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By Root 611 0

once and for all from the last link in the last chain that binds us to a limited and a degraded destiny. We are the children of God; and if children, then sons, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, as Paul says; and as sons of God we are the heirs of our Father’s estate, not strangers, or paid servants, much less chattel slaves. We are sons of the house and will one day enjoy our inheritance. At the present time we find ourselves full of limitations and disabilities because we are spiritually but children—minors. Children are irresponsible, lacking in wisdom and experience, and have to be kept under control lest their mistakes should entail serious consequences to themselves. But as soon as man comes of age spiritually, then, as we have seen above, he claims his rights and obtains them. “The heir as long as he is a child differeth nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all, but is under tutors and governors” but when the fullness of time is come, he awakens to the Truth, and obtains his spiritual majority. He realizes that it is the Voice of God Himself that is in his heart, making him cry: “Abba, Father.” Then at last he knows that he is the son of a great King, and that all that his Father has is his for the using, whether it be health, or supply, or opportunity, or beauty, or joy, or any other of the thoughts of God.

The most mischievous thing in life is man’s slowness, indeed we can say his reluctance, to perceive his own dominion. God has given us dominion over all things, but we shrink like frightened children from assuming it, although that assuming is the one and only escape for us. Mankind is often like a fugitive who sits in the driving seat of an automobile which is all ready to bear him away to safety, but who cannot bring himself, for nervousness, to grasp the controls and start the car. He sits there half-frozen with terror, glancing over his shoulder, wondering whether his pursuers will catch up with him, and what will happen to him if they do. He could make his escape into safety at any moment, but he will not, or dare not.

Jesus, who knew the human heart as no other has ever known it before or since, understood our difficulty and our weakness in this respect; and with his unparalleled magic of living words, his power of putting fundamental truth in such simple, direct, and pointed fashion that even a child could not miss it, commands us: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

It is impossible to imagine the thing being stated more definitely and compellingly than in these words. There are simply no words in any language which could be clearer or more emphatic, and yet, for the most part, Christians quietly ignore them, or else discount their meaning until they are left without any meaning at all. Now, as I have previously pointed out, we are obliged to believe either that Jesus meant what he said, or that he did not; and, as we can hardly believe that he did not, or that he could talk nonsense through want of understanding, we are compelled to accept these words as being true—and, indeed, where is there room for evasion?

Ask and ye shall receive. Is not this the Magna Charta of personal freedom for every man, woman, and child on earth? Is not this the decree of the emancipation of the slaves of every kind of bondage, physical, mental, or spiritual? What room does this leave for the so-called Christian virtue of resignation, so often preached? The fact is, of course, that resignation is not a virtue at all. On the contrary, resignation is a sin. What we commonly dignify with the fine name of resignation, is really an unwholesome mixture of cowardice and sloth. We have no business to be resigned to inharmony of any kind, because inharmony cannot be the Will of God. We have no business to accept ill-health, or poverty, or sinfulness, or strife, or unhappiness, or remorse, with resignation. We have no right to accept anything less than