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SPIRITUALISM. /^^' 
 
 JOHN W. EDMONDS AND GEORGE T. DEXTER, M.D. 
 
 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things 
 which God hath prepared for them that love him. Bnt God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit : for the 
 Sphit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the 
 spirit of man which is in him ? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we 
 have received, not the sphlt of the world, but the Spirit which is of God ; that we might know the things tliat 
 are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom tcacheth, 
 but which the Holy Ghost teacheth ; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.— 1 Cbrinthians li. 9-13. 
 
 VOLUME II.ifV 0" ™'' 
 
 UNIVERSITY^ 
 itto fffrlt: 
 
 PAKTKIDGE & BEITTAN, PUBLISHEES, 
 
 300 BROADWAY. 
 
 1855. 
 
4 
 
 
 
 PSiUH. 
 LIBRARY 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by 
 JOHN W. EDMONDS 
 
 AKD 
 
 GEOEGE T. DEXTER, M.D., 
 
 in the Clerk's OflSce of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District 
 of New York. 
 
 ^Bf^ 
 
 NBW TOEK STEBEOTTPE ASSOCIATION, HOLMAN AND OBAY, PRINTERS, 
 
 201 William Street New York. 
 
xduct. 
 
 The mode in which the papers which constitute this 
 volume .were given, having varied somewhat from that 
 mentioned in the preface to the First Yolume, it is in- 
 cumbent on us to describe the change. 
 
 During the preparation of the whole of that volume the 
 Doctor was used as a writing medium only. After its 
 publication he was developed as a speaking medium, being 
 thrown, for the occasion, into a trance so deep as to be 
 unconscious alike of what he was saying and of what was 
 occurring around him. "What he said at such times was 
 carefully recorded by the Judge, and as carefully revised 
 by us afterward in connection with our unseen friends. 
 Most of the communications in this volume given through 
 him were received in this way. 
 
 Late in the year 1853 the Judge's daughter, Laura, and 
 his niece, Jane Keyes, were developed as mediums, and 
 were received as members of the circle — the circle from 
 that time consisting of us two, Mr. "Warren, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Sweet, and those two young ladies. 
 
 "We had occasional assistance also, of great value, from 
 another source. In December, 1853, we became acquaint- 
 ed with Mrs. A. T. Hall and Mrs. Helen Leeds, of Boston, 
 the former a medium for writing by impression, and the 
 
XVlir PREFACE. 
 
 latter a seeing and speaking medium, and occasionally 
 writing mechanically. 
 
 Laura Edmonds' medial powers were very similar to 
 those of Mrs. Leeds, the only difference being, that when 
 speaking, seeing, or writing, she was never unc*onscious, 
 while Mrs. Leeds most generally was so. The same dif- 
 ference was noticeable in the manifestations through the 
 Judge and the Doctor, the former never being unconscious, 
 while the latter most frequently was. 
 
 In the mean time Mr. Warren began to be developed as 
 a seeing medium. 
 
 And in all the circle a marked improvement in the ease 
 and accuracy of communicating has been very apparent, 
 thus holding out to all the prospect of still greater use- 
 fulness in the future. 
 
 J. W. EDMONDS, 
 GEO. T. DEXTER. 
 
 New York, December 18, 1854. 
 
ntr0httti0ii 
 
 OF JUDGE EDMONDS 
 
 In presenting to the world a continuation of our work on the 
 great truth which is marking the nineteenth century, it will not be 
 amiss for me to utter a few words in elucidation and explanation. 
 
 In a very early stage of my investigations, long before I was 
 willing to receive it as true that the spirits of the departed could 
 commune with us who yet remained behind, and when it seemed 
 to me but barely probable, that they might, the question occurred. 
 To what end is it ? what purpose is there in view ? and what 
 beneficial object can be attained by it ? 
 
 The answer readily suggested itself, that if it be true that they 
 can thus commune with us, they must be able to disclose to us 
 something at least of the state of existencd^ into which they had 
 been and we were to be ushered. 
 
 Such disclosure had never yet been made to man. Through 
 Moses and the prophets there had been revealed to him the exist- 
 ence of one God, instead of the hosts of deities which the pagan 
 world had worshiped. Through Christ and his apostles, man's 
 existence for eternity, and the rule by which that existence could 
 be made a happy one, had been reveajed. But what that exist- 
 ence was, how it was that that rule was to insure man's happiness, 
 and what was to be his ultimate destiny through the countless 
 ages of eternity, had been concealed from him. His future was a 
 sealed book, and the natural longings of the heart to know could 
 obtain a response only from his own imaginings. Vague, fanciful, 
 contradictory, and material as these were, they left the understand- 
 ing still to grope on in darkness, they left the desire for that knowl- 
 edge still unsatisfied, and they left man to sink, by gradual but sure 
 progress, from ignorance into infidelity. 
 
20 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 I asked myself why may not that now be revealed ? Surely 
 nothing could be more important, and man was never before so 
 well prepared for its reception. We believed, and it had been be- 
 lieved in all ages and among all people, that God had in his prov- 
 idence made to man, and through the instrumentality of man, rev- 
 elations of His mighty truths. And among Christians, at least, 
 this was believed as part of the very foundation of their religion. 
 Wherein had man's nature so changed in the process of time that 
 he could not again receive of those truths and again be the instru- 
 ment of conveying them to the knowledge of his fellows? I could 
 conceive of no reason why the humble and the lowly of this day 
 could not as well become such instruments as the fishermen of 
 Galilee, nor why the instructed of modern times could not receive 
 and impart of them as well as him of Tarsus, of whom it was said, 
 even from high places, that much learning had made him mad. 
 As I have often had occasion to remark, I could see nothing in na- 
 ture or revelation to forbid it, and I concluded that it was possible 
 that a further revelation could be made to us, that perchance it 
 might be that it was now coming, and that the prayer which had 
 ascended for centuries from the whole Christian world, " Thy 
 kingdom come," might now be answered. 
 
 I say that it seemed to me that it might be, and if it might, what 
 was our duty in the premises ? Did it become us to say that it 
 could not or that it should not ? that we would not receive it ? or 
 if it came in spite of ourselves, that we would not promulgate it? 
 that we should not admit that it could be for good, but that it must 
 of necessity be for evil only ? that we should condemn without in- 
 vestigation, and repudiate and denounce without knowledge of what 
 it was or what it might teach ? that we should be content with 
 our condition of ignorance, and resolve that a knowledge of the 
 future should find no entrance to the chambers of the under 
 standing ? 
 
 I did not so conceive my duty, nor did I imagine that there were 
 any who would oppose all investigation, and war upon the reception 
 of any further knowledge. And I may pause a moment in passing 
 to say, that I have marveled not a little that in a country where 
 freedom of thought is so loudly professed there should have been 
 displayed such determined and virulent hostility even to an inves- 
 tigation of what may be truth. But let that pass. My duty seem- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 ed to be plain, and that was to ascertain — not take it for granted — 
 but inquire and ascertain if possible whether such further knowl- 
 edge might not come. 
 
 The result of that inquiry we are now in part giving to the world. 
 How far it is entitled to credit — to what extent it may be true we do 
 not mean to say. We give it as it has come to us, as faithfully 
 and as accurately as in our power, and we leave every one to form 
 his own opinion upon its merits. We do not claim to be authority 
 for any thing. We do not ask for any other credit than that of 
 intending fairly and faithfully to give what we have received, as 
 we have received it. 
 
 I am aware that there are some things contained in the following 
 papers which will startle even confirmed believers in Spiritualism. 
 I believe so, because they startled us, and there are several things 
 which our first impulse was to withhold from insertion in the book. 
 They were so much in conflict with all our preconceived notions, 
 and with what we knew to be the general opinion of the world 
 around us, that we were conscious they would not be credited at first, 
 but would be likely to draw down upon us and on our publication 
 a still more severe storm of denunciation — if that were possible — 
 than, we had yet experienced. But we were professing to give to 
 the world the revelations as they came, precisely and accurately as 
 we received them, and what right had we to withhold any of them 
 because they did not square with our notions, or because, forsooth, 
 we might be subjected to some personal inconvenience ? No. We 
 could not so deport ourselves — we could not allow any mere per- 
 sonal consideration to warp or color communications, our relation 
 to which was but that of the conduit through which they might 
 pass to minds to which they might be more acceptable even in the 
 first instance. We therefore give them as we receive them, and 
 withhold nothing. Let each one judge of them for himself. 
 
 There are, hovvever, some considerations which tend to corrob- 
 orate the revelations made to us, and which ought not to be over- 
 looked. 
 
 There are at times contradictions and inconsistencies in spirit- 
 ual intercourse, as all must be aware, but there is one remarkable 
 fact, viz., that amid all these incongruities — through all mediums, 
 whether partially or highly developed — from all the spirits who 
 commune, whether progressed or unprogressed, there is a universal 
 
22 INTEODTJCTION. 
 
 accordance on one point, and that is, that we pass into the next 
 state of existence just what we are in this, and that we are not 
 suddenly changed into a state of perfection or imperfection, but find 
 ourselves in a state of progression, and that this life on earth is but 
 a preparation for the next, and the next but a continuation of this. 
 Through all the thousands and tens of thousands of mediums in 
 this country and elsewhere, so far as I can know, the teachings all 
 agree in this one respect, and through this overwhelming evidence 
 comes this mighty tnith, hitherto unknown to man in general and 
 only guessed at by a few. 
 
 If this is a truth, it surely will not require a lengthened argu- 
 ment to demonstrate its vast importance. If, indeed, it only may 
 be true, no profound disquisition will be necessary to show that it 
 is worthy of an enlightened investigation. And if its reality can 
 once be established to the satisfaction of our dispassionate reason, 
 it needs no one to rise from the dead to tell us that it is as novel 
 as it is interesting, and that however much it may be corroborated 
 by all of nature around us, it can be established only by a revela- 
 tion from on high. 
 
 This fact, at once new and momentous, does not, it will be seen, 
 depend on our testimony alone, but finds support in all the revela- 
 tions of spiritual intercourse, wherever located and springing from 
 whatever source they may. 
 
 There is another important instance in which all the manifesta- 
 tions through others corroborate those which we promulgate, and 
 that is, in demonstrating that man does exist after the life on earth. 
 And this is proved, not by abstract reasoning, not by reasoning 
 from analogy, or by appealing to received and acknowledged rev- 
 elation, but palpably, by addressing the senses. To all the senses 
 this proof comes, with such copiousness and such overwhelm- 
 ing power as to be utterly irresistible to the rational mind. To 
 those who have never doubted man's immortality, and who have 
 regarded it as irrational to question it, this consideration may not 
 be of much moment. But to those who have questioned it — and 
 alas ! their number has been far greater than the unthinking world 
 imagine — it is of vital consequence, and is hailed by them with a 
 joy inexpressible. I can not do better than give in this connection 
 some extracts from a few of the many letters I have received on 
 that subject. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 , Mich., March 26, 1854. 
 
 Dear Sir — Pardon me for this intrusion. It is the interest which I have 
 lately felt on the subject of Spiritualism that has induced me to address you 
 at this time. A desire to do so has been increasing for some weeks past, until 
 it has now become so strong that I can no longer forego the privilege, although 
 it may be considered a breach of the rules of etiquet. Although a personal 
 stranger to you, I am not unacquainted with your name and reputation, and 
 therefore feel less reluctance in writing to you than I otherwise should. 
 
 Before the death of my wife, in August last, I was a most decided unbe- 
 liever ; so much so, that I often said T would not go twenty rods out of my way 
 to see the most astounding manifestations yet related. I believed it all a 
 humbug. Therefore I am now entirely ignorant of any physical manifesta- 
 tions (unless the following may be considered as such) : While I was standing 
 by the corpse of my wife, the day after her death, I felt a very strange and 
 pleasing sensation, such as I never felt before (which I am unable to describe 
 and therefore will not attempt), and I have often felt the same sensation since 
 then. It steals over me in my solitude both night and day, and cheers my 
 lone hours. It has awakened, in my mind an interest of inquiry into the truth 
 of the doctrine of Spiritualism ; and, although I can not yet fully believe in 
 spiritual manifestations (I wish I could), my mind has undergone an entire 
 change in regard to the future. The love of life and great dread of death 
 have forsaken me, and I look forward with cheerfulness and hope to the time 
 when I anticipate meeting that pure spirit who has gone before me, etc. 
 
 ' "^ , III., April 15. 
 
 Dear Sir — I make no other apology for addressing you at this time than 
 that I have perused a work from the spirit-land, which has been prepared un- 
 der the supervision of you and Dr. Dexter, which has given me more satisfac- 
 tion with regard to the future state, or life after death, than I had ever re- 
 ceived from all other sources. And I take this opportunity of returning to 
 you and the Doctor my sincere and heartfelt thanks for the light, and the 
 many and everlasting truths I have received at your hands. And believe, 
 that although this work has been aided in its onward progress by you, through 
 much self-sacrifice on your part, yet you have been more than paid for all 
 your efforts to aid the cause of truth in the satisfaction of having done right. 
 I have been for years lecturing upon the laws of life and health, and striving 
 for reform in medicine, but my mind has been in darkness with regard to the 
 future until I perused your work, etc. 
 
 , Wisconsin, April 10, 1854. 
 
 Dear Jxtdge — With much consolation and delight I have just read your 
 work on " Spiritualism," and now am almost persuaded to be a Spiritualist, 
 but pause before I hazard my temporal as well as my spiritual welfare in adopt- 
 ing such a belief. ******** 
 
 If only convinced that it was right to countenance and assist such proceed- 
 ings, I would gladly bid farewell to all bright visions of earthly pleasure, 
 
24: 
 
 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 wealth, and fame, and devote this life to the spiritual interests of immortal man. 
 Until six years of age I was instructed by my parents in the Presbyterian 
 faith, from whom I was at that time separated, and have since (which is about 
 sixteen years) been left to take my own course through life, influenced at one 
 time by circumstances to attend Roman Catholic worship, at another Episcopa- 
 lian, at another Methodist, etc., each professing differently, yet each right and 
 all others wrong. To consent to unite with any one of the sects I could not. 
 I observed good and bad professors in them all, and just as honest and honor- 
 able men among those who made no religious profession. I soon became be- 
 wildered, careless, skeptical, and finally almost a confirmed infidel. I had not 
 long witnessed these modern spiritual manifestations before I became convinced 
 that they were produced through some invisible agency ; and, although I had 
 once laughed and ridiculed the idea of there being any ghosts, witches, or 
 haunted houses, I was at length compelled to think otherwise, and obliged to 
 admit the probability of those strange manifestations, and persuaded myself 
 that all those apparently supernatural phenomena that have been exhibited 
 in all ages of the world to the present time, viz., ghost-appearances, witch- 
 craft, sorcery, house haunting, necromancy, mesmerism, psychology, biology, 
 animal magnetism, clairvoyance, table tippings, and all these late spirit-mani- 
 festations were produced through the same agency, that they were different 
 branches of the same mysterious tree. I believed that there could no good 
 come from it. * * * But since reading your work on " Spiritualism," I do 
 not know what to think about it. I know, however, the immortality of the 
 soul was never more clearly demonstrated to my mind, or my belief in that 
 fact or in the Divine authenticity of the Bible was never more strongly confirm- 
 ed, though the belief is not of so superstitious a nature as it once was. Hon- 
 ored Judge, sympathize with ISie feeble, and do not disdain to answer, and oblige 
 
 Your sincere disciple. 
 
 , Miss., 29th May, 1854. 
 
 Dear Sib — I have just finished the perusal of a work bearing your name, on 
 the subject of spiritual intercourse with man in the flesh, and am induced to 
 address you for the purpose of trying to fix my mind upon its important truths ; 
 for, believe me, I am anxious to know the truth that I may be able to believe. 
 I have tried through twenty years to believe in the Christian system, and with 
 all the aids of education, parental training, and example, and the strongest 
 wish, I have been unable to believe, and am, of course, afloat upon an ocean 
 without an anchor. You will appreciate, then, my solicitude for certainty 
 on a matter of such importance as the immortality of the soul. If that can be 
 obtained, I can begin to be happy, otherwise I shall not, of course, emerge from 
 the gloom that has always surrounded me, etc. 
 
 , Maine, June Sth, 1854. 
 
 Mt dear Sir— Having recently read a book on Spiritualism, put out to an 
 anxious and inquiring world by yourself and Dr. Dexter, I have thought it not 
 a sin to address you for a few moments upon the same, a subject so deeply in 
 
INTKODUCTION". 25 
 
 teresting to the living, and of so much vital importance to the spiritual "welfare 
 of the world. 
 
 I have thought much and zealously upon the great subject, Death. My 
 mind has seized hold with eager grasp on many and varying ideas, and it some- 
 times has appeared that I was fixed in some permanent belief, one which would 
 hold me up here and buoy my sinking spirit over the waves of Jordan in safety ; 
 but no sooner found than gone. If the least appearance of trouble threaten- 
 ed, or the dark billows of life seemed to overwhelm me, then it was, and so it 
 has ever been, my faith has forsaken me, and I have fell back in despair. 
 The dark clouds of futurity came rolling in upon my mental vision, and death 
 seemed to blast even my fondest hopes ! This was when life was most pleasing. 
 I had around me a little family — two boys and two girls — an affectionate wife, 
 and a devoted mother. 'Tis true I had consigned to the grave a good father, a 
 tender, doting mother, and a kind and affectionate sister. I had often thought 
 of them, and had frequently bedewed their graves with memory's tears. But 
 oh ! the anguish of heart at the loss of a dear and affectionate child, none, 
 none can tell but a loving parent whose heart has been lacerated and torn in 
 sunder by the event. 
 
 I have lost my eldest son, one of the best boys I ever knew, trustworthy, 
 well educated, temperate, and generous to a fault. Yes, he has gone ! his 
 familiar seat is made vacant by death ! And oh, my family circle is broken, 
 and I know not what to do to find peace. I go to church, all is empty! I 
 read the Bible. In it I find much to admire, and many consoling promises to 
 those who love God and do his commandments ; but still I can't see my child ! 
 I pray with all the sincerity I am master of — but still no light appears. I am 
 wrapped in impenetrable darkness. It seems that the shroud of death and 
 unbelief has already enveloped me, and from whence there is no escape. The 
 question is uppermost, Does my cMld live ? is he happy ? does he see his father, 
 mother, brother, and sisters ? does he wish to be with us again ? could he have 
 been saved here still longer .' was his treatment right ? All these and a thou- 
 sand other ideas are constantly floating over my mind. Judge Edmonds, I am 
 wretched. It is with difficulty that I can lay my mind down to my work. 
 What shall I do ? I have my answer. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He 
 is the resurrection and the life ; He who believeth on me shall never die, etc., 
 etc. Still I am benighted. My head is enveloped in thick fogs of unbelief. 
 
 Can you, my dear sir, give me light — even the least glimmer of hope that 
 my son lives and is happy. I have consulted spirit-mediums, but can get 
 nothing as yet satisfactory to my mind. Perhaps the fault is all my ovra. I 
 am so blinded by sin and unbelief that it is impossible for me to get light 
 Your writing encouraged me. It seemed that while I read I had hope, etc. 
 
 -, Choctaw Co., Alabama, June Wth, 1854. 
 
 Dear Sir — I hope you will pardon me for the liberty I have taken, being 
 an entire stranger, in addressing you this letter. I have hesitated a long time, 
 fearing that probably you receive so many communications of this kind that 
 you have not time to give attention to all. I have this day, after conversations 
 
26 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Tvith one or two of my friends, wlio are induced, as well as myself, to believe 
 that there are actual communications from the spirit-land with this. I have 
 never had or have never seen any thing of the kind, but have read your work 
 entitled " Spiritualism," and with more pleasure than any book I have ever 
 read. I would give any thing in my power to be convinced of the truth. I 
 am satisfied I would be a happy man, and hope to be able in some way, from 
 your advice, if you will give it, to arrive at some conclusion, etc. 
 
 , Lapeer Co., Mich., July 25, '54. 
 
 Dear Sir — In the flesh I am a stranger to you, and in all probability ever 
 shall be, but in sjJirit I have held sweet communion with you. Yes, blessed 
 be Godi through your teachings on Spiritualism I have been delivered from 
 the blackness of infidelity. For twenty-five long years I sought for the jewel 
 of great price, and found it not, untU my soul was entirely enveloped in the 
 black pool of infidelity. But my deliverer has come. My heart swells with 
 holy gratitude as 1 pen these lines. Yes, blessed be God, for me there is hope 
 and gratitude which words can not express, eternal life. I know you will 
 excuse me for troubling you with these few lines. God bless you. 
 
 Lynn Co., Oregon Territory, Aug 9, 1854. 
 
 Dear Sir — I take the liberty to write to you though a stranger ; but after 
 reading your book entitled " Spiritualism," which I think a great deal of, I see 
 that you appear to take a pleasure in comforting the afflicted when you can. If 
 it is not asking too mnch, I would be a thousand times thankful for a communi- 
 cation through you from our dear children we have lost. I have your " Spirit- 
 ualism" and the book of " Human Nature" by Leroy Sunderland, and Andrew 
 Jackson Davis' writings, which has been more satisfaction and comfort to me 
 than all the riches of this earth could be if I had them. They have helped 
 me, with what little manifestations I have witnessed of the spiritual manifesta- 
 tions, to settle my belief. I have studied the laws of nature all my life since 
 I can recollect, daily and almost hourly, and I could not decide whether there 
 was a fifture state of existence after this life or not. I could not believe the 
 Bible, for it did not correspond with the laws of nature, nor common sense, nor 
 justice ; but after reading all those works, and seeing and hearing what little 
 I have, I am a firm believer in the cause, which surely is a good one, etc. 
 
 , Virginia, 1st Oct., 1854. 
 
 Sir — Although I am an entire stranger to you, nevertheless I have concluded 
 to write to you relative to a subject about which I feel very much interested — 
 it is " Spiritualism," any knowledge of which I was entirely ignorant, except 
 some general newspaper informatioh, until very lately I was loaned by a friend 
 from New York your first volume on that subject. I must say my mind since 
 its perusal has been very much relieved. I feel as though I had almost ar- 
 rived at one of the " spheres" so beautifully described in said volume, the 
 reason of which I believe is on account of tiie condition my mind has been in 
 
INTBODirOTION. 27 
 
 the last twenty years, an outline of which I'll give you, as my condition has 
 been an unusual one. 
 
 When I was about seventeen years of age I became very much concerned 
 about the eternal world, and made every effort to prepare myself for it, and was 
 for about three weeks the most miserable being you could conceive of. Occasion- 
 ally during this time, by continually humbling myself before God, I would feel 
 for a short time a spiritual influence within me, but this would last only a very 
 short time, when again all my condemnation and wretchedness would revive. 
 In this way I continued night and day pretty much, until my system couldn't 
 hold out any longer, and concluded I was lost and gave up, when, on the same 
 day, while walking alone and bemoaning my condition, there was a sudden 
 change come over my understanding or feelings, for it appeared that spirit, for 
 which I had so long been striving to get to stay with me, was within me, not 
 only within me, but round about me and in every living thing, in short God 
 was everywhere, and 'twas in Him I lived and moved, and in Him all things 
 consisted. I was relievecl ; but it didn't last over a few weeks, for I became a 
 constant student of the Bible, and in it I found so much contradiction and 
 cruelty— the last in the Old Testament — that I was a miserable being for three 
 years, and never obtained any relief until I ceased to read or reflect on the 
 subject. I now refused to be recognized as a religious man, although I con- 
 tinued one outwardly and longed to be one, and frequently since have com- 
 menced studying my Bible, but I would soon have to give it up again. This, 
 with what real religion, according to the New Testament, I could see in the 
 world, so staggered me, that I coul^ not have credulity enough to believe in 
 sufficient to embrace ; for, according to the requirements there laid down, re- 
 ligion, pure religion, had nearly ceased to be. 
 
 In just such a condition have I been for many years, completely between 
 two difficulties, that of heartily desiring to be religious, and the other, not 
 knowing how I could possibly reconcile the inconsistencies already mentioned. 
 At one time I read every work nearly in the language on infidelity, but here 
 I could not find any relief, for none of said writers ever made me disbelieve in 
 revelation. Yet, you'll say, "I contradict myself;" but what I mean is, I 
 could not be made to believe or disbelieve; was in a complete strait; and, 
 moreover, I never wished or desired for a moment to disbelieve in a revelation 
 from God. In truth, I have for years longed and heartily \7ished for fellow- 
 ship with God, and since reading your production it seems as if it is just what 
 my condition requires ; there is a load removed from me, and I feel better satis- 
 fied with myself and all creation. You can't imagine what consolation it has 
 brought me, for I am constitutionally a religious man. I am not for a nom- 
 inal religion, but one that reaches and influences continually the soul and life, 
 and thereby making the being not only an outwardly good man, but one truly 
 and practically, etc. 
 
 Michigan, JVov. 5th, 1854. 
 
 My dear Friends — If you will permit an utter stranger thus to address 
 you, can you with patience give a few momenta of time to the inquiries of one 
 
28 I N T K O D U C T I O N . 
 
 whom you may nerer see on earth, one in whom you have no interest more 
 than that you have for the whole family of man. But, gentlemen, you will 
 excuse me for that very reason, when I say, I claim a fraternity from the 
 glowing affections of a heart relieved, hope re-established, a mind at rest. 
 * * * I have been for some weeks anxious to communicate with you touching 
 one of the most momentous subjects that can interest an intellectual being. 
 
 During childhood and youth I was taught by pious and careful parents in 
 the strictest possible manner. They (my parents) were both strict Lutherans 
 and perfectly consistent in every point. Of course this had great influence 
 with their children. My preliminary education was the best the State afford- 
 ed, and at the age of seventeen I commenced the study of medicine. The 
 habit of close and scrutinizing investigation, induced by this study, was soon 
 formed in me, and thus I was soon led to re-examine the religious principles 
 taught me in early life. The result, unfortunately, was to unsettle the whole 
 range of my religious opinions. Since that day to the present, at the age of 
 fifty-two, I have been in doubt and often in anxious perplexity. When I heard 
 of the " Rochester knockings'' it engaged my attention for a few weeks, but 
 from the paucity of information that I could obtain, I threw it aside as non- 
 sense. Lately, however, a friend put into my hand a work published by Judge 
 Edmonds and Dr. Dexter, with an appendix by Gov. Tallmadge. 
 
 This work I read and re-read with the most anxious attention. Indeed, 
 shall I acknowledge it, my mind was so absorbed that I could neither eat nor 
 sleep. The third reading was a critical and close examination of principle, 
 doctrine, object, laws of nature promulgated, its consistency with the laws of 
 nature heretofore known, etc., etc. In candor I must say I was a ready con- 
 vert. The more so, perhaps, because the whole doctrine in a singular manner 
 agrees with many misty, indistinct, half-formed opinions I had gained by the 
 study of astronomy, etc. 
 
 , Ky., JVov. 15, 1854. 
 
 Dear Sir — I have read your work on Spiritualism with great pleasure, and 
 also your occasional publications in the Sacred Circle. I have always arisen 
 from the perusal of them with purer sentiments and stronger hopes of man's 
 immortality than I have derived from any other production, etc. 
 
 New York, JVov. 22c?, 1854. 
 
 Dear Sir — Impelled by emotions of the deepest gratitude, I address you 
 these lines (although personally a stranger to you), for the purpose of render- 
 ing my sincere and heartfelt acknowledgments for the inestimable blessing 
 which God in his infinite mercy has been pleased to bestow upon me, through 
 your divine instrumentality. 
 
 The son of orthodox parents, and the grandson of an orthodox clergyman, I 
 at an early age imbibed those gloomy doctrines. As I grew older, and reason 
 assumed her prerogative, I began to entertain serious doubts of their truth. 
 The more I studied to understand them, the more I became perplexed, until 
 finally the conviction forced itself upon my mind, that there was something 
 
INTRODUCTION. 29 
 
 entirely wrong in the doctrines I had been tanght to believe. Still there "was 
 an aching void within me ; an unutterable longing for something higher and 
 holier than this earth could give, and for a stronger evidence and more living 
 faith in immortality. I deeply felt the necessity of a more pure and undefiled 
 religion, which, freed from all earthly error, and clad in the simple garb of 
 truth, our reason and our hearts could at once embrace. Long I struggled in 
 a sea of doubts and fears, while from my inmost went up an earnest prayer 
 for truth. 
 
 About sixteen months ago I read your letter in the Herald, which called my 
 attention to the phenomena of the spiritual manifestations. I had heard of the 
 subject before, but believing it to be one of the common humbugs of the day, 
 I had not considered it worth investigating. But when I read the testimony 
 of one whose distinguished name and high position placed him far above sus- 
 picion, I could no longer remain insensible to its importance. I commenced 
 investigating, and received evidence after evidence of the truth of spirit-inter- 
 course, until the last shadow of doubt was removed from my mind, and the sub- 
 lime reality of eternal life, with all its immortal splendor, burst upon my 
 astonished vision, and I rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 
 
 I am now in almost daily communication with the happy spirits of those who 
 were near and dear to me on the earth, who have proved their identity by un- 
 mistakable tests; whose heavenly influence and glad messages of undying 
 love have quickened into life interior powers that I knew not of, and thrilled 
 my soul with raptures inexpressible and joys unfelt before ; and whose high 
 and holy teachings have led me to a more intimate communion with my Maker ; 
 and have unfolded to my senses a new world of ever-increasing loveliness and 
 beauty. 
 
 I feel that I have indeed passed from death unto life. 
 
 Oh ! how sweetly the pure and holy teachings of Jesus, who died on Calvary 
 for these same truths, harmonize with our interior perceptions when stripped 
 of the false covering which bigotry and superstition have thrown around them. 
 
 I have also the gratifying evidence of its happy effects upon many of my 
 friends, whose attention I have directed to this fountain of living waters, and 
 whose thirsty souls are now drinking in rich draughts of immortal joy, 
 
 A respected and aged friend in the West writes me thus : 
 
 "Dear Sir — The evidences and very strong proofs with which you have 
 been favored, of having conununication with your departed brother and sister, 
 have filled me with astonishment, and, as it were, made me at once a staunch 
 believer, with a full determination to obtain all the knowledge upon the subject 
 that my short span of remaining time will permit. 
 
 " Sir, I thank you for the papers you sent me. I have read them carefully, 
 and with pleasure. I will now confess to you, that through a long life I have 
 always been a kind of infidel ; from my inability clearly to ascertain the mind's 
 immortality. In this it is proved beyond a doubt. I can now see my way 
 clear. God is good. God is love. We can now love him. A vail is as it were 
 drawn from my vision. My life has acquired a value of which I was not be- 
 fore aware. I thought that life was short, and almost worthless. But thanks 
 to God it is otherwise. Let us rejoice." 
 
30' INTEODUCTION. 
 
 Thus haying had both internal and external evidence of its heavenly influ- 
 ence and redeeming ptiwer; I can no longer doubt that it is indeed of God ; and 
 that all things else but truth will fall before its surpassing glory ; and that 
 its quickening power wiU spread through the hearts of men, until every human 
 soul " with heaven-born love grows warm ;" and the will of God is done upon 
 the earth even as it is done in "heaven ; until the whole earth blooms in peren- 
 nial beauty from the Arctic to the Antarctic circle ; from the Orient to the 
 Occident ; and never-ending songs of love and praise to God most high ascend 
 with the morning sun, as she rolls her flood of golden light around a world of 
 love. 
 
 Even now, while I write, I feel the influence of holy spirits diffusing through 
 my soul a harmony so divine, a joy so serene, that my whole interior being 
 seems vibrating to the music of the spheres ; and my glad soul seems eager to 
 take its immortal flight to the realms of endless day. 
 
 Oh ! for language to express the joys I know, the gratitude I feel. But 
 there are emotions of the soul which mortal language can not express, which 
 mortal lips can not utter, and which must be deferred until, freed from earthly 
 impediments, I can address you in the language of the soul, when I meet you 
 in the realms of glory. 
 
 N. Y., Dec. 6tfi, 1854. 
 
 My dear Sir— I hope you will pardon the liberty I have taken in address- 
 ing this communication to you, but when you find that it is for the purpose of 
 obtaining more light upon a subject that lies very near my heart and con- 
 science, I think you will perceive that I have no ulterior object in view. I 
 came to the city of Hudson to live about the year 1829, to learn the tailor's 
 
 trade. * * * if you recollect was what in them days was called a 
 
 Freethinker, and left his impressions in regard to divine things on my mind, so 
 that I have gone through all the scale of skepticism, until September last I ob- 
 tained a copy of your and Dr. Dexter's work on Spiritualism ; but I am as one 
 laboring in the dark. I can not go back to cold skepticism ; and I have not 
 enough of light upon this great and momentous subject to send me forward re- 
 joicing. Although born in poverty and reared in want, my mind has always 
 been led to inquire what is truth ? how shall I obtain it ? I have went through 
 all the doctrinal poihts of the so-called Christian creeds, and find but little of 
 it there, and the balance error ; but if this last manifestation should prove 
 true, what a day of rejoicing to the down-trodden millions of earth, when they 
 shall fiind that they all are His Children, and He is their Father, and there is 
 no such thing as children of the Devil, no further than wrong teaching and the 
 sway of their own passions have made them so ! etc. 
 
 Ohio, May 30, 1854. 
 
 Dear Sir — Though entirely a stranger, I venture to address you on the oc- 
 casion of reading the relation of your vision (to-day for the first), as I find it 
 copied into the Ohio Statesman of this city. 
 
 You may judge of the interest I take in the matter, when it is noted that I 
 
INTRODTTOTION. 31 
 
 have communicated with spirits in the invisible world daily, and frequently 
 hourly, for the last eighteen months ; hut not in the satisfactory visible man- 
 ner in which communications are made to you. * * * * 
 
 I was previously, and during most of the period of manhood, a confirmed but 
 honest skeptic as to immortality and the Scriptures. I am so no longer, etc. 
 
 , Jeffersox Co., New York, Jan. 6, 1854. 
 
 Dear Sir — I am almost in my seventieth year. Thirty-four years ago I 
 joined the Presbyterian Church. I was an elder in the same for some years ; 
 but when I came to investigate the creeds on which the polity of the church 
 was founded, I discovered that the God they presented me for my adora- 
 tion was not the God before whom in the stillness of my own communing I had 
 given a willing obeisant surrender of my heart. That God the Father, the 
 Creator, and the Sustainer of the human family should, for his pleasure or 
 otherwise — prior to the creation of our earth — make to himself a place of 
 such dark damnation as they depict, and that God, even prior to this, in his 
 own wisdom did predestinate a large mass of the human family lo be occupants 
 of this fearful place, I must confess I found myself an unbeliever, and if there 
 had been no refuge but the church to which I might flee, I should have 
 doubted the truths of God's Holy Word. But it pleased God to place in my 
 way men who taught a more rational doctrine. Now that light has dawned 
 on the world, I begin to realize some of great truths so indistinctly seen in 
 the past. First to me came " Davis," dispelling the mists of darkness, and 
 bidding the weary pilgrim raise his longing eyes to see the joys approach. 
 After that came your Book of Books. And let me here take this opportunity 
 to thank you most heartily for foregoing the pleasures of sin for a season, that 
 you might put in the hands of your fellow-man these words of life. God bless 
 you for the noble act. Oh, how my heart has expanded to those streams of 
 gushing eloquence, as they fell from the spirit-lips of Bacon and Sweedenborg, 
 Day and night, night and day, have I feasted on them, and still I turn to the 
 banquet with renewed desire to taste again, etc. 
 
 , New Jersey, Jan. Sth, 1854, 
 
 Sir — I some time since attended your lecture at this place, and from your 
 twice or thrice stating the satisfaction it would be to you, if but one of that 
 numerous audience would look into and search of this great and wonderful 
 revelation of the truth of which you had become fully convinced, but, sir, to 
 my great disappointment, you never in any way pointed out to us how a man 
 should search for the proof of a future existence by present spiritual mani- 
 festations. I hope, sir, you will excuse the liberty I take, being an utter 
 stranger, in wishing to occupy a little of your valuable time ; but I have all 
 my life been strangely skeptical of a future existence, my mind being of that 
 order requiring present and positive proof. I have read and heard of a great 
 many accounts of the wonders of spiritual manifestations, but I have, during 
 my life, passed through several professed new dispensations, and seeing them 
 
32 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 all die a natural death, I paid but little attention to this until I heard that a 
 man of your known reputation and character had become a firm believer in 
 the truth of Spiritualism, etc. 
 
 , Michigan, Jan. list, 1854. 
 
 Dear Sir— I am directed by a spirit of a high degree of intelligence to ad- 
 dress you, otherwise I (a stranger to you) would not obtrude upon your valu- 
 able time. 
 
 I am directed to say that our mission of love to our fellow-men may be 
 much facilitated by the mediums which are scattered at remote distances 
 through the vineyard making themselves known to each other ; this, to me, 
 would prove a high pleasure, if not an incalculable benefit. 
 
 I am further directed to give you a brief history of the spiritual manifesta- 
 tions in my family, which I proceed to do without ceremony. 
 
 I was reared in the old severe Presbyterian school, the result of which was, 
 that at the early age of ten years I turned in disgust and inexpressible hatred 
 from the Christian mythology and openly avowed my unbelief in the God of 
 Israel. Of course this open rebellion subjected me to much persecution from 
 that time onward ; but thus early I had ample evidence of the presence of in- 
 visible intelligences, which directed my steps in the paths of virtue. Fully 
 appreciating my high responsibilities as a member of the great social family, 
 I arrived at hopeful manhood, deeply impressed with the great truth that my 
 theory of spiritual presences was correct and that the world was wrong, and 
 as deeply impressed with the enhancement of my moral obligations and duties 
 under this beautiful economy, which, however, was as yet indefinite in my 
 own mind. At twenty-two I entered upon the practice of law in Ohio ; the 
 future promised a bright and flattering propect, but my mind was so deeply 
 impressed with higher truths than my profession promised, that in 1843, after 
 ten years devoted to my profession, I removed to this county with a young and 
 loving wife, to enjoy a seclusion which my professional pursuits forbid. . One 
 great object of this step was to adopt and cultivate those simple habits of con- 
 duct and that independency of thought and mental discipline so much at war 
 with the social habits of the times. My intention was to devote my life to 
 literature and the investigation of the laws of eternal progression, of which I 
 supposed myself the discoverer, and as such would have claimed no small de- 
 gree of credit had I not since have discovered that my mind was but the 
 humble medium of the great thoughts of highly progressed spirits, etc. 
 
 , N. H., Feh. 20, 1854. 
 
 Dear Sir — I commenced the reading of your work entitled " Spiritualism" 
 with much solicitude for the doctrines it might teach, and have read it with 
 deep interest and great satisfaction. It has strengthened my belief in the all- 
 wise purposes of God, and more than all, in the future existence of the human 
 race. To the minds of many, indeed, a large majority of men, future existence 
 may be proven by the works of nature, or to those who possess the faith by 
 the Scriptures. But I saw not the evidence, nor had I the faith. Even at the 
 age of sixteen I well remember having serious reflections upon the subject of 
 
INTRODUCTION. , 33 
 
 religion. But thus early I found in the popular systems of worship inconsist- 
 encies with what I believed must be the great leading characteristics of God, 
 that God in whose works such wisdom, beauty, and justice are evinced. As I 
 grew older these convictions were strengthened, until at last I became almost a 
 confirmed skeptic. Still there remained in my mind an inherent desire to em- 
 brace some great general principles of religion that Avere not inconsistent with 
 what I conceived to be the character of that Being who created man with his 
 beautiful organism, and the vast universe obeying unerring laws and moving 
 in such harmony. When Davis' Revelations appeared, I read it with eager- 
 ness and also his subsequent publications, and found a plan, in many things 
 consonant with the great desire of my heart and the convictions of my reason. 
 These and many other kindred works paved the way for your " Spiritualism," 
 and now I write to thank you sincerely for the sacrifices you have made for 
 your fellow-man, and for your honesty and independence in declaring to the 
 world your convictions upon this most momentous subject. I can not conceive 
 of any conclusion so rational as the one you have embraced, that these mani- 
 festations are from spirits. K this intelligence comes from man, through some 
 undiscovered channel, has the world ever before witnessed such a universal 
 concert in falsehood as these communications exhibit ? Would every mind 
 which acts upon the medium add its testimony to the one great falsehood .^ It 
 is not possible. I dare say in your experience as a judge you have seen noth- 
 ing equal to it. Man is not so base. I believe Spiritualism not inconsistent 
 with the doctrines of the Bible. It does not comport with the present condi- 
 tion of the Church. I believe many errors have grown into the popular sys- 
 tems of worship, that there is coldness, aristocracy, and selfishness mixed with 
 many things of good, and of course must, for a while, receive their opposition. 
 Your publication clears up many points of doubt which gave me some disqui- 
 etude previously. There are many believers in this new doctrine, and many 
 of the first minds in our State, and many others, are reading these works, etc. 
 
 Ky., March 14, 1854. 
 
 Dear Sir — I have just read with a great deal of interest your and Dr. 
 Dexter's work on " Spiritualism." I am called by the Christian world a skep- 
 tic. I have at times doubted almost every thing but my own existence. It is 
 said that skepticism implies a want of knowledge. I admit it most emphatic- 
 ally in reference to what is taught by the Christian world of a future state. 
 The Bible, as expounded, has never satisfied my mind. I have had a thousand 
 doubts in reference to its teachings, and as I felt satisfied that some of them 
 must be erroneous, or they were erroneously interpreted, I had come to the 
 conclusion to reject the whole as being a revelation from God, and regard it 
 simply as a history of the Jewish nation, with all their superstitious vagarie*^ 
 and idle fancies. But I must confess, that since reading your work, the only- 
 one of the kind I have read, many of my doubts have been removed in refer-^ 
 ence to many of the facts of the Bible, believing yet there are many errors of ' 
 fact, and consequently wrong deductions therefrom. I make this latter ad- 
 mission on the presumption that Spiritualism be true, etc. 
 
 3 
 
34 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 There is another respect in which the communications given to 
 us receive corroboration from their accordance w^ith others, and 
 that is in demonstrating that the memory, the affections, and the 
 characteristics which distinguish us in our earthly life follow us 
 into the next existence, and abide with us there, at least for a 
 season. In this, too, I believe that all the communications through 
 all sorts of mediumship agree, and it is thus that we are enabled so 
 often to identify the dear ones who have gone before, even though 
 we can not see or hear them. 
 
 In all these respects the agreement in the manifestations is uni- 
 versal and uniform. 
 
 But there is another regard in which, though the agreement is 
 not so general, yet it is, as a corroboration, of equal interest, to me 
 at least. It has been repeatedly said to me, that what I was be- 
 holding in the visions described in this and the former volume was 
 what was absolutely going on in the spirit-life, and the particular 
 circumstances which occupied spirits at the time that I saw them. 
 
 How it was that I saw this, I do not know. With all my efforts, 
 I have not been able to understand it. I live in hopes, that in 
 time — as one by one the explanations come to me — I may be able 
 to comprehend and explain it, but at present I can not. I only 
 know that they come without any volition on my part, but of their 
 own accord, and often when I am not expecting them ; that they 
 can not be the product of my own mind, for they often differ, in 
 toto ccbIo, from all my preconceived opinions ; that they are not 
 mere vague imaginings, for they impress themselves on the mind 
 with all the distinctness and precision which belong to the impres- 
 sion of material objects through the instrumentality of the senses ; 
 and that they are not manifested to me alone, but often to others 
 who are present with me, and who do not at the moment know 
 what I am beholding, and often to others far distant from me, and 
 of whose existence even, I am at the time ignorant. 
 
 ^ can now readily lay my hand on two or three instances of this. 
 n the course of our travels last winter, we spent a few days at a 
 small village in the West. There I heard, from professed believers 
 in our faith, of a physician living among them, who was exten- 
 sively engaged in the practice of his profession, and who was a 
 Spiritualist, but was generally regarded by them as partially de- 
 ranged on the subject. I thought, from the accounts I had of him. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 35 
 
 that it was one of those cases of fanaticism of which we have been 
 pained to witness so much, and I dismissed the matter from my 
 mind. Just before I left the place, he called on me, and during a 
 brief conversation with him, I discovered a calm, clear, logical 
 mind, with great good sense, and an utter disregard of the opinions 
 of others in his reception of truth. He was aware of the opinion 
 which was entertained of him, and said it was because he had told 
 of the things which he had seen, and others had not ; and that they 
 had attempted to convince him that he had not seen. " But," said 
 he, " I know whether I see or not, though it is not an easy matter 
 to make others know it." And upon inquiring of him what it was 
 he had seen, I was surprised to find he had witnessed many of 
 the very scenes which I had, when I knew that he was ignorant 
 that I had ever witnessed them. 
 
 I was struck with the corroboration, for here was a man of 
 whose existence even I had been unconscious, who lived many 
 hundred miles distant from me, who was ignorant of what had been 
 shown to me, yet to whom, at about the same time, precisely the 
 same revelations had been made. 
 
 This was in the State of Michigan. Another instance came 
 from the other extremity of the country, from Alabama, and through 
 an individual equally unknown to me. I will let him tell his own 
 tale, by inserting here, with his permission, one of his letters to 
 me, merely remarking that in a subsequent interview with him, I 
 found the corroboration was even stronger than his letters would 
 seem to indicate. 
 
 Livingston, Sumter County, Ala., 
 May 29th, 1854. 
 
 My dear Sir— Manners and customs in all ages have to some extent been 
 conventional, and have seemed to require an apology when one stranger ad- 
 dressed another by letter. I have just finished your work on Spiritualism, 
 and though your senior in years, I recognize you as an elder brother. 
 
 I will commence by first stating why I am desirous of interchanging views 
 and opinions with you. I had no certain knowledge, until I read your book, 
 that what is considered a vision had ever appeared to me. I procured your 
 work in Mobile, about the twentieth of last month, having never before seen 
 any thing in print but what had appeared in the JVational Intelligencer ; 
 ludge, then, my surprise when I read the vision which passed before you, in 
 which was the old man attended with rays of light, and your departed friend in 
 a porch of a cottage embowered in trees. This same vision in all the minute 
 particulars has passed before me in the last few months, with this difference. 
 
36 • INT IIO DUCTIO N. 
 
 that the porch and window disclosed the fact that several of my departed 
 friends were the occupants. I would add, that the old man supported himself 
 with a staff that reached higher than his head, by holding it in his right 
 hand, the hand pointing up, his whole frame so weak that he bent to the 
 right about the hips, and supported himself by occasionally bringing his left 
 hand to his staff to aid in his efforts to brace himself up. 
 
 I would likewise add, that all. things around, both animate and inanimate, 
 particularly the wind, seemed endued with intelligence. You will readily con- 
 clude that I would be more than human if I did not feel greatly interested — 
 particularly when I have given an account of the vision in your work, begin- 
 ning on page 248, and again resumed on 289. (I believe those are the pages ; 
 I have loaned the book to a friend.) 
 
 This vision likewise passed before me with a slight addition, which may be 
 called up to your recollection when I mention it. The star appeared to me 
 nearly as large as a dinner plate, and unusually white ; my attentionrwas called 
 to it with the intimation. The Star of Christ, with so much quickness as only 
 to leave it on the mind, and immediately the picture of a head passed over the 
 disk ; the form of which is still so impressed on my mind, that, if I was a 
 painter, I could make an exact copy. It was a calm, quiet, rather pensive, 
 intellectual face ; a well-formed nose ; a broad forehead, not remarkably high, 
 but smoother and whiter than the balance of the face ; a fullness about the 
 cheek bones; the chin somewhat projecting; the mouth rather wider than 
 common, and the lips thinner than common. 
 
 The commodore, as presented to me, was a middle-aged man, and heavily 
 built, with a fine formed nose, and white skin, and full glow of health. All 
 things rejoiced at his arrival. The human figure not quite as tall as you de- 
 scribe it. 
 
 You conclude that this version is a picture of progress. I think with you, 
 and likewise that progress will be greatly accelerated by events now transpir- 
 in the world, particularly in Europe. * * * * 
 
 I conclude I have said enough on those subjects, and that I may have 
 unnecessarily taxed you in the midst of more important demands on your 
 attention. 
 
 I salute you in spiritual affection, Chs. R. Gibbs. 
 
 P.S.— * * * ,* * 
 
 You may ask is my spirit-brother a member of any church .' I answer yes 
 The Senior Warden of St. James' Episcopal at this place. C. R. Gibbs. 
 
 Anotlier instance is mentioned in a letter, from which I extract : 
 
 Sackett's Harbor, Oct. 31, 1854. 
 
 Dear Judge : 
 
 ******** 
 
 My medial powers do not seem to increase much, from some cause or other. 
 In fact I do not write as well; but I am informed they are trying to develop 
 
INTRODUCTION. 37 
 
 me for speaking, and I often feel an influence, but it is not sufl&ciently con- 
 tinuous yet to be beneficial, as I would like. I frequently have Tisions, nights 
 or toward morniag, in a moderately sleeping state. 
 
 It is not a little remarkable to me that yourself, Mrs. M , of "Watertown, 
 
 and myself, all unbeknown to each other, should have three diflFerent present- 
 ations of the lowest circles agreeing so well in the main. Mine was the 22d 
 May, previous to the publication of your first volume, and followed after some 
 little anxiety for a friend who had lived an unprogressive life, and died in 
 California. Mrs. M.'s was last spring. The only difference is, she had doubts 
 whether they ever would progress. I saw the possibility of their progressing, 
 and had the impression that they would eventually, though slowly, and not 
 until a long time, etc. 
 
 There is yet another consideration with the same tendency, and 
 that is the effect which a careful and close investigation of the 
 subject uniformly produces on the calm, logical, reasoning, culti- 
 vated mind. 
 
 Believers in spiritual intercourse are now numbered by millions 
 on earth. Not only in this country, but throughout this continent 
 and the eastern, the manifestations have made their appearance. 
 In the salons of the imperial cities of Europe, amid our own 
 mighty forests, in the solitary islands of the oceans, and on the clas- 
 sic shores of Greece they have been witnessed, and everywhere 
 they have produced in the candid, inquiring mind the same effect, 
 namely, the conviction of the reality of spiritual intercourse. Why, 
 even the pulpit, amid the iron bonds of its sectarianism, begins to 
 acknowledge it ; and the press, mighty as it is as an engine of 
 human enlightenment, yet ever lagging behind the car of advancing 
 knov/ledge, a?itounded by the phenomenon which meets it at every 
 step, begins to ask. Can these things be ? The jury-box, the bal- 
 lot-box, and the legislative halls begin to hear its lowly whisper- 
 ings, and there stands now prominent before the eyes of the world, 
 the fact of the spread of a new faith, whose rapidity of progress 
 has no parallel in the annals of mankind. 
 
 May we not then, with propriety, point to these things as evidence 
 of the truth of that which we believe ? May we not ask, what but a 
 stern reality could work such marvels before men ? Could aught 
 but truth bend in dumb obedience to its behests the brightest and 
 strongest minds of an age distinguished for its enlightenment? 
 Could delusion or deception thus sweep across a prostrate world 
 and make conviction ride triumphant over the power of early edu- 
 
38 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cation, the prejudices of preconceived opinions, and the denunci- 
 ations of the accumulated knowledge of ages, and in defiance of 
 the universal cry which fear and selfishness have unitedly sent 
 forth in such warning tones ? May we not ask what this is, which 
 not only thus carries conviction in its train in spite of all obstacles, 
 but which, coming from whatever source it may, thus accords in 
 its general and leading features ? that which, whether heard in the 
 gentle whisperings of the fireside or in the roar of the agitated 
 multitude — whether in the solitude of nature in her wildness, or 
 amid the , din and bustle of city life — whether emanating from 
 high or low, from rich or poor, from the ignorant or instructed — 
 whether amid the moan of sorrow or the joyous laugh of gladness 
 — whether from the confiding repose of childhood or the stern 
 activity of manhood, still exhibits an accordance and a power which 
 acknowledge no equal in the history of the world ? 
 
 However these considerations may strike others, we confess that 
 with us they have great force, and they encourage us to go on 
 with our work, because they tend to convince us that we do not 
 err. 
 
 We have not been without anxiety on that subject, for it would be 
 in the highest degree painful to us to learn that we had even uncon- 
 sciously taught error and misled only one mind. We have therefore 
 been impelled to great caution as to what we should send forth. 
 We have not deemed it worth while to enter into any detail of the 
 numerous precautions which we have used, or to explain the various 
 processes to which we have resorted in order to test the accuracy 
 of what has been communicated to us, for the simple reason that 
 we did not desire ever to be received by any one as authority. 
 We preferred that each one should examine for himself, and for 
 himself determine whether what we uttered was the truth. If the 
 omission of these details on our part could but result in producing 
 a spirit of free inquiry in others we were well content, even though 
 it might subject us to the imputation in some minds of acting 
 hastily or unadvisedly; for of what moment was it what others 
 thought of us in comparison with a freedom of thought which 
 should open the human mind to the reception of the great truths 
 now dawning on the world ? Our paramount desire has been to 
 attain the truth, to receive it freely and impart it faithfully, leaving 
 its adoption by oth3rs to be governed by their own investigations, 
 
INTEODUOTION. 39 
 
 by tlie inner promptings of their own hearts and by all of nature 
 which they behold around them.* 
 
 But while on the one hand we have attached much importance to 
 these items of corroboration to which we have alluded, we have not, 
 on the other, been unmindful of the numerous difficulties attending 
 the intercourse, nor of their just influence in determining the 
 amount of credit to be given to them. 
 
 I pause here a while to dwell on that topic. 
 
 In the first place, then, I remark, that I know of no mode of 
 spiritual intercourse that is exempt from a mortal taint — no kind 
 of mediumship where the communication may not be affected by 
 the mind of the instrument. 
 
 Take my own mediumship as an illustration. The visions which 
 I have are, as I have remarked, impressed on my mind as vividly 
 and distinctly as any material object possibly can be, yet in giving 
 them to others, I must rely upon and use my own powers of obser- 
 vation, my own memory, my own command of language, and I not 
 unfrequently labor under the difficulty of feeling that there is no 
 word known to me that is adequate to conveying the novel idea 
 communicated. I am often conscious that I fail, from poverty of 
 language, in conveying the sentiment I receive with the same 
 vigor and clearness with which it comes to me. So it is also with 
 what I may call the didactic teachings through me. Sometimes 
 the influence is so strong, that I am given, not merely the ideas, 
 but the very words in which they are clothed, and I am uncon- 
 cious of what I am going to say until I actually say it. At other 
 times the thought is given me sentence by sentence, and I know 
 not what idea or sentence is to follow, but the language used is 
 my own and is selected by myself from my own memory's store- 
 house. And at other times the whole current of thought or pro- 
 cess of reasoning is given me in advance, and I choose for myself 
 the language and the illustrations used to convey it, and sometimes 
 the order of giving it. But in all these modes there is more or 
 less of myself in them, more or less of my individuality underly- 
 ing it all. It must indeed be so, or why should I speak or write 
 
 * Perhaps as good evidence as we can give of this caution will be found in the 
 fact of withholding this volume so long, when the whole of it could easily be 
 •written in a month, and most of it was written more than twelve months since. 
 
4^ INTEODTJCTION. 
 
 in my own tongue rather than in a dead or a foreign language 
 ; unknown to me ? 
 
 I have noticed the same thing in the Doctor, and more than all 
 that, I have observed in both of us that our communications not 
 only at times contain what may be called Americanisms, but ex- 
 pressions peculiar to our respective professions. 
 
 It is, therefore, rarely that either of us can say that the commu- 
 nications through us are precisely what the spirits designed they 
 should be, and as they designed them ; and consequently it will 
 never do to receive them as absolute authority, however agreeable 
 they may be or however consonant to other teachings. 
 
 It is not an easy matter to account for this, but it is easy to 
 know that the fact is so, and as easy to observe that it is at times 
 true of all mediums. Sometimes it is more apparent than at 
 others, owing to many causes ever at work around us ; sometimes 
 it is owing to the physical condition of the medium, and some- 
 times to his mental state ; sometimes to the atmosphere ; some- 
 times to locality — some localities, such as high and hilly places 
 being more favorable than such as are low and swampy ; some- 
 times to the condition of those who are present, whether in a state 
 of harmony or discord, and very frequently to the state and con- 
 dition of the spirits who are professing to commune, and their apt- 
 itude to the task. 
 
 Thus I have known a spirit, who on earth had never learned to 
 read and write, to be unable to communicate through a writing me- 
 dium. So one whose education here had been imperfect would 
 spell badly and use bad grammar, and one knowing but little of our 
 language would speak in broken English; and one. Lord Bacou, 
 for instance, who in life had been used to a different idiom from 
 from that now prevailing, would yet speak in modern English 
 Americanized, with here and there a relic of the expressions he 
 had used in the olden time. 
 
 There is another cause, and that is, the passiveness or other- 
 wise of the mediums to the influence at work with them. Some- 
 times they resist with a very determined will, and it is impossible 
 for others, and often even for ourselves, to know when the opera- 
 tion of that will is entirely overcome, or how much of its influence 
 may hang around and stain the communication with its taint of 
 mortal life. Sometimes timidity and diffidence will color and 
 
INTRODUCTION. &' 
 
 sometimes vanity and fanaticism distort the teaching of the spirits. 
 Often the want of confidence will warp them ; for, strange as it may- 
 appear ! there are mediums who are not Spiritualists, and who, un- 
 accustomed to the examination of their own minds, can not dis- 
 criminate between their operation and the spirit-influence ; and as 
 often an overweening credulity will put awry that which was de- 
 signed to be plain and straightforward. 
 
 There is, it is true, a simple remedy for much of this, and that 
 is, entire passiveness in receiving the influence and the full and 
 active exercise of the reason in weighing afterward what it has 
 effected. But unhappily there are many who do not know the 
 remedy, and more still who do not apply it. The intercourse is 
 beyond conception fascinating, and there are not a few who in- 
 dulge a selfish gratification in yielding to it. It is never safe to 
 do so, for thus many are misled and many are disturbed and driven 
 off by incongruities which could easily be avoided. 
 
 There is another consideration still, which even more fatally 
 affects the reliability of the intercourse, and is very often over- 
 looked. 
 
 We are taught that the intercourse is not supernatural — not the 
 result of the suspension of nature's laws, but the product of those 
 laws and of their legitimate action. As yet, we are in a great 
 measure ignorant of those laws and of their mode of action ; but 
 the results we see and can know — the effects are facts which, 
 perceptible to our senses, appeal to our reason and demand the 
 action of our judgments. From all that we have yet witnessed, we 
 are warranted in the belief that the intercourse is in obedience to, 
 and not in contravention of, natural laws — that so far as we are 
 concerned on earth, mediumship is owing to physical organization, 
 more than it is to moral causes,, and that all in the spirit-world, the 
 unprogressed as well as the progressed, have the power of com- 
 muning with and influencing us in a greater or less degree. 
 
 So, too, we are taught that there are spirits in the next state 
 of existence whose propensities are evil. Not that they are a 
 distinct race of beings, known in the old theology as Devils, and 
 represented as a creation distinct from, and independent of, the 
 human family, but men and women who have lived on earth, per- 
 verted and distorted morally, and have passed away from this prim- 
 ary existence with those perversions and distortions unchanged and 
 
4^% INTEODUCTION. 
 
 aggravated by the desolation and misery, apparently to them with- 
 out end and without hope, in which they find themselves existing. 
 Selfish, intolerant, cruel, malicious, and delighting in human suffer- 
 ing upon earth, they continue the same, for awhile at least, in their 
 spirit-home. And having in common with others the power of 
 reaching mankind through this newly-developed instrumentality, 
 they use it for the gratification of their predominant propensities, 
 with even less regard than they had on earth, for the suffering 
 which they may inflict on others. 
 
 Some instances of this are disclosed in the following papers, but 
 many, very many more are occurring to the knowledge of inquirers 
 everywhere, and there are perhaps few circles where first or last 
 this has not been in some form or other apparent. 
 
 It can not be difficult to discover in such a state of things the ma- 
 terial, not only for much positive mischief, but the cause of many of 
 the crudities and contradictions which so often disturb the super- 
 ficial observer, and sometimes mislead the credulous and confiding. 
 
 This influence displays itself in various forms, but scarcely ever 
 without tending to impair confidence in the manifestations. Some- 
 times it is with a clearly marked purpose of evil, avowed with a 
 hardihood which smacks of the vilest condition of mortal society. 
 Sometimes its fell purposes are most adroitly vailed under the cover 
 of good intentions. Sometimes it is restless and uneasy — " to one 
 thing constant never." At other times it is calm, considerate, and 
 persevering. Now it contents itself with finding amusement in 
 the harmless perplexities to which it subjects us, and anon it is 
 satisfied only when it can goad on its victim to crime, and rejoice 
 in the agony it produces. 
 
 But, whatever its form, its existence is too strongly demon- 
 strated to doubt it, and while it shows to us the realization of the 
 " roaring lion seeking whom it may devour" of Holy Writ, or " the 
 instigation of the devil" preserved still in our old law forms, we 
 have the consolation of knowing that now we can be conscious of 
 its presence, and guard against its approaches. We can detect 
 when it is near us, and, no longer obliged to battle with it in the 
 darkness of our own fears and ignorance, we can meet it boldly, 
 and contend against it successfully. And, above all, we can ex- 
 pose its unhallowed intrusion upon the communion which is other- 
 wise calculated to lift our hearts upward to our God. 
 
INTEODUCTION. 4S 
 
 It is not however alone from those evilly disposed that this 
 element of distrust flows. There must of necessity be in the 
 spirit-world those who are in every imaginable condition of devel- 
 opment, and who occupy every imaginable position on the ascend- 
 ing plane of progression. Some are more, and some le.ss, ignorant 
 than others ; some more prudent and careful ; some more zealous 
 and inconsiderate ; some impulsive and rapid, and some calm and 
 deliberate ; in fine, with every conceivable variety of attribute and 
 faculty. Of necessity, the communications from each of these 
 must be aflected, as all human intercourse is, by the peculiar char- 
 acteristics of each individual. And while from this source must 
 necessarily flow an element of uncertainty, we are taught to avoid 
 its inconveniences and its hazards, by applying to it, as we do 
 when weighing human testimony, the sagacity and searching 
 power of our reason. 
 
 There is yet another consideration not to be disregarded. I al- 
 lude to false communications and fabricated mediumship. Such 
 instances have been known among us ; some where the medium- 
 ship was entirely an assumption of the pretender, and unworthy 
 of any confidence. In all religions ever known to man, hypocrites 
 have been found ; and while we have no reason to expect ours to 
 be exempt from this common lot of humanity, we have abundant 
 reason to know that it is comparatively harmless with us, and 
 must be still more so as we advance in the power which is dealing 
 with us and which is enabling us to read our own hearts and the 
 hearts of our fellow-men. But there are false communications 
 which are not intentionally so. Some arising from a mistake of 
 the spirit who is communing, and some from the error of the me- 
 dium who has not yet so studied himself as to be able to distin- 
 guish the innate action of his own mind from the impress of spirit- 
 influence. 
 
 Another consideration is, that the character of the mediumship 
 is frequently changing in the same individual, and that no two me- 
 diums are precisely alike. From this latter cause there must of 
 necessity arise an eflfect producing some uncertainty. It is as if 
 one on earth were sending the same message through diflferent 
 persons. No two would deliver it in precisely the same words, 
 unless they had learned it by rote. The main idea might be trans- 
 mitted correctly enough, but it would be liable to various shadings, 
 
44 INTKODUCTIOX. 
 
 from the diflferent capacity of the messengers to comprehend it 
 and from the variety of their power of language to utter it. ^3 
 
 The changes in the "medium are often imperceptible at first, and 
 are made manifest only in the efiect produced, and at other times 
 they are very great, without any one's knowing when they occur- 
 red. I can best illustrate this by a brief account of one medium 
 whose whole progress I have witnessed with intense interest. 
 
 She was a young girl of tolerable education and warmly attach- 
 ed to the Roman Catholic faith. Her church told her to disbelieve 
 in Spiritualism, and she refused to witness any of the manifesta- 
 tions, though they were frequent all around her. At length the 
 house in which she resided became what in former days would 
 have been called haunted. It continued so for nearly six montlis, 
 during which she heard strange somids and witnessed various acts, 
 which, she became satisfied, were not the product of any mortal 
 agency, but were evidently intelligent. Her curiosity was excited, 
 and she sought a medium. She soon saw enough to convince her 
 of a spiritual agency, and very soon became herself a medium. 
 It is now about a year since she was developed as such, and her 
 mediumship in that period has assumed many forms. 
 
 At first she was violently agitated in her person. She soon wrote 
 mechanically ; that is, without any volition on her part, and with- 
 out any consciousness of what she was penning. Having a strong 
 will, she was able at any moment, by exercising it, to arrest the 
 manifestation. She next became a speaking medium. She was 
 not entranced as some are, into a state of unconsciousness, but 
 was fully aware of all she was saying and of all that occurred 
 around her. She, however, had not advanced far enough to know 
 the source whence came the thoughts which she was uttering, and 
 she imagined they might be the product of her own mind. To 
 convince her upon that subject, she was shown, through the instru- 
 mentality of her own mind, all the particulars of the wreck of the 
 steamer San Francisco — that her upper deck had been swept off" 
 and a certain number had thus perished ; that the residue of those 
 on board had been taken oflf in three vessels, and were then on 
 their way in different directions for different ports, and that the 
 steamer had been abandoned on the sea. All this was several 
 days before any news had reached the land of the accident to that 
 vessel, and she was told to wait and see if the information which 
 
I N T K () D U C T I O N . 45 
 
 had been given her, and which was much more detailed than I 
 have written, was not strictly accurate, and then determine for 
 herself whether it was her own mind. A few days brought minute 
 confirmation of every incident which had been disclosed to her. 
 
 Since then this faculty of knowing things at a distance has 
 greatly improved. She saw the wreck of the Arctic when it was 
 occurring. She saw and detailed with great accuracy, as subse- 
 quent accounts showed, the recent collision on the Canada Rail- 
 road, and that a few moments after it happened, and while the 
 dead and wounded were being lifted out of the ruins. She has 
 seen and described the state of things at Sebastopol and its vicin- 
 ity, and she has frequently described scenes and conversations 
 going on at the moment, at the distance of several hundred miles 
 from her ; and all this, not when she was in a trance, but in a state 
 of mental consciousness to all around her. 
 
 She next became developed to speak different languages. She 
 knows no language but her own, and a little smattering of board- 
 ing-school French. Yet she has spoken in nine or ten different 
 tongues, sometimes for an hour at a time, with the ease and fluency 
 of a native. It is not unfrequent that foreigners converse with 
 their spirit-friends through her in their own language. A recent 
 instance occurred where a Greek gentleman had several inter- 
 views, and for several hours at a time carried on the conversation 
 on his part in Greek, and received his answers sometimes in that 
 language and sometimes in English ; yet until then she had never 
 heard a word of modern Greek spoken. 
 
 About the same time her musical powers became developed. 
 She has repeatedly sang in foreign languages, such as Italian, In- 
 dian, German, and Polish, and it is now not unfrequent that she 
 sings in her own language, improvising both words and tune as 
 she proceeds — ^the melody being very unique and perfect, and the 
 sentiments in the highest degree elevating and ennobling. 
 
 Her next advance was to see spirits and spiritual scenes, and 
 now scarcely a day passes that she does not describe the spirits 
 who are present, entire strangers to her, yet very readily recog- 
 nized and identified by their inquiring friends. This has of late 
 been witnessed by very many persons, and many an, unbeliever in 
 spiritual intercourse has been overwhelmed with the evidence of 
 identity which thus by sight and by communion has been presented. 
 
46 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 At one time she was used as the instrument for delivering long 
 and didactic discourses on the principles of our faith. Now she is 
 mostly used to give moral and mental tests, which to many are 
 very satisfactory. At one time she saw chiefly allegorical pic- 
 tures ; now she sees the reality of spiritual life. Once she wrote 
 mechanically, but now by impression, knowing the thoughts she 
 pens. Formerly it was difficult for spirits to converse through 
 her ; but now conversation, with any one, however much a 
 stranger to her, goes on with a freedom and ease most gratifying 
 to the investigator. 
 
 These various changes have been wrought generally without any 
 apparent external cause, and have been unknown until they ap- 
 peared. But what internal process may have been going on to 
 produce them we do not know, nor how far its workings may at 
 the time affect the mediumship. We simply know that they are, 
 and as they may affect the intercourse, we feel an admonition to 
 greater care and caution. 
 
 I do not mention this case as a solitary or extraordinary instance 
 of spirit-power, for I am aware of many others of a similar char- 
 acter. But I refer to it because it is an apt illustration of the view 
 [ am endeavoring to present, and because the whole development 
 having occurred under my own observation, I incur the less hazard 
 of being mistaken. 
 
 From this whole class of cases I draw two inferences, one which 
 I have already mentioned — namely, that the communications may 
 be affected by these changes ; and the other, that the faculty of 
 mediumship is like all our other faculties, capable of advancement 
 and increase by education and training. The original power of 
 becoming a medium may be owing to some peculiar organization 
 of the individual, like the organs of language, of music, of imita- 
 tion, an.d the like ; but, like them, the faculty is capable of great 
 improvement by a due course of treatment. If this be so, then, 
 antil the medial power be developed to its state of perfection — 
 and what that may be we do not yet knoAv — there must of neces- 
 sity be great changes in its exercise, which can not with safety be 
 disregarded. 
 
 The changes from this cause are not confined to individual 
 cases, but they are visible in the whole scope of the intercourse. 
 At first the manifestations were generally made in the rudest and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 47 
 
 simplest physical form, addressing themselves mainly to the 
 senses. But as minds became convinced of the reality of spirit- 
 communion, and stept over the threshold of the new school, seek- 
 ing the higher truths which it was apparent must flow from that 
 reality, there was a demand for a more elevated and more facile 
 mode of conveying them to us. The supply at once met the de- 
 mand. And there is, in my view, no stronger evidence of the 
 divine origin of this mighty movement than is to be found in the 
 fact, that as the mind grasps the knowledge profl'ered it, and craves 
 for more, the means are at once provided for satisfying that crav- 
 ing, and those means very often unlike any device of man's inge- 
 nuity, and unlike aught previously known to him. 
 
 How often has the most determined unbeliever been struck down 
 from his self-complacent but giddy height by a power which he 
 could not control ! How often has the skeptical medium been 
 overpowered, even in his physical action, by an influence unseen, 
 and to him before unknown ! How often has the, astuteness 'of 
 the keenest doubter been set at naught by an intelligence whose 
 capacity he could not measure, and whose source he could not 
 fathom, but whose presence he could not question ! How have the 
 timid, the weak, and the halting been strengthened and sustained 
 until they could easily brave all that the opposition of an angry 
 world could inflict ! How have the strong, towering in the might 
 of their own knowledge, been laid prostrate at the feet of those 
 whom they regarded as most ignorant ! And how invariably and 
 inflexibly has conviction ever followed investigation ! 
 
 I for one see and acknowledge in this a power mightier than 
 belongs to mere earthly humanity, and I bend in humble adoration 
 in its presence, but too conscious that without its aid I can not grasp 
 the mighty truths it can teach. But those truths come, and by in- 
 strumentalities so admirably fashioned to the work in hand, so 
 perfectly adapted to the occasion, that to deny their spiritual 
 origin involves the assumption of a power in the human frame 
 which would tax the credulity far beyond aught demanded by a 
 belief in Spiritualism. 
 
 But this is, in a measure, a digression from the topic on which 
 I intended to dwell. My purpose was, as I invoked on the one 
 hand certain fragments of corroborative evidence, so it was due to 
 candor and to the spirit of fair inquiry, by which I hope I am gov- 
 
48 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 erned, to state on the other those things which are calculated to 
 detract from the force of that evidence. 
 
 I do not mean here to say that I have enumerated all the im- 
 peaching evidence that may be found in this matter. I am, on the 
 contrary, aware that I have not. nor can I well do so in the limits 
 allotted to this paper. For, as no two mediums are exactly alike 
 in their manifestations, and there are now thousands of them ; as 
 no two communications through the same mediums are ever ex- 
 actly alike, because ever liable to be affected by the existing con- 
 dition of both mind and body ; as the spirits who commune are no 
 two of them alike, and are now numbered by tens of thousands ; 
 and as the variety in the source as well as in the instrumentality 
 of the communication is as vast as that which is to be found in 
 the human character everywhere, so there must of necessity be 
 many other causes to warn the well-regulated mind to beware of 
 credulity and fanaticism, and to weigh all things carefully and well 
 before yielding belief. 
 
 To do this there is but one safe course, and that is, to apply to 
 the evidences which Spiritualism proffers the same acuteness of 
 reasoning, the same deliberation of judgment which it is necessary 
 for us to apply to all other evidences presented to the human mind ; 
 to test them as we would test any human evidence on any topic, 
 and apply to them the same touchstone which for ages we have 
 been called upon to apply to the evidences of Christianity.* Doing 
 this wisely and discreetly, the rational mind will find no difficulty 
 in arriving at a satisfactory conclusion, even amid the incongru- 
 ities which Spiritualism in its crude and infant existence may 
 present. 
 
 But I dismiss this topic, lest I may dwell upon it too long for the 
 patience of the reader. My intention was originally to devote a 
 large portion of this paper to an enumeration of the benefits that 
 must flow from the adoption of our faith. But my fellow-laborer 
 has performed that task so well in his introduction, that I am saved 
 
 * Since I have been a Spiritualist I have occupied some of my time in repe- 
 rusing " Paley's Evidences of Christianity," and I was struck with the appli- 
 cability of the whole reasoning to the evidences of Spiritualism. I recommend 
 a reference to that work, especially to those who are disposed to quarrel with 
 our faith because it refuses to save them from the responsibility of thinking 
 ' for themselves. 
 
INTEODUCTION. ' 49 
 
 from doing more than dwelling a moment on one or two of its 
 leading considerations. 
 
 One is, that Spiritualism proves the immortality of the soul. It 
 does not ask us to believe it upon the authority of its mere asser- 
 tion ; it does not merely present to us the abstract reasoning which 
 to many minds in all ages bas been so unsatisfactory ; it does not 
 merely appeal to nature and her laws and their operation, which 
 in this age have been so powerless to work out the end in view ; it 
 does not merely point to the golden vaults of the heart, and seek a 
 response from its awakened instincts, but it proves it in a manner 
 most satisfactory to the intellect, even when enveloped in its ma- 
 terial surroundings — proves it by a direct and unanswerable appeal 
 to the senses — proves it as the Creator proves that the sun shines 
 at noonday and the stars sparkle at night — proves it as nature dem- 
 onstrates the existence of the storm and the thunder — proves it 
 as matter makes manifest to us its own reality — proves it through 
 ihe instrumentality of our material organs — and proves it as many 
 other things are made apparent to us, so that we may say, not 
 merely that "we believe," but that "we know." And what is 
 most interesting is, that the evidence is within every man's reach. 
 He has but to knock, and it will be opened to him — he has but to 
 ask, and he may receive. No man lives but he may haA'e, if he 
 pleases, evidence most satisfactory, that the friends whom he has 
 laid in the grave do yet live and can commune with him. 
 
 This is a bold assertion to make, but I make it after years of 
 careful investigation, conducted under most favorable circumstances, 
 after having witnessed innumerable manifestations, and after hav- 
 ing beheld the intercourse in all its known phases. I make it 
 deliberately, and as the result to which my examination and that 
 of many, very many others has conducted me, and I know I can 
 not be mistaken. Whether I am or not, the means are fortunately 
 at hand to determine. I repeat, they are within every man's reach. 
 He has but to stretch forth his arm and be satisfied. The tree of 
 knowledge is planted in our midst and each can pluck for himself 
 of its fruit and eat. True, now, as of old, the serpent of evil does 
 coil its loathsome form around its outer branches, but the fruit is 
 at length beyond the reach of its poison — the flower blossoms in 
 despite of its pestiferous breath, and man, when he approaches its 
 grateful shade, may yet crush the tempter's head beneath his heel 
 
 4 
 
 \ 
 
50 'INTKODUCTION. 
 
 If this be so, can we be sufficiently grateful to the Bounteous 
 Giver that he has at length in His mercy removed the murky cloud 
 of infidelity which was casting its dark pall over the human heart, 
 crushing it out of the very form of humanity amid the crumbling 
 ruins of its own happiness ? And can we reject the precious 
 boon which comes on angels' wings to waft us nearer to our God ? 
 There may, indeed, be difficulties in the way, obstacles to en- 
 counter, inconveniences to suffer, but to the anxious inquirer they 
 will not be insurmountable. It is possible to overcome them, and 
 then will follow conviction, bearing in its train peace and love to man. 
 But this is not the chief benefit of Spiritualism. It not only 
 teaches us that we do indeed live after death, but it teaches us what 
 that life is, affording us the inestimable advantage of knowing how 
 properly to prepare for it. A part of that knowledge has already 
 been given, not merely in these pages, but in the numerous pub- 
 lications and discourses which have been used as the means of 
 conveying it to us. More will yet in due time be given ; for it is 
 the design of this great work to open to us a view of the intimate 
 relation ever existing between us in the mortal form and the spirit- 
 world, and its ever-present influence over us for good or for evil, 
 and a revelation of what the world is into which we shall be ush- 
 ered when we shuffle off this mortal coil. 
 
 Can we estimate too highly the value of this knowledge ? Can 
 we set too high a price upon that which teaches us the true pur- 
 poses of our existence upon earth, and how to shape it so as most 
 effectually to secure our everlasting happiness ? Can we too 
 highly value that which rolls away from our minds the ignorance 
 arid mystery which have hitherto brooded over us, and reveals to 
 us the destiny which is before us ? that which answers the craving 
 want of the human heart, and so speaks to the spirit of the Creator, 
 which slumbers there, .that starting from the confines of its mortal 
 chamber, it springs forth to meet its God, and returns to its home 
 laden with his blessing ? 
 
 Be the estimate which man may put upon this revelation what it 
 may, whether it be welcomed or be crucified, it is coming — com- 
 ing in the panoply of the Infinite Father — coming with healing on 
 its wings to redeem man from his wanderings, and enable him to 
 stand erect in the presence of his God redeemed by his freedom. 
 
 J. W. EDMONDS. 
 
 New York, Becember 17, 1854. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 61 
 
 P. S. — In the Appendix to our former volume was inserted a 
 letter from Governor Tallmadge, to the National Intelligencer 
 newspaper, in which the name of Lord Brougham was mentioned 
 in these words : " Recent accounts inform us that Lord Brougham 
 and Dr. Ashburner, of England, and others of highest rank and in- 
 tellect, have become converts to it, and that it has engaged the 
 earnest attention of the most eminent German philosophers. And 
 when we hear of such ' aged grandmothers,' such ' youthful pa- 
 trons of the band-box, and worshipers of lace and ribbons,' and 
 such ' weak-minded excuses for manhood,' with ' an ass's append- 
 age to their heads,' as Lord Brougham and Dr. Ashburner of 
 England, and Judge Edmonds and others of the highest order of 
 intellect in this country becoming converts to it." etc. 
 
 It seems that Lord B. is dissatisfied with the mention of his 
 name in this connection, and I publish the following correspond- 
 ence as the most effectual mode I can adopt to remove the impres- 
 sion of which he complains : 
 
 WASHiJVGTOif, Jan. 20tli, 1854. 
 Dear Sin — I received by the last steamer a letter from Lord Brougham, 
 which it seems to be his wish should be communicated to you. ' 
 I accordingly inclose you a copy, and I remain respectfully yours, 
 
 Edward Everett. • 
 Judge Edmonds. 
 
 Cannes, Dec. 22, 1853. 
 My Dear Mr. E, — Will you excuse me if I give you a little trouble .' A 
 friend in England, on whose accuracy I can rely — not having myself seen the 
 work — informs me that Judge Edmonds has mentioned me among those whom 
 he gives as believers in what are called the " spiritual manifestations," and I 
 am desirous that he should be set right, as some one has misinformed him on 
 the subject. There is not the least foundation for the statement. From all I 
 have heard of the Judge, I have great respect for his learning, his abilities, 
 and his character ; but not having the honor of his acquaintance, I must beg 
 of you to set him right for me. I have no title to pronounce any opinion upon 
 the point in dispute, but only to state the fact, that I am not among those who 
 have given, or who have formed an opinion in the affirmative. 
 Believe me, sincerely yours, 
 [Signed] H. Brotjgham. 
 
 New York, Jan. 28, 1854. 
 Hon. E. Everett, U. S. Senate : 
 
 Sir—1 do not at all know to what Lord Brougham alludes, for I am not 
 conscious that his name is anywhere mentioned in my book, nor could I permit 
 
 \ 
 
62 
 
 INTEODUCTION 
 
 myself to use any gentleman's name, in tlie manner be supposes I have used it, 
 "without Ills consent. 
 
 Still, ag the book is the work of several hands, and others besides myself 
 examined the proof, it may be that his name has crept in without my know- 
 ing it. 
 
 I have not had time since the receipt of your note to read the book, to see if 
 I can find his name, nor shall I have time for several weeks to come. I will, 
 however, avail myself of my earliest leisure for that purpose, and if I find it, 
 I will hasten to make the amende honorable, and protect him as far as liea in 
 my power from the disastrous consequences of his being identified against his 
 will with a cause which is unpopular only with those who refuse to examine it. 
 Very i-espectfuliy your obedient servant, 
 
 J. W. Edmonds 
 
INTKODUCTION OF DR. DEXTER, 
 
 One of the strongest impressions whibh rests upon the reflecting 
 mind, when man surveys himself, the world on which he exists, and 
 the countless changes which are continually taking place, relates to 
 the imperfection of human knowledge. But as the human mind is 
 constituted for progress, and can find no rest in the past, but is 
 ever striving to discover from the evidences of the present what 
 are the realities of the future, it is not singular that reasonable and 
 earnest inquiry should be made to understand those subjects about 
 which nature and revelation are apparently silent. It is uniformly 
 assumed by philosophers and divines, and perhaps by civilized 
 nations everywhere, that the worth, the dignity, the importance of 
 man lie in his rational immortal nature, and that though death 
 is everywhere, man can not die. He exists forever, and therefore 
 he must think ; and because he is capable of originating thought, 
 and exercising it in the investigation of the realities of universal 
 nature and of his own selfhood, the knowledge which he thus ac- 
 quires encourages him to extend his inquiries beyond the limits of 
 material life, and to ask what is the life hereafter? If we are 
 forced to admit the imperfection of human wisdom in all that 
 relates to those principles which regulate and control the material 
 world, how much more limited has been our knowledge of that 
 world which we are taught by our own innate consciousness and 
 by revelation will be the abode of that immortal spirit after it shall 
 have left the body ! 
 
 But from that period, comparatively regent, when man began 
 by new and more certain methods to explain and understand the 
 
54 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 manifestations of the Divine intelligence, and, inspired by the noble 
 purposes opening before him, to speculate on the phenomena which 
 he everywhere witnessed, humbly and diligently seeking to unravel 
 the mysteries both of material and spiritual life, thus to catch a 
 glimpse, however dim and distant, of their glorious Author, how 
 great has been the change in his views and ideas ! Instead of 
 barren generalities — of vague classifications — of propositions prom- 
 ising every thing to the ear, but performing comparatively little to 
 the senses — of maxims based on pure assumption, and argument 
 taking its stand on the basis of our presumed ignorance, we find 
 that it has been practicable for human faculties to attain to a knowl- 
 edge of truths based on a foundation co-extensive with the uni- 
 verse, and yet applicable to the realities of the material and 
 spiritual world. 
 
 On the ordinary grounds of contemplation, it may well be 
 accounted strange that this great result of human research and 
 comparison has not satisfied every rational mind of the intimate 
 connection of the spiritual with the material. • The evidence of 
 such a connection confronts man at all points of his consciousness 
 and his experience. It meets him on every path of science, of 
 history, and of social and individual life. It is blended with every 
 utterance which reaches the human mind, and continually new 
 testimony is arising which even noAv is speaking in a voice of 
 deep and awful intensity, proclaiming the glorious and yet joyful 
 revelation, not alone of the Divine intervention in the affairs of 
 human beings, but that the spirits of our departed, friends can come 
 back to earth and hold positive and direct communion with those 
 whom they have there loved. However conclusive the testimony 
 on which this revelation has been founded, and the support which 
 it has received from direct and collateral manifestations in all ages 
 of the world, it has none the less been opposed for its supposed in- 
 consistencies and untruth. But the minds of the vast body of 
 mankind rejecting at first any idea apparently contravening estab- 
 lished opinions, will, after careful and earnest examination, ulti- 
 •mately yield to the evidence of facts. In respect of science, of 
 history, of social life, this is true — and why may it not be true in 
 respect to the disclosures of Spiritualism ? Simply regarding it as 
 the communication of certain realities otherwise unknown, why, 
 confirmed and commended as it has been by wonders so numerous 
 
INTRODUCTION. 65 
 
 and impressive, may it not ere long be universally received as the 
 great induction from which a complete knowledge of all that 
 belongs to man's life on earth, and his spirit's existence in the 
 spheres, may be derived? 
 
 It is not my intention at present to press upon the reader's mind 
 the proofs that have convinced me of the reality of spiritual inter- 
 course. I leave its proofs to the inquirer's own observation, for 
 the reason that I am well aware that no mere argument in support 
 of its truthfulness ever convinced any man. I might state with all 
 fairness the history of the many circumstances and revelations I 
 have witnessed and received, but no inquiring mind ought to accept 
 as proof the evidence which has satisfied my mind. The oppor- 
 tunities for elaborate investigation are so numerous, and the advan- 
 tages for every kind of manifestation so ready at hand, that there 
 is no excuse. for any one's taking the " say so" of any individual as 
 truth. Equally at the present day, as in times past, " He who 
 runs may read." The evidence which I might present as having 
 convinced my reason, would perhaps be rejected by other n?inds 
 pursuing the same investigation. To satisfy the vague desire 
 which at times agitates the soul to know what there is of reality in 
 that world which is sealed up by death from the examination of 
 the physical senses, requires something more positive and defin- 
 itive than those proofs which have satisfied other minds. To see 
 IS TO KNOW. No man has ever adopted this motto from the 
 promptings of a mere external policy. It is instinctively recog- 
 nized both by the physical and spiritual existences, as embracing 
 the only absolutely safe rule of guidance, and as such it claims in- 
 dividual satisfaction from all suspense or doubt. My reasons, 
 therefore, for declining the consideration of this portion of my sub- 
 ject will, I trust, be understood. 
 
 I may here incidentally remark, however, that no reasonable 
 man can refuse to credit the multitude of facts supported by the 
 testimony of as many creditable witnesses, upon which the belief 
 of present spiritual intercourse is now based. It can not be denied 
 that there are an immense number of persons, educated and en- 
 lightened, receiving these communications and believing them to 
 be true, after such careful and earnest investigation as has scarcely 
 been bestowed on the evidences of Christianity since its eternal 
 truths were first given to the world — and it is not irrelevant to ask. 
 
'66 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in view of the unexampled spread of this belief, and comparing its 
 progress with the growth and increase of the religion of Christ, 
 what length of time is necessary to test its truth, and what is at 
 the present time the condition of this subject in the face of all the 
 means, ordinary and extraordinary, which have been opposed to 
 it ? I do not offer these remarks as an argument to convince any 
 one of the truth of Spiritualism, but as a suggestion for its sincere 
 exam'ination ; for, to my mind, he who is content, without investiga- 
 tion, to regard the evidences that a new revelation has been made 
 to man, as a fallacy, not only assumes to himself the ability to de- 
 cide that about which he is entirely ignorant, but he denies in this 
 assumption all the evidences on which are founded the Christian 
 religion and the belief in the immortality of the soul. 
 
 With this preliminary generalization, I come to the more specific 
 object now before me, which is to consider the constantly recur- 
 ring question, " What good and useful purposes are being accom- 
 plished by the wonderful manifestations now attracting public 
 attention, even admitting them to be of spiritual origin ?" 
 
 In one view of the subject it seems strange, but in another it is 
 not strange, that this question should be so frequently asked. It 
 seems strange that, in an age like this, when the intellectual tend- 
 encies of mankind are almost uniformly toward materialism, and 
 when faith in a hereafter state of the soul is fast losing its vitality 
 and its practical influence upon mankind, any one should fail to 
 perceive that a positive demonstration of the reality of a spirit- 
 world, and its presence with, and influence upon, this world, must 
 necessarily be attended with immense consequences, either for 
 good or for evil, and that upon the whole the results could scarcely 
 be of the latter character. Yet, when we consider that it is a prom- 
 inent and really noble tendency of the properly conservative and 
 cautious mind to admit innovations only upon the definite and spe- 
 cific proofs of their utility, we can not wonder that minds of this 
 character should require the distinct and demor>strative specifica- 
 tions of the good results following, or which are to follow, this 
 new spiritual unfolding. A few such specifications, therefore, will 
 now be offered to the consideration of the candid reader. 
 
 I will not here stop to dwell upon the blessings of a liberation 
 from the gloomy fears of future nonentity, and the joys of the ab- 
 solute assurance of the continued existence, affection, and watch- 
 
INTKODUCTION. 67 
 
 ful presence of beloved ones departed from the visible form, which 
 this new unfolding has brought to thousands and tens of thousands 
 who were previously enveloped in the gloom of skepticism. These, 
 in their social intercourse with the world, are daily and hourly 
 telling their own eloquent story of the benefits which they have 
 derived from Spiritualism. could we but realize at one grasp of 
 the concfiptive faculties, the tears that have been dried, the sighs 
 that have been hushed, the anxieties that have been soothed, and 
 the heartfelt gratitude that has been made to ascend up to God by 
 this new outpouring of spiritual light, and by the blessed assur- 
 ances it has brought of the continued love of our departed friends, 
 of the love of the angels, and above all, of the love of our heavenly 
 Father, we would all be abundantly satisfied with the " good" which 
 this new dispensation ha$ brought to the world, even without in- 
 quiring for further proofs of its beneficent influence ; but leaving 
 the full perception of these unspeakable blessings to the true in- 
 stincts of the human heart, we proceed to consider the "good" 
 resulting from these modern manifestations in a few other points 
 of view. 
 
 And one world-wide and all-important use which they are evi- 
 dently accomplishing is that of conservwg and reestablishing' the 
 spirituality and religion of the race. An intelligible conception of 
 the bearings and importance of this proposition will be facilitated 
 by a brief survey of the spiritual history of the world. It will be 
 proved by such a survey, that spirituality is a natural and indis- 
 pensable element of the human mind and of the race — in former 
 times unquestioned, but in these latter days fast tending to decay, 
 and requiring some new unfolding from the supernal spheres to pre- 
 serve it from utter extinction. 
 
 With a few exceptional and temporary cases, the most prominent 
 of which are found in the mental history of recent times, mankind 
 have, in every age and in every nation, recognized the reality of 
 existing spiritual intercourse in some form, and from this idea have 
 derived their highest individual, social, and national impulses. 
 According to the Biblical history of the Garden of Eden, and the 
 coincident heathen traditions of a golden age, this intercourse was 
 enjoyed by the first human bemgs that dwelt upon the earth. 
 Thence it is traceable through the history of Cain and Abel, of 
 Enoch, of Noah, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Joseph, of Moses, 
 
58 xINTKODUCTION. 
 
 of Samuel, of Saul, of David, and thence through the long line of 
 the Jewish prophets, seers, priests, and other interiorly minded 
 persons of the same nation. Nay, its light had not died out 
 among the Jews before, and in the days of Jesus, as the vision 
 Zacharias, the dreams of Joseph, the angelic annunciation to the 
 shepherds concerning the birth of the infant Messiah, etc., fully 
 testify. Nor need we look to the history of the Jewish nation 
 alone for examples of spiritual communication ; for, indeed, the 
 Bible itself directs us to several cases of the same in the experi- 
 ence of heathen men. Among these are the dreams of Pharaoh, 
 the prophetical' impressions of Balaam, the visions of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, and the evidently spiritual guidance which brought the 
 wise men, or magi, from the East to visit the infant Jesus. 
 
 More numerous still are the testimonies of similar import which 
 we find on opening the pages of general history. We find that a 
 connection with spiritual sources of power and intelligence was 
 claimed by the gymnosophists of India, the magi of Persia, the 
 wise men of Egypt, the prophets and diviners of Greece and 
 Rome, the druidical priests and bards of ancient Gaul and Britain, 
 the scalds of Scandinavia, etc. We find such a connection 
 evinced in the true prophetic dreams and visions of Mandane, of 
 Cyrus the Great, of Cambyses, of Darius, and others of the ancient 
 Median and Persian kings and nobles. We find it proved by the 
 utterances of the oracles of Butos, of Jupiter Ammon, of Colophon, 
 of Dodona, of Trophonius, and by the sublime prophetic and didac- 
 tic utterances of the Delphic Pythia, which, as the dictates of the 
 god Apollo, were for ages implicitly followed by kings, armies, and 
 nations. Spiritualism, indeed, forms a fundamental feature of all 
 ancient, historical, and poetic literature, and the spiritual element 
 of this could not be taken away without essentially marring the 
 structure and consistency of the whole. 
 
 But all the valuable spiritual light and power which in previous 
 times had been vouchsafed both to the Jewish and the various heathen 
 nations, was purified and brought to a climax of perfection in Jesus 
 Christ and his apostles. The partialisms, inconsistencies, and 
 moral imperfetTtions which had often been apparent in the previous 
 demonstrations of a guiding spiritual intelligence were, by the 
 spiritualism of Jesus, supplanted by the most broad and genial 
 yiews of the universal love of God, the universal brotherhood of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 69 
 
 man, and the universal harmony of truth. Under these recognized 
 and practically illustrated principles, the inflowings of spiritual 
 light and love were clear, self-demonstrative, and irresistibly pow- 
 erful ; and those who, submitting to the influence and guidance of 
 the heavenly Teacher, experienced the opening of their interior 
 faculties, dwelt in the sweetest and most sensible communion with 
 each other, with the angels, and with God. Demonstrations from 
 the spiritual world were, among them, frequent and universally rec- 
 ognized ; and by a constant renewal of these demonstratioiis in 
 some of their diversified forms, their faith was kept constantly 
 active, unwavering, and so intensely lively as to exercise an abso- 
 lute government over the outer lives and conduct of its possessors. 
 If by a suspension of the interior gifts of the spirit providentially 
 ordered for purposes of trial and humiliation, the votary of^the new 
 faith was immersed in temporary darkness and doubt, it was only 
 necessary for him to institute a stricter discipline over his interior 
 affections, and to appeal with more earnest prayer to the Great 
 Source of spiritual light and joy, in order to have a renewal of 
 those unmistakable evidences, interior and exterior, on which his 
 profession of faith was based. It was not necessary to say to 
 those persons, " Know ye the Lord and his truths," for all had this 
 knowledge, from the least to the greatest, having the witness of its 
 reality within themselves, and in the wonderful sayings and doings 
 of their propliets, prophetesses, and other mediums for the spiritual 
 afflatus. 
 
 These spiritual gifts and their outer manifestations continued to 
 exist and to be universally recognized for some two or three cen- 
 turies after the crucifixion of Jesus — indeed, so long as professed 
 Christians remained sufficiently faithful to the heavenly light ; and 
 it is presumable that they never would have ceased had it not been 
 foT the moral decadence of the professed receivers of the Christian 
 faith. But as the pure waters of spiritual truth and life flowed 
 out from their fount in Jesus and his apostles, among the nations 
 of the earth, and thence down through the subsequent ages and 
 generations of mankind, they became more and more commingled 
 with the sensualisms and corruptions of man, until in these latter 
 ages they have become comparatively lost ; and those whose sacred 
 office it should be to administer them to a thirsting world are now, 
 alas, found denying their very existence, except as confined to 
 
60 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 the deep and almost inacessible wells of traditional antiquity. They 
 would have us go to the New Testament records, and to them 
 alone, for evidences of the outpouring of the spirit of God and 
 of the reality of an immortal state of existence beyond the grave, 
 discouraging all ideas of a present and direct intercourse with the 
 spiritual world as necessarily savoring of infidelity ! How strange 
 that the professed conservators of the spirituality of the world 
 should ignore the present existence of that apparent Divine law by 
 which, according to the most reliable history, spiritual influx was kept 
 perpetual from the earliest ages to comparatively recent times, and 
 that they should suppose, in the absence of all scriptural and phi- 
 losophical proof, that that law Avas entirely and for ever suspended 
 when it came to the climax of its development in Christianity ! 
 
 It is freely admitted that to those who are already sufficiently 
 spiritualized to appreciate the facts and philosophy of the New Test- 
 ament records, these may, in some degree, serve as a satisfactory 
 source of proof in respect to the doctrine of immortality, and the 
 reality of ancient revelations from the superior world ; but to the 
 countless and increasing multitudes who constitutionally and habitu- 
 ally depend for convictions of truth upon the exterior and tangible facts 
 of the present, rather than upon the (to them) apparently mystical 
 relations of the past, this source of evidence has, by actual exper- 
 iment, proved to be totally inadequate. Hence within the last two 
 centuries each succeeding year had added to the number of deniers 
 of all spiritual existences and spiritual and divine revelations. 
 Professors and teachers of Christianity have endeavored to arrest 
 this wide-spread defection from spiritual and religious faith, by all 
 the means which they have deemed legitimate to employ. Not 
 recognizing present spiritual demonstrations, however, and finding 
 the' simple presentation of Scripture testimonies inadequate to pro- 
 duce the desired conviction, they have, in too many instances, be- 
 come impatient and resorted to dogmatic and dictatorial methods 
 of enforcing them. By these means the weak-minded have been 
 crushed into an unreasoning assent to the dicta of their teachers ; 
 and with this exclusion of their rational powers from all partici- 
 pancy in the formation of their religious convictions, they have 
 been made the willing slaves of whatever forms of superstition an 
 ambitious and bigoted priesthood chose to impose upon them. 
 
 While one class of mankind have thus been led to divorce re- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 61 
 
 ligion, m a great measure, from rationality, and become the de- 
 votees of an imperious dogmatism, alike unfavorable to their own 
 spiritual growth and restrictive of the religious and intellectual 
 progress of the race, another class, provoked by the tyranny of 
 church and priest, have not only been confirmed in previous skep- 
 ticism, but have engaged in a methodical opposition to every form 
 of religion and spirituality. They denounce all these as unfound- 
 ed figments of a superstitious fancy, or cunningly devised fables, 
 invented to subserve a. priestly domination. In a tone of free 
 inquiry, recognized as legitimate in every other department of 
 thought (and which the world can not much longer be convinced 
 is out of place when applied even to this subject), they have ask- 
 ed, " Where is the evidence of your spirit-world, of your God, and 
 of your religion ?" And as this class of minds for the most part 
 are unfortunately closed against the light of Bible testimony, their 
 queries have been left without satisfactory answers, and the quer- 
 ists have thus been left without any spiritually-redeeming power, 
 except it arise outside of the Church and even outside of the Bible. 
 
 Moreover, under the influence of this general denial of present 
 intercourse between the mundane and the spiritual spheres, it is 
 not to be wondered that the faith even of the Church itself has 
 grown cold and languid, and that its moral power has become as 
 nothing in comparison to what it was in its primitive ages, when 
 the gifts of the spirit were everywhere recognized. Facts known 
 and seen of all men render it daily more obvious that the functions 
 of the Christian ministry are falling into a mere mechanical round 
 of ceremonies, performed mainly from the impulse of time-honored 
 custom, and that all the existing forms of religious worship are 
 fast degenerating into meaningless mummery from which all spirit- 
 ual life and power have departed. The really religious, the really 
 spiritually-minded (of which we are happy to say there are still a 
 few in the Church), see and acknowledge this, and are constantly 
 sending forth their lamentations from pulpit and press and in the 
 conference-room, at this great decline of spirituality among those 
 who should be the world's spiritual exemplars and teachers. This 
 moribund condition of spirituality in the Church is becoming more 
 and more conspicuous, and the hope of its being remedied from 
 resources within itself is constantly diminishing. '*^ ' 
 
 Such, then, is the tendency to an utter extinction of all spiritual 
 
 V 
 
62 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 faith both out of the Church and in it; and it would seem that 
 nothing can arrest this tendency short of a renewed and tangible 
 interposition of power and intelligence from the spiritual world. 
 It would seem that for every evidence of an interposition of this 
 kind, the true mind — he who seeks the unfoldings of Divine wis- 
 dom and love rather than to sustain the barren creeds of men — 
 would spontaneously thank God from the depths of his soul, in- 
 stead of opposing and denouncing it as a delusion or device of the 
 devil. 
 
 We, then, feel warranted in the assertion, that all the evils of a 
 supercilious and reason-crushing dogmatism, and of consequent 
 spiritual slavery and sectarian intolerance, on the one hand, and of 
 a weakened or totally annihilated faith concerning a spiritual world, 
 a God, and his divine revelation, on the other hand, are the legit- 
 imate concomitants of that mistaken idea of sectarian religionists, 
 whereby the great doctrine of immortality and of spiritual manifes- 
 tations has been put forth in the form of a mere theory^ resting only 
 upon the evidence of alleged facts occurring in a remote and ob- 
 scure age of the world. Had the professedly Christian fraternity 
 remained in that moral simplicity and spiritual devoutness which 
 would have secured to it a continuance of its original spiritual gifts, 
 and had it constantly pointed the world to ^q facts of its own celes- 
 tial communings as the demonstrations of its professions of faith, 
 there would now have been but little room for a crushing spiritual 
 dogmatism and its resultant evils ; and the word " infidelity" would 
 have scarcely retained a place in .our vocabularies. But since the 
 " salt" of the Church has, in respect to these matters, " lost its 
 savor, and is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and 
 trodden under foot of men," it hath pleased Divine Providence to 
 develop this conserving element of which we have spoken, in the 
 form of what is now termed " Spiritualism." 
 
 Let us now direct our attention more spe«ially to the subject 
 just named, and ascertain, if possible, precisely what it is, and 
 what it is calculated to accomplish for mankind. 
 
 It is not denied that in this infantile stage of its unfolding. Spir- 
 itualism has exhibited many erratic, and some unpropitious, fea- 
 tures. Appealing, as it has done, to people of every diversity of 
 character and mental development, and being necessitated to adapt 
 itself to their differjent capacities of reception, its specific manifes- 
 
INTEODUCTION. 63 
 
 tations have assumed all possible grades of dignity from lowest to 
 highest. Its didactic and philosophic utterances, moreover, com- 
 ing as they do from the spirits of men of all grades of moral and 
 intellectual culture, exhibit all degrees and admixtures c^ truthful- 
 ness and error, and the elements of the nevir spiritual creation are 
 thus far (speaking in general terms) somewhat in the state of the 
 elements of the -physical world in the first period of creation, and 
 before tlie spirit of the Lord God moved upon the face of the wa- 
 ters to reduce all things to form and order. Yet notwithstanding 
 this fact, we think that Ithese modern demonstrations, when studied 
 in all their variety, exhibit to the honest skeptic every requisite il- 
 lustration and presumptive proof of the spiritual phenomena, revela- 
 tions, and resultant moral precepts, found in the true history and 
 the traditions of all ages, the Bible records included. Nay, we 
 think they even furnish new and brilliant illustrations of the profound 
 interior significance of many of the ancient revelations, and throw 
 a light upon the future destiny of man, which prophets and sages of 
 old ardently sought but found not ; and at the same time they seem 
 to put an end to the long-existing conflict between material science 
 and spiritual faith, and make the former the handmaid of the latter. 
 
 To show that such are really their bearings and tendencies, and 
 that, when properly contemplated, they will thus supply to the whole 
 world an element of spiritual life which the sectarian churches 
 and their creeds have notoriously ceased to afford, we will here 
 institute a few comparisons between the ancient and alleged mod- 
 ern spiritual phenomena, with their respective modes, conditions, 
 and subsidiary instrumentalities, and show that both are classifiable 
 imder the same general head, and that they hence mutually estab- 
 lish and confirm each other. 
 
 The recorded facts of the appearance of the spirits of Moses 
 and Elias to the Saviour and three of his disciples (Mark ix. 2-8), 
 of the appearance of the spirit of one of the old prophets to John 
 the Revelator (Rev. xxii. 9), and the declaration of Paul that one 
 office of Christianity was to bring its disciples into communion 
 with " an innumerable company of angels, and with the spirits of 
 just men made perfect" (Heb. xii. 22, 23), have their illustrative 
 facts and philosophy exhibited in this modern unfolding too con- 
 spicuously to require any further remark. The same may be said 
 concerning the appearance of the spirit of Jesus to Saul while on 
 
 \ 
 
64: INTRODUCTION. 
 
 his way to Damascus, and of numerous recorded instances of the 
 appearance of angels and spirits as found in the Bible and other 
 ancient records, together with the various communications and 
 physical manifestations which they made. These relations of an- 
 cient fact, which have long been subjects of skeptical ridicule, are 
 completely rationalized and triumphantly defended by the parallel 
 occurrences of this modern unfolding. 
 
 No less conspicuous are the coincidences and mutually confirm- 
 atory parallelisms between the unseen influences and their effects 
 as described in the ancient records and those which modernly 
 occur. Even the scene which is said to have taken place with 
 the disciples of Jesus on the day of Pentecost has had its modern 
 parallelisms sufficiently marked to prove the possibility and prob- 
 ability of the account concerning it, even in its most marvelous 
 particulars. That impressible persons have in these days been 
 often spontaneously drawn together into circles not previously ap- 
 pointed or contemplated, as the apostles appear to have been drawn 
 together on the day of Pentecost ; that in such associate relations 
 they have been subjected to the most unmistakable outpourings of 
 an invisible, spiritual power ; that the receptacles of this influence 
 have often uttered things wholly transcending their knowledge and 
 capacities while in the normal state, and that they have in frequent 
 and most satisfactorily attested cases even spoken in languages 
 which they had never learned, might here be proved by citations 
 of testimonies overwhelming to all rational skepticism ; but, as be- 
 fore intimated, it is not my present object to prove the reality of 
 existing spiritual intercourse, but to leave this question to be de- 
 cided by the personal investigation of such of my skeptical readers 
 as may wish to be satisfied upon the point. 
 
 The general modus of the recorded ancient spiritual communings, 
 and of those which purport to occur at this day, exhibit marks of 
 identity equally recognizable. Thus, in the tenth chapter of Daniel 
 (4-10), we find the description of a scene which has been frequent- 
 ly reproduced, in all its essential phenomena, in the modern mani- 
 festations claimed to be spiritual. We see in Daniel's fasting and 
 praying, as there recorded, what is now recognized as the prelim- 
 inary self-discipline requisite to the unfolding of a good " medium ;" 
 we see in the " quakings" of Daniel's companions the ungovernable 
 muscular contractions now known to occur to partially susceptible 
 
INTRODUCTION. 66 
 
 persons when brought under spiritual influence ; we see in his 
 vision of the person of the angel a phenomenon of spiritual clair- 
 Toyance which is now frequent ; we see in his " deep sleep," and 
 in the fact of his being strengthened by a spirit-hand which touched 
 him, the now common spiritual magnetic trance, and the manner in 
 which strength is imparted or withdrawn in such cases ; and who- 
 ever, therefore, admits the constantly demonstrated realities of the 
 modern phenomena, can not reasonably withhold assent from this 
 and the like ancient occurrences, nor from any of the logical corol- 
 laries as to the reliability of the moral and spiritual teachings thence 
 originating. 
 
 The intelligent reader will further pursue this line of comparison 
 for himself, and as he proceeds, the evidence of the identity of the 
 general laws governing those ancient and these modern unfoldings 
 will accumulate at each step. This glance at the prominent fea- 
 tures of the two, however, justifies us in the following assertions : 
 If the alleged ultra-mundane developments of this time, more or less 
 of which have already been exhibited in every third or fourth fam- 
 ily in many of our cities and country localities, assuming every 
 shape suited to the exigencies of an existing, universal, and deeply 
 rooted skepticism — if these, I say, can not be trusted as of really 
 spiritual origin, as they uniformly purport to be, then the compar- 
 atively few accounts of precisely similar occurrences, which we 
 have derived from a remote and obscure age, must, in all consist- 
 ency, be rejected as still less worthy of credence ; and the whole 
 phenomenal history of the Christian revelation itself must be written 
 down as a fable. If, on the other hand, modern Spiritualism is ad- 
 mitted as a reality, and the tens of thousands of intelligent persons 
 who, from personal observation, assert its facts, are not positively 
 insane, then the Spiritualism of all ages and nations, which exhibits 
 an identity of phenomena, and comes under the same general 
 laws, stands established by a force of presumptive evidence which 
 it would be the height of folly to discredit. 
 
 But if the phenomena alleged to have subserved the original de- 
 velopment of Christianity are thus allowed to be established by 
 the force of living parallelisms in this day, then all the religious 
 principles and moral precepts of the Christian scheme will assume 
 a freshness, and may be urged home upon the human conscience 
 with a power, unknown in the ministrations of the professing 
 
 5 
 
66 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Christian teachers of this day ; and what is more, the same spirit- 
 ual gifts which sanctified the lives and gave such a divine and 
 irresistible power to the reformatory labors of the early Christian 
 disciples, will again be objects of aspiration to all zealous and 
 pure-minded believers, and will be enjoyed by multitudes as fully 
 as they were ever enjoyed by the prophets, seers, and energumens 
 of the ancient times. 
 
 It is in this way that modern Spiritualism, when properly con- 
 templated and developed, tends to conserve and bring forth in all 
 the fervent and brilliant glow of a living reality the normal spirit- 
 uality and religion of the race, which otherwise is unquestionably 
 fast tending to decay and utter extinction ; and having thus dis- 
 posed of this point, we proceed to consider briefly, but in more 
 specific points of view, the practical influences of these new mani- 
 festations upon individual and social life, and upon the higher 
 interests of humanity at large. 
 
 We hazard little in asserting that it is impossible for a substan- 
 tial knowledge of the existence of a spiritual world, and that it is 
 the constant source and medium of influences from spirits, from 
 angels, and from God, should be established in the mind of man 
 without producing a salutary eflfect both upon his inner aflections 
 and outer life. It tends to raise him completely out of the sphere 
 of mere brute nature, and impaj^ts to him all the dignity of an im- 
 mortal, whose endlessly unfolding destiny will necessarily partake 
 of the qualities of his endlessly unfolding aspirations. Whatever 
 of mere groveling earthiness there may be in the thoughts and life 
 of the so-called infidel, must necessarily, in some degree, receive 
 a softening, subduing, and humanizing influence from the inflowing 
 of that light which shows him his intimate relations to a world of 
 angels, and to the God of all ; and he with whom the doctrine of 
 immortality is involved in any degree of doubt, however slight, 
 must be correspondingly benefited in precisely the degree in which 
 his faith or assurance upon this point can be increased. The light 
 which modern Spiritualism sheds upon the minds of all such, must, 
 therefore, even in this general way, tend to fecundate and stimu- 
 late in them the growth of all that is noble, genial, and divine. 
 
 But the influence of these spiritual disclosures operates in a still 
 more specific way. They teach us that however secret may be 
 our acts and our very thoughts, to persons in the flesh, they are all 
 
INTRODUCTION. J^l 
 
 seen and known to the inhabitants of the spirit-world as clearly as 
 we can discern objects through the most transparent glass. He, 
 therefore, who would hesitate to do an unworthy deed, cherish an 
 impure thought, or conceive an unholy intention within the knowl- 
 edge of a pure-minded sister, or brother, or other friend in this 
 world who might be grieved or shocked by the same, will, if he is 
 a true Spiritualist, be made cautious as to the regulation of his 
 thoughts and the government of acts by the knowledge that such 
 are exposed to the clear and constant gaze of some beloved friend 
 in the spirit- world, and who can not but look upon his impurities 
 and derelictions with grief. What firmly-persuaded Spiritualist 
 has not felt a salutary check placed, by this consideration, upon the 
 evils of his own heart, strengthening him in his struggles with 
 temptations, and encouraging his aspiration for that purity of soul 
 in which he can stand naked before the whole universe and not be 
 ashamed ! 
 
 Besides, with the absolute knowledge of spiritual beings sym- 
 pathizing with ourselves, which these modern manifestations bring, 
 there is naturally engendered a desire to commune with these be- 
 ings, and receive their constant, superior guidance. In this way 
 our susceptibility to their influence is cultivated and increased, and 
 we are brought to act, in our daily lives, more and more under the 
 inspirations of their wisdom and love, of whatever degrees or 
 qualities these may be. And though it is not pretended that their 
 promptings may be safely followed in all cases, or even in any 
 case, without reference to the guidance of a Power superior to all 
 spirits and angels, it is believed that with the safeguards against 
 misleadirigs which the judgment and moral instincts of mankind 
 in general will lead them to employ, the good that will be secured 
 and appropriated from these channels of inspiration will, upon the 
 whole, vastly preponderate over the evil, and that the evil itself 
 will be finally made to work out its own destruction. Still the ad- 
 mitted danger of open intercourse with the spirit-world — danger 
 of having our own errors of opinion and practice reflected back 
 upon us and confirmed by sympathizing spirits who are in similar 
 errors — is such as to require this caution — that no one should seek 
 such intercourse without an humble desire to know the truth irre- 
 spective of previous impressions, and a prayerful looking to God 
 for his divine guidance. 
 
68 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 Such being the genial influence which Spiritualism, as a general 
 fact, exerts upon the thoughts, affections, and life of the individual 
 man, it is easy to perceive that it tends also to change and improve 
 the whole relations existing between man and his fellows. Its in- 
 fluence in spiritualizing individuals certainly prepares them for a 
 more spiritual consociation with each other. By imparting a deep 
 sense of the eternal existence in which all the temporary distinctions 
 of this life will be swallowed up and lost, it tends to impress each 
 with the equal value of all souls. It thus tends to destroy personal 
 pride, aristocracy, and all feelings of exclusiveness, and to fuse the 
 high and low together in common interests and common sympathies. 
 That such have been its efl'ectsal ready to a marked extent, will 
 not be denied by those who have been most observant of its prac- 
 tical workings ; and it is believed that this tendency will be in- 
 creased as the unfolding becomes more perfect, and its moral and 
 religious features become more developed. 
 
 For reasons closely allied to the above, Spiritualism is neces- 
 sarily at war with all mere sectarianism, with its restrictive influ- 
 ences, its discords, and its animosities. The facts and principles 
 of this new development, by their own force and spirit, discoun- 
 tenance the idea of a monopoly of Divine favor by any class or 
 party of people. They proclaim unbounded freedom of thought 
 and investigation as the birthright of every human being, and thus 
 dissolve the bonds of mere human creeds and conventional dogmas 
 by which the human mind has been so long enslaved and its pow- 
 ers repressed. Spiritualism thus labors to bring each human being 
 to the dignity of a true man, responsible to God alone for the just 
 improvement of his faculties, and to diffuse among all men the 
 spirit of mutual forbearance with each other's errors, or diversities 
 of thought on the same subjects, attributing these to diversities of 
 constitution or mental development, and expecting them to disap- 
 pear as the general mind becomes more fully and more harmo- 
 niously unfolded. If in the contention for these principles there 
 have been some cases of extravagance, extremeism, and violent 
 denunciation of things really true and sacred, the fault must be laid 
 to the charge of Spiritualists, and not to Spiritualism itself in its 
 true and properly understood character ; for that seeks and appro- 
 priates what is true and good in all sects and parties, and rejects 
 only their falsities and evils, while it seeks light also from beyond 
 
INTRODUCTION. 69 
 
 all sectarian spheres of thought. We may add, that if Spiritual- 
 ism accomplishes no other practical result than that of emanci- 
 pating the human mind from the restrictive dogmas of the past, 
 and placing it in the path of individual progress, the future gener- 
 ations of mankind will even then have cause to be thankful that it 
 ever appeared upon the earth. 
 
