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PSYCHOLOGY; RE-INCARNATION; SOUL, 
 AND ITS RELATIONS; 
 
 OK, 
 
 THE LAWS OF BEING: 
 
 SHOWING 
 
 THE OCCULT FORCES IN MAN; THAT INTELLIGENCE 
 
 MANIFESTS WITHOUT MATERIAL ; AND THE 
 
 MOST IMPORTANT THINGS 
 
 TO KNOW. 
 
 Enofo G^ssctf, is tfje .first Essential of Nature's 2Ufo. 
 
 / 
 
 BY ALMIRA KIDD. 
 
 i 
 
 <, 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 COLBY & RICH, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 9 Montgomery Place. 
 
 1878. 
 
 Tr 
 
^ 
 
 w 
 
 Copyright, 1878, 
 By A L MIR A KIDD. 
 
 COLBY & RICH, 
 
 STEREOTYPERS ANT) ELECTROTYPERS, 
 
 BOSTON. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introductory 5 
 
 Clairaudience 9 
 
 Theories contrasted on the Laws op Being . . 12 
 
 Prolegomena 15 
 
 PART I. 
 
 What is God? 21 
 
 Soul and its Importance 23 
 
 Memory and Intelligence 27 
 
 Intelligence versus Matter 29 
 
 Progressive Intelligence 32 
 
 The Animal World.— Its Uses 34 
 
 Creative Forces 39 
 
 Spirit Law and Matter 41 
 
 Types and Kaces 50 
 
 Re-Incarnation, or Soul's taking Form . . 57 
 
 Fetal Life and Generating 65 
 
 Childhood as Spirit 70 
 
 Demonstrated Illustrations on Re-Incarnation . 74 
 
 3 
 
4 INDEX. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Occult Foeces in Man 84 
 
 Duality . 92 
 
 Clairvoyance and Psychology .... 105 
 
 Inspiration and Prophecy 112 
 
 Sensitives 113 
 
 Obsession . 115 
 
 Unconsciousness, Delirium, Insanity . . . 116 
 
 Rest, Sleep, and Dreaming 118 
 
 Valedictory 121 
 
 Our Solar System 121 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 One of the first obligations we owe as moral beings is 
 to render to our fellow-man as much of good as comes 
 within our power to transmit. He who has lived to ma- 
 ture life, and has failed to benefit his fellow-men, has 
 certainly lived in vain, and will some time discover his sin 
 of omission. 
 
 These pages are dedicated to the enlightenment of 
 humanity on some of the most important subjects of 
 being. 
 
 " Know thyself" is the first law. Learn cause first, and 
 the effects will be readily comprehended as time moves on. 
 
 The ps} T chology of man's nature, and the theory of re- 
 incarnation, are rarely taken into account as the first prin- 
 ciple of cause. So far as the writer knows, it has never 
 been presented with any clearness, nor approach to a 
 proper defining of its object, aim, or necessity, so essen- 
 tial to a thorough understanding of the subject. In this 
 we hope to make it plain, instructive, and interesting. 
 The subject is one of vast interest to minds that are 
 searching for knowledge in metaphysics and biology, in 
 cause and effect ; and to such this will be an assistant and 
 guide. Others can not appreciate the law of progression 
 and the economy of life ; and to such we trust these 
 
6 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 pages will convey many lessons of truth. The subject is 
 one of many ramifications ; and the writer never could 
 have taken the task upon herself, of attempting its elu- 
 cidation, had she not been assisted by higher powers. 
 With her, these lessons commenced years ago ; and the 
 information herein presented has been received by means 
 of clairaudience and telegraphy with higher and advanced 
 intelligences, the writer being a general clairaudient and 
 mental telegrapher to mundane and supermundane minds, 
 demonstrated illustrations of the truth of the statements 
 being given at the same time. This was the writer's only 
 source of information. 
 
 Living in an uncultured territory, where there were no 
 accessibilities to libraries, nothing could be borrowed to 
 draw from : it is given purely as received. The authori- 
 ties are not known to myself; my guides saying, " Truth, 
 not authorities, is all-essential." That these lessons come 
 from intelligences far removed be} T ond the ordinary mode 
 of communicating is certain to the recipient. They are 
 not from spirits in near bondage to earth's conditions, — 
 those who are not emancipated from the prejudices they 
 carried with them, — but from spirits beyond that sphere ; 
 although the former are learning, like us, as will be seen 
 by the reader of these pages. 
 
 Spirits who are free from the earth's conditions are 
 
 called " intelligences." Such are in rapport with us and 
 
 all space by telegraphy, through which they convey ideas, 
 
 and give impressions. This S3 r stem of communication is 
 
 lot perceptible to many, because not externalized to the 
 
 '.ense. These intelligences, upon approaching us, can not 
 
 emain in the same atmosphere for any length of time, the 
 
 jrude conditions of carnal life being unsupportable : hence 
 
 ntermcdiate spirits are employed as channels of commu- 
 
 licating, and telegraphy is practical to all who can use it. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 7 
 
 As there are spirits in form as intelligent as some out of 
 form, none are excluded ; and generations to come will 
 be better informed by means of this direct intercourse. 
 
 By this line of communicating, no long discourse is kept 
 up. Short and expressive messages are from the more 
 distant and advanced spheres. The residents of those 
 realms express themselves without prolixity: the ideas 
 are concise, calling for no effort to comprehend, each word 
 conveying its application. As soon as obscurity, inflated 
 language, pretentious long- wording, or attempt to be pro- 
 found, are displayed, I invariably regard the spirits in com- 
 munication as false savants, and say, "It is not clear; I 
 can not receive it : " for the language of the spheres is sim- 
 ple, poetic, and emphatic. 
 
 There are those who will say re-incarnation is denied 
 by some mediums under control of spirits ; and it is not 
 acknowledged by many others who claim to know some- 
 thing of spiritual things. Granted. But how many spirits 
 on the other side who control mediums are there who 
 know more of the laws of cause than they did before the 
 change ? Hardly any. They know their present state, 
 and that is all : and many of them, when they control a 
 medium, take on more strength ; the} 7 take on the mag- 
 netic forces of the medium, as well as borrow of his or her 
 intellect. 
 
 I know one who has been in spirit-life forty-five years, 
 who is yet doting and moping in the old conditions of 
 earth. I have heard an old spirit say that for fully a 
 hundred years after his transit he took no notice of spirit- 
 things, but lived wholly with the people of his tribe on 
 earth, and could not realize higher conditions. Yet such 
 are often taken as good authority. Such spirits will often 
 control a person, and deny the truth and reasonableness of 
 statements that do not conform to their limited knowl- 
 
8 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 edge while in the first class. ABC spirits of earth 
 they still are. To all such we say, " Bide thy time." 
 
 The question of spirit-existence hereafter is just as 
 manifest to me as that day and night alternate. I see, 
 hear, feel, sense, and hold just as intimate conversation 
 with those of another world as with those on earth, and 
 have them as visitors for days and weeks at a time. The 
 best and the only advice I would give to all those who 
 doubt spirit-intercourse is, "Investigate personally for 
 yourself; for conviction of its truth, thus attained, can 
 alone give you satisfaction." 
 
 As the author of these pages, it may not be out of 
 place to say, I am not a public medium ; have never been 
 before the public in any capacity or profession, but rather 
 secluded ; never was entranced in my life ; never uncon- 
 scious in sickness or health, other than that which accom- 
 panies natural, normal sleep ; never took a narcotic in 
 my life, nor a stimulant. All the senses have been in full 
 activity while cognizant of the phenomena related in these 
 pages. Whatever is given that may seem singular or sur- 
 prising is nevertheless true to a syllable, as I know, 
 have experienced, or been informed. I would not be 
 guilty of presenting false ideas on so important a subject 
 to my fellow-beings ; for I sense keenly my responsibility 
 and my accountability hereafter. As the work is com- 
 piled from knowledge and experiences, it is unavoidable 
 that these experiences are used to demonstrate some of 
 the subjects treated : this must be the apology for using 
 them. 
 
 Treatises, conjectures, Irypotheses, have been profusely 
 used b}' teachers to indoctrinate theories in humanit}'. 
 Such are not herein set up. It is absolute facts given, 
 — demonstrated illustrations, simple to the commonest 
 understanding. Such are wanted, not mere theories. 
 
CLAIRAUDIENCE. 9 
 
 While it is our endeavor to treat the subject in as concise 
 and comprehensive a manner as will convey an under- 
 standing of the truth sought to be demonstrated, one 
 part only leads to another, and none can be omitted. 
 Brevity is best suited to general readers ; and for such 
 this volume is intended, with the hope that all may find in 
 its pages a solution of some things that have hitherto been 
 to them as mysteries. 
 
 Thus to all is given the light of reason to go by. 
 Let reason judge, and weigh each and every cause; 
 For ipse dixit, so profound, has no reason in their cause. 
 
 CLAIRAUDIENCE . 
 
 As these pages are given through the lessons conveyed 
 by clairaudience, it will not perhaps be out of place to 
 give a short statement of how this power is exercised. 
 
 There are several phases and grades of clairaudience, 
 from the simple whisperings of near spirits in close rap- 
 port with the elements surrounding us in the circumambi- 
 ent conditions, to the more distant in space, extending to 
 the more general and universal mind. 
 
 Mind expresses itself by thought, and that thought is 
 language. Thought, then, is the expression of the mind's 
 ideas. The external expressions of those ideas are made 
 through and by the tongue and vocal organs in order to 
 reach some other external and material object. That those 
 thoughts and ideas exist without the use of those organs, 
 every one knows. Yery many authors and writers can 
 express themselves and convey their ideas better in writ- 
 ing than by oral language. Mind or thought is the intel- 
 lectual exercise of our spirit-nature, the intelligence within 
 us. It can express itself as well to the internal or spirit 
 side of life as to the external through the vocal organs. 
 
10 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Ideas concentrated and expressed, either by embodied 
 or disembodied minds, will travel through space to their 
 object by vibration, just the same as sound passes to the 
 external ear. It is not necessary to see an object in order 
 to hear the expression of its sound which may come from 
 a distance : the vibration of thought extends bej^ond the 
 limitations of sound, through the atmosphere. 
 
 This is the manner of communicating through the spirit- 
 spheres from one grade to another grade below the range 
 of the former, conveying to it information received from 
 far-distant intelligences ; and in this way the will of the 
 Infinite is made known to all. 
 
 Many persons fail to distinguish between intuition, im- 
 pression, and audition ; affirming there is no true clairau- 
 dience except in sound on the atmosphere, or when mate- 
 rialized voice is given by spirit, which may be sound. 
 The writer knows the distinction of these phrases, having 
 been intuitive, impressional, and inspirational from child- 
 hood, and developed to clear-hearing, even to the extent 
 of audible spirit-language addressed to the external ear ; 
 and is aware of the extent, power, and scope of this 
 occult force ; for such it truly is. 
 
 Those who hear the spirit-language in their immediate 
 presence are not uncommon ; but general auditive persons 
 hear from all directions, the same as disembodied spirits in 
 space : such are rare and exceptional. 
 
 It is difficult to convey to the understanding of another 
 the exact idea of its operation, only to represent it as a 
 telegraph, the mind being the instrument at each end of 
 the current. The best illustration, and almost an exact 
 correspondence, of these processes and results, is shown 
 in the recent exhibit of the telephone between Boston and 
 Salem, Mass., where the language, sound of voice, and 
 musical performance, were transmitted between audiences 
 
CLAIRAUDIENCE. 11 
 
 eighteen miles apart through and by the means of the 
 telephone applied to electricity. In no wise dissimilar is 
 the process of the human mind itself, constituted on the 
 same electric principles. All distances are annihilated, 
 and intelligences can be drawn from the distant sun. I 
 have heard distant voices, that seemed to come from im- 
 mensity itself, of the most awe-inspiring significance, con- 
 veying lessons to spirits, which they called the voice of 
 God. In fact, it made me tremble, and feel as though I 
 were hearing the voice of infinitude. 
 
 An idea is imaged in the mind : hence, when a distant 
 intelligence fixes its thought on an object or being, it is in 
 rapport with it ; and, if that object is clear enough to be 
 sensitive to it, it will receive the impression. 
 
 The universe is like a sounding-board, and will vibrate 
 to the requirements of its souls. To that soul that is 
 aspiring, seeking knowledge, it will impart : to that not 
 capable of receiving, it will withhold. There is no truer 
 maxim, " Seek, and ye shall find; ask, and it shall be 
 given unto you." 
 
 This work is not given exclusively on the basis of hear- 
 ing, but jointly with that of seeing : the vision would open 
 while hearing the teachings, and at the same time see them 
 illustrated. For instance, the course and advance of the 
 soul from its primitive taking-on of matter, in its progres- 
 sive stages, was represented moving as up the steps of a 
 ladder, round by round in its ascent. 
 
 I do not pretend to say that any thing like the expres- 
 sion or language used is herein given : it is only the sub- 
 stance, theory, and ideas conveyed. I could not retain the 
 expression, as it could not be taken down while listening, 
 and is far superior in beauty and understanding to any 
 transcription of it I could possibly make. Deeming the 
 instruction of interest to others as well as nryself, it is 
 given to humanity in these pages. 
 
12 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 THEORIES CONTRASTED ON THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 As the object of this work is to show the origin and 
 progress of the soul in its connection with matter, and 
 the laws of being, I find it necessary to give a graduated 
 synopsis of the tenets and theories most conspicuous 
 among English readers. We will not enter into remote 
 times, but consider only those held by Christian nations 
 of our own. All races and worshipers have held some 
 theory of their origin. The Christian nations and wor- 
 shipers take the Hebrew Bible as their rule of belief. 
 Of late years, atheists, materialists, and scientists called 
 Darwinians, theorize that man is physically developed 
 from animal forms, starting from the mollusk, developing 
 through various higher forms to vertebrate, thence to 
 mammal, into man. This theory implies a procreation of 
 one type with another, and that one type by amalgama- 
 tion with another will produce higher germs. This is 
 antagonistic with all of Nature's laws, open to every 
 individual observer. It was never yet seen that different 
 types of creatures would produce by procreating other 
 types; the whole animal world contradicts the theory: 
 while it is shown to every observer that the offspring of 
 different species are infertile. And this extends even to 
 the human kind, as witness the mulatto with a mulatto, 
 who rarely have offspring. The same is observable in the 
 half-breed Indian of the same grade. You may produce 
 a cross between species and genera as mixed bloods ; and 
 tjrpes improve by selection, as every farmer knows. 
 Nature, no doubt, has carried on this improvement, and is 
 yet doing the same. 
 
 Typal germs, however, will never merge into each 
 other. They are eternal entities which Nature takes care 
 of and preserves. The germ of form in man, as well as 
 
THEORIES CONTRASTED. 13 
 
 in the lower animal, is transmitted from one matured 
 world or planet to another. In every sense, the lower 
 animal life is governed by the same natural law as man. 
 In these pages the relationship between man and the low- 
 er forms is shown, while progress is recognized as the 
 law governing all. 
 
 The next class of theorists worthy of notice are the 
 Liberals, the Spiritualists, and others, all about tending 
 the same way of theorizing : to wit, — 
 
 One will say, " Man is an emanation, a spark from the 
 divine Mind, a projectile of his intelligence. " Another 
 saj T s, " The soul of man is a divine, etherealized portion 
 of the infinite Over-Soul." What the "infinite Over- 
 Soul" may be is not well explained. Another says, 
 "Man is a luminous emanation of the divine Idea." 
 These all agree that the spirit of man has existed during 
 all time, coeval with this "divine Mind," and that, all 
 these myriad years of time, man was waiting to take 
 earthly form. 
 
 Another theory is, " He had a pre-existence as spirit 
 on many planets, then incarnated on this earth like a 
 fallen spirit." 
 
 Spiritualists uniformly claim progression in consort with 
 these theories ; and the ' ' divine ' ' in this application is 
 intended to mean the transcendent God. These theorists 
 never except nor exclude any part of humanity from the 
 same common descent. It requires no stretch of vision 
 to look around and see humanit} T in all its forms as a tj-pal 
 divine emanation.' The Patagonians, the blacks of Aus- 
 tralia and Africa, the South- sea Islanders, the Diggers, and 
 the Flat-head Indians of the Pacific slope, not mentioning 
 the very low representatives in other races, are, according 
 to this theory, types allied to the divine Archet3 T pe, God, — 
 " etherealized portions of the infinite Over-Soul." This 
 
14 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 theory is blended with progression ; yet it is progression 
 downwards, not upwards. It is really retrogression. No 
 simile can be drawn from it, no comparison exist to justi- 
 fy the claim. There is no attribute in man, as seen on 
 earth, that .in the remotest degree approaches such a 
 being. 
 
 In fact, let them answer how man can be a progressive 
 being, and yet emanate from a "divine Mind,' , an 
 " etherealized part of God," a perfect being whom you 
 cannot go beyond. Can infinitude be surpassed? It is 
 asserted that man had a pre-existence in other and 
 higher spheres, and became incarnated on this earth as a 
 " fallen spirit." What retrogression is this, to bring 
 spirit down from a higher to a lower condition on earth ! 
 If man has had this "pre-existence, or undertone of 
 existence, as part of the divine Mind," is it the first in- 
 carnation? If such a course is taken for progression, 
 then earthly matter must be superior to spirit. While 
 these theorists of pre-existence, all-time existence, one 
 coeval with the "divine Idea," show no higher aims or 
 results, their theory is evidently that of retrogression. 
 
 In contradistinction to the preceding theories, this work 
 will endeavor to show that soul is an entity in the ocean 
 of all soul, in the depth of darkness, where it gives life to 
 form in the lowest animal states, and moves to higher by 
 stages, round after round, acquiring knowledge of exter- 
 nal things, and intelligence of the laws of nature and 
 matter, continually, by and through these changes ; and 
 b} T this method advances to the divine. 
 
 Progression, as taught and illustrated in these pages, 
 may be briefly stated as follows : — 
 
 Forms are distinctive t}-pal germs in the ocean of mat- 
 ter, represented in worlds before this. 
 
 No two beings are exactly alike, because they have not 
 imbibed of the same conditions. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. 15 
 
 Soul learns the laws and conditions of matter through 
 diversity of forms. 
 
 Spirit is the result, the ultimate, of the soul's progress 
 through matter to intelligence. 
 
 Soul is the moving power of intelligence in all beings. 
 
 Intelligence transcends matter ultimately. 
 
 Therefore soul is a distinctive principle from nature and 
 matter, showing instinct, intuition, inspiration, and aspira- 
 tion ; by progressive stages moving on to reach infinitude. 
 
 PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 A knowledge of one's self is to the human family one 
 of the most important subjects that can concern it, — its 
 origin, advancement, and destiny. 
 
 It is with a full sense of the necessity of knowledge, 
 truthfulness, and the benefits to be derived from giving to 
 others as it is given to us, that this work is offered to the 
 public. It sets forth no theory or conjecture of her own, 
 but lessons conveyed to the writer for the period of one 
 year, in short communications from intelligences over- 
 reaching the ordinary circumambient spirit-sphere, and 
 at stated times by direct intercourse with and in the 
 immediate presence of spirits, who illustrated the princi- 
 ples given with proof on various occasions, which proof 
 will be shown as we proceed. 
 
 These are not second-handed nor intermediate commu- 
 nications, but have been given to the writer in a con- 
 scious normal state, and left for her to compile into 
 systematic order ; during which compilation the intelli- 
 gences, when essential, gave more light on the subject and 
 its bearings. In this way is given what the occult world 
 will reveal to mankind. 
 
 The theory or doctrine of metempsychosis and transmi- 
 gration of soul is as old as we have any record in history 
 
16 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 of the ideas of soul held by mankind. Philosophers of 
 old promulgated it ; various classes of worshipers adopted 
 it ; and at the present time various classes and tribes be- 
 lieve in the soul's change of habitation. 
 
 Where could this theory originate, or how take hold of 
 the imagination of so many, if it had no foundation in 
 truth? Though, like all great truths, it may be emascu- 
 lated by transmission, and take a deformed shape, yet it 
 shows the persistent effort of soul-intelligence, or spirit, 
 to ingraft the truth of continued life, motion, and progres- 
 sion, on the human mind. Where there is a thing con- 
 cealed, there must be a key to unlock the door to the 
 secret, so that the door may be placed ajar, and all who 
 will may look within ; for a knowledge of all hidden things 
 is to be attained, sooner or later, by all.- 
 
 The human mind is not capable of grasping all knowl- 
 edge at one flash : it, like all things else, progresses by 
 degrees. Therefore it is old and advanced intelligences 
 in spirit that are capable of handling the key to the secret 
 chambers of soul-life and spirit-development. It is not to 
 be expected of all alike, or that all spirit has the same 
 standard of knowledge ; for spirit has to learn, as well as 
 flesh. 
 
 It is not germane to our subject to review any of the 
 old theories on metemps3 T chosis or transmigration. They 
 are none of them clothed as they should have been to give 
 the idea, and are looked upon by most minds as the vaga- 
 ries of ignorant tribes and of the dark ages. Metempsy- 
 chosis and transmigration mean one and the same thing, 
 notwithstanding what may be said to the contrary. The 
 two words were adapted by different classes to convey 
 the same idea ; and the meaning is, the transition of the 
 soul from one state of being to another in material form, 
 — it may be in advanced human form, or in that of the 
 brute family. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. 17 
 
 The ancient theory on metempsychosis was, that imme- 
 diately at the demise of the occupied body the soul entered 
 some other form, without allowing any rest or interval of 
 time to elapse between one occupancy and the other, the 
 soul being kept in continual motion by this transmigration ; 
 that it depended on the merits or demerits, the character 
 and quality, of the person, what their subsequent condition 
 would be. It is not recorded that the ancients could real- 
 ize the existence of spirit out of form ; there was no con- 
 ception of spirit associated with man : hence the two 
 spheres were separate ; and any visitors bj T apparition were 
 considered to be angels or gods, beyond and far above 
 humanity. 
 
 It will be seen, in following our remarks on this subject, 
 wherein this idea was a misconception and a transposition 
 of the germs of truth. So we let the dead past bury it- 
 self in silence, and take the living present for our theme. 
 We discard these old terms, and take re-incarnation to be 
 a migration of the soul from a lower to some higher form ; 
 never allowing that a soul retrogrades from human to 
 brute life, but that its law is to move in progressive ad- 
 vancement, this being done through various and many 
 forms. 
 
 As this is likely to be the accepted theory of the pro- 
 gressive ages, it may be stated with some exactitude of 
 limit. Re-incarnation is the habiting of the soul the 
 second and third time in human form on the same planet. 
 This is possible to take place the fourth time ; but yet this 
 is so immaterial, it is hardly worthy of our present consid- 
 eration. 
 
 This theory is not new to those who accept the teach- 
 ings of the Bible ; for it may be found inculcated in numer- 
 ous passages of the old and the new books. As instances, 
 we quote a few of the many that might be presented, had 
 we room. 
 
18 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Matt. xvii. 12 : " But I say unto you, That Elias is come 
 already, and they know him not." 
 
 Mark ix. 13 : " But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed 
 come." 
 
 John viii. 58 : " Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I 
 say unto 3'ou, Before Abraham was, I am." 
 
 John xi. 25 : " Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrec- 
 tion and the life : he that believeth in me, though he were 
 dead, yet shall he live." 
 
 This passage should have read as it was expressed by 
 him : "I am the resurrected and the living : he that be- 
 lieveth I am, the same shall he be ; " that is, though he 
 were dead to that form, yet he would fill another form. 
 
 Nowhere in the Bible can the resurrection mean the 
 raising of the same disintegrated first body, as some pro- 
 fess to believe ; but the raising of soul in some other form, 
 either in spirit, or again on earth. 
 
 It is evident that the fifteenth chapter of the First of 
 Corinthians teaches that the spiritual resurrection is all 
 that was expected. The 45th verse of this chapter might 
 well serve as a text for our subject: "The first man, 
 Adam, was made a living soul : the last Adam was made 
 a quickening spirit." 
 
 This passage gives the idea that re-incarnation conve3 T s. 
 Adam is the common name for a soul incarnated in the 
 human form. The first taking of human form, "Adam," 
 is a living soul: the last appearance of "Adam" is a 
 quickening spirit filled with the light of terrestrial knowl- 
 edge and celestial intelligence, and a spirit that will move 
 in spheres common to both. Such is what the writer 
 evidently knew, and intended to convey* It is not our 
 province to search the Scriptures : let those who are 
 familiar with them search them out. 
 
 Of the late writers, many have written newspaper arti- 
 
PROLEGOMENA. 19 
 
 cles pro and con, theorizing on the subject ; but, as this is 
 not a review, we pass them b}'. The most noticeable 
 writer upon re-incarnation was the French spiritist, Allan 
 Kardec, who enthusiastically presented it as a dogma. 
 He gave a theory respecting it in conformity with teach- 
 ings received through divers media. Yet he affirms it was 
 ' l in consonance with his conception and intuition of the 
 law of a just and merciful God, and he would not have 
 received it as given if not in harmony with his rational 
 conclusions." 
 
