John D. Rogers Was Attracted to Mr. Padgett at the Seance He Attended and Seeks Help Out of Darkness

March 23, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me write a line, John D. Rogers.

I was with you at the meeting and saw that you are mediumistic, and I felt that I should like to communicate with you for a short time.

I am one of the spirits who frequently attend the meetings of the medium (Mrs. Kates) whom you heard speak tonight and give to some of the people the messages from their loved ones, and I was very anxious to communicate also, but had not the opportunity. I am a man who was known to several of the persons present and would have been recognized had my name been mentioned and would have been gladly received.

I am very unhappy in my present condition and surroundings and want to learn the way to get out of darkness and unhappiness. I know that the friends of mine who were present think that I am a happy spirit and can come to them and help them in their worldly affairs, when the fact is, that I cannot, and that they can help me more than I can help them; and I wish that they would do so. It is terrible to be left in the condition in which I am, with no light, or the way to get into the light left open to me.

I never know when to ask for help, for something always comes forward to interfere with my efforts, and I am relegated to my awful condition of darkness in which I have been since I came to spirit life. It is a mistake for mediums to believe or teach that we all are in a happy condition when we come to the spirit world, for such is not the case and many a spirit comes to his relatives and for the purpose of relieving them of any fear as to his condition, tells them that he is happy, when he is not.

Well, I came with you hoping that you might help me some, if only by your sympathy and kind thoughts, which do so much good to spirits situated as I am; and I believe that you would probably send up a prayer for my relief. I was not a very good man when on earth and am now paying the penalty for my evil thoughts and deeds.

My friends thought that I was good, but in this they were mistaken, and many a man who considers himself good, as men generally go, will find that in the storehouse of his memory are the records of many thoughts and deeds that he had forgotten, but which when he comes to spirit life will come upon him in all their nakedness and horror to be atoned for in the way that the laws of God require. I am not a Christian, though when on earth I believed in the creeds of my church and considered myself a very good church member, and was certain that I would be among the redeemed when I should come to meet the great revealer of things as they are, I mean death.

No, the truth cannot be hidden by belief, or anything but truth itself. We must all face the great revelation, and when it comes, it will not show us to be free from sin and defilement, as I thought when on earth. I must pay the penalty, and the great law will work in my case as certainly as that the sun will rise on your world tomorrow morning.

I have seen such spirits, but only as you see ghosts as you believe. I have never had any conversation with them and do not know that they can do me any good, or that they desire to help me. But why do you ask?

Well, I see a spirit, and he is exceeding bright and beautiful and comes to me and tells me that he will help me if I will only believe what he tells me and follow his advice. I am going with him and do my best to do as he advises. He says that I will find relief and light. I must go, so good night.

Your friend,
John D. Rogers

George Butler Writes of His Progress From the Hells to the Third Sphere

March 15, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, George Butler.

I would like to write a few lines tonight, if you are agreeable. A long time ago I wrote you describing my condition and that of the hells in which I was then living, and you were kind enough to help me and bring me in association with some bright spirits who were willing to show me the way out of my awful condition, and who since that time have been helping me with their love and sympathy and prayers; and now I am happy to tell you that I have gotten out of my darkness and am progressing towards the heavens, which a development and transformation of the soul by the inflowing of the Divine Love leads to.

Tonight, I desire to express to you my thankfulness and gratitude for the great service you did me and to say that in all the spirit world, there is not one who feels more conscious of the truth which your advice leads to in the salvation of his soul and the redemption from an existence of darkness and suffering, than do I.

I cannot convey to you any conception of what this redemption means to me, or of the wonderful difference of condition in a soul that has experienced the possession of this Love, and one that remains in ignorance of the blessings that it confers. What I wrote you then, I now repeat, that the hell of a soul which is all tainted and permeated with the results of an earth life of sin and error is wholly true and the contrast between souls in the two states of existence is impossible of description.

When you spoke to me of the probability of my release from the hells and told me that this Great Love would work out my deliverance, I confess that I had very little faith in what you told me, and thought that you were trying to impose on me some of the old nonsensical beliefs of your church doctrines, of which I had heard a great deal when on earth; and when the bright spirits came to me and confirmed what you had said and offered their services in accordance with what you had advised me was the certain way to my obtaining a new state of living, I thought that it was an illusion or delusion, and that no results could possibly come to me by pursuing the course that they told me would surely lead to a change of my condition. But they were so earnest and so anxious that I should listen to them and seemed to have so much love for me and my welfare, which was a new experience for me since I had been in hells that I commenced to think that such evidence of friendship and anxiety for my betterment must have some foundation of truth, and that I would not lose anything by heeding their advice and making the effort to pursue the way pointed out to me.

And so I commenced to pray for the Love, and they prayed with me, and in a little while their Father appeared to me in a new light - not just real, but as something that might have a potential existence. I continued to pray and listen to their prayers, and my emotions were aroused, and I felt a kind of happiness that I had not before felt, and a feeling of hope that there might be some efficacy in their prayers, but had not much faith in my own; and notwithstanding my incredulity, I realized that I felt better in the atmosphere of their presence and in the influence that their prayers seemed to bring around me. They were very kind and sympathetic, and so wonderfully patient, and impressed me with the feeling that my soul's salvation, as they termed it, and the deliverance of me from my unhappy and suffering condition were to them matters of personal interest and importance; and, of course, with such feelings I soon commenced to think that if these beautiful spirits could have such interest in me, I should have interest in myself sufficient to earnestly seek for the relief that I so much needed.

Well, I then put more desire and longings in my prayers and tried to look upon their Father, as possibly my Father also, and so my longings became more real and intense. I prayed and called upon the Father to give me this Love and to cause me to have faith in prayer and in the Being to whom my prayers were offered. I will not tell you how earnestly I continued to pray and how the first faint realization of the answer came to me and with it the consciousness of a hope that might be fulfilled. After a while, this Love came to me and with it a feeling of happiness that I had never conceived of, and also the conviction that these spirits were showing and helping me on the true way to a redemption of soul and body, also, for as you may know, I had then and have now a body more substantial and real than the one which I possessed when on earth.

I will not here describe my progress or the different experiences that I had, nor the faith nor doubts that came to me in succession. I persisted, with the encouragement of these spirits, and after awhile found myself out of the darkness and sufferings and the hells, real and terrible, and an inhabitant of a brighter sphere and in the association of brighter spirits, who, though not like the beautiful spirits who had so lovingly worked with me, yet, were very different from those whom I had left in the darkness and the hells.

I am now in the Third Sphere, and if I had the time, or rather if I felt justified in consuming your time, I would describe to you as best I could, what this sphere is, and the wonderful beauty and happiness that belongs to it. Sometime, I hope to have the opportunity to attempt to portray the wonders of this sphere, and more particularly of my home and surroundings.

Tonight, as I have said, I merely desire to express to you my gratitude and to assure you of the truth and the results of what you told me was the true way to light and happiness. Never through all eternity shall I forget your kindness and the great help that you gave me, nor shall I cease to remember you in my prayers to the Father, whom I now know is a true, real, existing and loving Father. Oh, the difference in the condition of the Butler in hell and the Butler who is now writing you is beyond all description, and this Love, which is the greatest thing in all the universe and the greatest gift to mortals, is the cause thereof.

I must stop writing, although I should like to write longer, for I have already intruded too long. So remember my gratitude, and also that I am now a very happy

George Butler

Abraham Lincoln Writes on How Man Can Come into Harmony with the Laws that Govern Him as the Created Man, Without Obtaining the Divine Love

March 13, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Abraham Lincoln.

Let me write a few lines tonight as you are in good condition to receive my message. Well, I see that you have been thinking a great deal about spiritual things and have longed for the Love of the Father, and by such thoughts and longings, you have come unto a condition that enables the spirits to make a rapport with you.

Tonight, I desire to write for a short time on the subject of how important it is for man to learn the truths of God in reference to the plan which He has prescribed for man's salvation, and his coming into harmony with the laws that govern him as the created man.

As you have been told, in the beginning man was created perfect and in all the constituent parts of his being made in harmony with God's laws controlling man as a perfect creature, and if he had never disobeyed the precepts of the Father, he would have always remained the perfect man.

Now this condition of man is a fundamental one, and the soul is in itself just as capable of that perfection as it was when created, and only by the sin of disobedience was it alienated from God and made the possessor of those things which tend to contaminate it and cause its pure condition to be overshadowed and dormant as to this perfection.

All of God's universe is perfect and subject to the workings of His perfect laws, and when that condition exists which shows that some one or other of His creatures are not working or being in harmony with these laws, it only means that in order for the restoration to the harmonious existence, man must renounce and get rid of these foreign things that have the effect of interfering with the harmony of His creation.

There is no such thing as total depravity or original sin, or the existence of any condition of the soul in this sin that cannot be remedied by the application of the proper treatment and the removal of the incubus. Man, in order to become perfect again as he was before the fall, is not required to be recreated or have imposed upon him that which will make him a new or different being from what he was in the beginning. The perfect man is still in existence, but is hidden from the sight and consciousness of men, and needs only his revealment by eliminating from him the covering which now hides his real self. Nothing new is needed, but only the riddance of the soul from those things which do not belong to it, and then the soul will appear just as it was created: a perfect soul made in the image of God, but not formed from any portion of the Great Oversoul of the Father.

