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

William R. Woodward Writes He Believed in the New Birth but Found It Quite Different Upon Entering the Spirit World

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

I am here, William R. Woodward.

Let me say a word as I have listened to your conversation and to me the most of it is Greek, for while I understand your words and sentences, I do not comprehend your meaning. What do you mean by transformation of the soul?

I am a spirit who, when on earth, believed in the New Birth and regeneration, and believed that I was the subject of both, and was fitted - when I died - to enter into the mansions of the redeemed and enjoy the presence of God and of Jesus. But I have found that since I became a spirit, I am no more in the presence of God than I was on earth.

I was taught that by receiving the New Birth and, as I understood that meant to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and accept him as my saviour and become baptized, I would be saved. As I said, I was taught that this New Birth was all that I was required to have in order to become an inhabitant of Jesus' Heavens. And now I know that teaching did not bring me to Heaven, and when I hear you speak of the transformation of the soul by the New Birth, your teachings sound very much like those that I was taught when on earth, and I wonder if you are not suffering under the same delusion that I was.

You talk as if you know what you say to be true and that you actually know, as a fact, that there is a transformation of the soul that results from this New Birth. I hope you are not mistaken, for if there be any such fact, I would like to hear it and the way to obtain it. So if you can enlighten me, do so. I know what you say in words, but that does not satisfy me. I want that, if there be such, which is back of words. Can you help me?

Well, I see a spirit, and he is very beautiful and says, he will help me to understand if I will sincerely listen to him and I will, so good night.

I am William R. Woodward, whom you knew when I was on earth.

Your friend.

George W. Smith Writes that He Knew the Stone Family in England

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

I am here, George W. Smith.

I am a spirit who lived in England and knew the family of your friend (Dr. Leslie R. Stone) and have met them in the spirit world and have seen them write to him and call him their son, and as I am permitted to write, I thought that I would say a few words.

I am not in such an exalted position as my friends and have with me some darkness and suffering, though I am progressing and learning of the way, which they tell me I must pursue in order to get rid of my present conditions. Mrs. (Priscilla) Stone has been a very angel of goodness to me and has so patiently tried to show me the way to truth and to the Love that has made an angel of her. What a glorious and beautiful spirit she is and how fortunate her son is to have such a mother who loves him so much as I have heard her often say.

Well, I merely want to say that I have heard the conversation between you and my brother and have believed with interest in what he said about writing to my sisters and telling them some of the spiritual truths that have been written to him by our mother and others.

Well, I will not write more, but I have learned that the prayers of you mortals do help the darkened spirits very much and wish that your friend and you would pray for me. Heaven is ahead of me, they tell me, and I want so much to get there.

Good night.
George W. Smith

Los Trenos Writes of His Progress into the Celestial Heavens

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

I am here, Los Trenos.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

**********

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

I am here, A. G. Riddle.

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

Well my dear boy, I will say good night.

Your old friend and brother,
A. G. Riddle

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

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

I am here, Mother Plummer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mother Plummer, wife of Nathan Plummer


**********

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

Leslie R. Stone.
       

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

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

I am here. Judge Syrick.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Your old friend,
Syrick

Mary Kennedy Writes About Taking Dr. Leslie R. Stone to the Third Sphere

December 13, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Mary.

Let me write just a line and I will feel better, for I am so anxious to tell the Doctor (Leslie R. Stone) that he is such a dear boy and needs me more than he thinks. Of course, this is in a kind of humorous vein, but still humor sometimes contains much truth.

Helen says that I might write a short letter, and I know that when she says so you will have to submit, but I know that you want to favor me anyhow. I understand from what he has said to you that he has no recollection of his experience, and I am very sorry for if he could only recall just a little of what he saw and felt when he was with me, he would never doubt for a moment that I am his true soulmate, and that his Heaven is all that he has had described him.

It was a very happy night for me and for him, too, if I may judge from what he said. He did not want to return and said that there was no special reason for his returning and that he was so happy with me, that he felt justified in requesting that he may be permitted to stay with me, but I reminded him that could not be as he had been chosen to do a work among mortals, and that until that was finished, he could not come to the spirit and remain, but I promised that he should come again as a visitor, and that his happiness would be just as great as he was then experiencing and that possibly he might at some time be able to recall some of the experiences of his visit.

Well I had him with me and we were in the Third Sphere, where everything was so suited to our love feast, and we were happy, I must tell you. He met his father and mother and sisters and some other spirits who were interested in him, and they were all so happy to have him with them, especially was his mother very happy for she took him in her arms and kissed him and cried for very joy.

They stayed with us for a little while but soon saw that we were anxious to be alone, and they left with their blessings. But Helen said that she did not intend to leave, for fear that I should get in such a condition that I would forget that he was still a mortal and do something that might prevent his return to his body. She said I was not responsible and that she thought too much of the Doctor to leave him alone with such a lovesick and foolish girl as I was, and asked him if I was not right, and if he did not think it best for her to stay, and he said that, of course, he appreciated her anxiety on his account, and he knew that she did not want anything to happen to him, but that he was quite a brave man and was willing to run the risk of being left alone with me, and then she gave me a kiss and hug and left us.

I would like to tell you of some of the things he said and did, but I have not the time tonight but only say it was a time of happiness and bliss and a forerunner of what is in store for us when he comes over never to return to the body. I will come soon and try the experiment again, and I suppose again, for the joys of our being together are so great that I know that I will not be able to resist the temptations of having him with me.

Helen says that I must stop as you are tired. So thanking you, and with my love to Leslie, and in the hope that he will soon be with me again, I will say good night.

Your loving sister,
Mary

**********

P.S. The day following the information received from Mr. Padgett that his Helen and my soulmate Mary were going to try and take me out of the body as they had written about three weeks before, I felt a wonderful influence of Love that seemed to take possession of my whole being, and it lasted for three days and made me feel so happy.

Mr. Padgett had a similar experience after going to the spirit world in the Third Sphere a few months previous to my experience and said that he felt much Love present in his soul after the event.

Leslie R. Stone

Jesus Writes What Men Should Do in Order to Become Again the Perfect Men

December 12, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

Let me write a while tonight as I desire very much to again come into communication with you in reference to the truths of God that are so important for men to know. Tonight I desire to write for a short time on the subject of: "What men should do in order to become again the perfect men as was the condition of the first parents before their fall."

I know that many doctrines and beliefs have prevailed in the world of human experience as to what is necessary to bring about a return to the original condition of the created soul of men before the fall, and that many of these beliefs have been preached and efforts made to live the life that will produce this happy state; but in all this experience and belief, men have rarely attained to the perfection that they sought for, notwithstanding the fact that they have been taught that as their Father in Heaven is perfect, they should become perfect. No, this goal has always eluded men while living on earth, and for a long while to come and until man's ideas of his own created condition changes, man will not succeed in reaching the condition of perfection.

While the created soul of man is pure and perfect, and man must realize that fact, yet because of the long ages of living in and nurturing sin and its resultants, man has covered over that pure soul with such a deep and fallacious covering that they have never yet been able to get a correct idea of what that soul really is. As it appears to them in all its frailties and ugliness as it really is, and in addition to this, so long has man been accustomed to see that soul as it appears in its false covering that he has concluded and had no other thought than that it is really what it appears to him to be.

But never was a greater mistake made and never has man been so little successful in discovering the truth of things as in this matter of the true condition of the hidden soul waiting only to be relieved of its covering in order to shine out again in all its purity and truth.

So you see, the first thing for men to do is to realize the true condition of their own souls, and then make the effort to rescue such souls from this false and unnatural condition, and let it appear again clean and pure and beautiful.

