"PLANT LIFE AND ITS PLACE IN GOD'S PURPOSE"

"O Infinite Love, we ask Thee to pour down upon Thy children Thy blessing - the blessing of understanding, of being able to penetrate into the Realms of the Spirit, the ability to lay aside the thoughts of the world, to be free - and on the wings of love to soar out into those realms of thought and of being which are within the real self, that self which belongs wholly and solely to Thee...

"Father, into Thy Light we enter tonight, and we thank Thee that this sweet communion has been made possible, that it is a gift from Thee without any price except that of wishing to reach the highest...

"Then we ask that Thou wilt bless all those we love, either in the body or out of the body. Grant that the cords which bind us all together may be strong indeed, that the links may be of service, and that Thy Guiding Hand may lead us through the wilderness of physical experience out into the Golden Land of Promise, where love knows no bounds where it has free expression, and where the Spirit can grow and, in growing, can cast on either side sweetness and holiness; the holiness which is of Thee...

"Take us, O Father, and mould us according to Thy Will; and according to the will which belongs to the Spirit within mould us so that indeed we may more fully express Thy thought, growing in the likeness, following in the steps of Christ, our Lord and Master... Amen...

"...My children, tonight we are drawn together for God's purpose; remember that; remember that the desire within you, even if it but half expresses God's purpose, must, in time to come, be brought up to that high standard.

"Remember, my little children, that Christ has called you, that the Lord of Hosts is in your midst tonight, that the Sacred Presence always is there when those who wish to serve meet together in this way. Give out, then, of your love to the Great Lover of all; give out your adoration and your most tender thoughts to the Father who waits upon His little children, seeking ever to acquiesce to their wishes, seeking every means to bind each one more closely to Himself.

"Children, when we meet together in this way, it takes a few seconds, as you know, to break the thoughts which are fastened too securely on physical things... Now, my little ones, I have told you before that the things of the world have their place, but now and again comes that most blessed privilege of all, the power to disentangle yourselves from the body and bodily things, and, free in spirit, to penetrate into that inner sanctum of the Spirit. Just a step - it may not be more, as yet - but even this one step is a gift beyond all price. Into holiness we pass, and God shall use these precious hours to sow many seeds which shall bloom in the years to come...

"Children, I told you once before that I had much to tell you in regard to: "Plant Life and its Place in God's Purpose". But, of necessity, I cannot take you far on such a wide and extensive field. Yet, as you know, the first few points must be explained in the beginning in order to prepare your minds for that which lies ahead.

"Many in the physical world, by studying nature - in particular, the details of nature under what you call the microscope - have discovered that the Mind of God is a wondrous thing indeed; in the tiny leaf, in the delicate petal, lies that revealed beyond physical sight, beyond the physical mind in very truth - for, dear children, even the finest instrument cannot tell you how this marvel and that came into being - it can show you the exquisite tracery, the marvellous constructive thought in the flowers, in those tiny particles of flower and stem; but the door to the wider knowledge is shut, closed fast, and will remain so until man learns the great lesson which I am trying to impress upon you now...

"Until man lays aside his intellectual pride, and with humility approaches the Great Creator, the Great Constructor, the Great Architect of nature and the Realms beyond and above, so the door remains unopened.

"Children, I want you to regard the flowers, simple as some of them may be - I want you to regard them as sacred in this sense: That because they express a thought of the Most High, therefore they must be tended gently and with care. I want you to realise that in the lavishness of the gift of nature, there you have one of the most beautiful symbols of the Mind of God.

"I want you to try and understand the inner life of the flowers and the trees. I want you to listen for the voice of nature as it runs through the long fresh grass. I want you to hear in the very leaves which sway in the wind - the voice of wisdom, the voice of the Spirit - trying to teach those who will pause and listen.

"Yes, my children, I can quite understand that, for many, the study of what you call Botany is impossible. Neither the time nor the necessary instruments are there, nor are there such patient teachers as God would have, who, gifted with physical knowledge, could pass on from that - out of the physical and the material - into the spiritual and the Divine.

