Spiritism

“ You come here, and you think that we are busy and active, but only live your religion, and you will feel the power, spirit, and fulness thereof, as you have never felt it previous to this. What I mean by the spirit is the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, which you can feel from the crown of your heads to the soles of your feet. ”

“ So believing, so aspiring, so meditating, divinely sweet and beautiful will be your spiritual experiences, and glorious the revelations that will enrapture your inward vision. As you realize the divine Love, the divine Justice, the divine Purity, the Perfect Law of Good, or God, great will be your bliss and deep your peace. ”

“ But though on this plane of existence the body does but clothe a spirit which was before, and will be after, how can mortal sense make us aware of spiritual beings, or these have knowledge of us? To each, its own! ”

“ The spirit, the agent to connect the soul with God—the body, the medium of the soul’s manifestation or materialization in this world, and the instrument for its use and enjoyment. The mind, seated in the spirit, was intended, under the influence of the spirit, to be the governor and regulator of the soul—enabling the soul rightly to use its appetite and legitimately to satisfy its passions. ”

“ The intelligence associated with the emotional life reaching upward through worship and wisdom to the spirit level.
3. Spirit. The divine spirit that indwells the mind of man—the Thought Adjuster. This immortal spirit is prepersonal—not a personality, though destined to become a part of the personality of the surviving mortal creature.
4. Soul. The soul of man is an experiential acquirement. As a mortal creature chooses "do the will of the Father in heaven," so the indwelling spirit becomes the father of a new reality in human experience. ”

“ For, even as the devil can do this, since he is spirit, even so likewise can the spiritual man, according to the words of the Apostle, who says: Spiritualis autem judicat omnia. [12] ‘He that is spiritual judgeth all things.’ And again he says: Spiritus enim omnia scrutatur, etiam profunda Dei. [13] ‘The spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.’ Wherefore, although spiritual persons cannot by nature know thoughts, or things that are in the minds of others, [14] they may well interpret them through supernatural enlightenment or by signs. ”

“ How may we know whether we are after the flesh or after the Spirit? By examining what we mind, the things of the flesh or the things of the spirit. Carnal pleasure, worldly profit and honour, the things of sense and time, are the things of the flesh, which unregenerate people mind. The favour of God, the welfare of the soul, the concerns of eternity, are the things of the Spirit, which those that are after the Spirit do mind. The man is as the mind is. The mind is the forge of thoughts. ”

“ Nothing, then, would be more shortsighted than to try and keep the soul from a deep, ample, recollective movement, from feeding upon and relishing, from as it were stretching itself out and bathing in, spiritual air and sunshine, in a rapt admiration, in a deep experience of the greatness, the beauty, the truth, and the goodness of the World, of Life, of God. ”

“ The adjutant of wisdom—the manifestation in a worshipful mind of the tendency to direct its adoration in higher channels of expression and toward ever-expanding concepts of Deity reality.
3. The Holy Spirit—this is the initial supermind bestowal, and it unfailingly appears in all bona fide human personalities. This ministry to a worship-craving and wisdom-desiring mind creates the capacity to self-realize the postulate of human survival, both in theologic concept and as an actual and factual personality experience. ”

“ If the mind is separated from its own body, it can experience the sensations of another body with which it may come into rapport. On the same principle a good mind, or, if you please, the Divine Mind, can flow into the individual mind, and impart thought and sensation to that mind. Or a good Spirit can flow into a medium, and awaken sensations and thoughts in accordance with the law of action and re-action, becoming negative or positive, according as he wishes to impart or receive influence. Here, then, is the means by which the Spirit is enabled to gratify its desires by visiting earth. ”

“ But what is the truth of the Spirit but the Spirit itself,--the conscious I? which is never even thought of in connection with it. In what form, then, shall we recognize it? In its own,--the form of Life,--the life of the Human Being; that self-projecting, realizing power, which is ever present, ever acting and giving judgment on the instant on all things corresponding with its inscrutable self. We now assign it a distinctive epithet, and call it Human.
It is a common saying, that there is more in a name than we are apt to imagine. ”

“ For to all utterances of divine inspiration, our Lord's words apply, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." ”

“ Spiritual knowledge, the unfoldment of the highest from within, this alone can change the ‘shadowed states’ of Earth into brightness. Every life must be reached; every mind touched and awakened by the spirit ”

“ Is there really a spiritual world, inhabited by spirits who are not mere phantoms, but real, substantial, human beings, with spiritual bodies in human form? If so, where is it, and of what concern is it to us? ”

“ Close to the realm where angels have their birth, Just on the boundaries of the spirit-land! The chain of being is complete in me— In me is matter's last gradation lost, And the next step is spirit—Deity! ”

“ As in lofty experiences of appreciation of beauty, or of music, or when the chords of life are swept by a great love, or by a momentous moral issue, the spirit rises in mystical experience to a form of consciousness which no longer marks clock-time and succession of events, whether outward or inward. ”

“ Have you never known times when, quite apart from any particular religious means, your soul has been filled, past utterance, with a sense of the divine presence,—when emotion has overflowed all reasoning and all words, and a certain serene amazement—a silent gaze of wonder—has taken the place of all conclusions and conceptions? ”

“ One day, when the Spirit stands within the veil which shrouds the spirit world from mortal gaze, you shall wonder at your ignorance of Him whom you have so foolishly imagined! He is far other than you have pictured Him. ”

“ Are we spirits clad in material vestments which death will shortly relieve us of? And shall we then consciously enter the spirit-world as living, conscious, intelligent men and women-spirits in human form? ”

“ Such do not think more of the life to come than they do of the present life. When the breath leaves the body, your life has not become extinct; your life is still in existence. And when you are in the spirit world. everything there will appear as natural as things now do. Spirits will be familiar with spirits in the spirit world—will converse, behold, and exercise every variety of communication one with another as familiarly and naturally as while here in tabernacles. ”

