　　　CHAPTER VII

　HELEN—“THE WELL-BELOVED"

　Two great souls, one in the spirit world, the other on earth, met at Hannen Swaffer's home circle. They were its chief guide, Silver Birch, and Helen Hughes, one of the finest mediums Spiritualism has produced. For years it had been her wish to meet the guide, who greeted her by saying:

　"I rejoice to have you here because I have great love in my heart for all the instruments of the spirit and a greater love for those like yourself who discharge their duties faithfully and well, and whose lives are governed by the single purpose, un-selfish in its motive, of serving to the uttermost of their strength.

　"I, like you, am only an instrument, seeking to serve those who sent me. It is a great joy to talk with you because I know you very well. I have been with you so many, many times."

　In an aside to the members of the circle, the guide said: "She is a great soul. I tell her to her face. If we could have many more like her, what a joy it would be! She is a great soul who, in the stillness, prays again and again that she might be worthy of the task.”

　"You are right there," the famous medium commented.

　"I know your heart and I know your soul, so full of love for others,” said Silver Birth. "It is a joyous pilgrimage and per-haps even I can help you a little. We are all old workers, and sometimes those who are still encased in earthly bodies, how-ever zealous, however devoted, however idealistic their feel-ings, become tired occasionally and dispirited.

　"This is essentially true of those who are very sensitive and susceptible to the finer influences, the influences that are more rarefied and delicate than the ones that others usually register in their world. Sometimes it gets too much for you, doesn't it?"

　"It does," came from Mrs. Hughes's lips.

　"You ask for strength,” went on the guide, “and you hope that will continue to comfort those whose sorrows lie heavily on you. It is not always a joy to be a medium. You register all the anguish, especially in large gatherings when expectant minds are keyed up, buoyed up in the hope that their loved ones will manifest. If you were to stop to-day you would have left behind a trail which would be ineradicable in the history of the time in which you live.”

　This tribute produced from Helen Hughes the comment, “I try to do my best for the spirit world, perhaps not always as well as I would have liked, but I have done my best.”

　"You cannot do more. Sometimes the poor little body has had to stop because it is not strong enough for all the work imposed on it. Remember you have a duty to yourself.”

　"That is true," said the medium. “I know it now, I didn't once."

　"The body is the temple of the spirit. The spirit is dominant, but the body is the means by which the spirit is expressed while it is on earth. Thus it is that a weak body, a tired body, means a poor registration for the spirit, and the poorer the instrument the poorer the results. You have learned the secret now, to withdraw just for a while, to get strength, vitality, to be recharged, to be reinspired. But in spite of it all, you would not change what you have done.”

　"No, I would not," was the reply.

　"There are lots of people in your world who say if they had a second chance they would not do the same things all over again, but you would."

　"I believe I would,” stated Helen Hughes.

　"I know you would," said the guide.

　"It is wonderful to see souls comforted, isn't it?" were the medium's next words. "That is when you find your work really worth while.” To this Silver Birch replied:

　"We are all links in the one chain of service. The power that is behind us all is the great and majestic power that created the whole universe, and all that is in it, and sustains and moti-vates and regulates every facet of its activity.

　"And thus we, all of us, instruments of the spirit, are joined together in this great purpose, the purpose that shall teach mankind the one lessonーregeneration. Each must learn to change his heart, his mind, to bring his soul in tune with the great Oversoul of Life, to live in harmony with the laws of the Great Spirit and derive from life all that it has to offer. That is what we are trying to do.

　"You have been blessed and endowed with wonderful gifts, and you have sought ふto use them to the fullest of your capacity. You were chosen and well have you acquitted your-self. But there is a lot more for you to do, yes, a lot more.

　"I like to encourage the young ones,” added the guide, “but I rejoice when I have the old ones here."

　Mrs. Hughes asked, “Isn't it time I was sitting back to let the young ones come on?"

　"No, you must be there to guide them and help them and show them the way, for experience is the great teacher and there is no substitute for it. The young must learn from their mistakes, through rejected advice, but they can learn also through example and precept and say, 'If this is what others have done, and are doing, then let me try to do it, and perhaps better.'

　"You are richly blessed; even with your own powers of sight you cannot see all the splendour that is around and about you. You know some of those who stand behind you, and I love them for they are souls filled with the desire to serve. But behind them, and behind them, too, there are others who form part of your ministry.

　"There is one who very rarely shows himself and from whom there comes only very occasional communication. When we get to that stage we are touching the inner spheres of the spirit, we are touching beings clothed in radiant light. They are accounted as masters in our world. You know something about what I am saying."

　"Yes, I do," responded the medium.

