^K 

 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 THE 
 
 UNSEALED BOOK; 
 
 OR, 
 
 SEQUEL TO "MISUNDERSTOOD." 
 
 BY 
 
 E. J. BEACH. 
 
 The Philosophy of Life I How grand the theme 
 
 Which long has been a sealed book I Reason 
 
 And science, come hither and lend your aid I 
 
 And you, kind friends, of every land and tongue, 
 
 Come help unfold and view the lettered scroll — 
 
 Angel emblem — from virliich God's thoujjhts are sung. 
 
 In realms of space electric wires go forth, 
 
 Reaching unto the suns and starry spheres, 
 
 From whence millions of spirit-tongues respond 
 
 Unto our weak and trembling notes forlorn. 
 
 Then let this glorious, happy theme, loved ones, 
 
 Our aspiration, inspiration be, 
 
 From this day forth forevermore I Stand firm 
 
 For truth and right. " And if the God within 
 
 Says, ' Well done,' what are other gods to thee ? " 
 
 BOSTON: 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 
 
 1877 
 
 
 > » » i 
 
 I > 
 
 ' J J > i J
 
 Copyright, 1877, 
 By EMILY J. BEACH. 
 
 
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 (.*.». t t t 1 
 
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 It*. % 1. '
 
 
 BEDICATIOK. 
 
 THE GOOD, THE BRAVE, THE TRUE, 
 
 IN PALACE OR COT, 
 
 TO YOU I DEDICATE THIS VOLUME ; 
 
 AND ESPECIALLY TO TOIT, 
 
 MY SOUTHERN FRIENDS, 
 
 BENEATH WHOSE SUNNY SKIES IT SPRANG FORTH; 
 
 SINCERELY THANKING YOU FOR YOUR 
 
 KINDNESS AND SYMPATHY, 
 
 AND WITH HEARTY GOOD WISHES FOR YOUR WELFARE 
 
 AND LABORS OF lOYS.
 
 PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 BY THE AUTHOK. 
 
 Since my first half-fledged work went forth, I have been im- 
 pelled by a power not mine own, and which I would fain have 
 resisted, — more especially because of the cool and disfavorable 
 reception of " Misunderstood," — to again enlist in the battle for 
 spiritual liberty, or physical death, the latter being much more in 
 accordance with my feelings and desires at the time. 
 
 Many, doubtless, who read these pages, will be surprised to find 
 their sentiments — expressed in their own language, and addressed 
 personally to me — here made public. To such I will say: You 
 cannot be more dumbfounded and chagrined than was I, when 
 the character of this work first dawned upon my clouded vision ; 
 at a time, too, when I would fain have consigned my first offshoot 
 to the fate of oblivion, — myself following in train, — so far, at 
 least, as earth and earthly hopes prevailed. 
 
 The only apology which I can render is, that it was so ordained 
 by the " powers that be " ; at the same time, I pledge my word of 
 honor never to reveal the identity of those whose writings are 
 thus made public; they will, therefore, be recognized only by 
 themselves, unless it be through their own instrumentality. 
 
 I will further say, as evidence of spiritual power and agency, 
 that I was taken unawares, as it were, and the work which has 
 been accomplished through me was unpremeditated, although a 
 faint prediction of the same, which I could not credit at the time, 
 had been given. From this it will be seen that no preparatory 
 study or research had been made. Yet, notwithstanding all this, 
 less than a year has elapsed since the first pages of '• Misunder- 
 stood " were penned ; and the contents of both works have since 
 
 451^75
 
 b THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 been dictated and compiled, with the exception of twelve short 
 pieces, — the last ones in this book, the very last being my very 
 first. 
 
 Also, that nearly three months intervened between the finale of 
 the first and the commencement of the second volumes, so that 
 the time actually employed in their construction could not have 
 exceeded nine months ; and included in these were many days in 
 which I was unable to write at all, others in which I could only 
 devote a comparatively small portion of the day to my labors. 
 
 I say this not in egotism, taking no credit unto myself, except a 
 conformity, so far as lay in my power, to the will and direction of 
 the controlling agencies, whose work this is, and to whom, by and 
 through a still higher power, is all the credit due. 
 
 April, 1876. 
 
 I would here state that, owiug to the depression in monetary 
 and business matters, I have been unable to proceed with the pub- 
 lication of this work as I desired; nearly six months having 
 already elapsed since the completion of the manuscript. How 
 long a period will now intervene before it can be brought before 
 the public, I am unable to say. 
 
 E. J. BEACH. 
 
 October, 1870.
 
 INTEODUCTION 
 
 BY CHAKLES A. FEAZIER. 
 
 A GEATEFUL and appreciative public should always look to the good 
 effects likely to be produced by the production of a book, looking 
 to the good or evil it may disseminate in the community in a well- 
 being state of mind or character, such as may have been seen 
 through the dim visage of nature's own dimensions of intellect 
 and capacity for good or evil communications, of rare habits and 
 influence, subject to be controlled by superficial exhalations of 
 neglectful subterfuges of usefulness, to be conducted through the 
 mediumistic powers of those whose business it is to procure abso- 
 lution for the want of those requisites that go far to make tho 
 man after God's own image, — stamped and rectified to know, and 
 serve out his destiny according to the acquirements of the philo- 
 sophical mind inculcated by a due obedience to those moral pre- 
 cepts which govern all men in their actions, to serve God accord- 
 ing to the wisdom they possess, — notwithstanding the opposition 
 they meet in their daily walks through life. 
 
 A great many men think of the persecutions others, who have 
 gone on before them, have been subjected to ; rejoicing in the 
 good fight they made, almost unconsciously to themselves, through 
 the mediumistic powers uhich they possessed, rendering them ca- 
 pable of being influenced imperceptibly in various ways and at 
 sundries time, when their thoughts were at peace with God and 
 man. At the same time, almost unknown to themselves in conse- 
 quence of the absence of all thought of sclfislmess or gain of 
 this world's goods, and not likely to be abandoned at every turn 
 of the road they may encounter in passing over tho highways 
 of the glorious Redeemer, who vouchsafed redemption to man in 
 
 7
 
 8 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 immortality of life, commensurate with his state of being appre- 
 ciative of the good qualities which bind man's allegiance to his 
 Maker in all time to come, let the consequences be what they 
 may in the sense understood by all those of an inquiring mind 
 and close observance of the things of this life, which go far to de- 
 molish the misunderstanding of things rare and beautiful, — al- 
 though quite unintelligible to the ordinary mind, and looked upon 
 in a general way as superlative in the aggressive cases, — under- 
 stood by those who have been enjoying a forward move towards 
 the annihilation of the dead issues of this mortal life, void of 
 results of knowledge, and void of proper intelligence to appre- 
 ciate those good qualities of heart that are continually — and im- 
 perceptibly as it were — moving on and forward to aggrandize and 
 buoy up the fallen spirits of this world, and lead and teach them 
 their duties to each other and their Maker. 
 
 Also, by and through the hidden paths of Spiritualism, as pro- 
 claimed and promulgated by those who preceded us thousands of 
 years ago, — the great first teachers, — of the mysteries of the 
 hidden spirit land, peopled by all who have gone on and are con- 
 tinually retracing the path to visit, instruct, and warn us of the 
 profligacy of the times we live in, the final destruction of the 
 earthly tenement we inhabit, and the promise of a glorious spir- 
 itual one, when we pass over as one of God's good and faithful 
 subjects who obeyed his laws and precepts understandingly, ac- 
 cording to the wisdom obtained from his instruments of power 
 and knowledge to carry on the work of man's salvation, by means 
 of the spiritual communion based on correct knowledge of the 
 divine precepts taught by our Saviour and his apostles, and now 
 being verified by the visits of the gi;eat and good angelic spirits, 
 sent to us for our enlightenment. The profound theologian may 
 have much cause for rejoicing at the mode of spiritual communi- 
 cations if he will but examine the mysteries of the spirit world in 
 a spiritual and godly mood, throwing away his earthly vanity, 
 and inhale the true and beautiful spiritual truths that are being 
 brought forward by an enlightened spirit, to search the truths 
 of God's holy works, and prepare man for the coming millen- 
 nium. 
 
 This book treats of facts in simplicity, diversity, and benevo- 
 lence. It leads you on in an every-day style of life, taking up all 
 stations in the line of march. It moves forward, gathering a
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 9 
 
 little here, a fact there,, and a solemn truth beyond. Sagacity 
 and Love rule the roast, and Good Feeling does the basting. The 
 instruction to be gained from a perusal of its pages, in a general 
 way, will amply repay the time spent in its perusal. Awkward- 
 ness is shown up by bad predicaments caused thereby. Selfish- 
 ness and want of charity come in in an ungodly air to suit. 
 Love and benevolence shine brightly over its pages, while Christ 
 and the spiritual communion throw their mantle over the sins of 
 the world, and call on man to resurrect, regenerate, and reinform 
 himself to meet the exigencies of the times ; and to rehabiliment 
 himself to push forward the great and glorious work of reform 
 and good-will to man in the highest, leaving no stone unturned 
 that may be brought up to help aid and finish his spiritual tem- 
 ple, whereby he may appear in " due form " when he throws off 
 this mortal earthly coil, and habiliments himself with the new 
 spiritual form of righteousness, in order to enjoy all that is gveat, 
 good, and eternal in the heavens, where no more jealousies, :iiixic- 
 ties, or bad influences will enter his mind to bring down sorrow 
 and destruction as seen, felt, and prostrated poor fallen man in 
 this wicked home on earth. 
 
 CHARLES A. FRAZIER. 
 
 Charlotte, N. C, April 26, 1876.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 " I WAS in the spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a 
 great voice, as of a trumpet ; 
 
 " Saying, I am alpha and omega, the first and the last ; and, 
 What thou seest write in a book." 
 
 I SAT me down in silence, friends, within 
 My room so bright with birds, pictures, and flow'rs ; 
 A voice within me said. Write down thy thoughts ; 
 And more will come. I was not told to write 
 A book, and why? The veil was not taken 
 Away ; one corner only had been raised ; 
 I could see not far — just a few steps ia 
 Advance — no more. Had one unto me said, 
 " A book thou shalt write ; a few months hence thou 
 Shalt behold hundreds of pages which have 
 By thee been penned," should I have then believed 
 This bold assertion ? Not I ; my faith was 
 Not equal thereto. They forced me not my 
 Powers beyond, but kindly, gently, as days 
 And weeks went by, they guided and directed 
 Mo in waking hours, and their night-watch kept. 
 Had I, then, naught to do? "Alas ! dear friends, 
 No heaven-born genius, as ye simply deemed, 
 Stirred in my childish heart the love of song ; 
 'T was feeling, finely organized perhaps 
 To keen perceptions of the beautiful. 
 The great in art or nature, sight or sound. 
 Books were not my playfellows. Trees, and flowers, 
 
 u
 
 12 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 And murmuring rivulets, and merry birds, 
 
 And painted insects, all were books to me, 
 
 And beautiful language, from the dawn of sense 
 
 Familiar to my heart." My early days 
 
 And years had been so filled with toil and strife. 
 
 There seemed no time for aught beside the daily 
 
 Round of homely duties ; my school I loved. 
 
 Yet even there sore trials did await. 
 
 What others learned in " double quick " scarce came . 
 
 At all to me ; my mental powers seemed dull 
 
 And thick, my faculties all fast asleep. 
 
 "Was this a fault of mine, think ye? But stay — 
 
 It matters not — we have not now the time 
 
 To trace the cause. Come forward then with me, 
 
 For now, thank God ! the veil is lifted higher ; 
 
 Ask ye how came it so ? was it mine own 
 
 Strivings alone ? Was it by dint of study, or by 
 
 Earth's discipline harsh ? Nay, my friends, not these. 
 
 " Adversity, like the pale wreath of snow. 
 
 Falls on the youthful heart, a seeming load, — 
 
 But seeming such, for after certain space 
 
 Continuing there, and if it finds the soil 
 
 Not wholly sterile, to the frozen mass 
 
 Of its own latent virtues, it imparts 
 
 A fertiliziug warmth, that penetrates 
 
 The surface of obdurate worldliness. 
 
 Then from the barren waste (no longer such) 
 
 Uprising a thousand amaranthine flowers 
 
 'Whose fragrance smells of heaven.' Desires chastened, 
 
 Enlarged afiections, tender charities. 
 
 Long siifF'ring mercy, and the snowdrop buds 
 
 Of heavenly meekness, — these, and thousands more 
 
 As beautiful, as kindly, are called forth. 
 
 Adversity ! beneath thy fost'ring shade." 
 
 Hast thou this done for me. Adversity? 
 
 In part thou hast, not all ; sorrows, so deep
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 13 
 
 Their forces did mth thine unite. And then? 
 
 Then, my friends, the angels came; beautiful 
 
 Angels, heavenly messengers. How they love ! 
 
 No heaven before my soul had known compared 
 
 With this. To me they were both meat and drink ; 
 
 Or, rather, they unto my soul did give 
 
 The same. Each day came manna, just enough ; 
 
 No portion of the same left over till 
 
 The morrow. Why did they give this heavenly 
 
 Food ? and was it sent for me alone ? nay, 
 
 All who gathered once received ; it hath been 
 
 So, is now, yea, ever shall be so, for 
 
 Thus God's angels pure do teach : He is "the 
 
 Same yesterday, to-day, and forever." 
 
 So are the laws He doth create. 
 
 What came they for, these messengers of love ? 
 
 What came they for in olden time but to 
 
 Fulfil the purpose of the gi'cat " I am " ? 
 
 We 're told his purposes will ripen fast, 
 
 Unfolding every hour, and so they do. 
 
 Yet hours and days, yea, years unnumbered in 
 
 The flight of time, may come and go, and still 
 
 The cry will be the same ; for us below. 
 
 More light, more love, we pray, to guide our souls 
 
 Above. Ask ye, my friends, what these blest ones 
 
 Have done for me? One thing ye know, they have 
 
 Me helped a book to ^vi'ite, and were I now 
 
 To pen my thoughts as fast as they do come, 
 
 Adding thereto those which came long before, 
 
 A score of books methinks would not them all 
 
 Contain. In dreams and visions oft they come, 
 
 And yet I sensed their presence not until I 
 
 " Saw shadowed out, ' as in a glass revealed,' 
 
 Things uncreated yet, that were to be" 
 
 But of my book, — I call it mine, — they gave
 
 14 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Me leave, to them, I do ascribe the power, — 
 
 Indeed, the almost all in all ; and yet, 
 
 Should I their names attach, who would believe? 
 
 If "might makes right," then I shall get what they 
 
 Cannot receive ; at least not from the mass 
 
 Of worldly minds. They from a higher source 
 
 Will reap the "golden sheaves," while I shall reap — 
 
 I scarce know what ; doubtless from some, 
 
 Merits increased an hundred-fold beyond 
 
 What my frail powers command ; from other some 
 
 Contempt and scorn, derision undisguised. 
 
 Coolness from those whom I have deemed true friends ; 
 
 These things I do expect, yea, many such. 
 
 Shall my soul in consequence be cast down ? 
 
 A still small voice within replies, " Thy judge 
 
 Is the great God that formed all things, therefore 
 
 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee ; bind 
 
 Them about thy neck ; write them upon the 
 
 Table of thine heart ; so shalt thou find 
 
 Favor and good understanding in the 
 
 Sight of God and man." 
 
 The said book I have 
 Not yet seen. Five hundred copies of the 
 Work have been published — so they say — and some 
 I know are out. It looks very like / 
 Were out — it can't be in the cold I 'm sure, 
 For this is a bright, sunny land ; but Weeks 
 Go by, and no books "ha I — I do nae ken why," 
 Unless it may be my patience to try. 
 I 've written until I 'm tired of the name 
 Of "Colby and Rich," place ever the same ; 
 In reply, they say, "The books have been sent." 
 I begin to fear they are lost, or lent. 
 Some people would say it mattered not which ; 
 I think, however, it dependeth much — 
 I know not why this rhyme came in here, I 
 Almost fear 'tis out of place. Things come not
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 15 
 
 Quickly or quite clear to my mind this day, 
 My thoughts are wand'ring far away. I feel 
 Somewhat as David did, when from his son 
 Absalom he fled, saying, 
 
 " Lord, how are they increased that trouble me ! many are they 
 that rise up against me. 
 
 " Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him 
 in God. 
 
 " But thou, Lord, art a shield for me ; my glory, and the 
 lifter up of mine head. 
 
 " I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of 
 his holy hill. I laid me down and slept ; I awaked ; for the Lord 
 sustained me. 
 
 " I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set 
 themselves against me round about." 
 
 I can say like him, I am not afraid ; 
 Like him, also, I have long since fled. Where? 
 From my dearly loved home. Why? I was to 
 Them a sealed book, no page of which they wished 
 To con. I could not lie upon the shelf, 
 A useless, worthless incumbrance. Will they 
 My book treat this same way, I wonder ? Once 
 I was asked how soon the productions of 
 My brain would be before the public (or 
 Words to that efiect) . My reply might have 
 Seemed rather ungracious. It was this ; "I 
 Don't think they will be forced upon my friends 
 Any more than my sentiments have been." 
 Again, it may seem to some (who would rather 
 Have never seen the voliune) that it has 
 Almost been forced upon them. To my friends, 
 Who feel thus, I would say. Pray do not read 
 One lino of the same ; you have only to 
 Lay the book on a shelf, or, if it please 
 You as well, you may lend it to those who 
 Will read ; I give you my full consent.
 
 16 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far 
 country." , 
 
 Some letters at last ! Kejoice, O my heart, 
 At the glad surprise ! So long have ye been 
 In wending your way, I began to think — 
 I hardly know what ; but if friends are as 
 Scarce as their letters have been for the past 
 Two weeks, some new ones I must try to win, 
 Although but a little time ago I 
 Asked for none but the " tried and true." No 
 New ones can their places fill, yet I fear they 
 Mostly, if not all, have " gang a gla " ! 
 
 " A friend in need is a friend indeed " ; and 
 Such, darling, were you, — or was your letter 
 Kind. And so you have read our book. Do you 
 Care if here I just write down what you said 
 Of it? I know, dear one, you say what you 
 Mean, and mean what you say, as well. If all 
 As kindly do receive ; — but I know they 
 Won't, so never mind. I '11 not give your name, 
 But the language of your heart, — respecting 
 The work, I mean. Your kind words endearing, 
 My lone heart cheering, none other may know. 
 
 She writes thus : — 
 
 " I hardly know what to think ; that some power beside your 
 own controlled your efforts, I am aware. I do not feel prepared 
 to judge ; but I must say that I like what seems to be your own 
 writings the best. Your talk about the angels as ministering 
 spirits is very fine, — something that we all believe in. Some of 
 your writings, I think, are beautiful, and some I do not like." 
 
 It may not be amiss to here state that this dear friend has 
 never had a favorable opportunity of investigating the Spiritual 
 Philosophy, or had occasion, until quite recently, to give the sub- 
 ject a thought. When she says that she likes what seem to be my 
 own writings the best (she does not know that I could not com- 
 pile a verse of the same), I comprehend her meaning, and am only
 
 THE UNSEAIiED BOOK. 17 
 
 surprised that slie deals so charitably with the parts she does not 
 like. With only the experience which she has had, I fear I should 
 not have done as well in her place. 
 
 " Quench not the spirit," sister. 
 
 " Despise not prophesyings. 
 
 " Prove all things ; liold fast that wMcli is good. 
 
 " And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly ; and I pray 
 God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blame-, 
 less." 
 
 What is this ? Ah, sister, you too have been 
 
 Reading our book ! and that 's your excuse 
 
 For not writing sooner ; our sentiments 
 
 You will somewhat indorse, I am sure, for 
 
 You, dear one, have been long in the " way " ; that 
 
 "Way, at times, led through brambles and briers ; 
 
 But you turned not back, though they pierced you sore, 
 
 Though " life's sunny morn with its golden dreams " 
 
 Was soon clouded o'er. May there not be yet 
 
 A noontide of glory awaiting thee, 
 
 Which shall make you feel " there 's a glad refrain," 
 
 E'en before you reach " the other side " ? 
 
 A prayer I find from thee, an aspiration pure, in language 
 clear, concise, like jonr own dear self : " Heaven bless you for the 
 fearless utterances of your book I" Thank you, dear. May 
 Heaven bless you also, and cause your sorrows to " melt away as 
 waters which run continually." If we faint not, we shall in due 
 time praise the Lord and say, "Thou hast given a banner to thera 
 that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth." 
 
 This is to me a strange work : the contents 
 Of my letters to place in so public 
 A light. I hope, kind spirits, 'twill all be 
 Right. For myself and you I have no fears ; 
 But how will it be with these, our friends, whose 
 Sentiments you do make me pen ? Will 
 They the same kindly receive ? And will they
 
 18 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 See themselves as we do see them ? 
 
 "If not, 
 They sure no fault can find, as we 
 No single name shall give. If they their own 
 Words recognize, our opinion, friendly 
 Advice as well, comes in gratis, you see. 
 Therefore go forward, though you do sometimes 
 Walk in paths you have not known." 
 
 "Truly, my 
 Soul waiteth upon God," but not in vain. 
 I could seem, dear friends, no further to go, 
 For the thoughts which came seemed only mine own. 
 And these were not fraught with faith quite secure ; 
 So I laid myself down to rest awhile. 
 A good book had I, but I read not much. 
 You may think it strange, as did I at first ; 
 The ones who control me, their ivorh to doy 
 Are unwilling for me much else to know 
 In regard to the truths which they alone 
 Would impart. My mind to them, they say, is 
 Like a slate. They wish it kept translucent, 
 Clear, for their especial benefit. They 
 Then can give their own ideas, unmixed with 
 Those I might glean from other sources. 
 They told me not this until our first book 
 Had been written ; not in ivords, I mean ; but 
 While this same work was progressing, I had 
 Not the slightest inclination to read, 
 Except it were, in occasional spare 
 Moments, some seemingly trivial thing : 
 I do not except the Bible, of course ; 
 That always came in. Their object in not 
 Telling me this in advance I am now 
 Beginning to see. Their ways have me shown 
 That they consider " experience the 
 Best teacher."
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 19 
 
 As I said before, T laid me down to rest ; but as my body was 
 not weary, they gave my spirit rest instead. A voice cried ont, 
 " Your books have come." Good news, indeed! For near three 
 weeks they had been on the road. What else have you, a letter? 
 Ah, only a bill; but why should I siiy onli/? It surely is lou^,^ 
 enough, and were it not paid, or mostly, would give me no peace 
 by night or by day. If our books do sell well, I shall not get 
 back, on this first edition, nearly so much as I have paid out in 
 "ready cash," say naught of my time, the use of which, in this 
 same way, has made me to feel an outcast from home. But never 
 mind, here comes a " real for true " letter. Come read it with me ; 
 just only your part, I mean. 
 
 " You are a sly puss, are n't you, to send your friends a great 
 big book, and that the first intimation they had that such a thing 
 was contemplated ? " 
 
 And this is all ? " Flee as a bird to your mountain " ; for we 
 know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. We forbear 
 to say more, since the writer of the above simple lines commenced 
 investigating the truths which the book is designed to teach, years 
 before the book itself was in contemplation, or the writer thereof 
 had learned one letter of the spiritual alphabet. 
 
 Can " faith without works " save ? 
 
 Another letter contains the following: "To me the book is 
 quite interesting, and I should judge it would be very startlinfj to 
 some. I think it is a great pity that it should have been misrep- 
 resented about your brothers, as with those who are accquainted 
 with your family, it weakens the work very much ; but perhaj^s 
 you can explain it all." (Controlling spirit.) 
 
 "The writer of the foregoing seems to be laboring under the 
 impression that the author of the book and the subject of it are 
 one and the same person. This is a slight mistake, yet one which 
 surprises us, as all who are intimately acquainted with the author 
 and her family must be aware that it would be a very incorrect 
 record of her life ; not only so, but that for her to have placed lierself 
 in the exalted position and Pharisaical light of the character rei")- 
 rcsented, would have been an impossibility, nor would it corre- 
 spond to one act or sentiment of her life. There are, in the book, 
 some instances in which, with the aid of her poetic guide, she has 
 given expression to her own thoughts and feelings, examples of
 
 20 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 which may be found on the two hundred and sixty-sixth and three 
 hundred and sixty-ninth pages. These, and all similar ones, as a 
 careful reader will readily perceive, bear no connection with the 
 ' medium,' who is a creature of the imagination, while the spirit- 
 ual experiences are actual facts (some of which came under the 
 writer's personal observation), truths, which we trust will be 
 received as such. We will furthermore say. Our book has a ' Pref- 
 ace,' which explains this, but which was purposely omitted in 
 our first edition. While we regret that there is any misconcep- 
 tion in the matter, we shall feel grateful if those things which we 
 consider of minor importance are the only ones which are misun- 
 derstood." 
 
 " The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." 
 
 I have, indeed, had a surprise this day. A clergyman of this 
 place (whom I have only met once) has sent, for my perusal, a 
 criticism on our work, which he has written with a view to have 
 published in the " Observer." It runs as follows : — 
 
 '• It was our privilege, a few days since, to peruse a new book, 
 one, too, of a unique and uncommon character. The work pos- 
 sesses a rare combination of ease and dignity, simplicity and ele- 
 gance, truth and sublimity. It elevates the attentive reader above 
 this mundane sphere, and leads him by the still waters and among 
 the green pastures of the spirit land. Lessons of the purest 
 friendship and love, maxims of wisdom for promotion of health 
 and progress in knowledge and usefulness, and illustrations of 
 Scripture truth and practical morality, are scattered with rich pro- 
 fusion and admirable taste through this little volume. The ' Mis- 
 understood ' (for such is its name) will be read by many seekers 
 after light in order to a more agreeable development of spiritual 
 power and social affections. That the author, who has come to 
 reside in our midst, may be rewarded for the honest labor here 
 evinced on every page to impress the truth and guard the unsus- 
 pecting and the innocent against the alluring influences of evil 
 spirits and wicked associates, is the earnest and fervent wish of 
 
 We know not how to express our gratitude for this unlooked- 
 for kindness, not the least of which is the endorsement of the 
 sentiments expressed in " Misunderstood," which we had hardly 
 dared hope would be as well understood by any one individual. 
 
 " The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 21 
 
 of him that ruleth among fools." Friends, "Wisdom is the prin- 
 cipal thing; therefore get wisdom; where thou goest it shall lead 
 thee ; when thou sleepest it shall keep thee ; and when thou 
 awakest, it shall talk with thee." It is our earnest prayer that 
 we may be permitted to say with the Psalmist, " I liave taught 
 thee in the way of wisdom and have led thee in right paths.'''' 
 
 The morn was bright and fair. By your ad^'ice, 
 
 Kind spirit friends, I took some books, just 
 
 Only two, and sallied forth to see if 
 
 I could find a purchaser (for ' 
 
 Nary a penny had I to buy for 
 
 A letter a stamp. For three weeks' board I 
 
 Too was in debt) . As you promised that me 
 
 You would attend, the result of the same 
 
 You full well know ; if a lesson thou hast 
 
 In connection with this, pray give it me 
 
 Now. 
 
 " We have, indeed, many things to say ; 
 The result we know was not what j^ou hoped 
 It might be, but more was accomplished in 
 Another way, a way you dreamed not of. 
 Through your converse with those you met, we gained 
 An insight of their character, and that 
 Shall be our theme to-day. We saw thee speak 
 To one, and give the book into her hand ; 
 But when she learned of what the same did treat, 
 She quickly did release, as if afraid 
 Of it and you. Her mind we saw was not 
 At ease, nor should we be surprised if, had 
 All been clearly revealed, we might have seen 
 ' Thoughts that are almost murmurs whisper low, 
 Stinging comparisons, suggestions sad, 
 Of what I am, and Avhat I might have been. 
 This earth so wide and glorious ! I fast bound 
 (A human lichen) to one narrow spot, 
 A sickly, worthless weed ! Such brave, bright spirits
 
 22 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Starring the nether sphere, and I, lone wretch, 
 Cut ofi" from oral intercourse with all ! 
 The day far spent, and O, how little known ! 
 The night at hand, alas ! and nothing done ; 
 And neither ' word, nor knowledge, nor device, 
 Nor wisdom, in the grave whereto I go.' 
 
 And Uttle Annie, — what will Annie be ? 
 
 The fair-haired prattler ! she, with matron airs, 
 
 Who gravely lectures her rebellious doll ; 
 
 * Annie will be papa's own darling child, 
 
 Dear papa's blessing ; ah ! she tells the truth ; 
 
 The pretty mocking-bird with his borrowed notes 
 
 Tells the sweet truth. Already, is she not 
 
 Thy darling child? Thy blessing she will prove.' 
 
 Another one with wistful lonfjin^; held 
 Our book, (herself a medium,) she one 
 Must have we think ; her life has been not all 
 She strove to have it be, but, ' nothing dies, — 
 Nothing is lost or wholly perisheth 
 That God hath called good, and given to man, 
 Worth his immortal keeping.' Cheer up, dear 
 Friend, take courage, and thus say, 'Let them go ; 
 Let them pass from me like a troubled dream ; 
 The things of this world ; bitter apples all. 
 Like those of the Dead Sea, that mock the eye 
 With outward fairness, ashes at the core. 
 Let tills frail body perish day by day, 
 And to the dust go down and be resolved 
 Thereunto, — earth to earth ; but I shall live 
 In spiritual identity unchanged. 
 And take with me, where happy spirits dwell. 
 All thoughts, desires, affections, memories. 
 Sealed with the heavenly stamp, and set apart 
 (Made worthy) for duration infinite.'
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 23 
 
 "We saw thee chatting for a while with one 
 
 Whose jewelled fingers, gay attire, bespoke 
 
 For her more time and thought bestowed upon 
 
 The casement which enshrined the worldly mind, 
 
 Than on that mind itself. She did possess 
 
 Some curiosity, as did the friend 
 
 Who had dropped in, and made an efibrt thee 
 
 To quiz. 'Alas, poor maid ! an arduous task was 
 
 Thine ; a hopeless labor, recommencing still, 
 
 Like theirs, the unhappy sisters, doomed to pour 
 
 Eternal streams in jars that never fill.' 
 
 A book so * rich in the truest Tvisdom ' would 
 
 Be considered naught but trash by them, we fear ; 
 
 K they read at all, selecting such as 
 
 'Might shock fastidious taste, less pure than wise: 
 
 The love of God and man, and holy nature 
 
 Breathed like the fragrance of a precious gum 
 
 From consecrated censer,' hallowing 
 
 The same, their cloudy vision would not perceive. 
 
 A third person we saw enter the room, 
 
 And then as quickly disappear, as if — 
 
 Well, we had no chance to read his mind, and 
 
 Will not of him give our opinion ; we 
 
 Will say just here instead, in a general 
 
 Way, 'All's not well when hearts, that should be 
 
 Open as the day, shrink from inspection.' 
 
 We saw thee again, and we saw standing 
 
 Near, a grief-stricken mother, so lonely 
 
 And sad. Her treasures, alas ! from her sight 
 
 Had fled ; ' had gone from this strange world of ours, 
 
 No more to gather its thorns Avith its flowers ; 
 
 No more to linger where sunbeams must fade ; 
 
 Where on all beauty death's fingers are laid.' 
 
 We fain would thee cheer, thou sorrowing one. 
 
 Have you not heard, and read, and learned, how God
 
 24 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 ' Tempers the wind to the shorn lamb ' ? So thine, 
 Helpless and tender as they are, his eye 
 Still watcheth, and his guardian care protects. 
 They went in the sunshine of their bright young 
 Days, in a fairer home they will expand ; 
 And never like thee, kind mother, will grow 
 ' Weary with mingling life's bitter and sweet ; 
 "Weary with parting and never to meet ; 
 Weary with sowing and never to reap ; 
 Weary with labor and welcoming sleep.' 
 We saw and read much of the deep within, 
 The well of this mother's heart ; much, I mean, 
 For the short space of time allotted us ; 
 We think again thou 'It meet with her, and she 
 In time become much changed ; if so, she will 
 Say you have done it. Was it wisely done ? 
 'Wisely and well, they say who look thereon 
 With unimpassioned eye ; cool, clear, undimmed 
 By moisture such as memory gathers oft 
 In mine, while gazing on the things that are 
 Not Tvdth the hallowed past, the loved, lost, 
 Associated as those I now retrace 
 With tender sadness.' 
 
 The scene is changed, and 
 We behold thee entering a mansion 
 Fair. The o-rounds about are laid with care, and 
 
 o 
 
 Show that flowers have in their season been reared. 
 And were doubtless cherished tenderly by 
 Her who welcomes thee kindly, although to 
 Her thou art a stranger, — as are the truths 
 She gladly would investigate, — and yet 
 She scarce had dare. And why? is she not a 
 Free moral agent ? Yes ; but then, she hath 
 An husband ; she hath also a loving 
 Spirit-friend, who reads her soul and gives 
 Us the following as her sentiments ; 
 ' Nature in me hath still her worshipper.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 2) 
 
 And in my soul her mighty spirit still 
 
 Awakes sweet music, tones and symphonies 
 
 Struck by the Master-hand from every chord. 
 
 But prodigal of feeling she withholds 
 
 The glorious power to pour its fulness out ; 
 
 And in mid-song I falter, faint at heai-t 
 
 With consciousness that every feeble note 
 
 But yields to the awakening harmony 
 
 A weak response, — a trembling echo still.' 
 
 The husband comes, and what says he ? His talk 
 
 Is very fine, he believes that spirits 
 
 With mortals do communicate, that it is by 
 
 Or through the laws of nature which at the 
 
 Present time are little understood ; thinks 
 
 It an established fact, and one which will 
 
 Eventually be recognized as such 
 
 Throughout the world. He seemingly doth say, 
 
 * We live, God wot, in an improving age, 
 And our old world, if it last long enough, 
 Will reach perfection. Lo ! conceptions vast 
 Germ not alone in patriot statesman's mind 
 
 Or great philanthropist's.' What good, we pray, 
 Will from these conceptions vast accrue, if 
 2^one dare publicly acknowledge the same? 
 
 We saw 
 Upon thy brow a shade of disappointment 
 When he refused our book to buy. We saw, 
 Also, he gladly would have read the same, but, 
 If he bought it, his wife might read it too ; 
 It might do her no harm ; still, her readings 
 He chose to first select, and then peruse. 
 
 * It is not onoe an age two hearts are set 
 So well in unison that not a note 
 
 Jars in their music ; but a skilful hand 
 Slurs lightly over the discordant tones,
 
 26 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 And wakens only the full force of those 
 
 That sound in concord. Happy, happy those 
 
 Who thus perform the grand concerto, — Life!* 
 
 Unknown to you, unknown to us the one 
 
 You accidentally did meet upon 
 
 The stair. We were amused at his attempt 
 
 To place before you 'gi*eat /and little uJ 
 
 A medium he claimed to be, but said 
 
 The spirits all who did appear he would 
 
 Vouchsafe to swallow ; your brave retort he 
 
 Will not quite forget. (I replied that he 
 
 ]\Iight swallow all that the book contained, but 
 
 I would guarantee him that it would take 
 
 Some time to digest the same.) He is young 
 
 In knowledge, also in years, we trust not 
 
 * Past hope of e'er producing flower or bud.' 
 
 We would advise a change right soon, lest he, 
 
 Through his oivn negligence alone, be classed 
 
 With plants full blown, that nothing lack — but roots. 
 
 Another one of riper years we saw ; 
 
 He seemed not lacking in intelligence, 
 
 And had a kindly sympathetic mien ; 
 
 We think, too, he was well read ; if asked lohy 
 
 Such and such things were, if he knew he would 
 
 You tell ; if not, acknowledge that as well ; 
 
 Not say, like some, ' They were, because they were.' 
 
 We would give him all credit due, while still 
 
 We say, ' There are more things in heaven and earth 
 
 Than are dreamt of in thy philosophy .^ " 
 
 Friends, not a book did I sell. "Well ! well ! well ! 
 All 's doubtless as it should be ; were my will 
 The rule of action, strange results no doubt 
 Would shock the rational community. 
 But farewell to the glaring world without ;
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 27 
 
 The glaring, bustling, noisy, parclied-up world ! 
 
 And hail repose and verdure, turf and flo^Yers, 
 
 Also my home o'er whose dear quiet walls 
 
 Brood the twin doves. Holiness and Peace." 
 
 I must not expect ripe fruit to-day from 
 
 Seed sown but as yesterday ; to-morrow 
 
 And to-morrow may pass ere I perceive 
 
 The tiny bud which first must bloom, and then 
 
 Its petals shed, before the fruit appear. 
 
 Then more to-morrows still must pass, yes, bright 
 
 Sunny ones, to ripen and make fit for 
 
 Use the fruit which may and will in time 
 
 Be gathered home ; I must with patience wait : 
 
 It is not all who having eyes can see, 
 
 Or having ears can hear. This truth we learn 
 
 From e very-day experience. "How it frets 
 
 One's soul to be associated with these 
 
 Deaf hearers, blind beholders ! Frets one more 
 
 That all the outward graces they possess. 
 
 As it appears unblemished. So we're led 
 
 To utter freely what we warmly feel ; 
 
 And then it proves that all the wires and pipes 
 
 That should connnunicate 'twixt eyes and ears 
 
 And the indwelling soul, to empty cells 
 
 Lead only, sending back response nor sound. 
 
 Say with a friend we contemplate some scene 
 
 Of natural loveliness, from which the heart 
 
 Drinks in its fill of deep admiring joy ; 
 
 And are our voices mute? O, no, wo turn 
 
 (Perhaps with glistening eyes) and our full heart 
 
 Pom' out in rapt'rous accents, broken words 
 
 Such as require no answer, but by speech 
 
 As little measm'cd, or that best reply. 
 
 Feeling's true eloquence, a speaking look: 
 
 But other answer awaits us ; for the friend 
 
 (O heaven, that there are such !) with a calm smile 
 
 Of sweet no-meaning gently answers, 'Yes,
 
 28 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Indeed it 's very pretty. Don't you think 
 It 's getting late though ; time to go to tea ? ' 
 
 Some folks will tell you, of all things on earth 
 
 They most like reading ; poetry with them 
 
 Is quite a passion ; but somehow it is, 
 
 They never find a moment's leisure time 
 
 For things they dote on. W7iat a life is theirs / 
 
 There 's the new poem, — they would give the world 
 
 To skim it over, but it cannot be ! 
 
 That trimming must be finished for the ball. 
 
 If you indeed, who read aloud so well. 
 
 With so much feeling, would but take the book, 
 
 'T would be so nice to listen ! such a treat ! 
 
 And all the while the tritnminff might go on. 
 
 You cannot have the heart to disappoint 
 
 Wishes expressed so sweetly. Down you sit ; 
 
 The first few pages smoothly on you go, 
 
 Yourself delighted, and delighting much 
 
 (So simply you believe) your hearers too. 
 
 At length a whisper, audibly aside. 
 
 Or cross the table, grates upon your ear. 
 
 And brings you from the region of romance — 
 
 ' Dear ! how provoking ! have you seen my thread ? 
 
 No, here it is. O, pray don't stop ; go on 
 
 With that beautiful story.' On you go, 
 
 But scarce recover from the first rude shock, 
 
 When lo ! a second. Deep debate ensues, 
 
 Grave, solemn, nice, elaborate, profound. 
 
 About the shade of some embroidered leaf. 
 
 Whether too dark, or not quite dark enough, 
 
 Or whether pea green were not after all 
 
 Better than apple green. And there you sit 
 
 Devoutly banning in your secret soul. 
 
 Balls, trimmings, and your own too easy faith 
 
 In sympathy from hearers so engrossed. 
 
 Better leave ofi*, you say, and close the book,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 29 
 
 Till some more leisure morning. But at once 
 
 All voices clamor at the barb'rous thought 
 
 Of such adjournment ; and you recommence, 
 
 Loath and disheartened ; but a lull succeeds 
 
 Of seeming deep attention, and once more 
 
 The noble song absorbs you, heart and soul. 
 
 That part you reach where the old dog who lies 
 
 Beside Eusilla, and, unnoticed, long 
 
 Has eyed the dark-cowled stranger ; all at once 
 
 (Confirmed by love's strong instinct) crawls along 
 
 And crouches at his regal master's feet. 
 
 And licks his hand, and gazes in his face 
 
 'With eyes of human meaning.' There, just there, ' 
 
 When trembling like a harp-string to the touch 
 
 Of some impassioned harmonist, your voice 
 
 Falters with strong emotion — ' 
 
 ' Oh ! ' cries she, 
 The passion of whose soul is poesy, 
 * That dear sweet dog ! it just reminds me though 
 That poor Tauton was washed two hours ago. 
 And I must go and comb him, pretty love ! 
 So for this morning (though it breaks my heart) 
 From that dear Ijook I tear myself away.' 
 Ah, luckless reader ! wilt thou e'er again 
 On such as these expend thy precious breath ? 
 Inflict not on me. Stars, the killing blight 
 Of such companionship. O, rather far 
 Assign me for my intimate and friend 
 One who says plainly^ 'I confess to me 
 Painting's but colored canvas ; music, noise ; 
 And poetry, prose spoilt ; those rural scenes 
 Whereon you gaze enraptured, nothing more 
 Than hill and dale and water, wooded well 
 With stout oak timber, growing for the axe.' 
 'Twixt such a heart and mine there must be still 
 A bar, oft painfully perceived indeed, 
 And never overstepped. But I could feel
 
 30 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Respect, affection, confidence for such, 
 If dignified with sound, clear-judging sense 
 And piety, that gem beyond all price, 
 Whereunto compared all gifts are valueless. 
 
 Many there are among creation's lords 
 Whom Fashion wheels abroad (a listless load) ; 
 Quite blind to all the wonders in their way 
 Of art and nature ; with a senseless noise 
 Chatt'ring among themselves their mother-tongue 
 In foreign lands, disdaining to acquire 
 The useless knowledge (spiritless pursuit) 
 Of a strange people's customs, arts, and speech; 
 And who return with minds still unenlarged, 
 And skulls as empty, to their native land. 
 
 The stream, the mead, herb, insect, flower and leaf 
 
 Sunbeam and shadow, all, as we have said, 
 
 Were books to us, companionable things ; 
 
 But lack of other volume, man's device. 
 
 Was none, when turning from the outspread scroll 
 
 Of beauteous nature. Sweet repose we sought 
 
 In varied pleasure outside these ; at times 
 
 Passionate longing grasps the ripened fruit, 
 
 And finds it marred, a canker at the core. 
 
 "VVTiat shall we dare desire of earthly good 
 
 The seeming greatest ; what in prayer implore 
 
 Or deprecate, of that our secret soul 
 
 In fondness and in weakness covets most. 
 
 Or deepest dreads, but with the crowning clause, 
 
 The sanctifying, * Lord, thy will be done ' ? 
 
 But as we read, and dream; and smile, and sigh, 
 
 Old feelings stir within us, old delights 
 
 Kindle afresh, and all the past comes back 
 
 With such a rush, as to its long-dried bed 
 
 The waters of a stream for many a year 
 
 Pent from its natural course, back to childhood.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 31 
 
 There is in childhood a holy ignorance, a hcantiful credality, 
 a peculiar sanctity, that one cannot contemplate without some- 
 thing of the reverential feeling with which one should approach 
 beings of a celestial nature. The impress of the divine is, as it 
 "were, fresh on the infant spirit, fresh and unsullied by contact 
 with this withering world. One trembles lest an impure breath 
 should dim the clearness of its bright mirror. And how perpetu- 
 ally must those who are in the habit of contemplating childhood, 
 of studying the characters of little children, feel and repeat to 
 their own hearts, ' Of such is the kingdom of heaven ' ! Ay, 
 which of us, of the wisest among us, may not stoop to receive 
 instruction and rebuke from the example of a little child ? 
 "Which of us, by comparison of its sublime simplicity, its adora- 
 ble ingenuousness, has not reason to blush for the littleness, the 
 degeneracy of his own ? How often has the innocent remark, 
 the artless question, the natural acuteness of a child called up 
 into older hearts a blush of accusing consciousness ! 
 
 How often might the prompt, candid, unqualifying, honora- 
 ble decision of an infant, in some question of right or wrong, 
 shame the hesitating, calculating evasiveness of mature reason ! 
 ' Why do you say so if it is not true ? ' ' You must not keep that, 
 for it is not yours,' ' If I do this, or that, it will make God angry,' 
 are remarks we have heard from the lips of babes and suck- 
 lings ; the first in particular, that probing question, to the no 
 small embarrassment of some who should have been their teach' 
 ersl 
 
 The world of a child's imagination is the creation of a far ho- 
 lier spell than hath ever been wrought by the pride of learning, 
 or the inspiration of poetic fancy. Innocence that thinketh no 
 evil, ignorance tluit apprehendeth none; hope that hath expe- 
 rienced no blight; love that suspecteth no guile, — these are its 
 ministering angels, these wield a wand of powor, making this 
 earth a paradise. Time, hard, rigid teacher; reality, rough, stern 
 reality; world, cold, heartless world ; that ever your sad experi- 
 ence, your sombre truths, your killing cold, your writhing sneers, 
 should scare those gentle spirits from their holy temple ! And 
 wherewith do ye replace them? With caution, that repulseth 
 confidence; with doubt, that repelleth love; with reason, that 
 dispelleth illusion; with fear, that poisoueth enjoyment; in a
 
 32 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 word, with knowledge, that fatal fruit, the tasting whereof, at the 
 first onset, cost us Paradise! And the tree of knowledge, — 
 transplanted to this barren soil, together with its scanty blos- 
 soms, — doth it not bring thorns abundantly ? And of the fruits 
 that ripen, have any yet ripened to perfection ? What hand hath 
 ever plucked unscathed ? 
 
 The child enjoys everything that is, abstractedly from all refer- 
 ence to the past, all inquiry into the future. He feels that he is 
 happy, and satisfied with that blest perception, searches not into 
 the nature or probable duration of his felicity. 
 
 There may be, there are in after life intervals of far sublimer 
 happiness; for if thought, if ' knowledge ' bringeth a curse with 
 it, casting as it were the taint of corruption and the shadow of 
 death over all that in this Avorld seemed fair and good and lasting 
 and perfect, reason, enlightened hy revelation and sustained by 
 faith, hath poiver to lift wp that gloomy veil, and to see leyond it 
 ' the glory lohich shall he revealed hereafter.^ But with the excep- 
 tions of such times, when the heart communes with heaven, when 
 our thoughts are in a manner like the angels ascending and de- 
 scending on those bright beams of celestial intercourse, what feel- 
 ings of the human mind can be thought so nearly to resemble 
 those of the yet guiltless inhabitants of Eden, as the sensations 
 of a young and happy child ? " 
 
 What hand indeed, upon this mundane sphere, 
 
 Hath ever plucked unscathed the fruits of knowledge ? 
 
 Our life below is far too short for that ; 
 
 We may reach forth our hand and gather 
 
 From the tree those which to look upon are 
 
 Very fair ; but alas ! they are unripe, so 
 
 Hard we dare not even taste. Again, we 
 
 May some windfalls find upon the ground. They 
 
 Have reached the highest state of perfection 
 
 Possible to them, and really have 
 
 A pleasant flavor ; they will not harm us, 
 
 But will, instead, give us a foretaste of 
 
 What shall come afterward ; and such, we feel, 
 
 Is life on earth ; must it be always thus ? 
 
 As we grow wiser will our sorrows also
 
 THE U]SrSEAI.ED BOOK. 33 
 
 Increase in like proportion to the same ? 
 When thoughts like these arise, permitted tests 
 Proving our frailty, and thy mercy, Lord, 
 Let but thy minist'ring angel draw our eyes 
 To nature's book, and lo ! this troublous world 
 Fades from before us like a morning mist, 
 And in a spirit not our own, we cry, 
 " Perish all knowledge but lohat leads to Thee I " 
 
 I 've been a dreamer all my life, but now, 
 
 Alas ! the dream has fled ; a whirlwind came, 
 
 And I alone escaped. The bower which Hope 
 
 Had built may grow and thrive in yon bright sphere, 
 
 A kindly shelter prove ; but not here, no, 
 
 Not here ! " 'Tis ever thus, 'tis ever thus 
 
 With beams of mortal bliss, with things too bright 
 
 And beautiful for such a world as this ; 
 
 One moment round about us their angel 
 
 Lightnings play, then, down the veil of darkness 
 
 Drops, and all hath passed away. Let it fall. 
 
 That blessed veil which shuts the future out ; 
 
 The eartlihj future — but beyond, away 
 
 With dread and doubt ! " Have I dread ? have I doubt ? 
 
 Nay, neither. In trying hours like these, my 
 
 Weary spirit longs to take its flight. I 
 
 Feel that I have drank enough of life ; the 
 
 Cup assigned to me contains but little 
 
 Sweet at best. Then come, '' O death ! — come quietly. 
 
 Come lovingly, and shut mine eyes and steal 
 
 My breath ! Then willingly, oh 1 wilUngly 
 
 With thee I '11 go away." jNIine earthly friends 
 
 May not be near, — what matters it ? Angels 
 
 I know will me attend, — angels as pure 
 
 As their own bright homes ; my poor lone heart chngs 
 
 Lovinc;lv to these, with all its finest 
 
 Tendrils, with all its flexile rings ; I long 
 
 To hear the music of the heavenly spheres,
 
 34 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 From harps attuned only to notes of love 
 And tenderness, from lips whose cadence breathes 
 Sweet harmony and peace. Alas ! that these 
 Should be " sounds too sweet for earth " ! 
 
 Beautiful, 
 Beautiful sky ! I would thy splendor here 
 I might trace ! The day a dark and gloomy 
 One has been ; the sun shone not until 
 Its closing hour, when suddenly its bright 
 And golden beams dispelled the weariness 
 And gloom. The heavens no mundane artist could 
 Portray, just as the sun his farewell to 
 The earth vouchsafed. Spanning a portion of 
 The low horizon, clouds — if such, indeed. 
 They could be called — assumed alternate hues 
 Of crimson, orange, golden ; then came a 
 Belt of clear blue sky ; above this same a 
 Crimson shade again appears, submerged at 
 Intervals with hues less deep, more golden 
 Bright, streaming high, softly blending with the 
 Azure overhead. A little distance 
 At the right of these, a huge and shapeless 
 Mass of clouds, commingling all the colors 
 Here portrayed, nor leaving out the truthful 
 Blue, presents to our admiring eye a 
 Soft, not deep, purple, — type of royalty. 
 
 I could not -write ; my gaze was fixed ; while I, 
 Unconscious, "tranced in waking dreams," led on 
 By impulse not mine own. How bright, and yet 
 How brief, the interval vouchsafed ! Methought 
 It was a type of life ; of some one's life. 
 It might be mine, I could not say. Thus far 
 I felt its day had been o'erspread with clouds. 
 Would my life's day on earth as brightly close ? 
 Should I behold the glorious home above, 
 While yet my spirit lingered here ? K so,
 
 THE LTsSEALED BOOK. 35 
 
 My Lord, I ask no more ; it is the dearest 
 
 Boon I crave. I may still dream, but not as 
 
 Heretofore ; for stealing o'er my soul I 
 
 Feel e'en now the soft, warm breath of purer air ; 
 
 While voices low and sweet unto my soul 
 
 Are murmuring, " Thy heart shall yet be satisfied ; 
 
 Thy visions all come true : we say not when, 
 
 We say not icJiere." 
 
 All ! spirits kind, I ask 
 Ye not to tell ; I only ask your warm 
 And loving sympathy, your aid in all 
 My laliors here ; my life-work too, if thou 
 Wilt consecrate. O, then, indeed, I shall 
 Be " satisfied " ; and tJiere also my " visions 
 All come true " ; but not here, nay, not here. 
 
 One 
 Lesson more the clouds and sky enforced ; 'twas 
 This : The rolling, tumbling mass of purple 
 Hue (royalty) yf as first to disappear. 
 It seemed to go not willingly, but plunged 
 About, assumed at length the blackness of 
 Despair, and angrily, treml)ling with fear, 
 Gave up the ghost. The dazzling brightness of 
 The sun had given place to softer shades 
 Of mellow light ; these, too, soon disappeared. 
 And all the sky, above, below, around, 
 Was — bhie. Em1)lem of truth, thy reign shall come ! 
 After a little space of tune, the stars 
 Come twinklino" forth ; the lesser liirhts which hold 
 Their sway until the dawn of morrow's sun 
 Doth lighten, brighten all the earth again. 
 
 "O sun of righteousness divine. 
 On me with beams of mercy shine ; 
 Chase the dark clouds of sin away, 
 And tm'n my darkness into day. 
 As every day thy mercy spares
 
 36 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Will bring its trials and its cares, 
 O Saviour, till my life shall end, 
 Be thou my counsellor and friend ; 
 Teach me thy precepts, all di\due, 
 And be thy pure example mine ! " 
 
 Nor mine 
 Alone ; indeed that could not be, for all 
 Who will, may to thee come ; thou wilt not "break 
 The bruised reed," nor wilt thou search the wounds 
 That bleed, but only wound to heal. 'T is easy 
 Quite to say these things ; but oh ! to live and 
 Feel yourself a bruised reed, made such by 
 Cruel scorn, contempt, and pride of so-called 
 Friends ! (Not all, thank God ! have thus repaid our 
 Love for them, and all the human race as 
 Well.) And yet we love them still, knowing that 
 "It is not love that steals the heart y)'om love; 
 'Tis the hard world, and its perplexing cares ; 
 Its petrifying selfishness, its pride. 
 Its low ambitions, and its petty aims. 
 ' A friend loveth at all times ' : so ye, if 
 Friends, will still love me ; not only through ' good 
 Eeport,' but through ' evil,' especially 
 Wlten its falsehood you more than divine. 
 Never tell me of loving by measure 
 And weight ; love cannot be bought, it cannot 
 Be sold. ' K yours can, let them have it who 
 Care : it 's a o:reat deal too common for me. 
 You must love, — not my faults, — but in spite 
 Of them, me, under all change of circumstance 
 Too : apart or together, in crowds, or — in 
 Short, you must love me, because Hove you.''^^ 
 
 '" How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in 
 mr heart daily ? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over 
 me?"
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 37 
 
 " I o-o not like one in the strenoih of youth, 
 
 Who hopes, though the passing cloud may pour down 
 
 Its icy hail amain, that summer and 
 
 Sunshine may break out again the brighter 
 
 From sorrow's shroud. An April morn and a 
 
 Clouded day my portion of life hath been ; 
 
 Yet, would I change, if the power were mine, 
 
 One tittle decreed by the will divine ? 
 
 O, no, not a thousandth part. In my 
 
 BUndness I've wished, in my feebleness wept. 
 
 With a weak, weak woman's wail, but humbhng 
 
 My heart and its hopes in the dust (all its 
 
 Hopes that are earthly), I 've anchored my trust 
 
 On the strength that never can fail" 
 
 O, give 
 Me then each day enough to make mine own — 
 So weak, alas ! — endure for present needs, — 
 A little while, — a little way, — and I 
 Shall rest at home, no more to know or heed 
 The world's contempt and scorn, no more to feel 
 That "hope deferred maketh the heart sick." The 
 Time is past " when life was joy, the fair earth 
 Paradise " ; although 1 still its green glades 
 Love, with an exceeding love ; I love, too, 
 " To hold communion Avith the stirring air. 
 The breath of flowers, the ever-shifting clouds. 
 The rustling leaves, the music of the stream, 
 To people solitude Avith airy shapes, 
 And the dark hour, when night and silence reign, 
 With immaterial forms of other worlds : 
 But best and noblest privilege, to feel 
 Pervading nature's all-harmonious whole, 
 The great Creator's presence, in his works." 
 
 " How swift is a glance of the mind ! " When I 
 Think of my native land, in a moment 
 I seem to be there. A moment since and 
 
 ^ 'a Q O' ^
 
 d^ THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 I was calm and cold, — cold as this world is 
 
 To me ; now the warm blood through every 
 
 Throbbing vein fast hurrying, mantles over 
 
 Cheek and brow, like youth and hope rekindling, 
 
 Ebbing now to the full heart again ; leaving 
 
 A paler cheek, a glistening eye with watery 
 
 Gaze fixed fast on visions of the past ; 
 
 O, where am I? At home, — at home again 
 
 In mine own land ; its mountain streams are 
 
 Murm'ring in mine ear, and thrilling voices 
 
 From loved lips I hear. There — there the loving 
 
 Band : mine own long lost, oh ! take the weary 
 
 One, to weep on some dear breast this agony 
 
 To rest, — on thine, my friend ! Thou answerest 
 
 Not ; none answer me ; that cry was from mine 
 
 Own sad heart. And are they gone ? Nay, I am 
 
 Gone, — gone from my native land. Do friends mine 
 
 Absence mourn, or sigh for my return? Not 
 
 So ; methinks they rather do rejoice at 
 
 My protracted stay. Had they this body 
 
 Frail, consigned to its last resting-place, no 
 
 Lack of tears, no lack of flowers to scatter 
 
 O'er the bier, to sti-ew around the tomb, which 
 
 After all did but contain the mortal 
 
 Flesh inanimate, useless, worthless quite ! 
 
 Ah, friends, at such a time weep not for me ! 
 
 Eejoice rather for and with me. K in 
 
 Thy hearts one spark of love or sympathy 
 
 Thou hast, revive it now, and let me feel 
 
 Its genial warmth I pray, while yet I sojourn 
 
 Here. When I from earth have passed away, I 
 
 Fear ye will not, even theif, your hearts upraise 
 
 To meet mine own ; but t/iere 'twill matter not ' 
 
 So much as here with me ; mine ot\ti I Iviiow 
 
 Will meet and love me there ; their spirit-fonns 
 
 Mine eyes shall see, their loving arms will me 
 
 Enfold ; the music of their voices sweet
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 39 
 
 Will charm mine ear ; what now seems misty, there 
 
 Will be so tangible and real. Then chide 
 
 Me not if I do ask you, here and now. 
 
 To give the love deep-pent within your hearts. 
 
 This clayey tenement treat kindly for 
 
 The spirit' s sake, so long as it the spirit 
 
 Doth enshrine ; when that departs, I crave not 
 
 For the empty barren casket one tear, 
 
 One sigh from thee ; let it return to mother 
 
 Earth from whence it came ; there, tranquilly 
 
 Repose. 
 
 " O, for a sound of life from a 
 Single living thing ! " The cloud of my spirit 
 Doth dwell on beautiful things to-day ; yet 
 I cannot be glad ; the sound of my breath 
 In this stillness deep, distresses me sore. 
 My heart is not sullen, though sad ; for your 
 Silence, dear friends, seems very unkind ; and 
 I — so lonely — must I still live lingering on, 
 Like a trampled passion-flower, torn from its 
 Parent stem ? must I still keep sufiering 
 On, like a martyr, writing the while, and 
 You in silent sweetness remain, as if 
 Fearing to " waste your fragrance on the desert 
 Air " ? Have ye naught to say the spell to break ? 
 I Avould have you make no kiinlly j^retence, 
 For flattering words more pain than pleasure 
 Would give ; a loving rebuke in frankness 
 Given would be more graciously received. 
 One word of sweet encouragement from thee. 
 Would vibrate tenderly on weary heart-strings 
 Now trailing Ioav, wayworn with earthly strife ; 
 But if in me thou 'It not confide, I have 
 Of thee one more request to make ; 't is this : 
 That when on bended knee, with heart upraised, 
 Thou dost for thee and thine a blessing crave, 
 " Forget not wie " ; invoke a blessing on
 
 40 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 My labors too, that I may deck a holier 
 Shriue, sip from a purer fountain, yielding 
 Waters more divine ! 
 
 " Silent friends, fare ye well I 
 Shadows, adieu ! living friends long I've lost, 
 JSTow I lose you. Bitter tears, many I've shed, — 
 None saw them flow ; dreary hours, many I've sped 
 Unknown to you " ; yet in my loneliness — 
 Kindl}^, methought — some still felt toward me, 
 Mocking me not with light speech and hollow words, 
 Grating sore the sad heart, with many ills 
 Sick to the core ; then, if my clouded skies 
 Brightened awhile, seemed your soft, serious eyes 
 Almost to smile ; making me feel not quite 
 Alone, not quite companionless. 
 
 Spirit friends ! 
 Ye read and replied to my questioning thought. 
 "Daughter," ye softly said, "peace to thine heart ! 
 We too — yes, daughter ! — have been as thou art, — 
 Tossed on the troubled waves, life's stormy sea ; 
 Chance and change manifold proving like thee, 
 Hope-lifted, doubt-depressed, seeing in part, 
 Tried, troubled, tempted, sustained, as thou art. 
 Our God is thij God ; what He wills is best ; 
 Trust him as we trusted ; then — rest as toe res^." 
 " Silent friends ! fare ye well ! Shadows ! adieu. 
 One friend abideth still, all changes through." 
 
 " There was a time — sweet time of youthful folly — 
 Fantastic woes I coveted, feigned distress. 
 Wooing the veiled phantom, Melancholy, 
 When heaved the light heart, that knew no real pain. 
 But I have lived to feign the smile of gladness, 
 Wlien all below seemed cheerless, dark, and cold, 
 When all earth's joys were mockery and madness, 
 And life more tedious than a 'tale twice told.' 
 And now — and now — pale, pining Melancholy I
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 41 
 
 Ko longer veil for me your haggard brow 
 In pensive sweetness, such as youthi'ul folly 
 Fondly conceited ; I abjure ye now ! 
 Avv'ay ! avaunt ! no longer now I call ye, 
 'Diviuest Melancholy ! mild, meek maid ' ; 
 No longer may your siren spells enthrall me, 
 A willing captive in your baleful shade ; 
 No lono;er feis^ned distress, fantastic woe ! 
 But for the stricken, the spirit broken. 
 There 's balm in Gilead still ; the very rod, 
 If we kiss it as the stroke descendeth, 
 Distilleth oil t' allay the inflicted smart ; 
 I know my griefs ; but then my consolation, 
 My trust, and my immortal hopes I know. 
 The Christian strife can finish but with finished 
 Life (below) ; the spirit may be all resigned, 
 Yet inly bleed. The willing mind, too, oft 
 IVIay faint, the hopeful eye sink rayless in 
 Despondency." Love's sunshine melting not 
 To tears the drifted sorrows of the heart ; 
 But " in that region of artistic splendor, 
 "Where the angel faces look so tender. 
 Human weakness ncedeth no defender ; 
 In the perfect light of the heavenly city. 
 Souls can read the law of life aright. 
 O, when the circle made complete, shall in 
 Thy boundless being meet, we feel, Ave know 
 That we shall l)e made perfect in our love 
 To thee, holy Father, that good will triumph 
 In that hour, and weakness be exchanged for 
 Power." 
 
 Rest, weary spirit, from thy labors 
 Rest ; thy doul)ts, thy Avrougs, thy painful wanderings I 
 Dread memories are these, cnil)almcd with tears. 
 From which I turn with sick'nins: sisfh. Retrace 
 Not thou the past ; look up, look up, my soul, 
 To loftier mysteries ! Seek out the isles
 
 42 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Of light, where not a passing cloud obscures 
 The sunny scene. Trust in his word to thee 
 Who saith, " All tears shall be wiped from all eyes." 
 And O, my soul ! judge not again at a 
 Single glance, nor pass sentence hastily ; 
 There are many good things in this world of 
 Ours, — many sweet things and rare ! weeds that 
 Prove precious flowers, little dreamt of by thee. 
 Yea, human flowers, that a common observer 
 Passeth by with a scornful lip and a 
 Careless eye, in the heyday of pleasure 
 And pride. Look about, up and down, but take 
 Care ! do not crush the seeming unlovely 
 Flower, for, in truth, there 's beauty in it ; 
 Remove it to some quiet spot, from the 
 IVIid-day sun's broad glare, where domestic peace 
 Broods with dove-like wing, and try if the 
 Homely, despised thing may not yield sweet 
 Fragrance there. All 's not gold that glitters, you 
 Know ; and it is not all worth, that makes the 
 Greatest show in the glare of the strongest 
 Light. 
 
 '\'VTio that hath examined the lovely 
 And modest violet with care, can pass 
 It rudely by ? Its pencilled markings so 
 Exquisitely drawn, its royal shadings 
 Blending so sweetly ; and then, its delicate, 
 Eare perfume ; it thrives and blooms almost che 
 Livelong year ; the summer's heat disturbs it 
 Not ; the winter's chill may for a time its 
 Blossoms check, but oft we 've seen in early 
 Spring, its verdure bright above the snowy 
 Mantled earth appear, and buds lain dormant 
 Ope to the mild breath of April morn. We 
 Have, too, observed that this lowly flower is 
 Not easily crushed, or, ?y crushed, even 
 To the earth, will rise and bloom again for
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 43 
 
 Those who trampled on and nearly did its 
 Life crush out. O, blest indeed the Human 
 Flower whose heart doth so rebound with love 
 To those who break or wound, but never heal ! 
 To such as these methinks Leigh Hunt 's beautiful 
 Allegory will apply. You have doubtless 
 Read it many a time ; so have I, but 
 Never tire, and so will here it insert. 
 
 " Abou Ben Adham — may his tribe increase — 
 Awoke one night from a dream of peace, 
 And saw, within the moonlight in his room 
 Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom, 
 An angel writing in a book of gold. 
 Exceeding peace had made Ben Adham bold, 
 And to the presence in his room he said, 
 ' What writest thou ? ' The vision raised his head, 
 And with a look made all of sweet accord. 
 Answered, ' The names of those who love the Lord.' 
 'And is mine one?' said Abou. 'Nay, not so,' 
 Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low. 
 But cheerily still, and said, ' I pray thee, then, 
 Write me as one that loves his fellow men.' 
 
 The angel wrote and vanished. The next night 
 
 It came again with a great wakening light. 
 
 And showed the names whom love of God had blessed, 
 
 And, lo I Ben Adham's name led all the rest." 
 
 These same little violets, so modest 
 
 And sweet, thrive not so well in the sun 's hot 
 
 Rays as in some quiet sheltered nook ; they bear 
 
 Far better the chill, searching winds and moisture 
 
 Therewith, than the sun's scorching heat. Roses 
 
 Have we, and other flowers gay, which thrive 
 
 Not at all in a cold ungciiial shade ; 
 
 They love the light, and it must have or cease
 
 44 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 To bloom ; e'en then our roses queenly and 
 Fair, many an one, do only give their 
 Blossoms sweet, one mouth in the year ; short-lived 
 Are they, yet beautiful in their time. When we 
 Roam from flower to flower, we know not which we 
 Love the best ; we love, yea, dearly love them 
 All ! No rose, 'tis said, without its thorn. This 
 May be true ; — but when they say a serpent 
 Lurks our sweetest flowers among, believe them 
 Not. Think, rather, that an angel face looks 
 Out from each, although our vision dim discern 
 It not ; no doubt have we that each and all — 
 The very least of us — have guardian angels 
 Us assigned by Him who notes the sparrow 
 Fall. They 're flitting near, all around us and 
 Above, on missions of kindness, compassion, 
 And love. They smile when we 're happy and 
 Good : are less distressed at our weaknesses, 
 Failings, and fears than are we, who so little 
 Of the future may know ; they care for the 
 Least of our innocent joys, and if we but 
 Heed and trust to their care, will lead us to 
 Bloom-beds, bright, lovely ones too, where serpents 
 Harm not, and thorns never grow ; where the 
 Net-work of life flows smoothly on, its meshes 
 All evenly set, its threads so fine, seeming 
 Not to have beginning or end, so deftly 
 Hid. We oft have felt our life below were 
 At the best a tangled web, an instrument 
 Whose keys had ne'er been found in tune. O, 
 In that happy sphere above, may we not 
 Hope the tangled threads will- all come straight ? our 
 Hearts be all attuned to love and truth, the 
 Master-keys of Heaven ? We 've heard that little 
 Infants converse by smiles and signs witli the 
 Guardian band of angels that round about 
 Them shine, unseen by grosser senses. How
 
 THE UZS^SEALED BOOK. 45 
 
 Beautiful the thought ! 'twill be renewed too. 
 Thy childhood heart may receive the same 
 Angelic wisdom ; in after years as 
 Well as now, thou mayst thy thoughts and smiles 
 Bestow upon thy heavenly friends, with them 
 Commune. To some this may a simple fancy 
 Seem, — we deem it wise and true. Precious babes, 
 What ministry like love uuhired ? O Earth ! 
 Earth ! Earth ! when will your sons become " wise as 
 Serpents, harmless as doves"? When will they learn 
 True wisdom, and in singleness of heart 
 Be wilUng that even " a little child 
 Shall lead them"? 
 
 " Lord, my God ! if I have done this ! " 
 " Help, Lord ! for the godly man ceaseth ; for the faithful fail 
 from among the children of men." 
 
 Silent friends, — but wait, are ye friends? ye surely 
 
 Are not silent ones ; would to God ye were, 
 
 For your own souls' good ! Toward me only were 
 
 Ye silent. ]My heart and my strength failed me. 
 
 " My harp also was turned to mourning, and 
 
 My organ into the voice of them that weep." 
 
 The days went by, I could not write, — why? My 
 
 Verj'^ heart's blood was congealed by your icy 
 
 Coldness ; the sun refused its warm and genial 
 
 Eays to lend, to melt away the frozen 
 
 Tears which dimmed my eyes as well. Should I, or 
 
 Could I if I would, distil its chilling 
 
 Breath? Nay, I could not if I would, nor would 
 
 I if I could. Methoui^ht to wait for briijhter 
 
 Days to come, e'er I my thoughts poured forth 
 
 Again : I waited long, and then — My God I 
 
 My God ! Who hath done this ? Have mercy I 
 
 Have mercy I
 
 46 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 "Save me, God, for the waters are come in unto my 
 soul." 
 
 " Plead my cause, Lord, with them that strive with me." 
 " Make haste, God, to deliver me ; make haste to help me, 
 Lord." 
 
 "For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could 
 have borne it : neither was it he that hated me that did magnify 
 himself against me ; theu I would have hid myself from him : 
 
 But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine ac- 
 quaintance. 
 
 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of 
 God in company." 
 
 " Lord, how long wilt thou look on ? Eescue my soul," I be- 
 seech thee. 
 
 " For they speak not peace : but they devise deceitful matters 
 against them that are quiet in the land." But as for me, " I be- 
 haved myself as though he had been my friend or brother : when 
 they were sick I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer 
 returned unto mine own bosom." 
 
 " Have mercy upon me, Lord, for I am in trouble ; my life is 
 spent with grief." 
 
 *'I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially 
 among my neighbors, and a fear to mine acquaintance." 
 
 " For I have heard the slander of many." 
 
 "When my father and my mother forsake me," then wilt thou, 
 
 Lord, " take me up " ? 
 
 " Because for thy sake I have borne reproach ; I am become a 
 stranger unto my brethren and an alien unto my mother's chil- 
 dren." 
 
 " They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of 
 mine head." Hear me, Lord. 
 
 " Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink : let me be 
 delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. 
 
 Let not the water-flood overflow me, neither let the deep swal- 
 low me up. 
 
 Hear me, Lord, and hide not thy face from thy servant; for 
 
 1 am in trouble : hear me speedily. 
 
 Draw nigh unto my soul and redeem it : deliver me because of 
 mine enemies. 
 Eeproach hath broken my heart ; and I am full of heaviness :
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 47 
 
 and I looked for some to take pity, but there "was none ; and for 
 comforters, but I found none." 
 
 "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded 
 spirit who can hear ? " 
 
 Ah ! One hath borne, one alone 
 Of earth-born sons hath borne, suffered, yea. 
 Conquered, all below. Ho feels, he knows it 
 All. In agony, he wept and prayed for — 
 Whom ? For those who knew not what they did. O 
 Jesu I meek and mild, teach us to pray ! to 
 Love as thou hast loved ! Think ye, dear friends, liis 
 Agonizing tears and prayers were caused l)y 
 Suff 'rings bodily ? or by a contemplation 
 Of the same ? Hear ye his words : " Thinkest thou 
 That I cannot now pray to my Father, 
 And he shall presently give me more than 
 Twelve legions of angels ? " 
 
 " Behold, the time cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be 
 scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone : and 
 yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me." 
 
 Believed they this ? Nay, not one of all the 
 Twelve believed ; not one could comprehend his 
 Words, when he said unto them — 
 
 " All ye shall be offended because of mo this night : for it is 
 written I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall 
 be scattered abroad. 
 
 Peter ansAvered and said unto him, Though all men shall be 
 offended because of thee, yet will / never be offended. 
 
 Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that this night, 
 before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. 
 
 Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I 
 not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples." 
 
 Alas for frail 
 Human nature I Gethsemane, thou garden 
 Fair. If thou couldst speak, how much ye might
 
 48 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Reveal ; how much of mental sorrow, combined 
 
 With anguished love, record ! 'T was here, alone 
 
 He prayed, while his companions slept ; yea, those 
 
 Very ones who had their constancy proclaimed 
 
 In tones so strong ! To them the Master said, 
 
 "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even 
 
 Unto death : tarry ye here, and watch with 
 
 Me." Ho bowed his face unto the earth in 
 
 Agony too deep for utterance : when he 
 
 Arose his watchers slept. How mildly he 
 
 Them chides with words which tell the secret grief 
 
 Within : " Could ye not watch with me one Jiour?'^ 
 
 And then, as if to remove even the 
 
 Shadow of a reproach, he adds : " The spirit 
 
 Truly is willing, but the Jlesh is weak." 
 
 He asks them not again to watch ; twice more 
 
 Alone he prays, saying, 
 
 " my Father, if this cnp may not pass away from me except I 
 drink it, thy will be done. 
 
 And then appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strength- 
 ening him." 
 
 Then turning to his silent friends he saith, " Sleep on now and 
 take your rest." 
 
 Again he saith, " ISTeither pray I for these alone, but for them 
 also which shall believe on me through their word. 
 
 That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in 
 thee, that they also may be one in us. 
 
 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in 
 one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and 
 hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 
 
 I have given them thy word ; and the world hath hated them, 
 because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the 
 world. 
 
 I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but 
 that thou shouldst keep them from the evil." 
 
 To his disciples he saith, " These things have I spoken unto 
 you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have 
 tribulation : but be of good cheer ; I have overcome the world."
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 49 
 
 My Lord and my God ! 
 Wilt thou keep me from the evil ? Although in 
 The world I still have tribulation, may I in 
 Thee have peace ! I cannot now, I dare not 
 Hope to ever in earth-life say, — 
 
 " The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places." Yet I will 
 love thee, Lord, my strength. 
 
 " Thou tellest my wanderings : put thou my tears into thy bottle : 
 are they not in thy book ? 
 
 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back : this 
 I know, for God is for me." 
 
 " How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, God ! how 
 great is the sum of them ! They are more in number than the 
 sand." 
 
 " Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morn- 
 ing." Therefore " will I call upon God ; and the Lord shall save 
 me; evening, morning, and at noon will I pray and cry aloud; 
 and he shall hear my voice." 
 
 He shall deliver my soul in peace from 
 The battle that is against me : for there are many 
 With me, yea, many. Ask ye who they are ? 
 From whence they come ? They are a wliite-robed, 
 Happy band, who once did toil as I do 
 Here: I knew them well. They come from that 
 Celestial sphere where I hope soon (God willing) 
 Togo. What come they for ? God's messengers 
 Are they to me, bearing sweet words of hope, 
 Encouragement, and love. What say they to 
 Me? "You strive to conquer," saith one ; another, 
 " You will not always row against the tide " ; 
 And still another, "You will yet see the 
 Purpose of all you are passing through." I 
 Might go on at length, but this must now suffice. 
 As for me, blessed Lord, I shall be satisfied 
 "When I awake with thy likeness."
 
 50 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 O Lord, 
 
 How good thou art ! Not only hast thou 
 Given me communings with the angel 
 World, but hast also vouchsafed me tidings 
 From afar, from earth-friends dear, as these 
 Letters three denote. "O my heart ! is all 
 Indeed so changed ? or art thou the changeling, 
 Sore aweary now at times of all beneath 
 The sun?" Precious letters ! penned by loving 
 Hands. Abundant proof ye bring, that e'en on 
 This terrestrial sphere are living hearts 
 And loving ones, that still remember me. 
 The first is from a mind advanced, though still 
 Li years a youth. Development to him 
 Has come through sad experience of mind 
 And heart. To use his own language, — 
 
 " I started in life with as high an aspiration as a man could 
 have ; with a desire to do right, and to hve up to right and truth, 
 in all things that constitute true manhood in all the relations of 
 life. This, from the inmost recess of my soul, I now believe to be 
 impossible. Do not think that I am faint-hearted ; to me fear is 
 unknown ; but the utter worthlessness of men has led me to al- 
 most despise my race. Men's interests are opposed to truth and 
 right, in every relation in life ; and when we are brought in con- 
 tact with them, the result is, they endeavor to constrain and crush 
 us. Therefore, had we not better give up the struggle and float 
 with the tide ? 
 
 If I should preach what I believe to ie truth, I should be com- 
 pletely estranged from society (I almost hate the word). What 
 can one do, unless one become completely independent of the 
 world ? If I had only gone with the tide, my life would have been 
 so much more happy ! I might have become (as a reverend gen- 
 tleman expressed it) ' a light in society, an ornament in the church, 
 and a defender of the faith.' And instead what? Denounced 
 publicly from the pulpit as a most ' dangerous infidel, who would 
 almost shake the faith of an apostle ' ; shunned by many who are 
 afraid of des])oiling their garments by coming in contact with me. 
 This is the fate of such as mc; and I repeat, is it worth the cost
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 51 
 
 to continue the struggle ? If we do, just as sure as we live, we 
 shall keep drifting farther away from the world's opinions. Do 
 you imagine all have reached the omega of our knowledge? ISTo, 
 not by any means ; we are only Just started on the road that leads 
 — where, can you tell ? I am in a kind of troubled doubt and 
 uncertainty as regards many things. Duty and the future lead 
 me one way, while the experience I have undergone points me to 
 the doctrine of Darwin, of the ' survival of the fittest.' In all (if 
 life and its relations, the first points to a glorious future, that will 
 atone for all the trials of life. The latter chains me down to the 
 fearful doctrine of materialism. The first says. Do your dut'i 
 fearlessly, 7io matter what comes or goes ; while the latter says, 
 Do the best you can, only for yourself. Do you see the fearful 
 difference between the two doctrines ? " 
 
 Yes, brother, I see, comprehend in part, not all. The first, as 
 regards duty, with the glorious future awaiting the performance 
 of the same, I believe to be an established fact, as beautiful as it 
 is true ; and let me ask what higher incentive there can be to " do 
 your duty fearlessly, no matter what comes or goes," than this? 
 As to the materialistic views, I confess to a blissful ignorance, so 
 far as my own experience is concerned. If yours is a true repre- 
 sentation of riie same, I hope and pray that it is only pointed out 
 to you as a dangerous path, wherein if you walk the " result and 
 the end " will bo more difficult to determine than the first-named 
 one, of duty and truth. 
 
 O brother, beware ! tamper not with these, 
 
 Nor suffer your mind to be in a "strait 
 
 Betwixt two " ; your better judgment I am 
 
 Sure will incline to the first, although, as 
 
 You say, 'tis easier far to float with the 
 
 Tide. The road to destruction hath ever 
 
 Been broad, and many there are w'ho walk 
 
 Therein ; while " straight and narrow " the path which 
 
 Leads to Heaven and God ; though few as 3^et 
 
 Have follow^ed the same. But what, my dear friend, 
 
 "Would be the result if these same few were 
 
 All to turn back and "float with the tide"? 
 
 And what saith the Scripture of liim who "puttcth
 
 52 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 His hcand to the plough " and looks back ? A bad 
 
 Promise, we know, is "better broken than kept" ; 
 
 Not so a good one ; 'tis better to not 
 
 Vow, than to vow and not pay. We have, as 
 
 You say, but started on the road that leads — 
 
 You ask where ? Doth echo answer. Where ? Nay, 
 
 Brother ; an angel whispers in mine ear, 
 
 "To the tree of life." If we indeed a 
 
 Gift possess, vouchsafed but only to the 
 
 Few, O let us cultivate the same, and 
 
 May the fruit it doth produce bear evidence 
 
 That we of no "false gift" make boast, which same 
 
 Is like " clouds and wind without rain " unto 
 
 A parched and barren soil. The waves are dashing 
 
 High about us now : the tide we row against 
 
 Is strong : the waters almost overflow 
 
 Our frail and slender bark ; yet One hath said, 
 
 "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; 
 
 And here shall thy proud waves be stayed." 
 
 Then let us hope the tide will soon begin , 
 
 To fall, the sea of life will grow more calm. 
 
 There' s one thing more I wish to say ; wert thou 
 
 A "scorner," I it should leave unsaid, lest 
 
 Thou me "hate" ; I know thy wisdom doth mine 
 
 Own exceed in many things, perhaps in 
 
 This ; yet 1 have sometimes feared thy fellow 
 
 Men did scarce from thee justice receive ; 
 
 Justice of thought I mean, as regards their 
 
 Purposes and intents ; in other words. 
 
 That thou wert lacking in that " charity 
 
 Which covereth a multidude of sins." 
 
 Many, and I believe the majority 
 
 Of our race, sin thoughtlessly, and more 
 
 Through ignorance, than from an evil 
 
 Purpose at heart. Another thought still suggests 
 
 Itself to my mind, in regard to "drifting 
 
 Away from the world's opinions " ; may we
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 53 
 
 Not ill this even, go too fast and too 
 Far, turning the blessing into a curse, 
 By thinking only of ourselves, instead 
 Of lending a helping hand to brethren 
 And sisters who are still weak in the faith ? 
 K we to these can impart the knowledge 
 Attained by us through sorrows deep, through 
 Trials sore, will they not escape in part. 
 At least, the quicksands from which we escaped 
 But with life ? and may we not count on a 
 Blessing ourselves ? for " he that watereth 
 Shall be watered also himself." "We must 
 Bear in mind that " the tongue of the just is 
 As choice silver " ; and that " the lips of the 
 Righteous feed many." If we from higher ours 
 Receive, methinks we must to lower give what 
 They unto our souls transmit. We are not 
 Alone in the strusfgle, although at times it 
 May so seem ; and many I know who are to 
 Us dear, have no desire to follow or 
 By us be led ; others there are, less dear 
 To ourselves it may be, whose souls do hunger 
 And thirst for this meat and drink. "There are 
 Whom in our daily path we greet coldly 
 Familiar, ev'n so to meet, muid to mind 
 Stranger : while a moment's space, mystical 
 Interchansfc of tone or look, binds us to 
 Others in strong sympathy, fast and 
 Forever." 
 
 I trust, dear brother, that you will not take offence at my plain- 
 ness of speech. My heart's desire and prayer, for yon and for all 
 who are workers with us in the cause, is, that ye " feed the flock 
 of God which is among you, taking the oversijrht thereof, not by 
 constraint, but willingly ; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. 
 Neither as being lords over God's heritaire, but being ensamplcs to 
 the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall 
 receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."
 
 54 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Extract from Letter No. 2. 
 
 ""We received yoar book Christmas day, for which many 
 thanks. In regard to the work, I am surprised that you have 
 been able to so clearly express your views on this peculiar subject; 
 I hardly think any one, after reading it, will question your sincer- 
 ity in regard to the same. Aside from the subject in question, 
 think you have made some pretty good hits. I am afraid the book 
 will not be a pecuniary success for many reasons, the most con- 
 spicuous one, your ideas of free love, matrimony, etc. You, nor 
 I, nor the next generation, will live to see the world governed by 
 love to such an extent that we shall need no laws in regard to 
 matrimony. You are older than I am ; but if you had seen and 
 known as much, even, as I have, of the hidden lives of some men 
 and women who are considered upright and honorable, I am sure 
 you would very materially change your views. 
 
 You no doubt will think it strange that I should know of so 
 
 much that is bad. Tiie four years that I was in were very 
 
 pleasant ones to me in some respects, but I learned tp almost 
 think virtue was a thing of the past. But enough of this ; and 
 please remember that, however much I may differ from you in 
 opinion, I shall always love you, and shall noA^er think you will do 
 aught but what you believe to be 7'iglit." 
 
 We are very glad this letter was written, as it gives us an 
 opportunity of correcting some little " misunderstoods." 
 
 The first error which we note is one that we foresaw and men- 
 tioned in the beginning of this book, namely, — giving all the 
 credit, or discredit, as the case might be, to the instrument 
 througli which the same was transmitted. 
 
 As to the " pecuniary success " of the book, it was written with 
 no such purpose or intent; had there been no higher aim in view, 
 it would never have been before the public. 
 
 A reverend brother of ours, who has been for years a zealous 
 worker in the cause, informs us that though several thousand 
 copies of a work which he published have been sold, he has not 
 made a dollar from it yet, at the same time is accused of doing it 
 to make money. 
 
 Next, we find " your ideas of free love, matrimony, etc." We 
 will take the first, giving a quotation from the book (" Misun- 
 derstood ") concerning the same : —
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 55 
 
 " There never has been, there never can be, 
 
 A love upon earth, a love in the sky. 
 Other than this, — a love which is free I 
 
 Love is unlike every other thing, 
 You cannot control it by force of will, 
 
 Nor can you hy force the sentiment bring. 
 It must be spontaneous, it must be free, 
 
 Else it is not love." 
 
 This assertion is true, and we shall it maintain ; against love 
 there is no law, neither can there be, for " God is love " and love 
 is born of God. 
 
 Eegarding matrimony, we claim it must be based upon love 
 alone, to be sanctioned by the great All- Wise; anything short of 
 this is adultery in the eyes of Him who " looketh upon the 
 heart." As to token the world should be so ruled by. love that we 
 should need no laws in this respect, we did not pretend to fix the 
 date, althougli the answer will be found in the following quota- 
 tion from said book : — 
 
 " ' God and not woman is the head of all ' ; 
 'For thy Maker is thine husband'; 
 When all have learned to recognize this truth, 
 The true marriage will have been established ; 
 When he that is married careth more for 
 The things 'that belong to the Lord ' than for those 
 Which belong to his wife, and when the wife 
 Careth more for the things which ' please the Lord * 
 Than for the things whicli may please her husband, 
 When both become ' holy in body and in spirit,' 
 These things will strengthen the bond ; 
 They will need no law to bind them to it." 
 
 When this time does arrive, as we have said, people will bo a 
 "law unto themselves," not only in this respect, but in all re- 
 spects. " The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the law- 
 less and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners." That 
 the world contains many such, and doubtless will do so for gen- 
 erations to come, who can only be kept in check by law, we do not 
 pretend to deny ; we have, however, endeavored to make it plain 
 to you that it is not free love, or any other love, Avhich makes 
 the law a necessity, but lust, which ye yourselves make free, 
 and then endeavor to confound with it ; (they will no more mix
 
 56 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 than will oil and water.) Not satisfied with this, you strive to 
 "wash your hands" clear of the whole matter by casting it as a 
 reproach upon Spiritualism ; linking them together in your con- 
 versation as if they "twain were one flesh," when in reality 
 Spiritualism is no more closely allied to these things than is any 
 other sect or ism, A celebrated clergyman thus writes of Spir- 
 itualism : " Many suppose it gives license to the animal part of 
 our nature, while the reverse is true. We can safely say that 
 during the score of years we have been investigating it from 
 Boston to Louisiana, we have never found higher motives for 
 purity of heart and life than we have always found in the teach- 
 ings from this source." I candidly believe if the " bottom facts " 
 were known, there would be found less corruption and impurity 
 among Spiritualists than among any other class of people ; your 
 own words even, bear me out in this, when you speak of the 
 *' hidden lives " of those who are considered " upright and honor- 
 able." I have known a great many Spiritualists, but have never 
 been intimately acquainted with one whom I believe would thus 
 debase his or her soul. I think all true Spiritualists will indorse 
 our opinion. 
 
 A word as to these " hidden lives. " It is one of the great pur- 
 poses of the spirit world to bring these same to light ; and the 
 day is coming when they shall no longer be hidden. " Yea, more 4 
 the time is not distant when the conviction of the presence of 
 spirit friends shall be so clear, that men shall understand how 
 the hidden things of this world are to be revealed, and men 
 shall hnoio that they walk, speak, and sin in the presence of an- 
 gels ivho can reveal all." A foreshadowing of this truth is even 
 now upon the minds of the people, and is the principal reason 
 why so many are afraid to investigate the subject of Spiritualism. 
 Of course those who are in reality " upuaght and honorable " have 
 nothing to fear; those who are falsely considered so may well 
 tremble, for they have nearly " had their day." 
 
 Instead of thinking with you that " virtue " is a thing of " the 
 past," we think it was hardly known in the past, but is to he in 
 the future, when " all hearts are open, all desires known," and 
 when " no secrets are hid." 
 
 We would here say that the above communication is not to be 
 considered in the slightest degree a personal one. It is such an 
 one as the subject demanded from us, and from the bearings of
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 57 
 
 the letter, we took occasion to give it forth ; at the same time be- 
 lieving the writer thereof to be not only " considered " upright 
 and honorable, but to be so, in every sense of the word, and one 
 whose character is above suspicion. 
 
 As for letter number three, 
 Long will it remembered be : 
 Sweet home flowers ! Precious token 
 Of friendship pure, unshaken. 
 
 " He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many 
 waters." 
 
 Yea, he made my heart once more to rejoice and feel the warmth 
 and sunshine of his love : 
 
 He smiled upon me, and blessed my labors of love ; he made the 
 earth once more to look bright and blossom as the rose. 
 
 He made me to feel that friends I had, both warm and true ; 
 not only the long tried, but new ones raised he up to me. 
 
 Yea, in a land of strangers, and they took me in, they gave me 
 bread and meat. 
 
 They gave mo, too, their counsels wise, their warm and loving 
 sympathy, and cheered my heart when lone and sad. 
 
 For this, Lord, I bless thy name and all thy goodness 
 own. 
 
 Keep me, God, from sin ; help me thy work to do in thine 
 appointed way. 
 
 Bless these, my friends, and recompense their kindly deeds and 
 acts of love. 
 
 Teach them, teach us, Lord, to trust in thee, and verily we 
 shall be fed. 
 
 Alas, alas ! How weak, bow frail am 1 1 
 How vain the lofty structure I did rear ! 
 But one short day ago the earth seemed fair, 
 My heart the home of light and love to be ; 
 Sweet peace did reign within my soul ; surely, 
 Thought I, no earthly storms can shake again 
 My firm unyielding faith in God, my trust
 
 58 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 In these, my spirit guides, who have me led 
 Through waters deep, sustaining by their love 
 And might when all things earthly seemed to fail, 
 My soul fast sinking in despair from grief. 
 Alas ! I say, these thoughts were vain ; e'en now 
 "The dream is past," the lights have fled, and I 
 Again in darkness grope. O, why must dreams 
 So quickly fade ? and why must all the light 
 Go hence, when seemingly we need it most? 
 Drew He me from the waters forth, just for 
 One breath of sweet fresh air, and then must I 
 Be plunged again ; and deeper, deeper still ? 
 Am I so deeply stained by sin, that this 
 Alone, can cleanse my soul and purify 
 My heart? 'T was said by one of olden time, 
 "A man's heart deviseth his way : but the 
 Lord directeth his steps." He seems not so 
 To do by me. Is it because I'm only 
 A woman? Nay, I think that cannot be. 
 For his " ways are equal," ( I would that men's 
 Were so !) Why, then, doth he hide his face ? 
 The proverb seems reversed to me ; he permits 
 Me not to devise my ways ; my angel 
 Guides, His messengers, do that, and then, leave 
 All the rest to me, directing not my 
 Steps ; at least it so unto me seems. I . 
 Here had found a resting-place, although 'twas 
 From my home afar, beneath a stranger's 
 Roof; yet these had been unto me kind. I 
 Loved them well, and gladly would with them 
 Remain for times to come : but no. "Go forth," 
 They say, " another mission to perform. 
 No longer must ye tarry here, for other 
 Work have you to do." I ask the time, the 
 Way, the means; and what reply? Silence 
 Profound. They once had said, " Further south." 
 'When shall it be, where shall it be, and howf
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 59 
 
 My purse is empty : I cannot go "without 
 
 Money and without price " ! Even could I, 
 
 The way I know not, neither the work ; then 
 
 Why, I say, do these my angel friends refuse 
 
 Their aid to lend ? Silence I 've borne from 
 
 Earthly friends, yet that with this could not 
 
 Compare ; since long ago I left them all, 
 
 My spirit work to do : from them it seems 
 
 Not half so strange, so hard to bear, as from 
 
 The dear ones " gone before," who know full well 
 
 My griefs and cares. A friend doth say, " 'Tis but 
 
 A passing cloud, fear not, for He will lead 
 
 Thee in paths thou hast not known, and will also 
 
 The crooked ways make plain." God grant it may 
 
 Be so, for " tears have been my meat day and 
 
 Night, " while to my heart I continually say, 
 
 " Where is now thy God ? " Deep calleth unto 
 
 Deep, yet they answer not ; the light is all 
 
 Darkness, else my eyes are blinded that I 
 
 Cannot see the light, or the way to go. • 
 
 My prayers and my tears alike seem vain. 
 
 But list I an angel whisper borne on the 
 
 Breeze : " Be still and know that I am God." Yea, 
 
 Gladly will I be still and wait for thee. 
 
 'T is all that I can do ; no power have I 
 
 Of myself to help myself. I '11 gladly 
 
 " Eest in thee." " Shall not God search this out ? 
 
 For he knowcth the secrets of the heart." 
 
 " As the hart panteth after the water 
 
 Brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O 
 
 God." 
 
 Here cometh a letter from one who is kind and true hearted, 
 who loves both me and the cause which I espouse. Note the con- 
 tents : — 
 
 "I have read a little at a time in your book often, and it has 
 been good for me. After reading I feel as if I could go on with
 
 60 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 the duties of life more faithfully, cheerfully, and hopefully. I 
 wish you and your spirit friends to remember me, and may the 
 good your writings do, never end. As I understand it, spirit 
 friends dictate and you write. I had hoped that your photograph 
 would have been in the book ; not that / forget how you look, or 
 ever expect to, but it would have been pleasant to have shown it 
 to my friends. 
 
 I have it in my heart to send you a dollar ; not that I think 
 you are writing for money, but I hope that your writings will 
 
 bring you all that you need. Mr. was in here ; said he had 
 
 read your book, and it was well gotten up, but had no preface. 1 
 consider the hooh a preface to more books that you will write, and 
 hope your writings will be a consolation to many, and comfort 
 and strengthen them in their path of duty." 
 
 What mystic power hath words like these ? Not all 
 
 In vain our labors seem, as we had almost 
 
 Feared at times. If what we give doth comfort 
 
 Some, and strengthen in discharge of duty, 
 
 A consolation it will bring unto 
 
 Ourselves, who can but justly claim the small 
 
 Amount of credit due the instrument 
 
 Through which it come. Our willingness is all 
 
 Our plea ; our highest endeavor should be 
 
 To keep ourselves in tune, that no discordant 
 
 Notes go forth to mar the truth and beauty 
 
 Of the teachings conveyed through our frail powers. 
 
 Thou dear kind friend, we \W11 indeed thee in 
 
 Eemembrance keep. Thy life hath had its " ups 
 
 And downs," its trials sore and hard to bear. 
 
 From sorrow's cup thou deep hast drunk, thy heart 
 
 Hath too been racked with pain for those unto 
 
 Thee near and dear, who still in earthly 
 
 Habitations dwell. Through all these years of 
 
 Change and chance (if chance it be) thou hast the 
 
 Gem of faith kept bright, and showTi thyself a 
 
 Mother kind and true to those intrusted 
 
 To your care. We love thee well, we thank thee
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 61 
 
 For thy words of sweet encouragement ; they 
 
 Are as manna to a hungry soul ; we 
 
 Also appreciate the kindness of your 
 
 Warm, generous heart, whose impulse is to 
 
 Us assist ; thy money, dear one, we must 
 
 Decline, for others there are nearer to 
 
 Thee akin who need it more. Our thanks and 
 
 Blessing all the same we gratefully bestow : 
 
 May angels pure and holy thee attend 
 
 Guiding unto thy home above. 
 
 Last night 
 
 There came to me a friend ; I say a friend, 
 
 And yet I never saw or heard of him 
 
 Before. The angels him did send I 'm sure, 
 Or rather did conduct him here, for not 
 
 Alone came he : a double purpose in 
 
 His coming I do see, — encouragement 
 
 Unto myself, also a matter to 
 
 Search out. To him is given food for thought, 
 
 A mystery to solve. Beginning with 
 
 The first of these : by conversation I 
 
 Did find his native town was near mine own. 
 
 He left the same long years ago, his mind 
 
 Intent on college lore. His studies he 
 
 A time pursued, then joined the ranks of 
 
 Soldiers filed to liberate the slave from 
 
 Bondage. A brave soldier he may have been, 
 
 But for all that his heart was captured by 
 
 One of the foe, — a girl, the "most beautiful 
 
 Creature he ever saw." The result you 
 
 May guess. As 't is " home where the heart is," 
 
 He has since dwelt South ; says he has " one of 
 
 The very best wives that ever lived, only 
 
 One thing is lacking in her, — she 's not 
 
 Musical." Ten years have elapsed since 
 
 He has visited his early home. He 
 
 Had many friends whose names were familiar
 
 62 THE mfSEALED BOOK. 
 
 To me, some few with whom I had been 
 Personally acquainted. Of these we 
 Conversed ; and to me, who for months had not 
 Met with an individual who had 
 Ever set eyes on a person that I 
 Knew, it was a rare treat. 
 
 His object in coming to me I will now relate. He had heard 
 of me as a spiritual medium ; said he was not a believer in spirit 
 communion, from the fact that he could obtain no evidence of the 
 same. He believed himself to be open to conviction ; had several 
 times witnessed the "table-tipping"; but the moment he laid his 
 hands thereon, all demonstrations ceased ; said if he could con- 
 verse with his own mother, he should be convinced, and it would 
 give him much pleasure. Another friend of mediumistic powers 
 being present, we first sat to ascertain the rule of action ; were 
 informed that our visitor had a spirit friend present, who would 
 like to give his name, and converse with him. We inquired if our 
 friend should put his hands on the table. They said, " Yes " ; 
 and he did so. Our hands, as usual, had been placed lightly on 
 the table, which was quite a heavy one. Before he laid his hands 
 upon it, however, it came up with a light, easy movement, as if it 
 had been but a feather's weight, rapping out replies to all of our 
 questions. The moment he placed his hands thereon, all was as 
 silent as the grave, the table seemed as firm and immovable as if 
 it had been nailed to the floor. 
 
 We sat there a long time, but no " voice nor sound " broke the 
 stillness, until our friend removed his hands from the table, when 
 it again raised lightly up, and we endeavored by questionings to 
 solve the mystery. This we could not do, but obtained a promise 
 that it should be done at some future time. The spirit who wished 
 to converse with our friend then gave his name, and lo ! it was 
 a soldier-companion who had been shot doion at his side; further- 
 more, he was from my native town. His family I knew, but was 
 entirely ignorant of the time, place, and circumstances of his death. 
 Our friend, who well knew the particulars regarding the same, 
 then inquired of him thereof, and every question was correctly 
 ansiuered. The name of the place at which he was killed was 
 spelled out, the date, hour of the day, etc., given, with sundry 
 other tests proving his identity beyond a doubt (to us at least).
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 63 
 
 The following message was also given: "You will be convinced 
 of this truth tlirough me if I can have the right conditions." We 
 asked what those conditions were ; and he gave us to understand 
 that he was a trance medium, doubtless thinking if he could have 
 an opportunity to talk '-'face to face" with his friend, he could no 
 longer doubt. 
 
 That the eyes of hia understanding may be opened, is our fervent 
 desire and prayer. 
 
 This, dear friends, is but one instance of the proofs of spirit 
 communion which are daily occurring in our midst, stirring the 
 surface of the soil, awakening the minds of the people, and en- 
 grossing their time and attention ; not only giving them food for 
 thought, but inspiring them to put that thought into action; 
 some in one direction, and some in another, "to the end that their 
 glory may sing praises to thee, Lord, and not be silent." Noble 
 and intelligent minds are being impressed to write the thoughts 
 given them by wise and truthful spirits from a higher sphere. The 
 Lord, through his appointed agencies, is preparing to break down 
 and scatter the walls of superstition and ignorance by which the 
 people have been hemmed in on every side. For this, Lord, we 
 praise and bless thy glorious name, praying thee for a furtherance 
 of the same in thine own appointed way, by thy well-chosen means 
 and instruments. We know little of this people, so far as worldly 
 wealth and knowledge are concerned, yet of this are we assured • 
 many are seeking the true wisdom from on high, which neither 
 gold or silver can buy. 
 
 " There be four things which be little upon the earth, but they 
 are exceeding wise : 
 
 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in 
 the summer. 
 
 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in 
 the rocks. 
 
 The locusts have no king, yet they go forth all of them by 
 bands. 
 
 The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' pal- 
 aces." 
 
 Wilt thou, Lord, vouchsafe to hear our prayer in behalf of 
 this people; though they be "not strong " as yet, may they in- 
 crease more and more in the knowledge and love of thee, and of 
 thy manifold works.
 
 64 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 And may they, in the summer of their lives on earth, prepare 
 for themselves both meat and drink spiritual, from which their 
 souls shall be fed in the bright summer-land toward which their 
 hopes and labors tend. 
 
 May they, like the conies, "build their houses in the rocks," 
 Jesus Christ the righteous being the chief corner-stone. 
 
 Like the locusts may they have no earthly king, but each one 
 go forth, guided and directed by his own spirit band, which same 
 will him protect, nor suffer to be led astray. 
 
 May we not also hope these mediums of God's mercy and 
 love may, by their "faith and good works," make manifest 
 the spiritual element of the same in its purity and truth, 
 and be enabled in time, like the spider, to enter even "kings' 
 palaces." 
 
 These things, Lord, will ye do unto them, and forsake them 
 not. 
 
 my friends beloved, my heart is filled with deep emotions and 
 strong; some of pleasure mingled with much of pain. I take 
 pleasure in the atmosphere which I breathe, and rejoice in the 
 society of hearts and minds congenial to mine own, whose souls 
 also take delight in those things which, as Ave are daily assured, 
 " please the Lord." But " the heart knowcth its own bitterness," 
 and in all our lives the bitter is mingled with the sweet. As you 
 well know, I 'm but a stranger and a sojourner in the land. These 
 people are not my people, although their God is my God, and with 
 them I rejoice and glorify his holy name for all his wondrous 
 works. And then, my friends, will come to me distressing 
 thoughts and sad, of another people, beloved and cherished still 
 by me, but " 0, how lofty are their eyes ! and their eyelids are 
 lifted up." Yea, wise are they in their own conceits ; thinking 
 their own righteousness doth exceed the righteousness of many of 
 God's chosen and elect, who are beneatli them in point of worldly 
 honor and estate. I speak not now of myself, nor are the pains I 
 bear so much for me as for those who have shut the door of their 
 hearts lest the " spirit of truth " should enter therein. It doth 
 seem to me strange, a mystery beyond compare, that earth friends 
 can treat their dear ones gone before with sucli undisguised cool- 
 ness, giving them not the slightest opportunity of making them- 
 selves or their conditions known. I wonder not that such as these 
 cling fondly to their earth-born hopes, and shrink from death's
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 65 
 
 embrace, trembling with fear at his near approach; for "king of 
 terrors " is his name to them. 
 
 what, clear friends, would be your fate, if these in turn should 
 you desert in that, to you, sad, trying hour ? should fail your spiv- 
 its to conduct unto that home which they, in love, have helped 
 prepare for you ? Sometimes, loved ones, when thoughts like 
 these fill all my soul, I long on bended knee before each one to 
 pray, beseech, enforce a knowledge of the same. My life for this 
 1 would resign. You will doubtless think that of little worth, 
 either unto myself or you, since I have given you to know, death 
 would be to me a " sweet release." But, friends, mine own dear 
 ones, there Avas a time, and that not long agonc, when life to 
 me seemed bright and fair. I had no wish to leave, even for a 
 brighter home I could but feel awaited me. I also thought tlie 
 time was near at hand, and what I had here to do must be " done 
 quickly." The work in which I was engaged I felt would bo my 
 last on earth. I was inspired to work with zeal when health and 
 strength seemed failing fast. This work I must not leave unlin- 
 ished. There were three obvious reasons for its accomplishment : 
 my own peace of mind ; the satisfaction of my spirit guides, who 
 directed and controlled my efforts for the purpose; and last, bat 
 not least, my beloved friends, the hope of awakening in your own 
 minds a desire to search for this knowledge, and that ye might 
 seek for it as for "hid treasures." Am I satisfied ? I surely have 
 great peace of mind. I have reason to believe that my i^pirit 
 friends are rejoiced at what they have been enabled to accomplish 
 through me. Spiritualhj, I have great cause for thankfulness. 
 Although in the world I have had much tribulation, and have, 
 because of this work and this faith, been made to feel that many 
 dear earthly friends, in whose behalf Avere these labors, have tram- 
 pled upon the same. I entered not thoughtlessly into this work, 
 nor was I wholly unprepared for the contemptuous reception of 
 the same by you. I ofttimes felt, while writing, like one who 
 "sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not." Xor have I 
 changed, dear friends, in my love toward you ; my desire to you 
 aid grows with my groAvth in spiritual knowledge, and strength- 
 ens with my strength of purpose. I am persuaded tliat the Lord 
 hath begun a good Avork in your hearts, although as yet ye are 
 unAvilling to acknoAvledgc the same. Had I changed, dear friend.--. 
 I should be elscAvise employed. Instead of penning Avhat I do
 
 66 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 here, and seeming to you reproach, I should return to you, and on 
 bended knee beseech of you — what? Surely not to look after 
 jonr oivn souW needs ; nay, but simply to overlook and forgive 
 all that may have been said or written to disturb the equanimity 
 of your own self-conceit; steadfastly promising you that, from 
 this time forward, the unwelcome subject should not be so much 
 as named among you, or in any manner brought before the public, 
 lest your own shortcomings be made manifest, and you appear 
 before the world in the same light which your own heart tells yon, 
 He that looketh upon the heart alone doth not in all things ap- 
 prove. Were I in pursuit of earthly friends, and were that my 
 highest intent, this would surely be my course of action; and it 
 may not be amiss to add, that whatever has been or may be said, 
 by or through me, which may seem harsh or unjust to yourselves, 
 proceeds from no bitterness or unkindly feeling toward any, but 
 from a desire to establish the truth. While we firmly believe that 
 the "wounds of a friend" are faithful, and that "open rebuke is 
 better than secret love," we know that they are not so received or 
 understood by those who have attained but a small degree of 
 heavenly wisdom. We are assured that many things which are 
 hidden from the worldly-wise and prudent are revealed unto babes 
 in Christ, and that " they are all plain to him that understand- 
 eth, and right to them that find knowledge." 
 
 " The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that 
 can render a ■reason" 
 
 " Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man 
 and he will love thee." 
 
 "As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the 
 curse CAUSELESS shall not come." 
 
 "When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is 
 pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understand- 
 ing shall keep thee. 
 
 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her." 
 
 My dear home friends ! to you my heart doth cling 
 
 Tenderly, fondly, lovingly, Idndly ; 
 
 Yet for myself no boon from thee I crave, 
 
 Not e'en to lay my bones within your 
 
 Churchyard pale, to mingle with their native
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 67 
 
 Dust ; your faces I no more may see on 
 
 This side heaven, except in dreams, or in 
 
 Imagination fair ; yet in my heart. 
 
 Deeply engraved, are images which time 
 
 Nor distance can eflace ; fond mem'ry dwells 
 
 On these, with scenes once bright and fair, 
 
 But now, alas ! " all gone, all gone " from me, 
 
 Or I from them, it matters little which ; 
 
 But O, my head, my heart ! which pain is most 
 
 Severe ? 1 cannot tell, I can but weep : 
 
 Tears blind mine eyes while this I wi'ite ; the fount 
 
 Of grief I thought was sealed for aye, bursts forth 
 
 Afresh, and threatens to my reason overthrow. 
 
 " When I am weak then am I strong," I oft 
 
 Have said, but now, alas ! 'tis all turned round, 
 
 I thought myself quite strong, but find instead 
 
 How weak I am, how little 1 can meekly 
 
 Bear ; again, it was my purpose now to 
 
 Only talk to you of spirits dear, who 
 
 Are to you closely allied in friendship 
 
 And in sympathy ; when self comes looming 
 
 Up between, thus scatt'ring all the better 
 
 Thoughts which should engage my mind and heart. 
 
 Away with self ! and selfish grief, avauut ! 
 
 Let wisdom guide, and love direct my heart 
 
 And brain. 
 
 My friends, I left you here, for O, 
 Mine aching head and saddened heart prevented 
 More ; sweet balmy sleep the former did restore, 
 A vision did the shadows from my heart 
 Disperse. It came to me in silent watches 
 Of the night ; an angel stood beside ray 
 Bed and thus unto me spoke : " Thou art a 
 Cat's paw to release souls from the burning 
 Sins of ignorance." A moment's silence 
 And the scene was changed. I sat in a 
 Familiar room before au open fire, whose
 
 68 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Embers fast were dying out, though still alive ; 
 
 I was, as now, far from my home ; in an 
 
 Adjoining room a friend unto me dear 
 
 Seemed l3usily engaged, when all at once 
 
 Her angel guide said unto her, " Sister, 
 
 Pray." She bowed herself and earnestly poured 
 
 Forth her soul in prayer ; the words I could not 
 
 Catch (if words indeed they were at all) ; the 
 
 Sounds which came to me, in murmurs soft and 
 
 Low, seemed not the voice of owe, but many 
 
 In the distance ; their earnestness did seem 
 
 To set my soul on fire ; just then my spirit 
 
 Guide spoke once again this single word, "Write." 
 
 I instantly complied with his request. 
 
 An inspiration seized my soul, and rapidly 
 
 The lines I penned. My friend kept praying on. 
 
 Her prayers, as they ascended high, did seem 
 
 The inspiration to enhance ; my soul 
 
 Was filled with ecstasy at thought of what 
 
 Would come of this : and with these thoughts 
 
 The work kept pace, till suddenly the dream 
 
 Was past, and I awoke. A dream I say, 
 
 Yet well I know it was not all a dream. 
 
 For oft at night these visions come to me ; 
 
 Sometimes I can the same interpret ; when 
 
 This I fiiil to do, my spirit friends who 
 
 Give the same do lend their aid, and make it 
 
 All unto me clear. So when the morning 
 
 Light doth come, I '11 ask them to this one 
 
 Explain, and give its meaning unto you. 
 
 When I awoke the moon was shining brightly : 
 
 At first I thought 't was. dawn of day, but soon 
 
 The clock struck three, and I was undeceived ; 
 
 (I wish, my friends, that you would read a book 
 
 Which doth this title bear, " The Clock struck Three " ; 
 
 Methinks it might you undeceive, and help 
 
 To break from error's chain.) I tried in vain
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 69 
 
 To close mine ejes and slumber on ; no rest 
 Had I till from my couch I did arise 
 And write this vision as you see. 
 
 The morn 
 Hath dawned ; and though 't is neither bright or fair, 
 My heart is light compared with yesterday : 
 For visions float before mine eyes of what 
 May he in after years. O, shall I then 
 From yon bright sky behold rejoicingly 
 The scene ? I promised you the meaning of 
 My last night's dream, so now that promise I '11 
 Fulfil, for he who gave it me hath it 
 To me explained. The fire he said did 
 Represent the " burning sins of ignorance " ; 
 While the " friend "' from whom those prayers went forth 
 Did signify a people strong ; that people, 
 Friends, your own dear selves. "Her angel guide," of 
 Course, a simile of vour own beloved 
 Spirit guides, who, even now, had some induced 
 To fervently " seek truth and live " ; from these 
 Did float sweet incense to the skies. And your 
 Dear ones caught up the strain and wafted it 
 Unto mine own angeUc band, while they, 
 In turn, the joyful news conveyed to me, 
 Awaking again to life my fast 
 Declining hopes, inspiring each long-dormant 
 Key its shmib'ring genius to pour forth in 
 Language not mine own. The earnest prayers had 
 Been just what they seemed, voices and sounds from 
 Many hearts, nnn-nnired rather than spoken ; no 
 Form of words couhl yet express the same ; and 
 Then, my friends, he kindly did my soul remind 
 Of that dear " boon " I was of you about 
 To crave. I have more courage now to speak, 
 For some, I feel assured, will lovingly 
 The same consider, and bring about a 
 Good result, a twofold blessing undisguised.
 
 70 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 This boon, as I have said, is not for me ; 
 
 'Tis for your own in spirit laud. O, how 
 
 They love ! and how they long their love to tell 
 
 To you, who will not, dare not heed ! Ask ye 
 
 How I a knowledge of your friends have gained ? 
 
 Many an one to me has come, yea, in 
 
 Sadness come, because — they could not 
 
 Come " unto their own " and he received. In 
 
 Yain have they knocked at the door of your hearts ; 
 
 Ye bid them not to enter in, nor even one 
 
 Kind word with them did offer to exchange. 
 
 Again I ask, How can you treat them so ? 
 
 No earthly friend, less dear by far than they, 
 
 AVbuld ye thus coldly turn away. O, had 
 
 You seen what I have seen, and heard what I 
 
 Have heard, the mute and silent grief of some, 
 
 The wild and frantic cries of others, who failed 
 
 To make themselves unto their earth friends kno"UTi, 
 
 No further urging would ye need, unless 
 
 Your hearts are harder than the cold and 
 
 Selfish world ye choose to serve. O, if within 
 
 Your warm and loving hearts, one spark of fond 
 
 Affection still remains for them, I pray 
 
 You kindle from the spark a flame of love 
 
 Once more, to light your pathway here below, 
 
 And lead you to the heavenly pastures fair 
 
 And large, when earth and earthly things grow faint 
 
 And dim, o'ershadowed by your spirit vision 
 
 Bright and pure. A blessing you will then confer 
 
 On those who watch and wait for you ; a blessing 
 
 Too yourselves receive, a bond of sympathy 
 
 And love establish, fkm as the " Rock of 
 
 Ages," and lasting as eternity. 
 
 Know ye not, my precious friends, that Christ did 
 
 Teach what you discard ? " Long ago he wept 
 
 Over Jerusalem ; to-day he weeps 
 
 Over his mistaken people." To-day
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 71 
 
 In our Father's home in the sky, beloved 
 
 Ones are weeping, waiting with hands outstretched 
 
 To feed our souls with the bread and wine of 
 
 Celestial love ; to lift for us the veil 
 
 Of pride that shuts from our sight the beautiful 
 
 Spiritual light, that many in their 
 
 Cultivated religion have hidden. 
 
 Eeligion, without this light, is as barren 
 
 And sterile as the spring and summer would be 
 
 Without flowers. O, could you but see for 
 
 Yourselves the beautiful world that lies near 
 
 You, the beautiful dawn that is upon 
 
 You, no longer would you suffer the curtain 
 
 Of prejudice to shut out the light, " the 
 
 Only light that reveals to you where God 
 
 Has placed your loved ones." May God be with you, 
 
 And help you to find the way that leads you 
 
 Into the fold of truth. Amen. 
 
 We take the liberty of copying from the " American Spiritual 
 Magazine" the following beautiful lines, which were breathed by 
 the spirit Consuela through an unconscious medium : — 
 
 "CONSUELA" TO THE "PILGKIM." 
 
 "Wlien the dawn's rosy light first illumes the sky, 
 The lark chants her matins, light winds wander by ; 
 When the angel of dreams lifts her spell from thy brain, 
 And thou wakest to life and its labors again, 
 I will be coming, coming to thee. 
 
 When thy soul is oppressed with its duties and cares, 
 There comes no response to thy tears or thy prayers, 
 When the wrong shall abound, and thy toil seem in vain. 
 When truth in the house of her children is slain, 
 I will be watching, watching o'er thee.
 
 72 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 A pilgrim, a wanderer, long must thou be, 
 To bear our white banner o'er land and o'er sea ; 
 But oh, when the lone heart grows weary and chill, 
 "When hope's voice is silent, love's song is still, 
 I will be singing, singing to thee. 
 
 "When the storms are all over, the breakers are past, 
 Thy foot on the shore, home at last, home at last ! 
 Sing huzza, shout huzza ! for the victory won, 
 Anew o'er the hills beams thy life's morning sun. 
 I shall be ever, forever with thee ! 
 
 " Home at last ! " ay, for me a home in the 
 Skies, where I may be " ever, forever 
 With thee," my own dear spirit bard ; and yet 
 These words recall to mind a warm and 
 Cherished earthly friend, who breathed rather than 
 Spoke the same, while clasping me with kind 
 Embrace. And was it home to me ? if so. 
 Home, like heaven, must have two definitions, 
 Each from the other distinct : the one a 
 Location, the other a state of being ; 
 The first, permanent or transferable at 
 "Will ; the second beyond our power of control. 
 
 I, I, I ! This everlasting big /, this constantly recurring I, I, I ! 
 / wish / could rule it out of my vocabulary ; and yet if / should, 
 what could / do or say ? / might write it thus, (i) ; but even 
 then it is / all the same, however insignificant in appearance; 
 and beside, in the I's (eyes) of the world it "might n't be 
 proper," as said a friend, who, after writing me a long letter, 
 " would be glad to hear from me, but," etc. There is no danger 
 of my overstepping the bounds of propriety in this respect, so 
 long as my friend's good name is at stake, in his own eyes or in 
 the eyes of the public, however much I may differ in opinion ; 
 not that I do differ in opinion even, in this case, except in the use 
 of the word " proper," for which I should substitute the word 
 
 I
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 73 
 
 right, and act according to my own convictions of the same, with- 
 out regard to public or any other opinion as to whether it was 
 proper or the reverse. 
 
 But this is a digression. If we were to substitute a small i, it 
 would of course be attributed to ignorance on our part, and would 
 render us more conspicuous than before, and in a manner which 
 might n't be pleasing. To obviate this difficulty then, I propose 
 to adhere more strictly to a mode I have already adopted at times, 
 or, rather, has been adopted by those more deeply concerned than 
 myself. In other words, to substitute we for /. This seems but 
 just to the kind spirits who, I am pleased to believe, control even 
 my unspoken thoughts. The plurality of the expression seems 
 perfectly right and proper too, when we consider that two or 
 more persons are enlisted in the service, and, we fully believe, sanc- 
 tion the same. 
 