"I know that to few the opportunity comes to delve into the secrets of nature in the way I have explained; yet to all there is the open road to knowledge, there is the unfettered path to wisdom - that which can rise above physical conditions or the training of the physical mind.

"Children, from our point of view, it does not avail very much to be able to enumerate the number of veins there may be in a certain leaf, the signs of age in a tree, or any of those many facts - tabulated facts - which man has prepared throughout the ages. These things have their place, as I said just now, along with the physical; but the hour approaches when that physical side will be lost - will be allowed to slip away into the past - for those who love God shall cross the threshold of things material - of things 'known' - and shall enter into that vast sphere of the spiritual - the so-called 'unknown' - yes, even while the physical body remains.

"You have heard me say before that the only barrier between mankind and the higher knowledge is lack of dedication, lack of simplicity, and purity of heart. By laying aside self, by preparing the physical mind, by the discipline of the physical will, man - no longer bound to that which has been 'proved', to that fickle mistress called 'science' - freed from shackles, born into a new freedom, the valiant soul goes forward to see for himself, not only how God has made this or that, but something of the stupendous purpose underlying everything which has been created...

"Children, I ask you to listen to the voice of nature. Some of you already have heard these faint voices; some of you, when alone in a forest or out on the wide hillside, have felt and heard that which lies within... These things, as yet, are misunderstood, or perhaps I had better say 'not understood'; misunderstood in the sense that man, in sensing these finer vibrations, takes all the credit to himself - not understood by the majority, who, having never listened themselves, rule out this spiritual law as non-existent.

"Those who have trained themselves for pursuing the path to the higher wisdom would tell you, dear children, that from certain trees they are able to get certain emanations which express that particular tree. And it would be possible to take these so trained, so 'sensitive' - to take these blindfolded into a forest, and, standing in front of that which has known centuries of time, they would be able to say: 'This is an oak, because I can hear its voice!' and so on and so on...

"That, dear children, is the first stage - but the first stage only. To you it sounds difficult even thus far; but I say to the earnest, to the strong, to the pure, that the gift shall not only come, but shall develop in a manner absolutely beyond your imagination now.

"When the spring comes tripping in, when nature takes on new beauty, new expression, get out by yourselves and listen to the many voices of nature - nature trying to teach you, trying to train you, trying to show you how beautiful is the Mind of God - how exquisitely merciful and loving as well.

"The trees will answer to the faithful; the flowers know those who love them best. And if, perchance, you understand but little at the first attempt, then go back to the flowers, go back to the example of the trees; wait, and try again. That perpetuity of effort which is expressed in nature is a lesson for us all.

"Because a tree fails to come up to standard one year, yet ere the spring comes round again new strength has been gathered to its roots, and the second year atones for that which was lacking in the first.

"Nature is so restorative - and this is another little thought to make your own: That if you fail in the first or the second or the third experiment, remember that the God-nature in you has powers of restoring, of rebuilding, of recharging - and what you cannot do today is but held in store to be granted in the happy days to come...

"Children, I want you to regard the gifts of nature in a very wide way indeed. I want you to realise that in regard to those gifts under your care, you are, as it were, a custodian - a custodian of the thoughts of God. And if a garden be denied you, then with the flowers which others supply, you can show your appreciation - your gratitude - for these little messengers of Love, which are sent indeed to lighten and to gladden your lives; to express a beauty which, perhaps, is absent from your own; to demonstrate a hope which perhaps has not occurred to you before - that hope which always tells you, and explains to you, that the beauty or the happiness or the brightness which passes away only passes to return again in a new form - and, if you have acted worthily, in a sweeter and lovelier form as well.

"There is nothing in physical life which has not its spiritual counterpart in the Realms of Light. Those things which surround your lives - they were given to you in order to try and prepare your minds for something of the gigantic, the magnificent manifestations of the Mind of God, which are everywhere in the Spirit. Even the houses you build, the furniture you make - these but tell you that harmony and good work, stability and firm foundations, create something which will stand and serve; something which - even though it concerns the most mundane things of material life - by its harmony, by its orderliness, by its good workmanship, expresses God - the God within...

