　　　　　　CHAPTER FIVE

　　　　THE DIVINE PLAN

　SPIRIT communication by beings such as Silver Birch is no sporadic, unorganised affair. There is a plan behind it all which, when described by the guide, as in this chapter, makes enthralling reading.

　"Our work is to give that which has a purpose, a significance, so that, while it demonstrates the existence of law, it also enables comfort to be given and knowledge to be spread. Our work is not only to reveal the existence of laws beyond the physical but to reveal truths of the spirit.

　"We have a gigantic system of misrepresentation to oppose. We have to undo the work of centuries. We have to destroy the superstructure of falsity that has been built upon the foundations of creeds.

　"We are striving always to teach the children of matter how to be free and how to bask in the sunlight of spiritual truth, how to cast off the serfdom of creedal slavery. That is not an easy task, for once the trappings of religion have mastered you, it takes a long time for spiritual truth to penetrate that thick wall of superstition.

　"We strive always to reveal the religious significance of spiritual truth, for when your world understands its spiritual import there will be a revolution mightier than all the revolutions of war and blood.

　"It will be a revolution of the soul and, all over the world, people will claim what is their dueーthe right to enjoy to the full the liberties of the spirit. Away will go every restriction which has put fetters on them.

　"Our allegiance is not to a Creed, not to a Book, not to a Church, but to the Great Spirit of life and to His eternal natural laws.

　"A great power of the spirit will descend into your world of matter. In all its countries a mighty force of the spirit will be felt, for there is a great work to be done to counteract the selfishness and the ignorance of your world. In time it will conquer, but, in the process, there will be much travail.

　"Plenty of workers have come to take their stand at your side. There are those who are known to you, those who are bound to you with ties of blood and others who are attracted to serve you out of the love that they bear for you. When you think of those whose names you know, try to realise the countless host of the unknown, who serve without any desire to be known or recognised but who give their power to be used.

　"The world will not be converted in a blinding flash like Saul on the road to Damascus. Gradually, the light of spiritual truths will break through, as more people become aware of the great knowledge and more instru-ments are available for the power of the Great White Spirit to use. You must remember that the things of the spirit require careful nurture and progress. Sudden conversions would not be enduring, and our work is intended to be permanent.

　"Each soul that becomes an instrument for the Great Spirit, each soul that moves out of darkness into the light, out of ignorance into knowledge, out of superstition into truth, is helping to advance the world, for each one of these is a nail that is driven into the coffin of the world's materialism.

　"What you must all learn is that there are two forms of development. You can unfold that which is of the soul and you can unfold that which is of the spirit. One is the development of only the psychic faculty, and the other is soul-growth.

　"Where you get the development of the psychic without the spiritual, there you have a low plane of vibration. When you get a combination of both, then you have not only a great medium but a great man or woman.

　"What a glorious message we have for your world of matterーa message that makes men free and teaches them to rejoice in their divine heritage; a message that teaches them to throw off all shackles and bonds; a message that teaches them to rejoice in the fullness of spiritual know-ledge; a message that shows them how to live not only on the planes of matter, but on the planes of spirit; a message that brings them beauty, love and wisdom, understanding, truth and happiness; a message that speaks of service, service, service.

　"And yet we are denied by those who do not under-stand the revelation of the Great Spirit and who deny the spirit, as the power of the spirit has been denied through-out all times.

　"The work that we do becomes more and more necessary. Your world is full of bloodshed, tears of misery and bitterness. In its blindness, your world will not live according to the laws of the Great Spirit. It has chosen the path that leads to darkness and to despair. We offer the knowledge that leads to hope, to light, to peace and to harmony. Your world may despise us, in its ignorance. It may reject the message that we bring. It may deny the power that accompanies us. But our great truth must prevail, for it is of the Great Spirit.

　"Those who strive to live against the law reap for themselves the results of a bitter harvest. Those who live with the law reap a harvest of happiness and plenty, in the things of matter and in the things of the spirit.

　"Through all the darkness that prevails, do not abandon hope, but be assured in the knowledge that those who work with you for the upliftment of humankind, who strive to bring better conditions into your world of matter, will prevail, for the power that is on their side is the mightiest power in the universe.

　"You will not achieve that which is worth achieving without travail, without sorrow. Your world must learn its lessons in the only way it can learn them. We are breaking through all over the world of matter. Our message illumines minds in every part of your world, and, as the light of the spirit breaks in on your world, so its rays disperse the darkness of your your materialism.

