A.G. Riddle Writes that He Believes James Garfield Will be Helped by James Advice

March 22, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, your old partner.

You had a letter from Garfield. He was so anxious to write that I thought it would do no harm to let him try, and I am glad that I did, for what you said to him has impressed him very much and, I believe, will lead to his seeking information on the subject of the New Birth. He is a wonderful spirit intellectually and has progressed to a very great degree in the investigation of spiritual laws. So that on the whole, his writing will do no harm to our band.

Well, I do not understand it, as he was a Christian on earth, and one would naturally suppose that he would have made inquiry for Jesus when he came over. But it seems he did not, why I don't know. But now that he realizes what you told him, he undoubtedly will seek the Master at the first opportunity. I shall endeavor to show him the way with all my heart and ability. Yes, I will soon. I am very happy and am progressing rapidly, and expect to soon be in the Fifth Sphere, where your father and Professor Salyards are. Oh, my dear Padgett, I cannot tell you what happiness I am now enjoying.

Well, I must stop. Mrs. Riddle and Bert are advancing some, but they do not seem to get the light as rapidly as I hoped they would. But they pray and, I think, are commencing to realize that God's Love is waiting for them. So with all my love and many wishes for your happiness and success,

I am your old partner and spirit brother,
A.G. Riddle

James A. Garfield, a Friend of A.G. Riddle, is Having Trouble Accepting the Truths as Told to Him by Helen and Mr. Riddle

March 22, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington D.C.

I am here, Garfield. 

I am J. A. Garfield, your old partner's friend.

I want to say that you are a very much favored man in having so many spirits of such high degree of development interested in you and your work as a medium. I have been with Mr. Riddle a great deal, and he tells me of the wonderful powers you have received in taking these communications, and the wonderful truths that have been communicated to you; and what great faith you have in prayer to the Father. So you see, I am interested, also, and wish to say something regarding this spirit life and my experiences as a spirit.

I am now in the Third Sphere where Riddle is, and he and I frequently converse about these matters, and are seeking the truths with all our minds and souls. Well, I only know this way as a believer in the doctrines of my church, and what I have learned in addition since coming over here. I am not a believer in all that the Bible teaches, but only in the things that appeal to my reason. My faith in prayer is not very strong, nor in the possibility of becoming a spirit who may receive any great help from the operations of the Holy Spirit, which, as Riddle says, is the only influence that can surely redeem me from my sins or the result of them, and make me one with the Father. I cannot comprehend this teaching, and unless my reason can be convinced, I cannot be persuaded to accept the teaching as true.

So you see, I am still in the position that I was on earth - that is, unless my reason tells me that such a thing is true, I cannot believe. That may be so, but how can I do that? I am not a child who can believe everything that is told me, just because someone else says that it is true. No, I must learn from my own investigations.

Yes, there seems to be some force in that, but how can I use the instruments or faculties of the soul when I don't realize that they exist? Or how can I attempt to investigate any truths when, as you say, the means necessary to be used in such investigation I have no knowledge of?

Well, you might be right, I may be wrong. I will ask Riddle about these matters with an unbiased mind and listen to him attentively. Well, I perceive that you have great faith in the existence of these truths, and I promise you to devote my whole efforts to searching for the truth.

I have met some of them (Mr. Padgett's band), and they are all very beautiful and happy, especially your wife. She is a wonderfully beautiful spirit and so very loving and kind. I have talked with her a number of times, and she has told me of the wonderful Love of the Father, as she calls it; but I thought that she was only an enthusiast, and a believer in some doctrine that the young could easily believe, and make by their faith a reality.

[Question and answer.]

No, but I will. I will ask for an interview with your grandmother, and I have no doubt that she will grant it. I will listen to her, as you say.

I do not know who you mean. When on earth I considered Jesus such a one as you describe, but I have not seen him here. Well, I am surprised, I must say. I thought that he was a part of the Trinity, and was away up in the Heavens far from the sight of spirits. You certainly astound me. I certainly will. You must be an exceedingly good man to have such a relationship with the Master, God. Well, let me think of this. I am confused, and not able to think what it all means.

Well, when on earth I was a mere believer in the letter of the Bible. I did not realize what its spiritual teachings meant, and do not now. I was like thousands of others who profess to teach the truths of the Bible.

So you see, I am nothing more than an intellectual Christian. I do not yet see that this life is anything more than a mere continuance of the earth life, with the possibilities of greater mental progression and acquirements.

So you are my old instructor's late partner. Well, I am certainly glad to have this opportunity to write; only forgive my intrusion. I cannot express to you my appreciation of what you have told me. I want you to pray for me, as I know that your prayers will benefit me much. I did not know that I was causing you to violate the rules of your band, and ask your pardon for doing so. I wish further to say that your motives in permitting me to write have very much affected me, and I commence to think that your love for not only Mr. Riddle but for me must be more than usual among men. I will show you how much I appreciate your interest and kindness in doing what you say. So I will stop now.

Well, I had forgotten, but now that you recall it, I do remember, and felt so grateful that the message was conveyed to Riddle. Well, how strangely things happen. To think that your wife, whom I so much admire here now for her beauty and goodness, was the messenger for me on that occasion. It seems as if all things are working together for my good. I am so glad that I came to you tonight.

So with all my respect and spirit love, I am your own true friend, and searcher after the truth.

James A. Garfield

Samuel R. Phillips, a Fellow Lawyer and Church Member, Writes That He is in Darkness and He Does Not Understand Why

March 19, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Samuel R. Phillips.

I was an acquaintance of yours and a lawyer as you will remember, and I desire to ask you to give me some assistance in getting out of this condition of darkness in which I am now living.

Well, I have heard other spirits say that you have helped them, and so I came, and remembering that I was your brother lawyer on earth and had an acquaintance with you, I presumed that you would not refuse to assist me. Yes, R., that is correct.

I don't know why I am in darkness, except that I did not develop my spiritual nature when on earth. I did not understand very much about spiritual things or the soul and, hence, when I came to the spirit world I was a very unenlightened spirit. I cannot explain this thing. All I know is that I am in darkness and need light.

Well, I was a member of the church but that did not mean that I knew anything of the truths of the spiritual things. I read the Bible and understood what it said, but I did not understand what it meant in the inner and spiritual sense. My religion was purely intellectual and now I find that is not sufficient to relieve me from the darkness, which I am now experiencing.

Yes, I believed in God, but not in Jesus as a God, but thought him to be a very good and wonderful teacher.

Well, as to prayer, I never gave much thought of it. Of course, as the people prayed in response to what the minister might read, I read, too, but I never really prayed. It was all formal and not the longing of my heart as some have said a prayer should be. But I do not understand what prayer has to do with my present condition of darkness.

Well, as I don't understand, I don't seem to appreciate what you say. Tell me more fully what you mean, so that I may make the effort to comprehend your meaning.

Well, I am happy in a way, but not as I expected. I believed that God was all goodness and that all His children would be happy in the spirit world, but I find that I am not so. I am somewhat disappointed and also very much at a loss to understand.

No, I have had no remorse or realization that I committed any very great sin on earth for which I should suffer here. Of course, I was, I suppose, very much like other men who are not very immoral. I never indulged in immorality to any extent and tried to do the right thing towards my neighbor and, hence, do not understand why I should have remorse or lashings of conscience.

No, I never have tried to examine myself very much to learn how I compare with the ideal Christian as portrayed by the teachings of Jesus, but I will do so. There may be something in what you say, and it may be that I have not sought the truth as to the cause of my darkness. Yes, I see a number of spirits who seem to be in darkness also, and who say that they are anxious and waiting to talk to you.

Well, I do see some bright spirits and they certainly are beautiful and seem so loving. Why they look at me with great eyes of love and sympathy, as if they would like to help me.

Well, I am surprised, for there is Riddle my old friend and brother lawyer. Why is he so bright and beautiful? He thought, when on earth, very much as I did about the things of the spiritual world. He says that he is glad to see me and invites me to go with him for a talk, and I will go.

So my dear friend, I will say to you goodnight and good luck.

John Padgett Confirms That He is James' Guardian Angel

March 17, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, your Father.

Well, my son, I have not written you for sometime as you have not given me the opportunity, but it was best as you have received much valuable information from the others that have written you.

Well, I am still your Guardian Angel and will be as long as you live on earth. I know that Helen is with you very much of the time and, of course, is much more interested in you than any of us and tries so hard to make you happy. Nevertheless, she is not your Guardian Angel.

White Eagle is your guide in a great many things and is a faithful one, too, but he is not the one designated by the higher powers to perform the duties of a Guardian Angel. So do not think that I am not with you trying to help and sustain you in your troubles and cares, for I am.

We are all so much interested in you, that you are never alone even while you sleep. Even Mr. Riddle and Professor Salyards are with you a great deal trying to influence you in your earthly affairs.

The last writer was the spirit of the man who wrote the book that you are reading. I did not know him until he came to write and introduced himself as the author of the book and said that Jesus recommended him. Of course, we consented for him to write.

