"THE SHEPHERD AND HIS FLOCK"

"O tender Shepherd of mankind, we thank Thee that Thou carest for us, Thy children. We offer up tonight our hearts and our minds, and we beg that Thou mayest instruct us as to those things which remain for ever. Oh teach us how, in turn, to be shepherds of others. Grant that those strong in Spirit may pass on of their strength to those who are weak; grant that those strong in the possessions of the world may likewise give out of their treasure to the ones who are without; grant that those who have bodies strong enough to resist the vicissitudes of daily life, that these again may give out of their store to those who find their experiences are almost too hard to be endured...

"O Father, we know that each tender thought comes from Thee, the great Bestower; and we know, because we have listened to the Voice of the Spirit, that Thou hast gifted us in this manner, so that we may not only release ourselves but show to others that the way between them and Life Eternal is open with nothing to bar their path.

"Saviour, to Thy dear Name we raise our thankful hearts, our praise and our love, and we ask Thee, out of Thy mighty understanding, to show us how we can be used to retrieve for others that which they in their ignorance have cast aside.

"Help us, O Christ; hear us, O Father; for we are Thy children, not only in name but in Spirit.

"...My little ones, all so close to my heart, how can I put into words what you mean to me, aye, and what your thoughts, your hopes, your ideals mean to the One who loves you best? Suffice it to say that each impulse is noted by the great Father, and the blessing which comes to you as a direct result, comes through many sources and leaves its balm, its joy, its peace, on all it touches; yet, the blessing is your own, from the Father to His little ones who seek to pierce the clouds of physical life, to hold onto faith though, at times, the clouds seem over-pressing and the difficulties of the path perchance too great. But we - because we have hearkened to that which has been given to us by All-Wisdom - we know that difficulties are gifts, that troubles, so-named, are indeed a sign, a sign to us and to all that God has recognised the strength within.

"Oh, let not anything of the earth dim this view of Reality which has been purchased by the past. The untried take the easy path; the half-tried, ah, their troubles are soon o'er, but the servants of God - His instruments - when they have overcome the sorrows of their own life - aye, and during the period of the test - they, drawing strength from All-Strength, help those who are sore beset, those who are ignorant of the purpose and the plan; they grapple with the troubles of others and take it as the privilege it is.

"And this, my little ones, is part explanation why I am in your midst. The Master has honoured me by using me for His holy work. My joy, my peace, comes when I can lift another who is a little farther back on the great journey of life, when I can lift such a one out of gloom and show them the radiance of the Love of God which shines upon us all.

"This is my peace; and as you emerge from the physical, as you place the material where it rightly belongs, so all else will represent but a portion of harmony. The only harmony which is real harmony is casting your eyes to the right and the left, seeing the next thing to be done, the next person in need of help, and giving, giving, giving; for only thus can you take of the fullness of God.

"And so tonight, my little ones, instructed by the Beloved, I speak to you on: 'The Shepherd and His Flock'.

"Each one visible to your physical eyes loves the subject of Christ the best. Beyond you - ah, uncountable is the multitude - and they with raised hearts and minds, they gather into these vibrations, which are sent out far past the physical into conditions unknown by you. They gather close to listen and to learn about the One who loves them best, the One who has never turned against them, the One - the only One - who has never judged another.

"My children; when the Holy One commenced the physical experience, much was hidden from Him as indeed from all. He came as a babe, limited, physically and mentally - aye, but with that wide portion of Spirit which is common to infants, for, remember, they have but lately left that other sphere, the stage before.

"And while this subject is in our thoughts, I would instruct you a little, for you long to learn, as to the preparation which goes on before the spirit dons the physical garment, and takes that short - and, sometimes, very trying - journey, upon the earth plane; trying, my little ones, because all the time, even with the soaring soul, the love of God seems as sunlight which is continually interrupted by the clouds which pass across the physical sky.

"You know, though the day be grey, that the sun is beyond the clouds, fulfilling its functions, swerving not in the smallest particle from that orbit which it travels or the part it plays - plays, my children, not only towards this little planet, but to many other spheres and conditions hidden from the mind of man; for the sun - even the physical aspect - does a work so gigantic that the finite mind cannot grasp more than a fragment of that which it expresses.

