"SPIRITS IN PRISON"

"To Thee, O God, we come as children in understanding, and we ask Thee to so separate that which veils Thy glorious Truth that indeed we may become as Thy disciples. Grant that the Divine within may gain something of release; that the enemies without may not prove too strong, but that these, Thy children, conscious of their inheritance, may grasp something of that which Thou hast prepared for them out of Thy Tender Love.

"O Christ, draw close and bestow upon each one the gift of consciousness, so that they may realise that they have been close to the One who loves them best.

"...My children, I oft ponder upon your lives. Each one is known to me; the circumstances of the daily round, all the trials and tests, these have been opened to my consciousness by the Eternal Father, who, out of His tender care, bids me come into your presence and reveal that which is of Himself.

"If I say to you: 'You are prisoners', then indeed I must add that you are as prisoners who have had their chains cast from them. If I say: 'You are free', then I must add that still something holds you, you are in that which represents a prison house; but forget not that doors can be opened, and even the prisoner bound hand and foot can feel the sweet breeze of the Spirit which comes to refresh him in his loneliness and despair.

"Yes, each one is bound, yet each one is a free man, a free woman; but I would not have you take from this that which is the half truth, that which is a little less than the Father would have you understand. You must recollect that what you are today expresses the history of your past; what you are today is, as it were, a step which you have climbed towards that which you will become in time hereafter.

"It is the will of the Most High that you should be as Himself although but a fragment of Himself. In time long past you were part of that great wide liberty which so expresses Spirit and which only expresses the Divine that is within; but experience was not your own.

"So, my children, as the enemies drew close, as you forgot the glories and the beauties and the powers which came with purity, with obedience, and with service, so you lost. Yet, because God is your Father and Mother, He provided that if by wilfulness you erred against the greater self, so then, by the suffering brought upon yourself, you should regain in time to come.

"So, my children, speaking under the direction of the Christ our Master, I would discuss with you this night that which I name: 'Spirits in Prison'.

"I do not wish you to think that humanity as a whole is in bondage, yet, again, I must emphasise that the majority is held by that which represents the god of self. You and I have a mighty work to do and time is fleeting. There are arraigned against us those who are strong, those who are determined, but what means this? Is it not a direct challenge to the will, the power within?

"In physical life the man or the woman is brave for those they love. The frailest mother is as a lion in courage where her child is concerned. With the man, that lethargy which is part of so-called civilisation - the bondage which comes from over-ease and taking the level road instead of the steep path - all that lethargy, that spiritual indolence, slips from him when one he loves stands in danger from an enemy of them both.

"This, my children, is a crude physical symbol of a great spiritual truth. Over the ages, so by that which has been cast away, there have been the thousands, the millions, who have gone on, regardless of their God, desecrating those spiritual laws brought into being for their protection, and they have passed out of one stage into another which reflects that which is terrible to behold.

"Why speak I to you in these tones? Because, my children, away out beyond this little earth, open to my eyes but closed to yours, I see the multitude, and those of the multitude are blind and bound. They followed the false shepherds, those of the world, perchance those who named themselves the representatives of the Most High but were unwilling to carry the Cross; they followed such as these for the easy way was more to their mind.

"Aye, many, many followed the enemies around when they cried to them - and the call is over the cities today: 'Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die'. But, when physical death came, the false prophets were unveiled, and life in a form incomprehensible to you was revealed to the foolish ones. In their terrible bodies they sought and sought, but for what did they seek? Did they seek at last for the true shepherd? Nay, a thousand times nay. Revenge was within, and over a time unthinkable to you they sought for the false prophets to wreak upon them suffering like unto their own. Spirits in prison...

"Why the call comes to you is plain for all to see: To those who have a measure of light, to those who instinctively call upon their God, so the bonded ones must look for the freedom which is so far from them at this stage. Many hug their chains; they want not you as they wanted not the Christ; but oh, think of the Master's words: 'Seek for the lost and seek until they are found' (Luke 15:4).

