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I AM HERE. Jesus.
I desire to-night to write you on the subject: How a soul must receive the Divine Love of the Father in order to become an inhabitant of the Kingdom of God, and realize that immortality of which I have written you.
In the first place, it must be understood that the Divine Love of the Father is an entirely distinct kind of love from the love which the Father bestowed upon man at the time of his creation, and which man has possessed in a more or less condition of purity ever since that time.
This Divine Love was never conferred upon man as a perfect and completed gift, either at the time of his creation, or since my coming to earth, but as a gift which is waiting for man's own efforts and aspirations to obtain, and without which it can never become his, although it is always close to him, waiting to answer his call.
Then understanding what this Love is, and that man must seek for it, and what its effect upon the soul of man is, it becomes very important that man should make the obtaining of it, the one great object of his aspirations and desires. For when he possesses it to a degree that makes him at one with the Father, he ceases to be a mere man, and becomes of a nature of soul existence that makes him Divine, with many qualities of the Father, the chief of which is, of course, Love; and also causes him to absolutely realize the fact of his immortality.
MERE MORAL GOODNESS, OR THE POSSESSION OF THE NATURAL LOVE TO ITS FULLEST DEGREE WILL NOT CONFER UPON MAN THIS DIVINE NATURE THAT I HAVE MENTIONED; NOR WILL GOOD ACTS, AND CHARITY AND KINDNESS, OF THEMSELVES LEAD MEN TO THE POSSESSION OF THIS LOVE, BUT THE POSSESSION OF THIS LOVE IN TRUTH AND IN FACT, WILL LEAD TO CHARITY, AND GOOD DEEDS, AND KINDNESS, ALWAYS UNSELFISH, AND TO A BROTHERHOOD OF MEN ON EARTH THAT THE MERE NATURAL LOVE CANNOT POSSIBLY LEAD TO OR CAUSE TO EXIST.
I know that men preach about the Fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man, and urge men to attempt to cultivate the thoughts and deeds of love and self-sacrifice and charity in a way to bring about the greatly to be wished for unity of life and purpose on the part of men; and by reason of this natural love can, themselves, do a great work in bringing about this brotherhood. Yet the chain that binds them together cannot possibly be any stronger than the natural love which forges it; and when that becomes overshadowed by ambition and material desires, the brotherhood will become greatly weakened, or disappear entirely, and men will realize that its foundation was not built upon a rock, but rather upon the infirm sand, which could not sustain the superstructure, when the storms arising from men's ambition and desires for power and greatness, and many other material things, beat upon it. So I say, there is a great necessity for something more than man's mere natural love to help him form a brotherhood that will remain steadfast and firm under all conditions and among all men.
So this natural love, under circumstances the most favorable to preserve the constancy of man's happiness and freedom from sin and error, proved itself to be not sufficient to maintain that condition, then what may be expected of it when circumstances are such that this love has degenerated from its pure state and has become defiled by all these tendencies of men to do that which is in violation not only of God's laws, but of everything that would otherwise help men to realize a true brotherhood.
As I have heretofore said in my writings, there will come a time when this natural love will be restored to its original state of purity and freedom from sin, and when this brotherhood may exist in a degree of perfection that will make all men happy.
Yet that time is far off and will not be realized on earth at all, until the New Birth and the New Heavens appear, and in the meantime men's dreams of this great brotherhood will not be realized.
I know that men expect that sometime, in the far distant future, by means of education and conventions and preachments of moral truth, this dream of an ideal brotherhood will be established on earth, and all the souls of hatred and war, and the oppression of the weak by the strong will disappear. But I tell you that if men depend upon this mere natural love and all the great feelings and impulses that may arise from it, to bring about this condition so much desired, they will find disappointments and lose faith in the goodness of men, and at times a retrogression, not only in that love, but in the conduct of men towards one another, and in the treatment of nations by one another.
I have digressed somewhat from my subject, but I thought it best to show to man that his dependence upon himself, which is his dependence on this natural love, is not sufficient and adequate to bring him into a condition of happiness even on earth, and therefore totally inadequate to bring him into the Kingdom of Heaven.
