"THE MYSTERY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT"

"MY CHILDREN, once again we gather together, and those who companion you, freed from the flesh, they long for such meetings when those who are drawn in wish to worship God and not to minister to their own desires.

"I want you all to take comfort in this thought. There are many to enter the House of God, yet it seems at times that although they ask for bread, they are given but a stone, and they go heavy-hearted away, wondering whether God has remembered them, if it is true that there is so much grace around. Yet if their eyes could be opened, quite apart from the one who gives out the teaching, they would see to their joy a mighty host gathered in to do that which is not done by those who name themselves disciples of the Master.

"So this night, remembering this, should we not thank God because He has allowed us to meet together, and because the consciousness is with us all that it is possible to break down the barriers between the two worlds, to link up in thought with the great wide World of Spirit? And tonight, my children, instructed by the One Who loves you best, it has been ordained that I speak upon: 'The Mystery of the Holy Spirit'.

"It may appear to those who listen that this subject is far too vast to be dealt with by any mind or by any tongue, and I answer such as these that they are right; but is it not the Father's Will that His little ones in the body and free from the body should have given unto them, fragment by fragment, the Truth that is of Him? So tonight, children, we will think for a while upon the mystery of the Holy Spirit, knowing that as we grow in grace, so God will reveal unto us in greater part that which only He can give.

"But I want you to come with me in thought just for a moment or two and to consider Nature in her many guises, to go deeper than the sweet flowers, the wide-spreading trees and the great oceans, and to ask yourselves: 'What is it that controls the laws that govern these various forms of creation?' You answer at once: 'It must be Spirit Power!'

"But you may say: 'This takes me nowhere towards understanding the mystery of that great power by which God expresses Himself to those on earth.' Then we think of that which is so closely allied to Spirit Power that they are as one - the materialisation of Divine Thought, the great Mind of God functioning on such a wide orbit that the human mind reels under the effort to try to fathom the power of that Mind.

"You know, my children, that you in little part have the power to materialise those thoughts of yours when due preparation has been put in. It is an elementary law of life.

"The young man and the young woman desire a career; they set themselves to study the theory of that which appertains to the creation of that career which means so much unto them; and I want you to think of the young musician or the young painter, and at once you see the tremendous effort which is torn out of such as these in trying to materialise their thoughts concerning beauty or melody, or the combination of them both. You know how much disappointment follows the path of the artist or the one who wants to give out something worth while to the world. And I want you to take comfort to yourselves and, moreover, to pass on comfort to those you know who are trying to extricate these gifts from the shell in which they dwell.

"Think, you, my children, what underlies the materialisation of thought. Naturally, inspiration is one representation of Spirit Power, it is like a flicker from the great Sun of Illumination which shines from the Heart of God; and I want you at this stage to bear in mind that true inspiration, to be brought to birth safely and well, must have the foundation of love. It is no use to think that the power released by ambition is sufficient, it is no use to think that the mind alone can bring into being those precious things which have life for evermore. True it is that they play their part, but, my little ones, without love, love for that which is being done, then so little is achieved, so poor is the result.

"So as we think of the materialisation of thought, we are able to approach just a step nearer to the Throne. We see materializations of God's Mind on every side; we think of the human body, with its network of veins and nerves and those many powers which even now escape the mind of the scientist, and as we think, we marvel not only at the original talent displayed, but also at the amount of love which must have been behind the thought of bringing into being something so complicated and yet so simple, being governed by Divine Laws, from which has sprung every other law as well.

"My children, I am here to struggle with your minds, for although I may seem to speak on abstract things, they are vitally important to you, they concern you in a way you cannot grasp until you are free, free from your preconceived ideas, free from the bondage of traditional thought, free from self.

"Then we will think of another aspect. Many, many thoughts are materialised, and the looker-on can see at once whence the inspiration. Today, it is true, as many exclaim, that music and art seem to have fallen from their high estate. There is something blatant and crude, something so much of another condition that the wise ones are forced to believe that astral elements and astral influences have been at work; and this is true.

"You cannot say that this sphere is here and that sphere is there, and for this reason I have advised that it is not wise to divide states of being into numbers and classes; it creates a sense of separation which immediately evokes a wrong conception. There may be many grades in each 'sphere'.