"You know that the sun is there, but oft the skies are grey and that greyness creeps over the mind and heart, and unless there are those in your surroundings to give the word of cheer - ah, that sympathetic touch - a sense of loneliness assails you, and that which approaches sorrow seems as an enemy without the gate, and you know not the hour or the moment when the unwelcome stranger will be in the citadel of your home.

"This is the earth experience, trying to the young, yes, and to those who have found the day of life over-long, yet dread the coming night, for they know not what it represents or who waits there...

"So in order to prepare the spirit for these tests and trials of strength and patience, much is done for a period far longer than you can imagine.

"The bright ones, they focus their brightness on the adventurer; the grace of God, His many gifts, are, as it were, piled up around him, and when the babe comes into the little home, so the discerning see much of God reflected in the tiny form, in the beauty of the trust in the infant's eyes - something of God, something of God.

"That, my children, is the result of the preparation beforehand. And if, as in many cases you can name, the spirit enters a weak and ill-equipped tabernacle of flesh, and much sorrow seems to hold the little frame, then I would remind you that the bright ones, the holy ones, have brought their gifts, their powers, in double form; for the spirit which enters a body that has been marred for it by the weakness, by the selfishness of others, that spirit, by the severity of its experience, indeed must have double measure else it could not hold the slender threads together.

"Here, my little ones, you get one aspect of the Shepherd and His flock. Those of the world, bound by the narrow view of the world, they teach a partial faith in God because only faith in part is made their own. They know not how, over the ages, the aeons - over a past unthinkable to the human mind - that the Shepherd has tended His flock, has sought for the straying lamb, has brought it back again and again into the Fold, knowing that, in time to come, that same lamb would wander far and be lost again.

"Oh, think you as to this: You who are parents by gift or by choice, you know how your heart yearns over the little one in your care, you know what pain would assail you if that one or this, so vitally of yourself, turned from home and love, and piled up for itself anguish - anguish in the form of disease and all the many destructive issues arising from disease; you know how your heart would be torn if the enemies claimed and held the one who was your own.

"Now think of the Father, and the Father and His children are far more closely connected than the mother and the infant she has brought into physical life. Think of the Father over the long past, the patience of the Shepherd, His understanding over the childishness, the waywardness, and the folly, of those for whom He has prepared that which passes all understanding...

"This, little ones, is an aspect scarcely considered at all. Except for the few, the teachers and instructors have not penetrated into Truth beyond the first portal, for indeed the will has been absent, and the offering up of the humble heart, as yet, has not been made.

"The physical aspect of birth, in these late days, has drawn consideration from those skilled in the knowledge of the world. That is good, it is akin to the desire of the Great Father of all that the physical aspect of birth should have its place; yet, pause not there. Go back in that imagination - which is memory - and think of the past, ah, the preparation, the guidance, the warning which each spirit receives before it lays aside that which has been gifted to it and comes as a tiny babe to learn the lessons which physical life was ordained to teach.

"And then, my children, I want to speak more nearly as to the parents on earth. You all know that those in your home vibrations are there for some purpose, to work in a portion of the great, great pattern. You know also that the physical tie, very often, is physical alone; and that after the earth stage you find other links which are the real links, the spirit which calls to spirit - the one you had to part from, aye, and the one you have never met on earth; and such as these are as your other self. Yet, by the discipline imposed in the home circle and the wider one of work, so when you are free, you meet unchained, and grasp each other's hand, conscious that, by the very giving up, you have been knit together for ever and for aye.

"The Shepherd and His flock - the mothers, the fathers, and their little ones. The Shepherd seeks for the lost sheep, seeks until it is found. Earthly parents, because they are 'lost' themselves, very oft throw off their responsibilities, and the second state is worse than the first.

"But oh, read not into that word 'lost' a meaning which was never meant to be there. That which is lost can be found, and the one who has strayed from the straight and narrow path, that one must be brought back, for the Father is also the Good Shepherd of us all...

"Then, my children, I wish to speak of the masses, of that which you name the great majority. All cannot be teachers, very few it seems to you can instruct their fellows as to the Christ way, as to the way of peace; and this notion has grown up in the mind of the body, and much damaging work has been done thereby; for the few alone have taught, and the majority, who were intended to listen, they have turned to other interests, other calls have held them fast, and God as Father, as Shepherd, as Protector - ah, in a measure, that One is unknown.

