CHAPTER V

　THE SPIRIT GUIDE ASKS QUESTIONS

　ONCE, instead of answering questions, Silver Birch asked the members of the circle: “Do you consider that you have used your life to the best of your ability?" One reply was: “I doubt whether any of us have.” The guide asked someone  else: “Where do you think you have failed?” and this was the answer: “I would say in a hundred ways, every day, every hour, because I have not devoted all my time to the purpose that I know is my duty. I think that is a frank enough answer. That is my cardinal sin.” Another member of the circle said: “It is generally true that we have not at all times lived up to the best that we know," and that drew this comment from someone else in the circle: “We should be dreadful beings if we did.” 

　Then Silver Birch asked: “Do you consider that, if you started all over again, with the knowledge you now have, you would have done any better according to your estimation?" One reply was: “Oh, yes," and another: "I don't think I would, because I'have known all my life, so I have not got that excuse.'' The first speaker pointed out: "To say the least you would have had a sense of direction.” A member of the circle, the one who is a former Methodist minister, commented: “I should not have spent years trying to convert people to Methodism if I had known of this years ago.''

　Another answer was: “I have just been lazy,” and somebody else said: “I regret all the years I have not known about it as it would have made an enormous difference.”

　The final response was: “I have lost a lot of opportunities.'

　Then the guide said: “I disagree with you all because you do not see with the eyes of the spirit. One says that if he had had this knowledge he would not have wasted years on teaching Methodism. But unless he spent those years in the wilderness, his value to us would not have been so great as it is now. The years of exploration, spiritual exploration, of searching and stumbling, of falling and rising, of making mistakes, of triumph-ant enthusiasm which finds the mockery of its beliefs smashed, all these are essential parts of the development of the soul. Life, where every stone is removed from the path, where every difficulty is solved before it arises, where every obstacle vanishes as if by magic the moment it looms on the horizon, would be the life of an unevolved, untried, inadequate, immature spirit.'

　"But what about the people to whom I preached?" the guide was asked by the former minister.

　"Do not be conceited and think that your effect on them was greater than it was,” was Silver Birch's rejoinder. “Even so, they have to learn through mistakes. Struggle and difficulty, toil and trouble are essential ingredients in the unfoldment of character. But if knowledge had come to you earlier you would still have had to struggle. It would only have taught you how to face your problems much earlier than you did.”

　Dealing with one of the answers to his question, the guide said: "You think you have been lazy. Partly that is true, but you have made up for it to a large extent. You do not see what you have accomplished. You see only what you think you might have accomplished and your judgment is not as impartial.”

　To the one who "regretted all the years I did not know about this," Silver Birch said: "There is the compensation that it is all the sweeter when it comes." Then to the one who declared "he would have had more direction," the guide said: "I think that you have had direction all the time. The psychic thread has run throughout your life almost from the time that you began to think for yourself. Try to understand that life is full of balance, of checks and counter-checks, of compensations. You are living too close to your own lives to appreciate what you have done and what you are still doing. Your perspective is blurred. You cannot evenly hold the scales, but surely the lesson is that knowledge is pre-eminently important. You must spread knowledge as much as you can. That is what weighed with me when the picture was drawn for us as to the kind of world we would have to come back to when we were asked to give our service."

　Then the guide said: "I would like to ask one other question. What have these meetings done for you?"

　"A lot," was the first response. "They have opened my eyes a great deal, and made me read books."

　The second answer was: “They have given me a good back-ground of Spiritualist thought. And I have got a very good idea of what the spirit world is like, too."

　The third reply was: “I think they have given me happiness. I do not say it smugly, knowing that they were going to help so many people. And we have had so much proof of the com-fort given to the people who really need it."

　Another answer was: “I would like to say that they have given me an opportunity of meeting the only person I have ever known who could translate what the world would call 'the Infinite' into terms that a child could understand. They have been a constant source of inspiration. They have opened up a new world of possibility to me, one that I saw perhaps bſunderingly before, but now one into which I can fit a lot of details. I realise every time I come here that I am an unworthy being inspired to do a great work. I know that this circle, however it was formed and came into being, is a constant source of comfort, help and inspiration to millions of people."