Many teachers have appeared in the world and endeavored to lead men to this discovery, and also attempted to show them the way by which this original condition could be recovered or brought about, and success more or less has accompanied their endeavors; but the trouble has been that with these teachings have been mixed things of such irrational character that have had a retarding and baneful effect upon such teachings and, as a consequence, men have lost the principles of the true teachings and found themselves enthralled in the scheme of public benefits that men so forcibly presented to those who followed these doctrines instead of the true teachings.

It seems so strange that these beliefs and practices should be given over to so much importance to acts and beliefs of men, and that the one true principle that lies at the basis of all efforts to regain the purity of the soul, as it originally existed, should be neglected.

Well, the rapport is weakening, and I will write later. So, good night and God bless you. I see that you are in better condition than for a long time, and I am glad. I will come soon again. Good night.

Your brother and friend,
Jesus

**********

Helen Confirms Jesus' Message

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well, dear, I am so glad that the Master could write again tonight, for it tells one that you will be able to receive His messages right along and very satisfactorily.

Your own true and loving,
Helen 

John Writes About the Glories of the Third Heaven (Third Sphere)

December 8, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, St. John, Apostle of Jesus.

I desire to finish my comments on the preacher's (Dr. Ratcliff) sermon on Heaven.

As I said, these apocalyptic writings (Book of Revelation) were made for the purpose of encouraging the people of those days to believe that God would intervene in their behalf and save them from their sufferings and persecutions, and in the one case establish a Messiah's kingdom on earth that would cause the Jews to become the ruling nation of the universe and, in the other, to establish a Kingdom in Heaven where the Christians would find rest and happiness in becoming inhabitants of that Kingdom and children of the Father, and participants in the glories of Christ's reign as king and priest. Well, as the subject of the sermon was that Kingdom or Heaven and the preacher endeavored to tell his people what that Heaven is, I will consider that subject.

In the first place, as I have said, that Heaven is not one universal place where all the Christians, irrespective of their soul development go, but in that Heaven are many Heavens or spheres in which the spirit of mortals will find homes and also happiness according to their soul development or their spiritual development. And in order that there may be no misunderstanding, I must say that the soul development comes only through and by the operation of the Holy Spirit. The spiritual development involves only the result of the correct workings of the moral faculties of a man and the purification of his natural love which, of course, comprehends the development of his soul so far as the same may be developed by this purifying process. The results of each operation is very different and lead to a perfection and relationship to the Father, which is in harmony with the laws controlling the respective Heavens - for the place of final habitation of each may be called Heaven.

But my object tonight is to describe to you the appearance and condition of one of these Heavens, and as mortals have heard more about the "Third Heaven," which we in our information to you have called the "Third Sphere," than of any of the other Heavens, I will confine my description to that place.

Well, it is occupied by the spirits of mortals who have received considerable of the Divine Love, as well as by those who have progressed to a great extent in the purification of their Natural Love and the expansion of their minds and intellects, though the latter do not remain very long in this Heaven, but progress to the Fourth where there are more opportunities and more instructions in those things which have to do with the mind's advancement. While those who have made progress in the soul development and those in the intellectual are all in the Third Heavens, yet they occupy different and distinct planes in that Heaven, for those things that attract the one class do not attract the other, and there is very little intermingling of these spirits except that those who know that the Divine Love is real sometimes attempt to show those who do not the desirability of obtaining it and the happiness that it brings to spirits.

As we have already told you, the condition of the soul - not of the mind - to a large degree makes the Heaven of the spirit, and in the providence of the Father, He has made the surroundings and the appearances of the environment suitable to the condition of the soul and fitted to increase the happiness of those spirits who may, because of their soul progress, be attracted to the particular places in which they find themselves - their homes.

The appearance of this Heaven to those who have this Divine Love in their souls is far excelling the capacity of your mortal language to explain, even if I had the ability to describe the same. But in one general statement I may say that for these spirits there is everything to make them happy to the extent of their capacity to receive and enjoy. There are trees and flowers, and hills and dales, and rivers and lakes, and beautiful landscapes, and above all the wonderful atmosphere, as I may express it that is created by this wonderful Love of the Father, and a glorious light that illuminates and gives life to all who live in it, which comes from this Love of the Father. It is the sun, moon and stars, and sunrise and sunset, and summer clouds, and evening shadows and morning glories. Your material sun and moon and stars do not appear in this Heaven for the effulgence of the light from the Father's Love eclipses and eliminates the light of these material creations of the mortal world.

And then there are homes of the grandest splendor and beauty suited to the conditions of the various spirits, which have in them everything that will tend to cause happiness and joy to their occupants and visiting friends: musical instruments and books, and paintings, and furniture of every kind fitted to bring to the spirits contentment and joy, and a realization of peace and rest from the cares that you mortals have with you all through your earth life. And above and more important than all, a wonderful atmosphere of Love which makes all these spirits realize that they are the children of the Father and brothers of one another and lovers of all humanity.

And, in addition, the social life is beyond all conception. The spirits have their times of visiting as well as those of staying in their homes; and many pleasures as well as of work and helping spirits and mortals; of singing and music and laughter as of prayer and contemplation of deep spiritual truths. Yes, in the lighter social pleasures as well as in the solitary meditations and aspirations of the soul's progress, there is happiness and enjoyment and freedom from those things which defile or make inharmonious the thoughts and heart's desire of these spirits. All is gladness and there are none who have solemn downcast countenances, that many of earth imagine portrays the truly righteous and redeemed of mortals. No, Love knows no sadness, and as the soul speaks, its condition by the appearance of the spirit body's countenance, the soul being so full of gladness and joy, the countenance can express only those emotions of the soul. This is the result of the law which declares nothing can be hidden, and every spirit must show forth the truth of its condition.

There are no walled cities or streets of gold or pearly gates or other of the material things, which the book ascribes to me sets forth, so that man can get some conception of what Heaven is. These things in Heaven would not be gold or pearls or diamonds or jasper, for when they are compared to the real beauties of the things which it contains, they are as the faint light of the candle compared to the light of your noon day sun. Truly the mind of man cannot conceive of the glories that await the lovelit soul when it comes to its Heavenly home.

There is another misconception that the preacher had following the teachings of Revelation, and that is that the Kingdom of Heaven is a walled city, the New Jerusalem, in which all the spirits of the redeemed live, singing their loud hosannas to God. There are cities of which your earth cities may be called correspondences, but there are also villages and hamlets and homes in the country, as you would say, surrounded by green fields and shady vales through which run rivers and streams of silvery hue and clear as crystal, and also placid lakes, which afford the pleasures of boating and sailing and other amusements. For each spirit is provided the place that is most attractive to him and it is optional with him where his home shall be. But all love and worship the Father and endeavor to make their neighbors happy and help the development of the soul towards a progression to the Heavens, which are higher yet. All spirits are controlled by law, but that law is the Law of Love, and that love is the Love Divine: the essence of the Father's Divinity.

I have written enough for tonight, and I hope from what I have said that you may catch some faint conception of what the glories of this Third Heaven is for those who have found, to some extent, this Love and possess it; and then, when as you must know there are many Heavens above this, each successively possessing increased glories and happiness and beauties of place as well as beauty of spirit, you may imagine what the Master meant when he said, "In my Father's house are many mansions."

I know that my attempted description may be unsatisfactory to some mortals, but it is the best that I can do, because mortal words cannot convey and mortal thoughts cannot conceive the realities; and man in his imaginings may better get a spiritual view of these things. I will not write more tonight.

I am with you quite often, throwing around you the influence of my love, and endeavoring to help and encourage you. Let your faith in us and in our communications increase, and believe above all that the Master wrote you the prayer, which you received a few nights ago. Study it deeply and grasp its spiritual meaning, and let your longings and aspirations go out to the Father as suggested by the prayer, and you will find a wonderful and satisfactory response to them. We are praying for you and your friends, and you must believe that the Love is coming into your souls. So with my love and blessings, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
John

Paul Writes About "Hell: What It Is and What Its Purpose Is"

November 21, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, St. Paul.

