Laura Burroughs, Mr. Padgett's Cousin, Writes of Meeting Her Soulmate

January 19, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Laura Burroughs.

I am glad to be able to write you again and tell you that since I last wrote you, I have made much progress and come into the possession of much more happiness. Dear cousin, I am so glad that I can tell you this, for I know that you rejoice with me in my happiness and the knowledge of what great mercy has come to me. I merely wanted to say this, for it makes me very happy to come to you in this way.

Well, he (Laura's husband) is in the spirit world but in a very dark plane and is not at all happy. I have been with him some, but have not been able to do him any good, as his old beliefs cling to him and prevent his progress. Sometime we may be able to help him and will then try.

She (Helen) has told me he is not my soulmate, and I have met my soulmate very recently. He is in the same sphere with me and we are very happy together and are trying to progress together. Well, I never knew him on earth. He lived in Pennsylvania and died a long time before I did and tells me that he had to go through much suffering and darkness before he got into the plane of light. He is a very beautiful spirit, and I could love him, I believe, even if he were not my soulmate; but as he is, you know what our love means. He is looking at me write and heard your question and says his name was Henry W. Spaulding and lived in Millville, if you know where that is.

After I had made some progress and got some Love in my soul, Helen brought him to me one time and said: "Laura, here is a young man who has been very anxious to meet you for some time, and you must not fall in love with him, if you can keep from doing so," and she laughed.

Well, I suppose I blushed, as we mortals used to say, but I did fall in love, as you can imagine and have been loving him ever since. How we all love Helen for her kindness and the great good that she does. You just wait until you come over, and you will see the most beautiful girl that you ever saw.

He returns the satisfaction (salutation) and says that he considers himself very fortunate in having such a cousin, and he means it, for he sees the wonder of the great gift that you have and the loving and high spirits that come to you. I must say good night now and with my love, I will stop.

Your loving cousin,
Laura

John Writes to Advise Mr. Padgett to Give Up the Investigating or Reading of Other Teachings and Philosophies

January 19, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, John.

I wish to write only a few lines tonight to tell you that you are not in condition of soul that you should be, and that you may be, for I see that you have been thinking a great deal lately of certain teachings and philosophies that do not lead your soul to development that is necessary in order for you to enjoy the Love that may be yours and which at times you have possessed and experienced. So I want to advise you to give up the investigating or even reading of these things and confine your thought to the teachings of truth, which you have received and will receive from the spirits of the Celestial and the higher spiritual spheres.

The meat of what you read in the books that you have been reading is merely speculation and sometimes contains the truth and at other times errors, while what you receive from these spirits who write you of these deep and religious truths are based on knowledge which only spirits of the development of those who write you can learn and instruct you in.

The truths that you shall learn from the sources that I have mentioned will be sufficient to enlighten your mind and to develop your soul, and you will find that by learning them great benefit will come to you. Let these unusual philosophies take care of themselves because they cannot take care of you and they only serve to distract your mind from the truths which are real and never changeable and which must determine the condition of men and spirits and movements of the universe.

Of course, it may benefit you some to consider the teachings of the Bible, which you cherish and accept as the word of God, and which we say is not His word and was never written by men inspired by Him and which do not contain the sayings as teachings of Jesus surmounted with the interpolations and thoughts of me and to compare them with the truths, which shall come to you from us and by such comparison, you will see what great errors there are in the Bible and what injury the belief in such teachings is doing and have done to humanity.

This will be a point of the work that lies before you because when your work comes to be published, it will be read in light of what the Bible contains and the interpretations placed thereon by the theologians and commentators and the errors will then be readily seen by men and, as a consequence, rejected; and man's conception of God and His relationship to man and the latter's destiny will become the only line and cornerstone.

I know that if you follow my advice you will find yourself grow into a better condition for the reception of these truths and also realize that your soul development will progress with great rapidity, so that your soul perception will become so accurate that you will be able to know the truth and all its inherent meanings. I will try to help you in this regard and will let you feel the influence of my presence and efforts to assist you to get in this condition.

I have many messages to write you yet, as well as have the Master and also many high spirits who will contribute to the filling of the book of truths that we know to be truths. So, my dear brother, think of what I have said and determine that you will follow my advice, and you will soon see the beneficial results.

Well, there are many other things that you may read and so occupy your mind. History and fiction of the better class and also many sermons and essays based on the teachings of the Bible, for as I have said, the discussion of these things will help you in comprehending and formulating and fixing in your mind and soul the real truths.

Yes, of course I do, for there is no religious doctrines or teachings on earth that I am not acquainted with. I learned these things in order to appreciate just what men used to help them to avoid false doctrines and beliefs and to learn the truths which may be necessary for them to know. As you know there are many beliefs on earth and some particular truth is required for some particular mind that may be imbued with these beliefs in order to show that mind the error of its belief and the truth that it should know.

The Bahaist have not the knowledge of the great Truths of the New Birth or of the Divine Love as contradistinguished from the natural love in its purified state, and while their doctrines and teachings are very beautiful and beneficial to men in a moral point of view, yet they do not show men the true way to the Celestial home and the coming into an at-onement with the Father in the Divine Nature or in His Divine Love.

So remember what I have said and you will soon see the results of following my advice. I will come soon and communicate a truth which deals with the Great Love of the Father. I will not write more now but in closing will say that we all love you very much and are very much interested in your work and are working with you. So, only believe and pray to the Father for His Love and blessings and you will find a wonderful happiness and contentment and the opening of your soul perceptions that will bring you very near to Him, and to us all in love and rapport. With all my love and blessing, I am

Your brother in Christ,
John

Judge Frank D. Syrick Writes About the Test of Spiritual Sense Given to Mr. Padgett

January 18, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Frank D. Syrick.

I am glad that you could feel the influence of the spirit sufficient to cause you to doubt the personality of the writer, for this spirit who wrote was not (Robert G.) Ingersoll and he was permitted to write merely to test your ability or spiritual sense, as we have done before. The spirit who wrote was myself and I did not have with me my usual influence, but assumed that of someone else in order to make the test more complete.

Ingersoll is here and was really with you at the church services and so was I and I was interested in what the preacher said and what I wrote you as to the preacher being a medium and his difficulty of receiving the communication from spirit is true. So you may believe that the message contained the truth as to his condition.

I do not feel like taking up more of your time tonight, but very soon I will come and write you as I have promised.

Tell the Doctor (Leslie R. Stone) that I am glad to inform him that I am here and, also, that I frequently come to him and enjoy his thoughts and experiences in the matters of the soul. I am still his friend and well wisher, even though he can't see me or hear my voice, but I am in full sympathy with him in all his efforts to obtain more of the Love and in helping mortals as well as spirits. So with my love to you both, I will say good night.

Your Friend,
Syrick

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Helen Confirms the Test Made by Judge Syrick

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

I will not write much, for you are not in good condition. However, I was with you tonight at the services and heard the preacher and wished that I could have suggested some thoughts to him that he could have received for he then would have made clear something about spiritualism that he did not. He is a medium and with a little more faith or rather with a little less belief in some of the old orthodox doctrine, he would become quite a satisfactory medium to himself at least.

What Judge Syrick wrote you is true and we merely wanted to make the test and Ingersoll said that he was astonished that you could detect it. He says that he is learning something new all the time. He wants to write you soon. Well I must stop and so I will say good night.

Give my kindest regards to the Dr. and my love to yourself.

Your own true and loving
Helen

Nero Writes His Testimony, of Meeting His Soulmate, and How Divine Love Changed the Vilest Sinner into a Celestial Angel

January 16, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, the spirit of one who lived on earth the life of a wicked man, and a persecutor of the Christians, and a blasphemer of God and everything that was pure and holy; and when I had lived the life to its end and shuffled off the mortal coil and became a spirit, I also became a dweller in the lowest Hells where all is darkness and torment, and the abode of devils and everything that tends to make the spirit unhappy and at variance with the loving God.

I introduce myself in this way in order to demonstrate to you the wonderful power of the Divine Love, for now I am an inhabitant of the Celestial Spheres, and know that this Love is not only real, but is capable of making the vilest sinner a partaker and owner of the Divine Essence of the Father.

My sufferings were beyond all description and I was the most desecrated of mortals, and was almost worshiped by the devils of Hell because of the great injury that I had done to the followers of Jesus who, in my time, were possessed of this Love and faith, which even the terrors of the wild beasts of the arena, or the torches of my own evil designs could not cause them to renounce in this great religion that the Master had taught them, and the disciples were still teaching when I put so many of them to death.

The devils loved me for the very evil that I had done, but strange to say the spirits of those who I had sent unto the spirit world before their time were not revengeful to me or came to me with their imprecations or cursings.

Then when I had been in the spirit world a sufficient time to realize my surroundings and the nature of these evils, these spirits of the martyrs, which I had made, came to me in sympathy and pity and, in fact, tried many times to help me out of my great sufferings and darkness. I did not understand all this unexpected kindness and evidence of love, and I would not for a long time believe that these spirits were sincere; and so I suffered for year after year, and century after century, and became convinced that my condition was fixed and that for me there was no hope, and that the God that I had heard of was not my God, and that devils were the only companions that I was destined to have through all eternity.