"Oh, I speak to all, yet I speak to those in authority in a way which indeed is fraught with meaning. Those in authority who have the ear of the people - so far as the people will listen to anyone - what is their message? What is their gospel? Whom do they represent? And honesty forces the answer that, except for the few, they represent the world's view - and the Christ view scarce holds a place either in their thoughts or speech.

"Those in authority - ah, many have envied such as these - for the lust for power has struggled for supremacy in the minds of those who would scorn 'evil' in another form. The majority, they look to the god of self, and their influence stretches far and wide, dressed up in forms which hide the hideousness beneath. The great god of self directs the actions of those who hold the power, and even while they speak of state and country, they know, if they will face the truth, that state and country and religion - all these things take second place to self.

"They hold the reins of power, they have the ears of the people, and the great masses - unconsciously to themselves for the most part - they snatch at a corner of the mantle worn by those who rule, and in their little circle they seek to wield the wand of power; and if it is only to the helpless child, they show that masterful tenaciousness - aye, that most destructive desire to control the will, the body, and the life of the one who is powerless to resist. Even in the little child you get that sign, the mark of the weed within; for the child, unchecked, out of its ignorance of pain, tortures the animal in its grasp...

"Oh, think you what 'might' has done. In this little world, in a way you cannot grasp, the effect of might - the might which has triumphed over right - is writ in those terrible dark groves where the ones who held the power are chained by the past...

"The Shepherd and His flock: What does the Good Shepherd hold in His Hand? My little ones, nothing but love - the slender staff which would guide you, and the rest, on to the narrow path which leads to the realms of Light. And because the Shepherd holds that which is love alone, so, when in the individual love is not, then that one turns from the path and the enemies lay in wait for it on either side.

"Think you as to your own lot; think you as to the teachers and the preachers; think you as to the few who make the laws and see that the laws are enforced. The test is the purity of heart, the purity of purpose. Can each of these say: 'I lead but I follow Christ'? Can such as these say: 'I administer the law because the law of God rules my heart and mind'? Can those who teach the young say: 'I impose this lesson upon others because my great Instructor is All-Wisdom, All-Love'?

"Forget not that such as these are as shepherds and the masses are the flock. Today, a further light is dawning upon this little world. Those who have a measure of understanding look round and they realise, for the Truth comes from within, that God never meant the few to teach and the great majority to listen; that God never meant that the ruling of the destinies of great masses should be held by one here and one there; that God never meant that only a handful should lead the way out of the valley, up the hillside, into the realms of peace.

"Each one in turn is a shepherd. Each one in turn is as a lamb - a lamb which is dependent on another, a lamb which is helpless when brought face to face with those stronger and more ruthless than itself. Each one, from the highest to the lowest, is a lamb; and, again, each one, from the weakest to the strongest, is a shepherd and has a flock - and that flock must be brought safe home as last, otherwise the shepherd stands condemned, for that which was under his care no longer is there, and the Great Shepherd questions as to his lambs, as to those who have been lost...

"Here, my children, we come again to personal responsibility. I say that there is no one, even the tiny child, who is not as a shepherd, for does not the little maid tend her dolls? And does not the little boy, with interest and consideration, pull along the engine which is his own? And does not sorrow assail these little ones if harm comes to that which has been entrusted to them? Preparation - preparation.

"Oh, my children, neither you, nor anyone, has yet grasped the meaning of Life; but we are learning, step by step. We look on those in our surroundings, strangers to the mind of the body, perchance. If such a one is sorrowful and you are glad, you are the shepherd and that is the lamb under your care.

"And if trouble holds your heart, and another passes by singing the gay song which a sense of power and confidence brings so oft to the physical mind, then that shepherd is the false shepherd, for there was the lamb who wanted love and comfort - aye, the human touch - and the Great Shepherd is grieved because the lesser shepherd forgot, or did not think, and one of His little lambs felt that the world was a lonely place, that there was no one to care - no one to care...

"My children, one day, in that which is named the Houses of God, and in the homes of the rich and the poor alike, the gospel of the Shepherd and the sheep will be preached and taught in the Christ way. Those who represent their God, they will say to each one: 'Individually, you are called by the Master to spread the Truth; individually, you are shepherds; individually, though you are my sheep, there are sheep around you which are yours. I give for you to pass on to another; you listen to me only to take the good news to the one who has heard it not'. Aye, in time to come, those in the Houses of God shall preach thus, for this is the Father's will.