I desire tonight to finish my message on: "Hell: What it is and what its purpose is."

As I said before, Hell is a place as well as a condition and, the man who believes that it is nothing more than a condition of his mind or soul will be wonderfully surprised as well as disappointed. I know the condition of mind and soul to a very large extent creates a man's Hell and is the chief source of his suffering and the darkness that surrounds and envelops him; yet, this condition is not the only source of that suffering or of darkness in which he finds himself.

Hell is a place; and a place that has all the appearances and ingredients that are in exact agreement with his state as produced or caused by the condition of his mind or soul and is not a place of universal character and fitted for the habitation of souls, irrespective of conditions of degrees of defilement and sin and darkness.

It is not a single place forming a common home for all fallen souls, but is composed of many and different places and as has been said, there are many Hells having gradations of appearances and surroundings that are suitable for causing additional sufferings which souls may have to endure.

The expression, "The lowest depths of Hell," is not a meaningless one, but portrays a truth, a real existing fact that many spirits are now experiencing the reality of. In its broadest sense, Hell is every place outside of Heaven, and Heaven is that place where everything entering into it - its appearance and qualities and its inhabitants - is in perfect harmony with the respective Laws of God and His will concerning the same.

And this statement involves the fact that there are several Heavens, because the Heaven of the redeemed, or those who have received the Divine Essence in their souls and become of the Divine Nature of the Father, is a distinct Heaven from that wherein live those who have been restored in their natural love to the perfect condition that the first parents possessed before the fall - the condition of the restitution to mankind of that perfection which was lost by the disobedience of the first man and woman.

Mortals usually believe that Heaven is a condition, and the Bible, in which so many believe, attempts to describe this Heaven with its streets of gold and pearly gates, etc., and as a fact, it is a real substantial place having all the elements and appearances of a home of bliss, which help to bring to its inhabitants happiness and joy in addition to the happiness which their soul perfection and development cause them to have.

Then as Heaven is a place having real substance perceptible to the spirits that inhabit it, why should not Hell be a place of real substance, also, with those qualities and appearances exactly suited to add to the unhappiness of those who are fitted for it? The spirit world, both Heaven and Hell are places of substance having their planes and divisions and limitations of occupancy and not mythical, invisible conceptions of mind as you mortals ordinarily conceive ghosts to be. The spirits of mortals are real and more substantial than are the physical bodies of mortals, and these planes and divisions, whether of Heaven or Hell, have a more real existence than have the mortals in their places of habitation or confinement in the earth life.

The Hells are places of darkness and sufferings but in them are no fires or brimstone, etc., as have been so commonly represented by the preachers and teachers of the orthodox churches, because there is nothing therein that would feed fires or that fires could affect, and there are no devils or Satan, though there are evil spirits of men that are more wicked and vicious and horrifying than have ever been pictured of the devil and his angels.

In your communications, you have had some very realistic descriptions of Hell from those who are actually living therein and are realizing its tortures and realities, and I will not take the time here to attempt to describe it in detail and will only say that as it has not entered into the minds of men to conceive the wonders and beauties of Heaven, neither have they ever conceived of the horrors and sufferings of Hell. But from all this, men must not understand that the punishment and darkness which the spirits of evil endure in the Hells are specifically inflicted by the Father because of any wrath that He may have towards these spirits, or to gratify any feelings of revenge, or even to satisfy any outraged justice, for it is not true.

Man, when he becomes a spirit, is his own judge and executioner, submitting to and receiving the inexorable results of the Law that: "Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap." This is a law that is necessary to preserve or bring about the harmony of God's universe, which, of course, is absolutely necessary, and while it may appear to man, at first sight, to be a harsh and cruel Law, yet in its workings and results, even to the individual spirit who may suffer in the reaping, it is a most benign and beneficial law, for the darkness and sufferings of a few years, as you mortals say, bring about an eternity of light and happiness.

The Law must rule; and in all the apparent harshness and suffering and want of mercy, the Great Divine Love of the Father overshadows the sufferer and finally makes the defiled and wicked soul become one of purity and goodness. Men may never have thought of the fact; that if it were possible for these evil spirits to live in Heaven, their sufferings and unhappiness would be greater than what they endure by living in the place that is more in agreement in its surroundings and appearances with their own distorted conditions of soul. So even in their Hells, the Father is Merciful and Good.

And regarding the second proposition of the preacher (Dr. Ratcliff) in his sermon, namely, the duration of suffering or of the life of the spirit in Hell. His conclusion was that this duration of the spirit is eternal, everlasting and without end. How it must have hurt and violated the teachings of his soul and his conception of the loving Father to come to such a conclusion! But, yet, being bound by his creeds and the domination of his belief that the Bible is the sole authority upon Hell, as well as Heaven, in the conviction of his mind - and here I want to emphasize mind, for his heart was not in agreement - he declared that the duration of the sufferings and life of the Hells is eternal and the saying of Jesus proved it to be, not only because it was in the Bible, but because the true meaning of the original Greek word can have no other translation; not knowing, or if knowing, not recalling, that Jesus, even if he used such expression, did not speak in Greek, and that back of the Greek word, in order to obtain the true meaning of the word used by Jesus, he, the preacher, must go to the word as it was uttered by Jesus and its true meaning.

So many preachers and commentators on the Bible attempt to determine a most vital truth by a shade of meaning that they conceive a particular word in its original, may have, when they are not justified in concluding that such word had at the time used, such shade of meaning, or that the original as they conceive it to be, was the original word actually spoken or written. They seem to lose sight of the fact that the writings of the Bible, I mean the manuscripts, to which they make reference to prove the correctness of their conclusions, are far removed from the original writings, and that by reason of the copying and recopying of the word upon which they rely, and the shade of meaning that they give it in their interpretations may not have been the word originally used. Of course, they have no way of learning this fact and, consequently, they have to resort to the best authority that they can have access to. But under such circumstances, it is not a justifiable thing to have a vital question of man's future and destiny determined by the shade of meaning that may be given to one word or more words, without reference to other declarations of the same Book having relation to the subject matter of the inquiry.

The preacher said that in his conclusion as to the question, he must be governed by the Bible alone and had no right to indulge in speculation of the philosophies of other men and, that in the Bible, he could find nothing that would justify him in coming to any other conclusion than that the duration of punishment in Hell is eternal. Well, he was not honest with himself, for if he had searched a little more deeply and have given as much credence to other parts of the Bible as to the passage that he quoted, he would have found a strong statement to the effect that the evil spirits in Hell have the possibility of leaving it, and not only that but that a part of the great mission of Jesus, upon whose supposed declaration the preacher based his conclusion, was to show the way and induce these spirits of evil to leave their Hells.

This was the Master's first work after he became a spirit, and he would not have attempted to preach to these wicked spirits in Hell, so wicked, according to the Bible, that God because of their great sins when mortals, punished them as He never punished any other of His children, for their disobedience, utterly destroying them as a race and His only living human creatures from the face of the earth, by one great catastrophe, leaving only Noah and his family as a reminder of the great failure of God in His creation - the most perfect and the "very good." So I say, if the preacher had searched the Bible, he would have found that the Hell that contained the spirits of all the human race that was living at the time of the flood, except Noah and his family was not in its duration eternal.

And again, had the preached searched further he would have found that the Master Himself declared by necessary implication, that, at least, for some of the wicked who became inhabitants of Hell, there was possibility of release and certainty upon conditions. I refer to the declaration attributed to him where he said, "He that sinneth against the son of man, it shall be forgiven him, but he that sinneth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come." (Matt. Chapter 12--Verse 32)

Now, to any reasonable man there is only one interpretation of this declaration and, that is, that for any and all sins, except that against the Holy Ghost, there is forgiveness in the next world as well as in the mortal world, and that being a fact, it is an irresistible conclusion that the Father would not compel a spirit to remain in Hell after He had forgiven that spirit's sins.

