Guardian spirit

“ But at the birthday festivals of English children, how few are even aware of the historical sequence, plain as it is, from the rites of the classic natal genius and the mediæval natal saint! Among us, the doctrine of guardian angels is to be found in commentaries, and may be sometimes mentioned in the pulpit; but the once distant conception of a present guardian spirit, acting on each individual man and interfering with circumstances on his behalf, has all but lost its old reality. ”

“ And especially when we remember that they return to us in spirit to minister to our wants even unto the smallest details of life, that they are our guardian angels, are with, us wherever we go, to warn and deliver us from temptation and clanger, to urge us in the path of duty, to smooth our pillow when thrown upon beds of languishing, and then, when the vital spark has fled, to convey us to the paradise of God,—oh, when we remember this, we say, shall we not rather bless God that He has afflicted us? ”

“ You are now the representative of the Faith in your area, and the beloved Guardian feels assured that you will arise to the great opportunity that has come to you, to become the one to quicken the souls in your virgin territory and become the spiritual conqueror of that new land. The Guardian realizes you will have many problems and difficulties, but he urges you to persevere under all circumstances; not to become disheartened in any way, but relying solely upon Bahá’u’lláh and His quickening Spirit, arise at once to carry forward the teaching work. ”

“ On such an occasion, dear friends, what better can we do than to realize one and all that our dear Master has for ever gone from our midst, and yet with the surest faith in His tender Spirit we should arise with one accord, aided and guided by our beloved Guardian, to dedicate our lives to the Cause for which He was a living sacrifice. Deep and painful as that thought may be, it should fill our hearts with faith in the Lord. ”

“ Our idea of a guardian angel is so spiritual and so pure that it is difficult for us to understand the curious results this belief has occasionally produced among the primitive peoples. A weird tale is told of a Congo negro who killed his mother so as to gain an especially powerful guardian spirit. ”

“ The Mandan undertake nothing without first invoking their guardian spirits, which appear to them in dreams (see § 236) . When a man wishes to choose his guardian spirit, he fasts for three or four days, and sometimes longer, retires to a solitary place, does penance, and sometimes sacrifices joints of his fingers. He howls and cries to the Lord of Life, or to the First Man, beseeching him to point out the guardian spirit. ”

“ I had wished a clearer understanding about our guardian spirits, and on the slate came:
“At the time of birth there are two self-constituted guardians, one from the light sphere and one from the dark, and as the child advances toward maturity, the number is greatly increased; but whether good or bad, depends entirely upon the persons themselves. Thus, for instance, if man leads a life of depravity and vice, he naturally attracts spirits of a like character ”

“ The ministering personality of the guardian seraphim, the God presence of the indwelling Adjuster, the encircuited action of the Holy Spirit, and the Son-consciousness of the Spirit of Truth are all divinely correlated into a meaningful unity of spiritual ministry in and to a mortal personality. ”

“ O MOST holy angel of God, appointed by him to be my guardian, I give thee thanks for all the benefits which thou hast ever bestowed on me in body and in soul. I praise and glorify thee that thou dost condescend to assist me, miserable and worthless as I am, with such patient fidelity, and to defend me against all the assaults of my enemies. Blessed be the hour in which thou wast assigned me for my guardian, my defender, and my patron. Blessed be all thy love to me, and all thy care for me, wherewith thou dost unwearingly further my salvation. ”

“ One look at our loving and living Saviour will do more towards softening the heart than hours spent in the scrutiny of feeling, or whole books of self-examination. If you want to grow in grace, in tenderness of conscience, in holy abhorrence of sin, in purity of heart, in lowliness of spirit, and in thankful love for your blessed Saviour,—then look on Him, keep your eyes on Him. ”

“ A little while longer, and the living, breathing, speaking guardian angel was all his own—blessing his heart and house, filling his very soul with the purest love, the most profound gratitude to God, by whose infinite mercy he was thus almost miraculously saved. ”

“ O should it please the pitying powers,
to call me to the sky,
I’d claim a guardian angel’s charge,
around my love to fly,
To guard him from all dangers,
how happy should I be!
For I love my love, because I know
my love loves me. ”