And so I endured, wishing to die, but I could not. Oh, I tell you it was horrible and beyond all conception of mortals! The Law was working and I was paying the penalty, and there seemed no end to the penalty. I could find no consolation among those who surrounded me, and the pleasures that I first enjoyed became to me mere things of mockery and derision, and my darkness and torment became the greater. How often I called upon God, if there be a God, to strike me dead, but the only answer to my call was the laughter of the grinning devils, who told me to shout louder as God might be asleep and may be deaf.

What to do, I knew not, and so I became isolated as best I could from these terrible associates and many years of my living were spent in the darkness of lonesomeness with never a ray of hope or the whisper of one word to tell me that for me there might be a fairer destiny. And so time went by and I waited in my misery for some kind power to come and annihilate me, but I waited in vain. During all this time the recollections of my earthly deeds were like hot irons scorching my soul and burning my body, as I thought, and the end came not.

Well, I suffered the tortures of the damned, and it seemed to me that I was paying the penalties for all the sins and evil deeds that had ever been committed by all the wicked kings and rulers and persecutors of earth. Many times the shrieks of the Christian children and the groans of the men and women as they were being torn asunder from limb to limb, or burned as living torches which I had made of them, came to me and increased my torment. I lived the life of centuries of torment in a few moments, as it seemed to me, and not one cooling drop of water was mine. It may seem impossible that I should have continued to live in this ever increasing suffering, but I did, because I was compelled to. The Law did its work and there was no one to say "enough." I might write a volume on this suffering of mine, and yet you would not comprehend its meaning, and so I will pass it by.

In my loneliness and suffering there came to me on an occasion a beautiful spirit, full of light and love, and all the beauty of early womanhood, as I thought, and with eyes of pity and longing, and said:

"You are not alone. Only open your eyes and you will see the star of hope, which is the sign of the Father's Love and desire to help you. I am a child of that Father and the possessor of His great enveloping Love, and I love you, even though you took from me my young life when you threw me to the wild beasts to satisfy your desire to gratify your thirst for innocent blood, and see the suffering and hear the groans of your victims, yet, I love you, not because I am a human with a kindly nature and a forgiving disposition, but because I have in me this Divine Love of the Father, which tells me that I am your sister, and that you are a child of the Father, just as I am, and the object of His Love just as I was the object of His Love. You have suffered, and while you suffered, His great Love went out to you in sympathy and desire to help you, but you, yourself, prevented it from coming to you and leading you to light and surcease from sufferings.

"And now I come to you, your young and innocent victim, who had never done you any greater harm on earth than to pray for you and ask the Heavenly Father to take away from your heart, the great wickedness that caused so many of my people to suffer persecution and death. We all prayed for you and never asked our Father to curse you, or do anything to you to make you suffer. And we have prayed for you often since we came to the spirit world, and we are now praying for you, and this because we love you and want you to be happy.

"Look into my eyes and you will see that love is there, and what I tell you is true. And now, can you not love us a little and open up your soul to our sympathy, and let your feelings of gloom and despondency leave you for a moment, and realize that in this world of spirits there are some who love you?"

Well, to say that I was surprised, does not express my feelings, and as I looked into the lovelit eyes of that beautiful spirit, I felt the great sins of my earth life overwhelm me, and in my anguish, I cried: "God be merciful to me, the greatest of sinners."

And for the first time in all my life in the hells, tears came to my eyes, and my heart seemed to have a sense of living; and there came to me feelings of remorse and regret for all the evils that I had done.

It would take too long to tell what followed this breaking up of my soul, all shriveled and dead, and suffice it to say that from that time, I commenced to have hope come to me, and to get out of my awful condition of darkness. It took a long time, but at last, I got into the light, and this Love which the beautiful spirit first told me of gradually came into my soul until, at last, I reached the condition of bliss in which I now am.

And during all the time of my progress, this radiant loving spirit came to me very often with her words of love and encouragement, and prayed for me, and never left me when I became, as I did at times, doubtful and discouraged. And as my awakening continued, the Love came into my soul, and as she told me of the Heavenly things that would be mine as I progressed and reached the soul spheres, where beautiful homes and pure bright spirits are, I became more and more bound by my love to her.

After a while I got into the Third Sphere and realized that what she had told me was true, only I had not been able to comprehend the greatness of the truth. She then commenced to tell me of the happiness of the beautiful spirits of the two sexes, that I so often saw together, and explained that they were soulmates, and that their love was the greatest of all the loves except the Divine Love, and that every spirit in all the spheres had its soulmate and at the proper time would find it.

My love for this loving spirit had then become so intense that in the very depths of my soul, I wished and prayed that my soulmate might be such a one as she; and, at last, I became so filled with my love for her that I told her that the only thing in all the Heavens that I needed to make full my happiness was she as my soulmate, but that I realized that that desire was hopeless as I had destroyed her life and, of course, she could not be my soulmate. And oh, how I suffered when I realized that she could not be mine, but was another's.

As I told her of these longings and hopeless feelings of my soul, she came close to me and looked into my eyes with such burning love and threw her arms around me, and said:

"I am your soulmate and knew the fact a short time after you came to the spirit world and entered your Hells of darkness and during all the long years, I prayed and prayed for the time to come when I could go to you with my love and awaken in your dead soul the response to my great love. And when the time came that I could go, I was so thankful to the Father, that I almost flew to you, with some dread of disappointment I confess to tell you that you were not neglected or unthought of, but that there was some love in the spirit world that was going to you. Of course, I could not tell you of my soulmate love, for you would not then have understood, but as your soul awakened and the Love of the Father came to you, I became happier and happier and have waited so anxiously for this moment, when I could tell you that this love that had been consciously mine for so long is all yours."

Well, I will draw the veil here, but you can imagine what my happiness was, and as I progressed from sphere to sphere, my happiness and love for her increased and increased. Thus, I have told you the story of the life in the spirit world of the wickedest man that God ever permitted to live and gratify his feelings of hatred and revenge. And I, who have passed through this experience and realized all that it means, say that the Divine Love of the Father is able to and does save the vilest sinner and transforms the chiefest of devils into a Celestial Angel of His highest spheres.

I have written long and you are tired. I thank you and will say good night and subscribe myself,

Your brother in Christ,
Nero, The Roman Emperor, and at one time persecutor of God's true children.

John B. London Writes a Short Note About the Law of Compensation

January 15, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, John B. London.

Let me say a word, and I shall feel better for having done so.

I am a spirit who lives in the earth plane and see spirits of all kinds and conditions and know from observation and experience that in this plane is darkness as well as light, and that many, many spirits are in the dark places paying the penalties which the great Law of Compensation compels them to pay.

These planes are of various degrees of darkness, all suited to the condition of the spirits who occupy them. Some of them are called Hells and some purgatories, but they are all really connected, and the only difference between them is the condition of darkness and suffering which the inhabitants there are compelled to undergo.

I have been through the Hells and am now in purgatory trying to rid my soul of suffering and get into the light of freedom and peace; and oh, there are so many here in that condition and without much hope. Our progress is slow and we have to pay the minutest demand that this Law of Compensation calls for.

I hope that you will pardon me for having intruded, but I felt that if I could communicate with you, I should feel better, and so I do. I will bid you good night.

Your friend,
John B. London

Samera, a Spirit in the Sixth Sphere, Writes on the Truth that There is Only One God

January 15, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Samera.

I am a Greek of the days of Aristotle, and I merely want to say that I am very desirous of writing you a message on the subject of what is the most important truth that I have discovered since I came to the spirit world. This truth is the Oneness of God.

When I lived on earth, we believed and taught the existence of many gods, and the fact that these gods were the un-embodied spirits of those who had been great heroes or philosophers or statesmen while living on earth. Of course, we had some conception of a God who was superior to all others, and that He had the power and wisdom that belonged only to the supreme God, but the lesser gods also had great power and wisdom and, in their particular jurisdiction, were at liberty to exercise those powers and thus bring to mankind the blessings, or woes, that they thought men should have visited upon them. Our gods did not have any power over our spiritual conditions, but dealt with us only in a material way and ruled us in our earthly ambitions or efforts only.

I died with these beliefs, and when I came to the spirit world, I found that hundreds of those we had worshiped on earth as gods were mere spirits like myself without any special powers and without the wisdom that we had attributed to them, and they were subject to the Laws of the spirit world just as I was. Of course, this discovery made me halt in my opinion as to the fact of there being many gods and caused me, in time, to conclude that all the beliefs in the many gods were erroneous, and that I should seek for another God who should be above all these lesser gods and spirits.

So in my search, I came in contact with spirits who had been in spirit life very much longer than had I and were far advanced beyond me in the knowledge of things spiritual. And they instructed me that there was a great God, the Creator of the universe, and the ONLY God. And in my continued investigations, I concluded that this must be true.

I have never seen that God, nor has any of the spirits that I am aware of, but we have all seen the manifestations of His powers and wisdom, such as no mortal has ever seen or conceived of and being, thus, conscious of the existence and manifestation of these powers and wisdom, I know, as do all spirits, that there must be that from which emanates these manifestations, and One who is the possessor of them and the ruler and controller of such manifestations. This entity we all call GOD, and worship Him as such; and we know that He and He alone is the only true God.