"Distinctions and rules and regulations, the delegation of office to this one and office to that - all shall be swept away, and a great and glorious flood of Light shall stream through arch and chancel, and those who listen shall be conscious that they but listen to teach again; and those who speak shall be conscious of the ones who control their hearts and minds; and the bright ones, the tools of God, they never forget that what they give forth is but a gift passed on through many channels; and Wisdom - great, great Wisdom - not only loves us all but has charged us and recharged us with power, so that those bound by the earth and its many chains can, in turn, feel the power and do their part as it has been ordained...

"The Shepherd and His flock - the flock of this little world is but a group. Countless groups in other conditions are under the Father's care, and you are responsible for them and they are responsible for you. The strongest, the purest - that one is your brother, your sister. The weakest, the frailest - that one can claim you as belonging to itself by the closest tie of all. And in the sleep state, so, with those who love you, you have travelled far from the earth conditions, and sometimes you have done the shepherd's work, and sometimes you have been as the lamb, gathering close to those who know the way, those who have gone in front.

"Oh, let this message go out on the vibrations. I speak to all, forget not this: Within you is God, something of the Great Shepherd, something of the One who seeks and seeks until He has found. Whatever the past, whatever the follies and weaknesses, you are a shepherd. Seek for your sheep for Christ has sought for you and has found you this very night.

"Open your hearts and minds to the Love of God. Fear not, but take as your staff the faith of a little child, and that faith shall not only retrieve what you have lost, but it shall retrieve for others that which they, in ignorance, have cast away. Let none say: 'I am master and thou art servant'. Let none say: 'I am instructor and thou art listener'. Let none say: 'I am the leader, you but follow'. For all are helpers, all are instructors, all have the power within - the power which is of God.

"Lead to the heights, not to the depths; instruct as to the Christ way, and not as to the ways of any world or any condition. Heal yourself by healing others, for though you may fence or deny it, you are a shepherd, and where, where is your flock?...

"My little children, this night we work on a pattern which is hidden from your sight, but God has vouchsafed to me the wide vision, and I see, and I thank Him, that from all quarters response has come. Those who were low in the sense of weakness, they have drawn back to themselves a measure of self-respect; and self-respect in its spiritual sense means the first dim consciousness of whom they are and from whence they came. Self-respect in the earth form is but a trick of the destroyers; the only self-respect in the Christ-sense is the deep realisation that you are a child of God, created by Him, to inherit with Him the gift of Eternal Life...

"See then as to your own lives, and forget not to pass on the good news to others. Say to the ignorant, say to the lowly, say to the one in his rags and filth: 'You are a shepherd and there are sheep which must be brought into the great fold of Love'. Go to the powerful, to the ones who hold the earth - so they think - in the palm of their hand, and say to them: 'You are a shepherd, what of your sheep? Whither lead you? What is your staff? Who is your God?'

"For the time must come when each one, as individuals, will look back over the past and see not only did they wander themselves, but, by wandering, took those more ignorant still into conditions to which they were bound - bound, for the shepherd forgot his flock.

"The great, great Shepherd of us all, never forgets and never overlooks. Each one in bondage, they are His. To the great All-mighty Mind, time, as you understand time, has no meaning, and the day will come when, in His Arms, the one who was lost will find peace at last.

"We cannot escape from our responsibility; we cannot escape from that which is our lot; and those who turn from this, who evade their duties, who pretend that they cannot see where their obligations lie, such as these, one day, must face the past, face the effect of their influence on others, and see, to their anguish, that in turning from the Light, they, in a measure drew, as it were, a curtain between others and the sun of God's Love; and because the sun was hidden, so such as these thought that the valley was all that life had to offer... And these, in turn, because they strove not but took the easier path, they in turn put barriers for others on the great highway which leads to God.

"And this has gone on over the ages; yet, turn the shield and see the radiance reflected there. Those who have struggled, those who have tried to do their little best, by their example of strength, of endurance, of nobility, what have they done? They have shown to the weaker ones that there is some better thing; they have shown to those who are frail that strength is lovelier than weakness, that work is more beautiful than the neglected task. In degree, they reflect the sun of God's Love to those who otherwise would be in darkness.

"And this again goes on and on, and the time will come that out of the efforts of such as these, so a great tide of Spirit-power shall sweep across this little earth, and by its very force shall awaken those who are spiritually dead; and, again, by its strength, revive, release some of the strength within.

