Spiritualism Supernal – (1847 – 1893 - 2016) - Andrew Jackson Davis

Spiritualism Supernal Andrew Jackson Davis (1847 – 1893 – 2016)

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To the great centre of intelligence; to the positive sphere of thought; to that Focus of life, light, and being, from which proceeds, and to which returns, all knowledge and power; to the spiritual Sun of the Universe I go to receive my instructions.

ANDRE JACKSON DAVIS

(The First Lecture on Spiritualism — Samuel Byron Brittan)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART ONE: PRINCIPLES OF NATURE (1847) [p8] HEAVENLY SPHERES [p23] THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE [p25] THE SPIRITUAL PERFECTION OF THE UNIVERSE [p27] THE MIND CREATES REALITY [p29] THE SOUL

PART TWO: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPECIAL PROVIDENCES (1850) [p31] THE VISION COMMENCES [p32] THE GUIDE ARRIVES [p32] INFINITE WORLDS [p36] FAITH IN THE ETERNAL LIVING GOD [p37] GOD’S SYSTEM [p38] EVER-PRESENT: LOVE, HEAVENS, GOD

PART THREE: THE PHYSICIAN (1850) [p42] PRINCIPLES OF TRUTH PROCLAIMED [p44] BIRTH INTO THE SPIRIT WORLD [p48] SPIRITUAL IMPRESSIONS [p53] DEATH IS BUT A DOOR

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[p62] PART FOUR: SPIRITUAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (1851)

[p67] PART FIVE: THE HARMONIAL BROTHERHOOD (1851)

[p70] PART SIX: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITUAL INTERCOURSE (1851)

PART SEVEN: THE PENETRALIA (1856) [p75] SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS [p79] A SUNSET IN THE SPIRIT HOME [p84] THE SPIRITUAL TEMPLE

PART EIGHT: THE TEACHER (1858) [p88] THE EMANICIPATED HEAVENS [p91] OMNIPOTENT TRUTH REIGNS [p93] TRUE MARRIAGES OF LOVE [p101] WHERE WILL THE SPIRIT RESIDE? [p105] THE ONE ONLY AND TRUE GOD

PART NINE: THE THINKER (1860) [p107] THE DIVINE CENTER [p111] THE HEAVENLY RIVERS

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PART TEN: ANSWERS TO RE-OCCURRING QUESTIONS (1862) [p116] MISSION OF THE TRUE SPIRITUALIST [p119] NATURAL PRINCIPLES AND DEDUCTIONS [p123] MIND, REASON, SPIRIT, SOUL, CONSCIENCE, JUDGMENT [p125] REPRODUCTION IN THE SPIRIT LAND [p126] QUESTIONS CONCERNING BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT [p129] WHERE IS THE SPIRIT WORLD? [p131] GUARDIAN ANGELS UNIVERSAL [p132] SOUL VS SPIRIT [p135] DEATH OF AN UNBAPTIZED CHILD [p137] ADDICTIONS IN THE AFTERLIFE [p141] TRULY AND ETERNALLY MARRIED [p144] THE REFLEX ACTION OF EVIL SPIRITS [p146] CONTROL OF ONE’S THOUGHTS [p148] THE RELIGION OF NATURE [p149] EVIL AND SIN BEYOND THE GRAVE [p151] SEEING AND DOING RIGHT [p153] THE LAW OF TRUE MATING

PART ELEVEN: DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE (1865) [p155] TRAVELING IN THE ANGELIC SPHERES [p157] ULTIMATELY DEATH LEADS TO HARMONY [p160] THE LANGUAGE OF THE HEART [p162] THE LANGUAGE OF COMMUNION

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PART TWELVE: EIGHT EVENING LECTURES ON THE SUMMERLAND (1865) [p164] GOD’S SON [p165] THE PURPOSES OF DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE [p169] THE IDEAS OF OUR SPIRIT ARE POWERFUL

PART THIRTEEN: MORNING LECTURES (1865) [p171] VIBRATION [p174] THE ERA OF SPIRITUAL HARMONY [p176] THE SOLID ROCK OF TRUTH OF ETERNAL PRINCIPLES [p177] SUMMER-LAND IMPRESSIONS

PART FOURTEEN: A STELLAR KEY TO THE SUMMER-LAND (1868) [p182] WHAT IS PURE LOVE? [p185] THE UNFOLDING PROGRESSION

PART FIFTEEN: ARABULA (1868) [p190] THE PRAYER [p192] THE FACE OF HUMAN LIFE

PART SIXTEEN: THE SEER (1884) [p200] THE GREAT HARMONIA [p201] EXTRAORDINARY DREAMING [p206] THE PORTAL OF THE UNKNOWN

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PART SEVENTEEN: THE REFORMER (1891) [p213] IDEAL LOVE [p217] SPIRITUAL VITALITY AND SPIRITUAL WEALTH

PART EIGHTEEN: THE CHILDREN'S PROGRESSIVE LYCEUM (1893) [p222] THE TEACHER'S TRUE STARTING POINT [p223] QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

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Part One: Principles of Nature (1847)

HEAVENLY SPHERES

I now perceive the order of the spheres; which is in this wise: The first Sphere is the Natural; the second is the Spiritual; the third, the Celestial; the fourth, the Supernatural; the fifth, the Super-Spiritual; and the sixth, the Super-Celestial.

I am now permitted to speak of matters pertaining to the Supernatural Sphere.

In this sphere are also three societies and three distinct degrees of Love, Will, and Wisdom — each society being unfolded from the one next below.

I perceive that an incessant transition is also occurring from the Third to this Sphere, and also an as immense transferation from this to a still higher.

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In this Sphere everything is still more lovely: and even here all things appear to have attained the highest possible loveliness and exaltation.

So true is this, that the inhabitants of the sphere next below, in all their sparkling purity, appear even as undeveloped. The beautiful emanation that surrounds and clothes each society, is of such an intense light that it is impossible to approach it, or to search into the interiors of the inhabitants. Colors of every conceivable description surround their local habitation, each being a bright indication of purity, goodness, happiness, and wisdom. Every form and thing is constantly growing lovelier and lovelier, and every sphere more beautiful and pure. Each indicates a spiral progression, and that they are ascending nigh unto the throne of the Alpha and Omega. Each thing shows forth its own purity, and speaks its own celestial language. Each object is distinct in its proclamations, and every lesson of instruction is as a word of the Most High!

The first society is in numbers almost infinite: and from them flows spontaneously an element of love that is clearer than the clearest water, and brighter than the brightest crystal; and its reflection clothes the higher societies with a garment of whiteness pure as the jewels that adorn the crown of the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

And from the mediatorial society flows a constant stream of passive and active Will, subject at all times to the life-giving promptings of Love, and receiving the high approbations of Wisdom. This is constantly

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descending and ascending, as the light goeth forth from the sun to enliven the earth, and returns to he revivified.

Wisdom in this supernatural Sphere, is as a fount that is constantly springing up and flowing over all the subordinates. It is like a great receptacle in which are deposited the choicest thoughts and memories of the angels and spirits of this exalted Sphere. It is like a treasury whose contents are depositions for the lower angels, who ascend to and unlock it, and extract from its depths beautiful thoughts, and upon them ponder and meditate. They have contemplations so exceedingly immense, that the Love and Life of the Universe appear open to their thoughts, and they drink of their depths and thirst not.

In a more exalted degree I behold those plains — decked with life and beauty inconceivable; and over them is diffused an omniprevalent element of purity that appears as life, and by this they live and bloom in beauty.

In a different and higher degree, also, I perceive those ceaseless streams of living water. Their gentle flowings speak only of tranquility and unending happiness; while the inexhaustible Fount from which they spring proclaims the constitution and infinity of the Divine Mind.

Also those undulating valleys, or wave-like variations, appear, presenting grandeur and loveliness indescribable. They transcend all possible

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conceptions of the lovely and beautiful; and their united voices sink into the recesses of the soul, yet they are silent and unheard. They are penetrating as the electric fire, yet gentle as the mountain-air. They are dignified in their tone, and are withal impressively pensive. They do not compel, but cause a voluntary submission to their undying teachings.

And again those groves are presented — and appear in a more exalted degree of loveliness. They are as the tree of Righteousness, budding and blossoming as the rose. They proclaim glory and honor even in their refreshing shade, and inspire the reposer therein with thoughts worthy of such a celestial home.

And the inhabitants are of the most exquisite purity and loveliness; and they, with one united voice —a voice that arises not from speech, but from action — proclaim glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life. They are wending their way up to the city of the living God. They are illuminating the vestibule of truth and the archway that leads to immortal life. They are pervading all below them with the holy influences of wisdom, and with the most simple love. Gentle as the unsophisticated dove, they send forth a welcome to all below their exalted state; and with a kind, peaceful, and inviting smile, they call all to come away, and go with them to the Fount of purity on high!

The atmosphere of this spirit-home is rainbowed and clothed with resplendent brightness, such as reflects the goodness of all things, and

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the use to which they are applied. Yea, it is a mirror in which are represented the living beauties of heaven and earth — even of all things beneath this exalted state of perfection.

Such is the loveliness, goodness, and wisdom of the Divine Mind, that nothing is made in vain; but everything is as a living thought, and every thought is as a representative of perfect Wisdom. Everything is thus admired, appreciated, and applied, in every degree of material and spiritual existence; and in this Supernatural Sphere this truth is especially and perfectly manifested.

Inasmuch as life is universal, death cannot mar the divine constitution of things; and by virtue of this, the inhabitants of the Fourth Sphere, like those of others, repose for a moment in silence, and awake as beings of the FIFTH SPHERE or Super-Spiritual habitation. And by and through this process, I am enabled to behold the vast possessions of the fifth department of the great Temple of Truth.

It is almost impossible to approach, yet I draw nigh and behold with humility the extended landscape and living happiness, which are here so exceedingly enchanting, that all I have previously beheld appears clouded with comparative imperfection. The vast landscape of this spiritual habitation is reflected on the perceptions of my spirit with an impressiveness that renders all speech inadequate to express the beauties thereof.

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The first society, as in the third and fourth Spheres, is a child of the highest society in the Sphere below. And here Love, Will, and Wisdom, present a more attractive loveliness. Love appears as the perfection of Wisdom, while Wisdom appears greater and more extensive than all the Love — and Wisdom heretofore described, combined.

And it is well to relate, that as the Spheres approach the Divine Mind, they become more simple, more lovely, more unassuming, and more pure. The nearer they approach the Fount of purity, the more transparent they become, and the more do their inhabitants appear to exist as it were without body and without external and artificial habiliments. They appear unclothed, and eminently purified.

There is an exhalation from each society that forms an encompassing halo of glory, which surpasses all brightness of the material sun and all brilliancy that illuminates any portion of the material Universe.

Each spirit seems so pure, and the thoughts of all seem so celestial, that it is almost impossible to resist the attraction thus presented. There is such a commingling of thoughts, and such an affection manifested for each other, as seems beyond all captivations imaginable. Every mind is like an opening flower, and every thought is like the fragrance thereof.

Every love is like a bud, and its expression is like the rose. Their wisdom is as the fountains of heaven which dry not, and which perpetually flow to

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all that thirst, and heal all that are wounded, and cleanse all that are not purified. I behold their Wisdom in every thought, in every movement, and in every expression of Will and Love. It is indeed beautiful! — and what is to be lamented is, that language must be employed to speak of that which defieth utterance. O may expressive silence breathe forth an eloquence that will penetrate the souls of men, and duly elevate their understandings; and may they be induced to abandon expression where speech is vain, and extend their conceptions to the bright spheres of everlasting love!

Here, in the Super-Spiritual Sphere, the scenery possesses a redoubled grandeur and loveliness. Still more perceptibly are the thoughts of the Divine Mind impressed on all created things. The plains, and valleys, and groves, and streams of living water, are all instrumental in the great work of purification and refinement. They are all bright representatives of spiritual industry and universal love, and are also living advocates of the perfection of Him who breathed them and all living creations into being.

The spirits here are so lovely and attractive, that it requires an effort to prevent being, as it were, absorbed into and becoming a part of them.

Here I perceive another truth vividly manifested, and that is, that all things possess mutual affinities, and that things differ only as to degrees and states of development. Thus is established, what has been before declared, that opposites or antagonistic principles cannot exist; that all things were created and are animated by one living Essence; and that it

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is injustice to the character of that Divine Essence for men on earth to say or believe that there is a principle or habitation existing opposed to the general happiness, or to that celestial purity which joins in one all created things.

This Sphere is so closely allied to the Spiritual Sun, that it becomes incomprehensible to the inhabitants of the earth — whose sphere of existence is nothing more than one atom in the great Body of material and spiritual constructions.

As has been related of the transition of the spirits and angels of the Spheres below, so do those of the Fifth Sphere ascend to, and become inhabitants of the SIXTH, or the Super-Celestial habitation.

Here is the consummation of all conceivable perfection! Here is the sublimation of all purity, of all goodness, and of all refinement, as appertaining to the spirits of every human race in the Universe. All spirits and angels are of the human races, and these occupy earths innumerable, from; which they ascend through all the Spheres to this, the Super-Celestial habitation. Here they have combined all the perfections that have been uniformly unfolding while passing through the ascending Spheres or stages of eternal progression. This Sphere is the great ultimate of all beauty, and the crown of all loveliness and purity. Yea, it is the highest point of angelic loveliness.

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Countless millions dwell in each society in each Sphere — more than numbers can express. Yet the combined numbers dwelling in all subordinate Spheres would not form any comparison with one-half of one society that dwells in this Super-Celestial home! How inconceivable, therefore, must be the immensity of each society in this Sphere, inasmuch as the half of one society comprises more individuals than all the created forms that animate all the subordinate Spheres of universal space! Yet creation has just begun: Love is just born, Will is just conceived, and Wisdom is in the germ yet undeveloped!

Here are the fields of Paradise; and on them is erected the house of many mansions. Interior splendor and gorgeousness is penetrating to all the spirits and angels thereof, and shines through them with a brilliancy of celestial light, as the light of the Divine Mind penetrates his whole material Structure. And the exterior beauty, grandeur, and magnificence of this celestial mansion, express in unequivocal language that it was not made by hands, yet is eternal in the heavens. It is the great Asylum where all are taken in, and loved, and breathed upon, and made perfect.

It is the home of all celestial things.

All things are divine, both in the material and spiritual Universe; and all become celestial. So every created spirit is invited by the progressive law of the Father to its home; and when it enters and becomes sensible of the loveliness and purity thereof, it glorifies the Father, not in prayer, but by thought and deed forever and ever. Each one, then, is an undying child of

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the Eternal One, who is the Father of all: and no one is so low but that it is the highest of some still lower, and no one is so high but that it is the lowest of some yet undeveloped. One spirit cannot say unto another, "I need thee not;" for each one is the sustainer of another, and the mutual dependence constitutes the harmony and wisdom of all things.

In this Super-Celestial home are all the beauties of earth and, heaven combined, developed, and perfected. It is thus removed from human comprehension, and it cannot therefore with profit be dwelt upon, or impressed on the memory for meditation. Notwithstanding what might be said concerning it are legitimate truths, they are too high and refined to be comprehended by the human race — nay, even by those in the Third Sphere of wisdom and knowledge. No one can say with propriety, "Why not tell us all?" if he will but consider his incompetence to comprehend that which has already been related.

The brightness in this state of celestial purity exceeds all conception — and the elegance, majesty, power, grandeur, goodness, and happiness, transcend all human thought. And here spirits and angels rejoice with exceeding joy and thanksgiving: and this by action, and not by speech —

by Wisdom, and not by Love. Still Love is the all-animating and life-giving element.

Such, then, is the immensity of these things, and such the greatness and glory of the Super-Celestial habitation. And it is proper not to confide in

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that which is opposed to this high degree of angelic purity, but to encourage hope when born of Wisdom, and belief when well conceived; and then those things will descend to and illuminate the human mind, and give eternal life to that which now seems mortal and changeable.

As has been related of the transition of the spirits and angels of the Spheres below, so do those of the Fifth Sphere ascend to, and become inhabitants of the SIXTH, or the Super-Celestial habitation.

Here is the consummation of all conceivable perfection! Here is the sublimation of all purity, of all goodness, and of all refinement, as appertaining to the spirits of every human race in the Universe. All spirits and angels are of the human races, and these occupy earths innumerable, from; which they ascend through all the Spheres to this, the Super-Celestial habitation. Here they have combined all the perfections that have been uniformly unfolding while passing through the ascending Spheres or stages of eternal progression. This Sphere is the great ultimate of all beauty, and the crown of all loveliness and purity. Yea, it is the highest point of angelic loveliness.

Countless millions dwell in each society in each Sphere — more than numbers can express. Yet the combined numbers dwelling in all subordinate Spheres would not form any comparison with one-half of one society that dwells in this Super-Celestial home! How inconceivable, therefore, must be the immensity of each, society in this Sphere,

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inasmuch as the half of one society comprises more individuals than all the created forms that animate all the subordinate Spheres of universal space! Yet creation has just begun: Love is just born, Will is just conceived, and Wisdom is in the germ yet undeveloped!

Here are the fields of Paradise; and on them is erected the house of many mansions. Interior splendor and gorgeousness is penetrating to all the spirits and angels thereof, and shines through them with a brilliancy of celestial light, as the light of the Divine Mind penetrates his whole material Structure. And the exterior beauty, grandeur, and magnificence of this celestial mansion, express in unequivocal language that it was not made by hands, yet is eternal in the heavens. It is the great Asylum where all are taken in, and loved, and breathed upon, and made perfect.

It is the home of all celestial things.

All things are divine, both in the material and spiritual Universe; and all become celestial. So every created spirit is invited by the progressive law of the Father to its home; and when it enters and becomes sensible of the loveliness and purity thereof, it glorifies the Father, not in prayer, but by thought and deed forever and ever. Each one, then, is an undying child of the Eternal One, who is the Father of all: and no one is so low but that it is the highest of some still lower, and no one is so high but that it is the lowest of some yet undeveloped. One spirit cannot say unto another, "I need thee not;" for each one is the sustainer of another, and the mutual dependence constitutes the harmony and wisdom of all things.

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In this Super-Celestial home are all the beauties of earth and, heaven combined, developed, and perfected. It is thus removed from human comprehension, and it cannot therefore with profit be dwelt upon, or impressed on the memory for meditation. Notwithstanding what might be said concerning it are legitimate truths, they are too high and refined to be comprehended by the human race — nay, even by those in the Third Sphere of wisdom and knowledge. No one can say with propriety, "Why not tell us all?" if he will but consider his incompetence to comprehend that which has already been related.

The brightness in this state of celestial purity exceeds all conception — and the elegance, majesty, power, grandeur, goodness, and happiness, transcend all human thought. And here spirits and angels rejoice with exceeding joy and thanksgiving: and this by action, and not by speech —

by Wisdom, and not by Love. Still Love is the all-animating and life-giving element.

Such, then, is the immensity of these things, and such the greatness and glory of the Super-Celestial habitation. And it is proper not to confide in that which is opposed to this high degree of angelic purity, but to encourage hope when born of Wisdom, and belief when well conceived; and then those things will descend to and illuminate the human mind, and give eternal life to that which now seems mortal and changeable.

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From the position now occupied, I can perceive, and in a degree comprehend, the SEVENTH SPHERE, or the Infinite Vortex of Love and Wisdom, and the great Spiritual Sun of the Divine Mind that illuminates all the spiritual worlds. — And behold, the natural sun is the sun of the natural Universe, while the Spiritual Sun was and is the Sun of the spiritual Universe! The material can only illuminate the natural, and the spiritual illuminates the spiritual. Of the Body and constitution of the material sun, the Univercoelum was born into being, and caressed, nourished, illuminated, and perfected, in universal order and harmony.

From the constitution of the Spiritual Sun, all the heavens were created; and by it they are sustained, controlled, purified, perfected, and illuminated: and every spontaneous breath of light and love is as a smile of the all! pervading Father and Creator of all that is, and of all that is not, developed.

Thus the Spiritual Spheres are allied to the Spiritual Sun, while the natural spheres approach the material sun. Thus the spiritual is as a soul, and yet a garment, to the natural, while the two are joined together as one creation. And the second or Spiritual Sphere sustains a relation to the fifth Circle of Suns, and their innumerable planets — and is as a soul to it, and comprehends the whole as one creation. So the third Sphere is allied to the fourth Circle; and the fourth Sphere to the third Circle; and the fifth Sphere to the second Circle; and the sixth Sphere to the first Circle: and the SEVENTH SPHERE is the Great Sun and Center of all power, and the Vortex of all creations!

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This displays the order and harmony of the Divine Mind, and this is one Body of one Immortal SOUL!

Much might be said of the Seventh Sphere, or the Spiritual Sun of the Universe — yet all would be inconsistent with the order and power of the human mind. For speech is vain, and all that might be said of the incomprehensibility, the magnitude, and the infinitude of the truth Centered in the Spiritual Sun, would consist only of words; and these it would be useless to speak and impress upon the human mind. Neither would it be proper to speak of' the essences, qualities, and attributes, dwelling within the Vortex from which rolled forth the Universe, inasmuch as each possible atom comprehends more than the human mind is able to grasp. More, then, would be superfluous and unprofitable. For the word incomprehensible falls far short of conveying a definite idea of the immensity thereof; and even this word implies the impossibility of human understanding This much only can be said: It is an inexhaustible Vortex of Life and Light which are Love, and of Order and Form which are Wisdom — which flow not only into Heaven, but into the material Universe: and everything is thereby breathed into being. And the Great Center and Spiritual Sun is the habitation and throne of the DIVINE MIND, the Great Positive, Central Power of the Universe, and of all eternal movement And it is a Fountain in which nothing exists but what is pure, divine, everlasting, and infinite!

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THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE

The structure of the Universe is now presented to the mind, and all its living beauties, together with the Divine Essence that gives it life and animation. It presents an indestructible basis of hope and faith, and a corresponding foundation of human action. It is as a mirror in which are reflected all corresponding beauties yet uncreated, but proved to be in embryo by the universal teachings of natural law. The whole is BEAUTIFUL. The whole is as ONE BODY, and GOD the SOUL and FATHER of all living and unloving things. Everything is perfect in its way and state of being. Everything is necessary — even indispensable.

Everything is pure, even divine and celestial. Everything teaches harmony, and universal reciprocation by an unfailing manifestation of the same. Everything is of, in, through, and to, the Divine Mind. All things are parts of Him; and these are as one Whole, even Nature, Man, and Heaven.

The earths, or the first Sphere, constitute the germ; the second Sphere is the roots; the third, the body; the fourth, the branches; the fifth, the buds; the sixth, the blossom; and the seventh is BEAUTY — beauty that blooms with an immortal fragrance. Here is the Tree of Righteousness — righteousness because all is right and nothing wrong. It is the Tree of Goodness — because nothing is evil. It is the Tree of immortal Life — because there is no death. It is the Tree of Divine Perfection — because there is nothing imperfect. It is the Tree of Truth — because there is no

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falsehood in the divine creations. It is the Tree of Eternal Causation — because nothing is but what was in another form before. It is the Tree of Love and Wisdom — because there is no confusion or disunity; for all things are working together for good, and that good is the elevation of all low and undeveloped things to a high degree of refinement from which a Universe yet unborn will be ushered into being to breathe the breath of heaven.

Here, then, is the Tree whose foundation rests in the depths of Time, and whose top extends to the heights of Eternity. It puts, forth branches throughout the lengths and breadths of the Universe, and casts a refreshing shade over the labyrinths of space whose limits no thought can define.

Further contemplations upon these inconceivable creations would be taxing the mind beyond its powers of thought, and would not tend to usefulness. Yet a word fitly spoken, by way of admonition, may not lose its influence until some of the most desirable results are accomplished.

Remember, then, that the germ of this great Tree is in the First Sphere, which comprehends all earths and their inhabitants. Knowing this, let every one strive diligently to cultivate the germ, and to make perfect its unfoldings. Strive to give its properties and essences a proper and truthful direction. Put forth all love, and energy, and wisdom, to effect that which is most desirable — that, the principles of which are found in the

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nature of all men, and that which prompts them to profitable action; and, remember, that is UNITY: and unity is HAPPINESS.

THE SPIRITUAL PERFECTION OF THE UNIVERSE

In view of these things, the importance and truthfulness of the saying is manifested, that "The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal:" and, also, that the things which are visible are terrestrial; while the things which are invisible are heavenly.

While these truths present themselves in bold relief, the human mind should put forth efforts to comprehend their signification and importance.

In doing this, mankind will discover that the mind must be refined and perfected, and that when this is properly accomplished, the social world will be correspondingly elevated, and thus be advanced to honor, goodness, and UNIVERSAL PEACE.

From past considerations it is made clear that man materially is a perfection of all Matter in Nature; and that man spiritually is a perfection of all Motion in the Universe, or of the First Great Principle of Motion, which is the Divine Mind, whose Essence is Love: and that man spiritually is constituted of the wisdom of Love. It has also been shown that every form is unfolded by progressive stages from the lower particles of matter to the perfect symmetry of the material organization of man; and that the form or essence has in like manner advanced through

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successive degrees of development, to the perfect spiritual organization.

Moreover, it has been shown that the exterior or the form is the express likeness of its interior essence, which latter has unfolded itself from the inner to the outer on the principles of end, cause, and effect.

And I am desirous of enforcing that great spiritual and eternal truth which it is necessary for man to know and appreciate before he can know himself and be happy: and that is, that all manifest substances, forms, compositions — indeed, that ALL THINGS VISIBLE, are expressions of an interior productive cause, which is the spiritual essence: that the Mineral Kingdom is an expression of Motion, the Vegetable, an expression of Life, the Animal an expression of Sensation, and that Man is an expression of Intelligence; that the planets in our solar system are a perfect expression of the Sun from which they sprang; that the various combined bodies and planetary systems in the Universe are a perfect expression of the Great Sun of the Univercoelum; that the Great Sun is a perfect expression of the SPIRITUAL SUN within it; and that the Spiritual Sun is a perfect expression of the Divine Mind, Love, or Essence. The Spiritual Sun is thus the Center and Cause of all material things. It is a diverging or radiating Sphere or Atmosphere of the Great Eternal Cause.

It is an aroma —a garment and a perfect radiation of the more interior Essence, the Divine, Creative Soul.

Behold the truth —that the material Universe is a perfect representation of the spiritual Universe, in which nothing exists but what is everlasting

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and infinite; that the whole material System is the Body of the Creative Soul; and that the Spiritual Essence has unfolded and manifested itself in a material Form! And this Form is the Order and Wisdom of the Divine Mind.

Light and Love constituted the first development of the Spiritual Sun; and that was Light and Life inconceivable — a brilliancy that extended throughout the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of space — that became illuminated space itself; and yet space is not limited, nor could it transcend the expansive illuminations of the Great Spiritual Sun. And when the Universe was completed, Order and Form reigned omnipresent throughout the whole Univercoelum! And such was the grand and stupendous Development of the Real Spiritual Sun — this having developed the Material Sun, and this the expanded Universe!

THE MIND CREATES REALITY

All things that man creates are such as represent his thoughts. They are merely the outward expressions of the thoughts of his soul. He creates nothing but what is a living evidence and representation of a thought previously conceived. This truth is useful as a guide to the mind; for now, when the inquiry is made as to what the soul is, where it is, how it exists, and what are the evidence — the tangible evidence of its existence — this truth, which is now proved to be a universal one, should be recalled

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to the mind: that all things tangible are in reality the living evidence of the soul within, made manifest to the material senses, and useful to the requirements of the outer world.

Every mind must conceive of the existence of a Cause as the parent of any effects visible to the senses. And the cause must be admitted as corresponding to the effect, or else the effect cannot be attributed to any producing cause. Hence it follows that all external and visible things are effects, prompted, created, and unfolded to the outer world, by a corresponding interior cause; and that the cause must be the real reality, or else such tangible effects could not have been produced. So all material things created by man are the forms of his thoughts; and these are the offspring of the soul. The form of man is a likeness, a type, a representative of the cause or soul which animates and unfolds it to the outer world. The outer senses are typical of the inner ones; for they are unfolded from the corresponding parts of the interior essence.

And I feel authorized to affirm, from the nature of my impressions, that if man were differently situated and superiorly educated, he would not be so far removed from the spiritual world as he now is in his sphere of thought. And, moreover, he would recognize the proper use of all things, and apply them to his wants, as directed by the governor of all things, which is Wisdom. And he would recognize the relation existing between the natural and the spiritual world; and that, too, without experiencing a

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metamorphosis or transformation of the real man from the outer to the inner world.

Furthermore, I now discover that man, as to soul and form, becomes individualized in this sphere, and preserves his form henceforward, and knows no change; and that man exists in the other world in a perfect human form, and among as many expressed forms of essence, and as many projections of thought, as are existing in this sphere of being. I discover that the Second Sphere is unfolded from this, the first, and that it is the perfect form of this its Parent and Creator.

THE SOUL

I discover, then, that the soul is composed of three distinct parts; and these are LOVE, WILL, and WISDOM.

LOVE is the first or rudimental element of the human soul. It is that liquid, mingling, delicate, inexpressible element which is felt in the depths of every human spirit, because it is its germinal essence.

WILL is a living force which serves as the connecting medium between Love and Wisdom, being subject to the influence and suggestions of each. It is the innate consciousness of energy, or force; and it has been

29

supposed to be an absolutely-independent element of the mind, beyond the possibility of being influenced by external captivations.

WISDOM is the perfection of Love. It is the sealing element of the human soul; it is the establishment of the soul's perfect constitution. Wisdom flows from love, is directed by experience, modified by will, and rendered perfect by knowledge. Wisdom is the thinking principle, the faculty that cogitates, investigates, searches, and explores, the fields of terrestrial and celestial existence. It is the faculty that analyzes, calculates, and imperatively commands obedience from all the subordinate possessions of Will and Love.