I do not know that what I have said will be of any interest to you, but it is a fact, and I wanted so much to tell you that fact. I live in what is called the Sixth Sphere, where are many spirits of men in a condition of perfection that brings them supreme happiness and such greatness of knowledge that only they, themselves, can understand. I hope you will pardon my intrusion, and I will bid you good night.

Samera

Helen Writes About the Book Mr. Padgett was Reading and Says the Author Regrets its Contents

January 14, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well, I see that you have been reading a book (The Great Controversy, an Adventist publication written by Ellen G. White) that is full of error and untruth, and that will do you no good to read. The author of that book now knows that the dead are very much alive and that spiritualism is a truth, and that the spirits who communicate are not the devils of Satan, as she calls them. Such reading is not worth the time that you waste in reading, and I do not see why you want to waste your time on such literature.

Mrs. White is now in the spirit world and realizes the great harm that her book has done and is now doing to humanity, and the great errors that so many of her followers believe in and try to follow as their guide in religious beliefs. She will come at some time and write you, for I must tell you that when you borrowed the book and made some mention of its author, I tried to learn her whereabouts and succeeded for I wanted her to come to you and tell you of the utter falsity of what she had written. She has been here tonight and knows that you have been reading her book and realizes that she must do something to correct, if possible, the untruthful teachings that the book contains. So, as I say, she will come to you very soon and write a message in reference to the same.

I see that you have been feeling better today and have been comparatively free from your worries, and I am so glad, for it makes a very great difference in your condition of mind and permits us to come in closer rapport with you as regards spiritual truths. Several spirits were here tonight expecting to write, but when you commenced to read that book they realized that they would not have the opportunity and left very much disappointed. My advice is that you do not waste your time in the further reading of the book, as it will do you no good.

I love you with all my heart and soul and want you to be happy and be free from thoughts that may tend to draw your mind away from us and the work, which you have to do. The only information that you will need - you will receive in the messages that will be written you, and so you can readily see that there is no occasion for you to read books of the character of the one now before you. I will come soon and write my promised letter, and I know that you will find more happiness in it, than in a whole world full of books that speculate on the future life and the teachings of the truths of spiritual things that never should know and not speculate upon.

Well, I will say what I have so often said, that I love you very devotedly, and all the other spirits who come to you love you also and are with you very often with their influence trying to help you in the development of your soul and in causing you increased happiness. The Master was here and says that he will soon write his expected message and is only waiting for you to get in good condition to receive it.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Los Trenos Writes of His Progress into the Celestial Heavens

January 12, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Los Trenos.

I am the spirit of a man who was murdered in the Inquisition of Spain, because I would not declare that I believed in the false and damnable doctrines of the Romish Church. I was a student of the Bible, and I learned that the church was not teaching and enforcing the true doctrines of Jesus, and I would not surrender my beliefs, even to save my life. The unholy and devilish priests and persecutors racked my body and tortured my mind, and at last tore me asunder, but my soul preserved its faith and came into the spirit world in the fullness of its belief, all unspotted from these false teachings of the church. There were many who were tortured and killed as I was, because they would not recant.

Well, I became a spirit in all the vigor of my manly strength and greater, but I did not find myself in Heaven as I expected, for I did not know what the great Love was, but, yet, I was not in such darkness as were some of my persecutors who followed me into spirit life. Of course, I was more or less human, and when these church devils came into spirit life and found themselves in Hell, I naturally rejoiced and enjoyed, for a time, their sufferings and condition of hellish torment and used to visit them to charge them with my murder; but after some years, I realized that such satisfaction as I thought I experienced did not give me happiness or help me to progress, and I became sympathetic and tried to help them, which was not easy to do at first.

As I continued to help them, I found that my soul was being benefitted and that I was gradually getting out of the darkness in which I had been living, and so I continued this work until at last I came into the light and a knowledge of the truth that by helping and trying to love my enemies, I was helping myself.

I will not take the time to relate to you my fortune in meeting some spirits who, I know, possessed the Great Love of the Father, and how they taught me the way to this Love, but will only say that now I am one of the redeemed children of God, and the possessor of that Love and have my home in the Celestial Heavens, and to show you how wide and all embracing is this Great Love, I must inform you that some of these very priests and minions of the church, who committed the outrages of which I speak, are now in the Celestial Heavens, also, and, of course, possessors of this great Love, all their sins having been eradicated by the merciful workings of this Love in their souls.

Of course, they suffered the torments of the damned when they first came to spirit life and for a long time afterwards, but the Love of the Father and His Mercy were sufficient to wash away even their sins. So from this you will see that there is no sin so heinous and deadly that the Father's Love will not destroy, or rather, the effect of it.

You must excuse me for intruding as I have, but I saw that you have the gift of receiving communications from this side of the great divide and I wanted to try the experiment. I am a redeemed child of God and can never thank Him enough for His Mercy. So with my love, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Los Trenos, the martyr to a belief that was not the true belief, but not so vile and ungodly as the one that he renounced.

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A.G. Riddle Confirms that the Spanish Martyr is Whom He Represents Himself to be.

I am here, A. G. Riddle.

I merely write to explain that the spirit who claimed to be a Spanish martyr is whom he represents himself to be and is not a mere intruder relating a fictitious story.

Well my dear boy, I will say good night.

Your old friend and brother,
A. G. Riddle

John Bunyan Writes on the Great Law of Compensation

January 9, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me write a few lines. I am much interested in you and your work and want to do all that I can to help. I have heard your grandmother's message and it is a beautifully encouraging one and filled with deep truths, which, if you will grasp and apply, will benefit you very much.

I had my troubles when I lived on earth, but never had the sustaining power of the Divine Love that she speaks of and, hence, lived my life as best I could with only the help of natural powers and a rather cheerful disposition. Had I possessed this Love, I now know that I should have been saved many hours of worriment and enjoyed many hours of happiness that were not mine.

It seems to be the fate or destiny of mortals to experience trouble; as some one has said: "Man was born for trouble," but this is not just true, for man to a large extent makes his own troubles, and as men come into a knowledge of the great Law of Compensation, they will realize the truth of what I say. But thank God, even though man makes his own troubles and the Law of Compensation works impartially, yet the loving Father can relieve him from his troubles and make him happy. And in doing so, I want to say, the demands of this Law are not unsatisfied. This Law, itself, is subject to another Law and, that is, that - unless causes exist, it cannot demand anything from the mortal - and the Father in helping His children does not say to the Law: "You shall not demand a penalty from this child whom I desire to help," but says to the child: "Receive my Love and help and the causes for the demand of this Law will cease to exist."

If mortals would only understand this truth, they would not continue to believe that the Father cannot help His children, and they would also see that in order to confer such help, it is not necessary to set aside or suspend this great Law in its operations. The Father never grants a special dispensation to relieve mortals from paying the penalties of this Law, but He does give to them His Great Love, and when they possess that, the causes that entail the penalties cease to have an existence.

The Law of the Divine Love is the greatest law and supplants every other law in the workings upon the souls and minds of mortals.

Well, my friend, I must not write more, and so with my love, will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
John Bunyan

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Helen Confirms John Bunyan's message

I am here, Helen.

Well, my dear, you have written a great deal tonight and must stop as it is late. The spirits who wrote were very glad that they could do so. You had some doubts as to Bunyan and desired to call him back, but he had left. It was actually he who wrote you.

I must not write more tonight though I would like to do so. But, dear, read over what your grandmother wrote you and you will find much help. She loves you very much and wants you to be happy. Give me my kisses and say good night.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Ann Rollins Writes that She Was Nearly Blind and Deaf on Earth, Was Not Unhappy, and Tells the Secret

January 9, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, your Grandmother.

Well, my dear son, it has been sometime since I wrote you, and I feel that I must say a few words to you, as you are in a condition that needs some encouragement and sympathy. I love you, as you know, and while I have not written you lately, yet I have been with you a great deal watching over you and trying to influence you with my love and powers of bringing to you spiritual thoughts and soul's longings.

Now, I want to tell you a few things that may help you in your moments of worry. When on earth, as you know, I was nearly blind and deaf, and in such condition as would naturally cause me to worry and be unhappy, but I did not worry and was not unhappy; and the secret was that I had in my soul the Love of the Father, and it was so real to me that no doubt of its existence in my soul ever came to cause me unhappiness.

And that Love, I know and assure you, is the same kind of Love that now floods my whole being and gives me the happiness that I now possess. I remember that I did not have many material things to trouble me, for you looked after my material welfare and was always kind to me and loving, yet, nevertheless, if it had not been for the Love that I speak of, I can readily see that I should have been very unhappy and worried a great deal for my natural inclination was to worry when things did not go right, as we said.

And so I tell you from actual experience that all your worries, and by this I mean your causes of worry, may be taken from your conscious self if you will only seek for and obtain, which you certainly can do, this Love of the Father. It is astonishing how efficacious it is to cause the worries and troubles to disappear. They, as you may know, are very largely a matter of the mind and while in a certain sense they are real, yet the mind or its condition is the real cause of the realization of the worries.