No, the preacher had not searched the Scriptures, as he was in duty bound to do, else his conclusion, could he have ridden his mind of the beliefs that the creeds of his church had driven into his intellect, and of the teachings of the ancient fathers, and of the churches that had taught such false and damnable doctrines for so many years, would have been very different. The preacher repudiated the old teachings that there would be physical suffering in Hell, or fire or brimstone, etc., and expressed his commiseration for those preachers and others who had taught such doctrine and for their awful responsibility and accounting, and his commiseration was needed and appropriate. But l want to say here that he needs as much, if not more, commiseration for the preaching of his false doctrines, as did those preachers to whom he refers. He has more light, or may have, and his accounting will be correspondingly greater.

I have written a long letter, and you are tired and I must stop, but before doing so, let me declare the truth to be that:

"Hell is not a place of eternal punishment; that all the Hells as well as other parts of the spirit world are places of progression and the privilege of probation is not taken from any spirit no matter how wicked, for all are God's children and in His Plans for the perfecting of the harmony of the universe, and man's salvation, all the Hells will be emptied and the Hells themselves destroyed."

But men must not think from this that the duration of suffering in these Hells is necessarily short, for that is not true; some of the evil inhabitants of these places have been in such darkness and suffering for centuries, as mortals count time and may be for centuries more, but the time will come when they will have the awakening to the fact that they may become children of light, and then when they make the effort to progress, they will succeed. The sooner that mankind learns that Hell is not a place of punishment to satisfy the wrath of an angry God, but merely the natural and necessary living place of the spirit, whose condition of soul and mind demands, and that condition changes, and it will change, the Hell of its habitation will change until finally for that spirit all the Hells will disappear.

You are tired and I must stop. So thanking you, and leaving you my love and blessings,

I am your brother in Christ,
Paul

St. Paul Writes that Hell is a Place and a Condition

November 20, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, St. Paul .

I come to write you on the subject that I commented on last night, namely: Hell and the duration of punishment; and if you feel that you are in condition to receive the message, I will begin and finish the same.

Well, as I said last night, the Hell of the orthodox preachers as formerly taught, that is a Hell of brimstone and fires, is not the true Hell and has no existence save in the minds of these orthodox believers.

The true Hell is a place and a condition and one is not separated from the other; and while the condition of the soul and the beliefs of men create the Hells to a very large extent, yet Hell is a fixed abiding place made and established and of such a character as to suit the inhabiting of it by the soul according to the condition of that soul.

To illustrate, a soul that is less vile and filled with evil thoughts and the recollection of evil deeds and false beliefs, is in a very different place from the soul that has more of this evil in it. The former soul would not find its habitation in the same place as the latter soul would - any more than would the highly developed soul find its home in the same place as would the soul that is less developed.

Heaven is a place, or many places, suited to the development of the soul, so Hell is a place suited to the souls of degradation and evil condition. I mean to be understood as saying that place and condition of soul are correlative terms, the home of the soul depending on the condition of the soul. As these different Hells vary, so they are suited for the souls of spirits according to the defilement of soul.

I see that you are not just in condition to write or to receive my thoughts, and I will not write more. But I will come soon and write fully on these matters. So with the hope that soon you will be able to take my message, I will say good night.

Paul

Garfield Writes that He is Praying and Longing for the Inflowing of Divine Love into His Soul

November 17, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Garfield.

No, I have not written you for a long time, though, I have kept in touch with you and many times have heard the messages which you have received and also listened to the conversations of yourself and friends regarding these messages. I also have spent much time with (A.G.) Riddle and with your grandmother (Ann Rollins) listening to their teachings and descriptions of their experiences in the spirit world and I have become much interested in what they have related to me and in the results of their experience as manifested to me by their appearances and conditions.

Your grandmother especially has had a very deep and beneficial influence on me and my thoughts, for she is a most wonderful and wise spirit and so filled with love and powers that I necessarily have to regard what she says with feelings of belief and credence. And besides, I see that she is so very different not only in her appearance but also in her knowledge and conception of spiritual things from those spirits of intelligence with whom I am most frequently in association, that I have become dissatisfied with the course that I have pursued believing that the mind is the great thing and its development the most to be desired and acquired.

So I desire to tell you that I am now trying to follow the advice of your grandmother and these other spirits who preach the doctrine of the Divine Love and am praying and longing for the inflowing of the Love into my soul. It may seem strange to you that I should have for so long a time been told to secure the truth of this doctrine in view of the fact that when on earth I was a kind of preacher in my church and attempted to preach the Scriptures; but when I tell you as I have told you before that my beliefs were mostly mental and as I now found to be erroneous after coming to the spirit world.

When I realized as I quickly did, that my beliefs and teachings of the Bible were not true, I then became a kind of infidel and to such an extent that I was not willing to listen to any suggestions that partook of the nature or flavor of the teachings of the Bible or to the soul and spirits and Heaven and Hell, etc.

And it was only after I fully realized the want of satisfaction in my mental pursuits, that I agreed to try the conversations with Riddle and other spirits of what they claimed to be as a truth of the soul development, did I give serious attention to what I saw was not connected very intimately with the mental development and changed my course of investigations and turned to a search for the truths that your grandmother told me existed in the presence of the soul. And I want to tell you that I am so very thankful that this change came to me and I was started on the road to light and truth.

I am in much better condition than when I last wrote you and in more light and happiness and have a hope which I did not then have. I thought that you might be interested in knowing this and it gives me great pleasure in telling you the fact.

Well, I am surprised by what you tell me for I have never heard of or seen displayed any of that power or glory that you speak of and I know her only as a loving tender spirit but very wise. I will ask about this power that you speak of, for it must be a wonderful thing, and when I realize that such power may exist, it makes me realize the truth of what she tells me to a greater extent than ever.

Yes, I have met him (Robert G. Ingersoll) on several occasions and must confess that I was surprised at his appearance and condition but I did not inquire as to the cause of the same, but from what I now know I suppose it was the possession of this Love. I will do so.

Riddle is a very bright spirit and is getting brighter and brighter all the time and his happiness seems to be without end. Well, my friend, I will not write more. So thanking you for your kindness I will say good night.

Your brother and friend,
Garfield

Wm. E. Gladstone, a Former Premier of Great Britain, Writes that He is in the Earth Plane and Still Believes in Jesus

November 6, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Gladstone.

Yes, I was the Premier of Great Britain and I merely want to say that I desire to come to you sometime and write a message containing some of my views on the war that is now scourging the countries that were supposed to be Christian. Oh, the horror of it all! And how blind the rulers are to the welfare of humanity!

But I must not write tonight, as I have not sufficient rapport with you and my comments and intense feeling on the subject are so great that I doubt if I could continue at this time. But if you are willing, I will come again soon and write you.

I am in the earth plane, but not in darkness. I was, as you may know, a churchman and defender of the faith and still am, and I believe in the doctrines of my church, but strange, as I sometimes think, that I am not more advanced in the progress to the higher spheres. But I suppose I must develop and that I am striving to do; and I attend to the duties of my church and worship as I did on earth and have the same hope in the sacrifice of Jesus and the efficacy of his atonement. I rest in his promises and am with many of my friends of earth who worshipped with me when a mortal. I still believe in Jesus, my Lord, and feel that in his good time I shall go to him in his Heaven of bliss.

I shall be glad to listen to you, for I have always found that something may be learned from others, no matter what their standing or condition is.

Well, I am glad that this way has been opened to me to communicate, for my country needs my advice, as I see that many errors of judgment have been made by those in authority. So thanking you, I will say good night.

