"EARTH AND SPIRIT VALUES"

"Mighty Spirit, Creator of all things, Thou who hast planned this little realm and all those many planes beyond, we come to Thee tonight certain that because Thou art our Father, Thou wilt listen to us, aye, that Thou hast provided even before we have asked...

"O Father, grant that the thought of Thy Love and understanding may always hold chief place in our minds, and while we acknowledge Thy power, yet above that, Thy Love may shine forth, and we can feel towards Thee as a child towards its most tender mother...

"Tonight, we ask Thee to lead us one step further into the light of understanding; grant that we may close behind us another gate which separates us from the darkness of spiritual ignorance; yet as we progress that we may remember those who still linger in the twilight of misunderstanding. Yes grant that our example may enable them to pass those many obstacles with ne'er a pause, that they may hear us calling them on, and above everything, may see with the eyes of faith the Light of the World, not only in front but by the side.

"O Christ, Thou knowest this need - that sometimes it seems to the children of earth that Thou standest afar off, yet we know - because Thou hast taught us - that although ever Thou goest in front, yet, because Thou art our Companion, so Thou walkest with Thy children through the dark and terrible places of misunderstanding...

"O God, attune our minds to holy things, help us to separate our thoughts from the world in its worldly sense, and for this short time to cross the threshold of things intangible and contact with Reality itself... Amen...

"...My little children all - and I speak to many hidden from your physical sight - we meet together for work, yes, work for God. And while I endeavour to teach you some little thing more of Truth - as it is presented to those who are free - so also I am instructing those others how to make use of their opportunities now the body is abandoned...

"Yes, drawn in by your thoughts of love, of sympathy, and by that wish to help others, so tonight we welcome to our little gathering many who, during the earth stages, missed the way to God. I speak of those who were bound by the earth view; I speak of the countless numbers who thought that their material conditions constituted life... When these were free from the limitations of physical sight they saw that what they had clung to was but a shadow of the real.

"Oh, my children, this is Christ's work indeed - to heal, to restore, to give strength to those who have made mistakes. Search your minds how you may, you cannot find any work more indicative of the Spirit of Christ than that of Retrievement: Retrieving for others that which they, in ignorance, have cast away.

"So, dear children, in our mission amongst those we love so well - yea, in the Spirit you know each one - we continue the task laid down before us...

"Tonight, I would discuss with you a point or two of that vast subject which is included under the heading of: 'Earth and Spirit Values'. And I want you all to give out from yourselves that sympathy, that wish to penetrate out of physical knowledge into something of the wisdom of the Spirit...

"You see, dear children, that the mind of man trained by others, brought into line with the current opinion of his day, influenced by a million thought-forms entirely beyond his comprehension - the mind of man is not in a position to judge as to the Real and the Unreal, yet for the most part the individual hesitates not.

" - 'This is good', says the one blinded by desire. 'This is good', says the one bent on acquiring the knowledge of the physical world alone... Yes, 'good' it seems to them until they are free...

"My children, in order to understand even the rudiments of this vast subject, I am obliged to ask you to extricate yourselves from preconceived ideas, in the sense that these stand between you and your God. I speak of the successful, of those whose ability makes you pause and marvel; I speak of those who are acclaimed by the age in which they live as master of their time... of their time, yea, but not masters of themselves.

"Oh, my children - and it is as children throwing aside the furniture of the earth, that you must approach this subject - go back in thought on those who have fought and struggled from their early years, and who as age falls upon them look back and say to themselves: 'So much work, so much effort and nothing, nothing to show for it all in the end!'

"And then think of those who have the tool of intellect, who, from their childhood days, have found the journey of physical knowledge full of joy, full of achievement, and full of self-satisfaction as well. Can you not see that the so-called 'clever' ones, that they have brought with them greater equipment, that their faith was not as those others who chose - ah, mark this - chose to tread the path of physical life bereft of those things which should bring them the desires of the heart and mind?...

"My children, there is scarce a parent who has ever lived on this little plane, who has not rejoiced in the gifts of the mind shown by the child of his heart; there is scarce a parent who has not shed secret tears over the lack of promise in the one they have brought into the world; and, again, I say that this is worked out even in regard to the physical appearance of the one concerned... So little is the mind of man, so imprisoned is the spirit within, blind are the eyes, deaf are the ears to the outpourings of wisdom which comes from Wisdom itself...