 Finally, it is no less evident to the interior contemplator of 
 these developments, that as they themselves progress and are per- 
 fected, they will necessarily tend to fraternize, elevate, and har- 
 monize the whole human race, and to reconcile and unite mankind 
 eternally to the Divine Author and Ruler of all. To the superficial 
 observer of the apparent effects of Spiritualism in its present in- 
 cipient stage, I am aware that this assertion may seem somewhat 
 paradoxical, inasmuch as spiritual teachings, in their present state, 
 are confessedly not entirely free from dividing and antagonizing 
 elements. It not unfrequently happens that the teachings re- 
 ceived by one spiritual circle essentially differ from those received 
 by another, and that each claims to possess the truth, and the only 
 truth, on the subjects treated of, and pronounces all opposing com- 
 munications erroneous almost as a matter of course. It may be 
 frankly admitted, too, that many spirits whose influence is now 
 prominent in this unfolding, are not of the highest order as to in- 
 telligence and religious character, and that their influence, taken 
 by itself, is by no means to be trusted by those who would seek 
 safety in their moral and religious guides ; but it should be observ- 
 ed that these are only among the exceptional and incidental facts 
 of the great general unfolding, in estimating the influence of which 
 latter the following remarks are applicable : 
 
 While destitute of a lively, realizing faith in the soul's trans- 
 mundane existence (as most of people in and out of the Church 
 now are, unless positively reassured on the subject by modern 
 Spiritualism), the thoughts and aff*ections of man necessarily tend 
 earthward and selfward. He will know of few enjoyments which 
 rise above the gratification of the senses and those cold intel- 
 lectualisms which are immediately dependent upon sensuous per- 
 ception. While in this state his motto naturally is, " Get and enjoy 
 all you can while in this life, for beyond this life we know of 
 neither enjoyment nor existence ;" and thus he is apt to assume 
 4he character of a mere absorbent, appropriating all things to self 
 
70 •INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and disregarding the common rights and interests of others, except 
 as he perceives that an attention to them will in some way benefit 
 himself beyond the extent of his sacrifices. The general lack of 
 a lively spiritual faith makes this feeling correspondingly general 
 among mankind ; and the existing tendency to a cold, selfish, un- 
 brotherly, unloving, and hence disintegrated and conflicting state 
 of humanity, are the natural consequences as now observable in 
 the whole spirit and tone of human society. 
 
 But the modern spiritual manifestations, by furnishing such pos- 
 itive proofs of a spiritual' existence as appeal to and convince even 
 those who are on the lowest plane of sensualism, present to all 
 men the absolute knowledge of a higher and more enduring sphere 
 of attraction than what belongs to this earth and its sensuous pleas- 
 ures ; and thus, whereas the thoughts and affections were pre- 
 viously turned earth-ward and self- ward, they are, with this acces- 
 sion of faith, immediately turned upward and heaven-ward, and an 
 impulse to subserve the eternal and spiritual uses of man's being 
 is immediately supplied where none existed before. As Spiritual- 
 ism, therefore, progresses in the world, mankind will begin to live 
 for something higher than what this world affords, and the selfish- 
 ness and antagonism inseparable from the now prevailing worldli- 
 ness will, in the same degree, be mitigated and supplanted by 
 higher impulses and by aspirations having a common center in the 
 great Fountain of eternal and spiritual existence, to which all things 
 will then be felt to be subordinate. 
 
 Besides, although all possible gradations of spiritual communica- 
 tions, from highest to lowest, are being exemplified in the present 
 developments, and although the inferior ones would generally, as it 
 is confessed, have a corrupting influence if received and obeyed 
 by higher minds than those to whom they are almost exclusively 
 addressed, it will generally be observed that these, as well as all 
 communications superior to them, are a little above the moral 
 and intellectual status of \h.e particular persons who receive them. 
 According to this law of adaptation, the believers in spiritual 
 manifestations are being instructed in detail, and as a mass con- 
 sisting of details, all are being thus raised up to a higher plane. 
 And that the general influence of these spirit-teachings has even 
 already been exemplified in making mankind more unselfish, more 
 just, more orderly, more free and loving, more progressive, and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 71' 
 
 more harmonious, can not be denied by those who have taken an 
 enlarged view of their practical effects, even though some isolated 
 cases apparently to the contrary may be pointed out. Fraternity, 
 progression, and harmony are, indeed, the constant burdens of the 
 exhortations coming from the invisible realms, and the means and 
 efforts for their realization are constant themes of contemplation 
 among Spiritualists at their conferences and other public assem- 
 blages. 
 
 Moreover, as these wonderful manifestations from the spiritual 
 world are contemplated in respect to their various and constantly 
 multiplying phases adapted to the exigencies of an existing skep- 
 ticism — in respect to their power of everywhere thwarting oppo- 
 sition, and in respect to the rapidity with which they are extending 
 themselves throughout the civilized world, no deeply discerning 
 mind can fail to be impressed with a grand unitary plan and method 
 as governing them, which plan and method must necessarily have 
 originated in a Power and Wisdom higher than the spirits them- 
 selves ! In this light of the subject, the thoughts of all its contem- 
 plators are carried upward to an overruling and divine Providence, 
 to whom the glory and honor of the whole unfolding should be 
 ascribed, and who is using it all for the purposes of His own infinite 
 Love and Wisdom in the redemption of mankind. In the progres- 
 sion of processes looking to the accomplishment of this glorious 
 end, there will be observed the order of " first the blade, then the 
 corn, then the full corn in the ear." The world now presents 
 every diversity of human condition, from the lowest to the highest, 
 and these are characterized by every shade of faith and unfaith. 
 From the same Divine Hand influences are now sent down which 
 diverge as they approach the divergent conditions of men, and, ac- 
 cording to their adaptations, extend equally to those whose diver- 
 sities of moral and spiritual state have attained their utmost limits. 
 By these influences mankind are now being gently drawn upward 
 as by ten thousand silken cords, and as they ascend toward the 
 Source of the divine attraction, they will correspondingly approach 
 each other, until at the apex of the mighty cone of celestial influ- 
 ences they will center in one grand fraternal and universal unity, 
 in which God will be all in all. 
 
 But besides these modifications which Spiritualism is now pro- 
 ducing, and will effect in the opinions of individuals and in the 
 
7& INTEODTJCTION. 
 
 general manifestations of society, it may be that this new pro- 
 vision (which may be called supplementary to the original) was 
 meant to be introductory to the final consequences which the ad- 
 vent of our Saviour was to produce on man in every condition and 
 position of existence. In view of the great decline in the moral 
 appreciation of the truths uttered by Christ, in what method and 
 form, or by what arrangement human beings could move on in 
 this life, so as to be prepared for a higher and better state of 
 existence in the next, if these present revelations had not been 
 introduced as conclusive proof of spiritual communication in all 
 ages of the world, and of the grand design in the appearance and 
 teachings of our Saviour, we are unable to say. To us Spir- 
 itualism, either old or new, whether manifest in the earlier periods 
 of the world, in the time of Christ, or under the various phases 
 and aspects which it has assumed from that time to the present, 
 completes an entire and thorough change in the externalism of 
 the human path, modifies the circumstances of human progress 
 throughout, in new forms and conditions, and fits them perfectly 
 to fulfill the purposes of a restorative discipline. The entire but 
 gradual change which takes place among men by the effective 
 influence of this spirit-association, realizes the demand of the 
 original scheme of creation, which scheme is apparent in the 
 whole history of God's dealings with man, by his laws and by his 
 special spiritual directions, and which evidences the best possible 
 method for the happiness, security, and advancement of all the 
 race. Thus to our view is the perpetual superintendence of His 
 messengers manifested, who are distinguished by an earnest endea- 
 vor to bring men under the control of these influences, which will 
 enlighten them as to the true laws of their existence, and strengthen 
 them also to a just conformity to their eflfects, by public and impres- 
 sive manifestations of His power and goodness. 
 
 The prevalent idea of man's duties in respect to himself and 
 others, the principles on which the civil code of all nations has 
 been founded, and the necessary qualifications which will insure 
 to him progressive happiness in the other life, can be traced 
 through every age of the world as resulting from direct and spe- 
 cial spiritual intelligence and communication. It is not therefore 
 singular, that while all the expedients for repairing the material de- 
 linquencies of man are gradually being brought into effective oper- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 73 
 
 ation, something more was necessary to be accomplished in 
 his behalf. The general declaration of God, through the agency 
 of his spiritual instrumentality is, that every member of the human 
 family is capable of advancing from this life, and through an endless 
 eternity, toward a condition of entire restoration — that the volun- 
 tary power of each will be so strengthened that it will be enabled 
 to control and direct the faculties and affections, and as if by a new 
 generation, the human spirit will be capable of working efficiently 
 amid those remedial circumstances which constitute the new 
 economy designed for its renovation ; and all authentic teachings 
 respecting the progression scheme speak of it as furnished to 
 restore the original efficacy of those powers and attributes which 
 have been displaced and impaired by an improper application or 
 voluntary perversion. If we consider the whole moral and phys- 
 ical nature of man as a structure perfectly adapted by its conform- 
 ation and its association, both material and spiritual, to effect its 
 purposes in its appointed path, on which it auspiciously moved at 
 the outset, but from which it was impelled by its disregard of its 
 higher impulses and aspirations, we gain, in our view, an accurate 
 idea of the influence and effect of Spiritualism, by regarding it as 
 the means to restore the original condition of its functions, and to 
 renew the suspended relations between the spirits of the just made 
 perfect, and its purer desires and hopes, and to secure to man the 
 gradual consummation of his progress and improvement. 
 
 If the results of this new revelation be commensurate with the 
 effects which are now being produced on man and society, it will 
 establish, beyond all controversy, the existence of that spiritual 
 principle which we contend has exercised such incessant influence 
 through all ages of time on the present and ultimate destiny of 
 man. This opinion may ripen into established truth, and aspects 
 of man's moral and physical nature, unexampled in their glorious 
 brightness and purity, may be presented on this earth at no distant 
 period. Humanity in its completeness has not yet been seen by 
 any of us, but may it not be revealed when there is no obstacle to 
 the free and uninterrupted intercourse of the spiritual with the 
 material ? When ennobled with elevated conceptions of the might 
 and grandeur of his iMaker, and filled with sentiments of pure en- 
 joyment in the contemplation of His administration, man regards 
 this life as the means of understanding the true design and pur- 
 
74 INTKObUCTION. 
 
 poses of those laws, moral and physical, which govern existence 
 everywhere, the effects of which will impel him to accomplish the 
 ends of that existence, in bringing his spirit into harmony with all 
 the manifestations of his Creator! Thusreason becomes religion, 
 because it is enlightened by a knowledge of those truths which 
 unfold to man the harmonic relations between life and immortality, 
 and that the purest sentiments of his material nature spring from 
 the higher affections of his spiritual, and the union of these is the 
 source from which he derives his purest and serenest happiness. 
 Then would the universe bear witness that the kingdom of God 
 has come nigh unto all men ; for man in harmony with himself, 
 with his fellow-man, and in intimate association with the spirits of 
 the other world, would manifest the distinct and proper attributes 
 of a nature so transcendently elevated and perfect, that he might 
 indeed call God his father, and claim to be his child. 
 
 Is there, then, no hope for this state of progress and happiness 
 for man, either under the dispensations of the old revelations or 
 the promises and prospects of this new disclosure ? For eighteen 
 hundred years the world has waited for the coming of that day 
 when man should live in harmony with his brother and in fellow- 
 ship with God. Prophets and priests have foretold its advent, and 
 predicted the millennium by the positive promises which have 
 been made by spirits of the other world. And may it not be that 
 the shades of that long night are now shimmering into newborn 
 day, the dawn of which colors the shadows of ages with its own 
 bright tints of hope and promise ! Even now the prayer ascends 
 from millions of happy hearts, disenthralled and redeemed from 
 death to life by the power of those truths which Spiritualism has 
 revealed — that the time may soon come when peace shall reign 
 on earth, and good will to man be manifest in the earnest endeavor 
 of all to assist each other to increase their own excellence, and the 
 purity and happiness of the whole race. 
 
 If such results may flow from the effects which Spiritualism 
 may produce on the material and spiritual powers of man either here 
 or hereafter, what is there to justify an intelligent mind in rejecting 
 its claims or refusing it a fair and unbiased examination ? It -is 
 true we can not cast off from us at once the opinions which we 
 have cherished for years, but we all can grant even to new ideas 
 that consideration which the extent and importance of their claims 
 
INTRODUCTION. 75 
 
 seem to demand. The doctrines we advocate demand no more. 
 The whole subject of our religion, and the proofs which support it, 
 can not be learned at a glance. All then we ask is, that we may 
 not be opposed with presumptuous ignorance upon this subject, 
 which we regard as sacred and holy ; for, perhaps, its truths may 
 burst upon the unprepared mind with all the terrible certainty 
 which will make its application individual. The first victory which 
 truth gains should be over our own hearts ; for then, whether we 
 remain on earth or are summoned to our eternal home, we are 
 prepared for all exigencies. Calm in the prospect of that which is 
 before us, we shall feel, when we leave this earth, that we are 
 only going a journey into another country, where the loved and 
 loving wait to receive us, and where our joys, our hopes, and our 
 aspirations are centered for ever. 
 
 GEO. T. DEXTER 
 
 December 1, 1854. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 77 
 
 Btttun §m. 
 
 Saturday, July 30th, 1853. 
 This evening, the Doctor was in my library, and after conversing 
 some time, I uttered the wish to hear from Lord Bacon. 
 He soon wrote : 
 
 Well, my friend, though I am always with you, still I 
 can not make myself visible or talk with you without the 
 Doctor's aid. I love to talk with you, and were the Doctor 
 and yourself differently situated, I should probably occupy 
 more of your time than perhaps would be pledsant. Have 
 you any thing to ask ? If so, let me hear it, and I will an- 
 swer. Bacon. 
 
 I said : No, nothing in particular ; but after such an effort as that of 
 the last two or three days, I missed the company and sympathy to 
 which, through my wife, I had become accustomed so many years, and 
 I longed for some substitute. 
 
 It was answered : 
 
 Yes, and you want to know if you have acted rightly. 
 This feeling is a consequent of the long and affectionate 
 intercourse between yourself and wife. I can never fill 
 that void, for these feelings, predicated on the young, fresh, 
 and pure sentiments of your heart, unimpressed with the 
 image of any other spirit, can realize at this time of life no 
 other substitute which will fill that want, now a want in- 
 deed of the soul. 
 
 I look at you, and feel for you as a man, pyoud of you 
 in the position you occupy, and striving to assist you in 
 the efforts to accomplish what is before you. I can joy 
 with your joy, and sorrow with your sorrow, take delight 
 
78 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 in all that interests you, and act with you in carrying out 
 your plans and purposes. 
 
 But when the spirit turns back upon itself, and seeks 
 from itself that response which met it at every point of 
 life ; when looking at its own yearnings and motives, it 
 finds reflected the same aspirations of another spirit so 
 closely assimilated that it becomes a part of his own, then 
 there can be no sharing, no participation outside of that 
 congeniality, but the spirit's which has taken up its resting- 
 place in your own. 
 
 Dear Judge, in the sentiments of your heart, in every 
 good motive, in every act in which you have conquered 
 the propensities of self and the idiosyncrasies of your 
 nature, you have acted out, through yourself, the very 
 spirit-action of your wife. It is thus she claims the pre- 
 rogative of your wife still. It is thus she manifests the 
 love which, growing brighter and purer, will, at last, bring 
 you together, when as one forever you will exhibit the 
 same feelings, the same progression, till you develop all 
 the attributes of goodness and perfection in that state of 
 existence where there is no change, no separation for eter- 
 nity. 
 
SPIBiTUALIBM. 19 
 
 nixan ®foo. 
 
 Sunday, July 31st, 1853. 
 The circle met this evening at Dr. Dexter's. Among other things I 
 read to them a letter which I had been preparing for publication. After 
 doing so, the Doctor was influencedj and wrote as follows : 
 
 Now let there be silence, and let your minds picture 
 the spirits surrounding you, influencing the medium, and 
 assisting to carry out the intent of this meeting. 
 
 My dear friends, for a long time have I and other spirits 
 visited your circle, and endeavored to teach, through the 
 Doctor, the circumstances connected with our spiritual life. 
 We have carefully abstained from advancing any thing 
 opposed to the great laws established by God, and have 
 as carefully adhered to the truth as it is known to us, that 
 we might direct your minds to the investigation of those 
 great principles on which is based every act of material 
 life and every phenomenon belonging to the spheres. It 
 has rarely been my fortune to meet so long with a circle 
 whose individual members have so sincerely desired the 
 explanation of Spiritualism, unmixed with any personal 
 motive, unmingled with any preconceived doctrine or 
 opinion. We have, therefore, refrained from special teach- 
 ings or communications, and have considered the great 
 whole of our subject as the important object to be accom- 
 plished. But there are circumstances which would justify 
 us in directing our communications to one or more indi- 
 viduals, as in giving certain advice or in answer to special 
 and particular inquiries, or in giving some direction as to 
 their cooperation in the mighty purpose in which we are 
 all interested. But there may be another aspect in which 
 
8Q SPIEITIJALISM. ' 
 
 a special communication would be proper, and that is, 
 when the course of procedure of any one of our circle 
 may not be plain and distinct to his mind, and he requires 
 our aid in opening to him the effect of certain action ; or 
 when, too, one of our friends may demand explanation 
 when our teachings have been ambiguous and obscure. 
 To-night it becomes my duty to communicate to two of 
 this circle personally ; to one in reference to his position 
 as a believer in the communication of spirits with the liv- 
 ing, and also to give him our advice in reference to its 
 effect on himself as a man, and on the world, to whom he 
 owes proper respect in consequence of the high position 
 he occupies, emanating from that world to whose opinions 
 he is bound to show proper respect. To the other indivi- 
 dual I am to speak in reference to the effect of certain 
 causes on his mind, and the consequent evil or good which 
 may grow out of this effect as influencing the great duty 
 before him, and the cause with which he is now identified 
 either for good too or evil. 
 
 Having said this much, I now commence with you. Judge 
 Edmonds. Every individual, whether of high or low de- 
 gree, is possessed of certain inherent prerogatives aside 
 from those on which are founded his civil or political 
 rights. Every person of sound mind and of sufficient edu- 
 cation is bound to serve the community in which he resides 
 in such capacity as will most conduce to its best interests 
 and advance the common good of all. 
 
 All persons are not fit for every position in the gift of a 
 free people, but a man accepting office from the independ- 
 ent suffrages of any community, pledges himself, in so 
 doing, that he will not only perform the duties of that 
 office to the best of his ability, but he tacitly consents, 
 under this contract, to explain to his constituents any great 
 change which may take place in' his opinion on any sub- 
 ject, apparently or positively, affecting the duties or influ- 
 ences of his office, or the received and acknowledged ideas 
 on which the whole of their religion may be based ; that 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 81 
 
 religion, we mean, which is the common belief of this peo- 
 ple, and that on wliich its laws and its government are 
 based. ]^o free people can demand that its governors, its 
 judges, or any one of its oflBcers shall, as a qualification, 
 avow that he believes in the same denominational creed 
 as any one of its people profess to believe ; but they can 
 demand and should require a pure and devotional belief 
 in one God, and that any candidate for or incumbent of 
 office should exhibit by his daily life and conversation 
 that he shows proper respect to the laws which that God 
 has established in relation to the natural world and his 
 fellow-creatures. 
 
 Therefore, when any great or fundamental change takes 
 place in the opinion of any individual holding a high of- 
 fice, upon the objects involving an entire revolution in the 
 developments of the common religion, or in those subjects 
 which are supposed to be but little understood and but 
 partially revealed by the great God who rules our creation, 
 I say he is bound to show the reason of his belief and the 
 causes which induced it, as well as the moral effects which 
 he supposes will arise from it, and the good that may re- 
 sult to him, to his office, and to the people themselves. 
 
 The reasons for this compliance are sufficiently obvious.. 
 Elected to office with the understanding that he recognizes 
 the religious doctrines of the church which he has attend- 
 ed with his parents, or acknowledging the obligations ad^ 
 mitted by the whole Christian world, he actually admits 
 that he accepts as his belief the principles on which the 
 laws he administers are built. Thus the civil laws- are 
 based on the moral law, " Do unto others," etc., and no 
 difference in the specific application of any statute (or no 
 law, however apparently individual in its effects) can be 
 viewed in any other aspect than as based on this axiom, 
 emanating, as understood and accepted, from a divine 
 source. The violation of a law does not suppose a conse- 
 quent punishment because the law itself has been trans- 
 gressed, but that in violating the law you break the image 
 
82 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 of its principles, and that is the obligation which it im- 
 poses on every man to do nnto his neighbor as he requires 
 that neighbor to do unto him. 
 
 Now, if yon, Judge Edmonds, have accepted the office 
 you now hold, you did so publicly pledging yourself to 
 administer justice predicated on the principle expressed 
 above. You said, " I understand the laws of my country 
 and state, and to the best of my ability w411 I see them 
 executed ;" but at the same time you said, "I believe as 
 the whole Christian world believe — I am a Christian, al- 
 though I do not conform to the doctrines of any church 
 or sect.-' 
 
 You now have seen sufficient reasons to change the fun- 
 damental principles of that belief. You do not believe as 
 the whole Christian world believes, and, in this view of the 
 case, you are bound to set right the public mind in regard 
 to the difference existing between your conclusions, de- 
 rived from careful and protracted investigation, and those 
 doctrines from which you have the right to differ. Why 
 so ? Because you disabuse the public mind of any erro- 
 neous notions of the character of that belief — you remove 
 all the obscurity with which your silence would invest 
 your opinion, and you show to the world, that while you 
 do not deny either God or his laws, you, on the contrary, 
 are now more observant of the moral obligations those 
 laws impose, and that your duties to your fellow-men are 
 made more imperious in your action toward them. You 
 show them, that instead of denying the great principle of 
 all religion, you accept it as even more obligatory than 
 under the religion you formerly believed, and that without 
 calling on the aid of those from whom you could receive 
 counsel and assistance, your mind, renewing, as it were, 
 its inherent and acquired attributes, develops new powers 
 by thei omnipotent might of progression. You exemplify 
 by youTiciaily acts that your intercourse with your race is 
 of a more elevated charater, void of selfishness, and de- 
 voted' -to : tb^jr absolute advance in all knowledge and 
 
SPIBITUALISM. 83 
 
 goodness, both in your world and in the world to come. 
 Aside from official position and-influence, you come nearer 
 to the innate necessities of their nature, and you develop 
 all of good of which that nature is capable. You contract 
 no power, no resource, no ability ; but the whole boundless 
 universe is unlocked, and they are ushered into a liberty 
 of action so glorious, that the soul is satisfied that it is to 
 its own rights these things are vouchsafed. Men believe, 
 because there is no happiness without it. 
 
 These things it was necessary you should know, as the 
 views of spirits in reference to yourself; and now one word 
 more. In the article which you have prepared,* explain- 
 ing your views on the subject of Spiritualism, you have 
 done all that we could desire ; and, although we are no 
 prophets, we feel confident that its efiect will be to give 
 you more stability as an officer and more true regard as a 
 man. Sweedenborg and others. 
 
 ttiian C|ree. 
 
 Sunday, Aug. "Ith^ 1853. 
 This evening, at the circle at Dr. Dexter's (it being the next day after 
 my letter had appeared), it was written : 
 
 Mt children, let your minds imagine a sphere, or, rather, 
 a locality, exquisitely beautiful, diversified with every va- 
 riety of scenery, with lofty mountains stretching out far in 
 the distance, and broad valleys teeming with vegetation of 
 most luxuriant growth, with noble rivers flowing through 
 
 * Alluding to my letter to the public of the date of 1st August, 1853. 
 
84: SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 these valleys, and deep forests skirting the sides of these 
 mountains ; imagine plains and undulating surfaces laid 
 out in fields and gardens, with flowers of every hue and 
 odor, and here and there beautiful residences scattered over 
 the whole territory; imagine, in fact, a world most beau- 
 tiful in its harmonious blending of the practical with the 
 artistic, and in the divine order with which every arrange- 
 ment has been nlade for the pleasure and profit of those 
 beings who were to inhabit it. Then imagine this world 
 filled with an almost untold number of intelligent spirits, 
 whose thoughts are constantly directed to those subjects 
 which will conduce most to the development of mind, which 
 will elicit most of good from every thing around, and which 
 will contribute most to the advancement of one another 
 resident in that localit}^, and their same race on your earth. 
 Imagine, too, that these beings are interested in every thing 
 which tends to the advancement of truth, and to the re* 
 moval of every impediment which may obstruct the recip- 
 rocal action of that truth in its upward progress from earth 
 toward heaven, and then imagine the deep, the ferv^ent, 
 the enthusiastic, and the abiding interest with \^ich these 
 beings have considered the wisdom or the practicability of 
 the publication of Judge Edmonds' letter, and the effect 
 which that letter has had on the public mind, now that the 
 press has given utterance to the sentiments it contains. 
 Words can convey no adequate conception of the absorb- 
 ing desire which animates every individual to see for himself 
 or herself what its influence may be, not only on the minds 
 of their friends, but also on the feelings of those persons 
 who have opposed spirit-revelation from the beginning to 
 the present time. There are gatherings here and there. 
 Under the shade of some majestic tree you will picture a 
 party of men and women discussing, in terms of no com- 
 mon interest, this letter. In some house, where there may 
 be friends visiting, and from other localities (whose affin- 
 ities correspond), you will see the delight, the anxiety, the 
 confidence, the hope and the faith which are expressed in 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 85 
 
 the countenances of both the friends and their visitors. In 
 the depths of the forest, and amid the silence of nature, 
 you may imagine spirits meeting spirits, and the first salu- 
 tation is, " The Judge's letter is out." In the conferences 
 on subjects belonging to the government, of neighborhoods 
 or communities, the business is deferred, and the talk is 
 about this letter. Spirits traversing the air, and meeting in 
 space with other spirits, stop and accost one another, and, 
 while floating on the transparent medium, they ask, What 
 will be the influence of this first direct onset on the ancient 
 superstition and errors of the world ? 
 
 "We are satisfied ; and we trust that what of pain there 
 may be in this effort, the good it may do will compensate 
 for all anxiety. and care, and afford a joy so pure and last- 
 ing that it shall satisfy the soul that it can really feel the 
 links of that chain which cements it with these spheres and 
 eternity. 
 
 Oh ! when a duty has been done, and the spirit which 
 has shrunk and hesitated has at last boldly dared to do and 
 Acknowledge truth, how its responses tell to the vibrating 
 feelings of the soul, "I am indeed forever, and I know that 
 I am ascending ; I know that I am of God." 
 
 SWEEDENBOEG. 
 
 I said I should like to know if they had a copy of the letter there, 
 and if not, how they knew so well what was its purport ? 
 
 Mr. Warren replied, that he had no doubt they had copies of it 
 there, etc. 
 
 I answered, I did not want to speculate on the subject. I wanted 
 to know. 
 
 It was written : 
 
 Why, you must speculate. Do you suppose that the 
 millions of spirits who were in attendance on their friends 
 in your world, and heard the letter read, heard the com- 
 ments made, and- heard the expressions uttered between in- 
 dividuals who had not* read the letter, but who knew of 
 the publication, did not know of it? and then, do you not 
 suppose that the sentiments of that letter were made known 
 
86 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 by tlie spirits who attended your circle, and each individual 
 to the thousands with whom they came in contact ? And 
 can you then ask how these things are ? 
 
 ISTow for the proper subjects of our meeting. 
 
 At our last meeting, when I made a communication, I 
 said there were two individuals to whom some things were 
 to be said for a specific purpose. To one I have said all 
 that was necessary, and to-night I am to address the Doctor, 
 for the reason that the condition of his mind, while it pro- 
 duces its own unhappiness, does in some measure influence 
 the communications through him, and retard the full and 
 ready flow of that connecting current whose uninterrupted 
 circulation is so important to the circle and the spirits who 
 attend it. 
 
 It is now over two years. Doctor, I believe, since your 
 mind was flrst directed to the phenomenon of spirit-man- 
 ifestations. Your mind, naturally conservative, rejected 
 this new subject with more than its ordinary prejudice, as 
 opposed to every thing, natural and divine. But after you 
 had consented to an investigation, you did not admit as 
 positive proof what you could attribute neither to collusion 
 nor nature's laws, or what you could neither explain nor 
 ascribe to any individual concurrence or participation.- 
 For a long time you were influenced by two different sets 
 of feelings ; at one time almost believing from the force of 
 the evidence, and at another rejecting all evidence, and 
 especially that which came from individual experience, and 
 not direct to yourself from the spirits. From the very first 
 I knew you could be made a powerful instrument for the 
 advancement of our cause, and also an almost all-powerful 
 instrument in disseminating truth and goodness through 
 the world. 
 
 Knowing this, and analyzing your feelings, studying the 
 action of your mind and character, I have since that time 
 been constantly at work to present the subject to your un- 
 derstanding in such an aspect as would remove all opposi- 
 tion and convince you of the truth and of the divine nature 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 87 
 
 of its revelations. But there was a time when I almost 
 despaired of ever bringing your mind to a calm considera- 
 tion of the subject, and eliciting a desire to know more 
 than you already had learned. Still, siatisfied and under 
 the urgent cooperation of other spirits, and of the infiu, 
 ence of great plans and important movements in connection 
 with the subject, I strove with you, and at last, more b^^ 
 the action of your own mind on itself and the deep affec 
 tion which you entertain for your wife, you suddenly de- 
 termined to go on in your inquiries and arrive at the truth, 
 if that truth was to be reached. 
 
 Thus you commenced ; and immediately seizing the op- 
 portunity, in concert with others, we also commenced the 
 teachings with a specific purpose, which was, to give to the 
 world, what I two years since avowed to you I would do, 
 my true religious sentiments, through you. In selecting 
 you as the medium of communicating to the world my doc- 
 trines, and also an account of the life and occupation of the 
 spirits, I did so, feeling that through you I could give that 
 which was a true and just account, without any inter- 
 mingling of your own thoughts with the subject, and be- 
 cause I knew that the innate and cultivated powers of your 
 mind were just what I desired, to enable me to fashion my 
 teachings into proper shape and substance. 
 
 To you, therefore, did I say two years ago, "I will write 
 a new Heaven and Hell through your hand. Dr. Dexter, 
 and it shall be given to the world as a correction of what I 
 had written while in the form." 
 
 You may justly conclude, therefore, that while I selected 
 you for the ease with which I could impress you, there 
 were other circumstances which rendered your cooperation 
 of great importance, and made you of as much value to 
 me as my teachings would be to the world. 
 
 But it was to the mind I looked for that assistance ; it 
 was on its clear comprehension, its love of truth, its dis- 
 tinctness and its perception, its calmness and serenity, and 
 its cheerfulness, that I relied and expected to assist me in 
 
88 
 
 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 my arduous task of writing through you a work of so much 
 importance, and which, to give it its first and proper effect 
 on the world, must be continued until two more volumes 
 shall have been written ; for you have only had the door 
 opened— you have just looked within the curtain. The rev- 
 elations which will be continued in the second volume will 
 afford you more light than your mind can conceive. Thus 
 in carrying out my specified design individually, and the 
 whole plan in connection with others, I relied on your 
 maintaining that condition of mind which would enable me 
 to give graphically the more important truths which were 
 to come. At the same time, on your mind, mysQlf and 
 other spirits relied to assist with others in carrying out the 
 great plans w^iich have been shadowed to you. 
 
 Doctor, there is one thing certain : our work, your work, 
 is of more importance than you can at present realize. 
 Spirits of higher position than any with whom you have 
 had intercourse are to teach you through me, and also per- 
 sonally to influence your hand, and write out what takes 
 place in the localities in w^hich they reside ; to give de- 
 scriptions of places, the customs, habits, laws, and govern- 
 ment of each locality ascending ; to give the history of 
 the progression of spirit from sphere to sphere ; the j)assage 
 from one to another ; the history, too, of the surface of the 
 earth, or, rather, the spheres ; the vegetation, such as the 
 flowers, fruits, trees, and all those vegetables which are cul- 
 tivated for the use of the -spirit ; the animals found there ; 
 the spirit-communion and power ; in fine, every thing in 
 connection with life in the spheres in the ascending scale as 
 far upward as it is possible to have any distinct and tangible 
 communication. If this is so, and I here proclaim it to be 
 the truth, of how much importance, of what vast interest is 
 it to us and to Spiritualists, yes, to the whole world, that 
 your mind should not be disturbed with anxious cares and 
 perplexities. I need not say, call wisdom to your aid, for 
 I daily see your struggles, and I heard your prayer to-night 
 for strength and assistance. But, dear Doctor, both your- 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 89 
 
 self and the Judge know what has been said ; you ha^^ftf" 
 manuscript now what has been written, of what is before 
 you. Your own mind has reflected on this matter ; yon 
 have carefully digested and compared every statement 
 made to you and to others, and you have just as carefully 
 considered your own connection with these p.ui.b as you 
 have what else has been taught to you. Boundless as is 
 the field, then, still there must be proper seed sown, and 
 proper men to work it. Much depends, both to the cause 
 and those engaged in it, that the teachings should be of 
 such a nature as to convince the common sense of those 
 who desire to learn. It is not every mind that can com- 
 prehend what is necessary to effect our purpose ; it is not 
 every mind through whom we could commune. There are 
 very few persons in the world through whom these teach- 
 ings could have been made. You ask, why so ? I reply, 
 if so, they would have been made long ago, if it were pos 
 Bible. Men of more profound learning than yourself have 
 been tried, and of more absolute powers of mind, but they 
 could not be molded to the great purpose we had to accom- 
 plish. 
 
 Can you not therefore understand the necessity of your 
 being free from anxiety, that your mind should be like a 
 spirited horse, fiery, bold, proud in its own consciousness 
 of strength, able and powerful, but still easily influenced 
 by the gentle means we exert? 
 
 As on you the whole of this matter depends, you must 
 reflect seriously what must be done for yourself to enable 
 you to continue that condition of mind which has allowed 
 spirits so remarkably to communicate through you. It be- 
 comes of too grave import to defer longer, for as soon as 
 the manuscript written is corrected, we design to com- 
 mence the preparatory steps of the new volume. 
 
 Dear Doctor, I have written enough. I can not say, "Do 
 so or thus ;" I can only point out to you the importance 
 of having your mind in an easy, passive state, and the 
 great injury it would be to the cause of Spiritualism now, 
 
90 SPIEITFALISM. 
 
 if bj any means you sliould be prevented from going on 
 with your work, or that our influence should be disturbed 
 or weakened, or that any thing should interrupt the mighty 
 plans laid out and partially revealed to you, from being 
 essentially and positively completed. 
 I have said enough. Good-night. Sweedenbokg. 
 
 Sution Jfjur. 
 
 Sunday, Sept. 4th, 1853. 
 
 This evening, at Dr. Baxter's, the whole circle being present, the first 
 manifestation was by a female, who was unfamiliar with our language. 
 Her first effort seemed to be to get possession of the medium. 
 
 We were then reminded of the coursb proposed the other evening, and 
 of the subject of the teaching — namely, Progression, from inanimate 
 matter up to man. 
 
 It was written : 
 
 We accept it. But understand, our teachings are for 
 popular reading, and we shall reject all that is obscure or 
 technical, and try and elucidate the subject, so that all 
 who run may read. 
 
 We also wish you to understand, that we shall not give 
 you any high-sounding names to clothe our teachings with 
 their sanction. What will be given will come from men 
 developed and progressed, who are pure and wise, but have 
 only simple names and pure lives to guarantee what they 
 teach. Bacon. 
 
 Then it was added : 
 
 Let the circle remain quiet and silent. Judge Edmonds, 
 if you are willing, the first of our manifestations shall be 
 through you. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 91 
 
 Then came the manifestation through me, which is annexed in a 
 separate paper. 
 
 After it was concluded, some remarks were made as to whether what 
 I saw was a picture or the reality ? 
 
 And it was written : 
 
 ISTow this first teaching or vision of fact is the continu- 
 ation of our second vohime, and in it will be given more 
 of life, actual life of spirits, than ever before — their occupa- 
 tions, habits, connections, dress, conversation, pleasures, 
 amusements, business, and, in fine, all that could or should 
 interest you as belonging to the spheres. 
 
 You see distinctly what is absolutely going on in the 
 life as it is, and the particular circumstances which occupy 
 spirits at the time you see them. And you look at them 
 as through a window at the real scenes of earthly life be- 
 fore you, and the persons acting therein. IlTow these 
 things are given to your spirit, which is lifted upward, and 
 gifted w4th the faculty of really seeing what is described. 
 
 This vision will continue several nights, and illustrate 
 many things not before dreamed of in your philosophy. 
 
 The teachings now will assume the particular details of 
 real life, and what is given is the reality of life as it is. 
 You may suppose many things your own imagination, but 
 it is really the absolute reality of living fact. 
 
 Bacon. 
 
 I remarked with some surprise, that at the close of the vision I had 
 seen horses and carriages there. 
 It was written : 
 
 That is not strange. You will have the whole of the 
 vision and the explanation by-and-by. There is nothing 
 out of common sense and truth in what will be given. 
 
 It was added : 
 
 You shall see the passage of a spirit from sphere to 
 sphere. 
 
 Some remark was made by one of the circle as to the time that would 
 elapse before passing to the higher spheres. 
 
92 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 It was written : 
 
 Why, it takes an eternity to reach the celestial spheres. 
 I mean, ages on ages shall roll away, before progression 
 can develop attributes to entitle us to a residence in 
 heaven. 
 
 Mr. Warren remarked it would seem short. 
 It was written : 
 
 True, true, Mr. W., it is but a day, a brief hour. If 
 every aspiration is upward, as the soul yearns for progress, 
 so shall that progress be. 
 
 Mr. W. asxed into what sphere that spirit would pass ? 
 It was answered : 
 
 They are not marked by lines, but affinities. 
 
 I inquired if she would pass into his sphere, or one ahove or below his ? 
 It was answered : 
 
 !N"o ; my affinities are not distinctly given, for all my 
 thought is on earth, as my duty is there ; but she will pass 
 beyond your thought. 
 
 Mr. W. and Mrs. Dexter remarked they did not understand that. 
 It was written : 
 
 It is easily understood. She will go to those globes 
 where man's thought has. not reached, where human intel- 
 lect has never explored, and where all is afe bright as it is 
 harmonious. 
 
 Mr. W. made some remark about distance being no criterion of a supe- 
 rior sphere. 
 
 It was written : 
 
 Mr. W., the nearest to this solar system is the greatest 
 amount of materiality. The farther otf and upward, the 
 less grossness. Of all the things that God has created, 
 this world and its connections are the most material. 
 God's manifestations must be more distinct somewhere. 
 Therefore the nearer this point, the greater the ethereal- 
 ity. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 03 
 
 Then the paper was signed in several different handwritings : 
 
 " Bacon, 
 sweedenboeg. 
 Alta. 
 Jean. 
 Samuel, and others." 
 
 We asked who Samuel was ? the prophet we read of in the Bible ? 
 It was answered : 
 
 He is one wjiose memory is lost in the ages which have 
 passed since he left the earth. 
 
 Jean is a Frenchman. 
 
 Alta is a Druidess, and has by the force of her aspira- 
 tions risen to the bright spheres. She was sacrificed on a 
 stone altar by the priests. The times and scenes which 
 signalized her earthly life, and the whole of her career 
 while in the spheres will be given you. 
 
 VISION. 
 
 I was carried rapidly up to the temple where I had been 
 twice before. So rapid was the transit, that I noticed 
 nothing by the way, nor until I found myself inside the 
 temple, and on the platform where the Presiding Spirit 
 had sat. There was no assemblage of any great numbers 
 there. I saw occasionally one or two passing along the 
 galleries or across the area, as if going along in the trans- 
 action of their business. On the platform six or seven 
 spirits were standing, grouped together, and discussing 
 how they could get a person as material as I was, up to the 
 higher spheres. One of them remarked, " That.it was a 
 good deal to get me as far as they had !" Another said, 
 "Yes, but we can take him still farther." This was all I 
 noticed particularly of their conversation, though I per- 
 ceived what its general purport was. 
 
 I was standing alone by myself, on the left cornej" of th^3 
 platform nearest the area. On my left there was an open- 
 
94: SPIRITUALISM. . 
 
 ing in the side of the temple, which enabled me to notice 
 the scene which lay in that direction. Close to the temple 
 arose a steep, rocky, rugged hill, very difficult to ascend. 
 It was enveloped in a hazy atmos23here, w^hich rendered 
 objects somewhat indistinct, and which was very nnlike 
 the clear, transparent air that w^as found inside the temple. 
 I examined the side hill very closely, and saw that it could 
 not be ascended, except by climbing on my hands and 
 knees, and clinging to the rocks and roots with my fingers 
 and toes. The question arose in my mind. Was I willing 
 to climb it? It would be a hard job to do so, and danger- 
 ous. See how far it ascends, how rough and rugged are 
 the rocks, and the least step would dash me to atoms 
 below ! 
 
 After looking at it for some time, I said to myself, "I'll 
 try it, at any rate." While this was going on in my mind, 
 the group'of spirits were observing me intently, and when 
 I had come to a decision, they resumed their conversation, 
 saying to each other, " He can make it out." 
 
 I looked again to see th^ undertaking that was before 
 me, and to examine it still more closely. Then, upon 
 looking to see how I could get to the side hill, I discovered 
 there was an immense gulf between me and the hill, which 
 descended, dark and gloomy, far down below where my eye 
 could reach. I could discover but one way of crossing it, 
 and that w^as by descending a very steep precijDice to a 
 point whei^e the rocks jutted out from both sides, and where 
 a tree had been felled across the chasm, presenting a slip- 
 pery and precarious bridge of a single round log. It was 
 evident that I could cross that only by creeping, and cer- 
 tain destruction would follow the least slip in crossing. As 
 I was looking at it, with a swelling in the throat, as I have 
 sometimes felt at the approach of imminent danger in my 
 earthly life, I discovered another difficulty of no slight char- 
 acter, and that w^as a number of dark and malignant spirits 
 concealpd under the projecting rocks, lying in wait to in- 
 terrupt my passage. At the head of them was the dark 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 95 
 
 spirit whom I saw at the circle on "Wednesday last.* What 
 
 * To explain this remark, I must mention that it had then lately happened 
 that I had been developed to see the spirits that were around and near me. 
 The first time this had occurred to me was in July, on a visit to Ohio, where I 
 attended a circle, all of whom were strangers to me, except two. Soon after 
 we were seated, I perceived what was so new and unexpected to me, that I 
 thought it the effect of my imagination. I saw what seemed to me to be the 
 spirits who were in attendance on each one present, and I resorted to several 
 devices to determine whether I was actually seeing them or merely imagining 
 it. One thing among others which satisfied me was, that being requested to 
 ascertain the name of one of the spirits whom I described, I had seen it write 
 with its finger in the air the word " Lucretia." I inquired if any one present 
 recognized the name ? No one did, and then on my request for the residue of 
 the name, it wrote with its finger, " Charlotte L. De Verde," a name which 
 those present recognized as that of a spirit who had been long communing 
 with them, but which I had never heard of before. 
 
 Shortly after my return home from my visit to the West, one evening while 
 the Doctor and I were sitting in my room conversing with the spirits, I saw 
 near me the spirit of an acquaintance who had died in this city six or eight 
 years ago. The third time I saw them was a few days afterward, when I was 
 attending a circle in my own neighborhood. The medium became entranced, 
 and it seemed to me that I saw very distinctly three spirits, who were at work 
 upon him to bring him into that condition, and I saw that when he arose to 
 speak, he but repeated the language which one of them was uttering to him. 
 I was xmaccustomed to this phase of the manifestation, and I again resorted to 
 various plans to determine whether I actually saw or only imagined. Among 
 other things, I left the room and sat for some time in an adjoining apartment, 
 but there I could not see them, though the moment I returned to the room 
 where the circle was, I saw them again, but with an addition. The medium 
 had changed his position during my absence to the other side of the room. 
 I now saw behind him the same three spirits, but I saw also a dark spirit 
 standing directly behind him, and frequently whispering in his ear. The 
 medium ceased to speak, and listened to this whispering. The effort evidently 
 was to get the medium to speak the words that dark spirit was whispering to 
 him, but in vain. This continued for at least ten minutes, until I arose, and plac- 
 ing myself in the precise position where he stood, I laid my hand on the me 
 dium's shoulder, and told him to say to us what the spirits said to him. He 
 immediately arose and finished the teachings of the brighter spirits which the 
 whispering of the darker one had interrupted. When he finished, I returned to 
 my seat and saw that dark spirit had resumed his place and his whisperings, but 
 now he was unable to awaken the attention of the medium at all. He would no 
 longer listen to him. After repeated attempts he turned to me with a fiendish 
 expression of hatred and rage, and, raising his finger, threatened me. He 
 soon after left, but his appearance made so strong an impression upon me, 
 that I had no difi&culty in recognizing him again on the occasion mentioned in 
 the text. 
 
96 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 hate and mischief there was in his look! "Why does he 
 hate me so ? I never knew him here. But never mind," 
 I said, " I'll make the passage, if I have to fight for it." 
 And it seemed to me that the spirits were allowing me thus 
 to see all the difficulties of the waj, that I might realize 
 them, and be prepared to meet them. 
 
 At this moment the Doctor was called out of the room, at which I was a 
 good deal disturbed, and somewhat irritated. The whole scene was in- 
 stantly distorted as if broken into fragments, and it was a long time before 
 I could recall it. In the mean time I became conscious that the dark spirit 
 had seized like lightning upon the irate state of my mind to produce this 
 confusion, and it was almost impossible for me to shake off the influence. 
 After a while I saw him returning to his lurking-place under the rocks, 
 and he gave me a malignant look, saying, ^'See what I have done with 
 your picture. Now bring it back, if you can." And he further said, 
 " What is the use of your waiting for those spirits to get through with 
 their consultation ; if you are as brave as you pretend, why not try it 
 yourself?" I was almost tempted to do so, goaded by his reproaches; 
 but on looking at the group of bright spirits, I saw that they were not 
 at all disturbed, and had full confidence that I would wait until they 
 should tell me it was proper to cross. This restored my self-posses- 
 sion, and in a little while the scene all came back again. 
 
 I wanted to pass from where I was to those spirits, to 
 consult with them about the journey, but there suddenly 
 seemed to be an opening }n the floor, of the platform 
 between me and them, as if it had been violently torn 
 asunder, and the ends of the broken timber projected out 
 in difierent places. Beneath the opening there was a 
 dark vault, into which it would have been dangerous to 
 have fallen. It seemed to me that this obstruction was not 
 real, but only a deceptive appearance, and so I approached 
 to walk over it ; but as I came near the edge, the sense of 
 its reality was so great, that I did not dare to go any 
 farther. Determined not to be thwarted, I decided to leap 
 the chasm, though the distance was very great. So with 
 all my energies concentrated, I made the leap, and alighted 
 on the end of one of the broken timbers on the opposite 
 side. As I struck it, it gave way under my weight, and I 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 9T 
 
 was falling over backward into the dark abyss. I made 
 one more desperate leap, and landed on the solid platform 
 near the group of spirits. Finding myself safe, I turned to 
 look at the danger I had escaped, and lo ! there was no 
 chasm there. The platform was whole and smooth, and the 
 whole difficulty had been of my own creation only. What 
 a lesson ! 
 
 I approached the group of spirits, and there the dark in- 
 fluence was on me again ; for that part of the platform on 
 which they stood seemed falling from under them, and off 
 on my right, where on former occasions I had seen that 
 beautiful garden, with its transparent leaves, now I saw 
 only an earthly scene, dark, rocky, and repulsive ; after a 
 little struggle that also passed away, and the former scene 
 returned. 
 
 I turned to the spirits, and they showed me another path 
 by which I could ascend to those higher regions, and avoid 
 the gulf where the dark spirits were lying in wait. I re- 
 joiced exceedingly at the prospect, and braced myself to 
 the task of ascending. The path was long and narrow, 
 and rugged and steep, and wound around spirally upward. 
 I found it, however, much less difficult than I anticipated ; 
 and I was very soon at the entrance to a scene far sur- 
 passing in loveliness and beauty any thing I had yet be- 
 held. I want language to describe it, so as even to give a 
 faint idea of its surpassing beauty. The light that rested 
 on the whole scene was of itself infinitely lovely — it was 
 of a lake color, and very, very soft. What pleasure it 
 must be to live ever basking in such a light as that ! 
 
 I observed this light as I approached this country, and 
 its effects on the entrance to it ; that entrance was by a 
 flight of steps, with heavy balustrades and massive posts. 
 It was the scene represented in Wolcott's frontispiece ; 
 but where he has strips of grass, there were flower-beds, 
 and the flowers, where touched by this light, sparkled 
 like innumerable diamonds, presenting a scene more bril- 
 liant than imagination can conceive. If my sight had not 
 
 7 
 
yo SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 in a measure become wonted to such scenes, tlie dazzling 
 splendor would have been too much for me. Every thing 
 around me glowed and sparkled in this brilliant and gor- 
 geous light. 
 
 Here came again that dark influence, and presented to my view, directly 
 in the midst of that delightful country, a deep and dark ravine, bounded 
 on both sides by rude and misshapen earthly hills. I spoke of it, and 
 the spirits, through Dr. Dexter, wrote : 
 
 Wait for a few moments, till w^e drive them away, and 
 give your mind full sway. Bacon. 
 
 I accordingly paused for a few moments, and was relieved for the rest 
 of the sitting. 
 
 The beautiful scene returned upon me again, and it 
 seemed as if I could stand for hours in one spot and see 
 ever, new beauties around me. On my left was a border of 
 stately trees ; how gorgeous they looked in that glowing 
 light ! On my right and before me, as far as the eye could 
 reach, was spread out a magnificent landscape, the face 
 of the country gently undulating, and covered with trees 
 and flowers, and running water, and smooth paths, and in- 
 terspersed with pleasant mansions of a beautiful order of 
 architecture, and most pleasantly located. What a home 
 for a man after his weary pilgrimage here ! 
 
 Off at my right the land rose gently into sloping terraces, 
 one above another, and pure streams of water were tum- 
 bling down the slopes, adding their hoarse murmur to the 
 repose of the scene. 
 
 The trees were so majestic ! One I observed in particular 
 was immense ; it drooped like the willow, with a leaf like 
 the oak, and shaped like the elm ; its foliage was very 
 dense, and it cast a shade large enough to cover the whole 
 of one of our parks. 
 
 Under its shade, nestling snugly beneath its wide-spread- 
 ing branches, was a log-hut, like those I have seen among 
 the backwoodsmen on our frontiers. The man who built it 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 99 
 
 had chosen that spot and all its surroundings, because it 
 brought back to his recollection his earthly life. He had 
 been fond of nature, and was wont to select such romantic 
 spots in which to reside ; and thus he continues to enjoy 
 what on earth was so beautiful to him. He can here enjoy 
 every thing that is beautiful. He belonged to no church ; 
 he was of no sect, but he looked from nature up to I^a- 
 ture's God. He could not read the Bible, but he read of 
 God in every leaf that trembled in the breeze. An Indian 
 lived with him ; how they loved one another ! he was an 
 old man, and the Indian was younger. * 
 
 As he sat at the door of his hut, he heard the footsteps 
 of his companion approaching ; he immediately asked 
 himself what he could do to make the Indian more happy? 
 And so the Indian, as he approached, was thinking what 
 he could do to contribute to the old man's comfort. Thus, 
 forgetting self, they thought only of each other's happi- 
 ness. 
 
 I saw, much to my surprise, they had their dogs and 
 guns with them. The old man was sitting on a bench, 
 made of a slab, with four legs thrust rudely into holes 
 bored at each end. Scattered around the ground were the 
 rude implements common in a frontier lodge. 
 
 I suspected they did not use it to sleep in, and I soon 
 found it was not indeed their home, but had been erected 
 by them as a reminiscence of their former life, to recall to 
 mind their earthly hunting-grounds. They were exquisite 
 lovers of nature. Behind their hut was a large rock, high- 
 er than the building ; growing out of its crevices were 
 trees, and flowers, and creeping plants ; at its base gurgled 
 up a spring of pure water running near the end of the hut, 
 and there forming a little pond. They had excavated the 
 earth just behind one of the large roots of the tree, and 
 thus the pond was formed, the water falling over the 
 root as over a dam, adding its gentle sound to the plea- 
 sure of the scene. Behind them, stretching far off in 
 the distance, was an earthly scene, consisting of dense 
 
100 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 woods and mountains, among which was a beautiful lake, 
 which 
 
 " Its lone bosom expanded to the sky." 
 
 It seemed to be ten or twelve miles long and two or 
 three wide, and meandered up among the hills. It was an 
 earthly hunting-ground, and recalled to them again the 
 life which their love of nature had made so pleasant. 
 
 As they sat at the door of their hut, on one side they 
 could behold those hunting-grounds, and on the other that 
 beautiful country with its heavenly light. Far as their 
 eyes could reach the scene was so beautiful ! — presenting 
 every variety of form, and colored with the tint of this 
 gorgeous ruby light, so clear, so soft, so grateful, and re- 
 flected from every thing around, from every leaf and flow- 
 er, as if from ten thousand sparkling mirrors. 
 
 And thus they conjoined their life on earth and life in 
 the spheres, and enjoyed at the same moment the beauties 
 of both. 
 
 And it was because while here they enjoyed the beau- 
 ties which God had scattered around them, and had learned 
 of them the lesson they taught of Him ; the lesson taught 
 as well by nature as by revelation, to love the Great Crea- 
 tor and one another — this they did when here, and hence 
 the happiness they now enjoyed. 
 
SPIEITWALISM. 101 
 
 tdun Jfih. 
 
 Thursday J September 8, 1853. 
 This evening the circle met at Dr. Dexter' s, and it was written through 
 him: 
 
 Before we proceed to the legitimate business of our 
 circle, and as I shall not write much, if any, for a few 
 evenings, I take this opportunity to express my love, my 
 faith, and my earnest desire, that while we approach the 
 subject, to you and the world of so much importance, we 
 should realize, that what we now teach is different from 
 that ever given to man before — that the ideas given need 
 examination and analyzation, and it becomes your duty to 
 ask questions on any part you do not properly understand ; 
 for the world will examine and criticise, and it is left to 
 you to get at the gist of the ideas we inculcate for your 
 benefit and theirs. This you will understand. 
 
 After the Doctor has written for a time, the vision will 
 be continued, as there is much to be done, and we can not 
 let one evening pass without accomplishing something. I 
 greet you all. Sweedenboeg. 
 
 Then it was written in the other handwriting : 
 
 As I have more command of the English language, the 
 spirits delegate me to write what they say. 'Now assist us 
 by turning your minds to the time when there was nothing 
 created in this system by God, and imagine what that con- 
 dition must be. Bacon. 
 
 Get the Bible, and read verse for verse, the first chapter 
 of Genesis. 
 
 I read as follows : 
 
 " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." 
 
102 SPIRIT UALISM. 
 
 I received instructions, when at a signal to be given through Dr. 
 Dexter's hand, I was to resume or to stop reading. 
 
 Then the signal to stop was given, and it was written : 
 
 We will suppose that the writer of that historical sketch 
 of the creation understood the beginning of all things to 
 refer only to the creation of this system, denominated by 
 the learned, the solar system, belonging to your earth, or 
 in which your earth is included. But if our ideas of God 
 are correct, and as he must have been at the time he fash- 
 ioned this solar system as omnipotent as he is now, it fol- 
 lows, that there were worlds created before even the germ 
 of either 3^our world or any of the other planets existed ; 
 that if there were worlds created before your world, the 
 Creator must have had an object in thus manifesting his 
 creative power, and that he formed worlds for the beings 
 whom he also fashioned to live upon them. ITow, there- 
 fore, instead of saying, in the beginning, I shall say, God 
 created this world, and the whole system of worlds with 
 which it is connected, when the space in which they now 
 move was one vast chaotic darkness ; when not one living 
 thing moved or had its being in the illimitable ocean of 
 darkness, space, and almost eternal silence which were 
 spread out there, as if God himself had not recognized it 
 as a portion of the vast territories he was calling into life 
 and existence. But it lay there dark, silent, and motion- 
 less. 'No life, no air even, moved over this vast space. 
 Silent, without motion, dark and fathomless, it was crea- 
 tion without a God, for the spirit of the great Source had 
 not moved on its surface, neither had it permitted one 
 spark of life or light to penetrate its boundless domain. 
 There was no form, no sides, no extent, for it filled the 
 whole immensity far beyond the telescope's range, and 
 even beyond the point to which man's imagination has 
 reached. It was void, void of every thing which could 
 generate life, void even of the presence of God. 
 
 Here, at the proper signal, I read : " And the earth was without form 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 103 
 
 and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of 
 God moved upon the face of the waters." 
 Then it was written : 
 
 Dark as the mind whicli denies God, and as impene- 
 trable as the place where the spirit of God is most mani- 
 fest, for years untold, for generations incalculable, ages 
 and time beyond all imagination it had laid spread out 
 from space to space like some huge monster. Yes. Imagine 
 that at this time there were worlds on worlds sparkling in 
 the glory of creation, replete with life, and reflecting the 
 almighty power of the Great First Cause, in which were 
 direct sentient spirits, developing the peculiar faculties and 
 attributes of progressive beings, with suns, and moons, and 
 stars shining in the dazzling brilliancy of life and light ; 
 and here, where now the sun shines and dispenses light 
 and heat to so many worlds ; here, where the stars send 
 their sparkling rays to give brilliancy to their motion ; 
 here, where the moon sheds her reflected beams to af- 
 ford to you the Jight at night ; here, where your earth 
 revolves and turns as one of this vast existence ; here, 
 where you have worlds and suns, and stars and planets, 
 with their brilliant belts and many moons ; here, where 
 the hand of God has marked the impress of his power and 
 might, there was no sound, no motion, no light, no life. 
 What was there here? What distinguished this gloomy 
 space ? Can the mind conceive ? Can human imagination 
 realize? No. There was nothing here, and throughout 
 this vast abyss there was no point on which the mind could 
 rest. 1^0 thought could fathom its confines, no imagination 
 could conjure up substance, shape, or form. It was dis- 
 tinguished by darkness so intense that the human mind 
 fails to conceive of how it can be described. Motionless, 
 dark, and silent it laid, not even a ripple on its illimitable 
 surface, and to its extremest depths 'twas all alike. But 
 the spirit of God moved over this silent lake of nothing- 
 ness, and called from out its dark abysmal depths order, 
 life, and a thousand worlds. 
 
104 SPIKITTJALISM. 
 
 Mr. Warren made some remarks explanatory of his understanding of 
 the teaching, and 
 It was answered : 
 
 Suffice it to say, that you have been told some time ago 
 that this world was one of the latest creations of God ; and 
 that there were worlds created before your earth, admits 
 of demonstrative proof, vrhen men shall have invented a 
 telescope of sufficient power to explore the worlds beyond 
 the attractive influence of your sun. 
 
 Mr, W. asked about the idea of some astronomers, that there was a 
 common center around which our solar system revolved ? 
 It was answered : 
 
 That center is where the spirit of God is most manifest ; 
 and as the land, on its descent toward the ocean, seems to 
 incline obeisance toward it, so the whole creation of un- 
 told worlds revolve around this central point in dumb, yet 
 intelligent, obeisance to the Power which created them. 
 
 I asked, in order, as I said, to learn to discriminate between their 
 teachings and the workings of my own mind, whether my ascending the 
 hill the first time, and pausing on the way to address the crowd, was a 
 reality or an allegorical representation merely ? 
 
 It was answered : 
 
 It was the reality. 
 
 What ? I asked — that I really did address that immense crowd, and 
 detail to them my spiritual experience ? 
 
 " Yes," was answered. 
 
 Then followed the manifestation through me, which I related and 
 Mr. Warren recorded at the time, as follows : 
 
 VISION. 
 
 I found myself in the same place where I was on Sunday 
 last. Then I had turned off to the right, to see that hunter 
 and his Indian companion. Now I proceeded directly for- 
 ward in the path which led from the entrance. 
 
 On my left, between the'^Dath where I was walking and 
 the row of trees, were beds, full of flowers in bloom. At 
 
^I 
 
 SPIRITUALISM. 105 
 
 the end of tlie beds I observed a very singular plant. It 
 grew four or five feet high, and was shaped like the wild 
 pine-apple, a species of cactus which I saw in Central 
 America. Its leaves were long and pointed, were green 
 and white, tinged on the edges with scarlet. 
 
 Just beyond this plant, the row of trees and the flower 
 beds terminated ; and there, off at my left, as far as my 
 eye could reach, I saw a country stretching out before me 
 which was one immense garden. A mist seemed to rest 
 upon some parts of it, and at the farther end of the land- 
 scape was a vast mountain, shaped like an ant-hill, its 
 summits enveloped in clouds, and rendered misty and in- 
 distinct by the distance. 
 
 At the spot where I was standing, a balustrade had been 
 erected on the edge of the precipice. It was heavy, mas- 
 sive, and beautifully proportioned. As I leaned upon it 
 and looked abroad, I saw that that country was far below 
 me, and down there I saw the temple which I had several 
 times visited, and I noticed that the precipice before me 
 was that which I had examined from the temple, and amid 
 whose caverns I had seen the dark spirits lurking. 
 
 As I stood there, I saw three spirits approaching me. 
 
 asked if I dare trust myself to believe who they were ? 
 They were evidently my wife and children. They came 
 down from the rising ground on my right by one of the 
 side paths, entered the main walk, and turned toward me. 
 I was too much overcome with emotion for some time to 
 be able to see very distinctly, or describe clearly what was 
 before me. I conld see my children very plainly in their 
 spirit-form and countenance, but my wife bore her earthly 
 countenance. This was that I might identify her. With 
 my children that was unnecessary, because they had died 
 in infancy and had now grown to maturity. But, as it 
 wxre, through the earthly countenance of my wife, I saw 
 glimpses of her spiritual visage. I tried hard to see it in 
 full, that I might afterward recognize it, but in vain. It 
 seemed to be changing and flitting before me. 
 
106 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 Through the Doctor it was -written 
 
 [That is merely shifting the scenes ; only keep your mind calm and 
 intent and it will come. You are to write the totality of every thing 
 as you go on.] 
 
 She told me that since I had first visited the spirit- 
 world, she had ascended from the plain where I saw her 
 to this higher one, to which our children belonged, and 
 now she had them with her all the time, but then only 
 occasionally. 
 
 I noticed particularly their garb. Their dresses were 
 all in the same fashion. They wore under-garments of 
 pure white reaching to the ankles, and over them a loose 
 frock, open in front, and fastened by a belt around the 
 waist. Their sleeves were loose, flowing, and reached 
 only a little below the elbows, leaving the hands and 
 w^rists and about half of the forearm bare. The belt 
 which bound my wife's garment was purple, the collar 
 and cuff's, and two strips down in front, were crimson. 
 The children's garments were ornamented with pale straw- 
 colored cuiFs and belt. Around their persons, and to the 
 distance of a few inches, there floated a transparent atmos- 
 phere of blue, like an outer garment of gauze ; but it was 
 constantly changing its hue, which, while it was emblem- 
 atical of truth and purity, was indescribably grateful. On 
 my wife's head was a chaplet of green leaves sparkling 
 wondrously. 
 
 How beautiful my children looked ! I never saw so 
 clear and lovely a complexion. My daughter's hair was 
 of a pale yellow, and hung in large ringlets and loose 
 down to her waist. They were both shy and diffident in 
 approaching me, my daughter in particular. They have 
 known as yet so little of me ! 
 
 "While I was standing with them, I noticed, oft' at my 
 right, on the sloping bank, and only a short distance 
 from me, a cottage, completely covered with some large 
 trees gi'owing at each end of it, and having in front a 
 
SPIRITTTALISM. 107 
 
 beautiful flower-garden, extending quite down to the main 
 path where I was. 
 
 What a magnificent prospect there must be from its 
 front portico ! I had a Avish to see it nearer, and I was 
 instantly transported to the front of the house, leaving my 
 wife and children below. 
 
 Directly in front of the house was a jet of pure water, 
 falling back into a large circular reserv^oir, which was 
 some twenty feet in diameter and some ten or twelve feet 
 deep, and was filled with gold and silver and blue fishes, 
 and among them were eels, colored like the gold-fish. 
 
 Around the reservoir was a smooth path six or eight 
 feet wide, and covered with small sea-shells. Outside this 
 path, and extending around the circle, though with four 
 openings in it, was a border, its sides of close-shaven, fine 
 velvet-like grass, and its center, about a foot wide, filled 
 with a singular plant. It was about two feet high, shaped 
 like our Indian corn, and bearing very profusely a double- 
 leaved flower, shaped like the tulip, large as the balsam, 
 and beautifully variegated with pink and while. Outside 
 of this border were four triangular-shaped beds, to fill up 
 the square. They, also, were full of flowers and shrubbery. 
 In each corner of the triangular beds was a small tree like 
 a dwarf cedar or arboi^ vitce. 
 
 But while I was examining these new and strange things, 
 it suddenly occurred to me, that I had deserted my com- 
 panions for the pleasure of my explorations, and so I im- 
 mediately returned to them. My wife then took me by 
 the arm to lead me about and show me the country I was 
 in. 
 
 As I walked along with her, I observed that the inhab- 
 itants of the various residences in sight of us — and there 
 were a good many — came out and were gazing at us, 
 wondering, jind very much interested ; for they knew I 
 was a mortal, and no mortal had been there before. They 
 looked upon my wife, who had so recently become a resi- 
 dent among them as to be only partially known to them, 
 
108 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 as possessed of some wondrous power wliicli could thus 
 raise a "mortal to the skies," as well as " bring an angel 
 down." They asked each other what it was, and became 
 aware that it was the strong love there was between us, 
 which had, even when I was thus mortal, borne me along 
 with her to those higher spheres. They looked upon us 
 with admiration, for they had never conceived that the 
 power of love was so strong, and they became conscious 
 that the object of it all was, that I might return to earth 
 and inform my fellow-mortals how glorious is the condi- 
 tion which they may attain, and how they may attain it. 
 And they immediately asked themselves what they could 
 do to help the great object in view ? 
 
 These things I noticed as my wife led me off the main 
 path up that by which she had descended. I noticed also, 
 as I walked along, the peculiarities in the pathway. All 
 the paths seemed to me at first covered with a fine, clean 
 gravel, but, on looking closely, I discovered they were 
 covered with very small, delicate, and infinitely variegated 
 sea-shells. They would have been crushed to dust under 
 the heavy tread of mortals, but the light step of subli- 
 mated spirits did them no injury. 
 
 The path, as it ascended the slope, was terraced off by 
 stone steps, made of a yellow, beautifully variegated sort 
 of soapstone, not as hard as marble, but polished as highly, 
 and shining with innumerable sparkling atoms. I could 
 have paused for hours merely in enjoying the beauties of 
 the path. Every thing around me was beautiful. Tliere 
 was nothing to mar the scene. The air, the light, the ob- 
 jects around, all were beautiful; and then the people 
 seemed so happy — a sober, calm happiness which filled 
 the heart too full for utterance. Then so calm a silence 
 rested upon the scene, interrupted only by the chirping of 
 insects and the song of birds, and off from the distance 
 came floating on the ear the sound of vocal music, exquis- 
 iteh' soft and touching. And thus alone was the peaceful 
 silence broken. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 109 
 
 On each side of the path which I was ascending were 
 posts and chains fencing in the grounds. They were for 
 ornament merely. The posts were no larger than my 
 wrists, and of highly-polished black marble, variegated 
 with yellow and white streaks; they were low and ex- 
 quisitely proportioned, and the chains hung in graceful 
 festoons. 
 
 As we approached the level of the cottage whose fount- 
 ain I had examined, the inhabitants came out to their 
 gateway to greet us. Three females and a male thus came 
 out, and three others, who Avere visitors of theirs, remain- 
 ed behind. The three females were a mother and her two 
 daughters. The male Avas the Either. She seemed about 
 forty-five years of age, and the two daughters eighteen and 
 twenty. 
 
 As we were passing, the mother spoke to my wife, 
 " Love one another? Yes, that is to do as God commands, 
 and to enjoy his happiness." She said this calmly, yet 
 her countenance showed the depth of her emotion. She 
 could scarcely speak, she was so filled with love and ad- 
 miration. She was strongly attracted to my wife, and her 
 daughters, who stood behind her, wanted to clap their 
 hands with joy. They were a very happy family, and it 
 was many, very many years since they had left the earth. 
 Their dresses were fashioned like the others, but were or- 
 namented with green, and they, too, were surrounded with 
 that gauze-like atmosphere of blue. One of the daughters 
 wore pink sandals and no stockings. Their complexicftis 
 were very soft and brilliant, l^o child's more soft and 
 pure. Their hair hung gracefully down their backs. 
 
 In answer to a question put by some of the circle. I said the mother's 
 hair was a dark brown, the daughters' a little lighter. It was parted 
 in the middle and hung gracefully down on each side. 
 
 On the other side of the path was a cottage which had 
 no shade-trees around it. The trees were not necessary to 
 keep off the heat, and each one had them or not as taste 
 dictated. It was of a brown color, and I remarked that I 
 
110 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 saw no house with more than one story to it. They were 
 not obliged to ascend into the air with their residences, 
 they might extend out upon the ground as far as necessary. 
 
 I paused at this house to examine it. 
 
 Its inhabitants came out and conversed with my com- 
 panions, while I entered the inclosure and examined it 
 alone and at my leisure. This man had a gate at the en- 
 trance to his grounds, not because it was necessary, but 
 because he fancied it. And while I was examining in- 
 side, he and my companions remained standing by the 
 gate. 
 
 The first thing I noticed was the gable-end of his house, 
 which was next the path. ' It had at its ridge what looked 
 like a chimney, but was not — it was a turret for ornament 
 only. Immediately below it was a circular hole to allow 
 the air to circulate beneath the roof, and below that was a 
 window. 
 
 I was asked if I saw any glass in these openings ? and replied, that 
 in the upper one there certainly was not ; how it was in the lower one 
 I could not then tell, but I would look at another time and say. 
 
 I saw vines running over and covering this gable-end.. 
 At one corner the vine bore transparent blue flowers, bell- 
 shaped, and large as a goblet, which sparkled most beau- 
 tifully as the light shone through them. At the other 
 corner was a running rose, bearing profusely a flower, 
 pink color, streaked with scarlet. The two vines met to- 
 gether, twined around the turret, and hung drooping down 
 mingling their flowers. 
 
 Next the house, and between it and the path, was a 
 walk covered with sea-shells, and extending in a half 
 circle into the space between the house and the path, thus 
 forming a bed which was filled with singular flowers. Its 
 border seemed first to be of box, but on closer examina- 
 tion I found it to consist of dwarf trees about six inches 
 high, and shaped like the yew tree. They were so perfect 
 and uniform in shape, and so diminutive, that I almost 
 expected to see some of Swift's Lilliputians walking in the 
 
SPIRITUALISM. Ill 
 
 shade. " At each end of this bed were very beautiful tulips 
 of every imaginable color. One of the plants sprawled 
 out upon the ground ; the leaves were shaped like snakes, 
 and wound around like a serpent in motion. The end 
 of the leaves raised up from the ground like a snake's 
 head, and the upper side of the leaf had the appearance 
 of scales. This plant bore flowers in clusters, on stalks 
 springing up from its center. They were cup-shaped, and 
 were white, sprinkled with fine crimson spots ingrained in 
 the leaf of the flower. 
 
 "While I was thus examining these flowers, I perceived 
 the conversation that was going on between my wife and 
 the man who resided there. They did not speak vocally, 
 but perceived each other's thoughts, and so I perceived 
 their co^iversation. My wife laughingly said, it had been 
 just so here, that when I got into my garden, there was 
 no getting me out of it, and she hardly expected I would 
 reach her house this time. I, however, went on with my 
 examination, for I felt that that was what I was there for, 
 and not to indulge my personal feelings. 
 
 I saw another singular plant in that bed. It also clung 
 close to the ground. Its leaves were long and pointed, 
 their backs resting on the ground and their sides turning 
 up. They were very numerous, and were piled on each 
 other, and were of the deepest crimson color. The plant 
 bore a small, pale-blue flower. It sparkled all over like 
 the morning dew, and loved the shade, for it nestled under 
 some of the larger shrubbery. 
 
 After examining each plant thus minutely, I stepped 
 toward the house to have a view of the tout ensemble^ and 
 it was, indeed, very beautiful. While standing there, I 
 discovered, just back of the house, a rude rock eight or 
 ten feet high, of a slaty formation. I could not at first 
 see it very distinctly, but the man in whose inclosure it 
 was, observing that I was looking at it, threw his own 
 light upon it, and I instantly saw all its beauties. Be- 
 tween the layers of stone were thin veins of gold and 
 
112 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 silver, and the face of the rock was interspersed with dia- 
 monds, rubies, and sapphires. 
 
 The whole sparkled most brilliantly in that pure light. 
 The precious metals and stones were of no use in that 
 country but to adorn nature, and so the face of the rock 
 had not been injured by attempts to extract them. 
 
 At the base of the rock a pure spring of water gushed 
 up, in which were swimming innumerable transparent lit- 
 tle fish. The whole — spring, water, and animals — seemed 
 very joyous, and as if alive and full of happiness. 
 
 The summit of the rock was covered with green moss 
 and creeping vines, which hung down over its face, and 
 gave me views of its beauty amid the leaves. 
 
 On each side^ of the spring was a long, rustic seat, and 
 the whole scene was so full of calm, quiet happiness that 
 I threw myself into one of the seats, desiring to be alone, 
 that I might be able, without interruption, to drink it all 
 in and enjoy it. I observed that my wife, who knew my 
 propensities in this respect, was intently regarding me, 
 and hushing the conversation around her so that I might 
 not be disturbed. 
 
 While sitting there, I observed the rear of the house ; 
 that over the door and windows hung ornamental sheds 
 of wood-work, constructed so gracefully that they seemed 
 to hang down like drapery ; and all around the house run- 
 ning vines and shrubbery were profusely growing. 
 
 Upon the high ground, behind the house, w^as a rustic 
 summer-house, from whence might be seen the whole 
 country below, and whence I saw the people in various 
 directions watching to see what efi'ect the scene produced 
 on me. 
 
 But I saw no children there, and I remarked how much 
 little children would add to the beauty of the scene. 
 
 It was here added, through Dr. Dexter : 
 
 [When their affinities are so strong that they become a desire, little 
 children respond and visit them.] 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 113 
 
 I again returned to that rustic seat by the spring, and 
 on the opposite seat I perceived Lord Bacon was sitting. 
 I did not get a view of his countenance to describe it, but 
 I perceived an atmosphere of blue playing between us, 
 and throwing out innumerable blue meteors, as it were, 
 indicative of the truth there was in the communion be- 
 tween us. 
 
 At this moment it was written through Dr. Dexter, " Judge, pie 
 stop, for Mrs. D. is too much fatigued to remain longer. You will ex- 
 cuse me, as she is in my charge." 
 
 I then turned to pass down the walk and out of these 
 grounds. By this time I had become familiar enough with 
 the place, to be less shy than I had been of showing my 
 true feelings. So, as I passed along I threw my left arm 
 around my wife's waist, and her arm rested on my left 
 shoulder. My son and daughter were on the other side 
 of me ; she thrust her hand in mine, and thus we passed 
 along until we reached the parapet, when I left them, and 
 plunged suddenly down to earth again. 
 
 But before I close, I remark that the light of that scene 
 around me had changed from a lake color to a pale straw 
 color, and was very soft and pleasant. 
 
 8 
 
114: SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 Section S>h. 
 
 Friday, Sept. 9, 1853. 
 
 The whole circle met this evening in my library. 
 * The first thing that occurred was, that it was written : 
 
 The Doctor remarked last night, after the Judge left, 
 that he had been impressed with the idea (whether by 
 spirits, or not, he could not say, and if it were by them, 
 they would tell us to-night), that the materiality of spirits 
 was confirmed by the whole teachings of the Bible from 
 beginning to end. It is true that this idea was impressed 
 on his mind, for the reason that we wished to note this 
 idea for reference at the circle at the library.* 
 
 * During the revision of the MSS. for the press, I was directed to insert 
 the following extract as a note to this passage. 
 
 *' Scarcely any truth seems more clearly taught in the Bible than the future 
 resurrection of the body; yet this doctrine has always been met by a most 
 .'formidable objection. It is said that the body, laid in the grave, is, ere long, 
 decomposed ijato its elements, which are scattered over the face of the earth, 
 : and enter into new combinations, even forming a part of other human bodies. 
 Hence not even Omnipotence can raise from the grave the identical body laid 
 there, because the particles may enter successively into a multitude of other 
 human bodies. I am not aware that any successful reply has ever been given 
 to this objection, until chemistry and natural history taught us the true na- 
 ture of bodily identity, and until recently the objector has felt sure that he 
 had triumphed ; but these sciences teach us that the identity of the body con- 
 sists, not in a sameness of particles, but in the same kinds of elementary mat- 
 ter, combined in the same proportion, and having the same form and struc- 
 ture. Hence it is not necessary that the resurrection-body should contain a 
 . single particle of the matter laid in the grave, in order to be the same body 
 —which it will be if it consist of the same kinds of matter combined in the 
 same proportion, and has the same form and structure ; for the particles of 
 our bodies are often totally changed during our lives, yet no one imagines 
 that the old man has not the same body as in infancy. What but the 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 115 
 
 But only on one point will we make any remarks, and 
 in tracing the confirmation of spirit-teaching through the 
 Old and Kew Testaments, we are particularly struck with 
 the material nature of heaven, and in all the instrumental- 
 ities belonging both to God and his spirits, those who with 
 golden harps surround the eternal throne, and those whom 
 he sent on missions of love, merc}^, or justice to earth; and 
 when at last we arrive at the consummation of the Christ's 
 life on earth, we are told that to satisfy one who was a 
 doubter, the Christ bade him thrust his hand into the ma- 
 terial wounds, made in his material body ; and this, when 
 he did so, satisfied him, and he doubted no more. !N"ow 
 the body and spirit of Christ had risen, and- Christ, accord- 
 ing to the apostle, had ascended to heaven. I have only 
 to say, if spirits were any thing but material combination, 
 how could the body of Christ, material as it was, exist 
 where no material thing could have being or life, accord- 
 ing to the accepted idea of the orthodox ? Thus we find 
 that even the history of that pure being on whom the eter- 
 nal hopes of half the world are centered, supports our 
 teaching by his own, and substantiates by his acts after 
 death the doctrine we avow, that God does not manifest 
 himself but through his works and matter. 
 
 Bacon. 
 
 It will, we think, be well for Mrs. S. to be influenced 
 
 principles of science could have thus vindicated a precious doctrine of rev- 
 elation ? 
 
 " In the description which Paul gives of the spiritual body, a naturalist — 
 and I fancy no one but a naturalist — will discover its specific identity. By 
 this I mean that it will possess peculiarities that distinguish it from every 
 thing else, but which are so closely related to the characteristics of the nat- 
 ural body in this world, from which it was derived, that one acquainted with 
 the latter would recognize the former. Hence the Christian's friends in 
 another world may be recognized by him from their external character, just 
 as we identify the plants and animals of spring with those that seemed to 
 perish in the preceding autumn."—" The Religion of Geology," by Edward 
 Hitchcock, D. D., LL. D., President of Amherst College^ and Professor of 
 JVatural Theology and Geology. 
 
116 8PIEITUALISM. 
 
 first for a short time ; then yourself, Judge, for a short 
 time also ; then Mr. W., and then the Doctor in continua- 
 tion, if time permit. 
 
 Then for a short time I was impressed, and saw the following 
 
 VISION. 
 
 I found myself at the same spot I left last evening, seat- 
 ed on that rustic chair, with Lord Bacon sitting opposite 
 to me, enveloped in a grateful blue atmosphere. 
 
 On the side-hill, behind the house, I saw a large and 
 beautifully-shaped vase, six or eight feet diameter, and 
 made of brown stone. 
 
 It was standing directly under a projecting rock, from 
 which a small stream of water poured into the vase and 
 dropped over its sides. 
 
 I saw two children, about six years old, at the vase ; they 
 stood on one of the projections of its base, and were play- 
 ing with the water, spatting it with their hands, and sprink- 
 ling it into each other's faces with great glee. They had 
 on no clothing but a scarf over the shoulder and around the 
 waist, and every once in a while they would look to see if 
 I observed them. 
 
 Off in the distance, beyond the house, and standing on 
 the brow of the precipice, I saw a monument, bright and 
 sparkling. The base of it was a large square block of 
 granite ; on that was a smaller square block, of the same 
 color with the shaft, and from that towered high into the 
 air an obelisk. Out of its apex issued a crimson flame, 
 burning gently, and not very bright, but wavering and 
 flickering in the breeze. It was meant for a beacon to the 
 co|intry below, to show them the existence of a higher 
 sphere. The sides of the monument did not seem to be en- 
 tirely finishe'd, yet they reflected a sparkling light in all 
 directions. Where did that light come from ? 'Now I 
 
8PIBITXTALI8M. 117 
 
 see ; it is the fire which is burning within which creates 
 that light, and it casts a golden color on the surrounding 
 scenery. 
 
 While I was looking at that, and wanting to approach 
 those children and to go into the summer-house. Bacon 
 laughingly said to me, "You have so many things to see, 
 you know not where to turn first." That was so ; and the 
 spirit, in whose grounds I was, left my wife, with whom 
 he had been conversing, and approached me, saying, " Go 
 with me, and I will show you something." I arose and 
 followed him to the front of his house, and so down through 
 his garden. 
 
 As I passed through this garden I observed a singular 
 bed, of a circular form, which I paused a moment to exam- 
 ine. The edge of the bed was formed of a plant whose 
 leaves all turned from the inside of the bed outward. 
 They were of dark green, and lay one upon another, six or 
 eight inches high. The border was about a foot wide, and 
 was very unique and handsome. In the center of the bed 
 grew a plant four or five feet high, with only trunk and 
 limbs ; it had no leaves ; it was ice, and its buds were 
 flakes of snow, and the whole thing sparkled intensely in 
 the light. 
 
 I however went on with my host until we stood on the 
 edge of the precipice, and there he showed me he had 
 been at work, cutting out of the solid rock a stairway lead- 
 ing down to the country below. At one place he had tun- 
 neled a projecting rock, and it seemed that his task was 
 almost done, though he had been many years engaged in 
 it. From his residence he had discovered that many of 
 the inhabitants of the country below were unconscious that 
 there was a higher country to which they might attain ; 
 and even they who did discover it found the way difficult, 
 either up the precipice, and across the gulf where those 
 dark spirits lurked, or through the temple and along the 
 narrow and circuitous path which I had traveled ; and he 
 had aimed, by his own unaided efforts, to remove the diffi- 
 
118 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 culties. It was to him a labor of love, and in its perform- 
 ance he had found happiness. 
 
 His intention was, as soon as his stairway was finished, 
 to give free vent to the fire within his monument. 
 
 Its flames would then shoot high into the heavens, and 
 its sides reflect that dazzling, golden light which would 
 show to the country below far, far in the distance, not only 
 that there was a higher and brighter country for them, but 
 where the pathway was by which they could most easily 
 ascend. 
 
 He called my attention to the fact, that in that lower 
 country there were many hills and projections from the 
 surface ; some of them steep and high, shaped like a sugar- 
 loaf ; some flatter and broader, shaped like an ant-hill ; 
 and some of them rough and jagged, like beetling rocks. 
 He told me that they, as well as that immense mountain 
 which I saw in the far distance, were all inhabited by per- 
 sons whose aspirations had led them to select their resi- 
 dences there, and who ^eve generally satisfied with their 
 condition, because unaware that it could be bettered. 
 
 They thought, indeed, that they had ascended as high as 
 they could, and their happiness consisted mainly in con- 
 trasting their condition with that of those below them, and 
 congratulating themselves that they were better off than 
 them. 
 
 He had had them in view in his labors, and he hoped, 
 when his beacon should be fired, that their curiosity would 
 be excited, and thence would be awakened within them an 
 aspiration to enter at length upon the ascent, to which there 
 was no end but the bosom of the Most High. 
 
 As I stood by his side, I noticed some of the inhabitants 
 below were toiling up the steep path that led to an emi- 
 nence. 
 
 I observed that they were some of those who had started 
 on their journey after my address to them from the side 
 hill. One in particular attracted my attention; he was 
 an old man, with long, white hair and beard ; he had a 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 110 
 
 staff in his band, and though he had the appearance of 
 age, his step was alert and active, his eye quick and 
 bright, and he looked ever upward. It was thus he dis- 
 covered me, as I was standing on the edge of the precipice, 
 high above him. He recognized me, and, pausing a mo- 
 ment, inquired of me whether he was in the right road ? 
 I nodded an assent, and pointed to the path a little turning 
 to his right, which unhappily was not trodden enough to 
 be very plain to a stranger. With a cheering smile he 
 turned and breasted the ascent. I watched his progress. 
 Not far above him I saw a bright and youthful spirit sit- 
 ting by the wayside, evidently waiting for him. The old 
 man saw him too, and recognized him as one he had known 
 and loved on earth ; so he pressed forward with still more 
 alacrity, and soon came up with him. They embraced; 
 and the young spirit, fondly throwing his arm around the 
 old man's waist, lifted him from the path, and bore him 
 gently upward, until they entered within the porch of the 
 temple, and were lost to my view. 
 
 At this moment my companion reminded me that it 
 was time for me to return to Earth again, and I did so at 
 once 
 
120 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 Btttun Bthtn. 
 
 Saturday, Sept. 10, 1853. 
 This evening, at my library, all the circle being present, it was first 
 written through the Doctor : 
 
 It will not be necessary that you remain entirely silent, 
 though your conversation should not interrupt the commu- 
 nications. Therefore sit at ease, and occasionally talk, 
 always recollecting that animated talk will retard full and 
 free manifestations. There are many spirits here, and they 
 are all anxious to say something, but I shall occupy all the 
 time proper, and then give way to the rest. 
 
 Now, in the name of Our Father, we bless you. In the 
 spirit of love we meet you, and we earnestly hope that our 
 teachings will profit you, the world, and ourselves, and 
 assist us to consummate the great end of our existence, 
 Progression. Bacon. 
 
 Before we proceed to the subject of our proper teaching, 
 it may be well to say that it is important that you should 
 understand the character and attributes of God, that in the 
 manifestations of his power, whether in his material or 
 spiritual works, your minds may be disabused of the idea 
 that there is any specialit}'^ in whatever emanates from him, 
 or that he works by miracle. 
 
 When the thought is thrown back on the ages which 
 have passed since this world was created, and calls up in 
 review God's connection with the whole of the natural 
 creation, we are, in spite of our opinions deriyed from our 
 education, struck with the fact that every act of God in 
 reference to the works of his hands has been predicated 
 
8PIRITTTALISM. 12l 
 
 on certain immutable and unchangeable laws. Look at the 
 earth. Not even the minutest thing exists or has its being, 
 decays or dies, develops life or its kind, or in its con- 
 nection with life and matter around it, but is subject to 
 laws which have their proper influence on the same things 
 situated either at the poles or the equator. Certain princi- 
 ples, equal and exact in their operation, govern every con- 
 stituent entering into the formation of matter in every part 
 of creation. And where by the combination of several 
 constituents a new result is obtained, this also comes under 
 the regulation of laws which remain precisely the same in 
 their operation on the same substance, wherever it may be 
 found. This probably will be admitted to be true by 
 almost every person as applying to inert matter. But when 
 we advance a step in creation, we find God's manifesta- 
 tions the same. The vegetable world is governed by laws 
 which do not vary in their application or effect in any 
 climate, in any soil, whether at that altitude where vege- 
 tation stops, or in the deepest valley where vegetation 
 grows. But let us progress one step further, and select 
 the lowest form of animal life known to man. Is there 
 here any miraculous creation ? Is life, or growth, or de- 
 cay, or death dependent on any special providence of God? 
 or does this class of animals come under the influence of 
 certain laws, which exert the same characteristic power in 
 all that concerns their life or death wherever they may be 
 or are found ? 
 
 What is a miracle ? What use has God with a miracu- 
 lous dispensation ? To me, it seems detracting from the 
 omnipotence of the Almighty, that he should find it neces- 
 sary to change the order of his instituted laws by any out- 
 of-the-way exhibition of his power. Admitting the great 
 Source of all things to be a principle, and acknowledging 
 liis omnipotence and omnipresence, your minds can com- 
 prehend that there can be no special manifestation of his 
 wisdom, his love, his power, or his glory. For were it ad- 
 mitted that God was a personage, it would not appear in- 
 
122 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 compatible that he should have his preferences, or that he 
 should show more of his love to one being than another, 
 that he should possess all those feelings ascribed to him by 
 certain writers called divine or inspired, who describe God 
 as a being or spirit possessing most, if not all, the passions 
 and feelings of man. Thus, when one of the creatures 
 whom he has creatpd should act in violation of his com- 
 mands, we should not be surprised if he were to inflict 
 condign punishment ; or if another creature had acted 
 nobly, and fulfilled his commandments, we should expect 
 that the Great Spirit would reward him accordingly. 
 
 But let us follow this subject still further. Leaving the 
 lowest order of animals, we approach the class which the 
 learned call Mammalia, and to this class, under the same 
 arrangement, belongs man. I^Tow we find that the anin^ials 
 belonging to this order, genera, class, or species are always 
 confined to the same kinds of food, when the animal is 
 domesticated, prepared by man, and when in the wild 
 state, always feeding on food of the same nature, and the 
 effect of which is exactly the same. Not only in this par- 
 ticular of their organization do the laws instituted for their 
 government apply, but we find that the same process of' 
 gestation obtains, and they nurse their young under all cir- 
 cumstances alike. I refer you to the simplest circum- 
 stances in their history, that you may the more readily 
 follow me and understand my argument. But one step 
 still onward. It has been said that certain animals were 
 created for the assistance and use of man, and that he can 
 tame them to his hand, so that they will perform the great- 
 est and most severe labor at his command. In noticing 
 this peculiarity, we are impressed with the appaa-ent fact, 
 that in the domestication of animals, the spirit of man acts 
 through the material surroundings on earth, and makes 
 itself felt outside its own organization. 
 
 And yet still forward : We find there are only certain 
 species of animals that can be tamed, and that others 
 refuse to obey the commands of man, and can not be com- 
 
SPIRITITALIBM. 128 
 
 pelled to work. The most ferocious beasts can, to be sure, 
 be confined in a cage, and by blows and the most violent 
 treatment be made to fear man. But even then, when re- 
 moved from the influence tliey fear, they will manifest 
 their ferocious and sanguinary natures. This is ever and 
 always the same. 
 
 Nature in all her workings acts under the control of 
 law, and she is a law-obeying subject. For thousands of 
 years the seasons have passed and repassed in their order, 
 yielding to man fruits and flowers, and the sources of all 
 his sustenance, and much of his happiness. She has never 
 rebelled. Penetrate the earth's depths, and the law holds 
 its power intact. Scale the battlements of heaven, and 
 there the law is paramount. On earth among men the 
 law is still obeyed, perverted though it may be by their 
 own desires and passions ; but still any infraction is follow- 
 ed by a consequent punishment, not direct from God, but 
 the penalty attached to its violation when that law was 
 instituted. Is it not so in every department of nature 
 over which man has no control? And when you leave 
 the earth, and seek for confirmation in the skies, do 3^ou 
 see any change ? Do the planets wander in eccentric 
 orbits ? Do the stars fail to shed their light ? Or has the 
 moon vailed its face other than in obeisance of law ? Has 
 the sun ceased to shine, and has light and heat departed ? 
 
 You ask, if this be so, what follows ? I reply, that God, 
 acting by laws which he has instituted, has invariably ex- 
 hibited their efiects through matter, and tliat the mind can 
 not appreciate the consistency of creating one condition of 
 life in connection with matter, and separating that connec- 
 tion when the spirit leaves the earth. And as every mani- 
 festation of the Creator, whether on this earth or in the 
 thousand worlds he has fashioned, has been and is through 
 materiality, we can not understand why his laws, so har- 
 moniously working throughout the whole of his creation, 
 will not still continue when the spirit shall have left this 
 earth. 
 
124: S P r K I T U A L I S M . 
 
 Here I will stop, and continue the subject in connection 
 with the progress of creation to-morrow night. 
 
 Then through me this vision was related : 
 
 VISION. 
 
 I was again standing on the edge of the precipice by the 
 side of him who had shown me that stairway. He called 
 my attention to the fact that many of the hills and prom- 
 inences I had spoken of were dim and misty, not seen 
 plainly even by us, and it was still more difficult for their 
 inhabitants to see at a distance. He at the same time 
 called my attention to several points in the valley. It 
 looked like an earthly scene when the sky is partly over- 
 cast with clouds, and the sun shines partially through 
 them, lighting up different places, while others are in the 
 shade. So here, though there was no sun to shed its light, 
 yet various places in the country below were lighted up, 
 some near and some far distant, by that large mountain. 
 In some places it was a light bronze color, some places 
 blue, then a claret color, and in some green. 
 
 I here inquired what the green color denoted, and it was answered 
 through the Doctor : 
 
 " Developed affinities." 
 
 The light at different places was of different degrees of 
 brilliancy. All denoted that the inhabitants of those 
 places had begun to progress, and had aspirations for 
 something higher in a greater or less degree : in some 
 places induced by affection ; some by the love of truth ; 
 some by desire to progress ; and some by developed affin- 
 ities. 
 
 I observed that while these places were thus lighted up, 
 on others a cold, misty cloud seemed to rest, obscuring 
 them partially from view. The contrast was very great ; 
 and all this light was produced by the inhabitants them- 
 selves. It was of their own creation. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 125 
 
 This varied light added greatly to the beauty of the 
 scene, and besides, it enabled those who should stand where 
 I did to see the advance of progression among the inhab- 
 itants below. 
 
 On that far distant mountain I saw a streak of golden 
 light flowing down one of its sides, like burning lava. 
 That told the story, that some of its inhabitants, impelled 
 by afiection, had begun to aspire higher, and were de- 
 scending, in order to get into the way, and their path was 
 thus marked. 
 
 At the bottom of the mountain it seemed to spread out, 
 and denoted that the inhabitants who had come down were 
 waiting for others, and seeking to learn which way to go. 
 They did not know, and I noticed a majestic spirit clothed 
 all in white, but invisible to them, was floating in the air 
 over their heads, and pointing toward where I stood. He 
 was trying to impress them. His hair was golden, and he 
 wore a scarf of blue. 
 
 I noticed among them a young man sixteen or seventeen 
 years of age, who had just come down the mountain. He 
 was modest and unassuming, but his vision was more open 
 than theirs. He told them he saw the way, that he saw 
 the monument on the hill and the temple below, and he 
 pointed out the way to them. He told them this with such 
 an air of truth that it convinced them, and they chose him 
 for their leader. But he said first of all he must take care 
 of his mother, who had come down the mountain with him. 
 She was aged and infirm, and so they made a bier for her, 
 and took turns in bearing her along on their shoulders. He 
 walked by her side, and was indeed a fit leader for them, 
 for he thought never of himself, but always of his mother, 
 whom he loved, and of others. 
 
 He led them away from the hills and eminences in their 
 path, but through the valleys where those lights shone, 
 where he and his party were ever welcomed and enter- 
 tained, and where his band was constantly augmented by 
 others joining them. They soon traveled more rapidly. His 
 
126 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 mdther gathered strength enough as she progressed to re- 
 lieve her bearers and go alone. 
 
 I turned from this sight to join my companions, and I 
 observed three persons on horseback approaching, two 
 females and a male. All seemed young, and were su- 
 perbly mounted. The horses were beautifully formed, like 
 coursers of the purest Arabian blood. One was white, one 
 a chestnut, and the o'l:her a light bay. The females wore 
 long, graceful riding-dresses of purple velvet ; the male 
 a short jacket and cap of crimson velvet, trimmed with 
 gold cord. They had two dogs with them ; one was a 
 shaggy poodle dog, and the other a small, delicate gray- 
 hound, black, with a few white spots, and fawn-colored 
 breast and legs. The whole appearance of the cavalcade 
 was very beautiful. They lived far in the interior, and 
 hearing of my visit, had come down to see. They were 
 conversing with my dear S. as I approached the gate. 
 One of the females, after looking at me as I was advanc- 
 ing, asked her if she did not wish I was there for good 
 and all ? She replied: "No. His time is not yet. He is 
 yet to do much good to man before he comes." 
 
 On my arrival at the gate they reined their horses back, 
 and accompanied us on my> passage out of that country. 
 This time I felt impelled to return by the circuitous path 
 by which I had first ascended. They all accompanied me 
 to the steps, and, taking leave, I began my descent. I 
 had not proceeded far, before I saw some one ascending 
 toward me. It was the old man whom I had seen ap- 
 proaching toward the temple. He was moving with a very 
 alert and lively gait, and, with his head still erect, was 
 twirling his staff around his head with a very joyous mo- 
 tion. I noticed that though he had the same white hair 
 and beard, the wrinkles had left his face, and he seemed 
 to be both young and old. 
 
 As he was advancing, I asked myself. What will he do in 
 this new country entirely among strangers ? And I turned 
 around to recommend him to the care of those who had 
 
8PIKITUALISM. 12T 
 
 accompanied me to the entrance. But I saw my interfe- 
 rence was quite unnecessary. He had been discovered by 
 them also. They had sent the word abroad, and spirits 
 were flocking down in great numbers to welcome him. By 
 this time he had come up to me, and stopped to speak to 
 me. I pointed him to the group that were waiting for him 
 with looks of cheerful welcome. His emotions were too 
 great to enable him to speak. And with deep humility he 
 resumed his way, and so I parted with him. 
 
 I hurried down the path and into the temple. I was im- 
 pressed I had a duty to perform there, but I saw no one in 
 all that vast building. I went again to the corner of the 
 platform whence I had surveyed the steep hill, and there 
 I saw the dark spirits still lurking under the rocks. They 
 were still lying in wait for me, and were unconscious that 
 I had already repeatedly made the ascent by another path. 
 
 I said this to them. They gnashed their teeth with rage, 
 and with " a vengeful hollo" plunged down far beneath my 
 sight, and so I returned to earth again. 
 
128 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 'Sedicn ^ig^t. 
 
 Sunday J Sept. 11, 1853. 
 This evening, at Doctor Dexter's, it was written : 
 
 In compliance with the directions of the higher spirits, 
 we wish to utter a prayer always before we commence the 
 duties of the evening ; and if it conforms with your feel- 
 ings, one will be written to repeat every evening. 
 
 Bacon. 
 
 We all expressed our assent, and it was written : 
 
 Oh, thou universal Spirit ! by whose laws every thing 
 was created, and by w^hose love every thing exists ! wo 
 look to thee, and we regard thee as our Father, for thou hast 
 taught us that in loving thee we approach in spirit the at- 
 tributes which are thy characteristics. We pray to thee 
 that our feelings may be elevated to a just perception of 
 what is good, what is true, and what should belong to us 
 in connection with others. Enable us to live consistently, 
 and to develop those feelings of our nature which are 
 innate and coeval with thee. Enable us to control our- 
 selves — to feel the high obligations of beings destined to 
 live forever. Enable us to improve the faculties of our 
 spirit, as well as material being, and enable our desires for 
 the true, the good, the just, and the beautiful, to develop 
 with our days, and harmonize with all that we see of thee 
 in thy works. Let us feel, let us see, let us know that in 
 us are the germs of everlasting knowledge and happiness; 
 and when at last we lay down this body, let our spirits 
 rise in their new birth, active and earnest in the all-im- 
 pelling desire to progress toward those spheres where thy 
 
SPIRIT TJALISM. 129 
 
 glory and power, thy love and wisdom, are most manifest. 
 Amen.* 
 
 Then it was further written : 
 
 jN'ow, while our hearts are full, and we realize the pres- 
 ence of those bright and beautiful beings who are with us, 
 let us resume the consideration of our proper subject. Last 
 night I attempted to illustrate the attributes and charac- 
 teristics of God by referring to certain facts which substan- 
 tiate our position, apparent through the first volume, that 
 laws established by God had their full influence now as in 
 the beginning. 
 
 And in again reflecting upon the past, and turning back 
 on creation, and all things which live, move, and have 
 their being on its broad surface, we recognize one particu- 
 lar fact, and that is, that while insects and animals, veg- 
 etables and minerals, come under the control of and are 
 governed by certain laws in all circumstances and condi- 
 tions ; that while the whole of their manifestations are 
 obedient to principles which are now and have been un- 
 changeable, they transmit nothing to the same species 
 which follow after them. Remaining the same, they con- 
 tinue so from age to age, and their properties and charac- 
 ters, their attributes and action, appear the same in the 
 same kind from one age to another ; and yet the develop- 
 ments of feeling or instinct in animals would lead us to 
 suppose that there might or could be a change in their na- 
 ture, differing from the condition in which they might be 
 situated at a different period of time. But does the horse 
 of to-day differ in instinct or properties from the horse in* 
 the days of Moses ? When we notice the small insect 
 called the ant, and watch the wondrous workings of its re- 
 markable instinct, we are struck with its sagacity and in- 
 genuity. It constructs dwellings, contrived with so much 
 
 * Now while I am revising these papers for the press, it is written to me by 
 Bacon, through Doctor Dexter, " This prayer will have greater solemnity and 
 beauty when you understand it was composed and written by your wife." 
 
 9 
 
130 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 wisdom, that even man can hardly imitate. It resolves 
 into communities, and selects from its numbers some one 
 as chief or head. It raises armies, and sends them forth 
 on enterprises where much sagacity and absolute knowl- 
 edge is required for success. It forces from others of a 
 different sphere the strongest and hardiest, and compels 
 them to serve as slaves and to perform all the drudgery of 
 household or field labor. In fine, it manifests intelligence 
 which astonishes the learned and perplexes the wise. But 
 do the insects of to-day diflfer from those who were noticed 
 a thousand years ago ? Why should their attributes remain 
 the same, if God acted specially ? But enough of this. 
 
 I remark, that if God were a person* — were his acts di- 
 rected by any special manifestation, there would not, there 
 could not, be any dependence on the established laws of 
 nature. What to-day would be noticed as arranged for the 
 planets, might to-morrow be changed for some other insti- 
 tute, totally altering the whole order and appearance of the 
 planets. The seasons would not follow in course. Where 
 now are peace, and plenty, and order, and regularity, all 
 might in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, be trans- 
 formed into a wilderness where no plant would grow, and 
 where desolation would reign supreme. f 
 
 * While revising, it is written to me in explanation, " A person according 
 to the expressed biblical idea." 
 
 t While thus revising (August, 1854), it is written by Bacon through the 
 Doctor : 
 
 " In saying that he is a principle, we do not mean that there is no identity. 
 If spirit possesses form, the source from which it springs should of course have 
 form. The great Source of all, though manifest in every created thing, is not 
 there in person, but represented by his law. As when a man has directed the 
 erection of a house, he doesnot find it necessary to be there in person ; his 
 plans are executed by his workmen, and his idea is carried out in their per- 
 formance of his laws. 
 
 " Thus with God. He is a principle ; for he is the source, the head, the 
 germ of all creation ; for every thing has its origin in and from him. The 
 laws he has established are the evidences of his existence, and the execution 
 of those laws exhibit his impartiality and love. The various forms and phases 
 of creation show his ideas of beauty and harmony, and the radiance and glory 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 131 
 
 Again ; it is necessary for the perpetuation of all crea- 
 tion, that God should act by laws which are unchangeable ; 
 for were it not so there would not, there could not, be any 
 development, any progression. Every thing that God 
 created shows emphatically that he intended development. 
 Suppose for one moment that any special providence should 
 influence man, what would be the effect ? If man were, un- 
 der the providence of God, successful in every thing that 
 belonged to earth, the consequences of any change would 
 so disturb his social connections and relations, that society 
 would become an anarchy, and instead of progressing in 
 all those characteristics which mark him as man possessing 
 a spirit, he would retrograde to the same level with the 
 brutes, and become so identified with them that he could 
 transmit none of those glorious discoveries, none of those 
 vast contrivances, which now so plainly show his origin 
 and destiny. 
 
 I remarked a few evenings since that even Christ's last 
 act on earth, even after he had ascended to heaven, was 
 proof of the materiality oT the soul. I said this that you 
 might observe the connection and influence of laws acting 
 on matter here, with the same laws in their full effect 
 after the spirit has passed from the earth to the spheres ; 
 and, that you might comprehend the force 'of that great 
 principle which I am trying to illustrate, that an instituted 
 system of unchangeable laws^ whose effects are apjparent in 
 and through matter everywhere^ must he perpetuated immuta- 
 hly through all time^ as well for the harmonious action of 
 all created things^ as for the development and progression of 
 the soul / and that it was impossible for even God himself 
 to maintain the order and harmonious relation of the crea- 
 tion he has fashioned from chaos, if he w^ere to change or 
 
 ■with which he has clothed the earth demonstrate his delight in that which 
 gives dignity and glory to his works. 
 
 "Thus, though the very God is a principle, yet he is and must be a person. 
 May not— oh ! will not the form be developed to us, when we shall have 
 arrived at that state of holiness when we can see eye to eye and face to face ?" 
 
132 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 alter his laws or their action one jot or tittle. Thus much, 
 and now for Progression. Read what is written, and I will 
 continue. 
 
 I did sOj and it was written : 
 
 We have brought our minds to the consideration of space 
 as it was, when God had not called the principles of life 
 and motion into action, or, rather, when the usual constit- 
 uents existing through all space had not felt the impelling 
 force of development, and could not, therefore, form or 
 fashion themselves into organized matter. 
 
 Here, at the appointed signal, I read the 3d verse of the 1st chapter 
 of Genesis : " And God said, Let there be light, and there was light." 
 
 " And God said, Let there be light." And now the time 
 had arrived when, through the impelling power of develop- 
 ment, the constituents or atomic particles lying dormant in 
 that chaos were drawn by the operation of attraction to- 
 ward one another. Thus was manifest the first evidence 
 of creative power in motion. Then from every part of that 
 vast space, from point to point, from limit to limit, over 
 the whole of its vast surface, and even to its illimitable 
 depths, the atoms or particles moving toward each other, 
 obedient to the great law which governed their action — 
 particles so small that they could not be discovered even 
 with a powerful glass — now united with others, and then 
 w^ith others, until each new combination resolved itself into 
 a still larger, and at each union the force and motion were 
 increased, vast bodies of a gaseous nature were formed, the 
 velocity and motion of which were so great, that, acting on 
 the atmosphere which was generated by this revolution 
 and combination of the atomic particles, light and heat 
 were developed by the friction. 
 
 Here I read the 4th verse, as follows : " And God saw the light that 
 it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness." 
 
 " And God saw the light that it was good." 
 
 To expect that I, the spirit of Lord Bacon, should be 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 133 
 
 able to penetrate the arcana of nature, and explain how God 
 created every thing, would be assuming I was as intelligent 
 as my Creator. I do no such thing. I give you opinions, 
 and facts when I can do so. Much of what I now write is 
 opinion. Take it for what it is worth, and glean what in- 
 struction and good you can from it. 
 
 Each globe was governed, as to its size, by the influence of 
 the attractive power which gathered the particles together. 
 Thus some were larger and some smaller, and all of them 
 in their localities possessed peculiar properties differing 
 from each other. 
 
 But it was not the ignition of the gases by friction that 
 created the light that was separated, as it is to our earth 
 by night and day ; though we can imagine the glorious 
 and transcendent appearance these vast bodies would make, 
 lighted up by their own fires, and moving and flashing in 
 what was before an eternal darkness ; and we must recol- 
 lect that each body was governed by laws, and that the 
 development of no one of all the innumerable bodies now 
 visible to your eye in the vast firmament above, was instan- 
 taneous with another. The body called the sun undoubted- 
 ly gave the light which illumined this profound darkness. 
 
 * The mind is fired with its own imagining when it pic- 
 tures the sun shining forth and dissipating the dark pall 
 which shrouded this gloomy chaos. Now, indeed, did God 
 say, "Let there be light ;'' for when that body had arrived 
 at that state of development that it could send forth its 
 bright rays, the deepest profundity of this eternal gloom 
 was lighted up with its glorious beams. 
 
 Then flashed across its surface the golden light ; then 
 from its gloomy recesses were reflected the gold, the violet, 
 the red, and the thousand sparkling rays that garnished 
 that vast area as if with jewels of inestimable price. Tlien, 
 for the first time, the clouds floating in space gave back 
 the varied colors of the rainbow. Then did the eternal 
 distance, incomprehensible to man, yield its heavenly blue 
 to cheer and comfort him, instead of darkness more pro- 
 
134: SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 found than night. Then waked to a new birth the flashing 
 identities which give beauty to creation, and when the 
 light from the sun first shone into those depths of gloom, 
 it clothed every thing in the proper colors of its nature. 
 Then did the Great First Cause see that the light was to 
 his new creation beautiful, for it waked up from nature's 
 eternal gloom the rays reflecting heaven's own brightness. 
 Oh ! it was a glorious sight to see nature thus unfolded, as 
 if a dark mantle had been removed from its face, when to 
 our earth it showed forth the glorious beauties of its sur- 
 face, and sent such a glad shout of joy from every thing 
 which lived, that its echoes have not yet died away in the 
 distant limits of creation, but the murmui* still travels on 
 and will eternally travel. And when we all are in the 
 spheres, and our spirits filled with the glory and power 
 of .God, perhaps we shall be viewing together the beauty 
 of some plan6t beyond ; then shall come to us, trembling 
 and indistinct, this murmur in the distance, waking our 
 spirits to a consciousness of nature's response, w^hen God 
 said, Let there be light. Bacon. 
 
 VISION. 
 
 Then commenced the manifestation through me, which I related as 
 follows : 
 
 I saw the old man whom I had met in the path, when 
 he ascended the steps of this new country and mingled 
 with the spirits there awaiting him. They had assembled 
 in great numbers to welcome him, and they were profuse 
 in their ofl'ers to him of a home with any of them, until 
 he should erect one for himself. 
 
 I noticed that the color of the light, which was pale 
 yellow when I descended the steps, had changed to that 
 brilliant lake color which I had observed to prevail when 
 I first entered there. And I learned that that was always 
 so when a new spirit came among them, and it signified 
 their joy at his advent. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 135 
 
 The old man moved along the path, surrounded with 
 this throng of joyous and affectionate spirits. And though 
 his heart was full at the warmth of his welcome, I saw 
 that his mind was also occupied witli anotlier thought. 
 At length he gave utterance to it by asking why I had left 
 the country, and wlicther I would not return? They told 
 him I was a mortal yet, and could not remain ; that I came 
 there to see that country, that I might describe it to my 
 fellow-mortals, and had been drawn there by the strong 
 affection of my wife and children, and the great duty 
 which had been opened to me. He immediately, and with 
 great alertness, asked if they w^ere there? They answered 
 by pointing them out to him in the crowd on his left hand, 
 at a little distance. He immediately left the crowd and 
 moved up to them. He approached them with great re- 
 spect and affection, and after a few words with my wife, 
 he turned to the surrounding spirits and said, " I wall take 
 up my residence with this family. It is to him I owe my 
 redemption, and I will serve those he loves so well till he 
 comes." The spirits, with one accord, clapped their hands 
 in approval of a course of conduct so consonant to the 
 prevailing sentiment of the place. The surrounding spirits 
 then left and retired to their respective residences, and 
 that old man, w^ith my wife and children, turned off the 
 main path and ascended that where I had accompanied 
 them before, and proceeded to their residence, a far dis- 
 tance up that path. 
 
 Thus far I had seen while the Doctor was writing, and it was a rep- 
 resentation of what had occurred the day before after I had left. Now, 
 when I gave myself up to the influence, I found 
 
 I was w^alking up that same path accompanied by them, 
 and was just leaving the place where I had been shown 
 the stairway. On both sides of me were beautiful resi- 
 dences standing back from the road. 
 
 One I noticed in particular, because it was surrounded 
 by trees and shrubbery, as I had sometimes seen among the 
 
136 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 natives in Central America. The trees grew close together, 
 and intermingled their dense foliage overhead, producing a 
 very soft shade all around their trunks. They were trimmed 
 up as far as the arm could reach, and the ground around 
 their base was leveled very smooth, entirely free from grass, 
 and kept very clean, so that it was a cool and delightful 
 promenade. This grove was at the side and behind the 
 west end of the house, and extended off, I observed, some 
 distance in that direction. The whole place was very at- 
 tractive to me, and I had a wish to examine it more closely. 
 My companions immediately turned with me into the in- 
 closure. 
 
 I noticed that the ground in front of the house, and be- 
 tween it and the path, were not, as at the other places I had 
 seen, ornamented with flowers, but they were used as a 
 vegetable garden, and it was in very perfect order, and 
 growing very luxuriantly. I saw growing there Indian 
 corn, potatoes, beets, and lettuce. There were other va- 
 rieties, but I did not particularly notice them. But there 
 seemed to be nothing there merely for ornament. All was 
 for use, but all was in order. As I approached the house, 
 I saw at my left some out-houses near the edge of the trees, 
 as if for animals. 
 
 I became at once impressed that that was the farm estab- 
 lishment for that community, and he who lived there had 
 been a farmer on earth, and now superintended it for the 
 common welfare. 
 
 I saw no one around the place. The house was an old- 
 fashioned farm-house, one and a half story high, with a 
 wide portico in front, with seats in it. My companions 
 stopped there, but I proceeded around the house ipto the 
 grove. 
 
 Tliere, back of the grove, I saw a large field of wheat 
 growing very thrifty, and nearly ripe. It seemed to be 
 stirred by a gentle breeze, and waved gracefully and peace- 
 fully, as I have often seen it here in midsummer. The grove 
 of trees, and the clean, smooth walk under the shade, con- 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 13Y 
 
 tinued all around the field, and it was the only fence it had. 
 Many of the trees bore flowers to their very top branches, 
 and up some of them flowering vines twined to their very 
 summit, mingling together, in an enormous bouquet, the 
 golden flowers of the trees. with the pale purple flowers of 
 the vines. The perfume that ever and anon was wafted in 
 my face was most exquisite, sometimes almost too strong 
 for my endurance. Along, back of the field and through 
 the woods, a small stream of water meandered quietly, and 
 on its banks and within the grove were many rustic seats. 
 It was a scene of delightful repose and enjoyment. 
 
 Behind that field of grain was another, skirted in like 
 manner by a grove of trees and a running brook ; and be- 
 hind that still another. West of these grain fields I saw 
 several orchards of fruit trees, separated in like manner 
 from each other by groves of trees which were much smallei 
 than the others, so as not to cast too much shade ; and amid 
 those groves also there were the same running brooks. In 
 those groves I noticed a tree shaped like an umbrella, not 
 running up high but spreading out broad, with very dense 
 foliage of dark green leaves, like the leaf of the lemon tree. 
 From its lower limbs there hung down a species of moss, 
 which was an air-plant, and dropped its festoons down 
 nearly to the ground very gracefully. 
 
 I saw four of these orchards, one behind the other, and 
 parallel with the grain fields. 
 
 I noticed that in one there were peaches, in another 
 plums, very large and yellow, blue, and pale green. I did 
 not observe what were in the others. 
 
 As I passed through the orchards and into the same kind 
 of grove beyond, I observed that there was a considerable 
 stream of water which approached from the west, and, as 
 it reached the orchards, had been branched off into four or 
 five smaller streams, which were conducted through the 
 several groves and around the various fields, so as to irri- 
 gate them, and at the same time add to the beauty of the 
 scene and its quiet repose. 
 
138 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 I had noticed as I passed, tliat the out-houses which I saw 
 were for the mules which were used on the farm, but thus 
 far I had seen no animals nor man. But now I noticed, 
 beyond the orchard, a dense forest of enormous trees, and 
 in it there was a w*ater-fall and a saw-mill, and now I saw 
 the man whose place I was on. He w^as at work at the 
 saw-mill with four or five assistants. He was dressed in 
 shirt and trowsers, and his sleeves w^ere rolled up. He and 
 his companions seemed very cheerful and happy at their 
 work. It seemed as if they were toiling for the pleasure 
 of it, and were evidently enjoying it. They were singing 
 and laughing, telling stories and cracking jokes upon each 
 other. 
 
 The saw-mill was at work with four saws agoing ; but I 
 did not see around it any of the litter which I have been 
 accustomed to here : no loose piles of slab, no heaps of 
 sawdust, no decaying logs, but every thing was neat and 
 orderly. The logs were piled up in heaps, and so arranged 
 as to look very handsome. They were arranged in piles. 
 I counted the base. It consisted of eight logs, then above 
 that layer seven, and then six, and so on up to a point. 
 
