Class LL 
 
 Book 
 
 Copyright^°_ 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; 
 
LIFE'S PROGRESSION 
 
 RESEARCH IN METAPSYCHICS 
 
 EDWARD C. RANDALL 
 
 THE HENRY B. BROWN CO. 
 
 BUFFALO, N. Y. 
 
 MCMVI 
 
■ c r. 
 
 d\ 
 
 y\* 
 
 LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
 Two Cooies Received 
 
 APR 7 1906 
 
 A^XXe 
 
 ?«" 
 
 Copyrighted, 1906, 
 
 By Edward C. Randall. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
TO THOSE SPLENDID MINDS IN 
 THE SPHERES OF PROGRESSION, 
 WHO, VOICE TO VOICE, HAVE 
 TOLD ME TO WHAT LIFE LEADS, 
 I DEDICATE THIS BOOK. 
 
" Whoever hesitates to utter that which he thinks the 
 highest truth, lest it should be too much in advance of the 
 time, may reassure himself by looking at his acts from an 
 impersonal point of view. Let him duly realize the fact 
 that opinion is the agency through which character adapts 
 external arrangements to itself — that his opinion rightly 
 forms part of this agency — is a unit of force, constitut- 
 ing, with other such units, the general power which works 
 out social changes, and he will perceive that he may prop- 
 erly give full utterance to his innermost conviction, leav- 
 ing it to produce what effect it may." 
 
 Herbert Spencer. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 TO understand things as they are 
 the world must have truth. While 
 it has made gigantic strides in all 
 the arts and sciences, hardly a step has 
 been taken in the way that leads to a 
 knowledge of man's ultimate end. 
 
 Belief will not change natural law; 
 Faith will not save or condemn one ; Ig- 
 norance will not excuse one ; Traditions 
 stay progression, while doubt is the dawn 
 of reason. Why not find now, if pos- 
 sible, some solution of this problem and 
 what this life leads to ? Long ago I be- 
 came satisfied that nothing ever dies, that 
 those who in dissolution pass from this 
 earth-plane still live, and that, if the 
 conditions were made right, they could 
 talk with us voice to voice. Now, after 
 fifteen years' scientific research and ex- 
 periment, I have made a condition so 
 perfect that, with the aid of Mrs. Emily 
 S. French (whose psychic powers have 
 
been developed), I am able to carry on 
 freely conversation with spirits out of the 
 body. 
 
 Thousands who have passed through 
 the change called Death, who live and 
 labor in the world of thought around 
 and about us, have told me something of 
 the laws that govern all life beyond, what 
 they find, how they live, have talked of 
 their occupations and their progression. 
 In this book I give instances of that 
 which has thus been given to me, in 
 many cases using their own words as 
 marked in quotations. I have not given 
 the names of the great men and women 
 who have spoken, preferring at this time 
 to let their teachings appeal to the reason 
 of mankind. 
 
 I do not seek to prove that soul-life 
 follows dissolution, — that is self-evident 
 to all intelligent men and women, — but 
 to give some information of the charac- 
 ter and condition of that life among the 
 spheres of progression. I would reach 
 the thinkers, those who reason. Pearls of 
 thought are for those who dive deep ; in 
 the shallows one finds only pebbles. 
 These pages will not appeal to those who 
 
fear damnation as the penalty of search- 
 ing for truth. But there are many who, 
 working in the fields of knowledge, will 
 welcome a co-laborer. Such would I join, 
 bringing with me these teachings from 
 planes beyond. 
 
 It is time that men who know that 
 those out of the body can and do talk to 
 men, put away fear of the speech of peo- 
 ple, and lend the weight of personality 
 to this philosophy of truth. I know 
 many who acknowledge this fact in pri- 
 vate but who are silent in public, fearing 
 the arrows of criticism, poison-tipped 
 with prejudice. It takes courage to stem 
 the tide of public opinion, but when one 
 knows he ought to be brave enough to 
 stand up and be counted — no one can do 
 his duty and do less. 
 
 No one can realize more than I do how 
 great is this task. In the beginning the 
 way was blazed; but later I traveled 
 along uncharted ways through a wilder- 
 ness of information. It is with difficulty 
 that I clothe the philosophy that has 
 been given me ; but I have this satisfac- 
 tion, that every page has been reviewed 
 by spirits who have given me this knowl- 
 
 9 
 
edge, and that what is now given is true, 
 — a message from the spirit to the mate- 
 rial world. 
 
 I have no need of creeds nor use for 
 faiths. Positive knowledge has displaced 
 them both, and I have come to know 
 there is no death: there are no dead. 
 That change is one step only in life's 
 progression, in the unceasing march of 
 evolution, in which neither identity nor 
 individuality is lost, and that life goes on 
 and labor continues as the soul works 
 toward perfection, for Progress is an abso- 
 lute law that nothing can resist. I know 
 that what to us seems space is filled with 
 intelligent and comprehensive life, gov- 
 erned by laws more fixed and immutable 
 than our own. I know that origin and 
 destiny are no longer beyond the grasp of 
 the human mind : that spirit which is 
 life, when clothed with material, is visible 
 to the physical eye; when separated, is 
 invisible : that dissolution is not anni- 
 hilation, but liberation and opportunity. 
 I know that man has no Redeemer but 
 himself; that God is universal good and 
 dwells in the heart of all mankind. 
 
 Now we sail the intellectual seas, mak- 
 
 10 
 
ing soundings and charts on the farther 
 shore. We are coming to understand 
 and master the blind forces of Nature, as 
 we open the windows in the chamber of 
 thought, and to comprehend the economy 
 of natural law. The higher peaks are 
 being climbed, and lips grow rich with 
 words of truth. 
 
 Edward C. Randall. 
 August 10, 1905. 
 
 Li 
 
THE ANCIENT WOODS 
 
 WE speed so fast, the rush through 
 life blows back the flame we 
 carry. Leaving the heat and 
 strenuous life of the city I have come 
 far into the wilderness to a lodge in the 
 forest, that I may get close to Nature and 
 write of what I have learned of natural 
 laws that control one's spirit, its journey 
 and return. 
 
 During the summer days I leave the 
 trail and the many waters to my guests. 
 As they follow the shores, cross the lakes, 
 and explore the rivers, I linger in and 
 about the log cabin to fulfill a promise 
 made long ago. About me on every side 
 is the virgin forest. Mighty pines rear 
 their heads, tall and majestic. Balsam 
 and fir fill the air with aromatic odor. 
 All the hills and the ridges are clothed 
 with garments of green. The waters, 
 nestling among the hills, know nothing 
 of tempests and angry winds. Here 
 
 13 
 
strife is unknown and all is quiet, save 
 for the voices of the furtive folk whose 
 domain we invade. Here, in the morning, 
 the deer come down to drink, and at night 
 the bull moose calls. The partridge rears 
 her young, and, knowing no fear, flutters 
 in the trail, protesting because her family 
 is disturbed. 
 
 "Nature! Great, glorious Nature! 
 " How one thrills with the keen joy of 
 "her touch on a cool, bright morning, 
 " after a night bath has given fresh bril- 
 " liance to the green. The water smiles 
 "and sparkles at my feet, and the sky 
 " seems a deeper blue than that of yester- 
 " day. On a still, white, radiant night, 
 " when the moon touches everything with 
 "a silvery glow, when the only sounds 
 " are those of the gentle lapping of the 
 " water and sometimes the cry of our wild 
 "brothers in the woods, how peaceful 
 "everything is! These are the times 
 " when we are akin to Nature, when our 
 "spirits are uplifted and strengthened, 
 " and we feel the heart of the universe 
 " beating close to us." 
 
 How magnificent are the white clouds 
 along the border of the heavens these 
 
 14 
 
summer days ! Mountain peaks, blazing 
 in the golden light, reach upwards to the 
 concave sky, forming, rolling and blending 
 one into another as they dissolve and pass 
 beyond the vision. The sun rays speed- 
 ing earthward woos the waters, which, 
 responding in vapor, climb upward to 
 form and wander in the sky, until some 
 thirsty land shall win them back again. 
 Nature is working to replenish, always 
 taking from her abundance and distribut- 
 ing, that life may be nourished and 
 made more perfect. 
 
 In this rude cabin in the woods one 
 hears the voice of Nature as she speaks 
 her various languages. There is not a 
 cubic inch of space in all the universe 
 that is not filled with life. All life is 
 spirit; all spirit has soul when it has 
 developed to the intellectual plane, that 
 is, when it knows right from wrong. Life, 
 then, has intelligence; all intelligence 
 has language ; all language, expression. 
 The soughing of the wind among the 
 branches is the language with which the 
 trees speak. The wild flowers convey 
 thoughts by action and by perfume. 
 The wild creatures give alarm and tell 
 
 15 
 
the approach of danger by sounds and 
 scent. 
 
 Here, near to Nature's heart, there is 
 much to learn. Great thoughts crowd 
 for consideration and with them comes 
 a desire for expression. By what law, 
 one asks, are the stars held in place, 
 the stars that, in this clear atmosphere, 
 glow with such unusual splendor and 
 seem so near? What relation are they 
 to this Earth of ours ? Have they life ? 
 Are they, too, a part of Nature, as we 
 understand that term? What of the 
 hills and valleys that roll away, league 
 after league, like petrified waves on an 
 ocean ? Why do the wild ferns with their 
 luxuriant growth fill the woods, fringe the 
 waterways and cover the beaver meadows? 
 Why do flowers grow in the wilderness 
 with no hand to tend them? Why all 
 this life, motion, and beauty far from the 
 habitation of man? As one lives and 
 breathes, sees and feels all this, there 
 comes some appreciation of the immen- 
 sity and grandeur of it all, and knowl- 
 edge begins in wonder. 
 
 It is only in the forest primeval that 
 one stands in awe before the problem of 
 
 16 
 
his own life. Whence came this soul of 
 ours? Where and what was it in the 
 ages past ? What is to be done with it ? 
 What was intended should be done with 
 it ? What mission have we on this earth ? 
 Was it planned by the Infinite Mind that 
 designed all things, that man, the high- 
 est order of visible life, should spend his 
 days making and hoarding money? Or 
 is there something better that he has not 
 yet found? Is this life all there is, and 
 with the sleep we call Death is all ended? 
 Go into the wilderness alone, amid sur- 
 roundings that pulsate with energy, where 
 Nature, in all its languages, is speaking 
 to every sense, and consider the archaic 
 and mediaeval conceptions, the orthodox 
 teachings of life, and try to brush away 
 some of the relics of a dead past. 
 
 For many years I have been able to 
 talk, and I have talked with thousands 
 of those the world counts dead. Some of 
 the greatest and truest men and women 
 that have ever lived have been my teachers. 
 I have been a student of this awakening 
 philosophy. I have made no new dis- 
 covery, but by years of earnest work I 
 have made the conditions so harmonious 
 
 17 
 
that I am told I enjoy as perfect and as 
 complete speech with spirit as the world 
 has ever known. No qualification follows 
 this statement. The so-called dead still 
 live, and live here among and about us, 
 and if one will make the requisite con- 
 ditions he can talk with those who have 
 separated from the body just as satisfac- 
 torily as before. I know nothing of the 
 so-called phenomena, which legerdemain 
 and sleight-of-hand often imitate. When 
 we appeal to reason, imitation cannot 
 counterfeit and fraud cannot follow. Long 
 ago I started, free from prejudice, to find 
 the truth regarding the change called 
 death. I heard a whisper from that land 
 whence it is said no traveler returns, and 
 with it a hope was born that has ever 
 since been watered by desire and nourished 
 with effort. 
 
