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write what will do good to minds in the body. Minds in the body refuse the
confidence which their own enjoyment demands. They spurn the message.
They throw embarrassments in the way of others. They prevent them from
receiving the good need. They resort to tricks and imposture to overthrow the
good we would do to others. They sin against us, against the good of minds
who require our aid, against themselves, and against God, who wills the
enjoyment of his children by obedience to such law as governs the means of
human happiness. Spirits are controlled by law, and, being governed by law
a law which makes others' good our own a law which makes joy on earth
joy in heaven a law which makes happiness as others are made happy they
come to the needy with the wisdom of heaven; but when we would do good,
evil is present with us in the works of men, who would overcome what is
needful to the wanting, thereby wronging themselves and others.
All evil is sin against spirits, as it is against God, who doeth good. When men
disturb the means which produce good, they violate a law which God
SPIRIT WORLD. 199
has established to govern mind. The good is not enjoyed. It is not conferred,
because evil controls to prevent. Have minds in the body wronged themselves
and others? Have they no account to settle? Have they worked against good?
What have they said against spirits? What have they done? Have we injured
them? Have they any fears of our injuring them? We wish them to answer,
and answer truly. We wish them no harm. Why, then, calumniate our
endeavors to do good? Will calumny and falsehood add to enjoyment? Will
the unhappiness of mind with which they are associated in the body,
contribute to their gratification? Do they really wish that unhappiness to
continue? Could demons of pagan idolatry do more than that? And will they
continue in the work? Will they still oppose the removal of unhappiness from
the earth? Alas! We will discharge our duty, whether men hear or forbear,
whether men praise or scorn, whether men aid or resist, and whether men
obey or disobey.
When men see what is true, the evil of opposing the views which we reveal
will be no more. And when they act consistently with the religion they
profess, they will not ridicule what they have not the power to overthrow. The
age of ridicule is near its close. Men gain what will contribute to their own
shame and confusion by opposing spirits. They gain what they must lose to be
happy. No mind will gain what it expects by deriding a manifestation of
spirits. We see what it will lose. It will lose what would be of more value than
all the wisdom of man affords. Notwithstanding the value of friends and
friendship is dear to the soul, it is not a remuneration for the evil of rejecting
the will of Heaven. The mind that opposes the truth which we disclose, will
not find the happiness we enjoy. The sin is in the mind. The law is there to
condemn
200 LIGHT FROM THE
sin. The evil is there to fight against good. When men oppose the good we
reveal, they oppose their own enjoyment; and when they oppose their own
enjoyment, who receives the recompense of reward?
When Jesus came with the wisdom of God, he reviled not the reviler of his
message. He knew the reward of his opposers. He saw that their opposition
was a wrong to themselves. He did not wish to aggravate that wrong, for he
came to remove it. He did not wish to curse them with a deeper wrong. He
would seek and save. He would bless and curse not. He would love enemies;
and love never makes unhappiness. Confidence may be abused; but the wrong
is in the abuse. It is not the faithful who scorn righteousness, but the
unfaithful. All scorn is evil. It is a sin. Mind violates law when it scorns. No
matter who, or what, is scorned, the scorn is sin, unless the thing scorned be
an evil. When mind scorns mind, there is no harmony between the two. If
there be no harmony, there must be discord; and what is discord but a
disturbance of law, a violation of law, which is always accompanied with a
reward proportioned to the disturbance? The mind of our circle sees the
discord. It sees the unhappiness of mind in the body. It sees no remedy in
discord to cure the evil. It sees no wisdom among discordant minds to rectify
the wrong. Shall the sin continue? Who responds No? They who receive the
wisdom of heaven. Who answers yes? They who scorn the message of spirits.
They who sin against spirits. They who preach and they who write against
spirits. They who ridicule and scorn the tidings of deliverance. They who sell
the good of their souls for the love of worldly gain. They who trade with
worldly gain to satisfy an immortal mind. They who cultivate their own
ignorance to increase their own
SPIRIT WORLD. 201
enjoyment. They who speculate in the vices and wrongs of others, to
compensate the emptiness which exists in their own souls. They who
practically deny themselves the happiness we promote by our endeavors to
bless the needy, and make them happy.
When men sin against spirits, they sin against the works of Jesus. There can
be no veneration for his instruction, no veneration for his example, no
veneration for his precepts, when minds wage hostility against revelation from
heaven. There may be a profession of veneration, but where is the practice?
Where is the witness of sincerity? Does he appear to testify? What is his
testimony? Is it contradictory? How so? We will show.
He says, holy men were inspired. By whom? By a holy spirit. This is well. But
when we inspire minds, he says, we are deceivers. He testifies that what we
say is false. But do we not testify that revelation is true? Yes. Does he say, it
is false? No; but he verifies what we say. He states that what we say is false,
and what we say is true. Such is one among many inconsistencies, we might
name.
The sin is contrived for the purpose of wrong. We see what is the object. It is
no new thing for men to attribute spirit manifestations to an evil source. When
Jesus came and performed wonders by the aid of a spirit, the unbelieving Jews
said of him, He hath a devil. He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of
devils. When we manifest wonders, many say of those whom we have chosen
to work our wonders, "they have an evil spirit. It is a devil who aids, who
inspires." Who inspired the prophets? who inspired Jesus? Who inspired the
apostles of Jesus? Who said, they were moved by an evil spirit? The same
minds, or circle of minds, who accuse mediums of the new era,
202 LIGHT FROM THE
and say, they are controlled by evil spirits. When Jesus said,  These signs
shall follow them that believe," did he speak as one inspired by a holy spirit?
If he spake the truth, was the spirit evil? Was it an evil spirit that inspired
him? If not, why say these signs shall not follow them that believe? We see
men who profess to be servants of Jesus, disputing his inspired message. We
hear them controverting his declaration. We hear them telling their
congregations, that the age of signs and wonders from heaven is passes that
Jesus spake what was true then, but not true now, and that the signs which he
said should follow them that believe are not true in the present age. It is a
singular discovery. No spirit of this sphere understands truth as a changeable
thing! We know that what was true when Jesus was on earth is, and always [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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