"THE SAINTS AND THE HOLY DEAD"

"O gracious and kindly Father, we gather together asking that Thou wilt draw aside the veil between the earth and Thy love and that we, seeing and understanding, may for this short time enter into the holiness of the things of the Spirit.

"O Christ, help us to step aside from self, grant that all thoughts of the world - with its noise and its stress - may fall from us and that we, as little children with simple faith and with the longing to understand - that we may gather close to Thee knowing that Thou hast said: 'When two or three are gathered together in My Name there am I'.

"O God, we thank Thee for Thy Presence - for this holy influence that is stealing over all. Grant that indeed we may emerge from the material self and - free from everything - may in the Spirit contact with those who are serving Thee in the Bright Realms...

"Help us, strengthen us, purify us and give us courage - courage that we can rise above the strain of physical life, courage that can see in the cloud the Light beyond, courage because we are doing Thy work... and we know that as the need arises so the help is poured down.

"O God, cleanse our hearts and minds. Make us humble in our own sight. Grant that we may be led and guided as well as protected by Thee, and thus going forward in joy - in the great happiness of knowing we are obedient children in Thy sight - we may, ere the body is laid aside, contact with the holiness which belongs to the Eternal Home which Thou hast prepared for each one.

"Thy blessing, O God, is upon all Thy children - the children which Thou hast given me - and I thank Thee, thank Thee that darkness has been turned to Light, that sadness is going to be changed into joy, and that we shall go forward doing Thy will and showing others the gladness of service... Father, I thank Thee...

"...Good evening, my children, and it is a very happy occasion for me. I want you all, especially the strangers, to realise that you are my children; I want you all to see in me one who has loved you well, one who has watched your steps for many a long year, and one given this power by God, who has, in His good time, drawn you into this sacred circle and has bound you again and again to the things which are of God.

"Oh, never think that chance plays a part in the life of anyone, still less with those who wish to find the Master. You should know, all of you, that the plan of your life is clearly written down, and you, before you took on the body and physical existence - that you in the spirit, traced the events from the beginning unto the close.

"I emphasise this tonight because you have referred to those who seem to have been stricken sorely by the omissions or commissions of others. Yet it should hearten you all to know that this was no chance blow falling upon them while Christ was looking after others. No, out of the deep recesses of their soul came the wish to climb, came that longing to take on a burden for Christ's sake, because they saw what it would bring. Never commiserate with those who are in trouble - pour out upon them your sympathy, give of your help in unstinted measure, and commend them, but do not commiserate with those who have chosen the steeper side...

"If you could only grasp this tremendous fact - if the world at large could only get a glimmering, sadness - as sadness - would exist no more. They would see in each trouble, each pang, not only the love of God but the love within, which - striving to reach Him in sympathy - chooses the hardest road that courage allows.

"Yes, you will think, as you listen here, that all seems wonderfully plain and clear; and then as you go out into the busy life - with its irritations, with its sordidness and lack of harmony - the thought of the comfort recedes, God seems rather far away, and that which bruises you so much closer, almost pressing upon you.

"But, my children, remember that you are the chosen, you have heard the call and you have answered, and it is only just that physical mind which, when you pass out of the body will be laid aside so gladly - it's only that little part of you that mourns; while the spirit - that which is going to represent you for all eternity - the spirit rejoices in its burden.

"Let not your hearts be troubled if things go wrong, let not the sorrowing thoughts go too deep for those who have passed on. All, all is well, and separation exists only to that same small part - the physical mind - and nothing more. That which belongs to God is linked to them, and nothing can sever love or separate your loved ones from you.

"And now, my children, I am going to ask something from you, and I know you will give it willingly and gladly. I ask you to focus your mind on God alone - to get away from the thoughts of those best beloved beyond the so-called veil, to get away from every thought of self - even from me, although you listen to my words - and to raise your minds and think of the Presence of Christ, looking only into His eyes, just as if you could see Him with your physical vision as He blesses each one.

