|
|
January 12th, 1915.
Received by:James Padgett
Washington D.C.
I am here, Helen:
You must not write to these spirits
as we have told you - yes he said that he knew you on earth and
wanted you to help him. I see that he has gone to seek Mr. Taggart,
but I don't think that he will be much helped. Yes you may be right;
you certainly have a way of accomplishing things. I never thought
of that. Well, I will go and see if I can find them, and make them
come here, and write you what I hear.
They are here:
Mr. Taggart tells Mr. Harvey that you told him that the way to
get out of this condition of darkness and unhappiness is to pray
to God, for His Love to enter into their hearts, and believe that
it will, that if he will only be willing to have it come into their
hearts, it will, but that he has not yet been able to believe. But
Mr. Harvey says, that when he was on earth, he was a strict Catholic
and that he often prayed something like that and attended to his
duties, and even when he made his will, he left some money for the
priests to pray him out of purgatory, but all their prayers together
have not helped him, and he doesn't believe that there is any God
to whom a person can pray and from whom he can get relief - so that
when you talked that way to Taggart, you were merely trying to mislead
him as the priests did him.
But Mr. Taggart says: George you are wrong there, for our friend
does not merely say pray, but he prays with us and for us and seems
to believe with all his heart that there is a God and that he will
answer prayer. So I am not so certain that there is not a God and
one who answers prayers, I am going to try to pray and believe myself
and I advise you to do likewise.
Mr. Harvey says:
Taggart it is all nonsense, and if that is the only way we can
get out of this condition, we never will be any better than we now
are - so you need not tell me of God and prayer.
Mr. Taggart says:
George, I have seen the effect of this prayer on some spirits and
I know that they have been made more beautiful and happy, and even
Mackay is commencing to say that he sees light ahead and has felt
some strange influences come into his heart as he said a prayer,
which he promised our friend to say. Now what is the use in your
being pig headed and say that there is no God, when you don't know
anything about it? I tell you though, there must be something in
this belief or I would not see so many happy spirits around us.
Be a man who can keep his mind open to what he sees and the reasons
therefor may come to you. Let us not become hardheaded in this matter.
As you were so easy to believe on earth what your priests told you
about purgatory and the hells and the necessity for you to pay for
prayers to help you out of purgatory, why can't you try to believe
a little when the same thing is told you without your having to
pay for it? I am going to try my best to believe and if you know
what is best for you, you will follow suit.
Mr. Harvey, says:
Taggart, what is the use of being fooled twice, once is enough
for me. Priests are here with me and suffering more than I am, and
when I ask them why don't they pray themselves out of purgatory,
they say: "To hell with prayer." Now how am I to believe
anything that is told me about prayer or God?
Mr. Taggart says:
George, Let your priests and their sufferings and their cursings
pass out of your mind, and listen to me for a moment. When I came
over, I was in great darkness and despair, and believed that there
was no possible help for me and that I must remain in the condition
of darkness that I found myself in, but one
day I was called to meet our friend by his father, and when
I came where he was I found that Mackay was there also, and then
we exchanged greetings, and wished each other happiness. But I found
that there was no happiness for me and I told our friend that I
was anything but happy; and he said believe in God's Love and you
will soon be, and I said, who is God and what is His Love; and then
he explained to Mackay what that love is, and I heard it all; and
then I tackled him and told him that God was a myth and prayer was
nothing but the wish of a man and went no higher than his mind.
But he would not agree with me and we had an argument right then
and there, and I tell you that while he did not convince me that
there was a God or any efficacy in prayer, yet it made me think
and wonder if I could be wrong and he right; and before I left him,
not only Mackay, but myself promised that we would try an experiment
in the nature of prayer and we have been doing it many times since,
and I tell you, that while I am not yet convinced that there is
a God, or that prayer to Him will take us out of our awful conditions
of suffering and darkness, yet I have felt many strange sensations,
and at times, some little feeling of happiness, which I had never
felt before; so you can see, I would be a fool not to try and get
this relief, if I possibly can. And I want to tell you George, that
if you are willing to make the effort with us we will be glad to
have you come. Of course you need not believe if you don't want
to, but just come and join with us in our experiment and you will
soon realize that there is something operating that you cannot account
for. Mackay is now feeling very much happier he says; and I believe
that he will soon believe in this God and his love that our friend
told us about; at any rate he is commencing to improve in his appearance,
and I attribute it to trying the experiment I told you of. So what
is the use in holding back and saying that there is no God and no
love that can get you out of your condition of which you complain
so much, when by the exercise of a little reason and will, you may
be on the right track to salvation. Of course I don't know just
what this may lead to, but I have determined to follow it to a conclusion,
and you will be a big fool if you don't go with me.
Mr. Harvey said:
Taggart, you were a pretty level-headed man when on earth, and
required to have things proved to you, and were really a stubborn
man as I know, and what you say impresses me; but you will have
to show me what you mean by this experiment. You have not told me
what you mean, and of course, until you do, I can't follow you.
Mr. Taggart says:
George, it is a very simple thing. Mackay and I told our friend
that we did not believe in God or in his love or in any saviour,
and he said; you need not, to do what I want you to try. He said,
while there is a God and His love which is the only thing that can
save you from sin and make you happy men, yet that God does not
force that love on you or make you believe in Him; and only when
you are willing to receive that love of your own volition will it
come to you. So you see he said it all depends upon your own will,
whether you will have that love and the happiness which flows from
it or not, and if you will only will that you may believe in God
if there be one, and that you may receive that love if such there
be, then if you will, will this and say to God, if there be one,
that you will that this love shall come into your heart and that
this belief shall come into your mind, and repeat this with all
earnestness and will, you will find that after a little while, this
belief will come to you, and this love will come into your heart.
So Mackay and I are desiring to try anything to get out of our condition,
and believing that our friend would not intentionally deceive us,
promised to say these things, and in that way pray to a God that
we did not believe in; and we have continued to repeat these thoughts
ever since; and I must confess to you that some strange change or
sensation has come to me. What it is, I don't just know, but it
is there; and I am determined to continue in this qualified prayer,
until I know one way or the other what the result will be. So you
see, George, if it does no good, it can do no harm, and if you have
desire enough to get out of your condition, you will try the experiment.
Mr. Harvey says:
Well Taggart, there may be something in what you say and I am willing
to go with you; for as you say, if it does no good, it can do no
harm. So let me hear again what I am to say and I will commence.
Then Mr. Taggart repeated
the prayer and they left.
You are too wonderful in your way of getting the attention of spirits
who are in darkness to turn their thoughts to things that may help
them. And I am so glad that you are helping these spirits, even
though you did let Mr. Harvey write. But who knows, maybe such interferences
are intended for some good purposes.
So my darling, I love you with all my heart and soul, and must
stop writing.
Yes, I will, and will try to talk to him sometime when the proper
occasion comes.
So good night, my own darling Ned.
Helen
Conversations occur some months later with these spirits, and their spiritual progress can
be noted, see July 22nd 1915 again July
22nd 1915, again March 19, 1916 and finally November 4th,
1916.
|