For a long time now, man has remained in this condition of having his soul covered over by those things that are merely the results of the perversion of his appetites and the animal part of his nature, and it is only by a process of renunciation that these encumbrances can be gotten rid of, and man stand forth a free and glorious being, as he was before the burden of sin came upon him.

In this process, he needs no one to pay any supposed debt to the Father or to make an atonement for him, but he must himself, by his course of thinking, and consequent doing, remove the things that cause him to appear to himself and to others, the outcast from God's favor. And in order to accomplish this, he must first renounce the idea that he is a vile being and not worthy of the favor of the Father, and assert his belief that he, as the man, is the perfect creature of God, and can of himself regain the estate from which he has fallen, and let sin and error be removed from his present apparent existence. In doing this, he will be helped by the spirits of men, who from their own experience know that sin and error has no real existence in the economy of God, but in the living of man on earth, and in the spirit world as well, have a reality that has prevented men from finding their true selves.

The renunciation is not so much a matter of the intellect as it is of the moral nature of man; and he, while he must use his mind and its attributes in working out this renunciation, yet must try earnestly, and certainly use the moral faculties of his nature; for the perversions of these faculties are the foundation of his present condition of sin and error. This renunciation may take a long time to be accomplished, as men look upon time, but it will finally come to pass, and the harmony of God's universe will be restored. But in the meantime, men will suffer, for this renunciation is always accompanied by suffering, not so much as a necessary ingredient or penalty of the renunciation, but as a consequence of the changing of men's wills and desires in the process of reaching again the condition of the perfect man.

I will stop now, as the rapport has ceased, but will come again. Good night, I am your friend and well wisher.

Lincoln

**********

Helen comments on Abraham Lincoln's message on man's progress in his natural love.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well, dear, you have had a communication tonight from Lincoln, who thinks it advisable to write you as he did. He is now in the Celestial Spheres and knows what the Divine Love is, but said he wanted to write you a short message on man as he is, and as he may be; and he has told you just what the condition of man is, and how he is still the perfect man in his true self, and needs only an uncovering to stand forth as the being created in the image of God.

Good night, my dear husband.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Ann Rollins Writes on the Importance of Knowing the Way to the Celestial Kingdom

March 12, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me write a line. I am not going to write a long message but one that is very short. You are now in condition to receive our messages, and I wish to write for a while on the importance of knowing the way to the Celestial Kingdom, which has been written you before, but I wish to add to what you have received.

You have been told that the only way to obtain that Kingdom is by the Divine Love coming into your soul and changing it into a thing Divine, which partakes of the very Essence of the Father Himself. Well, this is a correct explanation of the operation of this Love on the soul, but in order to get this Love there must be earnest supplication on the part of the seeker, and a mere mental desire for the inflowing of the Love will not suffice.

This is a matter that pertains to the soul alone and the mind is not involved except, as you might say, to start the soul's longings and prayer. When you think that you are longing for this Love and have a mere mental desire for its inflowing, the Love will not come, because it never responds to the mere mind and must always be sought for by the soul's longings. Many men have the intellectual desire for the Love of God, and upon that desire rest and believe that they have the Love and that there is nothing further for them to do; but they will find themselves mistaken and that, instead of possessing this Love, they have awakened only the natural love, and in a way, started it towards its goal of the purified soul, like the first parents before the fall, and will not experience the transformation that comes with the possession of the Divine Love.

It is no easy matter to have these longings possess the soul, and men should not remain satisfied with these mere mental desires, for they will not be benefitted by such desires, except as I may say, in the way of having their natural love purified. The longings of the soul comes only from a realization that this Love is waiting to be bestowed, and that the soul must become active and earnest in its endeavor to have this Love come into it, and then the transformation takes place.

From this you will see how utterly impossible it is for the devotee of the church to experience this Love or to have the longings of the soul which are not aroused by the observance of the church's sacraments, and the duties which it imposes upon them. They may be ever so zealous in their attendance upon the church services and in complying strictly with its requirements as to doing those things which it prescribes. It is with them all a mental process but the soul is not affected. They may think that their desires are from the soul, and that a response will come, but in this they are mistaken and the soul lies dead. Only when the soul's longings are started into activity are prayers of the worshiper answered.

So you will see that a man may be apparently devout and full of zeal for his church and the teachings of his creed, and yet will not be benefitted so far as the progress of the soul is concerned.

Let not your desires be only of the intellect, but try to bring into activity the longings of the soul, and do not rest satisfied until a response shall come, and it will certainly come, and you will know that the Love is present working its transforming power upon the soul. This is all I desire to say tonight. I am pleased that you are now in condition to receive our messages and hope that your excellent condition will continue. With my love, I will say, good night.

Your own loving grandmother,
Ann Rollins

St. Luke Writes on the Erroneous Teachings of the New Thought Movement

March 9, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

St. Luke.

Let me write a few lines tonight as you are in better condition, and I am able to make a rapport with you and deliver my message.

I was with you today at a meeting of the New Thought people and saw the impression made upon you by the speaker in his efforts to show that God is within man, and that only the opening up of the soul or mind of man to the development of that God is all that is necessary to bring that man into a perfect at-onement with the truths of God's Will.

Well, I have to say that this speaker, when he comes to a realization of himself in the spirit world, will find that God is not in him or in anything that he may have possessed in his earth life; and that his development of the kingdom within him, as he termed it, was a mere delusion and a snare to the progress of his soul in its career through the earth life, as well as through the Heavens or spirit world.

He is mistaken when he announces that the Kingdom of Heaven is within him, or that he has that within him which can, by its development, lead to the condition of the perfect man, in the sense that he spoke of. He is following a false way, and all the efforts that he may make will not lead him into the paths that end in the perfect man that partakes of the Father's Divinity.

He is also mistaken when he asserts that God is everywhere - in the flowers and in the thoughts of men and in the heart - for God does not find his habitation in any of these things, and men do not live and move and have their being in Him. He is a distinct and individual entity and is not spread over all His universe, as the preacher proclaimed, and can only be found by the longings of the soul followed by a development of that soul in His Love. No, God is in His Heavens, and man can reach Him only by the persistent longings of that soul for the inflowing of His Love.

These things that the preacher declared were the presence of God are only the expressions of His being, and they do not declare His presence in any other sense than as the evidence of His existence - in His habitation, from which these expressions flow and make known to man His presence, as these things reflect it.

I am sorry that this speaker has not more knowledge of the true God, and of His seat of habitation, for then he would realize that these things upon which he places so much belief as being the very God, Himself, are but the expressions that flow from Him.

Man has within him that which has in itself wonderful possibilities - I mean the soul. And it may, by the observance of the way that transforms it into a Divine Angel, become Divine itself, or it may only by the slow process of renunciation become merely the perfect man with his natural love in a pure state, which was the condition of the first parents. If men will listen to the call to their souls, they will realize this possibility and receive this Divinity, and with it, immortality; but without this transformation they never can become other or greater than the perfect man.

I know that men teach that there is implanted within the souls of all men, that which is capable of being developed into an existence like unto God, that man needs only this development in order to become a God, and that there is nothing else necessary to make a human soul a part of the Soul of God. But in this teaching men are mistaken and will find themselves, at the stage of their highest development, nothing more than the perfect man.

Man has within him only that with which he was created and can of himself add not one thing that will change him from this condition of his creation. It is true that he can by a right course of thinking and living renounce those things that have tainted his soul and alienated it from the Father and made it sinful and disobedient; but when this is done, he is still only the perfect man, and nothing of the Divine is in him.

Jesus was the perfect man and, as such, was an exemplar of what all men will ultimately become; and if Jesus had never become more than the perfect man, he would not now be an inhabitant of the Celestial Heavens and the beloved Son of the Father. Yet he became more than the perfect man, and it was only after he attained to this condition of excellence, that he could say, "I and my Father are one," for it was then only that he possessed the Divine Love to that degree which made him at-one with the Father.

Only he is at-one with the Father that realizes that he is possessed of the very nature and Essence of the Father, and there is only one way in which this can be obtained, and that is by the inflowing into the soul of the Divine Love. Jesus could not say to the multitude that they were at-one with him and with the Father, for they had only the natural love and had not experienced the transformation of their souls; and such sayings as this were addressed only to his disciples, or to those among his hearers that had received this Love.

The speaker spoke of the New Birth, but had no conception of what it meant and, like many other teachers in and out of the churches, believes that a mere condition of the purification of the natural love constitutes this New Birth, and that that is all Jesus meant when he taught the necessity of being Born Again. There is only one way in which this New Birth can be brought about, and that you already know.

