.WEDENBORG, HORACE : ( G. WASHINGTON, THOMAS- A. LINCOLN,. o. P~MOR WI LBER FOR C E, PQ LH E I M w. L. "GARRISON, A. p. " wi i j J. A. GARFIELD. :MARGAR^E MADAME EHRENBORG AND OTHERS. HORACE ; GREELEY, THOMAS: PAINE, O. P.~ MORTON, POLHEJ A. P. WILLARD, With the Compliments of C. G. HELLEBERG, 177 AUBURN STREET, A * Cincinnati, Ohio, U. S. A. ^ OOK WKITTEX HV TIIK SPIRITS OF THE SO-CALLED DEAD, WITH THEIR OWN MATERIALIZED HANDS, BY THE PROCESS OF INDEPENDENT SLATE-WRITING, MRS. LIZZIE S. GREEN AND OTHERS, .A.S MEDIUMS. COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY C. GK HELLE OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. Life is real! life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal. Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not written of the soul. LONGFELLOW. PUBLISHED BY O. G. HELUEBEP AND SOLO AT 44 EAST THIRD . CINCINNATI: 1883. COPYRIGHTED, 1882, BY C. G. HELLEBERG. LIBRARY O F BBKERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA Gj? CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Introduction and Biographical Sketches of C. G. Helleherg, Madam Fredrika Ehrenborg, and Mrs. Lizzie T. Green 1 CHAPTER II. First Investigations with Mrs. Laura Mosser and Mrs. Cooper.... 6 CHAPTER III. Remarkable Materialization Seance Letters from Mrs. Erhen-. borg describing Inhabitants of other Planets 14 CHAPTER IV. Madam Ehrenborg and others Materialize 23 CHAPTER V. Investigations by Mrs. Jennie McKee First Letter from Eman- uel Swedenborg and Communications from Polheim and others Received five beautiful Flowers from Madam Ehrenborg 26 CHAPTER VI. Mrs. McKee passes away and her Spirit arranges her own Fu- neral v CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. Investigations with Mrs. Green Remarkable dark Trumpet Seance, at which I received a most hcautiful Flower from my Son Emil and Miss Mary Muth. ... 36 CHAPTER VIII. Sure Identity of my Father-in-Law Madam Ehrenhorg writes to me in Swedish 40 CHAPTER IX. Information of a Spiritual Marriage The Wedding and the Wed- ding Tour to the Planet Mars 45 CHAPTER X. Description of the Journey to Mars, and wonderful Information furnished by Madam Ehrenborg 54 CHAPTER XI. Communications from Emanuel Swedenborg 108 CHAPTER XII. Communications from George Washington 141 CHAPTER XIII. Communications from my Son Emil about Ex-President Gar- field Greetings from Madam Ehrenborg Letter from Rev. Goddard and Swedenborg's Answer 157 CHAPTER XIV. Communications from President Garfield, Madam Ehrenborg, Governor J. D. Williams, President Abraham Lincoln, Judge Edmonds.... .. 163 CONTENTS. V CHAPTER XV. New Years' Greetings from many of my dear Spirit Friends and near Relations 170 CHAPTER XVI. A Prayer from Madam Ehrenborg 173 CHAPTER XVII. Greeting from Horace Greeley, J. G. Bennett, and Henry J. Ray- mond to F. B. Plimpton, Associate Editor of the Cincinnati Daily Commercial 176 CHAPTER XVIII. Communications from Horace Greeley, Governor O. P. Morton, A. P. Willard 180 CHAPTER XIX. Communications from the Drunkard, a Miser, William Gailard, William Lloyd Garrison, Wilberforce, Tecumseh, a Suicide 187 CHAPTER XX. Communications from Thomas Paine, Margaret Fuller, and Thanks of Spirits 199 CHAPTER XXI APPENDIX. Mrs. Green's Medial History 204 CHAPTER XXII. A Visit to Split Rock, Kentucky Christmas Greetings from Ida to her Parents Annie Winterburn to her Brother, John Win- terburn, and his Testimony, and her Farewell to the Medium, Mrs, Green... .. 222 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIII. A Spirit peels a Banana, eats some of it, and divides the rest in four equal parts -Reports of Cincinnati Enquirer about Spirit Seances at Mrs. Green's 231 CHAPTER XXIY. Extracts from each of two Funeral Discourses by Bishop Simp- son and Rev. W. H. Thomas, D.D., with Conclusions of C. G. Helleberg , ...... , 239 ERRATA. I'age o, line 26, for most communications, read most of the communications. 21, line 7, for Mrs. Stebbins, read Mr. Stebbins. " 29. line IS, for are, read is. ::o, line 27, for their, read his. :;n. line 2s, for them, read him. ::i, line 8, for was, read were. ::.">, line 1, for this is, read tliese are. " 49, line 2, for me; and my wife, read my wife and I. " 49, line 7. for Kdward, read Edwin. ' 50, line lo, for Guthof, read Gustaf. 51, line 'Jt>, for thy, read the. ">7, line Hi, lor were, read was. (10, line G, for me, read us. 00, line 2(j, for a, read the. " 63, line 21, for our, read the. us. line 8, for miscreant, read misdeeds. " (19. line 4, for Daniel, read David. 11 (l!>, line 31, for laws, read love. . " 71, line 24, for nearly, read nearly a third. " 76, line 30, for ever, rend ever surging. " 77, line 7, for of more, read of the more. " 77, line 30, for rivulet, read violent. " so, line 27, for of, read and. ' 82, line 13, for formed, read former. " S;(, lust line read, and out of the ambient. " 84, line 17, for then, read there. " 86, line 1, for mighty, read weighty. " 88, line 20, omit again regained, and read required. " 90, line 14, for glory, read misery. " 91, next to last line for when, read where. " 94, line 1(1, for constitutional, read constituent. ' 100, line 26, for beautiful, read beautifully'. ' 101, line 5, for originated, read originating. 105, line 18, for you, read your. ' 109, last line, for question, read questioned. ' 111, line 18, for figures, read pigmies. " 115, line 10, for needs, read needs but. " 120, line 6, for or, read are. " 121, line 14, for early, read latter. " 133, line 22, for unbeliefs, read erroneous belief. " 136, line 11, for hearsay, read heresy. ' 147, line 28. for he. rea'd the. : 157, line 22, for with, read bv. ' 165, last line, for you thought, read your thoughts. ' 164, line 14, tor nationalism, read rationalism, etc. ' 174, line 4, for almighty, read mighty. " 173, last line for to, read' through. " 180, line 24, for arises, read arise. " 183, line 3, for pacified, read purified. ' 184, line 27, for subsequent, read consequent. ' 187, line 25, for trifling, read toiling. ' 200, line 5, for actuate, read actuates. ' 200, line 23, for adapting, read adopting. ' 210, line 30, for J. & J. W. Gaff, read T. & J. W. Gaff. ' 211, line 14, for mission, read vision. ' 211, line 19, for literary, read literally. ' 221. line next to bottom, for assimilation, read dissemination. ' 231, line 2, for bonana, read banana. ' 240, line 21, for of, read to. SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. The communications in this little volume, purport- ing to come from disembodied spirits, came in the manner hereinafter stated, and all that I had to do with them was to faithfully and to the letter tran- scribe them from the slate on which they were writ- ten into blank memorandum books which I procured for the purpose. Before laying before the reader the modus operandi of their delivery, I deem it proper that I should give a brief outline of my own history, es- pecially do I feel the importance of this since I am little known outside of the circle of my immediate acquaintances. It*has always been my aim in life to live uprightly before God and man, and as to the suc- cess of this noble purpose, formed in early life, I may confidently refer to my neighbors, and many of the leading citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio, with whom I have enjoyed an intimate social and business acquaint- ance for nearly forty years. I do not know why I should have been made the recipient and custodian of the truly remarkable spirit communications con- tained in the following pages, except from a long lifetime of honest endeavor to do right I was deemed worthy, and from the additional consideration that the (1) 2 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. spirits interested in the work knew I would cordially co-operate with them in laying the matter presented before the world, and that, happily, I possessed the pecuniary means to do so. I was horn at Grafriset, near Fahlun, in the king- dom of Sweden, March 1, 1811, and have now passed my seventy -first year. At the age of sixteen I entered the Swedish army, and at nineteen became a student at Upsala University, where I remained for two years. After rendering military service for five years, and passing a successful examination, I was permitted to enter the civil service of my country. In the capacity of land surveyor I served for over ten years, when a desire to personally witness the workings of ^ppub- lican institutions induced me to make an application to travel in foreign countries, which permission I ob- tained for the period of two years. In 1844 I left my native land for the United States, and in 1845 located at Cincinnati, Ohio, and soon thereafter engaged in the art of daguerreotyping, and afterwards photo- graphing, and in the following year married Miss Annie E. Franks, daughter of Frederick Franks, a leading and influential citizen of the city, who is still remembered as the proprietor of Cincinnati's early famous museum. In religion I was raised a Lutheran, but at the time (1879) of embracing spiritualism and for thirty years preceding I was a devout and earnest Swedenborgian. I commenced the investigation of spiritual phenomena in 1879, and soon became con- vinced of the sublime truths of the spiritual philos- ophy. As in the following pages the exalted spirit of Madam Fredrika Ehrenborg imparts, among other INTRODUCTION. 3 things, marvelous information in regard to the Planet Mars, of onr solar system, it is deemed fitting that somewhat of her history should be made known in this connection : She was horn March 15, 1794, in the Province of Wermland, in the kingdom of Sweden, and at the age of seventeen married a highly esteemed noble- man, Casper Isac Michael Ehrenhorg. lie left the body in 1823, and was at the time Chief Justice of Sweden. Madam Ehrenborg was an enthusiastic Swedenborgian, and she passed to the higher life in the Swedish city of Linkoping on the 20th of May, 1873. Her life in many respects was an eventful one, and largely devoted to literary pursuits. She trans- lated writings on religious subjects from several lan- guages into Swedish, and wrote books and pamphlets in the interest of Swedenborgianism, and visited Eng- land, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany and France in search of materials for her works. It was not my good fortune to have met this eminent lady during her mortal life, but I happily enjoyed a truly instruc- tive and pleasant correspondence with her during the last three years of her life in the form. I commenced my investigations in September, 1881, with the celebrated medium Mrs. Lizzie S. Green, through whose mediumship the most communications to follow were written. For ten months I had never less than two sittings a week, and the largest portion of that time four per week, and have had ample op- portunities to study her true character. As the re- sult I am justified by the truth in proclaiming to the world my thorough conviction of her honesty, purity and simplicity of character. Her education, as I have 4 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. been informed, was sadly neglected in youth, and she has had few opportunities to improve in later years. She married the Hon. Edward II. Green, of Aurora, Indiana, before her eighteenth year, and has devoted her succeeding years until recently to the domestic duties of life and to the raising of a family, of whom only one, a daughter, survives. Her husband served with ability a numerous and intelligent constituency in the Indiana legislature of 1866-7, and served re- cently and to general acceptance two terms of two years each as Mayor of Aurora, Indiana, his native city. The communications of spirits contained in this volume were written by the spirits with their own materialized hands, and the process was generally as follows : A small stand of the ordinary kind in con- struction, covered by a table cloth, was used, the me- dium placing with one hand under the covering of the stand a slate on which was placed a small piece of pencil. The other hand of the medium was con- tinually exposed to full view, as was also her entire form. Both double and single slates were used. We heard the writing as it progressed, and when the slate was filled it would be indicated by distinct taps on the slate and the dropping of the pencil. The slate would be then taken out, and as the chosen scribe I would faithfully transcribe the written mat- ter into the book aforementioned, and the slate would then be cleaned and returned under the stand, and in this manner all the matter hereinafter set forth was produced. I have reported it verbatim et literatim, without changing it in the slightest degree, neither adding nor taking therefrom a single word. Each INTRODUCTION. 5 sitting would occupy from one to two hours, and in broad daylight. I have taken occasion to preface some of these communications with a few lines, by way of explanation and to secure clearness of under- standing in relation to them. This volume is truly a book written by the spirits themselves, and whatever merit it may possess, they alone are entitled to the credit, and whatever of de- merit, if any, they alone are chargeable and respon- sible. Of one thing both the mediums and myself can truly avouch, and are willing to solemnize with our oaths, namely, that we had nothing whatever to do with the production of the communications except so far as we may have aided the communicating in- telligences by furnishing them with the necessary and required conditions. I launch forth the work not, however, without misgivings as to its reception and fate in this age of incredulity and skepticism, and my only hope is that it may be instrumental in doing good, if but only in a feeble degree, which alone will be ample compensa- tion for my time and labor. CARL GUSTAF HELLEBERG. 177 Auburn street, Cincinnati, Ohio. SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. CHAPTER II. My investigations of spiritualism commenced with the excellent medium, Mrs. Laura Mosser, now Mrs. Carter, through whose mediumship I had the first slate-writing, August 31, 1879, at her residence, N o. 253 Laurel street, Cincinnati, Ohio, from my spirit friend, "William Gailard, and my dear son Emil. My truth-loving friend, Mr. S. G. Anderson, at my re- quest, introduced me to Mrs. Mosser, at her residence, where we both on a clear Sunday morning, after we had some communications between a double slate from Mr. Gailard and my son, saw a spirit hand be- tween us, into which Mr. Anderson put his handker- chief, which was taken under the stand, and after- wards came out tied in three knots. It was written on the slate at the same time that Mr. Anderson's two sisters and his brother John, who all many years ago had passed away in Sweden, each of them had tied a knot. During this occurrence we had Mrs. Mosser in full view, who was rocking in a rocking chair, and the only part hidden was her right hand when it held the slate under the small stand. From this remarkable result I concluded to go on with the investigation, and had many interesting communica- tions, mostly concerning family relations, until the 8th of December, 1880, when I became acquainted with that most respectable lady, Mrs. Annie Cooper, who is a true and honest medium. Through her gifts I had many wonderful manifestations, consisting of SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 7 slate-writings and materializations, etc. I will men- tion only a few. On the llth May, 1881, among other things which appeared on the slate was the following : " Good morning, my dear friend. Across the deep I have communicated to you. With great pleasure I accept the opportunity of still doing so. I am anx- ious that all I hold dear should understand this phe- nomenon. Hope lingers around me that I shall be able to make myself known as if on earth. One thing I thank you for, the kind appreciation of a small tribute of friendship I tried to bestow. Every day since I came here I have learned something. Knowledge is not stop- ped by the change. My friend, many persons think that when the change called death comes and the spirit is released from the body, it becomes perfect at once. That is a mistake ; we come out of the earthly body with all the propensities which actuate us while in it, and we come out of them only as we are educated and progress. Oh, dear friend, I can see now that there are many human beings dazed at the wiles of mis- takes made by early education, instead of looking up to something higher and brighter. Yes, man still asks, with prayerful heart, what are his wants to be in the future ? and why was he born ? and why does he die? Oh, why does man mourn over a law that was or- dained for the benefit of all mankind ? Why tears fall when he stands where the form of some loved one is laid ? Is hope gone ? Yes, because they know not where they are gone and what they are now. No one should mourn at death, for death is as legitimate as birth. Yes, no science, with all its bright knowl- edge, has been able to penetrate this system or sphere peopled by those who once dwelt as you do now. Oh, 8 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. if suffering humanity could realize these beautiful truths, it would remove every doubt and dispel every fear that death transports man far away from earthly loved ones. My dear friend, to you this knowledge has been like a gentle zephyr that cools the cheeks on a warm summer evening. I am happy to be able to see you in possession of these noble sentiments. Let eternal progression be engraved on your banner and you will soar far above doubt and mystery, that sur- round so many in earth life. Man no longer bows to an angry God, nor needs a mediator to propitiate him. I am so happy to be able now to enjoy and fully realize what I believed to be true, with but lit- tle besides my own evidence and knowledge to con- vince me that it was a truth. I have been reproved even for an acknowledgment, but all do not under- stand alike. I was fully assured before my spirit left the physical habitation for spiritual inheritance that I was surrounded by angels, kind and loving, guard- ing and guiding me to a higher and better life. I passed through as if in a gentle slumber, awakening to meet many bright faces, yes, too many to number, that had gone before and landed safely on the bright, celestial shore. Earthly views can not comprehend heavenly joys. Oh, think of it, my friend, to meet those to whom you are bound to by the ties of nature in early affection, never, never to part again, but to dwell in the light of a harmonious atmosphere of love, surrounded by angels and music from the bright realms above. There is no end to life, the spirit is eternal, and as we travel onward we can look upward in hope, for there is always something above. I will be able to communicate to you on different subjects SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 9 the next interview. Give my love to your dear lady. I will now call on her, and we will yet meet, but not as strangers. In the language of flowers, we remem- ber in the sweet forget me not.* Adieu for the pres- ent. Your most sincere friend, " FREDRIKA EHRENBORG." This was the first communication between the double slate from Madam Ehrenborg, and on the 19th of May she gave another one, as follows : " Good morning, my dear friend. In love and jus- tice for your kindness I come this morning. I feel like writing on that subject, justice, for it enters into the divine unfolding of eternity. Millions stand at the bar of the great tribune waiting to hear their sen- tence pronounced. Justice enters into the majesty of universal law. What generation can gather it and hold it in their embrace ? Yes, justice is the univer- sal law, that no age, no nation can control or hold in subjection. When they have gained one step in the right direction they may then think they have gained it all, but as we ascend the steps to that mighty throne of infinity we see justice beyond the ken of hundreds of humanity that have passed away. Justice is so unlimited we can compass only a part of it, according to the knowledge we possess, and have cultivated the principal subject of the development. No people or nation can make laws to govern any other nation or people who can succeed them or figure on this planet. What can finite man do to control the Infinite ? Can, he gather and control the winds and the seasons as *This has reference. to forget-me-not seeds which she sent me from Sweden. 10 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. they come and go with all their powerful influ- ences on the globe? No ; neither can he gather and control the developments of minds, or subject them to any law that he may enact. History records the rise and fall of empires; behold, they have all passed away ; each gives place to another form of govern- ment, better adapted to the wants and conditions of the then existing humanity. Dear friend, the heav- enly trees are filled with divine fruit, whose beauty is reflected to earth. Truth is mightier than man, sharper than a two-edged sword, and it will mow down every obstacle in the way of progress. The spirit world is united in trying to lay the corner-stone of a temple so large that it will contain the whole human family. Oh, how grand when all can offer up the highest tribute of love to the divine unfold- ing spirit, and receive the sacred knowledge and love which shall bring humanity together in peace and harmony, then in truth all will be free. It gives me renewed strength to see the new and beautiful ideas floating about, spirit messengers wafted to earth, blend- ing with man, woman and child as they go forth clearing the pathway to their eternal home, where all is love and harmony. The light of this beautiful truth is fast dawning, and suffering mortals will awake in joy to the light of it, and be crowned in the glory of the morning. It is not hard for spirits to communicate with friends on earth, but often difficult to have conditions. Man must have some spirituality in his soul before he can realize the truth that his loved ones are waiting, willing to help him upwards as they stand on the bright, celestial shore. Dear friend, I am sure I am gaining power, and would be SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 11 able to say a great deal in a short time through this medium if no change of conditions come. I hope to help you to do what you so much desire. I can go to my dear friends across the water and help you by impressing them that all is true. Now I must with- draw, but will be very happy to come again to you, and give you all the knowledge I can. I am glad to see you so interested in learning what can only be taught by those who have passed the sands of earth life, and are happy exploring the unexplored field of life beyond. Good by, go on, fear not, the course you pursue is right. Your true friend in spirit life, " FREDRIKA EHRENBORG." On the 24th of May, from 9 to 12 A. M., the same highly esteemed spirit friend wrote on the slate : " Good morning, my dear friend. I greet you this morning, united with -so many of your loved ones. Your beautiful mother says it would not be heaven if we were shut out from the knowledge of our friends in the form. No, it could not be heaven if it made us selfish. I am glad you have reached that part of life and find bright rays daily. Freedom brings its own reward, and the light that has been given to you will enable you to have yours while life lasts. You will never be bereft of friends on this shore. You will have them in both spheres. Is it not grand to be able to understand, and even more, to appreciate, this knowledge? Light is pouring in, and the minds of men are becoming more active every day. Mankind are like hungry children who want food; yes, so great do they crave the knowledge of the immortality that it will take firm reasoning and true workers to sup- 12 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. ply them. "Wo rejoice, for we are sure that progress is rapid. Earth friends often wonder what spirits find to do. If they could realize even half the won- derful work that is going on, they would be aston- ished that spirits had accomplished so much for the welfare of humanity. I am so happy my soul expands in love. I feel I am young, and I am, for I am born again. I am contented to have struggled so many years in earth life, for it has brought me grand reward. All trials are worth the privilege and pleasure we en- joy when we reach our spirit home. I can see now that it is no hiding-place in man's true nature, and if they are not learned upon the terrestrial planet, they will have to learn before they can become celestial angels. Selfishness is cold and freezing, love is genial and warms up the human soul, and thereby will pro- mote its happiness. Let love be cultivated by man, for it is a favorite flower, the flower of life and the beauty of the soul, and by it humanity is renewed contili ually and brought to the newness of life's beauty, truth, beauty and higher spheres of eternal existence, and without it man can never understand or have any conception of his heavenly home. Oh, if love were the ruling influence, sorrow would be hard to find, heart aches would be nowhere felt. An early writer said : ' If you can not love him whom you have seen, how can you love them whom you have not seen and be beloved in return ? ' In loving one another we love (rod, for God is love. His love is manifesting in man. Oh, that it may be cultivated, and not destroyed. Dear friend, I feel I have given you an introduction at least in my three letters of what I believe would be a benefit to man if they could but understand how SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 13 much depends upon them, not alone for themselves, but for the Avelfare and happiness of others. I will be able, as conditions are given, to write of my sur- roundings in my beautiful home, where all is love and harmony, peace reigns and all willing to submit to the ruling power. You have done more good than you are aware of. It is the greatest workers that always feel they are doing least. You send forth subjects that give new ideas to those who read them, awaken- ing interest without any desire on their part. As I said before, if conditions are not interrupted, you will have much to read and to write. I have said all on this subject that I can, but I am not at a loss for some- thing more to write about, for in spirit home how many beautiful things that have never yet been talked about too glorious to be enjoyed without giving the knowledge of their existence to our earth friends ! A circle surrounds you this morning of loved ones near and dear, and your mother is cherished in loving kind- ness by children, children's children. Emil is a bright spirit, and will be able to give much knowledge to those who are a great deal older. Dear friend, I must withdraw and obey the law that governs my comings. All looks well for you so far as I see. No one can be really happy until their spirit is free to enjoy that happiness which is permanent, for all earthly pleas- ures are but temporary. Farewell for the present. In God's love may you continue your journey until you arrive on the mount where no dark ravines can intervene your happiness. Good bye for the present. Your sincere friend in spirit life, " FREDRIKA EHRENBORG." 14 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. CHAPTER III. REMARKABLE MATERIALIZATION SEANCE LETTERS FROM MRS. EHRENBORG AND OTHERS DESCRIBING INHABIT- ANTS OF PLANETS. Iii the evening of the same day I was at a mate- rializing seance at Mrs. Cooper's, where the following persons besides myself were present : Mr. Cooper, his wife, Mrs. Annie Cooper, the medium ; Dr. Joseph R. Wittemore, No. 50 Dayton street ; John Winter- born, No. 19 Freeman avenue ; Mr. Oberline, Mr. S. G. Anderson, and Mr. Charles Wilhelm, all of Cin- cinnati. First, Mrs. Cooper sat herself in full gas-light by the small covered stand, under which was placed three bells, a walking stick, and my small spring music-box, after I had wound it up. Soon after the spirits moved the box up and down and put it on end during playing, which we could see, because I put the box only half under the curtain. As soon as the playing stopped, the box was taken entirely under and finally pushed out for me to wind up. The bells were ringing and the walking stick was held up and extended to all of us to take hold of, which we did, and the spirits shook hands with us in that way. I had laid Madam Ehrenborg's photograph on the table, and I expressed a wish that she would mate- rialize, when on the slate, which Mrs. Cooper held under the table-leaf, was written : " Good evening, SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 15 friends ; yes, 1 am with you ; I will try to appear ; we are so happy." The gas was now turned down, but not lower than we could see each other right well, and Mrs. Cooper took her seat in a chair behind the curtains stretched across a corner of the room, and soon after a lady spirit greeted Dr. Wittemore, who, he said, was his first wife. His sister also came and nodded to him. Then came a sister to Anderson and a sister to Mr. Wiuterborn, together with his mother, who took a flower from him, and nodded to him very cordially. A spirit lady did the same to Mr. "Wilhelm. Mr. Cooper brought now my music instrument, orgamina, from the upper room and placed it before me and I played on it with the crank. Soon after a lady spirit came, dressed in a white shining robe, and beckoned to me, when Mrs. Cooper, who was not in a trance, invited me to come up to the curtain where the spirit stood in the opening, and I asked if it was my friend Madam Ehrenborg who died in Sweden, Europe, eight years ago, and she bowed and nodded assent. Mr. "Winterborn gave me a flower, which I took and offered to Madam Ehren- borg, who took it, smelled it, and stuck it under my nose to smell, and afterwards kept it. I expressed my gladness to see her and she made graceful bows, which I answered with mine. I then went back to the music instrument to play, when Madam Ehren- borg came out again with a beautiful long piece of lace on her arm and wafted it to and fro, and after- wards dematerialized before us. After that came a lady and sat herself in the rocking-chair, and there dematerialized before us. Mrs. Cooper took now a standing position in the opening of the curtain, when 16 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. a male spirit came out, stood beside her, and kissed her. When Mrs. Cooper took her seat behind the curtain again a tall gentleman spirit came dressed in some kind of a uniform, with a glittering star on his right breast, and Mr. Winterborn offered him a nose- gay, which he took and held out with his hand, swinging his arm up and down, keeping time to the music of the orgamina and that for a long time. As he came out the next time he took hold of the rock- ing chair outside the curtain before him and swung it over his head for a long time, and afterwards low- ered it down to about a foot from the floor, when he dropped it. At the same time we saw Mrs. Cooper, who expressed her anxiety lest the chair might fall on her. Next he placed himself at the opening of the curtain, when a lady spirit took her place at his left side, and they kissed each other. Mrs. Cooper asked for a glass of water, which Mr. Cooper went after, intending to give it to his wife, but the gentle- man spirit took it from him and gave it to Mrs. Cooper, who drank the water out of the glass. The same spirit sat himself in the lap of Mrs. Cooper and kissed her after he had placed a flower in her hair. Mrs. Cooper was coughing, and Mr. "Winterborngave two cough lozenges to the spirit, who gave them to Mrs. Cooper. The uniformed gentleman spirit came again out and took the rocking-chair with his right hand and swung it very vigorously over his head for a good while, then put it down. All the other spirits had white robes shining as snow, and all of us were exceedingly gratified at such wonderful performance. The 29th of June, 1881, among other valuable com- munications, came : SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 17 Good morning, my dear friend ; it is with the greatest pleasure I again come to communicate with you. Your star of hope is increasing in brightness. I called on you and your dear lady last night (your night). You appreciate the beauties of the heavens, it was indeed grand to the natural eye." (My wife and I last evening were on the roof of our house on Mount Auburn looking at the comet and the stars.) " Oh, I thought if I could lift the veil and show you the inner life so brightly beaming once again, what joy it would give. I have visited three planets, each one had a distinct race (of people) and different one from another, and had mostly white skin, walked erect, were all of the same physical shape, very much like the inhabitants of our planet ; their features are more regular and not much contrast in size. On the first planet they were small in stature about four feet high. On the second sphere, about five feet high and of uniform size and shape. On the third they were six feet high, with large limbs and muscles, language quite different from ours, but were highly educated; eat no animal food, subsist entirely on vegetable. The day and night are of equal length ; and as this last named planet was most interesting to 1113 I will speak first of it : They have a better system of astronomy than we do and understand it more per- fectly. This planet has large water courses and a great deal of commerce. They have no religion, such as Christians call religion, but a very high order of morals. They know little of the immortality of the soul. They have no wars, no courts nor prison houses, and murder is unheard of. They have no kings, no politics, no religion, consequently no wars. 18 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. They live in perfect harmony; women suffer very little inconvenience in bearing children ; the families are large, with eight or ten children; they are con- tented and happy. They have hotter painters in col- oring in both landscapes and portraits. Their archi- tecture is perfection; their buildings are the most beautiful I ever beheld. The climate is genial the year round, never too hot, and never necessary to have fire to keep warm ; but little variety in temper- ature. Dear friend, I could say much more if I had power. I thank you for your kind attention. I will be able another time. Good bye for the present. Your sincere friend in spirit life, FREDRIKA EHRENBORG." The 27th of July at a seance at Mrs. Cooper's, her control informed me that we meet to-day under dis- turbed conditions, and when I asked Mrs. Cooper what that meant, she said her husband wanted her to move back to Louisville, as his prospects there now were better, and she had concluded to do so, in conse- quence of which she intended to pack up her furni- ture immediately after the present seance. Madam Ehrenborg wrote now a communication from which I O will extract the following : " This dear, good woman, whom the angels will bless, is the first channel through which I have been able to reach earth and friends in this way, and now to bo disturbed and taken away for a while is a loss to us. I could go to her, but not write as I write to you, the