FATHER DIVINE
in The Promised Land, Ulster County, N.Y.
FATHER DIVINE:
PEACE EVERYONE! As we are about to make our departure and serve the next Table, I would like to say, those who have not dined are privileged to take the seats if they desire to and are willing to be governed by the rules and regulations of the Kingdom whilst sitting and dining with us. And that does not mean that there are any reserved seats for the second and all of the other Tables. Of course I did say there are those who feel self-exalted. Through self-exaltation they try to get the head seats, it is true. Nevertheless, there are not any reserved seats at the second and all of the other settings after the first setting.
I would like to say to the sister who mentioned someone asking her up from the Table. I hope it was not, I mean, I hope she was not foolish enough neither had the audacity to ask you up unless it was a reserved seat. The reserved seats have been depicted. Those of the immediate Staff such as you all know are set apart for the immediate Staff at the first Table. But if that person asks you up, even if they were a coworker, they were violating My Rules of the Service in the Holy Communion Hall where I preside if it was not a reserved seat. If it was a reserved seat, if you did not know, you were not guilty of doing anything wrong, but just did something erroneously. With a correction you should not have felt insulted if it was a reserved seat.
As it has been said, you know that there are some reserved seats, but I have opened the way and made it possible for any and everybody who desires to eat in the Holy Communion Hall, even though they are not taking the Holy Communion as Communion; merely eating your dinner or supper or whatsoever it may be termed -- you are welcome to do so the same as you would in the public dining room. But do not feel as if though you are obliged to do so unless you care to. But if you care to sit with us, the Bible says even in reference to the Holy Communion,
'Let a man examine himself. He that taketh it unworthy taketh (you know what) to his own soul!'
But you should examine yourself if you find yourself worthy by being wholly consecrated
to the Service and are willing and ready to and are living exactly according
to My Teaching, you may consider yourself worthy to partake of the food as the
Holy Communion, and to you it will be just what you take it to be.
As I said, the beautiful flowers, they are beautiful and they respond to your praise and thanksgiving, those who appreciate them, and they make themselves beautiful by the Hand of Nature, in other words, the Hand of Nature through the great Creative Forces of Nature by the great Creator makes them beautiful according to the conviction of those who observe the beauty of them, and they are beautiful to those who desire them and those who appreciate them and desire to see them, but they are not for those who are not, but they are for those who are. Can you not see the mystery?
GOD'S Presence, as you Praise GOD, responds to your conviction and to your conscientious sincere Thanksgiving and Praise you give HIM. GOD expresses according to your Praise you give HIM. And as I said, when you do not Praise GOD, GOD to you is not worthy to be praised and GOD to you may not do anything for you, and HE may not be anything for you to praise HIM for; because HE responds according to your Praise and Thanksgiving and according to your appreciation concerning HIM. That is what I AM talking about!
I said in that little song I mentioned in the Office Talk -- the song we sung down here or before we left the Dining Room -- someone remembers the song, no doubt.
It was a song of Praise and Thanksgiving to GOD, and I said, "I AM obliged to respond to your conscientious conviction as you sing the song, because it is captivating as well as fascinating. It is magnetic when you sing it or say it in all sincerity!"
GOD thrives in a Hot Bed of Praises even as Flowers do! That is why in the Scripture, all the way through, it tells you to Praise GOD. Even back in the Psalmic predictions of David, in many of them he depicts Praise to GOD for HE is worthy to be praised.
'Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!'
and
'Worship HIM all ye gods!'
Desirable, such as you all are daily enjoying.
'The LORD is my Shepherd and I shall not want.
HE leadeth me beside the still waters.
HE restoreth my soul . . .!'
When you praise GOD as David did in his Psalmic predictions, GOD restores your
soul! HE leadeth you beside the still waters! You find HE is a Real Shepherd!
You find out in that inspirationic Song of Praises and Psalm of Praise the LORD
truly is your Shepherd and you find out you shall not want! You are convinced
you cannot want for anything, and it all comes through and by the Praise and
Thanksgiving given! Can you not see the mystery?
So he said,
'. . . HE restoreth my soul!'
He said, "Truly (or surely)
Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the day of my life!'
If it did not follow him all the days of his life, as long as he was Praising
GOD in all Sincerity as he was then, Goodness and Mercy truly followed him! Can
you not see the mystery?
Goodness and Mercy have followed you all when you are Praising GOD and giving GOD all Thanks and Adoration and Appreciation for every Blessing such as to you has been given; Goodness and Mercy follow you in all of your works and ways then you can say truly just what GOD said through David concerning HIMSELF. It was a prediction for ME in this Dispensation, for Goodness and Mercy are following ME and I AM convinced to believe it will follow ME all the days of My Life!
How marvelous it is to observe it! When you get overwhelmingly enthused and filled with the Spirit of Love and Praise, you believe Goodness and Mercy shall follow you all the days of your life; even if it does not, you feel like it! Can you not see the mystery? You are filled with enthusiasm, you are filled with joy, peace and happiness, and even though you walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death you fear no evil then when you are Praising HIM! Can you not see the mystery? But when you cease to Praise GOD, why then you begin to get fearful!
He said,
'I shall fear no evil for THOU art with me. THY Rod and THY Staff they comfort me!'