"There are indeed influences, beyond your imagination to grasp, impinging and intermingling with every state and stage of life, and because the gift of free-will has not been regarded by man as something sacred, it has been possible for disembodied souls from other conditions to come back and by their persuasion to lead the soul of man through dark and dreadful scenes.

"And then upon the canvas or upon the instrument the effect is shown. It is the materialisation of a thought culled from the blinded spheres.

"So, my children, I come back to you, and I want to show you for your souls' comfort how indeed, by taking the path laid down by Christ, the sacrificial path, you can employ that mystery of the Holy Spirit; and when you are free it will be made plain to you the law which so unconsciously you exercised, and indeed demonstrated for others to see.

"Now I ask you to think on these same lines: There are those who love the House of God, and they show it by the toil they give unto it, by the prayers, by the effort, by the desire to spread the Truth. There are others who claim that the Temple of the Most High is also precious unto them, but what do they do? You know, dear children, that there are many who are inclined to leave the toil to another, to leave the striving in Higher Hands. And so you get here and there, up and down the countryside, failure and success, the ebb and the flow of the tide of Spirit Power, and many there are to question why this should be so, for God has said: Ask and ye shall receive. But they forget that it is no use asking half-heartedly, it is no use to beseech God to do this or that unless they provide the instrument through which the mystery of the Holy Spirit can be demonstrated for their comfort and the comfort of the Divine Mind.

"I want you to think seriously upon this great subject, which I am able to outline only tonight. It is so vast, it is so charged with meaning, but it is not mine to come back and treat you like children; I am bidden to give the law that governs life and being, and if you have the patience to study the law - that law shown so wonderfully in the life of Christ - then, my children, you shall find no secret too difficult to be explored, no knot too tangled for you to unravel as the days go on.

"Thoughts are materialised in regard to Spirit Return and Spirit Communion (spirit communication). You know that there are many to desecrate this holy gift and to make it a by-word amongst the critics. Their thoughts are upon themselves, they desire that material things shall be given unto them, and because of their failing and their falling, there are others to fail and to fall in turn; and it takes a long time to retrieve when such things are deliberately done.

"So I come closer still to your hearth and home, to the very soul that burns within you, and I ask you, my children, as to the materialisation of your own thoughts. You cannot hide these things from others. Be brave and face the truth yourselves! Your thoughts - are they upon holy things, are they concerned with that higher side of life, do you instinctively wish to help your neighbour, or do you endorse the teaching, and then indulge in extravagances which can be avoided by a little willingness to go without?

"Oh, I speak to many, for there are thousands gathered in. I want each one to realise that if they have materialised such thoughts in the past or in the present, they can, through the Grace of God, dematerialise those thoughts by the sacrificial spirit, by willingness to go back on their tracks and make good that which they have done.

"Some there are who call by desire their loved ones who have passed out of the physical, and they use something which indeed is holy to demonstrate the power that is housed within the human frame. You call these things 'manifestations of power', perchance, but, dear children, that power drawn from within you, is as something dark and horrible, laid over the pure sweet power of Spirit so that 'materializations' may take place (NB. Referring to physical materialisation using so-named 'ectoplasm').

"I have urged in the past, and I urge again and again that when you sit together, man shall not want his loved ones in a 'material' form but shall desire that 'etherialization' which is their right and true state.

"I say unto you, my children, that if there had been a sufficient number of pure souls sitting together with an absolutely devoted spirit, with their thoughts not upon their own desires but upon the healing of the soul-wounds of others, long ere this those 'etherializations' could have been seen by human eyes, and much of the doubt which assails humanity today would never have been born.

"God is so good! Your beloved, free from the flesh in their garments of varying light, they come back to you, seeking to materialise their thoughts through your minds; but so oft those in the body are thinking of and wanting other things.

"There is naught that you can name that is not a materialisation of thought, and when you think of the beauty that is possible even in this state of limitation, cannot your imagination soar, and can you not in little part visualise that setting into being of lovelier thoughts when the bondage of the earthly mind has been cast away?

"Oh, I want you to dig deep down into this same subject, for the mystery of the Holy Spirit can be revealed in little part as you strive. The good healer, the kind mother! - if you analysed you would find much similarity in the vibrations of these two emotions. There is the mother trying to safeguard her child; there is the true doctor giving all his energy to lift the menace of disease from the one who lies so helpless before him. Here you have in little part the mystery of the Holy Spirit.