Your friend,
Wm. E. Gladstone

Jesus Writes that There are Spirits Whose Duty it is to Look After Newly Arrived Spirits Who Were in Wars But that is Not His Mission

November 2, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

Of course, the scenes in which I was represented (from the movie "Civilization") are creatures of the imagination and intended to impress upon the observers of these scenes the belief or thought that because of my teachings of peace and good will to men, I would necessarily be interested in those things that violate my teachings and, consequently, would be present at the fields of battle and the destruction of human life.

But I may surprise you when I tell you that I do not visit these scenes, because my mission as a spirit is not to help those who fall in battle and come to the spirit world as the result of war's destruction and murder of human beings. There are many spirits whose duty it is to look after the spirits of those who are so suddenly ushered into the spirit world, and to help them to a realization of their changed conditions, and to lead them to the knowledge that they are no longer mortals. These spirits are specially designated for this work and they comfort the unfortunate spirits and help them to recover from the shock of their violent and sudden transformation.

This work, as you may say, is a material one, that is the one that helps these spirits come into possession of their spiritual faculties, irrespective of the question as to whether they are fitted for Heaven or for Hell. In other words, they work to make the coming of these spirits as free from the terrors, which such sudden transformation might cause, as is possible. This work is a necessary one, and one which is a part of the plan of the Father for the welfare and happiness of His children without regard to the fact that they know not His love and mercy.

But my work is different. I deal only with the souls of men irrespective of their spirit condition, that is, of the condition of spirit as mere spirit.

On the field of battle, the souls of men are not generally open to the influence of my teachings, and my work is not among the physically dead, but among the living who are in that state of mental and soul equipoise to receive the influences of my suggestion and love. No, the field of battle is not my place of work, and the killing of men and the carnage of war do not attract me or have for me the opportunities to do the great work that I am leading the spirits who know the reality and the necessity of the Divine Love to do.

I am interested in the peace of mankind and the love of one brother for another, and my teachings on earth and in the spirit world are given for the purpose of bringing about this peace. But the wars of nations or the hatred of battles will never result in bringing peace, merely because of the horrors and desolation that flow from such wars and battles. Men may think that when mankind looks upon these things of destruction, it will also look upon them with such horror and dread, that never again will war take place, and that only peace will follow and forever remain the heritage of men. But I tell you that in this they are mistaken, for in the passing of a few years all these things will be forgotten, and then men's hearts being the same, with all the hatred and envy and ambition that existed in the hearts and minds of those who were responsible for the forgotten wars, these things will be repeated, and the fact that men are of the same carnal minds and desires will be demonstrated.

As long as men remain in their condition of sin and have only what some may call the brotherhood of man to restrain them from seeking to satisfy their ambitions or to gratify their desires to punish fancied wrongs, wars will ensue and the horrors of such conflicts will reappear on the face of the earth. Men will cry: "Peace, Peace," but the world will know no peace, and poor man will suffer the recurrence of the results of the workings of his evil nature.

And, hence, you may understand that I am not so much interested in having peace come to man as a result of the horrors of war, as I am in having it come as the necessary result of the transforming of men's hearts and souls from sin to purity, from the merely natural love to that of the Divine Love, for when this latter Love is in men's souls, they will not cease from war and hatred and carnal appetites will not be satisfied, because of the horrors that may attend these things, but because of the Love that exists in their souls, which will not permit wars. Love will rule and men will forget hatred and all things, which now form a part of their very existence.

My work is to change men from the fallen man to the possessor of the Divine Love.

Also, am I trying to teach men that originally they possessed a love that in its pure state would lead them from these things of hatred and war, and that their only salvation, outside of the possession of the Divine Love, is to again obtain this pure love - the purified natural love. But strange as it may seem to some, it is more difficult for a man to regain the state of the purification of his natural love, than to obtain that greater purification which comes with the possession of the Divine Love. I see that many centuries may pass before man will attain to this state of purification of his natural love, that will enable him to say that because of his love, wars cannot come again and peace must reign: and, hence, the great necessity for him to know that only with the coming of the Divine Love will come the impossibility of war and strife, individually and nationally.

So when it is written or portrayed in pictures that I am on the fields of battle trying to show mankind the horrors of war, or that I am weeping over the slaughter of men, such writings or portrayals are not true.

My mission is to reach the souls of men, as individuals, and turn them to the Love of the Father, and my weeping or sorrow is when men will not listen to the voice that comes to them all, as it calls them to turn to the Father and Love. A dead body is of small consequence as compared to a dead soul, and there are so many that pass into the spirit world bring with them their dead souls. As the dead bodies lie on the fields of carnage, I know that there is nothing there that needs my help or sympathy: and the souls that leave these bodies are not in condition, at that time, to listen to my ministrations or consider their future existence. So you see there is no reason why I should visit the battlefields or try to help these newly born spirits, as I may describe them. No, Jesus, the elder brother, is not the physician for the mangled or wounded bodies or for the souls that come into the spirit world filled with hatred and antagonism at the time of their coming.

Physical death in view of eternity is not of much moment, and while I know that to the ordinary mortal it is one of the most momentous of their existence, yet as I say, it is of comparatively little importance. But, oh, the importance of the death of the soul, and the great necessity of striving to awaken that soul to life!

Well, I have written enough now and will stop.

I see your friend with you and I must say to him that I am with him very often and am pleased that he has arisen from death to life, and that the battlefield on which he has fought the fight of the soul is larger and more terrible in its aspects and evidences of carnage and destruction than the field of battle that is now destroying the physical bodies of so many of mankind. I mean that the whole world is the battlefield of the soul's fighting, and if men could only see the results, as they see the results of the war that is now shaking the whole earth, they would understand that the great war is not the one that is causing so many dead souls to enter the spirit world. Give him my love and blessings.

I will come soon and write you a message of truth. So with all my love and blessings, I am

Your brother and friend,
Jesus

Jesus Writes that Probation Exists For Spirits in the Hells and it is Not Eternal

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

I am here, Jesus.

You were right in your surmise that I was with you tonight, and as you imagined, I was standing close to you at the time the preacher (Dr. Gordon) was delivering his discourse, and you felt the influence of my love and sympathy, and also received the thoughts that I was superimposing on your brain.

The preacher's sermon was an advance upon the beliefs of the orthodox in many particulars, but in the most important particular and in the one that will affect mortals most vitally in their progress in the spirit life, he was wrong, very wrong. I refer to his declaration that he saw or knew of no statement in the Bible that would justify him in asserting that there would be an opportunity for the spirits of mortals to receive pardon or to progress from the condition of Hell to that of light and Heaven in the spirit world, when they had not started on that journey in the mortal life. This, as I have told you, is a damnable doctrine, and one that has done more harm all down the centuries from the time of my living on earth, than most any other teaching of the church that claims to be representative of me and my teachings.

Many poor souls have come into the spirit world with this belief firmly fixed in their minds and conscience, and the difficulties have been great and the years long before they could awaken from this belief and realize that the Love of the Father is waiting for them in spirit life just as in the earth life, and that probation is never closed for men or spirits and never will be until the time of the withdrawal of the great opportunity for men to become inhabitants of the Celestial Heavens, and even then the opportunity to purify their natural love will not cease, and never will, until all who have the opportunity shall become perfect men in their natural loves.

Had he searched the Scriptures, in which he so implicitly believes, he would have found an authorization for him to declare that even in the spirit world, the spirits of the unsaved sinners on earth, who died without having become reconciled to God, had the gospel of salvation preached to them.(i.e., in the Hells - 1 Peter 3:19-20).