These three parts of the human soul, then, being designated, I will descend into some considerations relative to their mode of rnanifestation through the body in the outer world, in order that the great question respecting the powers and actuating principles of the human soul may become settled, and equally comprehended by all.

30

Part Two: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPECIAL PROVIDENCES (1850)

THE VISION COMMENCES And I replied: “The earth, with its inhabitants, and the generally received evidences of special providences, were presented to me on the mount, in a vision, in a light more convincing of Divine interposition than ever was such doctrine taught by the aged and the educated about me in society.”

The countenance of my Guide radiated with even, sweeter expression, as he again spoke, and said: “Speak, thinkest thou that these things are true, as they seemed to thee?” And I confessed my faith in special Providences by replying:

I acknowledge that I believe them.”

Whereupon my Guide threw the tranquillizing influence of his spirit over me, and, notwithstanding his manipulations, shut out the light of vision from my spiritual perceptions, and did not open my natural eyes, yet I felt as one with him, and buoyant as air. In a few moments I was wholly unconscious.

31

THE GUIDE ARRIVES Anon, a sweet-toned and musical voice aroused me, and, with my consciousness, there came from the depths of my soul capabilities and powers which, previous to this moment, I had not known. Once more I heard the voice, and he who spake said: “Behold!” and instantly my perceptions were opened, and I saw my glorious Guide, whose spacious forehead and upturned eyes impressed me with the sublimest thought.

INFINITE WORLDS Again he spoke, and bade me “turn and behold!” I obeyed, and, standing side by side with him, our faces in the same direction, I beheld the most magnificently gorgeous representation of creative power It seemed that we stood before the stupendous heights of the universe, upon a turret of the temple not made with hands; surrounding us on every side were worlds innumerable, and yet how noiselessly, how harmoniously, did they move around an unseen Parental Centre! There was not a world whose

32

magnitude did not transcend my even then exalted conceptions.

Their

sublime

beauty

exceeded

all

language,

and

their

immeasurableness all known mathematical computations.

O, what an overwhelming scene! Infinity seemed wreathed with worlds, and every world was decorated with lesser worlds, like nighty flowers of unutterable grandeur. Each and all were flying through the boundless realms of infinite space, with the velocity of the electric element, and yet they caused not so much sound as the ticking watch. Their speed was inconceivable, yet I could not see so much motion as there is in an insect's heart. I gazed beneath, and my perceptions enabled me to behold an awful depth, like unto a bottomless abyss. It was a sea of worlds, and so multitudinous were they, that in my attempts to obtain something like analogous numbers, I thought of all the drops of water on the earth, and yet the worlds of that sea were unnumbered. Again I thought of all the drops of water and grains of sand of which the earth is composed, and my Guide said: “Behold! Thou hast now conceived of the myriads of worlds which are congregated in yon distant group.�

33

And I looked again, and beheld a deeper Depth, in a remote corner of which was that group of assembled worlds more numerous than all the atoms of our earth; and with still expanding and improved perceptions, I gazed and gazed into the depths beneath, there beholding seas of worlds upon seas of worlds — systems of worlds

upon systems of worlds —

and yet I saw no bottom to that awful, but supremely magnificent vortex! I grew dizzy at the thought; whereupon my Guide said:

“Thinkest thou that we stand upon the pinnacle of the universal temple, and upon the topmost summit of the vast creation?” And I replied, while trembling at the awful contemplation of the scene beneath, “I do.”

Continuing to gaze upon me with serene expression, and elevating his hand toward the heavens, he said: “Be strong, and behold!” Directed by him, my telescopic perceptions were turned on high, and I beheld with awe, and with an amazement which I cannot express, a vast ethereal concave, peopled with an endless concatenation of transcendingly magnificent Orbs or Worlds, too numerous to be conceived of, and too beautiful to be described with human language.

34

Series, Groups, Degrees, and harmonious Organizations of Suns, Planets or Worlds, and Satellites, were visible everywhere; and I could see no termination to the height, nor to the depth, nor to the length, nor to the breadth thereof. I saw that the stupendous Whole was without alpha and without omega; it was infinite and universal! The illimitable concavity, the interminable width, the bottomless vortex, the indescribable beauty, and the noiselessness of the mighty whole, overcame me with a dissolving sense of my own nothingness.

35

FAITH IN THE ETERNAL LIVING GOD The consoling belief which flows from the understanding into the affections, and which is capable of satisfying the reasonable demands of the soul, is a belief that God is perfect and unchangeable; that he lives through all things, and has made life, harmony, and happiness, attainable to all. When the human mind conceives and believes that God is impartial, and that he displays his natural and harmonious attributes throughout Nature, and in the deepest recesses of the Soul, then it will rest and be happy. An individual, thus believing, is perfectly invincible to the invasions and tirades of that fallacious education, and hereditary prejudice, which exist in the world. The convinced soul is not disturbed by every “word of doctrine;� it is not moved by the preaching of miraculous manifestations, as demonstrating the divine commission of any man; nor can the doctrines of physical resurrection, or final, judgment, or eternal condemnation, or any other absurdity and fallacy of the popular schools, affect the convinced understanding; for such know that God is an Eternal Magnet of concentrated Goodness, and that man’s pathway is eternally onward and upward to the Supreme Attraction.

God is sufficiently

minute, local, and immediate, in his providences, to impart life and beauty

36

to everything throughout the innumerable ramifications of infinite Creation. He possesses within himself the principles of all Motion, all Life, all Sensation, and all Intelligence.

GOD’S SYSTEM He is the Infinite Germ of the Great Universal Tree of Causation; and according to the absoluteness of self-existence, and consequent necessity, his celestial essences and essential principles unfold and flow, with the minutest precision, into the smallest atoms and organizations in nature.

It is not good, nor is it true or elevating, to believe that God originally designed and instituted an endless succession of consecutive causes and effects for the express purpose of giving birth to just such an organization as Jesus had, or such as any other individual may possess.

But it is very good and righteous to believe that God unfolds and develops, from out of the inexhaustible plenitude of his Infinite Life and constitution, a vast combination of Laws and Elements which will go on

37

eternally, elaborating human spirits, and will continue to improve and perfect them more and more in proportion as the circumstances of birth, of climate, of education and government, advance toward intellectual development and individual perfection.

EVER-PRESENT:

LOVE, HEAVENS, GOD

In considering special and universal providences with a belief of the understanding, the highest and greatest comfort flowing therefrom is based upon the glorious and already (to me) demonstrated truth, that our earth is environed by a Spiritual World. And not only is our earth thus surrounded, but so likewise are all the earths or planets belonging to our solar system In truth, there is a great sphere of spiritual existences, which, touching it, girdle the material sphere, a part of which we are at present existing in; and again, encircling that sphere, are a galaxy of greater spheres, more refined and more magnificent; which are inhabited by spirits, drawn onward by the eternal magnet of Supreme Goodness. Thus there is a chain extending from man to Deity! And all that we can desire in the form of attention and dispensation is abundantly supplied, and

38

handed down to us, by and through the spiritual inhabitants of higher spheres, the links in that chain of Love! The human soul is constructed ’upon musical principles, which impart to it a constitutional tendency toward harmony and happiness. The various attractions to which its tones respond are Self-love, Conjugal-love, Parental-love, Fraternal-love, Filial-love, and Universal-love. But what I desire- to impress here is, that these Loves are innate affinities which draw soul to soul; which cause the human mind to feel attracted to corresponding loves or affinities in other minds, without reference to time, space, age, position, education or circumstances.

Therefore, should conjugal- love prompt an individual

soul to pray for conjugal association,, and should that soul’s true associate reside in the Spiritual World, it is almost certain that the prayer of the yearning heart on earth will be certainly answered by the spirit, which is impelled by this irresistible attraction to seek its true companion!

But here let it be remembered that all spirits and angels were once men; lived in physical organizations as we do; and died, as we die, previous to their departure for the spirit-home. And we all have relatives there— parents, sisters, and brothers, perhaps, and; also relatives according to spiritual affinities. And the | Spirit World is not far off; it is very near,

39

around and above us at all times; and that which was truly joined here is not separated there; death does not divide, nor does it remove the loved ones beyond the reach of the spirit’s desires or prayers. As conjugal-love is answered by some spirit having a corresponding attraction, so are other loves responded to by corresponding loves; and thus there proceeds to us, and that not unfrequently, a vast variety of good suggestions and righteous impulses, from some of our natural or spiritual relatives who now reside in higher spheres.

The embracing nearness of the Spiritual World, and its accessibleness, furnishes the spirit with every advantage and gratification it should desire, through the mediums of providential dispensations or Divine interposition.

Think not, because God is so inconceivable in his Greatness, so elevated above special prayer, and special action, that he is far removed from our spirits — no, he “Lives in the soul, informs our mortal part, As full, as perfect in a hair as heart; As full, as perfect in vile man that mourns, As in the rapt seraph that adores and burns.” And so near is he, that in him we daily and hourly “live, move, and have our being,” — we are in him and of

40

him, and as the body, branches, twigs, leaves, buds, blossoms and fruit of a tree are unfolded and minutely developed from the essences and beginning principles which were originally deposited in its Germ, so does the Great Germinal Essence of the Universal Tree unfold and develop the minutest branches, buds, blossoms, and organizations, which perfume and adorn the Stupendous Whole.

41

Part Three: THE PHYSICIAN (1850)

PRINCIPLES OF TRUTH PROCLAIMED

I would have clergymen proclaim this truth from their hearts; Men will be better when better loved, taught, and directed; to improve the world, love it, not condemn nor despise any person or thing. God made it—made everything—and gave every little atom, as well as every diamond-like orb that sparkles on the bosom of the firmament, a holy message to deliver, which it is good to receive, to learn, and to proclaim to all men. Let us strive to entertain more expansive views of God, of Man, of ourselves, and we will march forth from the wilderness of doctrine, and the concealments of iniquity, as Mien, full-grown men, prepared for sublimer ends and destinies.

The destiny of all men is Immortality, Happiness, and Progression. Their mission will be shown them as they are prepared to receive and comprehend it. It is our duty to search it out, and change every circumstance that tends to prevent its prompt fulfilment. Surely, each bird has its song to sing; each flower its gentle mission; each poet his lesson of the good and beautiful; each philosopher his contribution of

42

discoveries, and every true preacher his sublime instructions. Each is the Messiah of some great Thought, and will breathe it forth ere he leaves the form.

Let us, O let us, unfold the beauties of the spirit, study its immense possessions, and improve ourselves; and then we will know, and feel, and form just conceptions of our mission and our destiny. Both are decreed by God, and are the glorious end for which we were made.

The human mind must familiarize itself with the immutable principles of justice and order, which pervade the harmonious and interminable Universe. It must unfold its internal capabilities — its spiritual perceptions and intuitions; and thus, feeling impressed and empowered to interrogate and investigate the boundless empire of mind and matter, it will explore the innumerable relations which subsist between man and man— between the natural world and the Spiritual world-between the widespread universe and the Super-Celestial PRINCIPLE that enlivens and sanctifies the incomprehensible WHOLE. Each human soul must attain to a full comprehension of-the many and beautiful affinities which inter-link its destiny and experiences with the destiny and experiences of universal humanity. It is good to know that there is an omnipotent, purifying, and fraternizing Principle permeating and pervading the Natural, Spiritual, and Celestial departments of God's Universal Temple — a Principle, which Unites atoms and planets into one stupendous System; which unfolds Spirits and Angels as immortal flowers; which Endows the Divine

43

Mind with eternal Power and Loveliness; and which is the divinelyinherited Treasure of the human Soul — and this Principle is called The Great Harmonia!

BIRTH INTO THE SPIRIT WORLD

The spirit arose at right angles over the head or brain of the deserted body. But immediately previous to the final dissolution of the relationship which had for so many years subsisted between the two spiritual and material bodies, I saw playing energetically between the feet of the elevated spiritual body and the head of the prostrate physical body a bright stream or current of vital electricity.

This taught me, that what is customarily termed Death is but a Birth, of the spirit from a lower into a higher state; that an inferior body and mode of existence are exchanged for a superior body and corresponding endowments and capabilities of happiness. I learned that the correspondence between the birth of a child into this world, and the birth of the spirit from the material body into a higher world, is absolute and complete — even to the umbilical cord, which was represented by the thread of vital electricity, which, for a few minutes, subsisted between, and connected the two organisms together.

And here I perceived, what I had never before obtained a knowledge of,

44

that a small portion of this vital electrical element returned to the deserted body, immediately subsequent to the separation of the umbilical thread; and that that portion of this element which passed back into the earthly organism, instantly diffused itself through the entire structure, and thus prevented immediate decomposition. It is not proper that a body should be deposited in the earth, until after decomposition has positively commenced; for, should there be no positive evidences of such structural change, even though life seems surely to have departed, it is not right to consign the body to the grave.

The umbilical life-cord, of which I speak, is sometimes not severed, but is drawn out into the finest possible medium of sympathetic connection between the body and the spirit. This is invariably the case when individuals apparently die, and, after being absent for a few days or hours, return, as from a peaceful journey, to relate their spiritual experiences.

Such

phenomena

are

modernly

termed,

Trances,

Catalepsy,

Somnambulism, and spiritual Extasis. There are many different stages, or divisions, and subdivisions, of these states.

But when the spirit is arrested in its flight from the body, and when it is held in a transitional or mediatorial state, for only a few hours or minutes, then the mind seldom retains a recollection of its experience — this state of forgetfulness, seems, to a superficial observer, like annihilation; and this occasional suspension of consciousness (or memory) is frequently made the foundation of many an argument against the soul's immortal

45

existence.

It is when the spirit entirely leaves the body — only retaining proprietorship over it, through the medium of the unsevered umbilical thread or electric wire, as it might be called — that the soul is enabled to abandon its earthly tenement and interests, for many hours or days, and afterward, to return to the earth-ladened with bright and happy memories.

As soon as the spirit, whose departing hour I thus watched, was wholly disengaged from the tenacious physical body, I directed my attention to the movements and emotions of the former; and I saw her begin to breathe the most interior or spiritual portions of the surrounding terrestrial atmosphere. (The reader will find an explanation of what is meant by the "' interior portions of the terrestrial atmosphere," by referring to the consideration of 1" air as a medium," to be found in the pathological department of this volume.)

At first it seemed with difficulty that she could breathe the new medium; but, in a few seconds, she inhaled and exhaled the spiritual elements of nature, with the greatest possible ease and delight. And now I saw that she was in the possession of exterior and physical proportions, which were identical, in every possible particular — improved and beautified — with those proportions which characterized her earthly organization. That is to say, she possessed a heart, a stomach, a liver, lungs, &c., &c., just as her natural body did previous to (not her, but) its death. This is a

46

wonderful and' consoling truth!

But I saw that the improvements which were wrought upon, and in, her spiritual organization, were not so particular and thorough as to destroy or transcend her personality; nor did they materially alter her natural appearance or earthly characteristics. So much like her former self was she, that, had her friends beheld her (as I did), they certainly would have exclaimed—as we often do upon the sudden return of a long absent friend, who leaves us in illness and returns in health —"Why, how well you look! how improved you are!" such were the nature — most beautifying in their extent—of the improvements that were wrought upon her. I saw her continue to conform, and accustom herself, to the new elements and elevating sensations which belong to the inner life.

I did not particularly notice the workings and emotions of her newly awakening and fast unfolding spirit; except,that I was careful to remark, her philosophic tranquility throughout the entire process, and her nonparticipation, with the different members of her family, in their unrestrained bewailing of her departure from the earth, to unfold in Love and Wisdom throughout eternal spheres. She understood, at a glance, that they could only gaze upon the cold and lifeless form which she had but just deserted; and she readily comprehended the fact, that it was owing to a want of true knowledge upon their parts, that they thus vehemently regretted her merely physical death. The excessive weeping and lamentation of friends and relatives, over the external form of one

47

departed, are mainly caused by the sensuous and superficial mode by which the majority of mankind view the phenomenon of death.

SPIRITUAL IMPRESSIONS

Spiritual impressions are apprehended by the majority of those who have heard concerning them as something analogous to midnight dreams, or as being closely allied to intellectual hallucination; but, instead of spiritual perceptions or impressions being anything analogous to the dreams or imaginings of diseased or insane intellects, they are the natural and spontaneous effects of mental and moral development. I refer to other portions of this volume for a particular explanation of the causes and principles, which produce and govern these spiritual phenomena.

My object of alluding to this subject in this place is, to present a single illustration of the modus operandi by which I obtain knowledge of things, localities, and distant circumstances, without any external suggestions concerning them. And here it is proper to remark, that I obtain knowledge of Facts and Things by spiritual perception; and of Truths and Principles by spiritual impression; the two modes of receiving information are as distinct as are things and principles — the difference between them is perfectly represented by the human soul and human body. Things correspond to the physical body, which perishes; but Principles

48

correspond to the soul, which lives and improves forever.

But to the illustration: On Saturday night, October 16th,

1848, I awoke

from a sweet and natural sleep with the impression, deep and strong upon my mind, that I must write an article concerning pestilential or Asiatic cholera. The impression was truthful and authentic —and I internally resolved to investigate the whole subject on the subsequent morning. Immediately after breakfast I proceeded to the investigation. I desired to ascertain the origin and history of cholera; and its causes, character, symptoms, and cure. In order to obtain this highly important information, I retired from surrounding objects and influences, and magnetically elevated my mind to a higher and more perfect state; and while thus situated, I scanned the whole ground occupied by the disease heretofore and at present.

This interior mode of obtaining knowledge, independent of books and popular education, is but little understood, even by those who have most reflected upon and read concerning its novel and multifarious manifestations. The power to investigate the pathological condition of one or every individual under treatment at the Hotel Dieu in Paris, or to grasp, within the brief period of ten minutes, all the information necessary concerning the number of cases of cholera in the hospital at St. Petersburg or at Berlin, or in all of Russia, is certainly a new and astounding phenomenon. But the mode by which this knowledge is obtained, and by which the phenomena are developed, require an

49

illustration according to the actual occurrences.

I will explain. Previous to commencing the investigation on Sunday morning, I committed to my stomach a less than usual quantity of nourishment; abstemiousness always being necessary to an easy passage into the superior condition.

About twenty minutes after breakfast, I seated myself at my writing table, and became wholly absorbed in the desire to acquire the information.

Desire constitutes prayer. Soon my mind became intensely positive over every other portion of my being; it absorbed its rudimental essence, or the sensation, pervading the organism into itself, and my body was quite insensible to external objects, and influences, and disturbances-all of which I avoid, so far as possible, previous to inducing that spiritual composure which necessarily precedes the superior condition.

Divested thus of that sensation which intimately connects mind with the physical organism, and that with surrounding substances, I was living no longer in the body but in the spirit. Now a soft, clear, mellow, penetrating light, emanated from my head in every direction, and almost immediately concentrated at about six feet before me-on a plane horizontal with that region designated by phrenological writers as being the location of the faculties or organs of perception.

And here I will state that vital magnetism and atmospherical electricity

50

constitute a medium of sight to the spiritual eyes, on the same principle and by the same laws, as is atmospherical light a medium of sight to the natural eyes. The silvery light which proceeded from my mind, pleasingly blended with the atmospherical magnetism which pervades immensity; and this passed to and through each and all objects and substances occupying the space between my house in Williamsburgh, where I then resided, and the hospital in St. Petersburgh, in Russia.

I have elsewhere said, that the lower in everything contains the higher, undeveloped; and that the higher comprehends and pervades the lower; so with electricity. It is generated by chemical action and decomposition in the most interior departments of the earth, and, when developed, it permeates and penetrates, unobstructed, the most compact material substance or organization in being. Therefore, no mountain, nor other obstacle, could prevent the passage of the electric medium which

was

the vehicle of my spiritual perception; nor could anything resist its instantaneous penetration and permeation, or retard its rapid progress toward the scene of my desired investigations; which, be it remembered, was located where existed the causes and developments of epidemic cholera.

Though wonderful, it was nevertheless true, that the electric fluid shot in a straight line through the great mass of matter which lies between the eastern and western hemispheres of our earth, owing to its spherical form or rotundity. And within the brief period of twenty seconds, from the

51

moment my intellectual perceptions were opened and enlarged, I was in close sympathy, (even to the disappearance of distance itself,) with those localities where exist partial or complete symptoms of the disease under consideration. I saw the various modifications of the original type of Asiatic or epidemic cholera represented in nineteen undoubted cases in all of Russia, eleven of which were in the hospital at St. Petersburgh.

Seven of the number at the hospital were convalescent, or nearly so, and the remaining four were either dead or dying. I saw that the pestilential character and tendency of the disorder had abated in violence in almost all parts of Russia, and that, (excepting in Berlin,) there were no substantial indications of the advancement of the disease any farther west on the continent of Europe. I saw that in the whole of Russia, since the latter part of the month of October, 1846, there had occurred, including all the forms and phases in which the disease is capable of developing and manifesting itself, two hundred and ninety thousand and twenty-seven cases, and one hundred and sixty-six thousand, six hundred and seventy deaths showing a defective and inadequate mode of medical treatment.

After making all necessary observations concerning the his. tory of the disease, and satisfying myself as to the means prescribed by nature for its prevention or effectual cure, the electric light, or rather my spiritual perceptions, returned to, and retired within me. And as the mellow light re-entered my mind, and through it settled down into my organization, the

52

latter was restored to its ordinary condition of life and sensation.

I arose from my chair, twenty minutes after passing into the superior condition, with the whole scene daguerreotyped upon my memory. I continued thoughtful and abstracted until about four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, when my brain was relieved of its congested and over-burthened state, by a copious bleeding at the nose. This is very unusual. Thus I obtained all the information requisite to the construction of the following article; and in this way do I always perceive and receive whatever I feel moved to seek.

DEATH IS BUT A DOOR

The flower, being unfolded from the interior by virtue of its own essence and the sun, is variegated in every possible manner, and thus becomes a representative of light and beauty; but having attained its perfection, it soon begins to change its form, its color, and its beauty of external being.

Its fragrance goes forth and pervades all congenial and suitable forms, and its beauty is indelibly impressed upon the memory of its beholder and admirer, when the flower itself is no more. The foliage, tinted with the breath of winter, no longer retains its outward beauty; but this is an index of new life and animation, which is perfectly exemplified in the return of foliage in the youthful season.

53

As it is with these, so it is with the spirit. The body dies on the outer, or rather, changes its mode of existence, while the spirit ascends to a higher habitation., suited to its nature and requirements. DEATH.is but a Door which opens into new and more perfect existence. It is a Triumphal Arch through which man's immortal spirit passes at the moment of leaving the outer world to depart for a higher, a sublimer, and a more magnificent country. And there is really nothing more painful or repulsive in the natural process of dying (that which is not induced by disease or accident) than there is in passing into a quiet, pleasant, and dreamless slumber.

For, with but few exceptions, the race is so conditioned and educated on the earth — not yet having grown into spiritual perceptions — not yet progressed to where "whatsoever is hid, shall be revealed"

— realizing,

only through the medium of the natural senses, the nearness of the beloved-watching and comprehending only the external signs and processes of physical dissolution

—

supposing this contortion to

indicate pain, and that expression to indicate anguish — I say, the race is so situated and educated that death of the body (to the majority of the earth's inhabitants) is equivalent to an annihilation of the personality of the individual.

But I would comfort the superficial observer, and I can solemnly assure the inquirer after truth, that, when an individual dies naturally, the spirit experiences no pain; nor, should the material body be dissolved with

54

disease, or crushed by the fearful avalanche, is the individuality of the spirit deformed, or in the least degree obscured.

Could you but turn your natural gaze from the lifeless body, which can no longer answer to your look of love; and could your spiritual eyes be opened; you would behold standing in your midst — a form, the same, but more beautiful, and living! Hence, there is great cause to rejoice at the birth of the spirit from this world into the Inner Sphere of Life — yea, it is far more reasonable and appropriate to weep at the majority of marriages which occur in this world, than to lament when man's immortal spirit escapes from its earthly form, to live and unfold in a higher and better country!

You may clothe yourselves with the dark habiliments of woe, when you consign at the altar, a heart to a living grave; or when you chain the soul to breathe in an uncongenial atmosphere; but robe yourselves with garments of light to honor the spirit's birth into a higher life! The period required to accomplish the entire change, which I saw, was not far from two hours and a half; but this furnishes no rule as to the time required for every spirit to elevate and reorganize itself above the head of the outer form.

Without changing my position, or spiritual perceptions, I continued to observe the movements of her new-born spirit. As soon as she became accustomed to the new elements which surrounded her, she descended

55

from her elevated position, which was immediately over the body, by an effort of the will-power, and directly passed out of the door of the bedroom, in which she had lain

(in the material form) prostrated with

disease for several weeks.

It being in a summer month, the doors were all open, and her egress from the house was attended with no obstructions. I saw her pass through the adjoining room, out of the door, and step from the house into the atmosphere! I was overwhelmed with delight and astonishment when, for the first time, I realized the universal truth that the spiritual organization can tread the atmosphere, which, while in the coarser, earthly form, we breathe — so much more refilled is man's spiritual constitution.

She walked in the atmosphere as easily, and in the same manner, as we tread the earth, and ascend an eminence. Immediately upon her emergement from the house, she was joined by two friendly spirits from the spiritual country; and, after tenderly recognising and communing with each other, the three, in the most graceful manner, began ascending obliquely through the ethereal envelopment of our globe. They walked so naturally and fraternally together, that I could scarcely realize the fact that they trod the air—they seemed to be walking upon the side of a glorious but familiar mountain!

I continued to gaze upon them until the distance shut them from my view; whereupon I returned to my external and ordinary condition. O, what a

56

contrast! Instead of beholding that beautiful and youthfully unfolded spirit, I now saw, in common with those about me, the lifeless cold — and shrouded organism of the caterpillar, which the joyous butterfly had so recently abandoned!

Death is but the local or final development of a succession of specific changes in the corporeal organism of man. As the death of the germ is necessary to the birth or development of the flower; so is the death of man's physical body an indispensable precedent and indication of his spiritual birth or resurrection.

That semi-unconscious slumber into which the soul and body mutually and irresistibly glide, when darkness pervades the earth, is typical of death. Sleep is but death undeveloped; or, in other words, sleep is the incipient manifestation of that thorough and delightful change, which is the glorious result of our present rudimental existence. Night and sleep correspond to physical death; but the brilliant day, and human wakefulness, correspond to spiritual birth and individual elevation.

There is every reason why man should rest, with regard to life and death, and be happy; for the Laws of Nature are unchangeable and complete in their operations. If we understand these laws, and obey them on the earth, it is positively certain that our passage from this sphere, and our emergence into the spirit-country, will be like rolling into the blissful depths of natural sleep, and awakening from it, to gaze upon, and to

57

dwell in, a more congenial and harmonious world.

Thus situated and conditioned, I proceeded to observe and investigate the mysterious processes of dying, and to learn what it is for an individual human spirit to undergo the changes consequent upon physical death or external dissolution.

They were these: I saw that the physical organization could no longer subserve the diversified purposes or requirements of the Spiritual Principle. But the various internal organs of the body appeared to resist the withdrawal of the animating soul. The muscular system struggled to retain the element of Motion; the vascular system strove to retain the element of Life; the nervous system put forth all its powers to retain the element of Sensation; and the cerebral system labored to retain the principle of Intelligence. The body and the soul, like two friends, strongly resisted the various circumstances which rendered their eternal separation imperative and absolute.

These internal conflicts gave rise to manifestations of what seemed to be, to the material senses, the most thrilling and painful sensations; but I was unspeakably thankful and delighted when I perceived and realized the fact that those physical manifestations were indications, not of pain or unhappiness, but simply that the Spirit was eternally dissolving its copartnership with the material organism. Now the head of the body became suddenly enveloped in a fine soft-mellow — luminous

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atmosphere; and, as instantly, I saw the cerebrum and the cerebellum expand their most interior portions; I saw them discontinue their appropriate galvanic functions; and then I saw that they became highly charged with the vital electricity and vital magnetism which permeate subordinate systems and structures.

That is to say, the Brain, as a whole, suddenly declared itself to be tenfold more positive, over the lesser portions of the body, than it ever was during the period of health. This phenomenon invariably precedes physical dissolution. Now the process of dying, or of the spirit's departure from the body, was fully commenced. The brain began to attract the elements of electricity, of magnetism, of motion, of life, and of sensation, into its various and numerous departments.

The head became intensely brilliant; and I particularly remarked that just in the same proportion as the extremities of the organism grew dark, and cold, the brain appeared light and glowing. Now I saw, in the mellow, spiritual atmosphere, which emanated from, and encircled, her head, the indistinct outlines of the formation of another head!

The reader should remember that these super-sensuous processes are not visible to anyone except the spiritual perceptions be unfolded; for material eyes can only behold material things, and spiritual eyes can only behold spiritual things. — This is a Law of Nature. This new head unfolded more and more distinctly; and so indescribably compact and

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intensely brilliant did it become, that I could neither see through it, nor gaze upon it as steadily as I desired.

While this spiritual head was being eliminated and organized from out of, and above, the material head, I saw that the surrounding aromal atmosphere which had emanated from the material head was in great commotion; but, as the, new head became more distinct and perfect, this brilliant atmosphere gradually disappeared. This taught me that those aromal elements, which. were, in the beginning of the metamorphosis, attracted from the system into the brain, and thence eliminated in the form of an atmosphere, were indissolubly united in accordance with the divine principle of affinity in the universe, which pervades and destinates every particle of matter, and developed the spiritual head which I beheld.

