Angelic Revelations—the Gospel of God’s Love
Chapter 17
Truths of the
Spirit World—
Progress Towards the Heavens
Soul's Progression as I Have Experienced It (G___ )
Socrates Writes of His Experiences in His Spiritual Progress
Plato, Disciple of Socrates, Is Now a True Christian
Truths of the Spirit World—
Progress Towards the Heavens
The Soul's Progression as I Have Experienced It
I am here, Your old friend, G___
I desire to write to you tonight upon a subject which I think will be interesting, but it is so late now that I hesitate to do so. Well, as you think it will be all right, I will do so. I want to write on the subject of the soul's progression as I have experienced it.
As you know, when I first came into the spirit world, I was an unbeliever in things pertaining to the soul, except that I thought that the soul, which in my opinion at that time was the equivalent of that part of man which survived death, would continue to exist and progress as the mental qualities of the man should be developed. I believed that the mind was the great and only thing in the future existence, and that the condition of the man in his progression would be determined as the mind was developed more and more on earth.
I had no conception of the soul as a distinct and independent existence from the mind. I thought that all the qualities and attributes of the mind were those which belonged to the soul, and that I had no others. And so, I say, I entered the spirit world in this belief. However, I found that the mental faculties and their development did not bring to me the satisfaction which I had anticipated. Also, I met some of my friends of earth who had preceded me by long years and who were men of great mental acquirements, and I found that their conditions were not of a nature as satisfactory as I had led myself to believe that they should be. Many of these friends were only in the earth plane, and some were in darkness, which was wholly contrary to what they should be in, if my theory of the all-inclusiveness of the mind were true. All this caused me to think, and in thinking, I commenced to realize that there might be something wrong in my theory, and that the soul might be a distinct thing from the mind, in its nature and functions.
I did not find that these intellectual friends of mine had any very great happiness, nor were they satisfied with their conditions. And yet, they could not get out of their condition of darkness by the exercise of any mental progress. Of course, they were engaged in pursuing studies of one kind or another, and such studies gave them considerable happiness and satisfaction. Yet notwithstanding all this, there was some restraining force that prevented them from going to spheres higher than they were then living in.
I found that there were higher spheres where the mind was developed to a much greater degree, and where many spirits who believed in the supremacy of the mind lived and enjoyed the pursuits of their studies. And at times some of these spirits would come to our plane and tell us of the wonderful development and happiness in these higher spheres, and they would urge us to make the effort to progress and become inhabitants of them. And you may be assured that we were willing and anxious to make such progress. But, try as I would, and as my friends would, the efforts produced no visible effect, and we continued in darkness.
Being of an inquisitive nature, I sought for the reason for our inability to get out of the darkness, and at last found that the mind was not everything. Rather, the development of the moral qualities was necessary to enable us to progress as we desired; and that in order to develop these qualities, something more than the mere exercise of the mental faculties was required. Conscience must be satisfied, and our recollection of evil deeds on earth must be gotten rid of. And our qualities of soul, which determined our position and condition in the spirit world, must be so adjusted to the demands of the Laws of Harmony that we would be able to advance in our progress to that place which such adjustment would entitle us to occupy.
I further found that the darkness in which we lived was not created by any defective condition of the mind, for many spirits whose minds were highly cultivated and possessed of unusual knowledge were in just as much darkness as were many spirits of very meager mentality and information.
All this knowledge came to me and caused me to seek a way to improve my moral nature, and to get rid of the recollections of those things which tainted and darkened such nature. And I sought very diligently, but it was slow work and the efforts required were great.
But some progress was made. And if I had continued long enough, and had used my will powers in urging the cultivation of kind thoughts, affection, and love for the true, etc., undoubtedly I would have progressed from darkness.
This had been the experience of many spirits who believed as I did - that the mind was the thing, dependent upon the will and exertions to bring the desired results.
But while in this condition of struggle and slow progress, I would occasionally meet spirits who seemed to be of a higher order and more beautiful than was I. And naturally, I wondered what the cause was; although strange as it may seem to you, I never made inquiry until, one day, I met some of our folks who had this beautiful appearance and who seemed to be so perfectly happy.
