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THE GREATER WORLD CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST CHURCH
THE ZODIAC MESSAGES
"THE CHAIN OF MANY LINKS"
An address given by the Christ-messenger 'Zodiac',
(the unnamed scribe of the Bible and a teacher in the
Temple of Jerusalem at the time of Christ), through
the mediumship of Miss Winifred Moyes in the first
half of the twentieth century
-
..."MY little children, it is with joy that I
come once more into your presence and I raise your
thoughts above the beauties of the earth plane and
I fix them - not upon the beauties of the Spirit, but
upon the loveliness of the Christ. Oh, listen and learn,
for time is fleeting and much must be worked in for
great things are coming to pass. I speak to you as
my children gifted to me by God, and I entreat you
to place yourselves before the Father - not as a living
'sacrifice' so-called by those who know not, but as
a living offering for His most holy work.
-
"Children, to what am I leading your thoughts?
Why do I wish to train you, to prepare you? Why do
I ever draw up your minds still higher and higher still?
You know the love that is human and you have had portrayed
to you in little measure the love which is Divine;
and I say, instructed by our Creator, the Controller
of all things, that your goal is that same greater,
grander love. That love to us is represented only and
solely by service under Christ to those of His children
who have wandered far from the protection of the fold,
those children who have followed the false shepherds,
who have listened to this one and that, who have forgotten
that Christ, the Shepherd of mankind, has drawn them
out of the lesser into the greater, out of the valley
on to the foot of the hill of spiritual attainment.
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"This night I have been instructed to speak upon
that which I name the Chain of Many Links, and I want
to take your thoughts by symbol, by portraying in picture,
back to that time when the children of the earth had
fallen from their high estate and were struggling to
regain a measure of that which, out of ignorance and
wilfulness they had thrown away.
-
"Now think you as to this: Hold in your mind a
chain with uncountable links, a chain composed of links
representing different stages of development; aye,
that which is the copper, the silver and the gold;
yet still to bear in mind that the chain which represents
humanity as a whole is composed of links varying in
quality, in workmanship, and, above all, in utility,
but it is one chain, and the ends of that chain are
held by God. The weak links, the poor links, they are
fastened to the strong links, the sure links, and the
strong links and the sure links gain their strength
and their sureness from Christ.
-
"Oh, Follow me in thought. In time long past the
children who wandered upon the earth plane, those in
the early days of spiritual history, these, for the
most part, represented the copper, the coarse, unrefined
copper, but they were links in the chain prized by
God. Yet recall our father Abraham; was he of the copper
quality? Nay, the pure gold. What of Moses? Oh, you
may stop me here and say: 'Not of gold such as he;
perhaps of the silver, but not of the gold.' But I
say unto you, instructed by the One Who is All Wisdom,
that when Moses passed out of the earth stage, to his
great amazement he found that which was a crude link
transformed into a link which indeed represented treasure
itself.
-
"I take your minds on, I call your attention to
John, the beloved of the Master's heart as you name
him. John was the pure gold, ah yes; but what of Peter?
In the early days, lo, Peter was a copper link, crude,
ungainly, cumbersome; something that hurt, something
that many would have cast aside as unfit, unsuitable
to be linked to Christ, the perfect link in that glorious
chain. Aye, Peter was in those early days impetuous,
oft swayed by wrong judgement, inclined to seek for
argument here and to render opposition there; yet by
the process of suffering, and, above all, by the process
of work, of the giving out of himself to the service
of the Master, gradually the coarse, crude link of
copper was refined, the dross of the earth was worn
away by sorrow, by loss, by tragedy, by persecution;
and time was, oh, time was when as the bright silver
so Peter stood to all who knew him, as something of
value in the great chain constructed by God for the
raising up and the binding together of His children,
His creation, those who once were as Himself.
