The Right Knock

by Helen Van-Anderson

  CHAPTER XXV.

  "Life hath its Tabor heights, Its lofty mounts of heavenly recognition, Whose unveiled glories flash to earth munition Of love, and truth, and clearer intuition: Hail! mount of all delights!"

  --_I. C. Gilbert._

  "MARLOW, September ----.

  "Good morning, dear ones all! I must tell you a little of yesterdaybefore I go to the lesson to-day. We were not in class, and I staid inmy room all day trying to solve the many questions that presentthemselves to us all, and to claim a little more understanding. Manypoints became very much clearer after my long meditation in the silence.In the evening I ran down to see Mrs. Dawn, who is several blocks away.We were so interested, so completely absorbed in telling our thoughtsand experiences, that it was after eleven o'clock when I arose to go,and then she accompanied me home, only intending to come part way, butas we passed a little low house about half way home, the door suddenlyopened and a little girl of ten or twelve years ran out sobbing, 'Thebaby is dying! the baby is dying!'

  "She was going up an outside stairway to inform a neighbor. We rushedinto the house and found the frantic mother sobbing and wailing over herbaby apparently in the last agonies of death.

  "'What is it? Can't we do something for you?' we asked, not knowing whatelse to say.

  "'Oh, my baby, my precious baby is dying! Don't you see? she is almostgone.'

  "Indeed, for an instant it seemed the little life had gone out, when,like a flash of lightning, the words came to my inner self, 'There is nodeath.' 'He that believeth on me shall not see death;' 'I am the way thetruth and the life.' 'Treat,' I whispered to Mrs. Dawn, and soon theawful lie was denied by us in the peaceful silence of our own souls; forall consciousness of appearances had vanished as we denied death and itspower, till we could _command_ the waves of mortal thought to subsideand say, 'Peace, be still.'

  "It was the Master, the Christ within, who spoke for us, and we werefilled with the mighty peace and calmness of Truth that worked throughus and was immediately made manifest. The little face relaxed, the eyeslost their glassy stare, the color returned to the pale lips.

  "The mother ceased her mourning and gazed at the precious child inawesome silence. The neighbor and the little girl who had come in, stoodby in hushed amazement. For a while all felt the presence of the greatinvisible Power that had wrought so wondrous a work in their midst,although no one knew but ourselves what had been done. Presently themother leaned back in her chair with a sigh of relief, awaiting thedoctor, for whom her husband had gone before we entered the house. Wewaited till he came, and then quietly slipped out.

  "Mrs. Dawn came clear home with me, and we found our thoughts andfeelings had been almost identical in this remarkable experience,showing the oneness of truth. It is something we shall never forget, forit was indeed from the very depths of our being we were stirred andthrilled with the mighty Principle.

  "This morning I went to see the baby, and found it quite bright andhappy, but still breathing a little heavily. The M. D. had leftmedicine, and of course, they were giving it 'according to directions.'I told the mother something of the Healing, and she readily acknowledgedthat something mysterious had saved her child's life, because itcertainly was dying as much as the child she had lost years ago.

  "'After you left last night, the neighbor who was here said like as notyou were Christian healers or whatever that is, but she did not believea word in it, and that it was all nonsense, but I told her I didn'tcare. I thought you saved my baby, and the doctor said it had grown muchbetter since he came. 'Well,' says I, 'ef you had seen her conditionwhen the ladies came in, you would say she _is_ better.'

  "'Oh, we won't argue about what made her better, whether medicine orsomething else; all we want now is to have the child cured,' said thedoctor, very kind-like, and I really thought a great deal better of himthan I had before, for most M. D.'s think they know everything,' shesaid.

  "I was so glad to find she acknowledged even this much, so I talked alittle longer, and explained the necessity of perfect trust in God, andthe consequences of distrust in Him. She seemed very responsive andready to believe, but then, who would not believe after such ademonstration? I have felt awed and hushed all the morning, rememberingthe mighty something surging through me. It seems hard to believe thatat last my desire to have some grand sign shown me is already fulfilled.

  "Mrs. Pearl talked beautifully this afternoon on understanding. I wishyou could hear the lectures as she gives them, with all her grace andbeauty and impressiveness. Here is the essence of the lesson:

  "As we evolve from material to spiritual understanding, we put ourselvesmore and more into the divine current of Life, Health, Goodness, whichis God. The higher our ideal, the higher our attainment. Believing inGod as supreme Love, we find it impossible to conceive of wrath,jealousy, revenge, as emanating from or existing in Him, Her or It. Aswe are filled with love, it becomes universal. Everybody is judged byits tender charity, everything is tinged with its warm radiance.