"The mother in the home who loves her little ones; the one amongst his fellow-workers who tries to show that life can be sweet if God is in the heart; the teacher and the preacher who are loved by those who listen to the instruction which they give out - are not such as these the good shepherds? And I say that beyond the physical, their flock is uncountable, for the influence goes far outside this earth of yours, and many gather in to bless, and having blessed, continue their way, and others are blessed in turn...

"So, my little ones, when next you hear those words: 'The Tender Shepherd of Mankind', take it from the Master direct that under the Great Shepherd you are shepherds; and as you open your heart and mind, so your flock grows and grows, and the sheep can be beyond number at your desire.

"Each one, even the tiniest lamb, is being prepared, for one day such as these must be shepherds in turn; and they learn by the simple task, they learn by the care of things physical, by the ministering to the flowers, aye, even by the tidying of the garments they wear. They are learning, learning, so that in time to come they may toil in the gardens of the Spirit, and change that which is worn by this one and that, change their rags into robes of Light, for the preparation has been put in.

"Oh, think you of the little things, for I say that there is not one of that which you name the mundane or the domestic, which has not its great grand parallel in the things of the Spirit; and you shall be shown that the task well done has created something which shall never pass away...

"So, my children, I leave you with the blessing of the Shepherd upon you; yet, forget not His words, let them be writ across your heart: 'Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep'. Seek for the lost one, pray for the lost one, hope for the lost one, and the lost one shall be found...

"The Shepherd is here in our presence, gathering in His lambs, for you are of Him and He is the One who not only matters most, but the One who has given to you of His sacred Self...

"O most magnificent Mind of Love, how can we find within that adoration which is Thy due? Father, we thank Thee, we praise Thee, we love Thee, for Thou art our very all.

"And now, my little ones, I will go, yet the Master bids me speak again, and the Master speaks to us thus:

" - 'Thy praise, thy adoration, all this because it comes from the heart I take from my little ones, yet forget not the One who walked beside the Galilean lake. I am the same yesterday, today and for ever'...

"That is the Master's message to those who have been called, who have responded, and who will be used in time to come... Forget not the One by the Galilean lake, for that is and was the God to whom we seek to give our praise..."

"...Father forgive me for I knew not what I did... Lulu (Miss Owen), it's Alfred, and I'm here by the intercession of those who love you and particularly the one (Zodiac) who guards these evenings. I've been sent and I'm going to speak from my heart, for I know you are all friends and I've much to get in.

"Mrs. Moyes, it's a long time since I came, isn't it? Oh, I know you'd always give me a welcome, but I couldn't come for my heart was too full; but I must get away from myself. Lulu, the 'Instruction' tonight has cut me to the quick. I want you to go back over those early days of my training, and the effect upon your life. You will say that I taught you much that was good; I thank God that I never taught you anything evil in the sense of evil; but what I see now and I cannot escape from it, is the curse, the curse which was upon me. Mrs. Moyes, money wasn't my god but power was, power. I wanted power and I got it...

"I'm sorry, I don't want to upset you but it's like this: When we are young with a certain amount of vitality, we look around for an opening, we are in the world, we must do as the world does or be put on the shelf. I remember distinctly on my fingers counting up my assets and the little capital I had behind me; I remember also looking at the prosperous, the men who had made their pile; I was young and I said to myself: 'I'll beat you at your own game and without any of all the luck you've got'. And then I fell in love, and somehow that could have changed me.

"You know, Mrs. Moyes, I was not a brute, I always had that soft side and love is a wonderful thing; and if I'd had a woman who thought of Christ, I think - yes, I'm sure - she could have lifted me with her to better things. Oh, I'm not excusing myself but when I was young the glamour of love could have been stronger than the glamour of power; but I lost the one and got the other, and I've been paying for it ever since, and God only knows when the bill is going to be wiped out.

"Lulu, for heaven's sake, don't take my teaching, my training over the past, as a motto for the present or the future. My dear children, it's like this: From the world's point of view I was right, I'd spotted a winner; from the world's point of view you can spot a winner, but what's the good of it all, what are my millions now? I stand here tonight, and I would to God I'd been a street scavenger with Christ in my heart - oh, I don't mean in a general way but the Christ-spirit, the looking up to the Master. Yes, I can do it now, I can feel His sweet smile...