 Let us pause and reflect. A letter has been written ; a reply 
 to the same "might n't be proper." Why? The only reason 
 which suggests itself to our mind is, the writer is a man, the 
 receiver a luoman. Is this conclusive reason ? In the eyes of 
 society, yea and amen. In the eyes of the great All- Wise, who is 
 no " respecter of persons," and who created both man and woman, 
 " true greatness has no sex, true religion no sects." Why is " wo- 
 man's sphere " so much written and talked of, while man's sphere 
 is an unheard-of thing ? Why but because the contracted, nar- 
 row-minded portion of the community, who, on account of their 
 multitudinous numbers, have so long ruled the world, endeavor 
 to '))iake the sphere of woman so diminutive that it can be spanned 
 at a single glance of the eye ? While man's is so Avide and far- 
 reaching, no eye can measure its greatness, much less find a name 
 comprehensive of the same ! 
 
 A wise and just God will deal with each of us according to the 
 cleanness of our hearts; and lie in whose book are all our mem- 
 bers written, will call us to an account for each member. In his 
 eyes the true sphere of every human being is that for which nature 
 has best fitted him or her. 
 
 We shall make some extracts from the lectures of one who de- 
 serves great " credit for her talents, intelligence, and her support 
 of popular rights. Although she wielded much power, it is al- 
 leged that she never used it for the promotion of unworthy per- 
 sons; or, as other favorites have done, for corrupt purposes."
 
 74 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 This "eccentric" individual (as tlie newspapers call her) lays 
 claim to the honor of having caused more newspaper paragraphs 
 and more biographies (pretended) than any other woman living. 
 Of the latter she has herself seen twenty-three or twenty-four, not 
 one of which " came any nearer being a biography of her than it 
 did to being an authentic history of the man in the moon." As 
 many as three times seven cities have been given as her birth- 
 place ; and the laughable thing is, not one of these self-imposed 
 writers has " hit upon the real place of her birth." She begins to 
 doubt whether she ever had a father, or was born at all, except in 
 the separate brain of every man who has attempted to write her 
 history. 
 
 After having given, in her own words, the calm and more peace- 
 ful portion of her life, she says : — 
 
 " What is to come is all storm, excitement, and unrest, and full 
 of seeming contradiction, I know ; but there is, or should be, a 
 key which, when possessed, explains the difficult volumes of our 
 natures, as well as there is to the works of science and art. I am 
 fortunate in this at least, that the subject of my lecture has noth- 
 ing to lose by having the truth told about her." 
 
 If all could say this, the world would not know itself, the 
 bright millennial dawn would be upon us in all its glorious splen- 
 dor. Equal rights would not only be demanded, but would be 
 supported and sustained in every relation of life. Whether this 
 will or can be brought about without the aid of the ballot, we are 
 unprepared to say; but there is much truth in the following, and 
 we would advise every true woman to consider the dignity of the 
 same : — 
 
 " One woman going forth in independence and power of self- 
 reliant strength to assert her individuality, and to defend, with 
 whatever means God has given her, her right to a just portion of 
 earth's privileges, will do more than a million of convention- 
 women to make herself known and felt in the world. There is 
 such a great difference between strength of nmid and strength of 
 tongue ! Men only laugh at a convention of scolds, and pay no 
 more attention to what they say than to the chattering of a flock 
 of blackbirds ; but they will gaze with admiration and respect on 
 a woman who sets herself to a brave and manly task, and actually 
 accomplishes a heroic deed ; but we shall be told that such exam-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 75 
 
 pies are almost solitary cases. No, they are not. It will puzzle 
 any man to find in the pages of history as many instances of real 
 and startling heroism in his sex as I could hunt up in mine. 
 There have been whole eras in which the heroism of women shone 
 out with a general lustre which made it tlie rule and not the ex- 
 ception of her character." 
 
 But do these women receive the credit they deserve ? By no 
 means. For instance, the discovery of America: what child 
 could not tell you by whom it was discovered ? And yet how few 
 of our learned progenies could or would acknowledge the discov- 
 ery of the same " due to the far-sighted sagacity and patronage of 
 a woman, Queen Isabella of Aragon ; for when the king and his 
 court had refused luitli scorn the petition of Columbus, the great 
 discoverer had recourse to the queen, who furnished Mm with 
 mea7is a7id aid, which resulted in his triumphant success. Our 
 friend also writes : " It is true there is hardly a great or heroic 
 woman of history, whose name has escaped the contagion of scan- 
 dal ; while great men have passed measurably unscathed, because, 
 I suppose, the world had no right to expect any degree of morality 
 in the life of a groat man. But woman, ah ! she must be a saint, 
 even while she hurls a tyrant from his throne, and does the rough 
 work of war and revolution. 
 
 "Well, so she should be, and thus leave to man the entire mo- 
 nopoly of all the sin of the world ! I do not offer one excuse for 
 her faults. I only demand that a great woman should be judged 
 by the same rules by which a great man is judged. To descend 
 from this higli piano of public history into the private homes of 
 the world, in which sex, think you, should we there find the pur- 
 est spirit of heroism ? 
 
 Who suffers sorrow and pain with the most heroism of heart ? 
 Who, in the midst of poverty, neglect, and cavilling despair, holds 
 on most bravely through the terrible struggle, and never yields, 
 even to the fearful demands of necessity, until death wrests tho 
 last weapon of defence from her hands ? 
 
 Ah, if this unwritten heroism of woman could be brought to 
 light, even man himself would cast his proud wreath of fame at 
 her feet ! " 
 
 This strong-minded woman also says: "Alas! for a woman 
 whose circumstances, or whose natural propensities and powers 
 push her forward beyond the line of the ordinary routine of fe-
 
 76 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 male life, unless she possess a saving amount of that force of resist- 
 ance which will enable her to stand firm. Many a woman who 
 has had strength to get outside of that line, has not possessed the 
 strength to stand there ; and the fatal result has been that she 
 has been swept down into the gulf of irredeemable sin. The 
 great misfortune was, that there was too much of her to be held 
 within the prescribed and safe limits allotted to woman, but there 
 was not enough to enable her to stand securely beyond the shelter 
 of conventional rules. 
 
 Within this little bit of philosophy there is a key which unlocks 
 the dark secret of the fall and everlasting ruin [we trust not 
 " everlasting "] of many of the most beautiful and naturally gifted 
 women of the Avorld. 
 
 If a woman is qualified to be a happy wife and a good mother, 
 she need never look with envy upon the more gifted woman of 
 genius, whose mental powers may have unfitted her for the quiet 
 walks of domestic life. In the woman of rare mental endowments 
 there may be a necessity in her own nature, forcing her into a 
 field of action altogether difierent in its sphere from the duties 
 usually allotted to woman. When this is the case, she must obey 
 her destiny ; but the woman who has only those humble charms 
 which fit her to be the light and the presiding goddess of the 
 beautiful circle of 'home/ is really to be envied by her more 
 gifted sister, whose powers tempt her out upon the turbulent sea 
 of politics and diplomacy. 
 
 But, alas! woman's lot in this sphere of home is too often a sad 
 and thankless one. It is demanded of her that she make a home, 
 whether her husband provides the means or not; and it must 
 be a happy one, though his temper is as savage as that of a 
 tiger. 
 
 What do men mean when they call woman the weaker sex ? 
 Not, surely, that she is less strong and brave of heart and purpose 
 to meet the tidal shocks of life ! Not that she is not every whit 
 the peer of man in all the elements of heroism and genuine nobil- 
 ity of soul ! 
 
 That masculine philosophy which regards and would treat wo- 
 man as an inferior being, is not only an insult to that God who 
 created her as the equal companion of man, but it is contradicted 
 by every stage of history and experience.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 77 
 
 Her excellence maybe generally displayed in a less ostentatious 
 field than man's, but still the idea of perfect equality is not im- 
 paired on that account. In the best type of the female character 
 there is a firmness which does not exclude delicacy, and a softness 
 which does not imply weakness.'* This reminds us of some ex- 
 quisite lines of Moore : — 
 
 "Yet there was light around her brow, 
 A holiness in those bright eyes, 
 Which showed, though reaching earthward now, 
 Her spirit's home was in the skies. 
 Yes, for a spirit pure as hers 
 Is always pure, e'en while it errs, 
 As sunshine broken in the rill, 
 Though turned astray, is sunshine still." 
 
 Many, doubtless, will this read who will say in their hearts it is 
 a one-sided argument. To such we will say, there is no prescribed 
 rule or form of rules which will apply unto, or by which we can 
 judge, any people of either sex individually. All have their 
 exceptions, be they many or few. We can recall to mind hun- 
 dreds of instances which would justify a complete reversion of 
 some portions of the foregoing ; where the man's instead of the 
 woman's "rights " were trampled upon, and he the party who was 
 constrained to meekly bear all things from his miscalled " better 
 half," forbearing to arouse her indignation by any suggestions in 
 regard to economy or any other matter in which they were both 
 equally concerned ; he meanwhile providing bountifully for the 
 needs of the household by his unremitting toil, while the wife and 
 mother, instead of making herself and home bright and cheery 
 for his reception, only regales him with murmurings and com- 
 plaints the little time he is permitted to spend in this delightful 
 retreat. 
 
 We are not surprised that such should seek elsewhere for the 
 congenial society their own homes fail to supply; nor do we think 
 such would be envied by our friend, "not because they were men, 
 but because they were not luomen." As far as we have been able 
 to judge, however, these cases are the exceptions, and not the 
 rule. 
 
 What we would advise, and hope to see in "the good time com- 
 ing," is for every human being who is endued with reason and
 
 78 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 common- sense, to assert and to maintain tlieir own individuality 
 of character, that individuality based upon the true principles of 
 equality, equity, and justice. 
 
 A bright sunny sky, a fresh balmy day ; 
 And best of all, some letters for us, I 
 Suppose ; but let me see, one is for me, 
 A sunbeam sent by a bright little spirit, 
 Whose heart is the home of sunshine and love ; 
 God bless you, sweet child I and make you as pure 
 In your spring-time of life, as the tiny 
 Sweet-scented flowers which came, and which were by 
 Your loving hands culled. O, how I do long 
 To clasp you once more to my heart, estranged 
 From all it on earth holds dear ; to hear your 
 Sweet accents of tender child-love, as guileless 
 And pure as the angels above I 
 
 And here, 
 Spirit friends, are letters for us, two. How 
 Strange that by threes they so oft do come, and 
 Then for days will be " nary a one." The 
 First we shall read is from a learned M. D., 
 Who kindly expresses regard for me. 
 And also vouchsafes a short message for 
 Us, although from his words I cannot tell 
 Whether he in his heart accords it to 
 All. 
 
 " Please accept my sincere thanks for the book, and allow me 
 to congratulate you on your success in presenting to the reading 
 community something so worthy of their perusal." 
 
 " Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous 
 cause : yea, let them say continually, Let the Loed be mag- 
 nified." 
 
 Our second letter contains the following : — 
 
 **I have perused your book, and while I found many things in
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 79 
 
 it wliicli I both understand and appreciate, seeing therein the 
 earnestness of your soul, and the best of motives for the helping 
 of womankind, and the elevation of all, I can still see, with an 
 unprejudiced mind, that it can never practically influence the 
 minds and hearts of those you wish to reach. These influences, 
 my dear, I have had some experience with, and find this : that 
 until the spiritual has become so refined and elevated as to unite 
 with it the practical, what you would get would result as your 
 book will result, in a failure to do what you wish done. 
 
 Now I find that what we want to know is, to understand when 
 to cast up the pearls before the world. What you need is this, to 
 let the influences work ujoon your nature until they have moulded, 
 fashioned, and educated it ; then you Avill be ready to write what 
 will satisfy yourself and be a help to others. 
 
 The lives of many of us, however rich they may be to ourselves, 
 are a barren waste to others ; and although we have many rich 
 experiences that bear fruit in our own souls, every man and wo- 
 man has something of the same, but when told in prose or verse, 
 they fall a dead weight to the ground. The majority of people care 
 nothing for Spiritualtsm or spiritual tilings, being busied with 
 making money, and not having worked out of the swaddling- 
 clothes of selfishness. I expect yet to have thoughts from you 
 that will really satisfy my whole nature, but I cannot find them in 
 this book. Study practical things, at the same time educate your 
 spiritual and ideal conditions as you are now, and all will be 
 well." 
 
 The writer of the foregoing, though quite youthful, seemed so 
 much the embodiment of wisdom, that after perusing the letter, 
 " I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good ; and 
 my sorrow was stirred. 
 
 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned ; 
 then spake I with my tongue, 
 
 Lord, make mc to know mine end, and the measure of my days, 
 what it is ; that I may hnoio how frail I am." 
 
 A gleam of light flashed upon my soul at the remembrance of 
 the following : — 
 
 " Iron sharpcneth iron ; so a man sharpeneth the countenance 
 of his friend.
 
 80 THE UNSEAI.ED BOOK. 
 
 Whoso keepetli the fig-tree shall eat the fruit thereof; so he 
 that waiteth on his master shall be honored." 
 
 My mind was somewhat relieved, though still in a state of doubt 
 and perplexity as to the course I was to pursue, believing as I do 
 that to " every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the 
 misery of man is great upon him. For he knoweth not that 
 which shall be : for who can tell him w1ie7i it shall be ? " 
 
 I applied mine heart unto wisdom, and all this have I 
 seen. 
 
 " There is a time when one man ruleth over another to his own 
 hurt. There be just men unto whom it happeneth according to 
 the work of the wicked. Again, there be wicked men to whom it 
 happeneth according to the work of the righteous." I felt like 
 the Preacher to exclaim, "All is vanity and vexation of spirit." 
 I went to my spiritual pastor for counsel and advice. He gave me 
 to understand that he wished to answer my friend's letter through 
 the organism of a medium whom he had upon a former occasion 
 controlled for a like purpose (but not for me). Having obtained 
 the consent of the medium to be used as his instrument, the fol- 
 lowing communication was given : — 
 
 " Your letter is a strange compound of misgivings suited to 
 persons of doubtful minds, who have no just idea of what it takes 
 to make up a book to suit the times and the public taste. Some- 
 thing might be said in regard to an active theology of events com- 
 prising certain doctrines or taste in policy making, whereby the 
 ins and outs of society might be understood and acted upon. In 
 the first place, it is not to be supposed that a person unJcnown 
 and imsung should have the prerequisites of book-making in such 
 a degree as to fully understand in advance exactly what the world 
 would receive as honafide literature, whether it be for instruction 
 or amusement. In the premises, there is such a thing as magnifi- 
 cence of taste suited to the squeamish proclivities of the forlorn 
 and dissolute mortals who peregrinate from place to place and 
 who have no local habitation or home. Such as these may be 
 likened unto the moral precepts contained in our book, which 
 may account for our misgivings as to the propriety of enlarging 
 upon the merits of our proficiency in book-writing. "We, having 
 no fixed ideas but the general good, chose to treat all of our sub- 
 jects contained in the book in the way to greet the hearts and 
 souls of the great majority, with something likening unto a char-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 81 
 
 nel-house of filtli which needed cleansing, all for the want of that 
 attention necessary for a general distribution of the great and 
 good gifts held in store for those whose discernment could see the 
 beauties of nature exemplified in a threefold sense of justice to 
 mankind groping in darkness and ignorance ; not knowing which 
 way to look for succor or atonement for their sins of omission and 
 commission, engendered by a lack of wisdom which will be sup- 
 plied by this book in its simple and artistic style of reasoning and 
 good sense. 
 
 A mere looker-on in Venice saw but little to tell of the beauties 
 there to be seen ; but those who entered and examined all and 
 every thing to be seen and learned, returned with great wisdom 
 to their simple-minded friends who stood aghast at the magnifi- 
 cence as rehearsed by the practical inqiiwer and examiner, who 
 saw and examined all and every thing he met in his researches 
 among the grand and glorious displays therein exposed to the 
 light and glory of this world, as a beacon-light for all who will 
 come hereafter, searching for things to feast their eyes upon and 
 fill their hearts with gratitude to the great Giver of all good, that 
 they were permitted to enjoy such a feast of reason and flow of 
 soul, in contemplating the satisfaction and ease of mind secured 
 by their researches among the hidden treasures of this world, 
 emblematic of a much better enjoyment hereafter in that ' home 
 not made with hands eternal in the heavens.' " 
 
 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against princi- 
 palities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this 
 world, against spiritual wickedness in high places," taking for our 
 weapon " the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God." 
 
 One Tveek agone, my spirit friends, feeble 
 
 And faint I lay, I could not see which way 
 
 To go ; I asked of thee, but no response, 
 
 Each friend and foe did seem his face to hide, 
 
 While troublous waves came dashing high, and beat 
 
 Against my little bark far out at sea : 
 
 I thought I must my course pursue, and vainly 
 
 Tried to paddle on until my strength was 
 
 Welluigh spent ; then came' a voice of sweet accord
 
 82 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 And breathed unto my soul these words : " Am I 
 
 A God from thee afar, and not a God 
 
 Unto thee near ? " And then within my heart 
 
 I said, " Thou art my God, my times are in 
 
 Thy hands." It was the same dear voice which had said, 
 
 *'Be still, and know that I am God." I have 
 
 Been still, and peace has been again restored. 
 
 The winds above, the waves below, are hushed 
 
 To rest, and I once more may calmly sail. 
 
 With thee, my precious loving guides to steer ; 
 
 Thou hast already pointed out the beacon 
 
 Light far, far ahead, and bid me row my 
 
 Boat to shore ; that shore no longer is obscured 
 
 By black'ning storms of dark despair : the way 
 
 I know, the time has unto me been given, 
 
 While from an unexpected source came means 
 
 Sufficient for my present needs. And now, 
 
 Dear Lord, enable me to " look ahead 
 
 With cheer," to do thy will as thou may it 
 
 To me reveal ; and if I fall, may I 
 
 By thy might arise. When I again in 
 
 Darkness sit, wilt thou, O Lord, be unto 
 
 Me a light, and may thy love still hold me 
 
 Up, for I am thine, and only thine. I 
 
 Trust "whate'er betides, Vve known the worst, ^^ for 
 
 Thus an angel friend doth say, a friend I 
 
 Fearlessly can trust, since never from his 
 
 Truthful lips or guileless heart have come a 
 
 Word or thought untrue. My loving band are 
 
 All both kind and true of heart : I know they 
 
 Will me guide aright, although at times they 
 
 May withhold, and wisely too, from my weak 
 
 Brain, the purpose which to them is clear. Did 
 
 They not so, their task would be a vain and 
 
 Hopeless one ; I may, and doubtless sometimes 
 
 Do, these loving ones misunderstand, and 
 
 Sufi" "ring bring in consequence ; but I am
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 83 
 
 Daily led to see it is not meet that 
 
 "VVe of earth should too much wisdom 
 
 Gain, while yet we sojourn here ; our cups of 
 
 Understanding are so very small, they 
 
 Hold at best no great amount, a surplus 
 
 Would them overflow ; and this suggests some 
 
 Other thoughts. If by God's mercy we have 
 
 Been abundantly supplied with food while 
 
 Many faint for lack of daily bread, shall 
 
 "We not give them from our store ? God's bounty 
 
 Hath for all supplied, his wisdom hath 
 
 Directed how each hungry soul may with 
 
 The bread of life be fed ; yet myi-iads 
 
 Of starving souls no morsel may obtain : 
 
 And why? Is God unjust? nay, 'tis we his 
 
 Appointed instruments who are unjust. 
 
 This earth-sphere we would liken to a wheel, 
 
 "Whose centre is the throne of God ; each spoke 
 
 The wheel contains being the ladder of 
 
 Progression ; upon each round of the ladder 
 
 There are, or should he, sentinels on duty, 
 
 Whose mission it is to instruct and to 
 
 Enlighten corresponding sentinels. 
 
 On the round of knowledge but a step below 
 
 Themselves ; at the same time refreshing their 
 
 Own souls with glimpses of the beautiful 
 
 Beyond, as portrayed by the holy angels, 
 
 Who are continually ascending 
 
 And descending in their midst. 
 
 Were God's wise purposes fullilled, and did 
 
 We his instruments work according to 
 
 His will and design, how perfect and 
 
 Complete would be the attainment of heavenly 
 
 Bliss ; but his glorious plans arc hidden 
 
 From view, by our own folly and ignorance, 
 
 In substituting our narrow and selfish 
 
 Ideas and aims, thus destroying and
 
 84 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Perverting the harmony and love which 
 
 A fulfilment of his designs would 
 
 Establish and maintain. The sentinels 
 
 In many cases fail to reach forth a 
 
 Friendly hand to a brother in need, 
 
 Striving only for their own exaltation ; 
 
 Thus the condition is broken, a link 
 
 In the beautiful chain is severed, and 
 
 What is the result ? That all below must 
 
 Fall to the ground, their senses shocked by the 
 
 Sudden descent, their faith and their hope 
 
 Amazingly less. And what of the chain 
 
 Left dangling in air ? Alas ! it must hang, 
 
 Until some brother or sister draws near, 
 
 Assisting with zeal untiring and true 
 
 To unite once more the bright golden chain 
 
 Of peace, harmony, and love. If, when we 
 
 Did wrong, no effect was produced save unto 
 
 Ourselves, the incitement to good would be 
 
 Far less strong ; but Nature's first law, " cause and 
 
 Effect," render this same impossible with 
 
 Spirits or mortals, and all who do come 
 
 Within our sphere must share somewhat in our 
 
 Eevulsions. Were all to do their own true 
 
 Share of labor, no broken or no unfilled 
 
 Eounds our ladders would contain, no missing 
 
 Or disjointed links our chains exhibit ; 
 
 Nor would the honest whole-souled laborer 
 
 Be forced, because of his great love of humanity, 
 
 To do double or even quadruple 
 
 Duty, as is often the case. These same 
 
 Golden chains 'twixt earth and heaven are still 
 
 Far apart and by many unseen ; their 
 
 Spirit exists o'er the widespread earth, but like 
 
 All things spiritual, cannot be discerned 
 
 By the carnally minded sons of earth. 
 
 The spirit must be clothed upon
 
 THE UXSEALED BOOK. ^5 
 
 After it is found to exist, and we 
 
 Are the instruments of a higher power 
 
 To construct and mould its fitting apparel, 
 
 While angels of light in our labors assist, 
 
 Teaching us how to finish and polish 
 
 Each link in its turn, by our deeds of 
 
 Kindness, our words of love. These chains at the 
 
 Base are large and coarse ; but each succeeding 
 
 Link grows smaller, and in texture more refined. 
 
 As it reaches upward, and gathers from 
 
 The surrounding atmosphere purer 
 
 Elements for its construction. Pligher 
 
 And yet higher ascends this magnetic 
 
 Chain, until, at length, etherealized 
 
 To us, it rises beyond our frail vision's 
 
 Domain. One thing we do note, which is this : 
 
 These spiritual chains, all alike on 
 
 The start, become when wrought upon, widely 
 
 Diverse in structure, form, size, and color. 
 
 This may be attributed to the 
 
 Executive ability, finance. 
 
 Genius, or taste of the director. If 
 
 The material is good, the work well 
 
 Performed, each will serve the same end ; 
 
 While each employee will receive, according 
 
 To his or her labor, compensation 
 
 Due ; if it be a mere mechanical 
 
 Labor performed from necessity, no 
 
 Good will accrue to the soul therefrom ; if 
 
 The laborer be in pursuit of worldly 
 
 Gain, and is actuated by selfish 
 
 Motives alone, his reward will be of 
 
 The earth earthy, " which pcrisheth with the . 
 
 Using." If pride and amliition be the 
 
 Kuling aim, the end is not far. But we 
 
 Iiikc not long to dwell upon these, we fain 
 
 Would sec all, from pm'cness of heart, engage
 
 80 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 In labors of love for their dear Lord's sake ; 
 
 And these are the labors which alone can 
 
 Weave the bright golden chain we all may 
 
 Covet, but few can possess. Its links are 
 
 Composed of "faith, hope, charity," kept bright 
 
 By "humility and holy zeal." Our 
 
 Saviour perfected the first of this kind. 
 
 It is still in existence, but, sad to 
 
 Eelate, seldom used by those who claim its 
 
 Sole right. Its links by neglect so tarnished 
 
 Have grown, no stranger would guess its substance 
 
 Were gold. There are upon earth chains which, though 
 
 Less golden, are kept more bright by the 
 
 Usins:. These chains will increase in numbers 
 
 And strength, in spite of opposition and 
 
 Scorn, till all the wide earth, from east unto 
 
 West, from north unto south, resound with glad songs 
 
 Of joy and of mirth, re-echoing far 
 
 The news of their birth. 
 
 Another letter, dear friends, from which we give the follow- 
 ing:— 
 
 " I have read your book carefully, interestedly, and I think I 
 appreciate it for what it is. But I must insist upon one thing, and 
 that is, that your own personality is clearly stamped upon it in 
 almost every line, and I do not by any means give all the credit to 
 your pastor's dictation. I love the spirit of the book, because it is 
 tlie spirit of the Master, and tliink you make many things very 
 plain to the inquiring mind. 
 
 May God speed you in your labor of love in lighting up the 
 dark places of earth, and bringing souls to a knowledge of the 
 truth as it is most perfectly revealed to us in the perfect life of 
 Jesus Clirist. Many questions that used to puzzle me are all 
 cleared up now ; for I find that it is — after all the controversies, 
 dogmas, isms, and ites — contained in one little word, love, — love 
 to God and love to men. I often wonder that people will persist 
 in bothering themselves over vexed questions that avail nothing 
 after they are all settled, when the truth is so simple that a little
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 87 
 
 child may know it. God bless jow and make you very useful, 
 and give you physical and spiritual strength that you may lead 
 others to the fountain of life." 
 
 "We thank you, kind friend, for your loving God-speed. 
 We feel to reply, since she upon earth 
 Who for us hath done the best that she could 
 Is unwilling to receive all the credit 
 You give. Nor yet doth her pastor lay claim 
 To it all, but begs to inform you he 
 Is but one of four whose labors 
 Have accomplished the work. If our book, as 
 You say, breathes the spirit of the Master, 
 And his teachings make plain to the inquiring 
 IVIiud, it matters but little from whom they 
 Go forth, if only received in the spirit 
 Of love ; for ' love is the fulfilling of 
 The law.' In this, dear sister, we with you 
 Agree, and pray the good Lord his blessings 
 To shower on one who is with us in labors 
 Of love, whose life is devoted to the 
 Master's cause. May your influence be wide- 
 Spread upon earth ; may the spirit power 
 Conveyed through you, bear healing on its wings, 
 And those intrusted to your care be not 
 Only physically, but spiritually. 
 Made whole. We deem you in wisdom by far 
 Too advanced to vex your tired soul, or waste 
 Precious time in studying out just mere 
 Personalities, for such questionings 
 ' Avail nothing after they are all settled.' 
 But for the benefit of those still young 
 In the faith, we will say : The dictations 
 Were given by three : one upon earth and 
 Two in heaven. A fourth comes in, fulfilling 
 Her part ; which part is, the arranging and 
 Compiling portions of the same ; so, instead
 
 88 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Of one, 't will be seen we are four ; one upon 
 Earth, and three in heaven." 
 
 Is this to be my home ? My dear Lord and 
 Master, my kind spirit friends, draw near me, 
 I pray, for hence have I come to the place 
 Appointed by thee. O, wilt thou, dear ones, 
 Thy purpose reveal ; for I am so blind 
 It seemeth to me there 's naught I can do. 
 In this wearisome wild, so barren and cold. 
 The winds howl around, the rain cometh 
 Down ; yet it may be that I, and I only. 
 Am at ftiult. My spirit and my flesh are 
 Both alike weak. The longer I live, the 
 Farther I roam, the more do I see to 
 Awake in my soul the need of 
 Reform ; and this brings to mind a letter 
 To which I 've just made reply ; its contents 
 I '11 give you in part, knowing, as I well 
 Do, the writer no objections would have. 
 
 " Eeform (says he) is a noble work, but it must be performed 
 by those who are strong in this world's goods, and who are com- 
 pletely independent of all men. Are you fitted and prepared to 
 wage a conflict with the world, and to make all sacrifices which 
 you must of necessity make in waging war upon old-received 
 religious opinions ? We can walk in the true way without com- 
 pelling others to go with us, or, in plain English, we can set our- 
 selves right and let others alone. I know that this is selfish : so 
 is the world. Do all you can for humanity, make all sacrifices 
 that you possibly can for others, and they will turn round and 
 smite you. We cannot go back ; that, as you say, is impossible : 
 but you have no call to crush your own life in trying to help those 
 who scorn help, and who would turn ai^d heap abuse upon those 
 who would aid them. Our first duty is to ourselves. The strug- 
 gle that we have been called upon to engage in is nothing com- 
 pared to that which must eventually come if we continue to do 
 battle with the world. Of course, if we learn the truth ourselves,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 89 
 
 and keep silence, this will be avoided ; but if we give our opinions, 
 tTie result must folloiu. Outside of purely religious matters, stand 
 women's rights, social freedom, free love, and many more ques- 
 tions, and I tell you, you are drifting towards them (perhaps 
 unconsciously). Are you willing ? Do you feel strong enough to 
 engage in the battle ? 
 
 Your life ought to be a smooth, happy one, devoid of all men- 
 tal troubles. Such it cannot be if you persist in waging war against 
 accepted opinions. I would not lead you one hair's breadth from 
 your duty ; but yourself ought to be your first care. ' Be wise as 
 serpents, harmless as doves.' "We have no need to make any very 
 great effort in the cause of truth ; it will triumph, it needs only 
 time ; it will come to the minds of men only as men's minds ex- 
 pand to receive it. We cannot force great truths into small, 
 dwarfed minds. Therefore the young in our schools, and the 
 conditions in which our race are brought into existence, are mat- 
 ters of vital importance. We have nothing to fear. All things 
 are governed and controlled by immutable law." 
 
 I thank you, kind brother and friend, for your 
 
 Tender, solicitous care. I ackno\tledge 
 
 The truth of much you have said. I also 
 
 Believe that much may be done to further 
 
 The progress of truth upon earth. In the 
 
 Minds of all, be they ever so dwarfed, exists 
 
 The embryo of future enlightenment. 
 
 If left to itself long dormant it lies ; 
 
 If awaked by a dart from the arrow 
 
 Of truth, the possessors of the same may, 
 
 It is true, turn and rend the messenger 
 
 Of love ; Init, nevertheless, the work is 
 
 Begun. Their slumbers are broken ; they may 
 
 Lay them down, they may fold their hands and 
 
 Cry from their hearts, " O, a little more sleep, 
 
 A little more slumber ! " Their sleep has 
 
 Departed, their idle dreams fled, and naught 
 
 Can they do but think, think, think ; and the more 
 
 They do think, the more will their minds expand
 
 90 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 And enlarge. The work will go on, slowly 
 And unconsciously at first, it may be, 
 But sure in the end as the law which 
 Governs the same. 
 
 " If we give our opinions, 
 The result must follow." Sad experience 
 Hath this me taught. Yet not unconsciously 
 Have I been drifting, nor, as I believe, 
 Without a safe Pilot to guide my frail 
 Bark, and anchor to cast on that beautiful 
 Shore where war wages not and the weary 
 Find rest. 
 
 " We cannot go back — " O, no, O, no ! 
 And who would desire it ? Of all the dear 
 Spirits who have spoken to me from their 
 Home in the skies, not one has expressed a 
 Wish to come back and live once again upon 
 Earth. 
 
 "We can walk in the true way without compelling others to go 
 with us." Quite right, my friend ; compulsion is useless, as all 
 will find who endeavor to preach or to teach the true way. Time 
 was when I thought by gentle persuasion some might be led ; but 
 even that I am forced now to doubt. I have long since ceased 
 my views to express unsolicited. I have refrained from the out- 
 pouring of my heart as the spirit gave utterance, save in writings, 
 which of course could not be enforced upon any. 
 
 *' Our first duty is to ourselves." And what, dear friend, of our 
 duty to our neighbor ? My Catechism teaches this : '' To love 
 my neighbor as myself, and to do unto all men as I would that 
 they should do unto me." If we strive to do this, the minor con- 
 siderations will follow, in course. Included in the same catechis- 
 mal answer is the following : " To submit myself to all my gov- 
 ernors, teachers, spiritual pastors, and masters." This, also, I am 
 willing to do, but shall claim the right and privilege of choosing 
 my own teachers, spiritual pastors, and masters. 
 
 " Are you willing ? Do you feel strong enough to engage in 
 the battle ? " This inquiry recalls to my memory some beautiful
 
 THE tnSTSEALED BOOK. 91 
 
 and expressive lines penned for me by a very dear friend, at a 
 time when I was " sore let and hindered." I trust you will excuse 
 me for inserting them here : — 
 
 "Lean hard, child of my love, lean hard, and let 
 Me feel the pressure of thy care. I know 
 Thy burden, child. I shaped it, poised it in 
 My own hand, made no proportion in its 
 "Weight to thine unaided strength ; for even 
 As I laid it on, I said, ' I shall be 
 Near, and while she leans on me this burden 
 Shall be mine, not hers : so shall I keep my 
 Child within the circling arms of mine own 
 Love.' Here lay it tlown, nor fear to impose 
 It on a shoulder which upholds the 
 Government of worlds. Yet closer come, thou 
 Art not near enough ; I would embrace thy 
 Care, so I might feel my child reposing 
 On my breast. Thou lovest me ? I know it ; 
 Doubt not then ; but loving me, lean hard." 
 
 " The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak." I feel at 
 times, friend, that the battle with me will soon be o'er. I look 
 not for reward in temporal gifts. The years allotted to mortals 
 below are threescore and ten. The first half and more did I 
 spend in serving the world. I mean not by this that I Avas wholly 
 devoid of motives beyond ; but my labors unceasing were sordid 
 and mercenary. I received, of course, the equivalent which these 
 did demand. My health was impaired by my own folly and ig- 
 norance. At length came a change, to me a glorious one. I 
 shall ever regard it as the new and spiritual birth of the soul. 
 
 In the two short years which have since elapsed, my labors, 
 however insignificant, have been of a different character. I have 
 endeavored to serve my dear Lord and Master in his own appointed 
 way. I have chosen u'7io?n I will serve. My pastors and my 
 teachers are not of this world. Yet in one respect they diflier 
 not: I have ever been subject to authority, — being a subordinate, 
 — and have learned that the emj^loyee, to give satisfaction, must 
 work according to the will and direction of his or her employer. 
 Our spiritual teachers make the same requirements ; and though 
 ofttimes their "ways are not as our ways," it behoveth us to sub- 
 ject ourselves entirely to their will and pleasure, who have a far 
 higher knowledge and conception of the result to be obtained. 
 
 " The young in our schools, and the conditions in which our
 
 92 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 race are brought into existence, are matters of vital importance." 
 They are truly so, nor do we pass them by. It hath been ours 
 unto the first of these to daily minister, and, in so doing, little 
 time or opportunity has been given for our own advancement in 
 spiritual knowledge, especially as we are prohibited all reading of 
 a deep or instructive character. An enlightenment as to the con- 
 ditions in which our race are or sJiould be brought into existence, 
 seems not to come within our sphere at the present time. We 
 possess a general knowledge of the same, but are unprepared to 
 give the subject the consideration its importance demands. 
 
 " Reform is a noble work, but it must be performed by those 
 who are strong in this world's goods." In one sense of the word 
 this is true. Our bodies miist be sustained, or we can do nothing. 
 Were it not for this, methinks the noble work would speed on 
 wings of love. 
 
 In my experience, however, I have found more zealous hearts and 
 willing minds among the poor in this world's goods than among the 
 rich ; it may not be the experience of all. But we must not forget, 
 dear brother, the "cup of cold water" given in the Master's 
 name. We read how Apostle Peter went up into the temple at 
 the hour of prayer, and saw there at the gate of the temple called 
 Beautiful, a certain man lame from his mother's womb ; "and fas- 
 tening his eyes upon him with John, said. Look on us. And he 
 gave heed unto them, exj)ecting to receive something of them. 
 Then Peter said. Silver and gold have I none ; but such as I have 
 give I unto thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise 
 up and walk." Such as we have can we give ; it may be but the 
 " widow's mite," yet who can tell the good it may do ? 
 
 " There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing : there 
 is that maketh himself poor yet hath great riches." 
 
 So now you will see, my brother and friend, 
 Your doubts and your fears on my account 
 Are groundless and vain. I cannot go fast, 
 I cannot go far. K friends do forsake, 
 There 's One ever near, to Him will I pray, 
 So long as God giveth me breath. 
 
 "0, send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let 
 them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacle.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 93 
 
 Then will I go unto the altar of my God, unto God my ex- 
 ceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, God, my 
 God. 
 
 Why art thou cast down, my soul ? and why art thou dis- 
 quieted within me ? Hope in God : for I shall yet praise him, 
 who is the help of my countenance and my God." 
 
 A friend thus writes : — 
 
 "I thank you much for your Christmas gift. "We have all read 
 it, and were quite interested. Have lent it out, and there are two 
 more waiting to read it. But don't flatter yourself that we shall 
 all be converted to your belief, although the lady who has it now 
 says she has had to fight herself to Ice ep from believing it. As for 
 myself, I have no desire to study into these things ; do not believe 
 I should be any happier myself, or make my friends here any 
 happier; and 
 
 ' Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise.' " 
 
 Our thanks, land friend, for your candor and truth ; 
 
 Yourself can judge far better than we 
 
 What studies and labors will give you just 
 
 Now the greatest amount of happiness 
 
 And peace ; we feel that your heart is right 
 
 Within, that much you have done, are doing 
 
 Still for humanity's sake, in your own 
 
 Quiet way ; that way is not ours to choose 
 
 Or direct ; yet some things we know which you 
 
 Have not learned. There are with thee daily, Idnd 
 
 Spirits and true, who help and sustain you 
 
 When tempted and tried ; they long have watched o'er 
 
 You and done what they could your burdens to 
 
 Lighten, your sorrows to heal : your life has 
 
 Been brightened by their minist'ring love, though 
 
 All unconscious it may be to you. 
 
 We would ask thee to retrace the years of 
 
 Thy life, when lonely and sad thou wandered, 
 
 As one bereft of all that earth for thee 
 
 Held dear. Thy loving ones passed ou before
 
 94 THE tJNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Knew not the way, more than did you of 
 
 Coming back ; therefore when sorrows deepest 
 
 "Were upon thee, not one was near to wipe 
 
 Away the burning tear, or whisper comfort 
 
 To thy sinking heart. These since have learned those 
 
 Mysteries in part, though slow and toilsome 
 
 Have their labors been. Would ye know why 
 
 Their progress hath in this been slow? Because, 
 
 Dear friend, their loved ones below have " no desire 
 
 To study into these things " ; unaided 
 
 And alone, so far as earth help is concerned, 
 
 Must they fight their way ; unwilling are they 
 
 To tread on to brighter fields and fairer 
 
 Joys, lest the distance 'tween them and those they 
 
 Still hold dear on earth become so great, they 
 
 Must " for aye " remain apart : so still these 
 
 Loving ones do wait and work, their task oft- 
 
 Times a thankless one ; this task, which now to 
 
 Them is hard, would soon become an easy 
 
 One if shared by thee. As we before have 
 
 Said, you have exclusive right your ways of 
 
 Happiness to choose ; your earthly friends to 
 
 Strive and please. Can you stop here? In justice 
 
 "Nay ; for one of the holy Trinity 
 
 "VYould be left out. First person I, second 
 
 Person you, and third person he, she, or 
 
 It. He, the God who formed and made you live, 
 
 Demands of thee acknowledgment. She, thy 
 
 Mother, and others so called dead, yet living 
 
 Still, would ask to share thy Idnd remembrance, 
 
 And sometimes to commune with thee. It, the 
 
 Principle of truth and right, though here we 
 
 Give it as the last, in time will grow to 
 
 Be with thee and thine the first. " Where ignorance 
 
 Is bliss 'tis folly to be wise," say you ; 
 
 Say we, "A perpetuity of bliss 
 
 Alone is bliss.'*
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 95 
 
 Of your friend who "has had to fight herself to keep from 
 believing it," we know nothing. She has doubtless read of the 
 conversion of one whose name was " Saul/' who made havoc of 
 the church and imprisoned many, " breathing out threatenings and 
 slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." Not content with 
 this, he journeyed toward Damascus, having before desired let- 
 ters of the high-priest, " that if he found any of this way, whether 
 they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jeru- 
 salem." But a Priest yet higher he found by the way, as round 
 about him suddenly shined a hglit from heaven. He fell to the 
 earth, while a voice said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 
 And he said. Who art thou. Lord ? And the Lord said, I am 
 Jesus whom thou persecutest : it is hard for thee to Tcich against 
 the prichsP 
 
 Saul then doth ask what the Lord will have him to do; and 
 the Lord saith, " Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told 
 thee what tliou must do." He arose and opened his eyes, but lo ! 
 he was blind. He who went boldly forth to hind God's chosen 
 people, weak and trembling was led hy the hand to his place of 
 destination, and for three days and nights could neither eat, 
 drink, or sleep. During this time he had a vision, as did also one 
 other who was to him a stranger, but a disciple of the Lord, whose 
 name was Ananias. 
 
 " And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street 
 which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for 
 one called Saul, of Tarsus ; for, behold, he prayeth. 
 
 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias, coming in 
 and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. 
 
 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of 
 this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jeru- 
 salem : 
 
 And how he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all 
 that call upon thy name. 
 
 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen 
 vessel unto mc, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, 
 and the children of Israel: 
 
 For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my 
 name's sake. 
 
 And Ananias went his way and entered into the house; and 
 putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even
 
 96 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath 
 sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been 
 scales : and he received sight f ortliwith, and arose, and was bap- 
 tized." 
 
 'Tis the first day of spring, so saith our calendar ; 
 It must be so, yet how unlike what we 
 In our day-dreams have pictured forth in this 
 Bright sunny southern clime ; the day is dark 
 And gloomy, the sky o'erspread with clouds, the 
 Winds are bleak and chill, the icy rain comes 
 Down amain, no song or chirp of bird we 
 Hear, nor do we scent the breath of sweet spring 
 Flowers ; all above, around, below, seems 
 Cheerless, dark, and cold. O, who can tell what - 
 A day may bring forth ? But yesterday the sun 
 Its genial light and warmth poured forth in 
 Radiant streams of love divine ; all nature 
 Seemed alive with songs of gratitude and 
 Mirth. Ah, what truthful type of life below ! 
 One day our faith and trust seem anchored firm, 
 The next by adverse winds they 're shaken ; these 
 Adverse winds no power have we to govern 
 Or control ; the ready heart, the willing mind, 
 Grows faint and weary with delay ; we grope 
 In darkness because of our unbounded 
 Ignorance, which each day becomes more visible, 
 More lamentable ; by night we are tortured 
 With dreams or \'isions, we scarce can tell which. 
 We find ourselves in the midst of a throng of kind 
 Earthly friends, — friends to ourselves we mean, yet 
 Enemies to the cause we uphold ; they 
 Gather about us, they shoot from afar. 
 Their darts harm us not at first, we are 
 Strong and brave, standing well our ground ; but as
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 97 
 
 The combat deepens, the arrows fly thick, 
 And — what are we among many ? Our courage 
 Palters, our strength is failing fast, we look 
 For some to help us, and — awake. 
 
 Sleep comes 
 Again at length ; another scene presents 
 Itself, one which earth mortals ne'er beheld ; 
 A private home was our resort, though many 
 Were assembled there from highest to the 
 "Low-down black." All came with same intent, each 
 Heart open to receive the truth ; there seemed 
 A place for all, and each to know and fill 
 His or her place undisturbed : for the home 
 Had many apartments. The assemblage 
 Was mostly composed of " freshmen " in the 
 Spiritual kingdom, and this was their 
 First public meeting. Little was accomplished 
 On this occasion except to harmonize 
 The several groups by music and song. 
 
 Again we awake, and this time 't is morning. But enough of 
 this, for here comes a letter which may give us something more 
 interesting. 
 
 Extract. 
 " How I would like to see you to-night and talk over matters 
 and things with you, it is such a slow way to converse, — this 
 writing ! Your hand must have ached many times while writing 
 that book. I do not think the book has been carefully read ; it 
 is not understood, as you say. It needs much study to see into 
 it. We do not see anything so very luicked in it (as others do) ; 
 but somehow I do not believe in the spiritual mediums. I do not 
 see anything in the Gospel to correspond with a medium, except 
 the 'Lord Jesus': he was our Mediator and Saviour. To be 
 sure, the 'angel of the Lord' appeared unto many, but does 
 not seem to me through a medium. I believe, dear, that every 
 word that you say in reference to it is the truth, so far as 
 your understanding goes. There must be a power that impresses
 
 98 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 yoii some way, and I cannot see that you are any the worse for it. 
 You are in your right mind, are n't you ? {Crazy, they call you.) 
 
 B is awfully down on your book, and H keeps hers locked 
 
 up. I told Mrs. you had been writing a book. She wished 
 
 to read it, so I lent her mine. She said it was the best work she 
 had ever read on that subject. She is a great reader; also, we 
 have always supposed, a sincere Christian. 
 
 May I ask you, do you hold any converse with spirits gone be- 
 fore without the assistance of a medium ? Do you have any reve- 
 lations now while you are away ? If so, it seems as if you would 
 hear from us up here, — our thoughts and feelings, if they are 
 known." 
 
 Beloved child, what you say in regard to spiritual mediums 
 does not surprise us in the least ; but I think we can perhaps 
 explain to you in part. "We do not, it is true, in the Bible see the 
 word " medium " applied as in spiritual writings of the present day ; 
 but if we have the right understanding, the word " gift " as there 
 used has the same interpretation as " phase " with us. " Diversity 
 of gifts " is no more nor less than diversity of phases of medium- 
 ship; and there is ^' phase of tlie same corresponding 'precisely witli 
 each separate gift there mentioned, as well as some minor phases 
 which are not mentioned. Jesus Christ, our great mediator, pos- 
 sessed all of these phases in a high degree of perfection. Among 
 his apostles, as St. Paul tells us, these gifts were distributed. We 
 should infer from reading the chapter that only one gift was pos- 
 sessed by any one individual ; but as we find many of them exer- 
 cised more than that, we take it as a general term of expression ; 
 each one doubtless had a gift which was his specialty, as do our 
 mediums of the present day ; for believe me, friend, every inspired 
 writer, apostle, and prophet, who took part in the construction of 
 the Bible, was a medium, whether so called or not. One of the 
 most "eminent divines of the Orthodox church," tivelve years 
 ago, after holding his audience spellbound through a long and 
 eloquent discourse on the inspiration of St. Paul, paused and qui- 
 etly said, " I suppose many of you have already asked how the 
 inspiration of St. Paul differed from the inspiration of modern 
 spiritual mediums ; for the day has long since passed when any 
 candid and thinhing mmd would doubt the claims of modern 
 mediums to special influx." And then he said : " / ansicer that 
 the inspiratio7i of the modern mediums is precisely like the inspi-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 99 
 
 ration of Paid ; tlie only difference leing that the inspiration of 
 Paul was hy authority, and that of the modern mcdiuin is witii- 
 OUT AUTHORITY." As to the pliascs of mediumsliip, inspirational 
 is one of the highest, corresponding to the "gift" " word of wis- 
 dom." Impressional is another, corresponding to " word of 
 knowledge." These phases, which are often combined in one 
 person, are given directly to that person by tlie controlling spirit ; 
 therefore requiring no assistance, from any other medinm. This 
 class embraces our writers and speakers of the present day as it 
 did in former times. And many of our most able and intelligent 
 orators are thus inspired, unconsciously to themselves j while oth- 
 ers not a few, who are conscious of the gift they possess as well 
 as the source from which their power is derived, remain incog, 
 from policy. We give an instance of the latter as follows. A 
 friend writes : — 
 
 " On one occasion I was struck with the report of a sermon by 
 a very orthodox man, given by a parishioner, and called on his 
 pastor, then in an Eastern city, and now far West ; and as soon 
 as he found I was a Christian Spiritualist, he told me that both 
 he and his wife were mediums, and to .that he owed his popularity 
 (which was very great). 
 
 ' I would not deny it,' he said, ' but I do not feel called upon to 
 parade it before the world, when it would lessen my influence to 
 promote the spread of that truth which this development is de- 
 signed to establish.' " 
 
 These phases of mediumship, which are really the most satis- 
 factory to an aspiring mind, are also very common. The other 
 phases all have their uses, as did the different gifts. " But all 
 these worketh one and the selfsame spirit, dividing to every man 
 severally as he will." As there are many different gifts, so are 
 there many different classes of minds to enlighten and instruct; 
 while one of these gifts miglit be an eye-opener to one, it would 
 produce not the slightest effect upon another possessing different 
 qualities of mind and heart. Take yourself, for example : imme- 
 diately upon the perusal of our book, which (if we mistake not) 
 was the first you had ever read of that character, you were con- 
 vinced that some power outside of the medium directed her efforts. 
 Now let me ask you if, had you witnessed another phase, table- 
 tipping, for instance, it would have produced the same effect upon 
 your mind? I think not. While many another person, who
 
 100 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 would consider the book mere trasli, and would not waste tlieir 
 time in reading a work of this character, if they should see a table 
 or chair jump around the room by the laying on of their hands, 
 would be in rapturous glee, instantaneously convinced that there 
 must be ^^ something in it," and perhaps be led to search out the 
 matter. There are, I am sorry to say, those who, even after they 
 perceive iha truth of these things, have no desire to progress, and 
 therefore never get beyond these low orders of physical manifesta- 
 tions ; while others advance step by step from lower to higher ; 
 many, even at the outset, commencing on a higher plane of 
 development than some wlio have been slowly progressing for years. 
 
 We doubt if there are any iiossessing the higher phases of me- 
 diumship who do not also possess some of the lower ones which 
 may be called into action when occasion requires for the benefit 
 of those whom the higher ones would outreach ; but they have no 
 need to use them in their own behalf, finding "a far more exceed- 
 ing and eternal weight of glory" in the first mentioned. This is, 
 to us, conclusive reason why these orders of mediumship are less 
 traceable in both the ancient and modern inspired writings. It 
 is also the reason why we chose to dwell more especially upon 
 these in our former work, which was intended for beginners. Ad- 
 vanced Spiritualists would regard it as a mere primer. 
 
 The trance phase gives good satisfaction to many, and the evi- 
 dence is truthful and conclusive under the right conditions ; but 
 these are not always available. Therefore what is given through 
 the organism of these mediums is but as grains of sand on the 
 sea-shore compared to what we can give impressionally. We also 
 give much in dreams or visions, and symbols. These you will find 
 are scattered in profusion throughout the sacred writings. You 
 "svill also find, upon a close examination of the Old Testament, 
 that the kings and nearly all of the celebrated characters men- 
 tioned therein had recourse to magicians, astrologers {mediums 
 i. e.), and that their supply of wisdom and power was derived — 
 either directly or indirectly — from the spirit world. The Magi, 
 or wise men from the East, in our Saviour's time, were also me- 
 diums. You will recollect that our Saviour said, " I have many 
 things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." To his 
 apostles and immediate followers he said, " The works that I do 
 shall ye do also " ; and they did them, never knowing themselves 
 how or why, except that the power was given them from ou high.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 101 
 
 Philosophy and science have since been at work, and for the past 
 few years their strides have been rapid toward the attainment of 
 knowledge regarding the fixed laws of nature which govern and 
 control all things. " Spirit intercourse and its true philosophy 
 is now known and believed in by many millions of the j^resent 
 generation, including the most eminent and enlightened minds of 
 the world, — in fact, no others can have a perfect intellection of 
 its philosophy, — many of whom not only believe, but know, not 
 from high-wrought feelings of excitement, intense orgasm, or 
 contagious sympathy, which religious converts experience, but 
 witli cool, positive demonstration of science and absolute knowl- 
 edge." 
 
 Whether our medium is in her right mind or not, " judge ye." 
 We should not count her a true disciple if her works and ways 
 were not such as to elicit terms of reproach from some of her 
 MORE " crazy" friends; but when they all get crazy, we'll have 
 a good time together. 
 
 May God bless you, dear child, and strengthen your good en- 
 deavors. We might convey some of your thoughts southward, for 
 we can both read and impress you to some extent, but it is not 
 our mission to "tell tales out of school." {Controlling spirit.) 
 
 Next morning. 
 
 Darling, I believe I must add a postscript, for somehow it 
 seems to me this letter was the means or measures used by a " higher 
 Power" to prevent the destruction of property, if not to preserve 
 life. I attended a concert last evening given by a blind girl. 
 Yv'hen I came home it was rather early to retire, so I commenced 
 penning the reply to your letter. 
 
 After I had done so I could not seem to leave it until finished, 
 which took me into the " wee small hours " of the night. It was 
 a very unusual and seemingly foolish thing for me to do like this, 
 as I had i)lenty of time for writing you to-day. 
 
 AVhen I was through I went to the window and saw near the 
 back piazza quite a bhize of fire, which proceeded from an ash- 
 barrel, probably kindling from live coals or sparks left in the 
 ashes. There was a sort of form covered with dry boards near, 
 one end of which had already caught fire. If this had not been 
 discovered, the house must shortly have been in flames. There 
 were others immediately adjoining, and I believe (as the lady of
 
 102 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 the house herself said) the whole block of buildings would have 
 been consumed. There was a gentle breeze at the time, which 
 soon arose to quite a gale of wind. The family were quietly 
 sleeping in another part of the house, which is a large one, and 
 the " head of the family" was away from home. As I have told 
 you before, this is a small town, and they have no facilities for 
 extinguishing fires. 
 
 I will here insert one of the songs of the blind girl, sung with 
 sweet, pathetic tones. The words are simple (as was the music), 
 yet so comprehensive, so comforting and encouraging. 
 
 "In some way or other the Lord will provide : 
 It may not be my way, 
 It may not be thy way, 
 And yet in his own way 
 
 The Lord will provide. 
 
 At some time or other the Lord will provide : 
 It may not be imi time, 
 It may not be thy time. 
 And yet in his own time 
 
 The Lord will provide. 
 
 Despond then no longer, the Lord will i)rovide : 
 And this be the token, — 
 No word he hath spoken 
 Was ever yet broken ; 
 
 The Lord will provide. 
 
 March on then right boldly, the sea shall divide. 
 The path be made glorious 
 With shoutings victorious. 
 We '11 join in the chorus. 
 
 The Lord will provide," 
 
 " All things are ready, begin thy appointed 
 
 Task." These words keep ringing in mine ears ; from 
 
 Whom they come, for what purpose they are sent, 
 
 I know not ; I place them here and wait. Ask 
 
 Ye for what I wait? For further light, for 
 
 Wisdom more to come ; my daily food is
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 103 
 
 Spent, I hunger, thirst for more ; how long, O 
 Lord, have I to wait? and what may be the 
 Task thou hast for me ? O, make it plain I 
 Pray ! for I am ready, I am waiting. 
 
 "As a sheep before its shearers is dumb,' 
 
 So they opened not their mouths. Two months 
 
 Ago and more our little book went forth ; 
 
 It was our care that our people, dwellers 
 
 Of my native town, should be first served. "VYo 
 
 Labored zealously at the last, fearing the 
 
 Issue of our book would be too late for 
 
 " Christmas gift." Some there we sent on sale, 
 
 Others as souv'nirs. Were they in time r 
 
 "We know not, neither can we tell the day 
 
 Or the horn' of their debut ; this much we 
 
 Do know, they were duly sent : weeks afterward 
 
 We incidentally did hear they reached 
 
 Their destination. How were they received? 
 
 Time's tongue must tell if e'er it gets unloosed ; 
 
 No soul from there has yet vouchsafed to us 
 
 A "thank you," much less, a kind " God speed" : we 
 
 Comprehend not why these same do hold their 
 
 Peace in just this way. Solomon the Wise 
 
 Did say : " Even a fool, when he holdeth 
 
 His peace, is counted wise." But this cannot 
 
 To these apply. Oui- people wc have oft 
 
 Been told were a conservative people. 
 
 Bo this as it may, we know them to be 
 
 An intelligent and well-read people, 
 
 Therefore we think the reason of their silence 
 
 Must be this : " The heart of the righteous 
 
 Studieth to answer." May we not hope 
 
 To receive from their mouths words which shall bo 
 
 As deep waters ; and from their wellspring of 
 
 Wisdom, thoughts which shall refresh the soul as 
 
 A flowing brook ?
 
 104 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 "We have been debating within ourselves as to which is the most 
 beneficial in its results to mankind, — active ignorance or passive 
 knowledge. 
 
 Our decision is in favor of the former ; which, although it is 
 terrible to combat, gives an opportunity of development, both to 
 the possessor and to the recij^ient or recipients of his wis- 
 dom ( ! ). While passive knowledge bears no fruit outside its own 
 individual capacity. ' Its possessor may be wise in his own con- 
 ceit, but has not reached even the " alpha" of true wisdom. Let 
 us pray for the days of enligliteament and freshening to come, 
 when we shall have on\j ijassive ignorance to contend with, which 
 will be easily uprooted by the true wisdom of those possessing 
 active knowledge combined with love of truth. 
 
 " Speak of angels and you will hear the flutter of their wings," 
 contains more truth than poetry sometimes. Two letters have 
 come from inhabitants of our town : the first, whose wellspring 
 of wisdom has been so long pent, gushes forth : — 
 
 " I have felt I could not say one word of my thoughts to you, 
 whom I felt were sincere, doing what you believed was for the 
 cause of right and good. When any one has asked my opinion, I 
 have invariably replied, that I did ' not wish to discuss the book.* 
 One objection which had weight with me in this has been, that 
 if spirits controlled you to write, — as you believe, — they ought 
 to be able, if they have advanced in their life beyond, to write in 
 a style superior to our hest luriters here. I do not think the 
 rhythm and harmony of the verse at all to be compared with that 
 of our first-class writers; and the comment that forces itself is, 
 if they cannot do better, it would be to their credit not to make 
 the attempt." 
 
 Reply. 
 
 " Show me him who never changes his opinions, never learns, 
 never progresses, and I'll show you a fool who morally stands 
 still and vegetates like any other tree, on whom a just God should 
 not force immortality against his will. 'He who cannot rea- 
 son is a fool; he who dare not reason is a coward; who will 
 not reason is a bigot ; but show to me him who can and does 
 reason, and I '11 show you a man,' and a progressive man, and, if 
 honest, the highest type of God's mundane works. 
 
 All things are not possible with God. He cannot possibly 
 make heat and cold, light and darkness, coexist together; nor
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 105 
 
 any two things antagonistic harmonize, or occupy the same place 
 at the same time. He cannot make a two-year-old, anything, in 
 an hour, — to use an inelegant and rather uncouth phrase, but in 
 point full of potential significance; you will pardon me, I am 
 after the truth, if I have to get it in vulgar garb ; I seek the 
 jewel, if I have to dig it from dirty rubbish ; if he could, then 
 there is no excuse or reason why he does not make the high and 
 happy angel of a century's development, immediately upon the cre- 
 ation of poor, miserable man, as fabled Minerva sprang, full 
 fledged, from the brain of Jove." 
 
 Our second letter contains the following : — 
 
 "1 hope the time will come when we can see and believe more 
 alike ; you know I have a good many cares and anxieties, with so 
 many children to try and help do for." 
 
 " The time will come, is coming day by day, hour by hour, and 
 even now thou art not wide apart, as we who read thine inmost 
 soul discern. Thy cares and anxieties have been, still are, nu- 
 merous ; yea, thou hast done, still art doing for thy children, thine 
 own dear ones, more than thy most exalted imagination has ever 
 pictured or dreamed ; more, a hundred-fold more, than the artifi- 
 cial observer who might accuse thee of doing too little. Thou 
 hast ploughed deep in the soil of their hearts ; the seed hath not 
 only been well sown, but hath been watered and tended with care, 
 nurtured in the warm sunshine of thy affectionate love. This 
 seed hath taken deep root, is firmly stranded in the soil, and some 
 e'eu now is bearing fruit. Thy harvest shall be plenteous, thy 
 garners well filled, and filled with good grain. 
 
 Then courage, brother ! Let not your heart be troubled, neither 
 let it be afraid, for all with thee is well. Who only stirs the sur- 
 face of the soil may sooner reap, but not to perfection, for some will 
 by the midday's burning heat be scorched; other some the chill- 
 ing, searching winds of reality and adversity may blast and uproot. 
 
 Thy life hath been one of vicissitude and seeming unrest. Yet 
 these very changes have developed, enlightened, educated your 
 mentality, which, though unpretending and unobtrusive, stands 
 high in the region of thought and good understanding. Then 
 fear thou not, but go on thy way rejoicing, assured by us that not 
 only tliy children, but tliy children's children, for generations to 
 come, shall ' arise up and call thee blessed.' "
 
 106 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 THOUGHTS 
 
 SUGGESTED BY A CONVERSATION WITH THE BLIND GIEL. 
 
 So quiet, gentle, guileless too, she seemed, 
 
 Her trust reposing all in Him, who, as 
 
 Her sweetest song bespoke, will for his 
 
 Children dear provide in his "own time," in 
 
 His " own way." She could not mourn the loss 
 
 Of sight, for sight — except the inward vision 
 
 Pure — she ne'er had known ; but this to her had 
 
 Been vouchsafed wondrously clear, in other 
 
 Words, she had a tender angel guide who 
 
 Never left unless another one her 
 
 Kept in charge ; she knew this not, although she 
 
 Had no fears for herself, travelling from place 
 
 To place continually with no accompanying 
 
 Earthly guide or protector, alleging 
 
 That her very misfortune was to her 
 
 A safeguard and protection, eliciting 
 
 From those with whom she came in contact both 
 
 Sympathy and kindness. With childlike 
 
 Simplicity she asked if any could 
 
 Her tell, how it was that she could a person's 
 
 Presence sense, without from them the slightest sound 
 
 Or perceptible movement ; and then she says, 
 
 " If a person stares at me I feel it : 
 
 If a person speaks to me I know their 
 
 Character at once, my first impression 
 
 Of them is always correct." These things she 
 
 Knew, though not by outward vision ; of the 
 
 Angel presence she knew nothing, although 
 
 It did her sweetest, holiest songs inspire ; 
 
 But she in time will these things also learn. 
 
 "I have," she said, "met and conversed with some 
 
 Spiritualists, and they seemed so happy.
 
 THE XJNSEALED BOOK. 107 
 
 So cheerful." Yes, sister, and we would that 
 All our happiness might share ; in some way 
 Or other, at some time or other, they 
 Must, they will, for "no word He hath spoken 
 Was ever yet broken." He "will provide." 
 
 We might go further and say, He 7ms provided the way. In 
 confirmation of this, we give an extract from Eenibcrt's " Philos- 
 ophy of Life." We have ah-eady quoted a little from this deep- 
 toned and most excellent work, and may do so more in future. 
 
 "Now in view of all the facts and truths I have presented, espe- 
 cially considering the great developments of late scientific research 
 in the domain of mind, the universal ethereal medium through 
 which mind acts upon mind at any distance and without any 
 obstruction, when minds are in rapport with each other, is it not 
 a wonder that deceased spirit friends, if they be really living, do 
 not thus communicate with some of us in the flesh, with whom 
 they may come in rapport? Isn't it a wonder that excarnated 
 human spirits don't see and communicate with us incarnated 
 spirits through this same universal electro-ethereal medium 
 through whicli we communicate with one another on this rudi- 
 mental earth plane ? 
 
 When men in the flesh have learned to use this mystic medium 
 by putting themselves in and assuming that necessary negative 
 condition of perfect passivity and receptivity, is it not a wonder 
 that those out of the flesh, if still in existence, do not then mani- 
 fest themselves to us through this same medium of the many 
 millious on both sides of such various electric temperaments? 
 And when we also consider that some, in all ages of mankind, 
 have had such mysterious manifestations without understanding 
 them, is it not a wonder indeed that our spirit friends in the 
 spirit spheres do not now manifest themselves intelligibly to us 
 with our present progressed facilities ? As we have learned the 
 lightning and lettered its sheets, and thus attest our immortality 
 and their felicity ? The science of mind and electricity has 
 reached that point that we must expect, nay, must have, such 
 communications from our friends who have gone before, or else 
 conclude forever that they live no more. For spirit here can now 
 communicate with spirit unimpeded by flesh, distance, or any
 
 108 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 other obstacle ; and some of those eliminated spirits who have ' 
 left the body can communicate through the same universal me- 
 dium to some of us yet in the body in unison with them ; there- 
 fore if they do not now communicate, we are bound to believe 
 they live no more, but died and perished with their bodies. But 
 cease these wonders, dry your tears, dispel your doubts, linger no 
 longer your patient expectations, for list, ye tenants of the tomb ! 
 Hear it, and feel a new glory thrill your vital being of your mor- 
 tal body, ye prisoned spirits of the mouldering urn ! The glori- 
 ous truth and the glorious proof of your immortal life and 
 immortal love hath sounded its glorious symphonies upon your 
 sombre shores ! The glorious reality has come, the mighty and 
 momentous truth in lights of supernal splendor has blazed upon 
 the world. Just at the time when science leads us to look for it 
 and must have it, or bury our hopes and loves in the grave for- 
 ever, the grand and glorious fact comes careering on the wings 
 of the wind, ay, on the lightning's pinion, with angelic anthems. 
 And 0, what a fact, wdiat a truth, is tliis we have learned in our 
 favored nineteenth century ! Every pulsation of our corporeal, 
 and every vital vibration of our spiritual heart should beat, 
 throughout the infinite future, glory to our Creator. 
 
 That was a grand event in the pages of the past, when Colum- 
 bus pictured a new and unknown continent on the map of the 
 world ; but this new continent, like the old, is filled with the bit- 
 terness of death and blasted hopes. 
 
 That was a proud period for man when the printing-press leaped 
 forth from the mind of Faust and Guttenburg to spread knowl- 
 edge broadcast among the nations, and render her springs imper- 
 ishable; but its reflected lights never reached beyond the dim 
 horizon around us. 
 
 That was an epoch in the chronology of time when Christ stood 
 forth and proclaimed immortal life to the good and true ; but he 
 only proclaimed the truth, and left the world still in the darkness 
 of doubt. And that was sublime when he illustrated his life in 
 his glorious death, and was lost to mortal vision in the brightness 
 of his empyreal sphere ; but the splendor of his illustration grows 
 dim in the distance, and the glory of his ascension is believed by 
 few and known to none. But all these grand events and epochs 
 of the past grow pale before the luminous eifulgence of this new- 
 risen sun of science which is now illuminating the world of mind.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 109 
 
 They sink into insignificance beside the gathered glories of this 
 new apocalypse which is brightening into bliss the sorrows and 
 sufferings of earth's dying children. JSTot with meelv proclama- 
 tion, nor proud preaching, nor pompous declamation on futile 
 faith, but based on philosophy, with absolute demonstration and 
 certainty of science, this grand and mighty truth, so long dark, 
 dormant, and unknown, has leaped into light, life, and knowl- 
 edge, and already warms the hearts of its enlightened millions, 
 soothing their sorrows, easing their agonies, and binding the glory 
 of immortality around their love. 
 
 That Jesus was a most perfect harmonic man, with the highest 
 spiritual endowments, it is only necessary to state, for those who 
 even doubt these transcendent merits, that from the Acta Pilati 
 transmitted to Eome, Tiberias Cassar, the emperor, was influenced 
 to suggest to the Senate the propriety of admitting him among 
 the number of gods, and sent his own prerogative vote, in favor 
 of the measure. But Jesus was not our God and Creator, for all 
 this and much more, for all his splendid percej)tions, and wonder- 
 ful revelations, and apocalypse and exalted practices; he was our 
 great, gifted, spiritualized brother of humanity, and illustrious 
 exemplar of social life. But Jesus is worshipped as a God, or 
 rather the God ; yet he says, ' Why callest thou me good ? There 
 is none good but one, that is God.' 'Thou shall worship the 
 Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.' That there is but 
 one God, and he is in heaven, that it is not his to give, but his 
 father's, etc. 
 
 The splendid Milton is so often cited as the pink of Protestant 
 orthodoxy, that I should mention here his posthumous state pa- 
 pers, published in 1823, prove him to have become decidedly 
 Arian in his opinions on this point; that the character of Jesus 
 was moulded in the most perfect model of human nature, the 
 beauty, harmony, and symmetry of his proportions constituting 
 the most perfect paragon of humanity that ever existed, but not 
 God. And what sensible scientific man of this day can believe 
 otherwise ? Milton lived a century ahead of his contemporaries." 
 
 " And it came to pass that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul 
 having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus : and 
 finding certain disciples. 
 
 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since yo
 
 110 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 believed ? And they said unto him. We liave not so much as heard 
 whether there he any Holy Ghost. 
 
 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized ? 
 And they said, Unto John's baptism. 
 
 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of re- 
 pentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him 
 which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 
 
 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus. 
 
 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost 
 came on them ; and they spake tvith tongues, and prophesied.''^ 
 
 We would ask if this doth not verify the statement previously 
 made concerning Christ's followers (doing the works which he 
 did, scarce knowing how or why) ? Their own words proving 
 that they not even knew that there was a Holy Ghost (or spirits, 
 if you please, which, as we endeavored to make plain in our for- 
 mer work, bear the same interpretation). " But the Comforter, 
 which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, 
 he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remem- 
 brance, whatsoever I have said unto you." We would also ask if 
 this truth is not becoming more manifest, and our Saviour's glo- 
 rious teachings more luminous and grand, as brought to remem- 
 brance, explained and elucidated by the bright progressive spirits 
 " gone before " ? 
 
 This from the letter of a very dear friend : — 
 
 " I know your book will be read and appreciated by many. 
 
 Cousin spent a night with us last week. He was looking 
 
 over the titles of our books, and I called his attention to yours. 
 He immediately took it and began to read, and got so much inter- 
 ested that he read the greater part of it before he left. He ex- 
 pressed himself as much pleased with many of the ideas contained 
 in it, though I believe he is an Adventist, or at least he used to 
 be. He thought that part of the book which portrayed the pub- 
 lic sentiment in regard to Elizabeth Tilton as compared with 
 Beecher, especially good ; also that in regard to the laws of divorce 
 and property as applied to woman and to man. Your book will 
 do its work, and a good work too." 
 
 Whether Adventist, Spiritualist, or Eomanist by name, it mat-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. Ill 
 
 ters not, if the understanding be quickened to receive and inward- 
 ly digest the teachings of equity and justice, as enlightened rea- 
 son, the God-principle of nature, dictates. 
 
 There are countless millions upon the earth, who have never, 
 with their outward ears, heard of Spiritualism, who are truer 
 Spiritualists at heart, than many who have named the name. 
 
 And "there is vastly more conviction on the part of the clergy 
 than is made manifest, or calls itself Spiritualism. God keeps 
 his agents preparing the way for new revelations. 
 
 A few weeks since I attended the opening services in one of oar 
 city churches after the summer vacation. The pastor is among 
 the most popular of all the clergy of this giant city, and circum- 
 stances made it an occasion of more than ordinary rejoicing that 
 they had resumed services around their favorite altar ; and in the 
 fervor of the pastor's gratitude to God, he thanked him that ' we 
 can feel assured that those who have loved to meet with us here 
 and have left the earth for the higher life, are yet able to join us 
 at this time of our rejoicing, and that they still hold dear this 
 place of their former worship.' I was not a little surprised, but 
 supposed the expression due to the effect of memory on the emo- 
 tions, during the inspired moments of earnest prayer. But my 
 surprise was greater, when I found the sentiment only the repeti- 
 tion of the calm and deliberate statement of the pastor, when 
 writing his sermon in his study, where he enlarged upon the idea. 
 I was greatly astonished, when I met him on business the next 
 week, to learn that he ' had no sympathy loith Spiritualism, and 
 thought it was doing injury ! ' I was not disposed to question 
 his assertion, but thought to myself that the sentiments of the 
 prayer and sermon of the preceding Sabbath prej^ared many a 
 mind to conclude that if spirits attended church and joined in 
 communion service, it would be equally easy for them to go to 
 some medium, if thereby they could express their interest in lov- 
 ing friends, and many would reason that they would be more at- 
 tracted there than to church. 
 
 I might multiply instances showing that God is preparing Ihe 
 Church, as well as the world, to welcome this providence which is 
 soon to end the evils and dissensions of sectarianism, and silence 
 the voice of the materialist, by demonstrating the meaning of the 
 New Testament, so that there shall be no chance to doubt. With- 
 in a week, one of the rising stars and earnest defenders of Trini-
 
 112 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 tarian theology visited a medium friend of mine, and solicited a 
 seance, and appeared to enjoy it. I know a bishop of the Epis- 
 copal church, who is said to make no secret of his interest and 
 conyiction. The opinions of the Beecher family, especially Eev. 
 Thomas K., of Elmira, and Mrs. Stowe, have not only made many 
 converts, through the Christian Union, but have emboldened 
 others to express what they were before disposed to conceal, and 
 must have led many prejudiced persons to inquiry." 
 
 " Enhghtened intellect, a strong, clear mind with true philos- 
 ophy, must always believe a truth that is demonstrable, whether 
 all the abstract or concrete principles of that truth be understood 
 and comprehended or not. This latter (comprehension) cannot 
 enter into a question of mere credence or credibility ; unders and- 
 ing properly has nothing to do with believing. How frequent 
 it is for us to say, ' We believe it, but don't understand it.' Can 
 we say of a fact that we understand but don't believe it ? We 
 may believe without understanding, but cannot understand a fact 
 or truth without believing, for this very understanding of a truth 
 or fact necessitates the truth or fact. The highest, grandest tri- 
 umph and achievement of modern science is in the domain of the 
 mind. It is tracing out the elements of immortal spirit, and the 
 means and instruments through which and by which it operates 
 and acts. It has discovered a refined electricity to be the connect- 
 ing link between mind and matter; that it is the medium of 
 mind; that it is the medium of God and his government; and 
 that it is the grand primordial element of the universe. 
 
 This is the most sublime achievement of the human mind, — to 
 learn itself, to unravel its own mysteries and read its own future. 
 
 It is the science of the living mind, its silent and mysterious 
 workings, and energetic powers. 
 
 It is the science that evolves the majestic movement of rolling 
 worlds, the falling leaf, and claims the great law of the universe 
 as its own. And I '11 add, the science that involves the philosophy 
 of our immortal life, and spirit int6rcourse with incarnated men. 
 
 ' Yet such a science as this has been called a humbug, and such 
 men as these (Dr. Dodds) have been assailed.' Again, truly and 
 eloquently, ' True fame is not the birthright of the hero. The 
 blaze of glory that has for ages encircled his head, and with its 
 brilliancy so long dazzled the world, is beginning to grow dim. 
 The laurels that decorate his sullen brow have been gathered at
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 113 
 
 the cannon's mouth, from a soil enriched with human gore, and 
 watered by the tears of bereavement. That favored pinnacle of 
 glory on which he proudly stands has been gained by conquest 
 and slaughter. His way to it lay over thousands of his fellow- 
 creatures, whose warm hearts had ceased to throb ; and the music 
 that followed his march was the widow's moan and the orphan's 
 wail. True fame does not lie here. It has a higher origin, a 
 nobler birth, a more elevated aim. True fame consists in the 
 lofty aspirations after intellectual and moral truth ! ' The great- 
 est study of mankind is man ; the greatest lesson of our lives is to 
 learn ourselves, which is, in fact, the sum total of all learning ; a 
 lesson unlearned, all other learning's naught. Our duty and our 
 destiny, the end, and aim, and object, and origin of our existence, 
 have always absorbed, and always will absorb and monopolize the 
 brightest intellects that shed radiance over the dark precincts of 
 time. All the great minds that have graced the annals of all the 
 ages have devoted their energies to solve this mighty problem of 
 themselves. To men of mind, in contradistinction to men of 
 matter, it is the problem, and only problem. 
 
 ' Man, know thyself, there all wisdom centres,' says Dr. Young. 
 Thales said, ' The most difficult thing in nature is to know our- 
 selves, the most easy to advise others.' Chilo had engraved in 
 letters of gold in the temple of Apollo at Delphi this aphorism, 
 'Know thyself.' [^Query : docs Beecherknow himself?] Phyrro, 
 the sceptic philosopher of Ellis, asserted that no man can have 
 certain knowledge of anything. One of his friends reproved him 
 in the following logical dilemma : ' You either know what you 
 say to be true, or you do not know it. If you do know it to be 
 true, that very knowledge proves your assertion to be false, and 
 you do wrong to make it ; if you do not know it to be true, you 
 do wrong to assert it, since no one has a right to assert what he 
 does not know to be true: therefore, in either case, you do 
 wrong to assert that no one can have a certain knowledge of any- 
 thing.'" 
 
 We quote the following also from Rembert, who makes his own 
 apology: — 
 
 " Some of you will doubtless consider it vulgar Brownlowism, 
 or, worse, diabolical Beecherism, which will perhaps jar on more 
 refined ears, as it was written under the intensity of youthful im- 
 pulse and ardor, unchastened by age ; and you will not expect me
 
 114 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 to stop now to smooth its severity with more polish, inasmuch 
 especially as it speaks the truth, though the pen be porcupine 
 dipped in fiery lava, contains the jewel, though full of flint and 
 fire. 
 
 We have seen the stricken soul, perhaps wild and wayward, 
 mayhaps erring and erratic, but high-hearted and noble, unfortu- 
 nate, with soul and exalted nature, who, like the Scarvola, would 
 thrust his arm into the burning fire and see it and feel it perish, 
 rather than stoop to meanness or falsehood ; who would disdain 
 a low act as the bird of Jove disdains the mire ; soul of impas- 
 sioned mould and lofty aspirations, that soared like the eagle of 
 the mountain into the clear cerulean ; with no fault but misfor- 
 tune, no weakness but too much trust, no guilt but looking 
 to heaven, no crime but devoted love, like the immortal Milton, 
 traduced, maligned, abused, and barked at by human hyenas sa- 
 cerdotal sanctity with eyes that roll in holy horror at the aberra- 
 tions of erratic love and pure devotion, — the little peccadilloes 
 perchance of others, — Avho should have poured the oil of healing, 
 and who will themselves, according to their own theory and ^rac- 
 tice, roll another horror to the billowed thunders of devil's daily 
 dirge, and cast a shadow over the regions of the damned like em- 
 bodied midnight. We have seen the innocent, the injured, and 
 the pure torn down with pharisaic friendship and Satanic soul by 
 falsehood's forked tongue of demoniac traduction, by the vile and 
 villanous preacher who, under the assumed sanctitude of the 
 Prince of peace, would scent out the victim of misfortune and 
 ursre on his hell-hounds of carrion to their feast of devil's obse- 
 quious simpletons, who would howl when their master hissed, — 
 incarnated spirits of distilled iniquity, whose souls, if they have 
 any, will make black spots in hell's darkest midnight, — spots 
 that the roll of ages will not efface, and the darkness of the 
 damned will be sunshine to their spirits, deep and dark enough to 
 extinguish the light of a thousand suns." 
 
 From the same author we give the following extract ; after the 
 perusal of which, "guilty or not guilty," is not the question, but 
 blame or no blame. If blame, wlio 's to blame ? If no blame, 
 why this widespread commotion, this " social earthquake " ? 
 
 " Said Shakespeare, who, not as a poet, but as an acute observer 
 and profound philosopher had no superior, ' There is a divinity 
 that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.'
 
 THE UXSE.VLED BOOK. 115 
 
 Man is impelled to every action by either internal impulse or 
 external influence. External influence is that which he can con- 
 trol, or that which he cannot control. If the latter, of course he 
 cannot be held responsible for it or guilty of its effects ; if the 
 former, — that external influence which he can control, — he 
 either controls it or not, as he is prompted or enabied by his inter- 
 nal impulse or inherent power. 
 
 Hence it is narrowed down to his internal impulse. Xow this 
 impulse impels him as the character of the impulse predominates. 
 If evil predominates, he is impelled to evil ; if good, then to good 
 actions. These impulses ase inherent in him, and constitute as 
 much his moral nature, as the form of his body or color of his 
 skin constitutes his corporeal individuality. Xow the question 
 is, can he control his natural, inherent impulses ? I will answer 
 this by asking, can he control the natural form of his body or 
 color of his skin ? He certainly can, to a limited extent, at first, 
 modify and improve the natural form of his body and beautify 
 the complexion of his skin; and no more, at first, while subject 
 to the animal. To this extent and no more, in low, undeveloped 
 life, should we hold each other accountable, and visit a commen- 
 surate punishment for deliberate violation ; this is the true ratio- 
 nale of crime, — this much and no more. 
 
 This certain penalty is the proper apjiliance to j)revent crime in 
 unprogressed men. Then if this strict justice be, as it should be, 
 by all humane hearts, tempered with mercy, little will be left to 
 punish. Hence moral suasion, proper education, philosophic 
 scientific development is the great lever of human reform, the 
 true principle of human progress. The more external influences 
 are brought to bear, of which consists education, the more will 
 the impulse be moulded and the conduct controlled. Hence the 
 labors of the jurisconsul, the salutary influence of penal law, and 
 judicial and retributive example, and juridical learning from 
 Bracton and Fleta to Storey and Taney, are not witiiout their 
 good results on the conduct of men ; nor can we, indeed, in our 
 present low rudimental condition of moral development, and 
 dense population, live without these salutary influences and re- 
 straints. 
 
 And it is not inconsistent, though it may so ajipear, to aver 
 that in the concrete if not in the abstract, in the aggregate if not 
 in the segregate, — for God so governs through general and no
 
 116 THE UNSEAI.ED BOOK. 
 
 special laws, otherwise, we should find no exceptions: ererything 
 is just as it was designed to be by the Creator; and in this aver- 
 ment there is philosophy enough to fill a book. Indeed, it would 
 require a volume to fully unfold the philosophy and vindicate the 
 assertion ; for there is method in the conflicts of nature, as there 
 is in the conflicts of human laws. Nor is it necessary to exclude 
 the 'rare and exceptional phenomena of nature for the basis of 
 analogy and argument,' as James Martineau said of Bishop Butler, 
 whose ' strained analogy,' said William Pitt in a conversation with 
 Wilberforce, ' raised more doubts in my mind than it answered.' 
 In fact, some installed divines say that in everything we do, we, 
 thougli unconsciously, worship God. I do not think so ; the Crea- 
 tor has not decreed, nor designed, nor governed special isolated 
 cases. He governs alone through his organic general laws; and 
 to these general laws, and not to special statutes, individual cases 
 must be amenable. When man strikes down his brother man, — 
 is that worshipping God, their common Father? Religionists, 
 Christian as well as, and even more than, heathen, have always 
 preached this strike-down principle of persecution, and j)ractised 
 it to perfection, especially the former, when the victim is to them 
 .a nonconformist. 
 
 And upon the same principle the victim or nonconformist 
 or heretic should strike them down as nonconformist and heretic 
 to Ms religion. And thus the wholesale human slaughter under 
 religious dictation will be continued, unless rejected reason sup- 
 plant fanatic faith, and spiritual love supplant carnal hate. Nor 
 does my philosophy involve ' fatalism ' in its common acceptation, 
 though some of the greatest intellects of the world. Napoleon 
 Bonaparte among them, were decided fatalists. The celebrated 
 argument of Milton, so universally accepted and adopted by old 
 orthodoxy, to vindicate the Creator against the evil of man, by 
 casting the blame for all our woes upon our first parents, is, for 
 impotency and imbecility, unworthy of its source, and becoming 
 only a third-rate pedagogue, or pettifogger of the pulpit, if there 
 be such an animal. 
 
 He says man was created with * all he could have,' * sufficient 
 to have stood though free to fall.' I ask, could not man have 
 been endowed with greater obedience, and made with greater self- 
 control ? If not, then God's plenipotent power is limited. What 
 impelled Eve to eat the apple ? Curiosity, or whatever else you
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 117 
 
 * 
 
 please. Wliat operated to prevent and withhold her? The com- 
 mand of God. But the latter was not siiflBcient, therefore the 
 former, her curiosity, or the whatever else you please, was stronger, 
 and predominated. 
 
 But God made her Just that way ; she had no hand, or even 
 will in her making, — ' so was created,' as Milton saith. 
 
 Then, in justice, the blame cannot be laid to her. And so 
 Adam: what impelled him to partake? Love of Eve. What 
 prevented? Command of God. Which predominated? The 
 former. Whv ? Because it was stronger. Whomade it strons^er ? 
 His Creator. So chloride of nitrogen is quiescent until touched 
 with the proper oil. What then ? Explosion, or violation of 
 their obedience, just as nature made them. But man is endowed 
 with reason, and ' reason also 's choice,' says Milton (though our 
 preachers say we must n't use it, and in justice to them, I must 
 say, they practise the precept, don't use it much, as Artemus Ward 
 might say). Yet that does not change the question in principle, 
 only in style and e:s:tent. Was reason strong enough ? No ! 
 AVho made reason not strong euough ? God, the same Creator. 
 
 There is great good sense in the reply of the man who fell from 
 a house and caught in a scaffolding. His friends said to him, 
 'You ought to feel thankful to God for having thus saved you 
 from death.' 'I do; but was n't I cute, too?' It may be replied 
 that this anecdote illustrates free-agency, makes against me, mili- 
 tates against my position ; the argument seems swung around, 
 in cant phrase. To which I will thus replicate: this ability and 
 disposition to catch the scalfold to save himself, this 'cuteness,' 
 which is a trite word, signifying smartness, was either inherent in 
 liis creation, that is, the gift of God, or the acquisition of his own 
 exertions. If the former, of course he is not entitled to the credit : 
 it is all due to the Creator ; if the latter, whence did he iret 
 the will and energy to put forth the efforts, and the opportunities 
 to acquire this 'cuteness,' this sagacity, and the ability and dispo- 
 sition to save himself ? Now it might be rejoined, that it was 
 owing to his own volition that he exerted them. To which I put 
 the surrejoinder in this interrogatory : How came his volition to 
 act in that way unless predisposed, and prebiassed and prompted 
 by some pre-existing inherent cause? And the argument might 
 thus go on to Avhat the lawyers call rebutter and surrebutter, and 
 extended indefinite!}^, but ending always, if ever ending, in some-
 
 118 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 thing inlierent, something antevenient, or intervenient, or super- 
 venient, over which he could have no control whatever." 
 
 Therefore we ask, is Beecher to blame ? Is any one to blame ? 
 And after all this preamble, we come back to our first starting- 
 point, indorsing the sentiment expressed in our former work, that 
 this is " no child's-play game," but that a great pur2)ose is to be 
 worked out by and through this so-called scandal. 
 
 Unto a quiet country church we went 
 
 One bright and joyous Sabbath morn in spring. 
 
 The young were there, the old were there, and all 
 
 Except the wee small ones seemed well to know 
 
 The purpose for, intent with which, they came. 
 
 Their earnest prayers ascended high, their songs 
 
 Were resonant with love to Him whom they 
 
 In their uncultured way did magnify. 
 
 The priest arose with solemn face and air. 
 
 He read aloud from God's sure word some 
 
 Mighty deeds recorded there : the deeds themselves 
 
 No impress made upon his unprogressive 
 
 Mind ; at least it so to us did seem. 
 
 Our evidence, the way he ]*ead. Some thrilling 
 
 Scenes, replete with brightness enhanced by 
 
 Glorious spirit power, were read much as 
 
 A child might read, — the punctuation all 
 
 Awiy, the emphasis all placed upoji 
 
 The passages like unto this : '' J^or thus it 
 
 Is written ," and then a pause, as if 
 
 These words he must digest, and then impress 
 
 Indelibly upon the minds of these 
 
 His simple-hearted listeners. Another 
 
 Incident he reads, all radiant with 
 
 Love divine. Pay close attention, else you '11 
 
 Only hear, "for thus saith the scripture." A 
 
 Hymn of praise must next be sung. Two lines 
 
 He reads, two lines they sing ; he reads two more. 
 
 Two more they sing ; and thusly to the end.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 119 
 
 The prayer — But this we will not criticise, 
 Except to say 'twas earnest, sincere, yea. 
 Very good. i 
 
 The sermon, I fear we it 
 Shall not do justice. 'T was based the 
 Bible all upon ; we mean not now its 
 Teachings wise, its glorious truths, nay, but 
 The hook itself I With Adam number one 
 He did quite well. No one, of course, could him 
 Expect to go beyond what had been ivritten. 
 That would be absurd. But what he read of 
 Him he knew to be true, for the " Bible 
 Said so." The last Adam a " quickening 
 Spirit" was. Ah, that was a " poser " ! And 
 Yet, for aught he knew, he " might be right here 
 In our midst." But if the Lord Jesus were 
 Here, his glorious brightness would blind our 
 Eyes ; not one, but all of us would become 
 Perfectly blind. And O, what sinners all 
 Were we ! The purest soul who dwelt this earth 
 Upon could ne'er be saved, unless himself 
 He thought to be the very worst of all 
 Arch Satan's crew ; yea, and the same unto 
 His God most high, confessed. He need not be 
 The worst ; ah, no, not at all, but he must feel 
 And sc(i/ he was the worst, else no mercy 
 Would unto him be shown, no matter how 
 Pure and holy a life he led. Neither 
 Cared he what advanced thinJvers might say ; ho 
 Knew he was right, not from any knowledge 
 He possessed, but because it said so in 
 The Bible, 
 
 " The devotees of the Bible say that it is so far above and be- 
 yond human reason, that they cannot pretend to fathom, expli- 
 cate, or understand it; that reason is not required, and must have 
 nothing to do with its exegesis in determining the question of its
 
 120 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 reception or rejection ; but, with the deglutition of the anaconda, 
 it must be swallowed wholly, soully and bodily as we find it, with- 
 out mastication of incisor or molar, without concoction of enceph- 
 alon or viscera. But was not reason the cause, objectively and 
 subjectively, of all their church reformations ? And do they in- 
 tentionally or ignorantly set aside the words of the gentle Jesus, 
 their very God, 'Why, even of yourselves, judge ye not what is 
 right?' 
 
 And don't they use reason, or try to use reason, in expounding 
 it ? Will they acknowledge no reason in their preaching? And, 
 moreover, what is it that makes them come to the conclusion to 
 accept it without any research for reason ? It is reason that 
 prompts them to reject reason. If they reject reason in explain- 
 ing, why accept reason in rejecting? They stultify themselves 
 in this whole subterfuge, as indeed they do in every other. But, 
 quoth the preacher, ' The Bible is true because of the miracles it 
 records'; and 'these miracles are true because the Bible records 
 them.' The Bible is true because St. Paul says so ; and St. Paul 
 is true because the Bible says so. 
 
 A distinguished divine, in an elaborate effort to vindicate the 
 Bible, commences thus : ' God forbid that I should depreciate the 
 value of reason in any of its offices. Eeason is God's gift to man, 
 and must be used as God designs. But so is the Bible God's gift 
 to man, and must be used as God designs. Two gifts from the 
 same perfect being cannot conflict with each other,' etc. But this 
 is enough, — fair specimens of theological argument and logic, or 
 rather sophistry ; taking for granted at the start the very point 
 in dispute, and thus beg the question in the beginning. They 
 are disgusting for their want of sense as well as want of honesty. 
 I '11 prove there 's no death, and from death itself, and without 
 meanly begging. 
 
 There 's nothing certain but death, it is certain ; and there can 
 be no death without first life ; then life becomes certain as death ; 
 but if life is certain, there can be no death, for death cannot ensue 
 without extinction of life : therefore there can be no death. This 
 is the tergivisation and sophism of logic, without the disgusting 
 begging of simulating simpletons. They evince not even a mod- 
 icum of the astute dialectic talent of the ancient sophist, who, 
 addressing Clinian, asked, ' Is he who learns wise or unwise ? 
 Answer, he is wise. But was he not previously ignorant of what
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 121 
 
 he learns ? Answer, yes. The ignorant therefore learn, Clhiiau, 
 and not the wise, as you supposed.' 
 
 As for the Bible, claimed by its votaries having brought im- 
 mortality to light, its authenticity is more difficult to prove, if 
 possible, than the immortality of the soul, and both are incapable 
 of proof unless we call in modern spiritual science, which, with 
 its philosophy, will at once prove and explain the truths of both, 
 as well as expose the fallacies and falsities preached from tlie Bi- 
 ble and joublished from Spiritualism, And there are many such 
 myths to be cleared up under the wield of progressive reason and 
 science. 
 
 Old orthodoxy never had a truth but that its priests warped 
 and wove it into error and terror and horror. They would turn, 
 distort, pervert, and convert a healing, heavenly ray of celestial 
 light, direct from the angel world, into a burning, blasting shaft 
 of diabolic darkness direct from Pandimonium. If an excarnated 
 human form appear in the character of an angel, luminous in 
 resplendence of perfection, they instantly shout God ! clothed iu 
 fire, and probably bright blazes of burning brimstone. If one 
 appear from the shades of Sheol, darkling in the habiliments and 
 frowning face of unprogressed humanity in the spiritual form, 
 forthwith they proclaim Devil ! with cornuted and caudated ap- 
 pendages bifurcated horrifically, roaring round seeking whom he 
 may devour — somebody. 
 
 How superior is this to the blind infidel obstinacy that denies 
 all spirituality, past, present, or prospective, or to the weak efforts 
 of Kenan, trying to throw doubt on the truth of the Cliristian 
 record ? I dispute equally with the professed infidel, wlio Avould 
 invalidate all spiritual record, and with the professed Christian, 
 ■who would make all ' religion unnatural and all nature irre- 
 ligious.' It is not so much with them the God of truth, the God 
 of nature, the God of their destiny, as the God of their fathers. 
 Few can rend the veil and view the truth of God and God of 
 truth. Well did Jesus say, ' Few there be that find him.' 
 
 I believe in the cardinal truths of the Bible as founded in phi- 
 losophy, approved by science, and sustained by the laws of nature 
 and the light of reason and common-sense ; but I cannot believe 
 the whole Bible, Avith its palpable contradictions and absurdities, 
 immanities and inhumanities, as founded in faith, disproved by 
 Bcience, and refuted by well-known laws of nature, and obnoxious
 
 122 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 to reason and common-sense. And you will find that my pliilosO' 
 pliy supports, and it is the only ipMlosopliy that does sustain the 
 truths of the Bible, and without it the Bible must fall. Under 
 the modern march of mind this thaumaturgical hook cannot stand 
 on mere faith ; it must have the support of science and philoso- 
 phy, or fall like fabulous myth. The Bible is a record of Spiritu- 
 alism, or it is a record of fable. My opinions on this great subject 
 are not the mushroom growth of a moment ; they have matured 
 from profound investigation, laborious research, and assiduous 
 study; honestly, independently, defiantly, for the threat of eter- 
 nal torment has not terrified me, nor am I intimidated by popular 
 or unpopular opinion, as you well know. Public opinion can 
 have nothing to do with me in striving to learn my duty and my 
 destiny ; and if there is truth in eternal torment, certainly it can- 
 not be intended for one sincerely seeking truth and striving faith- 
 fully to do his duty and learn his destiny. "With science as the 
 unerring touchstone and reason the guide, one the book of na- 
 ture's God, and the other the God-gifted light to read it by, I 
 seek and vindicate truth, and shun and combat error, whether 
 under the name of infidel. Christian, Spiritualist, or Pagan, 
 whether in the Bible or Koran, or the Code of Menu." — Bem- 
 lert. 
 
 "We will now give an extract from the writings of a highly in- 
 tellectual clergyman whose mind has been directed to the investi- 
 gation of the spiritual philosophy. After a careful perusal of the 
 same we would ask our readers to decide for themselves which of 
 the two clergymen would by their teachings facilitate the true 
 doctrine of spiritual religion as taught by the holy Nazarene ; 
 the one who took the Bible itself tor his guide, enlightened only 
 by the teachings of the first Adam, " as it is writteji " ; or the one 
 who read and interpreted its truths by the glorious light of inspi- 
 ration from the second Adam or from any other " quickening 
 spirit " who might serve the same end. 
 
 Mr. Putnam thus writes : — 
 
 " Life's pathway has seemed to myself and many others to be 
 illumined with a new light, either an ignus fatuus, a false light, 
 luring to dismal swamps of error and disquietude, or it is a sun, 
 conceived from creation's dawn, in nature's living laws, now but 
 beginning to shine on man with steady light, and promising to
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 123 
 
 guide his steps to long-liidden fountains of truth and gladness. 
 Is it a phantom or a sun ? Is it a creature of deluded human 
 brains, or is it the handiwork of the eternal God ? Having used 
 my own senses, — those, to me, best possible witnesses, — and 
 having used them in this work for more than a year, I am pre- 
 pared to receive the light that is now struggling through the 
 mists around us, as the dawn of a new day. And if it has been my 
 lot, as we are performing our march over life's hill-tops and down 
 across its valleys, if it has been my lot to stand on a spot where 
 its earlier beams have met my eye, why shall I not speak of the 
 cheering event to those, whether before or behind me, who are 
 now marching in the shaded valley ? 
 
 I behold a God so perfect, that his wisdom and power were, 
 from the beginning, competent to devise such laws as should with- 
 out violation, without suspension, admit under and in obedience to 
 themselves, all all the light, and all the angel visitations, which his 
 children on earth might ever need. When man shall see and feel 
 that heaven's inhabitants may come to earth by natural processes, 
 and work among us, just according to their several abilities and 
 characters, then the greatest difficulties of philosophical faith in 
 the Bible as a record of teachings from on high, will melt away, 
 and the wisdom of God himself will appear to us more complete. 
 The departed Samuel did appear to the woman of Endor and to 
 Saul ; Moses and Elias did appear to Jesus and his companions; and 
 as spirits are seen and conversed with in our day, the fair presump- 
 tion is, that tlie processes of return were the same then as now. 
 
 Angels rolled the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre ; they 
 opened Peter's prison doors; spirits move heavy bodies now, and 
 why not by the same laws as then ? In olden times such Avorks 
 were done in the dark: they are mostly and most successfully 
 done in the dark now, and thus give ground for presumption that 
 both are manifestations of the one law. Unlearned apostles spoko 
 in languages which they had never talked or studied before: 
 many mediums now do the same. The sick were healed by a look 
 or a touch, the same thing is frequently done now. Jesus, in a 
 certain place, performed but few mighty works, because of the 
 unbelief which surrounded him : and at this day unbelief on the 
 part of those present is a formidable bar to spirit manifesta- 
 tion. Jesus walked upon the water, Margaret Eule floated in 
 the air, and so have others quite recently ; these and other points
 
 124 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 of resemblance in the manifestations indicate a compliance with 
 the same law or laws. The above conclusion by no means requires 
 one to ascribe the same wisdom and holiness to the spirits who 
 come now as to those who came of old ; nor does it bring the 
 moral and religious character of Jesus and the apostles into com- 
 parison with that of modern mediums. Formerly there was 
 occasion to 'try the spirits/ and most surely the need exists at the 
 present day. Far back in the Jewish history, God said he Avould 
 put a lying sj^irit in the mouth of his prophet, and it is written 
 that an evil spirit from the Lord troubled Saul. Lying and evil 
 spirits from some source, as well as truthful and good ones, find 
 their way into mediums now. The mediums themselves are not 
 all supposed to be above treachery and deceit. There was one 
 Judas of old ; perhaps our times furnish many. There were both 
 good and bad spirits and prophesiers in Bible times, and there are 
 both good and bad spirits, and mediums too, at the present day. 
 One fact of Scripture, showing the immediate author or authors 
 of John's inspiration when writing the Apocalypse, may throw a 
 bright light upon the subject of spirit action. Jesus sent his an- 
 gel to John, ' in the spirit.' John saw and heard that angel, and 
 learned from him that he was not God, but one of John's breth- 
 ren, the prophets. This seems to be a clear statement that the 
 spirit of one who had been a prophet on earth was sent by Jesus 
 to John ; and that when the angel was present, John, ' in the 
 spirit' (trance ?) saw and heard the things which he described 
 and recorded. That angel was a speaker to John, and it is his 
 words, in part, which come to us as inspiration. Let that light 
 shine back upon the Book of Daniel, and some other parts of the 
 Scriptures, and see if the Bible itself does not contain internal 
 proof that individual, finite spirits furnished many parts of it to 
 the recording mediums, and thus indicate that inspiration from 
 above comes in obedience to some universal law. Let a view like 
 this become general, and then, if its effects upon those who already 
 take it warrant a prophecy, the world will turn to the Bible with 
 fresh interest, and find there, more than ever before, a storehouse 
 richly furnished with treasures of truth, and love, and wisdom 
 from the heavens. The Bible will hereafter findits truest friends, 
 its only invincible defenders, among those loho shall guard it within 
 the loalls of Spiritualism, and read it there in the light of heavenly 
 inspiration."
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 125 
 
 A contemporary, soliciting the favor of quoting from liis works, 
 received the following reply : " It gives me great pleasure to 
 learn that my early lecture has found favor with one who can ap- 
 preciate, and is disposed to speak to the world upon the spiritual 
 philosophy of life. If it has been my privilege to furnish the 
 world with anything instructive and useful concerning the inter- 
 course of spirits with mortals, I desire to thank God and his min- 
 istering spirits for the opportunity and the power. The little 
 which I have published is at the sevice of anyone who judges that 
 he can make it useful." 
 
 We give this, as it expresses so exactly our sentiments in re- 
 gard to quotations and extracts. We do not consider it matter of 
 importance to always give our authority, nor should we desire it 
 from others. Our knowledge is all gained, either directly or in- 
 directly, from a higher source, and what have any of us that we 
 have not received ? We frequently adopt the method of convey- 
 ing our ideas in the expressed language of another, simply be- 
 cause it is more expeditious, and we can thereby accomplish a 
 greater amount of usefulness in a shorter space of time. As for 
 ourselves, we care not by whom or in what way our writings may 
 be used, only so, by the blessing of God, they be the m»ans of good 
 to his people. Unto Him, and not us, be all the credit ascribed. 
 
 We give the following extract from S. S. Eembert, as illustra- 
 tive of the fact we have before stated, that many are inspired both 
 to Avrite and to speak, unconsciously to themselves. That it was 
 written under inspiration, who can doubt ? 
 
 " In view of these great developments of modern science and 
 its rapid progress, I wrote the following in a work entitled 'Dis- 
 sertation on the Analogies of Nature and Revelation,' published 
 in 1857, which many of you have read, and from which I have al- 
 ready quoted, and shall as often quote as it serves my subject. 
 And here allow me to say that those portions of that book which 
 ignore philosophy, I would now correct or utterly reject; that our 
 entire life, past, present and future, from the first organic germ, 
 ay, from the primal atoms in the elementary growth, up to the 
 highest altitudes of progression in the great hereafter in erternity, 
 is but one continuous illustration of philosophy; that all nature 
 is philosophy; that there is philosophy in everything; that there
 
 126 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 is nothing in all nature -without its philosophy ; and that nature's 
 God is the grand embodiment and personation of philosophy. I 
 would also disclaim and discard every idea of the infallibility of 
 revelation ; for there can be no infallibility where the finite is in- 
 volved, either in receiving or imparting. If the talented divine 
 had said 'faith' instead of * Christianity,' when he commenced 
 his sermon with ' Christianity begins where philosophy ends,' he 
 would have uttered a greater truth, for faith flourishes in the soil 
 of superstition and ignorance, and has no philosophy. But ra- 
 tional and rationalistic Christianity, or true religion, is founded 
 in philosophy, and goes hand in hand with science: and any re- 
 ligion not thus, is fallacious. Said preacher, I must opine, has 
 sadly mistaken in proclaiming such religion, for such religion or 
 such Christianity can have no beginning, inasmuch as philosophy 
 has no ending. A foppish man, on presenting his ring, remarked 
 to a lady, ' It is emblematic of my love to you, it has no ending ' ; 
 to which the lady replied, ' It is equally emblematic of my love 
 for you, it has no beginning,' It is, or ought to be, an absolute 
 idea,- and the effete orator who would now utter it has either out- 
 travelled science and gone ahead of everybody else, has impatiently 
 jumped over all philosophy, and plunged into the abysmal ocean 
 of ' faith ' to slake his thirst, or else is far behind the progress of 
 the age, and ignorant of the modern march of mind. He would 
 remind me of the drunkard who was taken to a graveyard in a 
 state of unconsciousness, and laid out on a tombstone. On re- 
 covering from his inebriation, and looking round at his strange 
 situation, perceiving nothing but the silent tombs, he exclaimed, 
 ' Well, I 'm either the first that 's riz, or I 'm behind time, — all 
 got up and gone ahead of me.' He has certainly gone ahead of 
 everybody else, or is wofully behind the times. But science has 
 bridged this hitherto shoreless ocean of incertitude, and found a 
 beacon on the other bank ; or rather, has thrown its electric wires 
 across the dread abyss, and communicates with the splendid deni- 
 zens of the other shore; while the man of faith, fed on its effete 
 pabulum and extinct cabalistic traditions, is left struggling in the 
 salty surge, without a shore and without a sounding, midst upper, 
 nether, and surrounding waters. But to my extract : — 
 
 'And it is reasonable to suppose that when death destroys this 
 mortal temple, this immortal being will wing his flight to the God 
 from whom he sprung, in harmony with all known laws of nature,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 127 
 
 by whicTi attraction gathers all smaller particles to the one great 
 central larger of their like ; and that all thus attracted, congenial 
 in feeling, desire, disposition, to the great attracting God, will be 
 either absorbed by him and made partakers of his glory, or be 
 fitted up in immortal tenements, and provided with abodes of 
 bliss, commensurate with their merits, where 
 
 "Sceptred angels hold their residence." 
 
 While on the other hand, in accordance with this same univer- 
 sal law of nature and nature's God, attraction and repulsion, the 
 disembodied spirits of the wicked, with feeling, desire, disposition 
 adverse, opposite, and oppugn ant to God, will be repelled by him, 
 and provided with places of shade adapted to their moral condi- 
 tion. Indeed it is evident, as we shall hereafter show, that God 
 must make this distinction, must draw some line of demarcation 
 hereafter, or else forfeit and absolve his claim on man, for the in- 
 tegrity of his righteousness. . . . The whole history of man, indi- 
 vidually and collectively, teaches progression is a law of his being, 
 here and hereafter: individually in the great change from infancy 
 to maturity. An infant, he is the most ignorant and helpless of 
 beings, not even endowed with the instinct of the brute; a mere 
 inert and almost impassive germ, which, under this great law of 
 his progression, is destined to far outstrip all his animated com- 
 peers of earth, to display a spark of Deity, to measure worlds, and 
 span the intervening voids; ultimately, to leap disembodied the 
 barriers of earth, break through the confines of time, and become 
 the denizen of an immortal heaven, with near developments of 
 might and magnificence, and powers of expansion and progres- 
 sion as boundless as the roll of eternal years ; collectively, in his 
 mighty advance in science and civilization, his rapid progress in 
 social condition, the extent and solidity, safety and protection, of 
 governmental compacts, the diffusions of constitutional reforms, 
 and all tlie ameliorating influences incidental to, and resulting 
 from, the improvement of science. And in all this progress, per- 
 sonally and socially, man is himself made the active instrument 
 of his own reforms, his own progress, improvements, and emolu- 
 ments. They do not voluntarily come upon him, reposing in ease 
 and indolence. 
 
 Franklin, Lardner, Kepler, and Laplace were not born such : 
 their knowledge, erudition, and philosophy were not voluntary
 
 128 THE UXSEALED BOOK. 
 
 gifts of Providence, but were acquired by incessant effort, assidu- 
 ous study, and faithful toil and vigilance. " Eternal vigilance is 
 the price of liberty," said Jefferson ; eternal vigilance is the price 
 of all progress, says science. And though some men are born and 
 grow up with stronger minds as with stronger bodies than others, 
 yet universal man, in every state, station, and condition, is 
 emphatically the carver of his own fortune, the architect of his 
 own destiny under the mysterious providences of nature. 
 
 The constitutions of England and America are not the gratui- 
 ties of fate, but the legitimate result of a moral progress, effectu- 
 ated by tlie labor of enlightened mind. Again, if the longevity of 
 man has been regularly decreasing since his inhabitation of the 
 earth, when will it reach the point of an hour, or no existence at 
 all ? What the cause of his deterioration in length of life until 
 about the fifteenth century, and then the reaction ? The insta- 
 bility of government, the Avide extent and almost universality of 
 ignorance, of insecurity, idolatry, and superstition ; and these are 
 certainly sufficient to entail the most fatal results. That the lon- 
 gevity of man, until within a few generations back, had been de- 
 generating regularl}', is in strict accordance with his historic biog- 
 raphies ; and that for the last few generations he has fully main- 
 tained his longevity, is also of historic record. Now, what is the 
 cause of this reaction ? And were it not for this salutary, saving 
 reaction exerted upon man, he would inevitably have degenerated 
 into nothing. But since the effectual and efficient evulgations of 
 knowledge, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the con- 
 comitant diffusion of letters and learning, the conquests of peace- 
 ful science in lieu of bloody war, the rapid multiplication of 
 books, and the birth of science, man has been enabled to snatch 
 himself from his own extermination, and rescue earth from its 
 threatened depopulation. 
 
 During the long dark night of a thousand years, man's habitual 
 occupation was war and mutual extirpation ; and his prevailing 
 religion taught him that the loss of life in battle was a certain 
 passport to the blissful halls of Odin. During this thousand 
 years knowledge was unknown, or locked up in night, and dark- 
 ness usurped the dominion of day. Famine spread out the dark 
 shadow of its dread wing over the nations, and death and desola- 
 tion were winged upon the blast. Whole towns and cities were 
 depopulated, and provinces brought to destruction. Is it strange
 
 THE rWSEALED BOOK. 129 
 
 that the average duration of life should have been so abridged at 
 this dark epoch ? But since the rise of science in its purity and 
 splendor, winged witli the elements, with all its attendant bless- 
 ings of wisdom, peace, science, commerce whitening the water, as 
 civilization gilds the land, new elements and adjuncts, evolved of 
 social comfort and progress, new edibles for men's sustentation 
 discovered and transported, stability, consolidation of states and 
 governments, with the sceptre of peace waving as the trident of 
 empire, and protection, progress, population, the insignia of his 
 bannered march, is it strange the average life of man should be 
 again extended ? Nay, when we consider the late loonclerful de- 
 velopments in tlie science of electricity, the most siihlime science of 
 the human soul, as it is, in all ^JfobaMIiti/, the elemental essence 
 of all ethereal, sjnritual creations, from the godhead down, and the 
 all-pervading element of nature, it is reasonable to hope that man 
 will yet be enabled, under the guidance of his God and the design 
 of Providence, to work out his own immortality in a world reno- 
 vated and restored to its pristine eden. 
 
 Providence, as we have seen, works by means, and has made 
 man the instrument of his own ameliorations ; why not make him 
 the instrument of effecting his own restitution, and the restitu- 
 tion of his world ? Philosophy already points her finger to the 
 suUle agency of electricity as a universally diffused fluid and all- 
 pervading element of the universe of mind and matter. And 
 though we are as yet but in the alphabet of this most magnificent 
 and boundless science, we can even uow make the bodies of the 
 departed frown, weep, or^ smile in death, excite the limbs and 
 muscles into various action, and almost revitalize the cold clay. 
 "We have seen the sick and the suffering healed and restored and 
 cased in an instant by this invisible fluid. Indeed, the boundless 
 universe, as well as the complex machine of man, especially his 
 nervous system, in all its minute and mysterious ramifications^ 
 which is nothing else than his psychological connection with 
 matter, which is nothing else than electrical organization, is all. 
 under the predominating influence and control of this mighty and 
 mysterious element or essence, in its vastly various modifications.. 
 k^d the time may come when max, climbing step by step 
 the abstruse altitudes of this mighty philosophy, avill be 
 enabled to unlock and look into the secret recesses of 
 Jehovah's great laboratory of life, and hand in hand
 
 130 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 WITH SCIENCE, THE PROGRESS AND PERFECTION OF MIND AND 
 MORALS, CO-OPERATIVE, CONTEMPORANEOUS, AND COEXTENSIVE 
 WITH HIS DIVINE REVELATIONS SHALL DEVELOP THE DESTINIES 
 ORDAINED BY HIS CREATOR FOR THE WORLD, sliall Stay clisecise, 
 
 expel sin and hatred, implant piety and love, and, hy the direc- 
 tion of Providence, weave out again his lost and tattered garments 
 of immortality. 
 
 What is this but the millennium ? What is the millennium 
 but j)rophetic revelation ? And are we not evidently drifting to 
 its consummation ? Eather, are we .not working to this end ? If 
 SO, is it not proof of the prophetic inspiration of revelation? 
 Earth may yet be renovated and restored, and made a fit heaven 
 for the good and the true ; and man himself, as he is ever made 
 the instrument of all his own ameliorations, may be made the 
 instrument of this his last and mighty consummation, through 
 the means of this universal, ethereal, and omnipotent agency, elec- 
 tricity, the philosophy of all mind, and all matter, and all life on 
 earth and anywhere ; ay, the great pihilosophy of God ! Then 
 for the resurrection ! When revelation shall have accomplished 
 its mission, what a sound breaks upon the ravished ear! what a 
 scene bursts upon the enraptured vision of fancy! Father, 
 mother, loved and long-lost friends awakening into life, and com- 
 ing forth again to clasp the arm of love that never more shall 
 break ! Verily, the echoes of Odin's halls are hushed, the charms 
 of Thor have departed, and the virgins of the Valhallah have lost 
 their fascinations. Verily, the mighty fabric of mythology, that 
 so long spread its desolating shadow over the nations; that stu- 
 pendous temple in which the spirits of superstition offered incense 
 and ignorance run riot ; that vast structure, built of human bones 
 and cemented by their blood, beside which Tamarlane's pyramid 
 of seventy thousand human skulls is as nothing ; this mighty 
 collossus, which so long has stood the tempests of time and flour- 
 ished in its whirlwinds, is crumbling into ruins. The fiery light- 
 nings and thunderbolts of heaven have scathed its gray summit, 
 the earthquake roll of revolution has swept its hoary base, yet it 
 stood and triumphed in the storm ; commotion was its preserva- 
 tive element ; and the roll of revolution its loved melody. But 
 this revelation of true and eternal God has tranquillized the 
 troubled elements, has stilled the tempest, disarmed the whirlwind, 
 and whispered peace, purity, and love into the ears of the moral
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 131 
 
 tornado in which the fabric flourished ; has shot the light athwart 
 its dark and dismal dungeons ; has encircled its pinnacle in sun- 
 shine, invested the whole structure in a heavenly influence, and 
 lo ! it crumbles into bitter ashes ! Is not this a triumph and a 
 conquest ? Let history answer ! ' 
 
 These adumbrated vaticinations, ay, direct prophecies without 
 ambiguous symbols, with no professions of inspiration, were 
 penned, be it remembered, before I knew anything of the spiritual 
 philosophy, as some of you are aware. True, I had read newspaper 
 accounts of spiritualism as a strange illusion among some people 
 in that hot-bed of hallucination and frenzied fanaticism, in the 
 Northern States, — and good has come out of Nazareth, — but 
 knew nothing of it as worthy the name of science, and only re- 
 garded it with contempt. I was first led to investigation by a 
 course of lectures which I heard delivered in the city of Galveston 
 in 1858, by Thomas Gales Forster, nephew of Mr. Gales of the 
 * National Intelligencer.' It was as a mere pastime, to spend a leis- 
 ure evening, that I attended his first lecture, at which I found 
 but a small audience. When I went home and retired for the 
 night, I could not rest nor sleep, so deeply impressed was I, and 
 felt disposed to write an editorial for the next morning papei's, 
 calling the attention of the citizens to his magnificent eloquence, 
 that they, too, might enjoy it with myself. I had to get up, get 
 the candle and light it myself, get my writing tackle (portable 
 desk), and waited upon myself all through, without disturbing 
 any one, contrary to my usual custom, as we always had a young 
 servant at hand to wait upon me in such cases. After inditing 
 the article, I again laid down, and rested and slept composedly 
 and quietly. I will read the article, — it is short, — together with 
 the prefatory remarks made by the editor of the ' Galveston News ' : 
 
 'Professor Forster delivered his first lecture last night, and we 
 hear the most unbounded applause bestowed on him ])y those who 
 were present, as having far surpassed, in his power of eloquence, 
 all efforts of elocution ever before witnessed by them. Such is 
 the testimony of all. "We append the following testimonial from 
 one of the most intelligent among our citizens, whose initials will 
 doubtless designate the writer. He will be allowed to be a good 
 judge of true eloquence.' 
 
 Editor^ s Neios. — Allow me to say that Mr. Forster's effort last 
 night, for intense eloquence and majestic sublimit}', — and I don't
 
 132 THE UXSE^\XED BOOK. 
 
 express more than half my feelings, my judgment, my soul, — was 
 the most splendid lecture, the most eloquent oration, the most 
 magnificent effort of human intellect and godlike grandeur that 
 ever blazed before my mental vision, or thrilled the tendrils of my 
 heart. Immortality and glory, borne upon philosophy, towered 
 as the theme for the children of the earth to the God of the 
 heavens. I don't know the man, never saw him before, nor does 
 he know me. "Would that he might speak every night and all 
 night. 0, the sublime strides of the soaring soul toward the 
 eternal God and his angel immortalities! The discriminating 
 editor of the ' News,' with his large experience, when he said, the 
 other day, that the most eloquent lecture he ever heard fell from 
 Mr. Forster's lips, said a great deal, and yet he said nothing. The 
 pages of human history filled with the eloquence of ages, from 
 Cicero to Clay, from Massillon to MaflBt, not stopping to look 
 away down ujDon the pigmy, piping preachers of the times, who 
 stick like blue mud to the bright wheels of religious progress, — 
 the pages of human eloquence, I say, are filled and yet are blank. 
 Like the morning sun just risen from his eastern couch, dissipat- 
 ing the fogs of night and robing the earth in radiance, Mr. Forster 
 rises and throws his thoughts of light, like a morning rainbow, 
 from the animal to the angel world. The vestal fires that burn 
 upon the altars of eternity seem kindled in his bosom, and he 
 just breathes the flame into the hearts of bis hearers. If I had to 
 characterize in three words his overwhelming eloquence, composed 
 as it is of philosophy and reason, argument and elocution, brill- 
 iancy and beauty, sublimity and majesty, prose and poetry, fancy 
 and fluency, I should say, power, power, power. 
 
 You may say I am utterly carried away ; yes, and I hope to 
 continue to be thus led away from this death-drifting stream of 
 time, in the lofty soarings of the soul after the loved and lost, 
 and the great, the good, and the glorious. 
 
 (Signed,) 
 
 S. S. E."
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 133 
 
 THE SPIKITUAL CORPSE. 
 
 "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart 
 of the eons of men is fully set in them to do evil." 
 