"Can you not see that the boy or the girl with ability, with the quick and ready mind, how these pass through the difficult stages of tuition absolutely untouched by those blows which rain down upon the other equipped in no like way? Can you not see that the one who sees the star of ambition before him, and finds to his joy that within he has those tools which will enable him to accomplish his desire - can you not see that such as these are taking, taking of the world and not giving in Spirit in return?

"My children, I speak of those who concentrate on possessions for possessions sake, who 'will' themselves to gather this knowledge and that knowledge because they will be acclaimed of importance by others. I speak of those vast numbers who work, yea, they work and strive, yet it is for the things of the world alone that this outpouring of force is put forth...

"Ah, the star of ambition seems bright to them then, but when the body is no more they will find to their sorrow that their long travels have taken them into a world which has no light at all. The stars which are the promises of God - they lie in another direction. The light of their dead star was of the earth alone, and when the earth condition is finished with, so the journeyman finds, to his horror, that the light - the light of the Spirit - has been quenched.

"My children, there have been those who have come back to you, who were versed in the things of the world, who by the very nature of their training were accustomed to analyse and dissect this and that; but they tell you that this vast subject of: 'Earth and Spirit Values' has to be learnt by them from the beginning unto the end. Then think you to yourselves: 'Why, here and now, we have an opportunity of breaking fresh ground, of turning up the soil and putting in the seed, not only for ourselves but for those many others who will follow on in God's good time'.

"My children, it is with anguish that so-called 'good' men and women read the Book of Life and see how sadly they have misunderstood their Father. Yet, I have told you before, that effort spent in acquiring the knowledge of the earth, that that is right if - ah, 'if' - the mind of the spirit is trained at the same time. I have told you that the man or woman who works at mundane things in order to provide for others, that these are doing their duty as children of God if their motive is pure; I have told you that the poor, those bound by restrictions in regard to the mind of the body, that such as these can be, and are, very often great souls; I have told you that there are those so imbued with the love of God, that they chose to carry through their earth experience in a body which has been ruined for them by the vices of others...

"When you are free, you will find - as those who have spoken to you - that the more you study this vast subject of: 'Earth and Spirit Values', the more you realise how much you have to learn...

"Oh, my children, try and train the minds of others to get the Christ view. Try and separate yourselves more and more from the earth aspect, from the way it regards success, from the way it scorns failure...

"The thorns on the road of life - they indeed are symbolical of the crown of thorns worn by the Master. And even as the blind and spiritually ignorant sought to force those thorns into the flesh of the One who had come to save them - so, today, there are countless thousands, who, in looking on the failures of others, on their disappointments, on all those things which have gone wrong, endeavour to force home the pain which they already bear.

"My children, release the spirit within, and again I say release that which is of God within. Look at life - that which lies around you - through the vision of Christ, through that clear vision which not only saw the anguish of the human heart but laid balm over the wounds by saying: 'Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted'...

"Yes, Earth and Spirit Values have to be learnt by all. It is not a subject which you can decide to pursue now, or to leave to the indefinite future. Nay, when the body is no more, realisation comes in a measure to all - and even he who was bound to the world, is able to grasp a fragment of the hideous mistake which has been made.

"Oh, in the mind of man there arises so easily criticism and contempt. There are those glorying in their mental equipment who have little mercy on the less well equipped. There are others who have climbed up the ladder of success, who view, with scorn, those who work below; even as the worm which crawls through the earth seem they to them. But there is this which has been overlooked: The humble, the lowly, yea, and the downtrodden - for the time being - they toil on a low level so that when God's freedom is their own, they shall be centred in the Light which never fades...

"Again, I entreat all those who will listen, to set to work - here and now - to endeavour to reconstruct their idea on what 'is', and what will pass away. For their own sakes I beg them to study this - even as they go their daily way; to look with the eyes of the spirit on this one and that...

"Success, failure - ah, but in God's sight, so often it is failure and success...

"We learn slowly, yes, this must be so, and sometimes we learn hardly as well. Oh, think you not that the Father does not understand; think you not that the Christ - who loves you with a love surpassing all expression - that He is unmindful of your heartaches, that He has overlooked those failures, those humiliations which occur so often during the earth experience. These are as jewels gathered up and blessed by Him, and that which crippled you - crippled you mentally and physically, and, it seems to some, spiritually as well - these are the gifts, the tools, just those possessions which, when you are free, will allow you to work for the Master in the Master's way...