He is a spirit of the Fifth Sphere where I live and I shall see more of him now, and it may be that he will join our band, for he is a wonderfully intellectual man and well versed in spiritual truths. Yes, he is not filled with this great Love as are your grandmother and mother and Helen, but he will make a desirable addition, and I believe that all the band will consent, especially as Jesus has recommended him.

Yes, I am glad to say that Alice is now in the Third Sphere, and she is praying with all her soul for more love. She is a beautiful spirit.

Yes, she does, and she loves you very much for your kind thoughts and is with me very often when I am with you. Call her Laura or Sola. Yes, look at your writings and you will see.

Yes, they are still praying and I see them quite often. Mackey is progressing more rapidly than any of them. Taggart is progressing, but he is so hard to convince, but sooner or later he will be convinced and then he will advance rapidly. Harvey is held back by his disappointment in not receiving what the priests had told him on earth. And McNally is still in darkness - his awful habit of drink has resulted in keeping him in this darkness, but he is praying also. And we all hope that they will see the light.

Yes, especially Taggart, who says that he would like to have another talk with you before long, and he wants to ask you some questions and maybe you can answer them so that some of his doubts may be removed.

Yes, she (Mrs. E.) is not very happy and has not yet fully realized that she is in the spirit world exclusively. But Helen is with her very much and is trying to assist her to see the light and turn her thoughts to things spiritual.

Well, I must stop. So goodnight, my dear son.

Your loving Father

Eugene Crowell, an Author of Books on Spiritualism, Confirms the Truth of Jesus and His Teachings

March 17, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Eugene Crowell.

By permission of your band, I will write you a little, as I see that you are reading my book and I am, consequently, interested in your right understanding of it.

Well, as you have observed, I did not look upon Jesus as a god, but merely as a very high medium and in great favor with the high spirit powers. And that is correct so far as it goes, but he is more than that. He is the highest and most enlightened and most powerful of all the spirits and is the only one of all the great prophets, or seers, or reformers, or messengers of God, who ever taught the true and only way to the Kingdom of Heaven. And the sooner all spiritualists recognize and believe this fact, the sooner will true spiritualism be established on earth and the Love of the Father be implanted in each soul.

All these things have I learned since I came over here and had the opportunity of investigating the truth at first hand with all my powers, which are not limited or encumbered with the physical senses. So you must, in reading my book, eliminate everything from what you may accept as true that teaches or intimates that Jesus is not the great Master and teacher of the true and only way to God's Love and salvation.

Of course, all spirits do not understand or believe this, and when John said try the spirits and learn whether they be true or not, he meant just what I have told you. I know now that Jesus is the most exalted son of God, and while we are all His sons, yet none of us is so at-one with Him as the Master. So as you are investigating this question of spiritualism in true earnestness, I thought it best to tell you what I have learned, as I do not want any expression in my book of a meaning contrary to what I have here expressed cause you to doubt for one moment the truths that Jesus and your band have been teaching you.

You are wonderfully favored in having such a teacher, and I believe that the result will be that when you shall have received his messages and transmitted them to the world, spiritualism will become the religion of the whole earth. This is my belief and it is founded on the fact that it will then teach, besides the continuity of life and spirit communication, the great truths that will show men the absolute necessity of following these teachings of the Master in order to become the true children of the Father and be received by Him in His Kingdom of Love and Divine existence.

I must not take up more time now, but will write you again, if permitted.

Yes, it is. Well, I thought that you wrote Eugene. I cannot see what you have written at the time of its being written, and when I guide your hand and impress your brain, I think that you have written as I intended.

Eugene Crowell - that is my name. The writing of Edward was not what I intended.

Yes, in 1886, at San Francisco, California. This is true, and you will find an account of my passing over in the newspapers of June 7, 1886 - in the San Francisco newspapers. So examine for yourself and you will find what I say to be true. Well, I will say goodnight.

Your recent spirit friend,

Eugene Crowell

Helen Writes of an Experience in Trying to Show a Spirit the Way to God's Love and Stresses the Importance of Learning the Truths While on Earth

March 17, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Helen.

I want to tell you of my experience in trying to show a spirit the way to God's Love, which I had a short time ago.

Well, I talked to this spirit of this Love and told her that the only way to happiness and to the Celestial Kingdom was through prayer and faith, and that all spirits who were inhabitants of those spheres had received this Great Love of the Father only through prayer and faith; and if she wanted to become an inhabitant of these Heavens she must seek for this Love in that way.

She said that she was told when on earth that if she only observed rules and regulations of the church, and devoted herself to doing church work and looking after the interest of the church, so that it might be sustained and fostered, she would go to Heaven just as soon as she had left the earth life - that that would be all that would be required of her, and that no other seeking or striving after God's Love would be necessary to enable her to get into the Heavens where God and all His Angels are.

I told her that she must now realize that such performance, of what she considered to be her duty, had not been sufficient to carry her into these Heavens, and that she must realize that something more was necessary. But she still persisted, that her belief in what she had been taught in the church could not be changed, and that very soon she would become an inhabitant of these higher spheres. So I left her, because I saw that at this time her belief had so fastened itself upon her convictions, that it was useless to try to convince her that she was laboring under an absolutely false belief.

So I find that in this spirit plane there are many spirits in darkness and bigotry, which prevents them from seeing the truth and progressing to the higher spheres. I do not think that mortals, when they become spirits, have any better opportunity, for sometime at least, to realize and accept these truths than they had when on earth, and the men or women who teach these things have a great sin to answer for, as Jesus said, "Cursed is he who believes and teaches these false doctrines." And I think he must have laid especial emphasis on the teaching as it affected not only the teacher, but many others who had faith in and accepted these teachings as true.

I am so glad that I, when on earth, was never fully convinced of these church dogmas, as I consequently found it so much easier when I came to the spirit world to believe the truths as they are. Of course, I was exceptionally blessed in having your mother and grandmother, who are so well versed in these things, to show me the way, and then when Jesus came to me and corroborated what they had said, I could not help from believing.

So you see the importance of learning these truths while on earth, for the greater our comprehension of them as mortals, the more easily will be our progression to the higher things of the spiritual life. Well, I thought I would tell you of this little incident as it shows you a great and necessary truth, and one which all men should know.

So with all my love, I am your own true loving
Helen

Ann Rollins Describes the Condition of the Higher Spirits in the Celestial Spheres

March 10, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, your Grandmother.

Well, I am exceedingly happy and am glad that you are feeling so much improved.

You had quite a long letter from Helen, and I hope, a very satisfactory one. When she tries she can write a very good letter.

I am, as you know, in the same sphere with her and your mother, and we are all very much together, though we live in different homes. Helen, of course, is not as far advanced as I am, and neither is your mother, but, nevertheless, we are very congenial and love one another very much. Soon though, I will leave them for a higher sphere, and then they will miss me I know, for they keep telling me so, and say that they will follow soon after, and I believe that they will, for they are wonderful spirits in Love and faith; and these two possessions, as you know, are the "open sesame" to things and spheres higher.

Well, my son, as Helen told you of her home, I want to tell you a little bit about the condition of the spirits in this sphere. No spirit who has not received this Great Love of the Father is here; or better, all spirits who are here have received and possess this Love. Mere intellectual acquirements are not sufficient to fit a spirit for this sphere; and if a spirit ever realizes that the gate is shut to him, it is because he has not this Love. And then the great happiness that exists here could not be enjoyed by the mere mind, for the mind is limited in its capacity for happiness. Only the soul can enjoy this great happiness.

I sometimes think that if mortals could be permitted, for one moment only, to realize what this happiness is, they would never let their lives slip by without making the greatest efforts to fit themselves for this great life in the Celestial Spheres.

Our time here is occupied in helping one another to a greater realization of the truths of our Father, and in helping spirits who live on lower planes than we do. I do not, now, very often come to the earth plane to help other spirits or mortals; but, of course, in your case I am so bound by my affections and desires, that I am with you quite often, and more so with that darling little daughter of yours; for as I have told you; I am her Guardian Angel, and so long as she lives, I will be with her to help and guide.

We are engaged in the study of things that pertain more to the spiritual things of this life, than to studying the things of the other worlds of the universe; these things to us are what might be called the material things, and while a knowledge of them would be very interesting, yet our thoughts are turned to the more important truths of God.

Yes, we all have our libraries and homes, as Helen has told you of, but, of course, there is a great difference in these homes, depending upon the amount of Love which the spirit has in his soul. I am now living in a home that is so beautiful, that I could not in the short time that I will write tonight describe it to you; but soon I will in detail, and then you can realize what a home it is.

Well, do not believe everything in the book you have been reading because it is said to be written by spirits, because, even if it is so written, the information given depends upon the condition and knowledge and belief of these spirits. Some may tell the exact truth as they conceive it to be, and yet it may not be the truth.

Well, the explanation is, that the spirits whose communications you read have never learned the truth taught by the Master. They only know what they have learned from what they have read, or from what spirits, who have not this great knowledge, have told them. Any spirit who doesn't say that Jesus is the greatest spirit and teacher, and the only one of the great teachers who have ever lived on earth who shows the only and true way to the Father's Kingdom, has never learned this way, or come under the influence of the Master. So as far as that is concerned, do not pay any attention to what they say, or let their communications influence you, for these communications will not help you spiritually.