"Oh, to go back over the past and wipe it out - but I can work it out. It's the example, Lulu, cut it out of your scheme of life; don't think of what I should have done except when I tried to make others happy... Oh, the balm of that - thank God I've got those memories. I was so blind and yet I saw; I hated the crowd; I hated all the tomfoolery of society, the accursed hypocrisy and the blatant vulgarity which was hidden under wealth. And yet my boat was on the same river. But at times it was sweet to get away and I remember - it seems as yesterday - talking to MacKenzie about his little ones. He loved his wife, Mrs. Moyes, real love, and they had got the children. I could have bought him up with a signature; ah, but for what he had I'd have given all my millions in exchange...

"Yes, it seems like yesterday; I saw yet I was blind, and I argued: 'If I can't have one thing then I'll have the other; I'll get to the top, I'll show the fools who's master'. I got to the top and I was master, but in the zenith of my triumph I found I was a slave. Someone bigger and greater had mastered me, but that master was the God of Love, and He took my follies and my little bits of pride and - just as you would say to a youngster - 'Let's make a bundle of that for I have something better in store' - so He gave me my throat (complaint) and that big body which was always going to pieces.

"And when I was free, I looked back on the days of pain and those sleepless nights, and I found that a Father's love had fought for me and saved out of the wreckage something for the by and by..."

"...Ah, I knew you wouldn't expect me. It's Queenie, and I've come tonight to talk to Margaret (Mrs. Hoare). Now, Margaret dear, I've a little something to say to you. You will remark that you thought I was having a holiday for ever and for ever. Well, you know, Mrs. Moyes, holidays must be taken sometimes, but a holiday on earth is quite different from a holiday in the Spirit. When we are on earth - oh, I've watched others, although it wasn't my own experience - when people are on earth they fix their minds on a certain date and they say: 'Then I shall be free'. And they think they will be - that's the funny part of it. With such relief they down tools, 'goodbye to you' for a fortnight or a month, sometimes it's two months, and away they go.

"But, Mrs. Moyes, there is one thing that people on earth forget - they don't get a holiday from themselves. Oh no, and, after all, the freedom comes in rather a limited sense. They are free to stay in bed in the mornings, they are free to go for long walks, but their mind goes with them, and sometimes they are very glad to get back to work again. Well, that sounds very pessimistic, doesn't it, but it isn't, it's the law of compensation. You long for something for eleven months, and you have it and then, if you are wise, you will say: 'God's ways are best'.

"But, Margaret dear, I want to tell you about a little holiday that I had. It took me rather a long way from the earth, as you would say. First, I prepared myself, for they told me I had reached that stage when something more of the wonder of God could be opened to me. So I prepared myself, and preparation to us is like this: If we have worked hard then we work harder; if we have prayed then we pray more intensely, and so at last they said I was ready, and I went with one who is waiting for an opportunity to speak at these evenings.

"I think I will tell you his name; people on earth call him Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, and already the links have been made. He took me, for he is very bright and beautiful and has vision which reaches beyond anything I can understand, and as a little child I held his hand. First of all, we went beyond the outer vibrations of the earth, and then, because I felt my strength was inadequate, as it were, sleep came upon me and when I awoke I saw this...

"It is difficult to explain; I was out on one of those crystal seas, just alone with the bright one; everything seemed charged with beauty and power and I said to my guide: 'What next?' And he answered: 'Wait, little one, and you will see'. And then it was as if the Heavens opened, and as I raised my eyes there was one there who seemed to me to be searching both to the right and to the left, and his eyes were even as the fire which shines from that power (holiness) which you cannot understand.

"I said: 'Why does he search and why cannot he find?' And the one so wise answered me like this: 'That is a keeper, a keeper of the treasures of God, and the treasures of God are His little children and he is seeking, for there are many who are missing, and as he looks so the love from his eyes pierces the darkness and the density of the physical conditions, and there are those who are stirred to hope. His work is always thus, for as he turns to the right and the left, so through him from the Great Source, light and love come, and it is even like a searchlight from the Heavens, picking out the little ones on earth...

"And he told me further that the one who searches is he who was Abraham of old; yet he is young, young with the imperishable youth of the Spirit of God. Oh, so little can I say, yet I watched the rays and it seemed to me that as the beams of light went out from him, literally, they turned the barren places of the earth into a semblance of beauty; and those who were living there, in turn, they changed. It was like water in the desert which has the power to produce tiny signs of life.