　Then Silver Birch said: "I love you all and I am very proud of you all. If every guide who returned to your world could have assembled so much love, how much he would rejoice. I count myself privileged and fortunate that I have earned your love and, more than that, your respect. In the beginning, I must confess, the task which I undertook seemed insuperable, and yet I knew that the simple, great truth which I prized above all as the shining virtue of life would, if properly presented, enable millions to find a certainty, a direction and purpose in life which they had missed. In the early stages, when it seemed so hope-lessly difficult, I would pause again and again and there would come to me the words that always rang in my ear, the words which I have told you before were expressed to us when we volunteered to give our service.

　"And so I have gone on, choosing the ones I knew could help the great purpose which inspires so many—the task of serving their fellow-men and women. We have been able to pursue that task through many difficulties and now, as you know, there are hearts that have been touched, there are souls that have been awakened, there are minds that are now free, the blackness has been stabbed by the light of understanding. Gleams have broken through and now where once before was inky darkness, dia-monds of truth begin to glitter and their gleam spreads a little light. There is so much still to be told. Sometimes I think that if the conditions were reversed, I would be more curious than any one of you. I marvel at your patience and your fidelity, but it is enough for me that I have won your trust and your con-fidence only by the simplicity of teaching and by the attempts, often so poor, to reveal the character of the one who is behind it.

　"But know.this, and rest assured, the power which I represent, whose willing instrument I am, is the power of life itself. There are far greater beings than I in the countless scale of evolution. I make no claims to greatness of personality, or even of soul growth, but I do say that I am an instrument who has succeeded in some measure in transmitting the message that a hungry world has been waiting to receive. You have trusted me. That trust will never be abused, for always I strive to lead you only on those paths which bring you to greater understanding. Do not question your unworthiness, as you call it. You have rendered more service than you know. You have helped many souls, unknown to you, out of the darkness into the light. Their shoulders have become freed from what seemed unbear-able burdens. You have done your best. You have the strengths and the weaknesses of a human being. Your heart I know, your spirit, your soul is revealed to me, that is why I am always with you, to aid in the fight that is relentless, the fight that we pur-sue all the time. I feel very humble when you pay tributes to me, for I do not deserve them."

　At one sitting of the Hannen Swaffer home circle, when the shorthand-writer was away, a Psychic News reporter took her place, and this is the story he wrote: As the medium's personality faded and the guide put on the cloak of flesh, the conversation that had been going on for some minutes before the sitting began was continued, but, as part of the guide's teaching is that he proves his personality is different from that of the medium he did not avoid the subject of our discussion, but took part and gave us his point of view. We were talking about the apparent waste of giving some people psychic evidence, even when they have psychic faculties, for there are some who all their lives seem to take an inverted kind of delight in first believing in facts and then torturing themselves with the thought that what they formerly believed was evidence was really the subcon-scious, the unconscious, the super-conscious or any other thing but the fact they first welcomed.

　"I have been eavesdropping," said Silver Birch, referring to the person we had been discussing, and commenting on the fine evidence given. "It is not a bóther to give evidence, as you say,' said the guide. “There is an instrument that could be used," and he pointed to the remarkable results achieved when the psychic had co-operated. He told us of the long years the guides spend in bringing their instruments to the stage where they can take up public work; he spoke of the patience that has be to employed; the diplomatic way some mediums and potential mediums have to be handled, and then sometimes it all comes to nothing. Yet not even those failures by men and women daunt the guides who have an age-long task to perform. Then, without reproach, without bitterness, the old guide spoke with the gentle voice that intrigues the sceptic, wins the hearts of children and inspires men and women who have lived long in this world and think they know much.

