Father! we bring to Thee All that our souls contain Of love and reverence and joy, Without one touch of pain; And, oh, we ask of Thee Thy blessing evermore, That we may walk still close to Thee— Thou whom our souls adore. CHAPTER VII. HOW SPIRITS WORK. The work of the spirit is true labor; it may not be labor of the hands, but it is of the heart; it is the impelling of spiritual force outward from within, directing that force in certain channels, or against special obstacles, in order to accomplish a purpose. Spirit work is always for the attainment of some definite end or object, never for the whiling away of an idle hour, or the performance of some task that is to delight for a brief, fleeting moment. Let me give you an illustration of how spirits work; but this instance is by no means an example of all the methods that spirits take to accomplish their labors. Oh, no; these methods are varied, even as individuals vary in their natures and constitutions. A SPIRIT MOTHER REFORMS HER WAYWARD SON. In a certain city of this fair land dwells an individual who is at our present writing universally respected and beloved by all who know him; but such was not always the case. Twenty years ago this individual was a young man given to dissipation in its various forms; his mother, then in the body, wept and besought him in vain to abandon his evil course, and turn to a better life. Finally, the mother entered spirit life, and for a time that young man plunged into the wildest of dissipations. In the meantime, the mother, awakened in the spirit world, found that she could return to the side of her son, and to a certain extent exert an influence upon him. She began to follow him wherever he went, steadily bending her will-power upon his mind. Into places of low and evil resort went that spirit mother with her erring son; scenes that made her soul grow sick within her met her pure vision. Yet she faltered not; her work lay before her, and accomplish it she would, whatsoever obstacles might interpose.