 All their rubbish and dirt, I observed, were carried off 
 by a sewer dug under ground, and terminating at the preci- 
 pice which I have already mentioned. By means of a 
 waste-weir all the rubbish was carried off that way, and 
 the water passed clear and pure down through the farm. 
 When I approached, they were sawing a large log with the 
 whole four saws. It was a singular kind of wood, some- 
 thing like the bird's-eye maple, but the spots were larger, 
 and the wood susceptible of a higher polish. 
 
 Each board, as it came from the saw, was finely polished 
 and smooth, and I examined to see how that was done. 
 The back of each saw was as thick as its front edge, and 
 so constructed that it smoothed off and polished, as it went 
 along, the roughness which the teeth made. 
 
 The mill itself was a beautiful structure. It was a Doric 
 temple, with two rows of columns, open entirely at the sides, 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 189 
 
 and a roof that projected over both at the ends and the 
 sides. He had had time enough to build it, and had taken 
 care to ornament it. 
 
 Just beyond this mill I saw a pasture in which horses 
 and cows were grazing, and through it ran that stream of 
 water. 
 
 Beyond this pasture was a woody grove, full of poultry, 
 turkeys, geese, ducks, and chickens. It was a great aviary. I 
 saw peacocks, macaws, the bird of paradise, doves, fantailed 
 pigeons, canary birds, etc. It was a delightful music that 
 was heard from this grove, and its feathered inhabitants 
 seemed the very picture of merriment and happiness. 
 
 Beyond this aviary was an extensive forest, extending 
 far back in the distance, and looked very much like the oak 
 openings in the far West. Tlie trees were far enough apart 
 for one to drive a coach-and«four among them, and the un- 
 der limbs and branches had been broWzed off about eight or 
 ten feet high. Occasionally, and more particularly near 
 the creek, there were spots entirely free from trees, where 
 there was a rich pasture. In these woods and in the pas- 
 tures I saw many animals. I noticed particularly only 
 rabbits and deers, of different ages, from the huge antlered 
 stag to the young fawn. 
 
 My attention was attracted to a noise in the woods, and 
 I saw a stag with large horns branching out, running to- 
 ward me at full speed, closely pursued by a large gray- 
 hound. It was an exciting scene, and I asked myself, Do 
 they hunt here ? But I soon saw that it was only sport be- 
 tween those animals. As they approached the bank of the 
 stream, the stag stopped and turned around. The hound 
 stopped also, and began to gambol around the stag, appar- 
 ently enticing him to chase in turn. The stag trotted with 
 a stately gait toward the dog, who fled from him, and thus 
 playing I left them, and returned to the house. 
 
 My return was instantaneous, as if I had been borne 
 through the air at my wish, while my passage out had been 
 a very leisurely walk. 
 
140 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 On my return to the house I found my companions still 
 seated in the piazza. A female of mature age, who seemed 
 to be the mistress of the mansion, was standing in the door- 
 way, leaning against the door-post talking to my wife. A 
 younger female, apparently her daughter, was leaning out 
 of the window^ of the front room conversing with my son 
 and daughter. The younger female had a red collar to her 
 garments, while those of the other female were trimmed 
 with pale green belt, and purple cuffs and colors. Her 
 hair was done up in a knot behind, but how it was fas- 
 tened up I could not be certain, but it seemed as if by a 
 silver arrow thrust through, it. This w^as her working- 
 dress, and she seemed to be as industrious as her hus- 
 band. 
 
 I saw through the hall out back of the house a large 
 churn as large as a barrel, of white wood with brass hoops, 
 and very clean. 
 
 Observing what attracted my attention, she invited me 
 to walk out back and examine for myself I did so, and 
 she accompanied me. 
 
 I found out there a very wide piazza on which the most 
 of her work was done. At one end of it I saw many tin 
 pans hanging up against the wall, and under them was a 
 table, fastened to the building by hinges, and capable of 
 being lifted up or let down at pleasure. On that she told 
 me she made her bread. 
 
 I had not yet seen any glass windows. On this piazza 
 there were openings for windows, but I saw no sashes or 
 glass. Standing against these openings was a long, narrow 
 table with drawers in it. 
 
 The floor seemed to be of stone, sloping from the house 
 outward, and terminating in a gutter which ended in a 
 sewer under ground, and thus all refuse water was car- 
 ried off. 
 
 The water from the brook was carried into the piazza, 
 and fell from a penstock in a small stream into a basin, 
 elevated about foup feet from the floor. It ran over tho 
 
SPIKITTJALISM. 141 
 
 sides of that basin into a larger one on the floor whence it 
 escaped into the sewer. 
 
 I observed that parts of the floor of the piazza were so 
 constructed, that by moving an iipright stick standing back 
 against the side of the house, a lattice-work could be opened 
 and let the air pass up. This was done to give ventilation, 
 and I observed that the slats of the lattice- work were so con- 
 structed as not to let the water through, but to carry it off 
 into the gutter. 
 
 While in this piazza, I observed back of the house sev- 
 eral orange trees full of fruits and flowers, and monkeys 
 playing in their branches. Here, for the first time, I saw a 
 cat ; she was playing with the monkeys, and chasing them 
 up the trees. I saw also, at a little distance to the right, a 
 large, old-fashioned barn for storing grain, and between it 
 and the house was a large field of Indian corn. The barn 
 was standing near the stream of water, and had contriv- 
 ances by which all its rubbish and dirt would be carried 
 off by it. And here I observed that the stream of water 
 tended north, and became at a short distance again united 
 with the others into a large creek. 
 
 In passing from the back to the front of the house, I ob- 
 served the hall had upon it what had the appearance of an 
 old-fashioned rag carpet. The female, reading my sur- 
 prise at that, told me they had been farmers on earth, and 
 had taken a great deal of pleasure in their way of living, 
 and had purposely surrounded themselves with the comforts 
 to which they had been accustomed. 
 
 The boards of the hall floor were so clean and polished 
 that they shone. 
 
 I saw also in the hall an old-fashioned stairway leading 
 to upper rooms. 
 
 Some one of the circle here inquired, If they thus worked for the whole 
 community as a matter of duty enjoined upon them, or did it volunta- 
 rily ? The female answered — 
 
 " We do it voluntarily. We take pleasure in it. When 
 we want help we say so to those around, and they come of 
 
142 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 their own accord." The daughter, laughing, added, " I 
 don't have much work to do, so many come and offer to 
 work, and when thej come we have merry times. We tell 
 stories, laugh, and are full of fun." 
 
 I observed that their house was not large, and the fam- 
 ilj^ consisted of only three persons, the man, his wife, and 
 daughter. They were originally from Germany. TJiey 
 had been in the spirit-world many years, and there had 
 been many new inventions to. facilitate farm labor since 
 they left the earth, which they had learned and adopted. 
 Among other things, the woman showed me a pair of 
 heavy wooden shoes, the soles at least two inches thick, 
 and told me that she used to wear them, and then she 
 showed me the light leather shoes she now wore, and 
 laughingly compared them together. 
 
 Some one of the circle asked me to inquire how many years she had 
 been in the spirit- world ? 
 
 She answered she could not tell by years, only by 
 events ; but it was before the Crusades. She added, she 
 remained only a few years in the lower plane, when all 
 three were united and ascended together. 
 
 I inquired of the daughter if she had never been mar- 
 ried? She answered she supposed I would call it mar- 
 riage. There was one to whom she was much attached, 
 and they loved each other's society, and they were a 
 good deal together. He was now at work at the saw-mill. 
 And she said he would come in from the saw-mill, not at 
 all tired with his w^ork, and would kick up his heels and go 
 to dancing. "Yes," added her mother, " and you join him 
 in doing so." She showed me a guitar and a flute, and 
 said they played and sang together. She said her father 
 sang, but her mother never found time to sing. 
 
 The young girl seemed full of frolic, and fun, and joy ; 
 she could hardly keep still. As she and my daughter sat 
 close together, I could not help noticing the difference. 
 My daughter was still and quiet, and apparently very in- 
 tellectual. -She was not without emotions, but she repressed 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 143 
 
 them, and I saw her once in a while lay her hand on her 
 heart, as if to hush all within. She had a very heavenly 
 expression of countenance. Her forehead was high, and 
 seemed to be transparent, so that every thought could be 
 read. The other girl had red cheeks and a round face, 
 and was so full of frolic ! My son stood at a little dis- 
 tance, leaning against the side of the house, in an attitude 
 quite common with me ; it is one which my wife always 
 liked, and she had taught it to him. 
 
 I saw some company coming toward the house ; they 
 were three young females and a young man ; they were 
 very merry. The young man walked behind with one of 
 the girls, and the other two were walking before them ; he 
 had been telling tliem something which amused them, and 
 one of the girls — the one directly before him— laughed so 
 loud and merry that it rang out clear and joyful, making 
 every thing glad around. The young girl in the house 
 went out to meet them ; and when she met them she told 
 them I was there ; they had been told of my being in the 
 country, but had not seen me, and had not expected to 
 meet me there. They became silent at once, and showed 
 the same emotion I had witnessed in others, love and ad- 
 miration, and a wish at once to know what they could do 
 to help the matter along. 
 
 The young girl of the house took her guitar and repaired 
 to the grove at the end of the house, where she played, and 
 the four new-comers danced ; it seemed to be a sort of co- 
 tillion they danced, and ended with a waltz. The player 
 amused herself occasionally by changing the time faster or 
 slower, and then laughed at the manner she affected their 
 motion so heartily that she could at times hardly play at all. 
 
 Then one of the females danced alone. She was exqui- 
 sitely graceful ; and hers was the very poetry of motion. She 
 evidently was very fond of it, and her grace and motion 
 were very beautiful. The player on the guitar was now 
 very careful about her music, for she was as much enrap- 
 tured at the dancing as the rest were. At length the dancer 
 
144 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 stopped, saying, '' There, I have danced long enough for 
 your amusement, now you dance for mine." She was tall 
 and slender, yet round and healthy. Her hair was a silky 
 chestnut color, and was tied behind with a blue ribbon. 
 One of the other females had a head of thick, black hair, 
 curling down her shoulders, and occasionally, while danc- 
 ing, she would raise her hand and push it out of her eyes. 
 The young gentleman had a light beard and mustaches ; 
 he wore a skull-cap, with a single feather in it ; he wore it 
 jauntily on one side of his head. He had large benevo- 
 lence, but only a medium intellect. He was ever thinking 
 what he could do for others, and never thinking of him- 
 self. The old man, however, who had chosen to reside 
 with my family, had large intellect and great energy and 
 decision of character ; he had a sparkling black eye, and a 
 very benevolent countenance.* 
 
 We turned to take our leave, for it was time for me to 
 go. The matron invited me to call on her again, and she 
 would, she said, give me a drink of buttermilk. 
 
 As we returned we found a narrow, paved path inside of 
 the posts and railing, and we went along that, my wife 
 hanging on my arm. The paving was of square stones, 
 very highly polished, and full of the most beautiful petri- 
 factions. Its ground- work was yellow, and presented an 
 infinite variety. 
 
 That pathway led to the most stately mansion I had yet 
 seen ; it was a double house, two stories high, and painted 
 white. It had no trees around it, but abundance of shrub- 
 bery and flowers. The grounds on which it stood were in- 
 closed with a border of shrubbery, growing about four feet 
 high ; and I observed that when it led back from the path 
 it zigzagged like a pair of stairs, until it met from both 
 sides at a bridge over the creek back of the house. The 
 bridge led across to a beautiful grove, at the edge of which 
 stood a summer-house of open lattice- work, but with the 
 
 * Montlis afterward I learned he was Abner Kneeland. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 145 
 
 most graceful roof to it that I ever saw. It was covered 
 with flowering and fragrant vines, bearing white, pink, and 
 scarlet flowers, variegated beautifully. One of the vines 
 bore a flower, shaped and colored like a small, ripe pear. 
 By one side of its neck it hung to the vine, and the other 
 opened to receive the dew into the cup of the flower. 
 Another of the vines bore a flower about six inches long 
 and half an inch thick, shaped like the spirea, and covered 
 with bell-shaped cups of ice, which sparkled in the light 
 very vividly. 
 
 I returned toward the rear of the house, and on my way 
 saw some of their implements ; one was a hoe, its blade 
 triangular shaped, the point of the triangle first striking 
 into the ground. Another implement had a handle of 
 wood, about four feet long, with an iron sickle-shaped blade 
 at one end. 
 
 I passed through the basement of the house out in front ; 
 there I found a piazza, about sixteen feet wide, leading into 
 a wide hall running through the house. In thi,s hall were 
 two flights of steps, which turned and united in one near 
 the npper landing ; I ascended the stairs, and found why 
 that building was so large ; its second floor was devoted to 
 the pm-pose of holding the meetings of the community. I 
 was surprised at the plainness with which it was finished 
 and furnished. Along the sides of the room were raised 
 seats, and extending across the room were wooden settees, 
 or long chairs. 
 
 At one end of the room was a platform, raised two steps 
 from the floor, on which, behind a sort of pulpit, the pre- 
 siding spirit was accustomed to sit. On each side of that 
 was a desk, raised one step above the floor. It was very 
 much indeed^like an earthly scene. 
 
 Over the center platform, and on the yellow ground of 
 the wall, was a graceful scroll, on which, on a purple ground 
 sparkling and bright, were in letters of gold the words, 
 " God is Love.'' 
 
 Below this scroll I saw something which so much sur- 
 
 10 
 
14:6 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 prised me that I was persuaded it must be my imagination, 
 and I said so. 
 
 Through Dr. Dexter it was immediately written : " If this is your 
 mind, all the vision is, and all that you have ever heard. Pshaw !" 
 
 "What I saw there was my own private seal emblazoned ; 
 it was one that I. had very lately adopted (within a week 
 or two). It was a shield, having on its face a naked arm, 
 with a ferule in it, and beneath it a scroll having on it the 
 words, " The Truth against the World." 
 
 In answer to a question, I asked whether that had heen put there he- 
 fore or since I had used it ? It was said, " Before." 
 
 I then left that building, and passed down the path more 
 rapidly. As I passed the house where I had seen the 
 stairway in the rocks, the man came out and asked me 
 to stop there the next time, as he had something else to 
 show me. 
 
 We arrived at the balustrade from which I had several 
 times descended, and, just as I was leaving, my wife pressed 
 her lips to mine, and so I left. 
 
SPIEITUALISM, 
 
 niim Bine. 
 
 Monday, Septemhe'*- 12^, 1853. 
 This evening, in my library, the Doctor and I present, i+, was written : 
 
 Now ask your questions, as I don't intend to write much 
 to-night. Bacon. 
 
 I then spoke of my finding my seal^ on that wall, and said it was 
 inexplicable to me ; because I knew I had not owed the idea to any in- 
 
 * To understand these allusions, I ought to explain what my seal is, and 
 the origin of it. The seal itself is shown in the vignette on the title-page. 
 The origin of it was this : I had received a note from a gentleman, with a 
 seal, containing emblements on the shield, and beneath it a scroll with the 
 words, *' The Truth against the World." This reminded me of a vision I once 
 had, and I immediately formed the idea of making a seal for myself, combin- 
 ing that vision and the scroll. 
 
 That vision is recorded in my notes under date of February 10, 1852, in 
 ■*hese words : 
 
 '' I saw a naked female hand and arm holding toward me something dark, 
 like a ferule, but what it was I could not discover. Nor did I perceive what 
 was intended to be taught. The arm and hand were very distinct amid the 
 intense black darkness which enveloped it." 
 
 On the 16th of February, 1852, it is recorded in my notes, that in answer 
 to some explanations asked, it had been said : 
 
 " That picture represented the arm of Truth thrust through the blackness 
 of error, and seen distinctly amid it ; no shade from the error even coloring 
 or obscuring the clear brightness of the truth. It had in its hand a mystery, 
 dark-colored to be sure, but differing in hue from the blackness of error. 
 That mystery was yet to be explained to me, and when it was, I must cherish 
 and preserve it until the world was ready to receive it, and then give it to 
 the world. The arm alone appearing, without the body to which it was at- 
 tached, was intended to signify, that to us only a small portion of truth— one 
 only of its members had as yet penetrated the blackness of the error which 
 surrounds mankind in their present condition. At both ends of the arm there 
 was yet room for investigation ; at one end to solve the mystery contained in 
 the hand, and at the other to develop to view the whole form and body of 
 Truth in its beauty and brightness." 
 
148 
 
 S P I E I T TJ A L I S M . 
 
 ternal promptings, but had derived it from the seal on a note from a gen- 
 tleman, which I had lately receivedj and from that and a vision which I 
 had had long ago, I had made it up, and now I had been told that it had 
 been placed in that room before I had used it. I asked how that was ? 
 It was answered : 
 
 Why, as soon as the idea was embodied by you, the seal 
 was made and placed there before yours was received 
 from the engraver. It was because the sentiment and 
 idea were worthy being put in a conspicuous place, and 
 also because of the affinities existing between you and the 
 spirit-world, and also because of the great aid rendered us 
 by Mrs. E. 
 
 I asked, It was then through your instrumentality it was placed 
 there ? 
 
 It was answered : 
 
 Dear Judge, you are surrounded by many spirits be- 
 sides myself, and spirits who estimate you as I do. 
 
 I remarked how touching the incident was, and how the hearts of my 
 children and wife must swell every time they entered that hall and saw 
 that reminiscence of me there ! 
 
 It was written : 
 
 It is, indeed, the seal of their mother's virtues and their 
 father's faith and courage. 
 
 I then remarked that every time I had entered the spirit-world, I had 
 found persons and things in the precise condition in which I had left 
 them the day before. If it was a picture or an allegory I was seeing, I 
 could understand how this could be, but if it was a reality I did not see. 
 
 It was written : 
 
 Certainly the commencement of every thing is arranged, 
 and the circumstances coming afterward are entirely natural 
 in their occurrence. You will understand these visions are 
 real teachings, intended to illustrate certain facts in rela- 
 tion to spirit-life, and consequently we arrange the prelim- 
 inaries, and let the after-facts take place of their own ac- . 
 cord. 
 
 I asked some questions in reference to something I had seen. 
 
SPIKITUALISM. 149 
 
 And it was written : 
 
 1^0 explanations out of school. Every thing will be ex- 
 plained as you go along. 
 
 The Doctor asked why this restriction ? 
 It was answered : 
 
 I can tell you, Doctor ; it is because we want the Judge's 
 mind to be free entirely in regard to both fact and its 
 translation, and thus that every thing shall explain itself. 
 
 I remarked that he had said something just now about courage ? It 
 was not worth talking about, for every thing I had endured and dared 
 had been more than paid for in the exquisite happiness I enjoyed. 
 
 It was written : 
 
 "Well, Judge, you and I and the Doctor will talk this 
 over together in places where all feeling can be rightly 
 estimated. "We won't say now whether it be true courage 
 to brave the sneers, the contumely, and the sarcasms of a 
 prejudiced world, because it pays, but we will leave that 
 to the time, when, in coin that passes current in eternity, 
 we all shall be paid for what we are, not for what we have 
 been. 
 
 I inquired if the last teaching through Mrs. Sweet and others of that 
 kind were allegories or the reality ? 
 It was answered : 
 
 Allegorical teaching is one of the most pertinent meth- 
 ods of illustrating principles by spirits. She is impressed 
 by the spirit who acts through her. 
 
 I said that I supposed that was the way Bunyan wrote his " Pilgrim's 
 Progress." 
 
 He assented, and added : 
 
 At least I suppose so. I never saw Bunyan, but I should 
 like to see him. His was a mind which, if it had not been 
 bound to one idea, would have moved the world in another 
 and better cause* 
 
 I said I wished I could commune with Voltaire. 
 He answered : 
 
150 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 You can through Mrs. S. Yoltaire was entu'ely misun- 
 derstood by the world in his own time and since. 
 
 I said Yes, and that had heen done hy the priests. 
 It was written : 
 
 It has been their policy to fetter mind in all ages. 
 
 Tuesday J Sept. 13, 1853. 
 
 This evening, at my house, the circle met. Mr. and Mrs. S. were 
 absent, and two gentlemen from Hudson were present. 
 It was first written : 
 
 As some of the spirits from whom the teachings through 
 the Doctor are derived have not yet arrived, we propose, 
 first, to influence you. Judge, if you are willing. 
 
 Bacon. 
 
 I expressed my assent, and after remaining silent for awhile, I re- 
 marked that there was so much to see, I hardly knew where to begin. 
 But, I said— ^ 
 
 I had ascended the rising ground on which the terraces 
 were, and there had opened to my view the most magnifi- 
 cent landscape that I could conceive of. An immense plain 
 was spread out before me ; and far in the distance, dim, and 
 partly indistinct, was an immense mountain, from whose 
 summit, which towered high in the heavens, there shone a 
 most brilliant golden light, slightly bronzed. By that 
 light I saw there were beyond still higher prominences 
 arising one above another, without end, until they faded 
 from view in the immense distance. What a contrast it 
 was to the scene below ! There the inhabitants occupied 
 
* SPIRITUALISM. 15X 
 
 solitary eminences, beyond which there was no ascension. 
 Here it was progression onward, upward, as far as the im- 
 agination could reach. 
 
 Between me and that shining mountain a wide scene was 
 spread out which seemed to be one vast garden. I could 
 give no description of the gorgeousness of its appearance, 
 of its light, of its rivers, its groves, its cultivation. I saw 
 occasionally, oif at my left, which was spread out a little 
 below (while at my right the ground gently ascended), 
 single hills, and elevations, lakes, and ponds of water. 
 Among other things I noticed a huge, beetling, and rugged 
 rock standing up high in the scene. "What that meant, I 
 could not say. 
 
 I was accompanied in my ascent up the path by my 
 former companions, and by an elderly gentleman in the 
 garb of a farmer, who rode a sleek, fat, and very lazy 
 horse, and was followed by a dog equally in good condi- 
 tion and lazy. 
 
 When I had surmounted the rise, and came in view of 
 the scene which opened to my view, I knew not where 
 to look first, or what to describe, there was so much be- 
 fore me. 
 
 I noticed however, in particular, as I walked along the 
 path, which was here spread out wide, and was very smooth 
 and even, a house on my right hand of two stories high, 
 with piazza in front of both stories. The grounds around 
 it were very beautiful. In them and on the lower piazza 
 a few persons were assembled, but on the upper piazza 
 were twenty or thirty, principally, if not all, females, very 
 gorgeously dressed in many colors. They leaned over to- 
 ward me, as I approached, and waved their handkerchiefs, 
 as if in welcome. It was a beautiful sight, and was ren- 
 dered the more so by the evident joy and happiness there 
 was among them. 
 
 They wished me to ascend to their elevation, and from 
 that position to take a view of the country. I wanted much 
 to do so ; but I saw ahead of me, a short distance, quite a 
 
152 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 large concourse, who were evidently awaiting me, and I 
 did not venture to stop. 
 
 As I approached the group, I noticed the place where 
 thej were assembled as peculiar. The path in which I was 
 moving led directly up to a large fountain, which threw its 
 jets high up into the air, and fell back into a basin of some 
 forty or fifty feet diameter. There was a center jet, with 
 several smaller ones surrounding it, and occasionally there 
 shot out from the stream a jet that mounted into the air 
 like a rocket, and then turned into vapor, giving a cool and. 
 soft feeling to the atmosphere, and not returning to the 
 earth in drops. A very clear, silver light shone on the 
 fountain, and caused it to sparkle like a mound of dia- 
 monds. The basin was filled with many colored fishes, 
 and with aquatic birds of various sizes and plumage, and it 
 was surrounded by a narrow border of close-shaven grass. 
 The path wound around both sides of the fountain, and 
 trended into the country beyond, holding the same width. 
 
 In this circular path, and between me and the fountain, 
 that assemblage stood. They were variously and beauti- 
 fully dressed, and in front of them, toward me, three spirits 
 were standing. The center one was tall and majestic, 
 clothed simply in loose, white garments, extending to his 
 feet, and holding under his left arm a book. His appear- 
 ance and manner, and the expression of his countenance 
 approached nearer to my ideas of Jesus of E"azareth than 
 any delineation of him I ever had seen, but I ascertained at 
 once that it was not him, but the presiding spirit of that 
 community. 
 
 My companions and myself, as we approached him, 
 were filled with emotions of love, of reverence, and of awe 
 that would not let us speak. The spirits which stood, one 
 on each side of him, wore mantles of dark-blue velvet, and 
 on their heads chaplets, which were badges of office. I 
 can not describe the countenance of that presiding spirit ; 
 he seemed to be filled to overflowing with happiness ; he 
 was of large, capacious mind, and full of love to all around 
 
SPIEITUALISM. 153 
 
 him. There was a solemn stillness brooding over all the 
 scene that seemed to hush even the pulse's beat. 
 
 There were conflicting feelings awakened in me : one 
 prompted me to fall down and worship him ; and the other 
 repressed that, and told me he was a man as I was, and 
 asked, Why can not you be like him ? 
 
 When I arrived within a few paces of him he took the 
 book from under his arm, and with outstretched hand 
 pointed me to the heavens off at his left. And there, amid 
 the hush of that scene, amid its glorious beauty, its soft 
 and gentle light, and its balmy air, high up in the heav- 
 ens, and far distant, I saw the cross of our Kedeemer paint- 
 ed. Kough and unhewn itself, it was surrounded by a 
 halo of golden light, and on one of its arms a majestic 
 spirit, clad in dark-colored and rich garments, stood lean- 
 ing. High over it all flashed, in rays of sparkling silver 
 light, "God is Love." Directly over the summit of the 
 cross was a scroll which seemed to spread abroad a feeling 
 of solemn awe. On it was inscribed " He saved mankind 
 BY LIVING, NOT BY DYING." Bclow the trausvcrsc piece 
 was a small scroll, on which was written, "Do thou like- 
 wise." 
 
 And then, amid the awful stillness of that scene, and its 
 solemn impress, the picture faded slowly away, leaving be- 
 hind it a lesson oh ! how full of nature and of truth ! 
 
 I perceived that none of those present, except that pre- 
 siding spirit and myself, saw the picture — why, I could not 
 tell, but I supposed the reason was that it was intended 
 mainly for earthly man through me. 
 
 After that had passed away, I had an opportunity to look 
 around and examine some portions of the scene. Off to 
 my right I saw a large building built of yellow stone, three 
 or four stories high, and with five gables fronting the path, of 
 different sizes, and of (Jothic construction. The whole ex- 
 terior was severely simple, though justly proportioned and 
 elegant. It was situated on ground that was a little ele- 
 vated from the path, and some distance back from it. It 
 
154: SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 was approached by a path, on each side of which were 
 flower-beds and fountains, the great body of the lawn in 
 front being covered with a dense shrubbery, growing irreg- 
 ularly, and full of flowers. I found it was their instruction 
 hall, in which they had lectures, and where were deposited 
 their books, their philosophical apparatus, their collections 
 of natural history, etc., etc. 
 
 I observed that its entrance was by a flight of steps, lead- 
 ing into a wide and stately hall extending through the 
 building. The gables projected from the main body of the 
 building a short distance, and the door-way in the central 
 gable was chastely yet richly ornamented with carved col- 
 umns and arches. 
 
 I observed, also, that the spirits who formed that assem- 
 blage entertained the same feelings apparent in others — 
 love and admiration, namely, at the strength of that af- 
 fection which had worked the strange phenomenon of 
 bringing among them a mortal yet in the flesh. 
 
 I observed that their garments were very alike in form 
 and fashion, being the same I have so often described, but 
 varied in color — some light and some dark — not somber, 
 but rich. They were of diff'erent shades of blue and red 
 and yellow, and presented altogether an appearance that 
 would dazzle our vision here by its brightness. 
 
 I saw also many women in the crowd, and some few of 
 them held little children by the hand, who nestled close 
 to their sides, seemingly full of wonder at the scene. The 
 females were standing in various positions of affection to- 
 ward each other, some leaning on each other's shoulder, 
 some with their arms around their waists, etc. 
 
 I saw approaching toward us from the right a very old 
 and decrepit woman, bent over and feeble with age. She 
 had on a common calico frock, and the dress of one in lim- 
 ited circumstances on earth. The old man who was attach- 
 ed to my family instantly recognized her as his grand- 
 mother, who had died when he was a child, and who now 
 assumed that appearance, in order to make herself known 
 
SPIEITIJALISM. 155 
 
 to him. He stepped forward toward her, with a sense of 
 duty that it was to her, rather than to my family, that he 
 owed his services. As he approached her, she changed to 
 a tall and beautiful spirit, clad all in white, and with a 
 very intellectual and lofty expression of countenance, and 
 with her right hand she pointed him to that burning mount- 
 ain high in the distance, and said to him, " Onward." And 
 she told him his services were already properly dedicated, 
 and to make no alteration. Around her I observed that 
 cloudy gauze-like garment of blue which I had seen around 
 others, and learned that she was severely just to herself. 
 
 While noticing these things, a party approached from 
 the west on horseback. It consisted of twenty or thirty 
 persons of both sexes, and they were superbly mounted. 
 I noticed particularly a jet-black pacer ridden by a female. 
 He was a superb animal. They came from a distant com- 
 munity to invite me to visit them. 
 
 The presiding spirit called my attention to the shining 
 mountain, and I saw that its summit was approached by a 
 broad, winding stairway, with heavy balustrades and nu- 
 merous landing-places, and terminated at the summit under 
 an arch, through which streamed that golden light, casting 
 its rays far down the mountain, lighting up the stairway 
 to my vision, and throwing its reflection of golden and 
 crimson light upon houses and land and water, and beau- 
 tifying the scene wonderfully. And he told me that light 
 was the product of the concentrated love of all the inhab- 
 itants, which thus shed abroad, upon all that surrounded 
 it, its warm and grateful influence. I saw birds of song 
 and of gay plumage flying into its rays, as they shot forth 
 in various directions, and the animals confined to the lower 
 plane sought the spot where it struck, that they might 
 bask in it. Elephants and lions and other wild animals I 
 thus saw, but they were savage no longer under its mild 
 influence. I even saw the crocodiJ?e crawl from his watery 
 bed, and as he reached the light his dingy somber hue 
 changed to a lively green. 
 
156 I SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 In the distance I saw a body of water, w^hicli seemed 
 to be the end of a lake or large inland sea. On it were 
 vessels with sails, most of them small, as if chiefly for 
 pleasure, and one large steamboat, as large as one of our 
 sea steamers. From all this I inferred that this was a bay 
 only of a large inland sea which was hidden from me by 
 the intermediate land. 
 
 And I saw, too, rivers meandering through the country, 
 on which vessels were plying and over which bridges 
 spanned, and lakes of various sizes in different parts of 
 the country. 
 
 It was indeed a beautiful country to live in, amid its 
 soft and grateful air, and its glowing but mild light. 
 
 I was, however, obliged to leave it, for my time was up, 
 and I returned to earth. 
 
 Then came the teaching through the Doctor, and it was written : 
 
 We have now traced creation in the whole, from the 
 time when all was darkness and chaos to the time when, 
 fashioned according to certain laws, the whole of this vast 
 assemblage of globes and planets and worlds were mar- 
 shaled in their several positions and confined to certain 
 limits, where they have rolled their ceaseless way ever 
 since. 
 
 But let us trace still farther in detail the progressive de- 
 velopment of earth and the spheres above, and explain by 
 what process these mighty events took place. 
 
 The thousand orbs which traverse the vast space as- 
 signed them, and which show forth the might and glory 
 of their Creator, were created from the smallest atomic 
 particles the human mind can imagine. When the whole 
 immense space now occupied by them lay silent, dark, 
 and in almost eternal solitude, these principles which now 
 develop life, and w^hich now generate matter in its in- 
 finite variety of form and substance were dormant, for de- 
 velopment had not brought their several causes to that 
 point where action could possibly take place. This part 
 
.SPIRITUALISM. 157 
 
 of creation was indeed a blank, but when this point was 
 reached then, as before mentioned, the first evidence of 
 progression was motion. Then that subtile agent, that 
 which neither spirits nor man yet understand, first exerted 
 its almost omnipotent forces, and these particles were 
 drawn toward each other, thus forming large bodies, and 
 thus instituting motion. But if we carefully watch this 
 process, we observe that when two of these minute atoms 
 were joined together, the attractive force of the twain was 
 in the ratio of their size, and also that their momentum 
 was increased by the same cause. 
 
 ]^ow, when this is understood, we are struck with the 
 harmony which prevails under this law, which is every- 
 where observable in every department of creation to which 
 man's mind can have access. When, therefore, the power 
 was increased by the union of two particles, it gave addi- 
 tional attraction to draw toward the two in one, another 
 body, and as the motion increased its circulation was over 
 a wide portion of space. As the particles by this union in- 
 creased in size and motion, some being above and others 
 below, there was of necessity in situation, a separation, as 
 it were, of the limits of their action ; thus when the cen- 
 tral body, w^hich is the nucleus of the orb or globe, re- 
 volved in a certain part of this space, its attractive force 
 could only extend so far as its momentum permitted it to 
 go, and by this means it left to the influence of the same 
 law, the other nuclea in other parts of space. But as the 
 atoms were attracted to the nucleus, and were united with 
 it, they abstracted from the void around certain properties 
 which formed their constituents, and left the space a new 
 media or a new development. It is undoubtedly from this 
 cause that the atmosphere surrounding the planets, stars, 
 and other bodies was formed. ISTow these bodies, increas- 
 ing in size and velocity, developed new properties in them- 
 selves, and when they had attained that size that their 
 friction was violent and rapid against the atmosphere, 
 generated as I have described, the heavy, thick gases of 
 
168 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 which they were constituted ignited with this friction, 
 and thus a new process of development took place. The 
 result of the combustion of these gases developed dense 
 matter, and this dense matter now being acted upon by 
 the atmosphere, again developed new properties in that. 
 But it must be understood that the density of the matter 
 increased its ability to extract from the atomic particles, 
 even now as ever floating in space, a greater number, thus 
 surrounding the dense center with a cloudy halo ; and 
 when, by the force of its momentum, these additions were 
 ignited, it gave to the whole of the thousand worlds, thus 
 floating in space, the appearance of comets. The revolu- 
 tion and onward motion acting upon the atmosphere caused 
 the gases to trail behind, thus giving to their aspect the 
 tails with which comets are usually connected. Every ad- 
 dition generated new properties, and these new properties 
 others ; and when the operations of these generic laws are 
 exhausted in the matter found in the orbits in which they 
 are nursed, a new change takes place, which we will de- 
 scribe at our next meeting. 
 
SPIEITITALISM. 159 
 
 Sutiflji €U\itn, 
 
 Thursday^ Sept. 15th, 1853. 
 This evening, at Dr. Dexter' s, the circle met, and it was written : 
 
 I AM not going to detain you long to-night. The absence 
 of some of the members of the circle has interrupted our 
 plans, and we shall more fully carry them out when we 
 are all together. As so much has been written and re- 
 vealed, would it not be best to converse about it for awhile, 
 before we begin to write about our proper subject? 
 
 Bacon. 
 
 Mr. Warren then remarked about the effect of their teachings the other 
 night, as to the collection of matter from space, that it would destroy the 
 equilibrium. 
 
 It was answered : 
 
 'No ; if you examine the remark to which you refer, you 
 will find you are mistaken. I said the gases when ignited, 
 by the velocity with which the body moved, left a trail like 
 a comet by the force with which it came against the atmos- 
 phere. 
 
 If the matter were equally difi'used there could not be 
 any confusion. There was no new matter created, only the 
 various development of what already had existence. 
 
 Mr. Warren, you might as well say that there must be a 
 want of equilibrium in the case of a desert, because one 
 part of the same surface is covered with forests, and on the 
 desert there is none. IjTow, how do you account for the 
 clearing of half a hemisphere of its wood and dense forests 
 if the removal of matter would cause any confusion in the 
 motion of this world ? You should make good the de- 
 
160 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 ficiency by adding to it the vegetable development in some 
 other part off the world. 
 
 No. Matter existed. AiM if yon were able to explore 
 the other systems, revolving around a central point, you 
 would see that their geological formation exhibits ages on 
 ages of maturity, beyond this world, or any of the other 
 bodies created at the same time. The center is maintained 
 by that attractive force which equally balances every part. 
 
 One great virtue inculcated by God, his developments 
 in nature, and the spirit too, is patience. Imagine how 
 long the Almighty must have w.aited to see the fruits of his 
 laws executed in every department of creation, and imagine 
 how much it retards our manifestation in the intensity of 
 its action, in the nature of the communication, and in the 
 thought communicated, when by any cause the circle is in 
 any way either disturbed or deranged. 
 
 Then after saying considerable as to the irregularity of the attendance 
 at our circle, which it is not necessary to insert, it was added : 
 
 I can not permit the opportunity to pass without saying, 
 that our teachings may not conform to the received notions 
 of earthly science in every particular, but we give you 
 what we have learnt and our opinions thereon, and you 
 must take them for what they are worth. 
 
 I, then, giving myself up to the influence, saw as follows : 
 > VISION. 
 
 I was passing up the same path to the group of spirits 
 near the fountain, and when I arrived there I was accom- 
 panied by that presiding spirit, and some others, to a man- 
 sion at a short distance on the right side of the path. It 
 was a brown house, two stories high, with a piazza in front, 
 the precise picture of the house in the country which I oc- 
 cupied when my wife died. On ascending the piazza, I ap- 
 proached a window which opened to the floor, and there I 
 saw the same room, with the same farniture, and placed in 
 the same position, as when she breathed her last. It had 
 
SPIEITTIALISM. 161 
 
 thus been arranged by her, as a reminiscence of earthly life, 
 and she stood by my side as I was looking at it, carefully 
 watching its effect on me, no^ without some apprehension 
 as to what it might be ; I carefully suppressed all signs of 
 emotion, and calmly beheld the scene, and there and then 
 was presented to me the picture of her death — not its mor- 
 tal, but its spiritual aspect.* There was no group of mourn- 
 ers around the bed. The room was vacant of mortals ; but 
 floating in the air, over the bed in which the body lay, 
 were two bright spirits, apparently young. They were our 
 two children. Her spiritual body was also floating in the 
 air directly under them. It was evidently unconscious 
 when I first saw it. At length she opened her eyes, and 
 extended her arms toward her two children. At the same 
 time, she felt the strong attraction of the love she bore to 
 those she had left behind. She turned to look at them. They 
 were in another room in the house, yet she saw them. She 
 seemed somewhat bewildered. She was aware she had died, 
 yet the scene around was precisely the same to which she 
 had been accustomed. Death was so diflferent from what 
 she had supposed it to be ! It was but a continuance of 
 life. She saw ouf sorrow. She was reluctant to leave us, 
 and wanted to return to comfort us, yet she felt attracted 
 upward. She arose to an erect posture, and felt so buoyant 
 as if she could not help rising. She saw other spirits in 
 the distance, some of them her old acquaintances on earth. 
 As she arose she saw, opening to her view, a ve^^ glorious 
 country, and she was accompanied by a great number of 
 spirits, who were rejoicing at her advent. Among them 
 were spirits from other planets, some from Mars in particu- 
 lar. It was a very joyous welcome they gave her. Still 
 she thought of those she had lieft behind, and often turned 
 her looks back to them, while borne aloft in the arms of 
 her children, and welcomed by glad shouts all around her. 
 And as the scene passed from my view, the spirits who 
 
 See Appendix B. 
 11 
 
162 SPIPwITUALISM. 
 
 surrounded me, said to me, "Such is the death of the pure 
 and the good, who have subdued all sellishness, and culti- 
 vated a love for others." • 
 
 The awakening of the spirit to consciousness must have 
 been some time after the breath had left her, for her body 
 had been laid out in its grave-clothes, and the room was 
 alone. 
 
 At the end of the house, next that room, I saw the same 
 garden which she and I had so much enjoyed during the 
 last summer of her life here. Besides, however, its walks, 
 and bowers, and beds of flowers, it was covered with large 
 trees, beneath whose shades the plants grew apparently 
 uninjured by it, and beyond it was a dense grove of trees. 
 I saw also another addition, and that was a statute as large 
 as life of " the Guardian Angel," like that which now orna- 
 ments one of my bookcases, and has so often reminded me 
 of her. It stood in the midst of the circular bed, and 
 around it was my frame for the cypress vine, covered pro- 
 fusely with leaves and flowers, through which the statue 
 was seen. 
 
 So, too, the piazza was a little different from ours. The 
 green blinds, which with us excluded the afternoon sun, 
 were removed, and the scene on which I looked was not 
 the Hudson Eiver and the Palisades as it had been here, 
 but was the glorious spirit-country, with its infinite va- 
 riety of beauty ; and directly in front of us was a group of 
 spirits very harmonious, beautiful, and happy. In the dis- 
 tance, and prominent to view, was that jagged rock, w^hose 
 meaning I do not yet understand. 
 
 Some of the spirits were examining the flowers in the 
 front garden, some in groups conversing, and all were so 
 joyous. In one corner of the garden was a statue of Peni- 
 tence, with its hands and head bowed in deep humiliation. 
 In the other a statue of Hope, with its hands clasped in 
 front, and its looks elevated upward. The yard in front 
 was small. I was surprised at that, and thought it argued 
 want of taste. Off at the right was a dense wood, stand- 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 163 
 
 ing on the brow and side of a deep declivity, and amid its 
 foliage I saw the same arbor which she and I so well re- 
 membered here. * 
 
 It seemed that she had taken great pains to recall many of 
 the scenes and things of earth which were associated with 
 me and with pleasing remembrances ; even her old rocking- 
 chair, in w^iich she had nursed all our children, and whose 
 screaking they yet remember so well, and her work-table, 
 which was one of the first articles of furniture I ever got her. 
 Seeing me smile while I looked at them, she affectionately 
 took my arm in both her hands, and whispered in my ear, 
 " It's good yet," thus alluding to an anecdote which often 
 amused us almost from our first acquaintance. 
 
 So she called my attention to my military sash, gloves, 
 and spurs, which she had hanging by the head of her bed, 
 thus recalling scenes of my young days, in which we both 
 then took great pleasure. 
 
 Thus I found myself surrounded with pleasant reminis- 
 cences of scenes and events which had occurred at different 
 places, and during a period of thirty years that we were 
 united here. 
 
 While I was looking at these things, a carriage and four 
 horses drove up ; they immediately attracted my attention, 
 for one of my youthful follies had been a great penchant 
 for driving tandem and foui^-in-hand ; and she, whose girl- 
 hood had been accustomed to the quiet, sober driving of 
 her Quaker father, had soon learned to dash " fast and 
 furiously" through the country with me. It was a beautiful 
 turn-out. The carriage was light and tastj'^, with a high 
 seat for the driver, and one seat behind for two persons. 
 It was painted yellow, and on its panels was my seal ! Tlie 
 harness was light and airy, and the horses were superb 
 animals, of the true Arabian breed, with long, sleek bodies, 
 clean limbs, and a springing motion to every step. They 
 were well groomed, high-spirited, and well broke, and of 
 different colors, being matched rather for quality than 
 looks. 
 
164: SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 The presiding spirit and mj wife entered th^ carriage, 
 while I ascended the driver's seat and took the reins from 
 the coachman. 
 
 We started for a ride. We descended a hill and crossed 
 a bridge, driving westerly toward the shining mountain. 
 It was very exhilarating: the jingle of the harness, the 
 rattling of the wheels, the clear, ringing tread of the horses, 
 as we sped rapidly along, reminded me of many a yonthfal 
 frolic ; but here the pleasure was much enhanced by the 
 beautiful country through which we were passing, and the 
 many and delightful residences that lined both sides of the 
 way, as also by the thoughts which the scene and the asso- 
 ciations suggested. 
 
 As we passed rapidly along, I ever and anon turned to 
 speak to my companions of the beauties around me ; and 
 he who sat beside my wife seemed a little uneasy, as if I 
 was not attending as I should to my driving. My wife re- 
 assured him, and told him she was used to it, and he might 
 rely upon, it, that I was at home where I was, and knew 
 what I was about. 
 
 And now, how can I describe the scene through which 
 we passed? It seemed almost an earthly one, but more 
 sublimated, more refined, more beautiful and joyous, and 
 so free ; no trammels of conventionalism to mar the enjoy- 
 ment. It was a beautiful landscape, interspersed with 
 cottages and gardens, which had in very many instances 
 carried out the idea of recalling earthly scenes. Thus 
 there was the farm-house, the log-hut, the stately palace, 
 the little garden, and the wide-sweeping lawn, the water- 
 fall and the quiet pond, the towering forest and the lowlv 
 shrub, the smooth grass, and the beds of flowers — all, as 
 each one's propensity dictated, but rendering the tout en- 
 semble infinitely various and charming. 
 
 Off at our left, I saw, surrounded by ragged rocks, a 
 great spring of water, twenty or thirty feet in diameter, in 
 which the water was not merely w^elling, but boiling up. 
 Its main outlet was westerly, where it tumbled down the 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 165 
 
 bank amid the rocks, and covered by overhanging bushes, 
 amid whose dark shade it roared and gamboled along, 
 giving great joyoiisness to the scene. 
 
 A small portion of the water escaped on the east side of 
 the spring, and found its way down behind a log-hut, 
 meandering quietly among the fields. It was crossed by a 
 single slab, cut rudely out of a log, and its banks were 
 lined with flowering shrubs and plahts. 
 
 In the distance 1 saw some very stately mansions ; one 
 w^as castellated and spacious. It was surrounded by a 
 large park, and was approached by a smooth road, which 
 wound around pleasantly among the trees. It was built 
 on an eminence, at the bottom of which the outlet of the 
 spring passed, and was here dammed up so as to rnake a 
 large pond and a water-fall. The lawn was clean and 
 close-shaven, and descended to the water's edge ; and all 
 around it were cottages, retired and beautiful. 
 
 And I observed that though some of the grounds were 
 fenced by rows of trees and bushes, there were always 
 openings left for a free passage in all directions and through 
 all parts. 
 
 As I drove along I came to quite a steep hill, which re 
 quired some skill to descend. As we came to the bottom 
 I let the horses out into a rapid gait ; one of the leaders 
 broke into a canter, and we sped swiftly and merrily along 
 a level piece of road, on both sides of which a stream ot 
 water ran over a clear, gravelly bottom. On one side of the 
 road was a row of trees like the weeping willow, but bear- 
 ing a great abundance of light-purple flowers, six or eight 
 inches long, interspersed with a pineapple-shaped cluster 
 of crimson flowers. After a while the stream on the right 
 crossed the road and united with the other and turned off, 
 wandering through the fields till it was lost to my view. 
 Here I saw a Yirginia rail-fence, on what seemed to be a 
 farm, in whose pastures sheep and cows and horses were 
 feeding. I noticed particularly a mare, with a colt by her 
 side ; she was a beautiful animal. As she raised her head 
 
166 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 to look at us, her thick, long mane and tail blew forward, 
 and her whole form and attitude were very graceful ; she 
 was a bright bay, with some white on the nose, with two 
 white feet, and with white spots on her breast and flank. 
 Beyond these pastures was a farm-house, with no trees 
 near it. It was situated upon a little knoll, and was sur- 
 rounded by fields of grain, farming utensils, and out-houses. 
 I saw men at work, apparently unloading hay into one of 
 the barns. 
 
 After passing that place, we ascended a gentle rise in the 
 road, and came to a house by the wayside, which seemed 
 like an inn, but was certainly a common stopping-place. 
 The man who lived there, his wife and two daughters, 
 came to the door ; and here again was manifested the same 
 emotions I have so often witnessed. 
 
 They who sat in the carriage talked with them a mo- 
 ment, but my attention was occupied with a stately build- 
 ing that stood near. It seemed to be a church, and pre- 
 sented its Gothic gable, in which was a beautiful rose win- 
 dow, to the road. 
 
 In front of the inn was a water-trough, into which a 
 stream of clear water ran from a rudely-constructed pen- 
 stock. 
 
 I turned to go back, and as I did so I observed how 
 beautifully the golden light from the mountain lighted 
 up the whole scene. It seemed to be shining through, 
 and softened by a thin cloud, of a mingled purple and 
 violet hue. The golden light seemed to roll down the 
 sides of the mountain like burning lava through this thin 
 cloud. 
 
 One luxury they had in abundance, and that was clear, 
 pure water in every possible form. 
 
 As I was returning I observed that the houses on both 
 sides of me were enveloped in different colored lights — 
 some red, some blue, some green, some orange, and the 
 like, which, while it added immensely to the beauties of 
 the scene, served to indicate the prevailing characteristics 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 167 
 
 of the occupants. There was such indescribable love- 
 liness, repose, and happiness in the scene, that I was 
 filled with emotions of solemn awe too fall to speak. I 
 gave up the reins to the driver who sat by my side, and, 
 folding my arms, surrendered myself to silent contem- 
 plation. 
 
 The distant hills were surrounded by a purple haze, and 
 the general aspect of the intermediate landscape was of 
 a soft, rose-colored hue. It was their twilight. As I re- 
 turned to my wife's mansion, I observed it was surrounded 
 by a pale, soft light of gold and blue, distinct from each 
 other, yet mingled. 
 
 I assisted my wife to dismount from the carriage, and 
 she stopped at her gate, swinging her hat around her 
 fingers ; and thus I took my leave of her, and, with her 
 aged servitor, passed rapidly on my return. 
 
 As I went along, many told me they had something to 
 show me ; but my time was up, and I could not tarry. So 
 as I passed the residence of him who had built the stair- 
 way, I paused a moment to say that I must defer my visit 
 to him to another occasion, and then I left the country. 
 
 
 ^4^F0'R^S^ 
 
168 SPIEITUAHSM, 
 
 Bttim ifoelh. 
 
 Friday, Sept. 16, 1853. 
 The circls met in my library. 
 
 After a manifestation through Mrs. S., Dr. D. was influenced, and the 
 following was written : 
 
 This is a proper opportunity for me to make a few re- 
 marks, and as the teaching through Mrs. Sweet"^ is in- 
 tended to represent a spirit's entrance to the spheres who 
 has lived entirely for his own pleasures, and who has not 
 improved any opportunities which had been oft'ered him by 
 his connections and wealth, it was well said that his mind 
 \vas a blank, and in this remark you have as perfect an ex- 
 emplification of the soul's condition in some persons, as 
 could possibly be given you, for it is the absolute law 
 which obtains in all God's works, that every thing he has 
 created must progress to develop its full and positive char- 
 acteristics. 
 
 l^ow, when a child is born into your world, his mind is 
 a blank. He neither thinks, nor is capable of communi- 
 cating thought, and the first manifestation he makes is his 
 desire to obtain food, which is purely a material attribute. 
 But when in process of time that child's body develops, so 
 does his brain become capable of receiving from the out- 
 ward world those impressions which it can nov/ convey to 
 his spirit. There is a proportional growth of spirit as well 
 as body. Now, the spirit in its growth, as well as the 
 body, displays certain peculiarities, that evidently can not 
 be derived from the impressions made on the material part 
 
 * See Appendix C. , 
 
^ SPIRITUALISM. 169 
 
 of his organization ; and those peculiarities may distinguish 
 it throughout its whole life. 
 
 Suppose for a moment, that a child should die! can it be 
 compatible with what we see of the works of God every- 
 where, that the spirit of that child should always remain in 
 the same state in which it was placed on earth? that it 
 should never develop the spirit-attributes, and forever be a 
 blank ? Or, suppose that, when arrived at manhood, with 
 all the peculiarities developed by material impressions, as- 
 sociation, education, and the spirit's own characteristics, it 
 dies ! Can the mind contemplate that soul after death re- 
 maining in the same condition, mentally and spiritually ? 
 God, even in the smallest thing, displays the divine prin- 
 ciples by which his own existence is governed, as well as 
 all creation ; and from the first of the germ to the full and 
 perfect insect he inducts it into several processes of exist- 
 ence until the perfect thing is formed, lives, and dies. 
 
 But even in the characteristics of this insignificant in- 
 sect there is always a commensurate display of progress in 
 all that concerns its life, as there is in man. And in each 
 living thing, from the most minute to the highest of all, this 
 same law is observed to exist, and may be called indubi- 
 tably, the law of progression. 
 
 But when a man dies, as this man described to-night, 
 with no view of the obligations binding him to his race, 
 and who lived and died for himself alone, can you realize 
 how all that God has taught you by the evidences in your- 
 self and in all nature around you, that he intended his 
 spirit to live forever in a condition created by this selfish- 
 ness here ? Were this so, and the soul maintained its own 
 peculiarities manifested in the form, after death, what is 
 called Heaven would be a perfect Hell, unfit for the resi- 
 dence of intelligent beings, and more especially unfit for 
 the residence of a God. 'No ; each one would carry into 
 that place the same peculiarities of feelings which marked 
 his spirit here, modified of course by the change which 
 might have taken place either morally or otherwise. Still, 
 
170 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 if the law of progression was not in full effect, the soul 
 would not, could not, increase in goodness, but would posi- 
 tively retrograde, as there is no such thing as a stationary 
 condition either in the spheres or on earth. 
 
 The soul confined to this place, with its peculiarities dis- 
 tinct and unqualified, would, if there were no progression, 
 develop the same properties which characterized it here, 
 only that for want of new impressions, good or not, the de- 
 velopment would necessarily be in the ratio of the want 
 of the attributes w^hich distinguish intelligence every- 
 where. I mean, if there could be no impressions after 
 death, for want of new ideas, the soul must, and would, act 
 on the old ones which its residence on earth produced. 
 Many spirits, when entering the spheres, have a mind as 
 much a blank in reference to all that concerns existence, as 
 if they were just ushered into a life on earth, and it be- 
 comes as much under the education of other spirits in its 
 own progress in what is good and true, as if, too, it were 
 taught the precepts of righteousness by earthly teachers 
 in your w^orld, only the perception of the true and good is 
 not in every case as instantaneous as was represented 
 to-night. 
 
 Every man, no matter how good he may appear on 
 earth, can not enter eternity spotless and pure. There 
 must be many sins concealed from the world, and which 
 he rolled like a sweet morsel under his tongue, that find 
 him out here, and the change in his material condition 
 facilitates this display. Kow the spirit, if it were imme- 
 diately ushered into heaven after death, could not assimil- 
 ate with its new locality, and the thousands on thousands 
 of spirits found there. They would be perfect, or would 
 be so far in advance of the new spirit, that it would find 
 itself positively out of place, and instead of being happy, 
 it would be miserable. Though it desires to be good, and 
 it has lived a good life on earth, the change from earth to 
 heaven does not divest the mind of all the impurities its 
 earthly residence has ingrafted on the soul. It therefore 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 171 
 
 can not unite with the principle existing there, which is 
 positive, entire, and absohite purity. Now, how can the 
 soul become pure so suddenly? Can it become wicked at 
 once, even w^hen surrounded by all that can make a man 
 wicked on earth? Does not the soul reject evil w^hen first 
 presented to its view? And does not a man who has 
 never mingled with the impure and evil, shudder when he 
 contemplates their doings ? But when the mind becomes 
 accustomed to its contemplation, it gradually yields to its 
 influence, and at last unites with the wicked, and is itself 
 impure. Can this effect be changed when the soul retains 
 all its spiritual properties after death? No; when we 
 contemplate the soul of man ushered into a new existence, 
 under the full influence of the law of progression, we feel 
 assured, then, that there is laid up for us a treasure in 
 heaven, but that we must earn it ourselves. We then can 
 understand the teachings of Christ, where he says, " Work 
 out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Yes, 
 the soul, recognizing its independence, trusts to the law un- 
 der which its existence was vouchsafed to it. It feels, 
 then, that evil is the certain result of an adherence to evils 
 in design or act, and it acknowledges that the law will find 
 him out, whether on earth or in the spheres. 
 
 It is to be remembered that any violation of a natural 
 law brings its own punishment. And the same effect wdll 
 be observed in the violation of a moral law. Then the 
 similarity of the effect shows us that the spirit of God acts 
 both materially and spiritually, and that his manifestation 
 through the material adds to the force of tlie spiritual ; and 
 when we also consider that any disregard of the material 
 brings aho a moral acknowledgment of wrong, we at once 
 see that they are individually united in the spheres forever. 
 
 Entering into the spheres as a child, it is taught all that 
 it will receive, and if it rejects, it remains the same in the 
 exhibitions of the same passions and feelings, the same 
 incentives and motive-s which on earth characterized the 
 body and the spirit. 
 
172 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 But if it does receive and seek for it, it puts on a new 
 garment of righteousness, and takes its place in that house 
 where there are many miinsions, where the full opportunity 
 is offered of receivino^ from the Father, throus^h his insti- 
 tuted laws, all that belongs to it, as the son and heir of a 
 glorious eternity. Sweedenbokg. 
 
 Sutijn C^irtnn, 
 
 Monday, Sept. 18, 1853, 
 This evening the whole circle were present at Dr. Dexter's, and after 
 some personal matters were written, I was impressed, and saw as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 I WAS again in that country near the fountain, but there 
 were only two or three spirits there. 
 
 My attention was called to the steps leading up the shin- 
 ing mountain. In the full blaze of the light I saw an old 
 man going up, with a staff in one hand and a book in the 
 other. He moved slowly, but the ascent did not seem toil- 
 some. Nor was that his first visit. He belonged there, 
 and had been absent on some mission. Tliough he was at 
 a great distance from me. I saw him very distinctly, and 
 he saw me. As he approached the arch which terminated 
 the ascent, he nodded to me in a friendly manner, and 
 pointed up, as if saying to me, " Enter here, too." He 
 then passed through the arch beyond my sight. 
 
 As I stood looking upon the ground and reflecting upon 
 the incident, the presiding spirit, who stood near me, told 
 me that that was Luke. He wore a sort of palmer's dress. 
 His outer garment was a dark purple, bound around his 
 waist by a cord. His inner garment was white. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 173 
 
 I then saw, as if suddenly lighted up, one of the prom- 
 inences beyond, and above that shining mountain. The 
 light was generated by this eminence itself, and seemed to 
 issue from the surface in numberless streaks of crimson 
 and blue light mingled, yet distinct from each other. It 
 showed me the path which led from the shining mountain 
 to it. It was a suspension-bridge, elevated at one end 
 much higher than the other. 
 
 On the summit of this eminence was a vast building 
 surmounted by minarets, domes, castellated towers, and 
 pointed arches — a singular mixture, but very beautiful. 
 It was built of stones veined with blue, brown, white, 
 purple, and red colors. In the center of the building was 
 a large flat dome, from which arose a flag-staff in the shape 
 of the cross. From the staff hung in easy folds, gently 
 stirred by the breeze, a white banner with a border of 
 blue and black fringe. On the banner was this inscrip- 
 tion: 
 
 " In hoc signo vinces 
 Sed non per illud."* 
 
 There were four smjJl flags flying from other parts of 
 the building, of different colors ; but I was too distant to 
 distinguish what they were precisely, or the devices on 
 them. 
 
 Beyond this eminence I saw a passage leading from it to 
 one still higher. It was the span of an immense arch, tlie 
 farther end of which was lost to my view in the distance. 
 
 From the crown of the arch a pathway lay up, wliich 
 was supported by several tiers of arches, one above another. 
 The end of that path also was lost to view in the distance. 
 It seemed to terminate in a still greater eminence, which 
 was entirely enveloped and hidden from my sight by an 
 immense column of blue flame, tipped in a thousand places 
 with a slight tinge of gold. In the mountain with the 
 
 * " In this sign you conquer, but not hy it." 
 
17^ SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 shining golden light Love predominated, but here it was 
 Wisdom. I saw spirits, though not in great numbers, com- 
 ing from the distance, and plunging out of my sight into 
 the blue column. Some seemed very small to me, as if 
 they were at a great distance, and I observed that all had 
 their heads encircled by a halo of light, not entirely cir- 
 cular as is often painted, but in a pyramidal shape, higliest 
 in the center. This column of blue and gold, I observed, 
 terminated high above, in a bright silver light which 
 threw its bright rays far into the distance, illuminating 
 space far beyond where ray eye could reach. The light 
 of Love and Wisdom thus terminated in Truth, and illu- 
 mined creation around. 
 
 When I had observed these things, the presiding spirit 
 took me by the arm and led me into their Hall of Instruc- 
 tion and on to its roof. We ascended from the main hall 
 by a very singular flight of steps. They were shaped like 
 several X's placed one on another. As they came to the 
 different floors, platforms extended out. It was some time 
 before I could understand how they could be ascended ; 
 but I saw that it was very plain and simple, as well as 
 ingenious. It was, in fact, a double stairway. They were 
 self-sustaining, and very easy of ascent. 
 
 The roof was built very substantially, of heavy massive 
 stone, strong enough to hold a battery of cannon. But it 
 was armed, not with instruments of destruction, but of 
 knowledge, and that was a number of telescopes of various 
 sizes. One of them was very enormous, far beyond any 
 thing ever attained on earth, and the machinery by which 
 it was moved and guided was very simple. I wanted at 
 once to go to that one and look, but its end was imme- 
 diately depressed so low that I could not, and on looking 
 around, I observed they were all so, save the smallest, and 
 that was at the proper elevation. I accordingly approach- 
 ed it, and began my observations. I saw a single star that 
 had been invisible to my naked eye. It appeared now to 
 me about two inches in diameter, and was merely a flame 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 175 
 
 of fire revolving with amazing velocity. It was the 
 nucleus of another world rolling out of the immensity of 
 space, and forming itself in obedience to the great laws of 
 creation which are ever at work. Its center seemed like 
 a red-hot ball, somewhat more solid than its exterior, and 
 thinning off into what may be called a liery vapor. It 
 consisted of particles of matter set on fire by the velocity 
 of its motion, not yet amalgamated but attracted, and tend- 
 ing gradually toward a solid mass. It had been ages in 
 progressing thus far, and ages yet must pass before it can 
 be so far developed as to give birth to animal life. Thus 
 said the spirit by my side. 
 
 I passed then to the next telescope, which was larger ; 
 and when it had been properly adjusted I saw another star, 
 which appeared somewhat larger than the other. It looked 
 like a red-hot cannon-ball, and was surrounded by a lumin- 
 ous vapor of about one eighth of the diameter of the solid 
 part. This body did not move as rapidly as the other. 
 Off from it, at various distances in the space, were smaller 
 irregular pieces of burning matter, revolving in the same 
 direction with the main body, and keeping up with it in 
 velocity. These, I was told, were parts of the main body, 
 which had been cast off in the process of its formation. 
 They were now too far distant for its attractive power ever 
 to be able to draw them to itself, yet so near as to keep 
 them revolving nigh it, and preventing them from flying 
 off into illimitable space. They, too, in time, when ages 
 shall have passed, will be formed into regular bodies fitted 
 for animal life, and revolve around the main globe as its 
 satellites, at once giving and imparting light, and adding to 
 the beauty and variety of the scene. 
 
 "While I was looking, I saw that the red-hot nucleus of 
 the main globe had diminished in size, and by becoming 
 more solid had decreased in its dimensions, but the sur- 
 rounding fiery vapor had not, and I plainly saw an open- 
 ing between it and the globe. And it seemed to me that 
 this vacancy must, for awhile at least, be augmented as the 
 
176 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 distance weakened the attractive power of the globe over 
 this attendant vapor, until it also should become solid in 
 the form of a ring, and be retained bj the power of attrac- 
 tion in its position around the globe, the power being too 
 weak, by means of the distance, ever to draw it back to 
 the globe, while it would be strong enough to keep it from 
 shooting off into space. 
 
 I then passed to the next telescope, which was still larger, 
 and there I saw a globe, apparently six inches in diameter. 
 It was white, and while the others were red, and shone by 
 their own light, this one shone by a borrowed light. It 
 had passed, the state of ignition in which they were, and 
 had formed a solid body; yet it must have been rough and 
 misshapen on its surface, for I saw that the light which 
 was reflected from it was uneven — in some places bright 
 and in some darker, like the appearance of the moon to us, 
 and for the same reason that its surface had not yet been 
 smoothed down by the hand of time, but was filled with 
 deep caverns and rugged prominences. ' 
 
 It was yet too rude and wild for the habitation of animal 
 life, and ages must pass before it could become so. It 
 must be an awful desert waste, with no life and no vegeta- 
 tion. I saw no satellites around it — no luminous belts ; 
 but I observed a narrow streak of atmosphere, as. I con- 
 ceived it to be ; for I saw a star near it, and noticed when 
 it passed behind this planet ; and, by the change in its light, 
 I discovered that there was an atmosphere, though very 
 faintly developed as yet. The motion of this body was 
 slower still than either of the others, and was singular in 
 this respect, that its axis was at right-angles with the 
 plane of its orbit, so that instead of rolling like a wheel 
 it was turning like a top. Its motion caused it to be oval- 
 shaped. 
 
 Through the next glass which I approached, I saw a 
 globe, larger than either of the others, signing with a bor- 
 rowed silver light, and surrounded by several smaller ones 
 revolving around it. It had what seemed to be streaks of 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 177 
 
 light around it. I at first supposed them to be of solid 
 matter, like the body of the globe, though perhaps less 
 dense ; but I discovered that this was not so, but it was 
 owing to the condition of the atmosphere belonging to that 
 globe, which was of different degrees of density at differ- 
 ent places, and so refracted the light differently, both in 
 passing to and being reflected from it; and thus those 
 streaks or belts were formed. The atmosphere which pro- 
 duced that effect was being refined and sublimated for the 
 support of a higher order of sentient beings, and during its 
 progress had this varying density. 
 
 The next telescope was still larger, and through it I saw 
 the whole of a planetary system, with its glowing center, 
 its planets receiving light from it, and attended by their 
 satellites. They revolved nearly on the same plane. At the 
 point from which I viewed it, the divergence was scarcely 
 perceptible. I saw comets also passing across their orbits, 
 going toward and returning from the center, some with 
 tails, some with a nucleus, and some without. They are 
 collections of matter undergoing the process of forming 
 into a world ; and as they pass immense distances through 
 space, they collect more matter in those far-distant regions, 
 and return with it, absorbing it within themselves by the 
 power of their attraction. In some parts through which 
 they move they find no matter in a proper condition to be 
 absorbed ; and as they become more dense, their orbits 
 become less elliptical. They proceed to a less distance, and 
 move only through the space where there is no matter fit 
 for them to absorb ; and the matter thus taken up, first in 
 the tail, is finally absorbed into the nucleus, and contrib- 
 utes, in the process of time, to the formation of a new 
 world. 
 
 A question was here asked by one of the circle, whether our sun was 
 a mere luminous body, or an opaque body surrounded by a luminous at- 
 mosphere, and inhabited ? 
 
 It was answered : " The latter." 
 
 I then passed to the last and largest telescope, and lan- 
 
 12 
 
178 
 
 S P I K I T U A L I S M . 
 
 guage fails me to give an adequate idea of the scene which 
 opened to my view, even in the limited field of vision of 
 that glass, not one thousandth part of the arch above me. 
 Yet in that small field of vision were millions and millions 
 of shining worlds, of all variety of color, and rolling in 
 orbits more various than the imagination can conceive. 
 These numberless and unnumbered worlds are filled with 
 sentient beings, with souls destined, like ours, to people 
 eternity. The drops in the ocean ; the grains of sand on 
 the sea-shore, multiplied by millions upon millions, would 
 give but a faint idea of the numbers. 
 
 Seeing the vastness of this creation — the infinite power 
 and wisdom it displa3^s, I asked myself what must be the 
 Creator ? Can the mortal mind grasp the thought or con- 
 ceive the. might and majesty of his existence? And what 
 is this Earth, in this vast and boundless universe, that for 
 it his eternal and immutable laws should be suspended? 
 And is it for man that it should be done ? for man, des- 
 tined, from his undeveloped state, to wander for ages in 
 the process of progression before he can be pure enough to 
 reach the Godhead ? before he can throw off the impurity 
 which binds him down to this material existence, and be- 
 gin to rise to those realms where the glory of God becomes 
 manifest ? Is he of consequence enough in the universe to 
 impel the great Creator to surrender his omnipotence and 
 omniscience to his wayward fancy, to his overweening 
 vanity ? Such were the thoughts which pressed upon my 
 mind as I surveyed that scene, and that presiding spirit 
 said to me, in his soft and solemn tones, "Stand here, now, 
 with your foot on this high sphere, your hand upon this 
 instrument of penetrating far into the hidden glories of 
 creation — your eye embracing only a portion of its vast- 
 ness, and your mind, with all its expansion, scarce able to 
 comprehend its verge only ; and think, if you can, of that 
 great Creator as one who can be angry at, or take ven- 
 geance upon, the inhabitants of one of the merest worlds 
 «f his creation ? Think of him rather as one who in his 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 179 
 
 love, as well as his might, has created this countless uni- 
 verse ; who by his love as well as his wisdom controls and 
 governs it, and who by his love pervading all created 
 things, diffused abroad through all matter and all spirit, 
 attracts and binds it together in unbroken harmony. Think 
 of him as one whose power and wisdom are never exerted 
 unaccompanied by his love. 
 
 " He is love ; and to be like him, to be able to approach 
 toward him, we must be love. Think of these things ; and 
 when you bow in humble adoration before him, let his love 
 fill your hearts, and remember that you have no evil to fear 
 of his creation, but only that which yourselves produce. 
 
 " And oh ! when your minds dwell on the Great I Am, 
 think of him, not as one clothed with the perversions of 
 your animal nature, but as one whose love is too powerful 
 to be overcome — too vast to be exhausted. 
 
 " Bow then the heart, and not the knee, before him ; 
 enjoy his love ; profit by his wisdom, and fear not his ven- 
 geance." 
 
 Here he closed his remarks, and, after leaving me silent 
 for a few moments, he conducted me out of the building, 
 where I took leave of him on my return. 
 
 As I was passing down I saw around the entrance that 
 lake-colored light, which denoted the approach of other 
 and new inhabitants of this happy land. I paused long 
 enough to discover that they were the van of the multi- 
 tude whom I had addressed from the path up the mount- 
 ain ; but I could not tarry longer, and so returned to Earth 
 again. 
 
180 SPIKITUALISM, 
 
 Swtifln Jfottrtun. 
 
 * Thursday, Sept. 22i» 1853. 
 
 This evening, at my library, the circle met. Present also Mrs. F., a 
 medium from Maumee, Ohio. 
 It was written : 
 
 We feel gratified to-night at having present at our circle 
 meeting one of whom we have heard by our brother-spirit 
 Bacon, and we propose that an attempt be made to impress 
 her by some of the spirits present who desire to do so. If 
 this suits all present, you can wait silent for a few moments 
 and watch the result. 
 
 Cordially and in love, with our feelings all attuned to 
 the love of God, everywhere manifest in his created works, 
 we greet you, and we impress you to love another in the 
 spirit, to feel that in every human heart are the seeds of 
 eternal and divine love. Be constant in your efforts to act 
 as well as feel, for while our God and our Creator feels 
 the unity of himself with all parts of his creation, he still 
 unceasingly acts to manifest that incomprehensible love 
 which prompted him out of chaos to form an infinity of 
 worlds for the abiding-place of man and his progressive 
 development. Sweeden^boeg, 
 
 Mrs. F. remarked that she suspected the spirits would not be able to 
 influence her, and it was written : 
 
 It is only necessary that she should hold her mind as it 
 were in abeyance, to forget herself and the presence of 
 others, and she can be carried to the inner condition and 
 see us all. Bacon. 
 
 She was then influenced, and saw the spirits that surrounded us. The 
 
JSPIBtTTJALlSM. 181 
 
 only thing requiring particular notice was, that she saw a dark spirit 
 also in attendance, y^ho was striving to obtain possession of her, but who 
 was prevented by the brighter ones. 
 Then it was written : 
 
 For fifteen minutes we will influence the Judge, but he 
 is quite unwell, and only for this time will the impress be 
 continued, and then go home. This picture will not be the 
 continuation of the usual visions, but a new picture en- 
 tirely. 
 
 I then saw as follows : 
 
 I was in a dark and gloomy country, all a dead level, 
 whose soil was a fine black sand, parched and very dry. 
 There was no water, no trees or shrubbery, but all was 
 bleak and barren. In a distant part of the scene I saw 
 a conical-shaped mountain, towering darkly among the 
 clouds, and intervening were roads and dwellings. 
 
 It looked as if the air was full of that black sand, and a 
 smoke, as if from bituminous coal, was over it all. 
 
 In front of one of the houses I saw two men fighting. 
 Out of its window a man was looking and laughing at the 
 affray. It was a dirty-looking hovel, and all around it was 
 foul, neglected, and in confusion. How cruel that fight 
 was ! They were a large and a small man who were en- 
 gaged. The larger held the smaller one fast and beat him 
 in the face with his fist, long after he ceased to resist. Some 
 of the passers-by regarded the scene with indifference, while 
 some enjoyed dt, and applauded and encouraged the large 
 one to keep on. 
 
 Among those who passed, I was particularly struck with 
 two who were engaged in deep and private conversation. 
 One of them was a man whose forte was cunning, and 
 whose penchant was to circumvent. He was never true, 
 sincere, or straightforward. He was disclosing some plan 
 he had devised to cheat some one, and, on raising his fist 
 at his companion, he said : " Damn you, if you betray me." 
 His companion seemed to be entirely under his control. 
 He was weak, and admired the cunning of the other. He 
 
182 SPIRITTJALISM. 
 
 seemed to love to aid others in committing crimes, but not 
 to have mind enough to devise any himself. 
 
 On the opposite side of the way, I observed what seemed 
 to be a full-grown boy, had caught a dog, had split open 
 his tail and put a stick in it, merely to enjoy the sport of 
 seeing his suffering. He then turned the dog loose, and 
 stood enjoying the scene. The attention of the owner of 
 the dog was drawn to his cries, and, discovering the cause, 
 he beat the boy, who, being as cowardly as he was cruel, 
 fled, but was pursued, and beaten and kicked far up the road. 
 
 As my eye followed them thus into their country, I ob- 
 served how dark and gloomy and forbidding every thing 
 seemed! The people were of different shades of a dirt 
 color. The light seemed to be an eternal twilight, or that 
 of a dark, murky, cloudy day. The air they breathed was 
 full of the impalpable dust from the dry, black sand, and 
 all around showed privation and neglect. 
 
 At the door of one of the hovels, that stood a little back 
 from the road, I saw a female who seemed to be about 
 twenty-six years old. She was round and full in appear- 
 ance — was a dark brunette with painted cheeks. Her 
 whole appearance, garb, and manner were meretricious, 
 and she had taken up her position there to entice some one 
 to enter her dwelling. At length a man in passing turned 
 aside, under the influence of passions which had marked 
 his earthly career, and with her entered her house. I saw 
 they were both influenced by the same passions, but were 
 incapable of gratifying them. The woman became furious. 
 She raved wildly, and in her insensate rage she dashed the 
 things around her to pieces. The man enjoyed her anger, 
 and she raged at him for laughing at her. She seized a 
 chair and aimed a blow at him. He evaded it, and with 
 his fist knocked her down. He struck her in the neck just 
 below the chin, and when she fell, he gnashed his teeth 
 in his rage, and stamped with his foot on her breast. He 
 kicked her in the side several times, and rushed from the 
 house. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 183 
 
 Here, as I was describing the scene, it was written through the 
 Doctor : 
 
 " Does she not suffer pain ? Watch and see, now. Examine her or- 
 ganization, and see its grossness. The vision is given you by a spirit 
 who has been to that sphere. It is the only place in eternity where 
 there is an approximation to physical pain," 
 
 I resumed my account as follows : 
 
 She did seem to suffer pain, but she can not die. She 
 partly recovered her consciousness, for she had been ren- 
 dered insensible by the violence, and she moaned as if in 
 pain. She put her hand upon her breast, as if in great dis- 
 tress. She breathed with difficulty, and seemed to suffer 
 in the throat where the blow hit. But the injury on her 
 breast caused her the most suffering. 
 
 She was very coarse and gross in her organism. Her 
 legs were large, her ankles coarse and ugly. She was very 
 full behind the ears, bull-necked as it were. Her lower jaw 
 w^as large and gross, and her lips and mouth like a negro's. 
 She was rotten with the disease she had carried with her to 
 the grave. There were large holes eaten by it in her groins 
 and in her thigh. Ah ! what a disgusting sight this was ! 
 
 After awhile she arose from the floor and seated herself 
 on the side of a bed. While she did so, I noticed the 
 furniture and appearance of the room. It was in all re- 
 spects an earthly scene, and amid its poverty and wretched- 
 ness she had bedizened her bed Avith curtains! As she 
 sat moaning, she deeply felt her misery. She seemed 
 to be aware that there was no end, no alleviation to it — 
 nothing to change the intensity of her suflering — no plea- 
 sure that she could enjoy. She sought in her mind for 
 some means of enjoyment, and found it only in the deep 
 spirit of revenge which was awakened, and which she had 
 a burning desire to vent upon him who had thus mal- 
 treated her. What awful torment she suffered while thus 
 alone she brooded o'er her wrongs ! worse by far she felt 
 than the hell she had heard of while on earth, and she was 
 persuaded there was no end to it. Ask her, and she would 
 say that kell was eternal. 
 
184 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 While she thus sat and suffered, a little girl entered the 
 hut ; her manner and garb were those of the most hardened 
 of the street-beggars of our large cities. Her black eyes 
 glowed like coals of fire, and she seemed precocious in all 
 that was evil. She taunted the woman with her condition, 
 and laughed at her. The woman hurled something at her 
 head, which she dodged, and repeated her taunts, and then 
 fled from the house laughing. 
 
 What a horrible scene of human degradation, seen amid 
 that dark and gloomy atmosphere ! I could scarcely 
 breathe myself; it distressed me, and I, too, left the house. 
 Its outside appearance was in keeping with all else. In 
 front of the door lay a couple of rough slabs as steps, and 
 the yard between the house and the road looked so dreary ; 
 nothing but that barren black sand, with here and there a 
 sickly plant of stramonium and a few stunted plants of 
 chick-weed ; and laying here and there, thrown carelessly 
 aside, various household implements, in various stages of 
 decay. All was poverty and filth, and amid it all, to con- 
 template her dress, bedizened off so as to render her per- 
 son attractive ! It was indeed a painted sepulcher — a fes- 
 tering carcass in a ball dress — revolting corruption be- 
 decked in flaunting colors. Then through it all, her 
 low forehead, her sinister eyes, her vacant look, her high 
 cheek bones ! Pagli ! I turned and hurried from the 
 scene. 
 
 As I got out into the street I saw a crowd tearing madly 
 along toward me. 
 
 They seemed to be dragging something by a rope, which 
 evidently gave them great pleasure. 
 
 Their shouts and yells made me think I had met a fire- 
 company running at the sound of the alarm-bell ; but as 
 they passed me, I saw it was a living man whom they were 
 dragging by the ankle along the ground. He w^as suffer- 
 ing much, and screaming in his agony ; but they only re- 
 joiced the more, and I noticed, among those who run along 
 by his side, a struggle to see which could get nearest to 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 185 
 
 him, so as most completely to enjoy the scene, and lose not 
 a bit of it. 
 
 They passed me, and I moved on. Soon I came to a 
 small collection of people who were acting the scene of 
 hanging a man on the gallows. There was the scaffold, 
 which had fallen, and a man was hanging by the neck in 
 the death-struggle. His eyes protruded ; his tongue was 
 thrust out of his mouth ; his face was flushed ; he strug- 
 gled and writhed, but he could not die. No welcome death 
 could come to put an end to his misery. I^o voice of pity 
 nor murmur of compassion arose to greet his ear, but only 
 shouts and laughter, rendered louder and more furious the 
 more severely he struggled and suffered, and accompanied 
 by the beating of a drum — for they had made quite a mili- 
 tary parade of it — and the gallows was surrounded by many 
 in grotesque military uniforms, and armed with sticks and 
 broom-handles. 
 
 Passing this scene, I came to one where a man was 
 hanging in chains ; he was closed in an iron net fastened 
 to a cross-piece on two upright posts, some twenty feet 
 from the ground. There was no one around this gallows ; 
 no attention seemed to be paid to it, except as the poor 
 sufferer would hail the passers-by and beg for a drop of 
 water. Thus I noticed a sailor pass, to whom he cried for 
 help, and from whom he got the answer, " Help yourself, 
 and be damned to you !" 
 
 IText I saw a party who were burning a man at the 
 stake. He was fastened to the stake by cords so tight that 
 he could not move a limb ; and thus they roasted him by 
 a slow fire. 
 
 Then I saw enacted a scene with which the history of 
 the Inquisition has rendered us familiar. A man was un- 
 dergoing the torture. There were only two or three per- 
 sons around him, as if there was some exclusiveness in 
 this enjoyment. His leg was in an iron case, and wedges 
 were driven in to crush the bone and flesh together. 
 How well they did it ! how expert they were ! and how 
 
186 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 they gloated over his yells of agony ! It was to theni a 
 repetition of an earthly pleasure. 
 
 I next saw a tall, vicious-looking woman, of about fifty 
 years of age. She was dressed in a spotted calico frock, 
 very common and very dirty. Her hair was gray ; her 
 teeth were gone ; her eyebrows were heavy, and under 
 them glowed a snaky pair of eyes. She held by one hand 
 a child four or five years old, who was squalid and ragged, 
 but who seemed to be of a simple, pleasant, and aftection- 
 ate disposition. The old woman was dragging the child 
 along roughly, and beating it with a stick. Its legs, and 
 arms, and breast were scarified. 
 
 How it made me weep to see that little sufferer ! and 
 how hard must be the heart, how dark the mind, that could 
 thus delight in inflicting suffering on a child ! Yet that 
 too was, alas ! but an earthly scene, enacted but too often 
 in our very midst. 
 
 I next observed a well-dressed female sitting by the way- 
 side, apparently in great distress. She had been driven 
 out of his dwelling by the man for whom she had sinned 
 on earth — for whose sake she had broken the ties of wife and 
 mother — for whom she had retained, even in death, an in- 
 sane attachment, and whose company she had sought as 
 her only solace in the spheres. She had been brutally 
 treated by him on earth, and as brutally driven from his 
 side here. She sat alone by the wayside in that desolate 
 scene, and amid that gloomy light, her face buried in her 
 hands, and her whole frame quivering with the anguish 
 she was enduring. No one pitied her. The passers-by 
 sneered and went on, and she shrank within herself at the 
 recollection of her past life. Her earthly career had drag- 
 ged the gray hairs of her loving parents to the grave ; she 
 had deserted an affectionate husband, and brought infamy 
 on her own children. All, all the past now arose vividly 
 before her, and she saw no end to her misery. Oh ! with 
 what anguish did she pray for annihilation ! how earnestly 
 wish that she might cease to be! for oh! she withered at 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 187 
 
 the idea of such a forever ! The memory of the past was 
 so vivid ever to her, and so horrible. It was her love of 
 pleasure that had caused her fall. She had seen an actor 
 on the stage in all the glare of his calling, and was daz- 
 zled ; he was a coarse fellow ; his success had been owing 
 to his phisique ; he was gross, sensual, and selfish, and he 
 soon cast her off; he now hated her presence, and drove 
 her instantly from his sight ; and as she bent to the earth, 
 she cried, "For this I sinned ! for this I sinned !" 
 
 I approached near to her, yet she did not seem conscious 
 of my presence. Indeed, I observed throughout this marked 
 difference between this and the brighter spheres where I 
 had been : here, no one seemed to be conscious of my 
 presence, unless I made myself known ; there, in the bright- 
 er spheres, all saw me. 
 
 I asked her if there was no end to her misery ? She 
 shook her head impatiently. I told her there was an end, 
 if she would but only seek it. She looked up at me as I 
 stood by her side, and became conscious of my presence, 
 and that I was not of that place. I noticed a faint streak 
 of light around her head — a fine, silver-like thread scarcely 
 perceptible. 
 
 She asked me how she could find it ? I replied, by pen- 
 itence. She said she was so now. I asked if her sorrow 
 was for her sin or for its consequences ? If for sin, I could 
 show her the way. 
 
 The expression of her countenance changed. A ray of 
 hope seemed to enlighten it, and she looked as if she could 
 have fallen down and worshiped me. She said she sought 
 this place and that companion drawn by her love for him, 
 and because she had nowhere else to go, but she had 
 through it all felt shame and sorrow that her propensities 
 had so attracted her there. 
 
 I then pointed her to that conical mountain, assured 
 her that by ascending that she would have a view of a 
 brighter and better country, and told her of the means of 
 attaining it. 
 
188 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 She said she was so feeble, so hungry, so sick, that she 
 could not climb it. 
 
 I urged her to try, and assured her that every step would 
 be easier ; that she must work out her own salvation — 
 she must toil for it. It was a long distance only to the 
 base of the mountain, and a toilsome, painful ascent, and 
 even when she had attained it she would but see in the 
 distance a better country, to which still the journey was 
 long and painful. Choose, then, I said, now your future — 
 that long and toilsome travel to a happy land, or this for- 
 ever, which now surrounds you. 
 
 I saw by her countenance that by nature she had been a 
 kindly woman, and I told her that on her passage she 
 would find the means of doing good to others, and she 
 must help all she could ; that every good deed, thus done, 
 would aid her on her journey. 
 
 She arose from the ground, and, leaning upon the fence, 
 she gazed intently at that distant mountain ; and as she 
 gazed, I saw the light around her head increased. 
 
 Amid all of her own sufferings she had observed those 
 of that little child, and the thought occurred to her to take 
 it with her. She immediately went to the old woman's 
 hovel, where she saw the little one sitting huddled up in a 
 corner, suppressing, from very fear, its moaning, while the 
 old woman was scolding and abusing it. She begged the 
 child of the old woman, and was instantly refused. She 
 renewed her importunities, and finally the old woman told 
 her if she would change garments with her she might have 
 the child. She assented to it, and the change was made. 
 The old woman was the taller of the two. The fine black 
 silk dress she now put on left her coarse ankles and feet 
 exposed to view ; but that she heeded not, but, proud of 
 her new and fashionable garments, she repaired to a piece 
 of broken mirror that she had, and admired herself. In 
 the mean time, the other female, clad in the long, coarse, 
 and unbecoming garment she had now put on, took the 
 child in her arms and left that hut. As she passed along. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 189 
 
 that little child put its arms around her neck, and, burying 
 its little face in her bosom, gave free vent to the sobs 
 which before it had been obliged to suppress. It was a 
 touching sight. The child was dirty and ragged, yet its 
 flaxen hair, its clear complexion, and its look of inno- 
 cence awakened my compassion ; and as it cried in its joy 
 that it had some one to love, my tears also flowed in spite 
 of me. • 
 
 As the female proceeded on her way to the mountain, 
 she became stronger and walked more erect. She finally 
 ran, so as to get as soon as possible beyond the reach of 
 her former companion, lest in his vileness he might at- 
 tempt to interrupt her. The child, pleased with the mo- 
 tion, raised its head, and with one of its little hands patted 
 her on the neck. 
 
 The female every moment felt stronger, and I noticed 
 that a bright spirit now approached her from above. He 
 was still at quite a distance from her, but he threw upon 
 her a strong stream of light, whose influence cheered her 
 on. He had discovered her efforts at redemption, and 
 henceforth she would not be alone in her journey. 
 
 As she traveled along, she passed a bridge under which 
 floated a sluggish stream of dirty water ; some half-grown 
 boys were bathing in it. One of them, a stupid, vicious 
 boy, was the butt of the others, who were amusing them- 
 selves by holding his head under the water and trying to 
 smother him. He struggled violently, but they were too 
 strong for him. She paused a moment, and remonstrated 
 with them. They quitted their play and pelted her with 
 mud, and foremost among those who thus pelted her was 
 him for whom she interfered. Some of the mud hit her on 
 the side where the child was ; she removed it to the other 
 side, so as to interpose her own person between it and harm 
 from their rudeness.^ 
 
 « Now, in August, 1854, the spirits of the female and of that child have 
 approached and spoken to me through a medium. She gave her name, and 
 said she was a French woman, and lived in Paris during the reign of Louis 
 
190 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 What a repulsive nature that boy is ! A brutal coun- 
 tenance, with short hair, bull neck, and low forehead, he 
 hardly seemed fit to live. How many ages must pass be- 
 fore he can progress ! 
 
 As she resumed her journey, I saw crossing the path di- 
 rectly before her a man that could not walk upright. He 
 had been ages there, and had lived on earth when man was so 
 little developed- that he could not stand erect. He was one 
 of the lowest individualizations of man. He still moved 
 bent over, and used his arms frequently to help his loco- 
 motion. He was very strong in them, and by their aid 
 could jump a great ways. 
 
 As I turned to leave, I observed what an air of desola- 
 tion and dilapidation rested upon the scene. Not a build- 
 ing anywhere in order, but every thing showing neglect 
 and confusion. 
 
 Thus ended this vision. After it closed, we all remarked on the sin- 
 gularity of that child's being there. 
 And it was written : 
 
 The child was there because it had been educated in 
 grossness, and died material in thought and sentiment, but 
 possessed the germs of goodness, which were developed 
 even there to add to the deep misery of the woman's suf- 
 fering ; and when the other woman expressed the desire to 
 progress, the opportunity was afiforded to develop that 
 ^erm. She had been there but a short time. Good-night. 
 
 Philippe. She spoke of her parents, of her husband, and of her brothers and 
 sisters. She gave me some little account of the progress she had made, and 
 said she had not yet attained the base of the mountain to"ward which she was 
 traveling. 
 
8FIBITUALI81I. 191 
 
 Suliflii Jfiftettt. 
 
 Saturday^ Sept. 24^, 1853. 
 
 Mrs. F., the medium from Ohio, has been spending a few days with 
 me. On Thursday last she attended our circle, and while under the in- 
 fluence saw attending us, but standing a little distance off, a dark spirit, 
 whose influence the brighter spirits who were with us were striving to 
 drive ofi". 
 
 This evening she and I called on a friend. While there Mrs. F. was 
 influenced by a dark spirit, who said he had a spite against me. I asked 
 him what for ? He answered : Because I frustrated his plans, I replied 
 to him in a spirit of defiance, and told him we'd have a fair fight for it. 
 Nothing else of interest occurred, and we left. On our return, we stop- 
 ped a moment at a rapping medium's, and Mrs. F. got a communication 
 through the rappings from her attendant spirit. I inquired if the dark 
 spirit who had come was one in attendance on me ? It was answered : 
 
 No ; on some one else of the circle. 
 
 Late in the evening we returned home and sat alone in my parlor for 
 some little time. I prepared to retire by fastening my house, and on re- 
 turning to the room I found Mrs. F. very rigid, and evidently under the 
 influence. I sat down to await the manifestation, and in the mean time 
 took up a newspaper. She soon asked for a pencil. I got pencil and 
 paper for her, and resumed my reading. After a while I looked up and 
 saw she was very rigid, and that she had written something which she 
 held down very tight on the table, and was pushing toward me. I read 
 it. It was this : 
 
 You are afraid to trust your old friends, and think that 
 we will not protect you. We will. If the Judge will sit on 
 the other side, and touch your left hand, we will throw off 
 opposing influence. Be quick. 
 
 I immediately did as directed but as some delay had occurred from 
 my attention being taken up with my reading, I was too late — the spirit 
 
192 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 had complete possession of the medium, and retained it for more than an 
 hour. 
 
 At first we sat by the table very silent, and every muscle of her body was 
 drawn to its tightest tension. I held her left hand in mine, and placed 
 my right hand on her head, and continued to do so during the greater 
 part of the interview. She frequently told me not to let go of her. 
 
 It was evident that the influence was an unhappy one, and that self- 
 control and self-consciousness had left her. It was some time before the 
 spirit said much, but the gesticulation was violent. He frequently 
 looked in my face with a concentrated expression of spite, but I observed 
 that his gaze was soon withdrawn under my steady look. His face was 
 very much flushed. The eyes were open and protruded, and .the cheeks 
 swollen. Around the whole of the upper part of the neck, just below 
 the chin and ears, was a white streak, as if there was no blood there, 
 while below that the neck was so flushed that it was fairly purple. 
 
 The right hand was doubled into a fist, and he over and over again 
 raised it to strike me. It seemed to tremble with passion and was very 
 rigid and hard. I said to him several times, " Strike, if you want to." 
 His eyes were generally fixed rigidly at some object on the table, and 
 when I would say this he would turn and look at me, as if to see with 
 what emotions I said it. Several times he raised his fist, and, shaking 
 it at me, said, "Do you see that?'' I said, "Yes," but I was not un- 
 easy at any thing he could do, for God was over all, and in him I 
 trusted. 
 
 This continued for ten or fifteen minutes, during which he got more 
 complete control of the medium and talked easier. As soon as I saw he 
 could understand me, I began to talk to him. I said I was sorry I had 
 spoken to him as harshly as I had earlier in the evening. I was then 
 a little combative, but now I told him I had no feelings toward him 
 but compassion and a desire to do him good if I could. He gave me in 
 return a sneer. 
 
 I can not give the details of the interview consecutively, for I took no 
 notes. I must give it as I remember it, and in the order in which the 
 events arise in my memory 
 
 Thus about this time he said to me, " I can tell you some 
 things you don't know." I told him I was well aware of 
 that, and hoped he would do so, for it would help me do 
 good to the world. He replied to me, *' Curse the world*! 
 I hate it." I asked him if his hatred and curses gave him 
 happiness ? For my part, I found that loving mankind, 
 and desiring their good, made me most happy. He said, 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 193 
 
 " Did you ever have your damned neck broke on a gal- 
 lows ?" I said, 'No ; that was a great misfortune, but 
 could, if he pleased, be converted into the means of doing 
 him great good. If he was one whom I had condemned, 
 he might be assured that I had not done it without an 
 aching heart. " l!^o," was his reply, " it was not you, but 
 he w^as an old fool." It was the world, he said, that had 
 made him bad, and then hung him for it. 
 
 I did not wonder, I said, that he felt the degradation, 
 but it need not be perpetual. I had in myself experienced 
 the redeeming power that was available to him as it was 
 to me. 
 
 " Ay ! But did you ever murder ?" 
 
 " Ko." 
 
 '' Well, I have, and curse him ! I'd do it again." 
 
 " You must be wretchedly unhappy in the place to which 
 such feelings condemn you. Have you no aspirations for 
 a better condition ?" 
 
 I then asked if he hadn't a mother, or sister, or wife, or 
 children in the spirit- world, with whom he would like to 
 be reunited. 
 
 After a Ipng pause he asked me if I knew Mary ? Upon , 
 this hint I spoke, and dwelt often during our interview 
 upon his reunion with her. I asked him if he had not 
 Joved her ? 
 
 " Loved her !" was his answer ; and then with a frantic 
 gesture, as if inflicting a stab, he added, "and deeply was 
 I revenged. I hate the world. Curse them! You don't 
 know what wrongs I suffered !" 
 
 I told him it was not difficult for me to imagine, for I 
 knew how much wrong man was every day inflicting upon 
 his fellow. But still these feelings of hatred and revenge 
 only kept his spirit-friends of a brighter state far from him. 
 Much more like this I said to him until he was melted into 
 tears. He nestled close up to me, and said he was happier 
 than he had been for a long time. He asked me if I could 
 help him, and if I would ? But he would not credit my 
 
 13 
 
194 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 assurance that I could and would, and said, "I havn't confi- 
 dence in any one." 
 
 I asked him what I could do to convince him of my sin- 
 cerity? What object could I have in deceiving him? 
 And if he didn't know what I had already dared and sacri- 
 ficed for the cause of truth ? 
 
 He said, Yes, he knew it, but he wanted a pledge, a sign 
 from me. 
 
 I described to him my seal, and told him ^ that in its 
 words, " The Truth against the World," he would find my 
 pledge. 
 
 He then said^ " I shall suffer for this. Won't they tor- 
 ment me ? Why, they taunt me and call me criminal, and 
 tell me I was hung on the gallows ;" and he asked me, 
 " Do you know how many are here now ?" 
 
 I told him I did not. 
 
 He said, " There are a good many. Your room is full 
 of them. But they can't come near you. Twelve of them 
 have formed a combination and chosen their leader, and 
 are full of contrivances for mischief;" and then sinking 
 his voice to a whisper, he said, " they are saying among 
 I themselves you will take their companion away from 
 them." 
 
 Then, after a pause, he said, "Curse them! Black 
 devils ! I don't want to be back among them." 
 
 I told him he need not, that all depended on himself. 
 If he would earnestly desire to be lifted up from their asso- 
 ciation, he could be. Eepeatedly during the conversation, 
 and after he had shown signs of penitence, I asked him if 
 he did not see a light dawning upon him in the distance. 
 Once, after gazing very intently, he said he did. 
 
 Once he paused and listened, and said, "Do you hear 
 that?" 
 
 I answered, Yes, I heard rappings where he pointed, 
 and asked what it meant, but he gave me no answer. 
 
 At length I urged him to leave, for he could see how he 
 was causing the medium to suffer. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 195 
 
 He said he had found her on her way down to New 
 York, and discovered that she was not afraid, and therefore 
 he coald influence her. But he was afraid that if he left 
 her, he would not be permitted to speak through her again. 
 I repeatedly assured him he should. I proposed he should 
 come to our circle to-morrow night, and we would hear him. 
 
 He said he didn't want to expose his shame to the world. 
 He wanted to talk to me privately. 
 
 I said it should be as he pleased. He then asked me to 
 give him a written pledge that he might come. 
 
 I sat down to write one, and asked his name. He said 
 he had a good many, but I might call him Misfortune. 
 
 I then wrote these words : " I promise Misfortune that 
 he shall have a further opportunity to confer with me 
 through Mrs. F." 
 
 He asked my name, and told me to sign it. 
 
 Then I asked, " What good will that do you ? You can't 
 take it away with you." 
 
 He answered, " Lay it on the table. They will see it, 
 and I can't go back without some evidence that I have been 
 here." 
 
 He said when he came again he would bring some one 
 with him, for he was not alone in wishing to get out of that 
 bad place. And if he found out what I said to be true, he 
 would proclaim it so down among those people. 
 
 He then gave me instructions what to do with Mrs. F. 
 when he left her. He told me not to let go her hand, and 
 to keep one of my hands on her head all the time, and not 
 be alarmed at her fainting, for she would not die. 
 
196 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 Sept. 25, 1853. 
 This morning, while I was sitting in ray library, writing, Mrs. F. 
 came in and stood up near me. She said she felt the influence upon her. 
 I paid no particular attention to it, but went on with my writing. 
 Looking up, after a while, I saw her eyes were closed, that tears were 
 rolling down her cheeks, and that she was fully entranced and uncon- 
 scious. I then gave attention to the manifestation. 
 
 Ere long, slie said, " Can you wipe tears from the eyes?" 
 I said " Yes, and from the heart also." 
 
 She asked, "Is there any hope?" 
 
 I told her indeed there was to those who truly repented 
 and earnestly desired to be better and purer. 
 
 I asked if it was the same person who was here last 
 night ? 
 
 " No ; but he sent me here." Then falling on her knees 
 before me, she bowed her head, and in a low voice, said, 
 " I will confess to you." After a brief pause, she added, 
 " I murdered my own child." 
 
 She then asked if she could come again? I said she 
 might, and she said she must leave, or she would injure 
 Mrs. F. ; and so she left. 
 
 Soon after. Dr. Dexter came in. and he was influenced to write as 
 follows : 
 
 I can not permit the Doctor to remain here much longer ; 
 but as there are circumstances of importance to be under- 
 stood, I shall instruct you for a moment, and then insist on 
 his going. 
 
 In the first place, in regard to Mrs. F., the direction 
 given by the spirit* should not be taken literally ; for if 
 
 * In reference to her diet. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 197 
 
 she entirely abstained from food, she would not be able to 
 perform the duties before her. 
 
 It is not the absolute effect of food taken into the body 
 necessary for its support that will interfere with the mani- 
 festations through her, but it is the grossness of the nutrition 
 derived from that which in amount gratifies the taste, not 
 the demands of the body. If there were not enough taken 
 into the stomach to support the functions of the nervous 
 as well as the muscular system, she could not be ap- 
 proached either by good or unprogressed spirits. The in- 
 struction should be understood as meaning that she should 
 take just enough food to keep the several organs in proper 
 action, and no more. 
 
 The intention of all that you have witnessed is of far 
 more serious import than you now suppose. In all that 
 you see, though it may appear singular, if you will cast re- 
 flection back to the teachings personally months ago, you 
 will perceive that it was then told you that these things 
 would be revealed sooner or later. But let your judgment 
 be exercised in every thing. Let your analysis be com- 
 plete, and let nothing interfere between clear comprehen- 
 sion and what you hope may be the effect. One thing is 
 certain. In the revelations you will witness there are prin- 
 ciples involved of which you have not even dreamed, and 
 it requires from all of you the just exercise of all your men- 
 tal powers rightly to refer to each separate effect the design 
 and purpose thereof 
 
 Let them be heard. If they come in crowds, give to each 
 a hearing, and then decide on each individual case as it is 
 presented. 
 
 Bacon, and all the Spirits attending. 
 
 After he left, a spirit manifested herself through Mrs. F., who said : 
 
 She had been a female who had had great pride in life, 
 and was ambitious of pomp and distinction ; that she had 
 sold her virtue to a villain for gold ; had enticed her own 
 daughter to sin, and then to murder her child to hide her 
 
198 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 shame, and wlio had herself committed suicide to avoid 
 exposure. 
 
 She said the female who first came Vas her daughter, 
 who had told her of this way's being opened to escape from 
 the darkness in which she dwelt. 
 
 She once asked me, "Did you ever despair?" I in- 
 quired if she did? She answered, Yes, for she saw no end 
 to her misery ; that she had been there many years, and 
 was sinking lower and lower. She was now residing in 
 horrible darkness, alone with her daughter. Her daugh- 
 ter, she said, was purer than she was, and would never 
 again return down there ; and she could not bear to return 
 alone to that darkness. Her crimes, she said, were her 
 only companions ; the memory of them was ever with her. 
 And " Oh !" she exclaimed, laying her hand on her heart, 
 "how they burn, burn, forever burn here." 
 
 She said Jane told her that through us there was a way 
 opened to escape from that horrible place. I inquired if 
 no one ever came to teach them a way ? She said, " ISTo ; 
 only that man who was here last night came and told them 
 of this way." 
 
 And now, she said, if she could not go away from thai 
 place, she could take some one down with her. 
 
 While we were conversing, she looked around and told 
 me there were a good many others then present who want- 
 ed to talk to me, but some of them did not dare look at me ; 
 she attempted to drive them away. 
 
 I told her those were the feelings that kept her down 
 where she was ; that instead of desiring to take any one 
 down there, she must wish to lift some one up ; that in- 
 stead of driving them away from the road which .was 
 opened for her escape, she ought to labor to help others 
 find it. 
 
 She said no light came where she was, but all was dark 
 and lonely. 
 
 Once she told me to lay my hand on her head, as she 
 was sinking down, and could not stay without my help. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 109 
 
 She asked if she might come again, and gave me as her 
 signal a pressure with the right hand, and her left hand on 
 my head. 
 
 She complained of the light in my room as very op- 
 pressive, and I was compelled to darken it. 
 
 The next that came was a man. The first thing he said 
 was to ask me if I ever got drunk ? He said the cup had 
 ruined him. He was the husband of the last woman, and 
 he hated her bitterly. He said she ruined him and Jane, 
 and she deserved to suffer. He thanked God, he said, he 
 did not live away down where they were. He said murder, 
 suicide, and drunkenness surrounded him while on earth. 
 He did not murder nor commit suicide, but died of delirium 
 tremens. 
 
 When I talked to him of repentance and atonement, and 
 working out his own salvation, he asked me how? And 
 I told him by doing good to others, and first and foremost, 
 to his wife, by helping to elevate her. Thus he would not 
 only aid her, but himself by subduing the feelings of ha- 
 tred and revenge toward her, which bound him down to 
 his present condition, and would ever bind him there. 
 
 His signal was three grasps of the hand. 
 
 The next that came seemed to be a sea-captain. His 
 manner was rude and rough. He had been a cruel and 
 drinking man. He had made the men stand round, he 
 said, and used the cat-o'-nine-tails pretty freely. He asked 
 me if I thought that fellow he kicked overboard was 
 drowned ! He said he was a mean fellow, anyhow. He 
 asked me several times for something to drink. Inquired 
 if I was pilot there ? He had been told that through me 
 he could find a way of getting out from where he was. I 
 told him the way was by repentance and atonement. He 
 asked what I meant by repentance ? 
 
 " Why, did you never hear of that when here?" 
 " Yes, but 1 never paid any attention to it." 
 
200 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 " Well then, you must bow your heart before God with 
 true sorrow for your hardness and cruelty." 
 
 " I can't do that; I can't knock under. I must keep my 
 flag at mast-head." 
 
 " What ! in defiance of God ? Then I can not pilot you." 
 
 " But what must I do ?" 
 
 "Do good to y^ur fellows. For every blow you have 
 struck, do a good deed to some one else." 
 
 " Well, but what is a good deed ?" 
 
 " Any thing that forgets self and seeks to benefit others. 
 Go forth among your associates, tell them of the way that 
 is opened to them, and help them in it." 
 
 " There is a hell of a stir down there now about it. I 
 met Jack on the way. He said he had been here, and now 
 he has left us." 
 
 " Well, you can leave too, if you will. But you must 
 work for it yourself, and first by subduing the feelings 
 which now you cherish." 
 
 He paused for some time and^ asked if he might come 
 again ? 
 
 I said, 'No — not unless he could bring me an account of 
 some good he had done in the mean time. 
 
 '' Suppose I bring a fellow with me, will that do ?" 
 
 "Yes, if you will first explain to him all I've said to 
 you." 
 
 He then gave me a signal by which I should know him, 
 viz. : three slaps on the back of my hand, and he left. 
 
 The next that came was a young man who began by 
 asking me if I was a father ? He then told me, with tears 
 in his eyes, that he had been a very, very disobedient son. 
 That he was delicate, and had been tenderly nurtured. 
 That his father never denied him any indulgence, until at 
 the age of twenty he fell in love with a female who was 
 purity itself, but was poor. And his father interfered to 
 break up the attachment, and was going to bind him appren- 
 tice on board of a ship, and send him away. So in his wrath 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 201 
 
 he cursed his father and ran away, and ere long died the 
 death of a dog in a foreign land. He had loved his father, 
 but his mother did not care much for him. 
 
 He said that when he died, his heart was full of a feeling 
 of revenge toward his father, and he rejoiced at the sorrow 
 which he knew his father would feel at his death. He had 
 taken that same feeling with him into the spirit-world, 
 which he had only lately entered, and had there cherished 
 it and gloated over the idea of the tears his father shed at 
 his loss. And with much bitterness he said, "I have had 
 my revenge !" 
 
 He told me that ever since he had been in the spirit- 
 world he had wandered alone over a bleak, desolate, and 
 uninhabited country, where there was just light enough to 
 see how gloomy and dreary it was. That he had heard 
 that I could show him the way out, and he had come to 
 see if I could. There were a gi-eat many others coming, 
 and he was so heavy that he could not ascend up to me 
 without help. He described his dreary life, wandering 
 ever thus alone, brooding over the single thought of his 
 revenge upon his father. 
 
 I asked him if he had never been taught the lesson of the 
 saving power of love ? 
 
 He said he had not, nor was he at all aware, till I told 
 him, that it was this train of evil thought which he cher- 
 ished which had caused all his suffering. I told him how 
 all nature was bound together by the attractive power of 
 love, and repelled necessarily by its opposite. That so 
 long as he cherished that opposite, it was as inevitable that 
 he must wander alone, as it was that he should burn his 
 finger if he put it in the fire. That as soon as he would 
 cherish a spirit of love, he would attract others to him and 
 he would cease to be alone. And that if he wished to 
 ascend from his condition of misery, he must be obedient 
 to the law of love, and show it forth in subduing all selfish- 
 ness and aiding others. That, first of all, he must revive 
 his love for his father, and as soon as he could, approach 
 
202 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 him and breath upon him a soothing influence. In the 
 mean time, he must begin his task by laboring for those 
 who were around him in his world. 
 
 He asked me how he should do this, and where he should 
 begin ? 
 
 I answered that he must descend from his solitariness 
 and mingle with others, even if their society was distasteful 
 to him ; and there he would, if he sought them, find op- 
 portunities enough to benefit others. He would find many 
 poor wretches whom he could aid in a thousand ways, and 
 he could at least go among them, repeat the lesson I had 
 given him, show them the way to escape which he had 
 found and thus become an apostle to teach the truth for 
 the redemption of man even in these gloomy regions. 
 
 He said he would do so, that he did love his father, and 
 began even to love me, and asked if he might come again '? 
 
 I said. Yes, provided he would do some good to some of 
 those around him. 
 
 He asked me if he should bring one with him the next 
 time, and if that would not do ? 
 
 I replied. Yes, that would be something toward it, but he 
 must occupy himself so intensely in doing good to others 
 as to forget himself and the evil thoughts over which he 
 had brooded so long. 
 
 I inquired if there were many spirits from that dark 
 country now present ? 
 
 He said, Yes, a good many, but they could not come near 
 me except through this channel. 
 
 I asked if they could'nt hear and be benefited by what I 
 said to him and others? 
 
 He looked around slowly and answered, some of them 
 could, but some were so thick they could not. 
 
 He then gave me a signal by which I should know him, 
 placing his hand on my heart as a token of afiection, as he 
 termed it. 
 
 I congratulated him on this early evidence of the pres- 
 ence of redeeming love with him, and he left us. 
 
SPIBITUALISU. 203 
 
 .^ftlion Stljtntten 
 
 Sunday^ Sept. 25th, 1853. 
 The circle met at the Doctor's, and I became influenced. 
 
 I SAW a large concourse of dark spirits assembled in front 
 of a large building, which was misshapen and rude in form, 
 and a good deal dilapidated. In front of it was an open 
 lot, the soil of which was that dark, fine sand, and in it 
 grew here and there a sickly weed. The whole scene bore 
 an air of neglect. 'The building could be entered by a 
 broad flight of rude steps. On the platform, at the top of 
 the stairs, three spirits were seated in chairs, as if presid- 
 ing. Around them, on the platform, were a number who 
 seemed most intimate with them and occasionally talked 
 with them. 
 
 It seemed that this was their judicatory, and they had 
 been trying some of their number for violating their laws. 
 The culprits had been condemned, and were then undergo- 
 ing their punishment, directly in front of that building, 
 where I saw quite a crowd was assembled. 
 
 In their midst an upright beam had been erected with 
 two cross-pieces at its top making four arms, which re- 
 volved around the upright as their center. The arms were 
 eight or ten feet long, and twelve or fourteen from the 
 ground. At the end of each arm a human being was sus- 
 pended by cords fastened to their wrists or their thumbs. 
 The position of the poor wretches was of itself very painful, 
 and they writhed and screamed in their agony. Biit the arms 
 were made to revolve, and as the condemned were thus 
 borne along just over the heads of the crowd, I saw that 
 the spectators, amid shouts and laughter,, tormented them 
 
204: SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 as they passed, some by whipping them, some by piercing 
 them with sharp instruments, and some by applying fire 
 to different parts of their bodies. But I saw that no one 
 there enjoyed the horrible scene more than did he who sat 
 in the middle of the three judges, and seemed to be the 
 presiding genius of the scene. He reclined easily back in 
 his chair, and with a smile of great complacency chatted 
 familiarly with those around him, who, it seemed to me, 
 were like parasites, praising his judgment! 
 
 I passed away from the scene shuddering, and soon came 
 to a high, abrupt precipice, on the summit of which I saw 
 three females walking. Two of them approached the very 
 edge of the precipice and looked down. The other re- 
 mained some distance back, and remarked that she could 
 never bear a dizzy height, it always made her so sick. 
 Upon this hint the others acted. They approached her 
 blandly, and as soon as they got near enough, they seized 
 her and dragged her to the edge of the precipice. There 
 they held her in defiance of her struggles and agony, just 
 over the beetling edge, seeming to threaten to throw her 
 off, and occasionally professing to relax their hold upon 
 her. They enjoyed it heartily, and I observed that her 
 screams of agony and theirs of laughter attracted the at- 
 tention of the passers-by below them, who paused in their 
 way, also enjoyed the scene, and applauded the actors 
 in it. 
 
 I passed away from that scene also, and came near to a 
 large concourse of dark spirits, who were very intently en- 
 gaged in preparing something, which from their numbers I 
 could not see. Everywhere thus far I had seen laughter 
 and merriment, such as it was ; but here I saw a serious, 
 earnest, concentrated feeling, apparently of intense hate. 
 There was no laughter, but a stern determination seem- 
 ed to pervade them all. With all my efforts I could not 
 discover exactly what they were doing, but I read their 
 thoughts enough to perceive that they were engaged in 
 some plan to interrupt, if possible, our operations through 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 205 
 
 this spiritual intercourse with us. And I left the scene 
 while they were thus engaged. 
 
 During the time that I was seeing this, I was conversing with Mr. 
 Warren about a difficulty which he suggested of understanding what it 
 was that impelled spirits thus to descend, even when they had a wish 
 to stop short of that. 
 
 As soon as the Doctor could be influenced, it was written through him : 
 
 You ask why those spirits descend to those dark places ? 
 The reason is obvious. The great law of like attracting 
 like obtains throughout the whole of the spheres. When 
 a departed spirit enters into the spheres, he is at once at- 
 tracted where he finds congeniality of place and persons. 
 They could not be happy in the bright spheres. They 
 could find no enjoyment where there is either virtue or 
 goodness. Thus their first efforts are to locate themselves 
 where the acquired attributes of mind in all its workings 
 may be gratified. Their bodies are gross and their minds 
 still grosser. ISTow there is in this condition of both body 
 and mind a state which rejects magnetically all above, and 
 they are compelled to return whence they came when they 
 are by any means brought or force themselves into a place 
 above them. As when on earth a mind gradually becomes 
 perverse, it seeks, from the very attributes it has forced on 
 itself, a correspondence with that state where its every feel- 
 ing may be most manifest. They obey the law observable 
 in all nature, that every thing seeks its kind and is com- 
 pelled to retain that connection. 
 
 You have been taught that the good spirit, on its en- 
 trance into the spheres, enters a condition where its affini- 
 ties may develop themselves. Kow, if they are continually 
 rising, they will seek spheres above them, but if they only 
 maintain that state, they do not progress. But if they do 
 not even maintain their first estate, they must seek a con- 
 dition absolutely corresponding with the feelings which 
 they have generated by their retrogression. 
 
 Compulsion arises from the equal action of the law of 
 
206 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 affinity, and is manifest as much in the higher as in the 
 lower spheres. Take, for instance, a man born, and with- 
 out being permitted to go into the world, he is shut up in a 
 dungeon, and while there is taught every thing wicked. 
 I^ow this man dies. Where does his spirit seek for its res- 
 idence? Why, exactly where his feelings may have the 
 greatest chance of display. 
 
 jN'ow, if by chance he rises to a spot where there is more 
 of goodness than where he is, the force of his desires com- 
 pels him to return, and though he may desire to stay there, 
 he knows without he is incited by some development of 
 new desires that he is forced back by the omnipotent influ- 
 ence of the old feelings. 
 
 The reasons are plain, and need no more explanation. 
 
 Bacon. 
 
 One thing more : when a spirit returns to a sphere above 
 him (a wicked spirit), he seeks in those with whom he has 
 this new acquaintance the feelings in them which most 
 correspond to his own. This is one reason why it is said 
 the devil tempts you. It is only the correspondence of 
 like with like, good or bad, which, like chemical affinities, 
 mingle wherever they exist, without they are protected by 
 some counteracting desire for good which thus overcomes 
 the effects which the bad spirits wish to produce. No 
 spirit can become bad all at once or good suddenly, and the 
 law of progression and retrogression is in full force in both 
 conditions of good or evil. 
 
 The teachings seemed to have ceased. I inquired about the manifest- 
 al-ions during the day and the previous night. 
 
 It was written : 
 
 Yes, but you must learn that a truly evil spirit is a devil 
 in sub til ty and artifice. 
 
 I said I had not overlooked that, but I questioned as to what good had 
 been done ? 
 
 It was answered : 
 
 Why, neither you, nor I, nor others, can judge of the 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 207 
 
 effect yet. That you did right, no one doubts. The result 
 time will tell. I mean your method was good, and every 
 thing was done in such a manner as would do good, if good 
 could be done. 
 
 Then it was written : 
 
 I^ow, for the benefit of all, and especially the Judge, we 
 shall retire, but if possible, if the circle can meet to-mor- 
 row night, much can be done for good, and the manifest- 
 ations will be more than usual through all the mediums. 
 I wish it could be, but you must not let Mrs. F. be influ- 
 enced in the least till to-morrow night. 
 