friendship formed between us before I passed away gives me strength and desires I might not have in any other way, but this form of condition will not last long. SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 19 * * * I w ill try to communicate to you whenever condition is given, it is so easy for me to write here. There are but few who I could say so much through in so short a time. * * * Mrs. Cooper, if you will sit for me next Wednesday from there (Louisville) I hope to be able to write frequently, but not like if he was present. Good bye for the present. Your most sincere friend in spirit land. " FREDRIKA EHRENBORG." Mrs. Cooper promised to do as she was requested and we agreed, as the spirits wanted, that I at the the usual hour, 9 o'clock A. M., should sit alone at home the same time as the seance should take place in Louisville. Wednesday, the 3d of August, I picked a few flowers and kept some of them with me, as my spirit son Emil directed, and the rest were placed in a glass on the stand, which was covered, and under it I put Madam Ehrenborg's photograph and her let- ters sent me from Sweden. The 5th of August I re- ceived a letter from Miss Sadie" Hare, No. 222 St. Catherine street, Louisville, Ky., wherein she states that " Mrs. Cooper came quite a distance to our home the 3d of August to fulfill her engagement with you and the dear spirit friends, not having conditions at her sister's that would enable her to give opportunities to the spirits. We live a long distance apart and some distance from the street railway, but you know the distance would have to be very great to prevent Mrs. Cooper from keeping a spiritual engagement. * * With this you will find your communications which I have copied. Respectfully yours, " SADIE HARE/' 20 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. " LOUISVILLE, Aur/ust 3, 1881. " Yes, we see the photographs of our dear friend, and he has obeyed the request made. We wish we could bring just one of the white blossoms he has gathered for the occasion to you. The dear spirit friends he desired to hear from were present when he made preparations for conditions to assist them to come to you. Tell him all will be well with him. The knowledge he has gained of the spirit world will not decay like the blossoms he has gathered in his beautiful bouquet. His friend Doc." The control of Mrs. Cooper. " We have come, and see that you have had a long distance to come to make conditions for us. Emil is with me, and we will do all we can to write a message to my dear friend C. G. Hellebcrg. I have reached the medium through which I have been able to write so much in so short a time. I find her much troubled and disturbed and will not be able to say to you what I could if you were present as in former conditions, but remember what I have told you, my work in spirit life has only began, and I yet hope to say much to you and through this medium. All the changes that come to our friends in the form are not pleas- ant for them, but changes that come to us in our spirit home increases the happiness and joy that we dwell in, but not alone, for there is no real 'happiness that can be enjoyed alone, for we are united in love and harmony, and we are happy that the change called death does not sever the friendship formed in earth life. Progression is the highest ambition of all good spi rits. SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 21 " Man does not see or know the need of knowl- edge while in earth life, but when he enters real life and knows there is no turning "backwards he feels forced by law of goodness to help all those who are yet in darkness; but, my friend, there are so many who are forgotten as soon as the spirit has left the form and believed to be dead by all they once held dear. I feel like repeating over and over again the joy I continually receive, being remembered by you who have opened the avenue for me to give and re- ceive. Be assured that your reward will come and inscribed in bright, shining letters on a banner of truth your work well done, good and faithful serv- ant. Emil is present, and desires to send a few words to his papa and mamrna. I know, my dear friend, how you missed the interview this morning you would have enjoyed so much ; but be reconciled, they are more disturbed than our dear medium ; but could she behold the bright spirits that stand in circle around her she would not despair. It will not be long till the way is cleared and we can draw nearer to communicate through her to you, and of every thorn comes a blessing, the severest cross is a crown to those who are willing to bear for the sake of truth and progression. I desire, my dear friend, to have these interviews repeated. Had there not been a kind, genial lady to sit for you to copy w T hat was written I would not have been able to say this much in a strange place. I thank you, my young friend, for as- sistance and willingness on your part, and remember, though the act may seem small to you, it is worth gratitude from us, and you may rely upon an increase 22 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. . of spiritual influence to assist you. Accept this, my dear friend ; I hope to say more again. Your most sincere friend in spirit life, " FREDRIKA EIIRENBORG." SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 23 CHAPTER IV. -i MADAM EHRENBORG AND OTHERS MATERIALIZE. I received several other valuable letters of my spir- itual friends from Louisville, and in one of them, the 18th of August, Madam Ehrenborg wrote : "A request has been made for Mrs. Helleberg to write a letter to her sister Emma and her father, that it may enable them to remain' long enough to com- municate that she may hear direct from them, for they are often with her, and want her to know it is not wronf for them to come or for her to look for them." o In consequence of this I persuaded my wife to write a letter to them, which she did, and I sealed it up with red sealing wax, with my seal on, and sent it by- mail to Mrs. Cooper, without any superscription. On the 25th of August we received a letter from Miss Hare and Mrs. Cooper, together with my wife's sealed letter unopened, and a long and beautiful letter from her spirit sister, Emma, who had also answered for her father, which was so true and striking that her fear melted awav, and concluded to investigate these ^ * O strange facts. In October, Mrs. Cooper revisited Cin- cinnati, during which time my wife and I had several very satisfactory seances, and on invitation from her we were present at a social materialization seance on the 28th of said month, in the evening, in company with the following persons : Mr. and Mrs. Stebbins, Miss Sadie Hare, Mrs. Gano, Mr. and Mrs. Green, Mr. 24 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. Cooper's mother, Mr. and Mrs. Macky, Mr. and Mrs. Nicely, Miss Sneider, Mrs. Artznian, Dr. Taylor and Mr. Wintcrborn. A curtain was stretched across a corner of the room, and the small stand was put on the floor, and under it was placed two call bells, a big brass bell, and a drum, with sticks and a walking stick. When Mrs. Stcbbins played on the violin, or we sung or played on the orgamina, the spirit skept time with the bells and drum. The walking stick was pointed to different individuals of the company, who had mental questions answered when they took hold of the uplifted stick. Mr. Stebbins put the end of the bow under the table, and the fiddle he laid on the floor, about a foot from the table, when the spirits played on it. The table was also lifted up and down, keeping time with our music When Mrs. Cooper took her seat behind the curtain soon after, several spirits materialized to many of their relatives and friends, who recognized them, among whom were Miss Mary Muth and Madam Ehreuborg. I and my wife went up to the curtain, when Miss Mary Muth touched my wife's hand and took a flower from her. Afterwards Madam Ehrenborg came in full form, dressed in a fine dark suit, with a black lace cap, and when my wife asked if it was Mrs. Ehreuborg, she nodded her head smilingly several times, and then dematerialized. We took our seats, but Madam Ehrenborg came again twice, when I went up to the curtain with Mr. Stebbins, who also saw her very plainly, how she nodded to me and kissed my hand, which was touched by her lips, and had a warm feel- ing. She afterwards dematerialized before us. At the same time this took place we saw and conversed SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 25 with Mrs. Cooper, who is never in a trance state at any time. When we came home we examined Madam Ehrunborg's photograph, and we found her dress and every thing else apparently exactly the same as that in which the photograph was taken. Her features were also the same. I had seen her materialized sev- eral times before, but always in shining white robes, and now she took on the same garment as that worn when the photograph was taken, probably to convince my wife of her identity. 26 Kl'lllIT COMMUNICATIONS. CHAPTER Y. INVESTIGATIONS BY MRS. JENNIE M'KEE FIRST LETTER FROM EMANUEL SWEDEXBORG, ETC. After Mrs. Cooper moved to Louisville I made ac- quaintance with Mrs. Jennie McKee, a real lady of high moral and truthful qualities, who had wonder- ful medial gifts, and permitted me to come to her residence, "No. 47J Sherman avenue, Cincinnati, for a slate-writing seance weekly, every Thursday, from 9 to 11 A. M. The spirits wrote independent, .in broad daylight, when she held the slate under the stand, which was never covered with any thing, and with a pencil so small (about one-eighth part of a common wheat grain) that no human fingers in the body could write with it. I commenced with her the 4th of Au- gust, 1881, and continued until she passed away to the higher life, the 17th of November the same year. During that time I received many highly valuable and remarkable communications and gifts, of which I will only mention a few. On the 8th day of Sep- tember there appeared among other communications on the slate the following : "My friend, I come from a higher sphere of light and truth, in compliance with your request, and I greet you this morning in God's most holy name. I will speak to you not as I would have done when inhab- ited in earth form, but with a more expanded vision, and the more profound knowledge and the clearer understanding of the fundamental laws and govern- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 27 ing principles of the Great Ruler of the .universe. In those days in which I wrote it would have been n very unwise and dangerous tiling to have given these spiritual manifestations to the people, from the fact that they were not prepared to receive the bless- ings, and the ultimate desire for the amelioration of mankind would have been defeated, and the result would have been disastrous." I had wished a clearer understanding about our guardian spirits, and on the slate came : " At the time of birth there are two self-constituted guardians, one from the light sphere and one from the dtirk, and as the child advances toward maturity, the number is greatly increased ; but whether good or bad, depends entirely upon the persons themselves. Thus, for instance, if man leads a life of depravity and vice, he naturally attracts spirits of a like char- acter; on the other hand, if a man leads a moral life of purity, bearing in his heart love and good will to others, he is surrounded by pure spirits, who are at- tracted by those elements. Thus, my friend, you see how essential it is, both for happiness here and through all eternity, that you conduct yourself so that the pure spirit of love can come and minister to you. I must leave, but will shortly come again." . Here I said to Mrs. McKee : " If he signs his name, I would like to have the slate, so I could show it to my wife;" and he said to her (but I could not hear him) : " Put a paper on the slate." I cut a leaf from my annotation pocket book, and we put it on the slate loose, and Mrs. McKee held the slate, with the paper and a short lead pencil on it, under the table, and on 28 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. the paper, now in my possession, was the follow- ing: "Dear heart, so true to my memory, my blessing with you, EMANUEL SWEDENBORG." On the 13th of October, at a seance by Mrs. McKee, from 9 to 9:30 A. M., the following communication ap- peared on the slate : " My beloved, I am with you, and I greet you with my blessing in the name of the Most High and Rul- ing Power, and not only is it I who bless you, you have attracted to you a number of highly exalted spirits, who love you for your singleness of purpose and purity of heart, with which you are promulgat- ing the teachings you receive from us ; that is why you have been selected by us, because you have been upright and moral in your life ; because those who wish to investigate would be more impressed than did the communication come from other sources. Fear not, we will be with you, and each word will have weight. You must expect to be criticised and doubted ; but again I say, fear not, we are with you, and will turn the thought of the people. We shall eventually see our efforts crowned with success. We appoal to the senses; it would be a vain and useless thing to set up a higher authority than man's own conscience, for that is the last final tribunal at which he is judged. The errand of life, the education, unfolding and strengthening the combination of the mind, the exi- gencies of business, the duties of citizenship, the cares of the household, all this requires the utmost seriousness of purpose and activity ; but activity is neither in the. development of manhood. It is far * SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 29 more essential that the mind and moral nature should have careful cultivation. Man should not care so much concerning the short period of natural life. From this side, through us who live hy deeds, not years, in thought and feeling, instead of figures on the dial, by the happiness we produce, is our only gauge of time. There is an embodiment of selfish- ness underlying the human family which will first have to be eradicated through education, and it is the desire of the spirit world that man should be a brother to his fellow-man. I go now, but will be with you as often as I can. I leave my blessing for you and your household. SWEDENBORG." " My friend, I come to say how much I enjoy and sympathize with yon, that those who were blind are beginning to see, and are in better condition for the reception and appreciation of the spiritual blessing which are being prepared for yon and yours by the loved ones who are gone before. I have brought my dear life companion with me this morning, who is working with me-in acquiring the knowledge which will be necessary for you in the fulfillment of the mis- sion you have been selected for to give out the knowl- edge of tiiis glorious philosophy. It is the truth, for it is vouched for by the testimony of every atom, every bright world you observe in the firmament, and lastly by the spirit of the past man made perfect. ' You may be called fanatic, but if spiritualism is fanat- icism, it is of more value to mankind than the whole circle of the sciences. We are called away now, but will come this evening. FREDRIKA." 30 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. " Dear papa, there is much joy and rejoicing among your spirit band. I am so happy that I can come to dear mamma, and have her receive me as you do. Kiss her for me. The power is too far gone to write any more. EMIL." On the 20th of October, 1881, between 9 and 11 A. M., at a seance with Mrs. McKee, the following com- munication appeared on the slate : " Good morning, my friend. I am here, and greet you with my love and my blessing as the one chosen by me to help me in correcting the teachings I have put forth, and which at that time were not clearly understood even by myself, consequently I failed to render myself sufficiently intelligible to be properly understood by others, E"ow these mistakes must be, rectified, and the erroneous impression replaced by the truth. I am preparing rny statements, and they will be given to you in proper time through the chan- nels we have chosen, I have chosen you as my as- sistant, well knowing your loyalty, steadfastness of purpose and your fearless disposition, so like what my own was, so it would be a matter of perfect in- difference whether you received commendation of the people or only arouse their condemnation. It was this prominent characteristic which proved the at- tractive power that has drawn me to you. I ask no one to give up their principles ; I simply desire to place truth before them, and let each individual rea- son according to the light surrounding him. Surely truth can defend itself, so we will let it speak for it- self. I am happy and content with my surroundings, but I come to bring to the children of my love, the SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 31 people of the new church, more light, if they will only receive it. I am impressed more fully each time I revisit your earth sphere that, had I lived at the present day, my lahors would have been understood and appreciated, and I should not have felt that my best efforts were but a sad failure in comparison to what I expected or desired. I am now called away, so I now leave for this time, but will be with you soon. Good bye. God bless you and yours. " SWEDENBORG." On the 27th of October, 1881, at Mrs. McKee's, Swe- denborg gave me a short communication, both on slate and paper, and afterwards came : " Good morning, my friend, Swedenborg has been called away, but he has brought me to say a word and to assist in promulgating the truth. Many high and elevated spirits are banding together to spread the truth. POLHEIM."* On the 3d of November, 1881, I had a seance with Mrs. McKee, and after the slate had been under the bare stand for about ten minutes a tap was heard, by which sign it was taken out from under the stand, and five exceedingly beautiful, fresh flowers, giving out a delicious perfume, were on the slate, and little dew drops had made some wet spots under them. On the slate was written the following : " Good morning, my friend. I bring you some flow- ers. Let them convey to you the dearest essence of *This Polheim was Sweden's greatest architect.-matheraatieian and builder, who projected the canal between Stockholm and Gottenburg. 32 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. the high power to produce. They are the handiwork of God. In them we see His ever living presence. " FREDRIKA EHRENBORG." Afterwards the following communication appeared : " Good morning, my beloved. I am again with you, weighty with rich blessings for you and yours, and I come also with a heart overflowing with love, tender- ness and gratitude, that I am permitted, through the goodness and wisdom of the most High Power, to re- turn, and through you, my trustworthy assistant, give my thoughts and ideas to the people. We love our mediums, our channels and our doorway, through which we come to love and bless. Take no heed of any unkind remarks, it is only an evidence of ig- norance. Keep straight on, turn neither to the right nor to the left, continue to scatter seeds by the way- sides, which will furnish food for thought, and thought will lead to investigation. Investigation must neces- sarily lead in the acknowledgment of the truth. You can not expect to convince at once it must be the work of time and bear in mind, no one ever yet sought to benefit mankind who was not placed under the dark ban of suspicion. As you say, nothing can be gained by denunciation. Keep on. My blessing with you. SWEDENBORG." SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 33 CHAPTER VI. MRS. M'KEE PASSES AWAY AND HER SPIRIT ARRANGES HER OWN FUNERAL. When the seance was over, I at once took the flow- ers to Mrs. Minor's to have them arranged according to her art for preservation and now have them in all their original beauty. The 17th of November, 1881, I went to Mrs. McKee for a slate-writing seance, as for some time I have been used to do every Thursday morning at 9 o'clock, where I met at the door her step-father, R. J. William, who informed me that his daughter Jennie had, half an hour before, passed away to the spiritual world, and invited me up on the floor above to see her body. In the death-room I found my friend, the wonderful clairvoyant and trance medium, Mrs. Anna Rail, and Jennie's mother, who found that her head was not quite cold. From the house of mourning I went to Mrs. Minor's for the flve flowers I had received from my dear spirit friend, Mrs. Fredrika Ehrenborg, through the medial power of Mrs. McKee, the 3d of November, and which now were preserved under glass, and afterwards went to have a seance at Mrs. Green's, where I plaoed those beautiful flowers on the small stand between us. Soon we heard writing on the slate and a tap, when we found on it the following communication : " Good morning, dear papa. How sad for you to look upon the face this morning, not yet cold, that 34 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. had afforded you so much real happiness, and pure as the flowers before you that came through her medial powers. She entered the spirit world to meet the loved ones gone hefore. Her suffering is no more. She saw you, and I shook hands with her. She knew me, and she was all smiles. She was glad she passed away on the morning she had an engagement with you ; so your heavenly influences was there to aid her spirit. She hoped for it. She will be able to com- municate to you soon and tell you how she found the new life. She will write immediately, she under- stands it. Dear papa, try to make a house not of mourning ; she wants joy, she is free from suffering and able to communicate. "Will see her own funeral and wishes to have a real spiritualist's funeral, be- coming one who has passed away in its full faith. She wants Mrs. Green to repeat that beautiful poem that she so much admired : ' I Still Live ' (herself). 1 would like Mr. Green, with others, to make some consoling remarks. The, song i There is no death,' sung. She says that every thing so far has turned out all right, and she wants every thing done according to her desire. They all know what a devotee she was in spiritualism." (Here I mentioned to Mrs. Green that I would go back to the house of mourning and tell them of this as soon as possible, and now came.) " That is just it. She told me all and requested me to write it. She wants them to cast away the thoughts of her old body from their minds, and to think her free spirit moving through the house as of old. She wants her dear old parents not to mourn. She wants all the mediums next to her immediate family, and spiritualists, to strengthen her so. she can SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 35 manifest, if possible. She says this is her wisnes ; they can do as they please. Dear papa, I have done my duty this morning for her beautiful free spirit, and happy for the honor conferred upon me as her aman- uensis. We have nothing more to communicate this morning, only she wants Mrs. Rail, her near and dear friend, to control affairs as far as she can, as she knows her wishes and desires, and knows she will please her and do what is right. Love to dear mamma ; kiss her for me. EMIL." " Mrs. McKee says many thanks for your kindness She will be with you often. Much love to all. " EMIL." "We were present at her beautiful funeral, where Jennie herself spoke through Mrs. Rail over her own body, and it was in truth remarked from the people that this was the most soul-uplifting funeral services they ever had witnessed. The spirit communicates with me often. 36 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. CHAPTER VII. INVESTIGATIONS WITH MRS. GREEN REMARKABLE DARK TRUMPET SEANCE AT WHICH I RECEIVED A MOST BEAU- TIFUL FLOWER FROM MY SON EMIL AND MISS MARY MUTH. ' My investigations through the excellent medium, Mrs. Green, commenced the 2d of September, 1881, and I received many interesting communications from my dear and near relatives, which I value very highly, but naturally would not have the same value for the general reader, and therefore I deem it best to ex- clude most of them and take in only writings from exalted spirits who are more generally known. The 19th of September came: " From the higher sphere of light I come To teach you the beauties of our home, And to impart to you the golden truth * And make you feel its real worth. " And to my dear old friend, your wife, I wish to prove a future life, And to assist her while she remains here, And help to guide her to our heavenly sphere. "Oh, the beautiful birds that sing their lay, Come to bless me every day, The flowers of fragrance, sweet and rare, And heavenly music fills the air. " From your friend, " FREDRIKA EHRENBORG." SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 37 The 20th of October, 1881, I was present at Mrs. Green's trumpet seance in the evening in company with the following persons: Mr. Green, the medi- um's husband ; Mr. and Mrs. Stebbins, a reporter from the "Enquirer," who gave his name as Johnson, and Mr. Walker. On the stand was placed three slates, one of which was my own, three trumpets, one glass of water, and rny spring music-box. On the floor stood the big tin trumpet and by it laid my guitar, and not far from Mr. Stebbins was his fiddle. After the light was put out and the doors locked I wound up my music-box and put it on 'the right hand corner of the stand before me. Soon after it was taken away while playing and carried around all over our heads, and some of us were touched with it. Finally it came back to me and was placed in my left hand with the spirit, whose hand I touched with both my hands. I wound it up again and the spirit took it away arid carried it around the same as before, but when it came back it was placed on the left hand corner of the stand, and I laid the key close by it. Afterwards I played my orgamina when the spirit voices of both sexes joined in with their songs, and so they did when we sang. I intended to wind up the music-box again and felt for it on the corner, when I discovered that both the box and key were gone. Soon after we heard the box playing and going over our heads as be- fore, and the box was replaced on the corner of the stand with the key on top. All the trumpets and the guitar were moving around in the air high above our heads, the guitar was played on in time with the . 38 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. music, and wo all were touched and stroked on dif- ferent parts of our bodies with these implements. The guitar was laid in my lap, and I sang a Swedish song, accompanied hy the guitar, when we heard a spirit voice singing with rne, and I and the others heard the words pronounced by the spirit, which I declare were the same Swedish words which I sung. Mrs. Stebbens was clasped around her neck by her spirit daughter Ida, who whispered to and patted both her and Mr. Stebbins. Mrs. Green and Mrs. Stebbeus saw several spirit lights, and Mr. "Walker was informed by striking and tolling on the big tin trumpet that his father in Kansas would soon pass away. I felt for my music-box again, intending to wind it up, when I, to my great surprise, found a fresh, beautiful flower on top of it, and my slate was placed in my hand. Soon after the seance was closed and when the room was lighted up, we found written on one slate the name of the reporter, and on my slate the following: " Dear papa, we present you the flower we prom- ised you some time ago. The passion flower. " EMIL AND MARY." It was a large, very beautiful, quite fresh flower, which I now have preserved in a glass jar with de- odorized alcohol. On seeing this flower my wife's idea was that the flower had been brought from some garden, and I thought the spirits made it, which caused me, at a slate-writing seance the 24th of Oc- tober, to ask which of us was right. On the slate was this answer : "Mary 'and I, with the assistance of the medium's SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 39 band, created it for you and dear mamma, and you will find a dove in the center." On a close examination we found to our astonish- ment a small dove there. 40 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. CHAPTER VIII. SURE IDENTITY OF MY FATHER-IN-LAW MADAM EHREN- BORG WRITES TO ME IN SWEDISH. On the 8th of December, 1881, 1 and my wife had a slate-writing seance in the forenoon, and were present in the evening at a trumpet seance with Mrs. Green, and as my wife received a strong convincing test through the name of her father, it is necessary before relating the facts to make a short sketch of a part of his life. He was a Swedish nobleman , named Otto Jacob JSTatt och Dag, who, by the favor of the dethroned King Gustaf Adolf the Fourth, was educated in the mili- tary academy, and afterwards served as officer in a rank regiment in Stockholm, which the new King Charles the Fourteenth, Johan, the former Napoleon's General Bernadott, looked upon with great favor. This young nobleman wrote an anonymous book about reorganizing the Swedish army, in which many good and necessary reforms were proposed. This book was not intended for sale, but a few copies had been printed for his intimate friends. Some of his so- called friends reported this, and mentioned his name to the King, who became enraged that a young of- ficer should dare to have the impertinence to inter- fere with his business, and want to teach him, who had such a vast experience in military affairs, the con- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 41 sequence of which was that he was transported to serve in a common infantry regiment, far up in the northern part of the country, a long distance from his near and dear relatives. Such treatment natu- rally made him feel bad, and he asked permission to travel in foreign countries, which he got, and went straight to Baden, in Germany, where he called on his former King, Gustaf Adolf, and was kindly re- ceived. There he republished his book in the Ger- man language, with some additions, which the Swe- dish minister reported to the King, who then consid- ered him a traitor, and ordered his arrest, but his Swedish friends informed him of this in time, and he went to America under the name of Frederick Franks, which was the name of a German student, who gave him his passport, and which he afterwards adopted and used until his death. The King, Charles the Four- teenth, had him adjudged, unheard and absent, by a court for high treason, for daring to pay a visit to the dethroned King, and the judgment was that he should lose his place and rank in the army. Many years after- wards the King regretted his harsh and unjust treat- ment of his faithful, patriotic and skillful officer, and pardoned him, and ordered his Swedish minister at Washington to inform him of it, so he could go back and enjoy all his privileges ; but his former guard officer had now been for many years a republican citizen, who, with his artistic and many other talents and busi- ness capacity, had made himself independent, and he never went back. Nobody here but the family knew any thing of his Swedish name, and my wife said to me that she would be more fully convinced of her 42 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. father's identity if he would sign himself with that name. In the slate-writing seance in the forenoon I had put my own slate, which Mrs. Green never touched, under the side of the stand nearest me, and on Mrs. Green's slate the following appeared : " Put out the slate and see if any thing is on it? " I did so, and on my slate the following sentence appeared : " God bless you both is the wish of your exalted friend, FREDRIKA EHRENBORG." Among other things was the following : " Now, dear papa and mamma, we have done all we can this morning. Much love to you both. Grandpa will be with you to-night ; Grandpa Helleberg, Mary and Julia, too, Emil, Gustaf and Charley. You will have many bright and beautiful spirits with you this evening to cheer you on your road to the beautiful spirit world. There all are in peace and happiness Emil, Frances, Emma, Mary, Julia. " EMANUEL SWEDENBORG." On the evening of the 8th of December, at the above-mentioned trumpet seance were present, besides me and my wife, the following persons : Mr. and Mrs. Stebbins, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Catherine Rem- lin, Mr. and Mrs. Green and Mrs. Boggs. We had spirit singing and talking, with many other remarka- ble manifestations. Among the spirits who spoke were Gariicld, Washington and Lincoln, three ex- Presidents. Two slates were put on the table by Mr. Green before the light was put out, and I had that afternoon bought two very small silica slates, of which SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 43 one to my wife, who held it in her hand, and / the other, in the dark, I put on the corner of the table nearest me, which nobody else knew any thing about. When the seance was over several names and mes- sages were written on the two big slates, and on mine was the following on both sides : " My Dear Daughter Oh, how happy I am that I have found a way to communicate to you. I will be with you often. O. J. K D." On the other side appeared : " My Dear Daughter According to promise I am with you. I have many things to tell you. With my heart full of love for you, 0. J. N". D." These were the initials of my wife's father's Swedish name, Otto Jacob Natt och Dag, and we were highly pleased with the result. Subsequently he communi- cated often, signing his name in full, as above. On the 23d of March, 1882, at Mrs. Green's, among other communications, was the following : " Dear Papa All of your Swedish friends are here, and intend to use their influence to-day and give you a surprise before the seance is over. All are present except Svvedenborg, who we expect very soon. We are not sure of success, but we intend to try. The surprise will be Grandpa Franks trying to communi- cate inside of the double slate, with your assistance holding the slate and all of your friends influence combined. Madam Ehrenborg withheld her message to-day to add her strength and help grandpa with his surprise to mamma and you. * * * Swedenborg 44 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. has come ; get the slate. This is all you will get from me to-day. Your loving son, EMIL." "We cleaned the double slate and put it under the table, where I held on to one end of it and pressed the two slates together with my hand, while Mrs. Green held the other end, and we both felt and heard the writing going on inside the two slates. The writing continued about ten minutes, after which a tap was heard, when I took the slate out, opened it, and in my father-in-law's handwriting found the fol- lowing communication, which I had photographed and electrotyped as seen opposite : On the 23d of July, from 9 to 11 A. M., at Mrs. Green's, I had cheerful writings from our three sons and grand-daughter, Julia Muth first, and afterwards there appeared on the slate the following communi- cation in the Swedish language : " Dyra goda wan C. J. Helleberg ! Jag prsenterar dig miu Hogaktning och evinnerlig wanskap. " FREDRIKA EHRENBORG." Which, translated into English is: " Dear, good friend C. J. Helleberg, I present you my esteem and eternal friendship. " FREDRIKA EHRENBORG." I had it photographed, as shown. Jlm*&pv* V- ; & ^ K ^ ^?