And furthermore, when he declared that the Bible says that I said that: "He that sinneth against the son of man it shall be forgiven him, but he that sinneth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in the world to come," had the preacher placed the natural and only implied construction on this declaration, he would have found that the sinner who neglected the opportunity on earth, would yet have another chance for salvation in the world to come, as the spirit world is referred to. So that, even according to his own source of belief and foundation of his knowledge of these things of the future, he would be justified and even required, as an honest preacher of the Scriptures, to declare that probation did not end with the physical death of the mortal. It is so sad that the creeds and fixed opinions of these preachers, formed from the teachings of the old fathers, as they are called, should be men of soul development, such as this preacher has and teach the damnable doctrine that I speak of which he declared.

There is a Hell, or rather Hells, just as there is a Heaven or Heavens, and all men when they become spirits, will be compelled to occupy one or the other of these places; not because God had decreed that any particular spirit - because of his earth belief or condition - shall occupy that place, but because the condition of his soul development, or want of development, fits and fixes him for that place and no other.

God has made His Laws of Harmony and these Laws are never changed, and when any particular soul gets into a condition of agreement with these Laws, then that soul becomes at-one with the Father and an inhabitant of His Heavens; and so long as that soul remains out of such condition, it is in Hell, which is the condition of being out of agreement with the harmony of God's Laws. This is Hell and there is no other comprehensive definition of it: every thing or place that is not Heaven is Hell. Of course, there are many gradations of Hell, and the inhabitants of these gradations are made by the condition of their soul development, which is determined by the quantity and quality of the defilement and sin that exists in these souls. The soul is developed as the love becomes purified and sin eradicated, and just as this process progresses, the soul becomes developed.

God has decreed that His universe, both of men and things, shall be harmonious, and only the creature, man, has become out of that harmony; and as the universe shall continue, the only destiny for man is, that he shall return to that harmony from which he fell by reason of his own misdirected will. Had God decreed, as the preacher by necessary implication, declared, that the sinner who dies in his sins shall forever remain in his sins and in a state of antagonism to such harmony, then God, Himself, would necessarily become the cause and power of defeating His own Laws of Harmony, which no sane mortal whether he believes in the Scriptures or not, would or could believe.

God's Laws are fixed and unchangeable and always in harmony with one another and with His Will, and knowing this, every thinking man will know and should know that whenever a proposition or opinion is put forth by preacher or layman or philosopher or scientist that shows that in order for a certain condition or truth to exist, God's Laws will have to work in conflict with or in opposition to one another, then that proposition or opinion is false and has no foundation in fact. And so to accept this declaration of the preacher that there is no probation after death, or as he said, chance to progress out of the Hell which the mortal carries with him to the spirit world, men will have to believe that the Loving Father, for the satisfying His wrath and meeting the demands of His supposed justice, will set His Laws in conflict with one another and destroy the harmony of His universe.

The preacher spoke, as he said, as a scientist, and not as a religious teacher, and yet the deduction that he made when he declared the eternal existence of the Hells violated one of the fundamental Laws of Science and that is that: "Two conflicting laws in the workings of God's universe cannot both be accepted as true, and that the one of these two that is in harmony with all the other known laws must be accepted as true."

Then I say, that founded on the Scriptures or founded on science, the preacher had no basis for making the untrue and deplorable statement that physical death ends man's possibility of progressing from a condition or state of existence in Hell into that of purity and freedom from sin and into harmony with God's perfect Laws and the requirements of His will.

The preacher spoke from his intellect and mental beliefs of long years standing and the memory echoes of what he had heard said by other preachers and teachers who left upon his conscious beliefs their false doctrines. But deep down in his soul, where the Love of the Father is burning and the soul sense is growing, he does not believe this doctrine, for he realizes that this Love of the Father is so much greater and purer and holier than any other love that exists in Heaven or on earth; and the Father from Whom It comes must be holier and more merciful and forgiving and thoughtful of His children than of any mortal father of his children. And then as a mortal father having in his soul the Divine Love, he knows that his child could not commit any sin or offense that could possibly become unpardonable, or that he would not permit, and gladly, the child to repent of at any time. And so he would see, that if he refused to the Father, from Whom this Divine Love comes, a love and sympathy that would cause that Father to be as forgiving to His children as is he, the earthly parent, then the Greatest Attribute of that Father, God, Who is All Love, would not be equal to the love of His creature. The derivative would be greater and grander and purer and more Divine than the Fountainhead from which it is derived.

No, the preacher in his soul does not believe this unnatural teaching, and at times, he travails in his soul at the conflict that takes place between the mental bondage of his intellectual beliefs and the freedom of his soul sense, the creature of the Divine Love that is in him, and the only part of Divinity that he possesses. And thus is demonstrated the great, real paradox of the existence in the same mortal at the same time, of an intellectual belief and a soul knowledge as far apart as the antipodes.

And also is demonstrated the truth, a great truth, that the mind of man and the soul of man are not one and the same, but are as distinct as the creature of a special creation, the mind, and the creation of that which is the only part of man made in the image of his Maker, the soul, must necessarily be.

But some day the soul knowledge will overcome the mental belief, and then the preacher will know that harmony and inharmony cannot exist for all time - that sin and error must disappear and purity and righteousness must exist alone, and that every man and spirit must become at-one with the Father, either as an inhabitant of the Celestial Heavens or as the perfect man that first appeared at the call of God, and by him pronounced: "Very good."

I have written enough for tonight and must stop, but before doing so, I want to say that I have been with you today and saw that you were very happy in your thoughts and in your soul experience. Other spirits were also with you, throwing around you their love and influence. Persevere in your efforts to obtain this Divine Love, and pray to the Father and it will come to you in increased abundance, and with it a wonderful happiness. I will come soon and write you another message. So with my love and blessings, I will say good night and God bless you.

Your brother and friend,
Jesus

John Writes that Jesus Will Never Come in all His Glory and Power and Take Men into His Heaven

October 11, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, St. John.

I merely want to say that I have been listening to your reading of my message and heard your comments on the same, and you are correct in what you and your friend said.

There is scarcely a greater error in the beliefs of men that retard the development of their souls than the belief that at sometime Jesus will come in all his glory and power and take men into his Heaven just as they are in body, soul and spirit. This belief has for a long time prevented many men from seeking to develop their soul qualities, either as to the natural love or as to the Divine Love, for as a basis of their faith is that saying in the Bible that, "Whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved." And many thinking that they have this belief are contented therein and further believe that because of that belief, they will be carried into the Heavens of Jesus when he comes even though in the meantime, they may have given up the earth life.

It is deplorable that men should believe these things and live and die in this belief which, of course, is wholly intellectual. But such is the fact, and we spirits who know the truth have for all the long centuries been so anxious that men should know the Truth and have been working among men by means of spirit impression, and sometimes by revelation to help them learn not only the truth, but the errors of their beliefs.

And as our efforts have not been very successful, we concluded to use the means that we are now using and to reveal to mankind in our own words and thoughts the truths of God as regards man and all things connected with him.

And here I want to say with all the emphasis that I can, that you and your friends must believe that the communications that you receive as to these Truths are written by us and in our own words, and that your mind does not supply a thought or suggestion, and that you are used only as a medium to convey our thoughts and lend your physical organs to facilitate our expressing in our own language the Truths that we desire to convey.

So no matter how improbable some things may seem to you, you must accept them as true, for nothing but the Truth will be written. And further, we will not allow any spirit who is not in our band, or who has not this Divine Love, to write on any of the Truths that are necessary to be revealed to the world.

I thought this the proper place to say this, as I desire to assure your friend of the reality of the messages and the source from which they come. I will not write more now and will say good night. With my love to you both, I am

Your brother in Christ,
John

John Writes About Divine Love: What it is, What it is not, and How it can be Obtained

August 5, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, St. John.

I come tonight to say only a few words and these in reference to love - the Divine Love of the Father, which He rebestowed upon mankind at the coming of the Master.