 But we opine that his mediums must have been ps} T - 
 chologized hy his will or chain of thoughts on that subject ; 
 for we cannot conceive how any spirits, who knew of what 
 they claimed to treat of, could have convej^ed such pue- 
 rile and inconsistent statements on theosoplry and spirit 
 hierarchy, and so much that is irreconcilable with an- 
 thropological laws. 
 
 Nowhere does he find the integral principle of the soul, 
 the first essential of the doctrine ; but he confuses it with 
 spirit, and vice versa. He represents spirit as a creation 
 of God, as one of Ins secrets neither to be looked into nor 
 found out. The law of spirit and its conditions does not 
 begin to be convej^ed in its true light. The first requisite 
 to be explained is made obstruent b} T referring to them as 
 God's great secret, not to be known outside of himself, 
 and that it is a sacrilege for his creatures to inquire into 
 his works. Allan Kardec had evidently been of Roman- 
 Catholic faith. His writings are all shaded with its dog- 
 mas. A personal God is the rocky foundation he builds 
 ipon ; saints in abundance ; a local, intermediate world 
 tfhile in transit of expiation. Re-incarnation is made a 
 itate of expiation, and " is the retribution of a just and 
 nercifal God for sin." It is virtually made to be a substi- 
 tute for a literal hell to produce purification. Moral purity 
 
20 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 is the graduating scale that decrees what you will next be. 
 Intelligence has little weight, and the highest intellect 
 may next be a bonded slave or a Fuegan. In fact, it is 
 made a system of literal punishments clear through, to be 
 carried out on earth ; and this is the only object that is 
 clearly conveyed in all of his writings upon the subject. 
 
 His theory is without order or s3 T stem, making life 
 erratic, as he represents the unpurified spirits to be. The 
 psychometrical law is not touched as a cause, nor is 
 progress hinted at. 
 
 As this work was in manuscript before seeing his, and 
 they bear no comparison in treating the subject, but are 
 radically different, no farther allusion will be made to it 
 but where the difference exists can be readily seen. That 
 re -incarnation is a psychological law, as sublime in its 
 economy as it is worthy of man's consideration, will be un- 
 derstood as we progress in knowledge and understanding. 
 
PART I. 
 WHAT IS GOD? 
 
 The races and classes of beings of all ages of time 
 have adopted some specific form or idea of a God. These 
 ideas have been as diversified, almost, as humanity itself; 
 and as many gods have been set up to worship as the 
 requirements of the worshipers demanded. Many of the 
 present day picture a great transcendent personality ; 
 others, a Deity in a central sun, moving all the universe 
 from it as a centre ; and so on ad infinitum. But now 
 that the two spheres of earth and spirit are in close rap- 
 port, and converse is familiar, humanity is no better in- 
 formed on this subject of a personal God than before. 
 No spirit has as } T et reported to have found a personal 
 Deity. The highest intelligences can not inform us of 
 such a being. That there is a power or principle govern- 
 ing the actions and conditions of things is true : no one in 
 earthly form knows this better than the writer, who has 
 seen its action in spirit-life. Yet we by no means attribute 
 this to one being or deity. It must be taken into consid- 
 eration, that, if time has been alwaj^s, there must be 
 some spirits who have been for an inconceivable period 
 moving on towards infinitude. That such exercise a 
 
 21 
 
22 THE LAWS OF BE TNG. 
 
 combined influence of intelligence on mundane and super- 
 mundane life is true. It is a concentrated power as 
 well; but this concentration of power is not what is 
 represented to be the great First Cause, — God of the 
 universe, Maker and Ruler of all things. 
 
 Intelligences have never discovered the personal of a 
 God more than these before mentioned. God is supposed 
 to fill all the universe as an infinitude : therefore Nature 
 and her works are supposed to be the best similitude of 
 an infinitude. Nature's laws and works can not be in- 
 fringed upon nor varied : all things are subject to them : 
 therefore it best conveys to us the idea of God. 
 
 There is a concentration of intelligence of a far-reaching 
 power ; but it is only intelligence that has passed through 
 Nature's laws in matter and form for a series of ages not 
 to be computed. This centre of light has the attributes 
 of a far-reaching power of vision, by which it is enabled 
 to see all conditions relating to spirit and its records, to 
 make itself felt and heard, and is in communication with 
 all intermediate spheres, with abihty to convey to each 
 one or all what is for them to know, either in earth or in 
 spirit. These communications are combed like a voice 
 in the far distance, and many spirits call it the voice of 
 God. In this way the lower spheres know there is some- 
 thing far beyond them of force, knowledge, and power ; 
 and many call it God ; but it is properly the spirit-centre. 
 
 Question. — How or where is this centre? 
 
 Answer. — The sun is the centre of our system, and the 
 object towards which spirit and planets are travelling. It 
 casts its influence on spirit-space as well as on the condi- 
 tions of earth. It is a centre of light and intelligence ; 
 and that is all it is essential now to remark of it. Noth- 
 ing herein is intended to convey an idea that it is a deit}\ 
 There are other suns and systems. An infinite God must 
 be a unit. 
 
SOUL AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 23 
 
 SOUL AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 
 
 No theme is more profound, nor of deeper moment to 
 humanity, than that of the law of being. 
 
 Theorist, savant, and scientist of various schools have 
 given their views of it ; but none of them stand the test 
 of reason when investigated by some other rule : the foun- 
 dation is found to be of sand, and their structure hardly 
 outlives the constructors. The weakness of these is to 
 ignore the true basis, the hidden principle : they are mostly 
 materialists, and show but one side of natural law, and 
 that the weakest. The cause and action of the intelligent 
 part remains unaccounted for. Why it shows itself in 
 such a diversity of ways, and why it is just as active out- 
 side of form after its demise, is more than their laws of 
 matter will explain ; and, until this hidden cause is made 
 plain, there is no solid foundation for theories of " es- 
 sences," " Over-Soul," "emanations," or " divine ideas." 
 Materialists or Darwinians, these unsatisfactory structures 
 must soon fall from their own weakness. 
 
 Of the humbler and less pretentious, the ignorant and 
 illiterate tribes, to the very lowest grades of humanit} 7 , 
 generally believe there is some force, essence, or principle 
 in them that has a past, present, and future condition ; 
 and in some theories they come nearer the truth than do 
 the higher classes. It would appear, that, the nearer hu- 
 man^ is to Nature, the better her laws are understood ; 
 but, when it soars to realms of speculation, it loses itself 
 in mistiness. 
 
 Although soul is commonly spoken of, and spirit equally 
 as much so, yet it is rarely that a distinction is made 
 between the two ; many thinking them to be synonymous 
 terms, that cannot be separated in meaning or purpose : 
 where one is, both are. 
 
24 THE LAWS OF BEING 
 
 It is our design to show that there is a distinction and a 
 difference : one may be without the other. 
 
 Although soul clothes itself with spirit, yet the spirit 
 of things may be without soul. All soul moves to and 
 with intelligence : all spirit may not. Soul is diversified 
 and progressive : all spirit is not. Many things of spirit 
 are without soul, to speak in the literal, just, and true 
 sense. 
 
 A great confusion is made of this theme by psychome- 
 trists, who will tell you of the soul of an inanimate, im- 
 personal, unintelligent thing. They will handle some 
 rock, wood, or metallic substance, and read what they 
 term its soul ; and the impress made on any thing is desig- 
 nated by the same term : not distinguishing that the soul 
 is within themselves, that reads the conditions, elements, 
 and surroundings of the thing they handle or come near 
 to, which cannot be detected by one in a thousand, and 
 therefore is not thrown off by the thing itself; for, if it 
 were, it could be commonly perceived by others as well. 
 
 As we learn of the true nature of the soul, its attributes 
 and purposes, it should not be confounded with all unin- 
 telligent things ; for its distinguishing characteristics are 
 instinct and intelligence. 
 
 Spiritualists make little account of the soul-principle. 
 In this they do less than theologians, who recognize soul 
 to be of the first importance ; and in reality it is primary 
 to intelligence, and makes the identity of our being 
 rjiroughout time. It is the soul-principle that gives us 
 spirit, spiritual life and progress, etc. Spiritualists re- 
 verse this important fact, and give spirit all power of 
 being and importance ; whereas spirit is only the condition 
 the soul has made, the form it is seen through, and an in- 
 dicator of its rate of progress. It is the soul that retains 
 its identity through eternity, not spirit only so far as it is 
 a part of the soul's knowledge of itself. 
 
SOUL AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 25 
 
 The spirit from the animal life is dispersed, as soul 
 drops it for progress in other forms of advancements ; and 
 this is done again and again. 
 
 The soul clothes itself with matter in form for progress, 
 character, and practical knowledge of the laws of matter 
 and external life. These combined make its expression 
 of spirit, and its claim for further attainment of knowledge. 
 
 Question. — Some writers assert that the life principle 
 is force or motion, the same as electricity. Are their as- 
 sertions true? 
 
 Answer. — The action of the soul is electro-dynamic ; 
 but this is not the primary cause of its expression. Elec- 
 tricity is force or motion ; but these are not promotive of 
 intelligence in any form where instinct and judgment are 
 required for its sustenance and preservation. There is a 
 special principle that gives the expression, which is a 
 divine principle, and is imbued with all power to sustain 
 itself and acquire intelligence without dependence, or 
 being subject to laws of force. It has been in existence 
 for all time, but individualized only from the time of its 
 first habiting itself with matter, having previously existed 
 only as an entity of one whole. 
 
 To illustrate, take an orange. Its substance is divided 
 into strands, seeds, and innumerable small tuberculous 
 membranes filled with its substance, compactly put together 
 in a sphere, inclosed in one rind. Yet each of these small 
 tubercles is an entity, and can be picked out by itself. 
 It, however, contains the identical substance of that one 
 orange, when all together, forming one whole, with the 
 same flavor and principle throughout. Such is the com- 
 parative relationship that each individual soul-life bears to 
 each other, as a unit of one common principle. Experi- 
 ence, development, and its career, make its individuality. 
 
 Question. — What is the distinguishing principle, what 
 the attributes, of the soul? 
 
26 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 Answer. — The distinguishing principle is that innate 
 nature in man that convej^s a power to gain intelligence. 
 Its attributes are of that character that give power to dis- 
 cern, to choose, to learn, and the essential requisite to 
 develop to a higher state of intelligence. The object of 
 its mission is, by experience to acquire education through 
 various conditions and the processes of Nature's laws. It 
 is not a distinctive, conscious individual^, only as it 
 takes form ; the first expression it makes always being in 
 the lowest, thence moving to higher developments. This, 
 be it understood, belongs to the animal life, and is not 
 associated with the mineral, vegetable, or oceanic life. 
 These last are confined to matter and its development 
 within the radius of the sun's rays, which always carry 
 magnetic force to any thing they reach not intelligent. 
 In the animal world where life is established, its individ- 
 uals depend more on their own resources, and derive their 
 sustenance from natural laws. 
 
 Soul, then, may be considered to be in motion, let it be 
 in ever so small a thing. Be it no larger than a canary, 
 it is expressive of a soul-principle that may be educated 
 to more or less intelligence, and must retain an existence 
 after the demise of its earthly form. 
 
 Question. — What are the soul movements, and object? 
 
 Answer. — Soul is without form or gender until it is 
 clothed with matter. Its first movements are in the first 
 elements of matter in the animal being, aggregating to 
 itself the elements and intelligence of these forms, and so 
 on through a multiplicity of forms, in order to reach the 
 desired standard. It is not essential for one to take all 
 forms in the lowest being, but only the essential that will 
 give intelligence sufficient to attaining to that in which it 
 will next become manifest. This accounts for the various 
 character of expression from the human soul, some taking 
 
MEMORY AND INTELLIGENCE. 27 
 
 more of one element in nature, and so expressing itself 
 according to the elements it most assimilates with. In 
 this way, soul is educated to its grade of manifesting. Its 
 object is to overcome obstacles, and control matter in all 
 formations ; to learn the laws that operate through Nature, 
 and gain intelligence. 
 
 Question. — What is the first condition of conscious- 
 ness? 
 
 Answer. — There is no individual consciousness until 
 externalized : it is a principle in one whole, not conscious 
 of self: its state is darkness, nudity, and inaction. Un- 
 consciousness in the ethers of matter is acted on by spirit, 
 and develops consciousness. 
 
 Question. — Spirit, then, is the energizing principle? 
 
 Answer. — Spirit is the energizing principle of the uni- 
 verse, not of intelligence. 
 
 Question. — What, then, is? 
 
 Answer. — Soul is the intelligent principle that actuates 
 spirit. 
 
 Question. — Is there any centre, sun, or being, from 
 which this principle emanates ? 
 
 Answer. — None. It pervades the universe. 
 
 MEMORY AND INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 Memory is a faculty of mind to retain knowledge or 
 ideas. It is an attribute of the soul, and is inherent in it 
 as part of its divine essence. It constitutes its intelli- 
 gence, and only as such is it practically utilized from one 
 state to another. It is not essential that all the condi- 
 tions should remain : these conditions are lost in the aeons 
 of time that it is in transition. We change our condition 
 even in the short life we have in the present state on earth : 
 what changes, then, are possible to us in inconceivable 
 periods of time ! 
 
28 TEE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 It can not be shown that any thing in the animal life is 
 wanting in memory. Animals will show what has once 
 displeased, or seeks what has gratified them. If they did 
 not exercise memory, their haunts and progeny would be 
 forgottei, and life would be the daily gratifying of wants, 
 without order or distinction : all would be forgotten from 
 hour to hour. On the contrary, we know that some ani- 
 mals have remembered persons and things for years. 
 There is hardly an animal that cannot be trained, to more 
 or less extent, to know the conditions you wish them to 
 become subject to ; and they may be educated to a re- 
 markable degree of intelligence. How could this be done 
 without memory? 
 
 This demonstrates that memory is common to all animal 
 life. Why, then, should it become extinct in them, and 
 not in man? They are subject to the same laws of life, 
 the same elements sustain them, as man ; yet man can not 
 afford them any place outside of the benefits and services 
 they render to him. 
 
 Divine economy has done better than this : Nature and 
 her laws work through them as through us. Man could 
 not have lived on this earth if the animal life had not pre- 
 ceded him. 
 
 Intelligence should hardly require defining ; but, as it is 
 the indicator of the soul's progress, too much importance 
 can not be given to it. Every change and experience gives 
 knowledge, which is education ; and education gives us a 
 power to judge, will, and execute, to be self-governing, 
 and a capacity for higher attainments. Jt shows what we 
 are, and what we can attain to. It is the grand object of 
 our being, and by slow but ceaseless advancement goes 
 with us through eternny. Memory is the prerequisite 
 of intelligence, and it is self-evident that intelligence is 
 acquired through memory. And yet memory is the dis- 
 
INTELLIGENCE VS. MATTER. 29 
 
 tinctive property of the soul. Intelligence is growth and 
 cultivation into knowledge, the ensign of distinction and 
 character. It is just as easy to know what degree of 
 progress a soul has made by its intelligence as it is to tell 
 one stock from another. 
 
 There is no more uniformity of acquired knowledge or 
 advancement in spirit-life than we see around us in all 
 directions in physical life, until spirit has acquired it by 
 its further extended life in spheres beyond. Each migra- 
 tion the soul makes carries with it just so much intelli- 
 gence as it has acquired through that form from which it 
 migrates. This remains by it, and constitutes its spirit- 
 character. 
 
 INTELLIGENCE VS, MATTER. 
 
 Intelligence being that distinguishing property of soul 
 from unintelligent matter or spirit, it necessarily follows 
 that it is not common to all matter or all spirit. Materi- 
 alists, scientists, and others may use all their talent to 
 show that it is only cause and effect, the laws of force on 
 matter, the instinct of animal life, etc. To make their 
 theories hold good, they must disclaim all intelligence out- 
 side of matter. As Spiritualism demonstrates to a cer- 
 tainty the man} 7- ways of intelligence manifesting without 
 form, it is found necessary by those who would ignore 
 these facts to deny it in toto. 
 
 That the intelligence that has developed through the 
 force and momentum of matter (by this is meant the 
 external life it has experienced) will act independent of 
 matter will be shown from absolute knowledge in the 
 course of this work, on the veracity and honor of the 
 writer. It will be shown that all intelligence is preserved, 
 and acts for the general benefit of those who can receive 
 it ; that all space is filled with intelligence in action, and 
 
SO THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 is imbibed by all tilings for which it is suited ; that it is 
 taken on ind thrown off by those in flesh, is the light of 
 soul to soul, the sympathetic action of kind accessible 
 to all. 
 
 To show intelligence versus matter, the following expe- 
 riences are given. In the year 1875, being then in close 
 rapport with spirit-life, many remarkable occurrences 
 took place. One night, retiring about ten, in harmony 
 with my surroundings, I turned to listen to the invisibles 
 present. Shortly, hearing something in the distance, I 
 stretched out on the back ; crossed the hands on the breast 
 to listen. A current like a fine draught of air came to 
 the head ; at the same time, distant conversation came to 
 me. 
 
 Shortly the current came to a small focus at the top of 
 the forehead, and spread, as it extended far into space, in 
 something of the form of a trumpet. Through this chan- 
 nel a steady stream of discourse came to nry brain from 
 a far-distant sphere of intelligence, convejing exalted and 
 sublime lessons on the relation of things and the spirit- 
 spheres, — things that I never heard nor conceived of 
 before nor since. This continued in a steadj^ flow for five 
 hours, without vibration or intermission, from eleven to 
 four in the morning, when at the dawn of day it abruptly 
 ceased. I had lain in the same position, without a motion, 
 not so much as that of a finger, save only to look around 
 the room, and was surprised when I saw the dawn of daj*. 
 The spirits present had listened the same as I. After a 
 few remarks by them on the power I possessed, I turned, 
 and had my morning sleep. 
 
 Here was intelligence of the most transcendent charac- 
 ter, without form or connection with matter : so far as I 
 could tell, it was as distant as the sun. 
 - I have man}- times since heard these far-distant intelli- 
 
INTELLIGENCE VS. MATTER. 31 
 
 gences give short lessons, or remarks intended for some 
 spirit present and to myself. But one more example will 
 answer for all. 
 
 One day in summer, the house all open to the breeze, 
 engaged at what my affairs required of me, I had present 
 a spirit who was very familiar, — one that had cared for me 
 in my infancy. I said, " Eliza, why don't you let me see 
 you in tangible form? " I meant clear and material. 
 
 She instantly said, " I'll do so if }X)u wish." 
 
 " Certainly," I replied. I had no sooner said it than I 
 felt the spirit touch me, and the strangest sensation of 
 forces going from me, as though I were opening out. I 
 began to sense a loss of power ; when a loud, powerful 
 voice from afar said, " Eliza, don't draw or take from 
 the medium : 3011 would materialize in that open room, and 
 injure her. It is her intelligence we want to utilize, and 
 not weaken her." 
 
 She replied, " I wouldn't injure her if I knew it." 
 
 As I took up a piece of work (the trimming of a hat) , 
 the intelligence entered into an explanation of what spirit- 
 materialization is, and the manner in which it is done, using 
 the work I had in hand as a means of illustration ; saying, 
 " That material has been used in one form : now it will be 
 used in another by a mere alteration of its shape and 
 appearance. Thus is materialization only taking or 
 changing material from one form into some other form. 
 And so it ever is : matter is transformed and retransformed 
 continually." 
 
 The lesson was a beautiful one to both, so plain, and 
 •easily understood without questioning. My spirit-friend 
 Eliza appreciated it as I did, while neither of us knew 
 from whence it came. Here was clear practical intelli- 
 gence projected, as it would seem, from a vacuum. 
 
 That intelligence is drawn from and utilized between 
 
32 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 those in flesh is equally true. For some years I could not 
 attend a lecture without feeling the most exhausting, sink- 
 ing lassitude, even to faintness, truly sickeniDg, not being 
 able to account for it. Latterly I went to hear a strong, 
 positive radical. Soon I began to feel a fullness of the 
 brain, while a current, like a thread, went out to him from 
 me. I could feel it like the thread unwinding from the 
 bobbin, and he was drawing it off. Soon I had a violent 
 headache. 
 
 I knew a delicate, frail, sensitive woman, who could but 
 rarely go to lectures without losing her strength for several 
 daj^s. 
 
 By what law does this operate ? may be asked. Simply, 
 the speaker draws from the intelligent forces of his audi- 
 ence, not the words, expressions, or sentiments, but the 
 intelligent principle that helps him to keep up a flow of 
 expression and ideas. It is the magnetic attraction of all 
 entertaining, forcible speakers. 
 
 This free expression of intelligence is the exclusive 
 attribute of soul, and not of matter. 
 
 It can be shown that gross matter can resolve itself 
 into infinitesimal ethereal particles, going we know not 
 where : this is the spirit of the thing. A shrub, tree, or 
 flower passes off its elements as well as animal life. One 
 must therefore exist in spirit-matter as well as the other. 
 Every gross substance has the same divisibility, but docs 
 not express intelligence in one sphere more than the other. 
 
 Intelligence is the distinguishing nature of soul. 
 
 PROGRESSIVE INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 When intelligence is in action, it is thrown off like a 
 principle ; and individuals who have the capacit}' to 
 receive may imbibe of its flow. It is like the putting-on 
 of a garment : }~ou can not wear what does not fit yon. 
 
PROGRESSIVE INTELLIGENCE. 33 
 
 A child does not want strong food until it has capacity to 
 digest it. So it is with soul : all progress is made through 
 external life and experience : development, strength of 
 character, can only be reached by a process of stages, and 
 will not go beyond its strength. 
 
 Intelligence advances by degrees and grades, as we see 
 in all our surroundings. The child learns only according 
 to its circumstances. And so with adults : none jump at 
 full knowledge or advancement, but attain it by slow 
 stages : some make little advance, others rapid progress. 
 Even in the same family, where the same opportunities 
 exist, a great difference may be seen. In this particular 
 the soul shows its individual standard, what its capacity 
 or want of strength really is. It may be so constituted, 
 from its line of succession, that it can not over-reach nor 
 pass the bounds in its present form ; while another may 
 reach out and grasp all knowledge in art or science, 
 because it has made progress, through its line of succes- 
 sion, to take in or imbibe the higher gifts, to comprehend 
 ideas of advancement, or to lead in progressive move- 
 ments. Such manifestations indicate the soul's develop- 
 ment, but do not show the limit nor the acme of its 
 capabilities ; for it is the law of life to move on to the 
 attainment of an infinitude of intelligence. All may 
 expect and anticipate in time and eternity to reach the 
 acme of their desires. 
 
 The majorky of minds reverse this line of progression, 
 and adopt the egotistical presumption that man descends 
 from the God of all infinitude, Spirit of all intelligence 
 and wisdom ; but they fail to show by what line of theory 
 mankind is so diversified in physical, intellectual, and 
 moral standing. Some certainly show very degraded 
 animal parts of the infinite divine Source. If it is his 
 semblance, he would be a great contradiction in charac- 
 
34 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 ter, and partial in gifts and benefits to his descendants. 
 But the truth is, there is no analogy in comparison with 
 such a pretentious claim: mankind nowhere approaches 
 any such standard of being. 'It is only as shown by a 
 series of developments that he acquires traits that can 
 compare in the least degree with those of a divine mind. 
 
 History need not be searched to prove the self-evident 
 fact, that the human family is outgrowing superstition, 
 bigotry, and idolatry ; throwing off the bonds of serfdom, 
 and submission to faith ; becoming independent self- 
 thinkers ; reaching out for more knowledge and higher 
 conditions ; and fast learning the relation it bears to spirit. 
 These are the signs of man's progressive spirit. They 
 show that he is advancing, not receding ; that he has not 
 fallen from some high position, but is reaching upward, 
 and aspiring to higher standing. Let them learn to dis- 
 card all theology, priestly creeds, and church ; assert their 
 own individual priesthood ; approach the supreme fount, 
 and satisfy their own souls. 
 
 THE ANIMAL WORLD. ITS USES. 
 
 Many in the interest of science and biology have specu- 
 lated more or less on the part the animal world fills in its 
 being. While some give animals a correlation to man, 
 others deny them any thing but gross matter : when 
 defunct, that is the last of them. No one seems to have 
 found the true purpose of their being, further than in the 
 use the}' are to man. 
 
 Those who have the most to do with animals, and those 
 who are the most observing of them, cannot fail to see 
 that they are capable of a great deal of intelligence when 
 trained and schooled to it. I make no exceptions here of 
 kind. It is not essential to give examples ; for general 
 observation will prove that they exhibit thought, memory, 
 and expression. 
 
THE ANIMAL WORLD. 35 
 
 By objectors it is said they do not think consecutively, 
 do not plan, do not use language to express ideas, and in 
 many other wa}^s do not resemble man's intellectual abil- 
 ity : all which is only half-way true. 
 
 We do not propose to enter into any review of these 
 objections, but show the law that operates through animals 
 in comparison with those operating through man. 
 
 We would not claim that the animal's physical struc- 
 ture has latent germs of development to humanity. Every 
 type and species holds its own. Though, physically, ani- 
 mals do not develop to man, the elements that enter into 
 the composition of the animal are taken in by man ; and 
 the intelligence the animal gains is utilized to the same 
 end. 
 
 True, the animal is not organized so as to possess the 
 same mental intellect. There is not the development of 
 brain which is the distinguishing, intellectual, spiritual 
 organ in man : therefore they are lower in the scale of 
 development. 
 