As to the moral truths taught by the Master, such as are referred to in the Sermon on the Mount, undoubtedly they will, if observed in the heart, bring about a regeneration of the soul that will lead men to the glory of the perfect man and make him at-one with the laws of his creation. This condition is devoutly to be wished for and sought after by all men, and when they attain to this condition they will experience the beatitudes that are mentioned in the sermon; but this is only the state of the perfect man and nothing of the Divine enters into their condition.

"New Thought," as it is called, has in it something that is an improvement on orthodoxy, and men will be the better if they will embrace some of its teachings. The great stumbling blocks of the Trinity, and the vicarious atonement and the blood would be moved from the worship of men, and they would then rely on the moral truths in the development of their souls for salvation, and would not rest supinely in the belief of the efficacy of the vicarious atonement. But some other things that it teaches are all wrong, and its followers will find when they come to the spirit world that there is a God to be worshipped, and that man has not within him that God to be developed by his own thoughts and deeds.

I know that according to the orthodox teachings too little is thought of the natural goodness of man, and too much emphasis placed in his innate depravity, and that nothing in man is worthy of the release from the sin and disobedience in which he is now living; and that of himself he can do nothing to bring about his purification and restoration to his original condition of the perfect man. This is wrong, for very largely upon man's efforts depends his redemption; "and as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." He is naturally good, and his present condition was brought about by his permitting his soul to be contaminated with sin, and to become again good he needs only to pursue that way that will remove sin and its consequences from his soul.

Man created sin, and he will have to remove sin, and the process will be slow, but ultimately it will be accomplished, and by the efforts of man himself. He will be helped by spirits who are God's ministering angels in these efforts, but upon him depends the removal of that which he created and imposed. And here let me say, that unless man wills it, he will forever remain in sin, and God will not, contrary to man's desires, make him a pure and undefiled being; and man's belief, unaccompanied by striving and seeking, will not be sufficient to bring about this remedy.

The speaker is a good man, and has experienced to a large degree the workings of his own will upon the conditions of his soul, and knows that his own efforts have caused him to renounce many things that tended to defile him and cause doubt, and in this condition realizes much happiness, and thinks that he is of himself sufficient to attain to that which will bring him into a perfect unison with the God that he thinks is within him. In this he is deceiving himself, for what he thinks is God is only an unusual condition of soul development in its natural love, that gives him a happiness which causes him to believe that God must be in and a part of him.

As you have been told, the happiness of the purified soul is beyond all conception of humans, and the nearer a man approaches to that condition of purification of his soul, the greater becomes his happiness, and the belief that God must in some way be in that happiness and form a part of it, when the fact is that this happiness is only that which was bestowed upon man in the beginning. As the soul becomes purer and relieved from the defilement of sin, man becomes what he was in the beginning and has regained only that which by nature is his. He does not receive any part of the Divine, nor does the Father bestow upon him anything that was not his at the creation, and he must realize that by the removal of sin, his soul becomes more and more in harmony with the will of God, and less and less in harmony with his own perverted will.

Let "New Thought" progress until men may realize that they are at-one with themselves, their created selves, but let it not teach them that what they experience as a removal of sin from their own souls by their own efforts and thoughts, is evidence of a development of any supposed God within them, for it is not true; but is merely the development of their own natural created selves, freed from that which defiled and made them unnatural.

The speaker said that the Kingdom of Heaven is within all men, and needs only for men to realize that fact, and declare its truth, and that then they will become pure and like unto God, and find themselves in the presence of God, and see Him face to face. Well, in this he is all wrong, for the Kingdom of Heaven or Celestial Kingdom is not within men, though it may be, and neither is God in their souls and capable of being seen face to face. These men - who teach purification of their natural love and a superior state resulting from that purification and nothing more - will never see God, and they will always remain in the mere image in which they were created, a merely purified man made in the image of God, and nothing more. The Father will then be the same unseen Creator as he is now, and men will worship Him in faith only, for their soul perceptions, which are the only eyes of the soul that can see God, will not exist, and to them God will still remain the unseen and unknowable being that exists today in the knowledge and belief of men.

Well, I have written enough for tonight, but saw that you were somewhat interested in the teachings of the day, and thought it best that I should write you as to the truth of the subject of which he discoursed and evidently believed.

With my love to you, and the hope that our messages may now continue without interruption, I will say, good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

Ralph Waldo Emerson, an Inhabitant of the Sixth Sphere, Writes of Its Purity

March 6, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Emerson.

Let me write tonight on a subject that is of importance to mankind and one which so few of mortals know or conceive of in their teachings and philosophy.

I am one who inhabits the Sixth Sphere, where the pristine purity of the first man obtains, and where sin or the alienation from God has no existence. You may not know, but it is a fact, that the purity of this sphere is such that the souls of men find only that which makes a man like unto God and renders him happy and satisfied with his existence and with the divine attributes and nature with which he was created and which God, in the infinitude of his powers, decreed that man should possess and enjoy to the fullest of his capacity.

I am he whose book you have been reading tonight and who was attracted to you by the fact that you were interested in the book and sought the truths of the soul as therein set forth. The soul is one that, while individualized, yet is a part of the great Oversoul, and in its aspirations and thoughts of those things that are pure and in harmony with the oversoul has a satisfaction that is complete and at-one with the Father of light and love.

This sphere is one where only the perfected soul can live and bloom and feel its qualities of the divine as perfect, and no soul that has not rid itself of sin can possibly enter. I only know that we who inhabit that sphere have that feeling of purity and perfection that was granted to our first parents and which by them was lost at the time of their disobedience. This soul is very much like unto the great soul of the Father and needs not the qualities that you have known on earth as the one that causes you to realize that the Father has for man a higher and greater existence than the perfect man.

Well, I have lost my rapport and must stop.

Good night,
Emerson

Helen Writes that Mr. Padgett's Condition is Better and Before Long the Rapport Can be Made for the Higher Spirits to Write With Ease

February 19, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well, dear, your condition is better tonight than for a long time past, and we have great expectations that before long it will be such that a rapport can be made and the spirits be able to write with ease.

The spirit who attempted to write you was a high spirit and was desirous of writing you and was very sorry when the rapport was broken, as he had much to say on the subject of the writings which you have been reading. I am sorry that the conditions were not such as to enable him to continue, but it is better than it was for a long time and will improve if you will only pray more and give more of your thoughts to the spiritual things.

I wish that you were in the condition that once was yours, so that the Master and others could write you. You may not know, but it is a fact, that you are being looked after with such watchfulness and care that your condition shall not be injured, that no other spirits are permitted to communicate with you, who have not the powers of the Celestial Spirits. We desire that you shall be preserved for the work which is yours to do, and so we do not permit communication from the ordinary spirits to intervene. Soon you will be alright again and then the higher spirits will come and write you as they desire. Only wait a little while.

Tonight I should like to write a long message, but I will not for fear that your condition may be interfered with, and so I will stop now. But remember that we love you and are trying to help you in every way. Good night.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

John Writes About the Difference Between the Natural Love and the Divine Love

February 19, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, John.

Let me say just a word. I was with you today when you were talking to your friend, (Mr. Colburn) and heard your conversation and saw the utter want of comprehension on the part of your friend as to the truths of the spirit world and, especially, of the laws that divide the mere perfect man from the Divine man or spirit. He is so engulfed in the conceptions that he has of these loves arising from his experience in life that he can only see the existence of one love, the natural, and his mind is not capable of seeing the other Love and, of course, his soul has not that development which would assure him of the reality of the Divine Love.

The mind itself is capable of informing him of the existence and working of the natural love, and as this is the only means that he possesses of understanding what love is, he cannot possibly understand this Love, and that soul developed to a degree by the very Love itself. He may argue to the extent of the capacity of his mind and he will never be able to comprehend the Love that requires a perception of the soul, and he may remain satisfied and convince himself that the natural love is the only love and that when it becomes developed to a certain degree it becomes the Divine Love, and then find that he is far away from the truth.

He must know, and I mean it is necessary for him to know, that only those who have the Divine Love to some degree are capable of knowing that the Divine is a thing of itself, and not the development of the natural love and has in it not the qualities of that love. The one is of God; that is, partakes of His very nature, while the other is also of God, but does not partake of His nature, but is only a creation intended to make man happy and perfect in his condition of the mere man - the merely created existence.

I thought that I would give you these short comments on your conversation in order to show the grave and important mistake under which your friend is laboring. He will not easily believe these things of truth while in the flesh, and when he comes to spirit life, the difficulties will be just as great, and it may be that he will always be content to remain the possessor of this natural love only. I wish that it might be otherwise, and that he might let go his intellectual belief and harken to the call of the soul, which when not trammeled by these beliefs is continually longing for this Greater Love.

Believe that I am your friend and interested in you to an extent that you cannot now comprehend, but which some day you will understand and wonder that such a thing could have been. Good night.

Your brother in Christ,
John

Job Writes on the Book that Mr. Padgett Was Reading, Which is About the Natural Love and not the Divine Love

February 19, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Job.

Let me say a few words tonight upon a subject that is of importance to mankind and to the future of man.

