"THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT"

"Saviour Christ, we hand ourselves over into Thy Hands and we ask Thee to bless us and to comfort us, to separate our minds from the physical - from all thoughts of the busy life, and to gather us up into the peace of the Spirit.

"Tonight, O God, we realise that we are on sacred ground; we realise that to us Thou hast given the gift of Light, and we ask Thee to make us worthy - to make us fit vessels to be used in Thy service. Grant that we may go forward with valiant hearts, fearing nothing, trusting in all things in Thy tender love, because, as little children, we are seeking to follow Thy injunction; we are endeavouring to find Thee - to find Thee in that Beauty, in that Holiness, that we can understand; and we know that as we go forward so the greater vision will come, so we shall get more closely in touch with Thy love, and Father-Spirit and child-Spirit will be linked together for ever and for ever.

"...Good evening, my children, it is with great joy that we meet together in this way. Yet I have a few instructions to give you, and I ask you all to think with the mind of the spirit alone tonight, for indeed we are on holy ground. I entreat you to still both your thoughts and nerves - which are of the physical - and to enter with me into the courtyards of the Lord.

"Children, tonight, when your minds are lingering on the outward manifestation of the Holy Spirit (Whitsuntide), I think it an opportune time to tell you just a little - I can do no more because, as yet, your understanding blocks the way - but I would tell you just a little about the Gift of the Holy Spirit, which has been man's from the day of creation, and will be for ever and for ever.

"Keep this thought in your minds: That the bestowal of the Holy Spirit on those who had been prepared by The Master to do His work - that that was but an outward and visible manifestation of what had been, and what would be, the free gift of all.

"With the Great Parent there are no distinctions, no divisions - no 'sheep and goats' in any sense whatever. It is the Father and His little ones; the Saviour and His children, which He loves and cherishes for ever more.

"Oh, listen to me and try to learn and understand: God is your Father, and the best gifts are for all His children alike; yet, as would seem reasonable, there are some who are not ready for them, many who would not prize them, others who, indeed, would use them for most destructive work.

"So, dear children, you can gather how it was, and why it was, that those who had followed Our Lord, those who had listened and tried to learn - ah, remember that: Tried to learn in spite of physical disabilities and the limitations of the physical mind - these, dear children, because they had prepared themselves, were suitable vessels to receive this most Holy gift, to be good stewards of that which had been placed within their hands: Power unlimited.

"And remember that when this power comes, there are those - yes, there are those who would divert it from its sacred purpose; there are those enemies, those dwelling in the darkness, who because of their own captivity, seek to enchain others.

"So it is a double responsibility, and so it is that the heart and the mind must be prepared by sorrow, by those deep anguishes of the mind, that the things of the world must be thrown aside, that those encroaching desires must be torn out of the mind - lest when the gift is bestowed destruction itself takes place.

"Oh, my children, cannot you grasp something of what I would convey? There is this gift direct from God, making communion between the two worlds complete, unbroken. There is that power which can help others, which can console the sorrowful, which can relieve physical suffering - there on all sides lies this gift from God. But man, alas, is not ready for it, and so the years go on and barrier after barrier rises up between the children of the earth and the Glory of God - the Glory of that profound Love, which knows no limitations and which puts no limitations to the progress, to the power of you and me.

"It is, dear children, a subject on which I can take you but a little way, yet I would explain to the stranger present (Rev. Hugh Allen) - ah, stranger so he seems, but brother and friend of mine - I would explain that the gift of the Holy Spirit, bestowed in those long past days, productive of so much - the gift which indirectly altered the whole history of the world - that that gift in exactly the same proportion is waiting for humanity to accept today. Yet, while man bars the possibility, so the gift remains ungathered; while the physical mind denies the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in daily life, so that which is of God remains unused, untried...

"Cannot you see the responsibility which lies with each one? Cannot you see how this attitude of thought grieves that which is Love Itself? Cannot you see how it is keeping back the spiritual progress of the world? Yes, and this will be so until there are those strong enough in faith, pure enough in heart, valiant enough in spirit, to proclaim God's Truth; who will go back on the sacred records and read with the mind of the spirit the simple teaching - the direct teaching of The Master Himself.

"The Master said that to those who loved Him, He would manifest Himself (John 14:21); and, dear children, right down the ages, there have been those - who have suffered much for His sake - who have not only felt The Master, but have heard Him and seen Him in their actual presence.