Naturally, in our conversation, I asked them the cause of their happiness. And when they told me, I was so surprised that I gave very little credence to what they said. What they told me was so similar to what I had heard on earth in the orthodox churches that I supposed these friends had brought with them their old orthodox faiths and emotions, that they were deceiving themselves as to the cause of their appearance, and that the probable cause of their happiness was that they were more moral than I when on earth - and hence, their recollections of earthly sins were less, their consciences were not so severe with them, and therefore they had gotten out of their darkness into light, with the resultant appearance of beauty and happiness. I would not accept their explanations of the cause of their conditions at first, and continued for some time longer in the effort to improve my moral condition and to advance in my mental acquirements.
But there was one other thing I noticed, and that was that, while these beautiful friends apparently had not the mental development of some other spirits who had progressed out of the darkness into the higher spheres of light, yet the beauty and seeming happiness of these friends were so much greater than, and of a different nature from the happiness and appearance of those more highly mentally developed spirits.
And again, I thought and concluded that even moral and mental development could not explain the cause of the difference between the appearances and happiness of these friends and those of these more mentally developed spirits. So I again determined to seek the cause, and as a consequence I sought these friends, with the intention and desire to listen more seriously to what they might tell me, and to open my mind to the "secret" - as it was to me.
Well, I listened to them, and they told me that their progress and condition was caused by the soul development which they had received in seeking for and obtaining the Divine Love of the Father; that the soul is the great and important part of being spirits; that the condition of the soul development determines the position and appearance and happiness of the spirit; that the spirit body and mind are both subordinate to the soul; and that whenever the mind submits to the control of the soul (and the will of the mind, as you may say, to the will of the soul), then the progress to the highest sphere will commence. And the spirit who is thus progressing will show the state of his advancement by the appearance of his beauty and happiness.
They further explained to me the nature and power of the Divine Love, and its great developing potentialities, and the absolute necessity of Its entering into and possessing the soul in order for it to make its greatest progress; that as this Divine Love became more and more a part of the soul's possessions, the soul took into itself the Divine Nature of the Father, and that all these things which had a lodgment therein, and which tended to make it dark and sinful, disappeared. And as these things disappeared, the soul mounted to higher spheres and became happier and more beautiful, and the spiritual body correspondingly manifested this happiness and beauty .
These friends told me all these things and many more, and they urged me to seek for the Divine Love of the Father, and offered to help me in every way. At first, I could not understand what "seeking" this Divine Love meant. But they took great pains to instruct me, and they told me that only through prayer and faith would It come to me; and that while this Love was waiting to fill the soul of every spirit, and anxious to do so, yet only by earnest, sincere seeking would It enter the soul, and fill it with Its Great Essence.
At last, they persuaded me to pray to the Father, and then they prayed with me. But it was hard to have faith in that which my mind did not understand and could not grasp. But they said that the soul has its faculties, and is not dependent upon the mind for this faith, and that upon my exercising these soul faculties would depend the question of my receiving this Love and this faith. For as Love came, faith would come also - not a mere mental belief, but something greater and different.
Well, I continued to pray for this Love, and after awhile I felt a sensation which I had never felt before within my soul. And as I prayed, this feeling increased, and faith came to me in a small degree. I realized that there was a Love possessing me that was never with me before. I continued thus to seek and pray until, at last, this Great Love came to me in great abundance, flooding, as it were, my whole soul. Happiness unspeakable came to me and, as these friends said, light and beauty also.
Well, you can imagine that my longings and desires became insatiable. The darkness disappeared, my recollections of the evils of my life became fainter and fainter, and suddenly I found myself in the Third Sphere, which then appeared to me to be the very Heaven of heavens and the very fountainhead of beauty and happiness.
Now during all this time - and it was not accomplished in a day - I gave no attention to the development of my mind, or to the acquiring of knowledge of the material things, as I might say, of the spirit world. But when I found myself in the beautiful sphere that I have mentioned, it seemed to me that my mental faculties had expanded beyond all possibilities of belief, and knowledge of things that I had never before heard or conceived of came to me with wonderful clearness.