-..xRv 47 s f \ c >x K4.^,;g iiiifiHiiili \>^1 ^r^\ V\K^ v^ ? '> r 0> ^ ^ llMiiliiiiilil SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 45 CHAPTER IX. INFORMATION OF A SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE THE WEDDING AND THE WEDDING TOUR TO THE PLANET MARS. For a long lime I had regular slate-writing seances in the light and one dark trumpet seance every week at Mrs. Green's residence, No. 309 Longworth street, and at that time were generally present the following persons : Mr. and Mrs. Stebbins, Mr. and Mrs. Tay- lor, Mrs. Remlin, Mr. and Mrs. Helleberg, all of Cin- cinnati, and Mrs. Bogg, from Newport, Ky. In these trumpet seances the spirits not only played on musical instruments, which they carried over our heads, and very often touched us with them and their hands, but talked and sung to us with or without the trumpet. The 12th of January, 1882, our son Emil astonished us with the information that he was going to marry Miss Ida, the spirit daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Steb- bins, and that she would be his spirit wife. In a slate-writing seance, the 16th of January, he informed me that Mr. Swedenborg would perform the nuptial ceremony, and who also had determined the wedding to take place on "Washington's birthday the 22d of February. We were also informed that the spirit, Mr. Henry Nieman, Ida's cousin, would be the groomsman, and the spiritual Miss Mary Muth her bridesmaid, and that a bridal trip had been arranged in which many bright and exalted spirits would take part, including Madam Ehrenborg. Mr. Svvenden- borg would make the wedding speech on the spiritual 46 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. side, and he requested Mr. Green to make one on this side. Mr. and Mrs. Stebbins, me and my wife, agreed that this remarkable wedding ceremony should take place at Mr. Stebbins' residence at the appointed time the 22d of February and we concluded to ask the spirits who we should invite, and the 16th day of February, 1882, came on the slate the following names : " Pa and ma Stebbins, papa and mamma Helleberg, Mr. and Mrs. Green and daughter, Mrs. Emma Muth, Mrs. Remlin, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, Miss Nettie Will- iams, and Mrs. Keenau. EMIL AND IDA." At a slate-writing seance, the 20th of February, came on the slate, among many other communica- tions, the following : " The ceremonies are to begin at four, and imme- diately after congratulation, supper. It will take one hour, Mr. Swedenborg says, to show the medium the ceremony and Mr. Green's address. When the vision is through, then Mr. Green, then supper, and, after that is settled, a trumpet seance. EMIL." According to this arrangement the above persons were all invited and present, except Mrs. Keenan and Miss Nettie Williams, who could not come, at the afternoon and evening seances the 22d, the 150th anniversary of Washington's birthday. In the after- noon we assembled at 3 o'clock p. M., and at 4 Mrs. Green w'as in full trance, and Swedenborg controlled her and blessed the contracting parties, after which Mr. Green made a very appropriate and beautiful address. A private clairvoyant fell in a trance and described not only the clothing of the bride and bride- groom, but many other spirits present. The bride's SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 47 dress was pure, sparkling white, frosted with gold dust, with long train full of the finest lace, and a very beautiful veil, frosted also, and adorned with a hand- some wreath on her head of white flowers set with three beautiful diamonds on her forehead. She had also a diamond brooch and necklace, with a splendid ring on her finger, and slippers on her feet to match. Our sonEmil had knee-breeches of royal purple, with a beautiful white toga frosted with gold, and gold tassels and a purple and gold crown set with dia- monds. (At a subsequent seance Emil said : " Mine was Mr. Swedenborg's selection, Ida's was Madam Kluvnborg's.") During the trance state of Mrs. Green, the spirit Winnie described the dresses in the same way as the private medium already had told us. After we had had a splendid repast the requested trumpet seance was arranged, at which all were pres- ent, and had the pleasure of being spoken to by Swedenborg, Emil, Ida, and many other spirits, and some of them patted us with their hands. Madam Ehrenborg and my wife's father, Otto Jacob Natt-och- Dag (Frederick Franks), sung Swedish with me, and Mrs. Jennie McKee took my hand and lifted my arm up and putting it over the table so I had to rise. It was a beautiful and most satisfactory and wonderful manifestation over which we all were highly- de- lighted. The 23d of February, 1882, came from our spirit friends the following : " Good morning, dear papa, we are here yet, but will immediately after this sitting start on our bridal tour, accompanied by Swedenborg and a great many exalted spirits. We expect to return by next Thurs- 48 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. day, then Mr. Swedenborg will give the marriage ceremonies, and we hope to have something nice to write you then. Mr. Swedenborg is very much pleased because he is able to speak and control Mrs. Green, and was very much pleased also with the way it was conducted on your side. He says altogether it was a splendid affair on both sides, and I think so too, and now I will let my wife, Mrs. Ida Helleberg, write. Your loving son, EMIL HELLEBERG." " Good morning, dear papa Helleberg ; Emil makes me blush when he says my wife.. It used to be a joke, but now it is a reality, and that is quite differ- ent. "When we all meet on the evergreen shores of the summerland, then we will return the compliment and have the infair at our own home, no matter how far off it may be, you shall always receive our hos- pitality and our love in the cottage. With my heart full of love for you and dear mamma Helleberg and sister Emma, and my dear pa and ma, and Mrs. Green's family, I bid you good morning. IDA STEBBIXS HELLEBERG." " Good morning, Mr. Helleberg : I was very much delighted with the exercises of yesterday afternoon and evening. It could not have been more perfect on both sides. I was with you all the time. It was witnessed by thousands of spirits with much interest and delight. Whatever Mr. Swedenborg does in the spirit world causes great commotion and interest. He is in the spirit world like some of your great men here, a leader. His every word, look, and gesture, is chronicled by the spirits; therefore you may imagine the interest they manifest towards him. Nettie could SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 49 not and would not leave mother. She is so lonely without me, but she was here heart and soul in spirit. With my highest regards for you all, I am your friend, JENNIE." " Good morning, my dear friend : As the marriage of our grand-daughter to your son has united my son Edward and your family, and that event caused or rather brought us in a positive condition, and en- abled us to pick up the trumpet and manifest our ap- preciation of that event, I thought I would write a few lines in regard to this happy marriage, and to show our very high appreciation of this medium's family, for, as Ida said, it has brought sunshine to her dear pa and ma that they could not find any-where else outside the spirit communion, and express our very high appreciation of your son Emil, and that we feel very proud of them both, and of our hearts full of love for Edwin and his wife, and highest re- gards for yourself and family and Mrs. Green's fam- ily, we subscribe ourselves your dear spirit friends, " AMARIAH STEBBINS AND PERMELIA STEBBINS." " Good morning, my friends, Mr. Helleberg and Mrs. Green: To say I was very much delighted, or, in fact, I have not language at my command to ex- press to } T OU my appreciation of yesterday's proceed- ings, and happy of the opportunity presented that I can write to-day. Winnie described me as I was. Love to my dear daughter and her husband (Edwin Stebbins), and regard to all, THOMAS KELLY." " Good morning, dear son : Father, brother, and all of us are here to give you our congratulations and 50 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. to tell you how rnnch we love dear Ida, and that she is so sweet and beautiful. We were, all with you last night, and caressed you with the trumpet. It made us so happy. Father can not write to-day, but will soon. With our blessings on you and all, your loving mother, ULRICA HELLEBERG." "Good morning: I must not fail to give a few words in appreciation of the marriage feast. It was splendid, and I was very much pleased with the cere- mony spiritually and mortal. Love to dear Anna and yourself and highest regard to all. Francis, Emily, Susan and Joseph join me and send much love to all. With my prayers for you all, 1 bid you good bye. FREDRICK FRANKS." " Now, dear papa, we are all through, and Guthof and Charles join in congratulations, and asked me to write for them, and tell you that they are so much pleased with their sister-in-law. Mary, Henry, and little Julia and Clarence, and many that I have not time to mention, join us with much love for all. Two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one, we bid you good bye, EMIL AND IDA." The 2d of March came : " Good morning, my dear friend. The tourists, according to promise, have not returned. I have been sent as a messenger from Mr. Swedenborg to report to you that their reception on the planet Mars was so grand, and they are there so nicely entertained by the spirits of that planet that they have all been invited to participate in a similar feast to take place to-day, and they all send their love and best wishes to you, and hope to be with SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 51 you nt your next sitting. "With my highest regard and well wishes for your future prosperity, I am your spirit friend, POLHEIM." The 6th of March the exalted Swedcnborg wrote on the slate : "Good morning, friends: I am here to give you the marriage ceremony I promised in p:mtomine on the 22d ultimo. It is brief, and does not include the address and prayer given on that oc- casion. * * * As you have already been united in the conjugal sense by the operation of the laws of spiritual attraction and magnetic affiliation, no formal cementation or consecration is needed, but in obedi- ence to an ancient custom, originating in spirit life in the early dawns of the physical earth-planet, and from thence projected to mortal life, I have the pleas- ure of pronouncing the ceremony that blends you, in obedience to the custom stated, into blissful spiritual consociation as man and wife, which I now do in presence of the invited guests here assembled. In blissful happiness you are to live in peaceful joy, to move in heavenly love to act, so shall your onward march be unobstructed, and as you advance increas- ing in wisdom, expanding and abounding in love, and augmenting in power until the highest angels and seraphims shall claim you for angelic companion- ship. Now, while the choristers join in thy mar- riage anthem, I present for your congratulations this spiritually mated couple, who I now introduce as Emil Gabriel Helleberg and Ida Stebbins Helleberg. EMANUEL SWEDENBORG." Just as Madam Ehrenborg's communications were 52 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. being copied for the printer, the " Banner of Light" the oldest spiritual paper in existence of date July 1, 1882, was placed in ra} 7 hands, in which I find a communication from Helen Barnard Dcnsmore, of Philadelphia, in which she says: " Philadelphia has been favored recently with a course of lectures from Mr. W. J. Colville, which have been well attended and received with apprecia- tion. This truly inspired speaker is doing a great work in spreading the new gospel of spiritualism wherever he is called. His discourses are of a high order, in an intellectual and literary sense, as well as of great spiritual elevation. At one of the social re- ceptions given to him at the residence of Colonel 8. P. Kase, he gave a very interesting discourse on the physical life and development of the planets of our solar system as compared with the earth, which was listened to with an earnest attention and evident ac- ceptance by those present. It was taught in this dis- course that worlds were brought into existence for the sole purpose of furnishing a theater for souls to ex- press themselves in matter upon, to the end of gain- ing knowledge and overcoming temptations in all forms and of all kinds; that these lives make up a system of embodiments which closes with the soul's triumph over all the evils to be found in material life. " We were told that in Mercury the attainment of a high degree of physical perfection was the highest ambition of its inhabitants ; that that planet was in a lower state of animal, vegetable and spiritual pro- gress than the earth, and the cultivation of the soil was their almost universal occupation ; that Venus was in a high state of artistic and aesthetic cultiva- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 53 tion ; that art and music were the dominant passions there, with less intellectual and spiritual development, sensuous delights every-where abounding, and the cultivation of the beautiful the highest aim of life. On the earth the demon to be overcome was declared to be intellectualism, man's intellect being here wor- shiped and deified at the expense of the spiritual. " On Mars and Jupiter is to be found a much higher state of existence, matter being dominated by the spirit to a much greater degree than on either this earth or those planets nearest 'the sun ; that exalted spirits from those planets, especially from Mars, are sent as especial embodiments to the earth, as teachers and messengers for spiritual truth. " Life on the more distant planets from the sun, be- yond Jupiter, was declared to be of such an exalted character that there is no language understandable on earth in which to depict its glories and achievements." 54 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. CHAPTER X. DESCRIPTION OF THE JOURNEY TO MARS, AND WONDERFUL INFORMATION FURNISHED BY MADAM EHRENBORG. " March 9, 1882. Our party of tourists, after having been carefully selected in accordance with their abil- ity to utilize the magnetic currents that connect the planets in our solar system, and their adaptability to the electric and magnetic condition of Mars, whither we were bound, started on the journey at, according to your time, midnight, February 23. We proceeded without any incident of note until we reached Maluka Plains, where we met a party of excursionists on a visit to our planet earth. Maluka Plains, named after a great prophet of Mars, are located many millions of miles from the circling magnetic belts of earth, and immediately adjacent to the outer circle of the electro- magnetic atmosphere of Mars. "We were surprised to find that these excursionists were acqainted with our guide and leader, Mr. Swedcnborg, for ho had frequently visited the most interesting points of our stellar system. He had even been at Mars in spirit while he was in the body of flesh, but he finds many things quite different from what he thought he had discovered during his spiritual visits when embodied. The party we met were on a tour of scientific explo- ration, and gladly availed themselves of information imparted by Swedenborg and Polheim, and we in re- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 55 turn were greatly aided by data and iniormation fur- nished by them to us. While this eonference, or rather exchange of information, was in progress a courier was dispatched by our newly-made acquaintances to the spiritual magnates of Mars concerning our com- ing. I shall here stop and defer a description of our first reception until our next sitting. March 13. As we entered within the magnetic ra- dius of Mars, and were emerging from the outer into the inner concentric circles, so characteristic of that planet, we met a reception committee of several thou- sand, and after formal greetings, we were escorted to a magnificent edifice, where were in waiting innumer- able throngs of spiritual dignitaries and others to receive us. I here desire to remark that in my use of words I resort to your own vocabulary, for the thought language of the Marsians is. quite different from the sound of your words, and to employ their terms would only confound you and militate against your proper conception and understanding of the narrative. For instance, I use the word edifice to indicate a structure, but they use an entirely different term and form of expression, and so on ad infinitum. The edifice refer- red to I am unable to describe, and it can only be fully understood in thought. In dimensions so great that your city of Cincinnati could be settled in one corner of it without attracting but very little attention. The material of which it is composed has no fitting repre- sentative on earth in its present state of development. Your diamonds and precious stones are as dim and unreflecting in comparison as a cloudy, murky day of autumn is to a bright summer day with the sun at meridian and the horizon unobstructed by cloud or a 56 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. single mist. This comparison may serve to give you some idea of the absorbingly intense brilliancy of the mammoth structure, yet this is of itself but as a mote in the sunbeam to what I am assured exists in the im- measurable immensity of the higher creations in the inconceivable and boundless universe of God. Oh, how diminutive is this little ball of matter called earth, when we only measurably take in the vast im- mensity of the infinite domain of God. And poor, puny man, what a mere speck a mere infinitisimal animalcule. As we approached this mammoth struc- ture, it seemed to be tremulous with motion, and the motion, superinduced by such intensely penetrating, soul dazzling strains of music as to perfectly appal with ecstatic emotion our enraptured tourists. But for the preparation of us for it by the scientific spirits, who they called the Ulaetta, we could not have with- stood it. I will give you this process of preparation on some future occasion, and I am sure it will be in- teresting to you and valuable when you come over. The ceremonies of reception were performed, not in speech, but in musical opera, which, singular to state, we were enabled to understand by the preparation mentioned. When I say musical opera I do not mean singing accompanied by music, but that the music itself was intensely operatic, and infused thought by the most astonishing and utterly inexplicable process into our interior soul consciousness. It was some- thing worth years of suffering and pain to enjoy, and in contemplating its inconceivable grandeur I return to my own sphere, feeling how little I am, and to weep for the children of earth, still in ignorance and superstition, and I lift my voice in prayerful suppli- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 57 cation to God to rend the veil, that poor humanity may obtain even faint glimpses of the gorgeous splen- dors of God's great kingdom ; but I seem to hear a voice answering, Not yet ; wait and be patient. "March 20. We observed the most singular fact connected with the edifice wherein we were received. In approaching it we were unable to penetrate into its interior with our vision. It seemed to be a solid mass of exquisitely fine material, but on gaining ad- mission into its interior, by some peculiar power that seemed to affect our spiritual vision and perceptions, we were enabled to see through and beyond it, and to perceive objects in the far distance. In other words, the whole structure seemed to vanish so far as to per- mit no obstruction to our vision far beyond its lim- its, and yet it were thoroughly substantial, composed of finely attenuated and spiritually sublimated mate- rial. I have so much to tell you that I must forego the pleasure of indulging in details, however inter- esting they might be to you. " The presiding personage at our reception was a figure of tall and commanding appearance, with a benevolent face, dignified mien, and large blue eyes, that seemed constantly tremulous with love and emo- tion, lie held in his hand a magic wand, which ever and anon he would wave, and in harmony with these movements the most enchanting sounds of music seemed to be wafted far out in the viewless spiritual ether that surrounded and enveloped us. This won- derful fact baffles the skill of mortal pen and mortal language to describe, and you must be content with what is said as the best that can be said, so as to reach your comprehension. 58 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. "As I caught the eye of this great presiding spirit I perceived the idea emanating from his mind, ' I am glad to meet yon,' yet not one of these words was spoken. I essayed to answer to express my thank- fulness for his friendly recognition of us, and I found I could not speak audibly, but my thought he caught immediately, and bowed in acknowledgment. He had been many thousands of years before a sage and philos- opher on the planet Mars, and bore about the same relation to his people as Mahomet, Confucius, Jesus, Swedenborg and others of their day have in your world ; and he is pre-eminent in music. All the great spirits of Mars are eminent musicians. Music, intel- lectual expansion and spiritual growth seem to be wedded, and go hand in hand together. These are wonderful relations, but nevertheless are true. " In. my next I will introduce you to some of the so- cieties and cities of the planet, to be followed from time to time by revelations that can not fail to im- press you with the greatest interest, and not only be interesting and instructive, but will be of great value to you in your after life in the spheres. My dear and venerable friend, be of good cheer, and in the sweet bye and bye I will accompany you on this very tour, and then you will perceive the difficulties in the way of giving a description so as to be understood by mor- tals. " March 27. After the ceremonies of reception, the details of which, fully set forth, would fill a large vol- ume, we set out under the escort of a select delega- tion of forty-seven in number on a tour of inspec- tion, a few only of the incidents of which I can im- perfectly touch. Many things observed by us I am SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 59 not at liberty to mention, for the all-sufficient reason that you would not understand them and the world is not prepared to receive them. "Our first visit was to a society of literary celebri- ties, located in a city of marvelous beauty. For our present use we will call the place the City of Learn- ing, and the society, the Society of the Literati. These names are not the real ones, but serve our purpose fully as well, indeed much better. The city is located on the border of a vast expanse of water of a golden hue, and this limpid stream is a vast musical organ of sounds, whose very vibrations, as its currents flow along, disturb the surrounding atmosphere, resulting in the production of harmonics in musical intonations, not only delightfully enrapturing, but far beyond the power of portrayal in human speech. "Wo stood upon its brink, and were enchanted by its soul-piercing mel- ody. Ever and anon the mellowed rays of the spir- itual sun of our solar system would strike upon the bosom of this majestic stream, producing in their re- bound such marvelous, scintillating reflections as to cause the beautiful tints of your rainbow to pale into utter insignificance in comparison. You must elab- orate in your own mind these feeble touches of my pen, for I can not stop to give minute delineations, but only the idea, and you can carry it onward in your imagination without fear of overdoing the pict- ure or exaggerating the facts. " The ladies and gentlemen composing the Society of the Literati of this one city are numbered by the many thousands, with vast numbers of co-operating branches in as many different localities. We are told that there exist still higher branches, which we were 60 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. not spiritually fitted to visit and comprehend. "We, as spirits from earth, lacked planetary development, but we have the promise in the infinite justice of God's eternal laws that in time, though very far distant, our earth, with its encircling spiritual spheres, will reach unto the gorgeous grandeur of Mars. Here let me pause and reflect. " March 29. Herein may he found ample food for study, inspiring elements for reflection : " First How almighty is God, yet puny man is won- dering whether there is a God. " Second How grand and nohle may all his children become. " Third How patiently does God, through inflexible and unerring law, work out such stupendous results. " Fourth Man while in the flesh would arrogate unto himself the attributes of a God, when in truth it requires ages of effort and progress only to disclose to him that yet he is not yet an angel. But still how grand are the possibilities before man, inviting him onward. They can not be fully conceived by the finite mind, much less described. " We saw many translucent streams, whose pellucid waters were charming to behold. There is a law ap- pertaining to all advanced spiritual intelligences that induces the profoundest meditation, a sublimest ado- ration, when beholding, although only partially, the infinite variety and splendors of the creation ; and I must occasionally pause in my narrative to give ex- pression to this law of my soul. "We were next conducted to a vast building, wherein was deposited the grandest library of books, and they were simply collections on scientific subjects alone. SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 61 Elsewhere were vast collections on other subjects not intimately connected with science books as tangible and objective to us as the slate on which I am writing is to your touch and sight. Mr. Swedenborg, being naturally of a scientific turn of mind, became absorb- ingly interested in this department, and it was with reluctance he took his departure therefrom. He made arrangements to return to study some things to be found here and which he has not been able to find elsewhere. He is promised aid by the members of the Society of the Literati. "We then visited an assembly of representative men, and I am now about to tell you something that will surprise you, but it is nevertheless true. When I use the expression representative men I mean that each planet has representatives to every other planet in the solar system. I must reserve the next sitting for a description of the grand system of planetary diplo- macy envoys extraordinary or ministers plenipoten- tiary, as you would call them. The power is too nearly exhausted to enter upon the subject at this sit- ting. We notify you now that by these ministrations and recitals you are living many, many years in ad- vance of this age of your planet. "April 3. In your solar system you only claim eight planets, exclusive of the Asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, but the truth is there are thirteen in num- ber; five of them have long since passed into their spiritual orbits, and consequently are not objective to your telescopes, and this state is to be the ultimate of all planets. Every planet, including the earth, is con- tinually undergoing change, that is to say, gradually passing from the gross to the more refined, and by a 62 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. continually advancing series of geologic and progress- ive changes Irom tho lower to the higher, from the crude to the more refined, from the material toward the spiritual, all will ultimately in time pass into spir- itual conditions or orbits. But as this thernc is scien- tific, and not directly in the line of or pertinent to my narrative, I will abandon it, at least for the present. " In my last I told you that each pluiiet was favored with representatives from every other planet in our system, and it is from this system, spiritually orig- inating, that you have derived your system of inter- national representation. I do not mean that any spirit communicated this to the nations, but that in the early formation of nationalities and the commercial intercourse between nations, susceptible public men, by reason of their exceeding impressibility, got the inspiration from surrounding spiritual influences, and to a certain degree and extent carried it into execu- tion in the establishment of ambassadorial relations between friendly governmental powers. Bat there is a marked difference between your nations and the spiritual worlds in the objects and purposes of such system. In the spiritual worlds representatives are deputed one to the other for an entirely different pur- pose from yours in sending ministers to England, France, Russia, etc. Your accredited agents of gov- ernment abroad are simply spies to watch other coun- tries, lest some trivial advantage may be gained against you in some minor and unimportant matter. Selfish- ness is the law by which they are to be governed. They are expected to be, and generally are, lorded and feasted, dined and wined, all in the high-sounding names of civilization and national urbanity. Oura SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 63 are sent on an entirely different mission to gather knowledge for the benefit of all. Our public and representative men are not engaged in learning the rules and laws of the stock market, how to manipu- late it and how to create corners in the bountiful pro- ductions vouchsafed by the Infinite, nor how to se- cure safe investments with large and profitable mar- gins, but to learn the laws of the planets, to the end that they may be utilized in the development and progress of their varied and numerous peoples. Through whatever other planets, farther advanced than ours have passed, we, too, must pass, and hence by our representative spirits learning of their varied progressive experiences, they are enabled to prepare for and assist in the changes that must inev- itably ensue. " I can not carry my thought further than to say in addition that our solar system, as a system in its en- tirety, has representatives to thousands of other solar systems revolving in space, circling around their re- spective central suns. You perceive that our grandeur of creative glory is looming up before us in majestic proportions, far beyond our power to comprehend and portray. AVc look forward with great pleasure to each succeeding meeting, when we hope to continue our narrative if conditions continue to favor us. " April 6. After feasting in the examination of the library of the Society of the Literati I felt an intense desire to learn something in regard to the religious teachings on the planet in its past, as applied to the embodied Marsians, in the curious desire to find out whether their theological and religious history bore any resemblance to ours, and if dissimilar, wherein 64 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. by contrast the dissimilarity consisted. Of course, in the very nature of things, this opened up a wide field of investigation, and I can only give you points condensed and with the utmost brevity, and without any attempt at elaboration. As 1 have already in- formed you, the denizens of Mars do not use our lan- guage or mode of speech, and therefore I am com- pelled to transfer their thoughts into our language, and you must consider that much will be lost in the transmission. " The planet Mars, in point of time, is much older than the earth, and consequently has passed through many more changes ; these successive changes or epochs have had their respective theologies, and I was utterly surprised to learn that in some respects they resembled ours that is to say, their earlier theology the later and truer has no resemblance whatever to ours or any that we have had in the past. The people of Mars in the dim and distant ages of the bygone have had many gods and many bibles. Their older books or bibles are now treasured as simple curiosi- ties belonging to the infancy of the race, and the wonder now is how it was possible at any period of their history that a people could be found seemingly so hopelessly ignorant as to believe them. The same fate, my friend, awaits your Bibles, Korans, Zend- A vestas, etc. But in all their speculations in religion thev were never taught to believe that their remote */ O ancestors had fallen from an imaginary state of per- fection, nor that somebody else's sufferings and death were imperatively necessary to extricate them from the peril, and to reinstate them into the loving esteem and saving grace of their creator. While they had SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 65 many follies in their early history, they had none like unto our own. They never believed God to be angry and revengeful nor that he would ever destroy their own or any other world by water, tire or otherwise, nor that men were made out of dust and women from ribs, nor that fish swallowed men, preserved them in good condition in their stomachs, and deliv- ered them subsequently and in safety upon the dry land. These silly recitals of your bible will be ridi- culed and laughed at some of these coming happy days." "April 10: If you could be instantaneously transferred to the planet Mars just as you are in the form you could not live a moment of time. The in- tensely rarefied and ethereal ized atmospheres sur- rounding that planet would not maintain animal life such as yours. Yet the time has been when beings more crude,, dense and undeveloped have lived and figured on the stage of Mar's history. The law of evolution or unceasing progression applies to all planets and in a degree of unfoldment according to the periodic du- ration of time of each. Hence, under the operation of this inexorable law of the creation you can readily and with quick discerning eye see the ultimate des- tiny of all that is to say, the utter overcoming of the crude and unrefined by the spiritual absorption of the whole, and yet this law that lifts the lower into the higher has no limit or ending. You can there- fore see in the myriad ages of future time with this law, all the while actively working, how inexpressibly refined and sublimated will become spiritual beings and spiritual essences. This constitutes a grand rev- elation, and presents in contemplation the grand pos- 66 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. sibilitics in store for man and the fittest of all things material. "While the constituent elements are the same, yet in outward manifestation the atoms com. posing your physical bodies, and those in the form on Mars, are quite dissimilar. The same elements that exist here, either as applied to the spiritual or mate- rial, are essentially the same as exist in the remotest realms of the creation. They only differ in present- ation or outward manifestation, and in the degree of their development and progression. Here is another theme for contemplation and study, and the fact as here disclosed ought to fill us with proud