"Again I say to you, listen not to the voice of the unbeliever. 'Imagination', 'delirium', these are the explanations that they give; but to the faithful, those with the prepared mind to whom the vision has come - they know - they know that The Master has not only spoken to them, not only companioned them, but out of His great Love, He has shown Himself in that guise which they, bound by the physical, could recognise.

"My children, I reminded you before that Christ said to His disciples - to those who loved Him: 'I go away. For a little while ye shall not see me, but again in a little while ye shall see me (John 16:16-19)'. And, as some have already been told, during those long years of trial, of work and so-called persecution, Christ fulfilled His promise again and again.

"Oh, my children, get back to the realisation of the Father's Heart. Does it sound possible to you that He who led them out of their homely ways, who took them away from their kind, who foresaw the path they must tread - is it possible that the Great Lover of all could withhold the joy and the reassurance of His Presence from those so sore beset on every side? The Master promised, and the Master came again and again, and supped with them, comforted them, and directed them on their way; and under His protecting wing those few men were able to show to an ever-growing world the beauty of the Fatherhood of God.

"My children, have I not told you before that in the Father's sight there is no difference whatever between His children? Some are younger than others in experience and so require more care, more watchfulness, more understanding than those who are linked to Him - who instinctively know how to protect that which is of God within from the enemies who would destroy.

"And so I say to you tonight - directed by The Beloved - that the same privileges, the same gifts which were bestowed on those simple men of old, can be yours, can be possessed by anyone who will take the rough hillside, who will ignore the physical, who will steel their hearts to suffer. The gift of the Holy Spirit and all it means, the gift of seeing Christ while yet bound by the physical, this waits - waits for man to claim as his own.

"Children, when you come here you will marvel, as we have marvelled, that so much harm has been done by conscientious people - by those who think they are dominated by motives which are both practical and sincere - what these worthy people have done in the way of erecting barriers between themselves and the God they would worship.

"Yes, unconsciously, those who are out to strike Love itself have been listened to. And why is this? Because that mind of the body, pursuing its endless course, as it goes gathers unto itself more furniture, and more and more, and so the owner, forging through the knowledge of the world, all unwittingly has built up an impenetrable barrier between himself and the wisdom of the Spirit.

"Cannot you see that by choosing the complicated, by allowing yourselves to be immersed in the 'thinking' of the world, as a natural result the thoughts which belong to God get crowded out? You cannot serve God and mammon (Luke 16, 13), and in regard to 'thinking' this is driven home with most terrible force.

"The way to God is hard but it is simple; it is steep but it is direct; and all that anyone is asked to do is just those two things: Love God, and seek to serve your neighbour. If only those gifted with the powers of physical thinking could hold that thought in their mind, how much they could have done for the world, how much they could have taught to a spiritually ignorant people, how much nearer they could have drawn humanity to the Fount of Wisdom, who lives but to pour out on His children the knowledge of the things of the Spirit - the Truth, unbound, unimprisoned by all that physical thinking, which in itself is a denial of faith.

"If only they could remember Christ's own words (Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17): 'Unless you become as a little child, you can in no wise enter into the Kingdom of God' - that Kingdom which is not in spheres far distant, that Kingdom which is centred within. You cannot come into your own because the door of the Kingdom is locked and barred, for there are those thoughts which are centred all round it which forbid an entrance.

"Get back to the child's attitude of faith, keep to the simple paths of thinking; and by concentrating on God, that wider knowledge of the things of the Spirit, of the wonderful laws which govern your life and mine, the unravelling of the secrets of the earth - these and many, many more, which as yet you understand not - these shall be made your own if only you will approach God as He has directed.

"Oh, children, think it out alone, think it out in silence, think it out when you are closest in touch with God, and try and realise that between you and the gift of the Holy Spirit there is nothing but your doubts, but your unpreparedness, but your immaturity.

"If only you could realise the significance of these gifts, I should not have to ask you to prepare and yet prepare still more. If you could only grasp just one degree of the joy - the inexplicable joy - which this close communion with the Divine brings of necessity, then you would not rest, nothing would hold you back - the things of the world, the pangs of the body, and the thoughts of others, would be taken just as an added impetus to spur you on...