There are certain great assembly places in the spirit world where the higher spirits meet and discuss the various plans that they think will benefit mankind, and also the lower spirits; and I believe the Master has attended these meetings and given his advice and encouragement. For you must remember that he is a teacher, not only of the way to God's Kingdom, but also of the acquiring of those things that will help and benefit mortals and spirits who have not received this Great Love.

Part of his mission is to make man and spirits happy, even though they may never become inhabitants of the Celestial Spheres. God Loves all his creatures, and the Master, as His greatest instrument of Love and beneficence, is doing all that he can to make these men and spirits happy; and, as some of these communications say, he has helped in many of these assemblies to do good for all. But, while this is so, yet he is the Father's greatest instrument in showing men the way to the higher Life.

Well, that is a question that seems hard to answer; but if these other great teachers will not believe the Master's message as to the only way to the Kingdom, they alone know why and will have to bear the consequences.

Not all spirits are able to see these great truths, any more than mortals are, and the mere fact that they have so much greater opportunity to learn these truths does not seem to persuade them to accept the same.

The higher spheres in which these ancient seers and wise men live are not the Celestial Heavens, but spheres higher up in the spirit world; and no matter how high they may get in these spheres, they will never partake of that Divine essence or nature of the Father which we have told you of, unless they seek for and obtain the Divine Love, and qualify themselves to enter the Celestial Heavens. They will always be nothing more than spirits possessed of the natural love, which they had on earth but, of course, more refined and free from sin; yet it is merely natural love and nothing more.

Yes, I have met Paul and Peter and John and James and several others of lesser development.Yes, they are all in the Celestial Spheres, and very happy, yet they go to the lower spheres to do the work set before them. No spirit who has not received this New Birth is ever permitted to enter the Celestial Spheres and, hence, the spirit that you speak of has never seen the home of John and never will until redeemed by the Love of the Father.

I do not think these mortals who claim that they left their bodies and entered the Celestial Spheres, ever did so, and I have grave doubt that they ever entered the spiritual spheres above the third. This is a subject that I will write you more fully about some other time. I must stop now, and you must not write more tonight.

So with all my love, I am your own loving Grandmother,
Ann Rollins

Helen Describes Her Beautiful Home in the Celestial Spheres

March 10, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Helen.

Well, I am very happy, and you are happier and feel better.

I am now going to write you about my home, as I promised, and you must not think I am not in condition to write, if I should not be able to describe it as you may think I should; the only reason for my failure will be that I cannot find words to express myself.

Well, my house is a beautiful white one of a substance that you might think of as alabaster, and two stories in height, with rooms on each side of a wide and beautiful hall. The rooms are very large and filled with the most beautiful furniture that you can conceive of. The walls are all hung with satin coverings, and between are lovely pictures. The parlor, as you would call it, is filled with the most exquisite and comfortable couches and chairs, and with beautiful tables and bric-a-brac, and also many pictures of landscapes and fruits and flowers. I don't know who painted them, but they are there and give me much delight and satisfy to so great an extent my love for paintings and pictures. There are also many little curios that would make the heart of an aesthetic person rejoice and feel glad. My music room has in it instruments of various kinds, wonderful in sound and construction. I play some of them and also sing in my weak way, as you say on earth; but I enjoy the music more than I can tell you, and so do many spirits who call to see me.

I have other rooms, such as repose rooms, a library, and rooms for meditation and prayer. My library is full of books dealing with subjects that are to me now so congenial and necessary, for they tell me of God's Love and care for His children. There are also books that deal with the laws of the spirit world and of the other parts of the universe; but these latter I do not read much, for my whole study is so given to the laws pertaining to our own spirit world and its relationship to your world, and the Love of God, and the love that should exist among mortals and spirits, that I do not find time for these other studies; and, in fact, I have not the inclination.

There are books that you might call fiction, but really are not, for they describe the actual experience of spirits in such a vivid and interesting way, that if they were portrayed in your earthly books you would think it fiction. Not all the books in my library deal with the higher or more substantial things of this spirit life, for we have our recreation for the mind, in the way of variety in reading, the same as you do on earth, and we are the stronger and happier for it. So you see, if you were here, I know that the library would be your place of rest from your work, although I know you like music very much.

We have a dining room also, but we do not need kitchens, as nothing is cooked, but everything eaten just as we get it from the trees and vines. We do not eat meat or bread or potatoes or things of that kind. Our food is principally fruits and nuts; and such fruits you never saw and never will until you come with me. The fruits, mostly, are pears and grapes and oranges and pomegranates - of course, not just the same as you know them on earth. I merely use these words of description to give you some idea of what they are like. We have them in great variety and always fresh and ripe. The nuts too, are of many kinds and qualities. None need nut crackers for them to be broken in order to be eaten. There are no cakes or candies or anything of that nature. We do not actually eat these things with our teeth and palate and use intestinal organs, as you do, but we inhale, as it were, the delicious flavors and aromas of the fruits; and strange as it may seem to you, we are just as much satisfied, and probably more so than you when you eat them with your physical organs. I cannot more fully explain to you just how this thing i, but, as we say, we eat the fruits and nuts.

We drink pure water and nothing else; and spirits who say they have wines and other beverages, tell what I have never seen or heard of since I have been in the spirit world. Of course, I do not know everything that exists in all parts of this great world of spirits. And this water is so pure and satisfying, that I cannot imagine any spirit would want anything else to drink. But, yet, as I say, I do not know as to this.

We do not actually drink the water, for we have not the internal organs that you have in the physical body, but we seem to absorb it in our system in some way that gives all the delight and satisfaction that you enjoy when you drink water.

We often have our "teas," as your fashionable women on earth might say, and very many of our spirit friends attend and help make the gatherings enjoyable and happy ones. Of course, the male spirits attend, for I must tell you that in this life there are no clubs or businesses that keep the sexes apart, as in your life. I mean that the two sexes are more together and enjoy the society of each other to a far greater degree than in your earth life. Of course, I do not mean that these spirits have all found their soulmates, for that is not true; but each enjoys the company of the others, as friends and spirits having similar desires and aspirations. My companions are very similar in their love for the Father and in the development of their souls, and in their thoughts and desires for things spiritual. We discuss many questions pertaining to the soul and it progress, and to the Love of the Father, and to the love of spirits and mortals. While we are joyous and happy beyond compare, yet we do not indulge in frivolities or thoughts that have not a tendency to elevate us to higher things.

We have music and dancing, but our dancing is different from yours. We merely exercise ourselves in graceful and artistic movements without any contact of spirit bodies, or the embracing of each other. Of course, we hold hands as we dance, but no familiarity, as you would say, is indulged in.

Well, I have a room for repose, where after working long and, to some extent, feeling tired, I rest on these couches that I tell you of. We do not sleep, but sometimes we go into a kind of dreamy state that gives us much refreshment and vigor. I am now resting from some hard work that I have been doing in your earth plane. I mean that when I am not writing to you, I am resting.

So, you see, we are not enjoying one continuous condition of feeling, as that might become monotonous. I am now trying to help some of the spirits who have recently come over from your city, and who were acquaintances of yours on earth. I will tell you of them when next I write you. I am tired now and must stop.

So with all my love, I am your own true and loving,
Helen

Jesus Continues His Message on the Power of Divine Love

March 9, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am Jesus.

You are in condition to resume my message tonight.

I am in a condition of love that enables me to know that my Father's Love is the only Love that can redeem mankind and make it at-one with Him. So you must understand that this Divine Love is a Love that has no counterpart in all the universe, and must be received by man in all its fullness, in order for him to attain to the Celestial Spheres, where the Father's fountainhead of Love exists. So I say, that no man can become a part of God's Divinity until he receives this Divine Love and realizes that he and his Father are one in Love and purity.

I will now tell you what this Divine Love means to everyone who has received it. He is in a condition of perfect peace, and his happiness is beyond all comparison, and he is not willing that anything or power shall lead him to those things that are not in accord with the Divine Love and God's laws of harmony. He is not only happy, but is away beyond the lower spirits in intellectual development and knowledge of the spiritual things of the Father. I know that no man is able to obtain the great soul perceptions until he has the soul development and is fitted to live in the Celestial Spheres, where only love and harmony exist.

So do not think if a man merely becomes wonderful in his knowledge in an intellectual sense, he is fitted to live in these higher spheres, for he is not; only the great development of the soul, by obtaining into his soul the Divine Love, will enable him to live there.

John never said that by me were all things created that were created, and that I, as God, came to earth and became an indweller in the flesh. That is a mistake and an interpolation, for I never was God, neither did I ever create any part of the universe. I was only a spirit of God, sent by Him to work out man's salvation, and show him the only way to the Heavenly Home that God has in keeping for those who receive the New Birth.

Well, I live in all spheres, but my home is in a sphere that is very close to the fountainhead of God's Love. It has no name or number. With me in the Celestial Spheres are all those who have received this Divine Love to such an extent that they have become entirely purified and at-one with the Father. Many are progressing towards that home and will, sooner or later, get there.

Those who fully received this Divine Love through faith and prayer are in the Celestial Spheres, but those who have not yet obtained this Love to the degree mentioned, are not. Yes, Paul is, and so are Peter and John and James and several others.