 In the spheres beyond I have many 
 friends. Some I knew before they went 
 away, but the great majority I have come 
 to know and love beyond this plane we 
 call the earth. They have been co-workers, 
 as friends and brothers, and together we 
 have labored; — they to give and I to 
 write the truth about the after life 
 
 18 
 
that so many are searching for. They 
 have said, "Go to your lodge in the forest, 
 " away from the busy, crowding, hurry- 
 " ing world. Go where Nature shows her 
 " strength and splendor and, in the forest 
 " fastness, write of the future life as we 
 " have told you. We have worked hard 
 " and waited long to give this understand- 
 " ing to the world, and we know you will 
 " give it as it was given you." 
 
 And now there comes appreciation of 
 the task to crystallize this progressive 
 philosophy. A great trust has been given 
 me, to which I owe fidelity, and it can 
 only be discharged by writing honestly 
 of what I have learned of life's progres- 
 sion. There is only one merit I claim — 
 it is absolutely truthful and deals with 
 many of the elementary laws of the new 
 science of "Metapsychics." 
 
 19 
 
SPIRITUAL BONDAGE 
 
 I DO not desire to become identified 
 with Spiritualism, Presbyterianism, 
 Episcopalianism, Catholicism, Juda- 
 ism, or any other of the many "isms v> 
 that have grown up among men. I am 
 working among natural conditions, the 
 same as geologists, biologists, chemists, 
 and other scientists. They do not ally their 
 work with denominational organizations ; 
 why should I mine, which differs only in 
 character? Bound a philosophy with an 
 "ism" and you limit its growth. No 
 man preaching, teaching, or writing within 
 proscribed limits ever does his best. The 
 great thinkers of all times have repudi- 
 ated "isms." They have worked with 
 open eyes and clear brains, and, climbing 
 the hills, have left all superstitions, faiths, 
 and creeds far below. 
 
 Science has made some progress and 
 declares : first, that there exist in nature 
 certain unknown forces capable of acting 
 
 21 
 
on matter ; second, that we possess other 
 means of mastery than those of reason or 
 of the senses. In other words, science 
 recognizes the existence of an invisible 
 world wherein unknown forces act intelli- 
 gently. 
 
 One fact has been fixed and immutable 
 since the dawn of time. Mankind has 
 always known that the span of earth life 
 is pitifully short at the most, that to each 
 the hour will come when he must make 
 the change called death, that he must 
 journey alone in the dark, shutting be- 
 hind him death's mysterious door, and 
 that he must leave the mortal form. 
 Space cannot stay this flight, sorrow can- 
 not delay it, and mere man cannot go 
 one step along the way into the unknown 
 spheres. 
 
 We know that the physical body is 
 material, or composed of matter, and 
 that, through dissolution, it goes back to 
 mingle with the substances from which it 
 was taken. We know likewise that it will 
 be used again for other forms of animal 
 and vegetable life. We know that the 
 laws of dissolution have no exceptions, 
 that the longest life is only a short jour- 
 
 22 
 
ney, that the time will come when the 
 brain will refuse its function, the mind 
 will falter, the heart will cease to beat, 
 and that man will leave the home built 
 with infinite care, will leave all the gath- 
 ered wealth of gold and, swifter than light, 
 will speed beyond mortal vision. Is this 
 oblivion? Is this the night that never 
 finds the dawn ? 
 
 Since the beginning of time, man has 
 labored to solve the problems of the uni- 
 verse. He has searched the sky, named 
 the stars and constellations, marked their 
 course, timed their going and their com- 
 ing, and even measured their distance in 
 space. He has gone down into the earth 
 itself and found in strata and rocks and 
 stones, records of our planet's different 
 evolutions. He has mastered the waves 
 of the ocean and made the winds his serv- 
 ants. He has drawn from earth and air 
 and sea and sky electric fluid to light the 
 world and furnish motive power, to send 
 the hitherto limited voice half across a con- 
 tinent, to speed messages through space at 
 his command. With splendid courage he 
 has tried to solve the workings of every 
 natural law. He has faced fearlessly 
 
 23 
 
every question except one, — the problem 
 of his own life. When man witnesses 
 the magnificence of nature, the birth and 
 development of visible life, he feels a rev- 
 erential awe, and in his heart there exists 
 the hope of a consciousness beyond the 
 grave and of eternal life. Every people 
 on the globe has this faith and expresses 
 it in one way or another. All men feel 
 that back of natural law is reason, that 
 back of effect is cause, that back of cause 
 is good. They believe that the infinite 
 spirit who planned all things had some 
 object in view when he set time limit to 
 existence in a single sphere. Few have 
 ever tried to work out the plan; have 
 ever tried to learn what follows dissolu- 
 tion. The church that assumes to guide 
 the thought and conduct of people, and 
 to prepare them for an unknown here- 
 after, has never made an effort to prove 
 that life actually does follow dissolution ; 
 has no real conception of the condition of 
 a spirit when out of the body, has no idea 
 where it will go, knows nothing of the 
 future, and sets its stamp of disapproval 
 on anyone who tries to find out. When 
 a man discovers a new material law the 
 
 24 
 
world applauds the act ; but should the 
 same man try to prove that there is no 
 death and that in another sphere spirit 
 retains consciousness and individuality, 
 and lives and labors on, what will happen ? 
 He will receive the censure of those who 
 praised him but yesterday. The mastery 
 and comprehension of this problem of 
 life is less difficult than measuring the 
 distance to the stars, the speed of light, 
 the weight and course of the planets, the 
 laws of gravitation, or of electric energy. 
 Were only a fraction of the time and 
 thought spent in modern discoveries and 
 inventions devoted to this great problem 
 the world would have some definite idea 
 of the journey's end. That the great 
 mass of people know practically nothing 
 of this proposition is deplorable, and that 
 they make little effort to find the truth 
 is to many incomprehensible. 
 
 Below the heights lie the stagnant 
 pools of ignorance and superstition. The 
 time was when those who reasoned and 
 had the courage of conviction were sub- 
 jected to physical torture. When Coper- 
 nicus demonstrated the movement of the 
 earth and the stars according to fixed 
 
 25 
 
laws, which were in violation of Biblical 
 teaching, he was forced to live in practi- 
 cal isolation and exile, and Christians 
 were forbidden to read his writings. 
 Bruno, one of the great thinkers of his 
 time, laid aside the frock of a Dominican 
 monk, hoping to obtain freedom of 
 thought and of speech. He wanted to 
 know whether the sun revolved about the 
 earth, as the priests taught, or the earth 
 about the sun, as Copernicus claimed. 
 For this research and for the expression 
 of his opinion, he was branded as a here- 
 tic and burned alive in Rome. Cardinal 
 Bellarmino said: "If the Copernican the- 
 " ory is true, it would be the absolute un- 
 " doing of the Bible and the destruction 
 " of the church. If the earth is only one 
 " of many planets and not the center of 
 " the universe, and other planets are in- 
 habited, the whole plan of salvation 
 " fails, since the inhabitants of the other 
 " spheres are without the Bible and Christ 
 "did not die for them." Galileo dis- 
 covered the isochronism of the pendulum 
 and the hydrostatic balance, and invented 
 the thermometer. With a telescope, or 
 "magic tube," as it was called, he saw 
 
Jupiter's satellites, and the moon's liba- 
 tion. He was charged with witchcraft 
 and was condemned not only for daring to 
 deny the accepted shape of the earth, 
 but also for suggesting that the Bible did 
 not contain the final facts of science. For 
 these things the greatest thinker of his 
 time was put in a dungeon by priests and 
 kept there until, broken in spirit, he was 
 forced to retract his statements in his own 
 scientific discoveries. 
 
 People shudder involuntarily when they 
 recall the massacre of St. Bartholomew, 
 the suffering of the Huguenots, and the 
 other wars waged in the name of religion. 
 When men now have the courage to think 
 for themselves and question theological 
 teachings they remember the Inquisition, 
 which was superior to all civil laws. They 
 remember that its representatives, hold- 
 ing the power of life and death, went to 
 all parts of the civilized world, hunting 
 out thinkers, whom they called heretics, 
 putting millions to torture and to death. 
 They recall, too, that these practices were 
 only entirely abolished seventy-one years 
 ago, — that is, within the memory of men 
 and women living to-day. While the loss 
 
 27 
 
of temporal power was a great blow to 
 Catholicism, the Inquisition is to this 
 day maintained as a branch of the Papal 
 College. It holds supervision over the 
 spiritual life of the church, with power 
 to censure such writings and speech as it 
 considers dangerous. The attitude of the 
 Catholic Church has changed since the 
 time of Bruno, Bellarmino, and Galileo. 
 The determination to maintain its theo- 
 ries, whether true or false, is yet strong, 
 but it cannot enforce them by the rack, 
 the thumb-screw, the dungeon, or the 
 wheel. The orthodox world remains a 
 mighty power. Though it has failed in 
 its contests against science, it still fights 
 against modern investigation of the 
 spheres beyond. There was physical pun- 
 ishment in the past for liberal thought; 
 there is social persecution in the present 
 for those who strive to understand the 
 problem of dissolution. In France, dur- 
 ing the eighteenth century, it was a crime 
 punishable by imprisonment to have in 
 one's possession a volume of the writings 
 of Voltaire. Thomas Paine was exiled 
 from England for publishing the " Rights 
 of Man," and censured by the Christian 
 
world for writing the "Age of Reason." 
 The churches, one and all, made common 
 cause in fighting Robert Ingersoll, whose 
 mission was to make men think. Un- 
 aided and alone, he waged relentless war 
 on the whole orthodox world. His logic 
 was unanswerable, his eloquence sublime, 
 and he did more to free the world from 
 spiritual bondage than any other man of 
 modern times. He aroused the indiffer- 
 ent and, by his fearless example, encour- 
 aged independence. Alfred Russell Wal- 
 lace, the foremost modern scientist of 
 Europe, claims to have obtained positive 
 evidence that life continues beyond the 
 grave. His associates say he is fooled, 
 cheated, duped. Sir William Crookes in- 
 vestigated natural conditions and found 
 an influence which he named "Psychic 
 force." He learned that there is an in- 
 visible world of spirit about us. His con- 
 temporaries accept his material discoveries 
 and reject his spiritual ones. When any 
 member of a community tries to solve a 
 psychological question he is censured and 
 condemned by the social world, as well as 
 by the church ; and no matter how well 
 his propositions are demonstrated, few 
 
 29 
 
publishers will print his conclusions, since 
 the fear of censure is still strong. Only 
 such fields of research are legitimate as 
 do not undermine old paths, traditions, 
 and belief. Nevertheless, man has made 
 progress of recent years, and he is making 
 search for evidence of life beyond. Writ- 
 ings on the subject are also received in a 
 more liberal spirit than they were a few 
 years ago. The time is near when the 
 public will receive knowledge of this field 
 without prejudice and will even welcome 
 it. Because men and women have long 
 lived in spiritual bondage, because many 
 generations have been taught that the 
 church was infallible and have been de- 
 nied the right of private interpretation, 
 and because the punishment for independ- 
 ence of thought has been so terrible, 
 two conditions have imperceptibly been 
 brought about: I. Indifference on the 
 subject. II. Secret investigation. The 
 result is that men of character and stand- 
 ing who have obtained evidence of the 
 continuity of life and the conditions of 
 life in the next sphere hesitate to speak. 
 Many who know something of what fol- 
 lows so-called death are silent because 
 
 30 
 
they fear the condemnation and disap- 
 proval that go close on the heels of public 
 speech. 
 
 The church ought to welcome evidence 
 that life, consciousness, and individuality 
 continue after dissolution, and it would 
 do so if the facts agreed with its teach- 
 ings. It is only because the actual con- 
 ditions do not harmonize with its theories 
 that relentless persecution has for cen- 
 turies followed the footsteps of individual 
 effort. Such opposition has delayed the 
 spiritual advance and development of 
 many in the spheres of progression. What 
 a mighty power for good the church 
 might be if it would just solve the prob- 
 lem of death as individuals have done, if 
 it would probe the conditions that one 
 enters after dissolution, learn just how 
 and where he lives, his occupation, his 
 environment, and his evolution; trace the 
 effect of conduct here on condition there, 
 and then preach the simple, positive, 
 forceful truth! Doubts, fears, dogmas, 
 superstitions, theories, and beliefs would 
 fade away, and truth, a new religion, 
 would enrich the world and reach the 
 heart of all mankind. 
 