  "As Paul so beautifully wrote: 'Love suffereth long and is kind, loveenvieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behaveitself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh notaccount of evil, rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth in thetruth.... Love never faileth.' If this be a standard by which to judgethe love of men, how much more appropriately might it judge God, who islove itself.

  "In proportion as we are freed from the ignorance and narrowness ofprimitive, ancient opinions concerning God, we shall rise to broader andtenderer and truer conceptions of Him. To the warm, sympathetic heart,that knows the deepest needs of humanity, the 'mercy that endurethforever' is an established fact of the universal Love. To understandthis Love is to be at one with it, to do the works and think thethoughts of Love. It is essential, then, first to understand the law ofeffort, then faith, then love, then spiritual understanding, which isthe goal toward which we all hasten--understanding of all spiritualthings, understanding of God, who is all spirit. As we make the effortwe receive faith, as we use faith we grow in the power and capacity oflove, and love brings us the fullness of all things, even understandingof infinite wisdom. Every glimpse of truth we have ever had, everyglorious breath of freedom, is but a hint of what will be when we have'awakened to righteousness.'

  "We gain our knowledge by and through the law of right speaking andconsequently right acting. In the Bible, the New Testament especially,great stress is laid upon the power of words. Solomon wrote, 'Howforcible are right words.' 'Life and death are in the power of thetongue,' and from St. Paul we hear, 'Hold fast the form of sound words;'and James' admonition, 'Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only,'show that both considered it necessary to speak the word if they wouldmanifest its power.

  "But there is another and a holier office given to the word and that isthe office of atonement. The original meaning of atone was to 'makeat-one, to agree, to be in accordance, to accord.' To be at-one with aperson is to be in such perfect sympathy that the thoughts of both arethe thoughts and feelings of one.

  "Another illustration would be to say of a chip thrown into the river,it is at-one with the current. In this sense we should aim to be soat-one with the divine Principle that we may say with Jesus, 'I am onewith the Father,' for did he not say: 'They are not of this world evenas I am not of this world,' and 'That they may be one even we are one.'

  "To speak absolute Truth is to come into the true at-one-ment, to be atone with the divine Mind, to realize that Christ the Truth is theatoning power. The Christ is the impersonal Word of Truth which we areto speak, for 'unto us hath been committed the word of reconciliation'or atonement.

  "When we think true thoughts and catch true ideas, when we understandtrue meanings and love true knowledge, we are sustained by the livingword which sustains all who speak and live it, because we are truly atone with the divine Word.

  "Knowing the meaning of Christ to be Truth, blood to be life or word,and sin to be error, we catch the spiritu
al meaning of the phrase 'sinswashed away by the blood of Christ,' which is, sins or errors washedaway by the word of Truth.

  "In that wonderful sermon in the sixth chapter of John, Jesus used theterm blood as a symbol of his words, and emphatically told hisdisciples, when they persisted in taking his sayings literally, 'theflesh profiteth nothing, the _words_ that I speak unto you, they arespirit and they are life.'

  "That the Bible writers used the figurative language of those times,must be taken into account when reading points that have been madefoundation doctrines. Owing to the ancient custom of sacrificing animalsto appease the wrath of God, whom they regarded as subject to anger,jealousy or any human passion, they used figurative language whendescribing Jesus as the Lamb sacrificed for the sins of the world.

  "In one of the inspired moments of the prophet, when he apprehended Godas a God of Love, he cried out, 'I have desired mercy and not sacrifice;and the knowledge of God more than burnt offering.' It is the knowledgeof God, the word of truth, that will save, and the only sacrifice is thesacrifice of self which makes the atonement possible.

  "To fast from all selfishness is to keep the true fast, so beautifullydescribed in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. 'Is it not to loose thebands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed gofree, to break every yoke? Then shall thy light break forth as themorning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily.' Here is thefruit of atonement, the result of understanding, for understanding Godand being at one with God, is in reality the same. As we understand Godwe shall be at one with Him, and to be at one with God is to be whole,for He is Holiness, wholeness, health. 'If thine eye be single, thenshall thy whole body be full of light.' To be single in recognizing theone Mind, one Power, one Creation, is to be filled with light, which islife, which is health, for as the mind, consciousness, becomesilluminated, the body responds by recording the history of thought uponthe visible page or body.