"Then, my children, I would come to these times of partial enlightenment. I have told you before that had man followed the teaching of the Christ according to his strength, had the message been preserved for man - free from the embellishment and furniture of the physical mind - today, this little world would represent something akin to Paradise as you imagine Paradise to be.

"What has happened? Alas and alas, many with the tools of the mind, with the capacity for taking facts and presenting them to others, many have turned from the simplicities of the Master, with their profound truths and wisdom, and have given out to this little world a gospel of their own. Yes, self formed around them literally a prison house. Through the bars of the physical consciousness was a wide expanse of thought and feeling and aspiration; but they turned from freedom and gloried in that mind, which, when the physical garment was discarded, was even as ashes itself. Its little fire burned so brightly, as it seemed to them, and others rushed to it bowing down before it - the vitality of the mind of man has always had an altar high and broad.

"But, when the physical was no more, they were faced with this: Not their thoughts, not their theories, not their teaching, but something far worse: Even as the waves of mud pressing upon them was their influence upon others - that which they had set into being with a life that must take years of anguish to destroy.

"This is the truth: When the body is no more, the gifts of the mind, if they have been used to hinder another, to obscure the guidance of the Christ, those gifts are as chains. And not only is the power gone to think clearly, to grapple with the facts that are around, but, like a drug or that which you call a cloud of poisonous gas, their influence upon others shuts them in, and it needs someone strong in simplicity, great in purity and love, to pierce those awful conditions and show the way into light and freedom and peace.

"And today this responsibility must be faced. I have said before - controlled by the Master whose love is over each and every one - I have said to the teachers and the instructors: Oh beware, take care, for the seeds of thought which you sow today, one day must be reaped by you, in turn.

"But no - still the individual has the greatest, the supremest faith in that mind which is a loan for the physical experience and no more. And so it is that in this country and in others, false prophets arise - the teachers, the shepherds. And the masses, because they are not fettered to God, follow this one and that, and they too must reap what they have sown.

"So, my children, when I say to you: You are free and yet you still have bonds - oh, think of the hope expressed in this statement; and think again that it could not be said of many of those who seek to lead the people upon this little earth. Yet, these are amongst the honoured, and you, for the most part, are amongst the unknown. Now, here is a glorious fact, and I long to impress it upon the mind of the body: Unknown perchance by your little world, but well known by God.

"And why? Because, my children, during the sleep state, in every case - and in many cases during the physical consciousness as well - you are instruments used by the Master, lesser shepherds under the great Shepherd. Again I say, why? Because in the past, not only as relating to the physical world but in the long past, out of the release of the Divine within, you sought to carry your cross and you suffered lesser Calvaries out of love for your Father and Mother God. So then I speak to you in tones not only of encouragement but indeed of congratulation.

"If, at this time, your path is beset by difficulties - that is another indication that you are tired of being a prisoner, that you are willing to pay the price to gain the key to open the door into that freedom held out so eagerly by the One who loves you best. If some suffer in the body - why, then rejoice, my children, that you are strong enough to bear physical pain, for, when the physical is no more, your pains will represent a degree of power. You suffer, for the Christ within had its eyes on the Christ who suffered so much.

"Cannot you understand that in the measure that you are free, so you are conscious of that which still binds? The prisoner in the dark planes, the prisoner in the physical body whose mind is fettered to self - what know they of freedom, what want they of that freedom which is held out to them? 'No', they cry, 'give me my treasures, my pleasures; the easy way is the way I choose'.

"Oh, foolish ones, oh, most miserable ones, how narrow is the prison-house which surrounds them. What of the morrow? 'Let the morrow take care of itself; I have today'. But today passes as 'today' and yesterday remains to be readjusted according to the almighty plan.

"Thus I speak to you all, and I say: Not only fight and struggle for the freedom which should be yours, but forget not that as each chain is cast from you so - by your greater liberty - you are making it possible to go to those who are fettered hand and foot, and the Light within shall pierce their darkness and you will be as a direct instrument of the Lord God of all.