I see that you have been reading a book professing to give communications from a spirit who claims to be possessed of a divine mission in the way of teaching men the truths of the soul and of the way to immortality and life. Well, you may accept what is said with some degree of truth as to the condition of spirits who are progressing in the development of their natural love, and as to the facts that await a soul after it has left the mortal life. Many of the statements contained in the writings are true and should be accepted and acted upon by mortals who desire a knowledge of the true way to a kingdom of the purified soul and to a reconciliation to God in the way of renunciation.

God is good and not the hateful and merciless being that your orthodox beliefs teach and is always the same now as in the days of old when men's conception of Him were determined by their own ideas of what a God should be, and what men should believe him to be. But there are many things taught in the writings of the book that are not true, though in accord with the knowledge possessed by the writers and suited to the condition of the medium through whom the messages were delivered.

The writers were spirits who were highly developed intellectually and morally and had knowledge of the truths to an extent that made what they said powerful expositions of the truth as they knew it to be; but beyond the fact that men must, in order to become pure and holy, do those things which the Law of Harmony in their natural love demands, they could not teach.

Now, while this is all true, yet they did not know of the higher truths that make a man or the soul of a man divine and at-one with the Father and could not teach, because they did not possess any knowledge of, and only so far as they knew, must, their teachings be accepted as truth. They were far in advance in their renditions of the disclosures contained in the Bible, both as to God and Jesus, and the final destiny of man, and their revelations should be accepted in place of the teachings of the Bible. They were not only acquainted with the laws of God as dealing with man in his relation to good and evil, but also with the laws as to man's release from the consequences of his acts and deeds of earth, and as to his release from the consequences of his evil acts.

I would like to write now, but the rapport is broken.

Good night,
Job

Robert Dale Owen Writes about His Book on the Phenomena of Spiritualism and Says He Never Heard of Divine Love

February 11, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Robert Dale Owen.

Let me say just a word, for I am interested in your work and in the phenomena of spiritualism. I have been with you as you read the book, which attempts to show the truth of spiritual manifestations, and the instances mentioned of spirits showing themselves in the garb of humans are true. I was then an investigator of the question and had only the knowledge, which I received from my own observation and, hence, was an outsider, as it were, of these spiritual phenomena. I mean that I was not one of the gifted ones of earth, who can have the power of receiving or communicating with spirits by reason of the fact that they possess the power of seeing or feeling or hearing the presence of spirits. I was not so gifted.

I am now an investigator of things spiritual, but not of the possibility of communicating with the spirit world, for this I know to be a fact, and beyond all question, and men who doubt the fact are in the condition of those who will not learn, because they do not believe in the first principles of the phenomena and are willing to let their prejudices or their indifference lead them away from the truth.

The phenomena, which I have portrayed in my book, are very simple and of the lower order of spiritual phenomena, and yet men will not believe because they fail to approach the subject with open minds and desire to learn the truth even though the search for the same leads them along lines of investigation that are so foreign to the course of study that they are pursuing in their various vocations. Of all the bigoted and hardheaded investigators of truth, the preachers are the most difficult to teach the truth of spiritualism, and their periscope is one that enables them to see only in a straight line that has been laid down to them for ages and holds them in its iron grasp.

I would like to come to you sometime and write you a long description of the spirit world and its phenomena, although it may not surprise you very much, considering what you have had revealed to you.

Well, you have asked me some questions, which I cannot answer in one breath. But I am in the Third Sphere, where many spirits are pursuing their studies of things which pertain to the laws of the spirit world, as well as to the laws of the earth.

I have not heard of the Divine Love, except as we call all love divine, and it must be so, for it leads us to the spheres where those who are sinless and in harmony with the Father reside. I am a true believer in the things of God and in the redemption of all mankind, sooner or later. My intellect is only part of my existence in the spirit world, and above and greater than that is the love that causes me to become in harmony with the laws of God, and at-one with him. These are the answers to your questions, and I should like to write you at length upon the truths of what I have so briefly stated. I know that you are very busy in receiving communications from the spirit world and have little time for communications from strangers, yet I should like to write at least one letter in reference to my condition and knowledge of things as I have found them.

I say what is true, for I have never heard of the Divine Love in the sense that you have spoken of. I have never talked with spirits who claim to have this Love, and to be better than are the spirits who are progressing in the love which they have, and as to immortality, I only know that death merely sets the soul of the mortal free and enables it to enter onto its progress towards the higher spheres, where truth and goodness are.

Let me wait a moment in my astonishment, for I see more spirits who seem to be of a different order of spirit from me, and are brighter and more beautiful, and are willing to tell me of the Divine Love, for they all claim to know it. But I do not understand and I am sure that if they are possessed of this Love, it is only another form of belief. I am all confused and cannot think for the moment. I will come again. I must go. Good night,

Robert Dale Owen

Jesus Writes to Encourage Mr. Padgett to Think More of Spiritual Things

January 12, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

Let me say a few words. I have been with you tonight while at church and since you came home and understand your desire to have the preacher read my message on the soul and I agree with you that it is advisable. He has some conception of what the soul is but his knowledge is not of that character as to enable him to express the most important qualities or its origin or difference from the spirit.

I was glad that he undertook to deal with this subject for it has given you the opportunity of making known to him, or of affording him the opportunity, to talk to him about these truths and then be able to enlighten him, for his mind is working in error and misconception of what the truth of these spiritual things is.

I desire to come soon and write another message and am only waiting for you to get into the necessary condition that I may do so.

Well, I will understand you and will come some night this week. Think more of these spiritual things and pray more to the Father for His Love and you will not fail to get in condition. Our work will go on and we will have many messages, yet tonight we must take advantage of every possible moment.

I have been with you a great deal lately trying to influence you and turn your mind to these spiritual things and away from merely earthly things that are not important to you. I hope that you will soon be so situated that you can give all your thoughts and attention to the work and I believe you will if you will make the effort. You know we can help you in many ways but more depends upon yourself as to these material matters and you must act.

I will not write more tonight and with my love and the Father's blessings, I will say good night.

Your brother and friend,
Jesus

**********

Helen wishes for Mr. Padgett to be ready to receive the Master's message and that she will write on soulmates.

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

Well dear, the Master has just written you and he was very much interested in what you have in mind to do. You must try your utmost to be ready to receive his message when he comes, for nothing to you is of more importance. I will soon come and write a little upon some features of the soul which is not in the Master's messages, I mean about the soulmates and their love. So expect me.

Baby (Nita) says she wants to write and tell you what she knows about love and happiness and will do so as soon as you will arrange things. I will not write more tonight as you are somewhat tired. So sweetheart, love us and pray to the Father and believe that I love you with all my heart and soul, the great thing to you and me. Good night,

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Francis Bacon Writes on the Limitations Which Mortal Man Places Upon His Perception of the Laws Governing the Universe

January 6, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Francis Bacon.

Let me write just a few lines, as I desire to tell you of a thing which may be of importance to you.

I see you are a little disturbed over what a man said to you tonight as to his want of belief in the identity of the spirits who profess to manifest themselves through mediums. Well, this need not disturb you one particle, for the identity of the spirit is just as real and certain as is the fact that a man can and does identify another after an absence, more or less long, from the latter's appearance, voice, and so forth. In the case of his identification, he depends on the operation of certain of his senses, such as his sight and hearing, and through them he satisfies his mind that the man identified is the identical person that he may claim to be, as you may say, he would be a very silly man if he would not accept such identification as convincing and determinate.

In the case of the identifying of those who are in the spirit, and who come with the powers and with the presence of spirits only, he cannot, of course, use his senses for the purpose of identification; and if he had to depend upon these organs alone, he would never be able to conclude that the spirits who present the phenomena are those who profess to be his friends or acquaintances. Most mortals do not have the gift of perceiving, or receiving the impression of, the presence of spirits, and in such cases are in the condition of the blind and deaf man with reference to the things of earth. The latter has no means of identifying his closest friends, and yet it would be just as reasonable to contend that these friends are not existing and present, and the same day after day, as for mortals to say that the spirits of those who once lived on earth are not existing and present, because the mortals have not the faculties of seeing and hearing them.

There are things in earth life as well as in spirit life that can come to the knowledge of some men only through information given them by other men who have superior powers and faculties for seeking for and obtaining this information.

Some mortals have eyes and faculties not material, as usually understood, for seeing and hearing and receiving knowledge from the spirits, and who render what is thus seen, heard and received just as real and certain as are real and certain the presence of mortals and material things to those who have their physical organs of sight and hearing; and the identity of what is seen and heard and received is just as truly established in the former as in the latter case. All men who are wanting as to the non-material organs mentioned can identify the things of the material world and are satisfied of the fact; and make their mode of such identification the standard by which they must and only can become convinced of the identity of the things of the spirit world: and when they insist upon such method of identification they, of course, can never be convinced, except perhaps in those phenomena as are manifested in materialization and spirit photography.

When the merely physical powers or means of ascertaining the existence and identity of things or humans are used, then those who confine their search for truth and the discerning of the identity of claimed existences to the use of such physical organs will never be able to see, hear or receive that which might convince them of the identity of the things existing in the spirit world.