satisfaction, for the inherent elements and qualities possessed by the millions of worlds, revolving in the unexplored immensity of space and their countless myriad hosts of people, are possessed by our world and our deni- zens, only differing in the intensity of their action and the degree of unfoldrnent or approximation to- ward maturity ah, a maturity that never matures. While the law of progression is infinite it deals with the finite, and as the finite can only advance toward but never become infinite, so will this mighty law of progression carry us onward and onward, upward and upward through all coming time, and yet will never cease from its labors or find repose. What a mighty destiny before and for man ! "April 14. In this and my next I will tell you some things that will surprise you, but they are veri. tably true. I am dealing with you in verities, how- ever absurd and preposterous they may appear to the unprogressed mind. This is said, by your people, to be a remarkable age, and in many respects it is so. You are receiving some matter far in advance of the SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 67 age in which you are living, but it will be properly recognized and appreciated in the years to come. " On the planet Mars jails and prison houses for the confinement and punishment of malefactors are only historic reminiscences of the past. There are now no punishments inflicted because there are no offenders to punish. " The doctrine of sacrificial atonement, with its re- tarding influence, was never taught to the people of that planet. They have always been taught the su- preme goodness of the creator conjoined with wisdom and almighty power. God being supremely good, and supreme in the exercise of goodness, they have not for thousands of years last past entertained the slightest apprehension that any onslaught upon their peace, happiness, and future felicity, would be per- mitted. From this ennobling conception of God came the desire to manifest a spirit of devotion and vener- ation, and consequently at an earlier period of the history of Mars the worship of the people was low and groveling somewhat resembling, as I am informed, the ancient idol worship of the Egyptians and Israel- ites. At the present time the two worlds the spirit- ual and material of Mars are so closely allied and interblcnded that the spiritual forces are enabled to exercise a positively restraining influence over the conduct and actions of those still connected with the physical, so they can not, if they would, commit wrong, or perpetrate infractions upon the law of right. By reason of this high condition of develop- ment those passing out of the material form are at once intromitted into the higher conditions of the spiritual world, because they are fitted for them. All 68 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. are mediums and subject absolutely to spiritual action and control. This is what your spirit world is seek- ing to do for you, so, if possible, to pass over and be- yond some of the rough experiences of other planets, and your people do not seem to have the good sense to see it. On Mars there are no murders, arsons* robberies, forgeries, slanders, and other crimes and miscreants, for they have progressed beyond them. Do you not perceive the sublimity of this condition ? and will it not be a most glorious consummation when you shall have reached the same altitude of progress. " April 17. Another subject of inquiry engrossed my attention, namely, marriage. I became interested to know something of the history of this people on this subject, and I found it to be an exceedingly in- teresting one. At this period of Mars there is no such institution as marriage in the sense you regard it. It is not an exaggeration to say that a very large per cent of your marriages are brought about as the result of the most unholy motives. Passion, lust, avarice, etc., are generally the impelling influences, and seldom is witnessed a union from purely spiritual causes. It is needless to say these marriages are not only temporal, ending with the death of the body, if not sooner by an unholy judicial system of divorcement, but entail a cruel blighting curse upon the race. " The history of your own planet on the subject of marriage is but feebly understood by you. Enough however is known to induce all lovers of humanity to loathe and detest it as it has been practiced in the past. It is claimed that God created animate crea- tures in pairs, male and female, and that, as applied to man, he co.mcnteda union of one man and one woman. SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. C9 in the marriage-relation, and that this occurred at the commencement of the creation in the Garden of Eden. Your conspicuous bible characters, such as Abraham, Daniel, Solomon, and others, have not only ignored and trampled upon virtue in its simplest and purest forms, but with the hellish gluttony of the vampire feasting on blood, they debauched innocence, prosti- tuted virtue to their unholy lust, and thereby de- stroyed the holiest relation of life. Their numerous wives and concubines attest this, and yet your pious Christians arc waging a relentless warfare upon the Mormons of Utah and vehemently thundering against the polygamous practices of the Latter Day Saints. Shame for Christian consistency. On this subject your advanced thinkers do not discuss those eternal and enduring spiritual laws of attraction by magnetic and soul affinity upon which alone shines forth in entermfl splendor the blending of soul with soul in an everlasting conjugal union. The people of Mars understand and adopt these laws, or rather harmonize and abide in them, and now while embodied their marriages are for all unending future time. As the result we discover on that planet a race of people al- most perfect in their mental, moral, and physical de- velopments, requiring only time, experience, and progression, to disclose the still more wonderful pro- portions of their being. The union of one man and one woman under spiritual conditions is the highest type of marriage, and constitutes the paramount and supreme intention of the deity, and is the ultimatum and consummation of the law of conjugal laws all others are fleeting, dishonoring, and only evil. " April 20. You r candidates for matrimony, first ob- 70 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. taining each other's consent, and the approval of par- ents or guardians, apply to the legally constituted au- thorities for a lioensc or permit to enter the holy state, 1 and when procured they repair to a priest or magis- trate, who for a few shekels pronounces a few stereo- typed phrases, followed by the solemn declaration pronouncing them man and wife, closing generally with the ludicrous and farcial command, ' whom God has joined together let no man put asunder.' Oh, what a caricature and farce. It is bad enough to de- clare whom the law has joined together, and so forth, but to assume with such solemn gravity that God has joined in wedlock's sacred union many of the marriage alliances which are mere caricatures of marriage, is not only blasphemy, but the very apex of nonsense, and is the widest possible departure from truth. " If it be true that God joins them together, no power, save himself could put asunder or disunite. To assert otherwise would amount to affirming that God is the author of failures. The difference between marriages that only have their basis in consent, license, and ceremony, and that marriage which God cements when two arc joined by the divine laws of soul affinity and magnetic attraction the one is. of the earth earthy, the other is from the Lord through and by the operation of eternal law, and is therefore heavenly. Oh, that the children of earth might learn and conform to these subtle and glorious laws for their own good and in the interest of those to come after them. " On the planet Mars the people have no license system on any subject. While you on earth are SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 71 wrangling about licensing the sale of intoxicating beverages, on Mars they have none to license. While here you are exercised over measures of taxation to raise revenue to support the government, on Mars no taxes -whatever are imposed, and public affairs for the general public good are administered freely and without compensation, purely as a labor of love. The truth is that the mundane affairs of Mars are more regulated, controlled, and conducted by the npi ritual powers of the planet than by those in the form. The two worlds are so intimately related to each other, and are so closely brought together, that this is not only practicable but desirable and profit- able. " April 21. There is on the planet Mars a subter- ranean passage through it from pole to pole, which Mr. Svvedeuborg informs me he has thoroughly ex- plored. There is more truth than poetry in what is known as Symmcs' hole as applied to your earth. When the time comes by the settlement of your as yet vast millions of uninhabited acres, and a change takes place in northern temperature and conditions, the people of that day will discover within and through the very heart center of your earth a country nearly as large as the exterior surface, and by that time every thing therein will be sufficiently progressed and developed to supply the wants and invite the ambi- tion and energies of the people of that period. But this discovery, or rather the occupation of this sub- terranean country, is very far off in point of time, and the human race of earth will then be quite dif- ferent from what it is now. They will have so changed by the lapse of time and the law of progress as to be 72 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. enabled to" pass into the new country by way of the north pole with ease and safety. The north pole is the true opening, and can not be reached until the fullness of time, as I have indicated. As the area of territory of Mar's surface was about being densely covered by population, and apprehensions were being entertained for the future of the race, lo and behold, the new interior country was discovered and subse- quently peopled. By the time it is crowded no more will be needed, for the planet by that time will have passed into its spiritual orbit and into the ocean of spiritual ether, where suffering can never come from lack of room. This will be the future history of your planet, and you will pass through the same experi- ences and reach the same ultimate. Behold how in- finitely wise all things are forearranged. Just as we need by our development new limits, new appliances and new things, they are ready for our use, and are never disclosed until we are ready for and need them. " April 24. At this time those living on the planet Mars do not die or pass through the change called death as you do here. They have no diseases that cause the untimely taking off of the inhabitants. Disease has long since been banished. All of the procreating elements of disease residing in the mate- riality of the globe or the surrounding atmosphere have been by progressive development eliminated. And even before this had fully occurred the people had learned the laws of health and the process of neu- tralizing and rendering harmless the lurking germs that remained. You may perceive from this what a happy people they are. There are no untimely deaths on Mars. Children grow up to manhood and woman- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 73 hood ; yet there is no fixed standard of time when all die, that is, no definite and invariable period of longev- ity. And right here comes in a great law, now opera- tive on Mars, that the people of earth know nothing about, for it has never been communicated before, namely, children can not die there. It was never designed that they should die here. Marriage being brought about, as before stated, by the grand law of magnetic attraction or spiritual affinity, and all dis- eases being banished and their producing causes an- nihilated, nothing but absolutely sound and perfect physical and mental organizations are imparted to offspring by their progenitors. You see at once the idea, for I must be brief the children being perfect in health of body and mind by procreation, and there being no diseases to affect them after birth, death can not touch them, in fact can touch none before the time arrives, varying in point of longevity for the separation of spirit and body. None die before the full maturity of stature, and some live to be a very advanced age. After reaching complete development or stature, they pass out of and away from the mate- rial in point of time, according to the antecedent con- ditions of their varied being. Some arrive after ma- turity to the estate of progressive experience in the form sooner than others, and when this period ar- rives, whether it be at thirty, forty, fifty or a hundred years, they pass on to their ultimate and higher state of being in the spiritual spheres. It is known when each shall pass out of the form long before the event transpires, and all due preparation is accordingly made therefor. Your scientists have discovered, and rightly, too, that about every seven years the atoms and par- 74 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. tides composing your physical organizations change and give way to new ones. But this is gradual and imperceptible. On Mars, at this period of develop- ment, the changes are much more frequent, and these successive changes determine the approach of disso- lution, and instead of death in an hour or a day, it goes on perceptibly and without pain or suffering for years. Every change lessens the material composites of the body, and at each a nearer approach to the spiritual takes place, until finally the physical, by the gradual process of embodied sublimation or attenua- tion, passes away, and the spiritual becomes. supreme. This culmination is equivalent to what you call death, except that there is no attending pain, no death strug- gle, and no physical body afterwards to take care of and lay away. The body, by successive changes, has seemingly vanished into nothingness and been ab- sorbed in the atmosphere. " April 27. We have been expecting you to inquire of us how the people live on the planet Mars, what kind of architecture in the construction of their busi- ness houses, habitations, etc. ; what kind of food they eat, and with what raiment are they clothed, etc. " You will have observed from what we have here- tofore made known to you that the services of four classes of professional worthies have been dispensed with, simply because the people have progressed be- yond their utility, namely, lawyers, doctors, preach- ers and politicians. Lawyers can only thrive and exist professionally in a land where conscience is not permitted to exercise its native simplicity and posi- tive purity, and where the lower passions and pro- pensities are largely dominant. When conscience, SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 75 active, pure and simple, is allowed to manifest its functions in perfect unrestraint, and to act as the gov- erning power in the regulation of human conduct, the presence and office of the barrister are no longer of use. Lawyers flourish as a general proposition on strife and contention, bad faith and unfair dealing; and when these shall happily end, like poor cashiered Cassio, their occupation will be gone. The doctors grow opulent by medication, because of the ignorance of the people with reference to the true laws of mar- riage, proper antenatal conditions, neglect of proper hygieiu', and ignorance as to overcoming or render- ing harmless the deleterious conditions, both atmos- pheric and from the undeveloped state of inherent nature. But when, by progressing beyond their harmful influences, or by enlightenment and healing gifts, the people shall obtain a complete mastery over them, disease shall be banished, then the avocation of the physician ends, and he will have to seek a liveli- hood in other pursuits. " The preacher lives in comfortable indolence be- cause of the ignorance and superstition of the people. His office is one of hypocrisy and fraud. Hypocrisy, because if he is not a fool, he knows his teachings are not true, and of fraud, because by dissembling he ex- torts from his parishoners a dishonorable subsistence. "When the people grow sufficiently wise they will be taught by the denizens of the spirit world truth and righteousness. Then the mission or office of the sacer- dotal gentlemen will be closed, and they can seek em- ployment in the many more honorable occupations The politician, cunning and subtle, swims along smoothly upon the rolling current of the credulity of 76 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. the people and his own duplicity. He prospers be- cause you have not as yet grown into full political man- hood, and he succeeds in hoodwinking you with the belief that his heart is overflowing with patriotism and anxious solicitude for the public weal. But I must leave this class the politicians to the tender mercies of several gentlemen who are waiting the opportunity to contribute their part to your enter- prise. " April 28. The coarse food necessary for you in order to keep up the crude materiality of which your physical make-up is composed, is not needed by the denizens of Mars. In the composition of your phy- sical bodies is a. representative of all the material ele- ments in nature iron, calcium, wood, earth, etc. and it is easily demonstrated by microscopic inspec- tion and chemical analysis, that in every drop of blood in the human system all these varied and numerous elements are represented. Hence man may be safely considered a microcosm, or nature in her vast domain, reflected in miniature. But you still exist in the realm of the crude, and yet you are vastly more refined than in the ages past, and forward, on wan], and upward is the line of march marked out for you by the in- finitely wise director of all things. On the planet Mars no animal food is used, because among other reasons the physical properties of the body do not re- quire the elements of animal flesh to replace nature's wastes. Thousands of former species of animals have become extinct, swallowed up in the ever maelstrom of progression or absorbed in the higher forms. Vege- tation in the planet Mars is quite different, both in expression or appearance, and constituent composition SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 77 from the vegetation of your planet. Here the aroma residing in the vegetable and escaping therefrom, is largely absorbed and neutralized by the grossness of the vegetable itself, while on Mars the grossness has become so diminished that to the senses the aroma has almost become tangibly objective, and this aroma is food strengthening and invigorating, is nearly suf- ficient of itself to support existence in the form with- out the assistance of more substantial fibers of the parent vegetable. Yet in a certain prepared form the substantial material is used. The time is not very far distant, as I am assured, when the people there will subsist on aromatic emanations from material pro- ductions, aided by magnetic, electric, and other at- mospheric properties used simply by inhalation. In the water you use are to be found teeming millions of living and moving animalcules. They are enabled to live on the elements of the water, in its present gross state, but on the planet Mars the water has been dis- possessed of its life germinating and life sustaining properties to aquatic productions, and has thus pro- gressed with all other things and beings. No life or form of life is now brought into being there, but such higher types as are fitted to pass with the planet into spiritual conditions; and the water being so purified by nature's refining processes is as different from your ordinary water as clear, sparkling sprays projected from your fountains and dancing in the sunbeams are to the murky waters of your rivulets immediately after a rivulet rain-storm. I will resume this subject in my next. " Mayl. On Mars they have learned how to produce from the soil itself any vegetable that naturally grows 78 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. therefrom. In the soil itself reside all the constitu- ent elements of all vegetation in Their infinite variety. You may thoughtlessly answer, that in order to pro- duce any species of vegetation used for table con- sumption, the seed or germ must first be sown in the soil beneath the surface, but you forget that this pro- cess is but the result of civilization and art, and that originally, that is before you learned how to obtain and use seed, the products sprang of themselves and apparently spontaneously from the earth. Whence did they come? and whence were their germinating and generating powers obtained? Think a little deeply on the subject, and you will be led irresistibly to the correct conclusion that in the soil exists all the requisite elements in the production of vegetation by growth. The people of Mars have acquired the knowledge which enables them to produce out of the soil, abstractly considered, all the essential qualities of the vegetable without waiting for the tedious pro- cess of growth. This process is purely chemical, and everybody there understands it. Hence you see they do not have to buy vegetables, for all can have their essential qualities for food without cost to the con- sumer. Long since the ownership of the soil by in- dividuals w r as abandoned for the general common good, and on this subject the primitive condition of affairs in your planet prevails universally on Mars that is to say everybody owns realty, one just as much as another. This is pure unadulterated agrarianism in its highest and most perfect form. " It is often asked in your intercourse with the world of spirits : What are the employments of spirits ? what are they about? what do they do ? etc. It is SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 79 pertinent to inquire, What are the employments of the people of Mars still embodied ? What do they do since we have discovered that they do not now toil for the acquisition of riches, because they have no possible use for them; no taxes to, pay, no govern- mental machinery to support, no lawyers to annoy, no preachers to vex, torture, and maintain, no doctors to nauseate with their drugs, no politicians to hoodwink the people and feed at the public crib, no grocery bills to look after and liquidate, etc. Before we answer these and many other important queries, we shall see what the people do for raiment with which to clothe themselves, and what they do for shelter, if, indeed, shelter is necessary. If we shall discover that these are free gifts from the father, then the employments of the embodied Marsians becomes a question of very inter- esting and pressing importance. " May 4. I suspect that you already anticipate the tenor of what we have to tell you in regard to the clothing of the people of Mars, what texture, how derived, etc. Your keen perceptions and astute com- prehension enables you to see at a glance that if this law of progression, as applied to the material, whereby the lowest forms are reached and operated upon, lift- ing with its strong arms into higher and still higher conditions, be true, it must be true and in regard to all material things the soil, rock, wood, water, etc., animal and vegetable life, and as we shall have occa- sion to show further on, to the mundane atmosphere surrounding the planet. All things progress and ad- vance in like and equal ratio, leaving nothing be- hind or unaffected by the law. This advancing march of matter from the crude and gross into the 80 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. more refined and sublimated is seemingly slow, but nevertheless sure and unerringly, indiscriminate, and precise. Therefore the raiment worn by the denizens of Mars has reached the same altitude of refinement as all other material things. " The seasons, once resembling yours, spring, sum- mer, autumn, and winter, have nearly merged, that is to say, have nearly blended into one perpetual sea- son of summer loveliness. The austerity of winter, with its stormy blasts and cold, piercing wind waves has long since ceased to be; no frosts to nip and blight the fruits and flowers; no chilling autumns, with withering leaf, to inspire with melancholy and sadness. What will surprise you in this connection is, that, while the cold temperature has wrought its work in the development of the past, and is only known to have once existed by historic relation, the intense heat of summer has also disappeared. When you have severely cold winters, almost unendurable even in your temperate zones, your wise philosophers theorize that your ultimate destiny is to freeze out; that the icebergs and ice glaziers of the north are ultimately either to roll over the now fair portions of the earth, destroying all things animate, or that their freezing breath will sweep over the globe involving in death all the fair and lovely forms of nature's productions, including godlike man, the apex of crowning glory of creation. But lo ! when the earth straightens up on her axis and the cold waves retreat and sink away in their northern hiding place, and the genial and vernal season with its pleasant tempera- ture returns, these same philosophers take a breathing spell, rest awhile, and conclude that it has not been SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 81 so very cold after all ; and when the summer comes, if it happens to be unusual in the intensity of its heat, and the solar rays seem to almost melt into molten ruin all things, and to scorch the forest leaves and wilt the waving harvests, these same philosophical wise- acres change tactics, reverse their position, and with one heroic bound jump to a directly opposite conclu- sion, namely: that we are all destined ultimately to burn up and become annihilated in a general confla- gration by solar heat igniting the combustible mate- rial of the planet and its surrounding atmosphere. Oh, how impotent in philosophy ! A simple and humble inquiry settles the question. "Why destroy this fair earth, daily and hourly becoming still fairer ? Does God do any thing without an all wise and benefi- cent purpose ? Is it possible for Him to do a silly, foolish thing? He would certainly not destroy the earth unless there was thereby some noble and benefi- cent purpose to subserve. What grand purpose, good and wise, can be accomplished by ending the exist- ence of a planet that has as yet scarcely begun to live ? To assume that He will do such a thing is to assume that He has become disappointed and disgusted with his own creation, which annuls His wisdom and fore- sight, or that He delights in folly, making a world and then destroying it because He can, or for any other silly and insufficient reason. To thus assume is to dishonor Him as a God, and to invest Him with the attributes of a devil. " Wonderful changes do occur marking epochs, or cycles, in the history of all planets. Where you live to-day, thousands upon thousands of years ago an- other race of human beings lived, attaining a certain 82 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. degree of development in science and art, but upon the fulfillment of their mission they passed away from the face of the earth. Where you now live was once swept over by old ocean, and where the deep waters and angry billows of the Atlantic now roll and revel once lived a race of people called the Atlantians, but their land with its embellishments of art and pro- gressive development became submerged by the changes of the mighty waters, and now lies buried beneath its rolling deep and lashing waves. But ob- serve in all this that the globe goes on, and succeed- ing developments of man and material things come forth far in advance of the formed order of things. What, if in the womb of time it is reserved for At- lantis to arise from her watery entombment and to flourish again with renewed and increased grandeur, involving the submersion of other portions of the earth's surface, including your own ? This would not be death to any portion of the planet in any high and exalted sense, but a progressive change, a revivifying of life, a quickening and impulsion of being in the grand advancing march of development and sublima- tion. As we write, the theme expands and enlarges, and as the power begins to wane we find we have not discoursed minutely on the subject of raiment, and beg your indulgence for a resume of the subject in our next. " May 5. There being, at this stage of develop- ment on Mars, no winter with its concomitants of winds and storm, snow and ice, you have no difficulty in apprehending that very light material only is needed to protect and render comfortable the persons of the people. Material of the texture of yonr lightest flan- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 83 nel underwear would be oppressively and uncomiort- ably warm, and indeed insufferable. Thin and quite gauzy robes composed of finely attenuated and ex- quisitely refined material constitute their apparel. I have told you hitherto that of the animal kingdom only the fittest have survived the marvelous success- ive changes in the infinite series of progressive ad- vancements. Among those now living with the abil- ity of propagation is an animal species somewhat resembling your sheep, but so exceedingly refined as to be remarkably striking in contrast. Of course, and in the very nature of things, the fleecy wool, or, rather velvety down, that grows upon this noble animal, so distinguished for innocence, aesthetic tastes in food and refinement in habits of life, is eminently suited for purposes of habilarnent, and accordingly is thus utilized. They are propagated in unlimited num- bers, live to an advanced age, are the common prop- erty of all the people, and have within themselves the qualities of eternal being. " The forest and other trees, shrubs and flowers, have advanced under the same law of progress. Very many species of the oldentime disappearing the fit- test only having survived. Among those now extant on the planet, is a peculiar and quite extensively cultivated species, from which is produced a fabric re- sembling somewhat your cotton production, with the same difference in refinement of texture as exists be- tween your wool and that developed on Mars as herein stated. This is utilized for raiment also. Besides the people there have mastered the law that spirits employ in the materialization of garments at your material- izing seances, only much finer, and of the ambiant 84 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. atmosphere, filled as it is with sublimated atoms and emanations, they are enabled to collect and magnetize into solidified form appropriate garments for their use and comfort. When thus magnetized into objective and tangible being it partakes of and assumes a varied hue and color, according to the progressed and ad- vanced state of the person using the garments. In other words the magnetic aura and spiritual emana- tions proceeding from the individual infiltrates and becomes interwoven in the delicate fibers of the new garment extracted and brought into being from the viewless air, imparting hue and coloration present- ing different appearances, whereby the grade or de- gree of advancement of the individual wearer is made known and determined. Here you inquire of the spirits to know what sphere you are fitted to enter in the spirit world, then they know by this means in advance of leaving the body. Your spirits in im- parting light and knowledge to you concerning their state, tell you that a spirit and its proper sphere are known by the peculiar aura, or surroundings and clothing of the individual spirit, and this is true to the letter. But on Mars this law of spirit designa- tion that belongs to the spiritual spheres of your planet, reaches out and reveals itself in the persons of the people of Mars before they have actually en- tered upon the spiritual journey of life in the spirit- ual spheres. " Xow the additional fact is disclosed to you that by reason of this mode of obtaining raiment the avoca- tion of the merchant is of slender dimensions, and the manufacturer's art and pursuit, except as known SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 85 and practiced by all alike, are now unknown on the planet Mars. " In our next we will discourse on buildings, hab- itations, etc. We had hoped to reach this part of the subject in this communication, but as we advance the themes and subjects broaden and expand, and we sincerely regret that the power by this process in- dependent slate writing although the purest of all, will not last us at one sitting sufficiently to fully elaborate our thoughts and descriptive delineations on a given subject. It has this advantage, however, it comes directly from the materialized fingers of the spirit without the direct use of the brain of another in transmission. Adieu until our next. " May 8. The same reasons assigned in our last, why very light garments only were needed for the bodily comfort and happiness of the people of Mars apply with equal propriety, force, and truth, to the subject of their habitations. " Your rains are produced by vapors, mists, and emanations from your oceans, rivers, lakes, etc., which by virtue of solar attraction or a reversal of the law of gravitation the. vapors, mists, etc., are drawn up- ward in space until a certain density is reached, dif- fering in altitudes of height, when they become con- gealed by the force of the cold attenuated atmos- phere there into small particles called rain drops, and these are carried along by the undercurrents of un- congealed clouds until a certain electro-magnetic con- dition is reached, when the clouds begin to empty and rid themselves of their burdened contents. " Now we have informed you of the progress the water of Mars has made in being dispossessed of its 86 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. gross and mighty elements ; hence there are none of these to ascend and to commingle in the formation of rain drops ; hence none but the purer and refined el- ements of the water are exhaled and drawn upward, and consequently none but the pure and refined de- scend. These are in themselves comparatively light and of greatly diminished gravity, and therefore mild and pleasant in their effect. Especially does this be- come true as a resulting necessity, from the fact that there are no fierce winds or storms or cold tempera- ture in the surrounding atmospheric belts or zones. The rains on Mars are more like your gentle dews of early autumn than your rains and showers. You at once take in the situation from this and preceding statements of facts that crude material structures are not necessary, even if the material for their construc- tion could be found, and we have seen that such is not the case, for all things, including the material in detail out of which edifices are constructed, have pro- gressed beyond and above their crude grossness. " In some portions of Mars no structures are used at all, owing to the mildness of the climate and the total absence of inclemency in the slightest degree. In other portions the beautifully developed