"This is the call, and I pray you heed the voice which is within. I come into your presence in this way and I seek to arouse, to break from you the density that remains; but my words they cannot save you, you must save yourself; but while I hammer and while I underline, so the real man and the real woman has, as it were, clasped my hands, and the lesser self, in that measure, has lost its power.

"So, my children, I dare not speak to you in any tones but those of urging you on. I say that if you take delight in any of those gifts of the Spirit apart from what they are able to do for God, in that degree you are still a prisoner. If you feel: 'I have more power to help than my neighbour', and try not to give your neighbour as much power as you have yourself, then, my children, you are still a prisoner although the freedom of the Spirit awaits your swift advance.

"The gifts we have; the abilities of the mind, the strength of the body - of these we are custodians; and in the measure that we seek to honour God by using our power for His work, so henceforth in a body celestial we can be as beacons of light to others, towers of strength to the weak; and that is the will of God.

"So, my children, I entreat you to slacken not your efforts. If you have that which you name evidence of the Spirit World around you, show your gratitude to God by going to those who have not that same evidence and give out of your treasure. If you have taken the harder way of faith, oh, rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for faith is as a fresh breeze that scatters the shadows, and, out of the wisdom within, you shall pass on wisdom to the foolish.

"And forget not that, in turn, around you are those you name the messengers of the Most High, and they wait with their gifts and powers to bestow them upon you. But how few can accept! Their minds and their eyes are upon the possessions of the earth, and the treasures of the Spirit pass unnoticed, unwanted...Prisoners in very truth.

"Therefore, I say in the Name of Christ: Give out and take, but forget not that you cannot take the things which are of God unless first you have given of that which you possess yourself.

"And so I go. Yet, there is one to whom I am directed to speak. Brother (Dr. Willett), this night, in front and behind and above you, there is the Cross of Christ. Remember that not only have you been called but the spirit within has made its choice. Hereafter, you shall lead wanderers beyond number out of the depths into the Promised Land. It is a promise from God - forget it not. And now I go..."

"...Friends and comrades, after a great struggle I have broken through; and I speak to you upon a subject which must, in time to come, be faced by each and every one. In an ancient time I lived upon the earth plane. My name is Herod. Think you as to my lot, think you as to the bondage which held me over the long years, think of the revelation of what might have been and what was...

"Yet, I would tell you of the mighty love of God, for, lo, the great Herod, in time, was won back into the Light, led by a tiny child.

"I will go back: As I stand in these unfamiliar surroundings, once again, my servants, my slaves are all around. Within my heart there is naught but a ruthless desire for power. My eyes seek to the left and the right, for that which has not been done, and vengeance falls swiftly upon the culprits, whether they are innocent or guilty...

"Yet I am tired, tired of it all; I long to cast from me the robes that bear me down; the women sicken me; the music is hateful... Something within is calling: 'What have I done? What have I done?'...

"I passed out of the body in an anguish impossible to portray. It seemed that I was devoured by some strange animal, insatiable, and hell itself was not only around but within. I cursed those who sought to minister to me: 'Get out! Enemies every one!' Aye, as I died I cursed them all.

"I awoke, it seemed, after a short troubled sleep, and I saw in front something that resembled a snake in the proportions of a horse... I thought, my friends - for you are my friends, and I know you well - I thought: 'It is my complaint, my fevered brain; where are my slaves?' But I was alone and I fainted in my horror.

"In that state of unconsciousness, so it seemed my delirium went on, but I am forbidden to open unto you the terrors of the past. Suffice it to say that, after anguish unspeakable, I felt the soft touch of a hand. I opened my eyes - my weakness was great - the hand was the size of a baby's; I held it - God... I feared if I opened my eyes again, I should find it was all a dream; but no, the child was there; and through the grace of a little child I passed out of darkness into a measure of Light, and from then onwards I learned from the child... That child was my own; and I not only found my God but was reconciled to the Christ...

"I will go, yet, out of your charity, give me of your prayers for the past is before me as I speak and it seems that all the joy that was mine has gone; the cloak of memory holds me fast... Ah, I am free, and henceforth as my gift I shall go to others and tear from them the memory of the past and bring them back to God... Farewell..."