 To the house of God, his earthly court, this 
 Day we went. We call it court : no other 
 Name in tbis case would so well apply. 
 Above — the statement of the case — above 
 This earthly sphere was he who first did make 
 His plea ; below the earth plane (general) 
 Was lawyer number two. They both did through 
 One mouthpiece speak, the mouthpiece of the 
 Clergyman, a medium, endued with 
 Powers he knew not that he possessed, nor could 
 Control. He knew not when the spirit lu'st 
 Did him inspire ; he knew not when the change 
 Occurred, when one stepped out, the other in, 
 But thought his own most fertile brain did 
 Generate, grow, and produce the knowledge 
 Both fair and unfair which his organs, both 
 Wisely and unwisely (allowing us to be the 
 Judge), poured forth. 
 
 It never hath been ours to 
 Witness so great and instantaneous 
 A transformation in the language 
 And appearance of a human being as 
 Was here displayed. The first part of the discourse 
 Could not have been more tempered with mercy 
 And love, had the Lord himself inspired the 
 Theme. Kot only love and mercy shone forth 
 In golden splendor bright, but far-reaching 
 Thought soared aloft as on eagle's wings, far, 
 Far above earth's low confines of narrowness, 
 Feasting the soul on the untrammelled delights, 
 The glorious conceptions of the beautiful 
 Beyond. This spirit pure not e'en presumed
 
 134 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 His brother-man to judge, much less the 
 
 Wisdom infinite, supreme, of Him whose ways 
 
 Are inscrutable. No creed, sect, or church 
 
 Availed in his domain of mind, but only 
 
 So the heart with God was right. Ah, the gospel 
 
 Of love had stamped its image on his heart ; 
 
 A ministering angel truly he, although 
 
 " Entertained (or entertaining) unawares." 
 
 Alas ! that such a spirit should, even 
 
 For a time, be forced its place to yield unto 
 
 Another, simply because " I am weak 
 
 And thou art strong." 
 
 O thou cruel-hearted 
 Tyi'ant ! bound with chains of error which not 
 Even the hottest flames of your pictured 
 Hell-fire can loose or absolve. What mean ye 
 When ye say that nations of every 
 Eandred and tongue have gone down, yea, that 
 " Multitudes ! multitudes ! multitudes ! 
 Have gone down, down unto the depths of the 
 ' Bottomless pit ' of eternal damnation ? " 
 And not content with consigning them there, 
 To declare that the torment, the burning. 
 Seething lake of fire you have portrayed in 
 Its horrifying darkness (strange Idnd 
 Of fire) is but the " beginning of sorrows " ; 
 That their woes shall not only last throughout 
 Eternal ages, but that each succeeding 
 Age shall force them deeper, deeper down into 
 The abyss of agonizing despair ! 
 Wherefore came this knowledge to thee ? Hast been 
 There, and "I only am escaped to tell 
 Thee"? Again, ye say these bodies all have 
 Been consigned, returned unto, mingled with 
 Their native dust. What then is burning ? Their 
 Spirits, surely, no fire can harm, since they 
 In flames of fire, in burning bushes did
 
 THE UNSALED BOOK. 135 
 
 Appear, in fiery chariots ride. Wliat meanest 
 
 Thou then? To prove these things, thou bringest 
 
 Words of Jesus, "If thy right eye oflend 
 
 Thee " or thy " right hand," to pluck out, cut ofi". 
 
 And cast from thee. K he our earthly eyes. 
 
 Our fleshly hands did mean, who hath obeyed? 
 
 No soul who dwells hath ever dwelt this earth 
 
 Upon, as we can learn ; and yet no eye 
 
 Or arm hath been created that has not 
 
 Repeatedly and undeniably 
 
 "Ofiended." If the body is meant, there 
 
 Can be no angels in heaven ; if the 
 
 Soul or spirit is meant, what then ? " The soul 
 
 That sinneth it shall die." And did ye not 
 
 At the very outset say that "Adam's 
 
 Spirit died, — he became a spiiHtual 
 
 Corpse?" We have not forgotten, as we were 
 
 Forcibly "struck," never having heard the 
 
 Like before, and supposing the spirit 
 
 To be immortal. Again we ask, what 
 
 Mean ye ? Adam's fleshly body " mingled 
 
 With its native dust, his spirit dead, a 
 
 Corpse." What can there be left to bum? 'Tis a 
 
 jStystery beyond compare. And where is 
 
 "The last Adam, a quickening spirit?" 
 
 Ah ! I remember noAV you did mention 
 
 Him, as saved by the blood of Christ ; but this 
 
 Only deepens the mystery, for where 
 
 Was Adam all the intervening centuries 
 
 Twixt him and Christ ? If he was really 
 
 Dead, — spiritually, soully, and bodily 
 
 Dead, — he was incapable of sufiering. 
 
 If Adam thus died, why not all the human 
 
 Eacc the same ? Again, if he did not thus 
 
 Die, but was cast into the bottomless 
 
 Pit, going down, doAvn, down, eternally 
 
 Down, as ye say must all who enter therein,
 
 136 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 The Lord himself could n't bring him back, miless 
 Ye make of him a liar like unto yourself. 
 
 But enough of this: what we term "active ignorance," and 
 coming too, from a denizen of the spirit world. Should we cite 
 and criticise all of his inconsistencies, we should have little space 
 for anything else. 
 
 Suffice it to say that after tlie departure of the controlling 
 spirit, the poor deluded clergyman (for whom we felt a vast 
 amount of pity) arose and gave the finale ; said he did not know 
 whether he had uttered one word of truth which would fall upon 
 good soil or not, but one thing he did know, ho had performed his 
 duty to God ("and by their fruits ye shall know them"), and 
 moreover, that he could tell a Christian by his face, also making 
 some very personal remarks, which it is not ours to give ; but we 
 inwardly prayed that he might become cognizant of the gift he 
 possessed, and be enabled not only to discern spirits in the form 
 but (what to him would be more important) disembodied ones 
 as well. 
 
 To the poor undeveloped spirit, who made the walls to re-echo 
 with his concocted monstrosities, we would say: "The black 
 Hades or hell you preach, and to which you would doubtless con- 
 sign me for eternal duration, is, thank God, for you, only eviter- 
 nal, not sempiternal, as you proclaim. The grand economy of 
 progression will lift even you from this eviternal Gehenna, and 
 will make your black spirit ultimutely blossom with charity and 
 love. Such I would have you, and the God I serve will do more 
 than I can wish, different from your God, who would, if adjudi- 
 cating your practices by the standard of your precepts, damn you 
 forever in hell's hottest abysmal ocean of fire, fury, and Hame. 
 But no ; I hope to see in future centuries the fruit of angel love 
 growing up out of your present black and bitter ashes. By the 
 perfect optimism of Providence, which is nature, the doors of 
 Paradise are ever open to you and to all. But perhaps yours is 
 the best religion to hold in check the evil of the ignorant, and 
 please the feelings of the vindictive : for the deity and religion of 
 a man always assimilate to the plane of his feelings and percep- 
 tions. It is natural for the cruel, tyrannic, puritanic, and vindic- 
 tive natures to believe in and worship a cruel, tyrannic, and vin- 
 dictive God ; and those who heartily believe in such a God cannot
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 137 
 
 be otherwise, for the God whom they thus invest is but the mirror 
 of their character ; given the attributes of the G-od worshipped, and 
 the character of his worshippers appears in a mirror ; or given the 
 character of the worshippers, and the attributes of their God will 
 assimilate to their plane ; it is not only natural, as I said, but it is 
 as impossible for such natures to have any other sort of God, as 
 it is for a carnivorous animal to desire any other sort of food but 
 flesh ; or for God himself to contravene his own laws and work a 
 miracle." 
 
 The question now arises, is the spirit, the soul, immortal ? 
 
 " To this we may reply : Everything in nature serves its purpose 
 before it perishes ; that the purpose of everything is to contribute 
 its part toward the great end of unfolding and elaborating some- 
 thing higher ; that everything below man thus serves a purpose ; 
 but that man, the highest earthly creation, for whom everything 
 was made, and to whose creation all things else conspire, serves 
 no purpose whatever, if so be that he perish ; that his creation is 
 a failure without purjDose or wisdom, unless he, too, unfold some- 
 thing higher ; and that as he is the only creation that has a con- 
 scious hope of something higher, with conscious aspirations for 
 undying love, the verisimilitude is that he himself, with all his 
 conscious memories, will unfold into a 'higher future, and thus 
 continue nature's great chain of progression, else a huge hiatus 
 here occurs. 
 
 Again, death, throughout the wide domains of nature, strikes 
 nothing but what it can touch; effects notliing but what it can 
 reach ; kills nothing but what is tangible and material, and, there- 
 fore, susceptible of being killed. But soul, spirit, is intangible, 
 immaterial, and therefore not suscepKblc of being killed. It can- 
 not be touched, it cannot be reached, and therefoi-e cannot be 
 struck or aifected by death; unless it can be proved that there is 
 another kind of death in operation, or that the common known 
 death can operate on any other than physical matter. But the 
 former, that there is a different kind of death, is not known ; on 
 the contrary, all nature proves but one death (called such), of 
 which we have any knowledge. And as for the other only alter- 
 native, that this known natural death can ojjcrate upon any other 
 than x)hysical matter, but may also extend to the spirit, Nature 
 furnishes, in all her ample range, not one such instance.
 
 138 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 And further, if death is not confined to physical matter, but 
 may extend its ravages to the spiritual creation, and spread its 
 dread wing of desolation upon the universal ether, where shall the 
 flight of its dark pinion be stayed ? Where the limit to fold its 
 sable wing ? Where stops dread Azrael ? 
 
 •If human souls, why not angelic, too, 
 Extinguished ; and a solitary God 
 O'er ghastly ruin frowning from his throne,' 
 
 through the desolate realms of a death-struck universe ! 
 
 We are therefore led to conclude, as an illative corollary, that 
 man has an immortal spark within his bosom, that natural death 
 can no more affect than it can affect the Deity ; that man is him- 
 self an immortal being temporarily incased in this casket of clay. 
 
 And again, man is endowed with religiosity, or spirituality 
 and veneration, but the brute is not. Now, where the wisdom 
 in giving religiosity to men without immortal life, or in giving 
 undying life to the brute without religiosity ? And further, the 
 love of the brute is as deep and intense for its young, while young 
 and requiring protection, as that of the mother ; but as its young 
 grow up and mature beyond the necessity of maternal care, its 
 love ceases and subsides entirely; all memory, even, is lost. Why 
 so ? Because its life is transitory, hence its love is also transitory ; 
 and e converso, because its love is transitory, its life also is transi- 
 tory. For where is the object, the wisdom, or goodness in giving 
 immortal life, where there is no immortal love, or immortal love 
 where there is no immortal life ? We know that the love of the 
 brute is not enduring, but ephemeral ; and we know the love of 
 the mother is immortal as her life. Hence the wisdom and good- 
 ness of giving her immortal life, to enjoy this immortal love im- 
 planted in her breast. 
 
 'They sin who tell us love can die ; 
 With life all other passions fly, 
 All others are but vanity ; 
 Earthly, those passions of the earth. 
 They perish where they have their birth. 
 But love is indestructible, 
 Its holy flame forever burneth. 
 From heaven it came, to heaven returneth ; 
 It sowetli here in toil and care. 
 But the harvest time of love is over there.'
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 139 
 
 The atheistic European, the polytheistic Asiatic, and the spirit- 
 ual American, all — save jDerhaps the priesthood in the time of 
 Leo X., according to Erasmus — believe in and yearn for a here- 
 after. And it is worthy remark that the only people who never 
 had an organized priesthood, namely, the aboriginal Americans, 
 are the possessors of the most true, the most simple, the most 
 natural, and the most philosophical religion. 
 
 Eev. Mr. Gogerly, in his translation of the Damiyia Paricla, 
 written in Pali, makes Buddha repeatedly speak of a future life. 
 Hear Buddha : ' The sinner suffers in this world, and he will suf- 
 fer in the next world ; in both worlds he suffers. The virtuous 
 man rejoices in this world, and he will rejoice in the next world ; 
 in both worlds he has joy.' This great Hindoo prophet, ' whose 
 code of ethics equals that of any other religion,' in the words of 
 the scholar who published the Ushtakas of the Rig Veda, flour- 
 ished eight centuries before the advent of Jesus Christ ; and the 
 contem2Dorancous Gymnosophists of India were wont to send mes- 
 sages to their departed friends by those who were about to die. 
 [Be it known that Buddhism has more disciples by far than any 
 other religious sect, embracing more than one third of the whole 
 human race.] Confucius, who lived five centuries before Christ, 
 is said to have proclaimed the golden rule of doing unto others 
 as we would have others do unto us; and so did Hillel the 
 Jew. 
 
 Let us turn also from these dim legends and traditions, and 
 look to those illustrious characters that loom up along the past 
 like lights from eternity. Come forth, soul of Socrates, and 
 awaken once more your mighty memories, that give a glory to 
 philosophy ! ' The cause of this is that which you have often 
 and in many places heard me mention, because I am moved by a 
 certain divine and spiritual influence, which also Miletus, through 
 mockery, has set out in the indictment. This began with me 
 from childhood, being a kind of voice which, when present, always 
 diverts me from what I am about to do, but never urges me on. 
 But this duty, as I said, has been enjoined me by the Deity, by 
 oracles, by dreams, and by every other mode by Avhich any other 
 divine decree has ever enjoined anything for man to do.' Toward 
 the close of his last address before his judges, Socrates said, speak- 
 ing of his death and the future life : * If this be true, my judges, 
 what greater good can there be than this ? At what rate would
 
 140 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 not either of yon purchase a conference with Orphens and Mu- 
 SEeus, with Hesiod and Homer, or with Ulysses or Sisyphus, or 
 ten thousand others, both male and female, that might be men- 
 tioned ? Eor to converse and associate with them would be an 
 inestimable felicity. Truly, I should be willing to die often if 
 these things are true.' His friend Crito inquired of him how he 
 would be buried. 'Just as you please,' said he ; 'i. e. if you can 
 find me': at the same time smiling and saying, 'Crito thinks 
 that / am he whom he will shortly see dead, whereas /, Socrates, 
 shall have then departed to the joys of the blessed.' ' Unless I 
 thought,' said he, 'that I should depart to other gods who are 
 wise and good, and to the society of men who have gone from 
 this life, and are better now than when among us, I might well be 
 troubled at death. But now I believe assuredly that I shall go 
 to the gods who are perfectly good, and I hope to dwell with wise 
 and good men, so that I cannot be afflicted at the thought of dy- 
 ing; believing that death is not the end of us, and that it will be 
 much better for the good than for the evil.' He claimed an ever- 
 present demon, so called by the Greeks, or tutelary genius, as 
 termed by the Latins, or presiding or tninistering angel with us, 
 who always faithfully warned or wooed him every day, and as this 
 was omitted on the day of his death, he hence considered his 
 death no evil. His last words, when sinking under the fatal hem- 
 lock, were a charge to pay a debt he had overlooked, and not 
 * neglect it.' 
 
 Speak, spirit of Plato, who rent the curtain that binds the fu- 
 ture of other men's visions, and read through the vista of unborn 
 years ! ' The soul is self-jnotive. That which is self -motive, in- 
 herently and perpetually moves. But that which always moves 
 with an inward motion, always lives. Hence the soul is immor- 
 tal. Again, nothing foreign to itself can ever destroy it ; and its 
 own evils, such as injustice and wickedness, cannot destroy it, 
 since they render it, if possible, more alive and sensible to suffer- 
 ing than before.' And again, says Plato in the Phffidrus : ' We 
 are then initiated into and made spectators of entire, simple, 
 quietly stable and blessed visions, resident in a pure light, being 
 ourselves pure, and liberated from this surrounding vestment 
 which we call body, and to which we are now bound like an oyster 
 to its shell. Among the eternal emanations of which I have 
 spoken were not only gods of different orders, — the intelligible
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 141 
 
 and intellectual, the snpercelestial and mundane, — but also de- 
 mons, heroes, and the souls of men. The demons were an order 
 of beings superior to ourselves, some good and some bad, occupy- 
 ing a sort of middle between gods and men.' "While Pluto thus 
 perceived a germ or principle in man which was to unfold into 
 future perfections, he also had a just conception of the average of 
 mankind on the inceptive earth-plane, as is evidenced by his re- 
 mark that ' man is a biped without feathers.' 
 
 Lend us another echo of your eloquence, Cicero, and proclaim 
 to mortal man the immortality of his human soul divine. ' I look 
 forward with pleasure to the glorious day when I shall go into 
 the great assembly of spirits, and shall be gathered to the best of 
 mankind who have gone before me. I feel impelled by the desire 
 of joining the society of my two departed friends, your ilkistrious 
 fathers, whom I reverenced and loved. 0, illustrious day, when 
 I shall go hence to that divine council and assembly of souls, 
 when I shall escape from this crowd and rabble ; for I shall go, 
 not only to those illustrious men of whom I have before spoken, 
 but also to my Cato, than whom one more excellent in goodness 
 was never born.' 
 
 ^scliikis, in his Persas, represents the soul of Darius, deceased, 
 as still possessing the thoughts and feelings of his former life. 
 The dying Plotinus exclaimed, ' I am struggling to liberate the 
 divinity within me ! ' Proculus, a senator, took an oath to the 
 Eoman Senate, that the spirit of Eomulus, founder of the Roman 
 Empire, appeared to him and communicated. This oath was con- 
 sidered by the Romans a binding and solemn pledge of truth, and 
 was called ' religion.'' 
 
 Let us listen to the great Persian Shah, contemporaneous with 
 some of the early writers of Bible history, who cared not for im- 
 mortal life and love : Cyrus, whose domestic and parental affec- 
 tions were as great as his genius and energy are famous as the 
 conqueror of the rich CrcESus of Lydia, and for taking the great- 
 est city of antiquity, with solid walls of massive masonry a 
 hundred feet high and nearly as thick, and about a hundred 
 miles in circumference, by turning the river Euphrates, which 
 flowed through walls and city, thus effecting an easy and unsus- 
 pected entrance ; the king of the countrymen of Zoroaster, from 
 whom oriflfinated the idea of a vicarious atonement, and who first 
 taught the existence of an evil spirit, Ahriman, from which the
 
 142 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Jews, and thence we, have derived our present imaginary Devil ; 
 which, however, according to Zoroaster, was to ultimately succomb 
 to the good sjjirit Ormudy. But hear Cyrus, nearly six centuries 
 before the advent of Christ: — 
 
 ' Think not, my dearest children, that when I depart from you I 
 shall be no more; remember that my soul, even while I lived 
 among you, was invisible : yet by my action you were sensible it 
 existed in this body; believe it tlierefore existing still, though it 
 still be unseen. How quickly would the honors of illustrious men 
 perish after death, if their souls performed nothing to preserve 
 their fame ! for my part, I could never think that the soul, which, 
 while in a mortal body lives, when departed from it, dies ; or that 
 its consciousness is lost when it is discharged out of an unconscious 
 habitation ; on the contrary, it most truly exists when it is freed 
 from all corporeal alliance.' 
 
 'When 'reft of all yon widowed sire appears 
 A lonely hermit in the vale of years : 
 Say can the world one joyous thought bestow 
 To friendship weeping at the couch of woe ? 
 No ! but a brighter soothes the last adieu, — 
 Souls of impassioned mould, she speaks to you I 
 Weep not, she says, at nature's transient pain, 
 Congenial spirits part to meet again.' 
 
 ' If in that frame no deathless spirit dwell, 
 If that faint murmur be the last farewell, 
 If fate unite the faithful but to part, 
 Why is their memory sacred to the heart? ' 
 
 'To have been and not to be is less than unborn.' 
 
 Then man must be immortal, or God cannot be good, inasmuch 
 as goodness would never create and implant hapj^y affections, cher- 
 ished feelings of friendship, angelic love, and irrepressible desire 
 to live on with loved friends to demonstrate goodness, and then 
 tear all these cherished ligaments asunder and lacerate the very 
 heart of love with the relentless destiny of certain separation. 
 But the very implantation of these holy, happy, and hallowed 
 affections proves goodness, unless we can imagine cruelty to be a 
 predominating attribute to his character. Therefore, man is im-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 143 
 
 mortal, and by proper effort at a proper development may attain 
 the abodes of bliss and love as the heritage of his hopes. 
 
 'It must be so ; Plato, thou reasonest well I 
 Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, 
 This longing after immortality ? 
 Or whence this sacred dread and inward horror 
 Of falling into naught ? Why shi'inks the soul 
 Back on herself and startles at destruction ? 
 
 'T is the Divinity that stirs within us ; 
 
 *T is Heaven itself that points an hereafter 
 
 And intimates an eternity to man. 
 
 The stars shall fade away, the sun himself 
 
 Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years ; 
 
 But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, 
 
 Unhurt amidst the war of elements. 
 
 The wreck of matter and the crush of world.* 
 
 Then we conclude man is immortal, or a good Creator would 
 never have endowed him with these glorious aspirations to be 
 ruthlessly crushed with the relentless destiny of certain death. 
 
 More especially, again, when we know that he has implanted 
 within us no natural appetite or desire of our bodies, but for 
 which he has also placed within our reach the means of its grati- 
 fication. But we ardently desire an undying union of love and 
 friendship ; therefore we infer he will also give ns this best and 
 brightest boon. 
 
 Goethe says, ' I could in no wise dispense with the happiness of 
 believing in our future existence, and could say with Lorenzo Do 
 Medici, that those are dead for this life even who have no hope of 
 hereafter.' 
 
 We might quote from Swedenhorg, the illuminated seer of Ger- 
 many, and the philosophic and scientific Christian of the eigh- 
 teenth century, who lived and moved in mind among the angels, 
 and who predicted correctly the day and hour of his death ; from 
 Blackstone, the great legal philosopher of England, and his anno- 
 tator, Chitty ; from the epic Iliad of Homer, and the antcnor 
 Valmika, the Homer of Hindostan ; the rural Bucolics of Virgil ; 
 the plaintive pleas of Ossian, who sang, ' spirits ride on beams of 
 fire'; the stately tones of Shelley; the original Chaucer; tho 
 dramatic life-pictures of Shakespeare ; all the inspired spirits of
 
 144 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 song along tlie stream of time hymn the hopes of the human heart 
 to be beyond the dim horizon that bounds our visual organs. 
 And the Wesleys, founders of modern Methodism (in contradis- 
 tinction to the Methodism, Popish, of France, several centuries 
 previous), with their whole families, witnessed in their houses for 
 a long time strange and marvellous manifestations of spirit power, 
 but, like all others, while fully believing, did not understand them 
 or their mighty significance. And Adam Clark, their biographer, 
 familiar with many languages, and author of popular and volumi- 
 nous commentaries on the Bible, acknowledged their superhuman 
 and ultramundane origin. Wordsworth believed that prophets 
 lived in all ages ; Coleridge claimed supernal inspiration ; and 
 Raphael professed to derive the ideal of his splendid paragon of 
 beauty from his immortalized mother. 
 
 We might go on and quote from Sir Matthew Hale, one of the 
 founders of English jurisprudence, and St. Augustine, one of the 
 fathers of the Church, and a great many others of the most noted 
 characters that illume the pages of the past, from the earliest to 
 the latest ages. 
 
 But for our limited time these must suffice to establish the fact 
 that, from the earliest ages to the present propitious period, man- 
 kind have cherished a. vague belief in their immortality and minis- 
 tering angels in the form of their friends who formerly lived among 
 them in the flesh. 
 
 The Mehestani, and Eastern Magi, who were disciples of Zoro- 
 aster, believed in the immortality of the soul, in rewards and pun- 
 ishments after death, and in the resurrection of the body. Xow 
 this philosopher of Urmia and his disciples flourished 570 years 
 before Christ ; and only the later prophets of sacred history, Mi- 
 cah, Haggai, Ezekiel, et alii, who lived contemporaneous or later, 
 that speak in any 2^romi)ie7it terms of immortality; the earlier 
 prophets generally ignoring it altogether. Are v\^e not bound, 
 therefore, to give this credit to Zoroaster, while musing in spirit- 
 ual meditation, as recorded, twenty years in the wild solitudes of 
 Elbrooz, like St. John in the wilderness nearly six centuries later ? 
 And to Buddha, and Brahma, of Hindostan, two or three centuries 
 yet earlier ? And to the * Code of Menu,' embodying law, relig- 
 ion, and philosophy, earlier than all, about a thousand years before 
 the Christian era ? The few sacred prophets who flourished an- 
 terior to these philosophers, always held present or temporal
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 145 
 
 reward as tlie motive for good, or what they esteemed good., but 
 which we now know to be in a great many, if not majority of 
 instances bad. The ancient Hindoo philosophers, the Parsees, 
 and the Oriental Magi, were the first who held future rewards and 
 punishments, that I can find in all history ; and the Jews from 
 their intercourse with Egypt, and it with Persia, derived their 
 ideas on this subject. A Christian writer, Schlegel, in his ' His- 
 tory of Literature,' says: ' Perhaps among no other ancient peo- 
 ple did the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and the belief 
 in a future state of existence, ever acquire such a mastery over all 
 principles and all feelings, and exert such influence over all the 
 judgments and all the actions of men as among the Indians ' (of 
 Hindostan). And the idea of an incarnated deity was originated 
 and entertained five centuries before the advent of Christ by all 
 the Scandinavian nations, as the Hindoo god Vishnu took upon 
 himself the form of man and periodically appeared upon earth ; 
 and the destruction of the world by general conflagration, as well 
 as its creation from chaos, was recorded or proclaimed about the 
 same time in the Valuspa, a book of prophecy by Vala; that evil 
 spirits entered and disturbed the peace of the world ; that good 
 and evil are in constant conflict; that Thor bruises the serpent's 
 head, etc. Is it at all strange, then, that these ideas, as well as 
 other parallels, should have been derived from that ancient relig- 
 ious people, when we know that the very names of the days of the 
 week, as adopted by all subsequent people, and still universally 
 retained, were derived from their theology, which we now call 
 mytholog}', just as our prevailing theology will by future genera- 
 tions be called mythology? Sunday is so called because they 
 worshipped the sun on that day; Monday, they worshipped the 
 moon ; Wednesday, after their god Wodin, god of battles,- Wod ins- 
 day ; Thursday, after Thor, god of thunder, Thorsday ; Friday, 
 after Frea, god of Avinds ; Tuesday, after Tisa, god of litigation, 
 and wife of Thor, still pronounced in portions of Scotland Ties- 
 day ; Saturday, after Steter, whom they worshipped respectively 
 on those days. 
 
 Those Hindoo Indians were also the inventors or discoverers of 
 decimal ciphers, the greatest achievement, next to the alphabet, 
 of the human intellect. Just think a moment of this, by the use- 
 of only ten marks, or figures, or characters, by their various posi- 
 tions and infinite combinations, any number can be represented
 
 146 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 and expressed, from fractional portions of one up to millions, 
 billions, quintillions, decillious, vigintillions, etc., without limit. 
 
 According to a work entitled ' India and the Indians,' the Jews 
 had full knowledge of the Hindoo theology, but the latter had 
 none of the former. Now if the Jews deserve the credit of divine 
 inspiration for their theology, when it is acknowledged they 
 might have borrowed it from the Hindoos, a fortiori should we 
 accord a greater credit for divine inspiration to the Hindoos, 
 when it is acknowledged they could not possibly have derived 
 it from the Jews, having no acquaintance with them, and both 
 systems of theology the same. But I cannot believe they had no 
 knowledge of the Jews, because, if the Bible history be true, they 
 undoubtedly branched ofE into Southern Asia, from the primal 
 centre around the Euphrates. Now, it might be objected, that 
 these ancient records of religion so far antedate the Christian era, 
 that they could not have existed, as the art of writing must then 
 have been unknown. But this may be retorted on the orthodox 
 objector, as he claims a greater antiquity for his orthodox theology ; 
 if his argument invalidate my history, it equally invalidates his." 
 
 If the immortality of the soul be tnie, the next questions which 
 arise are these : where are Adam and his posterity ? where are our 
 own dear ones who have gove before ? 
 
 " If we leave our orb and its immediate environs, in order to 
 Imagine any location beyond the range of astronomical bodies, as 
 abodes for our spirit friends, it would place the locality at a dis- 
 tance, according to Ilerschel, requiring nineteen hundred thousand 
 years for souls to travel, moving with the Telocity of light, two 
 hundred thousand miles in a second. Our first parents, Adam 
 and Eve, have by this time only got one-three-hundred-and-six 
 teenth part of the way to heaven, though they started early in 
 the morning of creation (by the Mosaic record), and have been 
 travelling with the speed of light ever since. If we infer such a 
 general and distant place of reception for sj)irits, then in that celes- 
 tial emporium every soul from all the myriad of worlds must congre- 
 gate. * Far more rational would it seem,' says Prof. Hare, ' that our 
 heaven should be associated with our own native planet, in the 
 welfare of which the past history and future prospects of the souls 
 who were born upon it must take pre-eminent interest.' What a 
 delightful, what a happy thought is this, that immediately after our
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 147 
 
 dissolution, whicli really is the date of our true nativity, our grand 
 natal day into life, unencumbered, like our first birth from a more 
 encumbered and confined life, to one more enlarged and unencum- 
 bered, that, instead of being transported to remote and unknown 
 places of incalculable distances, we can be near by, and look back at 
 friends depositing our old casket, now tenantless, in the tomb ; the 
 casket of clay which we so lately inhabited, and through which, as 
 a necessary material medium, we moved among material things, 
 in a sphere of physical materials ; that from thenceforward and 
 forever after, without end, we may continue to linger around the 
 loved localities of our infantile associations, the old homestead, 
 our native hill, the rock spring, the purling brook, the tall pines 
 moaning in the wind, the tough tupelo, from which we made our 
 boyish tooth-brush, the stately poplars, the umbrageous elm, the 
 stalwart oak, or early, sweet, and shady maple, where we passed 
 the happy boyhood time of our earliest years ; that we can always 
 be personally present with our loved children and friends, partici- 
 pating in their pleasures, and rejoicing in their progress, or 
 sympathizing in their sorrows, and mourning, though only for a 
 brief season, over their moral miseries, which must accompany 
 their moral retrogression, which also must of necessity be only 
 temporary, for God's works all grow upward, with occasional tem- 
 porary retrograde movements, which in Ilis boundless destiny of 
 eternity only amount to momentary retardations. I avow it, that 
 this faith, or rather philosophy, that my cherished and revered 
 friends gone before can be, and are present to witness with grief, 
 or even the slightest shade of sorrow, my every action of sin or 
 of Avrong, has the greatest power to restrain me in every impulse 
 of passion or temptation to sin, of all the influences aud agencies 
 of which I am cognizant, or which have ever been brought to 
 bear upon my moral actions. It is to me a shield of celestial 
 temper. The wish that we have often heard of being able to visit 
 the earth again, in one hundred or five hundred years, is to be 
 gratified every hour, every year, every century, and forever. That 
 from a contiguous standpoint in eternity, we can witness the pro- 
 gress and improvement of our children, and grandchildren, and 
 posterity, through all future generations, on the initial inceptive 
 plane of earth below us, as erstwhile we witnessed their bodily 
 growth for a few years in the clay, — this is a glorious thought, 
 and modern science with trumpet tongue proclaims its truth.
 
 148 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 As an illustration of scientific precision and astronomic accuracy, 
 the discovery of the planet Neptune (named originally Le Verriei', 
 from its discoverer, in 1846) is one of the greatest triumphs which 
 the history of science records. As certain perturbations of the 
 movements of Saturn led astronomers to suspect the existence of a 
 remoter planet, which suspicions were fully confirmed in the discov- 
 ery of Uranus, so also after the discovery of Uranus, certain irreg- 
 ularities were perceived in his motions, that led distinguished as- 
 tronomers of the day to the belief that even beyond the planet Ura- 
 nus still another undiscovered planet existed, to reward the labors 
 of the discoverer. Accordingly, Le Verrier, a young French astron- 
 omer, urged by his friend Arago, determined to devote himself to 
 the attempt at discovery. With indefatigable industry he prepared 
 new tables of planetary »iotion, from which he determined the per- 
 turbations of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus ; and as early 
 as June, 1846, in a paper presented to the Academy of Sciences in 
 Paris, he pointed out where the suspected planet would be on the 1st 
 of January, 1847. He subsequently determined the mass and the 
 elements of the orbits of the planet, and that, too, before it had 
 been seen by a human eye. On the 18th of September of 1846, 
 he wrote to his friend, M. Galler, of Berlin, requesting him to 
 direct his telescope to a certain point in the heavens, where he 
 suspected the stranger to be. His friend complied with his re- 
 quest, and on the first evening of examination discovered a strange 
 star of the eighth magnitude, which had not been laid down in 
 any of the maps of that portion of the heavens. The following 
 evening it was found to have moved in a direction and with a 
 velocity very nearly like that which Le Verrier had pointed out. 
 The planet was found within less than one degree of the place 
 where Le Verrier had located it. It was subsequently ascertained 
 that a young English mathematician, Mr. Adams, of Cambridge, 
 had been engaged in the same computations, and had arrived at 
 nearly the same results with Le Verrier. 
 
 What shall we say of science, then, that enables its devoted fol- 
 lowers to reach out into space, and feel successfully in the dark 
 and distant ocean of immensity for an object more than twenty- 
 eight millions of miles distant ? 
 
 We live in a wonder-working universe, which becomes more 
 and more wonderful as we learn more of it, instead of being 
 brought more within our comprehension. When we compara
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 149 
 
 what "we know with the knowledge of the savages, it may appear 
 a mountain of learning and science ; but this very learning and 
 science only makes us see still more how great is our igno- 
 rance ! " 
 
 "We are beyond incertitude or doubt immortal; our immortal- 
 ity is demonstrated by ocular, tangible, positive proof ; this im- 
 mortality consists of our very hrecceity, our real personal self, our 
 loves, friendships, memories, knowledge, intelligence. And science 
 proves that we must take these with us or we take nothing, for 
 nothing of ourself remains more than seven years, except these 
 moral memories, these spiritual principles. We retain them here 
 through all our years: shall we lose them there? They consti- 
 tute our personality, our hfficceity here : if we do not take them, 
 what will constitute us there ? That we shall recognize each 
 other by physical features and fprm unchanged, but refined and 
 improved by the shaking off of the old clay covering, and shall 
 unerringly know each other by spirit acting direct upon spirit, 
 without obstruction, or deception, of animal covering and deceit- 
 ful flesh ; hypocrisy will lose its mask. Our present plane of 
 existence being one and the first of seven, there are six concentric 
 circles, zones, or spheres around us, each rising higher above the 
 other in the blue ether; the first commencing about fifty miles 
 above us, where our atmosphere is supposed by some to cease, but 
 which I suppose has no definite bounds, bat is gradually merged 
 and lost in the bright circumambient realm of pure and spotless 
 spirituality. That these spheres thus near and adjacent to us, 
 with a connecting and continuous element of intercourse and in- 
 tercommunication, are the bright abodes of our departed friends 
 and all progressed excarnated men and women. That we enter 
 those spheres just as we leave this plane, with our vices or virtues, 
 ignorance or intelligence; with every feature and lineament of 
 face and limb, as developed in the body; the same form and con- 
 figuration in the spiritualized state, of which in fact the body was 
 the mere visible representative, and from which it took its form ; 
 with personal identity and individuality intact and unchanged. 
 That the first of these spheres next adjoining our present rudi- 
 mental plane is comparatively dark and imperfect, a Gehenna, 
 Hades, Sheol, Tartarus, or Hell, in which all unprogressed, low, 
 ignorant, vicious, wicked spirits of men congregate by a natural 
 affinity or spiritual gravitation. That this region is thus dark —
 
 150 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 I give it as my philosophy of the fact [Rembert] — because inter- 
 mediate from the earth plane where physical light is produced by 
 atmospheric undulations, and the higher spheres where purer 
 light is the result of spiritual illumination. Beyond our atmos- 
 phere is probably no physical, but all spiritual light, increasing as 
 we leave the earth's opaque surface. That the more progressed 
 and enlightened, the true and the good, with angelic aspirations, 
 will be attracted to the second or higher spheres, suited to their 
 tastes, capacities, congenialities, and developments. That pro- 
 gress, universal progress, all working a perfect optimism, is God's 
 grand, primordial, fundamental law, by which the wicked and 
 low in the first sphere will gradually improve and unfold into 
 higher spheres of intelligence and happiness; and that all will 
 progress and develop into new beatitudes, new grandeurs, and 
 new glories, ever enjoying without satiety, ever ascending without 
 exhaustion, forever fed and sustained by the all-prolific fountain 
 of all spirit, the eternal Father. 0, what a sublime philosophy is 
 this for the vision of the soul ! what a happy consolation, an ever- 
 present bliss always welling up in the heart of the good and the 
 true, the pure and the splendid, and may be poor and despised in 
 the view of the vain, — and there are millions such in this death- 
 drifting stream of time, — to contemplate and hope for, ay, to feel 
 an assurance of and to know this immortal heaven as the heritage 
 of heaven eternity. A home of happiness unalloyed, of purity 
 unspotted, mind immaculate, and of eternal, expanding, progres- 
 sive, boundless felicity. The bruised and broken heart healed 
 and made whole ; loved and long-lost friends regained ; cherished 
 friendships of the buried years of time reclaimed; severed associa- 
 tions, hallowed memories revived to burn on imperishable altars ; 
 tender feelings, blasted hopes, deep devoted love of children, kin- 
 dred, friends and families and all the splendid affections of the 
 human soul divine, that glow like jewels in this dim old casket 
 of earth, shall be restored, reunited, gathered up to the fountains 
 of the Father, and kindled with the new lustre of immortal 
 glory ; 0, the rapturous, transporting joy of this heavenly reunion ! 
 Perhaps, when we leave our tenantless body and look back at our 
 friends of earth weeping over the cold casket, the first to hail ua 
 at the portals of those blest abodes will be a cherub child, 
 whose prattling ceased on earth ere it felt the stain of sin, or 
 heaved a sigh of sorrow ; or a loved, adored, long-lost mother's
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 151 
 
 voice, that so often soothed our little storms of trouble, and who 
 so many a time and oft bedewed our infant pillow with tears that 
 none but she could shed, will be the first to welcome and embrace 
 in that radiant realm of love. These are some of the beatitudes 
 promised in this scientific revelation to the honest and energetic 
 and true. And the unsullied atmosphere of intellect, unfettered 
 from the flesh, intellect disencumbered and eliminated from the 
 gross manacles of this animal world ; to move in mind, mind mu- 
 tually mirrored in its majesty; creation mapped before us with its 
 myriad suns and systems that constitute the great dome of God's 
 universe, all radiant with the luminous beams of infinite wisdom 
 that pervade the outskirts of creation, and the whole a splendid 
 panorama of enraptured vision : these are some of the privileges 
 and pleasures which shall doubtless be fully realized by the exalted 
 denizens of these glorious mansions of immortality." 
 
 "We shall now present for consideration some of the so-called 
 miracles narrated in the Scriptures, as compared with the spiritual 
 manifestations of the present day, viewed from a philosophical 
 and scientific standpoint. 
 
 " Oue of the most wonderful works performed by Christ, or 
 rather Jesus, the most 'miraculous' is that of raising Lazarus 
 from the dead. Now, if that could not have been done, and if 
 this cannot now be done by natural laws and on natural philoso- 
 phy, it never 'Was 'done or performed at all. But it can thus be 
 done, and no doubt was performed. Jesus said, ' Lazarus is not 
 dead but slecpeth.' Then when he perceived his disciples under- 
 stood him to mean a natural sleep, he corrected tliis false 
 impression by saying, ' He is dead.' As for the remark of Martha, 
 that decomposition had commenced, having been dead four days, 
 it was only her opinion, which proved incorrect. We have many 
 authenticated cases of this kind on record ; in the Book of Kings 
 it is said that Elisha raised the dead, the vital functions having 
 been suspended however but a few hours. 
 
 Eev. Wm. Tenneut, Presbyterian clergyman of New Jersey, lay 
 dead (apparently) for three days, and was about to be buried, 
 when he revived. The wife of Mr. Lancaster, first delegate from 
 Washington Territory, died (to all appearances) out on the West- 
 ern plains, and was brought on a litter by friendly Indians, a 
 distance of three hundred miles, to Fort Laramie, occupying eight
 
 152 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 days, when on the completion of the preparations for her inhuma- 
 tion, she revived and recovered, lion. Mr. Osbore, military secreta- 
 ry to the British Indian mission, records a case of an ludian Fakir 
 having lain entombed ten inonths, and upon exhumation was re- 
 suscitated and restored to life and health ; if I am not mistaken, 
 this author was witness to the whole proceeding from beginning to 
 end. This cataleptic condition of trance, resembling hybernation 
 of animals, in which there is a total suspension of all physical and 
 perhaps spiritual dynamics, is and has been frequently overcome 
 by the power of will, of love, of magnetism in another organism, 
 operating upon the unconscious and negative subject; just as 
 asthma, asphyxia, catalepsy, pleurisy, rheumatism, neuralgia, and 
 all deseases both acute and chronic, of short or long standing, are 
 now frequently cured, and sometimes in a few minutes, when all 
 known therapeutic agents of the medical faculty have failed ; and 
 also as the most painful and dangerous capital cases of surgery 
 are now performed Avith facility, without pain, and with little 
 hemorrhage and with little inflammation ; all under the wonderful 
 influence of magnetism or vital electricity. 
 
 As this involves an important part of the philosophy of life, a 
 brief explanation may be necessary, with a little deviation from 
 the general system of my subject. All the physical functions, 
 and the spiritual faculties, and the entire vital dynamics of the 
 human machine, are dependent on, and under the control of mag- 
 netism, or vital electricity; and as this is in redundancy or defi- 
 ciency, so is the character of disease. If not in all (as contended 
 by some), a large proportion of our diseases originate from an 
 unbalanced or disturbed condition of this subtile fluid ; as in ex- 
 cess, inflammations follow, so a want of the proper quantum is fol- 
 lowed by a want of vital action ; this excess is removed or abstracted 
 by proper manipulations from a perfect and harmonic magnetizer, 
 and the process is erpedited by the application of ammonia, vine- 
 gar, or water, as this facilitates the passage of the superabundant 
 electricity : but not oil, or fat, or grease, as this obstructs. This 
 process is illustrated in Christ and his apostles relieving the sick 
 ' by the laying on of hands,' which was done for several centuries, 
 and is now a very common occurrence, hy proper manifestations, 
 I mean making the passes from the deranged point outwards, like 
 magnetizing a piece of metal ; for when the direction is reversed 
 a contrary result follows. When there is a deficiency of this vital
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 153 
 
 force, the contact of a positive, vigorous magnetizer will impart 
 the requisite amount, and restore the proper vitality : as exempli- 
 fied in Elisha, restoring the suspended animation of the child 
 apparently dead ; with many such cases on record, and also by 
 the force of a potent, perfect ivill, as Christ restoring Lazarus, 
 with many similar facts well authenticated. 
 
 The splendid and philosophic S. B. Britton, in his magnificent 
 work entitled ' Man and his Eelations,' relates from a Memphis 
 paper: 'A married couple were on their way from New Orleans 
 up the river, when the husband sickened and died. The bereaved 
 widow landed at Memphis with the remains, where she made ar- 
 rangements for the funeral. The form of her bosom friend was 
 about to be conveyed to the scene of its final repose, but fond af- 
 fection demanded the privilege of one last, lingering look, and 
 accordingly the lid was removed from the coffin. Bending over 
 the cold and apparently lifeless form, she bathed the brow with 
 her scalding tears, and fervently kissed the frigid lips. In this 
 great struggle, love triumphed over death. There was one who 
 had "slept " as long, and doubtless as profoundly, as Lazarus; but 
 the Divine Spirit that animates all things — acting through the 
 mediumship of a frail woman — dissolved death's icy chains, and 
 set the captive free. That nian recovered, inspired with new en- 
 ergy, and gratitude to the Being in whose hand are the issues of 
 life and death.' Again from the same superb author : ' Tlie form 
 of Lazarus was in a perfectly negative state; and a great physi- 
 cal, spiritual, and divine magnet, in the person and power of Jesus, 
 stood at the door of the sepulchre. The powers of the heavens, 
 acting through the concentrated energies of his mind and the 
 subtile agents of the natural world, established the necessary con- 
 nection. Virtue descended and went out from Jesus to quicken 
 the lifeless form. The vital fluids began to circulate; the life- 
 giving energy was transfused through all the veins and arteries ; 
 a subtile, all-communicating spirit ran along the avenues of sen- 
 sation, and the nerves moved like the strings of an untuned lyre, 
 when they arc swept by a mighty wind. A loud voice re-echoed 
 through the cavern, and the sleeper awoke, to walk again with the 
 living.' Moreover, through psychometry, or clairvoyance, or 
 clairaudience, or some other means of clear perception, more won- 
 derful than this, and as well authenticated as these, disease is de- 
 tected and described, perceived and prescribed for at a distance of
 
 154 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 hundreds of miles, without the least previous knowledge, acquaint- 
 ance, or hearsay ; and correctly, too, as is attested by the success, 
 when of I6ng and unsuccessful treatment by the old profession. 
 But all this is effected through the laws of nature, — there is no 
 other way to effect anything, — laws which we are j ust beginning to 
 find out and unfold. No (to resume), it is not the facts we deny, 
 unless in direct contravention to well-known philosophy, but the 
 miraculous phase of the facts ; nor are we, on the other hand, 
 necessarily committed to their afl&rmation." 
 
 "We will next take the conversion of St. Paul. " A great many 
 Protestant Christians, especially of the Episcopalians, deny this 
 sudden change of heart, or change of life, called conversion ; but 
 St. Paul is generally cited and urged as a case in point and proof 
 of instantaneous conversion. This case of St. Paul, however, is 
 not one of miracle, but of philosophy, just stated like all others of 
 the same analogy. I would like to argue this question at length, 
 but must desist. Nevertheless, as I condemn dogmatics in oth- 
 ers, I must not be guilty myself of dogmatism ; therefore, I feel 
 bound to say, that while this ' conversion ' by the direct act of God 
 himself, or his Holy Ghost, as claimed by the orthodox, may be 
 within the bounds of possibility, it is certainly much more rational, 
 and reasonable, and natural, to believe it effected, as I have said, 
 in accordance with known laws of nature and a beautiful philoso- 
 phy, which indeed detracts nothing from its intrinsic value, but 
 rather adds to its comforts to know that our angel friends are 
 ever around and near, to hear, and heed, and help us. And 
 whether the influence be the direct action of our Father, God, or 
 of a vicarious Christ, or of a mysterious Holy Ghost, or of our 
 progressed, excarnated, and spiritualized friends, in the form of 
 angels, it is hallowed and happy, purifying and felicitous, and 
 should be encouraged, cultivated, and cherished ; not merely em- 
 braced during temporary popular excitement, to be immediately 
 disregarded, and decided as popular illusion ; all puerile excite- 
 ment may be thus decided, but not these true, splendid spiritual 
 manifestations, and happy impartations of the heavenly world, 
 called by some ' conversion,' or any other name. This rational 
 and natural philosophy — rational because natural, and natural 
 because rational — also explains and clears the mystery from the 
 condition of trance, so frequent, particularly in revival excitements. 
 St. Paul's celebrated trance, as well as his conversion, all come
 
 THE TUSrSEALED BOOK. 155 
 
 within the sphere and purview of this splendid philosophy of 
 spirit power and angelic influence and intercourse. It likewise 
 explicates the otherwise strange medical fact, that persons in this 
 condition of trance, or in any under the control of spirit power, 
 invariably recover, after remaining for hours pulseless, and appar- 
 ently lifeless, as, for instance, the case recorded by Dr. Chegne of 
 Col. Townshend, of Scotland, whose heart ceased to beat, no pulse, 
 no respiration, his entire frame cold and rigid, features shrunk 
 and colorless, all to such extent that three medical men pronounced 
 him dead. Now, we know that this condition of the physical sys- 
 tem, originating from functional, structural, or any other cause 
 than spirituiil, is certain dissolution. Spiritual mediums are thus 
 controlled for hours, and we have seen persons at revival meetings 
 in the same condition, with their vital energies prostrated, and 
 physical functions almost, some entirely, suspended, and wondered 
 at their easy and perfect recovery, without injury, when they are, 
 as most frequently, of fragile frames and feeble vitality, and much 
 weaker cause and less excitement otherwise would prove fatal. 
 This philosophy of modern science explains it all satisfactorily 
 and consolitorily. 
 
 But, says the Christian of miraculous faith, we feel and witness 
 a like internal evidence, and know whereof we si)eak. Now, right 
 here we open an interesting metaphysical, pueumatological, psy- 
 chical question, illustrated and disphiyed to a great degree at 
 popular camp-meetings, and other religious revivals. This phe- 
 nomenon is scientifically known as pathetism. I have witnessed 
 and experienced it myself, in its most wonderful displays. We 
 have seen proud, strong men full in fear and trembling under its 
 mighty influence, and young, guileless girls of sixteen summers 
 cry in the most piteous accents of deep agony and travail of soul, 
 and pour out their tender hearts in tears for mercy, from sure, 
 sudden, and impending doom. Mercy for what ? Ilad they ever 
 sinned, these guileless girls ? Ay, and we have seen them rise in 
 renewed strength, suddenly energized from an unseen source, and 
 heard shouts of hai>i)iness ring out from their little temples, like 
 echoes from immortal melodies, while bright effulgence gleamed 
 through their glistening tears, like the play of sparkling sunlight 
 through pearly rain-drops. Now, whence and wherefore is this? 
 You affirm it to be * conversion ' by the direct action of God. I 
 aver it is not ' conversion,' for their after lives, soon as the tran-
 
 156 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 sient influence is over, proves no change of heart, or change of 
 life, or permanent conversion of any kind. Neither is it the di- 
 rect action of tlie great God, for he cannot tlius contravene his 
 own character and immutable laws, by working a miracle in a 
 human ' conversion,' to be immediately set aside, frustrated, and 
 falsified. True philosophy of pathetism as evinced in revivals is, 
 first, a great many minds are so constituted, that they may per- 
 suade themselves, by constant, assiduous effort, to believe any- 
 thing they have an intense will and desire to believe ; hence, by 
 their intense will and effort, they believe they are converted, which 
 cannot be retorted on the evidence of science ; or, second, the 
 well-known mesmeric sympathy epidemic, in a crowd of high- 
 wrought feeling ; or, third, the psychological power of the opera- 
 tor (preacher) over the congregation ; or, fourth, the actual 
 presence of angelic or spirit friends, blessing them in their then 
 peculiar condition of receptivity, which is the true condition of 
 sincere prayer, and which, when kept up and persevered in, as is 
 the case in a few instances (St. Paul for one), the ' conversion ' 
 will continue and be permanent to this extent, no more. 
 
 All these wonderful manifestations and mysterious phenomena 
 we witness at large revivals are wrought by and through some or 
 all of these means, the natural operations of causes well known 
 and understood by the scientific philosopher. The great differ- 
 ences and variations in the act and process of ' conversion,' accord- 
 ing to the different characters and temperaments of the various 
 subjects, some requiring long-continued and persistent efforts, 
 others proving of ready facility, comport with the same differences 
 in mesmeric subjects and spiritual mediums, all under the same 
 principles and laws, some requiring long laborious efforts, others 
 evincing a ready aptitude to this peculiar influence under the 
 control of mind or spirit, whether in or out of the flesh : they are 
 mutually corroborative and expository. This likewise accounts 
 for the otherwise unaccountable and anomalous fact that the 
 most wicked and hardened sinners are often the easiest of conver- 
 sion, and the most upright and exemplary characters the most 
 difficult of conversion. And this philosophy also explains the 
 otherwise inexplicable mystery of some preachers, like Caughy 
 and Spurgeon, for examples, being so successful in revivals ; for 
 it cannot be attributed to extra piety, as it is well known that 
 they are frequently vain and vindictive, unless this be considered
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 157 
 
 extra piety, which indeed is according to the principles of some 
 religionists. While on the other hand some of the most humble, 
 honest, pions, and self-denying preachers are the least successful 
 in the cause of revivals and conversions. 
 
 Everybody has this element in greater or less degree, suscepti- 
 ble of mesmeric influence or spirit control, called ' conversion.' 
 But while you assert in these phenomena of revivals a supernal 
 and supernatural agency, you deny it in all others. You aver all 
 other modern spiritual manifestations are not preternatural or 
 supernal, but the result of deception, delusion, an intellectual 
 epidemic, or some mysterious, unknown, incarnated agency of 
 mundane nature ; while I affirm them to be demonstrations of 
 spiritual or supernal agency. 
 
 In the case of revivals you assert them to be due to supernal 
 agency, and I too well know causes and elements existing in the 
 human mind Avhile incarnated as well as excarnated. The differ- 
 ence is, I can account for and explain my opinions on principles 
 of natural philosophy ; but yoii cannot account for or explain 
 yours on any known principles whatever, unless you claim mere 
 faith as the principle, which is accepting my philosophy of the 
 delusion. Spirit intercourse you reject through blind ignorance; 
 revival conversion you accept through blind faith : when here we 
 have a philosophy which explains both on scientific principles of 
 demonstration. Will you plunge the abysmal Scylla and Charyb- 
 dis of faith and ignorance on the one hand, or on the other climb 
 the clear mountain of philosophy and truth, around whose sum- 
 mit play the selectest lights of science ? Nor can it be retorted 
 on Spiritualists that they are as liable to delusion in believing in 
 spiritual inspiration as the old religionists in believing in conver- 
 sion by the Holy Ghost, or the special pardon of sins by the direct 
 act of God. We have the natural laws of natural philosophy to 
 explain and vindicate ours, while they have no law and no philos- 
 ophy to account for theirs, but all in contravention. All known 
 laws of nature and philosophy refute their faith as futile and delu- 
 sive, but not detrimental or pernicious to a large portion of the 
 human family. In short and pithy anecdote, * conversion' fre- 
 quently amounts to this : ' Parson , have you noticed any 
 
 change in B since he was converted and joined the church ?' 
 
 '0 5'es, very great; before, when he went out to mend his fences 
 on Sunday, he carried his axe on his shoulder, but now he carries 
 it under his overcoat.' "
 
 158 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 " And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his 
 brother and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 
 
 And was transfigured before them : and his face did shine as 
 the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 
 
 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking 
 with him. 
 
 " And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary 
 the mother of James, and Salome, had brought sweet spices, that 
 they might come and anoint him. 
 
 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they 
 came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. 
 
 A4id they said among themselves, who shall roll us away the 
 stone from the door of the sepulchre ? 
 
 And when they looked they saw that the stone was rolled away : 
 for it was very great. 
 
 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting 
 on the right side, clothed in a long white garment ; and they were 
 affrighted." 
 
 Here we have on record two cases of materialization. 
 
 At the present day there are hundreds of similar manifestations. 
 Dr. Watson says : — 
 
 " When we were told, in our investigations in this city in 1856, 
 that spirits would show themselves as they were in mortal life, 
 we never expected to live to see it. Yet we have lived to see the 
 prediction of Jesus literally fulfilled, that we should see the angels 
 ascending and descending. This has not been done in a corner, 
 but in the presence of from five to fifty persons at a time ; not 
 alone in the gas-light, but in the sunlight in this city. 
 
 We have been taking five monthly magazines devoted to Spirit- 
 ualism, published in London, since our return from Europe, be- 
 sides weekly papers in both hemispheres. They are giving accounts 
 of new mediums for materialization all over the land. We could 
 fill half a dozen such periodicals with these accounts, many of 
 them written by those who had previously been sceptics. The 
 spirits say that in less than five years they will be able to address 
 public assemblies from the platform in full view of the audience. 
 From what we have seen and heard in London and here, we are 
 inclined to believe they will be able to do it."
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 159 
 
 A friend writes me that she has witnessed a case of materializa- 
 tion in New York City which was the means of instantly convert- 
 ing a sceptic, a lady who had for years been a persecutor of her 
 husband for his belief. The spirit who materialized was an old 
 lover of hers whom she said she had not thought of for a year. 
 She said there could not be a shadow of doubt as to his iden- 
 tity. 
 
 " The angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and 
 rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it." 
 
 Again, when Peter and other of the apostles were imprisoned, 
 " the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and 
 brought them forth." 
 
 There are many mediums at the present day through whose 
 powers are enacted even more wonderful physical manifestations. 
 Large and ponderable bodies are not only moved by the simple 
 laying on of hands, but in many cases without visible contact, and 
 also to float in air as if but a feather's weight. Many mediums 
 who have been confined in narrower than prison cells and bound 
 with cords defying human skill to unloose, have been instantly 
 and easily released and extricated by spiritual agency. 
 
 "A hand from out of the invisible did once appear and write 
 upon the walls of a banquet-room, and the form of another was 
 put forth and took Ezckicl by a lock of his hair, and the spirit 
 lifted him up between the earth and the heaven." 
 
 Invisible hands at the present day write, not only upon walls, 
 but in the very air itself, — to say nothing of the slate writing, 
 — by which are given Satisfactory tests, by names, dates, places, 
 and circumstances, demonstrating the presence of the relatives or 
 friends of the parties present, — the parties themselrves being en- 
 tire strangers to the medium. This writing is usually accom- 
 plished by holding a slate with a bit of pencil upon it Underneath 
 a table, pressing up against the same, or by joining two slates 
 with pencil between. The spirits have more than once attested 
 their strength by wresting the slate from the hands of a strong 
 man and breaking it in pieces. 
 
 " Ignatius Loyola," says Rembert, " the founder of the Jesu- 
 its, whom I 've been religiously reared to hate, who Avas sincere 
 and devout in his religious lustrations, notwithstanding the atroci-
 
 160 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 ties of his later sectators, was frequently, as it is related, taken np 
 bodily during his religious exercise. Prior to the modern philos- 
 ophy spirit, I would have rejected this and all kindred stories as 
 fabulous; but now I am prepared to believe it and receive it as 
 true, these marvellous histories of the past, because we have them 
 enacted now, at the present day, and have found a philosophy for 
 them. Mr. Home is frequently taken up, without visible agency, 
 and carried around in a room near the ceiling. Now what opera- 
 tion of physical science or principle of physical philosophy does 
 all this ? MVe know not, and nobody knows a physical element or 
 combination of such elements adequate to this phenomenon, be- 
 yond our detection. The only solution is mental or spiritual ; 
 and whence and who and where the mind or spirit, if it be not our 
 excarnated friends, now immortal angels, in contiguous spheres 
 near to and communicating with us ? Then, ye men of science, 
 fully unfold this mighty philosophy of a new element in human 
 nature, a potent principle for no good, no purpose, to the creator 
 or the creature, unless it reaches to a kindred spirit land whose 
 love attractions draw us to those sweet shores of spirit empire, 
 where we shall drink from near the fountain, and imbibe the 
 vitalizing azure air that develops angelic intelligence, — the 
 mighty multitude of happy life God is gathering around him, as 
 a father gathers his children and binds their brows with garlands 
 of beauty and love." 
 
 " And when David inquired of the Lord, he said. Thou shalt 
 not go up ; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them 
 over against the mulberry-trees. 
 
 And let it be when thou hearest the sound of a going in the 
 tops of the mulberry-trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyseK : for 
 then shall the Lord go out before thee." 
 
 "A young lady is engaged to be married to a gentleman who is 
 a fine musician (particularly on the piano), and the day and hour 
 set. Before the appointed time of their nuptial consummation 
 he is accidentally killed. At her house grief takes the place of 
 joy. When the appointed day arrives, and the clock strikes the 
 hour when hilarity and happiness momentary should have reigned 
 supreme, alas ! gloom, grief, and woe usurp their place ; tears 
 flow instead of smiles, and the mansion is draped in mourning.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 161 
 
 But hark ! from the neglected piano, on whish the lost intended 
 had so often performed, in the deserted parlor, suddenly come 
 ravishing strains of gushing melody. The startled family rush 
 into the parlor and find the instrument pouring forth Ms favorite 
 piece, which it had so often discoursed under his magic touch, and 
 not a person present or in contact." 
 
 We would ask if " the sound of a going in the tops of the mul- 
 berry-trees" could be any more wonderful than this; especially if 
 angels are, as often represented, invested with " wings," with which 
 they might easily raise a gentle breeze. 
 
 We read of Moses leading the children of Israel dry-shod across 
 the Red Sea. Napoleon Bonaparte did the same thing at the 
 same place three thousand years later, from a now well-known 
 etesian cause, — the prevalence of winds from a certain quarter 
 rendering it entirely practicable. Again, we read of Moses being 
 commanded to smite a rock at a certain place, and water came 
 forth. Not long since we were reading an account of a gentleman 
 in Chicago being advised by a spirit friend to dig in the earth at 
 a certain place ; ho followed the advice, despite the derision of his 
 earthly friends, and sank an Artesian well. 
 
 " And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, if 
 the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them : but yet the 
 word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do. 
 
 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and 
 went with the princes of Noah. 
 
 And God's anger was kindled because he went ; and the angel 
 of the Lord stood in the way, for an adversary against him. Now 
 he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants w'cre with 
 him. 
 
 And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way,, 
 and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of 
 the way and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, tO' 
 turn her into the way. 
 
 But the angel of tlie Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a 
 wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. 
 
 And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself 
 unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall : andi 
 he smote her again. 
 
 And the angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow
 
 162 THE UNSEAIiED BOOK. 
 
 place, where was no way to turn, either to the right hand or to 
 the left. 
 
 And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down 
 under Balaam : and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote 
 the ass with a staff. 
 
 And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto 
 Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me 
 these three times ? 
 
 And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me : 
 I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee. 
 
 And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which 
 thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day ? was I ever 
 wont to do so unto thee ? And he said, Nay. 
 
 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the an- 
 gel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his 
 hand : and he howed down his head, and fell flat on his face. 
 
 And the angel of the Lord said unto him. Wherefore hast thou 
 smitten thine ass these three times ? behold, I went out to with- 
 stand thee, because thy way is perverse before me : 
 
 And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times : 
 unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, 
 and saved her alive. 
 
 And Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, I have sinned ; 
 for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me : now 
 therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again." 
 
 This seems very strange, and doubtless the majority of readers 
 believe that Balaam's ass actually spoke. Our version of the case 
 is, that Balaam (or his ass) possessed the phase of media mship 
 called clairaudient. There are scores of mediums at the present 
 day whose powers are such that conversations are held with voices 
 outside of themselves, and when their mouths are closed and 
 sealed with sticking-plaster. I have myself heard quite a lengthy 
 discourse from a voice sounding like that of a strong, powerful 
 man, the medium through whose powers it was accomplished be- 
 ing a frail, delicate-looking woman with a weak voice. 
 
 The question now is, which was the medium, Balaam or his 
 ass ? As this is the only instance we know of on record, where 
 an animal is said to have spoken, we should give Balaam the pref- 
 erence, even though the ass was the first to perceive the angel-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 163 
 
 presence ; nor is that so very mysterious, when we compare some 
 of the great intellects of the present day with the poor, untaught, or 
 self-taught Indian, whose discernment of spiritual influence is in 
 the ascendant. Note, if you please, we only said some of our great 
 intellects; for, as we have before stated, many of our most intelli- 
 gent and noble-minded men have broken through the veil of 
 prejudice, and are among the stanch upholders of this beautiful 
 philosophy. We will give an anecdote of Cuvier, the great scien- 
 tist, whose brain was the largest ever measured. 
 
 '• In a dream the Devil appeared to Cuvier, and said he had 
 come to devour him. Cuvier surveyed him thoroughly and ex- 
 claimed, ' Horns, hoofs, granivorous. I ' m not afraid of you.' 
 His Satanic Majesty also presented himself to one of the sable 
 sons of Ham, whose race the Puritans are so eager to take to their 
 bosoms, and who, it must be confessed, .are equals of the latter in 
 everything save shoddy, or the power of pecuniosity, and nasal 
 psalm-singing on Sunday, in which latter, however, there is great 
 rhythmic concord. Says Ham, 'Who dat?' ' The Devil, come 
 after Ham.' 'Ham not here; Ham ain't been here dese two 
 months ! ' was the quick and silly answer of the ignorant and 
 frightened Afric hero." 
 
 " And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee ; 
 and the mother of Jesus was there : 
 
 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 
 
 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto 
 him, They have no wine. 
 
 Jesus saith unto her. Woman, what have I to do with thee ? 
 mine hour is not yet come. 
 
 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto 
 you, do it. 
 
 And there were set there six water-pots of stone, after the man- 
 ner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins 
 apiece. 
 
 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water-pots with water. And 
 they filled them up to the brim. 
 
 And he saith unto them. Draw out now, and bear unto the 
 governor of the feast. And they bore it. 
 
 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made 
 wine, and knew not whence it was (but the servants which drew
 
 164 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 the water knew), the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, 
 and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth 
 good wine ; and when men have well drunk, then that which is 
 worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. 
 
 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and 
 manifested forth his glory ; and his disciples believed on him." 
 
 We will now call your attention to some of the marvels of mind 
 as unfolded by modern biology or electrical psychology ; quoting 
 first from Dr. Dodds, who has done more than any one else, per- 
 haps, to evolve this magnificent science : — 
 
 " The wonderful and startling phenomena that hover around 
 it like so many invisible angels, and which are made manifest in 
 the experiments produced, I have also candidly stated. They con- 
 sist in the fact, that one human being can, through a certain ner- 
 vous influence, obtain and exercise a power over another, so as to 
 perfectly control his voluntary motions and muscular force; and 
 also produce various impressions on his mind, however extrava- 
 gant, ludicrous, or wild ; and that, too, while he is in a perfectly 
 wakeful state. I have found persons entirely and naturally in the 
 electro-psychological state, who never could be mesmerized at all, 
 nor in the least aiiected under repeated trials; that no person is 
 naturally in the mesmeric state, but thousands are naturally in 
 the electro-psychological, and live and die in it. It is the science 
 of the living mind, its silent and mysterious workings and ener- 
 getic powers. It is a science that evolves the majestic movement 
 of rolling worlds, the falling leaf, and claims the great law of the 
 universe as its own." 
 
 " Have you ever witnessed any of these wonderful phenomena 
 of psychology as exhibited by modem science ? I have seen a 
 number of men taken promiscuously from a large auditory of a 
 refined city upon the public platform, and there, after a few ef- 
 forts, put so completely under the control of the operator, as to 
 feel, think, and act Just as he willed, and that, too, while entirely 
 awake, and otherwise, apparently, in their normal condition. He 
 would make them believe a stick was a snake ; water was vinegar, 
 coSee, or alcohol, and followed with its effects ; that a handker- 
 chief placed in their arms was a baby, and they would caress it, 
 and try to quiet it, — made to believe it crying, — in the most lu- 
 dicrous manner, being mostly young men unused to such opera-
 
 THE UXSEALED BOOK. 165 
 
 tions; that it was very cold, drawing their cloaks around them- 
 selves ; or that it was very hot, throwing off their coats before a 
 large public gaze, to which they seemed wholly oblivious. I saw 
 this operator, after having about a dozen men, all strangers to 
 him, and well-known citizens, under his control for several suc- 
 cessive evenings, — for the more he practises upon them, tlie 
 more perfect becomes his control, — take them all through a trip 
 to California and back as follows : First, they get aboard the ship; 
 then the vessel, out to sea, goes to pieces in a violent storm, and 
 they betake themselves to the small life-boat, some getting in 
 from out of the water ; and you must bear in mind that all these 
 scenes are acted out to tlie life, and by those who never appeared 
 before the public gaze until now, — climbing over the gunwales, 
 into the boat ; their terrible condition after drifting for several 
 days on mid-ocean without food or water; their agreement to 
 draw lots who should die to furnish these necessities for the bal- 
 ance. After straining their eyes so long around the cheerless 
 horizon for help, tliey descry at last a sail in the distance ; they 
 wave their handkerchiefs, and even their garments, in their effort 
 to catch the notice of the passing vessel ; but she passes without ob- 
 serving them; now all hope, has fled; they become frantic and 
 furious; the scene is appalling; but see! another vessel heaves 
 in sight; she nears them, she sees them, she comes to them, she 
 rescues them, she takes them on board and saves them. This 
 whole scene, as you may imagine, was truly interesting. They 
 arrive at San Francisco, at the gold mines ; they dig gold ; they 
 return home, some with S 2,000, some I 5,000, some with $ 10,000 
 in gold. Some intend to invest in Texas lands, some in mercan- 
 tile business, one a telegraph line (being a telegraph operator him- 
 self). 
 
 They sell their gold to the operator and take his checks on the 
 bank, indorsed by tlic names of good men, whom they individu- 
 ally select from the community ; these cliecks are mere scraps of 
 old newspaper, which they are made to believe valid checks ; it is 
 past bank hours, they go to the bank and find it closed ; they wait 
 until next day. During the evening and following morning, 
 their friends, with the previously expressed permission of the op 
 erator, try to convince them that their checks are worthless scraps 
 of paper, and laugli at their delusion, but with no success; they 
 reply familiarly, ' You can't fool me, I know my indorser, and the 
 
 O'
 
 166 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 check will be paid on i^resentation iu the morning,' etc. Before 
 bank opens, they are at the door waiting with impatience, a large 
 crowd of citizens also witnessing with great interest the whole 
 proceeding. At length the bank doors open ; they rnsh in and 
 present their checks, the cashier takes them, looks at them and 
 says they are not checks ; they insist that they are true checks, 
 properly indorsed, etc. ; the cashier assures them they are worth- 
 less scraps of old paper, and cannot be cashed; disappointed, they 
 hurry to the hotel to find Mr. Operator, who had got their gold ; 
 were told there that he was in the court-house, followed all the 
 while by a large crowd ; in the court-house they find Mr. Opera- 
 tor, who, expecting them in their wrath, had taken the precaution 
 to have the police around him for his apparent protection; they 
 report to him the bank's refusal, and demand their gold back ; 
 he tells them he has not got it ; they threaten his life if he does 
 not refund it ; the sheriff has to pacify them by holding himself 
 responsible for his safe custody ; they employ lawyers for imme- 
 diate suit, the court-house during the while crowded, and finally, 
 amidst the greatest excitement, the operator dispels the illusion 
 with which he had them invested, since the day before, and in 
 the greatest mortification and disappointment they hide them- 
 selves, run away, scamper off with shame. Now if all this be 
 time, and we have no right to question the truth of those men, 
 nor to doubt what we saw and heard, though it has always seemed 
 strange to me that the cashier could have convinced or rather 
 turned them when their friends could not convince them ; but 
 may be the operator willed them to be thus turned ; but then 
 how did he, entirely out of sight, know the time to thus exert his 
 will when the cashier refused ? In justice to my philosophy, 
 however, I should state that, notwithstanding these natural sus- 
 picions, the fact of this psychologic influence and control is 
 undeniably established ; Dr. Dods, in his lectures invited by Henry 
 Clary, Webster, and others, at the national capitol, having demon- 
 strated this mystic agency to some of the finest intellects of 
 the land, and upon any one who chose to submit to the test. In 
 view of all this I say, what a wonderful principle of the human 
 mind is here developed and exhibited! This operator would also 
 make them assume instanter, the most grotesque attitudes with 
 the rigidity of stone, often in imitation of antique statuary, and 
 strong men called from the crowd could not bend them. Strange
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 167 
 
 indeed, and new to liistory, that one man can thus influence and 
 control others, through the intervening, all-pervading, mysterious 
 medium of electricity or nerve aura. And numerous instances 
 are known of persons in the clairvoyant condition who can see 
 other persons, and read their minds when in rapport with each 
 other, at the distance of many miles or hundreds of miles ; an- 
 other phase of this wonderful principle, and illustration of this 
 all-pervading and universal mental medium of electro-ether. Dr. 
 Dods says, there is about one in twenty-five naturally in the psy- 
 chological condition, and that all may be brought into it by 
 repeated efforts, and by any one who will persevere. It all proves 
 the universal existence of this mysterious, hitherto unknown 
 agent, or element, or essence, by which and through which mind 
 acts upon mind ; in a word, it proves the universal medium of 
 mind, and I ask you to remember this, when I come to explain 
 the spiritual philosophy, for it is illustrative of the latter." — 
 Rembert. 
 
 Again, we would ask you if any greater miracles than these 
 seeming ones have ever been recorded ? If so, we have not seen 
 them. Aside from those we have already cited, showing the sim- 
 ilarity to workings of spirit power at the present day, there is not 
 one on record performed by Jesus or his apostles that would not 
 come under the head of this electrical philosophy. And many 
 from the Old Testament the same, as Aaron's rod changed, — bud- 
 ded; the waters sweetened, — turned to blood; and numerous 
 others. As for the sun going back, or the sun and moon standing 
 still, we have no idea that any such remarkable phenomena ever 
 occurred, except in the brain of unfortunate ignorance. We know 
 not whether Jonah swallowed the whale, or whether the whale 
 swallowed Jonah, but are inclined to doubt the whole transaction, 
 except as a figurative form of speech, Jesus himself having said 
 Jonah was a " sign unto the Ninevitcs," and at the same time and 
 place rebuking the scribes and Pharisees as blind guides who 
 *' strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." 
 
 '' Rev. Mr. Mahou, ' the intellectual giant,' says, ' Every reader 
 will agree with us in the assumption that the incorruptible God 
 has never performed, and never will perform a miracle in attesta- 
 tion of that Avhich is unreal or untrue. A religion really and 
 truly attested by divine miracles must, therefore, be admitted to 
 be true.' To which shallow subterfuge, Prof. Hare replies, * To
 
 .168 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 this very admissible truism, I add that an omnipotent and pres- 
 cient God could not have any occasion to perform miracles in 
 attestation of anything, since, by the premises, his will must be 
 carried out without miracles. That anything should, even for an 
 instant, be contrary to his will, is inconsistent with his foresight 
 and omnipotency. It would be a miracle that anything counter 
 to his will should exist.' 
 
 The next postulate of Mr. Mahon, ' No religion attested as true 
 by divine miracles can be false ! ' Was this proposition ever im- 
 pugned ? No one could resist the unquestionable dictates of 
 God, however conveyed, whether by miracle or any other means. 
 The question is not whether a religion attested by divine miracles 
 should be accredited, but whether there were ever any miracles, 
 attesting any religion, performed ; and, if so, what religion has 
 the peculiar merit of having been thus attested ? 
 
 Millions who believe in other religions deride those miracles of 
 revelation which Mr. Mahon would adduce ; and Protestants do 
 not admit many which the Romish Church sanctions. For one, I 
 deny that any miracle has ever been performed, with the view of 
 attesting any religion whatever. No miracle could be necessary 
 to attest the will of omnipotence, any more than to enable a man 
 to wave his hand. But admitting that it ever has been necessary, 
 no miracle has ever been resorted to for the purpose in question, 
 since none has answered the desired end. This would not have 
 been the case, had miracles been resorted to by prescient omnipo- 
 tence. There can be nothing supernatural or infranatural, — 
 nothing beyond, above, below, or apart from his organic laws. 
 They constitute the wisdom, the power, ay, the very God; and to 
 violate these would be to violate himself, which is impossible and 
 simply absurd." 
 
 We will now give some further testimony in regard to the Bible, 
 its authority and teachings, as interpreted by us, with a view to 
 impress upon the minds of our readers the importance of think- 
 ing, reasoning, and judging for themselves individually, the reli- 
 ability to be placed upon them as a whole. As for ourselves, 
 while we believe, receive, hold fast, and admire its beautiful truths 
 and blessed assitrances of immortality, as brought to light by our 
 Saviour's holy life and heavenly teachings, we candidly confess 
 that this ancient book of inspired writings is, in our eyes, no 
 more " sacred " than are scores of books containing inspired writ-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 169 
 
 ings of the present age, and untainted with the low verbiage and 
 Bensuousness of the nnprogressed early writers. 
 
 " The word ' Bible ' is from the Greek hihlos, originally soft-bark, 
 which the ancients used to write upon, and means book. The 
 term 'holy' was prefixed by the Jews, to express excellence. 
 Hence ' holy bible ' literally means, in the original, excellent soft- 
 bark. The books comprising the Old Testament were written 
 upon soft-bark, palm-leaves, impressible stones, etc. There were 
 many more than are now preserved and acknowledged at the 
 present day, as ' Wars of the Lord,' ' Book of Jasher,' ' Acts of 
 Solomon,' ' Visions of Iddo the Seer,' etc. The manuscripts of 
 the New Testament, with many more, were collected three hun- 
 dred years after Christ. According to Mosheim, who is high, 
 standard authority in the Church, ' Not long after Christ's as- 
 cension into heaven, several histories of his life and doctrines, full 
 of pious frauds and fabulous wonders, were composed by persons 
 whose intentions, perhaps, were not bad, but whose writings dis- 
 covered the greatest superstition and ignorance. According to 
 the Unitarian new version, there were in these manuscripts up- 
 wards of 130,000 readings.' Such was the idolatrous adulation 
 paid to the authority of Origen, who was the origin of the present 
 fashion of preaching from a text, and whose superstition drove 
 him to commit self-mutilation of such ruinous character as to re- 
 sult in emasculation of mental vigor as well, that emendations of 
 the text, which were but suggested by him, were taken in as a 
 part of the New Testament, though he himself acknowledged they 
 were supported by the authority of no manuscrii)t whatever. 
 Lanfranc, Archibishop of Canterbury, made many alterations for 
 the avowed purpose of accommodating them to the faitli of the 
 orthodox. In the year 50G, ' the illustrious Mersala, being con- 
 sul by the command of the Emperor Anastasius, the holy gos- 
 pels, as having been written by idiot evangelists, arc censured 
 and corrected.' According to Davis and other authors, 2,048 
 bishoj)s assembled at Nice in the year 325, under command of 
 the Emperor Constantino. During their pious deliberations, they 
 became so vociferous, obstreperous, and violent towards each 
 other, that Constantino disqualified 1730 from having a vote in 
 deciding which books were and which were not the word of God. 
 The 318 left pronounced the books which subsequently composed 
 the Bible to bo the word of God. Since then, however, several
 
 170 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 books have been rejected, such as the * Gospel of the Egyptians/ 
 ' Gospel of the Hebrews,' the ' Gospel of Perfection,' ' Gospel of 
 Barnabas,' ' Epistle of Clemens Eomanus,' of ' Ignatius,' of ' Poly- 
 carps,' etc., ' Shepherds of Hermas,' ' Eevelation of Paul,' ' Acts 
 of Peter,' ' Epistle of Christ,' etc. Out of fifty gospels then ex- 
 tant, they only retained Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the 
 balance, some well written, were committed to the flames ; while 
 the books of James, Jude, and the Apocalypse were eutii-ely re- 
 jected. The Emperor then sanctioned their decision, and ordered 
 the Bible, as then canonized, to be received as the word of God. 
 After this, ecclesiastical councils were frequently called, and as 
 frequently annulled the decisions of each other, until the year 
 633, at the council of Toledo, the rejected books of James, Jude, 
 and Eevelation of St. John were incorporated into the several 
 canons. 
 
 There is a growing doubt and disbelief in the miraculous 
 phase of the Bible religion, particularly among the intelligent and 
 scientific. Indeed, the materialistic philosophy, to wit, that spirit 
 is the result of material organism and j)erishes with it, is rapidly 
 deracinating the old Christian faith. And where 's the wonder? 
 What truly scientific man can swallow whole — to use a common 
 but expressive phrase — that mythic old book, with all its crudities, 
 cruelties, and absurdities ? I don't mean the cardinal truths of 
 man's immortality, the conditions of future reward and punish- 
 ment, love, truth, peace, charity, spirit communion, etc., as in- 
 culcated by Jesus, as founded in philosophy and approved by 
 science : but all that vast mass of animal rubbish, historic false- 
 hood, talmudic fable, and mythic superstition. Let me cite a few 
 out of the mass of these fables, contradictions, absurdities, and 
 bloody edicts; it dates the creation 5,866 years ago: whereas we 
 know, from geological facts, that this length of time would not 
 fill up the smallest period in the successive epochs of creation. 
 It says light was created the first day, and the sun on the fourth 
 day. The Jews were represented to be a pastoral and predial peo- 
 ple, the most fickle, unstable, and capricious, always seeking after 
 strange gods : Whereas all other history and our own observation 
 make them just the reverse, a commercial people, the most stable, 
 stubborn, tenacious, and pertinacious on earth : in fact, this is 
 their predominating characteristic ; the old Bible defender can't 
 controvert or clear away this inconsistency ; he can only say the
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 171 
 
 Jewish character has changed ; hut that will invalidate one of his 
 main arguments in support of the Bible, for the Jews are appealed 
 to as standing immobile monuments of its truth; but if they 
 have been changed by the curse, the curse has proved a blessing, 
 for it has riveted them to the one living God, instead of roving 
 after their many idols, as in the days of Moses. In the first chap- 
 ter of Genesis after He had finished the creation of the w^orld and 
 man. He pronounced them ' very good ' ; yet in the sixth chapter, 
 He repented having made man : and St. James says, He ' is with- 
 out variablensss or shadow of turning.' It pronounces a curse 
 through all time upon the whole maternal portion of the whole 
 human family, but science has negated this prophecy, and dis- 
 armed the cruel curse of rending racking pains and throes, and 
 every mother should thank Drs. Morton and Jackson for chloro- 
 form. I was just about to predict, but as quickly remember, that 
 the would-be prediction is already history, to wit, the use of this 
 or any other aneesthetic agent for this special purpose will be de- 
 nounced by the ignorant bigot as subverting God's law in this 
 behalf, pronouncing a special curse on woman, inasmuch as she 
 was the first who brought death into the world, and all our woe ; 
 I have already heard this denunciation. 
 
 The Christian Prof. Hitchcock says, ' The introduction of death 
 into the world, and the specific character of that death described 
 in Scripture as the consequence of sin, are the next points where 
 geology touches the subject of religion; here, too, the general in- 
 terpretation of Scripture is at variance with the facts of geology, 
 which distinctly testify to the occurrence of death among animals 
 long before the existence of man; shall geology here also be per- 
 mitted to modify our exposition of the Bible ? ' Again : ' It is now 
 generally agreed that geology cannot detect traces of such a del- 
 uge as the Scriptures describe,' etc. 
 
 The old dispensation, which men yet worship as the insi)iratiou 
 of God, inculcates cruelty, murder, treachery, and all manner of 
 the blackest turpitude known in the calandar of crime; and all 
 connived at, and even approved, under the direct sanction and 
 even instruction of their God : instance the stoning to death by 
 the Jews of their children for disobedience the massacre of the 
 whole nation of the Midianites, with the reservation of the virgins, 
 for violation by the bloody murderers of their kindred ; the out- 
 rageous frauds and deceptions on the part of Jacob ; swindling
 
 172 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 the Egj^tians, by borrowing their ornaments with the intention 
 of stealing them. Saith Samuel the pope of Judaea, ' Now go and 
 smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare 
 them not; but slay both man and woman, and infant and suck- 
 ling,' etc., for a wrong done by their ancestors some hundred 
 years before. God is truth, yet in 1st Kings xxii. he is repre- 
 sented as employing a lying spirit to allure and lead Ahab through 
 lies to his certain destruction ; thus proving by Bible authority, 
 that there are lying spirits, which I have no doubt is true ; and 
 that God sanctions lying, which I've no doubt is 7iot true. Com- 
 pare the holy Moses as lawgiver and exemplar of morality, with 
 the pagan Solon ; and the Christian Abraham with the ethnic 
 Eoman Virginius, especially in reference to their treatment of, 
 and conception of the chastity and purity of their wives and 
 daughters ; and yet Abraham is said to be the father of the faith- 
 ful. David, the great king, and sweet singer in Israel, author of 
 the Psalms, was an adulterer, a polygamist, and a murderer: 
 though the high moral tone of some of his latest productions de- 
 serves commendation, and indicate decided reformation. [Note 
 if you please, throughout his writings, his constantly recurring 
 prayer to God for vengeance, destruction, and all manner of evil, 
 to be recompensed upon his enemies, with repeated avowals of the 
 intense hatred he bore them.] Solomon, author of Ecclesiastes 
 and Proverbs, was also an adulterer, sensualist, and polygamist, 
 and his canonized song is a disgusting specimen of concupiscence, 
 sensuality, and obscenity; and even Mary Magdalene, according 
 to some biblical critics, was not smis reproacli ; but if such be the 
 fact, I am satisfied she thoroughly repented and reformed, before, 
 or when she became so devoted a disciple of the pure-minded and 
 virtuous Jesus. 
 
 Josephus speaks of prominent and patriotic Israelites, Corah, 
 Zimri, and others, publicly denouncing Moses as a usurper, and 
 ambitious despot. It is also said in the Bible, that God tempted 
 Abraham ; St. James says, God tempts no man. It says Moses 
 and the seventy elders saw God, who appeared also to Abimelech ; 
 St. John and St. Paul both say, no man hath seen God. The 
 old Bible commands that 'there shalfnot be found among them 
 one who consulteth familiar spirits,' which has been quoted against 
 spiritualism by its orthodox opponents, in direct contradiction to 
 the injunction in Kings just cited. And St. Paul, St. John, et al,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 173 
 
 of the New Testament, command us to ' desire spiritual gifts,' ' try 
 the spirits,' 'quench not the spirit,' that we 'shall see the angels 
 ascend and descend ' ; that ' the gods come to us in the form of 
 man,' etc. Solomon says, ' men and beasts have one breath ' ; ' as 
 one dieth, so dieth the other, — all things come alike to all ; there 
 is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked.' It also says, 
 there is nothing new under the sun; yet it says, the rainbow is a 
 new creation, hung out as a sign that there shall be no more flood. 
 It says, what has been, shall be again ; yet it also says, there shall 
 never be another flood. Even Jesus is represented as saying, 
 * Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth ? I tell you 
 nay ; but rather division. I am not come to send peace, but a 
 sword. For I come to set a man at variance against his father, 
 daughter, son,' etc., which has proved literally and terribly too 
 true. And then his utterances to the very contrary, which are 
 truly worthy of inspiration. But who follows them ? Who takes 
 no thought for the morrow, what he shall eat or wear ? Who, 
 when asked for one, gives two ; when smitten on one cheek, turns 
 the other ; loves his enemies ; never resents an injury; loves his 
 neighbor as himself ; returns good for evil; and bears all indigni- 
 ties and wrongs without resentment, but with meekness, forgive- 
 ness, and charity? Not one. They, his followers, rely alone 
 upon the unreliable myth of futile faith. And can it be for a 
 moment believed, that a good and gracious God would poise an 
 endless heaven and an endless hell, for his children, upon the mere 
 fact or act of their faith ? 
 
 Faith, and all her credulous children, have, for a long time, 
 been preaching up a doctrine that there are two other countries 
 with certain fruits, away off in the dim distance of hereafter. One 
 of said places is on the other side of Jordan, through whose bois- 
 terous waters, they say, we have to pass, in order to reach it; the 
 home of Abraham and Sarai. The other country, some say, is 
 across the river Styx, the regions of Pluto and Proserpine. Both 
 these places bear peculiar fruits. True, no one of them has ever 
 seen these places, or tasted their fruits, but then, quoth they, it is 
 all just so, because it is so. And of all their millions that have 
 passed that way, not one has ever returned and reported. Tlic 
 said children of earth adopt certain manners; and they vary 
 much in the manner of these manners, the main one of which 
 is faith, faith, that is, to believe it all, and nothing else. And what
 
 174 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 do they believe ? They believe what the Church believes ; and 
 what does the Church believe ? It believes what they believe ; 
 and what do they and the Church together believe ? They both 
 believe the same thing ! Some say, that in order to escape this 
 terrible Styx, and reach the blessed banks that loom up on the 
 other side of Jordan, you must take water (immersion) ; others, 
 that you must go through rain (sprinkling) ; some, again, that 
 you can't go at all by yourself, but must be perched on the back 
 of a priest ; that he alone can put us through safe ; and still oth- 
 ers, that your heart has to be radically changed by a special fiat 
 of the reigning Jehovah, from his distant throne on the apex of 
 the universe. There is also another class, who preach that some, 
 and far the greater number, will land across Styx in utter dark- 
 ness, in spite of faith or anything else ; that the Creator has so 
 decreed it before the first block was laid for the temple of crea- 
 tion ; and that a select few will be, by the same decree, safely 
 landed across Jordan, in spite of will or wish, why or where- 
 fore. 
 
 In short, some preach universal salvation, but practise nothing 
 to prove it ; while others preach almost as universal damnation, 
 and prove their preaching by their practice. 
 
 Now it came to pass, at this conjuncture, that Truth lent her 
 light, and science was enabled to lead a straight track to this 
 great unknown hereafter, and prove positively, by those laws and 
 workings of nature's Creator, which she had already known, that 
 it is not dim and distant, but bright and near at hand ; not mys- 
 terious and inexplicable, but natural and philosophical ; that it is 
 not a myth, but a truth ; that there is no sulphurous Styx, nor 
 lutarious Jordan, to ingulf forever the majority of mortals ; that 
 there are not different and diverse roads, nor cold creeds, nor hot 
 hells, nor formal faiths of human dogmas ; but one natural, 
 straight, clear, unchanging track, through which all earth's chil- 
 dren easily pass into its portals ; and to crown it all, the ration- 
 ale of the whole trip is explained and proven on the known prin- 
 ciples of immutable philosophy. 
 
 But if Jesus intended those pure precepts already enumerated 
 to be practised by his followers alone, — and without extra pre- 
 tension as a philologist, by every principle of hermeneutics, we 
 are so to understand them, — what would be the result to them 
 individually and collectively ? Immediate ruin manifestly to
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 175 
 
 every one, and all of them. On the other hand, if he intended 
 them for the whole human family, and they should be thus uni- 
 versally practised, they then become in theory a splendid system 
 of ethics, worthy of their illustrious author. 
 
 Jesus also says to Peter, ' Thou art the rock on which I build 
 my church ' ; and after a few minutes again, ' Get thee behind 
 me, Satan, thou art an offence to me.' The old Roman law, if I 
 recollect rightly, required two witnesses to substantiate the alle- 
 gations of a party ; Jesus, alluding to this, offers himself as one of 
 the two witnesses to prove his own affirmations. Does this not 
 indicate weakness, or at least human fallibility ? It frequently 
 inculcates, and it is the general interpretation of both Jew and 
 Christian, with some modern exceptions, that future punishment 
 is everlasting, yet we find the contrary taught in Isa. Ivii. 16 ; 
 Rom. viii. 21 ; 1st Cor. xv. 22 ; Phil. ii. 9 ; Col. i. 20 ; 1st Tim. ii. 
 1 ; Rev. xxi. And the Christ himself says, ' And I, if I be lifted 
 up from the earth, will draw all men after me ' ; and the same 
 Christ says in Matt, xxv., ' The wicked shall go into everlasting 
 punishment, and the righteous into life eternal.' But in Judc the 
 word ' everlasting' is used to last only until the judgment, the 
 great assize. John the Baptist proclaimed the Messiah immedi- 
 ately on his advent ; yet when in prison, near the end of his career, 
 he sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus and ascertain if he was 
 the Messiah. Jesus says, ' He that is not against us is for us,' and 
 * he that is not with me is against me.' And again in Matthew x. 
 6, Jesus commands his apostles to ' go not into the way of the 
 Gentiles, nor the Samaritans,' etc.; and in Matthew xxvii. 19, he 
 tells them to 'go into all nations,' etc. How can the atrabiliary 
 devotee of incarnated Deity, God, manifest in the flesh, as they 
 call it, reconcile these flat contradictions ? How could Jesus be 
 of the lineage of David, when Joseph, said to be of this line, is 
 represented not to be his father, though the husband of his 
 mother, who Avas also not of this house ? As a specimen of the 
 loose and unreliable relations of the gospel writers, and tbcir 
 many discrepancies and incongruities, the locality of the denun- 
 ciations against the Pharisees and Saducees is given in Galilee, 
 when they would be appropriate alone to Jerusalem, as these sects 
 flourished there instead of Galilee. And so on throughout this 
 great chapter of biblical religion, which men venerate and worship 
 as the direct inspiration and miraculous dictation of the great
 
 176 THE UNSEALEP BOOK. 
 
 God in person, as the infallible and immaculate oracles of our 
 heavenly Father. In charity, however, if not justice, it is my 
 duty to state, that many of those who pretend to preach and ex- 
 pound this thaumaturgical book, have never read, much less 
 studied it through entire; and a large majority of those who be- 
 lieve and follow will confess that they have never read it through 
 and of course never pretended to study it. This is in extenua- 
 tion of their erring judgment, not of their presumption. 
 
 Among the many theories invented to crush out this sublime 
 science by which every man can learn and see for himself the pos- 
 itive demonstration of his own immortality with all his loved, 
 independent of hierophantic oflBciation, was first, that it was pro- 
 duced — I mean the physical manifestations — by the snapping of 
 the knee and toe joints. This was ridiculous. Then next came 
 the theory that it was all produced by the brain centres and nerve 
 centres of minds in the body. This was more philosophical; but 
 they were both soon abandoned. Next arose the 'pine-table' 
 epoch, originating in the Puritanical, fanatical, hypocritical, for 
 they are all inseparable if not synonymous, 'New York Tribune ' 
 and its kindred sheets; but the 'pine table' did more than was 
 contracted for; it proved too much: it turned to talking. It 
 was dropped as a child drops a hot iron, iustanter, and without 
 being told. The Rev. Mahon then entered the ring, but he was 
 soon ruled out as doing the opposition mischief, for he acknowl- 
 edged the facts, but failed to explain them. The learned Farra- 
 day spoke from across the water, and pronounced it the ' involun- 
 tary contraction and motion of the muscles of the medium ' ; 
 weak indeed for a savan, but his theory, too, soon expired. 
 Anon appeared the great Bovee Dods, with his psychological 
 theory, the 'front brain, back brain,' etc., — the only rational 
 theory yet presented. Indeed it is through the principles of ps)'- 
 chology that spirit intercourse is effected, the excarnated being 
 one party and the incarnated the other, instead of both parties 
 being incarnated ; and it requires discrimination to know when 
 the manifestations are really from the excarnated spirits instead 
 of being a mere reflection of, or reflected image or idea existing 
 in some other mind present in the flesh. I now refer to the liigher 
 mental manifestations, not the physical. But Dods himself has 
 surrendered his theory and embraced spiritual agency; for he has 
 witnessed a number of communications that precluded any and
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 177 
 
 every other liypothesis, and established, in his opinion, excarnatcd 
 spirit intercourse. 
 
 It is remarkable how rapidly all these various theories in oppo- 
 sition to spirit agency have disappeared ; and how, soon as one 
 theory was advanced, the manifestations immediately ceased in 
 that way and assumed another form ; and so throughout, as fast 
 as new theories were devised for their explanation, so fast they 
 assumed new phases, as if to refute them. 
 
 It is now styled, I believe, by its opposers, an inexplicable in- 
 tellectual epidemic ; being inexplicable to them, it must be incred- 
 ible to all. Now, to the followers of the Bible, of whatever name 
 or creed, I will prove in few words, and by the Bible itself, that 
 modern Spiritualism is true. The wise man of the Bible in Ec- 
 clesiastes, the Preacher, says, ' What has been is what shall be ; 
 what has been done shall be done again.' But many and divers 
 manifestations of angels, disembodied spirits of men, have been 
 made to men in the flesh through all the ages according to Bible 
 record ; therefore these manifestations must be made again, and 
 modern Spiritualism is true or the Bible is false. This is conclu- 
 sive, for it is evident the rule was intended as general for all time, 
 and not restricted to the apostolic or any other age. Again, its 
 disciples say I must take the Bible and believe it all as I find it, 
 and not believe a part only, else I am no believer of the Bible. I 
 contend that I may be a believer, and yet reject those portions 
 which are evidently false, as the dogmatic creeds. 
 
 Now, I ask them if they believe Joshua really stopped the sun 
 or the world ; they answer no. Hence, by their own rule, they 
 are not Bible believers : but by my rule I am a believer in its car- 
 dinal truths founded in philosophy. 
 
 To my Christian friends of liberal hearts and open minds, I 
 would say that the evidence in favor of this religion of philosophy 
 is evidently more powerful and conclusive in character, kind, and 
 amount than that in favor of the religion of faith. In character,. 
 because of its direct living witnesses of the most intelligent and 
 estimable men, instead of deceased, hearsay, traditional testimony 
 of ignorant men; in kind, because of the scientific facts, instead 
 of the old mythic fables of miracles against known laws of nature ; 
 and in amount, because of the living millions among us uud 
 everywhere, all attesting of their personal knowledge of the res 
 gestcB to the same thing. You believe twelve men or twelve hun-
 
 178 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 dred men if you please, and ignorant men, too, eighteen hundred 
 years ago, whose testimony is contrary to all our experience and 
 to nature's eternal laws ; but you would disbelieve twelve thou- 
 sand men now living, and enlightened men too, whose testimony 
 is in accordance with known laws of nature, and well understood 
 in modern science. You say those twelve apostles of the old 
 religion had no motive to mislead, but only incurred obloquy by 
 their course. N^ow I ask what motive have these twelve thousand 
 living apostles of the new philosophy, and don't you heap equal 
 obloquy and opprobrium upon them ? Answer this to your own 
 conscience. Is this intelligence, or is it common honesty ? You 
 thus strain at the gnat of philosophy, and swallow the camel of 
 faith. Every principle of evidence and rule of judicial practice, 
 Greenleaf to the contrary, notwithstanding, would, if strictly ap- 
 plied, invalidate popular theology and establish spiritual philoso- 
 phy. It is not the amount of human testimony we rely upon in 
 favor of this philosophy, nor should you, my Christian friends, 
 thus rely ; for we are both greatly overpowered by the heathen 
 and Mohammedan in numbers, and fully equalled if not excelled 
 in devotion ; it is the irrefragable demonstrative evidence, inde- 
 pendent of human feelings, human fears, or human numbers, 
 immutable and immaculate. The character of this evidence is a 
 stranger to all other religions, and makes this the religion of phi- 
 losophy." 
 
 Says Eev. Charles Beecher, — a very different man from Henry 
 Ward, — in his official report on the new spiritual revela- 
 tions : — 
 
 " Whenever odyllic conditions are right, spirits can no more be 
 repressed from communicating, than water from jetting through 
 the crevices of a dike. 
 
 " Whatever physiological law accounts for odyllic phenomena 
 in all ages will in the end inevitably carry itself through the Bi- 
 ble. Its prophecies, ecstasies, visions, trances, theophanies, ange- 
 lophanies, physiology, and anthropology are highly odyllic, and 
 must be studied as such. As such it will be found to har- 
 monize with the general principles of human experience in such 
 matters in all ages. If a theory be adopted everywhere else but 
 in the Bible, excluding spiritual intervention by odyllic channels 
 in toto, and accounting for everything physically, then will the 
 covers of the Bible prove but pasteboard barriers. Such a theory
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 179 
 
 will sweep its way through the Bible and its authority ; its plen- 
 ary inspirations will be annihilated." 
 
 In the language of another : — 
 
 " Is it likely that one who has seen doors open and shut, heavy 
 substances move about, and a human body upborne and without 
 mortal contrivance or effort, will believe less that Christ walked 
 on the water; that an angel rolled away a great stone from the 
 sepulchre; or that Peter was released from prison by a spirit? 
 Because one has seen lights and appearances of flame, caused as 
 he verily believes by spirits, will he have less faith that the angel 
 of God manifested himself to Moses in a burning bush, or that 
 tongues of fire sat on the apostles at the great spiritual manifes- 
 tation of Pentecost ? Shall one hear all manner of sounds, 
 caused by spiritual agency, even to a thundering roar, which 
 shakes the whole house, and therefore grow more sceptical about 
 the thunders of Sinai, or the ' great noise as of a mighty rushing 
 wind,' and shaking of the house where the apostles prayed ? 
 Shall one be convinced that spirits actually write on paper, wood, 
 and stone, with pencil, pen, etc., with their own visible hands, 
 and therefore have less faith that a mighty angelic spirit inscribed 
 the Decalogue on tables of stone, and reached them forth out of 
 a thick cloud to Moses ? or grow more sceptical at the reality of 
 the handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar's feast? Will men 
 who are sure they have conversed with the spirits of departed 
 friends for hours, therefore doubt whether Moses and Elias con- 
 versed with Jesus on the mount ? Anti-Bible scepticism does 
 not thrive on such nourishment, neither does irreligion or im- 
 morality gain strength by the moral and reformatory communica- 
 tions made in connection with these manifestations." 
 
 " But, quoth the fossiliferous remains of the ox-cart ages, New- 
 ton, AVashington, our fathers, all believed (we might here suggest 
 that they noio believe in spirit communion, and have given the 
 world unmistakable evidence of the same), hence Ave, too, ought 
 to believe and follow them, as they followed their fathers, back to 
 Jacob, Isaac, and Noah. This proves too much, if it proves any- 
 thing. We ought now to be wearing sandals instead of shoes, 
 buskins instead of boots, fig-leaves and bear-skins instead of silk 
 dresses and broadcloth ; should live in rustic idyllic tents, instead 
 of marble modish residences, to practise the primitive art of cas- 
 trametation, instead of the elegant arts of palatial refinement;
 
 180 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 should cultivate the soil and carry on commerce with the ox, in- 
 stead of steam, viewing this last scientific innovation as a Satanic 
 device to subvert the providence of God ; should offer sacrifices 
 of he-goats and bullocks, to appease the Deity, who might be 
 wrathy with us; should say our prayers to priests and worship 
 images of the Virgin Mary, who lived a mother and died a virgin ( ?). 
 But we have deviated and departed from the path of our fathers 
 in everything, even the most sacred symbols and religious rites : 
 for instance, before those great iconoclastic innovators, Luther 
 and Calvin, the bread and wine of the eucharist was viewed as the 
 veritable body and blood of Christ ; now they are viewed by Prot- 
 estants as merely typical, and the old, sacred transubstantiation 
 is utterly rejected, just as all the old, sacred superstitions will ulti- 
 mately be rejected by future Protestants, under the light of pro- 
 gressive science. And if your old Revelation is from the omnis- 
 cient God, as it professes and you believe, why should it, how can 
 it, have the least inconsistency, to say nothing of contradiction 
 and absurdity ? Evidently impossible. I tell you, my Christian 
 friends, the Bible and Spiritualism must stand or fall together; 
 rather, Spiritualism may stand, can stand, will stand, indepen- 
 dent of the Bible ; but the Bible cannot stand amid the bright 
 blaze of modern science, without the support of Spiritualism." 
 
 We will now discourse a little upon religious sects, doctrines, 
 and creeds, quoting mostly from Eembert. 
 
 ' This principle we call ' religion' was originally and properly 
 called philosophy, — literally, love of wisdom, now reason, ration- 
 ale of phenomena, — at a time when it was thought to be a true 
 philosophy; but after it was found to have no philosophy (ap- 
 propriately if not intentionally), the word ' religion ' was adopted, 
 and certainly with great propriety, as far, at least, as the signili- 
 cance of the word. 
 
 The ancient priests of Egypt, from whom letters and civiliza- 
 tion have sprung, were men of philosophy, and entirely different 
 from the order now designated as priests. The colleges of Thebes, 
 Heliopolis, and Memphis were the headquarters of professional 
 and scientific men, and have no sort of similitude, or even resem- 
 blance to our modern ecclesiastical institutions. It was from 
 these colleges the Greek schools derived their science. Pythago- 
 ras had lived at Thebes, Plato at Heliopolis, and Thales and De- 
 mocratus at Memphis. Thus we have given the prevailing opin-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 181 
 
 ions and cherished hopes of mankind, ii^ every variety, and with- 
 out regard to chronological order, extending over a period of 58G5 
 years (including the Mosaic record), comprising billions of men, 
 down to the present auspicious time. 
 
 But to this general and popular sentiment of the human family, 
 which we trace through all the ages, there are many and power- 
 ful exceptions. Nationally the Huns, a numerous and warlike 
 nation, who, under Attila and Alaric, overran Southern Europe, 
 according to some historians, rejected all religions, possessing and 
 professing none. Individually, Julius Caesar, as an orator and a 
 writer, statesman and warrior, one of the most famous of man- 
 kind, in a celebrated oration in the Eoman Senate, on the punish- 
 ment of Lentulus and other Catalinian conspirators, advocated 
 Incarceration for life, on the ground that death is no punishment, 
 but rather a cessation from toil and sorrow, as well as of joy. 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, equally renowned in both civil and military 
 annals, was so heartily disgusted witli the simulations of the 
 clergy, and the hypocrisy of all religions, that he believed none. 
 On his narrow escape from the inflowing tide of the Red Sea, on 
 the spot where Pharaoh perished, he exclaimed, ' If I had perished 
 here like Pharaoh, what a text it would have furnished the preach- 
 ers of all Christendom.' lie never uttered a greater truth. It 
 would have been seized upon and heralded from the pulpit as a 
 grand providential specialty visited upon him for his manifold 
 transgressions, and iniquities, and ungodliness, and special pre- 
 sumptuousncss, for getting himself out safe from the same sea 
 whose enraged waters had overwhelmed Pharaoh and his heathen 
 host, by the special mandate of the Almighty. I sometimes more 
 than half agree with Napoleon and Ca?sar, to the extent, at least, 
 that a large portion of the human family are not worthy of an- 
 other and higher life, and, indeed, do not desire it. And Publi- 
 us, Pausanius, Simonidcs, Ilobbes, Hume, Gibbon, Bolingbroke, 
 Lord Chatham, Byron, Burke, Voltaire, Paine, Franklin, Jef- 
 ferson, and others of great intellect, were infidels, or sceptics, but 
 whether on the divine origin or of the Talmud, or Taugum, or 
 Bible, or Koran, or Veda, or Edda, or Sastra, or Geeta, or on the 
 immortality of the soul, I do not know, not having studied, nor 
 even read them. Indeed, I never read an infidel author in my 
 life, my information on this subject being derived from religious 
 and miscellaneous reading of late scientific works. And in the
 
 182 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 living age, I am personaWy acquainted with at least one master 
 mind, a distinguished gentleman who has studied both physical 
 and psychical science, particularly as involved in medicine, chem- 
 istry, and physiology, who has no idea and no hope of another life 
 beyond the scenes of this fitful, fevered drama, regarding man as 
 only a high order of animal, with the highest cerebral develop- 
 ment. In the liberal laws of tliis enlightened commonwealth of 
 Texas, — and there is more intelligence among the masses than 
 in any other State, — a man's religion is not the test of ehgibility 
 to office, oath, or emolument ; and if it were, this gentleman would 
 scorn concealment under the cloak of hypocrisy. He charges 
 me with superstition. According to Webster and Worcester, su- 
 perstition means false religion, weak credulity. I have shown 
 that mankind in all ages, the most literate and illiterate, have be- 
 lieved in a future life and spiritual or angelic intercourse of ex- 
 carnated with incarnated men, amounting to an almost universal 
 instinct. Now, this belief must be founded in actual fact, or the 
 result of instinct. If the former, the fact is established ; if the 
 latter, we must believe it will be realized hereafter as a glorious 
 truth, for all instincts of all animals are gratified, or have the 
 means of gratification. Thus man's superstition furnishes an ar- 
 gument for future life. With the sceptic it is at least consistent 
 to entertain these views of Spiritualism and all the religious isms; 
 but with the religionists of any class to reject Spiritualism or 
 super-mundane manifestations of excarnated man in the form of 
 angels, when all their religions and Bibles are predicated upon 
 this principle, and the Christian pre-eminently so, as it contains 
 nearly two hundred such passages or references, it proves them, 
 to use the mildest term, to be either ignorant or insincere. It 
 may be urged that my peculiar temperament or constitution of 
 mind causes my incredulity of the fashionable orthodoxy. If so, 
 I may reply that the constitution of the believer's mind is the 
 cause of his credulity. Again, it may be said, my mental pecul- 
 iarity is the cause of my admiring and embracing the spiritual 
 philosophy, to which I might retort, the mental peculiarity of 
 others prevents them from appreciating and embracing this phi- 
 losophy ; that they and mankind generally are so constituted or 
 educated as to turn from new lights, and reject improvements 
 as innovations, — creatures of education, who cannot sunder the 
 shackles of early instillations. There are few, indeed, who can do
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 183 
 
 this. Around men's hearts is a mail of prejudice and partiality, 
 of religion and bigotry, that grows Avitli their growth, which is as 
 impervious to light as, and which they are generally no more able 
 to break than, the tortoise can break its shell. 
 
 Viewing this phase of human nature, how can we wonder at the 
 discordant and contradictory revelations or statements from spir- 
 its, who have perhaps just entered the spheres, and have made 
 little progress in wisdom, love, and truth ? This alone is enough 
 to explain all our discrepancies ; and the fallibility of the com- 
 municator, the imperfection of the media, and the liability to 
 other impressions pre-existing of the recipient, fully explicate all 
 mysterious discordances ; and this is philosophy. But you reject 
 fact, explanation, philosophy, everything but faith. Faith, my 
 friends, cannot bring bread for the body, nor salvation for the soul. 
 The word 'faith,' however, has no well-defined meaning: accord- 
 ing to its common acceptation by strict orthodoxy, it is a mere 
 myth of superstition and ignorance : but if it means intense en- 
 ergy and inexorable resolution, with unswerving confidence in 
 them, it then becomes at once a truth and a philosophy. The 
 answer of the Baptist preacher to the question, ' Are you not 
 afraid your proselytes will take cold, immersing them in mid- 
 winter?' 'No danger of their catching cold if they've got faith 
 enough ' ; has a truth which he knew and a philosophy whicli he 
 knew not. It is well known to scientific physicians, that this is a 
 potent principle in the human mind, to keep ofE and cure disease. 
 This determined will can take a man unscathed through a pes- 
 tilence. There is no more truthful and philosophical saying than 
 ' where there 's a will there 's a way.' By nature's grand laws, 
 everything accomplishes its purpose, and this positive, well-defined, 
 intelligent, earnest, aspiring, devout will will accomplish its pur- 
 pose. It is well said by Emerson, * The willj that is the man.' So 
 much and no more of faith and will. 
 
 As for the story of the miraculous cross appearing in the heav- 
 ens over Constantino's head, as a sign by which he was to conquer, 
 it Avas manufactured, I opine, specially for Constantino and his 
 favorites, and probably by the very priest who undertook to pro- 
 cure pardon and special condonation for his crimes ; Constantine 
 himself, it is said, became a convert to Christianity because a Pa- 
 gan refused to absolve him from the guilt of murdering his own 
 son (I think), declaring it impossible to procure expiation for so
 
 184 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 heinous a crime : but a Christian priest readily agreed to do it for 
 him with certainty, celerity, and facility. 
 
 This expiation, however, may not be so incredible, if we believe 
 the able and eminent divine, Dr. Olin, who said, ' There was virtue 
 enongh in the blood of Christ to cleanse the foulest spot in hell.' 
 Did the good doctor bethink himself how well he was vindicating 
 the Universalists ? or as the Methodists, among whom Olin was 
 a high and honored dignitary, delight to call ' hell redemption- 
 ists ' ! And yet, per contra, another prelate with whom he affilia- 
 ted declared the ' doctrine of universal salvation was repulsive to 
 his moral feelings.' Gracious God ! what a moral feeling for 
 even the breast of a believer, ay, for the lowest order of brute ! 
 
 In euphemistic (?) parlance, 'plain as preaching' now means, 
 clear as mud; and 'true as gospel,' the burlesque on veracity. 
 Hence the rapid growth of modern scepticism and materialism. 
 If I speak fearlessly and severely, I speak honestly and truly. 
 
 The Catholic Church acknowledges the verity of spirit commu- 
 nications, but ascribes them to the Devil or diabolical agency. 
 (The Lord send us more of these devils, with their pure percep- 
 tions and lights of immortality!) E cmitrario, the Abbot Al- 
 mignana. Doctor of the Canon Law, etc., writes: 'Having 
 witnessed some extraordinary phenomena, and desiring to assure 
 myself as to the presence of a diabolical agency in these manifes- 
 tations, as I had been persuaded to believe, profiting by the oppor- 
 tunity oilered by some mediums magnetized by others and not by 
 myself, I was induced to pray, to invoke the sacred names of God 
 and Jesus, to make the sign of the cross on the subjects, and went 
 so far as to sprinkle them with holy water, with the design of 
 driving out the Devil should he have taken possession of them.' 
 [You must remember, according to the Catholic ritual, suhlata 
 causa tollitur effectus, remove the cause and the effect ceases; the 
 names of Jesus, holy water, etc., will drive off the evil one.] 
 ' However, as not one of these mediums lost in my presence the 
 smallest part of their power, I was led to infer that the Devil had 
 nothing to do with the phenomena.' In another instance he 
 says, ' The medium, instead of repelling the cross, as he expected, 
 seized it, and, smiling, pressed it to his lips in the most affection- 
 ate manner,' etc. Again, the eloquent prelate, Lacordaire, pro- 
 claims from the pulpit in the church of Notre Dame, of Paris, 
 that ' this phenomenon belonged to the order of prophecy, and
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 185 
 
 that it was a provision of the divinity to humble the pride of 
 materialism.' 
 
 Thus you see the enlightened and honest of the preachers and 
 priests investigate and attest the truth of these new scientific rev- 
 elations. But to the captious, cavilous clergy, of whatever creed, 
 one clinchiog, comprehensive question : Do the facts and philoso- 
 phy claimed for Spiritualism tend to confirm and substantiate the 
 similar facts and revelations of Brahma in the Eig Vedas, Buddha 
 in the Bedagat, Zoroaster in the Zend-Avesta, of Isaiah in the 
 Hebrew Talmud, of Mahomet in the Koran, of John in the New 
 Testament, and all the past revelations of excarnated to incar- 
 nated man, attesting human immortality ? Or do they tend to 
 render them all incredible aud impossible? Plead to the issue 
 and give a sensible, honest answer, if you can. And while, in 
 the plenitude of your piety, you roll up the whites of 3'our eyes in 
 holy horror of my 'blasphemy' for not believing Christ to be the 
 God of creation, and for my honesty and independence in avow- 
 ing it, I warn you to take care that you do not commit the ' unpar- 
 donable sin ' in denying the holy spiritual agency of my philosophy, 
 and which Christ claimed and in-oclaimed. This is sacred soil, 
 hallowed gi-ound : tread lightly, softly." 
 
 We will now devote a little space to the recital of dreams, vis- 
 ions, premonitions, etc., showing that they are not confined to 
 scriptural writings, but have been given to mortals in all times 
 and ages, yea, are still given. 
 
 Pilate's wife had a premonition in respect to Christ's crucifix- 
 ion, and warned him to beware, which he in some measure re- 
 garded, to tlie extent at least of " washing his hands of the affair," 
 in his own words. 
 
 Dr. Franlilin informed Cabanis, that he frequently had "un- 
 folded to him in his dreams the bearings and issues of political 
 events which had puzzled him when awake." Condorcet had 
 presented to him in his visions the conclusions of the most ab- 
 struse calculations, which he could not arrive at when awake. 
 Lord Bacon, in France, was warned in a dream of his father's 
 death in England, which proved true to the moment. A distin- 
 guished lawyer of Edinburgh, ''who had been consulted in a diflB- 
 cult case of great importance, and had been studying it with 
 intense anxiety and attention, was observed by his wife, after
 
 186 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 several days had been occupied in this manner, to rise from his 
 bed in the night and go to a writing-desk which stood in the bed- 
 room. He then sat down and wrote a long paper, which he put 
 carefully by in the desk, and returned to bed. The following 
 morning he told his wife that he had a most interesting dream ; 
 that he had dreamed of delivering a clear and luminous opinion 
 respecting a case which had exceedingly perplexed him: and that 
 he would give anything to recover the train of thought which 
 had passed before him in his dream. She then directed him to 
 the writing-desk, where he found the opinion clearly and fully 
 written out, and which Avas afterwards found to be perfectly cor- 
 rect." 
 
 Josephus records : " Galphira, the daughter of King Archelaus, 
 after the death of her first two husbands (being married to a 
 third, who was a brother of her first husband), had a very odd 
 kind of a dream. She fancied that she saw her first husband 
 come toward her, and that she embraced him with great tender- 
 ness; when in the midst of the great pleasure which she expressed 
 at the sight of him, he reproached her after the following man- 
 ner : ' Galphira, thou hast made good the old saying, that women 
 are not to be trusted. Was not I the husband of thy virginity? 
 Have I not children by thee ? How could thou so far forget our 
 loves as to enter into other marriages, nay, to marry my own 
 brother ? However, for the sake of our past loves, I will free thee 
 from thy present reproach and make thee mine forever ! ' Gal- 
 phira told this dream to several women of her acquaintance, and 
 died soon after." 
 
 Abercrombie, after giving many instances of dreams, visions, 
 etc., from Sir Walter Scott, and otber contemporaneous literati, 
 the most of which he explains very plausibly on principles of phi- 
 losophy, records the following, which he acknowledges cannot be 
 explained, and the truth of which he vouches for : — 
 
 " Two ladies, sisters, had been for several days in attendance 
 upon their brother, who was ill of a common sore throat, severe 
 and protracted, but not considered as attended with danger. At 
 the same time one of them had borrowed a watch from a female 
 friend, in consequence of her own being under repair. This 
 watch was one to which particular value was attached, on account
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 187 
 
 of some family associations, and some anxiety was expressed that 
 it might not meet with any injury. The sisters were sleeping 
 together in a room communicating with that of their brother, 
 when the elder of them awoke in a state of great agitation, and 
 having roused the other, told her she had had a frightful dream. 
 •* I dreamed,' said she, * that Mary's watch stopped ; and that when 
 I told you of the circumstance, you replied. Much worse than that 
 
 has happened, for 's breath has stopped also,' — naming their 
 
 brother who was ill. To quiet her agitation, the younger sister 
 immediately got up, and found the brother sleeping quietly, and 
 the watch, which had been carefully put by in a drawer, going 
 correctly. The following night the very same dream occurred, 
 followed by similar agitation, which was again composed in the 
 same manner ; the brother being again found in a quiet sleei^, and 
 the watch going well. On the following morning, soon after the 
 family had breakfasted, one of the sisters was sitting by her 
 brother, while the other was writing a note in the adjoining 
 room. When her note was ready for being sealed, she was pro- 
 ceeding to take out for this purpose the watch alluded to, which 
 had been put by in her writing-desk, she was astonished to find 
 it stopped. At the same instant she heard a scream of intense 
 distress from her sister in the other room. Their brother, who 
 had still been considered as going on favorably, had been seized 
 with a sudden tit of suffocation, and had just breathed his 
 last." 
 
 " Cornelius Agrippa," says D'Israeli, " before ho wrote his 
 'Varieties of the Arts and Sciences,' intended to reduce into a 
 system and method the secret of communication with spirits and 
 demons. On good authority, that of Porphyrins, Piessus, Plon- 
 tinus, Jamblichus, and better were it necessary to allege it, he was 
 well assured that the upper regions of the air swarmed with what 
 the Greeks called demons, just as our lower atmosphere is full of 
 birds, and waters of fish, and our earth of insects." 
 
