December 5, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Luke.
I want to write a few lines on the subject about which you and your friend Dr. Stone were talking, and that is as to whether Spiritualism, as now understood and taught, supplies that which satisfies the souls of men in their longings for happiness and peace and contentment.
I have heard in the course of my spirit life a great many preachers and teachers of Spiritualism, both in recent years and all along the ages, from the time of my first entrance into spirit life; for you must know that Spiritualism is not a new thing having its origin or belief in the recent years that followed the manifestations in America. All along the ages, spirits have manifested to mankind in one phase or another and men have believed in Spiritualism and discussed it.
Of course, in former times when the churches had the great power which enabled them to dictate the beliefs of men, Spiritualism was not so openly taught or discussed as in these latter years; nevertheless it has always, during the time that I have named, been known to mankind. Never have its teachings gone beyond the mere phenomena which demonstrated to its believers the continuity of life and the communication of spirits. The higher things of the soul's development and the Kingdom of God, as you have been instructed, were never thought of, or at least, never taught or believed in. Only the two facts that I have spoken of were discussed and accepted; and even today, the scientific men who are investigating it deal only with the phenomena and are satisfied with proof that man never dies.
At no time has the existence of the Divine Love or the Kingdom of God been sought for or taught by the teachers of Spiritualism, and in fact such things could not have been taught, for they never have been known. God has never been anything more to the Spiritualist than some indefinable abstract force, whose existence is not of sufficient certainty to make Him anything more than a mere principle, as some call Him; and the laws governing all nature are the only things that men must look to for their ideas of right and wrong and the government of their conduct in life.
The Spiritualists speak of the love of man for one another, and the brotherhood of man, and the cultivation of the mind, and the moral qualities, but admit of no outside help or, if so, of the help of some departed friend who may not be at all competent to help or, if so, such help is only that which one can give to another; and even when the help of what is called the higher spirits is spoken of, it involves no different quality of help.
I know that spirits do help mortals, and also harm them, but all such help according to the ideas of the Spiritualists is based upon what they suppose these spirits possess in the way of superior intellectual acquirements or moral qualities.
The soul of man, which is that part of him that is made in the image of God, although it may be unconsciously, is longing for that which will make such image become Substance, with its resultant happiness and joy. Yet you will not find that any Spiritualist teaches or attempts to teach how, or in what way, such Substance may be acquired, or the fact that there is such a Substance. They do not know that the Divine Love, coming through the working of the Holy Spirit, is the only thing that can enable the image to be transformed into the Substance and, hence, they cannot teach the truths and, as a consequence, the longings of a man's soul are never satisfied by the teachings of Spiritualism.
Do you suppose that if the great truth of Spiritualism had embraced the greater truth of the soul development, that it - Spiritualism - would now be the weak, unattractive thing that it is, and that men would not have sought and embraced it in vast numbers?
Spiritualism, with all the truths that belong to it, is the true religion of the universe and one which would prove more effective in bringing men into a state of reconciliation with the Father than all other religions combined. But it is powerless and without drawing power as a religion, because it has not the teachings which show men the way to God's Love and to the satisfying of the soul's longings.
But some day, and in the near future, this defect will be remedied and then you will see men and women flock to its bosom, so that they can enjoy not only the happiness which communication with their departed friends give them but, also, the happiness which the development of the soul by the Divine Love gives them.
Why the great revelation of this truth has been delayed to Spiritualists so long, I do not know, except it may be that mankind was not ready to receive it before; but now the time has come, and false beliefs of the orthodox churches, and the want of belief of the Spiritualists, will both disappear and men be made free and the possessors of the combined truths of Spiritualism and the existence of the Divine Love, which brings to them not only happiness and peace, but immortality.
I must not write more tonight as you are tired; so I will say good night,
Your brother in Christ,
Luke
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