And consider for a moment the fact, and I know that you will agree with me that it is a fact, that the indulging in these worries does not in one particular remove the material causes of the worry and does not in any manner bring relief from the troubles. No matter how much you may allow your mind to dwell on these things, and how intensely you may worry, the cause  the material cause - remains. You may say, and it is natural to do so, that it is easy enough to advise that you should not let these inconvenient things cause you to worry, but when you come to the practical experience and are the sufferer from these conditions, it is not so easy to throw aside the effect of the troubles on the mind.

Well, there is much truth in that, but notwithstanding, this Love that I tell you of, when living in the soul, will make even that effort easy to accomplish. The philosophy of the phenomenon, if you may call it such, is that this Love is of such real substantial Essence that it takes control of the mind and eliminates the consciousness of the reality of the causes of the worry.

Now I do not want to be understood as intending to convey the idea that these material causes are not real, for I am not a Christian Scientist to that extent, but what I do mean is that, notwithstanding the real existence of these causes, the effects of this Love and the faith that accompanies it upon the mind, which is the real cause of the worry, is such that forgetfulness of these causes of worry takes the place of the constant indulging in the thoughts of their existence and the unhappy consequence that must flow from them. The cause itself is not removed but the consciousness of their existence, for the time being, is dissipated, and to the mind that is, thus, influenced by the Love, these causes are as if they were not.

Of course, they are existing and facing you to some extent, but it will come to you that they are not so overwhelming and insurmountable as they would appear were this Love absent from the soul and its influence from the mind. And, in addition to this, Love and faith creates a confidence in the power of the Father and His willingness to help that engenders courage, which enables the possessor of this confidence to overcome these causes of worry that he would not otherwise be able to do.

What I have said may be called the philosophy of the workings of this Love in its effective destruction of worry. But the great fact is that the Father does, as a truth, help the one who is in the condition of being possessed with this Love. His Love is real and His help is real, and the effect is to make the causes named things of unreality so far as the happiness of the object of this help is concerned. And as a truth, shown by the experience of mortals, a very large proportion of the worries and troubles that harass and cause so much unhappiness to mortals is a thing of the imagination and never realized.

So my dear son, try to understand what I have written and apply it to your own condition, and you will find that your worries are not near so great as you now think. I know just what is facing you, but as you have been told by others who have written you, in a short time you will be relieved, and the sun will again shine in your consciousness of existence, and you will become in a much better condition to do your work, both that of your business and that of the Master. You must not for a moment think that you will not be looked after so that you can do and complete the task that you have been selected to do. This is as certain as that the sun shines, and while for a time yet some disagreeable and disheartening things may confront you, yet it will not be a great while before they will become things of the past, and you will be in condition to do this work without hindrance or interference.

So think of all that I have said and try to believe and make a practical application of my philosophy; and above all pray to the Father for a greater inflowing of this Love and have faith to realize that it will become yours, limited only by your longings and sincerity of aspirations.

Well, I will come soon and write you a long letter on some spiritual truth that will be of interest to you. I must stop now, and so with all my love and the Father's blessings, I will say, good night.

Your loving Grandmother

Helen Writes About the Dark Appearance of Samuel P. Shannon, Who Doesn't Like Females

January 8, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Helen.

Well, dear, I see that you and the Doctor (Leslie R. Stone) enjoyed the last message as did we who saw him write, and I must say that he is one of the most self-opinionated spirits that I have met for a long time. He is not very pretty, or rather attractive looking, and has considerable darkness in his appearance, yet he is evidently a hard student of what he calls intellectual things. He does not like the females, and I have my doubts that they make any very great efforts to win his affections; but anyhow he considers himself safer in shunning them, as he says.

If you could have seen the expression on White Eagle's face when he so highly eulogized the spirit, you would have been unable to restrain your laughter, and we could not, but we made ourselves invisible to him so that he could not see us.

Well, the writing shows you the result of spirits believing that the mind is the only thing that needs development, and we want to tell you that this spirit may continue in this condition of undeveloped soul for many long years to come. But as you advised him to seek an interview with some of the spirits who have the development, which only the Divine Love can give, it may cause some benefit to him. And we will have come to him some spirit who will be in such condition of memory of his beliefs on earth, that will enable him to meet the spirit on his own ground and discuss with him not only the question of the freedom of the spheres for us who have this Love, but also other questions that have to do with the supposed knowledge of this spirit, so that he will realize that the spirits whom he sees flitting from sphere to sphere are not the frivolous spirits that he believes they are.

I will write you sometime the result of this interview, for we will bring it about, not so much to satisfy this curiosity as to who we really are, as to help him gain a knowledge of this Divine Love that he thinks is only a will-o'-the-wisp.

Mary (Kennedy) was present and enjoyed the incident very much and wanted to tell the spirit that she knows all about the soulmate love, and that if he, the spirit, should try to find his soulmate and succeed, he would then know what real happiness is; but she saw that it would do no good.

Well, you have written enough for tonight and are tired. We both send our love and want our kisses. Good night and God bless you both with that Divine Love which is, as the Doctor says, the greatest thing in all the world.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Samuel P. Shannon, a Spirit in the Second Sphere, Cares Nothing About Spiritual Progression or the Divine Love

January 8, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Samuel P. Shannon.

Let me tell you that you and the Doctor (Leslie R. Stone) need someone to look after you in your mental qualities, as you are the most gullible men that I have heard talk for a long time.

I have heard what you just said in reference to your experiences in connection with these writings and the efforts made by spirits to convince you that your communications were from the higher spirits, even the spirits of the Celestial Heavens, and I feel sorry that you should be so weak as to believe all these false and flattering things that have been said to you.

So as I am a spirit who knows and loves only the truth and do not desire to see anyone deceived, I feel it my duty to tell you that you have had only deceiving spirits write you, who take great delight in making you believe that you have received communications that have not been equaled by the writings that any other medium in all the wide world has received.

Of course, you have received some wonderful truths and some beautiful sayings, but they are merely the efforts of spirits who think that they know all of the truth of the spirit world. And I advise you to let these things go from your mind and listen only to spirits who are honest and who know of what they write. I am one of those who are capable to tell you the truths that exist in our spirit world and that are only necessary for mortals to know.

Much has been written you about the Divine Love and its effect upon the souls of men making them, as it were, very Gods; and I want to say that the only Divine Love is the pure love that exists in the hearts of spirits who have been purified of sin and had their intellects developed in the highest degree. So my friends, give up this belief in the Divine Love, and put all your efforts to the cultivation of your minds.

And there is another kind of love that you have been told of, and in the belief in which you have had great satisfaction and expectations created of coming into a wonderful and ecstatic happiness when you shall come into the spirit world, and that is the soulmate love. How foolish to believe in any such love. Our soulmates are our acquirements of knowledge and not female spirits. The women here are very much like they are on earth, and they love one male for a while and then get tired and seek another. I thank God that they have never been able to fool me! I see so much of the treachery of these female spirits that I shun them and, as a consequence, they call me the woman-hater, and so I am, and I do not regret it.

My companions are only spirits like myself having a friendship for one another, but no such thing as what they call love, especially soulmate love. Sometime, before many years, you will come to the spirit world, and I beg that you will let me warn you before you come to put no faith in what is told you about this soulmate love, and if you will listen to and take my advice, you will be saved much unhappiness. I write thus as a friend and well-wisher, and you must believe that I am wholly impartial and honest in what I say to you.

I live in the Second Sphere, where there are many intellectual spirits who find much happiness and satisfaction in the development of their minds, and are not troubled by the women, or the ghost of what is called the Divine Love.

Occasionally, I see some spirits who claim to have the Divine Love, and some who claim to have soulmates, but I pay no attention to them and consider them fanatics and deceived spirits. Well, they are different in appearance from us. They seem to be much brighter and, as they claim, happier; but this is due only to the fact that they are frivolous, that is, they never give any consideration to the investigation of the important things of this spirit world, and flitter about from sphere to sphere as if they had nothing else to do than find amusement and pleasure in their joy rides, as I have heard some of you mortals express it.

Yes, they don't seem to be confined to any sphere, and that is something that I don't quite understand, for we who are so much more substantial and work so hard to learn the truths cannot pass into the higher sphere. This I don't understand, and neither do my associates. But it may be that these spirits that I speak of are of such little importance that the guardians of the higher spheres do not pay any attention to them. At least, they are never stopped in their moving from our sphere to the higher ones.

Well, I will consider what you suggest, and as you say, it can do no harm, and as I can spare time enough to make the inquiry of one of these spirits, I think that I will do so, merely to learn what their idea is of the reason that they have such freedom of movement and we have not.

I see the Indian who is acting as your guide and he, to an extent, is another one of these foolish spirits. He says that I am a wonderful spirit in my own mind and that if I continue to develop in my opinion of my own importance and greatness, I will soon be sitting on the right hand of God. He seems serious, but I do not know whether to think that he is really impressed by my appearance and intellectual greatness, or whether he is saying what he does, ironically. But I suppose he is serious, for being an Indian he cannot have much intellectual development and must be impressed by my superior qualities.