I meant that I would go to the Celestial Spheres where I now am and prepare these mansions, which I have now done. And it rests with spirits and mortals only to become inhabitants thereof.

Some are, and some are not; the mere fact that these ancient prophets and seers were the mere instruments of God in declaring His purposes and laws, does not mean that they necessarily received this Great Love, so that they are now inhabitants of the Celestial Spheres. Moses and Elias are in the Celestial Spheres and so is John the Baptist; but many great teachers of spiritual things or of future existence are not, because they have not obtained the New Birth.

Well, it will depend on whether you live and believe in such a way as to get this Great Love; if you do, you will not have to wait long years to be with me in the Celestial Spheres. You are now in the right way, and if you will only persevere and let your faith increase and get the Divine Love in sufficient abundance in your soul, you will be. And this remember, that I am your special friend and helper, and will be with you when you are in doubt or trouble, and will keep you from relapsing into a state of unbelief or of carelessness.

If, as you say, he will seek that Divine Love, and pray to the Father in faith, and believe that the Father will bestow it upon him, he will receive it; and when he receives it in sufficient abundance all sin that he may have committed will be blotted out. No further will he have to pay the penalties of his deeds of sin and error. This is what I came principally to teach mankind. When I said, as you sow so shall you reap, I meant this to be the law of God as applied to the natural man as well as to everything else in nature; but that law is subject to be set aside so far as its operations on the souls of men are concerned, by the soul of man receiving in sufficient abundance, the Divine Love. And when the Great Love of the Father is sought and received by the soul of man in sufficient abundance, the Law of Compensation is made non-effective and the Law of Love becomes supreme, and man is relieved from the penalties of his sins.

Yes, I know how men reason about this matter, and that is the great stumbling block that prevents them from receiving this Divine Love, and believing that it is efficacious in saving them from paying the penalties of their sins. Well, you now see what I am trying to do, and I am so well satisfied that you will make a success of your work, that I feel more than ever certain that my messages will be understood and given to the world. So keep up your courage, and in a short time all will be in such condition that there will be nothing to interfere with your doing the work as you desire.

Yes, most assuredly, and when you get into the work with all your earnestness and faith, you will see that you will be able to receive the messages just as I intend that you shall receive them.

Let us stop now.

Your own true brother in spirit,
Jesus

Jesus Writes About the Power of Divine Love to Redeem Men From Sin and Error

March 6, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

I want to write tonight on the power of Divine Love to redeem men from sin and error.

My Father's Love is, as I have written, the only thing in all this universe that can save men from their evil natures and make them at-one with Him. This Divine Love I have already explained, and when mankind will read my messages and try to understand the meaning of this Love, it will soon become more at peace with itself and with God.

This Divine Love is the one great power that moves the universe, and without it there would not be that wonderful harmony that exists in the Celestial Heavens of the spirit world; nor would so much happiness exist among the Angels who inhabit these spheres.

This Divine Love is also the influence which makes men on earth think and do that which makes for peace and good will among men. It is not possessed by all men, in fact, by comparatively few, yet its influence is felt over nearly the whole earth. Even those who have never heard of my teachings, or of my Father, enjoy the benefit of its influence; in some kind of belief or faith in an overshadowing spirit of great power and watchfulness. I know that this is true, for I have visited all parts of the earth, and have looked into men's hearts and found in them some elements of belief, which evidenced that this Great Love was influencing these unenlightened people. So, notwithstanding the fact that my gospel is not preached to every creature, as I commanded when on earth, yet this Love of the Father is everywhere and all pervading.

Still, it is not received in all that fullness that enables those who feel its influence to realize that God is their Father, and they are His children, who may become members of His household in the Celestial Spheres.

No man can receive this Love unless he has faith in the Father's willingness to bestow it upon him, and truly and with earnestness prays for it.

Every man has in him the natural love, which will give him great happiness in eternity as a mere spirit and an inhabitant of the spheres lower than the Celestial, even though he refuses to seek for the Divine Love that will make him a Divine Angel of the Celestial Heavens.

Only this Divine Love can change the natural man into a man having the Divine nature in Love that the Father has. I do not mean that man, even though he be filled with this Love to the highest degrees, will ever become a god and equal to the Father in any of His powers or attributes - this cannot be, but this Love will make him like the Father in Love and happiness and harmony. This Love has no counterpart in all creation, and comes from the Father alone. It changes not, nor is ever bestowed on anyone who is unworthy, or refuses to seek for it in the only way provided by the Father.

My experience in these Celestial Heavens is that this Love has the power to change the most hardened sinner into a true child of God, if only through faith and prayer such sinner will seek for it. Let this Love take possession of a man or spirit, and its power to purify and change the heart of that man or spirit never fails.

Your brother and friend,
Jesus

Ann Rollins Writes about Soul Development by Receiving Divine Love and Describes Her Progress to the First Celestial Sphere

March 5, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, your Grandmother.

Yes, it is I. I want to tell you of my experience in progressing in the spirit life.

Well, when I passed over, I was received in the spirit world by your grandfather and my own dear mother who had been in the spirit world for so very many years. She was then living in the Seventh Sphere and was a most beautiful and happy spirit. Now she is far up in the Celestial Spheres, and occasionally comes to see me and tells me of the great beauty of her home and of the wonderful spirits who inhabit the spheres where she lives.

She lives in a high sphere of the Celestial Heavens and is with many of the redeemed spirits who lived on earth many centuries ago. She mentioned some of them who were well known on earth, such as John Wesley and his brother Charles, and Luther and some of his contemporaries who were engaged in the great reforms of those days. Whitefield is one she named, and Bunyan, also. They seemed to have reached this sphere by obtaining the Love that we have written you of. So, when I think that, through gradual development and progression of my spiritual being, there are these high spheres for me to attain to, I feel that my faith and seeking for the Divine Love have a great deal yet to accomplish in the way of soul development.

Well, shortly after I passed over, I progressed to the Third Sphere and thought that there the very seat of Heaven must be, because my happiness was so much greater than I ever anticipated.

Well, when I first entered the spirit world, I confess I was disappointed, because I did not see the Father on his throne and Jesus sitting on his right hand, as I had been taught to believe. But it was not long before I realized that such a belief had no foundation in truth, and that God has no throne, such as the writers of the Bible had declared, but that His Spirit is manifested everywhere and in all places, and is a Spirit that has no form in the sense that I had been taught to believe.

After living in the Third Sphere for some little time and having received much information from spirits who lived in higher spheres and having received a great abundance of God's Love, I progressed to the Fifth Sphere and found a wonderful home of beauty and harmony among spirits who had experiences similar to my own, and who had received the Divine Love to a degree, which gives us all this great happiness that I tell you of.

In some of the planes of this sphere are many spirits who have not received this Divine Love, but who have attained to wonderful moral and intellectual qualifications, but they were not so happy as were those who had received the Great Love of the Father. They gave their thoughts and works more to things that pertain to moral and intellectual progress than to the soul development in the Divine Love.

It may seem strange to you that these spirits could live in an atmosphere where so much of God's Love was manifested by the numerous spirits who had received this Love and, yet, not realize that this Divine Love is the one great thing absolutely necessary for their further progress and greater happiness. But such is the fact and many of these spirits of the greatest intellectual development are still pursuing their studies of laws that have to do solely with things that relate to the operations of spiritual laws and the causes of phenomena that astonish both mortals and spirits.

I have wondered many times that they have not had an awakening to the real and grandeur truths of spirit life and to the causes of the development of the souls of those with whom they come in contact, who are so much more beautiful and happier than are these students of merely spiritual laws and causes that produce only astonishing phenomena.

Strange as it may seem to some, intellectual progression is not necessary to soul progression. But with soul progression, by obtaining the Divine Love, comes a wonderful knowledge of these other things that I speak of. I, as you know, was a person of just ordinary mental acquirements, yet in this spirit world I have left behind me many great minds possessed of wonderful intellectual information. I mean not only as regards the progress of my soul, but also as regards the attainment of knowledge that these men are devoting their time and work to obtain.

Strange, also, it may seem to you, that with soul development in the Divine Love there comes intellectual development, but to us who have experienced this fact it is not strange, because the mind is only an attribute or, as I may say, a quality of the soul, and as the soul develops in the Divine Love, the mind must necessarily also develop.

Philosophy is merely the conclusion of minds that have given thought and investigation to the subject matter of that philosophy and, when it is determined by the mere mind, it is still uncertain and subject to revision and change as the mind may change. The mind, in its development, does not necessarily learn the full and real truth and in this spirit life, among these men of purely great minds that do not possess the Divine Love, there is as much variety of opinion, and as many disputes as to what is the truth, as there are on earth. The mind, of itself, cannot always discern the truth, because it is not infallible, even when it is the mind of a spirit and that spirit a highly developed one.

But as the soul develops in the Divine Love, this development means that what comes to it as a fact, is a truth - the everlasting truth. The soul does not learn all truths at once, but the truth that it does learn is one that never changes, and lets no revision alter or set it aside. No, truth of the soul's discernment is never shown to be error, and no error ever becomes a part of the soul's discernment of truth. So, you see, the great road to the ascertainment of the realities of God is through, and only through, the development of the soul by the inflowing of the Divine Love. The eye of the soul is that interior perception which needs not reason from cause and effect to discern and forever establish the truths of God.