When you Praise GOD Aright you fear no evil! Nothing, matters not what it may
be, you have nothing to fear, for,
'Perfect Love casteth out fear,'
and you should not worry -- better known by the world of slang,
"You should worry!" Can you not see the mystery?
So then I say, it is a privilege to Praise GOD, and for your Praises and Thanksgiving, GOD increases your Blessings. For your Thanksgiving and for your Praise, GOD multiplies them until multiplying can be no more; and
'. . . of His Kingdom and of His Increase and of His Peace there shall be no end!'
But you will not have place nor space to put and place the Blessings of the Multiplied
Blessings that are given! So it is a wonderful thought.
But I could see it so vividly and I could see the difference in the state of consciousness some are in. Truly might have Christendom said by composition through one of the composers:
'Return, O Holy Dove, return, Sweet Messenger of Rest,
I hate that sin that made me mourn and drove Thee from my breast!
'Where is that Blessedness I knew when first I saw the LORD?
Where is that soul so fresh in view of Jesus and His Love?'
When you first got the Blessing you were happy, were you not? ("Yes, LORD!" shouted
the masses.) Your soul and your body were fresh and new! That is what I AM talking
about! But the majority even by the inspirationic prediction, that song I just
mentioned, as it was a prediction for you and a declaration for you who declared
it --
'Where is that Blessedness I knew when first I saw the LORD?'
You were happy! You were not sick a bit for you got healed when you first saw
ME! All aches and pains left! All sorrow, misery, disappointment and failure
disappeared because you BELIEVED and you PRAISED ME! Can you not see the Mystery?
When you did that, everything was ALL RIGHT then! Can you not see the mystery?
But when you CEASED to PRAISE ME, why then, you see, you became just the same
old person you were BEFORE you knew ME -- and that inspirationic prediction as
a composition that came through the one down in Christendom,
'Where is that Blessedness I knew when first I saw the LORD?'
is then a PREDICTION to you and you are experiencing and fulfilling the SAME
prediction that he fulfilled and was fulfilling in his declaration when he was
making the declaration! But since words are not in vain and words and sayings
never die, when he spoke them he was speaking concerning himself:
'Where is that Blessedness I knew?'
It was true, he could not find it! He did not know it was a prediction, but I
know it was prediction as well as a declaration he was then experiencing! Can
you not see the mystery?
So that which is a declaration is also a prediction. Someone must fulfil that which you are now presently fulfilling, for things that are as affirmations -- are declarations -- and things that are declarations are recognitions and realizations; and things that are recognitions and realizations, they are predictions, and someone in the future shall FULFIL them! Can you not see the mystery?
So you are the fulfillers of the predictions of the prophecies of the Prophets, the Sages, the Patriarchs and the Seers -- even the Patriarch David when he said,
'The LORD is my Shepherd and I shall not want,'
why, it was a Declaration concerning himself and it was true to him then -- but
as Words are LIFE and SPIRIT and never die, they were handed down through the
ages and down through the pages of the Psalmic Prediction and recognized through
the Prophets, the Sages and the Seers. But in this day those same declarations
in you and with you are fulfilled! Now isn't that wonderful? ("Truly wonderful!" affirmed
the audience.)
So what you are saying now and what you are doing now as a declaration and as a recognition and as a realization shall be fulfilled by others someday in the future as the FULFILMENT of your DECLARATION, which to them is a PREDICTION, for they have not yet fulfilled it! They have not yet experienced it! Can you not see that is the way the very Presence of GOD is made a LIVING REALITY!
Hence, to Praise GOD, GOD does thrive well for you, among you and to you! But GOD IS EVER THE SAME. Even if the sun does not apparently shine, it is merely a veil of cloud between you and HIM. Where GOD is, the LIGHT is never dim! GOD makes the dark places LIGHT; therefore, where I AM there is never any darkness, neither is there any night! But to you there is night when the SUNLIGHT of MY UNDERSTANDING is on the other side of materialism and you have materialism, mortality and the mortal version of things BETWEEN you and the SUN! Then it is night there!
It is merely night there when the earth gets in the way of the sun. When the earth gets in the wake of the rays of the sun then it is night here and you do not see the light. Can you see the mystery? And when your earth and yourself and all of your mortal versions get in the wake and in the way of the SUNLIGHT of MY UNDERSTANDING, there and then it is DARK to you; but where I AM it is as BRIGHT as BRIGHT NOON DAY, for I AM the LIGHT that shall NEVER PASS AWAY! Aren't you glad! ("So glad!" retorted the audience enthusiastically.)
Then I say, live in this Recognition and build upon this Foundation, and the Song of Thanksgiving to ME and Praise, will cause ME to be to you just as you say! So that little song you were singing, it was so pronounced, and I could see the flowers responding to the praise of the Gardener -- and even those who walk out in the Garden. I could see the flowers and all vegetation responding, but especially the flowers, for they are for the purpose of beautifying the earth, giving comfort and consolation to the destitute and the disconsolate, that they might be filled with Joy and Happiness!
Therefore, the Praises will bring those things out of the bowels of the earth and will cause them to have a BRAND NEW BIRTH, and they will have FREEDOM with it even as you seek it! I thank you.
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