But the soul, and not the mind was the thing! And Love - this Divine Love of the Father - made happiness mine, and everything beautiful and satisfying. He who seeks only the development of the mind, and lets the soul slumber, is poor, indeed. But he who seeks the development of the soul finds that, as his soul develops, his mind does also, and rich he is beyond compare.
Well, I continued in this soul development, in the increased happiness and the attainment of great brightness, and more than all, in the possession of this Great Love, until I passed through the Fifth Sphere - where everything was much more beautiful, and where Love was so much more abundant than in the Third Sphere. Then I entered the Seventh Sphere where I now am. I will not attempt to tell you the glories of this sphere, for I feel that words are inadequate to do so.
Then, in a faint, unsatisfying way, I have attempted to rehearse to you the soul's development, and the wholly sufficient thing that it is. And my advice to all mortals, based on my own personal experience, is to seek the development of the soul with all their might and earnest efforts - the development of the mind will follow. And this they can commence while yet on earth, and then they will find that progress will be much more rapid, and easier, after they have crossed the borderline.
Well, it is late and I have written long enough. But I wanted so much to write to you tonight upon this subject of the soul development, as I see its vital importance to the future happiness of man and to his Immortality.
With all my love and blessings, I am
Your
brother in Christ,
G_____
Lafayette, the Revolutionary War General, Relates How Washington Helped Him to a Knowledge of the Father's Love
I am here, Lafayette
I have been anxious for some time to write you again and let you know the results of your advice to me when last I wrote. After our last communication, I sought General Washington and told him of my conversation with you, and asked him to explain what this Divine Love meant and how It could be obtained.
He was so pleased at my inquiry that he actually took me in his arms and called me his "boy," as he had on earth. And with his face beaming with love and happiness, he told me what this Love meant, what It had done for him, and how he was now progressing towards the Celestial Heavens of Light and Truth.
Well, I commenced to consider what he had told me, and began to have a longing in my soul for that Love and the happiness which he said It would bring to me. And I commenced to pray for the Love and tried to have faith. Well, without taking up your time by rehearsing the steps of my progress, I am glad to tell you that I have this Love to some extent, and that I am now an inhabitant of the Third Sphere, and enjoying the associations of spirits who also have this Love and are striving to progress.
My happiness is very different from what it was before this Love came to me. I now realize that the soul, not the mind, is the man - especially of God's redeemed children. I never thought that the soul was capable of such Love and happiness, and of the knowledge that the Divine Love is the one absolutely necessary thing to bring spirits into unison with the Father.
I want to express my gratitude to you, and to say that I will never forget your kindness and love in turning my thoughts to this great Truth.
Yes, I am still interested in the war, but I do not have any hatred for the Germans now, that I had before. I see that they are all brothers, and children of the Father, and that only the ambitions of some and the passions and hatred of others are prolonging the war. But it will soon close, for I see the collapse of the German campaign against Verdun before me, and then the end will come rapidly.
I wish it were tomorrow, for then slaughter and death and added misery would cease. There are so many spirits coming from these battlefields who are all unfit for the spirit life, and appear in great confusion; and when they realize they are no longer mortals, they become bewildered and miserable. But we are trying to help them. We know no enemies and all are helped alike.
I will not write more tonight. In closing, I give you my love and sign myself with a new name, which is:
Your
brother in Christ,
Lafayette
The Skeptical Writer of Colonial Days, Thomas Payne, Called by Contemporaries an Infidel, Admits He Was Mistaken in Some of His Beliefs
I am here, Thomas Payne
When I died, I did not believe in Jesus as the son of God or as His messenger sent to show the world that the Father had bestowed His Divine Love and Immortality upon it, and the Way to obtain It. But now I believe these Truths to the fullest, and am a follower of Jesus and the possessor of the Divine Love.
How different my condition would now be if that erroneous and damning doctrine taught by the churches - that there is no redemption beyond the grave - were true! I never thought that there was any necessity for redemption, either while on earth or after I should become a spirit, but thought that, if there were a God, He would deal justly with me and bestow happiness upon me and enjoyment of the future life according to my idea of His Love and Mercy.
