An address given by the Christ messenger Zodiac through the deep trance mediumship of Miss Winifred Moyes,
at the Zodiac Circle, 15 Nightingale Square, London, SW12, on Saturday, 29th May, 1926.
"O most gracious Spirit, in love we meet together, and in love we continue our work. Grant that the greater consciousness may come, that each one of Thy children may feel tonight, more strongly than ever before, the wonderful privilege given into their possession...
"Father, help us to help others. Give us that inward grace when we can separate ourselves from the mind of the body and think truly, putting the present where it rightly belongs, and building ever for that glorious future which lies in front.
"O most tender Saviour, teach us how to be tender to others; O most loving Christ, give us the grace to throw out our love over all, however weak, however wilful they may be, and thus, by example, to demonstrate that we are dominated by the Spirit of God...
"In Thy Hands we leave this evening, and under Thy direction we speak, passing on to others that which Thou hast gifted to us... Father, we thank Thee. Amen...
"...My children all, tonight we have gathered together once more to listen to that portion of Wisdom which we can grasp; and oh, my little ones, think you not that I stand far apart because I am a little older, because I have had a little more experience. Does not the parent go through the lesson with the child of his heart? And does he not find this: How, in going back on those early stages, he sees much that he missed when he learnt it himself?
"So, my children, so gladly do I re-learn with you, and remember always that when love is in command, distinctions or differences fail to exist at all. We are all servants of our Master Christ, called by Him - yes, chosen by the Holy One - to work out that which He has planned, our little portion, our little threads in the great pattern. And because you who have seen something of Wisdom, have also, in a measure, released the spirit within, so you bend to your task, and though the weariness comes rather close, yet the spirit cries: 'Go on!'...
"This, dear children, is a gift - a gift to feel within our hearts and minds that we are as tools used by the Lord God of all; aye, a gift indeed, for with one thought All-Mightiness could work in that which we strive to accomplish over the years; but God, being our Father, wishes to bring His children on, wishes to bring nearer the possibility that they can share in those powers He possesses Himself.
"So, having underlined whose children we are, for whom we work, and that it is the by and by that counts so much, I wish to speak to you this evening on a subject, which - from the surface point of view - seems somewhat limited; but when you come here, you will realise it is unlimited, you will see that it has no boundaries, and that its influence stretches from the day of creation and lasts for ever.
"Children, it is that same: 'Free-Will'. And I want you, tonight, to be patient with me, while I go back a little on what I have sought to instil within the mind of the body.
"I have told you that when you started off from God on the long journey of experience, that that most precious and most dangerous gift of free-will was part of your equipment. But lose not sight of this point: Only part of that wonderful equipment was bestowed upon you by the Lord God of all.
"And through the involutionary stages, it was as this: Many gifts were allowed to remain unused; that control by the inward self, which gave man the power to control nature in its many forms, that also was allowed to dwindle, to waste even as an infant from whom its food is kept. But the one gift prized - and I include humanity as a whole - the one gift which was prized was that most dangerous weapon: Free-will.
"Children, I want you always to regard free-will as a weapon which has a two-fold purpose, but which is used in a threefold way, because of the blindness, because of the foolishness of the children of the earth.
"Free-will was given to us so that we might choose aright - and I am speaking of the greater, stronger self within. It was given also so that that same free-will might operate for the advantage of others; that is the twofold aspect. And the third is the misdirection, the abuse of it, that turning from God and listening to the counsels of the enemies of the Spirit.
"Yet, dear children, lest I make you sorrowful, remember this: That although, again and again, free-will has been used to damage that which is Divine within, yet tonight what can we say? Why, that - by the grace of God - our free-will has operated in the way God meant, in the measure that we are His servants, His tools, His instruments; imperfect enough, you may say, but the wish is there to be used by the Master.
"All that imperfection, dear children, belongs to those involutionary stages that preceded the evolutionary, which now you are pushing on with all the strength you can find within. But we have to consider the present as well as the past, for the past and the present combined build the future, that glorious future which we want to be as near the ideal as possible.
"So, my little ones, I bring you to that very prosaic subject which you call 'Habit', and within that word lies tragedy, or an aspiration which shall be realised in a gigantic way when you are free.
"The habits of your daily life - yes, but their roots are your thoughts; and your thoughts, from whence come they? They come from sources that the children of the Light have sought to study, but of which you are totally ignorant at this stage. There are those around you whom you can see; there is the vast multitude, those whom you sense; but beyond that again and again, range after range, built up by the ages, are the influences, are the thoughts, little ones of my heart, you know it not, but because this gift is yours, you are wonderfully attractive to those who have laid the body aside; and this presents both a great protection and a serious danger as well.