This is the result of the eternal laws of the universe in their operations; and no desires or efforts of man can change this result. Man is unfortunate when he assumes the position that unless these laws can be or are changed in order that he may - by his physical organs - see or hear or be able to identify the things of the spirit world, he will not believe that there is identity existing among the spirits who come to men and in various ways manifest their presence.

When a man stands on the compliance with this condition as necessary to convince him of the identity of those friends of his who have passed to spirit life and who come in psychical phenomena and manifest themselves, it is useless to try to convince him, because of the very necessities of the laws governing such phenomena. And those who do believe, and those who know of this identity, will only waste time and effort in trying to convince men who assume the position of depending entirely on the physical means which they may possess.

There are many humans today who are truly convinced, and have all sufficient grounds for their convictions as to the identity and presence of their spirit friends, and they are not deceived, but enjoy the happiness that comes to them from such knowledge.

In my observations of the workings of human minds upon this question of the existence and identity of spirits, I learn that such evidence as would satisfy their minds, under the strictest requirements, as to material things, is brushed aside as wholly inadequate, and sometimes not even worthy of consideration, to satisfy them as to these spiritual things; and it seems that the greater knowledge they possess of the nature of and laws controlling material things, the less credence and consideration will they give to the nature of and laws controlling spiritual things. Every other explanation of psychical phenomena is put forth and accepted, rather than the simple and natural one; and if men only knew what nature really is, and its laws, they would realize how little they now know of nature. Generally, nature is only that consciousness of things material which comes within their limited cognition. They do not know that the larger part of nature, if it can be separated, is beyond the things or conditions which they have knowledge of as being the material of the universe.

Well, as I said, the identity of the spiritual cannot be and must not be expected to be established by the operations of the merely physical organs of man, except perhaps in those manifestations appearing in the phenomena of materializations or spirit photography, and even they are not accepted as real or true by many men who accept what are called scientific deductions from supposed facts connected with the manifestations of what these men consider to be natural.

And so the proof of the presence and identity of spirits will have to depend upon the results produced by the operations of laws controlling the spiritual existences and the psychical powers and gifts of certain humans, Sometime it may be that these gifted persons will be accepted as honest and truthful and not self-deceived, and the manifestations resulting from the exercise of these powers as the effects of the efforts and intelligence of spirits who at one time were human beings.

When men come to realize that the change called death does not destroy identity and consciousness and powers of mind, as well as what may be called powers physical - for the material of the universe is used and operated by spirits - but on the contrary, intensifies these possessions and powers, then they will accept the truth that the presence of the spirits of their departed friends is a variety, and that the identity of these spirits is eternal.

Well, I have written as much as I think best to write tonight, and thank you for your indulgence. With kind regards, I will say good night,

Your friend,
Francis Bacon

Spinoza Writes About a Medium's Inability to Predict the Future

January 5, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Spinoza.

Let me write a few lines, as I have not written you for some time and am quite anxious to give some thoughts that may be of benefit to you. I am not one of the spirits who write to you of what they call the higher truths, yet I have a knowledge of some of these truths and believe in all that has been communicated to you, for I know that the spirits who write you are of the Celestial Spheres possessed of knowledge that we, who live in the spirit spheres, do not possess.

Well, I merely want to say a few words in reference to the predictions, which you heard tonight, and as regards the source of the same. As you know, the woman is a medium gifted with the power of clairvoyance and inspirational receptivity and on many occasions, she perceives and receives some of the truths of the spirit world, and some of the persons whom she professes to see. Her communicants, though, are not of a very high order of development and she, herself, could not see the highly developed spirits, because the Law of Communication and Rapport applies to her phases of mediumship just as it does to yours. She is a very good woman morally with some temperamental defects and attracts spirits of moral worth and conditions, and her guides are in the condition that enables them to live in the brighter spheres, yet not having much spiritual development.

She professes to declare the predictions of her spirit friend, G____, as to what the future for the ensuing year will be in the experience of men and nations. Well, she has such a control, and he is a very intelligent spirit, and to some extent inspires her with his ideas of what the future holds out to mankind, and she with more or less exactness declare his thoughts as they are impressed upon her mind. But in connection with these thoughts, she incorporates thoughts of her own, believing that they are inspired also, but such is not the fact, though, possibly, these thoughts furnish as good grounds for the predictions as do the thoughts of her control.

I do not believe, at least I have never had it demonstrated to me, that any spirit can make truthful predictions, such as the medium expressed tonight; for spirits have not the powers of omniscience and are as dependent upon the workings of the Law of Cause and Effect as are mortals with this exception, that they can perceive many existing causes that mortals cannot and, hence, because of this knowledge can make predictions of the future happening of effects, that mortals cannot make. Take from spirits the knowledge of these causes and their predictions are merely guesses, which may or may not come true.

As you heard, she declared many things that are problems now existing and the subjects of much thought and study on the part of mortals who give their attention to these matters; and she, as one of them, had her own thoughts and had formed her own conclusions and believed that they were the results of inspiration, whereas they had their foundation in her own mind, arising from her knowledge of and speculations on these things.

The present conditions of the world are such that there exists great probabilities of the happening of many things that the medium predicted, and many persons having knowledge of these conditions will predict, if they be called upon, future occurrences similar to those mentioned by the medium, and if they should happen, it will not be because any spirits know the fact, but because there are causes existing which will necessarily bring them about.

Well, such meetings and such predictions will not do any harm, but, on the contrary, will cause many people to turn their thoughts to spiritual things and to spiritualism, which will tend to liberate their minds from the shackles that are now preventing them from seeking and understanding the truth.

I will not consume more of your time now, but hope to be able to write later. Goodbye, your friend,

Spinoza

**********

Helen confirms Spinoza writing and says that he is a very bright and intelligent spirit.

I am here, Helen.

Well dear, I am sorry that I could not write a while ago, but there were some spirits in trouble who wanted to write, and I did not feel justified in using force to drive them away, though White Eagle would not let them write. We must expect such interferences and abide the results for a while. You understand, I know, and will not think that I did not desire to write.

Well, you have received a letter tonight from a spirit who has written you before, and, as I then told you, he is a very bright and intelligent spirit, but not of the Celestial Spheres, and only knows the truths which came with the development of his soul in natural love. We have tried to help him but have not yet been successful in convincing him that what we tell him is the only way that will lead him to the happiness of the Divine. Yet we expect that sooner or later, he will understand and follow our advice.

Helen

Nita Padgett Writes that She is Progressing in the Father's Love

December 29, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Nita.

Well, Daddy, this is the night that I was to write my message, and I was looking forward to doing so, but mother tells me that I had better wait until another night when you may be feeling better and have more time to receive it, and while I am disappointed, I will wait; but I hope it will be soon.

Oh, Daddy, you don't know how anxious I am to write and tell you of the things that I have experienced and how happy I am, and how much I love you and want you to believe that I am with you and love me.

I am progressing and growing happier and more beautiful, as mother tells me, all the time. I know something of Heaven and the Father's Love, and of Jesus who comes to you and to me, also, and tells me of wonderful things that are awaiting me in the higher spheres. Oh, I wish that I could explain to you all that I know and see and realize, for then I know you would strive with all your might to get in the condition that the spirits desire you to have.

Yes, I have, and she is here, but so unhappy and sad and suffering. I am trying to help her. I see that you doubt. Do not, but wait a little while and you will hear from Edward. Daddy, love me with all your heart and continue to pray for me. I am with you at night when you pray and feel so much helped. Good night, my dear Daddy.

Your own loving,
Nita

**********

Helen confirms their daughter Nita's progress and the Truth of Jesus' second coming on earth.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well, dear, I am glad that you had the message from John, for I see that you are anxious to receive an explanation of the truth of the second coming of the Master in detail, so that not only you but the world which reads these messages may understand. John will come soon - it all depends on you.

Well, our Baby was so happy that she could write you and tell you how much she loves you, and how happy she is and with what rapidity she is progressing. She was a little disappointed that she could not write, but as she understands the reason she acquiesced and said she would wait. She is progressing very fast and becoming so very beautiful as the love fills her soul. You must think of her and love her very dearly.

I was with you tonight at church and saw what impressions the sermon made on you, and how you felt that you would like to tell the preacher the truth and help him put on the wedding garment. Well, we will have to wait. His mother is praying for him and trying to impress him with the truth but his orthodox views are too firmly fixed to permit an impression to be made upon him at this time; but sometime he will learn the truth.

Well, dear, you have had another happy experience today and your soul has been much benefited by your longings for the Father's Love. Only continue to pray and you will realize your desires, and the messages will come to you - for many spirits are here, waiting to communicate.

Well, we have thought of that and concluded that you had better confine your work to the higher messages, especially as the work you did among them is bearing much fruit, and as a result the spirits of love are enabled to come into communication with many of the dark spirits who now listen to what we desire to say to them. The ones that you helped are working successfully among the dark ones. Well, dear, I will now stop. Love me and believe and pray. Good night,

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Jay Hudson Writes the Truths that an Author Has Learned Since Passing into Spirit Life

December 26, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me say a word.