　Then Silver Birch referred to the work that is still to be done by saying to Helen Hughes: “We are going to reach far more than we have done so far. It is not for nothing that we have come back. I have been fortunate enough to see some of the plans that have been made and I can say, without fear of contradiction, that this is the new cycle. As this cycle reveals itself, so the numbers who are reached increase at a far greater rate than ever before. Large as are the numbers of those whom you have reached, they will be larger before your task is done."

　"The world is needing it,” was the comment of the woman who is known as "Helen the well-beloved."

　"The world needs it very sorely," said the guide, “for the world lost its way. We have the light to guide it out of the darkness and to show paths of sanity that lead to peace and harmony, to love and brotherhood, to justice and mercy, to toleration and sympathy, to charity for all and to service to-wards one another. These are the objectives which we want to attain. As we enable more and more receptive souls all over the world of matter to be filled with the power of the spirit, we shall achieve this objective.

　"Man will know the purpose of his being and realise why he dwells on earth. He will know that he is spirit, that he has a divine destiny to fulfil and, calling on all the power within him, he will build that fairer, brighter world in which there will be greater equality for all, and needless cruelty and suffer-ing will be abolished.

　"That is the task in which we are all engaged and there is no one in your world who can stop that now. No anathema by the churches, no edicts, no excommunications, no bans. The power of the spirit is in your midst, in increasing measure, and it is working its beneficent will. Don't you agree?"

　"I do. There are a lot of intolerant people in the world.”

　"But we must show them the way. We must teach them to understand the laws of life. We must show them that the way to get the best out of life is to become open in mind, in spirit and in heart, so that they are able to receive freely all the Great Spirit’s lavish bounty.

　"Once you can bring people into touch with the world of spirit, that influence will bring its weight to bear and compel individuals to discard the old superstitions and prejudices, the old bigotries and narrownesses, and they become more and more free. It is the gospel of freedom that we teach, so that millions of souls now imprisoned shall taste the joy of liberation. You are so richly blessed. You have love to guide you and to uphold you. You have love from many in your world, but there are far more in our world."

　"That is what I want,” said Helen Hughes.

　"If you only knew the gratitude that goes out to you from the many to whom you have been the blessed channel, the means by which they have been reunited with the ones that they love."

　"I thank them for using me because I feel I have done some work," was the medium's reply. "The spirit people can use me at any time if it is going to help any one."

　"In the presence of a willing instrument my heart is always full," said the guide. "I urge so many to unfold their gifts, to become receptive to the power of the spirit, but when I meet one such as you, whose desire is only to serve, and to serve to the measure of your fullest capacity, then I rejoice, for my cup of happiness is full.”

　"I always have the feeling that there is something more I could do,” Helen Hughes told the guide. “And yet at the same time I am very grateful for all you have done through me. I pray to God always to be able to use common sense and live for service. It is very easy in this life to let flattery draw you away, but I have been grateful I have always kept level-headed.”

　"You acquit yourself very well,” was the spirit rejoinder. "If all would have the single desire, such as dominates your whole being, the task would be much more easy. There is a lot of work to be done. There is a hungry world waiting and we can give the sustenance it requires. We will not fail. You will not fail.

　"We are here to stay. All the hostility and enmity and malice directed towards this truth have failed to stem the tide. What we teach, and what you demonstrate, is but the natural law of the universe and man has no power to thwart the operation of natural laws.

　"As understanding grows because truth resides in greater measure in human minds, so there will be a larger realisation of what life is. Man will understand more and more of the laws of life and build systems in accordance with the natural laws. The false worship of false gods will cease, materialism will not hold sway and selfishness and avarice will recede. Truth and reason will be enthroned, peace and justice will reign.

　"This is not a dream; it is what will be in the fulness of timeーand you are helping to quicken its coming. I could not convey to you adequately the love which comes to you from our world, and I say that with all the sincerity of which I am capable. You do not know all of the love that surrounds you. It has guided you, it has sustained you, it has pointed the way and no shadow has ever crossed your path but that the power of the spirit has brushed it aside and shown you unerringly the way that lies ahead.”

　The subject of clairvoyance was introduced, with Silver Birch pointing out that mediums using this gift did not only see beautiful sights. "That is when you feel your responsibility is very great,” said Helen Hughes.

　"They have heard me say this before,” stated the guide, "that you cannot have the Mount of Transfiguration unless you have had the Garden of Gethsemane. You cannot reach the heights unless you have plumbed the depths. You cannot know what happiness is unless you have tasted sorrow and you cannot enjoy the sunshine unless you have dwelt in the shadows. All life is comparative. It should be of great en-couragement to people to realise that, no matter how low they may fall, so correspondingly high can they rise."