"Christ is the link - there is no other. Many have thought otherwise and have been led on in the end to disappointment. Christ is the only link between those in the body and those who have laid it aside.

"Tonight, instinctively, our thoughts travel far and wide; it is a day in the world when attention is fixed upon the saints - the saints and the holy dead. You see I have to use the earth phrase to express the attitude of the world... The saints of God - and to the mind of some, the vision comes up of some vast concourse of people and away yonder, upon a magnificent throne - God, the Jehovah, the King of kings. It is a very usual illustration but it does not express conditions on our side - not in the least so far as the placing of the saints is concerned.

"Once you have loved God, instinctively your attention is riveted on Him - but not in the sense of paying your duties or in listening to the words of a King. That vast concourse of people surrounding the great white throne exists in imagination only, and is purely symbolical of the attitude of adoration with which we regard the Father.

"You should know that God, being our Father, does not stand in need of this - it is we who are in need of so much attention. But the Father, the Great Spirit, Lord God Almighty, has different ways of working, and He, while casting the beauty and the brightness of His Presence over all, takes nothing Himself...

"And there you get the contrast between the kings of earth and the King of Kings. So significant yet so simple. The kings of the earth take the service of others, they are surrounded by those who hang upon every look and word, whose mission - whose life's occupation - is to study their master.

"But I say that the King of kings takes no such personal service from us. It is He who gives, and we who take. And when those come here who have the earth idea of kingship - they are amazed at the humility of the Greatest of All. God sets the example of service, just as God in Christ upon earth bathed the feet of the disciples.

"Oh, it should tell you much, it should alter your whole conception of things, it should bring home what you have to do, what I have to do, and what all the countless millions have to do in the end: To Give and Not to Take.

"Yes, this is getting to the heart of things, and I am instructed to tell you tonight that the King of kings waits and watches over the frailest - to you the most insignificant of His little children. The great lesson of service is laid out for all to see by His example. And when - as at times must happen - your service to others seems to be imposed upon, remember then, all of you, that in serving you only pass on the service that you get from God.

"Here we come down to that rarest quality of all - about which I have not been able to speak to you very much because you could not understand. I am speaking of gratitude to your Father, gratitude to Him who is highest and strongest and best of all, because only by Him and through Him can you gain immortality - can you gain the only thing that matters - to be a little more like Him and to know what real love is like.

"Yes, my children, hard though life may be, distasteful though the duties which recur so often, yet in faith I ask you to look beyond today - nay, more, I ask you to look beyond this year and next - and again I bid you fix your mind on the glorious Hereafter when you shall see for yourselves the service which Almighty God renders to you - without pride, without stint, just love poured out - and you, in turn, trying, in your limited way, to pass on fragments to another...

"Yes, the bells ring out - not the bells of your world am I referring to but the bells of the spheres, distant to you but in reality touching your own - the joyous bells which tell once more that Christ is born anew each minute into the heart and mind of man.

"There are those who seem to have strayed. There are others who wilfully turn their backs on that which is of the Light. In regard to these I have a word of hope. Remember that each minute - aye, each second - Christ stands ready to make the gift anew, to give and to give again. And the time will come, either on this plane or another - but the time will come when at last the response will be made; and then, guided as well as protected, the reluctant ones will hasten their steps into the Land of Promise - into the bright Hereafter.

"So, my children, I ask you to think inwardly - you know what I mean: To get into the way, instead of your thoughts being thrown out on this and on that which shall pass away, to send your thoughts back into the Spirit and to learn from within and not from without.

"And all that is necessary is this: Just the simple gift of 'the wish to be' - I do not say the gift of 'being', because very few can rise to that - just the gift of 'the wish to be'.

"Hold it close, let it be your waking thought, keep it in mind as sleep claims you, and you shall find that the wisdom of the Spirit shall be yours - not the knowledge of the world, which is required only for a limited portion of your existence - but the wisdom of the Spirit, which has got to be found, held and retained for ever.