You are not doing the wise thing in reading that book (Scientific Demonstration of a Future Life) for it is very largely speculation and that which leads to untruth and harm.

The writer knows now that his hypothesis of the dual mind is all wrong, and that he has the same mind now that he had when on earth, and that no part of that mind died with the death of the body. He also knows that spirits do communicate with mortals, and the subjective mind, as he calls it, does not among mortals furnish the means of communication or suggest the information that is contained in the psychic phenomena. He also knows that the mind is not the soul, but one of its attributes merely, and that it is controlled by the soul and the will.

Many other things besides, he now knows, and is convinced that man is not the result of evolution, but is the immediate and direct creation of God, and that he has no relationship to the brute animal. Sometime he will come and write you fully on these subjects, if you will permit him to do so.

Good night, the author
Jay Hudson

Helen Writes that During the Christmas Festivities Jesus Stays in the Celestial Heavens

December 24, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Helen.

Well dear, I see that you are quite happy just now and appreciate the difference in influence given you by the messages that you have read and the book that you were reading that took up so much of your time before you commenced to read our writings. The information that you obtain from the book is quite valuable in an historical point of view, and by contrast may show you how utterly ignorant the writers of the articles or rather the actors in the history were of the real truths of Christianity and of the true way to salvation.

I would not advise you to read these articles, and I do know that it is best for you to give less time and thought to what you may learn from them. Thinking of these things to some extent interferes with your thinking of the truths, and also affects your condition for rapport, so that the spirits cannot communicate as freely and successfully as they desire to do and as important as it is to be done.

Well, tonight is Christmas eve and you are all alone and have thought, as I saw, of the times when you had us with you on Christmas eve and enjoyed the anticipation of the happiness of our children on the morrow. It is true that we had some happy days under such surroundings and that we were so absorbed in our dear ones that nothing disturbed our joys. But yet, it is not helpful to think of these days, for they are passed and can never return, although you may before you come over have the opportunity to enjoy days in which your grandchildren may furnish you a similar happiness. But I will not be with you as you may think - without really thinking - and you may wish that I might without realizing the fact that I will surely be with you and write in your happiness. As I have told you, I will not leave you in your loneliness, or when you may long for me; as long as you shall remain on earth.

Tomorrow, when you visit Harry, I will be there, and so will Baby (Nita), and will enter into your feelings of joy and try to impress you to realize my presence. No, my dear sweetheart, I will never forsake you, but will always love you with a greater love than ever I had on earth, and which is growing deeper and purer all the time. I know that all of you will have a happy Christmas, and if you could only realize the presence of the spirits who will be with you, you would find a greatly increased happiness. Baby says that she will be there and love you and Harry and Hazel with all her love and will try to help them feel that her love is with them, and will enjoy the occasion more than if she were with you in the body. You had better go to bed now and get up early.

Well dear, they are waiting only for you to get in condition, and when you do there will be no delay in communicating the truths. The Master has been with you a number of nights desiring to write, but for reasons that you know of, he could not, but he is patient and thinks that you will soon realize the importance of the work so that you will do that which is necessary to bring about the condition. He is not here tonight, nor in the lower spheres, because, as I have told you before, the great amount of worship of him that is taking place now and will continue tomorrow, is distasteful to him, and he has gone to his Celestial Sphere and will not probably come back to you until after the objectionable worship has ceased.

No, not tonight. He is with you every night as he promised, and prays with you and tries to help you, and when you earnestly pray to the Father, he is pleased and gives thanks. So you, knowing this, must try to pray more earnestly and with more faith. He will soon come again, and I am so glad to hear you say that you believe he is with you as he promised. Keep up your faith and hope, and you will not be disappointed, for the love will come into your soul in more abundance and you will become in better condition to do the work.

Yes, we all hope so. But you must make the effort for so much depends upon you. You will have the help of your friend who advises, and he is very anxious to do his part of the work. He is not here now, for when he was last here, he said he would not come until he had reason to advise you differently from what he last advised. But he will not fail you. So, dear, love us with all your heart and believe that we love you. Give me a kiss and say good night.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

St. Matthew Writes that Jesus was Transformed by Divine Love into the Divine Man and is Not God

December 16, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me write a few lines tonight as I desire to tell you of a truth that to me seems important for mankind to know in order that they may comprehend the truth of their personal salvation.

I am a spirit of soul development and an inhabitant of the Celestial Heavens, where only those whose souls have been transformed by the Divine Love into the very nature and Essence of the Father can find a habitation. I will not write at any great length and have only one idea or truth to convey and that is that:

"No man or spirit can possibly receive the full salvation that Jesus taught and exemplified in his own person, who does not become wholly possessed in his soul of this Divine Love of the Father, and becomes rid of the conditions and attributes that belong to his created soul."

This soul was not created with any of the Divine attributes or qualities, but simply and merely with those which you may call human and which all men and spirits, who have not experienced the transformation, possess.

The God-man, as Jesus is sometimes designated by your religious writers and theologians, was not at the time of his creation or appearance in the flesh possessed of these Divine attributes, which are of the nature and Essence of the Father, but only of the human attributes, which belonged to the perfect man; that is, the man who was the perfect creature as he existed before the fall of the first parents, when sin had not entered into their souls, and into the world of men's existence.

Jesus was from the time of his birth, the perfect man and, consequently, without sin; all his moral qualities being in complete harmony with the will of God and the laws controlling his creation; yet, he was not greater than were the first parents prior to their act of disobedience.

There was nothing of God, in the sense of the Divine, that entered into his nature or constituents, and, if the Divine Love had not come into and transformed his soul, he would have remained only the perfect creature of a quality no higher or greater than was bestowed upon the first man; and Jesus was as regards his possibilities and privileges, like this first man prior to his fall or death of the potentiality of becoming Divine, but differed from him in this: that Jesus embraced and made his own these privileges and, hence, became Divine, while the first man refused to embrace them and lost them and remained the mere man though not the perfect man as he was created.

And while Jesus, by reason of his possession of the Divine Love became Divine, yet he never became the God-man, and never can, for there does not exist and never can be a God-man. God is God, alone, and never has and never can become man; and Jesus is man only and never can become God.

But Jesus is preeminently the Divine man and may rightly be called the best beloved son of the Father, for he possesses more of the Divine Love and, consequently, more of the Essence and Nature of the Father than does any other spirit of the Celestial Heavens, and with this possession there comes to him greater power and glory and knowledge. He may be described and understood as possessing and manifesting the Wisdom of the Father; and we spirits of the Celestial Kingdom recognize and acknowledge that superior wisdom of Jesus and are compelled by the very greatness and force of the wisdom, itself, to honor and abide in his authority.

And this transcendent and greatest possessor of the Father's wisdom is the same when he comes to you and reveals the truths of God as he is when in the highest spheres of the Celestial Kingdom clothed in all the glory of his nearness to the Father. As the voice on the Mount said "Hear ye him," I repeat to you and to all who may have the privilege and opportunity of reading or hearing his messages, Hear ye him! And when hearing, believe and seek.

Well, my brother, I deemed it proper to write this short message and hope it may help you in the work. I will come again. Good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Saint Matthew, as called in the Bible

Francis Bacon Writes that Material Elements Are in Both the Natural World and the Spirit World

December 1, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Francis Bacon.

Let me write a short message in reference to our spirit world and one of the laws that obtain therein.

You were told a few nights ago that which is material in itself always remains material, although the combination into forms and appearances may change, and even the material elements may cease to be perceptive to the faculties or senses of the human, and this assertion of fact is true and without exception.

The material of the universe is one and not diverse, and the thing that you may sense as being material is a part of the same great universal material of existence and may at different times, and under certain conditions, become incorporated in the invisible material and yet remain just as real as when it was the thing that you could sense as a reality. The fact of the existence of the material is not determined by the requirement that men shall be able to cognize its existence by the exercise of some one or all of the perceptions of the human organs used to comprehend what they call the material of nature; and whether or not men are able to so cognize what is the truly material does not affect the existence of the material, for as it now has reality so it would have if men had no perception at all.

To the blind man, the knowledge of the existence of that part of the material, of what you may call the natural world that depends on sight for its comprehension, can be acquired only by information from those who have that sight; and so, knowledge of the existence of the material in the world not subject to comprehension by the senses of men can only be obtained through information given them by those who have cognition such existence by reason of faculties that they possess.

Men sometimes claim that they have knowledge of the existence of the material in the invisible world as a resultant from the exercise of reason and an acquaintance with the Law of Cause and Effect, and in many instances this claim is true especially where effects are perceived, which must have had causes existing beyond the circle of the known material.

To illustrate: men see and understand the effects of the workings of electricity, and to an extent can control and utilize that electricity, and yet they cannot by the exercise of their natural senses claim knowledge of the fact that it exists as a part of the material of the universe. They know it only as a cause producing an effect, and as to whether it is of the material or not they have no sensate knowledge. Electricity is of the material and intangible and not subject to the perception of sense, and to men has an existence only because it is accepted and declared to be the cause of certain known effects.