　"For many years the power of the spirit has been sent there," he said, referring again to the person with the endless difficulties who has had almost perfect tests. "We do not give up until it is really hopeless, and so far it has not reached that stage. We do not discard instruments until they have turned their backs on us completely. In the place you mention there is power. It has waited for many years. It has already expressed itself in some measure. It is ready to express itself in greater unfoldment. But the amount of expression depends upon the people of earth. Our task is co-operative. We do not seek to impose ourselves on your world. We freely offer all that we have in love, in sincerity, so that we can render greater help to those who need us. But we will never desert those who, given the power of the spirit, can be of use, unless they have completely renounced us."

　Still, with great patience, he explained how he had outlined for one psychic the lesson that had to be learned, but he was told plainly that he was wrong. “I do not think I am wrong," he commented, telling how, for the sake of the evolution of the divinity that lay within each one of us, spirit guides watched their mediums pass through the trials necessary to the develop-ment of character. “It would be a matter of comparative ease to remove the difficulties that lie in your paths,” he said, “but if we did that you would become weaklings with no strength of your own. You would be unable to tap the reserves of strength that lie within each one, you would be unable to unfold the powers latent within, and you would become useless units of the universe.'

　Yes, all that was revealed by a conversation among friends on the spiritual growth of one of them. 

　Then we turned almost as a matter of course to talk of those who live as hermits and keep away from the world for a variety of reasons. I had not heard before the point of view put that some hide in hermitages of their own making “to enjoy the luxury of psychic development." As always, Silver Birch stressed the supreme importance of making our Spiritualism practical. In that he takes the line that we do better to live among the world, sharing its trials as well as bearing our own with fortitude. By living among men as normal people we make our teaching plain to all men. We do not take on the role of mystics, and with high-sounding phrase and thrilling ritual seek to impress. He always says it is better to be practical than to appear remote and mysterious, for there is nothing in what the guides teach that cannot be appreciated by all the world.

　"Always the test of any teaching or practice is," he said, "will it help humanity?" That was how he summed up his own wonderful illustration of the difference between those who hide from the world for selfish reasons and those who for a time have to live in seclusion that they may develop their powers to aid humanity. But still he insisted thatitis better to remain in the world.

　We argued all round the subject, about the value of “esoteric" teachings about those who have special aptitude for living alone and in seclusion, and always Silver Birch brought us back to reality and to the question whether any system or teaching helped humanity. In his simplicity he explained that hard as con-ditions were because of the natural fears caused by war, he and those with him clung to the slender threads of communication that remained to them. “The higher you evolve," he stated, "the less easy it is to be indifferent to the cries of suffering humanity.” That was another reason, he said, why it was necessa for mediums to work in the world of men and affairs, even though there were some who learned to live apart and prepare themselves for the operation of the highest law of the spirit, which is service to humanity.

　There was one member of the circle especially interested in all this talk of hermits and esoteric teaching, for her spirit guide was distinguished on earth both for a knowledge of esoteric teaching and occult practices and also for wide, practical know-ledge of politics and the simple needs of ordinary men and women. I think it was for this sitter that Silver Birch spoke, showing that the guide about whom the questions were asked had, all through a very busy life, tried to make practical use of every bit of knowledge acquired, tried to make spirit teachings available to millions, and tried to make the world understand the law of brotherhood.

　Unless the guide had known the spirit we mentioned intim-ately he could not have explained her life and mission the way he did, for neither the medium nor any of the regular sitters at the circle knew her at all on earth. I think I knew the spirit we were discussing better than anyone in the room, including her medium, but I took no part in the conversation, so, unless Silver Birch was tapping my subconscious mind all the time he must have known the guide at one time or she was standing beside him explaining how she worked. And since I was fully occupied taking shorthand notes, it is difficult to see how the guide per-formed the inexplicable task of tapping a mind that was fully occupied both consciously in taking notes of a fairly rapid speaker and subconsciously wondering what kind of

a story he would make of it when it was all over. There was much more, but some of it too personal to print, but if it were possible to do so, it would show how closely guides and their mediums are linked, and how important it is for instruments of the spirit world to live up to the best they know.

　It is not a question of “Shall I do this or, will I gain a good mark if I do that?” but, more important still, it is a question of what we have in our hearts when we embark on a course of action. I know it seems trivial to mention these things, but great results spring from small beginnings, and if the first step is taken freely but against the whole interest of our life's work, then we must be prepared to take the consequences.