This Love is the greatest thing in all the world, and the only thing that can make man at-one with the Father, and change the soul of man as it has existed since his creation into a Divine Substance filled with the Essence of the Father. There is nothing else in all the universe of God that can cause man to become a new creature, and an inhabitant of the Father's Kingdom; and when men possess this Love, then they possess everything that will make them not only the perfect man but the Divine Angel.

Then men will understand the moral precepts of brotherly love and also the Father's oneness, and they will not have to seek for other help in order to bring into the life of the human race those qualities that will bring to it peace and good will. Then will every man know that every other man is his brother and be able to do unto each as he would have the other to do unto him, and this without effort or sacrifice on his part for love worketh its own fulfillment and all its beneficence floweth towards the fellow-man as falls the dews from Heaven. Envy and hatred and strife and jealousy and all the other evil qualities of man will disappear, and only peace and joy and happiness will remain.

It is so abundant that it may be possessed by all men by the mere seeking and the sincere longing for its inflowing. But man must understand that it is not his by matter of right, nor is it ever forced upon him, but comes only in response to the sincere earnest prayer of a soul that is filled with longings for its coming. This Love comes not with observation of mere moral rules, or with good deeds and the exercise of the natural love of a man towards his fellows, because no man can possibly merit it by any deeds or acts or kindness of heart that he may have. All these things are desirable and they work out their own rewards and bring the happiness and peace that result from good thoughts and kind deeds; but all these do not bring unto the soul of man this Great Love.

It is the Father alone, and only when the soul is opened up to its reception can it possibly find its home in that soul. It is greater than faith or hope, because it is the real Substance of the Father, while faith and hope are the qualities which a man may possess by his own efforts, and which are given him that he may realize the possibility of obtaining this Love. They are merely means; it is the end and fullness of their exercise.

But men must not believe that all love is the Divine Love for it is very different in its substance and qualities from all other loves. All men have a part of their possessions, the natural love, and they need not pray for a bestowal of that although since it has become defiled by sin, it needs to be purified and freed from this blight, and the Father is ever willing and ready to help men obtain this purification. But this Divine Love is not a part of man's nature nor can he obtain or possess it, except he seek for it. It comes from without and is not developed from within.

It is the result of individual acquiremen, and not the object of universal possession. It may be possessed by all; it can be possessed by only a few; and each man must determine for himself whether it shall be his. With God there is no respect of persons; neither is there any royal road to the obtaining of this Love. All must pursue the same way and that way is the one that Jesus taught: the opening up of the soul to this Love finding a lodgment therein, which can be brought about only by sincere prayer and longing for its inflowing.

This Love is the life of the Celestial Heavens and the only key that will unlock the gates, and when the mortal enters therein, all other love is absorbed by it. It has no substitute, and is of itself, a thing apart. It is of the Essence of the Divine, and the spirit which possesses it is Divine itself. It may be yours, it may be all men's and it may not. You must decide that question for yourself, not even the Father can make the decision for you.

In closing, let me repeat that It (Divine Love) is the greatest thing in all God's universe and not only the greatest, but the sum of all things, for from It flows every other thing that brings peace and happiness. I will not write more tonight, and with my love to you, and the blessing of the Father, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
John

Alice, Mr. Padgett's Cousin, Writes of Her Happiness in the Third Sphere

May 16, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me write a line. I am your cousin Alice, and it has been a long time since I wrote you; and as I saw you a few nights ago when you spoke to Mame at the show, I have since had a great longing to write you and tell you my condition now and how happy I am. Mary's mother and I were with her at the time and we saw you speak to her and heard you tell her that you had recently received a letter from her mother. Of course, she scarcely believes it, but nevertheless she has in her heart a longing that it may be so, for she dearly loved her mother when on earth and now thinks of her very often.

Well, I am still in the Third Sphere, but I am so very happy and have such a beautiful home and lovely surroundings and beautiful and good associates. I never on earth conceived such happiness or such a home and such companions. It is one long dream of joy and freedom from sin and unrest. I mean that I now have nothing to make me unhappy as I had on earth. I am still praying to the Father for more Love, for Helen and your mother come to me often and tell me that I must continue to pray so that I may progress to the higher spheres where so much greater happiness may be found. And they help me very much. And what beautiful spirits they are! Helen seems to love me so much and to be so filled with the Divine Love.

Well, Ed, you thought she was beautiful on earth, but you should see her now! You simply have no conception of her beauty, and if I could write for a whole year trying to describe it to you, I could not succeed and you would not comprehend. How thankful I am that she came to me with her love and showed me the way to this Heaven of Bliss. Oh, it is wonderful to know that there is a Heaven and that I am eating its fruits and drinking from its river of life.

I must not write longer.

Well, Aunt Mary is progressing very much. She is not yet with me but she is very happy and free from all darkness and suffering and has some of the Father's Love in her soul and knows how to pray and is doing so. She will soon progress and then I will see more of her. So pray for us both that we may get more of the Divine Love.

I will stop now, but first I want to tell you how much I enjoy writing to you and how much I love you. So with all my love I will say good night.

Your own true cousin,
Alice

E.R. Hay, a Brother Lawyer of James E. Padgett, Writes that He is Now a Spirit and Happy that He Can Communicate with Him

March 19, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, E. R. Hay.

Yes, I am, and I am so glad that I can write you. I learned only recently that spirits could write through mortals. When I came to make inquiries, I found that you are the mortal through whom they write and I was surprised. Why, my dear fellow, you certainly are favored to have such a power, and I know that many spirits are very thankful that you permitted them to write.

Well, let me see, what shall I say. Well, well, what a wonderful thing, and I am right here to participate myself. I know you don't care to hear from a spirit like myself, as you have so many of the beautiful and bright spirits write you. But say, old fellow, I have met your wife here and she is a beautiful spirit, and so loving and kind. I have talked to her, and she has tried to help me, and she has. Oh, what a favored man you are to have such a wife! Not only so beautiful, but so powerful and majestic! She comes from the Celestial Spheres and is so filled with what she calls the Divine Love, that I can scarcely look at her at times.

What does all this mean, anyhow? It has not been long since we were both on earth, and yet there is such a difference between her and me. I was a church member and attended to my duties very conscientiously, and I don't know that she did more, and yet, the great difference. I wonder if going to church and conforming to its creeds and ceremonies amount to anything. There must be something else.

She has told me the cause of the difference, but I don't quite comprehend, and I find it hard to turn my thoughts to the things that she has told me of; for the beliefs of my earth life cling to me and hold me just where I was on earth.

Of course, when I died, I did not go to Heaven, and I have not seen God or his throne and the angels that we used to sing about, and it causes me to think that there must be some mistake in what I believed with regard to these things; yet I am afraid to let go my beliefs.

I have seen other spirits than your wife who have told me of what they call this Divine Love, and the necessity of having it in my soul in order to progress, but, yet, I doubt, and can't make up my mind to seek for it. It certainly is strange. I wonder what the church is for, if its believers find no more realization of their expectations than I have found.

I am in what is called the earth sphere and not happy, although I try to make the best of it, there is considerable darkness and some suffering, and I don't appear to find any associates, except those who are unhappy, too. I know that if I were on earth, I would not associate with such people, but here I can't help it and don't seem to be able to find any other kind. And I tell you, when your wife and several others who are bright and beautiful come to me, it gives me the greatest joy imaginable.

Yes, I have seen a number of our old lawyer friends, but they are just about as I am; some may be a little happier, but the most of them are just in my condition; and some, I am sorry to say, are in greater darkness and seem to be suffering intensely. There is one who killed himself. He is in a terrible condition, and I believe that he would like to kill himself again if it would put him out of his misery. I feel sorry for him, and wish that I could help him, but what can I do? I can't tell him of the consolation of my church creeds, for I have not found any consolation in them myself.

