BE STILL

“BE STILL” By “Dr. Lascelles” address given on the 16^th of July, 1933

BE STILL!  How difficult it is to be still!  It is through the stillness of soul God speaks.  And you – in a world racketed by distress, distrust, selfishness among individuals and nations, and all the reflected and deflected thoughts that stir up the atmosphere in the ether that surrounds you – cannot hear God speaking.  You cannot be still.

Yet it is not impossible.  There are places in the world, there are places in this city of turmoil, where you CAN be still, where you can be still enough to hear God speak.  I wonder if God has ever spoken to you.  If so, the experience is such that it will remain in your memory in this life and in the next as the most wonderful one that you have ever had.

God speaks in many places where one can be still. In church, in front of the altar that is dedicated to His son, Jesus Christ, one can be still – not in all churches unfortunately, but there ARE many churches in this London of yours where one can go and just sit and be still : and wait.

It takes some preparation to be still.  It is very difficult for a mind that is in a constant turmoil of thought, that is pulsating maybe with outside influences, a mind that is constantly at tension, to be still.  It needs practice.  You cannot be still with the music of an organ or the singing of a choir, or under the oratory of a great preacher.  You have to be still alone: that silence is to yourself only.

Someday, when the church is not in occupation, quietly walk down to the altar and just sit for a while.  The atmosphere is not bombarded in a church as it is outside. The prayers of the people that have prayed there are built into the very fabric or edifice, a guard or an envelope, through which the world’s pulsation of thought does not penetrate, or if it does, it is taken along a new road and used to build up a stronger power.  And so, in many churches, you have that atmosphere where God can speak.

Some people say to me: “I don’t go to church. I was forced to go when I was a child, and I have given it up”.  Or, “I can’t hold with their creeds or with their dogmas”.  Or, “Our village parson bores me, I can’t sit under him at all, he talks such utter nonsense”.  And so on. Or else the village church is too high or too low.   There is always some excuse.  But you don’t go to church for that purpose.  You don’t go to church to listen to the parson or to hear the dogma or the creed.  You don’t go to church to have visions or to see the ritual, or to criticise the simplicity of the service.  Churches were not built for that.  Churches were meant for people to worship.  The other is just the superficial side of the church.  There is a deeper issue underlying it all – worship.  That is why you go to church, to worship, and to be still that God may speak.

In this country of tradition, where many churches go back to the twelfth century, where many have worshipped, where many tears have been shed, where many sincere prayers have been said to God, where love HAS abounded, where the atmosphere has been built up day by day over all the centuries, a beacon of light shines upwards along streams of angelic forms to the very seat of God Himself, and down through and through those many angels comes the whisper of God to the soul of man.

Perhaps you say: “Well, what is the use of it?” If God did speak, how would I be any better?  If God did speak, should I be more peaceful?  Should I be more happy?  Would it take away from my soul the fear of death?  Would it open up the gates of His Heaven on earth?  Would it show me the way to the Kingdom of Heaven?  And I answer that when God has spoken, you are never again the same. It is as though the “still small voice” in the depths of one’s soul, lying latent and apathetic, has suddenly become dynamic and enters into the soul and lifts it above the world, and once the soul is above the world it very seldom, if ever, comes back.  You may be still walking in the flesh, doing your everyday job, looking after the home and children, but it is not the same.

Those things are the things of duty and of life, but you have an added joy in those things that you have never experienced before. Where you have seen faults, you see love.  Where you have hated, you love.  Where you have been jealous, you only glory in the joys of your friends.  The world is NOT the same when God has spoken to you.  It is such a REAL thing.  It is the experience in the life of man that is so important, so much more important than that getting on in the world.

If the people of the world thought more about getting on in Heaven, instead of getting on in the world, they would find that the getting on in the world would be done for them – IF they did their part. War in the world would cease and peace would come.  Where there was distress, unhappiness and fear, happiness would take its place. There would be NOTHING TO FEAR. Where there has been distrust, you would leave it to God, in the assurance that you would be dealt with honestly.  Oh it is so real, so VERY REAL!

God speaks through the soul.  There is something more than just the voice.  It is, as it were, that you are made one among the angels, that you are joined up to that heavenly throng, that you are part of it and part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Some of you have found it.  God has spoken to some of you here.  It has been in the silence of these Harmony Prayer Circles that He has spoken to you.  He has spoken in the pauses between the prayers.  People have come to me, time after time, and said: “You know, I don’t know why, but I am so happy.  I have completely changed.  It is nothing that you have said, it is nothing that has been done.  It is not due to the Harmony Prayer Circle.  What is it?  What is this something that has come into my life?”

It is the voice of God that has spoken in their souls.  They can never again be as they were.  There are many methods whereby the voice comes.  I have just given you one.  Some of the Eastern races have their own methods.  They call it the “Yoga”.  The Brahmins have their own practices.  The Hindus have theirs.  The Egyptians had their method.  They all had different ways of approaching God, in order to hear.

The Christian way is the only one that really interests you.  You ARE Christians, and that way is entering into the presence first, and listening afterwards.  The voice of God makes you sure.  I often wonder, when I have people sitting in front of me, if they are really sure, if life brings doubt, if there is really a constantly fluctuating foundation in their life, or really a sound, solid rock on which they have their life.

They are not sure about death.  They are not sure if they are following the right creed or the right dogma.  They are not sure if they are going to meet those whom they have loved before.  They are not sure of what happens when the time comes.  They are not sure if their illness is going to be a lingering one before death, or if they are going out quickly by an accident or by a quick-killing disease.  They are not SURE.  They are not sure in their business.  They are not sure of their business associates.  They are not sure of the lives of their children. They are not sure about anything. NOT-SURENESS is a terrible complaint. The world is suffering from it now. Nobody is sure of what the other fellow is going to do.  No nation is sure of what the other nation is going to do.  There is only one thing they are sure about – and that is that the other nation is going to take some mean advantage of them if they have a chance.

The not-sureness of life makes things so difficult, so very difficult!  What would you give to be sure?  It is there, in the silence – SURETY.  You cannot even say why.  It just comes.  It is as though you have been drifting on a sea, rudderless through life, and suddenly you come to anchor, perfectly sure.  You are safe. That is the message God gives you when He speaks, and you are still.  You may try and explain it by saying that the angels are near, that your prayers are answered, that you feel confidence in the ministry of His holy ones, but it is deeper than that.  It is something in yourselves that cannot be explained.  The face brightens with alight that shines through the windows of the soul, the eyes of man, and brightens up the surrounding atmosphere and gives out its joy and its love to those that are near and with you, and where you are, peace is; where you are, love is!

And when the time comes that you must put this body on one side, you will put it on one side with a good heart because you are sure, because you know that God, in His goodness, has spoken to you and said: “All is well.  Follow me”.

 PRAYER

 Oh God, our Father, make the homes of these who pray Thy Kingdom of Heaven on earth.   Give unto them the companionship of Thy ministering angels, so that they may be sure that through life, they are guided, guarded and loved.

When death comes, oh Lord, give them Thy hand.  Lead them to the Kingdom of love.

Amen