 " Caesar's wife, Calpurnia, who lived above suspicion, had a 
 premonition of Caesar's fate, and exerted herself to dissuade him 
 from going to the Senate that fatal day. lie attended, however, 
 and on being attacked fought courageously all the conspirators 
 until he saw the blade of his friend Brutus glitter against him,
 
 188 TUE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 when his proud heart failed, and covering his fuce in liis mantle, 
 with the exclamation, ' And thou, too, Brutus I ' the bloody des- 
 pot yielded his body a victim to foul conspiracy, and fell at tlie 
 feet of Pompey's statue. But after this, it is recorded by Plu- 
 tarch, his spirit appeared twice to Brutus, and spoke to him, 
 promising to * meet him at Philippi, sword in hand.' And sure 
 enough, Brutus there expiated his crime on his own svvord." 
 
 " Lord Byron was ' superstitious ' ; he believed in the ill luck 
 of Friday, and was seriously disconcerted if anything was to be 
 done on that frightful day of the week. Yet he sometimes 
 laughed at the idea of ghosts. Not long after the death of Lord 
 Byron, Sir Walter Scott was engaged in his study, during the 
 darkening twilight of an autumnal evening, in reading a sketch 
 of Byron's form and habits, his manners and opinions. On a 
 sudden he saw, as he laid down his book and passed into his hall, 
 the eidolon of his departed friend before him." 
 
 " Lord Chadworth was an infidel and unbeliever in immortal- 
 ity. One morning at breakfast he exclaimed, ' I had a strange 
 
 visitor last night : my old friend B came to me.' ' How,' 
 
 asked his niece, ' did he come after I retired ? ' ' His spirit did,' 
 said Lord Chadworth, solemnly. ' 0, my dear uncle, how could 
 the spirit of a living man appear ? ' said the niece, smiling. ' He 
 is dead beyond doubt,' replied his lordship. ' Listen, and then 
 laugh as much as you please. I had not entered my bedroom 
 many minutes when he stood before me. Like you, I could not 
 believe but that I was looking on the living man, and so accosted 
 him ; but he, the spirit, answered, Chadworth, I died this night 
 at eight o'clock. I came to tell you there is another world beyond 
 the grave; there is a righteous God that Judgeth all.' ' Depend 
 upon it, uncle, it was only a dream.' But while Miss Wright was 
 yet speaking, a groom on horseback rode uj) the avenue, and im- 
 mediately delivered a letter to Lord Chadworth announcing the 
 sudden death of his friend. The effect on the mind of Lord Chad- 
 worth was as happy as it was permanent ; all his doubts were at 
 once and forever removed." 
 
 " Cardinal Wolsey, and Fletcher the Divine, had presentiments 
 of their death. Lord Lyttleton, famous in law, was approached
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 189 
 
 by the deceased mother of a young lady whom he had injured, 
 and who tauntingly told him the very day and hour of his death, 
 which literally occurred. And he, in turn, appeared immediately 
 after his death to his friend Andrews." 
 
 " Jeanne Dare, commonly called Joan of Arc, at thirteen years 
 of age, had visions, and was informed of her mission for the deliv- 
 erance of France, which was fully and literally accomplished, 
 according to the spiritual presages of her early life ; and when 
 she appeared at the head of the troops, her beautiful hair hanging 
 in ringlets over her shoulders and streaming in the wind, her eyes 
 flashing the radiance of a high inspiration, and her face beaming 
 with the benignity of her heavenly mission, she seemed an incar- 
 nated angel on earth, and popular enthusiasm knew no bounds. 
 Subsequently she was tried and condemned on the charge of sor- 
 cery, by the ecclesiastical party under the bishop of Beauvais. 
 Bound in iron chains and condemned to death, this fair girl and 
 heavenly heroine baffled the crowd of subtle theologians, who had 
 constituted themselves the cruel inquisition with prepared ques- 
 tions to entrap her. She declared her mission was from God, 
 communicated by celestial agents, who appeared richly clothed, 
 and always accompanied with a brilliant light. To the question 
 how they could speak, being pure spirits without members, she 
 answered she knew not ; she only knew their voices were sweet, 
 their language beautiful, and their counsel holy. It Avas again 
 objected that they were appearances without reality. ' Whether 
 they be ap]xireut or real, I have proved them, and I would rather 
 lose my head than deny their being.' After fulfilling all her pre- 
 ternatural inspirations and aspirations, from her thirteenth year 
 of age, this virgin martyr of French liberty and angelic develop- 
 ment of heavenly truth was in her twenty-first year burnt alive 
 by the Church." 
 
 "Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth, both day and 
 night, when we sleep and when we wake," said Milton. The 
 pious Thomas Peyton, commemorating the translation of Enoch, 
 in his " Glasse of Time," published in 1G20, thus discours- 
 eth : —
 
 190 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 *' The angels bright, and all the powers divine, 
 Winged with fame to mount the highest heavens, 
 
 Descending sweetly on the lonely breast," etc 
 
 " Imagination, that strongest, most imperious of our faculties, 
 whose soarings from earth to heaven may be reckoned among the 
 indications of power beyond the grave, delights in the bold, the 
 commanding, the superb; what are these but the infant attributes 
 of the disembodied spirits, the imperfect developments of a state 
 of being, to which time and space are nothing, when man, shak- 
 ing oif the covering of the grave, shall be clothed with the might 
 of angels, the splendid denizen of infinitude and eternity " ? wrote 
 the eloquent George Croly. 
 
 Says Addison : " At the same time, I think a person who is terri- 
 fied by the imagination of ghosts and spectres, much more reason- 
 able than one who, contrary to the report of all historians, sacred 
 and profane, ancient and modern, and to the traditions of all 
 nations, thinks the appearance of spirits fabulous and groundless. 
 Could I not give myself up to the testimony of mankind, I should 
 to the relations of particular persons who are now living, aud 
 whom I cannot distrust in other matters of fact. I may here add, 
 that not only the historians, to whom we may join the poets, but 
 likewise the philosophers of antiquity, have favored this opinion." 
 
 Johnson writes : " That the dead are no more seen," said Imiac, 
 "I will not undertake to maintain against the concurrent and un- 
 varied testimony of all ages, and all nations. There is no people, 
 rude or learned, among whom apparitions of the dead are not be- 
 lieved. This opinion, which perhaps prevails as far as human 
 nature is diffused, could become universal only by its truth ; those 
 who never heard of one another, would not have agreed in a tale 
 which nothing but experience can make credible; that it is 
 doubted by simple cavilers, can very little weaken tlie general 
 evidence : and some who deny it by their tongues, confess it by 
 their fears." 
 
 "We will here insert a piece compiled by us some little time ago, 
 entitled '' Spirit Communings," after which we shall give some 
 explanations regarding the philosophy of spiritual intercourse, as 
 understood by some of our most able, enlightened, and scientific 
 minds.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 191 
 
 "For 'tis better that souls should upward tend, 
 
 And strive for the victor's crown, 
 Than to ask the angels their help to lend, 
 
 And come to man's weakness down." 
 
 My dear friends, I know not how to begin, 
 Or how this subject to place in order 
 To make it seem unto you plain, as it 
 So much doth embrace. I firstly would say : 
 In cominir back here our mission should be. 
 To give to you who dwell upon this earthly 
 Sphere such truths as you can receive and feel 
 That they come from a higher source and are 
 Intended to raise your aspirations 
 To a nobler course of life, also to 
 Enforce alike on your minds a view of 
 The future condition which doth every 
 Soul or spirit aWait when they pass river 
 Jordan. Our time we do freely, willingly 
 Give to those who do appreciate the gift. 
 Whose hearts are ready to receive a sure 
 Proof of our advanced state ; not that we claim 
 A reward of merit, or feel that we 
 Arc better than they. We all more or less 
 Inherit some sweet mixed with the bitter, 
 Much bitter mth the sweet. If we were no 
 Wiser than when we came to our spirit 
 Home above, — a century and more agone, — 
 Our aim would be ourselves to improve, ere 
 AVe came back to earth ; unless perchance to 
 Give our friends a token of kind remembrance, 
 AV^hich same might enhance their joy ; for 
 Our recosrnition of dear ones below 
 Satisfaction gives to them, we know; and 
 This is why undeveloped spirits often 
 Strive to prwe their own indentity, and 
 Demonstrate unto their friends the fact that
 
 192 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Disembodied spirits possess the power 
 
 To come back and graciously enact a 
 
 "Brother's part." Some inherit a great degree 
 
 Of spiritual force or mediumistic 
 
 Power, and by it are enabled to at 
 
 Once or immediately after dissolution 
 
 Strong proof or evidence give of their ability 
 
 To return at will to the friends and scenes 
 
 Of earth. There 's one thing more which is requisite 
 
 Still for their aid : it is, forsooth, the chords 
 
 Of affection tender and true, which bind 
 
 Them to their dear ones below ; attraction 
 
 Alone can sympathy draw from those gone 
 
 Before. Your tones should then be gentle and 
 
 Kind, to secure the same in return from 
 
 Them. If they have but just reached the farther 
 
 Shore, they have not, of course, become much changed 
 
 In their manners or mode of life ; as the 
 
 Law of progression holds good in all spheres. 
 
 'T is by toil through strife we perform our life 
 
 Mission, and rise by degrees to a higher 
 
 State of being ; our condition, there as 
 
 Here or anywhere, depends not on fate^ 
 
 But on our own exertion; nor does it 
 
 Depend — as some have been taught and do now 
 
 Falsely believe — on the blood of the Saviour : 
 
 That is naught, unless, like him, you do live, 
 
 At least, so far as you may be able. 
 
 His death, notwithstanding, was essential 
 
 In carrying out the plan so noble. 
 
 Rendering good for evil has never 
 
 Been truly accomplished on earth by other 
 
 Than he ; never have we, before or since 
 
 The Saviour's birth, had occasion to render 
 
 Such heartfelt praise to the all-wise Giver 
 
 As then ; for his life hath taught and teaches 
 
 Still, if we live ever near to our God,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 193 
 
 As we ought, no powers of earth, of heaven, or 
 Hell, can harm our spirits pure. Pain and death 
 Your bodies may endure : there have been in 
 All ages martyrs among the advocates 
 Of God's truth. 
 
 As I have before said, your 
 Friends may possess the requisite jDower to 
 Draw very near, and also your mind and 
 Heart to impress, if they saw it would be 
 To you a satisfaction ; if they, on 
 The contrary, were led to suppose their 
 Eecognitiou of you would bring inharmony, 
 Or would enfeeble the cause so noble, 
 On account of your unbelief, they surely 
 Would not, if ever so able, render 
 To you, or to a chief (if wise), one single 
 Iota of the truth divine so sacred 
 And pure to them. It would be like casting 
 "Pearls before swine," and would this truth condemn. 
 I have also said, attraction alone 
 Can sympathy draw ; 'tis true, and for this 
 Reason it dependeth on you, solely. 
 Whether or not spirits come at your call. 
 K your lips say yes, while no says your hearty 
 'T were better by far that you had kept still ; 
 Your lips and your heart must surely agree, 
 Else you will no satisfaction receive. 
 Your spirit must harmonize with that of 
 Your friend, or he cannot you give truthful 
 Statements or replies ; not such, I mean, as 
 You from your standpoint will acknowledge 
 Tme. There must be, on your part, a pure intent. 
 An earnest desire to know " if these things 
 Be true " ; there must also be a mutual 
 Attachment : unanimity of thought 
 And feeling between you will further the 
 Advancement of both. These, friends, are the true
 
 194 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Conditions required by advanced spirits 
 
 To hold sweet communion with embodied 
 
 Ones, and give to each the merits of which 
 
 They are deserving, be they few or be 
 
 They many. And here we take the liberty 
 
 To say : a soul which doth thus inquire shall 
 
 Want no good thing. It shall he satisfied. 
 
 Trusting in the Lord always ; and " He shall 
 
 Give his angels charge over thee, to keep 
 
 Thee in all thy ways," " Thine age shall be dearer 
 
 Than the noonday ; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt 
 
 Be as the morning." Friends beloved, turn 
 
 Not away ; these teachings are pure and true. 
 
 Ask ye, " What knowest thou that we know not?" 
 
 Lo, mine eye hath seen all this ; mine ear hath 
 
 Heard and understood it ; yea, much inore than 
 
 This : for, " in thoughts from the visions of the 
 
 Night, when deep sleep falleth on man, a spirit 
 
 Passed before my face " ; my sight failed not ; mine 
 
 Eyes did discern the face and form of one 
 
 In earth life dear, and lo, a voice sweetly 
 
 Said, " Even the night shall be light about 
 
 Thee ; it is I, be not. afraid." I said, 
 
 "Is there any secret thing with thee, aught 
 
 Which I for thee can do ? Such knowledge is 
 
 Too wonderful for me." The angel voice 
 
 Did reply, "I will show thee, hear me ; and 
 
 That which I have seen I will declare." No 
 
 Sound disturbed the silence then, as 
 
 He, in tones so sweet, low, and clear, gave me 
 
 To know the beauties of his home. He said 
 
 That here we only could have a faint conception 
 
 Of the same, or of the joy so heavenly. 
 
 Which did await the pure in heart. Could we 
 
 But realize in earth life as there, how 
 
 Much of joy we oft forego by failing 
 
 To avoid strife, we should at once seek peace
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 195 
 
 And ensue it, endeavor to follow 
 
 Him who discovereth deep things out of 
 
 The darkness, and giveth light unto them 
 
 That sit in darkness. The blind shall there see. 
 
 Methinks I hear some loved ones say, " Show us 
 
 The way." Ask the fowls of the air, and they 
 
 Shall tell thee ; or speak to the earth, and it 
 
 Shall teach thee. By the earth we mean the people 
 
 Who do inhabit the same. Speak thou to 
 
 Them and ask the most noble if so it 
 
 Hath been with theirs and them ; if they have not 
 
 Found that where was deceit on the part of 
 
 Their neighbor, no communion between them 
 
 "Was complete, however much they might labor 
 
 And strive to do well their part ; unity 
 
 Alone could produce true effects. There exists 
 
 The same rule of equity in the chain 
 
 Which connects spirits disembodied with 
 
 Those of earth. If the magnet be strongest 
 
 Which attracts them below, they will, forsooth, 
 
 Hover near to their dearest ; and if their 
 
 Dearest are higher than they in spiritual 
 
 Knowledge, the earth ones will be the teachers 
 
 Most true. As a man in his dotage oft 
 
 Seems to know less than when in his prime, just 
 
 So will he enter the heavenly sphere. We 
 
 Were born to this life prccisel}'' the same 
 
 As are your little ones there, although cause 
 
 And effect we can more plainly discern ; 
 
 The earth child is by nature (as you term 
 
 It, my views differ therefrom) endowed with 
 
 Its peculiar attributes ; its being 
 
 Possesses at birth the seed which shall germinate 
 
 And shall accordingly bring forth fruit after 
 
 Its kind. Excuse me, friends, if I here do 
 
 Suggest some thoughts concerning this "seed." There 
 
 Doubtless are those whose minds are impressed
 
 196 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Correctly. Of late, indeed, the subject 
 
 Has been discussed most freely, and many 
 
 Have written thereon. It is not my purpose 
 
 To here fully demonstrate this truth ; as 
 
 Understood by us who have watched for a 
 
 Century of years the " sowing time and 
 
 Harvest." If we should so tell as the same 
 
 Appears unto us in full earnest, there 
 
 Would be many who in like earnest would 
 
 Say, " Ye are forgers of lies " ; we therefore 
 
 Deem it best and wisest you to instruct 
 
 By degrees. So now we will ask what ye 
 
 Yourselves understand regarding your offspring : 
 
 Who is the sower, and who wields the power? 
 
 We can you evidence bring that on the 
 
 Side paternal the sower doth stand, and 
 
 What of the power f It hath stood side by side 
 
 With the sower ; does now in grades lower — 
 
 We had almost said than the brute degree. 
 
 Does this, then, demoralize man? Yea, "ask 
 
 Now the beasts and they shall tell thee" What beast 
 
 Is higher than woman f Or " speak to the 
 
 Earth and it shall teach thee." Is the soil 
 
 Ever ready in summer and winter the same, 
 
 Think ye ? Requires it no industry to 
 
 Culture, enrich, and for use prepare? Allow 
 
 Ye no time for these ? If not, ye do greatly 
 
 Err. E'en the best of soil, my friends, could not 
 
 Produce good grains or fruits rare, with no 
 
 Time for culture between harvest and seed 
 
 Time. Again, the soil may be well prepared, 
 
 But alas ! the seed is bad, the crop a 
 
 Failure, though no pains were spared to render 
 
 Its culture good. It dependeth not alone 
 
 On the seed, nor yet alone on the soil ; 
 
 The soil and the seed must alike be good : 
 
 Your labor then is not vain. O, heed our
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 197 
 
 Advice, that your " sons may be as plants grown 
 Up in their youth " ; and your daughters as 
 " Corner-stones," — a blessing to thee on earth, 
 A twofold blessing in the higher spheres 
 Of immortal love. "The fathers have eaten 
 Sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on 
 Edge. As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall 
 Not have occasion any more to use 
 This proverb." O, hasten the time when fathers, 
 Mothers all, true wisdom may learn, and these 
 Lessons sublime teach their children as well. 
 " My tongue is the pen of a ready writer." 
 O, may its precepts all be pure and true ! 
 "My heart is inditing of a good matter." 
 I would I might make it more plain to you. 
 
 I would now speak of a class I have before 
 
 Casually mentioned, — the undeveloped 
 
 Ones. When these go hence, if it be ignorantly 
 
 " Concerning these things," they have much to learn 
 
 Before they can perfectly with their friends 
 
 Below know how to commune ; they therefore 
 
 Watch anxiously for opportunities 
 
 To learn, for ways and means by which to 
 
 Demonstrate a proof of their existence. 
 
 When an opportunity doth present 
 
 They wait not for assistance, but just rush 
 
 " Pell-mell " to the very front in a state 
 
 Of confusion. There arc some things they know, 
 
 Most things they don't. A sort of inspiration. 
 
 Itself undeveloped, doth lead them on ; 
 
 They know not where to begin or what to 
 
 Say ; perhaps the very one they first address 
 
 Thinks 't is sin spirit manifestations 
 
 To witness, because he believeth not 
 
 That they shall return out of darkness, and 
 
 For him no liglit shiueth. Spiritual
 
 198 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Power comes alone from the Devil (so his 
 
 Kind parents have taught), and if he 's not shunned, 
 
 "Beware of the evil, your soul will be 
 
 Killed outright." The spirit embodied is, 
 
 Like the other, undeveloped, as you 
 
 See ; beside all this, he 's not a brother ; 
 
 They scarcely each other know : there is no 
 
 Harmony the two betwixt, mind to mind 
 
 Stranger. What wonder, then, things get muddled 
 
 And mixed ; by the laws of nature they could 
 
 Not do otherwise ; for indeed it is hard 
 
 With conditions the very best to at 
 
 First succeed. There are many obstructions 
 
 With which mortals and spirits must contend, 
 
 And learn by experience how best to 
 
 Use means to further the end which they see 
 
 In the distance, or thinl: they see, for the 
 
 End is not yet. Your wisest and your best 
 
 Below have not thoroughly learned their alphabet 
 
 Yet, therefore their progress is slow. 
 
 " He shall 
 Be driven from light into darkness and 
 Chased out of the world," Countless numbers 
 There are who do possess strong powers, whiclx they 
 Might unfold for their advancement, the glory 
 Of God, the good of their fellow-men ; they 
 Do no such thing, but trifle instead with 
 The precious gift God-given. They love not 
 The truth, but choose, rather, lies. As "hke attracts 
 Like," what is the result? "Let not him that 
 Is deceived trust in vanity ; for vanity 
 Shall be his recompense." When such as these 
 Do hold forth, the righteous and upright tliiuk 
 It all pretence, condemn the beautiful 
 Truth of spirit communion, when all that's 
 Wrong is the trifling instrument; the truth 
 Remains the same. O Lord, "how long shall the
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 199 
 
 Ungodly triumph ? " It may truly be 
 
 Said, The last state of that man is worse than 
 
 The first ; Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and 
 
 Not I ; Receive ye the Holy Ghost, — that 
 
 Is, the spirit of truth, — and turn ye from 
 
 The error of 3'^our ways, that ye may become 
 
 Living examples of truth. 
 
 " Should he reason 
 With unprofitable talk ? " We now will 
 Bring before you still another class : upright 
 In their walk and in all their dealings true ; 
 Their hearts open to conviction, willing 
 To be convinced of the truth, had they sufficient 
 Proof; the indwelling of the spirit from 
 Their youth has oft made them to feel — well, a 
 Something for which they could not account ; their 
 Faith is strong in the Supreme Being, they 
 Have studied a vast amount. There must, they 
 Say, be some supernatural agency. 
 But it is a mystery which they cannot 
 Solve ; no efiectual means have they found 
 To descry whether it be but a false 
 Hallucination, or whether an actual 
 Truth. They repeatedly have listened to 
 Communications purporting to have 
 Come from the spirit land. The name of the 
 Friend who gave the same may in some cases 
 Have been given, and he may have been in 
 His day (on earth) a very wise man ; 3'et 
 There may have been one thing lacking, and because 
 Of that one thing (which was insufficient 
 Understanding in the way of communicating) , 
 He may not hnvc been able to render 
 His statements quite clearly, or he may have 
 Failed to engender his language peculiar. 
 Those who hear are not satisfied ; they grope 
 In the dark without light ; they hold converse
 
 200 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Together. One doth say, " I can't make it 
 Out, although I know there 's something in it." 
 Another laughingly says : So and so 
 " Has forgotten his grammar since he became 
 A spirit " (as if he was not always 
 A spirit). A third one keeps silence, but 
 He is wise, and thus his future portends : 
 (Thinking) I will not give sleep to mine eyes 
 Or slumber to mine eyelids until I 
 Search out this matter. — Brother, we rejoice 
 For and with thee ; thou art not far from the 
 Kingdom. Thy radiant eyes shall soon see ; and 
 It shall come to pass, that in the place where 
 It was said unto them. Ye are not my 
 People, there it shall be said unto them, 
 "le are the sons of the living God." In 
 The present case the spirit who did control 
 Had no friends below especially dear, 
 Or none that could awaken that chord of 
 Sympathy and pure love combined which gives 
 The true condition requisite to converse 
 With those left behind. This is no false 
 Conception. Those who are still on the earth 
 Sphere living, their dear ones all around them, 
 Cannot in their future state of being 
 Take an interest as warm as those whose 
 Loving ones await them there. Lo this, we 
 Have searched it, so it is ; hear it, and know 
 Thou it for thy good. " O, that my words were 
 Now written ! O, that they were printed in 
 A book ! that they were graven with an iron 
 Pen and lead in the rock forever ! " 
 
 " Behold, 
 He put no truth in his servants ; his angels 
 He charged with folly." Here is a circumstance 
 A friend relates, illustrating most fully 
 The foregoing. Our friend was a lady,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 201 
 
 Also a medium. She was quietly 
 
 Sitting, in company with two gentlemen, 
 
 At a stand. A third person enters the 
 
 Room (stranger) and is invited to join 
 
 The circle. He replies gruffly, " No, sir." 
 
 The conditions are broken, and no wonder. 
 
 Stranger then makes his boast as follows : " I 
 
 Never yet Aveut to a place where this thing was 
 
 Going on but I broke it up, and sent 
 
 The spirits where they came from, provided 
 
 There were any there. I know," he added, 
 
 " They have nothing to do with moving that 
 
 Table. Just you all take off your hands, and 
 
 See then. If they can raise or move it with 
 
 Hands on, I know they can without thum. It 
 
 Hain't done by no spirits. I investigated 
 
 This thing myself about fifteen years ago. 
 
 I just took out my watch and laid it down 
 
 On the table. Then said I, ' Spirits, I 
 
 Give you leave to go for it : if j^ou 
 
 Can carry it off, it is yours, and I'll 
 
 Give up to the ghosts.' Now, I knew that I 
 
 Was safe. This watch" (pulling it out of his 
 
 Pocket) " lay on that table a half-hour. 
 
 I hain't never lost no watches yet." (I 'm 
 
 Afraid he never won't. ) If he had known 
 
 AYhat a poor fool he was making of himself. 
 
 He would doubtless have kept still ; but, as the 
 
 Saying goes, he laughed at his own folly. 
 
 The lady medium would not on him 
 
 Waste words to any extent. She merely 
 
 Said : " A stove stands there ; within it the fire 
 
 Is bright. You say, ' I want my breakfast cooked.' 
 
 Will that fire cook your breakfast ? If some one 
 
 Put it on the stove it might, and most 
 
 Assuredly would. You say again, 'Fire, I know 
 
 That if you can cook my breakfast for me
 
 202 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 When it is put upon the stove, you can 
 
 Cook it anywhere for me ; and when it 's 
 
 Cooked place it on the table. K you can't 
 
 Do that, I say you 're no fire at all, and 
 
 Never shall cook my breakfast any how.' " 
 
 Methinks that if he no breakfast could get, 
 
 Neither dinner or supper, until this 
 
 Same fire the table did set, he would soon 
 
 Change his ditty, and with his own hands his 
 
 Breakfast would place above the contemptible 
 
 Fire. In the cases we cite there 's as much 
 
 Reason and sense in one as in the other. 
 
 The spirits, in one way, are like the fire, 
 
 They cannot do another's work (a volume 
 
 Might be written on this theme) ; unlike the 
 
 Fire, they can sJiirh. But they soon do find it 's of 
 
 No great use, for their work will never be 
 
 Done until they do it themselves. The abuse 
 
 Of this rule finds here no home. You can 
 
 Therefore judge of the state of those who have 
 
 Lived in idleness, caring only for 
 
 Pleasure and fine clothes ; they find here a 
 
 Wilderness from which they must work their way 
 
 Out before much society they '11 gain. 
 
 They find, when too late, that their earthly career 
 
 Causes them anguish and pain. 
 
 " And he said 
 Unto him. If they hear not Moses and 
 The prophets, neither will they be persuaded. 
 Though one rose from the dead." Few spirits, if 
 Any, will condescend to waste their power or 
 Their time on such as these, though always ready 
 And willing to shower gifts of love their friends 
 To please. There never was a truer saying 
 Than this : "A man convinced against his will 
 Is of the same opinion still." 
 
 " An unjust
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 203 
 
 Man is an abomination to the just : 
 
 And he that is upright in the way is 
 
 Abomination to the wicked." But the 
 
 First half of this text is usually 
 
 Digested ; the world readily acknowledes 
 
 The fact, — or, rather, opinion, for it 
 
 Is not a fact, — that the just hate the unjust, 
 
 But will seldom, even unto themselves, 
 
 Acknowledge that they, in their hearts, despise 
 
 The upright, for it gives their principles 
 
 A bad look. Whereas, from our standpoint, we 
 
 See the text is unequally balanced, 
 
 The scale sinks on the side of injustice. 
 
 Why ? Is justice then sentenced ? On the 
 
 Physical plane it surely is. Extend 
 
 Thy vision farther. Behold ! in the dust 
 
 Injustice and lies; opposite, the scale 
 
 Hisrher ascends. Justice and truth are found 
 
 Therein : they rise above the earthly plane. 
 
 'T is the same with an upright man : him no 
 
 Narrow views confine. Hates he any? Indeed, 
 
 He would not stoop so low. He may, and does, 
 
 Hate their sins. His love, nevertheless, extends 
 
 To all, above, below; true s^Tupathy 
 
 And kindness in his bosom reign. 
 
 Brethren 
 And friends, "let every soul be subject unto 
 The higher powers, for there is no power but 
 Of God : the powers that be are ordained of 
 God." I know your thoughts. I will not use 
 Deceitful words, neither will I flatter 
 With my tongue. The way will not be all sunshine, 
 Brothers, so long as ye in fleshly 
 Tabernacles dwell. There will oft be times 
 When you never can tell Avhich way 't is best to 
 Go ; but cease to do evil, learn to do 
 Well, and clearer thy path will grow.
 
 204 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 I have 
 Oft to my God with anguished speech cried in 
 Bitterness of heart, and " the things that my 
 Soul refused to touch were as my sorrowful 
 Meat " ; the way was so dark that I could not 
 See. With David can I exclaim, " Out of 
 The depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord : 
 Lord, hear my voice." For I felt in mine heart, 
 " The Lord will hear when I call unto him," 
 As a dear little child once said. I oped my 
 Bible as one in a dream. These were the 
 First words I read : " They that sow in tears shall 
 Eeap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, 
 Bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again 
 With rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." 
 Did the Lord hear? A spirit within said, 
 Yea, and my troubled heart e'en then did rejoice. 
 I said, " In thee do I trust. Cause me to 
 Know the way wherein I should walk ; for I 
 Lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver 
 Me, O Lord, from mine enemies. I flee 
 Unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do 
 Thy will ; for thou art my God : thy spirit is 
 Good ; lead me into the land of uprightness. 
 Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake." 
 Time passed, and I again lost faith in His word. 
 He showed me not where to go, though I waited 
 Patiently for the Lord : He inclined not 
 Unto me. I said in mine heart. Why doth 
 God forsake? And now. Lord, what wait I for? 
 The answer came from the same good book, 
 And once more banished my fears : " Lo, I come : 
 In the volume of the book it is written 
 Of me." And behold, " I will say to the 
 North give up ; and to the South keep not back. 
 Remember ye not the fonner things, neither 
 Consider the things of old. Behold, I
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 205 
 
 Will do a new thing ; now it shall spring forth ; 
 Shall ye not know it?" He gave me sweet peace, 
 My heart was at rest. My spirit had been 
 As a bird that wandereth from her nest. 
 Now, thank God ! at home again ; and he hath 
 Put a new song in my mouth, even praise 
 Unto our God. I hope I '11 never again 
 Doubt his truth or disbelieve his sure word. 
 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. 
 For he hath graciously my wants supplied. 
 Behold now, I have ordered my course. I know 
 That I shall be justified. 
 
 There 's another class 
 "VYhich I must not slight : their name is Legion, 
 I'm told. I hope, in the place of dark they '11 
 Choose light, and that before they are old. These 
 Are the philosophical sceptics (so called). 
 Alas ! they reject the sublimest philosophy 
 Of all ; like the Epicureans and 
 Stoics who encountered St. Paul, and some 
 Said, "What w411 this babbler say? other some, 
 He seemeth to be a setter forth of 
 Strange gods." One comes and him questioneth, 
 Saying, " IMay we know what this new doctrine 
 Whereof thou speakcst is ? for thou bringest 
 Certain strange things to our ears : we w^ould know 
 What these things mean." And when they heard, some 
 Mocked. Others said, "We will hear thee again 
 Of this matter." " And the times of this ignorance 
 God winked at." Think you he ever winks now? 
 But the triumphing of the wicked is short. 
 He shall not have quietness ; the heaven shall 
 Reveal his iniquity ; the earth shall 
 Rise up against him ; that which he 
 Labored for shall he restore, and shall not 
 Swallow it down. He shall fly away as 
 A dream, and shall not be found : yea.
 
 206 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 He shall be chased away as a vision 
 
 Of the night. Now I have told you before 
 
 It come to pass, that, when it is come to 
 
 Pass, ye might believe. Let the priests, the 
 
 Ministers of the Lord, weep between the 
 
 Porch and the altar, and let them say, spare 
 
 Thy people. The Lord shall utter his voice, 
 
 "And it shall come to pass afterward, that 
 
 I will pour out my spirit upon all 
 
 Flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall 
 
 Prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your 
 
 Young men shall see visions." Surely the Lord 
 
 God will do nothing, but he revealeth 
 
 His secret unto his servants the propltets. 
 
 Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice : for 
 
 The Lord wall do great things. Put ye in 
 
 The sickle, for the harvest is ripe : come, 
 
 Get you down : let the weak say, I am strong. 
 
 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley 
 
 Of deci^on : for the day of the Lord 
 
 Is near in the valley of decision. 
 
 " I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have 
 
 Exalted the low tree, have dried up the 
 
 Green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish : 
 
 I the Lord have spoke and have done it." 
 
 Friends, 
 If we have spoken well, thank God, and bear 
 Ye witness of it. Your attention still 
 For a little space we kindly ask. Turn 
 Back, we pray, read the first four lines with 
 Which this piece doth commence. And as ye 
 Do read, inwardly digest. From this you 
 May learn somewhat the opinion of the 
 Spirits progressed to a higher, holier 
 State. Do such as these come to man's weakness 
 Down? On one condition only, — that they 
 By pure and loving hearts be drawn ; they come
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 207 
 
 Then most willingly, nor scorn the suppliant's 
 
 Cry. They come because of the good they may 
 
 Render ; their whispers soft are borne on the 
 
 Breeze to loved ones true and tender ; they come 
 
 To those whose souls do upward tend ; their aim 
 
 To interest the same. Good angels love dearly 
 
 Their help to lend to aspiring minds that 
 
 Come and diligently seek from them to 
 
 Learn to walk in the path sublime, — the path 
 
 Which the good and the blest have given the 
 
 Waymarks of truth from time immemorial. 
 
 To you who may this peruse, if you an 
 
 Interest take beyond the purpose yourselves 
 
 To amuse, I wish a few things to state 
 
 In language simple and plain. If you would 
 
 Pure satisfaction derive from your communings 
 
 With the angel world, you positively 
 
 Must strive to seek those things which are dbove^ 
 
 Instead of bringing the angels down to 
 
 The things which you in earth life need, which things 
 
 Yourselves can obtain, and that without the 
 
 Aid of those who icould their higher knoivledge 
 
 Impart for your advancement and your soiU's 
 
 Good. Such converse satisfies the heart. 
 
 Imagine, dear friends, how a spirit pure, 
 
 Inspired with a wish to aid its own loved 
 
 Ones below, would feel, to hear from their lips 
 
 Such questions as these : Tell me what o'clock 
 
 I will have dinner to-day if you can. 
 
 How many cathartic pills shall I take ? 
 
 How soon will the clothes get dry ? AYliat 's the price 
 
 Of pork in Simpson's market ? How many 
 
 Days make a week ? Have I a scar on my 
 
 Neck? 
 
 Are these, my friends, the glorious truths 
 You seek ? Have you no higher aim ? Think you 
 Your friend's intellect has grown weak in that
 
 208 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Holy, happy clime ? You surely would not 
 
 Such simple questions put were he or she 
 
 In the form. K you from them require a 
 
 Xest, — perfectly right, we are advised to 
 
 "Try the spirits," — if good, they will seek to 
 
 Benefit mankind, showing a friendly 
 
 Spirit toward all. " By their fruits ye shall know 
 
 Them." This is true of disembodied spirits 
 
 As well. Their words and their teachings will show 
 
 According to their merits. The laws of 
 
 God and nature they cannot overleap. 
 
 Neither can you. Therefore, friends, " it is high 
 
 Time to awake out of sleep," more on yourselves 
 
 To depend : the night is far spent, the day 
 
 Is at hand. Let us cast off the works of 
 
 Darkness, and let us put on the armor 
 
 Of light, remembering 
 
 " 'T is better that souls should upward tend, 
 
 And strive for the victor's crown, 
 Than to ask the angels their help to lend, 
 
 And come to man's weakness down." 
 
 " Now, as one mind in the body in a positive condition of elec- 
 tricity can perceive and influence another mind in the body in a 
 negative condition of electricity, both in rapport with each other, 
 and all this without the use of any of the corporeal senses, so a 
 spirit out of the body, in a positive condition of electricity, can 
 perceive and influence a spirit or mind in the body, in a negative 
 condition, and both in rapport, independent of physical organism 
 in both cases. This electricity, from the Greek for amber (a res- 
 inous substance), in which it was first discovered by the great 
 Thales of Miletus, twenty-five hundred years ago, be it remem- 
 bered, is an universally diffused, subtle, imponderable, and myste- 
 rious element of mind and matter. Some of us are in this negative 
 impressible condition naturally; all of us may become so by prac- 
 tice and persevering effort. All such, whether natural or ac- 
 quired, are called medium (properly, perhaps, the plural should 
 be media, according to the Latin idiom). Through a piogressed
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 209 
 
 and practised medium, — for we progress and attain proficiency in 
 this as in everything else, — a spirit or angel, formerly of the flesh, 
 but now in the spirit world round about us, can speak, write, or 
 perform what would be called miracles, or attributed to conjura- 
 tion, prestigiation, necromancy, sorcery, legerdemain, jugglery, 
 witchcraft, humbug, demonism, electricity, or odyllic force, by the 
 ignorant tr wicked. They are made to speak in tongues entirely 
 unknown to the medium, such as Hebrew, Greek, French, Italian, 
 etc., and write in the precise hand of others, deceased and un- 
 known to them. They are made to perform in the most masterly 
 manner on the piano, flute, guitar, and other instruments, to 
 which they were perfect strangers, and execute pieces of music 
 of which they knew nothing. The experienced, progressed, and 
 proficient mediums have an internal, direct, mental communica- 
 tion, independent of the temporal or physical sensorium, and thus 
 see, and feel, and converse with their spirit friends, through this 
 mystic medium of mentality, with as much certainty and celerity 
 as with their friends in the flesh, and much more interest, satis- 
 faction, and pleasure. You know that, in electricity, two positive 
 conditions repel, as well as the negatives repel, each other. All 
 creations, from the most infinitesimal inorganic atom to man, 
 the highest development of the earth plane, and no doubt through- 
 out the solar, stellar, and all astronomic creations, are endowed 
 with two principles of electricity, positive and negative, or oppo- 
 eite magnetic polarities, the similar of which repel, and dissimilar 
 attract, each other ; or endowed with two opposite sexes, positive 
 and negative, the dissimilar of which, like the other electric priu- 
 cijiles, have an affinity for each other, — the Iho and Ilohi, the 
 male and female, and the Elohi and Eloho, the good and evil 
 principle of the ancient Gymnasophists. One person iu the posi- 
 tive condition of electricity can perceive and influence another 
 person in the negative to him, when in rapport with each other, 
 and all their conditions harmonious, regardless of intervening 
 clothes, flesh, brick walls, or distance. 
 
 This is effectuated through the all-pervading, omnipresent, uni- 
 versal element or agent that permeates every atom, as Avell as all. 
 space, — there is really no vacant space, for this element fills up. 
 all that might seem such, — an extremely attenuated and refined 
 electricity or subtle fluid, which we call electro-ether, which we 
 cannot perceive through our physical senses, any more than we
 
 210 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 can see sound, hear light, or feel either, or taste, smell, or in any 
 other sensual way perceive magnetism. Now, in Just this way, 
 through this agent, this great nerve power of the universe, ex- 
 carnated men communicate with incarnated men. Here is the 
 philosophy in oiuce. The receptive medium, isolated from all 
 surroundings, is negative to, and comes in rapport with, the ex- 
 carnated spirit, who then controls and uses the physical organism 
 of the medium at will, just as the psychological operator controlled 
 and used the persons already described. 
 
 Why are these certain conditions necessary, you ask. If it can be 
 done by one excarnated to one incarnated, why not by all the former 
 and to all the latter ? I ask in return, why not thus among men 
 in the flesh, iu mesmerism, clairvoyance, psychology ? But we 
 know it is not : only hy and to certain persons in certain condi- 
 tions. And this is in strict accordance with all the known analo- 
 gies of nature. In all its elemental operations nature is very 
 exact and specific. Eight parts of oxygen and one of hydrogen, 
 by weight, or one of oxygen to two of hydrogen, by measure, and 
 no other proportions, will make pure water. The seed will not 
 germinate except in certain conditions of heat and moisture; the 
 lightning will not leap forth except in certain conditions of posi- 
 tive and negative. It is only on certain and propitious conditions 
 that the human race is elaborated and perpetuated. Why does it 
 require a metallic wire instead of a tow-string to make a tele- 
 graph ? And why has that wire to be insulated from all other 
 conductors ? Just as the spirit medium has to be isolated from all 
 other distractions ? And hear what the wise man of the Bible 
 says on this point, who wrote as if he fully understood it : ' There 
 is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit.' 
 And Jesus showed himself not to all, but only a few chosen wit- 
 nesses, etc. 
 
 Eapport is a French word, and is defined relation or affinity. I 
 use it to mean a peculiar nervous affinity or congenial mental 
 sympathy. I may come into rapport with you, by bringing my 
 nerve system into harmony with yours, and yours with mine ; in 
 this condition, if I am in the negative, if you have a pain any- 
 where, I will feel the same pain, the same where ; this is the prin- 
 ciple of spiritual inspiration. Two strings of equal length, size, 
 kind, and tension will both vibrate together in perfect unison, if 
 but one is touched and sounded by the hand : it will communicate
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 211 
 
 its vibration tlirough the intervening atmosphere to the other, 
 and thus cause it to vibrate in perfect unison with itself. This is 
 harmony. Again it is said, that two strings equal in every respect, 
 except that one is fixed permanently, and the other so strung as 
 to be capable of yielding, when the fixed one is constantly vibra- 
 ted, the other, receiving the vibrations through the air, will after 
 a while adapt itself to the same, and vibrate in unison. We know 
 that the strings of a violin, when kept constantly in tune, will 
 sound and accord much better than when left in a contrary con- 
 dition ; and also that one sound, as of thunder, for example, will 
 affect the glass, another the window frames, another the house, 
 etc., varying not in volume and power, but in some other peculi- 
 arity, and seeming to receive ready response from those objects 
 only which are in unison in this peculiarity. It is said, that fine 
 sand spread in a thin layer over a thin sheet of membrane, drawn 
 tightly over a wineglass, will form regular lines and figures, with 
 astonishing celerity, varying with the sound. Sir Isaac Xewton 
 discovered that the prismatic rays of light correspond in perfect 
 harmony with the diatonic scale of music. And see the various 
 effects of music upon men. In some it excites a martial ambi- 
 tion ; in others, a sweet serenity; in yet others and by far the 
 greatest number it excites mirth and hilarity, and starts the feet 
 instinctively to dancing. Much is due to the character of the 
 music, I admit, in exciting these various emotions, but more to 
 the character of the mind or subject. A certain kind of music 
 will arouse one person and a dillcrcnt kind another ; but all will 
 be touched or stirred in the predominating characteristic. This 
 again is harmony; and harmony is one fundamental, if not the 
 fundamental principle of the universe. Pythagoras, twent3--three 
 centuries ago, saw this, and believed the spheres made music in 
 their revolutions; and by the way, this illustrious and illumi- 
 nated man not only first discovered the circulation of blood, but 
 was the first who taught the immortality of the soul, under the 
 appellation and theory of metempsychosis, though he lived con- 
 temporaneous with some of the later prophets. We also know 
 that the magnetic needle, when allowed to rest with the proper 
 polar point to the north, will remain more true and reliable than 
 when left in any other position. Thus, also, if a straight bar of 
 soft iron be held in a nearly vertical position, with the lower end 
 deviating to the north, and struck several times with a hammer,
 
 212 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 it will acquire the properties of a magnet; and if the iron be 
 pure and soft and the experiment repeated, it will become thor- 
 oughly magnetized ; but soft iron will not retain the magnetism 
 like hard or impure iron, of which consists the permanent native 
 magnet. Magnetism is another form of electricity, the similar 
 properties of which repel, and the dissimilar attract each other. 
 From these illustrations we may derive one reason for the rapid 
 proficiency of practical mediums over those out of practice, or 
 out of tune, or not in the proper harmonic condition ; and also 
 analogical demonstration of mediumistic educability. The pow- 
 ers of a medium, like those of a magnet, are impaired or lost by 
 disuse ; and as heat weakens or destroys the powers of a magnet, 
 so it does those of a medium. 
 
 In connection with this let us remember that electricity itself 
 is cold. The chemical result of fire on combustible substances, 
 as, for instance, when lightning strikes and sets fire to a tree, is 
 caused by intense mechanical friction, like the instantaneous and 
 powerful impact of a cannon-bull. This subtle and tremendous 
 agent possesses both mechanical and chemical powers physically, 
 and mental or spiritual power metaphysically, or at least is an 
 agent of the latter. And as nothing affects the magnet but those 
 things for which it has an affinity, so nothing affects a medium 
 but those spirits for whom it has an affinity; and, further, as 
 nothing is impervious to the penetration or prevents the flow and 
 action of the electro-spirit-ether. This mesmeric magnetism is 
 destined yet to develop more startling wonders in the grand 
 economy of creation. You should not be astonished at my asser- 
 tion that there is a galvanic, mesmeric (so called because discov- 
 ered by Galvani and Mesmer), magnetic, electric, ethereal medium 
 of spirit pervading our entire planetary system, and probably 
 solar system, and perhaps all systems, when I inform you that, 
 according to Farraday, the variations of our magnetic needle 
 correspond with the variations of the spots in the sun ; that the 
 periodicity of both these variations has become a visible fact; 
 both increase or decrease together, embracing a period of ten 
 years; thus establishing solar, stellar, and terrestrial magnetism 
 in mutual and reciprocal connection. All these subtile refined 
 media move by undulatory, vibratory, or pulsatory wave move- 
 ment, as light, sound, heat, electricity, the magnetic polarization 
 with which all bodies and atoms are endowed : and just so moves
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 213 
 
 our nervous fluid throngli which mind operates upon mind in or 
 out of the flesh ; and just so moves the vital current of our ani- 
 mal organism. Thus when my nerve fluid vibrates in unison 
 with yours, as two musical- strings in accord, we are in rapport 
 with each other. This is spiritual harmonic unison. The oper- 
 ator, in mesmerizing his subject, becomes positive to the subject, 
 and will succeed as soon as he comes into rapjsort with him, in 
 unisonant nervous vibration, and never before. Just so v/ith the 
 excarnated spirit and earthly medium, the latter being negative 
 and receptive, quiescent and plastic, completely subject to the 
 positive will of the spirit. Some of us are naturally in this con- 
 dition to some other person either in or out of the flesh ; all may 
 become so by proper effort, — not effort of positive, energetic 
 action, but of calm, quiescent, confiding condition of pure, sin- 
 cere desire of good. This is the condition of prayer. Xot to 
 inform or dictate to God, to change his mind, his will, his laws, 
 or in any way interfere with his plans or his providence; for it 
 is simply impious and ridiculous to attempt it. Nor can the 
 Deity thus violate his own laws or * nature of things,' and gratify 
 our ignorant and selfish petitions, for God cannot lie. Bat in 
 fervent silence and sincerity, in negative and receptive condition 
 of feelings, with exulted aspirations for the good and the true, 
 with all the outside world and its selfish animalities shut out 
 from the soul, and thoughts and desires lifted up after higher 
 spheres, some pure spirit from those higher spheres, in sympa- 
 thetic unison, will come and comfort us and enlighten and lift 
 us up and communicate through the mystic medium of in.-^pira- 
 tion. This is true prayer and * availeth much.' If we would 
 have the influx of inspiration from pure spirits, we must become 
 pure ourselves; we must bring ourselves up to this high ])lane, 
 that higher angels may reach us. You know the direction 
 was not to go into the public houses and do tall talking and big 
 blowing, but retire in the silence and sincerity of the soul, lifting 
 up fervent aspirations for higher influences. The reason Moses 
 was not taught and elevated as Avas Socrates and the man of Naz- 
 areth to return good for evil, is because he did not occupy the 
 high plane of inspiration. In the words of Tiffany, ' Paul, Peter, 
 John, etc., were not equal to their Master, because they had not 
 attained his elevated condition of natural harmonic develoi)mcnt; 
 had they occupied his pure plane, God could have communicated
 
 214 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 to them as well as to their teacher ; and it would not have been 
 necessary for them to have a middle man to come betM^een them 
 and God. 'When you have risen to this plane of communication, 
 the communication is internal. You have no outward form of 
 expression, because you have the thought itself by inspiration. 
 In the language of the apostle, God writes his language in your 
 understandings and in your affections. All communications with 
 the spirit world proceeding according to this law, each man's 
 communication will be according to his plane; if in the low plane 
 of lust, his communications will be of that character; if in love, 
 his communications will be of that character. But even the 
 lowest, by putting himself in the condition of prayer, by aspiring 
 for the good and the holy, by putting up earnest petitions for 
 aid, will always find a spirit near to sustain and elevate him.' 
 Generally, men will pray when there is need for it ; it is as natu- 
 ral to invoke the help of higher and purer powers when we re- 
 quire it, as it is to call for food when hungry. Generally, I say, 
 but not invariably, for exceptional cases occur here, as well as in 
 all of nature's operations. As a morbid condition of the physical 
 system sometimes feels no hunger when the system requires food, 
 and at others craves food when it is not required, so, in the mor- 
 bid condition of a sin-seared man. he feels not the disposition of 
 praying for superior help when he really needs it, and in others, 
 prays intensely for supernal aid, when he is guilty of no heinous 
 sin, and no such supervenient help is needed." 
 
 From " Spiritualism Explained " the following : " Did I wish 
 to communicate with a spirit, who has unfolded in him a spirit 
 consciousness, which can be addressed in any other way than 
 through the physical eye, or ear, or touch, and being so divested 
 of this physical form, that my mind comes in absolute contact 
 with this spirit medium, which permeates all space, and which 
 internally and spiritually corresponds to light external and phys- 
 ical, and passes through bodies opaque to light, — then my spirit 
 form acts upon the spirit medium, which is not impeded by this 
 wall, but which passes through it as light through transparent 
 glass, carrying my image with it. We say that glass is transpar- 
 ent, because light passes freely through it, and brings the image 
 of that which it would represent. We see an individual or ten 
 [images] coming freely through the glass into the room. Now,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 215 
 
 if we have a medium wliich will pass as freely through a board, 
 then that board is as transparent to that medium as glass is to 
 light. The magnetic medium by which the magnetic needle is 
 influenced passes freely through a board even ; therefore to that 
 medium the board is as transparent as glass is to light. It is also 
 well to understand that this nerve medium, as well as the spirit- 
 ual medium corresponding to the mind, — which is to the mind 
 what the medium of light is to the eye, — passes freely through 
 these opaque bodies. Therefore the individual brought in con- 
 tact with this medium will sec spirit existences, not by their pres- 
 ence in the consciousness, but by that which represents the pres- 
 ence there. Hence it is that the clairvoyant (when you have 
 proceeded with your manifestation, until you have insulated the 
 mind, or brought it into clear rapport vfith. this spiritual medium 
 or atmosophere, so that he sees by the spiritual sight, and hears 
 by the spiritual ear, and no longer sees with the physical eye, or 
 hears with the physical ear) comes in contact with this spiritual 
 medium, and can look out into another room and tell what is 
 transpiring, who is there, etc., just us we can look through glass 
 and tell what we see. Tlie principle is precisely the same. The 
 medium by which he perceives things in another room freely 
 permeates or passes through the intervening walls ; so that al- 
 thougli my spiritual form is still in this body, yet it is actually 
 exerting its influence on this spiritual medium throughout the 
 world, — throughout not only this world, but throughout the solar 
 system. 
 
 Wherever this spiritual medium extends, this spiritual image 
 of mine is taken and carried out through that medium, just as 
 my i)hysical image is carried out through the medium of light ; 
 and whoever comes into rapport with that spirit medium and in- 
 fluence, and undulates to the same motion, will perceive that form. 
 Hence, coming into the clairvoyant condition, I, being in New 
 York, may see a person in London or Pckin, if it so happen that 
 the undulation of my mind on this medium be such as to har- 
 monize with that of the individual in London or Pckin ; not tliat 
 his spirit is personally here present, or my spirit personally present 
 there (but I am hero in my spirit consciousness, and he there in 
 his spirit consciousness), but because his image as well as mine is 
 here, and there, and everywhere else. The idea that my mind 
 goes to London, or his comes here, is altogether a misconception.
 
 216 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 I perceive that individual in London, not by Lis absolute pres- 
 ence, but by that which represents that presence here; just as I 
 see you, not by your presence in my mind, but by that which rep- 
 resents your presence there. I am looking on tliis congregation, 
 and therefore the person seeing me sees me surrounded by this 
 congregation. He does not see you, but since you are in my mind, 
 your image goes with mine. The person coming into rapport 
 with me sees. you as your image exists in my mind. If any one 
 doubts this law, I am ready to be questioned. Bring up any case 
 you please, either from the temporal or spiritual world, and I will 
 show that this is the law. It is a fallacious idea that spirits can- 
 not communicate without being actually present and at any other 
 place at the same time. They can be present whenever there is a 
 mind in rapport with them to see that presence. 
 
 People talk about their being so rapid in their passage from 
 here to Boston or London, etc. This is all explained when you 
 understand the law of manifestation. ' Why are not all medi- 
 ums?' 'Why cannot all get communications, and at all times?' 
 etc. If we wish to get a communication, we must conform to the 
 conditions required by the law : and if we do not conform to these 
 conditions, God himself could not give it to us. The laws of 
 manifestation and communication are as fixed and immutable as 
 God's own being. I was once one of those things called medi- 
 ums, and am now perhaps to some extent; when I was partially 
 asleep there would be very loud raps, and if you could come in 
 without waking me up, you might get a communication: and it 
 has ever been so when I am peculiarly quiet mentally, but the 
 moment I rouse up and ask questions, I can get no reply. There 
 are others who require exactly opposite conditions, whose bodies 
 are too active for their minds, in whose presence you can get rap- 
 pings, by reducing the action of the body ; but change them from 
 that point, the manifestation ceases. There are others, who in 
 the normal state seem to comply with all the conditions neces- 
 sary : that is, whose vital and nervous systems are the same ; but 
 you stir or excite them any way, and the manifestations cease, sim- 
 ply because there is no harmonic action between the mental and 
 physical system. Persons boast at times of being able to destroy 
 the power of mediums ; but nothing could be simpler, for a pow- 
 erful battery may have its action stopped, by lifting out the con- 
 necting wire. It is often the case, that the entrance of a person
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 217 
 
 into a circle where manifestations are occurring causes their 
 discontinuance, and the person is perhaps astonished to think the 
 spirits should be so contrary ; it was simply because he had come 
 in, and violated the conditions by which they could manifest ; he 
 had, so to speak, disturbed one of the plates of the battery. One 
 class of individuals in the sphere of lust, in what we call the low 
 and polluted plane, cannot come into rapport with those occupy- 
 ing a higher plane. ' There is an impassable gulf between them.' 
 It is useless to open doors or windows for spirits to enter, for a 
 door is as transparent to the medium by which they are repre- 
 sented, as a pane of glass is to the medium of light. Jesus appeared 
 in the midst of his disciples, though they were shut up ; and when 
 the time came for his disappearance, he ceased to be seen, not by 
 going out of the door or window, but by disturbing the conditions 
 by which he was represented in their consciousness. In respect of 
 spirit mansions, etc., in the spiritual world, we are very liable to 
 mistake representation for actuality ; we are very liable to mistake 
 images of things, creations, so to speak, proceeding from the 
 minds of the spirits, for actualities. We are very apt to perceive 
 animals ; some think that animals have a living form, and exist 
 in the spiritual world : but I pretend to say it is not true ; I know 
 very well how they appear there: I know very well how it is that 
 persons suppose they do exist, and why spirits in the spiritual 
 world appear to have their dogs, cats, — their pet animals. The 
 condition of immortality cannot pertain to the mere animal being. 
 The representations of animals, forests, fields, and things of this 
 kind have no basis upon that which has a material or actual ex- 
 istence in the universe ; they are only developed under the law of 
 representation ; if you will only investigate the law of represen- 
 tation, you will have no difficulty in accounting for these things 
 in the spiritual world." 
 
 Again : '' When 1 go to the spirit world, I must take that with 
 me, of which I must be conscious, else I shall not take my individ- 
 uality with me, else I become annihilated. Just to the extent I 
 leave my affections behind me, shall I be annihilated as a si)iritual 
 being. AVheu I go to the s})iritual world, I must take my charac- 
 ter with me, that which is made an integral part of my spiritual 
 character by its development in me ; of course then, wherever I 
 go that must go; the love that rules within me must go with me, 
 until that ruling love is changed, or until some holier love shall
 
 218 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 call me to a higher plane of action. I am prepared to maintain 
 that when we go to the spiritual world, we shall take with us all 
 the loves, aifections, thoughts, feelings, and sentiments which 
 characteize us as individual beings. 
 
 The idea that when a spirit leaves the body he gets rid of all 
 his impurity, has caused many to greatly venerate spiritual com- 
 munications, and attach to them much authority. I remember 
 that it was with much deference that I listened to the first commu- 
 nications that came from the spirit world ; but I very soon learned 
 that a spirit was not necessarily wiser because of his separation 
 from the body. Not that they are below the world ; for when you 
 have taken an average of the justice and wisdom of the world, you 
 will find that the standard it could set up would not be very high. 
 When you look over the earth and witness the very low state of 
 character of the human race here, why should you wonder that 
 spirits of a very low character should hover around us and mani- 
 fest themselves to the world ? " 
 
 And again : " I know that spirits do communicate, do exist. 
 It is not with me a matter of conjecture at all; I kisow it," etc. 
 
 Quotations from "Spiritualism Scientifically Demonstrated.''^ 
 
 " The facts which I have noticed in relation to mediumship are 
 certainly among the most inexplicable in nature. 
 
 There are two modes in whish spiritual manifestations are 
 made, through the influence or sub-agency of media. In the one 
 mode, they employ the tongue to speak, the fingers to write, or 
 hands to actuate tables or instruments for communication ; in the 
 other, they act upon ponderable matter directly, through a halo 
 or aura appertaining to media ; so that although the muscular 
 power may be incapacitated for aiding them, they will cause a body 
 to move, or produce raps intelligibly, so as to select letters convey- 
 ing their ideas, uninfluenced by those of the medium. 
 
 Eappings or tappings are made at the distance of many feet 
 from the medium, and ponderable bodies, such as bells, are moved 
 or made to undergo the motion requisite to being rung. My spirit 
 father, in reply to the queries put in relation to this mystery, 
 asks, ' How do you move your limbs, carry the body wherever it 
 goeth? How does God cause the movements of astronomical 
 orbs ? ' Evidently some instrument must intervene between the 
 Divine will and the bodies actuated thereby, and in humble imita-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 219 
 
 tions between the human will and the limbs. Upon the viscera 
 our will has no influence. The heart moves without the exercise 
 of volition- 
 It is evident, from the creative power which the spirits avow 
 themselves to possess, that they exercise faculties which they do 
 not understand. Their explanation of the mysteries of medium- 
 ship only substitutes one mystery for another. The only explana- 
 tion which I can conceive is, that spirits, by volition, can deprive 
 bodies of vis inerticB, and move bodies, as they do themselves, by 
 their will. But the necessity of the presence of a medium to the 
 display of this power, granting its existence, is a mystery. 
 
 That the spirit should, by its 'magic' will-power, take posses- 
 sion of the frame of a human being, so as to make use of its brain 
 and nervous system, depriving its appropriate owner of control, 
 is a wonderful fact, sufficiently difficult to believe, yet, neverthe- 
 less, intelligible. The aura which surrounds a medium must be 
 imponderable. No volition of the medium can, through its in- 
 strumentality, move ponderable bodies, nor cause raps or conse- 
 quent vibrations in the wooden boards. Hence, the presence of a 
 medium imparts power to spirits Avhich the medium docs not pos- 
 sess. 
 
 It has appeared to me a great error on the part of spirits, as 
 TVell as mortals, that they should make efforts to explain the phe- 
 nomena of the spirit Avorld by the ponderable or imponderable 
 agents of the temporal world. The fact that the rays of our sun 
 do not affect the spirit world, and that there is for that region 
 an appropriate luminary, avIiosc rays we do not perceive, must 
 demonstrate that the imponderable element to which they owe 
 their peculiar light differs from the ethereal fluid, which, accord- 
 ing to the uiidulatory theory, is the means of producing light iu 
 the terrestrial creation. 
 
 As there is an ethereal medium by means of Avhich light moves 
 through space to the remotest visible fixed star to the eye, at the 
 rate of two hundred thousand miles per second, through an af- 
 fection of the same ether frictional electricity moves, according to 
 Wheatstone's argument estimate, with a velocity exceeding that 
 of light, so may we not infer that the instrument of Divine v*^ill 
 acts with still greater velocity, and that in making man in this 
 respect after his own image, so far as necessary to an available ex- 
 istence, gives him one degree of power over the same element
 
 220 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 while in the mortal state, and another higher degree of power in 
 the spiritual state ? But if there be an element through which a 
 spirit within his mortal frame is capable of actuating that frame, 
 may not this element of actuation be susceptible of becoming an 
 instrument to the will of another spirit in the immortal state ? 
 
 Concerned in the processes of mediumship, it is manifest that 
 there is none of that kind of electricity or magnetism of which 
 the laws and phenomena have been the subject of Farraday's re- 
 searches, and which are treated of in books, under the heads of f ric- 
 tional or mechanical electricity, galvanism, or electro-magnetism. 
 
 Frictional electricity, such as produced usually by the friction 
 of glass in an electrical machine, or of aqueous globules generated 
 by steam escaping from a boiler, is always to be detected by elec- 
 trometers, or the spark given to a conducting body when in com- 
 munication with the earth; the human knuckle, for instance. 
 When not sufficiently accumulated to produce these evidences of 
 its presence, it must be in a very feeble state of excitement. But 
 even in highest accumulation by human means, as in the discharge 
 of a powerfully charged Leyden battery, it only acts for a time in- 
 conceivably brief, and does not move ponderable masses as they 
 are moved in the instance of spiritual manifestations. It is only 
 in transitu that frictional electricity displays much power, and 
 then its path is extremely narrow, and the duration of its influ- 
 ence inconceivably minute. According to Wheatstone's experi- 
 ments and calculations, it would go round the earth in the tenth 
 part of a second. 
 
 How infinitely small, then, the period required to go from one 
 side of a room to another ! Besides, there are neither means of 
 generating such electricity, nor of securing that insulation which 
 must be an indispensable precursor of accumulation. Galvanic 
 or voltaic electricity does not act at a distance so as to produce 
 any recognized effects, except in the case of magnetic metals, or 
 in the state of transition produced by an electric dischai-ge. In 
 these phenomena the potent effects are attainable only by means 
 of perfect insulated conductors, as we see in the telegraphic ap- 
 paratus. No reaction with imperfect conducting bodies compe- 
 tent to toss them to and fro, or up and down, can be accomplished. 
 The decomposing influence, called electrolytic, is only exhibited 
 at insensible distances, within a filament of the matter affected. 
 
 In one of the replies made by the convocation the idea was
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 221 
 
 sanctioned of the effalgence of the spirit being due to an appro- 
 priate ethereal fluid, analogous to that above alluded to. But it 
 has, I think, been shown by me, that as light is due to the undu- 
 lations of our ether, so electricity is due to waves of polarization. 
 But if undulations produce light in the ether of the spiritual 
 universe as well as in ours, Avhy may not polarization produce in 
 the ether of the spirit world an electricity analogous to ours? 
 Thus, although in spiritual manifestations our electricity takes 
 no part, their electricity may be the means by which their will is 
 transmitted efEectually in the phenomena which it controls. 
 
 The aura on one side, and the spirit on the other, are inert un- 
 less associated. Thus the volition of the spirit gives activity 
 to an effluvium, by itself so devoid of efficacy that it wholly 
 escapes the perception of the possessor or the observation of his 
 mundane companions. It has been already alleged that the usual 
 reference to mundane electricity must be wholly unsatisfactory to 
 all acquainted with the phenomena and laws associated under 
 that name; since no such movements have ever been produced 
 by such electrical means, nor is it consistent with these mundane 
 electrical laws, nor the facts which electricians have noticed, that 
 such movements should be produced. Those movements which 
 have been produced by electricity have never been effected with- 
 out surfaces oppositely charged, nor, of course, without the means 
 of charging them. Neither are there associated with the spiritual 
 manifestations means at hand of creating nor of holding charges 
 even much more minute than those which display perceptible 
 force or cause audible sound. Electro-magnetic phenomena re- 
 quire the use of powerful galvanic batteries or magnetic metals. 
 Galvanic series, of the most powerful kind, do not act at the mi- 
 nutest distance without contact. 
 
 Even lightning could not move a table backward and forward, 
 though it might shatter it into pieces, if duly interposed into a 
 circuit. Electrical sparks produce snapping sounds in the air, 
 not knockings or rappings upon sonorous solids. xVn incredulity 
 liable to be overcome by the reason by which it has been created 
 does not form a bar; but where an impregnable bigotry has been 
 introduced merely by education, so that the person under its in- 
 fluence Avould have been a Catholic, Calvinist, Unitarian, Jew, or 
 Mohammedan by a change of parentage, cannot usually be 
 changed by any evidence or argument. Spirits will not spend their
 
 222 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 time subjecting their manifestations to such impregnable bigotry, 
 or to predetermined malevolence. 
 
 On this account such persons find it hard to obtain the mani- 
 festations which they seek with ill-will to Spiritualism, and a 
 predisposition to ridicule and pervert it. 
 
 Besides this difiiculty, there is no doubt a constitutional state, 
 the inverse of that which creates a medium. The atmosphere of 
 persons so constituted neutralizes that of those who are endowed 
 with that of mediumship. 
 
 It were impossible for any one to be more incredulous than I 
 was when I commenced my investigations ; but in the first place 
 my recorded religious impressions, founded on more than a half- 
 century of intense reflection, in no respect conflicted with the 
 belief which Spiritualism required. As I said to a clergyman, I 
 wish I knew as well what I ought to believe, as I can perceive 
 what I ought not to believe. I was ardently desirous that the 
 existence of a future state should be established in a way to con- 
 form to positive science, so that they might start together. This 
 was perceived by my spirit friends, and that they had only to give 
 me sufiicient evidence of the existence of spirits and their world 
 to make me lay down in the cause my comparatively worthless 
 mortal life, could I be more useful to truth in dying than 
 living. 
 
 Thus it appears that there is a mesmeric electricity, or spiritual 
 electricity, which may be considered as appropriate to the spirit 
 world as their vital air is, but which, like that air, may influence 
 our spiritual bodies while in their mundane tenement. It may, as 
 well as the vital air of the spirit world, belong in common to the 
 inhabitants of this world, and to us as spirits, being a polarizing 
 affection of the spiritual ethereal medium of which the undula- 
 tions constitute the peculiar rays of their spiritual sun. 
 
 That this spiritual or mesmeric electricity should be auxiliary 
 to the efficacy of the magic will-power of spirits, is of course one 
 of those mysteries which, like those of gravitation, may be ascer- 
 tained to jarevail, and yet be to spirits as well as mortals inexpli- 
 cable. 
 
 The words ' magnetism ' and ' magnetic ' are used in this world 
 in two different senses. In one it signifies the magnetism of mag- 
 nets or electro-magnets ; in the other, the animal magnetism of 
 which the existence was suggested by Mesmer, and which is com-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 223 
 
 monly called mesmerism. This mesmerical magnetism seems to 
 be dependent rather on properties which we have as immortals 
 encased in a corporeal clothing, than as mortals owing our men- 
 tal faculties to that frame. If it be the spiritual portion of our 
 organization which is operative in clairvoyancy, spiritual elec- 
 tricity may be the intermedium both of that faculty and of mes- 
 meric influence. 
 
 All spirits are clairvoyant more or less, and where this faculty 
 is exercised, it seems to be due to an unusual ascendency of the 
 Bpiritual powers over the corporeal, so that clairvoyants possess 
 some of the faculties which every spirit, after shuffling oft' the 
 mortal coil, must possess to a greater or less extent. The means 
 by which they are capable of communicating are various, and 
 moreover precious, according to the health and equanimity of the 
 mortal being under whose halo they may strive to act. 
 
 Spirits cannot approach effectively a medium of a sphere much 
 above, or below, that to which they belong; as media, in propor- 
 tion as they are more capable of serving for the higher intellec- 
 tual communications, are less capable of serving for mechanical 
 demonstrations: and as they are more capable of the latter, are 
 less competent for the former; spirits likewise have a higher or 
 lower capacity to employ media. 
 
 These facts make the subject of mediumship a most complicated 
 mystery ; but the creation teems with mystery, so that inscruta- 
 bility cannot be a ground of disbelief of anything. The only 
 cases wherein there is absolute incredibility are those in which 
 the definition of the premises contradicts those of the inferences, 
 or conclusions. 
 
 If we undertake to generalize, it must come pretty near to what 
 I have said above, that spirits are endowed, so my spirit father 
 alleges, with a ' magic will,' capable oi producing, as they allege, 
 wonderful results within their own world: nevertheless, that this 
 will does not act by itself directly on mundane bodies. xVn inter- 
 medium is found in the halo or aura within or without certain 
 human organizations; the halos thus existing are not all simi- 
 larly endowed, some having one, some another capability; some 
 are better for one object, some for another object. Again, the will- 
 power varies, as the sphere of the spirits is higher or lower, so 
 that the meditim suited for one is not suited for anothei'. 
 
 The aura of a medium, which thus enables an immortal spirit
 
 224 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 to do within its scope, things which it cannot do otherwise, ap- 
 pears to vary with the human being resorted to : so that only a 
 few are so endowed with this aura, as to be competent as media. 
 Moreover, in those who are so constituted, as to be competent 
 instruments of spiritual actuation, this competency is various. 
 There is a gradation of competency, by which the nature of the 
 instrumentality varies from that which empowers violent loud 
 knocking, and the moving of ponderable bodies without actual 
 contact, to the grade which confers power to make intellectual 
 communications of the higher order, without that of audible 
 knocking. Further, the power to employ these grades of medium- 
 ship varies as the sphere of the spirit varies. 
 
 It has been stated, that mortals have each a halo, perceptible to 
 spirits, by which they are enabled to determine the sphere to 
 which any individual will go on passing death's portal." 
 
 Davis says, " Spirits in all past times, when they have commu- 
 nicated with man, observed, though they did not well understand 
 the great principles of aromal intercourse," which Mr. Putman 
 thus elucidates : " Place a small bunch of fragrant violets in each 
 of two vases upon your centre table, and the aroma or fragrance 
 of each bunch will extend to the other, and blend with the other's 
 aroma, both around and in the bunch, and tlirough all the space 
 between the two. Now these lines or rays of fragrance from one, 
 that intermix with, and run parallel to, similar lines from the 
 other, may be telegraphic wires, along which the violets might, 
 if intelligent, send back and forth their mutual thoughts and feel- 
 ing ; remove one bunch of violets, and put a rose in its place, and 
 the blended rays will produce a different odor, which might be 
 more agreeable to some of us, and less so to others. A similar 
 blending of electrical aromas doubtless take place when any two 
 of us meet, and also between each of us and any spirit that may 
 be in attendance upon us; such aroma, though it escapes our 
 senses, is yet perceived by the dog : and the dog's power of discern- 
 ment teaches, that no two of us give off effluvia that are precisely 
 alike. Now the electrical evolutions of one human body may be 
 such as will readily combine with the electrical emanations from 
 some spirits, and the two in close and concordant alliance, like 
 muscle and nerve, may be adequate to the performance of such 
 works as we are now considering. Some such affinity and coales-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 225 
 
 cence, I suppose, takes place whenever one is what we call a me- 
 dium ; but the same electrical condition in a spirit, which adapts 
 him or her to work through some one of us, may yet be unsuited 
 to work kindly with another person, whose electrical aroma is 
 either much more or much less positive. Spirits may differ as 
 much in power to use men, as men differ in susceptibilities to be 
 used by the spirits; the work is done through an aromal inter- 
 course, and it is only when the spirit aroma and the mundane 
 aroma, combine in harmonious equilibrium, making as it Avere hut 
 one, and that one subject to the spirit's will, that man becomes 
 the spirit's instrument. Violet and violet may furnish an efficient 
 mixture, while violet and rose combined may be unfit for use." 
 
 We will now give from the same author some explanations of 
 mesmerism, the key which may unlock many long-closed cham- 
 bers of mystery. Every reader has doubtless asked, ''• What is 
 mesmerism ? " This being put forth as a solvent of many great 
 mysteries of all times and among all people, what is this mesmer- 
 ism itself ? 
 
 *' Frankly, it is quite a mystery yet, but it is not looked upon 
 as involving anything supernatural, devilish, or in such a sense 
 miraculous, as to imply either a suspension or a violation of nat- 
 ural laws in its processes of manifestations. Through it we learn 
 that some men, by a concentrated application of their mental 
 forces, aided often by the eye or the hand, can either take fronii 
 or impart to certain persons some property or fluid which enables- 
 the operator to become master in the subject's house or body.. 
 Through that other body he manifests himself, but he does this- 
 only imperfectly. He has power there, but not power equal tO' 
 that wliicli he can display through his own organs. A man is. 
 cramped when he has to take a borrowed body, therefore a spirit 
 well may be so too. In successful mesmerism, the subject will 
 walk, or sit, or kneel, or lie down; will move this way or that; 
 will perform the most ludicrous or the most appropriate acts ; 
 will see one object or another ; will taste or smell or feel any im- 
 aginable substance, whether present or not, just according to the 
 will of the operator. But this is not all ; frequently such posses- 
 sion affects a liberation of the subject's intellectual and perceptive 
 faculties from the control, not of the operator alone, but also 
 from the crampings of his own external organs, and thus enables
 
 226 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 him to look out through walls of solid masonry, through hills of 
 granite, and into the most interior recesses of the human body, 
 or any other animal or vegetable organism. He seems to possess 
 perceptive faculties which enable him to see and hear and sense 
 through all material objects, at vast distances and in all direc- 
 tions. Thus conditioned, he can read the autobiography of any 
 natural object, scan the distant, and get glimpses of the future. 
 He seems like one freed from the body, and endowed with organs 
 which use electricity as their medium of sight and sound, and 
 thus can he see and hear through whatever electricity can pene- 
 trate ; that is, through almost, if not quite, all material objects. 
 Some men, then, possess and can put forth such will-power as 
 makes certain other men their objects and unresisting tools, sim- 
 ple unconscious organs by which to express their own thoughts 
 and purposes. Sometimes such control is absolute, but in more 
 cases only partial ; and such a subduing force, when carried beyond 
 a certain point, pushes the subject's intellectual and perceptive 
 faculties into unwonted freedom and independence, and makes 
 him a more independent and gifted man than before. 
 
 Such are the results of human magnetism, called mesmerism 
 only because Mesmer applied it, and drew attention to it more 
 definitely and extensively than any one had done before or since 
 his time. The getting control of another's organism, either by 
 abstracting from it or imparting to it human magnetism, is mes- 
 merism. It is the action of one mind, in connection with its en- 
 veloping body, upon another's body and its indwelling mind. It 
 is some action of the living upon the living, and not upon tables 
 and chairs. 
 
 We come now to the raps and tips. This working outside of and 
 distant from the medium's body, and this infusion of animation 
 and intelligence into inanimate wood, is more than mesmerism 
 has ever claimed or seemed to perform. The visible, living man, 
 acting upon a visible, living organism, is always involved in mes- 
 merism ; but many of the physical manifestations of Spiritualism 
 imply some invisible power revealing intelligence through inani- 
 mate matter. The raps and knockings and table-tippings have 
 never come out among the works of mesmerism. The harsh 
 poundings, the childish tiltings, the unmannerly antics of heavy 
 pianos and large dining-tables are, as many say, too low and vul- 
 gar for any decent mind in the body to wish for or to prompt ;
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK, 227 
 
 no woll-brcd mesmerist ever calls for such results. True, true; 
 but Avould they come if he did call for them? No; he does not 
 show the raps and tips. And why not? Simply because he can- 
 not. These low and ridiculed works lie beyond the farthest 
 stretch of his powers. A table rising and floating gently in the 
 air, a piano dancing to the tune that is being played upon itself, 
 a human form rising gently from the floor toward the ceiling, 
 and moving, dove-like, around the room, a chair tipping in answer 
 to questions, and all this where neither muscle, nor machinery, 
 nor any tangible mechanical power was applied, — these things, 
 and others like them, which are happening every month, and are 
 seen over and over again by many credible witnesses, these things 
 are not found in mesmerism. Did animal magnetism, did elec- 
 tricity, did odyle, did either or all of these constitute the in- 
 telligent actor in the chair which answered my questions ? No ; 
 these fluids or forces of nature are not mind. 
 
 They do not, they cannot guide and control action so as to 
 converse with man. They may be, and doubtless are, instruments 
 through which one mind imparts intelligence to another ; but 
 they, in and of themselves, are not mind, and cannot think nor 
 act intelligently. Let the most powerful embodied mesmerizer 
 which the world contains try his will upon the insensible chair, 
 and will the chair move of his bidding? No, not the fraction of 
 an inch. Charge the chair, even encased in glass or coated with 
 sealing-wax, — charge it with all the magnetism, electricity, and 
 odyllic fluid imaginable, and will they all generate in it or convey 
 into it mind enough to understand and to answer my question ? 
 No, obviously no. You know that if an embodied mesmerizer 
 should will the chair to move, and keep on willing it to move for 
 hours, that it would not stir an inch, unless he applied his hand 
 to it. His will-power controls only living organism. You know, 
 too, that neither magnetism, electricity, nor odyle could be made 
 to give or to generate a mind in the chair ; yet its motions proved 
 that mind was there. Common-sense demands the admission of 
 this. But mind needs tools or organs when it gives intelligent 
 movements to matter. We usually find it expressing itself 
 through the eyes, the face, the tongue, the hand. The acting 
 mind surely needed a hand, or something with the powers of a 
 hand, to move that chair. So also did one angel to will away the 
 stone, and the other angel to unlock the prison door. Something
 
 228 THE UNSEAXED BOOK. 
 
 with the powers of a hand was needed in each case. Perhaps a 
 hand was there. Spirits profess to have power under favorahle 
 circumstances to gather up and use some (to us) invisible emana- 
 tions from the bodies of our mediums, and elements from the 
 atmosphere in some localities, and to combine these with certain 
 properties inherent in themselves, and from these materials to 
 construct hands, arms, etc., varying in size according to their own 
 inherent powers and the qualities of the foreign materials used ; 
 they profess to be able to form hands, arms, etc., varying in 
 strength from those of a feeble infant up to those of a veritable 
 Samson. [This was doubtless written before the materializing 
 phase of mediumship had been developed to any extent, or at 
 least before it came to the knowledge of the writer.] When such 
 tools have been constructed, the invisible ones work out by aid of 
 them results which man can see and hear and feel. Then raps 
 and tips are heard and seen ; then the low things become high. 
 
 Many tell us that Spiritualism is nothing but mesmerism. Of 
 course, such a statement admits that it is as much as mesmerism ; 
 that it is, in fact, the same thing. Thanks for this concession ; 
 because mesmerism, if permitted to mature, may ripen into Spir- 
 itualism. One tree, like the orange, often shows flowers and 
 green fruit and ripe at the same time. Much that is supposed to 
 be only mesmerism is, in fact, Spiritualism ; also, much of what 
 is regarded as Spiritualism is only mesmerism. Often, when man 
 magnetizes, he puts his subject into such a state that some spirit 
 quietly slips in and works there, and yet the spirit's presence is 
 not suspected. At such times an angel is entertained unawares. 
 Spiritualism is then under the name of mesmerism. On the other 
 hand, our spirit mediums often get mesmerized by the company 
 present, so as to become clairvoyant and clairaudient. The in- 
 ternal or spirit eyes and ears of the mediums get opened by the 
 undesigned, unwilled flowings of human magnetism to or from 
 those around them. Their words may report to us spirit utter- 
 ances and describe spirits and spirit scenes, and yet the real speak- 
 ers may be only entranced mortals, listening to the voices above, 
 and looking into homes of the ascended. There may be a pure 
 mesmerism which opens a way for mortals to see and hear the 
 departed. What then is a distinction between mesmerism and 
 Spiritualism ? 
 
 Mesmerism is something which a man does while he has his
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 229 
 
 clothes on. Spiritualism is a similar act of his after his clothes 
 have been put off. Suppose I magnetize you to-day, and that I, 
 the mcsmerizcr, speak, write, act through you, you being uncon- 
 scious: this is mesmerism. Suppose further, that I die to-night, 
 and that to-morrow I, a spirit, come and magnetize you, and tlien 
 speak, write, act through you : this is Spiritualism, Here we 
 have the same operator working upon and through the same sub- 
 ject, the only difference being that to-day I, the operator, am in 
 the body, having my clothes on, while to-morrow I am to be out 
 of the body, or to have my clothes off. Such is the only essential 
 difference between mesmerism and Spiritualism in some of its 
 forms. If man's powers are not diminished by the death of his 
 body, then some spirits can mesmerize susceptible subjects. No 
 increase of power is needed, no miracle is wanted. Mesmerism 
 and Spiritualism may differ no more than the green fruit and the 
 ripe on the same tree. They are nourished through the same 
 roots, the same trunk; one ripens into the other. Those who are 
 so inclined may pluck all the oranges from their own trees while 
 tlie fruit is yet green ; but I beg of them to leave mine upi>n the 
 branches, and when an orange there shall have become fully ripe, 
 I trust they will not dissuade me from eating it, by alleging that 
 their own green ones have never tasted good. Spirits, then, often 
 have to perform the difficult and uncertain process of inducing a 
 full mesmeric sleep before they can manage the hand of the flesh. 
 Several persons, who are susceptible to both the mesmeric and the 
 spirit influence, have told me that when the controlling fluid 
 comes to them from one in the body, they feel it flowing in hori- 
 zontally and entering mostly about the region of the eyes; but 
 when it comes from the spirits, the stream is vertical and enters 
 through the spiritual organs on the crown of tiie head. That 
 the process of mesmerizing and of spiritualizing a subject are 
 very similar, might be argued from the fact that both succeed 
 best under like circumstances. Both are most easily performed 
 where all minds are quiet and passive ; both ask for good air and 
 an harmonious circle; and both generally succeed best with the 
 same organism and temperaments ; in other words, in most cases, 
 but not in all, good spirit mediums can be easily magnetized. 
 The difference, then, between mesmerism and Spiritualism in 
 some of its forms is not enough to let us regard them as generic- 
 ally different.
 
 230 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 If any spirit can visit earth and work here, why cannot all oth- 
 ers ? If my spirit friend can communicate through a stranger, 
 why can he not do the same through me ? Why cannot all spir- 
 its come ? Why are not all persons mediums ? Such questions 
 have come up in every mind. You hear said. If spirits come, 
 why do they not come to and through me ? Probably they are 
 hindered by natural obstacles, inherent in either them or yourself. 
 How is it in mesmerism ? There are but few successful magne- 
 tizers, but few facile subjects. Mr. can very easily magne- 
 tize several of my acquaintances and friends, but he can produce 
 no efEect upon me. Why this difference ? Feed two oxen alike 
 for years, and then bring them to the shambles. You may find 
 the meat of one tender and juicy, that of the other tough and 
 dry. One man has fine and soft hair, while another's is coarse 
 and hard. Why so ? Who can tell me why? The facts are ob- 
 vious, but the reasons for them cannot be given. We can only 
 say such are the results of God's modes of working. ISTow, then, 
 if in our fibres and fluids and emanations we differ one from an- 
 other, why may not some of us be very susceptible to certain 
 influences which others cannot feel at all ? Why may not some 
 impart much more easily and powerfully than others ? Till the 
 mesmerist can magnetize any one person just as easily and as 
 thoroughly as he can any other, why expect that spii'its can? 
 Till all men are efficient magnetizers, why think that all spirits 
 can be ? Till all men are facile subjects for the embodied mag- 
 netizer, why suppose that they can be for a disembodied one ? 
 The hidden reasons which exist in the one case ought, as we view 
 these subjects, to exist also in the other. We believe that they do. 
 Beyond a certain point mesmerism fails to furnish illustration of 
 Spiritualism. 
 
 The clear-sighted logician will see, I think, that, from the point 
 now reached, a direct path extends on to the seers of Prevost, 
 to Swedenborg, to Scottish seers, to Joan of Arc, to Mahomet, to 
 Koman augurs, Grecian priestesses, and all who have given their 
 contemporaries assurances that they saw spirit forms and con- 
 versed with the departed, or with angels. The prophets, seers, 
 and magicians of all ages and nations may have been all that they 
 claimed to be, and yet have been only mesmeric subjects and 
 spirit mediums. This view starts the inquiry, whether any of the 
 Scripture miracles were the acts of unseen finite intelligences,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 231 
 
 using their normal powers in submission to fixed laws. The 
 question is legitimate and proper. And it gives me pleasure to 
 make an affirmative answer, for, in doing that, I behold a God so 
 perfect that his wisdom and power were, from the beginning, 
 competent to devise such laws as should, without violation, with- 
 out suspension, admit under and in obedience to themselves all 
 the light and all the angel visitations which his children on earth 
 might ever need. When man shall see and feel that heaven's 
 inhabitants may come to earth by natural processes, and work 
 among us just according to their several abilities and characters, 
 then the greatest difficulties of philosophical faith in the Bible 
 as a record of teachings from on high will melt away, and the 
 wisdom of God himself will appear to us more complete. 
 
 Our whole train of remark implies the supposition, that refined 
 electricity, magnetism, odyle, or some unknown but yet eternal 
 and universal fluid has been an essential instrument in all parts 
 of spirit communication, as well in Judsea as in other lands. It 
 implies, too, that this, instrument can never have been wanting in 
 any age. Why, then, have angel visits been so ' few and far be- 
 tween ' ? We need not answer a query like this because of any 
 bearing it may have upon the question whether spirits come now. 
 That ocean and those winds had always existed which bore Colum- 
 bus to the New World, but the question why Europeans had so 
 seldom, if ever, reached America before, could not invalidate the 
 fact that Columbus himself had reached it. If it be proved that 
 spirits come now, the infrequency of their visits heretofore will 
 not di.s})rove the fact. Still the question, why they should come 
 so much more frequently and generally now than in former times, 
 is a very natural and proper one, and is worthy of the best an- 
 swer we can give. That answer, however, will have little weight 
 with any but those who are already prepared to give some cre- 
 dence when statements are backed by no authority beyond that of 
 utterances through spirit mediums. Is it impossible that modes 
 and means of using the subtile fluids in man and nature are bet- 
 ter understood even by the spirits now than they were in ages 
 past ? Can the departed continue to make advances in scientific 
 and practical knowledge ? AVho among us can tell ? Electricity 
 and magnetism have always existed ; yet it was but quite recently 
 that man became acquainted with their extent and nature, and 
 that he learned how to subject them in any degree to his control ;
 
 232 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 still more recent did he invent the telegraph. Man, by his dis- 
 coveries in electricity and steam within the last half-centnry, has 
 become able to convey his thoughts and his person much more 
 widely, speedily, and definitely to people and places on the earth 
 now than he could before. Possibly spirits may have made recent 
 discoveries and inventions, by which they can come to us more 
 easily, speedily, and definitely, and make themselves more dis- 
 tinctly felt and better understood by us than formerly." 
 
 We would here suggest that the late developments of this phil- 
 osophical, psychical science have displayed phases of spiritual 
 phenomena unprecedented in the annals of history. For exam- 
 ple : — 
 
 " The most splendid and perfect oil-pictures of deceased chil- 
 dren and friends are often produced in less than an hour by me- 
 diums who knew nothing of them, — entire strangers, — to the 
 unbounded delight and joy of living parents and friends." 
 
 The art of spirit photography, as many of you are doubtless 
 aware, is undeniably established. An artist with whom I con- 
 versed upon the subject, showed me a pencilled sketch, large size, 
 of a child, which he said only occupied him seventeen minutes ; 
 he was not a professional artist, and could only work while under 
 spiritual influence ; furthermore, the spirits who controlled him 
 were unwilling he should study the art on mundane principles. 
 
 " This new science of psychometry deserves more than a passing 
 notice. Prof. Hitchcock, in his well-known book, ' The Religion 
 of Geology,' speaking of the influence of light upon bodies, and of 
 the formation of pictures upon them by means of it, says: 'It 
 seems, then, that this photographic influence pervades all nature, 
 nor can we say where it stops. We do not know but it may im- 
 print upon the world around us our pictures, as they are modified 
 by various passions, and thus fill nature with daguerreotype im- 
 pressions of all our actions that are performed in daylight. It 
 may be, too, that there are tests by which nature, mo]-e skilful 
 than any human photographer, can bring out and fix these por- 
 traits, so that acuter senses than ours shall see them as on a great 
 canvas spread on the material universe. Perhaps, too, they may 
 never fade from that canvas, but become specimens in the great 
 picture gallery of eternity.' 
 
 Our Dr. Denton, and his wife Elizabeth, — that they are Amer-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 233 
 
 icans need scarcely be said, — have just published a book, 'The 
 Soul of Things ; or, Psychometric Eesearches and Discoveries,' in 
 which they assert that what Prof. Hitchcock thus says ' perhaps 
 may be,' really is. They say that radiant faces are passing from 
 all objects to all objects, every moment of time, and photograph- 
 ing the appearances of each upon the other, every action, every 
 movement, being thus infallibly registered for coming ages. ' The 
 pane of glass in the window, the brick in the wall, and the paving- 
 stone in the streets, catch the pictures of all passers-by, and care- 
 fully preserve them. Not a leaf waves, not an insect crawls, but 
 each motion is recorded by a thousand faithful scribes, in infallible 
 and indelible scriptures.' This having always been so, there is 
 thus stored up in nature the most faithful memorials of the en- 
 tire past, — of the early world and tides of liquid fire ; its rushing 
 floods and steaming vapors ; of every plant, from the club-moss 
 to the tree-fern ; of every animal, from the polyp to the pachy- 
 derm ; and of every tribe, and nation, and race of man. All have 
 set for their portraits, and 'thence the portraits all are faithfully 
 daguerrootyped in this divine picture gallery for all time.' And 
 it is not sights alone that are registered, but sounds as well. 
 Nature is not only a picture gallery, but a whispering gallery, too. 
 As no scene is ever effaced, so no sound ever dies out. ' The 
 lullaby sung by our cradle, the patter of the rain upon the roof, 
 the sighing of the winds, the roll of the thunder, the dash of fall- 
 ing waters, the murmur of affection, the oath of the inebriate, the 
 hymn at the church, the song at the concert, the words of w^isdom 
 and folly, the whisper of love, all arc faithfully registered.' 'All 
 sounds record themselves on all objects within their influence,' 
 and these phonotypes, as they may be termed, arc almost, if not 
 entirely, as enduring as the objects themselves.' Neither the 
 ' phonotypes ' nor the ' portraits ' may be brought out, or ' devel- 
 oped,' by any known chemical application, but in some individuals 
 the brain is sufficiently sensitive to perceive them when it is 
 brought into proximity with the objects on Avhich they are im- 
 pressed.' Persons thus sensitive are called 'psychometcrs,' and of 
 the siglits which such persons have seen, and of the sounds which 
 they have heard, when exercising their peculiar faculty, this book 
 sets forth one hundred and fourteen instances, all of which are, 
 indeed, 'wonderful,' if true. A piece of brick or stone from an 
 ancient city has enabled them to see and hear all that was ever
 
 234 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 done or uttered in its vicinity; a piece of fossil animal has 
 taken them back to the world in which that animal lived, and 
 moved, and had its being, and enabled them to observe minutely 
 its physical condition, and all characteristics alike of its vegetable 
 productions and of its brute inhabitants; a bit of granite has 
 made them spectators of the primeval chaos, amid whose throes 
 the mountain whence it was taken had its birth, and a fragment 
 of an aerolite has given them wings on which to travel through 
 the limitless fields of space. It is obvious that, if ' psychometry ' 
 be true, nature will no longer have ' mysteries,' nor history ' se- 
 crets ' ; we shall no longer be puzzled by theories as to the origin 
 of the antiquity of man, or as to the methods by which the infi- 
 nite variety of complicated results which we see in the three king- 
 doms of nature have been produced. All the processes which are 
 going on, or ever have gone on, in nature, will be unveiled to the 
 gaze of the ' psychometer,' and all that men, in any age or coun- 
 try, have said or done, will be similarly present to his eye and ear. 
 So far the latest development of American psychology. Well 
 may we ask Mr. Cobden's question, ' What next, and next ? ' " 
 
 • Of Rev. T. L. Harris, author of " Lyric of the Golden Age," — 
 a poem about the size of Milton's " Paradise Lost," which was 
 composed and dictated in ninety-four hours, and is said to pos- 
 sess more than Miltonic grandeur and sublimity, — '' it is alleged 
 that when spirits enter his sphere, they become visible to others ; 
 that persons of refined habits and acute sensation both see and 
 hear them; that the spirits are able to cause atmospheric undula- 
 tions, and to produce the most delicate chemical combinations 
 and sensational impressions, all made manifest to the outer senses 
 of men, by distinct vibrations, concussions, vocal and instrumen- 
 tal music, and also by the diffusion of delightful aromas, like the 
 perfume of jessamine flowers, etc., through the common atmos- 
 phere, which is not intrinsically improbable, since all the simple 
 elements of which the aromas consist are everywhere diffused in 
 the atmosphere, and it needs but the subtile chemism of the spirit 
 to so combine them as to render their presence manifest to the 
 senses ; was called upon in December, 1852, by Mrs. C, in the 
 hope of obtaining some evidence of immortality which might af- 
 ford her the consolation she needed in a season of deep afiiiction. 
 Her husband had departed this life, and her spirit yearned for
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 235 
 
 the assurance that life was renewed, and life immortal beyond the 
 grave. Mr. Harris knew nothing of his history, and had no exter- 
 nal perception of the object of her visit, but becoming entranced 
 in her presence, all was revealed to him. He informed the lady 
 that her husband was an United States officer, described his men- 
 tal and physical peculiarities, his dress, a scar on his face, and 
 said that he carried a repeater watch, and was in the frequent 
 habit of applying it to his ear and striking the hour. The father 
 of Mrs. C, an eminent divine, was also described on the occasion, 
 and the lady declared that the delineations were in every essential 
 particular true to nature and the facts. 
 
 During the same month another interesting illustration of the 
 author's (Harris) mediumship occurred. A professional gentle- 
 man at the South was invited to hear Mr. Harris lecture on Spirit- 
 ualism, but declined, having no faith in the alleged manifestations 
 from spirits. On being requested to make a personal visit to Mr. 
 H., he consented, at the same time affirming that no spirit could 
 reveal the facts in the life of the person that purported to communi- 
 cate, in such a manner as to insure identification, as all the 
 phenomena were mere psychological hallucinations, which he him- 
 self could produce at pleasure; this gentleman was accordingly 
 introduced to Mr. Harris, and after a brief interview, the latter 
 being under the magnetic inllucnce of some spirit, retired to his 
 interior plane of observation ; the visitor was informed that the 
 spirit of a young female attended him as a guardian : her personal 
 appearance, costume, and other things connected with the life on 
 earth, were described : the relation which had previously existed 
 between the gentleman and his spirit guardian was intimated : 
 the nature of her life, and circumstances of her death, were re- 
 ferred to; the spirit also gave him an impressive communication, 
 indicating her condition in the spirit world, the habits of her 
 earthly friend, and concluded by admonishing him to reform. 
 At the close of this interview the gentleman went away, but not 
 long after called on Mr. Harris again, and related the story of the 
 life and death of the young girl whose spirit had so unexpectedly 
 addressed liim, affirming at the same time that he was fully sat- 
 isfied of the truth of Spiritualism, from the astonishing accuracy 
 of the disclosures made through Mr. H. ; the gentleman also ex- 
 pressed his conviction, that the medium could not have derived 
 his impressions by psychological process from his own mind, and
 
 236 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 this was rendered evident to him, from the statement of an im- 
 portant fact respecting the spirit, which until that hour was nei- 
 ther known nor conceived of by himself ; since the first interview, 
 a personal investigation had fully established in his mind the 
 truth of the statement." 
 
 "But you may ask if this Spiritualism be true, this philosophy 
 of God, why was it not discovered and promulgated sooner ? Why 
 is it that man has lived six thousand years in ignorance of this 
 great truth ? In answer I ask, why is it that electricity has not 
 been known until now ? why its discovery so neoteric ? The light- 
 ning through which we communicate, and which speaks for us, 
 is the same lightnimg that flashed o'er Grecian glory, or Roman 
 ruin, ay, that played upon the peaks of Sinai. Science had not 
 then shed its scintillations in the mind of Moses, Servius, or Ly- 
 curgus ; nor is it a gratuity of nature, or gift of Providence : it 
 has to be learned, culled, collected, collated, and appropriated, by 
 our honest efforts, from which Ave may weave the philosophy of 
 our life ; like our daily bread and the glittering jewel, it is by 
 honest effort alone that truth is evolved, and our progression de- 
 veloped. As your religion of faith professes to have been heralded 
 by a grand providential specialty, and could, of course, have been 
 thus promulgated early, as well as late, why was it not heralded 
 with the birth of man ? and why its evulgatlon so imperfect in 
 extent as well as time ? But man has to labor for the bread of 
 his body, and so he has to labor for the philosophy of his life : 
 and this is his true religion. 
 
 You may again object, that these new revelations abound in 
 platitudes, inconsistencies, and contradictions. Granted : but does 
 not your old Eevelation still more abound in absurdities, incon- 
 sistencies, and contradictions, as I have already shown ? Your 
 Great Master tells you in one breath, to ' seek your salvation ' ; 
 and in the next, ' he that seeks to save his life shall lose it.' My 
 religion of philosophy explains these discrepancies, and thus can 
 reconcile the contradictions, or their causes, of your master Jesus 
 Christ, as when your Bible says, ' believe not every spirit,' etc. ; 
 but your religion of faith cannot explain them, and they must 
 consequently forever remain irreconcilable, and believed by none 
 but those who have no eyes, and follow faith through fear and 
 feeling; and through this feeling of fear, many pretend to ridi- 
 cule the religion of philosophy, because their religion of faith
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 237 
 
 holds over their heads, in terrorem, a devil and damnation ; for 
 does it not tell them, if they believe anything else, they believe a 
 lie, and shall be damned ? "We carry no such scorpion lash of ter- 
 ror for the timid : philosophy has no horrors for the honest, en- 
 lightened, and true. 
 
 You remember, I brought the history of unknown spirit inter- 
 course of the past down to the present generation; here, now, I 
 again take it up for a moment, to glance at the living age. Spirit 
 intercourse and its true philosophy are now known and believed 
 in, by many millions of the present generation. We will give a 
 few distinguished names, as you perceive I illustrate and prove as 
 I go. Hon. N. P. Talmadge, ex-governor of Xew York, and for- 
 merly United States Senator ; Judge Edmonds, who served in the 
 Senate of New York and was a judge in its Supreme Court, who 
 as certainly and consciously holds daily intercourse with his ex- 
 carnated as with his incarnated friends [and who, since the fore- 
 going, has passed to spirit life, and given his earthly friends un- 
 mistakable evidences of his immortality. I had the pleasure, in 
 November, 18T5, of listening to an eloquent discourse delivered 
 in New York by Mrs. Tappan, purporting to come from him. It 
 may not be amiss, to here state that Horace Greeley was also a 
 believer in this philosophy, as was Abraham Lincoln, who is said 
 to have held frequent intercourse with the spirit world, in his own 
 home circle] ; Professor Hare, one of the most profound and sci- 
 entific men the world has ever produced, and member of various 
 learned societies, who, being a materialist, and unbeliever in im- 
 mortality, invented an ingenious contrivance, with which to dis- 
 prove and refute the so-called spirit manifestations, but which con- 
 verted him, and proved its truth, thus making him a happy man, 
 with certain prospect of immortal life, without the shadow of in- 
 certitude; and Brittan, Tiffany, Harris, Dexter, Ferguson, New- 
 ton, the venerable Dods, who wrote a book to show that all the 
 phenomena of spirit intercourse were nothing more nor less than 
 the illusions of his favorite electrical psychology, but was finally 
 forced, by demonstrative evidence, to renounce his specious the- 
 ory, and embrace the fact of spirit existence and spirit intercourse ; 
 and a host of others in talents as well as numbers, representative 
 men of the world, lawyers, doctors, divines of eminence in Amer- 
 ica, beside many of the most learned in England, France, Ger- 
 many, etc., among whom, I believe, are Lord Brougham, Louis
 
 238 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Napoleon, etc., securely and serenely moored in this glorious haven 
 opened up by modern science. Jew and Gentile, Christian, infi- 
 del and Pagan, Moslem and Giaour, and all creeds, alike may 
 come within the purview of this glorious evangel, and all earth's 
 children may come and lay their various offerings on this univer- 
 sal altar of philosophy." 
 
 We will next give some extracts from " Plain Guide to Spirit- 
 ualism," by Uriah Clark : — 
 
 "For more than a quarter of a century the Christian Church and 
 press were filled with prayers and predictions that God would 
 open the heavens anew, that the Holy Ghost would come down 
 with power, that Jesus Christ would descend in glory and majesty, 
 that angel armies would marshal themselves for fresh battles with 
 earth and hell, that some mighty manifestation would be made 
 from the skies, to flood earth with overwhelming showers and 
 flame, like tongues of fire, and thunder with vibrations to quake 
 the dead souls of the apathetic masses, and jar from their centre 
 the very walls and foundations where multitudes congregated. 
 But the very first, faint sound, coming in response to these 
 prayers and predictions, sent terror into the heart of modern 
 Christendom. While in the very act of praying and predicting 
 that some celestial manifestations of power and majesty might be 
 made, lo, a feeble sound was heard on the altar floor, or pulpit 
 case, and priest and people were seized with alarm ; they turn 
 pale with affright; their prayers shake them, and they take them 
 back ; they pray God to forgive them, for asking more than they 
 ■were prepared to i-eceive ; Catholics cross themselves, and Protest- 
 ants beg to be absolved ; through the blue goggles of their dog- 
 mas, they see ' hydras, gorgons, chimeras dire,' pale phantoms of 
 alarm, shrieking ghosts, wandering wild in the midnight air, and 
 weird hags, like those mumbling in Macbeth ; and they cry out, 
 * Delusion, Beelzebub ! Back, demons damned, ye legioned throngs 
 clothed in the alluring light of the spheres.' 
 
 Practical Spiritualism is summed up in one word, — love ; love 
 to God manifest in love to humanity. While Spiritualists seek 
 no central creed, no fixed platform of intellectual opinion, no rigid 
 system of theology, binding the conscience and trammelling free- 
 dom, they are united in one grand, central element of fraternal 
 love, encircling the family of earth and heaven. We can all agree,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 239 
 
 without controversy, in regard to this central principle, for there 
 is one common chord of benevolence running through the great 
 heart of humanity, which needs only to be touched aright, to vi- 
 brate in harmony with the angel world. But men may quarrel 
 everlastingly about abstract creeds, and systems addressed to the 
 head alone, without coming to any uniform opinion, while their 
 hearts are rent with discord, or left cold, desolate, untouched. 
 The religious world, for ages, has endeavored to unite in creeds 
 and forms to save humanity, but with what lamentable results ! 
 It has not saved even itself, and to-day the churches are found 
 waning and powerless ; and while they are contending over the 
 *dry bones' of old faith and formulas past all resurrection, mill- 
 ions of the ignorant, erring, fallen, and unbelieving are left to 
 pine and perish outside the pale of redemption. 
 
 In this emergency Spiritualism makes its advent. It is scouted 
 by sectarians and would-be philosophers, because it begins with 
 no rigid system or creed, but leaves each individual conscience 
 and intellect free to seek and decide for itself, while it first aims 
 to reach the heart and awaken those divine religious affections 
 paramount over every other department of human nature. We 
 thank God and the angel world that Spiritualism comes as a re- 
 ligion of the affections. It embraces all science, philosophy, rea- 
 son, intellect ; but its angel hands reach down through all these 
 and first seek to lay hold of the slumbering chords of the human 
 heart. * He that loveth is born of God and knoweth God ; for God 
 is love.' 
 
 John goes on to say, in substance, that divine love was manifest 
 in Jesus ; that men may know whether they have this love by the 
 spiritual witness within them; that no man can love God without 
 loving his brother man. Recognizing God as the Father Spirit of 
 all souls, whose essence is love, every spirit or angel commissioned 
 of God to visit humanity must come on errands of love, and is a 
 manifestation of the Christ-principle, the Holy Ghost, or the 
 Holy Host of heaven, whether that spirit or angel be one of the 
 departed saints of sacred history or a little child just gone from 
 the humblest home below. There is no small or great in the 
 spiritual kingdom now being inaugurated on earth, no high or 
 low, no rich or poor, but all are one in the fellowship of love en- 
 girting the universe. Could we take some lofty standpoint in the 
 spirit world, and gaze down through all the transient grades and
 
 240 THE UNSEALED BOOK, 
 
 conditions of humanity, seeing as angels see, "we should discover 
 one central element of love more or less pervading all souls, and 
 learn that most of the evils, errors, and differences existing among 
 the millions below were less than our false judgment had appre- 
 hended, while every being would reveal a germ of divinity destined 
 to mount and burn with glory among the celestial hosts of eternal 
 progress. The rapidity with which manifestations have spread, 
 and the avidity with which they are believed, together with the 
 fact that all past ages have demonstrated something similar, sug- 
 gest to us that man has a spiritual nature \vhich cannot be satis- 
 fied without a belief in Spiritualism. This belief expands his 
 soul with all the great hopes and aspirations which leap beyond 
 the skies, and is the citadel on which he stands when all other 
 foundations are swept away on the winds and waves of time. 
 Without a consciousness of something within him which shall 
 survive the mutations of time, something allied to God, another 
 realm of higher intelligences, what were this life to the suffering 
 millions ? And it is to this consciousness we must appeal, if we 
 would have Spiritualism reach the hearts of the people. You go 
 to your sceptical brother and tell him of the wonderful manifes- 
 tations you have seen and which he may see ; but perhaps he 
 treats your story with levity. But you then appeal to his own 
 interior nature ; you ask if he has not some hopes, some desires, 
 some affections which reach beyond the grave ; if some dear one 
 has not gone before him, with whom he would like to commune, 
 and if he would not feel happier and better to know all this. 
 And he will cease his levity, and perchance, while his bosom 
 heaves, a tear will steal into his eyes ; and he will turn away, re- 
 solved to seek for light, and to search his own soul. 0, could we 
 but touch the right chord in the hearts of our brothers and sis- 
 ters, we should no longer suffer their raillery, but feel their hands 
 grasped in warm fellowship, and see their faces wet with streams 
 of joy and love ! The dull multitudes plodding along life as 
 though there were naught to do but eat, drink, and die, are star- 
 tled with new views of the mission of man, and begin to feel 
 there is a divinity within allied to God, and destined to walk eter- 
 nity in the companionship of angels. The poor, the lowly, the 
 lost are lifted up in communion with worlds and beings of kingly 
 glory and grandeur, and no longer feel they are the reprobates of 
 God and the offcasts of creation. The gospel equalizes all grades
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 241 
 
 and conditions in one Land of fraternity, and makes the ricli and 
 the poor sit down together as common guests at the board around 
 which angels minister celestial messages. No lines are drawn in 
 the kingdom of spiritual love and truth. The opening heavens 
 shine down as brightly through the lowly hamlets and dingy dun- 
 geons, as on gilded palaces and proud spires piercing the clouds ; 
 and with noiseless flight the spirit bauds wing their way down 
 over the wide plains of humanity, whispering the music of the 
 spheres to attune our souls in harmony with the sons of God, 
 shouting their anthems amid the melody of the morning stars of 
 primeval creation. And they come with light to shine along the 
 darkest path of life, and with beacons to point our way over the 
 billows which shall soon waft our spirits whither the generations 
 of the past have gone before us. No Sinai shall quake, no Olym- 
 pus shall thunder, no Jerusalem shall be clothed in the tragic 
 drapery of Calvary, no war gods shall rattle their fiery chariots 
 over continents deluged in blood, no dogmas of human terror, 
 like volcanic flames, shall heave forth edicts of damnation on trem- 
 bling millions ; but the mountain-tops of the century shall gleam 
 with the sunlight of angel faces, and echo the harmonic songs of 
 the empyrean. Tidings already break from the myriad lips of tlie 
 beloved and beautiful bending with benedictions over the hearts 
 and homes of humanity. Fear not ! Hells may clang with 
 alarms, and millions turn pale amid revolutions threatening 
 thrones and republics, but the guardians of the eternal sit calm 
 in the council chambers of heaven, and over the turbulent sea of 
 human discord breathe the air and pour the oil of celestial har- 
 mony. Sit calm in the temple of thine own soul amid the din. 
 and jar of the outer world, and thou shalt hear cadences echoing 
 down from the grand anthem evermore sounding through the' 
 corridors of the upper world. Scenes shall soon unfold to human, 
 vision transcending what olden seers and sages longed to behold.. 
 Millions of mortals shall bathe in the coming Pentecost of ages- 
 Arise, priests, rulers, and people, arise ! Gird on your sandals 
 anew, and catch the mantles of the ascended as they come back. 
 in chariots of lightning with the flames of living inspiration.. 
 Dash each tear from thine eye, stifle each fear, fling thy sighs tO' 
 the winds, walk forth with the tread of a god in thy footstep,,, 
 fighting life's battles side by side with that celestial army ' whose- 
 white tents are already struck for the morning march of eternity.''
 
 242 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Tlie Lord God omnipotent reigneth ! The conncil chambers of 
 the eternal world stand open, and the congresses of celestial em- 
 pires are seeking to guide the destiny of nations. The ascended 
 saints, sages, and patriots of America, the heroes and victors of 
 battle-fields once red with blood, and glorious with the trophies 
 of freedom, and all the armies bearing palms on the plains of 
 immortal life, now bend with wisdom over the conflict rending 
 your continent, bidding you still remember the brotherhood of 
 the race ; and above the clamor of belligerent hosts, tlie clash of 
 arms and thunder of artillery, listen once more to angel anthems 
 of peace and good-will." 
 
 We will again quote from the earnest and eloquent Kem- 
 bert : — 
 
 " We should strive for improvement, moral, mental, physical, 
 and be kind, charitable, and sympathetic with each other, crush- 
 ing every impulse of anger and cherishing every impulse of love; 
 knowing that we all here inherit the same or equal frailties, and 
 that others too have their wrongs, which are parts of our patri- 
 mony we cannot help, nor the Creator himself avoid, but which 
 will all be ultimately purged off under his great law of progres- 
 sion ; that those we hear of as so great and good become less so 
 as intimate acquaintance discloses weakness and bad traits; and 
 also those reputed as weak and bad improve as acquaintance dis- 
 covers traits of goodness and mentality ; in short, that none are 
 80 good and so great, or so bad and so simple, as we hear ; that in- 
 tercourse tends to equalize, as also all knowledge and progression; 
 that the bubble of popular reputation floats with fortuities and 
 is quickened and sustained by adventitious circumstances; and 
 that we shall yet all meet in realms unfringed with wrong, where 
 we shall truly know each other by an unerring aromal emanation, 
 or electric radiation, or magnetic effluxion, for mind will then 
 act upon and perceive mind direct, unencumbered with gross in- 
 tervening animal sensoria. And the anguish of parting from a 
 loved friend, — 0, this is the bitterest word of my language, the 
 bitterest moment of my life, — parting, parting from my loved 
 forever ! 
 
 Great God! who can stand it? No, thanks to His philosophy 
 of our life; but for a few fleeting moments, mere dewdrops of 
 time to the vast ocean of eternity, in which we will all meet and
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 243 
 
 live in love wlion parting shall be known no more. For this, 
 Great Architect of creation's temple, I would send a shout of 
 gratitude and glory to ring and echo along thy grand aisles and 
 corridors through, all the eternal >vorld ! 
 
 ' Congenial spirits part to meet again.' 
 
 Did Campbell comprehend the glorious truth he thus enunciated 
 in his mellifluent verse ? Yes, to meet again, to meet again ! 
 friends forever ! 0, the heavenly hallelujahs that reverberate 
 along the vaulted spheres and peopled worlds, and echo from all 
 the orbs of light that spangle this vast vault around us, teeming 
 with intelligence imparadised in eternity. Xot an ecclesiastical 
 Jubilate Deo for ' the plan of salvation,' which is but a more 
 pleasing term for the plan of damnation ; but a grand gush of 
 gratitude that swells the symphonies of all His immortal crea- 
 tions for the glorious plan of progression that leads us to the 
 radiant realms of His own glory, the glory of universal and im- 
 mortal love. 
 
 And yet this sublime science that thus traces our origin, and 
 opens the portals of oi^r glorious destiny of reunion, and gives us 
 the cream of our conduct and daily happiness, is assailed and op- 
 posed with energy and malignity; this opposition consists of two 
 classes and motives : those who really and ardently desire and be- 
 lieve it to be true, and fearing the wish is father to the thought, 
 oppose it, with the sole view of eliciting more light, in order to 
 have all their doubts dispelled to their entire satisfaction ; and 
 those who do not desire it to be true, or to be accepted, because it 
 will wofully interfere with the fleshpots that keep fat on their 
 dogmas : it is this class that evince such malignity. As for the 
 many articles published in the hebdomadel press of the day, cast- 
 ing odium or derision on spiritual mediums, many of whom also 
 deserve it, it is generally done to please the people, and i)audcr 
 to their ignorant prejudices, and thus promote the popularity of 
 the paper: often at the expense and sacrifice of truth. I know 
 editors who do this, and secretly laugh at the ignorance of their 
 readers, and who believe in the truth and the science, and admire 
 the grandeur of the philosophy; and so they praise a popular 
 man with prestige and position, whom they heartily hate ; they 
 lack the nerve to stem the popular current, which it is the duty
 
 244 THE UNSEAIiED BOOK. 
 
 of every journalist to direct, and not float with it. There is an- 
 other class who are totally indifferent, and are actuated by two 
 different motives : first, because they have no higher aspirations 
 than the prosperity of their potato-patch, or cotton-field, counter, 
 or card-table ; second, those that have immortal longings, bnt fear 
 * it is too good to be true,' and being cold and calculating them- 
 selves, they feel safe if it is true, and if not true had better stick 
 to old fuith as the safer course, ugly as it is ; thus governed 
 alone by the selfish impulse of fear, with no feeling of philanthro- 
 py to proclaim the glorious truth to their fellow-men. Swine will 
 never exchange a wallow for a parlor, there it was raised, and 
 there it will remain ; nor would the ignorant herd of biped genus 
 homo exchange their finical parlors of animal gab and gossip for 
 the cerebral halls of intellectual immortalities : there they were 
 reared, and there they would remain. Enough of this : I 'm sorry 
 for human nature. I cannot withhold this healing balm to the 
 bleeding hearts of my friends, this ineffable comfort for the sor- 
 rowing souls of those who can appreciate it, when by a little effort 
 it is within my power to impart it; for even if it be false, we are 
 thus made happy here, and shall never wake up hereafter to know 
 or realize its falsity. As for the interminable hell that old ortho- 
 doxy Avould have catch me, for thus proclaiming this happy philos- 
 ophy, I spurn the degrading idea, that I should for a moment 
 invest the character of my Creator with the diabolic cruelty of 
 thus punishing me forever for not believing in this very diabolism, 
 or "for believing in a philosophy that, while it gives a glory to Him, 
 also gives happiness to me. The fear of this interminable hell 
 has crazed many a weak brain, and is n't it enough ? and poured 
 bitterness in the fountains of many a life-stream on earth. Many 
 a pitied parent has poured out a life in sorrow over the premature 
 death of an adult unconverted child ; what would heaven be, what 
 could it be, to such a parent, with such a child, in such a hell ? 
 Let not this dread chimera disturb you, my friends : do eight 
 AND FEAR NOTHING ; our God nevcr made His children to be vic- 
 tims of fear, nor stamped eternity on misery ; nor do his works 
 tend downwards : and if your wicked child reach Gehenna, he will 
 soon be lifted hence, and by the help of your own hands ; so cheer 
 thee, bleeding mother, devoted father ! thy loved child is not lost, 
 nor can he, while God and His philosophy endure. We shall all 
 soon fall into the embraces of a sweet sleep, and serene slumber,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. ' 245 
 
 from which nothing will ever disturb us; or we shall wake up to 
 meet our friends again, in higher and happier realms of life and 
 love. And let us fear not that this incessant stream from God's 
 vast empire of life, forever pouring into those higher spheres, will 
 at some period in future eternity, howsoever remote, ultimately 
 fill them beyond capacity for more : for be it remembered. His 
 infinity of domain is equal to His eternity of duration: one is 
 coextensive with the other, and both illimitable. And though we' 
 follow science as the footsteps of God, and would analyze the 
 higher heavens, and anatomize archangel life, and analyze the 
 deep arcana of all hereafter, we yet must know that mystery and 
 wonder will ever rise above and hover around our heads, as the 
 sunlight dazzles our physical eyes. This is enough for the philo- 
 sophic mind: if 
 
 'An angel's arm can't snatch us from the tomb. 
 Legions of angeis can't confine us there' ; 
 
 • Night dews fall not more gently to the ground, 
 Nor weary, worn-out winds expire so soft.' 
 
 ' Is it his death-bed ? No, it is his shrine ; 
 Behold him, there, just rising to a god.' 
 