With inexpressible wonder, and with a heavenly and utterable reverence, I gazed upon the holy and harmonious processes that were going on before me. In the identical manner in which the spiritual head was eliminated and unchangeably organized, I saw, unfolding in their natural, progressive order, the harmonious development of the neck, the shoulders, the breast, and the entire spiritual organization. It appeared from this, even to an unequivocal demonstration, that the innumerable particles of what might be termed unparticled matter, which constitute the man's Spiritual principle, are constitutionally endowed with certain elective affinities, analogous to an immortal friendship. The innate tendencies, which the elements and essences of her soul manifested by

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uniting and organizing themselves, were the efficient and imminent causes which unfolded and perfected her spiritual organization. The defects and deformities of her physical body, were, in the spiritual body which I saw thus developed, almost completely removed.

In other words, it seemed that those hereditary obstructions and influences were now removed, which originally arrested the full and proper development of her physical constitution; and therefore, that her spiritual constitution, being elevated above those obstructions, was enabled to unfold and perfect itself, in accordance with the universal tendencies of all created things.

While this spiritual formation was going on, which was perfectly visible to my spiritual perceptions, the material body manifested, to the outer vision of observing individuals in the room, many symptoms of uneasiness and pain; but these indications were totally deceptive; they were wholly caused by the departure of the vital or spiritual forces from the extremities and viscera into the brain, and thence into the ascending organism.

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Part Four: SPIRITUAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (1851)

We hold it to be a self-evident truth, that the principle of Reason is the greatest and highest endowment of the human mind; that it is the indwelling light and the power of understanding by which man is enabled to read the innumerable sentences and chapters contained in the everlasting volume of Nature! We hold Reason to be the divinely inherited treasure of the human soul, because it sees the indications, studies the principles, and progressively comprehends the countless and infinitely diversified manifestations, of the Universal God.

And we, likewise, hold it to be self-evident, that Nature is the only perfect and unalienable “Revelation� which the Deity has ever given, or ever will give, to mankind. By Nature, we apprehend the Material Universe, with its innumerable constellations of Suns, Planets, and Satellites; and the Spiritual Universe, with its innumerable spheres of loveliness, and with their multitudinous angelic and seraphic inhabitants. It embraces the stupendous Univercoelum! which comprehends the kingdoms beneath, the powers within, and the boundless firmaments above us. We believe Nature to be the universal exponent of God; and Reason to be the universal exponent of Nature; therefore, that Nature and Reason,

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combined, constitute the only true and reliable standard of judgment upon all subjects—whether social, political, philosophical or religious— which may come within the scope and investigations of the human mind.

Furthermore, we hold it to be the nature, and tendency, and divine prerogative of the human soul to explore, to investigate, to classify, and reduce to a practical application, every thought and principle, and science, and philosophy, and religion, which rests upon the everlasting foundations of the Universe; and likewise, that it is man’s nature and prerogative to candidly, freely, and fearlessly—with an eye, single to truth—examine all sciences, and discoveries, and mythologies, and theologies, and religions which have been, or may be, developed among men; and that if they do not accord with the immutable principles of Nature and Reason, it is his divine right and authority to openly expose, repudiate, and discard them.

We hold it to be self-evident, that all books, creeds and institutions contain more or less truth and useful instruction; nevertheless we solemnly declare it to be our intuitional conviction, that all books, creeds and institutions are inferior and subordinate to the divine power within the human mind—the Reason Principle—without which all thoughts and truths were the merest fancies, and the sublime Universe an empty shade!

And furthermore—until we feel and comprehend greater truths—we

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hereby declare that—

Our Book is Nature; Our Master is Reason; Our Law is Love to Man; Our Religion is Justice; Our Light is Truth; Our Structure is Association; Our Path is Progression; Our Works are Development; Our Heaven is Harmony; Our God is the Universal Father!

And we feel moved to fraternally suggest to those minds, everywhere, who are morally, intellectually, and constitutionally endowed with powers and blessings superior to the great mass of mankind about them—the propriety of immediately organizing themselves into a true Harmonial Brotherhood—declaring yourselves free and independent of all those habits, forms, creeds, restrictions, and ceremonies in modern Society, Theology, and Education—without regard to sect or nation—which tend, in any manner whatsoever, to arrest, prevent, or derange the progressive happiness of mankind, or to retard their progress toward Universal Unity and Perfection. For we believe that such an organization is necessary in order to learn what is useful, what is Justice, and what is Power; and Beauty, Aspiration, and Harmony, will then be familiarly learned from the

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fields of universal nature and humanity. To understand what harmony is, we must ourselves become harmonious. A harmonious individual is a Revelation of the Divine Mind; for every human spirit is a finite embodiment of the elements of the Infinite God.

We conclude our Declaration of Independence, by affirming—what we do most religiously believe—that all men to be heaven-worthy must aspire to heaven; to be perfect; they must aspire to perfection. But this no man can perfectly do of himself; because man necessarily depends upon the favorableness of progenitary bias; upon the propitiousness of outer conditions; and upon the harmoniousness of social circumstances, for his opportunity and ability to practice such aspiration! And yet, harmony must begin with the Individual; it will thence spread over our families and communities; then it will flow and ramify through the innumerable veins and arteries of the distant sects and nations; then the Whole will represent the Individual! The Individual the Whole; and God will be all in all!!!

In presenting to the wide world, and endorsing this, our Declaration of Independence—our

principles

of

free

discussion

and

universal

progression—we do not pledge ourselves to adhere to an infallible and proscriptive creed; but we simply make a personal acknowledgement and a mutual confession of sentiments and principles, which, (be it every where known) we are resolved henceforth to revere, love, and maintain— until we discover and comprehend truths still higher and better, and more

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worthy of our sacred esteem and confidence

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Part Five: THE HARMONIAL BROTHERHOOD (1851)

We believe that the destiny of all men is Immortality, endless Happiness, and eternal Progression!

We believe—in accordance with the interior

and material constitution of the human species—that there is a general mission for each individual to accomplish.

1st. To properly beget and perpetuate his kind.

2d. To justly respect and honor, and wisely direct and cultivate the heavenly germ—the spiritual principle—which is deposited in the soul.

3d. To live here with special reference to individual and social happiness, and with an ultimate reference to another and a higher life!

We believe

(with the glorified Solon) that it is only the good who die happily; for the troublesome or troubled spirit is sometimes not quiet until after it has been, for a considerable length of time, removed from the earth; and until it has experienced the subduing, the chastening, and disciplining influences, which universally pervade the spiritual habitations of all spirits, angels and seraphs.

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We, therefore, declare it to be “our highest duty” to become enlightened concerning ourselves; and concerning the powers and spheres of the human mind; to the end that we may grow in personal harmony—give to human society a healthy constitution—and thus gratify our homocentrical desire—“our continual prayer” for social Peace and universal Unity!

And it is our happiness to believe (with James Victor Wilson,) that the chief employment of our departed friends, the dwellers of the Spirit-land, is the transmission of thoughts, truths, and pure affections, from circle to circle, and from sphere to sphere; and that true happiness and true progression consist, both here and hereafter, in receiving and imparting; in unfolding the elements of our being and assisting others to unfold; in seeking the Great Divinity and imparting to the world the results of our investigations.

And we, moreover, freely declare it to be our sacred conviction, which we base upon the past historical experience of humanity and upon our highest intuitions and reason, that all true religion and all true inspiration are natural to the human soul. We believe that heaven is harmony, and that no man can secure his condition merely by doing penance at the virgin’s shrine; nor by being prayed for or prayer; nor by building Churches and hiring Gospel preached; nor by believing, or trying to believe any system of religion.

On the contrary, we do declare it to be our deepest conviction that Heaven

is

attainable

only

through

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self-development

and

self-

harmonization. And we believe, that popular Theology, and popular Education, and popular Society, are insufficient to supply the human spirit with its proper nourishments and encouragements to an easy, natural progression toward truth and perfection!

We believe that

Theology is inadequate to the reconstruction of Society; and that modern systems of Education (which are saturated with this Theology) are inadequate to a proper education and cultivation of the spirit.

We declare ourselves free and independent of these systems, we repeat, because they restrain us in our investigations, and set up many and various barriers to our development; and we declare ourselves free of them, also, because they do not cover our wants, nor respond to the imperative necessities of our outer and inner being! We feel that we have mentally and morally out-grown them—out-grown their virtue, their principles, and their means and methods of individual and social reformation.

And we furthermore declare ourselves independent of these systems of superstition and error, because they circumscribe the sphere of our researches; and because they create a false issue, and perpetuate a conflict, between physical philosophies, and sciences, and what they term religion; while we believe all truth, whether scientific or religious, to be equally divine, harmonious, and eternal!

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Part Six: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITUAL INTERCOURSE (1851)

The various sects and systems of faith existing, all evince the conception and impression of Unity sometime in the future.

Each sect, however,

entertains but partial and in many respects incorrect conceptions of that period, as each does also of God, of Immortality, and of that future Happiness to which mankind individually aspire; yet the very existence of such a conception of heavenly happiness or millennial harmony among all sects and nations, and in all periods of human history, proves that the elements and causes of that conception are eternal in Man and in Nature, and, therefore, homogeneous with the constitution and design of the Divine Mind.

Unity, in Man and in Society, includes the full growth and

harmonious action of every Passion, Desire, or Love.

This is the

ultimate of God’s design and of human desire; and when it is accomplished, Man will be in harmony with Himself, with his Neighbor, with the Universe, and with THE UNIVERSAL FATHER.

He who prays, who, in the very center of his heart, earnestly and honestly and continually DESIRES to acquire temperance, and patience, and truth, and love to the neighbor, and love to God; and he prays who feels a perpetual gratitude for all the blessings he enjoys, for the sun’s light and heat, for the summer and winter, for seed-time and harvest, for the love he is enabled to bear to his enemies, and the forgiveness with which he

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can forgive them; for the love which others consecrate to him; for the unchangeable manifestations of DIVINE LOVE—that love greater than all: and DIVINE WILL— that will which is without shadow of turning; and DIVINE WISDOM— that wisdom which is universal, — these attributes of the FATHER spreading throughout nature’s boundless territories; if he be thus deserving and thus thankful, then that man prays “without ceasing” — he prays that holy and glowing prayer which the angels love to gaze upon — that living prayer which sanctifies his own soul!

Such prayers

seldom express themselves in words; they incarnate and embody themselves in righteous deeds!

But they who have already attained to celestial heights, as well as those who have not yet advanced far in the spiritual country, they can behold us from where they are, and in our evening meditations; in our profoundest slumbers; in our daily occupations; in our “circles” of fraternal love; the spirit-friends, whom our souls most attract, come to us and breathe their pure and beautiful sentiments into our souls.

And when, by reading our

thoughts, they see us in trouble or in danger, it is reasonable to anticipate the reception (that is, if the vessels of our minds will admit the influx) of some spiritual assistance and direction from the angel’s home.

There has never before existed upon this earth so much mental, and moral, and religious freedom, — never so much actual goodness and universal love, — we have grown almost to the spiritual world; and the period even now appears brief when humanity will realize its nearness to,

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and friendship for, the spirit-land; and man shall aspire to be like unto the angels!

The truth is—and it imparts a profoundly grand joy to know it—that every faculty of the human mind is EXPRESSLY DESIGNED FOR GOOD; and in the spirit-world, as well as upon earth, these faculties are or should be supplied with the proper means for their righteous gratification.

The

merely passing from the natural body into the spiritual body does not deprive us of any of our affectional or wisdom endowments.

Nay, our

faculties are immortal and endlessly progressive; and their capabilities are enlarged and refined, beyond this incipient life, to the end that we may the more enjoy the glorious realities consequent upon a continued, but more glorious existence.

Even the most advanced spirits in the

upper spheres are serenely joyous and cheerful; and others, not so progressed, as they become good and happy, are not the less mirthful.

In conclusion, I feel impressed to remark, that the era of mythology and superstition is fast decaying.

Ignorance, bigotry, skepticism, fanaticism,

intolerance, spiritual depression, and all slavery—the great evils which now beset mankind—are rapidly dispersing; they shall recede entirely from the earth, never again to enslave and degrade humanity.

This

world of thought and affection, and of social relations, shall be progressively purified, until there shall be unfolded a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

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By spiritual intercourse we learn that all men shall ultimately be joined into one BROTHERHOOD; their interests shall be pure and reciprocal; their actions shall be just and harmonious; they shall be as one Body, animated by universal Love and governed by pure Wisdom.

Man’s

future is glowing with a beautiful radiance.

Truth will consume all error and artificial theology, whose power is weakened, and whose corruptions are revealed, by the divine light of Nature’s manifestations.

Yea, all evil and error will be finally subdued and banished by the triumph of the principles that are good, divine, and unchangeable; and unrighteousness shall be no morel Streams of good and

healthy

inspirations will spring up, and flow down, to cleanse and refresh the moral world, on whose advancing tide the whole race will ascend to intellectual and social harmony, and to a high state of spiritual elevation and intercourse.

You may admire your own truth; you may think it is superlatively good; the best thing; and yet you know it is only a part of your intellect. If it be a truth which you love also, it will always cause you to glow with gladness and work with joy.

The conclusion of all this is, that all truths in the mind need to be truly married. There can be no balance of character on any other basis. Any

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guardian angel, any passage of poetry, any strain of music, any scene in Nature, that will blend any two truths together and make them one in your spirit, is the high-priest of life to you. From that hour you will go happily forward in your proper sphere of labor, doing good, and exhibiting the pleasant ways of wisdom and righteousness to your fellow-men. The marriage of all principles in the mind will be known as a revelation to that mind of "sthe unity of truth."

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Part Seven: THE PENETRALIA (1856)

SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?

No man alone and unbefriended, unsupported by the counseland magnetism of personages superior, can keep all these commandments; but a firm desire, a sincere aspiration, to do so, will bring to his aid the friendship of angels, and help to centerize his personal capabilities.

Is angelic aid the principal and most needful thing?

No; the principal condition, favorable to individual progress, is external harmony; not only in bodily health, but in the several relations demanded by the several loves. A married woman, to be happy, aside from her own natural peacefulness, requireth a good and intelligent companion. No parlor is harmonious with discord in the kitchen. Spiritual righteousness and happiness are impossible while the outward conditions of man's social life antagonize. Oh, that churchmen could see more of Time in their benevolent enterprises! .The affairs of eternal worlds can be more

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easily comprehended and controlled by their inhabitants. Man's works of salvation and redemption should be adapted to this world.

What explanation can you give for the absence of social harmony among Christians?

It is of the utmost importance that we “understand the true theory of reform; at the same time, also, the reason why the Church system does not succeed. The Church professes to be adequately armed to battle with sin and provided with all the true instruments of social Reform. It professes to have the stupendous “Word” on its side not only so, but the Almighty with it. In fact, all the persons of the God-head are claimed as both prime movers and co-laborers in the vast field of human redemption.

What result does this church association bring forward?

The whole supernatural system has been well-nigh two thousand years converting fifty millions of Protestants into religious Sectarians. But these fifty millions are, after all, far from being reformed and harmonized. Many of them still own slaves, sustain the Fugitive Slave Law, and go strong against the dethronement of King Superstition. These church members and church supporters make no better merchants; as tradesmen they are not a particle more honest than an honest Doubter; they make no kinder or wiser “Bosses” to journey-men and apprentices; they are no better than, and ofttimes not so good as the so-called skeptical and

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unregenerated

How do you explain this fact?

It is because the whole church theory of Reform is unnatural; it is logical from a mythological foundation; and overlooks time in its aims for eternity.

All Christians candidly confess that it is very unnatural to man's natural heart to be a bible Christian. Hence a foreign or supernatural aid is invoked. At length they suppose they obtain such aid, then they become “Christians” that is to say, they become unnatural but, perhaps, not a particle more pure, more honest, more humane. It would be a curious circumstance, should the affidavits of one hundred apprentices be taken, fifty with church members as bosses, and fifty whose masters make no profession of faith in any form of sectarian religion. The question is: “Which class is the most cheerful, kind, honest, humane?” I am fully satisfied that we should get the most favorable report from the so-called unregenerated. It is, alas! … too well known, by many a poor boy and orphan-girl, how insupportably severe is the domestic discipline of church Deacons and praying Laymen. They make the most tyrannical masters; the most invincible slaveholders; the most cruel parents; the most ignorant foes to science; the stoutest friends of bigotry; and the abettors of narrow-mindedness.

Why does the Christian church fail?

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The church fails, because it looks to a wrong Source for its aid. It expects to reform the world by preaching the Love and the Hate of an omnipotent Jehovah; with the necessity of faith in the virtue of that blood tragedy called “Jesus Christ and him crucified.� The world can be restrained thus, but not reformed. The sectarian harness may be worn by thousands; they may work in the traces of duty, as kindly and docile as horses used to the gearing; but at the end of life, what are they? Are they unfolded in Love and “Wisdom? Are they attractive representatives of the divine Life? Nay: they terminate their earthly voyage ofttimes as much in bondage as little developed as when they began. The greatest temporal achievement of a protestant Christian is, to triumph over the fear of dying an accomplishment which the warrior, the Hindoo, the Turk, the Roman Catholic, possesses to an eminent degree, reposing upon his bed of death with a serene resignation.

Is love the best cause of reform?

Human love, by itself, is no source of Harmony; yet, in Love do we find that which is good and perfect. Your warm heart may be overflowing with Love, but are you, therefore, a harmonial man? No: the most loving and enthusiastic person, not regulated by intelligence, is perhaps the most impulsive and discordant. Wisdom must throw his temporizing influence o'er Love before the soul can become self-poised and upright in character.

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A SUNSET IN THE SPIRIT HOME

THERE are times, my beloved, when I long to speak of my new home.

On the bosom of affection's memory, I voyage back to the happy days when we together trod the earth.

Once, I feared for us both . . now, for both I love and fear not.

Day before yesterday, our family journeyed along the banks of the “ Mornia” . . a lake flowing westward.

Accompanied by the dearest ones we know, we ascended the great Mount . . south of the lake . . called “ Starnos,” being somewhat fashioned after a solar body.

And I yearned for thee, beloved . . yet, my spirit was full f love . . breathed from those around me.

I find in the air of my new home . . the house of the spirits of men . . a something blander, and more pleasant, than in any other atmosphere I ever breathed. . . . There is a joy in it to me. . . . But there are many here who seem not to remark this. . . . And then, our sunsets here!

Oh! I would gaze with you, dear brother, on such a sky as glorified this

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rose-covered spot day before yesterday!

“We visited the summit of Starnos to witness this exhibition. ... It is likely to occur here once in every eight of your weeks . . I mean the setting of the sun on this side of the Spirit Home.

I would bring thee a full description. . . . But I have no words, beloved!

I have looked to see if that was the evening you wrote re specting your visit at High-Rock Tower . . it was!*

Should an artist paint the scene that sunlight gave us, it would be said that he had exaggerated the picture. . . . But there is no pencil for such delineation. . . . Art has no hues for such coloring. . . . Language no powers to reveal . . or, if there be words, I feel too much to think them out.

We had been walking around the Lake. . . . The valley was half-viewless and misty with the plenitude of countless odors. . . . And the sea of hills, surrounding Starnos, was half hid by the rainbow-streams of Beauty that were showered down from the sky!

At length, we attained the top of this glorious eminence. . . . “We gazed, with unutterable joy, upon the ever-brightening and kindling firmament.

“With us, in company, were many you never knew . . some well know and

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love you . . others you have seen in the earthly home.

My brothers were with us . . and One, whom I will now call my “ guardian angel” . . and William's Cornelia . . also their recently married daughter . . and James, too, with a group of his recently-formed acquaintances . . and the blessed four you witnessed at High-Rock Tower.

I sought your hand . . I found the memory of your spirit near.

I breathed . . and, the breath I drew was of Life eternal.

And there was no void of existence. . . . Although you did not hold my hand nor administer unto me, yet the fullness of my happiness was all permanent . . all heavenly.

And that sky above us It was even more beautiful in the east than in the west. . . . Such a mass of burnished gold. . . . Yet, not all gold . . for here and there a silver edge unrolled . . disclosing the azure sky.

I would that you had seen it, my brother. ... I can not tell thee of the scene. ... I can now close my eyes . . and, looking in memory, can see it all again.

There was a glorious cloud . . all clouds are glorious, my brother . . which reflected a far-spreading light upon the sea of hills and the lake below. . . .

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And Mornia, in consequence, looked like a miniature ocean of liquid gold. . . . The cloud assumed a ruby hue. . . . And, then, the fair flowing Mornia looked like a sea of blood. . . . The light thrown upon the opposite shore, was like a sunny gauze cast over the landscape's emerald green. . . . And the remote habitations of the “ Brotherhood of Morlassia” . . the groves of meditation . . appeared as a great City illuminated. . . . And the environing fields, receiving the crimsoned light, looked like a World on Fire!

We gazed . . and gazed . . and, the sun went down. . . . The lights opposite were put out. . . . And the fair flowing Mornia

darkened. . . .

And the cloud was first a silver gray . . then dark. . . . ' Twas night in the Spirit Home!

This is the first time my eyes . . divested of all mortal corruption . . ever gazed upon the sunset.

And I feel that I can no more forget it than I could the event of my new birth here.

Of this, beloved brother, I will hereafter speak.

Our party now descended the rose-covered Mount . . wending our way amid green-hilled groves . . serenaded by the birds of the twilight hour. . . . And, as we stepped from spot to spot, I thought of the glories you had taught me to see with my understanding. . . . Seeing the FATHER as I

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now do, I must

“Worship Him in Love. ... In spirit and in truth I must worship Him!

Beloved brother, HOW MAGNIFICENT is THE TEMPLE IN WHICH WE DWELL AND WORSHIP!

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THE SPIRITUAL TEMPLE

By actual experience, spirits communicate with the sons of men.

Every

one, disposed to be in harmony with these principles, is a builder of the temple of progressive redemption.

We have but little to do with the past;

only so far as it sheddeth instruction. can alter it.

The past is fixed eternally; no man

No praying, no preaching, no spiritual device, can possibly

erase an action or efface the history of an institution.

The great point is,

to live from this hour in reference to the symmetrical erection of the Spiritual Temple.

The interior clairvoyant senses can gaze upon the higher worlds, and reveal new worlds within the one we at present dwell upon.

These

senses address man’s inward sources of knowledge; they speak to his Intuition and Reason.

As the microscopic and telescopic worlds are

hidden, in their prismatic splendors and awful magnititudes, from the powers and penetrations of man’s corporeal senses; so, from the same limited vision, are concealed the stupendous magnificence of the spiritual universe, and the kindling skies and indescribably beauties of the eternal spheres.

But, to the interior senses, all these worlds are visible.

Men,

and things, and planets, and angels, and future existence, and the vital laws of Father-God — all, appear in that consistent order and philosophic precision which distinguish the truth from the dark chaos of mythic Theology.

To the interior senses, the changes of Mother-Nature are

indications of the ceaseless operations of unchangeable principles —

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steps from lower to higher— from matter to spirit.

A birth, a fleeting

existence, a death — these are manifestations of the beautiful Laws of progression and development.

The great lesson which I would have enstamped on men’s souls is, that the harmonial formation of character—in harmony with the principles of Universal Love and Distributive Justice—is the only security against temporal unhappiness and future disturbances. by a reasonable belief in progress.

… Progression is made

Harmony of character and

loveliness of disposition unfold gradually from unwavering efforts to acquire them.

May such

faith and such efforts be our crown and

adornments—for they are at once the causes and effects of fraternal harmony and personal happiness.

Of course, by “independence,” … I mean a straightforward, manly, and womanly perseverance in honor of the Spiritual Right that lives and rules within—a strict obedience to the highest ideal of Truth that resides in your own soul—regardless of all political institutions and ecclesiastical requisitions to the contrary.

Right?

Why judge yet not of yourselves what is

Why not act as your soul, in its highest mood, bids you to act?

The cost, or the penalty?

That, I know, is heavy?

But, mark the fact:

you can never respect your own nature on any less terms! You can never honor your Father-God and Mother-Nature by a less expensive existence.

Out of the heavens a voice speaks to each individual soul: hast, and follow Truth!”

“Sell all thou

Your deepest and highest conviction, that is

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your Truth; my deepest and highest conviction, that is mine. You cannot, therefore, altogether follow me, nor I you; but each may revolve in his own orbit, to the other’s benefit.

By actual experience, spirits communicate with the sons of men.

Every

one, disposed to be in harmony with these principles, is a builder of the temple of progressive redemption.

We have but little to do with the past;

only so far as it sheddeth instruction. can alter it.

The past is fixed eternally; no man

No praying, no preaching, no spiritual device, can possibly

erase an action or efface the history of an institution.

The great point is,

to live from this hour in reference to the symmetrical erection of the Spiritual Temple.

The interior clairvoyant senses can gaze upon the higher worlds, and reveal new worlds within the one we at present dwell upon.

These

senses address man’s inward sources of knowledge; they speak to his Intuition and Reason.

As the microscopic and telescopic worlds are

hidden, in their prismatic splendors and awful magnititudes, from the powers and penetrations of man’s corporeal senses; so, from the same limited vision, are concealed the stupendous magnificence of the spiritual universe, and the kindling skies and indescribably beauties of the eternal spheres.

But, to the interior senses, all these worlds are visible.

Men,

and things, and planets, and angels, and future existence, and the vital laws of Father-God — all, appear in that consistent order and philosophic precision which distinguish the truth from the dark chaos of mythic

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Theology.

To the interior senses, the changes of Mother-Nature are

indications of the ceaseless operations of unchangeable principles — steps from lower to higher — from matter to spirit.

A birth, a fleeting

existence, a death — these are manifestations of the beautiful Laws of progression and development.

The great lesson which I would have enstamped on men’s souls is, that the harmonial formation of character — in harmony with the principles of Universal Love and Distributive Justice — is the only security against temporal unhappiness and future disturbances.

Progression is made by a reasonable belief in progress.

Harmony of

character and loveliness of disposition unfold gradually from unwavering efforts to acquire them.

May such and such efforts be our crown and

adornments — for they are at once the causes and effects of fraternal harmony and personal happiness.

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Part Eight THE TEACHER (1858)

THE EMANICIPATED HEAVENS

Behold the awful, sublime and stupendous majesty of the expanded heavens! See the ethereal curtains, whose dissolving and commingling folds conceal from the human vision the star-peopled abyss, — where ten-thousand-thousand orbs roll, in ineffable grace, before the Celestial Throne of the ever-living and omniscient King! The grandeur of the transparent sheet, around and above, is beyond the power of language to express. Divine greatness is reflected in all things! Order and Form, and Love and Wisdom, are indicated in each created object, from the lowest to the highest. From the constant re-combinations of existing materials, youthfulness is everywhere manifest, and Beauty grows out of, and in wreaths every spontaneous creation!

Such thoughts as these were presented to my mind, while standing at a late hour of the same night, on the side-walk at the corner of Mill and Hamilton streets, in the quiet village of Poughkeepsie. How can this be? thought I, — I distinctly remember retiring to my own chamber, and falling into a profound sleep; but what a remarkable change! The heavenly

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archway above is exceedingly glorious and beautiful; and the many stars stationed throughout its vast labyrinths like diamond lights, shine with an immortal effulgence to guide the traveler onward and upward to the city of eternal joy! And here I stand alone, unseen by any except the Eye of the Eternal Being, and unheard by any, except the Ear that hears the silent echoing of all human thoughts! Yes! I am clad in my usual garments, and am contemplating the most high and sublime of subjects!

Thus, I was situated and meditating — not knowing by what means I came thither, or the length of time that had elapsed since I retired; but I retained those diversified sensations of body and mind, which I experienced when I placed myself upon my bed. I felt great calmness, although I could not suppress feelings of curiosity relative to my marvelous transportation. It was spring-time. But it being a late, cold and dreary season, the sun had not yet warmed into life the beauties of Nature. The earth was clothed with a snowy garment, and the whole scene was gloomy, yet awful and sublime.

For a short time I stood meditating, supported by a wall-fence which separated the street from an adjoining field; — when all at once, a strange sound vibrated on my ear, apparently proceeding from behind me. I looked around, and lo, I beheld, with admiration, a flock of clean and beautiful sheep! Their sudden appearance somewhat excited me, but about and with them, all seemed right and good. The flock proved larger than I at first supposed it was, and their physical condition proved

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far inferior. Their bodies, however, were perfectly white; and they manifested great kindness and gentleness of disposition. I was impressed with the following interpretation, which I apprehended as evidently true, and disclosing the use of the vision.

The sheep corresponded to the vast brotherhood of mankind. Their beautiful external whiteness corresponded to the innate purity and goodness of all created spirits, indicating that they are capable of material refinement, and spiritual elevation. The poverty of their bodies corresponded to the wretched physical condition of the earth’s inhabitants, owing to the fact that their interests and social affections are disunited; that they are opposed to each other’s highest good and happiness; that their spiritual sympathies are misdirected. For mankind are connected by the senses to outer, material things; by friendship, love, and conjugal attraction, they are related socially and spiritually. They are possessed of moral powers which incline them to sentiments of veneration — to the love of good, truth, and of God. And the whole human race represents a flock of sheep, whose shepherd is the Universal Father!

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OMNIPOTENT TRUTH REIGNS

The heavens were now shrouded as if mourning a world’s death, and sorrow filled their bosom with frightful paroxysms. Dense blackness swelled into bursting convulsions, and thunder, like smothered groans of universal agony, rolled forth, far and wide, with terrific violence. The electric fire, like distorted smiles of hope mingled with pain, illuminated the vast concave, succeeded by gloom which the contrast rendered blackness inconceivable! Light and darkness followed each other in instantaneous succession. Oh! It was a horrid scene! I never can forget how, as the rain descended, the heavens seemed to weep, and groan, and sigh, and laugh with angry joy; and how I, alone, did sympathize with them, and pray for power to still their troubled elements, not having this power, I trembled and desired to escape. Terrible indeed was my exposed condition. The rain fell in torrents, and the fleeting elements, while warring among themselves, seemed to menace my destruction!