 31 
 
The dream of the Pilgrim Fathers was 
 to build a nation free from religious per- 
 secution, yet they hunted those who had 
 intercourse with spirits and burned them 
 as witches. The Cambridge Synod found 
 and spread on its early records eighty-two 
 opinions: "Some blasphemous, others er- 
 roneous, and all unsafe, besides nine 
 "unwholesome expressions, and dismissed 
 "them to the devil in hell, from whence 
 "they came." 
 
 The first amendment to our Constitu- 
 tion provided that " Congress shall make 
 "no law respecting an establishment of 
 "religion, or prohibit the free exercise 
 "thereof, or abridge the freedom of 
 "speech." The theory was that the 
 people should have perfect freedom of 
 thought and of speech in all religious 
 matters, without fear or favor. The prac- 
 tical result of this provision, however, was 
 to make the church supreme. It has 
 sought ever since to maintain its autoc- 
 racy, holding itself independent of the 
 Constitution and superior to it. The 
 United States Government, with its Con- 
 stitution, with its army and navy, with 
 its courts and officers, cannot even now 
 
protect a citizen from religious censure 
 when he experiments with psychic forces. 
 For the thought of the people consti- 
 tutes public opinion, one of the most 
 potent factors in the world to-day. Offi- 
 cials fear it more than they do the law of 
 the land. Governments are swept out of 
 power by it and it holds kingdoms and 
 monarchies in check. It is a force that 
 one must contend with. 
 
 The churches do not want psychic in- 
 vestigation. They condemn all effort to 
 understand the metapsychic laws. They 
 fear that an understanding of natural 
 laws will bring an explosion of many of 
 their theories, will undermine faith, the 
 corner stone of their structure. 
 
 Why should the priesthood and the 
 clergy, why should the church, ridicule and 
 condemn a man for trying to prove that 
 there is an after-life? They themselves 
 preach it. Why don't they join hands 
 and say: "We will work with you. Let us 
 "help and, if your way can be proved, 
 " let us both serve as messengers to give 
 "the glad tidings to the doubting world ?" 
 
 The psychic sphere is still unknown, 
 unmarked. Only the border lands have 
 
 33 
 
been explored. The field is a mine of 
 wealth, rich in material that man can 
 gather for his uses. The unknown is 
 greater than the known. The material 
 forces that we knew not yesterday we 
 utilize to-day, and so it will be with these 
 spiritual ones. When one natural force 
 is discovered it does not follow that there 
 are no others. The time will never come 
 in this life when we can say we possess all 
 knowledge, we have discovered all forces, 
 we know all natural law. The scientific 
 world, to which we owe so much, has de- 
 voted its energies to matter rather than 
 to the life that is in all matter. In seek- 
 ing the material it has failed to recognize 
 the spirit. Science, likewise, has fixed 
 and determined the limits and boundaries 
 of research and looks with disfavor on any 
 forces outside of its field. To such these 
 writings will have little evidential value. 
 Men, dissatisfied with the old theories 
 of life, are studying the psychic world in 
 secret. They are working behind closed 
 doors with spiritual laws. The silent 
 thought looks for evidence that the so- 
 called dead live again, but only a few ever 
 try to prove it. Men dread ridicule as 
 
 34 
 
they do the pestilence. It is the weapon 
 of ignorance, the whip of prejudice. Few 
 of those who hold speech with individual 
 spirits proclaim the fact unflinchingly. 
 The weight of public opinion is against it. 
 Millions of people, the bravest and best 
 in all nations, are seeking knowledge of 
 the after life in a practical way. With 
 crude and undeveloped mediums they are 
 striving to master the laws of metapsy- 
 chics and to receive words and messages 
 from those in the life beyond. All that 
 has been accomplished, as yet, simply 
 demonstrates the possibilities within the 
 grasp of everyone. Men are coming 
 more and more to form their own con- 
 clusions and to think for themselves in 
 all matters pertaining to this philos- 
 ophy. The darkness of superstition is 
 passing, the teachings of years are fail- 
 ing in results. Public thought has be- 
 gun to change within the last decade. 
 The time is near when, without fear of 
 abuse, men will openly seek knowledge of 
 1 life in the world of spirit around and 
 about us and will proclaim this Philoso- 
 phy of Truth. The churches that shall 
 teach these laws have already been built. 
 
 35 
 
Happiness will then multiply, sorrow les- 
 sen, and fear find no lodgment in the 
 human heart. The world of spirit, this 
 so-called psychic sphere, offers to science 
 greater opportunities for discoveries than 
 the material world ever gave. Let this 
 research become popular and the results 
 will startle mankind. So great is the un- 
 conscious desire and longing for the truth 
 that only a match is needed to start a 
 conflagration in which the great mass of 
 erroneous writings will burn to ashes, and 
 out of these ashes will rise truth, the new 
 religion, to aid mankind to an under- 
 standing of universal good. 
 
 " There are those who know that there 
 " is truth in this philosophy and know that 
 " it reaches where all else fails. They feel 
 "its naturalness, its logic, its grandeur. 
 " They have grown beyond the old teach- 
 " ings and think about them with dissat- 
 " isfaction and unrest. They would wel- 
 " come the light of reason, but are afraid 
 " of the world's judgment of bold thinkers 
 "and pioneers. They are slaves bound 
 "with chains of fear and of tradition. 
 " Break the fetters, lift your faces to the 
 "light, and with strong, willing hands, 
 
 36 
 
" help to tear the bonds from other bur- 
 " dened souls ! Men ! stand forth ! fear- 
 less and powerful! A great, radiant 
 " happiness will be yours, and the censure 
 " of this little world will fail to sting." 
 
 37 
 
SPEECH WITH SPIRITS 
 
 THUS far I have considered con- 
 ditions and reasoned from material 
 laws. Now, I want you to come 
 with me, to draw aside the curtain, and to 
 contemplate the spirit-world toward which 
 we speed with unconscious steps. Let me 
 preface this subject by saying that I am 
 not a medium, and that I possess no greater 
 ability than another. What I have done 
 all can do. What has been given me, 
 will be given all, if they seek it with 
 honest endeavor. We get nothing in this 
 world without effort. The fish that swim 
 the waters must search for food, the wild 
 animals that roam the forests must hunt 
 or perish; man must labor. No life can 
 exist without action. Animal life, like 
 human life, must learn wisdom by indi- 
 vidual effort. Happiness is the result of 
 effort. Such is the natural law of being, 
 and back of every natural law is reason. 
 For years I have traveled, following 
 
 39 
 
the blazed trail — Nature's paths — in the 
 forest of knowledge. The criticism, oppo- 
 sition, and ridicule that follow any pioneer 
 may come to me. If one walks with the 
 crowd in the broad thoroughfare he goes 
 unnoticed, but if one leaves the throng 
 and takes a step into the unknown, he 
 hears the comment, the sneer, and the jeer 
 of ignorance and prejudice. Before me 
 have gone Flammarion, the great astron- 
 omer; Ruskin, the critic; Tolstoi, the 
 humanitarian ; Savage and Newton, great 
 preachers, and thousands of other think- 
 ers and brave men, bearing torches that 
 have made the pathway light. What 
 has come to me through spirit teaching 
 illustrates what is within the reach of any 
 citizen of the state, without detriment to 
 his business or profession. The dawn of 
 knowledge and understanding has touched 
 the night of doubt, and mankind is com- 
 ing to feel and appreciate the possibilities 
 of spiritual advancement here on this ter- 
 restrial sphere, without waiting for the 
 next life. 
 
 I recall the quiet village where I was 
 born, and the procession of men and 
 women going solemnly to the old Meth- 
 
 40 
 
odist Church every Sunday. Dr. Hall, 
 the pastor, was a grand man to look 
 at, and each Sunday he told us what poor 
 miserable sinners we were. "Repent, 
 " Repent," was his cry. " Remember the 
 " man in the horrible pit of miry clay, 
 " who intended to acknowledge Jesus, but 
 " didn't ; remember that he went down in 
 " the quicksand, that he went alone, with- 
 " out hope, without God, to darkness and 
 " despair. Confess your sins and acknowl- 
 edge the Saviour. Do it to-day, to- 
 " morrow may be too late," he shrieked 
 again and again. " Remember, the 
 " man in the quicksand." We listened in 
 silence, and the locusts buzzed in the trees 
 outside. Then we went out into the sun- 
 shine again, the flowers opened to the sky, 
 the robins, wooing and mating, sang mer- 
 rily among the trees, and all the world 
 seemed glad — all but I. I was think- 
 ing of the horrible pit of clay and going 
 down to Hell. When I entered business 
 and professional life, I was forced to ana- 
 lyze propositions, to reach conclusions 
 from facts. I attended different churches 
 and I heard many arguments. I read the 
 Bible and the history of the time in which 
 
 41 
 
it was written. I went among church 
 people and found discord. I went into the 
 wilderness and found harmony. I studied 
 the books of many peoples and found that 
 each had a Redeemer, that each had many 
 "isms " and sects, that each claimed the road 
 to Paradise ran through its creed. I was 
 searching for truth, for an understanding 
 of life, for the rights we possessed, for our 
 duties to each other, and for the ultimate 
 end. These questions troubled me. I 
 was inclined to accept the Christian teach- 
 ing, although the Vedantic philosophy 
 appealed to me most; but both were 
 unsatisfying. I read with satisfaction 
 these words written by Omar Khayyam 
 in the eleventh century : 
 
 " I sent my soul out into the infinite, 
 Some letter of the after life to spell, 
 And bye and bye my soul returned to me and answered, 
 I myself am heaven and hell." 
 
 My search for light was long and earnest, 
 the pathway often lonely, dreary, and 
 unsatisfactory. Any man, witnessing the 
 splendor of Nature, feels a reverential awe, 
 and the hope of after life comes into his 
 heart, — but where the evidence, where 
 the door into the sanctuary of truth? 
 About the year 1890, a friend in whom I 
 
 42 
 
had confidence, said to me, "Will you go 
 "with me to-night to see Mrs. Emily 
 "S. French? She possesses a strange 
 " power, claims to get independent voices 
 " and messages from the spirit world." 
 This was an unexplored field to me. I 
 went, and found there two others, both 
 men of national reputation. We sat in a 
 dark room for two hours, and heard what 
 purported to be voices, though they were 
 only faint whispers. We were not at all 
 satisfied, but could not condemn, because 
 we did not understand. We found Mrs. 
 French far along in years, of rare refine- 
 ment, a beautiful character, and, we were 
 satisfied, a perfectly honest woman. We 
 did not then believe that the whispers 
 came from the great beyond, but, mysti- 
 fied, we determined to know what they 
 were. To me there was a suggestion that 
 offered great possibilities. Such was the 
 prejudice, so unpopular the subject, and 
 in such awe of the speech of people did I 
 start that I conducted my investigations, 
 night after night, and year after year, in 
 secret and in silence. Baffled in my analy- 
 sis, failing to understand or to compre- 
 hend by what law the so-called dead could 
 
 43 
 
speak, my undertaking seemed at first an 
 opportunity to demonstrate the falsity of 
 this natural philosophy. 
 