  "It is the revealment of God that we seek, and our individual relationto Him. What more is there for us to know after we know Him, for is notHe all there really is? He has given many marvelous signs to Hischildren, who must be taught in simple childish ways and the 'stillsmall voice' is ever near, speaking to whomsoever will listen. It is theinner guide, the 'spirit of truth that guides us into all truth.' Thenwe are 'clothed upon,' we have returned to our Father's house and thefeast is spread, the rejoicing has begun.

  "For awhile our only conception of power, is in visible manifestationsor feelings, but there comes a time when 'to be alone with silence is tobe alone with God,' when joy is unutterable, and love the very potencyof silence, when we wait with bated breath and let the divine Thoughtsurge through us, when we put away all material beliefs and standglorified in the 'secret of His Presence.' Then indeed are we baptizedof the spirit, and in the silent chamber of our new consciousness may wehear the blessed words, 'Thou art my beloved son.'

  "No longer 'Thou shalt and thou shalt not,' but the sweet affirmation ofsonship, of daughtership, of the precious benediction of a Father'slove. Then glad light rushes into every dark crevice of our mind. We seeas we never saw before, we understand as we never understood before, wespeak as we never spoke before, we live as we never lived before,because we have been lifted out of the depths of ignorance to theradiant heights of the Promised Land, because we hear the angel sayingas of old, 'Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwellwith them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be withthem and be their God ... and God shall wipe away all tears from theireyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying,neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passedaway.' Finally, oh my husband, because we have been born again, and sofind ourselves within the royal gates, the palace doors open to receiveus and the insignia of royalty written upon our faces, for we shall bestamped with the signs of understanding, and know, as Jesus did, 'it isnot I, but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works.'

  "Then, as the beauteous sunlight bathes and blesses all the world withits effulgent glory, so will the light of Truth, known as understanding,shine through us and turn pain into peace, sadness into joy, sicknessinto health, error into truth.

  'Wisdom ripens into silence, And the lesson she doth teach, Is, that life is more than language, And that thought is more than speech.'

  "How I long for this ultimate experience! How I yearn for the fullnessof this knowledge now; for the ripened wisdom that shall unlock thedoors of my own consciousness, but I know, dear, this will come to us ifwe are faithful to the few little steps we know, no matter how westumble and fall in taking them. Oh, that we may reach out to all theworld in the sweet ministry of 'peace on earth, good will to men.'

  "You say 'there is a rift in the clouds for you, too, and the vaguesomething which sometimes loomed up in your horizon is gone.' How glad Iam, no words can tell. What a change there will be! The old past shallbe sweetened and sanctified by the new present, and only the goodmemories shall remain.

  "What a blessed comfort in this thought, 'the Lord shall be thy rearward.' We have nothing to do with the past, for it shall be utterlyannulled. The Truth has erased it, and it is swallowed up in the good inproportion as we recognize only the Good. This thought is a greatconsolation to me when I recall the hasty words I used to say when mytemper got the better of me. Oh, that old failing! I hope it is forevervanquished--but there, I must not forget to be scientific, and of courseit is not scientific to talk of error in any way.

  "Jamie is a dear little scamp, if he _did_ try to break the rules andget something to eat between meals by playing prairie dog. It must havebeen very funny to see him sitting in the attitude of a begging dog,mutely appealing for something, and being obliged at last to suggestthat there was candy on the top shelf. Even my heart would have softenedfor the innocent little trickster.

  "Well, really, we must try to give the children the liberty we olderchildren desire and insist upon having in such a headstrong way. Blessmy little darlings! They shall realize the absence of fear, the presenceof love in their home, which we must strive more and more to maketypical of the great Home in which we are all members.

  "I feel that they are dearer now than ever. My love is more unselfish,and I can really feel that they are truly consecrated to the Good,because I know how to hold them in the thought of the Good, how to annulthe opposite influences and fill their minds with the sweet, pure,ennobling realizations of Love. Meekly I say this, because I know not myown strength, or rather I know not how much divine strength I mayrecognize and use, but this is the right path, and I earnestly desire towalk in it.

  "You know some people say (in their ignorance, of course) that this freethinking breaks up families. Oh, if they could only know, on the otherhand, how it strengthens the bonds, how it clears up misunderstandingsand falsities, how it teaches us the sacredness of family relations, andbrings us into spiritual oneness, which is the only true marriage.

  "Spiritual light has come to me on this subject which can not be putinto words, but some time you will know what I know, and we shall bothbe blessed by the knowledge.

  "Peace be unto all God's children.

  "Your loving

  "MARION."