trees, and especially those that spread out their branches near the surface of the soil, are ample for the purposes of shelter. Still in others they have a sort of building which is a grand pavilion, embracing a vast area of territory, thousands of miles in extent, under the same roof or cover, which during certain periods of the year and day become luminous and transparent. The temples and gorgeous structures, cities and mag- nificent edifices have been transferred in spiritual es- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 87 sence to the spiritual spheres, and have ceased to be as material entities, so when the planet passeo into the spiritual condition outright and in toto, all that Mars could ever boast of in architectural grandeur and ex- cellence is preserved and perpetuated with additional luster and beauty from the finishing spiritual touches by the Infinite Master Builder. And now you per- ceive that other questions come up right here and re- quire recognition and treatment. Among them these : Do the people on Mars sleep ? If so, how often and how much ? "May 11. Why is it that you require repose in sleep ? In the infinitely wise arrangement of all things there are amply satisfactory reasons for every demand, every requirement, every manifestation, and therefore there are reasons why sleep is induced and is an imperative necessity in your present and past states of existence. " When rest in sleep is long deferred from nervous derangements or other causes, your physicians ad- minister narcotics to induce it, for they well know, as you all do, that sleep is necessary after intervals of wakefulness in order to protract your being in the form, and wiry? " You have voluntary and involuntary functions or organs; the voluntary only, the involuntary never, can be suspended for certain periods of time. Your respiration and blood circulation are involuntary, and as long as you remain embodied in flesh will continue to perform their appropriate functions, whether you wake or sleep, for they are not subject to or influenced by the will. And it is by the unconscious operation of these that your voluntary functions when sus- 88 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. pended in sleep are replenished and rein vigo rated. You are, as at present constituted, made up corporally of gross material, which becomes wearied and ex- hausted by the active exercise or operation of the voluntary functions, and the nerve force will expend itself unless periodically reimbursed and replenished, and restored to its normal condition by the interven- tion and recuperative power of sleep. When in the ages to come your people lose this grossness in their material composition, your inclination to sleep and the necessity for it will abate and become lessened correspondingly to your successive stages of advance- ment in progressive development. " Thus is revealed to you the fact that on Mars, at this time, the inhabitants have but very little need of sleep. They sleep, but in a modified sense as to pe- riods, duration and manner. They rest when fatigued, and for brief periods pass into a state of languor or stupidity, to some extent .analogous to your sleeping state, which is never again regained oftcner than once a week, and then only for a few hours. " Your spirit friends will tell you that they never sleep, but rest, and ever keep in mind that the people of Mars are closely approximating the spiritual. Then, again, on Mars they do not have night as you do, and consequently not the same nocturnal influences to sug- gest and invite sleep. This suggests another subject germane to our line of thought. In nature you find always two extremes, that seem to stand in antipodal relations to each other. Let us give a few instances in illustration : You have day and night, cold and heat, male and female, fire and water, good and evil, etc. Some of these seem to be at fierce war with each SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 89 other, and yet what a delusion ! This seeming antag- onism is but the working of a law that shall eventu- ate in the production of the completest harmony. Undeveloped people, ignorant of the jewel-crowned truths, as yet concealed from them in the grand ar- cana of nature and the progressive sciences, laugh and sneer at the idea of marriages in spirit life, when the unvarnished truth is that man, considered in his inde- pendent and separate sexual relation, is but a half man, and can not become rounded out into fully de- veloped manhood until consociated in conjunctive union with the opposite sex not indeed and truly until the man and woman become twain, one flesh, or, in better phraseology, spiritually unitized. " The day and night will continue until finally and by gradual processes the night is banished, and van- ishes in the splendor of a continuously refulgent and sunlit atmosphere. On Mars this condition is almost reached, and the night there resembles the shadings thrown over the earth when a cloud passes over the face of your moon at hightide, and ultimately even this shall be no more, for in the spiritual spheres of Mars, as in your exalted ones, there are no shadows to obscure or mar the radiant light of the spiritual sun, and Mars itself is fast approaching this sublime condition. We must withhold what we have to say in regard to the seeming strife between good and evil for our next. " May 12. The people of Christendom have had it rung in their ears for nearly two thousand years that man is essentially bad, unutterably wicked, unspeak- ably depraved, and, worst of all, this horrid state conies to him, not of his own creating, but by inev- 90 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. itablc and unavoidable inheritance. In our ignorance and credulity how we have wept over the weakness and folly of our first parents in yielding to the flattery and persuasive eloquence of the cruel serpent in the pure and primitive bowers of Eden. Our tears have flown and flown, with no gentle, soothing hand to touch our eyes and bid them cease; no voice pano- plied with authority to speak to ; no words of hope and cheer. We have been told in answer to our anx- ious entreaties for blissful hope and loving counsel that there is a superabundance of evil in us, and a trifling, insignificant quantity of good, and that nothing short of a miracle of regeneration can save us from unutterable and unending glory in the life to come: that without this miraculous interposition of divine grace, the little good that is in us will lie swal- lowed up and devoured by the appalling evil of our sinfully inherited natures. Oh, man, how you de- grade your true nobility, your godlike and divine no- bi.lity, by bowing the knee to this hideous monster of falsehood, and by kneeling at this unholy shrine. In direct opposition to this abominable and degrading doctrine stands the truth in its pristine and noble beauty. "According to this Christian doctrine we behold in man a combination of good and evil, and in the strug- gle for the mastery the evil is to be mightier than the good. The good emanating from and partaking of the majestic excellence of the eternal, infinite God must, alas, succumb to and be overthrown by evil, its unholy rival. Can man conceive of a scheme more de- grading and heartless, and more completely dishonor- ing to God and his infinite perfections of wisdom, SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 91 goodness and power a doctrine more utterly subver- sive of moral goodness, deific excellence, and that more completely wrecks the moral government of God and dumps into one common funeral heap the hopes and happiness of the human race. No, no, this is not true ; it is false, false, basely false. " What is the true theory of good and evil? Man, oh, man, hearken to the voice of truth, and be wooed and won by its gentle entreaties. Let the scales of ignorance and superstition fall from your eyes. Look upward for truth, and be baptized in its beauteous light, and cleansed in its pure and holy waters. Evil is the assemblage of elements in the concrete, if I may be permitted so to speak, and is simply undeveloped good, or good in a lesser degree. Evil is evanescent and transitory, good is permanent and eternally en- during. The fittest of all things in the grand scheme of progression only survive, while all else is doomed to perish. The good and the true are as enduring and everlasting as the eternal God himself, while the evil and the false are fleeting, unenduring, and carry within themselves the insatiate and unappeasable ele- ments of ultimate annihilation. Be assured of this, for no truth in God's illimitable universe has been more firmly established on a more indestructible foundation. Good day. " May 15. Astronomers will tell you that in their ob- servations through the telescope the planet Mars pre- sents a red brilliancy not observably characteristic of the othftr planets in your solar system, which they are unable to account for. Considering the vastness of the subject, the immense distance in space when the scintillating orbs are chanting their silent songs of 92 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. praise to God, the difficulties in the way of observa- tion, etc., the discoveries in the domain of astronomy have been fully as remarkable, important, and satis- factory, as in any other field of scientific investiga- tion. But still only a very little compared with the immensity of the subject has been disclosed and some of that mixed and interlarded with error. Astron- omy will become the greatest of all sciences when by new apparatus and new appliances the spiritual spheres belonging to the various planets shall have been discovered. This success will be achieved in the coming time. On Mars the people have mastered this problem, and I was surprised to learn that they knew all about our spiritual spheres from their far distant standpoint of observation, and that they knew minutely all the characteristic and inherent qualities of your planetary atmosphere. They have long since invented instruments by which they are enabled to photograph in minute detail and perfect fidelity of representation every material object on the earth. And you will be surprised when I tell you that I in- spected Stockholm, London, Paris, New York, your own queen city, Cincinnati, etc., in a more perfect form of presentation than your artists can reproduce on canvas with pencil and brush, and at the same time I was standing in spirit in the immeasurable im- mensity of space on the planet Mars. I can not give you even in outline, much less in detail, the modus operandi of this achievment, and will only say that the rays of light in reflective power will }et dawn upon your scientists and philosophers as the agent of discoveries and accomplishments not now even dreamed of by the people of earth. I want to add SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 93 right here a prophetic statement, which you may carefully note, that the time is not so very far distant when your inspired inventors will devise and con- struct an instrument that will disclose to the human material eye, to the astonishment of the world, your own spirit land; for let it be well understood that your spirit world has a real, tangible, objective exist- ence, that will yet yield its rich treasures in scientific revealments for the cnlightment and progress of your race. In very truth the spirit world is the only real and permanent one, constructed by the infinite mas- ter builder for all eternal time, while your physical and material, except their spiritual essences, are but the shadows and temporary projections from the spiritual. Logically and metaphysically speaking, the spirit world is the pre-eminent cause of your world, the mere transitory effect. This being true, your keen sense hastens you at once to the conclusion, founded in reason and truth, that an effect can not be greater or more enduring than the cause that produced it, but must of necessity and in the very nature of things be infinitely less. " May 18. A people so pre-eminently advanced in all that appertains to the sublimation of their being, and all that surrounds them, and in which they come in contact, must necessarily be exceedingly refined and aesthetic in their mannerisms, habits of life, intercourse with each other, and in their vocations and employ- ments. In the very nature of things it could not be otherwise. From what has been heretofore said re- lating to the highly favored and inestimably pro- gressed denizens of Mars, it is not difficult to see that their pursuits must necessarily and almost entirely re- 94 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. late to the realm of the intellectual and spiritual, as they have passed beyond the requirements and de- mands of that which pertains to the material phase of existence. Physical wants require physical exer- tion to supply them. Material requirements necessi- tate attention to and labor in the domain of the ma- terial, and this, for obvious reasons, that need not be stated or discussed. It may be prudent, however, to premise that when the physical constitution requires substantially gross materials to keep up and main- tain the corporealities of our nature, we must look to the productions of the farm and the fruitage of the forest, and also to animal food, which are always in quality and degree in exact correspondence to our status or state of progression. But when we lose the constitutional elements of corporeal being that belong to the lower strata of the constitution of things, we require something more refined and sublimated, and lo, always it is at hand to meet the exigency, for let it ever be borne in mind that the law that is inces- santly and without intermission working away in solv- ing the great problem of life and being, moving up- ward from the lower to the higher, is not confined in its operations to only form or species of being, but applies to and operates upon all, whether rational or irrational, animate or inanimate, and pushes all for- ward and upward with perfect and precise equability and in exact and equally proportional degree, none advancing more rapidly than the rest and none lag- ging behind. Thus you perceive the infinite order and the beautiful symmetry of the great law of evolu- tion and progression. Herein is necessitated varied changes in the value and character of vocation and SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 95 employments, suited to the continued mutations of things in the endless series of progressive changes. " At one period in the history of Mars the art of photography was discovered. Of course it attracted great attention and challenged admiration. It was regarded not only as wonderful but marvelous. The discoverer was almost deified, for he was thought to be endowed with something of the divine nature not discoverable in others, until the art advanced step by step, improvement on improvement, when the divin- ity with which the discoverer had been invested by the admiring multitudes dwindled into insignificance, and the very sensible conclusion reached that he was merely highly gifted and spiritually inspired, but alto- gether human still. Compare the primitive system of photography, limited as it was, to objects of im- mediate presence to that now existing, whereby worlds and systems of worlds are made tributary to its dis- coveries and achievements. Now, instead of the won- ders of the art inspiring hero worship of the men engaged in its studies and who produce the wondrous results, a feeling of awe and veneration for the con- tinually increasing wonders of the creation is in- spired. The admiration is justly transferred from man to the creator and the stupendous majesty of his laws and works. On Mars photography is now and has been for a long time a favorite and delightful em- ployment pursued by the many, for all have the ad- vantages of it. Therefore the study, not only of their own world, but numerous others, constitutes a pleas- ant, instructive, and intellectually remunerative em- ployment. Xor is this confined and limited to mate- 96 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. rial worlds, but reaches out and embraces the spiritual spheres of each. "Again, take the science of chemistry. It once only dealt with material solids, but now on Mars it has reached a higher plane or sphere, and the subli- mated substances, still possessed of modified degrees of matter, likewise atmospheric and spiritual sub- stances, come within the purview and yield obedience to its powerful processes of analysis. This is still and ever will be an instructive and profitable field for those aspiring minds of the Marsians bent on the ac- quisition of knowledge and the understanding of the infinitely varied and universal laws by which all na- ture and the universe are governed and controlled. " May 22. On Mars the people are divided up into a very great many societies. The membership of these societies is not a matter of choice and volition. Here you have degrees of social society, and you say there are three grades the lower, middle and upper. This is so in the deceptive seeming, but in fact you have many more, but you do not understand the subtle laws governing in their formation and diversity. You also have secret societies, into which you require the consent of a certain number to gain admission, while at the same time a certain other number may object. Certain arbitrary votes in number control the ques- tion of application, and by them your admission or rejection is determined. In your social society quite a different rule or policy prevails. In a certain grade or stratum, true merit and worth are not considered of any moment, but wealth and pecuniary par excel- lence constitute the law of attraction. In other words, and what ought to burn your cheeks with shame, it SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 97 matters not how morally depraved or utterly aban- doned to all real intrinsic worth of manhood or woman- hood, a large supply of the world's fleeting posses- sions constitutes the real standard of respectability, and the sure passport into the higher walks of social life. On Mars they have long since passed beyond and above this purely human, unspiritual and unholy rule. There they are known and estimated as they really are, for they can not disguise their moral and spiritual status ; it is read in the look, the walk, the thought- words, and most potently in the aura emit- ted, permeating and coloring the very garments worn, thereby disclosing by shades of color the moral, men- tal and spiritual degree of advancement. You have an old adage, which contains a very great truth, namely : ' Birds of a feather will flock together,' ' like draws like.' Under the operation of an immutable law of attraction and repulsion the societies of Mars are formed, and this law, so utterly disregarded by embodied man on the earth, applies to and is opera- tive in the spiritual spheres of all the innumerable worlds of the vast, illimitable universe of God. And this law of attraction and repulsion is indiscriminate and recognizes no distinction on account of wealth, social standing or prominence among men. It deals with spiritual laws and spiritual truths and spiritual things. There being different societies on Mars, formed and governed by this great and inexorable law of selection or attraction and repulsion, you see read- ily that their employments must of necessity and in some regards be quite different. " May 29. "We have endeavored to keep before you, at the risk of being censured for occasional reitera- 98 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. tion and repetition, the great primary and fundamental fact that all things under the divine arrangement advance in the ascending scale of infinite and unend- O ing progression by regular and gradual series, and in equal ratio ; but you must note an important fact in this connection, namely, that all do not at the same time reach the same degree of unfoldment some a little in advance of others, and so on. The question necessarily arises, why is this so ? We only desire to say in answer at this time that all do not start out on their career of animate being at precisely the same time or under the same conditions, nor with the same or equal antenatal advantages. This carries us back behind our mere entrance into physical life, through and by the laws of human physical procreation, into a domain as yet unexplored, except feebly, by mortal man. It seems to me if men could only perceive and understand the grand sublimity and variety of their antecedent being, they would no longer be blinded to the future greatness and glory in store for them. This subject, if you ever enter upon it, yon will find pro- lific of vast knowledge, immense and perfectly as- tounding revelations. But the time has not yet ar- rived for them. The people on Mars, like your own, not starting out on life's eventful and momentous journey with the same or equal advantages, have necessarily attained unto different degrees of progress- ive unfoldment, and by reason of this are their differ- ent and somewhat differing societies formed. In the same circle, order or stratum of society on earth, the good, the bad and the indifferent associate and seem to harmoniously blend and assimilate. But this is not true in fact. The degree of perfection attained SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 99 in moral and spiritual excellence does not govern in their formation, and they are therefore incongruous, unsatisfactory and transitory. On Mars two unequals in progression can not harmonize, for the law rebels, interposes insurmountable barriers, and will not allow it. Those only arc associated who harmonize and re- semble each other, not in the accumulations of wealth, not in stature, not in facial expressions or outward physical conformation, but those who are drawn to- gether by a sort of soul kinship, of absolute union of 'soul feeling, sympathetic inclinations and aspirations, having for their basis, as of prime and first impor- tance, an equal degree of spiritual unfoldment. Thus divided and separated, there are very many different societies or orders, each differing in development, in- clinations and aspirations, they inevitably have dis- similar pursuits and employments, suited to tastes, wants and abilities, but all conspiring for the general good of all. " June 1. The people of Mars are not so large in stature as on your earth, nor are they as large as at former periods of their history. The process of pro- gression in casting off the gross, and also by affecting the laws of propagation, has materially reduced the present inhabitants in their physical proportions. Their feet, except in the lower order, are cither not shod at all, or are covered by a very light and refined material substance. The nearer the spiritual the peo- ple become the less they are affected by grosser at- mospheric elements, and this is directly the opposite of your experience. Here the coarser the material make-up the better can the severer conditions of your temperature be borne, and the reason is plain. 100 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. " Hero some are progressed, physically speaking, in advance of the progress of the elements, and there- fore they are detrimentally affected and influenced by them, whereas on Mars a regular advance in develop- ment has been reached, and all things now smoothly and evenly pass under the operations of the law. After awhile the same law will commence to thus orderly and regularly operate with you when this difficulty will be happily overcome. The grandest achievement made by progression on Mars has pro- duced the greatest result in the formation of the heads of the people. Phrenology here on earth is but feebly and imperfectly understood, although there is in it a grand and most salutary scientific truth. Here, however, as yet, you have the angular and un- even formation of the cranium, with its attendant angularity of temperament and disposition. On Mars the heads are so exquisitely formed and so harmo- nious in the external, and so perfectly symmetrical, that you observe and note it at first glance, and fol- lowing this high and beautiful development is dis- covered a degree of wisdom and learning perfectly astonishing to a visitor from a foreign, though neigh- boring planet. The hair on these magnificent heads is of a fiber and texture resembling your finest silk, and from under a beautiful arched brow you behold a mild yet brilliant eye, beaming with intelligence and affection, and they can convey thoughts and ideas without the use of words or the intervention of audi- ble sound. " June 5. Hundreds, yea, thousands of years ago, the development of mind on the planet Mars was ex- traordinary; and you can conceive what it must be SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 101 now. Many causes, of course, conspired and aided in bringing about this result. The natural process of development would have ultimately accomplished it unassisted by other agencies, but a wise and humane governmental system was adopted, originated in the spirit world, which constituted a complete innovation upon and revolution in previous systems, and which gave a marked impetus to the growth and advance- ment of mind, and which produced also a wonderful improvement in the physical constitutions of succeed- ing generations. That system consisted of a legisla- tive policy of the controlling government, rigidly and unexceptionally enforced, which provided that all children born into physical life should be given up and relinquished to the control and direction of the government, and by the government reared, educated, and prepared for the duties and requirements of life. Elaborate buildings, elaborately and artistically em- bellished and beautified were constructed at proper and convenient locations, where at a certain period of gestation, very early indeed, the expectant mother was taken and kept until a certain and proper time after parturition, when the mother was discharged and restored to freedom, and the new-born babe was taken charge of, raised and maintained by the foster- ing care of the government. Between the period of conception and parturition, the mother was contin- ually kept under the most elevating influences, both of body and mind. Her soul was kept enraptured by the ennobling influences of music, and such music, of which you as yet have no conception. This pro- duced in the mother the desired condition of har- mony, which had a corresponding effect upon the little 102 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. one concealed from mortal view. Twice or thric3 a week lecturers, under the pay and patronage of the government, visited these asylums and discoursed to the inmates on scientific, literary, and moral subjects. "June 8. These discourses were not only designed but efficacious in directing the minds and hearts of the auditors into the most elevating and progressively intellectual channels, and left their inevitable and un- failing impress upon the forthcoming offspring. In addition works of art, rare paintings, and exhibitions of sculpture were at certain times presented for in- spection, study, and reflection, inspiring noble thoughts of the sublime and beautiful. Artists of superior attainments and national renown occasion- ally visited these places and gave exhibitions of their skill in transferring to canvas, in an impromptu man- ner, their loftiest conceptions of the beautiful in land- scapes, scenes, etc., which were of the rarest beauty of design. Books treating of the noblest subjects were placed within ready reach and convenient ac- cess, and the inmates read them with avidity and delight. They understood that they were thus pre- paring the new generations, as yet unushered into life, to take their places, and that their success largely depended on the assiduity with which they availed themselves of their opportunities. The government, as before stated, took charge of the young and trained and educated them in art, music, and the sciences, and the result was soon manifest in producing a race of intellectual giants, and distinguished for their ability in the arts and sciences, and the benevolence or their religious natures. And to-day you can not find a man or woman of adult age who is not per- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 103 fectly versed in all the higher branches of learning, and eminently proficient in music. If a thousand of them could be bodily transferred to America, and with her exceptional advantages, and live, they would soon, by the sheer force of intellect, rule this world, and lift it morally and intellectually upon a plane that would dazzle you to behold. And yet, my dear friend, it is laid up in the womb of time that you of earth shall reach this sublime height. " The denizens of earth may wonder at and disbe- lieve these relations, but nevertheless they are as true as that the eternal God is truth. They point to the destiny in store for the future inhabitants of earth, and intimate to poor disheartened mortals the cer- tainty and greatness of the future, in which they are x to figure in no mean way nor act no inconsequential part. " July 10. On Mars the doctrine of discrimination on the score of sex was never taught, but the equal- ity of the sexes has always been recognized. This indiscrimination has always been operative in employ- ments and in the choosing of persons to fill official station at a period of their history when officers were paid out of the public exchequer for their services. Of course, at this time when office is administered without compensation the rule remains undisturbed. Your troubles, that is, many of them, in the present and past have arisen either from a misunderstanding of the. truth or a misapplication of it and its require- ments. Can it be rationally maintained that truth and justice require a discrimination to be made ad- verse to the female ? If so, there must be ample rea- sons for it, and what are they? We are told that, 104 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. comparatively speaking, woman is the weaker. Is this true ? and if so, pray tell wherein ? You an- swer physically, and thus you would establish her status in all other regards, by the rule of mere brute force, powers of endurance,, and physical capabilities. Do you not know that the ox and the horse, for pre- cisely the same reason, can largely discount you ? Do you not realize that by this argument you are appeal- ing to the lowest element of your nature, that which only distinguishes you as connected with matter, and which as we have already seen, is transitory and fleet- ing? Pray lift the subject upon a higher and nobler plane and then let us have your arguments and reason- ing. Is man superior to woman morally ? Now, if you are honest, you must blush. In morals, man superior to woman ! We all know this is not true. And do morals count for naught in the scale of being? In what pertains to the finer sensibilities and spiritual pureties is woman inferior? If not, are these of no moment compared with mere physical brute force? Do women survive death as men do ; if so, which w'\\\ be of greatest value in the beautiful hereafter brute force and physical prowess, which only have exist- ence in the lower realms of the spiritual world, or those finer spiritual qualities possessed by woman in a much higher degree than by man as they manifest in embodied life, and which belong to the higher spiritual sphere of being in the other life? " Beware, oh man, how you treat angelic woman, for the future will teach you many lessons, brought about by your arbitrary and utterly indefensible as- sumptions and arrogations, among which will be classed your illiberal and unjust treatment of woman. SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 105 She is your equal, and your great weakness is in with- holding it from her. " July 13. In giving briefly and very imperfectly a sketch of what I saw and learned on the planet Mars I have been compelled necessarily to omit many things, among other reasons, because they would not only be not believed, but in many instances incite unfavora- ble comments, if not absolute ridicule. I am not un- conscious of the fact that many things contained in the foregoing narrative, although literally true, will meet with unfavorable criticism, but I have not been writing to please or to avoid censure, but to deliver the truth, much of which I am aware is far in advance of the age in which you now live on the planet earth. But it has been thought that a little work of this kind would be kindly received and amiably treated by at least progressed minds those who had inspiration- ally and intuitively drank at the fountain of spiritual wisdom and spiritual things; and, as to others, it was hoped it might cause them to think it possible, if not probable, that man is something more than a mere fleeting bauble, a mere creature of a moment. " To awaken in man the consciousness of the au- gustness of his being, and the mighty destiny before and awaiting its development, can not fail in this transition period, when you are passing from old theo- logical theories and religious systems into something better, higher, holier, to subserve great and lasting good. In this transition process the great effort is to be made to direct the great body of advancing minds into the right channels, for in many cases the tend- ency is found to be toward the cold barrenness of ma- terialism. 106 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. " The question that is to confront you in the future is not in regard to creeds and dogmas, for they are passing away, but whether these few fleeting years of physically embodied life is the all of your being, whether death is the setting forever of the bright star of our being in the night and gloom of ended exist- ence, or whether there is for man a glorious life of endless progress beyond the life and transitory scenes of physical embodiment. " July 14. With this my labors for the present end. The effort has been more irksome than you may con- ceive. The difficulties attending the act of commu- nicating are more numerous and troublesome than the world would allow if they were fully explained. But we have done the best we could. " To you, Mr. Helleberg, I return my thanks and the thanks of those co-operating with me, for the pa- tience, earnestness and honesty which have character- ized your association with us in this work. Our blessings rest upon you, and be assured that your greatest reward will be in the happy land which your aged footsteps are n earing. We shall shield and bless you here, and crown you in the land of immortal beatitudes. " We would be ungrateful beyond measure not to speak in acknowledgment of the virtues and noble qualities of the medium, through whose superbly de- veloped medial powers we have been enabled to speak to the world. In consequence of our frequent con- tact with her noble and pure soul our first admiration for her has grown into the deepest, truest and holiest affection. Heaven bless her in all her ways and walks. Her noble band of spirits, tireless, indefatigable and SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 107 upright, have rendered us vast assistance, without which we could not have succeeded in the slightest degree. They are capable, true and honest, and able to guard and protect their instrument, before whom is a great future career of usefulness, and she may confidently trust them in all things. " To those who may read my feeble lines I bespeak that charity you would like extended to you. Judge not harshly, but with generous impulse. You are in the realm of crude materiality, in the tenement of flesh, influenced more or less by many disadvanta- geous surroundings, which arc not spiritually inspir- ing or elevating, but by and by you will survive and pass beyond them. Let me entreat you to study and learn of the great law of PROGRESSION, which we have constantly endeavored to keep before you. In that law and its manifold manifestations reside all wisdom, love and truth. It is that law that assures you future greatness and happiness, and will worjc out for you a destiny, the grandeur and glory of which you can but faintly comprehend and know. You can not die. You must live forever. You can not retrace your steps, nor recede in the development of your being ; neither can you stand still. Therefore you must move forward, onward and upward, forever and forever. " FREDRIKA EHREXBORG." 