"...I come into your presence to make the link of the Spirit. It is the Hiawatha, and the good God, He commanded that this, His son, should speak this little message of the cheer that raiseth up the heart and puts the strength into the limbs.

"When I lived in the body upon the earth plane, there were the birds to direct, the stars to show the way, and the firm ground to receive the quick steps of the mustang as they galloped over the hill. Now I come into your life and the civilisation it is all around. What do I find? They are crushed in the little houses, and the birds they alone are free.

"Oh, can you not see what in this story, in this picture of the mind, is expressed? You have arrived at the stage when you have built around you what to us seems as the prison-house in which you must dwell; but above is the great Heaven, and the sweet wind from the Spirit it can blow over the earth and cast the shadows away...

"Little people, you must not be distressed at the heart when the depression - like a dark cap - is upon the brow. It is the little houses that make the depression. So get you out into the God's air and lift up your heart to the influences that are around, and listen for the music which has in its notes the power to heal.

"I, this night, speak under the cloak of the Zodiac, and my companions, those of my band, they have gathered in because there are many of the healers who are present and they wish to make of the links.

"The Running Water (Mrs Thorp's guide) and many others they wait for the earth instruments, so make haste. Let not the weariness hold back the foolish, let not the depression of the little houses settle on the heart, but think of the great Realms of the Spirit which lie so close at hand, and draw down to your sweet selves the comfort that I pass on.

"We are of one family, though the garment that bore me was not of the same colour as your own; but in the heart and the mind we are one family. When the great God make many children, He make them with the garment most suitable to the atmosphere under which they live. That is all. So the Zodiac he bid me underline that in the heart and mind we are one.

"We looked for the spirit of the forefather and the grandfather, and we held out the hand to them in the silence of the night. The spirit of my father he came and prepared me for what must come. How then are we different? No, no - we are the same.

"And when I speak in these joyous tones, so, from all quarters come the healers, the revealers, the supporters, and the bestowers; and they say to this Hiawatha: Tell the little white children that we have much to do together. That is my most joyous message, and so I depart in this little time, for we must not encroach upon the power so lovingly supplied.

"Yes I go but I come again, for many of my people they do help you in the soothing, in the relieving, and in the building of the body.

"This little child (Dorrie, note-taker) that I use, she has much work to do in the future, and when she say to herself: 'I will rest', so the Hiawatha he will say: 'Little bird, sing on'. For music come from the effort of the fingers; music come from the sweet desire of the heart; music come from the tender thought of the mind. So I say to her: 'Little bird, sing on!'...

"...My children all, the conditions tonight to some may have seemed a little unusual. My purpose in drawing you together was to make fresh links. Go back in your minds over those who have spoken to you: The past, the tragedy of your own time, the one like yourself, and the Hiawatha - all brought in to teach you as to the universal Spirit of the Christ.

"This is essential for missionary work. Say not to yourselves: 'This one is a stranger to me', but say that which is the truth: 'In the sleep state we are as one'. The link with the physical mind is for God's purpose, for, through those who have spoken, countless others have been drawn in, and you, or your life, has been as another link of the great chain of service which shall restore to humanity that which it has thrown away.

"Let not disappointment seize your mind. You have been blessed tonight in a way you cannot fathom. Those you love have partaken in this gathering, and the many who love you, unknown by your physical consciousness, they have had their chance.

"So then, proclaim in joyful tones that not only are you one degree freer through tonight, but, indeed, through your concentration and dedication, you have brought a degree of freedom to countless others beyond your comprehension.

"So work on - prisoners yet free. Bound a little you may be, but stretch out and grasp your freedom, that sweet liberty of the Spirit, which shall proclaim that not only are you men and women but sons and daughters of the Most High, inheritors of everlasting life.

"So I bless you in the Name of Christ; bless you with consciousness as to that which you have undertaken in Spirit; bless you with the will to go on; bless you with the power of the Holy Spirit to keep you on the narrow path which shall bring you home to God...

"The Cross of Christ is upon you all; oh, hold it fast, and be as free men and women henceforth and for ever... Farewell."

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