"It is open to all. In the sight of the Father all are equal. He does not give privileges to one and withhold them from another. In your world it seems that some are highly gifted and that others have opportunities of culture which have not come your way. But the Father distributes equally the gifts of the Spirit, and the only thing which is needed to get to the highest point is dedication - that dedication which combines sanctity and service. With this one weapon of dedication you can go on and on and no barriers will be found.

"Oh, isn't it worth while? Isn't it worth a pang? Isn't it worth the longing for the sympathetic companionship of others? Isn't it worth giving up for a short space of time those you love so well? Ah, dear children, you should know that these are as crumbs when you are offered the Bread of Life. 'Take, eat that which is of Me' - the wisdom of the Spirit, the knowledge of the Love of God.

"And now, my children, I will leave you, because there are those who are anxious to come. Still fix your minds on God, and you shall get your heart's desire, or something which perhaps is better expressed by saying 'the desire of the soul' - you shall get that for which your heart cries out and for which the spirit longs... The peace of God is here - hold it fast, hold it fast..."

"...Well, my children, I think we have had a happy evening, and could you see things as they are, you would know that it was the happiness which is allied to the things of God - the happiness that fills up all the corners of the mind, and the restlessness sinks back while peace holds its own, and you are thereby able to contact with Heavenly things.

"Yes, in your world 'heaven' expresses that which is perfect, and could you grasp it, you would find that as you do your daily task, whatever that may be, you are gathering together material, not only for your own personal 'heaven', but for those bright spheres to which each contributes his part - for only by the efforts of the individual is the beauty and the power built up.

"You see, dear children, God understands the human heart far, far better than you do. Yet you do know that that which gives the greatest satisfaction is what you have been enabled to put together yourself - and when the result is a success, why the satisfaction is a hundred times greater than if it has been handed over to you in the finished state by another. Human nature likes to construct, it likes to build and to see how the parts fit in - and to those who have got that constructive side this should appeal.

"The journey of the spirit produces, inch by inch, that which is reproduced in the spheres. And when you go hence, you will not find that your conditions have been built up by another - not in one particular. You will enter into joy and beauty, but it will have been put there - substantial, real, impossible to destroy - put there by your small efforts, the thoughts of kindliness and of sympathy, the work well done when it went against the grain.

"You build your own 'heaven', dear children, and no one else can contribute one ray of light. Yet what happens is this: The trivial round, doing the same thing day by day, the weariness, the disinclination overcome - these are taken by the Great Father - and passing His Hand over them, as it were, the result is beauty and power which belong to you and which no one can take from you...

"My last words are these: See to it that the knots in the rope of your spiritual progress are firm. Go back in thought on your early stages when the desire first came to you to disentangle yourself from the material world - go back in thought and see that the knots are firm, see that the Spirit of God animated you right through - and then, dear children, I can promise you, with so much gladness and assurance - I promise you that you shall extend that rope in a way amazing in its rapidity...

"Just as in scaling a turret wall you would gain foothold on the knots, so does your spiritual progress go. And the knots are the tests - those tests which must come and which must be accepted with as much willingness as possible.

"Therefore, with this closing thought I leave you: See to it that the knots in your rope are firm, and if God is in your heart and mind - nay, if only the wish to have God in your heart and mind be there - nothing shall be denied you.

"And you shall see, not only in your own lives, but in the lives of others, the Spirit of God at work, controlling, uplifting, ennobling, and then you shall acknowledge with joy and with thankfulness that it was well worth while - that the climb, steep and arduous as it may have been, was well worth while. And in that day you shall know happiness indeed, the happiness which is of God, your Father.

"My children, I bless you with peace, with unity, with courage, and with hope - in the Name of Our Saviour Christ, I bless you and gather you in. See to it that you consecrate yourselves unto Him, and hold fast to that which shall show you in the days to come, love, revelation, and that illumination which shall surpass all that your imagination could conjure up...

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