So, how very necessary that men and spirits should learn the great fact, that if they would learn the truth of spirit life, they must endeavor to develop the soul's powers of perception by seeking for the inflowing into their souls of the Divine Love.

I could tell you many wonderful things to illustrate these propositions, if I had the time to do so, but I have not now, but sometime I will go more in detail on this subject, and then you will more fully understand what I mean.

Well, after I had lived in this Fifth Sphere and learned the great and wonderful truths that are taught therein, I progressed to the Seventh and there learned what real happiness is, as I thought. No spirit who has not received this Great Love of the Father lives in this sphere, because the mind is, as it were, absorbed by the soul to such a great extent, that without the soul development, the mind would have no place of lodgment. I mean that the mind, as such, then becomes so subordinated to the powers and operations of the soul perceptions that it cannot exist as mere mind, independent of the soul's development. In this sphere all is grand and beautiful to an extent that I cannot describe, because you have no possible mental conception with which I can compare such beauty and grandeur.

Our homes are very harmonious and without stain or anything that emanates from things other than the soul's essence and power. No mere intellectual happiness exists, and no spirit who has not this Great Love could possibly be happy there. But yet, while all this happiness exists, I was told that happiness is far greater in the Celestial Spheres and, consequently, I was not satisfied to remain in the Seventh Sphere, although I could not realize how my happiness could be any greater than it was. Yet, as I say, I was not contented to remain in my home there. And I was also told that there was a way to get into this Celestial Sphere, and a way so easy that the mere statement of it caused doubt. But I prayed for faith and the Divine Love, and on an occasion my faith brought the Divine Love into my soul in such abundance, and I progressed to the first Celestial Sphere, where I now am.

The Book of Revelation in the Bible, in its most extravagant description of the New Jerusalem, gives no true conception of what the beauty and magnificence of this sphere are, and I will not attempt to describe them, for I cannot. But a man, or spirit either, who has never seen the wonderful beauty of this sphere, cannot conceive of what its magnificence is.

I am so very happy that it seems to me there can be no greater happiness and, yet, my mother tells me that there is, and that the Divine Love of the higher spheres is so much more intense and filled with so much more of God's Divinity that I cannot have the slightest conception of what it is.

I am now trying to reach these higher spheres, and am told that faith and prayer for the inflowing into my soul of the Divine Love are the only instrumentalities that will enable me to do so. My prayers are constant and my faith is growing, and I realize that when the Holy Spirit fills me with this Divine Love, as I expect it to do, I shall progress. So you see, one great element of God's method of making His redeemed happy, is to set before them a higher mark for which they may seek with the assurance that it can be attained.

Well, I have written you quite a letter and feel that I must stop now, as I need to leave the earth's atmosphere for awhile.

So with all my love and blessings, I am your Grandmother,
Ann Rollins

Helen Confirms that Jesus Wrote the Preceding Message and that She Now Resides in the Celestial Heavens

March 3, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Helen.

Well, was not that a wonderful message of the Master? It was so full of things that should make men think and work to get this Divine Love that he spoke of.

I am happy to say that I have it now to a considerable degree, and the more I get of it the happier I am. I thought that I was happy when I entered the Third Sphere, and more so in the Fifth, and then supremely so in the Seventh but, really, I did not know what happiness was until I got into my present home in the Celestial Heavens. And I suppose, as I go higher, the happiness of each succeeding progressive sphere will be so much greater than that from which I progressed.

But, of course, the Master has been the Great Teacher, whose love and power have helped me more than all the others. He is so wonderful in love and wisdom that I almost adore him, although, he says that I must worship only God, and I follow his directions.

My experiences here are so wonderful that I hardly realize what it all means. My time in the spirit world has been so short and, yet, the wonderful knowledge of spiritual truths and the great happiness that I have received, cause me to wonder in amazement that such things could be.

You have had a long writing tonight, and I think I had better stop. So goodnight.

Your loving wife,
Helen

Jesus Writes that God's Divine Love Brought by the Holy Spirit into our Souls is the Real Salvation to Become At-One with God

March 3, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

You are in a better condition tonight and I will continue my messages.

"God is a God of love, and no man can come to Him, unless he receives the Love of the Father in his soul." As men are by nature sinful and inclined to error and the violation of God's laws, they can be redeemed from that sin only by obtaining this Love; and that can be obtained only through prayer and faith in the willingness of God to bestow this Love upon whomsoever may ask for it. I do not mean that there must be formal prayers or compliance with any church creeds or dogmas; but the prayer that is efficacious is that which emanates from the soul and earnest aspirations of a man. So let men know, that unless they have the real soul longings for this Love, it will not be given to them - no mere intellectual desires will suffice. The intellect is not that faculty in man that unites him to God. Only the soul is made in the likeness of the Father, and unless this likeness is perfected by a filling of the soul with the Divine Love of the Father, the likeness is never complete.

Love is the one great thing in God's economy of real existence. Without it, all would be chaos and unhappiness; but where It exists, harmony and happiness also exists. This I say, because I know from personal experience that it is true. Let not men think that God is a God who wants the worship of men with the mere intellectual faculties, that is not true. His Love is the one thing that can possibly unite Him and them. This Love is not the Love that is a part of man's natural existence; the love that men have, who have not received a part of the Divine Love, is not sufficient to make them one with the Father; nor is that love the kind that will enable them to enter the Celestial Spheres and become as the Angels who are filled with this Divine Love, and who do always the Will of the Father. This Love is found only in the souls of those who have received it through the ministrations of the Holy Spirit - the only instrument of God's workings, that is used in bringing about the salvation of men.

I have seen the operations of the Spirit upon the souls of men, and know what I tell you to be true. No man must rest in the assurance that any other instrumentality or medium than the Holy Spirit, will enable him to obtain this Love. He must not rest in the thought that without this he can become a part of God's Kingdom, for no love but this Divine Love can entitle and qualify him to enter that Kingdom.

When on earth I taught the doctrine of salvation only through the workings of the Holy Spirit in fulfilling the commandments of the Father. Mere belief in me or in my name without this Love, will never enable any man to become the possessor of this Love. Hence the saying, "that all sins against me or even against God's commandments may be forgiven men, but the sin against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven them, neither while on earth nor when in the spirit world." This means that so long as a man rejects the influences of the Spirit he sins against it, and such sin prevents him from receiving this Divine Love; and hence, in that state he cannot possibly be forgiven, and be permitted to enter into the Celestial Kingdom of the Father.

God's Love is not that which needs the love of man to give it a Divine Essence, but on the contrary, the love of man in order to become Divine in its nature, must be completely enveloped in or absorbed by the Divine Love of the Father. So, let man know that his love is but the mere shadow of what the Father's Love is, and that so long as he refuses to receive this Love of the Father, he will be compelled to remain apart from the Father, and enjoy only the happiness which his natural love affords him.

I am so certain that all men may receive this Love, if they will only seek for it in the true way and with earnest desire and faith, that I know it is possible for all men to be saved. But men have the great gift of free will, and the exercise of that gift towards the seeking and finding of this Love seems to be a difficulty that will prevent a large majority of the human race from receiving this great redemptive boon.

My Father is not desirous that any man should live through all eternity without this Love; but the time will come, and very soon, when the privilege of obtaining this Love will be withdrawn from mankind; and when that great event takes place, never afterwards will the privilege be restored; and men who are then without It will be compelled to live through all eternity with only their natural love to comfort them and get whatever happiness they may be able to obtain from such love. Men may think that this time of separation will never come, but in that they are mistaken, and when too late, they will realize it.

The harmony of my Father's universe is not depending on all men receiving this Divine Love because in the workings of God's laws of harmony on men's souls all sin and error will be eradicated, and only truth will remain; but the mere absence of sin does not mean that all parts of God's creation will be peopled by spirits and men who are equally happy, or who are filled with the same kind of love. The man who is free from sin and has only his natural love, will be in perfect harmony with other men possessing the same kind of love; but he will not be in harmony with those spirits who have this Divine Love and the supreme happiness which It gives. And yet, such differences in love and happiness will not create discord or want of harmony in the universe.

Adam and Eve, or whom they personify, had not this Celestial Love - only the natural love that belonged to their creation as human beings, and yet, they were comparatively happy; but their happiness was not like that of the angels who live in the Celestial Heavens where only this Divine Love of God exists. They were mortals, and when temptation came to them, the love that they possessed was not able to resist it, and they succumbed. So, even though man may hereafter live forever and be free from sin and error, yet, he will always be subject to temptations which this natural love may not be able to resist. I mean that his nature will be merely the nature that Adam and Eve had - nothing greater or less.

Even in that condition he may be able to resist all temptations that may assail him, yet, he will always be subject to fall from his state of happiness, and so become more or less unhappy. This is the future of men who have not received the Divine Love.

But the spirit who has this Divine Love becomes, as it were, a part of Divinity Itself, and will never be subject to temptation or unhappiness. He will be free from all powers that may possibly exist for leading him to unhappiness - as if he were a very God. I mean that His Divinity cannot possibly be taken from him by any power or influence or instrumentality in all the universe of God.