　Those are some of the things we talk about when we sit in a seance at Hannen Swaffer's home circle. I can report some of the conversations, but I can never tell of the atmosphere of peace and love that the guide brings with him and which he leaves behind for so long that for days after it is the background of all your thoughts. You find yourself thinking out questions on the basis of Silver Birch's statement of spirit teachings. In that way, I think, spirit teaching is superior to all other teaching, because the living but invisible messengers can be with you long after their voices are stilled by the clang and stridency of this world.

               ★        ★       ★

　This is how Silver Birch spoke to Lilian Bailey, the famous medium, when she visited the circle at the guide's invitation. What he says is not only for her encouragement, but heartens all mediums and all those who work for the spirit world.

　"You ought to rejoice in the fine guides who use you to aid humanity," he said." "You do not know what you accomplish. You fall asleep and then you wake up, and that is all that seems to happen. But here a soul is touched; here a load is lightened; here a mourner receives solace; here a broken heart is healed and a troubled mind finds peace. There is a long line of grateful souls

because of what you have done. I should like to indicate in some way how proud we are of instruments whose only desire is to serve humanity, to exercise the gift without thought of self, that the Great Spirit has given them. You are richly blessed, very richly blessed. You are doing a greater work than many who are re-garded as the important ones in your world. You have a power which, alas, is given still to but a handful, and it is that power which has to be set in motion. It is that power which must be quickened within thousands so that all the darkness of superstition may be banished from your world. That is the great task to which we are dedicated, you and I and all instruments of the Great Spiritーto rid your world of all that prejudice and ignorance, the fogs and the mists, so that the sunlight of truth may radiate right throughout the whole world. It is a great task and you are greatly privileged to play your part in it.

　"Instruments go on and on and on, day after day, often dis-couraged, often irked by trivialities that jar, often repelled when they should be welcomed. I, who see just a little farther, şay to you: forget all these minor hamperings and remember only the vision which once came to you. Concentrate on using your powers to the best, the purest and the highest of which they are capable—nothing else matters—for then you will have a bene-diction of love and know all the time that the force you exercise is part of the Great Spirit seeking to find its own in every soul it meets."

　Lilian Bailey tried, as do all who visit this circle, to thank Silver Birch, but he replied: "I am just a voice in the darkness, trying to do the task of those who sent me. I have learned a few simple truths and I enunciate these simple truths with infinite variation and mutation, but they are still the same simple truths. If your world would accept them, all its tortuous troubles would

disappear." 

　"What do you think of our circle?" asked the guide. “I think it beautiful,” replied Lilian Bailey. “I love the power that is in it. It's rather too strong for me. It seems to be functioning apart from my consciousnessーif you know what I mean."

　This circle, which in the past had the direct voice and other phenomena, still has the mediums for that work, and Lilian Bailey, being clairvoyant and sensitive, said when she saw "behind the scenes": "Does that tremendous volume, that revelation of power that is here, indicate physical phenomena?"

　Silver Birch: “Yes, it has always been dormant in this circle, but your presence has stimulated its activity today.”

　Lilian Bailey: “It seems as if the spirit people are bringing it into the centre and making a solid mass. A remarkable sight. I should like it confirmed in case I ever see such a thing again. It looks as if the voice is going to be produced at some time.”

　Silver Birch: "That is the preparation of the voice that always goes on here and for which attempts were made to materialise it in the past, but because of the confusion in the atmosphere, due to war conditions, they have to put up with me instead."

　Lilian Bailey: "It is almost like a great pillar to me. It is a white pillar, not quite solid, and from it strings are going out to each person, as if everybody is giving something." The medium described in detail how these different "tentacles" of spirit power were manipulated by the Other Side.