 I said, But I had appointed the spirits who spake through her to meet 
 me to-morrow afternoon at four o'clock, and I did not want to break ray 
 engagement. 
 
 It was written : ' 
 
 Dear Judge, you must know that those who have been 
 with you so long have privileges of knowing all circum- 
 stances perhaps in advance of most spirits. "We have per- 
 mitted many things to be said, but for yourself and for 
 others, we advise you to defer the meeting until night. 
 
 We agreed to that, and took our departure. 
 
208 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 uiion if igjtetn. 
 
 Monday, Sept. 26th, 1853. 
 
 This evening all the circle met at my house. Mrs. F. was also 
 present. 
 
 We waited a little while for the Doctor, who was detained by a pro- 
 fessional engagement. While thus waiting, an unhappy influence 
 came upon Mrs. F. She resisted it, and with my aid she finally drove 
 it off. But it affected me almost as much as it did her, and it distressed 
 me, both in body and mind, more than any spiritual influence I had 
 ever felt. It continued with me even after it had left her, and im- 
 mediately after the Doctor came in I was impelled to go to the table 
 and read the prayer. 
 
 Mr interior perceptions were then opened, and I was en- 
 abled to see the spirits whicli surrounded us. Behind 
 where I sat, and around that part of the circle, I perceived 
 the bright light of the good spirits, but directly in front of 
 me and behind the Doctor, who sat facing me, I saw a 
 large concourse of dark spirits at a short distance off. 
 That part of the circle was A-y dark. The Doctor was 
 entirely enveloped with the somber atmosphere, so much so 
 that the brighter spirits, it seemed, could not approach him 
 near enough to communicate through him. The dark spir- 
 its were a very compact body, extending quite in the dis- 
 tance, so that with the darkness their rear was hidden from 
 my view. They were led by one person who seemed to have 
 been chosen from his energy and decision of character. 
 He wsm. immediately attended by quite a number who 
 seemeoio be a sort of council for him, whose minds were 
 inferior to his, but evidently superior to the great mass 
 who were behind him. The feelings with which they had 
 approached our circle were very apparent, and now I 
 
 I 
 
/ 
 
 ft 
 
 SPIEITIJALISM. 209 
 
 plainly understood what they had been planning and 
 arranging when I had seen them the previous evening. 
 They were ignorant that I had thus seen them, yet my 
 having done so had put me on my guard, had prevented 
 my being surprised by so novel an exhibition, and enabled 
 me to act understandingly. 
 
 It seemed that my utterance of the prayer, and the union 
 of the minds of the circle upon it, had partially interrupted 
 their advance. I saw, however, they soon rallied, and 
 were preparing to force their way nearer to us, and I 
 entreated the circle with one accord to fix their thoughts 
 upon God, and our reliance on his power and mercy. 
 The effect of their doing so was instantly apparent. That 
 dark band was thrown into confusion. Its leader turned 
 his back to us and harangued his associates with a great 
 deal of vehemence. He stamped his foot, gnashed his 
 teeth, and gesticulated violently. The order and regularity 
 which I had observed among his companions were dis- 
 turbed. The whole crowd, and particularly the front rank, 
 were agitated, and they stirred among themselves as if 
 debating what to do. 
 
 At this moment the Doctor's hand was influenced, and he wrote : 
 
 Read the prayer, and add this to it. 
 
 And oh ! our God ! enabl||»s when we feel the manifest- 
 ations of thy almighty power, that we may earnestly hope 
 to subdue within us all that tends to retard its exhibition, 
 and humbly to desire that by the innate properties of our 
 connection with thee, we may realize that either in good 
 or evil thou art with us. 
 
 I obeyed the direction, and again turned my attention to 
 our unwelcome visitors. It seemed as if they coifll not 
 advance any nearer, but had determined not to retire, but 
 remain at hand ready to take advantage of any contingency. 
 They were again quiet and orderly, and stood in dogged 
 silence looking on, and casting abroad their influence as 
 
 14 
 
210 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 far as was in their power. It readied past the Doctor to 
 me, and I was very much agitated and distressed. I now, 
 for the first time, discovered that my own will was not 
 strong enough to rid me of their presence, as it always be- 
 fore had been, and I buried my face in my hands and for 
 the first time in my life earnestly, though silently, prayed 
 to God for his aid and protection, for never before had I 
 been made so conscious of needing it. I had relied upon 
 myself and my own power, but now had fearful evidence 
 how frail was my dependence. 
 
 Immediately after thus addressing the throne of Himj it was written 
 through the Doctor : 
 
 For thee alone. Judge, 
 
 By the power of thy just intentions, by the good thou 
 seekest to perform toward thy race, we, thy friends, direct 
 thee to mentally command the absence of those spirits, 
 whose presence is so annoying, in the name of God, and 
 they will obey thy command. 
 
 This was signed with an unintelligible scrawl. 
 
 This direction also I obeyed, and for at least ten minutes I sat amid 
 the entire silence of the circle, as sternly and as resolutely as I was 
 able, commanding that band of dark spirits to retire. They reminded 
 me that I had promised to have further interviews with some of them, 
 and demanded the performance of my promise. I refused, however, to 
 listen to such a consideration at that moment, and from them thus 
 banded together, and insisted that they should depart. 
 
 All this was done mentally, and at length I began to perceive that 
 they were departing. They faded gradually from my view, and seemed 
 lost amid the somber cloud which had hung over them. 
 
 While I was becoming conscious of this, it was written through the 
 Doctor : 
 
 What now, my friend ? are they gone ? 
 
 I replied they were, and then it was added 
 
 This is the first concentrated effort made by those 
 spirits who, we told you some time ago, had organized 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 211 
 
 together to prevent all good through your circle's efforts. 
 They will not trouble you again without you admit them. 
 
 Now we will introduce a spirit truly anxious to rise. 
 She will make gentle impressions on Mrs. F., and you will 
 see the difference. Direct her to God ! l\ 
 
 o^ow I can sign my name, Bacon. 
 
 Let not your hearts be troubled, for in love, in the 
 glorious garb of truth we are arrayed, and no harm can 
 come, for in the name of the most high God we are now 
 with you. 
 
 Judge, for one moment be silent and see the dazzling 
 glory which surrounds us. Bacon. 
 
 SWEEDENBORG. 
 
 I then saw around the circle light clouds rolling gently 
 and in easy, grateful forms, and of most brilliant colors. 
 They were white, like banks of snow rolling one above 
 another, and beautifully tinged and colored with rose, blue, 
 crimson, and purple hues. Floating among them, and ap- 
 pearing and disappearing, were many bright and happy 
 spirits, who seemed full of gladness and affection. They 
 seemed to be rejoicing that they could again surround us. 
 I observed, however, at the spot where those dark spirits 
 had been, the light of the clouds was paler and more dim, 
 as if their influence had left its taint behind them. 
 
 And I am now, as I write, reminded of one incident of 
 the former scene which I forgot, and namely, that while I 
 was sitting sternly regarding that dark band, and com- 
 manding them to begone, I saw a streak of very white 
 light shooting its rays like the aurora borealis, that came 
 from above and shot swiftly down, angularly, about mid- 
 way between us and the dark spirits. I saw that it cast 
 no refulgence beyond its own immediate limits, and even 
 failed to light up the dark soil on which it struck; but it 
 seemed to be a barrier like a wall of light between them 
 and us, yet so transparent that I could easily see through it. 
 
212 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 But to return. After I had described that glorious scene to the circle, 
 it was written : 
 
 "!N'ow look at Sweedehborg in the glory of his sphere." 
 I looked, and saw amid those brilliant clouds a bright 
 spirit standing. There issued from him a bright light 
 which surrounded his whole form with a halo of golden 
 and silver colored rays that shot out from him in all direc- 
 tions for the space of three or four feet from his person. 
 Outside this halo were many other spirits, less distinctly 
 seen, who seemed to be attending on him. 
 
 Then it was written : 
 
 Describe his face and figure. 
 
 I did so, nearly, in these words : 
 
 He was tall and majestic, and was enveloped in a 
 flowing garment of pure white which descended to and 
 covered his feet. His hair was long, dark colored, and, 
 parted on his forehead, flowed down in curls to his 
 shoulders. His forehead was broad and expanded, and 
 was of a most dazzling whiteness, seemingly transparent. 
 The top of his head was high, and he seemed to be dis- 
 tinguished for benevolence and capacity of intellect. 
 His eyebrows were heavy and projecting, and his eyes 
 were black and large and very glowing and bright. All 
 his features were prominent, particularly his nose and 
 lower jaw. His upper lip easily trembled with emotion, 
 but showed great firmness and self-controL In his left 
 hand he held a book. On his breast was a metallic plate, 
 like those which the Jewish high-prieste wore, but I could 
 not see what were its emblazonments. He raised his right 
 hand and pointed upward, with a look of great enthusiasm 
 and devotion. 
 
 And thus the scene faded from my view. 
 
 Mrs. F. then became influenced, and it was written : 
 
 The Judge and Mrs. D. will take her hands. 
 
 We did so, and then had this manifestation : 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 213 
 
 She shed tears, and seemed greatly distressed, and at 
 length, in a voice full of emotion, she cried, " Help !" I 
 told her that help was at hand for those who earnestly 
 sought it. 
 
 After a severe struggle she said, " I want my child." 
 
 I asked if her child was in our sphere ? 
 
 She made me no reply ; but after a while, with great 
 agony, she said, ""Would you tear out your own heart? 
 "Would you stab your own child ?" 
 
 I told her that even for that there was forgiveness. 
 
 " "Where shall I seek it?" she cried. 
 
 I answered, " Of God. You have but to kneel before 
 him in true devotion, and ask with a contrite heart. ITone 
 are so vile but they may be forgiven. Kepent of the evil 
 past, and atone for it. Mourn not for the consequences 
 of crime, but for the sin itself, and a door will be open 
 to you." 
 
 She asked, "Where?" 
 
 I answered, " In your own heart Bury there the mem- 
 ory of past sin in the consciousness of present good. Blot 
 out the memory of former wrongs by doing good now. 
 Are there not many around you to whom you can yet do 
 good — whom you yet can aid and relieve ?" 
 
 Her only answer was, " Oh, help me !" 
 
 I answered, " I will help, but you must follow my in- 
 structions. Help yourself — labor for your own redemption 
 — work out your own salvation yourself — purify your own 
 heart by subduing all selfishness." 
 
 She cried, " Dare I to hope ?" 
 
 I told her she might well hope, if devoutly and with a 
 contrite heart she would humble herself before God and 
 seek his aid. 
 
 She then knelt and cried, " God the Father ! help !" 
 Seeing her so overcome with emotion that she seemed un- 
 able to form her own prayer, I asked her to repeat after 
 me, and then said, " Our Father, who art in Heaven." 
 
 She interrupted me. " Oh, not mine ! not mine !" 
 
214: SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 I told her yes ; hers, if she but earnestly desired it. 
 
 Then, with a shudder, and looking behind her, she whis- 
 pered to me, " That evil spirit !" 
 
 I told her to fear not : they could not disturb her while 
 she was with us ; that we were surrounded by good spirits, 
 who would be glad to approach her and aid her more than 
 we could ; that they were kept away from her only by her- 
 self; and in proportion as she should ardently desire their 
 aid, would they be able to come near her and take her by 
 the hand. 
 
 While I was speaking, she seemed to be listening, as it 
 were, to a distant voice, and at length said, " Whisper it 
 again." 
 
 I bid her be of good cheer ; they were drawing nigh. 
 
 " Oh!" she cried, "teach me to pray." 
 
 I told her* the true way to pray was to feel the might, 
 the mercy, and presence of God ; to acknowledge in her 
 heart her dependence on him ; that every good deed was a 
 prayer, and that she could not more earnestly pray than by 
 doing good to others. 
 
 At length she said, " I see the light, do you know ! I 
 see the light ; it is coming near. Do you not hear their 
 voices ? Is that my mother's face ? It is ! it is ! She 
 comes! she comes! Joy! joy! joy! Lift me up. I'm 
 coming up ! I'm free !" 
 
 I told her it was the truth had made her free. 
 
 She cried to me, ''Hold me up; bind fast the cord 
 around my arms, that you may lift me. Kow, now my 
 feet are established. I take hold on eternal life." 
 
 And then, while we were reflecting how soon His mercy 
 comes to those who earnestly seek it, she left us.* 
 
 * While we were correcting our papers for the press, this same spirit mani- 
 fested herself through one of the mediums, and said : 
 
 " I'm here. I am happier now ; tell them so. After waiting so long in 
 darkness, I begin to see the light, and am happier. I believe now He is my 
 God, for I feel his love everywhere. Pardon me for coming thus ; but my joy 
 was beyond bounds that I had thus begun to advance." 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 216 
 
 Mrs. F. then sank "back in her chair in a state of unconsciousness. It 
 was then written : 
 
 She will revive in a moment perfectly restored. This is 
 the effect of a true manifestation. 
 
 The intention of these manifestations was to enable you 
 to judge of the true and false, and for this we permitted, 
 what has never before been allowed, the admission of so 
 many dark spirits into the pale of your circle ; and for this 
 we have indeed fought and conquered. 
 
 Bacon and all. 
 
 I then made some remarks showing my suspicion that all the mani- 
 festations on Sunday had been from spirits evilly disposed, and for mis- 
 chievous purposes ; and as I saw Mrs. F. was becoming influenced 
 again, I advised efforts to resist it. 
 
 But it was written that it would be the influence of a bright spirit, 
 that of Bacon himself. 
 
 In a little while he spoke through her these words : 
 
 Seekers after eternal truth ! Ye do well to analyze all 
 that comes before your understanding, but judge not too 
 harshly of the spirits. I see you will repel many who wish 
 to come, and to whom it will be profitable to come. I 
 come to open the way for them. You would have re- 
 pelled them if I had not assumed this condition. Some 
 are now here to whom you have promised an interview. 
 
 But I inquired. How can we tell that they are so ? 
 He answered : 
 
 If they present the signal truly, you will know them, and 
 by their coming a second time. 
 
 Then he left her, and another spirit manifested himself through her. 
 
 As I sat by her side, I felt that it was the spirit who had 
 been with us on Saturday night, and had called himself 
 " Misfortune." 
 
 Some one asked her what she had been doing since her last visit to us ? She 
 answered : " What have I been doing ? •Rooting out of my heart the evil pas- 
 sions which bound me darkly below. I iih. lifted up, and am working ray way 
 to heaven. Adieu ! God's blessing on you all !" 
 
216 SPIBITUALISM. 
 
 I noticed that his right hand was clenched, and I re- 
 marked, " Your fist doubled again ?" 
 
 He instantly opened his hand, and, baring his arm, 
 raised it up before me, and said, " Do you know that 
 sign ?" 
 
 I told him, right well ; and now I wanted also the word. 
 
 He answered, "Truth." 
 
 He then added, *' Do you know you have redeemed me ?" 
 
 I told him how deeply I rejoiced to hear it, and reminded 
 him that I had told him that such a result would give me 
 happiness that would last for ages. 
 
 He then said, "I told you I'd bring another with me — 
 Jane, Jane !" 
 
 Yes, I told him I knew he had sent her, and I had heard 
 from others that he had, even down in his dark abode, in 
 defiance of all opposition, proclaimed the glad news that a 
 way was opened to them, and I had thus seen that he could 
 indeed be redeemed. 
 
 He answered, " I am redeemed from the curse of sin by 
 your aid. You have saved me." 
 
 jN'ay. I replied that it was the truth which had saved 
 him ; " the truth against the world." 
 
 He then said, " Do you know love's subduing power ? 
 I hope ! now I hope ? I can not tell you the joy it brings. 
 Do you know what rest is to the weary, joy to the heart- 
 broken ? Then may you know the fullness of my joy. Do 
 you know I am liberated from the bonds of sin and de- 
 spair, and see before me the eternal light of pure blessed- 
 ness ?" 
 
 Then, after a pause, he added, " I told you I could tell 
 you something. Listen. Do you know their weapons are 
 prepared, their plans laid for your destruction? Be on 
 your guard ; they would be glad to drag you down to their 
 own condition. But fear not, and look up, whence your 
 strength comes. Man of God ! labor faithfully in this sin- 
 subduing work. It takes hold, even down in the dark re- 
 gions where I have dwelt ; it reaches far down there, and 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 217 
 
 will bring up the fallen to realms of light through your 
 action. Accept my thanks ; my efforts will be used to re- 
 store those who are now so degraded." He 'added that he 
 would visit me again, and keep me advised of their plans ; 
 and then he left. 
 
 After a little while another came, and began by laying 
 his hand on my heart, and said it was in the name of " Af- 
 fection." Do you know the signal ? Did you ever instruct 
 a disobedient child ?" 
 
 I told him I recognized him, and hoped his wanderings 
 had ceased. 
 
 He said, " Do you know that that unholy resentment to- 
 ward my father does not burn in my heart now ? I am 
 changed through your kind aid. I now try to ascend. I 
 look up to- the bright light before me. You helped me. 
 You guided an erring child back to his father's love. You 
 have reclaimed a wanderer to be redeemed — awakened his 
 heart to repentance — awakened a desire to lay hold on 
 eternal life. 
 
 "You distrusted me ; you doubted me ?" I told him that 
 was true. He said, " You were wrong ; your doubts re- 
 pelled me. Oh ! could you but know the joy of a par- 
 doned heart ! Many others will come to visit you. The 
 way is now opened. But take notice ; there are two ways." 
 I asked, " One for the true, and one for the false ?" " Yes." 
 
 " How shall I know them apart ?" 
 
 " A principle shall be awakened in your heart by which 
 you shall know. To be lost and to be saved ! Is not that 
 joy ! To see the kindly hand extended to lift you up ! 
 the love that lifts us up ! You are my friend and my fa- 
 ther. It is your kindness that has saved me. There are 
 many there wanting to be enlightened as I have been ; do 
 not repel them. I am going slowly up that mountain ; the 
 light gradually increases, and as I am developed, I have a 
 hope — I am incited to look forward to have my knowledge 
 increased." 
 
218 . SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 I told him that if he would but earnestly seek it he 
 would have the aid of bright spirits to instruct him. 
 
 He answered, "lean see their footsteps now; but for 
 you, I might have been left in darkness." 
 
 1 asked him who first sent him to me ? 
 
 He answered, he had met one who had told him I would 
 help him. 
 
 He added, " Another channel will be opened by which 
 they can approach you. Then I will come again. Now I 
 must leave." 
 
 So he left, and the manifestations closed, except some private ones. 
 
 P. S. I have lately, several times in dreams and in waking thoughts, 
 had presented to me the idea of a quarrel with my father, continuing 
 for years, and affecting a whole life. I could not imagine why such 
 unwelcome thoughts were intruded upon me ; but now I see how well 
 they prepared me for the task I was to perform with this unhappy young 
 man. 
 
 Thursday, Sept. 29, 1853. 
 The circle met at my house this evening. All were present. 
 It was written : 
 
 The meeting of your circle is like the gathering of a 
 company of soldiers after a battle : the oflacers look over 
 the ranks, and, finding them all safe and without wound or 
 bruise, rejoice with much joy. So to-night our hearts are 
 moved with affection and love toward you all, friends, and 
 we greet you in the name of God. Bacon. 
 
 Something seems to be necessary in explanation after 
 the very remarkable manifestations which were made hero 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 219 
 
 a few nights ago, and the real intention and design of what 
 was then represented should be explained, that you may 
 understand what action to take in regard to them. That 
 you, Judge, or either of you, are able to assist in your 
 world the uneducated and degraded to learn and advance 
 toward what is good and true, neither yourselves or others 
 can doubt. There is a principle of the spirit's nature 
 which is of itself able to generate noble aspirations in the 
 spirit of the most illiterate and debased. There is, too, an 
 innate desire away down under the mass of error and ig- 
 norance which impels the crudest mind to seek for that-it 
 does not understand or comprehend. But when to that 
 mind is opened the broad avenues of truth and knowledge, 
 it does not owe to its instructor the meed of praise for the 
 principles inculcated. 'No. Its gratitude, its veneration, 
 its affection may be poured out in gushing streams toward 
 him who has showed the way, and he will look up and ad- 
 mire, but still the truth which has opened to his soul is 
 heaven-born, and comes like the Holy Spirit we read of, 
 direct from God. Direct from God? Yes, in the compre- 
 hension of his eternal laws,^in the realization of what is his 
 own prerogative and what is his destiny ! 
 
 I have made these remarks that you may understand 
 that nothing of all that has been accomplished by the 
 spirits, or what will be achieved by you, has or should be 
 attributed to any thing else but the administration of the 
 eternal laws of God. 
 
 Bright as may be the prospect before you, glorious as 
 may be the idea of aiding an iminortal soul to spring from 
 darkness and degradation to the light of knowledge and 
 progress, I pray you all to reflect, that to Him who has 
 established and perfected the laws by which this change 
 from mortality to immortality takes place, is to be ascribed 
 all the glory and honor forever and ever. Amen. 
 
 I dp not understand that in any thing which has taken 
 place here you are instructed to admit to your circle every 
 spirit, good or bad, who makes application. The design of 
 
220 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 many bad spirits is to gain admission bj any contrivance 
 possible, and to thus circumvent your plans by learning 
 what they are and how they are to be accomplished. There 
 is a deeply concerted scheme here to destroy all the good 
 which may be done by your efforts, by instilling in your 
 minds doubts, distrust of yourselves and others, and also 
 by inciting certain passions and feelings to lead your mind 
 away from the real objects before you, to that which will 
 perplex, destroy, and break up the whole harmony of the 
 plans in which you are engaged. Recollect that the truly 
 good man is the easiest to be approached by the artful and 
 wicked, for suspecting no evil himself, he suspects no evil 
 in others, and thus he leaves the door wide open for all to 
 enter, both good and evil. Tliat there were some spirits 
 deeply smitten with a sense of sin, and earnestly desirous 
 to throw off their bundle like Christian of old, I have no 
 doubt. But that there were and are spirits even here to- 
 night who would like to come under the mask of repent- 
 ance to gain a foothold in your platform I know. I need 
 say no more, for you all will understand what I mean. 
 
 I remarked that I had been originally desirous of aiding all who 
 came, and though I had not been without suspicion as to the sincerity 
 of some of them, yet I did not like to repel any, lest I might drive away 
 the sincere penitent. But from what he had said on Sunday. I had been 
 
 It was written : 
 
 What was said by the medium, when I manifested my- 
 self through her, had somewhat the color of her own mind 
 in it. She entertained the same feeling in regard to the 
 admission of spirits as she then expressed, long before she 
 came to your city. I did not intend so to be understood. 
 I meant this, that duty should be performed under all cir- 
 cumstances. To your enlightened minds that duty was 
 plain, because you had already become acquainted with 
 what was required of you, and that you were to judge of, 
 when to permit a spirit to approach, when every circum- 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 221 
 
 stance in connection with what was seen, taught, and known 
 of him satisfied your minds that he was impelled to come by 
 a sense of his own degradation. To this, in the admission of 
 every spirit who claimed entrance by the strength of your 
 promise, Judge, your judgment certainly did not consent, 
 for it was shown to you what the design of crowds of spirits 
 was when they should have gained ad mission to this circle. 
 Answer me, all — For what purpose was that dark vision of 
 the evil spirits given to the Judge ? Did we not so impress 
 his consciousness of the dire intent for which they were here, 
 that his soul realized their very plans, though in embryo ? 
 Could it be possible that he should weep because he had 
 seen fifty dark spirits, when he has fought and triumphed 
 over his thousands, even in himself? Is it necessary for me 
 again to say that your judgment is to guide you in all that 
 you see and hear ? When they come, consult those who are 
 always with you, those whom you trust, and they will tell 
 you what to do. 
 
 We were then told to ask our questions, if we had any. 
 Mr. Warren asked, Do the inhabitants of the various planets in the 
 solar system at death go to the same spheres with the people of earth ? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 Are the spheres where you reside material globes, on the surface of 
 which are the same general manifestations of vegetable and animal life 
 as on earth ? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 Do all the inhabitants of earth go to the same globe ? 
 
 Ko. 
 
 In advancing, a grade, do you leave one globe and go to another? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 Do those spheres and globes possess gravitation, and do they revolve 
 around a central sun ? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 What distance is it from us ?— how situated ? Is it visibleto us, or not ? 
 
SPIKITITALISM. 
 
 Calculate the distance from space to space unknown, and 
 jou have it. We can't tell, at least I can't, never having 
 measured it. I cian only say, when I want to go to any 
 place, I am there. 
 
 The distance is only to be calculated when gross matter 
 requires absolute and positive locomotion. I understand 
 what you desire, Mr. "W"., and I really appreciate your in- 
 tention. But you will not at present get any positive or 
 approximate calculation of distance. Add the distance of 
 the fixed stars four times and multiply by twice fifty thou- 
 sand, and then you are as near it as before you commenced. 
 
 In answer to other questions it was said, that none of the globes 
 where the spirits dwell are visible to us ; that the spirits from other 
 globes go to the same places with the inhabitants of earth ; that many 
 of them are not in advance of us; and that advance depends, not on dis- 
 tance or locality, but on purity. 
 
 Mr. Warren asked some questions about the sixth and seventh spheres. 
 
 And it was written : 
 
 That is an arbitrary division. We make none such here. 
 You can make this division if you please, but I can only 
 say that the process of advance includes many, many gra- 
 dations, and you will find there is not so much difi:erence 
 among spirits, between this and your world, as to load to a 
 separation of locality alone. Mind, purpose, and action 
 constitute the division. 
 
 Mr. Sweet then called their attention to and asked an explanation of 
 that part of the teaching about the creation which said that in chaos 
 there was no motion. He had thought that motion was coeval with 
 God, and that if any part of creation had not motion, the Spirit of God 
 was not there, and consequently he was not infinite ? 
 
 It was written : 
 
 I will just call Mr. S.'s attention to the time when this 
 earth was unfit for the habitation of man, and ask him why 
 it ever was in that condition? Why should it not have 
 been ready fashioned? Why are there now wandering in 
 space the nucleii of other worlds ? AVhy not all progress at 
 once ? If the Divine Spirit pervaded every thing, of course 
 
SPIKITUALISM. 22S 
 
 there mifst have been the same degree of development in 
 every part of creation. Thus animals could not have had 
 any starting-point, but because the Divine Spirit pervaded 
 the principle, all development must have assumed the same 
 ratio or state of progress at one and the same time. Bat 
 God's laws work from the germ to the full and perfect de- 
 velopment. Thus, in the seed when planted, there is a 
 time when the germinating process has not commenced. 
 But when it does so, it goes through its whole progress till 
 the perfect grain bursts forth. Do you suppose in all space 
 there is now motion ? 
 
 Every thing has a starting-point, and though God is in- 
 finite, he can not act in advance of the laws he has estab- 
 lished, for, if he could, what is the use of his laws? JJ^ow 
 that God created other worlds is proved by astronomy, for 
 the central point of creation is detected by certain phenom- 
 ena known to the scientific. But God was just as much 
 acting when the space was without motion as he is now, for 
 the very constituents out of which this world was formed 
 were then at Avork to develop the proper state from which 
 matter could be evolved. If motion were coeval with God 
 you might realize him as motion too. Nothing was co- 
 eval with God but spirit, and it was this infinite spirit that 
 created motion, matter, and the laws which control them. 
 
 Then, after a brief and unimportant communication through Mrs. S., 
 the circle left. 
 
224 
 
 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 Bttiian Cfetntg. 
 
 Sunday, Oct. 2, 1853 
 The circle met at Dr. Dexter's. All present. 
 It was written : 
 
 You will observe the influence of the spirits on other 
 members of the circle than the Doctor, as it will be im- 
 possible to influence him much to-night, as he is really 
 sick. But what I have to say through him will be said 
 now, for I find it very difficult to write. 
 
 Some time ago you were reminded that a careful exam- 
 ination of your hearts was one of the real tests of your 
 progress toward purity and truth. To-night it is proper, 
 after all that some of the circle have seen and witnessed, 
 that this examination should be made ; and of others, too, 
 the question should be asked, Have all the intentions of life 
 been true ? Have we desired to conform to the principles 
 that we acknowledge as our guides, and have we in every 
 thing acted knowingly, as we ought to have done ? Have 
 we entertained toward others any feelings but those which 
 are consonant with love ! Do we regard God and his 
 laws with true afl'ection ? Have we progressed ? 
 
 Friends, 'tis not alone that we believe, but do we act ? 
 Are there no secret purposes which may retard our prog- 
 ress toward immortal perfection? The spirits surrounding 
 you, and who are with you daily, are the witnesses of many 
 noble, virtuous, and glorious aspirations for what is indeed 
 the real purpose of life; and when we propose these ques- 
 tions, we do so because ye are indeed the chosen vessels in 
 which the truth, as it is of God is to be distributed through- 
 out the world. Be ye perfect, even as God is perfect. 
 
 Bacon. 
 
SPIEITIJALI8M. 225 
 
 Mrs. Sweet then asked the spirits if they would take care, while com- 
 municating through her, that she did not commit any error, or allow her 
 own mind to mingle with their teachings. 
 
 It was answered : 
 
 My dear Mrs. Sweet : You, as all the rest of the world, 
 are not yet perfect. That the spirits influencing you are 
 aware of the peculiar feelings of your heart relative to the 
 manifestations through you, is known to you, for you have 
 been told so before now. Tlierefore, depend upon, it, and 
 let it satisfy you to-night, forever and aye, that if you do 
 not say what you are impressed to say, you shall be imme- 
 diately stopped short, and shall not go on until you are 
 brought under the full influence. This is enough for all 
 you wish to know. 
 
 One word more : After Mrs. S. has spoken, then the 
 Judge will be influenced, and then the circle had better 
 separate, as the Doctor needs rest. 
 
 I wrote what I did in the commencement, for these are 
 thoughts that make their impress on the spheres. • Oh ! 
 that our whole thought and acts were indeed measured by 
 the standard of the vision on the cross — that it is not in- 
 deed in dying that Christ redeemed the world, but in liv- 
 ing and exemplifying the glorious principles of God's truth 
 in every act of his life. 
 
 The spirits then caused me to feel their influence, and after sitting in 
 silence for some time, during which I saw much of what is hereafter re- 
 corded, I exclaimed. 
 
 Oh ! what a fearful ordeal ! What a day of judgment ! 
 
 I had again ascended that path leading to the fountain, 
 and there again approached that bright spirit who presided 
 over that community, and by whose side I had on former 
 occasions stood erect in the pride of my anticipation, that I 
 could be like him. But now with what different feelings 
 did I approach him ! 
 
 Since I last met him I had seen what sin was — how fear- 
 fully dark and corrupt is the heart into which it has been 
 permitted entrance ! how loathsome in its daily life ! how 
 
 15 
 
226 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 terrible in its consequences, amid the despair that seemed 
 to have no end. I had seen the dark spirits in whose 
 breasts have raged, with undisputed sway, all the passions 
 of our material existence. I had seen how lasting on the 
 soul were its unhappy effects ; and how impossible it is, • 
 when the soul is free from the material garment and its 
 aids to forge tfulness, to banish or suppress the memory of 
 aught of the past. And now, as I approached that bright 
 spirit, this lesson was uppermost in my mind, and it was in 
 deep humility, growing out of a burning recollection of my 
 evil past, that I approached one so pure and bright. How 
 unlike the proud aspect that once marked my approach to 
 him, was the deep humility which now bowed me almost 
 to his feet! He stood near me alone; the other spirits 
 who had accompanied him when I first approached, had 
 seemed to be conscious of what was before me, and, un- 
 willing to mortify me by their presence, had, with sorrow- 
 ing and sympathizing countenances, retired. The expres- 
 sion of his countenance was different from what I had ever 
 seen it before. Its benevolent tone had now a sad and 
 mournful hue, and he seemed to feel as if he fully realized 
 the depth of my despondency, though he had never him- 
 self had so much cause to regret. 
 
 He kindly took me by the hand and led me toward the 
 house where my wife resided. As I approached it, I saw 
 her standing by its entrance with the same mournful, sym- 
 pathetic expression of countenance, yet beaming with hope 
 and encouragement. As I passed her she seized my hand, 
 and, by gently pressing it, assured me of her sympathy and 
 affection, at the same time that she thus awoke within me, 
 with terrible vividness, the recollection of all my wrongs 
 to her. My conductor led me to an inner apartment in 
 that house, and left me there, with the remark that it was 
 my residence ; and though by the preponderance of good 
 over evil in my life I had been able to ascend to that level, 
 and in some respects live with my wife and children, yet I 
 was not pure enough to associate fully with them, and, for 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 227 
 
 the present — at least, , whenever I retired from the busy 
 scene around me — that was my closet, and was to be occu- 
 pied by me alone. Thus speaking, he retired, and I was , 
 left alone with the memory of the past. 
 
 The room was long and spacious, and had but few arti- 
 cles of furniture in it. A bed in one corner, a few chairs, 
 and an altar standing in the middle of the floor, were the 
 the chief. But I did not notice that much, for my atten- 
 tion was at once drawri to letters printed on the walls of 
 the room, in colors of black, of red, of silver and of gold, 
 and which covered all the walls all around the room. 
 With those letters were thus recorded all the events of my 
 life — the good, and the evil, and the mixed. Thus they 
 stood out before me, and turn my eyes where I would, that 
 record was present. I did not much observe the lighter 
 letters, the darker ones seemed so much to preponderate — 
 at least, at the earlier periods of life. I observed that 
 some of the events had been obliterated by heavy, black 
 4ines drawn through them ; but then and thus were 
 brought up before me many events of early life, which 
 I had forgotten amid the bustle and stir of subsequent 
 events. 
 
 It was a terrible ordeal, a fearful waiting for of judg- 
 ment. I buried my face in my hands to hide, if possible, 
 the sight from my view. But in vain ; for memory, pain- 
 fully awakened by the record around me, was busy in its 
 duty of retribution, and I prostrated myself before that 
 altar, in deep humiliation at the sense of what I had been, 
 and, with a torn and contrite heart, fervently prayed to 
 God that that terrible memory might pass from me. While 
 thus prostrate, my wife entered the room, and gently led 
 me from it. Ko word was exchanged between us. My 
 heart was too full to speak, and in silence I retired from a 
 scene which had shaken my soul — of whose strength I had 
 proudly boasted to myself— until its weakness had seemed 
 that of 'infancy, and its dependence on something more 
 than its own power was but too manifest. 
 
228 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 As i came out of the building, I found the presiding 
 spirit awaiting me. 
 
 He called my attention to a volcano in the distance that 
 was throwing its fires high up into the heavens, and emit- 
 ting from the summit of its flame a dense, black smoke. I 
 observed that the top of the mountain, which had once 
 towered high into the air, was now partly burned off. Its 
 lava had, in times long past, run down its sides, and con- 
 tributed to fill up and elevate the" valleys, and now it 
 was pouring forth ashes, which, falling in thick showers 
 on the surrounding country, was creating and enriching 
 the soil. I perceived also that its sides, or crusts, were 
 burned very thin, and must soon, by the operation of those 
 fires, be consumed and fall within the crater, and the rough 
 places of earth be made smooth, and its barrenness be con- 
 verted into land fit for human habitation and human wants. 
 As I was regarding this, the spirit said to me, Thus in all 
 nature, in man as well as matter, the same law obtains. 
 As in this mount its center must be burned out by those 
 raging flames before it can be made to beautify nature 
 around, so must the human heart be purified by its inter- 
 nal fires — first throwing out its lava to fill up the deep 
 hollows of its existence — casting off from its bosom its 
 foul, black smoke, and fertilizing all around it by the con- 
 sumption of ^ its own impurities and the production of a 
 material that is capable of enriching, beautifying, and lev- 
 eling what remains. 
 
 As the rugged parts of material existence are softened 
 and beautified by the never-ending operations of God's 
 laws, so it is in man ; and in proportion to the density and 
 quantity of the contents of these material prominences, so 
 must the fire that burns them out be more intense and more 
 enduring. 
 
 Such, he said, is the law now operating in man. If the 
 human soul had preserved its level, there would have been 
 no lofty mount to consume ; but if there be elevations, 
 they must be destroyed. He bade me remember the les- 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 229 
 
 son, for it was true, not alone in that instance, but every- 
 where and in every thing. The law of progression was the 
 same everywhere, operating in the same general manner 
 always alike, and always in man or matter producing the 
 same results. 
 
 And now, he added, take care that while the dark spirits 
 may hail you — as some of them have done — as " Man of 
 God," the brighter spirits may not have occasion to say to 
 you, " Man of Sin ;" for think how far you, who can be ap- 
 proached by those dark spirits, must be from those near 
 whom they can not come. And beware, lest in reproach- 
 ing the overweening self-conceit of others, you be not 
 prompted by the influence of your own. 
 
 And now farewell, and forget not that the fire which 
 burns, also enlightens. 
 
 'V OP THE^. 
 
 tttmx ®fotntg-0n^ 
 
 Thursday, Oct. 6, 1853. 
 This erening the circle met at my library. It was written : 
 
 There are some parts of the Bible which evidence the 
 profound knowledge which the spirits who dictated it had 
 of human nature. One passage in particular is not only 
 expressive, but it comes to the very doors of our hearts, and 
 knocks for entrance. I refer to the passage where it is 
 said, " Come now, and let us reason together." This is 
 indeed an appeal to the higher attributes of mind. It sug- 
 gests at once the ability to comprehend all that was 
 designed we should know, and it also suggests the neces- 
 sity that the ability to reason should also extend to ex- 
 amination. 
 
230 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 In referring back to all that has been revealed to you m 
 spirit-intercourse, much, you will observe, has been said 
 on the subject of spirit-examination ; and it has been 
 required of you, that you should not only ponder upon the 
 truths which have been taught you, but that the very prin- 
 ciples laid down as the guides of opinion should also be 
 recognized as the rules of action. It was not the whole 
 design of either God, in the action under his laws, or of the 
 spirits as the instruments of their execution, that spirit- 
 intercourse should benefit man by what was revealed of 
 the condition of spirits after the death of the body, or that 
 man should derive happiness from the knowledge that he 
 would positively meet with the loved ones who had 
 journeyed on a little while before. But it was the inten- 
 tion to communicate to the world by this means the neces- 
 sity that the spirit in the body should be under the same 
 laws as the spirit out of the body. It is certainly true that 
 to most of our race the absolute knowledge of the demands 
 of their spirit-nature is as unknown to themselves as if 
 tHey existed in the bodies of the brute creation around 
 them. They are imacquainted with either the form or the 
 complexion of that eternal principle which animates their 
 organization. They do not know whether it be black or 
 white, and yet they would fain believe that it is indeed 
 fair and beautiful. 
 
 Strange though it is, what to their consciousness should 
 be distinctly understood, is a sort of dim reality. They 
 feel an impulse, but they know not the source from which 
 it emanates. 
 
 To the spirits in the spheres the reflex of thought is met 
 at once. The thought stands distinct on the very counte- 
 nance. The soul feels its own attributes, it receives its own 
 prerogatives, and it manifests its rights by an independent 
 manifestation of its powers to feel and act. What should 
 prevent man in the form from aiming at the same ability 
 to manifest the pure indications of his thoughts, desires, 
 aspirations, hopes, joys, sorrows, and all the phenomena 
 
SPIEITTTALISM. 231 
 
 of spirit-action on its own matter? Why should it be 
 the strongest effort of men to conceal their emotions, and 
 thus to deceive others as to the true purpose ? Let us 
 reason. 
 
 To the merest child the thought is often suggested, What 
 am I made for ? What is the purpose of my creation ? If 
 this is a child's thought, it is one worth the careful con- 
 sideration of developed man, what indeed is the design of 
 our existence ? Were our existence to terminate on earth, 
 and the body, when it is given to the dust, was there to lie, 
 and no principle to spring from it to live forever, it would 
 seem to be the purpose of its creation that it was to live 
 and enjoy all that this earth affords for pleasure or happi- 
 ness ; that its enjoyments should be entirely confined to 
 earth, and that its thoughts should be limited by the 
 surface and extent of that globe on which it lived. True 
 it is, that if the body were created alone to live and die, 
 that the life on earth should conform to the law of its 
 existence, that its aspirations should be limited to the 
 objects which impressed its senses, and that there should 
 not be one manifestation beyond the material condition in 
 which it is placed. 
 
 On the contrary, the spirit which exists in the body is 
 not satisfied with its material connections. It sighs for a 
 more extended communication ; and the rudest savage, 
 when he views the glorious orbs rolling in the space above, 
 feels the longing of his soul to know something that shall 
 give him proof of what they are. To him, the wind, as it 
 passes, whispers thoughts of the world bej^ond, dark and 
 shadowy though it be. The glorious sun dazzles his sight 
 and reveals to his spirit the awful grandeur of the power 
 which created it. The murmuring brook, as it gambols 
 o'er its rocky bed, utters thoughts to his darkened mind 
 which struggle to be comprehended. Ay ! in the savage, 
 wild as the very beast which he pursues for his sustenance, 
 is a living evidence of the demands of spirit to make itself 
 recognized. But to civilized man the question is already 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 answered. He questions not the soul's existence, he 
 denies not that that soul is to live forever. 'No. The 
 savage struggling in the darkness of ignorance strives to 
 reconcile the demands of spirit to the evidences of his 
 existence. But civilized man, recognizing what these 
 demands are, is striving to conceal the true properties of 
 that soul by a demonstration of every thing else but its 
 true attributes. 
 
 What, then, is the object of this teaching? 
 
 That man should not only " reason together," but reason 
 with himself, and demonstrate to himself the claims which 
 his spirit has, not only to the thiiigs of this world, but to 
 the things which are unseen, but recognized as true. 
 
 I have felt it my duty to say thus much to-night, for I 
 wish you to all understand than no man here can progress 
 either in the estimation of his fellow- man without he im- 
 presses the world with the sincerity and truth of his inten- 
 tions, nor can progress hereafter without he carries his 
 soul in his hand, open to the inspection of all, spotless, 
 pure, and without blemish. Ko man can see the awful 
 glories of the spheres, if he is not indeed without guile. 
 
 This lesson refers to your life as well as ours. 
 
 Bacon. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 233 
 
 ^wtion Cfotntg-tfo0 
 
 Friday, Oct. 7, 1853. 
 
 Early this evening in my library, while the Doctor and I were talking, 
 he was strongly influenced to write, and I judged from the vehemence of 
 the manifestations that it was an unprogressed spirrt; and I advised 
 him to resist the influence, which he did successfully. I now inquired 
 if there was any one, now present, who had been there ? It was an- 
 swered : 
 
 ~Eo ; not one spirit. 
 
 I said, That was queer. It was written : 
 
 N^o ; not queer, for we were all absent. 
 
 I remarked, that I surely could not have been left alone ? 
 
 Then it was written : 
 
 Yes. One spirit just now says he was here, and that 
 you were and are surrounded by a host of dark spirits con- 
 triving their nefarious designs to manifest themselves. That 
 spirit was Yoltaire ; he says that in a few days he will con- 
 fer with you through Mrs. S. 
 
 I inquired. Is there no way for me to get rid of this annoying influ- 
 ence? 
 
 It was answered : 
 
 You do not want to, for there is a design for good in 
 all this. 
 
 I said. Then I am indeed becoming crucified. 
 
 It was written : 
 
 Yes, and fortified, too. Judge. 
 
 I remarked, that it made me suspicious, and took away from me my 
 freedom and ease of action in regard to communing. 
 
 [Thus far the handwriting was that of Sweedenborg. Now, in Ba- 
 con's, it was written,] 
 
234: SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 Move just as before, my friend, for are we not all with 
 you? Your own judgment is and must be the guide ; for 
 we design that out of this darkness you shall bving forth a 
 marvelous light. 
 
 I said something about the wisdom with which the matter had been 
 guided, for this manifestation of dark spirits was necessary to enable 
 me to teach both sides of the question, and they had been withheld un- 
 til I had been prepared and fitted to receive them. 
 
 It was written : 
 
 That is it exactly. Had it come before your internal 
 was developed, you would have confounded the two kinds 
 of manifestations. 
 
 ttimx Cfoentg-tljree. 
 
 Saturday, Oct. 8, 1853. 
 
 This evening, through Dr. Dexter, in my library, it was written : 
 
 There is something of higher interest connected with 
 spirit-manifestation than the mere appearance of spirits, 
 either through the raps or visions, or other methods of 
 communication. To every living being there is innately a 
 desire to be satisfied of the truth of the immortality of the 
 soul. But this fact, once demonstrated to the mind, will 
 not satisfy the desire still existent, or avail him, when he 
 shall have entered the spheres, if with the knowledge that 
 the soul shall live forever it is not prepared to live in purity 
 and in the glorious garb of progressive truth. In this view, 
 therefore, there is something more necessary for man than 
 a mere belief in the validity of all he sees and hears from 
 spirits. 
 
SPIEITUALISM. 235 
 
 There is somethiog of far more importance than that he 
 can relate to others, the very wonderful things he has wit- 
 nessed — that the spirits have accomplished for his sake. 
 This something is the positive realization of the truth of 
 what spirits teach, and the positive belief that in his action 
 under these teachings his welfare here, and his happiness 
 hereafter, are to be enhanced. 
 
 A mere belief in any subject is of no consequence if it 
 does not work out within ourselves a radical change in all 
 the acts of our lives. Thus a man may believe that a part 
 of his fellow- creatures are suffering from famine, but of 
 what avail, if this belief does not prompt him to assist 
 them by every means in his power? There is nothing 
 strange in the communication of spirits with the world. 
 You appreciate the manifestations of mind in an individual 
 living in Europe, and you feel the truth of principles ema- 
 nating from persons of whom you have had no previous 
 knowledge ; and you admit that a grain of wheat can and 
 will grow when placed in the ground, but why it does so 
 you can not tell. Thus are you conscious that your spirit 
 is impressed from other causes than those with which you 
 come materially in contact.'? 
 
 How often have either of you realized thoughts when 
 you could not trace the source from whence they emanated ? 
 Thus are you surrounded with many evidences of mystery 
 in daily life for which you find it impossible to account. 
 It is of no consequence how you explain the mind's action. 
 You are not alone to judge of its action in that which is' 
 educated, but you are to take the innate promptings and 
 yearnings of the spirit and the phenomena that come, as it 
 were, without cause ; for who has not, when sitting alone, 
 felt positively that some one was present with him ; and 
 who has not experienced, when impressed with a sense ^f 
 some evil foreboding, that the evil has fallen on him in 
 some form or shape, and that his spirit recognized the 
 warning as coming from the other world ? These are trite 
 and simple illustrations, but they are nevertheless perti- 
 
2J3^ SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 nent evidences that the soul holds intercourse with the 
 spirit-world without the cognizance of the senses. Then 
 why — if this should be so — should it appear so strange that 
 matter can mingle with matter, and the senses recognize 
 that spirits can communicate ? 
 
 But, after all, what is the whole of this revelation ? It is 
 this : that there is a necessity that the heart and the de- 
 sires, the thought and the act, should be purified by what 
 is taught you. 
 
 Oh ! my friends, could you but know all that is before 
 you ; could you see the effect of a life of sin in the flesh, 
 when the spirit leaves the form, and takes up its abode 
 here, then would you see that sin or evil enters, as it were, 
 into the very constituents of the soul here ; that it dims 
 the luster of its original brightness, and that it prevents its 
 onward aspirations. Are you to rest satisfied with be- 
 lieving that what is seen or heard is true ? Are you Spirit- 
 ualists? Spiritualists? Yes, indeed, your spirit is dis- 
 satisfied with a life of matter bound to earth by ties that 
 change its heavenly nature, and mark it as unfit for the 
 company of those who are bright, pure, and happy. 
 
 What are your thoughts ? Do you love ? Yes. Do 
 you love not only on this earth, but do you send the affec- 
 tions in advance onward through the spheres and love what 
 there is and will be? Are you cautious in injuring the 
 feelings of others ? Are you strong in adhering to your 
 own opinions 1 For truth's sake, are you ready to crucify 
 all that is unholy in your natures, and trust for a recom- 
 pense in life and death ? 
 
 Oh ! I charge you, foster the affections, but be mindful 
 that you are at all times liable to receive a wrong direction 
 to those feelings — the noblest of your nature — by those 
 wbo are constantly on the alert to deceive you. 
 
 If you are believers in spirits, believe that what they 
 teach of truth and righteousness, a judgment to come, is as 
 true as the very God who created you, and that the whole 
 object of all that is given you is to elevate your natures, 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 23Y 
 
 purify your hearts, and fit you for an inheritance where 
 moth nor rust shall corrupt, and where thieves can not 
 break through and steal. 
 
 Much has been said lately about self-examination, and 
 the spirits feel that they could not do their duty without 
 again asking you, What of your hearts? is it well with 
 them ? Is there no evil thought or purpose ? God bless 
 
 you all. SWEEDENBOKG 
 
 Btttion ffeentg-four. 
 
 / Sunday, Oct. 9, 1853. 
 
 The circle met at Dr. Dexter' s. It was written : 
 
 I have mentioned several times lately that if any person 
 present has questions to propose, to do so, and it seems 
 that the object I had in making this suggestion is not 
 understood. I say again to-night, if any one has any 
 question to ask let him ask it now. Bacon. 
 
 Mr. Sweet asked a question about the existence of matter, and 
 whether it was not coeval with God ? 
 It was answered : 
 
 Matter being eternal does not prove that it was from the 
 beginning with God. It exists eternally. 
 
 What idea have you of God ? Is he a personage or a principle V 
 It was answered : 
 
 God is a principle, and also an identity. If God was 
 from the beginning, andvin him was all knowledge, power, 
 and wisdom, it must have been through these attributes 
 that every thing was created. To suppose that matter 
 existed ah initio, would confer on an unconscious substance 
 
238 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 \ 
 
 the same properties that belong to God, especially if he 
 did not create it, or at least, existing at the same time 
 with him, it would have had a creator antecedent to God 
 who possessed more power than he did or di^es. 
 
 One remark is true, that God pervades every thing. 
 But listen. Let the mind go back to that period when the 
 Spirit of the First Cause sprang forth, self-created, and in 
 all the glory of his might and majesty. Imagine, that 
 standing alone amid the everlasting space, he looks 
 around and sees nothing existent but an infinite nothing, 
 and then suppose him creating from his own body the 
 several properties which constitute matter, and from an- 
 other principle developing spirit. 
 
 If the mind can grasp this idea, how much opposed to all 
 the fundamental principles we have taught would it be ! 
 But when you realize the existence of a cause to which is 
 known to belong all the requirements of matter, and all the 
 laws which would develop it, you feel satisfied that in this 
 principle of development you have a starting-ground or 
 basis on which to predicate opinion. 
 
 There is no more difficulty to an enlightened mind in 
 supposing God just as capable of developing the constitu- 
 ents of matter as he is of creating any new form out of the 
 matter now existing. It is the self-same principle of pro- 
 gress ; and it may not be amiss to inform you at this time, 
 that among many spirits of high estate there are many 
 who believe God himself the product of developed intelli- 
 gence. How this may be / can not say, but this is the 
 opinion of many here. 
 
 When I say that in the whole of my life, of near three 
 hundred years in the spheres, I have never found one spirit 
 who can explain what the principle God is, and how 
 created and existing, or how he created matter, you will 
 see at once how little is known on the subject here. 
 
 Then it was written to me : 
 
 If you have the courage we will show you the whole 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 239 
 
 object of the presence of the dark spirits. But you must 
 be firm and strong and battle vigorously, for the sight will 
 make you tremble when the host shall pass before you. 
 Are you ready ? 
 
 I answered that after what I had seen lately. I confess I was afraid. 
 It was WTitten : 
 
 Then I will give you strength and courage, and your 
 wife will give you purity. 
 
 I said, " Then, very well, I am ready," and this is what I saw : 
 
 The bright spirits had left us, and the dark ones having 
 discovered that, came in great numbers. Their leader 
 stopped them, he feared that something concealed was 
 intended. But he was reencouraged by my mood of mind 
 all day, which he had been conscious of, and neither he 
 nor any of his companions seemed to be av^are that I could 
 see them. He issued his directions to them how to operate 
 with different members of the circle. One of them came 
 behind me and rapped on my shoulder, thinking that I 
 was deceived as to who it was. 
 
 They were very cautious and stealthy in their approach, 
 as if fearing to wake us from slumber. 
 
 They presented to my view first a female in the form 
 of one whom I knew right well. She was bland, soft, 
 pleasant in her manner. But I saw into her eyes, deep 
 down into her head, and they seemed, like burning coals 
 ctf fire, in the black mass of the brain. The sight of those 
 eyes was most revolting. She little thought I saw beneath 
 the exterior, but I did, for I saw both her heart and brain. 
 The former was like a boiling caldron of black poison, 
 bubbling up from the fierce fires that were burning be- 
 neath it. 
 
 It was really a female, and a ruling spirit among them, 
 and if ever there was a devil, surely she was one. 
 
 Finding that in this form she affected me not, she 
 assumed that of a little child of two years old, with golden 
 locks and of fair complexion. But amid it all were those 
 
240 
 
 SPIRITUALISM 
 
 eyes of fire, which, it seemed, could not be hidden from 
 me. Imagine that lovely child, with its look of innocence, 
 its soft and clear complexion, "like a rose leaf crushed on 
 ivory," and those eyes of fire shining through it all ! 
 
 She had studied my character well I saw, and had ap- 
 proached'me in two of my weak spots already. I wondered 
 where next her assault would be directed. It was to my 
 love of splendor. Foi^ next she came in the form of a 
 queen of stately mien, with her crown on her head, and 
 dazzling in jewelry. She came in her chariot, drawn by 
 four stately horses, and surrounded by her guards in glow- 
 ing uniforms. She invited me to a seat by her side, to 
 enjoy with her the splendor of the world which was all 
 before me. But she was unaware that those infernal eyes 
 shone out amid it all and warned me to beware. I could 
 see in her a cool, concentrated hatred of me, but kept 
 under her control, and as she thought, concealed from me. 
 
 She wondered I was so callous, so impervious to her 
 assaults, as I had before yielded to them, and she became 
 very much enraged at her failure. 
 
 When they first came near, they stationed some of their 
 companions around off in the distance, to watch and give 
 them warning of the first approach of the brighter spirits. 
 And now this female, surprised at her defeat, and suspect- 
 ing that some of the brighter spirits might be near influenc- 
 ing me, inquired of the sentries if they discovered any? 
 and one after another they answered, No. 
 
 My attention was thus called to the outskirts, if I may so 
 call it, of this circle of dark spirits, and I saw that there 
 was hanging over them a dark cloud, like a heavy thunder- 
 cloud in our atmosphere, with loose, jagged fragments 
 hanging down, and a dark, lurid light thrown upon it of a 
 dull, burning red— a horrible light, and very uncomfort- 
 able. I suppose they must feel as we do at times when a 
 thunder shower is approaching, only ten times as intense, 
 for there is no bursting of the cloud and clearing the air 
 for them. How close and oppressive that air must be ! 
 
SPIRITTJALISM. 241 
 
 As I turned to look back, I saw that the female had 
 descended from her carriage, the splendor of her garb was 
 gone, and she wore now, instead, a dark-colored, close-fit- 
 ting frock, which trailed upon the ground. 
 
 They seemed to be waiting for some one to come, and 
 thej were far more deliberate and cool in their actions 
 than I fancied they would be. While they were consulting, 
 a spirit came and said he had been with me all day, and 
 he detailed to them the influence he had exerted over me, 
 and had brought me to the point nearly of quarreling with 
 the Doctor, but he said it was not too late yet. 
 
 One thing they said among themselves was, " He has 
 been striving all his life long to win the good opinions 
 of his fellow-men, and is very sensitive to every mark of 
 disrespect. He boasts he can stand the withdrawal of 
 their good opinion. Let him feel this neglect every- 
 where. Let the world put slights upon him. He is not 
 as strong as he thinks he is ;" and, he added, with a fiend- 
 ish laugh, "if we can not make him flinch, we can make 
 him suffer." 
 
 I noticed on the right side of me some spirits who were 
 conversing of the Doctor and me. One of them who took 
 the lead in the conversation was tall and thin, with a 
 hooked nose and large, prominent chin. I had seen him 
 before, but J could not remember where. With what bit- 
 terness he hated the Doctor, and me, and all mankind. He 
 had been very selfish in this world, and had been eminently 
 successful in amassing wealth and power, but found now 
 that all was in vain. He had lived in vain, for his wealth 
 and power were gone, and he hated alike God and man, 
 for it seemed to him that he was now destined to live for- 
 ever in that dark society, without hope of amelioration 
 or end to his sad life. He told his companions that he 
 had been with the Doctor and me, and that we had been 
 almost ready to quarrel. They must yet bring that 
 about, but it must be done adroitly, for we had been 
 forewarned, and were on our guard. One of that party, I 
 
 16 
 
24:2 SriRITUALISM. 
 
 perceived, had a personal hostility to the Doctor. I de- 
 scribed his appearance, but the Doctor could not recognize 
 hini. 
 
 I soon perceived that their whole plan of operations had 
 been concerted, and the task divided among them. One 
 was to excite our irritability and embroil us, if possible, 
 with each other and with others, to make us jealous, impa- 
 tient, angry. 
 
 Each one's share of the task was distributed to him by a 
 spirit of much activity, who floated around over the heads 
 of the party telling each his part. I perceived that some 
 of those spirits were influenced by a general feeling of 
 hatred, and a desire to put a stop to that which they know 
 will benefit mankind. Others were influenced by an emo- 
 tion of jealousy toward those who believe this new doc- 
 trine, and who enjoy a privilege which had been denied to 
 them. They saw no end to their condition. They thought 
 that it was eternal, and they recognized no reason why we 
 should have what they did not possess. Some of them I 
 saw had the same personal feelings of enmity they had on 
 earth, and some wQre angry because we had not been so 
 easily moved by them as others had been. 
 
 The spirit who was passing around giving instructions 
 came to a knot of five or six, w^ho seemed from their garb 
 and manner to have been priests. They were very much 
 despised, even by that dark assemblage. They seemed to 
 feel mean, degraded, and trodden upon, for all treated 
 them with contempt. And it was no wonder, for they had 
 been hypocrites on earth; mere sensuous men, very mate- 
 rial in their nature, and did not believe the doctrines they 
 taught, nor did they suppose that any one else believed 
 them, and they thought that as some form of religion was 
 necessary among men, theirs had been devised. They found, 
 now, how sad a mistake they had made, but they knew 
 no remedy. They were too much cowed and dispirited to 
 act, and seemed too stupid to understand the instructions 
 given them. They answered, by saying listlessly, " What 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 243 
 
 can we do 3" The directing spirit turned from them with 
 undisguised contempt. 
 
 At this moment my attention was called to what was 
 directly over my head, and which I had not before noticed. 
 There I saw the devil, if there is one. Yet he, like the 
 others, had lived as a mortal once on earth. He was float- 
 ing directly over me, on the lower edge of that dark and 
 lowering cloud. He was calm, composed, stern, and reso- 
 lute. He was alone in his elevation, and looked down 
 with contempt even upon those who were most slavishly 
 carrying out his plans. There was great determination 
 of character displayed in his face, yet his exterior was re- 
 markably calm. He seemed to have a faint suspicion that 
 I was seeing him, and he attempted to hide his eyes from 
 my sight by shading them with his hand. He did not 
 succeed, for I saw his eyes, and through them down into 
 his brain, and while with all the others the eyes seemed to 
 be two glowing coals of fire, his whole brain seemed to be 
 a furiously raging furnace, filled with a blazing red flame. 
 How that raging fire was ever tormenting him ! yet he 
 covered it with that calm exterior, like the fires of ^tna 
 raging beneath its snow-capped summit. And while he 
 calmly looked on the bustling, moving crowd below, 
 formed plans for them, and superintended their execution, 
 he rejoiced that in it all he could find pleasure — in the 
 success of his plans by our suffering and fall, and in the 
 failure of them by their rage and disappointment. 
 
 I saw in the crowd a spirit whom I had seen before. He 
 was fantastic in his appearance and actions, yet filled with' 
 hate, and incessantly active. He was dressed to represent 
 the devil as he is often painted by man. He wore a cap, 
 which, close fitting to his head, was ornamented with what 
 seemed two horns. His feet were so dressed that they 
 seemed to be cloven, and he had appended to him the ap- 
 pearance of wings and a tail. He was very dark and som- 
 ber, and around his mouth he had painted red streaks, so 
 that when he opened it and thrust out his huge tongue his 
 
244: SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 appearance was most disgusting. He seemed to be tlie 
 harlequin of tlie group, yet never paused in his intense and 
 bitter hate. 
 
 One of their plans was most horrible. It was to work 
 upon one of my children till she should be made insane, 
 and then throw her into a trance, so that fancying her 
 dead, I might have her buried, and afterward discover that 
 I had buried her alive ! A plan so hellish and over which 
 they gloated, made me shudder and grow sick. 
 
 I saw that the spirit who floated around giving orders 
 returned again to the knot of priests, and told them they 
 must influence their brother priests on earth to carry out 
 their plans. They answered him, with a feeling of weak- 
 ness and despondency, that " It was of no use, the clergy on 
 earth would not dare to do it, for fear they might lose their 
 situations." That directing spirit turned from them again, 
 with utter scorn, exclaiming, " Miserable devils ! incapable 
 alike of Good or Evil." I saw that all the other spirits 
 kept aloof from them, and that while all the others were 
 actively engaged and conversing with each other, they 
 stood silent, listless, useless, and desponding. 
 
 I saw that one of their plans was to affect our healths, 
 which they boasted they could do, by means of their mag- 
 netism. 
 
 They subjected the whole c'ompany to a very rigid scru- 
 tiny, for they saw that their former plans had been be- 
 trayed to us by some one, and they denounced the severest 
 vengeance against the one who did that. It was manifest 
 to me, that they were not at all aware that I was seeing 
 them. 
 
 Here it was written through the Doctor : 
 
 Let the circle now sit still and see the manner in which 
 the bright spirits enter, and hear the explanation of all that 
 has been revealed, and how it is to be thwarted. 
 
 Then I saw penetrating through that darjs cloud a bril- 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 245 
 
 liant light come, driving it back and scattering those dark 
 spirits in all directions. It came like a blazing, brilliant 
 sun, in circles of light, their edges, blue, crimson, and pur- 
 ple, and floating in it were innumerable bright and happy 
 spirits. In its center was Sweedenborg again, with his 
 book and breastplate, and the room was filled with bright 
 spirits. 
 
 And I was told that their fiendish plans can be defeated 
 by our own purity, and that to our own efforts we must 
 owe our purity and our protection. 
 
 Directly over Sweedenborg appeared two spirits, bearing 
 a scroll on which was written: "The Ti'uth against the 
 World." Sweedenborg pointed up to it, and the scene 
 slowly faded from my view. 
 
 Thursday, Oct. 13th, 1853. 
 
 This evening, at my library, all the circle were present, with the ad- 
 dition of General Bullard, of Waterford. It was suggested by Mr. Sweet 
 that a particular course of manifestations, which he pointed out, should 
 be pursued, and in answer it was written : 
 
 It is sometimes, when all the spirits are assembled here 
 for the purpose of carrying out a certain plan, almost im- 
 possible to arrange the magnetic current so as to commu- 
 nicate freely, and it ought to be understood that when the 
 higher spirits come to your circle, really to do good, the 
 absence of any member positively interferes with the whole 
 order of manifestation. Certainly, therefore, it is of im- 
 portance that each member should be present, unless de- 
 
246 SPIEITITALISM. 
 
 tained by sickness, and that no ordinary excuse should be 
 given or received unless a high and noble duty prevents 
 attendance. 
 
 Spirits come from afar, and leave their happy homes to 
 visit you. They forego many pleasures to do you good, 
 and they are invariably here. How much they are disap- 
 pointed at finding the circle incomplete, we leave you to 
 judge ; but the fact must be told, that they can not com- 
 municate, and when the order of communication is estab- 
 lished, to interfere in any way to break up the concerted 
 plan, causes a desultory teaching to result instead of those 
 for our second volume. 
 
 Let this, therefore, be rectified, and let every member 
 feel obliged to be present, except sickness or some impera- 
 tive duty prevents. Bacon. 
 
 If, therefore, any naembors of the circle can not attend, 
 or will sufi"er slight circumstances to prev^t attendance, 
 make your arrangements without reference to them ; as I am 
 now directed to say, that in consequence of the non-attend- 
 ance of members, from whom much was and is expected, 
 some spirits have discontinued their visits to you, who 
 would have given much that would have been of invalu- 
 able benefit to the whole world. 
 
 Friends, 'tis no slight matter to drive away a spirit, in 
 fact, to grieve him so as to prevent his utterance of that 
 which is of so much importance to know ; and could you 
 see the feeling which now disturbs the spirits to-night, you 
 would feel that this duty was the most important of that 
 which influences your whole life. Your circle must es- 
 tablish a ready and active current, so that all kinds of rev- 
 elations may be made. You are standing still instead of 
 progressing. Why is this so ? Think and answer. 
 
 This morning many spirits met in 'this room to consult 
 about the condition of this circle. Among the many things 
 which have retarded the advance of the circle as a whole was 
 what has been mentioned, but there are others, and I must 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 247 
 
 say, that your own feelings have not been right and true. 
 Let the circle individually ask the question of themselves, 
 Have I, by my feelings, retarded my own and the circle's 
 advance ? and you will see what will be the answer. We 
 feel grieved that there exists among tliose for whom we 
 have striven to do so much, any feelings which ought not 
 to be fostered or. entertained. 
 
 What are our objects and purposes ? "Why are we here ? 
 Oh ! if you wish to stand on the mountain's height and 
 overlook the whole prospect of life here and hereaftei*, 
 cherish no unkind feelings, thrust from your hearts thoughts 
 which cloud the prospect and dim the brightness of the 
 future. We know what you think ; every feeling of your 
 souls is open to our view^, strive- to conceal them as you 
 may. But they stand out to our ken as distinct as though 
 you gave them utterance. Do you think that in your acts 
 you do not manifest feelings ? And have your acts been 
 characterized by that high principle of love you profess to 
 believe and cherish? • 
 
 It is no pleasant task to speak in this manner, but we 
 chasten for your good and for the good of the cause. Let 
 but one evil thought or purpose be entertained or executed, 
 and the whole cause must suffer, and perhaps be retarded 
 for years ! 
 
 We desire that you may take our lesson as intended, for 
 your good alone, and believe us that in your chastisement 
 is our suffering. We want you to talk this matter up, and 
 arrange some system that we may go on as before. 
 
 Lnagine to yourselves some twenty spirits from the 
 higher spheres whose magnetism differs from ours. They 
 are here, and A\'%ile here assist in establishing a current 
 by which all who are designated can communicate. ]S"ow, 
 when they find, night after night, the medium indisposed, 
 or unwilling, or absent, their citrrent is disturbed, and they 
 can not teach. 
 
 On Sunday last the teaching was entirely different from 
 that intended ; the higher spirits wished to communicate, 
 
24:8 SPIKITTJALISM. 
 
 but the medium was not in condition, and another spirit 
 took possession. Another thing, when some of you have 
 staid a certain time you are impatient to go, and it is the 
 case, that when the full circulation of the magnetism is 
 perfectly established that the higher teaching can be given 
 — thus it may be in the latter part of the evening that the 
 most important teachings can come. 
 
 For all or for nothing ; for every thing or for naught, 
 should be your motto. You can not love God and the 
 world, and in this cause you profess to love God and to 
 carry out the truth as it is revealed by his instruments. 
 
 Now your consultations will be of service as they will 
 arouse your thought to the importance of what we say, 
 and you will act accordingly. 
 
 Thus far it was Bacon who wrote ] now Sweedenborg wrote as follows, 
 in reference to a remark made by one of us, that we hoped they would 
 be patient with us, and let us try to restore the efficiency and usefulness 
 of the circle : 
 
 Yes, we are patient. We watch like the stars, whose 
 silvery light is still shedding its mild beams down on the 
 darkened earth, though clouds do intervene and shadow 
 their radiance. We watch the seed we have planted, though 
 the thorns of life spring up and choke their growth. We 
 watch you while engaged in the active business of life, or 
 when your thoughts, turned inward and searching your 
 own hearts, bring up to your own consciousness the truth 
 that you are not perfect. We are patient, for we wait the 
 time when you will develop all that is good and true in 
 your natures. We wait for the ocean in its ceaseless mo- 
 tion to cast up on the shore the inestimable pearls which 
 lie hid in its bosom. We ask you to bear and forbear, 
 to temper your feelings to the condition of feelings as you 
 find them in others. Oh ! were not truth omnipotent ; 
 were not truth against the world worth waiting and watch- 
 ing for, what use would it be that the spirit waits so long 
 for the golden gates to be opened that it should partake 
 of those joys never, never to cease? 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 249 
 
 What is life but watching and waiting for that happiness 
 always to come, but never to be found in your world ? 
 
 Come, then. Let your hearts renew their efforts, and 
 let your spirits unite with ours in a fresh attempt to achieve 
 a victory over self. 'Tis in yourselves you will find the 
 greatest cause for trial. In self is all that retards your 
 progress here or hereafter. The time is not far distant 
 when you will test the truths we have taught, for you will 
 see and feel that in yourselves alone, and by your own 
 efforts, can you work out your salvation. 
 
 SWEEDENBORG. 
 
 Then it was added by Lord Bacon : \ 
 
 ISTow, Judge, we will impress you for a few minutes, and 
 give you a new view of spirit in the spheres. 
 
 I then saw as follows : 
 
 VISION. 
 
 Can it be possible that I am right ? that I see correctly ? 
 
 The lesson they are showing me is that the spirits are 
 the instruments of God in controlling and governing the 
 elements ! 
 
 "What I first saw was a comet careering through space 
 with wonderful velocity. It was that velocity which cre- 
 ated its light and heat. It was nebulous, composed of 
 many distinct particles attracted to each other, but not yet 
 united — some were left behind it in its rapid flight, and 
 some were lost to its attraction and lagged behind in the 
 immensity of space, losing their motion and light, and re- 
 maining inert in space, until again awakened by some ex- 
 ercise of the power of attraction. 
 
 The destiny of this nebulous mass is in time, and by the 
 sure and gradual operation of immutable laws, to form a 
 dense globe, and in it are all the elements of such a world 
 as this, from the merest particle of inert matter to the form 
 of man. 
 
250 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 The process of its progress I saw was watclied over, 
 controlled, and directed hj an innumerable host of spirits, 
 that attended it in its course, and whose business it was to 
 correct and restrain all aberrations of that matter from the 
 laws constituted for its government. The very rarefied 
 condition of this matter, with the extreme rapidity of its 
 motion, were calculated to disturb "the operation of those 
 laws, and it was the business of the spirits to counteract 
 that. They were the instruments of the Great Creator, 
 charged with the duty and clothed with the power of ex- 
 ecuting those laws. 'Not miraculously, nor in contraven- 
 tion or by a suspension of them, but in conformity to 
 them, as in tilling the ground and planting the seed we 
 afford the opportunity for the law of its development to 
 operate. 
 
 I saw the spirits performing tjiis duty, some of them 
 floating along outside the nucleus watching, and others 
 inside exceedingly busy. I saw some in the very center 
 of it very active as if something was out of order, and they 
 were engaged in the task of putting it right. I saw, too, 
 that occasionally they required help from others, and im- 
 mediately received it from those Vho at the moment were 
 not occupied. 
 
 I could not help reflecting what a magnificent fate it 
 must be, thus to career through space and survey the 
 myriads of worlds that filled it ! 
 
 I was then taken near to this earth of ours, and there I 
 saw — though not as distinctly — the same occupation of 
 spirits in reference to this globe. 
 
 At this moment it was written through Dr. Dexter's hand : 
 
 ''If you desire, you will see that the spirits engaged in 
 this occupation are such as on earth are occupied in in- 
 vestigating the great laws of nature there, and analyzing 
 and inventing, and by their discoveries assisting the world 
 to understand the laws of God and their action." 
 
 Then it was said to me by the spirits : 
 
SPIBITUALISM. 261 
 
 Do you doubt this? Do you wonder ? Think a moment. 
 If one spirit is strong enough to move the Doctor's arm 
 against his will — if one could grip your^ and hold it with 
 an iron grasp, from which you could not escape — if a few 
 of them can make the sounds you have heard, and move 
 material bodies as you have witnessed, what must be the 
 united power of the countless millions who, since creation 
 began, have been rolling out into the regions of space 
 from the innumerable storehouses of human life, for ages 
 upon ages beyond the comprehension of man ? And they 
 said to me, " Recollect, that when you cast oif your material 
 trammels, your nervous power is vastly increased, and it 
 will not be difficult for you to realize this idea as natural 
 and probable." They told me they were intending to show 
 me their operations over the elements here, and they 
 wished it understood that their power was only to execute 
 God's laws, not to create, and to execute according to law, 
 not arbitrarily. Sometimes the execution of the duty was 
 attended with much violence, and that was unavoidable, 
 for they could not always control the elements as they 
 wished. Hence there were tornadoes, hurricanes, etc., and 
 such like disturbances in < the elements. The equalization 
 was constantly liable to be disturbed by the operation of 
 other laws arising out of the unprogressed state of the 
 earth — its high mountains, its deep valleys, its great in- 
 equalities of surface, and other manifestations of its impro- 
 gressed condition. These causes operate to produce these 
 disturbances, and to restore the equilibrium must at times 
 be unavoidably attended with other disturbances. Hence 
 those convulsions, which were more frequent formerly than 
 now, and will be less frequent as the earth progresses to its 
 final development. 
 
 To illustrate this, they bore me to the moon, and I was 
 directly over it where I could see its surface distinctly, its 
 high prominences, its deep valleys, its great unevenness of 
 surface, and they said to me, " Do you not see that if the 
 moon had an atmosphere like that of your earth, with the 
 
252 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 rapidity of its three-fold motion, that atmosphere must be 
 very \nuch disturbed by this inequality of surface ? and so 
 too with water, which is but a denser element? Can you 
 not perceive that if the surface of this globe were smooth 
 and level and free from these inequalities, the elements 
 would not be as much disturbed by the motion?" They 
 alluded, they said, to all the elements which go to consti- 
 tute an inhabitable globe, for all were subject to the same 
 law. 
 
 I observed with much minuteness the surface of the 
 moon. I saw no living thing there except a few plants. 
 Sometimes in the crevices of the crumbling rocks, where 
 some little soil had gathered, there were a few specimens 
 of vegetation ; but they were large, coarse, low, creeping 
 weeds. 
 
 I saw many different colored rocks ; some looked like 
 hard slaty rocks — some streaks that seemed to be light- 
 colored granite — some shining and sparkling in veins as if 
 gold and silver — some very black and shining, like anthra- 
 cite coal. 
 
 These things I saw in a vast basin, as it were, like the 
 crater of a volcano, with huge, craggy rocks bounding it 
 on all sides, and jutting far up. I saw no water. Some 
 of the rocks had fallen from the sides and tumbled into the 
 valleys, where they were crumbling. But every thing was 
 dreary, desolate, silent, solitary. The spirit of life had not 
 yet been developed. 
 
 I saw, however, that there were fires burning beneath its 
 surface. In one place a dense black smoke ascended, oc- 
 casionally illumed by a lurid flame that shot up amid the 
 awful desolation of the scene. 
 
 They told me then to turn my eyes, and from where I 
 was to view the earth. It seemed a monstrous ball of pale 
 light, but quite different from the appearance of the moon 
 to us, in this, that it did not show the great inequalities of 
 surface of the moon, but more like Jupiter with its belts, 
 occasioned by the workings of its atmosphere. 
 
 / 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 263 
 
 / 
 
 The size appeared so much larger than the moon does to 
 us, that it seemed to me as if it were nearer. 
 
 As I noticed it, I saw spirits also accompanying it in its 
 round, employed as they were on the comet. I saw, too, 
 that our earth in its course left behind it a tail like the 
 comet, but much more sublimated and almost invisible to 
 me. That was the denser and more impure parts of our 
 atmosphere, which were thrown off in its course. As each 
 individual on earth is constantly imbibing from the atmo- 
 sphere around him the element of vitality, and throwing 
 off such portions of.it as are not incorporated into his 
 system, so the earth, in passing through space, is con- 
 stantly imbibing the elements of vitality for its atmosphere, 
 and throwing off such portions as are useless. 
 
 The same law operates throughout all creation, spring- 
 ing from and guided by the same Wisdom. And thus the 
 space through which the earth moves is the great store- 
 house from which its atmosphere is constantly replenished, 
 as in its turn our atmosphere is the storehouse whence 
 man's vitality is replenished. 
 
 I saw that the moon had some atmosphere, but too in- 
 considerable in amount to permit the existence of life, 
 except a few of the lowest and least developed plants. 
 
 I saw, too, that our atmosphere was more dense near the 
 earth, and more rarefied step by step, without any definite 
 termination, though there was a point beyond which it 
 could not be detected by mortal observation. 
 
 The spirits who floated in the outer and more rarefied 
 portions seemed to me to be brighter and of a higher order 
 than those w)io herded near^ the surface of the earth. 
 The latter were darker and more heavy, more sluggish. 
 Many of them seemed afflicted with a sort of listless indif- 
 ference as if they had no purpose, no object in view. They 
 seemed to be unhappy, and to wonder if they were created 
 for that and nothing else. They looked upon the earth, as they 
 floated with it along near its surface, with a strong attach- 
 ment to it — with a burning desire to be again on it, but 
 
254 SPIRITUALISM. V 
 
 with a consciousness that that couki not be, and that they 
 were separated from it forever. Their condition was very 
 unhappy — some were angry at it, some sorrowful, and they 
 were quite unconscious of the nearness to them of those 
 brighter spirits, for they could not see them any more than 
 we can. I saw a marked contrast between the two classes. 
 The brighter ones frequently clustered together, assisted 
 one another, and were happy. The darker ones most 
 commonly wandered alone, but would sometimes cluster 
 together, and then quarrels and jarrings among themselves 
 were ever there. Their feelings were very bad, and they 
 vented them on each other. And I saw occasionally that 
 a brighter spirit would dart, with the celerity of thought, 
 through the denser parts of the atmosphere and the ever- 
 wandering crowd of darker spirits, down to earth's surface 
 to hold holy communion with man. 
 
 tdian ^btni^-m. 
 
 Sunday^ Oct. IGth^ 1853. 
 
 This evening the circle met at my library, and after a brief commu- 
 nication through Mrs. Sweet, in relation to our harmony, in which Mr. 
 S. made some suggestions as to our mode of proceeding, it was written : 
 
 Since the formation of this circle there has been but one 
 instance of a want of harmony, and this only for a few mo- 
 ments. It becomes those spirits who originally met with 
 you to answer the suggestion made, and we do so plainly, 
 because it is not that one, two, or three of you might be 
 influenced, and thus affect the minds of others. For the 
 truths we desire to teach, for the good we hope to accom- 
 plish, we wish the method we pursue should be understood 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 255 
 
 and appreciated by all. You are all working for one ob- 
 ject, and it matters not who is influenced if the teaching 
 reaches the design we wish carried out. 
 
 If one of you is under influence, it does not and can not 
 afi'ect another magnetically ; that is, it will not interrupt 
 the exhibition through another ; but if your minds are 
 disturbed, the disturbance arises from yourselves, and 
 can in no sense change the intent of the communication 
 going on. 
 
 We can not lay down any given plan of action at the 
 commencement of a meeting ; for though the great princi- 
 ples are laid out and we act on them, yet to say that we 
 will do so and so, might place us in an awkward condi- 
 tion, as we might not be able to fulfill what we say we 
 will do. The very best teachings and visions through the 
 Doctor, Judge, and Mrs. S. were given, as it were, im- 
 promptu ; and though there are many bright spirits here 
 from the higher spheres who purpose to reveal through all 
 of you, yet we find that sometimes one spirit can influence, 
 and then another, and then another, and so on. We com- 
 mence working on you from the moment you are seated 
 till you leave, and it often requires hours to place you in 
 such a state as we can freely communicate with you. Thus, 
 again, the bright spirits may not be able to come here till 
 late, and then we must use the means we have till they 
 come. You see, therefore, how we are situated, and you 
 will remember that we shall not disturb you by any thing 
 we do if you will not allow your own minds to operate and 
 disturb yourselves. We, on the whole, will judge what to 
 do, and we will direct you properly ; therefore leave to us 
 the arrangement, and you shall be directed right, etc., etc. 
 
 Bacon. 
 
 There are spirits here who wish to give the Judge a 
 vision, and it will be the brightest and most gorgeous he 
 has ever witnessed. Therefore, for a few moments, talk 
 and relieve yourselves, and then hear the vision. We shall 
 
260 
 
 SPIRITUALISM 
 
 allow you forty minutes, and you must talk right up to 
 the matter seen without prolixity, as we mean to go the 
 rounds. 
 
 Then came this 
 
 VISION. 
 
 Away off in the regions of space, as if in the midst ol 
 the starry firmament, I saw a bright and majestic spirit sit- 
 ting in a sort of throne, which was placed on a fleecy, white 
 cloud. A few feet above his head reposed a wreath of 
 flowers, from whence flowed rays of light to his head, form- 
 ing, as it were, a crown of light and flowers. He had on a 
 loose garment, beautifully variegated with blue and pink, 
 and ornamented with purple velvet, which sparkled as with 
 diamonds. His left hand rested on a globe, on the arm 
 of his seat, from which radiated a golden light, indicative 
 of affection. On the right arm of his chair was a similar 
 globe, radiating a silver light, indicating wisdom. His 
 right arm was raised, and he pointed me to a distant view. 
 He was evidently of a higher command, in the execution 
 of God's laws, than any I had yet seen. Far beneath him 
 were innumerable stars of all sizes careering through space, 
 and apparently gamboling in the exuberance of their joy."^ 
 At first the scene seemed to me one of great disorder ; but 
 as I gazed, I saw how all was order and harmony. I saw 
 many spirits coming to and going from him, as if with 
 messages — coming as from the distant stars, and vanishing 
 in space with inconceivable rapidity. 
 
 While I gazed, I saw a very bright light, most gor- 
 geous, like a blazing sun, approaching him from behind, 
 and forming a background to him. The rays of it were 
 ever shooting out from its center various hues, yet it 
 seemed fornierl of numberless concentric rings of different 
 colors. I can convey no adequate idea of its glorious 
 splendor. 
 
 That light was the central sun of all those systems of 
 worlds I saw beneath his feet, and he was the high and 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 257 
 
 holy intelligence that governed their action in obedience 
 to the laws of God. 
 
 He arose from his seat, and leaning on it with one arm, 
 he pointed me with the other off to his right. There I saw 
 a bright and dazzling spirit with no clothing upon him, but 
 shining like burnished silver. He was floating in the blue 
 ethereal, and seemed a great storehouse of dazzling light, 
 which he was scattering from him in all directions. 
 
 J saw that he was superior to the other spirit, yet I felt 
 as if there was a sense of solitude about him, and that he 
 had no companions. He replied to my thought by spread- 
 ing out his hands and saying, "These worlds are my com- 
 panions ; my solitude is peopled by myriads of shining in- 
 telligences." 
 
 He pointed me to other systems of worlds far off in the 
 illimitable distance, and immense in number. He seemed 
 to be the apex of a cone ; spreading out and beneath him 
 were the worlds which he governed, whose guide and di- 
 rector he was. He pointed me to one still higher than 
 himself, his superior in power and wisdom. Of that one I 
 saw only the head. 
 
 The great lesson taught by these scenes is the occupation 
 of the spirits, one above another, in the'ir career of pro- 
 gression — each greater than the other, and executing God's 
 laws on a larger scale and in a higher sphere. 
 
 Through the Doctor's hand it was here written : 
 
 "This is one process of development. Watch and see 
 his form rising from that brilliant cloud of lambent flame. 
 This personifies truth as developed to minds prepared to 
 receive it. You never, perhaps, may see any thing so 
 brilliant and gorgeous again. Let the circle be particular- 
 ly silent, and let their minds turn to this subject." 
 
 The vision proceeded : 
 
 There arose up from beneath this bodiless spirit a beau- 
 tiful rose-colored, flame-like cloud, in the center of which 
 appeared a magnificent temple enveloped in this rose-col- 
 
 17 
 
268 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 ored light. It was indeed a glorious sight, which language 
 is inadequate to describe. 
 
 The temple was surrounded by a great number of spirits, 
 with musical instruments in their hands, and from them 
 arose a flood of music, far surpassing any thing ever heard 
 by mortal ears. The building had a Doric roof, and stood 
 high up from its base. It was ascended by a flight of many 
 steps, extending across the whole front. There were three 
 rows of columns on each side, of infinite variety of colors ; 
 they were not Doric in form, but tall and slender, and 
 somewhat of the Ionic order. This temple was open at its 
 sides, and its pavement and columns shone with a brilliant, 
 sparkling gleam amid that rose- colored atmosphere. 
 
 On each side of the building was a glorious garden, va- 
 riegated with water, shrubbery, and flowers, equally daz- 
 zling in their brilliancy. The leaves of the flowers and 
 plants were transparent, yet shone with a glitter like the 
 ice-plant, or as if covered with frost in the morning sun. 
 The water was now a calm and placid pool, now a bub- 
 bling stream, now a jet, and anon a tumbling fall. The 
 flowers were of all possible colors, and I could see their 
 perfume arise from them and mingle with the atmosphere. 
 At the same I tould see the plants drinking in, through 
 their leaves, the life-principle from the atmosphere, and 
 giving it out sublimated and refined as perfume. Those 
 plants were in all stages of development, so that it seemed 
 as if spring and summer, conjoined, reigned there forever. 
 There was every variety of foliage and shady trees, now 
 dense, dark and cool, and now sparse and transparent. The 
 water was full of fishes, gamboling in the joyousness of 
 life in such pure waters, and the air was full of birds, ren- 
 dering it beautiful with their plumage, and vocal with 
 their song. One bird I noticed in particular ; he was brown 
 and plain in look, and as he reposed on a limb of one of the 
 trees, he sent up his joyous song, ringing clear over all oth- 
 er sounds — its notes like the softest flute, expressive of hap- 
 piness, and imparting a feeling of gladness to all around. 
 
S PIEITUALISM. 269 
 
 The basement of the temple, I saw, was prepared and 
 fitted up for a room in which public meetings were to be 
 held. At one end of it was the seat of the presiding spirit. 
 It was the precise, tomb-like monument of myself that I 
 had seen once before, on which was recorded my age when 
 I died. Back of that, on the wall, was a picture of that 
 cross in the sky, which I had seen with its attendant spirit 
 and its scrolls. Beneath that picture was my new seal 
 painted, and on each side two other seals ; they consisted 
 of shields with emblazonry. One had' a cross-bar running 
 diagonally, above which was the scene of the good Samar- 
 itan ; and below a bright spirit, who was lifting a slave 
 from the ground and knocking off his chains. The scroll 
 beneath the shield contained these words: "Love con- 
 quers all things." This was Doctor Dexter's coat of arms ; 
 the other was Mr. Warren's. It was quartered by bars 
 crossing each other at right-angles. In one quarter was a 
 shepherd surrounded by his flock ; he was reclining under 
 a tree, and examining the starry firmament. In the second 
 quarter was a man far down in a deep pit, and examining 
 the formation of the rock and earth. In the third, a man 
 reading ; and in the fourth, one with crucibles, and other 
 chemical apparatus. The inscription here was, " Knowl- 
 edge is Progressive." 
 
 That end of the room was goi^eous and beautiful. Be- 
 tween the shields were columns of just proportions, and 
 richly carved; and between the columns hung full and 
 flowing drapery of various colors, tastefully blended, hang- 
 ing in festoons very light and graceful. 
 
 Along the sides of the room were suspended many ban- 
 ners of various colors, with blazonry on them ; one feature 
 was that they were not dusty or dingy, as they are apt to 
 be with us. 
 
 On the other side of the building the garden had a deeper 
 shade and a more dense foliage than in that part which I 
 have already described, and it terminated in a gentle slope, 
 from the summit of which was exposed to view a landscape 
 
260 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 exquisitely lovely and very extensive. It was variegated by 
 towers and palaces, and stately mansions, by water, deep 
 groves, and green fields, and all seen by that soft, rosy 
 light, and seeming to be full to overflowing with joy and 
 gladness. 
 
 In the garden were statues, and grottoes, and summer 
 bowers, and rustic seats. In one place was a gigantic 
 bronze statue, with a lofty, benevolent countenance; one 
 hand was outstretched, pointing upward, and with the 
 other it was raising np a dark-colored mortal who was 
 groveling in the dust, and was rising, yet reluctant. 
 
 In a lovely and deeply-shaded bower was a group of 
 white statuary, with the dark-green foliage for a back- 
 ground. It represented a female lying on a bed, and 
 dying. She was old, and ragged, and haggard ; all the 
 surroundings denoted destitution and want. Her clothes 
 were tattered, her hair dissheveled, and her countenance 
 showed much bodily suffering, yet it had a lofty and ele- 
 vated expression, as if her mind was rising above, and was 
 unconscious of her suffering. By her side stood a female 
 holding one of her hands, and pointing upward with a 
 look of hope and love that was inexpressibly touching. 
 
 This I learned was the residence of that spirit whose 
 head alone I saw ; now I was able to see its whole form ; 
 it was that of a female, and was so light and ethereal that 
 it was transparent. 
 
 I returned back from this scene, and approached again 
 the spirit with the silver light, and there I saw its home ; 
 it was like a Saracenic temple, and was enveloped in a 
 mingled light of silver hue and pure blue. It had points 
 to its several gables, but its arches were circular, and there 
 were small pinnacled towers at each corner. In the rear 
 of the building was a battlemented tower, from which 
 floated to the breeze the ample folds of a white flag, hav- 
 ing on it a red cross. 
 
SPIEITTTALISM. 261 
 
 Thursday, Oct. 20th, 1853. 
 
 The circle met this evening. There was no manifestation through 
 Dr. Dexter, and through Mrs. Sweet there was a brief one, which was 
 of moment only as it foreshadowed her development. 
 
 Almost as soon as we got seated, I began to feel the in- 
 fluence, and saw the spirits that surrounded the circle. 
 After a while the cordon of spirits opened at one spot and 
 showed me in the distance a great number of them, who 
 were attracted to us, some by curiosity, some to learn, and. 
 some to communicate and teach. 
 
 I was soon taken up that opening and passed away some 
 distance, until I seemed very small. Here I was required 
 to stop and look back on the world I had left, and behold 
 how insignificant were its joys compared with those of my 
 spirit-companions ! how dark and gloomy its life compared 
 with the light and happiness which surrounded them ! and 
 it was said to me, " Think not then of man's unkindness, 
 but be thankful that you have admittance to a w^orld where 
 your purposes can be understood, the good you aim at be 
 appreciated, and any sacrifices you may be required to 
 make, will meet their reward." 
 
 It was a bright and beautiful spirit who said this to me. 
 His garb was a beautiful crimson gown, long, loose^ and 
 loating. It had a belt, cuifs, collar, and hems of embroid- 
 ered gold-work, and over it all was a thin, gossamer-like 
 garment, as if it was an atmosphere of a pale-blue color, 
 which was transparent and ever moving like living flame. 
 He had long, gray hair, falling in curls to his shoulders. 
 His countenance was very intellectual and evinced great 
 
262 SPIKITIJALISM. 
 
 firmness, as if he could stand unmoved amid a conflict of 
 worlds. 
 
 His affectionate manner toward me was very touching. 
 It was like a mother drawing close up to her her child to 
 protect it from harm. He was surrounded by many bright 
 spirits, who regarded him with great reverence. He was 
 a very benevolent man. I had never seen him before, and 
 was impressed that it was Washington. 
 
 He said to me, " 'Tis for man's emancipation you strive, 
 and it will be attained ; in the knowledge that it has been 
 attained, and in some degree by your instrumentality, you 
 will find your reward ; and when hereafter the incense of 
 the grateful hearts of millions of redeemed spirits shall 
 ascend before you, you will appreciate what my joy is 
 in being hailed by an immense nation of freemen as the 
 Father of His Country." 
 
 He said, *' Though it is long since I spoke to you, I have 
 been often with you, and have not been unmindful of your 
 progress or your action. And, oh ! heed not the hostility 
 of weak or wicked men ; for as the freedom of our coun- 
 try was achieved through many difficulties and many dark 
 and gloomy trials, so through similar discomfitures will 
 this work be completed, in the redemption of our country 
 from the thralldom of the bigotry and superstition which 
 the darkened ages of the past have transmitted to the 
 present as its inheritance. Then fear not, falter not, but 
 onward ! Be calm, be dispassionate, be firm, and rely 
 upon it, that the sun of righteousness, while it will quicken 
 into life the seeds of truth which you may sow while liv- 
 ing, will brighten with verdure the grave where you'll 
 sleep." 
 
 While this was said to me, I seemed to be at such a 
 distance from the earth that it seemed to be a partly lu- 
 minous ball of two or three miles in diameter. 
 
 By the side of this spirit I saw those of La Fayette and 
 Tecumseh. 
 
 I returned slowly to earth through the dense ranks of 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 263 
 
 spirits who lined my path on both sides. -They gave me, 
 as I passed, many smiles of cheering encouragement. 
 Among them I recognized many acquaintances. One was 
 my mother, who blessed me as I paused before her, and 
 reminded me of her dying moments, that she had said to 
 me, as I sat by her side, *' John, I am dying," and I had 
 answered, "Yes, mother, you are going to reap the reward 
 of a life well spent." 
 
 I then returned to the circle. 
 
 Thursday^ Oct. 27 th, 1853. 
 
 The circle met this evening at my library. There were three persons 
 present as visitors. 
 
 Through the Doctor's hand it was written : 
 
 We wish to try an experiment, that is, to impress both 
 you and Mrs. Sweet together, and to teach by a dialogue. 
 
 Bacon. 
 
 The spirits will be Yoltaire by Mrs. S. and Cardinal 
 "Woolsey by the Judge. 
 
 After a little while — 
 
 Yoltaire said : What a vast revolution has taken place 
 in the opinions of men since I was a resident of earth ! 
 
 Woolsey. — Yes, the infidelity with which you were 
 charged while here has since then grown immensely among 
 men. It is not now so pretentious as it was then, but it is 
 deeper and wider spread, and, unless arrested, will sink 
 mankind into deeper materialism than has been known for 
 ages. 
 
 YoLTAiKE. — Infidelity to what and to whom ? to the law 
 
264: SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 of man or of God ? Dost thou pretend to censure the in- 
 fidelity of mj soul which could not bow to the narrow 
 creeds and sectarian prejudices of the minds around me? 
 Dost thou say I was an infidel, because 1 dared to speak 
 the immortal truth which beamed in upon my soul, dark- 
 ened as it was with gross materiality? But still it was 
 immortal truth, and possessed the very essence of the God- 
 like divinity. My soul required a larger, a more extended 
 plane of thought, a more unbounded field of knowledge 
 than the teaching of man could supply. Yea, my darkened 
 soul hungered for light. 
 
 WooLSEY. — I spoke of the infidelity with which you were 
 cha/rged, and, alas ! you know the charge yet lives in many 
 minds. But I meant not to censure, but only to lament ; 
 for with minds like yours, such unbelief as yours in the 
 teachings of the d^, material as they were, and of man's 
 invention, might work no injury ; but the same cause 
 which operated on your mind operated on others too weak 
 and feeble to see the great results at which you arrived. 
 And while with you infidelity may have been but a disbe- 
 lief in the dogmas of man, in others it was a disbelief in 
 the existence of a God and the eternal existence of man ; 
 and it is that which has spread with such alarming preva- 
 lence throughout the world, that a vast majority of the 
 civilized part of it, disgusted with the teachings which you 
 repelled, have learned to doubt that there was any exist- 
 ence for man but on this earth. And these dogmas have, 
 day by day, been sinking man deeper and deeper into the 
 love of this world alone, and hence have been engendered 
 selfishness and strife among men, until they are, indeed, 
 unlike what they were designed to be by their great Cre- 
 ator. The cause — the cause of this is the great inquiry ? for 
 when that shall be ascertained, the remedy will be compara- 
 tively easy. "What say you — for you know — is that cause ? 
 
 YoLTAiKE. — My opinions, as given to the world during 
 my lifetime, are, indeed, tinctured with a spirit of bitter- 
 ness and controversy ; but, while giving those opinions. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 265 
 
 please to remember, that mv mind was tortured, as it 
 were, by an internal warfare. I looked npon mankind as 
 being beneath me in intellect and discernment. I looked 
 upon them as puppets who might be led by any strong 
 mind that might please to control them, and the spirit of 
 combativeness was aroused within me that such elements 
 should exist in the mind of man, and he still be called an 
 immortal being. What ! such man a part of the divinity 
 destined to exist forever? and yet how puny he seemed 
 when compared with the great First Cause from which he 
 pretended to have sprung ! 
 
 I grant, my opinions may have done some injury in some 
 cases, but I am convinced they did much more good. They 
 aroused the souls of many men from their cringing, low 
 position. They broke the trammels and let loose upon the 
 wing of thought many an aspiring soul. But my soul in 
 its range became lost also. Instead of making the nice 
 distinction which I might have done if the spirit part of 
 my nature had been developed as well as the material, I 
 mixed them indiscriminately, and thus lost sight of the 
 object I had in view, and thought in my battle with the 
 world that there was no hereafter, while I wished only 
 to be convinced that there surely was. But the spirit in 
 which I pursued my researches sent me back empty hand 
 ed and more strongly girded about with the infidelity of 
 which you speak. And my life was spent, not so much in 
 striving to defeat the good which might be done by the 
 Christian religion, as in battling their foolish opinions and 
 blind credulity. Even I, with all my infidelity, could, 
 upon the basis of my belief, mount far above them, ay, 
 beyond their very vision, and see the glorious world re- 
 vealed in the face of nature, and the wonderful revolutions 
 of the earth. And I could be filled with a sense of awe 
 and a feeling of unbounded liberty which they never ex- 
 perienced in their dark and cringing position. 
 
 I confess I do not regret the spread of my works, for I 
 see far greater causes of evil, and baleful eflPects flowing 
 
^66 SPIEITTJALISM. 
 
 from those causes, had there been no opposing principles 
 to work in the great mass of mankind. They would not 
 all bow. They would not all be slaves, and if that which 
 I advocated gave them one exalted thought and enabled 
 them to penetrate into the realms of knowledge, did it not 
 open their eyes to see their true position ? 'No, I do not 
 regret to see ray teachings, but I do regret that I lived so 
 long on earth and became so little aware of what I might 
 kave been, of what I might have done, if I had been 
 blessed with the light of Spiritualism, which has now 
 dawned on the mind of man. 
 
 Unbelieving and uncertain I entered the spirit-world, 
 repelling with my very presence every approach of light 
 which might have shone on my darkened vision. It was 
 the material part of my nature which was developed on 
 earth. My spirit part was lost in my wanderings for light. 
 It was shut up in the material part as in an iron cage. 
 Defiant and proud I entered the spirit- world, not knowing, 
 not caring to know, the hereafter I had so strenuously 
 fought against while in the body. But let me make this 
 confession. There was ever in my soul a still, small voice 
 which would come from its deepest recesses and would 
 pierce away beyond the bounds of space and ask for light, 
 and return dissatisfied and weary. It was a constant striv- 
 ing of the desire to know and the determination not to know. 
 So my entrance there could not have been gladsome. Had 
 not the opinions which I had spent my whole intellect and 
 energies in propagating all come to naught as regards 
 man's immortality? And I plainly saw if the soul was 
 immortal there must be a God, an immortal spirit, who 
 ruled this vast and illimitable space which surrounded me. 
 
 How I traveled — incessantly traveled — and . strove to 
 convince myself that it was still a material world I lived 
 on ! How my spirit wrestled with the truth which was 
 crushing me with such force ! and I could not realize my- 
 self as a spirit, that I had left my mortal abode. There 
 was none with whom I could claim companionship, for 
 
SPTEITUALI8M. 267 
 
 had I not denied every one of them's being immortal? 
 There was no resting-place for me. I was ever restless, 
 ever wandering and unsatisfied. My soul was dark and 
 bitter within me, and I was as a maniac without power to 
 work out any design my mind might plan. 
 
 I say I entered the portals of the spirit-world proud and 
 defiant. I was led away from the habitations of spirits 
 and was taken into mighty space. I was permitted to gaze 
 on the wonderful works of the spirits' abodes. To me they 
 seemed indeed wonderful, and I was carried about with 
 resistless force, and made to gaze until my soul became so 
 filled with the sense of the magnificence and power which 
 controlled these mighty wonders, that I fain would have 
 hid myself away in the clefts of the rocks, but I could not 
 do so. I yearned for companionship and longed to tell 
 some one how I had been misled, not by others, but by my 
 own wild imaginings. I began to realize how insignificant 
 I was in that great world of immortal spirits, and, finally, 
 having 'become so weary, so humiliated, my proud spirit 
 thoroughly humbled, I was allowed to associate with some 
 of the inhabitants. And now I began to realize the posi- 
 tion I had occupied on earth, and to see that which I should 
 occupy in the spirit- world. And it was not a pleasant one, 
 my friend. 
 
 A complete revolution, an entire change in my spirit- 
 organization, took place, and I became a delighted learner. 
 My ideas being already expansive, how I progressed ! My 
 soul felt the warm and glowing love of God to light it up, 
 to help its immortal graspings, and rapidly I became as- 
 sociated with the great and the good and the developed in 
 wisdom in the spirit-world. I saw how great had been my 
 mistake, and I felt how great must be the reparation which 
 I must make to atone for all which I have said or done or 
 lived, which would lead men's minds away from the right 
 path. Glorious with the light of celestial wisdom and 
 beauty are the lessons which I have learned, and far be- 
 yond all my soul could ever have conceived in this world 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 has been the unfolding of the boundless storehouse of wis- 
 dom and knowledge. 
 
 I have lived to look upon my earthly existence as a 
 bitter warfare with the world and with my own spirit- 
 nature. I have deeply regretted the opinions which I ad- 
 vocated, which were the means of leading any astray, but 
 I also feel deeply and fervently grateful to the all-wise 
 Creator that I was made an instrument even of controversy 
 in the Christian world, that thus men's minds might be 
 opened to a sjDirit of inquiry and progression. 
 
 The effects have not been so bad as the world believed 
 them to be, but the causes which led to the many conten- 
 tions and discussions will still exist until man's spirit has 
 worked him out of the thralldom of blind opinion and 
 blinder prejudice and unprogressive religion. The cause 
 of Christianity must become infidel to its present opinions 
 before the world can arrive at that state of free and en- 
 lightened wisdom which shall make every man a law unto 
 himself. 
 
 "WooLSEY. — I wonder not at your contempt of mankind 
 as they were when you lived on earth, for they and their 
 mental condition were the legitimate product of more than 
 a thousand years of religious domination, and the extreme 
 to which you were led, though not unnatural, was to be 
 lamented, and it is that extreme which now so widely per- 
 vades the whole civilized world. 
 
 But the cause of it lies deeper than you have mentioned. 
 I saw it among the religionists with whom I associated ; 
 I saw it in the cloister and in the desk, and most among 
 those whose minds were most enlarged by education and 
 culture. It was this. The dogmas taught as religion were 
 at war with the aspirations of our own souls, and with the 
 workings of the laws of God as we saw them all around 
 us. If we sent a searching thought deep into the recesses 
 of our own souls, we found there — innate and existent — 
 what shall I call it? an aspiration, a belief, an instinctive 
 feeling as it were, at war with that which we were taught 
 
, SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 as religion. If we sent our minds abroad, searching 
 through the external universe, it returned to us laden with 
 the conviction, that the operations and the laws of the 
 Great First Cause were equally in conflict with it. And 
 in proportion as we were able to make this internal or ex- 
 ternal search, as the mind by culture- increased in the 
 capacity to examine itself and the laws of nature, and to 
 understand them, we recognized, w^e felt the overpowering 
 influence of the teachings thence derived, that the religion 
 taught us could not, in many respects, be true. However 
 earnestly we might have tried to believe, however obsti- 
 nately we might have resolved that we would believe, 
 however successful we might have thought ourselves in 
 deceiving ourselves into the idea that we did believe, there 
 was still lingering down deep in the inmost recesses of our 
 souls the conviction that it was not so. 
 
 While that was the condition of the cultivated and the 
 educated in your day and mine, so now it is the condition 
 of vastly greater numbers, because now knowledge is more 
 generally diff'used among men, and with that knowledge 
 has come now, as it came then, the extreme into which you 
 fell — the denial of a God and a future existence for man. 
 How welcome to us would have been the revelations now 
 making to man! How welcome ought it now to be to 
 man, for it guards him against that extreme, lifts him from 
 the deep degradation of such unbelief, raises him from the 
 mire of a material existence only, and opens to him a knowl- 
 edge which will make indeed a new heaven and a new 
 earth : a new heaven, because spirits fitted for it will 
 enter there — a new earth, because man, while upon it, will 
 learn and execute the great purpose of his existence there. 
 With that knowledge, his existence there will not be as it 
 was with us, in vain in reference to the future. 
 
 It is indeed a happy day for mankind that is now 
 dawning upon them, for they will be taught to feel and 
 will feel, as you now do, the law of love, which has, to be 
 sure, been often on the lips, but has found the heart too 
 
270 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 closely surrounded by materialism to be able to penetrate 
 it. That barrier is now being destroyed. The great law 
 of love will enter there, and will show itself forth in 
 greater regard for the happiness of each other, in the sup- 
 pression of that selfishness which has so long cast its dark 
 pall over man's life on earth, and will teach men, by the 
 best of all possible lessons, that of experience, to know 
 how much he will add to his happiness even on earth, as 
 well as his happiness hereafter. It will be no longer to 
 him a mere sentiment written on the sand of the sea-shore, 
 to be obliterated by the first wave which the storm of 
 human passion may excite, but will be written on the 
 heart in letters of fire, and will be indelible, because writ- 
 ten with the finger of an Almighty hand. 
 
 We see this — we, who have lived on earth when it was 
 darker and more selfish than now, because more ignorant 
 of the high purposes of our creation ; but the years that 
 have rolled on have brought to us the knowledge that this 
 is indeed a great reality — that there is a God, and that we 
 are destined to live with him forever. 
 
 Oh ! how our hearts have yearned to teach mankind the 
 lesson, the want of which we so deeply felt — the absence 
 of which made our entrance here so sad, and left its im- 
 press for eternity, because it arrested the progress which is 
 our destiny ! How our hearts have yearned to open to 
 them the reality of the holy communion of spirits, for we 
 know that thus they too shall be elevated to a nearer ap- 
 proach to us, and through us to a nearer approach to their 
 Creator ! How our hearts now yearn to enable them to 
 see the light which is now pouring in such glorious floods 
 upon the world, to dispel the darkness which has so long 
 brooded o'er the minds of men, and to light them to a 
 way to a life eternal in its duration and its happiness. 
 
 After these teachings were given, and a part of them read overj we 
 conversed upon them for a few moments, when it was written : 
 
 How beautifully a thought which is founded on truth 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 271 
 
 impresses the mind prepared to receive it ! This is so, not 
 only in regard to sentiments of the mind, but also in refer- 
 ence to all the revealed works of God, when the principle 
 on which they are based is understood and appreciated. 
 The whole universe of God teems with the beauty of divine 
 thought, and the radiance of this celestial beauty is per- 
 ceived when the spirit of man is in harmony with the 
 Great First Cause. It is not strange, therefore, that you^ 
 admire thoughts which are the revelation of the inner sen- 
 timents of the spirits who once were as you are, living and 
 acting in your world. Were your minds opposed to the 
 truths they teach, how dark and gloomy would be the 
 ideas they inculcate, how distasteful ! The great principles 
 of love would become the cause of discord and opposition. 
 But the truth which opens the mind to feel, to see, to 
 know, enlarges your view and brings you at once into a 
 divine existence. But it is not only in the happiness you 
 derive from a correspondence with our views that you are 
 to base your life while in life. It is not only from the 
 glow of honest joy that you are to learn what there is for 
 you to do. You are not to be confined to thought alone, 
 or the thoughts of other men and spirits. You are to de- 
 velop your own happiness in yourself, in the progress 
 which your spirit makes in sending its search through all 
 creation, material and immaterial. If you can judge of 
 God by his works, and learn that he is a Spirit full of love 
 and mercy, and that you partake of the glorious attributes 
 of his Spirit, how much does it behoove you to act as well 
 as think — act in relation to -what you Tinow is your duty. 
 The flower tinted with the variegated colors which adorn 
 it with beauty, may attract the eye and may grace a gar- 
 den, but the humble shrub, from which we extract those 
 agents which conduce to the good of man, though it may 
 hide itself in the deep shade of some forest, is sought for 
 and prized as an instrument for good indeed. It is prized, 
 not for its beauty, but for the innate virtues it possesses. 
 Your relation with this world must bring you in daily 
 
272 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 contact with those for whom you may work for good. You 
 may develop in the humblest mind those instrumentalities 
 which shall add to your own happiness as well as the eter- 
 nal interests of itself. 
 
 While therefore you admire, feel — feel that your part 
 is to act, to work, to live an example of what you profess, 
 and thus to excite the earnest inquiry of all men — Are 
 these things indeed true ? Sweedenbokg. 
 
 tttian Cfotntg-nine, 
 
 Friday, Oct. 28th, 1853. 
 
 This evening the Bishop of , and Doctor , of Kentucky, 
 
 were in my library, with the Doctor and myself. The Bishop was in- 
 vestigating, and avowed himself a believer in spiritual intercourse' ; but 
 he betrayed an ignorance of the nature of spirit and the life after death, 
 that showed he had thought little on the subject, and that was marvel- 
 ous to me in a high dignitary of the Church. After they had gone, Lord 
 Bacon wrote : 
 
 I WAS somewhat inclined to answer the Bishop cava- 
 lierly when he asked me to write the Apostles' Creed in 
 Latin. I have forgot both the apostles and the creed long 
 ago, and hope I shall not again be subjected to the indig- 
 nity of learning it. But, Judge, how little the secrets of 
 the priesthood are understood, and how little their avoca- 
 tion is understood ! How powerful a hold have they on 
 the minds of the world, and how little good really have 
 they accomplished ! 
 
 They claim that they are the advanced guard of civil- 
 ization, and that they have hung out the banner of truth 
 on the outer wall of human progress. Alas ! for human 
 
SPIRITITALISM. 273 
 
 nature, which has suffered them to triumphantly dictate to 
 its ignorance what their reason feared to investigate I 
 Alas ! for the world which would submit to the dictation 
 of men, who, proclaiming that they understand the laws 
 of God, are inculcating the errors of their creed or sect. 
 
 Priests of God ? Holy men ? They are but the drones 
 of society — the very worms of life which prey on the finest 
 feelings of man's nature — the instincts of his soul. They 
 priests ? Yes, the priests of ignorance — the very barriers 
 of progressive inquiry ; for they trammel thought, confine 
 reason, and send the mis-born soul into the spirit-world 
 without the least knowledge of his destiny. 
 
 Look abroad over the world, and ask yourselves who is 
 it that has accomplished all that has stimulated man to 
 search, investigate, and seek out from nature the secrets 
 which advance his mind and give to his soul the first gleam 
 of hope everlasting? Has it been the priesthood ? Has it 
 been the ministers of God? l^o ; for they have tortured 
 the chosen spirits of any age when they have differed from 
 them in form or tenet. They have barred up all outlets 
 of human enterprise and knowledge, unless it conformed 
 to their dictum. They have sent their hirelings into every 
 household, and have bound on the rack the good and true, 
 the aged and young, when they have differed one iota from 
 the severe laws they have laid down for the rule of man. 
 ISTot content with driving man to despair in life, they have 
 sent his spirit howling into the spheres, with their anathe- 
 mas following him like an accursed spirit when he reached 
 there. They pretend to minister to a mind diseased, but 
 they have made the death-bed a dice-box, by which the 
 everlasting happiness of some good man was cast on the 
 hazard of their approval. Alas ! for the priesthood ! Alas ! 
 when they pretend to teach man the destiny of his soul ! 
 
 But look again, and ask yourselves, what have they 
 
 done ? They have taken one book, called the Bible, and 
 
 from this they have fashioned laws which limit all inquiry 
 
 beyond this source. They pretend to assist all efforts for 
 
 .18 ' 
 
274 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 the good of man, but they confine that effort to the nar- 
 row circle of their creeds. Yes, they have sent their mis- 
 sionaries into all parts of the world, and have proclaimed 
 a Saviour to all men, but they have taken care to have it 
 well understood that no man can be saved unless he joins 
 their particular church. Have they given to man the pre- 
 rogatives of his nature ? Have they opened to him the op- 
 portunities of free inquiry ? 'No. They have established 
 a religion, and have so connected the laws, civil and po- 
 litical, with it, that they have forced nations of men to 
 contribute to its support, and have amassed, from the hard 
 earnings of the poor, vast sums of money, which has added 
 to their power and increased their ability to do evil. 
 
 Have they adhered to the very doctrines they profess to 
 believe ? ISTo. They have cast out the good man for his 
 independence, and they\have crucified a thousand times 
 again the Saviour, for they have made his mercy and love 
 a mere mockery. Have they given one true idea of God ? 
 ISTo. They have made him play a farce in the face of his 
 whole creation, and they have made him — the Great First 
 Cause — deny his own nature. Alas ! alas ! they are in- 
 deed priests, but the priests of unrighteousness. Yerily, I 
 say, they are the banes of society, and in good time they 
 will be found out, and then for judgment ! 
 
SPIKITUALISM. 275 
 
 ution Cljirtg 
 
 Sunday^ Oct. SOth, 1853. 
 The circle met in my library. Through Dr. Dexter, it was written : 
 
 Kow before we begin on our proper subject, permit me, 
 my friends, to make a few remarks applicable to all medi- 
 ums. Placed before the world as they are, it becomes im- 
 portant that their minds and action should correspond with 
 the great principles they profess to believe ; not only that 
 they may impress the world with the truth of their belief, 
 but that they may be able to convince themselves that the 
 germ of action is that of truth itself. It is sometimes more 
 difficult to convince ourselves that we are wrong than to 
 assure the world that we are indeed believers in any doc- 
 trine we profess. And it is not only this public demon- 
 stration that mediums ought to make, but they must bring 
 their hearts up to judgment, analyze the feelings of their 
 souls, and find out if indeed they are predicated on the 
 truth. 
 
 It is sometimes the case that when the mind is impress- 
 ed with the truth of a new idea, it gives its thoughts free 
 license, and acts on other principles than the new idea 
 would justify. And much license may have been given to 
 thought when you consider the whole of action founded on 
 what has been called spirit-doctrines. 
 
 "We have taught that God is a principle ; that he has es- 
 tablished laws for the government of his creatures ; that 
 man, under these laws, becomes either good or evil in this 
 as well as the other world. We have inculcated virtuous 
 lives, free thought, and the desire that every day and hour 
 should add to your spiritual and intellectual progress here 
 
276 ' SPIEITtTALISM. 
 
 and in the spheres. We have revealed many things, of 
 which before jou were ignorant ; and we have said that 
 your thoughts were%*ead and understood by us in reference 
 to your moral as well as material reflections. 
 
 But the time has come when something more on this 
 subject should be revealed, that all may know how they 
 stand in relation t6 themselves as well as others, 
 
 Identified as the mediums are with the doctrines promul- 
 gated to the world, each in turn will be called on to aid 
 the spirits in the great work which has just begun. But 
 in reference to their action with and for us, it is proper 
 that they should understand what is required of each, and 
 what should be the moral condition of their spirits to ren- 
 der them able to execute what we shall prescribe for them 
 to do. "When, therefore, the spirits have for a long time 
 had intercourse with man, when they have frequently and 
 intimately visited him, they begin to study more intensely 
 the inner workings of his spirit. Thus, then, we dive down 
 into the secret recesses of his heart, and bring up to view 
 the very feelings and sentiments he had hoped he was con- 
 cealing even from himself. Studying before the general 
 characteristics of his nature, they now investigate all the 
 phenomena of his spirit ; they trace the course of thought, 
 of sentiment, of affection — the cause of every feeling which 
 which has its seat in the sentient part of his being. They 
 go further than this : they specially delegate spirits to per- 
 form this duty, whose charge it is, daily and hourly, to 
 watch each thought in its inception and manifestation. 
 They regard expression in the daily life, and expression 
 where the thought is locked up within the heart and gives 
 no utterance, except by those signs which indicate to simi- 
 lar thought in others that it is existent. But the spirits 
 whose duty it is thus to take this espionage of the secret 
 thoughts of men are high, bright, and pure spirits, w^ho 
 are so sublimated that they can penetrate the very being, 
 and there behold all the wondrous workings of the mind. 
 
