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I am here, St. Luke.
I want to add my testimony to that of Professor Salyards as to "who and what is God." Of course, since the Master has substantiated what the Professor wrote and enlarged on it, my testimony is not necessary, yet, I desire to say a few words which are expressive of my knowledge arising from my own experience.
I have a soul development which is greater than that of the Professor, and a perception which is clearer and more convincing than his, and yet, what he has said is all that I can say as to the truth of the personality of God, except that to me it is undoubtedly much clearer and of longer acquaintance.
I know that God is a being that has personality, though not a form like unto man, but has all the attributes that have been mentioned. These attributes are not God, but merely qualities which he possesses, and which in their workings upon the hearts and souls of men emanate and flow from Him. You may better understand this if I call your attention to the fact that while you can see and feel and hear and love and dislike, yet these attributes or qualities are not you, but only those things that belong to your personality. You may be deprived of any or all of them, and yet you may not cease to exist as a personality. And so with God; while these things of love and wisdom, and loving and hearing do not constitute God, yet they are are a part of Him and are exercised by Him, just as the qualities I have mentioned are exercised by you.
I know it is difficult for the mere mind to comprehend this great truth of God having a personality, yet it is a truth, and just as teal to the perceptions of the developed soul as is the existence of yours or any man's personality to the finite mind.
And here is another fact in connection with this great truth, and that is that only the spirits who have experienced the New Birth and become filled with the Divine Love of the Father, and hence a partaker of His Divinity, will ever be able to perceive this great truth of the personality of God. No other spirit will ever receive that soul development which is absolutely necessary for it to possess in order to perceive the great truth under discussion.
Yet the mere fact that these other spirits do not comprehend or understand this truth, does not make it any the less a truth, and all men and spirits are subject to its operations and must come under the benefits that they may receive by reason of the workings of this truth upon their lives and thoughts.
Just because men cannot see God it does not follow that He does not see them, for He does; and their every thought is known to Him and taken account of. And strange as it may seem to you, or as I should more appropriately say, surprising as it may seem to you, that account is kept in the memories and consciences of men themselves, and when the time comes for them to render an account of their acts and thoughts, no other place or receptacle is sought for or examined to find this account than these very memories and consciences; and nothing can be hidden or lost, until it has fulfilled the purpose of its existence.
Men may create, but they cannot destroy--I refer now to their actions and their thoughts. While on earth they may forget and ease their consciences by forgetting, yet, when they come to the spirit world, and are called to render an account, the inexorable laws that are really their judges and executioners show them that there is no such thing as forgetting--and has been said, they have forgotten to forget.
God is being, self-existing, unchangeable, but full of love and mercy. And these He does not exercise in any individual case, but has made certain that His laws of mercy will so operate that all the spirits of men and mortals also, may by their own acts and desires place themselves in such condition of soul, that these spirits will receive the benefit of this mercy. Yes, His mercy is from the beginning waiting for all men to ask for it and want it, just as is His love.
I could write on this subject for a longer time, but I must not write more to-night as you are tired, so I will close.
With all my love and blessings, I am Your brother in Christ,
- ST. LUKE.