 "T is the last pang, he calmly said ; 
 To me, O death ! thou hast no dread, — 
 
 Father, I come I 
 Spread but thine arms on yonder sliore — 
 I seel ye waters bear me o'er ; 
 
 There is my home! ' 
 
 Now, to men of science, those philosophical minds who float 
 with fate and drift with destiny, seeing no certain light, but un- 
 certain hope, whose faint effulgence only leads their ardent aspira- 
 tions to disappointment and despair ; to the rationalistic inlidel 
 and scientific naturalist, I would specially address myself, and 
 with the deepest sympathies of my soul. You are free from par- 
 tiality and prejudice, untrammelled with sects and sectaries, un- 
 tinged with sacramental symbols, above the narrow bounds of 
 bigotry, and seek trutli, free, untarnished truth, as it beams 
 from the burnished throne through all the works of nature's
 
 246 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 grand economy. I give you cordial greeting on this splendid 
 tribune of truth, where science gathers her jewels, and from her 
 starry wings sheds them on her votaries. You are disgusted with 
 human nature, sick of the world and its ways, and turn from the 
 follies brought on the new philosophy by human weakness and 
 depravity. We should not wonder at the huge humbuggery 
 and charlatanism, the jugglers and tricksters that have gathered 
 around these glorious revelations, for such has been the case with 
 all the simpler and less alluring or less inviting apocalypses of all 
 past time, of all the bibles from Brahma to Mohammed, and es- 
 pecially with the Jewish Bible and Christian revelations. See 
 what stupendous fabrics of superstition have been reared and per- 
 petuated on this simple revelation. It is all poor human nature. 
 Let us independently investigate the credibility and philosophy 
 of the phenomena, and not abjectly submit to the forged formu- 
 laries of a paid priesthood, otherwise we never shall be free; for 
 it is still poor human nature we have to deal with. If thousands 
 profess to be called of God specially to preach, we should not 
 wonder at other thousands professing to be inspired and commu- 
 nicated with by angels of their own ilk, for certainly it is greatly 
 less pretentious to hold communion with our own kith and kin 
 excarnated, than with the great God and Creator, whom no man 
 hath seen, or can see, or hear. Your towering aspirations have 
 soared in vain to find an exalted home of purity, permanence, 
 and peace, beyond the hazy horizon of mundane mutations. You 
 have seen the utter inadequacy, the futility, the absurdity, and the 
 falsity of all the revelations as expounded and proclaimed by pon- 
 tiff and preacher, califf and clergy. Science has lighted up to you 
 the dark vaults of their superstitions, and exposed their corrup- 
 tions toyour enlightened view. You can have no hope here. And 
 even discarding the disgusting dogmas interpolated in the Chris- 
 tian Bible and embracing its fundamental enunciations as of divine 
 origination, as interpreted by its official dignitaries, the diaboli- 
 cal anathemas of hell and damnation without end, to hia children, 
 invest the character of our Creator with an attribute of cruelty and 
 malignity, which, coupled with his omnipotence, would transform 
 his whole universe into a boundless, an illimitable hell, without a 
 pulse of pleasure to beat to the dead march of mourning millions 
 unnumbered. No hope here. And even its heaven in the dim 
 and uncertain distance of hereafter, so loudly glorified, and the
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 247 
 
 plan of salvation so mucli lauded as the paragon of perfection in 
 divine wisdom and love, indeed, as the mount on which mercy aud 
 justice kissed each other, fail, utterly fail, to still the troubled 
 throbbings of the enlightened human heart that beats with phi- 
 lanthropy and philosophy in unison with the angels. Only a mod- 
 icum of earth's millions ever hear an echo of this salvation, and 
 but a fraction of this modicum can reach the portals of that dis- 
 tant heaven, dismal in the distance. But of those favored few 
 that do pass within its pearly portals, — their memories, where 
 are they? The cherished endearments of time, — do they live 
 forever ? Our memories are either taken with us after death, and 
 retained in heaven, or they are not. If retained, the recollections 
 of loved and lost friends, now in a hopeless hell of eternal damna- 
 tion, must wake an echo to mar the music of that celestial sphere, 
 and inflict an anguish to throb in the very bosom of bliss ; ay, 
 will wake a wail of woe that shall sound upon the long roll of 
 eternal years, as ever and anon the constant cry of 'he cometh 
 not, he cometh not,' shall ring out upon the cycles of eternity. 
 But if our memories are not retained, then the hallowed associa- 
 tions, the sacred friendships and loves, our foretaste of heaven, 
 nay, our very haecceity, must die out with death, and this heaven 
 is no reunion of kindred spirits ; the pure emotions of earth that 
 assimilate us to the angel life are not to be rekindled in the 
 Christian heaven. Will death roll a Lethean stream over all 
 earth's love, and the wave of oblivion bury forever the cherished 
 reminiscences of time ? Here the vortices of Scylla and Charyb- 
 dis open before us. JVo liope here. In agony aud despair, you 
 leave all the miraculous revelations, and look to science. She was 
 teaching you that spirit is but the result of physical organism, 
 and must perish with the dissolution of the material organization ; 
 that we have no undying nature. 
 
 In despair again, but not in agony, you seek the solace of obliv- 
 ion, and suck sweetness from the cup of nothing, — nepenthe 
 from oblivion ; you claim and court the Brahminical privilege of 
 Narvana, and implore the great Beldeva to still your throbbing 
 heart, and cool your fevered brow in Lethe's turbid wave ; for ia 
 not this eternal sleep a sweet repose in comparison with the bitter 
 life of all these old revelations ? 
 
 You draw a virtue from this stern necessity, and call on the 
 grave to cover you forever with its cold clods, and extinguish, O
 
 24S THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 death, this little lamp of life, that it may flicker no more amid 
 the damps of death, where the oxygen of hope only buds out the 
 blossoms of the human heart for the nitrogen of death to blast and 
 wither. 0, put out this little light that only illumes the wrecks 
 of hope and the ruins of love. The ruins of love ! who can pic- 
 ture them ? Who paint the human hopes that bud out like blos- 
 soms of the human heart, — for what ? to fruit a heritage of 
 hereafter ? No ; to be crushed and consigned to the ruins of 
 love! beside which Volney's ruins are the playthings of children. 
 Imagine the pillared universe dissolving, the throne of Deity 
 crumbling, the seraphim, and cherubim, and all the archangel 
 host, falling and tumbling from their high-sjohered beatitudes in 
 indistinguishable ruin, and you may then conceive the mighty 
 meaning and significance of the ruins of love. 
 
 You look to science, and this is the lesson she teaches you : 
 That all your hopes will fall in wrecks, and all your loves dissolve 
 in ruins, and the silence of sleep enwrap you forever in the 
 shroud of oblivion. No hope, no hope ! You would sink under 
 your iliad of woes. But stay yet longer with me on this favored 
 tribune of truth, where science drops her gems and sheds her 
 sweetest rays serene. Know ye not she's culled another, and her 
 highest truth, to crown the character of mankind ? Know ye 
 not her last and mightiest truth, that unlocks the chambers of 
 angelic life, and opens portals of immortality for the aspirations 
 of the true ? And against this grand and mightiest truth of 
 science, which connects its electric wires of mind to spheres 
 where the wreck of hopes and ruins of love are unfeared and un- 
 known, beyond the regions of convolving vapor, charged with 
 unequal lightning and muttering thunder, — against this sweet 
 serene of science are hurled the shafts of bitter invective and 
 cruel calumny by those for whom it weaves a mantle of undying 
 love and charity, — some who look to science but fear opin- 
 ion. 
 
 This bright luminary that science has unfolded in the firma- 
 ment is inveighed against, barked at, and assailed by the poor 
 canine kindred of the human family, who follow less science than 
 fear and prejudice. Just so, you know, was the great Watt op- 
 posed, and his great labor-saving discovery, because it would sup- 
 plant and save human labor, just as this will supplant prelatic 
 ofiiciation and save human sorrow ; and so the mighty man of
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 249 
 
 "Wnrtemberg was maligned and menaced because he lettered the 
 language for earth's pitied children, and the printing-press was 
 ascribed to diabolism. And so the opposition to the establish- 
 ment of the Royal Society, because it was asserted that the exper- 
 imental philosophy was subversive of the Christian faith ; and the 
 readers of D'Israeli will remember the telescope and microscope 
 were stigmatized as atheistical inventions, which perverted our 
 organ of sight and made everything appear in a false light. So 
 late as 1806 the An ti- Vaccination Society denounced the discovery 
 of vaccination as a gross violation of religion, morality, law, and 
 humanity. It was denounced from the pulpit as diabolical, 
 tempting of God's providence, an invention of Satan, a wresting 
 out of the hands of the Almighty the divine dispensation of 
 Providence, and its abettors were charged with sorcery and athe- 
 ism. When fanning-machines Avere first introduced to winnow 
 the chaff from the wheat by producing an artificial current of air, 
 it was argued that winds were raised by God alone, and it was 
 irreligious in man to attempt to raise wind for himself and by 
 efforts of his own. And one Scottish clergyman refused the holy 
 communion to those of his parishioners who thus irreverently 
 raised the Devil's wind. 
 
 You remember how the innocent recreation of dancing is de- 
 nounced by the Puritanical pious ; ' that the dance is the Devil's 
 procession ; the woman that singeth in the dance is the prioress of 
 the Devil, and those that answer are his clerks, and the beholders 
 are his parishioners, and the music are the bells, and the fiddlers 
 are the ministers of the Devil,' etc., (often better ministers than 
 some otliers of greater pretensions we wot of.) The great Kepler, 
 for his grand astronomic revelations, was accused of conjuration 
 with the Devil ; and see how were treated Gallileo, Faust, Socra- 
 tes, and a host of other moral luminaries, representative men — 
 no, not all — for some lived in supernal spheres, many centuries 
 beyond their age and generation. And Jesus Christ, who preached 
 peace and charity on earth, and happiness and immortality in 
 heaven, to the good, Avas crucified because he claimed to be a son 
 of our common Father. What boots it, then, if we, too, be con- 
 temned and ostracised ? Let the old theologue plod the path 
 that pays, the rampant preacher valiantly demolish the man of 
 steam he builds ; and let the wrangling politician intrigue and 
 trade for the spoils of oflSce, or labor for the ephemeral glory of a
 
 250 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 momentary notoriety ; be it our mission, both humble and proud, 
 or public or private, to trace the glimmering threads of light that 
 reach us from a higher world, investigate the arganon of nature, 
 teach charity and truth, inculcate love as the element of immor- 
 tality, and claim, and cherish, and cultivate kindred with the an- 
 gel world. This world of fools may call us infatuated, mad, 
 crazy. Did they not call the great Chatham mad, because he 
 denounced the Crown and declared Britain ' never could con- 
 quer America, never, never ! ' Then call us mad, because we de- 
 nounce the crown of popular prejudice, and declare death and 
 hell never can conquer our loves, never, never ! Did they not call 
 the great orator and scientific statesman and philosopher, Edmund 
 Burke, whose name illuminates Irish and British history, mad, 
 because he foretold the unhappy results of the French Kevolution, 
 and in fiery denunciations of the ministry, thundered to the Chair 
 of the Commons the words of St. Paul, ' I am not mad, most noble 
 Festus, but speak the words of truth and soberness,' and predicted 
 that in twenty years the world would call his accusers mad ; and 
 also because in his tender and affectionate memory for his de- 
 ceased son, whom he feared, and perhaps believed, he would never 
 meet again, for the world then had no proof to satisfy his philo- 
 sophic mind of immortality, because he would embrace and caress, 
 in the most touching manner, his son's favorite horse ! I, too, 
 have done the same thing, and do now caress and pet the favorite 
 horse of my sou, — lost and loved, — so like his young master, so 
 spirited and yet so gentle; and so, likewise, does his sister, so de- 
 voted to his memory; indeed, his memory, now, is our family 
 shrine. Am I and my artless, innocent, and affectionate daughter, 
 then — ay, and everybody who has this deep devotion of love, this 
 idiocy, or idiocrasy, or idiosyncrasy, as the callous brute might 
 call it — infatuated, mad ? Ay, we would, indeed, be mad, if the 
 noble son and brother, though ' unconverted,' were consigned by 
 God to an endless hell, or endless nihility, that we nevermore 
 should meet his manly form, nor share his genial sympathies. Is 
 this quenchless love, unfolded from our life like the unconscious 
 flower from the earth, a pretty principle to fade forever after a 
 fleeting hour ? Or is it an infant attribute, an emanation of the 
 eternal God, to light our life forever, quenchless as yon fires that 
 light the firmament ? Let us investigate and be patient, trusting 
 to the goodness of that God who has planted our path with the
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 251 
 
 myrtle and the rose, and strewed our bed with flowers, to gratify 
 our love for the pure and the beautiful, with which he hath en- 
 dowed us, that he will yet gratify all our loves, and plant us, too, 
 among the fadeless flowers of the spheres where love immortal 
 blooms ! You will recollect how Franklin, and Fulton, and Fitch 
 were derided, and the greatest and best men of the world ridi- 
 culed and insulted. But all this is passing away before tliQ march 
 of mind, and will not deter your honest and fearless spirits of 
 moral heroism. ' The world moves for all that.' Science marches 
 on, and destiny develops, and philosophy unfolds, silent as the 
 circle of the sun, steady as the travel of a star, and sure as the 
 annals of eternity. 
 
 I ask you to investigate this philosoiDhy, — for it is open to all, 
 and specially invites you philomathic men of wisdom, — examine its 
 records, inspect its muniments, test its truth, and appropriate the 
 precious, jiriceless pearl, to glitter in the galaxy of your loves. 
 Study well this mysterious and hitherto unknown principle of 
 the human mind and of nature ; and most especially I entreat 
 you, to analyze the wonderful mysteries of modern contempora- 
 neous record; search the secret of the startling phenomena of 
 daily development and occurence around you, as chronicled in the 
 periodical press of Spiritual literature, so accessible to all; the 
 thrilling incidents, and startling intelligence in the youth and 
 early years of deceased friends, intelligence long forgotten, or en- 
 tirely unknown, contrary to the impressions and opinions of all 
 in carnal connection, but afterwards found to be true, and which 
 could have been communicated by none but those who thus avow 
 themselves, we know to be deceased ; and sometimes the very air 
 is vocal with the chord melodies of these angelic spirits who for- 
 merly wore the flesh of men. 
 
 These facts and millions more, occurring in all ages and gener- 
 ations, and in our own age, and in our own midst, as well avouched 
 and authenticated as any other facts not within our personal 
 cognition, and which urgently invite personal cognizance, certainly 
 challenge and should command your most devoted investigation. 
 Is it psychometry ? If so, how could the psychometer perceive 
 them, unless they or their representatives were somewhere, and 
 and accessible, when in actual existence ? Then it must be ocular 
 demonstration of immortality. Is it psychologic illusion ? If so, 
 whence come the facts unknown to all at the time ? Is it due to
 
 252 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 an abnormal excitation, or mysterious mental exuberation ? If 
 so, whence the cause of this condition, when in a state of perfect 
 passivity ? and whence the source of the great truths uttered ? I 
 call upon the learned to explicate these occult elements, unfold 
 the latent agencies of these potent phenomena, under test condi- 
 tions that admit of no collusion or deception, if they be not, as 
 invariably claimed, messages of immortality from our friends who 
 have passed the mystic portal. Hear the burning words through 
 the mouth of a medium, from the great Greek, whose fame like 
 him of Latium two centuries later, fills the spheres of our world: 
 a fame that has no ensanguined track of victims to deplore, no 
 writhing desolation to bewail, like Titus and Vespasian over Jeru- 
 salem in ruins, with its bleeding sons, and famishing mother de- 
 vouring her child; no weltering Waterloo to weep over, like 
 Wellington, when his melting eyes surveyed the bloody carnage 
 he had wrought ; whose escutcheon is untarnished with a tear, 
 and unstained with a drop of human blood ; whose melody is 
 unmarred with the widow's moan or an orphan's sigh, pure and 
 spotless as the cerulean ether that poured its inspirations into his 
 great soul. ' Had you asked me concerning God a thousand years 
 ago, I could have told you all about him, but now, after I have 
 walked the highway of celestial worlds for more than two thou- 
 sand years, I am so far lost and overpowered amid the splendors 
 of infinitude, I can say nothing; height on height beyond the 
 penetration of finite vision, I see the dim outlines of a deitific 
 universe ; I feel the flood-tides of Divinity flowing down through 
 all the avenues of my immortal being ; I hear peal after peal of 
 archangel eloquence ringing through the endless archways of the 
 empyrean, evermore sounding into my ears the name of God, God, 
 God ! I 'm silent, dumb.' Is n't this Demosthenaic, and is it his in- 
 spiration, or is it due to the genius of the medium ? suppose the 
 medium youthful, artless, and without genius, and pouring forth 
 such eloquent thoughts as is frequently, or at least sometimes, 
 the case, then whence the source, and what the philosophy, if it 
 be not, as invariably avowed from present immortals, of the spirit 
 world ? The theory of a diseased, or morbid, or abnormal condi- 
 tion of the brain, will not, cannot, explain the unknown intelli- 
 gence. 
 
 Now that the phenomena of spiritualism are true, you will not, 
 cannot deny ; but the question to investigate is, Are they the re-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 253 
 
 suit of supernal spiritual agency, or of some other occult philoso- 
 phy ? I have said psychology furnishes a rational though not 
 satisfactory explanation : indeed, spiritualism is psychology ex- 
 tended to the spirit world: and I now assert psychometry to be a 
 rational theory of explanation for the spiritual phenomena : but 
 this, like the other, fails in practice under strict test conditions 
 and trials ; can psychometry or psychology as confined to flesh, or 
 can any degree of mental excitation independent of supernal 
 spiritual inspiration, account for and explain how Appollonius, 
 when discoursing at Ephesus, suddenly exclaimed, ' Strike, strike 
 the tyrant ! courage my friends, for at this very moment the ty- 
 rant is slain ': and subsequent intelligence proved that the reign- 
 ing tyrant Domitian was assassinated at that very hour. And 
 how the preacher among the Grampian hills of Scotland, when in 
 the midst of his prayer, he suddenly stopped, and trembling with 
 peculiar nervous emotion exclaimed: 'Rejoice my people, we are 
 free: Charles Stuart speaks no more; his tongue hangs out and 
 they can never get it back again' — became impressed with this 
 idea, and was so suddenly and unexpectedly informed of this fact, 
 which was totally unknown, and indeed at that very moment, 
 hundreds of miles distant, and precisely as he was impressed, and 
 expressed it, his tongue protruding immediately after death, and 
 his attendants unsuccessfully striving to replace it. Can any 
 conceived or conceivable philosophy explicate these cases, other 
 than that of spiritual influence, as avowed by the authors them- 
 selves in spirit life ? In this case just referred to, there can be no 
 psychometric picture of the sensitive brain of the preacher, for 
 the subject of the picture had not existed until now ; nor could 
 human psychology have operated, for the fact was unknown at 
 the time outside of the immediate circle who witnessed it ; and if 
 mind itself is capable of this mighty expansion, why does it not 
 perceive human mortality or death if such be fact, or why, if this 
 last be the philosophy, does it always perceive human immorlalty, 
 if such be not the fact ? And I ask this question of all these and 
 all other philosophies and theories that have been, or may be put 
 forth, to explain these spiritual phenomena. Why is it that they 
 all invariably point to spiritual philosophy, or reveal spirit life and 
 form, human immortality as superior, if not ubiquitous, intelli- 
 gence ? This is very significant ; we know not, and noliody knows 
 a physical element or combination of such elements, edcquate to
 
 254 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 this phenomena, beyond our detection. The only solution is men- 
 tal or spiritual; and whence, and who, and where the mind or 
 spirit, if it be not our excarnated friends, now immortal angels, 
 in contiguous spheres near to and communicating with us ? Thus 
 ye men of science, fully unfold this mighty philosophy of a new 
 element in human nature, a potent principle for no good, no pur- 
 pose to the Creator or the creature, unless it reaches to a kindred 
 spirit land, whose love attractions draw us to those sweet shores of 
 spirit empire, when we shall drink from near the fountain, and 
 imbibe the vitalizing azure air that develop angelic intelligences, 
 the mighty multitude of happy life that God is gathering around 
 him, as a father gathers his children, and binds their brows with 
 garlands of beauty and love. 
 
 Let not the follies, falsities and fatuities of charlatans^ for they 
 swarm everywhere, so disgust you as to turn you from the tran- 
 scendant splendor of the philosophy. 
 
 Trace those 'strings, or threads of distant contact' by which 
 the blind man perceived and recognized others, of which Aber- 
 crombie speaks, before the spiritual philosophy was known; or 
 *the fine thread of light which moves the medium' as a spirit 
 lately spoke; and see if they don't draw you to those spheres 
 where flows the ambrosial nectar of the gods. my co-evals and 
 co-equals in philanthropy, philosophy and science! you whose 
 aspirations thrill responsive to my own ! I ask you, urge you, to 
 come up closer to this warm sun of the soul and receive new life, 
 and relume your love where ruin is unknown, and warm your 
 hearts so chilled by the cold creeds of old theology. Come, let us 
 worship at the shrine of philosophy, for this is the true worship 
 of the true God. Listen, listen to this new, near music of the 
 circumambient spheres. 
 
 Hear the harmonies that thrill those near concentric realms of 
 pure and spotless spirituality. March to the music of those melo- 
 dies that roll and reverberate anthemic raptures along the grand 
 corridors of all eternity. Awake, ye who shall awake while the 
 centuries sleep! You shall be my kindred and my colleagues and 
 colaborators in this glorious path of progress that leads us to 
 higher life, and points to the portals of immortal love, where 
 ambrosial dews and theobromal streams permeate the azure ether 
 and fertilize immortal mind. 
 
 Arouse the dormant energies of your universal love, and shake
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 255 
 
 off the apathy of ignorance and the bigotry of blind education 
 that invest our fellow-men as vestures of triple steel. 
 
 If our determined will has the power to control nature, why 
 not control human destiny, for what is destiny but nature ? 
 What is anything or everything, known and unknown, but na- 
 ture ? Then let us determine by a pure, resolute and honest will, 
 to live like philosophers and die like gods, or the sons of God — 
 die but to put on immortal mantles and claim the legitimate 
 legacy of our Father. 
 
 Let us spurn the success of the ignorant but self-wise scoffer, 
 pity the poor pulings of the soulless slave to gross matter; rise 
 in the true majesty of developed men; vindicate the true mag- 
 nificence of our destiny; assert the divinity within us; exalt our 
 love; expand our thoughts; unfurl the latent pinions of our 
 immortal being and soar amid the radiant realms of a spiritual 
 universe for those splendid pavilions encircling the sky of science 
 and the shrine of philosophy!" 
 
 " This earth of ours is a mighty organ, 
 Of strings without end, keys numberless. 
 And notes innumerable ; some resound. 
 Deep-toned and grand, Uke ocean in the stonn. 
 And thunder on its chariot of cloud ; 
 Others sing silence as their sweetest strain, 
 To melodize the car of intellect ; 
 But all the million tongues of this organ 
 Grand, peel out the mind of God omnific, 
 And nature's vast, omniferous design. 
 To peox^le the spheres with immortal man, — 
 The typic cross, the crescent, and the scroll. 
 Symbols of faith, of passion and of soul ; 
 Unfurl the lettered scroll I Angel emblem 
 Of the grand spiritual philosophy ; 
 Unrolling life around the starry spheres. 
 Unfolding angels of immortal love. 
 And op'uing the destinies of heaven." 
 
 To-day a dispute arose regarding Sunday, or the Sabbath. 
 One declares Saturday to be the day ordained and proclaimed by 
 the Lord himself as the day to be kept holy, (as if all days should 
 not be so kept) she knows it to be so, for the Biih says so — and 
 did not the Lord, who created the earth, rest from his labors on 
 that day ?
 
 256 THE tnsrSEALED BOOK. 
 
 What said our Lord and Master regarding tlie Sabbatli ? 
 
 " Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which 
 is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In 
 these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, with- 
 ered, waiting for the moving of the water. 
 
 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and 
 troubled the water ; whosoever then first after the troubling of 
 the water stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he 
 had. 
 
 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and 
 eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been 
 now a long time in that case, he saith unto him. Wilt thou be 
 made whole ? 
 
 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the 
 water is troubled, to put me into the jjool ; but while I am com- 
 ing, another steppeth down before me. 
 
 Jesus saith unto him. Else, take up thy bed, and walk. And 
 immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and 
 walked : and on the same day was the Sabbath. 
 
 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the 
 Sabbatli day ; it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He an- 
 swered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, 
 Take up thy bed, and walk. 
 
 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay 
 him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. But 
 Jesus answered them. My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." 
 
 Again : — 
 
 ''There was a man which had his hand withered. And they 
 asked him, saying. Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days ? that 
 they might accuse him. And he said unto them, 
 
 What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, 
 and it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on 
 it and lift it out ? How much then is a man better than a sheep ? 
 Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." 
 
 " And it came to pass on the second Sabbath after the first, that 
 he went through the corn fields ; and his disciples plucked the 
 ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. And cer-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 257 
 
 tain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is 
 not lawful to do on the Sabbath days ? 
 
 And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as 
 this, what David did, when himself was an hungered, and they 
 which were with him ; 
 
 How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the 
 shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him ; which it 
 is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone ? 
 
 And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and 
 not man for the Sabbath ; therefore the Son of Man is Lord also 
 of the Sabbath." 
 
 " And it came to pass also on another Sabbath, that he entered 
 into the synagogue; and there was a certain man whose right 
 hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, 
 whether he would heal on the Sabbath day; that they might find 
 an accusation against him. 
 
 But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had 
 the withered hand. Rise up, and stand forth. Then said Jesus 
 unto them, I will ask you one thing ; 
 
 Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil ? to 
 save life or destroy it ? And looking round about upon them all, 
 he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so ; and 
 his hand was restored whole as the other. 
 
 And they were filled with madness, and communed with one 
 another what they might do to Jesus." 
 
 *' But a few years ago it was not lawful for a man to kiss his 
 wife on Sunday, called Sunday because the Sabians worshipped 
 the sun on that day ; and even now all the American States, ex- 
 cept Texas, and perhaps California, regard an innocent recrea- 
 tion on Sunday as a shocking sin, and cause every man by their 
 
 statutes to * keep ' and observe this day, Sunday, according to 
 
 what? his own conscience ? No; to the dictation of the domi- 
 nant priestliood. And yet these very priests differ as to the true 
 day of their Sabbath. 
 
 But all this despotic dysnomy of superstition will be swept fromi 
 our statute books, by the march of mind to that true liberty 
 which will enable us to spend Sunday and any other day just as- 
 we please, provided with the one simple condition, that we inter- 
 fere not with others in doing just as they please, — all conscience' 
 unfettered from other's dogmatic dictum."
 
 258 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 I saw but yesternight, 
 
 A baby dear and sweet, 
 Her little face was round and very fair. 
 
 Her chubby hands and feet — 
 
 Her merry eyes so bright I 
 O she was mamma's joy as well as care I 
 
 Her father's darling too, 
 
 As one could plainly see : 
 Their first and only — may she long be spared 
 
 Their hearts and home to cheer, 
 
 And may they wisely rear 
 This lamb so sweet — this cherished, tender bud. 
 
 Two months ago she came, 
 
 And " Precious " is her name — 
 Her baby name —by which she now is called : 
 
 Appropriate it seems. 
 
 For they the darling deem 
 More precious far than wealth of finest gold. 
 
 Two other names has she. 
 
 Of native states are they ; 
 One her father's, one her mother's early home : 
 
 The first is Georgia, 
 
 Next sweet Virginia *. 
 O may she traverse both in times to come. 
 
 The cherub has not known 
 
 As yet, an ache or pain, 
 O may her parents, kind and true, be wise — 
 
 The laws of nature teach, 
 
 Then far above the reach 
 Of mortal ills, and human woes she'll rise, — 
 
 Be fitted here below. 
 
 The joys of heaven to know — 
 To know that life 's immortal and divine — 
 
 That love alone, can gild 
 
 The bright celestial shield, 
 Which makes our earthly home — a sacred shrine. 
 
 '' The science of physiology which is the soil of the soul, and 
 the science of life, is gradually unfolding the philosophy of our 
 physical, and I may add spiritual nature, for upon it are founded 
 and out of it spring the perfections of both our physical and 
 spiritual characters. 
 
 We can improve and beautify our species — it is, to a very 
 considerable extent, within the power of parents, especially the
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 259 
 
 motlior. th.ma-li the (hiufrhtGrs generally inherit the mental 
 constitution of the father, and the sons that of the mother, yet they 
 in turn transmit the same, subject to the same controlling 
 influences — by assiduous effort and proper training of passion, 
 feeling, emotion, and objects of sight, thought, employment, asso- 
 ciation to mold the offsi)ring in the character of mind and body 
 desired. And it is owing to this fact that so many distinguished 
 men have uncommon names, inheriting the vigorous originality of 
 tlieir mothers, who would not be bound by tlie old nomenclature of 
 John, Jim, or Joe. The mother of the great Italian, Dante, before 
 he was born, had a splendid vision of supernal spheres with fairies 
 flitting before her fancy, which made a powerful and permanent 
 impression on her mind. Dante was born a brilliant poet. Kapo- 
 leon's mother was very fond of riding with her husband witnessing 
 the review and marshalling of troops, and expressed great anxiety to 
 witness a battle ; and his first view of this life was on a portable 
 couch, ornamented with the heroes of the Iliad, his mother being 
 borne on it from the church whence she was thus suddenly called. 
 Napoleon was born a great captain. ' A word to the wise is suf- 
 ficient,' and if you are not thus wise, it is your imperative duty 
 at once to set about the study of human physiology : for it is the 
 study of our lives. I have read of the death of an infant being 
 caused by the lacteal poison imbibed from its mother, who had 
 been the victim of a violent passion of anger. Eead the story of 
 Jacob and his spotted cattle — which illustrates the great and 
 primary truth; he was well knowing of the fact, but ignorant of 
 its philosophy — just as the prophets and apostles were cognizant 
 of the facts of spiritual influx and visions, but knew nothing of 
 their significance and philosophy. 
 
 Woman wields the world and molds the character of mankind ; 
 in her keeping are the destinies of the human famil}^ Said the 
 first Napoleon, ' Tell me the character of your women, and I 'll 
 know your men.' 
 
 As judicious energy is the crown of character in man, so chaste 
 meekness is the crown of character in woman — I mean true wo- 
 man, not the worthless pet and inert toy of indolence, or the im- 
 perious queen, who looks upon man as made for licr special slave, 
 bedecked with silks and flaming feathers, or fine furniture and 
 gorgeous drawing-rooms, ' a pig in the parlor and a peacock on 
 the promenade,' as Cabet used to call 'em, who cannot string to-
 
 260 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 gether correctly a dozen words of her own vernacular (and there 
 is no accomplishment, especially for a lady, equal to chaste, cor- 
 rect, and beautiful language), with no refinement or personal fem- 
 inine fascination. 0, ignorance with aristocracy, pretension with 
 vulgarity, and wealth with wickedness, stinginess, meanness, and 
 selfishness, are so ineffably, and unutterably, and intolerably dis- 
 gusting. And, of course, such are ignorant of their ignorance, 
 and this ignorance is bliss : ' Where ignorance is bliss, 't is folly 
 to be wise.' 
 
 Nature and its philosophy stamps man — that is, true man of 
 action, energy, honesty and truth — as the Lord ; and the woman 
 who does not thus view him, and comprehend her proper relation, 
 is ignorant of her highest excellence, and a stranger to her true and 
 great power. [With all due regard to our contemporary, we ac- 
 knowledge a difference of opinion.] As an illustrious example of 
 her potency in this respect, when the expatriated Coriolanus, at 
 the head of the Volsci, marched upon his native city, and lighted 
 the circumjacent hills of Eome with the camp-fires of her numer- 
 ous and relentless enemy, threatening immediate destruction, dep- 
 utations of her most illustrious citizens, committees of the Sen- 
 ate, priests of religion, old and gray-headed men, all were in turn 
 sent out to him, soliciting and imploring his leniency and mercy, 
 but to no avail; the injured and vindictive heart of Coriolanus 
 was inexorable, and the devoted city seemed doomed to expiate her 
 injustice to him, and gratify his full revenge. Finally, as a last, 
 forlorn, and apparently hopeless resort, his mother and wife, Vetu- 
 ria and Virgilia, were sent to him, and falling on their knees, 
 begged his pardon and protection. ' 0, my son ! ' cried his mother, 
 ' do I embrace my son or my enemy ? Am I your mother or your 
 captive ? How have I lived to see this day, — to see my son a 
 banished man, and, still more agonizing, to see him the enemy 
 of his country, devoting to destruction the city that gave him 
 birth ? Had I never been born, Eome would still be free ! ' The 
 stern heart of the warrior, that had withstood, unmoved, so many 
 scenes, supplications, and appeals, melted before these tears of 
 woman's meekness, and relented of all its vindictiveness. The 
 great army of the Volsci, he immediately marched away ; but the 
 event fulfilled the sad prediction which he addressed to his mother 
 in reply, a prediction which only a Komau mother could hear, 
 ' 0, my mother, thou hast saved Eome, but lost thy son ! ' He
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 261 
 
 was soon murdered by the enraged Volsci. In honor of Veturia's 
 merit, the Eomans dedicated a temple to Female Fortune. 
 
 The torrent of the storm, the mountain avalanche, hath no 
 such power as the streaming tears of woman's meekness, to melt 
 the heart of man. When the noble Cornelia was called upon by 
 a vain lady, who had been exhibiting her meritricious ornaments, 
 to show hers, she presented her children, exclaiming, ' these are 
 my jewels.' Yours, ladies, is a high and holy charge. In your 
 sacred keeping is the character of men. I would urge you, as a 
 sacred duty, to study well human physiology, our anthroposophy 
 and anthroi")ology, it is that science of that immortal life which 
 is in your hands. "We are ignorant of the immense misery and 
 misforfune entailed upon our children by this very ignorance." 
 
 I will here insert for the benefit of the "Masonic Fraternity,'* 
 a communication dictated by a brother mason in spirit life, in re- 
 ply to a letter of inquiry in regard to the advancement of " Capit- 
 ular Masonr}'," etc.: after which, and in connection with, is a 
 communication given through my own powers ; this I had not 
 thought to insert here, but as it is the first personal communica- 
 tion (consciously written) vouchsafed through me, I trust it will 
 not be considered amiss to thus preserve it. I will also state that 
 the following, was the first conscious impressment of this medium, 
 also a brother mason. 
 
 "Comp. In answer to your request to furnish a 'full 
 
 account of the workings of our chapter,' I would be pleased to say, 
 our workings have been somewhat various : at times we were dis- 
 posed to proceed with what we had before us : again, it seemed 
 irksome and troublesome to go on. 
 
 The Chapter has been in a languid state for want of unanimity 
 to proceed with its higli destiny; a strict adherence to the prin- 
 ciples of masonry as inculcated by its teachings, would obviate all 
 difficulties, and make Masonry prosperous and secure in the hearts 
 of the fraternity. 
 
 A reasonable allowance might be made for want of unity, but 
 then there should be a careful watchfulness over the morals and 
 obligations of its members, in order to make it a success, both as 
 to this world and the world to come. 
 
 Should its teachings be strictly observed, would it not be a glo-
 
 262 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 rious institution ? But alas ! how many fall by the wayside, and 
 none to pick them up, none to regret their falling. Those who have 
 obtained an eai^thly mansion, too often forget, or cannot see, their 
 obligated brother in distress, much less give him a welcome hand, 
 to aid him through the toils and troubles of this life. 
 
 Greediness and want of sympathy stifle out the latent spark 
 of liberality and quench the spirit of benevolence. It is a burn- 
 ing shame that the want of charity blunts the true undei'standing 
 of Masonry among some masons, while the red-hot cinders of 
 perdition and anathemas are copiously thrown upon their head, 
 all to make an excuse for the lack of that charity which they 
 refuse to an unfortunate brother. 
 
 How long will these things last ? when will the joyful sound 
 be heard — Go, brother and do your duty to your fellow com- 
 panion — with the joyful response, I will? When will the 
 brother mason learn his duty to his equally obligated brother and 
 do it accordingly, without restraint from the wilful bad examples 
 around him ? When will he come forward and act conscien- 
 tiously, enforcing his principles by precept, and spread the glorious 
 principles of Masonry with unselfishness, and stifle out the mis- 
 erable pandering to selfishness and money-making at the expense 
 of the true principles of Masonry ? 
 
 These are the questions to be considered in writing-up a super- 
 ficial history of Masonry with its objects considered, by which, 
 according to your letter, ' Capitular Masonry maxj he advanced,^ 
 with ' s^ich suggestions as I may deem advisable! 
 
 My dear companion, I fear you are engaged in a fearful work 
 if you expect to show that the work is true and acceptable to the 
 * Master Overseer' above. Consider! consider well what you 
 undertake, and be certain that your foundations are solid and 
 that the material is good and pure before you start — for I tell 
 you if you reject all that is worthless, you will have but little left 
 to build your Temple with. 
 
 One M. E. G. High Priest has left us and gone to the spirit 
 land. In him we had a good and charitable officer — his memory 
 is strongly embalmed in the'hearts of the brotherhood. Had this 
 correspondence fallen to his lot while liere, it probably would 
 have been executed more pleasantly to the craft. But although 
 he is absent in the flesh, I feel his presence in the discharge of 
 this duty through his spiritual mediumship, and hope you will
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 263 
 
 pardon me when I say, Had it not been for his spiritual influence 
 you would not have received this communication. 
 
 The following marked composition through the mediumistic 
 
 powers of Miss B , from Companion D , addressed to 
 
 myself, explains itself and shows an intimate connection to what 
 I have written under the same influence. 
 
 Ponder and reflect over both, and make your own conclusions 
 in the true spirit — remembering that you and all of us sooner or 
 later will meet our departed companions face to face in the spirit 
 land, in sight of the Lodge not made with hands eternal in the 
 Heavens. Yours affectionately, 
 
 Acting M. E. H. P. 
 
 My dear brother F , I cannot give here 
 
 The " workings of your chapter," as well as 
 
 Ye who do still inhabit the earth sphere : 
 
 But I wish to say — I come at your call, 
 
 And am often with you. I have many 
 
 Times tried to make you feel my presence near. 
 
 The task I fear was vain, until at last 
 
 Through your friend's control, your attention kind 
 
 I was helped to gain. This eased my burden'd soul, 
 
 For I knew if once the door was unbarred, 
 
 And my brethren fraternal did see the 
 
 Pure satisfaction the so-called dead derive 
 
 From communion with friends below, one point, 
 
 At least, was gained : and here I would say to 
 
 One and all — 'T is a truth eternal. An 
 
 Established law beyond the frail power of 
 
 Human control doth govern the same ; this 
 
 Much I do know — and hope soon to learn more. 
 
 There 's much with which we do have to contend. 
 
 In coming back here and giving the truth : 
 
 But here let me tell you, as brother and
 
 264 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Friend, we all must atone for the sins of 
 Youth, be they ever so many, or few. 
 You would like to know how I 'm getting on : 
 I will tell you true, for in the future, 
 I hope to become a trustworthy man ; 
 I should quite well get along but for this, 
 The imposture my life sanctioned below ; 
 I was not, as you know, wholly to blame : 
 For, though I am far less good than I seem, 
 Yet I seem not so good as I am ; now 
 This may puzzle you sore, but it 's the truth, 
 I ween : accept thou, then, in love, the same. 
 
 I am here, unable to devise means 
 By which " Capitular Masonry " may 
 Be advanced, so far as regards /brms, the 
 One thing needful is, more charity toward 
 Your fellow men. Our brotherhood would then 
 Unite to bless our holy Order, nor 
 That alone, for all are "Brothers" here, 
 Who do profess and live the truth. When all 
 Is said and done, the sum of it is this ; 
 To love our neighbor as ourself. And now, 
 A favor I would ask of thee, brother. 
 Which is, that you will kindly try to show, 
 Explain, the truths which I have given you : 
 Others I trust, will then investigate, 
 And learn, in time, how to control the power 
 Of this magnetic bond between the spheres ; 
 This bond is to the earth and heaven a dower 
 Which lay buried deep for scores of years, 
 To nearly all, and then revived again. 
 I am told, that the light of the same can 
 Never more grow dim ; but will brightly shine 
 To illumine the pathway, pure, sublime. 
 That 's trodden by mortals, and angels divine, 
 Who lovingly come to visit your homes.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 265 
 
 I fear, brother F , you'll not comprehend 
 
 How it is, that you do receive in verse, 
 
 The sentiments of your still-living friend. 
 
 Who could not compile a line of the same. 
 
 This much will 1 say, it is by the aid 
 
 Of the medium's guide, who doth control ; 
 
 I cannot explain to you fully, now, 
 
 But I wish you well : the Fraternity too ; 
 
 May they keep in view high Heaven's decree. 
 
 Kind spirit friends. Our letters have, of late, been few and far 
 between — those, at least, in which you are more particularly in- 
 terested ; but I have at the present time three, whose " fragrance 
 smells to heaven," which I would ask you to peruse with me ; and 
 if so be that ye have ought to give in reply, I subject myself to 
 your further control. 
 
 " I felt a great desire to see the work as soon as I heard of its 
 publication. I found in it many things, that, as you say, I should 
 have to dissent from, but I will not attempt to criticize the book, 
 not feeling myself to be a competent judge ; still I will express 
 most sincere admiration, for the independence of character which 
 you must possess, to enable you so to brave public opinion, as not 
 only to write a book, but to express in it your honest convictions, 
 though you knew they Avould meet with the disapproval of most 
 of your readers. I wish there was more of that kind of courage 
 among us ; then we should not have to wait so long for the devel- 
 opment of every new idea under the sun, as we now have to." 
 
 The writer of the above is no stranger unto us. We have 
 watched, for years, her firm, unerring course, unerring, so far as 
 her innate convictions of truth and right Averc established. Her 
 honest and candid avowment of her incompetency to judge a 
 work of this character, is precisely what we should expect from 
 one whose life and deeds give evidence that the indwelling spirit, 
 which is the soul of honor, has been baptized into the celestial 
 kingdom of charity and good-will towards the whole human family. 
 We are not surprised that from many things which were given in
 
 266 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 that work she should at present dissent, or, more correctly speak- 
 ing, should fail to embrace the spiritual teachings here set forth. 
 There are two apparent reasons for this : First, her mind has 
 never been directed or led into this particular channel of obser- 
 vation or reflection. Secondly, the simple and childlike lessons 
 contained therein, are not of a character to reach her superior and 
 highly cultured mind, possessing a wealth of original and pro- 
 gressive ideas and thoughts. Were we to anticipate, we might say 
 that the present work is much better adapted to the edification 
 of this class of minds. 
 
 The sincere admiration expressed for the independence of char- 
 acter exhibited, is but the reflection of her own inherent nature 
 and true nobility of soul, which soars above the whims and ca- 
 prices of a prejudiced public opinion, and which is unfettered by 
 adherence to worthless creeds and dogmas. 
 
 We bespeak for her, not only a warm interest in this beautiful 
 philosophy, but trust ere long she will also be a co-laborer in this 
 wide field for literary genius, giving forth fi-om her diamond mind, 
 rich " gems of purest ray serene," which shall brighten many a 
 household, and point the hearts of humanity to the fields of im- 
 mortal light and love on the fadeless shores of eternity. 
 
 "We reject many truths when first presented, which afterwards, 
 upon investigation, command our credence. For example, it 
 seems anomalous and incredible to assert that more men die in a 
 healthy country, than in a sickly one ; but such is a demonstrable 
 truth, which will command not only our credence, but absolute 
 knowledge, when we investigate it by the light of science, and 
 submit it to that great gift of the Creator, common sense or rea- 
 son. A thousand people placed in a sickly country, would, in a 
 hundred years, increase but little, perhaps decrease ; but the same 
 number placed in a healthy country, would multiply rapidly, and 
 in a few generations, the deaths from this dense population, would, 
 of course, greatly outnumber the deaths from the comparatively 
 sparse population of the unhealthy region, for men must necessa- 
 rily die everywhere, from decrepitude or by disease. Thus it is 
 demonstrable that in the course of a century or of several genera- 
 tions, a greater number of people die in a salubrious, than in an 
 insalubrious country, however, at first thought, we may have re- 
 jected the truth, as absurd and impossible. And it appears false 
 to say that there is water in dry, inflammable gunpowder, and that
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 267 
 
 mucli the largest portion of the human body is water instead of 
 solid matter; but which are facts proved by science. 
 
 Now, as applied to this new philosophy of life, I cannot aver 
 that 1 know it to be true ; but the numbers and reputable char- 
 acter of the testimony, and the amount and the scientific nature 
 of the evidence in its support, to say nothing of my intuition of 
 its goodness, its grandeur, and its glory, are vastly superior to that 
 supporting any other religion, or philosophy of life, or system of 
 ethics, and irresistably compels me to believe it, and embrace it, 
 and throw the anchor of my hope within the storied temple of its 
 splendid pavilions. 
 
 Hence, from these conclusions, let us learn first, last, and all the 
 time, not to reject or accept anything without patient and thor- 
 ough investigation. This is specially, and particularly, and em- 
 phatically, applicable to the great and momentous subject of our 
 duty and destiny, which is our religion." 
 
 Our next extract is from the pen of one who, four months ago, 
 was a skeptic and an unbeliever ; but who now, as you will infer 
 from the correspondence, is not only a firm believer, but a co- 
 worker with us in this great reformatory movement. 
 
 " Now for the all-absorbing question, — Spiritualism : A lady 
 visitor at our house, gives a flowing account of the 'spirits' and 
 
 their doings, at S . It seems to be a voluntary production 
 
 there, comes naturally, without any cultivation, and the crop 
 seems to be various ; the poor spirits telling, in some instances, 
 awful tales on the good citizens, which did not go down well with 
 some, horrified others, and others, again, got venomous. They 
 go by turns — different houses on different nights, and the ball 
 keeps gathering as it rolls — skeptics dumb-founded and obliged 
 to give it up, and the population falling into the belief generally, 
 as to the truth of invisible powers of intelligence, etc. But the 
 whole thing is a sort of catched-up, agreeable sort of development, 
 not regulated by any advancement beyond the rapping of the 
 table and the quality or quantity present. A good, lively thing 
 they make of it, according to what my lady friend reports. 
 
 We are doing the best we can, considering that everything has 
 succumbed to the development of the trance and slate, — no 
 friendly table-tipping, no impressional writing, no good, nice, 
 agreeable talks to the poor spirits beyond. All gone, gone, to
 
 268 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 give the trance and slate developmentary project, a chance to 
 break through the shell, a full-feathered realization, or nude, I do 
 not know which ; at any rate, we are flat for the want of some- 
 thing to do, whereby we can gather in the harvest of spiritual 
 seekers ready to be shocked, threshed, and the chaff separated 
 from the grain, and bagged for the Centennial or Millennium, as 
 you may be pleased to term it; the first being dedicated to the 
 sjoirit of liberty, and the latter to the liberty of spirit." 
 
 From the same a few days latter. 
 
 " We have several new friends, — spiritual, — who communicate 
 to us good and welcome intelligence. The trance no go — the 
 slate yet on hand, progressing I think. Some three new friends, 
 mechanical writers all, for my benefit on hand at times, looks like 
 a determined movement to make something out of me, and for 
 some great purpose, (they say). Seems like I was cut out to do 
 work, even if I am spoiled in the make-up. I did charge them, 
 indirectly, of trying to feed my vanity, but they said No, so I am 
 going along with a pencil on tip-toe, making flourishes, and hiero- 
 glyphics, and straight lines of wavy crooks, in abundance. We 
 
 still live in hopes, at some future time, to get up trance. If J 
 
 succeeds on the slate, and I in the mechanical writing, we may 
 then be able to get help. I desire no humbug or juggling, but 
 stricth lionest worJc." 
 
 We have indeed somewhat to say concerning these things, yea, 
 much that we would be glad to say, but time and space are lim- 
 ited, therefore must our words be few. The account given by your 
 friend, — our mutual friend we might say, for he is ours as well — 
 of the spontaneous workings of the spirit, is but one instance of 
 thousands which are now daily occuring upon the mundane 
 sphere. The ancient prophecies are being literally fulfilled : the 
 Lord is pouring out his spirit upon all flesh. The seed shall 
 spring up as the grass, and as willows by the water-courses ; and 
 one shall say, It is the work of the Lord : another, 'T is Satan let 
 loose. 
 
 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the 
 Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say. Who seeth 
 us ? and who knoweth us ? Surely your turning of things upside- 
 down, shall be esteemed as the potter's clay : for shall the work 
 Bay of him that made it, He made it not ? or shall the thing
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 269 
 
 framed, say of liim that framed it, He had no understanding ? It 
 is yet but a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a 
 fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest. 
 Will the "good citizens" be kind enough to draw their own infer- 
 ence from this ? And in that day shall the deaf hear, and the 
 eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. 
 The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor 
 among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel ; the rigliteous 
 shall no longer be sold for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes, 
 being pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. 
 A man and his father shall no more go in unto the same maid, 
 to profane my holy name, saith the Lord. And I will smite the 
 winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory 
 shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end : the Lord 
 God hath sworn this by his holiness. And the multitude of all 
 the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against 
 her, and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream 
 of a night vision ; it shall even be as when a hungry man dream- 
 eth, and behold he eateth : but he awaketh and his soul is empty. 
 Or as when a thirsty man dreamcth, and behold he drinketh : but 
 he awaketh, and behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite; 
 so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against 
 mount Zion. 
 
 Of our friend we would say. His work is yet scarce begun, it 
 shall spring forth a full-fledged reality, for the seed shall be pros- 
 perous ; tlie vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give 
 her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew. 
 
 His strict integrity of purpose, combined with high intellectual 
 capabilities, render him a valuable and efficient instrument for 
 good in the hands of the higher powers, especially so as his men- 
 tal superstructure is such, that he is enabled to receive impres- 
 sions with unusual alacrity and clearness : his perceptive faculties 
 also, rendering him a competent "machine" for winnowing the 
 grain. We trust the harvest will be plenteous, and will, when 
 fully ripe, be gathered into the garners of Spiritual Liberty, whose 
 dedication shall be ascribed in letters of gold, to — the Lord 
 
 OUR ElOHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 Extract from our third letter: — 
 
 " I have read your Book with interest ; have not investigated the 
 principal subject of w^hich it treats, and am of course, unable to
 
 270 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 form any opinion in regard to such matters, except from what 
 little I have read of them: but whether true or false, I have never 
 for a moment doubted your integrity or sincerity in the matter; 
 at the same time, I have not been convinced that it would make 
 me either happier or better, or that it was my duty to look into 
 the subject of Spiritualism." 
 
 "We have here a representative of a large class of people who, 
 for three subsecutive reasons have not taken upon themselves 
 the responsibility of an investigation of the subject in question-. 
 In the first place, the manifold cares and duties incumbent upon 
 the head of a family who are dependent upon his exertions for 
 their daily sustenance, leave little time or opportunity for study 
 or research beyond the present and the immediate future. Sec- 
 ondly, their inbred principles from early instillations, the 
 nature of their avocations, the populace by which they are 
 surrounded, all tend to dissuade rather than promote an investiga- 
 tion of this still unpopular theory, even had they a desire of 
 obtaining knowledge thereof. Lastly, they feel themselves per- 
 fectly safe so long as they depart not from the path their fore- 
 fathers trod, they have around them a wide circle of devoted 
 freinds, none especially dear having been called from their midst. 
 
 As a natural result this combination of circumstances and con- 
 ditions produces indifference on their part without any feelings 
 of malevolence or any desire to exert an opposing influence. 
 They look upon Spiritualism as a theorem of little importance to 
 them, and, as our friend writes, are not convinced that they should 
 be any happier, better, or that it is their duty to investigate the 
 subject. 
 
 " Spiritualism, whether in ancient or modern times, does not 
 always lead to pleasant results, neither does the elimination of 
 any great truth. Advanced ideas invariably bring martyrs to the 
 front." 
 
 We listened, some time ago, to a conversation between some 
 friends, one of whom had been absent for a time from her 
 native town. As is usual in such cases, the matrimonial alliances 
 and anticipations were among the first subjects of discussion. One 
 friend, strange to say, for it was one of whom they would have 
 least expected it — had done splendidly, better than any girl in 
 the place ever had done, or ever would do. She had married a
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 271 
 
 ricli widower with quite a large family of children. I did not 
 learn of which component part the splendor consisted — the man, 
 the money, or the children ; all combined, perhaps. A young 
 man had " up and got married " for no earthly reason except that 
 he could not live with his step-mother. Poor thing! from what 
 I gathered, however, he did not better himself much. As we 
 freely expressed our opinion in regard to matrimony in our former 
 work, we will not elaborate upon the subject here, but will give 
 an extract from which mothers — step-mothers included — may 
 derive a lesson; also the multitude of unfortunate beings who 
 are " married and not mated." 
 
 " John Kepler, so little popularly known, who discovered the 
 motion of the sun, the weight of the atmosphere, the elliptical 
 orbits of the planets, and the great law that ' the squares of the 
 periodic times of the planets are to each other as the cubes of their 
 mean distances from the sun,' and other great principles in the 
 philosophy of astronomy, and a most dutiful and devoted son, 
 whose care, kindness and affection for his mother, who had cause- 
 lessly contemned him and bestowed her favors on her other sons, 
 who afterwards neglected her in her old age, extorted the follow- 
 ing words from her dying lips : ' I wish that all mothers would 
 take warning by my case, and never show any preference to one 
 child over another until they see good reason to do so. Above 
 all, none should be harsh, but kind, to the one that 's anxious for 
 knowledge.' He thus speaks in his epitaph, written by himself : 
 * I have measured the heavens ; I now measure the shades of tho 
 earth. The intellect is celestial ; here only the shadow of the 
 body reposes.' This great and good man had to prosecute his 
 studies under the great incubus of extreme indigence, and his 
 only instrument, with which he measured the heavens, was con- 
 structed of three sticks of wood, formed into a triangle and grad- 
 uated, with goose quills for sights. And, like Milton, MafStt, 
 Bulwer, Lardner, and many of the finest intellects of the world, 
 he was unfortunate in his matrimonial selection. What a clog, 
 what a curse, for such a man, measuring the machinery of the 
 universe, or studying the springs of human hope and its deep ar- 
 cana, soaring for the sublime and towering to the true, to be tied 
 to a termagant whose cross, contracted, distorted, capricious ken 
 never reached beyond her poultry-yard or goose-pond, whose vira- 
 ginity is her religion, who quarrels at his every generous and
 
 272 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 noble deed, contemns his honorable impulses and efforts, abuses 
 his lofty aspirations, sneers at his sensitiveness, and reviles his 
 refinement. Thus the contumacious and contumelious wife and 
 undutiful and ungrateful children, as in the case of Milton, treat 
 him whose hand holds their heads above the wave, and whose 
 efforts would weave a wreath around their names as fadeless as 
 the flowers of his congenial paradise. Why is it that men of 
 genius are nearly always thus unhappy in their conjugal connec- 
 tions ? It is a well known truth and fact, and therefore must 
 have a reason and a philosophy. Indulge a brief answer to this 
 question, as it involves one of the most important relations of 
 life. Genius is original, superb, bold, defiant, and disdains to 
 follow the worn-out paths of others, whether it be or not a disease 
 of the nerves, as declared by a learned doctor ; hence the com- 
 paratively ignorant wife, and her more ignorant friends, and 
 simple, conceited neighbors, ever eager to officiate, call this eccen- 
 tricity, obduracy, imbecility. 
 
 " The moles and bats, in full assembly, find, 
 On special search, the keen-eyed eagle blind." 
 
 Genius also has its puerilities, and is subject to the greatest per- 
 turbations, like the streaming meteor, and these, its mere aberra- 
 tions, are taken by the ignorant for its normal orbit and natural 
 status. For instance Sir Isaac Newton, I think it was, or some 
 other great mind, on having his new barn completed, required 
 the workmen to cut a hole in the door for the cats to enter, to 
 drive off the rats. After the hole was made for the cat, which 
 required but a few moments, he asked his workmen also to cut 
 some smaller ones for the kittens, as he wished them to multiply. 
 * But,' said the workmen, ' if a grown cat can go through that 
 hole, so can the little kittens.' ' Sure enough,' rejoined the genius. 
 There are many such ludicrous instances of absence of mind, — 
 for they are nothing else, — recorded of great men, which silly 
 men regard as the test of mentality. The great mind, after its 
 herculean efforts on great subjects, becomes on these small trivi- 
 alities quiescent, and is then comparatively asleep; and such ac- 
 tive minds require more sleep than sluggish ones. Napoleon fre- 
 quently slept on the field of battle, on the issue of which the fate 
 of Empires trembled. It is the moral duty of genius to pity the
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 273 
 
 weak and self-conceited simpleton, and some do, occasionally, 
 but not invariably, for genius is generally unstable and erratic, 
 like the vivid lightning's gleam. There are many who attain re- 
 nown through adventitious fortune; but few men of genius are 
 known to the world, compared to the many unknown. Again, 
 the man of genius and culture is capable of conceiving, and is 
 hence apt to fix a standard so high, of female loveliness, that few 
 women can ' fill the bill,' to use a quaint phrase ; hence his fre- 
 quent disappointments. And again, genius is high-spirited, full 
 of passion, impatient of restraint, excitable and irritable, (which 
 irritability is confounded, by the vixen, with her own irascibility), 
 and therefore requires a wife of more than ordinary gentleness, 
 patience and amiability. But genius, superb in its ideal, will 
 have none other than a woman of superb beauty; and nature 
 never lavishes all her gifts in one individual. I opine it would be 
 as hard to find a beautiful woman who is amiable, as it is to find 
 a great man who is pretty. And yet further, may it not some- 
 times happen that an invidious wife, and her still more invidious 
 friends, seek to drag the husband from his towering altitude, down 
 to their level, whom they can never otherwise hope to equal." 
 
 " Oh, mortals ! remember that the high and the low, the rich 
 and the poor, the wise and the ignorant, — when the soul has 
 shaken off the cumbrous shackles of this mortal life, — shall 
 equally receive their just deserts, under the divine law of compen- 
 sation ; for their good works here, happiness there ; for their evil 
 deeds, sorrow. The greater the wickedness, the more intense the 
 remorse. The greater the good deeds, the more delightful will be 
 the condition of the soul in the spirit realm." 
 
 In connection with this truth, and showing the different alti- 
 tudes and conceptions of those entering the new life, we here in- 
 sert some messages from the spirit-world, given through the me- 
 diumship of Mrs. Danskin of Baltimore, through whose powers 
 " hundreds of spirits have conversed with their friends on earth, 
 while she was in the entranced condition, totally unconscious." 
 "We copy the same from the Banner of Light. 
 
 " Free, free from the fetters of an earthly life, give mc a place- 
 in that kingdom which hath not been made by hands ! W. A, 
 Richardson of Quincy, 111. My native place was Kentucky. I
 
 274 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 was interested in all things that appertained to the public welfare. 
 Born in 1811. 1 studied law, or, rather, I became a lawyer. Af- 
 terward I went to Illinois, where I settled. I was chosen five 
 times to fill a place in the National Legislature, I was on the 
 electoral ticket for Polk and Dallas. I held a command on the 
 battle-field of Buena Vista; and with all these achievements 
 which men hold so important, what gained I in the presence of the 
 Infinite ? Many a beggar who walked the streets day and night, 
 asking alms, was arrayed in more beautiful garments than I. 
 
 My mind was filled with wonder when I beheld the conditions 
 of the new life. Said I, ' Do the lowly become stationed above 
 the higher in this world, or am I mistaken ? Is this a mere pic- 
 ture ? Am I dead, or am I not ? ' A voice rolled down from the 
 distant heights, which thrilled me as would an electric shock, and 
 made me stand erect in my manhood. It said, ' Look upward, 
 not downward ; leave earth and all its treasures behind, and seek 
 yonder beautiful sun that is just rising above the hills I ' I was 
 amazed ; I was filled with wonder. The thought of myself was 
 not spoken, but flashed through the spirit-brain. The voice asrain 
 said, ' You are not dead in our sight, but in the sight of iffnorant 
 men ; they call you dead. You have a strong and cultivated in- 
 tellect ; come forward in your manhood, and deny to mortals that 
 which has been so erroneously taught them, — that death was the 
 fate of all mankind ; that death was the penalty offered to trans- 
 gression ; that death was the monster that all men should fear. 
 
 Tell them what you have learned of death.' And now, men 
 and women, (I speak to the unlettered and ignorant as well as to 
 the cultured and wise), let one who has tasted of the deep, strong 
 knowledge of immortality, tell you that there is no death in the 
 U7iiverses of the Infinite. We only resign that which we borrow 
 from mother earth, and the ever-living spirit returns to the Source 
 whence it came. 
 
 Blessed be thy name, Infinite one ! for he has by the opera- 
 tion of his divine laws, rooted out ignorance from my mind, and 
 implanted therein knowledge. 
 
 This philosophy, which has so much light in it, deals iustly, 
 both with the saint and the sinner. Regret goes backward, that I 
 did not seek the knowledge of it when in the earth-form — not 
 for my benefit alone, but for the good I might have done to hu- 
 manity."
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 275 
 
 "What positive proof have I, white-robed angel, that I am not 
 dead ? The reply comes. ' Speak, young man, and the exercise 
 of your attributes will dictate to you whether you have life or 
 whether you are dead.' I am youthful — only eighteen years old. 
 I feel as if something very mysterious had crossed the pathway 
 of my young life. I have not power to define it. In general 
 feature this place where I am is like the one which I left. I am 
 a stranger among you ; as such treat me. There is vacancy with 
 me which nothing in this life seems to fill. I am not anv nearer 
 to God than I was before. I realize now that I did not pay suf- 
 ficient attention to the laws of my physical nature. Let all who 
 are kindred to me cease from weeping and mourning, for all in 
 good time I will grow in knowledge of the laws of this life, and 
 will thus grow in happiness." 
 
 " There is sorrow and mourning and grief in the household 
 over my death. I feel peculiarly strange. I scarce can realize 
 that from death comes life, but so it is. I have all tlie attri- 
 butes of the living man. I have sight, feeling, and hearing. 
 'More blessed to give than to receive' — thus I hand down the 
 biblical record. From death comes life, when one in his youth- 
 ful days acquaints himself with the laws of God as well as the 
 laws of man. Mother, believe me, I am not dead, but alive. 
 Mother, believe me, I do not speak from the grave, but from the 
 blue sky, in the heavens where the white-robed angels have con- 
 verted me to their work. A fair spirit bids me come and com- 
 mune as best I may, saying that it will give me enhanced pleasure 
 in my new life." 
 
 " Art thou balanced well in mind [addressing a spirit] to ask 
 me to say * farewell, vain world, I bid adieu to thee and those I 
 love?' No, I cannot say it. I almost feel angered with the 
 author of my being for having built me up intellectually and sur- 
 rounded me with wealth, and given everything to make life 
 pleasant and happy, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, as it 
 were, to take all from me and cast me into a world that I stand 
 in ignorance of. I am not capable of judging, nor do I wish to 
 be judged. Give me back life — life on earth, with all my physi- 
 cal ailments ; earth was more pleasant to me than is all this vast 
 country. Father, in your sorrow you may weep, for your son la
 
 276 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 dead, dead to the world he has left, and dead to the one he has 
 entered. Let the curtain fall, and let me sleep that sleep which 
 will never have an awakening. Yes, write it out, and after you 
 have written it close the page, and let it moulder away as will 
 the body of myself. I cannot do it justice, nor can I have justice 
 done me. I am the son of one whose croiuning point is luealth.^^ 
 
 "How sweet, how calm to die and to be resurrected into life. 
 I found a new and beautiful life 'over the river.' Gladsome 
 friends met me, and we rejoiced together over one more new 
 birth. Our Father, who art in heaven, hath dealt kindly, gra- 
 ciously with his new-born child. He, by his instruments, has 
 taught me that I am not a mere worm of the earth, that I have 
 an existence in this world that brings with it beauty and utility, 
 not only to myself but to those whom I have left behind me. 
 Kindred and friends, if you can read these lines, you will find 
 that I am not dead, but alive, living in that world where death 
 never enters. I am told by one Avho is a worker among the 
 spirits to come hither and unfold my life beyond the grave. 
 Many mourn me dead. In seeing this they will recognize that I 
 have the attributes of life, and with those attributes power to speak 
 again to those whom I have left behind me. Farewell." 
 
 A. J. Davis says : " Believe not that what is called death, is a 
 final termination of human existence, nor that the change is so 
 thorough and entire as to alter or destroy the constitutional pe- 
 culiarities of the individual : but believe righteously that death 
 causes as much alteration in the condition of the individual, as 
 the bursting of the rose-bud causes in the situation and condition 
 of the flower. Death is only an event, a circumstance, in the 
 eternal life and experience of the soul. As the death of the germ 
 is necessary to the birth and development of the flower, so is the 
 death of man's physical body an indispensable precedent and in- 
 dication of his spiritual birth or resurrection. . . . Night and 
 sleep, correspond to physical death ; but the brilliant day and hu- 
 man wakefulness, correspond to spiritual birth and indiviiual 
 elevation."
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 277 
 
 WILL WONDERS NEVER CEASE .'' 
 
 " One night, while Joseph Jefferson was acting Eip Van Win- 
 kle, he lost all consciousness of where he was ; when he came to 
 himself, he started as though from a sound sleep, and finishing 
 his scene mechanically, rushed up to some one in the wings, and 
 asked them what had happened, — had he made some dreadful 
 blunder ? No one had noticed anything ; yet Jefferson avers 
 that he was not there in S}nrit, from the early part of the per- 
 formance, to the late stage of the representation, when he 'awoke ' 
 and found himself toujours Rip. After this it is not surprising 
 that Mr. Jefferson should declare that he plays the character un- 
 der spiritualistic influences." 
 
 THE POPE A MEDIUM. 
 
 The Courier de Bruxelles gives the following account of a 
 miraculous cure affected lately by his Holiness Pius IX. 
 
 "A relif/ieuse of the Order of the Sacred Heart, the Rev. 
 
 Mother Julia N , daughter of one of the most distinguished 
 
 diplomats of Belgium, after a violent nervous attack, had her 
 right arm so completely paralyzed that it had to be bandaged to 
 boards for support. Her finger-nails had become black, and the 
 bones of the fingers and elbow had become displaced and, as it 
 were, dislocated. 
 
 In vain had the medical men prescribed change of air. At 
 Vienna, where she first betook herself, afterward at Rome, where 
 she arrived about the end of September, the disease assumed even 
 a more aggravated form. The sufferer, nevertheless, cherished a 
 secret hope that she would be cured, and through her being at 
 Rome, if she could but see the Holy Father. She obtained an 
 audience on October 19. The Holy Father, at first surprised at 
 the rcfjuest for cure that had been made him, and wishing, too, 
 perhaps to try the faith of the invalid, said to her: * My daughter, 
 I have not the gift of miracles.' But he immediately added, ' Put 
 your trust in God, for nothing is impossible to his mercy.' 
 
 However, as the religious ladies, and especially the niece of the 
 Holy Father, besought him that he himself would deign to com- 
 mend the sick person to God, and to bless her, the Pope became
 
 278 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 for an instant recollected in prayer, his hands joined, and liis 
 eyes raised to heaven ; then addressing the invalid, he said, ' My 
 daughter, have faith — that faith which moves mountains.' 
 
 He several times repeated the same words to her, and, having 
 asked her name, he took occasion from it to insist anew on faith. 
 ' St. Julia,' he said, 'gave her life for Jesus Christ, and she proved 
 by her martyrdom how ardent was her faith.' Having then 
 taken the ring of the religious profession which the invalid 
 wore on her left hand, the Holy Father blessed it, and made her 
 place it on the finger of her right hand. 'At that very instant,' 
 the Rev. Mother Julia asserts, ' I felt life return to the paralyzed 
 part, and the blood resumed its circulation throughout the entire 
 arm.' 
 
 The Pope then bade her make the sign of the cross ; but, as 
 instinctively, and by the force of habit, she was about to make it 
 with the left hand. 'No, no, not like that!' said the Holy 
 Father; 'the sign of the cross must be made with the right 
 hand — the Catholic sign of the cross.' And, in fact, the Rev. 
 Mother Julia was able to sign herself with the right hand, al- 
 though still hesitating, and with some difficulty. 
 
 At the bidding of the Holy Father she made a second sign of 
 the cross, and this time without the smallest hesitation, and in a 
 perfect manner. She was cured. On her return to the Villa 
 Santa she was able to write, on the same day, a long letter of 
 thanks to the Holy Father, and she wrote it with the very hand 
 which shortly before was paralyzed. The cure is complete. The 
 finger-nails have recovered their natural color, and the bones of 
 the fingers and arms have resumed their normal position." 
 
 " A worthy Jewish family by the name of Hydeman, residing 
 at 59 Lancaster Street, Albany, N. Y,, have a lovely daughter, 
 now about three years of age. Some months since, it fell ill, and 
 when partially recovered, had its lower limbs suddenly paralyzed. 
 For weeks it sat, an uncomplaining little sufferer, bringing tears 
 to the eyes and anguish to the hearts of its doting parents and 
 friends. An excellent family physician was of course a regular 
 attendant ; but his medicines utterly failed to produce any ef- 
 fect. Mrs. and Mr. Hydeman then had the hardihood to try my 
 friend, Dr. Smith, who, after twenty-one 'treatments,' using only 
 his hands, and no medicine whatever, fully restored the dear
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 279 
 
 little girl to all her former activity and gayety. I called to see 
 her, aud found her running about the room as if no terrible 
 hiatus had ever occurred to mar the merry sound of her happy 
 hours. 
 
 " A young married lady, residing on the line of railway between 
 Baltimore aud Washington City, had been for six months in a 
 state of mental disturbance that baffled the skill of her physicians. 
 Her family were about to send her to an insane asylum, when a 
 brother-in-law haj^pened to read a copy of my book, — Hoio and 
 Why I Became a Spiritualist, — called on me aud asked if I 
 thought relief could be obtained through Mrs. D.'s mediumship; 
 I promised to submit the case to Spirit Dr. Eush, and let the in- 
 quirer know the result. My intention was to mention this appli- 
 cation as soon as I reached home : but becoming interested in other 
 matters, I ommittcd to do so. When seated at the dinner table, 
 Dr. Rush controlled Mrs. Danskiu and said, '/read the condition 
 of the patient through your magnetism and that of her friend; 
 tell him to bring her to your home as speedily as possible.' The 
 next morning the patient came, in care of her sister, who said that 
 she had not slept more than two hours and a half at any one time 
 during the previous six months. A diagnosis of the case was 
 given, stating that in giving birth to a child there had been a loss 
 of animal magnetism, which deranged the action of the vital 
 forces, and made her susceptible to disturbing influences; she was 
 almost immediately thrown into a deep magnetic slumber, which 
 lasted six hours. Medicines magnetically prepared were admin- 
 istered, and in less than two months the equilibrium of mind and 
 body were restored, and she who would probably have become a 
 raving maniac in the atmospliere and among the influences of an 
 insane asijlum, was restored to her friends, and is now a healthy, 
 beautiful, and accomplished woman." 
 
 " A MURDERER EXPOSED BY SPIRITS." 
 [Taken from the Banner of Light.] 
 
 " The English secular papers, recently, were filled with extended 
 reports of the detection, trial, and execution of Henry Wainwright, 
 for the murder of Harriet Lane, her remains having been cut into 
 several pieces and wrapped in a sack, wherein they were discov-
 
 280 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 ered in a most remarkable manner. While not wishing to go 
 through with the harrowing details of the crime, we de.^ire to 
 place on record on this side the Atlantic, the fact that tlie act was 
 revealed through the most unmistakable intervention of spirit 
 power, always supposing Mr. Alfred P. Stokes to have spoken and 
 written truthfully concerning the warning he received. The 
 matter can best be conveyed to the mind of the reader in the fol- 
 lowing extract from Mr. Stokes' letter to Wainwright, after the 
 death-sentence had been passed on the latter. 
 
 ' I feel that I must write to you, to say that I trust that you 
 will not consider that what I have done or said against you was 
 either said or done from any personal malice toward you, or that 
 I was lacking in friendship toward you because I could not bring 
 myself to any endeavor to try and screen you ; on the contrary, 
 I and all to whom I have spoken, who were formerly in your em- 
 ployment, have always esteemed you as a kind and good master, 
 and always a most generous friend ; God and yourself only know 
 how much you were concerned in the terrible crime laid to your 
 charge : but I do hope and trust that you will consider that in 
 giving any evidence against you, I only fulfilled a national 
 duty, which I believe was the will of God, and which I know was 
 done in the interest of humanity. WJie)i I say that it was the 
 will of God, I must now tell you more of the details of the strange 
 promjjtings I had to open the parcel, than I have hitherto made 
 puUic. 
 
 Perhaps you think, as I know many in the world think, that I 
 was only moved by a base and a prying curiosity. But I can as- 
 sure you, between myself and God, that it was not that, but that 
 I, in reality, was urged, as it were, by a strange, mysterious agency, 
 for which I can scarcely account. Probably the world may laugh, 
 and you, too, at what I am now going to tell you, but I declare it 
 to be true. It has caused me, more than ever, to be convinced 
 that there is a God and a superhuman power around us, and I 
 hope it will cause you to think so, too. These unaccountable 
 'promptings began the very moment you left me with that frightful 
 bundle, ivhilst you went to fetch the cab. The very instant your 
 back luas turned, I seemed to hear a supernatural voice say to me, 
 three times, as distinctly as though it tvere a human voice some- 
 where near me, ' Open that parcel ! Open that parcel ! Look in 
 that parcel ! I at first thought that perhaps you were carrying
 
 THE IWSEALED BOOK. 281 
 
 away liair or something, not belonging to yon, and I liesitated 
 what I should do. I seemed to hear the voice again, and then felt 
 pressed on, by an irresistable impulse, to open it. / immediately 
 rent it open. The head and hands came tip together, and as I stood 
 for a moment, aghast at the mutilated head, so grim, and yet ap- 
 parently so pitiable, thinking over and puzzling lohat I should say 
 to you lohen you came hack, I seemed instantly possessed and con- 
 trolled by a poioer and agency, by a cautionary prudence and energy 
 not my own, and certainly not natural to me, and then, as I hastily 
 closed up the parcel again, thinking that perhaps it would be best 
 to say nothing about it, I seemed to hear the same super- 
 natural voice address me again, and say, * Murder ! it is a mur- 
 der ! Will you conceal a murder 9 ' / then said, ' No, not for my 
 own father ! Oh, pray, God, direct me aright ; but shall I give 
 up the very best friend I have had in my life ? ' You then came 
 up with the cab, took the parcels, and drove away. As I stood 
 for a moment in utter consternation, with my hair feeling as 
 tliough it stood erect on my head, / immediately seemed to hear 
 the same voice again addressing me, and saying, ' Folloiv the cab ! 
 folloio the cab !' I at once did so. I set on to run as though I 
 was propelled along. I ran till I nearly dropped from exhaustion, 
 and certainly seemed sustained by a strength superior to my otvn. 
 Thus, from the remembrance of the strange, inexplicable power 
 which so suddenly overruled me, I feel convinced that I was really 
 destined to be the humble medium by which that mysterious and 
 barbarous murder was to be brought to light. Had I been left to 
 my own natural impulse in the matter, the probability is that the 
 crime would not have been so fully detected. Under tliese cir- 
 cumstances, then, I do trust that you will personally forgive me.' " 
 
 I hope and pray that if I have done amiss in reproducing the 
 above statement. God and the angel-world may foririve me; 
 for I feel, and have from the moment I commenced writing it, 
 as if the spirit of the poor, unfortunate being who committed the 
 crime were present, gazing upon me with sad, reproachful eyes. 
 God knows that I would not willingly add one pang of bitterness 
 to the unutterable woe of such an one, whether in the body or 
 out of the body. If there is one class of beings more than an- 
 other upon earth, who stand in need of our heartfelt sympathy 
 and compassion, it is such as these. We should pity their inhe-
 
 282 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 rent nature ; for who can tell when or by what means, the germ 
 which produces the unseemly fruit was generated or implanted ? 
 And who but God can tell which commits the greater sin ; he 
 who, — it may be in the heat of passion, — takes the life of a fel- 
 low mortal ; or he, — they, we might better say, — who, in cool, 
 calculating earnest, take the life of him Avho perpetrates the cruel 
 deed ? 
 
 " I have heard old, observant men, say they have often noticed 
 that a violent man would generally die by violence — viewing it 
 as a righteous retribution ; and also, that when one member of a 
 devoted circle or family dies, others are almost certain to follow 
 very soon ; and further, that the most amiable and lovely are gen- 
 erally selected by death ; hence the old aphorism, ' Death loves a 
 shining mark.' I believe this is a prevailing opinion, whether de- 
 rived from the Bible or from experience, or from both. If this 
 be true, it has a philosopy, but if it has no philosophy, it is false ; 
 whether or not we understand the philosopy, is another question. 
 Now, as excarnated men or angels can, and do, in certain condi- 
 tions, influence men in the flesh to write in any hand, and speak 
 in any tongue, and perform any music on any instrument, all un- 
 known to them, and also move heavy, ponderable bodies, all 
 through a proper medium in rapport, is n't it in accordance with 
 the logic of other analogies, and reasonable to suppose, that the 
 spirit of the murdered man can find some unconscious medium 
 through which to retaliate upon his violent murderer yet in the 
 flesh ? or the excarnated loved member of a devoted circle find 
 some tractable, unsonant medium, through whom, as an uncon- 
 scious instrument, to gather up to his own happy abode, some 
 others of his loved jewels left behind him in this plain of sorrows ? 
 This is merely suggested as a speculative hypothesis, to verify, 
 through philosophy, these old, cherished sentiments, and, if true, 
 clear them from the mist of miracle." 
 
 Among the many subtile revelations through Allen Kardee, is 
 the most interesting one relative to spirit atmospheres, a vital 
 part in the economy of our growth and expansion. He reminds 
 us that spirits constitute the invisible population of the globe, 
 and that they are everywhere in space and about us, incessantly 
 regarding us, and even jostling us, so that when we think our- 
 selves alone we are surrounded by secret witnesses not only of 
 our actions but of our thoughts. To this unconsidered fact is
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 283 
 
 ascribed the disclosure of so many wrong deeds whose authors 
 had thought it impossible for the world to find out. In any as- 
 sembly there are invisible listeners as well as those in the body; 
 an unlimited number may occupy a given space. At seances, the 
 atmosphere may be said sometimes to be saturated with their 
 fluidic aura. This aura which emanates from spirits is whole- 
 some according to the degrees of their purity. Its healing proper- 
 ties in certain cases are well attested, as also the morbid effect upon 
 some individuals. Therefore, the presence of a multitude of 
 spirits cannot fail to exercise an influence on the physical as well 
 as the moral health of any assembly. This influence is good or 
 bad as the spirits emit healthy or unwholesome aura. It acts 
 like the life-giving emanations of one locality, or the deadly 
 miasma of another. This is enough to explain the collective ef- 
 fects which are produced on large bodies of individuals ; also the 
 state of tranquility or of uneasiness which we all of us experience 
 in certain companies, without knowing the secret cause of it. 
 
 It also explains the force of those impulses toward good or 
 evil, which are felt by assemblies of people. Every individual 
 feels this influence according to the degree of his sensibility, 
 whether his surrounding spirit atmosphere is foul or vivifying. 
 ■For this reason, our constant intercourse with the spirit- world 
 discloses the existence of a principle of spiritual hygiene, to which 
 science will some day give its serious attention, and plume itself 
 on having made a new discovery. The great point to be con- 
 sidered in this matter is the necessity for our health, physical 
 and moral, of being surrounded with a healthy spiritual atmos- 
 phere; and in connection with it, of course, the possibility of our 
 driving off and destroying a pestiferous, miasmatic atmosphere, 
 emanating from evil spirits and low ones, and securing only 
 healthy conditions for the growth of our natures. 
 
 As our own thoughts and sentiments prevail to make the 
 choice of the kind of spirits for us, it is plain that we have but 
 to discipline these in order to draw to us the sweetest and purest 
 atmosphere for our spirits to breathe, and for our bodies to re- 
 ceive their influence. We should avoid the contact of unhealthy 
 spiritual aura as much as we should avoid the miasmatic exhala- 
 tions of a swamp. The qualities of the perisprital fluids are in , 
 correspondence with those of the spirit, in fact of the same char- 
 acter, whether the spirit be incarnated or de-incarnated. The
 
 284 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 more pure and elevated its sentiments, the more refined its fluid. 
 The radiating fluids are impregnated with the thoughts which 
 rule the mind of an incarnated spirit. They may be invisible to 
 the eye of sense, but the soul sees and recognizes them with 
 clearness." 
 
 Science took a handful of sand, and constructed a telescope, 
 and with it explained the starry depths of heaven. Science 
 wrested from the gods their thunderbolts ; and now the electric 
 spark, freighted with thought and love, flashes under all the 
 waves of the seas. Science took a tear from the cheek of unpaid 
 labor, converted it into steam, created a giant that turns with 
 tireless arms the countless wheels of toil. — Ingersoll. 
 
 Says Noah Porter, * The rules of inference and methods of in- 
 duction are as truly applied in the occasions of every-day life by 
 the humblest of men as by the most consummate scientist.' This 
 is a fact which people are apt to leave out of consideration, when 
 the question is of the great phenomena of Spiritualism. Then it 
 is asked. What man of science has admitted them ? just as if a 
 shrewd, intelligent, level-headed mechanic, laborer, sailor, or wood 
 ranger, would not be as quick in detecting imposition in the phe- 
 nomena of Spiritualism, as the man who had become an expert in 
 mathematics, geology, natural history, or astronomy ; or that an 
 expert in jugglery like Houdin, who testified to the fetichuman 
 character of the phenomena through Mr. Home, was not as com- 
 petent as a Tyndal to decide on that question. Much loose think- 
 ing prevails on this subject. 
 
 There is a science of Common Sense possessed by the shrewd 
 observant man, though he may never have been to college, which 
 is more than a match for the tests of a Crooker and a Var- 
 ley. The testimony of thousands of clear-headed, imaginative 
 investigators, men and women who have looked into the phenom- 
 ena, should not be set aside in favor of the comparatively few 
 testimonials of acknowledged scientists. The latter have their 
 value, but the truth of Spiritualism has been established by the 
 concurrent testimony of thousands, who claim merely the science 
 of common sense, a healthy organization, and a mind not likely 
 to be misled by chimeras, or duped by impostures. 
 
 Let us not forget, in estimating probabilities, to attach some
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 285 
 
 little value to this science of common sense; day by day mediums 
 who have been denounced by superficial investigators, and pre- 
 tentlers to science, as frauds, are proving the genuineness of their 
 mediumship. He who thinks to arrive at just conclusions on this 
 great subject of Spiritualism, through his having detected what 
 seem to him a few suspicious circumstances at a seance, may live 
 to find that truth lies somewhat deeper than he had supposed, 
 and that the imposition was not in the medium, nor in the phe- 
 nomena, hut in his own hasty and untrained judgment, and super- 
 ficial attainments. Again, Epes Sargent truly remarks in his 
 Reply to Tyndall, ' Even if it were proved that two thirds of those 
 persons believed to be genuine mediums, though subject to hu- 
 man frailties, like Mrs. Ilolway, the Edelys, and others, had occa- 
 sionally in the absence of supposed spirit help, resorted to 
 imposture, or that all their manifestations were frauds, it loould 
 not impair the force of the great, irresistahle body of thoroughly 
 tested facts, on ivhich, Modern Spiritualism is hased.' To attempt 
 to set aside these irresistahle facts, by quoting some insignificant 
 failure, or some attempted fraud, real or apparent, is an absurdity 
 to those who know the beautiful realities that have been abun- 
 dantly proved, and have stood the test of persistent investigation 
 now for more than a quarter of a century." 
 
 Gail Hamilton says this to the clergy : " There is, and there 
 can be, no conflict between scientific truth and religious truth. 
 Scientific men so far as they are honest, and religious men so 
 far as they are honest, are in pursuit of one and the same 
 olject." 
 
 We will next insert a few questions propounded by J. H. Harter, 
 and responded to by J. M. Peebles. We can scarcely forbear to 
 here say a few words in commendation of this earnest, eloquent, 
 and devoted worker, whom the heavenly intelligences have en- 
 joined to "go into all the world and preach the gospel," and who, 
 as all may opine from the angelic character of his replies, seems 
 imbued with the true spirit of the holy Nazarene. 
 
 " Please give me your definition of Spiritualism ? 
 Spiritualism, as generally understood, implies a conscious in- 
 tercourse with the inhabitants of the spirit world; in a broader
 
 286 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 and better sense, Spiritualism is a phenomenon, a science, and a 
 religion, kindling in all sensitive souls the loftiest endeavor, the 
 holiest aspirations. 
 
 What relation, in your estimation, does Spiritualism bear to 
 Christianity ? 
 
 If by Christianity you mean the moral teachings and spiritual 
 marvels of Jesus Christ, recorded in the New Testament, I have 
 to say that Spiritualism and Christianity are va full accord ; their 
 relation standing something as bud and blossom upon the revela- 
 tor's ' Tree of Life,' .... the leaves of which were for the ' heal- 
 ing of the nations.' 
 
 Do Spiritualists, as a class, recognize the necessity and efficacy 
 of prayer ? 
 
 Difficult to answer, because of the different conceptions of 
 prayer, and the indefinite ideas afloat concerning God. Defining 
 prayer to be aspiration, or an up-welling and out-flowing of the 
 soul toward all that is good, pure and holy. I am confident 
 that all 'Spiritualists, as a class, believe in the necessity and effi- 
 cacy of prayer.' And yet there are crusty, crotchety individuals 
 who take a chill at the mere mention of prayer. The ' rich man 
 in hell ' who ' cried to Father Abraham, ' was possibly one of this 
 sort. Though prayer does not change God, nor natural law, it 
 does affect all sincere petitioners, besides calling to aid angels and 
 ministering spirits, who, under the providence of God, delight to 
 answer prayer. Mrs. Conant, entranced, uniformly opened her 
 public circles with prayer. Mrs. Tappan, Mrs. Brigham, and 
 nearly all of our most successful speakers, commence their meet- 
 ings with an invocation. 
 
 Do you blame Ambler, Hayden, S. C.TIayford, Dr. Houghton, 
 and other Spiritualist lecturers, for going into the liberal churches 
 as preachers ? 
 
 Not in the least. Evidently they had good and sufficient rea- 
 sons. They still believe in the ministry of angels and spirits. 
 I neither ' blame ' nor condemn anybody. When I am endowed 
 with infinite knowledge, and become absolutely perfect, I may pre- 
 sume to mount the judgment seat, and deal out condemnation ! 
 It 's a little galling to at least one of those brothers, to be contin- 
 ually criticised and stoned by ' sinners.' 
 
 What would you think of me, Spiritualist as I am, if I should 
 settle over a Universalist society ? I have been invited to do so
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 287 
 
 since I gave up my letter of fellowship, and left the denomina- 
 tion. 
 
 I should 'think' it was your business, not mine. And just 
 so far as your aims and motives were good, I should say, God and 
 the holy angels bless you. 
 
 Do you consider magic and occultism the keys that unlock the 
 wonders of Spiritualism ? 
 
 No. Eeverse it, and you have it. Spiritualism, with its multi- 
 form phases of mediumship, is the key that unlocks magic, occul- 
 tism, and all the marvelous wonders of the Orient. 
 
 Do you accept pre-existence, and re-incarnation as now taught 
 by the spirits ? 
 
 Most sincerely do I believe in the pre-existence of the soul. 
 Ee-incarnation is another matter. Taught by some, it is denied 
 by other spirits. In my case, the testimony is not all in. Touch- 
 ing discussion upon this subject, re-incarnationists have shown 
 much the best spirit. It is as unwise to denounce as it is impos- 
 sible to 'scold,' even the wildest theory out of existence. 
 
 Why is there so much evil-speaking, back-biting, and slander 
 current among mediums and speakers ? and why are the really 
 good, often most persecuted ? 
 
 Evil-speaking, back-biting, and the current slanders to which 
 you refer, — necessities of ante-natal tendencies, unbalanced tem- 
 peraments, plebeian associations, and darker influences, — are not 
 alone peculiar to Spiritualists. A leading character in the ranks 
 of the liberal Christian clergy, recently said : 
 
 ' There is cannabalism around about us all the time and every- 
 where. Not a bird's leg is taken up and counted a more delicious 
 morsel, and is more deliberately picked, and chewed, and relished 
 in all its juices, than a person's reputation is taken up, and cut, 
 and bitten, and sucked dry, and cast out. It is wicked ; it is 
 damnable; it is treason to man and treason to God; and yet such 
 things are common. Why ! men will not carry vermin on their 
 heads nor on their bodies. And yet they do carry vermin in their 
 souls, crawling and creeping all over them. ... It is high time 
 that men should learn to discriminate, and hate these feculent 
 vices of detraction, and bitterness, and envy, and jealousy — all 
 those elements which spring from the lower regions, and which 
 are of the evil spirit.' 
 
 ' If thou hast aught against thy brother, or if thy brother tres-
 
 288 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 pass against thee,' said Jesus, 'go and tell him the fault between 
 him and thee alone.' But the modern method, especially with 
 those occupying ' damaged social positions,' is generally this : if 
 thou hast, or if thou hast heard aught against thy brother or thy 
 sister-worker, or thy peer in mediumistic gifts, do not suspend 
 judgment — do not wait to hear the other side of the matter, but 
 run with the putrid tidbit to others; run, exaggerating and scat- 
 tering the slime as you go ; run, magnifying the somber-hued 
 shadow into a black crow ; ay, into even three black crows ; run, 
 richly and deservedly earning the Carlylean plaudit, 'Ye are one 
 of my jewels, saith the Devil ! ' 
 
 Persecutions, though depressing for the moment, really harm 
 no one; while all slanderous javelins, ultimately rebounding, 
 pierce those that hurled them. ' So long as all that is said, is 
 said against me,' says Emerson, ' I am sure of success.' ' Peraiit 
 a touch of autobiography,' writes A. J. Davis in the Harbinger 
 of Light; 
 
 * For years upon years, I, myself, was made the special target 
 for every marksman with shot-gun and bow and arrow. It would 
 be impolite, not to say profane and vulgar, to put in print the 
 stories which refined and wealthy church members, including very 
 respectable ministers, privately and publicly circulated against 
 me. I was reported and denounced as the walking embodiment 
 of all that was vile and satanic' 
 
 And yet, A. J. Davis lives, esteemed and honored ; lives, a fine 
 exemplification of the true harmonial man ! But where, tohere 
 are those accusers ? 
 
 Joaquin Miller, when traduced in private and public, preached 
 a sensible sermon in the following song : 
 
 Is it worth while to jostle a brother, 
 Bearing his load on the rough road of life ? 
 
 Is it worth while that we jeer at each other 
 In blackness of heart — that we war to the knife ? 
 God pity us all in our pitiful strife. 
 
 God pity us all 1 we jostle each other ; 
 
 God pardon us all for the triumph we feel, 
 When a fellow goes down 'neath his load on the heather, 
 
 Pierced to the heart ; words are keener than steel, 
 
 And mightier for woe or weal.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 289 
 
 "Were it not "well, in this brief little journey 
 
 On over the Isthmus, down into the tide, 
 "We give liim a fish instead of a serpent, 
 
 E'er folding the hand, to be and abide 
 
 Forever and aye in dust at his side 1 
 
 Look at the roses saluting each other ; 
 
 Look at the herds, all in peace on the plain ; 
 Man, and man only, makes war on his brother. 
 
 And laughs in his heart at his peril and pain ; 
 
 Shamed by the beasts that go down on the plain, 
 
 Is it worth while, that we battle to humble 
 
 Some poor fellow-soldier down into the dust ? 
 God pity us all I Time oft soon will tumble 
 
 All of us together, like leaves in a gust. 
 
 Humbled indeed, down into the dust. 
 
 Are you in favor of organization among Spiritualists ? 
 
 I am, and ever have been, in favor of organization. A man's 
 creed is what he believes ; and a man without any belief is next to a 
 nonentity. Our Republic, our State governments, our village cor- 
 porations, our school districts, our families, are organizations. 
 Demolition, disintegration, burning down buildings, leaving the 
 inmates without shelter : these are not the highest employments. 
 Construction, re-construction, and broad, healthy organizations, 
 are among the demands of the age.,, 
 
 J. M. Peebles. 
 
 « There are few men who dare stand alone, or nearly alone, in 
 the fore-front of battle for the truth. It is great valor onlr 
 that will carry forward its colors in the face of the enemy, and see 
 one's own battalions, unequal to the conflict, falling far behind.. 
 The crucial test is faith in your own conviction when others falter 
 and fail ; few men can stand that. It is common enough to be 
 behind your age, and be called conservative. Conservatism is 
 highly respectable, and you have plenty of company; but to stand 
 a century before your age, or fifty years before it, for that matter, 
 is a trial endured only by men whom God has made for such 
 work, ordained to be reformers. We find such in every age, because- 
 every age has need of their services."
 
 290 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 TVe will next invite the readei-'s attention to a few facts con- 
 cerning Eomanism, by introducing some extracts from " Secrets 
 of the Convent and Confessional," by Mrs. Julia M'Nair Wright; 
 also the introduction, to said work, by Eev. Daniel March. DA). 
 
 " Watch the Jesuits, to prevent the robbery of your families, 
 the moral assassination of your sons and daughters. 0, good 
 Americans, do you suppose they are working for the American 
 nation, the American glory? They work for themselves and Eome 
 alone." 
 
 Gavazzi. 
 
 " In this free and enlightened land of ours then is an organi- 
 zation which takes a sacred name, and assumes to speak for God 
 to the people ; and yet, in spirit, it is directly hostile to our most 
 cherished institutions, and its one persistent study, purpose, and 
 effort, is to undermine the foundations of our Republic, and set 
 up the throne of despotism upon the ruin of our liberties. It 
 must needs be watched with a vigilant eye, and restrained with a 
 strong hand, or it will accomplish its purpose while the guardians 
 of the public welfare suspect no danger. It is foreign in its origin, 
 secret and subtile in its policy, pious and pitiful in tone, and yet 
 it is ever intent upon a deep-laid and remorseless conspiracy 
 against the sacred rights and the blood-bought privileges of the 
 American people. It is the more dangerous because it numbers 
 good men among its supporters and apologists, and it speaks the 
 language of liberty and enlightenment while plotting the subjec- 
 tion of the people to ignorance, superstition and bondage. 
 
 It is an organization of vast extent and mighty power, number- 
 ing millions of members, and more millions of money : and all its 
 resources are subject to the control of an irresponsible despot, 
 whose home is in a foreign land, and who hates republican insti- 
 tutions with a perfect hatred. That one man acknowledges no 
 allegiance to the laws of our land, no obligation to regard the 
 demands of truth and justice, any farther tlian may be for his 
 advantage ; and he claims the right to extend the same immunity 
 to whomsoever he may please. He can make it right for men to 
 do wrong, and wrong for men to do right ; he can make falsehood 
 the handmaid of truth, and clothe truth in the garments of false- 
 hood, and from his decision there can be no appeal ; the code of 
 morality by which his adherents are governed, makes a merit of
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 291 
 
 deception, adorns the transgression of natural laws with names of 
 yirtue, and gives holy garments to the guilty as a cover from 
 crime. 
 
 The members of this dark and dreadful conclave are sworn to use 
 the sacred right of citizenship in every possible way, to establish 
 in this country a despotism which holds reason and conscience, 
 body and soul, in abject and hopeless bondage ; they know noth- 
 ing of home : they make a merit of abjuring all the sacred rela- 
 tions of the family, and yet they claim the right to come between 
 the husband and the wife, the parent and the child, and to pre- 
 scribe laws that invade the privacy of every household, and over- 
 rule the dictates of humanity and affection in every family. They 
 claim for their organization immaculate purity, divine enlighten- 
 ment, an infallible wisdom, and yet they ascribe divine honors to 
 profligates, and act upon a policy that originated in the dark ages : 
 and they put forth all their power to hold the world in subjection 
 to the shams of hypocrisy, and the shadows of superstition ; they 
 secure large appropriations of public money for support of insti- 
 tutions, which they manage with dark and suspicious secrecy, 
 giving no account of funds received, shutting out the public and 
 shutting in the inmates Avith barred doors and bolted windows. 
 They say that the supreme control of education in the family, 
 and the school, belongs of right to them : and yet they forbid his- 
 tory to tell its plain unvarnished tale to our children; they burn 
 the Book which our fathers brought to this country, as the divine 
 charter of our liberties ; they belittle the mind, and degrade the 
 manhood of their pupils with senseless ceremonies and petty tyr- 
 anny, and they send them forth to the world without ever having 
 taught them the noble lessons of manliness, truthfulness, and 
 patriotism. 
 
 This book is designed to reveal the mischief and the mystery 
 of this dark and dangerous organization to the eyes of the Amer- 
 ican people. It is written by one who knows ; a thin veil of lic- 
 tion is cast upon the face of the monster, lest all should turn 
 from the hideous reality and refuse to gaze. The fiction is fact, 
 and the facts at the close arc stranger than the fiction. Whoso 
 readeth, let him understand. 
 
 Daniel Mauch. 
 
 Pbiladelfuia, April, 1872.
 
 292 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 " On, on, in the still night sails the ship of Rome, the Jesuits 
 at the helm. Iler freight is human souls, crowding her decks and 
 gangways and cabins by the million ; ropes of sand her cordage ; 
 rotten her sails ; her lading, secrets black as hell, and siglis, and 
 tears, and crimes, which make the devils shriek with joy: human 
 tradition her erring compass, she steers along over dangerous 
 seas for what full many lorn spirits aboard of her think the shin- 
 ing celestial gate, but which is indeed the lurid mouth of the pit. 
 And so at last is she doomed to make her port in perdition ! 
 
 ' The first dream is balmy and bright. 
 The next dream is mellow in light, 
 The third dream is dim to the sight — 
 And it stretcheth away into gloomy night.' 
 
 Is Eomanism well enough for those that believe it ? Is the 
 man doing well enough if he only lives up to his doctrines ? 
 
 By no means. The nearer he keeps to his doctrines, the worse 
 the man. Eomish doctrines are immoral ; they are the antipodes 
 of the decalogue. The best men in their church are those who 
 hold most loosely her tenets. Eomanism partakes of every error 
 under heaven. Eomanists are atheists when they avouch the in- 
 infallibility of Leo Tenth, who cried, ' 0, how profitable has this 
 fable of Jesus been to us ! ' They are deists in denying the su- 
 preme authority of a revelation; Mohammedans in extending 
 their Church by fire and sword; heathens in their worship of 
 images. When atheists, deists, Mohammedans and pagans are 
 right, Eomanists will be right — never before. ' What is their 
 morality ? It is this : that a man may live an adulterer for twelve 
 shillings sixpence; he may murder a layman for seven shillings 
 sixpence. He may, by papal pardon, be discharged from obedi- 
 ence to God, says Bellarmine. A true Catholic, living up to his 
 Church's doctrines, must be an Idolater (in the Mass and in im- 
 age worship) ; he must be persecutor, believing that the rights of 
 heretics and individuals are not to be respected; he must be a 
 traitor, holding the Pope's will superior to civil law, an opinion 
 which Vattel, in his Law of Nations, tells us is 'equally contrary 
 to the law of nations and the principles of common policy ' ; he 
 must feel it needful to break the ten commandments for expedi- 
 ency's sake ; and yet in the face of all this, we are obliged to ac-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 293 
 
 cept him as a good Christian. All the men of that communion 
 are not idolaters, persecutors, traitors, and immoral ; but it is be- 
 cause they are better than their religion, and have not learned 
 these, its depths of Satan. 
 
 That doctrine of celibacy is the curse as it is the article of Eome. 
 Their own authors have said that if you sweep away the celibacy 
 of the clergy, you destroy the Confessional; and when the Con- 
 fessional has perished, the power of Eome is annihilated. Cardi- 
 nal Eodolf and others, as Paolo, have argued that in sacerdotal 
 celibacy is the foundation of the supremacy of the Pope. Mar- 
 riage connects men to their civil rulers and their native land. 
 Celibacy transfers their religion to the Popedom. 
 
 Your Church forces men into an unnatural mode of life ; they 
 take their vows at an early age, when they do not apprehend their 
 own character; they may find, after a time, that they have as- 
 sumed obligations wliich it is impossible for them to keep, and 
 their Church also furnishes opportunities unlimited for trampling 
 on these obligations. My charge against you lies here : Your 
 Church condemns her priest to an unnatural form of existence ; 
 she puts temptation in his way, and says if he falls, est vcniale ; 
 therefore we charge your Church with the sins of her priesthood. 
 
 Immorality in the Eoman Church commenced with her con- 
 fessors. The confessional is to the young, unmarried priest a sug- 
 gestor of impurities; there he contracts the stain; outward from 
 the confessional it travels, until it is scattered over every hearth, 
 met in every cross-way. 
 
 But the Popish Church has her particular code of morality, 
 what is called ' Moral Theology,' and that, in brief, is the word of 
 man substituted for the law of God. I can not now quote all the 
 immoralities allowed by this code, but, as an instance, it allows 
 lies, swearing under mental reservation, perjur}', to deceive 
 onr brtehren for a good end. It allows all manner of deceit under 
 this pretext : for example, to appear a Protestant, among Protes- 
 tants, though really a Eoman Catholic. For purposes of conver- 
 sion this is permitted; sometimes it is obligatory. One great 
 maxim of this Moral Theology is, that a man may do evil if he 
 hope good shall result from it ; and another (the great Jesuitical 
 secret) is, that the end sanctifies the means. Therefore, if for 
 the spread of the Gospel it were judged necessary to kill the hon- 
 orable President, Senate, and Eeiirescntatives of the United States,
 
 294 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 these horrible crimes find their full justification in this most 
 Moral Theology. 
 
 I cannot, according to my promise, clearly speak here of the 
 effect on the confessor himself, because that effect is to make him 
 most immoral: that is the natural effect; if he remains moral, 
 this is an exception. A young man becomes a priest : at twenty-five 
 he may be a parish priest in a country place ; there is prob- 
 ably no other confessor, and in a few months he becomes absolute 
 master of his parishioners. He is no Sampson, and even if he 
 were, Sampson was tempted by Delilah. What becomes of him? 
 Does confession make him immoral ? ' no ! ' answer Catholics, 
 'because we have from the Bible, To the pure all things are pure.' 
 Are they pure ? Take firstly the practice of the confessional as it 
 is seen in the Churches, and tell me if there be public light of 
 purity ? to say nothing about confessors, when they go to confess 
 young ladies, not always on their dying beds, but always with the 
 greatest mystery; to say nothing about confessors who confess 
 women in their own clerical rooms, where there are no spies or 
 visitors ; to say nothing about confessors who have in their 
 churches some secret little cabinet forprivileged female penitents. 
 I have gone to a mass-house, and could not enter it, for outside, 
 kneeling, lolling, or lounging about the doors, was a legion of 
 Irishmen, devoted guards of this temple during service, which 
 they prefer to assist from outside ; so that there was no entering 
 for any one. 
 
 Lastly, the confessor is a holy man I Well, I do not deny that ; 
 but he is always a man. To evade the charge of exaggeration on 
 this point, take, for example, the last period of France. In less 
 than ten years we find more than twenty-four trials of priests, all 
 confessors, many of them parish priests, guilty of immorality, se- 
 duction, poisoning, murder, assassination ; and, on their trials, 
 they clearly stated that the beginning of the passion was in the 
 confessional. I speak of twenty-four trials, all for immoralities, 
 seduction of girls and young wives, of all which the seed was 
 sown in the confessional. Therefore, it is immoral in its effects ; 
 ruinous, first to the priest himself, then to the families. 
 
 " A Priesfs Opi7iion of the Cojifessional. — Before I go any fur- 
 ther, I must confess, before God and men, with a blush on my face, 
 and regret in my heart, that I have been, like you and with you, 
 plunged twenty-three years in that bottomless sea of iniquity,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 295 
 
 througli whicli the poor blind priests of Rome have to swim day 
 and night. 
 
 I had to learn by heart, like you, the infamous questions which 
 the Church of Eome forces every priest to learn. I had to put 
 those impure, Immoral questions to the old and yoimg females 
 who were confessing their sins to me. Those questions, you 
 know it, are of such a nature, that no prostitute would- dare 
 put them to another! Those questions, and the answers they 
 elicit, are so debasing that no man in Loudon, you know it, ex- 
 cept a priest of Rome, is suflBciently lost to every nerve of shame 
 as to put them to any woman. 
 
 I was bound in conscience, as you are bound to-day, to put into 
 the ears, tlie mind, the imagination, the heart, and the soul of 
 females, questions of such a nature, the immediate and direct 
 tendency of which, you know it, is to fill the mind, the memory, 
 and the hearts of both priests and females with thoughts, phan- 
 toms and temptations of such a degrading nature, that I do not 
 know any words adequate to express them. Pagan antiquity has 
 never seen any institution so polluting to both soul and body as 
 the confessional. I know nothing more corrupting than the law 
 which forces a female to tell all her thoughts, desires, and most 
 secret feelings and actions to an unmarried priest. The confes- 
 sional is a school of perdition. You may deny that before the 
 Protestants, but you cannot deny it before me. 
 
 My dear Mr. Brazere, if you call me a degraded man, a de- 
 graded priest, because I have lived twenty-three years in the at- 
 mosphere of the confessional, you are right. I was a degraded 
 man, just as you are yourself, in spite of your denials. If you 
 call me a degraded priest, because my heart, my soul, mind, as 
 your own are to-day, were plunged into those deep waters of in- 
 iquity which flow from the confessional, I confess 'guilty!' I 
 was degraded and polluted by the confessional, just as you and 
 all of the priests of Rome are. " Chiniquy's Letter to Mr. Brazere, 
 Montreal, 1871. 
 
 For example we cite the following touching conversation be- 
 tween mother and daughter, the latter having been betrayed by a 
 priest who really loved her, and after years of mental anguish, 
 resigned his priesthood, and made for her and their child a happy 
 home.
 
 296 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 "Nell entered the little room, once so bright and love-full; 
 now she was bringing it a shadow which should rest upon it 
 for evermore. 
 
 *0, darling, how pale and worn you look!' This was her 
 mother's greeting. 
 
 Nell threw herself on the bed and turned her face to the wall. 
 
 ' Are you sick, my precious ? ' asked the mother, dropping her 
 work and bending over her idol. 
 
 ' Sick, mother, sick at heart,' said the girl, with a quick sob. 
 
 'Nell, Nell dearest, what troubles you ? ' 
 
 * Mother,' said Nell, growing wonderfully calm, and speaking 
 clearly, with her face still turned away, ' sit down here on the bed, 
 but do not touch me mother, only answer me. If one does wrong, 
 shall they live and break hearts that love them, or shall they drop 
 down in some deep river and hide their own wretchedness ?' 
 
 Mrs. I felt as if a sudden cold wind blew across her, and 
 
 sent back her blood in a chill current to her heart ; she faltered, 
 ' Whatever they do, they must take life as God's mercy ; live and 
 repent.' 
 
 ' If I become no longer your comfort, but your curse, mother, 
 should I go and hide myself somewhere where you would be bur- 
 dened by me no more, or should I stay with you still? "Which 
 would be easiest for you, my poor mother ? ' 
 
 ' Whatever happened, or could happen, you should stay with me, 
 
 my child, my beloved,' said Mrs. I , huskily. But now her 
 
 hands lay rigid in her lap, and the blood around her heart was 
 freezing very fast; her pulses scarcely stirred. 
 
 'If one,' said Nell, her voice growing hard now, 'one whom you 
 thought an angel, a glorious saint, one who was your guide and 
 counsellor, whom you never doubted, never questioned, always 
 obeyed as bound to obey, led you into evil, and then, when you 
 came to rouse up, and see that what you had been told to be right 
 was wrong, and that sin is sin, whoever says not, cried Nell, 
 fiercel}^, ' then, then after that if he said to you. There are sister- 
 hoods where you can go in and never come out, only you must 
 not let your mother know ; if he bid you so deceive, and leave 
 to doubt and misery the mother who had been your one true 
 friend in all the world ; if he even got to saying, it was better to 
 drop down into the river, and he would buy your masses : then, 
 mother, could you believe him or think he was good f orevermore ? *
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 297 
 
 The summer day was warm and bright, but Mrs. I no 
 
 longer felt as if she had part in the sunny stir of life about her ; 
 she had gone suddenly down into a dark and loathsome crypt, and 
 found all her love, her hope, her peace, her future, buried there. 
 She was far away from human sympathy and helping ; all seemed 
 darkness and isolation : then a blessed insensibility was stealing 
 over her: might she be lost to the world even for a little time ? 
 But no, the one voice that had power over her, the wailing voice 
 of her child, reached her. 
 
 * Mother! what shall I do ? ' 
 
 * Trust only me, your mother, my poor child.' 
 
 * Can you care for me any more, for me being now only a shame 
 and a curse and a burden to you ? But mother, mother, you told 
 me every day how good he was ; you bid me trust him and obey 
 him ; you called him our best friend, our benefactor, for whom 
 no gratitude of our hearts was enough. mother, do you under- 
 stand me ? Do you see all the misery that is past and is to come, 
 more than all the dark days before he helped us ? ' 
 
 For one wild instant the widow felt as if she must cry out to 
 God to let her die, to take her from a world that held for her no 
 further good; but the thought of her unhappy daughter who 
 now needed her more than ever she had done since she la}^ a 
 new-born infant at her breast, checked the despairing petition. 
 To know her child's life blighted, ruined, would surely be misery 
 
 enough ; but to Mrs. I came the added sting that ail her faith 
 
 in humanity Avas crushed, that almost her faith in heaven was 
 destroyed. Gratitude, reverence, devotion had been poured forth 
 at the feet of this man who had appeared, in the best sense, her 
 friend and guide, and he had proved false ; he had given her ma- 
 terial help and comfort, but he had plundered her of her one 
 treasure, her one consolation. He had destroyed her dearer life ; 
 he had blackened her honest name; he had done this in the 
 guise of a religious instructor! " 
 
 And what says the holy bishop to whom he must needs con- 
 fess his crime ? 
 
 "'My son, you have deeply pained me. Did I not warn you 
 one day last winter ? Have I not set before you the dignity and 
 beauty of self-control? Have you never learned that he who 
 denies himself for the Church's sake in this present life shall re- 
 ceive tenfold more in the life to come ? Are you of those who
 
 298 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 have deliberately counted the cost, and resolved to seize what you 
 could in this world and give up the future glory ? ' 
 
 The reverend bishop paused. He grew deadly pale, grasped 
 the back of a chair to steady himself, and, with a strong effort, 
 continued his speech. TJzzah thoughtlessly laid polluting hand 
 on the sacred ark, and died. Bishop Otto, trembling at his sac- 
 rilege, but deliberate in it, now rebuked his priest from the word 
 of God, which word should have smitten his daring lips with palsy. 
 
 ' Wboso causeth one of these little ones to offend, it were better 
 for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and he 
 were cast into the depths of the sea. There are others that may 
 talk to you of expediency, Mr. French ; I tell you what I know to 
 be right ; I preach to you virtue and religion.' 
 
 * And you practise it in your life ! ' cried Father French, with 
 the ardor of sincere conviction. 
 
 ' And I practise it in my life,' repeated the bishop, with that 
 little tremor again. ' And if I can so practise, why cannot you ? 
 Behold the example that I set you.' 
 
 The bishop drew himself up, and stood beautiful and impres- 
 sive as when he stood in the pulpit, and saints and heretics 
 flocked to hear his sermon, and cried out, ' How holy a man is 
 Bishop Otto!' 
 
 ' Like Paul, I need not commend myself to you, but bear with 
 me a little in my folly. I boast not myself in things beyond our 
 measure; receive my example; I have wronged no man; I am 
 known as not behind the very chiefest of the prelates of our 
 Church in labor and example. Do not wonder that the Church 
 puts on her ministers such abundant glory, for it is needful when 
 Satan transforms his emissaries to angels of light. Be such an 
 one as I have been; what is possible to me is possible to you. I 
 do not condemn you. Let this pain of the present be the lesson 
 of the future. Go, and sin no more.' 
 
 It was thus that Bishop Otto rebuked, exhorted and pardoned 
 Father French." 
 
 Afterward, fearing he would be unable to withstand tempta- 
 tion, or even worse — leave the Church — 
 
 " The bishop sent for Priest French, and with the suavity of 
 one conferring a great and unexpected favor, informed him of a 
 projected mission to Rome. In vain did Father French plead 
 that he was greatly needed at Visitation ; that Father Perry cov-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 299 
 
 eted the place now offered to himself ; that his own health was 
 infirm, and he dreaded fatigue and a change of climate. All was 
 useless; with an amiable persistency that nothing could counter- 
 vail, Bishop Otto expressed his fixed resolve to send the envoy of 
 his choice. Father French was not prepared at once to defy his 
 superior; the chains of habit were firmly upon him; he must 
 have time to consider, but this he did not indicate; he only 
 avowed his respect, his obedience and his gratitude, and with- 
 drew. He needed a counsellor, and to whom could he turn but 
 to the Abbess Catharine? 
 
 To the Convent of the Holy Family, therefore, our Priest bent 
 his steps. In the Convent, favored, as usual, with a private inter- 
 view, he unfolded his troubles and the plottings of bishop and 
 priest to his sacred sister. 
 
 * Well, it would be a pleasant trip,' said Catharine ; ' I enjo3^ed 
 my mission to Rome wonderfully well. Saw many of the cardi- 
 nals, bishops and vicars-general, and was magnificently enter- 
 tained.' 
 
 * I cannot go,' said French, impatiently. ' I tell you, abbess, 
 I am so bound to this city that I cannot leave it.' 
 
 The abbess raised her eyebrows, ' The golden hair — ' 
 French flushed. ' Yes, yes, I tell you, I cannot go.' 
 ' Truly, I am ashamed of you, Louis,' said Catharine Illuminata. 
 ' I swear to you,' cried French, ' that I have never seen one of 
 them, except her, by accident, and then I did not speak. I have 
 been careful, my sister ; but I feel that being here, I may shield 
 those innocent unfortunates from some trouble, and' — looking 
 still more embarrassed — 'I mav be able to do something for him 
 when he grows.' 
 *Eh? Yonv 7iephetv?' said the abbess, with emphasis 
 *My nepheiv,' replied French. 'As I said, I cannot go; and 
 how avoid it ? ' 
 
 'Go,' said Catharine; 'it will not take you long; a year will 
 bring you back, my friend ; and while you are gone I will take 
 j'our place in caring, at a distance and in secret, for those people ; 
 I will be kind to them. You may trust me, Louis; indeed I will 
 be truly kind.' 
 
 ' Catharine,' said French, in a voice of agony, ' I tell you, if I go 
 I shall never come back. You know how it is ; I may go with 
 commendations and instructions in my pocket, but following me
 
 300 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 by secret means "will go condemnations and other instructions ; 
 and my life may go out in darkness. How many have you and I 
 known of clerics and of seculars, of priests and of sisters, who 
 have, as the dying, travelled to a bourne whence there is no re- 
 turn ! ' 
 
 ' But they had enemies, Louis.' 
 
 'And who can be sure that he has no enemies? Besides, it is 
 not only enmity that does it, but a man may be suspected of 
 being unsettled. How many of my brother priests in the city 
 may aspire to my position ? some woman, revered, may have filled 
 the bishop's ear with calumnies; Otto may consider me aspiring, 
 though heaven knows I do not covet his place. I tell you, Cath- 
 arine, I can not go ; for if I do, I shall never return.' 
 
 ' Then indeed you must not go, Louis,' said the Superior.* 
 
 * Catharine, help me ' ! pleaded the distracted priest. 
 
 In the first part of the interview, the Superior had been the 
 indolent, capricious, admiration-demanding, coquette ; she had 
 changed to a kindly earnest woman ; now suddenly this chameleon 
 character exhibited a new feature: she glowed with keenness, craft, 
 and subtile power ; a Pythoness of Eome ! 
 
 ' If you choose a physician, my brother, you must take his pre- 
 scriptions.' 
 
 ' I rely upon you,' said Father French. 
 
 ' Go to-morrow to Bishop Otto, and tell him, that having consid- 
 ered, you see that your church will, in your absence, thrive under 
 his care ; say that you have consulted your physician, who as- 
 sures you that this trip will benefit your health ; express your 
 gratitude for the distinction proffered you ; tell him you have be- 
 gun your preparations, and will at any moment be ready to start. 
 In three days, Louis, you must be taken ill : you must send him 
 word that you hope to be better ; but you must grow worse : you 
 must keep your bed awhile, your room awhile, you must be feeble. 
 "While this goes on, if the mission is no plot against you, Otto will 
 send some one else ; and besides, we shall gain time to influence 
 the Bishop, restore his confidence in you, and outwit Perry.' 
 
 'A good plan ; but the Bishop will be suspicious, and if I plead 
 sickness he will wish to be certain that I am sick. I must have 
 a physician, and how to deceive Mm ?' 
 
 Catharine, smiling a confident, superior smile, of one who 
 glories in an unmatched cunning, unlocked an escritoire, and
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 301 
 
 lazily explored its contents. She drew forth a small vol- 
 ume. 
 
 ' We must find you a disease, my brother, and you must learn 
 its symptoms : we will select one to fit your appearance : you are 
 slender, have been growing thin : you shall have consumption, 
 Louis, and indulge in a hemorrhage of the lungs.' 
 
 'Catharine!' 
 
 *It is easily done. I had one myself, of the same Tcind, when I 
 was resolved to visit the Eternal City, and our Mother, who was 
 then Abbess, had objections; my life being very important, 1 
 gained my point. But, Louis, none of the sisterhood can outwit 
 the ^tre&ent Abbess of the Holy Family. To proceed, Louis, your 
 side should be sore and painful, and you can simulate that ; the 
 doctor will blister you, but that is one of the little inconveniences 
 you must submit to, to gain your end; blood and exhaustion are 
 the grand symptoms, and those I will furnish you : listen and 
 obey. In the first place, here are some leeches ; take them home 
 and hide them; you may consider it nauseous to put them in 
 your mouth, but it will be better than being j9«^ oid of the way 
 yourself at the holy city, eh? Have your hemorrhage at night 
 and alone, and occasion delays about getting a doctor : send also 
 for a young practitioner. Having taken these precautions, pro- 
 ceed thus : I will procure you a bottle of bullock's blood ; between 
 the leeches and the blood and a little warm water, you will do 
 very well, and can have hemorrhages to order, my Louis.' 
 
 Father French stood as one transfixed. He was a priest, there- 
 fore ho was cunning; but, shades of the double-tongued Tyrians! 
 how ho was excelled and eclipsed by his sister nun ! 
 
 'The exhaustion,' said Catharine Illuminata, 'is another mat- 
 ter; you must be exhausted in proportion to your loss of the vital 
 element, and in that you must be your own judge, Louis, and be 
 careful. I can tell you on what portion of medicine to begin ; 
 increase it as is needful.' 
 
 She took two vials from her escritoire and stood before him, 
 one in each hand ; eyeing the bottles, she poured from one into 
 the other and shook them. 
 
 Father French grew a shade paler; had he ever given the 
 abbess any cause of offence ? How completely was he now in her 
 hands ; how magnificent, how lofty, how unscru])ulou3 she looked, 
 standing there, her black robes only setting off her majestic pro-
 
 302 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 portions, her fairness, her beauty, glorious as Lucifer's when he 
 fell from heaven, standing with what might be death in either 
 strong, white, cruel hand ! ' 
 
 ' What is that, Catharine ? ' asked French. 
 
 * Digitalis this,' said the abbess, holding out one vial. 
 *And the other?' 
 
 * A secret, Louis ; one of the many things I learned by careful 
 study; I learned it in Eome, where they are wise in hidden arts. 
 The effect of these potions will be to lower your pulse, checking 
 the rapidity of the circulation, and chilling the extremities. As 
 their effects leave you, you will apparently regain strength after 
 that hemorrhage and revive.' 
 
