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