“ As you journey along the way of life, Christian reader, there is an angel of mercy guarding you by day and night. Naught in all the world can harm you. 'Their angels do always behold the face of God.' By this we understand that your guardian angel has constant access into the presence of God to bear him an intelligence concerning his little one under his charge. Glory be to God!
If you will but live holy and confide in God, he will guide you safely and triumphantly through this world and bring you in a ripe old age to an eternity of rest. ”

“ Canon to the Guardian Angel Holy Angel of the Lord, my Guardian, pray to God for me, a sinner!
Pray to God Who loves mankind, my Guardian, and do not abandon me! Keep my life in peace and grant me invincible salvation. ”

“ I need to be purified--fitted for the eternal, to which my soul stretches away, in ever returning longings. I need to be made more like my blessed Saviour, to serve my God with all my powers. Look upon me, Spirit of the living God, and supply all Thou seest lacking. ”

“ It is by virtue of this sacrifice that the divinely-emancipated soul comes to dwell among men, clothed with a body of flesh, content to dwell among the lowliest and least, and to be esteemed the servant of all mankind. That sublime humility which is manifested by the world's saviors is the seal of Godhead, and he who has annihilated the personality, and has become a living, visible manifestation of the impersonal, eternal, boundless Spirit of Love, is alone singled out as worthy to receive the unstinted worship of posterity. ”

“ If conscious at the time it is the supreme desire of your soul to be washed in his blood, clothed with his righteousness, sanctified by his Spirit, go and take this water of life freely; go as a sinner to a Saviour; go at his command, put honor on his appointment, and repeat the dedication of all that you are, have, or can have, over the symbols of his body broken for you, his blood shed for you; go, trusting in his mercy, and leave all to his management, believing that he will shed abroad his love in your heart, order your footsteps in his ways, and in due time perfect his image in your soul. ”

“ If we love our neighbor as such, and seek after the redemption of man on his own account, we become allied to that band of guardian angels whose mission it is to watch over him and to stimulate in him impulses to resist that which is evil and impure. ”

“ As guardian angels spread their wings
O’er mortals that they love,
Around the Doomed her arms are thrown,
His form protected by her own,
With him will she the worst await,
And save his life, or share his fate! ”

“ The guardian angels have certain duties to perform, and we can put them down in this wise. First, the angel guardian defends us from all evil. He can put thoughts into our minds which will put us on our guard against sin. ”

“ The people about me I notice to become more and more irritable, mere creatures of impulse. I feel some such malign influence invading the peaceful sanctuary of my soul, disturbing its even outlook on things, driving out my serene calm. I must anchor on to this gift of God, become prudent, detached, filling the mind with the counsel of the Holy Spirit. ”

“ But vainly thus, in hymns of praise,
⁠We bear a joyful part,
If, while our voice aloud we raise,
⁠We lift not up the heart.
We by a holy life alone,
⁠Our Saviour's laws fulfil;
By those his glory best is shewn,
⁠Who best performs his will. ”

“ Grant to thy servants an increase of that blessed gift of grace which is wrought into the soul by thy regenerating Spirit, that so the whole creature may be resigned unto thy will, human love be subservient to that which is heavenly, and all its thoughts, hopes, and actions be directed to thy glory, with whom is its source, and from whom its blessing cometh: Two pray unto thee as one, one in heart, one in interest, one for time, one for eternity. So may it ever be, O Lord! our Maker and our guide, our protector and our friend. ”

“ He comes with the bowels of a true guardian: for He comes to save, and to heal, to teach, to admonish, to strengthen, to exhort, to enlighten the mind, first of him who receives Him, and afterwards of others also, through him. ”

“ But I put my trust in my gracious, wise, and mighty Saviour that He will give to me, by reason of His own promise and your faithful prayers, the wisdom and constancy of the Holy Spirit; for only so shall I persevere and not be led astray by them to the side of evil, though I suffer at His will temptations, revilings, imprisonment, and death—as indeed He too suffered and hath subjected His own loved servants to the same trials, leaving us an example that we may suffer for His sake and our salvation. For He is God; we are His creatures. He is Lord; we are servants. ”

