BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK
A Sermon Delivered by WILLIAM ALLEN at Bishopsgate-Street Meetinghouse,
December 25th, 1833.
Addresses Delivered by Messrs. Allen, Bates, Gurney, Tuke, Wheeler; Mrs. Braithwaite,
Grubb, Jones, and Other Ministers, of the Society of Friends. London: Hamilton Adams, &
Co.; E. Fry; Bristol: J. Wright, 1834, pages 170-171.
This is The Quaker Homiletics Online Anthology, Part Three: The 19th Century.
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice, and open unto me, I will come
in and sup with him, and he shall sup with me;" here, beloved friends, is a great mystery, but no
mysticism. O the infinite condescension of divine love, to be knocking at the door of the human
heart for an entrance and if we but hear and open unto him, he will come in, and will have
communion with us. In looking over this large assembly, my , beloved friends, containing many
preciously visited minds, I felt I could not go away in peace, without recommending those visited
minds, who have been sensible of the visitation of divine love, to open indeed unto that, which, if
it were listened unto-if it were followed and obeyed, would lead into the things of the Saviour;
would indeed bring us unto Christ, for after all, beloved friends, the grand thing is to attend unto
the inward drawings of divine love, the inward drawings of his grace-for it is this, and this alone,
that will bring us unto the feet of the Saviour; and if we sweetly follow him who thus calls in the
secret of the soul, if we follow on to know him, he will instruct us in all the mysteries of his
kingdom, in everything that is essential for us to know;--but,O that we might be more and more
attentive to that which is working in the secret of the soul, to the drawings of the heavenly
Father's love; for if we are attentive to it, if we are attentive to his manifestation, it will bring us at
once to the Saviour, we shall know the operation of his blessed power in the heart even as the
leaven, described by our blessed Lord in the parable, that was put in the three measures of meal,
and worked till the whole was leavened; and this would be the operation of divine power in the
heart, if believed, and if accepted in the simplicity of little children, and if it were suffered to
work;--and we do shame to the Saviour, if we are not, in simplicity and devotedness of heart,
giving up all unto him, giving up our wills to him:--he is asking for our affections, for our love;
and we love him--those who have felt the influence of his love; we love him, because he first
loved us; it comes from him in the first instance, those precious feelings in the secret of the soul,
they come from him, and they will lead to him;--and therefore, my beloved young friends, it is to
this divine grace that I am led to recommend you; if you receive it, and if you embrace it, it will
lead you into all truth, it will bring you to the Saviour, and then you will witness his sanctifying,
his precious influence in the secret of your souls.