“ Spirit is revealed to the understanding through harmony, as in Divine Science, which is the seal of Deity and has the impress of heaven.
Mind gives light to our mortal sense of the sun, and scatters the darkness that fleeth away. In the eternal Mind there is no night, — no sorrow, pain, or sin. ”

“ If the performances which I have witnessed are, after all, in their essence Spiritual, their mode of manifestation certainly places them only on the margin, the very outskirts of that realm of mystery which Spiritualism claims as its own. ”

“ Does Spirit enter dust, and lose therein the divine nature and omnipotence? Does Mind enter matter, to become there a mortal sinner, animated by the breath of God? I am opposing the validity of matter, not the validity of Spirit, or its creations. ”

“ And first, God has intrusted us with our soul, an immortal spirit, made in the image of God, together with all the powers and faculties thereof, understanding, imagination, memory; will, and a train of affections, either included in it, or closely dependent upon it; love and hatred, joy and sorrow, respecting present good and evil; desire and aversion, hope and fear, respecting that which is to come. ”

“ It is the side of man's nature which for the want of a better name, we call the soul. And the feeling of the soul that there is somewhere an all-wise Providence, sublime purpose in everything, an exalted destiny for man—irrespective of proof, or science, or calculation or demonstrations of any sort—that feeling in its simplest essence is what we call faith. ”

“ This divine spark, derived from the source of universal life, is the spirit, the active and mysterious and incomprehensible element of our being, which baffles all our explanations, and without which we are nothing. ”

“ Wherefore, when it gives itself to prayer, the soul is now like one to whom water has been brought, so that he drinks peacefully, without labour, and is no longer forced to draw the water through the aqueducts of past meditations and forms and figures [2] So that, as soon as the soul comes before God, it makes an act of knowledge, confused, loving, passive and tranquil, wherein it drinks of wisdom and love and delight. ”

“ But an example of an inward supernatural sense is, when the heart or soul of a pious man, feels in itself divine motions, influences, and operations, which sometimes are as the voice or speech of God, sometimes as a most pleasant and glorious illustration or visible object to the inward eye, sometimes as a most sweet savour or taste, sometimes as an heavenly and divine warmness, or, so to speak, melting of the soul in the love of God. ”

“ Last—and here is the aspect of religious experience which is specially to concern us—Spirit is felt as an inflowing power, a veritable accession of vitality; energizing the self, or the religious group, impelling it to the fullest and most zealous living-out of its existence, giving it fresh joy and vigour, and lifting it to fresh levels of life. ”

“ The ego gradually becomes conscious that it is face to face with the Divine Presence; that mighty, healing, loving, Fatherly life which is nearer to us than we are to ourselves. There is soul-contact [pg 118] with the Parent-Soul, and an influx of life, love, virtue, health, and happiness from the Inexhaustible Fountain.”63
When we reach the subject of mysticism, you will undergo so deep an immersion into these exalted states of consciousness as to be wet all over, if I may so express myself ”

“ The worlds of spirit and of soul are co-eternal with the Absolute, the inevitable and unceasing expressions of its creative activity. The utterly transcendent Perfect manifests as Mind or Spirit (Nous) ; and this is the world of being. ”

“ And the Gods formed man from the dust of the ground, and took his spirit (that is, the man's spirit,) and put it into him, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. ”

“ Spiritual writers tell us to expect certain qualities, which are traditionally called the “seven gifts of the spirit”; and if we study the special nature of these gifts, we see that they are the names of linked characters or powers, which together work an enhancement and clarification of the whole personality—a tuning-up of human nature to fresh levels, a sublimation of its primitive instincts. The first pair of qualities which are to mark our spiritual humanity are called Godliness and Fear. ”

“ They insisted that the Eternal Spirit, who had been educating the race from its birth, bringing all things up to better, and who had used now one symbol and now another to fit the growing spiritual perception of men, is a real Presence in the deeps of men's {45} consciousness, and is ceaselessly voicing Himself there as a living Word whom it is life to obey and death to disregard and slight. ”

“ We realize that we have not lost his Holy Spirit; and if we continue to encourage it, it will be in us a spirit of life, light, intelligence, and truth,—in fact, a spirit springing up unto everlasting life. ”

“ May the Lord restore you to truth, or open the eyes of your hearers to see your errors, and your base design in propagating them. But from the Scriptures of truth I am about to prove that the adorable Spirit is something more than a mere breath or an emanation; and that the ever-blessed Spirit is a person God blessed for evermore—and be it at your peril to contradict it. ”

“ Spiritualism implies the recognition of an inner nature in man. It deals with facts concerning that [400] inner nature, the existence of which has been the subject of speculation, dispute, and even of denial, amongst philosophers in all ages; and in particular, with certain manifestations of that inner nature which have been observed in persons of peculiar organizations, now called Mediums or Sensitives, and in ancient times Prophets, Priests, and Seers. ”

“ For no less certainly does the mind see in spiritual light than does the body in natural light. The spirit sees, feels, tastes, perceives, and hears spiritual forces, as surely as the senses of the body cognize natural things. The inner eye sees truth, an inner sense feels kindness, an inner sense tastes love, an inner sense perceives a Divine Providence, an inner sense hears the voice of righteousness. ”

“ Thro’ the operation of his Spirit, they humble more and more, and abase the soul before God. They calm and meeken our turbulent spirit, tame the fierceness of our nature, soften our obstinacy and self-will, crucify us to the world ”

“ Therefore when the material of the eye is veiled, and deprived of its co-operation with the spiritual, spirits appear in their own form, which is the human,—not only spirits who are in the spiritual world, but also the spirit that is in another while he is yet in his body. ”