"And then there is one other point which I should like to bring in tonight, and that is in regard to us. As you know well, there are countless millions who have 'come back', as you would say, to this little world of yours, in order to help their brothers and sisters, in order to bring them into that same sweet peace which is their own.

"Now, dear children, there have been some who, ignorant of spiritual laws, have exclaimed: 'Oh why bring them back, let them rest; let them be at peace!' Well, dear children, in their minds is a very definite misunderstanding of the Mind of Love. I ask you to consider this in a practical way. Once more, is it reasonable that the Father would allow one of His children to be deprived of that which was their own because they wished to help their loved ones on earth, who as yet do not understand the meaning of physical life? I put it to yourselves - to those who have children: I ask them would they - with all their limitations, with that strange travesty of love which is only possible while bound by the body - I ask them if they would treat a child in such a way?

"Children, in everything, I want you to put these things to the test. In reading your Scriptures, I want you to stop and question: 'Is this according to the highest standard of love?' And if there is anything in those records which fails to come up to that, then you may know that the minds of those who put the words together were responsible, and that God - in great or little measure - has been misrepresented.

"I come back to my point. Is it reasonable that those who, out of love both for you and for the Saviour of mankind - is it reasonable that they should be separated from their conditions of joy, earned by the experiences of physical life? When we come here in this way, we bring our gifts with us; and that is why, if you could see with the eyes of the spirit, you would know that in this room, everywhere - every inch, as you measure space - there is the beauty, there is the power, there is the glory which is of God. Blind though the physical eyes may be, the spirit within is responding to the Spirit which is everywhere - within and without - and when that which is within links itself up with the Divine, the unity is complete.

"So, my children, I entreat you when you hear such foolish things said, that you will answer with faith: 'My loved ones bring with them their beautiful conditions!' And more than that: Each act of service done to another enhances that beauty; each time we are able to strengthen you - to keep you firm to your purpose - so added power is our own.

"The Father gives through many channels. Sometimes it may be that the power, coming from on High - coming from the One who is All-Holiness, All-Power, All-Love - charges many as it passes from one to the other; and when you upon earth are conscious of that indwelling Spirit, so its course is not ended. Out again go the rays of power, and, dear children, could you see things as they are, it would appear to you as vibrations of light, exquisite in beauty and colour, which indeed vibrate in ever-increasing circles and expanding force - on, on until at last it reaches again the Source, when, recharged, it is sent on its journey once more...

"I am talking to you of things which are beyond your ken, yet I must prepare your minds ever more assiduously than before. I am impelled to try and implant therein, some conception of those wonderful powers, those mighty spiritual laws which are in evidence on every side. Yet I am held by lack of illustration, and by lack of understanding, in minds so anxious to learn and yet still held by physical conceptions.

"Still, dear children, let me get back to simple things - for they are the greatest and the grandest. I tell you that you cannot think one thought of sympathy or of real love without actually sending out from yourself those waves of light.

"And then from that, I ask you to think of what real service creates - real love for God, the wish to do His will and the wish to help others for His sake and their own. Try, dear children, from the remembrance of this simple thought, to magnify and to magnify, and to gain some understanding of this mighty force of the Spirit which is at your disposal, used by you unconsciously, unheeded - and yet for all that, doing its work, doing God's work, creating fresh strength which shall help the weaker ones on.

"And then one last thought - and I speak to my friend and brother (Mr. Allen) - I ask him, in God's Name, to try and follow me in thought in what I have to say:

"In these conditions, where holiness abounds, the things which are of the earth must not penetrate, yet I would tell him this: That the things of the Spirit overrule and control the things which are of the world. I tell him that 'duty' lies nearest to God; that should two paths lie before him, then not only the spiritual point of view but the most practical as well, is always to follow the road where he feels closest in touch with his Master.

"If only the majority could realise this, then decisions or indecisions would fall from them. The test of every question, every decision, every opportunity is: 'Does this bring me closer in touch with the things of the Spirit?' That is the path. Duty to this one, duty to that one stands aside; God comes first, and by ministering to the God within, so the plan of one's life works out, as I have said - not only best spiritually but best practically, in its highest sense.

"There is much which lies before you, much that would seem in the nature of tests; but I say to you that God is able only to test the strong because the weak would fall or fail under it. Cannot you see to what I am leading your thoughts? That the hard road, that the road which brings enemies to be encountered, that the road which is steep, is the road to God.

