Article May 18, 1912 Issue

THE OPEN DOOR

CLARENCE W. CHADWICK.

The door that opens to receive the Christ-idea, the spiritual "King of glory," swings not upon material hinges. It is not the golden-hinged portal to any earthly temple. It is the door of consciousness, and how to keep this door open should be a problem of serious moment to every seeker after Truth.

In Revelation we read, "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." The door here referred to is the door of opportunity that is open to every honest heart seeking to be "taught of God." God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should know, understand, Him, from the least to the greatest. God could no more withhold His presence from His child than could the sun refuse to radiate light. God does reveal Himself to humanity, but only through the door of consciousness. While this door from the divine view-point is ever open, from that of benighted mortals it seems closed. The Scripture further says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." This clearly indicates that the first condition precedent to communion with God is the ability or capacity to hear the voice of Truth. The student of divine metaphysics has learned that the "still small voice" of Truth is not carried upon the waves of sense perception, and that it can be heard only when the din and confusion of material sense is hushed. The next step leading to spiritual communion is to open the door of consciousness, otherwise the divine evangel will not come in. How shall this be accomplished?

The great Teacher of humanity answers this question in these words: "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Without a proper sense of self-abnegation as taught in Christian Science, the mental approach to the kingdom of heaven is closed, the voice of Soul is unheard, and the dream of mortal existence continues. Upon this one point, so little understood by professing Christians in general, hinges all the peace, joy, and happiness which can be experienced by human beings. The unhappy admission of a mortal selfhood living in constant disobedience to God's laws, and doomed to the supposed consciousness of an evil presence and power, would keep one in constant ignorance of Christ, Truth; while the understanding in Science of how to correct this unchristian admission and to know oneself as a child of God, reflecting only divine attributes, opens the doorway to that spiritual consciousness wherein dwell purity, health, holiness, and happiness. The spiritual apprehension of man's godlikeness will come slowly to one who thinks only of the loaves and fishes. He must set his affection on spiritual things, "not on things on the earth," and be found living consistently with his desires if he would be conscious of the potency of divine power to extirpate the belief in evil. If self-abnegation, alias the denial or correction of sense testimony, is cherished as the key-note of all Christian activity, the sweet assurance voiced through the revelator will be realized, "I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

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