"Why is it that one, a stranger, should feel such deep devotion over another? The doctor may exclaim: 'It is my task!' but we know that emotion alone cannot bring about a satisfactory cure. There must be love, the desire to help, the compassion, the longing to restore. Is not this man demonstrating a fragment of the mystery of the Holy Spirit which he possesses?

"Oh, I want you to probe again and again and to try to teach others, for as we pass up and down through the busy streets, out on the hillsides, back into the tiny villages, to the freed soul on every side is a materialisation of the thought of man, co-operating with God.

"Even the little children are doing their part, for a little one cannot stroke an animal with love without bringing unto that creature something of protection; the child who lifts his foot, fearing to crush the little insect, is demonstrating, in miniature, the Father-Heart of God, and the mystery of the Holy Spirit cabined in his heart.

"Children, those who know, hold a responsibility which, if not rightly shouldered, will indeed appal them when the body is no more and they are face to face with reality and the record of the past.

"And I want you, in thinking of your beloved ones who have gone on ahead, to try to visualise the kind of thoughts that they have now. Perchance you do not think that those who loved you in little part while on earth now love you in so much greater part; those who were sensitive - and how great is the divergence between the sensitiveness of men and women who you know - those who were sensitive in the flesh are now able to vibrate so much more to their brethren in the body. Think then of their thoughts, of their desires, of their high ambitions. Would they be content now to take the second best? Nay, they have seen, so far as they can bear it the very best, and they strive and they strive to bring into being those thoughts that shall be more in harmony with the Divine Mind, and thus they come back to you.

"You may say unto me: 'But all are not like this, some spirits seem to want the things they wanted on earth, to be interested in food and drink and the joys of physical life!' True, but where are these souls? Are they not chained to the valley of desire? Are they not surrounded by materializations of their own thoughts, are they not centred in the astral planes? If they are like that, then their need of you is doubly great, their need of your holy manifestations of thought far surpasses your imagination to grasp. Therefore, how do you think?

"There are some who query why it is that some people have the power to bring into being those ameliorations for the poor which are essential for the mitigation of suffering. There are instruments who cry out: 'I should like to do that, and yet it does not come my way!' Oh, my children, these things take much power, they are indeed an opening out of one of the mysteries of the Holy Spirit.

"If you probed deep enough, you would find that that which has come into being was cradled over the years in the heart and mind of the one who at last thanked God for the fruition. The price has been paid in suffering, in going without, in turning the eyes from the material things, even from innocent joys, because there was the influence that the full surrender must be made, not knowing for what purpose or that it was for the furtherance of the Plan.

"Therefore, what is your spirit's desire? Is your treasure in Heaven, or is it some possession chained to the earth because it is of the earth? Think of those who passed hence in the long ago. What they did they knew not, but God knew, and God safeguarded.

"What is the difference between man today and the saints of old, those of whom you think with gratitude and with something like awe? It is only, dear children, that their materializations of thought were on a higher level, there was less self within them. Faulty they might have been, immature the instruments they represented; but God is their Father, and just as you would take the concentrated effort of your tiny child, which produces so little, and finish what it began, so the Lord God of all, looking into the heart of striving, struggling man - with all his limitations, with temptation piled around, with misunderstanding and doubt charging the atmosphere - He sees not the puny result, but He finishes what His child began.

"Lovely are the dwelling-places of God, the peace which passeth all understanding charges the vibrations, and there in little part, again the mystery of the Holy Spirit is revealed. Why are these spheres lovely, why is there so much power around? These gifts represent the harvest of the humble-hearted men and women doing their duty, seeking to be brave, holding up the lantern of faith to others - even though their own might be flickering in the strong wind of adversity - toiling on, waiting for the night to pass. Lovely are the dwelling-places of God sweetened by His children! And I say to the women that they cannot tend the home faithfully without contributing to the dwelling-places of God.

"The materialisation of that thought is upon the earth plane, it is true, but that thought has its spiritual duplicate, that thought has its etherialization, and after being blessed by God, is ready to find its place in the Better Land.

"Great is the Mind of God, marvellous are His thoughts, but once again I bring you back to this fact: without love, life in the God-sense could not be. Therefore, love your work, seek to tear out of your minds distaste over the uncongenial task, strive to bring your souls into harmony with the things that are.

"You may have thought your life would lie on rosier lines; the shadowy trees of trouble have shut out the sunshine of earthly joy, perchance, but remember where the violets grow and their sweetness and their power. You are in training for something great.