　Then, turning again to Lilian Bailey, the guide said: “Your world does not realise the reality of our influence. It is potent wherever it can be exercised. You must try to tell them because you see it"

　"I sometimes feel,” she answered, "that they are seeking superficially, and it is very difficult to make them realise the simple reality behind it all. "

　"Yes," said the guide, “but there are many old warriors in my world who laboured long and faithfully, seemingly against impossible odds. Now they see that others continue the task and gradually the harvest is being made ready. That is why I always urge you to go on; it is all you can do. Spread knowledge, spread truth, spread understanding, spread sympathy, destroy

ignorance and all the forces that make for withholding man when he should be advancing towards the light. Ours is the great illumination, for once you know how the power of the spirit works, once you have the key that opens the door of death, once you have seen beyond its portals the fullness of life, then you have begun to understand the divine reality and to know

your place in an eternal scheme. You can only go on with your task as you see it and I will enthuse and inspire you to the best of my ability."

　Another famous medium invited to the circle by the guide was W. H. Lilley, the healer, who put forward some of his problems for discussion. Lilley, who was accompanied by his colleague, Arthur Richards, spoke of the problems attending the opening of his healing clinic in the West-end of London, the opposition, prejudice and barriers to be surmounted. Lilley mentioned that one official whom they had interviewed looked at them as if to say: "What manner of men are these?”

　"What manner of men are these?" said the spirit sage. “That has been said before. It was said nearly 2,000 years ago when the power of the spirit impelled just a handful of men to make every sacrifice to spread truth, to reveal the unchanging laws of the spirit, to show that there was a power greater than anything known in the material world, a power which could lead and inspire, a power which could guide and teach, a power which could heal sickness and affliction and make bodies that were bruised and broken whole once again. And when these things were done, it was asked: 'What manner of men are these?' It is not a new cry. It is a cry you will hear again and again.” 

　To Lilley the guide said: “You have been raised up because the Great Spirit has endowed you with gifts that must be used, and there is no power on earth which will prevent those gifts from being exercised if you will co-operate to the fullest extent with those associated with you from my world. You speak of diffi-culties and obstacles; they were made to be overcome. But remember, you have invited some of them. You have asked for some of these troubles to be visited upon you. You have not chosen to work in silence. You have behind you those who are capable of guiding you through all your difficulties and who have given evidence of their ability for many long years. They have guided you over many difficulties and through many perplexities, and at any time when you look back and contemplate the road you have travelled, you will see quite clearly the guiding finger of the spirit.

　"You are a healer. You will heal. No one can stop you, unless you stop yourself. You have a power which must be expressed. It is a power which does not belong to your world; it comes from the higher spheres of life. That power will be a boon and a blessing to thousands of sufferers. There is no author-ity in your world who will stop that power from being expressed if you choose to express it. You must never allow any fear to take even temporary residence within your being. You must have complete confidence that those who have led you so far will not fail you now, for there is still a broad path to be traversed, there is still a wide sphere of service to be accomplished. Have no fear. Just as the power of the spirit has triumphed over what in days gone by seemed insuperable difficulty, so once again it will be victorious, and in the years to come you will be able to pause and smile at problems that then will be regarded merely as shadows.

　"There is work to be done. There are so many who require the healing touch. There are so many troubled souls. There are so many fearful minds. There are so many racked with disease and illness. And you can help them with the gift that has been given to very few. I wonder if you know how richly you are blessed and endowed.”

　Richards said he counted it as a great honour to be present. "I have been in touch with many patients who hang on to every word you utter week by week," he said. “I have studied and followed your philosophy very closely myself. My interpretation is that you have, through your philosophy, broken down the misconception of God. In its place you have given a more enlightened conception of God, which you term as the Great White Spirit, or the operation of law. You and other inspirers are to me higher intelligences, and therefore personal. To refer to the Great White Spirit seems impersonal. Is this interpretation the half-way stage to yet a further understanding?"  

　"I rejoice that I have been able to drive away some of the ignorance which has remained too long in your world," said Silver Birch, "but you must remember that the processes of driving away ignorance is a slow one. When the blind man is about to recover his sight, the light is admitted only in degrees. If he were to be plunged from abysmal darkness into the full radiance of the noonday sun, it would not do his sight much good. So I, who am a teacher to some degree, have to ex-pound wisdom which is given me, according to the conscious-ness of those I am striving to reach. And it can only be done in degrees. Your world has had so much error. It has worshipped so many false gods. It has resisted wisdom for so long that it is only by unremitting patient labour that we can undo all the mistakes.