"And then, dear children, once more I would draw the parallel of Christ. To some, it seems that the Beloved must have been beautiful in form as well as in thought; it appeals to the human mind that everything that was lovely - attractive in the earth sense, appealing to the feelings of others - that this was the physical equipment of the Master, as He walked the shadowy way in order to bring Light to others...

"Children, when Our Lord reached man's estate, He possessed nothing in the physical sense that was beautiful, but the beauty of the Spirit poured out from Him and drew the people to His side...

"Yes, think you like this: Have you not known that love which can rise above the physical, have you not felt within yourself that the body - the little garment of flesh - matters little, because that which is within is glorious... And so it was with those who loved and followed He who was God indeed. We loved, and because we loved so the vision came of something of the wonder within...

"I am instructed to tell you this tonight, to make a link of contact between Christ and those who have entered the physical world ill-equipped in a physical respect. I am instructed by Love to say that this also He understands, yet to send your minds beneath the tabernacle of flesh and to say to all those who have endured the criticism of others, that there is a beauty stronger, more radiant, which comes from within; there is a brightness of the spirit, a holiness of the mind, which can cast aside the garment of flesh and make it as naught.

"And because this power is within, and because of the great Spirit power without, such as these are blessed by the Father, for the spirit was conscious that there was a beauty greater, more dominant, than that which those of the world only recognise in their fellow men.

"My children, go on building up in your minds lovely visions of the Christ. They exist, they are tangible, they are real. And I say to those held by a body which, to them, seems unlovely in every sense there could be, that when they are free, they too will be clothed in a beauty which has no parallel in earth expressions...

"One more phase of: 'Earth and Spirit Values' - and as you can see for yourselves, these aspects are innumerable. I bring this in tonight, with the definite purpose of directing your minds from the obvious to the hidden. I ask you, for the sake of that within you, to get down to those fundamental truths and to apply them here and now.

"The gifts of the earth and the gifts of the Spirit - the value which man puts on this and that, and the value as represented in the sight of God. One day, those views - now so opposite - must be brought into harmony; and as the chains are loosened, so the joy of freedom will fill your very souls; and as you extricate yourselves from that which has been implanted in the human mind right down the ages, so by the strength of your convictions, you are making it easier for others to get free as well...

"Earth and Spirit Values: As you progress through those multitude of states beyond this physical plane on which you now function, so your vision of the values of Life - of the real Life which has no end - so these will change and change again, and as the purification takes place, as the restoration of the God within is made more sure, more complete, so again you will throw off and approach this aspect of God's Mind with a humbleness of heart, which it is impossible for you to comprehend now...

"That is what we all learn here: Wisdom - that understanding of Spirit laws, of the great plans of the Father - as this comes, so indeed we become more and more like the little child, like the unspotted child, who - with faith and trust, realising the vast knowledge of its parent - approaches and inquires what it shall do...

"This, dear children, is my attitude through and through. My knowledge, to some, may seem of some importance, but to me it is as the dust which the breeze sweeps away - because learning from Christ, I have been able to grasp just a fragment of that mighty Wisdom which He represents.

"Yet, let not this sense of values bring dismay. The Almighty - the Controlling Power of so much - He is here tonight in your midst, ministering to His Children, delighting in their desire to learn, strengthening that which is of Himself within, preparing the road for tomorrow, and saying to each one: 'Lo, I am with you always even unto the end'... That end which is the beginning of the life which is Life, of the love which is Love, and the service which is Service indeed...

"And now, my children, I am going to leave you. There is one who will speak to you by his desire, aye, by the will of God. He is the guide of your trusted friend who is with you tonight...

"We are as brothers in the Spirit. Think you not that one is greater than the other. There are so many - thank God - there are so many who love the Father with all their heart, and in the Father's sight we are His children - loved, protected, and guided equally, one with the other... And now I go..."

"...It is a little difficult to speak after those conditions - I am sure you understand. If you do not mind, I will give my little message first, and then I will tell you who I am, because - well, it will be easier for me...

"You see, dear friends - and of course we are wonderfully good friends, otherwise I should not be allowed to speak in this way - I had much to learn when I came here in regard to Earth and Spirit Values... I was an old, old woman when I laid aside - yes, gladly - the body which represented, to me, weakness and age. And when, after a little rest, I stepped into a measure of understanding, I wept. And if it had not been for those who loved me, who had tried to guide me, I think it would have been impossible to gather together sufficient courage to go back and relearn my lessons...