"Children, I have not been able to take you very far; but on another occasion we will go a step further. I have asked you tonight to set about the preparation, the listening, the sending out from yourself of those sympathetic vibrations, which can, and will, contact with the vibrations of that which you wish to understand - the 'sensing', the 'hearing', as well as the 'seeing'. That is the next stage towards understanding the place which nature has in God's great scheme for the raising up of mankind...

"Children, there is one other point - quite on practical lines - and that is to remember, in regard to flowers and plants, that even as a surgeon treats his patient so should these be served. When a limb fails to do the duty which has been laid upon it, then, with a sure stroke, the surgeon removes that which offends. It is done in the quickest and the most skilful way, according to the knowledge available. It is but a little thing, but I want to teach you that flowers and plants have their capacity for 'feeling' - which, though not in the sense of physical 'pain', yet is definite - and rough handling causes a wrench, a jar, a 'sensation' to that which is delicately poised.

"The flowers shed many tears in secret - and this, dear children, is not pure fancy only. They long to be loved, they long to be regarded in the way that God meant them to be regarded, they long to have their place in your lives and in the lives of the children of the earth - and so you can understand that, in the matter of care, of consideration, the flowers have their rights as well as the rest of God's creation.

"It is true that the little ones err in this respect. They pick the pretty blooms, and soon, withered and broken, they lie on the ground to perish; their effort to express beauty has aroused neither the desire of the heart or mind, but of that lesser self which seeks but possession...

"Teach the children then to be merciful; and, still more so, warn the older ones who so recklessly and heedlessly destroy loveliness without a pang; tell them that these things must not be; that the flowers which are given to them are trusts which will have to be made good some time, in other conditions, when they will see and know that, in God's sight, the tiny daisy has its place - and that place is for the raising up, for the expansion, for the releasing of the closed-in spiritual mind which is struggling to get free from its physical toils.

"Yes, in the daisy as well as in the rose, God's love is shown. In the beauty of the sky is reflected the beauty of the trees; in the beauty of the trees you get the contrast of the sky. Each has its place; each draws its strength, its vitality, its being, its life, from God the Creator - and to God these things belong - gifted to the children of the earth by a generous Father - ah, yes, my children, gifts bestowed with so much love.

"But it grieves the Giver of All when those who take seek but to destroy instead of preserve; seek but to make void the beauty He has created. Instead, by their thoughts, by their gratitude, by their acknowledgment of God in the flowers - to send those flowers onward with new strength, with greater possibilities of beauty and a higher expression of the Mind of the Divine.

"Children, now I leave you. Keep your thoughts well under control. Whoever comes, be they for you or not, send them your love and sympathy, because each and all belong to the one Great Family - the family which is joined together for ever and for ever..."

"...It is the little father, Tolstoy, and he comes to speak to the children of a country which, it would seem, is far away from his own.

"It is but a word which I am permitted to give - it is to tell you to be strong, to be powerful for the good - and yet to have the simplicity of the heart, the gentleness of the Lamb which was slain. To preach not of the powerful force of the sadness and the misery which is enthralling all, even your people as well as my people, but to speak - to cry of the love of the Great, Great Eternal Father, who holds out His Hands to the little children to bring them up...

"I was old when I found the path. When I was young, the powers of evil held me fast. When my eyes were opened, then I understood that God's laws cannot be defied, that the Spirit has to be answered, has to be followed, as a little child follows his father.

"That understanding of the mind, it helped me, but I failed - failed because when I had taken the step, when I had answered the Voice, still the understanding of the Love of He who made me, escaped me and left me cold.

"When I laid aside that body which I had understood so little, then it was made plain; and now, in humbleness indeed, I take up my cross and I follow Him. I follow Him down through the dark vales where men and women lie in the deepest despair. I follow Him out into those lonely places where the voice of companionship is not heard. There I seek and I find. There my mission lies - both on this little earth and in the many realms beyond.

"It is through the death of self that the resurrection does come; it is only through the crucifixion of that which is not like Him that we can stand and can say: 'I have been born again'.