 Some writers affirm that the animal differs essentially 
 from man, inasmuch as it ever moves in a circle, returning 
 into itself, and not progressing out of its sphere. But 
 this is no more true of animals than of men. Nowhere 
 can it be seen that man goes be}*ond the circle of his 
 sphere while in his physical form ; and his understanding 
 is trivial compared with what it may be. His intellect 
 can reach only a certain limit, while some even are only 
 removed from the animal in physical shape. 
 
 The fact that animals do not change their habits, or a 
 bird its notes or the manner of building its nest, does not 
 indicate a want of intelligence, or inability to progress. 
 There is not a form in external life that can alter its nat- 
 ural adaptability. Man can not change nor move beyond 
 his nature. There is no power of will he can exercise 
 
36 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 that can enable him to fly, to make himself taller or 
 shorter, or to cover himself with hair ; while, if he violates 
 a law of his nature, death ensues. Thus every thing in 
 physical life is subject to the laws and restrictions of its 
 own expression. 
 
 Man in his present sphere is an arrested or retarded 
 development, because in another sphere he will surpass 
 the present state. If this is true of man, can it be said 
 of the animals, they will not go beyond their present state ? 
 
 But let us consider the animals' future state and uses. 
 Their earthly form is subject to the same law as man's. 
 When they die, their matter goes to earth, and their ele- 
 ments into gases. 
 
 What are these elements ? 
 
 They are the ethereal, spiritual substances of matter, 
 and will form material for other organisms ; man himself 
 in his own element not being excepted in the action of 
 this law. 
 
 Yet some will assert there is no animal in spirit ; that 
 only the earthly matter is utilized ; that, if there are ani- 
 mals or birds of plumage in the higher spheres, they are 
 indigenous to those spheres, and not products of earth's 
 grossness. 
 
 This raises the queries, What is indigenous to spirit- 
 spheres ? What is spirit-matter ? 
 
 There is nothing but reason and example to meet these 
 inquiries. 
 
 By the science of chemistry, it is known that every sub- 
 stance can be resolved into its elements, and matter show 
 its primates. The diamond, the hardest known substance, 
 could be dissolved if the process were known. Nature is 
 but one vast laboratory in this work, resolving, dissolv- 
 ing, and reconstructing. Matter that has served one form 
 will enter another. It is only a question of bulk and 
 
THE ANIMAL WORLD. 37 
 
 quality. Matter, therefore, cannot be said to be indige- 
 nous to spirit more than to the external, when it is only 
 exchanged ; and every thing of earth can be shown to 
 possess an ethereal spirit part. 
 
 It is common for spirits to show themselves in garments 
 of every description, and change them to their liking. 
 Are these indigenous to spirit-life ? 
 
 A spirit entered my door once, wearing a long summer- 
 coat, with the pockets filled with apples, and asked oth- 
 ers present if they liked them, while he showed them 
 round. This was characteristic of the man, which I 
 knew as well as himself. He had not laid away his tastes. 
 But of the apples : where did they come from ? Did they 
 grow in spirit-spheres ? were they indigenous spirit-fruit ? 
 They were not ; for the spirit told where he culled them : 
 he had appropriated them from bearing trees in Oregon. 
 What had he taken ? Why, the essence, the spirit-elements, 
 of the fruit. 
 
 On another occasion, the same summer, a spirit entered 
 the door. After talking with others present, he took out 
 his watch to compare the time with my clock on the wall, 
 saying, "I set my watch by the time I am to keep." 
 Are watches manufactured in the spirit-spheres? Not 
 this one, at least. One present whom he was talking to 
 had been his wife in life on earth, and said, " There's his 
 old watch : what an idea to have that watch ! ' ' 
 
 Another time, this same spirit entering, I immediately 
 saw him, and that he was dressed in what I took to be 
 fine blue cloth, — a dress-suit. I said to others present, 
 "That's a fine cloth nut." — "Not so very fine," they 
 replied : "it's middling. ' When he said, " I took them in 
 Hamburg. They just suited me. They are not the finest 
 kind : I picked them out from others in the store for my 
 purpose." Thus these clothes had been appropriated, 
 
38 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 ready-made and finished to wear, from the stock of some 
 store in Europe. What became of the external, the gross 
 material, these several things were taken from, I never 
 thought to ask. 
 
 If inanimate, unintelligent material can be taken up, 
 and utilized in spirit, must the animal be an exception to 
 other matter, and have no purpose but the physical? Let 
 those answer who think such a view consistent. 
 
 The animal is not indigenous to spirit-spheres, because 
 there is nothing that is: if there were,. it would make a 
 preference and maintain a precedence over humanity. 
 That the animal has its uses, more than its earthly matter 
 would indicate, is equally true as of man. The intelli- 
 gence the animal gains manifests again in some other form 
 under the same progressive laws. The principle is there. 
 I do not say nor mean the details of memory, the nature, 
 but that the essence, the expression of the principle, 
 moves higher. They are animated by the soul-principle, 
 consistent with the form of external matter they represent. 
 
 Much importance and stress is laid on the fact, by ob- 
 jectors, that animals do not exercise language, nor apply 
 it. In this they overlook the fact that all animals will 
 learn to understand the meaning of language from those 
 they are associated with : from the guttural Indian to the 
 elegant Latin, there is not one that animals will not 
 respond to under standingly. If animals will learn the 
 meaning of articulated sounds, words, or expressions, it 
 evidently is proof that something is there that knows or 
 has learned the application of language. They do not use 
 it, because their organic structure will not permit them to 
 do so ; and yat they show expression from their own gut- 
 tural natures. That the}' show thought, is undeniable : 
 there arc too many unquestionable evidences open to 
 every observer to require any further showing of proofs. 
 
CREATIVE FORCES. 39 
 
 It may be asked, Is principle diversified in its action ? 
 
 Yes. See in what numerous ways hydrogen shows 
 itself, from the bulky ocean to the imperceptible breathing. 
 
 Force is power exerted. In how many inconceivable 
 waj^s does it act, from the atom to the moving of worlds ! 
 The principle is the same : the matter acted on constitutes 
 the diversity. 
 
 Electricity is the same, from the action in the atmos- 
 phere to the transmitting of thought. 
 
 CREATIVE FORCES. 
 
 Force has two distinct phases, — the force of atoms, 
 ethers, or gases ; and the intelligent force acting on 
 matter. 
 
 It is commonly affirmed that all matter is moved by the 
 power of spirit. Not so. All spirit understands some 
 laws of matter ; but matter may act independent of intel- 
 ligence. We see the many phases of action of gases : it 
 is a momentum within itself. Man may plant a shrub, or 
 sow seed, and work over it as he likes : yet he can pro- 
 duce no results unless other conditions are favorable out- 
 side of him, such as earth, light, heat, or climate : these 
 are forces independent of his control. Spirits are subject to 
 the same restrictions : they can not supersede the law, but 
 make use of matter as they perceive it. They act on 
 matter as we do through life. 
 
 Question. — How, in the beginning, did organic animal 
 or human life exist on this earth ? It does not seem rational 
 that one kind of animal could be the progenitors of an- 
 other type, or that man could develop from the animal 
 forrn. Was the human ever animal, or covered with hair ? 
 
 Answer. — The human has never been materially differ- 
 ent on this planet. Creation in the human and the animal 
 takes place the same, — in the beginning, by germs of their 
 
40 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 kind existing in the ethereal matter of the earth. Soul 
 .moves on spirit-essences, and gives vitality ; and, by the 
 jame power, that vitality is sustained. 
 
 It must be remembered, that the formation of worlds is 
 the result of a combination of elements, germs, and 
 matter from antecedent worlds thrown off in space. 
 These constituents, by means of the power of attraction, 
 form other worlds ; while the soul-principle acts the same 
 throughout the universe. Spirits are specially interested in 
 these new formations and in the life of the young. Where 
 worlds are forming, spirits are earnestly at work. 
 
 Therefore the human species took its place upon the 
 earth distinctively as races, essentially as they are, 
 through germs moved by soul and spirit essences, and 
 sustained until propagated ; when, no longer needing the 
 special intervention of spirit in that direction, they were 
 not so forcibly acted upon. Let the earth be wholly 
 depopulated by some catastrophe, and the same process 
 of creation would be renewed. 
 
 In this way a great power of forces united with soul 
 presence is acting on germs and matter throughout space 
 the same to-day as in the past. This is creative force. 
 
 Question. — Under what law do animal germs exist in 
 space ? 
 
 Answer. — The germ being the seed of an animal, it is 
 shed by the female. It may be incipient conception, or it 
 may not take root in her substance after impregnation. 
 In the latter case it is wholly useless, but passes to exter- 
 nal matter, and so takes its place in the germinal. The 
 innumerable young that are lost fill this place. Each and 
 every substance is conditioned in universal matter ; and, 
 for that reason, animal germs are held by the same. 
 
 In the first ages of the earth, many forms of life be- 
 longed to conditions that do not now inhabit it ; and thus 
 
SPIRIT LAW AND MATTER, 41 
 
 it will be in the future. Some that are now common will 
 be extinct, and their tracks will not be detected : the 
 grosser will sink below the superior, and intelligence will 
 predominate. It is the law of progress. Perhaps no 
 science or theory is more mixed by those that expound 
 thereon than the law of evolution and the law of prog- 
 ress. One should not apply to the other ; yet it is too 
 frequently done. Evolution is unfoldment, and one of 
 Nature's own laws : it evolves from the elements vegeta- 
 ble, and from vegetable insect and reptile, life. Frogs 
 and mosquitoes only evolve from stagnant water. From 
 marine elements are evolved forms of marine life. These 
 are especially indigenous to the elements that evolve 
 them, and will not exist outside of them. You can not 
 make fishes live out of water ; nor tropical fruits, flowers, 
 or the peculiar insects of the tropics, evolve in cold 
 climates. While Nature's infinite law of evolution is 
 illimitable, it is yet restricted to conditions and elements. 
 But this has not the same application to that progress 
 which is advancing \>y change, and applies to intelligent 
 things. Nature evolves from elements the lower forms. 
 Soul progresses through conditions, is homogeneous to 
 all locations : one is not the other. Evolution is Nature's 
 law on elements. Progress is soul's law of advancing 
 intelligently : this belongs to soul and spirit. Evolution 
 belongs to nature and matter. 
 
 SPIRIT LAW AND MATTER. 
 
 Let not this heading be considered as implying that any 
 approach will be made to show all of spirit law ; for that 
 could not be done in this short lesson, nor contained 
 within the lids of this book. Only a fraction of an idea 
 bearing on this subject can be given. 
 
 Spirit here applies to the intelligent principle belonging 
 
42 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 to the soul ; not the ethereal sublimate of matter called 
 the spirit-essences of things which perhaps require defin- 
 ing. Spirit-ethers float in space picturing their nature and 
 kind. These again are imbibed hy external things grow- 
 ing in nature, and may be called the essence, or spirit- 
 part, of things. This ethereal essence again passes out 
 of these forms as they mature. The same, we perceive 
 the bloom and the fragrance of the plant, maturing, fad- 
 ing, and dying out : its spirit-ethers have passed into 
 space. These again will be imbibed by others as they 
 develop new forms, whose external growth will make the 
 demand. In this way there is a continual change and 
 exchange, a passing-in and thro wing-off, a moving of 
 spirit-essences in and out. 
 
 Many claim that spirit is a power giving form to matter ; 
 that it is the real world of things. In opposition it can 
 be said, spirit develops matter, and material etherealizes 
 to spirit, — a mutual correlation. This law is applicable 
 to unintelligent forms. 
 
 It is the promulgated theory of Bible-sects, and nearly 
 all theorists, — spiritualists not excepted, — that man is 
 descended from some great transcendent power of Deity, 
 or perhaps fallen angelic beings ; and by some, that supe- 
 rior power of spirit is in him before taking earthly form. 
 By this they mean he had at first the position of spirit to 
 some extent ; that his present state is probational. This 
 idea has obtained credence from the fact that soul incar- 
 nate has a memory of a prior state within itself. Then 
 it has been used by leaders or teachers in an obscure, half- 
 intelligent light, and so become perverted. But the reverse 
 of this is true. As before shown, the soul's first move- 
 ment is through earthly matter, in order that it rnaj- learn 
 of its uses, and become acquainted with the external 
 world. This is primary to intelligent growth. 
 
SPIRIT LAW AND MATTER. 43 
 
 The soul is its own maker, its own creator into spirit- 
 ual conditions. Every contact, every habiting with form, 
 gives more or less intelligence. 
 
 Inasmuch as soul has a common essence to the all- 
 universal Soul, it is made in the image of God and of 
 universal Deity, partaking of a common brotherhood 
 through intelligence ; and the same law of origin is 
 applicable to the entire chain of animal life. As it is 
 through matter and form the soul clothes itself with indi- 
 viduality, it necessarily follows that this will be used and 
 persevered in until the proper acme of development and 
 intelligence is reached. 
 
 To assert, as some do, that spirit develops and grows 
 in spirit-life the same as with external life, is far from 
 true. Ideas of that kind are conveyed through deceptive 
 spirits who are not able to know beyond the limits of their 
 sphere. A certain development must be through the ex- 
 ternals. Spirit must learn the use of material by experi- 
 ence, and can not grow into form in any other way. If 
 angels and seraphim exist, it is only those who have 
 passed through forms the same as we those we occupy, and 
 have been countless ages in attaining their present light. 
 To suppose that man should come down from these ad- 
 vanced lights, as some state, is an egotistical assumption, 
 without a basis for truth. 
 
 Believe, then, that you are passing up to, and not that 
 you have descended from, angels ; that you are on the 
 high road to become archangels ; and that all animal life 
 will follow in your path. 
 
 Nothing herein conveyed is intended to imply that 
 spirit fills its measure of attainment in knowledge while 
 associated with external nature ; for this is only a prelimi- 
 nary acquirement for continuing the same. Our career 
 may be compared to that of children at school passing from 
 
44 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 primary to other classes, and so on until they graduate, 
 or pass out : then they are only started to make use of 
 that schooling to aid them through subsequent life to the 
 best advantage. 
 
 It is evident from what has been given that intelligent 
 spirit is soul-development, and not a full-fledged bird 
 ready to fly when sent forth from the throne of God. It 
 is, however, the recipient of light, by the aid of which it 
 winds its way, and becomes its own maker. 
 
 For this external life is essential ; and the experiences of 
 the soul, in its journey through human life, are absolute- 
 ly necessary for its unfoldment in its efforts to attain 
 its object. Therefore all entering spirit-life unsatisfied, 
 dwarfed, abortioned, cut off without blooming, will retake 
 external life in form, and make the journey sure. 
 
 Each experience gives character, personality, individu- 
 ality, according to its representation. These convey only 
 the present status, and are not necessarily permanent. 
 We change from decade to decade in this life. We no 
 longer think, look, nor act as children of fifteen or twenty 
 years past. From many the whole personnel has gone, 
 and may change three or four times in a hundred years : 
 many change equally as much in character, and would not 
 follow the same path of life a second time. Therefore 
 the details of personality are transitional passages to soul ; 
 and only the experiences they have given make and con- 
 stitute their identity, which is made manifest by their 
 mode of expression and the light the} r give. 
 
 It must be evident to the reader of these pages that we 
 make a close distinction between soul, spirit, thing, and 
 matter. To say such and such is spirit does not ne- 
 cessarily imply that it is moved by an intelligent soul. 
 Flowers, fruits, scenery, and all tangible things, are taken 
 up in spirit-form. It is a question in the writer's mind, 
 
SPIRIT LAW AND MATTER. 45 
 
 whether the mirage is not a spirit-picture. Spirits say it 
 is ; that the elements are taken up in a rarefied atmos- 
 phere, and seen with more facility. If so, it is a fair 
 illustration of external matter giving spirit-essences ; one 
 that is easy of comprehension by all minds. It is plainly 
 evident to all observers, that the rougher, grosser material 
 develops the finer. The grape does not yield the spirit 
 of the wine only through the coarse wood and fibre of the 
 vine. As the ethers and gases can only be brought out 
 through distillation from crude substances, and if imper- 
 fect are re-submitted to process, so is it essential with 
 spirit to pass through external matter to reach a higher 
 state. If it has not made its standard suitable for higher 
 spheres, it is re- submitted to another process. 
 
 Question. — If external nature is required for develop- 
 ment, can there be exceptions, and some attain the same 
 end by shorter journeys, and some even without any, but 
 pass into spirit from the mother's womb, and meet the 
 same results, — a doctrine that is promulgated by many? 
 
 Answer. — By no means could this be. Nature, or 
 Nature's God, allows no such infringement on her laws. 
 Such would be spirits without form, too ethereal to find a 
 place. Matter is as utilitarian to spirit-intelligence as to 
 us in earthly form. To spirit it is transparent, and is 
 acted on by them with the facility that a chemist would 
 manipulate a substance he would analyze. This will 
 be best understood by examples. 
 
 Several years since, the writer could hardly go to as- 
 semblies, large or small, without experiencing the oddest 
 sensations imaginable, — first a weight on the head ; then 
 a slow expansiveness of the whole body, so that it seemed 
 to puff out like a monster, and fill half the room ; then a 
 drawing-in and shrinkage. I knew it was some outside 
 condition, as it never occurred at home. That was as far 
 as I could account for it. 
 
46 TEE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 In 1875, when spirits were at home with me, they 
 seemed to vie with each other in efforts to show me all the 
 attention they could bring to bear. One night they said 
 they would show me what it was to disintegrate the body, 
 and dissolve it ; asking me if I was not afraid. 
 
 I replied, that I was not ; that I felt perfectly safe. In 
 a few moments a current ran through me. I began to puff 
 out, and fill the room. Then it seemed that every par- 
 ticle fell asunder, and then came together. The whole 
 process was but for a few minutes. There was no bad 
 result from it or the sensation. But I was thereby 
 enabled to better understand the former sensations. 
 Spirits drew from me certain elements by which they 
 could show themselves to some seer in the assembly, or 
 for some other purpose. More than two years subse- 
 quently, one of those exhibiters calling themselves by 
 some long eight-syllable name — which, cut short, means 
 " juggler " — came to the city to exhibit. As I heard he 
 was excellent in his profession, I went to the show. I 
 found him a skillful performer : some of his tricks were 
 spirit-manifestations ; a fact he did not attempt to conceal, 
 calling on his unseen assistants for responses, and through 
 inanimate things to act and show intelligence. At the 
 conclusion he announced that on the next evening he 
 would close his exhibition with his great ' ' Arabic Turk- 
 ish Box Feat," telling what he intended to perform. As 
 he was half-way honest, not denying he had invisible per- 
 formers assisting him, I thought I would see his miracu- 
 lous trick. 
 
 His exhibition was in a theater that seated several 
 hundred, and it was filled. I procured a seat immediately 
 in front of the centre of the stage, so that there was 
 nothing intervening between myself and the performance. 
 When it came to the finale, a committee of two was to be 
 
SPIRIT LAW AND MATTER, 47 
 
 selected from the audience to act as judges and inspect- 
 ors, and show their skill in tying the box and man. 
 The audience chose two of the strongest men present, one 
 the sheriff of the county. On the stage was brought a 
 large, heavy, iron-fastened box, closing with a hasp for a 
 padlock. This box was to be lashed with as many feet of 
 rope as they chose to use. It was raised on chairs from 
 the floor, and fifteen minutes taken to lash it. Then the 
 sheriff chose to use handcuffs, instead of a padlock, to 
 fasten the hasp ; and, haying locked these, he put the key 
 in his pocket. Then the performer came before the audi- 
 ence dressed in tights, and was to be bound with ropes 
 as long as they wished, and in any way they pleased. 
 Several cords were used. He was tied and bound, tight 
 and immovable. Hands, feet, and legs were corded 
 together. Then a black cloth bag was put over him, the 
 string tied at the head, sealed with wax, and stamped. 
 
 After this long prelude he was left. The curtains were 
 drawn around him and the box, shutting the light from 
 them. The committee sat on the outside. In about 
 fifteen minutes the bag was thrown over the curtain to one 
 of the committee, and found as left on him, tied at the 
 top, and sealed. In five minutes the ropes that had been 
 lashed about the man came over the other side to the 
 other committee ; and, these being inspected, they were 
 not untied, the knots and twist remained the same, as 
 though the man had been taken out of them, and they had 
 dropped. In a few minutes I distinctly heard the box-lid 
 shut, not loud and heavy, but moderately and firmly. I 
 asked a lady beside me, "Did you hear that box shut? " 
 — " Yes, I did," she replied. I subsequently asked the 
 same question of others on the line of seats in front, and 
 received the same reply. In a few seconds a pistol was 
 discharged, as a signal that the feat was accomplished. 
 
48 TEE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 Instantly the curtains were drawn; and the man was 
 found to be in the box, while the box was intact as it had 
 been left, the lashing untouched. The ropes had been so 
 thoroughly interlaced, that they could not be readily un- 
 done, and they were cut loose. The sheriff then took the 
 kej^ from his pocket, unlocked the irons, and opened the 
 box ; when the man jumped out, made his bow, and said, 
 ''Never was there, in all the exhibits and t3^ngs of Spirit- 
 ualism, any one tied closer or firmer than I have been 
 to-night. The ropes have cut into my flesh. The feat 
 would have been accomplished in ten minutes, had I not 
 been so severely bound.' ' 
 
 That spirits had assisted him, he did not conceal ; but 
 he left the spectators to draw their own conclusions as to 
 how the work was done. In all probability there was not 
 another of the spectators than myself who could tell how 
 the wonder was accomplished. The bag and ropes were 
 expanded, opened out, as it were, into the air, when they 
 fell outside. The lashings and irons on the box ex- 
 panded, loosened, that is, dematerialized, for the moment ; 
 then the man got into the box, and it closed on him intact. 
 It must have done this, or I could not have heard it close. 
 There was no other solution of the feat. 
 
 Several hundred persons could verify this statement, 
 while perhaps thousands have seen it exhibited as leger- 
 demain. 
 
 The performer was evidently one of the best kind o f 
 physical mediums, although ignoring the name for popu- 
 larity's sake. As matter is clear, transparent, to spirits, 
 they see its elements ; and, if knowing how to use them, 
 such feats are easily performed. 
 
 Question. — Why is it that clear and true statements are 
 not given by those professing to give information as 
 spirits ? 
 
SPIRIT LAW AND MATTER. 49 
 
 Answer. — Because the instruments of earth are subjects 
 of teachings and prejudice, and the spirits come under 
 their conditions. Again, much is conveyed, even by 
 those who are better informed, for the purpose of catering 
 to the public appetite. The children of earth are not 
 prepared to receive a full display of all that the spheres 
 might convey ; neither would they appreciate it if given. 
 Spirits that have passed beyond the earth's conditions 
 rarely use the organs of another. 
 
 The following lesson contained in " Flashes of Light " 
 is apropos to this theme, and gives a clear statement of 
 the law : — 
 
 "Be it understood, that although enlightened spirits, 
 upon all subjects, stand ready to give light to others, they 
 are only suffered to impart in accordance with the law 
 which controls them. When the benighted spirits ask in 
 all honesty of soul for more light, and seek for it, are 
 ready to receive it and make good use of it, then are 
 they ready to give it. But, if it were forced upon the 
 darkened spirit, the old maxim of earth would be applica- 
 ble here, — 
 
 ' The man convinced against his will 
 Is of the same opinion still.' 
 
 " Spirits do not find that difficulty in overcoming their 
 erroneous opinions that 3^0 u may suppose. You should 
 not think, that, because they do not jump into immediate 
 knowledge after death, they have a hard time to attain it. 
 But it is the law of all spirits, that they advance by slow 
 and distinct degrees. There are no arches to span the 
 gulfs over which spirits can march at will : the} T must 
 ascend the ladder of human wisdom — no round being 
 overlooked — ere they can pass out of darkness into light. 
 The sun does not come immediately as the shades of 
 
50 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 night begin to disappear ; and Nature moves in all her 
 departments slowly and surely. Thus it is with spirit." 
 
 This beautiful lesson shows that spirits through media 
 can give only what is in their sphere of knowledge, and 
 are not in possession of all knowledge of advanced lights. 
 
 Question. — Is the spirit-world, or spirit, the sphere of 
 cause, or the sphere of effects? 
 
 Answer. — It is both cause and effect. A condition 
 may exist in spirit as the effect of cause in the external 
 life. Soul is cause : spirit is the effect, or result, of both. 
 Therefore it is not absolutely true that spirit is all cause. 
 The same law is true of the external world. It is both. 
 It originates many causes that have an effect in spirit. 
 Man and his intelligence is the effect of soul externalizing 
 with matter and its conditions. This by some will be 
 called the action of spirit on matter. How, then, can it be 
 absolutely known that man is the result of one cause ? Let 
 it be understood that one condition depends on the other. 
 When the two worlds are blended so intimately, do not 
 think that one can exist without the other. It is a mar- 
 riage of soul and matter : the offspring of the union is 
 spirit. 
 
 TYPES AND RACES. 
 
 Perhaps there is no theme in science, theology, or theo- 
 ries, that has been so diversified^ theorized as the genesis, 
 development, and destiny of man and races. These are 
 represented hy a dozen different hypotheses coming down 
 from a great, infinite God, or coming up from a mollusk 
 or jelly-fish through animal life to the orang-outang into 
 man. 
 