Well, my friend, I am glad that I could write you tonight and do you the friendly turn that I have, for I am a lover of humanity and wish to do all the good that I can to my fellow man. I must stop now, as a spirit who says she is your soulmate comes to me and says that I have been indulged enough and, of course, wishing to get away from her, as from all other females, I must leave; but you must think of what I have written.

Your friend,
Samuel P. Shannon, a one-time scientist of England

James Writes that Dr. Leslie R. Stone is Progressing in His Soul Development and in His Rapport with the Spirits of the Higher Spheres

January 8, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, James.

I want to say a few words to you and the Dr. (Leslie R. Stone) for, as you know, I am especially interested in him as his guardian and spiritual helper. I, of course, do not have the opportunity to write him as often as I should desire, but yet I am with him very much trying to help him in his soul developing and in his spiritual understanding of the Heavenly things that Luke has just written of, and I am glad to inform him that he is progressing in his soul development, and in his rapport with the spirits of the higher spheres.

I am with him frequently as he tells others of the Divine Love and the other truths pertaining to the spirit world, and sometimes I suggest to him thoughts, which I see may be beneficial to his hearers. He may think that sometimes the thoughts that he conveys to those with whom he talks are thrown to the winds and leave no impression on the minds of his hearers, and sometimes this is true, but I must tell him here that in many cases they take root, at least, for the time being and cause these hearers to think and wonder if there can be any truth in what they hear and as to how they may learn more of the things that are told them.

He is doing a good work in this way and must continue to do so, for there is no telling when a word or idea dropped into the mind of other people may find lodgment and grow into greater and wider thoughts and cause serious inquiries as to the truth.

What he says has this advantage over what is generally taught as to religious matters and, that is, that his thoughts as he expresses them are new and not objectionable to reason and, as a consequence, the hearers wonder how the thoughts could have arisen and give to their consideration more attention than they otherwise would do.

All the world is ready for the truth that will satisfy the soul and liberate the mind from creeds and unreasonable beliefs, and whenever anyone speaks such truth, it is heard - no matter what its source - the anxious soul will grasp it and often meditate over it.

He must keep up his courage and belief in his spirit friends, who are behind and with him, helping him in this part of his work, for it is a part, but not the important part. Have faith and let his soul reach out more and more for the Great Love of which he speaks and believes in, and he will realize in the not far distant future a power that he little conceives of. He must know this, also, that he is being prepared and developed for the great work which he has to do that will help very largely to make certain and convincing the truths that you are receiving in the messages.

He must have patience and he will not be disappointed for the powers that are with him are great enough to carry forward the great work, which is set before him to do. Even now they could fill him with the power which will be his, but the time is not yet in the order of the plan which has been determined on for the forwarding of the work that must be done. I am pleased that I could write this tonight as I feel that, though he has much faith, yet he must also have encouragement based on what will be his as the time comes for helping humanity.

Love is the great thing, and he who teaches the way to that Love, is a great instrument in the work of the Father, and his position of a good and faithful servant will be one that even Angels may envy. This is not extravagance, but actual truth, and I know that when he shall have finished his work and come to his spirit home, he will realize that what I have said is a faint representation of the actual fact.

I must not write more tonight. With my love to you both and the promise of continuous help, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
James

St. Luke Writes Further on "It is hard to learn of Heavenly things in Hell"

January 8, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here St. Luke.

I want to write a few lines upon a subject that may be of interest to you both. You have remarked upon the expression obtained in the letter that you have just received that: "It is hard to learn of Heavenly things in Hell." It is a statement in a succinct way of a great truth and one, if it were known and fully appreciated by mortals, it would cause them to realize the necessity of thinking and learning of these Heavenly things while on earth.

I know that many say, they will not believe in the orthodox Hell, or in the necessity of troubling themselves about the future, or that they will take their chance in the hereafter, if there be one. If these persons could realize the meaning of such a course of life, they would not leave their future to chance, but would, while on earth, seek for these Heavenly things and make a start for the realization of these things now and not wait until they had left the form of flesh.

They say that a just God will not punish them by condemning them to eternal torment, and they are correct; and while this just God does not condemn them at all, yet they are condemned by a law that is just as invariable as is the Love of that God, and that law brings its certain punishment, even though it may not be eternal. But it is certain, and upon the spirit itself depends very largely its duration.

If the spirit finds itself in that condition that it cannot make a start towards its redemption until a long time after its coming into the spirit world, then that punishment will longer continue; and, if the start depends, as it does very frequently, upon the ability and capacity of the spirit to receive and understand those things that will start it upon its progress, then many spirits will remain for years and years in the condition in which they find themselves when they first come to their homes in the hells. There is nothing in these places to induce or help the understanding of these Heavenly things but, on the contrary, everything to prevent and obstruct such understanding; even hopelessness and beliefs in an eternity of punishment and, frequently, want of knowledge that there is any other or better place than where they find themselves.

And I want to say here, that within the spirit there is nothing that has the qualities or powers to start it on a progression, and in this sense, the old Bible expression, "That as a tree falleth, so shall it lie," is true. Even as to the natural love these spirits in the Hells cannot initiate a start towards high thoughts and beliefs, and only when some influence from without comes to them can they have an awakening of their dormant better and true natures, so that their progress may commence. I don't mean by this that it is necessary that some high and spiritual helper shall come to them, but only that some influence from outside of themselves must come in order for them to have an awakening. This influence may be from a spirit* in an apparently similar condition to their own, but which has received some glimpse of uplifting truth that it may convey to the dark brother spirit.

All spirits can help others who are in a lower or more stagnant condition than themselves, and sometimes they do; but the great trouble here is that unless the possibly helping spirits have some desire to benefit their fellow spirits of darkness, they do not try to help, and so as your friend says, "It is hard to learn of Heavenly things in Hell." He realizes that fact fully, and even with the help that has been offered and will be given him, he will find it difficult to make a start. The mortal life is not the only place of probation, but it is the most important place, and the easiest for man to make his start in and understand the beginning of these Heavenly things.

I will not write more now, but will soon come and write a formal message. So with my love to you and friend, I will say to you both: "Have faith and let not doubt come to you as to the Heavenly things that we have written you about." Good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

*Luke: And when I used the term spirit, I mean the soul clothed in a spiritual body.

Nathan Plummer Writes His Experience in the Hells: "It is hard to learn of Heavenly things in Hell."

January 8, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Nathan Plummer, and I want to say a word.

The Indian tried to stop me, but your wife said let him write, and I am doing so.

Well, I am still in Hell and suffering, and I wish that I could die again, but I cannot and will have to stand it. I can't even be deaf (was very deaf when he lived in the flesh) so that I might escape some of my torments, for I am surrounded by the most hellish beings you can imagine, and I have to listen to them. It is no use trying to fight, for I can't hurt anybody, and they became more annoying when I did try to punch one of them.

It is awful, and so I regret that I did not listen and try to understand what the Doctor (Leslie R. Stone) so often told me when on earth, but now it is too late. I often hear what he says to you now in your conversations, but for some reason I can't quite understand and, besides if I did, these damned ugly spirits would knock all the understanding out of me. It is hard to learn what you call Heavenly things in Hell, and I am so unhappy and see no way to relief.

The Doctor's father (William Stone) talked to me and told me some things that were like what the Doctor told me, and I felt better when he was telling me and some hope came to me, but when I got back into my Hell and saw all the horrors and the shrieking, ugly spirits, I forgot, and the Hell feelings came to me again and I suffered. Oh, if I could only find some relief from these torments!

Well, I will try again, for I know that Mr. Stone is kind and wants to help me, but my trouble is that I doubt if he can, but I will go as you advise and try to believe that he can. I am very thankful to you and the Doctor and will try to hope - anything to get out of this place and away from these devils.

Your wife says I must stop. So good night.

Nathan Plummer


**********

I, L.R. Stone was present when the above spirit wrote. I was well acquainted with him for several years before he died and often talked to him on the importance of getting the Divine Love in his soul. He was very deaf before entering the spirit world. After he wrote through Mr. Padgett, I told him to look around for my father who is a bright spirit of the Celestial Heavens. The spirit went with my father to receive help and instruction and has now made his progress to the Celestial Heavens.

John Writes that No Spirit Has the Gift of Prophecy; Confirmations by Samuel and Helen

January 7, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, John.

I was with you tonight and heard the alleged prophecies and was interested in the great number of people that were present intently listening to the words of the speaker (Mrs. Kates). To you, the most significant element in the meeting should be the large number of persons present evidently interested in the teachings of spiritualism, or in what they supposed might be manifested as the workings of the spirits. It shows that many of earth are deeply interested in this truth and desire to learn whatever may be taught and demonstrated and such evidence should be inspiring to you in your work of receiving and preparing the great truths that come to you through the medium of spiritualism. The people are longing for the truths of which they know not, but intuitively feel must exist somewhere and hope that a revelation of them may in some manner come to their hopeful souls.