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"Again time passed; Peter laid aside this and
gave up that. Self-will, through that which the Master
taught and gave, faded away, and in the place of self-will,
of clinging to inclination, of holding to the theories
and the thoughts of the physical mind, so the will
of the Christ took the place of all this, and when
Peter passed out of earth, oh, as a link of gold he
illuminated not only his day, but the bright beams
from that link have shone over the centuries; and through
the brightness so others, again by slow processes,
have emerged out of the crude, the copper stage, and
if not reaching the gold have represented something
of light to those in their surroundings.
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"Little ones, I take you back over the past to
that one named Stephen - ah, a silver link was Stephen,
even from the boyhood of the earth mind. Because through
that undertaken and willingly endured in the stage
before the earth life so, when the call came, the pure
gold of the nature within expressed itself; and Stephen,
with his eyes on the Master, worked in that part of
the plan ordained by the Great Constructor, and you
and I and countless thousands have thanked God for
Stephen.
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"And then Paul, the one you love so well. Think
of his early years, his passionate, remorseless force;
the man who recognised authority and was determined
that others should bend the knee to authority as well.
What of Paul? The pains of the body, the sufferings
imposed by others, the loneliness, the exile, ah, through
love for the Saviour, the Master, our God, so Paul
laid aside the gifts of the mind - which he had in
plenty; laid aside the gifts of the hand - which he
had in plenty; emptied himself of his lesser self,
and as an empty vessel, a vessel cleansed by tribulation,
so he offered his body for God's use; and those with
the greater wisdom, those who had passed into the light
which never fades, they came and, entering the vessel,
gave forth the Truth in the measure that those who
listened could understand.
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"What of Paul, what of Peter, and what of those
who followed after? Little ones, this great chain of
humanity with its countless links, it represents the
love of God in so gigantic a degree that man cannot
grasp it, he has overlooked the meaning, the purpose
and the plan. Those who seem to represent the bright
silver, ah, there are some as these who turn with scorn
upon the cruder links, the coarse links, the common
links. But when they pass out of physical restrictions,
to their horror they find upon that which should be
as the bright silver, the rust of self; and the rust
of self has eaten into the bright silver and lo, exposed,
is the common copper - they are as the ones despised.
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"Oh, listen and learn! There are those who to
the world at large represent something so crude, so
unpolished, so unrefined that many pour scorn upon
them. They say, 'What is this? Where are the gifts
of the mind, where are the gifts of the hand? Such
a one is only fit to be the servant of those who know
more.' And as a servant the one who seems as the copper
link works and suffers; humility is forced upon him,
and he says within himself, 'Who am I?' And the answer
comes: 'Someone of no importance!' But the Voice of
the Spirit, which seeks to pierce the density of the
earth plane, cries and cries again: 'Thou art my child
in whom I am well pleased: rejoice and take of my peace.'
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"Little children, how blind are we when in the
body, how false our judgements, how limited our understanding!
We look around and we judge by externals: our sense
of values for the most part is in direct opposition
to the values of the Christ. Oh think you of the Master,
how many exclaimed at the crude link the Beloved represented.
What of His family, what of His home, what of His record,
what of His mental attainments? 'Who is this Man? -
One of no account!' What did the Master show, what
did the Master teach, what was the Master's example?
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"Oh think you, humbleness of heart! Clothed as
the common people, bearing with Him the signs, the
marks of the obscure, of one who was of no importance
to the world at large, the Master took the earth way,
and by that which He laid aside of the earth and gathered
up of the Spirit, so light broke across the darkness
of the selfishness of man: and with His coming and
His passing so the redemption of the straying souls
of mankind was commenced. Think of the Master, think
of those with the power, with the possessions of the
earth, with the authority of the country. 'Who is this
man?' And the answer which came condemned Him - condemned
Him!
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"Little ones, because I am held by Truth, because
the Master directs my words I must force upon your
consciousness the importance of a right valuation;
I must entreat you to look and look ever again upon
this world of unrealities, to probe beneath the unrealities
and to find that which is real in the sight of God.