 We do not expect to deal with these self-poised soph- 
 ists, but to give our own observations and the teachings 
 of superior intelligences, and let humanity judge which is 
 
TYPES AND RACES. 51 
 
 most conformable with reason. We hold that types are 
 indestructible in nature ; that one type will not unite with 
 another type to produce another kind, but will become 
 extinct in external life first. We can not see that even 
 birds which are of the same nature will promiscuate, but 
 rather become solitary. The vegetable never evolved the 
 organic being. 
 
 That many species of the same type exist both in ani- 
 mal and human is too well known to deny. "We see 
 this in the horse, the zebra, the ass, the many classes of 
 goats, of canine, of fowls, and other typal creatures, up to 
 the races of the human. These are but species of their 
 t}-pes, and may commingle and bring out a mixed or im- 
 proved species. But to affirm that one type is merged 
 into some other is setting at defiance all analogy, and 
 trampling on natural law as manifested to the lowest un- 
 derstanding. 
 
 Therefore there is but one human type, and five species. 
 Ethnologists call them races. This raises the queries, 
 What is species ? What is race ? 
 
 Species are a group of individuals or things that have an 
 essential identity in qualities proceeding from their ulti- 
 mate nature. Species are supposed to mingle and vary. 
 
 Race is a continued series of descent from a parent who 
 is the first stock. A race can be of one kind : when it 
 varies it runs out, or becomes a mixed race. The contin- 
 ued reproduction of one species has made the races : even 
 allowing that a crossing of kind will produce a difference, 
 there must be a first kind to make the cross. That the 
 human species are not identical in kind, hardly requires 
 showing : there is such a vast difference, physically, men- 
 tally, intellectually, in character and habits, that the dif- 
 ferences will not harmonize. 
 
 One of the most difficult problems that the various 
 
52 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 schools of theory find to handle is the origin of the dif- 
 ferent races. To solve this problem the most extravagant 
 hypotheses are resorted to ; giving climatic changes, diet, 
 soil, habits, and what not. But the most novel is that of 
 simulating man to a plant undergoing all the metamor- 
 phosis by transplanting and climatic changes. This might 
 be answered, Yankee fashion, by asking a question : Tell 
 us why the negro is the same to-day all over the earth ? 
 He has been perhaps two hundred years on the continent 
 of America, and has not changed his skin, hair, features, 
 nor character, to Indian or white. They have been over 
 two hundred years in the West Indies and San Domingo ; 
 and there they retain African blackness and negro habits. 
 
 The Indian is . indigenous to North America ; and yet 
 the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers, after two centuries 
 on the same continent, have shown no tendency to adopt 
 the life and character of the Indian, while the ix>or Indian 
 has given way, and is fast becoming extinct. Yet the 
 American continent has had no great changes for the past 
 three hundred years. You may make all the changes by 
 " transplanting " or migration that it is possible to make 
 with the same race, and yet they will produce no change 
 in species. When it can be shown that a race has ever 
 modified by climatic changes, it can be used as argument : 
 until then, it is a chimera. 
 
 The Israelites of this time are a race because they rarely 
 intermarry with other people. Now, they have lived and 
 traveled in all countries, and have none of their own ; and, 
 wherever they are, they retain distinct features and char- 
 acteristics distinguishing them from others. It is said, 
 persistent habits or practices will produce a change in the 
 transmittal to posterity, and a continual perseverance will 
 ultimate in a different genus. This theory has no real 
 basis of facts to rest upon, while there are numerous 
 
TYPES AND RACES. 53 
 
 examples to show that it will not apply to the human kind. 
 It is demonstrated facts that should sustain a theory, and 
 not Irypothesis. As an illustration of fact open to all for 
 observation, we make the following statement. On the 
 north-west coast of America, from the Upper Columbia to 
 Puget Sound, there ranges a tribe of Indians called " Flat- 
 heads.' ' 
 
 The name is derived from a practice they have of 
 flattening the heads of their females. It is done mechan- 
 ically, with bark, stone, or hard wood, pressed on the 
 forehead of the newly-born female child ; and this is 
 continued until it has the desired shape, and the bones are 
 fixed. The process is kept up six or eight months, while 
 the head grows up high and flat, back and front ; thus 
 giving that high key to the arch of intelligence that many 
 persons claim to be an indication of future superiority. 
 It appears as though it was done to enable these dragging, 
 overburdened women to carry their burdens with more 
 facility ; for they are beasts of toil from the age of ten 
 years. These Indians have practiced this form of alter- 
 ation several hundred } T ears, and to this day there is not 
 one that has brought forth a flat-headed child. Here are • 
 mothers, prolific, whose physical structure is altered in 
 the most phrenological sense, who are seeing the alteration 
 continually before their eyes, if a female is present from 
 one da}* old to a hundred years ; yet there is no change of 
 germs or gemmules convej'ed to the form of their off- 
 spring, and they are compelled to keep up the rites 
 mechanically. 
 
 A practice of the Chinese is another example. This 
 nation, or race, shave the heads of their males as soon as 
 the hair grows an inch long, leaving a patch on the crown 
 the size of the hand, from which depends the cue. This 
 they have practiced three thousand 3'ears : yet Nature, 
 
54 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 as if in defiance of their perseverance, persists in growing 
 on their heads a coarse, thick, black hair, which they must 
 shave every week through their lives to keep the head 
 bare. By this time they should be a race of bald-heads, 
 if habits or continued practices could effect a chauge in 
 germs, or natural law could be deviated. 
 
 Then the Israelites, who are so scrupulous to marry 
 with their own race, have practiced the rite of circumcision 
 three thousand } T ears ; and 3'et there is not a deviation in 
 their offspring from the order of germs of their own 
 nature. This shows that habits and practices continued 
 for many ages have produced no change from the primitive 
 stock. When such long, persistent practices have had no 
 effect on these three races, can it be consistent with 
 reason to suppose that one race will change to another by 
 the action of soil and climate ? or that the white race is 
 the result of a transplanting of the negro, evolving grad- 
 ually to the blonde ? O Consistency ! what a jewel thou 
 art when set in the forehead of those who pretend to 
 teach others ! 
 
 In contrast with such a variety of scientific lore, I give 
 what supernal intelligence conveys. 
 
 Question. — How, in the beginning, did human beings 
 take up their abode on earth ? 
 
 Answer. — In the beginning, the earth moved in the 
 ethereal spirit-matter ; and germs of the human, like the 
 rest, moved in ethereal space. 
 
 The human descent was of the ethereal nature of spirit. 
 In the earliest states of the earth, vegetable first devel- 
 oped, then animal. When the earth was sufficiently 
 developed, man in the original took up his abode on 
 it from other spheres, as a distinct type and species : these 
 became more and more material. Therefore man was an 
 original descent of spirit, not of the higher intelligence, 
 
TYPES AND RACES. 55 
 
 but of an inferior grade, with low, gross, animal instincts. 
 As spirit does not lose its instincts, these in time pro- 
 created, and man became an established, incarnate being. 
 Man has not changed in the aggregate ; but his intelligence 
 has advanced as he developed, being first subject to the 
 crude and undeveloped conditions of those early epochs. 
 The human shape has been so many countless cjxles in its 
 resemblance, that intelligence can not trace its origin. 
 Other worlds that have been created, and run their course 
 as this, have passed away ; and the germs of similarity 
 came in this way. Races are as distinctive creations as 
 any one species of animal life. The} T are not derived 
 from one kind, but have come on the earth, each by itself, 
 to its own section, where they multiplied. The law of 
 natural selection is well enough in its kind, and as a 
 means of improving species ; but it can not apply to the 
 change of t}~pes, nor to the propagating and bringing 
 forth of the human kind. There has been a difference 
 that can not be reconciled by any such theory. It is true, 
 there have been differences in growth and development ; 
 that giants and dwarfs have existed : but they are the 
 exceptions. The earth has never been inhabited by mas- 
 todons and giants as a distinctive feature, though there 
 have been individual instances of such creations. If it is 
 borne in mind that the earth is but a speck in the uni- 
 verse, and that other spheres are represented by the same 
 human kiud, even into far-distant spheres, and the past 
 ages show the same, how can it be said mankind in 
 stature or shape are an evolvement from the brute, or 
 came from one pair ? 
 
 The earth, therefore, has been peopled by the power 
 of spirit. Soul here has shown its instinctive force, and 
 universal law its action. This law is, that all space 
 is filled with matter, soul, spirit, creative germs, and 
 
56 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 solar magnetic force. An inter-exchange is received, and 
 spheres are continually thrown off, some in more advanced 
 development than others. In this way there passes a 
 germinal principle to new and developing planets, and a 
 ceaseless succession or rotation is going on throughout the 
 universe. The action of this law can not be better seen 
 than in the pollen of plants that are conveyed any dis- 
 tance, while their derivation is not known, but, when the 
 elements are adaptable, will germinate. 
 
 Each race or species on the earth is original of its kind, 
 and took its sectional divisions where they are found, and 
 multiplied. The negro is supposed to be the most primi- 
 tive, as he is the next removed from the animal type ; 
 the Indian next ; the Mala}' is of the same generic kind, 
 and the same advent ; the Mongolian or Asiatic is the 
 first approach to the white race ; the Caucasian, as the 
 white, is the Northman of Europe and Central Asia. 
 These races remain the same in kind, if not amalgamated. 
 They never would change physically in their generating 
 by location or climatation. Nature will maintain her laws. 
 The Eg3 r ptians were a class of Ethiopians and Malays, 
 with Asiatics, that miscegenated, and proved themselves 
 adepts ; the Malays and Asians migrating to that section. 
 Their antiquity approximates twelve or fifteen thousand 
 3'ears. Other inferior species, the Australian, Patagonian, 
 South-sca-Islander, arc of the same generic kind as the 
 African. Their location is determined b} T the change in 
 the configurations of the earth's surface by the convulsions 
 of past ages. 
 
 The divine law of creation could not be improved on 
 when seen in its grand total, its great economy, and its 
 serial progressive movements. In nothing is it better 
 exhibited than in the adaptation of the various races of 
 mankind to the conditions and stages of the soul's prog- 
 ress externalizing in lower forms. 
 

 RE-INCARNATION. 57 
 
 Question. — I have seen it stated that germs of being 
 were of each species contained in the elements of the 
 earth, and that the germs of the human being were of 
 the organic elements of the globe. How does it compare 
 with facts ? 
 
 Answer. — There is no such thing as independent prior- 
 ity of earth's elements : it partakes of what is common to 
 the universe. Call it matter, ether, fluids, liquid sub- 
 stances, or protoplasm : these are scientific names for one 
 principle, and are used indiscriminately to mean creative 
 essences. All space is filled with ethereal matter carrying 
 germs of life. When a planet has attained a stage of 
 development in which it can sustain animal life, such will 
 be attracted to it as can sustain themselves and develop. 
 In this way the primitive organic beings found a lodge- 
 ment, and prepared the way for the races. 
 
 Question. — Is this called spontaneous development? 
 
 Answer. — Spontaneous growth of organic beings never 
 did take place on earth, or on any other sphere, without 
 soul and the intervention of spirit-essences. As before 
 stated, soul, matter, and spirit-essences form a trinity of 
 creative power. 
 
 Question. — What definition does spirit give to matter? 
 
 Answer. — Matter is the essential ether that fills space, 
 serviceable to spirit as well as external life. Spirit acts 
 through matter as well as organic life. Matter holds in 
 solution all elements of organic life, all elements of gross 
 substances, and all things whatsoever found in universal 
 space ; and is at the service of spirit that has learned to 
 utilize it. 
 
 RE-INCARNATION, OR SOTJl/s TAKING FORM. 
 
 The doctrine of re-incarnation is not supposed to be 
 acceptable to the English-reading people. Perhaps there 
 
58 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 is no class that would abhor it as much as the Christian- 
 theology believers. Yet they are as near the truth as 
 most of the independent free-thinkers and spiritualists, 
 who prefer to say man has a very exalted origin or deri- 
 vation, and give no more reasonable account for discre- 
 pancies than the others. To no class do we cater, nor 
 attempt to show favor. Popular sentiment will be antag- 
 onistic, generally. But truth against the world shall pre- 
 vail. It is for time that we write, let the present gen- 
 eration think as it may. It is not a question of likes and 
 dislikes, when truth is in the balance-scale. What should 
 be of more interest to humanity than to know the purposes 
 and uses of life, and the principle that actuates all? 
 
 The subject as here treated is little, if any, understood 
 by man on earth ; and much less is he willing to receive 
 or understand it. Nevertheless, it is a law in action that 
 can not be evaded ; and all that are intelligent enough to 
 read these lines have experienced it, and have gathered 
 the benefits of that experience. 
 
 Soul, in its first taking animated form, clothes itself 
 with the simplest form of animal life. In that form it 
 learns of the elements ; and, in contact with crude, gross 
 matter, the instinct is manifested, and this in accordance 
 with the physical form, or the law of matter it exercises. 
 And when, by the law of cause and effect, life is ejected 
 from that form, it is only released from disintegrating, 
 gross matter. With what knowledge it has gained of ma- 
 terial and the external world, the same principle remains, 
 to take another round in some higher form, it may be but 
 a step in advance. In time, the same law disinthralls 
 from the second standard : and, so on, these advances are 
 made from one to a grade higher ; and, as each passage is 
 made, it gains in knowledge and perception of eternal 
 things. 
 

 RE-INCARNATION. 59 
 
 Reptiles and fishes are not included in this category : 
 these belong to the elements, and Nature's law_of matter. 
 But the feathered family are moved and controlled by 
 soul-principle. 
 
 It does not follow, that, when one form is cast off, an- 
 other is taken on immediately ; for more or less time 
 intervenes. In the more advanced stages, there is a rest 
 of centuries. The soul clothes itself with form through 
 the external world of matter ; and, when the life principle 
 that has animated it is released, it is seen in spirit in a 
 form like that it has occupied on earth. In time those 
 elements of spirit-matter are dispersed, and it loses all 
 the conditions of that individual form, and the principle 
 is free in space. The intelligent part is taken up, and 
 utilized to some higher form : this is done by the action 
 of its own law, moved as well by Nature's law. Every 
 thing is governed by natural law : you can not transcend 
 or go be}T>nd it. Soul, or intelligence, can only act 
 through this same law, infinite in its operation. As 
 shown in preceding pages, all intelligence can not be 
 gained at one term. The soul is not equal to human ex- 
 pression, until, refined by the power of spirit- conditions, it 
 loses its antecedent earthly nature, retaining only the 
 intelligent ; and, when this is sufficient to fill human form, 
 it is moved in that direction. 
 
 When a soul takes up its abode in the human, it is not 
 then qualified for the higher development, but must first 
 learn the use and nature of the human senses, the practi- 
 cality of its form, and all the primary requisites of human 
 life. Some of these manifestations are very crude ; 
 others, that have better associations, have that much 
 advantage. The soul will not in its initial step take 
 human form only in the lowest, but after that may take 
 any of the more advanced. The very lowest human 
 
60 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 species is the negro in his native state, and the first 
 removed from animal life. In the millions of 3 T ears they 
 have been on the earth, they have not within themselves 
 developed to any appreciable extent, and, if left to them- 
 selves, would return to their original condition. When the 
 negro enters spirit-life he is in the position which his 
 intelligence entitles him to, the same as all others : but 
 the same law acts upon him, and causes him to feel he is 
 not equal to the situation ; and in time his special indi- 
 viduality is lost, and he rests, to take another round when 
 the time comes. 
 
 This does not imply that a negro, or inferior race, 
 becomes extinct in the spirit-world : for that there is a 
 continual motion and renewal in this or some other sphere 
 is inevitable. No species is lost. 
 
 In this waj^ the soul seeks its highest attainment in 
 form, and intelligent knowledge of the external, material 
 world. Until this is attained, there will be a repeated 
 taking of form. 
 
 Question. — Will not some minds say that all this can 
 be as well accomplished in spirit-life as it can by adopting 
 this formula? 
 
 Answer. — Let it be remembered, you are always, vir- 
 tually in the position of soul ; and it is only the change of 
 conditions from one state to another, in which matter is 
 onry an incidental means by which to manifest ; and that 
 you are doing this even in the short term of one life, with 
 a constant aspiration for something more. 
 
 Question. — But why does not the spirit retain and carry 
 with it a knowledge of all these passages and experiences ? 
 
 Answer. — Simply from the fact, that, when the soul is 
 changing its conditions, there is a desire to leave its 
 individuality, the detail of the external. Sometimes this 
 assumes an intense desire to take another course. The 
 
RE-INCARNATION. 61 
 
 intelligence is all that is sought for : this the spirit draws 
 from, and thus makes a practical use of its past experi- 
 ences. If this were not done, mankind would be in a state 
 of savagery to this time ; whereas, as it now is, their 
 progress is exemplified in the mental activity and ceaseless 
 aspiration for more, with an intuitive idea of the spiritual. 
 The soul does not retain a knowledge of 'past earthly life, 
 because there is no desire to remember it. 
 
 Question. — The spirit, then, as an intelligence, has not 
 existed for all time ? 
 
 Answer. — The spirit in that light has not ; only as soul, 
 which may be designated as spirit if it suits best. Many 
 people make no distinction, and do not know the difference 
 between spirit-essences and intelligent soul. A soul, 
 being a unit in the universe of souls, has the property, 
 common to each, to move with instinctive force. In this 
 light it is that there is a principle in human nature without 
 beginning and without end. While the conditions change, 
 the identity remains. In regard to our past career, of 
 which the human family is so tenacious, preferring to 
 believe they descend from some great " deific mind," or 
 maj'be fallen angels, let them once look around, and, 
 seeing the great diversity of expressions and intellectual 
 standings, consider whether it is reasonable to suppose a 
 descent direct from one " deific mind." 
 
 What cares the man of science through what channel 
 he gains his information, if the object is attained? The 
 object for him to experiment with is as good in the 
 Hottentot as it would be in a prince of full blood. No 
 searcher after knowledge will reject the same because he 
 has to search in the rudiments and first principles to find 
 what he desires ; for he knows it must be done to have a 
 thorough understanding of his subject. Does not the 
 horticulturist delve in earth and guano in order to bring 
 
62 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 out the rarest and most beautiful flowers ? The same rule 
 is applicable here. The channel through which it comes is 
 of no consequence to the operator : the attainment is all- 
 essential. 
 
 Question. — The spiritualists claim that knowledge and 
 progress come through spirit- conditions, and that all ad- 
 vance is made from a spiritual stand-point. 
 
 Answer. — That is true only to some extent. There 
 must be capacity for it : where there is an aspiration, a 
 seeking and desire, such will be combed. But there 
 is a great diversity of mind and intellect. Some are not 
 perceptive,- while others would not make the knowledge 
 serviceable if convej^ed. There must be a capacity to 
 receive and utilize what is given. 
 
 Spiritualists are receiving many progressive ideas ; but 
 the ages have been preparing mankind for them. Time 
 has not been without its results upon the present denizens 
 of earth. Through them the people have come up to 
 their present receptive condition ; and yet they are not 
 capable of receiving all that can be conveyed to them, 
 and what future ages will receive. 
 
 Question. — What is the process through which the spirit 
 makes this change? How is the spirit conscious of it? 
 
 Answer. — The entering spirit-life is only a change of 
 location : the personal characteristics remain the same. 
 When a spirit has not the required knowledge for the 
 position in which he is placed, but little advance is made, 
 and he may hold his position near the earth for one year 
 to a century : but in time he will lose strength ; he will 
 feel his incapacity and deficienc}^ for spirit-conditions : 
 then a weariness, an exhaustion, comes over him, and the 
 light grows less, a torpor supervenes, and he rests in space 
 an allotted time. He is only conscious of his weakness, 
 and that he is not adapted to the sphere in which he is. 
 
RE-INCARNATION. 63 
 
 When the time of repose is accomplished, a restlessness 
 shows itself, betraying a semi-conscious state ; then there 
 is some special principle that guides and controls, that 
 leads to the channel of his desires. In very many in- 
 stances the force and condition of parentage attract, and 
 this instinct of attraction leads to the desired object. 
 
 Question. — Is there any special allotment for individual 
 souls ? 
 
 Answer. — In some instances there is. Some may have 
 had special desires, some an extended experience, while 
 others have nothing special. 
 
 Question. — What has the moral character to do with 
 re-incarnation ? Has it any bearing on the subject ? 
 
 Answer. — The moral character has something to do 
 with it in a special sense ; but in a general sense it has 
 not. A person may be moral in his own own light, while 
 to another he would be quite immoral. 
 
 When a person is on a low animal plane, vicious and 
 brutish, the moral character shows a low, degraded nature : 
 this would have bearing on his re-incarnation, because such 
 a one would be unsuited in the spheres to bear the mem- 
 ory of his previous career. Morality is judged differently 
 by the laws of spirit and the laws made by man. The 
 soul judges itself by the power it has had to know right 
 from wrong. A person may be intelligent and immoral 
 knowingly : such suffers severely the torments of memory 
 for evil-doing, and would gladly accept oblivion, if possi- 
 ble, to escape the pangs of memory. The worst sin a 
 human being can be guilty of is that of causing his fellow- 
 man suffering and want. 
 
 Licentiousness and fornication are causes of great sor- 
 row to the spirit ; but onanism is the unpardonable sin, 
 and, if persisted in, befogs the spirit. 
 
 Drunkenness is also a severe affliction to the spirit ; and, 
 
64 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 as it entails so many other evils, it makes the drunkard's 
 position almost unbearable. These are the immoral habits 
 that most affect the spirit, and entail regrets, if not suffer- 
 ing, as long as memory lasts. Therefore many would 
 be glad to make the change, to rest, and take up another 
 career, if they could. 
 
 Question. — What relation does the suicide bear to the 
 subject? 
 
 Answer. — The suicide is never such, in fact : he has 
 only changed his field of action to another ; and, if he does 
 it to escape trouble, he has only added to it ; for it is better 
 that life should reach its full length. 
 
 Question. — Can the friends of these resting souls know 
 how they are conditioned, or trace them in subsequent 
 time? 
 
 Answer. — Each and every soul is traceable through its 
 conditions. But the immediate friends may not be able 
 to do this until they have advanced to that stage of being 
 where they are fitted for it. All soul has a union in es- 
 sence : there is a common interest in its expression. When 
 one enters the spirit-spheres, there remain the memory, 
 attractions, and affections of earthly associations ; but, as 
 time elapses, these attractions lessen, and they enter more 
 fully the conditions of spirit. Then the relationship is not 
 looked upon the same : it is not so exclusive, and they bear 
 a common interest with others. 
 
 Question. — Are these resting souls what are called dark, 
 vicious spirits ? Do they have any influence on those of 
 earth ? 
 
 Answer . — These are not represented in that light. They 
 could not be vicious, tormenting ; nor can they cast any 
 influence on those of earth, their condition being one of 
 torpor. The dark spirits are a totally different class. 
 There are likewise other resting spirits not of this condi- 
 tion. 
 
FETAL LIFE. 65 
 
 Question. — Why is it that some spirits have not given 
 to us some correct idea on this subject, while others posi- 
 tively deny it ? 
 
 Answer. — From the fact that they are not acquainted 
 with it, and are not developed to comprehend it. It is 
 only intelligences of advanced light that see it, and these 
 can not fully comprehend the manifesting of soul. It is 
 hid within itself, yet is governed by law. We are not in 
 possession of infinite powers, and find none that are. We 
 are learning as we advance. 
 
 Under-grades of spirits may know there is such a law ; 
 but of its workings they know not. 
 
 When the world learns that the spirit state is a progres- 
 sive one, they will believe that all knowledge is not in 
 possession of the latest arrivals. 
 
 Sex. — There being no sex to soul-principle, it, like 
 form, is developed by Nature's process, the distinction she 
 carries out for procreating. It is the distinguishing feature 
 of the germ in its inception : therefore germs have the 
 character of the sex as it has the type. The soul takes 
 no cognizance of sex in its original, but may take either 
 form from one time to another. In time it finds a decided 
 cast, and remains such in spirit. The last is the most 
 important to us, and all we need care for, or that spirit has 
 interest in. 
 
 FETAL LIFE AND GENERATING. 
 
 Question. — At what time does the soul take possession 
 of the form, — at conception, or at birth? 
 
 Answer. — At the moment of time it draws the first 
 breath, when it comes in contact with the atmosphere ; 
 not while in the matrice. There is a law of generating in 
 itself. 
 
 Question. — Wh} T is it that most statements of spirits 
 have been, that it was at the moment of conception? 
 
66 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 Answer. — Such statements come from those who have 
 been educated to consider it so. It is the old religious 
 theor} T they remember. While ignorant of the law and 
 the facts, they promulgate a dogma ingrafted \>y inherit- 
 ance. But the time that a child is conceived is not the 
 time it can be moved by human soul. 
 
 Question. — Will you be so kind as to give the laws of 
 generating ? 
 