"And then I spoke to the one who had given me so much, for without him, Margaret, I could not have seen and I could not have heard - only while his hand rested upon me was the vision given. I turned to him and I asked why the gift was mine? And he answered that in the future I should be used to do the same - of course, in degree, you understand. He said: 'When on earth I was blind until the Saviour came, but out of that blindness which was mine so sight has come and the power to give to others.' He is here with many of those who are bright and beautiful, and he wishes an opening to be made. He speaks yet he listens; he directs yet he is led, for he and the one (Zodiac) who holds the corners of these conditions, they, as brothers, work for God...

"And now let me give this little message something of a personal touch for you all. You and I and a vast army of soldiers of Christ, we are going forward, and we dare not wait for those who consider and consider. Always it is onward and upward, and if we paused with them instead of lending them strength, we should be adding weakness to weakness; with its never-ending effect.

"Pray for the ones who bar this further revelation of God's Truth (Note: Spirit Communion and the Zodiac messages), pray for them and love them, but never forget that you dare not wait, you dare not thwart the desire of that which is holy within. We are out on a great campaign and everything that we have, everything that we express, must give way to the purpose and the plan.

"Margaret dear, there is so much in this for you, and I want you to be certain that because you have pegged away, concentrating on the very best, you have gathered to yourself, in the Spirit, so many followers that you would never believe it if I counted their number. And that accounts, dear, for the passing sadness. They were borrowing from you and you didn't grasp it, and also you haven't made quite the fullest use of what you can borrow from others. Do you understand? It is so simple. You have been a shepherd and they gather so close that you 'pick up', as you would say, some of their conditions...

"And now I must go. Mrs. Moyes, before me as I speak, written in letters of gold, there is this: 'Forgive and forget' - and God has written across it: 'The past is past, the future belongs to Me'. Take that as a sign, all of you - the past is past and the future belongs to God. Goodbye. Give my love to Aunt Agnes, won't you..."

"...My dear children, I will close this evening with but a few words, but I want you all, in thinking of what has been said by each one, to evade no point but to face the truth as the truth has been spoken. The children, the man, each one clearly indicates the spirit's purpose and the leading of the Divine within. Each one has spoken of things as they are and not of things as they seem. They are shepherds, in turn, for they have answered to the sweet Voice of the Great Shepherd who guides us all...

"Oh, remember this: That by the desire to do Christ's will, by the concentration on the task at hand, when the brief earth stage is o'er you shall see, with an amazement and a joy past all explanation, that you worked, you tended, you restored, and you released many unknown to the mind of the body. This is essential preparation for the great work when spiritual sight is your own, when the things of the earth - its possessions, its seeming joys and pleasures - when these are as dust...

"So with grateful hearts, with the mantle of peace folded round you, with the staff of faith - purchased by the past, your own for ever - you shall lead the weak and the frail out of their terrible conditions, on to the sunlit path; and by their freedom, so greater freedom comes to yourself; by the mitigation of their distress, so sorrow over that which you wish had not been there, so that sorrow shall be wiped out never to return again...

"I bless you in the Name of the Saviour with the spirit of the Saviour; I bless you in the Name of Love with that deep and holy purpose to give out of what you possess to those who, as yet, have no such gifts to call their own...

"The Shepherd blesses His flock; the fold is open wide; room for all, room for all - that is the message of the Christ...

"Goodnight, my children, and thank the Father for all that which has been vouchsafed to you as to His will, as to the purpose, and as to His mighty Love. Goodnight."

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The Greater World has sole copyright for the Zodiac Messages and came into existence as the Greater World Christian Spiritualist League in 1931 (U.K. Registered Charity No. 212369). The Greater World was originally established purely because of the Zodiac Messages and their introduction into earthly life by the Christ Messenger Zodiac and the further revelations of the Christ Mission expounded therein. The inception of the Greater World was for the preservation, as received, of the Zodiac Messages and the prudent dissemination of the spiritual philosophy, consequently perpetuating the incorruptibility, distinctiveness and uniqueness of the Zodiac Messages and the teachings contained therein.

Download 9 chronologically-ordered digital books of earlier Zodiac Circle sittings (1923-1928)