 * Catharine, you are going to deal truly with me ? These are 
 dangerous secrets, and here I put my life under your feet. What 
 will you do ? ' 
 
 Catharine dropped her hands a little, lifted her proud head, 
 and boldly met French's eager eye. 
 
 * Louis, what power is in here,' she glanced at the escritoire, ' I 
 will not say, but it has never dealt out death, and shall do so 
 least of all to you. I have power to defend myself, power to 
 revenge myself ; but with you, Louis, I need neither the one nor 
 the other. We are friends, we have formed a coalition ; it is not 
 for my advantage to lose you by death or a mission. Perry does 
 not like me ; the bishop is no warm friend ; what are my sisters 
 but secret foes ? You, French, bring me news of the world ; you 
 help me, and I help, am now helping, you. Trust me.' 
 
 For answer French took the medicine she had prepared and 
 put the vial in his pocket. 
 
 * I would drink it now if you chose, Catharine.' 
 
 *It would be of no advantage. Take care of it, of all that I 
 give you ; let no one find them. The remedies supplied you by 
 the doctors will not be unpleasant — water, lemons, or other acids, 
 and so on ; those you can take ostentatiously, and throw away 
 others unseen of any one. You can be peevish and demand agree- 
 able medicines. In this world, Louis, it is sound policy always 
 to get the best you can ; always to escape the unpleasant. I regret 
 the blister and the confinement, but those are inevitable. I shall 
 be distressed on your account, and make you a visit ; I wish to see 
 what kind of an actor you are, my Louis.' 
 
 A word spoken in reason, how good it is ! Catharine's words
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 303 
 
 were not like apples of gold in pictures of silver, but they were 
 anchors of hope to which Priest French clung in his despair. To 
 hear her was to obey. 
 
 According to orders acted Priest French. He visited the 
 bishop; he dissimulated ; he fell ill — and that was a tremendous 
 dissimulation — and he conducted himself in all particulars so as 
 to deceive the very elect, if there had been any among his asso- 
 ciates ! 
 
 As French had expected, Bishop Otto no sooner heard of his 
 illness than he came on an inquisitorial visit to ascertain whether 
 there was any sham in the sickness ; as Catharine predicted, he 
 was deeply impressed by the sufferings and danger of his subor- 
 dinate. 
 
 From Priest French Otto went to the House of the Holy 
 Family, and there casually informed the abbess of French's 
 misfortunes. 
 
 Catharine sighed. Mr. French was in here the other evening, 
 and I foretold just such an attack. It has been coming upon him 
 this long while; the man takes no care of himself in his devotion 
 to you and to this church ; then he was enraptured at the idea of 
 seeing the Holy Father and Kome once more ; excitement has 
 done this, bishop.' 
 
 *I 'm afraid,' said Bishop Otto, eyeing her keenly, ' that French 
 has had more on his mind than the service of the Church ; his 
 attention has been devoted to other things, perhaps.' 
 
 ' How you surprise me ! ' cried Catherine. ' He may be eager 
 for the political advancement of our Church, but you would not 
 condemn that; he may be avaricious, but that is no harm, for all 
 the property gained goes to your bishopric. If you mentioned 
 Mr. Perry or Mr. Prentoul as being unsettled, I would not be so 
 amazed as at such a hint in regard to that devoted, scrupulous 
 priest, Father Fi'ench.' 
 
 ' I hope he is all right, but I fear. There is no use in being 
 secret over what you know already, and you remember that there 
 was a trouble about a young woman belonging to the Church of 
 the Visitation.' 
 
 * Fie, fie ! ' said Catherine, coolly. * That was a pity, to be sure, 
 but it was only an accident such as frequently happens ; all passed 
 off quietly. French will do better hereafter, and has doubtlesa 
 forgotten that by this time.'
 
 304 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Sitting about in secret places, Catharine's eyes, with wonderful 
 prescience marked the affairg of secular life ; her white hands held 
 many threads which no one would have thought of following to 
 a convent, and these threads she spun, like Fate, into tissues to 
 suit her will. Eumor was that Catharine could fly into furies, 
 strike, and rage, — this among her sisters and subordinates; 
 priests and potentates could say : 
 
 ' I find you passing gentle ; 
 ' T was told me you were rough, and coy, and sullen, 
 And now I find report a very liar, 
 For thou art pleasant, gainsome, passing courteous.' 
 
 In the hands of astute priests, especially of Jesuits, auricu- 
 lar confession is no more than the machinery of an universal es- 
 pionage all over the Christian world. It will be said, 'jSTo! 
 because they cannot use it.' Ah, my friends! you do not know- 
 Jesuitical practice ? if one member of a family go to a Jesuit con- 
 fessor, all the secrets of that family are discovered, and used. The 
 confessor does not restrain himself to the secrets of the penitent:" 
 if that be a young lady, or a servant, suppose, she is questioned 
 about the actions of her father and mother, and masters; who 
 came into the house ; what kind of society was kept ; what subjects 
 were spoken of; if the food used on Fridays and Saturdays was 
 such as the Church prescribes ; what book is read ; if there be any 
 daily worship in the house ; which church they frequent ; if they 
 go to confess, to the Easter sacrament, and so forth. Hundreds 
 and hundreds of such questions are put, not appertaining to the 
 penitent. Why ? To know the secrets of the family, to get this 
 great power, and to use it. 
 
 "Who is the master in a Catholic family ? The confessor. Sons 
 and daughters obey their confessor before their father and mother, 
 and often displease their parents, in order to please their confess- 
 ors. Husbands are only secondarily obeyed by their wives : first 
 in command over them is always the father confessor. Believe 
 my words: they speak the experience of more than twenty- 
 five years among Papist clergy. The great work of Jesuits 
 is always with women in the confessional ; here they dispose of 
 society. 
 
 The last warfare of auricular confession against the peace of
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 305 
 
 families is at the dying bed. My dear Protestant brethren, take 
 care for your America, and yourselves ; from that death-bed all 
 friends, all relations are purposely excluded; the priest alone 
 remains. What weapons he has in his hands ! fear of hell, remorse 
 of conscience, — the flame of purgatory, all are used to induce the 
 dying penitent to make the Church partially or totally his heir. 
 — Gavazzi on The Confessional. 
 
 "'Use your position ; let us have the benefit of your power,' 
 Father French had said to Alda; but withal use it carefully; be- 
 gin by conceding something. Bring your husband to our Church ; 
 but, lest he seem to be yielding too much, I give you permission 
 to go sometimes with him wherever he may choose ; keep him to 
 his promise of being present at yonr prayers.' 
 
 Accordingly, when the newly married pair returned to the ele- 
 gant home which pride, rather than good policy, had ordained 
 for them, one of Alda's first efforts at proselyting was the repeti- 
 tions of her evening devotions. For those she was prepared with 
 all elegant accessories : an embroidered cashmere in which to do 
 religion becomingly, a. pric-dieu, a beautiful new Virgin, a paint- 
 ing of the Mother and Child, and a crucifix of pearl and gold. 
 These were duly made ready in her dressing room ; siie reminded 
 Eoger of his agreement. 
 
 'I do not ask you to join me, but you said you would be 
 present.' 
 
 * And what shall I do ?' asked Roger, constrainedly 
 
 * Anything you like,' replied the obliging Alda; 'read a book 
 or smoke a cigar. / don't mind smoke ; indeed, I quite like it.' 
 
 This relieved Roger's mind immensely ; hers was an accommo- 
 dating piety Avhose orisons would not be disturbed by smoke or 
 light reading. The lawyer ensconced himself in an easy-chair;: 
 Alda unbound her locks of flowing gold, took a graceful position,. 
 and a splendid prayer-book, and went to work. 'In the name of 
 the Father,' etc., devoutly the pretty head bowed over the velvet 
 cushion, and sweetly the prayers rolled on through ' Our Father,'' 
 * Hail Mary,' etc., and here Alda's uplifted face turned to tlie pic- 
 tured Mary. Then were the white iiands clasped as in self-despair,. 
 and the Creed and the Confiteor went on like music. What 
 more tender than the tones of Alda's prayer for the souls in 
 purgatory? Here Alda thought it best to take breath for 
 awhile. She turned about and sat down on her 2}ric-dieu, slipped
 
 306 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 her rosary through her taper fingers, shook it and twisted it, and 
 addressed Eoger confidentially. 'I always feel so in earnest in 
 that prayer for heretics, but I don't consider you a heretic, dear. 
 And then the prayers for the souls in purgatory : dear me, 
 Eoger, I always think of poor cousin Fred and Lucia when I 
 think of Purgatory ; it 's altogether likely they 're there.' 
 
 ' Very delightful to think of,' said Cantwell. 
 
 ' 0, dreadful, of course ; but they '11 be out some day. Do you 
 know I gave Father French the price of a new set of jewelry 
 which I meant to have. Just to say masses for those two ? ' 
 
 ' It is getting late/' said Roger, glancing at the clock ; ' are you 
 done ? ' 
 
 ' Bless me, no ! why I 've the litany and no end of prayers to 
 do yet. I hope your book is interesting. I must go on.' 
 
 So Alda addressed herself to the Virgin, and began the litany 
 of Loretto ; a long, long litany to Mary ; a few short sentences 
 to the Lamb of God; a prayer to the Father, and one to all the 
 saints, beginning with 'Griorious St. Mich'.iel, prince of the ce- 
 lestial hosts.' After this the Memorare, earnestly and pathet- 
 ically delivered; then the Angelus Domini and the Regi7ia Coeli. 
 When Avould she ever be through ? thought Eoger, whose cigar 
 was out long ago. 
 
 Alda turned to him in the midst of her prayers. 
 
 ' What comes next is supplication for parents, that you may be 
 their comfort, and so on. Mine being dead, I just put St. Ger- 
 trude's prayer to our Lady instead ; I think it is ever so pretty.' 
 And Alda glibly went on with St. Gertrude's effusion. Again, 
 ' Sweet hearts of Jesus and Mary be my refuge ! ' Mercy 0, Jesus ! 
 Great St. Joseph, pray for us ! ' 
 
 'What an immensity of prayers,' thought tired Eoger. But 
 the long prayer for the Holy Church was yet to come ; priests, 
 vicars, bishops, chief bishops, the faithful, the souls of the de- 
 parted, the living, the benefactors and beneficiaries ; Alda's or- 
 dained prayer embraced them all, to the last Amen. 
 
 Then she approached Eoger, book in hand, '/have to spv them 
 in English, but you could do them in Latin ; and 0, t' 
 sounds so grand when Father French repeats it!' 
 
 ' Do you do all this every night ? ' asked Eoger. 
 
 ' Oh, yes ; to be sure. Why not ? ' 
 
 * I should think you would get amazingly tired.'
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 307 
 
 'No, indeed; one can thus do up their religion for all day, and 
 it is very comfortable to be safe and settled for twenty-four hours 
 I say my prayers, and being all right I can make myself happy 
 doing what I please. There 's Jocelyn, she is perplexed with 
 scrujiles, and rules, and dictates of conscience, and ideas ofconsis- 
 tency every hour in the twenty-four.' 
 
 Alda's pertinacity in her prayers was something wonderful to 
 Eoger ; he saw her coming home late from balls or operas and 
 getting at her long devotions in spite of weariness; this zeal in- 
 spired him with a sort of respect; he grew accustomed to the 
 words of the prayers, and when Alda said, ' Do, Roger, say the 
 Regina in the Latin,' or * Come, Roger, begin this litany with 
 me,' he would do so, rather pleased with the form. 
 
 To Catholic church went Roger with his Avife. To heretic 
 church went Alda with her husband ; the one getting constitu- 
 ents, the other displaying her toilets; theirs was an easy religion, 
 like that of Mr. By-ends, They could say with him, ' We are 
 always most zealous when Religion goes in his silver slippers; 
 we love much to walk with him in the streets, if the sun shines 
 and the people applaud him.' 
 
 Alda was constant at confession, but of this duty die very pru- 
 dently made little mention to her husband, who was rather big- 
 oted in some matters, and had more than doubts as to the virtue 
 of that sacrament. Alda had no doubts; from the age of seven 
 she had been accustomed to the tribunal of penance. The Coun- 
 cil of Trent teaches that 'they who would escape perdition must 
 make the most unreserved, intimate, and circumstantial ' replies 
 to all the questions of their confessor. These replies were made 
 not only in reference to Alda's personal affairs and spiritual life, 
 but bore upon domestic relations, her husband, his i)rospects, his 
 friends, his business, his private correspondence ; the Romish 
 wife in virtue of her very Romanism, was made a household spy, 
 the unconscious betrayer of her husband's interests. 
 
 Letters were being written to the lloly Pope, and a present of 
 money was to go with them. Alda was urged to give five hun- 
 dred dollars; she was also persuaded to sign a contract promising 
 that when the estate of her defunct cousin Fred should be adminis- 
 tered and she should come in for her share, she would give the 
 Church three thousand dollars. Alda was ready enough to i)rora- 
 ise for by-and-by; the present five hundred were hard to obtain.
 
 308 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 She said to her priest, ' Roger thinks his hijluence is enough to 
 give, and he would make a terrible fuss about so much money. 
 Don 't let him know I gave it. I must tell him it went for a new 
 suit and trust to his not noticing the difference.' 
 
 'Certainly, certainly; we have to manage these little things, 
 and I will carefully keep your confidence, my daughter.' 
 
 We need not wonder at this deceit ; Rome instructs her children 
 that a ' wife may steal from her husband in lelialf of tlie Church.' 
 
 SECLUSION OF ROMAN CATHOLIC CONVENTS. 
 
 A few days since, a motion was made, and carried by a small 
 majority, in the British Parliament, to appoint a committee to 
 * inquire into Conventional and Monastic Institutions.' An edi- 
 torial in the London Watchman of April 6, 1871, referring to the 
 agitation growing out of this action, properly argues : ' The con- 
 vents are prisons. They are built, as every one may see, almost 
 strongly enough to stand a siege ; high walls, massive doors, for- 
 midable fastenings, grates and bars of portentous solidity: are 
 these things the favored instruments of liberty ? Or are they the 
 habitual weapons of tyranny and oppression ? The convents are 
 prisons : at least the show of their countenance doth witness 
 against them. Women enter them under compulsion, remain in 
 them under severe and terrible restraint, and disappear from them 
 entirely, leaving no trace behind. It is well known, that convents 
 in this country, are in communication with convents abroad, and 
 that refractory nuns, or young women who have not yet taken 
 the conventional vows, and about whom unpleasant inquiries are 
 made by friends, or lovers, are removed to the Continent : out of 
 reach, sometimes forever out of reach, of all whom they love. As 
 if to give special point to Mr. Newdegate's arguments, only a few 
 days before he raised this question in the House, an unsuccessful 
 attempt was made to remove a young woman to some convent- 
 prison in France. Happily, the pursuit of her friends, and her 
 own vigorous resistance baffled the attempt ; but no one who 
 heard her cries for help, resounding through the hotel where her 
 spiritual guardians detained her for the night, could well believe 
 that this 'bride of heaven' voluntarily 'sought the refuge of the 
 cloister.' These unlicensed prisons are being multiplied in Eng- 
 land at a rate which even the Ti7nes considers ' startling.' In
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 309 
 
 1830, there were no monasteries in England, and only eleven 
 convents. There are now sixty-nine monasteries, and two hnn- 
 dred and thirty-three nunneries. The increase has been very 
 rapid of late, seventy-one convents, and fourteen monasteries hav- 
 ing been added within the last seven years. They ought to be 
 regularly inspected, and reported upon ; every person who enters 
 them ought to be clearly and satisfactorily accounted for ; and 
 every inmate who may desire it, should have the opportunity to 
 his or her liberty regularly afforded; till this is done, Eome is 
 above law in England. 
 
 A prominent pastor sends the following statement (addressed 
 to himself), as vouched for by his Sunday-school Superintendent 
 and the teacher referred to by the writer, a girl of seventeen : 
 
 'As I am a stranger to you, but not to my Sabbuth-sehool 
 teacher, I will take the liberty to ask you to see my teacher, and 
 tell her not to go to our house ; if she does she will be taken a 
 prisoner, as I am, in the cell of a Catholic church, for being a 
 lieretic. My teacher instructed me in religion, but my father and 
 mother are both Catholics. So, that I may not be a heretic, I 
 
 will be sent to Convent to be a nun. When I get there I 
 
 will try to get away from the convent. There are girls to go 
 
 away on night; some are sent because tliey will not be Catho- 
 lics. My teacher's name is E . I dare not give the rest of 
 
 her name, for fear it will fall into the hands of the priest. My 
 
 name is . My teacher was my best friend when I was 
 
 sick. She visited me every day; she did more for me than my 
 father or mother could do ; if it had not been for her I would 
 have died. I am sorry that I could not see her myself, and tell 
 her to keep away. Do not forget to give this letter to her. She 
 will tell you some things that you will be shocked to hear : your 
 wife can see her, and she can tell her what they do in the convent, 
 for she knows.' — Christian World. 
 
 REPORTS OF DEATHS IN CONVENTS. 
 
 I have heard several times of nuns who were thought by their 
 friends to be dead, when they were living shut up in their consent. 
 There are many there, in the secrecy and deception of convents, 
 who live through long, dark days after their families have been 
 informed that they are dead. — Chiniquy.
 
 310 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 CONVENT MUEDEKS. 
 
 At length, one night, a stranger, traveling from Damascus 
 to Beyroot, asked for a lodging in the convent; but the gates were 
 already shut, the hour was late, and he was forced to content 
 himself by lying down in the outer court till the morning. 
 
 After a few hours' sleep, he was startled by a sudden noise of 
 opening doors and bolts withdrawn. There came forth from the 
 house three women with spades, followed by two men bearing a 
 heavy white bundle, which they carried into an adjoining place 
 of weeds and stones ; a hole was dug, the burden was deposited 
 in it, and, after treading down the earth with their feet, the party 
 returned to the house. The work of the nuns, the sight of the 
 heavy bundle, and the general mystery of the midnight transac- 
 tion kept the traveler awake, and he set out for Beyroot at the 
 first glimpse of day. 
 
 It happened that he was acquainted with a merchant in Bey- 
 root, who, some months before, had placed two of his daughters 
 in the convent, with a portion of £ 400 sterling. On naturally 
 asking some questions about the journey, the sleep in the court- 
 yard was mentioned ; and in the course of the conversation the 
 mysterious burial, rather reluctantly on the traveler's part, tran- 
 spired. The merchant was alarmed; he knew that one of his 
 daughters had been taken ill, and he could not but remark that 
 many of the nuns had died. He immediately mounted his horse 
 and rode to the convent, where he demanded to see his daughter. 
 The request was refused. He repeated it still more ui-gently. 
 His suspicions were aroused by the sternness and insolence of the 
 refusal. Leaving the convent in an agony of despair, he rushed 
 to the dwelling of the emir, and detailed his complaint to the 
 kohic (secretary), who ordered a body of horse to follow him, and, 
 if necessary, to force open the convent. The grave was uncov- 
 ered, the body was taken up ; it was the merchant's daughter ! 
 He then inquired for his remaining daughter; she was found 
 confined in the convent, but almost dead, and her narrative re- 
 vealed scenes of the most frightful iniquity. It was proved that 
 many of the nuns were murdered to get possessions, and others 
 in consequence of objects still more atrocious, if possible. 
 
 In the expressions of Colonel Churchill, the development 'has
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 311 
 
 not had the slightest effect on the conventual system, which is 
 supported in this countiy as much as ever. The doors of the 
 nunneries are impenetrably closed on their occupants, but whether 
 God or the devil reigns within, must always be a matter of con- 
 jecture.' 
 
 This utter scorn of the lessons of experience is one of the pre- 
 dicted characteristics of false religion. Eome neve?' reforms. 
 The heaviest calamities, the most startling exposures, the most 
 palpable detection of follies, artifices, and crimes, never produce 
 the slightest change. The Papacy, at this moment, is as besotted 
 with fable and prone to imposture as if the world remained in 
 the sullen credulity of the dark ages. — Bulwark; or, Reforma- 
 tion Journal, Edinburgh, 185G. 
 
 "When troubles come of God, then nought behooves 
 Like patience : but for troubles wrought of men, 
 Patience is hard— I tell you it is hard " 
 
 " A correspondent from Rome, of the JetvisJi Gazette of Pesth, 
 writes : ' Nine years since a beautiful girl of eighteen, named 
 L. Avignon, disappeared from her home. Her parents . found 
 part of her clothes on the bank of the Tiber. They believed her 
 dead. This year (1871), when many convents were opened by 
 the Italian authorities, a nun appeared before a commissioner, 
 begging to be returned to her family, of whom she had not heard 
 for nine years. Slie gave her name and former abode, and told 
 the magistrate a priest, called Hubert, yet living, had ruined her, 
 by force and fraud, and then shut her in a convent, under rigor- 
 ous restraint, as one baptized and converted. The civil authori- 
 ties sought for the parents, and found the mother yet living. 
 The unhappy motlier could scarcely recognize her once beautiful 
 child, now worn and feeble from convent restraint, physical and 
 mental suffering in her long imprisonment.'" 
 
 CONVENT AUSTERITY. 
 
 I will give you an instance: A tender-hearted young sister vio- 
 lated this rule, by giving some money to a poor family on the 
 point of starvation; when her Superior heard of it, she made her 
 fast on bread and water for one week. The vow of chastity for-
 
 312 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 bids her to love one of the opposite sex, or ever think of a hus- 
 band, save Christ. She cannot even extend her hand to a 
 gentleman, or look in his face without breakimg her rules ; nor 
 must she caress a little child, for fear of maternal instincts dis- 
 tracting her. But these ardent, impulsive young creatures, with 
 all the woman's loving nature, cannot, do not, keep this vow. 
 There is not a sister in the convent, but desires a material husband, 
 and they do have their lovers among the priests, and laymen. (I 
 have seen six sisters in love with one priest: but he only loved 
 one of them, consequently, they were unhappy and jealous.) By 
 the vow of obedience, she must give up not only her will, but also 
 her judgment and reason. Her Superior, a woman oftentimes of 
 inferior intellect, ignorant, superstitious, and domineering, can- 
 not be addressed except on the knees of the subject ; she must 
 kneel at her feet, and listen to her commands, as coming from 
 the mouth of God ; if the subject receives a command, which her 
 judgment tells her is wronger absurd, she must violate her reason, 
 and do the will of another. — Edith O'Goeman, Lecture in the 
 Tabernacle, New York. 1868, 
 
 " This is no Leaven ! 
 And yet they told me all heaven was here, 
 This life the foretaste of a life more dear : 
 That all beyond this convent cell, 
 
 Was but a fairer hell. 
 
 Ah me — it is not so. 
 
 This is not home ! 
 And yet for this I left my girlhood's bower, 
 Shook the fresh dew from April's budding flower. 
 Cut off my golden haii'. 
 Forsook the dear and fair, 
 And fled, as from a serpent's eyes, 
 Home, and its holiest charities." 
 
 MUKDEK. 
 
 Ariault teaches, that it is no harm to murder your enemy, if 
 you do it so secretly as to occasion no scandal. Guimenius 
 affirms the same in his seventh proposition. Molina in his six- 
 teenth disputation avers, that it is right to kill any man, to save a 
 crown ; with whick proposition, Taberna in his Practical The-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 313 
 
 ology, perfectly coincides. To come to the case in question, in- 
 fanticide, I can only tell you the authorities in favor of that deed 
 are too numerous to mention. 'For the sake of concealing in- 
 famy, and preserving reputations, infanticide is not only permitted, 
 but enjoined.' I will give you the moral animus of Jesuitism, in 
 the words of F. Xavier Makami, Prefect of the Jesuit College at 
 Eouen. He says in a thesis, 'Fortunate crimes make heroes. 
 Successful crime, ceases to he a crime. Success constitutes or ab- 
 solves the guilty at its will.' 
 
 A ROMAN CATHOLIC ORPHANAGE. 
 
 One of the worst revelations of Romanism in this country 
 concerns a Roman Catholic Orphanage, and comes to me from a 
 lady well known for fortune and benevolence, the wife of the 
 president of the Chamber of Commerce in one of our largest 
 cities. This lady had a servant, a widow with a child, an un- 
 usually fine boy of two years. By the advice of her mother, the 
 young woman placed her little son in the Infant Asylum of St. 
 Francis. She afterward told her mistress that a nun had warned 
 her against this course, saying 'No child thrived at St. Fran- 
 cis's. 
 
 A fortnight later, the grandmother remarked to the mistress, 
 * I guess her child is dead by this time. I saw it a week ago, and 
 it looked as if it could not hold out much longer.' 
 
 This heartless remark so distressed the lady, herself the mother 
 of children, that she called her carriage, and driving to St. Fran- 
 cis's, demanded the boy. She was left in the sacristy alone for 
 about an hour; then, seizing a passing nun, she repeated her 
 demand. 
 
 The presence of the child was denied ; but, as she insisted, she 
 was bidden come to the yard, and select it. She found the ' yard ' 
 a treeless, tan-bark-covered place, where numbers of children 
 were lying listlessly about, all wan, emaciated, and so/-e-eyed, un- 
 sheltered from the sun. Only one was plump and fair, and that 
 with a strange, unchildish sorrow in its eyes. Tlie nun casually 
 remarked that this little one had just come in. The child sought 
 not being here, the ' sister ' turned to look for it in a long shed, 
 and here the lady softly followed her. She found, lying in little 
 straw-filled boxes, many babes — all wasted, dirty, clad each iu
 
 314 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 one soiled garment — all sore-eyed, wretched, and apparently dy- 
 ing. 
 
 The nun lifted one from its miserable resting-place, and, turn- 
 ing, confronted the visitor. '0, my God !' she cried, 'go out of 
 here instantly or they will kill me ! ' 
 
 The lady received into her arms the infant sufferer, and took 
 it home. In three days it died, the family physician and the ex- 
 perienced nurse declaring it a plain case of starvation, the eyes 
 being literally burned away by strong waters. 
 
 The details are too horrible to be narrated. A seamstress 
 stated that she had served two months next door to St. Francis's, 
 and had never seen a milkman there, but from two to five small 
 coffins carried out of early mornings, 
 
 A widow, who supported herself by coloring photographs, took 
 her three-year-old son, a robust child, to board at St. Francis's 
 while she executed a large order for work ; and, going for him 
 early one morning, at the expiration of three weeks, met the cof- 
 fin of the child coming from the gate. 
 
 A Catholic cook boldly told the lady, who, as I told you, in- 
 vaded St. Francis's, that children taken there were not exjmcted to 
 he raised ; that only those children went to St. Francis's who were 
 in everybody's way, and, if any others were carried thither it was 
 a mistake for which the sisters were not responsible. She also 
 said that ' children dying in that consecrated spot were sure of 
 glory, whereas, if they lived, they might be thieves, murderers, or 
 even heretics. The holiness of the sisters was increased by every 
 child that got to heaven through their hands.' ' Then,' cried this 
 Protestant lady, 'why not give them a sponge-full of chloroform, 
 or a dose of laudanum ; it would be far less cruel ! ' 
 
 ' 0,' replied the astute Eomanist, ' that would be murder, but 
 this is simply letting alone.' 
 
 Being informed of these things, I took occasion to question a 
 respectable, honest, and kind-hearted Romanist woman about St. 
 Francis's. At first she professed ignorance, but, by degrees, 
 averred that no children lived long in this Orphanage ; a friend 
 of hers had rescued, after a three weeks' stay, a babe that went 
 in healthy, and came out blind and dying. 
 
 ' The situation must be unhealthy,' I said. 
 
 ' Bad situations do n't make sore eyes,' she replied. 
 
 ' Then there is lack of food or ventilation,' I suggested.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 315 
 
 * Lack of food, like enough,' she answered. 
 
 ' The bishop should know it ; must be informed of it.' 
 
 'He does know it,' she retorted; 'and he forbade my sister 
 putting four fine children there, for he said they would not 
 thrive; but he told her of two other convents where they are 
 doing well.' 
 
 From all this, you, my friends, must gather, as I did, that 
 Eome has in one country, at least one house devoted to slow in- 
 fanticide, where poor little infants, a burden to their natural 
 protectors, and having small claim on the community, are done 
 to death by letting alone ! And let me tell you, infanticide is 
 peculiarly a Koman Catholic crime, and a crime especially inimi- 
 cal to the interests of a republic; for republics, like families, 
 should grow not so much by the adoption of aliens, as by children 
 born in their midst. — Christian World, April, 1871. 
 
 " But the young, young children ! 0, my brothers, 
 
 They are weeping bitterly I 
 They are weeping in the playtime of the others, 
 
 In the country of the free 1 " 
 
 What of Father French and Bishop Otto ? 
 
 " And now troubles and dangers thickened. Bishop Otto had 
 not yet given up his hope of influencing Cantwell. On a day of 
 smothered excitement, when some sort of a moral tempest was 
 brewing, Bishop Otto, on pretence of going to his room to sleep, 
 stole out of the house, leaving Francis, his so-called shadow, in 
 the oratory. 
 
 Some time after, the coachman, a kindly fellow devoted to his 
 master, came to Francis, saying anxiously, ' His reverence went 
 off alone two or three hours ago, 'and I'm fearin' as sum 'at has 
 happened him. Folk are lookin' for a stir round town to-day, 
 thougli, may be, there '11 not be any. Howsomdever, there 's 
 been mad looks agin Earle's print-shop since that bad book was 
 out, and his lordship goes that a way so often, I 'm thinking if 
 times get rough he may be towzled and put upon ; that 's all, 
 Mr. Francis.' 
 
 The countenance of Francis expressed the utmost anxiety. 
 ' Go, go,' he cried, ' bring the carriage and take me down to Judge 
 Cantwcll's ofiBce. We must find the bishop at once; he is always 
 thinking of others and never of himself.'
 
 X 
 
 316 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Poor Francis ! 
 
 It was growing late in the afternoon ; the red light of the de- 
 clining sun burnished spires and chimneys, and fringed the roofs 
 with flame. To the terrified Francis everything wore the hue of 
 blood ; the sewers seemed filled with a horrible crimson tide, and 
 the hum and rattle in the busy streets came to his ears as mingled 
 with groans and shrieks. But no ; all the city was at peace ; men 
 went their several ways without a fear ; alarm dwelt only in the 
 bosom of Francis. 
 
 Leaping i'rom the carriage, the servant was hurrying up the 
 stair when he met Cantwell coming down. 
 
 'Where is Bishop Otto?' cried Francis. 
 
 ' I do not know ; he left here a half an hour since, with Mr. 
 French.' 
 
 ' But I heard there was some disturbance going on.' 
 
 * Not at all ; why should there be ? All is quiet.' 
 
 Partially comforted, Francis came down the steps with the 
 lawyer, Cantwell eyeing him intently all the while. Mr. Dunbar 
 was leaving the book-store, and the gentlemen stopped to shake 
 hands. In an instant, before they could understand the cause, 
 the carriage horses made a plunge, throwing down the driver, 
 who held the reins, and alas! flinging Francis under the wheels, 
 which passed over his chest. 
 
 There were few in Allerton Place at that hour, but all who 
 saw the accident sprang to the rescue. Some secured the horses, 
 others cared for the stunned coachman, but Dunbar and Cantwell 
 lifted the lifeless form of Francis, and carried it into Earle's de- 
 serted sanctum, sending our Aurora Lane boy for a physician. 
 
 Roger poured water on Francis's head and face, while Mr. 
 Dunbar with busy anxiety undid his neckcloth and vest to ascer- 
 tain the extent of the injury. The delicately moulded, uncov- 
 ered throat, the fair, soft skin of the feebly-heaving bosom, 
 revealed Otto's carefully-cherished secret. Dunbar sprang back 
 with a cry of surprise. 
 
 * Cantwell, it is a woman ! ' 
 
 Eoger reached for an afghan lying tumbled on an adjacent 
 chair, and drew it pitifully over this Francis. The wet hair of 
 the unconscious stranger fell in heavy masses about the pallid 
 face ; Cantwell, with a sudden thought, divided it in the centre 
 and smoothed it back with his fingers, studying the features well.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 317 
 
 * The Bishop's ward ! Poor soul ! I suspected, but dared not 
 believe this, long ago. 0, pity, pity ! ' 
 
 'Friend,' said Dunbar, hastily, 'this eclaircissement must not 
 take place here, in mercy to that unhappy man and this poor 
 girl. Before the doctor comes, let us carry her to Otto's house, 
 and leave him to manage the affair as best he can.' 
 
 * Yes,' said Eoger, slowly, ' I think she is dying ; let her die 
 there. The carriage is at the door; bring those cushions: I will 
 carry her out. Have one of those boys get a bottle of brandy 
 next door.' 
 
 As the two gentlemen entered the hall of the bishop's residence, 
 bearing their insensible burden. Otto met them, wringing his 
 hands, with a great cry. He motioned toward the library sofa, 
 saw plainly that 'all was known, and, in his anguish, forgetting 
 his dread of scandal, closed the door, imploring, ' Stay and help 
 me ! I cannot have these servants know this. You, you under- 
 stand it now; have mercy on me, Judge Cantwell.' 
 
 'Friend,' said Roger, sincerely, 'anything and everything which 
 we can do is at your service. Let us see if we can restore con- 
 sciousness here.' 
 
 'Is there any hope?' gasped Otto. 
 
 Mr. Dunbar shook his head. ' Evidently none.' 
 
 They had laid the limp figure upon a sofa, removed a portion 
 of the clothing and applied restoratives. Bishop Otto knelt sob- 
 bing by the couch, holding the white hands in his own. Still 
 striving to restore consciousness, these anxious watchers saw 
 Francis's eyes open, and, evidently realizing the present danger, 
 the first glance fell upon the bishop with such tenderness and 
 compassion as moved even Roger to tears. 
 
 ' Francis ! ' cried Otto, in an agony. 
 
 'Not Francis, now,' said the dying one, slowly; 'that is past. 
 Call me by the name you said was dangerous — Laure — once 
 more.' 
 
 ' Laure I my Laure ! angel of my life ! devoted, self-sacrificing, 
 most loving Laure ! ' cried Otto, wildly. ' that I might die for 
 you or with you!' 
 
 * That cannot be,' said Laure, stroking his face gently. ' Poor 
 Otto, what will you do when I am gone ? ' 
 
 'Laure, beloved, I have ruined your life, beguiled you from
 
 318 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 home and friends, shut you out from society, made you most un- 
 hajopy. Can you forgive me, forgive all this ? * 
 
 ' I have nothing to forgive ; / loved you, OUo.^ Such a wonderful 
 devotion was in those tones, that Dunbar, covering his face turned 
 away. 
 
 *Let me speak. Otto,' said Laure, laying her hand over the 
 Bishop's lips. * Let me speak to these two, who have learned what 
 we have so long concealed, even from those who dwelt under the 
 roof with us. Sirs,' Cantwell and Dunbar drew near, looking 
 compassion ; Laure spoke in slow, soft tones, for she was growing- 
 very feeble, but every word was well weighed and plain. 
 
 ' Mr. Dunbar, you may not remember me, but I know you well ; 
 Laure Vallerie was once your sister's dearest friend ; that may 
 arm you against me, but recollect that I loved her, and felt that 
 in my Church only could she find salvation. By her conversion 
 also, I hoped to atone for this life which you despise me for lead- 
 ing. My plan failed, Mr. Dunbar; your sister, as you must have 
 heard before this, died a Protestant. Alas, I fear she is lost!' 
 
 Laure paused a moment, then spoke again. 
 
 * Sirs, you see in me one who has lived a lie, who has never been 
 blessed with a marriage vow; you despise me, you despise and 
 condemn Mm. But hear me a moment, for my justification, for 
 I have a last request to make, and I make it of you two. This 
 bishop is much older than I, but from the hour that he and I 
 first met, — it was in church after service. Otto, — we have loved 
 each other so truly and so devotedly, as to forget all the world 
 besides. If our church had been like yours, sir,' she looked at 
 Mr. Dunbar, ' I should have been his wife in name, as in heart. 
 Sir, our Church is true and holy, but in some things she seems 
 ordained rather for angels, than for human beings; we are in 
 this, the victims of our Church, for she is strong and we are 
 weak. The sacrament of marriage was denied ua ; we could only 
 promise each other to be true and loving, each to each, and let no 
 one else come between us ; for the rest, we took care that no one 
 suspected me, that we might save a scandal to the Church. I am 
 dying, I shall be beyond fear, shame, or scorn, in a few hours : 
 but, sirs, he will not. 1 do not repent this thing ; you have been 
 80 kind to me. Otto, and have needed me so much : andj'ou know 
 our Church shut us up to it ; and, sirs, we have atoned for this
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 319 
 
 fault, by extreme devotion to the Holy Virgin, who is most pitiful 
 and tender.' 
 
 *Do not hurry me, Otto,' she continued; *you know I wear 
 the brown scapular, and cannot die before I confess. I hope the 
 Lord and all the angels will forgive me, for I have tried to live 
 well in all but that, and you will find your chief happiness in say- 
 ing many masses for me, my Otto. But, gentlemen, his peace 
 and honor are now in your hands ; there may be hints and sur- 
 mises, but he can look them down, if you two, who may be sup- 
 posed to know the truth, will only be silent. Promise me that 
 you will thus be merciful to him ; for think, if you had been in 
 his place, cut off from family and friends, never an equal or com- 
 panion near you, no one with true love for you, none to call you 
 by name, to tend you in illness : 0, if you had found one to love, 
 and to love you, you might have done as he has done.' 
 
 * We promise you,' said Dunbar. *It will do us no good to add 
 another care and sorrow to the bishop's life. We pity you both. 
 He is not in our hands to be destroyed ; to God only must you 
 look, and give account. Do not fear us.' 
 
 Otto had sent for a physician of some skill, belonging to his 
 own congregation, and Laura Vallerie, now being relieved from 
 her chief fear, said to the bishop that she wished to confess to 
 Father French. 
 
 From this the bishop shrank, saying, * Why not to me, Laure ? 
 It is permitted in the Compendii Theologm 3Ioralis. You re- 
 member that. Is it best to call in another priest, my Laure ?' 
 
 Laure looked distressed. ' I wish it so, my Otto. It is a terri- 
 ble thing to die: it is best to be well prepared. I could wish — ' 
 
 'No more, beloved Laure. I will send for him, instantly.' 
 
 The physician came. Mr. Dunbar and Eoger, with a silent 
 "bow, withdrew. 
 
 The doctor found no reason to hope ; Laure Vallerie had but a 
 few hours to live. Having done what he could to relieve pain 
 and make her hist moments easy, he departed, leaving her to the 
 ministrations of Father French. Otto stood by the window, 
 weeping, while Father French bent over the bed to receive Laura's 
 last confession. 
 
 * I trust,' said the penitent, in conclusion, * not only to your 
 sworn secrecy as a priest, but in the natural kindness of your 
 heart.'
 
 320 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Father French bowed, pronounced his absolution, and sat 
 down ; then he looked toward Otto. 'Bishop, the viaticum; the 
 time is short.' 
 
 * Short ! ' A heart-rending groan burst from Otto ; he hurried 
 to Laure, bent over her, kissed her repeatedly, murmuring words 
 of affection. 
 
 * My poor Laure ! and the reward of your devotion is an un- 
 happy life, a violent death.' 
 
 'No, the reward is your love, your happiness. Otto. I have 
 not been unhappy. If I had not been so fiercely jealous of the 
 abbess, of Lucia, of every one who was near you, I would have 
 been most happy. But that was my nature.' 
 
 ' You had no need to be jealous, most dearly beloved.' 
 
 * Ah, I see it now. Yours was not a love to grow weary, and 
 reject me; it was my folly to think so; in that I wronged you.' 
 
 Otto turned to French. 'Make ready the viaticum, French. I 
 am abased before you ; pity, if you cannot excuse, me.' 
 
 When the last rites of the Church had been performed, and 
 Laure was dead. Priest French left the palace and went to the 
 sacristy of the Church of the Visitation. Standing there alone, 
 he looked at the paraphernalia of his office. 
 
 ' This strife is ended,' he said. ' Would I put Nell in that poor 
 girl's place ? would I be Bishop Otto ? If he could not contend with 
 his fate, can I ? No ; but, say what they will, there is but one 
 course I can take after this day's lesson. I will go to Nell, and 
 marry her.' 
 
 So, leaving his robes and his Church, Priest French went forth 
 resolved to seek, with honorable intentions, the long-unhappy and 
 injured mother of his son." 
 
 " Eome proclaims herself united. But is Rome thus one in 
 doctrine ? By no means. It has not needed the disputes at the 
 last Ecumenical Council, nor the division into ' old ' and ' new ' 
 Catholics in Europe, to teach us that in Rome are more parties, 
 and more diversities in belief than are to be found anywhere else. 
 If differences are heresy, then Rome is the first and chief of here- 
 tics. Friars of different orders, wearers of diverse scapulars scan- 
 dalize humanity by their quarrels. 
 
 In France and Spain there are almost as many Virgins as there 
 are districts ; and one bishop, as during the late Franco-Prussian
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 321 
 
 war, says, * Implore my Virgin ; ' another says, ' Nay, my Virgin 
 is the one for the present emergency.' When Charles and Philip 
 fought for the crown of Spain, the Virgin of Pilar favored 
 Charles, this Virgin being an imperialist ; while the Crucifix of 
 San Salvator fought under the banners of Philip, being ' affec- 
 tionate ' to him. The imperialists were so angry at San Salvator, 
 in plain speech, Jesus Christ, that they would make no gifs to 
 his altars; while Philip's men cut the acquaintance of the Holy 
 Virgin because she favored Charles. 
 
 In 1542, Dr. Augustine Eomirez in Spain (Saragossa) pub- 
 lished in a book on the Virgin, that Mary the Queen of Heaven, in 
 a celestial council, had been affronted by the Holy Spirit, who de- 
 clared that until her altars were enriched on earth, she luas not 
 equal to the Holy Trinity. At this time the Virgin, in a vision, 
 informed a Spanish priest that for fifteen years she had had so 
 few offerings made her, that she was ashamed to open her lips to 
 God the Father. 
 
 About the immaculate conception of the Virgin, the Domini- 
 cans and Franciscans have never agreed, and mut ally accuse each 
 other of heresies. There has never been a council in the Catho- 
 lic Church which has not condemned some other council. The 
 fact about Romanism is that it agrees in nothing but disagreeing. 
 Three great parties in the Eomish Church have divided on the 
 councils of their promulgations. All the councils have been de- 
 nied by one or another of the Fathers. 
 
 Some of the most able and magnificent swearing-matches on 
 record have been when the venerable authorities of Romanism 
 got together, ofiicially to curse each other and their deliverances. 
 Whenever these holy fountain-heads of wisdom came into coun- 
 cil, and each uttered his mind, it was found that there were as 
 many opinions as men. Each then proceeded to anathematize 
 his neighbor and his neighbor's faith. The sacred bishops, ar- 
 rayed in their canonicals, made their council-chamber a Mount 
 Ebal which had no Gerizim to offset it. In one of the Alexan- 
 drian synods a Catholic saint bestowed upon an equally Catholic 
 heretic thirteen distinct cursings, a kindness which the heretic 
 returned with amiable alacrity. Cyril, Nestorius, John, Genna- 
 dius, Memnon, Ibes, Theodoret, in different ages and quarters of 
 the globe cursed each other with the highest cordiality and piety. 
 
 Popes have condemned Popes. There have been two universal
 
 322 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Popes, and two universal Councils at the same time, eacli partic- 
 ularly proficient in the fine art of execration. Urban was Pope, 
 not so much Dei Gratia, as Catlierince Gratia, the saint of Sienna, 
 having particularly propped his falling throne. The Ecumenical 
 of 1870 has fixed the infallibility of all the Popes. What then 
 ■was the divine utterance by the mouth of Pope Boniface, in 1294 ? 
 The most shocking of blasphemy which the pen trembles to write ; 
 *The soul of man is the soul of a beast, men dust, with no hope 
 of immortality. I believe no more in Mary Virgin, than I believe 
 in an ass, nor in her son, tlian in the foal of an ass.' 
 
 In the face of all this contradiction, and internecine war, what 
 can the Eomish Church do but exactly what it has done, i. e., to 
 proclaim the infallibility of the Pope, and hereafter accept the 
 decree of his lips as the word of God ; and when the Popes con- 
 tradict each other, saying that a thing is, and is not, at the same 
 time, the Catholic Church must content themselves with the as- 
 surance, that such contradictions are holy mysteries, like the 
 Trinity, and the Conception of Christ, not to be doubted nor dis- 
 puted, but humbly accepted. This doctrine of the immaculate 
 conception of Mary, gave the Eomish Church, in effect, an addi- 
 tional person in the Godhead, a holy Quarternity. The decree of 
 the Pope's infallibility, gives that same Church a divine Quinter- 
 nity, in the name of which, for consistency's sake, they should be 
 baptized. 
 
 Pome's books to Eome report the baleful tale of Sin and her 
 horrible offspring, as Milton hath it — 
 
 ' These yelling monsters that with ceaseless cry 
 Surround me, as thou saw'st, hourly conceived, 
 And hourly born, with sorrow infinite — 
 
 Into the womb 
 That bred them they return, and howl and gnaw I 
 
 begotten in Eome's polution, they prey upon, and shall eventually 
 destroy her. [Her iniquities ?] 
 
 Is it to be wondered at, that Eomanists tremble with fear at 
 the bare mention of the spiritual philosophy which shall, in due 
 time, reveal the immensity of their crimes, their shameful in- 
 trigues ? Not that we would condemn them, for we say, with 
 Brother Peebles, we judge notj we condemn not any; and it is
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 323 
 
 evident to us that the masses of the people, in this, as in all things 
 else, sin ignorantly. Enlightenment, we well know, is unfavora- 
 ble to Eomanism ; and, while we pity the miserable ignorance of 
 many of her zealous adherents, we cannot fail to see in their 
 characters much to admire and appreciate. They have been 
 nursed in the Church; the Church is their home, their Religion, 
 although in many cases is seems buried so deep, it is hard to find. 
 " Eeligion,'*' says Eembert, " is the strongest principle that act- 
 uates the human heart, as I well know from my own experience, 
 as well as from observation and history. From the latter we learn 
 that in the ' Holy ' (?) Wars of the Cross vs. the Crescent — (may 
 the sacred symbol of the lettered scroll never stain with human 
 blood its celestial sheen) the Crusades — two million men were 
 killed, and a pyramid was erected from their bones from one 
 battle-field near Xieve, by Solyman, as a monument to their fa- 
 naticism ; and the Saracens drank beer out of their skulls. His- 
 tory tells us that in the religious Christian conflicts following the 
 reformation of Luther, at Avhich time the popes were the legiti- 
 mate despots of the world, and made kings and national rulers 
 their abject vassals and suppliant slaves, subject to their tyrannic 
 caprices, which they exercised in the most diabolical manner, and 
 all by divine appointment; fifty millions were slain, making a 
 grand aggregate of perhaps a hundred millions who, in the history 
 of mankind, have victimized themselves to their religion. The 
 skeletons of these victims of religion, if linked together, would 
 pave with human bones more than a hundred thousand miles long; 
 would girdle the world more than four times round ; would build a 
 structure larger than Colossus, Coliseum, or Pyramid. What 
 else can impel a man to throw himself under the car of Jugger- 
 naut to be instantly crushed ? What impel a mother to sacrifice 
 her child, as the Africans to the Ganges ? or the Chaldean t<> ti.o 
 Hierapoiis ? Man in every age is a devout religionist; it is an 
 innate and ineradicable principle in his nature to conceive of 
 and imagine a higher mind, to hope for immortality and yearn 
 for glory." 
 
 • 
 
 Extract from a friend's letter: — 
 
 *"' Yours was received more than a week ago, and now I am 
 going to answer it, though I don't know what I shall say, I am 
 Bure. Xow, how nice it would be if some other one would writQ
 
 324 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 for me, same as he does for you, then I would not have to think. 
 
 W says, Tell you, we had a spiritual sermon, this morning, by 
 
 J H ; he told them about 'Ezra, the Scribe' coming 
 
 down and appearing to Dr. S and his wife, and casting ac- 
 counts with them. It was a very peculiar and very interesting 
 sermon. Now, perhaps you knoio Ezra or have heard of him. I 
 suppose I ought not to joke about this; it's wicked, isn't it? 
 Well, it seems to me that I am dreadful wicked, any way, and the 
 more I try to be good the worse I grow, I guess. If I could see 
 you I should ask you a thousand and one questions, foolish ones, 
 probably. Now, for instance, supposing there are true mediums, 
 what good are they doing ? what of the will of God do they fore- 
 tell ? how affect the peoj)le who listen ? is there any good comes 
 of it ? Christ said, ' Go ye into all the world and preach the gos- 
 pel.' ' Christ and him crucified ' is the great theme ; he died for 
 all, and we are all saved through him, if we believe ; and he will 
 give us his holy spirit. 
 
 Do you think God's ministers are mediums ? they profess to be 
 moved by the spirit. Well, dear, I do n't know, and sometimes 
 think I do not care; I believe I want to do right, but I do not 
 live near enough to my God to feel the presence of his love, and 
 of my love to him : I am afraid I am not a follower after right- 
 eousness. 
 
 What do you think about revivals of religion? what do you 
 think of Mr. Moody's sermons ? do you really enjoy our old-fash- 
 ioned religion as you used to do ? This is personal, but I wish 
 you would answer my questions. There seems to be great revivals 
 of religion through the country. I was much interested in your 
 last; I hope God will bless you, and that, if you are an in- 
 strument in his hands for doing good, you may do great 
 things. I don't believe you will want to write to me again; I 
 write you such harum-scarum letters. What do you mean by your 
 being able to impress me — put particular thoughts uppermost in 
 my mind ? " * « 
 
 Eeply : — 
 
 I did not intend so long a time should elapse before answering 
 your"harum scarum" letter. I assure you it was not on that 
 account, for it did n't scare me a bit, and I enjoyed its contents 
 more than I can tell you. I expect, if you think yourself " wicked, "
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 325 
 
 you will think me ''more wickeder still," for I don't feel as if I 
 should have some other one to assist me this time, and many of 
 your queries are of such a personal character, I s'pect it would 
 hardly be fair for a third party to interfere. I should have en- 
 joyed hearing that spiritual sermon, I am sure. Ezra, the scribe, 
 I do not " know " personally, but have read of him. Those other 
 folks, Dr. Somebody and his wife, are not among my acquaintances, 
 and I can't make them out at all. Have waded clear way through 
 the book of Ezra to-day, read how the people of God that were 
 with him transgressed by their abominations, and how Ezra 
 mourned over them, and rent his garment and his mantle, and 
 plucked off the hair of his head and his beard — it must have 
 been dreadful — and sat down among them, astonished. We]], 
 among all the multiplicity of tribes and names given, I don't 
 find him "casting accounts " with any one in particular, a\t]\ong\i 
 the Good Book says " the hand of the princes and rulers hath 
 been chief in this trespass," as is usually the case. I have there- 
 fore come to the conclusion that the doctor and his wife must have 
 lived at a later period — perhaps are still living — upon earth, 
 and that Ezra appeared to them in spirit. Am I correct ? 
 
 As to God's ministers being mediums, I most assuredly believe 
 that every minister upon the face of the earth is a medium, if I 
 understand the signification of the word medium. I have no dic- 
 tionary here, and have never observed the accepted rendering of 
 the word ; but my conception of it is: a person or instrumentality 
 used to convey thoughts, sentiments, and ideas, from one party 
 to another. If this be the correct definition, not only our minis- 
 ters, but ourselves, every individual who has the breath of life 
 within him is a medium in a greater or less degree. From the 
 common acceptation of the word it may not thus appear: but 
 viewing it even in this light, I am bold enough to assert that I 
 not only believe, but know that all of our most able and efficient 
 ministers, public speakers, and writers, are, and have been in all 
 ages, either wholly or partially controlled by spirit power, even 
 though unconsciously to themselves. Many of them, as you say, 
 profess to be moved by the spirit, and think, as did the projihets 
 and writers of old, that there is no Holi/ Spirit, save one. Now, 
 dear. Just reflect for a moment, and tell me, if you can, how it 
 would be possible for so many diverse creeds, religious, and doctrines 
 to exist upon the earth as there does, and ever have existed . if
 
 326 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 all are moved by the same spirit ? We well know that many of 
 these are in direct opposition to each otlier. Is it not, tlien, more 
 
 reasonable to suppose — indeed a self-evident fact — that there 
 are many ministering or controlling spirits, and that these spirits 
 retain the opinions, as well as the characteristics of their earth- 
 life, until a progressive change has been wrought in them ? This 
 is what our spiritual philosophy teaches, and that precisely as they 
 leave this world, so will they enter the spirit abode ; but it does 
 7iot teach, as do some who profess wisdom from on high, that 
 they will thus forever remain, but that they will gradually unfold 
 their powers, and expand the germ of a higher life which is im- 
 planted in the nature of every human being. 
 
 That there are lying, hypocritical, and evil, as well as good and 
 holy spirits, who can and do control under the same universal 
 law, is not a pleasing feature of the philosophy, but is far less 
 dangerous when known and understood, than when ignorantly 
 concealed. As the law which governs the phenomena is immuta- 
 ble, holy spirits and unholy ones have the same opportunities for 
 controlling at their will, provided they can find a medium for their 
 communication ; hence the injunction "try the spirits." 
 
 " Supposing there are true mediums, what good are they doing ? 
 what of the will of God do they fortell ? how do they affect the 
 people who listen ? is there any good comes of it ? " 
 
 I will also suppose a case : If there was a far-away country 
 upon this earthly sphere, to which we must all, at some indefinite 
 period of time not far distant, remove, and consider our final 
 home, until death, or spiritual birth to a higher life; and if that 
 country were governed by a king whose authority was supreme ; 
 which Avould give you the most satisfaction : to read a history of 
 that country and the king's dealings with his subjects, written by 
 authors of whom you knew nothing, and who lived and died there 
 centuries before your birth, representing the place and people as 
 they appeared unto them at that time; or to listen unto, or read, 
 a verbal declaration or written description of the same, by your 
 own dearly loved and personal friends who had preceded you ? 
 
 As to revivals of religion, conversion of souls : I have no doubt 
 there has been, and still is, much good accomplished, and souls 
 truly converted by this means, although I have had little personal 
 experience or opportunity of judging of the ultimate results. I 
 have always considered a gradual change of heart and life more
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 327 
 
 natural, and more likely to be enduring. I am unable to give you 
 my opinion of Mr. Moody's sermons, for I don't "think" I ever 
 read but one of them, and that was so long ago I cannot recall it. 
 I felt anxious to attend one of their meetings, which they Avere 
 holding in Brooklyn at the time I was in New York, but circum- 
 stances prevented. 
 
 As to enjoying the old-fashioned religion as well as I used to: 
 Yes, just as much, and no more; as compared with my present 
 views and feelings, the first is like a skeleton of dry bones; the 
 present, the same " bones," no longer " dry," but elastic and plia- 
 ble, from the covering of soft, warm flesh which embodies them. 
 My religion — if you will excuse the personality, but tliat seems 
 to be what you are after now — has not been changed, but clothed 
 upon. I have, from the earliest recollections of my childhood, 
 had an instinctive horror of listening to a hell-fire sermon, to 
 speak plainly, and have never believed in that doctrine. I could 
 not but feel indignant that a God of infinite wisdom and justice, 
 whose supreme attribute is Love, should be charged with revenge- 
 ful cruelty exceeding that of the vilest despot in existence. Fur- 
 thermore, I cannot believe there is a being in the whole universe 
 who has the remotest idea that he shall be among the number 
 consigned to fire and everlasting burning; they may think, as 
 some teach, that others will be, but not themselves. This terror- 
 stricken doctrine is seldom advanced among enlightened people 
 at the present day ; reason and progress will not, and cannot, ad- 
 mit, or accept of it. The law of progression is everywhere in 
 motion, and spiritual food comes spontaneously, at times, and 
 from sources least suspected by us. As to " impressing you," dear, 
 "them's not my sentiments" but that "some other" one's. 
 
 'Twas Easter morn, bright, beautiful, and fair; 
 
 A friend beloved and I, did wend our way 
 
 Unto the place of thine abode, dear Lord : 
 
 Thine altar pure, a sacred shrine, from which 
 
 Sweet incense from the breath of flowers, commingling 
 
 With the prayers of saints, we love yea, we love I 
 
 There songs of holy ecstasy unite 
 
 With angel choirs, and thence ascend uuto
 
 328 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Celestial spheres of love and light beyond. 
 But O, to me, to her, my friend, this seemed 
 As nought compared with that which after came — 
 An inspiration from the man of God. 
 ■His theme was this : As ye the image of 
 The earthly have borne so also shall ye 
 The image of the heavenly bear. Amazed, 
 We listened to the grand, o'erpowering 
 Eloquence poured forth ; combining depth of 
 Knowledge, wisdom profound, sublimity 
 Of thought, with far-sighted visions of the 
 Future. The retrospective of the past, 
 In brief, no charms exhibit ; serving only 
 To render more apparent the glorious 
 Chain of endless progression. From each dead 
 Relict of the past is born a something 
 Higher and more enduring ; from each 
 Memento treasured deep, arises hopes 
 Cherished and borne on wings of love unto 
 A bright, a living and endless future ; 
 From ev'ry ruin of grandeur crumbling 
 To dust ; comes a structure more lofty, grand : 
 In place of ignorance and cruel despotism 
 Of past ages ; come minds of intellect 
 And noble deeds of justice and mercy ; 
 From every thought enkindled in the 
 Human breast ; spring myriads of thoughts more 
 Lofty, grand and pure ; from out the depths of 
 Wild despair, remorseful sin ; conceptions 
 Of a changeless love, unbroken ties, fair 
 Visions of future bliss where death and sin 
 Cannot enter. The past we recall not, 
 The present scarce enjoy : On, on ! the swift 
 Impelling current hastens us ; we reach 
 Beyond the realms of space, if space there be, 
 Our fiiint conceptions grow more clear, assume 
 A living, acting semblance of the divine ;
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 829 
 
 Each new idea, however strange it 
 May at first appear, is clothed in the 
 Habiliments of eternal progression. 
 As said the controlling spirit ; The first 
 Easter-morn, known only to a few, and 
 Comprehended by none, was but the precursor 
 Of a more glorious Easter-morn, universally 
 Acknowledged and observed as such ; the 
 Rolling of the stone from the sepulchre 
 Of Christ was but the foreshadowins: of 
 The time when all sepulchres shall be open ; 
 And may we not also believe the time 
 Will come when angels, visible to our 
 Material sight, shall, as on that occasion, 
 Hover round or near our dear ones all. 
 In that hour of sweet release, spirit birth? 
 And will they not say unto us, as did 
 Those bright and shining ones unto the Mary's : 
 Why weepest thou ? whom seekest thou ? why 
 Seek ye the living among the dead? Behold, 
 They are not here. Risen, indeed, yet soon 
 Like him, the Crucified, unto their dear ones 
 They '11 return, and manifest the power divine ; 
 Will say, like him, Lo, I am with you alway, 
 Even unto the end ; fear not ; peace be 
 Unto you ; and ye that believe, my works 
 Shall ye do, and I will work with you, and 
 Signs and wonders sliall follow. Believe ye 
 This, my friends? Nay, as in those days, the 
 Multitudes believe not ; the blood-o-uilty 
 Fear and tremble ; others receive it as 
 An idle tale : of the very elect 
 Some doubt ; even while their eyes behold, their 
 Ears receive the demonstrahlo c\ddence. 
 Our Lord did his disciples rebuke for 
 Their slowness of heart in believing what 
 The prophets had foretold and what their own
 
 330 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Eyes beheld ; saying, Blessed are they that 
 Have not seen, and yet have believed. 
 
 Now as John the Baptist was the forerunner 
 
 Of the promised Messiah, even so was 
 
 That Messiah the forerunner, the typifier 
 
 Of the progressive unfoldment of the 
 
 Powers that be. His was the voice of one 
 
 Crying in the wilderness of sinful 
 
 Ignorance, superstition, and mortal 
 
 Death, pleading in accents of tender love 
 
 And compassion for all the human race, 
 
 Substituting and proclaiming the blessed 
 
 Gospel of harmonic accord, whose chief 
 
 Component is charity, charity, 
 
 Sweet-abounding, never-ending charity ; 
 
 Whose aspiration brings inspiration 
 
 From on high ; whose mortal fears shall all, at 
 
 Length, become submerged, and from their carcass 
 
 Issue forth the heaven-born life and hope 
 
 Of spiritual liberty and glorious 
 
 Immortality ! His body perished. 
 
 His spirit ever lives. The truths he taught 
 
 Endure ; wide-spread are they — milUons receive, 
 
 Believe his words, whose eyes have not beheld, 
 
 Whose ears have never heard his mighty voice. 
 
 And thus the grand, progressive scale ascends 
 
 Into sublimer heights, in majesty 
 
 Arrayed ; new prophecies it showers forth. 
 
 Eclipsing all the by-gone ones of old. 
 
 Each revelation of the past opens 
 
 Up the way for revelations more to 
 
 Come ; each mystery solved but only points 
 
 To deeper mysteries, closer veiled ; each soul 
 
 Who leaves this earthly sphere forms one 
 
 New link in nature's chain 'twixt earth and heaven.
 
 • THE UNSEALED BOOK. 331 
 
 KoU on, ye mighty ages, roll ! and bring 
 Us tidings from afar. From every land 
 And zone, O, usher in the glorious cry, 
 'Tis Easter here, 'tis Easter there ! we'll join 
 The anthems from the skies, and all, at length, 
 Partake of glorious Easter joys on high. 
 
 At the request of my spirit friends, and with the permission of 
 the earthly friend who was the recipient of the same, I insert the 
 following. I have not had the pleasure of meeting the writer, 
 although her "Ma" is a very dear friend, whose kindness and 
 sympathy are warmly cherislied by the detestable " Yankee." 
 
 " Tell Ma that I am surprised to hear that a woman of her ex- 
 cellent good sense could be so taken in by some Yankee fraud 
 fooling with spirits. It 's a pack of nonsense gotten up by sharp 
 Yankees to cheat unsuspecting credulous people out of the " al- 
 mighty dollar," the god they worship. It has been clearly proved 
 to be a humbug. Look at phe exposures of some of the greatest 
 pretended Spiritualists of the day. No, 't is a fraud of the worst 
 kind, and the miserable wretches that go through the country 
 deceiving people and stealing from them, should be arrested and 
 put in a penitentiary at hard labor. I 'd rather believe in ghosts 
 and hobgoblins of all sorts than such a pack of stuff. Tell Ma 
 I am surprised at her. They are smart to select certain subjects, 
 those of a nervous, excitable temperament. Everybody can't hear 
 voices and see peo})le from the 'spirit land,' only those easily influ- 
 enced. Tell Ma her stomach is out of order; if she gets her sys- 
 tem, especially nervous system, in a good, healthy condition, she 
 will soon laugh at all the" spirits she hears and sees. 
 
 My health is gradually improving; sick, nervous headaches 
 often, but upon the whole, better. For the first time in my life I 
 can use liquors to advantage. A small quantity daily does mo 
 good ; once, I dared not touch anything of the kind. I want you, 
 as a special favor, to send me, by express, two or three gallons of 
 good peach brandy, not apple or whiskey, but peach. It agrees 
 with me when every thing else fails. Tell Ma if she will not urge 
 you to send it, I will send the spirit of old Abshire [he was the 
 terror of the community while in the form] to disturb her dreams."
 
 332 THE UNSEALED BOOK 
 
 We pray thee, dear sister, to stop and consider 
 
 How prone we all are from wisdom to wander 
 
 There are, as you say, imposing delusions ; 
 
 But do not too hastily jump at conclusions. 
 
 If all is but nonsense, O, whence sprang it forth? 
 
 There cannot be fraud unless there is truth ; 
 
 Nor can there be a counterfeit made 
 
 Without first the real to serve for a guide. 
 
 As to fooling with spirits — Pray how can we fool 
 
 With what there is not ? We cannot control 
 
 The " dollar almighty ; " and, as to its worship, 
 
 Ere the prayer is formed the dollar 's gone up, 
 
 Notwithstanding the sharpness you augur. 
 
 Scarce leaving enough to pay for our dinner ; 
 
 Though, thanks be to God, we have plenty to eat 
 
 And never did yet our landlady cheat. 
 
 As to ghosts and hobgoblins, alas, alas ! 
 
 You do well to believe ; for a numerous class 
 
 All clothed in the darkness of night go forth ; 
 
 They howl, and they walk to and fro upon earth ; 
 
 They seek to deceive by their ill-gotten power, 
 
 Selecting, of course, with sedulous care. 
 
 Such only as they can easily ensnare. 
 
 And hope, in process of time, to devour. 
 
 If these be the spirits you really choose 
 
 To believe and receive, pray do not abuse 
 
 The bright ones, the pure ones, who in broad light of day 
 
 Chase all the dark shadows and goblins away. 
 
 I have only yet spoken of things I opine 
 
 Were not fully weighed in that mind of thine ; 
 
 Ideas half-fledged, from their shell burst forth. 
 
 Their sweetness all withered by premature birth. 
 
 I speak with great freedom for I have been there, 
 
 And your demisemiquavers can readily share : 
 
 I do make, even now, no great pretense. 
 
 Submitting unto your excellent good sense 
 
 My own candidly-avowed opinion ;
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 333 
 
 For argument bold, — your supreme dominion — 
 
 May serve to unfold the germ of the mind 
 
 In us both, may be, leaving error behind. 
 
 In all that remains, I am with you, sincerely 
 
 Endorsing the same most truly and fully : 
 
 Of all the vile frauds that e'er have been known, 
 
 There can be none worse than trampling upon 
 
 The connecting links of that beautiful chain. 
 
 Which unites sons of eai-th with their loved in heaven. 
 
 Those who do go forth to steal and deceive, 
 
 The reward for their labors will duly receive : 
 
 Poor, miserable wretches are they, indeed, 
 
 Who had, as you say, better earn their bread 
 
 By labors inside penitentiary walls. 
 
 Until they will listen to their God, who calls 
 
 Each innermost thought, each deed to account, 
 
 And strengthens each purpose of good intent. 
 
 The humbug, you say, has been " clearly proven 
 
 (We accept your statement, wisely chosen,) 
 
 By the exposure of some of the greatest 
 
 Pretended spiritualists." This protest 
 
 Could not have been more judiciously made. 
 
 More truly sanctioned by the great Fountain-head ; 
 
 For be ye assured, 'tis onl>j the pretended 
 
 Whom exposure can reach. The truths engendered 
 
 In Spiritualism all tests can defy ; 
 
 The power, and the wisdom, come from God on high. 
 
 All may not, it is true, hear voices, see faces, 
 From the spirit-land ; some who are nervous. 
 Their system disordered, sec Jirst the hobgoblins, 
 But if they arc wise, they'll endeavor to cleanse 
 The nerves of their system, their physical health 
 Keep in good condition ; then spirits of worth 
 Will doubtless succeed the ghosts of hobgoblins, 
 Who feed on distress, and give for returns 
 To their credulous friends, the tale of a demon
 
 334 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 "VYho rules quite too well his subjects, named Legion, 
 But who is less strong than he seems at first 
 When crowing so boldly as cock of the roost ; 
 He's plump and well fed, will make a good dinner, 
 If cooked by a saint, though raised by a sinner. 
 As I know your dear Ma, I 'd kindly suggest, 
 A spirit congenial could aid you the most : 
 For to her, the spirit of "old Abshire" 
 Will never be able to get very near. 
 Her own cherished brother, versed in heavenly lore, 
 Her dearly loved children, passed on before, 
 O, these are the spirits who come at her call. 
 And leave a glad welcome for you and for all. 
 They come not with solemn and ghostly tread. 
 Proclaiming themselves to be morally dead. 
 One comes in the strength of his manly prime : 
 The others, as in their bright young spring-time , 
 All merry and happy as children should be, 
 Your Ma's hearty laugh but adds to their glee. 
 Good-by, my dear friend : I trust that in time. 
 New beauties you '11 see, in the teachings sublime 
 Which spirits above to mortals below 
 So freely, and truly, do strive to convey, 
 And will, by your own sweet accorded requests, 
 Have only the good, and the pure, for your guests. 
 
 At the earnest solicitation of the friend who received the fore- 
 going letter, I insert his reply to the writer thereof. I demurred 
 on account of the " soft soap " it contains, and which should be 
 interpreted only as a piece of pleasantry. I will further say he 
 is the only conscious contributor to this work, being the only 
 friend who is aware of its character. 
 
 " Well now, Jennie, is it not a shame that you should write 
 such invectives against a poor, despised and forlorn Christian 
 lady, who has the good of you, and all she comes in contact with, 
 at heart. A woman who would spend the last cent she had on
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 335 
 
 earth to serve the needy and feed the hungry — a woman of all 
 women I ever saw who came any ways near the spiritual injunc- 
 tion * do unto others as you would have them do unto you.' 
 
 Were you acquainted with her and found out her good quali- 
 ties, you would exclaim in surprise: Did I ever see such a good, 
 unselfish creature in all my life ! How cruel it was in me to 
 abuse her to my Ma when I did not even know her name, to say 
 nothing of her mission, her charitableness and unselfislmess, 
 though crosses and trials she has been subjected to through life's 
 troublesome journey. How honest she is in all her dealings, 
 and how frank she is in her spiritual manifestations and ex- 
 periences; no deceiving there — all truth and reliance upon that 
 God who rules all heaven and earth by the same power and 
 influence, that all may be brought to learn and love the spiritual 
 communion whereby the salvation of the immortal souls travel- 
 ing onward and upward through the 'spheres' of the spirit land, 
 may finally reach the abode of those who learn to love and glorify 
 the Redeemer of all mankind — the first great medium sent by 
 God himself to appear in the form of man, to prove man's im- 
 mortality, and that man never dies, but lives eternally. Christ's 
 remark to the thief on the cross, ' This day shalt thou be with me 
 in paradise,' proves that the grave held, or holds, nothing but the 
 body. Christ re-appearing in the form, together with a multi- 
 tude of other cases noted in the Scriptures, proves that spirits can 
 come back and communicate; and recent developments and sci- 
 entific examinations prove that they do now communicate with 
 us in various ways. 
 
 Therefore, I beg of you to at least 'try the spirits.' For what- 
 ever I say unto you, let it be understood that I wish you to be of 
 good cheer, and grateful for the privileges you enjoy, and allow 
 the same to all who live conscientiously and deserve respect for 
 the opinions they give. Let this experience be of a lasting na- 
 ture, and a treasure of wealth in the future, when the dismal days 
 come when work and toil ceases, and a general cleaning-up of a 
 life-time of discord and trouble — the trash thrown to one side, 
 and the bright, burnished vessels of love and gratitude arranged 
 for inspection by the great ' I Am ' — the sweet smiles of a good 
 conscience, with pleasant recollections of past deeds of goodness 
 radiating and enlivening the scene around which centres the 
 precious memory of a well-spent life in securing a foot-hold in
 
 336 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 that spirit-land, where all may learn that this earth is not the 
 real home of mankind, and that we were not made to be damned 
 because of bad, or no, teachings suitable to our understanding, 
 and that punishment follows according to grades of wickedness 
 enacted, and that a bright and glorious future may be obtained 
 by imj)rovement of the will-spirit in fortifying ourselves against 
 all wicked, lying influences, and building up good and holy influ- 
 ences to be ever guided by them in exchange — to aid the faith 
 that is in us, that we may rise high above the spheres of earthly 
 influences to an everlasting abode among the great and good who 
 have gone on before us, rejoicing in the glorious redemption of 
 man and his reception on the bright hills of Zion." 
 
 The following extract is from the letter of an intimate and 
 kindly-cherished friend, but whose criticism on our first work, 
 which has been already inserted in this, was so intensely severe, 
 it gave us much surprise, especially so, coming from one enter- 
 taining, as we had reason to believe, similar views to our own. 
 In consideration of this fact, we deem it but just that her own 
 vindication should also be made public, having never for a mo- 
 ment doubted the sincerity of her personal friendship. 
 
 "I find a good many ready to discourage me m the course I 
 am taking, but they fail utterly in changing my determination ; 
 why, it is a part of my life ; how could I give it up? I did not 
 know but that in sending my last letter I should lose your friend- 
 ship forever, and really think I deserve to do so. Although I 
 wrote it, I did not compose one word of it myself, and I hesitated 
 long before sending it. as some of it did not at all accord with my 
 mind. There are truths in your book, which, did people know and 
 understand, would elevate them immeasurably from wliat they are 
 now. You are spending your strength, time, and life itself in 
 search after, and helping others to find, the true way, and if you 
 are not appreciated here, in the upper realms you are known and 
 understood. Yours is a beautiful life, filled with self-sacrifice 
 from which the strongest nature would shrink. It do n't seem, 
 now, that I could live such a life ; but no one knows their powers 
 of endurance until tried. It seems to me lately that I am not
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 337 
 
 growing mucli toward the better life, only I am trying to be more 
 patient toward others; but it is a long, hard struggle which people 
 with angelic dispositions know nothing of." 
 
 Servant of the living God, for truly 
 
 Thou art such, should I blame thee for nobly 
 
 Performing a duty imposed upon thee 
 
 By a spirit of wisdom far exceeding, 
 
 Thine or mine ? Nay, far be it from me. Had 
 
 It been the language of thine own heart, I 
 
 Migiit have said. The wounds of a friend are faithful ; 
 
 I might have known that for each pang of pain 
 
 Thou didst unwillingly inflict, a sharper 
 
 Dart did pierce thine own unflinching soul. These 
 
 Were, indeed, the thoughts which first unto me 
 
 Came ; but as I mused and pondered well, a 
 
 Light broke in upon my soul, and I exclaimed, 
 
 Surely, some spirit hath done this, and with 
 
 A wise intent ; I must search out the purpose 
 
 Deftly hid, apply the same, a lesson 
 
 From it glean. Then came to me such thoughts as 
 
 These : As is thy friend in thine eyes, so art 
 
 Thou in the eyes of those thou fain wouldst instruct ; 
 
 As she, in years, hath not attained thine age. 
 
 Thou scarce from her, instruction would expect. 
 
 Or heed ; 't is thus with thine and thee ; themselves 
 
 They think more capable of thee instructing ; 
 
 Thy friend was once with thee in mind and heart ; 
 
 Then how is this ? She has of course been led 
 
 Astray, at least it so unto you appears ; 
 
 You blame her not, doubt not her integrity 
 
 Of heart and purpose, would willingly and 
 
 Gladly her aid and restore. This, then, is 
 
 A fair representation of thine own 
 
 Life and labors in the estimation 
 
 Of tliiue earthly friends ; their sentiments they 
 
 From thee withold, condemming thee not, but
 
 338 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Saying within themselves, Poor child ! she 's been 
 Led astray. I am so sorry for her ! 
 
 As thoughts like these my bosom filled, a peace 
 Serene stole o'er my soul, while in my heart 
 I said, The Lord my God hath spoken once, 
 And in his own good time he will vouchsafe 
 This death-like silence to remove, restore 
 Me to my loved and loving ones once more. 
 As she, my friend, by higher ones impressed, 
 Did fill my soul with wonderment ; so I, 
 Likewise, a wonder am unto mine own. 
 As I at first saw not behind the veil. 
 Imputing to my friend what she d eclares 
 Herself did not one word compose ; so they 
 Do unto me ascribe all which through me 
 Has been produced. As time soon wrought in me 
 A change, my spirit-vision did unseal ; 
 So, likewise, will they behold a power divine, 
 Give to the Lord the honor due, seek truth 
 Alone, and it embrace wherever found. 
 However clothed ; the texture of its robes 
 Is sometimes wrought in finest gold : again, 
 Unseemly coarse its garb. This last we feel. 
 Might well apply unto the " work " issued 
 By us. Yet truth is there, unpolished though 
 It be. 
 
 Our thanks, kind friend, for all which you to us 
 Have given. The last from thee, seems more like to 
 Thyself : yet for the first we thank thee most, 
 And well thou knowest why : to give, 'tis said, 
 More blessed is than to receive ; yet in 
 Our case this rule will not apply ; blessed 
 Indeed are they who pleasure only are 
 Called to give their loved ones ; when duty bids 
 Us pain inflict, ourselves must bear by far
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK 339 
 
 The largest share. We feel thou hast our goodness 
 
 Overrated much ; what e'er iu us is 
 
 Praiseworthy, comes from a power beyond ourselves. 
 
 May heaven's choicest blessings thee attend, 
 Guiding unto the better life thou art 
 Seeking. Patience a virtue is, truly : 
 Angelic its attainments, for but few it 
 Possess, without strivings numberless. 
 
 Where little is expressed, much is often implied; for example: 
 "As to our difference of opinion, I think we had better not allude 
 to it; you need not have any fears, but what if G-od wants me 
 convei'ted to some new belief, and I say it with all reverence, he 
 will find out his own way." 
 
 Pray don't be alarmed, I know the good Lord 
 
 Has all iu his sacred keeping ; 
 Yet none can partake of heavenly food, 
 
 Wliile they do prefer sound sleeping. 
 If you think that I your soul's conversion 
 
 Would undertake, you are, alas. 
 Deceiving yourself, and quite mistaken ; 
 
 I labor for a wiser class. 
 I hear all around, friends asldng for bread. 
 
 In tones which show they it do crave ; 
 And all such as these 'tis pleasure to feed 
 
 With manna sent from heaven above. 
 Unless disarranged, the stomach will tell 
 
 What kind of food, when it requii*cs 
 The same ; 'tis needless then, to it assail. 
 
 And worse than useless, food io force. 
 If ye darkness choose in the place of light, 
 
 O, slumber on till you awiilve, 
 And find by the sun's meridian height 
 You 're quite behindhand with your work.
 
 340 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Your neighbors arose ere the sun grew hot, 
 Their hardest tasks performed with ease 
 
 And now have found them si cool retreat, 
 Where they enjoy the gentle breeze. 
 
 For " if the God within says ' well done,' what are other gods 
 to thee ? " " This God is our God for ever and ever : He will be 
 our guide even unto death." 
 
 A friend thus writes : " If you have not found the haven of 
 mental peace, you are only like others, that could be numbered 
 by millions. Pure mental contentment is not for this sphere ; we 
 mai/ find it beyond. I have passed through the storm, but 
 whether unhurt or not I cannot as yet say; at any rate, I have 
 learned many things, of which I was before either ignorant, or 
 unmindful ; and I have often asked myself, Have I paid more 
 than I have received, or received more than I have paid ? but I 
 cannot decide. I have often wished myself thousands of miles 
 away, where I might work out my own destiny unfettered, among 
 new scenes and surroundings. Life is a mystery that each soul 
 must solve for itself, for good or for evil : and in many cases we 
 cannot tell which is which ; what we call evil or good to-day, is 
 reversed to-morrow : it has been so through all ages, and will so 
 continue to the end. You are leaving behind you the teachings 
 of former years, and breaking away from the system of religion 
 called orthodoxy ; I knew you would, and am glad of it. It has 
 been good in its day, but the day of its usefulness is past, for as 
 it is preached to-day, it does not contain one particle of inherent 
 truth ; it is an obstruction, a barricade, that checks the progress 
 of truth, and would crush unto death both you and me, and all 
 like us, who desire truth, no matter from whence it comes, or 
 whither it goeth; but I must not complain, — whatever is, is 
 right, I suppose. Keep up good courage, do n't give up the ship ; 
 Eight will triumph over error, as surely as the day succeeds the 
 night." 
 
 As to having found an haven of mental peace, friend, your own 
 rendering — mental contentment — expresses more correctly our 
 sentiments, " for we feel that as yet we have caught but the first
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 341 
 
 beams of a glorious day, now dawning, whose light shall be such 
 as earth has never yet seen. Like dwellers in the shady valley, 
 who have begun to ascend the mountains that before had limited 
 their view, and are enabled to take in a wider range of vision, 
 we see those eminences of truth which once seemed the vei-y pil- 
 lars of heaven, over-topped by others then hidden from view, but 
 of still greater magnitude, and the whole landscape assumes a 
 new appearance. Thus we expect the view will continue to 
 change and to enlarge as we ascend, and we know not what 
 heights are before us. For ' it shall come to pass in the last days 
 that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the 
 TOP of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills ; and all 
 nations shall flow unto it.' These 'last days,' so long predicted, 
 we believe are now dawning upon tlie Avorld." 
 
 Life, as you say, is a mystery which each soul must solve for 
 itself; for in all this wide, created universe, there exists no two 
 souls in such perfect harmony with each other that they arrive at 
 exactly the same conclusions, or whose conceptions of good and 
 evil are one and the same. Truth is incapable of change, though 
 continually subverted by our misconceptions regarding it; and 
 may we not say the same of good and evil ? Each new develop- 
 ment of philosoi)hy, science, or religion which forces itself upon 
 us, awakens within us new convictions, absolutely exjielling old- 
 estal)lished opinions which cannot be adjusted by, and are in op- 
 position to, demonstrable truths. 
 
 " Alas for human reason 1 all is change 
 
 Ceaseless and strange ; 
 All ages form new systems, leaving heirs 
 
 To cancel theirs : 
 The future can but imitate the past, 
 And instability alone will last. 
 
 Is there no compass left, by which to steer 
 
 This erring sphere ? 
 
 No tie that may indissolubly bind 
 
 To God mankind ? 
 
 "So code that may defy time's sharjiest tooth ? 
 
 No fixed, immutable, unerring truth ? 
 
 There is 1 there is 1 — one primitive and sure 
 
 Keligion pure,
 
 342 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Unchanged in spirit, though its forms and codes 
 
 Wear myriad modes, 
 Contains all creeds within its mighty span — 
 The love of God, displayed in love of man." 
 
 " The same process will continue to be required, till men shall 
 see the folly of attempting to confine their expanding natures 
 within the infantile garments of the past, or to crowd a universe 
 of truth into the meagre limits of a creed." If this be what is 
 inferred by " breaking away from or'thodoxy,^' I fully accord with 
 you in sentiment, totally disregarding all obligations or limita- 
 tions, either expressed or implied, which are inconsistent with 
 my present views, or may hereafter be found to conflict with the 
 progressive unfoldings of future enlightenment; at the same time 
 I feel assured that there are countless numbers of "regularly con- 
 stituted " orthodox pastors and preachers who teach theoretically, 
 and often unconsciously to themselves, the great fundamental 
 principles upon which spiritualism, ancient and modern, is based, 
 thus educating and preparing the minds of their hearers for the 
 acceptation of the theory which they advance and promulgate, 
 but fail to realize or acknowledge. 
 
 " Superstition must throw off Keligion's disguise ; 
 For men, now enlightened, not darkling like owls, 
 While they reverence priests who are holy and wise, 
 Will no longer be hoodwinked by cassocks or cowls. 
 
 Nay, even in England, my latest stronghold, 
 
 And the firmest support of my paramount sway 
 
 (In Gath or in Askelon be it not told). 
 
 All my orthodox bulwarks are crumbling away. 
 
 And what though each orthodox candidate swears 
 To my thirty-nine Articles ; ' tis but a jest. 
 
 Since a bishop {prohpudor!), a bishop declares. 
 
 That such oaths are a form, never meant as a test. 
 
 But now when men, turning from dogmas to deeds. 
 Bear the scriptural dictum of Jesus in mind. 
 
 That salvation depends not on canons and creeds. 
 But on love of the Lord, and love of our kind.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK 343 
 
 My voice can be heard and my arguments weighed ; 
 
 WhicJi explains why such numerous converts of late 
 Are under my love-breathing standard arrayed, 
 
 Who once, beneath yours, were excited to hate." 
 
 Nay, friend, to " give up the ship," would be not only an absurd- 
 ity, but an impossiblity. If our courage falters, it is from no 
 doubts as to the ministry of angels, for neither you nor I could fail 
 to recognize the innumerable tokens of their angelic interposition 
 and care; although it might be said of us, as of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Newton : " They do not find this ministry to be exercised merely, 
 or mainly, for the purpose of promoting worldly interests, of sav- 
 ing from the perplexities and mistakes incidental to the legiti- 
 mate use of their proper faculties. Nor yet altogether for the 
 purpose of smoothing the pathway of life, and of preserving from 
 trials, or even from sufferings of the intensest nature. In this, 
 however, they recognize the highest wisdom ; for they have 
 learned that trials, perplexities, struggles, are indispensable to a 
 vigorous growth ; that suffering is the refiner's Jire ; and hence, 
 that in a true and wise discipline, these must be expected to have 
 their part. Those who lack this rugged experience, are likely to 
 be infantile and imbecile. Exalted privileges are to be obtained 
 only at corresponding costs. Hence, the higher offices of angelic 
 ministration, are not so much to save from this kind of experience, 
 as to impart inivard strength, to give spiritual illumination, to 
 inspire with celestial love, and to lead at length to complete repose 
 in the Divine. Such aid enables all tried, and struggling, and 
 suffering ones, not to escape the cross, but by it, to rise to loftier 
 and nobler realizations of life." Right, as you say, must prevail 
 over wrong. Truth, mighty, ever-blessed truth, must and will 
 triumph over error. ! may it spread, — 
 
 "Till earth, redeemed from every hateful leaven, 
 
 ;Makos peace with heaven : 
 Below, one blessed brotherhood of love ; 
 One Father, worshiped with one voice, above 1 " 
 
 Yea, we will boldly speak and live the truth as it is revealed 
 unto us, despite the persecutions of those who dare not acknowl- 
 edge or receive a truth not recognized in the canons of the OhurcL
 
 344 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 If we have been made the recipients of a higher knowledge, a 
 more excellent wisdom, it is by and through the grace and power 
 of tne infinite and eternal God whom we serve. Did the fate of 
 a martyr await us, we could pursue none other course; were the 
 dungeon, the rack, and the fagot, staring us in the face, we could 
 only say with Luther, " Mat God help us : we cax speak no 
 OTHERWISE." Then let us labor boldly still, and bravely stem 
 the rolling tide, most truly thankful if it be 
 
 "Our happy fate 
 To drop some tribute, trifling though it prove, 
 On the thrice-hallowed altar dedicate 
 To man's impro^'ement, truth, and social love. 
 
 Faith in our race's elevation, 
 
 And its incessant progress to the goal, 
 Tends, by existing hope and emulation, 
 
 To realize the aspirings of the soul. 
 
 How sweet it is, when wearied with the jars 
 Of wrangling sects, each soured with bigot leaven, 
 
 To let the spirit burst its prison bars. 
 And soar into the deep repose of Heaven! " 
 
 From a pamphlet entitled " The Ministry of Angels Eealized," 
 being a letter addressed to the Edwards Congregational Church, 
 Boston, by Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Newton, members of that church, 
 we extract the following symbolic and instructive visions : " Those 
 selected for description here are necessarily brief and simple, and 
 the descriptions have been written out from memory, months 
 after the visions were given, by one who simply listened to their 
 recital when given ; and hence they afford but a meagre idea of 
 the beauty of the language, or the gorgeousness and exquisite ap- 
 propriateness of the imagery, employed in more elaborate and 
 profound representations." 
 
 THE CARPET WEAVERS. 
 
 [This vision was given in the presence of a large company of 
 persons, mostly strangers to the visionist, assembled for social 
 purposes. She perceived that great numbers of spirits were pres- 
 ent, all urgent to make themselves known to their earthly friends ;
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 345 
 
 but seeing that to be impracticable on the occasion, they had con- 
 sulted together, and decided that one or two of the more advanced 
 of their number should present something which might convey 
 pleasure and profit to all. A panoramic scene then opened before 
 her vision, which she described as it passed, not having herself 
 the slightest idea, in advance, of what was to follow. The follow- 
 ing will give but a faint conception of it.] 
 
 " I see each person present engaged in weaving a carpet. These 
 carpets are symbolic of your varied lives. The magnetic life-cords 
 ■which unite your hearts with the infinite Source of life form the 
 warp of these carpets, and your every act, and word, and thought, 
 are the filling, which, day by day, and hour by hour, you are 
 weaving in. Some of your carpets, I perceive, are very beautiful ; 
 the figures are all perfectly formed, the fabric is soft and pleas- 
 ant to walk upon, while those of others are badly woven ; they 
 have made mistakes sometimes, and have been obliged to go back, 
 take out their work, and do it over again ; and when done the 
 second time, it looks botched and imperfect; the figures are badly 
 formed, they do not match well, and nobody walks upon them 
 with pleasure. By describing thus the carpet which I see each one 
 forming, I could doubtless give the characteristics and something 
 of the life-history of each individual present. [This same symbol 
 was once afterwards repeated in the presence of some four or five 
 individuals, equally strangers to the visionist ; and all acknowledged 
 that their characters, and the important incidents of their lives, for 
 many years in the past, were correctly symbolized in the widely 
 varying descriptions which were presented.] But as that might 
 not be pleasant to all, I am directed to select one of the more beau- 
 tiful, and give you some account of tliat. It is the richest and 
 the softest that I ever saw. Angels even love to walk u})on it and 
 admire its beauties, while to the foot-sore and weary of earth it 
 is specially grateful. The weaver has just completed a most superb 
 figure in her carpet. It represents a basket or boquet of flowers. 
 They are so fresh and real that the very perfume exhales ui)on 
 the atmosphci-c, and little cherubs, like humming-birds, gather 
 sweetness from the oj)ening buds. The angels say that upon tlie 
 under side of the carpet may be seen a picture of the scene in the 
 life of the weaver, which has formed the pattern by which this 
 beautiful figure has been wrought. They let me look upon the 
 under side, and this is the picture I see : A lady is passing along
 
 346 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 the street on a cold December day ; slie sees, standing upon a 
 corner, a poor boy, miserably clad, and bare-footed, with a basket 
 on his arm; he is crying. Other ladies, richly attired, have heard 
 his sobs, but have passed haughtily and unfeelingly by. This 
 lady stops, and asks him why he weeps. He says, " My poor 
 mother is sick at home ; I have no father ; we have no fire 
 or wood ; my little sisters are crying of cold and hunger, and I 
 do n't know what to do." Her heart is touched ; she tells him 
 she will go home with him, and see if he tells a true tale. She 
 accompanies him to a cheerless home, and finds all too true. She 
 at once supplies their needs, sends a physician, and hope and joy 
 dawn once more on those suffering ones. This is the deed which 
 has formed so beautiful and rich a figure in this carpet. [The 
 lady to whom this applied was almost a stranger to us, and 
 we never learned whether the scene described had actually taken 
 place, only we were informed, by those acquainted with her, that 
 she was in the habit of doing just such things,^ and you who 
 would weave a life-carpet soft with the living verdure of kind acts, 
 and rich with the perfume of loving deeds, a carpet on which 
 those who come after you may delight to walk, and which angels 
 may condescend to admire, — go and do likewise" 
 
 THE LAMB. 
 
 [A young man called one day upon Mrs. N. for sympathy and 
 consolation. He was in deep affliction, having been treated with 
 great injustice and severity, at a time of physical illness, by those 
 upon whom he was dependent. As she sat conversing with him, 
 the following scene was presented to her vision :] 
 
 " I see before me a little lamb, meek and gentle ; and near by, 
 stands what appears to be a shepherd. The shepherd has a most be- 
 nignant countenance, and is clothed in a fleecy robe of the softest 
 and purest white. The lamb looks upon this resplendent robe, 
 and then upon its own fleece; and, by the comparison, it sees the 
 latter to be coarse, and dark, and soiled. It appears to desire a 
 purer fleece, and to ask the shepherd how it shall obtain a gar- 
 ment like his own. The shepherd tells the lamb that if it ear- 
 nestly desires to become whiter, it must submit to the bleaching 
 process, and asks if it is willing to pass through suffering in order 
 to attain the desired object. The lamb hesitates a moment, and
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 347 
 
 then seems to answer, 'Yes; I will endure anything, if I can 
 only have a robe as white as yours.' The shepherd then points 
 to a storm that is raging, and tells the lamb that if it will stand 
 out in that storm, its fleece will be purified ; and he then disap- 
 pears. The lamb bravely meets the storm ; the rain beats heavily 
 upon it, the cold winds chill it ; none of its companions are near 
 to give it sympathy; it trembles and bleats, and sometimes al- 
 most sinks under the trial. But at length the storm has jiassed, 
 and the shepherd comes again. The little fleece has indeed been 
 made much whiter; but, alas! the poor lamb sees that it is yet 
 nowhere near as white as the shepherd's robe. 
 
 The shepherd asks if it still desires to have a robe like his own, 
 and if it is willing to pass through another purifying process. 
 Tremblingly and trustingly the little creature still answers. Yes; 
 and then the shepherd directs his attendants to make certain 
 necessary pi-eparations. They bring what looks like a large urn 
 or vase, and invert it over the lamb, so as to inclose the little 
 creature beyond the possibility of escape. Then they bring a fur- 
 nace of living coals, and place that, too, underneath the inverted 
 vase. Ah! it is very hot in there; but there is no retreat for the 
 little suflerer. I see that the bottom of the vase is formed of 
 glass, so that, as it is inverted, the lamb can look out from its 
 prison-house directly upioards, but in no other direction. As the 
 heat increases it glances imploringly up through the opening, 
 and its eyes catch those of the tender shepherd, bending over, 
 and looking most benignantly and encouragingly down upon it. 
 Fixing its eyes upon the shepherd's, it finds itself able to stand 
 nearer and still nearer the furnace, and to endure greater and 
 still greater degrees of heat. It bleats with pain, and cries out 
 for release. 
 
 The sho])herd says, 'A little longer; the more you endure, the 
 whiter will be your fleece.' 0, how it swelters, and struggles, 
 and bleats ! Now the word is given, and release is granted. 
 Trembling and weak, the little sufferer sees that its fleece has 
 been made, 0, so much whiter ! But still it finds that it is not 
 even yet as pure as the Master's. Now it sees a number of its 
 companions approaching ; they have been wandering through 
 rugged and thorny paths ; their fleeces have been torn from their 
 sides, which are bleeding with wounds; they are cold, and weak 
 with hunger. Prompted by kindly impulses, the lamb goes to
 
 348 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 meet them ; it presses its own soft and warm fleece against their 
 naked sides, and, wherever it does so, its fleece adheres to them, 
 making them warm and beautiful, but leaving itself naked. It 
 continues thus to hover around these needy ones, until, in self- 
 forgetfulness, it ha.^ parted entirely with the beautiful fleece it had 
 suffered so 7nuch to acquire. Then it goes meekly away by itself, 
 and lies down to repose, seeming to say, with perfect trust, ' The 
 Good Shepherd will take care of me, even though I have no fleece.' 
 Now I see, descending from the skies, a large, white dove. As it 
 extends its ample wings, I perceive them lined with a profusion of 
 what looks like the softest eider down. The dove hovers over 
 the .sleeping lamb, and shelters it beneath its brooding Avings. 
 Now it soars away again to the skies, leaving the lamb all enveloped 
 in a doiuny fleece, soft and pure as the shepherd's role.'' 
 
 THE CROSS AND ITS SIGNATURE. 
 
 [Sitting one evening with Mrs. N., — one other individual, who 
 had casually come in, being present, — she became unexpectedly 
 conscious of the approach of a spiritual being, whom she described 
 as a female, and as excelling in brightness and beauty. The in- 
 terview which succeeded was substantially as follows :] 
 
 " The angel says, ' I am a messenger from the seventh circle. I 
 come as a representative from the abode of harmony and peace, to 
 unfold to you a new and more glorious pathway to this abode 
 than has ever yet been open to your conceptions ! ' She leads on, 
 and I follow. We are ascending a pathway. There are mountains 
 on either side, and the sceuery, the flowers, the rocks, the trees, 
 everything as we pass along is full of significance ; but I cannot 
 fully perceive nor describe its meaning. The atmosphere is purer 
 as we advance, and now it seems more refined than any I ever 
 breathed before. Now we have reached an eminence, and my 
 guide bids me pause and look. I see before me representations 
 of the scenes, first of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, and 
 then on the Cross of Calvary. How vivid and impressive ! But 
 I am called to pass on. Now we have ascended a much higher 
 eminence, from which, as I look down, the whole world appears 
 spread out before me, with all its people and their busy avocations. 
 I see that in all the varied paths of human life, crosses are erected 
 on almost every eminence. There are great numbers of them,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 349 
 
 one for each individual. I see many human beings "n'ho are, ap- 
 parently, vohmtarily ascending these crosses, and crucifying 
 themselves. Each one is assisted by bright, attending angels, who, 
 though invisible to the sufferers, have walked with them through 
 the rugged pathway of their lives, and who appear to hold one 
 hand as each ascends the cross. Nails appear to be driven through 
 from the back side of the wood, so that on their sharp, protrud- 
 ing points, each one can suspend himself. Now I see that when 
 the agony of crucifixion is over, and death has apparently ensued, 
 the kind angels take them down, and gently lay them in the 
 sepulchre. Soon I beheld them risen, looking more spiritual 
 than before. They pass out of the sepulchre by another door. 
 As they come forth they are clad in beautiful and shining garments; 
 and 0, they look so happy and so angel-like ! But I am told 
 that even these are not the most beautiful robes they will wear. 
 Still brighter garments will be given them as they advance. Paths 
 open before them, leading yet onward and upward towards bright 
 summits in the far distance. Some, I see, have toiled onward till 
 they have reached the top of a distant mountain ; and there they 
 receive other and more shining garments as a reward for their 
 toils. But they rest not here ; they travel still onward and up- 
 ward; they reach still loftier summits, and are clad in still bright- 
 er robes, till at length they disappear amid the splendors of the 
 celestial mountains. And I sec that all along their ascendinof 
 way, as a beacon-light, and as a guide to their footsteps, have 
 been borne those same crosses on which they crucified themselves 
 on earth, chanrjcd into hrilliant crosses of lighf. 
 
 "The angel now gives me the explanation. It is this: The 
 great mistake in the church, in whose teachings you have been 
 instructed, has been that of looking for a future salvation as the 
 purchase for you of the sufferings of another, and expecting to 
 receive it by passively trusting to what another has done in your 
 behalf. Instead of this, all who would be followers of the Christ, 
 and attain the benefits of his salvation, must thcmsdves be cruci- 
 fied; must, voluntarily and for themselves, ascend the cross, pass 
 through the sepulchre, and be raised to a new life, as was Jesus 
 the Nazarene. In other words, in proportion as the lower or grosser 
 nature — selfishness, lust, pride, love of ease, of wealth, of worldly 
 distinction, everything which would degrade and hold in check 
 the spiritual nature, in proportion as these are curbed, denied,
 
 350 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 or crucified, to that extent does each one rise to a higlier life, and 
 enjoy a constant salvation. This is the true salvation — a deliv- 
 erance from, sin, from grossness, from all lower forms of enjoy- 
 ment, and an elevation to that which is higher and purer; and it 
 is to be reahzed in the present, and not put off to a distant future. 
 These crucifixions and resurrections may take place daily, hourly ; 
 and the more thoroughly their purifying work is done, the more 
 completely will you live in heaven, even while you stay on earth. 
 
 " This is the salvation which Jesus taught, both by precept and 
 example. He said, 'He that believeth on me liath everlasting 
 life.' During all his earthly career he crucified his lower nature; 
 that is, he denied all gross and sensual enjoyments, and lived the 
 inner and higher life. And his death at last, on a cross of wood, 
 was but the shadow, the external symbol of what his whole life 
 had been. Neither his death nor his life can save others, except 
 so far as they follow his example, ivalh in his footsteps, become 
 ' crucified unto the tvorld,' make his life and sufferings their own, 
 and thus partake luith him of the joys and rewards which croiun 
 with glory all such loorthy lives. Thus is Jesus truly the Saviour 
 of man, and only thus are they saved by him. Thus is he truly 
 the bread of life to the soul ; and not merely in the external symbols 
 of eating bread and drinking wine, in what is termed the com- 
 munion-service, but in every sacrifice that is made, daily and 
 hourly, for the good of others, or in obedience to the Father's 
 will, does the true soul have communion with Jesus, and partake 
 of his divine life. 
 
 " Those who thus become partakers of his life, his sufferings, 
 his death, also rise with him, or, as he did, to newness of life; 
 and this is the resurrection, the only resurrection in which these 
 mortal bodies can ever partake. And as mortals thus crucify them- 
 selves by renouncing all that is earthly and base, and by aspiring 
 to the lofty and the spiritual, the good angels whom the Father 
 sends to have charge over them in all their Avays, are ever nigh to 
 lend their aid. Gently they lay the pierced and bleeding ones 
 in the sepulchre of external joys, and then assist them to rise to 
 higher and nobler lives ; they bring them garments of purity and 
 light, and point to the pathway of endless attainment which 
 reaches on and up amid the Celestial Hills, ever bearing before 
 them, as a beacon of encouragement and of light, the resplendent 
 eymbol of the cross."
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 351 
 
 Such was the lesson of this bright " messenger from the abode 
 of harmony and peace." The reader will form his own estimate 
 of its truthfulness and value; but to the writer it presented that 
 ancient symbol of Christianity in a new radiance. The cross, as 
 thus interpreted, was seen to be the fitting emblem of all spiritual 
 progress — the grand central idea, not merely of Cbristianity 
 in its restricted sense, but of all redeeming truth. 
 
 With a view of showing the similarity of sentiment between 
 advanced minds of the present age and some which thrived nearly 
 a century of years ago, we insert a poem from the writings of one 
 who was the author of more than fifty volumes, prose and verse, 
 many of which were published anonymously, and perhaps have 
 never been acknowledged. They exhibit not only great industry, 
 but also great tact and versatility in the writer. 
 
 " With Horace Smith, literature and his city business Went hand 
 in hand. Before he relinquished his counting-room a friend met 
 him posting westward, one day, about three o'clock. 'Where 
 are you going so fast. Smith?' 'Who would not go fast to 
 Paradise (Paradise Row, Fulham) ? I am going to sin, like our 
 first parents.' ' How ? There are no apples to pluck at Fulham 
 yet.' ' No ; but there is ink to spill, though, a worse sin, per- 
 haps. I have promised L something, I cannot tell what. 
 
 Who the deuce can hit upon anything new, when half of the 
 world is racking its brains to do tbe same thing? ' " 
 
 "This," adds the reminiscent, who wrote a few months after 
 the death of Horace, " this is thirty years ago, and now the utterer 
 of tbat remark is in the precincts of the tomb, while the inter- 
 vening time saw no diminution of his regard for intellectual pleas- 
 ures, nor, with much to flatter his talents in the way of his literary 
 labors, any decrease of that modest feeling in regard to his own 
 writings, which is one of the strongest attestations of merit. 
 
 "Leigh Hunt, in his expressive use of odd epithets, says that 
 Horace Smith was ' delicious.' He never met with a finer 
 nature in man, except in the single instance of Shelley, who him- 
 self entertained the highest regard fur Horace Smith, as may be 
 seen by the following verses, the initials in which the reader may 
 fill up with his name : 
 
 ' Wit and sense, 
 Virtue and human knowledge, all that might
 
 352 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Make this dull world a business of delight, 
 Are all combined in H. S.' 
 
 Shelley once said to Leigh Hunt, ' I know not what Horace 
 Smith must take me for sometimes. I am afraid he must think 
 me a strange fellow ; but is it not odd that the only truly gener- 
 ous person I ever knew, who had money to be generous with, 
 should be a stock-broker ? And he writes poetry, too,' contin- 
 ued Shelley, his voice rising in a fervor of astonishment; 'he 
 writes poetry and pastoral dramas, and yet knows how to make 
 money, and does make it, and is still generous.' 'I believe,' 
 said Shelley, on another occasion, 'that I have only to say to Hor- 
 ace Smith that I want a hundred pounds or two, and he would 
 send it to me without any eye to its being returned ; such faith 
 has he that I have something within me beyond what the world 
 supposes, and that I could only ask his money for a good purpose.' 
 What Shelley says that Smith would have done for him, he was 
 known more than once to have done for others, Avith a delicacy 
 that enhanced the generosity of the act. 
 
 His character is succinctly and beautifully described in the 
 paragraph in which the London Examiner anounced his decease 
 and paid a tribute to his memory. ' He was a man of corrdct 
 taste, and the most generous sympathies ; a delightful writer, both 
 in prose and verse; a cheerful and wise companion, and a fast 
 friend. No man had a wider range of admirable and genial qual- 
 ities ; and far beyond that private circle of which he was the 
 great charm and ornament, his loss will be deeply felt.' If it 
 would be difficult to find words to convey more graceful and em- 
 phatic praise, it would be equally so to find a man who, from all 
 report, more fully deserves it than Horace Smith," from whose 
 intellect is the following : — 
 
 THE SANCTUARY. 
 
 "In Israel was many a refuge city, 
 
 Whereto the blameless homicide might flee, 
 And claim protection, sustenance, and pity, 
 
 Safe from the blood-avenger's enmity. 
 
 Until the law's acquittal sent him thence. 
 
 Free from offence. 
 
 Round old cathedral, abbey-church, and palace, 
 Did we ourselves a sanctuary draw,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 353 
 
 Where no stern creditor could glut his malice, 
 
 And even criminals might brave the law ; 
 Nor judge nor justice in that chartered verge 
 Their rights could urge. 
 
 These times are gone ; felons and knavish debtors 
 May mourn the change, but who bewails their case ? 
 
 For why should God and king be made abettors 
 Of guilt and fraud, the champions of the base ? 
 
 Never may such a desecration stain 
 Our land, again 1 
 
 But all are not divested of their charter ; 
 
 One refuge still is left for human woes. 
 Victim of care I or persecution's martyr I 
 
 Who seek'st a sure asylum from thy foes, 
 Learn that the holiest, safest, purest, best. 
 Is mail's own breast I 
 
 There is a solemn sanctuary founded 
 By God himself ; not for transgressors meant ; 
 
 But that the man oppressed, the spirit-wounded, 
 And all beneath the world's injustice bent. 
 
 Might turn from outward wrong, turmoil, and din, 
 To peace within. 
 
 Each bosom is a temple ; when its altar. 
 
 The living heart, is unprofaned and pure, 
 Its verge is hallowed ; none need fear or falter 
 
 Who thither fly ; it is an ark secure. 
 Winning, above a world o'erwhelmed with wrath, 
 Its peaceful path. 
 
 O bower of bliss I O sanctuary holy 1 
 
 Terrestrial antepast of heavenly joy I 
 Never 1 oh, never may misdeed or folly 
 
 My claim to thy beatitudes destroy ! 
 Still may I keep this paradise unlost. 
 Where'er I 'm tost. 
 
 Even in the flesh the spirit disembodied, 
 Unchecked by time and space, may soar elate. 
 
 In silent awe to commune with the Godhead, 
 Or the millenium reign anticipate, 
 
 When carUi shall be all sanctity and love. 
 Like Heaven above. 
 
 How sweet to turn from anguish, guilt, and madness, 
 Prom scenes where strife and tumult never cease
 
 354 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 To that elysian world of bosom'd gladness, 
 "Where all is silence, charity, and peace ; 
 And, sheltered from the storm, the soul may rest 
 On its own nest. 
 
 "When, sensitive as the spleenful Mimosa, 
 "We shrink from Winter's touch and Nature's gloom ; 
 
 There may we conjure up a Vellombrosa, 
 ."Where groves and bowers in summer beauty bloom, 
 
 And the heart dances in the sunny glade 
 Fancy has made. 
 
 But would we dedicate to nobler uses, 
 
 This bosom-sanctuary, let us there 
 Hallow our hearts from all the world's abuses ; 
 
 "While high and charitable thought and prayers 
 May teach us gratitude to God, combined 
 "With love of kind. 
 
 Header, this is no lay unfelt and hollow, 
 But prompted by the happy, grateful heart 
 
 Of one who, having humbly tried to follow 
 The path he counsels, would to thee impart 
 
 The love and holy quiet which have blest 
 His own calm breast." 
 
 The same "delicious " mind produces the following: 
 
 " Earth, on whose stage, in pomp arrayed, 
 Life's joyous interlude is played, 
 
 Earth ! with thy pageants ever new and bright. 
 Thy woods and waters, hills and dales, 
 How dead must be the soul that fails 
 
 To see and bless thy beauties infinite I 
 
 Man, whose high intellect supplies 
 
 A never-failing Paradise 
 Of holy and enrapturing pursuits, 
 
 "Whose heart 's a fount of fresh delight, 
 
 Pity the cynics who would blight 
 Thy godlike gifts, and rank thee with the brutes. 
 
 Oh woman ! who, from realms above. 
 
 Hast brought to earth the heaven of love, 
 Terrestrial angel, beautiful as pure ! 
 
 No pains, no penalties dispense 
 
 On thy traducers : their offence 
 Is its own punishment, most sharp and sure.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 355 
 
 Father and God I whose love and might 
 
 To every sense are blazoned briijht 
 On the vast three-leaved Bible,— earth, sea, sky, — 
 
 Pardon the impugners of thy laws, 
 
 Expand their hearts, and give them cause 
 To bless the exhaustless grace they now deny. 
 
 Hear me, O hear, while I impart 
 
 The deep conviction of my heart. 
 That such a theatre, august and grand, 
 
 Whose author, actors, awful play. 
 
 Are God, mankind, a judgment day. 
 Was for some higher aim, some holier purpose plann'd. 
 
 I will not, nay, I cannot, deem 
 
 This fair creation's moral scheme. 
 That seems so crude, mysterious, misapplied, 
 
 Meant to conclude as it began. 
 
 Unworthy the material plan 
 With whose perfections rare, its failures are allied. 
 
 As in our individual fate. 
 
 Our manhood and maturer date 
 Correct the faults and follies of our youth, 
 
 So will the world, I fondly hope, 
 
 With added years, give fuller scope 
 To the display and love of wisdom, justice, truth. 
 
 'T is this that makes my feelings glow, 
 
 My bosom thrill, my tears o'erflow 
 At any deed magnanimous, sublime ; 
 
 'T is this that reassures my soul. 
 
 When nations shun the forward goal. 
 And retrograde awhile, in ignorance and crime. 
 
 Mine is no hopeless dream of some 
 
 Impassable Millenium, 
 When saints and angels shall inhabit earth ; 
 
 But a conviction deep, intense. 
 
 That man was meant by Providence, 
 Progressively to reach a hiyher moral worth. 
 
 On this dear faith's sustaining truth. 
 
 Hath my soul brooded from its youth. 
 As heaven's best gift and earth's most cheering dower. 
 
 O I may I still in life's decline, 
 
 Hold unimpaired this creed benign. 
 And mine old age attest its meUorating power I "
 
 356 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Our present work already exceeds in quantity its prescribed 
 limits, yet we feel an irresistible influence soliciting the insertion 
 of certain communications from the spirit-world. These are not 
 of late origin, having been given through the mediumship of Mrs. 
 Sweet, from the years 1852-6, although not published until the 
 year 1869, nearly ten years subsequent to her birth to spirit-life. 
 Judge Edmonds said of her : — " She always seemed to me to be 
 
 Pure as the snow-flake ere it falls 
 
 And takes the stain of earth, 
 "Without a taint of mortal life. 
 
 Except its mortal birth." 
 
 Some of the communications we shall give in full, as taken 
 from the work entitled, " The Future Life : as Described and 
 Portrayed by Spirits, through Mrs. Elizabeth Sweet." From 
 others we shall only select such extracts as we may deem advisa- 
 ble. Our first purports to be from Swedenborg : 
 
 " The human soul, when first awakened from the slumber of 
 its material nature to a consciousness of its spiritual being, pre- 
 sents a strange medley of conflicts and changes, in its transition 
 state. Where the material consciousness of the individual has so 
 long retained the ascendency, it has become vested with a strong 
 authority, as it were, and a mighty straggle oftentimes ensues 
 between the two opposites ; and when the spiritual germ of our 
 nature first begins to develop itself, it is so mingled and inter- 
 woven with our material being, that we are at a loss to distinguish 
 the difference between the principles which sway ns, and often 
 stand trembling almost, (feeling so uncertain, as though we stood 
 upon the edge of a precipice,) not knowing into what depths of 
 insecurity our plunge may lead. But gradually in some, and 
 more rapid in others, the spiritual nature assumes its empire, and 
 we then see things as we never saw them before. 
 
 There is a new and strong principle that takes root and grows 
 up within the soul, constantly strengthening and sustaining the 
 feeble and fluttering efforts which the spirit is making to burst 
 from out the bondage in which it has been held for so great a 
 length of time. And when the soul becomes able to rise so far 
 beyond its accustomed position as to look abroad upon the won- 
 ders everyA^'here held out to its view, it becomes filled with strong
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 357 
 
 and beautiful emotions; and the -vastness and wisdom of the Cre- 
 ator's works are so impressed upon that soul, at times, in all their 
 magnificence and glory, that it fain would shrink within its own 
 insignificance, that it would shrink back again to its former posi- 
 tion. For, to the freed soul, its upward flights are grand and 
 glorious, in comparison with the narrow and time-trodden road 
 in which it before had wandered. No wonder if a fluttering and 
 trembling should seize ujwn it while learning its first lessons of 
 joyous freedom. 
 
 The soul that has entered upon this path, has indeed under- 
 gone a mighty change, a change for the future Avhich has not to be 
 repeated in the future ; for this change is a passing from death 
 unto life ; it is the birth of the spirit while yet in its earthly tem- 
 ple; and as it expands in strength and wisdom, it has indeed 
 passed through the bitterness of death, which is not to be expe- 
 rienced over again in the form. 
 
 0, the spirit, after undergoing this first change from dark to 
 light, is enabled to look beyond with a bright and peaceful hope 
 in the blest exchange which awaits him. He but looks forward 
 to the slumber in Avhich ho will experience a forgetfulness of the 
 ills attendant on the body, and will awaken to behold the glori- 
 ous reality of all his former dreamings aud imaginings. 
 
 Man's soul, after having become thus quickened, feels a con- 
 sciousness within itself of his hold upon eternal life. He feels 
 his spirit going out into the vast regions of infinite space, and 
 endeavors to grasp an atom of knowledge wherever he may find 
 it. lie is no longer willing to grovel on earth, and taste of 
 earthly pleasures aud earthly hopes, and to be led by the 
 teachings of those whose inspirations have become dim in the 
 awakening glory of this ncAV era. But his soul pants for some- 
 thing more, something higher, something better, more heartfelt, 
 more tangible than he has yet become acquainted with ; and he 
 is now ever yearning, ever soaring upward, for there has been es- 
 tablished an affinity between the soul of that individual and the 
 principle from which he emanated. The connection between the 
 life-giving principle and the germ has become more apparent ; 
 and now he is ever drawn upward in his aspirations after truth 
 and purity; and as that soul becomes identified with its spirit- 
 affinities, the material loses much of its authority to act upon its 
 spirit-being. lie now regards it as a covering for material use,
 
 358 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 to be thrown aside when no longer needed to contain his spirit 
 when on its earthly mission; and trutli, virtue, and love become a 
 daily inspiration of his soul. This spirit becomes so saturated 
 and bathed in the light of wisdom, that he indeed feels the im- 
 mortal part of his nature has become so quickened and vitalized, 
 that he needs but to look within to find an answer to his inner- 
 most cravings after the knowledge which places him upon a firm 
 and imperishable basis, as regards his eternal and ultimate des- 
 tiny. The external elements may be in confusion and dissension, 
 and the surface of all other circumstances may become ruffled 
 and chaotic in their dark dismay; but the soul that has thus 
 been able to take hold upon his high prerogatives and claim his 
 inheritance, by building it up and beautifying it while here for 
 his future residence, may indeed look away and beyond the scenes 
 of earth, and feel that while he has lived upon its surface as an 
 obedient servant to his better intuitions, inasmuch as he could 
 plainly perceive them, is like the bird on the wing, who, when 
 the first note of welcome from his mate salutes his ear, is ever 
 ready to soar away and meet with joy his waiting companion ; for 
 there is a beautiful reunion takes place between the freed spirit 
 of man and his affinities, who have long guided his footsteps on 
 earth, and whom he now may behold face to face, and with them 
 travel onward to behold the eternal mysteries of the glorious un- 
 folding of the wisdom of God." 
 
 Communication purporting to emanate from the spirit of Henry 
 Clay, July, 1852. 
 
 " Is it indeed possible that the Lord, in his mercy, has permitted 
 me, worm as I am, to enjoy this great privilege of standing in 
 spirit and addressing mortals below ? 
 
 My sojourn in the land of spirits has been very short, and my 
 experience necessarily limited. My actual knowledge of a true 
 and well-conducted life has but just begun: true life, not a life 
 which is antagonistical to spiritual trutlis, whose soft whisperings 
 at times penetrate the heart of every man, even amid the tur- 
 moil and excitement of a worldly career, carried on in an increas- 
 ing round of conflicting passions, hopes, and fears, and longings 
 for that which may not always be grasped, but a life of an en- 
 tirely different nature. Ambition no longer absorbs my soul with 
 hei dark-hued wings. Party spirit no more dispels the bright
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 359 
 
 visions of happiness from my view. But here, love and unity 
 bring light and joy imperishable. Now I discover that even the 
 desire for a nation's welfare was too much interwoven with the 
 love of self-aggrandizement. I see also that men of high intellect, 
 whose vigorous thought swayed the mass of mind, and whose 
 splendor of eloquence misled the senses, now but faintly shine in 
 the dim distance. The eloquence of earth is not at all times bor- 
 rowed from heaven, and the fiery intellect is not always kindled 
 by the light of purity or the intensity of love. 
 
 The vast voice of a nation, as the voice of one man, will yet 
 ascend on high to the power which shall enlighten the people 
 and unchain them from their moral and social slavery, the slavery 
 of human custom, and conventionalities, and approbation which 
 often leads men to forget their duty to themselves, their nation, 
 and their God. 
 
 And now I am rejoiced that the light from heaven, which is to 
 baptize the nations, has broken in upon my soul, and I could bow 
 my head to the dust in shame and grief, that the still small voice 
 of conscience was so long unheeded by me, and which would have 
 led me to behold this pure and beautiful light. I was a states- 
 man on earth, but am a child in heaven. There I was thought 
 a sage ; here I am a novice ; but even this novitiate is to me more 
 deep in knowledge, and yet more fraught with mystery, than ever 
 my mortal mind conceived. My highest earth-born thought was 
 far too low to reach to heaven. My worldly wisdom availed me 
 not, when my new life commenced. 
 
 It is very beautiful to become a little child again ; and now I 
 understand the meaning of the words, ' Ye must be boru again ;' 
 and in true sincerity and gratefulness I feel that I am born 
 again, in a life where the vanities of earth have faded from my 
 view, and the bright glories of heaven are opening upon my 
 soul. 
 
 soul made pure, be thankful for thy high estate, and adore 
 thy God, who hath endowed thine eyes with light, and thy soul 
 with the ability to enjoy the pure beauties which crowd upon thy 
 new existence ! And yet how I am overwhelmed with the fore- 
 shadowing of the glory which is yet in wait for mo. But now a 
 form of brightness appears, and saith unto me, 'As thy day is, 
 80 shall thy str'^ngth increase ; and thou shalt grow, and wax 
 stronger in the stature of wisdom, and the might of love.'
 