"And yet, I would not have you think that my life produced nothing of gain - that amazed me more than all the rest. When I saw things as they were, and when I recollected my attitude in regard to myself and others, then I marvelled that God could have found anything in my life on the gain side...

"Yes, there was Love all around, and I think that unlimited Love was the worst torture of all, in the sense that it drove home my self-centred life...

"I want you all to think of me with tenderness, to forget what was said about me, and to remember that I did not understand. Perhaps I could have understood, but tradition bound me so closely that I thought my prison-house was reality itself...

"Now I am free in a way which would be impossible, except by the mercy of God; and I have learnt and learnt and again, I have tried to learn so that my sense of values might be a little less antagonised from the Truth...

"In the spring-time of my life, I gathered much to me; I was surrounded by those subtle temptations which did their work. Yes, the smaller self was exalted and the greater self was pushed aside; yet, because I did not understand, God helped me through it all. And now my joy, my desire, my only wish, is to 'work out' and 'work in' all that which the pattern of my life requires to represent something of that which was in the Divine Mind when He sent me forth, companioned by Love, to learn my lessons... to learn my lessons - but I forgot.

"You see, dear friends, that in itself is an aspect of Earth and Spirit Values. I thought I had loved and served God in a way which could not be attacked by anyone; I was rigid in the observance of His laws... yes, the word was followed but the Spirit was missing... I did not know, I could not take it in that the first command was to love others even as Christ loved us.

"Perhaps that sounds to you rather an exaggeration, yet you must recollect that according to our capacity, we are instructed to love each other even as Christ loves us; and as we go on, step by step, so that capacity expands, and in the far by and by we shall get within some distance of comprehending Love as represented by Christ - our God and our Redeemer...

"I do not want to speak of intellectual things; I do not want to refer to things of the world as they appear to those of the world; but I want to say that I am a mother through and through - that I have learnt what motherhood should represent. I have laid aside my will, and I have learnt of Christ - He, teaching me, with exquisite patience and wonderful compassion; and as I listened to the Master, so bond after bond of self has loosened and fallen from me, and although I have so much to do, yet I am purified of the world by my mother-love...

"It is Victoria, and I hope it will not make any difference. I was promised that I should come, and the way was prepared... I hope you won't let it make any difference. I am just like one of you, longing to be used, longing to make people love me, longing to express just a fragment of the Love which is everywhere in my conditions now... A gift, yes, a gift - in God's good time to be earned by me, and to be made my own for ever and for ever...

"...It's Daymen, Mrs, Moyes... Mr. Morris, I was a funny old doctor when I lived on earth. You know the type - the country element, the rough and ready way; but all the time, in that mind of mine, the thoughts were going on - yes, thinking but not getting forrader for all that.

"Well, Mrs. Moyes, you know when I come, I like to talk about the women's point of view. You see, when on earth, I hadn't very close ties of that sort... I used to wonder sometimes whether I hadn't missed the greatest thing on earth. But when I was free, I found that my sympathy - sympathy with the women over their portion of life, over those many physical experiences that they had to go through - I found that was for a purpose, and the purpose was this:

"You've been told before that later on in our experience, we have got to get the dual mind - the mind which can understand the masculine and the feminine point of view. It is not easy now; it seems to you that the reason is that the man thinks round one way and the woman the opposite, although now and again they get to the same conclusions...

"In my practice, I did a lot of thinking, I used to be called to some poor ailing girl whose lot, it seemed to me, was desperately hard; or to the mothers. That always set me thinking, and while I was trying to cheer and to relieve, I used to wonder what they thought about it all...

"Well, curiously enough, in the main, resignation was their attitude towards life. They had got to put up with it, and it was no use making a fuss... there were other people worse off still. I used to wonder where they got their patience from and how they were willing to go through so much...

"Of course, as you know, we don't put our thoughts into words when we are on earth - they go flitting through the mind. The impressions are there, and if someone challenged us on it we should say: 'Well, it's life - what can you expect?'