"Teach this to the people and say it is from me - the little father, Tolstoy - who comes after many tears, after many wearinesses of the heart, to make plain that only by following in the Way that the Master has trod can freedom come, can understanding come, can the joy and the happiness be made our own.

"Pray for me then, and let your hearts seek mine with sympathy and affection. Pray for the little father who did not understand - but who now understands, and, understanding, longs to teach.

"My little children, it is 'Goodnight' but not 'Good-bye' - goodnight but not good-bye. And may the Great and Perfect Father of Love give you your heart's desire...

"Tell Mother that I am learning now how to create flowers. I know how fond she is of flowers and I thought it would please her. These flowers, of course, are very imperfect at first. You know, Mrs. Moyes, it is like a child trying to build anything - he has got to learn by his mistakes.

"Well, when we come here, that also is carried out; but the best part of it is we don't have to destroy when a thing goes wrong.

"Now, I have tried, amongst other things, to create a violet. I chose a violet because they are considered so self-effacing - they are not proud flowers - and I thought they wouldn't mind. You see, it is hard to get rid of the earth point of view; I should hesitate to try and create an orchid, because - well, they seem, what we should call 'aristocratic'. Of course, they are not really; but we have our funny feelings, haven't we, and so I thought I'd like to make a violet, because they wouldn't mind.

"Well, first of all you have got to get your groundwork - that's where people make a mistake. They say: 'Oh, when you are in the Spirit you create by thought' - and lots of people think it's just sitting down and putting on a good hard 'think', and then the thing appears.

"Of course, that wouldn't do at all. You can't build beautiful things in that easy way, because, if you could, why, you wouldn't value them. No, first of all you have to prepare yourself. You know what was said about listening to the voice of the flowers? Well, first of all, I had to listen to their voice, and, as it were, take on their conditions; because how can you build or make anything if you don't understand it?

"That's why God makes everything so beautiful. You see, only God understands, only God can enter into that inner... - what is it? - that inner 'centre' of everything, because it all comes from Him. We have to learn to try and get inside of the vibrations of the thing we want to create before we can do anything.

"You see, it isn't easy at all. I had a lot of trouble, and I'll tell you how I overcame it: Why, I got to love the violet so much, by understanding it, that, at last, the harmony between us was complete. And that's the whole secret of creation. Until the harmony between you and the thing you want to make is complete, you cannot build. It is what you would call a 'spiritual law'. So just - yes - so exactly what you would have expected if you had only stopped to think...

"It is the same with everything in your world as well as in ours. Oh, you can put together, you can make things, you can create. But unless there is harmony between you and what you are trying to do, that thing is imperfect; and the only way to get that harmony is to try and get into harmony with God - with that part of God within which you are trying to make your own. Then if that is possible, the gates of knowledge open to you - in regard to that particular thing - and you step inside..."

"...Well, my children, it has been a long evening, and I think, in spite of physical discomfort, you will all confess that even as we asked, God's Love has been vouchsafed...

"Little children of the Light, onward we go - out of the shadows into the beauty of the morning - when revelation, when those good gifts of the Spirit shall be counted as your own. Only have faith, have courage, be watchful - and all will be well. There is in store for each one of you, that which the Father has prepared, which cannot be put into words; yet, because He is your Father, so He delights to bestow...

"You are asked - ah, yes, asked as a Father asks His loved one - to come to Him and to receive His gift in person. You are asked to gather your resources together, and with joyful hearts, to continue the upward climb. There, on the crest of the hill, illumination awaits you; and if weariness and hesitation may have been yours in the past, surely now you have reached that stance when you can see something of the prospect which lies in front.

"May God give you this greater vision. And may your hearts and minds be so in tune with Him that gladness will take the place of sadness, and the companionship of our Saviour, Christ, forever cast out the thought of loneliness - giving you just that courage which, sometimes, you feel you lack now - the courage which can say and mean: 'Whatever the obstacles, I am going to reach the highest!'

"God bless you all, and steady you, and inspire you, so that you may not only gain the highest yourself, but may show others the glory and the beauty of the climb.

"Goodnight, my children... You have done well, and happiness shall be your portion - the happiness which is of the Spirit... which is of God... Goodnight."

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