They Are Glad Because They Be Quiet
Uranda
July
23, 1946 Tuesday Afternoon Service
On the vibration of our harmonization in the Christ
Love, in opening our Service this afternoon, I should like to read words that we have read before,
that beautiful Psalm that instructs us:
“O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for
his mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath
redeemed from the hand of the enemy; And gathered them out of the lands, from
the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. They wandered
in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and
thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their
trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them forth
by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh that men would
praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children
of men! For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with
goodness. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in
affliction and iron; Because they rebelled against the word of God, and
contemned the counsel of the most High: Therefore he brought down their heart
with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto
the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. He
brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works
to the children of men!”
“For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars
of iron in sunder. Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities,
are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto
the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth
them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered
them from their destructions. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness,
and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works
with rejoicing. They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in
great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and his
wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which
lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to
the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger
like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the
storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because
they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.”
“Then are they glad because they be quiet.” You have
been learning something of what that quietness is, that quietness of heart and
mind, quietness of being, by reason of which the individual lets himself be brought
into his desired haven.
What is our desired haven? It is in the heaven of
His being. It is in the heaven of the Christ Body. It is in the heaven of the
kingdom on earth. “Then are they glad because they be quiet.” As you have
entered into that quietness, it has made you glad, hasn't it? It does make you
glad when you let go in that quietness. And then there is the assurance—“so he
bringeth them unto their desired haven”—not struggling, not trying—“so he
bringeth them unto their desired haven.” When they get to that desired haven,
or are entering into it, the Word is: “And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of
thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.”
Usually we find that people are given to declaring
their own works, talking about the things that they think they have done in one
way or another, and they spend so much time declaring their own works that they
have no time to declare His Works. How does one properly declare His Works? By
going down the street shouting about it? No. We declare His Works by letting
His Works be made manifest through us. Our words concerning the Works of God
are but empty phrases unless His Works are declared by the lives that we live,
by the things that we do in letting Him have His way with us. So the only way
that we can declare His Works in a truly effective manner is to let ourselves,
as Members of the One Christ Body on earth, be the means by which He may do His
Works, and when He does them on earth they are declared without human words trying to tell the world about it. Is
that not true? Then they are declared without human words trying to tell the
world that there are such things as the Works of God.
“And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of
thanksgiving.” A sacrifice suggests an altar, and a sacrifice on an altar
suggests fire. If the altar that we individually are, if the altar that we
collectively are, has placed upon it the sacrifices of thanksgiving, that
thanksgiving will be in the Fire of Love. To say words of thanksgiving with the
lips is of no avail. There must be the sacrifice of thanksgiving, which means
that that thanksgiving is in the Fire of Love that ascends from the altar to
the Throne of our King. So, in our thanksgiving before Him, there must needs
be, above all things, that Fire of Love, for in Love Response to Him we are drawn
closer, ever closer, and in thanksgiving unto Him, acknowledging before Him His
Wonderful Works to the children of men, we open ourselves to that—becoming empty
of self-activity, we may let Him fill us with that which He IS.
“Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness,
and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in
the assembly of the elders. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water
springs into dry ground; A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of
them that dwell therein. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and
dry ground into water-springs. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that
they may prepare a city for habitation; And sow the fields, and plant
vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. He blesseth them also, so that they
are multiplied greatly.”
As we respond in love to the Lord, so that we realize
ourselves to be Members of His Body, or Members of God's Family, God's Children
on earth, we sometimes wonder why we are so few. All the way through the history
of fallen man, it has had to be the few who opened the way for the many. But if
the few will function rightly, if the few abide under the Shadow of the
Almighty, if the few let His Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, the
Promise is: “He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly.” As
our Members are multiplied, that means that we have the privilege of sharing the
blessings that we know, the privilege of giving as fully and as freely as the
multiplied numbers will allow.
What is 1 x 1? 1. But the Master said: “Where 2 or 3
are gathered together in My Name.” What is 2 x 2? Just double—and 4 x 4 is 16—and
16 x 16 is 256. How many times did we have to
multiply? We have not multiplied greatly yet—that is just 3
times, and we started with 2. We should have to keep on going to multiply
greatly. “He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly.” We have
the One Christ Body on earth, and if we take it just as that—1 x 1 is 1—it does
not get us anywhere. But, if we have the One Christ Body and the One Lord in
that Body, we have 2, and 2 x 2 is 4, and the first
thing you know, when you start to multiply greatly, it gets into big figures—and
it gets there fast. But who has to do the multiplying? “He blesseth them also,
so that they are multiplied greatly.” The Lord has to do the multiplying. When
human beings try to do the multiplying, it never comes out right, something always
slips. Does that simple illustration deepen a realization?
“The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all
iniquity shall stop her mouth. Who is wise, and will observe these things, even
they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.”
We recognize that, back through the years, we have been
learning to observe these things, learning to observe the art of sacrifices of thanksgiving,
of praise to the Lord, of recognizing that He has broken the gates of brass,
that He has cut the bars of iron in sunder, that He does still the storm so that
there is a great calm, that He does change the dry ground into water springs, that
He does bless and multiply us—and lo, because we have been observing these things
in Love Response to Him, we do begin to understand the loving kindness of the Lord.
“His mercy endureth forever.” The only trouble is that human beings do not endure
forever, thank goodness, so, unless they respond to the Lord within the scope of
the time that they endure, they never know the mercy of the Lord that endureth forever.
That is the way it works.
His mercy endureth forever, but human beings do hot
endure forever: and we praise God for that. If God had wanted to curse man to a
degree that would have been unspeakably unbearable, all that He would have had
to do after the Fall would have been to let them have, in that condition,
eternal life. Imagine people in this world as they are in the fallen state,
living forever. That would be such a hell that even my imagination cannot
conceive of the terror and the torment of it. So, since that is true, we do not
fight against even death, do we? Not in the sense of the outer, at least. Our
fight is not with death in the deeper sense—it is with the prince of this world
that makes death a necessity. In His goodness, God has provided that man in his
self-activity cannot endure forever. Do you find that which inspires, uplifts
and draws together in Reality through the words of this Psalm? You have heard
it before, but you have heard it anew.
Once again, I wish to consider with you other words
that you have heard before—words which carry the Spirit that giveth Life.
Speaking from the standpoint of the Absolute, not from
the realm where human frailties still abound, but from the realm of the Absolute,
from the standpoint of God, there are times when it is necessary to destroy in
order to give life. There are so many people in the world who, although they
are allowed to feel the warmth of His Love, although they are watered with His
Truth, and their hunger is partially satisfied with the bread of His Life, still
they will not let themselves be resurrected—they are asleep in Jesus, as it is
put—they have, in embryonic form within them, that potential which will let
them expand into men and women in Christ, but before we can resurrect
them—speaking from the standpoint of the One Christ Body, remember—we
have to roll away the stone at the mouth of the tomb—the tomb of this world's
darkness. What is the stone? One might properly say it is the hardness of man's
heart. It could be said to symbolize so many things—almost anything that stands
between man and his God.
You are beginning to realize the value of what I have
talked about as focalizations. You
are beginning to actually experience a specific focalizatlon of Reality in the earth.
Focalizatlon—the Key to all things is to be found in their
focalizations. Is it not so?
© Emissaries of Divine Light