"And because there may be much to contend with, so God sends down His power - recharging and recharging again; and even as the disciples of old, so indeed, in His good time, those who were valiant shall find recompense, shall find the joy which can never fade in that perfect companionship, in that perfect unity with the Divine.

"Oh, let not your heart be sad - joy is in front; and in the measure that the Light shines upon you, so the joy of the Spirit shall be your own; and, in comparison, the joy of the earth will be as the light of physical day, compared to the unending Light of the Glory of God.

"And now I go. Children, I want you all to give out sympathy and welcome. I want you to put out of your minds the personal, and to lend yourselves as instruments of God, because tonight there are those who would come (by Spirit Communion), and, by coming, they demonstrate in your midst the power of the Holy Spirit, and the unlimited grace of God..."

"...Excuse me, friends, but the light in this room is too much for me - the Light of the Spirit... I shall collect myself in a few minutes.

"I want you to think of me as one like yourselves; I hope in sympathy with all your thoughts, certainly full of love for your efforts and for your kindness in admitting me tonight. It is Florence Nightingale, and I want to speak to you in a very homely way about - well, my work; a little about my work on earth and perhaps a little more about my work now.

"In the first place, when we are free from the body, it seems most curious to us to find how people have enshrined our names in memory and in their hearts.

"I think it is one of the most astounding things which can happen; to look at the beauties of the Spirit - they are only a few at first, we could not bear more - and then to glance back over our little lives and, as it seems to us, the trivial work we did...

"Now I want you - and I hope I can count upon you all - I want you to get away from that earth-view about my little efforts. I want you to regard things as they are and as they were. You see, when we know something about spiritual laws, and perhaps a little more about the Mind of God, we realise at once that if we were able to do anything that mattered while on earth, well, it was simply that God found us suitable instruments through which He could work; and once you look at it like that, personal satisfaction falls from you. You realise, with a sadness too deep for words, how much you hampered the Divine purpose, how much better those results might have been if only you had been more attuned to Love... You see, don't you, that when I put it that way, it changes the whole aspect of my life and the little I was able to do.

"Well, that is one thing, and then I'd like to tell you that I've gone back to my first love, which was caring for lonely women and trying to help them - trying to fit them for playing their part in life. While upon earth, the educational side particularly appealed to me, because you must remember that in my day, women, generally speaking, were not educated as they are in the present time, and so they suffered grievously as a result.

"There are so many to tend the sick and to work in the hospitals, that I felt I could quite easily and quite rightly go back to this early work of mine and - this time - try and do it a little better. Tonight, I feel as I stand here, that I long for all lonely women - for those who have lost their nearest and dearest, for those who have to fend for themselves, for those who feel they are 'not wanted', that they are the incubuses in the scheme of things - I want them to know that we over here, why! we have weaved them into our love, and loneliness could not exist because companions are all around.

"Oh, I long for these to know, and there are so many. I speak of the institutions, yes, and perhaps more so of the lonely rooms - the solitary ones, those who feel that their part is o'er and yet the curtain still remains up; the stage of their life is exposed to view but the audience has gone and they are left quite alone... Oh, to these my heart goes out in a way you cannot understand until you come here and look into their minds, read their thoughts and the sadness which will not be gainsaid...

"Yes, that is my work, and while I was anxious to train the mind when on earth, now I am trebly anxious to educate the soul.

"And I've another word of love for them. It is to tell them that each pang of sorrow - that the dreariness, that the sense of isolation, is truly - oh, truly beautifying the soul; and when this brief existence is over, then they will see that not only had they perfect understanding companionship, but because they did not know it, beauty and power had been added to their soul; and they in turn will provide instruments which God will use to help others so placed, so lonely, so sorrowful, watching others playing in the sun yet always centred in the shade themselves...

"And then there is one other I would like to bring in, and you knew her as the Baroness Burdett Coutts. She tells me to say to you, there is a little tie between you, and she hopes you won't forget her; that you will try and imagine that now she is a motherly old soul – yes, she says 'a motherly old soul' to whom the young ones can go with their troubles, and with whom the older ones can feel there is understanding.