 Say you that this is indeed placing you under guard and 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 2YT 
 
 watch ? Say you that this is indeed prying into that which 
 no one ought to know ? But, say I, you pro/ess to believe 
 spirits ; you profess to an entire change of feeling in re- 
 gard to life and its duties ; you profess to live for progress, 
 and to earnestly desire to shun and to root out every thing 
 evil and impure in your action and thought. Can you not 
 understand, then, that you are specially guarded ? that that 
 love which makes you the especial charge of holy spirits 
 is for the purpose of enabling you to overcome evil for 
 good by our aid and influence ? Can you not realize that 
 it is for some great and noble object that you are thus 
 placed within the reach of those guides who shall direct 
 you toward those glorious spheres where there shall be no 
 evil, and where you shall be pure and holy ? 
 
 But woe to them who are the instruments selected, if, in- 
 deed, they listen not to what we have said — who, in spite 
 of all the means of progress, choose rather the evil than 
 the good ! Human mind never pictured to itself the deg- 
 radation which will ensue here on earth, and the infinite 
 misery hereafter. 
 
 My friends, deep is the faith of those who are engaged 
 in this work — their love. Oh ! words fail to express it. 
 Their patience is like time, ever and continual, and their 
 forgiveness beyond that of parent. You, what are you 
 here for ? What do you profess to believe ? Earnestly 
 strive with us. Earnestly desire to know what you are, 
 and earnestly pray that you may so understand the opera- 
 tions of your own hearts, that you may be able to over- 
 come evil with good, and on earth, as in the spheres, every 
 day advance one step toward light and truth. 
 
 SWEEDENBORG. 
 
 We asked a personal application of these remarks, and it was an- 
 swered : 
 
 If I exhaust much time on this subject, it will be of 
 service to you all. You ask for an application in what I 
 have said? Hear me, then, and realize, if you can, that 
 
278 ^SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 every spirit present here to-night willingly suspends his 
 labors that you may be instructed in that which shall ena- 
 ble you to know and to judge how you are to act, and when 
 you are to cast off that which may be evil, and take on that 
 which is good. 
 
 The day is dawning when the trutli will gird up its loins 
 and travel with speed through this world. You are its 
 avant guards; you are its companions. In joy or sorrow, 
 in prosperity and in adversity, you must go on ; there is 
 before you all much to do ; the light is twinkling like a 
 star dimly seen. Can you behold the glorious beams of 
 the noonday sun ? Then while we are moved for you, let 
 your hearts drink up these sayings and listen. 
 
 ISTow, in the very midst of you, all the spirits kneel to- 
 gether, and are singing ^ song of love and praise. And 
 while I am writing, there comes a flood of radiant light 
 streaming into their circle, clothing them with a brilliance 
 mortal eye can not behold. And a spirit from the higher 
 spheres descends and stands in their midst, and, raising 
 one hand toward heaven, says, "To me belongs this les- 
 son — to me belongs the explanation, and through the mouth 
 of tne Judge will I utter it." 
 
 I give way, and with yourselves I listen, for from those 
 glorious spheres both you and I can derive instruction. 
 
 SWEEDENBOEG. 
 Then I was impressed, and said : 
 
 Servants of the Most High ! have ye in your hearts no 
 vain glory ? Lingers not there the love of man's applause, 
 which so often taints mortal life? And are your labors 
 prompted only by a love of God and jour fellow-creatures? 
 Is there not lingering deep down in your souls the remains 
 of those passions which have tinged your mortal career in 
 times past? Speak! for ye know. 
 
 Is there no self in your motives, or in your actions, in 
 the great cause of truth in which ye are enlisted? De- 
 ceive not yourselves. Yaunt not yourselves of the love, 
 the admiration, the regards of bright and holy spirits ; for 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 279 
 
 little know ye how deep is the grief which ye may cause 
 them by cherishing, still lingering around your hearts, the 
 selfish passions which your material existence may have 
 engendered. 
 
 Yaunt ye of your courage ? What is it but that ye are 
 not sunk as low as some ? Pride ye yourselves on your 
 knowledge ? What is it but a fearful addition to your re- 
 sponsibility over those who yet slumber in ignorance ? Re- 
 gard ye yourselves as teachers ? What are ye but infants, 
 tottering with feeble steps over the threshold of knowl- 
 edge ? 
 
 Oh ! mortals ! weak and sinful mortals ! Bow your- 
 selves in the dust before that purity which has selected 
 you as its instruments — purity of whose extent you can 
 not conceive, and in whose presence ye are dark as mid- 
 night. Humble yourselves before that mighty Power 
 whose servants ye are, and, looking abroad upon the 
 boundless universe which has been unfolded to your view, 
 think how insignificant ye are. Let your thoughts roam 
 o'er the countless millions of holy spirits who people eter- 
 nity, and ask yourselves what ye are ? And remember, 
 that as you have been favored with light and knowledge 
 beyond your fellows, so shall the more abundant fruit 
 thereof be demanded of you. As you have been the re- 
 cipients of that love which purifies and elevates the heart, 
 so will it be demanded of you the more, that ye should 
 show it forth in your lives. And oh, beware ! beware, for 
 your own sake ; beware, for the sake of those whose love 
 for you now causes them to tremble for your future, how 
 ye permit an entrance into your hearts of a single unkind 
 feeling ; and be assured that every indulgence thereof will 
 be but heaping coals of fire on your own heads — a laying up 
 for yourselves treasures of sorrow which will haunt your 
 footsteps many a long and weary hour in your passage 
 through eternity. 
 
 To you the kingdom of heaven has been opened beyona 
 any thing ever yet known to mortal man. On you has 
 
280 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 been shed a holy light beyond that of yonr fellows. On 
 you hopes are built — oh ! how great, how fervent, how 
 cheering! To you is committed a task — oh! how infi- 
 nitely important ! And on yon, consequently, rests a re- 
 sponsibility and devolves a duty which naught but purity 
 of life and action and thought can enable you to discharge. 
 
 Know, then, yourselves. Know, then, yourselves ! Dive 
 deep down into the recesses of your hearts, and bring up 
 in stern review before your judgments, enlightened as they 
 have been by the knowledge given you, yonr most secret 
 motives and purposes, and by an unshrinking amputation 
 cut oif from yourselves the evil propensities which retard 
 your progress and impair your usefulness. 
 
 Do this, and be happy. Do this, and ye will be able 
 successfully to accomplish the great work before you. Do 
 this, and in the glad shouts which will welcome your en- 
 trance into the spirit-land w^hen /^^our day of work is done, 
 will you find your abundant reward ; and as ye journey 
 through eternity, the remembrance of the good ye have 
 done will lighten your footsteps and cheer ye on the way 
 to that Great Spirit in whose hands are all the corners of 
 the earth, and from whom pours, on all whom he has made, 
 a never-ending stream of love. 
 
 What matters it that the heart is pure and the purpose 
 honest, if there is not strength to do right? What matters 
 it that you profess to be servants of God, if you fear the 
 censure of man? What matters it that you rejoice with 
 exceeding joy at the revelations made to you of the mar- 
 velous works of God, if fear of man retard an upright 
 avowal of them ? 
 
 What matters it ? I say much, indeed, does it matter, 
 for ye can not at once serve God and Mammon. Ye can 
 not at once be the recipients of his wondrous bounty, and 
 yet worship the world by fearing its clamor. 
 
 The time will come when ye will hail with glad shouts, 
 with hearts overflowing with joy, the hour wlien ye pro- 
 claimed yourselves to the world, regardless of its frowns, 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 281 
 
 that indeed ye are the chosen servants of the Most High 
 God. 
 
 "What fear ye ? It is the cause of God in which ye are 
 engaged, and fear ye to acknowledge it? Oh, fear not! 
 Fear not ! Fear not man, fear only God, and remember 
 that he who denies his Master may in his turn be himself 
 denied. Buckle on, then, the whole armor of God, and 
 be well assured that in his cause not a hair of your heads 
 shall be injured. Measure not this great work by the mis- 
 erable standard of man's applause, but by the metewand* 
 of eternity. 
 
 Fight ! Fight ! But fight first yourselves. Conquer 
 first yourselves. It is yourselves that most retard your 
 progress, that most impair your usefulness, that most im- 
 pede the development within you of powers innate there 
 which could make vou marvelous instruments of working 
 God's wonders before men. 
 
 Oh ! seek to know yourselves,^eek it with humble, con- 
 trite hearts. Seek to bow before the throne of the great 
 Creator your stubbornness, which prompts you to resist 
 even his will. And forget not, that as your gifts are great, 
 as the blessings bestowed on you are beyond those of 
 others, so is more demanded of you ; and that as the great 
 principle, that we are judged by our opportunities, exists 
 everywhere and forever, ye can not escape its influence on 
 yourselves. 
 
 Think how great, how wonderful is the power that is 
 given you — that of revealing to man the immortal life in 
 the spheres, the power to open to his knowledge the very 
 gates of death, the power to penetrate into the grave and 
 dispel at once its darkness and its mystery — the powxr to 
 open to him a glorious future, and to lead him to it — the 
 power to enable him to shun an evil future, and the power 
 to lead him back to the great purpose for which he was 
 created. 
 
 * The old Saxon name of measure. 
 
282 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 Such and so vast, so momentous is your power. Look 
 upon it. See its never-ending consequences to yourselves 
 and to mankind, and ask yourselves if it can be that in 
 the evils and adversities of this transitory existence ye 
 can find aught that may justly impair or impede it? 
 Ask yourselves this question now, for by-and-by it will 
 ask itself of ye, and, oh ! beware in time that ye be pre- 
 pared in eternity to answer it wisely and well. 
 
 "With some the greatest difficulty is a pertinacious at- 
 tachment to certain previous notions which imperfect 
 knowledge bestows. Honesty and sincerity are by this 
 cause shorn of their power to advance you as they oth- 
 erwise would. Kee23 pace with the knowledge that now 
 flows in upon you. Measure it not by the standard of 
 preconceived opinions, but by that of nature in all her 
 works. Be not too tenacious of your own opinions, for 
 that tenacity hems your hearts around with a triple barrier 
 through which truth finds it hard to penetrate. Eschew 
 this, and believe that it is the clean and untarnished mir- 
 ror alone which can reflect the eternal truths of God in all 
 their purity and brightness. 
 
 And now, dear friends all, could you see, could you feel, 
 oh ! could we in the slightest degree make you sensible 
 of the deep, the abiding, the overflowing love which has 
 prompted us to deal out these admonitions to you ; could 
 you but know the intense interest with which countless 
 numbers of pure and happy spirits regard your progress; 
 could you but understand the immense value to the cause 
 of truth that your purity and progress are ; could you but 
 see how many thousand hearts are overflowing w^ith love 
 of you, you would know and appreciate the motives which 
 have prompted us thus to chasten that we might purify — 
 thus to burn your gold in the furnace that it might be 
 brightened, and thus to warn that we may draw you nearer 
 to ourselves and bind the stronger the links that are to 
 connect you with us to eternity. 
 
SPIBIT0ALISM. 283 
 
 S«tion Cljirtj-fliw. 
 
 Thursday^ Nov. Bd^ 1853. 
 The circle met at my library. Mrs. Sweet being absent from illness, 
 it was written : 
 
 It was proposed that the Judge should be impressed 
 to-night, but as the teachings on Sunday night were 
 changed for a special object, it might be as well to con- 
 tinue our teachings through the Doctor for a time on the 
 proper matter of progress, and then afterward influence 
 the Judge. If this is acceptable, we will do so. 
 
 Bacon. 
 
 We assented, and it was written through the Doctor : 
 
 In prosecuting so great and profound a subject as the 
 one on which we propose to enter, it is necessary that the 
 medium's mind should be easily controlled and directed, as 
 the course we have pursued for some time has naturally 
 diverted his mind, so that we may not be able to write 
 freely and connectedly at this first essay ; but as time 
 presses, and as we can not delay longer, we must make the 
 attempt. 
 
 It was remarked in the last teaching on progress that a 
 new principle was developed. This should be understood 
 as taking place after the developments just before men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Thus when in the space around, latent with the con- 
 stituents out of which were formed the atomic particles 
 from which the nucleii were fashioned, there was then ex- 
 istent a sort of gaseous body which by its motion through 
 the atmosphere became ignited. IS'ow the combustion of 
 
284 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 tliis body developed a new body, and also gave off to the 
 surrounding atmosphere the constituents which this com- 
 bustion evolved. It would be impossible for me to trace 
 each succeeding step in the process of this progress. It 
 would fill many, many volumes. I can only give you the 
 great principles, and leave you to fill up the rest. 
 
 As the external part of these bodies was burnt out, they 
 no longer assumed- the appearance of fire, but became as it 
 were consolidated by this process. The external crust 
 then became a dense substance, on which the atmosphere 
 produced certain effects, and which also by its very change 
 became the seat of other changes which in themselves 
 developed others. This law obtains throughout all nature, 
 that when by the apposition of any bodies certain effects 
 are produced, these effects in themselves generate a new 
 principle, which principle generates another, and so on ad 
 mrfmitiim forever. 
 
 Thus you can understand what I mean. Those bodies 
 burning with the fire, the result of the combination of their 
 constituents and motion, produced a new order of matter on 
 their external part. Here there was a new principle, and 
 this principle opened to the influences of causes a field for 
 new results. Thus the external part became condensed, 
 and this condensation produced an entirely different ap- 
 pearance, and also came under the operation of entirely 
 different laws from their former gaseous condition. 
 
 Here, then, Ave have the commencement of the many and 
 varied changes on the surface of your globe, and the 
 thousand orbs which roll in space. How can mortal con- 
 ceive of the remarkable phenomena which have taken 
 place since the world assumed form and shape ! I can 
 not give you a better idea of this process than to refer you 
 to the ideas advanced in detail in the work called, "Ves- 
 tiges of Creation," for a minute description of what I be- 
 lieve to have taken place ; for, as I have before remarked, 
 my teachings are only the results of what I have learned 
 here, and are not to be understood as any thing but an 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 285 
 
 opinion. Leaving, then, the minute detail of all the steps 
 of progress to be obtain ed^from the work referred to, I pass 
 to the consideration of that state of development which 
 took place when the earth became fit for the habitation of 
 man. 
 
 ISTow turn your minds back to that period when the 
 world, after undergoing so many varied changes by the 
 action of the intense fires, by the decomposition of the 
 rock, by the displacement of the various strata, by the en- 
 tire disappearance of the dense vegetation of a certain char- 
 acter, and by the destruction of continents and the relative 
 change in the mountains, the disappearance of seas, and 
 the appearance of rivers which flowed where immense for- 
 ests before had their location, and imagine this whole 
 earth now laid out with mountain and dale, rivers and 
 seas, woodland and plain, with birds, and beasts, and flow- 
 ers, and shrubs, all declaring the power of an Almighty 
 God, but without a single human being yet existent on its 
 broad surface. Imagine a summer morning — the sun ris- 
 ing and greeting the carol of the millions of winged 
 songsters, whose joyous song made vocal these dark 
 forests, whose dense shade concealed their depths from 
 his golden rays. Picture to your mind the towering 
 mountain rising in solitude to the clear, blue sky, and 
 gilded with a golden crown of radiant light. Follow the 
 course of this broad river, wending its way through these 
 vast plains, blossoming as a garden of beautiful flowers, 
 whose gorgeous and varied tints reflect the colors of 
 the rainbow. "Watch its sluggish current as its dark 
 waters slowly course their way until, meeting with a 
 mass of rock, it dashes foaming and bubbling through 
 the rocky pass, and hurries on to the sea. Behold the 
 whole of this earth glistening and sparkling in the mellow 
 light of a summer morning. IS'ature everywhere alive — 
 the birds giving forth their carol — the stately horse dash- 
 ing across the plain and snufiing the morning air in his 
 headlong course. There, amid that cluster of palm trees, 
 
286 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 lying couchant, the magnificent lion, and near him sporting 
 the timid fawn. Yonder, with his glistening striped skin, 
 the sleeky tiger. How craftily he creeps under those low 
 bushes, but notices not the gentle calf that, bleating, fol- 
 lows its mother ! The trees filled with fruit, the earth cov- 
 ered with its animals, the eternal sea smiling with the 
 sparkling light of this summer morning, singing out its 
 songs of praise as it sends its waves to the -shore, and 
 shields in its bosom the varied tribes of fishes who make 
 its waters instinct with life. Thus is now perfected for man 
 the whole creation — every thing ready for his use, every 
 thing prepared for his sway who is to begin an exietenee 
 here, that is to end where ? 
 
 Then it was written that the spirits would impress me, which they 
 did as follows, purporting to be by the Druidess : 
 
 VISION. 
 
 I had a view of a tall, rough, unhewn rock, like a 
 column, standing in the midst of a circle of similar rocks 
 not so high, very massive and rough. They stood on a 
 knoll looking off upon the sea and the rising sun. There 
 were rough, unhewn rafters reaching from the tall shaft to 
 the lower ones. The space between them was filled with 
 withes woven together, and that was covered with a kind 
 of long grass fastened down by willow bands, forming a 
 circular roof. That covering extended only over the top, 
 and the whole seemed a rude temple. 'Near that center 
 rock were four piles of wood, like the ancient funeral 
 pyres for burning sacrifices on. Inside I saw the priests 
 officiating, not in great numbers ; but outside were many 
 people prostrate. On these four funeral piles were four 
 different sacrifices — fish, fowl, brute animal, and the hu- 
 man. Tlie human sacrifices were of persons who had been 
 educated from early infancy to believe that to be a sacrifice 
 on those altars was the surest passport to happiness here- 
 after. They were chiefly of young persons near maturity. 
 
SPIEITUALISM. 287 
 
 There were more convulsions of nature in those days 
 than now. Mankind, not understanding the laws which 
 produced, or governed them, looked upon them as indicat- 
 ing the anger of the great spirit who they felt governed 
 them. They were hovering between a belief that the sun 
 was that great spirit, and a sort of instinctive notion that 
 it was not. It was a very indefinite notion. But to con- 
 ciliate that spirit and deprecate his anger they thought 
 nothing could be more acceptable than to offer that life 
 which they valued so much ; and it was not in reference to 
 the future but to the present that they deprecated his 
 anger. They were a very rude people. Their dresses 
 were very simple, and of very coarse texture. It was a 
 northern climate in which they lived, and to protect 
 themselves from cold they wore fur under their clothes. 
 I saw no covering on their heads ; both males and 
 females wore their hair flowing naturally. Their upper 
 garment seemed to be made of two square pieces w^ith 
 openings for the head and for the arms, fastened around 
 the waist by some sort of a band, and descending down 
 to the middle of the thigh. The under garment was a 
 sort of loose pantaloon, descending to the knees ; from 
 the knees down they had the skin of some animal fit- 
 ting close. They wore a kind of sandal made of wood. 
 They were poor; their dwellings were dug down in the 
 ground five or six feet, with a roof over them like that over 
 the temple. 
 
 There was an opening at the top in the temple and in 
 the houses for the smoke to escape, and the inside was 
 blackened with soot. 
 
 I saw the priests approach the altars. One of the vic- 
 tims was a female. She lay upon her back on the altar, 
 her hands bound to her sides, etc. All the victims were 
 alive. The priests wore long garments that trailed 
 on the ground, fastened at the neck, and on their backs 
 were worked hieroglyphic characters. There were twelve 
 or more at each altar, and facing from the crowd. They 
 
288 SPIKITTJALISM. 
 
 seemed to be bowing and chanting, with guttural sounds, in 
 a sing-song tone. Outside of them, and inside the circle 
 of stones, was a complete circle of men and w^omen, two 
 or three deep. Many of them had horns in their hands of 
 goats or cows, or shells, to blow on. Some w^ith a rude 
 sort of drum, a hollow log with skin over it ; others with 
 flat pieces of wood which they beat together. Some of 
 them had no instruments — they must have been singers. 
 They stood immovable while the priests went through their 
 ceremonies. 
 
 After a while the priests turned around, facing the out- 
 side of the circle and with their backs to the altars. As 
 they did so, I saw the front of their garbs, which before I 
 had not seen. The dress was the same as the others, ex- 
 cept that the edges of their upper garments were bound 
 with fur. They wore on their heads a singular sort of 
 covering, like a skull-cap, fitting close to the head, with 
 square projections on each side above the ears, and a loose 
 piece hanging down over each ear to the shoulders. They 
 wore bands on the neck, wrists, and ankles, which shone 
 and seemed to be made of tin. 
 
 They raised their hands with one accord, as if blessing 
 the people, and as they did so, the musicians began their 
 discordant noise, and all the crowd outside, kneeling still 
 and with their faces to the ground, shouted and clapped 
 their hands over their heads. The instant the shouting 
 began, some young persons, apparently attendants on the 
 priests, rushed into the temple with blazing torches, and 
 set fire to the altars. They caught instantly, and were at 
 once enveloped in blaze and smoke. This was so rapid, 
 that the suffering of the victims must have been very brief, 
 and their cries were drowned amid the clamor of the mu- 
 •sicians and the shouting multitude. 
 
 I could not imagine how such small altars could contain 
 fuel enough to consume the victims, but I saw that the at 
 tendants were constantly bringing more fuel and heaping 
 it on the victims until they were burned to ashes. The 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 fuel had evidently been carefully prepared, and was so 
 bituminous as to burn rapidly. I saw, during the process, 
 the half-burned corpse amid the flames and ashes. 
 
 While the flames were raging, the crowd outside had 
 arisen to their feet and were dancing to the sound of that 
 discordant music. "When the victims had been entirely 
 consumed, the crowd outside and all the musicians pros- 
 trated themselves on the ground, and the priests, carefully 
 gathering up all the ashes from the several altars, walked 
 around among the people and scattered it over them. 
 
 Then the people retired from the temple to their respect- 
 ive homes. 
 
 It seemed to me that the priests were the rulers of the 
 people, and that very many people looked with contempt 
 on the whole ceremony, but dared not say so, for fear of 
 their rulers. They were evidently prepared for some revo- 
 lution in their religion. 
 
 That kind of sacrifice was not very frequent. It was a 
 great and rare ceremony. 
 
 Tiiey were a very rude people, living chiefly by hunting 
 and fishing, amid dense forests. They were a savage, 
 fierce race. Their moral sentiments were very little de- 
 veloped. The tops of their heads were quite flat, but their 
 intellectual faculties were quite prominent, forming, in 
 these respects, a strong contrast with the Caribbean Indians 
 whom I had seen in Central America, who were as kind 
 and as gentle as they were ignorant and simple. They 
 could not have felt much pain at the idea of a human 
 sacrifice, nor could they, in their condition, have enjoyed 
 much pleasure. 
 
 I next saw the entrance into the spirit-world of the spirit 
 of the human victim. 
 
 Though she had been carefully educated in their secluded 
 schools with much pains, to make her believe that her sac- 
 rifice would be beneficial to her, yet she dreaded death, 
 for she was uncertain and uninstructed as to the future, 
 and the world around her was very pleasant. 
 
 19 
 
290 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 She awoke to consciousness in the spirit-life before the 
 ceremonies were concluded. Her first emotions seemed to 
 be but a continuation of the feelings which predominated 
 in her at the moment of her death, and she could not re- 
 alize that she had died. She saw the whole scene around 
 her just as she had seen it while in life. The only difi'er- 
 ence she could discover was, that instead of being bound 
 on the altar, she was now floating in the air, just above 
 the rude temple, and viewing the scene through its roof. 
 It puzzled her a good deal. She did not understand it. 
 She before had no idea of such a thing! But as she gazed, 
 she felt herself drawn upward and away from the scene, 
 until it faded from her view. It was not till then she look- 
 ed around to see what was thus drawing her up and where 
 she was going. 
 
 On one side of her she saw a number of dark spirits, 
 who approached quite near to her, and claimed that she 
 should go with them. They were vociferous in insisting 
 upon her doing so. 
 
 On the other side she saw a number of bright spirits, 
 who were at a greater distance from her, and who spoke 
 not, but gazed upon her with looks of kindness and af- 
 fection. 
 
 She had been a pure and innocent girl, doing right 
 according to her best knowledge, and she had intellect 
 enough to understand at once that she had a choice where 
 to go and what that choice ought to be. 
 
 She turned her back on those dark spirits, and reached 
 out her hands imploringly to the brighter ones. They in- 
 stantly approached her, took her affectionately in their 
 arms, and with songs and rejoicing receded far in the dis- 
 tance and passed from my view. 
 
 During the vision I was impressed that the scene occurred in the north 
 «of Europe, and about two thousand years ago. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 291 
 
 ttiim ijirtg-tfeo 
 
 Sunday J Nov. ethj 1853. 
 The circle met this evening. After some personal communications 
 through Mrs. Sweet, it was written through Dr. Dexter : 
 
 The influence on certain minds of causes presuming to 
 emanate from the world of spirits produces peculiar, and, 
 perhaps, unnatural emotions. Thus, in the individual who 
 has entered on a new exploration of facts unconnected 
 with the natural world (as is generally understood), the 
 feelings of his mind resemble the commotion of the waters 
 at Hurlgate ; no two eddies or currents of thought are 
 alike, and the new and varied impressions which agitate 
 his mind resemble nothing before of the emotion or senti- 
 ment of mental action. 
 
 Thus it is to all of you that truth, in its nearness of pres- 
 entation, elicits thoughts painful, from their magnitude 
 and importance, and the mind is completely staggered in 
 the contemplation of the great impressions which it recog- 
 nizes. 
 
 Can it be understood, therefore, if the mind is swallowed 
 up in the thought of spirit-intercourse in the form, that the 
 emotions which influence it on its entrance into the spirit- 
 world should almost confound it ? That when the tangi- 
 bility and reality of life forever is offered to the individual 
 senses, that the first emotions should almost exhaust its 
 capacity of realization ? 
 
 To you, friends, the spirit-revelation is but new and lim- 
 ited. What will henceforth be revealed to you will so far 
 exceed what you have realized, that you too will ask the 
 question, Are these things so ? 
 
292 . SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 I make these remarks that you may be prepared for what 
 is to take place. 
 
 I^Tow, Judge, let your mind direct itself for a short time 
 to our impressions, and we will afterward give a teaching 
 through the Doctor on our proper subject. Bacon. 
 
 I was then impressed, and spoke as follows : 
 
 Far off in the distant regions of space — rolling orbs of 
 light, of various sizes, in the background — located, as it 
 were, in mid-heaven, is the scene which is presented to 
 my view. 
 
 There is a clearness to the atmosphere far transcending 
 all we ever see here, and the sky is a deeper blue. In this 
 space, seated upon a globe or orb of light, on a sort of 
 throne, is the most lofty and elevated spirit I have yet 
 seen. The throne is very beautiful, and is surmounted 
 with a canopy in the shape of a crown. Leaning lightly, 
 with their arms on the projecting points of the crown, are 
 several bright and pure spirits. And so by its side, and on 
 its top, are many similar spirits. They are young, appa- 
 rently from sixteen to twenty years of age ; and they clus- 
 ter around that throne, with great affection for the person 
 in it, like loving children around a fond parent. On both 
 sides, and over it, are innumerable spirits, clad in beau- 
 tiful and many-colored garments, and very lovely. They 
 seem to be at leisure, and are very affectionate to each 
 other. 'No one wishes to be alone. Their arms are twined 
 around each other's waists. They gather in small groups, 
 and seem to derive their happiness from each other. 
 
 He who sits there enthroned is clothed in a garment 
 of the richest red, ornamented with gold and silver and 
 sparkling gems ; even his sandals sparkle thus. 
 
 His countenance is indescribably bright. It is more daz- 
 zling than the noonday sun. Around his head is a halo of 
 golden light, indicative of love, which is ever pouring its 
 streams far into the distance, and illuminating all around 
 him, mingling with the light emanating from the attending 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 293 
 
 spirits, as we sometimes see the clouds of a summer eve 
 blend together. He is the very Spirit of Love itself. His 
 affection is an overflowing well, pouring its grateful waters 
 on all around him. I have never seen any thing equal to 
 it. 'No distrust of others — no unkind feelings can find en- 
 trance there. How dark does the recollection of this world 
 seem, compared with the glowing love of that ! 
 
 His countenance is transparent — clear as the finest ala- 
 baster, yet so soft, so sweet ! 
 
 Raising one hand, and pointing upward, he says, " ' A 
 closer wajk with God.'* 'Tis love alone that points the 
 way ; love for him — love for all the creatures he has 
 made. What is the mighty power which has spoken into 
 existence the countless worlds that roll before you, with 
 their myriads of immortal souls, but the demonstration of 
 his love ? 
 
 " Think you He has peopled these worlds that thus roll for 
 eternity through space, that they might be doomed to un- 
 happiness, that through eternity they should be miserable ? 
 Oh ! no ! no ! no ! His love spoke them into being. His 
 love is a part of the spirit he cast from himself as the germ 
 of their existence. The worlds in which he has placed 
 them are filled with the same undying spirit of love. The 
 air, the ocean, and the earth are full of this divine attribute 
 of his nature ; and the natural longing of the human heart, 
 wherever located, speaks of the same impress. 
 
 " We who roam far into the regions of space, amid count- 
 less worlds to you unknown, and far beyond the wildest 
 flight of your imaginations, see everywhere His love. His 
 might, his wisdom, his all-pervading presence are but evi- 
 dences of his love, and manifestations of its domination. 
 We who, for ages countless to you, have lived near unto 
 his presence, as we have advanced step by step, from our 
 material nature, to a closer walk with him, have seen only 
 his love. " 
 
 * Some allusion had been made, in our conversation, to the hymn begin- 
 ning with those words. 
 
SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 " Oh ! could we but make you receive our testimony 1 
 When we speak to you of His love, does there not rise from 
 the deepest recesses of your hearts a voice that responds ? 
 And will you not listen to its pleadings ? It is deep speak- 
 ing unto deep, and will it not answer? It is the spirit of 
 God speaking to itself, and are your hearts so darkened 
 that it can get no reply ? 
 
 " Through all His wondrous works the arm of his love is 
 outstretched to you, and will you turn coldly away ? Will 
 you smother the divine influence that is working within 
 you, and bury it amid the crumbling ruins of your material 
 passions ? Worms' of the dust that ye are ! groveling from 
 your material nature upon the earth to which you are con- 
 fined, will you spurn the hand that thus reaches out to lift 
 you from your degradation, and enable you too to career 
 on angels' wings through the illimitable space which is 
 redolent of his love ? 
 
 " Oh ! bethink you in time ! Clothe Him not with the vile 
 attributes of your material existence. Defile not his holy 
 love by enveloping it in the garb of your evil propensities. 
 Deceive not yourselves by the crude and false notions of 
 him which your blinded teachers have inculcated ; for in 
 that deception is your condemnation — in those false opin- 
 ions are your darkness and unhappiness. 
 
 " And now, when the light of His love is flowing in over- 
 whelming streams upon you, beware that the barriers of 
 your selfishness do not shut it out from your hearts ; for 
 according to the light you receive will you be judged ; ac- 
 cording to the blessings bestowed upon you will be your 
 accountability. Your future is in your own hands, and its 
 darkness or brightness will be of yourselves. 
 
 '' Go forth, then, all of you, among men. Go forth, with 
 your own hearts answering to the call of His love. Go 
 forth, aiming only at the redemption of your fellows. Go 
 forth, regardless of the sacrifices which you may be called 
 upon to make. Go forth as the ministers of his love, cast- 
 ing behind you the earth, its passions, and its cravings. 
 
SPIEITTTALISM. 295 
 
 and proclaim throughout all the corners of the earth that 
 love which now yearns through all space, from him to us, 
 and through us to you, to elevate you to a nearer approach 
 to him. Go forth, then, as the servants of the Most High, 
 strong in his power, and confident in his love, and redeem 
 mankind ; so that when your task is performed, you, like 
 us, may bask in the love which fills our souls. 
 
 "And go back thou, oh ! man of a stout heart and mighty 
 faith, and in thy daily walk show that thy heart answers to 
 the Spirit of God, which speaks to its dark recesses : purify 
 thyself with fervent heat, for only thus canst thou be a use- 
 ful servant of his purity." 
 
 Here his teachings ceased, and I seemed to return to- 
 ward earth; and as I approached it, I shuddered at the 
 contrast ! I saw its darkness, its strife, the turmoil of its 
 boiling passions, its gross impurity ; and as with emotions 
 of deep grief I paused and looked, a voice spoke to me, 
 as from a far distance, " Go forth on thy mission, for even 
 this barren wilderness shall yet blossom like the rose." 
 
 Thursday J Nm). 10, 1853. 
 
 The circle met this evening at my library, all present but the Doctor. 
 I was soon influenced, and said : 
 
 I SAW the same scene I witnessed last Sunday evening, 
 the same spirit shedding abroad that beautiful golden light 
 and surrounded by that host of bright and loving spirits. 
 But I was not as near to it as before, and, as I approached 
 
296 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 it, it seemed to recede from me. I was evidently advancing 
 toward it, but it receded faster than I advanced, and so it 
 diminished to a very small size in the far distance. It left 
 behind it a beautiful rose-colored light, that diverged from 
 it and radiated in all directions, until it was mingled and 
 lost in the blue ethereal through which I was passing. 
 
 I could readily perceive that I was moving through 
 space in the same direction. I felt myself supported and 
 borne forward by many spirits who were with me, but the 
 grossness of my nature retarded me, and a want of that 
 purity which enabled them to go so easily. The spirits 
 around me told me that if I could only attain to that rosy 
 light, and fully feel its influence, I should become more 
 ethereal and progress more rapidly. They continued to 
 urge and help me forward, but I could only enter its outer 
 edge, where it was so diffused as to be hardly perceptible. 
 Still we struggled on, and amid our struggles, I heard a 
 voice from that far distant spot of light, that fell upon my 
 ear like soft, thrilling music, saying : 
 
 " Come ! come to the home of the pure and good. Come 
 to the land where reigns forever, and over all things, that 
 love of which we have taught you. Come to the land 
 where the light of God makes the soul free — free to learn 
 his marvelous wisdom — free to enter his courts with praise 
 — free to approach nigh unto him. Come and see what 
 happiness, beyond your comprehension, the soul is capable 
 of enjoying and imparting. Come where the heart is ever 
 lifted up in songs of praise of his goodness, is ever filled 
 with his love. Come and see what the soul of man is 
 capable of being, of doing, and enjoying. Come ! and, 
 standing in our midst, and casting your eyes backward and 
 forward into eternity, see how inconsiderable is the time 
 in which you are enveloped in your material existence, 
 and yet how its direction for good or ill makes its impress^ 
 for eternity ! Come ! and with your understanding en- 
 larged, your capacity to know increased, by the divine 
 light that will be shed upon you, come and see what is 
 
SPIEITU ALISM. 297 
 
 the gi'eat Creator whom you are so fond of clothing with 
 human attributes. Come, where, feeling his power and 
 his love, you may worship him with a just appreciation of 
 his nature, and may feel the ennobling and elevating in- 
 fluences of that appreciation. O come ! for it is the power 
 of love alone that can draw you up, and that power which 
 can alone reward you for the struggle. Come, and forget 
 the groveling worm of the dust, and think only of angels 
 w^ho may revel in the light of his love forever." 
 
 But, alas ! I could not go. I felt the soft and soothing 
 influences of that voice, which fell upon my ear like the 
 mellow notes of the horn by distance made more sweet ; 
 but with all the aid of the spirits around me, I was left be- 
 hind. But they bade me ''Despair not. It can yet be 
 done ; and even that happy home of the good and the 
 pure can yet be attained by every human soul — can be ! 
 but oh ! through what toil ! through what earnest labor ! 
 through what unceasing efforts ! It is the home of the 
 good and the pure alone, and naught can attain it but a 
 life that is, in its whole, a life of goodness and purity. 
 Plant firmly, then, in your material existence, the founda- 
 tion of the ladder by which you may ascend, and know, 
 that while it may be surrounded by angels, ascending and 
 descending, you, too, may ascend the more rapidly onward 
 and upward for ever." 
 
 After a brief pause, I added : 
 
 I was taken to that scene near the fountain, where I had 
 so often been, and there I saw a large collection of spirits, 
 some with musical instruments in their hands. They were 
 singing, but oh ! how softly, how sweetly the hymn : 
 
 " There is a happy land 
 Far, far away, 
 Where saints in glory stand 
 In bright array." 
 
 Wliile they were yet singing, I was taken back to the 
 balustrade, on the edge of the precipice, and my wife, who 
 
S P I E I T IJ A L I S M . 
 
 was by my side, leaning on the railing, said to me : " Look 
 below, and behold the change which has been wrought in 
 so short time !" and I beheld that many places which were 
 once dark had become lightened, and there were more 
 bright spots in the scene. The light seemed shooting up 
 from the inhabitants themselves, penetrating and dispelling 
 the dark clouds which formerly brooded over them all. I 
 saw many more bright spirits hovering over them and 
 drawing nigher to them, and I beheld that the dark spirits 
 who once lingered there were repelled by that light. It 
 was a scene of great activity ; the dark spirits, as they were 
 thrown off by the increasing light, were struggling to re- 
 sist its influence and to retain their proximity, while in- 
 numerable bright ones were darting from place to place, 
 and aiding the people in their struggle for light. 
 
 As I beheld, she said to me, "Such is the effect which 
 the spirit-teachings have already produced in your dark- 
 ened sphere, and will it not be a happy day when o'er all 
 that scene that light shall universally prevail, and the 
 light-spirits be allowed to draw so near you as to be daily 
 and hourly in communion with you? That time will surely 
 come. It may not be during your sojourn on earth, or 
 during that of any of you, who are now engaged in this 
 holy work ; but when you all shall have passed from that 
 scene, and you can stand on the confines of the spirit- 
 world, and behold, each of you, the good you have done, 
 oh ! how your hearts will swell with gratitude to him for 
 permitting you to be ministers of his holy will in the re- 
 demption of man ! how full will be your hearts of that 
 happiness which can flow only from love to God and the 
 creatures he has made. And you, my husband ! think not 
 of man's praise. Think only of the happiness which you 
 may earn by obeying his will." 
 
SPIBITTTALISU. 299 
 
 Sunday J Nov. 13, 1853. 
 This evening I went up to the Doctor's. 
 
 The spirits after writing a few words of a private nature through the 
 Doctor, gave the Allowing teachings through me : 
 
 The ultimate destiny of man ! So far beyond any thing 
 that the most extravagant imagination has ever conceived ! 
 
 Measuring that destiny by the standard of the powers 
 manifested by man when in the form, and impeded and 
 chained down by its material shackles, the mind has not im- 
 bibed even a distant conception of his future, either as to his 
 happiness or his might. Happiness, compared with which 
 the most joyous life on earth is dark despair ; and might, 
 that approximates man nigh unto the Godhead, and clothes 
 him with many of its divine attributes : the attribute of 
 diffusing happiness and dispensing justice among the count- 
 less millions that people space ; the attribute of executing 
 His laws o'er all the vast universe of matter He has created, 
 and the power to grasp and make his own — that knowledge 
 which has no bounds but illimitable space, and no end but 
 eternity. 
 
 The object of our material existence is to lay the founda- 
 tion for this high destiny; not its only object, but a primary 
 one, the progressive development from the womb to the 
 grave being but means to this end. And as the ball falling 
 from on high to the surface of the earth moves with con- 
 stantly accelerating velocity, so the soul of man, starting 
 on its race of progression, speeds in its progress with ever- 
 increasing rapidity; and as the ball, if arrested in its 
 course, loses a momentum it can never regain, so the soul, 
 
300 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 having its progress arrested, must feel to eternity the loss 
 of that momentum it can never recover. I mean, though 
 the ball, though starting again after its fall has been arrest- 
 ed, may at a certain distance acquire the same momentum 
 it had obtained when it was stopped, yet at that distance 
 it can not have the augmented velocity it would have had 
 if its j)assage had been unimpeded, for it has lost it forever. 
 So it is with the soul in its -advance in knowledge — that 
 knowledge, be it understood, whose foundation it was de- 
 signed should be laid in the material existence. 
 
 No matter what the cause which arrests its flight, 
 whether from the want of light or the abuseof it when fur- 
 nished, the effect is, more or less, the same. How vastly 
 important it is then to man, that he should not only under- 
 stand his ultimate destiny, but the object of his primary or 
 material existence ! Important, I mean, not only in refer- 
 ence to his advance in knowledge, but in reference to his 
 happiness also ; for you must at once perceive that that 
 law of his nature which demands of him that he progress 
 in knowledge, can not be violated without causing him un- 
 happiness, and that unhappiness is, more or less, according 
 as the violation of that law is willful or accidental. Is it 
 not so with any law which applies to your material exist- 
 ence? If you thrust your hand into the flame, it causes 
 you pain, and that pain will be aggravated by the con- 
 sciousness that you have of your own accord produced it. 
 The law applying to this simple act is that which governs 
 our whole existence in all its various and most minute parts 
 as in its totality. 
 
 Then, as to the effect on his progress in knowledge, first 
 or last, he must know — earlier or later, he must achieve 
 the knowledge wdiich is to enable him to attain his high 
 destiny, and perform the sublime and mighty duties be- 
 longing to it : the duty of executing the will of the great 
 Creator in marshaling countless worlds in their orbits, in 
 gathering from the disjointed matter scattered throughout 
 space, new worlds upon new worlds, and developing from 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 301 
 
 tliat matter, when properly prepared, immortal spirits in 
 their turn to people eternity. As hour by hour countless 
 numbers of immortal spirits are ushered into a life that is 
 to be eternal, so hour by hour are new worlds evolved, as 
 fitting scenes on which to enact their part in the drama of 
 existence, and to give play and scope to that germ from 
 the Great First Cause which is speeding its way back to the 
 source whence it emanated. 
 
 Briefly has this been said, but I pray you ponder on it 
 well, for when your mind shall once have grasped the idea, 
 a new field of existence will be open to its view — new 
 sources of happiness be unfolded, and its eternal progress 
 be begun. 
 
 tdxan Cljirtg-fih. 
 
 Monday, Nov. 14, 1853. 
 
 This evening the circle met in my library, and through the Doctor it 
 ■was written : 
 
 Our subject for this evening is in continuation of the 
 legitimate matter for our book. "We have rapidly traced 
 creation's progress from the atomic particle up to man, and 
 are now to consider the special development of this head 
 of- the animal creation, or rather, give you our opinion of 
 the manner in which this development took place. 
 
 But there is much to be considered before entering on 
 the causes which generated from the whole of the created 
 works of God this being, bound to earth by his organiza- 
 tion, and yet connected with heaven by his birthright and 
 his attributes. Man, specially or individually considered 
 
302 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 in reference to his physical organization, represents only a 
 condition of existence at once adapted to place him at the 
 head of animals. JSTot referring to the immeasurably greater 
 amount of nervous matter which is so beautifully dis- 
 tributed throughout his system, and so arranged that every 
 impression should be carried to a distinct point, where the 
 result of that impression wonld produce the proper action, 
 but in reference to the arrangement of his organs, their 
 position, size, shape, etc., he is indeed qualified to stand, 
 as he was designed, at the head of animated nature. 
 
 The various organs which compose his body resemble 
 in their shape, and the position which they occupy, the 
 same organs relatively situated in other animals, affording 
 striking proof that as far as regards his physical conforma- 
 tion, he is the improvement on every other animal creation, 
 and that he was therefore the latest creation. In reference 
 to the powers and capacities of his organism, he does not 
 possess the strength of the horse, but the arrangement and 
 construction of his hands and arms enable him to move 
 weights that the horse can not stir. He can not see in the 
 night as some other animals can, but his eye is so situated 
 that it can embrace a much larger scope of vision than 
 that of any other animal created. He is not so fleet as the 
 deer, but the muscles of his limbs enable him to run down 
 the fleetest courser, by their strength and endurance. 
 
 Aside from the organization of his brain and the vast 
 amount of cerebral substance which evidently denotes his 
 susceptibility and powers of comprehension ; aside from 
 the action of his spirit-nature, which controls the action of 
 all impressions and their effect on his brain, the whole 
 fashion of his physical nature exhibits him as capable of 
 enduring every vicissitude of climate and every condition 
 of life, from the rudest savage life, where, isolated and sol- 
 itary, he exists as a beast of prey, to that condition where, 
 in large numbers, he is forced to provide for his physical 
 wants in another and entirely different manner. 
 
 By the size and shape of his lungs, and the connection 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 303 
 
 of the vessels whicli convey the blood through them to all 
 parts of his body, he manifests his ability to exist in the 
 highest altitudes as well as in those locations where the at- 
 mosphere is humid or blended with a thousand ingredients 
 deleterious to life. By the exquisite fashioning of his skin 
 he can throw off what is obnoxious to health, and by the 
 peculiar arrangement of its organization he can endure the 
 most intense heat as well as the most severe cold. 
 
 His digestive organs can dispose of an immeasurable 
 variety of food, taken separately or collectively ; and, per- 
 haps, there is no other animal that can so long exist with- 
 out food or drink, without injury to his body, as man in 
 his natural state. Take him in all the developments of his 
 physical system, he exhibits, as a whole, a distinct class, 
 in which certain characteristics are observed possessed by 
 him alone, and yet so intimately blended with the peculi- 
 arities and physical attributes of so many of the other ani- 
 mals around him, that it appears as if in him were to be 
 found something which exists in all the species, orders, 
 genera, and classes of every created thing, that he might 
 in his physical nature be able to conform to the same con- 
 ditions and circumstances of life in which they are placed, 
 and that his system might be able, under such circum- 
 stances, to develop the same properties and capacities which 
 might be required if called on to act when so situated. 
 
 Thus you will perceive that I intend to describe man in 
 his physical construction as representing the best charac- 
 teristics of most of the other animals of which he stands at 
 the head ; and that from this conformation of his physical 
 nature he would be able, were it necessary, without the 
 cooperation of his spirit, to take the lead in every thing 
 which belongs to mere material existence ; that his organ- 
 ization w^ould enable him to do just what every other ani- 
 mal does, and much that they, by their organization, could 
 not possibly accomplish ; that his very organization shows 
 by its similarity to that of other animals, by the shape, 
 size, and position of his bones, muscles, nerves, etc., etc., 
 
304 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 that he was formed after the separate genera of other ani- 
 mals were created, and that by this correspondence he was 
 an improvement on all and every other animal that pre- 
 ceded him. 
 
 Thus, when you compare man with the dog, horse, etc., 
 etc., you find in him certain organs which resemble the 
 same organs in those animals, and so you may go through 
 the whole creation, and view the various organs in every 
 animal, and you will find some organ in man which will 
 correspond to some organ in them. I grant that a some- 
 what similar correspondence can be traced in the several 
 divisions of orders or classes of particular animals, but in 
 no one animal can this universal connection be found. As 
 if man alone, of all the created works of God, could claim 
 kindred with every part of that creation, of which, em- 
 phatically, he is the masterpiece. 
 
 And when we thus view him in his physical organiza- 
 tion, as comprising all the various attributes of the separate 
 orders, species, etc., etc., of animals, all, as it were, con- 
 centrated into one body, we are prepared to comprehend 
 why, of all other animals, he should be selected to receive 
 that other part of his nature, which, while it places him 
 as the master of the world, likewise gives him preeminence 
 in eternity. His physical nature, were it deprived of its 
 soul, would, by its own peculiar organization, claim prece- 
 dence over every other animal, and he would have con- 
 trolled them to minister to his wants ; but when we view 
 him as possessed of a separate and distinct identity, we 
 can then conceive of how much importance his physical 
 nature was to creation, and for what purpose God breathed 
 into his nostrils the breath of life. 
 
 This reflection is worthy of some consideration, for it 
 opens to your minds the subject of man's creation in a dif- 
 ferent aspect than, perhaps, was ever before presented to 
 your minds. 
 
 On looking over creation you can trace each distinct 
 class of insects, birds, and animals from the germ to the 
 
, SPIRITUALISM. 305 
 
 perfect development, commencing at one point and con- 
 tinuing in a direct connection in a determinate succession ; 
 but in every variety you can distinguish the source from 
 which it sprung. 
 
 In every development you can detect the same proper- 
 ties manifest, in a greater or less degree, as in the parent 
 source, and you are struck with the similarity of instinct, 
 appetites, etc., etc., which characterize all the race from 
 one variety to another. But were you to separate the 
 spirit from the body of man, you would not, could not, 
 trace that same manifestation in all the varieties of his 
 species found on earth, for the reason I have given, that 
 his material nature takes on so many of the various attri- 
 butes of the animal creation, that his manifestations are 
 universal, not special. And this view brings us to another 
 part of our subject of much moment and importance. 
 
 If there were no spirit connected with man's material 
 organization, w^ould he have remained in the same state of 
 existence his position placed him in, as have the other an- 
 imals around him ? 
 
 You ask how can this be answered? In reply, let me 
 say, that in all the works of God, when he has instituted 
 certain conditions of existence, the developments in that 
 state or condition are always in exact relation to the very 
 attributes that condition manifests, whether in animals or 
 vegetables. 
 
 Thus the horse, under all circumstances, is a horse, the 
 ox an ox, the apple is yet an apple. Each species may 
 develop some new attribute as a species, but it always re- 
 fers to the very nature it exhibits, from the germ to the 
 development, and it can not transcend the position in the 
 scale of existence in which it has been placed. As a horse, 
 the breed may be improved, but the improvement can not 
 go beyond the increase or development of its properties as 
 a horse. It does not generate any new attribute which 
 connects it with a class of animals above it, but is always 
 connected with beauty of form, strength of body, fleetness, 
 
 20 
 
306 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 docility, etc., etc. So with all other animals. And in 
 Rome, when under the fostering care of man they apparently 
 develop something new in relation to this law, they often 
 return to their old habits and nature whenever the influence 
 is lessened or they are allowed the least degree of liberty. 
 But I will continue this subject at our next meeting. 
 
 In answer to a question asked by one of the circle, it was written : 
 
 Why, men are constantly surrounded, outside of a cer- 
 tain sphere, with dark spirits, who, when that sphere is 
 opened, can always come in contact with certain gross 
 parts of their organism, and thus influence their minds. 
 They are not outside, but quite near, as they always attend 
 the good spirits wherever they go on earth. Your physical 
 nature is the means by which they influence your mind, 
 and as the good spirits are in connection with your mind, 
 they are in connection with your body. The former influ- 
 ence your spirit direct, the latter by exciting some of the 
 propensities of your material nature, and thus reach the 
 mind. . 
 
 uiian %\ixl^-m. 
 
 Tuesday, Nov. 22, 1853. 
 
 The Doctor being at my house, I inquired if I had received aright, the 
 night before, an impression that an alteration had been made in the 
 public room of the community where my wife resided? I asked the 
 question in this general form ; but the impression I alluded to was, that 
 one expression used in my evening's lecture at Philadelphia, a few even- 
 ings since, had been inserted in a scroll under my seal. 
 
 My question was answered by giving me a minute ac- 
 count of the alterations which had been made in the public 
 room alluded to. It had been much improved and beauti- 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 307 
 
 fied with windows descending to the floor, and between the 
 windows pictures of the most interesting acts of our effortis 
 in the cause. Over the commander's seat was a canopy, 
 in the center of which, and visible from all parts of the 
 hall, is the seal. In front of that seat are the three banners 
 I saw in the procession. 
 
 I do not give all the details, only the important items. 
 
 I said in reply, that was not the alteration I referred to, 
 and I supposed, therefore, I said, that it was my imagina- 
 tion which had given birth to the idea of the scroll. 
 
 It was answered : 
 
 " Why, Judge, this is in sl room, but it is the room of 
 judgment, and you can see it in a moment." 
 
 And, sure enough, in a moment I was in the spirit- world 
 again, and walking rapidly up the broad avenue toward the 
 fountain ; there I saw assembled a large crowd of spirits, 
 with very pleasant smiles of joy and welcome. My wife 
 was standing at the entrance of her garden, with her two 
 children and the old man, her attendant, by her side. The 
 presiding spirit waved his hand for me to pass on to my 
 wife, and I did so. I passed through her garden, toward 
 her mansion, she leaning on my arm, and saying to me, 
 " Is not this like old times, now?" 
 
 I entered the hall of her mansion, a wide and spacious 
 one, with pictures hanging on its walls. As I ascended the- 
 stairs, I caught a glimpse of one of them. It was a por- 
 trait of me, at the age of about nineteen, in my military 
 dress — preserving very faithfully the likeness of me the 
 first time she ever saw me after my mere boyhood. 
 
 When w^e reached the head of the stairs (for this time 
 she ascended with me), I observed an inscription over the 
 entrance to my room, " Leave not Hope behind."* She 
 
 * This evidently referred to what I had once said to her when I was con- 
 nected with the State Prison, that, unlike Dante's Infernal Regions, I wanted 
 to inscribe over its entrance, " Leave not Hope behind." 
 
308 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 entered the room with me, and conducted me to a large 
 easy-phair directly behind the altar, and while I was seated 
 in it, she leaned on its back. 
 
 I turned my attention at once to the left-hand corner of 
 the room, where, on the former occasion, I had seen that 
 terrible dark record; and now, to my great joy, I observed 
 that the letters had, many of them, faded so that I could 
 not read them ; some of them had been scraped off, as if 
 to make room for something else ; and she called my at- 
 tention to one spot, and said, " See ! that record is all 
 gone." My answer was, " Yes, my love ! but the memory 
 of it has not." 
 
 She called my attention to other things, and I saw from 
 each end of the altar there sprang up a jet of soft, golden 
 light, which diffused a mellow hue over all the room. She 
 pointed to the end of the room at my right, and it was very 
 beautiful. 
 
 There were two windows which descended to the floor, 
 and opened out upon a balcony, from which was a view of 
 her gardens, and the groves and water beyond them. There 
 was a cornice across the end of the room, as if of crimson 
 velvet, festooned up by golden cords, the tassels hanging 
 just below it. There were curtains to the windows, re- 
 minding me of the cartoons of Raphael ; but what was pic- 
 tured on them, and whether by painting or embroidery, 1 
 could not tell, for they were drawn back and festooned up. 
 Between the w^indows the groundwork of the panel was a 
 dazzling crimson ; on it was painted in blue luster my seal, 
 the arm in bronze, tinged with crimson, and the letters on 
 the scroll in gold. Below the seal were two spirits, holding 
 in their hands a curtain of white satin, the shading and folds 
 of it very perfectly painted, and on it were the words, " Dear 
 companions of my toil and faith ! Pause not ! Faint not ! 
 Falter not !" — the expressions I had used in my lecture. 
 
 The letters seemed to be formed of a golden light, for 
 they flickered as if a living flame, and they were seen 
 through a thin, gauze-like screen of pale blue. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 309 
 
 I saw, also, a statue in each comer of the room : one was 
 of a man naked to his feet, around which hung his panta- 
 loons. His arms were tied above his head to a ring in the 
 wall, and his face was turned over his left shoulder with a 
 mingled expression of terror and defiance. Behind him 
 stood a large, burly man, with his right hand as if to strike, 
 and holding in it a cat-o'-nine-tails. The remaining figure 
 of the group had his back toward me, but' his right arm 
 was raised, as if saying, "Forbear." It represented a. 
 scene which once occurred in the State Prison.^ 
 
 * It seems to me that I ought to tell the story which is here referred to — 
 not merely that the allusion may be the better understood, but to convey 
 more distinctly the idea how far our earthly actions penetrate into our spirit- 
 ual life. 
 
 In our former volume I remarked that I was appointed President of the 
 Board of Governors (Inspectors, as they were called) of one of the State prisons 
 of New York. The mode of government which obtained was entirely that of 
 force; the cat-o'-nine-tails was freely used, and horrible cruelties were daily 
 perpetrated. I found this so engrafted on the whole system, that it was al- 
 most impossible to change it. I, however, contemplated a change, which was 
 finally effected. In the mean time I felt that I ought to witness, personally, 
 what this whipping with the cat-o'-nine-tails was, so that I might judge of it 
 for myself; yet I found it difficult to force myself to do so, and time ran on 
 without my screwing up my courage. At length, one day, passing through 
 the main hall of the prison, I accidentally stumbled on the scene ; I saw a 
 group assembled around the whipping- ring, and a prisoner tied up to it, as 
 represented in the statue. I approached them and found the flagellation had 
 not yet begun, though all things were in readiness. I inquired of the officers 
 what offense he had committed, and learned that he had been making a noise 
 in his cell at night. 
 
 While I was speaking with them, his head was turned over his shoulder, as 
 in the statue, and he was scanning my looks very intently, with a strong ex- 
 pression in his own of a hope that I would interfere. I did not, however, but 
 moved back a few steps, as ifto witness the scene. His countenance rapidly 
 changed, and assumed a hardened, desperate look, and he said, " Whip away ! 
 It ain't the first time. It has never done me any good yet, and won't now." 
 
 I immediately said to the officers, *' Then take him down. He knows best 
 what will do him good. You don't whip for any thing else. Take him to his 
 room, and in the mean time we'll think of something that will do him good." 
 He was untied and directed to put on his clothes. He was very much sur- 
 prised, and all the time he was dressing he was looking at me, as if asking 
 what it all meant. As I turned to leave, he spoke to me in a very submissive, 
 respectful tone, and requested permission to say a few words to me. I assent- 
 
310 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 The group in the other corner was a statue of myself, 
 holding in my hand a map, to which I was pointing the 
 attention of a slave, who, seated on the ground at my feet, 
 was intently gazing on it. 
 
 I could not see what was delineated on the wall of the 
 room behind me ; but the eradication of so much of that 
 gloomy record awakened in me such feelings of gratitude, 
 that I said to'niy wife, "Let us kneel together, for that we 
 have never yet done, and give thanks to God !" She asked 
 if she might not call in our children ? I said, " Certain- 
 ly." And as we four knelt around that altar, I uttered this 
 prayer : 
 
 " O ! thou great Jehovah ! beneficent Father of all 
 created things ! shed abroad upon our hearts the impress 
 of thy divine love, that we, aiming at thy purity, may revel 
 in its mellow light forever." 
 
 We arose, and she, leaning on my arm, led me from the 
 room. As we were leaving it, I turned to look at the other 
 side of the room ; she playfully checked me, saying, " Re- 
 member Lot's wife." 
 
 We then entered a room on the opposite side of the hall, 
 which was the exact counterpart in all respects, in every 
 little article of furniture even, of my library in the house 
 where she died. It looked out, however, upon a different 
 scene. 
 
 • 
 
 ed, and took him to my office, where 1 discovered that he was laboring under 
 disease which was fast verging into insanity ; that he had been unable to 
 sleep during the night, and had%,sked the guard for some water. His request 
 not being attended to, he had repeated it ratlier impatiently, and in too loud 
 a tone, and that was his offense. I found from his story, and from inquiries 
 of the officers, that he was an old offender, had been in prison two or three 
 times before, and was one of the most turbulent and unruly among the eight 
 or nine hundred prisoners tliere congregated. 
 
 I put him into the hospital, and kept him there about a fortnight. I fre- 
 quently conversed with him, and finally returned him to his work. During 
 the residue of his confinement in that prison he was one of the most orderly, 
 submissive, and obedient men there ; and in my efforts to reform the govern- 
 ment of the prison, I frequently referred to his case as an instanc# of what 
 might be done by judicious kindness instead of brute force. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 311 
 
 She called me to the front window, and there I beheld a 
 large collection of spirits, who, with musical instruments 
 and with their voices, sang a song she used to sing to me so 
 often. It was, " John Anderson, my Joe !" 
 
 My vision was now so improved, that whereas before I 
 had seen only the blended light of the spirits who hovered 
 in the air over the scene, now I saw each one separate and 
 distinct. They were of all imaginable hues and colors, and 
 presented a picture lovelier far than imagination ever con- 
 ceived. 
 
 In the earlier part of the evening, when Lord Bacon had 
 spoken of my son, I had wanted to inquire as to his charac- 
 teristics. "Now," my wife said to me, "look at him, and 
 judge for yourself if he is not all we would have him to 
 be." I did so, and was not a little amused at the faithful- 
 ness of the copy of myself; but he had a good deal more 
 modesty than his father.* 
 
 My wife also called my attention to the country below 
 our elevation, and which at my last visit I had seen light- 
 ing up, as if improving spiritually, and which I had sup- 
 posed was intended as an allegorical representatichi of our 
 earth's condition. She, having noticed my error, now said 
 to me, "JSTo ! that is an actual reality in the spirit- world, 
 and shows you how intimate is the connection between 
 yours and ours. As you rise in light, and knowledge, and 
 purity, so does the world above you rise, for their affection 
 for you keeps them down. As you elevate the pedestal the 
 statue rises." 
 
 As I stood gazing, suddenly the tower, which was now 
 completed, was lighted up, and threw its glowing light far 
 over the scene below, showing the inhabitants below there 
 was a brighter world above, and the way to it. 
 
 At length I turned to leave the library, and said to my 
 son as I did so, "This, Master Sam, is where you pursue 
 
 * He died more than twenty-five years ago, in the third year of his 
 and was now grown to manhood. 
 
312 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 your studies till I come ?" He replied, " Yes, father, but I 
 do not study the same books you did. Yours had too much 
 of man in them ; mine have more of God." 
 
 After we passed down the stairs, my wife led me through 
 her bedroom to the piazza. I pointed to my military 
 badges, and told her I must say to her as Bacon had once 
 said to me, "Don't remind me of my earthly absurdities." 
 " Yes," was her reply ; " but the propensities which took 
 that form in your youth, now properly directed, enable 
 you to fight the battle of truth so well ;" and she asked me 
 if I remembered the story of two brothers which many 
 years ago I had read to her? and said, " That is the differ- 
 ence between giving to our faculties a proper and an im- 
 proper direction." 
 
 She left me at the entrance to her grounds, and the pre- 
 siding spirit, taking me by the arm, walked down the path 
 with me, and said to me, "You now see how the conscious- 
 ness of doing good can obliterate the record of evil. Go on 
 as you have begun, and perhaps even before you shall have 
 left the earthly form, that room may be fitted for the resi- 
 dence of a pure spirit. I am not unconscious of what you 
 have written to-day. Continue so. Forget ever yourself, 
 and think only of the cause, for in the cause is involved 
 the good of others. And now, farewell, till we meet again, 
 and that will be soon." 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 313 
 
 tttm C|irtg-se{ren. 
 
 Thursday, Nov. 24, 1853. 
 
 The circle met this evening. Mr. and Mrs. Sweet were absent, and 
 two friends from the Shaker Society of New Lebanon were present. 
 After a few words of a private nature, it was written : 
 
 For a moment let me attempt to instruct you on certain 
 matters in respect to which you seem not to have a per- 
 fectly clear opinion. 
 
 It certainly can not be the case that any member of this 
 circle has professed such a belief in spiritual teachings, 
 that what they have, learned should in any way affect the 
 existing relations of life, other than that they have afforded 
 you a clear idea of your duties, and that they have incul- 
 cated a higher standard of love to God and to man. 
 
 For what purpose has God created man, organized his 
 material part, and mingled with this organic creation an 
 essence, a spirit-portion, which is to live after the primitive 
 body shall have passed into the matter out of which it was 
 fashioned ? 
 
 The body of man is familiar to your senses, and the 
 constituents out of which it is composed have been so an- 
 alyzed by man, that even the most minute particle has been 
 made as plain as the whole person. 
 
 But the soul still remains a mj^stery, notwithstanding all 
 that has been taught you of its powers, its capacities, and 
 its relationship with its Creator. 
 
 Can it be possible that I should be able to convey to 
 your minds an adequate idea of what it is and the part 
 which it is to perform in its ultimate existence ? I know 
 that what I am this night discussing has been the earnest 
 
314 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 tliought,,of many of your circle, and I feel that it may be 
 this earnest desire to penetrate still further into the mys- 
 teries of spirit that has induced me to take that for my 
 subject to-night. Dimly as I shall be able to shadow to 
 you the ideas which are my own, still I do hope that what 
 I say may afford content at least to your minds for the 
 present, if it does not present an entire solution of your 
 inquiries. 
 
 The soul, then, as you have learned, is a part of the God 
 himself, and it is not an arbitrary creation, but springs 
 spontaneously forth to fill up that connection with one 
 part of creation, as much as the whole cause is manifest 
 in the universe itself. By this spontaneous emanation it 
 receives and retains its individuality, and is more or less 
 affected by the organization with which it is blended. The 
 soul is a God of itself, for it possesses the power of gene- 
 rating thought, creating out of that thought the tangible 
 evidences of its power. But not creating itself, it is under 
 the laws instituted by the source from which it sprung. As 
 it is an emanation from the God, it possesses much of its 
 nature, and it is only its admixture with matter that pre- 
 vents its manifesting the attributes which such an origin 
 has conferred on it. Its present destiny is to assist in the 
 development of itself in its combination, and also in the 
 perfection of that matter with which it is combined ; for 
 as God, in his connection with the matter he has evolved 
 from nothing, is continually speeding it to its develop- 
 ment, so man's spirit, in his present relation with matter, 
 is continually assisting the body to assume, under the laws 
 of God, that condition which will enable that spirit to 
 manifest its powers and faculties in a greater degree, and 
 also to contribute, by this development of the perfect body 
 of man, a true appreciation of all the influence of those 
 laws, and thus to institute in this w^orld a system of per- 
 fect harmony of material action. 
 
 I do not believe, strictly speaking, that this kind of 
 teaching is of the most profitable kind for your minds, for, 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 315 
 
 say what I might, there would be a mystery still surround- 
 ing the subject which can not be unfolded until your spirits 
 see the dawning of that eternity, the sun of which is spirit, 
 and whose countless constellations are spirit's spirit. But 
 I wish to make a few suggestions only, that I m*ay afford 
 some idea which will content your minds to wait until the 
 dawning of that glorious day shall afford to your spirits' 
 view the positive demonstration of that reality, the im- 
 perfect idea alone of which you can now appreciate. Thus, 
 then, in its material connection, the spirit assists in the es- 
 tablishing of a material harmony, by which creation will 
 be advanced, and by which the spirit can better understand 
 its true and ultimate destiny. 
 
 For when every material thing, and especially man's 
 own material part, is in such exact harmonic relation and 
 action that no impression on his senses is unjust or untrue, 
 then he can better understand the moral laws of God, Und 
 can, by this harmony of action, the more perfectly develop 
 those properties which will produce that state of existence 
 where love will reign supreme and God be acknowledged 
 over all. 
 
 Admitting this, what then is his destiny after the spirit's 
 separation from matter? Were there no impediments, in 
 consequence of the inharmonious action of the material 
 body of man, the spirit, taking from earth but little, if any 
 impurity, would, as soon as it leaves the body, assume that 
 position in the spheres which it now reaches by a long 
 course of progression and development. It would imme- 
 diately assume those distinct duties which it is required 
 now to perform only after years of study, thought, and a 
 persistent adherence to those divine laws which develop 
 its true nature and attributes. But now, as you well un- 
 derstand, its condition is one of progression, and it lingers 
 by the way to rid itself of those evils which its association 
 with the body has created. 
 
 The ultimate destiny of the soul is to assist God in the 
 administration of his laws, and to people those worlds 
 
316 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 rolling in space so far beyond the reach of man's compre- 
 hension that I conld not describe them were I to attempt. 
 Its ultimate destiny is to arrive at that state of intellectual 
 power and greatness that it can aid in carrying on the 
 operations of the millions on millions of worlds, and to 
 teach the incalculable number of spirits, born and unborn 
 into the spirit-world, their own nature, and the position 
 which they too are to occupy. 
 
 This destiny comprehends every thing which you can 
 understand of truth, holiness, love, knowledge, and more, 
 much more, than I can tell you. I have merely stated 
 what I understand as fact, and I also understand that in 
 addition to what I here have stated, there is a degree of 
 happiness and glory and other duties which I am not yet 
 able to comprehend. But as the spirit arrives at that state 
 it occupied when thrown oif from the Godhead, it then is 
 invested with certain attributes, of which no spirit here 
 can give you any knowledge. 
 
 But after all that I have said, no finite mind could com- 
 prehend the whole destiny of spirit, even if it were told it 
 in plain, distinct terms ; for, if we can not comprehend 
 what that condition must be after the spirit has arrived at 
 the point at which it was disintegrated from the parent 
 source, how can you realize what that destiny can be ? It 
 therefore may be sufficient for us all to know, that when 
 the soul is conscious that it has assisted an erring spirit to 
 progress ; when it is conscious that it has contributed to 
 foster in the human heart that desire to progress which 
 will impel it onward to eternity and purity ; when it is 
 conscious that it has sustained the sinking courage ; when 
 it has sacrificed its own desires to aid another's aspirations ; 
 and when it has yielded to the law of love, and for that 
 love forgiven all wrongs against itself, and has loved the 
 very hand or mind which has done that wrong ; when it 
 has felt its own nature, like the God from whom it sprung, 
 impel it to clasp once again the weak, the erring, the very 
 wicked of its kind and say, "Brother, go with me;" when 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 317 
 
 it shall, even if it costs it a pang, confer one happiness on 
 a human heart, then it may know, despite all reasoning, 
 despite all theories, despite all self-intentions, that it is in- 
 deed progressing toward that state, where its ultimate des- 
 tiny will be to shed abroad on all around those very attri- 
 butes of happiness which it so keenly appreciates, for he 
 who confers by love, happiness on others, can by that very 
 love enjoy above his kind that true happiness which comes 
 direct from God. Bacon. 
 
 I was then impressed, and had this 
 
 VISION. 
 
 . I was in the scene where I had been so often, and was 
 approaching the fountain. As I did so, the presiding 
 spirit, taking me by the arm, said, "ISTow go with me, I 
 will lead you to new scenes. Are you capable," he said, 
 closely scanning me, " of bearing the sight? We will see." 
 
 So I passed with him, gliding rapidly to quite a distance 
 to the mountain with its golden light, which I have men- 
 tioned. Here we ascended a flight of steps cut in the 
 rock. It was a laborious, toilsome ascent, and as I arose, 
 I had a view of the plane which I had just left, and of the 
 second and third below it, each elevation that I attained 
 seeming to expand my view. 
 
 At the head of the steps was a gateway or entrance 
 flanked on the outer edge of the precipice with a round 
 tower, from whose summit hung in easy folds a flag. 
 From the entrance streamed far into the distance a flood 
 of golden light, as if the place was overflowing full of it, 
 and it was gushing out to light up all it could reach. We 
 began to ceme within its influence ere we gained the sum- 
 mit, but when we attained the entrance and became envel- 
 oped in it, it produced a singular feeling, which I experi- 
 enced even physically while I was describing the scene, 
 and which thrilled me with love and happiness, and I ex- 
 claimed, " If this is a specimen^ then there is indeed a hap- 
 piness in the spirit-life of which we have had no concep- 
 
318 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 tion. If such is the effect on me just entering there, what 
 must it be on its residents ?" 
 
 I can not describe the scene which opened to my view. 
 It was filled as far as my eye could reach, with a mellow, 
 golden light mingled and fringed with a rosy hue. Imag- 
 ine the most gorgeous, and beautiful, and variegated gar- 
 den ever pictured in Eastern fable ; take the most beautiful 
 scenic representation of our theaters, multiply them a 
 million times, and you can scarcely conceive the reality 
 that was before me. What happiness to be there ! And 
 yet I saw higher elevations still in the distance. It seemed 
 to me impossible there could be higher conditions of beauty 
 and happiness than the scene before me. Yet there were, 
 f6r I saw them. 
 
 Every thing was so full of joy and gladness. Look where 
 I might, I saw it ; among birds, beasts, plants, man ; all — 
 all were full of it, overflowing with it. I saw innumerable 
 spirits moving about ; some in shady bowers, some sitting 
 beside a murmuring brook, some reclining on beds of 
 flowers, some floating as it were on the perfume and drink- 
 ing it in, some sauntering around sparkling fountains 
 whose waters were of different colors, some strolling in 
 the smooth walks in pairs and in groups, lovingly clinging 
 to each other. I saw no one alone. No sad recluse har- 
 bored there, but each one's happiness was in that of others. 
 Interspersed amid the flowers and shrubbery were many 
 statues. But I can not describe the infinite variety of beau- 
 tiful objects before me. I stood and gazed with solemn 
 awe. 
 
 Ever and anon as I gazed around me, I saw in the dis- 
 tance, his head shining like a blazing sun, but with a mel- 
 lower light, the presiding spirit of that community, and I 
 learned from my guide that all the spirits I saw around me, 
 and many others not then there, had duties elsewhere, and 
 here assembled only in the pauses of their toil. They were 
 constantly coming and going, and this waS their relaxation 
 only. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. ' 319 
 
 The spirits around me perceived me, and saw my emo- 
 tion. Some encouraged me, some smiled pleasantly at my 
 embarrassment, and some beckoned me to enter, and at 
 length I approached that presiding spirit. He was of 
 gigantic proportions, and sat upon a throne which seemed 
 to rest on banks of clouds. He was enveloped in a halo 
 of that glorious mellow light, and sat in an erection some- 
 thing like a niche with its statute. The beauty of his 
 throne I can not describe. It was enameled white, and or- 
 namented with gold and blue. Great numbers of spirits 
 were on each side, and behind and over him. In front of 
 him it was vacant. I was led up to him — not directly in 
 front, for I could not bear his dazzling brightness. 
 
 He said to me, " Is it difficult for you to conceive a 
 condition of man so superior to your mortal existence ? 
 Know that we have only entered on the threshold of that 
 eternity of love and happiness which is your destiny. The 
 difference between you and the merest atom of inanimate 
 matter from which you have been developed is but a step 
 — though a step of ages — a feeble, halting, crippled step in 
 that eternity. See to what you may attain ! Is it not im- 
 portant you should understand how to attain it, so as to 
 hasten your progress, and not retard it ? That knowledge 
 is now proffered you ; are you prepared to receive it ? It 
 would have been in vain to have proffered it to inanimate 
 matter, to the vegetable, to the unreasoning animal, or 
 even to the reasoning animal, man, until in his progress he 
 had attained the capacity to comprehend it. Are you yet 
 at that point, or must tlie lesson so often attempted to be 
 taught to man be again abandoned for a fitter season ? 
 Must they who can be used as the instruments of convey- 
 ing that knowledge to man be again, as they so often have 
 been, done to death for that cause ? Is man ready yet 
 again to strike the hand that is outstretched to lift him up, 
 or will he grasp it with some appreciation of the infinite love 
 it proffers ? Is man yet so enveloped in his material gar- 
 ment, that the light of Heaven's love can not penetrate it ? 
 
320 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 Is his heart so hardened with self, that even Heaven's pu- 
 rity can not soften it ? Is he so wedded to his animal pro- 
 pensities, that even angels' voices fall silent upon his ear ? 
 Is lie like the earth from which he sprung, dead to the 
 voice of that love with which heaven echoes now and for- 
 ever? 
 
 "Oh! how. long! how anxiously ! how lovingly have we 
 waited to see him arrive at that condition when he could 
 comprehend the love that was so ready to embrace him ! 
 Shall we wait yet longer? Are we doomed yet again to 
 turn sadly away, frustrated in our efforts, disappointed in 
 our hopes of his redemption? Must we yet behold him, 
 like a worm, still grovel in the dust from which he sprung j 
 
 "O! bethink you! It is the Spirit of God himself 
 which you thus by your evil propensities chain darkly to 
 the earth. It is his Spirit of eternal life spoken into your 
 being which you thus bury beneath the mountain load of 
 your material passions. O ! bethink you ! It is the im- 
 mortal spirit of love pervading all the universe which you 
 thus smother in the dark atmosphere yourselves create. 
 
 " Rise, then, O man Lazarus ! and come forth and step 
 from the grave into which ignorance and bigotry have 
 thrust you. Walk forth in the image of a living soul 
 brightened by the immortal spark which is from the eter- 
 nal sun, and to him. Come forth from the dark tomb to 
 which you have consigned yourself, and come to the arms 
 of the bright and the pure, which are outstretched in love 
 to embrace you. 
 
 "And oh! could you but know the thrill of glad joy 
 which you could cast through heaven's vast mansions by 
 your response — could you but hear the shouts of rejoicing 
 that would hail your reply — could you but know the hap- 
 piness you would confer on the countless multitudes above 
 you, who have mourned your darkness, and who would 
 hail your ascent from its gloom, you would not pause in 
 your efforts to share it, or repel the Saviour which thus 
 again comes to redeem you. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 321 
 
 " Say this much, O mortal ! to thy weak and erring fel- 
 lows — speak to them with the trumpet-tongue of Truth — 
 speak to them Heaven's own teachings, and thou wilt yet 
 find deep buried in the darkest and hardest heart a voice 
 that will answer, for it is the Spirit of God that slumbers 
 there." 
 
 He leaned forward when he had said this, and pressed 
 his lips to my forehead. " Go forth," he said, " with the 
 seal of Heaven on thy brow, and beware that thou taint not 
 its brightness by aught of earth's impurity, for of him to 
 whom much is given, much shall be required." 
 
 Previous to his beginning to speak, the whole of that 
 great crowd of spirits was moving about, talking, laugh- 
 ing, etc., but while he spoke there was a holy calm, a per- 
 fect silence resting on the scene. Joyhood ceased its laugh, 
 the brook staid its murmur, and even the leaf which had 
 rustled in the breeze was still. But when he ceased, there 
 arose from that bright host a joyous shout saying, "O 
 man ! man ! weak and erring man ! know that thy Ke- 
 deemer still livetii." 
 
 The sound of that shout floated softly on my ear, and 
 seemed to bear me away on its wings, and so I departed. 
 
 21 
 
322 SPIBITUALISM, 
 
 Setti0n CJirtg-ng|t. 
 
 Monday^ November 28th^ 1853. 
 At the circle at the Doctor'Sj through him it was written : 
 
 "When, after a shower, the sun has broken forth from 
 the clouds, and every blossom and flower, every tree and 
 shrub, rejoice in the invigorating fi^shness of nature re- 
 stored, there still lingers around the mountain's top the 
 mists which conceal it from view. 
 
 The broad earth, clad in its robe of green, laughs out in 
 its renewed strength its grateful praise ; for the rich sus- 
 tenance which comes from above, and the woods, which 
 clothe the high ascent to the mountain's summit, give forth 
 their rich incense of nature's perfume, their meed of thanks 
 for the boon bestowed. But there hang these dark clouds, 
 like a huge mantle, shrouding from below the gloomy 
 rocks and the jutting precipices, as if all indeed there was 
 storm and night. So, too, the world — so, too, man. "When 
 to his mind, truth, like the grateful shower, comes laden 
 with the rich attributes of good, and every token is fraught 
 with love and happiness, there stands aloof, invested with 
 the cloudy darkness of prejudice or error, the stern and 
 unyielding determination of his will. "When has there 
 been vouchsafed to human mind a greater lesson than na- 
 ture everywhere presents? "When has God's wisdom as- 
 sumed a more benignant form than w^hen he has offered to 
 his mind the simple analogy of his love and power in the 
 crudest work of his hands ? It is not in those glorious 
 manifestations of his Almighty power, or in the terrific ex- 
 hibitions of his awful grandeur, that man is to learn how ^. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 323 
 
 closely connected lie is with him, the Infinite ! the Incom- 
 prehensible ! It is not when the ocean is lashed in fury in 
 a storm, its huge billows upheaving their mighty crests, 
 and, answering back in their surge heaven's artillery, or in 
 their maddened plunge sweeping a^j^ay the works of man — 
 ay ! and of nature, too, or in the lightning's flash, shiver- 
 ing the rocks, or giving to the storm and the whirlwind 
 the sublime and awful aspect of nature warring with her- 
 self, that we are to be convinced that God is mighty in 
 power, inconceivable in majesty ! 
 
 1^0 ; all these exhibitions of the terrible attributes by 
 which God governs the world he has created, cause the 
 soul to shrink within itself, and tremble in its utter help- 
 lessness ; they terrify, they paralyze. But when the hum- 
 ble flower opens its purple leaves to the morning sun, and 
 exhibits nature's jewels in the dew which glistens in its 
 rays, the soul of man can realize the glory of the Deity, 
 the love which fashioned it, and can, without fear, look 
 through nature up to nature's God. My friends, 'tis the 
 silent workings of the spirit which is the labor of progres- 
 sion. While heaven can not be taken by a coup de main, 
 so the spirit can not be stormed into a belief. The mind, 
 in search after truth, must be free to elect, must be inde- 
 pendent in its choice ; but it requires no force to precip- 
 itate it into goodness. Let, therefore, the eternal truths 
 which we attempt to, teach you yield their rich influence 
 in the effect which is perceptible in your acts, and learn 
 that in the charitable considerations with which you view 
 man in all his actions, is the seat of your progress. I re- 
 joice once more to meet with you — to look around on 
 your familiar faces, and to feel the chord of true affec- 
 tion vibrate in unison with my own spirit ; and I am happy 
 to say that I shall again have the pleasure of teaching you 
 for some time to come ; and I trust that even I shall have 
 the great joy, when I shall meet you face to face in the 
 spheres, when you shall know whether I have taught ybu 
 truth or falsehood ; and when wending our way together 
 
324: SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 toward the incompreliensible glories of the higher spheres, 
 my spirit shall see your spirits face to face. Then, yes, 
 oh ! then may it be my great joy to say, " My son ! my 
 daughter!" and to hear you respond, "My father !" "Yes," 
 then shall I say, "your father am I — your spiritual guide 
 toward truth ; but there is one greater than I who is the 
 truth, who is love — he is your Father and mine, for he is 
 
 God." SWEEDENBOKG. 
 
 Then, after a pause, it was further written : 
 
 The study of mind, in its various manifestations, is one 
 of the most curious and wondrous subjects of investigation 
 ever presented to the human intellect ; and the phenomena 
 it offers, the remarkable phases it presents, are very like 
 the kaleidoscope, which, every turn it makes, represents 
 new combinations of colors and new forms of arrangement. 
 
 But the most interesting part of this inexplicable m3^s- 
 tery is the effect of mental conclusion on action, and the 
 causes which induce conclusion, operating by its own force, 
 or arising from its prejudices. 
 
 That every mind arrives at the same result from the same 
 impression no one believes, or at least admits ; but when 
 the mind, really desirous of arriving at truth, is so deter- 
 mined to act independently of that which in another mind 
 absolutely arrives at the same result, it is indeed as strange 
 as it is peculiar. There is something in the independent 
 action of mind searching for truth, and that kind of truth, 
 too, which brings permanent satisfaction, that inspires man 
 everywhere with respect. Regardless of the sarcasms and 
 censures of the world, it moves onward in its research, in- 
 tent upon the object it has in view. There is a moral sub- 
 limity investing an individual resting on the consciousness 
 of his own purity when he breaks away from the trammels 
 of society and dares to think and act for himself. A mind 
 like this emulates the Creator, for it generates in itself its 
 principles of action, and is governed by causes of its own 
 creation. It is bound by no form or doctrine, and its ideas 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 325 
 
 are universal, for it sees in all things the universal appli- 
 cation to all conditions of things and men a universality 
 of action induced by a compliance with the laws of God. 
 
 Such a mind makes its impress whenever it comes in 
 contact with mind, and gives an impetus to thought which 
 is hindered by no barrier but its incapacity to think ; but 
 when this mind, free in every element of greatness and no- 
 bility of purpose, motive, and action, manifests its inability 
 to grant to another mind the same privileges itself assumes, 
 it exhibits the taint with which mind is encumbered when 
 it is conj&ned by its mortal connections. 
 
 Why should this mind open intuitively to the freedom 
 which God has bestowed on the thought? Why should 
 this mind, appreciating all that is good, pure, and holy, 
 and acting in concert with these mighty principles, disre- 
 gard the mind which claims affinity by its aspirations, and 
 in its acts and prejudices assume that it can not compre- 
 Jiend the other ? Why, by act, send the trembling hope 
 back on itself and cloud the visions which that hope has 
 called up ? Why seek not to know the earnest efforts of 
 the other to understand the way by which it has climbed 
 to its elevated condition ? 
 
 Why lavish on minds whose surface alone reflects the 
 image of the deep emotions which move the very depth of 
 the other ? Why crush the dawning truths and pure aspi- 
 rations which soon would lead sentiment to associate with 
 sentiment, and establish a concord as harmonious as it will 
 be lasting ? Why say to itself, I can give to you my re- 
 spect, but beyond this I can not go ? Who has limited the 
 longing desire itself has felt for truth ? Who has barred up 
 its own passage to a higher and better elevation? Who 
 has said thou shalt not understand those laws which will 
 bring peace and knowledge to your spirit, and who EUs 
 dared to say thou shalt not understand thy connection with 
 thy God? In all this it has felt the assistance of those 
 mighty harmonies which have established laws and given 
 birth to principles. Searching for light, it has penetrated 
 
326 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 the infinite darkness with which a thousand causes have 
 shrouded mind, and has found light, at last, beaming upon 
 itself in a flood of glorious radiance. 
 
 Bej^ond this world it has sought and found the same 
 affinities which another mind now seeks to obtain, and it 
 has had the freedom of unlimited converse with all God's 
 laws, divine and physical, as the guerdon of its courage. 
 But shall mind, thus enlightened by truth, refuse that same 
 light to another? Shall the affections and sentiments be 
 coldly looked on when the unutterable longing for com- 
 panionship is manifest by the similarity of its desires ? 
 "No. Whatever influences may thus mark the true efforts 
 of its own researches here, the future will place together 
 on one plane mind with mind that asks for, that desires 
 truth. ISTo unkind relatives shall then interrupt the har- 
 monious flow of the same hopes and wishes for the good, 
 the pure, the holy. ISTo prejudices or impressions of years 
 shall prevent these two spirits from being bound together 
 by the same motives. No transient thought of what may 
 be the beautiful, the sublime, the awful unfoldings of truth 
 itself shall then interfere with the same pursuits and the 
 same objects. 
 
 Mind, thus acted on and thus acting, is the same in the 
 destiny which their desires will insure, and as one, yet in- 
 dependent, they will wend their way till the time when the 
 fulfillment of their earthly struggles is accomplished. 
 
 Bacon. 
 
gpiBiTUALisu:. 827 
 
 nihu f^irtg-nint 
 
 Monday, Dec. 5, 1853. 
 The circle met at Dr. Dexter's. Through me this vision was given : 
 
 VISION. 
 
 I SAW a spirit standing erect in a chariot, to which horses 
 seemed to be harnessed. He was holding the reins in one 
 hand and in the other brandishing a javelin. He was driv- 
 ' ing through the darkness of space. The chariot and horses 
 were of a silver color, set out by the dark background. 
 He was moving swiftly through space and leaving a train 
 of light behind him. He was followed by a great number 
 of spirits not quite as bright as he was. They, too, passed 
 along with great velocity, apparently very intent on some 
 object in the distance. Ere long I saw them arrive at the 
 object of their pursuit. 
 
 It was a wonderful sight, and opened to me new views 
 of the spirits' power. A vast nucleus of a new world had 
 been formed, evolved out into the regions of space, and it 
 had been set in motion in its appropriate orbit. It had 
 moved in that orbit long enough to have a portion of its 
 matter condensed in the center, but a vast amount of it 
 still remained uncondensed. 
 
 It had been attended in its course by those spirits, whose 
 duty it was to see to its proper development, and all had 
 gone on well for ages, while a new world was thus being 
 formed out of the disjointed matter scattered through space ; 
 but now it had met with some disturbing cause. The 
 spirits attending it had tried to counteract the tendencies 
 of that disturbance. They had occasionally succeeded in 
 
328 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 checking it, but had not been able entirely to overcome it. 
 In spite of all their efforts it had gone on increasing its inhar- 
 monious action, so that when I approached it, it presented 
 the wonderful spectacle of a world raging, as it were, in 
 a furious passion, tearing itself to pieces, and it bid fair to 
 be scattered in broken fragments in all directions, for its 
 parts were moving with immense velocity but with great 
 irregularity. 
 
 The spirits attendant upon that world were very active. 
 I saw them moving from place to place seeking to over- 
 come that discord, but seeing it increase upon them all 
 the time. 
 
 The spirit whom I saw in the chariot, with his long 
 train of attendants, had come to their aid. He stopped, 
 and paused to look upon the confusion before him. Two 
 or three of the spirits belonging to that world came out to 
 converse with him, apparently making a report to him. 
 They seemed very much excited, and well might they be ! 
 Large masses, vast as our earth and our moon, were hurled 
 back and forth ; some were dense and black, others lumin- 
 ous and lighted up by the burning mass. The whole were 
 revolving with frightful velocity, and every now and then 
 some vast mass would fly off from the center, thrown off 
 by the centrifugal power into the nebulous matter which 
 was more or less dense, which in like manner was disturb- 
 ed by their passing through it, and thus the confusion was 
 constantly augmented. But the attractive power of the 
 dense center drew those masses back again, and they fell 
 back into the burning revolving center with a tremendous 
 crash. 
 
 This was frequently occurring with vast masses of the 
 dense matter, varying in size, in density, and in conditions 
 of ignition. The frightful velocity of the revolving motion 
 threw them off, and then their power of motion was re- 
 sisted by the density of the nebulous matter through which 
 they were passing, and was finally overcome by the at- 
 tractive power of the mass remaining in the center, thus 
 
S'PIKITUALISM. , 329 
 
 again forming a part of that center to be again thrown off, 
 disturbing and deranging all the nebulous matter by their 
 erratic wanderings, and bidding fair to resolve that form- 
 ing world back into its original condition of disjointed 
 matter wandering through space. 
 
 The spirits in attendance on that world were engaged in 
 all parts of it, endeavoring to overcome these outbreaks 
 and reduce its matter to an orderly obeisance to the laws 
 which were developing it. Some, more venturous, were far 
 down among the burning masses ; and as I observed them, 
 I saw one spot in the center unlike the burning masses 
 which I had seen thus thrown off. It was of a red, flame- 
 like color, and was continually moving up and down, like 
 the pieces of dirt which a swiftly moving carriage- wheel 
 will throw off from its rim. But the center was a bright 
 white light, and did not partake of the confusion which 
 pervaded the outer masses, though it was revolving on its 
 axis with inconceivable velocity. That was the center of 
 the nucleus, and its light was produced by the ignition 
 caused by its velocity. The attendant masses of matter 
 had not yet acquired the same velocity of revolution, 
 though they revolved around the same center, and the 
 consequence was, that though sometimes they were absorb- 
 ed into the center and acquired its motion, at other times 
 they were instantly thrown off, again to return to the cen- 
 ter, drawn by its attractive power. The whole world thus 
 revolving before me, and thus disturbed and deranged, 
 was tens of thousands of miles in diameter, and thus was 
 I permitted to see man's position as a ministering spirit of 
 the Great First Cause, executing his laws amid the bound- 
 less realms of space, and performing his will in developing 
 from disjointed matter new worlds, in their turn to be peo- 
 pled by sentient and immortal beings. 
 
 I saw each spirit acting in his sphere, having a portion 
 of the task to perform, some daringly penetrating even to 
 that burning center, seeking there, at the very seat of the 
 disorder, to overcome its destructive action ; others at the 
 
330 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 extremity of the nebulous matter seeking there to prevent 
 its being thrown beyond the redeeming power of the cen- 
 tral attraction ; and others, in great numbers, in various 
 intermediate positions, essaying to enforce the law which 
 aimed at the final amalgamation of this vast mass into a 
 well-organized world, in its turn to roll on its course amid 
 the countless worlds His almighty hand has fashioned. 
 Each acting in his appropriate sphere had something to do. 
 
 I saw the directing spirit first order the spirits who were 
 in and near the nucleus to withdraw to the outer edge of 
 the nebulous matter. I saw them coming out in all direc- 
 tions, and as they became conscious of his presence and 
 of the aid at hand, their excitement subsided. They felt 
 that an adequate intelligence was with them, guiding all 
 things. 
 
 He next directed the vast concourse that had accompa- 
 nied him to join with and assist the others, and I saw them 
 proceeding in all directions, far and near, to execute his 
 bidding. They surrounded that immense mass of nebulous 
 matter in vast numbers, and, at an appointed signal, with 
 one accord pressed in toward the center. And I soon saw 
 that it was rapidly decreasing in size, and its material was 
 becoming condensed. This outward pressure I saw began 
 to produce an efi'ect on the center. One piece after another 
 of the broken fragments which had been hurled off and 
 were revolving irregularly around the common center, fell 
 back upon and darkened its brightness ; as they fell, some 
 rebounded, but others were again forced down upon them, 
 until they again became united to the mass of which they 
 were once a part. And all this under the influence of the 
 united pressure of that host of disembodied spirits, who 
 had once tenanted mortal forms as we do. 
 
 "What imagination could have conceived that this was a 
 part of the destiny of man ? 
 
 When that nebulous matter shall become a world, peo- 
 pled as is this earth, and its inhabitants shall penetrate its 
 interior, they will wonder at the disarrangement of its 
 
SPIEITUALISM. 331 
 
 strata which they will discover, and speculate as to its 
 causes. Yet how simple, how natural the laws which have 
 caused it ! 
 
 I perceived that the outer parts of the nucleus had a 
 more rapid motion than the center, and the consequence 
 was, that the darker masses, which had at length adhered 
 together, became also ignited, and burned with a brighter 
 light, their rapidity of motion causing the intense ignition, 
 and I saw that at length order was issuing out of the chaos 
 I had witnessed, and that all was coming to be well again. 
 
 While I was gazing on this scene, so full of sublimity, 
 so novel, so grand, so Instructive as to man's destiny here- 
 after, the directing spirit said to me, "The same law whose 
 action you have seen here, pervades the whole created uni- 
 verse — man as well as matter, and matter in its smallest 
 atom as in its vast aggregation in the largest world that 
 rolls through space. 
 
 "To the intelligent mind there is no mystery in this. 
 You, in your primary existence, at times see the elements 
 breaking away from the domination of the laws established 
 for their government. You, in a limited mode, with your 
 feeble powers, can sometimes bring them back, and you 
 do so often with rock, and earth, and water, and this which 
 you have now witnessed is only a manifestation of the 
 same law on a broader field. Know that every law gov- 
 erning the universe operates as much in an atom as in a 
 world, or a system of worlds, as much in your earth as in 
 the countless multitudes of worlds that people the immen- 
 sity of space. You here behold what is your duty and 
 your destiny hereafter. You perceive what knowledge is 
 necessary to enable you to perform your part hereafter. 
 You now know that the knowledge of these laws, so ne- 
 cessary for you, can be attained by you in your primary 
 existence. Their great principles can be evolved by you 
 from the earth you inhabit ; and in your primary existence, 
 by studying the laws of the nature which surrounds you, 
 you can fit yourselves to be of His ministering spirits who 
 
332 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 \ 
 
 wield this vast power througliout all space and to eternity. 
 And recollect, tliose laws apply to man as well as matter, 
 and that when you pass from one stage of existence to 
 another you will find no law which you might not have 
 learned in your primary condition. For the Great Creator 
 governs the universe by immutable laws and has given to 
 man the capacity to understand them. 
 
 "The means we have now used have been to give proper 
 action and play to the primary law of creation, that which, 
 when applied to matter you call attraction, and when ap- 
 plied to man you call love. That is the great principle 
 which pervades the whole universe. Its action is some- 
 times disturbed in man as well as matter. Then the power 
 of His ministering servants is employed to restore the due 
 operation of the law. 
 
 " So it is now with man on the earth. The action of this 
 law has been disturbed with him. Mankind, instead of 
 being one harmonious whole, revolving duly and orderly 
 in their eternal course, are disjointed and thrown from 
 their proper position in broken fragments. The power of 
 the spirit-world is brought to bear to remove the disturb- 
 ing cause with you, and that power is to be exerted, not 
 merely by the bright spirits who come from far-distant 
 realms, but by you, too, who inhabit its broken and burning 
 center. The spirits whose province it has been to attend 
 upon your earth, and see to the due operation of its laws, 
 have long struggled in vain against the disturbing causes 
 which have made mankind a black, and burning, and dis- 
 jointed mass. 
 
 " The Great Spirit of Love which rules all things has 
 now sent to their aid the brighter intelligences, whose 
 presence has hitherto been unknown to you. The task 
 upon which they have entered will be performed, for it is 
 easy compared with that which you have beheld. 
 
 " Fear not for the result. Go forth boldly in the work 
 which you have begun, and in times long hence you will 
 look upon mankind as I now look upon this world, lately 
 
SPIEITUALISM. 333 
 
 SO disjointed, moving truly on, obedient to that great law 
 of attraction which will yet extract from the confused 
 mass of your world immortal spirits, moving in harmony 
 with and obedient to the laws of the Great Creator. To 
 him be your thanks paid. To him lift up your grateful 
 hearts, and while bowing in awe before his might, be ye 
 sure that his love is almighty to save, all powerful to tri- 
 umph over sin and death." 
 
 Stttion Jfortj. 
 
 Monday Evening, Dec. 12, 1853. 
 This eveningj at Dr. Dexter's, the circle met, and through me a vision 
 was given. 
 
 I WAS in the darker regions where I had been before, but 
 I had a much wider and more extended view, and saw a 
 vast many spirits. They were uneasy, and wandering 
 about from place to place, never contend The only relief 
 there was to their monotony was the opportunity occasion- 
 ally enjoyed of tormenting some one. 
 
 There' was not the uniform somber look to the atmo- 
 sphere that there had been. There was a faint light, like a 
 cold watery sun, as we see sometimes on earth. It seemed 
 as if a far-distant light began to penetrate here and there 
 through the gloom. 
 
 I observed occasional efforts of some of the spirits to rise 
 from the ground, like a young bird trying to fly for the 
 first time. This was quite general with them ; all seemed 
 trying the experiment. They arose but a little distance, and 
 some succeeded in floating along above the surface instead 
 
334 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 of walking as heretofore. They were disputing among 
 themselves what it was, this new power. 
 
 It was a vast country that was before me. I saw to an 
 immense distance. It was peopled by great numbers. 
 Some parts were darker than others, and some of an ink- 
 like blackness. They who lived in those dark places had 
 no idea that there were any lighter places. It being too 
 dark immediately around them to see abroad,- they did not 
 know of any brighter condition. There was a great variety 
 of shade to the atmosphere, from a light gray to a black. 
 I had seen the same variety in the happy spheres, only 
 there it was a variety of light, here it was a variety of 
 darkness. 
 
 I now approached one of those black spots, and there, in 
 a miserable hovel, was a human being. He was ghastly 
 thin, haggard, almost a skeleton. He knew no means of 
 escape from that dark habitation, where he was b^I alone. 
 The most violent of human passions were raging in him, 
 and he was ever walking back and forth, like a chained 
 tiger chafing in his cage. 
 
 There was a little light in that habitation of }iis, but it 
 was an awful one. It was the red, flame-like light of his 
 own eyes. They were open, and staring like burning 
 coals, with a black spot in their center, and were constant- 
 ly straining to see something, the darkness was so horrible 
 to him ! He had no companion but his own hatred and the 
 memory of the evil past. 
 
 He paused once in a while in his walk, raising his 
 clenched hand above his head, and cursed his Maker that 
 ever he created him. He cursed also the false teachers 
 who pretended to tell him the consequences of a life of sin, 
 and yet knew so little of it themselves. They had told him 
 of a hell of fire and brimstone only, and he knew that when 
 he died, casting ofl^ his material garb, such a hell could 
 have no efiect upon him. He knew that such a hell was 
 impossible. He therefore laughed the idea to scorn, and, 
 dreaming of no other, he believed there was none. Now 
 
SPIBITUALISM. 335 
 
 wakening to. the reality of a hell far worse than had ever 
 been painted to him, he cursed God and man that he had 
 been left alone to dare its torments — that he had been left 
 in ignorance of w]|at must follow the indulgence of the 
 material passions to which he had given up his whole 
 life. 
 
 If you could have seen the agony that was painted on 
 his face, the despair and hatred that spoke in every linea- 
 ment, the desperate passion that swelled every muscle, and 
 the horrible fear that stole over him of what further or 
 worse might ensue from his daring defiance of his God, 
 you would have shuddered and recoiled from the sight ; and 
 what aggravated all this suffering was his ignorance that 
 there was any redemption for him, and the belief that it 
 was forever ! 
 
 When he was on earth, he felt always that he could fly 
 to death as a refuge from earthly unhappiness, but he 
 , could find no death where he then was. He had never 
 met yet the death that he expected, and he hoped to find 
 it in his present existence. He had again and again, in 
 every mode which his ingenuity could devise, attempted 
 to slay himself, to put an end to his torment, but every at- 
 tempt had only added to the conviction that it was without 
 end. 
 
 He clasped his hands together over his head with a ges- 
 ture of mute despair, and standing thus a' few moments he 
 cried, " Oh !^for annihilation !" 
 
 If you could have heard the tone in which that impreca- 
 tion was uttered, you could have formed some idea of the 
 torments of the damned. He had worked himself into a 
 frightful paroxysm of passion. He had thrown himself 
 prostrate, and there, groveling in the dirt and writhing in 
 agony, he howled like the most furious maniac that Bed- 
 lam's worst cell ever saw. At length, from sheer exhaus- 
 tion, he was still. His physical powers could go no further, 
 but the worm of his memory of the past which never dies, 
 was but the more active because of the cessation of the ex- 
 
336 SPIEITTJALISM. 
 
 ternal effort, and now, as lie thus lay prostrate and ex- 
 hausted, solitary and in utter darkness, all the evil deeds 
 of his life on earth chased each other through his memory, 
 sporting with his agony, and faithfully performing their 
 terrible duty of retribution. 
 
 Oh ! how gladly he would have welcomed the insanity 
 of which he w^as reminded by his own wretched condition ; 
 how he would have welcomed the surroundings of his ma- 
 terial existence as appliances once again to help him for- 
 get ! How he craved even physical pain and anguish, for 
 he believed that in them he might find some relief to the 
 mental agony which was so much worse ! How he would 
 have welcomed some companion, no matter how degraded, 
 so that he could feel that he had some fellowship less hor- 
 rible than with himself 
 
 Btttian ioxt^-on. 
 
 Thursday J Dec. 15, 1853. 
 
 The circle met. Through me it was said : 
 
 That remote light approaches, and amid it is seen a 
 spirit sitting on a throne, surrounded by great numbers 
 coming through space. A lovely voice comes from that 
 spirit, saying : 
 
 ''Your grossness repelled — your increasing purity at- 
 tracts us. The holy light of God's love in which we dwell 
 begins to surround you, and while it draws us down^ it 
 lifts you up. 
 
 * It raises a mortal to the skies, 
 And brings an angel down.' " 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 337 
 
 The scene approaches quite near to me, so that I can 
 recognize some of those who are standing near the throne. 
 What a beautiful lesson it is ! 
 
 " We come," says that spirit, " from the far-distant 
 realms of the blest, to aid in the divine work of the re- 
 • demption of man. We come, because the tidings have 
 reached us in our bright abode that man may be redeemed ; 
 and we come, by His divine command, as your redeemer. 
 Standing here by my side is the messenger who has tri- 
 umphed over death and the grave, who has brought to us the 
 glad tidings that the hour of your redemption is nigh. She 
 comes, borne on the wings of that love which is of God ; 
 buoyed up by that purity which here is power, and in hum- 
 ble adoration of the Great Creator — in the child-like confi- 
 dence — in the ever-enduring affection of the Heavenly Fa- 
 ther, she has come, invoking to the task the power of the 
 bright and the pure, who have long since passed from your 
 sphere. It is the voice of God which speaks from her heart, 
 and we obey it. It is the appeal of that affection which 
 pervades all his creation which is the atmosphere in which 
 we live, and which finds in our hearts a ready response. 
 We come, then, in the might and love of our Heavenly 
 Father, to dispel the darkness which ages of ignorance 
 have cast around your footsteps — to overthrow that infidel- 
 ity which has had its birth in the struggle between the ig- 
 norance which has mistaught and the knowledge which 
 has confuted. We come to teach man that the great qual- 
 ities which mark his existence, the attributes which he de- 
 rives from the Great First Cause, and the exercise of which 
 can alone bear him back to the source whence he springs, 
 are knowledge and love — knowledge, in which alone is to 
 be found the power to perform the great duty before you, 
 and love, which attracts you to others, and others to you, 
 and can alone give you strength to perform it. That love 
 slumbers ever in the deepest recesses of your hearts ; it is 
 planted there by the hand of the Almighty. Bury it deep 
 as you may beneath the mountain load of your material 
 
 22 
 
338 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 propensities, it must, it will yet spring forth to answer to 
 the voice of God when it speaks to it. 
 
 "That knowledge! whence shall you derive it? From 
 the voice of man ? O how vain the hope ! See how many 
 centuries have rolled into eternity, while such has been the 
 source whence you have drawn your knowledge, and see 
 how far, in consequence of it, you are lagging behind your 
 immortal destiny ! Will you seek for it in the teachings 
 of those whose whole material existence is enveloped in the 
 selfish desire of building up sects? Will you seek it in the 
 lessons which conflict with what you know, and see, and 
 feel to be true in God's works around you ? Will you 
 seek it in the teachings which deaden the affections, which 
 blight the divine love that is planted within you, and which 
 forbid you to exercise your reason ? Will you seek it in 
 the teachings that war, day by day, and hour by hour, with 
 the divine attributes of knowledge and love which are a 
 part of your nature ? Do you hope to find it in the awful 
 struggle to which the human heart has been so long sub- 
 jected, to receive a faith against which the instincts of 
 your heart revolt, and which your God-like reason can not 
 comprehend ? Will you grope, thus darkly, amid the 
 crumbling ruins which the past ages of ignorance have left 
 in your path ? With your God above you, will you still 
 keep your eyes cast downward ? Such has been the prog- 
 ress of the past, has it made man happy ? Has it advanced 
 him in the destiny that is before him? Has it not, on the 
 other hand, filled your earth with strife, bloodshed, and 
 misery ? Can no lesson be drawn from the unhappy past ? 
 Will you still grope along, dead to the lessons which ex- 
 perience teaches? Will you still choose darkness rather 
 than light, that your deeds may still be evil ? and think 
 you that the Great Creator has not revealed his laws so 
 that you may understand them ? Indeed, indeed he has. 
 Through mortals and through nature — in his words and in 
 his works alike — has he spoken to man. Read, learn, and 
 be wise, but think not that in the great volume of nature 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 339 
 
 which he spreads out for your view he has omitted to write 
 his eternal and immutable laws, and has deigned to give 
 them only through the lips of weak and erring mortals like 
 yourselves. What are the countless worlds that sparkle 
 in the star-lit dome but pages in the great book of his 
 revelation ? What are the innumerable hosts of sentient 
 beings, destined like you to inherit immortality, who in- 
 habit those countless worlds, but parts of the great lesson 
 he is ever teaching? 
 
 " The grass that springs beneath your feet ; the pebble 
 on which you tread ; the brook, with its gentle murmur ; 
 the cataract, with its hoarser roar ; the ocean in its bound- 
 less majesty ; the humble flower that blooms, unseen, amid 
 the depths of the forest ; the lofty mountain, towering high 
 toward heaven ; the cattle on a thousand hills ; the dense 
 forest, redolent of life and joyous song ; the soft and balmy 
 air ; the storm that rages ; the noonday sun, and the dark- 
 ness of midnight ; the aspirations of your own hearts ; the 
 operation of the omnipotent thought that is placed within 
 you ; the child nestling fondly in its mother's arms, and 
 old age tottering on the verge of the grave — all, all are 
 parts of the great lesson. He is teaching of his will and 
 his love. They are his revelations, and, unlike those which 
 man gives to man, to the honest inquirer they can not falsify 
 or deceive. 
 
 " Kead, then, his word which he has thus written with 
 his own Almighty hand in the book thus open before you, 
 and see if there you can find one precept that conflicts with 
 the instincts of your immortal nature — which are ever, 
 'mid all your corruptions and darkness, teaching the abiding 
 truth that God is love, and that to be with him and of him, 
 love must be the breath of your nostrils, the life-blood of 
 your heart, the very spirit of your existence. 
 
 "This lesson we come to teach to weak and erring man, 
 to lift him from the degradation into which his material 
 propensities have sunk him, and draw him nigher unto 
 God. 
 
34:0 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 "In that love, in man's capacity to understand and ap- 
 preciate it, he will find at once his Redeemer and his Sav- 
 iour. Whether it be spoken through mortal lips or through 
 his vast creation, it is still full mighty to triumph over sin 
 and death — all-powerful to save — all-conquering for man. 
 
 "This is the lesson which the bright hosts of heaven are 
 pouring in such glorious streams of light on benighted man. 
 The hour has come ; the day of his redemption is nigh, and 
 against its advent the powers of darkness can no longer 
 prevail. Heaven, through its mighty mansions, rejoices 
 in songs of praise to Him. Already has its joy visited 
 your hearts, and soon shall it spread abroad, infusing into 
 the hearts of mankind the knowledge of his love — that man, 
 aiming at his purity, may bask in its glorious light forever 
 and ever." 
 
 Sulion Jf0rtg-tfofl 
 
 Sunday^ Dec. 18, 1853. 
 At a meeting of the circle, it was written, through Dr. Dexter : 
 
 OuK Father ! thou who art the principle of truth, of good, 
 and of purity, we pray that thou wilt teach us that when 
 we seek for what is truth, we may begin from our own 
 hearts, and upward progress to its source. That we' may 
 feel that no thought or act of ours can be measured by thy 
 purity, unless it is in itself free from the propensities of our 
 animal nature. That in regarding ourselves we may re- 
 gard others, and learn to deal gently with their faults and 
 errors — that we may become as little children before thee, 
 tracing in the sunshine of thy love those glorious images 
 
SPIEITIJALISM. 341 
 
 which should fill our minds — that we may forget all sins 
 against ourselves and learn to forgive as thou forgivest. 
 •We ask thee, O God, to send thy spirits to our aid in all 
 that becomes us as man and woman — and when at last we 
 lay our bodies in the grave, may we enter eternity without 
 one fear that our sins on earth shall then find us out. 
 
 SWEEDENBOKG. 
 
 My friends, it has been so long since I have conversed 
 with you, that I am almost a stranger, but the love I bear 
 toward you all still burns as brightly when I am absent as 
 when I am present, and I wish for a moment that you would 
 listen to what I have to say. 
 
 It is well at proper times that I, who have assumed the 
 province of your spiritual teacher, should come to you and 
 teach you of those things it most behooves you to know, 
 that in the multiplicity of communications given to you by 
 other spirits, you may not forget the high and holy pur- 
 pose for which these teachings were instituted. 
 
 It was not alone that the world should become edified 
 with the truths uttered by and to our circle, that we re- 
 vealed them through your instrumentality. It was not to 
 prove by these means that a high order of intelligence was 
 capable of communicating through you the wonders of the 
 spheres. It was not that we might corroborate, by any 
 thing said or done at your circle, the sayings of spirits by 
 other mediums and to other circles. But there* was a spe- 
 cial object also in appealing to the individual character of 
 each member of your circle, to induce in each a new order 
 of thought, and by this means institute a new order of 
 action. It matters not what ideas are given you, or what 
 new revelations are made, and what the eifect may be on 
 yourselves, so that you do but act in accordance with the 
 general principles established by our Creator. 
 
 I mean simply this, that all men are governed in their 
 feelings and acts by what impresses them as right. They 
 reason on what they receive, and what their mind decides 
 
342 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 is truth. But there may be much error in this system of 
 individual or independent thought ; for the soul in its nat- 
 ural relations is influenced by what is obnoxious or that 
 which is unpleasant. How much, therefore, may the spirit 
 in its conclusions be biased by tlie unfavorable directions 
 given to truth itself by the original and independent influ- 
 ences of the natural part. Conscious that we design to do 
 well and live truthfully before God, the spirit assumes an 
 original action which may have a stroug foundation, but a 
 superstructure that is weak and tottering. 
 
 My friends, the mind that can throw off" the early affec- 
 tion it has acquired, except for evil, is indeed independent, 
 but is it right? Can our affections, based on the gentle 
 and true impulses of a nature whose material preponder- 
 ances are but emphatically slight — can it set aside those 
 ideas which come directly from the soul through less of 
 grossness than in after-life, and be considered as other than 
 erecting a superstructure weak and tottering? It may be 
 that what are called reason and experience have changed 
 ideas, but there is one great law which you are to under- 
 stand, and that is, that as you grow older the material in- 
 fluences direct you so silently, so secretly, so unawares, that 
 when you ascribe to the reason and progress of your un- 
 derstanding your change of thought, you may in fact obey 
 this silent, secret, but ail-powerful control of your material 
 natures. Now this may. appear strange. But when you 
 consider that no spirit who enters on the progressive stage 
 of eternity is made to understand the true position it is to 
 occupy till it has east off as a garment the selfish notions 
 and ideas it cherished most when on earth, you can then 
 indeed realize what I mean by what I have said. 
 
 Now, what I have to say furtlier to you to-night, I have 
 learned since I last communicated with you, and I wish 
 your earnest attention and careful thought, for it is for 
 your special instruction I reveal it; and for the good it 
 may do your natures on earth and in the spheres. Listen, 
 then, to what I say. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 343 
 
 You have been taught that God is a principle —that he is 
 the source of all goodness, love, and truth, and that in him 
 are the attributes which, properly directed by his wisdom, 
 impel man to progress toward the goodness, and truth, and 
 love which he exhibits through his works. 
 
 This is true. God is indeed the first and last, the begin- 
 ning and end. But God works by means ; and as it is ne- 
 cessary that material connections should be established to 
 convey certain influences that the harmony of creation may 
 be kept up, and the relative relations be felt throughout all 
 creation ; so it becomes necessary that God, in the commu- 
 nication to man of his laws and the eflects of his princi- 
 ples, should use those connections which are in the same 
 state or condition, or, rather, in the same order of existing 
 arrangement. Thus, when he has placed around your 
 earth an atmosphere, he has made the union of the several 
 ingredients w^hich compose it the means by which he pro- 
 duces certain known and important effects. And also 
 when he transmits through the earth the subtile and pow- 
 erful agent, electricity, he has chosen certain organized 
 substances by which it is most easily transmitted. Thus, 
 also, when he intends to carry out any purpose under his 
 laws, the means are always adapted to the end, and he 
 chooses certain agents to consummate this purpose. 
 
 Spirits are chosen, or, rather, they are impelled, to under- 
 take the execution of the laws of God, and under this law 
 of their impulses they are selected to carry into execution 
 certain acts in reference to 'individuals, and the}'', under 
 this arrangement, are called guardian spirits. Each one 
 of you has more or less guardian spirits. And they are 
 constantly teaching you by the thoughts they engender in 
 your minds, and the direction which they endeavor to give 
 to thought. And to each of you there is being prepared a 
 teaching that will probe your souls, and exhibit to your 
 consciousness on what kind of a basis your life-action is 
 founded. 
 
 It is hardly commensurate with the high aspirations of a 
 
344: S P I R IT tJ A L I g M . 
 
 good spirit, that when so long and so intimately associated 
 as I have been with you, that he should not inquire of 
 you the use you have made of the jewels he has bestowed 
 on you ; and therefore when I say that your guardian spir- 
 its are to probe your hearts, I say, under this law, they are 
 as much the instruments of God as are the agents which 
 execute his daily laws. Bring then before him the secret 
 feelings of your souls. Ask yourselves if you have prized 
 the inestimable jewels you have received as you should? 
 Ask, if to carry out your own purposes you have unknow- 
 ingly retarded the progress of others ? Ask, if what you 
 consider truth may not be the determined influence of your 
 will ? Ask, if you have studied other hearts, and have un- 
 derstood them ? Ask, if you have made your own inclina- 
 tions yield to what before God is truth;? Ask, if you have 
 deceived yourselves, and in that deception have misled 
 others ? Ask, if your actions have not been simulated ? 
 Why do I suggest this critical scrutiny of your hearts ? 
 