108 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. CHAPTER XL COMMUNICATIONS FROM EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. The following communications, purporting to come from the spirit of Ernanuel Swedenborg, at Mrs. Green's, are arranged in the order of their reception : September 26, 1881 : " I greet you ; good morning. You hail from dear old Sweden, my native land. The same native blood that coursed through my veins flows through yours. For a long time I have realized that your thoughts have been on me and the doctrines I taught on earth, some of which I would gladly recant. In my day noth- ing else could have been projected through my brain, and nothing less violent, though more truthful, would have engaged attention or commanded respect. My writings, as I now see them, were a strange comming- ling of truth and error, though I believe with truth largely predominant. I want the world, especially my followers, the disciples of the Church of !NTew Jeru- salem, to eliminate, in the interest of truth, the errors and crudities that unwittingly, though reverentially, crept into my theological writings. The hells as I portrayed them I now know were magnified into un- due and absurd proportions, colored and distorted by my own preconceived notions, and, moreover, largely attributable to the religious temper and theologic thought of the time in which I wrote. Tell your good companion and others of like convictions to discard at once and fearlessly my unwarranted denunciation SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 109 against holding intercourse with the inhabitants of the spiritual world. I misapprehended, and, alas, misinterpreted the holy visions given me. 1 was al- lowed to sec prophetically that the two worlds would be brought into close communicating relations, and I ought to have seen farther that it would occur through and by the permission and co-operative agency of God and his laws, and ought not therefore to be interdicted. This has given me vast annoyance, and I am very solicitous indeed that this shall be righted. Hold fast to this spiritualism, for therein only can be found light and love and wisdom. My power to maintain control is weakening, and I must close for the present. I will meet you here again. Good bye. EMANUEL SWEDENBORG." October 3, 1881 " In my communication a week ago I referred, not incidentally, but purposely, to my followers of the Church of the jSTew Jerusalem. It is gratifying to me to know that they are in the main honest, faith- ful and intelligent people; but I regret that they have deemed it proper to resolve themselves into an ex- clusive sect ; for, disguise it as you may, all sects are more or less exclusive. Among the many curses that afflict your mortal humanity, none are to be more de- plored than sectarianism and dogmatic theology. Do you know that in the most ambitious moments of my earthly career, much less in the lofty moods of my. medial inspiration, I never dreamed that I was to become the founder of a religious sect, especially one based on dogmatic formulas. The affirmations of material science now no longer question that hi all 110 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. organized structures reside the underlying, all-pervad- ing and continually operating elements. Disintegra- tion, decay and ultimate destruction of the organized form apply with equal and unerring certainty to ec- clesiastical bodies. Modern spiritualism in this, that it is specifically and rigidly scientific, clustering beau- teously around the family hearthstone, adorning and hallowing the family altar, may be distinguished by its infinite superiority to all other systems, it having no creed to establish, and steadfastly repelling all at- tempts at organization, is destined to survive the wreck and demolition of all theological teaching standing in antagonistic relations to it ; and this God- given, heaven-inspiring humanity, embracing soul- uplifting spiritualism, is to become the universal re- ligion of mankind. I will continue to administer to your wants and remove the scales from the eyes of the people, especially my followers. More anon. " EMANUEL SWEDENBORG." On October 17, 1881, the following communication appeared on the slate : " The blessings of the most high God and the ben- ediction of His holy angels and spirits on you and yours. What I most desire to say to you to-day is that since our last interview here I have participated with others in a discussion relative to a recent scien- tific discovery in the spirit world which, when im- parted to the world of embodied man, will strike the learned savants of your life with mingled feelings of awe and consternation. Our recent experiments were exceedingly satisfactory, and the questions that re- main open are, when, to who and through whom shall SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. Ill it be given to the children of earth. The general ex- pression of our society favored some time towards the close of the coming year as best adapted. In this view I concurred, for many reasons. My revered friend, let me say to you to-day, with great and pos- itive emphasis, that the year 1882, earth time, will be the most marvelous year of the world's history, and will be characterized by the most stupendous events in all the circling centuries of past time. In that year and the succeeding one astounding spiritual rev- elations will be made to the denizens of this earth, utterly upsetting old, effete theological doctrines, and mercilessly demolishing now considered well estab- lished scientific conclusions, and your scientists' tests, self-complacent and arrogant in their pretensions, and possessed most fully of the spirit of vaulted am- bition, the creation of their self-conceit, will awake to the consciousness that they have been mere figures in scientific research, and that on many subjects may have been so superficial as not to penetrate beyond the mere shadows and surface of things. I promise you that when the proper time arrives for this dis- closure you shall not be overlooked or neglected. Bound to you in fraternal relation of a common brotherhood, embracing in grand reciprocation the in- habitants of both the mundane and supermundane worlds, I am yours, devoted for the truth, " EMANUEL SWEDENBORO." June 12, 1882 " If we concede for the sake of argument that there really exists a literal hell, as depicted by theological teaching, and which constitutes an article of faith in 112 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. most of the Christian sects, we are forced to inquire (and it is a legitimate subject of inquiry from the as- sumed premises), Was hell made for man, or man for hell ? and this involves the question of duration of existence in point of time antecedent. Whichever way we determine, and our determination of the ques- tion from a terrestrial standpoint can only arise from speculation and conjecture, and not from proofs, one conclusion we can not escape, namely, the malevo- lence of the author. If hell was established prior to the time when the fiat went forth bringing man into being, and was designed for his abode and accommo- dation, we can not reconcile the goodness of the Lord with such utterly unjust and malevolent purpose, be- cause to concede this much admits the possession of sufficiency of power to have ordered otherwise, which precludes impotency and concludes the will and pur- pose to so order and arrange. " If the creation of hell and man as arbitrary acts of the Deity was coeval, then the same conclusion in- evitably follows, before and behind the act of these creations resided in the Lord the power to have dif- ferently ordered ; hence we must assume that the simultaneous creation of hell and man was predeter- mined, and in accordance with the will-pleasure and purpose of the Creator. " If, furthermore, man was first created without any reference to liell or any preconceived purpose or expectancy to establish it, and that its creation was necessitated from man's unexpected disobedience, and as the only proper means of gratifying the vengeance of an insulted God, then we unwittingly and in a very silly way declare the absence of foreknowledge in the SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 113 Lord, and degrade him to the level of a puny, pas- sionate man. " To assume any of these puerile positions to be true is to assume that the Lord, however august in power, and the physical, mental and spiritual ability to order and to direct, is nevertheless a moral weak- ling, and wholly devoid of moral excellence in degree superior to the meanest of his creatures." June 15,1882: " If hell exists, it is plain to he seen there was a necessity for it. If created before man, there was no necessity for its existence, for the Lord is governed by the idea of uses, and there was present no use for it. Will it be maintained that the Lord would create any thing without a use and wise purpose ? It is the uses of things that so signally distinguish his crea- tive and moral governments. ' ; If it is said in reply that when hell was fashioned and established the Lord had in contemplation the creation of man, and that it was to be subsequently rendered useful as a place of punishment for disobe- dience, which implies that the Lord knew in advance of man's creation that he would be disobedient, then, oh, man, you are surely in the hands and under the power of a merciless demon, falsely called God. If this indeed is the true character of our Lord, then truly may his weak and helpless children bow their heads in sorrow and despair. " These teachers of false theology, these false inter- preters of simple truth, these false prophets of a false conception, affirm that this appalling hell, offspring of a monster creative agency, is a fixed location some- 114 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. where, which they have the candor to say, they know not. '" The theologian8 perceiving throughout the vast domain of universal nature two confronting oppositea or extremes, and that there scheme must fall if hell were left alone to be the final destiny of the entire human family, erect another falsity and construct an- other place or harbor for the sojourners and pilgrims of earth, and consequently they say that the Lord has established somewhere in space a heaven, the location of which, although a locality, can not be ascertained. " The same questions, with equal propriety, might be propounded in reference to heaven arid the same conclusions follow. Was it made for man or man for it ? Was it made before or after man was made ? Where is it situate; who go there and why do they go there, and for what purpose ? If the theologians answer these pertinent questions in harmony with their creeds, they would make my friend John Cal- vin, who accompanied me here this morning and is now standing by my side, blush with shame. He now, as a noble spirit, pities the ignorance and credulity that characterized him in his religious frenzy when in the form, and the credulity and weakness of his followers." June 19, 1882: " The original conception of a literal local heaven and hell was a feeble monstrosity and far exceed- ing the intuitions and anticipations of its origin- ators, it has assumed huge and alarming propor- tions. Originally it was treated either as a human created joke, or as a wild vagary of the imagination, and in both cases without even the shadow of a found- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 115 ation in fact. But as time moved along it began to grow seriously in the minds of the morbidly curious and credulously constituted, and it found many earn- est advocates and believers, and they were not alto- gether limited to the ignorant. Had this been the case it would have been harmless and short-lived. The poet in depicting the career of vice aptly illustrates the history of this conception : ' ' Vice is a monster of such frightful mien, As to be dreaded needs to be seen. Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first pity, then endure, and then embrace.'" " I unhappily lived in a day when it had been largely embraced. Had I lived in the day when it was con- ceived and promulgated, or approximately near it and been possessed of the physical, mentaland spirit- ual organization with which I was favored in earth life, I would have undoubtedly earnestly combated it. But in my time it had grown into prominence and general acceptance among Christian sects, including the Lutheran, to which I adhered before my spiritual illumination ; and hence while my spiritual medium- istic unfoldmcnt, mental adaptabilities and capabili- ties would not allow me to accept the literal teaching of purblind theology on the subject, I was disqualified from perceiving and promulgating the real truth. I endeavored, however, to do what the theologians have never attempted, namely, to assign reasons for the existence of heavens and hells in justification and defense of the Lord. The groundlessness of my phil- osophy and the impotency of my^reasoning I was unable to understand until the lapse of years after 116 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. my entrance into the spiritual world, and then only by slow and discreet degrees. Step by step only did I receive the influx of spiritual light and truth, opening my eyes to the truth and impressing my soul with the consciousness of the errors and falsities of my teach- ings when on the earth embodied. " In the spiritual world we are not allowed to per- ceive truth except by degrees and interior growth, and only as we are enabled t^ outgrow and disown error. Our errors, whether of acts and deeds com- mitted, duties omitted, or false theories, either taught or believed by us when in the form, follow us to the spiritual world and cling to us with a perfectly amaz- ing and persistent tenacity, and this constitutes hell and it exists nowhere else." June 22, 1882: " In my philosophy of correspondences there was much truth, with here and there a shade of error. It was argumentative, speculative, and character- ized by analagous reasoning, but not sufficiently intuitive to reach the full height of spiritual induc- tion. But whatever errors may have crept into this department of my writings, they have been compara- tively harmless. " What has given me the greatest annoyance since 7ny departure from, the flesh, or rather since I have better understood the subject ; and Avhat has given me the greatest anxiety to have eradicated from the minds of those who read mebelievingly, are my teach- ings on the subject of the hells in the spiritual world. I desire here to lay down a proposition I know to be ^true, whoever may state to the contrary, namely: No embodied spirit was ever enabled, no matter how SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 117 highly developed the organism of the subject, to leave the body, go into the spiritual spheres, undergo ex- periences there, behold scenes, hold converse with their inhabitants, witness events and occurrences transpiring there, then return to the body, bring it back into normal action, and then correctly and in detail and in purity of narrative give to the world through the physical organism of the body, what it had seen, heard, and witnessed, during its temporary absence. If it were otherwise, and the spiritual world a real, fixed and objective reality, all who visited it in spirit during physical embodiment, would on re- turning and reanimating the body with the returning spiritual influx impart the same information and re- cite the same story. The directly opposite of this is true, and settles the question irrevocably in the nega- tive as to the absolute reliability of knowledge im- parted by spirits while inhabiting the natural body, although permitted by the operation of a certain law which is neither wholly spiritual nor physical, but a combination of both, to leave for a short period its tenement of flesh. Even then the spirit entire does not vacate the body, even for an instant of time, for if it did life in the body would become immediately extinct. However far the consciousness of the spirit may wander away from its home in the material house it must maintain an inseparable connection with it. at least by a portion of the magnetism of itself. Therefore during its visits away it is nevertheless all the while connected with the body, and hampered and fettered by it, and more or less governed by its laws and conditions. It can not, therefore, on returning, and it has never been wholly absent, give fully, 118 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. purely, and correctly its spiritual observations and experiences. " When I visited the spiritual world during my em- bodied life I was governed by this same law and sub- jected to the same limitations, and hence what I re- lated was not entitled to full credence and belief. So it has been in all cases of trance in the past, and will continue to be in the future for ages yet to come. In my next I shall speak of some instances illustrative of this truth." June 26, 188: "As illustrative of the proposition submitted in my last I will only mention a few among numerous in- stances. " The book of Revelations states that John visited the Isle of Patmos on the Lord's day, and was then and there in the spirit. (I should have used the ex- pression 'entranced' or 'trance state,' or that 'the Lord permitted me to see.') While thus in the spirit or trance state he was taken to the heavens. After resuming his normal condition in the body he essays to write out what he thinks be saw, or so much of it as he is enabled to retain in memory, and call up after again fully controlling the physical body. He says that he saw beasts worshiping around the throne of God, and that he saw a beast rise out of the sea with seven heads and ten horns ; that a book written in heaven was handed him with the command that he eat it, which he assures us he did, etc. Does any one believe that these were veritable occurrences, ' that there were beasts in heaven full of heavenly love, evinced in worshiping before the throne, and that books were written in heaven for men to eat? The SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 119 Koran of Mahomet is an improvement on this, for it was not eaten, but preserved for use. "Now, I want to say to the world, especially the New Church people, that my visions of the hells had no more foundation in fact than John's beasts, dragons and goldrn candlesticks. The difference between John and myself, that is, the important difference, consisted in the fact that John's symbolic visions were explained to be unrealities, while I was left to believe mine to be absolute verities. In fact one was as unreal as the other, and only forcibly illustrates the unreliability of this mode of deriving true and genuine spiritual knowledge. "Your own Andrew Jackson Davis is another in- stance corroborative of my proposition. He avers that he has been, not 'in the spirit,' like John, nor ' in the trance state,' like myself, but, in more aesthetic phraseology, ' in the superior state.' They all prac- tically mean the same thing. Davis says he located while in the l superior state ' the spirit world proper, and found it to be in or beyond the ' milky way,' thus inflicting a cruel blow upon the science of astronomy. Astronomy teaches, and correctly, too, as every well informed spiri't knows, that the ' milky way' is a vast assemblage or constellation of suns, worlds and sys- tems of solar worlds, and yet Mr. Davis was honest. "Judge John Worth Edmonds, in his earlier me- diumship and spiritualistic experiences, visited the other world in spirit, and his description of the hells recorded in his work entitled ' Spiritualism,' was somewhat analagous to mine, and very much in har- mony with it. His temperament, mental methods, and spiritual development were not very dissimilar 120 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. to mine, and ho had been previously as thoroughly grounded in Calvinism as I had been in Lutheran ism. So it was but natural that we should see and inter- pret much alike. Yet in final conclusions we were in absolute antagonism, differing fully as widely as the poles, or separated in distance by terrestrial measure- ment. " Truth can not dissemble nor assume deceptive garbs, and all seeing the same things differently, proves that neither could be relied upon, for if they had been true and genuine verities, all would have seen and reported them alike." June 29, 1882 : " Since I have been inducted into higher light and blessed with the true knowledge I have been utterly amazed in reviewing my writings, resulting in the discovery of two facts, namely, their prolixity in mat- ter and stupendousness in folly. It seems to me now as almost utterly incredible that in my efforts at the spiritual interpretation of the scriptures I should have written so many absolutely silly and unmeaningthings. It becomes my duty, and I can not be happy without it, to make this declaration, however humiliating it may be to me, viewed from your standpoint, but the truth and the peace, happiness and progress of my spirit require it. No work was ever written but w r hat an ingenious metaphysician might not twist out of its every paragraph an assumed interior and myste- rious meaning. "But, after all, I was fortuitous in advancing many ennobling and wholesome truths. In all that I wrote I take greater pride and unto myself much rejoicing in my assaults upon the Lutheran doctrine of justifi- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 121 cation by faith alone, and in my enjoining love to the neighbor. However, to believe in and teach the doc- trine of love one to another, or 'love thy neighbor as thyself,' does not require an inspiration from heaven. It is the doctrine taught by universal nature and in- worked in the web and woof of human nature. To realize and understand it we have only to beccme even partially civilized and to commune with nature and ourselves. " A great portion of my life has been devoted to secular pursuits and the study of natural science. I also possessed some inventive genius, and during my purely secular career I was always contemplating, by silent meditation, employing the early part of my life in the study of the properties of the human soul and its relation to the Lord and human life. Therefore when I came to engage the subject, it was not a spon- taneous impulsion to it, as some have supposed, al- though it was immediately attended and character- ized by a degree of spiritual illumination and inspi- ration. I did not approach the examination of the subject wholly free and untrammeled by prejudice and uninfluenced by bias. I had previously conceived thoroughly deep convictions relating to this subject, and I now know no amount of spiritual aid could have possibly eradicated them sufficiently to have al- lowed the presentation of the plain, unadulterated truth. " Oh, how efi'ectually are we enslaved by education, association and mental training. The man who can overcome them in the pursuit of truth is far superior in all that goes to make up true manhood to the crowned heads and pampered ones of earth ; yea, he 1-- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. is not only grand and noble in the full stature of his manhood, but he is more he is godlike." JulyS, 1882: " I do not affirm the non-existence of heaven and hell, but what I would be understood as affirming is their non-existence as separate, independent and fixed localities. If you will interpret heaven to mean hap- piness, and hell its opposite, that is, misery, we can fully agree, for this interpretation implies what is ver- itably true, namely, that they are conditions, and not localities. As conditions they not only exist in the spiritual world, but also in the sensual or material, and apply to both embodied and disembodied man. "It is related that Jesus said, 'The kingdom of heaven is within yon,' and never was truth more com- pletely and potently uttered. At the time he was talking to men in the body, and to them he declares, * The kingdom of heaven is within you. 1 " If he is entitled to credit as an authority on the subject, and Christians certainly will not gainsay it, then it is quite clear that heaven, being in the human, spiritual beings is as a locality nowhere else. And inasmuch as it could not exist in the human being as a location, for this would give us millions upon in- numerable millions of localized heavens, one for each breathing human embodied man, to become destroyed at the death of each, which is too absurd to be seri- ously discussed, it must necessarily follow, and as clear as the sunlight of heaven, that whatever that kingdom may in fact be, it is simply and absolutely a condition. And we can therefore readily see that as a condition, different with every human being, owing to the moral status and spiritual development of each, SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 123 it perpetuates itself as truly and fully as does the spirit itself survive the dissolution of the aggregated physical atoms and forces of the material body, and moreover accompanies the real man into the spiritual world. So with its opposite hell. " If this is conceded, and no Christian can deny it with any degree of consistency, for the moment he does he dishonors Jesus as an authority, then the whole foundation of a local permanent hell is swept away, and the loathsome superstructure erected there- upon falls to the ground forever. "Heaven and hell, viewed in any sense, are oppo- sites, and wherever they exist they must exist simul- taneously, for some are in heaven and some in hell all the time, and therefore if the kingdom of heaven is in the children of men, so also must be the king- dom of hell, or it does not exist at all. " With my limited power I can not elaborate this point, or even present it as I should like to, and you must be content with a bare and imperfect statement.''* July 6, 1882 : " Before the mythologists of antiquity had con- structed a hell they had on their hands a personal, in- dividualized spirit of evil, known as the serpent or satan, and more modernly as the devil. Investing this mythological creature with all the distinguishing attributes of the Lord, save that of goodness, they must have a localized place of sufficient capacity, and properly arranged for the enjoyment by him of the fruits of his labors. Divesting him of all goodness per se, the hell of their creation must necessarily rep- resent his newly-acquired condition of total deprav- ity, for previously he had been an angel in heaven, 124 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. and must possess the proper and sufficient elements to enable him to gratify his hatred of the Lord in the punishment of his children. It was but natural in that day that the element of fire should be chosen, as it was supposed to be the most destructive element in nature, and best calculated in its very nature to in- duce the most intense and excruciating suffering to physical and material bodies possessed of the ani- mating principle of animal life. In their unspiritual and ignorant state they supposed and believed that the bodies in the other world would be similar to those in this, and therefore subject to similar effects from heat and fire. What a monstrous conception, and how utterly inexplicable that it should ever have been believed. Even John the Revelator took a material view of hell, and described it as a ' lake of fire and brimstone.' " I was compelled, or rather impelled, from reason or from experiences sufficiently clear, in my frequent moods or states of spiritual exaltation to depart from this grossly materialistic view. "While my hells were in the plural, yet I fell into nearly as great error in my creations. They were the progeny of imperfect visions, imperfectly understood and grossly erroneous in their relation. " You have only to think a moment seriously to discover the utter folly of my hells, and I will only present one instance among many equally absurd. You will find in my ' memorable relations ' that I spoke of a certain class of Jews and others wading through mud, quagmires and swamps, and being in- juriously affected by them, and this for the purposes of punishment. Now, the conception of a spirit, SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 125 composed largely of pure ether, wading in the mire and wallowing in spiritual miasmatic swamps and filthy dirt, is only equaled by the mythological con- ception believed in and advocated by Christians that a spirit could be effected to any degree of suffering by material fire and brimstone. Both conceptions are as false as God is true. " In reference to the mythological arcli fiend of man- kind let us summarize : First an angel in heaven ; then a rebel ; then a war in the peaceful realms of heaven, instigated by this fiend ; then the fall from the angelic state ; then a transformation into a terrible and grim devil ; then the building of a hell for his use, conve- nience and felicity, and then turning over to his con- trol and malignant fiendislmess three-fourths or more of poor, weak beings, creatures of an Infinite God, and you have fitly spoken a system that could only have originated in an orthodox hell, figuratively speaking, and by an orthodox devil, and which for malevolence far exceeds anything ever thought of in this or any other world." July 17,1882: " The bible makers having established a heaven and hell, with God presiding over the one and the devil over the other, were driven to the necessity of con- cocting a scheme for populating them. The God of their creation they represent to be possessed of infinite perfections and glory, and heaven the very ideal of grandeur and beatitude. One would very naturally conclude that in their scheme they would have so arranged that God would have had the first choice, and heaven the destination of the best and wisest of the denizens of earth. Nothing short of this could 126 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. have so completely enamored us of the conception and rendered heaven devoutly to be wished for; but here the arrangement in value and superlative worth meets with a severe set back. One of the weak and frail points in the scheme consists in not allowing this infinite God to have his own choice in selecting those to become consociated with him in enjoying celestial delights in heaven. Human nature, by the fall in the Garden of Eden, became weak and subjected to ma- lign influences with an inadequacy of rcpellant power to overcome them. The cruel authors of this system, while they establish their god in heaven, a far distant locality, and keep him there constantly occupied and absorbed with the music and praises of the ransomed few, turn the devil loose to roam at will, and invest him not only with the deific attribute of omnipres- ence, but also confer upon him the extraordinary power without restraint of assuming angel's garbs even to the deceiving of the elect. In addition they place under his authority and to do his bidding an unlimited number of smaller Devils, whose services have been utilized by him in preying upon the peace and happiness of the children of this world, and in preparing their souls for eternal punishment and sub- servience to his will in the world to come." July 20, 1882 : " To counteract this terrible invisible influence of evil no power of equal potency is furnished. They say that God's holy spirit in conjunctive co-operation with the saints embodied (they mean, of course, the preachers and good church people) is seeking man's deliverance and salvation. They confess, however, that this a^em-y is impotent when compared with the SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 127 power wielded by the devil and his invisible cohorts. They make Jesus say substantially that the road that leads to heaven is narrow and circumscribed and few travel in it, while the road that leads to hell is broad and the many travel therein, ' many shall be called, but few chosen,' etc., etc. " If their system be true we are forced inevitably to conclude that when the creative energies residing in man have succeeded in producing a high order of intellection the devil straightway captures them, leav- ing heaven to be peopled without the presence of the great and godlike in mental power. It would seem prudent and w r ise that this should have been other- wise arranged in order to have rendered heaven rea- sonably and fairly intellectual. No wonder, there- fore, that their highest conceptions of worship and gratitude consisted in keeping up around the throne of the Lord a continual musical concert, both vocal and instrumental. Such distinguished and illustrious souls as Washington, Jefferson, Webster, Clay, Lin- coln, Garfield, Paine, Voltaire, and others, could not be induced to participate for all future time in such exercises, for their mental constitutions were too ro- bust and great and their souls too much interested in other and more ennobling pursuits. This kind of heaven would not suit souls of such intellectual pro- portions, and the orthodox hell, if accompanied by Buffering, would be preferable to them, because their associations, at least, would be intellectual, for the devil is said to bo exceedingly wise, and all wise souls live and delight in kindred consociations." July 21,1882: " According to the orthodox scheme, heaven, hell, 128 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. and the devil, all go together, or, in other words, they are inseparably connected with and belong to the plan. Heaven would be the destination of all with- out a hell and vice versa. Heaven and hell are in an- tagonism, and there would be no strife but by and through the devil, and therefore his existence is a necessity to this end. God is too good to take part in this strife, and is either indifferent or too weak to avert it. Even when the war in heaven, according to Milton, was waged between the devil and the Lord, with relentless fury, he would take no direct and act- ive part, but commissioned Michael his generalissimo. How