An awful and impressive solemnity pervaded the whole scene. It was a fearful Book, but a sublime and instructive lesson. I listened with a trembling but voluntary submission. Reposing upon an altar, composed of woodbine and other shrubbery, encompassed about with mountains high, frightful and forbidding — rendering escape impossible — there I gathered a harvest of wisdom! From the grand, but appalling representation, I learned submission and elevation; and from the quickness of the lightning and the terrific positiveness of the thunder, I

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learned that “the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” I beheld my own insignificance, and meanwhile, as of all mankind, I beheld an unspeakable importance in my very existence. I learned to revere, obey, and depend alone on that Power which directs and controls the Universe!

— and saw that omnipotent truth will consume all error and artificial theology, whose power is weakened, and whose corruption is revealed by the divine light of Nature’s manifestations! I learned that all evil will be subdued and banished by the ultimate triumph of those principles that are good, divine and unchangeable, and that unrighteousness shall be no more; that streams of good and healthy motives will spring up to cleanse and refresh the moral world, on whose advancing tide the race will ascend to intellectual and social harmony, and to a high state of spiritual elevation!

With composure I witnessed the disconcerted elements as they sought an equilibrium, and saw the clouds chased away, which, when apparently fatigued with their conflicting strife, changed into sparkling, gems, and helped to grace the morning’s drapery. Emerging from the clouds I beheld the king of heath and light, the glorious Sun, whose radiations penetrated and melted the darkest clouds into the brightest robes, which served to render more beautiful his radiance, and to increase the sublimity of his march through the heavens. Not long, and the sky was clear and serene, and the scene presented was one of grandeur and beauty wholly unsurpassed. The conviction rushed upon my mind, with great power, that every movement in universal Nature is a direct

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response to the imperative command of immutable Law, which is the rule of divine action eternally established by Him, who presides over and animates an infinite creation!

TRUE MARRIAGES OF LOVE

As is the Divine Mind, so are the ultimate productions of Nature — his children!

Every individual, abstractly considered, is an embodiment and representation of Love and Wisdom. The elements of the human soul are organized into an image of Love or Life, and the attributes of intelligence are unfolded into an image of Wisdom, or Guardian Power. Therefore every human soul is constructed upon male and female principles; the male is positive, and the female is negative.

But each and every individual, considered relatively, is not Love and Wisdom alone and complete within himself or herself, but is only one of these principles, and hence experiences an affinity for its apparently opposite or dissimilar self. It is when, and only when, an individual realizes its dependence upon another individual, that sensations of loneliness, dissatisfaction, discontent, and incompleteness unfold themselves in the spirit. Congenial association is now loudly and imperatively demanded by the isolated and seeking heart. Heart calls to

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heart. The female is alone without her true companion; and the male is alone without the female; the female is seeking for its Wisdom principle; and the male is seeking for its principle of Love.

There is no happiness separate from true conjugal association. One spirit cannot resist the attraction to another spirit; it is simply Wisdom searching for Love, or Love for Wisdom. It is not strange that the heart seeks its true associate; because when we comprehend and realize the truth that the Deity, his universe, and the human soul, are constructed and subsisting upon the principles of male and female, — positive and negative, — or Love and Wisdom, it is easy and natural to understand the attraction which the dependent Soul feels toward its true companion. It is Soul seeking for Soul, — Life for Life, — Love for Wisdom, — Spirit for Happiness. Yes, it is when the soul realizes its relation to, or dependence upon others, and especially its particular dependence on one, that it begins to seek for itself.

Conjugal-Love must be responded to by Conjugal-Love; else the Spirit will be unhappy. The properly unfolded female character is an embodiment of Love; and the male character, when properly unfolded, is an embodiment of Wisdom. The female, being Love, possesses within her soul the immortal springs of beauty and loveliness; but if she is, by means of uncontrollable circumstances and legal enactments, associated with a companion whose powers and attributes are not sufficiently great and noble, or kind and generous, to extract from her sentiments of

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continual respect and admiration, then will she most certainly manifest uneasiness and generate discord. It is depressing to scan the multitude of marriages which have resulted from no higher causes than the infatuations of passion and evanescent personal charms, — of popularity, of individual position, the superficial accomplishments of education, the advantages of wealth and convenience, — or from the so frequent coercion or incitement of accidental outer circumstances. In the world, every where are visible these superficial and ephemeral marriages, — marriages! did I say? — No, not marriages, but worldly legalized attachments — legalized adulteries and bigamies; which not only distract and deform, but arrest the development of beauty and happiness in, the thus enslaved Soul.

True marriages are natural, inevitable, harmonious and eternal! By the assistance of interior perception and comprehension, I was enabled to ascertain the glorious and consoling truth that every spirit is born married!

When I gaze upon an infant, a youth, a lonely individual, the voice of intuition and true philosophy says “that infant, that youth, that lonely individual, has some where an eternal companion!” Therefore I perceive and understand that a meeting, and, in the present state of society, a legal recognition of such companions are an outward expression of true marriage. And yet, no ceremony, no promise, no written or legalized agreement, can unite that which is internally and eternally joined; nor call these solemnities unite that which is internally and eternally separated. If two are legally married, and if this outer expression of unity has no other

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primary cause than the fascinations of feature, the advantages of position or wealth, or the accident of circumstances, then is the female unconsciously living with another Spirit’s companion; and so also is the male living in perpetual violation of the law of Conjugal Association; and consequently both are rendered dissatisfied and unhappy.

Every individual is born married; every male and female, — every Love and Wisdom, — has a true and eternal companion. This marriage is solemnized by Supreme sanction, and is sanctified by Angelic harmony.

It depends not upon personal beauty, or education; neither upon wealth, position, situation, time, age, or circumstance; it is the spontaneous and inseparable conjunction of affinity with affinity, principle with principle, and spirit with spirit.

In reply to the question — “Will all the individuals married in this life, continue to live together in the Spirit-World?” I received the following vision: In England, in the city of London, I saw a gentlemen undergoing the metamorphosis called death. He had been for several years married to an uncongenial companion; they had frequently and severely injured and insulted each other; and were quite dissimilar in their temperaments, habits, attractions, and desires. From the scene of this departure, my perceptions were directed to a dying Turkish lady, in Constantinople, who, according to the Eastern custom of polygamy, had been a favorite wife of the Sultan. The two deaths, or transformations, occurred at the same moment; and when the two spirits were emancipated from the body, and

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from the superficial restrictions of society, they ascended — and by the irresistible attraction of conjugal or spiritual affinity, and in accordance with the law of perfect spiritual adaptation, they approached each other — and, rapturously embracing, manifested the fullest realization of the beautiful fact that they were eternally ONE.

It is consoling to the enlightened philanthropist to imbibe and comprehend the truth, that a true conjunction of souls is the invariable and inevitable consequence of a residence in the second Sphere, where deformities and injustices are overcome and forever exterminated. There is but one only and true marriage; and it is highly possible that the unfortunate individual who may have had several companions on earth, has not yet met with the real sharer and associate of the spirit’s eternal joys and peregrinations.

That Spirit which is still seeking and praying for congenial companionship, should rest perfectly assured that it has somewhere a mate — somewhere an eternal associate! Life will not always be incomplete. Let the seeker remember this; and, being already in principle joined to some true and faithful one, let the heart be glad; and let it realize, by means of anticipation, the final meeting, which, if circumstances and earnest desire do not consummate it on earth, will be inevitably developed, perfected, and confirmed in the higher country. And those who are unfortunately situated in their worldly-legalized marriage relations — they should, also, rest in the sublime and unfailing assurance of eternal principles, that a

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due separation is in the future, and that a due meeting will be the issue of an introduction into the Spirit-home. Perhaps the true companion has already gone before; if this be so, it is altogether probable that the spirit remaining here will feel drawn toward the higher world, when searching for its companion. There is a holiness in this natural and true marriage — which is a consequence of our being — an inevitable result of our own existence — that, when once conceived of by the heart and understanding, must make every spirit on earth rejoice; and insure purity and faithfulness in that soul which would live for the one whom God hath given, and “keep itself unspotted from the world.”

Where the true union is enjoyed, there can not exist the slightest cause of jealousy, of coldness, of estrangement, of disrespect, or alienation; for perfect and entire confidence wreathes every thought which the one entertaineth of the other; and by a commingling of their mutual love, the truly joined — the God — made ONE — can consume every unfriendly and discordant impulse which might arise in their undeveloped bosom.

The Love-principle, or the female, is the actuating, the prompting, the lifegiving portion of the eternal ONENESS; and the Wisdom-principle, or the male, is the governing, the guiding, and harmonizing portion; and thus the twain are ONE in essence and organization. Love, or the female, with her immortal and impetuous springs of life, beauty, and animation, — is, if unguided and unassociated with Wisdom, unspeakably lonely, and very liable to misdirection; on the other hand, Wisdom, — or the male, with his immortal attribute of harmony and government, — is, if unassociated with,

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and deprived of, the life-giving elements of Love, a mere iceberg, a mere isolated oak, cold and unbeautiful. But these reflections are more properly connected with the consideration of the mission and influence of the male and female principle, or the sexes, which consideration may be found in the previous chapter.

The reader should be impressed with the conviction that the Law of Association, which moves alike the universe and the human soul, will determine and proclaim who is his, or her, true companion. No clergyman, no testimony, no legalized contract, or record in Church or State, can determine upon the proper conjugal associate, nor develop the everlasting affection which the spirit demands. The evidence is within.

Search yourselves. If ye are truthfully married, then will ye have mutual or parallel attractions, corresponding desires, and similar constitutional tendencies; and where the one goes, the other will go; and on earth, as in the higher spheres of existence, ye will have one home, one purpose, one destiny, one God, and one religion.

Where a union is perfect, there is no conflict; when Wisdom decides, love will respond. If a wife loves her companion, she will involuntarily keep his commandments, which to her are wisdom’s ways; and if a husband loves his companion, he will treat her not as an inferior, not as a superior, not as one incapable of exercising reason; but he will honor and protect, and guide, and develop her indestructible sensibilities, and be to her a haven of rest.

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Every heart prays and pines for that holy and protecting love which will not change, however varying may be the vicissitudes of human life, but which strengthens ever, in sickness and in health, in youth and in maturity, in prosperity and in adversity, and which, while it strengthens, fails not to represent those noble and beautiful qualities of the soul which distinguish the sexes and characterize the stronger Man, and gentler Woman; and this distinction must be marled and perpetual in order to experience the blessings consequent upon the existence of perpetual love and honor, one toward the other.

The true marriage is first Natural, then Spiritual, then Celestial, in its progressive growth. And the eternally conjoined have an unfailing evidence of their destiny by experiencing a continually unfolding love for one another, which grows stronger and stronger as they pursue life’s path and near the Spirit-Home. But here let it be impressed, that with some on the earth, misunderstandings may occur, and, by their fearful and invidious influence, even the truly married may be moved to separate on the way, until they arrive where misunderstandings can not exist.

These misapprehensions may proceed from the dissimilarity of individual education, or from habit and acquired superficial desires; but from whatever outer cause they may arise, search ye within; and, if ye are conscious of entertaining a living and growing affection for the offending spirit,

strive

to

extinguish

all

differences

and

unfriendliness

instantaneously by a mutual flash of that love which is immortal.

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The human Soul is capable of inconceivable expansion; its sensibilities are pure and almost immeasurable. The female Spirit feels a boundless, undiminishable love; the male is conscious of a high and insurmountable wisdom; and these embodied principles irresistibly seek and implore the presence of one another. To every individual, its counterpart — the one most loved — is the purest, the greatest, and the most beautiful, of all human beings; others may be beautiful and attractive, and may possess in reality many more accomplishments; but to the lover, the one beloved is the most beautiful; because there is felt an inwrought adaptation of desire to desire, impulse to impulse, organization to organization, Soul to Soul! This philosophy of marriage is that which angels know — the only true marriage, which originated with the Divine Mind; which is sometimes prophetically or incipiently indicated on the earth; which is enjoyed in all spheres of angelic and seraphic life; and which is spontaneously established by the sublime Law of Association that conjugally unites Atom to Atom, Spirit to Spirit, Angel to Seraph, and God to the Universe!

WHERE WILL THE SPIRIT RESIDE?

This question was suggested in your mind by admitting the supposition that there will be an end to matter in the form of worlds; because, if material worlds cease to exist, the mind can not reasonably imagine ally local habitation for the myriads of individual souls which would claim a

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residence somewhere in the solitudes of immensity. And also it seems that your mind was pervaded with an undefined idea that “final� destinations will be gained by all souls and every thing. But as matter is eternal and souls progress forever, according to what has been stated in answer to questions on that head, therefore the present interrogatory demands a different answer.

I have said that the present structure of the Universe will ultimately change, and that a new Universe will come forth, and that new and higher creations will be the inevitable consequence. Now when all worlds of material organization shall have performed their respective missions in the individualization of immortal spirits, and each world shall have disorganized and fallen back into its original vortex of chaos, then where will the Spirit reside? The question comes in naturally here, and here the answer will be best under stood, because it is necessary.

After the individual souls leave this planet (and all planets in universal space which yield such organizations of matter,) they ascend to the Second Sphere of existence. Here all individuals undergo an angelic discipline, by which every physical and spiritual deformity is removed, and symmetry reigns throughout the immeasurable empire of holy beings.

When all spirits shall have progressed to the Second Sphere, the various earths and planets in the Universe, which once swarmed with life and animation, will be depopulated and not a living thing will move upon their surfaces. And so there will be no destruction of life in that period of

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disorganization, but the earths, and suns, and planets will die their life will be absorbed by the Divine Spirit. God is Positive — all else is negative.

He is the Moving Power — all else is moved. He will expand his inmost capacity and attract the glowing elements of His being which permeate the boundless expanse of matter; and all matter, which is not organized into spirit, will die and fall into its original condition. But the inhabitants of the second sphere will ultimately advance to the third, then to the fourth, then to the fifth, and lastly into the sixth; this sixth sphere is as near the great Positive Mind as spirits can ever locally or physically approach. It is greater than all the others. It encircles infinity. It is in the neighborhood of the divine aroma of the Deity; it is warmed and beautified infinitely by His infinite Love, and it is illuminated and rendered unspeakably magnificent

by His all-embracing Wisdom. In this ineffable sphere, in different stages of individual progression, will all spirits dwell. They will be held together by the attractive emanations of Deity, like the safe protection of an infinite belt, which will embrace the entire sphere in which will reside incalculable multitudes of created and eternalized souls. The Universal Father will thus gather to himself all the images of his creation — all the diversified members of his household; and thus “the house of many mansions” will be completely occupied by the many members of the ingathered family.

This may be considered as the home of the spirit; but still greater missions and blessings will determine the paths in which every conjugally united oneness will tread — paths strewed with innumerable and immeasurable worlds of beauty and harmony.

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When all spirits arrive at the Sixth Sphere of existence, and the protecting Love and Wisdom of the Great Positive Mind are thrown tenderly around them; and when not a single atom of life is wandering from home in the fields and forests of immensity; then the Deity contracts his inmost capacity, and forthwith the boundless vortex is convulsed with a new manifestation of Motion — Motion transcending all our conceptions, and passing to and fro from center to circumference, like mighty tides of Infinite Power. Now the law of Association or gravitation exhibits its influence and tendency in the formation of new suns, new planets, and new earths. The law of progression or refinement follows next in order, and manifests its unvarying tendency in the production of new forms of life on those planets; and the law of Development follows next in the train, and exhibits its power in the creation of new plants, animals, and human spirits upon every earth prepared to receive and nourish them. Thus God will create a new Universe, and will display different and greater elements and energies therein. And thus new spheres of spiritual existences will be opened. These spheres will be as much superior to the present unspeakable glories of the sixth sphere, as the sixth sphere is now above the second sphere, which is next superior to the sphere of earth. When the new and superior Universe is completely unfolded, or when the new heavens and the new earths are developed, the spirits in the sixth sphere will be again in the second sphere; because the highest sphere in the present order of the Universe will constitute the second sphere in the new order which is to be developed. Thus there will be four spheres for the spirits and angels at the consummation of the new unfolding, to advance

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through, as there are now four between the second sphere and the sixth which we have been considering.

THE ONE ONLY AND TRUE GOD

God is the Great Positive Mind; — all else is Negative.

Contemplate the eternal Vortex or Center from which proceeded the ten thousand million-fold of worlds that swarm the shores of Immensity; — contemplate the rich and inexhaustible materials which roll in boundless waves to the Central Fount; — contemplate the magnificent azure dome which crowns the Holy Residence of Creative Power; — contemplate the inconceivable interchanging, commingling, and interpenetration of Fire, Heat, Light, and Electricity; — contemplate a Presiding, but inseparably individualized, Great Positive Mind, who, while he commands, compels obedience; meanwhile, Himself, obeys! I say, through the sublime telescope of pure philosophy, contemplate all this Grandeur, this Beauty, this Harmony, and reason will readily conceive the proposition that God is Positive, and all else is Negative.

Far, far away beyond countless constellations of suns and planets, and deep, deep in the fathomless bosom of the immeasurable Univercoelum, throbs the HEART of all life and animation. Its deep, harmonious pulsations flow through innumerable vessels to the unimaginable

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circumference of all planetary existence; and there is not an atom, not a flower, not a solitary vine, not a world, not a soul, not an angel, which does not receive, every instant of time, fresh life and vigor from this inexhaustible source of celestial essences! This Heart is God. His lifeelements are embraced by the all-comprehensive term, LOVE; his elaborating powers by the term, WILL; and his governing attributes by tile term, WISDOM. These elements, powers, and attributes are organized into ONE SOUL — the MIND of the Universe — THE ONE ONLY AND TRUE GOD!

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Part Nine: The Thinker (1860)

THE DIVINE CENTER

As we stand, of a cloudless night, reverently contemplating the holy stars, we discern an immense special tract or belt termed the Galaxy or Milky Way.

Astronomers at one time pronounced parts of this belt to be nebula, as yet unwrought into suns or planets. Telescopes of greater power, however, enabled investigators to discover that what they supposed were mere star-clouds-are, in fact, mighty clusters of blazing suns, and perhaps populated planets. To that immense circle of suns our solar system belongs.

We are residing near the inside edge of the stellar sphere, and behold, therefore, its under-side and margins in every direction. The human eye is compelled to run along under its curving periphery. Astronomers are enabled to contemplate but one circle of suns and their planets, even with the best telescopic appliances.

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The Spirit-Land, together with all the natural worlds which night or science reveals to our knowledge, belong to this one immeasurable system. Within the vast cloud of material globes is the "silver lining" — the aurelian circle — which is the soul's immortal Home. It is revolving within this visible circle of resplendent suns and planets; just as the spiritual body is a silver lining within a cloud-environment- the outer visible form. The spirit-world can be discerned by the super-telescopic power of clairvoyance or other faculties of spiritual penetration. But as it is not discovered by telescopes, it will remain all unknown to the natural sciences for a long period.

This interior circle or spiritual world is what we term "the Second Sphere."

Within that is the third; next, the fourth; then the fifth; lastly, the sixth; the seventh is the Deific vortex, a great Positive Power, perfect and divine.

But between each two of these spiritual Spheres, there is a system of suns and planets corresponding to the Milky Way so visible in the sublimities of our heavens. The higher and more harmonious the mind, the nearer does it approach to the Divine Centre — the inexhaustible Fountain of Love, Power, and Wisdom. Matter is repelled by the central Sun, but spirit is attracted incessantly toward it. But, as I have shown, individualized spirit is never absorbed

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— can never lose its identity.

THE NATURALNESS OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD

Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and all the other planets, both visible and invisible, eliminate their finest aura and atoms, which ascend in the shape of atmospheres and imponderable elements, and halt suspended at a point in space, where the inward principle of affinity becomes supreme. The consequence is, that these accumulated emanations very soon associate, and become compact, firm, strong, and inter-coherent; and this progressive development goes forward until there is formed a vast semi-solid aurelian zone, around a great starry system in the universe. Yea, learn well the lesson that the spiritual spheres are unfolded by, and out of, the natural worlds, as flowers unfold from, and by means of, the earth; that the spirit-land rolls out of the essential emanations of the earth-land, the same as the spiritual body comes out of the refinements and rarefactions of the natural body.

It would be like treading enchanted ground to trace the growth of the elementary universe into planetary systems, commencing with a great sun-filling immensity; the inmost centre of which is the Divine Source of love, life, wisdom, justice, and power. But my impression is not to explain here the interior order of the universe, but merely to exhibit the naturalness of the spiritual world.

The spiritual world is in one sense a material world, I repeat; but it is higher, both in its constituents and in the order of its formation.

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Elementally, it does not essentially differ from those primates which compose the rock, the tree, the animal, or a human body. The difference is similar to that between a rose and its liquidated fragrance. The best imponderable emanations of this world gravitate to what we call the spiritual sphere, and help to form its substance.

Let us examine this progressive series of emanations. First, we have undeveloped earth, in the form of solid stone; second, the embedded gases are liberated, and condensed in the form of water; third, out of water thus derived comes the ocean of atmosphere; fourth, out of atmosphere is eliminated what is termed electricity; fifth, from the abundant opulence of electricity there issues a finer element, magnetism; and, lastly, out of all these ponderable bodies and imponderable elements, there flows forth a mighty sea of imperceptible emanations into universal space. The question might possibly be by science put: "Whither goeth those emanations?"

Nature is everywhere harmonious. When you have seen one department, you have a key to unlock the great truths which stand temple-like, throughout the countless systems of infinitude. As the finest particles of all organizations below man ascend, or are attracted, into his constitution, so these finest particles or emanations from the natural worlds in space ascend, or are attracted, into the constitution of the spiritual world.

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THE HEAVENLY RIVERS

In the human body there is a vitalic circulation; so is there a circulation of vital forces between the spiritual world and the several planets. The south pole of the earth sends forth a magnetic stream, and the currental tide passes through the orbits of Venus and Mercury, very near the throbbing surface of the sun, and surges silently but swiftly on till it reaches the Spirit-Land. Then from another section of the same spirit-land there starts out a lighter fluid, a currental river, toward the north pole of the earth, which is unchangeably electrical. One is positive, and the other is negative. The former flows from the earth to the spiritual world, and the latter from the spiritual world to the earth. Many times I have observed that the spirits of our own human friends, when at death they pass oft of the corporeal body, ascend as by attraction to the height of some seven miles, when they meet and harmonize with the currental river which perpetually glides swiftly on like a gulf-stream, yet consumes nearly seven and a half hours in transporting its precious burdens to the spiritHome.

I do not say that all classes and grades of spirits and angels are confined to this involuntary method of travelling. And in this connection I must parenthetically further remark that, within the nature of the most truly exalted and harmonious minds in the universe, there is properly speaking, no unconsciousness; that is, no compulsatory or involuntary powers and operations.

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This unrealized conception is prophetic of man's future ability, when by the strength of his wish (above volition) he can direct the involuntary lifecurrents, and throw them upon, or extract them from, any organ of his visceral constitution, and thus increase or diminish its allotted functions.

May he not also greatly overcome the centripetal tendency of his body one of these days? But to return:

The flow of this celestial river is like that of a column of blood which is thrown from the heart to the head, down the spine to the feet, and then is called back to the point of departure. The spiritual world, like a great, positive, throbbing heart, repels one current, which goes to the earth, and attracts another current, which returns with its freight. These heavenly rivers roll on like the life of God. Upon their ample, mighty bosoms may safely repose the spirits of the Father. As there are rivers of communication between our earth and the Spirit-Home, so are there "living streams" between that far-off; glorious land, and Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and every other globe belonging to our densely-populated planetary system.

Thus our earth is not only blest, but also all the other planets of the sidereal universe. In the human body, the generous heart does not distribute its lifeblood to one organ exclusively, but freely it gives to the whole temple. So the impartial Heart-the Father and Mother Spirit — which inhabiteth "the evergreen mountains of Life," distributes vital

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currents to planets which roll in the remote distance, no less generously than to the beautiful blooming earth which is this day our abiding-place.

And the most pleasurable method which. embodied spirits adopt in order to accomplish their speedy journeys through space, is to harmonize perpetually with the flowings of these celestial currents. In this manner these journeys can be made by attraction, without a voluntary effort.

Travelling thus in the open etherial sea of space is like moving with the great tide of God's life, musically and happily upon its lovi1ng bosom; and yet it is full of harmony only to him who is prepared to enjoy the Truth.'

When there are evil and discord within the traveller, no matter how much of heaven flows over or beneath him, the evil and discord are his companions. On the other hand, be but in harmony with the philosophical principles of truth, then like the enchantment and divinity of musical anthems are the tidal flowings of these celestial rivers among the holy stars.

Our spirit-friends — embodied —

intelligently harmonize with these

heavenly currents, and thus sail through the star-paved distance till they get within a few miles of the earth; then they send breathingly down their shining shafts of loving power, wherewith to move the table, to vibrate the brain, or, which is far better, to purify the human heart Sometimes, indeed, they personally enter into human society, and visit us in our rooms; but this they do under peculiar circumstances, and for very particular purposes. They more frequently send down their beautiful

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shadows or mirror-like reflections upon susceptible eyes, the evidence of their artistic powers, their sweet influences, their magnetic love, their exalted and exalting thoughts. Seldom do they, in propria persona, mix with earthly groups, or visit the habitations of the unascended. Yet millions of spirits are daily helping humanity. The terrible storms which meteorological investigators tell us occur within a few miles of the earth, are uniformly beneath the aerial stratum to which our embodied spiritfriends descend. Thus, Nature is everywhere harmonious with herself; and, when understood, she brings our inductive minds into friendship with a tangible, substantial, spiritual World.

Just as one flower succeeds another in the order of seasons, just as one crop succeeds another in the order of years, just as summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, come by progressive rotations, so do these eternal systems of natural and spiritual worlds succeed each other and harmonize in the depths of the stellar infinitude. How joyous and tranquil must be that mind which possesses philosophical confidence in the indestructible order of the Universe Religious conservatives may put forth their incongruous objections to the whole harmonial system, yet the slightest breath of disapprobation or discouragement may not enter the Thinker's mind. Once get systematically before your intellectual perception the philosophical possibilities of this boundless universe, and mankind may combine their skill and talent, their aconian logic and argumentation, in opposition to your truth, and your unperturbed and wiser spirit will be as happy and powerful as the archangels of God. "The

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Truth shall make you free!"

Wisdom is greater than knowledge.

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Part Ten: Answers to Re-Occurring Questions (1862)

MISSION OF THE TRUE SPIRITUALIST

I. — Question: "What is the position of the true Spiritualist? Is it possible for him to remain indifferent to the welfare of mankind? Does not such a faith tend to render its recipients wiser, happier, and more useful?"

Answer: Light is pouring in from the eternal Spheres. It flings its radiance on every passing eye. The weary, benighted traveler beholds it afar off.

Nature, with an impartial hand, scatters her truths everywhere; the same at the poles as beneath the equator; and thus the whole globe is abundantly filled with their beauty and fragrance. Unhappy, indeed, is that mind which can neither see their proportions nor enjoy their hallowed magnetic principles. Those immortal truths which

"—heal, and soothe, and bless, Are scattered at the feet of man, like flowers."

Do they not deserve universal attention? They are gentle in their lovingness, delightful in their fragrance, magical in their tender touches of wisdom, sublime in their mountainous grandeur, holy in their significant

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teachings, and God-like in their boundless magnificence and eternal power. In such truths we perceive the "breath of Nature, and behold her endless bloom." She unblossoms her every grace to the truth-worshipper.

Her disclosures are to those only

who love her wisely; to the uncertain

child, the ruthless man, "her face is vailed" both day and night. But to her devoted lovers. Nature is lavish and tender forever, and she is also just in all her requirements.

To the true Spiritualist (using the term in its largest vouchsafed those immortal principles of Truth,

sense) are

which exalt humanity

and enrich eternity. The positive radiance of individual immortality, breaking with infinite light and luster upon this unhappy world, reveals our manifold imperfections. Antiquated errors, and time-cemented systems of injustice and wrong, betray their hideous proportions. The abundance of good light exhibits the darkness of evil in every place and nation. That mind which has stricken off the shackles of mental slavery, and which, with new-born gladness, realizes the eternal dignity and birthright of individual life, is certain to sing the songs of Freedom and of boundless Reform.

Hence, it is the undoubted province of the true Spiritualist to reverence the principles of Progression, and, at the same time, to stand like a mountain of adamant against the regressive waves of superstition.

Perforce of his powerful convictions, and in consequence of the incessant urgings to righteous conduct emanating from his best

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guardians in the Spirit Land, the believer is, of necessity, an opponent to church-taught errors. A higher conception of Father-God dawns upon his awakened understanding. Instead of infinite rage and inconceivable torments, of implacable wrath and unmerciful justice in the universe, the true Spiritualist sees an unchangeably perfect Fountain of deific principles, consisting of equal parts of Love and Wisdom, by which the stupendous whole, with its countless families of life, is enlivened and progressively carried onward forever. Nothing is lost; everything is saved. “Not a sparrow falleth “beyond the realm of progressive law. The infinite good pervades and persuades the material universe, which is the source of every imperfection.

Mind is positive to matter; therefore good (or God) is the master of evil (or matter); consequently, in opposition to all church-errors the Spiritualist must plant himself. He involuntarily works for the prevalence of the best thoughts and ideas. The principles of eternal and all-saving Progression are as dear to his heart as is the spirit of God to the bosom of Mother Nature. Wonder not, therefore, if the Spiritualist, instead of preaching "hell and heaven" to the world, proclaims the gospel of eternal advancement,

with

the

philosophical

disobedience.