 There is only one law governing all 
 things spiritual and material. It is the 
 law of Nature. I was told early in the 
 work that there was no limit to progress 
 if one would labor earnestly and honestly, 
 and that it was possible, if I would aid 
 in perfecting conditions, to get the inde- 
 pendent metapsychic voices full and reso- 
 nant; that, with such perfection, there 
 would come teachings from the best 
 minds that ever lived ; that we could do 
 a great work among those who, having 
 crossed the borderland, now needed such 
 aid as only those still in the body could 
 give through material vibrations and 
 conditions ; that it was possible to work 
 in harmony with natural law and with 
 spirits who could and would labor with 
 me, and to awake and bring to conscious- 
 ness countless thousands. It was prom- 
 ised, too, that they would mingle 
 mission-work with information as to 
 the state that follows dissolution, and 
 that they would give me knowledge of 
 the next world as fast as I was able 
 
 44 
 
to comprehend. The challenge was ac- 
 cepted. I promised, if convinced, satis- 
 fied and qualified, to give such spiritual 
 enlightenment to mankind as I could. 
 
 Night after night Mrs. French and I sat 
 and talked and listened in darkness. Why 
 in darkness? do you ask. Because in 
 light there is motion. In order that the 
 spirit may talk with audible voice it must, 
 for the moment, be clothed with material. 
 Motion disintegrates matter. Everything 
 that ever lived was born in the dark. In 
 this condition, then, the whispers came 
 more distinctly. Words were uttered, 
 sentences formed, until in time, out of the 
 darkness, in my own home, surrounded 
 by conditions that I myself made, voices 
 full and clear came, filling the room, rever- 
 berating through the whole house, — meta- 
 psychic voices which any could hear as well 
 as I myself, and which many have heard. 
 With these voices came splendid speech, 
 great lectures, much knowledge. We were 
 told that in space and from the beginning 
 there have been two elements. One we 
 call "spirit"; the other, "matter." Spirit 
 lives and feels and never dies. It strug- 
 gles constantly after knowledge, and uses 
 
 45 
 
matter to aid its development. In our 
 individual inception, according to natural 
 law, an atom of life-force from the great 
 universe, which is all life, is clothed with 
 material, and thus becomes an individual 
 conscious spirit, ever growing, ever chang- 
 ing, ever developing, according to the un- 
 written laws of evolution and progression. 
 Death is but one of the natural changes 
 in the march. It is no more radical than 
 many others with which we are familiar, 
 and no more to be feared. The body is 
 but the temporary abiding place, the 
 house of the spirit while here. Like the 
 building of brick or wood, it wastes, de- 
 cays, is repaired and renewed. When no 
 longer fit for habitation it is abandoned. 
 
 The spirit from day to day and from 
 year to year gathers knowledge, learns to 
 walk and to express itself in language, 
 grows in stature, greets the morning of 
 manhood, knowns the noon of labor, and, 
 growing old, as we count time, rests in the 
 evening of life. This, I say, the " spirit " 
 does. The body utilizes the food, which, 
 converted into blood, courses through the 
 arteries and veins, carrying infinitesimal 
 particles, to replace the waste matter on 
 
 46 
 
the framework of the spirit. The spirit 
 form possesses and inhabits every material 
 organ and limb of the so-called body, 
 which is utilized as the outer garment. 
 This changes constantly. The body that 
 the spirit inhabited but a few years ago 
 has already gone back to mingle with the 
 elements. The important entity is the 
 "spirit"; the secondary matter is the 
 body; yet mankind, mistaking the rela- 
 tion, develops the latter at the expense of 
 the former, forgetful that the spirit can 
 hunger and thirst, and that it, too, must 
 have the active mental food we call under- 
 standing. 
 
 The room in which we hold communi- 
 cation with the spirits was constructed as 
 directed by our spirit band. It is conse- 
 crated to this work, and naught but har- 
 mony enters. In the day, the sun, so 
 essential to life, floods it, and in the even- 
 ing, when our labor begins, the curtains 
 are drawn and darkness fills the room. 
 Cloud-like substances form and change, 
 evidence of gathering spirits. Magnetic 
 and electric lights float and fall, but give 
 forth no lumination. Then they greet 
 us, and we them, with words of welcome 
 
 47 
 
and fellowship, as do guests and host in 
 any home. Usually, some one advanced 
 in the other life is introduced, and he 
 speaks on some special subject. In this 
 manner, we are taught. We may ask 
 for a lecture on any subject; and the 
 same evening, or at a subsequent time, it 
 will be given by a master mind. I have 
 never heard such teachings and magnifi- 
 cent discourses in the material world. 
 Our circle is known in that other life, and 
 thousands are always waiting to come 
 within the vibrations that have been 
 formed. They seek to throw off the ma- 
 terial conditions that still impede their 
 progress. Our co-laborers bring those 
 who are in a state of unconsciousness to 
 awaken them beyond the grave through 
 the material vibrations made. Hundreds 
 in the same mental attitude are gathered 
 at a time. One, two, or more, the best 
 qualified, are selected, who, taking on the 
 proper condition, talk with us and with 
 the band working with us; while the 
 many wait, watch, listen, and so obtain 
 the same lesson and the same help that 
 the spirit speaking does. 
 
 In this branch of the work, a voice 
 
 48 
 
comes out of the darkness, in greeting, 
 often bewildered. Many a spirit knows 
 nothing of the flight of time. It grasps 
 the thread where it was broken, and I 
 have heard a sentence finished that was 
 apparently started when dissolution came. 
 The thought that was uppermost when 
 the shadow fell is the dominating idea 
 when the awakening comes. Then, with 
 all gentleness and patience, we guide the 
 thoughts to the new surroundings. The 
 spirits tell us that death nearly always 
 comes before they are ready. It seems 
 that those who belong to this class are so 
 material, that we who are in like condi- 
 tion alone can penetrate the wall of dark- 
 ness that they have unknowingly built 
 about their mentalities, and so, reach 
 them. When this is done, and they 
 realize what and where they are, they 
 look about and see those long mourned. 
 Then come the joyful greetings. Hands 
 clasp hands, and many voices speak words 
 of welcome and courage. I have heard a 
 man, who, seeing the face of one whom 
 he has wronged, cry out in agony and 
 fear. I have heard words of happiness 
 when a mother clasped a long-lost child ; 
 
 49 
 
or husband, a wife. I have heard the 
 trembling language of old age and the 
 prattle of little children. All that I have 
 said is but a suggestion of what has come 
 and is coming. 
 
 In twenty years one sees that progress 
 has come on lightning's wings. Then we 
 could not see through solid matter, but 
 Radio- Active substances have changed the 
 theory of sight and revolutionized the 
 practice of surgery. Then the voice was 
 limited to hailing distance; now it spans 
 the continent. Then the utilization of 
 electricity was in its infancy. Marconi, 
 in violation of all acknowledged principles 
 of science, now conveys messages without 
 wires. The discovery of Radium has 
 shattered the foundation on which the 
 scientific world has worked. Were it not 
 for prejudice and for church teaching, 
 would you regard these facts of which I 
 treat as any more marvelous ? But for 
 these hindrances would they not be ac- 
 cepted and adopted? The telephone is 
 the medium of communication between 
 man and man, and it is now almost neces- 
 sary in business for speech. I, too, use 
 a medium in my intercourse, but it is 
 
 50 
 
human. She knows the wants and needs 
 of those beyond; the thirst and hunger of 
 mankind here, and gives her time and 
 strength ungrudgingly for the elevation 
 and the happiness of both. 
 
 51 
 
THOUGHT BUILDING 
 
 IT is now conceded by all thinkers 
 that "mind is matter,'' and that 
 "thoughts are things." The ques- 
 tions may now properly be asked : What 
 kind of matter makes mind ? and, When 
 do thoughts become things ? Mind can- 
 not be material, else it would be visible 
 to the eye and tangible to the touch. As 
 there is but one other possibility, it must 
 be spirit-matter, like all life. Does the for- 
 mation of words in the process of express- 
 ing a thought, create this matter ? If so, 
 in violation of all known law, something 
 is made out of nothing. As this is im- 
 possible, the spirit-matter out of which 
 thought-things are made, existed before. 
 The mental process of thought build- 
 ing takes from Nature this substance, 
 this unfashioned material — as invisible 
 to the physical eye, as mind itself — 
 moulds and models it into what we call 
 thoughts, and they become ours. They 
 
 53 
 
are just as much a part of us as our 
 hands. 
 
 "These thoughts so builded, while not 
 " necessarily expressed in words, do take 
 " form, character, and shape. But in this 
 "connection we distinguish moods and 
 66 feelings purely physical, and suggestions 
 " caught and held by the brain that have 
 " not been crystallized. It is only when 
 " they have taken such definite form that 
 " they become real. Until this time they 
 " are embryonic." 
 
 When, then, we take spirit material 
 and make of it a thought, it becomes 
 ours, and never for a moment leaves us. 
 The vibrations in the ethereal atmosphere 
 set in motion at its birth are like the 
 waves caused by a pebble thrown into 
 the sea, they never cease. Such potential 
 force is active for good or evil during 
 all time. There are many planes in this 
 life as well as in spirit-life. Some are 
 very low in the scale of progression, but 
 each is individual, now and always, and 
 the character of all thought-building 
 depends on the advance that has been 
 made. The vicious do not have the same 
 thoughts as the kind. The selfish do not 
 
 54 
 
construct the same thoughts as the chari- 
 table. Immorality does not work along 
 the path of virtue. So each builds accord- 
 ing to his understanding, ambitions, and 
 desires. 
 
 All labor hard that they may have and 
 enjoy raiment and shelter. Every person 
 desires to be well clothed, and spends 
 some time in the selection and planning. 
 Every one appreciates the comfort of a 
 home, and works and saves that he may 
 possess one. When the funds are accu- 
 mulated, the house is designed with care, 
 and erected to meet the taste and require- 
 ments of the owner. He wants it sub- 
 stantial and he wants the furnishings in 
 keeping with the environment. It was 
 designed and constructed in the brain 
 first. More or less intelligent thought 
 preceded all physical effort. This home 
 is at best only a temporary abiding place. 
 For this whole journey, which we call life, 
 is at most only a day in eternity. Now, if 
 the home on this material plane often costs 
 such effort, and often takes the better 
 part of a life to make comfortable and 
 beautiful, what of the real home that we 
 shall occupy down the ages, in the realm 
 
 55 
 
of spirit ? This, too, each is building of 
 the thoughts of daily life. Will it be 
 shapely and fair if erected without plan, 
 without design, in ignorance, in supersti- 
 tion ? 
 