　"We do not seek to terrify you with threats of punish-ment. We do not seek to make you craven cowards, living your lives because of fear. We strive to make you realise the latent divinity that is yours, that you may express more of the Great Spirit, that you may rise to greater heights and fill your mind with greater truth and wisdom.

　"We urge you to be dissatisfied with what you have already received, because only through discontent and the desire to reach out can greater knowledge come. He who is satisfied stagnates: he who is discontented struggles towards greater freedom.

　"We never say to you, 'Do not use your reason, have faith only.' We say, Use that which the Great Spirit has given you. Test us. Examine us. If aught that we say is debasing, cruel or immoral, then reject us.'

　"If we seek always to teach you to live nobler lives, lives of greater self-sacrifice and of idealism, then surely that demonstrates that the hall-mark of the Great Spirit is stamped upon our teaching.

　"If we raise up one soul, if we give comfort to one who mourns, if we give hope to one who is faint-hearted, if we give strength to one who is weary, then has it not been worth doing?

　"Think of the many whom our message disturbs, whom it puzzles, who are perplexed, who, bound to a creed, cannot escapeーyet they hear the voice of freedom calling to their imprisoned souls and their minds struggle to be free.

　"They are the ones for whom the message is intended, those to whom it comes as an incentive to reach out to what before was unattainable. All truth is but a stepping stone.

　"If you hear through the lips of the medium through whom I address you that which makes your reason revolt, that which contradicts the love of the Great Spirit, that which is foolish, that which is an insult to your intelli-gence, then know that my day is done and I have failed.

　"Though I have spoken to you many, many times, I do not think I have ever said anything which is contrary to the highest aspirations of the soul. For our appeal is always to the highest that is within you.

　"The world must learn to perform its own salvation. There is no ready-made plan. There is no prepared, cut-and-dried system. Your world has to learn that, behind what it regards as the manifestations of life, there is the eternal reality of the spirit, that the children of matter are not only worldly beings but spiritual beings expressing themselves through bodies of matter.

　"The bodies of matter must be as perfect as they can be made through having all the necessities of life freely at their disposal, as the Great Spirit would have them. Then their spirits must be freed from all dogmatic and credal trammels, so that they do not give allegiance to things that have no real or spiritual value, so that they work only for that which is true, so that the warring and the quarrel-ling and the strife over creeds and dogmas, which have held your world in chains for thousands of years, can be abolished.

　"We preach the gospel of the spiritual brotherhood of all peoples, with the Great White Spirit as the common Father. What stands in the way is the earthly conception, the churches built on error, the usurping of privilege, the pride and the power of tyrants, petty tyrants who hold the whip hand.

　"As our teaching grows in your world, it will mean the end of all separateness between peoples. It will mean the end of national barriers. It will mean the end of race distinctions, class distinctions, colour distinctions and all the distinctions between churches and chapels, temples, mosques and synagogues, for gradually all will learn that they have a part of the Great Spirit's truth and that the part enshrined in the heart of every other religion in no way contradicts that portion which is precious to them.

　"So, out of the apparent confusion, the divine pattern will take its shape and harmony and peace will come. I tell you these things, so that you can understand part of the great plan, the part that we who return from the world of spirit play in it, and the part that each one of you must play in it before your earthly course is run.

　"What we preach fits in with all the noble and elevated ideas that have come to the vision of all the reformers, all the saints, all the seers and all the idealists who have striven in every age to render service. Because they were great souls, their spiritual eyes caught glimpses of the life that could be, and that vision of beauty sustained them in all their adversity and struggle. They realised the spirit plan that, one day, will be put into practice, and so they strove to raise up the children of matter, to serve.

　"Though they were vilified, though they were opposed and ridiculed by those they came to help, their work lived on, even as the work that is being done to-day in countless small temples, such as this, will live on, though many of the people will be forgotten. The mighty power of the spirit has been launched once again in your world of matter, and the children of matter do not possess the power to stem that mighty tide.

　"Your world thinks it solves its problems by the shed-ding of blood. But no problem was ever solved in that way, for bloodshed is needless and leads nowhere. Why cannot they use the reason which the Great Spirit has given them? Why do they think that their only solution must be to kill as many as possible, that the one who is the greatest killer is accounted the victor? It is a strange world you live in.

　"Your world needs our message, the message of the spirit, the realisation of spirit truths, the knowledge that there are spiritual laws and guidance both from above and from within, so that in its perplexity it may learn where to turn to find comfort and guidance and help.

　"We seek nothing for ourselves. We want no glory. We have simply the desire to be of service, to reveal once again the laws which have been forgotten, so that the world of matter may rediscover those powers of the spirit which can bring it new hope and new life.

