I can never lose this, for it means unutterable things, and I_know_ there is no reality in sickness for I am _well_!'

  "Miss Singleton is, or has been troubled for years with heart diseaseand a slight curvature of the spine.

  "It was not very light in the room, and I had not noticed her figureparticularly, but as she spoke, her face fairly shone with a heavenlylight (I can think of nothing else to describe it), and she was straightas any one! She declared over and over that she was well, but more thanall else she appreciated the spiritual uplifting and knowledge that hadcome.

  "Mrs. Dawn had no special revelation to-day, but she seems to beunfolding most beautifully. We talked a long time, and then sat in thesilence. They have just gone. How I wish I could see you, but it is lateand I must again close. Give my love to Grace and Kate. I am so gladKate is getting into the light. I felt she would be all right after shebegun. Of course, Kate, you will read this, but you will not care, I amsure.

  "M. H."