　Then Silver Birch made some references to the guides behind Helen Hughes. "They are filled with a great purpose," he said, “beings who are highly evolved. You touch some-times the highest that has been reached by people in your world. There is a Jacob's ladder and on each rung there is a being and the message comes down rung by rung. Sometimes there is a shortening of the process and the influence nearer the end of the ladder manifests his presence.

　"Not much can be said, for the higher you ascend in the scale of spiritual values, the farther away you are from all earthly manifestation. In these realms the beings who dwell there are light, and light and love are their reality. They have not the earthly distinction such as you recognise in individuals, and the one in charge of your mission is indeed regarded with veneration in our world.

　"The power of the spirit is a great reality. Because it is invisible some people think it is ephemeral, intangible, impal-pable, and has no substance of its own. But the power of the spirit is mightier than any of your earthly realities.

　"Where it is centred around human instruments they should count themselves as fortunate. Those on whom the love of the spirit descends need have no fear, for there is none in the whole world of matter who can give them any real hurt. That power will protect them and guide them through-out their lives."

　"You have helped many, many people,” Helen Hughes said. “Your messages have reached thousands. You have given wonderful comfort."

　"I was given a task which seemed very difficult,” said the guide, “but it has succeeded in some measure. We have been able to touch some souls. If we have helped only one to find inner peace, if we have helped only one to dry a tear of sorrow, if we have shed light only for one person, then still I would rejoice for it would have been worth while. But we are going to touch many many thousands.”

　After some personal messages to Helen Hughes, the guide finally said to her: “If you think there is any service that I can render you, if you think there is any help I can give you, if you think there is any guidance I can give you, any problem that troubles you on which I can shed any light, then ask me and I will do whatever I can for you.

　"Do not thank me, thank the Great Spirit. We are all instruments of the Great Spirit, engaged in the mission of trying to serve humanity. Let us rejoice that we are given the means of service. Let us rejoice that we are able to help, for what we are doing is a great work, far greater than is at present realised.

　"Let us seek to discharge all that comes to us with a full consciousness of the responsibility that is ours. Let us so strive to equip ourselves day by day that we shall be the means of reaching out to the highest, so that all the beauty and love so far unexpressed may be expressed through us and more of the love of the Great Spirit shall be made known to His children. And as we seek to serve, so shall we know that we are in tune with the great soul whose love dominates the whole universe and realise that His cloak is wrapped around us.

　"Go forward, little lady, with a full heart and rejoice that there is much for you to do, that there are hearts that you will be able to reach, souls filled with agony to whom you will bring relief. The love of many who have found the way through you is expressed in one overwhelming note as they say to you, 'The Great Spirit bless you for your noble labours.'"

　Here is the prayer with which Silver Birch opened the sitting:

　"Oh Great White Spirit, from time immemorial Thy children have sought Thee in many places and raised up buildings to Thy worship thinking that Thou wouldst be

imprisoned within them and at their disposal. But Thou art not restricted to any building. Thou art to be found within each of Thy children, for they exist and breathe and have consciousness because Thy spirit is within them.

　"It is part of our task to reveal Thee within all Thy children, to point to the tie of the spirit which unites them with Thee for all eternity, and to make Thy children realise that there is no event in life or what is called death that can ever separate them from Thee or place them outside the ken of Thy love.

　"It is part of our task also to reveal that that spirit which is within all Thy children can be developed, can grow so that when it reaches a rich, mature expression Thy children will derive from their earthly life all the joy and beauty and won-der, all the dignity and nobility and grandeur that should be part of their natural heritage.

　"We seek to teach Thy children their true relationship to Thee and to one another, that they may understand the pur-pose of their being, that they may realise their origin and their destiny and help to fulfil the divine plan.

　"While they are still on earth they can learn to have part of that rich treasury of the spirit that awaits them and their lives will be filled with all that wondrous power, accompanied with love and wisdom, that seeks to use them always in the service of those who are less fortunate than themselves."

　A wish that she had cherished for years was realised when Edith Clements, whose mediumship has been witnessed by thousands throughout the land, was invited by Silver Birch to be present at the home circle. The guide's delight in this medium's presence was expressed when he said:

　"It is a source of unfailing joy to greet faithful workers who have given long service to a cause which is as close to them as their hearts. Even you, conscious as you are because of your sensitiveness of the nearness of those who love you, do not know to the full all the love, affection, comradeship and fellowship that are around and about you.

　"If only the whole of your vision could be opened so that you could behold with complete clarity the scene that I can see. There is a host of radiant beings who stand behind you, some of them not yet known to you, but who have neverthe-less served you with the power at their command through a life filled with many vicissitudes in which there have been a great deal of darkness and sombre passages.

　"The spirit has fortified, upheld, sustained and guided you unfalteringly into havens of peace, sanctuaries where you could rest, gather strength and be filled once again, recharged to continue the task which you have promised to do.”