This love makes a mortal and sinful man an Immortal and sinless spirit, destined to live through all eternity in the presence of and at one with the Father.

So, if men would only think and realize the importance of obtaining this Divine Love, they would not be so careless in their thoughts and aspirations concerning those things which will determine their future state through all eternity.

The importance of these truths cannot be too forcibly placed before men for their consideration; and, when the time comes for them to pass over, the more they have pondered on and obtained a knowledge of these truths, the better will be their condition in the spirit world. The spirit world will not help them so very much to obtain a more enlightened insight into these spiritual matters, because in this world men differ and have their opinions just as on earth.

Of course, they have not all the temptations to indulge their passions and appetites, which they had when in the flesh; but as regards their opinion of spiritual things, the opportunities are not very much greater, except in this, that because of the freedom from the passions and influences of the flesh, they may sooner turn their thoughts to higher things, and in this way sooner realize that only this New Birth in Love of the Divine can save them entirely from the natural results that follow the possession of only the natural love.

A spirit is only a man without an earthly body, and the cares that necessarily belong to the obligations of earth ties. Even as a spirit, some retain these cares for a long time after coming over, and then are relieved of them by paying the penalties of a violated law.

Well, I have written long and must stop. So I say with my blessings and love, good-night.

Your fellow spirit,
Jesus

Professor Joseph Salyards Describes Some Phases of Spirit Life and the Kind of Work that He Does in the Spirit World

February 25, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Professor Salyards.

Well I am very happy and desire to write you on some phases of spirit life that I have observed in my experience of progressing.

I have noticed that the spirit, when it first comes into this life, is very often in a condition of darkness, not realizing where it is or what its surroundings are and, in many instances, it requires quite a long time for the spirit to realize that it is not still of earth. But in many cases this is not the condition of the spirit, for it seems to have an immediate understanding of its condition and surroundings. I attribute the first mentioned condition to be due to the fact that, when on earth, the mortal had no definite belief as to what the future life might be and, in many instances, believed that the soul went into the grave with the body to await the great resurrection day.

Some of your religious denominations are preaching that doctrine now and the consequence will be that all those who believe the doctrine will experience the condition of darkness and the want of knowledge of the continuity of life that I have spoken of.

The second class of spirits, or those who appear to realize immediately that they have passed from earth to spirit life, are those who, while on earth, believed that the spirit when it left the body passed immediately into the Heavenly Spheres, or into the opposite - I mean the place of the wicked. I know that many of this class have hardly realized that they were in Heaven or Hell for some little time after their entrance into spirit life.

Well, as soon as the spirits realize fully that they are no longer of earth, they commence to inquire as to where they are, and many of them ask questions that indicate that they are disappointed in not realizing the expectations that they had while on earth. It is very difficult at times to convince them that there are no such places as the heavens and the hells as taught by the churches for while our spirit world may be a heaven or hell to them, yet, the heaven or hell that they expect to find is not here.

Some, on the other hand, do not seem to understand that they have really left the earth, because, they say, if we had left the earth life, we would know nothing - quoting Job and some of the preachers: "the dead know nothing."

I have been very much interested in observing these different phases of the departed spirits' beliefs and thoughts. Now all this shows the absolute necessity of mortals understanding the truths pertaining to life and death.

This affords a very strong argument why Spiritualism should be more extensively and earnestly taught to mortals and why the false doctrines of those who teach either that the dead know nothing, or that the departed spirit goes either to heaven or to hell in the orthodox sense should be shown to be not only a false belief, but injurious to mankind.

Let the believers and teachers of Spiritualism make greater and stronger efforts to refute these harmful teachings, and they will be doing the cause of truth and of man's happiness a great good.

I am not only interested in these phases but in all others, which show that the spirits, even after they realize that they are still alive and must live as spirits, continue to show the fact that their orthodox teachings are false. Some say that they may yet be able to go back into the body and await the great resurrection day for deliverance, and say that they will soon see God, and that He will take them into His Heavens where they will find that eternal rest and peace that they were taught to expect when on earth; and the wicked, even, look in dread to have some devil come and carry them to the hells where torture of the most terrible kind they think awaits them.

From all this you may understand that we spirits, who know the truth, have a great work to do to enable these darkened spirits to understand and believe that their false hopes and dreadful fears have no foundation in truth and will never be realized.

This work many spirits are engaged in doing, and these spirits are not necessarily of the higher kind, for many spirits who occupy the earth plane and have no real spiritual enlightenment, are engaged in this work.

I am not now engaged in causing these dark spirits to see the truth, for I have progressed to higher things, and my mission is to teach the truths of the higher life, which I have been taught by spirits who live in higher spheres.

This work to me is one that is not only interesting, but which gives me the great happiness that comes with the realization that I have been the means of leading a spirit to learn to love God and to receive the happiness which the Love of God gives to spirits. I tell you that this teaching is the grandest that I ever engaged in in all my life. When on earth, as I taught and saw the young mind develop, I found much happiness in the knowledge that I was doing some good, but here, in my teachings, when I see a soul develop, I realize that I am doing a spirit that greatest of all good in bringing it at one in love with the Father; and happiness here and that of earth, is as the soul development is so much greater than the development of the mere mind.

My work is not confined entirely to this teaching. I also am engaged in trying to assist mortals to a true conception of the life here - I mean the spiritual part of this life. No man is entirely without spirit influence, whether good or evil. Many are susceptible to the influence of the evil spirits and for that reason the work of the good spirits is so much more difficult. "There is in man's nature that which leads him to evil thoughts so much easier than to good thoughts." This is an old saying, I know, but is a true one, and the fact that it has been said so often and for so long a time does not decrease the importance of it as a truth. So while men have felt this evil inclination in their nature, the fight between the good and evil influences will be somewhat unequal. The advantage, though, with the good influences is that what they suggest is truth, which will never die, while the suggestions of the evil influences last only for a comparatively short time.

When the material gives up the spirit being which it clothes, that being will then be relieved of many of these natural tendencies to evil thoughts and deeds; and while this mere separation does not make a devil a saint, it makes it so much easier for the spirit to get rid of many of these evil tendencies, and makes him more susceptible to the influence of truth and goodness.

You must not think from this, as soon as they have been in the spirit world for a little time, they become good spirits, for that is not true. Many evil spirits have been in the spirit world for a great many years and, yet, have their evil thoughts and desires, and all the evil qualities of hatred, malice, envy, etc., as when they were on earth.

Their giving up the earth life did not deprive them of their will, the greatest force or power that God gave to man, except that of love. And many of these spirits refuse to exercise their will in a way that will enable them to rid themselves of these evil thoughts and desires.

So you see, the mere fact of becoming a spirit does not mean that the mortal has become a good and saintly spirit. No, I am sorry to say that many men who were very evil on earth are still evil as spirits and their happiness, which they think they have, is only that happiness which they, as men, thought they realized from the exercise of evil thoughts and acts. Yet, there is one great redeeming fact connected with their dark and sad condition and that is, that in the end, whenever it so pleases God, all evil will be banished from the spirit world, and all spirits will be given that happiness, which comes from a nature free from sin and error. Not by the fiat of God, but by men seeking and doing those things that will free the soul from sin and error and again come into harmony with God's laws; just such, I imagine, as Adam and Eve enjoyed in the historical Garden of Eden.

But that happiness, while of a character that brings much contentment and peace, yet is not the true happiness which God is waiting to give all His children who ask and seek for the inflowing of the Divine Love in their souls.

I will not discourse on this great happiness tonight as it would take too long and you are somewhat tired, but will say that all men should seek for it both on earth and in the spirit world. When on earth I did not have it, but since I came here I found it and now possess it thanks be to God and His loving kindness. You folks all have it and many others too numerous to mention.

Let me stop now as I am tired and you need to rest. So with all my love and best wishes, I am your old professor,

Joseph H. Salyards

Helen Expresses Her Deep Love for James and that Their Soulmate Love is For All Eternity

February 22, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Helen.

Yes, I am when you need me and feel that I am your own true wife. I am not yet ready to let you see that you are so necessary to my happiness that I must be with you all the time, for if I do you will become so careless of my love and will think that all you have to do is say, "Come Helen," and I will be there. Thanks are not in order as you are too very much of a flirt to make me believe that you really mean "thank you."

But you are my darling Ned, and I love you and you know it, and I am glad that you do. You are too much in love with me to ever want another. I know and I thank God that He gave us to each other, for if I had not your love, I would not be so happy. Oh my darling, I so long to have you with me all the time, so that I could tell you of my great love for you, and that you are the only one that I love or have ever loved in all my life.

Be so true to me that no doubt will arise in your mind that I am the one that God selected for you. Let us continue to love God and then we will love each other with love that knows no ending or falling away. My love for you is not only for a time, but for all eternity, and we will never be separated after you come over to me.

Yes, it is possible, for I know that our love will become so real, that the mere fact of your being in the physical body will not prevent us from realizing that we are together in all the reality of our true being and love. You will not have to wait very long before you will hear my voice and feel my presence in a way that will convince you that I am with you in all my strength and real existence. Let us believe that we are one in spirit and love, and our realization of that fact will be strong that we will be certain that the union is true. Give me all your thoughts for awhile and you will learn that I am not only yours in spirit and love but in real personal contact and actual presence.