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effects

attending

man's

NATURAL PRINCIPLES AND DEDUCTIONS II. — Question: “You say, ‘to the true Spiritualist is vouchsafed those immortal truths, which exalt humanity and enrich eternity.’ What is a natural principal? And how is man’s mind related to it?”

Answer: A natural principle, though million-phased and invisible to the senses, is forever one and inseparable.

Man’s mind is though submerged in matter and buried in abject ignorance, is destined for harmony and wisdom.

Nature is the visible manifestation of God; but God is equally a manifestation of Nature: each inspires, directs, companionates, and reflects the other.

You cannot learn orthodox theology from Nature; neither can you obtain creedal religion from God; for God and Nature, though infinitely diversified, are essentially and practically One.

The great living principles of interior truth and goodness, which constitute the vitals of Christianity, are indigenous to the spiritual constitution of man.

When man’s spirit is awakened in the direction of truth and

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righteousness, whether by an angel’s influence or the tongue of man, then his intuitions arise to the pyramidal heights wherefrom great truths become visible and attractive.

The Mussulman and Methodist are equally subjects of inspiration. The Presbyterian is no nearer to God than the Persian, or the worshiper of Brahma and Juddha; for God and Nature are no respecters of persons or creeds.

Man’s success in life will be in exact proportion to the measure of his capacities, the propitiousness of his circumstances, and the extent of his obedience to the natural laws of his body and mind. If he is good-spirited and truth-loving, he will be benefited by every error and chastened by every misfortune.

If it be true that John saw an angel standing in the sun, or if it be true that any man at any time ever saw a spirit, it is most reasonable to presume that the same experience will continue to form a part of all human history.

There is a divine power working in all that occurs in human life and society — indeed, unless there be such a power, life and society would be impossibilities. Without rills and rivers there could be no lakes, no seas. “The river of life, clear as crystal,” is from the heart-currents and love-rills of the infinite Father and Mother.

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True religion is derived from Nature. Miracles innumerable are incessantly performed by Nature to attest the divinity of her mission.

Stars in the sky, and the grass beneath, are her signs and wonders. And truth is the golden door of entrance to the human heart.

Where Nature is, there is no man-made theology. Where there is a true child of Nature, there is no creed, no falsehood, no hypocrisy. The children of Nature are perpetually young.

Selfishness is the bitter lesson of existing forms of society. Benevolence and natural generosity are checked by the artificial restraints of civilization.

Nature is democratic, and maketh haste to break down the barriers of selfishness and aristocracy, but creeds and bigotry erect insurmountable fortifications.

The age of Nature will not come until men become wiser and more respectful of whatsoever is natural and reasonable.

The chaotic mind, viewing Nature with the senses, sees no harmony or unity.

The ancients believed in many contradictory gods, because they experienced many contradictory influences from invisible sources —

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somewhat as mediums in these days, under similar influences, are impressed with different theories of the next world.

Polytheists were ancient Spiritualists. Their gods, in these days, are called “spirits.�

Men have faith or doubts from the operations of their own minds; but their daily conduct is determined by that influence which is the most powerful, either from within or without.

The reason why Nature does not impart to some minds a knowledge of God, is because such persons do not interrogate her in the fullness of their hearts. If you know what it is to love a Principle, though it be only the common law of chemistry or gravitation, then you so far know what God is, and what his will is, in Nature and in you. It is, however, more elevating to love the principle of Love, or Justice, or Truth, or Freedom, or Beauty, or Harmony, for by the sanctity and spirituality of love for such principles, your soul is lifted magnetically toward the heart of Nature, which is God.

Men love what is nearest to their state of mind and body. A change in condition necessitates a change of appetite.

All persons who are monotonous in character are unchangeable in habits. Like strong wagons they roll in the same ruts for a whole generation. Death is the lever that lifts thousands of human-wagons out

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of earthly tracks. Death, is a pivotal event in human progress.

MIND, REASON, SPIRIT, SOUL, CONSCIENCE, JUDGMENT

VIII. — Question: "The following six words are frequently used

in both

speech and writing, but they are often confounded — Viz: Mind, Reason, Spirit, Soul, Conscience, Judgment. Please give your spiritual definition of these six words.''

Answer: Careful and conscientious thinkers employ and definite meanings. For example, a word "infinite," unless beyond all

terms with fixed

correct thinker will never use the

he intends to speak of that which is absolutely

human comprehension ; nor the term "eternal," unless he

really designs to convey an impression of unending ages. is full of persons who do not study the best and the consequence is manifested

But the world

employment of language,

in the "confusion of tongues" which

everywhere prevails.

We would give our correspondent the following definition as the meaning we attach to the terms, both in speech and writing:

"Mind." This word is a general term, used to signify all the opposites of Matter. Thus "Mind and Matter." are natural counterparts, or friendly opponents in the

organization of everything, from the worm in the oozy

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bottom of the sea, to the brightest angel in the sky-homes of eternity.

2. "Reason." This is also a general term, used to signify the total harmony of all the elements and attributes of equilibrium of all the

Mind. Without such balance and

feeling and thinking powers, it is incorrect to apply

the term; for, in such case, the state of the mind would be

more or less

discordant, and consequently only partially or proximately, and not absolutely possessed of Reason.

3. "Spirit." This term is employed to signify the centermost principle of man's existence — the eternizing, divine, and mid-most energy in man's motion, life, sensation, and intelligence, or the life of the Soul of Nature in the constitution of the human mind.

4. " Soul." This term is used to express that fine, impalpable, almost immaterial body which clothes the spirit from eternity. In this life the electricities,

the moment of death to all

"soul" is composed of all the magnetisms,

forces, and vital principles, which, in more general terms,

are called motion, life, and sensation, including instinct.

5. "Conscience." This word, when correctly used, knowledge of what constitutes right which the spirit informs righteous

signifies the internal

and wrong — the intuitive power by

the judgment what is, and what is not, just and

for the individual to do under all circumstances. But it

be observed that conscience is subject to education,

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should

and, until Reason

prevails over folly, the individual is as is to stumble while

liable to make mistakes as a child

learning to walk.

6. "Judgment." This term is used to signify the occupation and decision of the intellectual faculties. The word "understanding " has a similar application and significance. It is common for people to use the terms reason, mind, judgment, intellect, spirit, soul, understanding, &c., synonymously, as though they mean one and the same thing; reflection you will perceive that you cannot properly words without meanings similar to, if not

but by

employ these

identical with, the definitions

above briefly given.

REPRODUCTION IN THE SPIRIT LAND

XLI. — Question: "What are the relations of the sexes in the Second Sphere, or Spirit Land? Do they reproduce in a manner corresponding to this world?''

Answer:

We repeat, the divine law of Use is the source of every organ

and function. Nothing lives a day after its real usefulness in the boundless economy of the universe has absolutely terminated. This world is the manufactory of individualized minds, adapted to a future life.

The productions of this existence are gathered into that which is to come.

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The organic machinery of our terrestrial bodies, by which reproduction is carried forward, is not demanded by the law of Use in the Spirit Land.

But the relation of marriage, between the sexes, is far more perfect in the next life. Love, not passion, prevails. And the objects of love are exalted far above the reproductive impulses of the blood. The wondrous and beautiful cerebrum, or front and superior lobe of the brain, spiritualizes the blood just in proportion to its predominance over the cerebellum and its visceral appendages.

In the other world, where the moral and intellectual powers are naturally balanced and supreme, the reproductiveness of blood is transferred to that of spirit. Thus the correspondence is kept up. The offsprings of Spiritlove are high-born acts of wisdom and philanthropy; and it is worthy of all consideration and gratitude, that in the Spirit-world, no great individual deeds are possible outside of the true marriage. Indeed, without union between adapted natures there is neither happiness nor progression.

QUESTIONS CONCERNING BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT

XXVII. — Question: “1. Does the ‘vital magnetism’ connecting the soul with the spirit ever dissolve, leaving the spirit without a body, and could the spirit exist thus disembodied?”

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2. “Is the organization of the soul — from the ‘chaotic and discordant elements’ composing it in this life — ever possible with any human being after throwing off the mortal body?”

3. “You say, ‘in common with the animals, each man has a soul;’ but has each human soul a spirit, which, in conjunction with the soul, is to be rocked ‘in the downy cradle of eternity?”

Answers:

1. It is impossible that the magnetic connection, which links the soul to the spirit, should ever be dissipated or rendered ineffective. The vital magnetism is an enveloping ethereal emanation — a perpetual atmosphere — and is not only generated and renewed every moment, but its intimacy and agency are every moment made more chemically perfect and organically indissoluble. Spirit, without a body, is not individualized. Spirit is the impersonal essence of the omnipresent Father and Mother. It is personalized and secreted from the universal ocean of divine principles by means of the forming and containing soul. Hence spirit cannot exist disembodied. It would be swallowed up, like a drop of water, in the common sea of infinite principles.

2. It is impossible for a spirit identity to be formed and established independently of the physical organization and its psychical energies.

The material organism is designed specifically and fundamentally to

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perform the function of giving individuality to the spiritual elements. The body is a mill. It puts, air, water, light, heat, vegetables, fruits, animal substances, and chemicals, into its hopper, and pulverizes them by digestion. The soul is fed and manufactured out of the finest elements and essences extracted from the above-named substances. No body but man’s can elaborate the soul of a man; and no soul but man’s can ever subserve the eternal ends of the indwelling spirit If it were possible for any spirit to be clothed upon for immortal life, without the aid of the physical body, it would then be absurd for any human being to be born into this world. The fact that every inhabitant of supernal lands was once born of woman, on this planet, or on some other like this, in material development, demonstrates the absolute indispensableness of the corporeal organism to a future individualized existence. Therefore, we answer that it is never possible for a new soul to be organized about the spirit after death, except in the manner heretofore explained. The spirit, after leaving the mortal body, is always immediately clothed upon with that particular soul which was manufactured for it by the physical mechanism.

3. We do most distinctly affirm that every human soul has a spirit adapted to an eternal life. But we do not say that every form in human shape is necessarily human in its internal organism. Sometimes it happens that human parents produce false progeny, such as idiots and phrenological monstrosities, who do not possess the functions adequate to the manufacturing of the psychical organism. And sometimes, also, among

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the inferior tribes of earth, we observe bodies in human shape, possessing souls in common with the animal world, but who do not reach sufficiently high in the phrenological scale to take in and clothe a spirit for eternity. Among all races of men these exceptions exist. The farther back we investigate the physical history of mankind, the more frequent the exceptions, until we reach a point in the far past, where the animal world was brought in its fœtal development to the inception of the imperfect human type in shape merely, when the exception was on the side of immortality, and the rule in harmony with the mortal destiny of the brute creation. Now it is rare, among the so-called civilized races, that a child is born on the strictly mortal side of life. But that there are such cases is as certain as that there are counterfeit coins in daily circulation in trade.

Every peach-blossom does not produce a peach; nor is every peach capable of reproducing its kind.

WHERE IS THE SPIRIT WORLD?

XXIX. — Question:

''Does the spirit of man ever enter the spirit world

before the death of the mortal organism?''

Answer: The spirit of man is never out of the spirit world. [By the "spirit world" we do not mean the Second Sphere, or Summer Land.] By the term “spirit world'' is meant the “silver lining to the clouds of matter'' with

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which the mind of man is thickly enveloped. There is no space between the spirit of man and this immense universe of inner life. Man's spirit touches the material world solely by means of spiritualized matter both within and without his body. Thus the five senses come into contact with matter:

1. The eyes by light.

2. The ears by atmosphere.

3. The taste by fluids.

4. The smell by odors.

5. The touch by vibration.

Reflection will satisfy you that you (a spirit) never did and never can come in contact with solid matter. Matter must be first attenuated and set in motion before you can reach out and take hold of it. Between your Will and the solid rock at your feet there are several gradations of matter spiritualized but less and less refined as you go downward, until the lowest condition of life [i.e., vibration, or motion,) reaches and touches the stone. By such conditions and attenuations of matter your spirit (yourself) comes in contact with the outward world—Interiorly you are already in the spirit world. You feel, think, decide, and act as a resident of the inner life— Death removes the ''cloud of matter'' from before your spiritual senses. Then you see, hear, taste, smell, and touch, more palpably and intelligently, the facts and forces of the world in which, perhaps as a stranger, you have lived from the first moment of your

130

individualized existence. It is not necessary to move an inch from your death-bed to obtain a consciousness of the spirit world, or inner life.

Instantly you perceive the life of things, and the shape and situation of the things themselves are also visible in a new golden light, and yet you may not have moved twelve inches from the body just deserted. The duality of man's nature is physiologically and spiritually perfect. Being a spirit, in the spirit world every moment, man can face matter and mold it into countless shapes.

The Summer Land is a vast localized sphere within this universal spirit world.

GUARDIAN ANGELS UNIVERSAL

XLX — QUESTION: "Are there guardian spirits watching over us at all times, and, if so, do they participate with our joys and sorrows? further, when we arrive in the Spirit Land, do we take the place

and of our

guardians and perform similar offices for those yet on earth?"

Answer: As a general principle we observe that each member of the human race is provided with two or more times, days and weeks, perimpossible for the

guardian angels, but there are

haps whole years together, when it is

lower and the higher to form a positive, conscious

conjunction. Of course, not being in contact with us, the angels

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do not

invariably experience our sensations. This is a wise and beautiful provision of the sympathetic law. If it were otherwise, if the love-laden souls resident above of our

our sphere could at any moment intersect the path

experience, they would gladly shield us from much suffering,

and consequently from much education. Therefore, we times," guardian spirits over us. Your

have not,

at all

second question is answered

affirmatively.

SOUL VS SPIRIT

XXV. — Question: "I perceive you make a clear distinction between the soul and the spirit of a man. If you will define the soul as

distinguished

from a spirit, to the understanding of an unspiritually-minded man, you will confer a favor upon one who has been by the

phenomena of

spiritual manifestations, so far converted from "infidelity" as to entertain strong hopes of a rational immortality."

Answer: You can easily comprehend the philosophical difference between "soul "and "spirit." But it will be first necessary to fix firmly in your understanding the structural facts on which we predicate the distinction.

We will explain:

It is correct to say that a man is a two-fold or dual compounded, in general terms, of Body and

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individuality —

Soul. By "Body" we mean

everything physical; by "Soul," everything mental or spiritual. But suppose, after these

a close and conscientious analysis and classification of

two grand counterparts of man, you should find several

subdivisions, or a "wheel within a wheel" — what would would do what we have done; and what more particular statement

you do ? You

is always natural — viz: Make a

of the structure, and give a name appropriate

to each counterpart or subdivision. Finding man's body animated by a "soul," which, in every attribute and property, is the

same as the motion,

life, and sensation of all lower organizations, and that this "soul " was the cause of all corporeal sensations and propensities, we said: "There must be

in man something deeper, more interior, and higher, than

this 'soul'

of the external organization."

Obeying the lead of this conclusion, just as the astronomer discovered a new planet by the faultless logic of legitimate induction, we approached the presence of the superiority to

deeper life, and, because of its inexpressible

the elements of physical sensation, we called it "spirit."

But we have met persons, who, while adopting this classification, prefer to transpose the terms — employing the word "soul" as expressive of the centermost of man's mentality, and "spirit" as the part that animates the physical structures. We have no controversy with terms; only it certainly more convenient for many minds, of one faith,

is

to speak the

same language — using the same words to convey the same meaning; for thus much misunderstanding may be avoided.

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Having been led by the light of reason to infer the more interior principle to man's being,

existence of a still

we entered clairvoyantly and

interiorly upon the investigation, and the result was the announcement of the distinction between "soul" and "spirit," to which our refers. In brief, then, the human structure there is as much difference between the

correspondent

is tri-fold instead of dual, and

between " soul " and " spirit " as there is

body and the soul. The "soul" is compounded of all the

motive forces, life-principles, and sensational elements found, to a greater or lesser degree of organizations of matter. But of all motion,

which may be

perfection, in all the lower

the "spirit" is the divine part — the essence

the master of all life, the lord of all sensations, and the

immortalizing crown of all intelligence in man. "Spirit" every sublime Aspiration — the flower of middle of the heart of man's of whatsoever

is the fountain of

immortal fragrance in the

life — the indwelling "image and likeness"

is holy, beautiful, lovely and eternal. "Spirit" is the

source of Love and Wisdom — "soul" is the source of passion and knowledge. "Soul" is the life of the outer body — "spirit" is the life of the soul. After physical death, the form or

the soul or life of the natural body becomes

"body" of the eternal spirit ; and hence, in the Spirit

the spirit is surrounded by the physical imperfections

Land,

of the "soul." But

the soul (or spirit body) is ultimately purified by the "spirit," which is King.

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DEATH OF AN UNBAPTIZED CHILD

CIII. — QUESTION:

"Perhaps my question is inappropriate. Last week

my child sickened and died. It was very young, and had not received the infant baptism that is believed so necessary to future happiness. What is your belief? Can you give me any views more consoling? My family are all members of the --- church. We know nothing of Spiritualism."

Answer: Spiritualism is another word for knowledge. It rests entirely upon present facts, and upon the historic experiences of all mankind. The Church is another word for faith. It rests entirely upon present theory, and upon the imperative repudiations of every human heart. All men are intuitive believers in that which is truly spiritual. But orthodox religion is rejected alike by reason and intuition. No human soul need be educated by priest and Sunday-school teacher to believe in Spiritualism. But it requires systematic effort in churches, and colleges, and prayermeetings, to impress old theology upon the attention and credulity of parents and children. In a word, the difference between popular theology and modern Spiritualism is marked by the difference between faith and knowledge; the first being mere speculation, while the latter is absolute scientific truth, resting upon a broad foundation of undeniable facts.

Those who have returned to tell mankind of the world beyond the tomb, report that a good life and not the observance of religious rites and ceremonies, secure happiness to the individual in the spiritual spheres. It

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is an unhappy superstition that teaches the eternal importance of religious ordinances. Many a poor soul, deluded by the teachings of old theology, has been made unspeakably wretched. A Connecticut mother was induced to believe in Calvinism. She was in deepest sincerity. For this cause her brain reeled and her heart was broken, under the thought that she was eternally lost. "The unpardonable sin" she imagined herself to have committed. Shutting

herself within a darkened room, and

excluding the light of Nature and Reason, she permitted this one pulpit error to shadow every hour of her life. Let the Insane Retreat yield up account. The day of settlement is rapidly approaching. Then old theology, however petted by the superficial and insincere, will realize the fate of the "Merrimac." The fire of reformation will burn in her vitals, and the law of Progress will "blow her up" with an intensity and power that can neither be met nor weakened.

Moreover, those who have returned from the Summer Land report that infants, and the young of every age, on leaving the earth, are received in the happy homes of the wise and loving angels. The Father and Mother of all do not "belong to the Church." They are not "members" of some rich and powerful "religious body." You can therefore trust your babe with them. Hopeless and faithless though you are, be not afraid to let your darling go up with the guardians of love and light to dwell in glorious homes in the temple "not made with hands." You will meet your darling in the great future. It will be baptized in the waters of truth, unpolluted by the fingers of the priest, and you will then rejoice in the glory and goodness of

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God. Be not afraid to trust your child with the Spirit of the universe.

ADDICTIONS IN THE AFTERLIFE

CXXV. — Question: "You say that you do want your readers to infer that departed men and women do not carry beyond the tomb the desires for stimulants that they may have had in the earth-life. Will

you please tell

us what become of those desires? Give the philosophy of the operation in as few words as you please, but clearly."

Answer: The philosophy of human life and death is

very simple, and "he

who runs" may read it, if he hath only eyes to see and a heart to understand.

We do not teach that men disgorge their incongruities and moral imperfections when they "shuffle off the mortal

coil;" we do not affirm

that death transforms all men, nor any man, “in the twinkling of an eye," into a pure and harmonious angel of light; we do not say that there will be no

necessity for intellectual labor and moral struggling to

conditions after death; we do not inculcate

attain higher

that all are equally beautiful,

and happy, and progressed, in the Summer-Land; but this — the effects and consequences active force,

of an evil earth-life do continue, in more or less

beyond the grave.

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This affirmation does not include the doctrine that the desires and passions continue in full blast after death, which experience and the recently canonized believers in Spiritualism. It is

is the apparent

dogma of some unscientific

possible that the “distinction “here made,

between the consequences of evil and the desires and lustings for "more," may seem to be "without a difference." Therefore, let us explain:

Suppose a man at forty-five to be, constitutionally, as old and decrepit as most men are at seventy-five. His premature old age may be the consequence of dissipation, or disease, or accident. To-morrow he dies.

He arises to his appropriate neighborhood in the Summer-Land, with the traces and effects of that early decay distinctly stamped upon the particles of his new body, and not less within his mental structure; although it is indeed true that the externals of his form are beautifully rounded out, and every organic part is completed, just as Nature

had

designed them to become previous to his death. Whether this man was the cause or the victim of his present personal imperfections, or not, the fact that he yet retains the effects of his earth-life, both physical and spiritual, cannot be hidden from the observation of those with whom is attractively appointed to consociate.

Now it is philosophically absurd to affirm that this imperfect man carried with him over the grave the cause

which occasioned his

incompleteness and misfortunes. He is, by the simple chemistry of death, emancipated from the

region of the dissipation, or disease, or accident,

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one or all of which caused the effects which he still preserves distinctly in his book of life.

Or take the habitual drunkard and libertine. Now, it cannot

be shown

that a man's innermost — the divine SPIRIT — was ever moved toward intemperance and sexual intercourse. In truth, the SPIRIT is always the accusing and condemning "Voice"

— the angel of light within, who

would lead the man out of his darkness and disgrace — the interior source of "ideas," of hope, of conscience, of justice, of truth, of immortality. Whence, then, his desire for intoxication and abandonment?

We answer: From that middle nature — the battle-field of all discord and passion — the "soul," which is between the outmost body and the inmost spirit. In common with the animals, each

man has a "soul" — a

playground of, as yet, unorganized elements and imponderable principles. From that source, and from no other, spring forth all the desires and passions which disgrace humanity and turn our beautify earth into "the lowest hell. "

Now, What is death? Is it nothing more than the passage of an individual from one world to another?

Does a man drop his body just as he

"shuffles off" his overcoat, without the least alteration in the condition and operations of his feelings and appetites? Is it possible for a very great change (as death is) to occur without working some radical improvement? Even mildew works refinement among old leaves in the forest. No stone is dissolved by water and mosses without becoming finer.

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Everything dies upward, so to speak — is better for the apotheosis — and is man an exception to the universal law? No! Is our answer, upspringing from Nature's every source of truth and reason. DEATH, to a human being, is a radical change. The elements of the "soul," which, in all earth-life, were

chaotic and discordant, are organized and

harmonized into body for the SPIRIT. The electrical connections, so long subsisting between the physical body and the mental structure, are permanently dissolved. And with this very radical revolution comes a new set of relations and sympathies between the body-soul and the inward Spirit. The soul, before the master, now becomes a servant. The Spirit is enthroned as Chief Ruler, and the work of progress and regeneration is inaugurated on a higher plane.

Thus the drunkard or libertine appears immediately after death. With death went his desire for rum and sensual excitements; but the consequences of his earth-life are visible on the particles of his new body, and in the feebleness and darkness of his moral faculties. The desires for the earthly pleasures have been chemically dissolved and the chemistry of death does not, cannot, effects which the gratification

removed; but

overcome and banish the evil

of those desires has stamped upon the

individual. Even the habitual tobacco-chewer and swine-eater, although his appetite for both expires with his earth-life, is so much the worse off in spirit-life for indulging the bad habits and diets.

We have not, in this reply, attempted any very nice analysis of the

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chemical phenomena of death. The world is filled with conflicting sentiments on this subject, but we have full faith that the progress of Science in this direction, will remove all religious vagaries. Harmonial Philosophy opens the laws and conditions of life in all gradations of existence, and “the ways of wisdom are not more pleasant “than are its teachings to those who comprehend. What are called "facts" in Spiritualism require something more than the mere oral or written assertion of a medium, who, perchance, is either “psychologized “by the opinions of the investigator, or else by the force of his own foregone conclusions. It is well known that a Methodist medium will deliver Methodist communications, and the same is true with mediums of every other shade of faith; therefore it becomes necessary, in pursuing this most glorious subject, that we start with at least a fair share of what the world calls “Common Sense," and with only one motive in the heart — "What is truth?"

TRULY AND ETERNALLY MARRIED

CLXXVIII. — Question: “Will you mention the book or treatise that you consider the best, as a guide for those who seek to become purely, truly, and eternally married or mated? Another question: Do you consider love that grows out of mere friendship — equal to, and as liable to be eternal as that attraction which is commonly termed ‘love at first sight’?”

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Answer: The best book, as a guide for those who desire to become “purely, truly, and eternally married,” is the Book op Nature. The best interpreter of the contents of this everlasting volume is the most harmonicas human spirit. The truth-loving spirit is educated by its mistakes, the wisdom-loving by its errors, the selfish by its sufferings, and the sensual by its misery. The Book of Nature contains prescriptions for every description of moral disease, and infallible direction also, for the consummation of the true and eternal union of two loving souls. “Love at first sight” is most likely to ultimate in harmonial marriage; yet many minds are so constituted as not to be able to decide, in after moments whether the initial attraction was complete, or only partial. In the latter case, the opposite party is not likely ever to experience the same degree or kind of attraction; and such a marriage, unless very carefully guarded by external attentions, will finally be “null and void.”

The Book of Nature says: “True marriage is predicated upon mutual conjugal attraction between two souls, whether ‘at first sight,’ or as the result of long acquaintance and intimate friendship.” No third party, either mortal or angel, should be consulted. Our common Mother is wiser than any or all of her offspring. But that mind, human or angelic, is nearest the Father, who, by spiritual harmony, can best interpret the maternal lessons. In true conjugal attraction, there is perfect satisfaction; and one calleth to the other thus:

Come! Come! Come!

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Come to our home, Never to roam; For my spirit is waiting thee, Thou with the brave and buoyant tread, Thou by crystal fountains led.

Oh I haste to dwell with me!

Low, low, low.

Gentle and low, Like the rivulet’s flow, Does thy spirit respond to me; Like the song of the Seraphim soft and sweet, Like the viewless tread of an angel’s feet, Is thy spirit minstrelsy.

Blest, blest, blest!

Oh! Forever blest.

In its bower of rest.

Is the heart that awaiteth thee: For thou breathest a song of love divine— Pare as the stars that in heaven shine, Boundless, and strong, and free.

Thine, thine, thine!

Thus, my heart singeth,

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While thy soul bringeth Treasures untold to me; Thine, as the rolling years pass by, Thine, when our home is in the sky, Thine through eternity!

Young man! Young woman! Every human soul!

If you cannot, with your Whole heart, and will, and reason, thus call the One you love, then beware; for the fiat of a divine law is about to go forth against your false relation. Never marry any one to whom you would not sing the soul’s song from your heart’s core. This principle is universal.

THE REFLEX ACTION OF EVIL SPIRITS

CXXXIX. — Question: “On one occasion I heard a Spiritualist lecturer use the following language: ‘Your bodies were made for your spirit. You eat for your spirit and not for your body. The same wants, appetites, and passions move the spirits in the other life as in this mundane sphere. Our bodies are the mere servants of the in-dwelling spirits. It is possible for spirits to gratify their desires in the other world, as well as here, by coming in sympathy, in rapport, with spirits on their plane of life. There are spirits who gravitate to the plane of lust. They swarm around houses of ill-fame and bar-rooms, and their feelings blend with those upon that plane, and the indulgence of the mortal enhances the pleasure of the

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spirit’ What I wished to ask is, whether, in your opinion, as based upon your spiritual experience, men and women are no better off after death than they were before.”

Answer: We know of nothing in the whole realm of spirit-life to substantiate the above statement. It is true, and the proposition is susceptible of every rational demonstration, that men and women are immediately after death exactly what they were just before that event. But it is not true that they are still the victims of uncontrollable passions and appetites. Death is something more to the individual spirit than a mere passage from one room to another through an open door. That operation would be a geographical change only — a mere alteration of personal locality — while, in fact, death is a chemical change throughout. Death is quite as thorough a change to the spirit-individual as birth is to the infant human being. In some respects, the change of life-method is total.

We repeat, the soul is not the spirit. Spirit is dispassionate, pure, and beyond the reach of contamination. The soul, on the other hand, is the source of tempests and discords. The soul-organism is between the outer physical body and the inner spirit. Body and soul grow up together, closely sympathizing with and affecting the construction of each other, while the innermost is quietly unfolding and preparing to gain the supremacy.

Passions and vices do not inhere to spirit; they pertain and adhere to the

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constitution of the soul only. The spirit is disturbed and aggrieved by the conduct of soul-and-body, but the discords and appetites of the latter do not involve the spirit’s heart. Desires and passions, therefore, are the effects of the ten thousand psycho-chemical relations subsisting between the soul and the body: somewhat as acid and alkalis, heat and fire, electricity and thunder, are the effects of the chemical meeting of opposite elements in the external world. Separate the element of fire from gun-powder and there will be no explosion. In like manner, “death” is a chemical separation of soul from its perpetual antagonist, the body. The soul is in full sympathy with the material organism until death — then, for the first time, (except when the person is in spiritual and clairvoyant States) the soul repudiates the body and becomes subject to the Spirit.

The progressions and improvements consequent upon this change of government may be somewhat imagined.

We will, in conclusion, simply remark that many good Spiritualists have taken the testimony of mediums instead of the dictates of an enlightened Reason and Intuition, and the consequences are dissensions and innumerable contradictions.