But I must tell you that I was mistaken in some particulars. God is Love and He is Merciful, but His Love and Mercy are exercised only in accordance with His fixed and unchangeable laws - laws that apply impartially to all men, and which make no exceptions in their operation. "What a man sows, so shall he also reap" is as true as that the sun shines for you on earth.
I found the truth of this great law in my own experience, and I paid the penalties of my sins. Jesus could not do this for me, and he never pretended that he could. But he could and does show the Way by which the operations of the laws which produce these penalties may be superseded by the operation of other laws which, as it were, remove the penalties. And if men would only learn this Way, they would not remain in the darkness and sin (because they believe and assert that God's laws never change). If they would only understand that, while the laws do not change, yet the condition of the spirit which calls for the operation of these laws does change, and new laws are brought into operation.
I have not the time tonight to explain these principles more fully. But should I have the opportunity in the future, I will be glad to do so. Christ was, and is, the Way and the Truth and the Life.
I am in the First Celestial Sphere, and my name was Thomas Payne, the so-called "infidel." I believed in God, but only one God. Jesus was never God to me, and is not now. And he does not claim to be God now.
So you see, even the so-called "infidel" can come into the Truth and Love of the Father, even after he leaves the material plane and becomes an inhabitant of the spirit world.
So my dear brother, I will say good night, and God be with you.
Thomas Payne
Mr. Padgett's Grandmother Describes Her Experience in Progressing from the Third Sphere into the Celestial Heavens
I am here, Your Grandmother
Yes, it is I. I want to tell you of my experience in progressing in the spirit life.
Well, when I passed over, I was received in the spirit world by your grandfather and my own dear mother, who had been in the spirit world for so very many years. She was then living in the Seventh Sphere, and was a most beautiful and happy spirit. Now she is far up in the Celestial Spheres, and occasionally comes to see me, and tells me of the great beauty of her home and of the wonderful spirits who inhabit the spheres where she lives.
She lives in a high sphere of the Celestial Heavens, and is with many of the redeemed spirits who lived on earth many centuries ago. She mentioned some of them who were well known on earth, such as John Wesley and his brother, Charles, and Luther and some of his contemporaries who were engaged in the great reforms of those days. Whitefield is one she named, and Bunyan, also. They seemed to have reached this sphere by obtaining the Love that we have written you of. So, when I think that through gradual development and progression of their spiritual beings, there are these high spheres for me to attain to also, I feel that my faith and seeking for the Divine Love have a great deal yet to accomplish in the way of soul development.
Well, shortly after I passed over, I progressed to the Third Sphere, and thought that the very seat of heaven must be there because my happiness was so much greater than I had ever anticipated.
When I first entered the spirit world, I confess I was disappointed because I did not see the Father on His throne and Jesus sitting on His right hand, as I had been taught to believe. But it was not long before I realized that such a belief had no foundation in truth, and that God has no throne, such as the writers of the Bible had declared, but that His Spirit is manifested everywhere and in all places, and is a Spirit that has no form in the sense that I had been taught to believe.
After living in the Third Sphere for some little time, and having received much information from spirits who lived in higher spheres, and having received a great abundance of God's Love, I progressed to the Fifth Sphere, and found a wonderful home of beauty and harmony among spirits who had experiences similar to my own, and who had received the Divine Love to a degree which gives us all this great happiness that I tell you of.
In some of the planes of this sphere are many spirits who have not received this Divine Love, but who have attained to wonderful moral and intellectual qualifications. But they are not so happy as are those who have received the Great Love of the Father, for they gave their thoughts and works to things that pertain more to moral and intellectual progress than to the soul development in the Divine Love.
It may seem strange to you that these spirits could live in an atmosphere where so much of God's Love was manifested by the numerous spirits who had received this Love, and yet not realize that this Divine Love is the one great thing absolutely necessary for their further progress and greater happiness. But such is the fact. And many of these spirits of great intellectual development are still there, pursuing their studies of laws that have to do solely with things that relate to the operations of spiritual laws, and to the causes of phenomena that astonish both mortals and spirits.