 Answer. — The conditions of generating are in the 
 mother. She holds the power to attract, retain, and 
 throw off. When the elements are blended, the process is 
 not dissimilar to that of the seed sown in the ground. It 
 is nurtured and brings forth in the same manner, and is 
 purely a reproduction of kind. The seed of the woman 
 receives the male elements ; then it takes root in her ma- 
 trice, grows like its parent stock, and draws its nutriment 
 the same as the fruit from the tree. In time, the magnetic 
 flow from the mother gives the motion ; and the currents 
 of electric life-forces from the mother are the moving 
 power, as well as the sustaining of its embiyo. In the 
 matrice the embryo has no functions : there are no lungs 
 that act, no brain that is sensitive ; the heart itself does 
 not move as in external life ; but these are forming, grow- 
 ing as instruments of use when made. 
 
 The parent, then, is the whole life-force : her electric 
 and magnetic elements as well as substances propel and 
 influence the embiyo in its plrysical organism, compelling 
 it to be like its parent stock. 
 
 There is no established spirit while in ute.ro : while de- 
 pendent on the mother it may die, and nothing would 
 result from it except a waste of matter. As a tumor of 
 her own substance is thrown off ; as a tree sends out shoots 
 that would not live without sap from their parent source, 
 and are equally useless when cut off : even so the growth of 
 
FETAL LIFE. 67 
 
 an embryo is the bearing of fruit, and has no other rela- 
 tion to spirit-life. 
 
 The atmosphere is a vitalizing element in nature, that 
 gives action and force to matter. The embryo having 
 grown with organs to sustain life, Nature asserts her law, 
 like the fruit, that, when ripe, the tree allows to fall, and it 
 comes forth into its new element. The functions are started 
 by the lungs drawing in air and vitality, propelling sensa- 
 tion to the brain, and starting the currents of life in their 
 proper channels. Soul-principle is present by the attrac- 
 tive force of conditions ; and this new form is now a quick- 
 ened soul, able to live independently if properly nourished. 
 This is the law and conditions of generating. 
 
 Let us analyze the theory promulgated by those who 
 insist upon the conception of spirit. In order to do this, 
 the theor}- asserted should be understood. Let it be asked 
 of such theorist, What is the principle conveyed, and 
 how ? what its actions or movements ? Does it exclusively 
 belong to one parent to give it ? or is it a supernatural 
 action? If it is conveyed by either parent, then they are 
 the creators of their offspring, and there is no principle 
 in humanity antecedent to conception. 
 
 If it is a supernatural action, there must be some special 
 divine attention given at the time to the act of cohabiting. 
 How can this be attributed to a personal God ? Such the- 
 orists must acknowledge the universal God of Nature, if 
 they would evade the first dilemma. This they will not do. 
 The theory implies that there is virtually a soul, perhaps 
 two or three, in the woman's form, aggregating to them- 
 selves elemental matter to take forms. If such could be 
 the fact, what should be the state of that woman? It 
 should be one of extraordinary strength, mental and phys- 
 ical activit}', when her body is the lodging-place of several 
 of the "divine emanations." But the reverse of this is 
 
68 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 true. All well know that gestation is a fatiguing, exhaus- 
 tive state, with more or less nervous mental depression, 
 and perhaps physical derangement, showing that it is purely 
 the result of a multiplication and division of her forces. 
 
 Some prefer to adopt the monad theory, — that the male 
 at puberty inhales monads, and, entering the circulation, 
 they pass through all the organs, and so on into sperma- 
 tozoa ; that these monads are repelled from female mag- 
 netisms, the female not imbibing them, — giving to male 
 the exclusive creative power, the conveying of soul or 
 spirit. In regard to this theory, it is all man, the lord of 
 creation. 
 
 Monad truth is this : It is well known that the atmos- 
 phere is freighted with animal and vegetable life. Monads 
 are animalcules floating in the air ; and, breathed, they enter 
 the circulation, and the blood is vitalized with animalcule 
 life. There is decomposition, and it passes off sooner or 
 later. This is not peculiar to one sex, kind, or animal : 
 all that breathe take in alike. 
 
 But these monads are not soul-germs : they have no 
 power or principle to receive intelligence. They are simply 
 the result of decomposing animal matter. We imbibe 
 them in sickness and contagion in the atmosphere as 
 septic germs. Therefore there are no soul-monads for 
 males to imbibe. 
 
 The male engenders spermatozoa for procreative pur- 
 poses, which, in consort with the ovum, generate their kind. 
 The ovum is the substance and matter to afford nutriment, 
 while the spermatozoa quicken with magnetic force and 
 generative strength. The two elements blended create a 
 germ of their own kind : let it germinate, or be lost, it is 
 one. Generating, then, is an animal function carried on 
 by natural laws without divine or supernatural interven- 
 tion. When the form is adapted for it, soul or spirit takes 
 

 FETAL LIFE. 69 
 
 possession by obsession of this new matter, and grows in 
 external life with it. To show that I am not alone in the 
 position I take, I here give an item from " The Voice of 
 Angels," from Swedenborg, through a medium, Dr. Dex- 
 ter, entitled ' ' Body and Soul : " — 
 
 " The spirit which enters the bod}?- of the child, on being 
 born, is the principle, or germ. The soul enters a body 
 the moment that body requires natural mortality, or life. 
 It grows with the bod} r , and assumes its shape, form, ap- 
 pearance, and sex. The development of the bod}', either 
 male or female, determines the sex of the soul ; for, when 
 it emanates from the source as a principle, it has no sex ; 
 and, though we pass through many transformations after 
 birth, the soul always maintains its sex in whatever state 
 it may exist." 
 
 Reading this item, I telegraphed to Swedenborg to know 
 how he understood this application. He replied, — 
 
 " I do not understand there is any sentient principle in 
 the womb. I do not consider there is soul in the embrj'o 
 while sustained by the mother principle : there is being 
 forming ; but I consider in that respect the parent is the 
 creator of the offspring. By natural mortalhy, or life, I 
 mean independent existence from parent form. Then it 
 is that soul enters external life, and is in sentient form." 
 
 These ideas correspond with the teachings throughout 
 this work, and are in direct reversal of the other theor} T , 
 that soul is conceived and has being in the parent womb. 
 Thus, we maintain, the parent creates that form from 
 its own elements, physically and mentally ; and the soul 
 has to operate with this material and its predisposition. 
 It is a duality, a marriage of matter and soul for external 
 life. It does not seem as though further demonstration 
 of our position could be required, it is so comprehensive : 
 if more is required, I refer then to the passage on duality. 
 
70 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 From all our showing, it is evident that man is in the 
 image of God simply because he holds all the elements, 
 physically and mentally, existing in the universe, either 
 developed or attainable. He is a microcosm of all beneath 
 him, and will ascend to all above him. Thus he is 
 in the image of Nature's God, and not of God as a per- 
 sonal being. 
 
 CHILDHOOD AS SPHtlT. 
 
 Question, — Does the child develop physically and intel- 
 lectualty in spirit as it would on earth ? 
 
 Answer. — It does not. The child enters spirit as the 
 child : the object and purposes of its being have not been 
 accomplished ; the laws of physical life have not been ful- 
 filled. There is no influx of superior power because it 
 has become spirit. Childhood is innocent and dependent. 
 Children have no cares, and no responsibility. They are 
 joyous and happy, and home and parents are their great- 
 est attractions. When they enter spirit-life these connec- 
 tions are the greatest remembrances to them, and for a 
 time they are supposed to be familiar with them. These 
 things in time change, lose in interest and strength ; and 
 the child rests from time to time until it takes a long rest, 
 after which the same results follow with them as with other 
 souls. But this rest is not so protracted with the young 
 as those of more mature years. 
 
 Question. — How long may a child remain in spirit 
 before it is exhausted ? 
 
 Answer. — That depends on the age and strength of 
 the child. From three or six years to fifty and more. 
 
 Question. — Do children manifest and show the memory 
 they have of earth by returning ? 
 
 Answer. — They most certainly do, and to a great ex- 
 tent, because they are associated with the earthly condi- 
 
CHILDHOOD AS SPIRIT. 71 
 
 tions of their parents ; and this will continue so long as 
 the parents' condition calls it out. There is an exchange 
 of currents between the parent and the child even into 
 the spirit-life ; and, so long as this has force, the child will 
 be more or less conditioned by it. But these must neces- 
 sarily weaken with time. 
 
 Question. — At what age is there sufficient development 
 for continued spirit-life ? 
 
 Answer. — That depends wholly on the ability of the 
 child. 
 
 Question. — How is it, or why is it, that fully-matured 
 minds, materialized forms, come and represent to us that 
 they entered the spirit-world as infant- children, but now 
 show themselves in full stature, claiming relationship, etc. ? 
 
 Answer. — That is something that never was genuine : 
 it is deception, practiced by designing spirits who wish to 
 make an exhibit. No infant could return grown to full 
 stature during the life on earth of its parent. Childhood's 
 advance in spirit is slower than that would allow ; and 
 they are not possessed of elements sufficient to form 
 statures they never had. The infant is not an infant, in 
 fact, unless it has a consciousness of itself. When child- 
 hood is in spirit, it is attached to the elements of its 
 parents and the recollections of its short life ; but then it 
 does not follow that they are developed to statures beyond 
 what they had attained in external life. They are like 
 plants taken from the earth, that wilt unless replanted : 
 they will not bloom, bear fruit, nor shed the seeds of 
 maturity. 
 
 Facts within the knowledge of the writer, bearing on 
 this theme, may here be given. 
 
 Some 3*ears ago, a medium in trance persisted in repre- 
 senting to me a statement from two children claiming to 
 be my girl and bo}~, grown up in spirit-life, who wished 
 
72 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 to let me know of themselves ; whereas the facts are, I 
 never lost a child at any stage of growth, from conception 
 to the present time. 
 
 In the summer of 1875 a man called to see me. His 
 wife had been in spirit thirteen years. They had buried 
 three children prior to her own death ; one a boy of 
 nine years. She came to him, and gave communications, 
 and spoke of their grown-up family and married children. 
 This led him to inquire for those in spirit. Then she said, 
 "I have not found them." This he expressed as appear- 
 ing remarkable to him ; for she had made that same state- 
 ment before through a trance-medium in Oregon ; and to 
 hear it thus repeated surprised hirn. 
 
 My mother, with whom I have been as familiar in spirit 
 as when on earth, and much more confidential, buried 
 three infants, — one of three months, one still-born, and 
 the third eighteen months, — all of them in spirit, ap- 
 proximately, forty years ; certainly long enough to attain 
 to some stature, according to the views of writers. When 
 she had been in spirit three years, I asked about her 
 infants. She replied, "I have not found them, and do 
 not expect to. I hope their little souls will have better 
 opportunities when nurtured by some other mother. " 
 M} T father, who followed them into spirit only one year 
 after the last, never obtained any information of them ; 
 while their sister on earth, who has been most familiar with 
 all the relations and friends who have passed to spirit in 
 the past fifty years, has never had the remotest intimation 
 of their whereabouts. Forty 3 T ears, and not heard from ! 
 Under these circumstances we may ask, Can these be ex- 
 ceptions to the general law of life? The plain truth is, 
 t\\Qj enter spirit-life with little consciousness of earth, and 
 so remain ; and this is the general law of infants, notwith- 
 standing the assertions of nearly all theorists to the con- 
 trary. 
 
CHILDHOOD AS SPIRIT. 73 
 
 The tenets of this dogma are, First, that spirit is con- 
 ve3 T ed at conception ; that at any time after conception, 
 let it be days, weeks, or months, if the germ in embryo is 
 lost, that germ is carried away as waste matter ; but the 
 spirit lives in spirit-life, develops to full stature and men- 
 tal advancement, the same as though material life had 
 been its experience. Second, That infancy and childhood 
 are subject to like conditions ; " that, remaining near the 
 earth, they draw of its elements and material to grow 
 in stature precisely the same as they would had they 
 remained on earth to mature age." These dogmas are 
 equivalent to saying, man is the whole originator of his 
 being ; and the spirit-world is being peopled to a great 
 extent from embryonic germs that had no external life. 
 Such are represented to be in spirit, pure and ethereal in 
 form, angelic in looks and fact. If such is the true 
 result from entering spirit without any appreciable mate- 
 riality, then it is not essential for mankind to live to 
 maturity and old age ; for by so doing they acquire bad 
 habits, vices, and evil propensities accompany them, for 
 which they are responsible : whereas, if they nearly all 
 died young, they would escape these evils, and be pure 
 spirit in form and intellect, and the spirit- world would 
 be more perfect, less temptations exist to those on earth, 
 and both spheres be benefited thereby. Such theories — 
 and they are extensively promulgated from every rostrum 
 — make it questionable how it could be intended for man's 
 good to experience the life on earth. 
 
 The position held in these pages is, life has a purpose 
 to fulfill in external being, and this purpose can not be 
 evaded ; that soul carries with it the demands of its ful- 
 fillment, and executes it without so much as saying, " By 
 your leave, nry Lord." To show I am sustained by well- 
 informed spirit authority, I give an extract from Judd 
 
 
74 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 Pardee, taken from "The Voice of Angels." He says, 
 4 ' Life on the lower plane is positively necessary for devel- 
 opment and unfoldment of the human soul out of dark- 
 ness. All things animate or inanimate, whether they 
 relate to the lower or higher kingdoms, take their starting- 
 point in the womb of darkness ; and the very lowest con- 
 ditions are necessary before it is possible for higher ones 
 to exist." 
 
 Here, in these few words, is a confirmation of the 
 whole platform these pages rest upon. Who could ask 
 more? Where are the "Gods," "Divine minds," 
 "Over-souls," and "Essences," from whom man ema- 
 nates, according to the views of many? Let Swedenborg, 
 Pardee, the prompters of these pages, and others, seek 
 them out ; for have not superior minds on earth asserted 
 such exist? 
 
 DEMONSTRATED ILLUSTRATIONS ON RE-INCARNATION. 
 
 From the preceding chapters, it must be evident that 
 childhood and infancy do not impress on its subsequent 
 form or organism the detail of former being. When 
 there is little experience, there is nothing to remember. 
 This is an all-sufficient proof that minds are not conscious 
 of it in the external. The soul can not exercise govern- 
 mental power in two spheres at the same time. External 
 fife is burdensome all through, and so oppressed with its 
 cares that little else is thought of. When these burden- 
 some cares are done with, there is a more interior spirit- 
 part ; and, if there has been an antecedent experience im- 
 pressed on the spirit, it is likely to be indistinctly recalled. 
 This accounts for the statements some spirits make re- 
 specting themselves. For instance, I had an intimate 
 friend, who when on earth was a doctor, a man of worth, 
 and the best of morals. He has been in spirit ten years. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS ON RE-INCARNATION. 75 
 
 He says, that, soon after entering spirit-life, he remembered 
 his former existence ; that he was of the Hebrew race, a 
 boy of eighteen or twenty years, and he thought that he 
 well remembered a field he had something to do with. 
 His statement was truthful, taking in consideration the 
 occasion of his making it. It would have been detected 
 if untrue. 
 
 One who had been in spirit-life nearly two thousand 
 years, and who when on earth was known as a teacher 
 and reformer, has stated that he distinctly remembered 
 while on earth that he had filled some other condition 
 prior to the one he then occupied, and, when advanced in 
 spirit, learned that he had been of an entirely different 
 race. 
 
 Here I must introduce the' reader to something relating 
 more to the external realities of life. 
 
 In Januar}-, 1876, a circle of spirits gathered in my 
 humble dwelling at regular intervals, until a large number 
 were accustomed to be present. The object was socia- 
 bility, instruction, and development. Among them were 
 several bright and well-advanced spirits ; one an old In- 
 dian, and a leader in this gathering. He had been two 
 thousand years in spirit-life, and his name was Cenis. 
 He was represented by others as being a well-developed 
 intelligence, and an excellent psychometrist and soul- 
 tracer ; evidence of the truth of which will be shown in 
 the recital of transactions at this gathering, which lasted 
 three weeks. During this time some vivid as well as 
 extraordinary demonstrations were made on this subject, 
 which will explain themselves best in their narration, and 
 show the reality, and in some instances the manner, of 
 its operation. The manifestations at this circle necessi- 
 tate my giving some knowledge I had of the characters 
 while they were on earth. 
 
76 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 Some years ago I lived in the house with a blind girl, 
 one whose eyes had been pierced in an operation for cata- 
 ract at the age of ten years. When I knew her, she was 
 seventeen ; and I took much interest in her, and sought to 
 benefit her. After I left the place, I never saw her again. 
 She was an only child ; and her mother allowed her free 
 association with all, and liberty to do as she desired. The 
 mother was a free-and-easy kind of person : so a great 
 many gentlemen visited her blind daughter, ostensibly 
 out of sympathy, as she was interesting, cheerful, and 
 gay. In time she married ; not, however, until she was 
 with child, and the marriage became compulsory. 
 
 I did not know that any of them were in spirit-life 
 until at this circle the mother and step-father made their 
 appearance among us with this daughter, a pitiable object, 
 shocking all the sensibilities of those present to behold. 
 
 They gave an account of and identified themselves to 
 me thoroughly ; but their burden was their unfortunate 
 child, for whose condition the mother was freely and lib- 
 erally censured by the whole circle. The daughter, Nette, 
 was brought in contact with my elements to establish her 
 memory as best she could, and externalize her experiences : 
 after this she gave an account of herself, relating some of 
 her unfortunate experiences. 
 
 Her mother rented lodging-rooms in her house : she 
 gave the girl an upper room to herself, on the floor where 
 every other room was occupied by male lodgers. Under 
 these circumstances access was gained to her by a young 
 man, who introduced to her the most shocking practices 
 known to humanity below the brute. With the details I 
 will not pollute these pages. They are unmentionable, 
 and without name. The man I knew ; and for this reason 
 I was given a more minute account of her initiation into 
 what became a habit, and made her a total human wreck. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS ON RE-INCARNATION. 11 
 
 This led to lewdness with others. After her marriage she 
 was little better in habits until she became monomaniac in 
 her horrible taste. This was the first knowledge her 
 mother had of her habit, when it was shown to her tangi- 
 bly. From this state she became imbecile, and a disgust 
 to the man she married, who could not support her pres- 
 ence. She had children : this they desired to stop, from 
 which efforts she was badly injured : this necessitated 
 Cesarean operation to take away a seven-months child. 
 The wound never healed ; and she lingered, not able to 
 put her feet on the floor, a year, and then died, aged twen- 
 ty-eight years. Her frightful state was such a shock and 
 grief to her mother, it affected her health : she went into 
 decline, and died very soon after. 
 
 As she was censured for. neglect of watchful care over 
 her child in the beginning, she said, " I never thought 
 of such a thing. She was blind, and I did not wish to de- 
 prive her of any of the pleasures she could have in life : 
 and I thought she was pleased to have the attention of 
 men ; and, to gratify her, I let her have all the freedom she 
 chose." 
 
 Thus this woman's conception of the greatest pleasure 
 of life to a blind girl was masculine freedom. The results 
 were, she had no mental nor moral culture ; no knowledge 
 of the world ; and all her intellect ran in the groove of the 
 worst animal passions, producing imbecility. In spirit she 
 was chained, as it were, to the mother, who was not per- 
 mitted to be a moment without her. It had been her 
 punishment to be on the move from circle to circle among 
 the spirits, exhibiting her burden and its frightful condi- 
 tions ; to receive censure, then move on to some other : 
 this way it had been with them for several years,, when 
 the} r unexpectedly found themselves in our midst, and 
 before one yet on earth who had l^nown them. The girl 
 
78 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 was taken from the mother, and placed to rest in the care 
 of a matronly spirit for the time being, until further devel- 
 opments ; and things remained in a quiescent state for 
 several daj^s in regard to her. 
 
 The following character is nearer to me ; being a cousin, 
 with whom I had some experience during the last few years. 
 This boy had all the advantages that schooling and money 
 could give. His father was a man of taste and means, 
 amply able and willing to do well hj him. But the boy 
 was unmanageable, self-willed, reckless, and engaged in 
 every manner of mischief to give trouble. Seeing the 
 danger to his younger boys, the father sent him to a 
 Jesuit college in Canada. There the boy became so wild 
 and reckless in his deportment, that the college could not 
 keep him ; and he was expelled. Then he made his wa}^ to 
 some friends, who shipped him to the Pacific coast, where 
 I first saw him, he being then in his seventeenth year. I 
 found him a singular-looking young man, with a face whose 
 expression was that of low cunning and viciousness, and 
 in which could be read bad character and revenge. 
 
 As he took his liberty from his custodians, I took inter- 
 est in him, and became well acquainted with his ways and 
 nature. I found him more strange in character than in 
 appearance, and of a nature the most grotesque and per- 
 verse I ever knew. His education was better then than the 
 common average. He was apt and quick at perception ; 
 and this he applied only to bad purposes. He was wild, 
 fractious, without stability, and addicted to every vice 
 known, not excepting one ; while onanism was his habitual 
 practice. He would resort to the most unusual and un- 
 heard-of means to gain a point ; full of conceit, angulari- 
 ties, and sharp points, he made himself a nuisance to every 
 one he came near. After being on the west coast a 3 r ear, 
 he made his way back to his home and parents, by no 
 

 ILLUSTRATIONS ON RE-INCARNATION. 79 
 
 means the better for his absence. His father, fearing 
 his contaminating influence on his brothers, and for other 
 reasons, locked him in his room, and kept the key himself. 
 This displeased him so much, he thought he would kill his 
 father when he came to his door, and made prepara- 
 tions to do so ; but, having to wait some time, he became 
 impatient, and turned his mind to himself, and determined 
 he would do something that would give his friends trouble. 
 So he fixed his gun to the door-key, and put a bullet 
 through his brain, thus ending his career on earth in his 
 nineteenth year. 
 
 Six months or more after his exit from earth-life, he 
 made his appearance in my room ; while other spirits of 
 his connections were present, among them his aunt. His 
 manner and deportment were as natural as it was possible 
 to be, — full of antics, glee, and animation ; while he gave 
 the most minute account of his manner of suicide, in 
 which he expressed great satisfaction. To obtain his 
 recital, the spirits questioned him closely in regard to how 
 he manipulated his weapon. After this he showed how 
 he acted when he saw with delight what he had done, — ■ 
 how he looked at the body, and danced for joy. His aunt 
 asked why his father confined him. "Oh! because I 
 played." This was in allusion to his habits. Then his 
 aunt asked him how he was then employed? "I am ex- 
 hibiting in one of the beer-cellars on Kearney Street, in 
 'Frisco," was his reply. This had been one of his places 
 of resort while in earthly form. He at the same time 
 related minutely his transactions with me. 
 
 All this time he did not address any thing to me, but 
 wholly to the spirits who drew his attention. When 
 Cenis said, " Let me show what you are, young man," 
 he was horrified, begged to be excused, and skulked to 
 one corner of the room ; after which he soon left. 
 
SO THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 I heard no more of him for six or seven montns ; when 
 he came to this circle, looking for his aunt. He begged 
 for food, saying he was starving to death, and faint for 
 nourishment, which he wanted her to furnish to him. 
 This was all he said. Thus in one year, or a little more, 
 he was exhausted and famishing for spirit nutriment ; and 
 was not able to sustain himself in spirit-life, even in his 
 sphere. He weakened from a want of adaptability in his 
 own forces. 
 
 There was not power in himself to draw pabulum that 
 he could live by. He was like a fish out of its element, 
 soon exhausted. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival in this august assemblage of 
 spirits, intelligences from afar were heard to say, " Rest, 
 rest ! Cenis, rest the boy : such a one cannot make his 
 way, nor travel to the sun." 
 
 Then followed electrical coruscations, giving a message 
 written in the air so rapid I could not read it ; but Cenis 
 could. It said, "Rest eighteen hundred and twelve 
 years." Again the coruscations, and the voice said, 
 " Rest to Nette, eighteen hundred and twenty years." 
 
 Then Cenis proceeded to make passes as we would to 
 magnetize one to sleep, calling on a matron present to 
 assist him. The girl's mother gave out the most heart- 
 felt and tearful exclamations of prayer and thanksgiving, 
 sa3ing, " Darling, darling Nette ! you are blessed, blessed 
 at last ! Rest, unfortunate child, that 3'ou may be blessed. 
 What a mere} 7 in the Infinite Power to provide such a boon 
 to afflicted humanity ! It is not in my power to express 
 my thanks : my heart is too full." Then she said, " We 
 have been told we would find a circle at which she would 
 be rested, but not when, nor how; and I never could 
 have thought of its being at Mrs. K 's." 
 
 This woman was deeply moved ; for the whole circle 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS ON RE-INCARNATION. 81 
 
 could feel it. After this, although she remained, she never 
 spoke. 
 
 Let it here be understood this "rest" is not forced, 
 nor made by the powers beyond. It is the inert weak- 
 ness of the spirit soul itself, that can not draw pabulum 
 from spirit-forces, nor recuperate from earth's conditions, 
 that necessitate it. 
 