"Can you not see how plain it is? There were many in the past, dominating characters, possessing that same personality which you on earth rank so high; but these so oft misused that gift of free-will, and they have much to work out, much to purify. The processes are going on, and because in the long ago temptation was not fought and overcome, so again and again they fall.
"And, dear children, because within your hearts there is the wish to rise, so they try and link up with you, for many of the barriers have been broken down. And, while I have taught you to be missionaries, yet I trust to your spiritual instinct to push off those who, in their weakness, speak to you of things which are of the second-best.
"There should be no doubt in the mind of anyone in regard to those in their vibrations, as to whether they are strong or whether they are weak. What effect have they on you? There are times when my children can rise in mind to the heights which indeed reflect God's purpose; and there are times when, viewing the hill which must be climbed, the thought comes: 'No, I cannot, the valley is for me'...
"Children, without anyone in the body or out of the body telling you in words, you know yourselves that influence is destructive, that those thoughts come from your brothers and sisters who indeed found the hill too steep... What should be your attitude? Is it not clear to all? By the mere fact that you reject the thought, you are lessening the strength of that thought in the one who instilled it. That is free-will - free-will as God meant it to be used; it is the act of free-will which brings the double gain to the spirit within. It strengthens you, and because you have been used, even in a minute degree, to hearten another, so by those wonderful laws of God, the gain comes back to yourselves... Two steps instead of one...
"My children, be more on your guard against your thoughts, because these thoughts of yours form your habits; and those habits cannot be laid aside with the garment of flesh. Nay, they have to be shed when the body has been forgotten...
"Again I say I would not make you sorrowful, but oh, little ones of my heart, cannot you see how glorious is the other side of the shield? How by your wish to help, how by your compassion, how by your healing thoughts, you are preparing the ground for that time when, free from limitations, free from the mind which binds, you will see God's purpose, and find to your infinite joy that you are ready - ready to work for Him.
"And then, my children, I take you on from that time when the body has been laid aside - and I speak with knowledge, for I am drawing from All-Knowledge who bids me make this plain:
"Children, you have heard oft before, that those who are free from the body come back and tell of the glories of their conditions. Life, so it seems to them, is as a summer day; they find those pleasures which delight the mind; the ability to reproduce what stands to them as beauty. And in ignorance, you place such as these in the Paradise promised in the olden times - for a Paradise it seems. There are the flowers, the birds, every thing to hand, and they walk through that which is brightness, culling from this, gathering that, and the uninitiated cry: 'My loved one is in Heaven itself!'
"Now, children, I have touched on this subject before, and tonight I underline it. Those conditions - which delight the mind so akin to the mind of the body - that sphere is only just beyond the physical. It is that same 'Summerland', so named. Those who dwell therein have not attained the release of the spirit as I have taught you ever to pursue: They are taking, they are not giving - they are failing at the test.
"For oh, think you like this: Again and again I say, remember the One you follow - how unlike the Beloved, how unlike He who gives all and takes so little in return.
"My children, when those so placed speak to you in this way - they are barred from conditions such as these (Zodiac circle); when these speak of the joys and the possessions and the powers which are their own, then pray that the strength may come that they may leave their toys and climb the hill to God.
"Who is there among us - whatever the life on earth, whatever the struggle and the suffering - who is there amongst us who deserves such as this? What have they done to be so rewarded, if a 'reward' it is regarded? What are they doing with so much, when there are countless millions living in twilight and in darkness, unconscious of a God, bound by their sins, fettered by their past, and unable - without help - to get free?...
"Free-will again, my children, that same free-will that holds and cannot relinquish - that same free-will which is blocking the path to understanding, to purification, to that release of the God which is within.
"Thus I must teach, for this is Truth as those who wish to follow Christ see Truth. The One who owns all, the Creator, ah, my little ones, the Christ whom you love so well - He works in the shadowy places, He goes after the lost sheep down in the depths of the valley; He who created all takes nothing for Himself, but strives ever to give to His children that which He meant should be their own...
"Free-will after the body is no more - a fatal gift to many because it is as a precipice over which they fall; for they have not the spirit of Christ within, else they would push their possessions aside and seek the useful tools - the tools which can do God's work. And what are these? The laying aside of self and fighting for the possession of faith. What test for faith in such conditions? What inducement for sacrifice when these - so blind - regard that in which they live as their 'reward' - aye, reward - and for what?...
"Little ones, temptation comes in many forms, and when those of you have attempted to rise, have desired to do better than before, so the enemy most skilfully blinds your eyes; and this is possible if the sight of the spirit within is not released by will.