"You will remember that they called me the Lady of the Lamp, or, the Lady with the Lamp. Why I used the alternative is this: As I look back on my life, it seems to me that, unconsciously, that expressed my limitations. 'A lamp' - just a little lamp, while all the time there was the sun of God's Love, which could have shone direct on the sufferers if only I had understood. Cannot you see the contrast? The lamp is of the physical - the Light which might have been mine and theirs is of the unlimited Light of God... I think you will appreciate my position. If only I had understood, if only I could have believed the words of our dear Lord, how much more I could have done, how I could have demonstrated, with my opportunities - my unlimited opportunities - how I could have demonstrated the wonderful Love of God... The Light of the Spirit and the Life which has no ending - 'Life Everlasting' as The Master said...

"You see, dear friends, how spiritual thinking alters us - and when I put things in this way, it sounds quite simple to you. And so next time when you hear any incident of my life referred to, will you give them this view, will you tell them that I wish the little lamp had been the direct and glorious Light of the Spirit, for then indeed I should have been an instrument used by God...

"Goodbye. I shall come again because I know you will let me, and I have much to tell you about, lots of things which women have in common; and I hope my lonely sisters will feel my love when they read the simple message I have given tonight... Goodbye..."

"...Well, my children, I must not keep you longer tonight; yet, being your guardian - your loving guardian - there is a word of advice which I should like to give to my children.

"In the little rest which is before them, I want them to be certain that those in the Spirit have them under their care. I want them to try and be as happy as God means them to be happy. I want them to use their little time of freedom to free themselves from the bondage of nerves and from the weakness of the body.

"So, dear children, when you are far away - as it seems to you - remember that we have you under our watchful care; but remember this also - that the body has its rights; don't overstrain that which has been gifted to you for this work. Rest and be thankful. Fill your heart and mind with the sunshine of God's Love, and remember that you are instruments chosen for this great work.

"And now for my closing words. I want you, as you go on your different ways, to try and readjust the thoughts of the physical mind with what you have heard concerning the things which are of God. I want you to realise that it is not God's Will that there should be any division between the mind of the body and the mind of the spirit. I want you, most of all, to be certain that the Father understands you best, to forever dismiss that conception of the Controlling Mind, easily offended, rigid in His commands.

"To gather this thought instead unto you: That God has bidden you try and love Him, because, if you are in touch with Him, He can lift you up out of sorrow, out of misunderstanding, out of false conceptions of life into knowledge - the knowledge of His perfect Love; when, as a child, with confidence, with no barriers in between, you can go to Him and you can say: 'Into Thy Hands I commend myself, because you are my Father and I am your child.'

"Children, once more I remind you that it is the spirit within who disciplines you. It is your greater self which says: 'Thou shalt suffer if thou err from the path.' It is that stronger self which chooses the stony road, which sometimes takes on pain as an added burden to a load which already is somewhat heavy. It is that self which has seen God, that self which knows that sorrow works out, that self which - ignoring the complaints of the physical mind, says: 'I will reach the highest, and nothing, nothing shall hold me back'.

"Keep this thought clear in your mind: That joy, that peace, that perfect health of soul and body is of God. Yet by experiencing, by understanding what grief means, so you can be brought more closely into contact with the One who bears the sorrows of all...

"Oh, never forget that Christ, literally and actually, suffers with all His children, suffers in a way you cannot understand until you join us here - and then only in part. No one can fathom the sufferings of the Great Lover of all, no one can approach that sacred ground.

"Yet believe me, dear children, that God finds His joy in bearing your burdens, in soothing those troubled thoughts; that in supporting us, in delivering us from the little load which we have taken on, the Father finds His greatest joy, because we are His children, and He is Love Itself...

"God's peace rest on you all, lifting up your hearts. Take unto yourselves the gift of the Holy Spirit. Attune yourselves to Love, and realise that you are sheltered, you are protected by the wish, by the desire to be a little nearer to the Christ ideal, to represent a little more your sonship and your daughtership with the Great Parent - the Lord God, the Creator of everything that has been and will be.

"Yet once again, I remind you of your most tender, understanding Father, who takes His joy in tending His little ones and in lifting them out of that which causes them to suffer, because as yet they understand not the meaning, the purpose, and the plan.

"Tonight, dear children, I leave in this room - by God's grace - holiness indeed. Take care, take care that it is guarded and preserved, for God has visited you tonight, and has individually blessed you and raised you into conditions of spiritual comprehension - comprehension which shall not pass away, if only you wish it to remain...

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