　"This conception of a personal God is based on the fact that there have always been guides of varying degrees of growth attached to peoples and races and nations, as well as individuals, in all times. They have, when knowledge was not so wide-spread as it is nowーfor there has been progressーreverenced with awe the people from my world whose charge they were, and so you had these individual guides being elevated to positions of deity. That is a very simple explanation. You have had worship of these beings right through the ages, as long as there is any trace of man on your planet, and the farther back into the recesses of time that you go, the more this worship has become confused with myth and fable.

　"Now the Great Spirit is a law. I have to use language to clothe my thoughts and ideas, but that language is itself an inhibition, a restriction, a limitation, for in the process of trans-lating idea into language, in the process of making the greater conform to the lesser, much is unavoidably lost. And so, the mere fact that I have to use words, clumsy words often, as counters or symbols of the thoughts and ideas I am trying to express, means that the picture which remains in your mind is not always the picture which I have been trying to express. Is that clear to you?"

　"May I explain,” said Swaffer to the guide, “that as you appear to us in the person of a Red Indian, you very naturally turn to the old phrase used by the Red Indianー'Great White Spirit' ーwhich certainly is a more enlightened conception of the natural law than the one used in the Church of England?"

　"That is what I was coming to,” said the guide. "I have to explain to them that this Red Indian individuality is my instru-ment. But whilst I am using it, I am conditioned by all its individuality, and I therefore call on all the qualities of that individuality to help me in the expression of my teaching. I turn to the Red Indian conception of the law, the Great White Spirit, which is at once an improvement on the anthropomorphic idea that persists that God is a man, a magnified manーnot even a womanーbut a man who is able to confer favours and privileges and to visit ire and wrath when he so chooses.

　"But even beyond my language, there is the idea which I always strive to express of the impersonal perfect law, the law which is unaffected by your ideas or mine, the law that controls all destiny, the law that regulates all the seasons, the law that is responsible for the ebb and flow of the oceans, the law that is in charge of every process of growth, activity, motion, rhythm in your world. The law takes cognisance of every action, of every deed, of every word, of every thought, of every idea. The law is responsible for the whole of life, whether it be expressed or unexpressed. And that law is the law to which I pay tribute. Call it Great White Spirit, call it God, call it what you will, as long as you appreciate the idea which is behind it all. This is the power which is the touchstone of all life; without this power there could be no life. Life exists, in whatever form it is known, because this power exists. It is the dynamic responsible for giving life its being. You may call it God, you may call it Great White Spirit, you may call it Infinite Intelligence, but you are only using words.

　"I speak of it as the law, because I am trying to instil into minds the idea of this unalterable law over which they have no control, but which, if understood, would enable them to work harmoniously within its framework, instead of working against it, and thus creating disharmony, discord, selfishness, greed, cor- ruption and war. Once you understand the law, you understand the plan of life, you see direction, guidance, purpose. You also know how you fit into it, for you know that you, as a spirit, part of that divine spirit, which creates all life, can help in the eternal processes."  

　Answering a question asked by Lilley, the guide said: “All disease is curable. Furthermore, if there were correct living, there would be no disease. Disease, in essence, is caused by dis-harmony, discord, by the failure to live life according to the law of the Great Spirit. But seeing that humanity is composed of so many varying types, the number of illnesses and afflictions and diseases are constantly multiplied in their divisions and their diversions, so that always the healing power has to be adjusted to the type of illness with which it is healing. There is no such thing as one vibration that is capable of healing all manner of disease. Success in psychic or spiritual healing consists in finding that vibration of power which is exactly needed for the disease which is brought to it.