The tempters are around; their arguments are so plausible,
their persistence has a weakening effect. Oh I come
not with a new truth with a strange message; neither
do I come with a different rendering of the message
from the Master. But it is God's will that I should
speak to the masses and remind them, remind them of
what God, as Man, taught them in a far-off day and
has sought, through His instruments, to teach them
ever since.
-
"Time passed: the few who followed remembered
the message as it was given; the saints and the martyrs
they looked around and the world deceived them not.
And you, my little ones, through their anguish, through
their willingness to endure, through their capacity
to forget themselves, have this great gift of knowing
that God walks the earth plane, that His messengers
work and strive with the blinded, blunted mind of man
so that man may not betray and still betray the Christ
within.
-
"I come not with a new teaching or with a message
that varies in one particular from that of the Christ.
The Master called to those who were as the copper links,
the crude misshapen unpolished links; and they, because
and only because they were willing to undergo the process
of refinement, the process of much use, have over the
centuries been as golden links; and through the strength
and the purity and the brightness of the golden links,
so countless thousands have passed from the crude into
the polished, from the polished into that of high utility,
and there indeed has been joy in the heavens. God has
been justified through His children and His faith in
them has been manifested for all the world to see;
for the links of the chain are fastened to that which
is as the padlock of God Himself.
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"Now, my children, I come out of the past into
the little present. I say to you, through the power
of the Holy Spirit, that you each one - because the
Divine within demands it - you must not stop at the
silver stage. You have emerged out of the crude, out
of that which indeed represents weakness in the great
chain of humanity - you have emerged out of that by
the effort put forth, by the dedication, by the wish
to serve; but it is not enough, for the God within
you represents the pure gold. And that which is the
soul-body cannot rest and shall not rest until it bears
likeness to the perfection within gifted by God Himself.
-
"But the only way to strengthen the links, the
only way to polish the links, the only way to refine
the links, is by the same way the Master took Himself.
Oh think you! Could God have come into a physical tabernacle
and have taken the easier way, the way of peace, the
way of non-resistance, and still have remained God?
No, my children, had the Christ failed to grasp the
cross from childhood until Calvary, instead of a God,
perfect in love, illimitable in understanding, humanity
to-day would have been within the power of a force
charged with evil; for perfection cannot fail itself
without devastating results to others.
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"Oh think of the test, think of the Christ - of
the child, of the boy, of the young man so sensitive
to conditions, so at the mercy through that sensitiveness
to forces of temptation undreamed of by you; think
of the home, think of the discipline, think of the
self-denial. Yet that one - God - by one thought, one
desire, could have built up around Him the highest
beauties of the physical world, the greatest treasures
and possessions; one thought, and around Him He could
have gathered even as an army of slaves. Oh, think,
think of the test endured by God! He, the Master, the
Christ, the One to whom we owe all that we have, all
that we are and can rise to in time to come - that
One, with illimitable power, chose to tread the way
bereft of earthly power, subject to one, ruled by another
- and at last gave Himself up into the hands of His
own creation so that they might do their will; for
having given free-will, God never withdraws His gifts,
although His children may use them to strike the heart
of Love itself.
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"Little ones, I speak of this chain tonight with
my eyes upon the Master, the One so kind, and I tell
you, out of my greater gift of vision, that could you
see the Christ nothing would be strong enough to hold
you back. You would not turn from the tests, you would
not rebel when things go 'wrong', you would say: 'Ah,
this is the process, the essential process for turning
the link I represent into pure gold.' You would not
want the things of the world to go your way, you would
not want the circumstances of your life to harmonise
with the will of the mind of the body. No, you would
turn back in thought to the Master, you would remember
that His will had been controlled by those with lesser
understanding than Himself, those who were blind, those
who had blunted reason. All-Wisdom was subject unto
others; He gave up His own will and in obedience followed
the one He knew as father, the one He knew as mother;
and in order to preserve that flickering harmony in
the home, allowed those who were there to take their
own way, not His way but their way.