　"In your perplexity, when all the old standards are being discarded, when all authorities are being questioned and their power waning, we seek to reveal the Great Spirit, the supreme Authority, through His laws which never fail and which never err. If the world of matter will learn to order its life in accordance with those laws, peace and concord will rule once again.

　"These things are part of the great mission which we all have to perform so that, amidst the crumbling ruins of the discarded beliefs, mankind may not reject all because of his doubt and scepticism, but may learn to sift the wheat from the chaff, the fact from the myth, and hold on to that which is precious, which is enshrined in all religions, the great truths of the spirit, long overlaid with the imaginations of the children of matter.

　"The power of the spiritーwhich inspired those in days gone by, which gave them vision and courage, enthusiasm and desire to serveーis available to-day if the children of matter will learn to look for it in the operation of those laws which are at their disposal.

　"The authority of Churches, of books, of creeds, all these are waning. They are gradually being discarded. But the authority of spiritual truths abides for ever. When I return to your world I see the confusion and the chaos, and I realise they could be dissipated if the clear light of the spirit were allowed to penetrate, if, instead of just a chink, there could be a strong illuminating ray.

　"Why do they prefer the darkness when they could have the light? Why do they prefer ignorance when they could have knowledge? Why do they prefer superstition when they could have wisdom? Why do they prefer the dead bones of a creed when they could have the living truth of the spirit? Why do they prefer the dust of theology when they could have the waters of spiritual wisdom?

　"There are souls blindly groping in self-imposed dark-ness, chained when they could be free, servile when they could easily be men of freedom. But I am afraid they have worn their chains for so long that they are afraid to discard them. A bird that is in a cage for a long time is afraid that it cannot fly when it is released.

　"It is good when they throw off their shackles, but they must have some path which they can tread. We do not want them to be helpless, without a sign. We want them to be free, but we want them to know where their freedom will lead.

　"When you have been in bondage for a long time, there is a tendency in the newly-found freedom that you will not listen to any guidance that comes to you. You say: 'I have had enough of all this. I have had years of doubt and perplexity. Now that I have discarded it I do not any longer wish to be associated with what is called religion.'

　"Sometimes, with the casting off of shackles, there is a violent reaction. I do not want too much attention paid to me, the individual, the messenger. I am only con-cerned with the message. Your world has for too long concerned itself with teachers, whom it has aggrandised into exaggerated positions, and has forgotten what they came to teach.

　"Our mission no longer is to exalt men and women into high places of authority, but to seek to reveal truth, knowledge and wisdom. What does it matter whether I am a teacher of great distinction or a lowly beggar, so long as the seal of truth stamps what I say? Our appeal is no longer to names and authorities and books, but to reason alone.

　"We demand nothing that is contrary to your intelli-gence. We preach nothing that you can say is untrue, that is undignified, that is ignoble, that debases mankind. We seek to reveal that which will elevate the whole human race and give it a true conception of its position in life and in the universe, its relationship to the Great White Spirit and an understanding of its kinship with other members of the vast human family in your world.

　"No longer will we resort to books or teachers or authorities, but only to divine reason, and we appeal to her. Our truth will not be spread by the citation of a text said to be stamped with divine authority. If it violates reason, then reject what we say. But you will find that we appeal to the highest and the best instincts, that we only seek to brush away old falsehoods and to bring the great truth that man will prize. What your world calls religion must be founded on truth, and you must seek to discard all that will not stand the onslaught of reason.

　"We strive to reveal these truths, not only as they are known in their relation to the laws of the spirit, but also to the laws of matter, for to us the world of matter is part of the universe of the Great Spirit, and you cannot be 'religious' if you are indifferent to the sufferings of despairing humanity. Those who serve are accounted as the great ones by us, and the service they render is not confined to helping the soul to find truth, for there is other service to be rendered.

　"There is the service of freeing poor, racked bodies from pain, the service of fighting injustice and tyranny, the service of fighting hate, the service of preserving freedom and the service of abolishing the evils of your world and giving the spirit in man a chance to express itself as the Great Spirit desires that it should.

　"I am sorry that the children of the Great Spirit have wandered so far from the things of the spirit that a rap on a table has to be used to make them understand His laws.

　"You are all parts of the Great Spirit. He says to you: 'Here are all my laws and here, in you, is a part of me. Beside you there is all that can be used to make a perfect universe. I give you all the tools and you can choose between the things that are right and the things that are wrong. You can try to work with my laws or against them.'