　"Where there is failure, it is not necessarily a criticism of the world of spirit, or of the particular healing guide, or even of the instrument. So many factors are in operation all the time. The most important thing for you to consider is this: How can I live my life so that I am completely and perfectly in harmony with the power that uses me? For the more you abolish all the differences between you and your guides—for you know there are more than oneーthe easier it is for them to transmit through you just the right vibration which is necessary every time. There is a whole range of healing power in our world, for there are doctors and scientists constantly engaged in research, but they are dependent upon the instruments at their disposal as to the amount that can be transmitted, as to the type of rays and vibrations that can be used. That is the part you must play, in the growth of your soul, the unfoldment of your mind and the equipping of your own body."

　When Richards referred to the prejudices still to be overcome Silver Birch said: “I know, but that is why we are at work. A few years ago you would not have listened; the fact that you do is one more victory over prejudice. Gradually, one by one, we bring within the radius of the power of the spirit another soul who has been touched and awakened and becomes eager to serve. You are all living examples of what can be done. In each case a prejudice has been overcome. To that extent our work is lighter. We are not overwhelmed by the fact that there are still mountains of prejudice to conquer. We will conquer them with your help. That is our task, to allow the Great Spirit within all His children to achieve that fullness of life, to enjoy that plenti-tude which is their rightful heritage.

　"You all have parts to play. Play them. You will meet with difficulties. But the power which is round and about you will protect you in every trial and vicissitude. Do not look down; look up and know that you are supported by everlasting arms, and that if you are faithful to the trust which is reposed in you, if you serve with diligence, if you are conscientious in the tasks to which you have been called, you cannot fail. In all your labours a mighty band work with you, to sustain you and to bring you through to the great victories which are to be won. Look for-ward with eager anticipation to the many services that you will be able to render and know that thousands will rejoice because of the work you have done. It is a great privilege to serve others. You should be proud that the opportunity has been given to you. Meanwhile, rest content in the fact that those who work with you from my world are being charged with a purpose, a mighty

purpose, a divine purpose, and they will not fail you, if you do not fail them. Much has been done; much more will be done."

             ★          ★          ★

　Seated in a circle in a room overlooking Trafalgar Square is a group of Spiritualists. A world is at war, but they seek the peace of spirit communion. All in that room co-operate with the spirit world according to their talents and their strength; some heal, some write, some are mediums in the making and do not appear in the public eye. But all are sharing in the task of usher-ing in the New World. Silver Birch entrances his medium and begins with this prayer:

　"Oh Great White Spirit, once again in an upper room Thy servants have gathered so that the power of the spirit may be demonstrated and laws of the higher life made manifest: so that once again the truth may be revealed, that love can speak with love across the barrier that men call death.

"And we who are privileged to be one of Thy instruments return to reveal that there is a power emanating from Thee which can uphold and exalt men, teach them a way of life so that they may continue to serve, giving them power to heal and comfort, to sustain and guide, to

inspire and to bless, so that all wayward ones, all those in the dark-ness, all those wrapped in the mists of sorrow, all those who have lost their way, all those who are bruised and bent under life's misfortunes may be enabled to find one of the many pathways that lead to Thee.

"Our aim and our purpose is always to teach Thy children of the great surging divinity latent within them, and how to order their lives that they may find a richness of expression, and be a means of providing the basis on which all can unite to work for the goal of Thy kingdom on earth.

　Then the greetings begin. It is like the father of a huge family welcoming their return from long journeys abroad. The guide, beloved by thousands who have neither seen nor heard him, but who have read his words for years, goes round the circle, with a kindly, cheery word for those he has not spoken to for a long time. He says the power is good, "so good that I can almost speak," which is an understatement from one whom many re-gard as the most eloquent man in the world. “I rejoice," says the Indian sage with the gentle voice, "to have all those who co-operate with us together in one meeting like this, because we can all speak as friends and open our hearts."