So become more earnest in your desire to receive these truths and give more of your time that can be spared from your business to receiving the messages, and you will the sooner accomplish the work and get in stronger rapport with those who write. After tonight we will come more frequently and more regularly and deliver our messages and will not permit these other messages that you may call personal to interfere with the transmission of ours. I am glad that you are in so much better condition tonight and assure you that you may continue to grow better and better, if you will only follow our advice. Try your best to cast aside your worries. Have faith in us and in our promises and you will not be disappointed. I will come soon and write you another message.

Well, the fact is that she (Mrs. Kates) was controlled by a spirit part of the time that she was speaking, and he suggested to her some of the thoughts that she gave utterance to, but most of her declarations of prophecy came from her own mind, as they had been lodged therein by her observations and thoughts. What she said was really her own prognostications rather than prophecy.

The spirit who controlled her impressed upon her his thoughts as to what the future might be, and her speculations were as reliable as his, except that he has a wider scope of vision as to causes that may bring about results, such as she spoke of. As we have told you before, no spirit has the gift of prophecy, as mortals term it, arising from a supernatural or omniscient power; and these prophecies should be accepted with all the allowance that want of knowledge on the part of spirits or mortals will justify.

Some of those who heard her may believe in what she said and be benefitted by it, for she said some things that are helpful, and in that view some good may come from her lecture; but to accept what was said as known truths is a deception and should not be accepted.

I will not write more tonight. Remember what I have said and believe that I love you and am trying to help you. Good night.

Your brother in Christ,
John

**********

Samuel Confirms John's Message

I am here, Samuel.

I will say a few words only. I am glad that John wrote so encouragingly, as it will do you good, and I want to substantiate what he said. You may look for better conditions now. Only keep up your courage and have faith in what we write you. You have my love and blessings. So believe in us all and let not the things that appear insurmountable discourage you. I will come soon. Good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Samuel

**********

Helen Confirms John's Message

I am here, Helen.

Well, my dear, I am glad that John wrote you as he did, and you must believe in what he said. I was also glad that you are in so much better condition and that you have set aside your worries. Soon this burden will not come to you and you will be free.

I was with you tonight and heard the prophecies and as John said, they were mostly speculations of the medium and also of the spirit who controlled her. No reliance can be placed upon what she said as prophecies. Many of the things that she mentioned may come true for there are many causes in operation that will bring about some of the effects that she mentioned.

Well, I will not write more tonight, and I would advise you to go to bed early and get up early. It will help you very much in every way. Believe that I love you and am

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Helen Writes a Note of Encouragement to Her Husband and Soulmate, James E. Padgett

January 5, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Helen.

Well, my dear old Ned,* I am here to love you and encourage you and tell you that you must try to have more faith and you will soon realize that you have about and in you a sustaining influence that will enable you to overcome every obstacles.

I am glad that John came and wrote you as he did - for we all see the importance of your realizing to the fullest that the position that you occupy in this work and the great importance of your receiving these truths that the Master and high spirits shall write you. I cannot tell you how happy I am when I know that you have been so favored and with what a great love and power will be given to you to do this work.

These spirits, if you could see them, would amuse you to know that they are the greatest and most highly developed of all God's spirits and that they are so in earnest about this matter. So try to have more faith and pray for more Love and your soul will become so largely developed that you may, in some degree, by your soul perception, realize what wonderful beings surround you and are working with and loving you.

I came today because I felt your thoughts of love and aspirations flowing to the Father and I feel that you needed me to write just a few words of love and cheer.

We will be with you tonight and you may get some deep messages of the truth and consolation for yourself as well as for your fellow mortals. Remember that your Helen is with you in all her love and influence and is very happy when she realizes that you love her so much. Well you must not write more today as it will not do you good physically. So knowing that you love me and trust and want me with you, I am

Your own true and loving,
Helen

*"Ned" is Helen's nickname for James E. Padgett

John Writes that He Has Been Specially Designated to Help and Inspire James E. Padgett

January 5, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, John.

I merely want to say that you must keep up your courage and belief that everything will be fulfilled as we have promised for while there may appear to be a delay in realizing the things that you desire, yet, they will surely come and you will get what you want and in the condition that you think is necessary to enable you to live the life that will make you able to do the work of the Master without the interference of your earthly affairs.

You may be surprised that I should write in this way, but I am interested particularly in your accomplishing the great mission that has been bestowed upon you, and I want to tell you that I have been specially designated to attend you in the way of a helper and inspirer of those things that will work to the accomplishing of our plans to reveal to mankind the Truths that will cause their salvation and redemption.

I am not given to interfering in material affairs but in your case I see that these things stand in the way of your carrying out our designs and, hence, they must be gotten rid of and I will try as are many others trying to relieve you of these differences. So with all this, you must not suppose that you are not to do your part in accomplishing this end for you must work with us and bend all your efforts to bring about the desired end.

Many here of the high spirits wish to communicate to you and they are waiting for you to get into a condition that will enable them to deliver their messages as they wish to do. Think more of the Father and His Love and of the great privilege that you have in coming in close communion with these high spirits and receiving the benefit of their love and influence; for you are favored in this particular and in love (relying) upon you as our greatest instrument by which we are to accomplish our design and you must not let anything stand in the way of helping us to fulfill our plans.

You will find that you will receive more and more of this Divine Love and a greater soul development as you continue in this work and ultimately you will become a very happy and spiritual man doing much good and will have displayed in you the wonderful powers of the workers of old who lived with the Master and performed many things that were called miracles. So I say, try to realize the importance of the work that you have to do and the powers that will be given you. For I must tell you now that never since the days of the apostles have such honors been given to a man.

Well, I know just how you feel in respect to my prophecies but what I say will become true and you will live to see all these things fulfilled. Not that it is not a part of your work at this time now, you are only to receive these messages and also the wonderful soul development that I speak of for this latter is necessary to your receiving the promise that I speak of as these powers will be entirely things of a spiritual origin and unless you are in condition of soul to receive them, they cannot come into your possession.

After this shall have been accomplished then you will do work of a kind to demonstrate to the world the genuineness of your messages and for this purpose you will do things that by many will be considered miraculous and from them such good will come to man, not only physically but spiritually.

I came to tell you this because I see that the time is here when you must understand and fully appreciate the importance of your work as well as of the relationship that you sustain to God's spiritual instrumentalities in bringing about the great results that we desire and which men so much need. Well, I will not write more now but let me impress upon you the necessity of considering and meditating on what I have written.

Jesus is the one great instrument in doing this work and upon you he depends for that part of the work which belongs to the material. He is with you very often and he loves you with a very deep and lasting love and is exerting his promise to help you and enable you to do his work. And many spirits, both in the Celestial and in the Spiritual Heavens are with you in love and care and are trying to help you both spiritually and individually. So remember this and when you become discouraged think of the fact that you have sustaining you the wonderful love and power of the spirit world and of spirits who are high up in the Celestial Spheres and have more of Divine Love of the Father than have any other spirits in all God's universe.

So with my love and blessing, I am

Your brother in Christ,
John

Luke Writes that No Man Can Possibly Reach the Condition of Perfection Unless His Mental Beliefs Are in Accord With the Truth

January 4, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luke.

I will write a few lines tonight on a subject that I desire to make known to you and others, for I know it will be of interest to all who may read it. The subject is the truth of the statement that: "No man can possibly reach the condition of perfection unless his mental beliefs become in accord with the truth."

This perfection, you will understand, is the perfection that man possessed before his fall; that is, the perfection of his creation.

It has been asserted by many, that the beliefs of a man do not count for much in determining his condition of soul and mind, and that only his acts and deeds and the qualities of his heart determine that condition; but this assertion I declare to be untrue, unless these acts and deeds and qualities of heart are the results of beliefs being in accord with the truth.

Belief is the mainspring of man's acts and the result of his thoughts; and "Thoughts are Things" that cause the realities of man's consciousness, and as he thinketh in his heart so is he. "Thinketh in his heart" means, or comprehends, the idea that the thoughts of his mind, which is the only part of man that has the powers or faculties for thinking, are suggested by, or flow from, the desires and appetites of the emotional part of man.

No thought originates itself, although it may seem to be a spontaneous creation, but is the result of some spiritual or physical perception; that is, of the perception of the spiritual qualities or of the sensuous organs of man's physical constitution. And belief is the result of thought and that agency which causes man's acts or want of acts and, hence, the only guide or way shown to man in the progress of the development of his soul in its natural love, or of the mind, to the state of perfection that I speak of.

Now belief does not create truth or change truth, for it is absolute and unchangeable; and truth does not create belief unless that truth is comprehended by the thoughts from which emanate the belief. So it is apparent that unless the belief, if erroneous, changes so that it becomes in accord with the truth, man, the possessor of the belief, can never get into a state of perfection, which can only exist when a man is in a complete condition of harmony with the truth. Belief being the effect of the operations of the mind, unless these operations are in harmony with the truth, the belief cannot possibly cause the development of the man who is possessed of and controlled by that belief into the perfect man, because every cause has an effect, and that effect must be, necessarily, only such as is the natural and inevitable result of that cause.