Well, I have listened to your advice, and I must say that in some particulars, you astonish me; but as you say it is all true, I must try to follow it, at least, until I find that it is not true. It certainly is wonderful that some of the spirits that you name could get in the condition of happiness that you speak of. I will try to do as you say, and as I understand the first thing is an open mind, I will try.

Yes, I see some bright spirits and among them your wife, and she is smiling at me and now comes to me and says, believe what you have told me; and now she says, "Here is an old acquaintance of yours," and brings Mr. Riddle to me, and my stars, what a beautiful man he has gotten to be and so bright and lovely. Well, I am astonished!

He says he remembers me and is glad that he can be with me, and says, that he has some things to tell me which are true and vital to my happiness and invites me to go with him. And notwithstanding I feel such happiness in being with you and writing to you, I will have to go with him, for I may find what you have told me I can find, if I will only follow the advice that may be given me.

Well, I am certainly glad for this opportunity to write, and I thank you for your talk. I will go now, but I should like to come again sometime and write.

With my kind regards, I will say goodbye.

E.R. Hay

George H. Butler Writes About the Horrors of Hell and Describes His Home of Ugliness and Torment

January 5, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am a spirit who cannot tell you of the joys of Heaven, but I can describe the horrors of Hell. For just as these other spirits described to you their homes of beauty and happiness, I can describe my home of ugliness and torment. Do you wish me to do so?

Well, know then that when I lived on earth, I was a man of very considerable intellectual powers and acquirements and, also, of an intense animal nature; so much so, that it overcame my judgment and what moral qualities I had, and I became at last a slave to my appetites which were varied, especially my appetite for drink. I had many friends of position, social and otherwise, and I was considered a brilliant newspaper writer and had access to the inner political circles that were then in control of the government.

My weakness, or rather the effect of the strength of my animal nature, was known to many of my friends and they, in many ways, tried to help me and rescue me from my evil and destructive course of living; and, at times, I would succeed in reforming my conduct; but, alas, not for any great length of time, when I would again relapse into my deplorable habits and become the controlled victim of my destroying appetites.

Of course, human friendship and sympathy had their limits and, finally, my friends gave me up as lost and past redemption, and I surely and quickly sunk lower and lower in my moral condition and, at last, died a drunkard, unwept and unsung except for the evil that I had done. It was undoubtedly a relief to my friends and acquaintances when I passed over and forever relieved them of the shadow of my presence and the ghost of what I had been.

But such was my end and when I came to the spirit world, I found that I still was deserted by friends who had become spirits before me, except some who liked the flowing bowl as I did on earth, and who were inhabitants of the unattractive place that I found myself in when my habitation became fixed. I never, when on earth, thought much of the future life, except to convince myself that there was no Hell and if there was a God, He was not bothered about me, a mere man of many millions. But oh, the fatal mistake! And the unexpected realization of the fact that there is a Hell!

Whether there is a God I don't know, for I have never seen Him or felt His influence. But since I came to you tonight and heard the messages of those two spirits who described their wonderful homes and their condition of happiness and ascribed them all to the kindness and care of God, I have commenced to think that there may be a God, and that my mistake was greater than I have heretofore realized; but this is a digression from what I started out to write.

That there is a Hell; I know to my sorrow and sufferings. For I have been the occupant of one for, oh, these many years; and it is always the same place of horrors and darkness, except sometime it is lighted by the flame of lurid light that comes from the anger and sufferings of some unfortunate like myself.

In this Hell of mine, and there are many like it, instead of beautiful homes, as the other spirits described, we have dirty, rotten hovels all crooked and decayed with all the foul smells of a charnel house ten times intensified. And instead of beautiful lawns and green meadows and leafy woods filled with musical birds making the echoes ring with their songs, we have barren wastes and holes of darkness and gloom and the cries and cursings of spirits of damnation without hope. And instead of living silvery waters, we have stagnant pools filled with all kinds of repulsive reptiles and vermin and smells of inexpressible, nauseating stinks.

I tell you that these are all real and not creatures of the imagination or the out flowing of bitter recollections. And as for love, it has never shown its humanizing face in all the years that I have been here - only cursings, and hatred, and bitter scathings, and imprecations, and grinning spirits with their witch-like cacklings. No rest, no hope, no kind words or ministering hand to wipe away the scalding tears, which so often flow in mighty volumes.

No, Hell is real and Hell is here. We do not have any fire and brimstone, or grinning devils with pitch forks and hoofs and horns as the churches teach; but what is the need or necessity for such accompaniments? They would not add to the horrors or to our torments. I tell you my friend that I have faintly described our homes in these infernal regions and I cannot picture them as they are.

But the horror and pity of it all is that hope does not come to us with one faint smile to encourage us that there may at some time be an ending to all these torments and, in our hopeless despair, we realize that our doom is fixed for all eternity. As the rich man in Hell said, if I could only send Lazarus to tell my poor, erring brothers on earth of what awaits them, how gladly I would do so and save their souls from the eternal torment.

Well, I have written you a long letter and am tired, because it is the first time that I have attempted to write for many long years, and I find some difficulty in gathering my thoughts so as to be able to write in an intelligent and collected manner. So I must stop.

Well, I will say that you are the best friend that I have had since I became an outcast while on earth, and that I will do whatever you may advise, but you must not expect me to have much hope, not doubting your desire to help me, but merely your ability.

Well, I don't understand, but I will trust you and will try to believe what you say - only don't create in me that of which I have been deprived of for so long, I mean - hope - and have me disappointed. Well, I have looked, as you advised, and see some spirits who are so beautiful and so bright that I can scarcely look at them. Never before have I seen such spirits or imagined that such could exist. They must be gods, or why all the great happiness and beauty and love which they have. Tell me, what does it all mean! Is it a star of hope that has come to me from afar and bids me trust that these Hells shall not be my home forever? Oh tell me, I pray, you are they the spirits of real mortals who lived and died as I did?

Such love I have never seen; and they look at me with such encouragement and almost human eyes of love and beckon me to come with them. I have asked if Mr. Riddle is there, and one spirit comes to me and says yes, and that he is glad to have me come with him, as he knew me on earth and is acquainted with my sad life. And now I remember him, for he was a friend who lived in the same city as I did.

He says: "Come George, and I will try to show you the way to light and relief from your sufferings." And I am going, and as I go a beautiful, glorious spirit comes to me and lays her hand on my head and says: "God bless you my brother and may His Divine mercy be yours;" and she tells me that they all love me and will help me.

Oh, tell me what does it all mean! Am I dreaming? Are you real and are they real, or am I in one of the deliriums that I used to have on earth? Oh, so beautiful and heavenly. But they say no, that they are real spirits and once lived on earth - sinful mortals like myself.

How can I ever thank you? I am overcome and cannot write more, but I will come again. So my dear friend good night, for I am going.

G.H.B.

My name is George H. Butler, and I died in 1886.


* * * * * * * * * *     
   
Helen Writes to Confirm Mr. Butler's Message    

I am here, Your own true and loving Helen.

Well my dear, you have had a variety of writings tonight, and I have been greatly impressed with the last message that you received, for the writer was a very intelligent spirit and seemed to be without hope in his soul. He was a very dark spirit and did not seem to have any love in his soul, but was the picture of despair and grief. He firmly believed that his position in Hell was fixed for all eternity and, hence, the hopeless despair in which he was.

I am so glad that he came to you and described these Hells, for he was capable; and no one can describe them as he who has lived in them for many years and suffered and experienced all their torments.

He seems to be very grateful, and I think that hope has come to him. He has gone with Mr. Riddle, who is much interested in him. We will all try to help him to progress. So you must pray for him now. We all will. It is late, and I will not write more.

Your own true and loving,
Helen