"Man is himself a fragment of the mystery of the Most High; he uses, even as he raises his arms, that power, not thanking God, not even knowing whence the power comes. So it is with all forms of life in all conditions and all worlds.

"Each world is a materialisation of the thoughts of God's children; and the time will come when no longer can it be said that man's thoughts are not as God's thoughts, for, through the Holy Spirit, the fragment will at last bear likeness unto the Whole.

"And now, my little ones, I come amongst you, exercising once again the power of the Holy Spirit, drawing out from you, if God wills and you desire, that wonderful power which the Father has gifted unto all His creations in every state or plane there could be.

"Behold, I show you a mystery, a mystery which lies only just beyond your power to make your own, the mystery of life within you! And when you think of that holy life, so there comes unto you the thought as to the generosity of God, as to His patience, as to His understanding - the Greatest One of all has given a fragment of Himself to you to safeguard and to nourish.

"And then, again, the thought comes as to the materialisation of those things which you set into being - those impulses, those vibrations, those varied influences that are sent out upon the conditions of the earth; and surely, my children, as you think thus, there comes to you the desire to do better still, to be more faithful over little things, to be more unselfish; not only to accept the theory of Christ's teaching, but to be determined to put it into practice in those small ways which represent ears of corn to gladden your eyes when the earth stage is o'er for you.

"I would plead with you for your beloved ones in the Great Beyond! I send out the challenge again and again to man, as a potential angel, to hasten his steps, to prepare himself for the greater office that waits for him, when he is fit to do God's work.

"There is a wonderful peace in the thought as to the great equality of Divine Law, in remembering that the Holy Spirit is not given in greater part to one here or to one there; it is only that the custodian has been sterner with himself and a greater release of that Divinity is apparent to those around.

"Oh, I ask you to be ambitious in the God-sense, I entreat you to speed up the activity of the soul so that God's Will on earth may be done, so that those materializations of thought, which are sent out from you moment by moment may be good in the sight of God; and they are always good in His sight when those thoughts are for the helping of mankind.

"Little children of the Light, how much of your light shines out upon those around? There are so many trying, as it were, to serve God and mammon, but no man can serve two masters and have peace within. Yet I look again, and I see with such great joy that there are those who are filled with dissatisfaction over themselves because they seem to do so little, and yet they strive on, hope on, and pray on, and to such as these comes the good news that God will finish what they have begun.

"And the time comes when they, free from the garment of flesh, will step into the Light, and then they will see, to their unutterable joy, that all God's promises have been kept, the 'mystery' has been explained in little part, all unconsciously they were setting into being those great laws of the Holy Spirit for the betterment of this world and the next, and they are blessed, as tonight many here are blessed, blessed because they desired to do their part, blessed because they will not admit failure, although at times it seems to some that failure lies close at hand.

"Oh! how blessed man can be, and the blessing so won has life for evermore, and the blessing sends out, as it were, the clarion call to others to strive in turn so that by the accumulation of Divine Blessings the power of the Holy Spirit can be manifested in greater measure upon the earth plane, and thus prepare souls for their great inheritance, for their holy calling, for their kingship with the King of kings, the One who indeed should hold our hearts and minds.

"It is hard to leave you, my little ones, for there are many points and questions that could so easily be thrashed out as we are met together but my work tonight is done. Your work has indeed commenced in this sense: that that which you have made your own you must put into practice and pass on to others.

"Deceive not yourselves, neither let others deceive you or those who are ignorant souls. Great manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit could indeed take place upon the earth plane, if only the conditions were here! But by that which man shall achieve, by the sacrifice and effort, by the laying aside of earthly desire and the longing for those transient possessions which are as toys - so the time comes when the shell cracks and the pure soul within, free from its encumbrance, can manifest as the Father has ordained.

"This materialisation of the power of the Holy Spirit is for wider things than the earthly mind can grasp, but they shall be revealed unto you as you pursue the path.

"I bless the workers here, and I say that in the degree that they give out of their real being, so the power indeed shall come, so there shall be a cleansing of the conditions, so God shall show His Hand. And after the toil the peace of the night shall come, and the night shall lead on to the dawn of better things - God's power in action through the efforts of His children upon the earth plane!

"I bless you all as I take my leave. Forget not the unseen who have gathered in and will learn of you as you take your daily way. Farewell, but in God's good time many of us will meet again. Farewell!"

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