 Why dare I, the spirit of Sweedenborg, unseen to you, 
 but seeing, oh ! how clearly, ask you to call up in review 
 all the thoughts and feelings of your hearts ? Why do I 
 reiterate these things ? Why do I wish you to look up to 
 the great Source of truth and love ? Oh ! it is that your 
 souls may be so pure and white, that your natures may be- 
 come so sublimated, your thoughts may harmonize so en- 
 tirely with the glorious affinities of the upper spheres, that 
 your very natures may reflect the God-like attributes of 
 perfect truth — that ' you may stand as polished statues, 
 pure, spotless, and radiant in the finish of an eternal pro- 
 gression begun on earth — to end only when you shall 
 stand forever with your feet on evil, but your heads in the 
 glorious light of everlasting goodness. 
 
 I am glad these thoughts have been called out by what 
 has been said. Now you all know that the violation of a 
 physical law is followed by a proper penalty. You know 
 when you eat or drink in violation of law — when anything 
 is done contrary to the law of your physical existence, 
 
SPIEITUALISM. 345 
 
 your bodies suffer sooner or later. 'Now is it possible that 
 an entire isolation from the world is necessary to under- 
 stand that God affixed a penalty to the violation of a mate- 
 rial law, and that you should feel and know its punishment 
 — that he would still more regard the law of his own moral 
 nature, and in its violation inflict the punishment it de- 
 mands ? Have I taught so long to you that progression in 
 the development of mind — in the observance of the rela- 
 tions existing between man — in the development of his in- 
 tellect and the love of unmixed purity and truth, are the 
 result of obeying these laws as unmixed happiness on earth 
 also — ^for the truly good man regards not the ills of life, but 
 looks to the end ? Have I taught you so long, and yet you 
 do not understand that when you do wrong, your natures, 
 moral natures, suffer ? ISTo education can warp or mask the 
 suffering of the spirit when it has committed a moral wrong. 
 No ; if there is a God, if there is a soul, that God as surely 
 recognizes a moral wrong, and the soul as surely perceives it, 
 as the mind knows there is a body. And we may reason and 
 argue, but we must come back at last to the fundamental 
 principles taught by Christ, that love to God — the yearning 
 of the spirit to exist and dwell with God — and love to man, 
 in the performance of all those duties established both by 
 God and man, is the sure road to right and truth. When 
 we go beyond what we are conscious we know, then are we 
 mystified. But there is a simple and sure path which all 
 may tread safely. 'Tis in regarding what we know in follow- 
 ing what our consciences teach us we can comprehend. 
 
346 SPIEITTJALISM. 
 
 tttiai Jfnfg-tjree 
 
 Monday, Dec. 19, 1853. 
 
 The circle met, and after some miscellaneous teachings, the following 
 came through me : 
 
 I WAS in those darker spheres again. The object that 
 now attracted my attention was a woman and a young 
 child, sitting on a rude bench by the side of a hovel. They 
 were all drawn up in a heap, sitting close to each other, as 
 if attracted by a mingled feeling of fear and love toward a 
 man who was walking rapidly backward and forward at a 
 little distance from them. I did not get the precise rela- 
 tion they had occupied toward each other here, but I learned 
 that the woman and child had been suddenly cut off from 
 life, and were more attracted to him than to any one else 
 in the spirit-world, because of the tie which had bound 
 them to him here. They looked very wretched and un- 
 happy ; and the man, as he walked back and forth in front 
 of them, had them constantly in his mind, and was ever a 
 witness of their misery. It would seem that he liad been 
 the cause of their death from some evil motive or other, 
 and that they had thus haunted him, and when on earth 
 thus tormented him by their presence, which they had 
 been able to make palpable to him, and that the suffering 
 which this had caused him he had been compelled to con- 
 cealfrom the world and keep entirely to himself, without 
 daring to hint it to any one lest it should expose his crime. 
 And that suffering had been so great, and had endured so 
 long, that when death approached, he welcomed it as a 
 relief from their presence. But the first sensation he had 
 on waking to consciousness in the spirit-world, was their 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 347 
 
 presence more palpable, more near than ever before ; and 
 from the time of his entrance to that world, which was long, 
 long ago, he had never for one moment been exempt from 
 their presence. He had resorted to various expedients to 
 get rid of it, but he found that one effect of death with 
 him had been to deprive him of means which on eartli he 
 had often successfully used to rid himself of their presence. 
 He tried all those means in his present state of existence, 
 but in vain : his victims were ever near him, too near for 
 him to shake them off. He had fled from place to place, 
 in the hope of escaping them ; he had rushed into crowds ; 
 he had occupied himself with the most exciting pursuits 
 of spirit-life ; he had plunged into solitude ; he had en- 
 treated them and threatened them, but all in vain — he 
 could harm them no more — but at all times and under all 
 circumstances they were near him, performing ever their 
 melancholy task of retribution. At length, in utter de- 
 spair of ever escaping them, he had ceased his efforts, and 
 retired alone to one of the darker portions of that country, 
 where he thought he could shut out from the world around 
 him the knowledge of his extraordinary suff'erings. But 
 even here too he was disappointed. Though his darkness 
 of mind might have found a fitting residence in the deep- 
 est gloom of that unholy place, yet their superior elevation 
 ever lifted up the darkness which he craved, just so much 
 as to make him visible to all around him. The closing 
 part of his life on earth had been an enduring effort to 
 conceal from man the knowledge of his crime and his suf- 
 ferings in consequence of it, and now, in the spirit-world, 
 there was the same enduring, and even more ardent desire 
 of concealment, with the conviction that he could not con- 
 ceal. Thus, then, he lived, with no companions but the 
 victims of his evil passions, and no employment for his 
 mind, which on earth had been very active, and was now 
 even more so, but the recollection of his crimes ; for one 
 crime with him had led to another, so that when now he 
 turned his thoughts from one offense they found refuge 
 
348 SPIEITUAlilSM. 
 
 only in the recollection of another. Thus he lived day by 
 day, year by year, ever engaged in that uneasy movement, 
 that unhappy mental irritation, which kept him ever trav- 
 ersing that limited path and moving backward and for- 
 ward in presence of the living evidences of a life misspent. 
 If you could have seen the agony which was painted on^ 
 his face, which was portrayed in his gestures — which was 
 delineated in his fitful, uneasy gait, you would say that in- 
 deed "the way of the transgressor is hard." 
 
 Once in a while he would look at his victims with a feel- 
 ing of concentrated hatred, as if he would tear them to 
 pieces, but his power over them was gone. Occasionally 
 as he passed them he turned his head away from them, in 
 the hope of driving them from his thoughts, but some mo- 
 tion or action of theirs recalled his attention to them. And 
 I saw him chafing his hands and holding them above his 
 head in the most horrible feeling of despair you can imag- 
 ine. He beat his- head with his hands and threw his arras 
 out. He paused once -in a^while, and looked up for some 
 means of escape. I saw him in utter despair seated on the 
 ground, covering his face with his hands. His whole 
 frame shook with emotion, and it seemed as if he would 
 have wept, but no tear would start. And as he thus sat, 
 his victims rose and approached him. The "woman laid 
 her hand upon his shoulder, and the frightful agony with 
 which he started to his feet at that touch made me shud- 
 der. He resumed his walk more rapidly and more un- 
 easily. The woman and child returned to their seat, and 
 it seemed from his motions and gestures that his sufferings 
 and his despair were constantly on the increase. 
 
 " Oh ! how gladly," he cried, " would I welcome the 
 death I dreamed of, rather than this state of existence !" 
 Death, though it should send him to the hell of which he 
 had heard, for even its pain would be a welcome refuge 
 from the eternal and ever-increasing torment he was now 
 enduring. That torment was vastly increased even in his 
 mind, by the consciousness that his victims were chained to 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 34:9 
 
 Ms life by and through himself. That his injury to them 
 did not terminate with their homicide, but continues by 
 their condemnation to his society. That condemnation was 
 not owing so much to his act as to the lives themselves 
 had led here and the attraction which had bound them to- 
 gether here, and which binds them together still, so that 
 it was his love and his crime which alike chained him and 
 his victims to the same condition of wretchedness, to which 
 neither he nor they could conceive any end. 
 
 ttihn Jfortg-foitr. 
 
 Monday, Dec. 26, 1853. 
 The circle met. Through Dr. Dexter it was said : 
 
 When the eye looks up to heaven and beholds the stars, 
 and the light thereof strikes the nerve of that eye, the mind 
 is conscious that there is a body through which that light 
 is received. The ear takes note, and distinguishes the dif- 
 ferent sounds of music. The mouth distinguishes the va- 
 rious flavors of food and substances which are taken therein. 
 The nose detects and separates the unpleasant from the 
 pleasant odors ; and we with our eyes shut can distinguish 
 the form of various objects when pressed by our fingers. 
 
 The body has two conditions : one of reception, and the 
 other of rejection. As the mind, the soul recognizes an 
 idea distinct from any suggestive cause it shows a condi- 
 tion independent of surrounding influences or causes. Thus 
 it stands alone, and is influenced in its isolated condition. 
 -It is this condition which enable us to approach you, aside 
 from the material influences or causes which may impede 
 
350 •*- SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 or facilitate this connection and communication with you. 
 The spirit must be in this independent, suggestive, or re- 
 ceptive condition before we can influence the mind to act 
 of itself ; I mean when we can take mind and use it to ex- 
 press our ideas ; for the soul alone receives us as we come, 
 and recognizes us within itself, or surrounding itself, and 
 grants us that privilege of using your material nature to 
 speak through you. 
 
 "When we occupy or are identified with the soul, we be- 
 come the motive power of the mind, we govern and con- 
 trol it ; and having, as it were, usurped (by permission, for 
 it is a recognized usurpation) the powers and faculties of 
 the mind for our own purposes, we then, through the mate- 
 rial instincts, govern every impression which is made upon 
 the sentient extremities of the nerves. Thus we can con- 
 trol, in the receptive condition, the whole body, mind, and 
 soul. There are cases of so complete spiritual control that 
 the mind might be separated from the body and not feel it. 
 
 To show the difference that exists between this condition 
 and its opposite — the rejective condition— I will bring up 
 an example known to most of you, by which, through the 
 repulsive efforts of the material and immaterial parts of 
 the organization, the spirits who have once controlled a 
 medium in the most easy and perfect manner, have been 
 unable to approach that medium so as to influence her at 
 all. Now we can move her arm ; that is the material con- 
 nection alone. We can move it as I move, but that has 
 nothing to do with the movement and vibration of the soul. 
 We can not approach the soul ; w^e can not seat ourselves 
 in the carriage and take the reins of the mind and drive 
 thought through every part of the spheres. The coursers 
 are there, and so is the carriage, harnessed and ready for 
 the journey ; but the driver is in the repulsive condition, 
 which repels us. 
 
 'Now be it known to you that the soul is organized in its 
 material connection with the body. This is a new idea, 
 which has been revealed to us lately. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 351 
 
 The soul enters the embryo ready organized, or it could 
 not grow ; and when it leaves its material organization, 
 and steps over the threshold of eternity, it is ready organ- 
 ized and prepared to encounter all that is before it. 
 
 There are therefore two distinct organizations : one the 
 material body, and the other the organic soul. Now to 
 convince your minds that the organic soul may be im- 
 proved distinctly and independently of the body, we will 
 offer as an example this fact, known to every one who has 
 watched the phases of organic life and the manifestations 
 of the soul. Take a tree, and you can shape it into what 
 form you please by grafting on its branches another and a 
 different kind of fruit ; you can raise the most delicious 
 fruit from another and a different kind of vegetable. Then 
 you can, from one vegetable of a very inferior quality, 
 generate the most acceptable kind of fruit or food knowm 
 to man. You can improve the breed of your dogs in their 
 fleetness, shape, scent, and all the properties belonging to 
 this particular line of life for which it is designed. And so 
 you can sheep. You can improve the breed of sheep, and 
 make that which is lean remarkably fat, and from Sparse 
 wool produce a luxuriant growth in fineness, length, and 
 weight. So with a horse : from that which is an insignif- 
 icant animal, you may produce the proudest specimen of 
 animal life. You may go further, and yet your tree is a 
 tree still ; your dog yelps his characteristics ; your sheep 
 bleats his cognomen and race ; your horse, the noblest, is 
 but a horse after all. But when you communicate to the 
 organized soul the knowledge received through the mate- 
 rial parts, you make that which was man a very God ; you 
 send his thirsty soul up to the source from whence it 
 sprang, and it comes back stamped with all the attributes 
 of its origin. 
 
 Thus it is that the soul, developed in its connection with 
 the body, grasps with the arm of almost Almighty power 
 the deepest secrets of nature, and sports with their dark 
 mysteries as with a toy. It takes from heaven the emblem 
 
352 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 of His awful power, and tames it to the workings of its 
 own convenience. Man spans tlie earth's surface with his 
 iron bands, and binds distant parts together, and makes 
 them citizens as of one family. In the smallest pebble 
 that he crushes beneath his feet, he, in the omnipotence 
 of his mind, extracts the principle of laws which he adapts 
 to his own exigences and necessities. 
 
 What can the horse impart of his own knowledge to 
 another ? Can he impress on the mind of another the image 
 of thoughts in his own brain ? But the soul of man, start- 
 ing from a given epoch, sends to the future that Almighty 
 knowledge which thrills in the hearts of men in all time. 
 Is that material,- that thought which excites thought when 
 ages shall have passed away, and even the name of the man 
 have perished in the past ? Has God done more than this ? 
 Has he not done just like this? and when we see nations, 
 continents, the world itself springing into life, and grasp- 
 ing these thoughts, and adapting them to their own condi- 
 tion and age, shall we not say that this universal principle 
 has more of life than all God's earth on which man lives, 
 and even his own body, for that dies, but the thought of 
 his soul is eternal. This, then, it is with which we com- 
 mune. This it is now that I am impressing ; we impress, 
 by our own thoughts, the soul of the medium ; every vibra- 
 tion of his own soul is syncronous with vibrations of our 
 souls. You can feel the pulse beat within its vessels, and 
 time the smallest beat of the heart ; but you can not time 
 the vibrations of the soul. Its mainspring is the God who 
 made it ; but he made that same principle to move your 
 souls as well as mine. 
 
 The soul is organized, and its special organism is what I 
 influence. I enter into that soul by that receptive prin- 
 ciple existing there, and when there, that soul, through 
 its material organization, responds my thoughts the same 
 way it responds to its own thoughts, and I become its soul 
 — my mind is its ; but when I influence its body I use ma- 
 terial means known to every one present. How vast their 
 
SPIKITUALISM. 353 
 
 own power and yours ! yet the door is but partly open, 
 and you are peering over a vast country which lies beyond 
 — looking through a small space to an inconceivable space 
 beyond. This is our first step toward heaven and its mys- 
 teries. Then, friends of the sacred circle, chosen as you 
 are, favored with opportunities far beyond those which are 
 given to many of your race — ponder well what you have 
 heard — for it is not a sprinkling of knowledge and wisdom 
 you have had, but a copious shower, which will germinate 
 the eternal seeds of wisdom in your own souls, if you will 
 but unite with us in their cultivation. 
 
 What say you ? Can you comprehend all that is said to 
 you ? Are you satisfied that you have probed to the bot- 
 tom every principle, and sentiment, and thought so lav- 
 ishly poured on you ? Yet your soul manifests its divine 
 attributes in its thirst for more ; and may I say to you, it 
 were well if you understood it all ? I am standing on a 
 plane that overlooks the glorious beauties of the spheres. 
 I see the radiant glory of divine light that sheds its gor- 
 geous hues on every flower, and tree, and plain, and mount- 
 ain. I see millions of spirits, who once inhabited your 
 world, wending their way, 'mid this brightness, to that spot 
 where every spirit concentrates. I look back, and this 
 dark ball is rolling in the space to which its orbit is cir- 
 cumscribed. I see your mites of bodies toiling on its sur- 
 face, delving for the petty things there to be gleaned ; but 
 ever and anon the divine emanation of the soul starts from 
 your dark atmosphere, and, obtaining its ultimate height, 
 sparkles and bursts in the midst thereof, sending forth its 
 brilliant sparks. Thought is God, for it controls all na- 
 ture, and penetrates all the laws by which God has made 
 that nature. I tell you, then, stand ye not still, for every 
 thought of mind, whether of great" or little import, yields, 
 either on earth or in the spheres, its diamonds to enrich 
 some mind which shall have found and taken possession 
 of it. 
 
 23 
 
354: SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 ttimx Jfortg-fi&L 
 
 Thursday, Dec. 29, 1853. 
 The circle met at my house — all the circle being present. 
 The question was asked — What is the physical condition in which 
 we must be placed in order that spirits may communicate with us ? 
 Through Dr. Dexter it was answered : 
 
 Children, you talk about love, and you imagine that 
 through the spheres this eternal attribute of God is made 
 manifest, and yet you suppose that this divine attribute is 
 in every heart, and that from the beginning God endowed 
 the spirit with that w^hich is a part of himself, as an ele- 
 ment of his origin. This may be true. It would seem 
 that when God gave forth the soul, with that soul there 
 came the same attributes it possessed when incorporated 
 with the germ. And it is true that every soul on this 
 earth, and inhabiting the countless worlds above and below, 
 has this eternal principle in its nature; but there is one 
 important lesson to be understood, and the facility with 
 which I can communicate to you by this means enables me 
 to occupy a moment or two to tell you what that lesson is. 
 
 What is this love? Is it that which will make us work 
 for others — suffer for others — give to others? All these 
 things, these efforts of the mind and body, may arise from an 
 entirely different source or principle. 
 
 What is love, and what its influence on our souls? 
 There are as many different minds in all their phases, all 
 their actions, all their manifestations, in all their passions, 
 In all their affections, in all their tastes, their likes, and 
 their dislikes, as there are differences in the stars ; as one 
 star differs from another in glory and brilliancy, so does 
 mind vary from mind. 
 
SPIEITUA-LISM. 355 
 
 / 
 
 God, when he stamped the impress of his sentient par- 
 ticle which came from him, endowed it with the almighty 
 attributes of his nature ; claiming kindred with himself, it 
 claims kindred with the minutest and meanest thing he has 
 created. 
 
 Then in this difference lies all that we know of the in- 
 fluence of this principle of love. In some, starting from 
 the hour when the body first enters this world, it burns in 
 its physical existence like a bright and glorious light ; 
 dimly and feebly flickering in another, it lingers out a 
 miserable existence, feeding not on that which is congenial 
 to itself on earth, but on its own nature in itself. It seems 
 as if there it could find nothing to assimilate with on earth. 
 Daring and bold, flashing and sparkling in another, it seems 
 to sweep every thing away from its path till it reaches the 
 verge of this existence, and then finding itself free from its 
 mortal trammels, it ushers itself into the next existence in 
 one glorious and gorgeous manifestation of its divine na- 
 ture. 
 
 But, then, what of all this? Shall we, who know and 
 feel what this love is, shall we feel it — know it — live by it 
 — enjoy by it — rise by it — and ascend to those glorious 
 spheres by it, and neglect to tell you what it is ? Is there 
 a mind among you, my children, that can answer me this 
 question. What are the duties which love requires of you ? 
 And,. my children, though I have come to you, though the 
 intercourse I have had with you has even on my own na- 
 ture had its blessing and its profit, can you not feel that 
 this is an important question ? And then are you to love 
 the world, and in that love be willing to do them good, to 
 labor, to give, to feel, to suffer, to sympathize, to heal, to 
 assuage, and yet not be willing to do yet more ? Think you 
 that these efforts are enough ? 
 
 Why say you, God has gifted me with these various 
 emotions of the mind, and I can not love what is distaste- 
 ful to it, and yet you can love what is congenial ? And 
 is not God's creation from the zoophite to man all con- 
 
356 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 genial to his law, and is not this love from God? Does 
 it not pervade his whole nature ? Does it not emanate 
 from him in radiant streams of light to each through the 
 spheres, lighting up those glorious abodes with the very 
 holy light of himself, and make it all one on this platform ? 
 What heart, then, sends its cold chill of uncongeniality be- 
 cause it feels it can not have the same tastes, and likes, 
 and hopes as another ? Is not his gorgeous bow the very 
 arch of love through which all must rise from one sphere 
 to another? And when the million souls that are now 
 wending their way to the eternal spheres shall arrive there, 
 will they not bask in those glorious beams that make no 
 refracting ray ? 
 
 Then shall it be said to that heart which yearns for an- 
 other's love, that it shall not be given to him ? If you can 
 love, you can love one as well as another. And yet, O! 
 let me ask you. Have you loved truly, holy, purely, and 
 well ? The divine law which says. Love ye one another ! 
 comprises what I have said ; but I charge you, oh ! my 
 children ! dear to me as the summer breeze to the brow of 
 the sick man, or as the perfume of the morning flower as it 
 sends its essence up to God! O, how I love you! How 
 my heart opens to you, as if in itself it could shelter you 
 all ! How much joy I have felt in coming with my friend, 
 and this man's friend, and all your friends, and aiding your 
 advance and progress in the truth ! But I charge you — be- 
 ware ! I charge you once again, and I do the work of my 
 Father when I say to you, Beware ! for ye canst turn love 
 into that which is worse than hate. Guard this attribute 
 which is coexistent with your birth, but do not foster it to 
 gratify that which arises from no heavenly source. 
 
 Children, I bless you, and O ! may the sweet calm of the 
 spheres rest on each heart, and may your life here be one 
 of holy joy till I meet you in the spheres. 
 
 After a brief pause it was said : 
 
 Judge, Sweedenborg has been talking now. He has oc- 
 cupied some little time. Shall I go on, or not? 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 357 
 
 I answered Yes ; and then through myself it was said : 
 
 Do you not all perceive that your soul — the life-princi- 
 ple — call it what you will, has, during this primary exist- 
 ence, as it were, two existences? One, if I may so say, 
 living in tlie material body, deriving its thoughts from ma- 
 terial objects and through material organs, and the other 
 existing independent of the body, deriving its thoughts and 
 its knowledge from sources unconnected with it ? 
 
 How can I make you fully understand a proposition so 
 important to be understood? Let me take this as an illus- 
 tration. Go with me into one of your churches. You see 
 beauty of proportion, massiveness of structure, elegance of 
 taste, and conveniences for animal comforts. These are 
 ideas you derive from your physical senses. You see and 
 feel these things. 
 
 Directly by the side of that building there is another, in 
 which you see the same massiveness and beauty. Thus 
 with your material senses you go in those buildings, but 
 there is something in you which enables you to go a step 
 further, and while you stand looking at them, taking in 
 these ideas, you do not stop there — you go beyond the 
 senses. Your mind looks upon one as a spot in which the 
 worship of God is had, and the other as a gambling-house. 
 While thus looking, neither is in actual use, yet to you 
 one is holy and the other repulsive. Why is this ? What 
 is it that makes you see this ? The dual existence of the 
 soul independent of the body. 
 
 You are the master of a ship out of sight of land — what 
 directs you to port ? Your mind. 
 
 It is with this existence that we commune. First with 
 the material — then with the spiritual or higher nature. 
 How it is that we thus commune, I can not now tell. In 
 time it will be made known to you. But it is this some- 
 thing which is of you, which, like your other faculties, im- 
 proves by culture, which enables us to commune with you. 
 Unless you have analyzed and studied your own minds 
 you can not comprehend this. But those of you who have 
 
358' SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 turned your thoughts within yourselves and learned to un- 
 derstand your own powers and attributes, can well look up 
 beyond the material objects which surround you, and com- 
 prehend the source whence the soul may derive its inspira- 
 tion and its divine knowledge. 
 
 Is there any reason why we may not, as well before death 
 as after it, thus commune and thus approach that invisible 
 Source of light and knowledge ? 
 
 Look within yourselves, and trace the association of ideas. 
 Follow a thought with all its strange connections, through 
 all its devious windings, back to the concealed recesses of 
 its origin, and see how often it is that that origin is not of 
 this earth, and springs not from any material object, but 
 from this communion of spirit with spirit. 
 
 This, which seems so strange to you, is very clear to us, 
 and we know how far more close the intercourse will here- 
 after be, for we know how much more intimate is the con- 
 nection between the two existences, the material and the 
 spiritual, than you do or can well conceive. 
 
 Much, however, depends upon yourselves — make your- 
 selves accessible to us, and we come — make yourselves in- 
 accessible, and we are obliged to depart from you. And 
 O ! believe, much of your happiness hereafter must depend 
 upon your intercourse with the brighter spirits, who, in the 
 performance of their mission return to earth to guide, direct, 
 and enlighten you. 
 
SFIBITTTALISM. 359 
 
 ttiim Jfortg-si,^. 
 
 Monday J Jan. 9, 1854. 
 
 The circle met this evening at Dr. Dexter's. After sitting a short 
 time, Sweedenborg came and spoke to us through Mrs. S. as follows : 
 
 Dear children, the love I bear you is this night strength- 
 ened by the childlike patience and earnest hope with 
 which you await our coming among you. The spirit of 
 peace and calmness shall overshadow your spirits in their 
 communings of love and wisdom with the gentle spirits 
 who now surround you, and love and joy shall rest upon 
 each one present as a white-winged dove, sent with glad 
 tidings from the celestial mansions of holiness. Many of 
 your spirit-friends are present now. Each and every one 
 has a word which he would like to say. They have not 
 yet decided on the course they will pursue, but wish you 
 to have an opinion about it yourselves and speak your 
 wishes, and if we see they are governed by wisdom we 
 will comply so far as we are capable of doing. 
 
 The circle now requested that the teachings might be of a general 
 character, so that others also might be benefited by them. 
 Sweedenborg replied : 
 
 That is the best to begin with, and then, if the medium 
 is willing, the friends will speak. Gently and lovingly 
 their influence would surround her, not to annoy her in 
 mind or body. 
 
 O my dear children, the atmosphere here to-night is ao 
 calm and «o«tu^ ^n ang«i might soar through it with 
 unruffled pinion, where human hearts are in such beautiful 
 harmony with spirit-presence. 
 
360 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 Sweedenborg now left, and the medium was influenced by another spirit. 
 She was made to kneel and bow her head to the earth, and went through 
 the pantomime of putting handsful of earth upon her head. Rising, 
 she uttered the word, " Friends." Again kneeling in our midst, with 
 the utmost humility, she again seemed to put dust upon her head. After 
 which she arose and said : 
 
 Dear friends, I have been sent here this evening to tell 
 you how the proud spirit and haughty will have been 
 humbled. 
 
 When I dwelt on the earth, people called me a queen. 
 They humbled themselves before me — they approached 
 me with deference and respect. Oh ! they honored me 
 highly because of my high station. Yes, the mighty men 
 of the nation honored me, and kings paid me homage ! 
 They called me wise and beautiful — they said that virtue 
 and wisdom shone in my countenance, and that love and 
 charity were my daily companions. O yes, they said I 
 was possessed of every gentle virtue and every trait lovely 
 in woman ! And- still they knew not my heart. . They 
 knew not the love of applause, the feelings of ambition 
 and selfishness which reigned in my bosom, nor the feel- 
 ings of revenge which I cherished toward those who 
 thwarted me in my imperious will. And while the nation 
 were lauding my goodness beyond all human comparison, 
 my heart was naught but the abode of earthly and vain 
 passions. It is true there were times when my better in- 
 stincts would assume their sway and admonish me in my 
 wrong-doing. But the still; small voice was quickly hush- 
 ed by the continued sound of flattery and empty show 
 which surrounded me. Surely it was not much"of an ef- 
 fort to smile and look gay when every face took its refl.ex 
 from mine ; for the voice of grief or suffering was never 
 permitted to reach my ear, save w^hen my own spirit groan- 
 ed in bitterness, warring over the pent-up fires of my own 
 raging heart. Eor there wc^^ uiiic,« ^-imtiq- mv life when, 
 had I been free and unattended, I would have cast myseii* 
 into the peaceful waters of the river, so that the former 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 361 
 
 struggles and passions might be buried forever in oblivion. 
 And what was religion to me but a cloak ? The holy father 
 who confessed me dealt leniently with my most serious 
 offenses. He smiled upon me and called me the anointed 
 of God ; until there was no sanctity left to shroud religion 
 in when I w^as brought before the judgment-seat of the 
 church; and I always felt as one who was licensed to 
 commit sin with a high hand ; no word of reproach or 
 censure was ever given me. But still my spirit felt its 
 own blackness and impurity. I knew how far separated 
 from the pure and beautiful visions of heaven were my 
 vain, earthly thoughts. My childhood's moments had been 
 innocent and pure, and with a spirit joyous and happy I 
 had gloried and reveled in all things beautiful in nature. 
 These thoughts, these halcyon hours of pleasure left no 
 sting behind. They were now the only rays of sunshine 
 that came across my brief career, as some dim and half- 
 forgotten dream of Paradise. The hours of my childhood 
 now, indeed, seemed as a fairy dream in their purity and 
 happiness, compared with the hollow world which sur- 
 rounded me. My soul had once drank deep draughts of 
 joy and consolation from the perusal of the works of the 
 good and the pure who had lived before me. And I re- 
 membered the past pleasure with which I had communed 
 with the thoughts of those spirits who now dwelt, I knew 
 not where. I indeed conceived it to be all a" dream, ^a 
 pleasant, a deceitful dream ; for nowhere could I now turn 
 to find the sympathy, the communion of which I had once 
 partaken. I knew my imperfections, but, alas] they would 
 not let me speak of them. When I spoke to my spiritual 
 adviser of the sore trouble and travail of my spirit because 
 of her sinful bonds, he, presumptuous man ! forgave me 
 my sins. Oh L he did not remove the load under which 
 my ppirit groaned ! He only moved the surface, he only 
 caused the voice to sink deeper within, so that its tones 
 sounded not so loudly without. And when my life had 
 been spent thuf^ ^**^ ^"- «i«-»in5 in^i-Tr. iin*fc -nrcvo evil (T now 
 
362 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 feel thus), and little that was really good, my spirit passed 
 from my temple of clay. O yes, surrounded by weeping 
 minions — supported, and consoled, and strengthened, as 
 others thought, by the pillars of the church, the anointed 
 ones — surrounded on all sides by a profusion of wealth, and 
 ostentation, and honors — forgiven my sins at the last hour 
 of my life by one as erring as myself, I departed, soon to 
 be forgotten by those"who had professed to adore me, who 
 had almost worshiped my very footsteps ! But the spirit 
 had fled — naught but the dust remained ; and how soon that 
 dust becomes a loathsome thing to those to whom it had 
 once appeared as the most beautiful thing in existence ! 
 
 When I entered the spirit- wo rid, I thought I should still 
 be a queen, not of a nation, but still a queen of subjects. 
 It seemed that I had been formed for a queen — that royal 
 blood coursed in my veins — that my ancestors had been 
 kings and queens far back in the archives of time; and it 
 seemed a birthright which I never should have to forego, 
 not even in heaven. I had pondered much on the state 
 after death, during my life, but my ideas had never been 
 clear in this respect. What I learned was mostly from the 
 study of the Scriptures. The teachings I listened to spoke 
 not much of a hell, but described heaven ; and my weary 
 heart had oft wished for the rest of a heaven ; and I had 
 also felt that, impure as I was, I could be no fit inhabitant 
 to enjoy so pure a place. And now, as I gazed about me 
 in that land of shadows (as it seemed), how rapidly all 
 these things ran through my mind ! I felt as though 1 
 must be cared for — I must be caressed — I must be wel- 
 comed, because of my former station. I looked about me 
 in vain to find some vast assembly of persons coming to 
 honor me — coming to convey me in triumph to my des- 
 tined home. But I saw none, and I wandered along in 
 doubt and uncertainty, first gazing here, and then there. 
 My steps were wonderfully upheld. I knew not upon 
 what I was treading, and yet I was traveling rapidly in a 
 
 utJW and uiiKuuwii place ,ciud. lVcL£ut;iJi;l3' J bfif.arnA firpd 
 
SPIEITTJALISM. 
 
 and weary, for my journey seemed to lengthen, and my 
 prospects grew no better. I thought within myself, they 
 have not, been apprised of my coming, they have not 
 expected me, or some of my former friends would come 
 and welcome me. And now I grew sad. I had gone a 
 long distance, moved by the invisible power which iip- 
 held my footsteps, but I had been cheered by no ray, and 
 I sat down by the wayside and wept bitterly, O how bit- 
 terly ! I felt so lonely and deserted ! I was no queen 
 now, with willing subjects to obey my look and nod. 
 There were no submissive attendants to minister to my 
 weariness and despair ; none ready to raise my drooping 
 spirits with music, or their counsel, or comfort. But here 
 I sat all alone and deserted by the wayside ! yes, as lone 
 and wretched as the veriest beggar that had ever prayed 
 for bread at the gates of my palace ! And now I was 
 filled with anxious reflections. I seemed to look back 
 upon my past life, and compare it with my present exist- 
 ence, so new to me, and to ask myself, who, indeed, am I, 
 and what am I ? Am I not more than the common herd ? 
 Am I not still a queen above my subjects ? Oh ! how my 
 proud heart swelled nigh unto bursting, now when I felt 
 how insignificant I was when stripped of all my surround- 
 ings ! My tears were those of anguish, and shame, and rage, 
 and disappointment. Long time. I mused and wept. Final- 
 ly a calm, a change seemed to pass over my troubled heart, 
 but I felt, oh ! how deeply, every unworthy act of my past 
 life. My former misdeeds, the efi'ects of my baser pas- 
 sions, which had left their impress upon others, now stood 
 forth before me in bold relief. I now felt that every good 
 deed, every gentle feeling of love, or charity, or mercy 
 which I had been led to perform or indulge, cast a heav- 
 enly calm upon me, and took away the fierceness and the 
 anguish of my bitter grief. The remembrance of these 
 was clothed in a soft, silvery light, O how beautiful ! 
 Those deeds of mercy now cheered and comforted my 
 troubled spirit ; and again I wept ; but they were tears of 
 
364: . SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 penitence, of contrition, which soothed and quieted me, 
 and brought up a hope from the lowest chambers of my 
 soul that I might yet be able to perform something more 
 worthy those pleasures I had experienced. While indulg- 
 ing in these thoughts and wishes of what I might do, and 
 regrets of what I had done, I looked up, and beside me 
 stood a female. She was exceedingly fair and beautiful to 
 behold. There was a look of heavenly dignity and benefi- 
 cence in her face, and her whole being seemed pervaded 
 with such gentleness that I was encouraged to speak. She 
 held forth her hand and called me sister. She asked me 
 if !• was weary, in such mild and gentle accents, that my 
 tears flowed afresh, and I yearned for her sympathy. I 
 now poured out my sorrows, and begged her to lead me to 
 some more genial spot. I told her I had been a queen on 
 earth ; and when I said this she smiled sadly, and said, 
 "There are no queens in this our country, save queens of 
 love and purity — those who excel in love of their fellows, 
 and whose good works make their faces shine with wis- 
 dom, and who are ever bearing good tidings to those on 
 earth. These are the only queens we have here." 
 
 I was amazed at her words. I had not conceived that I 
 should be as the commonest subject of my kingdom, un- 
 noted and unnoticed. T spoke of many who had gone 
 before me, and wished I might be led to them. I spoke 
 of the joys and dazzling beauties of heaven, which had 
 been described to me during my life. She told me that 
 my former friends were all engaged in different occupa- 
 tions. I was surprised again, for I had not supposed an 
 occupation was consistent with heavenly enjoyment; for 
 the mariner in which she spoke led me to suppose that the 
 occupations consisted of labor more than enjoyment. She 
 gazed in my eyes, and told me I was but an untutored 
 child in the knowledge of the life which was called the 
 hereafter. She said that my spirit's best intuitions had 
 been repressed, that the baser part of my nature had been 
 called forth and developed by my worldly career ; and I 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 365 
 
 must now begin to live truly the life which leads to eter- 
 nal happiness. She said my friends were all progressing 
 in their eternal journey, and that I must follow them, for 
 they could not return to me. 
 
 I questioned her about my former life, and found she 
 knew every thing concerning me ! She told me she had 
 been my guardian spirit while I inhabited the body, and 
 had endeavored in manifold ways to approach me and 
 whisper gentle words of admonition and warning in my 
 ears. At times she had led me by the spirit of gentleness 
 and love. At times I had repelled her by my own evil con- 
 duct, and had allowed spirits who only loved darkness, 
 and to deceive men's souls by their arts, to approach me 
 with their counsel and advice. O how I wept when she 
 told me these things ? And she moreover said I must for- 
 get that I had been once a queen on earth, for none but 
 the humble in spirit might hope to become even as a little 
 child in this land of love. I now saw I must lay aside all 
 my formier dignity and love of flattery, and be led by this 
 lovely spirit's counsel. We walked until we arrived at a 
 pleasant mansion, wherein we entered. I was here greeted 
 by several spirits who welcomed me candidly and pleas- 
 antly, but paid me no deference, and seemed not to know I 
 had been a queen. And the spirit who had conducted me, 
 said, "This is the dwelling wherein you must take your 
 first lessons in self-denial, and in divesting yourself of 
 those worldly notions which will be so prejudicial to your 
 future happiness. Those persons about you will be ever 
 willing to assist you witl? kind and gentle words when you 
 need such help ; but you must perform the labor of ref- 
 ormation for yourself and within yourself; you must be- 
 come as lowly and as loving as those who surround you ; 
 you must even become as the little flower whose head is 
 bowed toward the earth, as if in humility, lest the sun's 
 rays might fall upon it with too great and overpowering a 
 a splendo;*. My dear child, your heavenly nature was 
 formed to be pure and gentle — to be loving and kind — to 
 
366 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 benefit others by your gentle counsels, and to sympathize 
 in the sorrows of the human heart. But the world placed 
 you upon a dangerous pedestal, which only made you 
 wretched and unhappy. Your higher and better nature 
 was ever struggling to gain the ascendency over the mate- 
 rial grossness which surrounded you, and the mighty con- 
 flict only sickened and wearied your spirit. And this is 
 why life seemed so hateful and hollow at times. The sin 
 was not yours, my child, but it was the sin of circumstan- 
 ces and of corrupt teachings, of fawning counsels and 
 of selfish aggrandizement. These obstructions, conne(?ted 
 with others, are now removed ; but, my child, all the 
 earthly clouds of error which an earthly existence devel- 
 oped are still within thine own bosom, and it is now thy 
 labor to erase them all, until there shall not be left the 
 faintest trace of their former existence. These will pain 
 thee and harass thy soul's comfort, and, until they are 
 all effaced, will still give thee the same sad feelings 
 which they did on earth. There will be no outward foe 
 here to battle with. Within thyself must the victory be 
 obtained. Then tarry not, my cliild, but begin thy labor 
 immediately ; and when thy heart becomes so filled with 
 the love of God that thou shalt want to go forth and take 
 the beggar, and the lame, and the blind by. the hand, 
 and feed the hungry, and bind up the broken-hearted, 
 and say to the erring: 'Sister, I am thy sister and friend, 
 and will lead thee in the path of love and goodness,' 
 then wilt thou be fit to mingle with the loving spirits 
 who do their Father's will ; and then shall thy face and 
 thy whole being shine with far more transcendent beau- 
 ty than that which was upon thee when thou wast clad 
 in thy regal robes. When thy good w^orks shall have 
 purified and refined thy being in this sphere, O then, 
 thou hast in prospect a glorious flight to another. There 
 shalt thou see the heavenly city whose foundation is made 
 without hands. There shalt thou mingle with the pure in 
 spirit, whose voices will greet thine ear in tones of music 
 
* SPIRITUALISM. 367 
 
 soft as an JEolian harp. Oh! what joy and glory, what 
 rapture and delight await the transfigured soul ! Thou 
 shalt mingle with beings whose purity will shed a light 
 about thee, and cause a heavenly glow to pervade thy 
 whole being ; and thou mayest walk by the shining rivers 
 of love and lave thy body in their placid waters; and 
 weariness shall not overtake thee, no sorrow shall enter 
 that place. The love of the most high God dwells in and 
 pervades all things here, where no grossness can enter. 
 The elements of discord and inharmony approach not that 
 place, but the voices of angels, singing never-ceasing 
 praises, are borne down on every breeze, and find a glad 
 response from every heart which dwells therein." 
 
 Oh ! now I wished I had never lived, I had become so 
 wrapped in wonder and amazement while she spoke of 
 that glorious place ; and then the long-forgotten dreams of 
 childhood stole softly across my memory. Ah ! then I felt 
 it was true. I felt that in the purity and happiness of my 
 childhood's home the bright angels from the far-ofif realms 
 had whispered those thoughts into my heart, for I was 
 then less material, more natural. The connection between 
 that glorious land and my spirit had been more close in 
 my childhood's hours than when I had mingled with the 
 world and partaken of its character. 
 
 And now she breathes a blessing upon me ; she tells me 
 to labor, to love, to persevere ; and she leaves me to re- 
 turn to her bright reward far beyond me. But she says I 
 shall see her when I have worked out the mission which it 
 is my part to perform. She bids me be careful, be watch- 
 ful, for there are earnest eyes and loving hearts gazing down 
 and beckoning me upward. Oh ! who would not labor ; who 
 would not be a beggar ; who would not forego all ear,thly 
 honors, that they might hereafter be permitted to be only one 
 of the least in the house of God, in the gates of Heaven ? 
 
 Previous to the communication being finished, Mr. Warren asked what 
 her name was? She now replied by saying, "My name is Humility; 
 once it was Pride " 
 
368 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 tttin isxi^'Ukn. 
 
 Monday, Feb. 18, 1854. 
 
 The circle met at Dr. Dexter's house. Present, five of the members, 
 as at the last meeting. 
 
 The following was given through Mrs. S. : 
 
 A pooK old man comes in jour midst, bending beneath 
 the weight of a heavy load, and surely he looks as though he 
 would rather part with life itself than with that dearly-loved 
 treasure. He comes to you bearing the same appearance 
 he did when he left your earth. He was not of your coun-' 
 try nor kind, but lived in a distant part of your globe. 
 We well let him give his own history. 
 
 The spirit said that the miser did not influence the medium himself, 
 but gave his history, which was repeated by the spirit controlling the 
 medium. 
 
 Fellow-mortals, I have been instructed to come here to- 
 night and give a brief sketch of my former and present 
 life. I do, indeed, come with my much-loved treasure in 
 my arms. I come, bearing the empty emblem of that 
 which constituted my all-engrossing happiness while on 
 earth — the gold, the yellow gold, which alone my soul 
 craved " as its food and its drink," as its highest felicity 
 and joy. With what bitterness and regret I look back 
 upon my earthly career. Ah, me ! I must look back, there 
 is no help for it. 
 
 I bowed down all the energies of my soul to the accu- 
 mulation of this one idol. Ay ! my very soul itself bowed 
 down daily and worshiped it as a God, whose possession 
 would confer happiness and joy upon my whole existence. 
 The predominance of this passion, repressed all that was 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 369 
 
 good and noble within me. It made me grasping and nig- 
 gardly — it made me deaf to the voice of sympathy and 
 love — it chilled my very heart's core with its golden, its 
 false glitter. And when a soft and gentle voice within me 
 besought a hearing, I would lock myself up within the 
 glittering w^alls of my treasure and shut out every emotion 
 save that of avarice and penury ; for this, alas ! was my 
 daily companion. I used not the comforts which God had 
 strewn so bountifully around me. My heart was too sordid 
 to part with one penny, unless it was to keep me from ac- 
 tually starving. O how I loved my wealth ! O how I 
 gazed upon it ! How I gloated over it daily and dreamed 
 of it nightly, and hid it away, lest any should steal it out 
 of my possession ! And often, during the hours of my un- 
 quiet slumbers, I would start up frantically, thinking some 
 one had stolen my treasures. "Wretched, miserable miser 
 that I w^as ! I deserve the frowns and dislike of every hon- 
 est and generous heart while I make this humiliating con- 
 fession. But how I loved that dross I alone can tell — I 
 alone have felt the pangs which I have endured in conse- 
 quence of that base passion. But finally .disease took a 
 strong hold upon my enfeebled and emaciated frame. O, I 
 was no proud subject for death to triumph over. In all 
 my misery and rags, in all my wretchedness and filth, there 
 was but one warm spot within, and that was where I felt 
 the strong love of my gold. O how I hated to die and be 
 buried beneath the surface of the earth, and leave that 
 treasure above it ! I longed to carry it with me, to rest 
 my head upon it, that it might be my comfort when I 
 waked in the world beyond. And that waking ! That 
 dreadful, dismal waking ! O how it makes me shudder 
 now to think of it ! My first consciousness was that of 
 being in darkness and coldness, and having lost my treas- 
 ure. My treasure ! O how I groaned, and wept, and 
 begged for that which had been the comfort of my life t 
 Every thing seemed gloomy and cheerless without it ; and 
 when I at last became fully conscious of my position, how 
 
 24 
 
3Y0 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 dreadful, how terrible were the thoughts which filled my 
 soul ! Oh ! no. l^o bright spirits approached me, no 
 kindly looks welcomed me ; but beings as repulsive as 
 myself stood and beckoned me to their company. And I 
 said within myself, O wretched man ! thou hast doomed 
 thyself to eternal misery, because of thy love of earth's 
 base metal ! There was nothing inviting or pleasant in 
 the company of those miserable-looking beings. Their 
 countenances expressed no other emotions save those of 
 sensual gratification;- and all their pro-pensities seemed to 
 be groveling and earthly. The eyes of my soul were now 
 opened. I saw myself, my former life reflected back in 
 those beings who were near me. They wished my society, 
 but I did not wish theirs. As dark and repulsive as I felt 
 my own soul to be, their horrible appearance made me 
 rather wish to fly from them than to approach. On gazing 
 at them more closely, I saw that they held tightly within 
 their grasp treasures of gold. I saw them hug them up to 
 their bosoms and then they would look toward me and 
 point toward them. Yes, it indeed seemed to be part of 
 that I had prized so highly, and which I still coveted so 
 ardently. I was tempted to go near them when they show- 
 ed me the treasure, when a bright form, which I had not 
 before perceived, in a warning voice bade me beware how 
 I trifled with my eternal happiness. But the love of gold 
 was so strong within me, that I could not resist its plead- 
 ings, even for the voice of an angel. I had known no 
 other God, and my heart yearned only for its earthly idol. 
 Tremblingly I approached those miserable beings, and then, 
 O grief and sadness ! their arms contained naught but an 
 empty show, no gold in reality, nothing but that which 
 wore the semblance ; for when I touched it, it melted from 
 my gi'asp, its very touch scorched my fingers, and then it 
 fell away from my hungry view. O, then I felt how lost 
 and wretched was my condition — then I wished that I 
 might sink out of sight, or be carried away where I should 
 be remembered no more. But such was not my fate. O 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 371 
 
 how they laughed at me with a fiendish joy. They mock- 
 ed me, they bid me behold the fruits of my long labors. 
 There was a look of exultation, of triumph in their coun- 
 tenances as they witnessed my disappointment ; and yet 
 they, poor wretches, were ever grasping at the unreal 
 phantom — the empty treasure. And I stood as one lost 
 and forsaken of God and man. "Who in this vast space 
 around me cared aught, or knew aught, about a poor, in- 
 significant soul like me ? None seemed to think of my ex- 
 istence save those poor wretches, who seemed even more 
 unhappy than myself, for while I knew how unreal their 
 treasures were, they were constantly grasping up that which 
 was naught but empty air. They never looked up, and 
 when a kindly voice was wafted to their ears on the breezes, 
 they heard it not. 'No joy, no comfort for them save in 
 that unsatisfying labor of accumulating and always losing. 
 And now I sank upon my knees and buried my face in my 
 hands. Yea, I bowed my head to the very earth, and pray- 
 ed in bitterness and grief that God would have mercy upon 
 me, worthless worm of the dust. O how prostrate my 
 spirit now laid in its dejection and sorrow ! " Lost, lost !" 
 I exclaimed ; "no light, no mercy will beam upon me — 
 no bright angels will come near me, no kindly voices will 
 cheer the solitude of this awful place." And then a voice 
 said in mine ear, " O, you will have gold, heaps of gold ; 
 cheer up, man, for you shall dine on gold and sup your fill 
 of it every day. You shall revel in it, for we have been 
 many years here. "We always loved it and craved it. and 
 don't you perceive how much of it we possess ?" I turned 
 shuddering away, for it was one of those dark, fiend-like 
 beings who had spoken in my ear. " God help me," I 
 said, "for I am lost eternally, lost for my love of gold." 
 And then a deep, calm voice spoke loud and clear. It 
 said, " O mortal, not lost for eternity, only thou hast lost 
 many years of joy and happiness in thy spirit-life. Lost 
 eternally ? O no ! not eternally, for our God is a just and 
 merciful God, and he forgives the sins of his erring chil- 
 
372 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 dren when they come to him in meekness and humility of 
 spirit. But, mortal ! thou hast lost all the joys which thou 
 wouldst have experienced had thy hoarded wealth been 
 given for the good of thy fellow-man — had thy cherished 
 treasure only been made useful in any way, thou wouldst not 
 now feel the weight of sin and degradation which prostrates 
 thy soul so low. And now, frail mortal, canst thou give 
 up thy gold, or must thou, like those poor darkened souls 
 on the other side of thee, still hug that senseless treasure 
 to thy heart ? Are thy thoughts still wrapped up in the 
 joys of that possession? If so, thou must be like those 
 upon v/hom thou art gazing. Poor spirits, how darkened 
 are their souls ! and yet they are not lost, no, not lost, but 
 they have not yet thrown off the love of earth and earthly 
 gratifications. Their aspirations are not for the good and 
 the pure. They think of naught but gross animal pleas- 
 ures ; and as long as they desire such, as long as they seek 
 no higher — as long as their souls are wrapped up and lost 
 in such illusions, they can not be less degraded than they 
 are. O pity them, mortal ! To think of the mau}^ precious 
 hours they are losing in worshiping their earthly pleas- 
 ures ! And let it carry a deep and lasting lesson to thee, 
 ignorant, selfish, vain mortal that thou art ! for thou must 
 now see thyself in thy true colors. Repent and be con- 
 verted; thou hast many long hours, ay, years of labor 
 before thee. Why, thou art little better than the animal 
 which bore the animal's form and feature while on earth, 
 and walked in a lonely position. Thou hast never shown 
 that thou possessed one attribute of a God-like soul ; thou 
 didst, if it were possible, disgrace thy immortal spirit by 
 the way thou didst insult and keep it hid beneath thy 
 earthly covering. It is even now all blurred and dimmed 
 by the impurities of thy earthly life, and it can not stand 
 forth in its true dignity until thou hast labored long and 
 ardently to wash away thy former sins. It lies with thy- 
 self; begin now, choose the way of hardship and labor, 
 for hardship it will be fpr thee. Or stay here and grovel 
 
SPIRITUALISM. STO 
 
 in the duSt, until thy soul shall become so wearied and 
 worn with its profitless existence, that thou wilt be glad to 
 begin still farther off than thou mayest do now, to wash 
 out thine iniquities, and cause thy light to shine. There 
 is much for thee to do which must be done. And when 
 thou hast overcome the follies and sins of thy past life — 
 when thou hast gained confidence and hope even in thy 
 ignorance and unworthiness, thou must again descend to 
 those poor spirits who are . still in so much misery. It is 
 thou who must stretch forth thy hand and assist them, for 
 didst thou not, in thy earthly life, encourage them by thy 
 acts ? And thus shalt thou blot out the memory of thy 
 sins until they shall darken thy sight no longer. There 
 will be no lack of instructors and kindly words of encour- 
 agement. Gladly will good spirits approach all who do 
 not repel them. But the labor lies within thyself Thine 
 own hand must hew down the mountains which rise to bar 
 thy progress to that world of purity and holiness which lies 
 far beyond." 
 
 He ceased speaking. O blessed and hopeful words ! 
 That I am not eternally lost. My resolve was long since 
 taken, friends, and so far have I profited in my toilsome 
 but thankful journey, that I have come to you in humilia- 
 tion of spirit and with thankfulness to God, who has per- 
 mitted me to testify to his boundless love and forgiveness 
 even to such a wretch as I. Good-night. 
 
3T4 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 « 
 
 nim Jfffrtj-Mgljl. 
 
 Thursday, March 30, 1854. 
 
 The circle met at my library. All were present, with the addition 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Gay, and Mrs. Leeds, of Boston. 
 
 The five mediums jjresent — viz., the Doctor, Mrs. Sweet, Mrs. Leeds, 
 Laura, and I — were seated in an inner circle by ourselves, pursuant to 
 directions written through the Doctor : 
 
 The manifestations began by my seeing and describing some of the 
 spirits who were present. 
 
 Among them I saw Charlemagne, Voltaire, Woolsey, and Mary of 
 Scotland. 
 
 Chaelemagne spoke to me, and reminded me of the les- 
 son which he had given me at Chicago, for it was as im- 
 portant to us as it was to them, and we ought to be 
 thankful for the advantage of learning it during our pri- 
 mary existence. Each owes a duty to his fellow-man, to aid 
 in his elevation and development, and it was the greater or 
 the less, according as each was placed while on earth in a 
 condition to perform it, and sooner or later, on earth, or in 
 the spheres, it must be performed. Hence, they who, 
 when on earth, were in situations which gave them great 
 power over the destiny of man, had devolved upon them a 
 greater duty than those who were born to a humble and 
 obscure condition of life, and more was exacted from them. 
 Upon them rested a greater responsibility, and hence it was 
 that it was they who now so frequently appeared to us, 
 when the opportunity to approach man was at length 
 afforded them. And it was a sad truth that while they 
 were thus drawn back to earth by the stern dictates of this 
 duty, there were many, very many, who in life were ob- 
 scure and humble, who now were far in advance of them 
 
 / 
 
 -?..-^ i. 
 
SPIKITUALISM. 375 
 
 in the spirit- world, because within their limited spheres 
 they had performed their whole duty to man, to the extent 
 of the means within their reach. 
 
 This law, he said, applied to all, and upon us, who had 
 been favored above our fellows with the knowledge now 
 pouring from a divine source upon the earth, it devolved a 
 responsibility far beyond theirs, and it behooved us to un- 
 derstand it well, that when we cast off our mortal forms, 
 we also might not be recalled to earth, to battle again with 
 its passions and perversions, because of duties neglected 
 or responsibilities slighted by us while here. 
 
 Then, through Laura, it was said : 
 
 Do you \inderstand the obj ects of self-progression ? Why 
 do you desire to become good ? alone that you may do good 
 to others ? alone that you may be elevated in intellect, in 
 knowledge,, and all wisdom ? That you may associate with 
 the good, the pure, the holy, the wise? That you may 
 draw up with you others to the same level ? For general 
 good and general purposes, or because in being good you 
 may develop in yourselves the capacities to do good to 
 others ? 
 
 K this last remark be true, it is important that we exam- 
 ine the conditions, and means, and results of our own indi- 
 vidual progression. 
 
 Do we, when we have felt our own un worthiness, our own 
 short-coming, our ignorance, and yet felt we had powers 
 of mind capable of improvement, of progressing, do we 
 contemplate the effort and result for man's general good 
 alone, or does the deejD yearning of the heart wake up a 
 desire, first of all, for our own good, that when we have 
 learned to be pure, holy, and wise, and to love, we may be 
 able to disseminate these attributes for the good of others? 
 When conscious that we are progressing, shall we assume 
 prerogatives and rights that belong to God? Shall we 
 judge as God judges, and punish as he punishes ? In 
 making a law for ourselves do we do away with the laws 
 
376 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 that God has established? When making a path for our- 
 selves, can we avoid the highway which alone leads to 
 Heaven ? Can we arise upward and onward to God, ac- 
 quiring in our progress all the attributes which make us 
 what we should be, and yet sacrifice the least of the feel- 
 ings of those around us ? 
 
 Seek we for truth ? Search we the hidden mysteries of 
 our own nature, and say we shall be true in every thought 
 and in every thought's utterance, and yet violate before 
 God the principles on which truth is founded ? 
 
 Then, through the Doctor, it was said : 
 
 How sweet is the air — how balmy the breeze which is 
 laden with the perfume of Heaven's own flowers ! Under- 
 neath the shade of a tall tree whose branches spread so 
 wide, and afford such cool, grateful shade, there, on the 
 bank of a gurgling brook, with flowers, springing up all 
 around me, embowering my seat with their many-colored 
 petals, and their perfume so sweet — there, where the birds 
 warble their songs to God, and spirit-voices catch the tone, 
 as the spirits upward fly and .take the hymn to God's own 
 footstool — where a mellow light steals softly in and gives a 
 saddened, sober hue to every thing — there, where spirits 
 are pure as that beautiful breeze, and as that bright light 
 where they sit, hand in hand, talking of God, of love, of 
 truth, and w^orking for themselves and others — oh ! there, 
 where every feeling is truth, is harmony, is joy, seraphic 
 and supreme, have I lingered, loth to quit, rehictant to 
 come to' earth. 
 
 I have sat on that seat listening to the gurgling water, 
 drank in the beautiful air, listened to the songs of bird and 
 spirit, and felt my whole nature moved in me as it took its 
 upward flight to Heaven. 
 
 How strong, then, the claim which could draw me back 
 to earth — back past all that is so bright, so pure — past all 
 the associations which make life one glorious day of joy 
 ecstatic ! 
 
SPIKITUALISM. 377 
 
 I have not been with you often of late, but I bring with 
 me feelings fresh from a locality as pure, as kind, as chari- 
 table, as harmonious, as merciful, as loving aS exists. 
 
 Oh ! will you take them ? Will each feel my blessing, 
 filled with a spirit's love and faith, as it descends on each ? 
 
 What come I for ? There are stern duties which call us 
 back to earth. It is long since ye all met as ye have now. 
 How many feelings have grown up among you in that 
 time — how many that were good and noble — how many 
 that were evil — how many that retard — how many that ad- 
 vance your progress ? 
 
 What seek ye the communion with spirits for ? for knowl- 
 edge, for wisdom, for truth, for love? And out of this, 
 which prize ye most ? All of you have some aim in search- 
 ing out the mysterious truths of spiritual intercourse, which 
 may benefit yourselves and others. 
 
 But the intercourse would be as worthless to ye all as 
 the wildest doctrine founded on no truth to the heart that 
 hungered and thirsted for righteousness, unless ye had 
 some motive for self and others. Spiritualism, as it should 
 be taught, comes to each as a direct mission from God. 
 To each it brings its tribute of love, of grace, of kind en- 
 couragement, of strength, of chastening or reproof, or of 
 direction. 
 
 How has it been with you since last I asked the ques- 
 tion ? Have you done only that which you are willing to 
 lay open to the broad daylight? Has your intercourse 
 with the world been such that it might be as open as the 
 sunshine? Have ye had no concealments that ye dare not 
 tell ? Have you sought for truth, and gone along, boldly 
 raising your head to Heaven, and claiming of God the light 
 his mercy could shower on your path ? 
 
 The heart may yearn for truth, but, muffled up in its own 
 mantle of righteousness, and choosing its own path, it can 
 never attain His high purity and love. 
 
 I am impelled by my mission to direct the heart that 
 struggles for light to open doors and let the prisoned 
 
378 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 soul go free, to remove the shackles that fetter the mind, 
 to breathe words of hope to the desponding, to teach that 
 truth is to be attained only by truth. You can not make 
 the truth false. The law of God is supreme, and whatever 
 runs counter to it in its demonstration, perverts that which 
 might perfect ourselves or others. 
 
 What is our duty ? Can we fashion it ourselves to suit 
 our tastes and purposes ? The soul that receives truth in 
 its inner self needs no law to govern or direct it. The law 
 springs up in itself, and the truth lights it to its proper 
 demonstration. 
 
 After all, God indeed knoweth onr secret thoughts, and 
 I tell you that the thoughts of yon all are known to some 
 spirits, not, perhaps, to one, or any of your usual number 
 who surround you ; but there are spirits who know them, 
 and the act which militates in this day, with all appliances 
 of spiritual intercourse, will surely be found and sent back 
 to the heart whence it sprung. But there is a nobler ob- 
 ject, a higher, holier purpose to govern you — the desire to 
 make yourselves holy and pure, even as He is pure ; and 
 when 3^ou give evidence of all those attributes which be- 
 long to the Father, how little you feel of earth ! The soul, 
 indeed, casts off its shell and stands in its own individual- 
 ity free, but bound by cords stronger than human ingenu- 
 ity ever devised to the eternal Source of Truth and Love • 
 forever. 
 
 You can not advance when your path is tortuous. Flat- 
 ter yourselves as you may, you will return to the same 
 spot whence you started in spite of all your efforts. 
 
 ISTo, there is no need of tears to mark the spot where 
 spring the eternal waters of life within you. Why looks 
 the soul back on earth, drawn to the hearts there waiting 
 and languishing by ties so tender and strong ? Why looks 
 the soul up to heaven and turns back to earth, sighing to 
 be once more among its friends? The bond that binds 
 affection there is the very bond which keeps all nature in 
 its action — that keeps the Eternal One on his throne — 
 
SPIKITUALISM. 379 
 
 moves life in all its action and demonstration. Weep not, 
 O spirit, for very soon you shall be able to make liim you 
 love so much feel you are near him, and whisper to him 
 consolation that the world can neither give nor take away. 
 
 SWEEDENBORG. 
 
 p. S. — While I was writing out these minutes on this 
 day (April 1), Mrs. Leeds, Laura, and Jane sitting on the 
 sofa, Mrs. L. was thrown into a trance and said she saw a 
 spirit, clothed in ancient armor, with a drawn sword in 
 his hand, walking backward and forward. After a while 
 he moved away from her, and she followed him until he 
 arrived at a bridge, very beautiful in form and of Gothic 
 architecture. He paused on the bridge and beckoned her 
 to approach, and raising his sword, he exclaimed, " On- 
 ward, to conquer." She hesitated about advancing, say- 
 ing, that if she crossed, she was afraid she would not be 
 willing to return. She finally crossed, and the bridge 
 turned into a large revolving wheel. "Thus," he said, 
 "it is with existence." 
 
 His garb was then changed, and he now wore a mantle 
 thrown over his shoulder. 
 
 'Something was said between us, in the pauses of her 
 trance, in the course of which I spoke of our finding in 
 the spirit- world all the animals and material objects we 
 saw in this life, and said that death is but a release from 
 the trammels which bind us to this planet and a transfer 
 of our existence to a more refined element. That it was 
 like the grub which lives in the baser element, the earth, 
 and dies by rising in a new body, the butterfly, destined 
 to live in the more refined element, the air. 
 
 She was again thrown into a trance, and seizing my 
 hand she said, "That is true, and you are the only man 
 that understands it." I said, " ITo ; I had instructed many 
 in the thought, and some, doubtless, had received it." He 
 answered, "Yes, but with you it is a firm faith, and with 
 others merely speculative." He then went on to say that 
 
380 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 his change of garb was intended to convey this idea to 
 her. 
 
 He then requested her again to go with him, yet she 
 hesitated, because she could not see his face. He asked 
 her if she did not trust in God without ever seeing his 
 face, and would she not trust him ? He then took another 
 female on his arm and said to her, ''This lady, at least, 
 will go with me." She replied that that made no differ- 
 ence to her. He offered his other arm to her and she ac- 
 cepted it, and thus, arm-in-arm, they entered a magnificent 
 Gothic temple. 
 
 He asked her to bow. She refused. " Why," he said, 
 "this other lady bows!" "But," she answered, "I will 
 not bow." "See," he said, "she kneels." But she an- 
 swered, " I will not kneel to any thing but my Maker, and 
 to him I will lift up my mind in silent prayer." 
 
 She had previously asked him if he was a Catholic ? and 
 he did not answer. She had also said to him, that that 
 other female was going with him because she valued the 
 honor of his -company, but she did not. 
 
 He then pointed out to her a long path, and said that 
 was her way unless she knelt there, and that she could go 
 to Heaven only by that path. She answered, "Then we 
 will not go to Heaven together.'.' He then told her the 
 other female had done penance, become pure, and passed 
 on. She answered, " Do you think so ? I do not.'' 
 
 Then the altar changed to a dazzling brightness, all shin- 
 ing with gold, and he asked, " Will you not now kneel?" She 
 answered, "No." Then the altar changed to a single eye, 
 and he said to her, " Let us pass on." They then entered 
 a building, which she described as too vast for mortal eye 
 to comprehend, and here he led her to a flight of stairs, 
 and with great politeness and courtesy of manner bid her as- 
 cend. She expressed her dislike of that manner, saying it 
 was a mask, and was not fit for the spirit-land. She wanted 
 to see his real feelings. He told her she was high-minded. 
 She said she did not intend to be, but only sincere. 
 

 '4l 
 
 SPIRITUALISM/' ^'^^^ 381 
 
 They ascended the flight of steps, where he opened a 
 door, and beneath her, in a pit, she saw various animals — 
 wolves, leopards, boa-constrictors, etc. She asked what 
 they did in the spirit-world, and if they were alive ? He 
 told her to descend and see. She declined, saying, she had 
 just come away from such animals in the shape of men 
 and women. Suddenly she turned to him and asked where 
 that other woman was? He answered, "She has gone to 
 look for popes and priests, while you are looking at your 
 hobby on earth to see if there are animals in spirit-life." 
 
 He then showed her a beehive, and she asked him what 
 that was for ? She did not want to see such things in the 
 spirit-world. He answered that she was too impatient, 
 that the hive told us that we must ever work. 
 
 He then appeared to her again clad in armor, and told 
 her he had three garbs upon him which yet to her he 
 would put off, and let her see the 'inner man of Charle- 
 magne. He then took off his gauntlet and laid it upon 
 the floor, then laid his sword upon it, then kneeling grace- 
 fully on one knee, he reached out his hand to me, and said, 
 " Friend Edmonds, they are for you, lift them up. Through 
 you and yours I shall yet atone for the wrongs I have done 
 my countrymen. Through you I will yet atone to your 
 countrymen the wrongs I have done to mine. This great 
 truth, ^low given to you, shall be a ball of light to my 
 country, and spread from pole to pole." 
 
 Then turning to Laura, he said, " Lady, I too have been 
 a Catholic. Catholics here have altars and cathedrals in 
 plenty, but I have passed from sphere to sphere and found 
 no pope or priest ! Hold you fast to your present belief 
 and great will be your reward." 
 
 He spoke a few words to Jennie, telling her that Laura, 
 ere long, would require her sympathy, and entreating her 
 to sustain and strengthen her with her gentle love. 
 
 Then kneeling before us, he uttered a short prayer, that 
 through me he might be permitted to atone to my country- 
 men for the wrongs he had done to his own. 
 
383 SPIEITU ALISM, 
 
 ^wtiflii Jfcrtg-niitt 
 
 Fiiday^ April 7, 1854. 
 This evening, through Dr. Dexter, in my library, it was said : 
 
 How difficult it is for the will to change the habits the 
 mind has acquired by years of one kind of thought, by 
 years of one kind of association ! To me, even now, the 
 effects of habits acquired on earth, whether for evil or for 
 good, are the most difficult things in this life to alter or 
 change. It is so, not only in regard to habits of thought, 
 but equally so in reference to our affections — perhaps 
 stronger, in reference to the affections, than almost any 
 other of the functions of the material body. Sure it is, 
 that when the mind acquires a habit of thinking a certain 
 order of thought, the effect is perceptible in the acts of the 
 individual's life. Thus w^e train ourselves on earth to live, 
 to think, and to love with a greater or less degree of in- 
 tenseness according to the habitudes of our minds. What, 
 then, should be the relationship between mind and mind 
 on earth in its various properties and attributes ? 
 
 We talk of our affinities, of our sympathies, of corre- 
 spondences ! How often is it that our affinities are fash- 
 ioned and directed by habits ! How often are our sympa- 
 thies with another's mind and opinions governed by our 
 habits ! the habits which the soul for years has acquired, 
 bringing as an offering its richest tribute of affection, 
 leaping over the bounds of time, and, still in the spheres, 
 lavishing its treasures of love upon that object with which 
 it was so long and so closely associated on earth ! Oh, we 
 talk of our affections, of our love ! I tell you affection 
 and love teach us in the spheres to crucify that which is 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 383 
 
 selfish, and to love, even if loving produces the intensest 
 suffering ; for there are times when the soul pours out its 
 affections like running water, and the tide, instead of being 
 received in another's soul, is suffered to run waste, until 
 its waters are drank up by the thirsty earth. We meet this 
 even in the spheres. 
 
 It is exquisite pain to feel that love like this is wasted, 
 and yet affection, true love, is tested only by its tenacity 
 of adhesion. 
 
 Does not He who made us love ? when every morning's sun 
 shines forth new evidence of his affection, and even night's 
 darkest pall gives evidence that love is still there twink- 
 ling in the thousand stars that stud that mantle ? 'No : no 
 action, no words, no suffering, no treatment can stay that 
 feeling in its utterance. To bear and forbear, to suffer and 
 endure, and yet to love, is the attribute of the progressed 
 soul; and he who stops on earth, because his affections are 
 not appreciated ; because the love he proffers has been re- 
 jected; because it is not properly appreciated in himself; 
 because his sympathies are not understood or his motives 
 recognized; because he was not known; because for the 
 love he had he was misrepresented ; because there was no 
 return but harshness, sternness, and the proud spirit, in its 
 upward reaching, was crushed and sent back to earth ; if 
 he falters, if he withdraws his love back into himself, he 
 has progressed only so far as his own condition of mind 
 was tested by his own selfishness ; for when we live here 
 we shall learn that that which is pure and holy, that which 
 is of God and to him, that which is righteous, that which 
 is without spot or blemish, that which is high, noble, brave, 
 gallant, proud, that which is learned, wise, profound, beau- 
 tiful, consists in loviug forever. 
 
384 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 ttiion Jfiftg 
 
 Sunday, April 10, 1854. 
 
 At the circle, this evening, we had a new manifestation, which was 
 repeated on several evenings. Mrs. Sweet and my daughter Laura 
 were both influenced at the same, moment, and saw the same objects. 
 They conversed with each other concerning what they saw, which seem- 
 ed, from their conversation, to be the ruins of a buried city — the relics 
 of a people and an age long since passed away. 
 
 A memorandum of their conversation was made at the time, from 
 which Mr. Warren afterward wrote out the account of it. Laura also 
 wrote her account of what she had seen; that precedes the dialogue, 
 and even at the hazard of a little repetition, it is all inserted, as from it 
 all we derive a very interesting view of man in one condition of his 
 progression to his present state of refinement and civilization. 
 
 Laura's statement is in these words : 
 
 Sitting at the circle, Mrs. Sweet and myself were en- 
 tranced 60 deeply, that we lost all consciousness for a short 
 time. The first I recollect was Mrs. S. calling me by name, 
 and asking me to go with her ; the spirits were sending us 
 on a mission of love, and now we would start. Suddenly 
 was opened to our view a city tumbling to ruins ; spires 
 were tottling, and here and there were the pillars of some 
 splendid abode, standing like monuments of the past, silent 
 in their grandeur. ISTo sound could be heard save the 
 winds. No life was there. 
 
 We descended slowly until we reached a dark entrance, 
 and as we entered, it seemed as though a city was before 
 us, buried 'neath the dust of ages. We clambered over the 
 ruins, and entered a large subterranean passage or cham- 
 ber, and on every side were statues sculptured exquisitely, 
 mostly female figures — some were still perfect — some broken 
 and crumbling to dust ; all were covered with a d^k mold ; 
 
SPIBITUALISM. 385 
 
 every thing was enveloped in gloom, and we were enabled 
 to see the surrounding objects by a light, bright and clear, 
 that- seemed to follow us and illuminated the objects of our 
 attention, while all besides was shrouded with the darkness 
 of the tomb. As we advanced, there was a chill that per- 
 vaded our frames, showing that the sun never penetrated 
 there, and every thing was covered with a mold, cold and 
 clammy to the touch. As we proceeded into the interior, 
 the cold, damp atmosphere increased in its chill, and there 
 was a feeling of oppression, as though the winds of heaven 
 seldom found entrance there. Beneath our feet were stones, 
 apparently blocks of marble of various hues, but covered with 
 a slimy substance, which rendered it difficult for us to walk. 
 Between the heaps of stones was a species of rank grass, 
 growing stiff and reed-like, with sharp edges, resembling 
 wild swamp-grass. We noticed in the first chamber that 
 a portion of space was devoted to religious purposes. A 
 singular, frightful-looking image was there, and its bright- 
 red eyes glared at us as though it deemed ns intruders in 
 that city of death. Before drawing near, it appeared like 
 some hideous animal crouching in suppressed fury ; but 
 upon examining it, our fears were dispelled, for it proved 
 to be an idol formed of a dark, metallic stone substance ; 
 and the eyes that appeared to glare proved to be large jew- 
 els of a clear crystalline red, resembling ruby, but much 
 purer. It had ears like those of a spaniel dog, in which 
 were hung massive gold rings about five inches in diam- 
 eter. • Its face resembled a human being, with a head of 
 the shape of a dog. There was before it an altar made of 
 crystallized salt. It appeared to me broken, but still per- 
 fect enough to judge what it was. After having examined 
 this creature carefully, we turned to the left and beheld the 
 figure of a lion with wings ; it was rough in its beauty, 
 but very natural. I could not tell what kind of stone it 
 was of, for it was covered with dust and slimy mold. INTear 
 it stood antique vases about five feet high, some composed 
 of yellow marble, and some of a flaky, glittering crystal 
 
 25 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 substance. Their bases were square and smooth, and the 
 vases slender, gradually increasing in size, and much re- 
 sembled the imitations we now have. Some were with 
 handles on each side, and some without ; they were deli- 
 cately carved with fruits and flowers. While gazing upon 
 these objects, and viewing the works of human hands, we 
 saw advancing in the distance the figure of a man, and my 
 companion remarked that it was strange to see a living 
 being in so desolate a place. As he approached we dis- 
 covered he was a spirit ; his figure was tall and slim, and 
 his face was dark and forbidding ; sorrow seemed to have 
 reigned supreme with him for ages. His look was that of 
 amazement, mingled with fear. His garb consisted of a 
 dark, ragged mantle, wound around him with a majestic 
 air, but it had the appearance of decay like the objects 
 surrounding us. Upon his head was a coronet of tarnished 
 hue. It seemed frail and crumbling, and where jewels had 
 once sparkled, were the hollow sockets glaring as though 
 in mockery of the past. His hands were long and shriv- 
 eled, and he moved with a slow tread, gazing sadly and 
 sternly upon the ruin around him. My companion ad- 
 dressed him. As we passed into another chamber, we no- 
 ticed the atmosphere was colder and more oppressive ; the 
 wall on the left side of the inner apartment was covered 
 with what appeared a painting, but upon examination it 
 proved to be mosaic work, representing a man on horse- 
 back. The face of the man was coarse, and very like an 
 animal, and the expression was cruel and stern, and very 
 disgusting. He wore a skirt of various colors falling to 
 the knees, and thrown across his left shoulder was a cir- 
 cular mantle covered with grotesque figures. On his head 
 was a singular-looking cap, which I could not fully de- 
 scribe, as some of the mosaic work had crumbled to dust. 
 It was the life-like portrait of the unhappy spirit we had 
 before met. 
 
 We passed on, and immediately before us were various 
 garments, some falling to pieces at our touch. One in par- 
 
BPIRITTJALIBM. 387 
 
 ticular attracted our attention : it was a short, full skirt ; 
 the fabric consisted of gold and silver threads, interwoven 
 with some kind of wiry material. Its fastening was by 
 gold cords passing over the shoulder, and crossing in front. 
 Then there was a waist about a quarter of a yard in depth, 
 a strait piece hollowed under the arms, presenting a grace 
 ful appearance, fastened behind by golden strings inter 
 laced. I should judge that it had belonged to a female. 
 We both noticed that after having described it, and turn- 
 ing to look at it, all sight of it had disappeared ; nothing 
 remained. 
 
 Our attention was then attracted to a staircase, broken 
 and rough, presenting a dingy, brown surface, smooth to 
 the touch ; but when examining the material, we saw it 
 was the white, transparent, flaky stone we had met with in 
 the first chamber. Toward the right of the stairs, against 
 the wall, stood a dark stone table, highly polished. It was 
 filled with goblets and cups of gold and silver, exquisitely 
 wrought ; the largest goblet resembled those of the present 
 day, difi'ering, however, at the top ; instead of the top be- 
 ing a plain ring, its rim curled over about an inch, with 
 silver pendents made to represent bunches of grapes, solid 
 and massive; it was used, I should judge, for flowers. The 
 cups were small but very heavy, of difierent shapes, some 
 plain, some goblet form. There was also a square plate 
 with deep sides, which consisted of copper, beautifully fig- 
 ured, engraved as it were with some sharp instrument, but 
 it was so covered with mold that it was difficult to decide 
 its purpose. 
 
 We then passed into another chamber, which appeared 
 in better order than the first ; it was paved with marble of 
 various hues, inlaid in figures, diamonds, circles, squares, 
 etc., somewhat broken, however, and the center of the 
 apartment was covered with pebbles of various sizes and 
 beauty, which seemed like jewels. The windows were 
 Gothic shaped, about three feet in height and two wide. 
 The substance was not glass, but something soft and trans- 
 
388 SPIBITFALISM. 
 
 parent, and colored red and green, and various other hues, 
 blending mo'st beautifully. Each piece seemed about two 
 inches square. 
 
 "We concluded to ascend the broad staircase, frail as it 
 was. After much difficulty we found ourselves on a broad 
 platform, or balcony, formed of this singular white stone. 
 It was all one solid mass, unlike the pavement below. As 
 we stood there, we saw a garden below us ; it was an in- 
 ner court, surrounded by buildings. In the center was a 
 fountain, dried up, but the basin showed that water had 
 flowed there for a long ?pace of time. Around this fount- 
 ain were statues of various sizes ; some had fallen down ; 
 some were wanting a head, some an arm — one leaning 
 against a tall figure of a man, the face all perforated with age. 
 
 To the left was a temple of dark shmj marble, round at 
 the top, supported on fluted pillars, in the center of which 
 stood a frightful image, roughly made, but too far destroyed 
 to describe. He had been called the god of the land, and 
 ruled the elements. 
 
 We turned from this scene to descend the stairs, and to 
 the right we could see a long corridor, on each side of which 
 were white marble columns, some broken, but pure and 
 beautiful. We turned to the left, and entered a room with 
 a low ceiling ; but what was remarkable was its singular 
 appearance. The walls and furniture were all alike, of 
 smooth, polished stone, resembling in color and substance 
 blue vitriol. In one corner was a couch of the same ma- 
 terial, long and solid ; a square block, highly polished, an- 
 swered as a seat. One side of the room. was covered with 
 frescoed images, and heads with wings. We entered an- 
 other room, and there the walls were of a light drab color, 
 and singular, unknown writing was on all sides. At the 
 extremity of the apartment was a fresco scene standing out 
 in bold relief. It represented a very beautiful female rest- 
 ing on the left knee, her hands crossed and tied, resting 
 on her right knee, her head bent over her hands, and her 
 hair flowing and black. The face was exquisite in form, 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 389 
 
 and the expression was far more elevated than the race 
 that appeared to be natives of this region. I should judge 
 she was a Georgian or Greek slave. Her form was delicately 
 shaped, and the perfect poetry of beauty. We were told 
 we might leave now, and as we turned to go, I saw a vase 
 of iron filled with coins. "We descended and passed through 
 the same apartments, but noticed that large toadstools and 
 mushrooms, larger than any thing we had ever before seen, 
 were growing amid the ruins in corners, but, strange to 
 say, there were no reptiles anywhere visible. We passed 
 out, and oh ! how grateful was the pure air of heaven to 
 the two shivering mortals ! It seemed morning, and we 
 knew nothing more until we found ourselves seated in our 
 library with wondering faces around us. 
 
 The dialogue, reported by Mr. Warren, was in these words : 
 
 Mrs. Sweet. — Sister spirit, are you willing to go with me 
 to explore a scene of ancient ruin, so that we may describe 
 it for the benefit of our friends ? 
 
 Miss Edmonds. — Yes, I am willing to go, if it will do any 
 good. I am williug to do any thing that will be of service 
 to mankind. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Well — come with me. I don't know what I 
 am to go for, but I am impressed that we must go, and 
 that it will be of use. The spirits will probably guide us ; 
 though I don't see any spirits with us. 
 
 Miss. E. — We seem to have arrived at a most dismal 
 place. 
 
 • Mrs. S.— Why, what an ancient place it is ! It is all in 
 ruins. I can hardly see, every thing is so gloomy. 
 
 Miss E. — Are not those that we see yonder towers? 
 
 Mrs. S. — Yes, they are towers that are broken and tot- 
 tering to their foundations. It is a very gloomy place! 
 The rank grass grows up amid the rocks, that seem to have 
 been hurled over by some mighty force. 
 
 Miss E. — Where are the people that belong here ? But 
 people could not live in so desolate a place. It is deserted. 
 
390 SPIBITTJALISM. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Yes, it is indeed deserted. Can you see any 
 human being? 
 
 Miss E. — ]^o ; none. 
 
 Mrs. S. — The air is chilly, it strikes to my heart. 
 
 Miss E. — Yet there must be inhabitants somewhere 
 about, though I can not see any. Here is a great build- 
 ing, partly in ruins. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Let us enter at this door, or rather the open- 
 ing, for it seems more like going into a cave, it is so dark. 
 Part of this building is standing entire. What massive 
 work! Look at these marble halls — these figures sculp- 
 tured in stone — that broken fountain. Observe the per- 
 fect beauty of these statues ! All that the art and industry 
 of man could do has here been done. 
 
 Miss E. — Yes, the works of art around here in ruins are 
 truly wonderful. They must have been made in an en- 
 lightened age of the world. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Man's spirit must have been highly developed 
 before he could from the cold stone fashion ^uch forms of 
 beauty ! 
 
 Miss E. — But he did not look up from these forms. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Oh, Laura, something was wanting and wrong, 
 or this mighty city would not have fallen. What a chill 
 pervades all things here ! Look there ! yonder is a figure. 
 It is a living being. I will inquire of him what all this 
 means. 
 
 Miss E. — I see the figure. Let us go to him. 
 
 Mrs. S. — But be careful, we shall stumble over the rough 
 stones. See what blocks and fragments are scattered about ! 
 It is difiicult to find places for our feet. I am afraid there 
 are wild beasts among these ruins. See ! that person is 
 coming toward us. 
 
 Miss E. — Do not fear — he will not harm us. Surely the 
 spirits that brought us here will protect us. 
 
 Mrs. S. — But, Laura, see ! that is a spirit. See what a 
 dark robe or mantle he has around him ! I am afraid of 
 him — how do we know what he is \ See ! his head is bow- 
 
SPIEITXTALISM. 391 
 
 ed down, and he seems oppressed with some great sor- 
 row. Are you willing to speak to him ? ■*'^','' ^^^ 
 
 Miss E. — Yes, and I think it is our duty to speak to him. 
 I do not fear him. 
 
 ^<^^ Mrs. S. — But I am afraid to go near him. What do you 
 think it is ? Is it a human being ? What if it should be 
 some dark spirit? that mantle is so black and so myste- 
 rious ! 
 
 Miss E. — We are in good hands. Do not tremble. Those 
 who brought us here will protect us. 
 
 Mrs. S. — See ! now he raises his head. What a face he 
 has! 
 
 Miss E. — He is himself a ruin. What wretchedness ! 
 
 Mrs. S. — See ! the flesh seems wasted off his bones by 
 grief. He is indeed wretched. 
 
 Miss E. — Let us speak to him. Perhaps we may com- 
 fort him. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Spirit, speak to us. 
 
 Miss E. — Why are you here ? what is the cause of all 
 this sorrow which is so visible on your countenance ? Why 
 are you wandering in so dismal a place ? 
 
 Mrs. S. — See, Laura, there is a crown on his head — 
 some of the jewels are gone from it. He was a king here 
 in times gone by. He does not look much like a king 
 now. 
 
 Mifes E. — He is to be pitied. Let us go to him, and talk 
 with him. Perhaps we may learn his history. 
 
 Mrs. S. — See ! he approaches us. We will talk with 
 him. He is about to speak. I hear his voice — it is hollow 
 and low. Tell him not to come any nearer — I shudder at 
 his presence. He repels me with an icy coldness. His 
 voice strikes a chill through me. I am afraid. 
 
 Miss E. — I do not fear. I will stand between you and 
 him — and the spirits that brought us here, will they not 
 protect us ? 
 
 Mrs. S. — Look at his crown, or that which once was 
 a crown. See how moldy it is ! The jewels are gone 
 
392 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 or faded — for there is no brightness or beauty to the 
 gems. 
 
 Miss E. — He is like the other ruins abouf here. 
 
 Miis. S. — Yet perhaps we can help him. Spirit, can we 
 render jou any service? Don't injure us, for we came on 
 a mission of good — we will be useful to you, if possible. 
 Spirit, if we can aid you in any way, tell us how, but don't 
 approach us. 
 
 Miss E, — Do not fear him — he will do no harm. See ! he 
 is weak as a child. 
 
 Mks. S. — He speaks. He says, "Blest messengers of 
 Heaven ! have you indeed come to the scene of my former 
 greatness and splendor, to behold my present sorrow and 
 humiliation? Have you come like me to gaze upon the 
 fragments of that splendor and power which once filled 
 my soul with rejoicing and gladness ? Have you come 
 to behold my weary spirit retracing daily and nightly 
 the scenes in which I used to reign a king supreme over 
 all?" 
 
 Miss E. — Poor spirit ! sorrow is in every feature, despair 
 in every tone. "We should be glad to render you happier, if 
 in our power. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Why, that is our mission here. Look on his 
 face, Laura ; every feature is imbued with suffering. I 
 feel now t^at we can approach him safely. Listen ; he 
 speaks again. He says, " I was cut off in the midst of my 
 glory and greatness ; my splendor availed me not when 
 the summons of death came and laid me low. But my 
 spirit chafed with anger. Oh, how I hated to leave the 
 scene of all m}^ power and grandeur ! I have wished for 
 no heaven, for my hopes of happiness were all upon the 
 earth, and I have lingered about this city of my love and 
 my earthly idols, and watched her decline. I have seen 
 her greatness and her power fade away as gradually as 
 the light fails at set of sun, till all that was proud and 
 beautiful — all that was noble and magnificent in this 
 wonderful city — has sunk down into the dark waters of 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 393 
 
 oblivion till even tlie remembrance of her power ia lost 
 forever." 
 
 Miss E. — Let the spirit cease to mourn. Sorrow is un- 
 availing. Let the morning succeed to the night. Let the 
 past remain buried ; come to the present and live. Suffer 
 us to lead you to that light where a new course is opened 
 for your spirit. 
 
 Mes. S. — He speaks, " Oh, yes, I have too long lingered 
 here, and wept amid these ruins of my power. My spirit 
 has thus been chained down by my love of earth, and I 
 have grown familiar with this desolation. This lonely 
 place has been all the heaven there was for me, till the 
 light has grown dim, and my spirit has almost forgotten 
 there is a brighter place, and quite forgotten how and 
 where I may seek it." 
 
 Miss E. — But thou hast not been forgotten. 
 
 Mrs. S. — He speaks again : " No, for they begged me to 
 leave ; but I have wasted long and precious years in mourn- 
 ing over my lost greatness." 
 
 Miss E. — Mourn not for what is past. Listen to our 
 counsels. Come with us, we will guide thee to happier 
 scenes, where thou shalt forget this sad waste of mournful 
 ruins that only keep alive thy sorrows, and we will show 
 thee the loving friends of other days, and thou shalt be 
 more blest than even in the days of thy proudest power 
 and grandeur. 
 
 . Mrs. S. — He says, "What sounds are these? Why, 
 mortals ! did you come with angels to comfort and bless 
 a poor child of earth? Did spirits of Heaven send you to 
 me with these words of hope." 
 
 Miss E. — Bright spirits knew thy condition — spirits 
 that wish all to be saved. They sent us to thee, to bid 
 thee rise with new strength, and press upward and on- 
 ward in the race, to tell thee to let these stones crum- 
 ble and rot while thou shouldst soar on the path of pro- 
 gression. 
 
 Mrs. S. — He says, "Yet I see angels have come with 
 
394 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 you. Eright beings ! how beautiful they look ! I am dusty 
 and ragged. I have grown to be myself a ruin of the same 
 color as the ruins around me, and as unclean. Will these 
 bright beings receive me ?" 
 
 Miss E. — Yes, they will, and joyfully. Cast aside this 
 timidity — this feeling of distress. See ! they approach thee. 
 They are thy friends. 
 
 Mks. S. — He says, " Oh, Heavenly Father ! hear thy 
 penitent child, and let those happy spirits who have come 
 on an errand of mercy lead me away from this scene of 
 desolation !" Laura, he is gone. Those spirits have con- 
 ducted him away. 
 
 Miss E. — That was our mission here. It is happily ful- 
 filled. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Did you see those spirits at first ? 
 
 Miss E. — 'No, not at first. They followed us hither. 
 
 Mrs. S. — What a place we are in ! There is so little 
 light. The grass is white— the plants all look sickly. 
 
 Miss E. — It is because the sun never shines here. 
 
 Mrs. S. — If I were not afraid I should like to examine 
 this. But it feels so cold here and so death-like. No hu- 
 man beings have lived here for centuries. 
 
 What singular-shaped windows ! They are of many 
 colors — made in figures. How beautiful they are ! Look 
 at those great, tall vases of white marble, so curiously 
 wrought. See ! they have fallen about in every direction. 
 Look how they are sculptured. There are little figures and 
 scenes carved on every side. See these vases that have 
 handles on each side, with figures sculptured on them. 
 They are very old-looking. Here is a massive figure cut 
 in stone. It is a lion. It must have been made to set 
 upon a building. It is very roughly cut, and yet it is very 
 perfect in form. There are shining stones throughout its 
 substance. It is so dark here I can hardly see any thing — 
 and only one thing at a time. Those invisible beings who 
 are behind us, shed their light so that it shines right be- 
 tween us, and we see only that upon which it falls. All 
 
f 
 
 SPIEITUALISM. 395 
 
 else is wrapped in darkness. It is so difficult to walk here, 
 too. The grass hurts my feet. Every blade seems to be 
 a thorn. 
 
 Miss E. — Come on this side and see this; ^ 
 
 Mrs. S. — I don't know what these things are — they are 
 crawling reptiles — I am afraid of thera. 
 
 Miss E. — I'll go first. I am not afraid. I am sure noth- 
 ing will hurt me. 
 
 Mrs. S. — What is this before us with such glittering 
 eyes ? I am sure it is not alive. Let us look at it. What 
 unnatural-looking eyes ! They seem made of red stones. 
 Don't go near it. What can it be ? The face is long, and 
 yet round — its hair is hanging down. 
 
 Miss E. — It is an ancient idol. Who could worship such 
 a thing as that? See, it has rings in its ears. Its long 
 hair hangs down. 
 
 Mrs. S. — It has an awful face ! The stones which serve 
 for eyes are red as rubies. How large they are ! The fig- 
 ure is monstrous indeed. 
 
 Miss E. — See what a pedestal it is placed on ! It seems 
 to be a crystal marble. Look ! here is an inclosure. It 
 is evidently for an altar. It is broken, and the ornaments 
 are scattered. Let the light shine upon it, so we can see. 
 
 Mrs. S. — I can hardly see it. 
 
 Miss E. — We have seen enough of it. 
 
 Mrs. S. — It is so still and death-like here, it seems as 
 thouffh we were in a tomb. It sends a chill over me to 
 look round. I seem to be amid graves. It is so dark and 
 cold, and there is no life around. 
 
 Miss E. — Look here ! See this curious piece of mosaic. 
 
 Mrs. S. — I should have called it a picture. 
 
 Miss E. — It is the most interestins: thins: we have seen. 
 See ! it is made of small stones of different colors. Some 
 of the pieces are gone. They must have been advanced 
 in the arts to be able to do such things. 
 
 There is the figure of a horse. See that cloak — I never 
 saw such a cloak. It is thrown over one shoulder. Look 
 
896 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 at this cap with the gems round it. Why ! this was a pal- 
 ace, and this represents a king with his crowu on. I do 
 not wonder things are so strange. 
 
 Do you see that great flight of marble steps yonder? 
 See how wide they are — many men might walk up them 
 abreast. The railing is also of marble. But the steps are 
 cracked, and rusty, and dirty. 
 
 Look at these windows. How different they are from 
 ours ! The panes so small and so numerous, diamond- 
 shaped, much broken. 
 
 Look here, too, at these old garments'. Tliis was once 
 very rich stuff. Now it is moldy and crumbling to dust. 
 
 This place is very close. It oppresses me. I would not 
 stay here, but we have been brought here to see these 
 things and report what we have seen, so that others may 
 profit by the lesson. 
 
 This is a female's garment. It is a short, full skirt. It 
 has silv^er and gold threads interwoven in it, so that it is 
 stiff and heavy. It is very rich with the precious threads, 
 but it is now discolored. The gold and the silver glitter, 
 but the rich stuff' has deca3'ed. I can see how it was put 
 on. Two cords went over the shoulders and crossed in 
 front. It has a very little waist, only covers a little in 
 front — no sleeves — something like a child's apron. It did 
 not reach half up the waist. 
 
 Do you notice those things we have been examining 
 are all gone ? They seem to have been brought for us to 
 look at, and then taken away again. ,, 
 
 Look at these heavy goblets — what curious shapes ! The 
 lip curls over. They have grapes sculj^tured upon them. 
 They are very unlike what we have. How heavy they 
 are ! And here is something peculiar. They look like plates 
 of copper. They are very rusty now. This must be the 
 place where that spirit lived. 
 
 Let us go up stairs — it is so close here. We should get 
 fresh air there. Let us go — there by the broken columns. 
 
 Mks. S. — I fear to go up those stairs. They look so 
 
spiritualism:. 397 
 
 crumbling and so rotten, and yet they can't fall, for the 
 spirits would not let us go up any dangerous place. Come, 
 Laura, we will go up. 
 
 What a beautiful scene ! It looks into the court. Look at 
 that fountain in the center, surrounded by figures of stat- 
 uary. The grass and shrubbery have almost overgrown 
 it. 
 
 Here is a room different from all we have seen. Every 
 thing is of one color — all a light-blue, like the sky. These 
 things are made of some kind of earth by chemical pro- 
 cess. The room is filled with things made of it. They 
 are smoothly glazed like china dishes — but they are all 
 blue, and of the oddest shapes. 
 
 There is but just light enough to see. There are two 
 recesses or panels in the wall, on which are sculptured has 
 reliefs. They are covered with dust. 
 
 There is a little figure of blue crystal. It has a strange 
 look — like its inhabitants, I suspect. 
 
 Here is a square block — a sort of seat. It is smooth on 
 the top — it is all blue, and carved on the sides. 
 
 Miss E. — If we should go into that other chamber we 
 should get another sight. 
 
 Mrs. S. — I am tired. Let us finish this exploring. This 
 spirit who is with us, does he wish us to look at these things 
 any more ? Will it do any good to be here ? 
 
 Miss E. — He smiles and says, " Look and record what 
 you see for the use of the world." 
 
 Mrs. S. — I am afraid to remain here any longer. We 
 may meet serpents. I am not easy. It is so dark here. I 
 don't know why, but there is an impression of something 
 bad in every thing about us. 
 
 Miss E. — They who dwelt here lived only for sensual 
 gratification. See ! 'twas to gratify sense they had these 
 pictures. All shows their sensuality. Can you read those 
 characters on these walls ? 
 
 Mrs. S. — No — those inscriptions are Greek. Yonder ia 
 a vase. There on the walls you see letters cut in the same 
 
398 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 characters. It is doubtless part of their worship — a book 
 always open. 
 
 Miss E. — Just observe that picture. The prominent 
 figure in it is a slave. What a pitiful look ! How differ- 
 ent the dress is from the others in the picture. It is one 
 of some subjugated nation, brought from a distance. It 
 is a female, and very beautiful. They must have been 
 very barbarous here. 
 
 Mrs. S. — She is not like our slaves— she is white, her 
 hair straight, and she has more soul in her face and more 
 cultivation than her conquerors ; but she is a slave from 
 her dress. Let me look at her features again. This was a 
 captive taken in war. 
 
 Look at that man on horseback. How cruel, how gross 
 and animal ! — his horse looks better than he. Badness is 
 expressed in his face. He was a miserable wretch. He 
 is the same one we saw. 
 
 Miss E. — He was bowed down. He does look like that 
 image. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Let us go — it gives me pain ; or let us look at 
 something more agreeable — let us seek flowers. 
 
 Miss E. — There are no flowers here. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Do you see that beautiful plant — crushed down 
 like a lily — like a cup in shape — of a white color ? The 
 sun don't shine here. These are curious plants. 
 
 Miss E. — ^They are mushrooms. 
 
 Mrs. S. — I don't like this place ? I fear there are snakes. 
 
 These were once beautiful walks. They were covered 
 with small pebbles of various colors, like jewels. And 
 here is a bouquet basket. 
 
 Miss E. — -What is this place built here, with a figure in- 
 side ? It is a garden idol. It is not so perfect as those 
 inside. He was supposed to control the elements. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Let us return — we have gone far enough. 
 
 Miss E. — Must we go back ? We shall have to come 
 again, and we shall yet see beautiful sights. 
 
 Mrs. S. — But I am very tired, let us go. Oh, now that 
 
8PIEITUALISM. 399 
 
 we are outside, how pure the air feels ! What a soft, warm 
 glow ! I don't want to go in there again. Kext time let 
 them send some one else. Do you suppose we have done 
 any good? 
 
 Miss E. — Yes, of course, we have done much good. I 
 suppose they thought that we had curiosity enough to wish 
 to see all those things. "VYe certainly did good to that un- 
 happy spirit, and we have observed the things shown to 
 us, so that they might be recorded, and we have done our 
 duty. 
 
 Let us return. 
 
 tciian Jfiftg-ane. 
 
 Thursday, April lAth, 1854. 
 
 The circio met at Mr. Sweet's. All present except Dr. and Mrs. 
 Dexter. 
 
 Mrs. Sweet and Laura were influenced, and carried on their dialogue 
 nearly in these words : 
 
 Mrs. Sweet. — Now we are drawn down into that dark 
 place again.. 
 
 Lauka. — It is not as cold as it was before. 
 
 Mes. S. — Turn and look at the spirits, and see who are 
 with us. 
 
 L. — ^The same there were before. 
 
 Mrs. S. — -A whisper comes over my shoulder, saying, 
 "We used to live here." Could bright spirits ever have 
 lived in such a gloomy place? He says, "It was not so 
 gloomy and ruined a place when we lived here. It was 
 then a city of splendor and magnificence, of riches, and of 
 mighty men." 
 
400 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 L. — In what were they mighty ? In the arts ? 
 
 Mes. S. — Yes. 
 
 L. — And in war ? 
 
 Mrs. S. — Yes. and more especially the latter; but in the 
 arts, see what beautiful ruins are still here, after a lapse of 
 so many ages. Behold the crumbling ruins of what was 
 once so beautiful ! 
 
 L. — Are we in the city now, or only in the outskirts? 
 Methinks we are in an outer building. .W; 
 
 Mrs. S. — It is growing colder. The spirits are taking us 
 in a different direction. 
 
 L. — It is a long avenue that seems to have no end. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Isn't it a long avenue? I don't like to go. 
 
 L. — But let us try and see. 
 
 Mrs. S. — It is winding, and leads into darkness. "Will 
 the spirits go with us and lead us ? it looks so gloomy. 
 
 L. — Oh, fear not ; they will guide us well, and show the 
 way. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Don't you see ? we will have to stoop down. 
 
 L. — Oh 1 how dark and cold it is here ! 
 
 Mrs. S. — See ! the stones of this entrance appear to be 
 great blocks of granite or red freestone, with shining specks 
 in it, veined in places. 
 
 L. — Yes, it is most beautiful to behold. 
 
 Mrs. S. — "Would you not like to gather specimens of 
 this stone ? 
 
 L. — Yes. Shall we merely stand on the threshold of this 
 subterranean passage, or shall we penetrate and seek the 
 entrance ? Let us try. 
 
 Mrs. S. — We shall never get through this dark place. 
 There must be a gate. 
 
 L. — How slippery it is here ! every thing is covered with 
 slime and a cold sweat. 
 
 < Mrs. S. — Oh ! feel the stones ; the moss on the walls 
 is of the same slimy substance. Take care, or we shall 
 meet with reptiles of some kind. 
 
 L. — ^There is nothins: that can live here ; have no fear. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 401 
 
 Let us proceed and hasten through, that we may find the 
 light, and not tarry here in trembling. 
 
 Mrs. S. — I am afraid to go there, it is such a long, long 
 passage. Oh! the spirit by you has his hand on your 
 shoulder. I wish they would come as close to me. 
 
 L. — Let us hasten on. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Oh ! do you see that gate before us ? We must 
 pass through that entrance, and I see a faint glimmer of 
 light. 
 
 L. — The gate is very massive, and appears to be locked ; 
 how are w^e to open it ? There is a secret spring, and I 
 should judge this was the dividing line between two sec- 
 tions of country. 
 
 Mrs. S.— Here we are by the gate ; how does it opea, T 
 wonder ? 
 
 L. — By touching the spring, .and pushing it up. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Is that the way they open gates here 1 I never 
 saw such curious locks, if that is one. 
 
 L. — But it is all rusty, and I don't see how we are to 
 open it. Come help me push it up ; it is too massive for 
 us to move it. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Wait. Spirit-guides are coming. There ! one 
 has opened it. 
 
 L. — Oh ! how simple is the operation; they are familiar 
 with every thing here. Oh, see I we will have to pass 
 quickly, or the gate will close and catch us. I think this 
 must have been a secret passage for the monarchs to trav- 
 erse throughout their dominions. 
 
 Mrs. S. — It seems to me that we have entered a different 
 country ; just look back upon the dark pasage we have left. 
 Do you see the globe suspended from the roof of the en-- 
 trance before us ? and there is a face carved in stone, and 
 heads of strange-looking animals. How curious ! 
 
 L. — ^Yes, and haw beautiful and perfect are the figures ! 
 And there is an animal resembling a goat, yet appears 
 to be a cow. How unlike any thing we ever saw be- 
 fore 1 
 
 26 
 
40^ SPIRITtJALISM. 
 
 Mrs. S. — There is a bird with horns ; he is as large as 
 an eagle. 
 
 L. — How beautiful is the workmanship ! 
 
 Mrs. S. — It is better walking here ; the road is well 
 made and smooth, and there is grass growing here. 
 
 L. — Yes, it is delightful, and every pebble glistens as 
 though each was a precious stone. Oh ! there are flowers 
 here, some very singular in their appearance. There is one 
 which is formed of a tall stem, resembling the sugar-cane ; 
 it is about three feet in height, and at the top is a large 
 bell-flower, with rounded edges, and is of coarse texture. 
 It looks hardy and tough ; the leaves grow at the base of 
 the plant. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Let us go on. I see houses in the distance. 
 The sun shines here. Where is the sun ? I see the light, 
 .but not the sky or sun. 
 
 L. — Do you not see that the light only penetrates in 
 spots, and illumines the place here and there only ? This 
 must be a buried city. 
 
 Mrs. S. — I wonder if the place is inhabited ! "What a 
 queer shaped house that is ! 
 
 L. — It is an octagon-shaped building, the roof round, and 
 gradually formed to a sharp point, and a golden ball at the 
 itop. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Let us enter that building and examine it. 
 Now just open the door. How massive it is ! It must be 
 very old. 
 
 L. — It is made of bamboo, or something resembling it. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Those spirits follow us here. There are figures 
 cut out in the walls, birds and beasts, and even fishes ; the 
 walls are of a substance resembling plaster. 
 
 L. — Do you see the fish have horns ? Oh ! there is a 
 body — a figure crouching in the corner. There has been 
 death here. It is the body of one of our attendant spirits. 
 It is not very beautiful. 
 
 Mrs. S. — I wonder if the spirit brought us here to see 
 his bones J 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 403 
 
 L. — I hope he is better-looking now, for that is a horrid- 
 looking figure. 
 
 Mks. S. — The spirit says we are not able to judge of his 
 spirit by seeing his bones. Just wait till we see him in the 
 spirit-world. 
 
 L. — I want to examine those bones ; let us go shake 
 them. 
 
 Mks. S. — Oh, there are seats made of stone all around the 
 room, and there are windows here resembling those we 
 saw in the dark building. 
 
 L. — Do you notice that it is not glass, but a soft sub- 
 stance resembling glue, and is very richly colored? and 
 though the light penetrates, yet you can not discern ob- 
 jects through it. 
 
 Mrs. S. — It is not as transparent as glass, and is much 
 coarser. The spirit is speaking again ; he tells us to go 
 in further to another chamber. 
 
 L. — Oh, see ! the walls of the apartment are of blue 
 stone — very beautiful, are they not ? 
 
 Mrs. S. — But this is a pretty place. There is a fountain 
 in the center of the room ; and do you observe? there is a 
 figure of marble in the middle of the basin, and all around 
 the room are figures of females and children projecting 
 from the wall. The females have on curious garments. 
 
 L. — Yes, and the skirts are like those we saw when we 
 were in that dark palace; even the texture is the same, 
 and it is wonderful how the colors have been preserved, 
 so gorgeous and rich as they are. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Why don't they have representations of angels, 
 instead of those females ? I don't like the looks of those. 
 
 L. — Because they knew not of life hereafter, and their 
 tastes being sensual, they gratified them in this manner. 
 Did you observe, sister-spirit, the design of the fountain ? 
 The water is led up the center of the body, flows from the 
 heads, and falls on the outstretched hands. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Oh, those figures are disagreeable, don't you 
 think so ? ♦ ^ 
 
404: SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 L.— Yes, their faces are coarse, with protruding lips, 
 broad noses, and round-shaped faces ; they were very- 
 animal in their natures — very little spiritual about 
 them. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Do you see ? there has been a stream of water 
 running through a marble channel, and fishes of every 
 kind were here. Why, Laura, they worshiped the fishes, 
 the birds, and these figures. Oh ! what a religion was 
 theirs ! Hark ! the spirit is speaking ; he says, "They had 
 very crude ideas of divinity, they worshiped him in all sorts 
 of distorted forms, and through all sorts of fancies, their 
 imagination running riot, leading them into monstrosities." 
 I would like to leave here. The spirit says it makes him 
 gloomy to remain here, because memory is refreshed, and 
 he thinks of the days he spent here ; he would be glad to 
 go too. 
 
 L. — I should think he would be, but it is our duty to 
 examine all. I should think all would appear strange to 
 him. 
 
 Mrs. S.— "Hark!" he says. "This place seems no 
 more natural to me than it does to you. I have lived be- 
 yond it, forgotten it, save as a spot where my spirit first 
 received its earthly tenement, and was divested of its hor- 
 rible and sensual grossness." 
 
 L.— Oh, let us pass from this apartment aow. 
 
 Mrs. S.— There is something else to look at, he says, be- 
 fore we go ; it is the figure of a female with a babe in her 
 arms ; her hair flows to her waist ; she is tall, noble-look- 
 ing, but gross, and far from delicate. ITotice her dress — 
 her breast exposed, arms bare, and only covered with orna- 
 ments. Oh ! see, there are strange- looking musical instru- 
 ments in the corner ; let us examine them. 
 
 L. — ^There is a triangle formed of a very beautiful, light- 
 colored wood of great fragrance, and there are strings at- 
 tached to it, and there is also a long pipe, three feet long, 
 with a trumpet end, all perfect, but somewhat discordant 
 in sound. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 405 
 
 Mrs. S. — See ! Laura, there is written music ; I can not 
 decipher it. 
 
 L. — It is written on parchment with a mineral which re- 
 sembles coal, and therefore the letters or figures are large 
 and black. 
 
 Mrs. S. — I guess they did not have printed music then. 
 
 L. — Observe the floor of this room ; it is wood inlaid, 
 and very beautifully polished. 
 
 Mrs. S.— I thought it was marble, but I see now that the 
 wood is inlaid so as to represent flowers, animals, etc., and 
 is of various colors. 
 
 L. — Judging from the splendor here, the spirit must 
 have been one of the grandees, if this was his abode. There 
 is a secret door at your left ; they must have been an in- 
 triguing people, for there are so many secret passages and 
 doors, they must have loved deceiving. 
 
 Mrs. S. — The spirit says they were an intriguing people, 
 and needed all the mysteries of art and evil-mindedness 
 to conceal their evil deeds. They were very sensual, lov- 
 ing the worship of idols better than what was professed at 
 the altar where their prayers could be answered by the 
 most high God. The spirit seems very solemn, folds his 
 hands, and says, ^'Ay! you would be solemn, too, could 
 you stand and gaze on ruined houses where you once en- 
 joyed life in its fullest sense, andcould you feel having lived 
 only to enjoy the present, never thinking of the future, you 
 had been called suddenly away, and beheld in an instant 
 the great ignorance and evils of earthly life. You would 
 mourn as I do, on gazing on the graves of so many un- 
 risen souls who yet remain far down in ignorance and 
 darkness." 
 
 L. — ^Tell him not to feel so sadly ; there is a chance for 
 such spirits to rise. Tell him to look on the scenes of by- 
 gone days with more cheerfulness ; there is hope for all. 
 
 Mrs. S. — I wish he wouldn't feel so gloomy. But he says 
 it is for his people he mourns. He knows there is hope, 
 for by looking and striving he has redeemed himself from 
 
4:06 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 his crushed and darkened state ; and in order to advance, 
 he has been sent to guide us, and show us how he lived 
 when he had thought of nothing beyond a luxurious and 
 licentious life. 
 
 L. — Will he allow us to leave here now, and examine the 
 interior of the building ? 
 
 Mrs. S. — He says Yes, he is going to conduct us to the 
 place of worship. We are only on the first floor — we have 
 not ascended the stairs yet. 
 
 L. — Had not this spirit once a title ? for here all is splen- 
 dor. 
 
 Mrs. S. — ^Yes, he was one of the king's counselors. 
 Here is an altar made of stone, upon which is placed their 
 chief idol. 
 
 L. — And it is covered with jewels ; it has only one 
 eye, which is in the center of the face, and resembles a bull's 
 eye. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Oh ! it is a horrid-looking image, and what a 
 terrible atmosphere pervades the place ! The spirit says it 
 is difficult even for him to remain here. 
 
 L. — Do you see ? there are many idols surrounding the 
 chief one. They are the minor gods, and were supposed to 
 be ruled by the chief god. 
 
 Mrs. S. — At the other end of this apartment is a dark 
 stone altar on which ashes are scattered. 
 
 L. — By the appearance of the whole altar, they must have 
 sacrificed human beings. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Oh ! do let us leave this place ; don't go there. 
 
 L. — Oh, yes, I must, for there is so much to learn that is 
 interesting. Come ; if you do not wish to go, stay there, 
 and I will go alone. 
 
 Mrs. S. — The altar is about ten feet long, and at one end 
 there is a huge caldron. At the other are the bones of the 
 victims. Laura, have you seen any iron here? I have 
 not, every thing is stone. 
 
 L. — The caldron is of copper, and is a receptacle for the 
 animals sacrificed. 
 
S PIE IT UAL ISM. 407 
 
 Mrs. S. — Tliey put in the animals when they worship- 
 ed ; they put in spices and bodies of beasts anointed with 
 sweet-smelling odors. They took out the entrails mixed 
 with spices, and the odoriferous incense scented the air and 
 affected the senses of the worshipers, and they were filled 
 with delirious joy and praised their idol. 
 
 L. — Once a year the people were allowed to enter and 
 prostrate themselves in gratitude for the great privilege. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Why, they used to sacrifice slaves here ! 
 
 L. — ^Yes, they captured the most beautiful females and 
 children, and sacrificed them to their gods as the greatest 
 offering. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Oh ! let us leave here, 'tis too dreadful to 
 think of. 
 
 L. — Do you see that bright spirit, that beautiful female ? 
 It is one that was sacrificed here. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Oh, I must leave here, for methinks I hear the 
 groans of the dying mingled with the adoration of the 
 people. When the victims were burned, they strewed the 
 ashes upon the worshipers. I want to leave very much. 
 It makes me feel bad. It seems as if I can see crowds of. 
 spirits sad and gloomy. I see now that bright, beautiful 
 spirit ! Ask her to speak, you saw her first. Her hands 
 are folded on her breast. What a heavenly expression ! 
 she will speak to you. 
 
 L. — She is very beautiful. She says, " I was indeed one 
 of the fair daughters of a race of beings celebrated in war. 
 I was captured by these people — a rude and cruel race — 
 was torn from the diearest ties that bound me to earth, was 
 sacrificed on this altar, and when the breath left the body, 
 I felt I was leaving for a better land ; for often, when gazing 
 upon Nature's works, I knew there was bliss yet unfolded, 
 that there was a better, brighter land. And when my 
 body was tortured, my spirit was rejoicing with the bright 
 ones unseen. There are many spirits here, and those be- 
 yond you, oh mortals! to whom I come. They had one 
 talent, and many used it to their best knowledge, and some 
 
408 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 neglected it. My mission now is to them. I come to tell 
 them I forgive them. I come to point the way. See you 
 not that upon their brows is stamped the mark of my ashes 
 long since placed there, and now I will guide them onward 
 and upward." 
 
 Mrs. S. — See wdiat a gentle spirit she is ! She truly 
 loves her Creator, smiling on tliese poor creatures. See 
 their saddened faces ! she is leaving flowers for them. 
 Were we brou2:ht here to see this and tell of it ? 
 
 L. — Yes ; does not this lesson reward us? 
 
 Mrs. S. — See ! she has gone. Why are our feet so 
 cold? 
 
 L. — It seems as though the winds of heaven never pene- 
 trated here. 
 
 Mrs. S. — It does not seem as though there could be spir- 
 its down in this dark, dismal place, here, where she was 
 sacrificed. And she has come to aid them ! Oh, how dead 
 the air is around us. 
 
 L. — Let us leave here. We have seen enough of this. 
 
 Mrs. S. — The spirit says, "Ascend the stairs and gaze 
 around the country." The stairs are broad — broad as our 
 house is wide. Steep, unlike ours. 
 
 L. — The stone of which they are formed is the same pure 
 crystal that we saw before. 
 
 Mrs. S. — There are holes cut in the steps ; why are 
 they so ? 
 
 L. — That the air may have vent from below, it preserves 
 the stone. 
 
 Mrs. S. — The spirit says, " Observe the lines drawn on 
 each side of the steps ; the slaves were obliged to pass on 
 the outside, and were not permitted to step on the center, 
 so great were the distinctions between the classes." 
 
 L. — Let us ascend and view the surrounding country. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Oh ! what a scene of desolation and ruin ; some 
 buildings fallen, and half covered with sand. 
 
 L. — Do you not see some houses standing partly covered 
 with stones and lava, a black-and-red matter crushed in 
 
SPIKITUALISM. 409 
 
 masses ; some are white, and there are trees growiDg amid 
 the ruins. 
 
 Mrs. S. — There are flowers and plants here very beauti- 
 ful. It looks as though an earthquake had visited this 
 place, and many buildings are untouched. How can any 
 thing else live here in this desolation ? Look ! there is a 
 singular garden. What is it? 
 
 L. — It is an ancient hanging garden, and on every side 
 are drooping vines looking as though they sprang from the 
 air. See that temple beyond ; it is formed of different 
 colored stones. Let us look at it ; in its center is an 
 image with eyes in the side of the head, with ears hanging 
 to the shoulders, the nose flat. What is in his teeth? 
 fruits of the earth. They offered to this idol the first fruits 
 in every year, in order to propitiate him. 
 
 Mrs. S. — What an old temple it is ! that image has 
 wings. On each side of this god is a little image. 
 
 L. — Do you see what they hold in their hands ? hearts. 
 In the spring of the year the youths and maidens were be- 
 trothed here before these idols, and they offered them their 
 love. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Oh ! what looking things they are. They must 
 have appreciated the offerings. What little imps they are ! 
 The spirit says, No scandal of his gods. They used to con- 
 sider them beautiful, and young maidens used to do hom- 
 age here. 
 
 L. — How winding is this path ! let us seek it. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Take care, you will falL There is something 
 buried in the sand. Stop until I see what it is. I have 
 got it out ; it is a stone foot, very ugly. It must be that 
 of an idol ; oh ! it is so ugly. Come away ! I don't like 
 these things. The spirit says I am a coward. 
 
 L. — I am going back to get that foot. See, it is of stone, 
 broad and flat ; it was their god of the minerals. On the 
 sole of the foot are jewels. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Let us go from here, now. The spirit says that 
 the foot was supposed to preside over all things. Their 
 
410 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 divinities were always tangible as well as worsliipers ; 
 every thing was external and gross. 
 