　"The children have chosen. But always those who are the masters in the world of spirit have to make sure that they incarnate into matter men who are so tuned to the vibrations of the Great Spirit that, through them, His work can go on. So far have the children wandered that they are blind to the things of the spirit and only under-stand the things of matter.

　"But after the storms and the wind have blown through the world there always comes the new life of the spring. When the snow lies on the ground and all looks very bleak, you are not able to see the freshness of the spring. But it comes.

　"And gradually, as the great sun of life moves through the heavens of the Great Spirit, so the majesty of life comes to its fullest. Throughout the whole world of matter there is a great cloud of discontent. There will come the spring of dreams and the summer of fulfil-ment.

　"It will come quickly or slowly as the children of the Great Spirit exercise their free will. But wherever in the world of matter one man strives to uplift one other man, then behind him there are a thousand spirits who try to make his victory a greater one. No effort for good can ever be lost. No desire to serve can ever be wasted.

　"There must be a pioneer who hacks his way through the forest and makes the path a little easier for those who follow. Gradually the path is beaten down and worn smooth.

　"Sometimes I see the many masters in my world, with tears in their eyes, looking down on the follies of those who, one day, will realise how they have thrown away the great opportunities they had of raising up the children of the earth. And sometimes I see their faces wreathed in smiles because, in your world, some unknown man has rendered a service which lights a new torch of hope in the world.

　"I, like many others, have come nearer to the vibrations of the earth to help to push forward that great new world which waits just round the corner. I come to teach you the laws of the Great Spirit, and to show you how, if you live according to them, the bounty of the Great Spirit can be poured into your hearts and minds.

　"I only see a world filled with sorrow that should be filled with happiness, darkness where there should be light, hunger where there should be plenty. I see that the Great Spirit has provided everything, and yet there are those who are preventing its distribution. There are obstacles which must be swept away.

　"I cannot do it. I cannot even criticise. I can only tell you how the law can work if you, who are still encased in matter, will allow it to work through you. Those who

do must point a finger of scorn to the things of earth and show the remedies of the Great Spirit.

　"Show in your own lives you know the things of the spirit because the power of the spirit is in you. If, between us, we can in one case bring happiness where there was unhappiness, knowledge where there was ignorance, then at least we shall have done some service. We do not seek to take away from you the the responsibilities of your own lives, but only to try to inspire you to live so that men may know the Great Spirit is working through you.

　"It makes me sad, sometimes, to hear people say: 'Oh yes, we give them bread, but they must thank the Great Spirit first.' Why not give the bread and not worry whether they thank the Great Spirit or not? If a man is hungry, why not give him bread? Or they say: 'You can sleep here, but you must say a prayer.'

　"Have you who possess this knowledge of Spiritualism ever tried to strike a balance? You have something that your world cannot measure. You have the priceless knowledge of the truths of the Great Spirit. You have the realisation that your soul is linked with his great soul. You have the knowledge that you are a part of the Great Spirit. You have learned how to respond to the

vibrations of the messengers that the Great Spirit sends to watch over you.

　"Compared with these things, the things of matter are as mere baubles. You will live for many thousands of years. You will find that the knowledge you have gained here and the wisdom you have learned are of greater value to the life of your immortal soul than the few things that the body of matter seeks in the world of matter.

　"Do not judge anything by the apparent result. You see only with the eyes of matter. If you could see with the eyes of the spirit, you would know that with every child there is perfect justice. Sometimes I listen to your prayers and sometimes to the prayers of others. I think that if the Great Spirit were to answer them all you would not be happy with the result.

　"I have spoken to many who have crossed from your world to mine. I have not yet met one who has said, when he saw with the eyes of the spirit, that he has not been served well by the Great Spirit.

　"There are three great problems in the world of mat-ter. One is ignorance, another is sorrow, and the third is poverty. These three things you will always have until knowledge of the spirit is joined with politics and the children of earth think and live as the new knowledge shows them.

　"But the tide of victory rolls on. The old order dies, giving place to the new. The new world is coming. But do not think that, because of this victory, there will be no more dark places. There will still be much shedding of tears. There will be many aching hearts. There is great sacrifice to be made.

　"That which is a part of the Great Spirit cannot be achieved without sacrifice. You cannot build up unless you tear down. In times of great material disaster, the people of your world begin to examine the foundations of the things of the spirit. When all the things of matter have failed, they look for a reed to clutch, and they look into the systems that have been tried and found wanting.

　"Then the truths of the spirit begin to emerge, and they begin to build their new worldーa world where the laws of the Great Spirit begin to play their proper part. Until you do that, there will always be great troubles. The world will never become perfect, because the nearer perfection it becomes, the more will it realise the perfection in front of it."

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