November 2nd, 1915
Received by:James Padgett.
Washington D.C.
St. Cornelius - the First Gentile Christian.
Let me say just a word as to the soul. I have heard what Matthew said, and it seems to me that he did not describe what the soul is as clearly as desirable.
My conception of the soul is, that it is that part of the existence of man which determines for him what his destiny shall be. It is the real thinking, willing and conscious part of man. The intellect of man may die - this may seem unreal, but it is true - and man cease to exist as a conscious thing - I mean if the intellect was the only faculty that he possesses to make him conscious of his existence. The soul, so far as we know, can never die, and it has as its qualities and elements, all the perceptions and reasoning powers that the intellect has and many more. The soul is the only faculty or part of man that performs the mission of knowing and reasoning and determining, after man has passed into the seventh sphere, and consequently, unless these soul qualities or perceptions are developed, by obtaining into the soul the Divine love, a man or spirit cannot get into the seventh sphere, for he would be wholly unable to live there and understand or do anything in that sphere.
The soul needs no instructions from the mere physical senses because those senses are not suitable to be used in the operations of the soul's faculties, and hence a man who never cultivates these soul senses, as I will say, is not capable of understanding the higher spiritual things of the Celestial Spheres.
I will not write more to-night, but will come again.
Your brother in Christ,
St. Cornelius