 L. — Are there ever moon and stars visible here ? 
 
 Mks. S. — Tlie spirit says, "Go on, and you will see some 
 of our ancient paintings." 
 
 L. — Oh ! that will be interesting. What makes it so 
 rongh here ? 
 
 Mrs. S. — It is the ruined temples and stones crumbling 
 to dust. There is a house with the door open — a very low, 
 square house of a yellow color. 
 
 L. — Let's go in. There is a queer picture gallery of 
 parchments hung up all over. There is moss hanging 
 from the roof— very beautiful. There are figures on the 
 wall — a horse standing on two legs. There is another, it is 
 that of a man, and his head is shaped in a peak, like the 
 roof of a house. 
 
 Mrs. S. — The spirit says this was the rendezvous for the 
 higher classes ; there were not many such places in the 
 city, for the class of minds who were attracted by these 
 things w^ere few. The paintings were performed by nat- 
 ural genius, prompted only by love of them — not having in 
 our city such regulations as you have. Slaves performed 
 most of the work, often excelling in the labor and purity 
 of conception. They were of a different race, and were 
 prisoners of w^ar put to menial occupations. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Do you see how the paintings are fastened ? 
 
 L. — Yes, they are parchments stretched across at the 
 sides upon wooden frames. 
 
 Mrs. S. — There is a scene of the people sacrificing slaves, 
 a representation of the manner of which w^e have been told. 
 I do not admire tlie conceptions, but the colors are very 
 rich. 
 
 L. — ^The flowers painted are very coarse, and merely 
 sketched. Shall we leave here for home now ? 
 
 Mrs. S. — Yes ; if you wish we can go home and come 
 again ; he will tell us more next time. He can not in our 
 language call things by their proper names, but he will 
 
8PIBITTTALISM. 411 
 
 speak as plainly as possible. He says he could show us 
 many things that would frighten us : then I don't want to 
 see them. He says I must do many things I don't like, 
 and I'll be glad of it afterward. He is taking us out by 
 the gate. 
 
 ution Jfiftg-tfoff. 
 
 Thursday^ April 20, 1854. 
 
 The circle met this evenin-g in my library, all present except Mrs. 
 D, It was first written through the Doctor : 
 
 I WISH, dear friends, that you could see the faces of the 
 many spirits that are with you, lighted up by a feeling that 
 imparts such a radiance, that they sparkle like stars. 'Tis 
 for joy that you are onc5 more together* and at work ; 'tis 
 for the future ; 'tis for the great good that will be done ; 
 'tis for time ; 'tis for eternity. 
 
 I can come nearer through you. Doctor, with your pres- 
 ent feelings, than I ever could before, and I know that we 
 have all progressed, or this could not be. Bacon. 
 
 Through Laura it was then said : 
 
 We come from our far-distant homes to bring truth in 
 every form, and now will we come, like harbingers of morn, 
 and tell of the triumph of truth. The birds, at early dawn, 
 carol their sweet songs to awaken nature from her repose, 
 and in one voice send up to God their glad tribute of praise. 
 As dawn passes on, each warbles its notes to Heaven ; and 
 
 * The long absence of the Doctor and myself, on our Western mission and 
 other causes, had intermpted our full meetings for a period of over three 
 months. 
 
412 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 as night approaches, and all nature retires to rest, the 
 warbler continues his song till the last hour of day, when 
 relieved by the bird of night, whose hooting sounds from 
 hill to hill, and echo sends it back again. 
 
 Thus it is with truth. Morning dawns again, and the 
 song reverberates. It has risen with the morn, and is 
 sounded abroad in the earth ; everywhere its notes are 
 heard joyful, solemn, deep in tone — different, yet blending 
 and making one harmonious song. Man has arisen, awak- 
 ened by the sound of truth stealing on the ear with its 
 gentlest musical tones. "Whence comes the sound ? From 
 the far-distant spheres it comes, and he enjoys it. The 
 weary, way-worn traveler, seeking the path to a safe haven, 
 hears its loud whistle. It is music to his ears, and reminds 
 him of his childhood, and truth, dawning upon his soul, 
 reigns triumphant. The busy man of the world, heeding 
 only himself, looking only to gain, hears the deep-toned 
 hooting of the midnight owl, and he starts anew and asks 
 what is it ? It is truth, with all its solemnity, visiting his 
 heart. He stands and listens, yet heeds it not ; but ever 
 and anon it reaches his would-be-|leaf ear, and he can turn 
 nowhere that he does not hear the sound. 
 
 As noon arises he is surrounded by the sounds from every 
 tree, and shrub, and flower, and heart that is throbbing 
 around him, that truth is triumphant. Prepare the way 
 for its coming in all the glory of heaven. Yet still hard- 
 ening his heart, he pushes his way on, stumbling, falling, 
 weary and worn, and sits him down by the way-side. Trav- 
 elers pass him by, each with a palm of peace in his hand. 
 He wonders where they received the boon ? and the an- 
 swer is. It was given by Truth. 
 
 Young childhood hears the whisper of the winds and the 
 gentle notes of the birds, and listens with joy, for he knows 
 it is the voice of Truth, and he travels on, rejoicing ever- 
 more. 
 
 The sorrowing female, bowed by grief and cares, sees no 
 noon for her ; all around her are clouds and darkness. All 
 
. SPIRITUALISM. 413 
 
 nature seems wrapped in mourning, and as she sorrowing 
 treads on her weary way, the sweet, joyous song greets her 
 ear, bids her hope, and tells her it is Truth passing and 
 surrounding her, and she must embrace it if she would 
 behold nature clothed as of old. She starts, and cries, 
 "Whence that voice ?" Cherubs answer, " Beloved moth- 
 er, we come to bring you of that blessing. We come to tell 
 of a land where thy lost ones are. Embrace the new gift, 
 and to thee too will be given the palm of peace, and thou 
 mayst go on rejoicing." 
 
 Thus shall it be. Truth shall go from clime to clime. 
 You shall never see its setting sun, but it will be a beacon- 
 light to all — to each a staff to aid up the hill of progression. 
 Treasure the precious boon of Heaven. I thought I had 
 the gift, but I had only the outside bark ; now I have the 
 staff itself. The covering has crumbled, and now I lean on 
 the pure crystal staff. Oh ! let me ever grasp it tighter, 
 and it shall be my guide to my God. 
 
 Then, through me, it was said : 
 
 I am borne far off into the regions of space, amid the 
 countless worlds that roll through the vast expanse. I 
 stand alone, surrounded by the blue ethereal — illuminated 
 only by the sparkling worlds rolling round me — some near — 
 some far off— with inconceivable velocity, and yet in direct 
 obedience to the will which has fashioned and speeded 
 them on their eternal way. I see them of various sizes, 
 of many hues, of every conceivable variety of intensity of 
 light. Amid this vast and living universe I stand alone. 
 But a voice speaks to my ear, " Seest thou falsehood here? 
 What speak these mighty creations of His hand but His 
 truth ? As they move on in their eternal paths, they carry 
 the truth as His messengers throughout His boundless crea- 
 tion. They proclaim truth as they roll. Emanations as 
 they are from Himself, from His inconceivable wisdom, 
 from His boundless power, they are the embodiment of 
 His truth, and ever speak it to the universe through which 
 
4:14: SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 they are wending on their never-ending.journey. Panse ! 
 oh, mortal ! and behold, if thou canst, how vast, how om- 
 nipotent, how enduring, how unwavering is the truth which 
 they proclaim, and canst thou conceive that amid these 
 rolling orbs, falsehood can find a resting-place? That it 
 can speak to the intelligence that emanates from God him- 
 self aught but truth ? Pause yet awhile, and grasp within 
 thy mind, if thou canst, the mighty lesson of truth which 
 these countless worlds, spread out before you like a span- 
 gled carpet, are teaching to you and to the myriads of sen- 
 tient beings, who, like you, are of Him and to Him. And 
 standing thus amid a boundless universe of truth, breathing 
 thus into thy nostrils an atmosphere which is truth alone, 
 imbibing from its life-giving qualities the very spirit of 
 truth, canst thou conceive of the mind that would seek for 
 falsehood here, rather than truth ? Enter one of these glo- 
 rious orbs which roll around you, and view its habitations 
 and its inhabitants, see how lovely is the scene which opens 
 to your view ! See how gorgeous, and yet how grateful is 
 the light which rests on that scene ! See how pure, how 
 bright, how full of love toward each other are they who 
 inhabit there ! See every heart beating for its fellow ! See 
 how every thought is laid bare to the world around the in- 
 stant it is born, and canst thou find here, amid this beauty, 
 this purity, aught but truth ? Look upon the broad plain 
 spread out before you, redolent with perfume, and re- 
 splendent with nature's brightest hues, and see if thou 
 canst find there the dark footsteps of falsehood ? Go with 
 those bright spirits from their resting-places abroad to the 
 tasks that are before them, see them marshal worlds in 
 their orbits, evolving new worlds from the disjointed mat- 
 ter scattered through space, and developing from it new 
 souls, candidates for immortality, and see if in aught which 
 they perform here or enjoin there, thou canst find even the 
 germ of falsehood ! Koaming thus through His vast crea- 
 tions, looking upon man in his brightness and power, thou 
 canst find naught but truth. 
 
8PIEITUALISM. 415 
 
 "Dost thou ask where, then, is falsehood to be found? 
 Hither, mortal ! and I will show thee. Descend with me 
 from these bright abodes. Let us find a world yet imper- 
 fect and undeveloped, recently only ushered into being 
 from the universe of matter ! and perchance we shall find 
 there a being who does not emit from himself the light 
 which surrounds him, who perchance is dependent for his 
 light on some material object near him — who is bound to 
 the matter in which he grovels by chains so gross that you 
 almost marvel that he is not fastened, like the rock or the 
 tree, to the planet of which he is a part. Alas ! you see 
 that his progress in the path of his ultimate destiny has 
 been so limited that he is incapable of comprehending even 
 the material light by which he sees ; and that not only has 
 he not advanced far enough himself to generate his own 
 light, like the bright spirits whom you have just seen, but 
 it is difficult for him to comprehend that it can be gen- 
 erated by any ; and when that material light in its daily 
 revolutions disappears from the world which he inhabits, 
 it leaves behind it a darkness even more congenial to his 
 nature than the splendor of its noonday. Canst thou not, 
 O mortal ! here find the germ of falsehood ? Canst thou 
 not, amid the material and moral darkness that broods over 
 their undeveloped minds, perceive that falsehood may in- 
 deed flourish and be most potent ? 
 
 " Go with me still farther down. Behold those, who 
 have passed through that material existence, after having 
 yielded to the mere animal propensities of their nature — 
 after having denied that there was light, and even that 
 there was a power that could speak it into existence. Go 
 among them, bearing as they have, into their present ex- 
 istence, the darkness which they hugged to their bosoms. 
 See how gloomy is the air which surrounds them! how 
 murky and how black is the atmosphere in which they 
 grovel still on ! See how the darkness of their existence 
 has even discolored their material garments ! Seest thou 
 not amid them the birthplace of falsehood ? Seest thou not 
 
416 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 that their whole life is a living falsification of their nature 
 — almost every breath of air they inhale — every thought to 
 which they give birth — every act of their existence is 
 stamped with the falsehood of their dark abode ? Thus, 
 oh, mortal ! have I shown you man in his extremes, and 
 hast thou capacity to comprehend the lesson? 
 
 Thy nature gives the choice, and it is in thy power to select 
 between the brightness of truth and the darkness of false- 
 hood. What is there to prevent thee from choosing wisely 
 and well ? Thy God has endowed thee with the capacity 
 to choose. Wilt thou choose in obedience to the immortal 
 instincts of thy nature ? or wilt thou acknowledge the vas- 
 salage of thy material propensities ? Answer for thyself, 
 for thou canst; and remember, that while Truth has her 
 abode amid her votaries in those brighter realms. Falsehood 
 ever dwells in the darker regions, to which she is full 
 mighty to draw down her worshipers." 
 
 Through the Doctor it was then said : 
 
 The history of national and individual sacrifices given to 
 us in the Old Testament is a beautiful illustration of what 
 is required of the human heart in its intercourse with God. 
 A sacrifice in ancient days of a lamb, a goat, or an ox was 
 in itself considered an atonement for many sins which had 
 been committed ; and when the Father saw fit to indicate 
 his recognition of the sacrifice, then the individual knew 
 he was forgiven. The illustration is most beautiful, for it 
 shows us that in these days, instead of a sheep, a goat, or 
 an ox, the searcher after truth should lay his own heart on 
 the altar and ofler it as a living sacrifice. 
 
 Why wanders the heart so far away from that which is 
 true ? Are there falsehoods that come direct from God ? 
 Can he who made us deceive us? Would there be any 
 untruth if the heart did not fashion it out of its own gross- 
 ness and sensuality ? What ! to profess to love God — to say 
 that we feel the desire to be pure — -to pray to God that he 
 would make us pure, and then to use the reason with which 
 
SPIRIT UALISMi^^^ 417 
 
 we are gifted, the high attributes of our nature, our instincts, 
 tastes, education refined as they may be — all j^he means 
 and appliances which surround us to deceive ourselves and 
 others ? Professing that God is very beautiful, and his 
 creation teeming with all that is grand and glorious, then, 
 O ! then, in the face of all we profess, basely to betray our- 
 selves, our God, and our principles ? 
 
 Yet this is the truth that half the world live upon and 
 dare to die upon. O ! I pity that man's heart that pro- 
 fesses love to God and man, and yet builds up between 
 himself and heaven a wall of adamant hj the perversion 
 of his own nature. I tell you that the spirits who visit 
 that man — what shall I say ? they'll make a hell in his. 
 heart that will pour out a bitter lava worse than JEtna. 
 O! then, the wrongs done not only to his nature, but to the 
 eternal principles which God has established! Holding 
 up between the light his own base nature, the false dia- 
 monds he sells for truth, that some straggling ray may 
 catch the eye of a deluded follower, they pilfer all that is 
 good, all that is sacred, all that can be relied upon, and 
 very complacently say, I do indeed love God and my 
 neighbor ! 
 
 There is more of evil in the world that grows out of hy- 
 pocrisy than almost any other one cause, and one of the 
 greatest punishments which an evil spirit encounters when 
 he enters the spheres is the knowledge that he can not 
 trust a single soul he meets. 'No wonder the wail of an 
 agonized heart wends its way to Heaven. ISTo wonder that 
 the soul, conscious it has done wrong, pours out bitter 
 tears of unfeigned repentance. No wonder that it draws 
 from the brigliter spheres those souls which catch the fall- 
 ing tear and bear it where it is prized above rubies. No 
 wonder that when the soul wakes up to a sense of the 
 wrong it has done — its own falsehood and deceit — the 
 storm of desolation prostrates every thing there. The 
 heavens might be black-»-they might fall, yet not atone for 
 that sin. 
 
 2.T 
 
4:18 ^-1^ ; SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 Yet why, to-niglit, do the spirits speak of truth ? "Why 
 has the lesson been inculcated with such force ? It is that 
 you may be true and perfect ; for I tell you that unless you 
 become living evidences that the love of God is shed abroad 
 in your hearts, prompting them to truth, it will be more 
 terrible for you than to call on the rocks and mountains to 
 fall on you. For if you lie, it is not our fault, but your di- 
 rect punishment. If you are hypocritical, it is not the 
 spirits who have taught you to be so. 
 
 If you live not up to the faith you profess, do you not 
 lie to them and to God ? 
 
 Spiritualism is a religion, and it enjoins on its followers 
 a greater regard for action, for in that is the whole incen- 
 tive to progression. The pains and penalties denounced 
 against the world the world fashions for itself. 
 
 Your light should indeed come from yourselves. You 
 should not, like the moon, borrow it, but it should be of it- 
 self and for itself, because of God. It should beam forth 
 and illumine your path. It should be a light to your feet, 
 lighting you up to Heaven. 
 
SPIEITtTALISM. '-^'ti 419 
 
 Sution Jfiftg-tlru, 
 
 Monday, April 24, 1854 
 
 The circle met this evening at Mr. Sweet's. All were present except 
 Mrs. Dexter, and there were present the two Mr. M'Donalds from Glen's 
 Falls, N. Y. 
 
 After some general instructions for the proceedings of the evening 
 through Dr. Dexter, Laura and Mrs. S. were influenced to continue their 
 description of the buried city, as follows : 
 
 Laura. — ^They wish us to go to that buried city again. 
 Come, let us go. It is so dark there and cold, darker than 
 ever before. They lead us to the right. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Laura, you will have to lead me. I can't see. 
 Just look and see if these spirits are with us. 
 
 L. — Oh, yes, there they are ; they say it is rendered darker 
 by the influence surrounding the place being of that nature. 
 How cold it is ! Let us hasten on. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Spirits, won't you go before, and show us the 
 way ? Laura, are you not afraid ? 
 
 L. — "No, not afraid — they will lead us on ; but this cold, 
 damp air chills me. Let's hasten on. I will lead you — 
 the spirit says he will not let us injure ourselves. 
 
 Mrs. S. — He puts his hand on my shoulder. I feel 
 stronger now. 
 
 L. — This scene strikes terror to my heart, it is so dismal. 
 This must be one of their secret dungeons. Do you see 
 that faint light far ahead ? 
 
 Mrs. S. — Yes, but it is very distant. Take care. You 
 will fall. What is that in our way ? This is some horrible 
 thing ! 
 
 L. — Let us seek it. What is that in our way? It is so 
 cold here. 
 
4^ SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Let us go around, and not near it. 
 
 L. — Let us see what it is. Shed a light upon it. "What 
 is it ? It is square. Oh, I see. 
 
 Mrs. S. — I can't see, it is so dark ! 
 
 L. — It is a square trap-door of stone, very hard. Do 
 you see ? The spirits told ,me to touch the spring. Oh ! 
 horrible ! 
 
 Mes. S. — Oh, it is terrible here ! 
 
 L. — There are bones piled up here. This is some place 
 of punishment. 
 
 Mrs. S. — There are bones of animals here of all sorts. 
 
 L. — See ! bones of children, men, and women ! Why 
 are they here ? Ask that spirit, perhaps he will tell us. 
 It must have been a living tomb ! 
 
 Mrs. S. — The spirit says it was to put people in alive, 
 and let them perish, as a punishment, when they had com- 
 mitted any great crime against the gods. They put a num- 
 ber in together, and also wild animals to devour the victims. 
 Oh ! let him shut the door, I don't want to see more. 
 
 L. — He will allow us to pass on now. See ! what is 
 that? , 
 
 Mrs. S. — It looks like green grass beiieath our feet — it 
 is naoss. ' ' ^.f ^^ 
 
 L. — It is much pleasanter here, and the moss is so' soft, 
 so velvet-like. And now we can go on, for we have had 
 enough of those dismal sights ; but it was necessary that 
 we should see them all. What is that at the left ? 
 
 Mrs. S. — I was going to ask you if it was not a spirit 
 about to guide us ? 
 
 L. — ^It is the figure of a woman standing with her arms 
 folded. 
 
 Mrs. S. — ^The spirit says she is a spirit come to guide us 
 on further, to show us what to do. She wants us to speak 
 to her. 
 
 L. — Now I understand why we are brought to these 
 darkset haunts, to reassure the unhappy spirits loitering 
 here. 
 
SPIBITUALIBM. 
 
 421 
 
 Mrs. S. — I did not think there were people here. 
 
 L. — I see that black building we are leaving. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Oh, don't look back, we have reached the en- 
 trance ! See ! it is bright, and observe those massive 
 images — they must be idols — they can not be human be- 
 ings. 
 
 L. — Do you see one figure, very black in appearance ; it 
 resembles a centaur, but is coarser, more disagreeable. 
 
 Mrs. S. — It has no clothes on. I do not like it. 
 
 L. — It sends a chill over me to look at those figures. 
 What degraded tastes ! What could this place have 
 been ? 
 
 Mrs. S.— The spirit says it was near the palace ; they 
 did not term the building palace, but a name we can not 
 understand. He beckons us on. Shall go in ? We must 
 go up those steps. 
 
 L. — Oh, what figures are here ! faces fierce, firm, gross, 
 and sensual, and the expression of countenance denotes 
 every passion in which man is capable, of indulging. 
 
 Mrs. S.^ — Don't look at them ; they are very vulgar, I 
 think. Look ! that female spirit has passed on before us. 
 This place looks like home. See those images around the 
 room — casts of human beings placed in niches ! 
 
 E. — The walls of this room are sparkling with jewels laid 
 in figures ; and observe that image with two faces, one each 
 side, male and female in one. What could have been their 
 ideas of nature ? 
 
 Mrs. S. — ^There is one worse than that ; it has the form 
 of a female, with a horse's head. 
 
 L. — See the next one to it ! a man with two horns ; the 
 one on the right side is two feet high, and on the left one 
 foot. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Can you read that strange writing on the wall ? 
 It is the queerest writing I ever saw. 
 
 L. — I have seen those characters before. The spirit says 
 he will tell us what this room was called. 
 
 Mrs. S. — ^Each dignitary had a peculiar divinity of their 
 
422 SPIBITUALISM. 
 
 own to worship, and the name of each is written above the 
 image. 
 
 L.— That accounts for there being so many dotted round 
 the walls. I see paintings. What beautiful works of art ! 
 The walls are of fresco ; the ceiling shaped like a dome. 
 
 Mrs. S. — ^The paintings are beautiful, but coarse-looking. 
 And Laura, see those birds ! they look as though taken on 
 the wing, they are so natural. 
 
 L. — ^They are the best we have seen yet — such rich col- 
 ors. And do you observe the windows in the dome ? 
 They are formed of different colored stones and crystals, 
 and the light shines through most beautifully, all the col- 
 ors blending. I like this room. That female will take us 
 to a still stranger place. The door shuts with a spring, 
 and has a sharp blade of stone attached to it. Every door 
 has that blade to prevent intruders. Those who under- 
 stood its management were not injured, but those who 
 didn't, woe betide them ! 'Twas lucky we had aid to open 
 them. 
 
 Mes. S. — ^The spirit says these things have not been pen- 
 etrated into to the present generation. She lived in this 
 city herself. Laura, we must follow that spirit ; she's 
 dressed in white. I like her looks. We are now in the 
 room above the one we left. Look in the middle of the 
 room ! "What is it ? A throne ? It's a singular thing. 
 
 L. — See ! it is a square piece of stone, carved with un- 
 gainly figures. What could it have been? 
 
 Mes. S. — Do you see that railing around the throne ? It 
 is composed of the whitest, purest stone I ever saw. I 
 wonder what it can be ? 
 
 L. — ^It looks more like crystal. What is the name of it ? 
 Can't the spirit tell us ? 
 
 Mrs. S.— He says it's a stone peculiar .to the country. 
 It was found buried in the depths of the earth, and taken 
 from thence, and for ornamenting and beautifying our 
 cities' noblest buildings. They also used to form their 
 idols of it. This is the room where the females worshiped 
 
SPIBITTJAHSM, 4:23 
 
 — where they had all sorts of revolting ceremonies, and 
 even sacrificed their slaves, while performing their horrid 
 rites. 
 
 L. — Do you see that repulsive scene enacting ? I never 
 could imagine half that is presented here. There they are 
 cutting a female slave into quarters, and figures are danc- 
 ing round and bathing their heads in the blood of the vic- 
 tims. Innocent little children were bound to sticks of wood 
 the same size as themselves, and thrown into the fire. 
 
 Mks. S. — See ! they had something that they drank during 
 these ceremonies which made them almost frantic. 
 
 L. — The drink was composed of the juice of a coarse plant, 
 the same that we have before described ; the stem yielded a 
 rich sap, which was boiled with spices, and they drank it thus. 
 
 Mrs. S.— And that was given them to drink by the priests. 
 Slaves were not permitted to enter here unless to be sacri- 
 ficed. See their horrible actions ; they had forgotten 
 their delicacy. 
 
 L. — They acted as though possessed; they had slain a 
 child, and were playing foot-ball with its body. 
 
 Mrs. S. — I can't see it ; don't ask me to. I want to leave 
 this place. 
 
 L. — No ; we must remain and see all. These were their 
 greatest ceremonies and sacrifices to the gods. They were 
 excited to it by this drink. There is one cutting off the 
 head of an old man, and children are playing with it. 
 
 Mrs. S. — They allowed the young maidens to come in 
 and join in all these things ! ITo wonder they had lost all 
 traces of female, delicacy and refinement. Oh, horrid is 
 the sight ! Let us leave this place. 
 
 L. — ^Yes, but go first to the other end of the temple. 
 See ! in that corner is an imao^e of a human beino: with four 
 legs, head pointed, eyes staring without lids ! 
 
 Mrs. S. — I can't see it, it is so dark here. I don't see 
 how you can laugh at it ; it makes me shudder. Did you 
 notice the fireplace ? 
 
 L. — Built for sacrificing human beings ! There is noth- 
 
4:24: SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 ing left of human feeling here. They delighted in taking 
 life in every form, even the females. 
 
 Mrs. S. — ^There is something else to be seen before we go. 
 
 L. — See that spirit ! so beautiful and bright ! 
 
 Mrs. S. — 'Tis the same that brought us here ; she is very 
 beautiful. 
 
 L. — She says, visiting these scenes she once frequented, 
 and which she dreaded to recall, has enabled her to pro- 
 gress, and her translation to a bright sphere takes place on 
 this very spot. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Oh, she is a pure-looking spirit ; I wish she 
 would not leave us. 
 
 L. — See, she goes upward, and as she goes throws flow- 
 ers in our path. She says, '' I go to my happy home, for' 
 my mission is done, and Heaven is won." If we are thus 
 rewarded at the end of our mission, does it not encour- 
 age us ? 
 
 Mrs. S. — Something to work for, something to look for- 
 ward to. This is worth working for. They say we must re- 
 turn to this place again; for there are some things to be 
 shown us which will not be known for generations to the 
 world, if not disclosed now, and we have aided them much. 
 
 L. — "We will help them ; assure them we are willing. 
 The one behind you has placed a star on your forehead, 
 and says it shall remain there, and he will know you by it 
 in another land. He will be first to greet you when you 
 come home. 
 
 Mrs. S. — Your guiding spirit says he will conduct you 
 to many places. He says he loves to condVict you, you are 
 so willing. I hope he will bring us to the air again. 
 
 L.— If I can, I will be of service. I am ready. Here 
 we are in the air again. 
 
 Then through myself was presented the following 
 
 VISION. 
 They have taken me to the darker spheres. There I see 
 countless numbers of spirits, of various hues of blackness, 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 425 
 
 amid that dark and murky atmosphere, so dark and thick 
 that it would seem almost palpable to my senses. 
 
 There, amid that cold and waterj^ and cheerless air, amid 
 that repulsive gloom, I see those countless myriads, boiling 
 up, as it were, under the influence of the darkest passions 
 and vilest propensities of the human heart, like a seething 
 caldron filled with human misery and set into never-ending 
 motion by the lurid and enduring flame of human passions. 
 
 Spread out before me is a vast country, its surface level, 
 its soil bleak and desolate, with naught to relieve its dreary 
 monotony, naught to indicate life in itself, but a few sickly 
 and disgusting plants, that seem to have sprung up and 
 grown in darkness. 
 
 There is a restlessness about those inhabitants that is 
 terrible to behold, for it speaks of the worm that never 
 dies, it tells in language not to be mistaken, that its gnaw- 
 ings are incessant, that its torments never cease. That 
 worm is memory, and with all who people that immense 
 desert, it is ever busy in discharging its duty as a minister 
 of the Most High God, ever active in the performance of 
 its terrible task of retribution. Like a hissing serpent, it 
 is ever following the heels of those whose past was evil. 
 Like a consuming fire, it is ever at work at its task of burn- 
 ing and purifying the heart. Like the dread of impending 
 evil, it is ever throwing upon the corrupted heart the numb- 
 .ing chill of its fear. Like the air they breathe, it is ever 
 infusing into them its deadly venom. Like the life-giving 
 principle which surrounds them, it is ever imparting new 
 life and activity to its office of punishment for sin. 
 
 It needs the aid of no material flame to infuse suffering 
 into the heart. It needs no chains of earthly iron to bind 
 the fallen soul to the dark soil in which it grovels. It 
 needs no galling fetters to have its iron enter that soul ; 
 but, alone, unconquerable, unceasing, ever active, from its 
 blasting embrace there is no escape, from its devastating 
 breath there is no refuge. It thrills the ear with an acute 
 pang that pauses but to increase its might with renewed 
 
426 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 e£fort. It flows in upon the eye but to light it up with a lurid 
 flame, glowing like a burning coal, and relieved only by 
 its center-spot of intense blackness, which proclaims the hue 
 of the soul that looks out through it upon the world around. 
 It invades the taste, and while its sweetness tempts to in- 
 dulgence, the bitter and burning feeling that follows but 
 speaks of the inner condition still. To the nostrils it is 
 pleasant and captivating, but it ever leaves behind a pu- 
 trid and offensive scent that speaks of the corruption that 
 is festering within. Felt throughout the surface as a cool 
 and inviting breeze, it instills into every vein, infuses into 
 every bone, pours upon the extremity of every nerve tor- 
 ments that rival the agony that is buried deep beneath that 
 surface. 
 
 Thus the faculties which have been perverted to pur- 
 poses of selfish indulgence become ministering spirits to 
 the demon of memory that ever haunts them, and bear to 
 the suffering heart, to the deepest recesses of the polluted 
 and fallen soul enduring streams of agony so intense, so 
 overpowering, so omnipotent, that it tells the soul upon 
 which it is ezerted, the awful lesson, that nothing short of 
 Almighty power could inflict it. 
 
 Oh ! could mortals see in the flesh, and ere it be too late, 
 how sad is the ruin the soul can bring on itself, how ter- 
 rible is the agony which the memory can inflict, how in- 
 cessant and how insatiate are the senses, in bearing within 
 the soul the punishment that must ever flow from their 
 perversion, they would recoil affrighted from the contem- 
 plation of a condition so infinitely more horrible than 
 aught the wildest flight of the imagination ever pictured ! 
 
 It is now shown to me in this vast concourse before me 
 — in the mass and in each individual. It is seen in a rest- 
 lessness, a discontent with the present and its employ- 
 ments, a desire to escape to something else, an uneasy 
 and impatient seeking for some relief, which mark the con- 
 duct of all who are before me. They are ever seeking for 
 something, which, alas ! they found too often on earth — 
 
SPIBITITALISM. 427 
 
 something that will enable them to forget. But oh ! how 
 vain now the search ! The material surroundings which, 
 in their earthly life, through the intoxicating cup of pleas- 
 ure in its various forms, aided them to drown the voice of 
 the monitor within, have now all left them, and it is in 
 vain they fly for refuge — for they find none. The intoxi- 
 cating draught can no longer stupefy the senses, the mad- 
 dening love of pleasure can no longer by its indulgence 
 conquer the reason, and even death, to which so many of 
 them looked for relief, afforded them none when it came, 
 and answers not now to their call. 'No night with its 
 slumbers comes now to aid them. ISTo insanity, even, can 
 be invoked as a refuge from thought. ISTo excess of pas- 
 sion, though here it rage with tenfold fury, can bring them 
 the coveted blessing of gratification. And thus they exist, 
 day by day, age upon age, century after century, living 
 monuments, speaking lessons, of the curse of perverted 
 faculties. 
 
 And what adds infinite horror to an existence so terrible, 
 is the conviction, instilled into their minds, by their earthly 
 ■teachings, that it is for eternity. 
 
 Toward man, in or out of the form, their hearts burn 
 with a bitter and concentrated hatred, which finds no re- 
 lief but in infiicting suffering upon each other. Toward 
 the fair face of nature, whose beauties they slighted, whose 
 lessons they disregarded, their feelings are those of abhor- 
 rence ; for every feature of it, from the rolling orb that 
 speeds its way through space, to the blade of grass that 
 protrudes its tiny head from the crevices of the rock, is 
 ever proclaiming in their ears the lesson that nature ever 
 speaks to nature's God. Toward the Great Creator they 
 look with mingled feelings of defiance and of fear — defi- 
 ance which has followed them from their mortal existence, 
 and which here, as there, is displayed in disobedience of 
 his laws, and fear, lest the power which is full mighty to 
 inflict upon them what they suffer, may yet visit them with 
 even greater misery. 
 
4:28 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 Sncli is the scene spread out before me. If I ask those 
 who are thus suffering, if there is no refuge ? no hope ? 
 every heart answers None. I raise my eyes and ask from 
 above, Is there no hope ? Far distant I see a faint light. 
 Reposing in its beams I see many pure and bright spirits, 
 who seem hovering o'er this dark abyss, from which they 
 are repelled by its gloomy atmosphere. From them comes 
 my answer, "Yes, even for these there is hope — even for 
 these the Infinite Father has provided a redemption — even 
 for these he has vouchsafed a Saviour; for even in the 
 darkest and vilest heart there, perverted, misshapen, and 
 degraded as it may be. His spirit still slumbers, and it will 
 yet answer to His voice as it speaks from above. In each 
 soul is the power of its own redemption, and the hour of 
 its redemption will be when it shall have learned the les- 
 son so important to man in every stage of existence — so 
 much easier to be learned and to be acted upon in his 
 primary existence — that he must work out his own salva- 
 tion." 
 
 And now there appears to me from that distant light a 
 bright and pure spirit, whose countenance bears the im- 
 press of deep grief, and yet of unbounded love, and he 
 says to me : * 
 
 "Mortal ! proclaim this truth to thy fellow-man. To many 
 of us the learning of it has been a long and bitter trial. See 
 that it be not so to you by neglecting the instruction when 
 it can be most available to you ; and fear not to proclaim 
 it by any dread of the manner in which mail may receive 
 it, for when thou shalt have passed to this sphere of exist- 
 ence, thou wilt meet with many a human soul whose grati- 
 tude or whose reproach will attend thy footsteps in thy pas- 
 sage through eternity, as thou dost faithfully perform or 
 basely betray the duty imposed upon thee." 
 
SPIRITUALISM 
 
 429 
 
 Monday^ May 8, 1854. 
 The circle met, and through Miss Laura Edmonds as medium, the fol- 
 lowing was given : 
 
 I AM going over a long bridge. The abutments are tot- 
 tering and decayed, and I fear to cross it. As I ascend it, 
 it trembles ; yet I must go over it. A spirit near me 
 whispers that I shall fall. I can not see his face, and can 
 not tell if I should trust him. I must however try, for I 
 have been sent for that purpose, and I must go alone. 
 
 That spirit discourages me. But there is another at some 
 distance before me that I can see, who beckons to me to 
 come. I will go over the bridge, though it looks very 
 dangerous. The scenery beyond is beautiful and grand. I 
 should have been satisfied to have viewed it from this dis- 
 tance, and would have returned, but the spirit before me 
 says " Come." 
 
 As I descend from the bridge it is steep and difficult, 
 but it is passed. I look back, and that which at the time 
 of crossing it appeared to be a steep and slippery bridge, 
 made of frail materials, of rotten and broker; timbers, tot- 
 tering, ready to fall, and with an abyss on each side of it, 
 is no longer the miserable structure I supposed. It is a 
 work worthy of the greatest architect. The foundations 
 are broad and strong, its proportions are graceful and true, 
 and it is built of the purest white material that ever met 
 my eyes. What is strange ! it is divided in the center by 
 a thin transparent partition. On t^ie right I see bright 
 forms crossing it ; on the left I see mortals crowding for- 
 ward. 
 
430 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 The bridge is new, and its beauty and strength have at- 
 tracted crowds from the adjoining land, and its singular 
 structure has excited the wonder of many spirits, and they 
 are flocking to see how well it is used. 
 
 The old and decayed appearance of the bridge was an 
 illusion. It seems to all who cross it that it is tottering, 
 and that they shall fall, and they have so little faith jn the 
 guides who lead, that it seems to them to be very danger- 
 ous, while it is really perfectl}^ safe. 
 
 There is an old man stands on the entrance of the bridge 
 who offers to every mortal who wishes to cross, a staff. I 
 notice that those who accept it, and hold it firm, cross in 
 safety, and without fear. 
 
 I asked him the meaning of this? and he says, smiling, 
 " Child of earth ! the staff I give is perfect faith. Those 
 who use the staff go safely, and without fear ; those who 
 use it not, slip and stumble in walking, or stand gazing at 
 the- evidences of decay, and tremble for their safety. 
 
 " Take in your hand the staff of faith, and it supports you 
 in the passage across the bridge." 
 
 
SPIBITUALI8M. 431 
 
 tdun Jfiftg-fifre. 
 
 Monday J May 15, 1854. 
 The circle met at my library. Through the Doctor the spirit of a 
 female, who died many years ago, began her autobiography as follows : 
 
 To the old, the recollections of childhood are the hap- 
 piest remains of life. Mine was a happy childhood, with 
 loving parents, kind and affectionate brothers and sisters. 
 I passed the early days of my life in almost uninterrupted 
 happiness. Ours was a noble house, and I was the eldest 
 daughter. I lived in the closest intercourse with my 
 mother, and I revered my father, for I loved him as he de- 
 served to be loved. 
 
 You all know how stern were the laws that gave con- 
 trol of the child to the parent in those days ; but rdy mind, 
 indulged in close and affectionate intercourse with my 
 parents, was permitted free range, untrammeled by any 
 fetters of domestic tyranny. Oh ! how I loved my father's 
 gentle voice ! How I loved my mother's gentle tones ! 
 and the years I passed on earth were an assurance how 
 affectionately I regarded my brothers and sisters. God ! 
 that the agony of earth should still cling to this heart, 
 shriveled as it has been by so many years of separation 
 from earth ! I lost my father and mother just as my mind 
 had begun to assume its own individuality. With him our 
 house tottered; but when my mother died, it fell pros- 
 trate. Canst thou not, oh my Father ! canst thou not yet 
 permit the agony to pass from me ? 
 
 I left my father's house ; my brotherst and sisters were 
 separated, some with one relative, some with another. I 
 went to my father's brother. Kindly he received me, gen- 
 
432 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 tlj and lovingly he treated me, brouglit me up as his 
 daughter, and gave me all the education the circumstances 
 and times permitted. His was an enlarged mind that was 
 in advance of his time. He saw far into the future, and 
 calculated the advantages I should derive from possessing 
 a mind educated, cultivated, and refined. I went into the 
 world, flattered, petted, sought after. I found no heart to 
 whose care I was willing to trust my own. But at length, 
 being on a visit to a friend, I there met him who was after- 
 ward my husband, and on him I lavished all the deep, 
 gushing affection of a heart that I thought knew how to 
 love. His indeed was a nature on which God had stamped 
 the image of some of his own attributes. Proud, yet not 
 haughty — noble and generous, yet impetuous and impas- 
 sioned — with a mind clear, distinct, and comprehensive, 
 quick, frank, confiding, tender as the summer morning's 
 breeze, yet so excitable, that his nature would become 
 clouded as the summer sky with the thunder storm, and yet 
 pass away like that summer cloud — every attribute was 
 beautified by the contrast. 
 
 He iQved me. Even now the wail of that spirit which I 
 sacrificed comes up before me, and I, silent, self-convicted, 
 hear it, and find no escape from the agony it inflicts. 
 
 I married this man. I knew his nature, but he did not 
 know mine. I thought I loved, and was willing to sacri- 
 fice my own happiness for the happiness of others, to sacri- 
 fice my feelings and desires for his gratification. 
 
 I thought my will should be exerted in contributing to 
 his advancement and welfare ; but oh! when his nature 
 was galled and excited and irritated by collision with the 
 world, instead of throwing oil on the waters, I added to the 
 tumult of passion. Oh ! how I could have guided him ; 
 and that love which I sacrificed might have been a guiding 
 star to my progress through eternity ! Oh ! the storms I 
 might have quieted ! the passions I might have soothed ! 
 His mind, stretched to its utmost te;nsion 'mid all his dis- 
 appointments and trials, turned to my love as the needle 
 
,X^ SPIRITUALISM. 433 
 
 to the north. My smile in his affliction I knew was like a 
 raj of sunshine to his heart for days. 
 
 Even when our child was grown up, and I in the middle 
 of life, I suffered my heart to be turned from child, from 
 husband, from God. I did not sin, but I suffered the opin- 
 ions and prejudices of another to worm themselves into my 
 mind, to change my affection, and take it away from him 
 whose life was in my smile. 
 
 Father ! thou hast vouchsafed to me, this night, tears ! 
 This spirit whose heart is marble, has found percolating 
 through its texture drops of water from its flinty heart — a 
 heart of stone dropping water ! And how, think you, that 
 noble man received the words with which I pierced the 
 gentlest, softest, noblest heart God ever gave to woman? 
 Conscious of his own imperfections — conscious of his 
 variableness and excitability, he said to me, "You have 
 crushed me ; but the love I bear you bids me hope, for 
 if wrong has been done, God himself who bids us live, 
 that we may repent, will justify my efforts and give me 
 comfort in your love at last. Wait, and this nature shall 
 be changed. I'll fashion my heart to suit your affec- 
 tion." 
 
 Pale and trembling, bowed down as he was, the hopes 
 of half a life blasted in one instant, I turned away and 
 told him, "ITever!" 
 
 And tliis man who had instilled his insidious poison into 
 my heart was scarce half mine own age ! 
 
 I can't go on ; some other time I will tell the rest. 
 
 Through Laura the following communication from the comedian Lis- 
 ten was given : 
 
 Sir, my life was an eventful one. It was a mixture of all 
 the scenes that pass before the human eye. I was born in 
 humble circumstances. My mother was a mother to me 
 indeed. My father was a stern, cold man, caring little for 
 his children, striking awe to their tender hearts when they 
 approached him, and yet there was affection in his heart 
 
 28 
 
434: SPIRITUALISM. " ^ ^ 
 
 for them, but they knew it not. I did not love him much. 
 I could not. 
 
 My childhood was spent like other children's. I was al- 
 lowed my own free will most of the time. And they 
 called me ''Funny Tom" — that was my nickname. 
 
 My father would often say, "Prayers, now," and that 
 was like a death-knell to us : we would fall down on our 
 tender knees, and our cuies would be elevated with his, 
 but our wishes would be leveled at his unfortunate head. 
 
 Thus was spent our childhood — not always on our knee- 
 joints though. I grew up, not caring for the future, hating 
 the sound of prayers — and well I might — for I always saw 
 fun in every thing ; when my father would flog me, I de- 
 rived infinite fun out of that even, for I pictured to myself 
 what a beautiful sight it must be to see a fat man sweating 
 over a dancing young one ! 
 
 I grew up hating what ought to have been loved, yet 
 with a heart throbbing with tender affection, longing for 
 some fond heart to rest upon, and as I passed on through 
 the world, I still felt that longing desire for something, 
 deeply and tenderly to love. 
 
 I saw in nature many beauties that satisfied for a time 
 that longing. I went forth into society. I was courted, 
 fondled, laughed at for my keen wit and satire. I found 
 friends everywhere, and I rushed on through life excited, 
 and enjoying the applause of man ; but when I returned 
 to my home in the still hours of the night, then I felt that 
 wit was not my happiness. I would go forth again the 
 next day with my heart bleeding — like a wanderer in 
 the desert, seeking for some cooling spring whereby to 
 quench my thirst ; and I would quell those feelings, cover 
 them up with a light, laughing manner, and the smile 
 would wreathe my lip, and joy pervade everywhere, 
 while my heart was weeping the keenest tears of sorrow 
 silently within. 
 
 I would hear my friends say, " "What a happy fellow ; 
 the world goes well with him !" The mockery of these 
 

 SPIRITUALISM. ■ 435 
 
 words was agony to my soul. I would rush forth into 
 dissipation, try to drown my cares, and appear to my near- 
 est friends the same as ever. I would go forth on to the 
 stage, and I enjoyed it. I entered into the very keenest 
 of the satire. I was happy while I was giving vent to my 
 mother wit. It afforded me excitement and pleasure — 
 more at times than at others, for I could -not always he 
 seeming ; it was not my nature. I had troubles in my own 
 home that well-nigh weighed me down, and I would leave 
 my domicil with an aching heart and go on to the stage ; 
 the curtain would rise, the house soon resound with laugh- 
 ter, and my buoyant spirit for a moment reign supreme. 
 For the time I would be happy, but when the curtain drop- 
 ped I fell too, and was the sad, gloomy man again. 
 
 I hated myself and the world, but I never expressed it. 
 I felt alone. I was happiest when in the society of the 
 truly refined and delicate, but then my life was such that 
 I felt out of place when in the society I most enjoyed. 
 I would rush forth into witticisms, and cover up the deep- 
 est feelings of the heart. I cursed the hour I was born. I 
 cursed myself, for I was not happy, and I knew not where 
 to find happiness. 
 
 Oh ! friends, you may see a smile on the stranger's face, 
 but it does not always speak the heart. 
 
 The call-boy^ is coming, and I must hasten away. 
 
 Sir, this is a long story, and I must give it in piece- 
 meals. I hope it will be of service. I will finish another 
 time — now it makes me too gloomy for the medium. 
 
 Here he closed, and through Mrs. Leeds it was said : 
 
 I see a bright angel descending, laden with a precious 
 treasure. He is robed in ethereal blue. On his brow is a 
 coronet of sparkling gems. He has a silver breastplate, 
 on which are letters of glittering, burning fire, and around 
 each letter is twined a vine. 
 
 He comes in majesty and glory, surrounded by a gor- 
 geous light. In his hand is a staff, glittering, sparkling, 
 
436 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 and bright. As he advances, majestically, beautifully, yet 
 humble in mien, his appearance is sublime. The letters 
 on his breastplate are Hope. 
 
 He speaks to me : " Child of earth ! I was in my happy 
 home, far away among the spirits of brightness and love, 
 and the w^ords came to me, * Arise ! leave thy happy 
 abode, and to earth. Thy companion. Truth, has gone 
 forth and is triumphing there. The angel of Love is 
 gently descending, following Truth. Mortals have greeted 
 their treasured gems and gathered them close to their 
 hearts, but they are mortals still. With truth they have 
 evil ; with love, hate ; and as Truth dawns on the soul, 
 Evil whispers his fiendish words, and makes them doubt. 
 As Love has gone forth. Hate has stepped in, severed the 
 links the bright spirits have woven, and made them doubt 
 each other's truth. JSTow thou must go forth. Mortals are 
 wcsary. They need more aid. Thou, beautiful one ! must 
 go forth and tell them the door is open for evil and for 
 good. Both have entered freely, and they are discouraged. 
 They have seen the evil and missed the good, and felt as if 
 there was no hope. 
 
 " But thou wilt whisper gentle words to them. Thou 
 wilt shower treasures on their hearts. Tell them to hope 
 through all ills — to hope on and ever. Thou hast been 
 sent by a Father's hand to bid them look forward to the fu- 
 ture. Though the ills of life may disturb them, there is 
 something beyond that will triumph over all.' 
 
 " I went forth the Angel of Hope. I come now to bid 
 mortals look forward to the future, and though evils may 
 creep in, to have charity, to watch with brotherly care that 
 the evil may be eradicated. 
 
 " May my influence cheer the wanderer. We three 
 will go hand in hand, and mortals will feel it. Love, 
 Hope, and Truth unite in singing, ^ The hand that made 
 us is divine.' " 
 
 There is another angel hovering near. He is clothed 
 in white, with a crown of lilies. His mantle is spangled 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 437 
 
 with stars. He is Charity. He says to man, " Take my 
 mantle, and though thy brother try thee, clasp it tighter to 
 thy heart !" 
 
 O ! could you see the spirits about you ! As I speak, 
 they are forming a happy band, singing praises, whisper- 
 ing blessed teachings, and praying you may receive their 
 lessons ; for remember, mortals ! God has willed it and 
 pronounced it good. 
 
 tttim J|}ftg-sii\ 
 
 Monday, May 22, 1854. 
 
 The circle met at Mr. Sweet's. The Belgian lady spoke through Dr. 
 Dexter as follows (it being a continuation of her story) : 
 
 It is not because the spirit feels and endures his own 
 suffering that he is punished. Suffer he must, from the 
 knowledge that he has sinned ; suffer he must, to feel that 
 he is cut off from the enjoyment of those scenes of happi- 
 ness that others partake of, but which he can not approach. 
 But more keen is the suffering, because he knows that the 
 whole spirit-world can see his sin written on his face, and 
 feel that his punishment is just. How I have suffered, no 
 one can tell ! "Where is the sun that used to shine so 
 brightly on my face, that every thing had the hue of 
 Heaven upon which its rays lighted ? Where is the carol 
 of the birds ? Where that beautiful music, which caught 
 on its dying strains the echoes of my own heart, and float- 
 ed in harmony up to God ? Where the trees — where the 
 flowers, I loved so well ? Great God ! where are those 
 whom thou gavest to me — precious, precious jewels ! my 
 
438 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 children? It seems as if I hear their wail coming even 
 now from above, reaching me here with a voice that never 
 can die, "Mother! mother! where are you? O, come to 
 us, leave us not, mother !" 
 
 I have a view of that which is before me. I see the 
 right — I see the path ! Just so I saw it when I was on 
 earth. Even now my soul asks of itself, Is this punish- 
 ment for wrong, or is it the working of that never-ending 
 principle that pervades nature everywhere— the principle 
 of reparation ? I am not punished, for there is no hand 
 that controls me — no hand that guides me ; and yet I can 
 not do otherwise than I do. O ! Thou whose resting-place 
 is in heaven — whose eye seeth all thy created works — 
 whose being is so pure and holy — whose law is so supreme 
 — whose power so infinite — whose love so great, and whose 
 mercy is never-ceasing ! if th6 agony of a suffering heart 
 can reach Thy throne. Father, forgive, forgive the erring 
 soul ! — erring — willful — bitterly willful ! — that will that 
 crushed every thing between it and heaven, and made 
 its step to hell out of the deepest feelings of its nature. 
 Erring ! So Satan might have erred, if he knew that 
 if he raised his hand, the unerring hand of God would 
 smite him. I was told that in spite of his knowledge he 
 raised his hand against his Creator ! What did I do less ? 
 Why, the long years I have groped in darkness so profound, 
 that not a ray of light penetrated it, was exquisite happi- 
 ness compared with the light that unsealed all the secrets 
 of my soul to the spirits around me ! You may talk of 
 patience— you may whisper words of gentlest consolation 
 to the drooping heart — but he that does a wrong, knowing 
 it to be wrong, and persisting in it, not only feels the fear- 
 ful consequences of that sin, but, in addition, there is the 
 whole weight of that heart's agony which he has wronged. 
 
SPIBIT.TTAAJJWv 439 
 
 uliffii Jfiftg-sthn. 
 
 Thursday^ May 25, 1854. 
 The circle met, and through Laura it was said : 
 
 I STAND on a plain. It is a green field, with short grass, 
 and on my left it extends like a prairie, far into the dis- 
 tance. Immediately in front of me is an immense mount- 
 ain, covered with short, green grass, which gradually as- 
 cends from where I stand. 
 
 The whole mountain has the appearance of a triangle, 
 round in front, but without a tree or shrub on it. There 
 is a pathway, which leads up the mountain straight to the 
 top, and on its summit stands the figure of a man. 
 
 There is a pale pink light all over the mountain that 
 comes from behind it, and casts its hue on the sky, and 
 fades off into a golden tint, and so on to a deep yellow. 
 • I look back, and see a mass of faces as far as the eye 
 can reach, and I hear a rustling sound as of many persons. 
 I look to the mountain again, and now I see the sun rising 
 slowly, high, bright, and clear, behind the man, and throw- 
 ing a splendid, bright, clear, pink light over the whole 
 scene. It is ascending higher and higher, and becomes 
 brighter and brighter. 
 
 I am directed to look beyond the mountain, and there I 
 see myriads of spirits approaching, bearing each some- 
 thing in his hand, and rapidly advancing. They come in 
 bands, and there is a bright white light around them. The 
 rustling sound grows louder. 
 
 I am now told to look to the left, and there I see a spirit 
 approaching, holding in his hand a scroll, on which is writ- 
 ten, " Liberty of Thought." To the right I see a banner, far 
 distant, but approaching. On it- are words in gold within 
 
440 
 
 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 a myrtle wreath, " God is Truth. Onward ! still onward ! 
 for Truth shall prevail. Hope on ! Hope ever !" 
 
 And now I hear the softest music, gentle, rich, melodi- 
 ous, indescribable — not instrumental, but rich enough to be 
 so. I ask what it is ? and the spirit answers, " Child of 
 Earth ! 'tis the voice of prayer, blending and resounding 
 through space, which in this gentle, harmonious manner 
 wafts its way to the Godhead." 
 
 And now all is hushed, and I see two figures on the hill. 
 He who came last has a scroll, on which is written, " Else ! 
 thy faith has made thee whole. Thou art a leper no 
 longer." The other, with his hand uplifted, speaks thus : 
 " Mortals ! brothers ! you see the rising orb before you — 
 you see the light penetrates space. Arise from your dark- 
 ness. Behold the light of heaven which is for one and 
 all ! See the armies of God's messengers hastening to the 
 rescue. Arise ! Gird on the armor of courage ! Behold 
 that banner ! Ponder on its words, and forward ! for this 
 mount must be ascended, in order to see the fair scene far 
 beyond it. Let your voices be blended harmoniously in 
 one universal praj^er for light and truth, and the restless 
 murmur which now pervades you be turned into a song of 
 rejoicing to Him who said. Let there be light." 
 
 ITow I am borne away from this scene, and I feel a 
 grateful perfume. I ask what it is ? and it is answered, 
 "See you not flowers springing up everywhere? Read 
 what they say, ' Charity to all and for all. Hope ! cour- 
 age ! faith ! Love for all. Throw the mantle of charity 
 over every one, for it covereth a multitude of sins. Act 
 each for thyself Heed well these simple lessons, for in 
 their simplicity there is much weight, and the perfume of 
 thy daily acts shall ascend a grateful incense to Him who 
 has given thee these flowers. Away to earth again. Give 
 what thou hast seen, and heed the lesson well." 
 
 Afterward through me this was given : 
 
 From Heaven's high throne the word has gone forth. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 441 
 
 From the inconceivable brightness around the great I AM, 
 flashing in its dazzling radiance, the mandate has issued, 
 " The work of man's redemption has begun, and it shall be 
 finished." 
 
 Peters may deny, Judases may betray, the affrighted 
 herd, terrified at the cruel cry of " Crucify him ! crucify 
 him !" may flee at the approach of danger, but one will 
 again be found to plant the cross on the summit of Mount 
 Calvary, as a beacon light to future ages, though he bear it 
 alone, and there water it in his own life-blood. 
 
 You, who are chosen ministers of this great Truth, are 
 free to labor or to flee. 
 
 If you flee, calculate first the consequences to yourselves 
 and to those who have intrusted you with their confidence 
 and love. 
 
 If you labor, let it be with stout hearts and unfearing 
 minds. Let not the toils, the trials, or the temptations of 
 life impede you, and to you be all the glory. 
 
 And know ye all that it is not for yourselves ye toil, but 
 for Him whose ministering servants ye are, and for the 
 countless hosts of immortal beings who in future ages will 
 approach His throne, redeemed by His love through your 
 ministration. 
 
44:2 . SPIEITUALISM, 
 
 Butian Jiiftg-tigljt 
 
 Tuesday, May 30, 1854. 
 The circle met, and through Mrs. Leeds, as medium, " The History 
 of a Philosopher," as he called himself, was given as follows : 
 
 I WAS 80 bitter to the human race that I led a secluded 
 life — a hermit in every sense of the word. I grew up sav- 
 age to meet an eternal God. I was bred in affluence, and 
 my parents left me a heritage. I was courted. They called 
 me manly-looking, and added the appendage, intellectual. 
 I met, at twenty-three years of age, a lady, not fair to look 
 upon, but she was intellectual, graceful, and all I wished 
 her to be. I lavished all my affections upon her. She 
 took them, and I thought her the beau-ideal of perfection. 
 I was sure she would sympathize with me, and take my 
 last breath when leaving the world. One day, walking in 
 the garden (I remember it weIl-1), I saw her and a friend 
 on a balcony approaching the sp'ot where I was. I stood 
 behind a tree, unobserved by them. They came and sat 
 down by the tree. I intended in a moment to step out, 
 and amid the chat appear before them ; but I heard her 
 say to her friend, " I could love him better, but he is too 
 lavish with his affections ; it is almost insipid." I turned. 
 The serpent was in me. I had no more love for her. My 
 brain reeled. I know not what else she said. I had heard 
 enough. There was only one human being that I still 
 loved — that was a companion of nay youth. My brain 
 reeled with madness. I passed on, and the lady was never 
 troubled with my affections. When the rose withered, she 
 withered. I know not what became of her, and care less. 
 I plunged into dissipation, 'from sin to sin, with my friend. 
 I played deeply. He was always my friend. Reckless, I 
 stumbled and fell. One word from him would have saved 
 
SPIEITUALISM. '^^4B 
 
 me from destruction ; but no ! he turned from me also — 
 left me poor, degraded, and disgraced. Tliere was no 
 one human hand to stretch out and say, "Be of good 
 cheer." I traveled bare-footed until I reached the summit 
 of a hill which overlooked a city ; I looked around and bid 
 farewell to all mankind. I led a hermit's life, and treated 
 the human race as scorpions or adders, and if thej passed 
 my hut and were thirsty, I did not aid them. No ! a drop 
 of water was too cool to give. I would have sooner given 
 a coal of fire to make their misery more ! So I lived — so I 
 passed into eternity, not expecting to have my eyes opened 
 to any thing of a future life. 'No I annihilation, I thought, 
 was man's destiny. I acknowledged a First Cause, but 
 naught else. At fifty years of age I was launched into 
 eternity, and the first that met my gaze were friends I had 
 left on earth whom I had hoped never to meet again. I 
 was taken with despair and remorse of conscience. I was 
 amazed. I looked upon myself — enough ! for the serpent 
 was stinging me. I was clothed in the human form. What ! 
 was I not dead ? Had not I gone ? "Was I in a phren- 
 sy ? Was it imagination ? I know not how long I thus 
 mused, when I was conducted to the earth. I looked and 
 saw a form clothed with raga and vermin. I looked and 
 saw I was living, and seemed to have a body still, and in 
 anguish I cried, " Oh, is there no death or grave ? I am, 
 then, with my kind again ; but I see no plain to retire to 
 from all around me," for I was surrounded by adders in 
 human form, and oh, what a hell ! Your imaginations 
 could not picture such a hell. Twenty years have I been 
 here, and the first ray of hope that dawned on me was 
 but a short time ago. My mother ! my mother has given 
 me three flowers ; I have not seen her, but I know it must 
 be her. When I drank deep of anguish, I saw a flower in 
 my path, and on the leaves were written the word " Hope." 
 After many of your days I found another flower. On it 
 was written, "Your mother." I cried in my soul, "Come 
 to me, my mother !" After waiting long, another came to 
 
4AA SPIEITITALISM. 
 
 me, on which was written, '' Catch at the ray of light, and 
 you shall see your mother." In my loneliness I saw a dis- 
 tant ray of light and a form pointing ; I followed by in- 
 stinct, as the hound follows the hunt. I knew not for what 
 I came. It was to earth, among mortals again, I was to min- 
 gle, and tell them of my fate, in order to reach my mother. 
 I was told I must come gently. I was attracted to you, 
 my young friend. I liked not the instrument, because she 
 awakened in me an interest. I did not want to find another 
 of her sex to feel interested in. Then came another flower, 
 which said, "Tell your griefs to mortals, for by it you 
 shall progress, and we will travel on together." 
 
 I came to you, first telling you of my being by the sea- 
 side. "Watching the ocean, and taking up a pebble, I 
 would throw it into the water, and as I threw it, it would 
 make a circle, and thus I philosophized: "Thus it is with 
 the human race, soon to be no more ; they will soon be 
 gathered to their fathers." But I find it difi'erent ; for 
 what you leave undone on the land which your God giveth 
 you, you must do when in eternity. He gives you talents 
 and every faculty, and if Jiot well used, and your duties 
 fulfilled, he sends you to earth to perform them yet. I 
 hear a voice, and it says, "And in thus coming, you will 
 engender better feelings, and you will learn to feel affec- 
 tion for the human kind. 'Tis even so," she says, "and 
 you will wish to do them good, and when you shall save 
 one soul you shall be raised from despondency to the sum- 
 mit of a hill." I shall come again to finish. Had I but 
 stretched forth my hand to save a child, even in tlie streets, 
 from harm, or allayed one pang, this would not have been 
 my fate. My mother has sent another flower, on which is 
 written, " Have patience and hope, my son." My name 
 was Bernard Carlisle, of Freyburg, Germany. My mother 
 was Scotch, and my father a German. 
 
 Through Laura, the spirit of Queen Elizabeth of England came and 
 said : 
 
 I have rode in state, and cut down tlie noblest of souls, 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 445 
 
 men and women ; and now the beggar, that looked on me 
 with awe, is far above me. 
 
 If all monarchs knew their fate here, they would be as 
 humble as the meanest peasant. 
 
 I was reared unfortunately for myself and my nation. 
 In nly y^outh I had all the feelings, all the tenderness of 
 girlhood. Few thought it. But my father's proud, stern 
 nature was in me, and as years advanced, his pride grew in 
 me ; the affections were quenched, and I became an ice- 
 berg. 
 
 I ascended a throne with many good impulses and inten-- 
 tions, but some around me took advantage of my weak- 
 ness and betrayed me, and then I became hardened. They 
 called me Good Queen Bess, their much-loved sovereign, 
 but I saw beneath it the dark current of hatred, and my 
 heart hat-ed in return. 
 
 Tliere was a fair daughter, reared in luxury, who was my 
 bane. I slept not at night for thinking of her who could 
 easily supplant me, not on the throne, but in hearts I would 
 fain have h^td love me. She' came to claim her crown. I 
 little thought in depriving her of an earthly crown I was 
 giving her a resplendent, heavenly one that I could never 
 take away. 
 
 What atoms are men ! They think they are moving na- 
 tions — performing mighty deeds. When laid in the dust, 
 they will see to what small things they were turning their 
 attention. 
 
 I lived a reckless life, yet within me was a still, small 
 voice, saying, " Beware." Years rolled on — laws were 
 made — deeds done — would they had never, been done ! 
 And I saw my rival laid in the dust at my command, and 
 I gloried. But peace was never mine from that hour. 
 'Twas hell on earth. History too truly tells my character 
 — too truly records my deeds. I can not bear to look on 
 the past, but I must tell my story, in order to progress. 
 
 The day came when my sun was to set, and truly it set, 
 as I thought, never to rise again. I withered away like 
 
4A:Q SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 the merest shrub. I, the Queen of England, died like other 
 mortals; I had to sink into the grave. I found myself 
 dying, and with what horror 1 thought of leaving life ! for 
 in my youth I had been taught the Catholic faith, yet found 
 many things more acceptable in the Protestant faith, and 
 scarcely knew where I stood when on the threshold of 
 life. 
 
 My subjects flocked around me. I felt there were many 
 who sorrowed ; but I had sinned against God, and what 
 was my crown to me? I heard them say, "She's going — 
 •send the tidings." I could have got up and throttled 
 them. 
 
 Breath left me, and, horrors on horrors ! I found mj^self 
 in a dark, dreary region. I heard voices in every direc- 
 tion, but not the soothing ones my soul craved. 
 
 I saw spirits garbed in dark colors approaching me, and 
 who, do you think, was their leader ? Tall and command- 
 ing, but sorrowful, and coming with all the passions of 
 man — 'twas my father! I could have groveled in the 
 earth, and hid my face, for I beheld I was darker than he, 
 and he was dark enough. 
 
 They spoke to me, hissed in my ears, and some said, 
 *' Where is good Queen Bess now?" I saw at a distance 
 a beautiful spirit coming toward me. I could have sunk 
 into a chasm. You can guess who it was — it was the saint- 
 ed Mary of Scots. She was the first to offer me a heavenly 
 crown. She stood ready with it in her hand. That was 
 more punishment to me than being in such a dark, dreary 
 home. Yet I felt her gentle influence and her silvery 
 voice, and I did not resist her or go with those who were 
 hissing in my ears and coaxing me on. She saw in my 
 |houghts the wavering state of my soul, and she said, 
 /' " Sister, arise ! I await thee. My love ! despair not ; 
 there is hope for all." And again came all the beautiful, 
 pure impulses of my childhood, and with them humility 
 and remorse, and I crouched at her feet and wept. She 
 still stood there, and other bright spirits flocked around 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 44:f 
 
 her. Some I knew. They would . not leave me. My fa- 
 ther stood anxiously looking as if his fate depended on 
 mine. A crowd of bright spirits flocked around him, took 
 him by the hand, and we ascended together ; and slowly 
 have I ascended since, but that bright spirit has never left 
 me. I could not progress fast, I had so many earthly feel- 
 ings. I felt I was a queen. How it retards progress ! As 
 I go on, I leave the queen behind. All grows brighter, 
 but what a distance I have yet to climb! And spirits 
 have told me that, to climb faster, I must return and 
 review my life, and do what- I had never done — some 
 good. 
 
 Now I must leave you. This night will be eventful for 
 me, for I shall have taken a step onward. And when you 
 think of spirits, think of unfortunate Queen Bess, and pray 
 for her — you'll all have brighter crowns. I hope to meet 
 you one day. Farewell. 
 
 ^uiion Jfiftg-nint 
 
 West Roxbury, Mass., 
 Saturday Evening^ August 19, 1854 
 
 \ 
 
 This evening a circle was held, consisting of the Doctor, Mrs. Hall, 
 of this place, Mrs. Leeds, of Boston, my daughter, my niece, and my- 
 self. And it was written through Dr. Dexter, that Washington wished 
 to speak to me. And then through me it was spoken : 
 
 Of what moment would be a revelation from the high 
 court of Heaven itself to man if it were not to affect and 
 control his daily walk in life? Of what value would be a 
 religion that is assumed as a holyday garment only, and laid 
 
44:8 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 aside 'mid the daily duties of your earthly existence, or that 
 would consist in mere profession without action? How im- 
 perfect and unavailing the regeneration of the human heart, 
 unless it were shadowed forth in your every act ! If the 
 great object of the mighty movement which is now upturn- 
 ing the foundations of the moral world, is to prepare man- 
 kind during their primary existence for an eternal one, then 
 it must, in the very nature of tilings, in order to be eifectual, 
 stamp its impress upon every thought of the mind, on every 
 feeling of the heart, on every act of the outer and inner 
 man. In all his relations, domestic or public, civil or relig- 
 ious, aifecting himself alone or in connection with his fel- 
 low-man, its influence must be felt, and must be all-power- 
 ful. Man's regeneration can not be confined within the 
 limits of profession, can not be circumscribed by a portion 
 only of his earthly duties, but it must reach every act, 
 must extend over every relation, must embrace every duty. 
 How otherwise can this life be a preparation for an eternal 
 one ? How can man fitly prepare himself for the countless 
 ages of eternity, if his primary lesson be devoted more to 
 his material gratification than his spiritual elevation ? How 
 if he at the same time attempts to serve the world with its 
 perversions and sinful propensities, and with only an equal 
 devotion dedicates himself to his higher moral duties to his 
 great Creator ? Nay, it can not be, and one of the fallacies 
 which have flowed from the evils and misdirections of the 
 past, one of the false teachings which have sprung from 
 the same womb that has given birth to the infidelity that 
 is so wide-spread among men, that it has traveled with its 
 twin-sister down the stream of time, is the dogma that 
 Religion and Government have no connection with each 
 other. 
 
 : The government that repudiates the dictates of religion, 
 that repels from its action the moral lessons which descend 
 from heaven to earth, can not look to realms above for its 
 origin or its inspiration, nor can it claim the aid of the 
 bright and holy spirits who in obedience to His will are 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 449 
 
 now shedding his light abroad on the human heart. The 
 government that refuses to acknowledge the higher moral 
 influences that are ever at work among men, builds its 
 foundation on the sand, and invokes to its destruction the 
 frightful current of selfishness, violence, and corruption, 
 which have so long marked the dominant powers of the 
 old world, and have already made a frightful inroad upon 
 those institutions built by your fathers of the last century 
 amid prayer and thanksgiving to God. ^o wonder that 
 the happy land, where freedom hath her abiding-place- 
 echoes now so loudly with the iron tread of the slave- 
 holder. Xo wonder that the power and position of your 
 rulers are held up to your people as the spoils of a sacked 
 city to gratify cupidity, and to corrupt the hearts of the 
 people. 'No wonder that the sacred fane of your freedom to 
 which the -eyes of the world have so long been directed, and 
 around which cluster the hopes of your spirit-fathers gone 
 before, is polluted by the presence of the money-changers.- 
 No wonder that again is demanded some fearless one to 
 overthrow their tables and purify the holy temple of God. 
 No wonder that alienation in the hearts of your people has 
 taken the place of that brotherly love which once marked 
 you as a united people ! !N"o wonder that discord has 
 • stalked abroad in your land, and seated itself in the high 
 places by the side of power, and held it trembling in its 
 seat. Ko wonder that now, broadcast in the hearts of the 
 nation is a feeling of despondency in reference to the future. 
 1^0 wonder that men are calculating the value of your 
 union as they would the value of cattle in your markets.. 
 InTo wonder that the enemies of freedom throughout the 
 world, and in the spirit-land too, are gloating over the 
 scene of corruption, of slavery, of discord, which my un- 
 happy country now presents in the presence of man and 
 God. 
 
 Oh ! could you feel ; oh ! could you see the anguish that 
 wrings the hearts of those who toiled to make you free and 
 happy— could you witness the gloom which the prospect 
 
 29 
 
4:50 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 of the future casts over their minds — could you behold the 
 sad anxiety which now pervades the spirits of countless 
 hosts who are engaged in this mighty work — could you 
 feel as we feel the dark cloud that ascends from your midst 
 to Heaven, bearing toward his throne the impress of man's 
 most evil passions, and repelling from your midst the holier 
 and purer aspirations that are ready to descend upon you, 
 you would start back appalled at the prospect, and lifting 
 up your hands and hearts as we do to the throne of the 
 most high God, you would unite with us in beseeching 
 him to have mercy yet on our common country, and on 
 mankind ; beseeching him to drive far from you the de- 
 stroying angel that is reveling in your midst, sapping to 
 their foundations the institutions which were consecrated 
 by our blood and our toil. Deeply interested in the wel^ 
 fare of my country, bound up as my heart even yet is in 
 the continuance of its freedom ; looking on its institutions 
 as the great fountain of freedom that was yet to flow over 
 the whole earth, I ask myself, "Where now is the spirit 
 that made us free?" and from dark and dismal depths 
 alone a voice answers, " Here, buried beneath the load of 
 oppression and selfishness which has- grown up and over- 
 whelmed us." The voice that once proclaimed freedom, 
 and sent its glad shout through illimitable space to the 
 footstool of God, and brought thence its echo proclaiming 
 emancipation and happiness to man, is now but faintly 
 heard beneath the overwhelming load that is heaped upon 
 it, and drowned as it is by the clanking chains of the 
 slave and the lash of his master, fail to keep pace even 
 with the dark cloud your corruption has sent up. 
 
 Standing high amid the light which falls from Heaven's 
 throne, and casting my view back to the spot I love so 
 well, I look in vain for the bright and beautiful light that 
 ascended when I did, and bore me companionship in my 
 passage to the realms of the blest. Oh, think not, my 
 friends, that this is fancy's sketch. Deem not that it is a 
 picture of a diseased imagination. It is a sad reality in 
 
SPIEITTJALISM. 451 
 
 your very midst, witnessed by God, by spirits, and by 
 men ; mourned over by the good, exulted over by the 
 evil, and casting over the prospects of the future its dark 
 and gloomy cloud. Ask yourselves if it is not so ? Ask 
 your hearts to speak their fears as to the future? Ask 
 the enemies of freedom upon earth ? Ask the down-trod- 
 den millions who have ever looked to you as their bea- 
 con light, and see if there will not come up from all 
 these sources one general response. " Alas ! alas ! it is 
 true." And if it is, upon what foundation do you rest an 
 expectation that your nation and its cause can merit the 
 favor of God ? Upon what basis can you build your hopes 
 of its perpetuity, and what is there to keep burning before 
 the world the light of your freedom which we kindled for 
 man? 
 
 The high destiny prepared for my country, its onward 
 progress toward eminence and happiness, the influence of 
 its example on the world, the spread of its important lesson 
 of self-government, where now are they ? Spread abroad 
 on the face of this vast continent, flourishing in full vigor 
 of young manhood ? Answer me, for ye yourselves know. 
 For our part, instead of hearing the voice of your happi- 
 ness, your virtue, and freedom ascending from a thousand 
 altars and meeting us on our approach to earth, we have 
 to dive down through the dark clouds you send up, and 
 exhume it from the prison-house in which your perversions 
 have pent it up, and unless your downward progress can 
 be arrested, unless you can be returned to the purity with 
 which you started, unless the heart of the nation can be 
 awakened to the fearful prospect that is before it, better 
 far would it be that the land should again become the hab- 
 itation of the wild man of the forest, and the beasts on 
 which he preyed. Better far that it should be so, than 
 that now, when the corrupt and crumbling institutions of 
 absolutism throughout the world are tottering to their 
 very foundations, the appeal of the oppressed of other 
 lands can meet no response from this. Better far that the 
 
452 SPIEITtJALISM. 
 
 pestilence which walks at noonday should sweep through 
 your habitations, than that you should be incapable of 
 cheering on their upward way the oppressed of other lands 
 on whom freedom is fast dawning. 
 
 Oh ! I once thought that when this time should come 
 (and well did my prophetic soul know it would come), that 
 then my beloved country would stand out in the face of 
 mankind a bright and shining light, not only proclaiming 
 throughout the world the reality of freedom, but pointing 
 the way to its sacred temple ; that it should stand at its 
 very portals prepared to assist their feeble steps up its toil- 
 some ascent, and welcoming them to the fellowship of free- 
 dom and the emancipation of man. 
 
 Then through the Doctor it was written : 
 
 This first part of our treatise on government, as the pre- 
 amble to fact, is most finished. "Washington says he then 
 wishes to give you a vision of what exists here, to draw 
 the comparison with earth, and then shadow forth the true 
 government that ought to rule in your land. 
 
 Baoon. 
 
8PIBITUALISH. . 453 
 
 Sediffu ^i^tg. 
 
 West Roxbury, Aug. 21, 1854. 
 The circle being assembled, through Dr. Dexter it was said : 
 
 The progressive demonstration of the works of God is 
 better evidence of his power than though he had finished 
 them at once. Had the world been entirely finished, there 
 would have been no new developments. IsTature, instead 
 of putting forth new forms and shapes, and every new 
 form and shape manifesting an attribute in advance, would 
 have gradually decayed, gradually retrograded, and thus, 
 at this period of the world's history, the whole of its sur- 
 face, and even its depths, might have been in a stage of 
 decay. t - 4" 
 
 One of the higher pu^oses which the Creator has mani- 
 fested in his design is the ability, the power, inherent in 
 every created thing, to exist, as it were, by the very prin- 
 ciples of its creation. Thus, instead of the world's decay- 
 ing, instead of its mighty mountains crumbling to dust and 
 disappearing from the surface of the earth, whatever change 
 takes place in matter, it always enters into some new form 
 of combination, or the constituent of old combinations, and 
 thus lives, grows, develops, generates, by the inherent prop- 
 erties or principles of its creation. 
 
 This is evidence, too, of the great power of Him who 
 fashioned every thing. And it is no more singular in ref- 
 erence to inanimate matter than to animate matter, that 
 this principle of inherent progression is visible in every 
 animal which has existed or does exist on the face of this 
 globe. 
 
 Singular as it may appear, and the remark may be trite. 
 
464 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 for the fact exists on your earth, there are men, learned 
 men, too, who deny the possibility of any progressive de- 
 velopment either in animals or matter. And yet were it 
 possible for man to penetrate into all parts of the earth, 
 to examine every locality, every situation which offers any 
 inductions of interest, were it possible for him to separate 
 from the strata in which they are imbedded the fossil re- 
 mains of the earliest animals which lived on this globe, 
 and trace their comparative advance and progress in the 
 scale of existence from that period up to this time, it would 
 satisfy the most skeptical, that where one animal has been 
 developed as the germ, that animal has, in the progress of 
 advancement of time and circumstance, put forth new at- 
 tributes and assumed new combinations within itself, and 
 thus has gone on increasing, progressing, step by step, 
 until this day. 
 
 But the question arises in our minds. What is all this for ? 
 Can you show us, in comparison with man or animals, any 
 other part of nature which progresses in the same way ? 
 Yes, the answer is very simple. There is not a department 
 of nature, animal or vegetable or mineral, that is not in- 
 delibly stamped with proof of its progressive advance, and 
 what is also the fact, that the different climates, modes of 
 culture, and soil, in which they may be planted, so modify, 
 so change the original nature of the vegetable, that when 
 a vegetable indigenous to India is transplanted to Canada — 
 if you can make it live in another climate — in the course 
 of a few years it assumes distinguishing characteristics 
 that entirely divest it of any semblances to its former ap- 
 pearance and attributes. So with the animal, whether you 
 take the fox, or go from the fox to man. The farther you 
 go north, the more do these animals, corresponding to the 
 same genera or species in warm climates, change their ex- 
 ternal features so as scarcely to be recognized. 
 
 Again, the question is suggested to your minds. Why is 
 this so? I answer, that to the inquiring mind, to the 
 searcher after truth, it was this display, these evidences of 
 
SPIEITTTALISM. 466 
 
 external progress in material things, that was the hand-book 
 in which might be read the same condition of things exist- 
 ing beyond this world. 
 
 The question, too, is asked. How far back into the years 
 which have passed since the earth was fit for man's abode 
 shall we go for the first evidences of man's existence ? at 
 what period of time did man first stand on this earth, so 
 much in advance of all created things, and so much more 
 omnipotent than any other animal by the possession of a 
 living soul ? If we plunge into earth's center and raise 
 the deepest strata there buried to the surface, we find the 
 time is not indicated there. Descend ocean's depths, and 
 its dark bosom gives back no answer to the inquiry we 
 make. Ascend the highest mountain, the evidences there 
 are still barren of answer. Go where we will, seek whete 
 we will, we can not tell at what period of time man made 
 his first appearance on earth. 
 
 To the really shrewd and analytical mind — one that 
 searches, investigates, and compares, man, boasting and 
 boasted man, he who claims to rule the earth by the pow- 
 er of his mind and his affinity with God by the connection 
 of his spirit, would seem, by the variety of properties 
 which he manifests, the similarity of attributes and pas- 
 sions which he indicates, to have been the joint product of 
 the aggregate development of every animal that lives and 
 breathes on earth; for in the vast and multiplied demon- 
 strations of his mind, in his anger, his revenge, his lusts, 
 and desires ; his cunning, his ingenuity, his boldness, and 
 courage ; his craftiness and hypocrisy ; in his affections 
 and his jealousies"; in his envy and his pride, he assuredly 
 gives evident token that he has something of almost every 
 animal in his combination that lives and dies on earth. 
 
 ^•>>' OP TFm 
 
4:56 SPIBITTTALISM. 
 
 tcikn 5i^tg-ont. 
 
 West Roxbury, Aug. 22, 1854. 
 
 At a meeting of the circle this day, through the Doctor it was said, 
 as from Lord Bacon : 
 
 Whether it can be proved to a positive demonstration 
 that man was the product of this progressive principle, 
 existing everywhere in nature, I know not. What spirit 
 ranging now either through bright and beautiful fields of 
 the holy spheres or the dark and gloomy habitations of 
 the evil, can point to that time in the history of the world's 
 progress when man, as the result of these inherent innate 
 powers, sprang forth like a flower opening his attributes — '■ 
 his mind — to the reception of truth, and appropriating 
 those powers to the government of animals and matter 
 around him ? 
 
 Certain it is, that as in the logic of the schools of my 
 day and of the present day, the argument by analogy was 
 considered the most perfect and conclusive, so, as we can 
 not by positive proof show the time or the progress of 
 man's development, we have the right to rest our argument 
 on the analogies which bear so forcibly and which con- 
 nect so powerfully every event in the chain of circumstan- 
 ces, from creation's first manifestations to the present hour. 
 
 I reverted yesterday to the idea, that if all the intentions 
 and designs of God had been accomplished, perfected, fin- 
 nished, man, instead of evidencing his connection with 
 God and the powers and attributes which characterize him 
 through his works, would have made no more advance in 
 the scale of existence than has or does any animal around 
 him. Suppose the work was accomplished, was done — 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 467 
 
 that nature had yielded her fruit and the ripened seed was 
 dropping to the ground — what then ? Was there a new 
 existence to spring up ? Were there new properties and 
 powers to be developed ? Were there new organizations 
 to be created ? No, the work was ended, and every time the 
 principle had accomplished its object the end had come ! 
 
 Kow let your minds contemplate the effect this would 
 have produced on man's physical, material, mental, moral, 
 civil, and political advance, l^atnre having finished her 
 labors, came trembling and faltering, shriveled and de- 
 crepit as an old man to the grave. 'No young life bearing 
 up within itself, and creating new existences as the old 
 ones passed away. 'No spring-time, with its budding leaves 
 and blossoming flowers, but existence had passed over the 
 earth, and wherever its footsteps trod, death marked its 
 pi'ogress. No ! man then would have lived in caves and 
 clefts of the rock. The work was done. What chance was 
 there for progress ? What chance that the Godlike attri- 
 butes of his mind should have stamped their image even 
 on creation's progress itself? Dwelt in caves and clefts 
 of the rocks ? Ay ! he would have been the companion, 
 the associate, by the properties he would have developed, 
 of the very beasts who had their habitations in the same 
 places with him. jN'o proud temple would have reared its 
 towers to heaven. !N"o broad and beautiful fields would 
 have blossomed with his handiwork. IsTo ships would 
 have crossed the ocean. ITo railroads would have spanned 
 your earth. No paintings, the evidences of the Godlike 
 capacities of man's mind, would have imaged forth the in- 
 ventive and conceptive beauties of his mind. No machines 
 would have been invented to lessen the labor of his hands.. 
 No government would have been instituted. No sciences 
 would have originated. Earth and men would have grown 
 old the moment they were born. 
 
 Think you that the germs which are reflected from the 
 great principle, the Father of us all, when sent to earth to 
 mingle there with the bodies of men, would not have re- 
 
458 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 turned to him who sent them, and said to him, "Father 1 
 thy work is ended there, what need of us ?" 
 
 Stand ye here on this high mount and look back on the 
 picture I have drawn. Each morning sun would have 
 arisen later ; the evening shades would have grown dark- 
 er ; the decaying forest ; the crumbling mountains ; the 
 rivers shortened in their course, and lessened in depth ; 
 the ocean contracting its vast waters ; the sun shorn of its 
 brightness, and the moon casting no reflection ; the stars 
 refusing to twinkle their light; where once the rose-tree 
 blossomed, yielding no more flowers forever ; where earth 
 had once yielded her treasures of grain and corn, no seed 
 germinating in its barren womb again. Man, earth, beasts, 
 creation — all would have given but one dim flash of its 
 Creator's power, and then shrank back into the constituents 
 of which they had been fashioned. 
 
 Look you again at the picture. Springing into life as 
 the race-horse, who springs forward to reach the goal be- 
 fore him, every advance toward that end but increases his 
 power and his speed. 
 
 So with creation. JSTo spear of grass waved by the way- 
 side but felt the necessity of companionship. No tree that 
 sprung up but bore within itself the power to germinate its 
 kind. No flower opened its petals to the breeze but drop- 
 ped its seeds, and there sprung up its brother and its sis- 
 ter. The birds which kissed its blushing leaves bore to 
 other localities the seeds which they stole in that embrace, 
 and dropped them, there to germinate, to grow, and to 
 blossom into beauty and grace. No ray from the bright 
 god of day fell on the earth but what it nourished into life 
 a thousand forms, a thousand new germinations. Each day 
 the sun rose brighter and brighter, for each day developed 
 new creations, new existences. Not a drop of rain that fell 
 on earth's surface but infused this principle throughout its 
 very depths. 
 
 Through me, and from the spirit of Washington, it was then said : 
 There is no perversion more firmly seated in the minds 
 
SPIBITTJALISM. 4:69 
 
 of my countrymen — none more injurious — none that is cal- 
 culated to be more lasting in its effects, than that which 
 attaches to the purposes of government the idea of aug- 
 menting wealth alone, or, in other words, that the chief end 
 of government is to increase the wealth of the community. 
 
 Appealing, as that idea does, to the selfish propensities 
 of the human heart, binding man in subjection by the 
 cords of corruption, it has been cherished, fostel-ed, and 
 propagated by those who, clothed with power, have ever 
 cared to exercise it rather for themselves than others ; and 
 it has been the chief instrument of maintaining the fatal 
 fabric of absolutism in all ages of the world. It has been 
 most effective in enthralling man, and binding him in sub- 
 mission to the domination of his fellows. 
 
 Throw your mind back on the history of the past, and be- 
 hold how frequent and successful has been the appeal of 
 power, on the part of the governors, to the cupidity of the 
 governed. It has laid at the foundation of all tyranny; 
 has characterized the structures which absolutism has 
 raised, and has ever stood in the way of the progress of 
 true freedom. And even when freedom has leaped the foul 
 barrier and moved abroad among men with cheering hope, 
 it has often been arrested in its progress and turned aside 
 from its high and holy purposes by this same appeal. It 
 has been with anxious solicitation that in all countries and 
 in all times the apologists for arbitrary power have incul- 
 cated this principle as most vital, and as the end and aim 
 of government. 
 
 It is not alone amid the shadows of absolutism that it has 
 found its home ; it has stolen into the temple of Freedom 
 and taken up its abiding-place even in the presence of 
 its holy altar, mingling its selfish aspirations with the 
 prayer for liberty that would otherwise have ascended un- 
 tainted — mixing its polluted breath with the incense that 
 would otherwise have arisen in grateful perfume, and unit- 
 ing its discordant cry with the cheering song of liberty 
 among men. 
 
460 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 Its deformity hidden bj the disguise which man's per- 
 verted vision has rendered practicable, it has too often 
 been welcomed as a fitting guest in the mansion of Free- 
 dom, and been warmed into life by its fires, until it has 
 been able to strike in its fangs and diffuse its poison on all 
 around. 
 
 Unable, openly, to withstand the onward march of free- 
 dom which has sprung from man's progressive advance- 
 ment, it has "stolen the livery of Heaven" to serve the 
 purposes of evil, and covertly worked its way and infused 
 its poison until the bloated and corrupted mass of human- 
 ity has yielded to its silent inroads, even while boasting of 
 its victory over its open attacks. Stealthily, silently, yet 
 with the tenacity of death, it has wound its way into the 
 very body of Freedom, substituting the convulsions of dis- 
 ease for natural action, the hectic of consumption for the 
 glow of health, the appearance of prosperity for its reality. 
 
 Such have been its inroads in my country ; and as time 
 has rolled on, casting around her institutions the protecting 
 embrace of power and permanency, the invasion of this 
 principle has been silent, though sure, until many, very 
 many, unmindful of the great lesson inculcated by our 
 Revolution ; with thoughts directed only to the accumu- 
 lation of wealth ; with energies bent only to the increase 
 of temporal prosperity, have taught themselves to look 
 upon all government as having one legitimate object alone, 
 that of increasing individual, material wealth. Hence it 
 is that there has been so great a departure from the prin- 
 ciples which swayed the minds of the fathers of our nation, 
 and a substitution in its place of the corrupting and de- 
 basing principles of action which distinguish absolutism 
 everywhere, and which cast their taint even upon our in- 
 stitutions professing to be free. 
 
 Do you ask, why I dwell with so mournful a tone upon 
 this sad picture ? Why my mind broods over the future, 
 which it shadows forth ? It is that we may try, ere it be 
 too late, to restore the virtue of the past in the place of the 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 461 
 
 corruptions of the present ; bring back our government to 
 its original purpose, and once again impress on the minds 
 of the people the legitimate and proper object of govern- 
 ment, that in the exercise of their rights as freemen they 
 may be swayed by purity of principle, rather than the 
 cravings of cupidity. 
 
 Oh ! could my countrymen descend with me into the 
 hearts that are petrified by the exercise of unlimited pow- 
 er either on earth or in the spheres — could they with me 
 penetrate the deepest recesses of the minds which sway 
 such power, they would start affrighted at the advances, 
 however disguised or covered they might be, of the feeling 
 which is engendered. Oh ! could they penetrate into those 
 darker spheres where, in unprogressed man, vice is ever 
 festering, and where the- dark clouds of selfishness, of cru- 
 elty, and of intolerance are brooding over the unhappy 
 scene ; where the love of self swallows up all regard for 
 the future, all remorse for the past, all reverence for God 
 and all aspirations for purity, they would find the birth- 
 place and the home of the principle whose inroads they 
 have perniitted among themselves. 
 
 Could they ascend with me into the brighter spheres, 
 where love, and purity, and happiness shed their mellow 
 light oyer each heart, and send their gentle tones of sweet- 
 est harmony upon each ear ; where man's progressive ad- 
 vance toward high heaven is the daily object of desire and 
 of view, they would behold that that principle has no 
 abiding-place there, but is banished those happy realms. 
 O ! could they thus range through the spheres and o'er 
 earth, and thus behold beneath the deceptive surface the 
 reality that is working among men, they would become 
 conscious, as we are, that it is time to sound the alarm, 
 that it is time to marshal the forces for the conflict ; for on 
 its event must depend the great question whether freedom 
 shall continue to inhabit with us or take her flight to re- 
 gions more congenial ; they would feel how imperative is 
 the duty upon every one to arrest the progress of a princi- 
 
41^ SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 pie which is sapping our national freedom to its founda- 
 * tion, and assimilating our institutions and our fate to those 
 which we have been taught to abhor, and which we so 
 loudly profess to avoid. 
 
 Remember ever the great lesson which you are taught 
 by your intercourse with the spirits of the departed — 
 so different from that which human teaching has so long 
 infused into your minds — namely, that life in the spirit- 
 world is but a continuation of life upon earth, and that the- 
 legitimate object of the one is but to prepare for the other ; 
 that time — your time on earth — is but a stepping-stone to 
 ^ an eternity in the spheres ; that the bias and direction of 
 
 the mind, and the affections which obtain on earth, make 
 their impress upon your existence after you have left it ; 
 that the perversions and misdirections which you imbibe 
 during your primary existence affect and direct your life 
 after it; that the truths which are planted in the soul 
 while it inhabits its tenement of clay accompany and cheer 
 it on its way through the long ages of eternity ; that there 
 is now dawning upon the earth a light which can not only 
 dispel the darkness which surrounds you, but can open to 
 your view the life after death, its impulses, its duties, and 
 its destiny ; that you are receiving instruction and knowl- 
 edge from those who have penetrated the future beyond 
 the grave, and who are now permitted, in the providence 
 of God, to return and teach to you the great lessons which 
 are opened to them through the portals of eternity ; that 
 standing amid the brightness of His wisdom and the soft- 
 ening influences of His. love, receiving, as they become 
 more perfect, the brighter and better lessons which flow 
 from the storehouse of his Almighty mind, they are per- 
 mitted to open to your view the pages on which they read 
 these high and holy lessons, and are rendered capable of 
 advancing you in virtue, in wisdom, and in happiness, and 
 that, by unfolding to you the knowledge which experience 
 in spirit-life bestows upon them, they can advance you 
 too, upward and onward in your high destiny — can aid 
 
• SPIRITUALISM. 463 
 
 you to cast off the perversions and errors of life, and even 
 npon your earth assimilate your condition to that of the 
 spheres. 
 
 And know, that as in the form of your government you 
 have imitated the work of His hand, as displayed among 
 the worlds that sparkle in the heavens above you ; as you 
 have thus learned in form to imitate the creations of His 
 wisdom, so you may be taught to progress still further, 
 and learn to infuse into that government — thus in form 
 assimilating to your planetary system the order, the regu- 
 larity, the wisdom, and the love which bind these systems 
 together as one harmonious whole, and maintain them, 
 ever moving in dumb yet joyful obedience to His com- 
 mands, so that you too may move on in your enduring 
 orbits, progressing ever onward, developing ever the great 
 properties which slumber within you, unknown even to 
 yourselves, and diffusing abroad in the universe through 
 which you move the blessings of your obedience to His 
 laws, and of your advance in His love and wisdom. 
 
 West Roxbury, Aug. 23, 1854. 
 
 And if this was the influence upon inanimate nature, 
 how much greater must be its influence upon man him- 
 self; for it is a law that when man has devised and orig- 
 inated any particular thought or invention, and has suc- 
 cessfully achieved the result he had in view in its con- 
 struction, it increases his desire and his power to invent 
 
464 SPIEITUALISM. ' 
 
 and contrive other and more advanced thoughts and in- 
 ventions. Thus, as in creation's development and pro- 
 gress, the manifestation of this principle reveals the spirit 
 which controls it, so in the advance and progression of 
 man every step exhibited the pure power, the energy, the 
 capacity of his spirit that wa^ born of God. And here 
 is the separate and distinct manifestation of one cause op- 
 erating upon and controlling man and matter ; and it shows, 
 too, the independent, individual powers of that spirit which 
 impelled man to act separately and independently. E'ow 
 when we recur to the past, we are struck with many of the 
 great incidents of time, that seem to show us that this law, 
 this principle, T^as interrupted in its proper and direct ap- 
 plication and effect, for here sprung up a nation whose 
 people, whose laws, whose government, whose arts and 
 sciences, whose commerce and mechanics showed the force 
 of this mighty inherent impulse, and yet standing as the 
 very landmarks of what this principle could do — they 
 sparkled and flashed for a time, and then went out and 
 left a darkness more profound than before. The traveler, 
 as he passes over that country once blossoming in every 
 part like a garden, once exhibiting the care and the prov- 
 idence which ruled it in its roads, its aqueducts, its canals, 
 its walls, and its various cities, looks in vain now for any 
 evidences of the power, the wealth, and the wisdom that 
 once distinguished it. TVhere the fig-tree blossomed and 
 gave forth its fruit ; w^here the clustering grape showed the 
 evidences of knowledge and of taste ; where the beautiful 
 grove sheltered in its shade the tasteful residence of some 
 rich' man ; where the stately barge was lashed at the mole 
 or pier ; where the waving fields of grain showed the in- 
 dustry and care of man ; where the proud tempie lifted up 
 its towers to heaven in capacity and splendid grandeur, 
 surpassing that of any modern creation ; where the teem- 
 ing thousands mingled together in the daily avocations 
 which belonged to their life, is now desolation and soli- 
 tude. Where now are their roads and canals ? Where the 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 465 
 
 waving fields of grain ? Where the home of the peasant, 
 or the palace of his employer ? Where the cities, the ves- 
 sels, and the millions of men, women, and children who 
 peopled and directed them ? 
 
 The desolate temple is made the den of the lion or the 
 tiger, and the courts of their places of worship are tracked 
 with the slimy trail of the hissing serpent. Solitude and 
 desolation are stamped on the face of every thing which 
 meets the view. The dark and silent Avaters of some sea 
 or lake cover, like a shining mantle, the spot where erst 
 there flourished a nation, and its bitter waters bring back 
 to the mind the recollection of those causes which we have 
 presumed swept them from the face of the earth. But is 
 this an evidence that the world has retrograded ? No ! 
 no ! for what has been lost in one locality has been a 
 thousand times more developed in another. What are a 
 few spots on the surface of the other continent, from which 
 have been swept away nations and cities ? Is there less 
 of man, of cities, of nations, of wealth, of power, of com- 
 toeree, of arts and sciences, of inventions and contrivances,, 
 of that which adds to the benefit and happiness of man, 
 of that which controls nature in her manifestations, of that 
 which enables man to act even here as the instrument in 
 the development and the legitimate application of those 
 laws which God has established, and in the development 
 of his own nature and power, in his capacity to act as 
 God's vicegerent upon earth ; in the certain, unalterable, 
 undeviating progress which he makes to accomplish his 
 destiny here ? But what if nations have been lost in time, 
 and their works annihilated? The winter's ocean, with 
 its storms and waves, has not obstructed man in his passage 
 to a world lying in eternal silence, and solitude, too, and 
 from the depths of its vast forests to develop power, might,, 
 magnificence, and real glory that have astonished the world. 
 
 Then through me it was said : 
 
 I am beholding the internal organization of a commu-^ 
 
 30 
 
4:G6 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 nity in the spirit-world. I am beholding the locality which 
 they occupy, and it is a place as much as any we occupy on 
 earth, having all the material surroundings which we have 
 here, with its mountains, fields, and vegetation, with its 
 animals and its residences. It seems in many respects like 
 an earthly scene, yet with additions, new appliances, and 
 attributes necessary to and flowing from a superior refine- 
 ment and development of matter. Thus, I observe, that 
 some of this matter is transparent ; so, too, I see that lo- 
 comotion is sometimes by the use of the limbs as with us, 
 sometimes by floating slowly through the air, and at others 
 by darting with lightning speed from place to place. So I 
 see what seem to be clouds, having the form and shape of 
 those we behold in our atmosphere, but which are in fact 
 aggregations or banks of light. So, too, I perceive that 
 the light resting upon the scene, varying in hue and inten- 
 sity in different places, is not an emanation from a material 
 ball like our sun, but is produce'd, self-generated by every 
 inhabitant of that locality — the hue of the light which 
 is emitted from each one varying according to the pre- 
 dominant feeling or propensity of each individual, and 
 commingling with that of others, produces an endless va- 
 riety and ever-changing colors. So, too, I perceive novel- 
 ties to me hitherto unseen, and unimagined existences in 
 man, in animals, and in inanimate matter. Thus I see cor- 
 uscations of light unlike any thing we witness here, too 
 brilliant and intense, and too delicate and refined to be 
 perceptible to the mortal senses ; and I behold in inani- 
 mate matter many things which I can not stop to describe, 
 which are unlike any thing ever beheld on earth, and 
 which I am told are created for the purpose of contributing 
 to the happiness and enjoyment of the sentient beings 
 around. The air, the water, the earth, the living, moving 
 beings have all of them attributes and properties unknown 
 to us on earth, but which seem to be necessary to and 
 commensurate with a more refined and elevated state of 
 existence. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 467 
 
 I give a sketch thus general of what is before me, be- 
 cause I am so situated that I have a bird's-eye view of this 
 whole community and its surroundings, and I am told by 
 the guiding spirit* who stands by my side, thus to beholc^ 
 as a whole, and not to permit my attention to be drawn to 
 individual or isolated things. 
 
 He says to me, " Can you convey to mortal minds a just 
 conception of that which you behold here, and especially 
 that which you on earth call space and distance? You 
 measure that on earth by a standard peculiar to your con- 
 dition there, and you can readily perceive by what a dif- 
 ferent standard you must measure it here. Thus, for in- 
 stance, you perceive those buildings stand apart from each 
 othel*, you would say, by your earthly standard, a few rods 
 apart. Can you conceive or describe how far apart meas- 
 ured by our standard? To make yourself understood, 
 speak, then, the language and use terms and phrases with 
 which you are familiar. It will be enough to convey your 
 ideas, and leave the reality to be appreciated by you when 
 you arrive here and find yourself sufficiently elevated to 
 comprehend the new state of things to which you will be 
 introduced." 
 
 This spirit further says: "I see you are asking in your 
 mind, why have buildings here, houses and residences, 
 where there seem to be none of those atmospheric changes 
 which render them necessary on earth ? Let me ask you 
 in reply, do your mansions contribute to your happiness 
 and enjoyment only by protecting you from the changes 
 of your earthly atmosphere ? Why is it, when the air is 
 balmy and pleasant, and you require no roof to cover you 
 from its influence — why, in the pleasant twilight of your 
 day, or in the soft moonlight of your night — why, when 
 the temperature is just at that standard when it is most 
 grateful to you, do you still cluster together in your man- 
 sions, and form a happy group around your hearth-stone, 
 
 • I afterward learned this was Howard, the philanthropist. 
 
468 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 rather than wander away alone, enjoying the nature that 
 surrounds you ? It is because in the idea of home and its 
 associations there is something pleasant to the human 
 heart. That pleasure lives with ua in the spheres, and is 
 not dropped with that outer garment which required pro- 
 tection from the weather. During the intensity of sultry 
 heat, during the peltings of the storm, amid the icy chills 
 of the northern blasts, your material bodies might demand 
 the protection of a house ; and if that was all there was 
 about a house, or its uses or advantages, you might well 
 ask, why have houses in the spheres ? But as those mo- 
 ments when the house is a protection for the material body 
 are but few in coipparison with the period of time during 
 which you are otherwise enjoying your homes, so it can 
 not be difficult for you to conceive that a mansion can 
 contribute something more to man's happiness than merely 
 shielding him from the weather. Turn your mind back 
 some forty years in your material life, and see how much 
 happiness you derived from the recollection of the happy 
 hours you spent in your father's house, see what memories 
 cluster around you, and how effectively they can protect 
 you at this moment even, from the corrodings of present 
 cares and anxieties. Step across the grave, and think you 
 that these memories die and are lost to you ? And do you 
 not perceive that in those memories is involved a source 
 of happiness connected with your earthly home that is 
 something more than its mere protection from the v/eather? 
 Turn your mind back, he says, to some of the scenes which 
 you have yourself witnessed in the spirit-land : why did 
 the hunter and his Indian companion erect their log-cabin 
 under that grateful shade, nestling near that over-hanging 
 rock, by the side of that bubbling spring, and in view of 
 that dense forest? It was because it recalled the recollec- 
 tion of their happy home on earth. And be it ever re- 
 membered that in the memory is your heaven or your hell. 
 In the spheres, as on earth, the rustling of the leaves, the 
 dropping of the water over the little fall, the footstep of 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 469 
 
 the approaching Indian, were in themselves comparatively 
 nothing ; but, as they carried the memory back over the 
 vista of many happy years that had passed, they filled the 
 heart with happiness, and brought up from its deepest 
 depths, feelings of gratitude and love toward Him who 
 had permitted and toward them who had shared that hap- 
 piness. Think for one moment how entirely the nature, 
 the habits, the propensities, the deep-seated feelings of 
 those two beings, which by time became engrafted on their 
 very existence, must have been changed, to have enabled 
 them to have found happiness in any other form — that hap- 
 piness which is the object and end of spirit-life. 
 
 "As on earth, so in the spheres, God bestows upon man 
 the freedom to choose his own path to happiness. And as 
 no two beings are constituted precisely alike, so no two 
 find their happiness in precisely the same objects or occu- 
 pations. Yariety — infinite, unbounded, illimitable as space 
 and enduring as eternity — is marked upon all God's works, 
 and is overpowering evidence of the extent of his might 
 and the depth of his wisdom. And that variety is found, 
 not only in the form of creation, but in its never-ceasing 
 action and motion. 
 
 "Proceed yet another step in the retrospection of your 
 visits here. Why the beautiful gardens, the fragrant flow- 
 ers, the grateful lights, the pleasing variety of scenes that 
 were spread out before you and unfolded to your view? 
 That they might contribute to man's happiness, and by 
 their infinite variety afford aliment to every heart. And 
 pray tell me, if you will not consent to this form of exist- 
 ence in the spirit-world, in what shape you will present it ? 
 What other form can it assume that can in any way con- 
 nect it with your life on earth ? 
 
 " Why was the mansion, occupied by your spirit-compan- 
 ion here, so like that in which she had taken her departure 
 from your earth ? Her life here was but a continuance of 
 that which had began with you, and he who will read the 
 human heart can easily appreciate the feelings which 
 
4:70 SPIEITTJALISM. 
 
 prompted her to cluster around her home in the spirit- 
 world the memories which had formed so great a part of 
 her previous existence. The change in her must have been 
 marvelous, and, unlike any thing we know of in nature, 
 that would have taken away from her the pleasure of those 
 memories, and even the statue of penitence that was placed 
 amid that shrubbery pointed to the past and to the future 
 more than it did to the present, for the reason that man 
 from his very nature — that nature which is divine in its 
 origin and in its destiny, and which elevates him above the 
 animal creation — lives and enjoys more in the past and in 
 the future than in the present. 
 
 " So, too, in your travels through the spirit-land, in one 
 place you found a castle tenanted by those who took pleas- 
 ure in magnificence ; near it, you saw the humble cot, oc- 
 cupied by those of a different temperament, who found hap- 
 piness in quiet and in obscurity. In one place you found 
 a mansion surrounded by stately trees, because its inhab- 
 itants found pleasure in their grateful shades. In another, 
 instead of trees, you saw an unshaded garden, filled with 
 flowers and shrubs, and the thousand things that go to 
 make up a beautiful parterre, and that was because its 
 proprietors thus enjoyed themselves ; you found one man 
 toiling in a peculiar task for the purpose of elevating his 
 fellow-man to his own condition of happiness ; you be- 
 held all the members of a family laboring together for the 
 good of a whole community. These things were so because 
 they thus found their happiness. You saw evidences of 
 advance in the arts and sciences ; you heard music, vocal 
 and instrumental ; you saw teachers engaged in giving in- 
 struction ; you saw communities engaged in consultation, 
 because in all these things they found their happiness, and 
 that variety which is thus stamped on all God's creations., 
 Why ! you saw wild animals coursing through the wood, 
 and birds floating in the air ; you heard the murmur of the 
 running brook ; you beheld the spray of the sparkling 
 fountain. ITay ! you saw, and as in your earthly life you 
 
SPIBITTTALISM. 471 
 
 used, the gallant horse, because in those things happiness 
 and enjoyment were found. And while in these, as it were, 
 earthly objects, you discovered there was enjoyment in 
 the spirit-land, so, too, you beheld that these objects were 
 ever lifting the heart in gratitude to the bounteous Giver 
 of all, and were but the means by which the soul was ele- 
 vated to the contemplation of scenes and existences still 
 higher, still more elevated, still more bright and beautiful, 
 which were within their daily view ; and amid it all, from 
 the sea-shell which rattled beneath your tread, through all 
 nature, animate and inanimate, which surrounded you, up 
 to the bright and shining worlds flashing in the far "dis- 
 tance, you beheld that the beatified spirits who inhabited 
 them were ever learning the important lesson that God is 
 over all. Boundless in his love, illimitable in his wisdom, 
 he has bestowed upon man the capacity to live with him 
 forever, and has endowed him with the ability to under- 
 stand and obey the law by which that existence can be 
 made happy ; and throughout all this you have beheld the 
 demonstration of the momentous truth, that existence in 
 the spheres is but a continuance of that on earth, and life 
 on earth is but a preparation for that in the spheres. 
 
 "In giving to man a revelation so important as that which 
 embraces a knowledge of the reality of the life into which 
 he is to be ushered, the spirits, as the ministering servants 
 of Infinite Wisdom, have entered upon their task with a full 
 knowledge of the difficulties which attend not only its being 
 given, but its reception by man. Conflicting, as that real- 
 ity does with the crude, vague, and fanciful ideas which 
 have so long obtained in men's minds, they are conscious 
 how much error is to be unlearned before the truth can 
 be welcomed ; and they are aware that much time must 
 elapse before the mortal mind will fully receive the mo- 
 mentous truth. Intangible, imperceptible to the senses on 
 which man has been taught to rely for his knowledge, the 
 difficulty of working out a conviction of the truth has not 
 been overlooked by them. They do not ask that this 
 
472 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 revelation shall be received as authority, but they appeal 
 to man's reason; they ask the exercise of his judgment; 
 they direct your minds to all of nature that is around you, 
 and they bid you behold how consistent this revelation is 
 with every manifestation of nature in all her works ; and 
 they rejoice that it is not through the lips of one alone, 
 but of many, that it can be given. They have approached 
 their task with a realizing sense of its vast importance to 
 man. Ages have rolled away while he was preparing to 
 receive it. Sparsely, and at long intervals, has divine 
 truth been given to him — here a little and there a little — 
 while his mental capacity has been growing up to the 
 ability to receive it. At length the hour has come, so long 
 anxiously waited for b}^ spirits in the spheres ; and now 
 that it is given, many a heart, while it is lifted up in thank- 
 fulness to God, trembles lest man in his darkness may yet 
 once again reject it. 
 
 '' The event is in His hands, but as His ministermg angels 
 do we toil. We may plant and we may water, but it is 
 He alone who can give the increase. To Him we com- 
 mend you, and the divine cause in which you are engaged. 
 And to Him we pray that in His fitting time he may be- 
 stow on weak, faltering man the capacity to receive a truth 
 which can elevate him so high in his onward progress to 
 the Godhead, and so prepare him for the mighty destiny 
 that is before him." 
 
SPIRITUALISM. its 
 
 uiim Siul^-tl^xtt 
 
 West Roxbury, Aug. 24, 1854. 
 At the circle it was said, through Dr. Dexter : 
 
 And what are the effects of this great law of progress 
 that have been apparent in every epoch, in every race of 
 man in the world's history ? The question is answered on 
 the consideration of fact ; for this is true — that which is 
 crude, is polished ; that which is the germ is made to de- 
 velop the thing ; that which is imperfect approaches per- 
 fection. And it matters not how small the evidence of 
 progress may be which we detect, as year after year and 
 age after age passes by, if there has been but one step for- 
 ward either in man, animals, or matter — one evidence, one 
 proof that this is so, that which we have taught you as 
 truth must be admitted, must be recognized to be so. Look 
 abroad, compare the past with the present — has the world 
 deteriorated ? Has man, as its recognized head, lost any 
 of the high capacities and powers which God bestowed on 
 him when he was developed into being here? Say, has he 
 lost any even of his physical .powers ? 
 
 Perhaps that may seem so when we view the past in 
 one aspect alone. But as it is the effect and tendency of 
 this law to refine, to sublimate, to perfect, it follows that 
 although the grosser properties of matter may be removed 
 from it, it does not take away its legitimate and innate vir- 
 tues. Hence, when you remove from one locality its ab- 
 origines to another country, they may die, or may contract 
 disease which debilitates their physical powers, but the 
 amalgamation with the inhabitants they find there, devel- 
 ops a race of beings whose mental attributes and proper- 
 
474 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 ties are infinitely superior to those which characterized 
 either. For they can invent, and contrive, and execute ; 
 they can bring around them the means, the properties, and 
 the powers of material things, and so combine them, so 
 arrange them, that they become the very appliances which 
 enable them to begin and finish plans and purposes which 
 would, from their vastness and their legitimate goodness, 
 overwhelm their progenitors on either side with astonish- 
 ment and wonder. 
 
 ISTow, say I, when you realize this fact, you can under- 
 stand that though it might be true that the physical devel- 
 opment as to size and muscular strength of man may be 
 less at the present day than that of men living five hun- 
 dred years ago, yet to-day he possesses the ability to con- 
 trive and execute works and objects that it would have 
 been impossible for man to have conceived at that time, 
 much less to have executed. 
 
 To-day, man, by the force and power of his genius and 
 his inventions, has rendered it unnecessary that he should 
 display the vast amount of physical strength which was 
 required to execute the commonest necessities of life in 
 ages that are past. The fruits of his mind stand as evi- 
 dences of this truth ; for what was the labor of thousands 
 of hands, and could scarcely be accomplished then, that 
 which required years to perform, is now the mere play work 
 of a simple machine, with a boy or a girl to manage it. 
 Talk of the Pyramids of Egypt ! Could we have but wit- 
 nessed the length of time it required to build them, the 
 immense and almost incalculable number of men who 
 were coerced to labor there, the sacrifice of life, the vast 
 amount of treasure expended, and compare those vast, 
 those truly great and enduring monuments of the olden 
 time with one invention of man's mind at the present day, 
 we are overwhelmed with the ideas that the comparison 
 suggests. Compare the Pyramids with the locomotive en- 
 gine of the present day, and then ask the candid mind if 
 that engine is an evidence of man's retrogression ? Stand- 
 
SPIEITUALISM. 475 
 
 ing solitary and alone, the Pyramids — these vast mementoes 
 of man's power and greatness — to-day keep the same watch 
 and guard they did when they were finished. Designed 
 for two purposes, one of which w^as a depository of the 
 dead, the Pyramids lift their cold, gray points to Heaven 
 and fulfill the second object of their erection, inpreventing 
 the sands of the desert from sweeping in and making des- 
 olate that which was once called the most fruitful, the most 
 productive part of that country. And this is all. 
 
 The dead have been buried there for ages. That pur- 
 pose has been fulfilled and ended. How much of good 
 they accomplish to-day, you can judge as well as I. But 
 what end is to be fixed to the varied, the infinite, the in- 
 calculable benefits and advantages which this engine has 
 already produced, and which the world has the right to 
 expect it will continue to produce as long as it is in the 
 power of steam to turn its wheel. With a single pair of 
 hands to guide it, and two simple bars of iron upon which 
 it runs, it "girdles the earth in forty minutes," and like a 
 true and good spirit it brings the benefits and products of 
 one section to interchange with them the benefits and pro- 
 ducts of another. 
 
 It opens to the enterprise of men sections of country 
 which would have remained deserted and desolate ; it 
 causes cities to be built and flourishing towns to spring up 
 where erst nothing but a dark and silent forest existed ; it 
 brings together man and man ; it engenders comparison ; 
 it begets association ; it stimulates enterprise; it fosters in- 
 dustry, and gives to man and nature a power and advan- 
 tage they never before possessed. The Pyramids, as evi- 
 dences, of man's might ages ago^ have accomplished, per- 
 haps, the design for which they were created ; but they 
 can develop no new properties, neither have they the 
 power of accomplishing any other design. But in the' 
 vast and almost inconceivable change which has taken 
 place in almost every part of the world since this engine 
 was invented, in the powers conferred upon man by its 
 
4/r# SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 means, in the new evidences which are flowing in upon the 
 world every day of the new powers, benefits and advan- 
 tages which man and nature are deriving from it, what is 
 the world to expect, and what and where will be the end ? 
 Is it necessary to pursue this comparison further? 
 
 Tlius the necessity which laid the physical powers of 
 man under tribute, although just as imperative to-day, are 
 met and mastered by those attributes which his mind has 
 generated in his progressive advance from that period up 
 to the present. 
 
 As the spirit of man progresses, so does the mind, its 
 instrument, also become strengthened and developed, and 
 there is opened to the mind's comprehension the true pur- 
 poses and objects of creation — matter as it exists in its 
 general arrangement and in its individual combination, 
 the specific capacities of each constituent, and the various 
 forms under or by which new combinations may take place, 
 which shall strengthen man's dominion over every created 
 thing, and which shall, by-and-by, from man's consummate 
 knowledge, from the refinement and sublimation of his 
 various attributes, enable him to say, " I will," and it shall 
 be done. 
 
 The spirit here asked me if I remembered, last winter, during our 
 travels, calling the Doctor's attention to a deep cut in a railroad track 
 over which we were traveling, and telling him to see how we were con- 
 stantly, in all our operations, assisting nature in the great work that is 
 ever going on around us, that of leveling the rough face of the earth 
 and fitting it for a residence for a more refined and progressed race of 
 human beings. Every road we built, as well as every rain storm that 
 came upon us, was performing a part of this work. 
 
 And then he resumed : 
 
 It is not only in laying railroad tracks or in clearing off 
 vast forests, in leveling mountains and filling up valleys, 
 in constructing ships, in contriving the most intricate 
 mechanism, that man exhibits the intimate connection that 
 man and his spirit and its instrumentalities have with his 
 'God. But it is, when he, standing in the place of his God, 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 477 
 
 takes hold of the very laws which that God has established, 
 and wields them by his will in developing out of the har- 
 monious relations and combinations which he himself de- 
 vises, and producing from this new and harmonious ar- 
 rangement a result in advance of the properties which 
 distinguish either constituent originally in that combina- 
 tion ; I say, when he does this, he of a truth becomes a 
 god, for he makes the very laws of that God obedient to 
 his will. Well has one of your wise men remarked, that 
 he who makes two blades of grass grow where but one 
 grew before, is one of the greatest benefactors of his kind. 
 
 But I say to you, he who does this manifests the ability 
 to do more, and ckn. make the laws under which he lives 
 obey his will in devising new and more perfect creations. 
 