Now, there are many material things in the invisible world that have never come to the knowledge of men by reason of effects produced and made known to their cognition; yet these things are just as real and just as much a part of the material of the universe as are those things that men call the material of the natural world. Now what I have written is merely to demonstrate the fact that the existence of the material is not confined to what men call the natural world, and that men's knowledge does not always determine whether the material exists or not.

The material has its place and existence in all the spheres of the spirit world and is used by spirits in their work and living just as really as it exists in the natural world and is used by men for their welfare and happiness; and when the inhabitants of the spirit world use it for the purpose and in such a manner as to make the invisible material perceptible to the senses of men, they should not look upon such phenomena as unreal or non-acceptable because such phenomena is not produced in accord or harmony with the laws of the material as they understand them.

I will continue later.

Your friend,
Francis Bacon

**********

Helen confirms that Francis Bacon wrote.

I am here, Helen.

Well dear, the message that you have just received was from the spirit who wrote you a few nights ago on the subject of the material. He seemed to be much interested in the matter and says he desires to impart information, which is scientific and of importance to mankind, and that he will come again soon.

I see that you have had a very happy day and feel much better because of your visit, and you are better, and in such condition that the other spirits can write, and I hope that tomorrow night you will give them the opportunity. You will receive some very instructive and vital messages and should give all the time possible to the preparation for receiving these truths.

I am quite happy in being with you today and have felt that we are getting closer together in our love and rapport. It is late, and I will not write more now. Baby (Nita) is here in her love and says she hopes that she may soon be able to write her letter, and that she loves you so much.

Well he is ready and will write tomorrow night, if you will prepare the way. I will tell him. Love us and pray to the Father, as we want you to get more of the Love and come closer to us in your soul development. Good night,

Your own true and loving,
Helen

St. Peter Writes About the Process of Forgiveness of Sin

November 29, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me write a few lines for I am very anxious to write you in reference to a truth which obtains in our spirit world and with which you may not be acquainted.

As you may not know, there is in our world a law which makes the soul of one who has not yet been purified suffer the penalties for the acts of sin and evil of which he may have been guilty during his earth life; and there is no forgiveness of these acts in the sense that forgiveness is taught by the theologians and churches, but the only forgiveness is the cessation of recollection of these acts, so that they become as though they had never been; and, as the soul becomes naturally pure and in harmony with the laws of its creation, it then comes into its natural condition, and then, and then only, forgiveness takes place.

God does not forgive by the mere act of pronouncing forgiveness or by any arbitrary and sudden blotting exit of sins, and thereby removing the condition which creates the inharmony; and so you will understand, that He cannot forgive sin in this way, neither can the popes, priests, teachers or churches, and the pronouncing of forgiveness by these men constitutes a deception of, and an injury to, the persons who pray and ask for forgiveness, and for such deception, these men will have to answer when they come to the spirit world and realize the truth of forgiveness and the great deception that they had practiced upon those who were their followers and believers in these false doctrines. Many spirits are now living and suffering in darkness in their purgatories just because of their beliefs, and the results thereof, in these misleading teachings.

There is no forgiveness until man makes the effort by struggling and succeeding in getting rid of these recollections; and such riddance can be obtained only by men realizing the fact that sin is only the effect of their having done those things and thought those thoughts, which are out of harmony with the will of God and the laws governing the creation of man.

There can be no sinning of the physical body or of the spirit body, but only of the soul caused by the exercise of the will in a manner antagonistic to the will of the Father. The body, of course, is affected by these inharmonious thoughts and impelling directions of the will and is caused, thereby, to commit the act which is the external demonstrator of the inharmonious exercise of the will; and as God leaves to man the freedom of exercising his will, as such will may be influenced by the thoughts, desires and affections of his appetites and lusts, so God leaves to man the application of the remedies that will free the soul from such influence and effects as are caused by this exercise of the will; and only when these thoughts and appetites and lusts become eliminated from his soul and desires, does the soul come into its natural condition and in harmony with the will of God.

Man, himself, must be the actor and the initiating force to bring about these changes in his will, and no assurances of forgiveness by popes, priests or churches can eradicate these contaminating influences, or remove that which is the cause of the sin or the effect of the cause. You must see that there can be no relationship between the assurance of forgiveness and the sin or the cause thereof.

Prayer to the Father for forgiveness or supplication to priests and church is supposed to effectuate the objects sought, but this belief is erroneous and does not bring the relief prayed for; yet prayer is a very important element in forgiveness, and while the Father does not, and the priests and church cannot, forgive sin in the manner mentioned, yet true, sincere prayer to the Father for forgiveness will bring its answer, and affect, not the sin, but the soul and state of men, so that their will and appetites and desires may be influenced in such a way that they will receive and realize the fact of a wonderful help in changing these appetites and desires, and in turning their thoughts to those things that will enable them to remove from their recollections the acts and thoughts, which are the causes of the existence of their souls in a state of sin.

If men would only realize these truths, and, when they desire the forgiveness of their sins, pray to the Father for help in turning away from these thoughts and in exercising their will in accord with His will and not expect any arbitrary forgiveness or removal of their sins, they would find themselves on the way to this forgetfulness and the true forgiveness.

Well, I desired to write this short message and am pleased that I could do so. Thanking you, I will say, good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Apostle of Jesus,
Peter

Helen Writes About the Different Loves: Divine Love, Natural Love, Soulmate Love and Other Loves

November 26, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

After I passed over, I saw that I must seek a way to communicate with you in my spirit existence, and you may not know, but it is a fact that I was with you when you visited the mediums who informed you that you were a medium, being possessed of the gift of automatic writing; and I, having learned this fact from some of your spirit relatives, and principally your father, impressed these mediums to tell you of the fact of your mediumship. And when, at last, you made the experiment, I was present with you and exerted all my powers, and had the help of other spirits, in making your experiment a success. And when you commenced to receive the messages I cannot tell you how happy I was and thankful that the way was opened up that enabled me to tell you what, above everything else, I was so anxious to tell you. And if you will think for a moment of the nature of my communications, you will remember that the burden of all my messages was my love for you, and no matter how important other portions of the messages might be, yet in them was the continuous assurance that I loved you with all my heart and soul.

There are various kinds of love existing between humans and also between spirits and humans, each having its source in different conditions of fact and in varying causes; and of all these loves, only one is or can be the true and eternal one. The love of husband and wife is a beautiful thing, and may exist during the life on earth and bring much happiness to its possessors even though that love is temporary, and, in the workings of the law of attraction in the spirit life, may entirely cease its existence and become forgotten. And so, I may state, will be the destiny of the paternal and maternal, and brotherly and sisterly love. All these are based upon causes or conditions that are merely temporary - that is, may last during time and for a more or less longer period in eternity, but finally must end.

These loves, as I understand, are provisions of God which are necessary to enable mankind to work out their progress through the human life in the way that will produce the greatest harmony and happiness among mortals as they contend with the difficulties, cares and disappointments of the earth life. In the spirit world there is no need for these loves, for a greater bond of affection is provided, and is created or brought into operation by the great law of attraction, which causes the merely personal relationship that may have existed between spirits when inhabiting the earthly forms, to cease to be forgotten. This law of attraction is based upon the condition of the soul, whether that soul possesses the development created by the Divine Love or only that created by the purification of the natural love.

In the early stages in the spirit life the conditions of the earth life may remain for a time, because the spirit's state of soul and desires and affections may continue to be as they were when on earth; but as stagnation is not a quality of the soul in spirit life, these things which may have bound the humans together in the relationship mentioned do not long continue as they were, as there is no way of avoiding the workings of this law and its results. In order for this state to continue any great length of time, it would be necessary that all the spirits bound by these affections or conditions should remain without change in their souls, and that rarely happens, for in our world the individual becomes the individual in fact, and the real is apparent and spirits see one another face to face, and pretense or effort to hide the true condition of love or affection, or want of the same, becomes futile; so that, as is the real state of the spirit, so is his relationship to other spirits.

Again, this Law of Attraction operates in other directions than that of determining the mere affections, for men's mental conditions and aspirations are determining factors in establishing relationships among themselves. When men become spirits they are at the time of transition, and for a longer or shorter period afterwards, the possessors of the same knowledge and aspirations as they were immediately preceding their passage, with this difference: that to a more or less extent this knowledge and these aspirations, when in spirit life, are made apparent to others, not necessarily in words and professions, but by the power of seeing, which all but the very depraved spirits possess, so that, pretense and dissembling being absent or of no avail, these spirits, under the law, attract those affections arising from their human relationships cease to bind these several spirits, and they obey the law. The temporary love has fulfilled its mission and object, and to continue to exist under the circumstances mentioned would work injury and retardation to the progress of these spirits, no matter what may be the nature or cause of that progress.