CONTROL OF ONE’S THOUGHTS

LXV. — Question: “Why can I not control my thoughts; or can a man control his thoughts?”

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Answer: There is but one road to victory in this direction, and even such conquest will be partial, so that you will conclude that thought is uncontrollable.

The straight road is concentration of mind.

This habit

is favorable to self-control.

In brief, then, the human structure is trifold instead of dual, and there is as much difference between “soul” and “spirit” as there is between the body and the soul.

The “soul” is compounded of all the motive forces,

life-principles, and sensational elements which may be found, to a greater or lesser degree of perfection, in all the lower organizations of matter.

But the “spirit” is the divine part—the essence of all motion, the

master of all life, the lord of all sensations, and the immortalizing crown of all intelligence in man.

“Spirit” is the fountain of every sublime

Aspiration—the flower of immortal fragrance in the middle of the heart of man’s life—the indwelling “image and likeness” of whatsoever is holy, beautiful, lovely and eternal.

“Spirit” is the source of Love and

Wisdom—”soul” is the source of passion and knowledge. life of the outer body—”spirit” is the life of the soul.

“Soul” is the

After physical death,

the soul or life of the natural body becomes the form or “body” of the eternal SPIRIT; and hence, in the Spirit Land, the spirit is surrounded by the physical imperfections of the “soul.”

But the soul (or the spirit body)

is ultimately purified by the “spirit,” which is King.

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THE RELIGION OF NATURE

XCVII. — Question: “Please instruct me in what is meant ‘by the Religion of Nature. At school I have acquired considerable knowledge of geography, astronomy, &c.; but somehow I fail to obtain any religious instructions from such material sources. What is the Religion of Nature?”

Natural Religion is the opposite of that which is fictitious or “supernatural.”

It is the doctrine of Truth, Justice, Righteousness, as taught by the harmony, equilibrium, and happiness of the universe.

It is impossible to

get any broad estimate of Truth from a superficial study of any one branch of geography, astronomy, or science, as such branch is presented by the routine system of a modern school or academy.

If you would learn of Truth—exact, never-varying, beautiful, stern, and perfect—examine the laws of planetary motion, the principles of cause and effect in all things, and the adorable proportions of bodies in their respective spheres.

Justice, right, and love, and the beauty of holiness

are lessons breathed from the constitution and adaptation of every natural object.

Search the sacred volume of Nature through.

divine lessons burn their glories into your heart.

Let its

Life and joy supreme—

transporting life and enrapturing joy—come to the pure in heart.

The

spirit of Nature, and the precious presence of the Father, will burn in every bush of roses.

In tree, in bird, in sky, in star, in your parents, in

everything human, behold the Love, and Will, and Wisdom of Deity.

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The whole world is moving toward redemption.

The distracted nations,

under the blessings of higher spheres, shall be delivered from the bondage of stupendous ignorance; they shall be gathered together “into the glorious liberty” of the children of eternal truth and good.

And all this

will be accomplished through the pure wisdom of divine Love.

It is the

only omnipotent spirit.

EVIL AND SIN BEYOND THE GRAVE

CXXV. — Question: “You say that you do want your readers to infer that departed men and women do not carry beyond the tomb the desires for stimulants that they may have had in the earth-life. Will you please tell us what become of those desires? Give the philosophy of the operation in as few words as you please, but clearly.”

The philosophy of human life and death is very simple, and “he who runs” may read it, if he hath only eyes to see and a heart to understand.

We do not teach that men disgorge their incongruities and moral imperfections when they “shuffle off the mortal coil;” we do not affirm that death transforms all men, nor any man, “in the twinkling of an eye,” into a pure and harmonious angel of light; we do not say that there will be no

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necessity for intellectual labor and moral struggling to attain higher conditions after death;

we do not inculcate that all are equally beautiful,

and happy, and progressed, in the Summer-Land; but this— the effects and consequences of an evil earth-life do continue, in more or less active force , beyond the grave.

Or take the habitual drunkard and libertine.

Now, it cannot be shown

that a man’s innermost—the divine SPIRIT—was ever moved toward intemperance and sexual intercourse.

In truth, the SPIRIT is always the

accusing and condemning “Voice”—the angel of light within, who would lead the man out of his darkness and disgrace—the interior source of ”ideas,” of hope, of conscience, of justice, of truth, of immortality.

Whence, then, his desire for intoxication and abandonment?

We

answer: From that middle nature—the battle-field of all discord and passion—the “soul,” which is between the outmost body and the inmost spirit.

In common with the animals, each man has a “soul”—a

playground of, as yet, unorganized elements and the imponderable principles.

From that source, and from no other, spring forth all the

desires and passions which disgrace humanity and turn our beautiful earth into “the lowest hell.”

The conjugal sanctities of a human spirit are the holiest of all interior sensibilities.

They are the finest, and highest, and most confiding.

The

filaments of every other affection center in the marriage-love of the soul.

Salvation or damnation—contentment or desperation—hang upon the

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delicate thread of the conjugal relation.

It is the root of all the exquisitely

fine fibers of life and progress.

SEEING AND DOING RIGHT

CXLII. — Question: “Among your answers I find the following statement: ‘The human individuals responsibility is commensurate with, or in proportion to the mind’s power to conceive of justice and freedom?

“Now, what I want to ask is, whether the ability to discern between the true and the false, the noble and the base, does, of necessity, involve the ability to follow the good and reject the evil? that is: do we perceive Truth with the same set of faculties with which we accept Truth? And may there not be such a malady as paralysis of the will — practically incapacitating some from the incarnating in their lives that beauty and purity which they yet have power to recognize and to love? Was not the poet Richard Savage thus afflicted? And Hartley Coleridge? And Edgar Allan Poe? And, among other singing and artist prophets, many …

‘bright, immortal names That were not born to die? ’

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For on what other hypothesis can we account for the terrible discrepancies between the high and spiritual inculcations of their works, and the solemn, warning lesson of their lives?”

Answer: The power whereby the human mind perceives Truth, as a principle of the Universe is the same as the power to personate and embody it. The power to conceive or feel a principle is identical with the power to put it in practice.

But the faculties with which the human mind perceives the relations subsisting between one truth and another— as between the law of gravitation in matter and the law of progression in mind — are very different from those faculties by which the principle itself is perceived and appreciated.

A mind may perceive the multifarious relations existing between different truths, and at the same time be wholly oblivious as to the principle itself which lives behind such relations. Such a mental condition is not adequate to the fulfillment of Truth’s divine requirements. For example: There are persons, very illustrious statesmen and eloquent scholars in public stations, whose abilities shine brilliantly when expatiating upon Love between man and man, upon Justice between producer and consumer, upon Equality between the rich and poor, &c., but it is shockingly notorious that many of these same logical politicians and

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inspired poets are the first to transgress the beautiful relations they have so rhetorically delineated. And why? Because their souls have not yet appreciated or conceived of the principles of Love, Justice, Liberty, &c.; and, consequently, such experience no moral power (or will) to follow the good or reject the evil.

The Will is never paralyzed when the soul is fully inspired with the divinity and majesty of a Principle. Men are weak when left to grope their way through the wilderness of circumstances. “Doing your best under the circumstances” is the same as putting yourself under their arbitrary jurisdiction. But acting from an inherent love of Principle — let consequences be what they may — is ascending the throne of the Heavenly King. The power to embody a truth is commensurate with the mind’s ability to be inspired by its spirit. An uninspired soul is naturally disobedient. Poets and prophets fall only when not inspired by principle.

THE LAW OF TRUE MATING

CLXIX. — Question: “What is the true law of marriage, with regard to the happiness of the pair, and also for the good of the offspring? Should likes marry likely or should opposites marry opposites? Should a highly developed and purely moral person marry an opposite nature, m order that the children may have a correct and well-balanced organism? Which

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would prove the best in results, for two highly combative organisms to come together in wedlock, or one combative and one meek and gentle?�

The law of true wedlock is written in matter and in man. its process, and divine in its revelations of truth.

It is sublime in

The male and female

principles, or positives and negatives, exist and govern everywhere.

The nuptial law, of which these opposites are expressions, most explicitly declares that, to the ends of happiness and harmonious offspring, opposite temperaments should marry, but only when there is a similarity of capacity and development.

That is to say: The social, moral,

intellectual endowments, attainments, and tastes of the parties, should bear some considerable likeness to each other, and yet the temperaments (except the centrals) may and should be almost exactly opposite.

So, therefore, while rapid and torpid, hot and cold, acid and

alkaline temperaments will favorably affect each other in marriage and result in true parentage, the effect would be exactly otherwise if the unlikeness extended into social and intellectual capacities and dispositions.

It will not answer to marry a foolish man to an intelligent

woman, nor a combative to a gentle nature, nor a beast to an angel, for misery and diseased offspring would ensue.

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Part Eleven: Death and The After-Life (1865)

TRAVELING IN THE ANGELIC SPHERES

Traveling in the post-mortem sphere is at first just like pilgrimizing on earth. But the higher inhabitants have acquired what we shall never be able perfectly to imitate in this world. They have the power, without wings, to rise up and put themselves in harmony with the currents that sweep through the atmospheric spaces. With the spread of light they ride on those currents millions and trillions of miles. It is accomplished by the marvelous power of inherent Will.

The ability of the Will to check the pulse is a promise of ultimate achievements. It is possible to develop and educate this inherent power of Will. By it, in this world, we lift our heavy bodies from beds or chairs, and cause them to move on the ground through low space. It is a mental power holding insensate muscles to its rule.

This executive energy of the arisen human spirit, instead of wings, is the secret of its lightning flight. I do not say that spirits travel by a continuous exertion of the Will. They seek the upper currents by Will, somewhat like the balloon excursion which occurred some few years since between St.

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Louis and the northern part of this state. Professor Wise speaks positively of the existence, of an invariable current, and thinks that if the venturesome aeronaut could strike it, he would be rapidly and safely carried from west to east. His first experiment was a failure, as all first experiments usually are; but it sufficiently illustrates what is the universal method of traveling in the Summer-Land, when they depart on their faraway excursions.

They gain that particular current which sweeps away through the spaces between the orbits of the planets, and which takes them "with the celerity of thought" to the destination which they desire to reach, however remote it may be from their point of departure. We shall not obtain that method in this life, save by uncertain balloons. We see the lesson and the example in birds. But that is done by a direct exertion of the will, and by sympathetic contact of their swift-moving wings with the electricity of the air — part float developed by friction, and part momentum developed by Will. Just as a message of intelligence can be sent through space by vibrating the telegraphic current over thousands of miles, so the spiritbody and Will can, by the vibration of the celestial rivers which flow between the Summer-Land and the different planets, mount and float and ride upon them with inconceivable speed, and gain any desired destination. Traveling there is social. But the truth is, that a combination of minds, just like ourselves, coming in contact with earthly congregations, pour out the spirit of real love, uplifting, elevating, giving inward gladness and unity of feeling "in the bonds of peace."

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ULTIMATELY DEATH LEADS TO HARMONY

Death is largely a cleansing process, and is the hope of the world, not its point of darkness. So beautiful are its sittings, strainings, and other processes, that the active causes of passions and appetites are dropped and left on earth with the gross materiality. So beautiful is the law of Progress, that even the active effects that accompany the individual cannot be perpetuated (as evils and discords) throughout eternity. Why? Because in the center of the universe a positive power reigns, breathing its spirit throughout the illimitable spaces: and, and by the slow workings of its progressive laws, it cleanses all personalities of their transient imperfections.

Only eternal good can eternally exist. There is a universal gathering of all spirits and angels — not in one place, under the blaze of one heavenly central sun, but under the influence of musical distributions, of harmonious varieties, each adding completeness and happiness to the other. Many persons are harmonized in this world when they are "born again," and thus lifted out of their low motives and consequent imperfections. Hundreds and thousands of "things" that annoy, vex, and wear the spirit, before it is thus born, cease to exert any bad effect. Such minds grow sweet, and gentle, and loving, under the new life; before, the same persons were hateful, discordant, and full of consuming passions.

The evil woman, who had "seven devils" cast out of her, is an instance of what good can be accomplished by exchanging bad motives for good

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ones. How many hateful propensities, how many demonic habits, and how many unladylike characteristics were cast out of her by the psychological power, is left to every one's imagination.

Therefore there is a great individual work here to be done. The ounce of prevention is wanted which will make the tons of cure unnecessary. Each person can start on the right track before death; this is the best place to get under full sail for a happier harbor. To-day is better than to-morrow.

The sooner you begin, the farther you will find yourself in the path of harmonious life.

This is the doctrine which we are impressed to teach. I think all should commence at once to see what can be done toward preparing for a better, sweeter screen-age at death, and to insure a beautiful entrance into superior societies. No one can hurt the Infinite Father nor the Infinite Mother — you can permanently injure — only yourself.

This being the truth, we have but to proclaim, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is" — next door, just beyond, on the other side of the deathscreen, through which each must sooner or later pass. How many persons will feel, after attaining the elevation of self-control, that they have begun anew! But how many cross, sour countenances, there will be while going through the trial of trying to be good. If Nicodemus could have understood that to be "born of water" was a natural and indispensable forerunner of being "born of the spirit," he would have first given attention

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to the correction of his personal habits and physical appetites. Thus he would have had more harmonious, more sweet, and more beautiful bodily sensations. He would have become a better neighbor and a truer Governor in Israel, a more agreeable companion; and there would have been a cheerful, buoyant, juvenile flow of light, joy, and peace, within his lifted spirit; in short, he would have soon experienced the difference between a son of God and a son of Belial.

I know it is a hard doctrine to preach, that now is "the accepted time." But this death-screen, which hangs before us, is as certain to fix upon each the effects of habits and mental conditions as that to-morrow will be the natural result of the causes and conditions of to-day. Each person can in this world select his associations after death. It is, therefore, important to get a passport to harmonious central societies in the Summer-Land. You should feel no enmity toward any human being, however much you have been injured. The lion and the lamb lie down together only within the purified human spirit. The hidden, cave-like cerebellum, the back-brain, is a den full of untamed animals. Spiritual Truth is the only conqueror that can enter and still the passions, tame them to peace, and hold them in abeyance until the outward disturbance is gone. Motives, when high, lift up the soul, which is thus prepared to be a better neighbor and more successful in all the genuine enterprises of present life.

All true progress brings an immediate and glorious satisfaction. We discourse upon "life and immortality," not because it is a spiritual fact, but

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because it is the foundation and inspiration of immediate personal improvements. It stimulates us to beautiful effort, and causes us to teach practical reforms. We can bring innumerable tests and mathematical evidences that these things, which we relate with respect to the other sphere, are true; but time will supply you with all necessary testimonies; many of them you have already heard, many of them you know by heart, and ask for nothing more. Now, therefore, the time has come for each to step upon the solid rock of Truth — of eternal principles — which will surely stand, while the spirit makes substantial progress toward higher and more beautiful societies which blossom beyond the stars.

THE LANGUAGE OF THE HEART

The third language used in the higher world is what we here call "the language of the Heart." It is, more properly speaking, the language of emanation. Every private affection throws out an atmosphere. Whatever your predominating love may be, it emits an atmosphere which winds itself about your person. And when the temperament is fine, sensitive, and susceptible, the odor and influence will correspond. If the individual is the victim of an inverted love — a love turned out of its pure, native channel — he throws out upon you a coarse, vicious atmosphere, which in these days is called a "magnetic influence." Mediums, sensitives, and clairvoyants see it, and many persons not so gifted, feel it, and they know not whence or why. "That person gives off a peculiar influence," you say;

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"I feel it." It depresses you; or, it makes you angry. Another person makes you feel "cheerful" and "happy" and "joyous;" and you are physically quieted or spiritually aroused by mere contact with these more exalted characters.

In the Summer-Land this "language of the heart" is carried to an inconceivable degree of perfection. For instance, suppose you and your brother, or you and your sister, should meet — you who have not met for long, lonely years. If you have outgrown the necessity of external speech, and if you have been taught through the mysterious suggestiveness of pure Music, you then deepen into the language of impersonal and perfect Love!

In the higher Spheres such language is alone the medium of communication. It is the language of absolute contact of personal loveatmospheres; by which is meant that two persons, meeting face to face, meet also heart to heart, and are forever friends. On earth it is but the hands, or eyes, or lips, that touch and speak. There, it is the indescribably sweet and perfect meeting of soul with soul. They thus inhale and thoroughly understand each other. For the first time there sweeps through the gladdened heart the eminent satisfaction of receiving perfect appreciation through the deathless wisdom of a brother, a sister, or a companion. Your most secret history is wordlessly told and forever known; the details of your earth-life appreciated, and with all their innumerable bearings upon the shape of your character; and so, too, are

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comprehended all the steps that have brought you to that position in the upper existence; so that the "communion" which takes place at that time extends through all the years, days, hours, events, and moments of your terrestrial pilgrimage. The delightfulness of this conjunction constitutes the beautiful, glorious happiness which diversifies, gladdens, and exalts the inhabitants of the Spheres.

THE LANGUAGE OF COMMUNION

This interior, unspeakable language, is sometimes called "the language of Communion" — the unutterable speech of the immortals — which poets try in vain to reach and express; which Music, with its unsearchable attributes and great powers, very nearly approaches. When your love is warmest and deepest, when you meet it in another, or when it meets you, then you catch the rudiments of this infinitely finer, this inexpressibly beautiful, this trans-mundane, this celestial, this heart-emanational conversation, which is so divinely-blissful, so spiritually-refreshing, and so exalting to all who dwell under its blessings in the Summer-Land.

Let it be once more affirmed that words are not the most eloquent expressions of the Soul. There is no joy so intense as that which sparkles in the eye and crimsons the cheek, yet refuses the aid of the voice; there is also "no grief like that which does not speak." Where the heart has a tale to tell, how poor are the utterances of the lips! Need we these ever to

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tell us that we are loved? Is there not something in arbitrary signs that breaks the spell of our sweetest feelings? There is a mental electricity more mysterious far than the subtle fluid that thrills through material substances. Its conductors are the soft light of the human eye, the smile of the human lip, the tone of a subdued and earnest voice. Pleasant, indeed, is the solitude that is broken only by this silent speech.

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Part Twelve: Eight Evening Lectures on The Summer-Land.

(1865)

GOD’S SON

High purposes alone presided. If the Infinite Father was so moved from the interior — this is the orthodox proposition — as to prepare and send to earth his only begotten, then the Father was actuated by the highest, deepest, and most heavenly purpose. He intended good to all and harm to none. Orthodoxy makes a sad theory of it. But the spiritual thought, within the crude doctrine, is not destitute of truth.

The theory of the flowering out and incarnation of the Divine Spirit in a human being, exhibits love infinitely higher than force, and broader than intellect, and more influential — subduing enmities, overcoming evils, and banishing from the earth, passion and strife and war. This is the spiritual picture within the theoretical incarnation. In this light the incarnation has been a success. Practically and philosophically, he alone is truly successful who is capable of embosoming and exemplifying those high motives which Mary's Son felt, inculcated, and manifested in the far distant past.

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THE PURPOSES OF DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE

The infallible history of each person is written in the Summer-Land. A man who lives for himself, loses himself. If he wishes to gain the world, he as certainly loses it. The death-dealing immoralities of his purposes demoralize all parts of him, curtail his beautiful powers, paralyze his natural energies, and defeat him every step of the way, from the cradle to the coffin.

But a consolation is at hand. Death is a chemical screen — a strainer, a finely-woven sieve— through which, by the perpetual flow of the laws of Mother Nature, individuals are passed on to their true stations in the Summer-Land. The squares in the death-sieve are so exceedingly fine, that only finest particles and certain powers and principles can go through; while on the earth-side is peeled off and cast down a lifeless mass of bones and fleshly corruption.

A process of refinement is this wondrous chemico-sieve deathexperience. The spirit with the encasing soul, hidden centers of life, all the characteristics that have distinguished, and all the motives that have influenced the person — all these easily pass through the death-strainer, the screen or sieve; while the physical body and its particles, which cannot pass through, are dropped: and what is more gratifying, with the physical body are left behind many of those hereditary predispositions and abnormal conditions which gave rise to discordant passions and

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false appetites, called demons and unclean spirits. The causes of these demons and unclean spirits remain on the earth-side of the deathstrainer, while the effects, which those causes exerted on the soul, being so fine and so mixed with the soul-substance, pass through, and remain with the individual long after he has attained to his social center in the Summer-Land.

Persons, or, rather, individualities, are not therefore destroyed by death.

Nothing is changed save the dense physical form and the low material world in which they live. This chemical screenage, this extraordinary refining process and preparation, is one which all have to submit to at the end of the present life. The effect there is like the birth of each into the present world. Much is elevated to the world into which we come at birth; while, at the same moment, and by the same process, much is left behind in the reproductive sphere.

In the temperaments and characteristics of the individual are laid the foundations of the different "Social Centers" that exist in the different mansions of the Father's house that was not built with hands. Those mansions, or, to continue the figure, the different rooms, are inhabited by classes of persons who have taken with them, through the death-strainer, different intellectual, spiritual, and social characteristics — integral attributes and temperamental individualities of character — ruling affections, and the effects of propensities that have been generated and strengthened by long-continued practices in this world before death.

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Regeneration is a spiritualizing process, the same after death as it sometimes is before. If the person starts from earth interiorly cleansed, he will arrive at the next sphere in a corresponding condition. If the persons start from their death-screener with the earth, the flesh, and the demoniac influences impressed upon their souls, they will arrive at and sojourn in appropriate "Social Centers," with the accumulated effects still influencing the inner life and the manifestations of the affections. Thus radical differences in men and women cause different societies in the next sphere. Are there not many persons about you, perhaps dwelling every day in your homes, who have "no part or lot" in your cherished sentiments and happiest experiences? You sit at the dining-table, you look into the eyes of a person on the opposite side, and lo; you are strangers by leagues, perhaps you are whole ages asunder. Different sentiments, different attractions, and different social habits, give rise to different societies. Perhaps husband and wife, or brother and sister, though living in this world in the same house, eating at the same table, will become members of spiritual societies as far apart as the poles asunder. Society would be everywhere monotonous, both on earth and in the succeeding sphere, if individuals were all alike, all cast with the same combination of temperaments.

You begin plainly to comprehend, I think, that if these things are true on earth — about you and in you — death not destroying you, there must be great "diversities" among the inhabitants in the Summer-Land. These

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various super-mundane societies are predicated upon the continuation of the radical distinguishing characteristics of men and women. There are, consequently, societies embodying many of the effects of the immoral motives and degrading purposes by which women and men have been actuated and made miserable in this world.

This is an important and momentous truth. The Summer-Land is a natural state of human existence — growing out of the universal system of causes and effects, laws and ultimates, just as logically and scientifically as to-day grew out of yesterday. Are you not to-day, in all parts of your being, the legitimate result of what the laws, conditions, and experiences of yesterday made you? You are dead to yesterday. Your life is here and now. All you know of yesterday is remembrance. No man or woman can live in any past hour, except in the chambers of intangible memory. You live now, and thus it will be innumerable ages hence. The universal verdict of reason will be this ever-present consciousness of existence — the Past a ghost of the memory; the Future an unfinished picture, illuminated by the inextinguishable lights of eternal hope. Throughout innumerable ages, the Past will appear like a dream; while the Future will be a subject of curiosity, of surprise and attractiveness, in the succeeding ages of eternal life. To-morrow is new and attractive to those who live truly in the Present. None can tell with absolute certainty what will happen to-morrow. There is, nevertheless, a universal confidence in its coming, because of the immutable and perpetual flow of Nature's laws, causing the revolution of the planets and the rising and setting of suns —

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thus all men believe that to-morrow will surely come.

THE IDEAS OF OUR SPIRIT ARE POWERFUL

Men must go forward in their work of progressive civilization; they have the grand example of the expanded universe ever before them. The physical and spiritual universes never fail in any of their functions, because they are regulated by laws that never fail to carry out the designs with which they were freighted from the heart. Principles are the life of laws; ideas are the life of principles; and God is the life of ideas. No man or woman is spiritually-minded until he or she has arrived at spirit.

To be a spiritualist, is to nominate oneself by a mere term; to be spiritual, is to possess a great soul-stirring and progressing Idea. A spiritual worker is one who works, from the essential center — from Ideas, through the leverage of laws, using principles as the fulcrum over which the lever acts on any solid substance with which it comes in contact. Standing with the long end of the lever (a knowledge of natural law) in their hands, such workers can "move the mountains" which stand between them and the attractions and benefits of the future. Faith and works are inseparable.

No soul is wholly destitute of faith in God. Truth and Love and Wisdom and immutable principles — these millions believe in even when they have no conception of a super-personal consciousness, God, or of an inter-personal love-essence called Nature. No man is destitute of faith in principles. Virtue and goodness and philanthropy, and whatever is high

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and noble, command the reverent love and respect of all mankind.

Those who possess Ideas are truly spiritual and progressive people.

When they work, they work as flowers grow, from centers through their own organizations. Organizations come up here and there around them; they spring up and bring forth like harvests in the fields. Thousands, yea millions, are this hour waiting for such center-born organizations. The world's busy millions do not get at Ideas; they need temporary organizations and supporting substances. When a building is in process of construction, a scaffolding is a necessary part of the work. The carpenter calculates for a scaffold just as carefully as for the various materials out of which the building is to be made. When the structure is perfected, the scaffolding is removed.

Even so when progressionists elaborate an idea and get it into the world, let them take down the no longer needed scaffolding — the organization by which the idea was attained. Let the temple of Truth stand white and immortally beautiful before the eyes of all men. Let it be based upon the solid rock of scientific knowledge; let it be seen and felt by all; let it be inhabited by everyone who feels the essential attraction. Must a man wear the clothes of his youth forever because they fitted him once? Or, must men always cling to their creeds and doctrines because by means of them they attained newer ideas in religion and a few finer habits in civilization? Let creeds, doctrines, definitions cease, as, indeed, they finally do with men and women of ideas.

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Part Thirteen: Morning Lectures (1865)

VIBRATION

The great law of vibration is inherent in, and stirs all life. In fact there is no form of life but what is moved and when giving expression to its inner being, this wonderful law takes its place in the first stirrings of being and expressive elements. Without vibration you would not be conscious of any stirring in the air, or of any visible sounds of nature in the atmosphere.

For as sound travels so very swiftly, it must necessarily have some basic and underlying principle to manifest upon, and this same principle is vibration. The throbbing of your heart in your bosom is due to the vibratory currents passing and repassing through the elements of life itself, and fanning continually the functions of the human body into lively action.

Place your fingertips, for example, on the crown of a hard hat in a room where there is any music being made, and your feeling, and the sense thereof will record instantly the rhythmic measures of the melody, the wave motions in the atmosphere collect very rapidly and when their union is perfect or nearly so, they vibrate the sound tones freely into the air, and

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if you place your fingers on a hollow, hard substance you will instantly feel the record of the music making itself beneath your touch.

So you will readily understand by this little illustration that vibration lives in everything that has life and finds expression of that life.

In the verbal,

spoken word of a mortal or spirit, there is a vibratory current that takes up the word's significance and carries it always to a place of recordance, be it in your world or ours; and this is the reason that at some future day in the eternal, you will find all your words and deeds in the aggregate recorded in the great Psychic Book of Ether, and be they good or bad, remember that they are precisely as you have expressed them at the time you gave them being. This will show conclusively that you will never find the law of Vibration false, never erring, always the unchangeable significance of truth, comely or otherwise.

This is the reason that Spiritualism teaches to its followers the very importance of Vibration and its laws; so that we may all tend to make our lives better and truer each day that we live, so that when you of earth come to meet the life Eternal, you will not falter and be afraid of the past earth life deeds, words and thoughts; but will be ready to read this mighty record with clear and unflinching hearts, and with the light of hope and purity shining out of your eyes, you mount the step-ladder of Progression with the new strength of the everlasting.

There are some mediumistic instruments in the world who are so finely

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and delicately attuned to every wave motion, that they can almost instantly on meeting a stranger, strike the rate of his or her vibration in such a manner as to be able to tell his or her good and bad qualities without coming into physical contact with either at all. Each human vibrates a little differently, for in some, the rate of vibratory motion is very swift, while in others it is immoderately slow. In some, vibration strikes a happy medium being neither too fast or too slow. In mediums the rate of vibration usually runs faster than in those undeveloped for such powers.

For one reason they must necessarily be very sensitive in order to record spirit communication of any order, and persons of extreme sensitiveness usually vibrate with great power and rapidity.

In the animal and vegetable kingdoms, vibration is much the same as it is in the human. As this great law stirs all life, we cannot fail to see it manifesting wherever we may be. When there is a communication desired by wire on earth between two parties when all conditions are propitious, then there must first be an even rate of vibration established in each receiving station before the communicating parties can achieve any result. Some spirits when in the materialized form, receive a much more rapid vibration than they possessed in the material body, due from the current flowing from the circle. Then if there chances to be a very quiet and constrained circle of sitters the forms may simply be animated with a very slow and plodding vibration indeed. As an ocean current sways the glassy face of the deep and causes the water to raise itself into waves that grow and enlarge with redoubled energy each passing moment, so

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does the law of vibration stir into action all life and being. The whole throbbing pulse of every phase of life is brought into expression by this wonderful and unfailing law, Vibration. As the tiniest leaf in the early spring peeps out to tremble in the soothing vibratory waves of the air, so does the mighty ocean thunder and sob, its great voice, shaking as it vibrates itself upon the human ear.

THE ERA OF SPIRITUAL HARMONY

In conclusion, I have but to remind you that the era of Spiritual harmony is approaching; it is coming to be part of the common inheritance. Not by any miracle, not by any supernatural arrangement, not by the death of Christ or any other reformer; but the New Age is coming by the principles of an eternal Divinity, which are imperishably implanted in human nature.