　Parish, the healer, who seldom leaves the precincts of his East Sheen Sanctuary, is there, the elder of the gathering, looking the fittest of all despite a 16-hour day in the service of those who suffer. To him Silver Birch says: “I always rejoice when I can speak with you, because though I come to you every day and lend what little power I possess to aid your great ministry of

healing, which I was privileged to dedicate in its present building, yet there is, I know, some satisfaction for the people of your world when they can speak with us according to the custom of your own earth. I want you to know of the rejoicing in our world over the constant spread of the power, the many souls who are always being touched, the light that is given to those in darkness and thousands who rejoice for your ministries all over the world.

　"In almost every land there are some souls to whom you have been instrumental in bringing the light of truth and under-standing, and a great monument of service has been erected by you in the life that you have lived and are still living. You remember many years ago when I first talked with you I told you of the way in which the work would spread, how it would touch the four corners of the world, how many would come to you to be blessed. Not all can be healed. For some it is their time to sever the bond which holds them to earth. But even if you can-not heal everyone you must know that you have helped them by giving them a little light, a little ray in their darkness. I have told you before that whilst the healing is important, far more important is it that you shall touch souls, that they may find themselves and, having found themselves, re-establish a little more firmly their link with the Great Spirit of all life.

　"There is ceaseless activity in our world. Those who co-operate with you who form a part of that band of evolved souls, who express themselves through your instrumentality, are always trying out new rays, and the heightening of consciousness which you are gradually experiencing enables them to pour through you more and more of healing forces. All your prepar-ation, all your attempts to achieve a complete unity and harmony with the powers which surround you are part of this process, for the more you can completely sink yourself to the point where you as a unit cease to exist and become merged into the great healing force, more of the life-giving vitality can stream through you, whether in the healing which consists of the personal touch or that which radiates through you in many lands.

　"Sometimes the preparation is tedious, sometimes it seems meaningless, but all this is part of a plan and purpose. You are the instrument, and gradually you have been led along the road of understanding, a lonely road, a road of sacrifice, a road in which, you remember I told you, one by one the familiar land-scapes are left behind. But that is the only way that it can work. You have to soar, you have to aspire, you have to increase the power of your own soul to receive, you have to widen the whole of your interior consciousness, and as you become successful so this latent life-force can come through.

　"There are so many who work with you, not only those who were doctors in your world, specialists qualified to deal with the diseases of the body, but those who have spent many long years in patient research, who deal with the varying life-rays and their effects on the spiritual bodies of the people in your world. You know, we never claim that ours is a life of finality, that all is known, that all has been achieved and there is nothing more for us to do. We have to experiment, too. But perfect co-operation can exist only where we have a willing instrument with a fit physical body, a spirit with the one desire of service and who is prepared to deny himself those little luxuries which mean so much to others, and to travel that road which leads to complete mastery of soul, mind and body. It is a process of refining. The dross must be purged away to allow the pure gold to become vis-ible, and, as long as you are a human being, there is always a little dross. But you are on the road and that is a great thing.

　"That is one talk with one member of the group. To give all the messages would fill many pages. But there is advice to Parish's wife on her own development as a healer, and her joy as she tells of the thrill of being able to act as an instrument of the spirit. The Parishes are a pattern for all aspiring mediums. All they attempt is not immediately successful. As Silver Birch says: "There are difficulties, setbacks, heartbreaks.” But they go on.

　All the members of the group cannot be named, but they all co-operate, and in turn they receive their messages, each telling frankly of his or her difficulties. Some, the younger ones, are impatient, but to them the guide points the example of the older ones, and tells them they must prepare patiently until they gain more experience. But there is criticism, too, in these words: "Each one of you, with all your knowledge, has still some orthodoxy to break down. That is how it must be. The light must trickle in slowly, for what human being could bear the full glare of the noonday sun?"

　There is humour, too, from the living and the “dead," advice that cannot be printed because it is so personal and means little except for the aspiring soul who receives it. At last, after two hours that seem like two minutes, the guide says farewell in these words: “Do not be downcast ever. Look up and know that the power which fashioned all life, the power which placed the glittering stars in the firmament, the power which gave per-fume to the flowers, the power which makes the sun set and the sun rise, gave the hues to the rainbow and songs to birds, the power which imbued all life with purpose and placed a part of its own divinity within you, will always support you, guard you and guide you."