 The idea of a higher spirit manipulating is simply to 
 give equipoise, and shed a ray of future light and force. 
 The giving of a fixed time was only to convey to the circle 
 some idea of a period of rest approximating to that 
 number of years. The pneumatography shown in flashes 
 of light came from superior spheres sending to the circle 
 its light. After that, general interest was taken in the 
 subject, and Cenis was solicited by those present to trace 
 the antecedents of some of them. The matron he began 
 
 with, saying, "There you are, W , an Atlanten, a boy 
 
 of nine years old, two thousand three years past." — ■ 
 "Well," she said, "I might expect that: I thought I 
 had male elements always ; but what kind of animals were 
 Atlantens? " — "They were not animals, but people whose 
 descendants remained in Central America and Mexico 
 after their continent was sunk." Then Cenis said, "I 
 can trace you through quite plainly." — " Oh, no ! don't ! 
 I'd rather not have you do so; take some other one," 
 she replied. This person was of marked characteristics 
 on earth, of great force and executive ability ; totally dif- 
 ferent, mentally and physically, from her ancestors. 
 
 Several others were traced; one to the old Chaldeans, 
 one to the Caucasian, &c. When he was asked if he 
 could trace some of their families on earth, " Not able 
 
 through the parents in spirit ; but I trace Mrs. K 's 
 
 family from her being present in form." Of this a very 
 tangible example was shown. Much interesting matter 
 
82 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 was given, mostly personal, not essential here. Those 
 persons traced I intimately knew on earth. I could but 
 notice the characteristics they showed to the people they 
 were said to have partaken of. 
 
 In taking leave of this subject, it is not inappropriate to 
 remark, after the clear and vivid manner in which it has 
 been presented, there ma^- still remain questions of doubt, 
 and dislikes of its tenor and utility. But let it alwa} T s 
 be remembered, that life after death in the individual is 
 the continued existence of memory ; and your own indi- 
 viduality depends on your memory of life and all its 
 events : this you can not lay aside, and be yourself. I have 
 found, that, in spirit, memory is even more acute, active, 
 sharper even in minutiae, than on earth. If this is so, 
 what must be the state of some spirits who find it impos- 
 sible to evade the memory of themselves ? It is a remorse 
 unbearable. To carry this with them continually is to 
 suffer everlasting hell-torments. Therefore forgetfulness 
 of personality is rest from this activity, and is the heaven 
 they seek, one that the soul craves to find, and the ulti- 
 mate purifying of the same. The angelic spheres remote 
 from earth are of light, purity, and intelligence, and not 
 the conglomerated mass of all that is vile and hideous from 
 humanity without distinction. Put reason in the balance- 
 scale, and weigh it. Can Nature's law be evaded? Will 
 soul not aspire to its acme of attaimnents, rather than 
 retain the memor} T of some half-fledged intellect ? It is its 
 own judge and purifier, and its judgments can not be re- 
 sisted. In this respect, it carries its own divine essence. 
 But these rehabiting souls do not take lower rank as pun- 
 ishment : contrariwise, they come higher, and in subse- 
 quent forms are the best and brightest minds, often the 
 most moral and brilliant intellects. That much has been 
 given contrary to the accepted tenets of the many teach 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS ON RE-INCARNATION. 83 
 
 ings from others is true: for this very purpose, it is 
 intended to be the forerunner of breaking light. 
 
 Learn, of the earth you are ; 
 
 To earth you will return, 
 Unless you are adapted 
 
 For the spheres divine. 
 
 Life is but a scale, 
 
 Ascending round by round : 
 When one step is made complete, 
 
 The future ones begin. 
 
 Soul is but intelligence ; 
 
 In the least it's shown: 
 When you see it thus expressed, 
 
 Remember to be kind. 
 
 For each may say 
 
 With truth divine, 
 "You are ahead this time; 
 
 But I am of your kind." 
 
PART II. 
 OCCULT FORCES IN MAN. 
 
 Webster's definition of occult is, "Hidden from the eye 
 or understanding ; invisible ; secret ; unknown ; undis- 
 covered ; undetected." 
 
 This I use as the true and appropriate term to convey 
 the hidden forces in man, or the power of soul to mani- 
 fest itself. 
 
 The subject is too deep and expansive to be contained 
 within a volume, and it is not in the ability of one mind 
 to fathom its depths. Our poor ability can only convey 
 inklings, that others may take up the chain, add a link, or 
 follow it out in some branch. 
 
 If one could read the universe, search into every identi- 
 cal soul, and read its manifestations, then might he know 
 occultism ; but we opine that no one mind, be it on earth 
 or in spirit, is so endowed. 
 
 Occultism being the science of the soul's forces, it ne- 
 cessarily takes in all past time, and is no new-fangled con- 
 ception relating only to the present manifestations and 
 nature of being. In ages past, minds and intelligences 
 have made the attempt to search into and probe these 
 forces ; but the ages, times, and conditions were not cal- 
 84 
 
OCCULT FORCES IN MAN. 85 
 
 culated to convey a solution, give a satisfactory reply, or 
 impart a knowledge of a power they did not understand. 
 From time to time, individual minds have made some 
 attempt in the same direction, but with very little success. 
 At the present age and time, when scientists are explor- 
 ing earth and heaven for cause and effect, man and his 
 relation to the forces he gives out, they have given ex- 
 pression to various terms to convey an idea not well under- 
 stood ; such as "odyllic force," "psychic force," "spirit 
 force," "nervous aura," "magnetism," "cerebration," 
 etc. These form a multiplicity of scientific names for one 
 and the same thing, — occult force, or the soul manifestiug 
 its conscious power. Let them go to the inner man, the 
 cause of being and its expression, and there search and 
 find a solution to what they never yet gave a satisfactory 
 explanation of, representing these powers to be elements, 
 substances, conditions, or some special peculiarity in the 
 atomic structure, etc., that acts without consciousness or 
 guidance. But, if they would look into the dynamical rela- 
 tion of soul to its organism, a true light would guide their 
 searching. If they would but learn the duality of being, 
 that it is matter moved b} r soul, the whole subject would 
 be clear to their comprehension. The human miud is so 
 constituted, that it soars beyond itself. This is the result 
 of a consciousness of the fact that there is something } T et 
 to be reached, something to fill the void. In order to 
 know a power, its seat, location, and channels should be 
 understood ; for this is here shown the structure of the 
 brain, and the seat of power. The brain is an organ in 
 all animals that have senses. In the human its structure 
 is composed of cerebrum and cerebellum. The upper 
 and larger cerebrum is divided into two hemispheres : the 
 lower surface of this organ is again divided into three 
 lobes, — the anterior, the middle, and the posterior. The 
 
86 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 cerebellum is about one-sixth the size of the cerebrum, 
 and takes in the medulla oblongata, and most of the 
 nerves centre here. The three lobes on the lower surface 
 of the cerebrum rest, the anterior on the skull, the pos- 
 terior on the cerebellum, forming one organ, which, with its 
 ramifications and nerve-centre, is the seat of sensation. 
 
 In the middle lobe of the cerebrum, and resting on the 
 cerebellum and the space between what would be imme- 
 diately above the roof of the mouth and the very centre 
 of the whole organ, is the seat and throne of the soul, the 
 spirit-centre. 
 
 To physiologists, on analysis, this could not be detected ; 
 for, while there is a vital spark, the interior of the brain 
 is inaccessible : but to the spirit, the clear-seer, this may 
 be apparent. But one external evidence exists that the 
 whole brain is not the seat of life. It is well authenti- 
 cated by medical practice, that many instances of injury 
 to the outside of the brain exist. A bullet has passed 
 through its surface, and skulls have been trepanned, with- 
 out destroying life ; but, should a bullet be sent through 
 its centre, it results in instant death. One other fact can 
 be observed, — that its location is near the nerve-centre, 
 the cerebellum, or external sensation. Indications seem 
 to show that here is located a small, oscillating, insect- 
 light, not precisely alike in all except in location. From 
 this centre radiates a glow and luminosit}^ throughout the 
 whole, not always equal, but va^ing according to condi- 
 tions. Here, then, are located the life-principle, the soul- 
 forces in the sensorium, sending telegraphic currents 
 through the nerves to every part of the form and its 
 mental and physical functions. In fact, the spirit is the 
 sensorium, the only seat. 
 
 It is well known, by analyzing the substance of the 
 brain, that there is nothing within that indicates its pecul- 
 
OCCULT FORCES IN MAN. 87 
 
 iar sensitiveness or its intelligent nature more than there 
 is in the blood. In every individual it has the same con- 
 formation, substance, and nerves ; though every person 
 has a different mentality and expression of intellect, and 
 the brain is said to be the organ of mentality. 
 
 If the brain of itself could think, being all of the same 
 structure and substance, there would be a uniformity of 
 mentality, as all the other organs act throughout all 
 humanity alike. But this organ is evidently the seat of 
 some special power. It is, in fact, the abiding-place of 
 the soul, the battery operated by it ; and, just as soon as 
 the soul vacates, there is no power or force to move the 
 machinery. 
 
 It has been said that from this central light was evolved 
 a glow of luminosity. This can be seen by clairvoyants, 
 and is thrown out sometimes in a halo around the head. 
 One's own vision can often be inverted, and see this glow 
 through the brain. The writer has done it many times in 
 years past. Spirits have experimented, and shown her the 
 location of this little thing of matter, light, and activity, 
 — the spirit. It has a ceaseless action, electro-dynamic 
 in its forces. This is no chimera or fanciful picture, but 
 a condition of facts all may become cognizant of. The 
 sensation being in the spirit, it is through the spirit every 
 one of the senses are felt ; the nerves and organs being 
 leaders and instruments to connect our inner selves with 
 the external world, acting as telegraph-wires ; and, when 
 any one of these is cut, there is no connection made with 
 the sensorium, and that part is lost. The brain-tissues 
 are liable to disease, the same as any other part ; and when 
 the brain is so diseased it is a bad instrument, similar to a 
 battery out of order, and its action would be about as 
 incorrect. As the spirit grows and develops with the 
 form, it becomes the mental and physical stereotype of 
 
88 - THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 the same. As you find the individual, so is his spirit ; no 
 more nor less. I have never found this law to vary in the 
 most familiar acquaintance with embodied and disembodied 
 man. As spirit draws its conditions through the senses 
 with the external life, the bad uses, habits, and vices 
 belong to it as much as would exceptional virtues, subject 
 to the law of change and progress. 
 
 It has been said by some, that the thoughts and acts of 
 life are photographed on the brain, to be seen by those in 
 spirit-life. This is not the action of the brain ; but, as 
 spirit fills and acts through it like electricity, all its 
 thoughts and acts become mirrored there, and disem- 
 bodied spirit draws them out. Spirit reaches spirit more 
 directly than earthly man. 
 
 The soul of man being a principle that has already par- 
 taken of many of Nature's conditions, sensing its relation 
 to all soul and its power, placed in the human brain to 
 be clothed with intelligent spirit, it may exercise many 
 forces, which the external world is rarely, if ever, willing 
 to concede. This power exerts itself both in mundane 
 and supermundane life. Conscious of this relation to 
 spirit, it may externalize this, and bring the two in rap- 
 port, by sight, hearing, psychometry, and mesmerism. 
 These are not medial powers or gifts, but the property of 
 the soul that can convey them to the external senses. 
 The two spheres are never wholly separated. Sleep is an 
 unconscious state of the external senses. The spirit does 
 not sleep wholly, but it rests ; that is, it ceases from 
 activity and motion, draws in its forces, and may adopt 
 an independent action for a short time. 
 
 Dreams are the strongest evidence of a mind outside 
 of the senses. Mesmerism, or animal magnetism, is sup- 
 posed to be a peculiar and mysterious nature, by which a 
 powerful influence may be exerted on one person by 
 
OCCULT FORCES IN MAN. 89 
 
 another. This is the exercise of a force in the organism 
 superior to that in another. Each soul takes on some 
 peculiar elements, and these are thrown out through the 
 organism. If there is a consciousness of this strength, 
 there may be exercised a will-power over another who is 
 more passive, and make him subject to the will of the 
 stronger. This force is much more exercised than human- 
 ity supposes. It is the attractive or repelling force any 
 one may feel from another, and the soul's indicator of its 
 sensitiveness to another's elements. Disembodied spirit 
 exercises this power to a great extent ; for it is a universal 
 law, that soul is recognized by its elements. 
 
 Clairvoj-ance, or clear-sightedness, is a power in per- 
 sons of discerning things not present to the senses. It 
 has been shown that the brain is only an instrument which 
 through nerves connects with the external, and is not the 
 power. The power is the spirit : take away the instru- 
 ment, and the power that exercised it can just as well do 
 the same in the interior light. The spirit is then able to 
 see independently things of the interior life ; and, as thiugs 
 of the spirit are imparted, they are conveyed to the external 
 consciousness. The elements or conditions of clear-seeing 
 are in the conditions of the individual, and are not com- 
 mon to all. 
 
 The same of clairaudience. All the same laws operate 
 and apply to this power as to clairvoyance. The writer 
 possesses this power to an exalted extent, and can speak 
 from knowledge and experience of its capabilities, the 
 proof of which is in the lessons conveyed in these pages. 
 It is a power extending in all directions, mundane and 
 supermundane ; is not restricted by space ; and proves that 
 the spirit may become so acute as to hear from the most 
 distant spheres while yet inhabiting the earthly form. At 
 the same time, the mind ma}' give out a force of thought 
 
90 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 that will reach higher spheres, and be responded to. I am 
 not dependent on the supernal world for a demonstrated 
 knowledge of this fact of clair audience, and that, while it 
 places one in communication with denizens of distant 
 spheres, it includes the sphere on earth as well. Having 
 friends, connections, and family thousands of miles dis- 
 tant from me, I have heard them in converse as distinctly 
 as though present. At one time I sat an hour listening to 
 an interview between two of my family a thousand miles 
 from me, every word of which was afterwards found to be 
 correct. I have had very many proofs that those on 
 earth at a distance from each other can send out their 
 thoughts, and receive responses, as promptly and correctly 
 as though they sat side by side. 
 
 There is another force, or power, that is yet dormant in 
 its exercise, and rarely thought of by humanity. This is 
 mental telegraphy, one of the most agreeable of mental 
 powers. It consists in being able to send and receive a 
 message from living and distant friends, as well as those 
 who have removed from earthly action. I have exercised 
 this to an extent that would require pages and pages to 
 fully record. I have tested its reality with entire stran- 
 gers whose names I only knew ; and rarely found that 
 they would not respond, when the time was auspiciously 
 chosen. Members of my family have been as communi- 
 cative as though in my presence. I have even trained 
 them to be familiar with the mode of communication, so 
 that they would readily respond when a call was made. 
 Here, for the benefit of all others, is given the manner of 
 procedure. It is a well-established fact, that the mind will 
 not have two thoughts at the same instant of time. 
 Therefore, if a person's attention is engaged when they 
 are called with things of the external life, there will be 
 more or less diversion or confusion. This is apt to be the 
 
OCCULT FORCES IN MAN. 91 
 
 case during their wakeful hours ; and for this reason the 
 hour of slumber is the best to choose, the mind being then 
 less likely to be engaged with external matters. Fix your 
 mind earnestly on the object desired ; then mentally call 
 the name, make some pleasant remark, and ask your 
 question. If the person addressed is disengaged, he will 
 respond ; and, if you are in a good clairaudient state, you 
 will hear the reply.* 
 
 I once called to a compositor engaged at his stand, not 
 thinking of his night occupation. He gave some reply ; 
 when he said, " I wish you would let me alone : I cannot 
 set my matter, and get through in time ; and I'm tired 
 now." I have made many tests in this line, and have 
 learned by them that there should be a concentration of 
 thought in the minds of both persons. Disembodied 
 spirits are accessible by the same procedure. 
 
 If spirit in form can dispatch thoughts or ideas uncon- 
 scious to its external senses to another fulTy conscious of 
 receiving them, it is only from the fact that the last is 
 more externalized in spirit than the first ; and the first 
 might be equally so, if educated to the same extent. 
 
 This is the exhibit of the mental telegraph that will be 
 the universal means of correspondence when future ages 
 shall have developed the powers of spirit in man. 
 
 Such is a brief synopsis of the source of the occult 
 forces in man, practical and accessible to all who would 
 understand their being, and learn that the powers within 
 them are beyond what the external senses can at present 
 realize. 
 
 The subject is continued, extended, and illustrated 
 through the remainder of this volume, the aim of which 
 is to elucidate the nature of man's inner life, and its 
 exercise, and relation to others, and to show, that, em- 
 bodied or disembodied, each individual's forces are his 
 
92 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 own, and not to be blended with or lost in those of 
 another. 
 
 DUALITY. 
 
 Duality is the state of being double, — that is, to main- 
 tain a personality in two places at the same time, — and is 
 the most interesting phenomenon of our being. If there is 
 any thing that would satisfy a mind of life outside of the 
 earthly form, or of the action of mind without matter, it 
 is this ; because, if there is a second principle that can 
 act temporarily, independent of the material senses, it will 
 be evident that it can be extended indefinitely, and indi- 
 cates that there is something intelligent existing independ- 
 ent of the physical. 
 
 As this phase of our being is universal, as it is the 
 corner-stone of our nature, as it shows plainly the rela- 
 tion of spirit and matter, it is most important for us to 
 know ; and therefore the space here allotted to its exhibit 
 will not be considered wasted. I have shown in ' ' Occult 
 Forces in Man ' ' that the spirit is a small thing of matter, 
 light, and activity, having its place in the centre of the 
 brain. That it can act independent of the brain, nerves, 
 and even of the whole physical, is the subject of this 
 chapter. The spirit is electro-dynamic, which constitutes 
 its power of force and motion. When so inclined, it can 
 withdraw from the brain like a spark of light, and be all 
 of self without it. In doing this, while there is life in 
 the body, there is alwa3 T s a current connecting the two. 
 This current looks like a streak, or band, and not unlike a 
 comet's tail, connecting the two ; and through this current 
 there is an unbroken sensation with the form. It is only 
 at death this current can be broken. It can be jarred, or 
 it may vibrate. It will be seen that through this current 
 of connection the spirit may be affected by the conditions 
 
DUALITY. 93 
 
 of the physical or its disturbing causes. In this way it 
 may travel any distance, and manifest to a person who can 
 be made sensible of its presence. 
 
 The most tangible manner to illustrate this action, and 
 show its phases, will be to give an account of manifesta- 
 tions made to the writer. By this means the subject can 
 be practically understood. Facts are better than theories, 
 and my purpose is to substantiate statements by proof. 
 As these experiences have been quite unusual and varied, 
 the} r are most likely to interest, and show duality in its 
 strongest light. 
 
 In the year 1875 I resided a thousand miles from an 
 intimate friend, a lady of threescore and ten, a person of 
 much experience, and a well-marked character of positiye 
 will. One morning, after some representations in regard 
 to her had been made by a spirit, I requested another 
 spirit to find out the truth of the statements ; when, in a 
 short time, she very unexpectedly made her personal pres- 
 ence known, so real that it staggered me. The hour was 
 about the time she would be rising. 
 
 This was my first introduction to this kind of manifesta- 
 tion, and I very naturally concluded she was in spirit-life. 
 She was frantic with excitement, stating she must be dead, 
 and that she was murdered, and showing a high state of 
 feeling at what had befallen her. She gave true and ex- 
 act relations of her character and belongings, referring to 
 things between us, so that I could not make a mistake in 
 regard to her identity. Suddenly she left, then returned 
 in a few minutes, — if any thing, more perturbed than at 
 first. In„this way she made three trips in one hour, each 
 time giving some agitated conjectural account of what 
 must have caused her exit from the body, and her troubles 
 about what would be done with it. In asking how she 
 came to call on me, she said a lady brought her. Her 
 
94 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 whole demeanor was excited and irregular ; yet it was full 
 of proofs of her identity. 
 
 I heard nothing more from her for two months ; when 
 one day she made her presence known very tangibly, and 
 as natural as it was possible for her to be. She described 
 minutely the details of events that transpired after I left 
 her, and in which I was one of the parties most concerned, 
 showing her feelings in regard to them with remarkable 
 perspicuity. She travelled round my room, took observa- 
 tions, and was generally busy for one hour. I was fully 
 under the conviction she was in spirit-life : for this reason 
 I questioned her considerably on her condition, and how 
 she was suited. I noticed she would have nothing to say 
 of spirit- things, or of her being there. When questioned 
 on the subject, her replies were, " Time's time ; let it rest ; 
 all time is my time ; I shall move slow and sure : " then 
 again revert to her own feelings, and repeat, ''Time's 
 time; all time is time; I'm not in haste." After this 
 second very demonstrative visit, I wrote to a mutual friend 
 to inform me in regard to her. In due time a reply came, 
 stating that she was not dead, but in her usual condition. 
 This disturbed my ideas of spirit-things. I felt myself 
 deceived and imposed on by something that must be ex- 
 plained. I reasoned in this wise: "If some false spirit 
 can so perfectly assume and act the individuality of 
 another person, then it's not safe to have them near: I'll 
 clean them out." Time brought its own revealments, as I 
 have ever found it will. Only a short time elapsed when 
 she called on me again, this time in the night. She in- 
 troduced herself by repeating, "Time's time, and time's 
 again : all time I have . ' ' After a few remarks , I questioned 
 her about the other visits. She said, "I sat me down by 
 my stand, and thought to send out an impression to you ; 
 when I went to sleep immediately, and made a visit in- 
 
DUALITY. 95 
 
 stead." After this she visited me a couple of times. The 
 
 last time she said, "Mrs. K , why don't you return 
 
 my calls ? You have not called on me yet. I shall stay 
 away if you don't." 
 
 Thus this old soul showed all its intuitive knowledge of 
 its relation to time, and practices the same in external 
 life ; for it is her peculiarity not to be hasty, but precise : 
 at the same time, she is a remarkable woman generally. 
 
 In the interim another was visiting me, an old friend, 
 a gentleman of eighty-six years. All his calls were in the 
 daytime and sunlight. He entered the open door, called me 
 by name, and talked in the most familiar manner ; handled 
 things I showed him ; told me of returning to the Eastern 
 States ; and every thing we could think of we tallied about. 
 I questioned him about his family in spirit-life, and of his 
 own condition. His replies were evasive, — that he could 
 not or had not seen them, was solitar}^, and knew nothing 
 of spirit. In a week or two he called again, sat on the 
 lounge, and chatted for a time ; when I made a remark that 
 caused him to leave like a flash. After a couple of weeks 
 he called again, and stood beside me in nubilous form with 
 a large stick. I remarked about his large cane ; when he 
 raised it, and said, " I like my old hickory stick best : it 
 has strength and support." A few moments after he left, 
 I immediately wrote to those that knew him, and informed 
 them he was in spirit-life. In due time a reply came that 
 he was not ; that they were in company with him at such a 
 date, and he had but recently returned to the Eastern 
 States. Two years later, at this writing, he is living and 
 well. The reply was astonishing to me ; for he had been 
 more tangible than the woman, and I was not then aware I 
 was receiving visits from the spirits of those living on 
 earth, while I knew I could not mistake the characters of 
 those I so well knew. 
 
96 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 Another friend called once, at night, to answer my letter 
 in person. She approached hy calling my name, and said, 
 "I am not dead, but come to let you know I am so sick, 
 and my cares and vexations so trouble me, I can't answer 
 your letter." She went on to converse on every familiar 
 subject ; told me of her condition, the place she had 
 removed from, of her family affairs ; said she could not 
 live long ; that when she was in spirit-life she would inform 
 me. Her visit must have been one hour. 
 
 Others made one visit each, whom I afterwards found 
 were not dead. The most marvelous of these visitants 
 was one of my own family, and shows one of the most 
 striking proofs of this phase of the mind's action. One 
 night a young man approached, calling, " Mother, mother ! 
 don't be alarmed, and think I'm lost or gone. I have 
 only called to see you, and let you know of myself." 
 After which he entered into a familiar recital of what 
 concerned him ; when he bade me good-night, and left. 
 A week or two after he made me another call, about in 
 the same manner, but of shorter duration. Some weeks 
 later he made a third trip, while there were present sev- 
 eral disembodied spirits. He approached, calling, ' ' Moth- 
 er, mother ! " when, saying a few words quietly , he grasped 
 me with a horrified feeling of fright, making eveiy nerve 
 in me quake ; then he took on a raving state of delirium, 
 thrilling my whole sj^stem with his sensations of fright. 
 He raved about those he had an interest in, saying some 
 misfortune had befallen them ; and kept calling on me 
 with frantic delirium to aid him in his troubles. All I 
 could say would not pacify nor soothe his wild distress. 
 I expostulated, and begged to know why he should be so 
 unreasonable, and told him he had better leave ; when he 
 instantly did so. I requested an old spirit present (Cenis) 
 to follow him up, and see what the trouble was. 
 
duality: 97 
 
 When he had returned to his form, and the spirit sooth- 
 ingly tallied to him, calling him by his name, he said, 
 1 ' Mother ' s spirits ! She may keep her spirits . They fright- 
 ened me to death. I don't want them, and I sha'n't go 
 where she is with her spirits." Then he related how he 
 had visited the ocean, after the loss of the steamship 
 " Pacific," to find some of the drowning people he thought 
 he would rescue ; when some of their spirits attacked him 
 for his life, and threatened they'd drown him ; and he 
 had such a tussle with them, and became so frightened, 
 that the next day he was quite sick. We expostulated 
 with him not to try such trips ; that I did not consider it 
 right, and an injur} 7 to young people ; further, I wanted 
 no more such visits. This last trip was but two weeks 
 after the going-down of that steamer with her freight 
 of human lives, that gave such a sensation of horror to 
 the community. 
 