"The things of the world - they but illustrate, in miniature it is true, the so-called 'joys' of the Summerland, the so-called possessions of that condition, which is only just beyond that which the earth itself represents. For, you see, dear children, in the human mind, there arises these ambitions: To have plenty of this and plenty of that, to be removed from sorrowful sights, to live in splendid conditions, whether represented by Nature or by things; to be care-free and to be unhindered by responsibilities.
"So man dreams on - and the contrast of the daily round is as a whip. And when the body is no more, he passes into that which he thought would be so desirable, and the second state is worse than the first...
"Little ones of my heart, have I not taught you to fix not your minds on 'beauty' as beauty? Can you not see that by effort, by the wish to serve, you are creating not the 'beauty' of the Summerland - which in itself is a temptation - but you are creating that loveliness, that power which purity of heart represents, contributing just your little to those spheres which are Spirit. And remember, that until you enter those spheres which are Spirit, your power is as naught to help or comfort or relieve another, either on earth or in those planes where God is unknown...
"My children, in regard to that gift of free-will, so gigantic in its nature, so far-reaching in its influence, do you ever consider what it is you have in your possession? And how that free-will, trained through the physical stages, will operate when you are free from the body?
"The cry goes up now: Work and strive after better things. And, what is more, do not despair at your failures, but realise that by trying again, so in time, that which you long should be there, indeed, will dwell within...
"Free-will in the past: Had you misused, as some, that gift, then these sacred hours would have been impossible. Had you used that gift of free-will in the highest measure, then, my children, today sorrow would be unknown, the enemies of Christ could not touch you, the vicissitudes of daily life would be seen for what they are worth, and the pains of the body would be as symbols of the power to be used Hereafter...
"Thinking thus, so you can send your minds on, you can thank God that today, in spite of the reluctance of the physical mind, you hold fast to that portion of the Work which has been gifted to you by the Father, which was only possible by the struggles made in the past.
"So we go on, and so ever we grow stronger, because All-Strength not only bids us come to Him, but He comes to us, He replenishes, makes good that which we fail to find within ourselves. This is the path of the pilgrim, this is the way of discipleship - the holding not back but ever giving out - if in ignorance, if in blindness, then in faith and in trust; for you belong to God, and, in time to come, that purity which is of Him will not only be as a cloak around you, but all else will have vanished - it will be your true self, the Christ-spirit yours...
"My little ones, again and again must I go back on different aspects of this same free-will; but I pray you guard your thoughts. Think the best of others, yes, and the best of this mixed and complex world of yours; the best of those who are still bound by the memories of the past; the best of the weakest and the frailest. For by so thinking, as a shaft of light - because the thought is on the side of reconstruction - so it shall pierce the vibrations of the ones concerned, and in time, ah, in time, feeling the warmth of the thought, they will stir, and then we shall get our chance...
"Missionaries, builders, disciples - to that we are called and nothing less.
"And now, my little ones, I will leave you, but the one who follows me, comes with confidence, speaking out of the love of his heart, and drawing from each of you love for him, stored there by the Spirit over the years which have passed... And now I go..."
(Others then spoke...)
REVEREND DR. HUGHES...
"...It's all right, but it was a bit too much for me... It's Hughes, and I know I have got my place here. Yes, it is a curious thing this mingling of the young and the old, the wise and the half-wise, the children in effort and the giants in accomplishment...
"Mr. Beddow, I was a parson, and I had this advantage: I always saw Our Lord amongst the poor and the suffering. I never imagined Him on His throne. I thought to myself: Was it reasonable that He could be centred in splendour far away from us all?
"My parish... Ah well, I chose the poor, and I see now that while I gave a little, they gave a hundredfold in return. It was the poor, Mrs. Moyes, you remember, always the poor. I am not talking of the parasites, of the 'won't-works', of the idle loafers who will sponge on any woman in order to get the money for their drink. No, they are not all like that, although there are some people who would like to make us believe it. There is a vast number of genuine poor who live on short-comings as a matter of course, who pay their rent not owe it, and who work sixteen hours a day... I saw it, and I have proved it since.
"And then we think amongst ourselves: 'After all, what can I do? Oh, I give my little bits away, but how far does that go?' Mrs, Moyes, for your comfort - and we are such old friends - I'd like to explain that this goes much farther than you'll ever guess, until you come here and we show you. You give your coppers or your sixpences and you say to yourself: 'I wish I could have given more'. In the first place, that buys bread if they are hungry, but that is only one part - God works in mysterious ways. I've seen things which have wrung my heart, and I've seen things which have filled my being with a gratitude and an amazement I can't express... You know, you are not giving food for the body alone, you are giving material which is going to last, going to be used a thousand times over...