“ It is your guardian who wishes to know whether this man, this lover of yours (comes C.) this man who yearns for you, who for the last month has been your satellite, shining with your radiance and dark with your darkness, who has set up a temple in his soul whereof you are the goddess—whether this man shall be flung by you into the shadows of hopeless misery, or be made immortal by the knowledge that you—return—his passion! ”

“ Such is the spirit of the Saviour’s words before us, and the practical inquiry for us all is, How do our lives correspond with this spirit?
First of all, have we really any light to shed around us? A mere profession is worthless as an empty lamp. Have our hearts been illuminated by divine grace? Has the darkness [Pg 116] of guilt and ignorance and error been scattered there; and have we tasted the sweets of pardon, peace, and sanctification?
Depend upon it, we can give no light to others without first having our own hearts illuminated by the Holy Spirit. ”

“ When your spirit yearns up to God in prayer, ‘Oh, Lord, be my protector, and in this peril let me run under the shadow of thy wing,’ then you will fear no evil, though you walk through the valley and the shadow of death. ”

“ That there are guardian angels has been taught from immemorial time, and in some dim form is a belief of all except the lowest races of mankind.
It is a beautiful belief, full of consolation, of assurance, and comfort to the struggling and striving. How hard may press the iron hand of fate, how sharp the flinty stones beneath our bleeding feet, we think of those blessed messengers by our side, and feel that our burdens are for the purpose of giving us strength, else they would turn us aside to more pleasant paths. ”

“ For the first time in my life I caught the real spirit of what they must feel who, fully realizing their helplessness in the depths of sin, suddenly know that in the Saviour, emblemized in the Rock of Ages, they have found their eternal refuge. ”

“ The meek and lowly heart
that in our Savior was,
to us that Spirit doth impart
and signs us with his cross.
Our nature's turned, our mind
transformed in all its powers,
and both the witnesses are joined,
the Spirit of God with ours. ”

“ I keep my eyes always upon my guardian Angel, who stands ever at my side, assisting me in every work, teaching me in all circumstances what I have to say and do, and noting carefully everyone of my actions. ”

“ It is now time for you to know that the man in the grey surtout is my servant, whom I every day sent with my alms till this house was ready to receive you. You may, if you please, consider me as your guardian angel, since your good angel did not acquit himself uprightly in return for your gratitude. ”

“ That there be many pious and learned men that believe our merciful God hath assigned to every man a particular guardian angel [Pg xviii] to be his constant monitor, and to attend him in all his dangers, both of body and soul. ”

“ Trust in the risen Saviour—that was the belief which saved his soul.
To Him let us but cleave in all our strife; and the Tempter will flee; the wilderness will be desolate no more; angels will come and minister unto us; and when we pass from them to the ministry of life, be it to the glory of a transfiguration, the sorrows of a Gethsemane, or the sacrifice of the cross, the tranquilizing peace of God will never be far from us. ”

“ His Guardian Angel, anxious to save him, tries to lead him, through the accomplishment of human duties, safely into that mystic Future, which he had already vainly tried to find through the power of his own intellect. The Angel chants to him:
'Peace be to men of good will. Blessed is the man who has still a heart ”

“ Through the power that is given me, through the fellowship I have with the heart of a Divine universe, I can turn that evil into good, and transfigure that sorrow into joy, and draw the stream of a deeper life from the very thing that threatens to slay me. ”

“ Yet the fear of the Lord is ever before me, lest I should grieve the Holy Spirit. I watch and guard the sacred treasure in my heart, not daring to give way to a word or thought, without finding the approbation of the Lord, by the powerful operation of his Spirit. ”

“ Yet it is not places into which we are plunged and out of which we rise. What can be more like to places and yet more unlike? For here the affections are in case,—the impurity of our spirit, which flows downwards, oppressed by the love of earthly cares; and the holiness of Thy Spirit, which lifts us upwards with the love of security. ”