 Spirit is thought, and thought is indi- 
 vidual spirit. Individual spirits are not 
 alike. Our bodies are material ; the earth 
 is material; but they differ. On this 
 plane, we surround and clothe spirit 
 with material matter. In the next life 
 spirit is surrounded and clothed with 
 spirit-matter, differing also in quality. 
 In the change called death, this indi- 
 vidual spirit of ours is separated from 
 the matter which clothed it and with 
 which it worked, and then has only 
 to do with spirit material. When we say 
 that mind is matter, we mean it is tan- 
 gible, substantial, individual. When we 
 say that thoughts are things, we mean 
 that in spirit they appear and are as 
 solids, fashioned as we have made them. 
 In dissolution many things, broadly speak- 
 ing, are reversed. What was material, or 
 solid matter, is no longer so. Spirit can 
 actually pass through it as easily as we 
 apparently think through it. What with 
 
 56 
 
us has no tangible solidity, becomes to 
 spirit as material as mountains and hills 
 are to us. This is what we mean when 
 we say thoughts are things. As we clothe 
 our bodies with garments each day, so we 
 are clothing our spirit with our daily 
 thoughts. As this is so, how important 
 it is that thought be clean ! We can cast 
 away our clothing when soiled, but 
 soiled thoughts cling to the spirit. Good 
 thoughts and good acts go with the spirit 
 and light the way. By the life he leads 
 and the thoughts he individualizes and 
 solidifies, each one is to-day building a 
 condition, a home, into which he must 
 enter in the moment of dissolution. 
 Every thought adds to the house of the 
 spirit, characterizing, typifying, and pic- 
 turing the deed, be it good or bad. It is 
 just the same as if each brick in a mate- 
 rial house could give a history of the secret 
 thought and motive of the inhabitant so 
 all passers-by could read and understand. 
 The spirit of man is individualized 
 thought, surrounded and clothed by spirit- 
 matter that he has gathered. Whether 
 it be what he desires depends on how he 
 has lived and the thoughts that he has 
 
 57 
 
gathered and taken with him into the 
 after life. All that came from spirit he 
 takes. All that came from material he 
 leaves behind. The latter includes all 
 moneys, lands, and houses. So those the 
 world calls rich may be poor in the life 
 that follows and may there live in a hovel. 
 And the poor here may find a home of 
 beauty and splendor in the world to come. 
 This is the only wealth we carry with us, 
 when we are permitted to progress. This 
 we cannot inherit. It cannot be builded 
 for us. The character and effect of 
 thoughts can best be shown by quoting 
 the exact words given me by a spirit on 
 this subject : 
 
 "Thought is a wonderful force and 
 "even we cannot grasp its magnitude, 
 " nor understand all its power. It is a liv- 
 "ing, vital thing. A thought born in 
 " your mind is for good or evil, a thing to 
 "be reckoned with again, when it will 
 " confront you face to face and claim you 
 "as its author. The best thoughts are 
 "those born of Nature in its beauty, 
 "rather than those that have had the 
 " touch of material hands. I would like 
 " to say something, too, about the beauty 
 
 58 
 
u of pure thought, how it returns to one 
 "after earth life, laden with sweetness 
 " and intensified tenfold. You cannot re- 
 alize all each good, generous, noble 
 "thought will mean to you some day, 
 " even if it never grows into an act. Evil 
 "thoughts breed darkness and despair, 
 " cling to the soul, go with you into the 
 " after life, and become your close famil- 
 " iar friends. You are never rid of them 
 " a moment until you have taken them 
 "up one by one and lived them over 
 " again. The power of suffering for evil is 
 " increased on this side of the vale, just as 
 "joy is intensified beyond anything you 
 " can feel. Such joy you have from your 
 "good thoughts and deeds. A thought 
 " can have many branches, but the parent 
 " stem is planted deep in your own soul, 
 "and only your hand can remove it in 
 " the future. If it be good it will bear 
 " richer fruit each year. When you have 
 "traveled and especially enjoyed any 
 " scene, you have a picture of it in your 
 " spirit home, just as books you own are 
 "found on the shelves. Music will fill 
 " the home of the sensitive, and so on in- 
 " definitely. This is the home of which 
 
 59 
 
'spirits speak. It practically becomes 
 ' your house. Your thoughts do not look 
 ' to us like anything in a material sense. 
 ' They are felt. They create an atmos- 
 ' phere that is like a cloud around you, 
 ' and this condition is easily discernible 
 ' by us and felt by sensitive spirits in the 
 ' body. All thoughts are not necessarily 
 ' known until the spirit himself is con- 
 ' fronted by them. Then they stand out 
 'prominently to him. But even then 
 'others may be only conscious of his 
 ' character by the conditions he is forced 
 ' to undergo before he can overcome the 
 ' evil ones. We may know the thought 
 ' when it is formed, and then, again, we 
 ' may know it by the conditions made in 
 'spirit-life. Thoughts are around the 
 ' persons who create them, but they are 
 ' not confined there, for they go as well 
 'to build the home in the spirit- world. 
 ' While it is true that they are stored in 
 ' millions of brain cells, they are also all 
 ' about one, forming an aura. This is 
 'the influence one feels when he comes 
 ' into the near presence of strong mental- 
 'ities. Sometimes it is pleasant, often, 
 'not. This is the spiritual part of the 
 
 60 
 
" thought. What is in the brain is more 
 " material, — of a consistency that is easier 
 "for man to use, if he desires to retain 
 "knowledge of any kind. These ideas 
 " are hard to put into words. They are 
 "subtle. There is a color, a note of 
 "music, a perfume, a spirit all in each 
 " close harmonious thought. A chord of 
 " music will cause the color vibration that 
 " belongs to it; the perfume that belongs 
 "to that same vibration can cause the 
 " same color, and the perfume can cause 
 "the harmonious thought. You can 
 " truthfully say that thoughts are dif- 
 " ferent notes of sound." 
 
 61 
 
LIFE DOES NOT END 
 
 MY instruction has been splen- 
 did. Among the teachers have 
 been such spirits as Channing, 
 Beecher, Talmage, Xngersoll, Hough, Dr. 
 Hossack, Segoyewatha, and hundreds of 
 others. Lectures from such men, speak- 
 ing in their own independent voices, 
 materialized for the time, leaves no doubt 
 as to what follows death. I have never 
 heard such matchless oratory, such ser- 
 mons, such thought expressed by the liv- 
 ing as I have from the so-called dead. 
 They tell me that we are as much spirit 
 to-day as we ever will be. We are not 
 all that we can become ; but there will be 
 no sudden acquisition. Death itself will 
 add little to present knowledge ; nor will 
 it enlarge our opportunities to any 
 marked degree. Opportunities are just 
 as great with us here as they ever will be. 
 Here and there all depends upon individ- 
 ual effort. Labor is endless. The goal 
 
 63 
 
recedes as we approach. There was no 
 beginning, there is no end, and on 
 through eternity there will be something 
 for us to do. There will be greater 
 heights to climb, greater knowledge to 
 acquire, greater charity, greater love, 
 greater perfection. If there is a point at 
 which there is no knowledge to acquire, 
 or work to do, we might then, in the 
 interpretation of the Church, become gods. 
 
 According to my instruction, death is 
 a moving out, a vacating of the earthly 
 habitation, a separation of the spirit from 
 the body. As it is, then, a natural inci- 
 dent, it is painless, sometimes conscious ; 
 but more often unconscious, and the 
 awakening is like the coming from be- 
 wildered sleep. We were the same last 
 night before sleep as we are this morning, 
 and we have the same surroundings. We 
 shall be the same after dissolution as be- 
 fore, and probably we shall be in the same 
 place. Where would you go, except to the 
 home you have made, except to those you 
 love, to those who, because they are ignor- 
 ant of your presence, mourn your absence ? 
 
 Death is like birth, with this exception : 
 In death one takes with him the knowledge 
 
 64 
 
and development acquired in this material 
 existence* which we are told is a period of 
 preparation for eternity, as we call it, the 
 preface to the book of life. There is no 
 break. There is only progression to 
 greater possibilities. If, then, this stage 
 was intended for preparation and develop- 
 ment, what effort has been made to 
 understand the laws of life ? What spir- 
 itual understanding has come ? One has 
 labored here for the accumulation of 
 money for old age, but what wealth has 
 he accumulated for his support and main- 
 tenance down the pathway of eternity? 
 How is he prepared to journey into the 
 unknown ? I blame the Church for the 
 ignorance of the world, and I pity those 
 who accept its teachings without question. 
 Reasoning from material laws, it is 
 hard to comprehend what spirit is. I 
 am taught that it is conscious, visible 
 thought — soul-life, freed from the con- 
 fines of the body —that spirit appears to 
 spirit as material as does man to man. 
 Assuming that he passes consciously, he 
 may stand beside his body in the 
 same room, see and feel himself as in life, 
 move his arms, walk, think, and act, just 
 
 65 
 
as before. His old body is before him. 
 He may see the falling tears of the loved 
 ones, hear their cries, and feel the anguish 
 that fills their hearts. He speaks, they 
 do not hear. He cries aloud that he is 
 not dead. His arms are about them; 
 but they cannot feel. Then a great fear 
 falls upon him. Why don't they hear ? 
 Why don't they answer? What has 
 happened ? This cannot be death. There 
 is no Saviour here, no God. He is still 
 at home, though his body lies in its wind- 
 ing-sheet, calm and still. Monstrous is 
 the institution that assumes to prepare 
 man for this change without any con- 
 ception of what it really is ! Terrible 
 that men with splendid mentalities let 
 the Church think, act, and guide in a 
 matter so important! Would you take 
 a day's journey without preparation and 
 thought of your needs and requirements ? 
 What, then, of this journey, into the 
 dark beyond ? Would you accept the 
 statements or opinions of the Church if 
 a dollar was involved ? Yet, viewed 
 broadly, how insignificant is all the 
 wealth of the world compared with the 
 preparation for this time ! 
 
 66 
 
If this life has been lived in harmony 
 with natural law, if one has done right, 
 and, hearing the voice, followed the dic- 
 tates of conscience (which is the spirit of 
 God), if he has been just and considerate 
 among men, and has done the best accord- 
 ing to his understanding, then those who 
 have gone before are able to reach and greet 
 him with words of comfort and consola- 
 tion. He sees and recognizes old friends, 
 and they explain to him the laws and 
 conditions that henceforth must govern 
 him, under which he must live and work. 
 They become his teachers. He comes to 
 himself. He appreciates and sees that all 
 solids here possess life and conscious indi- 
 viduality. He learns that all life, like 
 man, has language, or means of commu- 
 nication. He learns that the rocks, the 
 trees, the flowers and growing grain, all 
 animal and vegetable matter, continue to 
 live, and in the spirit-world there is the 
 conscious spirit of everything that we have 
 and much that we know not of, that dis- 
 solution is not the end. The spirit freed 
 from material can climb the heights, like 
 our thoughts, can speed over mountains 
 of ice and snow, through the valleys, over 
 
 67 
 
oceans, through foreign lands, can circle 
 the globe, and in time, in ethereal regions, 
 go to the other planets, can soar through 
 unfathomable heights to the stars ; for in 
 spirit, as in thought, there is no space 
 or time. No limit can be placed on what 
 is accomplished there. Here the spirit is 
 confined to the body and, until such time 
 as it is separated, it is limited in move- 
 ment. The body forms the swaddling 
 clothes of the soul, to be worn until it 
 can live independent of material. 
 
 So, then, all is well with one who has 
 lived in harmony and gone from among 
 us rich in good deeds. Over the border, 
 there is great rejoicing. With the spirit 
 the day of dissolution, like our day of 
 birth, is one of gladness; for it means 
 advancement, progress, greater advan- 
 tages, greater development, and the love 
 and companionship of friends. That is 
 what all the world is seeking. This is 
 Heaven, as I understand it, — a condition 
 not a place ; a state of being, not a locality. 
 
 m 
 
FEAR OF DISSOLUTION 
 
 THE outer covering or visible body 
 must decay, in order that the 
 inner, or life-principle, may de- 
 velop and germinate new power; man's 
 physical body must pass away before his 
 soul can mount toward its perfections; 
 the acorn must fall to the ground, in 
 order that the germ within may spring 
 up into the oak, since within the acorn is 
 the possibility of the perfect tree, — every 
 limb, branch, twig, and leaf, — yet with 
 the most perfect microscope one can no 
 more find that germ of life than he can 
 discern with it the spirit of man, because 
 we see only the outward expression of the 
 inward light; these are accepted state- 
 ments. 
 
 However, the spirit, or life-germ, is the 
 God-principle in every living thing. Often 
 in misshapen bodies we find the noblest 
 souls. The weak body gives the spirit 
 greater opportunity for expansion. In 
 
losing the use of one faculty, the power 
 of another is increased. Nature is wise 
 in her provisions. For every seeming 
 injustice there is an adequate compensa- 
 tion. All spirits were once mortal men 
 and women who lived in corporal organ- 
 isms, walked this planet or some other 
 one, and experienced the joys and sorrows 
 of incipient existence. When we are far 
 enough advanced, these rules will become 
 as simple as the laws of gravitation. 
 