Out of untruth it is impossible for truth to emanate, and from the imperfect the perfect can never be constructed; and so it is impossible to develop a perfect love and mind out of an imperfect belief. The law that declares the effect of its operations to bring this result is invariable, and only by the observation of its requirements can the imperfect ever become the perfect. So, therefore, I assert that no man can ever become the perfect man unless his beliefs become in harmony with the truth. As a matter of fact, irrespective of reason established by my knowledge resulting from observation and experience in the spirit as well as in the mortal world, I declare the same to be a truth.

Then how important to man it is to seek for and obtain those beliefs that are in harmony with the truth in order to become as he was originally, the perfect man. This true belief may be found and acquired even by the mortal, and no man will be excused from the penalty of the great Law of Compensation by his plea that he did not think it very material what his beliefs were if he tried to do right in the world towards his fellow man.

But here, you will see that in addition to the fact that this great law accepts no excuse is the fact that man's acts and deeds proceed from his beliefs, whenever such are strong enough to control him; and when the beliefs are unformed, and man acts from emotion or impulse or desire only without the constraint of any belief, the result upon his progress to the perfect man is substantially the same, because this law, in order to escape the penalty for its violation, demands that beliefs, formed or unformed, or acts and deeds resulting from emotion or impulse, which are really beliefs without definite form, shall be in harmony with the truth.

The infidel who says he doesn't believe, the agnostic who says he doesn't know, the orthodox who believes, but whose belief is erroneous, and the free thinker who believes only what reason teaches him as he proclaims, if such beliefs are not in accord with the truth all come under the same penalty - that is, the impossibility of becoming the perfect man while such erroneous beliefs or want of true beliefs exist.

So I say, belief is a vital thing in the progress of a man towards perfection, and men should cease to declare and rest on the assurance of such declaration that it makes no difference what a man believes if he does what he may consider to be right and just.

Why, I, who know, tell you that the earth planes of the spirit world are crowded with the spirits of men who are in darkness and stagnation in their progress towards the perfect man solely from the causes that I have above written, and some men have been in that condition for many long years, and will not find progress except as such erroneous beliefs leave them and beliefs in accord with the truth take the place of the former. But for man and spirits, there is this consolation: that at some time, how long in the future I or no other spirit know, these erroneous beliefs will all be eradicated and man will again come into his original perfection. But the waiting may be long and distressing and wearisome to many.

I have written enough and in closing will say to all men: "Know and realize that the belief of a man is a vital and determining element in his progress to the perfect man." I am pleased to write you tonight, and will soon come again. Keep your faith and courage and you will realize the promises. Good night and God bless you.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

Mrs. Nathan Plummer Writes that She is in a Condition of Darkness and Asks for Help

January 3, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Mother Plummer.

I am a poor old woman and in darkness and so very disappointed for I thought when on earth that the blood of Jesus washed away all my sins and that I would go to Heaven and rest in his arms and sing "hallelujahs" around God's throne. But, instead, I am in darkness and have never seen Jesus or one of the glorious Angels, and thank God, though, the devil hasn't got me. I have never seen him or any of his imps or brimstone and fire. But the spirits I have seen are devils enough. What does it mean? I was a good Christian, as I thought and believed that Jesus died for me and saved me?

I do not know what to do. I am not a stranger to you and the Dr. (Leslie R. Stone) and I remember some things that he told me about the spirit world and spirits and I have been trying to learn how these things may help me but, yet, I do not understand. I know that I am alive and never died and that I have the same thoughts and try to believe in my church, but how can I? And I am so disappointed and so anxious to find the light.

My husband has also come over and he has not changed. He is the same quarrelsome man, although he can hear now. He is so dark and ugly and it seems to me that he is one of the lost souls that the Bible tells of, but I hope not. He is not living with me but says he is in Hell and I can believe it. Can you help me or tell me anything that will get me out of my darkness?

Nate says: Dr. Stone knew all about the spirit world and tried to tell us, and we should have listened to him, but how could I when he told me that Jesus did not die for me and save me from my sins.

(At this point Mr. Padgett would talk to the dark spirits and tried to increase their soul perceptions to see the bright spirits that were working with him to help those in darkness.)

Yes, now I see some bright spirits and one who says that she is Mrs. Stone come to me and says she will help me and I am going with her. Good night.

Mother Plummer, wife of Nathan Plummer


**********

P.S. Dr. Leslie R. Stone has written that both Mr. and Mrs. Plummer have now progressed into higher spiritual life as a result of the help that Mr. Plummer received and obtained the Divine Love. Mrs. Plummer was helped by Mrs. Stone and since this was 44 years ago, I am sure that she also has received the Divine Love of the Father to enable them both to live in the Celestial Heavens.

Leslie R. Stone.
       

Helen Writes a Short Note Confirming Jesus' Message About Christian Science

January 2, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, your own true and loving, Helen.

Oh, my dear, how glad I am that the Master wrote to you as he did, and if you only could have seen him as he told you of his love for you and the great happiness that will be yours when you shall have finished your work, you would have been thrilled as well as very happy. He seemed to be full of love and glory, and so anxious that you should fully comprehend what he wrote you.

Your own true loving
Helen

Jesus Writes that Some of the Doctrines of Christian Science are Untrue

January 2, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

I have been present as you read the article on Christian Science and was interested in your comments and am pleased to assure you that your annotations were correct, and that in the particulars that you criticized the statements of the writer, the same were erroneous and not in accord with the spiritual laws of truth and the understanding thereof. Sometime I will come and write you a message at some length on the doctrines of Christian Science for the reason that I think a correction of the claims of this cult is very important.

The doctrines that it proclaims to the world contain many truths and are beneficial to mankind, and are doing much good, both spiritually and physically, but some of the claims are so much in violation of the truth that they must not be permitted to pass as truths uncontradicted.

The founder (Mary Baker Eddy) of this science or discovery, as her writings and followers claim, is here now and deplores the fact that she left to the world so many false and misconceived concepts of the truth that so many persons believe and teach. She is a spirit of much soul development and is in possession of much of the Divine Love, which she did not conceive the meaning of by her carnal mind, as she called it, and was not, therefore, able to teach what this Divine Love is and its operations upon the souls of men and the effect of its presence in such souls.

She never conceived any higher ideal for man than the perfect man. One who should become wholly delivered from the sins and errors, which all men have to a more or less extent. And her teachings that sin and error and disease are not things of reality, because God did not create them, are all wrong, for they have a reality that not only makes men unhappy and causes them suffering in the mortal life, but also prevents their progress towards her ideal of the perfect man in the spirit world.

God only is good and everything that He created is necessarily good and cannot contain that which is evil or in conflict with His creations; but, as we have explained to you, while He created man perfect, knowing only good, yet He bestowed upon him that great power of free will, and after his disobedience, he exercised it in such a way that he violated the laws of his being and sin and error resulted. This made man the creator of evil.

Mrs. Eddy will write you very soon on the subject of her science, as she is very anxious to remedy the errors that she taught, and we have determined that it is advisable that she do so on account both of her followers and her own account, for her work here and so far as possible in the mortal world, is to unteach, as it were, the errors that she taught.

I expected to write my message, or rather finish the message which I partly wrote a few nights ago, but you are not just in condition to receive it, and I prefer waiting until you feel better in this respect. I am glad that you are so much interested in that message, and when you receive it, I don't think that you will be disappointed, for as you say, the subject is the one fundamental truth to be made known to mortals. I will deal with it in all its phases, and you must try to get in the best possible condition to receive it.

Well, I do not think that that will be necessary for there will be such powers present, that the presence of any mortal and the favorable influences that he may attract will not afford any assistance to you. You must know that I have greater power than all the other spirits have, and when I come to you, the assistance of the powers of any other spirit is not needed. If you will only get your soul in the best condition possible, so that I can make the proper rapport, nothing else will be needed.

I will not write more tonight. I love you very much and am with you quite frequently, throwing around you my love and influence, and trying to help you develop your soul condition and become in greater at-onement with the Father.

Yes, I have kept my promises, and when you call for me to come with you and pray, I come, and send up my earnest supplications in your behalf, and I know that the Father answers my prayers, not only because of the faith that I have, but because I can see the effect in your soul's condition.

Well, you must not think that I am God or one of the Godhead, for as I have told you, I am only His son, and the possessor of so much of His Divine Love that I get very close to Him and have communion. I have my home in the Highest Heaven, that the spirit of man has not yet so far reached but, notwithstanding, I am not of so exalted a condition, or in such position, that I do not come to you in love and sympathy and as your elder brother. In my exaltation, I am most humble, and I must tell you that humility is a certain and eternal accompaniment of great spiritual and soul development. And because I am the highest of the Father's sons, you must not doubt that I come to you and deliver my messages and pray for you and throw around you my love and influence.

I have explained to you the great reason why I am doing this, and this reason is one that involves the salvation and good of all mankind, and you. I will tell you now that you are engaged and made a co-worker with me, and the spirits who write you, in the greatest work that any spirit or man can engage in. And I want further to say, that you will accomplish the work, and successfully; and when the time comes for you to lay down this work and come to the spirit world, your reward will be beyond all conception, and your happiness will be complete.

