I have found the Master Key of Heaven that unlocks everything: C.H.R.I.S.T. Yes, I know it is an old story; but, oh, the newness of its wonders!
Recently, I went on a tour for the Lord in the north of England. To me it has been a series of miracles of the love of Christ. Perhaps part of the wonder is that northern English people never display their feelings. But my Master Key unlocked every heart.
Once I rather doubted its power. It was at a morning service, and the faces were as carved out of granite. But I tried my Master Key, and was amazed at its power–the hand-grip, the moist eyes, the smile struggling to the surface, all told that each heart had been opened! At another time, two once bitter rivals met, and at the close gripped each other’s hands for the first time in twelve years.
This Master Key also unlocked to me the untouched unity of God’s great family. Everywhere I was with my own people. The idea of differences seemed absurd and profane. We were all so absolutely one in Christ, and that independently of all labels which we didn’t even trouble to make clear.
But this marvel not only unlocked all hearts, but all houses from the highest to the lowest–from mansions of ancient splendor to little houses in long rows and small streets, where dear members of the Royal Family lived. The Master Key not only unlocked the door of these, but the best bedrooms, turning sometimes master and mistress out of them, all for the love of an adorable Lord.
It unlocked all purses, too, for nothing was too good for those that came in His dear Name. In two wealthy abodes, I thought it was some old link of friendship that opened the doors; but soon found that the love of Christ was the real mainspring. The widow of one of our merchant princes never failed to come to the squalid, crowded hall and sit on a hard bench to catch something of the fragrance of the Rose of Sharon.
This Master Key unlocked all classes, all races, all ages, all conditions of men, in an absolute Spirit-formed unity. But, oh, the faces! How can I describe the sight night after night when, at a certain point in the address, I used the Master Key! It was just as when the lights are turned on in a hall. The whole sea of faces bccame radiant with joy. The subject when the sudden change was most visible was “The Lord’s Parousia.” To me it was not the “path of the just” but the faces of the just that were as the light of the dawn; and I could see that all the faces were looking for “that Blessed Hope.”
The Master Key also unlocks all love. Having to leave our car in the north for a long all-day journey south, we carefully arranged all our trains to correspond. But it was all in vain, for our second train was cancelled. We didn’t know, but God did, and the night before had opened the heart of an entire stranger with this Key. We never thought to see him again, but as we stepped into the first train, he was in the same car! Not only so, but when we found at his destination that our second train was cancelled, he carried our luggage for us; told us of another train from another station that would reach our destination at same time; packed all our things in a taxi and sent it off, and all was well; for the Master Key had opened this stranger’s heart, and goodness and mercy had followed us all that day.
Have I said enough of the real, warm family feeling among all sorts and conditions of men never seen before?
Many of the dear homes we entered were adorned with framed texts of Scripture. These always remind me of the old lady in Devonshire, formerly a nurse’s aide in a war hospital, to whom a grateful French officer presented a beautifully engraved paper as a memento. She thought so much of it that she framed it and hung it up in her room, till at last a friend saw it and explained it was a French banknote for #400. So she took it down, put her name to it, and cashed it. I sometimes wonder if all these beautiful framed checks that hang on our walls have been signed and cashed by their owners!