THE DIVINE LOVE THAT I SPEAK OF, IS OF ITSELF NOT ONLY ABLE TO MAKE A MAN AN INHABITANT OF THE FATHER'S KINGDOM, BUT IS SUFFICIENT TO ENABLE HIM TO BRING ABOUT AND REALIZE TO THE FULLEST OF HIS DREAMS THAT GREAT BROTHERHOOD, EVEN WHILE ON EARTH.
THIS LOVE OF THE FATHER'S OWN SELF IS OF A NEVER CHANGING NATURE, AND IN ALL PLACES AND UNDER ALL CONDITIONS IS WORKING OUT THE SAME RESULTS AND CONVERTING THE SOULS OF MEN ON EARTH AS WELL AS OF THE SPIRITS IN THE SPIRIT WORLD, INTO NOT ONLY THE IMAGE BUT THE SUBSTANCE OF THE DIVINE NATURE. IT MAY BE POSSESSED IN SMALLER OR GREATER DEGREE, DEPENDING UPON MAN HIMSELF; AND THIS DEGREE OF POSSESSION DETERMINES THE CONDITION OF THE SOUL, AND ITS NEARNESS TO THE FATHER'S KINGDOM, WHETHER THE SOUL BE IN THE FLESH OR IN THE SPIRIT.
MAN DOES NOT HAVE TO WAIT TO BECOME A SPIRIT, IN ORDER TO SEEK FOR AND OBTAIN THIS LOVE, FOR THE SOUL ON EARTH IS THE SAME SOUL AS WHEN IN THE SPIRIT WORLD, AND ITS CAPACITY FOR RECEIVING THIS LOVE IS JUST AS GREAT IN ONE PLACE AS IN THE OTHER. OF COURSE ON EARTH THERE ARE MANY CIRCUMSTANCES AND SURROUNDINGS AND LIMITATIONS ON MAN THAT PREVENT THE FREE WORKINGS OF THE SOUL IN THE WAY OF ASPIRATIONS AND FAITH THAT DO NOT EXIST AFTER MAN BECOMES AN INHABITANT OF THE SPIRIT WORLD BUT, NEVERTHELESS, AND NOTWITHSTANDING, ALL THESE DRAWBACKS AND STUMBLING BLOCKS OF THE EARTH LIFE, THE SOUL OF MAN MAY RECEIVE THIS DIVINE LOVE WITHOUT LIMITATIONS AND TO AN ABUNDANCE THAT WILL MAKE HIM A NEW CREATURE AS THE SCRIPTURES SAY.
THE POSSESSION OF THIS DIVINE LOVE ALSO MEANS THE ABSENCE OF THOSE DESIRES AND LONGINGS OF WHAT IS CALLED THE NATURAL MAN, WHICH PRODUCE SELFISHNESS AND UNKINDNESS AND OTHER QUALITIES WHICH CREATE SIN AND ERROR, AND PREVENT THE EXISTENCE OF THIS TRUE BROTHERHOOD WHICH MEN SO EARNESTLY DESIRE AS THE FORERUNNER OF PEACE AND GOOD WILL, AND THE MORE OF THIS DIVINE LOVE THAT ENTERS INTO THE SOUL OF MAN, THE LESS THERE IS OF EVIL TENDENCIES AND DESIRES, AND THE MORE OF THE DIVINE NATURE AND QUALITIES.
THE FATHER IS ALL GOODNESS AND LOVE AND TRUTH, AND FORGIVENESS, AND KINDNESS, AND THESE QUALITIES THE SOULS OF MEN BECOME POSSESSED OF, WHEN THEY RECEIVE AND POSSESS THE DIVINE LOVE. AND WHEN MAN IS SINCERE AND FAITHFUL, AND POSSESSES THERE QUALITIES, THEY NEVER LEAVE HIM OR CHANGE; AND WHEN THIS BROTHERHOOD SHALL BE FOUNDED ON THEM, IT WILL BE BUILT ON A ROCK AND WILL CONTINUE TO LIVE AND BECOME PURER AND FIRMER IN ITS BINDING EFFECT, AND IN THE GREAT RESULTS THAT WILL FLOW FROM IT, FOR ITS FOUNDATION STONE WILL BE THE DIVINE NATURE OF THE FATHER, WHICH IS WITHOUT VARIABLENESS OR CHANGE AND NEVER DISAPPOINTING.