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"Oh, cannot you see, cannot you understand the
responsibility of each link, each human soul? Think
of this: What if the chain were composed of those who,
spiritually, were as the copper? What if the chain
had none of the bright silver and knew naught of the
bright gold? In this same time, my little ones, this
earth of yours would be as a seething pit of venom;
disease, horrors indescribable, that which was loathsome
in every sense would have overrun this little earth;
you would look around but no beauty of Nature would
meet your eyes; it would be as some awful barren waste
where that which was terror was on all sides.
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"Through the silver links, through the golden
links so, my little ones, you have beauty of the mind
and that beauty created by the hand; and, above all
and first of all, although unseen by the majority,
around the individual, around the struggling soul,
are the glories of the Spirit, those things which never
fade and never pass away, those glories which are man's
inheritance, permanent for ever.
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"But I say to you that responsibility over the
chain, over the link which you represent, must be faced
now or hereafter. Forget not this: You could not understand,
you could not love the Christ had it not been for those
in the past willing to endure, willing to give up,
willing to lay aside self for the sake of others. But
how few knew that by the giving up they were drawing
to themselves the gifts of God Himself? Nay, they were
blind and bound; but something - a Voice within or
without - bid them go on; heartened their wills when
the body cried out for rest and relief, heartened their
wills when persecution drew close, heartened their
wills under the lash, under the fire, upon the cross.
They passed out not knowing what they had created by
their willingness to endure, by their determination
to follow, falteringly though it might be, in the footsteps
of the Christ.
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"Oh little ones, time is fleeting, there are many
to deceive and so few to warn; yet when the individual
passes out of the seeming into Reality, forced upon
his consciousness will be this fact: 'I had the example
of the Christ, I read His words, I studied His life.
Why was I deceived, why did I not give up, why did
I seek to bargain with God?' Forget not that although
the Christ suffers for you and with you, struggles
for you and with you, the Christ cannot learn your
lessons for you; nay, only you yourself can make the
great decision.
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"Oh, think of the suffering, think of the misunderstanding,
think of the cruelty of man to man. Where are the links
of gold, where are the silver links? Little ones, cannot
you see how weakness begets weakness, how blindness
creates blindness, how self-indulgence builds up self-desire
all around? I speak to many, I speak to all those who
have been gathered in: Little children, pause not;
blunders may have been made in the past, but God is
God and He can raise you up. Links of copper you may
represent but under the guidance of the Christ not
only as silver but as the bright, bright gold so you
shall become, so you must become, for God - Perfection
- waits for that which is His own.
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"You crowd in so thick - ah, what is my message?
Shall I say you have done well? Nay, I say you have
the desire, the capacity, to do far, far better, for
within you is God, and God knows not the second best.
God knows not fear, God knows naught but perfect love
expressed for others. Therefore I send you not back
to your conditions but I send you, through the power
of the Holy Spirit, into the light, into a measure
of understanding, and I say to you: Work on, strive
on, pray on; and, above all, rest not but work out
upon your companions that which it is your will should
be worked out upon yourself . . .
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"Oh, my children, could you see those around,
then earthly possessions or joys, these things would
seem to have no life, no strength. It would be just
Christ - His work in His way, not in man's way, not
in the way that many representatives of the Most High
seek to deceive themselves and others is the right
way; it would be the way of service, the way of giving
up, the humble way, passing out of pleasantness, so-called,
into unpleasantness, so recognised - but taking with
you the brightness of the Spirit, the gladness of the
Beloved, and the strength of the Father God; passing
out into that road which the Divine within desires,
for Christ has called you to high and holy things.
The time must come when as the link of pure gold, refined
by suffering, polished by that which others have done
unto you, cleansed by sacrifice, strong, unbreakable,
bearing likeness to Perfection, so by that which you
have endured, which you have created, which you have
set into being, those many others, far, far, down the
long chain, crude, covered with the dross of material
things, these, through the gold you represent, will
change their character, shall be transformed stage
by stage, until they too, resembling the brightness
and the beauty of God, shall strengthen the hands of
the Creator and bring about not only in this earth
condition but in conditions far, far less evolved,
transformation in turn.