 I asked for an explanation why he should have acted 
 so frantic, and was told that it probably was as he repre- 
 sented ; that he might have had some encounter, became 
 frightened, and the elements did not suit him. At this 
 
 Ptime the cause of all this trouble was, that a spirit was 
 present whose elements were in antagonism and repellent, 
 to him. Although he did not see or know who were present, 
 nor did they approach him, yet he sensed the element so 
 acute, it immediately filled him with horror. As soon as 
 he was at home in his form, he could be as social as possi- 
 ble, lie was not at all shy of spirits that were congenial ; 
 for one of his own age, who had been an associate, con- 
 versed nightly with him, and even posted him on things 
 transpiring that concerned him. This 3'oung man was by 
 no means a frail, delicate sensitive, but of remarkable 
 
 I physical and mental vigor, executive power, and magnetic 
 forces. 
 
98 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 These rambling people are very shy of all disembodied 
 spirits, and do not remain long with them. They are 
 capable of being greatly affected by them if they think 
 themselves in danger. The body is their castle, and they 
 do not like to have this castle disturbed. Young people 
 are more sensitive, as in the case of the young man find- 
 ing himself in the presence of repellent elements after his 
 late encounter. His first impulse was to cling to me, and 
 call piteously for my assistance to avert some anticipated 
 danger. So long as there is connection with the body 
 through its current, they are in sympathy with its condi- 
 tion. Thus a spirit on its excursions will be more or less 
 disturbed by those conditions ; as in the case of the first 
 visit from the woman. It was near her time of rising 
 when a spirit disturbed her. Being advanced in years, 
 and not in good health, she naturally anticipated her death ; 
 and, under the disturbing condition she was in, an uneasy, 
 frantic state exhibited itself. This leads to the quer} 7 , Is 
 there delirium in spirit-life ? Most certainty there is in the 
 first sphere of action. I have often seen it in those who 
 can not place themselves in spirit, yet are not of earth. 
 They seem to be without location ; sometimes very frantic. 
 
 In connection with this subject the writer is reluctantly 
 necessitated to give her own individual experiences, con- 
 scious to the external senses ; trusting the reader will be 
 just, and not consider them approaching the incredulous, 
 and hoping they may prove interesting and instructive to 
 all who would know how they are organized, and by what 
 power they act. 
 
 In the summer of 1875, I had been for several months 
 continually in the company of spirits. For several days 
 thejr had been using a force something like magnetism on 
 me, showing cosmos through nvy brain. This is a pro- 
 cess the reader would not credit if told : so I leave it for 
 
DUALITY. 99 
 
 the future life to reveal to them. Even for myself, I do 
 not understand the law that governs it : I only know of 
 its effects. It was a revolving of luminosity, showing a 
 panorama of past conditions, and the chain of incidents 
 that follow one, and its relation to all things. Finally 
 they trenched on what I considered forbidden ground. I 
 did not like it : besides, my brain had become so electric, 
 I could see the whole process myself. I felt it was of 
 little use to complain : so I hastily arose and went to bed, 
 and slept all night. Early next morning, when I awoke, all 
 my company of the evening before were present. Imme- 
 diately an intelligence passed from the inner to the outer, 
 and began to talk rapidly to them, without any action of 
 the brain or physical forces whatever. Up to this time, 
 in my converse with these visitors, I had talked through 
 the mind by thoughts ; but this was totally different. It 
 was outside of any action of the brain, like a second self, 
 with more force and strength ; and it would act independ- 
 ent of the organism. It told them to stand back, not to 
 approach ; and it would show them it was able to control 
 itself, and did not intend to put up with imposition, and 
 what a fine class they were of inferiors. After a running 
 talk, one of those present, who had been a companion in 
 life, was taken for the purpose of analyzing his career and 
 the conditions that had existed between us. This was 
 done in a lecture of one hour, and in rapid, fluent, well- 
 chosen language. I was myself much surprised at the 
 memory, and the manner of using it with such facility. 
 
 The whole class was awe-struck, ashamed for results, 
 and became restless under fire and shot ; and the mat- 
 ter became so unpleasant to them, that the intelligence 
 told them the remainder would be deferred until the next 
 morning, but she should be mistress of itself, and not 
 subject to their conditions. At this I hastily jumped out 
 
100 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 of bed. The three following mornings, as soon as I 
 awoke, the subject was resumed under the same conditions, 
 style, and characteristics, criticising the relations and con- 
 ditions that had existed all round. It will be observed, 
 this took place immediately after a night's refreshing sleep ; 
 no dreams nor disturbing conditions ; the ph}- sical and 
 mental fresh and rested, and the first wakeful moments 
 improved. There is no attributing the facts to abnormal 
 conditions, visions, trances, or outside influences of spirit. 
 The whole external senses were fully conscious, but passive. 
 
 This manifestation so startled one of my more pro- 
 gressed and longer-in-spirit-life friends, that she made 
 application to others still more progressed to visit and 
 analyze the spirit. This brought in several more ad- 
 vanced to the analysis. My brain had become so electric, 
 I sensed every move or thought one of them made. No 
 approach could be made in my atmosphere without my 
 knowing it : so no concealment was attempted. (The 
 whole procedure I could not convey, and it would be 
 irrelevant to the subject.) An unusual conversation 
 ensued to and fro between the spirit in earth-form and a 
 lady in spirit-life, who said she had come to take such a 
 witch of a spirit out of its hiding-place, to clip its wings, 
 or make it fly. By cajole^ , playfulness, and congeniality, 
 the spirit was induced to exit to the external. I saw it 
 start, fly, and circle round before me like an electric 
 insect, all the while talking as usual, and return as it 
 
 started; while the others said, "There, Mrs. K , is 
 
 your own spirit.' ' 
 
 From this moment I was a dual person : the spirit would 
 talk to the external consciousness, answer questions, cor- 
 rect and reprimand what did not suit, and I could hear its 
 ideas expressed in the brain. The statements were, it 
 never had gone on trips or excursions from the body to 
 

 DUALITY. 101 
 
 any distance ; never was conscious of doing such a thing 
 up to that time ; that it was satisfied with the organism, 
 and wished to remain by it, and would not yield control to 
 another ; was familiar with the ideas and whisperings of 
 spirits and those in close rapport. There were no further 
 manifestations in this respect for six months. Rest had 
 been taken from spirit-things in general, and business 
 attended to. After this complete rest, a new phase of 
 things came about. The spirits started fresh, and some 
 of the incidents heretofore related in these pages took 
 place. 
 
 The guide here mentioned was a developing guide, and 
 had been two thousand years in spirit-life. 1 
 
 From two or three gathered to confer and be enter- 
 tained, others would come, until a vast concourse of spirits 
 would be present, coming and going. One subject after 
 another was discussed ; when Cenis entered to entertain 
 them in a new light by exhibiting me in two forms at the 
 same time, — one of flesh and one of spirit, the intelligence 
 blended in the two. The manner of proceeding was in 
 this way : A circle was formed of congenial and harmo- 
 nious friends to take up their position close to the body 
 and round the head. This band, as I shall call them, 
 that closely surrounded my person, were individuals that 
 had been, at various times in my life, friends when I most 
 needed them. Outside of these, round the room, were a 
 larger number in a circle, perhaps twenty. Surrounding 
 
 1 It is objected by many persons, tbat the Indian has too great prominence in 
 the manifestations of Spiritualism. I hope not to offend the taste if I inform 
 the reader that this Cenis was an American Indian, belonging to the central and 
 northern territory in the Black-hill country, and of the same race as the Sioux. 
 He has given liberal accounts of what the country was like at one time in its 
 population, and the interest taken by the spheres in its discovery and settlement 
 by the whites. He has proved a friend and guide indeed to me, and I trust will 
 guide me still farther on, even on the shores beyond ; while this is the only poor 
 tribute I can give of him and his services and attention to me. 
 
102 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 this circle were still a greater number, numbering two 
 or three hundred. These were all disembodied spirits 
 gathered to witness what was taking place in my humble 
 abode. The time chosen for this manifestation was al- 
 ways morning and evening, while I was reclining in a 
 chair, or in bed before rising. When things were in con- 
 dition, the spirit would leave the form, draw around itself 
 elements of matter, take Cenis by the hand, and walk 
 round among those present ; talking to each one, shak- 
 ing hands, sitting beside them, analyzing, and giving each 
 one his or her allotted place ; talking of old and familiar 
 memories, and enjojing in general social converse. While 
 this was performing with the spirit-part, the bod} r and 
 senses were perfectly normal, fully realizing the whole. At 
 the same time, I knew what was transpiring in the external 
 just as well ; and the spirit would respond to every move 
 or impression made on the brain, even by vibration. But 
 I could not hold a thought only as the spirit could convey 
 it. Every idea was in consonance with its movements. 
 There did not exist two thoughts, or double ideas : it was 
 simply two persons with one intelligence. This exercise 
 would last for hours, — holding the most familiar inter- 
 course, spirit to spirit, with old friends, and strangers as 
 well ; and the same was repeated day after day. 
 
 The spirit-form was not so large by a third or fourth as 
 my full stature ; so it was small : but the intellect seemed 
 to be more sharp and active, by no means weak. I felt it 
 was the oddest performance ; and this narration of it will 
 hardly convej- any true idea of its reality. The moment 
 the body would rise up from reclining, the spirit would re- 
 enter, and the whole form would shiver and quake with 
 intense cold as in an ague-fit, chattering, and throwing out 
 the tongue exceedingly. It was a peculiar sensation, 
 different from any thing I ever felt before. The force of 
 
DUALITY. 103 
 
 this also depended on the length of time the spirit was 
 out : this was sometimes hours, morning and evening. 
 
 After this had continued some da} T s, and familiarity and 
 confidence gained, Cenis gave the hand to another to lead 
 a lady who had but recently entered spirit-life, and well 
 known on earth and in spirit as a public medium. By 
 this hand this being of earth and spirit was led round 
 among this assembly of disembodied people in the room ; 
 while they would only shake hands with It, and ask the 
 questions of the lady-spirit. Drawing to the final, Cenis 
 took the being under his wing, and away he went into 
 space. He presented it to an assembly of American 
 statesmen ; when they said, " We salute you as an Ameri- 
 can lad} r ; " then asked Cenis if he was not going too far. 
 This required but a few moments. The next day the third 
 going into space was tried. 
 
 The last time it passed still farther. For an instant it 
 seemed as though connection was lost or drawn off, and I 
 lost consciousness like a sudden going-out of a candle. 
 My encircling band did not like this, and thought Cenis 
 had done too much. However, this was my last fly into 
 space, and the close of these exercises. 
 
 It might be thought by most persons that these things 
 would be unpleasant. Not so ; but, on the contraiy, quite 
 enjo}-able. The only unpleasant thing was the excessive 
 cold and shivering that supervened. The cause of this 
 shiver was, that, the spirit had so long been in the element 
 of disembodied spirit, the return gave a change to the cur- 
 rents. Theirs was brought in ; while the magnetic forces 
 had been drawn from the bod} T , and the counter-currents 
 were chilling. 
 
 In this manifestation was not only duality, but three 
 principles shown, — the external form, the spirit-form, and 
 the intelligence that exercised both at the same time : a 
 
104 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 trinity, absolutely conscious to one person, — body, soul, 
 and spirit. Such, then, is the absolute make-up of our 
 natures while sojourners in the external world of matter. 
 But really duality is the mind acting in some place outside 
 of the brain, while the form is not used ; and this may be 
 done without material or spirit-form, as in the instance of 
 all my visitors of earth living at a distance from me. I 
 have given much space to the introduction of proof on this 
 subject, deeming it the solid foundation of past, present, 
 and future being. If any one can convey a higher proof 
 of duality, it is due to humanity to know of it. It is un- 
 questionable evidence of intelligence outside of form, and 
 independent of matter, that soul is the principle of in- 
 telligence. 
 
 Because a person's spirit rambles off to distant scenes 
 while in sleep, it does not follow that it is any the better 
 acquainted with spirit-things. It may not be willing to 
 come in contact with them in one condition more than 
 in another. It is impossible for one to go into dis- 
 tant spheres, and it is impracticable while the conditions 
 of earth are carried with them. If the cord becomes too 
 attenuated, it will break ; and the spirit could not retake 
 the form, neither could it be connected with body from 
 a distant sphere. Besides, there is a law that repels such 
 things, and says, 
 
 " Child of earth thou art, and earthly things thou mayst explore; 
 But things beyond this earth in time will be thy store." 
 
 I am aware that some entertain the idea, that, in sleep, 
 the}" explore and bask in the domains of superior spheres, 
 delighting, perhaps, in trips to distant planets. Not so : 
 no spirit can surpass itself. The spirit-sight may be ex- 
 tended, and take in visions of the be}'ond. Spirits may 
 be near to psychologically present pictures, and the mem- 
 
CLAIRVOYANCE AND PSYCHOLOGY. 105 
 
 ory of the individual thus seeing may retain them in wak- 
 ing hours ; but do not flatter yourself you have gone 
 beyond your sphere. Nature does not allow a. violation of 
 her laws ; nor will one go in the body, nor out of it, be- 
 yond its sphere, until it has made progress to that plane. 
 Therefore these rambling people visit scenes of earth and 
 those they are familiar with, and not be} T ond. Somnam- 
 bulism — walking, talking in sleep when the senses are 
 closed to the external — is an illustration of this nature. 
 The spirit moves the form without the action of its senses, 
 evidence of which is often witnessed. Some adopt the 
 idea that a foreign spirit takes possession of and moves 
 the body round. This is not so. It is the restless ele- 
 ment within themselves. The proof of this is in the fact 
 that they almost invariably resort to objects and places 
 familiar to them in their wakeful hours. The inimitable 
 Shakspeare has ably shown its action in his Lady Mac- 
 beth, whose restless spirit is so exercised to wash itself 
 from blood. No one need expect to typify it better. 
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE AND PSYCHOLOGY. 
 
 In " Occult Forces in Man," it is said clahw^ance is 
 not medial, but the action of one's own powers. This does 
 not imply, nor is it intended to mean, that every thing 
 seen by a clairvo}~ant is a genuine spirit-object or of spirit- 
 life. There are different phases and forms of this power. 
 Probably not more than one-tenth are actual visions of 
 true spirit- conditions, or realities of those spheres. They 
 are ps} T etiological effects produced by spirits, or the medi- 
 um's surroundings, for some purpose known to themselves. 
 It is the mesmeric -effect the operator conve} T s to his sub- 
 ject. The seer is operated on in the same way. One 
 ma}' be conve} T ed for hours through a panoramic vision of 
 all the Elysian fields of spheres be}*ond, or, reversely, the 
 regions of inferno, and be under psychological control. 
 
106 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 Spirit-guides love to practice those things to entertain 
 their mediums. When it is known that every event of 
 one's life is photographed on the brain, it will be seen 
 how readily a spirit may select from them, and present it 
 to their medium. 
 
 Pictures, emblems, or symbols, presented of persons or 
 things, are thus a form of entertainment. As the spirit 
 sees them, it may be called ps3'chological clairvoyance. 
 
 But genuine seership is to know that it is an intelligence 
 that is expressing itself, and shows what it is. If it can 
 not give something besides the generalities that a guide 
 can convey, it is to be distrusted. 
 
 The true seership is peculiar, and not conveyed by an- 
 other. It is a quick perception of interior things. It is 
 an opening-out, and not a drawing-in. Seeing of super- 
 nal things, or a quick perception of the nature of things, 
 is of the soul, and inspirationally given to the conscious- 
 ness ; and some law controls it not easily explained. 
 
 As an illustration, however, of how this power m&y be 
 exercised, and the many x^hases it takes, I will give a few 
 examples. Some years since, after going to bed and be- 
 coming easy and rested, not asleep, I would see small 
 figures, half-forms, feet, hands, faces like those of children 
 grinning at me, but nothing regular. They would pass me 
 like groups, and perhaps return. This was repeated night 
 after night. In regard to this peculiar exhibit, I inquired 
 at the time what it meant. 
 
 Answer. — The sensorium having taken on impressions 
 of external things, when the e} T es are closed the impres- 
 sion is there, and it may be seen in an inverted condition. 
 Then there is another phase : the seer may not be able to 
 take in all the appearances or form of a spirit trying to 
 show itself, or in their presence ; and it appears mis- 
 shapen. Perhaps this appearance is caused by the spirit 
 
CLAIRVOYANCE AND PSYCHOLOGY. 107 
 
 not being able to convey a well-defined appearance, and 
 consequently gives but a part. It often happens that the 
 seer is not strong in giving elements for spirits to show 
 by. It must be remembered that spirits draw from the 
 person the} 7 * are seen by ; and they may not be strong 
 enough to gather these elements. They are intelligences 
 of their sphere, nevertheless. 
 
 Question. — Is there such a thing as half-souls, or ele- 
 ments without souls manifesting intelligence ? 
 
 Answer. — Where there is intelligence, there must be 
 soul. It is impossible to be otherwise. 
 
 Question. — Does ethereal matter take shape, act, and 
 influence, or manifest intelligently to man? 
 
 Answer. — Not in any wa} T , shape, or manner. Matter 
 can not act intelligently if there is not intelligence or soul 
 with it. Intelligence may act in a very imperfect, rude, 
 or crude way ; yet it is there. 
 
 Where there is a manifestation of distinguishing power, 
 there is soul, though it may be affected by elemental con- 
 ditions, — the same as a child might scream, and not tell 
 by language why it did so. If matter could act in such a 
 way, what would be the results? There would be no 
 difference between them, and the soul of man would be 
 without preference or distinction. 
 
 That spirits give any variety of pictures and sjinbols is 
 true, from the most lofty down to the most ridiculous, as it 
 suits them, or those they wish to entertain. Unfortunately, 
 these are often taken for substantial realities of spirit-life. 
 For instance, if a spirit shows you some emblem he fan- 
 cies, it is no proof it is real. The next time, or some time 
 in the future, 3^ou may find out it had no reality. In the 
 year 1875 a near friend in spirit-life was anxious I should 
 see him, and said he would make me do so. After a 
 while a lovely child was looking right in my face, with its 
 
108 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 big blue eyes, flaxen curls, white dress, and blue ribbons. 
 I exclaimed, "What a lovely child!" when he said, 
 " That's my child." No reference was made to it again : 
 but, months after, something was said to his sister, also in 
 spirit, about his child ; when it was shown there was no 
 such child in spirit. It was his memo^ of a child twent}^ 
 years past, not dead, but now a young man. I could see 
 the picture he thought of, but not him. Some months 
 later, a well-known American divine who had gone to 
 Italy for his health, and there died, being with a number 
 of others present and experimenting, I saw very clearly a 
 lovely ring — to me a perfect gem — of emerald green, 
 with a white crescent upon it, and white star below the 
 crescent. The mounting and ring were of fine copper wire 
 like a thread. It was so peculiar in this respect, I could 
 but notice it. Immediately I exclaimed, " What a lovely 
 gem ! " when he replied, " You see it well : but it is not a 
 natural gem; it is manufactured." Then others wanted 
 to see it ; and he gave its history. It was a mosaic ring, 
 made at a place he visited in Italy to see the mosaic 
 works. This one thing took his fancy : so he bought and 
 wore it, and thus had shown it to me to test the strength 
 of vision, at the same time to exhibit to me a curiosity. 
 Afterwards came statues and other works of art. Others 
 then tried what they could bring out ; and soon a small 
 fancy dog, white, with black spots, stood before me. I 
 did not hear him growl nor bark. It was done for effect, 
 to test my vision. Once there appeared, standing beside 
 me, a woman in walking attire of the old style, with one 
 of those enormous bonnets, big flowers, shawl, and dress 
 so gay, all a la Dolly Varden. I could but notice it, and 
 remarked, "What a gaudy thing!" when I was told, 
 "It's only an image." 
 
 These examples show how real a lifeless representation 
 
CLAIRVOYANCE AND PSYCHOLOGY. 109 
 
 may appear to a seer, and that a semblance may be mis- 
 taken for a reality ; as I took the child to be in the first 
 instance, until I was better informed, and they showed 
 what imagery was. This, perhaps, is more phenomenal 
 than clear or independent seeing ; for it is the process of 
 spirits calling up the memory of things past in such a way 
 that they are transmitted to the seer in pictures. The 
 test of true seership is the ability not to mistake these for 
 genuine spirit-realities. The intelligence should indicate 
 the nature of the thing, and that it may be simulated by 
 a guide. Once I had a guide who had been a nun in a 
 convent, and a teacher among children. One evening a 
 poor child was introduced. A chatt} T little talk com- 
 menced of its poor conditions and relations in life, and it 
 adopted me for its instructor. These visits were kept up 
 for a week. Other children came in the mean time, and 
 told their story of affluence and fine relations. Thus it 
 passed back and forth, — first one class, then another. 
 B} T and by I mistrusted something wrong, and called for 
 an explanation. 
 
 Then I was informed it was simply a representation 
 designed to show what the result of advantages and educa- 
 tion would be in forming the mind and intellect. Thus 
 what are looked upon as realities may be otherwise, even 
 when the medium does not suspect it. 
 
 A spirit that was much interested in me suddenly ap- 
 peared before me very plain, — color of dress and st} T le as 
 though material. Over her shoulder was seen the face of 
 a young man for an instant. Shortly a young sailor-boy 
 stood not far from me. The woman talked freery of 
 family-affairs, and then said the likeness she showed me 
 was that of her son when she last saw him, twenty-one 
 years of age ; and the sailor-bo}^ was as she thought of .him, 
 intending to put him to sea. Thus this woman showed one 
 
110 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 person in two ways at different ages ; and I should have 
 thought there were three spirits, if the explanation had 
 not been given. I know she was truthful ; for that son 
 has been in spirit-life sixteen years, and was the companion 
 of the writer : and on this occasion she pictured before 
 my vision her memory of forty-one years or more. 
 
 Psychological effects can be carried to very great 
 lengths, perhaps more than any other manifestation. Poor 
 spirits resort to this on many occasions. 
 
 Although psychology is the doctrine of man's soul and 
 spiritual nature, in m}^ humble opinion it is the substratum 
 of all physical manifestation, — embodied and disembodied 
 minds ; and I do not consider it to be exercised alwa}~s by 
 the best intelligence. As disembodied mind comes in con- 
 tact with elements, conditions, of other minds in external 
 life, such are taken on, borrowed for the occasion ; and a 
 manifestation may follow totally at variance with the true 
 condition of that spirit. Thus a spirit may show itself in 
 more ways than one ; increase its true stature to outward 
 appearance, or lessen it as well. 
 
 Life in the external is but the selfsame law of mani- 
 festing. " Show me your company, and I'll tell you what 
 you are." Therefore a trickster or juggler may have 
 just such spirits as is wanted to aid him, and furnish the 
 desired elements. Neither is any superior intelligence 
 required in any psychological control. I will give an 
 example of my experience to show how perfect this may 
 be, and yet how deceptively untrue. 
 
 In the early part of 1875, a spirit and near connection 
 was visiting me ; when one night she gave what purported 
 to be a representation of a scene in a family on the Atlan- 
 tic shores, three thousand miles distant. She began by 
 the reception and reading of a letter from herself to them, 
 and carried it into a high dramatic representation, and 
 
CLAIRVOYANCE AND PSYCHOLOGY. Ill 
 
 change of scenes and acts. She chose one child as clair- 
 voyant medium — herself being the ghost to her medium 
 
 — to operate on the rest of the family. The whole mani- 
 festation was so realistic and highly dramatic, that I be- 
 came convulsed with laughter. This she kept up all night 
 (six hours) , while I laughed most of the time, and thought 
 it a genuine transaction that I was enjoying ; when, at 
 dawn of day, it ceased ; and suddenly a flash and concussion 
 I felt to leave me, and I found it was only control. I 
 had been six hours under psychological influence, in a 
 conscious state, realizing the highest form of dramatic 
 acting I ever witnessed. Nothing was said of it until 
 months after, when — the same spirit being present, as 
 also the one who had shown me the ring — I related to 
 the latter her dramatic performance and talent. He asked 
 her if she had ever been on the stage, and how she ope- 
 rated her characters . Her reply was , " I used my fingers . ' ' 
 This person had been in spirit-life at this time but two 
 years and a half, and knew little of spirit-things. All her 
 feelings were with her family on earth. Thus one that 
 had no sympathy with spirit-life as yet had her mind so 
 intently occupied with those she had left on earth, that 
 she could personify all their peculiarities in a vividly 
 active manner. 
 
 I might fill a volume showing from facts how disem- 
 bodied spirits will take characters not particularly belong- 
 ing to them, if they wish to do so, or have an object to 
 accomplish. But this example sufficiently illustrates the 
 fact. 
 
 Most of the extended visions said to be of spiritual life 
 and spheres, in trance or out of trance, are only visions, 
 
 — psychological effects produced by disembodied men, — 
 and are no criterion for general things and conditions of 
 the spheres beyond. 
 
112 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 INSPIRATION AND PROPHECY. 
 
 Inspiration is the infusion of ideas or communications 
 from superior powers, by some supposed to be a super- 
 natural influence of the Spirit of God, or some other 
 superior being, on the human mind. 
 