When the new truth comes, it is natural for persecution to come also. The opposition is necessary to bring out a grander and more perfect development; so that, while we deplore and denounce this sectarian opposition, we see that it is natural and proper in the course of human progress. I would not have any man or woman believe these principles any sooner than Nature and Reason will aid them to believe. Be just and natural in your spiritual growth; then you will be as firm as the everlasting hills.

God is the central magnet of the universe; the spiritual world is the

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continuation of the natural world; and man’s spirit comes out of his brain at death just as the flower coils out of the bud in the garden; it is all beautifully natural, and there is no miracle; and, therefore, when you ascend to the higher life, it will not even surprise you; but will seem like a welcoming stream of water to the thirsty, and like a feast of wholesome food to the hungry.

This spiritual truth gives help to all and extracts help from all. Instead of finding an antagonist in popular science or philosophy, or an enemy in any of the reforms, Spiritualism finds in each and all of them true friends, dear relatives, and old acquaintances. Therefore, when a man is a Spiritualist, he will very likely be something else beside a Woman’s Rights man, an Anti-Slavery man, a Temperance man; and he believes in the development of higher governmental organizations. He is loyal to the government while it must exist, but is ever working and longing for something better. He is in favor of punishment, if it be reformatory and not vindictive. He is therefore in favor of Justice, and is the opponent of all forms and degrees of oppression. A Spiritualist is very likely to be cosmopolitan. He will have a tender and saving regard for his fallen brother everywhere, and feels solicitude for the man who occupies a place higher than himself. He extends the fraternal grasp to those who are above and those who stand beneath. The modern Spiritualist stands erect between these positions — between social and religious extremes —

and becomes a central influence, a medium for the expression of the

principles of progress, and a friend to all who would grow in wisdom and

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harmony.

THE SOLID ROCK OF TRUTH OF ETERNAL PRINCIPLES

Each person can in this world select his associations after death. It is, therefore, important to get a passport to harmonious central societies in the Summer-Land. You should feel no enmity toward any human being, however much you have been injured. The lion and the lamb lie down together only within the purified human spirit. The hidden, cave-like cerebellum, the back-brain, is a den full of untamed animals.

Spiritual TRUTH is the only conqueror that can enter and still the passions, tame them to peace, and hold them in abeyance until the outward disturbance is gone. Motives, when high, lift up the soul, which is thus prepared to be a better neighbor and more successful in all the genuine enterprises of present life. All true progress brings an immediate and glorious satisfaction. We discourse upon “life and immortality,� not because it is a spiritual fact, but because it is the foundation and inspiration of immediate personal improvements. It stimulates us to beautiful effort and causes us to teach practical reforms.

We can bring innumerable tests and mathematical evidences that these things, which we relate with respect to the other sphere, are true; but time will supply you with all necessary testimonies; many of them you have

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already heard, many of them you know by heart, and ask for nothing more. Now, therefore, the time has come for each to step upon the solid rock of Truth of eternal principles which will surely stand, while the spirit makes substantial progress toward higher and more beautiful societies which blossom beyond the stars.

SUMMER-LAND IMPRESSIONS

The soul, which is not as high as spirit in refinement and function, is in contact with this world. It is the source and the play-ground of passions and appetites. It is the fulcrum on which all passion and force-levers are placed; the bridge over which all animal emotions, impulses and energies travel between the body (outmost) and the spirit (inmost). Only now and then do we perceive glimmerings of pure spirit in man. Men and women sing about being angels in this world. It is difficult to become angels in the cellar kitchen of life; but it is possible. You can live a sweetly ordered life, and can use your will-power to regulate your thoughts and keep discord away.

Genuine angels know nothing about being “tempted� to do

anything that is wrong. If you can be tempted, you are not yet above the conditions from which temptation emanates. Pure spirit is above the reach of temptation. Moral strength to overcome or to resist evil, is the promise of the future angel. It is, in fact, the basis on which the angelcharacter is finally erected; yet if you are tempted at all, you have not ascended above the soul-plane. You do not yet live in the Spirit. You will,

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therefore, be tempted to do various things — little things, great things, bad things, indifferent things sometimes, perhaps, good things may be done unwisely, or overdone, or done to excess.

When liberated at death, we do not move on toward the sun, nor drop downwards into some dreary depth of darkness; we embark on a sidewise voyage, directly above the southern extremity of our planet, and thence onward until we reach the Summer-Land! What shore do we gain?

We gain the shore of a land just like this earth, if this earth were a stratified belt composed of the finest possible particles that you can imagine thrown from all the orbs composing the Milky Way. Pulverize and attenuate the finest particles of matter on this earth; then bring them together in chemical relations; make them coalesce and form into an immeasurable golden belt with all the visible suns and stars, and you have the Second Sphere in its substance, position, and formation. Do you not comprehend that that Land is as substantial to those who live there as this earth is to its inhabitants? The proportions and the adaptations are the same. The Summer-Land, so far as the surrounding immensity is concerned, is bounded on all sides by aerial seas.

Suppose you should go down to any of those high points of land along the coast, and look off on the watery expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. What would you see? No islands are visible; only an atmosphere overhead;

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clouds are floating in the blue sky, and all the rest is water. Now suppose you had never seen, or read, or heard of such a spectacle. What would be your first impression? Your first sensuous impression would be that all the immensity beyond was water, as all above is sky, and that, if you should sail off on that dreary waste, you would be lost utterly to land and to human society.

Such, I say, would be your impression or apprehension on the supposition that you had no previous knowledge of any such spectacle in Nature.

Now imagine yourself standing on one of those shining shores

on the margin of the Summer-Land. Looking toward the Earth, and Sun, and Mercury, and Venus, what would you see? If you were not a farseeing clairvoyant, but was contemplating with the first opening of your spiritual eyes, you would see an illimitable ocean of twinkling stars overhead and zones of golden suns shining, and you would realize a holy, celestial atmosphere, bounding your existence on all sides, and from your feet the departure of an ocean without shore or island, without form, and void of all relations. If, however, your clairvoyant sight was opened if your spiritual eyes had the light of far penetrating clairvoyance in them you would instantly perceive that the aerial ocean, which flows out into infinity from your feet, ripples off and divides into beautiful ethereal rivers, and that those rapidly flowing rivers lead away to the planets, even to this Earth, whence you departed, while another river flows onward to Mars, another to Jupiter, another to Saturn, and other celestial streams to other more distant planets belonging to other systems of suns; and so on, and

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on, throughout the star-paved regions of the firmament, you would behold, in every imaginable direction, streams running musically down these gentle atmospheric declivities, just as tangibly as the rivers that run down the mountains and flow through the spaces in the rough landscapes of this more material world.

I wish! Oh how I wish! That I

could picture to you the reality of these musical rivers of the heavenly spaces. They are musical to the ear that can hear them flowing between the constellations.

Pythagoras and his school believed in the deathless “music of the spheres.” Did not the students of Pythagoras listen to catch that compound symphony? And was it not this very star melody which caused them to be such enthusiasts in Music? Did not some of them in the far-off olden time have clairaudience enough to hear through the physical, and also clairvoyance sufficient to see that “in the Father’s house there are many mansions,” many happy and beautiful places — many apartments or spheres of human life — and that these different apartments in the celestial temple were so many local scenes and landscapes, belonging to the Summer-Land, which breathe eternal harmony throughout infinitude “the music of the spheres”?

Now suppose you were this moment standing on the shining shore of the Summer-Land and looking this way, the out-flowing sea would appear about the same to your sight, without the light of clairvoyance, as would the Atlantic Ocean to the natural eye from the promontories of Nahant. It

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would, perhaps, at first, be no more of a startling spectacle of incomprehensible sublimity.

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Part Fourteen: A Stellar Key to the Summer-Land (1868)

WHAT IS PURE LOVE?

Divinity, in its central life, IS LOVE. In this truth you behold the source of "salvation " to yourself and to all your neighbors in the wide world. The moment you passionately love your object, with a selfish and jealous desire to exclude all other hearts from contact with it, that moment your exclusive love becomes a chemical earthly poison.

Under that changeful influence, and governed by nothing more wise than vital forces and their fiery impulses, you will surely be affected with diseases and mental distortions which may disturb your rest beyond the grave.

Mankind everywhere should work to bring the "kingdom of

heaven on the earth" — and not pray for it merely.

People associate together and tile minister will pray. "Thy will be done on earth" —that is, "may the divine laws, and celestial principles, and heavenly methods, be carried out in human society as they are in the Summer Land." What does such a prayer amount to? Nothing, unless you put your affections and your will to the work of overcoming ignorance

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and obtaining power "by which you can practice some portion of that which you are constantly supplicating heaven to help you to accomplish.

Fraternal love is at the bottom of true heavenly society.

Let us, then, cease being swayed by these lower attractions which constantly produce family feuds and cause a few persons to associate to the exclusion of the rest of mankind. Selfish and jealous attractions do not prevail in the best societies of the upper world. They cherish, encourage, and manifest pure love. The front pews in the heavenly society are not set apart for the rich people and the back pews for the poor; neither do they make great distinctions in accordance with the dictates of a foolish and arbitrary fashion. They who have been servants are not treated as inferior members of the human family.

While on earth, and among so-called Christians, they are treated as though they were allied closely to brutes, and not human beings; in consequence of which they are angered, and become thieves and liars, and do not hesitate to cheat and steal whenever they can. Nothing but a radical development in society, in politics, and in religion, can ever induce some people to think deeply, and arrive at the conception that every human spirit is capable of being pure in its love for their neighbor.

I do not mean that you can love all persons with the same kind and degree of love. I do not mean that you will ever exist without the feeling of inclination and disinclination. That would be impossible. But you need not

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be so warped and swayed by them as to be poisoned in your thoughts and affections toward those of a different nation and temperament. The true and noble in the Summer Land work diligently among the members of its inferior societies to bring about that state of heavenly peace and concord. When the inferior societies of the other sphere are harmonized, the earth-land will also be more harmonized; then all the races and peoples will begin to feel more of that "prayer" which is now but a lipservice among the conductors of the Churches.

The time is approaching when mind will be supreme! Spirit, with the power of its will and the healing of its love, is to take the ascendant. Then circumstances will be to man like the sheaves which Joseph saw in his dream, all bowing to the central sheaf; they will all bow to the master, not to the machinations of his will, not to his high animal ambitions, but only to the fine power of his spirit. When a man grows above desiring selfish ends — when he arrives at that heavenly point — then will all high and eternal things be his.

And he will also own the whole world. He owns the city and the country; the sky, the ocean, and all the earth. He also becomes the proprietor of all mankind. For we are all possessors of each other in the heavenly or harmonial state. Spiritualists have strength and inspiration adequate to the living of an entirely new life with reference to each other not only, but also with reference to all those who are not so blest —the "neighbors" who swarm in the towns, villages, cities, and different countries of the

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globe. They are morally and intellectually able to rise above all condemnation and misrepresentation, and be sweet, and pure, and generous, and forgiving, under all circumstances.

THE UNFOLDING PROGRESSION

When spirits conversing appeal to each other's memory, the memory mirrors forth a perfect representation of the thing remembered, which is perceived and

understood by the conversing spirit. I behold beautiful

representations in the memory of those in the higher

societies. These

representations are of the most exquisite character, because they proceed from the memory therefore

of highly enlightened intellects; and they are

delightful, inviting, and instructive.

I perceive that everything in this Sphere is created and manifested only by and through the exercise and direction of wisdom. Hence the perfect order and uniformity that subsist, and the inexpressible happiness

that

flows as a consequence from such exquisite harmony and unity of action.

Everything is appreciated

as a blessing conferred upon them by the

light and life of Divine Love, and the order and form of Divine Wisdom. is pleasing to behold these heavenly societies; for moment existing in the most perfect

It

I see them at this

degree of brotherly love, and joined

inseparably together by constant ascending and descending affections.

How very clear and bright are their countenances and

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expressions !

They are unblemished by artificiality, gross intrusions — for

and unspotted by rudimental and

they are above and superior to these, and highly

developed. The first society is indeed low, in comparison to the highest; but the variety and the degree is nevertheless a form of the whole — a complete brotherhood.

The diversity consists in the different degrees of

development; and the lowest cannot approach the highest, because of the dissimilarity of quality and spheres. involves the highest, while

But the lowest contains and

the latter, in return, comprehends and

pervades the whole Sphere, manifesting a grace and beauty beyond the power of language to describe. And there exists variety of dispositions, of loves, of

almost an infinite

affections, and of wisdom, among

them; yet each modification of previous conditions of mind is only an ascending degree of refinement toward perfection.

The whole is beautiful — surpassingly beautiful and exists that continual emanation of individual forms,

sublime! For there

love and wisdom from societies and

displaying a brilliancy of illumination beyond any light

or color on earth. It is even so very bright and beautiful, that those in the lower societies who approach are delight. They become because

almost thrown into ecstasies of

prostrated, and apparently fall on their faces,

of the beauty and brilliancy of the aroma that encompasses

the superior societies of the spirit-home.

Thus it is that all preserve an order in their lives

and situations; and thus

it is that their approach to each other is graduated according to the

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unfolding

of the spiritual senses and faculties to the external.

They

represent the circular and spiral forms; for there exists among them a uniform and also an ascending movement. And one is continually unfolding the possessions of another, even as from the germ unfolded the body and the flower. And even as the species of the plant, so does

are

the flower perpetuates

the superior society pervade the lower

ones, and is constantly introducing them into its own vast possessions; and thus all go onward to a still higher Sphere of spiritual and intellectual elevation.

Thus fixed, unvarying, and universal laws of the Father govern and regulate all his universe. Throughout all the ramifications of the spiritual, physical, and

celestial, eternal unity, order, and harmony reigns —

conception, development, progression, and perfection mark and all point with irresistible force of reason

all things,

and demonstration to the

immortality of the Spirit.

ln taking this philosophical view of the plan and the works of God, how grand, rational and

progress of Nature and

how sublime, how comprehensive, how

satisfactory — to the independent-thinking and inquiring

mind, who wishes to ''have a reason for the faith that is within him " — how perfectly are the love and wisdom Mother conjugated and

and justice of the Father and

displayed! And how real, conclusive, and

overwhelming the evidence — appealing directly to the senses, the intellect, and the affections — of the self-conscious,

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immortal existence

and progressive happiness of the race being the

"spirit" that is within us! The human

last and highest development of earth, and mind the

only organism possessing reason and intelligence that investigates all that is beneath and around consciousness of the future — thin, semi-

itself, and that has a

endeavoring to raise or draw aside the

transparent vail that hangs suspended between the

physical and spiritual existence — analogy, "reasoning know," points directly not only to the certainty and necessity

from what we

probability, but to the absolute

of a future existences called the Summer Land.

All organic forms below man not only produce their substance of their material forms mingle compounds, to produce a new the human

examines and

like, but the

with previously formed

and distinct type superior to itself. But

type has no superior development and there is no

retrogression in the works of nature. Each new unfolding is superior to the preceding. Man, then, is destined those Spheres, or not

for other and higher Spheres. In

new states of existence, man's spirit must present

only an "image and likeness" of Nature and God, but a

consciousness of identity and individual selfhood. this, he should so live while in existence,

Feeling and knowing

this rudimentary and preparatory state of

that all his physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual

structure, formation, growth, and maturity, be fully and perfected; so that when the

developed, cultivated,

"mortal puts on immortality," and

seeks "a home in the heavens," it can expand into a celestial life, without spot or blemish to mar its beauty or impede its progress in bliss and glory

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eternal.

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Part Fifteen: Arabula (1868)

THE PRAYER

With thoughts and feelings overwhelmed and inter-tangled by the foregoing reflections, and fatigued with waiting for responses to interrogatories so earnestly put. I entered the secret closet of the more interior, and prayed

“Heavenly Father! Hear, I beseech thee, the spirit of the words I would breathe in thine ear.

“O, Fount of Eternal Good! Lift from before mine eyes the vail of mysteriousness, which shuts out of my understanding the light, by which I would behold, divested of errors and uncertainties, the unbroken beneficence of thy government.

“Spirit of Infinite Truth! O, breathe upon my mouth once more, and aid my tongue to utterance; inspire my bosom with the myriad tendencies of wisdom; make my blood instinct with thy universal laws; and impart, O, I pray thee, to my brain the balance whereby truth can be weighed as by

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the hand of Justice; and to my heart, whose chambers are filled with thy love, an insight that shall discern thee at all times and in all things.

“Father of All! O, let me fearlessly approach thee, as a son would in reverential love draw nigh unto his earthly parent, and ask for divine light and unselfish knowledge. Humbly I would ask — is the universe perfect in thy sight? Was the universe any less perfect millions of centuries ago?

Will it be any more perfect millions of years hence? Answer, I beseech thee, O, Fountain of Knowledge! Didst thou foreknow all things from the beginning? And before thou filledst the world with forms and animation, didst thou foresee the selfishness of mankind? Didst thou make man to follow the impulsions of passion to grow in intelligence and in experience, and to profit by both in devising ways and means to overreach and cruelly to trample upon the rights of his fellows?

“Reveal thy Truth, O, Eternal Source of All things! Enlighten man’s reason with thy reason! Give of thine abundance. Shine like a sun of everlasting righteousness. Let, O, let mine eyes behold the consistency of thine attributes. Make me to see how perfect Love could consent to fill the world with suffering; how perfect Goodness could originate a being so savage and selfish as man; how perfect Wisdom could have justified itself in constructing a nature apparently so imperfect as man’s; how perfect Justice could institute a fixed government in which the strong is permitted to crush the weak; how perfect Truth could ever be triumphant in a universe where hypocrisy is fashionable, and false professions

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succeed on every hand; and finally, I pray, O Father of All! to comprehend how perfect Power can exist in thy nature, and, with thine other perfect attributes, suffer to be perpetuated, year after year and age after age, the innumerable evils and miseries which afflict the human race.

“O, help me to bear my part of life’s work. Strengthen my heart with increasing love toward earth’s wretched millions. Guide to my side the feet of some angel mind, so that I may be taught the lessons of infinite truth. Help all who struggle into the light; and bless, with the fullness of an everlasting blessing, all thy children everywhere.”

THE FACE OF HUMAN LIFE

The face of human life is more wondrous and beautiful than imagination can paint, when seen in the tender and holy “light” which cometh from above. Though sundered far, yet, as by an ineffable tie of imitation, all men come very near together, and consociate kindly as members of one family.

One morning, not long after the last conversation, the tranquil deep and quickening “light” filled the world with golden grandeur. It seemed to illuminate, with a sweet expression of unusual gladness, “the melancholy face of human life.” Streams of golden beauty flooded the lowest caves of

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poverty and wretchedness. In that beauty I saw descending a spirit of mercifulness, a magnetic rain of holy tenderness, dripping through the Stygian darkness that hung over our rudimental sphere. It changed the hideous night of human evil into a bright, happy day. The rivers of life swelled with the fullness of gladness, and the oceans of love ebbed and flowed musically, with the reciprocal rhythmical tides of infinite wisdom.

In that light I contemplated society in different parts of the world. And there and then was born in my bosom, with a grander power for work, an infinite hope and trust; yea, a higher knowledge of the possibilities and achievements in the future history of human nature.

And I saw that:—

“No radiant pearl, which crested fortune wears –

No gem that twinkling hangs from beauty’s ear;

Nor the bright stars, which night’s blue arch adorn,

Nor rising suns, that gild the vernal morn,

Shine with such luster, as the tear that breaks

For others woe, down virtue’s manly cheeks.”

But knowing that some of my fellow-workers did not perceive the “face of

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human life,” either in its “better or worse” aspects, I went to my desk and painted the picture, and mapped-out the field of work for philanthropists, thus:

1. VAGRANT CHILDREN. — Thousands are born and cradled amid scenes of drunkenness, beggary, sensuality, and crime. They are early taught the low vices of the rum-hole, dance-house, and brothel. Talk with them in the spirit of an angel’s love. Find out where they sleep, what they do day by day, and by what means they obtain their subsistence. Many of them beg, others peddle, some pilfer, and too many sell themselves to secure a living.

2. ORPHANS. — Many, having ignorant and vile parents, are orphaned from their earliest moments. Their tenderest and most spiritual impulses are crushed; their tongues are trained to the language of ignorance cruelty; and vice; houseless, forsaken, hungry, dirty, and immoral, they are orphans, and, like those who have no parents, need your solicitude, loving kindness, and protection. All such want good homes in the country.

The warmth of spiritual hearts will elevate their affections and purify their lives.

3. DISEASED. — Give to such a few words of instruction concerning the laws and conditions of Life and Health. Caution them against the evils arising from the use of alcohol and tobacco. Encourage them to abandon all habits which tend to prostration, sensuality, and disease. A few words

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may, in after years, take root and save the little sufferer. Bestow healing from your magnetic hands. Let no opportunity of doing good escape you.

4. STREET QUARRELS. — Children whose birthplace was in the midst of dissipation and crime, are quarrelsome and profane in the streets.

Never fail to speak to either boys or girls when you see them disputing, or hear them using vulgar and profane language. Step in between them at once, but invariably with great gentleness. Ascertain, if possible, the cause of their quarrel and fighting. Explain the better way. Instruct them to walk in the paths of wisdom. They will feel and acknowledge that you love them; and that, though a stranger, you are a true friend to them.

5. DESTITUTE WOMEN. — There are multitudes of this class — young girls, and women of all ages — who need timely counsel and wise assistance. They want faithful friends, and opportunities to gain their living by honest toil. Superintendents of the Poor, the Commissioners of Emigration, and the Governors of the Almshouse have great duties and responsibilities in behalf of this class of women. You should know what can be done with and through these Institutions. You can point out to many a lone heart the way to industry, purity, and happiness. Be a true guide to the stranger, and a source of strength to the poor and fallen.

6. UNFORTUNATES. — Many have gone into misfortune and crime.

They wait your healing friendship. They have had no society but that of vice-incrusted men — swearers, drunkards, thieves, profligates, and

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criminals. They want you to speak to their souls the words of fraternal welcome to a higher life. Give them knowledge of the angels. Unfold to their minds the Father’s wisdom and the Mother’s love. Find a kind home for the honest-hearted girl, and procure profitable labor for the impoverished and broken-spirited woman. She is your unfortunate Sister.

She is pure and beautiful within. You will meet her after death in the Summer Land. Fail not to do her much good.

7. IMPRISONED. — Hundreds of women have abandoned themselves to low vices — petit larcenies, pauperism, and: other misdemeanors from which you can arrest and wholly redeem them. By the sentence of the Court, under the laws of the State, such Sisters are imprisoned like masculine criminals of deeper depravity. Thus they fall beneath selfrespect, into a moral Condition below the state from which they offended the interests of society. They need your timely aid. If possible, keep them from prison. Stand between them and the requisitions of the law. Shield them from the impertinent questionings of lawyers. Let your fraternal love warm the heart of the criminal woman. Let the light of your better faith shine upon her pathway. No part of your work can be more successful.

8. INTEMPERATE MEN. — The rum-shop is the death gate of society. It is the fountain of want, wretched-ness, beggary, vice, cruelty, crime, and sensuality. Sore-eyed, dirty, filthy, houseless, forsaken, hungry children are born and cradled in the hovels, garrets, damp cellars, and loathsome alleys which are sought by the victims of intemperance. In this city the

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youthful population — the offspring of intemperate parents consists of “newsboys,” “street-sweepers,” “dockboys,” “beggars of cold victuals,” “cinder-snipes,” “peddlers of stolen articles,” “boot-blacks,” and “deadrabbits.” There are fifty thousand children in New York who never enter any place of instruction. The cause of this over-population of unfortunates is intemperance. Thousands of children originate in sensuality. Of 32,172 men sent to prison in one year, 30,200 were victims of alcohol. These men want your fraternal arms to arrest them in their career. They can be saved through love and truth. Instruct them in the laws of life and immortality. Impress them with the “consequences” of their bodily and mental habits. Teach them concerning the life after death of the realities of the Summer Land where the results of the practices in this life are revealed as parts of the individual’s character.

9. CRIMINALS. — This class is large and increasing. They are for the most part men who emanate from foreign penitentiaries and foreign poorhouses. Such characters are shipped to this country, and our jails State prisons, almshouses, and asylums become filled with them. Yet they are children of Father God, — the offspring of good Mother nature, — and: are destined to live and bloom in the gardens of eternity. They are Irish, Germans, Italians, English, French, Polanders, Welsh, Portuguese, Hungarians, Scotch, and Africans. The cost to the people of the United States, of arresting, convicting, and punishing these criminals, is enormous being not less than $19,000,000 (nineteen million dollars) every year. The combined salaries of the lawyers amount to $35,000,000

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per annum. Tobacco and rum — the active agents of vulgarity and crime — cost one hundred and forty millions ($140,000,000) every year. Of course criminals are being rapidly multiplied. Intemperance is at the bottom of it all. The condition of these criminals calls for your fraternal love and good works. From their imprisonments they beseech you to visit them. Eternity alone can reveal the good your ministrations may do for them. Some of them are weary and broken-hearted; others are bitter toward their enemies, and vindictive; the first need strength, and the latter demand the lessons of wisdom. You can convey glad tidings to their grateful hearts. Lead them out of darkness, and obtain their pardon.

There will be joy in heaven when one such is redeemed from his discords and evil.

10. DISABLED ANIMALS. — Always be ready to assist the fallen, whether animal or human. The lower kingdoms should feel the gentle, healing love of your justice and harmony. The harmonial age should descend, like a universal blessing, to the fishes, birds, and animals. They live for us, and serve us day by day, and are susceptible to the law of kindness.

11. THE ABUSED. — Cruelty and injustice should not be meted out to dependent creatures. Whipping, stoning, maiming, teasing, or otherwise abusing creatures beneath man, should not be permitted. It is your duty to arrest the attention of men or boys whenever they transgress the law of kindness.

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12. FIGHTING. — It is especially your mission to separate animals, as well as men or boys, who may be engaged in fighting. Street fights and neighborhood quarrels come within your sphere of operations. Always be peacemakers.

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Part Sixteen: The Seer (1884)

THE GREAT HARMONIA

Spontaneous and profound Questions are living representatives of internal Desires; but to obtain and enjoy those pure and beautiful responses, which are intrinsically elevating and eternal, the Inquirer should consult not superficial and popular Authorities, but the everlasting and unchangeable teachings of Nature, Reason, and Intuition. There is an omnipotent, purifying. and fraternizing Principle permeating and pervading the Natural, Spiritual, and Celestial Departments of GOD's Universal Temple—a principle, which unites atoms and planets into one stupendous System; which unfolds spirits and angels as immortal Flowers; which endows the Divine Mind with eternal Power and Loveliness; and which is the divinely-inherited Treasure of the human soul- and this principle is called, THE GREAT HARMONIA.

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EXTRAORDINARY DREAMING

Now if a spirit should approach a person thus slumbering, and desire to impress a dream upon the sleeper’s mind, it would psychologically act upon the various organs in the front brain — upon such organs, I mean, as would develop or elaborate the dream designed. Hence the mind would be called into play by the Will of the Spirit. The mind would unfold any dream which the Spirit might Will — just as, when the musical instrument is skillfully played upon, it emits the sounds in the performer’s mind.

This species of dreaming is not clairvoyance, — though I have seen instances where the dreaming mind has been perfectly and correctly impressed with distant objects and scenery; the result of impressions received from the Will of the Spirit that controlled the elaboration of the dream.

Now and then, our guardian spirits come from a fairer and serener Home than ours. Those happy children of the Father, beautiful as the mind can imagine, — they come to inspire our souls with kindred thoughts and higher joys, — they come to make us better, wiser, and happier.

As the Goddess of music takes down her lute, touches its silver cords, and sets the summer melodies of nature to words; so an angel from the Spirit Land comes to us in our profoundest slumber, and gently awakens

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our highest faculties to the finest thought and serenest contemplation.

Much that is termed Poetry in the world, originates in the enchantments and mysterious beauties, which, as a general thing, are supposed to hang in most luxurious clusters upon the Tree of Ignorance and Superstition. The invisible and the unknown excite the imagination, and this faculty finds a peculiar enjoyment in contemplating their mysteries, in giving expression to the apocryphal realities, which make up the unseen landscape, beyond the curtain that conceals the contemplated regions from the human vision. There are but few bold, vigorous, independent minds that can bear the full rays of the Sun of Knowledge; because the majority of mankind depend upon their ignorance for many enjoyments, intellectual entertainments, and delights.

When the soul is passive, when its various instrumentalities of thought are all resting quietly, then the spirit from the other life can draw nigh and awaken the faculties to a higher kind of exercise. Let it not be supposed, however, that the spirit transmits its own thoughts to the sleeper’s mind, and thus develops the dream; on the contrary, as will be hereafter shown, the faculties of the slumbering spirit are gradually called into such action as will perfectly elaborate that dream which the guardian spirit may desire.

It is a sweet moment when this species of influence may be enjoyed. The spiritual power steals over that portion of the front brain in which the proper faculty is located. When reached, the guardian gently brings its functions into action, and thus awakens in the sleeping mind a train of

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thought, or generates the materials for a truthful vision of some distant land.

In this place I will relate an instance, which came under my own interior observation. It was in the case of a lady whose death is described in the first Vol. of the Great Harmonia. It was several months previous to her departure from earth, when she was seated by the window in her parlor, gazing, with the expression of one lost in reverie, at the distant mountains.

Although I had entered the room a few moments before, and had spoken a few words, yet she remained abstracted. On observing this, my earnest desire to perceive the action of her mind in that condition, enabled me to rapidly pass into the Spiritual State. By directing my internal perceptions toward her, I beheld a female guardian spirit standing immediately behind her chair, watching her mind. Being also in the spiritual state, I could distinctly see the mental operations. She had become bewildered by thinking upon a subject which could not be easily solved. The fatigue of brain, in consequence of the protracted mental effort, had induced, temporarily, the perfect slumber. The action of the intellectual and will powers were, for the time being, entirely suspended. At this point, I saw the guardian spirit pass her beautiful hand over the moral organs, and extend her fingers, in an earnest, positive manner, toward the left temple.