 The advance which has taken place in the vegetable de- 
 partment of the world is almost inconceivable to you. It 
 is but a few years since that many of your commonest veg- 
 etables were unknown to man, and but a very little time 
 has passed away since many of the fruits and the flowers 
 which adorn your gardens had no existence on earth. 
 They have been developed, originated, from the skillful 
 combinations which man's genius has made : thus making 
 the Law a servant of his will. He who could stand on an 
 elevation overlooking the past, and which gives him a 
 view of the present, would strangely wonder that each 
 epoch of time has left such Almighty monuments of its 
 progress. Time was when the vegetation which covers 
 this earth was so coarse, and rank, and so abundant that it 
 covered its face in every part where a seed could take 
 root ; but how coarse, how crude, how unfit for the sup- 
 port of life ! 
 
 Through me it was then said, as by the spirit of Washington : 
 
 Having thus paused a moment to review the realities 
 which have been laid open before you, and to contemplate 
 how much life in the spirit-world is but a continuance of 
 that on earth, let us recur to our original purpose, and see 
 
478 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 how man, in his political relations in the spheres, as you 
 would term it, is still the same being, possessed of the same 
 attributes, and affected by the same tendencies. 
 
 As with you, so with us, in proportion as man advances ^ 
 from the mere savage condition of living only as an ani- 
 mal, so does he develop the necessity of government. And 
 the nigher he approaches toward the Godhead, the more 
 does he recognize the duty, the necessity, and the obliga- 
 tion of order, regularity, and obedience to law and its min- 
 isters. It is only when you descend to the level of the 
 mere brute creation that you behold a condition of no 
 government. When there is infused into man the intellect 
 of the immortal soul, there is impresseti upon his instincts 
 the necessity of government, and that necessity, I repeat, 
 is more and more recognized as he advances upward to- 
 ward his high destiny. And again, it is as man thus ad- 
 vances upward that his government becomes one of law, 
 and not of 'absolute and uncontrolled power. It is man's 
 degradation, his retrogression, the growth and preponder- 
 ance of his evil propensities which pervert that govern- 
 ment from its legitimate form of law to its degrading form 
 of despotism ; for it. will soon be found that absolutism 
 comes as the legitimate offspring^ of anarchy and disregard 
 of law, and sinks and dies in the presence of law and its 
 domination. 
 
 Hence, in the history of your earth, you will observe 
 that all thoso arts and improvements which have tended 
 most to elevate man intellectually and morally, have flour- 
 ished most where power was regulated by law, and that 
 those works which have most manifested the might of 
 man's physical nature, have found a fitting existence 
 amid the stern sway which has made the minds of the 
 many bow to the will of the few. And it will be seen that 
 man has most advanced in his career upon earth, when the 
 government under which he has lived has aimed more at 
 his intellectual and moral nature than his physical. 
 
 You will observe this in two ancient and cotemporane- 
 
SPIEITUALISM. 479 
 
 ous nations. The whole purpose of the government of 
 Sparta was the development of the animal nature, and all 
 that history tells of Sparta is, that she produced good sol- 
 diers and plenty of slaves. In Athens, on the other hand, 
 attention was more directed to man's spiritual nature ; and 
 when history speaks of Athens, she points to her painting, 
 her poetry, her eloquence, and her philosophy, and traces 
 their current down the stream of time, leaving on future 
 ages, centuries after, the impress of the thoughts then de- 
 veloped. 
 
 So it is in the spiritrworld. "When you have been in 
 those darker regions where despair and desolation reigned 
 together, you have witnessed the rule of force, the govern- 
 ment of absolute power, the domination of individual will, 
 and you have beheld at once the degradation of submission 
 with the debasement of the man, or, to use a passage in your 
 mind which now rises to your memory, you have seen how 
 "Submission to the tyranny of man is commensurate with 
 rebellion to the sovereignty of God." 
 
 Now behold government in the brighter spheres — not 
 the most elevated, but in those conditions which are mani- 
 festly above your condition on earth, and see if, in the 
 contemplation, you may not learn some truths that may 
 benefit your fellow-man there. Hereafter, perchance you 
 may behold government in still higher conditions of spirit- 
 life, and beholding how it, too, is impressed with the all- 
 pervading law of progress, you may, step by step, witness 
 its improvement, and perhaps in time be able to demon- 
 strate to man on earth that obedience to the law of his 
 moral and intellectual existence may be as instinctive as 
 that which is witnessed in the hunger and thirst of his 
 physical nature. But of that hereafter. 
 
 Now look upon the scene spread out before you, and of 
 which now, as yesterday, you have a bird's-eye view. Be- 
 hold ! this community is not so large but that every mem- 
 ber of it may be personally known to its rulers. Thus the 
 characteristics, propensities, attributes of all — the gov- 
 
4:80 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 ernor and the governed — are known to each other. There 
 is no reaching forth here of the arm of power beyond the 
 scope of knowledge, so that it may be exercised for the 
 benefit of the ruler, with but little regard for the welfare 
 of the subject. But the great end and object of its exer- 
 cise is the advancement and happiness of all ; and power 
 here extends its authority no further than it can be bene- 
 ficially exercised for the benefit of all who may be subject 
 to it, and who may come within its scope. 
 
 And observe- — for you will see this principle everywhere 
 — that the great object ever in view in the exercise of 
 power here, is to enhance the happiness of man, by pro- 
 moting his progress, intellectually and morally ; by ad- 
 vancing him in purity, in love, and in wisdom, and thus 
 surrounding him with the product of their combination, 
 which is Heaven, wherever it may chance to be. 
 
 Now go with me and enter that hall. What see you 
 there ? There is a convention of a limited number of per- 
 sons, both male and female. They seem to be both aged 
 and young, possessing, apparently, the wisdom and sobriety 
 of age with the enthusiasm and energy of youth. 
 
 There is one man presiding over the assemblage. His 
 occupation seems to be to preserve order, and infuse regu- 
 larity and system into their deliberations. Hear you not 
 the subject of their deliberations ? You will perceive that 
 they combine within themselves the advisory power of an 
 executive council, the enacting power of a legislature, and 
 the dernier resort of a judicatory. 
 
 I remarked to him, That is a combination of power which requires 
 great wisdom and virtue, for the danger of temptation must he very 
 great ? He answered : 
 
 Yes! but is the combination incompatible? May not 
 man advance to such a state as to become a safe depository 
 for such powers ? And if he may, do you not see that the 
 combination in the same hands will enable them to temper 
 justice with mercy, to enforce the stern mandate of au- 
 thority through an appeal to the aflTections ? 
 
SPIKITUALI8M. " 481 
 
 But, I inquired. Do they execute as well as enact, perform as well as 
 adjudge ? 
 
 No, was the answer. Here the progress is not so great 
 as to warrant that union, and consequently here the ex- 
 ecutive is in a great measure, though not entirely, separated 
 from the judicial and legislative power. We will, ]?y-and 
 by, observe the executive, but let us pause a moment 
 longer here. 
 
 These men are selected for the task you see them per- 
 forming, by the free, open, unbiased voices of the whole 
 community, male . and female — for here woman stands by 
 the side of man, the equal child with him of one common 
 Father. When I say open choice, I mean as in contrast 
 with the secret ballot w^hich taints your earthly institu- 
 tions, and which is as frequently the instrument of decep- 
 tion as it is- the protection against oppression. 
 
 They are not selected for any definite period. So long 
 as they discharge their duties well, the duty rests upon 
 them. But each is ever subject to a public scrutiny of his 
 conduct, and at any time the voice of that community may 
 be taken, whether the individual shall continue longer in the 
 position to which he has been elevated. The power of re- 
 moval exists with the power of appointment, and may be 
 exercised whenever it is demanded. I see you ask in your 
 mind, What is .the qualification which elevates one to po- 
 sition here ? and I answer, All other things being equal, 
 he who is most ready to sacrifice self to the good of others 
 is the choice of the community ; for these men are at once 
 servants as well as rulers, and feel ever that the great ob- 
 ligation is to exercise power for the good of others, and not 
 for selfish purposes. 
 
 Mark the character of their debates. You have been 
 listening to their discussions. Do you behold anywhere 
 the display of that intense selfishness which at once tram- 
 ples under foot all regard for others, all obligations of 
 time, all convictions of duty, that so often convert your 
 earthly forums into the semblance of dens of wild beasts? 
 
 31 
 
482 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 Do you behold here the love of sarcasm and retort that 
 rejoices in inflicting suffering, and that revels in the laugh 
 which more frequently springs from gratified malevolence 
 than from innocent enjoyment? Do you behold here the 
 turmoil, the confusion, the uproar, the disorder that seem 
 to flow from the madness of intoxication, mental or phys- 
 ical ? Do you behold here the eternal strife of man with 
 man, that reminds one rather of the .gladiatorial exhibi- 
 tions of old than the deliberations of the Sanhedrim or the 
 consultations of the Areopagus? If you do not, if the 
 clouds which thus obscure the atmosphere of mortal power 
 do not here find an abiding-place, to what will you ascribe 
 the calm, the repose, the benign antatmosphere which rests 
 upon this spiritual scene ? 
 
 Look ! in every heart you will find written, more or less 
 distinctly, yet ever there, controlling, quieting, directing 
 every thought and feeling, the injunction, ''^ Love one 
 another^ This command, which with them is a reality 
 and not a profession, has become to their hearts a disin- 
 fecting agent that has driven away the malaria which in 
 your earthly halls make the mortal heart boil and bubble 
 with the malignant passions that you have seen playing 
 their part even in the spheres, and performing there their 
 terrible task of inflicting misery upon man. 
 
 You will observe, too, that there is nothing secret in the 
 deliberations of this council ; every thought is open to the 
 inspection of others and to the observation of all who 
 choose to look on. Disguise, concealment of thought and 
 purpose ! they are unknown here, and no duty is more im- 
 perative than that of driving them away from their delib- 
 erations. They think openly before the world in which 
 they live, and with them language and countenance are 
 instruments of conveying truth, not concealing it. 
 
 Mark, too, another characteristic of their deliberations 
 — the extreme deference they pay each other, l^o matter 
 whether the speaker be young or old, a novice among 
 them or one long seated there, mark ! how deferen- 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 483 
 
 tial tliey are to all he says. And can you not see the effect 
 which this produces upon him, prompting him every mo- 
 ment to imitate the example thus ever before him of dis- 
 regarding self in his regard for others ? 
 
 I inquired, Have not these people some peculiar privilegeSj some ex- 
 clusive right, as a reward for their toil for the common welfare ? He 
 answered : 
 
 There speaks the taint of earth, which can not appreciate 
 that virtue is its own reward, and that the virtue of self- 
 denial is one, of all others, most prolific of happiness to 
 the regenerated man ! 'No ! they have no privilege but 
 that of washing the feet of those whom they serve, and in 
 return may find their own bathed with the tears of peni- 
 tence, whose flow they have encouraged. They have the 
 privilege of enhancing their own happiness by toiling for 
 that of others — the privilege of advancing themselves by 
 aiding the progression of all around them — the privilege 
 of learning in the common cause to be meek, gentle, hum- 
 ble, in the exercise of po\('er, for thus was He who came 
 to save man by unfolding to his view his true destiny. 
 
 Through Mrs. Hall, by impression, it was written : 
 
 In view of these great inherent principles of the soul, 
 where shall we look for their legitimate and successful re- 
 sults but in that state of existence where they can be fully 
 developed and exercised? The experience of the long 
 lapse of centuries testifies, that here on earth they are but 
 feebly and imperfectly shadowed forth. If matured in any 
 one degree, it is at the sacrifice of many others. Can the 
 reasoning, philosophical mind rest satisfied with this im- 
 perfect manifestation of what is pronounced the noblest 
 work of God ? It opens the half-blown flower or the stint- 
 ed and shriveled vegetable, yet these are more perfect in 
 their kind than the majority of the living, sentient beings 
 who call God their Father. Is not the earthly parent am- 
 bitious and earnest for the welfare of his offspring ? does 
 he not, overlooking the comforts of his present state, lav- 
 
484: SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 ish all, if need be, on its advancement and improvement ? 
 Love is given and emulation excited, that it may meet and 
 answer these expectations. Whence springs all this devo- 
 tion, this self-sacrificing affection, if not from the breathing, 
 loving heart of the great Parent Cause ? Every principle, 
 every law originating in him, bears upon it the impress of 
 his nature, and shall it return unto him void? Shall the 
 great circle of his holiness and perfection be broken? 
 Can the passions and sins iucorporated into man's earthly 
 nature overcome its fountain Source? As well might the 
 trembling rill check or divert the ocean in its surging roar, 
 or sooth the cataract in its awful play. Ratlier let its bub- 
 bling rill be submerged and lose itself in the bosom of 
 omnipotence. 
 
 The mighty reservoir of redemption and purification is 
 opened for the healing of the nations. Its ebbing current 
 leaves the shores of eternity, and it shall flow on till the 
 calmness of an eternal peace rests upon its waters, for the 
 lost sin shall have been thrown upon its surface and washed 
 with the tear of repentance. 
 
 But bound not this vision of purity and blessedness by 
 the small advance made upon earth, for we tell you it is 
 the work of an eternity, even the process of purification 
 before that of embellishment and adornment begins. The 
 soul must be re-Created into the living principles of divine 
 holiness and love, and the evils incident to its mortal ex- 
 istence be purified even as by fire. Having then the orig- 
 inal, unadulterated properties of the true metal developed 
 and strengthened by its sojourn, it shall assume forms of 
 beauty and loveliness before unknown, and participate in 
 enjoyments whose exquisite satisfaction the loftiest imag- 
 ination never conceived. 
 
 It has struggled thus far, through life, a mystery to it- 
 self, an enigma to its fellows. It has gleaned some lessons 
 from nature that have soothed and comforted it. It has 
 worshiped God in the sun and in the stars, and the flowers 
 have been as angel-breathings, softening it with the dew 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 485 
 
 of Heaven. The God of the soul has spoken in the thun- 
 der, and the song-bird has warbled his praise ; their echoes 
 have thrilled it Avith living life, that it has grown. Now, 
 putting aAvay childish things, it demands the food, the 
 pleasures of manhood. Like the oak of the forest, it would 
 rise to Heaven and point the way. It will remain no lon- 
 ger at the base of the mountain of truth. It would mount 
 its rugged sides. Though early prejudices and dearly- 
 cherished opinions fall bleeding by the way-side, leaving 
 deep scars upon- the heart, it will still press onward and 
 stand proudly at its summit, for it knows and feels within 
 itself that there is a glorious view that will gratify its long- 
 ings and expatiate its desires. It feels a God above, around, 
 and within, and it would cleave the heavens, that it may 
 know of Him, of itself, and trace out that lineage which 
 binds it a link in this unbounded chord of harmony and 
 love. 
 
 It is this great want of the human heart whose suppressed 
 cry has penetrated the celestial heavens, and fallen even 
 upon the throne of God, mingled with the ashes of peni- 
 tence, that has roused the Spirit in his home of purity and 
 love, to come forth and answer this demand of suffering 
 humanity. God has said, Let there be light in the moral 
 and spiritual, as well as in the material world, and light 
 has come. It already illumines many hearts. It is yet in 
 the mists of the morning. The heavy clouds of the long 
 night of error and superstition are slow to disperse, but the 
 rainbow of promise spans the sky. It encircles earth and 
 pervades heaven. Its colors shall radiate with deepening 
 power and brightness, ray meeting ray, till it becomes a 
 perfect halo of light, an arch of beauty and majesty, re- 
 flecting the glory of God and the purity of man. 
 
 Stand firm, then, ye faithful laborers in the vanguard of 
 God's holy truth ! Though the mists of the morning en- 
 velop you, the sun of regeneration, which sets only behind 
 the throne of Omnipotence, has arisen in your land ; and 
 through you its beams shall be transmitted to all generations. 
 
486 SPIKITTJALISM. 
 
 God works by laws through those means best adapted for 
 the fulfillment of his designs. The time has come when 
 the perfection of his laws demands new and extended chan- 
 nels of operation. The earth has been upturned from its 
 center — its different strata analyzed and resolved to their 
 common elements. Man comprehends how one formation 
 produces others, and he stands proudly lord of its secret 
 workings. Throughout its opening pages he reads the pro- 
 gressive spirit of creation. He turns to the world within 
 himself, and he would understand its deep mystery. The 
 shell of his existence is cloven. The divinity entoombed 
 there cries aloud for its right, also, in the great scale of 
 progression. 
 
 The soul has a right to demand for itself its birthright. 
 It is not denied to the animals and inanimate formations 
 of the universe of God, and shall his breathing spirit be 
 quenched when it is capable of assimilating itself with Him, 
 working with and for Him in the reproduction of beauty 
 and order ? 
 
 It is for this that the silent stream of thought, originating 
 in the great heart of love, escaped the boundary of Heaven 
 and wandered to earth. It is meandering through the 
 glades of evil ; it fertilizes the plains of benevolence and 
 affection ; subdues the mountains of passion and will, till 
 at last it shall bear back the rich tribute of a subdued and 
 submissive world, ready to yield to its Author the rich 
 fruits of its harvest-gatherings of gratitude and love. 
 
 It is this advanced state of the soul, its ability for still 
 further progression, that has brought its kindred soul from 
 its spirit-home, to lead it on, to guide its researches, and 
 prepare it for its future destiny. 
 
 Thought has penetrated eternity, but, like the impatient 
 child, blindfold amid living beauty and life, it stretches 
 forth its groping hand, and that hand is now grasped by a 
 spirit-brother. It no longer is alone and sightless, but is 
 rejoicing with confidence and hope. 
 
 Grasp ye, then, our hand firmly. We will bear you 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 487 
 
 safely over the yawning gulf of death, and induct you into 
 life everlasting — the spirit-life, that life that is gushing 
 up within your soul, and has been forced back upon itself 
 till its living £res must either find rest or consume the very 
 element of its own being. The JEtna of the soul has burst 
 forth, not with tlie lightning fires of destruction, but the 
 soft and mellow light of spiritual truth and regeneration, 
 which rises like the beacon star of hope, and shall again 
 guide the wanderer as did the star in the East. 
 
 Emanating from the throne of God, it rekindles the 
 wandering spark of earth, that the}'- burn on together, and 
 thejr united flame consummate the glory of God and the 
 resurrection of man. Ministering spirits of his angel-chil- 
 dren have descended, bearing the torch of love and wis- 
 dom. As they ignite the combustible materialities in their 
 path, what wonder that affrighted man exclaim. Behold ! 
 the destroyer cometh ! He has come — to destroy — to save ! 
 When the smoke of the great conflagration now raging upon 
 your earth is dissolved, instead of mourning over the ruins 
 of the past, the glorious future shall fill you with enrap- 
 tured hope. The lifting clouds shall reveal such beauty, 
 life, and harmony, that the eager hand shall stretch itself 
 forth to pluck, even now, the flowers of Paradise that over- 
 hang the scene, revealed by the clear atmosphere of truth 
 and love ; and they will yield their fragrance to refresh and 
 strengthen the soul for new and still higher attainment. 
 
 The dark shadow of death, which has rested like a pall 
 upon the breaking heart of the world, shall fade away, and 
 * the clear river of life flow in, bearing away only the mate- 
 rialities of earth to conduct it onward in the progressive 
 scale of being, wherein to bask in the new-born, unfledged 
 hopes of its new existence. The dream-land of youth shall 
 have become the reality of age, the mother of its love, sit- 
 ting side by side, talking of God, and truth, and duty, 
 while the father, strong in principle and fervent in action, 
 shall say. My son, thus can your life glorify God and ben- 
 efit man. 
 
488 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 The trembling penitent sliall come and be again enfolded 
 in the embrace of hope and affection — the tear of sorrow, 
 falling only to purify — and the wayward be brought back 
 to duty. 
 
 The sad, unfinished picture, abruptly terminated in its 
 rudimental state, shall again be placed upon the living 
 canvas of the heart, with its pencil dipped in the fountain 
 of eternal truth and justice, portraying the lineaments of 
 spirit-life and spirit-land beyond the grave. The eye of 
 love shall detect its own, but so beautiful, so chaste, so 
 pure, it shall bow down with reverence and gratitude, and 
 say, My Lord and my God ! 
 
 Children of earth ! the home of the spirit is now being 
 made known to you, that you, as in the olden time, may 
 bind on your sandals and prepare for your journey. There 
 ia so much of adornment and beauty you can now place 
 there, so many dark clouds you may dissipate, that God in 
 his mercy has permitted the vail to be lifted. And beware 
 how you, in your short-sightedness and worldly wisdom, 
 ruthlessly destroy the vision. You act for your own soul 
 and its eternal destiny. You can enter now the mansions 
 of eternal blessedness, or you can stand shivering among 
 the cold vanities of earth till life shivers into eternity. 
 But even then you must take up its tangled thread and 
 weave from its disjointed fibers the texture of immortal- 
 ity. You stand alone accountable before God for the use 
 you make of the great privileges bestowed upon you, and 
 in this individual responsibility it is given you. 
 
 We, the spirits, love, advise, and counsel you. Before 
 God, we are true to you, true to ourselves, and faithful to 
 duty in this matter. Judge ye. 
 
 Our instruments that we have chosen are like yourselves, 
 of the earth, earthy ; with much labor, and sacrifice, and 
 'toil have they been prepared to transmit to the world the 
 truth of the living God, through the testimony of his min- 
 istering spirits. They are freely offered as burnt-offerings 
 upon its altar. They work for us and with us, and well 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 489 
 
 they know that with us they stand or fall. They, with us, 
 feel the sustaining power of God, and His truth, and whether 
 comes weal or woe, we say with him of Nazareth, " Thy 
 will, not ours, be done." 
 
 ttiim Bht^-hxu. 
 
 West Roxburt, August 24, 1854. 
 At a meeting of the new circle, through Mrs. Leeds it was written : 
 
 The spirit to remain inactive after the body has fallen 
 asleep and gone to the grave? O ! man of earth ! ask rea- 
 son, and consult the throne of judgment, then commune 
 with thy God, for he is always near to inspire holy thoughts 
 into the soul of his creatures who have emanated from the 
 Godhead. Why put from you His divine hand ? It would 
 elevate and lead you back to purity, love, and truth. God, 
 in his infinite wisdom, would give man of the Tree of Life 
 in this existence, so as not to go into eternity with so much 
 darkness around and about him, but rather like the proph- 
 ets of old. 
 
 It is their teachings you take for a guide at this day. 
 Has God the Father lost all power ? given his creatures the 
 ascendency ? for they say in their pride, " There can be no 
 communication with his ministering spirits, and even if 
 there can, it must be evil ;" forgetting that the good and 
 evil are always put in the reach of mortals for them to 
 choose, and by the fruits shall ye know them. Beware 
 how the light is neglected, for we compel not ; we only in- 
 vite you to view the path of wisdom and truth before you, 
 to lead you from darkness into marvelous light. Yes, we 
 
490 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 would give to you the bread of Life. Ask and you shall 
 receive of the truth that surrounds earth. You have the 
 evidence of our being with those who will inquire how to 
 attain the realization of our communion. Come, learn of 
 that joy — the joy of knowing that departed friends are ever 
 anxious to speak of the life beyond the grave — to give of 
 the evergreen of Hope, and bring the myrtle of Love, the 
 olive-branch of Peace. Will you refuse the Dove who 
 would tell you of the dry land that we have reached, and 
 would come on angel-wings to bring glad tidings to every 
 heart ? Oh ! come ! drink at the Fount, and thirst no 
 more. It is the well-spring of everlasting joy. 
 
 Now we will explain what these joys and pleasures are, 
 and of what they consist in the spirit-spheres — that which 
 is congenial and profitable, and will aid in progression. 
 
 If one of the partners of your joys and sorrows is called 
 first, he can wait by some clear stream and tarry the com- 
 ing of the other. The same occupations and delights can 
 be enjoyed there. The h'alls of memory can be consulted, 
 and oh ! how they should be decorated on earth, that when 
 visiting their apartments, there shall be no shadow of re- 
 morse to mar the temple of immortality. There, in the 
 garden of Contentment, await the loved ones, to reveal to 
 you the treasures not hidden, but ready for the coming of 
 spirits to the homes of the children of God. Heaven and 
 earth rejoice in the light given them. 
 
 Then followed this dialogue through Mrs. Leeds and Laura, spoken 
 by them on two or three different days, and written down by others. 
 
 Helen. — This path leads to a beautiful scene ; it is that 
 of a village. 
 
 Lauea. — A cord draws me back as I get on that path. 
 
 H. — I know what it is. Think not of that cord ; it is not 
 broken. 
 
 L. — What is it ? It seems I get so far, eager to go on, 
 and then I fall back. 
 
 H. — ^Think not of it, for we are delaying these spirits in 
 
SPIKITUALISM. ^^ 
 
 the form and out. "We will describe that village, and all 
 you see, and explain it through you. 
 
 L. — I am going up a hill, wending my way among bush- 
 es, in a narrow path, and I should judge . 
 
 H. — Have you to judge ? There is but one Judge. He 
 judges all. You must go in that path, and make the best 
 of your way onward. Kow go, and with me describe the 
 village and the scenes therein. 
 
 L. — I have reached the summit of the hill . 
 
 H. — ^There are myriads of forms here ! Are they spirit- 
 forms ? See how busily they are engaged in their different 
 occupations ! 
 
 L. — Each one seems to be deeply interested in his work, 
 and I notice on every face the same expression of peace. 
 
 H. — And as you gaze on this scene, ever and anon these 
 spirits welcome to their homes a new face. Some of those 
 new comers look weary and worn, as if they had had much 
 pain. There are little children here of every size and age. 
 It makes no matter whether they are strangers or not, for 
 this village is called Benevolence. 
 
 L. — I see at one end of the village a large temple. 
 
 H. — But you have not seen with how much tenderness 
 and care they treat these strangers who come to their vil- 
 lage ; and when they look up and ask where they are ? they 
 tell them in the kindest accents to wait till rested, and they 
 shall travel farther onward. Then the spirits take it upon 
 themselv^es, each in their turn, to administer to the wants 
 and comfort of those intrusted to their care. Love beams 
 on every face, and the weary are soon restored to strength. 
 
 L. — I notice that this village is situated on a side hill, 
 and the mansions are varied in architecture, but very beau- 
 tiful, each dwelling-place suiting the taste of the occu- 
 pant, and I see a beautiful stream running gently at the 
 foot of the hill. 
 
 H. — See how busily the spirit-forms are filling goblets 
 and carrying them to their homes to refresh those they have 
 under their care. 
 
492 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 L. — See ! there is a dwelling open in front, and it is 
 large and beautiful. A spirit tells me it is of Grecian 
 architecture, and I see, as those strangers approach, some 
 are ushered in there, and the beautiful spirits of the place 
 draw near to them and are endeavoring to rouse them to 
 vigor; and now I see those cup-bearers bringing of the 
 cooling stream. 
 
 H. — Yes, and if you will look above you will see spirit- 
 forms floating in the air, all ready to take the spirits, as fast 
 as they recover, and carry them in their arms to another 
 village more beautiful. As they enter this village, what 
 see you at the entrance ? It is an eye. What is the mean- 
 ing of it ? They will tell you. 
 
 L. — It signifies that even in this resting-place He dwells 
 as he does in all space and in all eternity. 
 
 H. — But here you will see them looking over books, as 
 if they wished either to recall or see the record of those 
 who have gone before them. Then, as they look, there is 
 a spirit that comes forward and tells them there is the eye 
 to behold every footstep they shall take in progression, in 
 order to be prepared to see the loved ones who have passed 
 before them ; and as I look I perceive, as they run their 
 finger down the list of names, there are names of friends 
 they have known on earth, and the names they bear in the 
 spheres. Then they look in another book, and it is very 
 large, and there are laid out plans of what they shall do, 
 in order to go from this village to one even more beautiful. 
 That village is called Charity. 
 
 L. — O! I see a spirit that has just arrived; she is de- 
 crepit and old with grief, and she looks submissive, but 
 as though sorrow had weighed her spirit nigh unto the 
 dust. 
 
 H. — "Well, she will not look so long, for every thing 
 beams with benevolence and charity ; and even as she 
 looks on that arch in front of that beautiful home (for it 
 has " Home" in beautiful letters over it), it attracts her at 
 tention and inspires her with confidence. 
 
SPIRITUALISM* * 4^3 
 
 L. — Hark ! she speaks. 
 
 H. — She forgets she is old and decrepit. 
 
 L. — She stands erect, and says, " My God ! ray God ! 
 thou hast not forsaken me. My soul has indeed found its 
 resting-place." 
 
 H. — As she enters that dwelling, familiar voices say to- 
 her, " This is a home for you, but you have not to cease 
 working yet." 
 
 L. — Why does she start? She replies, "Work! I will 
 ever work, to repay a Father's tenderness and mercy to 
 me." 
 
 H. — She inquires what is the work ? Her guide then 
 tells her to first come in and sit down and feel at home. 
 
 L. — And is that the way mortals are received when leav- 
 ing the form ? 
 
 H. — ^If you will notice, you will see she has much work 
 to do. 
 
 L.— Why is that ? 
 
 H. — Because she must not only have freedom of mind 
 to feel she is at home, but must act accordingly. You see 
 she has benevolence and charity. This is her work, for her 
 to extend mercy to all who come within her home. She 
 is the sole occupant there now, for those familiar faces are 
 gone. They were only there to w^elcome her. 
 
 L. — O ! what a happy entrance into the spheres ! and she 
 feels that while working there, and greeting others, she is 
 fitting herself to meet those loved ones ; and there we will 
 leave her. ; ; -> 
 
 H. — Do you see how beautiful, how quiet the village is? 
 Every thing is so in order, but full of spirit-forms. The 
 air about them is — what ? 
 
 L. — And is it only that light cloud, that mist, that sep- 
 arates them from another sphere ? 
 
 H. — And riding on that cloud are happy, smiling faces, 
 and they are ever inspiring those in this happy village with 
 exalted thoughts. 
 
 L. — But see, there is a child about leaving that place. Let 
 
4:94 SPIEITUALISM. 
 
 US watch it. Tliej all know it is going away, and there is 
 not an expression of regret or selfishness there. The beau- 
 tiful little one laughingly bids them adieu, and they all 
 with one voice raise a chant. 
 
 Hark to the words ! " We praise thee, O God, we lift 
 Our souls to thee." Borne on a silvery cloud, the little one 
 passes from their sight, and they return to their peaceful 
 labors. 
 
 H. — ISTow we will go a little farther — for distance is 
 nothing here — and look into that city. It must be a city, 
 it is so much larger. 
 
 L. — And what is it called ? 
 
 H. — The architecture of the buildings is beautiful, and 
 as you enter beneath the portals of the gate you look with 
 awe. 
 
 L. — Sister spirit, they tell me I am to describe that place ? 
 May I do it justice. 
 
 H. — You have first to tell the name of the city. 
 
 I will give it to you in a few moments, and then you can 
 go on. A spirit, robed in silvery garments, holds a wreath 
 in its hand. It is formed of jewels, very beautiful and 
 dazzling to the sight, and as you gaze, you will gather 
 strength. 
 
 The name of the city is Love. You can now enter and 
 describe the interior. 
 
 L. — The country before me is very beautiful. There are 
 many paths leading to the gateway. The gate I have seen 
 before. It consists of gold, a glittering gold, light, and 
 not so gross and material as our gold. It is a very large 
 gate, and has an arch over it formed of the same material 
 — transparent gold ; the device is a grape-vine, the leaves 
 and fruit closely intertwined, and the two ends held to- 
 gether by a jeweled bird. The gate is opened, and I see, 
 a bright spirit standing at the entrance, who ushers us in. 
 
 H. — ISTow we will advance, so as to inform others what 
 the buildings are and of what use they are, for here great 
 numbers congregate. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 495 
 
 L.- — Sister spirit, what is that shining light before 
 us? 
 
 H. — That is the beacon light to the city of Xove. 
 
 The buildings are most beautiful, but the order that 
 reigns within is more so. Tell thou what thou seest to 
 those who are waiting to hear the news of this city. 
 
 L. — And joyous news it will be, for there is perfect love 
 reigning here ! 
 
 H. — And other combinations, no doubt. Love of excel- 
 lence and wisdom. 
 
 L. — And truth. 
 
 H. — And do you perceive how many spirits recognize 
 familiar faces ? How content they seem ? and how intent 
 in the pursuit of knowledge ? 
 
 L. — They beckon us. 
 
 H. — Yes, for I see their thoughts. It is not so much for 
 what they shall cull, for their own use, but to enable them 
 to progress others in all the branches of learning in which 
 they are engaged. 
 
 L. — Now they are drawing us from the portals of that 
 city up an avenue leading to a large building far distant. 
 
 H. — ^The motto over that building is, " Liberty to all who 
 enter this city." 
 
 L. — Great quiet reigns here, no discordant sounds, no 
 inharmonious greetings. 
 
 H. — For every thing is done decently and in order. 
 
 L. — As we advance toward that building, see the numer- 
 ous spirits thronging there of every age and size. Pray 
 describe it. 
 
 H. — -It is a circular building with twenty-four galleries. 
 It has no roof. 
 
 L. — Why, it resembles an amphitheater ! 
 
 H. — In front of the speaker's desk there are guides, each 
 one having in his hand the motto of his class, and as each 
 speaker advances to the desk, he addresses his class in a 
 specific manner, and in such terms, that it impresses them 
 more forcibly than others in the building, so that each 
 
4:96 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 guide instructs his own sphere of spirits, although they 
 meet in this temple of learning in such a mass. 
 
 L. — I notice that they are very attentive and intent on 
 what he says. A look of perfect* content pervades the 
 whole assembly, and as each finishes his discourse, he 
 stands aside, and another teacher takes liis place. 
 
 H. — They are not arranged as mortals are in their places 
 or classes, but seemingly float on the atmosphere, and com- 
 bine together so closely that a very large number of spirit- 
 forms can be admitted within the building. 
 
 L. — I notice one feature here in this hall, and that is, on 
 the surface of the ground, w^hich seems so transparent, a 
 great many flowers are growing. 
 
 H. — The city is built upon ethereal clouds, surpassing in 
 beauty every thing that can be brought to the view of the 
 material eye. Mortals can have no conception of it ! for 
 one sphere is built on another in an ethereal atmosphere, 
 and is alive with spirit-forms, keeping together in perfect 
 order. 
 
 L. — The city spreads out to a great distance, and its 
 whole appearance is ethereal — nothing like our earthly 
 material about it. There is a delicacy, a transparency in 
 the objects that is past description. 
 
 H. — And the exterior of their dresses, countenances, 
 buildings, every thing, has this most beautiful, refulgent 
 light, that passes all understanding, except of those who 
 can be permitted to enter the interior state, or, in other 
 words, pass from the normal state with spirit-guides by 
 spirit-laws beyond the valley. 
 
 L. — Why does the light here change so much? Do you 
 notice it ? 
 
 H. — ]^o, I am trying to see what they are showing me 
 about this valley, I have not advanced as far as you yet. 
 
 L. — I will wait and help you. 
 
 H. — ]S'o, I do not wish you to do so. The valley of 
 Courage — for it requires much courage to penetrate beyond 
 the material life, to behold the mysteries,. the beauties, the 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 497 
 
 glories of the eternal life. And it is not denied to any of 
 God's children — they can all partake of this spirit-life, and 
 it will strengthen and invigorate the mortal body, and lit 
 it and prepare the spiritual body for all the dangers " it 
 mnst undergo to meet the forms of those so loved on earth. 
 Now, if you will come with me, and look particularly at 
 the other buildings in this city, we can learn what the 
 spirits have to ocQupy themselves about after coming out 
 of this temple of wisdom and learning. 
 
 L. — We will go. ISTow I see a large building of purest 
 white material. It is circular, and the roof is supported 
 by columns elaborately wrought. I can not count them, 
 there are so many. The roof resembles layer upon layer 
 of smooth, frosted snow, and at the top is a beautiful bird, 
 with wings outspread, and in his beak he bears a small 
 tablet, on which is written, "Truth." 
 
 H. — I also notice that all the birds are of a golden hue; 
 their plumage is very beautiful. They are not entirely 
 useless, for each bears in its bill a bit of tissue or trans- 
 parent paper, on which words are written, and they go to 
 other spheres and let fall these scraps. The spirits there 
 take them up, and read thereon words of encouragement 
 and hope, and thus the spirit-friends in the spheres are 
 cheered and progressed, and so these little songsters are 
 employed, and they carry music that doeth the spirit good, 
 their notes are so melodious and are in such perfect tune 
 and keeping. 
 
 L. — I observe that in this are the same class of spirits 
 the first speaker was addressing. Some are conversing, 
 some inscribing words on bits of paper ; and as the words 
 are written and the papers filled, some spirit near takes 
 the scroll and gives it to a bird, by whom it is wafted 
 away. 
 
 H. — Let us follow that bright messenger-bird and see 
 where he will carry us, for he looks round to see if we are 
 coming. . 
 
 We draw near a sphere. On the outside are stationed 
 
 32 
 
498 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 bright spirits, with golden robes tinged with blue ; around 
 their foreheads are halos of light. Going round to the en- 
 trance of this city, I see over the gates the words engraven, 
 "The City of Happy Childhood." 'No mortal eye can 
 conceive of the beauty of the spirit-forms which come to 
 greet the little cherubs who are entering the city the same 
 time we are. 
 
 L. — 'Tis Heaven, indeed ! 
 
 H. — A mother's heart must thrill with joy when she 
 hears of this city. 
 
 L. — I hear music. Oh ! it swells on the ear gradually 
 louder and louder, and dies away with joyous notes as me- 
 lodious as the woodbird. 
 
 H. — There are flowers here of the same hue and bright- 
 ness as the spirits themselves. And oh, see ! the little 
 cherubs twining flowers. They look up, and their happy 
 faces are lit with holy light. When they get a garland or 
 wreath woven, these little birds take it from their snowy 
 hands and bear it to another sphere to encourage a mother 
 who is struggling to see her dear one, or bear it to earth to 
 whisper in the mother's ear that it is not dead, but twining 
 brightest flowers in the spirit-spheres to greet her coming, 
 and they are ever active in twining these flowers. They 
 laugh so childlike and so happy, for they are perfection 
 here, it would seem to us. As I gaze, I see spirits with 
 the same dress coming to this city, and look around, but it 
 is in order with all. Then I see, as I saw before, a class, 
 but not so many, arise from their position and float with 
 their guide, for they can leave this city, and so he leads 
 them along in a train. They touch at every sphere, to the 
 planets, and meet other spirits who take them in charge : 
 thus they can go everywhere and anywhere, for they have 
 more liberty than those spirits who have arrived at a more 
 mature age. 
 
 L. — I notice that when the spirit-guide conducted them 
 from the city they looked upon him with great joy and con- 
 lidence, and seemed to anticipate pleasure. As they sep- 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 499 
 
 arated from liiin, and laughingly bade him adieu, they 
 floated out of his care, but not out of his sight. 
 
 H. — I believe that the little cherubs have but one pre- 
 vailing thought, that is, to go to and from this bright city 
 with flowers. 
 
 L. — Whither are we going now ? 
 
 H. — I am watching these little angel-forms ; they are so 
 happy, I could never tire looking at them, and seeing them 
 with their little messenger-birds floating in the air, for they 
 go with them. 
 
 L. — We must away, for they beckon us. We must leave 
 this heavenly scene. 
 
 H. — As I look at other parts of this city, I see spirit- 
 forms larger than the first, and they are, as it were, going 
 to school. They have guides the same, and as I look I see 
 a train coming from school ; and another train separating, 
 each going in a different direction, as if there was an at- 
 traction that drew them to all parts of the universe. As I 
 examine their features closely, I see there much intelli- 
 gence, far beyond mortals' idea of children. 
 
 L. — I notice one feature — it is this : the mind of the 
 spirit-child is so cultivated that all its latent powers are 
 dbv eloped gradually; those that were most developed on 
 earth are not forced beyond the other powers, but their 
 minds are so trained that all the attributes God has given 
 them are perfected ; therefore that aspect of intelligence — 
 that deep look that belongs to eternity. 
 
 11. — And each of these spirit-forms — for there are not 
 one or two, but millions — can leave their spirit-spheres, 
 and with their guides hover near mortals for a stated 
 time. I have watched them closely as they come near our 
 planet Earth, and observe they go to those about their 
 own age. 
 
 L.— Why is that ? 
 
 H. — -When they see the young tempted by other spirits 
 around them that always hover near earth, they take from 
 their guides the same scraps of paper that I have noticed 
 
600 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 in the little beaks of the birds, and read them alond. If 
 the mortal hears them not the first time, they read them 
 seven times, for they do not become weary or discouraged ; 
 and when they perceive that they can not reach the germ 
 within the casket to impress it aright, they offer np a 
 prayer — not a prayer to leave, but to come again, that they 
 may have strength to resist the temptation around them in 
 their own natures and the affinities that impel them. They 
 do not look sad, for even after they have endeavored with 
 all their spirit-power, there is a smile of resignation and 
 trust that they shall be able yet to make mortals realize 
 the goodness of God in so letting his ministering spirits 
 come to them and lead them from error to truth. 
 
 L. — We are on the wing again. Where'er we turn our 
 eye we see perfect system, perfect order, perfect beauty. 
 
 H. — And there is no trying to outdo one another. All 
 is in such perfect harmony that one and all are anxious to 
 know what they can do for the spirits at their side ; it is 
 almost too much for mortal senses to believe. 
 
 L.— Why is that clear fountain there, at the entrance of 
 the City of Childhood? 
 
 H. — It is the fountain of Jewels. 
 
 L. — For what purpose is it ? 
 
 H. — Do you not see the little cherubs run and pick 
 up the jewels as they fall from the fount, bubbling and 
 sparkling, toss them in the air, and catch them as they 
 fall? Then they look at them, and the jewels speak to 
 them in these words, " Such are ye : be pure, and mar not 
 our beauty. We will let you play with us until you shall 
 be as bright and pure as we are, that yoa can enter with 
 us, for we will be your passports to the gate of Heaven." 
 And the little cherubs look around, and their thoughts 
 say, " Can there be a brighter place than this !" The 
 words uttered by the jewels are engraven on them. I 
 never want to go away from this place ; there is no guile 
 or sorrow here ; all is pure, bright, and holy. 
 
 L. — Following that bright light, a bright form appears 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 601 
 
 floating before us, and I see a band of bright little spirits 
 coming toward us. Shall we not go toward them ? 
 
 H. — They wish us to follow the spirit of a little child to 
 the childhood spheres. I am borne to a room where there 
 are many mortals standing around a little couch. As I 
 look above the sorrowing minds, I see a perfect semblance 
 of a little child, in airy form, in the arms of one of those 
 bright ones I saw a little time ago. He smiles and wishes 
 me to go and see how this little child employs its time. 
 She is joyous, though just taken from the arms of a fond 
 mother. She is attended on every side by those little 
 birds. She thinks not of earth, or that she ever existed 
 there ; but as the spirit floats on this bright cloud, it ever 
 and anon whispers in the child's ear, "Thy father and 
 mother of earth you shall see again. Do not forget them. 
 You shall come with all these little birds around you, and 
 whisper love into their thoughts. You will float near 
 them with all these little birds, and they will give them 
 those little scraps of paper, so that they can read and un- 
 derstand them ; and as you grow — as you would have done 
 on earth — the papers and the birds will grow larger. For- 
 get not thy father and mother of earth." 
 
 The child looks up without wondering, but seems to un- 
 derstand by instinct what the spirit says. 
 
 The little child is attended by tiny birds opening their 
 beaks, and that enchains its attention- so that it keeps a 
 constant, fixed gaze. I see in the beak of those birds a 
 small scroll. The birds have the same golden plumage, 
 and send forth such notes of love that the child asks for 
 the scroll, and the spirit gives it to her. 
 
 They have now almost arrived. I know the road — I 
 have been here before. They meet a train of cherubs 
 about the same age, three or four years, who seem to re- 
 joice that another is added to their number. They know 
 the child is just from earth by the scroll and the little birds, 
 and as they approach the gate where is so much splendor 
 and beauty, it does not dazzle the eye of the child, for all 
 
502 SPIKITUALISM. 
 
 the way they have been preparing its. spirit, and it feels 
 composed, and with all its childlike glee begins to pick up 
 the jewels. There is not one thing in this home but what 
 bears the impress of intelligence — every thing seems almost 
 to speak. 
 
 The child plays with the jewels as with its toys on earth, 
 and when tired rests on this cloud of light. It requires 
 not much time to recruit, for, like a child on earth, its 
 mind is ever active and restless after some new toy. 
 
 From jewels to flowers, it passes the first day of its ex- 
 istence in this form. 
 
 Then, when it looks around, it finds itself clothed with a 
 new form. It looks at its hands, and now first beholds the 
 children surrounding it. It claps its hands with a merry 
 peal of laughter, and says, "I'll have a good play now 
 with all these little boys and girls." It has not yet changed 
 any of those childish words which it was accustomed to 
 use on earth. And as I gaze, I see there are spirits ever 
 whispering in the ear of its' parents on earth, and the same 
 spirit which bore the child to its home, goes back to the 
 mother, and that links the chain of afiection that is never 
 to be broken. That spirit tarries with the sorrowing 
 mother, and prepares the atmosphere around her for the 
 little cherub to bring the mother flowers, and for the little 
 birds to sing their notes of love with these words, "Mother ! 
 look up, my spirit is here. I love my happy home, and 
 my spirit can come so near, and bring all the bright flow- 
 ers that grow in that garden and give them to father and 
 mother, who so loved me on earth." 
 
 The spirits are constantly showing the children various 
 and beautiful forms of flowers and jewels to give them in- 
 struction, which they are ever receiving in the sphere of 
 childhood's home. So that the child loses not one lesson, 
 although it hovers near its mother. And then it wings its 
 way back, so that it is constantly and ever growing, as if 
 on earth, in form and beauty, in wisdom and love ; and 
 thus every little spirit-form is conducted by the divine 
 
' SPIBITUALI8M. 603 
 
 laws to the light everlasting, preparing not only its own 
 progression but even that of those on earth. 
 
 They are improving and arranging the flower-beds, which 
 are laid out with such care that it is no labor, but a pleasure. 
 
 It is not what we would consider a city of buildings, 
 streets, courts, and alleys, but it is made up of spirit-forms, 
 who stay their allotted season, and are relieved by others 
 taking their place, and go forward in their sphere of use- 
 fulness. 
 
 The children never tire, for in every object that the spirit- 
 child gazes upon, it beholds beauty and intelligence. It 
 does not look around for something to amuse the mind as 
 when on earth, for every care is taken by the Father of 
 all that the little cherubs shall be ever learning that it is a 
 delightful pleasure and no toilsome study. There is no 
 morning there, no night, but one continued day, and so 
 the time passes in eternity, as we have tried to describe to 
 you, without too much dazzling the mortal eye. But as 
 this glorious truth opens to the view of mortals, they shall 
 know more of spirit-laws and spirit-life. It shall be given 
 in such a manner that all minds can understand and appre- 
 ciate the operations of the spirit on the natural laws, so 
 that it shall not mar the mortal temple to understand the 
 secrets of the immortal tabernacle that is raised in every 
 sphere alter passing from this terrestrial existjence. 
 
604 SPIEITUALISM 
 
 Section Si^tg-fih. 
 
 West Roxbury, Aug. 25, 1854. 
 
 The circle again met, and through me it was said : 
 
 * I WAS again in the legislative hall of that sphere, and my 
 spirit-guide, who, it seemed to me, was Washington, stand- 
 ing by my side, said to me : 
 
 You observe this community is large and numerous. 
 The higher powers of its government are exercised by rep- 
 resentatives, chosen from and by the mass, but it is di- 
 vided into many smaller communities, and each one of 
 them into others smaller still, till they are reduced to 
 circles or bands of from twenty to fifty each. 
 
 The whole community meets only by its representatives. 
 The smaller communities often assemble together to receive 
 instruction and to deliberate upon matters connected with 
 the general welfare. 
 
 Each one of these communities has its presiding and 
 ministering spirit, its secretaries to record its proceedings, 
 and its own place of meeting. Each member of the com- 
 munities is not only instructed but practiced in the art of 
 self-government, not only of the community, but of each 
 individual member: it laying at the foundation of their 
 system of self-government, that each first learn to govern 
 himself, and he who permits himself to lose self-control is 
 at once deprived, and that by his own consciousness, of 
 the power of interfering in the government of others, 
 until a proper frame of mind is restored to him. 
 
 This process of purifying the governing body is one of 
 the most interesting and important institutions that obtain 
 among them, and it is exercised chiefly by the individual 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 605 
 
 who is affected by it. I say chiefly, because there are 
 times when he is obliged to invoke and receive the aid of 
 others in restoring his mind to its proper bias ; and that 
 aid is given as from brother to brother, and not as from 
 ruler to subject. 
 
 It is attended with no harshness, has no form of punish- 
 ment, but is kind, gentle, forbearing, and comes as aid to 
 the distressed. In communities as near the mortal sphere 
 as is this which you are now beholding, this purifying pro- 
 cess is frequently resorted to, and with some one or other 
 it is almost always in exercise. But as you advance higher 
 it will be less frequently seen, and gradually disappear 
 until you arrive at spheres where it is unknown, because 
 unnecessary. It is frequent where you are now looking, 
 because there lingers around tlie individuals yet so much 
 of mortal taint and earthly passions. With some it is long 
 before that taint wears out, and they who are afflicted with 
 it are to their fellows objects of compassion, not of con- 
 demnation, and instead of the hisses and the yells of dis- 
 approbation which you hear at times in your mortal as- 
 semblages, you will here see the starting tear and the 
 trembling lip pervade a meeting at the exhibition of the 
 propensity which sets this process in motion. And in him 
 who offends, it is not a feeling of anger that is aroused, 
 but emotions of shame and sorrow that he should thus 
 have touched the hearts of the .brotherhood around him. 
 The agony that in his breast follows the consciousness of 
 error is known to and recognized by every one, and awak- 
 ens in them emotions of sorrow alone, shown by the sym- 
 pathy, the active comfort and consolation which are on all 
 hands proffered to him in his distress. 
 
 On earth you would call this punishment, but we better 
 understand here that it is the inevitable result of law, 
 which is never violated by the conscious mind without 
 bringing suffering in its train. You have in your material 
 existence the same law, both morally and physically. You 
 recognize it in its physical aspect. You know that you 
 
506 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 can not pervert any of your material organs from their le- 
 gitimate office without inflicting pain. If you thrust your 
 hand into the flame, it smarts. If you take poison into 
 the stomach, it destroys. If you imbibe that which im- 
 pairs and disturbs the action of the brain, you suffer, not 
 mentally only, but in your whole nervous system. Thus, 
 in your material being, you recognize, through the instru- 
 mentality of your senses, that evil and suffering flow from 
 the violation of the law of your nature. Some of you are 
 so far advanced as to recognize this truth as equally appli- 
 cable to your moral nature. With us it becomes a self- 
 evident law, ever at work within us, morally and phys- 
 ically ; and one most prominent result flowing from your 
 death is the capacity to understand this law and the causes 
 of its operation. Hence, with us, we require no judges to 
 condemn, no chains to bind, no prisons to incarcerate the 
 offender. The judge of the offense and the executioner of 
 the law reside together in the heart of the convict, and in- 
 stinctively perform their function. Every man is a law 
 unto himself. Man in the spheres, in all the relations of 
 spirit-life, bears about him ever the avenger of broken 
 laws ; whether he is groveling darkly amid the depraved 
 and unprogressed, or is working his toilsome way upward, 
 he has within himself the consciousness of violating the 
 laws of his Creator, and that consciousness works out its 
 own task of retribution, and finally of purification. It 
 will sometimes start from its course, and seem to wander 
 from its proper path — sometimes inflicting suffering too 
 severe and enduring, and at other times relaxing its rule, 
 so as to fail in producing a lasting impression ; then comes 
 the duty of the governing spirits to return it to its pathway 
 and keep its action within due bounds. This is manifested, 
 not merely in their political relations with each other, out 
 of which now this lesson has flowed to you, but in all the 
 relations of spirit-life, and you must readily perceive that 
 the happiness of our spirit-life must increase as we ad- 
 vance beyond the reach of these mental aberrations, and 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 507 
 
 must dimmish in proportion as we yield to them. It is so 
 in your life — invariably so, however much external or ap- 
 parent prosperity may hide from your material vision the 
 gnawings of the worm within ; and with us the same law 
 operates only the more forcibly, because of the removal 
 from its operations of the obstacles which your material 
 nature so often present. 
 
 Now you have seen and have had told to you the great 
 principles which mark political government in the spheres. 
 There is, however, one more consideration which is not a 
 matter of positive enactment, but the result of circum- 
 stances with us as with you on earth, and that is, goodness 
 is rewarded as well as vice punished. That reward each 
 earns for himself. He asks it not from those around him ; 
 he reaches out no hand for it beseechingly to his rulers, 
 but claims it as his due, lays hold upon it as his right— 
 the more certainly and the more effectively that he is at 
 length free from the material appliances which on earth 
 so often stand between virtue and its reward. Hence it 
 is that with us we need no judicatory to inflict punishment 
 for error, or administer reward for rectitude. Each man 
 bears the court in his own bosom, aided and supported 
 at times from without, but always open and at work 
 within. 
 
 Now look at the executive department of this govern- 
 ment, and you will see spirits presiding over the whole 
 community, over each division and subdivision, revolving 
 each like the stars of heaven in their orbits, marked out 
 for them by the same Wisdom which has fashioned each 
 and started them on their eternal path. You will observe 
 that the great duty of those presiding spirits is not so 
 much to rule over as it is to serve their fellows — that the 
 passport to those positions is not so much a capacity to 
 govern as it is a willingness to serve ; and that the posi- 
 tions are assumed, not so much from the love of power as 
 from the desire to do good to others. Hence you will see 
 throughout this whole community spread out before your 
 
608 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 view — partially progressed only as it is, and bearing about 
 it still much of earthly taint — that the predominant feeling, 
 cultivated and existing, is the desire to benefit others, and 
 on 'that predominance is erected the happiness they enjoy. 
 And you have already seen, in your progress through space, 
 how the prevalence and domination of that feeling have 
 made the realms you have beheld, one above another, more 
 bright, more beauteous, more happy, more joyous, so that 
 long before you could even in imagination approach the 
 gates of Heaven, you have beheld man enjoying a beati- 
 tude far surpassing what poets have fancied, or the imag- 
 ination has ever painted, as the happiness of Heaven itself. 
 So, on the other hand, you have beheld, as you have de- 
 scended amid darkness, misery, and despair, that the ab- 
 sence of this feeling, this disregard of law, has been com- 
 mensurate with the enduring suffering you have witnessed. 
 Now, child of earth ! pause thus on the threshold of eter- 
 nity, and ask yourself if man on earth is not capable of 
 making his mortal existence an epitome of that darkness 
 on the one side or of that brightness on the other ? If he 
 can not drag up, on the one hand, the seething caldron of 
 boiling passion and suffering, or draw down, on the other, 
 the realization of the peace and happiness to which man 
 can attain ? See ! if, when imitating the wisdom of God, 
 in the form of your government, you can not infuse into it 
 his principle of attraction, binding each member to its place, 
 and thus making a harmonious whole. Tell me if wisdom 
 shall thus speak from on high to mortal ears in vain. Tell 
 me if the lesson of virtue and happiness which is spread 
 out before you shall fall powerless upon the human heart ? 
 Tell me, will you still seek, amid the shades below, for the 
 example of your lives? Shall virtue and its rewards, joy, 
 and wisdom, and happiness, descend from the bright spheres 
 above, in vain on your earth ? Shall they float over a drowned 
 world, and return to the ark bearing no olive-branch, indi- 
 cating a subsidence of the flood ? Shall Heaven's gates be 
 open toward earth in vain ? Shall its holy light be yet 
 
SPIRITUALISM. . 509 
 
 again repelled by the darkness you yourselves create around 
 you ? Or are you, at length, ready to plant in your midst 
 the standard of his Almighty love, and rejoice as it un- 
 folds itself to the breeze of Heaven ? Will you receive it 
 as the brazen serpent, erected in the wilderness of your 
 mortal propensities, to heal the sting of the thousand mor- 
 tal reptiles that have followed your footsteps so long ? 
 
 Choose ye ! for the freedom of choice is yours. Choose 
 ye ! the road in which you travel ; but in making that 
 ch6ice, oh ! my countrymen ! remember that the day once 
 was when God shed abroad on your happy land the be- 
 nignant light of his own freedom — that he gave it to you 
 in charge for the benefit of mankind — that the responsibil- 
 ity of keeping, of sustaining, and of fostering it rests upon 
 you — and upon you and your children, to more than the 
 third or fourth generation, the consequences for good or 
 evil must flow. Choose ye then wisely and well, and may 
 He in His love and mercy aid you to attain the destiny 
 that is within your reach — that of being the beacon-light 
 of freedom to an enslaved and benighted world ! 
 
APPEIDIX 
 
 JlppnJri^— Ji. 
 
 Thursday, July 28, 1853. 
 
 At the circle this evening only three were present — the Doctor, jNIr. War- 
 ren, and myself. 
 
 When we first got together I told them how singularly uncomfortable I 
 had felt for two or three days. I had been unable to feel the presence of 
 good spirits, except occasionally, and the rest of the time my mind had been 
 filled with doubts and fears, and once the attempt had been made to impress 
 me with the notion that the withdrawal of my wife's intercourse had been 
 produced by her anger at having heard of something I had done, and to 
 awaken in me, in consequence, a feeling of resentment, which in former times 
 I had been too apt to indulge in. I had resisted that feeling as to her, because 
 I knew better what her feelings really were, and I had looked upon it as an 
 attempt of attendant spirits to cure me of a proneness to indulge such emotions. 
 But I had, notwithstanding, felt very unhappy and desponding, without any 
 visible cause for being so. 
 
 The Doctor soon began to feel the spirit-influence. He said it was a novel 
 and unpleasant one. I remarked, I supposed it was an undeveloped spirit, 
 and if so, I added, let him come, he can do us no harm, and we may do him 
 some good. 
 
 After a good deal of struggling, he wrote in large, coarse letters : 
 
 You are smart men. Don't you think you will do great things ? 
 Who are you, Judge E., and who are you, Dr. D., and what fool 
 is that asleep on the lounge ? Go to the Devil." 
 
 These few words occupied a whole page, and were written with violent con- 
 tortions, and several times the pencil, paper, and books were thrown at my 
 head with great violence. 
 
512 ^ APPENDIX. 
 
 At length, however, the vrriting was completed, and I read it aloud. 
 
 I then said : You have chosen of your own accord to come here, and now 
 you must tell us who you are and what you have come for ? This I demand in 
 the name of God, and you must obey. 
 
 The contortions and violence of gesture were renewed and augmented. The 
 books, paper, and pencil were repeatedly thrown at me with great violence-: 
 his fist was doubled and thrust out toward me, as if he wanted to strike me, 
 and once or twice he looked at me with a concentrated feeling of hate and 
 defiance. I sat by the table opposite to the Doctor, leaning my arms upon it, 
 looking him steadily in the face, and saying to him several times : It is no 
 use struggling. You must obey. After some time, and with many interrup- 
 tions, he wrote : 
 
 I have been around and somewhat near you for a day or two. 
 My name is . 
 
 As soon as the name was given I recognized him as one of the last ones 
 whom I had tried for murder, and who had been executed the past winter. 
 He had been a short, burly English sailor, who without any provocation had 
 cruelly killed a policeman with a cart-rung, beating him with it even after he 
 was dead. 
 
 I asked him why he came ? He answered : 
 
 I was sent here. 
 For what purpose ? 
 
 To annoy and worry you. 
 But "wasn't you sent here that I might aid you and do you some good ? 
 
 No. 
 But can't I aid you ? If I can I will with all my heart. 
 
 I don't know what to say. 
 Tell me who sent you, and then I can tell what to do. 
 
 Spirits opposed sent ifte to you. 
 But do you like the society in which you find yourself? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 Your condition must be an unhappy one. Do you not want to change it for 
 a better one ? 
 
 Yes, if I can. 
 
 Well, now let me try to help you. I know I can, and I can invoke the aid 
 of others to assist, and if you will allow it, we will do you some good. 
 
 Let me go to-night. I will come to-morrow night, and tell you 
 all about it. 
 
 Very well, we will be glad to see you and talk with you as long as you 
 please, if we can only do you any good. But when you come to-morrow, will 
 
APPENDIX. , 613 
 
 you not come more gentle ? You see how violently you have used the Doctor, 
 and you can talk just as well without tormenting him. Won't you do so to- 
 morrow ? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 Then good-bye now, and I reached out my hand, took his, and shook it, 
 saying, It is the hand of a friend and a brother. Come gently to-morrow, 
 and you will find us so. 
 
 Then he immediately left. 
 
 It was altogether a very extraordinary manifestation. It was conducted 
 throughout with unusual and indeed unknown violence. He took entire pos- 
 session of the Doctor, not merely of his arm, as others did, and the Doctor said 
 he felt an almost uncontrollable inclination to strike me, and to commit acts 
 of violence, and he felt the controlling power of my will over and 'over again, 
 so that after catching my eye once or twice, he could not again lift his eyes to 
 mine. 
 
 After the spirit left we had the following communication from Sweedenborg : 
 
 Hark ! my friends, and listen to the strains of glorious harmony 
 descending from above, filling the lower spheres with music so 
 divine, that even the earthly spirits, dark and undeveloped, yield to 
 its gentle soul-subduing strains, and wish they too could sing such 
 notes of joy. Why is this ? It is because in the conflict with 
 self a victory has been achieved, and the mind prone to err has 
 been brought to the stern obedience of wisdom. If you had not 
 permitted this fellow's interference he could not have possessed 
 the Doctor ; but it is well it is so, for in this manifestation you 
 learn, that even in the spheres there are those opposed to the de- 
 velopment of truth and the intercourse of spirits. This is the true 
 history I mentioned in my teachings, that spirits gross and mis- 
 chievous occasionally arose irom the dark spheres, and visited the 
 earth. Here they congregate with those undeveloped spirits who 
 cluster around the earth, and finding that the open and facile inter- 
 course of the higher spirits with those in the form on earth, in 
 removing the errors and mischievous purposes of many spirits 
 belonging to this association, giving a new direction to their 
 thoughts and aspirations (and it is the first step toward progres- 
 sion), they have contrived in various ways to interrupt our com- 
 munion, and to vitiate the object of our teachings. In fine, they 
 have tried all sorts of plans to dispossess us of the affections of 
 our friends, and to instill into their minds vague as well as positive 
 suspicions. Under this state of things, they have really organized 
 a direct opposition to our efforts, and have selected some of the 
 
 33 
 
5l4 . APPENDIX. 
 
 shrewdest of their number to visit circles and individuals, and by 
 covertly and insidiously instilling into their minds unpleasant 
 thoughts about propriety of action, the faith of spirits, the purity 
 of purpose, and the many secret motives known only to their own 
 hearts, they thus strive to destroy what we have built up. 
 
 This man is one of the number, and though I knew he was here, 
 I did not suspect him of the intention of influencing the Doctor until 
 he had hold of him, and the Judge expressed a wish to have him 
 go on. With this liberty, he triecl to deceive you, but being com- 
 manded in the name of God to tell his name and object, he was 
 compelled to tell the truth and thus expose his designs. 
 
 However, he will come to-morrow night more gently ; as he has 
 left us with an admonition from me, he can not refuse to obey. 
 
 I can only say, God is always with us. Sweedenborg. 
 
 I here inquired whether our mode of dealing with him had mollified his 
 feelings any ? 
 Tt was answered : 
 
 [ only wish you could have seen the countenance of that spirit, 
 when firmly yet gently you brought him to yield to a higher will 
 than his oyrn, and too, when instead of violence you so kindly de- 
 sired to do him good, and expressed that desire in such a way 
 that he knew it was true. The spirit fairly and positively turned 
 pale with the powerful emotion those words of love and hope pro- 
 duced. Yes, you have probably shortened his probatory state 
 many years by your treatment of him to-night. 
 
 I inquired if during the two or three days that he had been around me my 
 wife had not been with me, seeking to couiAeract his influence, for it seemed 
 to me that I had several times felt her presence ? 
 
 It was answered : 
 
 Yes, Judge, your wife. Bacon, myself, and other friends have 
 been with you. Mr. Hopper has been with you. Now this plan 
 was concerted, and they did not know that, seeing their thoughts 
 we understood all that these undeveloped spirits designed to do. 
 Thus when this man, who hated you, was sent to disturb, etc., we 
 assembled around you, your wife approaching sometimes quite near 
 to comfort you ; but presuming we could draw out of this evil pur- 
 pose an eflect for good, by changing and diverting its influence, 
 we permitted him to go on, but you now see that though you have 
 been made quite uncomfortable, yet in the good you have done and 
 
APPENDIX. 515 
 
 will do, you will Lave accomplished an object for which years of 
 suffering are no recompense. 
 
 You will have raised from bondage a spirit free, and opened to 
 
 his vision and choice the eternal action of hope and the immortal 
 
 liberty of progression. Is this not worth being annoyed for a day 
 
 or two ? 
 
 I asked : Shall we then give him the interview to-morrow night, as pro- 
 
 It was answered : 
 
 Yes, if agreeable. 
 
 I should like to have you meet here again to-morrow night, to 
 greet Mrs. Dexter, and have Mrs. Sweet here also. Judge. I 
 would suggest, that if you have time you would see her, and tell 
 her about this visitation, and have her present to-morrow night. 
 I think a very great lesson can be gleaned from our meeting, and 
 joys unspeakable to all. Good-night, 
 
 SWEEDENBORG. 
 
 Friday, July 29^A, 1853. 
 This evening we met by appointment at Dr. Dexter's. Present, the Dr. and 
 Mrs. Dexter, Mr. Warren, Mr. and Mrs. Sweet, and myself. 
 The communication began as follows, through the Doctor : 
 
 He is here, and in quite a different mood from last night. He 
 is actuated by two opposing feelings toward you. Judge. He is 
 vindictive, and yet struggling with a newly-awakened desire, of 
 which feeling he has had no knowledge before. Now, friends, 
 after he shall have written through the Doctor an answer to ques- 
 tions, I propose that, under our direction, he manifest himself 
 through Mrs. S. This was my object last night, and in so doing, 
 I think the very nature of the spirit may be probed. , -. 
 
 I bless you all, and I earnestly call your attention to the great 
 feature of this teaching, which is, that love, pure love, in its effects 
 on the heart, of both spirit and man, is the only true incentive to 
 progression. Sweedenborg. 
 
 It was then written in large, coarse characters : 
 Now, what do you want to-night ? 
 
616 APPENDIX. 
 
 I told him that last night he had said that he had been sent here by those 
 opposed, to worry and annoy me, and had promised that to-night he would teU 
 •ps all about it. He answered : 
 
 Well. I can talk better. 
 
 .1 told him he might talk to us through Mrs. S. if he would be gentle with 
 her. 
 
 He said he would, but then acted through the Doctor with great violence. 
 He grasped my hand, and squeezed it with a violence that caused me pain for 
 several hours.* I asked him why he did so ? He answered : 
 
 I don't know. I feel you have injured me. 
 
 I told him I was unconscious of having done so, and he knew better than I 
 did whether he had been unjustly convicted. 
 
 The effect this remark made upon him was very great. He immediately 
 ceased his violence, and seemed to withdraw his influence from the Doctor. 
 The Doctor said the influence upon him was, that, whereas he had felt very 
 hot before, now a cold chill ran all over him. 
 
 Sweedenborg then wrote : 
 
 The Spirit is silent and astonished. 
 
 Now we will permit him to influence Mrs. S. ; but we will 
 guard him, so that he can not do other than gently to move her. 
 He may say many things undoubtedly through her, but he can not 
 disturb her, other than the impress of an unprogressed spirit ; but 
 m your efforts for truth and good, you should not object to come in 
 contact with such a one. 
 
 Then, after a good deal of a struggle he got possession of Mrs. S., and for 
 more than an hour talked to us through her. I endeavor to give a general 
 view only of the manifestation ; all its particulars would occupy too much 
 room. He began by saying : 
 
 That is damned hard work. 
 
 And after a while, he said : 
 
 Well, what have you got to say ? 
 
 I replied : You said just now that I had injured you ? 
 
 So you did. 
 
 I am not conscious of it. Wherein did I do so ? 
 
 That is a pretty question to ask, too. You had no right to do 
 as you done in regard to me. 
 
 ♦ I did not recover from the efifects for several months. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 61T 
 
 But you were dealt with according to the laws yon had violated. 
 
 Yes, I know ; but I'd been here yet but for you and the laws. 
 Damn the laws ! I liked the world, and do yet. 
 But do you not see something better than this world, which you can obtain ? 
 
 Nothing I can get at very handy. I tell you what it is : I led a 
 jolly good life, and wasn't willing to leave it ; and I am bound 
 now to stay and torment a good many, you among the rest. I was 
 happy enough when they took me away. 
 
 But said I, Can you not see something before you more attractive than 
 that ? 
 
 Before me ? My God, before me ! Thunder ! Do you think 
 I look before me ? No ; damned if I do. I belong away down 
 where it is so dark. 
 
 Mr. Sweet asked him about his childhood. He replied : 
 
 What do you know about me when I was a child ? 
 
 Nothing, said Mr. Sweet ; but I suppose that you were then innocent and 
 happy. 
 
 So I was. 
 Well, then, said Mr. S., don't you want to bring back those happy days ? 
 
 I aint a fool. No ; I am not. As a child I was innocent, but 
 I don't want to be a child again. I have become a man, and am a 
 man yet. 
 
 As he said this, he arose and stood erect before me, looking at me with an 
 air of fierce defiance. 
 
 I said. That may be ; but do you not want to make your manhood as happy 
 as your childhood was ? 
 
 Don't I want what I can't get ? 
 
 But you can get it, that I know. 
 
 Yes ; you say you do. You wouldn't talk that way with me 
 before — but now I'm a spirit. Then I was a poor guilty wretch. 
 That's what you done. 
 
 Then walking backward and forward before me, with an impatient stride, 
 he exclaimed : 
 
 Now I am as good as you, if you are a judge. 
 
 Are you sure of that ? At least, you are not as happy. 
 
 That won't go down. I was happy enough when I lived here. 
 
518 APPENDIX. 
 
 and would have been happy if it had not been for you. 'Twasn't 
 my fault I was so bad. Myself had nothing to do with it. Did I 
 make my character ? 'Twas as much as I could do to get enough 
 to eat. 'Twasn't always I got that, and then folks said I stole ; 
 • and Idid. I say I did, and would do it again. 
 
 But surely such feelings can not give you happiness ? 
 
 Talk about happiness ! It is very little I ever saw of it yet. 
 
 Seek it now, then, and you can obtain it ; and I -will help you, if I can do 
 you any good. 
 
 If you can do me good, just do. Now, I tell you, I am in a very 
 bad state. Oh, my blackness within ! I could do any thing to be 
 revenged on man who made me what I am. Change the blackness 
 of my heart, my bad passions to purity and goodness ? Oh, no ! 
 
 Mr. Sweet asked him if he could not forgive ? 
 
 Oh, if you only knew all the injuries I have to forgive, you 
 would not think it so easy. 
 
 I said, Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others. 
 
 I knew that when I was a little boy. If I only had the pure 
 heart I had then, I would not be here breathing revenge and de- 
 spair. If you could look around and see my blackness compared 
 with the brightness of those spirits, you wouldn't say I could ever 
 be like them. I am a foul blot compared with them. I forgot all 
 the charity and goodness I ever knew. I feel it, and see it, and 
 hate myself, my black, degraded myself. Why didn't God cut me 
 off years ago ? Why leave me to become so black a plague spot, 
 and in hell, too ? for I am in hell. The torments I endure are so 
 agonizing that I know I am in hell. Would you like to see the 
 place I dwell in 1 
 
 I told him, No ; his description satisfied me. 
 
 Thank your God for that. I wouldn't wish my worst enemy to 
 know it ; to hear their cursing and wrangling in the fury of their 
 black passions, made blacker still by indulgence. Reptile, as I 
 am, I feel that I must fly from that bad place, but where to fly to? 
 
 Fly to the aid and protection of the brighter spirits around you. See you 
 not many here ? 
 
 Yes ; hundreds, hundreds. Judge Edmonds, do you think those 
 
APPENDIX. 619 
 
 bright beings would touch me, covered as I am with darkness and 
 iniquity ? When I touched them I would leave a black spot on 
 their bright robes. 
 
 Fear not ; you can not taint them, but they can brighten you. You have 
 but earnestly to wish it. 
 
 Yes, I see them smiling ; but they smile at my filth and misery. 
 I may be an object of curiosity to them. I am out of place, like 
 the man in the play, and when the curtain falls, I return to my old 
 
 state again. 
 
 « 
 We told him he need not return, if he but earnestly prayed to be deliv- 
 ered. 
 
 It is a long time since I prayed. Many miles from here is the 
 place where I learned to say a prayer. 
 
 Who taught me ? My mother, my mother ! 
 
 Do you not wish to see her again ? 
 
 Of course I do ; but I am so far separated from her. 
 You can diminish the distance if you please. 
 
 I would T could only believe it. 
 
 But look around you, think of what you have seen, and judge for yourself, 
 if it is not so. 
 
 Yes, yes ; I've seen many strange things since I've been here 
 and I have seeQ them led off far away from us, and, as we were 
 told, to a better place. 
 
 Well, you ask and strive, and so it may be with you. 
 
 Well, I will, if I can. I tell you what, I have a friend who is 
 a good deal better off than I am. And I believe he interceded for 
 me that I might be permitted to come here to learn a lesson. But 
 after all, it is only preaching, and bad as I am, I have heard good 
 preaching in my day. 
 
 But I have, and can have, no object in misleading you. 
 
 Well, I don't know as you have ; I was told you meant kindly 
 by me. 
 
 By whom ? 
 
 I was told so by a stranger, who sent for, me and brought me 
 here. 
 
520 APPENDIX. 
 
 Is he here now ? 
 
 I haven't seen him, but should like to. Oh ! if any body could 
 certify to me that I should j_not return to that dismal, hellish place 
 that I left ! You say, I must pray to get out of my misery ? Is 
 not that the way ? I don't want to go back among those vicious, 
 miserable black devils. I'm bad enough, but I don't want to go 
 back there. 
 
 He then fell upon his knees, and earnestly prayed to God and the bright 
 spirits not to let him go back. When he arose from his knees, he said : 
 
 You can tell me more than I know, and can assist others who 
 are with me. You can come nearer than the bright spirits. 
 
 He then paused a few minutes, and gazing intently, he said : 
 
 One of them comes near me, and says all you have told me is 
 true, and that if I am willing to like goodness and purity better 
 than my wretched companions and evil passions, he will lend me 
 a helping hand. But he can't get as near as that yet. 
 
 Be patient, and persevere. He will come yet ; it is your own will alone that 
 keeps them off. 
 
 Judge, if I only thought they could come near me — if I only 
 could get over this — ^yes, yes — this stubborn wickedness — could 
 only get on — they would come near me. I am stubborn, I always 
 was. I'll tell you what it is, I never undertook any thing but I 
 went through it. 
 
 Yes, that we know. Enter, then, on this work with all your energy, and 
 see how fast you will go. 
 
 Years ago I had better feelings, and now see what a man I be- 
 came, and what an end I made of it. Well, Judge, you have been 
 very patient with me, more than I expected. I came here with 
 all the ugly feelings I left the earth with. But I don't know as it 
 amounts to much after all. But I should like to have people over- 
 look my faults and pity me. I did not have so bad a heart. But 
 they made me mad, and I drank rum, and it made me crazy, and I 
 went on from bad to worse. No matter, that's over now. I want 
 a friend, I want friends in the spirit-world. 
 
 Look around you, then. They are at hand if you will but merit their aid. 
 
 They brought me here to hear a good lesson, and now I could 
 
 profit by it, if any body would help me to do what's right. I sup- 
 
APPENDIX. 531 
 
 pose I must tell the truth here. I hate the place I was in 
 enough, if that is all. I am tired of it, if I could only get rid of it. 
 I'll struggle to do so. He says I need not go back so far. How 
 that eases me. You are very kind to me. They told me you would 
 be so, but I did not believe them. After all, 1 am a poor, helpless 
 wretch. I hope, Doctor, you will forgive me for my violence. I 
 came here with revengeful feelings. I wanted to let you know 1 
 had some power as well as the bright spirits. If you only knew 
 how much better I feel because I have not to go back there, it is 
 such a dark, dark place. See, here's one coming close to me, his 
 cool breath comes so pleasantly across my burning heart. And I 
 need not go back ! And how many I have left behind me ! 
 Judge, they tell me that if I do right I can go back and bring them 
 up. Well, I will do all I can. I will be a man yet. They say 
 they'll help me. Every body will help me. I feel it in my 
 heart that I am not as bad as I was. Well, that is glorious, and I 
 am not dreaming. I have never had a pleasant dream since I 
 have been in that dismal, gloomy place. Oh! how pleasant it 
 seems to me to be out of that dreadful place ! Oh, these wise, 
 majestic-looking people begin to smile upon me. They beckon 
 me, and speak kindly to me. How lovely it looks over yonder ! 
 I am getting ready to go there, it is so beautiful. Is it a dream of 
 heaven ? I could never dream of any thing so beautiful ! When 
 I was a child I used to dream of such things. But this ! Oh! 
 this is something real, and I feel it. Why, what a calm light 
 seems to come from that place ! O ! bright spirits, do not let me 
 turn back, but assist me to look that way, that I may go even 
 whence that light comes. Can it be possible that such a wretch 
 as I was, ever existed ? I am not the same person I was when 1 
 came here. Why, I look different. The roughness that coverec^ 
 me as a garment is gone. I am more refined. I feel so humble. 
 Can it be that I am changed from so loathsome a being to being fit 
 to mingle with pure spirits ? am I so suddenly transformed ? 
 
 Oh ! forget me. Judge, as the miserable being whom you con- 
 demned to death for raising my hand against the life of a fellow- 
 being. Think of me only as the humble, the penitent, the grateful 
 spirit, who, through your kind assistance, has come out of the black- 
 ness of despair and death, and who is now beginning to walk in a 
 smooth and pleasant path, with his face toward the sun. Oh ! my 
 
522 APPENDIX. 
 
 heart is very thankful. I humbly beg your pardon for any thing I 
 have said amiss. 
 
 I have recorHed his language as if spoken without interruption. But it "was 
 not given thus. We conversed with him all along as in the beginning of the 
 interview. But I have thought it enough merely to record what he said, as 
 thus the progress of his mind can be as well understood as if I had written 
 also what we said to him. 
 
 There are one or two things which I may mention here as well as in their 
 order. 
 
 When he was talking in the earlier part of the evening, with a revengeful 
 air of defiance, Sweedenborg wrote through the Doctor : 
 
 Judge, command him to observe the regard due to God and to 
 the laws respecting man. 
 
 I did so, and from that instant his manner changed. 
 
 He swore several times at the beginning. By-and-by, in one of his fits of 
 impatience, he said : 
 
 I want to swear, but they won't let me. 
 
 Later in the evening, he said : 
 
 I had like to have sworn, but I'll never swear again. 
 
 Once, in describing the horrors of his home, with an intense look of agony, 
 he said : that the horrible scene of his death on the gallows was ever before 
 his eyes, was painted there, and was constantly acted out before him by his 
 companions to amuse themselves, and tiiey laughed at the agony it caused him 
 to suffer. 
 
 At length it was written, through the Doctor : 
 
 Let him now retire. You can call him again some other time, 
 that he may literally report progress. 
 
 I said so to him ; and he replied : 
 
 Oh ! yes, I have no desire to stay, I am so anxious to go, for I 
 s*ee the way. I was going to ask permission to come again. 
 Good-night. The way before me looks so bright ; I have left the 
 darkness all behind. I now can see. I once was blind. 
 
 Then, through the Doctor, it was written : 
 
 My friends, you have the lesson ; improve the teachings in your 
 own cases and others. Good-night. 
 
APPENDIX. 623 
 
 Jlppttii^— §. 
 
 It seems to me that it would be well to add here the result of my inquiries 
 on this same subject, at an early stage of my investigations. I was then 
 receiving my communications from the rappings and the tipping of a table. 
 
 From my notes of Sept. 8, 1851, 1 first extract : 
 
 In order the more clearly to understand your instructions on that subject 
 (death), I had proposed to myself to ask you questions in reference -to your 
 own death. May I do so ? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 What was the last event which you can recollect as having occurred before 
 your death ? 
 
 I can scarcely tell — death is much like sleep in that respect. 
 
 Is there a space of time between the moment of death and the entrance of 
 the soul into the spiritual world ? 
 
 There is. 
 
 Is it perceptible to and recognizable by the one who dies ? 
 A faint and doubtful affirmative was given. The alphabet was called for, 
 and it was said : 
 
 All bodily pain ceases in proportion to the nearness of the dis- 
 union of the body and soul. 
 Does all consciousness cease at the moment of that disunion ? 
 
 Yes ' 
 
 Were you conscious of Dr. Gray's entering the room ? 
 
 Yes. 
 What was the first event of which you were conscious after the disunion ? 
 
 The first event of which I was conscious was that of seeing 
 you and Dr. Gray conversing about ine. 
 
 Was that after your entrance into the spiritual world, and seen by you with 
 your spiritual sight ? 
 
 I can hardly tell, but think it was with spiritual. 
 
524 APPENDIX. 
 
 I remarked here in a low tone to Dr. Gray, who sat next me, " that I was 
 sorry I had entered upon the subject, that I was afraid it gave her pain, as it 
 did me, and I believed I would cease my inquiries. She immediately said : 
 
 No ; go on. 
 
 resumed. What event first made you conscious of being in the spiritual 
 world ? » 
 
 No particular event. I became conscious gradually. 
 
 Was there any suspension of your consciousness ? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 How long did it continue ? 
 
 I have no means of telling how long. 
 
 What was the event occurring here tf which you were first conscious, after 
 you became conscious of being in the spiritual world ? 
 
 It was you and Dr. Gray's entering the room and conversing 
 about me. But I do not know whether you had before that 
 entered the room or not, but I think not. 
 
 Is the suspension of consciousness of the same duration with all persons ? 
 
 It is various with different persons, depending on circumstances 
 — longer where the death is sudden ; each one has his own time. 
 
 How were you received or attended when you first became conscious of your 
 being in the spiritual world ? 
 
 Five and five only meet next Monday, and you, as well as we, 
 will be better prepared to continue this subject 
 
 September 15th, 1851. 
 Five met as directed. The alphabet was called for, and these sentences 
 spelled out letter by letter. 
 
 Friends ! the bright and freedom day is breaking. Horrid death 
 is being revealed and demonstrated to be but a glorious birth ; the 
 gloom which now attends the chambers of death, the stifled sobs 
 and the darkened windows, shall ere long be exchanged for serene, 
 pure, heavenly delights ; weeping shall give place to cheer, and the 
 pure zephyrs of Heaven shall waft through open windows to bathe 
 the brow of the toppling and almost deserted tower. The music 
 of the spheres above will greet the senses of the enraptured inhab- 
 itants of earth. Then mournful lamentations shall be no more 
 known. Now in the gray twilight of morn, the dewdrops are 
 
APPENDIX. 525 
 
 descending almost insensibly upon all things. But the influence 
 of the rays of the rising sun are required to give life thereunto. 
 The dewdrops are Truth — the sun is the Understanding. 
 
 We paused for a time for the teaching to continue, when it was said : 
 Ask questions. 
 What ones ? 
 
 Yours, that you have prepared. 
 On what topic ? 
 That of death. 
 
 I then recurred to the "written questions on that subject "which I had pre- 
 pared in the recess. My first one "was this : 
 
 I again ask (in the hope that in the interval your memory may have been 
 refreshed), "what "was the last event occurring before the disunion of the soul 
 and body "which you can now remember ? 
 
 No answer. 
 
 « 
 
 Do you remember my lying on the bed beside yon ? 
 Yes. 
 
 (I did so lie till she breathed her last.) 
 
 Do you remember Laura's fainting away and our carrying her from the 
 room ? 
 No. 
 
 (When I perceived she had ceased to breathe— and I could perceive it only 
 by putting my lips to hers — I said, *' She is gone." My daughters were kneel- 
 ing by her bedside ; and as I said this, Laura fainted and was borne from the 
 room.) 
 
 Do you remember'Mr. Houghton's administering the communion to you ? 
 
 No answer. 
 
 Do you remember your sight failing you and your saying, " It is growing 
 dark, but it is death, I suppose ?" 
 
 Yes. 
 
 I then remarked to the circle, in order that they might comprehend the 
 conversation, that these were the last words she had spoken, except a faintly 
 whispered " amen" to one of Mr. Houghton's prayers. 
 
 The alphabet was called for and it was spelled out : 
 It was not to his prayer that I said Amen, but expressing my 
 resignation to the will of God in taking me from you. 
 
 I then asked : 
 
 I do not exactly understand whether your seeing Gray and me was before 
 or after the disunion of the soul and body. I infer that it was after. Am I 
 right ? 
 
526 APPENDIX. 
 
 William Penn, who was present at the time you allude to, says 
 you are right. 
 
 I then remarked to the circle that these answers enabled me to ascertain 
 the precise time, or very nearly so, that she had remained unconscious ; that 
 she remembered and had mentioned the last event which did occur before she 
 breathed her last, and the first CYent of which she became afterward con- 
 scious, and that about one hour had intervened between those two events. 
 
 I then put several questions in order to ascertain, if I could, how long it 
 was that she was thus becoming gradually conscious of her being in the 
 spiritual world, but I got no answer except that I understood her to say, that 
 while undergoing that process she was not conscious of what was going on 
 here, and of course could name no events known to me by which I could 
 measure the period. She added, however : / 
 
 I was fully conscious of being in the spiritual world at the 
 time of the deposit of my body in the grave. 
 
 Thus two events were given me by which I could approximate to a result, 
 for I knew that about forty hours had elapsed between the time when Dr. 
 Gray and I entered the room and the time of her funeral. 
 
 I proceeded with my inquiries, and remarked how difficult it was for me to 
 ask questions as to what occurred in her sphere, upon her being ushered into 
 it, from my having but imperfect ideas of the change wrought by death ; but 
 I recurred to the question I had propounded at the last meeting, viz. : How 
 were you received or attended when you first became conscious of being in the 
 spirit- world ? The answer was : 
 
 Ask questions. 
 
 I asked, Which of your friends there did you first see and recognize ? Your 
 father ? 
 
 No. 
 Our children, and which of them ? 
 
 Our children first came to me ; I recognized them at once when 
 they came. 
 
 How did you recognize them ? and in what form-did they appear ? 
 
 By knowledge, and not by looks. I felt their presence. 
 Were others also present ? 
 
 Yes. 
 Who? 
 
 A great many. Our children and their circle. 
 
APPENDIX. 52Y 
 
 I remarked that I wished I knew how to inquire what was said or done 
 then ? It was answered : 
 
 When there is more time we will give you a'detailed account 
 of it. 
 
 Let me now, however, make this inquiry : Did you undergo any formal trial 
 and judgment for the deeds done here ? 
 
 No — very distinctly and decidedly given. * 
 
 The alphabet was called for, and it was said : 
 
 Friends, we must now go to the Harraonial Foli. Good-night. 
 
 September 22, 1861. 
 The same circle again met. 
 
 I referred to the word " Foli," used the other night, and inqidred what lan- 
 guage it was ? 
 
 It was derived from a sound used by the Marsanians. 
 Marsanians ? Pray, who and what are they ? 
 Inhabitants of the planet Mars. 
 What does the word denote ? 
 
 It implies something which can not be expressed in your lan- 
 guage. It is a meeting of worlds. 
 For what purpose — worship or improvement ? 
 Improvement. 
 
 What do you mean by " worlds ?" 
 Inhabitants of other planets. 
 Of planets, besides those in our solar system ? 
 Yes. 
 
 Some remarks were made among us as to who met — those who were in har- 
 mony with each other, or all ? Mr. Partridge inquired if all were not harmo- 
 nious? 
 
 No. 
 
 Edward Fowler said he supposed that some had not progressed enough yet 
 to be harmonious with others ? 
 Yes. 
 
 Dr. G. remarked that it would take 200 or 300 years yet before the Malays 
 or Fejee islanders would be as much progressed as we were. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Not SO long as that, Doctor. 
 
 I then recurred to the topics at our former meeting, and asked if I should 
 proceed with them"? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 Which topic? Death? 
 Yes. 
 
 I then remarked : At our last meeting you said that at another time you 
 would give us a detailed account of the manner of your reception in the spirit- 
 world. Will you do so ? 
 
 Yes. Ask questions. 
 
 Who. was it besides your children who met you ? 
 
 All my friends from earth met me, and, accompanied by some 
 friends from Mars, as guides (they are great travelers), I was con- 
 ducted to the different worlds, and had explained to me the manners 
 and customs of the inhabitants of each, and the uses of many of 
 their implements. ^ 
 
 To what end was that done ? 
 
 To make me become acquainted with the different inhabitants of 
 space, and enable me to travel alone. 
 
 Did you after that travel alone ? 
 
 Yes. I now go where I please, alone, without difficulty. 
 For what purpose do you thus travel . 
 
 One purpose was to show me the contrast that exists between 
 this earth and its inhabitants and others. 
 
 What *' others" do you mean ? 
 
 Saturn, for example ; thereby disengaging my mind from the 
 short-sighted policy of earth. Another purpose was to enable me 
 to choose where to go, and whom to associate with, and to receive 
 superior instruction. 
 
 To be continued. Good-night. 
 
 September 29, 1851. 
 The same circle again met. 
 
 I proceeded to business by calling attention to where we left off, and asked 
 this question : 
 
 Can you give me an idea now long you were thus occupied in surveying the 
 
APPENDIX. (^39 
 
 nniverse ? That is, how long was it before you got through yonr journey 
 through the universe ? 
 
 No, my dear husband. I hope I may never get through. 
 
 During your survey did you still notice the affairs of this earth ? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 Dr. Gray remarked, he supposed that during it, she was still doing good to 
 others ? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 I then asked several questions together, thus : After that journey was over, 
 what next occurred ? Did you settle down into your destined position ? How 
 was that pointed out to you ? Were you permitted to select for yourself ? If 
 so, upon what principles did you select it ? 
 
 I have a natural affinity toward the inhabitants of Mars, but 
 being there much of the time does not prevent me from recognizing 
 and caring for what transpires on earth. 
 
 Is most of your time spent in the vicinity of Mars ? 
 
 Much of it is. 
 Dr. Gray remarked : With the spirits of that planet, you mean ? 
 
 Yes. 
 More so, I asked, than with the spirits of this earlii ? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 Why is that so ? 
 
 Because I am nearer their plane of development than (hat of this 
 eaith. 
 
 Is that higher than ours ? 
 
 Yes ; but a great many of the earth's inhabitants have an affinity 
 for the plane of Mars. 
 
 Were you permitted yourself to choose that ? 
 
 Yes — with marked emphasis. 
 Has your position changed since your entrance into the spirit-world ? 
 
 Yes, to one higher circle, and partly to one higher still. 
 
 In what circle are you now P' 
 
 You will understand that there are innumerable circles above 
 and below your plane. When we speak of Circles No. 1, No. 2, 
 
 34 
 
530 APPENDIX. 
 
 etc., we speak comparatively, taking earth's plane as tne starting- 
 point — as No. 1. There are no absolute numbers, nor any abso- 
 lute lines of demarkation between the different circles. The spirits 
 of a comparatively low plane can not enter into the pleasures or 
 uses of those of a higher plane here any better than they can there. , 
 You could perform the duties of a street-sweeper, but he could not 
 perform yours as a judge. It is a moral division, and voluntary. 
 
 What has caused your change ? 
 
 I have been developed, and am making progress. 
 
 Did any ceremony attend your elevation from one circle to another ? 
 
 No. It was gradual. 
 
 Do you remain still with those who were your companions at first ? 
 
 I partly change them as I progress. Some do not progress so 
 fast, and remain behind. Some of my old acquaintances are my 
 companions still, and our children are in a measure so. 
 
 What are your occupations ? 
 
 I am a compiler of planetary history, and a teacher thereof. 
 Was this selection of the topic of your studies your own choice ? 
 
 Yes. 
 What induced the choice ? 
 
 It was a favorite study of yours. 
 
 It was then from your regard to me, and to fit yourself to be my companion 
 in the spirit- world, that you adopted it ? 
 
 Yes. 
 In what does your happiness consist ? 
 
 Only in doing good to fellow-immortals. 
 What do you mean by immortals ? 
 
 All on earth and all above it. 
 Dr. Gray added : And below it ? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 When any one dies, is it a duty of some one or more in the spirit- world to 
 attend him and lea<J him to what is right ? 
 
 Not made a duty, but a pleasure. 
 
 What I mean is, is it always done ? 
 
 Yes. 
 
APPENDIX. JSA 
 
 THE SELF-SATISFIED. 
 
 October 16, 1853. 
 
 At a meeting of the Circle of Progress, through Mrs. Sweet the following 
 manifestation was made : 
 
 Friends, I would like to give you the first experience of a man 
 in the spirit-world who left the form satisfied with himself, satis- 
 fied with his prospects of heaven, satisfied that his life and 
 actions had entitled him to the fairest seat in the land of gladness. 
 He lived a smooth and pleasant life, in conformity with all the 
 forms and ceremonies required of him by the church where he 
 paid his weekly worship. He gave alms to the poor, assisted the 
 needy, upheld with his means all societies which seemed to be of 
 a goodly character. Thus he lived a pleasant and easy life, in 
 anticipation of a pleasant and easy entrance into the heaven which 
 his mind had dwelt upon as the incarnation of every thing beauti- 
 ful and holy. 
 
 Having passed the shadowy gates of death, he supposed he 
 should be at once taken on high, and he stood waiting for some 
 one to accompany him there. He was approached by one whose 
 countenance showed deep thought, high resolves, and mighty 
 attainments. By him he was welcomed and led upward, till they 
 came to a strange -looking country, and he asked his companion 
 why it was that it should look so uncultivated ? It seemed to be 
 a beautiful land, abounding in hills and dales, and with diversity 
 of scenery ; but there was a rough look, a want of cultivation 
 apparent. Its inhabitants seemed honest and industrious, but they 
 bore the same rough, unfinished appearance ; and he asked why 
 every thing was so crude ? His companion said he would soon 
 explain it, but that was to be his home — he would become an 
 inhabitant there. "But," he added, "let us hasten on, I Lave 
 
532 APPENDIX. 
 
 much to show and tell you ; but when thou shalt return from our 
 journey, thou wilt see the propriety of what I have said." 
 
 So they continued their journey to countries smoother and more 
 highly cultivated. 
 
 After a great length of time apparently to the stranger— for he 
 was made to see the distance with mortal senses — they arrived at 
 a beautiful city.. Now, indeed, thought the stranger, I have found 
 heaven What a glorious place it is ! He was led around and 
 through the city. What grandeur and sublimity everywhere met 
 his eye! How perfect and uniform every thing was! Spirit- 
 hands alone could form it. Behold how beautiful the trees ! how 
 inviting their shade ! how grateful their color ! He begged to 
 stop and lie down in that shade, that he might enjoy the happiness 
 that everywhere invited the weary traveler to repose of mind and 
 body. But his companion led him on. And he gazed up into 
 the sky, where clear and beautiful seemed the pure vault, studded 
 with stars shining like gems of rare brilliancy. There w^as such 
 an air of repose, of heavenly calm resting on all things, he fain 
 would have tarried to enjoy its beauty. 
 
 They arrived at a land where the broad and beautiful streams 
 were dancing in the moonlight, and where there seemed to be 
 sounds of music and of joy constantly wafted from their, ripple. 
 How gloriously bright was every thing there! A soft, silvery 
 atmosphere seemed to pervade it, clothing it in a mellow and hea- 
 venly beauty, yet bright and clear as though bathed in the light 
 of the noonday sun. Presently his ear caught the sound of soft 
 and gentle music. How softly it fell on his senses, and lulled his 
 passions to rest, by its purity elevating his soul to a communion 
 with worlds yet unknown beyond the stars, to a communion with 
 something still higher, the great Fountain of purity and light, the 
 Center of love, that great Divinity which fills the universe ! 
 
 Then he indeed began to feel as though he was an unfit inhab- 
 itant for that lovely place. He was approached by several spirits. 
 They gazed kindly upon him, yet as if he was a stranger. They 
 did not seem to recognize him as one of themselves, and he 
 moved along with a lonely feeling. He noticed that all seemed 
 intent on some purpose, or were busy in some errand of usefulness 
 • for their fellow-beings. He seemed the only idle one. He saw, 
 alsc^ that they were clothed in bright and flowing garments, which 
 
APPENDIX. 533 
 
 seemed to float around them as with a flood of light, but which did 
 not encumber their progress, seeming to be a part of themselves, 
 and making up the form of the spirit. How expressive were their 
 looks, and with how many different emotions ! 
 
 As the stranger passed along with his companion, he said to 
 himself, " This is truly a more elevated heaven than ever my weak 
 imagination could paint ; it is ten thousand times more beautiful 
 than my soul ever conceived. Yet it is no place for me. I look 
 so coarse, so unlike every one Jiere, that my soul shrinks within 
 itself, nor wishes to mingle where all seems to bear the impress 
 of wisdom and elevation far beyond me. Can it be that I am not 
 prepared for heaven ? How sad it makes me feel ! I thought 
 there was prepared for me a mansion in the heavens. But the 
 more I gaze about me, the more I feel my unfitness to mingle with 
 the bright throng — to inhabit this bright land. My soul seems 
 very small. Its coarseness appalls me, and seems to shut me out 
 from all these vast and glorious scenes. It can not surely be that 
 those who inhabit here ever possessed souls so narrow as mine. 
 They must be from other planets, from other worlds, where wisdom 
 has developed them. Their countenances are so beautiful, so 
 highly exalted in expression — their tones are so mild^ and yet soft 
 as music, they seem to penetrate my soul like angels' voices. 
 Their proportions are so perfect, their motions so graceful and 
 easy ! Oh ! take me back ! Take me away from this glorigus 
 world, with my dark, gross body, back to that rough country. I 
 feel I belong no part or parcel with these glorious beings, whose 
 beauty sheds light on all around. They can not mingle their 
 beauty with my deformity. Their purity overshadows me, and 
 mingles not with my grossness. Lead me away ; I am unfit for 
 this place. I entered it with a proud and pleased and happy 
 heart, for I had an- idea that the beauties of heaven were to be 
 enjoyed by me. How humbled I feel ! How unfit I know myself 
 to be to tarry around these pure spirits !" 
 
 The spirit who had acted as his guide heard him in silence, and 
 led him slowly back toward the country which was so rough and 
 uncultivated, where, having arrived, the elder and more experi- 
 enced spirit thus spake to his companion : 
 
 " My son — thou hast been permitted \o see thyself as thou art. 
 Thou canst judge, without being told, how suitable to thy spiritual 
 
634: APPENDIX. 
 
 development would be the country and companions thou hast been 
 introduced to. Thou canst see to what a point of development thy 
 spirit has reached in its upward aspirations after the pure and holy 
 truth which comes from on high. Thy life and education, if they 
 have not led thee into many great errors, have deprived thee of 
 many great advantages. Thy soul has been merely taught to look 
 up, as the heathen does to the Sun, to the Great Spirit, and ask pro- 
 tection, mercy, and forbearance. Thy prayer has been selfish in 
 many respects. Thou hast prayed only for good to thyself, and to 
 those who, as thou thought, were like thyself. Thou hast gone 
 through with forms and ceremonies in obedience to the law of man. 
 Such puny laws never emanated from a higher Source. His laws 
 rule the universe, are illimitable, never-ending, unceasing and glo- 
 •rious in all their searching and working. Beginning with time, they 
 end but with eternity. But thy soul was taught to respect man's 
 puerile laws, to give heed to their teachings, and thou shut out from 
 it the bright and glorious revelation which is open to the inquiring 
 and earnest heart of every seeker, who reaches up to seek it at its 
 fount. Man's spirit in all ages and nations hath ever mounted up, 
 broken away from the conventionalities of customs and laws, and 
 has been gladdened by showers and streams of glowing light and 
 beauty from the great Fountain itself. Canst thou not see where 
 thou wert a sluggard, sleeping on a bed of roses — and while others 
 were pointing thy way to heaven, thou foundst it an easy way ? 
 The goocf thou hast done shall be rewarded. No- good thing is 
 overlooked by the great Father, for goodness brings its own re- 
 ward. Dost thou not feel how much of heaven thou hast lost by 
 leading a sensuous, material life — the life of a happy, contented 
 Christian as you called it. The.mind of man should never be con- 
 tented to remain stationary, but be ever grasping for higher and 
 nobler things, ever untiring, for thus it will be ever advancing to 
 attain some new idea. And now, my son, I see that thou art fully 
 awake to thy true position, and have learned a profitable lesson, 
 and I see high and holy resolves budding forth within thee. Had 
 thy mind been opened before, had some impulse been given thy 
 soul, how it might have grown in wisdom ! 
 
 " This country is like thyself and thy companions. It possesses 
 every attribute of beauty and usefulness, yet how rough it seems ! 
 Thou perceivest it has not been made useful. Every thing is in 
 
APPENDIX. 588 
 
 its first crude, unpolished state. Even so is thy heart. Thy spir- 
 itual body is in just such a position. All around you have been 
 taught the same lesson, and whether they have profited by it thou 
 canst tell from their progress. 
 
 " And now thou mayest begin to develop the spiritual part of thy 
 nature, which is so gross as to disgust even thyself. The beauti- 
 ful country shown thee is indeed a heaven to those who dwell 
 there, because their lives, the growth and development of their 
 spirits have raised them to that sphere, and thou likewise must 
 labor and progress as they have done,. until thou shalt attain to gifts 
 which have become their heritage. 
 
 " Think not the glories and joys of heaven are but formed to 
 please the sensuous eye of man, to feed his appetite for ease and 
 comfort. Think not that the life of the pure and good is spent 
 only in praying and praising God. Oh, no ! The beatified and 
 purified spirit is one continual prayer, a never-ending adoration of 
 the Majesty of the Most High ; but there are other duties and ob- 
 jects. The immortal soul has other work than singing and pray- 
 ing forever. It has a grand labor to perform, which begins with 
 its entrance to the spirit-world, carries it from one stage of prog- 
 ress and perfection to another, until it becomes pure and beautiful, 
 and divested of all earthly grossness and passion, and approaches 
 nearer the great Center of light and universal love. 
 
 " Oh ! it is a mysterious and glorious life which the immortal 
 spirit enters on' when freed from its earthly body !" 
 
 And now what grand ahd beautiful thoughts arose in the mind 
 of that spirit ! He exclaimed, " Oh ! my life was indeed a short 
 dream, even a dream without one pleasant vision, save a heaven 
 of ease. But now I begin to realize I am indeed an immortal soul, 
 one who by his own efibrts must rise, learn, walk, labor, and work 
 out his own salvation. I now feel that I have indeed an inherit- 
 ance in the skies, incorruptible, which will be mine, but I must 
 labor to attain it. 
 
 " How pleasant will seem that labor, and how thankful my spirit 
 feels even now, that I am not obliged to mingle with the dark and 
 unprogressed minds that annoyed me on earth ! I have great du- 
 ties to perform, great lessons to learn. Oh ! what a field there is 
 before me — what a land of promise, glowing with immortal light, 
 immortal reward, and a glorious certainty of attaining what I labor 
 
536 APPENDIX. 
 
 for. Could I return, I would speak in tones of thunder to earth. 
 I would bid them throw oft' the shackles which have so long bound 
 them to earth as beasts of burden. I would bid them soar with 
 me into realms of space and light, to be free and glad in their 
 boundless liberty, and laugh with joy as little children, because of 
 their new-found happiness. 
 
 " Oh ! heaven is near, and yet far away. It is in the human 
 heart, where light from heaven flows, but the actual heaven is far 
 distant from this gross and darkened body of sense and matter, as 
 far off* in its majesty and purity and glory from sight, as the far- 
 therest star the eye can see — the fartherest flight of imagination. 
 Purify yourselves then, prepare to enjoy that beautiful country, and 
 your lives shall be an unending hymn of thankfulness and joy to 
 your Father in heaven." 
 
 THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE SPIRITUAL SPHERES. 
 
 GIVEN THROUGH OWEN 6. WARREN. 
 
 [Mr. Warren, who is by profession an architect, and who has been a member 
 of our circle from the beginning, was, during the summer of 1854, partially 
 developed as a seeing medium. He is alone when he sees, and the objects 
 which he beholds agree so well with what is seen by other members of the cir- 
 cle, that the corroboration was deemed valuable enough to warrant him in 
 writing out a portion of his experience, which he has done in the following 
 paper.] 
 
 In answer to a request which I made to certain spirit-friends, 
 that they would show me scenes and buildings actually existing in 
 the spirit- worlds, I was on many diflerent occasions put under 
 spirit-influence, in order to show me that which I had desired to 
 see. 
 
 The visions presented were numerous and varied, the prominent 
 
APPENDIX. 58T 
 
 object being generally some building, the arcnitecture of which I 
 was called to notice. In every instance the scenes were unlike 
 any thing I have ever seen, or could have imagined ; for though 
 they corresponded in general to things upon earth, yet in all cases 
 they were distinctively different, embodying to me new and strange 
 ideas. 
 
 The series of visions here described was preceded by the in- 
 formation, spelled out, that my friends would be assisted by Kotze- 
 BUE in their efforts to represent the architectural examples ; and 
 as an introduction to him, I was shown his face and figure as he 
 now is, and then, to indicate portions of his history on earth, he 
 was shown to me in his youth or middle age, mounted upon a 
 horse, and wearing the military costume of a Prussian officer. 
 Then followed a scene in which there was a large number mounted, 
 constituting the staff of a commanding officer. 
 
 A public building was shown to me, apparently constructed 
 of gray stone. It was square, each side being about eighty feet. 
 At the four corners were buttresses, surmounted by crocheted pin- 
 nacles. It was four stories high, with wide windows of a Gothic 
 pattern, the jambs splayed, and the opening crowned with a four- 
 centered arch. There was a hip roof, quite high, giving the whole 
 a pyramidal effect. 
 
 I saw a dwelling-house which appeared to be constructed of 
 iron. The supports were slight and simple. The sides were 
 made of a sort of lattice-work of iron, as it were of hoop iron, 
 crossed, leaving the meshes about six inches square. Vines and 
 flowers were trained upon the building. The inner part of the 
 walls was made secure by some filling in. 
 
 A square dwelling-house was shown to me, apparently made of 
 wood. The four sides inclined in, so that the windows of the 
 three stories, being flush with the sides of the building at the sills, 
 stood out at the top like dormer windows. 
 
 A row of laborers' cottages was shown me. They were white, 
 one story and a half high — gables to the street — two windows 
 reaching to the ground, one of which served for a door, and an up- 
 per window in the gable. The whole plan seemed to bo ten by 
 fifteen feet. 
 
 I saw a cottage ornee, built of polished marble, of the collegiate 
 Gothic style. It was an indistinct vision, but the general impres- 
 
638 APPENDIX. 
 
 sion I had was that of an extensive dwelling, very beautiful and 
 very picturesque. I saw near it a plant somewhat resembling the 
 variegated century plant (Agave Americana), but the stem was 
 larger, and imbricated in a peculiar manner. 
 
 I saw a Roman Catholic cathedral of large dimensions. It was 
 of Gothic design, of the general character of the Strasburg. The 
 material of the external was very rich. I noticed particularly one 
 of the spires. It was faced with blue enamel. The four angles 
 of it had, in place of crochets, foliated ornaments of gold, very 
 elaborate — a sort of wreath of leaves pointing upward. The upper 
 portion of the spire was of a similar character, wearing the general 
 appearance of the stem of the palm, except that it was more openly 
 imbricated. Upon this sat a golden cross, of Gothic pattern, very 
 elaborately cut. 
 
 The interior of the cathedral seemed more extensive and grand 
 than that of St. Peter's at Rome. It was rich in sculpture and 
 decoration beyond the power of language to express. It had a nave 
 and aisles, and a clerestory, with choir and chancel. The chancel 
 window, of stained glass, was of extraordinary dimensions, and 
 richer in color than words can describe. The stairs leading to 
 the pulpit and the drum or sounding-board above it were miracles 
 of high art in carving. They were of a rich wood,' not so dark as 
 ebony, but darker than rose wood, I have never seen any work 
 so elaborate, nor ever imagined any thing equal to it. Upon the 
 rail of the balustrade was a spiral (like another rail wound in 
 corkscrew form) that ran from the newel to the top. The rich- 
 ness of this work excited my wonder. I have omitted to say 
 that upon the four sides of the spire that I examined, there were 
 mosaics in oval and lozenge-shaped frames — the frames of gold 
 leaf-work, like the angles. 
 
 I saw a temple to science and art, of Corinthian order, cruciform 
 in plan, with a large dome in the center. The dome was hemi- 
 spherical. There seemed to be a central square building, crowned 
 by the dome, and having a species of low towers at the corners ; 
 and then, extending from the four sides of this, were peristyle tem- 
 ples. The whole had a pyramidal effect from the size of the dome 
 and the mass of the central building. The temple seemed to be 
 the center and crowning glory of a vast space where the arts of 
 landscape gardening and architecture had combined to create a 
 
APPENDIX. 589 
 
 scene of sublime beauty, of which my language could convey no 
 idea. 
 
 I saw a series of pretty cottages, of many beautiful styles. I 
 noted most those which were new to me in character. I noticed 
 that one was built of rubble in pretty large stones. The stones 
 were as irregular in their outward projection as possible, having no 
 appearance of art. Some stuck out of the wall like a bushel bas- 
 ket ; others were 'sunken in ; all were jagged and different. The 
 jambs of the openings were clean cut and regular. - 
 
 In a beautiful grove, where all the ground was close-shaven 
 grass, a road wound along, apparently much traveled by horses and 
 equipages. In an opening, upon a sunny slope, I saw a cottage 
 of peculiar character. It was a story and a half high, of English 
 style — a semi-Gothic. It was covered upon the sides and roof 
 with green moss. Every part was a vivid emerald green. I saw 
 the four sides, which were all different, and liked the design much. 
 
 I saw the pleasure grounds of a gentleman's estate — a landscape 
 garden of the most magnificent proportions. Every possible vari- 
 ety of .form and color seemed represented in the different depart- 
 ments. Vast clumps of trees of well-contrasted foliage, alternated 
 with lawns and isolated trees of beautiful figures. Beds of flowers 
 in geometrical forms were interspersed, and canals or water-courses 
 meandered among them. A lake seemed covered with aquatic 
 plants and flowers, and a fountain rose to a grand height, scattering 
 far and wide its shower of spray. Fruits of rare form tempted my 
 sight, and flowers were everywhere in profusion. I have never 
 imagined a scene of such heavenly beauty. 
 
 A fence that surrounded a garden of flowers took my attention in 
 another view. It appeared to be, not a fence, but a row of beauti- 
 ful plants growing as a border, crowned at the top with flowers. 
 
 I saw a building whose general character was that of an extens- 
 ive warehouse. I was shown the interior, and it was full of 
 goods, lying upon shelves and counters. There were rolls of 
 cloths, flannels, silks, velvets, muslins, etc., in endless profusion 
 and variety. My attention was specially called to a quantity of 
 ladies' shoes, and I was made to inspect them narrowly. They 
 differed in no respect from the morocco slippers I have often seen. 
 I was made to observe that the soles were of leather, and a little 
 thicker than usual. 
 
54^ APPENDIX. 
 
 I saw a vast extent of country like a prairie, and near me was 
 the track cf a railroad. While I looked, a train of cars approached 
 with terrific 'speed, and passed. The locomotive was in the form 
 of two gigantic white horses, whose forms concealed all the works 
 of the engine. 
 
 I found myself looking down upon the deck of a ship. I noticed 
 the windlass, which was of the common form. I then saw the 
 vessel at a distance upon the water. It was a barque of elegant 
 proportions. She approached near to me, and I saw that the bow 
 was remarkably sharp. 
 
 When all these things had been seen and examined minutely, 
 the spirit-relative who had caused them to be shown to me (that is, 
 had brought the spirit who had done so), affixed, as it were, her 
 signature to the series of views. I saw placed before me a tablet, 
 on which was written her name. 
 
 On other occasions there have been presented to me other kinds 
 of structures. On one occasion I was shown a small private gar- 
 den, along a wall of which were trained grape vines, very thickly 
 covered with light-purple grapes of the form of the Malaga variety. 
 Many other kinds of fruits were there, but I did not know any 
 names for them, nor could I describe them. One kind looked 
 something like a pear, but was evidently something very different. 
 The stem was about six inches long, and there were four leaves at 
 the foot, forming a cup. In. this garden, which was also richly 
 embellished with rare flowers and laid out with regularity, there 
 was a summer-house of peculiar character. It was circular on the 
 plan, about twelve feet in width. It had four circular pillars, which 
 supported a dome-like roof, the eaves of which projected some two 
 feet and curved upward. On the under side of this cornice or 
 ,turned-up roof was ornamental painting, not unlike in character the 
 painting seen »on the antique Etruscan vases. The colors, too, 
 were similar. The pillars were decorated with ornamental figures 
 of the same general character. At the time I saw this summer- 
 house there was shown to me a school-house. It was a Gothic 
 building, two stories high, made of a yellowish brown sandstone. 
 I saw only the exterior. It was not remarkable for size or beauty. 
 
 I was shown the interior of a conservatory, seemingly all made 
 of glass ; on sides and upper part were trained a variety of vines. 
 
 The trees which I saw surrounding the various buildings— of 
 
APPENDIX. 6M 
 
 which I examined minutely at least a hundred — were all different 
 from any I have seen upon earth, both in foliage and flowers, and 
 still more in the general character. All were, as a rule, more 
 beautiful than I could have imagined. One tree had leaves which 
 seemed convoluted like those of a species of Malvus, only it was 
 more compact. I have seen also as large a variety of flowers as 
 of trees, and have made drawings of some of them. Amid all the 
 trees and flowers, I have not seen one specimen which could be 
 classified with the Flora of Earth. 
 
 Of the fruits, I saw none resembling any I have seen on earth, 
 except the grapes, which were shown to me in great numbers, not 
 differing essentially from many kinds here. 
 
 Having often requested my sister to show me her residence, I 
 at length obtained several views of it. It was in extent a suburban 
 villa, with the character of a cottage ornie. It was of an oriental 
 style of architecture, something between Saracenic and the florid 
 Gothic. It had high verandas on two sides. There were also 
 balconies of various styles. There was a light and airy appear- 
 ance to the construction of the verandas, they being made of orna- 
 mental wire-work, over which climbing plants were trained. 
 
 I was shown the interior of the house, but saw it indistinctly. I 
 noticed a clock hanging upon the wall. I saw in the drawing-room 
 the hearth of the fireplace, which was of a variegated marble, 
 black and white, and very beautiful.- The heaKh-rug was a rich 
 piece of work, very similar in character to the velvet tapestry or 
 Axminster rugs. The floor had no carpet. I was told that it was 
 removed because it was the summer season with them. I saw an 
 embroidered screen, and an ottoman covered with elaborate em- 
 broidery. 
 
 The general effect of what I saw was not unlike that of houses 
 on earth. The arrangement of the furniture was similar to that 
 found in first-class houses here. I was promised a more complete 
 exhibition of all these things. 
 
 After I had seen and examined the various parts of the house 
 shown to me, my sister opened a wardrobe and showed me her 
 dresses. There was quite a variety of them. They seemed 
 chiefly of silk. I noticed one dress that was evidently a special 
 costume. It seemed Persian or Turkish. 
 
 I was then shown her husband's wardrobe. I found that it did 
 
S43 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 not differ in any essential particular from the clothing worn by 
 gentlemen here. I noticed one vest that pleased me. It was of 
 the form now worn here — double-breasted. It was of velvet, 
 beautifully figured, black and purple. 
 
 Other articles of clothing were shown me which I can not par- 
 ticularize. I asked if she would show me the plant of which they 
 made linen, or that which corresponded to our linen. She showed 
 me a plant about two feet high. (Leaves lanceolate, acute, branch- 
 ing at top into six or seven flower stalks, upon which were yellow 
 flowers. Calyx deep and ribbed, petals collapsed and convoluted. 
 Its common name is Socelcia.) 
 
 <v- 
 
 ^:B^i? 
 
 OP TSSl 
 
 
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^nrtrftge K 3Jrittnti's ^jiirittml Cihrnq. 
 
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