I have wondered many times that they have not had an awakening to the real and grander Truths of spirit life, and to the causes of the development of the souls of those with whom they come in contact who are so much more beautiful and happy than these students of merely spiritual laws and causes that produce only astonishing phenomena.
Strange as it may seem to some, intellectual progression is not necessary to soul progression. But with soul progression, through obtaining the Divine Love, there comes a wonderful knowledge of these other things that I speak of. I, as you know, was a person of just ordinary mental acquirements; yet in this spirit world, I have left behind me many great minds possessed of wonderful intellectual information. I mean not only as regards the progress of my soul, but also as regards the attainment of knowledge that these men are devoting their time and work to obtain.
Strange also, it may seem to you, that with soul development in the Divine Love there comes intellectual development. But to us who have experienced this fact, it is not strange, because the mind is only an attribute, or as I may say, a quality of the soul which, as the soul develops in the Divine Love, the mind must necessarily also develop.
Philosophy is a thing which is merely the conclusions of minds that have given thought and investigation to the subject matter of that philosophy. And when philosophy is determined by the mere mind, it is still uncertain, and subject to revision and change as the mind may change. The mind, in its development, does not necessarily learn the full and real truths; and in this spirit life, among these men of purely great minds that do not possess the Divine Love, there is as much variety of opinion, and as many disputes as to what is the truth as there are on earth. The mind, of itself, cannot always discern the truth, because it is not infallible - even when it is the mind of a spirit, and that spirit a highly developed one.
But as the soul develops in the Divine Love, this development means that what comes to it as a fact is a truth - the everlasting truth. The soul does not learn all truths at once, but the truth that it does learn is one that never changes, and lets no revision alter or set it aside. No, truth of the soul's discernment is never shown to be error, and no error ever becomes a part of the soul's discernment of truth.
So you see, the great road to the ascertainment of the realities of God is through, and only through the development of the soul by the inflowing of the Divine love. The eye of the soul is that interior perception which needs not reason from cause and effect to discern and forever establish the Truths of God. So how very necessary that men and spirits should learn the great fact that, if they would learn the truth of spirit life, they must endeavor to develop the soul's powers of perception by seeking for the inflowing of the Divine love into their souls.
I could tell you many wonderful things to illustrate these propositions if I had the time to do so, but I have not now. But sometime I will go more in detail on this subject, and then you will more fully understand what I mean.
Well, after I had lived in this Fifth Sphere and learned the great and wonderful Truths that are taught therein, I progressed to the Seventh, and learned there what "real" happiness is - as I thought. No spirit who has not received this Great Love of the Father lives in this sphere, because the mind is, as it were, absorbed by the soul to such a great extent that, without the soul development, the mind would have no place of lodgment. I mean that the mind, as such, then becomes so subordinated to the powers and operations of the soul perceptions that it cannot exist as mere mind, independent of the soul's development.
In this sphere, all is grand and beautiful to an extent that I cannot describe, because you have no possible mental conception with which I can compare such beauty and grandeur.
Our homes are very harmonious and without stain or anything that emanates from things other than the soul's essence and power. No mere intellectual happiness exists, and no spirit who has not this Great Love could possibly be happy there. But yet, while all this happiness exists, I was told that happiness is far greater in the Celestial Spheres; consequently I was not satisfied to remain in the Seventh Sphere, although I could not realize how my happiness could be any greater than it was. Yet as I say, I was not contented to remain in my sphere there. And I was also told that there was a Way to get into this Celestial Sphere, and a Way so easy that the mere statement of it caused doubt. But I prayed for faith and the Divine Love, and on an occasion my faith brought the Divine Love into my soul in such abundance that I progressed to the First Celestial Sphere, where I am now.
The Book of Revelation in the Bible, in its most extravagant description of the New Jerusalem, gives no true conception of what the beauties and magnificence of this sphere are; and I will not attempt to describe them, for I cannot. But a man, or spirit either, who has never seen the wonderful beauty of this sphere cannot conceive of what its magnificence is.
I am so very happy that it seems to me there can be no greater happiness. Yet my mother tells me that there is, and that the Divine Love of the higher spheres is so much more intense and filled with so much more of God's Divinity that I cannot have the slightest conception of what It is.