 I can conceive of nothing more horri- 
 ble than to be compelled to live on this 
 plane always, to be denied advancement 
 to another sphere. We can see in many 
 ways the misfortune of early dissolution ; 
 when eager wind fills all the sails ; when 
 one is making and enjoying friends; 
 when ambition fills every heart ; when 
 the mentality is broadening and we know 
 the joys of success. Death at such a time 
 is filled with sadness. Our work is not 
 done. Many may need our protection. 
 But as the years pass, ambition is satisfied 
 or physical energy is exhausted. Mental- 
 ity reaches the limit of expansion on this 
 plane and fails in expression. One by 
 one the friends have grown weary and 
 
 70 
 
fallen by the way. Children have grown 
 to man and womanhood, married and 
 taken separate homes. The old body 
 grows feeble, loses its suppleness, and 
 fails to respond to the will. The shadows 
 lengthen as the days grow long, and one 
 grows lonely. Strange fancies, dark fore- 
 bodings and false teachings have made 
 mankind tremble at the approach of 
 death. In some households the word is 
 never mentioned. Death has been pic- 
 tured and described with every detail of 
 horror. It is headless and shapeless ; it 
 stands grinning beside the bed of pain ; 
 it is crowned with skull and crossbones, 
 or speeds through the air carrying a 
 scythe or great spear ready to strike its 
 possible victims. As generally under- 
 stood, it means pain, separation, darkness, 
 and decay, and from these ideas men and 
 women shrink. 
 
 Why do so many dread death, as it is 
 called ? Why does old age pray to live a 
 little longer ? Because of such teaching 
 and because people have not confidence 
 in the orthodox hereafter ; because they 
 do not know what follows this life. If 
 Nature so permitted, would perpetual 
 
 71 
 
existence here bring happiness? Has 
 not Nature planned all things well and 
 set a limit of time, and decreed what may 
 be accomplished in that time ? The sad- 
 dest spectacle one can see is a very old 
 person, helpless, dependent, and alone, 
 supported ofttimes in public institutions, 
 still praying for life. The master intelli- 
 gence has provided what was best, and the 
 genius of man has failed to improve upon 
 it. Then, would it not be good to pass 
 into greater possibilities with a knowledge 
 of what awaits in the beyond? Should 
 not dissolution be welcome, and, in the 
 evening of life, sought after ? Should not 
 the desire come to be freed from the old 
 body that impedes progress ? Should not 
 ambition long to leave old conditions, and 
 take up anew, in the fields of eternal life, 
 the work it is no longer able to do here? 
 Because of orthodox teaching the world 
 awaits this progression with abject terror. 
 Does not the Bible, on which so many 
 rely, say that the Saviour on the Cross, 
 when nearing dissolution, cried out, " My 
 " God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
 " me ? " If God would so forsake His 
 own Son, what can the average Christian 
 
 72 
 
expect ? How much better it would be 
 if all knew the law and appreciated that 
 the life we now lead merely prefaced that 
 to come, and that no God of vengeance 
 waited to get even. One cannot blame 
 the Christians because they so fear the 
 God they worship. Why should they 
 not ? The Bible says that He is a God 
 of vengeance, that there is no escape from 
 the wrath to come. Such doctrines and 
 such teachings have filled the world with 
 doubts and fears. Has Nature blundered 
 in this second birth? Has it made a 
 mistake ? If death is a misfortune and to 
 be feared, the Infinite Mind that planned 
 it did not know what was best for the 
 children of earth. If death, as it is 
 called, is good, is natural, then why 
 should any fear its approach ? Do you not 
 think that the great spirit that planned 
 millions of worlds and made them move 
 with perfect harmony and precision, that 
 peopled them, that fixed and marked each 
 course, and lighted its pathway in infinite 
 space, knows what is best ? Some of us 
 know that these natural changes are good, 
 and, in spite of theologians, we await 
 their coming with tranquillity. 
 
 73 
 
OUR ABANDONED DEAD 
 
 H 
 
 OW the so-called dead are aban- 
 doned when they leave this 
 plane ! Who inquires of their 
 journey, or their needs when they have 
 reached the next condition ? All people 
 hope, and nearly all believe, that in some 
 place or plane they still live. A few 
 know they do, but the great majority 
 make no effort to find out, send no mes- 
 sage and receive no word, and let the 
 dead care for the dead. If they still live 
 they are left to meet the new conditions 
 without the aid, counsel, or assistance of 
 all those they have loved and looked to, 
 whether they passed out in infancy or 
 old age. 
 
 If what the spirits tell us is true, if 
 death is just a moment of unconscious 
 change, if the last world-thought is the 
 first spirit-thought, if identity is the 
 same, and if one may be in the same 
 place and usually is when the awakening 
 
 75 
 
comes, and if the new place is just the 
 old place with changed conditions, how 
 bewildered the new-born spirit must be ! 
 So real are they, and so familiar are the 
 surroundings ofttimes, that while the 
 new-born spirit knows conditions are dif- 
 ferent, it seldom realizes at once what 
 the difference is. It feels, perhaps, a sen- 
 sation of returning strength, the mind 
 quickens, and then comes the hope of 
 physical recovery. It sees the home and 
 the familiar faces ; hears strange words 
 of death and dissolution. It walks about 
 the house, speaks to those there, but re- 
 ceives no answer. The situation becomes 
 serious and perplexing, and it asks itself 
 what has happened. This is not death as 
 it was understood. Such a change does 
 not at first enter the mind. When it 
 does come and the spirit appreciates its 
 condition and the place it occupies, what 
 can it do, ignorant as it is of the simplest 
 laws that govern all spirit ? It is as 
 helpless as an infant coming into this 
 world of ours. 
 
 If, as I claim, thoughts are things, 
 substantial and real to spirit, has it 
 occurred to any that we can help those 
 
 76 
 
who have journeyed on ? Has it come to 
 any that we can also harm them ? As 
 mind is substance to spirits, we can send 
 them thoughts, like words, of consolation, 
 courage, and good cheer, and aid their 
 understanding and progress as they learn 
 the new laws of adjustment. We may 
 even speak to them just as if they had 
 not made the change, and they will hear. 
 Their sadness in the first hours of separa- 
 tion, and before they appreciate what 
 death is, must be greater than ours, for 
 their condition is changed while ours is 
 the same. As they occupy their spirit- 
 body, which takes on solidity, they see 
 the faces of loved ones, they try to touch 
 them, they speak, but receive no answer. 
 So their sorrow is multiplied. Why 
 should not the separation be as sad to 
 them as to us ? We can do much to help 
 them. Little is done to make their de- 
 parture easier. They are near us and 
 need us just as before, and they sorrow 
 because of the seeming neglect and indif- 
 ference. No one would intentionally in- 
 jure or stay the progress of the so-called 
 dead, but it is done time and again. 
 Fashion has decreed the wearing of black, 
 
 77 
 
the badge of mourning. This in itself 
 creates a condition of darkness. Our own 
 sorrow draws the departed spirits to us, 
 and they are held prisoners among men- 
 tal shadows. Our happiness is their hap- 
 piness ; our sorrow, their sorrow ; our 
 hope, their joy. The thoughts of sadness 
 hold them, for they no more understand 
 evolution than this world understands 
 dissolution. It is not just to abandon the 
 so-called dead as soon as the last shovel of 
 earth falls upon the casket. True, the 
 spirit is not there, but it is somewhere, 
 and, owing to erroneous teaching, it needs 
 all the suggestion, companionship, and 
 love in the new life that it can possibly 
 receive. If man knew that such help 
 could be given, and knew, too, how to 
 give it, he would be eager to do what he 
 could. 
 
 How many who read this statement 
 ever thought it possible ? And of those 
 who have accepted it, how many have 
 made the effort? I have helped many, 
 whom I have known, to realize their con- 
 dition in the spirit-world, and I have 
 aided them by suggestion to learn how to* 
 live and what to do. This I accomplish 
 
 78 
 
by talking to them, by bringing to them 
 the friends who have preceded them and 
 who are more advanced. The world owes 
 those who have passed out of the body a 
 duty, and that duty cannot be fulfilled 
 until all understand that death is only 
 change, progression, and evolution. This 
 cannot be understood until prejudice is 
 eradicated, and until mankind desires to 
 know the natural law. When it learns 
 the truth it will know what spirits need 
 and what the world can give. Then each 
 will contribute abundantly. Those here 
 will be happier, and those who have gone 
 before will see the shadows lift. Our 
 speeding thought will go to them like a 
 ray of light, and they will find help to 
 reach the knowledge that will lead them 
 to the beauties of the next sphere of life. 
 Thus they will more quickly reach the 
 splendor of Spirituality. 
 
 "Spirits are held by thoughts of sad- 
 'ness sent out by those in earth-life. 
 'They cannot go away while those in 
 'earth-life are sorrowing. They can be 
 'held by evil thoughts. If these are 
 'strong enough, they hold the spirit until 
 'it becomes spiritually developed and 
 
 79 
 
"can break away to better conditions. 
 " Our helpful loving thought is a stairway 
 " by which they mount to better things. 
 " We can, by thought, lift them as upon 
 " strong wings and send them into a con- 
 genial atmosphere." 
 
 Mind holds dominion over matter and 
 over the great forces which become slaves 
 to man's brain. Man makes the wind labor 
 and the seas carry. He harnesses the 
 waters which turn the wheels of industry 
 and uses the instruments of his genius, 
 and gathers electric fluid from earth and 
 sea and air, to make light and heat and 
 do work for him. He plants, and the soil 
 itself pays tribute. All that is in this 
 planet and upon it is subject to his will. 
 The potential thought that moulds all 
 material to its uses is not limited to the 
 things of earth, but is a mighty factor in 
 and among those who have gone from 
 our vision, but who still live among us. 
 We can send out into the invisible world 
 about us this thought of ours, so vital and 
 so strong; we can send it to those who 
 are weak and who hunger for words of 
 encouragement, and we can cheer them 
 on to labor. It is to them a current more 
 
 80 
 
powerful than electricity. It quickens 
 their thought-function and aids their 
 understanding. 
 
 It may be that some of those who have 
 preceded us are still so material and are 
 still in such a dense condition that others 
 in the sphere of consciousness cannot 
 reach them. In this case our thought is 
 the only source of help, and if we deny 
 them this aid, their progress is impeded. 
 Our duty to the dead is not ended when 
 we lay their bodies beneath the sod. This 
 mind of ours, that holds mastery over 
 earth and sea and air, should go with 
 spirits and be about them and with them, 
 explaining, teaching, encouraging, and 
 showing the way of life. All this we can 
 do in some degree ; according as we our- 
 selves know how to use the psychic force 
 that we call Mind. 
 
 81 
 
SPIRIT PASSAGE 
 
 EVERY particle of matter that goes 
 to make up this visible body of 
 ours came from the ground, and 
 it must go back to the ground. Nature 
 in her wisdom has provided on some part 
 of the earth's surface all that mankind 
 requires to make his natural growth, to 
 maintain the waste that is going on from 
 day to day. Consider for a moment the 
 construction of the body, consider what it 
 uses, and the widely different parts of the 
 world from which its needs are supplied. 
 The water that runs in streams, flows in 
 brooks, and falls as rain comes to us in 
 every form of vegetable life we use. 
 Wheat, born in the dark, like all life, 
 shoots upward to the light, clothed in 
 garments of green, reaches maturity, 
 and, waving in yellow fields, awaits the 
 reaper's scythe in many lands. Tea 
 comes from China, coffee from Java, 
 spices from the island of Ceylon, meats 
 
 83 
 
from the grazing lands of the West ; and 
 the blood is purified and made red by the 
 winds that sweep through great forests 
 and over the bosom of the waters. The 
 whole world contributes to this earthly- 
 habitation of ours, which wastes and is 
 repaired day by day, changing completely 
 once in seven years. We do not wear the 
 clothing now that we did seven years 
 ago ; neither do we inhabit nor wear the 
 same body. Why, then, is the last mov- 
 ing out any more to be feared than any 
 previous change ? 
 