So do not doubt that I am with you now, writing this love letter as I promised you this afternoon, for I am actually writing it and you have nothing to do with it but merely hold the pencil. You do not deserve the blessings, which God has given you, but He is so loving and merciful, that He sees that you need His Love and my love to make you happy, and in the end become a spiritual man and a true follower of Jesus who is also your true friend and teacher. He will tell you all things that the Father has in store for you and will not let you go astray again as you did when we were living together on earth. So do not let the thought that you are too worldly or too great a sinner keep you from seeking the Love of the Father or believing that Jesus is interested in your welfare both on earth and in this world. Only believe what He may tell you and you will not be left to go wrong.

Try to let your thoughts turn more to God's Love and to mine.

Yes. they (parents and relatives) all love you very much, but not as I do, because their love is that of a parent, while mine is that of one whom God has decreed shall be the necessary part of a love that is one and a perfect whole. Our loves are not two but one, and if either part is not in true accord, the perfect one is not in existence. So you see, we must be sure that our loves are just in that accord that is necessary to make the perfect one.

Let us not write any more tonight, as I am tired and so are you. Yes, you did. Right. Under the conditions, we could not do what you desired.

With all my love and best wishes for your happiness.

I am your own true wife and sweetheart,
Helen

Helen Writes that Her Husband and Soulmate Will Soon Hear Her Voice

February 20, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Helen.

I am here to tell you that you are my own loving Ned and that I could not let you stop writing until I told you how dear you are to me. Yes, I am so very, very happy and am willing that you should share it all with me.

Yes, you will hear my voice soon in your own room. We will then talk love as well as write it. Oh, my darling, how much I love you tonight. I see your heart is open to my love and I want you to get so much of it that you will be happy all the day long.

I must not write much tonight for you are tired and you must not exhaust yourself.

Yes, he is full of love and his faith is very strong. He is a most unusual spirit and is strong for the higher things and will progress very rapidly. I know. He is with his soulmate a great deal and she has a wonderful influence over him and is leading him to the higher thoughts and greater love.

Alice is progressing. She is praying and believing she will soon be in the Third Sphere and she loves you so much and wants you to love her and continue to pray for her.

He says that you need not ask his father for he loves you too much to get offended. You must love him more and believe in him more and he will give you a communication that will satisfy you.

She is here, and says that you are very good to think of her and love her and that she returns your love and hopes that very soon we may all be able to talk as you desire. She is now trying to bring about conditions that will enable us to succeed.

I will stop and say goodnight.

Your own dear and loving,
Helen

A.G. Riddle Writes About James' Spiritual Healing and of His Happiness in the Third Sphere

February 20, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, your old partner:

I am very happy tonight and I am glad that you are so much better. You had a rather hard time of it and reminded me somewhat of the suffering that I used to undergo when I was on earth and in Washington.

Well, you are cured of the indigestion but the gas accumulates at times and makes it uncomfortable for you, but that will pass away before long and your digestive organs will soon be in perfect working order. The faith that you had in your prayers and the work of the Master, you were actually cured by your faith. The work done was only a means used to impress upon you with fact that God had answered your prayer. I do not see how you could have had such faith as you evidenced at the time, but it is a fact that you had it and as a consequence the cure was effected.

When you prayed as you did I was so very much impressed with your faith that I expected to see your prayers answered as they were. Jesus helped you to pray and also helped your faith. He also did the work that you observed through the power, which he possesses, and used White Eagle to manipulate your intestines and liver. It was a revelation to me I must confess and caused me to believe more than ever in prayer and faith.

I am now so very happy in my new sphere that I cannot explain to you what that happiness means. I cannot express myself in language sufficiently strong and descriptive that you may comprehend. But this I will say, that my happiness now transcends all conception of what happiness might be when, as a mortal, I sometimes thought of the afterlife and the happiness, which might be in store for me when I passed over.

I am in the Third Sphere but I am not contented to remain there for your mother has told me on many occasions of the far greater happiness existing in the higher spheres. I am now striving and praying for this greater happiness and I will never be contented until I get it. Your wife is in a much higher sphere and is so very beautiful and so exceedingly happy that I know that where she lives such happiness must exist.

I am also happy because I have my soulmate with me so very often and her love is so great and pure that it leads me on to higher things and enables me to seek with so much earnestness the great Love of the Father, which I now believe is working for me if I only will strive to obtain it and have the faith, which all who have obtained to a very large degree of this Love tell me of.

Your grandmother is so wonderfully beautiful and filled with the Love that her very presence inspires me to believe and seek for the happiness of these higher spheres.

Well, as you want me to tell you of some of the laws of the spirit world, I will say that the one great law is that God is Love and that He is willing to bestow that love on anyone, spirit or mortal, who ask Him for it. I am not only very happy but I find that my mind is expanding to a great extent by reason of the Love that I possess. No man or spirit can possibly be filled with this Love and not have the wisdom that necessarily comes with the Love. I am not so much interested in purely mental phenomena as I was before I received this Love and believed in a Father of Love and Truth, but I am nevertheless able to understand many things to a far greater degree than I could when I had merely the mental pursuits in mind.

I am not yet fully conversant with the laws of communication as I told you I would learn and instruct you in, but I know enough to be able to say that every spirit is trying to communicate with their friends on earth and why they are not able is because the mortals are not in that condition of psychical rapport that will enable them to receive the communications of the spirits. I do not yet know why one mortal is susceptible to these influences in such a way as to be readily understood and another mortal is not. Some spirits say that this law controlling this matter is not even understood by spirits who have been here for a great many years and who have given considerable study to the subject.

But this I do know, that when the rapport exists the communications become stronger with the exercise of the powers. You have this power to a very large degree and if you will continue to try to exercise it, you will find that manifestations of several kinds will be disclosed. Your writing powers are very great and will grow as you continue to write but beside this phase you have the potential ability to have other manifestations such as independent voices and slate writing. This latter I think will soon come to you and when it does you will get messages that will have their great value to you in convincing you that what you write in this method is written by the control of the thoughts of your friends who profess to write.

You will also get the voices very soon as I think, and when you do you will be able to converse with us in your room at night when you are alone. But I don't know of any manifestation as satisfactory to both spirit and mortal as the writing such as you are now doing for we have the opportunity for such a greater extent of communicating and interchanging of thought. I am perfectly delighted at the possibility given me of writing you in this way. So you must believe that I am writing to you and that all the others of your band are doing the same thing.

Your wife has more power in this regard than any of us and she does not hesitate to write you whenever you call her. She is a wonderful spirit in her grasp of spirit things and in her love for the Father. So you must not let any doubt come into your mind when she writes to you and tells you of so many wonderful things and of her love for you. She seems to love you with a love that has no limit or possibility of growing less.

I am now going to tell you of my progress in this love and happiness. When I last wrote you I told you that I had commenced to have faith in the Father and had received some portion of His Love. Well, since then I have been praying and asking God to give me more faith and love and as I prayed my faith increased and as my faith increased more of this love came into my soul and with it an increased happiness.

So I would not stop striving until I realized that my soul was commencing to get such an inflow of this Love that it seemed that all things which tended to retard this influx were leaving me and only love and goodness were taking possession of me. I am now very far advanced over what I was when you first commenced to talk to me of this love and I shall, through all eternity, remember and thank you for what you did for me. I was also so fortunate to have your mother and wife with me very much trying to show me the way to this truth of the New Birth and then when your grandmother came to me it seemed as if I could not resist the influences to seek and try to pursue.

So really when I had received enough of the spiritual awakening to realize who Jesus was I gave him my close attention and as he continued to show me the way to the Father I commenced to grasp the truth and believe that my salvation depended on my receiving this great love and becoming a finer and better man. I tell you that Jesus is the most wonderful of spirits that I have seen or heard about. He is so filled with love and goodness that there seems no doubt in my mind that he is the son of the Father in the spiritual sense of the term. I mean that he is so much nearer the Father and in so much and many of his attributes that he is the only son in the sense of being at-one with the Father.

We are all sons of the Father, but there is such a difference in our spiritual conditions that the contrast between Jesus and us is so great that we can readily believe that he is the one true son and that his great love and knowledge of the qualities of the Father makes him the only begotten in a different way physically from other men, no immaculate conception or birth from the womb of a virgin. I do not believe this dogma and the Master says that it is not true for he was truly, so far as his physical being is concerned, the son of a man and woman as you or I am.

Now I am also convinced that mankind cannot be saved from their sins unless they follow the way showed them by the Master. No man can save himself and I wish strongly to emphasize the fact that man is dependent upon God for his salvation from the sins and errors of the material man. I do not mean that men have not a work to do themselves for they have. God is willing to save them if they ask it and acknowledge that with His help they can be saved, but unless they do ask and believe He will not interfere with these conditions. So you see I am not only a believer in God and Jesus but also in the doctrine that men cannot save themselves. I thought that man was sufficient unto himself when I was on earth but now I know that he is not. Man may be comparatively happy and free from what is called sin, that is a visitation of God's laws, but that happiness is not the same nor is man's condition the same as when he gets this Divine Love from the Father.