　"That is my prayer,” said Edith Clements. "I am afraid I have been very unworthy on many occasions."

　"We are all unworthy," answered the guide, “but that is the weakness of humanity. If we were all perfect the universe would cease to exist, its purpose would have been accom-plished. In an infinite universe where there is eternal life the processes of unfolding and evolving do not come to an end. Do not exaggerate the unworthiness. Many hearts would have quailed and many would have surrendered when faced with the difficulties that seemed at times to be overwhelming."

　"I only want more strength to carry on a little longer," said Mrs. Clements.

　"If it had not been for the strength given to you, you would not be in your world at all," the guide told her.

　"I believe that," was her reply.

　"We have to work according to laws, laws which con-dition the amount of power that can be transmitted,” added Silver Birch

　"When the frame is weak, when there are defects that pre-vent the influx of all that we would like to offer, that is a limitation. As much as could be done has been done accord-ing to the circumstances at the time.

　"When alone, and overcome for the time by the immensity of the problems that have loomed up, you have prayed with all your soul and with all the intensity of which you were capable for strength, for light, to be shown the way.

　"Sometimes the darkness has seemed as if it would swallow you up but always the way has been shown, the light has come, and you have placed your feet on pathways that have led to deliverance. You have reposed implicit trust in the power that has consciously guided you from the time you decided to co-operate with the world of spirit.”

　"That faith nearly went at one time,” the medium confessed.

　"I often tell my friends," said the guide, “that the time to have faith is not when all goes well, not when the sun is shin-ing, birds are singing and the heart is happy and carefree. It is easy to have faith when all is well. The time for faith is when the sky is filled with inky darkness and it seems that there is no way to turn, that all is lost.

　"We cannot shield you always from the rough passages that come in earthly life. It is not good that your soul should be screened from them. The soul, to grow and to evolve, must experience many difficulties and out of those experiences it will grow strong. It will have been tested in the fire and the result should be steel that is true.

　"If you abandon faith because an experience has come your way and you feel you cannot go on, you fail yourself and nobody else. I know, and I am not afraid to be challenged on this point, that there is no experience which comes to anyone on earth that is beyond his power to endure and to conquer.

　"The Great Spirit is infinite love and wisdom; the laws of the Great Spirit are perfect in their operation. Whatever be-falls you, however bitter it may seem at the time, you have the power to overcome it. And those who choose what they think is the easy way out make a great mistake, it is the hardest way in the end."

　Silver Birch paid this tribute to Edith Clements:

　"Have you ever stopped to think of the wondrous field of service, the many hearts that have been uplifted, the tears of sorrow that have been replaced by smiling joy, heavy loads that have vanished, with the advent of knowledge, the black-ness of mourning which has been changed into the calmness brought by knowledge? You have done a great work."

　"I could not have done it without you," was the modest reply.

　"Yes, but we could not have done it without your help," the guide told her.

　"I still feel as if I must be very humble about it,” insisted the medium.

　"Do not be humble,” said Silver Birch. "We are co-operating in a task, a great task, changing the thought of the world, helping to drive out slavery and tyranny caused by false teaching, working to banish the servitude and imprison-ment that are the results of the errors and superstitions which for too long have dominated too many people. That is a great task.

　"Each soul who throws open the gates of his gaol, leaves behind the darkness and walks in the light is a triumph for the power of the spirit. And there are many such today. You have helped. Rejoice therefore in what has been accom-plished.”

　"Do you ever get disheartened?” Mrs. Clements asked him. "There seems to be so much to do here that it must seem a colossal task.”

　"I do not get disheartened because I see what has been accomplished in the face of great difficulty,” the guide replied. "Many of us who have worked in your world started with handicaps that seemed insuperable, but they have been abolished and the power of the spirit has streamed through more and more instruments to work its beneficence among humanity that needed it.

　"A great change has come over the scene since the power of the spirit has been in your midst. Should we be disheartened because there have been growth and progress and expansion? No! We look around and see there are vast fields still in which to labour and we gird up our strength to reach the largest number.

　"There is still a tremendous work to be done. What has to be done is greater than what has been done, but the foun-dations have been laid. The sacrifice and struggle, the en-deavours and labours of loyal, faithful souls have all helped. Today the power of the spirit is in your world to stay, to help all who need it to bring them the joys that come with its knowledge."

　Then Silver Birch urged her: "Till the soil, the harvest is rich, the labour is fruitful. If you are loyal to your innermost self you will not fail us. Remember always that love guides you and sustains you.

　"Those who use you are imbued with a sacred task, the desire to serve humanity. That service is a rich one and every soul who is lifted up is one more soul who has found himself and found the Great Spirit.”

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