 We are only tenants in this house of 
 the body for a limited time, and when it 
 becomes unfit for habitation, through dis- 
 ease or accident, we move out, we separate 
 from it, and the material body, that can- 
 not hold its force without nourishment, 
 decays and mingles with the earth from 
 which it was borrowed. So far as I know, 
 no man has ever attempted to describe 
 the final separation of the spirit from the 
 body, in the change called Death. Indeed, 
 such a description from this material 
 plane is impossible. With the ability to 
 talk with those beyond, I have been able 
 to obtain descriptions of the separation of 
 
 84 
 
the spirit from this temporary home. Not 
 long ago an eminent judge, about six 
 o'clock one evening, while at work, passed 
 away. At nine o'clock the same night 
 he was brought to me in his spirit-body 
 and I talked with him with the same 
 freedom and satisfaction as I had only a 
 a few days before. I asked the one 
 who brought him, how he was able to 
 come so soon. He replied, "I met a 
 "friend this afternoon and he told me 
 "that the judge was coming, and sug- 
 " gested that we go down and witness the 
 "separation. We did so, and brought 
 "him here that he might the more 
 " quickly appreciate his condition." 
 
 Among the stenographic notes taken 
 eight years ago, I find the following 
 description of a spirit-passage, given by a 
 spirit who with his company of spirit- 
 workers aids in the great change to the 
 after life : 
 
 "But a few hours ago we were called 
 "to help in the separation of the spirit 
 " from the body. Lying before us was a 
 " young woman. When we say ' young,' 
 " we mean in maturity. Bodily pains and 
 "sickness had been hers, and now dis- 
 ss 
 
'solution was taking place. The one 
 'who should have given her words of 
 'encouragement and help was on his 
 ' knees praying to the God of mercy to 
 'give her strength to pass through the 
 'terrors of death. About her on every 
 'side were weeping friends. She knew 
 'they were grieving because she was 
 ' leaving the body and it made the passage 
 'darker and harder. Then the first 
 'bodily chill touched the feet. Slowly, 
 'little by little, it was creeping upward 
 'until it reached the knees. A light 
 'began to rise, a clouded substance, 
 'gradually increasing in size. Closer 
 'approached the loved ones who had 
 'gone before. They were waiting and 
 ' watching and giving her strength, that 
 'she should not feel herself alone and 
 ' that she should not think all was dark- 
 'ness and terror. We saw her face 
 ' brighten, her lips part in a smile. She 
 ' saw us close about her. Her hand raised 
 ' slowly and she whispered, ' They are com- 
 ' ing.' 'I see them all.' 'They are waiting 
 ' for me.' The light from the body rose 
 'higher, slowly creeping up, just as a 
 ' white fleecy cloud settles before a storm 
 
 86 
 
" over the earth. She did not appreciate 
 " that a change was coming over her, she 
 " only realized that friends were standing 
 " near. She did not see the weeping ones 
 "as it grew brighter. She heard a faint 
 "echo, as of music, a song of gladness 
 " coming to her in this cloud of change. 
 "It took definite form just above her. 
 " The brain weakened, the eyes drooped, 
 "she slept with the loving voices speak- 
 " ing. The music was not heard by 
 " mortal. 
 
 "The spirit was taken out, was held 
 "just above the body, with gentle hands, 
 "and then she met the loving friends. 
 " Her eyelids were lifted, she saw one who 
 " had waited for her, whose world was to 
 "live for her, whose every thought was 
 "in unison with her own. How was it 
 "that she, just released from the body, 
 " could see all this ? Because she had lived 
 " a life according to her light and under- 
 standing. She will not have to go back 
 " to earth and take up a consciousness that 
 " would have been compulsory had her life 
 " been one of lying and deceit. When she 
 "touched the hand of the mother who 
 " had gone ahead, she realized that there 
 
 87 
 
" was a condition between them, but that 
 " little by little it would be removed and 
 " that she would enter into the home that 
 " awaits her. 
 
 "She wept, not as you weep, but 
 "through happiness, through joy in the 
 " fact that she had met the mother-love, 
 " that they had come together again where 
 "all the conditions of earth are swept 
 " aside. She saw herself as she is and as 
 " she was. She realized that at times in 
 " the earth-life she was human. She 
 " regretted and asked her soul to forgive. 
 "As she advances farther into this realm 
 " of thought, into this new condition, into 
 " this perfect life, she will see no darkness, 
 "and all shall be well." 
 
 By the destruction of matter, life mul- 
 tiplies. Through decay of material, the 
 life force increases. Through separation 
 the spirit is liberated. Released from the 
 confines of an earthly body, it finds greater 
 scope, more opportunities, better advan- 
 tages, continual progression. This spirit- 
 passage is natural. It comes to all living 
 things. Every step on growing grasses 
 crushes life into life, separates it and forces 
 it from its temporary abode, from the 
 
 88 
 
material covering it has gathered. 
 Through such seeming destruction vege- 
 table life, like human life, is liberated. 
 The journey of evolution is hastened, and 
 the perfect life is more quickly reached. 
 
THE AWAKENING 
 
 WHEN the journey is done and 
 the night is passed, all must 
 awake and open eyes in another 
 world. What happens and what thoughts 
 speed with them through the brain ? I 
 asked a spirit, well know in this life, to 
 describe the awakening. This was his 
 answer : 
 
 " It is usually hard for a spirit to get 
 ' its breath in the different atmosphere ; 
 ' the earth conditions cling to it ; this it 
 ' must shake off and it must then adjust 
 ' itself to the new surroundings. So the 
 'first condition is purely physical, or, 
 ' rather, mental. A spirit feels this 
 ' change, yet does not understand why it 
 'is different. It gasps and struggles. 
 ' This is soon over and forgotten. Then it 
 ' is taken to the home it has built, — its 
 ' own,— and left to realize things a little. 
 'Some spirits are in a condition that 
 'admit of immediate help and counsel, 
 
 91 
 
'but others are dazed and must have 
 'quiet and time in which to be alone. 
 'When a spirit is able to comprehend, 
 ' its past life comes before it like a pano- 
 'rama. The good thoughts and their 
 'results are arranged on the one side; 
 'the evil thoughts and their results, on 
 ' the other. Then begin heaven and hell. 
 ' The poor soul realizes, perhaps for the 
 ' first time, how much evil he has wrought, 
 ' and his spirit is in torment, for he thinks 
 ' there is no reparation. When this phase 
 ' of his punishment is over, he is shown 
 ' how, by influencing thought in earth-life, 
 'he may wipe out the consequences of 
 ' each sin. Then comes peace from the 
 'torture of remorse. I am speaking of 
 ' the average man, with the average con- 
 ' science. Some there are who have led 
 ' lives that need very little of this punish- 
 ' ment. Others must wallow for a long 
 ' time in the mire of their own sad sins, — 
 ' too vile or too timid to find a way out. 
 
 " There is another phase. One who has 
 ' strong earth ties will be held by them, 
 ' so that spirit-friends cannot get it away 
 'at first. The ties may be of different 
 ' kinds, — family, business, or simply self- 
 
 92 
 
' ish, animal ones ; in any such case pro- 
 gression is slower. One who is thor- 
 oughly bad, who is surrounded by his 
 
 * own sin, sees nothing else. 
 
 "These, as I understand, are earth- 
 ' bound ; that is, they cannot sunder the 
 
 * material conditions which made up their 
 
 * lives. In earth-life, they never lived on 
 'the higher planes; they had little, if 
 ' any, spiritual development, and so across 
 ' the frontier they practically live on this 
 ' material plane although in another way. 
 ' It will take a long time, and some un- 
 ' usual incident, to awaken these to their 
 ' true condition. Some men are blind to 
 ' all but material interests, and the spirits 
 'of these are blind to all interests ex- 
 ' cept those embraced within their limited 
 'plane. One can no more see beyond 
 'this condition than we can see beyond 
 ' ours. There is no advancement for such 
 ' men, or for any man, until the desire 
 'comes from within. We can catch 
 'glimpses of the next plane and hear 
 'voices. So can they, but progression 
 'will not be given fully until they are 
 ' prepared to receive it. It may be said 
 6 that many, many in this life are to-day 
 
 93 
 
'more progressed than some who have 
 ' gone to the lowest plane of spirituality ; 
 'for in the change they unconsciously 
 'pass directly to the next condition 
 'beyond. Those who pass the lower 
 ' sphere of the earth condition may at first 
 6 only reach the second plane of the same 
 ' sphere. They cannot reach the higher 
 ' planes, because they are not fitted. They 
 6 must go among those of like character 
 'to themselves, in a like condition with 
 'themselves. The unclean cannot go 
 'into a pure atmosphere, because they 
 ' would contaminate it. These will find 
 ' themselves surrounded with the thought- 
 ' matter they have taken with them, to 
 ' the home they have made, and all the 
 'other homes and all the other people 
 ' they see will have similar conditions and 
 'like homes. This may be called the 
 ' first conscious sphere, the plane of resti- 
 ' tution." 
 
 " When the soul awakens here and sees 
 ' about him the wrongs he has committed 
 ' and those that others have committed, 
 ' the effect of these wrongs and the con- 
 " ditions produced hy them, great remorse 
 " will come." 
 
 94 
 
This condition of awakening has been 
 described, perhaps unconsciously, by Theo- 
 dosia Garrison in stronger words than I 
 can use : 
 
 The three ghosts on the lonesome road 
 
 Spake each to one another, 
 " Whence came that stain about your mouth 
 
 No lifted hand may cover ? " 
 " From eating of forbidden fruit, 
 
 Brother, my brother." 
 
 The three ghosts on the sunless road 
 
 Spake each to one another, 
 " Whence came that red burn on your feet 
 
 No dust or ash may cover ? " 
 " I stamped a neighbor's hearth-flame out, 
 
 Brother, my brother." 
 
 The three ghosts on the windless road 
 
 Spake each to one another, 
 " Whence came that blood upon your hand 
 
 No other hand may cover ? " 
 " From breaking of a woman's heart, 
 
 Brother, my brother." 
 
 " Yet on the earth clean men we walked, 
 
 Glutton and Thief and Lover ; 
 White flesh and fair it hid our stains 
 
 That no man might discover," 
 " Naked the soul goes up to God, 
 
 Brother, my brother." 
 
 These stains must be washed away; 
 these unsightly burns healed before the 
 pathway shall cease to be lonely, before 
 peace and happiness shall come to the 
 suffering, wandering soul. Such wrongs, 
 such crimes, are the burdens one carries. 
 The sunless way is long and the journey 
 is weary ; joy is not a companion ; but 
 
 95 
 
there is a way that leads to spiritual 
 health, a way, called reparation. 
 
 There are those who lived so close to Na- 
 ture, who were so true to neighbors and to 
 themselves, who developed the spirit and 
 clothed it in garments of harmony, that 
 in dissolution they awake in the sphere 
 of understanding, beyond these earth 
 conditions. Nature takes them to the 
 most advanced condition they are qualified 
 to enter. It works on the same principle 
 as a school here below. A child ignorant 
 of the multiplication table does not go 
 into higher mathematics. It is graded 
 according to qualification. This next life 
 is Nature's University and in it she teaches 
 morality and spirituality. It, too, has 
 many grades, and one is classified accord- 
 ing to progress and development. No one 
 possesses perfect character ; but those who 
 have done their best, who have listened 
 to the voice of conscience, feel the touch 
 of loving hands and hear words of welcome 
 as they unconsciously speed through the 
 planes of darkness and despair. They had 
 builded on the high land where the sun- 
 light always touches and the shadows never 
 fall. These, too, in their quiet hours of 
 
 96 
 
contemplation see conduct in its true light, 
 and will not be content to go on, even if 
 they could, until acts that were harsh are 
 softened, words that were unkind, recalled. 
 The way will be shown to these, and they 
 will be anxious to cheer mortal and spirit 
 whose burden they have increased. The 
 weary will know who is helping, and will 
 bless the hands that help. 
 