 360 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 I am surrounded by those who have passed from earth, and 
 who are, like myself, exploring the wonders of this heavenly land. 
 The realities become more and more transcendently sublime as 
 we proceed ; and the beauties of knowledge are increasingly un- 
 folded. More vast and commanding becomes the wide-spread 
 plain of glory, as we travel on in our heavenly path, guided by 
 wisdom supreme and love unbounded. 
 
 Follow up this good path, friends. I regret that I did not 
 commence sooner." 
 
 Questio7i, by a member of the circle. " Did you begin at all, 
 while on earth ? " 
 
 Answer. "Faintly and feebly, as a child begins to walk. 
 I possessed not the strength which comes from above." 
 
 Question. " Did you believe in these manifestations ? " 
 
 Ansiver. " I believed in a great deal more than 1 admitted, even 
 to myself." 
 
 We are not informed through whom the foregoing communica- 
 tion came ; bat the following, from the same spirit, was re- 
 ceived through Mrs. S. a short time afterward. 
 
 " It is with feelings of thankfulness, that I have again found 
 an opportunity of speaking through a medium. It seems to be 
 the wish which is ever uppermost in my mind, to come back to 
 earth, and mingle again in the scenes in Avhich I took so active a 
 part, but not with the same desire that I then had, to participate 
 in the hopes and fears which sway the minds of those who cannot 
 see beyond the present sphere of existence. 
 
 But it is my desire to make myself known, if possible, to those 
 with whom I have walked the down -hill path of life. And it is 
 my aim, when I shall succeed in so doing, to open their minds to 
 the truth of this incalculable and momentous manifestation, to 
 them unknown. 
 
 I foresee, in so doing, the light of wisdom to rule and govern a 
 nation, that is striving to rise into liberty, as on the wings of an 
 eagle; and how absolutely necessary and all- important is it, that 
 the minds of the rulers of the land should be filled with the wis- 
 dom which shall enable them to rule with a justice which shall 
 diffuse its influence with the knowledge of truth ; and the truth, 
 when it shall reach the minds of the people, with the power which 
 only the truth can approach, will open their minds to the enjoy-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 361 
 
 ment of this glorious knowledge, which will lead to the happiness 
 of the people, to the nation's lasting good. 
 
 When this young eaglet, whose aspiring wings are spread to all 
 nations and climes, shall become stronger in her strength, and 
 more powerful in her power ; and, thank God ! this power shall 
 yet be felt in the uttermost parts of the earth ; the cry shall be 
 to the people, Strengthen ye my loved ones, with the strength of 
 the truth which is strengthening ye. 
 
 0, how lovely the light! how palely beautiful the beams which 
 are darting hither and thither around ; and it falls there, and it 
 falls here, and it takes root, and the root takes strength and is be- 
 ginning to flourish. But ah! the young saplings are yet tender ; 
 the winds of ridicule and calumny blow roughly over their heads- 
 It may break ; it may rudely handle them in their tender youth. 
 But oh! it will not blast them ; the young trees shall lift their 
 heads, and become as oaks, which, amid the tempests, stand un- 
 moved. 
 
 And I would say to the weak ones, ! be strong in your faith 
 and trust in God ; for this glorious work is advancing slowly, but 
 surely, and steadily. And as an army whose ranks are feeble at 
 first, it shall increase in strength, and beauty, and might, and 
 majesty, until it shall overpower the hearts of the people, not 
 with the force of power, but with the power of love. 
 
 Already in my short journey I can perceive how great the hap- 
 piness and welfare of the nation is to be promoted by a knowledge 
 of the truth, when they shall reap the benefit of the communion 
 of spirits from the highest to the lowest in the land. 
 
 0, how great, how earnest is the desire of the spirits to make 
 their presence known ! And through that influence the hearts 
 of men sliall grow weak in their desire to commit crime, and to 
 wrong their fellow-men. Through that influence the Aveak and 
 oppressed shall be raised from the dust, and placed on the level 
 plain of Humanity, which the power of God willed all human 
 beings to enjoy, but which the perverted will of man, whose con- 
 science has become deaf to the voice of nature's God, has down- 
 trodden and oppressed when circumstances have given him au- 
 thority over them. 
 
 But the voice of freedom from the thraldom of mind and body 
 shall ere long be heard over the land, and minds shall rise strong 
 in the knowledge which God has given them, and teach to other
 
 362 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 minds how dark the gloom which sectarianism, and superstition, 
 and unbelief, and skepticism, have cast around them. And I say 
 their fetters shall be broken as the light shall speed onward. 
 
 As I contemplate this work, which is gradually becoming un- 
 folded, I thank God in my inmost heart that I have been per- 
 mitted to soar above this land of shadows and darkness and 
 dimness, and whose honors and glories flee away as shadows from 
 our grasp, and leave us toiling for we know not what. 
 
 I now stand on the mount of Hope, whose strength upholdeth 
 me, and whose light becomes stronger and brighter, nor vanisheth 
 as the objects are nearer. But more lovely becomes this lovely 
 light the nearer I approach it, through the goodness of God and 
 the aid of spirits made perfect, who dwell in the presence of his 
 smile, and who do their Father's will when life is unceasing, joy 
 is never-ending, and eternity is eternal." 
 
 THE PEEACHER. 
 
 *' ' For the wicked shall be cast into hell, and all the nations that 
 forget God. This is a solemn thought, my hearers, and one on 
 which we should prayerfully and candidly exercise our minds. 
 Yea, verily. It is a solemn thought. The wicked shall be cast 
 into hell, where the worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched. 
 0, my friends, flee from the wrath to come. Put away your 
 sins, lest the Son of Man come in the night time ; and 0, ye 
 sinners ! beware how ye tempt an angry God ! ' 
 
 This was the doctrine I preaclied on earth, this the way in 
 which I filled the poor human heart with fear and trembling, 
 with shrinking from a kind and beneficent God, whose only man- 
 ifestation is smiling on his creatures, by calling him angry ! by 
 crying up hell-fire, the horrors of those who disobey, and distort- 
 ing everything to suit my own peculiar views. I thought I was 
 doing right and God a service by upholding these gloomy dog- 
 mas, which I gave forth with such a zeal, with such bitter denun- 
 ciations against the erring mortals who should have been en- 
 couraged and dealt kindly with, and not horrified and frightened 
 with the contemplation of death. 
 
 I thus departed from earth, feeling happy that I had done my 
 duty and borne my cross, and might enter into the joys of my 
 Father's house. I entered the spirit-world, but was not met by
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 363 
 
 the rejoicing and bright angels I expected; by some friends, to 
 be sure, but their countenances were sad and gloomy; there was 
 evidently something on their minds. Instead of rejoicing and 
 songs of praise, it was rather a gloomy and mournful greeting on 
 my first entrance, and a sadness came over my soul. I asked, 
 ' How is this? Why should heaven seem so gloomy a place ? ' I 
 said, ' Friends, can you tell me the reason ? There is no rejoic- 
 ing, no gladness in your looks. You have some inward sorrow. 
 Pray, convey me to Him whose cause I have served. Let me see 
 the Saviour who died on the cross to redeem sinners. Give me 
 something to repay me for all my labor.' 
 
 One venerable-looking brother, whom I had known on earth, 
 approached me solemnly, and, taking my hand, said, ' Our life- 
 teachings have been wrong. They have caused more mourning 
 and shrinking from the approach of death than happiness, driv- 
 ing hundreds away by their asperity, who would have been glad 
 to gaze beyond the veil of eternity.' I asked, ' Can it be possible 
 that my whole life has been spent wrongly, that I lived an in- 
 harmonious life, that instead of doing God service, I have done 
 evil toward my fellow-men ? ' 
 
 My soul was so troubled and cast down, that, after pausing 
 awhile, I said to that brother, ' What shall I do to be saved ? ' He 
 said, ' When you shall see your errors, and be willing to go down 
 and redeem the wrong you have done in the hearts which are 
 there ; then, and not till then, will you begin your path of ascen- 
 sion, and by your labor blot out your sins, by assisting others to 
 blot out theirs.' 
 
 And, my friends, as soon as I was made conscious of my error, 
 I began my work. I gave up my narrow conceptions of the Deity. 
 Grovelling Avorm that I was, how little did I know of the majesty 
 of God ! I began earnestly and trustfully to cast away the chains 
 that bound my soul. I began my labors. And, 0, yes ; it was 
 a labor, indeed ; sufBcicnt to wash away my many sins, when I 
 shall have washed away the errors from those minds whose igno- 
 rance was made darker by my errors, and who might now have 
 been further advanced but for my teachings. 
 
 I am now ascending. I begin to see the beauties of the spirit- 
 world, and the tears fill my eyes when I think what I might have 
 been. 
 
 Friends ! thank your God that you are free, and that you are
 
 364 THE UNSEALED BOOK 
 
 on the road ahead, far in advance of many of the dwellers in the 
 spirit-land.^' 
 
 THF CONVICT. 
 
 This evening, Mrs. Hemans came and influenced Mrs. Sweet, 
 and said to us: — 
 
 " Look with me, and see that pale, trembling spirit, who has but 
 lately left his body. That body was clothed in a convict's garb, 
 and its last home on earth was the cell of a prison ; he committed 
 crimes against the laws of his country, and was condemned to 
 suffer a punishment of solitude and hard labor, uncheered by any 
 kind voice : no friendly eye to look upon him in his hours of 
 ionehness and heart-breaking anguish. 
 
 Poor spirit ! bitterly has he repented, while in the form, of all 
 his errors and misdeeds. On his knees, and in the humility of hia 
 soul, has he sought of his Maker, to pardon the faults of his 
 youthful days. His childhood was joyous and pleasant ; his heart 
 was light and glad as any among us, but his trusting spirit was 
 taken possession of, and led by stronger wills than his own ; and 
 he was made to commit those errors, which hastened his spirit 
 from out the body." The convict thus speaks for himself: 
 
 " If you want me to tell my sufferings, I am sure I can do so, 
 for God knows I remember them so well, that they will never be 
 erased from my memory. They said I committed a grave crime, 
 and perhaps I did ; I knew it to be a crime, although I com- 
 mitted it in a moment of thoughtlessness and folly, more for 
 the love of mischief, than the sin of it. I had no thought of 
 what the consequences would be. My older companions urged 
 me on, and called me cowardly, because I at first shrunk from 
 applying the match, which destroyed the dwelling of a worthy 
 family, and burned one of their children. How I shudder while 
 I think that I was the cause of that awful death I They took me 
 to prison. They found me guilty. I knew I was guilty : I did not 
 deny it ; and bitter scalding tears coursed down my cheeks, when 
 I thought of the little innocent whose death I had caused. I 
 cared not for myself or what became of me. They told me I must 
 go to prison, for how many years I cannot tell, but it was very, 
 very many, and my weeping friends bade me farewell, those who 
 were not ashamed to be seen speaking to me, and others looked 
 at me in pity, and shook their heads. My brain was in a whirl ;
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 365 
 
 I felt as though I was going to be transported to some distant 
 country, where I would never see home or friends again. But 
 that dreadful load of guilt lay heavily at my heart. That Jittle 
 child ! She had been a playmate of mine, and one of my com- 
 panions had made me the instrument of consummating the ven- 
 geance which he was afraid to take, for some petty spite which 
 he had against the father. 
 
 When they shut me up in the cold, gloomy, lonely cell, I threw 
 myself down and prayed that I might never remember my former 
 life. I but wished that a sea of forgetfulness would roll over me 
 and the past, because nothing but that could reconcile me. But 
 this was not to be. 1 liad to think ; Oh ! I had to think. I had 
 to remember everything distinctly that passed in that dreadful 
 excitement. And then I felt wronged. Bitter and passionate 
 feelings stirred within me against those who had instigated me 
 to commit such an awful crime. I felt I was guilty, and yet only 
 guilty through another's guilt, who had thought and meant worse 
 than I. How useless were all these pleadings in my own behalf . 
 There was nothing before me but a gloomy prospect for many 
 years to come. Oh ! the horrors of that hour when I first realized 
 my situation. I, in a felon's cell, dressed in a convict's garb, and 
 compelled to labor with a chain attached to my person. I deter- 
 mined to kill myself. I could not live, the thought was so horrid. 
 Life was but just opening before me in bright and gorgeous col- 
 ors, and now a dark veil had fallen between me and the light of 
 the world, and I should have to spend the best years of my man- 
 hood in solitary confinement, working harder than a slave. 
 Worse, ten thousand times worse than a slave's life was my con- 
 dition. When the strong agony had passed over my soul I be- 
 came hardened. I cared not what passed. I took no note of the 
 day or night. I worked and lived a nearly mechanical life. I felt 
 dead to everything around me. There were no more tears left to 
 shed, there was nothing to look for, to hope for ; all was dreary, 
 all was blank. Thus I lived for a long time. Nor blows nor 
 threats could arouse me. Nothing could affect me, so strong and 
 hard had my nature become, for I had determined that outward 
 circumstances should not bend or break my spirit. It was a stern 
 and unrelenting desire not to feel the chains which were galling 
 me. 
 
 But how little man knows of his own spirit ! How incapable
 
 366 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 he is of knowing what he may be able to bear, and how long he 
 will prove impregnable to those feelings which animate the 
 breasts of all the human family ! My resolutions gradually grew 
 weaker, and my will less strong. I began to yearn for some pity- 
 ing heart to turn to. There was none to listen to my prayer, 
 none to wipe away my tears, and my heart melted down until it 
 became as weak as a little child's. Oh ! how I wished to see the 
 face of a friend. What sickness of heart came over me, and no 
 kindly hand was there to be laid on my head, but only the cold, 
 stony wall to support it. It was in vain for me to ask or pray 
 for my earthly friends, for I could not see their faces. And then 
 I strove to pray to God ; then I bent low in humility and sorrow, 
 and confessed my sins, and prayed him to forgive me. I had 
 felt so guilty before that I dared not pray ; but now there was 
 something within me which seemed to tell me there was hope 
 beyond the grave. When I had slumbered before, my dreams 
 had been horrible; phantoms coming to upbraid me for my 
 crimes, and I awakened, often grateful that all the dreadful 
 scenes I had passed through were nothing but dreams. And now 
 those dreadful shapes and phantoms had left me, and sweeter 
 sleep had succeeded. As my heart had become softened within 
 me, it seemed as though a bright and pleasant influence gradu- 
 ally fell upon me. My dreams became pleasant, and the little 
 one whose death I was the means of, appeared to me in shining 
 garments, and told me that her Father in heaven forgave me, 
 and that I should come to her home and be vvith her. Ah ! that 
 bright spirit made the poor prisoner's cell gleam and shine with 
 heavenly light, for I felt that God had answered my prayer, that 
 there was mercy even for me; and when I slumbered it was with 
 a prayer on my tongue of thankfulness to my Father in heaven 
 for his forgiveness, which had brought peace and comfort to me 
 in my lonely cell. That place which had appeared to me a living 
 tomb, now became bright and pleasant in its gloom, and the 
 words which were written in the Book of Life gave me hope and 
 joy. And I daily prayed, and daily my body grew weaker ; but 
 my soul grew stronger, and I longed to leave my body behind. 
 My thinking had brought me much benefit, for now my thoughts 
 were pleasant and glad, for now I felt happy and joyful. There 
 was a peaceful, happy feeling, there was a love which cast out 
 fear, and I felt as if there were loving and protecting arms about
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 367 
 
 me, even me. They told me I was dying, and ! how I re- 
 joiced. I Tcneiu I was dying ; I wanted to die, to embrace tliat 
 little spirit who had told me of my Father's forgiveness. And 
 when I passed from death unto life, there was none so near to take 
 me by the hand as that happy little spirit. She told me that I 
 should go with her, for I had repented of that I was punished 
 for, and my punishment had been greater than my crime. She 
 said there was no injustice there, that I should be able soon to 
 outlive all recollection of my j^ast misery, in the life I was about 
 to lead, and I should see many who had been imprisoned, as I 
 was, for crimes which they had not been really guilty of. But 
 God, who sees the heart, would punish all according to their 
 works, and not for those things which they have not committed; 
 but the real culprit will here also meet with his due reward. 
 
 I find no prisons here, no stripes, no starvation, but kind spir- 
 its who pity me for having been led astray, and who Avill assist me 
 to retrieve that which was done, and prepare me to come back to 
 the poor, weary, heart-broken prisoners, and, when the time comes, 
 to speak to them of the better life, which is beyond the gloomy 
 walls of a prison. Peace and hope will light up their sad and 
 desponding hearts, for we are coming in a mighty strength and 
 power to raise them from their stupor." — Thomas Ellis. 
 
 A PICTUEE OF THE FUTUEE. 
 
 "At a recent meeting of the Circle of Hope, the following com- 
 munication was received from a spirit purporting to be that of 
 Joan of Arc. Some of the circle not being familiar with her 
 history, it was mentioned that she had, by the sacrifice of herself, 
 redeemed her country — France. 
 
 She said, "Yes; and France has to be redeemed again. I am 
 not the first of the martyrs who lost their lives in the cause of 
 truth and freedom ; nor shall I be the last, even at this late day 
 of the world's enlightenment. 
 
 But, friends, it is not to bring this gloomy picture before your 
 eyes that I have come to-night. 0, no ! It is with a far dif- 
 ferent object. The liglit and glory which have been cast around 
 me in my spirit-home, give me a holy and beautiful theme to 
 dwell upon. Not for me alone to dwell upon, nor for spirits
 
 368 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 alone, nor for angols alone to dwell upon, but for mortals too. 
 Yes, for mortals ! 
 
 In the darkness and superstition of the past, which are passing 
 away with all their gloomy forms and fancy-fraught terrors, 
 comes the light of revealed love and wisdom, as the harbinger of 
 peace, joy, hope, and redemption to be wrought on ^artli. Mar- 
 tyrs who have suffered for the glorious cause of truth, lift up 
 your heads with joy ineffable ! Gaze down on earth again, and 
 rejoice to see the fruits of your heaven-directed labors ! Behold 
 now the seeds which have smouldered for a season ! Lo, they 
 are springing forth and gaining might. The dark past is passing 
 away; and the bright future, how it gleams before me! The 
 strength which cometh with the white-winged messenger is. being 
 . felt. Its power is spreading ; its love is directing ; its might is 
 finding the mighty as well as the lowly of earth. ! the deep 
 springs which have opened in many hearts, from king to peasant, 
 are becoming breathed upon by the spirit of progression and life- 
 beaming light! Who shall withstand the power of that light 
 which comes as a stream in whose placid waters they may bathe ? 
 
 And lo ! Truth cometh. Lo! it groweth. The meek and 
 the lowly of earth receive with heartfelt joy, as the dove bear- 
 ing the olive branch of peace, the green, the beautiful sym- 
 bol of hope for their souls — the resting place for all : for each 
 soul is being unfolded, and all may feel that the rock of ages 
 is more firm for them, than the throne which the mighty and 
 high-souled monarchs of earth have aspired to in their uplifted 
 majesty. And the light will level the world, as with the hand 
 of the angel of death, when he cometh and lays all low alike. 
 I say the light shall level the people of the world ; the monarch 
 will be but the man, and the man will be a man more than ever 
 before : and woman shall become a strong and mighty instru- 
 ment in the glorious work." 
 
 [Some remark was here made by one of the circle, implying 
 that in her efiiorts for her country, she must have been inspired. 
 And the spirit said:] "It was inspiration. It was a host of 
 spirits wliich loved my country that inspired me, and I did not 
 repel them. My soul saw the heaven prepared for the lover of 
 truth and justice, and has felt the heaven which acting — tak- 
 ing our lives in our hands, and going forth to do our Father's 
 work, has raised me to also ; which has filled my soul with holy
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 369 
 
 joy, and lias shown me the hosts which aided me while carrying 
 out the design which advanced my country one step in her up- 
 ward destiny. 
 
 The earthly tabernacles erected for the worship of the Most 
 High shall be deserted, or looked upon as places of the terror and 
 darkness which have for centuries ruled the mind of humanity, 
 through the force of dry and unsatisfactory laws, given forth 
 as the mandates of the glorious Being whose only law is love^ 
 whose only mandate is peace. And each heart shall erect within 
 itself a tabernacle, an altar, whose incense shall reach the pure 
 throne of light, and return with an odor more sweet than the 
 breath of flowers in their first dawn of beauty. When the struc- 
 tures erected by the hands of man are less sought, and the in- 
 ward temple of the soul shall rise up and shine forth in the 
 splendor of its natural beauty, then dark and gloomy indeed will 
 seem the past, and glorious will all feel the present, unfolding to 
 every heart new fountains of light and life everlasting. 
 
 ! the time is api^roaching when the men of earth shall feel 
 how closely their interests, their immortal interests, all inter- 
 woven with the chain which reaches between the earth and skies. 
 And the links of that chain shall be so commingled as to draw 
 dowa the spirits of the great and good, the great in wisdom, and 
 the mighty in truth, who have long since passed away, ripened in 
 knowledge, purified in love, elevated in their progression in the 
 eternal spheres of light, and now descending to fulfil their mis- 
 sion on earth. 
 
 Think not the germ of immortal flowers has ceased to act upon 
 their native ground — their home of clay. That love of home,. 
 of earth, of country, which attracts it, shall and will draw, and 
 is drawing back those purely unfolded spirits, wlio are now com- 
 ing with a power Avhose resistless course shall be lighted with the 
 beautiful images of the present dawn, and will show the gloom 
 and darkness of the past in all its huge and ungainly deformity- 
 Will not the mind revolt from that which is so dark and repel- 
 ling ? and shall not men turn away from it, and open wide their 
 hearts to enjoy the beautiful future spread out before thein ? — 
 not as a dream, but as a glorious angel of life and love, who shall 
 enter every heart, and gladden every homestead, and shall so act, 
 so cast its golden fetters around, as to bring the best family of 
 mankind \vithin its gladsome embrace.
 
 370 THE UNSEALED BOOK 
 
 Is the picture too pale ? Does it seem exaggerated, to your view? 
 Not so does it appear to spirits ; but the colors are golden, the 
 tints are azure. Ah ! how they are blending and shooting forth 
 in all directions in the bright firmament of joy, which speaks in 
 more than mortal volumes of the infinite love and majesty of 
 the Most High God." 
 
 EXTRACTS FEOM COMMUNICATIONS GIVEN BY DANIEL WEBSTER. 
 
 "I find I am what I believe you call an undeveloped individual 
 in my new stage of existence. But, thank G-od, I see ample fields 
 opening for my research, which I might have entered long ago, 
 had I been so minded. 
 
 It was a great, though not a grand mistake of mine not to seek 
 the truth before, regarding this matter. 
 
 In my day I sought out many truths, and many new truths to 
 many minds; but now I see that the most important truth was 
 altogether overlooked. My soul felt with an overwhelming force 
 the mighty sense, the infinite power of the Almighty in all his 
 works. The grand and glorious hand of Nature imparted her 
 divine revelation ; but, friends, I never sought the voice which 
 might touch my heart and receive an answer in the flesh. 
 
 It is this I mourn for now. How clearly do I now perceive my 
 short-comings ! But, thank God, my life has not been spent en- 
 tirely in vain for my country or mankind. I speak not thus with 
 a feeling of triumph, or boastingly, but with a feeling of regret 
 that I had not more wisely directed my talents, and had not ena- 
 bled myself to let the glorious gifts of God in me shine forth in 
 a purer, broader, and better light. 
 
 As I look back on my past career, I see much to regret, and 
 much to rejoice for. I see at the present period in my country's 
 history, peace and plenty, and the people as happy as they possi- 
 bly could be, under the present state of affairs. But since I have 
 thrown off my mortal body, my spirit has taken a bird's-eye view 
 of the universe. God ! how dark it seems even here ! [There 
 were evident signs of deep emotion.] 
 
 It appears as though the minds which directed the people, 
 were undirected themselves in so many respects, where, had they 
 done differently, a different state of things would now exist. But
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 371 
 
 I have no right to complain ; I did not see it while here, to so 
 great an extent as I now see it. 
 
 Oh I see how very great the darkness of the leaders has been, 
 in respect to the wants of the people, and my own leanness in 
 this respect, stands before me as a withered tree. 
 
 You wish to know my object in coming here to-night. It is 
 easily told. You all know my former character; you cannot pos- 
 sibly believe I can so soon become spiritual minded. Clonds of 
 materialism which darkened the finer elements of my mind, still 
 cast their shadows around me; but I wish you to understand, 
 that I realize what I might have been, what I am, and what I am 
 to be. My life on earth was misspent, and my mission is, to 
 make the atonement for it. To be the Daniel Webster on earth, 
 and the Daniel Webster in heaven. 
 
 It will be my earnest wish to benefit my fellow-beings on earth. 
 My sympathy is with them ; I participate in their hopes and 
 fears, and you will not therefore be surprised at my desire again 
 to return to earth. I will atone for all the wrongs I may have 
 committed, consciously or unconsciously, as far as shall lie within 
 myself. 
 
 That seems to be the first duty which is required of- me in my 
 new home ; to see myself in true colors, that the false colors may 
 be stripped from around my existence, and the true shine forth 
 wuth greater and native brilliancy. [There was something in the 
 manner in which this was delivered, that struck those of us who 
 had heard him speak, as remarkably characteristic of him; and 
 we gave utterance to the thought. He said : How happy I am. 
 You do more than I would have done. You all believe it.] 
 
 In my short existence I find that sin must forgive itself, by ex- 
 piating itself in the mind. How naturally the former life, 
 former faults, and former follies, all rise up before me and re- 
 proach me, and almost take the form of an avenging angel. If 
 there is a hell, it is when such thoughts reign supreme; and if 
 there is a heaven, it is the recollection of having performed the 
 duty required of us by the Great First Cause, who gave us out 
 talents to be used for the benefit of our fellow-men, and made us 
 the machines to direct the springs placed within our bodies. 
 
 That is to be my greatness again. My mission will consist in 
 reaching men in many different ways; not in one, or two, or
 
 372 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 twenty ways, will I perform the work whioli I am beginning to 
 learn merely the alphabet of. 
 
 Thank Heaven, no qualms of conscience, prejudice, or principle, 
 shall act there as a barrier to obstruct the full flow of my soul's 
 aspirations after goodness and wisdom, to surround me with the 
 ennobling and beautifying principles which have lain deeply im- 
 bedded within my soul. 
 
 In glancing over my past existence, I perceive many feelings 
 which lay buried within my being were concealed from my view 
 by the outward causes which were acting upon, and moulded my 
 mind, and left their impress graven upon my public career in 
 letters which time will not efface. 
 
 Had I a thousand tongues to tell the multitude of wonders, 
 they should all be of the great and reforming in all its aspects, 
 the good of my country, the good of mankind at large, through 
 the exceedingly beautiful and natural laws which are bringing 
 the world of reality and that which has been hitherto one of 
 shadows together. 
 
 My words fail to describe my feelings, when I attempt to por- 
 tray the delight which I feel thrill through my soul, with a warm 
 glow of happiness, in contemplating the high destiny of the 
 human race. I do not speak of that which is to come in centu- 
 ries. I do not wish to carry my ideas out of your reach ; but 
 I mean within a few short years which I can speak of, as know- 
 ing the meaning of what I say, having so lately been guided by the 
 same measure of time myself. 
 
 I feel that the high and beautiful wisdom of the Almighty 
 God is indeed manifesting itself in a manner miraculous to spirits 
 and astounding to mortals. And were I willing at this period of 
 time to become a visionary rather than the practical man which 
 I ever delighted to be, I could paint such pictures as would open 
 the bowers of Eden, green and beautiful, to your view, fanned by 
 the wings of angels, soothed by the breath of love and hope — 
 bright hope, harmonized by the all-pervading power of wisdom, 
 which not only has worked, but is continually working, wonders 
 in the flesh and in the spirit. It would be a picture of peace and 
 happiness, brought into operation by the co-operation of men and 
 spirits, which, through their combined efforts, will yet concen- 
 trate the forces of their powers, and their strength shall be felt 
 through every nerve and fibre of the human mind.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 373 
 
 To me, who can now view these things independent of mortal 
 eyes, the prospect is indeed cheering. Pray Heaven that the eye 
 of your understanding may be opened to realize here what I never 
 appreciated in its stupendous might and majesty until I arrived 
 there. I am grateful and humiliated to find how true is the 
 truth of this returning to earth, and how foolish is the blindness 
 which makes men turn away their eyes and shut their hearts to 
 the knowledge which speaks to the heart in a trumpet tone, or 
 reaches them through the still small voice of conscience. 
 
 My experience has been but of short duration, yet long enough 
 to see and to feel how much of the true knowledge which might 
 govern and direct the human mind, for its temporal as well as 
 spiritual welfare, I was utterly ignorant of. I now see how ut- 
 terly incapable men are, with their present knowledge and past 
 experience, of advancing the welfare of the human race in the 
 progression eternal which might be, if better acquainted with the 
 human and divine laws, apparent around you. 
 
 The laws which men make are so different from nature's laws ! 
 I have been looking into the narrow platform of thoughts and 
 fears which men are constantly erecting and constantly over- 
 throwing, for the simple reason that the platform is not wide 
 enough, and thus one scale outweighs the other. 
 
 As I look abroad over the earth, over my own loved country, I 
 see so many small circles, so many small platforms, that they 
 need a larger one to revolve around. 
 
 I am astonished as I look around to see how very contracted 
 my ideas were, yet I fondly imagined I took a flight like the 
 eagle in her soarings to view the extended map of mind. 
 
 Friends, will you doubt me M'hcn I tell you I see a great and 
 gradual change which will soon cover the face of the earth ? I 
 sec the fires blazing up and breaking forth in different direciious, 
 and I see many and miglity spirits lighting these fires and feeding 
 them ; many great and mighty men who have passed away from 
 the earth, coming in strength to help the work of the redemption 
 of man. 
 
 I feel I have a great part to take in this mighty revolution. It 
 has begun, and is spreading and overwhelming, as the billows roll 
 over the great face of the waters when lashed to fury by some 
 unseen power. 
 
 0, that I had begun my seeking sooner ! that I had wisely
 
 374 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 improved the talent given me, and let it shine forth ! for then it 
 would have lighted my path upward to the mansions above. 
 
 Mighty thoughts rush through my brain as I look abroad — 
 too great for utterance now. I see that this work is to be a prac- 
 tical one. It is not to be performed by the writers or philoso- 
 phers, the wise men or the poets of the day [alone ?], but all, from 
 the greatest to the lowest, are to assist and be instruments of util- 
 ity, not as servants, but as heirs, as brothers, who will alike enjoy 
 the fruits of their labor. The young, the old, the middle-aged, — 
 all are to assist. 
 
 In looking back upon many of my friends who were familiar 
 with me here, I see that before six months, or a year at furthest, 
 shall elapse, many of them will have embraced and will proclaim 
 this great truth, and I see some of them are to join me and assist 
 me in more ways than one. I see many among my friends whose 
 minds are awakened to the subject, but whose fears deter them 
 from investigating, and I see many of the spirit-friends who are 
 keeping the feelings alive. 
 
 You speak of your statesmen's having left you, of your having 
 none to fill their places. Greater than they will fill their places. 
 Mightier than they shall speak to the nation, in language bring- 
 ing flowers of truth for man to live by and to die by. To die: 
 the word will be banished from earth. It is but an exchange, 
 a putting off the worn-out frame, and entering the new and 
 beautiful spirit-covering which is prepared for us as we emerge 
 from the world — not of shadows, but of bright realities. 
 
 My ideas are imperfectly given, owing to the difiiculties of 
 communicating, and my want of knowledge of its laws. I have 
 been anxious to speak here before, but have not always been able 
 to impress my name. But I am improving, and hope soon to be 
 able to impart some things of utility, something practically to 
 benefit those who take an interest in this good work. How I 
 regret I did not begin sooner! My feelings overcome me when I 
 look on what I might have been. My language may not have 
 appeared like that of Daniel Webster; but I was anxious to be- 
 gin, though I began as a child, for I know you will make good 
 use of it, and it will be of much use to my surviving friends." 
 
 Experiences and counsel given hy Margaret Fuller (Countess 
 Ossoli), December, 1852. "My sojourn in your sphere seems now
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 375 
 
 as an indistinct dream, in comparison with the real life which I now 
 enjoy. And I regard the raging of the elements, which freed my 
 dearest kindred and myself from our earthly bodies, as the means 
 of opening to us the portals of immortality. And we beheld that 
 we were born again, born out of the flesh into the spirit. How 
 surprised and overjoyed was I, when I saw my new condition ! 
 The change was so sudden, so glorious, from mortality to immor- 
 tality, that at first I was unable to comprehend it. From the dark 
 waves of the ocean, cold, and overcome with fatigue and terror, I 
 emerged into a sphere of beauty and loveliness. How differently 
 every thing appeared ! What an air of calmness and repose sur- 
 rounded me ! How transparent and pure seemed the sky of liv- 
 ing blue ! And how delightfully I inhaled the joure, life-giving 
 atmosphere! A dimming mist seemed to have fallen from my 
 eyes, so calm and so beautiful in their perfection were all things 
 which met my view. And then kind and loving friends ap- 
 proached me, with gentle words and sweet affection; and, 0, I 
 said within my soul, surely heaven is more the reality of lovli- 
 ness than it ever was conceived to be on earth by the most loving 
 hearts. Already are my highest earthly impressions of beauty 
 and liappines more than realized. It is owing to the influence 
 of angels that men sometimes give forth thoughts which seem to 
 shine with the light of heaven, and to breathe of the harmony in 
 the spheres of immortality, and which, from their purity, men say 
 are the words of inspiration. And truly it is inspiration from 
 the world of light. It comes to earth borne by loving spirits. 
 The winds of adversity which passed over their souls while on 
 earth, but purified and chastened them, and rendered them more 
 sensitive to the enjoyment of never-ending happiness. And hav- 
 ing advanced into a knowledge of the harmonious laws which 
 govern their abodes, they forget not their friends on earth ; but 
 with strengthened affection and exalted wisdom, they respond to 
 the attraction of love which connects the two spheres, and aspir- 
 ing men receive the influx of pure spirituality. Could the chil- 
 dren of earth but look beyond the range of mortal vision, they 
 would see these angel-fricnds surrounding them, sympatliizing 
 with them in woe, and rejoicing in their happiness, and dispensing 
 blessings of kindness and love. 
 
 But, shall I speak to you of that which is gloomy and sad ? 
 0, yes ! I feel it to be my duty. Do you see those people of the
 
 376 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 world, who are led by no higher law than that of selfishness; 
 who have no purer desires than those which are engendered by 
 their own dark passions and inconsistent lives; who soar not 
 above their own sensuous thoughts; but who are ever seeking 
 happiness, in that which brings nought but misery? See how 
 this degrading condition is crushing them ; how it increases the 
 hardships of the poverty-stricken, causing them to expend their 
 whole energies in incessant toil for food; how the rich, the well- 
 fed son of mammon, of luxury, and ease, from his sensual prompt- 
 ings, sullies the purity of helpless innocence, and heaps misery 
 upon the dependent ; when, if his mind had been rightly directed, 
 he would have spent his gold in filling the mouths of the hungry, 
 and lifting the daughters of degradation from their woe-stricken 
 state. And behold the little human waifs and strays of society, 
 who wander unnoticed through your thoroughfares. Tiny but 
 immortal souls, do they not need earthly guardians to guide 
 them in the ways of virtue, and turn their young hearts from the 
 allurements of sin ? The fathers which nature gave them have 
 proved unworthy of their trust, and need, God help them, teach- 
 ers themselves. 
 
 0, when I gaze abroad, — if it were only upon your great city 
 — how much vanity and injustice do I behold! I see your mag- 
 nificent buildings richly adorned with all that wealth and luxury 
 can bestow, dedicated as temples of worship — of tuorship ! — 
 of forms of worship ! As though the incense of your hearts would 
 ascend sweeter through the arched dome, or the service be more 
 acceptable, because performed in a costly edifice ! God looketh 
 not to the works of thy hand, man ! for worship. He asks 
 thee not to build temples of beauty, which please the eye ; but he 
 asks of thee a sincere heart, for prayers sent forth from the inner 
 Sanctuary of the soul. And let thine offerings of gold, and silver, 
 and precious stones, be made to God, by dispensing them to thy 
 needy brethren. And the anthems of joy which these shall cause 
 to ascend from their grateful hearts, will be more sweet to him 
 than the softest music which proceeds from a thousand instru- 
 ments of human skill. 
 
 How sadly my spirit looks back upon the place it once inhabi- 
 ted, to see so much that is wrong when so little would make it 
 one glorious right. Would that men would join their hands to- 
 gether, and with united hearts say. Let us assist our brother from
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 377 
 
 the light that we have received; let us lighten his overburdened 
 soul of its care and sorrow, by relieving his physical wants, and 
 enlightening his mind ; and thus raise him from a level with the 
 brute, to the plane where something more is required than mere 
 animal food, or sensual gratification in any form. Let us help 
 him to repel those dark spirits, which his low and undeveloped 
 nature attracts to be his companions. Let us show him that 
 much that is dark and repulsive in himself, is rendered still more 
 so by the influences which are in affinity with him. Nay, start 
 not! it is true: for as like attracts like, and darkness loves dark- 
 ness the best, so, in like manner, ignorant, unhappy spirits, linger 
 around the haunts of vice and wretchedness, and often assist men 
 in their dark deeds of sin; and these influences men call the 
 Devil. They attribute all to one individual fiend, who is made 
 omnipotent ; forgetting that when man gives way to all that is 
 degrading and debasing in his nature, obeying only his animal 
 instincts, and shutting out the pure and good, he can be called 
 by no other name than evil. But when the lowest among you 
 shall have his higher faculties developed, and his intellectual 
 powers expanded by elevated knowledge, he will shine in all the 
 beauty of manhood ; and will not go down to the grave in his sin 
 and degradation, to give the world occasion to say. He is a sinner 
 and eternally lost. None need consider that he must enter the 
 spirit-world to suffer the torments of hell, or to taste the joys of 
 heaven. The knowledge of man's own debasement will bring 
 punishment, even in the flesh; and the consciousness of progress 
 in truth and goodness, and the participations of their blessings, 
 is the foretaste of heaven on earth. There is no further hell 
 for him who is engaged in Avell-doing ; but his pathway leads 
 gradually and beautifully upward, into the brightness of the 
 Heavenly Father's smile, which illuminates the countenances of 
 his progressing children, and reveals their way into the higher 
 spheres. 
 
 Softly and sweetly now are many good spirits breathing heav- 
 enly words into mortal hearts. Voices that have long since 
 passed from earth are returning on a mission of love. Do not 
 repel their gentle advances, for they come to benefit your race. 
 They come as brothers and sisters ; and though they have often 
 been denied a reception, the time is at hand when their voices 
 must be heard throughout the length and breadth of the land
 
 378 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 when they will speak in trumpet-tones of the errors and forma 
 which ye have so deeply cherished. And all that is truthful and 
 beautiful shall shine forth in uudimmed purity, and that which 
 is obscure shall be made plain. And all shall ultimately expe- 
 rience the benefits and joys of communion with the heavenly 
 spheres. It shall be food alike for all men ; for none will reject 
 it, because of its healthful and life-giving influences. And as I 
 look to earth again, from my spirit-home, I truly rejoice to see 
 the good work progressing; and am happy to know that as a 
 spirit who has inhabited the earthly sphere, I can come back and 
 contribute my mite toward the great work of human redemp- 
 tion." — Maegaeet Fuller. 
 
 THE MAN OF EASE AND FASHION. 
 
 This evening the circle met, and then, through Mrs. Sweet, it 
 was said : — 
 
 " This is a jolly sort of a world, anyway, but I 'm tired to death. 
 I don't know what to do with myself. I 've travelled all over 
 the world, searched out every object of interest, gone into every 
 nook and corner, and now I have returned home. It is a dull 
 and tedious world to live in. I hate reading, poring over your 
 dry, musty books ; trashy novels are worse yet. I 'm tired of 
 smoking. My constitution is worn out, and I can't stand strong 
 drink. There is nothing here fit to eat ; confound 'em ! Why 
 do n't they have decent cooks here ? Nothing tastes good. Well, 
 it is a weary world. I wonder what a man was made for ! I've 
 plenty of time and money, and my friends say, 'Why don't you 
 enjoy yourself?' 
 
 Those devilish horses like to have broke my neck the other day. 
 Well, I 'm becoming more and more disgusted with the world 
 every day. Then what '11 become of a fellow when he dies ? 
 Never mind, I ain't a going to die yet. 
 
 They say I ought to take a wife ; that would be only a slight 
 change. But women are such insipid toys — mere trifling little 
 dolls ; they must be complimented and praised forever, or they are 
 pouting and looking so dismal. I sha' n't get married. I think 
 more of my horses and dogs than of a wife, a damned sight. 
 
 Where shall I travel to ? I 've been to Paris, and London, and
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 379 
 
 all the big cities, and danced and waltzed and done everything a 
 fasliionable young man should do, and a little more. 
 
 I just happen to think that while I was in Italy, walking along, 
 one day, quite discontented, in a secluded street, I happened to 
 meet a grave-looking personage, and I thought I 'd speak to him, 
 to while away the time ; it was so confounded dull. We got to talk- 
 ing earnestly. He questioned me a good deal. I told him I felt life 
 a stale sort of matter, and I 'd about as lief step out; enjoyment 
 had lost its meaning with me. Well, he asked me if I had ever 
 done any good with my money, anything that would lead to a 
 good end ? I said I thought I had, for I had spent a good deal 
 in my day. He asked me what I was living for, and upon my 
 soul I could n't tell hkn. That set me to thinking mighty 
 strong. He asked me if I had any ideas of a state after death. 
 Such questions always made me uncomfortable. Father's ser- 
 vants were never permitted to talk to his children of such things 
 as death, or the soul after death. That subject was never intro- 
 duced into our family. Anything gloomy or unpleasant was 
 strictly forbidden, as depriving us of part of the enjoyment of 
 our lives as children. So if any of our friends or the servants 
 were taken sick and died, it was only whispered in the family, 
 and none allowed to speak of it openly. And when I went to 
 church in the family carriage, our minister preached us pleasant 
 stories, glowing descriptions of heaven. He sometimes spoke of 
 the wicked and their punishment; but we knew nothing about 
 such things, and did n't consider Ave had anything to do with that 
 part of the discourse. Then, sometimes, the minister rode home 
 and dined with us. He would m.ake a beautiful prayer; and, on 
 parting he would pat us on the head and tell us to obey our 
 father and mother who were such good Christians, and one of these 
 days, when we became men and women, we should follow their 
 example and be a bright and shining light to all around us. So, 
 after a while, our parents died. I felt bad — very sorry ; I could n't 
 bear to look at 'em, and I did n't ; nor think of 'em. We 'd 
 never been allowed to think of the dead, and so we forgot 'em 
 soon as possible. 
 
 Well, when I left college I started with a large fortune, plenty 
 of time, youth, and health, but not much of an education, for our 
 teachers overlooked my faults, for I had wealthy parents, and 
 they did n't like to be too severe.
 
 380 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 I 've been wandering ever since from place to place in search of 
 enjojmient. At first I did enjoy every thing vastly ; but really I 
 do n't know why, but I do n't enjoy anything now ; I 'm just tired 
 of life, and that 's all. Gambling was once a great source of en- 
 joyment, a fierce sort of pleasure ; I used to feel almost frenzied 
 sometimes while engaged in it, but it got to be an old thing, like 
 every thing else, 
 
 I really think I 'm getting out of health ; I 'm not half so strong 
 as I was. My appetite is poor ; the doctor says I must take ex- 
 ercise, and I 'm too weak to do it, that 's the fact of the matter. 
 It jars my nerves. I feel best when reclining in an easy-chair or 
 soft settee. I drive out occasionally, but the air affects me con- 
 siderably. I don 't know of one resource to relieve the mo- 
 notony of my dull and tasteless existence. I thought I had 
 friends ; but, the fools ! they are not willing to sit with an invalid. 
 They want excitement as I used to, and that 's now distasteful to 
 me. 
 
 Now I 'm all alone, with that cross old nurse, and that stern 
 old doctor, with his nasty, poisonous drugs. I 'm becoming very 
 feeble. My lawyer visited me the other day. I think of making 
 my will. I can hardly stand ; my limbs are so trembling that 
 they refuse to support me. 
 
 I don't know who to leave my money to. I've plenty of poor 
 relations, but they'll only spend it. They are vulgar people, and 
 don 't know how to use it. I guess I '11 leave it to the Club ; there 
 are some noble fellows there, and they will appreciate it. How 
 my eyesight fails me ! Yet I 'm young — not yet forty. 
 
 I do n't see why I should be so weak. I haven 't done any la- 
 bor ; I 've lived an easy life. What has worn out my constitu- 
 tion ? The doctor says it is extreme debility, want of muscular 
 energy. Strange one of my age should be worn out already ! 
 
 Doctor, you know that old nurse the other day talked of send- 
 ing for a minister. What could I do with one ? I 've never done 
 anything bad. I do n't want to be shrived for my sins. If the 
 minister could restore my lost health ! But he would only make 
 long prayers, and ask me to remember his church in my will. I 
 won't see 'em. I'm gloomy enough now. If it's time for me to 
 pass away, it 's just as well without a minister as with. 
 
 Here Mrs. S. went through the death-scene, during which he 
 muttered a prayer for forgiveness of his sins, and then she added : —
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 381 
 
 Is this my body ? Pagh ! I 've left that ; it seems I 've died. 
 I 've left that world, and waked up in another. After all, I am 
 right by my body here. I don't want to leave it. I don't know 
 where to go. I 'd like to get up above it if I could, but I can't. 
 Strange ! I see people around it, fixing it. They do n't see me. Up 
 above there is another kind of people. Down there they do n't 
 seem to be much. They 're beckoning me to come up to them. 
 I see people above me, and I '11 try to go to them ; but I seem 
 very heavy, not adapted to walking on air; yet I'm afraid to go 
 away from my body, for I don't know where I 'm going. There 
 is no sympathy or companionship below, and beyond all seems 
 uncertainty. It 's very disagreeable traveling when one takes one 
 step, and don't know where the next is going to be. I can't see 
 clearly. As I leave my body in the distance I seem to be going 
 into a different atmosphere; still it 's not clear, not light — very 
 dim and uncertain. They are still beckoning to me. I should 
 like to go there. 
 
 There are some people approaching me. They're strangers I 
 never saw before, very common-looking people. I think I won't 
 speak to them. They're coming right up to me. They tell me 
 they will lead me to the place prepared for me. Very singular ! 
 a place prepared for me, and I know nothing about it. I now 
 remember what the minister used to say of the glories of heaven. 
 It's there they're going to lead me. I think they might send 
 some more intelligent, genteel guides. However, I presume I '11 
 find it all right, and apartments furnished sumptuously, and 
 servants perfectly drilled, and the cooking of exquisite order. I 
 really feel quite elated. I '11 accept the services of these common 
 people; perhaps they could n't spare their better servants to come 
 such a distance. I deserve a place in heaven, I know. I never 
 murdered nor robbed, but I did two or three things not quite right, 
 but they overlooked such things on earth, and why won't they 
 here ? Shall I meet that female there ? But I 've no idea she 
 can enter such a place. The child died, and so it is quite for- 
 gotten now. Still it makes me feel unpleasant, and hesitate ; but 
 among refined people it is only a youthful folly. I '11 not trouble 
 myself about it. 
 
 Strange those people do n't address me. They seem waiting for 
 me; but I suppose they are diffident, so I'll speak first. 'Well, 
 friends, are you waiting for me ? Are you sent to conduct me to
 
 382 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 that beautiful place called heaven ? ' They 're not waiting for me. 
 What does that mean ? Have I been deceived ? Is there no such 
 place as heaven ? No such beautiful place as the minister used 
 to talk about ? Yes ; then why not to your duty, and lead me 
 straight there ? They tell me I must go another way. Are you 
 not servants ? No. And you are to be my companions ? That 's 
 a mistake. Can you lead me to my friends who must be waiting 
 to receive me? My father and mother must be inhabitants of 
 heaven, for they were bright and shining Christians ; my brother, 
 and sisters, and other relatives, must be in this vast country 
 somewhere ; I'm not accustomed to such treatment as this. 
 
 They stand and look at me, and make no reply ; strange, I 
 do n't understand it. Is it possible I am to have no other com- 
 panion but these common, though coarse people ? Yet they look 
 honest and friendly ; but I can 't associate with them. Their 
 manner of living must be so coarse. One asks me to listen to 
 him. Very well, but speak quickly, for I 'm weary of this long 
 delay, of this gloomy place, which is not half so good as earth. 
 
 He tells me, they are sent to instruct me. Preposterous! 
 These coarse people sent to teach me ! 
 
 He tells me my life has been very worthless, devoid of useful- 
 ness to myself or my fellow-creatures; my course was altogether 
 idle and profitless, and pregnant with sin and folly. A life which 
 brought me down to this level here, and beneath the rudest and 
 most unrefined of God's creatures. Can this be so? 
 
 He tells me there is no heaven for me, until I earn it by the 
 sweat of my brow, that is, with the labor of mind; that not one 
 step can I ascend, only by the greatest amount of self-denial, of 
 labor, of humility, and love to all below me, and a feeling of 
 equality, and a wish for instruction, that I may progress out of 
 my ignorance and moral deformity. 0, can that be so ? Am I 
 ignorant, indeed ignorant ? 
 
 He tells me, I must begin as a little child, and learn the first 
 lessons of wisdom ; must climb step by step, purifying and ex- 
 panding my inner being, until I shall attain to the level of these 
 minds, which are intelligent, and improved by the knowledge of 
 this country. 0, what a dreadful weary task it must be ! How 
 shall I begin ? I never was able to perform labor. It is not such 
 hard labor, he says, that will be required of me, but of a kind that 
 will act on my spiritual body, and my spirit itself. Now, he says,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 383 
 
 my spiritual body is unseemly and deformed by the imperfections 
 of my former (3haracter. He says I could not mingle with those 
 who are soaring above me, who look so light and clear in the dis- 
 tance. My body partakes of the color of my mind, and that is 
 very dark and unseemly. How very new all this seems to me ! 
 And I must begin to study, to labor, to live and mingle with these 
 coarse people ; I must begin down here. 
 
 Yet they seom very kind, and reproach me with pitying looks; 
 they take me by the hand, say they will help me. They tell me 
 my mind is all a blank, and is capable of having beautiful charac- 
 ters of virtue, and love, and long-suffering, and gentle persuasion, 
 and heavenly aspirations written on its tablets. ! they weep 
 for me and pity me ; can it be I deserve their pity ? Yes, their 
 sympathizing tears seem so much more welcome to me now than 
 the deceitful smiles of my earthly friends. Yes, I must cast aside 
 the stubborn pride and feeling of superiority and dignity, so long 
 the ruling characteristic of my being. I must humble myself, 
 and begin on my humble knees to learn wisdom as a child. And 
 now, when I signify my willingness to be taught by them, how 
 kindly they speak to me ! How could I think them coarse ? 
 Their language is, to be sure, plain and simple, but pure in tone ; 
 their faces show an intelligence I did not before discover. There 
 is about them a certain dignity, an air of self-possession, of firm- 
 ness in all their movements, which seems to endow them with 
 strength, to beautify their faces, to make their actions gentle, 
 their words soft and kind. 0, I was mistaken in their appear- 
 ance. IsTow I feel how superior they are to me ; yet I do not 
 judge 'em so much by appearance as by words and gestures, their 
 actions, all their movements. What is it that makes these com- 
 mon-looking people seem so harmoniously blending with grace, 
 and look so gentle and dignified, even in their coarse apparel and 
 in their rugged-looking country ? There is some mystery about 
 it I don 't understand. 
 
 Now a female speaks to me, and her tones are soft and low. 
 She says : ' Brother, persevere ; begin your labor with a cheerful 
 heart ; give away all the sins and follies of your past life by killing 
 the remembrance of them here by good works ; and when you 
 shall have become strong and manly in your development of 
 mind, Avhcn you shall indeed have become a true man, fit to take 
 your place in the spheres of wisdom as an individual spirit, then
 
 384 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 shall great strength and power be given you ; then shall bright 
 and shining attendants take you by the hand, and with heavenly 
 instruction cause your face to shine with knowledge, and wisdom, 
 and pure love. 
 
 * Then shall you be fit to enter that celestial land called heaven, 
 where all is pure and holy, where the very atmosphere is laden 
 with the whispers of love and of joy from the hearts of angels, 
 who, ranging in their eternal course through the illimitable space 
 of worlds, are glorifying God in their songs of joy and holiness.' " 
 
 THE BEGGAE. 
 
 This evening a spirit said : — 
 
 " It is needless for me to give you a history of my earthly life. 
 It is one which you are all, more or less, familiar with in some of 
 its phases, as you daily witness in your streets those objects of 
 want and misery called beggars. The position which I occupied 
 in your world was owing to the circumstances which surrounded 
 me when I entered it. Therefore it was no sin of mine, nor no 
 vicious course of conduct which reduced me to the station which 
 I occupied. I was simply born a beggar, and reached the estate 
 of man, being a beggar still. Circumstances had so encompassed 
 me that I could never rise above that one condition ; and I passed 
 from this world into the next, bearing all the characteristics of my 
 mendicant's life. 
 
 I was not considered wicked, but merely ignorant, and I thought 
 if heaven was any pleasanter place than earth, food and clothing 
 more easily obtained, and the comforts and luxuries of which I 
 had heard, but not partaken of, were there in abundance, it must 
 be a very pleasant exchange. For when I have suffered from cold 
 and hunger, and have begged for a farthing to buy some food, I 
 have often imagined that the cold and dreary earth could be only 
 a place of punishment for some ; and that heaven must be the re- 
 ward of those who had suffered while on earth ; for its goods 
 always seemed to me so unequally divided, that I could not think 
 that God, as a just God, would permit part of his creatures'to 
 live in luxury and ease, and compel the other part to misery and 
 degradation. I, in my simplicity, could not see it was the work 
 of man, and was caused by the laws which man had made ; he, 
 controlling the circumstances, and even, in a measure, the desti-
 
 THE UISrSEALED BOOK. 385 
 
 flies of the race. The torments of hell I conceived to apply to 
 those who had turned the good things which God had given them 
 into wasteful and riotous excesses ; who had abused his rich gifts 
 by turning them into instruments to serve their own sensual pas- 
 sions and appetites. 
 
 Man might be spiritual and pure for aught I know, but the 
 most I had ever received from any of those who pretended to be 
 law-makers and teachers, was an angry reproof because of my 
 poverty and want, and an admonition to reform, which I would 
 gladly have followed had I been furnished with the means to do 
 it ; but I only returned to wallow in the mire again. 
 
 The spirit-life opened a new field to my astonished vision. 
 When I put on the garb of immortality, I was a beggar no longer, 
 but kind spirits came near to me, and greeted me as though I had 
 been an expected friend. They welcomed me from out of my 
 state of bondage and ignorance into the world of liberty and 
 light. They clothed me in clean and comely robes, and they fed 
 me upon the bread of eternal life, which is called ivisdom. And 
 they gave me to drink of the waters of that stream which flows 
 through the beautiful city called Holy. And as I quaffed deep 
 draughts thereof, I thirsted no more, save for the unsearchable 
 love of the Father. I felt that I was indeed a new being. My 
 childhood had known but few joys, and my after-life none: then 
 you may judge how bright and beautiful a place the lowest seat 
 in heaven would seem to me; I mean by that, how dazzling aud 
 fair then seemed every thing which my eyes beheld, while I was 
 only in the first sphere, or in the infant school, so to speak after 
 leaving. ! how greedy my ears drank in every sound of wis- 
 dom and knowledge, and how rapidly my soul expanded as it. 
 beheld the opening glories of the immortal world. They carried^ 
 me from sphere to sphere, as my ignorance and grossucss was cast 
 aside, and so my heart received the word of God. 
 
 Fair and lovely spirits now meet me, and take me by the hand,, 
 and show mo the wonderful works of the glorious Creator. They 
 support and sustain my faltering steps ; they bear me up, and 
 breathe into my soul high and holy thoughts, and now I feel that 
 God is indeed just and wise, that he is all-powerful in his love 
 and mercy, and that though man may trample on and crusli his 
 fellow-men on earth, or so warp and control their circumstances 
 as to cause them misery and suffering, and condemn them to ig-
 
 386 THE LTTSEALED BOOK. 
 
 norance; 'tis only on earth they can do it; it extends no farther, 
 and whatsoever ye shall do on earth to your fellow-man, be it 
 just or unjust, ye shall be rewarded accordingly when ye put ofE 
 the flesh and put on the spirit, for our God is all just and glori- 
 ious, and his laws endure forever." 
 
 THE FOOLISH MOTHER. 
 
 Through Mrs. S. we had this communication : — 
 
 " How unhappy I am ! I am wandering up and down, hither 
 and thither. I know not where to go. Friends, I will tell you 
 the reason of my misery. I was a mother. Precious souls were 
 intrusted to my care, and how did I fulfil my charge? I shud- 
 der now to think on the example I daily set them. I, their par- 
 ent, who should have instilled every gentle virtue and high pri n- 
 ciple into their tender hearts, I only filled their minds with fool- 
 ishness and unprofitable teachings. I brought them up to love 
 external show and empty glitter. I taught them to love the 
 ■world and the opinions of vain and conceited sons of men. I 
 taught them to walk in the paths of jileasure, which but filled 
 their young souls with a desire for more — more of the useless 
 and unsatisfying gifts of wealth ; and instead of making my 
 children useful to themselves and society, I but filled their young 
 souls with selfishness and pride. 
 
 0, it is a dreadful confession for a mother to make, but I must 
 tell you the truth now, though it should humiliate my soul into 
 the very dust. 
 
 I was called away from my children just as they were emerging 
 into maturity, just when they could have been turned into a good 
 path, or led aside into an evil one, with no guide but a thought- 
 less father, alas ! more prone to love the world than his wretched 
 companion. And now, can you imagine my unhappiness ? No, 
 that is impossible. I have not only seen my folly, my own wick- 
 edness in every thing that pertains to a knowledge of spiritual 
 life, and the soul's happiness, but I am drawn back, as it were, to 
 earth, to gaze on the course of those I have left behind. Heaven 
 knows I have loved them well, but with a foolish, misdirected 
 love ; and now I suffer the consequences. I am daily a witness 
 to the effects of my teachings. I am hourly pained with the 
 breaking out of those uncultivated and grosser parts of their
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 387 
 
 nature, which it was my duty, as a mother, to lead gently into the 
 right direction ; and I see them hurrying from one folly into 
 another, and I can do nought but wring my hands in mute 
 despair, and wish I had never lived. I cannot look upward. I 
 cannot labor for a better inheritance, for ray sins of omission to 
 my children are constantly reproaching me, and come black as 
 night, and huge as mountains. 
 
 When witnessing their misguiding steps, I feel, ' Mother, this 
 has been thy doings. Behold, now, the seeds planted in the hearts 
 of thy children bring forth fruit of dust and ashes ! ' 
 
 Miserable mother that I am ! How wretched has been my life 
 since entering the spirit-world. I have wept and prayed contin- 
 ually. I have sorrowed with a deep and sincere sorrow for my 
 past life, and my children's future happiness. 
 
 Not long since, a spirit approached me, took me by the hand, 
 and said, ' Cease thy useless grieving, weak mother, for thy chil- 
 dren, and set about working out thy own salvation. Cast off thy 
 gross, material nature, and become wise in wisdom of heaven, that 
 you may be able to go back to earth, and assisted by wise and 
 loving hearts, and by the strong influence of thy love, you may 
 be able to approach your children, if not through your own spirit- 
 influence, perchance through another's. If not through one 
 channel, another may be opened, so that you can approach them.' 
 0, this thought seems too heavenly for so great a sinner as I. 
 I wish to become pure. I wish to learn wisdom that I may be- 
 come a fit companion for the bright ones above ; but 0, my chil- 
 dren ! my children ! While 1 am learning wisdom, will they not 
 be irretrievably lost ? through my early teachings become hard- 
 ened to good impulses, or sink so deep in sin as to forget me, and 
 never hear me on earth ? My heart is bursting with its great 
 agony. I would fain go up, but love draws me down, so that T 
 am a wretched wanderer. 
 
 God in heaven ! thou Spirit of justice, and truth, and illim- 
 itable mercy, look down on me, a poor, erring mother, and guide 
 me right. How little am I acquainted with that name and the 
 duties I owe ! Pity me, holy spirits around this circle, in my 
 weakness and sin. Entreat some loving spirit to protect my chil- 
 dren while I learn wisdom and repentance. 
 
 Heaven is a glorious place, they say, but I have never caught 
 the first glimpse of its brightness. My life has been among the
 
 388 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 discontented, unhappy wanderers, regretting the deeds done in 
 body, and not having courage to begin the task of labor. But I 
 feel there is within my soul a longing to taste of the love of God, 
 to mingle with the pure and good, to leave these lower regions 
 where I am so wretched and lonely. But oh, my children ! my 
 children ! 
 
 And yet I can do them no good by staying here. My soul is 
 becoming worn down and overstrained in constant grasping to 
 save them from ruin. I will go and make myself as a little child 
 again, that I may learn to be useful ; and my object will be, that 
 I may be of service to my dear children ; for I feel that I shall 
 yet be enabled to lead those precious children aside from the paths 
 of sin and wretchedness which they are now treading, into the pleas- 
 ant way that leads to eternal life. 
 
 Dear friends, the spirits who surround your circle allowed me 
 to approach you, poor, wretched wanderer that I am, to tell you 
 my experience, and 0, do you tell it to the world, that it may 
 warn some foolish mother to escape the wretchedness which I 
 have known since my entrance here, who are preparing for them- 
 selves a heaven or a hell, in proportion to the love they bear their 
 children. Tell them their example and teachings will be ever 
 before them, reproaching or approving. 
 
 My tale is ended. Thanks, and good-night." 
 
 EXTKACTS FEOM COMMUISTICATIONS GIVE]Sr BY JOHN" C. CALHOUK, 
 LORENZO DOW, AND OTHEES. 
 
 "My object in coming here, is to me a very great one, and, God 
 knows, I wish it was so to the world at large. I wish, I desire, I 
 pray most fervently, that we might feel how great the responsibility 
 that is resting on each one who has heard the revelations of life 
 and truth, to spread the echo, to spread the circle of sound, of 
 thought, of energy, of ambition to excel in the labors of the field 
 in which they are placed, by being partakers of this high and 
 holy privilege — privilege unfathomable, untold, unfelt, and un- 
 expressed, ever changing, ever beautifying, and becoming more 
 lovely, more light, more holy, more serene in its outward paths. 
 
 My experience as a spirit is very limited in comparison with 
 some with whom you have conversed, and I deeply feel it to be so, 
 to-night.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 389 
 
 I deeply feel the barrenness of my soul, the lack of wisdom, the 
 dread of ridicule, the loss of friends, the thought of enemies 
 which debarred me from pariicipating, from being experienced, 
 from a want of knowledge of this holy privilege. 
 
 Why, my friends, while in the form it was not a new thing to 
 me. 0, no! it was a great reality, which my soul felt to be 
 true,, but dared not own. Have I not felt the presence of my 
 friends around me in my seasons of despondency and doubt ? I 
 believed it, but dared not say it. 
 
 That ' dared ' — shall I tell 3'ou what it did to mo ? It shut out 
 from my soul a revelation that might have gladdened it, and com- 
 pels me now to unbeam, when the covering of clay was thrown off. 
 
 Ask him, and him, and him, if he has not felt the presence of 
 loved friends departed ? a mother, a child, a wife, was near ? 
 Yes, and the inmost heart, welling up from the depths of the in- 
 most tenderness, will answer. 
 
 It is the connecting link between the spirits of your sphere 
 and ours ; the cord that draws the spirit back to earth and ele- 
 vates the thought back to heaven. 
 
 This may to many seem a small, worthless, and even absurd 
 subject. The great and mighty of the earth despise small things; 
 yet it is the small things, the trifles, which draw out the tender- 
 est emotions of the heart. They swell and overflow. Have not 
 the high and mighty those well-springs in their heart's ? Yes, 
 every heart will gush up; and through their affections must the 
 mighty ones be reached. 
 
 This intercourse is calculated to bring heaven and earth more 
 closely together, and to make man feel his resjionsibility as man, 
 to lift him up from his degradation; and when jou see this fully, 
 you will not say the spirits' labor has been in vain. When tiie 
 unfolding light of spiritual communication shall reach the hearts 
 of the sons and daughters of earth, it will come with sweet hu- 
 mility, open their eyes, and show them wherein they err. It will 
 set them to thinking; and every heart thus set to thinking, will 
 feel, ' Thou art the man.' 
 
 No one will be overlooked in the crowd, the great spirits will 
 take cognizance of all, the high and the low. 
 
 Some say, I '11 believe Avhen others do. If so, you lose much 
 precious time by tarrying. Sometimes the laggard is caught in 
 darkness ere he is awarel
 
 390 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 How very dim life on earth seems to me now ! I look upon it 
 as a troubled dream, wherein were indeed some bright spots, some 
 kind feelings shed around my path to make it brighter. I was 
 but the germ placed in a casket of clay, whose inner unfoldings, 
 whose heaven-sent aspirations, should have begun to develop them- 
 selves sooner while placed there. 
 
 Of every man shall be required a talent. Let each ask, have I 
 one, and will the Lord require that talent of me ? Most assured- 
 ly, my friends. Do not hide it in the ground, but let it shine 
 forth to warn your fellow-men. It was given to use: one may 
 help another, and all mingle and combine together, and make up 
 the great sun which giveth life on earth. 
 
 Every created one has some germ of beauty to be expanded. 
 All are not unfolded, because the present state of society forbids 
 it. What beautiful spirits are hid below tlie superstition, igno- 
 rance, error, and poverty that surround you ! 
 
 When will man feel that his fellow-man requires a talent at his 
 hand ? As ye do it to these little ones, so ye do it unto me. 
 
 You may think that all are not performing a work. All can- 
 not, through the force of circumstances. The work which en- 
 ables the rich man to roll in luxury, causes the sweat to pour 
 from the poor man's brow. Is this right ? Is your society organ- 
 ized aright ? Were labor so equalized that all might bear a part, 
 each in his respective capacity, all might share in the benefits, 
 and yet all be in their proper places, not to create confusion, or a 
 vast revolution, or plan of socialism, but so dividing and dif- 
 fusing, that the wants of all should supply the wants of all ; the 
 works of all supply the works of all, mind as well as labor. By 
 so doing there would be no necessity for the poor beggar to wan- 
 der through your streets, for the little stray waifs, the homeless 
 cues, to be cast on the broad sands of iniquity. 
 
 How the spirits grieve at the lowness of those who are made to 
 grovel in the dust by the selfishness and rapacity of their follows 
 in humanity ! The humblest creature, however deformed or 
 warped, is capable of being cultivated in his own sphere, and be- 
 ing made useful. 
 
 Friends! won't you work to bring this about? Won't you 
 speak to those in high places ? It will begin as a drop and flow 
 out and become a stream, and grow broader in the glad sun- 
 light.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 391 
 
 The seed is not always sown on fallow ground. In some places 
 it will yield fifty-fold ; and if it yield only one, will it not satisfy 
 you that you are improving your time ? 
 
 Do you not perceive, as you use your talent, it will increase ; 
 that it confers more strength on the owner, as well as extends to 
 others the benefits which you have so bountifully received ? " 
 
 " I see this fire, kindled by love and harmony, which consti- 
 tutes brotherly love, will closely bind you as with a chain whose 
 links shall become more immovable, as the desires of each shall 
 fervently ascend to Heaven for strength to progress into the 
 heaven on earth which you are all expecting to realize. And to 
 attain this end, let each and all of you measure your own heaven 
 by your own experience, extending your mind to no greater than 
 that which you are able to grasp. Be content with the unfold- 
 ing of the germ which in due time will become a bud, and which, 
 when the bud is sufficiently matured, will burst into a fiower. 
 But were the flower to unfold before it was sufficiently strength- 
 ened to receive the rays of light, it would shrink back within 
 itself, and be withered by the effulgence which it could not bear. 
 My wish is, that every soul may see its own heaven. 0, do not 
 measure your own experience by one another's, but look within 
 your own hearts, and receive the draught of happiness in what- 
 ever measure it may be meted out to you, and be assured tliat you 
 receive as much as you are able to bear, though it may seem to 
 come slowly. 
 
 A great work, to be greatly advanced, must be carried along 
 slowly, continually, and steadily, yet with an unwavering faith. 
 The workmen must first lay a sure foundation, which must first 
 commence in their own minds; and when the foundation is sure, 
 solid, and unshrinking, then it is time to proceed swiftly with 
 the rearing of tlic structure, the greatness of which will require 
 many and all manner of laborers before it shall attain its perfec- 
 tion. And patience, hope, trusting, and long-suffering, .will be 
 requisite for each and all, while this mighty work proceeds. 
 
 Be ye dwellers in the green and shady valley, and listen to the 
 quiet murmur of the stream whose waters are as a deep flow of 
 joy. Seek not to climb the mountain while you are yet feeble, 
 but enjoy the beauties within your reach, and let the mountain 
 come to you. When you have become sufficiently strong, you 
 will not be overcome by the brightness of the light.
 
 392 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 The general teachings of the present day, are of such a conflict- 
 ing and fluctuating nature, as to create lather antagonistic feel- 
 ings, than sentiments of harmony. One party maintains teachings 
 which are in direct opposition to those of another, and each ex- 
 claims, ' Walk in the path which we are treading, for it will surely 
 lead you to the haven for which you are seeking ; our teacher 
 can explain all things to your satisfaction.' And still another, 
 and another party, walk with like texts upon their hearts. And 
 shall these men say. We follow the Bible ? I say, they follow the 
 teachings of the different minds, which put different construc- 
 tions on the same revelations. Then what man shall say (and 
 feel secure), I am right, and you are wrong ? or who shall say, I 
 worship no graven image, but the image of the living G-od ? 
 
 My friends, this mingling of so many rights, makes one great 
 wrong of society as it now exists. The present social structure 
 is inharmoniously organized, and disorderly arranged ; for the 
 man of might is the man of right, and that only by the authority 
 which his might gives. And the man of honesty, is oftentimes 
 the man of beggary, through the advantage which the man of 
 selfishness gains, making him the stepping-stone to the throne of 
 power, whereon mammon sits enthroned, wielding a brazen scep- 
 tre which is called gold, and before whose presence the man of 
 need, and the daughters of drudgery, the hewei's of wood, and the 
 drawers of unclean water for unclean purposes, are made to bow 
 in humble submission. And who shall say that wrong will make 
 right, until the wrong of oppression is taken from the hands of 
 the oppressor? The strings which have vibrated in his heart, are 
 those of avarice and ungodly gain ; and the might which he exer- 
 cises so unjustly keeps the hearts of the oppressed, from catching 
 even a glimpse of the treasures which lie concealed within their 
 own being, thus shutting out from them the light, which it is their 
 right to enjoy as sons and daughters of a common Father. Ah ! 
 that wrong tramples upon a great right, and its course may be 
 traced to the very depths of misery and iniquity, which are filled 
 by a combination of wrongs. And as we gaze upon the vast picture 
 of dreary desolation, and shudder at the black and repulsive ap- 
 pearance of the surrounding world, we feel that a great work is to 
 be carried on, executed, and accomplished. A mighty work it is, 
 to stir up the fountains of the human heart, that men may become 
 alive to the state of those whom they call brothers. How much they
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 393 
 
 make this a term of derision ; and by the very mention of such 
 relations, they seem to disgrace the Parent who could so unwisely 
 divide the inheritance of earth among those who are called his 
 children. Thinking minds will ask themselves the question, Are 
 we not robbing our brothers of their birthright ? and the more 
 fully and evenly developed minds, will see the immediate cause 
 for action in themselves. 
 
 When the character and responsibilities of every mind is placed 
 in this light, it will be easy to perceive where the path of duty 
 lies. And I am persuaded that all who wish to perform that 
 important part of life called duty, will have an amj^le scope for 
 indulging their desire. There will be no necessity for one look- 
 ing upon another and saying, What shall we do to be saved? 
 but each individual must take the work into his own hands to 
 save his fellow-man from the state Avhich has been induced by 
 darkness of mind and oppression of soul. This is a work in 
 which angels on high, whose robes are pure and shining with 
 holy light, rejoice to be engaged in; and, mortal man, think 
 never that thou art free from responsibility to heaven, so long as 
 the condition of thy fellow-beings on the earth, thy brothers and 
 sisters, requires the talent which God has given to thy mind, and 
 which in time will be required of thee us being increased or di- 
 minished by the use to which it is devoted. 
 
 children of earth, turn from your lofty structures erected 
 for the worship of the Most Iligh, and go forth beneath the star- 
 lit canopy, to receive with inward joy the echo, the spirit-echo, 
 which shall meet you ', it shall embrace you, and fill you with 
 love, with joy, and with peace unutterable. 0, the unsophisticated 
 mind is, indeed, capable of high development ! " 
 
 " Make unto thyself a world of beauty within ; an inner life, a 
 holy of holies, a sacred place where none may intrude, a spot 
 dedicated in all its beauty and glory as the sanctuary of the most 
 high God. This is within thee, it is a part of thee, it is all 
 sparkling and shining. It needs but to be pervaded by the holy 
 presence, the essence of soul, the life of light; for behold ! as the 
 dew vanisheth from the grass where it hath glittered as diamonds 
 in the morning sun, it passeth away, and ye behold it no more, 
 ye recognize it not again ; so will all external beauties fade; so, 
 in time, shall they cease to give thy heart joy, and tliy soul glad- 
 ness. Thou wilt look back upon the past as a man who has
 
 394 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 "walked in a sleep, struggling and striving with great phantoms, 
 even those of his destiny. And when the light which made thee 
 glad hath passed away into the darkness of ohlivion, then shall 
 the deep, low breathing of thy spirit's immortal harmony raise up 
 within thee a light, a soft and sweet melody, which shall be a joy to 
 thee forever. That is not earth ; that f adeth not away ; that is endur- 
 ing and immortal, even as the glory of thy God is immortal, only 
 changing from one glory to a greater and greater." 
 
 "Are we to suppose that the great Deity, in his wisdom, and 
 in contradiction to his natural laws, poured out his spirit in other 
 days more abundantly, and refined men's souls more quickly 
 than now ? Have we, indeed, cultivated all the revealed wisdom 
 which has been manifested since the beginning ? And does the 
 human race become grosser and less refined, or spiritualized, in its 
 development, both physically and mentally, than it did in former 
 years ? If so, then would this world present a very different ap- 
 pearance. Instead of the active, progressive principle which is 
 ever urging you onward and upward to excel each other in every 
 thing, you would be a nation of sluggards, content to have your 
 worship measured out to you, to be performed in proper quanti- 
 ties, and then, like poor slaves, having performed your duties, you 
 would retire, feeling that this is all that is required of you as 
 men and Christians, for the welfare of your immortal souls. 
 
 But the enlightened mind now turns with uneasiness and dis- 
 gust from such senseless ceremonies. It refuses to be led y one 
 mind to a certain point, and then to be commanded to retire, 
 saying, ' Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther ! ' But it will pen- 
 etrate farther ; it will not rest in its spiritual darkness, gaziug 
 only upon the things which have become old, and stale, and Avear- 
 isome, from continued repetition. It wants something more. It is 
 becoming so refined in its progressive state of activity, that it 
 reaches beyond the established rules which have hitherto been its 
 guide. 
 
 And with this longing, this deep aspiration after a greater 
 knowledge of the inner laws which control the being of man, be- 
 gins an expansion, weak and fluttering at first, trembling as 
 though afraid to tread on forbidden ground; and yet how eager 
 becomes the soul, as every new glimpse of light flashes upon its 
 astonished vision! And presently the soul becomes stronger, 
 more firm in its purpose, more bold in its demands ; the flicker-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 395 
 
 ing views which it has already received, now propel it with great 
 rapidity. 
 
 " And the sky seems like one broad arch of glory, whereon is 
 reflected the love of the Father upon his children, and nought 
 seems dark and dreary but the human soul ; for here, wretched- 
 ness, vice, selfishness, and pride go hand-in-hand to destroy their 
 victims ; and here is seen the folly of men's laws ! 
 
 Here may be seen the great point of man's development, when 
 giving strict and impartial justice to his fellow-men ; for here, 
 one who has never gazed before, would think God forever smiled 
 on one part of his children, and condemned the other part to 
 endless misery and wretchedness, so different do their paths and 
 pursuits appear. What a clashing and jarring of interests on one 
 side, and want on the other ! The rich man desires to be rich 
 still; and why should he not? for it insures him luxury and 
 ease ; but the poor man desires to be rich ; and why should he 
 not? for his life seems one long day of toil, and his moments of 
 rest are scarce sufficient to recruit the wants which will not be 
 denied, so long as life is sustained ; and lie is not in a natural 
 position to follow out the great end and aim of his destiny. 
 
 The people being so unequally divided as regards temporal ad- 
 vantages, must also continue, in like manner, unequally enlight- 
 ened in a spiritual direction, until there are many vast changes 
 in the state of society; and this will not be brought about until 
 the eyes of those are opened widely to their position, who enjoy 
 time and opportunity to acquire new knowledge. And when 
 some great souls have been waked up from their long dream of in- 
 dolence and ease to a right sense of their true responsibility, they 
 will be up and doing. They will lay down great princii)lcs; they 
 will create a grand platform upon which these principles of equal- 
 ity and fraternity must be firmly established ; and they will make 
 man to see how degraded is his position, as an immortal soul, 
 as an individual whose birth-right is as secure and indispensable 
 to his heaven-born inheritance as that of the reputed noblest in 
 the land, first in a temporal, and then in a spiritual point of 
 view. For how can his spirit ever mount beyond its little abode 
 here, while crushed by privation and want ? The tcmi>oral state 
 of mankind is their greatest barrier against their si)iritual devel- 
 opment, and let them but be shown how they may improve their 
 condition, or how their lives may become pleasanter and better,
 
 396 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 let them be made acquainted with the great laws of equality, 
 which should govern the human family, and they will join togeth- 
 er, heart and hand, to advance the cause. They will soon lose 
 their air and mein of servants, and all will become as brethren, 
 standing on one broad platform, open alike to the interests of all. 
 
 Then let those who have spiritual gifts use them, when spirit- 
 ual gifts are needed, and those who have temporal gifts apply 
 them also to the lifting up of their fellow-men, for, verily, every one 
 will have to give an account of his talent, and every talent may 
 be applied to a different use, all varied, but still useful and har- 
 monious. 
 
 My friends not yet in the light, in whose souls the seeds of 
 truth are not yet quickened by the light of love, by affliction, or 
 so-called trial, may sneer at these facts, and say that they will 
 allow their spiritual advisers to dictate their charity and their 
 faith, but believe me, ye who listen, there is no such compromise 
 with the angels whose unerring record tallies every act of man, 
 and marks them in the tablet of his own heart. The ceaseless 
 tide of compensation flows on and on, forever, and charity can 
 no more be separated from justice, than the sun can be torn by 
 the power of man from yonder heavens. Who, then, will dare to 
 dispense judgment, or who will place the responsibility of so- 
 called crimes. Not thou, man ! whose standard is the narrow 
 platform of sectarianism, whose life is measured by tlae shortest 
 span, and whose happiest hour is when some necessity of the 
 great brotherhood of humanity enables thee to place thy stock 
 and trade beyond the reach of him who toils for his daily bread, 
 and whose shivering offspring is denied only that which fashion- 
 ably dressed charity regards as popular. ye who would enter 
 the silvery gateway, and listen to the sweet songs of an approving 
 conscience, know that ye can entertain angels, and that within 
 the gardens of your souls will spring up bright and beautiful 
 flowers, which will shade thy pathway to the temples of the liv- 
 ing God within. Be not strangers to yourselves ; listen to those 
 intuitions which speak unmistakably to thy sjDiritnal being ; let 
 ths7n be first in the market-place and at the fireside, for ye will 
 find them bringing you nearer and nearer to the kingdom, which 
 first sought and made to dwell within you, all other things shall 
 be added thereto. 
 
 The heavens are unfolding as a scroll of light, and the day of
 
 THE UNSEAX,ED BOOK. 397 
 
 new things is dawning upon the children of men, and they shall 
 know, because God hath willed it so, and sent his holy spirits to 
 tell them that they are free, because truth is free, and light is 
 free. And God hath said, ' Let there be light,' and lo, it cometh 
 so soon as men can bear it. Therefore prepare yourselves to re- 
 ceive it. 
 
 The following, from a letter which I received some time smce, 
 will be found to contain the impress of thoughts upon topics 
 little treated of in this work, notwithstanding their great impor- 
 tance. I give it simply as an individual opinion, my own mind 
 never having been exercised in that direction. Whether my 
 spirit-guides will proffer any remarks upon, or suggestions in 
 connection w;th the subject-matter contained therein, will doubt- 
 less be made manifest, after the extract has been penned, 
 
 " Howsoever much you may be tried in regard to your belief, I 
 know you will not swerve one iota from what you believe to be 
 right and just. Do not allow present adverse circumstances to 
 weigh on your mind, for although we may be called upon, at 
 times, to sacrifice the physical, to obtain the spiritual, I believe 
 it to be an abnormal rather than a natural state, caused by artifi- 
 cial surroundings, and by the coarse requirements of a material 
 and physical existence. The true life, if we could only be per- 
 mitted to live one, would not call for any physical sacrifice, for 
 the physical would then be in harmony with the spiritual. I 
 merely state the foregoing, without wishing to elaborate, as I 
 wish to get at Mr. Fowler, as you have been brought in contact 
 with him. I suppose you will see something more than a coinci- 
 dence in events as transpired, and perliaps there is, but you must 
 know, that I do not possess your faith. My experience has not 
 been such as to inculcate faith in my nature, that is, faith wherein 
 the reason cannot go. 
 
 But to Mr. Fowler : He is a thorough, scientific scholar, and 
 anything he may have said, or has written, is entitled to serious 
 consideration. Yet I must be allowed to say that, judging from 
 his writings, he reasons from a ])urcly scientific and material 
 standpoint. This, from any one in his line, is all we ought to 
 expect. He does not seem to have much of the spiritual in his 
 nature; but as I judge wholly from his writings, I may be in cr-
 
 398 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 ror. His book on Sexual Science, or the Science of Life, is an 
 invaluable work, but, like all the productions of man, is open to 
 criticism. He tells us that ' a man or woman, married to one, be- 
 tween whom no love exist, is simply adultery ;' and, if either loves 
 another, he calls it ' double adultery.' This no one can deny ; 
 but when, in another place, he tells us, in very vulgar terms, that 
 every ivoman has her price, — of course he means through love — I 
 feel as if I should like to take him to task. In connection with 
 the above, he tells us, that (he quotes some one else and adopts 
 
 it) any woman in love, can be in forty-eight hours. This 
 
 does not detract from him credit on the other portions of his 
 work, yet, in my estimation, it does lower him as a man. While 
 it may be true as regards a great majority of women, he has no 
 right to make so sweeping an assertion. He may be a phrenolog- 
 ical scholar ; he may be benevolent and have many noble virtues ; 
 yet the ideal has no existence in his nature. Perhaps he would 
 tell us that idealty has no place or existence in science ; but then 
 we know that science cannot measure the human heart, nor can 
 it measure the height or depth of a single soul in existence. 
 Perhaps, after all, I have not been just, or charitable enough with 
 him ; but he might, at least, have put it in a less repulsive manner. 
 In regard to the past, present, and future, as regards marriage, 
 polygamy, etc., monogamy is superior to polygamy; the former 
 removed some of the evils of the latter, but not all. The future 
 must, and will do its worh, just as sure as life continues. Love 
 will accomplish the unfinished work — love free and unfettered 
 by idle forms and ceremonies. We speak of man and woman as 
 two distinct and separate species, yet it takes the two to form a 
 dual one; neither ts without the other; it takes two to make a 
 perfect one. Do you comprehend and sense what I mean ? What, 
 then, makes the union ? is it a form or particular ordinance ? 
 How ridiculous ! If one loves the other, and that love is recipro- 
 cated, there is a marriage, and the union is complete ; love, and 
 love only, can make a union. But we may love one for a time, 
 and then one may outgrow the other and demand an higher 
 union. This is perfectly logical. What, then, can be done ? I 
 speak here not confining time or marriage to earth-life, for we 
 love in the life to come as we do here. Love alone must be the 
 judge; but some may object on the plea that many would inter- 
 pret licentiousness as being love. True, but we cannot expect to
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 399 
 
 flee from all evil at one step. At the worst it could be no worse 
 than the present false system. We cannot expect to live a per- 
 fect life here ; we could not even if left to ourselves, and then we 
 have the world around us. 
 
 Mr. Fowler, in all probability, meant, when he said the future 
 was neither polygamy nor monogamy, promiscuity, as advocated 
 by Moses Hull and his school. This has been derided, even by 
 free lovers ; yet there is some truth in it, and it possesses many 
 virtues; but I do not regard it as a permanent condition ; it can 
 only be a stepping-stone to a higher sphere. It may be a neces- 
 sity for many to pass through it ; the fact is, we cannot lay down 
 any law or system of laws that will be applicable to all ; the best 
 we can do is to be true to ourselves and our own natures. I speak 
 now in a wide sense ; I care not how far you may carry the appli- 
 cation practically, in any form you choose ; it will hold good all 
 the way. I know you will excuse me for speaking plainly, for we 
 cannot be understood unless Ave do so. Then to proceed : If Mr, 
 IIull or any of his belief think themselves justified in living A^ith 
 one woman, and living on very intimate terms with another, I Loid 
 that they are justified ; for if this system were to be abused it 
 would only be temporarily ; the evil would be overcome by pro- 
 gression, and the participants would emerge as from a retining 
 furnace. The vicious would mingle, sexually, only with the 
 vicious, the refined with the refined, etc., through all creation; 
 for all creation is ruled by law as unerring as a law in mathe- 
 matics, and that law is — God. Every feeling of our nature, 
 every desire, every aspiration was planted in us by Ilim ; and if 
 these arc not satisfied it is proof conclusive that we are violating 
 Ilis law. This, also, holds good Avhercver you may carry it. "We 
 may not all be enabled to do what is right, but that does not in- 
 validate the right. Take thousands of men and women in exis- 
 tence, some married and some not, all are alike governed by 
 certain unerring, sexual laws, some to a greater or lesser extent, it 
 is true, yet all under the law. Take the unmarried first ; here is 
 a number of men and women controlled by a law created by God 
 that attracts one to the other, who are prevented by one thing 
 or another bevond their control from followimr out a God-?iven 
 law. Would such be right in thrusting aside all obstacles in their 
 path, that have been created by society, and fulfilling the behests 
 of nature? Fowler holds that they would, and many others
 
 400 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 skilled in medical science as well as physiology, hold and teach 
 the same doctrine. Of course they tell us that all should be 
 under intellectual control. But if such a doctrine is right for 
 any, it is right for all ; if it is not right for all it is right for 
 none. 
 
 If my views are wrong, I shall see it in the future ; you, per- 
 haps, can correct me, for a woman's perceptions on such subjects 
 are more likely to be right than a man's. 
 
 As regards what you are pleased to call my ' work : ' As 
 things are now, I can do nothing in that line but keep a grim 
 silence. I should like, some time, to finish a work I have on my 
 mind. If I had the ability to do it justice, it would take its place 
 as a standard work in literature. I would first trace down the 
 religious wars of history from the earliest time, but more es- 
 pecially from the ascension of Constantino to the Eoman throne, 
 and to show the misery and desolation entailed on the human race 
 by the same. To show up the several saviours the vv^orld has known, 
 and compare their teachings, showing that each was the natural 
 outgrowth of the other, from the cradle of our race : to show up 
 the true position of Jesus Christ and his teachings, and that he 
 was but an advance pioneer of those who immediately preceded 
 him; to look into the new systems of government, social and 
 political, and examine the true government for the future, to wit, 
 the commune, or harmonial republic. Such a work would require 
 years of close application to study and research. But I must 
 close my too long letter. If Mr. F. said anything that you can 
 draw any inferences from, please let me know ; also if there is any- 
 thing said in your communications through Mrs. E that would 
 
 interest or instruct me. Do the best you can, enjoy yourself, 
 and do not let your mind be troubled. You have trusted so implic- 
 itly to your guides, that it seems as if all things must be for the 
 best ; should think you would bring them down to the practical 
 affairs of life as well as the spiritual and literary." 
 
 There is indeed much we would gladly give in connection with 
 the foregoing- ea, so much that the few suggestions to which 
 we must necessarily restrict ourselves seem as nought in compar- 
 ison with the volumes of mystery yet to be unveiled to the sons 
 of earth through the instrumentality of, or by the co-operation 
 of the " just made perfect," who are continually striving with
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 401 
 
 humanity, even as the angel of the Lord wrestled with Jacob. 
 that, like him, they would cry out and say, ''We will not let 
 thee go except thou bless us," for then would the spirit of the 
 Lord be poured upon all flesh, their name should no more be 
 coupled with ignorance, and confined within the narrow limits of 
 arbitrary conventional rules. But our words must be few ; for, 
 as before stated, we have already superseded all bounds as re- 
 gards quantity, yet at the same time we are aware that many 
 highly important subjects and interesting stages of developme*it 
 have been treated in a desultory and perhaps unsatisfactory man- 
 ner. This could not be avoided where so wide a range of progres- 
 sive and practical thoughts and ideas were endeavoring to force 
 their way through the narrow channel of communication opened 
 up to them. 
 
 In the present instance we can scarcely refrain from giving 
 place to a few remarks, if only to encourage our brother, whose 
 honesty of purpose and sincerity of heart seem stamped upon 
 every line of his writings. 
 
 Most truly be it said, that inharmonious marriage is one of the 
 greatest of social evils, and has from the beginning of time en- 
 tailed upon the human family more misery and suffering, both 
 physical and mental, than all other misdevelopments combmed. 
 
 There are " no sweets like those of spiritual or congenial mar- 
 riage ; no bitterness so bitter as false unions, such as are often 
 recklessly formed on earth ; they are not unions, but rather an- 
 imal connections. Heavenly marriage, the union of congenial 
 spirits, results in certain and unalloyed bliss. This is the state 
 in which the individuality of each is swallowed up in the other, 
 and the two are made one, a unit in thought, feeling, sentiment, 
 and aspiration. Their children are what nature designed children 
 to be, perfect models, and trained from infancy in morality and 
 intellect. They are perfect types of what man should be, to go 
 rapidly on to perfection. 
 
 The virtuous man and woman have peculiar sympathies which 
 they cannot express. They have strong desires for congenial 
 companionship. The mind images to itself the felicity of a union 
 with another appreciating mind. It meets its object, and then 
 knows that no mind is perfect without its mate. As the brain is 
 constituted of two hemispheres, so it takes two minds to perfect 
 one. God has planted these desires in the human soul, and, un-
 
 402 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 der proper regulations, the soul must act true to its promptings. 
 Thus it recognizes its mate, and has a foretaste of the joys a 
 union will produce. Now let it be turned off with a cold, antag- 
 onistical companion, and it is crushed. The peace of the family 
 circle is broken by discord ; the lower passions of the offspring 
 are continually influenced by their sympathy with the parents. 
 The more spiritual the mind, the more discrimination it possesses 
 in the recognition of its true mate; and the more debased, the 
 less discernment it possesses. 
 
 If you would exalt your children through life and through 
 eternity, make the family circle harmonious and pure ; make it a 
 primary school and college in which may be learned lessons of 
 wisdom and virtue. 
 
 Men are not free. Some are slaves to their passions, some to 
 their creeds, some to their superstitions and prejudices. He who 
 dares to stand up nobly, defending his manhood and acting true 
 to his convictions, is but one in millions. 
 
 Every man and woman should consider themselves individual 
 sovereigns, to think and to act as best pleases themselves, if they 
 do not infringe on the rights of others. There should be no con- 
 formity except to Natui'c. The thoughts of yesterday, if they 
 cannot bear the light of to-day, should be cast aside. 
 
 True, there are those, now and then, whom nothing can cor- 
 rupt, so elevated in their sublime spirituality that they can walk 
 through the depth of depravity, unscathed ; but such are excep- 
 tions. The great multitude are all subject to surrounding 
 circumstances. Exercise your charity then, in changing the 
 condition of the miserable, and elevating the wretched. 
 
 To this end, unite with a congenial mind. You say all strive 
 to do so. Yes, but they only strive with their animal instincts, 
 not with the attractions of the spirit. There are numerous posi- 
 tive attractions in the essence of the soul, which, if followed, will 
 find their proper negatives. You should rise above all conven- 
 tional regulations, and follow the dictates of reason and wisdom, 
 and become passive to their impressions. The spirit desires to 
 find its mate. If it fails, it is like the turtle-dove; it mourns, 
 night and day, over hill and dale, to find the counterjiart of its 
 being. The ceremony is nothing ; the heakt is all. 
 
 Many are going to the banquet of woe with garlands of roses
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 403 
 
 on their brows, all unsuspicious of the sufferings they are to en- 
 dure. And is there no remedy ? 
 
 Yes, a remedy is near. They must be instructed. Laws are 
 seldom violated wilfully, but almost always through ignorance. 
 They must be made to see the right, and to recognize the grand 
 difference between animal instinct and angelic love. Where the 
 spirit leads, go. Magnets have not surer attractions than affini- 
 ties of soul." 
 
 We would say to thee, brother, Go forth in the strength of thy 
 manhood, and boldly teach these lofty doctrines as transmitted 
 to thee from the life-spheres above. Free love, as now under- 
 stood, or rather misunderstood, is not practicable for the age, and 
 its tendency, until mankind become more pure, would be perni- 
 cious. " Free love is for man only when he becomes an angeh 
 But teach how mutual attractions may be recognized and pre- 
 served. Teach the world that marriage is above animal instinct; 
 an eternal relation of the souls of two immortals; that death 
 changes not the relations that congenial minds hold to each other, 
 rather strengthening the ties of affection ; teach how the soul 
 may be read beneath its exterior garment, and how all its interior 
 promptings and desires may be determined. 
 
 Go down in the sunbeams of morning's light, and write for 
 the world. What you write will be read and criticised to-day, 
 and the present generation will profit very little by it. But the 
 young and expanding minds Avill reflect on these things, and in 
 ages to come they shall tell, and become a greater monument 
 than you now hope to rear. Your name shall be given to the 
 truths you teach, which, combined, will ultimate in an institu- 
 tion, and you will speak through the centuries. We all have ap- 
 propriate spheres to fill; this is yours; and the infinite God 
 speaks to you — go. Perform the task assigned you on earth, 
 that it may not check your progress here. Do right, act Justly, 
 love your race. Then will you softly close your eyes in sleep 
 when age has settled on your earthly form. No shadow will 
 darken your soul ; but peacefully will the internal unfold itself, 
 and you will awake in heaven, an angel of light." 
 
 Our next may properly be styled "gleanings," as it consists of 
 scraps culled from the various letters of a friend. These, though
 
 404 THE ITNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 bearing different dates, all come within the purview of our regret- 
 ted " New Departure." 
 
 "DearE : 
 
 " said I must write you a word, as you would be 
 
 looking for a letter to-day or to-morrow. I told her I hardly 
 felt that anything I could say would be of much interest to you, 
 as it would have to be composed mainly of earthly things. We 
 are all very happy ; only one thing worries me somewhat : in your 
 New Departure, or new life, it is hard to make you seem like the 
 dear E. of old. Perhaps this is only my idea ; to all of tl^e rest 
 you may seem the same, only drifted away from me. I am afraid 
 the coming years in your new way will not bring increased hap- 
 piness to you ; it seems to me the intense strain upon your mental 
 powers will sooner break down your body, than the quiet, happy 
 life you have known in the years that are gone. I say this in 
 sorrow, not in anger or reproach, and surely, not that I think 
 anything which I say will change your course, as I do not ever 
 expect to try to turn you from the path you. have chosen. But I 
 think if you would look backward, you would see in the years 
 that have gone in the old way, calm happy hours, which, if they 
 were not lived in so intense an atmosphere, will yet live in your 
 memory as the pleasant spots in life. If anything I have said 
 hurts you, am sorry ; if it does you good, shall be glad of it. 
 That kind angels will watch over you always, is the wish of ." 
 
 " The memorial service for Mr. was wondrously beautiful. 
 
 One item of it might perhaps comfort you if you needed it. He 
 
 (the speaker) said, Mr. told him a day or two before he died, 
 
 tliat he had prayed that he might have some token that his faith 
 and hope were sure ; and that in the stillness of the night, he saw 
 the Ruby Gates opened, and looked in upon the golden streets, 
 and saw the New Jerusalem. And again, at his bedside appeared 
 a form like unto the Son of God, and kindly beckoned him home ; 
 and then 't was given him to know, that but a few hours would 
 pass before he would be at rest in the bosom of his Father." 
 
 " It seems a long, long time, since you went away. Have you 
 had a good time ? I think you said you were among people who 
 understood you. I give them credit for being good, bright people 
 if they can do it, for I can't, and I have thought I knew some- 
 thing about you; but since your literary career commenced, I
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 405 
 
 give it np. Have been expecting to see, in some paper, ' Among 
 the Pines.' Arc you writing yet? does the gentle muse still lin- 
 ger in your heart? Well, I won't abuse you any more this time; 
 hope that you are well, and truly happy, and that you may be 
 tenderly cared for always." 
 
 " We have read your book and sent it down to . You know, 
 
 or can imagine, that it has not been popular in L . There 
 
 has been a great deal of talk about it, and people are continually 
 asking if you are coming back. I do not think the New Depar- 
 ture has added to any one's pleasure, unless it is yours; but will 
 not scold you. We are all drifting swiftly towards the letter 
 Countr}^ May bright flowers ever bloom in your pathway, and 
 may God kindly care for you ever, is the good-night wish of 
 
 Youii Friend." 
 
 Thiuk'st thou, my friend, that earthly things no longer 
 Charm mine eyes — no joy unto my soul impart ? 
 That I could cast aside the cherished friends 
 Who have to me been always kind and true ? 
 Nay, friend, angelic ones teach otherwise : 
 Earth's useless dross may be consumed ; the gold 
 Comes forth resplendent from the seething flames. 
 And so with us : each trial sore, rightly 
 Applied, refines and purifies the heart. 
 All wrong desires we hope and pray may die, 
 But shall our holy friendships ? Nay, not these ; 
 They may, perchance, within this world of strife 
 Put forth "nothing but leaves ;" yet, in that clime 
 Genial and fair, they'll yield immortal blooms. 
 Again, methinks thou dost most blindly err 
 In seeking present joys so entirely 
 From past experience. Believe me, friend, 
 The memory of those calm, happy hours 
 Will live ; no change of time can them efface. 
 Yet, is there not in store for all, brighter 
 Joys ahead? Yea, brighter, purer, rarer, 
 Less mixed with earth's corrodiuij cares and woes. 
 Then forward, heavenward, turn thy course — let not
 
 406 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 The past regretted be, except the ills 
 
 And errors blind. Thus shalt thou for thyself 
 
 A glorious future help prepare ; angels, 
 
 Thine own dear guardian ones, will smile on thee. 
 
 And aid thee to safe anchor cast — at Home. 
 
 What have we here, so " wondrously beautiful," 
 
 Which casts o'er thee a hallowed spell, lingers 
 
 So tenderly within the precincts of 
 
 Thine own spirit's abode, until it has, 
 
 Through thee, unconscious friend, its heaven-appointed 
 
 IVIission inscribed? Yea, indelibly, too. 
 
 Upon the pages of eternity. 
 
 Thou had'st no thought of tracing in lettered 
 
 Words this beautiful vision, bright and fair. 
 
 No more had I, but angels willed it so. 
 
 Yea, much more than this did they also vouchsafe, 
 
 For thi'ough a stranger unto me did come 
 
 A message from the heavenly spheres, even 
 
 From the abode of Him, thine honored friend, 
 
 Who saw the ruby gates unfold, the golden 
 
 Streets beheld. Believest thou this, my friend? 
 
 'T^s true. AVouldst thou learn when and how, through 
 
 whom? 
 I'll tell thee, for it did me much surprise, 
 So unexpectedly it came ; I scarce 
 Myself could it believe and realize 
 At the time. 
 
 The day following the receipt of your letter, I was engaged in 
 copying mauuscript, when a neighbor of the friends I was stop- 
 ing with called at the house : a lad, I think, fifteen or sixteen 
 years of age. He had not been aware, until a short time previous 
 to that, that he possessed mediumistic powers, so of course was 
 undeveloped in that capacity, the leading phase of which was 
 trance. He had several times become unconscious, spirits giving 
 messages through him. As we sat there he was controlled, but could
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 407 
 
 not at first speak ; he held up one hand and made as if writing 
 upon it with the other, pointing to me and gesticuhiting, as if 
 there was something he wished to convey or make me compre- 
 hend. I supposed, of course, it must be something in connection 
 with my writings, and remarked to that effect. He shook his 
 head, and at the same time became possessed of the power of 
 speech, though talking rather incoherently, as the first control 
 was an Indian spirit. He gave me to understand, however, that 
 it was to the contents of your letter he wished to direct my atten- 
 tion. As if to convince me of the truth of this, he gave, without 
 a Avord from me, the name of the deceased therein written ; then 
 followed a recital of the vision, given correctly and understandingly, 
 though in broken accents, at the close of which the spirit said : 
 "0, him so Jiapjjy — have no pain now. He no wants to come hach.^' 
 
 The Indian spirit then said there was some one j^resent who 
 wanted to talk with me, and gave his name. It was that of a 
 highly esteemed citizen of our town, who had been in spirit-life 
 but a few years. He controlled the medium, and not only con- 
 firmed what had been said, but gave some further information 
 regarding his spirit-life, also much pertaining to the earth-life, 
 both of himself and of his deceased (so-called) friend; proving, 
 beyond the shadow of a doubt, his identity. He expressed sin- 
 cere regret that his family, especially his wife, had no knowledge 
 of, or belief in, this beautiful spirit-communion. 
 
 The conditions were not favorable for a long interview. As I 
 have stated, the medium was an entire stranger to me. He knew 
 nothing of our place or people, or that a letter had been received ; 
 nor was he conscious of a word that was said through him. I 
 know not what will be your opinion of the communication ; but 
 for myself, I am as confident that it came from the spirit-land, 
 and from the party designated, as I am that your letter came from 
 L , and was penned by your own hand. 
 
 It does seem a long time since I left my native land. Shall I 
 ever return thereto? God aiid his angels may know, but such 
 knowledge is not for me ; no, not yet. Have I had a good time ? 
 My times have been in thy hands, Lord, devoted to thy cause ; 
 and I cherish a hope that, at some time or other, in some way or 
 other, through thy ministering spirits, good will accrue therefrom. 
 
 Did I say I was among those who understood me ? It may be ;
 
 408 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 yet I could not have meant my very self. I had reference then 
 to the spiritual philosophy which is gradually, but surely, un- 
 folding in our midst, and has become an established belief, not 
 only in this household, but in many others. I can truthfully and 
 with the most heart-felt gratitude, say, that since I came to dwell 
 in this land, no opposing word has chilled the atmosphere ; no 
 malicious eye shot forth the scorn the tongue refused to quite re- 
 veal ; no blighting winds of calumny have pierced my soul, save 
 those which blew from Northern climes. 
 
 What you say of a " great deal of talk," etc., reminds me of a 
 vision portraying the " Keception of Spiritualism," which I read, 
 a short time ago, and will here insert. 
 
 "I see a great city in the distance; a great, busy place. I see 
 one man coming from that city. He looks old, yet is tall and 
 erect, and his hair is gray. Under his arm he has a roll of paper. 
 He is coming on some important business connected with this 
 place. Some have gone out to meet him. To them he is unroll- 
 ing his papers, and spreading them out before them. They have 
 found something new there, and look incredulous. They shake 
 their heads and turn away ; yet their attention is arrested. They 
 crowd up and look at the papers. They read them, pass an opin- 
 ion upon them, and turn away. He has shown them what they 
 are, and now his part' is done. He therefore turns back to that 
 city, but he leaves the papers behind him. With his back toward 
 me he walks slowly along, in deep meditation, and with his arms 
 folded. He is alone, and no one notices him. They are too ear- 
 nestly engaged looking at his papers. Now a great crowd has 
 assembled around tliem, and it is very much excited by something 
 wonderful they have found in them. 
 
 Now they are passing them over their heads to their leaders, 
 and spreading them before them, and asking their opinion. If 
 they receive them favorably, the crowd are willing to, but they 
 want their sentiments first. I see some old men with spectacles 
 on, who are examining them. They go together in the corner of a 
 large room, and pore over them. Some gather in groups and dis- 
 cuss them; some turn away impatiently, and walk up and down, 
 gravely considering them. 
 
 Now I see some of the priests come up to examine them. One 
 of them has found something objectionable. He declaims against
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 409 
 
 it, as unlawful. He says it will ruin tlie people ; it will not do to 
 let the people get hold of such doctrines. He is very much excited. 
 
 Now one of the priests is approaching, so puffed up with pride 
 and self-conceit, he won't look at the papers, but turns away with 
 a sneer. 
 
 Now some learned men are examining them. They say, ' Show 
 us the philosophy of this thing, give us the laws which govern it, 
 let us know the science of it.' 
 
 Now they have all got into a wrangle about it; they dispute, 
 and all talk together. 
 
 The crowd who first received it seem to have dropj^ed it, and it 
 is among the educated classes. They disagree about it ; some of 
 them want to keep it among themselves, while the crowd are- 
 waiting their opinion ; and as sOon as it is given they will con- 
 Bent, with some exceptions. 
 
 Now the papers begin to look large. How they are spread out, 
 and carried round, and commented on. Almost every one has a 
 leaf or a copy. And spirits are standing by their side while they 
 are reading them, though they cannot see them. 
 
 There is very great excitement among the intellectual classes. 
 They have all got hold of them. 
 
 And now approaches again the man who brought the papers. 
 Crowds of people are going to him. They think he must know 
 all about it. Some are inquiring of him, some are abusing him, 
 calling him all sorts of names. Some shake hands with him, and 
 yet are afraid people shall see them do so. But they seem to 
 think so much of him. Yet he wears the same calm expression 
 of countenance to all. He tells them there are the papers, just 
 as they were given to him, and it is not his fault if they diHer 
 from their opinions. They must judge for themselves. 
 
 I see one man approaching him, who is very dark and repelling. 
 He threatens him. He would annihilate him if he could, he talks 
 80 bitterly. Yet he sits calmly amidst it all. Close by him stands 
 a majestic spirit, who sustains and strengthens him. That causes 
 him to look so firm. He loses none of his dignity or self-respect 
 by anything that dark one has said. He is neither awed nor 
 overcome, but is sorrowful. I see the tear glisten in his eye as 
 he turns away. 
 
 The dark man is surrounded by a gloomy cloud. He has two 
 or three others with him. He stands up higher than they; but
 
 410 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 they all feel the chilling influence of that dark cloud, but not 
 with such force and fury as it works on him. 
 
 What a storm is raging around him who brought the papers ! 
 There is such a dust and confusion around him that I can hardly 
 see him. But he is not forsaken. There is something bright and 
 shininff right over him. The storm will not hurt him. He has 
 six or seven people near him. How bad they feel ! They are 
 crying, and I see him no more, while the storm rages with more 
 violence than ever. 
 
 But ah ! now I see him again. There he is, right in the light! 
 The storm has passed away, and he looks happy and pleased. He 
 seems strong and young. Just see how beautiful everything is 
 since the storm has gone ! How many green and beautiful things 
 spring up all around him ! The air is clear and balmy. A great 
 many old things have tumbled to ruins, and every thing has a 
 renewed and youthful look. Those who were near him now look 
 so rejoiced! The storm has damaged them some, too, but it 
 has done them good. Their countenances look clearer and better. 
 He has gone through a great deal, but he has become purer, and 
 looks like an infant. He is so spiritual ! He is the image of a 
 good man: serene, joyful, and happy. He was sufEering in a good 
 cause, and see what good has come of it." 
 
 The following fragmentary portions of a letter I insert, simply 
 because containing the first, and indeed the almost only, expressed 
 (to me) disapprobation of aught relating to my conduct in con- 
 nection with my present belief. I will add that the reply to the 
 same purported to have been dictated by a spirit, a cherished 
 friend both of the author of the letter, and myself. I felt sure of 
 an invisible presence, and of supernal aid at the time, although 
 I knew not from what source it came until several days afterward. 
 As this was the first time I was said to have been impressed in my 
 writing, I am equally anxious to preserve that, although I can only 
 give a portion of each, the balance being of such a personal char- 
 acter the parties would be in danger of being recognized. The 
 writer's forebodings, as the contents of the letter indicate, were 
 principally on a friend's account, whom we shall designate G. 
 
 "DearE- 
 
 " With trembling hand I seat myself to address you :
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 411 
 
 trembling, for fear I may say something that I had better not. 
 But I pray God that he will direct my pen, that I may not. I 
 could a great deal easier sit down and cry myself sick than say 
 what I am going to to you, if I did not feel that 1 had a duty to 
 perform which I dare not shrink from. I do so hate to give you 
 pain, that my hand almost refuses to do its office. I thought I could 
 not meddle, until G. read his letter to me, from you, when I made 
 up my mind it was time you knew upon what ground you were 
 standing 
 
 I must tell you, but pray God it may not harm you ; she said, 
 
 that she and , both thought you were crazy. 0, that it should 
 
 become necessary for me to write it! 
 
 0, how can you dare to interest G. iu those things, after seeing 
 
 the awful end of B , and to look back, and see how many of 
 
 the family have been deranged. 0, it does seem to me, it ought 
 to be a warning to us, not to bring up anything to excite even 
 curiosity, for we all know how natural it is to him, to want to 
 know all that is to be known. I want you to promise me, as one 
 of the greatest favors that you could grant, that you will drop the 
 
 subject entirely with G I feel that our old religion is 
 
 good enough, and we shall be accepted if we strive to do every 
 known duty. You surely can trust us iu our heavenly Father's 
 hands, who doeth all things well. 
 
 I want to beg you once more, before I close, to grant my re- 
 quest; for if this thing should be brought into our home, I should 
 tremble for the consequences. And another thing will obtrude 
 
 itself upon my mind : L spoke of your having a good deal 
 
 of gentlemen's company. 0, may we not have the sting of think- 
 ing you are a free lover : above all things, let us think of you as 
 pure. It seems to me it would be too much for us to think 
 otherwise 
 
 Upon looking over my letter I see I have not said quite all I 
 want to about what Mrs. said, she went on to ex- 
 press herself so strongly, and got so excited, that I feared to stay 
 another minute, for fear it might bring harm in some way. 
 
 And noAV, dear E , I have been very plain with you. I 
 
 must say, if it will harm you any less, that / do not doubt yoiir 
 siiicerity. But as you will have to answer at the bar of God, for 
 harm that may come from what you may say, or write, I hope 
 you will be careful. We are too apt to be too sure that we are
 
 412 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 right, and the rest wrong. I do not wish to say anything, or 
 hear anything upon the subject that has disturbed us so much, 
 as we never should agree. I wish to drop it entirely." 
 
 I 
 
 [eeplt.] 
 
 Your letter was received last eve, and carefully perused, though 
 not with tears of remorse ; far from it. My first impulse was to 
 take no notice of its contents ; but a more careful consideration, 
 and a message from your own mother, saying, She means all 
 right, have decided me upon a different course. Were it concern- 
 ing myself alone, I could bear your reproaches in silence, for — 
 In the Lord put I my trust — and He has enabled me to live 
 above these petty annoyances. Yet I feel it is but just to the 
 cause of the truth which I espouse, to express myself freely upon 
 these subjects. And may the same Grod who has guided your 
 pen, direct my thoughts, that I may be enabled to answer your 
 every suggestion, in a truthful, and, as far as may be, satisfactory 
 manner. 
 
 You say you think it is time I knew upon what ground I am 
 standing. I agree with you perfectly in this, and at tlie same 
 time, thank my heavenly Father that he hath made my way so 
 ^lain I cannot be mistaken 
 
 As to the crazy part : I believe myself to be perfectly sane at 
 the pi-esent time ; but how long I might remain so, were I to 
 knowingly place myself in circumstances where my best thoughts 
 and feelings were misinterpreted, the highest and purest aspira- 
 tions of which my being is capable, crushed out and trampled 
 uj^on, God only knows. It is evident to me that the suppression 
 of the knowledge we crave, and which God has intended should 
 be as free to all as the air we breathe, will do more to produce 
 " insanity," than a careful and judicious study of the same. Wo 
 are all created free moral agents, with a right to think, speak, 
 and act, for ourselves. 
 
 " As you will have to answer at the bar of God for harm that 
 may come from what you may say or write, I hope you will be 
 careful." Yes, I hope I shall ; and truly thankful am I that it is 
 God's " bar," to which I shall have to answer, instead of the bar 
 of human injustice and wrong. Again, you speak of the "old 
 religion " being good enough for you. Now, friend, I do not be-
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 413 
 
 lieve there is a being upon the face of the earth who has ever 
 heard me speak ill of any religion, sect, or creed. I acknowledge 
 the good in all, both inside and outside of the churches. And 
 here it might be well to whisper a word in your ear, lest you 
 should be caught unawares. This " new religion," as you term it, 
 is slowly but surely creeping into the churches. Many leadiag 
 members have already acknowledged their belief in spirit-com- 
 munion, as have their pastors and teachers. Others, and cele- 
 brated ministers, too, who draw crowds of worshippers, were 
 convinced of these truths, years ago, although, from the lack of 
 moral courage or some other reason best known to themselves, 
 they do not come out before the world as Spiritualists. 
 
 There is one other subject which T suppose you have felt it 
 your duty to bring up, upon which I shall waste no time, further 
 than to say, If my past, present, and future life speak not for 
 itself in regard to its own " purity," words which I could utter 
 would be of no avail. 
 
 In regard to your conversation with Mrs. , it neither sur- 
 prises nor alarms me ; if you enjoyed it, all right. Excuse me if 
 I say it is the only subject which I ever knew you to think alike 
 about, and the reason why you agree upon this is, because neither 
 of you know, or care to know, "upon what ground you stand." 
 I understand her feelings toward me much better than you can. 
 That it would mortify her to have her friends know that the 
 word " spiritualism " was even mentioned in her dwelling, is true. 
 Why ? Because it is not 'popular. I blame her not, nor would I 
 willingly add a feather's weight to her unhappy frame of mind, 
 the true cause of which is within her own being instead of ... . 
 We have now both unburthened our minds, and I trust we shall 
 " agree to disagree." I have said nothing but the truth, and if 
 you are not pleased with it you have no one to blame but ybursclf, 
 as I should never have said or written one word to you upon the 
 subject had I not felt it ^^my duty" after receiving your letter. 
 I shall endeavor to stand up for the truth and the right, now and 
 ever, though by so doing I may lose the confidence of many dear 
 earthly friends ; neither shall I sit down and cry over it; much 
 rather, if need be, 
 
 " Forget the steps already trod, 
 And ojitoard urge thy waj%
 
 414 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 'Tis God's all-animating voice 
 
 That calls thee from on high, 
 'T is his own hand presents the prize 
 
 To thine uplifted ej'e." 
 
 1 see plainly the point you wish to gain is, in regard to my 
 writing to G. (I will here state, that the subject was first intro- 
 duced by him and not by me.) I assure you I shall not do so, unless 
 he desires it, but if he is as much interested as I think, there are 
 plenty of ways in which he can obtain the desired information, 
 as you can scarcely take up a paper without finding something in 
 regard to these subjects. They will not much longer be put 
 dozvn. The light will not always be hidden under a bushel. The 
 very fact that G. "wants to know all that is to be known," shows 
 that his mind, as well as his body requires food ; and there is 
 just as much reason in starving the one as the other. 
 
 One thing more, and I am done : A writes, that she tried 
 
 to " smooth over matters " to you, in regard to my long absence. 
 I am sorry she did so, as I hate intrigue ; if the truth cannot be 
 spoken, I prefer silence. 
 
 I know this letter will give you pain, but I cannot help it, it 
 had to be written j but it has not been done from any ill feeling 
 toward yourself or any one ; you have done what you thought 
 right. Am glad you do not doubt my sincerity. 
 
 I had thought my last personal extract was inserted ; but a let- 
 ter came to-day which seems a little different in character from 
 any contained herein, and brings the dear " little ones " so forcibly 
 to my mind, that I cannot but hope that they will receive a bless- 
 ing from the spirit-messengers of love. 
 
 " Your letters are so ' weighty ' that I have to read them over 
 a good many times to settle them in my brain — then I can't re- 
 member half. Seems to me you must study a great deal, certain- 
 ly your writings indicate it. I do not see but what your argu- 
 ments are pretty sound, and I must say that I agree with you in 
 a good many things. Speaking of 'hell-fire' sermons, I suppose 
 you agree that there is future punishment, for certainly if the 
 scriptures teach anything they teach that, and it is compared to 
 burning. I have never been taught that it was really Jire, but
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 415 
 
 anguish amounting to the same. There are lost spirits ; whether 
 they are ever reclaimed, I don't know. You think they are. 
 Christ came to save all who repent and believe. What a blessed 
 thought it is, that, when we leave this world we can be born 
 into a brighter, happier one. But if our happiness depends 
 on our actions here, I do n't know where I shall be ; it seems as 
 if I did not live one day through without getting out of patience 
 with the children. Now if I prayed for a spirit of patience, as I 
 ought, I suppose it would be granted, would n't it ? But I do n't, 
 you see. The evil spirit is in me all the time ; only once in a 
 while I seem to be peaceful and happy, and yet I have everything, 
 almost, to make me good in this world. I tell you, it needs a 
 
 wise head to govern children as they should be. L is a 
 
 good girl, but she is so full of frolic, and so forgetful and 
 careless. We have real nice times together, but I do get out of 
 patience with her so often." 
 