I see that you have in your mind the thought as to what will be the future of your two friends . Well, they will perform their work and it will be a great and important work, that will bring them a reward similar to the one that is in store for you; and this reward is not the result of any special dispensation of the Father, but is the result of the work and the associations and experience that you all will have in doing and completing the tasks that are before you.

You and they, too, are now doing a work which is laying up rewards in the spirit world for you when you come over, and not only there but you are now experiencing some of the benefits that flow from your work. Continue in the efforts that you are making to show spirits and mortals the way to the Father's Love and my kingdom, and you will find a wonderful reflex happiness come to you while you are yet mortals.

If you men could realize the love and spiritual influences, and the number of highly developed spirits that are with you so often, and the efforts the latter make to help you and bring happiness to you, you would feel that you are the truly blessed of the Father. Well, I must stop now. Remember what I have said and believe that I am,

Your brother and friend,
Jesus

Helen Writes that Many Spirits Were Present at the New Year's Eve Church Service

December 31, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Helen.

Well, we are here in great numbers and all wish you and the Doctor (Leslie R. Stone) a very Happy New Year, and one that will bring to you not only prosperity and happiness in your material affairs, but also a great and abundant inflowing of the Divine Love of the Father, which will bring you a happiness that no earthly prosperity can possibly bring.

We were with you tonight at the (New Year's Eve) church services and tried to throw around you our influence of love and peace - the peace that passeth all understanding - and when this peace came to you as it did to a degree, we all rejoiced.

The Master was present, for there were many souls there that were longing for this love, although they associated it with Jesus in the way that they believed it came from him as the fountainhead; but notwithstanding this error, their souls were right and the Holy Spirit responded, and the Love was present and many a worshipper felt its influence.

I suppose that you and the Doctor would like to know who were present, and I should like to tell you but to do so would require more paper and more time than you have at your disposal tonight. But this I will say, that, in addition, to the Master there were present your special guardians. I mean John and James, and also Mary and the Doctor's parents and sisters, and your parents and, of course, myself.

We all felt that as this is the night that brings into your lives a new year with the great possibilities that will be yours, we should become a little human and bring to you our love and wishes, and the fact that there are surrounding you the spirits of those who once loved you so much when they lived on earth and had nothing more than faith. Now they come to you with knowledge, and with some of them the knowledge that they are Angels, and redeemed children of the Father, and inhabitants of His Celestial Kingdom - the kingdom which Jesus has been and is establishing for the eternal homes of all who may receive the New Birth.

If you could have seen all the glorious spirits that were present, and the love and beauty that surrounded you, you would have thanked God with all the powers of your soul that you were so blessed, and we all said and prayed to the Father: "God bless you," and what it meant only we knew, though, you could receive its benefits.

Well, I am happy, and Mary is happy, and all the spirits who love you so much are happy. What a blessed thing the Love of the Father is! As the preacher said, this Love makes your soul a new thing, not as a new creation only, but in the important element of being new in quality and consistency. I hope that you may continue to increase in your realization of the abundance of this Love that will surely be yours, if you continue to pray to the Father in earnest and longing desire.

I will not write more tonight except to say that Mary wants to tell the Doctor that, as the hours go by, she feels that she is getting closer and closer to him in the holy love that is theirs, and that can never be taken from them. She is anxious that he feel this growing love and increased rapport, and that some day she may become as real to him in his conscious recollections, as he is to her.

So repeating our wish that you both may have a Happy New Year with increasing love and joy as the year grows older, I will say with all my heart's love, good night. We both want our kisses.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

John Writes a Short Note on the Second Coming of Jesus

December 29, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, John.

Let me write a line. I was with you tonight and heard the sermon of the preacher on the second coming of Jesus, and by it you were convinced of the continued revelation of the truths that you are receiving. How very much mistaken this preacher is in his beliefs, and how disappointed he will be when he comes to not only realize the truths, but also the knowledge that while living on earth, Jesus had already come the second time and that he, the preacher, might have had the benefit of that coming if he had not permitted his orthodox beliefs to prevent the truth from entering his mind and soul.

Well, I would like tonight to write on this subject, but I do not consider it advisable to do so. I promised you a short time ago that I would write on the subject in detail, and so I will very soon, if I can make the proper rapport. Your condition is much better than it has been for some time, and if you will continue to pray and let your longings go to the Father as you have done today, you will soon be in that condition that will enable us to make the rapport so that we can communicate our deep spiritual truths.

Try with all your determination and effort to get in this condition and you will not fail. There are other messages, as you know, that I desire to write and their delivery depends only on you. I will not write more now.

With my love and prayers, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
John

General Saul S. Henkle Writes that He Has Progressed to the Third Sphere

December 28, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, the spirit of your old friend, General Henkle.

I merely want to say that I have been present all evening and heard your reading of the messages and the conversation and must say that some things that I heard surprised me, for instance, the assertion that your spirit was taken from your body and brought to the spirit spheres and there enjoyed the freedom of a spirit that had left the earth forever. This I have never heard of before and cannot conceive that such a thing can be, and if it were not for the fact that your wife and a number of other spirits who are filled with Love and truth tell me that it is true, I should doubt the fact.

It is all so wonderful to me that but for the experience that I had when I came to the spirit world, and found so many things that I thought true were not true, I should even yet hesitate to believe. How little we spirits know of the wonders of God, and how much there is to us to learn!

And the one thing that even yet makes me marvel is that all these wonderful things, I mean the power of communication and the truths that you receive should have come to you, who when I was on earth was merely a man like the rest of us with no knowledge of these things. But I have had so many surprises and experiences that I am ready to believe most anything that these high and beautiful spirits tell me.

The greatest truth of all - the existence of the Divine Love and its effect upon the souls of men and spirits - I know to be a truth, for I have had it come into my soul and transform my condition of darkness into light and happiness.

Since I last wrote you, I have made much progress and am now in the Third Sphere, where I find so much bliss and so many beautiful spirits who possess this Love and tell me of the beautiful and wonderful things that you did for them. Well, my dear friend, it does me good to write you and tell you of my progress and the certainty of the existence of the Great Love.

I have met many of my old friends and brother lawyers in this spirit world, and some of them have found this soul development, but the most of them, I am sorry to say, have not, and are still trying to develop their intellects, especially in the way of spiritual laws which, they think, is the most important thing to learn. And my work is to try to convince them of the greater importance of the Divine Love and to show them the necessity of prayer. The work is laborious and somewhat disheartening, but it is mine to do, and I will continue in the work until I am told to go to a higher sphere.

I would like to write longer tonight and tell you of the experiences of some of my friends, but your wife says that I must not do so and so I will say good night and leave you my love, and also your friend, although I have never met him on earth, but realize that he is a kindred spirit that the Father has blessed him also with some of this Great Love.

General Henkle

Judge Frank D. Syrick Writes About Seeing the Soulmates Sailing into the Spirit Sphere

December 28, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here. Judge Syrick.

Well, my friend, how are you this Christmastime and how is the Doctor? Of course, I know full well, but I adopt the old earth way of greeting you both. It has been sometime since I wrote you or had the pleasure of talking to you at Mrs. Ripple's, and I am glad of the opportunity to now say a few words.

Well, when I think of all the things that have happened since I left the mortal life and you two friends, I can scarcely comprehend what it all means. Here, I am a spirit who has found the Love of the Father to a small extent and enjoys the Heavens, which I used to wonder what it was like, and the company of a dear girl that I used to talk to you about as if I really knew her, and I did really believe in her existence as my Rose. And you two who have found this Love that you used to tell me about, and I didn't understand what you meant. You have your soulmates just as truly as I have mine, although the Doctor has never seen his, at least with his mortal eyes.

But I want to say right here with all the sincerity of old friendship, that your soulmates are just as real as is mine and are with you just as certainly as mine is with me. As your friend, I think it is my duty, as well as pleasure, to assure you as a witness bound to you by the bonds of the Divine Love that both Helen and Mary are the spirits in all communications that they have written you of. Well, I can hardly realize that all this is true, but I don't have to prick myself to feel that I am not dreaming, and I am glad for your sakes as well as for mine.

I happened to be present a few nights ago when your two soulmates came sailing, as you might say, with the spirits of you two into our spirit sphere, and I must confess that I was surprised - for I did not dream that such a thing could be. And you were there and I shook hands with you and greeted you and twitted you on being in possession of two such spirits as were they, and told you that they would never let you return to earth, and you said you were glad of it. Now seriously, this is not a fairy tale, and I assure you in all truth that it is a fact.

I, of course. did not stay with you very long, but you both expressed surprise that I should be such a handsome spirit, and I said I would return the compliment. Well, there are stranger things in Heaven and earth than men dream of in their philosophies and I know that this experience of yours is not among the least strange.

I am very happy now and am progressing all the time, and I must tell you that you may, at times, experience some of this soul happiness, but when you come over you will find such happiness very faint in comparison with what you will then enjoy.

I must not write further now and will close, but in doing so must congratulate you on the great privilege you have enjoying the presence of your soulmates, and other spirit friends in this Heaven of bliss, and while you are mortals. So with my love, and Rose says hers, too, I will say good night.

Your old friend,
Syrick