Silver Birch Sitting 1967

There is always a special welcome by Silver Birch, guide of Hannen Swaffers home circle,
for visitors who are mediums. This was evident in his greeting to a well-known medium
[Gordon Higginson]. The guide addressed him as a colleague who is also an instrument of
the spirit world.

I know what mediums have to undergo. Anyone who thinks it is easy has a lot to learn.

After the medium said that many times he had thought of retiring from active service because
of unkind critics he had encountered, the guide commented:

It is a pity that people do not measure up to the truths they serve! Never mind about people,
only be concerned with principles. It is regrettable that, even with knowledge, many
transgress and sin against the law.

Be sorry for them. They are the ones who must pay the price. None escapes the
responsibility of action, word or thought. This is the result of a previous effect and is a cause
which creates another effect. And so the chain goes on and on.

You cannot divorce cause from effect, sowing from reaping. Growth is the result of that
which is planted. If you sow selfishness, you reap selfishness.

Then addressing the medium, he said: You have come through despite many heartbreaks.
But do not imagine for a single moment that the sorrows which have sometimes caused your
heart to fill as if it were about to break in two were not shared by those who love you.

Your feet have been guided. You have had to learn experience from the greatest teacher of all,
life itself. This teacher is incomparable. There are no books which can equal the lessons it
offers.
You have been right down into the depths when you have felt almost that you were in
Gehenna itself. This is not unknown. But it was all part of your equipment, so that the soul
could come into its own and feel and understand and sympathise.

The lustre of the gold emerges after the crushing. You are better spiritually for it. Your own
powers, as a result, have a fullness of expression, a maturity of manifestation, that would not
have been possible without them.

I do not have to tell you of the love that exists for you in this world. You have attracted, by
your service, not only those related to you by ties of blood, your own kith and kin, whose
passing brought you into this knowledge, but those angels whom the Great Spirit has given to
be in charge of you, and who have watched you from the moment of your entrance into the
world of matter and who have truly acted as guides the whole way.

You will finish the task. It is not over. There is still work to do. There are still broken hearts
to be mended and tears of sorrow to be replaced by the smiling certainty of knowledge. If you
have only comforted one mourner, that is accounted as greater than many of the material
prizes which are so richly esteemed by those who do not realise that they will have to leave
them behind.

You have performed a great service. You cannot measure the work you have done. But it is
stamped indelibly on your soul and on the souls of those whom you have helped to come into
their own. Be rightly proud of the labour that has been done. Thank the Great Spirit that
opportunities are given to you to perform this service. It is the richest work that you can do.

Do not worry about the foolish, needless jealousies, the petty spites. You have protective
armour to ensure that they cannot really touch you unless you allow them to do so.

The strength of the spirit is your refuge. The love of the spirit is your sanctuary. The wisdom
of the spirit is your haven. Seek them whenever the need arises. Earthly minds may fail you,
but never will the power of the spirit neglect you. Realise always that guidance continues to
function even when you cannot see it, and that the arms of love always encircle you.

If I can say one word to encourage you, to cheer, to enthuse you, then I rejoice. It is
instruments we need. I am not concerned with buildings, churches, temples, institutions.
They have their place, but the power of the spirit flows not through masonry but through
human instruments who are important to us as links in the mighty chain. One honest servant
of the spirit who allows himself to be an instrument is more important than all the buildings.

Just go on. Do your best and continue to serve. Serve wherever you can. Seek no plaudits of
your world. Know that you are fulfilling the purpose for which you were born, so that when
the time comes, you leave with no regrets for unfinished labours.

Answering a question the visitor asked, Silver Birch said: People in your world are so
impatient. They know better than the Plan. Yet the Plan was conceived long before they
came into the world. I trust the Plan. If I find it has mistakes, then I shall have to revise the
experience of a very long life.

Humans make mistakes; the Great Spirit never makes mistakes. If the Great Spirit could
make mistakes, then the Great Spirit would cease to be omnipotent and nothing in the
universe would make sense.

These were the guides last words at this sitting: Let us rejoice at the opportunities given to
each one of us to serve the greatest power in the universe by bringing enlightenment to some
of His children. Let us rejoice that we are fulfilling the purpose for which we were created.
There is no religion higher than service.

To heal the sick, to comfort the mourner, to guide the perplexed, to give strength to the weary
and direction to those who have lost their way, those are the most important tasks of all.

To help a soul find itself, and to come into its own is to perform one of the greatest services.
It kindles the divine light which can grow into a strong illumination.

Rejoice, therefore, that you have been brought within the orbit of service, with the means,
ability, gift and the power to express the love of the Great Spirit. Rejoice that you wear some
of the divine emblems. Know that always in your labour you attract to yourselves the power
which will help you always to continue to serve.
Never forget the supreme purpose of life is the unfoldment of the spirit. Pay attention to the
requirements of your eternal nature. Thus you have a true perspective and focus on life and
know that you are immortal souls, expressing yourselves through mortal clay, and that
strength will come to you as you allow the divine to express itself through you.

These are the important principles to be borne in mind. They are hard to remember when you
are engaged in daily conflicts and matter seems so powerful and spirit so weak. But spirit is
master and matter is servant. Spirit is king and matter is subject. Spirit is God and you are
part of God.

I am grateful for your love, constancy and helpfulness. In return, I shall continue as always to
serve to the utmost limit of my strength. Always remember the purpose which brings us
together from time to time, the purpose which is stamped with the divine hallmark.

Let us so order our lives that we are truly ambassadors of the divinity which is responsible for
all that we are. In striving to serve, we shall be drawing closer and closer to that infinite
power which always seeks to use us in the service of the suffering and those that need to be
told that love indeed rules the whole universe.

The Great Spirit bless you all.

This transcript is reproduced with the kind permission of the Spiritual Truth Foundation