 Inspiration is the common property of every individual 
 soul, not in the same direction, or to the same extent ; 
 but it is the power of the soul to draw in from universal 
 intelligence what its necessities require. Every soul is 
 sensitive to some extent to the forces operating in space, 
 and to that extent will be affected by them. Each and 
 every individual is conditioned to receive a proportional 
 influx of superior ideas to execute a desired object. To 
 say that it comes from some special superior being does 
 not convey a correct idea of the truth. It is an all-per- 
 vading knowledge which fills space ; and soul responds to 
 soul in its desire for higher and greater force. There is 
 an exchange of currents between the mundane and super- 
 mundane worlds of intelligence. Each gives an exchange 
 with the other. If this was not so, there would be little 
 intellectual progress made. 
 
 The advantages of the superior state gives a larger field 
 of perception. 
 
 Inspiration has two distinct phases. It may be a dis- 
 embodied spirit infusing its ideas into another, and so 
 expressirig them ; or it may be independent, and drawn 
 from the fountain-source. Such a person is gifted with a 
 soul that can imbibe from a source that disembodied spirits 
 are not superior to. 
 
 Inspiration is purely a law of the soul ; and, when all 
 its operating forces are understood, the full source of 
 inspiration will be known. 
 
 Prophecy comes under the same heading, the explana- 
 

 SENSITIVES. 113 
 
 tions thereof being nearly the same. Events forecast 
 their shadows. The condition of things may indicate the 
 results. Spirits see clearly through these conditions, and 
 therefore may convey it to another. 
 
 Independent prophecy is the same as inspiration. 
 
 Independent qualities of spirit belong as much to em- 
 bodied as to disembodied mind. 
 
 SENSITIVES. 
 
 Sensitives are those that have quick and acute sensi- 
 bilities, either to interior or exterior objects. 
 
 An idea has found extensive credence that all sensitives 
 are medial, or that all mediums are sensitive. This is 
 both truth and error, and leads to the query, What is a 
 medium ? It is one who holds a middle place, — an instru- 
 ment in the control of another. 
 
 There are so many phases of mediumship, that it would 
 be one of the most difficult of tasks to enumerate and 
 describe them all. But a person who exercises his own 
 gift can not properly be called a medium ; and the terms 
 "sensitive" and "medium" are very often misapplied. 
 A sensitive is one whose spirit is acute to the elements 
 that approach him either interiorly or exteriorly ; and his 
 sense may be so fine as to repel any outside control of 
 his organism, and be able to say, "I am monarch here, 
 and yield not my domain to another." Such are not 
 uncommon, and are of the finest minds. I have seen a 
 person so sensitive one could not touch him, and so full 
 of magnetism it could be seen, and as positive as one 
 could be, in whom there never was any phase of medium- 
 ship shown. It is the greatest mistake to suppose that 
 a medium must be of superior, fine sensibilities, mentally 
 or physically. Sometimes it is quite the other way, and 
 one who is a medium may be of the most inferior nature. 
 
114 THE, LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 Thus there are sensitives without mediumship, and medi- 
 ums without sensitiveness. This truth can be best illus- 
 trated b}^ examples. 
 
 In California I knew a woman, of noticeable commanding 
 physique and remarkable strong forces, who had no sensi- 
 tiveness of spirit, or fineness of nature, whatever ; not pos- 
 sessing even the common feelings of humanity ; immoral 
 in character, and of little virtue, — a person who never was 
 in an assembly of spiritualists in her life ; who disliked 
 and would not hear any remarks on the subject, unless to 
 treat them with gross derision ; yet she was one of the 
 most powerful of rapping mediums. Raps would be heard 
 round the table at meal-times, — on the doors, chairs, 
 floor, any place where wood was convenient, — while she 
 was pursuing her work : for she never would sit for these 
 manifestations, nor ask questions ; but others present 
 would ask mentally, and intelligent replies would be given. 
 In this instance it was not sensitiveness, but her strong 
 elements that were used. 
 
 Another I saw, who was considerably like the person 
 just described, who had no mind but for dress and dis- 
 play ; yet her mediumship has not been surpassed for 
 powerful raps. If asked to rap with force, the response 
 would give concussions sounding like that of a strong 
 hand pounding down the door. Yet she was any thing 
 but sensitive to fine feelings. I have known a man who 
 had some of the best phases of test-mediumship, — raps, 
 tips, pellets, and writing ; and yet he was one of the 
 most dissipated, immoral natures that ever society was 
 afflicted with, and practiced every species of imposition 
 in his dealings with his fellows. Thus it is seen that a 
 fine sensitiveness does not always accompany good me- 
 diumship. 
 
 Physical mediums are those who are so constituted that 
 
OBSESSION. 115. 
 
 the elements in their organism can be drawn off to be 
 used by the invisibles for the phase of mediumship they 
 possess. It is this power they hold that is utilized and 
 sought for, and not an inclination or nature for superior 
 things. They are instruments adapted for a purpose, 
 without regard to mental, moral, intellectual, or spiritual 
 nature or qualities. 
 
 OBSESSION. 
 
 Obsession, although not specially one of the occult 
 powers in man, bears relation to disembodied spirits. 
 Obsession or possession, or the second spirit in the one 
 form, is not uncommon, but only temporary. It is a dis- 
 embodied spirit that connects itself with some person it 
 fancies, or wishes to use, or to carry out some earthly pur- 
 pose. Obsessing spirits are rarely advanced souls. It is 
 a form employed at times to disinthrall from earthly con- 
 ditions ; for some spirits cannot advance out of, or throw 
 off, earthly conditions, until they have done it through some 
 living form. It is the most common mode of physical 
 manifestation. A spirit that has possession will or can 
 do almost any thing it will, if the spirit of the person 
 so controlled gives way, or acts in concert with it. Such 
 may stop a function of the body. I have known one to 
 stop the action of deglutition, and throw a thing from the 
 stomach; to change, lift, and carry at will, and exercise 
 every power of the human form when conditions were favor- 
 able. Nearly all physical manifestations of mediums are of 
 possession. The force is from within, outward. One spirit 
 has possession, while a band may operate on the outside. 
 A spirit rarely possesses a person without the consent of 
 that person's spirit. It is either passively jielded, or the 
 two may act together to produce an effect. Muscular writ- 
 ing without the will is the control of this outride power. 
 
116 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 Trance is the passive yielding to another, or sometimes 
 the giving up the whole form and action of the brain to 
 another. A person's own spirit may entirely yield to 
 another. 
 
 UNCONSCIOUSNESS, DELIRIUM, INSANITY. 
 
 As has been frequently stated in these pages, the state 
 of the mind shows the condition of the spirit. It will be 
 asked, " What of unconsciousness, delirium, dementa, or 
 insanity, which are mental conditions ? " A general reply 
 would be, " The spirit is affected." 
 
 Unconsciousness is a true insensibility, — loss of the 
 power to take in mental or plrysical conditions. That the 
 spirit while associated with form and earthly conditions is 
 affected hy the same, is evident. That it is so, I know 
 from the many showings I have had from disembodied 
 mind. 
 
 There are very many causes producing unconsciousness. 
 Any thing that produces stupor of the intellect must affect 
 it, — drugs, narcotics, anaesthesias. The physical ailments 
 will, and are very apt to, hasten the dissolution of the 
 body. 
 
 That unconsciousness exists in another state is also true ; 
 but of this it is not here necessary to speak. 
 
 Delirium — a wild, irregular, disconnected, untruthful 
 state of the mind — is a temporarily disturbed state of the 
 spirit, either in or out of the form, and results from physi- 
 cal, mental, or elemental conditions, or perhaps from all 
 combined. 
 
 That the spirit may be affected outside of form by 
 repelling elements is seen in the young man affected while 
 on an excursion from his form, related in the chapter on 
 Duality. 
 
 Disembodied spirits that are inthralled by earthly 
 
UNCONSCIOUSNESS, DELIRIUM, INSANITY. 117 
 
 conditions carry with them often a low state of moral 
 feeling. Those who are unhappy are apt to show de- 
 lirium. Those who are not fixed in one sphere or the 
 other can not realize or take in the spirit-life. The 
 changes they have made are between two conditions. 
 More especially those that have been instantly sent out — 
 for instance, by a great calamity — will be for a time wild 
 and frantic, their ideas being disconnected and untruthful. 
 This is so manifest it requires no proof, but is a demon- 
 strated fact that it belongs to the spirit-self. In the 
 higher spheres, as spirit loses the condition of earth and 
 becomes more spiritual, no delirium is shown: for this 
 reason, it may be said that delirium belongs to earthly con- 
 ditions. 
 
 Insanity is purely and absolutely a condition of men- 
 tality. There may be a softening or inflammation of the 
 organic structure of the brain ; but this is disease, not 
 dementa. In fact, there may be a perfectly normal, 
 healthy state of the brain-structure, and insanity exist. If 
 it is considered that the brain- substance can not think, 
 will, nor plan ; that it is not the acting intelligence in man, 
 only an organ for a special purpose, — it is absurd to say 
 the brain is insane, more than to say the heart, the stom- 
 ach, is insane. If disease exist, there may be delirium 
 or unconsciousness, but not dementa. Insanity comes 
 from the condition in the spirit in reality, and exhibits 
 itself in as many forms as it has causes. It may be an 
 overtaxing of the intellectual capacity, domestic cares, or 
 unhappy feelings, disappointment in business or love, 
 remorse, jealousy, or revenge ; or it may be a weakening 
 of the intellectual power itself not able to keep up with 
 the requirements of mentality. Again : the spirit may be 
 turned to acting in a perverted groove or channel, and 
 this perversion becomes its normal state. This is the 
 most permanent form of derangement. 
 
118 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 There is a form of demoniac obsession, as well as the 
 influence and elements of disembodied mind, that will act 
 and show violent insanity ; but I have never found such 
 permanent, but am convinced that such foreign element 
 would not continuously to any length of time keep con- 
 trol. 
 
 Insane persons are conscious of their condition, yet not 
 able to restrain or overcome the difficulty. They realize, 
 remember, and distinguish persons, as well as do those of 
 sound minds : therefore they should be kindly and consid- 
 erately treated. And more especially is this true where 
 there is a fixed normal state. As this is a perverted state 
 of mentality, if long continued it is an injury to the intel- 
 lect and progress of the spirit by loss of opportunity all 
 require in external life. For this reason, the mind will 
 show its weakness for a time be} 7 ond the earth-life. But 
 in time this is dispelled ; and as the scenes of earth fade, 
 and finally disappear, it regains strength and clearness. 
 That there is a vast number of disordered, disembodied 
 minds in close proximity to earth, is a greater truth than 
 is generally supposed. 
 
 REST, SLEEP, AND DREAMING. 
 
 Rest is cessation from activity. It may be said, Nature 
 never rests ; which is true in regard to her ceaseless move- 
 ments in each and all directions : but in Nature's works 
 there are rests. The shrubs, plants, trees, do not cease- 
 lessly grow, bloom, nor bear fruit. There is rest, decay, 
 and rebuilding, continually. 
 
 Soul and intelligence are not Nature in the same sense. 
 There is an independence here which Nature does not 
 wholly control, although there are subjecting conditions to 
 Nature's laws. This intelligent life-essence is the prin- 
 ciple designated soul. Whether this principle is superior 
 
REST, SLEEP, AND DREAMING. 119 
 
 to Nature is an open question. The true relation existing 
 between nature and soul will be best understood to say 
 one acts in harmony with the other. 
 
 Intelligence, or properly the mind, can not be in cease- 
 less activity more in one condition than in another. As 
 we find on earth, the mind will not sustain ceaseless action, 
 and must have times of rest ; even the same in another 
 sphere, rest is required, and commands itself. Why it is 
 a necessity of mind to rest, I, perhaps, could not satis- 
 factorily show ; but it is a universal demand of entities. 
 It only varies according to circumstances and conditions 
 of individuals. 
 
 The rest may be a torpor, an unconsciousness ; or it may 
 be thoughtless inactivity, — an unconcerned listlessness for 
 the time being. But, with those of earth, regular and fixed 
 time is established, and takes the form of sleep. 
 
 Sleep differs from rest in this. It is the suspension of 
 the voluntary exercise of the powers of the body and 
 mind ; it is the closing of external senses : j et the mind 
 may have some susceptibility, as is shown in dreams. 
 
 That the conditions of sleep depend on the state of 
 both the mental and physical is well known. That it is 
 common to all animal life is also well known. But the best 
 pathologists living will not give a true statement of what 
 causes sleep : they only see the state, the effects, and 
 say it is forgetfulness, or a closing of the senses. 
 
 In the chapter on ' ' Occult Forces in Man ' ' a descrip- 
 tion is given of the structure of the brain, and the abiding- 
 place of the soul in the centre of the whole. The upper 
 brain, or cerebrum, is the intellectual brain entirely, and 
 rests completely during sleep ; while the cerebellum, or 
 lower brain, is the nerve-centre. Every part of the nervous 
 action reflects to this lower brain, and keeps it in rapport 
 with the whole structure continually. When one goes to 
 
120 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 sleep with no mental or physical disturbance, the spirit 
 likewise takes up a thoughtless listlessness, closes the 
 external senses, and sound sleep is the result. But let 
 the mind be disturbed from some cause according to cir- 
 cumstances, where then is sleep? What is the mind? It 
 is the spirit in the brain ; and that can not take rest from 
 its cares, worriments, or troubles : consequently there is 
 no sleep. 
 
 It has been shown before that the spirit is the senso- 
 rium, sensitive to the vibration of a nerve through the 
 lower brain. If there is such a disturbance and constant 
 vibration, rest is impossible to the spirit ; and wakefulness 
 is the result. 
 
 The spirit in sleep is not wholly torpid nor insensible ; 
 and when a disturbed, troubled part of the body exists, 
 there will be partial consciousness of the same in sleep. 
 This produces dreams, most likely of a tired, troubled 
 character. In fact, the sensorium is much affected by the 
 conditions of the physical during sleep. 
 
 There are many causes for dreams outside of the physi- 
 cal conditions. There may be whisperings from intelli- 
 gences. Disembodied spirits may be near, and cast some 
 influence, or communicate. But the most common is, that 
 mind acts on mind throughout space. Like a sensitive 
 plate, one may receive the reflection of another mind from 
 any plane of action. This will produce cloud3 T , irregular 
 dreams, without meaning or sense. Unless dreams are 
 vivid and impressive, they are without purpose. When 
 they are intended for a purpose, there will be a waking-up 
 from sleep, because the spirit will be vividly reminded 
 of it. 
 
 That the spirit may leave the form, and take excursions 
 in sleep, has been shown in reality. 
 
VALEDICTORY. — OUR SOLAR SYSTEM. 121 
 
 VALEDICTORY. 
 
 Iii taking leave of our reader, it must not be thought 
 that the subject-matter is exhausted in all its bearings. 
 Not so. But enough has been written to impart some 
 slight insight into truths that may be considered to be of 
 the greatest importance to man, and yet which are but 
 little understood. 
 
 All I have presented are facts, not conjectures. It is 
 absolute knowledge, not hypothesis, the seeker after truth 
 wants. I can only sa} r , that, at any time when there was 
 a doubt or uncertainty on a point, I would wait and ask 
 for information, and receive an audible reply coming from 
 distant spheres. 
 
 I trust that what I have written may not be in vain ; 
 that some may be profited by the same ; and that the les- 
 sons herein conveyed will be seed sown to future knowl- 
 edge that will permeate the human family, and bear fruit 
 to the good of all. 
 
 If this small work finds favor, I will give another re- 
 lating to the next sphere after death, showing that there 
 are occult forces moving the soul of man beyond the 
 grave, — the next most important condition to know, of 
 which all the ideas given convey but the smallest frac- 
 tional part of the truth. When man learns how the con- 
 ditions of this life affect another state of being, he will be 
 amazed to look at himself. 
 
 A short supplement on our solar system, given directly 
 by the higher intelligences, is presented as the concluding 
 chapter of this work. 
 
 OUR SOLAR SYSTEM. 
 
 Our solar s} T stem, in all its grandeur, all its immensity, 
 all its sublimity, is not understood by the minds of earth. 
 
122 TEE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 There is a law in its movements and relation to the whole 
 creation not comprehended by the denizens of earth. 
 We can here convey but few minutiae of the truth relating 
 to it ; but will commence with the earth, as that is the 
 most important for man to know, and go outward. 
 
 The centre of the earth is largely composed of elec- 
 tricity and mercury. With these elements — for they are 
 elements in nature — there are movement and friction ; and 
 a momentum is given to the whole body, producing diurnal 
 motion. There are other laws that operate on bodies in 
 motion ; but the main force is from the centre to the cir- 
 cumference. 
 
 It is not positive, but it is supposed that all planets are 
 moved and acted upon by the same laws and elemental 
 principles. Therefore the earth is electrical ; and this 
 condition comes to the surface, the external. From this 
 it will be seen, as we proceed, that heat, or the effects of 
 heat, is produced from the earth itself. As you go from 
 the surface of the earth into the atmosphere, you will find 
 that all its elements, gases, matter, have passed into the 
 atmosphere by evaporation and combustion. Its woods, 
 coals, oils, metals, have escaped by this process into the 
 atmosphere, and so into space, as ethereal gaseous matter, 
 to fill and take their places again in some other nubilous 
 formation in space. So every thing from earth may be to 
 some extent represented in other formations. This is the 
 law of all the planets alike. 
 
 The atmosphere partakes of all these conditions, and has 
 the electric elements of the earth in it. 
 
 The annual motion is given bj T another power from the 
 sun. This centre is the magnetic attraction of this sys- 
 tem : the same it governs to an extent that cannot be 
 clearly explained. From this solar centre comes the mag- 
 netic current that acts on all these bodies. 
 
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM. 123 
 
 That the earth is being consumed is true. Every lamp, 
 fire, and furnace is contributing to this result. All its 
 woods, coals, oils, minerals, extracted and given to fur- 
 naces and fires, are consuming it, lessening its bulk and 
 matter, which can never be restored in the same body. It 
 is slow combustion, and the inhabitants of earth are ac- 
 celerating the process of its change. 
 
 The sun is not a body of heat, nor is it of the same 
 appearance the eye sees it through the atmosphere. It 
 does not shine : it looks to spirit, or in space, like a body 
 of crimson light, as you would see it through a smoked 
 glass, or as it is seen to set at sea. Its shiny, glaring, 
 dazzling look comes from its effect on the electric atmos- 
 phere. Its magnetic currents, flowing through this vapor- 
 ous channel, draw out the electric forces of earth, which 
 give to it its appearance as well as its heat. It is in 
 accordance with the position of the earth, its incline, and 
 the angles and direction of these currents, that the sea- 
 sons are made. 
 
 The sun is a centre of spirit-strength and magnetic 
 force to every thing it reaches. Its size is very extended, 
 even to spirit-sight. It is growing, and not diminishing. 
 Its inner elements it is not essential for us to describe. 
 It is spiritual, magnetic ; and all the planets move by its 
 force. At the same time, all the planets are in a ratio 
 advancing toward it. 
 
 It has been recently demonstrated, by calculation after 
 the transit of Venus, that the earth was some millions of 
 miles nearer the sun than before calculated, and was ap- 
 proaching it. (The writer has not the figures at hand, but 
 saw it so stated.) The interior planets have been once 
 as far removed as any of the most distant. As planets 
 approach the centre, they become less in size, and more 
 spiritual. Therefore the interior planets are more advanced 
 
124 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 in spiritual conditions than the earth. Venus is said to be 
 in beautiful spiritual condition. 
 
 It is sometimes said these inside planets are younger ; 
 that planets are projectiles from the sun, offsprings of it ; 
 and that Mercury is the infant child. Not so. All facts, 
 and the tendency of the laws of these bodies and their mo- 
 tions, are proofs to the contrary. There is inconsistency in 
 such a supposition as well. 
 
 It is the rule laid down in astrology, that Mercury is 
 the intellectual planet ; that Mercury, ascending or ruling 
 at the nativity of a person, will give intellectual bias to 
 that person's elements. This is not denied. Is it con- 
 sistent to suppose that the infant, the least advanced, the 
 one under surveillance, could be the intellectual superior, 
 — would rule the intellectual spirit of one born under 
 its auspices? It is evident, either the rule or the state- 
 ment of its position is misstated. Mercury is the most 
 advanced, the nearest to its transition, in accordance with 
 the law of advance to the sun. There is a great mistake 
 made to associate great bulk, matter, and volume of plan- 
 ets with fineness, superior spirit, and intelligence : on the 
 contrary, as they lose in grossness, they become more 
 spiritualized. That these interior planets are not ex- 
 plored is because they surpass us, and spirit cannot go 
 beyond its sphere. No inhabitant of earth could reach 
 them. Whatever space outside may be seen belongs to 
 lower grades. 
 
 There is another planet next the sun, never yet found 
 through astronomical observation ; but it is so near to the 
 centre, that it may be incorporated with the sun. 
 
 Satellites are the offspring, the children, of the planet 
 they follow. They are the result of its evaporation and 
 elements escaping in its condensation : they partake of its 
 conditions, and are magnetically connected with it. In 
 
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM. 125 
 
 time, as there is less evaporation, the satellites become 
 less, and scatter into space : this is done by their dissolv- 
 ing and gaseous escapement. 
 
 The interior planets have no satellites at this time, 
 while the farther removed have more as they throw off 
 a larger amount of matter. The earth has had eight of 
 these offspring in the far-distant past. They only show 
 greater productiveness in a planet, and in its advancing 
 age they are lost. 1 
 
 The satellites are not solid earthy bodies, but more of a 
 gaseous element, — water, ice, lime, — and have no atmos- 
 phere, therefore are not inhabited by intelligent beings ; 
 but a certain species or kind of moving things are there. 
 
 Now we will take the reader outward, called superior, 
 but in reality younger, cruder, and more expansive, as 
 well as distant space, and begin with formation. 
 
 All the consumption of matter by combustion, decom- 
 position, and evaporation, causes a gaseous escapement, 
 which passes into space, and becomes ethereal matter. 
 This will accumulate in nubilous bodies, and, when it 
 becomes dense, will congeal. Thus a nubilous body is put 
 in motion. Motion gives rotundity, and the attraction of 
 its own system keeps it in its orbit. In this way every 
 particle of escapement of gross matter from the planets is 
 taken up, and re-formed in some other body. 
 
 It has the elements and electrical principles common to 
 all. The new body is usually of great bulk, watery or 
 gaseous, and is slow to become solidified. For ages incal- 
 
 1 Since this was put in manuscript, a brilliant astronomical discovery was made 
 in regard to the planet Mars ; namely, that this planet is accompanied by two sat- 
 ellites. On the 16th of August, 1877, at the Naval Observatory, D.C., Professor 
 Hall first observed one. After several days' observation, assisted by other pro- 
 fessors, a second satellite, much closer to the planet, was found. Thus, before 
 this work could go to press, the assertion that all the outside planets are accom- 
 panied by more than one satellite is verified by this noteworthy discovery of 
 science. Prior to this, Mars was not known to be accompanied by any satellite. 
 
126 THE LAWS OF BEING. 
 
 culable a change has been going on in its composition. As 
 this is done, it contracts, grows less and less in bulk, and 
 finally takes its place with solid bodies. All the seed- 
 germs of that from which it escaped are contained in this 
 nubilosity, and a repetition is made of what has previ- 
 ously existed. These bodies form on the outside because 
 there is space, and the ethereal vapor goes to the circum- 
 ference of its system in escaping. After they condense, 
 and begin to contract, they lose ; and the satellites are 
 thrown off as a surplus of gaseous matter. As they 
 advance to the centre, and are contracting, they are, in the 
 course of time, so lessened as to lose all the ethereal misti- 
 ness, and then become solid bodies. It is their law to 
 advance and contract, this is inevitable, while slowly and 
 by stages the forms of life are taken upon them ; always 
 the lowest first, and the higher as progress is made. This 
 progress is so exceedingly slow, that time can hardly be 
 thought of. There is a body not so very ethereal forming 
 at this time that fills an immensity of space, which in time 
 will be recorded as a newly-discovered body. Then, in 
 due time, it will fill our place ; and thus throughout the 
 whole universe change is continually in progress. 1 
 
 The more distant and removed a body is from the 
 centre, the less progressed and spiritually conditioned it is. 
 It is then the law, in these circles round the sun, to move 
 inward, — to advance to the sun-centre. As this is done, 
 there is more of the magnetic currents and influence of 
 the solar conditions which are intelligent. From this it 
 can be relatively estimated what the intellectual or intel- 
 ligent development of the exterior planets of this S3'Stem 
 are. We shall not undertake to analyze the individual 
 bodies ; space would not allow ; and it would be un- 
 
 1 Since writing this passage, a new planet is reported to have been discovered 
 in July or August, 1877; its location and movements noted. 
 
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM. 127 
 
 necessary. Some of them are well inhabited ; others 
 are not. 
 
 A thousand years are but the fraction of a second in time 
 in the movements and results of these bodies. Thus it is 
 impossible to note any thing like time in regard to them. 
 The age of your own sphere can be judged by this general 
 rule. How many must have come and gone from it dur- 
 ing the eight millions of years it has been inhabited by 
 animal life ! Its destiny is great. The law of progress 
 rules it : therefore it must advance, and not recede. It 
 will grow less as it is consumed, and more spiritual as it 
 nears the sun. In time it will be small as the least, and 
 nearest the centre. 
 
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