A BROTHERHOOD SO CREATED AND JOINED TOGETHER IS, AS I SAY, "THE ONLY TRUE BROTHERHOOD THAT WILL MAKE FOR MAN A KIND OF HEAVEN ON EARTH, AND BANISH WARS AND HATRED AND STRIFE AND SELFISHNESS, AND THE PRINCIPAL OF MINE AND THINE. THE MINE WILL BE CHANGED TO OURS, AND ALL MANKIND WILL RE TRULY BROTHERS, WITHOUT REFERENCE TO RACE OR SECT OR INTELLECTUAL ACQUIREMENTS. ALL WILL BE RECOGNIZED AS THE CHILDREN OF THE ONE FATHER."
SUCH WILL BE THE EFFECT OF THE EXISTENCE OF THIS LOVE IN MEN'S SOULS ON EARTH, AND WHEN SUCH SOULS LEAVE THEIR ENVELOPE OF FLESH, THEY WILL FIND THEIR HOMES IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD--PARTS OF THE DIVINITY OF THE FATHER, AND PARTAKERS OF HIS IMMORTALITY.
BUT ONLY THIS DIVINE LOVE WILL FIT THE SOULS OF MEN FOR THIS KINGDOM BECAUSE IN THIS KINGDOM ALL THINGS PARTAKE OF THIS DIVINE NATURE AND NOTHING WHICH HAS NOT THAT QUALITY CAN POSSIBLY ENTER THEREIN.
So men must understand, that no mere belief or ceremony of church or baptism, or any of these things are sufficient to enable a soul to become an inhabitant of this Kingdom. Men may do and deceive themselves in their beliefs that anything short of or other than this Divine Love can ensure them an entrance into the Kingdom.
Beliefs may help men to seek and aspire to the possession of this Love, but unless and until this Divine Love is actually possessed by the souls of men, they cannot become partakers of the divine nature and enjoy the happiness and peace of the Father's Kingdom.
When the way to obtain this Love is so easy and the joy of its possession is so great, it is surprising that men will be satisfied with the husks of formalism and the satisfaction and delusion of mere lip worship and intellectual beliefs.
As I have said this Love is waiting for every man to possess, who sincerely and with true soul aspirations seek it. It is not a part of, but surrounding and enveloping every man, but at the same time forming no part of him unless his longings and prayers have opened up his soul, so that it may flow in and infill him with its presence.
Man is never compelled to receive it, as he is never compelled to do other things against his will, but as in the latter case, when in the exercise of that same will, he refuses to let the Divine Love flow into his soul, he must suffer the penalty, which is the utter and absolute deprivation of any possibility to become an inhabitant of the Kingdom of God, or Celestial Kingdom, and of any consciousness of the fact of his immortality.
LET MEN TURN THEIR THOUGHTS AND ASPIRATIONS TO GOD, AND IN TRUTH AND SINCERELY PRAY TO THE FATHER FOR AN INFLOWING INTO THEIR SOULS OF HIS DIVINE LOVE, AND HAVE FAITH, AND THEY ALWAYS FIND THAT THE FATHER WILL BESTOW HIS LOVE UPON THEM, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE EXTENT OF THEIR ASPIRATIONS AND LONGINGS, WHICH ARE MEDIUMS OF OPENING UP THEIR SOULS TO THE WORKINGS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHICH, AS I HAVE BEFORE WRITTEN, IS THE MESSENGER OF GOD, FOR THE CONVEYING OF HIS DIVINE LOVE FROM HIS FOUNTAINHEAD OF LOVE TO THE SOULS OF THE PRAYERFUL AND ASPIRING MEN.
In no other way can the Divine Love be possessed by man, and always it is an individual matter between the particular man and the Father. No other man or body of men or church or spirits or angels can do the work of the individual. As to him, his soul is the only thing involved, and only his aspirations, and his prayers, and his will can open up his soul to the inflowing of this Love which makes him a part of its own divinity.
Of course, the prayers and kind thoughts and loving influences of good men and divine spirits and angels can and do help the souls of men in turning to His love, and in progressing in its possession, but as to the question, will a man become possessor or not of this love, it depends upon the man.
Well I have written enough for to-night and must stop.
So my dear brother I will say with all my love and blessings, good-night.
Your brother and friend,
JESUS.Vol. I, p. 130