I will not speak longer on this subject tonight but simply say that when on earth I thought that by my own exertions I might possibly become divine, yet even as a spirit I know that man is not divine and cannot become so in all eternity unless he receives this Divine Essence which comes to him in the New Birth. Divinity is of God alone and only He can bestow it on man. Man not having this divinity cannot create it by his own efforts. So believe what I say and strive to get it and you then succeed and become as the redeemed in the Celestial Heavens.

I am with my earth wife and son a great deal trying to show them the way and I am glad to say that light is breaking in their hearts and perceptions. I believe that very soon they will fully realize that the only way to get true happiness and peace is through the way of the New Birth.

I am trying to show them this way and they are having more faith in me. And your dear wife is with them too so very much. She seems to have a great influence over them. Especially over Bert, who believes that she is so very good and pure that he wonders why she is such and it causes him to think what she tells him as the cause must be true. Your father is with me a great deal, too, and he has helped me very much and he is now progressing so rapidly that he will soon be with his soulmate in the Fifth Sphere. Your good mother tells me this and she knows so many things pertaining to spiritual progress.

I must stop now for you are tired and so am I.

Well, I will tell you of those things the next time I write.

So with all my love and blessing, I am your old partner,
A.G. Riddle

White Eagle Writes About the Spiritual Healing He Performed on James' Digestive Organs

February 15, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, White Eagle.

You are much better. The Master helped you very much last night. I manipulated you as he directed, and your digestive organs are now doing their work. Your prayer to the Father was answered. He heard you as Jesus told you he would if you would pray in faith. You had the faith and the cure came. So it is with everything in life, only pray and believe and you will receive the answer. You are certainly blessed, and I wonder as do all of u, at your faith; but thank God, you are the one that the Master has selected, and you will be in condition soon to do his work as he desires.

Yes, you are right, He is the only one that can help you in time of trouble. Only continue in your faith and you will realize that he is your Father and your helper. Jesus says that your faith is wonderful, and that you will be able to do many things that will help mankind. Only be true to him and you will never be forsaken.

No, you need not use any more medicine now, the work is done, and medicine is no more necessary.

Well, he (Dr. Stone) may help you some in starting your various muscles and nerves to get into activity, but even his treatment is not necessary now. When God heals - He heals effectively - and no other help is needed.

You are commencing to get that Great Love in your soul now, and soon you will be filled, and then your happiness will be complete, that is, it will be of such a character that the worries of life will not make you unhappy.

Yes, he (Jesus) was present and he directed my movements. He is the all powerful one. His knowledge is without limit, and he is so full of love, that when he tries to impress you, you cannot resist the influence of that love. So be more prayerful and you will become possessed of that Love to a degree that will make you love all mankind as well as God. Well, I am telling you what the Master tells us, and he knows. You had better not eat promiscuously yet, give the digestive organs a chance to get back their full strength.

So goodnight,
White Eagle

Ann Rollins Writes More on the True Nature of God

January 31, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, your Grandmother.

You must not think that because the Master said that God is a personification of love, power, and wisdom, that there is no real God, but merely an abstract being representing these attributes. He is a real being, and these attributes are His, and not the combination of the attributes. He exists, and without Him, there would be no love, wisdom, or power. He is the Creator of these principles and not their creature.

As Jesus said: He is without form or substance, such as mortals and spirits have; yet, He has a spiritual substance, and that is real, and not shadowy or non existent. Pantheism is different from what God is.

While His attributes are everywhere, yet, He is of an identical substance of spirit. So do not let the idea possess you that He is not a being, for He is, and even though we cannot see Him, or feel Him as a spirit, yet He exists as His one true self. So believe in a personal God in that sense.

I know that it is hard to comprehend the true conception of His being, but the higher we get in the scale of Love, the more apparent becomes His real existence as a being. Do not let your inability to grasp the true meaning of this description of God and His nature, lead you to think that He is a mere essence. He is real, and to us who have received a large amount of His Love and essence, He becomes as real as if we could see and feel Him with our spiritual eyes and hands.

I know the difficulties in the way of your finite mind to grasp the true conception of His being, but as Love draws you closer to Him, the mind gives way to the perceptions of the soul, and God appears as a real existing being, the Creator of all.

I want to tell you further that God, while He works through His Angels, yet He, Himself, comes into our souls by His direct communication. The Holy Spirit is His messenger that causes the souls of men to hear and receive this soul communication; yet God's Love comes direct from Himself, and when man was created in the likeness of God, he was given a soul that was capable of receiving the soul essence of the Father. Neither in his physical nor spiritual form was man created in the image of his Father, because the Father has no such forms. But in the soul essence, the image was made alike.

Yet, man is of such a great degree in God's creation that he can refuse to receive this soul essence, if he so wills. His soul is capable of receiving it, but is not compelled to do so, and while man has the image, yet if he neglects to receive the substance, he will never become at-one with the Father. That image will never be more than an image only.

God is so good that He implanted in man's soul what may be called the natural love; and that love is sufficient to make him comparatively happy, and in the great day when sin and error shall be destroyed, man's natural love will be able to cause this happiness.

But man will not be at-one with the Father in the larger sense and will not take on the Divine Nature of his God. So you see the necessity of seeking this wonderful union with the Father.

I must now stop.

Your Grandmother

Jesus Describes the True Nature of God Who is All Powerful, Loving and Wise

January 31, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

As I told you I will write my second message tonight. I am not going to tell you of my Father's Kingdom at this time, but of His Nature as my God and your God.

He is the only one who is supreme, and all powerful, and loving, and wise. He is not a being of form or individuality as men understand, but is a substance of being and soul. His soul is that part of Him which embraces all the affections and love, and which is bestowed on man in order that he may become like his Father.

I am not yet so possessed of that soul essence, as to make me just like the Father in all His attributes, but I expect that some time in the future, when I have received that Divine Essence in all its fullness, I will be likened unto the Father; and so may every one of His creatures, if he will only seek for it with true faith and earnestness.

The Father is not capable of being seen with the physical or spiritual sight, but can only be seen with the soul's eyes of perfect love. He is not in any particular place, or seated on a throne in His Heavens, but His attributes are everywhere and fills the whole universe. The earth is a very small portion of the universe, and men must not believe that God is only in the Heavens, where the sons of earth go when they cease to live as mortals.

God, is a God of Love, above everything else; and the sooner mankind learns and believes that fact, the sooner will happiness exist on the earth, as well as in the Heavens. He is not a God of hatred, nor does He chastise His children in wrath or anger. His Love is with all mankind, be they saints or sinners, and no man suffers punishment because the Father wants him to suffer. He is also a God of Mercy and Forgiveness; and will forgive the sins of men, and shed His Mercy over them, if they will truly and in sincerity ask His Forgiveness and seek His Mercy.

He is also a God of Wisdom; and His plans for the redemption and salvation of mankind are the only plans that can be adopted for men to try to follow in order that they may receive this salvation. He is also a God of Power, and in the days to come, when He sees fit to carry out and perfect His plans in their full fruition. He will, through the working of His Spirit, which is perfect in its working, destroy all sin and error in His Universe, and perfect harmony will reign and man will be at peace and happiness.

So God is everything in nature and attributes, which will not only redeem men from their sins, but will make them lovers of one another and brothers in the true sense of the word. The world will not be destroyed as it is taught by some, in the interpreting of the Bible, but when the great day of judgment comes, all sin will be eradicated from the world, and mankind will continue to live upon the earth free from sin and unhappiness, just as it is supposed Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden.

Never has man seen God, and the stories in the Old Testament about some of the prophets and leaders of the Jews in their early captivity and wanderings, are not true, for God cannot be seen as therein described. His Angels and messengers, who were at one time mortals of earth, were seen and spoke to the prophets and represented themselves as being Angels of God, but no angel or spirit ever represented himself to be God; not even the angels who delivered to Moses the tablets of stone, as it is written. God works always through His Angels, and never directly, as some of the Bible writers teach. I was His chosen son to do the work of redeeming the earth from sin, and I came as my Father's representative, I never was God, nor did I ever claim to be, either to my disciples or to the Jews or the Sanhedrin.

It is written in the Bible that the voice of God spoke to my disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, and to John and those present at my baptism, but it was not the voice of God, but the voice of one of God's Highest Angels.

No man has ever heard the voice of God, for He has no voice. He works in a silent mysterious way, through the operation of His soul upon the soul of men, just as the coming of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. While the Bible says that there was a noise as of a mighty wind, yet that was not perceptible to the physical ears of the disciples, but in their souls they felt the presence of such a manifestation, and in order to have mankind understand that there was this wonderful manifestation, they used the imagery of the voice of a mighty wind. So man must understand that God speaks to man through His Angels, or through the communication of His Soul and theirs.

I speak, thus, because I want it made plain that God is not the person, loving or otherwise, which the Bible may teach man that He is. He is only the personification of love, power, and wisdom, and is without form or personal appearance. This is my knowledge of what God is.

I will not write further tonight.

With my blessing and love,
Jesus