I am now trying to reach these higher spheres, and am told that faith and prayer for the inflowing of the Divine Love into my soul are the only instrumentalities that will enable me to do so. My prayers are constant and my faith is growing, and I realize that when the Holy Spirit fills me with this Divine Love, as I expect It to do, I shall progress.
So you see, one great element of God's method of making His redeemed happy is to set before them a higher mark for which they may seek, with the assurance that it can be attained.
Well, I have written you quite a letter and feel that I must stop now, as I need to leave the earth's atmosphere for a while. So, with all my love and blessings, I am
Your
grandmother,
Ann Rollins
Socrates Writes of His Experiences in His Spiritual Progress
I am here, Socrates, the Greek
I knew that you thought of me and I was attracted by your thought.
This attraction occurs when a spirit is in rapport with you or has a similar soul quality. The soul condition is the great medium of attraction. I have been with you before, and there is a rapport growing out of your soul qualities. I am now a believer in the Christian doctrine of the soul's Immortality, and in the teachings of Jesus as to the Way to obtain the Divine Love of the Father, as you are; hence our qualities of soul are similar.
I am now a follower of the Master, and believe in his Divine mission on earth, although he had not come to earth when I lived. After I became a spirit I realized the truth of my belief in the continuity of life after death, and lived in the spirit world a great many years after Jesus came before I learned and believed his larger Truth of Immortality.
Of course, when I taught I had only a hope, which was almost a certainty, that I should continue to live through all eternity. But I had no other foundation for that belief than the deductions from my reasoning powers and the observations of the workings of nature. I had heard of the visitations of the spirits of the departed, but had never had any personal experience in that direction. Still, I readily believed it to be true.
My conviction of the truth of a future continuance was so strong that it amounted to a certainty. And hence, when I died, I comforted Plato and my other friends and disciples by telling them that they must not say that Socrates will die, but rather that his body will die and that his soul will live forever in fields Elysian. They believed me, and Plato enlarged on my belief afterwards.
And Socrates did not die! As soon as his breath left the body (which was not very painful, even though the fatal hemlock did its work surely and quickly) he went into the spirit world a living entity, and full of the happiness that the realization of his beliefs gave him.
My entrance into the spirit world was not a dark one, but full of light and happiness, for I was met by some of my disciples who had passed over before me and who had progressed very much in the intellectual development. I thought then that my place of reception was the heaven of good spirits, for there were good spirits to meet me and carry me to my home. I was then possessed of the thought that I was in the home of the blessed. And I continued there for many years, and enjoyed the exchange of minds and the feasts of reason.
And as I continued to live, I progressed, until at last I entered the highest intellectual sphere, and became a beautiful and bright spirit (so they told me) and taught the things of a developed mind.
I met many minds of great power of thought and beauty, and my happiness was beyond my conception when on earth. Many of my old friends and disciples came over, and our reunions were always joyous. Plato came, and Cato, and others.
And the ages went by, and I continued in my life of intellectual enjoyment and profit with many spirits developed in their minds and powers of thought, until our existence was a continuous feast of bright and momentous thoughts interchanged. I traversed the spheres in search of knowledge and information without limitation, and found the principles of many laws of the spirit world.
I found spirits in many spheres who said they were the old Hebrew prophets and teachers. And they were still teaching of their Hebrew God Who, they claimed, was the only God of the universe, and Who had made of their nation His favorite people. But I did not find that they were much different from the rest of us - I mean what they called the spirits of the pagan nations. They were not superior to us in intellect, and they lived in no higher spheres than we lived in. And I could not learn that their morality was any more exalted than was ours.
No one that I could find had seen any God, and I had not. So, Who or What God was became merely a matter of speculation, and I preferred to have the God of my own conception to the One that they claimed to have.