could he now be expected to take an immediate and active part, even to save his own defenseless chil- dren. Earthly parents act quite differently when their offspring are in peril, and so do the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air. I am talking iron- ically only to show the utter folly of the whole matter. " In this connection did you ever think why it is that the devil is continually seeking the moral over- throw and eternal ruin of the human family ? It is not because he has any ill feeling for cause against the children of men. They have never given him any occasion, and as we have seen, in their helpless con- dition, they could not if they would. According to the bible and the claims of Christians they have al- ways done just as the devil wanted them to. He w r anted Adam and Eve to eat the apple and they did so. He wanted Abraham to debauch Hagar, and after her ruin to turn her loose with her helpless babe on her bosom amid the wilds of the wilderness of Beer- sheba, and Abraham did so. He wanted Noahio drink of the wine and become drunken, and Noah hesitated SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 129 not, etc. So in fact the assumption can not be main- tained that the devil in capturing nine-tenths of the human family is actuated by any malignant feeling towards his victims. The reason lies elsewhere. \V T e are assured by the bible theologians and their coad- jutors that the devil is solely actuated by his intense hatred of the Lord and the purpose of wreaking ven- geance upon him for banishing him from heaven and the angelic state. If this is true common justice and sympathy for the suffering of the unoffending im- pose most seriously the duty upon the Lord, either to conciliate the devil in the interest of harmony, peace and concord, and to save his helpless children, or de- stroy outright this malignant enemy of his. If he will do neither, nor arrest him in his diabolical work, then truly are we justified not only in withholding homage from him, but also in regarding him equally at enmity with our welfare and a party (particeps criminis) in causing our sufferings and preparing our eternal doom." July 27, 1882 : " Why seriously discuss questions that are fast fading out of sight ? The advancement of mind and the development of spiritual discernment are on the eve of relegating old antiquated theories and ideas to the past ages of heathen darkness, where they prop- erly belong. Total depravity throwing its dark man- tle over tender infancy parent of the doctrine of in- fant damnation is no longer taught or believed by enlightened clergymen and their followers. It only has a sickly foothold where the people are spiritually dominated by an ignorant or pusillanimous priest- hood. "Why, therefore, seek to revive by serious dis- 130 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. cussion any interest in dogmas now almost inanimate and staggering to their final fall and eternal sleep. Let them die serenely if they can, and be buried out of sight without pomp or regret. We have questions of greater moment and of much more value to man- kind, and to them let us address ourselves. All things are not only progressive but eternally progressing. Must we therefore resolve that systems of religion and theological dogmas are finished and settled for- ever. If so, when did this divinely appointed con- summation take place ? It certainly, if true, must be an event of recent date. By whom settled, how and when ? Certainly not by the old Romish Church and the hierarchy established at Nice and Laodicia, for their history since has been characterized by quarrels and dissensions, which at times have threatened their very existence. And certainly no one will seriously maintain that they have reached the high altitude of final and definite settlement by Luther, Calvin and others in their departure from the original faith. Some of the articles of faith of these have either been dis- carded or quietly abandoned, and those left have been modified, and are scarcely an improvement on the originals. In candidly looking over the whole field among the religious sects now extant, only one thing is discovered to be mutually agreed upon, and that is that man lives after death. We hardly need to stop to except those semi-materialistic Christians who claim that a future existence at all depends wholly on the physical resurrection of the material body at some vague and indefinite period of future time. This doctrine is so unscientific and so disconsonant with SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 131 reason that we pass it by with a mere reference to it." July 28, 1882 : "The Catholics have three states for the dead, Heaven, Hell and Purgatory ; the thorough orthodox Protestants two, striking out purgatory; while the Universalists insist on expunging hell from the cata- logue. Some will have one God, and others a trinity of them. But they differ materially as to the course to pursue in order to obtain the divine favor, holy unction and saving grace of the Lord. Here they are put to the severest test. It is infinitely of less moment to ascertain how many gods rule above, or how many states of the dead, as it is to know how to reach the much desired haven of peace and happiness in the eternal world. "A prudent man would be comparatively indiffer- ent as to how many ruling sovereigns over the desti- nies of man, or how many locations of consignment for their souls, so he is enabled to attain unto the highest good, and this consideration more imperatively absorbs his attention. Knowledge of the former would be valueless without knowledge of the* latter. And hence in seeking- to become familiar with the latter is O where he becomes lost in the labyrinthian mazes of divergent and perplexingly diversified theologies. "One would have you attend to the confessional, do penance and observe and conform to the dictums emanating from the Roman Pontiff and the impe- rious mandates of priests, thereby securing absolution from the consequences of sin, and due preparation for the next world. Another admonishes you that your salvation depends on the nature and degree of faith 132 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. in the atoning sacrifice. Another that you must be- come regenerated and washed of inherited and com- mitted sins by belief in and conformity to certain spe- cific and definitely prescribed tenets. And stiU another, that a good, moral life is the one thing needful, Jesus having paid the penalty of sin and triumphed over it for the whole of mankind. And so on, scarcely with- out limit, do these various and varied systems present themselves to perplex and annoy." July 31, 1882: " Instead of there being one, two or three states of the dead, the truth is there are an infinite number and variety of conditions in which the children of men exist in the spiritual world with the qualification that they do not remain in them longer than they are ena- bled to progress out of them into other and higher ones. The plain truth is, as every intelligent and fairly progressed returning spirit will tell you, that faith and belief have nothing whatever to do in deter- mining your status in the spiritual world, nor will what a man believes, however erroneous it may verily be, if he is honest in it, have any potency in prepar- ing the spiritual conditions or assigning him his spir- itual sphere. Here we must be clearly understood, that we may avoid both misapprehension and misre- presentation. I do not affirm that false beliefs and erroneous conceptions of the hereafter do not have any effect on the spirit. They do have a very troublesome effect. They do not, however, in the slightest degree, determine the spiritual status, for this is regulated by other considerations moral conduct, noble acts, spiritual unfoldment, etc. But when the proper sphere is reached after dsath, for SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 133 which the new-comer is spiritually fitted, they halt him there, and for a time impede and retard his prog- ress, at least until he shall have outgrown false beliefs and conceptions while in the material body, A man may sincerely believe that the veritable orthodox devil is his constant companion, or that the air is swarming with malevolent creatures bent on his ruin, or that he is totally depraved by inheritance, and destined to utter and endless wretchedness in the other world, or any thing else, however absurd and untrue, and yet that man's whole earth life may have been justly dis- tinguished for charitable deeds, love of the neighbor, and in all his habits, walks and ways all that the se- verest moralists could require, do you not at once see that in all justice and righteousness the man's life, acts and deeds must inevitably determine his sphere or spiritual condition, without the slightest interfer- ence by what foolish things he may have believed. And yet it is nevertheless not difficult to see further, that he must disabuse his mind of those errors of con- ception and belief before he can make any appreciable and valuable progress. And I tell you these unbeliefs and unfounded conceptions cling to the man with more obdurate persistency than the most of mankind could be induced to believe. Hence the prime im- portance of forming correct ideas of the future while still animating the material body." August 3, 1882 : " Acts of charity and deeds of benevolence are es- timated by the spiritual laws of our being in just cor- respondence to the motives inspiring and actuating them. By the motives prompting them, more than the acts and deeds themselves, do they become either 134 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. valuable or valueless to our spiritual promotion and good. I have known men who devoted a lifetime of arduous labor in the acquisition of wealth, all the while wholly regardless of the interests and wants of others, and toward the end of the puny life, and in anticipation of the near approach of death, they be- queathed their accumulations to charitable and be- nevolent institutions, only to find themselves the mer- est spiritual paupers in the spiritual world. And why? Because being governed a lifetime by grasp- ing and selfish motives, they only dispensed the accu- mulated results of the cultivated spirit of avarice and cupidity under the selfish and painfully delusive mo- tive of enhancing their interests in a world to which their aged infirmity admonished them they were hastening. Upon their entrance to the spiritual world the motive met them, and overshadowed them with its pitiless condemnation. "Had charity and benevolence characterized their lives all along for the sake of doing good and bless- ing others, it would have been quite otherwise with them in the eternal world of justice and truth. " Charities bestowed only possess eternal value when done for sweet charity's sake, and with the un- selfish object of helping others. This constitutes love and genuine love of the neighbor, and is consequently divine and heavenly and of permanent and enduring value. " The Confucian doctrine, ' Do unto others as you would they should do unto you,' reiterated by the man Jesus, contains the great and salutary rule of life, which if practiced with the holiest and most disinter- ested motives will inevitably work out a most glori- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 135 ous future reward for the spirit. The shepherd kings promulgated this rule in a finer sense and reduced it to the fine realm of mind. The Confucian rule re- lated to the actions of men, one to the other, but the other declares, ' Think of others as you would have others think of you.' If your thoughts and actions are governed by these rules you may conclude you are not far from the kingdom of heaven or angelic sphere. If you observe these because you love the right, you can not fail to love the Lord with all your heart and the neighbor as yourself, thus fulfilling the law of spiritual growth and development while in the temple of flesh, and insuring a condition of superlative hap- piness in the spiritual world. If in your present state of development you can not do this, you can, at least, make the honest and persevering effort to do it, and your reward shall be great." August 7, 1882 : " Abstain from evil-doing from the conscientious conviction that it is wrong to do evil and right to ab- stain. Do not allow yourself, in choosing between right and wrong, to be governed by a fear of future punishment, or hope of future reward, for this is cow- ardly and pusillanimous and of no jjractical value to your future happiness. Do right for the sake of the right and not from the selfish motive of deriving a personal benefit. You have in your world two very injurious and reprehensible doctrines taught by learned men, namely : materialism and forgiveness of sins. They are both degrading and far reaching in their baleful consequences. Christians treat material- ism with scornful derision, and yet it is just as true as that the misdeeds of life can be overcome and ren- 136 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. derecl harmless in their following consequences by death-bed repentance and the blood of atonement. One is as true as the other, and my presence here in spirit proves materialism to be groundless. Material- ism is the doctrine of one world only, a mere passing moment of life, and suggests very naturally to make the most out of it. I do not mean to be understood as asserting that .there are not good honest people who believe in this doctrine, but that they are good and honest in spite of their belief and not as a result of it. The theological hearsay which proclaims the necessity of conversion, new birth, and regeneration (they are convertible terms) would be much more plausible if not supplemented by the more alarming and reprehensible doctrine of obtaining full pardon for repeated crimes and misdeeds just preceding or at the imminent moment of departing from the material body by so-called death. The first becomes bereft of its value, if indeed it has any, by the latter. It is tan- tamount to asking a man to liquidate an indebtedness now, when, under the law, he has ten or twenty years option. In a purely business view he realizes that the possession and use of his money for ten or twenty years is to him a matter of pecuniary interest and profit. So likewise is it with the man of the world with an organization tending to licentiousness and vice. He perceives no wisdom or practical use in be- coming regenerated in the days of his youth, when in old age the opportunity is afforded to repent and thereby avoid the consequences of the loose indul- gences and vices of a lifetime. Every villain who has run a lifetime unwhipt of justice and unpunished for his crimes, must be fascinated with this indulgent SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 137 fallacy, while all truly noble souls must silently, if not avowedly, abhor and detest it." August -10, 1882 : " While the Universalists are considered liberal and progressive, yet their doctrine is equally dan- gerous and untrue. Indeed, I have more respect for the others. They (the Universalists) claim to stand upon the "Word, and affirm that the blood and death of one man propitiated sin so far as the future life is concerned, and that therefore sinning entails no hurtful consequences but such as are met with alon^; the journey of life from the cradle to the grave. In other words, that the consequences of sin are visited upon us during our earth life, or not at all. They at- tempt to justify and defend their doctrine by a mero play upon words found in isolated passages in tho bible, especially the epistles in the New Testament. The declarative assumptions of the bible, as trans- lated for your use and guidance, are utterly at war with their teachings, and it is folly to deny it. In thi ? age when the human heart and mind are reaching ou'; for something better it is useless and unproductive of good to go back to the root of words in originals to bolster up a doctrine founded in error. The effort will always prove unprofitable and must inevitably fail of its purpose. " I am aware that some advanced and more spirit- ually minded Universalists believe in progression in the future life, and in this regard their conclusions are better and far in advance of their premises. " I would say to those, however good and pure, who expect to awake to consciousness in an ideal world of transcendent beatitudes without shadows and crosses 138 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. that they will realize a most perplexing disappoint- ment. They will find a world more natural than this, because more substantial and enduring, and what is more they will find they lack very much of being per- fect, more perfect indeed in un development than in that soul growth and unfoldment that would enable them to command the joys and delights vouchsafed by association with progressed spiritual beings in the higher walks and spheres of the spiritual world. To attain unto this state is the work of time and the re- ward of labor. " The true doctrine is, as all shall know in time^ that conscious and willful sinning, that is, where voli- tion in choosing between the right and the wrong was within our power, is treasured up in the memory of the spirit and confronts us in the spiritual world, and will remain until outgrown and overcome by arduous effort. Happiness can only be enjoyed by the finite in contrast with misery, and shadows and crosses will fall upon us, marring our joys, until in the ages of coming time we shall so expand and grow towards deific perfections and excellences as to think no evil, thus not only rendering our actions submissive to the highest \visdom, but our hearts and minds to the divine love, and in a happy union of love, wisdom, and the will, we shall become something more than finite in our approach to the infinite." August 11, 1882 : " Nevertheless let it be said to the humblest, strug- gle on, strive to battle for the right as you perceive it. If you see it not aright in good time it will be revealed unto you. Be of good cheer. You must needs suf- fer, for suffering in the right is spiritual growth you SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 139 are contiually encircled by infinite love. You shall rise step by step, unfolding this latentpower and that, gradually and by discreet degrees casting aside this harrowing and. distressing memory and that, all the while aided by those spirits who have passed through tribulations and sorrows into higher unfoldments and joys, until finally you shall rejoice in blissful disen- thrallment from the imperfections of your past being. Then you will be enabled to see why you have thus suffered and rejoice that it has been so. Ho pang will afflict you worse than those you have inflicted upon others, or of greater magnitude than thousands and millions have endured. Be kind and forbearing to the erring, be merciful to all, even the humblest creature of the creation. Deal justly with all, live uprightly, fear nothing but evil and fly from it. Be brave for the right. Love your neighbor, which being spiritually interpreted, means all mankind. Endeavor to learn and believe truth wherever found ; try, if pos- sible, to think no evil; worship at no shrine but that of eternal truth, and no harm can come to you in the everlasting realms of immortal souls. Ho shadows shall darken the pathway of your progress other than those incident to your connection with matter and your undeveloped spirituality. And these shall be dissipated, 'facilitated, and accelerated, by the sweet memories of good deeds and good thoughts. " In the feeble communications I have given you, by the permission of the Lord, I have not been able to impart my ideas in the same language and style that characterized my writings when embodied. I know they will be subjected to this criticism, but the difficulties of projecting my ideas into form in words 140 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. have been many and great. If they were explained they iu turn would be criticised with equal virulence. When coming within the radius of mediumistic aura wo encounter obstacles great and difficult to overcome at their state of mediumship. Happily in time these difficulties will be surmounted. The aura of the me- dium and sitter blending with my spirit magnetism, your continued thinking and also the medium, thereby disturbing the equability of the magnetic and electric emanations, and to a corresponding degree affecting the psychic forces of the communicating spirit, and other tilings you would not understand if told you, all conspire to enfeeble the spirit intellectually, and, to a certain extent, limit it to the mental sphere of those presejit, especially the medium, upon whom we are so largely dependent. If you understood the sub- ject as it really is, you would be surprised that we could even do so well. You, my dear Swedish friend, have aided us nobly ; your motives being so pure and honest, we found in that itself a great auxiliary, and we sincerely thank you. I shall be with you often, and shall reward your many kindnesses by helping your sweet and interesting children in spirit life and others dear to you, to learn spiritual wisdom in their progress, and shall take a deep interest in you when you come to our life. " God bless this medium, for she is worthy. In earn- est supplication we invoke the blessings of the Lord, angels and spirits upon you both. " EMANUEL SWEDENBORG." SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 141 CHAPTER XII. GEORGE WASHINGTON. On the 16th of June the following communication was received, and those following- at the dates men- tioned, from the spirit of George Washington : " From my home and congenial associations in the spirit world I come to you to-day feeling and hoping that I may possibly be of some service to my country, which I have never ceased to love with the tender- ness of a mother's love for her children. Indeed, my country the noble young republic was kind to and considerate of me far above my merits. " In the memorable struggle for independence I was assigned to duty at the head of the colonial army, and by this circumstance occupied a position that at- tracted to me more general attention than to others who were in nowise less meritorious. After seven long years of patient suffering, heroic endurance, and almost superhuman exertion, our gallant and illy- provided army won an honorable peace, and I trust an imperishable renown. A nation of freemen was brought into being, and a system of government es- tablished far in advance of its predecessors. The old Roman republic, grand in many respects and a marvel of excellence for its time, was still in many regards vastly inferior to our own. Beitig at the head of the brave army whose herculean efforts, exerted under many disadvantageous circumstances, eventuated so gloriously, it was natural, although no more worthy 142 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. than many others who rendered patriotic services, that I should be chosen the first executive of the young republic. This, to me, was a most flattering testimo- nial of the high appreciation of and aifection for the gallant citizen soldiery who so valiantly acted in the stirring and sanguinary events of the memorable con- test. Regarding my elevation to the chief magistracy of the nation as a reflection of public sentiment as in- dicated more than as a personal compliment to my- self, it behooved me by discreet official conduct and patriotic action to show that the general appreciation and esteem for that noble soldiery was not misplaced nor unworthily bestowed. " If I have rendered worthy services to my country, either in the line of military duty or in the perform- ance of civil trust, or both, they must proclaim my right to speak from rny higher conscious life to my countrymen on matters pertaining to their best and dearest interests. If the gallant army that fought to a successful issue the battles of freedom in the infancy of its struggles here have claims upon the attention and consideration of the present generation, and those of the future, they beg you to earnestly consider the words that may fall from my lips and pen. I. have marshaled those mighty hosts of noble souls in spirit land, and with them have recounted our struggles and sacrifices for you, and those to come after you, and they arc in hearty accord with what I shall deem proper to say to the nation through the much abused and little understood channel of human mediumship. You will hear from me in the immediate future in obedience to the purpose indicated." SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 143 June 23,1882: " Your complex system of government needs and will receive reconstruction or remodeling. When we emerged from the revolutionary struggle, and came to give the fruits of our hard earned victory some defi- nite shape in the formation of a government for the new nation, we adopted the articles of confederation as the best we could then devise. It required but a short time to teach us that they were defective, and that prudence and wisdom dictated something differ- ent and better. The constitution was consequently fashioned and superseded the confederation, and there has never been any disagreement as to the superior wisdom of the constitutional form of government, at least, as an improvement on the original confedera- tion form. "When this had been accomplished we were fully persuaded that the reorganization of the government under the constitution was the apex of statesmanship and the acme of the science of govern- mental construction, and were consequently happy and content. But alas, for poor human foresight. It very soon became evident that the new arrangement was imperfect, if not absolutely defective, and twelve amendments to the new constitution were proposed by Congress and ratified by the states. After and as the result of the late unhappy conflict between dis- cordant states, or, rather, rebellion of certain states by secession against the rightful authority and sover- eignty of the federal government, several additional amendments became necessary and imperative, and they w r ere accordingly incorporated and ingrafted upon the already amended constitution. And now others are earnestly talked of and advocated ; and does 144 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. this not teach you the plain lesson that your system is still imperfect? " The trouble is found to be that statesmanship is without foreknowledge, and is either blind to or ob- livious of the requirements of the future. In other words, that the ceaseless mutations of human affairs, the ever acting and onward march of the law of change and progression, fail to strike the consciousness of statesmen or to secure their recognition. Of one thing you may be assured, your plan of government will be revised and remodeled to its vast betterment. When the time comes this will be most vehemently resisted by those who on all questions affecting the interests of the race and the happiness of mankind persist in remaining with the bats and owls of past ages rather than to be baptized in the light of the present and the foregleams of the future. But they must get out of the way of the car of progress or be crushed beneath its merciless and continually revolv- ing wheels." June 30, 1882 : " In the formation of your present system of gov- ernment three co-ordinate branches were established the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial and they were designed to be checks, one upon the other. If in the zeal and frenzy of partisan strife, or under the baleful influence of venality and corruption, the legis- lative department should exceed its constitutional au- thority or enact legislation inimical to the public in- terests, the executive was invested with the veto priv- ilege whereby the evil might be arrested. If, how- ever, the President should be found to be in accord and sympathy with the legislative branch in its hurt- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. fc 145 ful legislation, and gave thereto the sanction of his approving signature ; or, in case the President exer- cised his veto power in the particular matter, and Congress should pass the measure over his objections by the requisite two-thirds of each branch, then and in either of these events there still remained the su- preme court with its supervisory power or power of final determination. " But it may be very properly asked, what if the supremo court should be influenced by the same or similar considerations as the other co-ordinate branches, what help, relief, or remedy, is left to the people and the nation ? It can only be answered force, revolution, rebellion. Does not this plain state- ment present a dangerous contingency and indicate a palpable weakness? " It should be remembered that in our form of re- publican government all powers are derived from the people, and it should be furthermore very emphatic- ally understood that all powers belong to them. If this view is correct, then in the hypothetical case men- tioned for the purpose of illustration, the people them- selves should be the last court of resort, or the high court of appeals. " It was thought by the founders of your govern- ment that the judiciary would always be pure and safe, but unfortunately experience has taught us quite differently. It is humiliating to an American citizen, whether he be in or out of the body, to be compelled to make this confession. But truth not only justifies but demands it, and it is best that it be frankly made and acknowledged." 146 Sl'JUIT COMMUNICATIONS. August 14, 1882: " Wo are not permitted, for prudential reasons, to tell you how the new system is to be fashioned. To do so would not facilitate its accomplishment, but might possibly operate detrimentally byinducing premature consideration and discussion. Suffice it to say that the subject has been deliberately considered and the plan carefully matured by wise statesmanship in the realm of causation, and will be given to your world at the proper time and in the proper way. " I desire to briefly discuss two propositions : "1st. What are the duties of the citizen to the gov- ernment, or what the government has the right to exact of and from the citizen? " 2d. What are the duties of the government to the people, or what the people have the right to exact of and from their government? " First. The citizen owes the government affection and homage. This springs from patriotism and self- interest. *' Second. To render a cheerful obedience to and acquiescence in all lawfully constituted authority, re- serving always and of primary importance the natural and inalienable right when all civil remedies prove unavailing, of revolution against and resistance to, tyranny, usurpation, and oppression. " Third. Prompt compliance with all the lawful edicts and mandates of government. If they are deemed unlawful, unjust, and oppressive, first appeal- ing to judicial supervision and all lawful means for relief and protection revolution the dernier ressort. " Fourth. Loyally protecting, defending, and sus- taining the government when assailed from within or SI 1 1 KIT COMMUNICATIONS. 