"But I'll explain ... Oh, I haven't forgotten you girls; you are all in my heart. I love the girls who are doing so much for their parents; there are thousands of them, thousands and thousands of girls that selfish critics condemn as 'worthless', helping to keep their mother or their sister or their father, and managing to look very pretty as well...
"But in regard to this charity - the charity which some people say is pauperising, is degenerating, in fact, is digging the pit in which they will be swallowed up - and all over a sixpence.
"Mrs. Moyes, when people give, there is always behind it the compassion, the feeling: 'Poor woman, poor man, what a life!' And after the little gift is made and you come back to your own home, the remembrance lingers, and you think: 'I wonder if anyone else gave him a copper or two'. Sometimes you watch, and as far as the eye can carry, no one responds, and indignation seizes you as to the callousness of the comfortable classes...
"I was a socialist, a Christian-socialist - as my Master - and I say it cuts me to the heart to see so many regardless of their brethren. You see, Mrs. Moyes, this poverty business, this hard-life business, isn't understood. I did my best to explain to them that because they had so little, Christ was nearer still, but it is rather hard to take in when you see your children going hungry; and in my time there was very little done for the toddlers and the growing boys and girls, very little done and they went hungry.
"But my point is this, and oh, I do entreat my colleagues who read these records to give it a second thought: Can't they see for themselves the wonderful weapon this Truth is in explaining God? You go to those in trouble, you try and comfort them - and I told you I thought the doctor did better than myself - you say: 'God's ways are best', and they look round at the barrenness and the bleakness of life, and they wonder about God, what He must be like, yes, what He must be like to let them suffer so much.
"But if you go to them and tell them God's truth, the whole aspect is changed: 'Madam, you are a brave soul, a strong soul, and you have chosen to suffer now so that you may be ready for use later on. But because you are a strong soul, it does not mean that I am not to help you and I will'.
"There is no other way to trample on that sense of injustice, which rises so naturally in the mind when such as these look round and see others with so much. They say: 'I don't want that, I just want enough to get along with'...
"I'm sorry to have kept you so long but we are old friends. I feel I want to draw up my chair and talk to you for hours about the old view and about the true view; about the God we imagined and God as He is; about the Christ who not only metaphorically goes to meet the sinner, but who literally holds him in His arms and welcomes him back to the old home - the old home that once he loved so well and then despised because it was his own.
"Yes, that is the Christ I see; and, thank God, He allowed me to see something of that tender side when I was on earth; and because I tried to pass it on, because I took Christ to those in the miserable homes and I said to them: Whatever you do, you can't push Christ out - because of that, well, I'm here tonight. I can't tell you how He has used me, because it is only by His generosity that He has used me, but I live under His Love, and the Christ I've got I am allowed to pass on to others...
"Thank God with me - thank God for the happiness of your old friend, in spite of his blindness, in spite of his many mistakes; for the wonderful privilege, which is growing and growing, of taking Christ to the lonely ones, the sad ones, those who are tortured by pain, and forcing the consciousness of the Christ Presence upon them, when the walls of their room disappear and the vision comes of ministering angels sent by the One who is their God.
"Goodnight, Mrs. Moyes, and don't forget that the Socialism which Christ preached - that fraternity, that brotherhood - is the only one worthy of the name... Goodnight..."
(When all had spoken, Zodiac returned and continued...)
"...Well, my children, I am not going to keep you longer, but ere we part, I would send one word to the child who is absent tonight (Miss Mawby):
"Tell her from me that the Father blesses her in her work, and tell her further that because God is her Father, He has gathered up from her heart and mind all those many desires which the circumstances of her life made her lay aside; and she shall find that what she has relinquished now has not only been stored for her, but shall provide a home of beauty - the beauty which is of service - in those conditions Hereafter, which are her own... In giving up, we gain; in laying aside, we draw to ourselves for ever and for ever...
"And now, my little ones, I would but underline one thought: Remember today, tomorrow and in the days to come, that it is within your power to think for God or to work against Him. Remember that as you try to construct, try to contribute your part, so you are making it possible for others to have the strength to contribute in like measure. But rest you not there; be that which the Father has asked - a willing tool, a tool prepared by the discipline of physical life, an instrument for His use, for His purpose, for the working out of the mighty plan...
"God bless you all and keep you in the safety of the consciousness of His Presence, and in those moments which are weak, give you the power to listen to those who are a little stronger and a little wiser; so that in the by and by, you too can render that service to others and have the great joy which it brings and which it enables you to retain...
"God bless you with resolution to arise and to rest not, for the rest which is of the earth means toil of the Spirit; but the work which is of the world - rightly done, done in the Christ way - that is just the grist to the mill, the mill which is grinding for you that which shall be as the Bread of Life...
"Goodnight, my little ones, rest in peace."
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