 My letter, dear friend, would soon settle down 
 In that brain of thine, if only poor me 
 Dictated the same. If "half" you remember 
 'T is more than do I, for it comes and goes, 
 As a breeze passing by, tarrying not. 
 Me study ! No, indeed, not I. /VMiat's that? 
 My arguments sound ! All right if they are, 
 But "faith and I fear they're niver a bit mine." 
 And what of hell-fire ? But I must sober down 
 Or they '11 think me worse than I really am. 
 No. Seldom, thank God ! is this doctrine now 
 Proclaimed abroad. Future punishment? Yes, 
 Each deed and each thought its penalty brings ; 
 It may be to-day, it may be next year ; 
 It may be when slumbers our form in the 
 Tomb ; but this do we know. 'T will ne'er be less, 
 Nor can it be more than, the deed or thought 
 Injustice demands. The anguish of mind — 
 Which punishment is — accords to the same. 
 But this is not all. "NVhate'er wc have done 
 That may have produced an evil effect,
 
 416 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 "We must strive to undo — or the evil 
 
 Eepair. Until we do this, we are bound 
 
 As with cords, to things of the past, 
 
 And can not imbibe the pure joys of heaven, 
 
 Or in the scale of progression ascend. 
 
 Our Saviour himself, much less his blood, can 
 
 Not expiate sin. By example pure, 
 
 And precepts divine, he taught us the way, 
 
 Which way, if we tread, leads upward to God. 
 
 With what measure we mete, that measure withal 
 
 Comes back in return. 
 
 Aye, blessed indeed 
 Is the thought of our birth to a brighter 
 And happier world. Believe me, dear child. 
 You are gromng each day more patient and 
 Gentle with your own darling ones. Thou hast 
 In thy keeping, it is true, tender buds, 
 But be not faint-hearted, for wisdom shall 
 Unto thee be given. Thy guileless heart 
 Is open and free ; no cherished sins are 
 Found rankling there. AVhen we know our own faults 
 The battle 's half won ; and victory sure 
 Will crown with success thy beautiful life. 
 Not the breath of a prayer from thy soul goes 
 Forth, but brings in return sweet echoes of 
 Love. In affections kind thy heart is rich. 
 Thy maternal love devoted, as strong. 
 Thy dear little claimants, so innocent, 
 A firm, yet love-tempered course demand. 
 Their questions, we see, you answer kindly; 
 'Tis well. Retain in thy keeping their sweet 
 Confidence, tender, uncliaiued, and free ; 'twill 
 Happiness render to both them and thee ; 
 For they '11 love thee more , reverence no less : 
 " True love may cast out fear, but not respect. 
 That fears the very shadow of offense." 
 Then strive thee truly, thy children to teach
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 417 
 
 The duties, we all humanity owe 
 
 In charities tender. Teach them, also, 
 
 To feel and cherish, while their pulses beat, 
 
 Mercy and kindness for all living things. 
 
 Thy darlings are fair — surpassingly so, 
 
 Then make thou the inner temple compare ; 
 
 What now is lovely, may, by true culture, 
 
 Still more so become in its prime. May their 
 
 Young and tender minds expand in beauty — 
 
 And may they become living ensamples 
 
 Of holiness and purity, loving 
 
 And serving Him whose heart is pity's throne. 
 
 And whose mandates wound not except to heal. 
 
 Farewell, precious mother ; sweet babes. Farewell. 
 
 Yes, friends, farewell is the word. I thought to have said it 
 long before, but could not. I suppose it would not be considered 
 "proper" for one whom the world recognizes as the author of a 
 work, to pass judgment on the same. But I trust you will par- 
 don me for here saying : I had no intimation of the character of 
 its contents in advance. The criticisms on my former work, 
 which are inserted in this, were all spontaneous productions. I 
 have solicited none except from two persons (with a view to ad- 
 vertising the book) neither of which have seen fit to respond. 
 All that have come to me are here made public, aud without 
 abridgment save in some three or four cases in avoidance of repe- 
 tition. 
 
 I have in store a few choice titbits from the perusers of said 
 volume, some of wliich came to me personally, others indirectly. 
 
 One person thinks the book maybe of some use to "begin- 
 ners " in the spiritual philosophy. Another : It is so " advanced " 
 they cannot comprehend it. The reading of it exerts a soothing 
 influence over one, and puts him to sleep. " IIow can that be ? " 
 says his neighbor; "I cannot sleep at all if I read it." A friend 
 has read it through once, and is reading it again ; likes to have it 
 where she can "catch it up." Another, who evidently likes pop- 
 ularity better than she does the book, says, " It is n't fit to be in 
 anybody's house." One respectable gentleman purchased and
 
 418 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 read the book, then offered it for sale at fifty cents. About the 
 same time, another gentleman took one on trust, and a few days 
 afterward, brought me five times that amount, insisting that it 
 was worth that to him. A certain individual thinks the writings 
 indicate an unhappy frame of mind. Another, in conversing 
 with me, says, " I would give anything in the world to feel as I 
 imagine you do, from your writings." One, who had the book in 
 her possession, lent it to a neighbor who said it was the best book 
 she had ever read on that subject. We hear of another who act- 
 ually burned the book because (he said) so many wanted to bor- 
 row it ; and he, not endorsing its teachings, felt unwilling to lend 
 it. If this be the true reason, we honor and respect that man for 
 acting in accordance with his own convictions of duty. 
 
 Of course the book remains unchanged, notwithstanding the 
 diverse opinions. It has certainly been serviceable in one way, to 
 those, at least, who chose to make it so — serving as a mirror in 
 which they might " see themselves as others see them." For as 
 "the moral and intellectual status of man is grounded in the ma- 
 terial," so is it reproduced in the every-day occurrences of life by 
 whatever we come in contact with. Each person we meet, each 
 book we read, is but a reflection of our own mind. If we see in 
 our friends nothing to love and admire, it is sure evidence that 
 something is wrong with ourselves ; and vice versa. There can 
 be no better criterion to judge people by, than the judgment 
 which they pass upon others. 
 
 I expect, after all, I have heard but a small tithe of what has been 
 said in regard to the book "■ Misunderstood," yet I have no scru- 
 ples in saying. It has been enough to establish in my mind, be- 
 yond the shadow of a doubt, two facts concerning it. First : It 
 must possess some merit, as well as demerit, to call forth even 
 the amount of criticism which has come to my knowledge. Sec- 
 ondly : notwithstanding all its faults and foibles — and I know 
 there are many such — li is rir/htly named. 
 
 All unpopular authors have my sincere and heart-felt sympa- 
 thy, and I would suggest that we make use of the philosopher's 
 (Apollonius) prayer; substituting /new(?s for "things." " ye 
 gods ! grant me to have few things, and to stand in need of none." 
 The first part of it is sure to come true ; the last mat/, sometime. 
 With all of our "eccentricities," "hallucinations," "transcenden- 
 talisms," etc., we have this to console us — we are sure to escape
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 419 
 
 the ""Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you ! for so 
 did their fathers to the false prophets." 
 
 There is one thing I came near forgetting to mention, which 
 seems to me a little remarkable, and augurs well for the cause. 
 Not a person who has written to me upon the subject has ex- 
 pressed a disbelief in, and I think not a doubt concerning, the 
 truth of spirit-communion. I rejoice in this, most firmly believ- 
 ing that spiritualism will eventually be the religion of the world, 
 gathering all that is good from all religions. "It will also be the 
 conservatory of science ; for all truth centres in God." 0, then, 
 dear friends, will ye not help to rear and culture the flowers of 
 angelic wisdom, which shall bloom for thee in the bright sum- 
 mer-land, where life, in its freedom, is a "poem from the finger's 
 ends," and where all things are formed anew ? 
 
 The winter's dreary days have gang agla^ 
 
 Spring verdure and sweet flowers succeed 
 
 The seeming barrenness of hill and dale ; 
 
 Only seeming, thank God ! The germ of the 
 
 Soil dies not ; it needs but the genial breath 
 
 Of the sun's life-giving warmth and light to 
 
 Resurrect itself in unsurpassing 
 
 Loveliness, fresher, purer, for its season 
 
 Of tranquil repose. So truth, when crushed, shall 
 
 Rise again. Ilowe'er so deep in error's 
 
 Debris hid, it forth shall spring, untarnished 
 
 By tradition's fast-receding wave, whose 
 
 OvePwhclming power must soon give place to 
 
 Rising wave of Freedom's noble birth, whose 
 
 Fruits are liberty of thought, speech, and life, 
 
 Combined with equal justice to our race. 
 
 O progress eternal ! how beautiful 
 
 The thouirht ! Angelic voice of love and truth, 
 
 Roll on, and with majestic sway, higher 
 
 And yet higher in the scale of holiness 
 
 And purity, lead thine adoring worshippers I 
 
 Within the soul of each a germ of worth,
 
 420 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Wliich only needs the vitalizing force 
 
 Of truth, halloAved by principles of love 
 
 Divine, to fruitage bear of heavenly peace. 
 
 Waters from out the living well of hope 
 
 Their strength and beauty shall increase, till they 
 
 Become like gardens fair, in midst of which 
 
 Shall ever-blooming trees of knowledge their seeds 
 
 Of perfected wisdom disseminate. 
 
 Yea, fowls of the air shall gather the same, 
 
 And scatter abroad o'er hill-top and plain. 
 
 Through valley and mead, till every clime 
 
 Some few have received. Which seed will bring forth 
 
 Trees after their kind. And what is their kind ? 
 
 What indeed but knowledge, and knowledge is 
 
 Liberty ; and liberty is — " The soul's 
 
 Eight to breathe," untrammeled by sectarian 
 
 Creed, cringing before no cowled priests whose 
 
 Symbols dire harass unconscious ignorance. 
 
 The "Tree of Life" not only spread its branches 
 
 Wide, a shelter from impending storms ; it 
 
 Also did disseminate the growing 
 
 Germs of millions more, which have, in strength, 
 
 Become like to the cedars of Lebanon, 
 
 And " whose leaves shall be for the healing of 
 
 The nations." Healing them from what, ask ye? 
 
 Centuries and centuries ago 't was said : 
 
 " The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not 
 eat of it ; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely 
 die." 
 
 This command and threatened annihilation purported to have 
 come from the Lord God himself, " with whom is no variableness, 
 neither shadow of turning." 
 
 And what said the serpent, who is called the Devil, and the 
 father of lies ? " Ye shall not surely die : for God doth know 
 that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and 
 ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 421 
 
 Here we have direct opposition at the very outset of man's 
 proclaimed creation. These contradictory texts emanate from 
 two spiritual beings whom the sacred writer — may God forgive 
 his ignorance! — styles the God and the serpant. A reflective 
 mind which ponders these things cannot fail to perceive the in- 
 consistency of their teachings, and the question will arise, Which 
 of these spirits, if either, was the veritable Lord God ? Of 
 course there can be but one answer. The one that told the truth. 
 And which did tell the truth ? The same writer, in the same 
 chapter, informs us that 
 
 " The Lord God said. Behold, the man is become as one of us, 
 to know good and evil ; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and 
 take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever : 
 
 Therefore the Lord sent him forth from the garden of Eden, 
 to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the 
 man." 
 
 This opens up the way for more questions : Did the serpent 
 deceive Eve — if there was an Eve ? 
 
 All things came to pass as he predicted. 
 
 And if there was an Adam — did Adam die ? 
 
 He could not have died a physical death, and afterwards have 
 tilled the ground. 
 
 Even old orthodoxy, if we are rightly informed, does not admit 
 of a spiritual death. 
 
 Then, again, with some the question will arise, Where, and in 
 what condition would our race have been to-day, if poor deluded 
 Eve had not eaten the apple ? 
 
 Alas ! we have no response ; for to us, this wonderful narrative, 
 sadly perverted though it is, was but the forerunner of scores 
 of divine symbols far excelling it in beauty and wisdom ; and 
 which, at the present day, might be counted by the millions. 
 
 The fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, have been 
 widely scattered over the earth, and are still fulfilling their des- 
 tiny, by shaking the very foundations of the old heavens and 
 earth. 
 
 Most truly did the spirit say, "In sorrow shalt thou eat of it 
 all the days of thy life; (on earth) thorns also and tliistles shall 
 it bring forth to thee." 
 
 All wlio have progressed intellectually and spiritually above 
 the ordinary mind and masses of the people, can, from sad ex-
 
 422 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 perience, testify to the truth of this prediction. The gospel of 
 truth has been sustained only through individual personal " sacri- 
 fice of selfishness, and an expansion in the elements of universal 
 love and true philanthropy." The beautiful and true, from time 
 immemorial, have consecrated their lives and labors to bring about 
 a plan of true harmonial development for humanity. The stand- 
 ard of truth has been raised higher by each well-directed advance 
 of self-sacrificing devotion and exemplified act of self-denial. 
 There must be an Order above and in advance of the world, to 
 govern and regulate it. These must be such as "prefer duty to 
 diversion. He who is false to present duty, breaks a thread in 
 the loom, and will find the flaws when he has forgotten the 
 cause." 
 
 " God's work remains the same, and will endure through eter- 
 nal ages. Human nature is everywhere the same. In all ages it 
 has had the same wants and aspirations, and has been subject to 
 the same infirmities. The present condition of society is no 
 cause of discouragement. The future cannot be determined by 
 the present. Like life, society grows from a principle divinely 
 implanted ; it is progressing, bringing the world and its attrac- 
 tions to an ultimate." 
 
 There are noble minds to-day, endowed with power and an un- 
 derstanding of truth, who are educating souls to become practical 
 pioneers in the glorious spiritual reformation, between which and 
 conservatism the spirit of divine wisdom stands as a balance, lev- 
 elling all distinctions save goodness, transforming the drudgery of 
 life into pleasant occupation by equalizing labor, maintaining the 
 strongholds of virtue by elevating the human race according to 
 to the inspired revelations of the angelic host. For '-'what edu- 
 cation is for one man or woman, revelation is for the whole hu- 
 man race." Yea, for all, regardless of sect or sex. Woman shall 
 no longer be excluded from her right to aid in purifying and sus- 
 taining a rational system of morality and spiritual development, 
 for she is of more worth than to be a mere instrument of worldly 
 pleasure. " We see in our Zion-home women of strength and 
 virtue, whose consecrated powers adorn and beautify the temple 
 of God." Yea, they receive and diffuse the divine esse of love 
 which permeates all mind and matter, and establishes upon earth, 
 " a true type of angelhood in the spheres."
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 423 
 
 O thou Spirit of Truth ! ascend with us 
 
 More lofty altitudes of light divine ; 
 
 Whose ideal beckons, yea, with silv'ry voice 
 
 Calls, "Come up higher, above, away from earth !" 
 
 The pathway seems wondrously new and strange, 
 
 Paved with eternal rocks of holy thought, 
 
 Containing essences of subtile power 
 
 To penetrate and vivify the daring 
 
 Soul which mounts and soars through changing vistas 
 
 Of delight, fresh draughts of wisdom to secure. 
 
 'T is holy ground, on which we tread with rapid 
 
 Strides ; the winding jjath mysterious gives 
 
 Birth to marvels unrevealed ; celestial 
 
 Wonders a living panorama seem. 
 
 The River of Knowledge we pass, and plunge 
 
 In its pearly stream, emerging forth with 
 
 A deeper joy, and with gems of bright truth 
 
 From the beautiful wave of harmonic life. 
 
 O thou sinless spirit of purity ! 
 
 When shall we reach the Eureka of bliss 
 
 Where blooms the tree of life eternal, whose 
 
 Way by cherubims and seraphims is 
 
 Guarded ? Onward we roam, upward we soar, 
 
 Yet the same deep whisper from our 
 
 Soul goes forth : "I hunger, hunger still !" 
 
 We know we are but the breath of a thoufirht — 
 
 O 
 
 Faint echo of life ; But O ! we would ask 
 
 For the keys to unlock the God-like powers 
 
 Of the spirit within ; bright glimpses of 
 
 Which stir the depths of the soul, but quench not 
 
 Its thirst. O ! that the music of the sinless 
 
 Angel might flow into our enraptured ears, 
 
 Filling us with a mighty impulse to 
 
 Upraise and beautify, purify and 
 
 Ennoble, earth's weeping sons and daughters, 
 
 Leading them in the flower-fringed paths of love 
 
 Upon which shines the Sun of pure Wisdom.
 
 424 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 O thou Source of Life and Light ! bend thine ear ; 
 Let Perseverance be our motto brave, 
 Humility the garment which we wear ; 
 Be Faith the guiding-star, and hope the light 
 Which lures us on. Then on the staff of strength 
 We '11 lean, while prayer shall fill our souls with bread, 
 Until we safely reach thy kingdom Lord — 
 Celestial Heaven. 
 
 Finis.
 
 AN INVOCATION. 
 
 Father in heaven! we adore thy glorious name; we look to 
 thee for help in time of need ; we feel how weak and incapable 
 we are of fulfilling thy laws : the " spirit indeed is willing, but 
 the flesh is weak." Wilt thou, holy and ever-blessed Father 
 of Love, strengthen us, and enable each one of us to bear life's 
 burdens ? May every desire of our hearts be pure and holy, and 
 may we extend to each other and to all of humanity that sympa- 
 thy and love which shall help us to realize that we are all thy 
 children, and that our souls are immortal. Help us, Father, 
 to know and to be true unto ourselves, thus fulfilling the holy 
 purpose of our being; for if we are true to ourselves we shall be 
 true unto others as well : and may we ever strive to follow the 
 example of Him who did no sin, neither was guile found in his 
 mouth. Amen, 
 
 [425]
 
 [}. 
 
 B 
 
 ATHER THE pEAUTIFUL, 
 
 AND 
 
 o¥SElf( fo^yL^. 
 
 [427]
 
 GATHER THE BEAUTIFUL. 
 
 My friends, loved ones, draw near, I pray, and learn 
 
 A lesson from the honey-bee : 
 Mark how he only doth extract the sweet, 
 For that alone from grain or flower is meet 
 
 To gather home and stow away. 
 
 The flowers from which he stole the sweet, remain 
 
 Fresh, pure and bright ; the passer-by 
 Might pluck the same and fail to know or miss 
 The sweetness gathered by the honey-bee's kiss. 
 O lovely flower ! that we might be 
 
 Like unto thee, so pure we could not hide 
 
 One sinful thought, one evil deed ; 
 That we might bear the noon-day sun, and feel 
 We have within a friendly heart toward all. 
 
 With s}Tiipathy for those in need. 
 
 Many, say " the world is beautiful ! " Why ? 
 
 Because within their own bright souls 
 'T is so reflected ; because such an one 
 Hath learned to gather the beautiful alone, 
 
 Pass by earth's lucre and seek its pearls ; 
 
 Yea, pearls of wisdom, pearls of truth most rare. 
 
 And why so rare ? Is it because 
 We have no just conception of the same ? 
 Nay, nay, my friend, that cannot be ; I blame 
 
 Thee not, and yet, I pray thee pause ; — 
 
 [429]
 
 430 THE UNSEAI.ED BOOK. 
 
 Hast thou e'er lived according to what thou 
 
 Didst at the time perceive to be 
 The best and highest course thou mightst pursue ? 
 Hast kept thy noblest attributes in view ? 
 
 Thy baser passions kept at bay ? 
 
 If so, my friend, thou hast, like one of old, 
 " Chosen the better part," and hast 
 
 Entered already the valley of blessing ; 
 
 Hast drank from the fount so cool and refreshing, 
 And had a sweet taste of heaven's repast. 
 
 Thou hast gathered, indeed, the most beautiful ; 
 
 O, cherish and keep it alway ! 
 Add treasures thereto, increasing the same ; 
 Seek not for riches or for worldly fame ; 
 
 They both, like the dew, will pass away. 
 
 Seek, rather, the pure, the good, and the true, 
 
 Nor deem them hard on earth to find, 
 For I tell you, friend, by a God-given law 
 We all do possess a heaven-born ray 
 Of celestial light, though dimmed, 
 
 It may be, by the casket rough it wears. 
 
 O, crush not, then, this gem so fair, 
 Nor smother with corroding care this fire, 
 But add fresh fuel to the same ; then higher, 
 
 Brighter its flames shall rise, and bear 
 
 Sweet incense to its maker, God ; then, too, 
 
 Pure angels, from the sphere of light, 
 Shall, on the wings of love, descend to earth, 
 And gather up the beautiful, the truth, — 
 That truth with heavenly radiance bright. 
 
 In all thy intercourse with man, if thou 
 Wouldst seek to find within his soul
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 431 
 
 The nobler virtues of the mind and heart, 
 Wouldst, all unconsciously to him, impart 
 Desires which would his bosom fill 
 
 With earnest zeal to rise above frail self. 
 
 To mingle with the great and good, — 
 O, then, my friend, thou wouldst thyself from him 
 Gather the beautiful, while he the same 
 
 From thee would cull, both would be fed. 
 
 'T is ever thus, our great Exemplar said : 
 
 More blest are they who freely give 
 Thau those who only do receive ; 'tis sure, 
 We know ; yea, every word of God is pure, 
 
 Then near to Him O, let us live ! 
 
 "As in water face answereth to face, 
 
 So the heart of man to man." 
 Then pray, let your face no image produce 
 Which might lead souls astray — induce 
 
 Men to think your heart could be vain ; 
 
 For as "love is the guiding star to love. 
 
 And soul must speak to soul," so we 
 Our sacred affections must keep in view, 
 Rememb'ring, all " who learn to love aright 
 
 Do pass from darkness into light." 
 
 Methinks I hear some dear one ask the way 
 
 To love aright ! The golden rule 
 Comes to our mind ; if we our neighbor as 
 Ourselves do love, 'tis enousrh : no danger 
 
 Of loving too much or too well. 
 
 Let Charity, so sweet and mild, e'er find 
 
 A home within thy gentle breast, — 
 Charity, which is the bond of perfection ; 
 Also, the hidden manna to our race, 
 
 Without which we have nought to boast.
 
 432 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Behold the sky now radiant and fair ! 
 
 Bright, fleecy clouds are flitting by, 
 And far away the crimson glow so deep, 
 Its lustre sheds, while golden hues do leap 
 
 Beyond the same. Beautiful sky ! 
 
 The scene is changed — the sky so bright and fair 
 
 Is hidden from our sight by clouds 
 Dark and dismal ; no sunshine now to guide 
 The trav'ler on his weary way ; instead, 
 
 Gathering darkness him enshrouds : 
 
 We would compare this changeful sky with man ; 
 
 At times his course seems bright and fair ; 
 He scatters sunshine as he goes ; no one, 
 However poor and mean, doth seek in vain 
 
 His tender love and friendly care. 
 
 Then comes a day when sorrows deep intrude ; 
 
 His tranquil soul is clouded o'er 
 By afliictions keen ; wild emotions now 
 His bosom thrill ; his pulse's beat is slow, 
 
 His very life a burden sore. 
 
 How dost thou, then, interpret this ? my friend, 
 
 Dost thou in darkness still revel ? 
 Or dost, like patient Job, exclaim instead, 
 Shall we receive good at the hand of God, 
 
 And shall we not receive evil ? 
 
 Again, shall we because of these same clouas 
 
 Declare that sunshine is a fraud, 
 A vain delusion which will nevermore 
 With its golden beams heaven's pure light restore ? 
 
 Nay, nay, not so, my unkno"svn friend ; — 
 
 But, like the bright celestial orb, abide 
 Until the clouds be scattered all ;
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 433 
 
 Then trace with him the bright and fair, unnaixt 
 With dreary clouds of gloom which come betwixt : 
 Gather alone the beautiful, — 
 
 And scatter the same. There are treasures rich 
 
 Buried deep in thy heart so warm ; 
 O, bring them all forth ; polish them brightly ; 
 Then give from your store, esteeming not lightly 
 
 Thy God-given talents sublime. 
 
 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall 
 
 Be, saith the preacher, David's son ; 
 And that which is done, is that which shall be done : 
 And there is no new thing under the sun. 
 
 Canst thou sense it ? The rivers run 
 
 Into the sea, yet the sea is not full. 
 
 " The thing that hath been." How is this ? 
 Listen. Thy mother has a rose ; single 
 Its leaves, and small the flower; it doth mingle 
 
 Sweet fragrance with the breeze ; it is, 
 
 Yes, it is a rose ; Is it beautiful? 
 
 Nay. You may possess a cultured rose ; 
 Compare the two : just look 1 thine doth unfold 
 A score of leaves to one of hers ; behold ! 
 
 Thine, too, is more than twice its size. 
 
 A stranger comes and views the two, — one who 
 
 Has never seen before a cultured rose ; 
 If guided by her own instinct alone. 
 Would she not say, "These flowers are not the same"? 
 
 Aye, truly too, we may suppose, 
 
 And yet they both do bear the name of Rose. 
 
 The friend is right, and, too, is wrong; 
 She's not to blame, and speaks what is 
 To her the truth ; condemn her not for this. 
 
 But lead her forth the flowers among ;
 
 434 • THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Explain to her the means employed to change 
 
 The single to the double flower. 
 Now thus would we the preacher's words explain ; 
 For if there 's no new thing under the sun, 
 
 There 's surely undeveloped power. 
 
 The past and present have done — are doing, much 
 
 To rear the structure and prepare 
 For what shall be in ages yet to come ; 
 And as the wheels of time roll on, Reform 
 
 Shall be the watchword and the tower. 
 
 Long ages yet, may come and go before 
 
 His early purpose is fulfilled ; 
 Also, the rivers run into the sea 
 Cycles of years, ere they it overflow ; 
 
 The powers that be have thus decreed, 
 
 And to every thing there is a season. 
 
 And a time to every purpose 
 Under the heaven ! He hath made every thing 
 Beautiful in his time. Again, " he hath 
 
 Set the world in their heart : " K true, 
 
 For what? that man might have a work to do, 
 
 An aim in life, a purpose to 
 Fulfil? ask your own hearts. In much wisdom 
 Is much grief; yet wisdom excelleth folly 
 
 As far as lisrht excelleth darkness. 
 
 "C 
 
 And wisdom also is better than strength ; 
 
 Nevertheless, the poor man's wisdom 
 Is despised, and his words are not heard. 
 The days shall come when ivorth, not wealth, shall guide 
 
 The human mind, and trace therefrom 
 
 True wisdom from a higher source : we shall know 
 That whatsoever God doeth
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 435 
 
 It shall be forever. Hast thou, my friend, 
 An erring brother? strive, I pray, to lend 
 Thine aid to lead from danger's path ; — 
 
 " A word fitly spoken is like apples 
 
 Of gold in pictures of silver." 
 Notwithstanding this, beloved, there 's a 
 Time to keep silence, and a time to speak, 
 
 If thou thy brother wouldst deliver. 
 
 O, show thyself friendly and kind to all,— 
 
 Let love alone reign in thy heart ; 
 For a bird of the air shall carry the voice. 
 And that which hath wings shall tell the matter, — 
 
 Thy life become a living chart : 
 
 " Or ever the silver cord be loosed. 
 
 Or the golden bowl be broken : " 
 O, then shalt thou gather at the river. 
 The pure, the bright, the beautiful ever ; 
 
 God's love shall be of this a token. 
 
 Remember, a friend loveth at all times ; 
 
 Let thy garments be always white ; 
 O, gather and scatter the beautiful, 
 Thine own cup of joy will then be fuU 
 
 In summer's day and winter's night. 
 
 There's beauty all around, below, above, 
 
 " And the Soul of the Beautiful 
 Is, the Divine, — the beauty which unites the 
 Human to the divine is love, and love 
 
 Is the longing of the soul for love.
 
 436 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 DEIFTING. 
 
 I 'm drifting now, I have no home, 
 No place that I can call my own ! 
 
 I 've left for aye my cherished room, 
 Within whose walls anfijels came down. 
 
 Angels so kind, so pure, so bright : 
 Why, ye loved ones, O, tell me why 
 
 Dark clouds surround? Is there no light — 
 No beams of love to cheer the way, — 
 
 Must I go forth a wanderer 
 
 Upon the troubled sea of life, 
 Eemote from all whom I hold dear, — 
 
 My weary soul know nought but strife ? 
 
 Is there no home on earth for me, 
 
 And yet must I abide below 
 And crush this longing to be free, 
 
 Bearing this weary weight of woe ? 
 
 My spirit longs to be at rest, 
 
 To meet those loved ones, O, so dear ! 
 To dwell for ever with the blest. 
 
 Nor stem the tide so dark, so drear : 
 
 I know that thou, my angel-guide. 
 Dost say my work is not complete ; 
 
 I must still longer here abide. 
 
 Though bitter mingle with the sweet ; — 
 
 Must, for the sake of those I love. 
 Endure the cross, despise the shame, 
 
 Give forth the truth which those above 
 Eeveal to me in God's dear name.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 437 
 
 Then hush, my soul, this inward grief; 
 
 Shrink not from duty's call, I pray ; 
 Though fierce and angry be the strife, 
 
 Thy night shall end in glorious day. 
 
 Wilt thou, my precious angel-guide. 
 
 Direct my mind and heart aright ? 
 Help me to rise above the tide 
 
 Of selfish thought, and by thy might 
 
 Unfold the gift God hath bestowed ; 
 
 Point out the work, show me the way, 
 Make me an instrument for <jood 
 
 Toward all humanity, I pray I 
 
 I 'm waiting now, — must it be long? 
 
 I want to do, and not to dream ; 
 Wilt thou help me ? and is it wrong 
 
 To wish to be, and not to seem? 
 
 THE ANGEL'S REPLY. 
 
 We heard thy prayer of yesternight ; 
 
 We see thy weary, restless soul 
 So longing for a home of light 
 
 Where sin's dark waves no more control. 
 
 We know thy pure and gentle breast 
 Sighs for the dear ones gone before ; 
 
 There seems for thee no place of rest, 
 No home upon thine earthly shore.
 
 438 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Just now, we see the storm is raging 
 In wild, tempestuous, angry mood, 
 
 While cold bleak, winds, round thee sweeping, 
 Seem drifting thee from shoal to shoal. 
 
 But, sister dear, it won't be long ; 
 
 The clouds so dark will soon disperse ; 
 Thou hast not done, but suffered, wrong, — 
 
 For others borne the heavy cross. 
 
 Have patience, then, calmly abide, 
 Look not upon the past as lost, 
 
 Though fearfully misunderstood 
 
 By those you love the most and best. 
 
 A change will come, a happy change 
 For them and you ; yes, by and by 
 
 Their thoughts will take a wider range, 
 Upheld by angels from on high. 
 
 Thy work, indeed, is not yet done ; 
 
 If 't were we would have told thee so ; 
 We would have sent thy dearest one 
 
 To lead thee to thy home on high. 
 
 Th}'- words and deeds of love and light 
 Have here prepared for thee a home, 
 
 Yes, beautiful, radiant, bright ; 
 
 We can but show thee, now, one room : 
 
 Its atmosphere is pure and sweet. 
 
 Fresh flowers are blooming ever here 
 
 Here music soft, here music sweet 
 
 Ascends from thine own earthly sphere. 
 
 'T is here that we, thine angel band, 
 Unite our forces thee to aid ;
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 439 
 
 We love thee, sister, and we stand 
 As sentinels thy soul to guard 
 
 From ills which thou, as mortal, still 
 
 Art subject to ; nor is this all : 
 We do thy mind and brain control ; 
 
 We write our image on thy soul. 
 
 Then fear thou not, for this we say, 
 
 Thou wilt not, cannot, far go wrong, 
 For we shall lead thee all the way. 
 
 Yea, we will help thee to grow strong. 
 
 Canst thou not trust us, sister dear? 
 
 Forgettest thou the wondrous truths 
 We made to thee seem bright and clear ? 
 
 Told we not thee thy future course 
 
 While at the time thy doubting heart 
 Could not discern — could not believe ? 
 
 Have we not proved beyond a doubt 
 The same, — also, that we still live? 
 
 Then trust us, precious child of earth ; 
 
 We still will guard, we still will guide, 
 Help thee to live and teach the truth, 
 
 So long as thou on earth abide.
 
 440 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 MOTHER IN ISRAEL. 
 
 Have you seen her ? do you know her ? 
 And what they tell us — is it true, 
 Concerning her whom they do call 
 The mother dear in Israel ? 
 
 " We have seen her and we know her ; 
 We will gladly send thee to her ; 
 Though much there is which we might tell, 
 No * hearsay ' satisfies as well." 
 
 Can she tell me of my mother, 
 Who from earth-life passed up hither 
 Ere I had learned to know and love her ? 
 Loves she still her darling daughter ? 
 
 *' It is not she who hath the power 
 To tell of loved ones gone before ; 
 But if thy loved ones her control, 
 These same, indeed, can tell thee all." 
 
 I 've heard that she did ofttimes see 
 Bright scenes above, and spirits, too, 
 How beautiful ! I would that I 
 Could look beyond the bright blue sky. 
 
 " They call this phase clairvoyant sight, 
 Or spirit- vision, pure and bright ; 
 It must, indeed, sweet joy impart 
 To visit these, of heaven a part.'* 
 
 A good developer, as well, 
 She is, at least they so me tell ; 
 Hath she for you the future told. 
 Or helped your powers to unfold ?
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 441 
 
 ** She has indeed some things foretold ; 
 More precious in my sight than gold 
 Is all the loving care which she 
 So kindly hath bestowed on me." 
 
 She is, I 'm told, kind to the poor, 
 And never sends them from her door, 
 But gives them " sittings" all the same, 
 "While they in turn do bless her name. 
 
 " Quite right, my friend, full many come 
 Without money and without price ; 
 Her heart goes out in sympathy. 
 Nor does she work alone for pay." 
 
 I hope she has laid up in store 
 A good supply ; if to the poor 
 She is so liberal and kind. 
 She must possess a noble mind. 
 
 " I grieve to say her earthly stores 
 Are not abundant ; the reverse 
 Would be nearer ; her daily bread 
 Is sure to come, then all is said." 
 
 If not on earth, then sure in heaven 
 Her deeds of love have all been written ; 
 She will receive a just reward 
 And dwell forever with the good. 
 
 " Yes, if the seed she here hath sown 
 Doth yield its fruit, slie there will own 
 Treasures untold which perish not, — 
 They all have been too dearly bought." 
 
 My thanks, kind friend, for what you say, — 
 I '11 go to her this very day ;
 
 442 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 I feel quite sure that something bright 
 "Will come to me, my heart's so light. 
 
 " I trust there will ; a truer friend 
 Than she to me I '11 never find ; 
 The name she bears doth suit her well - 
 A Mother kind in Israel." 
 
 A FRIEND IN AFFLICTION. 
 
 How sad the voice which whispers in our ears 
 When earth is hushed in calm repose ; 
 
 These hours recall the friends of former years, 
 Now passed beyond this vale of woes. 
 
 Come near, thou precious, loving ones, to-night 
 
 My heart is sad — I know not why, 
 Thy presence can make it the home of light — 
 
 Without thine aid I dare not try 
 
 These sad forebodings to repress ; alas ! 
 
 They seem to cast a shadow drear 
 Around my pathway, deep, dark, fathomless ; 
 
 I pry' thee, friends, come very near — 
 
 And fold me in thy warm embrace once more, 
 Whisper low, sweet words of comfort ; 
 
 O, let me feel and know that loved ones near 
 Do all my secret soul interpret I 
 
 O, what is life with all my dear ones gone before? 
 
 Must I, can I smother this grief. 
 This inward dearth, and sorrow meekly bear? 
 
 O Father, may my stay be brief
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 443 
 
 "Within tMs dark and lonely vale of tears I 
 
 O, send to me speedy relief 
 And help to banish all my worldly fears ; 
 
 My heart fix thou upon thyself. 
 
 Friend, hearest thou mine agonizing cry? 
 
 Hast thou no pity in thine heart ? 
 Forgettest thou the days agone, when I 
 
 Did share with thee the cruel smart 
 
 Of sad injustice done to thee and thine ? 
 
 Alas ! I now alone must bear 
 That grief for which thou didst thy life resign ; 
 
 No loving one have I to share 
 
 This weary weight of woe — this burden sore ; 
 
 My heart is drear and desolate, 
 No gleam of light within my soul so bare ; 
 
 Come thou, before it is too late, 
 
 Help, O, help my weak endeavor ! give rest 
 
 Unto thy weary child once more ; 
 Give strength, give patience, till I upon thy breast 
 
 Can lay me down for evermore. 
 
 " O, let the dead and the beautiful rest !" 
 
 How can they rest when they behold 
 Their darling ones with sorrows deep oppressed, 
 
 And they miable to enfold 
 
 Them in their loving, fond embrace so sweet, 
 
 So soul-refreshing, and so dear? 
 "Hush ! my child, thy sad repining is not meet ; 
 
 Thou still art blessed with friends to cheer 
 
 Thy pilgrimage. Awake ! put on thy strength, 
 Put all thy beauteous garments on ;
 
 444 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Garments of purity and peace, at length 
 Thy righteous labors all shall crown ; 
 
 Dwell not upon thy trials sore, live thou 
 
 Above the same ; ride over them : 
 Our kindly aid most gladly we '11 bestow, 
 
 And help thee to life's current stem. 
 
 Look not behind ! upward, heavenward thy course ! 
 
 If thou wouldst have our sustenance. 
 Reach forth thine hand ; no longer let remorse 
 
 Thy noblest powers of mind enhance ! 
 
 ' Out of the darkness ! into the light ! ' and 
 Blessing will then attend thee ever ; 
 
 Thy soul become so wondrously bright, that 
 Sorrows shall darken never, O, never I " 
 
 CHRISTMAS. 
 
 'T is Christmas Eve ! and I am, where ? 
 Far from my home : I cannot ^hare 
 With those I love, the festive mirth 
 This season brings to all the earth, — 
 
 I shall not hear the voices sweet. 
 
 Which have been wont mine ears to greet 
 
 Before the rising of the sun. 
 
 On holy, happy Christmas morn ; — 
 
 I shall not see the stockinsfs nine 
 Hang from the mantle in a line. 
 Commencing with the Papa's tall 
 Down to the smallest one of aU ; —
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 I shall not place my little mite 
 Within each one this christmas night ; 
 I have no work to finish up : 
 I wonder if, whem I 'm asleep 
 
 I '11 dream of home, so far away, 
 And see the little ones at play ; 
 Receive from each a greeting kind, 
 And feel their arms about me twined ! 
 
 I wonder if they '11 miss me there. 
 And say, I wish that she were here — 
 I hope a letter I '11 receive 
 From them to-morrow, or this eve ; — 
 
 To-day a Christmas package came, 
 Reminding of that pleasant home ; 
 It did contain two pairs of hose, — 
 So now I '11 have no more bare toes. 
 
 Although, the, weather is so warm, 
 I doubt if it could do me harm ; 
 It seems more like to mild September, 
 Than the wintry month December. 
 
 My hostess has this day " done made " 
 Such lots of pies, and cake beside ; 
 The turkey too, is "mighty fine ; " 
 To-morrow we " right well " will dine. 
 
 Not that it is a thing uncommon 
 To have a turkey, in this region. 
 For here these birds are far more plenty 
 Than fair young girls — under thirty. 
 
 Geese and chickens, ducks included, 
 Here unwittingly are murdered ; 
 
 445
 
 446 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 We have them daily for our dinner : 
 Methinks the flocks will soon get thinner. 
 
 'T is Christmas mom ! I did not dream 
 Of Santa Claus, nor of my home — 
 As I was hoping that I might — 
 But had, instead, a fearful fright. 
 
 Some one, I thought, came to my door, 
 Then softly walked across the floor ; 
 Came to my bed with arms outstretched, 
 And at the clothes about me clutched : 
 
 'T was such an ugly, frightful dream I 
 At first I could not move or scream ; 
 A mighty efibrt I did make 
 To call for help, and thus awoke ; — 
 
 No one I saw, 'twas very dark, 
 But O, the dogs, how they did bark I 
 I know not yet what was the matter, 
 Or why they made such fearful clatter. 
 
 The day, so fair, has come and gone, — 
 'Tis eve, and here I sit alone ; 
 I went to church this morn, and heard 
 Sweet counsel from God's holy word. 
 
 The text was this ; " Our Relifrion : " 
 And all who do it make their own, 
 Have nought to fear on this side heaven, 
 And surely not, in God's pure Eden. 
 
 The music sweet was soul-enchantinsr ; 
 No power or harmony was lacking ; 
 I think the angel-choirs above 
 Must sure have lent their aid, in love.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 447 
 
 The church, so neat, with box and pine, 
 ' With holly, birch, and ivy- vine, 
 Was decorated here and there. 
 Quite simply, but with taste most rare ; — 
 
 Each lamp was taken from its socket, 
 And in its place were berries scarlet, 
 All intermingled with the green 
 So bright — while English ivy-vine 
 
 Came trailing down, as if to show 
 
 How luxuriantly it doth grow 
 
 In this sunny Southern clime, 
 
 "Where blasting storms ne'er find a home. 
 
 No " Merry Christmas " do we hear, 
 But " Christmas Gift " from children dear ; 
 The one Avho says it first, expects 
 From others to receive the gifts. 
 
 The observation of this day 
 Is quite amiss ; I grieve to say 
 How sadly here they do abuse 
 The same, by a too frequent use 
 
 Of ardent spirits ; the day doth seem 
 More like "Election" — for we ken 
 Poor foolish men oft then drink rum, 
 As ofiice-seekers give them some. 
 
 One poor old " nig " was sent to-day 
 To the land where good darkies go, 
 I hope, by one who, though not black. 
 Was, like the darkey, very drunk. 
 
 Again, the day seems like the "Fourth," 
 As celebrated by the youth ;
 
 448 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 What else they get it little matters, 
 Only so they hsiVQ Jire-crackers. 
 
 The hour, I fear, is getting late ; 
 This jingle I '11 submit to fate, 
 And when I write to you again, 
 Will hope to have a better pen. 
 
 No letter from home had I to-day. 
 So must bear it as best I may : 
 With a kiss for the children dear, 
 I'll say good-night, and then retire. 
 
 LINES TO FEOM HER SPIEIT-SISTER. 
 
 My precious, darling sister ! I am with you 
 
 ! so often, in the hours 
 
 When daylight fades, and twilight gathers anew 
 
 From thy heart sweet memories 
 Of all the happy days and years you and I 
 
 Have lived and loved together. 
 
 I wish, dear sister, you might /eeZ my presence, — 
 
 Might be more sure my spirit 
 Returns to thee, nor thee alone, other ones — 
 
 My father dear I visit. 
 My mother, too, whose yearning heart oft bemoans 
 
 Her loss, my gain, dear mother. 
 
 I do so long to tell you all the rapture 
 
 1 feel when you, my dear ones,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 449 
 
 Draw near to me in heart and soul. The future 
 
 Will bring to thee loving tones 
 Oft whispered in the midnight breeze : you, sister 
 
 My darling ! do oftentimes 
 
 So lonely feel without me there, as of yore ; 
 
 You long to clasp me fondly. 
 Your heart is sad and desolate ; trials sore 
 
 Have left their impress dreary ; 
 I long, dear one, to aid thee still, saintly pure 
 
 Thy spirit, but so weary ; — 
 
 But brighter days, my sister dear, will, I think, 
 
 Soon dawn for thee ; have patience, 
 My own loved one, thou standest now near the brink 
 
 Of some new joy — assurance 
 Is mine to thee inform, though first thou wilt drink 
 
 From sorrow's brimming chalice. 
 
 Let not your heart be troubled : look upward I 
 
 And trust thou in God and us ; 
 He is able, we are willing ; our love combined 
 
 Shall leave thee not comfortless : 
 We'll lead the kindly, by the surest, smoothest road, 
 
 And thee, darling, will cheer and bless. 
 
 Thy friends above are numerous, sister dear, 
 
 We 're a happy loving band ; 
 Sweet music fills our souls alway, — may its cheer 
 
 Our dear ones reach — softly blend 
 With their sweet strains wafted on high ; these we hear 
 
 So oft in our summerland. 
 
 Sweet flowers are blooming ever here ; their fragrance 
 
 Perfumes the air so sweetly. 
 Then rises to sublimer heights, as incense 
 
 From those who rear tenderly
 
 450 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Kind nature's gifts, rare, beautiful ; sweet essence 
 Of love, so pure, heavenly. 
 
 Our loves we cherish fondly here and truly, 
 
 So full, so rich, and so free ; 
 Enough for all who will receive and kindly 
 
 Return the same — more, maybe ; 
 But fare thee well ! May blessings pure and holy 
 
 Attend, loved one, thine and thee. 
 
 FORSAKEN. 
 
 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken mer 
 
 Did I not leave all else beside to follow thee, — 
 
 My home, my friends, and all that I on earth hold dear? 
 
 And now dost thou withhold from me one word of cheer ? 
 
 How long, O Lord ! how long must I in darkness grope, — 
 How long hy faith alone keep heart? I once had hope, 
 'T is sinking fast ; the glimmering light I saw ahead, 
 I see not now, — where hath it fled ? is it obscured 
 
 By passing clouds which will at thy command disperse ? 
 Wilt thou, my God, my heart and soul once more immerse 
 In waters deep, so deep they seem my life to chill ? 
 I wait to hear my master say, Peace, be still. 
 
 But no, still come these troublous waves ; each one gives place 
 To sister wave, which in its turn doth me embrace. 
 And leave me weaker, fainter than the one before ; 
 Would they might waft my spirit forth to yon bright shore.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 451 
 
 Why must I be so chained to earth ? I long to rise 
 Above the same, to dwell with beings pure and wise, 
 Whose pleasure doth for aye consist in words and deeds 
 Of love and truth, supplying, daily, wants and needs 
 
 Of those to whom they minister. The angel-world 
 Is filled with such ; how sweet, how bright, what joys untold 
 Await us there ! Our life-work, but begins on earth ; 
 May it begin aright, we pray : the spirit-birth 
 
 Will then be free, — the soul assimilate and blend 
 
 In holy ecstasy of love, with heart and mina 
 
 Congenial to its own ; no misconceptions there ; 
 
 No midnight gloom : The pearl of truth, so bright and fair, 
 
 Yet, sad to say, so oft o'erlooked by mortals here. 
 Will then shine forth so radiant, so bright, so clear, 
 No counterfeit can be produced to take its place, 
 Or for one moment dim the beauty of its face. 
 
 My angel-guides, O, where are they? I see them not, 
 Nor do I sense their presence near ; is there no spot 
 Where I may trace, in visions bright, their silent aid ? 
 Is there a purpose in this melancholy hid ? 
 
 Must I through suffering obtain, what to the world 
 I give in song ? is there no other Avay to gild 
 Our earth-life, and fit us for a heavenly one? 
 INIethinks I hear thee gently say. Behold my Son I 
 
 My gracious God ! forgive, I pray, these munnurings ; 
 'Tis meet for me that I should have these wandcrinirs. 
 Else, how could I true sympathy and love bestow 
 On poor, forsaken ones below ? Father, I bow 
 
 Submissive 'neath thy chast'ning rod, and own it just ; 
 Henceforth may I smother this grief, and fii-mly trust
 
 452 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 In Him who did his dearest Son suffer to die 
 Upon the cross ; for what indeed, am I, that He 
 
 Should mindful prove of my desire ? then take away 
 This spirit of unrest, I pray ! give, day by day, 
 What seemeth best ; help me to trust thee for the rest, 
 And in sincerity to own — God knoweth best. 
 
 K to obtain my heart's desire, my spirit's food, 
 The physical I must restrain and crucify. 
 Give strength, I pray, and patience too, that so I may 
 Go boldly forth — bright chosen ones to lead the way. 
 
 Draw near me, then, and let me feel, as in the past, 
 Thy love is sure, thy truth it will forever last ; and 
 Though I walk untrodden paths, thou still art near 
 To guide me through the wilderness, so dark and drear. 
 
 O, point me to the light ahead ! its rays divine 
 
 Will then infuse my inmost soul ; I will resign 
 
 My all to thee ; I would draw nearer, — feel thee dearer 
 
 Than e'er thou hast been unto me ; Holy Father, — 
 
 Send to me my dearest ones, for thine they are — 
 Yes, thine and mine ! how sweet the thought, we all may share 
 Thy love and joy, for thou hast said. Ye all are sons. 
 Forsake not,then, for his dear sake whose crown was — thorns.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 453 
 
 THE LITTLE MOTHEK. 
 
 A form of beauty and of grace 
 
 She did possess, 
 Her face was fair to look upon, 
 Her hair as golden as the sun, 
 Her lips, from them you fain would win 
 
 A holy kiss. 
 
 This little mother, too, was young ; 
 
 Nevertheless, 
 An infant lay upon her arm : 
 She pressed it to her bosom warm 
 As if to shield it from all harm. 
 
 And to it bless. 
 
 Beside her stood a sweet young child 
 
 Two summers old ; 
 The image of her mother, she. 
 But from her tender eyes, so blue, 
 Tears came flowing copiously ; 
 
 Her grief seemed wild. 
 
 My heart was touched ; the little one 
 
 I twice before 
 Had seen, in joyous, happy mood ; 
 So innocent she seemed, and good, 
 I wondered what could have transpired, 
 
 To thus unbar 
 
 The flood-gates of her little soul : 
 
 What do you think ? 
 I gently called her by her name, — 
 With outstretched arms to me she came, 
 As if she thought I 'd save from harm ; 
 
 Dear little Beck !
 
 454 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 I soothed her tenderl^^, and asked 
 
 What made her cry ; 
 The answer came. Dear little pet 
 With eyes so sad, and cheeks so wet, 
 Your lisping tones I '11 ne'er forget I 
 
 She thus did say, — 
 
 " Bad little girls be all burned up." 
 
 Father divine ! 
 My heart g'>ows sick ; this little lamb, 
 Scarce old enough to lisp thy name. 
 So early taught her tiny form 
 
 Thou wouldst consign 
 
 Unto the fiery flame, if she 
 
 Did aught amiss ! 
 We sat before an open fire, 
 The flames arose, leaping higher 
 Than was their wont. Poor little dear ! 
 
 I stooped to kiss 
 
 Her burning cheek ; I longed to say, 
 
 It all is false. 
 But there the little mother sat, 
 And she, I knew, did from her heart 
 Believe her teachings to be right. 
 
 Alas ! alas ! — 
 
 The mother, but a child herself; 
 
 At years fifteen. 
 The nuptial vow had been performed. 
 The duties of the wife assumed. 
 Her fair young life, alas, entombed 
 
 In sorrow's shrine ! 
 
 The joys and pains of motherhood 
 She twice had borne,
 
 THE UNSEAIiED BOOK. 455 
 
 When first the death-angel came down 
 And bore away her first-born son, 
 His work e'en then but just begun : 
 He did return, 
 
 And claim the little one as well — 
 
 The babe so dear. 
 The mother's heart seemed bursting now — 
 Misfortune, too, did them o'erthrow, 
 Their home to others soon must go, 
 
 'T was theirs no more. 
 
 A shelter kind, and loving hearts, 
 
 Were found beneath 
 The little mother's homestead roof; 
 Old friends did vie to give a proof 
 Of sympathy. Is it enough 
 
 For thee, O death ? 
 
 The frail young mother cried, and hope 
 
 Revived again ; 
 For now the time was drawing near. 
 To which, with joy outweighing fear, 
 Her heart, so desolate and drear, 
 
 Looked to regain 
 
 Its wonted joy. — Maternity ! 
 
 What love untold 
 This simple word, doth oft embrace I 
 Sweet mother, rest a little space. 
 And pray thee for renewed grace 
 
 Ere thou behold — 
 
 The comitcrpart of thy past woes I 
 
 For weeks her babe 
 Sleeps peacefully, except at times 
 When nourishment its body claims,
 
 456 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 No throb of pain its face alarms, — 
 Rest, undisturbed, 
 
 Seems all that this dear little one. 
 
 Thus far requires. 
 The mother watches eagerly 
 The form which rests so languidly 
 Upon her breast ; so tenderly 
 
 She gazes now — 
 
 Her heart is troubled. Precious babe I 
 
 What dost thou see ? 
 His deep blue eyes he doth uplift : 
 They seem, alas ! a sightless gift, 
 As if the soul had gone out and left 
 
 The door wide open : — 
 
 Can this be true ! my darling blind ? 
 
 Little mother, 
 Thy cup indeed is filling fast, 
 2%y sorrows did this shadow cast 
 Upon thy habel Thy dream is past. 
 
 He will never 
 
 On earth, behold his mother's face ; 
 
 Her gentle voice 
 He soon will learn to know right well : 
 The months go by, but who can tell 
 How long? — Thy cup, indeed, is full. 
 
 Dost thou rejoice 
 
 O'er prospects which some would lament ■ 
 
 Little mother ? 
 Another bud of promise soon 
 Will claim thy tender care, and win 
 A place thy guileless heart within : 
 
 Yes, a daughter
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 457 
 
 Is folded to thy heart once more ; 
 
 Unlike the boy, 
 She doth possess a robust frame, 
 And in a little space of time 
 Becomes a sunlight in your home. 
 
 Her father's joy, 
 
 Her mother's pet, is she ; and yet 
 
 Thy chief employ 
 Remains the same, — to tenderly 
 Watch o'er and guard so lovingly 
 Him who to thee so clingingly 
 
 Denotes his joy. 
 
 His sweet young life has been of late 
 
 So fraught with pain. 
 
 No voice but thine could soothe to rest ; 
 
 His tiny hands oft thee caress, 
 As if to say, I love thee best, 
 
 Dear mother mine ! 
 
 Sweet babe ! thou soon wilt be released 
 
 From suffering. 
 Thy spirit pure in spotless robes 
 Will soon be clothed ; thy sightless orbs 
 And clayey form where nought disturbs 
 
 Lie mouldering. 
 
 Not so thy soul ; it shall ere long 
 
 In beauty bloom, — 
 Thy spirit-birth to thee unfold 
 Visions of light ; pleasures untold 
 Await thee there ; thou shalt behold 
 
 No midnight gloom, — 
 
 But brightness shall illume thy path. 
 So dark below.
 
 458 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Little mother, we chide thee not I 
 Our Jesus wept, and it is meet 
 That for thy precious babe so sweet 
 Thy tears should flow : 
 
 He hath to thee, full well we know, 
 
 Been doubly dear. 
 Because of his infirmity 
 Which claimed thy heartfelt sympathy, 
 Combined with love pure and holy. 
 
 Angels hover near 
 
 To comfort thee, as tenderly 
 
 Thou dost prepare 
 For its last home the waxen form 
 So beautiful. No chill earth-storm 
 Shall with conscious pain alarm 
 
 Those features more. 
 
 Then fold the little hands to rest, 
 
 Stricken mother ; 
 Brush from the forehead broad and full. 
 The sunny hair, and lay each curl 
 Adown upon the snowy pall ; 
 
 Then bring hither 
 
 Fresh flowers, most delicate and rare ; 
 
 Scatter the same. 
 E'en now his spirit hovers near 
 And views the scene ; his vision clear 
 Beholds the tender, drooping flower. 
 
 Music sublime 
 
 Floats from the angel-choir above 
 
 And fills the air ; 
 Weep ye not for the dead, mother. 
 His anguish and pain are over ;
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 459 
 
 Angels of light, pure and tender, 
 For him will care. 
 
 Now, reader kind, I have given 
 
 The history, — 
 At least so far as I it knew, — 
 Of that dear little mother who 
 Gave to her child, innocently, — * 
 
 Unconsciously, — 
 
 That false and cruel conception 
 
 Of Deity. 
 From my heart went forth a burdened sigh, 
 A prayer that heaven might grace supply 
 To help unveil the mother's eye, 
 
 And finally 
 
 The truth be written on that brow, 
 
 Divinely fair, 
 Fresh powers of comprehension given 
 To trace the light and joy of heaven 
 Within herself, and God's own leaven 
 
 Working there, — 
 
 Fill all her being with his love, 
 
 Changeless ever 
 As the luminous firmament, 
 Pure and bright as the rainbow tint 
 Which deepens when the storm is spent. 
 
 Holy Father 1 
 
 If thus Thy love her bosom fill, 
 
 Her soul is saved ; 
 No place remains for death and hell ; 
 'T is with herself and children well ; 
 No more will she the darlings tell, 
 
 Heaven's path is paved
 
 460 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 With babes whose souls have been " burned up ; " 
 
 Nay, much rather, 
 Herself become like to a child, — 
 Tread the pathway of Him who said, 
 Of such is the kingdom of God. 
 
 Fair young mother, 
 
 Our prayer for thee is, that thy life 
 
 Be full of light. 
 Teach thou, in love, this to thy babes, — 
 Fear not, little fiock; for it is 
 Your Father^s good pleasure to give 
 
 You the kingdom 
 
 ALONE. 
 
 " Then lead me, for O, I am lonelyl 
 And love me, for I am thine only: 
 Yes, Great One and True One ! thine only, 
 And with Thee am never alone." 
 
 I oft, alas, do feel alone, yea, all alone, so far from those I 
 dearly love ; I feel like Noah's weary dove, that soared the earth 
 around, but not a resting place above the waters found. 
 
 My life of late seems not mine own : I 'm tossed about hither 
 and yon ; 't is well the earth is round ; if flat, I might come to the 
 end some day, and fall, somewhere, anywhere, who would care ? 
 
 Would not somebody say, " Well there, I 've wished it long ago, 
 'tis all because of that hallucinated brain; I've warned her of t, 
 't was of no use, she had her way, and now, alas, she bears alone 
 the pain." 
 
 Yes, friends, I truly bear alone, heartache and pain, although 
 instead of falling lower, I feel myself rising higher, above this 
 earthly plane. 
 
 I know it is no fault of yours, for, as you say, you would have 
 kept me still with you, had you known precisely how, also pos- 
 sessed the power.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK 461 
 
 But here I am ; the world is round, and large enough for you 
 and me, though wide apart; and if the language of your heart 
 remains the same, in truth 't is better thus. 
 
 The past only a vision bright has been, which soon- will fade 
 away ; though for a time 't will dim the sky, obscure the heavenly 
 light which radiated us between, and seemed to cast a "sunbeam 
 glancing o'er life's tears ; " 
 
 Tears caused by sorrows of past years, deeply drifted in my 
 heart. If this be all, and I henceforth alone must tread the 
 weary walk of life below, — 
 
 No friends, save those who dwell on high, and strive my soul 
 to guide ; I pray that I may patience have to " bide my time," 
 till 1 with them shall be at rest. 
 
 If these love not the best, they surely, unlike some, are not 
 afraid their love to show in its true light: not that I would my 
 friends rebuke, for I have been, still am, so weak ; 
 
 I pray, and strive, and fight, and ofttimes feel the mastery o'er 
 self I ne'er shall gain, or selfish deeds and aims uproot ; if angels 
 pure did not assist, a blotted page sadly defaced my life would 
 show. 
 
 Mine earthly friends, methinks, would number less than in the 
 days of yore; and why? "When a mortal has dared to be wise, 
 and seize upon truth as the soul's ' Magna Charta,' he always has 
 won from the lovers of lies, the name of a fool, or the fate of a 
 martyr." 
 
 I doubt not you, my friends, will think me too severe; I may 
 be BO, God grant I am, for your dear sakes as well as mine ; may 
 you what I endure, and have in life passed through, never be 
 made to feel, unless it be the only way to separate the false and 
 true; 
 
 May God more gently deal with thee and thine, the dross cast 
 out, the gold refine, without the seething, burning flame, which 
 has been deemed in former time the best way, the divine. 
 
 Methinks the world make a mistake in saying this, and do 
 what they 've oft done before, — the sins which lie at their own 
 door, palm off on Him who is above being tempted of evil, nei- 
 ther temptcth he any man. 
 
 Would he plead against me with his great power? No; but 
 he would put strength in me. Do I need that strength ? Yes ;
 
 462 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 every clay I need thee, my God : make haste to help me, and 
 draw me nearer, Lord, to thee. 
 
 Like Job, I feel to say : " Behold, I go forward, but he is not 
 there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him; on the left 
 hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him ; 
 
 He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him ; 
 but he knoweth the way that I take ; when he hath tried me, I 
 shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps, his way 
 have I kept, and not declined. 
 
 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; 
 I have esteemed the words of his mouth, more than my necessary 
 food. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what 
 his soul desireth, even that he doeth." 
 
 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me : and 
 many such things are with him. He doth for me care, I have 
 therefore learned, — 
 
 " When days are dark, and friends are few, on him to lean 
 who, not in vain, experienced every human pain : He feels my 
 griefs, He sees my fears, and counts and treasures up my tears." 
 
 I will henceforth trust him ever ; for, " Shall mortal man be 
 more just than his God? shall man be more pure than his 
 Maker?" 
 
 My friends, think not my grief is for myself alone; it is for 
 thee as well, yea, more, I do in truth believe ; you are by me, as 
 in days agone, cherished fondly, loved most truly. 
 
 I oft have felt, when in your presence dear, ''Thou art so near, 
 and yet so far." How is it now ? thou art so far ; and would to 
 God I here might add, And yet so near, in heart, in soul, and 
 spirit dear; 'twould cheer me on the road. 
 
 But no, such bliss seems not for me on this side heaven, for I 
 am far, yea, very far from all that I on earth hold dear. 
 
 Do I, then, for this mourn ? Not for the distance as measured 
 hj miles or days, this, I could bear without repining; but now, 
 my cup is overflowing, my sky a murky haze. 
 
 As a dream when one awaketh, so. Lord, am L I thought ere 
 this, my friends, some of them at least, would search with me 
 these hidden mysteries ; not so, and I am waiting, waiting still. 
 
 "I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune 
 with mine own heart." Hath God forgotten to be gracious? 
 Nay, precious in his sight are you, my companions and friends ;
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 463 
 
 then taste and see that the Lord is good: delay not, the longer 
 you do idly wait, the harder to get free. 
 
 Then say not thou within thyself, Yet a little more sleep, a lit- 
 tle more slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. Awake, 
 thine eyelids ope, and view the broad expanse of heaven so beau- 
 tiful ! 
 
 The sunlight fair adorns the same, yet not for one alone it 
 came ; for you, for me, for all who place themselves within its 
 realm, its light goes forth ; come, feel the warmth its rays can 
 give, — 
 
 Thy spirits pure no longer grieve with errors taught in youth. 
 *' We do not ask for forms and creeds, or useless dogmas, old or 
 new, but we do ask for christian deeds, with man's progression 
 full in view. 
 
 Both in your church and in your state, more of life and less of 
 fashion, more of love and less of passion, that will make you 
 good and just." 
 
 Like David, I can truly say, for you, my dear ones. My heart 
 and my flesh faileth : but God is the strength of my heart, and 
 my portion forever. 
 
 But vain, dear Lord, would be my words if I should ask, 
 Whom have I in heaven but Thee ? or say, There is none upon 
 earth that I desire beside Thee. 
 
 For I know in heaven many dear ones are waiting for me, yet 
 working while they wait, tenderly guiding souls aright, the way 
 of life teaching. 
 
 And on earth, my God, are those that " I desire beside Thee ; " 
 In thy sight it cannot be wrong, for mine are thine, and thine 
 are mine, all subject to thy law. 
 
 Stay yourselves, and wonder ; cry ye out, and cry, for the Lord 
 hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath 
 closed your eyes. It Avon't be long, the time is drawing very near 
 •when they also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding 
 and thou shalt weep no more. 
 
 He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; 
 when he shall hear it, he will answer thee, and though the Lord 
 give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet 
 shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more. 
 
 But thine etjes shall see thy teachers : and thine ears shall hear
 
 464 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 a word heliind thee, saying, Tliis is the way, walk ye in it, when 
 ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. 
 
 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the 
 sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of 
 seven days. Shall these words fall like dew upon the souls I 
 fain would bless ? 
 
 And shall they, like the morning dew, as quickly disappear, or 
 will they point some living one to fairer regions in the sky ? I 
 still will work, and patiently will wait: 
 
 The dew is not without its uses, too ; it gives a freshness to the 
 fields, whose verdure doth depend on it, until the rain and gen- 
 tle showers shall deeper moisture give. 
 
 Shall I, then, despise the day of small things ? Nay, although 
 I may not yet enter, I had rather be a door-keeper in the house 
 of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 
 
 For with Thee is the fountain of life : in thy light shall we see 
 light; thou us hast made, a little lower than the angels. If only 
 a little lower, shall we not strive to rise higher, be the willing 
 pupils of those who dwell in regions fair, in homes eternal ? 
 
 The words of the Lord are pure words : as silver tried in a fur- 
 nace of earth, purified seven times. How many times shall I, 
 dear Lord, pass through the fire, to be by Thee, sufficiently tried ; 
 and shall my soul be purified and breathe the nether air ? 
 
 Metliinks seventy times seven refining fires do scarce suffice 
 for some of us. Thou hast showed thy people hard things : thou 
 hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. 
 
 Not that we murmur at the Lord, for we know, if the iron be 
 blunt, and he doth not whet the edge, then must he put to more 
 strength. 
 
 My heart. Lord, is dull of understanding, my eyes see not with 
 quick clearness : Long ago had I fainted, unless I had believed to 
 see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 
 
 Wait on the Lord ; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen 
 thine heart : wait, I say, on the Lord. But as for me, my feet 
 were almost gone ; my steps had well-nigh slipped, and I said, 0, 
 that I had wings like a dove ! for then would I fiy away, and be 
 at rest. 
 
 Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. 
 I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. 
 . Do I blame thee, do I chide thee, friends beloved ? Nay, I
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 405 
 
 blame not, I chide not any, though I pass through sorrows deep, 
 have trials many; for God maketh my heart soft. 
 
 May what I here suffer be for his glory: though piercing thorns 
 my flesh may tear, the " crown of thorns " I ne'er shall wear. 
 Times were when I, from day to day, scarce knew how I should 
 sup, with whom should dine, my purse so little did contain ; 
 
 I ate most sparingly, yet dwelling upon the Psalmist's words : 
 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the 
 righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. 
 
 A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of 
 many wicked. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him ; 
 fret not thyself. 
 
 Who runs may read, and many here will doubtless say, "We 
 ■would have helped you willingly." If I were hungry 1 would not 
 tell thee. Do any ask why ? 
 
 Because they know not, neither will they understand : some 
 will blame, other some will chide ; one say shame, another, false 
 pride ; but who shall countermand ? 
 
 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, 
 mock on. As for me, is my complaint to men? Is not God 
 in the height of heaven ? 
 
 And behold the light of the stars, how high they are! and, 
 thou sayest, how doth God know ? Can he judge through the 
 dark cloud ? Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace :■ 
 thereby good shall come unto thee. 
 
 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto 
 thee ! and the light shall shine upon thy ways. When men are 
 cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up ; and he shall 
 save the humble person. 
 
 He shall deliver the island of the innocent ; and it is delivered' 
 by the pureness of thine hands. Hear this, all ye people ; give 
 ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: Both low and high, rich and. 
 poor, together, for he is no respecter of persons. 
 
 The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people. Mercy 
 and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have> kissed 
 each other; truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteous- 
 ness shall look down from heaven. 
 
 Friends, I ask you now to consider with me the words of onC' 
 whom you have been taught from youth to believe was the most
 
 466 • THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 patient man the earth ever knew. Had he much, think you, to 
 contend with ? 
 
 Do you surmise that he did all this suffering forego, pass 
 through, to prepare him to teach this lesson of patience unto 
 generations yet unborn ? 
 
 Persons are often said to possess the patience of Job, in fact, 
 it is a household by-word, and repeatedly used by those who knoAv 
 not what they say. Not long ago I heard of a book entitled, 
 " The Sixteen Crucified Saviours : " 
 
 The work I have not seen, and know nought of it except its 
 name, but the thought occurred to me, that if sixteen Saviours 
 had been known, Job must surely have been one. 
 
 What do his sufferings teach us, humanity to bless^ or curse ? 
 Himself hath told ; read, I will teach you by the hand of God : 
 that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal. Behold all 
 ye yourselves have seen it ; why then are ye thus altogether vain ? 
 
 I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him 
 that had none to help him ; I caused the widow's heart to sing 
 for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. 
 
 My judgment Avas as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the 
 blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor, 
 and the cause which I knew not I searched out. 
 
 Be it known that this was in the days of Job's prosperity, or, 
 as he expresses it. When the Almighty was yet with me, when 
 his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked 
 througli darkness. 
 
 Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my 
 days as the sand. My root was spread out by the waters, and the 
 dew lay all night upon my branch. 
 
 My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in mv 
 hand. Unto me men gave ear and waited, and kept silence at 
 my counsel ; after my words they spake not again ; 
 
 And my speech dropped upon them. And they waited for me 
 as for the rain ; and they opened their mouth wide as for the lat- 
 ter rain. 
 
 If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light <■ 
 my countenance they cast not down. I chose out their way, and 
 gat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth 
 the mourners. 
 
 The young men saw me, and hid themselves; and the aged
 
 THE UXSEALED BOOK. 467 
 
 arose, and stood up. The princes refrained talking, and laid 
 their hand on their mouth. 
 
 The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the 
 roof of their mouth. When the ear heard me, then it blessed me ; 
 and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me. The stranger 
 did not lodge in the street; but I opened my doors to the trav- 
 eller. 
 
 Do you behold, my friends, any praiseworthy deeds in the life 
 of him whom God scourged ? was he scourged because of good 
 deeds ? Nay, rather because of men's needs. 
 
 I verily believe he endured, in God's way, his full measure of 
 pain and woe, as much as did He, the Life, the Truth, the Way. 
 
 I fear we give not Job the honour due ; one thing I fear we do 
 forget, which is, when he was so beset by high and low, and per- 
 formed those noble deeds of charity, 'twas at a time when he 
 possessed both wealth and honour, and we know how hard it is, 
 has ever been, for these same rich ones to enter the kingdom of 
 love, or to acknowledge a brother as such, whose station in life is, 
 in worldly respects, lower than his. 
 
 For us, we would sooner look for sympathy and help in time of 
 need, from those below us in station and wealth ; this we say from 
 actual experience, having proved its truth. 
 
 And here let me say, if you should e'er seek aid in behalf of 
 some worthy, charitable object, avoid the rich. He, who his daily 
 bread earns by the " sweat of his brow," Avill give twice as much, 
 and with a more willing heart; the rich may give — a look — 
 which hurts a sensitive spirit. 
 
 But wc will not leave Job, as did his friends of old when ad- 
 versity came upon him. These friends if such we may call them, 
 left him out in the cold : read what he saith. 
 
 But now they that are younger than me have me in dcri=io;i : 
 they were children of fools, yea, children of base men; tliey wire 
 viler than the earth. 
 
 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword ; they abhor me, 
 they flee far froin me, and spare not to spit in my face. Because 
 he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me, they have also let loose 
 the bridle before me, they push away my foot, they mar my path. 
 
 And the thing which I knew not I searched out. Friend, go 
 thou and do likewise; some things will doubtless you surprise if 
 you once get afloat, but never mind, you will sec what you do see.
 
 468 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 There is a path which uo fowl knoweth, and bread cometh out 
 of the earth, but when shall wisdom be found ? and where is the 
 place of understanding ? 
 
 Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the 
 land of the living. The depth saith, it is not in me : and the sea 
 saith, it is not with me : it cannot be gotten for gold, neither 
 shall silver be weighed for the price therof. 
 
 It cannot be valued with the Gold of Ophir, with the precious 
 onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it : 
 and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. 
 
 No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls ; for the price 
 of wisdom is above rubies : the topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal 
 it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. 
 
 Whence then cometh wisdom ? seeing it is hid from the eyes of 
 all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air. 
 
 God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place 
 thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth un- 
 der the whole heaven ; and he weigheth the waters by measure. 
 
 When he made a decree for the rain, and a Avay for the light- 
 ning of the thunder : then did he see it, and declare it ; he pre- 
 pared it, yea, and searched it out. 
 
 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is 
 wisdom ; and to depart from evil is understanding. Amen and 
 amen. 
 
 We feel that aught which we can say, can add little weight to 
 these truths, self-evident to all of wise intent. 
 
 To some they come in youth, others must wait for riper years; 
 those who receive on earth a taste, have much to learn when they 
 go hence : Many here mourn an idle misspent youth. 
 
 If we should speak only of things pleasing to you, our mission 
 would not be complete; we seek not to mislead, but keeping the 
 trath in view give full assurance that all who in sincerity inquire, 
 and seek true wisdom from above, shall not in vain aspire, their 
 hearts shall be grounded in love to do the thing which good is. 
 
 But I grieve to say there are those that rebel against the light; 
 they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the path thereof. 
 
 The murderer, rising with the light, killeth the poor and needy, 
 and in the night is as a thief. The eye also of the adulterer wait- 
 eth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me : and disguiseth 
 his face.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 469 
 
 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked 
 for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light; for the 
 morning is to them even as the shadow of death. If one know 
 them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death. 
 
 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and 
 no man is sure of life ; lo these are parts of his ways : 
 
 God forbid tliat I should justify : till I die I will not remove 
 mine integrity from me. This is the portion of a wicked man 
 with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall re- 
 ceive of the Almighty. 
 
 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his off- 
 spring shall not be satisfied with bread. Those that remain of 
 him shall be buried in death : and his widows shall not weep. 
 
 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as 
 the clay; he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the 
 innocent shall divide the silver. 
 
 He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the pau- 
 per makcth ; the rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be 
 gathered : he openeth his eyes and he is not. 
 
 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest steals him away 
 in the night. The east wind carrieth him away and ho de}nirt- 
 eth: and as a storm hunteth him out of his place. 
 
 For God shall cast upon him, and not spare : he would fain 
 flee out of his hand. Men shall clap their hands at him, and 
 shall hiss him out of his place. 
 
 We would here a few suggestions make to the "rich," or rather, 
 would of them inquire, why it is that in the Scriptures we inva- 
 riably find the rich, coupled with the unjust, and with the wicked? 
 
 Can ye not come out from among them, and be ye separate ? 
 May God in his infinite mercy hell) and deliver you ! 
 
 Although we have gleaned much wisdom, understanding, and 
 good counsel, from patient Job, we find that, in the siglit of God, 
 even he was not '• all clean." 
 
 In the anguish of his spirit, his soul was filled with contempt 
 for — we had almost said God and man. Unto God he made his 
 complaint, and said, Did not I weep for him that was in trouble ? 
 was not my soul grieved for the poor? 
 
 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I 
 waited for light, then came darkness: I went mourning without 
 the sun ;
 
 470 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 I stood up and I cried in the congregation. My liarp is tuned 
 to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep. I 
 cry, and thou dost not hear me ; thou art become cruel to me. 
 
 If I have hfted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw 
 myself in tlie gate, — then let mine arm fall from my shoulder- 
 blade, if I have made gold my hope, or have said to fine gold, 
 Thou art my confidence. 
 
 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine 
 hand had gotten much ; If I beheld the sun when it shined, or 
 the moon walking in brightness ; and my heart hath been sweetly 
 enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: 
 
 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge : for 
 I should have denied the God that is above. 
 
 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniq- 
 uity in my bosom : Did I fear a great multitude ? 
 
 0, that one would hear me ! behold, my desire is, that the Al 
 mighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a 
 book. 
 
 (Right here let us say to friends and foes. If we had a desire to 
 retaliate, the most satisfactory way of doing so would be, that 
 they might write a book, and subject it and the author to the 
 criticisms of — everybody.) 
 
 Surely, I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a 
 crown to me. I would declare unto him the number of my steps ; 
 us a friend would I go near unto him. 
 
 Tf my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof 
 complain ; if I have eaten the fruits thei'eof without money, or 
 have caused the owners thereof to lose their lives : 
 
 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. 
 The words of Job are ended. 
 
 Ended for a time only, as we shall soon see, although after 
 this, his words were few, and in reply to the Almiglity, who had 
 heard his prayer. 
 
 Some of our readers may not be aware of the fact, that Job, 
 and others of the so-called holy men of old, held converse with 
 immortal beings through earthly mediums. 
 
 These mediums are not easily traced in scriptural writings, un- 
 less our minds are predisposed in that direction, from the fact, 
 that diverse appellations are given them. 
 
 In the case we have before us they were designated " friends."
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 471 
 
 Eliphaz the Tcmanite, Bildad the Shnhite, and Zophar the Na- 
 amathite. These three, according to the book of Job, were con- 
 sulted by him alternately and quite frequently. 
 
 Now after Job had ended his sayings, these three men ceased 
 to answer him, because they said he was righteous in his own eyes. 
 
 If the Almighty had not heard his heart's desire, and answered 
 the same in his own appointed way, who would have known the 
 latter end of Job ? we surely should have inferred that the last 
 state of that man was worse than the first. 
 
 But the end is not yet : mysterious are the ways of our God, by 
 whose agency a young man, named Elihu, was sent to reason with 
 Job, and his three friends. Now this young man was filled with 
 the spirit within, and could not keep silence. 
 
 Against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified him- 
 self rather than God; also against his three friends was his wrath 
 kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had con- 
 demned Job. 
 
 Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were 
 elder than he. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the 
 mouths of these three men, then his wrath was kindled. 
 
 He answered and said, I am young, and ye are old ; wherefore 
 I was afraid, and dared not show you mine opinion. I said, Days 
 should speak, and multitudes of years should teach wisdom. 
 
 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Al- 
 mighty giveth them understanding. Great men are not always 
 wise: neither do the aged understand judgment. 
 
 Therefore I said, Hearken to me ; I also will show mine opinion. 
 Behold I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasons, 
 while ye searched out what to say. 
 
 Yea, I attended unto you, and behold there was none of you 
 that answered Job, or that answered his words: lest ye should 
 say, We have found out wisdom. 
 
 Now he hath not directed his words against mc: neither will I 
 answer him with your speeches. They were amazed, they an- 
 swered no more, they left off speaking. 
 
 When I had waited, (for they spake not) I said, I will answer 
 also my part, I also will show mine opinion, for I am full of mat- 
 ter; the s])irit within me coustraineth me, — I will speak, that I 
 may be refreshed. 
 
 Wherefore, Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches, and hearken to
 
 472 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 all my words. Behold, I am according to thy wish, in God's 
 stead : I also am formed out of the clay. 
 
 Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my 
 hand be heavy npon thee : surely thou hast spoken in mine hear- 
 ing, and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying, 
 
 I am clean, without transgression, I am innocent ; neither is 
 there iniquity in me. Beliold, He findeth occasion against me; 
 he counteth me for his enemy ; he putteth my feet in the stocks, 
 he maketh all my paths. 
 
 Behold, in this thou art just ; I will answer thee, that God is 
 greater than man. Why dost thou strive against him? for he 
 giveth not account of any of his matters. 
 
 For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. 
 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon 
 men, in slumberings upon their bed ; then he openeth the ears 
 of men and sealeth their instrnction, that he may withdraw man 
 from his purpose, and hide pride from man. 
 
 If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a 
 thousand, to show unto man his uprightness : then he is gracious 
 unto him. He looketh unto men, and if any say, I have sinned, 
 and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; he 
 will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see 
 the light. 
 
 Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring 
 his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the liv- 
 ing. 
 
 Mark well, Job ! hearken unto me : Is it fit to say to a king, 
 Thou art wicked, and to princes. Ye are ungodly ? much less to 
 him that accepteth not the person of princes, nor regardeth the 
 rich more than the p6or; for they are all the work of his hands. 
 
 In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled 
 at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away 
 without hand. For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he 
 seeth all his goings. 
 
 There is no darkness, no shadow of death, where the workers 
 of iniquity may hide themselves. For He will not lay upon man 
 more than right ; 
 
 For the work of a man shall He render unto him, and cause 
 every man to find according to his ways. Surely it is meet to be
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 473 
 
 said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any 
 more : 
 
 That which I see not, teach thou me : if I have done iniquity, 
 I will do no more. 
 
 Should it be according to thy mind ? He will recompense it, 
 whether thou refuse, or Avhether thou choose ; and not I. 
 
 Elihu spake, moreover, and said, Thinkest thou this to be 
 right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's ? for 
 thou saidst, What will it be unto thee ? and, what profit shall I 
 have, if I be cleansed from my sin ? 
 
 I will answer thee and thy companions with thee. Look unto 
 the heavens and see : and behold the clouds which are higher 
 than thou. 
 
 If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him ? or if thy trans- 
 gressions be multipled, what doest thou unto him? If thou be 
 righteous, what givest thou him ? or what receiveth he of thine 
 hand? 
 
 Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art ; and thy right- 
 eousness may profit the son of man. By reason of the multi- 
 tude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry ; they cry out 
 by reason of the arm of the mighty. 
 
 But none saith. Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in 
 the night ; who teachcth us more than the beasts of the earth, 
 and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven ? 
 
 Then they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of 
 evil men ; surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Al- 
 mighty regard it. 
 
 Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth 
 words without knowledge. 
 
 Elihu also proceeded, and said, Suffer me a little, and I will 
 show thee that I have yet to speak on God's behalf, for truly mv 
 words shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with 
 thee. 
 
 Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any; he is mighty in 
 strength and wisdom; he preserveth not the life of the wicked : 
 but giveth right to the poor. 
 
 lie withdrawcth not his eyes from the righteous: he dclivereth 
 the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression. 
 Even 60 would we have removed thee out of the straight into
 
 474 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 a broad place, where is no straightness ; and that which be set on 
 thy table should be full of fatness. 
 
 But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked: Judgment 
 and Justice take hold on thee. Will he esteem thy riches ? No, 
 not gold nor all the forces of strength. 
 
 Behold, God exalteth by his power : who teacheth like him ? 
 God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of 
 his years be searched out. 
 
 God thundereth marvellously with his voice ; great things doeth 
 he, which we cannot comprehend; for he saith to the snow, Be 
 thou on the earth ; 
 
 Likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength. 
 He sealeth up the hand of every man, that all men may know 
 his work. 
 
 Then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places. Out 
 of the south cometh the whirlwind : and cold out of the north. 
 By the breath of God frost is given : and the breadth of the wa- 
 ters is straightened. 
 
 Also by watering, he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth 
 his bright cloud, and it is turned about by his counsels, that they 
 may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the 
 world in the earth. 
 
 He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, 
 or for mercy. Hearken unto this, Job : stand still, and con- 
 sider the wondrous works of God. 
 
 Friends, we have here given but a few, of the many words 
 which Elihu spake, for Job and his companions' sake. What we 
 have given, wilt thou also consider, and see if ye find not therein 
 more perfect wisdom, and higher knowledge, than had been be- 
 fore vouchsafed him, even through his three elder "friends." 
 
 This young man, who, from his speech, we should infer, was 
 but lightly esteemed by Job, because of Lris youth and inexperi- 
 ence, was moved by the spirit to speak in the name of the Lord, 
 or, as he said, in God's stead. 
 
 We can only Judge of the effect produced upon those who 
 hearkened unto him from his own words, as no reply was vouch- 
 safed him from Job, or from his friends. 
 
 As his inspiration ends, a still greater mystery awaits us; for 
 we read that the Lord himself speaks to Job out of the whirlwind. 
 Would you know his words, read Job, chapters xsxviii to xlii.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 475 
 
 These chapters four so much contain, so many truths reveal, 
 we have it not in our hearts to disannul, by giving only portions 
 of the same; but for the benefit of those who take not the time to 
 peruse more, we will give the commencement subhme : also, Job's 
 reply unto the Lord. 
 
 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 
 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge ? 
 Gird up now thy loins like a man: for I will demand of thee, 
 and answer thou me. 
 
 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ? 
 declare if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measure 
 thereof, if thou knowest ? or who hath stretched the line upon it ? 
 
 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened ? or who laid 
 the corner-stone thereof, when the morning stars sang together, 
 and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 
 
 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of 
 dew ? out of whose womb came the ice ? and the hoary frost of 
 heaven, who hath gendered it ? 
 
 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is 
 frozen. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades, or 
 loose the bands of Orion ? 
 
 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty, instruct him? he 
 that reproveth God, let him answer it. 
 
 Then Job answered the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile ; 
 what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. 
 Once have I spoken : but I will not answer; yea, twice, but I will 
 proceed no further. 
 
 What have we here ? hath Job forgotten his desire ? Did he 
 expect the Almighty would take him at his word and deign to 
 answer? Job refrained from replying to the Lord. 
 
 Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and 
 said. Gird up thy loins now like a man : I will demand of thee, 
 and declare thou unto me. 
 
 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, 
 that thou mavest be righteous ? hast thou an arm like God? 
 
 Thus did the Lord show forth his own great power and might, 
 until sublimity itself seemed lost in wonder ; a belief in the same, 
 a giddy height reaching beyond the frail conception of man. 
 
 The heavens may declare the glory of the Lord, but who upon 
 earth is equal thereto ? No wonder that Job did humble himself
 
 476 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 before his God, who did thus condescend the very clouds of 
 heaven to rend, showing his mighty power. 
 
 Then Job answered the Lord, and said, I know that thou canst 
 do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. 
 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge ? therefore 
 have I uttered that I understood not : things too wonderful for 
 me, which I knew not. 
 
 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak : I will demand of thee, 
 and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing 
 of the ear : but now mine eye seeth thee ; wherefore I abhor my- 
 self, and repent in dust and ashes. 
 
 And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words 
 unto Job, the Lord said to Elipliaz the Temanite, my wrath is 
 kindled against thee, and against thy two friends : for ye have 
 not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. 
 
 How wondrously deep and wise are these teachings ! The 
 friends upon whose counsel Job most depended, it seems were 
 not adapted to inspire his soul with the wisdom and understand- 
 ing he needed, and which might be summed up in two words — 
 Know thyself. 
 
 We have here, plain evidence that length of days and multiplic- 
 ity of years, does not always secure to man the greatest amount 
 of wisdom ; the youth in this case, rendering more perfect knowl- 
 edge. 
 
 No word of rebuke received he from his Master, while his el- 
 ders were charged with cruel slanders against God. A reprieve 
 however, is granted them, through the intercession of Job. We 
 are not informed whether, like him, they received blessings two- 
 fold, and lived to a good old age. 
 
 And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for 
 his friends ; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had be- 
 fore. Then came unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, 
 and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did 
 eat bread with him in his house. 
 
 And they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil 
 that the Lord had brought upon him ; every man also gave him 
 a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. So the Lord 
 blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. 
 
 Line upon line, line upon line — page after page, page after
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 477 
 
 page — have here been penned, when I, in truth, did not intend 
 loneliness to thus assuage. 
 
 I little realized myself, how patient Job had been pursued by 
 fears within, and foes without: he must be clean, and wear a 
 spotless robe ; I 'm sure he doth deserve the same. 
 
 I wonder why the best of men have been, still are, abused and 
 tantalized by fellow-men. I oft have tried to reason out and 
 solve the i)roblem in my mind ; at times I do get on quite well, 
 and some things truthfully divine. 
 
 But then, the world is round, my friends seem not inclined to 
 travel on with me. Must I go forward all alone, traverse each 
 country in its turn : and from each one, maybe, a fresh experi- 
 ence gain ? What good will come of it ? 
 
 If no one but myself can be benefited thereby, then* give me 
 peace and rest : yet how shall this even be done ? can I go back ? 
 
 A spirit dear says, Nay, 'tis useless quite for you to try ; if yon 
 do courage lack, come boldly to the throne of grace, plead for 
 thyself, plead for thy loving ones as well, be not 'discouraged ! 
 
 Thy friends, while grieving o'er thy poor, hallucinated brain, 
 have hearts still warm with love for thee : then chide them not: 
 speak kindly, deal gently, cherish lovingly thy friends, thine own, 
 who ne'er will thee forget. 
 
 Think not thou art, and ever must be, all alone : thou hast on 
 earth many, who would gladly their arms about thee fold, and 
 soothe with gentle tone thy weary soul. 
 
 They cannot all thy sorrows know, like us who are to thee 
 more near, although by them considered far. Angels pure attend 
 thee, and call thee from earth away — earth's cares I mean. 
 
 You could not do our heavenly work, while minist'ring unto 
 thy friends; beside, thou hast thine own life to nourish, and 
 guard well for Ilim who gave it thee: 
 
 A boon we know thou didst not crave, he did bestow. And 
 thou, dear one, in time shall learn to prize what thou hast oft in 
 days agone considered but a burden sore. 
 
 'Tis not so now, and nevermore shult thou thyself resign to 
 days and weeks of melancholy, as heretofore; not that we chide 
 thee, for this also did thy soul need to pass through, fitting for 
 its future. 
 
 ^ angels bright ! angels fair ! may I for aye in thee confide,
 
 478 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 live near unto ; in all the years wliich come and go, may Truth 
 and Love combine to draw me nearer heaven and thee. 
 
 May love divine most graciously fill all my soul, for then I '11 
 never, never feel — no — not all alone. 
 
 HOME AT LAST. 
 
 Yes, Father dear, I'm home at last ; thy loving arm 
 Hath me upheld ; dangers arose, and doubts and fears 
 
 My weary spirit did oppress ; but, safe from harm, 
 
 Once more I rest, nor water now my couch with tears ; 
 Disquietude gives place to peace. 
 
 Amid the din of city life I found not this ; 
 
 My heart rebelled ; in agony I cried to thee ; 
 I begged my guides to lead the way to some lone place 
 
 Where I could rest from toil and strife, and also see 
 My home made bright through them, by thee. 
 
 My prayers did not ascend in vain : thy gracious ear 
 Was open to my mournful cry ; and thou didst send 
 
 An angel bright, who did for me unbar the door, 
 And bid depart unto a distant, foreign land, — 
 My home, the while, the deep blue sea. 
 
 My course was toward the " sunny South ; " my feeble powers, 
 They said, would there recuperate ; my failing strength 
 
 Would be renewed ; I should, at times, see lonely hours : 
 My heart would yearn for those I loved : I should at length 
 Keturn unto my native land.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 479 
 
 The sky was bright, the sea was calm, wheD I launched forth 
 Upon its broad expanse alone, — to earthly eyes, — 
 
 Yet not alone : my dear ones, who by spirit-birth 
 Have soared aloft, beheld me from their natal skies, 
 And made their homo within my soul. 
 
 At length there came a fearful storm : for days and nights 
 The tempest-toss'd lay sick and faint, afar from land, 
 
 "Rocked in the cradle of the deep." The sweet delights 
 Of sailing on the calm, blue sea, were at an end, — 
 Lost in the mighty, raging deep. 
 
 Then "Peace, be still," the Master said, and forthwith came 
 A sweet repose o'er land and sea. We anchored safe : 
 
 No one was lost of all the crew. Be it our aim 
 
 To fear no danger, — trust in Thee, who will through life 
 Our home decree, where thou seest fit. 
 
 O, what a change do we behold ! bright, sunny skies 
 
 In place of winter's chilly blast ; sweet, blooming flowers 
 
 Their fragrance shed ! We gaze around in glad surprise, 
 For, surely, here we, for a time, 'mid friendly bowers 
 A home may find, — kind friends may win. 
 
 If we unto ourselves are true, striving to do 
 Unto all others as we would that they in turn 
 
 Should do to us. We feel, we know, we then shall be 
 Upheld and guided by tliy love, from thee shall learn 
 'T is home wherever duty calls. 
 
 Then mny each trial we endure, our souls refine 
 And purify. Our spirit-vision, too, unfold, — 
 
 That we may see the light ahead, — no more repine 
 
 At thy commands, who first did form, who still wilt mould 
 Our life and character aright.
 
 480 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 If here thou hast a work for us, — with heartfelt zeal 
 We still will strive to walk by faith, if not by sight: 
 
 Thiue own unerring judgment w^ill more kindly deal 
 
 With us and ours, though clouds of grief and sorrow's night 
 At times prevail, we trust thee still. 
 
 Enough to say. We wait on time, with heaven's own 
 Sunshine in our heart, rejoicing in the faith sublime, 
 
 That those who love can never part, and, wheresoe'er 
 The soul may dwell, that God will order all things well, 
 And guide us to our home on high. 
 
 WHAT I LOVE MOST. 
 
 I love the merry, merry sunshine, 
 
 With all that 's gay and bright and fair ; 
 
 No stormy seas for me and mine, 
 
 But joyous, happy, free from care, — 
 
 We'd roam through forest, field, and plain, 
 Seeking for treasures rich and rare, 
 
 'Neath woodland shade and mountain glen, 
 Where pure and fresh and free the air. 
 
 I love the little ])irds that sing 
 
 And warble forth their Maker's praise 
 
 As upward they soar on joyful wing. 
 Tuning their sweetest roundelays. 
 
 The tender little flow'rets, too, 
 
 Which sweetly scent the morning air, 
 
 As, sprinkled o'er with heavenly dew. 
 They send forth fragrance rich and rare.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 481 
 
 I love my dear and happy home, 
 My kind and loving friends so true ; 
 
 Not far from these I 'd wish to roam, 
 Unless by duty called to go. 
 
 I love my quiet, sunny room ; 
 
 Its many gathered treasures there 
 Recall to mind my dearest ones, 
 
 'VYho wait for me "just over there." 
 
 The little children, full of glee, 
 
 With hearts so tender, warm, and true, 
 
 Come clust'ring round about my knee. 
 And often murmur, " I love you ; " 
 
 And then their pouting, rosy lips 
 
 To mine they raise for one sweet kiss : 
 
 I love their merry, prattling ways. 
 Nor would I miss their fond caress. 
 
 But dearer far than all the rest 
 
 Are loving spirits gone before, 
 Whose kind return, at our behest, 
 
 Oft us instruct in sacred lore, — 
 
 Teaching the way of life to find. 
 
 And truth eternal to embrace ; 
 Their light has on our darkness shined, 
 
 And soon we '11 see them face to face. 
 
 This is an idle tale, you say, 
 
 Some fancy wild, or vision fair, 
 Which soon will crumljle quite away, 
 
 And vanish into empty air. 
 
 Dear friends, I have no wish to chide ; 
 The time will come, I full well know,
 
 482 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 When in these truths you '11 too confide, 
 For the angels tell me so. 
 
 The question I '11 not argue here, 
 
 For words, I know, would not avail, 
 
 But strive, by deeds and actions pure, 
 Though tempest-tossed by many a gale, 
 
 To raise my beacon-light so high, 
 While sailing o'er life's troubled sea. 
 
 That those who pass me coldly by. 
 The light may see, and danger flee. 
 
 WORDS OF LOVE. 
 
 How few, o'er all this wide, wide earth. 
 Have learned to comprehend the worth 
 Of loving words we all might give ; 
 And more like Jesus then we 'd live. 
 
 His kindly deeds, his words of love. 
 Are proof to us that God above, 
 A mission gave him to fulfil, 
 And thus make known his sacred will. 
 
 Then, if we do his counsels heed, 
 And follow on where he doth lead, 
 The labors of our hfe shall prove 
 We, too, have felt the power of love. 
 
 Though gold and silver we have none, 
 Kind words, we know, are all our own ; 
 More precious, too, we feel they are 
 Than rubies bright, or pearls so fair.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 483 
 
 They fall like gentle ev'ning dew, 
 If from a heart that's warm and true, 
 And oft they cheer the sorrowing one 
 Whose pathway here is sad and lone. 
 
 When pain and anguish rack our frame, 
 And life seems but a troubled dream, 
 How sweet the voice of tender love, 
 Murm'riug softly, There 's rest above I 
 
 We hear the sweet and silv'ry tone. 
 And feel ourselves not all alone, 
 For kind and loving friends are near, 
 To wipe away the falling tear. 
 
 K we in sunny childhood's hour 
 Are taught the wondrous, holy power 
 Of gentle words and loving deeds. 
 Our hearts are sown with heavenly seeds. 
 
 Which, scattered wide o'er many a field. 
 Shall fragrant flowers immortal yield. 
 Whose sweetest incense, wafted high. 
 Shall draw us upward to the sky. 
 
 Th« child whose young and tender mind 
 Is saddened oft by words unkind, 
 Will quick respond, and glad reply, 
 « With cheerful heart and beaming eye. 
 
 If it but hear, in accents mild, 
 The voice of her whose love beguiled 
 From lips so pure their first sweet kiss, 
 And fondly cherished each embrace. 
 
 How oft I 've seen the tear-drop start 
 From eyes so blue they seemed a part
 
 484 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Of heaven's own azure from the sky. 
 Why, ye thoughtless ones, O, why 
 
 "Will ye thus mar the tender bud 
 "Which scarce has passed its babyhood? 
 Yet, tiny as it may appear, 
 'T is not too young to see and hear. 
 
 A smile of thine, a tone of love, 
 Calls forth an answering one to prove 
 'T is all within the baby's reach, 
 Though yet denied the power of speech. 
 
 If in our homes we strive to share 
 The burdens we are called to bear. 
 Our homes, like to the ones above. 
 Will teem with kindness, peace, and love. 
 
 In radiance they will far outshine 
 What wealth and honor can combine — 
 If love and kindness have no part — 
 To cheer and soothe the aching heart. 
 
 So pure and gentle may we be. Lord, 
 That thoughts of heaven, of love, and thee, 
 Our souls may fill ; and may we have 
 That peace the world can never give. 
 
 Within ourselves, we then will own. 
 The kingdom of thy love has come ; 
 And as thy \\dll in heaven is done, 
 So may it be on earth the same. 
 
 May angels bright, still guard and guide, 
 Until we reach the other side ; 
 And then conduct us to our home. 
 Whence nevermore we '11 wish to roam.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 485 
 
 O, haste the day when all the earth 
 Shall feel the power, shall feel the worth 
 Of deeds of kindness, words of love, 
 As taught by Him, who reigns above. 
 
 TO AUNTIE. 
 
 Yea, in this dreary wilderness, 
 
 Where all seems dark, and lone, and sad, 
 There comes a light within thy soul 
 
 Which bids thy heart once more be glad. 
 'T is not for us to stay the tide 
 
 Of life's tempestuous, angry sea, 
 As o'er the dashing waves you ride, 
 
 And vainly strive the storm to flee. 
 
 Another mission still is ours. 
 
 Which gives us pleasure to fulfil : 
 It is to cheer, to bless, to guide. 
 
 Directing how to shun the ill. 
 We see thy worn and anxious face. 
 
 We know thy heart is often sad ; 
 But life nor death can e'er efface 
 
 The inbred truth which makes thee glad. 
 
 We know that trials will beMl, 
 
 As through life's tangled maze you tread, 
 'T is not the fate of one, but all 
 
 Must stem the tide they so much dread. 
 We sorrow not like those below, 
 
 Whose feeble vision fails to prove 
 The depth of wisdom, power, and love 
 
 Bestowed on man by God above.
 
 486 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 For in this bright and happy land, 
 
 "We look beyond the flight of time, 
 Assured that all in our lov'd band 
 
 Sweet fields of beauty yet shall roam. 
 Then upward raise thy drooping lids, 
 
 Bid cares depart, and never fear. 
 For in the future, calm, serene, 
 
 A light for thee shines bright and clear. 
 
 SOFT AND LOW. 
 
 O, list ye to the gentle breeze 
 As, softly sighing through the trees. 
 It wafts its fragrance as it goes 
 Lulling thee to sweet repose. 
 
 O, lov'st thou not the woodland air. 
 When skies are bright, and fields are fair I 
 And seems it not a hallo w'd place, 
 As God in nature here we trace ? 
 
 The babbling brook, the quiet dell, 
 
 Both cast around a soothing spell, 
 
 While birds which hop from bough to bough, 
 
 Are sweetly singing — soft and low : 
 
 The little flowers beneath our feet. 
 So shy and modest, yet so, sweet. 
 Do lift their tiny heads and cry — 
 O, crush us not as you pass by, —
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 487 
 
 But stoop and cull our fairest ones, 
 And take unto your loving homes ; 
 We will repay your tender care, 
 Distilling fragrance rich and rare. 
 
 I love to sit me down and think. 
 Beside the river's mossy brink. 
 Whose pearly water's ceaseless flow 
 Is ever murm'ring, soft and low. 
 
 A holy calm pervades my breast — 
 Sweet foretaste of the heavenly rest. 
 Though oft I 've bowed beneath the rod, 
 I know it was the will of God. 
 
 Yet at the time 't was hard to trace 
 The workings of his truth and grace ; 
 My heart was filled with calm despair : 
 I heeded not his tender care. 
 
 But, brooding o'er my trials sore. 
 Shut close my heart and barred the door. 
 But lo ! a glim'ring light I see. 
 And voices whisper, 'T is for thee. 
 
 I saw this feeble, flick'ring ray 
 
 Increase in brightness day by day ; 
 
 My fears dispersed, my hopes gi'ew bright ; 
 
 I prayed my God to give me light ; 
 
 The angels quickly caught the strain. 
 Then soft and low their sweet refrain 
 Is wafted from ethereal skies. 
 Re-echoing their glad replies. 
 
 My softened heart is all aglow. 
 To know the angels love me so :
 
 488 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 A sister, brothers, friends most dear, 
 I fondly loved and cherished here, 
 
 Do all with one consent unite 
 To guide me in the path of right ; 
 While brighter yet, and still more bright 
 Steals o'er my soul a glorious light. 
 
 Then 'neath the summer sky, so fair, 
 I '11 raise mine eyes in silent prayer 
 To Him who reigns in heaven above. 
 And e'er acknowledge — God is love. 
 
 OUR FATHER'S CARE. 
 
 As flow'rs their sweetest fragrance shed 
 O'er all who come within their reach, 
 
 So may each gentle soul be led 
 
 To grasp the lesson these may teach ; 
 
 For it is one we all may learn, 
 
 And may it practise, too, each day. 
 
 Nor from the poor and needy turn, 
 Who scarce can find one cheering ray. 
 
 On all alike the glorious sun 
 
 Gives forth its rays of beauteous light. 
 Nor from the sad and sorrowing one 
 
 Withholds its beams, jo clear and bright. 
 
 It is our Father's loving care 
 
 Which guides the weary footsteps right,
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 489 
 
 And bids us ever kindly share 
 
 The joys which open to our sight. 
 
 O, may each gentle thought of love 
 
 Our wildest passions all control, 
 Like music wafted from above 
 
 In sweetest cadence o'er the soul. 
 
 And if a wider range of thought 's 
 
 Bestowed upon some favored one, 
 Whose life with toil has e'er been fraught 
 
 For others more than self alone, — 
 
 O, may the purest joys of earth 
 
 From such go forth to bless mankind ; 
 
 Nor pass those by of humble birth, 
 
 For hearts have they, both warm and kind, 
 
 Though chilled, perchance, by winter's blast ; 
 
 And days of sorrow, nights of pain, 
 May for a time their shadows cast. 
 
 Yet summer days will come again. 
 
 Then let us ever faithful prove, — 
 
 "With others kindly, truly share 
 The blessings show'red from heaven above, 
 
 All by our loving Father's care.
 
 490 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 VISIONS OF THE PAST. 
 
 Aye, past ! those bright and happy days 
 
 Of childhood's early, rosy mora ; 
 Yet back to thee our mem'ry strays, 
 
 Though hushed and still the gentle song 
 Those happy careless days of yore. 
 
 To heedless sport and pleasure free, 
 When close beside our cottage door, 
 
 'T was only, sister, you and me. 
 But soon another joins our band ; 
 
 A baby-brother now have we : 
 They say he came from baby-land. 
 
 And now his home with us shall be. 
 We sit and muse, nor can explain 
 
 What unto us a myst'ry seems. 
 O, these are links in life's long chain, 
 
 Realities, beautiful dreams. 
 As time speeds on, our band of three 
 
 Its numbers swell, till now we 're ten : 
 Our brothers six, four sisters we, — 
 
 All joined in love and sympathy. 
 But time is ever on the wing ; 
 
 He comes with soft and gentle tread, 
 Yet swift and sure the message brings, 
 
 And one is numbered with the dead. 
 It is the sweet and tender bud 
 
 Which last did join our earthly band ; 
 So pure, so fair, we would not call 
 
 Thy spirit back from that bright land. 
 We think of thee as one whose soul, 
 
 'Neath sunny skies and balmy air, 
 Where flesh and sense no more control. 
 
 Will quick expand in beauties rare. 
 Again the angel Death draws near, 
 
 And fills our souls with wild despair .
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 491 
 
 A shiuiug mark — our brother dear I 
 
 O, stay thy hand ! in mercy spare ! 
 'T is he who first our childish love 
 
 Called forth in accents pure and strong : 
 •O, must we give him to the tomb 
 
 In life's fair op'ning morn ? 
 But prayers and tears cannot avail ; 
 
 Stern death, with cold, relentless hand, 
 Is captor now. The spirit pure 
 
 Has winged its flight to summer land. 
 The wheels of time roll on apace, 
 
 Our joys and sorrows still combine ; 
 Yet hard it is for us to trace 
 
 The workings of a love divine. 
 While Death hath entered twice and called 
 
 The fairest ones from our dear band, 
 Others have leit the homestead-roo 
 
 And taken for themselves a stand. 
 The eldest brother here below 
 
 Gives heart and hand in nuptial love, — 
 The dearest gift he could bestow, 
 
 And one which hath its seal above. 
 A gentle little sunbeam came 
 
 To cheer and bless their home ; 
 But O, how short its pilgrimage, — 
 
 How soon its earthly course is run I 
 We watched beside it day by day ; 
 
 We tried to soothe by gentle song ; 
 Yet crushed and drooping, there it lay 
 
 Till angels came and called it home. 
 O our Lillie, precious darling 1 
 
 So sweet, so pure, so white, so fair, 
 O, surely, now, we must be dreaming ! 
 
 But hark ! sweet music fills the air. 
 As underneath the chilling sod 
 
 The lovely, waxen form we lay : 
 The gates are standing all ajar,
 
 492 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 And waiting, waiting, angels say, 
 For soon another we shall claim. 
 
 'T will make the parting less severe, 
 To know thy child has gone before 
 
 And waits for thee "just over there." 
 Not long, alas ! had she to wait, 
 
 For all too soon for friends below 
 The summons came. The pearly gate 
 
 Is opened wide, and voices low 
 Are singing soft and gentle strains 
 
 Of welcome to that peaceful shore, 
 Where truth and love triumphant reign, 
 
 And sorrows trouble nevermore. 
 We miss thee, brother, but we feel 
 
 'T is well with thee and with the child : 
 But O, the torn and bleeding heart 
 
 Of her who cries in anguish wild ! 
 "'Tis dark, all dark, and lone and drear; 
 
 The light of life for me has fled : 
 Kind friends, I know, are passing near, 
 
 But oh ! my child — my husband — dead/^* 
 Thy loved ones, dear, whisper to thee 
 
 And say. Look up ! we are not dead. 
 But still our watch and vigil keep 
 
 O'er thee, as through life's maze you tread. 
 What joy and comfort, then, is ours. 
 
 To know that loved ones gone before 
 Come near and bless our souls each day, 
 
 And guide us to that heavenly shore. 
 O, may our hearts be filled with love. 
 
 As upward, onward, still we go. 
 Trusting in Him who reigns .above. 
 
 Directs our pathway here below.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 493 
 
 "HE LEADETH I^IE." 
 
 How sweet to feel that God above, 
 Holy and just, by his kind love 
 Will gently lead us all our days, 
 And keep us safe in wisdom's ways. 
 
 How weak and sinful still are we ! 
 How much we need the guiding star 
 ' Which points us onward, upward ever — 
 Turning backward never — never ! 
 
 Though darkling storms may gather round. 
 
 And scarce a ray of light be found, 
 
 'T is only for a little space 
 
 The sun has hid his glorious face. 
 
 And soon our Father's love divine, 
 Will bid its beams go forth and shine 
 In radiant splendor far more bright, 
 To shed its rays of warmth and light. 
 
 As if unto our souls to prove, 
 'Tis not in anger, but in love, 
 That for a time he hides his face. 
 To draw us nearer that blest place 
 
 Where all is light and love and joy ; 
 Where care and pain no more annoy ; 
 But tranquil seas and sunny skies. 
 Are free to all who earn the prize. 
 
 His voice is calling, calling still. 
 And pleads for all to shun the ill : 
 Unselfish deeds of love and truth. 
 Shall blessings bring to all the earth, — ■
 
 494 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Though slow the process oft may seem, 
 Its flight is swifter than you deem ; 
 And not one precious seed is lost, 
 Though hidden 'neath the winter's frost. 
 
 How earnest, then, should be our work I 
 O, let us rise, and with the lark 
 Who joyous sings in yonder tree. 
 Give praise to Him who "leadeth me." 
 
 "Let us, while we read or study, 
 Cull a flower from every page ; 
 Here a line, and there a sentence, 
 'Gainst the lonely time of age I 
 
 At our work or by the wayside, 
 While we ponder, while we play, 
 
 Let us thus, by constant efibrt, 
 Learn a little every day.'^ 
 
 THE LITTLE ONES. 
 
 God, bless them all, these little ones 
 So dear and precious in thy sight ! 
 
 They come to cheer our hearts and homes. 
 And fill our souls with glad delight. 
 
 I love to watch the baby dear 
 
 Who sits upon his mother's knee ; 
 
 His timid eyes, so bright and clear, 
 Just for a moment rest on me, —
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 495 
 
 Then turning quick his little face, 
 He nestles close to mamma's breast ; 
 
 She clasps him in a fond embrace, 
 
 And softly whispers, " Darling blest !" 
 
 I love to watch the tiny bud 
 
 Unfold its leaves in light of day, 
 It makes me gentle, kind and good. 
 
 And helps to cheer me on my way. 
 
 I see the tender buds expand 
 
 So sweetly, gently, one by one : 
 The babe no longer I behold. 
 
 He, too, has older, wiser grown,— 
 
 But still we call him baby-boy. 
 
 The merry, laughing little elf! 
 He joins the children in their play. 
 
 And none more happy than himself. 
 
 I love to watch them sport and play, 
 
 As joyous, happy, free from care. 
 They bask in sunshine all the day 
 
 'Mid fragrant flowers and balmy air : 
 
 For soon, I know, the time will come 
 When they must fight life's battles too, 
 
 And strive all evil ways to shun ; 
 For future joy err future woe 
 
 Depends upon each word and deed 
 
 Which marks our pathway here below ; 
 
 For here we only sow the seed ; 
 If good or ill, we scarcely know. 
 
 0, grant us wisdom from above. 
 And may we each select with care,
 
 496 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 Seeds of kindness, seeds of love, 
 
 And broadcast strew them everywhere. 
 
 And as the tiny seeds take root. 
 
 And tender shoots come springing forth, 
 
 O, may they all bear precious fruit, 
 In rich abundance, here on earth ; 
 
 Then when we 're called from earth away, 
 Bright angels from a higher sphere 
 
 Shall welcome us, and kindly say, 
 Thy deeds of love are cherished here. 
 
 Again we seek thy love and care, 
 And for ourselves thine aid implore ; 
 
 O, keep us safe from every snare — 
 Uphold us by thy mighty power, 
 
 And help us wisely to direct 
 All those intrusted to our care ; 
 
 The little ones may we protect, 
 
 All these so young, so pure, so dear ! 
 
 O, may they early learn the truth ! 
 
 Their warm and tender hearts perceive 
 More quickly in the spring of youth, 
 
 As simply trusting they believe. 
 
 Believe the tender words of love 
 
 Which Jesus gave for such as these : 
 
 His help and guidance from above, 
 O, may they seek on bended knees, — 
 
 And may they e'er be true to Thee — 
 The great All-Father — God of love. 
 
 Whose tender mercies, full and free. 
 Shall guide them to their home above.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 49^ 
 
 DREAMING. 
 
 We sleep, we dream ! nor is this all : 
 
 We raise our weary, drooping lids — 
 For what, to gaze upon the wall ? 
 
 We hear a soft, low voice, which bids, 
 "Look upward still, 'tis not a dream, 
 
 But vision bright ; and angels fair 
 O'ershadow thee, as calm, serene. 
 
 Before thine eyes float beauties rare." 
 
 We hail thee, lov'd ones gone before ; 
 
 Thy gentle presence e'er shall be 
 A pure incentive guiding o'er 
 
 The troublous waves of life's dark sea. 
 Thrice happy those who nevermore 
 
 Shall look at death as sev'rino: ties 
 Of earthly love, and friendship pure 
 
 Which points us upward to the skies. 
 
 How sweet to know that angels bright 
 
 And pure do guard our way ! 
 In silent watches of the nisrht 
 
 Still hold unbounded sway. 
 E'er pointing upward to the light, 
 
 Which ne'er grows dim, or knows decay. 
 But bursts upon our raptured sight 
 
 In boundless waves of endless day. 
 
 What peace and comfort then, is ours. 
 
 Though all below seem dark and drear : 
 For in these calm and quiet hours 
 
 We feel thy presence ever near, 
 To kindly bless the aching heart ; 
 
 To speak sweet words of loving cheer 
 In gentle tones, which e'er impart 
 
 A joy unto our souls, most dear.
 
 498 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 IS IT UPHILL ALL THE WAY? 
 
 Tell us, ye bright-winged messengers of love 
 From the spheres of light beyond the blue, 
 
 As our thoughts and wishes soar above 
 To the better land just out of view, — 
 Is it uphill all the way ? 
 
 We do ofttiraes feel, in life's fair mom, 
 Ere clouds arise, and shadows dim 
 
 Earth's visions fair and heaven-bom, 
 
 Such joys as these can ne'er grow dim ; — 
 'T is not uphill all the way. 
 
 But as each year brings more and more 
 To chill the heart and freeze the soul. 
 
 We long to reach the " farther shore," 
 Where sin and death no more control. 
 Is it uphill all the way ? 
 
 We fain would ask thee once again, 
 While clouds of dark and deep despair 
 
 FiU heart and soul with woe and pain ; 
 We long, O, we long to be there. 
 Is it uphill all the way? 
 
 " My child ! " the angel-voice replies, 
 " 'T is not all dark and lone and sad : 
 
 Why so tearful — why those sighs ? 
 
 For much thou hast to make thee glad. 
 Though 't is uphill all the way I 
 
 We would not chide thee, precious child ; 
 
 We know thy life is fraught with care, 
 Thy heart breaks forth in anguish wild. 
 
 Thy bosom heaves with deep despair. 
 For H is uphill all the way.
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 499 
 
 But the lesson we would teach 
 
 Is one of patience, faith, and hope, 
 Which shall in wisdom far outreach 
 
 Thine earthly vision's narrow scope ; 
 Yet, 'tis uphill all the way. 
 
 There is no good which comes unso^ught ; 
 
 The blessings you crave must all be earned. 
 Not with silver and gold be bought. 
 
 Thy lone spirit, for love hath yearned ; 
 
 Therefore, 'tis upliill all the way. 
 
 Yet, if for others, who, like thee, 
 
 Pine from sorrows and griefs untold, 
 Thy heart goes out in loving sympathy, 
 
 Peace its wings shall thee enfold. 
 
 Though 't is uphill all the way." 
 
 PATIENCE. 
 
 I pray Thee, Father, patience give. 
 And let me feel thy presence near ; 
 
 O, may I daily, hourly live — 
 
 Upheld by thy kind, loving care, — 
 
 So pure and truthful, free from guile, 
 That no harsh word or deed unkind. 
 
 Shall chase away the l)eaniing smile, 
 Or leave an anxious thouicht behind. 
 
 *o 
 
 If pain and sickness be my lot, 
 O, may I patience still possess. 
 
 To kindly soothe some aching heart 
 With words of love and tenderness,-
 
 500 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 
 
 And may I feel for others" woes, 
 Forgetful of the pains I bear, 
 
 Like Him who on us each, bestows 
 A portion of his love and care. 
 
 If when my eager, thirsty soul, 
 A higher knowledge to obtain. 
 
 Would fain press onward to the goal 
 And burst asunder ev'ry chain, 
 
 I find some links which will not yield, 
 But hold me in a tight embrace. 
 
 Then let my patience be revealed, 
 Till time shall bring a sweet release. 
 
 My soul is longing for a sight. 
 
 Of future bliss — of joys supreme ; 
 
 Those worlds of beauty, fields of light. 
 Our vision dim can scarce conceive, 
 
 So dazzling bright they seem to be : 
 Yet, how I long to catch one gleam 
 
 Of my home beyond the crystal sea. 
 Ere called to stem death's icy stream ! 
 
 I know my loved ones wait me there, 
 
 Though long and weary years have passed 
 
 Since I beheld their forms so fair. 
 Such friendships pure must always last, — 
 
 No change of time, no change of place, 
 
 Can warm and true hearts sever. 
 Nor can their image bright efiace ; 
 
 'T will linirer ever — O, for ever? 
 
 '-' It 
 
 I'm longing now, I 've longed before. 
 To hear those sweet and gentle tones
 
 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 501 
 
 Which came to me, in days of you en, 
 From lips of those, my darling ones, 
 
 "VYho now beyond this vale of tears 
 
 Have passed, to mansions bright and fair, 
 
 Prepared for all His children dear, 
 Surrounded by His loving care. 
 
 But if there 's work for me to do 
 
 Before I pass to yon bright shore, 
 O, quicken me — inspire anew 
 
 My feeble frame ! and grant me more 
 
 Of heavenly wisdom, zeal and power ! 
 
 More patience, too, wilt thou impart, 
 And may I ever, from this hour. 
 
 Do good, and trust with all my heart. 
 
 One favor more I 'd ask of thee. 
 
 As now I feel thy presence near ; 
 Lighten mine eyes, that I may see ! 
 
 My pathway make so plain and clear, 
 
 That I may wander nevermore 
 
 From wisdom's sweet and holy ways : 
 
 More bold and fearless than before, 
 I then will tread life's thorny maze ; 
 
 In patience, too, 1 '11 calmly wait. 
 
 And strive my mission to fulfill ; 
 I'll gladly work for thy dear sake, 
 
 Fulfilling all tliy blessed will. 
 
 I know that all 1 have is thine : 
 
 O, may 1 ever faithful prove, 
 Kejoiciug if one deed of mine 
 
 Be worthy to record above.
 
 502 THE UNSEAIiED BOOK. 
 
 THE HEAVENLY CITY. 
 
 There's a city above, not made with hands, 
 
 Its gates are of crystal, and open wide ; 
 For all His dear children in far-away lands, 
 
 The kind, loving Father, will ever provide. 
 Not one so polluted and hardened in sin. 
 
 But deep in his heart — though unheeded, maybe, 
 There's a still, small voice, ever -vvhisp'ring low 
 
 To its own guardian spirits. Come in, come in ! 
 O, then, in the quiet of eventide, 
 
 When the air, the earth, and the skies are still, 
 May we seek for heavenly counsel, to guide, 
 
 And to teach us thy blessed and holy will. 
 May our dear spirit-friends, in these calm hours. 
 
 Give wisdom from the fount of life above. 
 Which, like gentle dews distill'd on flowers. 
 
 Shall freshen our souls, make purer our love. 
 And then, kind Father of all below, 
 
 Still nearer to thee may we daily come ; 
 Our desires reaching far from earth away. 
 
 May we seek to learn of the far brighter home. 
 And may the dear frieuds whom we love on earth. 
 
 All with us unite to bless mankind. 
 And to help each erring, sin-burden'd heart. 
 
 The life, the way, and the truth to find. 
 May we, while on earth, ever strive to live 
 
 The life of the righteous ; then, freed from sin. 
 We shall, by our deeds and labors, prove 
 
 That the love of our God doth dwell within.
 
 4es 
 
 UNIVERSITY ot CALIFOKWIA 
 
 AT 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 T.TRRARY
 
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