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"Oh, cannot you see how great is the work, how
urgent the need, how the call comes for those who will
respond? Respond to what? - to the example of the Christ.
Strive for what? - to place their feet in His footprints,
and in humbleness of heart to see that the next task
and the next is done - not as man does it but as God
did it when He walked upon the earth plane and suffered
for our sakes.
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"So, little ones, commune within. Pray ever, ask
that the link you represent may indeed bear likeness
to that which the Master showed was possible during
this stage of bondage and restriction. Oh turn to the
Saviour, ask Him to lead, to guide; oh turn to the
Beloved! Let naught of the world, naught of the mind,
naught of the hand make barriers between you and All-Wisdom,
All-Power, but learn of Him; for He, by taking the
humble way, the way of poverty, the way of suffering,
the way of scorn and persecution, He not only demonstrated
Perfection but held that perfection which His God-head
represented. Christ did that greatest deed of all only
by the experiences He so willingly undertook, only
by the facing of temptations, only by those thousands
and thousands of things that seemed to go wrong, yea,
only in this wise was man given that miraculous opportunity
of regaining that which he had cast from him.
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"Here we come to redemption in its true sense.
Only by the way the Saviour took could man have been
saved from himself when, in that same time, the forces
of evil had been loosened over the earth, for each
stage would have represented one point farther away
from God. Oh remember ever that One and One only is
'example.' Those who come to you seeking to harmonise
spiritual values with the values of this little earth,
these are deceivers, whether in the body or free from
the body. One only, One only can be example to humanity,
and that is Christ!
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"My children, although I have gathered into this
room those of all planes, forget not that in the Father's
sight division or separation is unknown. God is the
Father of each one and though His children may stray,
though they may betray the greater self a thousand
times over, yet the Father is the Father and the child
belongs to Him.
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"Little ones, I entreat you to hold the thought
of the glorious chain - humanity linked up through
all states and conditions, all planes, all realms,
undivided except that those who are weak shrink at
times from those who are strong, those who know not
purity are agonised by the purity of the ones who come
to save. But here again is opportunity in a glorious
form. Because of this so those with the strength, those
with the purity, pass down their power from the links
of gold to the links of silver and even to those of
copper, for the link of copper is suitable to be bound
to copper. And through the power purchased by suffering
in the past, so the link of copper and the one of cruder
copper become in time bright silver; and, again in
time, as the pure gold bestowed by God. So then, my
little ones, spread the good news far and wide; say
to those who are bound: 'Prisoner you may be, but within
your power it is to set another free.' Go to those
who are weak, those who fall into temptation, and give
forth the message of the Christ, The One Who seeks
and seeks until the straying sheep is found.
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"Oh, think of the gifts bestowed by God! Whatever
stage or state of development, however bound, within
the power of the individual it lies to cut the bonds
of another, and out of that which they have done so
more fetters fall from them; and the one who has supplied
the strength to do the two-fold deed finds to his exceeding
great joy that he is freer still. And so God's law
of mercy is worked out as only Love could have conceived,
as only Love could have protected over the long, long
past. Little ones, again I turn your eyes to Christ,
His example, and I say to you, governed by Truth itself,
that in the measure you follow in the footsteps of
the Beloved so, in that measure, shall your Divine
gifts, housed within, be released.
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"I bless you with spiritual ambition, I bless
you with fearlessness and with the will to endure.
In the name of the Holy Spirit I draw down the power
of God, and it is the Father's will that henceforth
you should see a little clearer, you should be a little
wiser, and you should strive a little harder. God's
blessing rest on you all. Oh take and make your own,
for it is precious beyond words to describe - the blessing
of the Christ. Farewell.
©GWCSA
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