"I'd like some of the wiseacres - some of those who think they are authorities on this and on that - I'd like them to have a bird's-eye view of what all that suffering works in, what it reaches, the time it saves when they are free. I'd like to say to such as these: 'Now then, you and your values - what do you think of that?' They'd only say that it was a nasty dream, and take a change for their health's sake... And when the body is no more, they will take another change, and this time for the spirit's sake...

"I've studied the woman's point of view since I came here, I've got down to facts, I've worked with them - yes, and I've gone through some of those pangs which they endure.

"It's in regard to a woman's love of beauty - I suppose you'll think this is rather a mundane subject to draw in, but I'm working something out in emphasising this point.

"You know, Mrs. Moyes, it's made up in a woman's composition - that love of the beautiful... ah, desecrated, no doubt, but once even that longing to be physically beautiful was a gift of the Spirit. It comes down through the ages of the spirit's journey, when that which was of God within wanted to hold its glory... Yet, temptation proved too strong, and so that which was all-loveliness got covered in and covered in, and sometimes it was so closed over that only ugliness remained...

"You see what I am getting at? I'd like to speak to that type of mind which is so swift to condemn, so bitter in their denunciation of the woman's aids to beauty... Yes, quite a domestic subject isn't it: 'Earth and Spirit Values' again.

"It's common amongst some of the rigid-minded - those who wear across themselves the placard of 'goodness' for all to see - to be venomous in their remarks about this one and that who has tried to make her face look a little prettier than it was... Such a worthy cause for blame - a sin quite complicated in its consequences.

"To those, I'd like to give a bit of advice. I say to them: Take care - get away from your narrow, shut-in footpath through the wood, and get out on to the hills of understanding. These women - ah, weak maybe, held by the world's view, unhappy over the lack of that beauty the desire for which, mark you, is part of a woman's constitution - these poor children in understanding seek the earth's way of making good that which is absent.

"Is it for us to condemn? Is it for us to judge so hardly - to think those vile thoughts in regard to their motive? Ah, that's the point, the motive - and I say, stripped of all that accumulation over the ages, the desire for beauty is pure, it is of God Himself...

"So we learn and so we go on, and as we grow, our attitude towards this and that alters... As the child playing in the gutter covets a bright shawl to put around her to hide her rags, so there are countless thousands, saddened by the lack of loveliness in the garment of flesh which they wear - so they covet that which shall give them the beauty which they long should be their own...

"There is nothing more in it than that - and looking at things in the Christ way, so understanding comes, and so self-contempt does its wholesome work...

"I'd like to remind all those who love beauty, of what was said before: That when they step out of that which seems so distasteful, because God is a God of Love, so they shall find to their intense relief that the beauty which means so much to them is theirs for evermore...

"I'm afraid, Mrs. Moyes, I've got on to rather emotional lines, but I think you understand. It's a point which hasn't been touched upon - and I'd like all to know that there is the spiritual aspect of even such things as these... not blasphemy, but Christ... Goodnight..."

"...Well, my children, I want you to think over this quiet time together, and I want you to see in every sentence which has been given to you - given to you by the grace of God, and by His power alone - to see the beauty of the Spirit just beneath the surface, waiting, waiting for you to penetrate into its loveliness and to make it your own...

"Oh, my children, this priceless opportunity of physical life - you cannot grasp it now, and so at times the weariness oppresses you and the days seem over long; but try and make this thought your own: That even by the non-comprehension of the great and mighty plans of God, so - because your eyes are bound while you long to see - the beauty of the spirit is being enhanced, the powers of the spirit are being strengthened for your use in the days to come.

"Therefore, with each moment, let your heart and mind rise in acknowledgement to the Creator, to your tender Father. Thank Him with your lips - even though your mind cannot at all times respond - thank Him for the gift of physical life, and, above all, that you have chosen to work for Him...

"In the by and by, so the horizon opens and opens again, and as friends gather to you in their numbers, so your mind will go back on the days of tilling and preparation; go back on these sacred evenings when, relying on faith, obedient to my voice, you met together and - because your wish was pure - gained your teaching direct from the great Master of us all; for remember that no word could pass the lips of the instrument I use without His power, without His gift of protection...

"Yes, these hours are sanctified by their use, by the curbing of the physical mind and will; and because, as children, understanding not, you responded to the call of the Great Spirit, so in God's good time you shall call to others, and they too will follow until the Light is reached...

"God's peace is over you all - aye, that peace which is love, which is complete understanding... hold it fast, hold it fast...

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