147 without, and when waging a just war upon a foreign foe, or iu the suppression of an unjust and indefensi- ble internal war, insurrection, or rebellion. " Fifth. Aiding the government both in peace and war by being honest to and with it in official station, and by helping to uphold and foster its credit and honor. " These comprise mainly the duties of the citizen to his government. He owes other duties to society and the local community in which he resides, but they are not considered pertinent or germane to our proposi- tion. " I speak of sustaining the government in war. War is a terrible thing to contemplate, and we would gladly crush it out in its every vestige, but you seem as yet not to have outgrown and developed above and beyond it, and therefore we are compelled to notice the subject, however painful and sorrowful it may be. The time is not so very far distant in the future when nations and men will progress beyond this horrible relic of barbarism, when the fierce god of war will give place to the sweet and gentle spirit of peace and brotherly love ; when all differences will be amicably adjusted without a resort to the arbitrament of the sword and the instruments of devastation, bloodshed, and death." August 17, 1882: " In a certain sense he people are the children of the government, and in a still more important sense the government is the offspring of the people. If you ask me what, under the law of your present state of development, are the duties of the child to the par- ent, I answer obedience, maintenance, and protec- 148 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. tion. If you ask me the duties of the parent to the child, I answer maintenance, education, and protec- tion. The family government was the first govern- ment in the infancy of the race from which all other governments naturally and progressively sprang, and their relations and reciprocating duties are much the same. " I now reach the second proposition : What are the duties of the government to the people, or what have the people the right to demand of their govern- ment ? It is the bounden duty of the government, under the constitution, to afford ample and plenary protection to the citizen in the exercise and enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. This protection is due to the humblest as well as the most exalted. The powers of your government are adequate to this end, if properly and effectively wielded, and if exercised without fear or favoritism. " Again, it is the duty of government to sec that public affairs are so managed that its burdens may fall lightly upon the people and mostly upon those ablest to bear them. A judicious system of obtain- ing revenue to meet the exigencies of government and the liquidation of the national public debt by taxing incomes on accumulated wealth and its in- vestment in various speculative methods, would be most salutary to the attainment of the object. " In order that the wise purposes of good govern- ment be carried out, and that honesty, frugality, and the most rigid economy should characterize every de- partment of the public service, it is essentially and in- dispensably important that honesty and capacity alone should be regarded as commanding qualities for pub- SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 149 lie official positions. Dishonesty and corruption and bribery in public stations ought to be severely pun- ished, else there remains no safety and security to con- fiding constituencies. When your government offices reek with corruption and no alarm is manifested and no corrective measures adopted, you are not far from the yawning brink of the precipice over which your liberties and free institutions are sure to be precipi- tated. It is the duty of the government, in the in- terest of a confiding trusting people to hunt down the official vampires and parasites who thus insidiously prey upon the vitals of government, and inflict upon them such penalties as are commensurate with their enormous crimes. To allow them to go on with im- punity and exempt from punishment is to invite and encourage corruption, and to suggest the safety of its increase." August 18, 1882 : " It is the duty of government to foster, uphold, and defend labor in its unequal struggle against the greed of capital to the end that capital may not ut- terly crush it beneath its scornful and merciless heel. I tell you in all seriousness that on this subject you are approaching the verge of a volcano whose wrath- ful pent-up fires can not be much longer controlled, nor is it desirable that they should be unless a speedy change in the treatment of labor by capital, involv- ing justice and right, is brought about. It is a delu- sion and in opposition to all human experience to ex- pect capital, uncompelled by law, to become quick- ened in conscience and pervaded by a sense of equity and right. The government must stretch forth its strong arm and compel the exercise by authoritative 150 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. and coercive power of a spirit of justice and fair deal- ing that belongs to a common huriianity. Revivify and re-adopt that virtuous and beneficent doctrine of the earlier patriotic statesmanship of the republic, namely : ' The greatest good to the greatest number.' The men and women who toil and sweat in poverty constitute the greatest number, and he must indeed be blind to truth and deaf to justice who fails to discover or concede that the toiling millions have wrongs done them by the greedy rapacity of capital, and which appeal with vehement persistency for redress aye, we fear in a little while, for retaliative and retributive vengeance. They have the right to claim protection from the steady and stealthy encroachments of capital whereby the rich grow richer and the poor poorer. Capital and labor are mutually interested in each others' welfare and prosperity, and are alike equally entitled to protection when dealing justly with each other, but under the present order of things labor is at the mercy of capital,' and receives not justice at its hands. And this great government fought into ex- istence by the common people, defended in every suc- ceeding struggle by the common people, and which claims to be a government of the people and by the people and for the people, stands idly by with folded arms and with an apparent serene complacency per- mits the great masses of the people to become hope- lessly impoverished, while the exclusive and favored few become enormously enriched. Verily has the government by its inaction and failure to interpose, become truly and in the sight of heaven a particeps criminis in producing this wretched and deplorable condition of affairs." SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 151 August 21, 1882 : " You have a tariff system, which for unrighteous- ness in the cruelty of its exactions, is without a par- allel in modern times. It is unjust and oppressive; wholly imlefcnsihle, and with scarcely a palliating feature. lily circumscribed power in communicating will not allow me to argue the question in extenso, or as I would like to. Your tariff is not only unjustly discriminative, but painfully oppressive in its opera- tions, especially so far as the interests of the con- sumers are concerned. Why do you not honestly ex- amine the subject in its bearings in the laudable en- deavor to ascertain to whose benefit it inures. The government to some extent is benefited in the matter of revenue, but the capitalists are more largely the beneficiaries, audit is for them and their interests that you legislate. Have you not yet discovered, if not by close and analytical reasoning, at least by an ob- servance of its practical operations, that the poor arti- sans, skilled mechanics, and other labors immediately connected with your manufactures, are not favored by high rates of tariff, and that protection to home manufacturing by imposts on imported commodities does not enhance the interests or confer blessings upon the consumers of your manufactured articles. Have you not } r ct realized the fact that exorbitant and re- strictive protection fosters only the interests of in- vested capital, with no real advantage to the toiling operatives and to the oppressive detriment of con- sumers? If the operatives in your manufacturing establishments were benefited by high tariffs it would be manifested and plainly discernible in prosperous accumulations and in their happy contentment. The 152 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. opposite of all this is true, and it does not require a philosopher to discover it. Why trades unions, re- peated and frequent strikes, and an unmistakably un- happy condition of unrest, if the benefits accruing from the system beneficially inured to the workmen ? The masses of your toiling people are inclined to suf- fer and bear injuries and injustice with a patience and forbearance not characteristic of any other people under the broad canopy of heaven, and when they protest by strike or otherwise you may safely assume that they are in the right, and have just grievances. The people not directly connected with the manufac- turing interest, but who arc the purchasers of its prod- ucts, have exhibited a still more remarkable degree of patient forbearance, for they are much more numer- ous and less directly dependent. The} 7 have been sorrowfully blinded to their true interests by uncon- scionable politicians and political tricksters, and most dearly have they paid for their confidence and ignor- ance. We see signs of the awakening of the hitherto slumbering sensibilities of the people, and feel assured that in the not remote future will be aroused a senti- ment among the masses that will compel a change of front on this subject in the meting out of even-handed and impartial justice." August 24, 1882 : " Another subject of engrossing importance to your weal is the threatening and dangerous attitude of monopoly and corporate power. Your railroad cor- porations are assuming gigantic proportions, and bode no good to you if left uncontrolled and unregu- lated by law. Your liberties are not only menaced for many causes, but by this corporate power all the SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 153 avenues and departments of your government are be- ing influenced detrimentally to the general public in- terest, if not absolutely sullied by the corroding ele- ments of corruption. These corporations, by the many influences they are enabled to exert, if left un- restrained by legislation, will control your govern- ment and its vast machinery as effectually and com- pletely as the planets perform their circuits in obedi- ence to the inflexible and unerring laws of the uni- verse. " It is nonsense to talk about the absence of con- stitutional power over the subject. Your national legislature has ample warrant, under the constitu- tional provision conferring authority upon Congress to regulate commerce among the states, and Congress should exercise that authority promptly and fear- lessly. Railroads are common carriers, and are, when considered in connection with this power conferred upon Congress, public, and not private, highways. The Supreme Court of the United States has frequently affirmed this power as residing in the legislative de- partment of the government. Unless regulated and restrained, these corporations may impose such ex- orbitant rates of transportation as to destroy ordinary profits on manufactured and other commodities, and necessitate an insufferable and unbearable increase to meet the exigency of increased rates of transporta- tion, and, of course, to the detriment and oppression of consumers. The government must take the matter in hand for the protection of the people. Competi- tion will prove unavailing without restrictive legisla- tion ; for the railroads would engage in pooling, and thereby render nugatory the natural advantages of 154 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. competition. This monopoly constitutes the most threatening element in the country, and will be felt too soon, if not prevented by judicious exercise of governmental authority. The use of steam, as applied to railroads, steamboats, and steamships, was un- known to the founders of your government and the framers of your constitution, or more definite provis- ions would have been made in relation to the subject of regulating commerce. Why can not your states- men be as patriotic and as true to the public ? " Although mainly chartered by the states, they are not authorized by implication or otherwise to pursue the selfish course of only subserving the interests of capital, but for the convenience and benefit of the great body of the people in commerce and travel as well. They have, by exercising an undue influence, corrupted courts and legislatures, and will, ere long, as they have already to some extent, invade the sacred precincts of your elections, corrupting the sanctity of the ballot-box, and demoralizing the independence of electors. Then your government will become a farce, and your free institutions subject to the whims and caprices of unholy and unconscionable monopoly power." August 25, 1882 : " The great agricultural interests upon which you mostly depend for all of your material prosperity re- ceive no protection from your tariff legislation, but are compelled to pay tribute to manufacturing by paying tariffs on manufactured agricultural imple- ments used on the farm by the increased prices on the same. Besides, this great interest (agricultural) is tit the mercy of railroad corporations in high rates of SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 155 transporting the products of the farm to market, and in the end the burden fulls on the consumers of such products. " The recent tariff commission created by Congress, and its members appointed by the President, is a mis- erable subterfuge and sham, as yon wiH ultimately ascertain. The dodging of the responsibility by Con- gress, of an immediate revision of the tariff and the correction of its abuses and vices, ought to be. vigor- ously condemned. There exists no valid reason why the old war tariff rates should be continued in this era of profound peace and general prosperity of trade and business. Under the constitution, tariff taxation can only be imposed on imported articles for the pur- poses of revenue to the government, and this, how- ever arranged, is amply sufficient to afford incidental protection to home manufactories. The time is com- ing when free trade and open, untrammelled commerce with all nations will be the policy of all wise govern- ments, and the sooner it is brought about the better. " The currency policy will also be changed, and a great wrong therein righted. The national banking system projected into being early in the late war, and which had its necessities for an apology, will be abro- gated and done away with, and a currency furnished directly by the government to the people, without the intervention and agency of private banking corpora- tions. This will be cheaper, safer, and more durable, predicated, as it will be, upon the good faith of the American people and their government, and secured by their prosperity. " The time will come when the flag of the Ameri- can republic will float over Canada, all the British 156 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. Possessions on this continent, the island of Cuba, the natural key to the Gulf of Mexico, as well as over the cultivated valleys, arid plateaus, and towering mountains of the land of the Montezumas, beyond the Rio Grande. Then will your system of govern- ment be remodeled and reconstructed upon a plan in- finitely superior to your present one, and the United States will not only become the greatest nation the earth bas ever known, but the nucleus around which, in time, all other nations will cluster and revolve, shouting the anthem of human equality and freedom and universal liberty. G. WASHINGTON." SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 157 CHAPTER XIII. COMMUNICATION FROM MY SON EMIL ABOUT EX-PRESIDENT GARFIELD GREETINGS FROM MADAM EHRENBORG LET- TER FROM REV. GODDARD, AND SWEDENBORG'S ANSWER. On the 26th of September, 1881, at the hour of 9 o'clock, forenoon, it being the same memorable day on which the body of the kite lamented Garfield was buried, I went to Mrs. Green, 309 Longworth street, for an independent slate-writing seance. I had pre- viously prepared the following paper, which I laid on the table, writing downwards, and which Mrs. Green had no means of reading, viz: " "Will our dear exalted spirit friends be so kind as to give us some information of James A. Gartield, our late beloved President." On the slate soon came the following, signed EMIL, the name of my spirit son. " Good morning, dear papa. Many spirits are here to greet you. Our beloved and martyr President's work has j ust begun. He awoke immediately to con- sciousness and to the reality of a future life, of which he had slight knowledge. He was met with "Wash- ington, the father of his country, and the martyr Lin- coln, with a crown prepared for him, and with many other loving kindred spirits, who had gone before to prepare for his reception, and it was the grandest one he ever had. He has been introduced to our spiritual congress, where he will finish his work, and where he 158 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. will be more useful to his country. You will soon see a communication from the President in the papers." Then immediately came : " Dear papa, weep not for those who pass from this to higher spheres. Think of them free from sorrow and pain, and wipe away your tears. EMIL." Oct. 10. Through Mrs. Green. "My highly es- teemed friend, good morning. Baron Swedenborg is prevented from meeting you to-day by reason of a called special session of the scientific institute or har- monial order of savants, of which he is a prominent member. Matters of transcendent import and press- ing moment now engross the attention of that hon- orable body of advanced spiritual minds. He re- quested me to thus announce his enforced absence to-day, and to say that it will afford him pleasure to be with you at your next sitting. I avail myself of this opportunity, by the kind permission of the me- diums' guides, to give my blessings, and to again urge you to go on with your investigations, and to push forward the noble work set before you by the spirit world. The elements for your spiritual unfoldment are constantly at work, and will continue to work out for you a rich reward far exceeding your most confi- dent anticipations. Only fully co-operate with these elements and continue to act conjointly w r ith your spirit friends and all will be well. " Bright spirits of light around you stand, Whom you have attracted from the summerland ; They come to bless you with their spirit light, And make your life all beauteous and bright. SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 159 " Press forward, then, with fearless tread, And learn from those the world call dead; The veil is rent, their presence ever near, Your soul to bless and heart to cheer. " FREDRIKA EHRENBORG." The communications from Sweden~borg of the 8th of September, 1881, through Mrs. Jennie McKee (the first one from him), and those through *Mrs. Green of the 2Gth of September and 3d of October, 1881, I had printed in a small pamphlet, and sent them to divers parties, and one to the Rev. John Goddard, a minis- ter of the New Church in Cincinnati, with the hope that he would afford the members of his congregation the opportunity to read them. In answer, I received the following reply from Mr. Goddard, viz : " TRICE'S HILL, August 19, 1881. " Dear Mr. Hellebery : Your communication with your pamphlet came to me to-day. I hardly know what to say in reply, for I fear that nothing I can say will be of any use. I have no doubt in the world that there is such a thing as communication with spirits, nor has any intelligent and well informed New Churchman. Nor have I any doubt whatever that they are a very low order of spirits, and scarcely ever those whom they personate. It is clear that Sweden- borg never sent any such communications as these. To believe otherwise would be to believe that intelli- gent men in the other world lose their wits instead of increasing in wisdom. Doubtless this is permitted as a forcible and compelling offset to the tremendous and increasing materialism of the day. I can not con- ceive of any use in it to those who desire to be led by 160 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. the Lord in freedom and reason. Not only Sweden- borg declares the thing disorderly, but all experience coincides with his repeated warnings and emphasises the need of our keeping close to the Lord in his divine word. I say to you frankly that I do not feel warranted in putting this pamphlet before the society, for knowing as I do the seductive and tremendously persuasive power of this influence and realizing the evil in it, I should be doing violence to my sense of duty in bringing the matter to their notice. To those capable of better things it is a delusion and a snare. "With kind personal feelings to yau and all your fam- ily, and deploring your connection with this dreadful sphere, I remain sincerely yours in truth, " JOHN GODDARD." On November the 7th I repaired- to Mrs. Green's, taking with me Mr. Goddard's letter, which I did not allow Mrs. Green to see, nor did I speak to her any thing in regard to its contents. I had also prepared a communication to Mr. Swedenborg, which I took along with me, in words as follows: " To my exalted spirit friend, Emanuel Sweden- borg : For conferring on me the honor of receiving your communications for the people who you seek to bless with the truth, I appreciate in the highest de- gree, and my only hope and wish is that I may be able to do this work in a proper and efficient way. The letter before you from the Rev. John Goddard, minister of the Church of the ISTew Jerusalem here, in answer to my pamphlet containing your three first letters to me, is a sample of what may be expected from that class. I have had the opinion that the SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 161 preachers of every denomination will be the very last to accept this most beautiful truth, and, therefore, I have concluded to send the pamphlet only to free, ad- vanced minds, and to the individual members of the different churches of the New Jerusalem, if it re- ceives your approval. With love and sincere affec- tion, I am vour willing and obedient servant, " C. G. HELLEBERG." Placing Goddard's letter with mine on the stand, the following communication came on the slate : " In the adorable name of the Lord I salute you good morning. The course you have pursued in re- gard to my communications to you meets my hearty approval. In the future be governed by the direc- tions of your immediate guides, in whom I have the utmost confidence, for they are constantly with you, and are more intimately related to your sphere, and know best how and what to direct. I am advised of the purport of the letter to you from our good brother, Mr. Goddard, and have lately visited him for the purpose of observing his surroundings and perceiving his mental operations. As the result, I believe him honest and nearer your platform than he is willing to make known. He certainly concedes enough in his letter to fortify your faith, and to satisfy those under his influence that modern spiritualism, so called, sprang from the great store house of the father's love, and is in his keeping. May the good brother become so illuminated as to reach the grander conclusion fully in consonance with the truth, that his religion ema- nated not from the Lord direct, but from the writer hereof under the spiriritual instruction suited to that 162 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. age, and that in lifting the veil between the two worlds of embodied and disembodied man, and per- mitting, yea compelling, the intercommunion be- tween their denizens, the heavenly father has not made an assortment of evil only for you, for this would be malevolence under whatever pretext, but that all may, if they desire, hold intercourse with the terrestrial sphere. 1 have neither lost my wits nor retrograded in wisdom, but since I left the body I have lost much of my arrogance and pride, and am now more interested in imparting plain, simple truth, than in the construction of embellished sentences and high sounding and beautifully rounded periods. The hu- mility taught by Jesus and others anterior to his day and since embodies a sublime law of the spiritual spheres, underlying all true progression, to which I cheerfully bow in reverential adoration. If my dear brother will only humble himself as a little child, for- getting for awhile his books, and casting aside the imperious demands of his system of belle-lettres, he will then from that truly spiritually elevated altitude begin to perceive and to drink in the beauties of spiritual truth and the glories of the Lord. " EMANUEL SWEDENBORG." SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 163 CHAPTER XIV. COMMUNICATIONS FROM PRESIDENT GARFIELD, MADAM EHREXBORG, GOVERNOR J. D. WILLIAMS, PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN, JUDGE EDMONDS. Nov. 21. Among other things during this sitting with Mrs. Green I received the following: "Good morning friends of truth. On passing out of the physical form and awakening to the conscious- ness of the perpetuity of rny being, and a realization of my continued individuality, I was overwhelmed with the triumph of the spirit over the empire of crude matter, and as I gazed upon the worn, shat- tered and emaciated body, and in the presence of many kindred and other loving spirit friends, the first thought that occupied my mind was, is it possible that I have lived so long in the presence of this great truth and have known so little about it ? Then fol- lowed a feeling of self-chiding, yea remorse, that I had neglected so many opportunities to learn that wisdom so much needed by the newly arisen spirit, and how much I had really missed by not acquiring knowledge of the spirit world, the future of the spirit, and the laws of spiritual government. Resulting from reflections like these came the impelling desire to return through whatever avenue I might find to speak to a fond mother, devoted wife, loving chil- dren, and sympathizing friends, to announce, if no more, that I not only siill lived, but was fully con- scious of and keenly alive to their grief and sorrow. But I would do more. Having passed safely and 164 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. gloriously the ordeal of so-called death, and crossed the dreaded rubicon, I am now employing my best energies in learning the initial and rudimentary laws appertaining to spirit life and spirit growth, which I ought to have learned on earth, in the fervent hope and desire that I may be of service to my country and countrymen. ' If I have a friend who would hear and heed me, I .would say to him as my best counsel, see to it that you learn more of the spiritual side of life while here in the body, that when you pass to the higher life your spirit may be accelerated in its on- ward march along the highways of progress in the heavenly spheres. J. A. GARFIELD." At the seance the 7th of November, 1881, I placed a sealed letter, with no address on the en- velope, on the stand, and no one in the body except myself knew the contents, as I had written it early in the morning at my home, on Mt. Auburn. I deem it best to give my letter and the answer to it in full, as it demonstrates beyond all possible controversy the ability of spirits to read and understand written mat- ter effectually concealed from mortal view by being securely sealed up. " To my dear exalted spirit friend, Madam Fred- rika Ehrenborg : You always was on earth a highly valued friend of mine. Since your entrance into the spirit world I have been lead to appreciate more fully your good qualities of head and heart; and your kind spiritual ministrations to me I fear I can never repay. They have made me very happy indeed. You brought the highly exalted Swedenborg, and your angel husband to SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 105 make God's truths clearer to us, and we know we can not return this loving kindness in any other way than in hy trying to live up to them in our daily lives, and in making them known to others. During my whole life I have had so very few real friends outside [>f my family, but I now know that my good spirit friends have more than restored the loss of earthly friends, who I may have lamented. For a long time 1 have been thinking to send you a special offering of my sincere, heartfelt thanks, which I now do. Your sincere and humble earth friend, "0. J. HELLEBERG." The answer soon came in the following words on the insides of the double slate : "To my highly respected earth friend, C. J. Helle- berg: I know since my entrance upon a higher life more than before that you value my friendship to a very high degree, which I have tried with my spirit 'to reciprocate. You need not feel yourself under obligations to me or mine, for I take great pleasure in administering to your wants, and I am exceedingly happy to be able to do so, and that you appreciate we know. We are aware that our communications to you have made you and yours happy, and it re- joices us to know that we have been the instruments in doing good, and as you say, ' You can not return our loving kindness in any other way than by trying with all your might to live up to them in your daily lives, and in making them known to others.' That is just what your spirit friends wish you to do. You need not grieve for earthly friendship ; those ties have soon to be broken, but have you thought on 166 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. spirit life and friends? My noble husband and Mr. Swedenborg are here with us. Accept my heartfelt thanks for your good wishes toward me, and for your kind allusion to my noble companion. Love to your dear companion, and believe me ever your friend and guide. This is in answer to your sealed letters. " FREDRIKA EHRENBORG." The 23d of January, 1882, came the following from the former Governor of Indiana: "Good morning my dear friend in the cause of truth. I have been present at many of your sittings, and this morning I feel the power strong enough to write and give ex- pressions to a few humble thoughts in regard to what I have done since my entrance to the spirit world. My battles here were to put down aristocracy and the expenses of our government. I fought hard for that. I did not believe in drinking ice tea at the expense of the government. I was satisfied with a good old fashion tea like my mother made, and a suit of blue jeans. I am still at work in our spiritual congress to that end. If there is not something done speedily our government of our forefathers is gone, and in- stead a stronger one, or monarchy. Capitalists gnaw- ing at its vitals, and it must inevitably succumb. Spirit world is constantly at work to change the in- fluence. We are coming to every channel we can to speak, and our prayers are that we may be heard and heeded. With my blessing on you both, I bid you good day. J. D. WILLIAMS." "A. Lincoln, J. A. Garfield, 0. P. Morton, A. P. Willard, Emauuel Swedenborg, Fredrika Ehreiiborg, SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 167 Madam Amalia de Frese, Polheim, Wilberforce and Otto Jacob Natt-och-Dag arc present. EMIL." December 12th carne the following: "Kind friends : I am with you this morning to en- courage you by the utterance of a few thoughts. The authority of the priesthood over the consciences and judgments of men is fast losing its hold, and creeds are in the course of ultimate extinction. The over- throw of the institution of slavery in the United States was precipitated by war, and I shudder to contem- plate even the possibility that the final conflict be- tween the prevalent creeds predicated on false theol- ogy, and succored by superstition on the one hand, and an enlightened nationalism on the other, may unhappily eventuate in bloody issues. Creeds are doomed to perish. God grant they may pass away without the costly sacrifice of blood. The pages of both sacred and profane history record crimes of the darkest and deepest magnitude enacted in the holy name of religion. In her fair name the soil of the earth has been crimsoned with the precious blood of martyrs, and the ghastly horrors of the inquisition have been feebly and imperfectly told. The real truth of those horrid deeds has been faithfully chron- icled in the archives of the spirit world. Without malice, and in all charity, I speak of them to-day, but the truth must be boldly stated. The history of the Christian system of religion is, in part, a history of foul assassination, bloodshed and rapine, and all under the impious pretext of advancing the kingdom of heaven and magnifying the glory of the Lord. Not only have the brave souls who dared to lift voice or 168 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. hand against the hideous monster of religious fanati- cism and tyranny been sacrificed as heretics, but noble and queenly women yea, innocent and unoffending children have fallen victims to its merciless cruelty and gluttonous rapacity for greed and power. Re- ligion and tyranny have marched hand in hand to- gether along the highways of the past, and with the stake, the javelin, the executioner's ax, and every con- ceivable instrument of torture, have left behind them ruin, desolation and death as fitting and enduring monuments of their utter unrighteousness. Does this terrible history, so replete with evil, offer us evi- dences of Godlike excellence? Can such a religious system, founded in falsehood, fostered by superstition, nourished by the blood of innocence, and pre-emi- nently distinguished by so frightful a history, much longer command the tolerant and kindly considera- tion of the advanced intelligence of the world, or con- tinue to inspire the conviction that it emanated from God, and has been sustained all these centuries by the fostering care of his goodness and love ? In view of all this, is it surprising to any one that He who taketh cognizance of the minutest details of human conduct has commissioned his angels and the spirits who have escaped the environments and passed be- yond the limitations of the flesh to return to those in mortal on the redemptive mission of demonstrating a continued life beyond the grave, and revolution- izing the religious thought, moral tendencies and spiritual conceptions of mankind. I repeat, creeds are doomed to perish, and this angel ministry, fraught with freedom, truth and righteouness, will erect her gorgeous temples over their buried ruins. Thanks SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 169 be to God that I obeyed the majestic voices wafted from the spirit world, inducing, as they did, the lib- eration in our land of four millions of the enslaved children of chattel bondage. Enjoying the com- munion with spirits, and learning of them and their bright homes, the heritage of the father's love, I was, while yet inhabiting the tabernacle of clay, made glad ajid filled with superhuman joy, and in consequence was the recipient of strength and happiness in this glorious land of the spirit. Go ye, therefore, and do likewise. Good day. A. LINCOLN." 170 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. CHAPTER XV. NEW YEARS' GREETINGS FROM MANY OF MY DEAR SPIRIT FRIENDS AND NEAR RELATIVES. The 29th of December, 1881, I received with others the following communication : " Good morning, my dear friends, for such I will call you, although I have never had the pleasure of seeing you in the body, but as magnetic attraction seems to be the topic, I will write a few lines to you. Some years ago I corresponded with this medium's husband, and I had the pleasure of calling her my pupil, because her mediumship was so much like that of mine and my daughter Laura. I took so much in- terest in her and her future success, and predicted that she would be a wonderful medium iu time, and now I come as her teacher to congratulate her on her success and to give her words of cheer, and to tell her that she has only ascended half way up the lad- der of fame as a spirit medium ; and, also, that I have come to-day by magnetic attraction, and will be here often to aid her in her development. "With rny pray- ers for you both and for your success, I bid you good morning. JUDGE EDMONDS." The .2d of January, 1882, in the forenoon, came on the slate the following : " Good morning, dear papa. We are all here with our happy New Year's greetings Emil, Charles, Gus- taf, Mary, Julia, Grandpa and Grandma Helleberg, SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 171 .Grandpa Natt-och-Dag, Swedenborg, Madam Ehren- borg, Madam de Frese, and a host of others. Dear Emil forgot me ; I am last, but I hope not the least, in sending you a happy New Year's greeting. He says I am able to do that myself, and so I am, and happy to do so. Nothing affords me more real pleas- ure than to communicate to you. Wishing you many beautiful spirit communications this coming year, I bid you good day. JENNIE." After this came the following 'from a highly es- teemed noble lady, who recently passed to the higher life, leaving an only daughter remaining in the form. Madam de Frese was distinguished in. her native land Sweden for her literary tastes and labors and the purity of her character. It was a great surprise by reason of her having passed on so recently : " Good morning, my dear friend. With the assist- ance of Mr. Swedenborg and our kind friend Madam Ehrenborg, and with the aid of this medium's very highly gifted and intelligent band, I am able to write a few more lines to those I love who are yet in the body." (At this moment I said to the medium, " It is my impression that this communication is from my friend, Amelia de Frese, and it may be a help to con- vince the New Church people in Sweden, and her daughter, of the spiritual truth and power.") And then came : " Yes, that is my object, to send them a New Year's greeting from my beautiful spirit home, and to tell my dear daughter that I am not far from her, but able to advise her and control affairs mundane, and that by impression. She will be directed in the right way, 172 SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. and although she does not imagine that I am with her, still it is a reality. Tell her to have no fear, she will be directed to do my will, and now that the dark pall is before her, and that to penetrate through it seems an impossibility, but 'ere long she will get glimpses of the summer land and of the loved ones gone before. Though the clouds may lower and thicken fast and the mutterings of the storm king is heard, fear not, mother is near to ward off' danger. She will know my meaning. She is in mental trouble, the weight is almost overpowering. This will help to remove it somewhat, and what she longs for. She thinks, ' Oh, if mother could tell me what to do.' As a parting word, tell her that the sunshine of Spiritualism will scatter the clouds and mists that now surround her, and that she will be made doubly happy by its intro- duction into her troubled heart, and every pulsation of that member of the b