The emanation from her hand was soft and penetrative — like the softest aura, and I beheld a thought evolved from the faculties in that locality.

This thought passed, like La breath, into the upper portions of the brain, and was then joined by several others, which the guardian had caused to

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come forth from the different faculties.

Now, this was a dream, full of

significance. It originated from a spiritual influence; not from any imperfect slumber or unsettled thoughts. The lady did not know, however, that she had a guardian spirit. Therefore, on awakening from the reverie, which she did a few moments after this spiritual impression had been made upon her, she exclaimed —

“How beautiful and clear was that

dream!” Before she uttered this, I had returned to my ordinary state, determined not to inform her what I saw in her case until

she should

express to me her thoughts. Hence I inquired: “Have you been dreaming?” She replied: “Yes, but I didn’t lose myself more than five minutes, I think; and yet I dreamt out what I must do in regard to a certain matter which has been on my mind for the last two weeks.” Said I: “Do you mean to follow dreams in matters of importance?” “O, no,” said she; “but when I can lose myself in my chair for only five minutes, and awake with a better plan of procedure than I have ever had before, I will certainly act upon it.” I then related to her what I had seen, much to her surprise and gratification.

But let us come to the application. You will perceive,

by the above illustration, that the mind can be psychologically acted upon by spiritual beings. Spirits may breathe their influence and sweet discourses upon the mind, without disturbing its repose or exciting the least suspicion that a divine power is acting so immediately upon it. And yet, when the human mind receives an impression from the spirit world, which takes the form of a clear and beautiful dream, there is no doubt but the true import of that impression will be recognized by the individual who obtains it. These impressions are never lost, when once imparted to, and

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distinctly developed in, the mind. The dreams which are generated by spiritual influences, may be distinguished from ordinary dreaming by an unerring rule — viz.: by the clearness, beauty, and power which invariably characterize the former; while the latter are generally obscure, disagreeable, and troublesome to the mind.

We must not, however,

accustom our minds to depend too much upon the guardian spirit for direction and happiness. When we ascertain our duty and destiny, or obtain certain convictions concerning them, we should act in strict accordance with all the light we possess. Then it is, —

when the

individual has done, and is doing what he believes to be his duty, — that the higher influences rush into the soul. Yet it should be remembered, that these dreams cannot be received from the spirit world, into the mind, unless the slumber be perfect and the state harmonious.

The truth is, that, even when man is made to dream a spiritual dream, full of interior meaning, there are no “ideas” imparted to the mind, but simply the faculties are played upon so skillfully, by the guardian spirit, that they cannot but produce the desired impressions, — as when a competent performer touches the cords of the musical instrument, he compels it to give forth precisely that song which is agitating his own mind. He communicates to the instrument the motions of his mind; thus he makes it dream, (vocally, so to speak,) the actual perceptions of his intellect. He does not impart the music, for that is already existing and incorporated in the very constitution of the instrument; but he controls its motions and thus constrains it to express precisely such sounds as he may desire. So

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with spiritual dreaming: the slumbering mind, — will —

powers are all quiet, —

whose intellectual and

is under the control of the guardian

spirit; and the Spirit does not introduce thoughts into the mind, but touches the various faculties in such a manner as to cause them to develop the dream which is desired.

THE PORTAL OF THE UNKNOWN

When the hour of her death arrived, I was fortunately in a proper state of mind and body to produce the superior (clairvoyant) condition; but, previous to throwing my spirit into that

condition, I sought the most

convenient and favorable position, that I might be allowed to make the observations entirely unnoticed and undisturbed. Thus situated and conditioned, I proceeded to observe and investigate the mysterious processes of dying, and to learn what it is for an individual human spirit to undergo the changes consequent upon physical death or external dissolution. They were these:

I saw that the physical organization could no longer subserve the diversified purposes or requirements of the spiritual principle. But the various internal organs of the body appeared to resist the withdrawal of the animating soul. The body and the soul, like two friends, strongly resisted

the

various

circumstances

which

rendered

their

eternal

separation imperative and absolute. These internal conflicts gave rise

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to manifestations of what seemed to be, to the material senses, the most thrilling and painful sensations; but I was unspeakably thankful and delighted when I perceived and realized the fact that those physical manifestations were indications, not of pain or unhappiness, but simply that the spirit was eternally dissolving its co-partnership with the material organism.

Now the head of the body became suddenly enveloped in a fine, soft,

mellow,

luminous atmosphere; and, as instantly, I saw the

cerebrum and the cerebellum expand their most interior portions; I saw them discontinue their appropriate galvanic functions; and then I saw that they became highly charged with the vital electricity and, vital magnetism which permeate subordinate systems and structures. That is to say, the brain, as a whole, suddenly declared itself to be tenfold more positive, over the lesser proportions of the body, than it ever was during the period of health. This phenomenon invariably precedes physical dissolution.

Now the process of dying, or the spirit’s departure from the body, was fully commenced. The brain began to attract the elements of electricity, of magnetism, of motion, of life, and of sensation, into its various and numerous departments. The head became intensely brilliant; and I particularly remarked that just in the same proportion as the extremities of the organism grow dark and cold, the brain appears light and glowing.

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Now I saw, in the mellow, spiritual atmosphere which emanated from and encircled her head, the indistinct outlines of the formation of another head. This new head unfolded more and more distinctly, and so indescribably compact and intensely brilliant did it become, that I could neither see through it, nor gaze upon it as steadily as I desired. While this spiritual head was being eliminated and organized from out of and above the material head, I saw that the surrounding aromal atmosphere which had emanated from the material head was in great commotion; but, as the new head became more distinct and perfect, this brilliant atmosphere gradually disappeared.

This taught me that those aromal elements, which were, in the beginning of the metamorphosis, attracted from the system into the brain, and thence eliminated in the form of an atmosphere, were indissolubly united in accordance with the divine principle of affinity in the universe, which pervades and destinates every particle of matter, and developed the spiritual head which I beheld.

In the identical manner in which the spiritual head was eliminated and unchangeably organized, I saw, unfolding in their natural progressive order, the harmonious development of the neck, the shoulders, the breast and the entire spiritual organization. It appeared from this, even to an unequivocal demonstration, that the innumerable particles of what might

be

termed unparticled

matter

which

constitute

the

man’s

spiritual principle, are constitutionally endowed with certain elective

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affinities, analogous to an immortal friendship. The innate tendencies which the elements and essences of her soul manifested by uniting and organizing themselves, were the efficient and imminent causes which unfolded and perfected her spiritual organization. The defects and deformities of her physical body were, in the spiritual body which I saw thus developed, almost completely removed. In other words, it seemed that those hereditary obstructions and influences were now removed, which originally arrested the full and proper development of her physical constitution; and, therefore, that her spiritual constitution, being elevated above those obstructions, was enabled to unfold and perfect itself, in accordance with the universal tendencies of all created things.

While this spiritual formation was going on, which was perfectly visible to my spiritual perceptions, the material body manifested, to the outer vision of observing individuals in the room, many symptoms of uneasiness and pain; but the indications were totally deceptive; they were wholly caused by the departure of the vital or spiritual forces from the extremities and viscera into the brain, and thence into the ascending organism.

The spirit arose at right angles over the head or brain of the deserted body. But immediately previous

to

the

final

dissolution

of

the

relationship which had for so many years subsisted between the two, the spiritual and material bodies, I saw—playing energetically between

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the feet of the elevated spiritual body and the head of the prostrate physical body — a bright stream or current of vital electricity. And here I perceived what I had never before obtained a knowledge of, that a small portion of this vital electrical element returned to the deserted body immediately subsequent to the separation of the umbilical thread; and that that portion of this element which passed back into the earthly organism instantly diffused itself through the entire structure, and thus prevented immediate decomposition.

As soon as the spirit, whose departing hour I thus watched, was wholly disengaged from the tenacious physical body, I directed my attention to the movements and emotions of the former; and I saw her begin to breathe the most interior or spiritual portions of the surrounding terrestrial atmosphere. At first it seemed with difficulty that she could breathe the new medium; but in a few seconds she inhaled and exhaled the spiritual elements of nature with the greatest possible ease and delight.

And now I saw that she was in possession of exterior and physical proportions, which

were

identical,

in

every

possible

particular—

improved and beautified—with those proportions which characterized her earthly organization. Indeed, so much like her former self was she that, had her friends beheld her as I did, they certainly would have exclaimed—as we often do upon the sudden return of a long-absent friend, who leaves us and returns in health —

‘Why, how well you look! How improved you are!’ Such was the

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nature—most beautifying in their extent—of the improvements that were wrought upon her.

I saw her continue to conform and accustom herself to the new elements and elevating sensations which belong to the inner life. I did not particularly notice the workings and emotions of her newly-awakening and fast-unfolding spirit, except that I was careful to remark her philosophical tranquility throughout the entire process, and her nonparticipation

with

the different

members

of

her

family

in

their

unrestrained bewailing of her departure from the earth, to unfold in Love and Wisdom throughout eternal spheres. She understood at a glance that they could only gaze upon the cold and lifeless form, which she had but just deserted; and she readily comprehended the fact that it was owing to a want of true knowledge upon their parts that they thus vehemently regretted her merely physical death.

The period required to accomplish the entire change which I saw was not far from two hours and a half; but this furnished no rule as to the time required for every spirit to elevate and reorganize itself above the head of the outer form. Without changing my position or spiritual perceptions I continued to observe the movements of her new-born spirit.

As soon as she became accustomed to her new elements which surrounded her, she descended from her elevated position, which was immediately over the body, by an effort of the will-power, and directly passed out of the door of the bedroom in which she had lain, in the

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material form, prostrated with disease for several weeks. It being in a summer month, the doors were all open, and her egress from the house was attended with no obstruction. I saw her pass through the adjoining room, out of the door, and step from the house into the atmosphere! I was overwhelmed with delight and astonishment when, for the first time, I realized the universal truth that the spiritual organization can tread the atmosphere, which is impossible while in the coarser earthly form—so much more refined is man’s spiritual constitution. She walked in the atmosphere as easily, and in the same manner, as we tread the earth and ascend an eminence. Immediately upon her emergement from the house, she was joined by two friendly spirits from the spiritual country, and after tenderly recognizing and communing with each other, the three, in the most graceful manner, began ascending obliquely through the ethereal envelopment of her globe. They walked so naturally and fraternally together that I could scarcely realize the fact that they trod the air—they seemed to be walking upon the side of a glorious but familiar mountain. I continued to gaze upon them until the distance shut them from my view,—whereupon I returned to my external and ordinary condition.

This account of the facts—of what actually happened at death—is confirmed by numerous other witnesses, who agree as to the main details.

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Part Seventeen: The Reformer (1891)

IDEAL LOVE

Fatigued with reflections so vast and unprofitable, and depressed with external burdens and loneliness, the soul feels an internal need which vocalizes itself, and demands the marriage relation; and the conjugal element ventures to send up trembling thoughts, seeking utterance through impotent words, that some congenial soul might hear them and answer; and prays that it may be permitted to lay its deepest possessions on the bosom of some kindred nature — one who would shed the sympathetic tear, share the fearful wounds and vicissitudes consequent upon a terrestrial pilgrimage, impress lovelier thoughts, and give to life a sweetness, a fullness, a joy, a righteous strength, and, above all, an equilibrium in attractions, which only the truly married can realize and represent!

In this manner, each cultivated soul conceives, and procures

to itself, an Ideal Companion.

This ideal bride or ideal bridegroom comes long before the outward embodiment. It is the result of a constitutional need. In the contemplation

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of this Ideal, the soul gains strength and happiness.

There is no one, in

all the earth, but at some time breathes forth an involuntary prayer, gushing from the heart’s inmost centre, that the soul may behold the pure and true being, its spiritual counterpart, around whose spirit it may allow the tendrils of the purest affections to entwine themselves lovingly, and without reserve! Perhaps, in the externalism of common marriage, the soul may not feel this deeper need. Perhaps, the occupations and customs of the world may deprive the soul of its power to seek or procure its mate.

On earth this perfect oneness may never be to every individual, for the Ideal may not be found; but in our bright home, beyond the grave, you surely shall enfold in your loving arms the ideal bride or the ideal bridegroom; the kindred one so steadily sought, so earnestly aspired after, so tenderly enshrined, and loved, in your spirit’s purest depths!

True marriage, remember, is of the spirit. Without this, all happiness is fleeting. Spiritual enjoyment has a sun-like power over the world, reflecting light and warmth, and beautifully fertilizing all the earth, whereon the streams of life flow onward. Therefore, you should not bring to your mate merely that which is corruptible. High-born natures, the spiritually tempered and harmonially exalted, cannot easily bear to think that the spirit should yearn through the flesh. “Yet,” says such a soul, “do I respect the body as the ‘temple’ wherein my love now dwelleth to perfect the soul; as the ‘garden’ wherein the spirit buds to blossom; as a

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‘cradle’ where the infant-life is rocked; as a ‘cottage’ where I wait for a moment; as a ‘palace’ where the spirit is crowned; as an ‘altar’ from which I aspire unto the infinite, till prepared I shall rise and dissolved it shall fall.”

True lovers are each other’s translators. Feeling the same gratification, and receiving the same benefits, the twain can quote to each other the same expressions:

“O best Beloved, thou hast unlocked the love-treasures of my soul; thou hast descended to the hidden mine and brought the jewels forth — jewels which before I had no knowledge of possessing; thou hast shown me they were God’s, and of unsullied purity; thou hast bade me deck my soul therewith, for they are mine and thine for evermore; thou hast opened all the pent-up streams of undying love in my soul, that they might rush into the ocean of thy spirit, mingling my whole life unreservedly with thine! My soul was to itself a stranger till thou introduced me to myself. Thou camest to my imprisoned nature, brought with thee the lamp of truth, unclasped the prisoners’ chain, set the captive free, and led my spirit forth from darkness; and now, Beloved, our dual natures mingle into one essence, and I yearn from all earth’s trammels and pageants to escape and be with thee and only thine through all the embowered spheres and rose-crowned periods of never-ending existence! Thou art the Home of my soul; my heart’s resting-place; and the imperishable seeks thee, because its life thou art. The immortal in me woos thee, for thou art its

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Heaven. My eternal essence would mingle with its undying whole! I sit with thee beneath the shadow of the ‘tree of righteousness,’ and all around us bright fadeless flowers are springing, and I gather them, and thou dost form of them a beauteous wreath to crown and bespangle me like an angel; or, leaning lovingly and confidingly on thee, I ascend the mountain of life, and from its glorious heights, gaze far and wide into the Universe, beholding beauties and deific sublimities unutterable; yea, like a child I rest in boundless confidence upon thy bosom, and thou art ever near — for ever mine and mine only: this, this, my own best Beloved, maketh earth a heaven; and the templed aphorisms of my soul’s deepest heart, blending their voices with those of my understanding, assure me that this happiness shall continue without alloy — changeless and eternal as the universal God. Yea more, my own true Heart — while with thee, all earth-life is divine! I love to hear the murmuring stream, and listen to its rippling lay: I love to gaze on some bright star, and feel the beauty of its silent joy; but better do I love thy sweet loving tones whispering in mine willing ear; my inmost heart stands still when thy lips doth part to speak to me; and brighter than the brightest star is thine eye — it beams more dear on mine; I love the sun as it lays the beams of beauty over the earth, and upbuilds the palace bf the day; I love yet more the flowery Spring, with its glorious array of virgin beauties; but all these bring me no joy, if thou, Best Beloved, art away; my heart has love for all that’s fair and beautiful upon the earth; but nought is fair where thou art not, and in thy absence joys are dearth; I love to think of worlds afar, and of a pure life beyond the tomb; and oh, the thought to meet thee there robs the grave-

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passage of its gloom. Yea, I love to think of that blight virgin world, Beloved, where joys eternal reign; and I pray to meet thee, on yon love-lit shore, never to part again! The soul hath its aphorisms; and I feel that I shall surely see thee there, Beloved, and wander childlike by thy side — as thy spirit’s mate; we will voyage from world to world, on wings of thought, acquiring Love and Wisdom denied to us by earth: O, glorious thought! That when truly enfranchised from the ills of life — our spirits liberated from Passion’s thrall — we become the blest inheritors of eternal worlds, where LOVE is ALL IN ALL!”

SPIRITUAL VITALITY AND SPIRITUAL WEALTH-

Human beings, like trees, grow from and upon the soil. The earth, like a wise parent, supplies the germ. I speak now of the original method: for now, men and trees propagate themselves, and, although the earth still superintends the process, the method is improved. Like trees, also, do souls attract to, and assimilate with, themselves qualities of congenial substance from the organisms and from the atmosphere of universal Nature. You will observe that trees absorb vitality and substances from the earth and the atmosphere, which is generated by and thrown out from all the planets in space. And thus you see great giant-trees building themselves up — adding ton after ton of substance, limb, and leaf — without in the least diminishing the size or weight of the ground, which they so beautifully refine, refresh, and decorate!

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So it is with human souls. Minds absorb vitality and substances in general from the atmosphere, which is generated by and thrown from all the spiritual spheres. Therefore, you will perceive that there is a spiritual atmosphere within the material atmosphere. The soul feeds on the one; the body upon the other; until, by a refining process, they blend into ONE, whereby the spirit is made to increase in substance. And as you see trees growing without diminishing the earth, so you also see souls multiplying and building themselves up-bringing into the world new thoughts and new principles — without exhausting the spiritual FOUNT which they correspond to and represent.

You will remember the exact analogy — that trees grow by attracting and assimilating to themselves the terrestrial atmosphere which is thrown from all the planets; and that souls grow, in a corresponding manner, by attracting and assimilating to themselves the celestial atmosphere which is thrown from all the spheres.

Therefore, human minds, like trees, grow large and beautiful, or, like trees, remain sometimes small and deformed; strictly in accordance with their origin and subsequent situation.

Minds possessing an equal amount of spiritual life, though of dissimilar temperaments, will be drawn to associate with each other. As there are hundreds of different types in this respect, so there are hundreds of

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different associations. Hence you perceive the entire naturalness of sects and institutions; the inevitableness of parties, clanships, and isolated nations. The Harmonial Philosophy should teach the world, therefore, to shake hands over its multiform distinctions; to forget all uncharitableness, and draw a wet sponge over the records of all animosities.

We come now to the practical conclusion — viz.: that human souls will accumulate spiritual substance, obtain the real elements of mental nutrition, in strict harmony with their individual aspirations.

Those who aspire to Love will grow spiritually wealthy in Love; those who aspire after Knowledge will grow rich in the memory of Facts and Things; those who aspire unto Wisdom will increase in the perception and enjoyment of Principles and Generalizations!

Therefore, is nature ever true to her children — giving Silver, and Iron, and Gold to those who seek. Silver is love; Iron is knowledge; Gold is wisdom. Just in proportion as these departments of mind are opened (by organization, culture, and situation) to the celestial atmosphere, within the common air, so will Love, and Knowledge, and Wisdom, increase the substance of the soul. This celestial air, in which the spirits delight to live and love, contains all the essential principles of human life and of mundane development. And as soon as these different departments of the soul begin to absorb and appropriate their congenial elements, then will you see an enlargement of the corresponding external portions. The

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external head will change and alter, and improve in its form and symmetry, in exact ratio with the interior alterations and improvements.

If you seek a Knowledge of Facts and Phenomena, then your forehead will round out and widen. It will give you a bright look, like expert lawyers or craftsmen, full of talent and cunning. If you seek Wisdom, then, in truth, “she shall give to thine head an ornament of grace, and a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee;” and you will be truly the children of nature — pure, childlike, loving, noble, good, great, and free! If you seek Love, then will your physical form begin to resemble the beautiful and the blest! Your features will lose their sharp, hard, penetrative expression; and there will be a “look of love” in every lineament, even your walk will be an expression of inward peace and purity. But you will be earnest in this, my Friends, and fail not to attract nourishment to each part of your soul.

Do I hear a voice — “How shall we commence?” My reply is, that you should cultivate your Wisdom by trying to grasp great general Principles; and by meditating and feeding upon them, as you would look over a landscape and enjoy the living whole. Strength comes only with appropriate exercise. And you should cultivate your Love by trying, with all your might, to think only affectionately toward mankind. Commence by acting so good that you cannot help loving yourself — then, you will expand outwardly; and “friend, kindred, neighbor” next it will embrace — till, at last, you will be delivered from discord and debt, owing “no man anything but love.” Accustom your memory to think only of kind words.

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Forget to use hard terms — leaving all terrible invectives to the uncivil preacher — and think only of words which express friendship and affection. For it is wonderful how men feel through, their thoughts, and have thoughts only as they remember words to utter them!

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Part Eighteen: The Children's Progressive Lyceum (1893)

THE TEACHER'S TRUE STARTING POINT

The spirit of a child is free and undefiled. The God-code of everlasting truth is written in its attributes and intuitions. Whatever its parentage or nativity, and however much its nature may be warped, twisted, and embittered by circumstances in early years, the young immortal spirit is pure and spotless as is the heart of an angel. From this point we start— affirming the interior purity of the child's spirit, and denying that the infant nature inclines to everything that is evil and wicked. Theology teaches that "the little foibles and peevish freaks of the infant are early workings and manifestations of corrupt and depraved human nature." And further, the creed teaches that a supernatural "Grace is necessary to convict, convert, renovate, and sanctify a person, so that he may enjoy the heavenly kingdom of Christ."

Our starting-point is radiant with the gospel of ''good news" —that the life of a child is a pure stream—flowing unceasingly from the God-fountain of infinite perfection; that the human soul is the product of an infinitely wise and good Father; and that there is in every nature, however depraved in

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condition and manifestation, an immortal spark of holiness, a pure principle of self-redemptiveness, from which the perfect image and state of angel-hood may be unfolded.

The intrinsic goodness of the infant spirit is the basis of the celestial superstructure we labor to erect.

The government of Father-God through the love-spirit of Mother-Nature, is one and universal. The heavenly government, although varied in its forms and adaptations in the different spheres and societies according to the varied condition of the countless inhabitants, is purely and simply one of universal Love and Wisdom. The life of everything is Love; but the form thereof, the shape in which that love appears, is determined by Wisdom.

The impulse to look up toward heaven is as natural as the beating of the heart; and it is equally natural to feel and acknowledge dependence upon the eternal Soul of things. Children first learn this lesson at home in the tender ties of love that bind them to father and mother; and subsequently the lesson is enforced by every relation of life and society. To teach in accordance with the Divine Government, is our aim and plan.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

REMARKS: It is not deemed expedient to introduce a textbook or any form of “Cathechism,� into our Children's Progressive Lyceum. There is

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much hazard in the method. It deprives the young spirit of its native freedom, and is a barrier to the flow of Intuition and Thought. The following, therefore, should be received by leaders as suggestions.

In

the first stages of a school, perhaps, it may be best to give one or more of these “Questions and Answers� as a lesson.

QUESTlON:

What is the highest expression of Filial Love?

ANSWER. It is to love the Father with all my heart, and soul, and mind.

Q: What is the most unselfish expression of Fraternal Love?

A: It is to love my neighbor as myself.

Q: What do you believe?

A: I believe that all mankind are the children of God and Nature; that discord is the cause of all unhappiness; that harmony is heaven; that there is no death to the soul and spirit; that sins are not forgiven, but outgrown through repentance and a righteous life.

Q: Who are nearest the state called heaven?

A: They who have healthy bodies and harmonious minds.

Q: Who shall see the love of God! A: The pure in heart.

Q: Who shall obtain love and mercy?

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A: The Loving God Merciful.

Q: Who are called the children of God? A: The peacemakers, and those who do good.

Q: Who shall possess the blessed peace and rest of heaven?

A: They who continue in righteousness through all degrees of persecution.

Q: What is the light of the world?

A: Eternal Truth, which cannot be destroyed or hid.

Q: What are the most beautiful forms of truth?

A: Good works, which reveal the spirit of the Father which is in heaven.

Q: How long will truth continue to work?

A: Forever! Heaven and earth will pass away, but not one jot or tittle shall not pass from the Spirit of Truth.

Q: Who shall be called "great" in the Summer-Land?

A: He who loves truth in his deepest heart, and exemplifies it in all his relations to the world.

Q: Is it right to use profane language?

A: The voice of the highest Purity says:

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Swear not at all! The purest spirits use only words that are simple, pure, and plain.

Q: Is it just to resist evil?

A: It is not right to contend with evil, but rather, to go over or away from it toward what is good.

Q: Is it right to hate your enemies?

A: No. The impartial Father sendeth rain and his sun

on the just and on the unjust,

rises on the evil and on the good — so should

we love our

enemies— doing them good, and not harm.

Q: Can you become as good as God? A: I am instructed by the Truth to be perfect, even as the Father in heaven is perfect

Q: Can a man serve two masters?

A: No; it is impossible to serve both Truth and Error.

Q: What should you first seek?

A: I should seek first the harmony of God and his righteousness; then all that is good, true, and beautiful shall be added unto me.

Q: Is it right to judge one's neighbor without evidence?

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A: No. All prejudice is a moral misfortune — sometimes it is a crime— and will be succeeded by punishment and suffering.

Q: Who shall find the Truth?

A: They who sincerely and wisely seek for it

Q: To whom shall the temple of Harmony be opened?

A: To those who lovingly knock at the door of Wisdom.

Q: What is the chief law in Progress?

A: Fraternal Love: Whatsoever we would that our neighbors should do unto us, that we should do unto them.

Q: Is the path of Wisdom and Justice easy to travel?

A: At first the gate is very strait, and the way is exceedingly narrow, but the path widens and becomes beautiful and pleasant as

we advance.

Q: What is sin?

A: Sin is a name for excess — the blunder of man in his development — a ditch into which, when blinded by ignorance or passion,

we stumble

for a season.

Q: What is the consequence?

A: We become full of its pollutions. The deeper we plunge, the more polluted; so exceedingly soiled at last, we dread the daylight. We

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therefore (mentally) go into "outer darkness'' — shirking the sunlight of honest eyes because of our debasement.

Q: What are man's highest attractions?

A: Man's best and highest attractions take their rise in the superior parts of the brain — Veneration, Sublimity,

the wisdom-region — from the organs of Benevolence,

Conscientiousness,

Firmness,

Self-respect,

Hope,

Ideality, and Marvelousness.

Q: What did God first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?

A: God, by living in man's life from the very beginning, revealed to his wisdom-faculties this law: "To be carnally-minded is death; to be spiritually-minded is life and peace."

Q: How did God reveal this law?

A: God revealed this law, first, in the social relations subsisting between man and man; second, in the "still small voice" called

Intuition; third, by

spirits and angels who watch lovingly over the earth, and who sometimes speak in visions, in dreams, and through

principles.

Q: What is the sum of the spiritual commandments?

A: The sum of the spiritual commandments is to do good and harmonious works, for the redemption and ennoblement of humankind. purely "good" must be wrought

Works, to be

regardless of age, sex, complexion,

belief, or reputation; because the Human Race is but One Family — all

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members of one body — in

which there is neither Jew nor Gentile,

Nazarene nor Greek, Ethiopian nor Anglo-Saxon.

Q: What is Beauty?

A: True beauty is that, without or within, which yields pleasure and awakens gratitude.

Q: What is forbidden by the law of Beauty?

A: The law of Beauty forbiddeth all physical habits which impair the most agreeable proportion of form or feature; and, especially,

mental

dispositions that could deface the richer Beauty with which the Father hath adorned the inner life. In deeds and to motives untold by the tongue—by chisel uncarved by poets unsung — the Beautiful lives in the depths of the soul.

Q: What is meant by personal righteousness?

A: By personal righteousness is meant the doing of whatsoever is right in the light of your own moral intuitions; the opposite of that which you believe to be wrong.

Q: What is true religion?

A: True religion is universal Justice — predicating the happiness of all upon the harmony of each.

Q: What are the sacraments of this religion?

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A: The sacraments of this religion are: First, physical cleanliness and interior chastity; second, a heart full of devotional love to man and to Deity; third, a head full of serene, strong, steady wisdom; fourth, reverence for the marriage relation; fifth, the regeneration of the world through every humanitarian institution which promotes brotherly love, justice, and the welfare of the working classes.

Q: What is theology?

A: Theology is an intellectual inquiry concerning the personality and government of God. (Modern theology Is ancient mythology gone to seed: a product of the poets and

and semi-philosophers of Egypt, Greece,

Rome.)

Q: Should little children practice prayer?

A: Little children should be taught that Father-God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Children should not think of a position of the body, nor of words, but of living good lives and doing good for goodness sake. The daily recollection and exercise of this aspiration is a prayer ''in spirit;'' while resisting temptation, speaking the truth, living peacefully,

washing the

body, learning wisdom, and doing good toward other children — this is a prayer "in truth;" and the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Q: What is a true spirit-prayer?

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A: A true spirit-prayer, like the glory of morning dew, ascends noiselessly.

The answer? That comes, welcome as the fall of rain,

when the soul

most needs nutrition.

Q: What is true morality?

A: True morality is the living out of one's own ideas and sentiments of religion.

Q: Who is the wisest?

A: He is the wisest man who comprehendeth the boundaries of his own ignorance, and does something every day to destroy them.

Q: Who is the greatest philanthropist?

A: He is the greatest philanthropist who does good from the love of good.

Q: Who is the most holy and the freest?

A: He is the most holy and the freest who never feels or acts contrary to his highest perception of Right.

Q: Who is the best neighbor?

A: He is the best neighbor who regulates his private affections and public deeds by the principles of Justice and Love.

THE END 231

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