Now, while what I have said is all true, yet there is another provision of the Father's law, designed for the happiness of men while mortals, that causes the love arising from the human relationship to continue with the spirit so long as the object of that love continues in the flesh, and no matter what the progress of that spirit may be or what its attractions are, yet it continues to love the mortal during his earthly career, and to watch over and help him, and all this even though this love which once existed for other mortals in the same relationship, and who have passed to spirit life, may have ended and been forgotten. This human love is subject to change and death, and those of earth life who console themselves with the thought that when they pass to spirit life they will meet their loved ones who have gone before, never to part again, will be disappointed, but not long distressed, for they will soon thereafter learn and experience the workings of the great law of attraction, and in that experience will be happy.

But there is another and differing love, not of the temporal, but of the everlasting, in its nature, and all humans have it, though probably unaware of the fact, but which at some period - and this may be for some time - in eternity they will become conscious of, and then never deprived of, for it is the perfect fulfillment of this law of attraction. I mean the soulmate love, of which I have written you so often. It was born before any man appeared in the flesh, and was a part of his very soul's creation, and of which he could never be deprived, though so often does it lie dormant in the souls and consciousness of man. I and others have written you as to how when the souls of men were created by the Father these souls were made male and female, though constituting only the one soul - two in one, the perfect one. And with their creation was bestowed upon them a love - not two loves, but only one - which was possessed equally by each part of the complete soul, and which will always remain one in its complete workings, although these two parts of the soul have to be, and are, separated in their incarnation in the human body, which incarnation is for the purpose of giving the male and the female parts of the one soul a separate individuality, without severing or disuniting this love, which through all eternity binds together these two parts as one.

The love of which I have first spoken is the love for time only; the soulmate love is the love for all eternity, and this great love which requires that at some stage in eternity these two parts of the one soul shall become one again, should be one of the most convincing proofs that all men, sooner or later, will come into harmony with the will of the Father and with the laws creating such souls. The fundamental law of the universe is that all things shall come into harmony with the will of the Father, and as the hells and all that they contain are out of such harmony, men may believe that in the ultimate working out of this law no soul will remain in the hells or in the condition or state of existence that primarily makes the hells, but that all souls in their perfected union will become inhabitants of either the spiritual or the Celestial heavens. And further, I must say, as you have been told before, that this soulmate love is the only love that can have a separate and individual existence in the Celestial heavens, where the Divine Love exists to the exclusion of every other love save the soulmate love; and the more the spirits - the united two in one - possess the Divine Love, the greater will be their possession of this soulmate love.

As you know, I am your soulmate and come to you so often in my love, and you realize the fact and respond, and at times are very happy. You have experienced on several occasions the depth and yearnings of my love to such an extent that your soul has come to me in my spirit world and enjoyed moments of unspeakable bliss; and as you may not know, left me with protestations against its return to your mortal body, and, if my love had not been wise as well as intense and wonderfully absorbing, your protests would have been heeded and you would have remained with me to enjoy the happiness which can be yours only when you come to the spirit world to find your home everlasting.

It has been said that the man in love is a fool, and that may be true in regard to the merely human love, but as to this soulmate love the more of it we possess the wiser we become and correspondingly happy.

I cannot tell you the depth and height and wonders of my love, and only say that it fulfills to the uttermost the great law of attraction, and there is nothing, save the Divine Love, in all the universe of being that can excel it or take its place, or make two souls so united that even death cannot sever it.

I will be with you as long as you continue to live on earth, in all the fullness of my love, and when the time of your passing comes, I will be present; and so much love will be around you that you will forget the dying and the awakening, and know only that your soulmate is with you telling you of love and happiness and the beauties of the life that will be yours, and showing you to a large degree how splendid and heavenly this love can make a spirit that possesses the Divine Love also.

Well dear, Baby is here and says she has read what I have written and is so glad that you have me for your soulmate. She is very happy and is growing all the time in beauty and in the possession of the Father's Love, and so wants you to seek more and more for this love, and says, "How rich Daddy is to have the soulmate love of my beautiful mother and the certainty of the great love of the Father, if he will only seek for it; and in addition, which may not count for much, he has the love of his own Baby, who is now so happy."

And Mary says that I must not neglect to say that she is here also, and has read my message with great pleasure, and wants me to tell the Dr. that if he will only substitute himself in your place and her in my place and read the letter he will know something of her love for him; that he is her soulmate and can never be another's and she is with him so very often trying to impress him with her presence and love.

Well dear, you have written a great deal and I will stop. I am so glad that I could write. Good night, my dear Ned.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Helen Writes that Mr. Padgett was Not Satisfied With the Messages Received from the Previous Two Intellectual Spirits

November 25, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well, dear, you have had two spirits write you tonight that are not of our band as you may know. They are wise men, though, and what they could say to you might be instructive and desirable to know, but I saw that you were not satisfied with having them write, and they perceived the fact, also, and left.

I know that you are disappointed, because some of the higher spirits did not write, but they could not make the necessary rapport and so did not attempt to write. You were not just in the condition. I would like to write my letter, but you are too much drawn on now to undertake the writing.

I want you to permit me to commence early when you are fresh. If you will try to get in condition by tomorrow night, I will certainly come and write. Well, that will be satisfactory. I do not think it best to write more tonight.

Baby (Nita) is here and sends her love. Love us both and pray to the Father. Good night and God Bless you.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Longiticus Writes of His Spiritual Progression to the Sixth Sphere, but Knows Nothing of Love

November 25, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Longiticus.

Let me write a few lines tonight, as I am very desirous to explain some truths of the spirit world, which may be of benefit to you and those who may read my explanation. I am a spirit that has been in this world for a long time and progressed from the hells to the planes of the Sixth Sphere, and am acquainted with the method of progress and the various experiences of the soul as it ascends from one sphere to the succeeding one higher.

When I lived on earth, man - as to his moral development - was in a somewhat limited and uncertain condition and right and wrong were very largely a matter of might. His conscience was merely that part of him which was operated and caused to be operated by his desires to possess those things that seemed to him to be necessary or suited to his contentment in living, or to the destruction or hurt of those whom he hated or sought to destroy; and this condition of conscience should not be difficult to understand, for at the present day, as has recently been demonstrated, the same or similar desires have determined the consciences of those who have brought so much distress to mankind.

Gods were many and their qualities and attributes many and always were the creatures of the men who were supposed to have a knowledge of and acquaintance with these gods, and who were looked upon by the common people as entitled to their credulity and obedience in attempting to carry out the wishes and directions of these gods.

You probably have heard of such people and of such gods and I will not consume space to detail more of the moral conditions of the men of those days or of their utter want of knowledge of the true God and the wholly insufficient thing their conscience was.

Well, of course, we died as all men will have to die, and when we found ourselves spirits, more of us were in the dark planes and many in the hells, of which latter class I was one; and the hells then and cause thereof, were the same as they are today and the difficulties of becoming relieved therefrom, the same as are the difficulties of today.

I remained in the hells a very long time and simply for the reason that my state, or rather conscience, continued without change, and right and wrong, as I had perceived it on earth, persisted with me, and my conscience refused to understand that change is the law of the hells as well as of the earth and the Heavens, and that stagnation is itself a sin against law. Many of us who had been associates on earth became associates in the hells and continued in our same ideas of what morality meant, and when I say morality, I simply mean that right course of living and thinking which is in harmony with the creation of the perfect man, as I am now. Of course I could not have given this explanation of morality when I was in the hells, but nevertheless, it applies, even though I did not understand its meaning.

I don't seem to be able to write further now and must stop, but will come again. Let me say that you are very much in the dark as to what the truths of the spirit world are and need enlightenment, and I can enlighten you. Love is not in my curriculum. All I know of or care about is knowledge and truth, and of these things would I write. Knowledge is the comprehension of that which has reality of existence and not a speculative existence only, and this is the knowledge that I have and can teach you.

Well, shall I tell you some of the truths of the spirit world?

The greatest truth is that the soul of man is immortal and needs no recreation; and the next is like unto it; that this soul is as distinct from all other souls as one star is different from any other.

Well, I know this, because I can see the souls of men and of spirits, and know that they are separate and never become absorbed, the one in the other; and the soul is immortal because I have met souls here who have lived for thousands of years without having seen the death of a soul, or heard of such death, and it is reasonable, yet certain, to infer that as death has never appeared during such centuries of time, death never will appear.

I am a philosopher here, as I was on earth, and am still pursuing my studies on existence, with much increased facilities and satisfaction, and am in a sphere where the frailties of my earth life have left me. I am pure spirit inwardly, though I have a body that is of the sublimated material and subject to change, but never to destruction and is the portrayer of my soul, the I am.

Well, I had a certain line of thought that I desired to reveal to you in a methodical way and your questions somewhat interfered with the symmetry of my discourse, but I do not complain as I have explained to you certain primal facts or truths, which may be of benefit to you.

I would like, though, to deliver to you in this way my thoughts of truth in a logical and consecutive manner, and if convenient to you, will come again and do so.

No, there is nothing in my lecture on love that I can enjoy without seeking to learn of its nature or truth, and it is not so important to discourse about as other things that you will find expounded in my lecture. A spirit says I must stop. Good night,

Longiticus