My life went on in this way for long years until, in my wanderings, I found that there was a sphere I could not enter (the Celestial Spheres). I commenced to make inquiries, and was told that it was one of the "soul spheres" in which the great ruler, or Master, was a spirit called Jesus; who, since my coming to the spirit world, had established a New Kingdom, and was the chosen son of God, in whom He lived and had His Being. Further, that only those who had received the Divine Love of this God could enter this sphere or become inhabitants thereof. I then sought for more information, and continuing my search, I learned that this Love had been given to men and spirits at the time of the birth of Jesus on earth, that It was free for all who might seek It in the Way taught by him, and that he was the greatest true son of this God. And that in no other Way than the one shown by this son could this Love be obtained, or the soul spheres entered.
I thereafter thought of this new revelation and let many years go by before I became convinced that I might learn something and become benefitted by seeking this Way and this Love. And after awhile, I began to seek.
But you must know that we who live in the spheres where the mind furnished our pursuits and enjoyments could not enter what was called this soul sphere. Yet, the inhabitants of that soul sphere could come into our sphere without let or hindrance, and I sometimes met and conversed with some of these inhabitants. And on one occasion, I met one called John, who was a most beautiful and luminous spirit. In our conversation he told me of this Divine Love of his God, and of the great love and mission of Jesus; and he showed me some of the Truths taught by Jesus, and the Way to obtain this Divine Love. Also, he urged me to seek for It.
Strange to me, there were not any of the intellectual qualities required to be exercised in seeking for this Love - only the longings and aspirations of my soul, and the exercise of my will. It seemed so simple - so easy - that I commenced to doubt whether there was any reality in what I was told, and I hesitated to follow the advice of this spirit, John. But he was so loving, and his countenance was so wonderful that I decided to try. And I commenced to pray to this God, and tried to exercise faith, as I was told. After a while, most surprising of all things to me, I commenced to have new and unaccountable sensations, and with them, a feeling of happiness that I had never experienced before. This made me think that there must be some truth in what I was told, and I continued to pray the harder and believe with more surety. I continued to make these efforts until, at last, the great awakening came that I had a Love in me that was never before in my soul, and a happiness that all my intellectual pursuits had never been able to supply.
Well, it is not necessary to tell you in further detail my experience in getting and developing this Love. But I became filled with It, and at last entered the Great Soul Sphere - and what I saw is beyond description.
I met Jesus, and had no conception that there could be such a glorious, magnificent, and loving spirit. He was so gracious, and seemed to be so much interested in my welfare and progress in the Truths that he taught. Can you wonder that I am a Christian and follower of him?
Thereafter, I learned what true Immortality is, and that I am a part of that Immortality. I see how far short my conception and teaching of Immortality was. Only this Divine love can give Immortality to spirits, and anything less is but the shadow of a hope, such as I had.
I am now in a sphere that is not numbered, but it is high in the Celestial Heavens, and not far from some of the spheres where the disciples of the Master live. I am still progressing; and that is the beauty and glory of the soul development - there is no limit to soul development, while my intellectual development was limited.
I must stop now, as I have written more than I should have done. But I will come to you sometime in the not distant future and tell you of some of the truths which I have learned.
Socrates
The one-time Greek philosopher,
but now a Christian
Plato, Disciple of Socrates, Is Now a Christian
Let me be the one to tell you of the
truth of what you want to know.
I am one of the first of the great philosophers of ancient Greece, and was known as Plato. I was a disciple of Socrates, and a teacher of his philosophy, with additions.
He was not only a great philosopher, but also the nicest and best man of his time. His teachings of immortality were then far in advance of those of any teacher. And no man has since surpassed him in his conception of the soul's destiny or in its qualities, except the great Master, who knew and brought to light the great Truth of Immortality.
Socrates and I are both followers of the Master and inhabitants of his Heavenly Spheres, where only those who have received the Divine Love of the Father can live. As I followed Socrates on earth, so I followed him in the knowledge of the New Birth, and in the possession of the Great Love which brought Immortality to us.
I cannot say much more tonight, as you are too tired to receive my thoughts. But sometime I will come to you and write of this Great Truth, and how far short my philosophy was in its attempts to teach Immortality.
I see that you have received many messages from the spirits who are higher than I, and who know more about these Divine Truths, yet I think that my experiences in regard to the teaching of this subject may do some good.
I will not write more, but will say good night.
Your
brother in Christ,
Plato