 What joy will fill the hearts of those 
 who have lived honest lives, when they 
 awaken as peacefully as dawn touches 
 the morning, and find death behind 
 them and its terror gone ; when they 
 see those whom they mourned coming 
 with radiant faces, in eager greeting ; 
 mother, wife, children, all there to show 
 the love that has been waiting. Words 
 are meaningless in any attempt to de- 
 scribe such joy ! If the world only un- 
 derstood this law, men would strive so to 
 live that they might reach this condition 
 at once. Knowledge is always a ray of 
 light. The sun touches the mountain 
 tops before it does the valleys. It never 
 penetrates the caves, where ignorance and 
 prejudice dwell. 
 
 If these writings awake and call only 
 
 97 
 
one man from the cavern of doubt, and 
 show him the path that leads to the 
 heights of understanding, I shall be re- 
 paid for all my labors. 
 
 98 
 
MISSION WORK 
 
 THERE is a part of our work equal, 
 if not greater, in importance than 
 any heretofore mentioned. This 
 we term mission work, and we conduct it 
 among earth-bound spirits who are un- 
 able in the next sphere to go beyond the 
 first conditions, or who lie dormant in 
 the darkness of their own gathering. 
 Each night, when we are thus engaged, 
 the time is divided by those in charge — 
 a portion is given to our instruction, and 
 at least an equal part is given to helping 
 those who need aid, suggestion, and direc- 
 tion. Remember, that in the spirit-world 
 the principal occupation is that of giving 
 help, through which means spirits aid 
 their own progression. In earth-life the 
 ambition of the great majority is to help 
 themselves regardless of others. Here, 
 each one is for himself. There, each is 
 for all and all are for each other. 
 
 It is my experience that nearly all, 
 
 99 
 
whether they are educated or uneducated, 
 have little, if any, conception of the con- 
 dition and state which immediately fol- 
 low dissolution. Education, as that term 
 is used, does not necessarily aid the pri- 
 mal condition, though it may further 
 one's progress, by enabling him to grasp 
 more quickly the principles which govern 
 progression. One may have learning 
 without spiritual development ; one un- 
 educated in the sciences, may have so 
 developed his spirit that he is more ad- 
 vanced than the other when the new day 
 dawns. 
 
 There are many who in that new life 
 are helpless, who are like new-born infants 
 in this world of ours, except that they 
 possess all the knowledge gained on the 
 earth-plane, and know the joy that 
 comes of good and the burden that 
 comes of wrong. Though they are like 
 children, and enter consciously, they must 
 be taught to walk, to take sustenance, 
 to labor, to work, and to know the laws 
 that control spirit. For where on this 
 earth can such instruction be obtained ? 
 Assuming that one has lived a good life 
 and is conscious of his surroundings, he 
 
 100 
 
must learn all these lessons from those 
 who have gone before, and there are 
 many eager and ready to help. We 
 labor largely among those who have not 
 awakened, or who fail to understand 
 their condition. Those who lie dormant, 
 who are surrounded by darkness ofttimes 
 cannot be aroused by other spirits any 
 more than human beings can touch the 
 mentality of an idiot within asylum walls. 
 They stay in this condition until Nature 
 restores and strengthens the mind, or un- 
 til they are brought into the material 
 vibrations made by mortal and spirit 
 working together. When we work we 
 throw out material vibrations, into which 
 the group bring many, sometimes hun- 
 dreds, at a time, all in practically the 
 same mental attitude. One spirit is 
 clothed with material, is awakened, is 
 selected to talk. The others there assem- 
 bled listen to the speech and appreciate 
 all benefits. This chosen one may be 
 heard to gasp as he takes the first breath 
 of our atmosphere. Since voice is pro- 
 duced by the organs of respiration, they 
 must be clothed with material. I do not 
 know all the laws that control this pro- 
 101 
 
duction of sound among spirits ; but the 
 production itself is a fact that permits no 
 argument. 
 
 Those spirits who greet us on such 
 evenings usually know nothing of the 
 flight of time, or even know that they 
 have separated from the old body. They 
 awaken from a dreamless sleep, as it were, 
 with the old thought dominant, with 
 individuality the same, but with strange 
 surroundings. Imagine, if you can, the 
 varied thoughts that flash through the 
 mind as consciousness comes. Never are 
 two alike, any more than any two persons. 
 When I say that I have talked with a few 
 who have not had one intelligent thought 
 or seen a ray of light for seventy-five or 
 one hundred years, and that they speak of 
 the world as it was when they left it, you 
 may at least gain an impression of what 
 it is possible to make for ourselves in the 
 sphere beyond. True, these are unusual 
 cases, but one can create such a condition, 
 and some people have created it. Few 
 have no spiritual clouds on the horizon of 
 thought. 
 
 The speaker is clothed for the time like 
 us; but the condition that holds the 
 
 102 
 
material on the spirit-form is sensitive, 
 and any sudden fright or mental shock 
 will disintegrate the atoms and cause 
 them to fall. Then the spirit loses the 
 power of speech. The first question is 
 often one of inquiry. The spirits are 
 astonished at the strange faces and the 
 new surroundings, and are anxious to 
 know where they are. Few of them even 
 know what has happened. Our first 
 effort is to calm them, and when they are 
 more quiet and reasonable, the thought 
 that was strongest in mind when the 
 change came is expressed and retold. 
 Often that thought was of approaching 
 death, and they tell of the awful fear that 
 filled their hearts and of their seemingly 
 fortunate escape. We then bring them 
 to a discussion of what death is, and 
 make them realize fully that they are 
 alive and in possession of every natural 
 faculty ; we teach them by degrees that 
 there is no death, and that the change 
 they so feared is passed. No, matter how 
 cautiously this information is imparted it 
 is always followed by a great shock, and 
 often the material clothing them disinteg- 
 rates. Then, with a cry of fear and 
 
 103 
 
alarm, they lose the power of speech. If 
 possible they are restored to a vocal con- 
 dition, and our efforts are continued. 
 Our work is not finished when they are 
 brought to a conscious state. They must 
 next be taught what spirit is and how 
 it may learn the new laws that will thence- 
 forth govern and control all their thoughts 
 and actions. When one finds that he is 
 out of the body, the thoughts of those left 
 behind crystallizes,— anxious the inquiry, 
 great the sorrow! Why should not the 
 separation be as hard for him as for those 
 left behind? Then, again, the change 
 may have come before he was ready, 
 when he was needed by friends or 
 family, and many a cry has gone out: 
 " What will they do ; how will they 
 " live ; who will care for them now ? " 
 
 Those religiously inclined at once want 
 to find the Saviour. Many who had been 
 taught that they could be saved only 
 with His help, say they must find Him ? 
 and when we tell them that He was only 
 the symbol of a perfect man, and that 
 one has no redeemer but himself, they 
 hesitate to accept our statements. Often 
 only the words of personal friends who 
 
 104 
 
have gone before bring conviction. Many 
 give up the idea of a Saviour very reluct- 
 antly. We next try to bring these spirits 
 to an understanding of what life in the 
 spirit-sphere is. Those controlling the 
 conditions usually take up the discussion, 
 and spirit talks to spirit. All of us take 
 part in trying to demonstrate and convey 
 to the new-comer ideas of the life he has 
 entered. The spirit-company are able, by 
 laws that have not been explained, to 
 make him see every act and deed that 
 made up the sum total of his former life. 
 As the scenes passed one by one, like a 
 flowing stream, I have heard them shout 
 with joy and shriek with fear. Little 
 can be done except to bring the spirit to 
 a sense of realization, and to point out 
 the avenue called restitution. When the 
 desire to live again the deeds of earth life 
 comes from the heart, others in spirit 
 there show how the acts of selfishness and 
 wrong which created the darkness and 
 which surrounds them may be relieved. 
 But each spirit must carry his own bur- 
 den ; he must go his own way ; he must 
 perform his own labor, and no hand may 
 lift the weight from his soul. Each act 
 
 105 
 
lived over and lived aright will dispel the 
 darkness that it caused, and so the home 
 and the surroundings will grow lighter 
 and more beautiful. How long the way 
 is, and how unnecessary ! If only man- 
 kind were taught the truth here ! We 
 may sin in ignorance, but this brings 
 sorrow, — not so much for the condition it 
 makes for us, as for the misery it causes 
 others. When we appreciate what our 
 wrong-doing has brought to others, and 
 what is denied us for that reason, our 
 grief is great. Remorse is ours, and 
 misery and unhappiness become our close 
 companions. With the knowledge that 
 men have no Saviour but themselves, spirits 
 usually assume the responsibility of their 
 own acts readily, and are eager to com- 
 mence the undoing, through which they 
 shall reach higher planes. Sometimes 
 many spirits in practically the same 
 mental attitude are brought in, and I am 
 asked to take up the discussion of some 
 subject in which all are interested and in 
 which all need knowledge. It seems that 
 my thought and voice vibrate so keenly 
 that their attention is attracted. They 
 become interested and gather close about. 
 
 106 
 
I am told that sometimes thousands in a 
 single evening come and listen. When I 
 have interested them and one is, perhaps, 
 talking with me, and many are talking 
 with each other, teachers from other 
 spheres take up the work and carry it on. 
 This, then, is a suggestion of what our 
 mission work is, and how with the help of 
 an intelligent and powerful group of spir- 
 its we labor to aid progression and to 
 dispel the darkness that holds a soul 
 prisoner in the dungeon of despair. But 
 our work is not confined to those in trouble. 
 Others come who have never known that 
 condition. They live among those they 
 love, and work with songs of joy and glad- 
 ness in their hearts, radiant and happy, 
 climbing the hills of knowledge. These 
 tell me that when the first sphere is 
 passed they know the intensity of life; 
 they are free and understand the joy of 
 freedom. Then they find that popes, 
 bishops, priests, and kings are dead ; that 
 the aristocracy of this world has perished ; 
 that the personal God whom mankind 
 worshiped, never existed; that truth is 
 a religion that sheds joy on all the spirit- 
 spheres. Beyond the plane of restitution 
 
 107 
 
they find a world at peace, where honest 
 effort meets its true reward. They find 
 spheres, bright and clear, the married 
 harmony of form and function, where 
 there is no disease of flesh or brain. Then 
 their conception of Nature broadens, hap- 
 piness unknown before fills every heart, 
 fear is dead, and ignorance and prejudice 
 are left far below. 
 
 108 
 
LESSONS FROM EXPERIENCE 
 
 I THINK that, possibly, more compre- 
 hensive knowledge of the first con- 
 ditions in the after life has come to 
 us from our mission work than from any 
 other source. We are better able to com- 
 prehend the actual situation here than 
 life in the more advanced spheres. Per- 
 haps I can convey a better idea by describ- 
 ing a few actual experiences. 
 
 I recall one of the early cases in which 
 I gave help. In my own city there lived 
 a man who commenced life with only his 
 hands as aid to work. By saving and 
 great self-denial, he accumulated a large 
 fortune. He loved money and his only 
 thought was to make it. He was honest, 
 held a position of trust in the financial 
 world, and passed out in advanced years, 
 honored among them. I knew this man 
 well, and some years afterward he was 
 brought into our working room for help. 
 He was on the verge of awaking and 
 
 109 
 
needed material vibrations to make him 
 appreciate his condition and be brought 
 to a realizing sense. At first he did not 
 even know where he was. This spirit, 
 accustomed to command, found himself 
 imprisoned within a wall built of money, 
 as it appeared to him. It was cold and 
 dark ; the chill of death was in his soul ; 
 he could not understand what had hap- 
 pened, why he was in that situation, 
 though ^ve years had elapsed since he left 
 his earthly habitation. He begged for 
 help, said he had not seen a ray of light 
 for years, and cried that it was cold, so 
 cold. We explained the change that had 
 taken place, cautiously, so that he would 
 not be startled and lose the material neces- 
 sary for producing voice. At the sugges- 
 tion of those in spirit, who were working 
 with me, I told him to look once more 
 for light. He saw just a point. " It is 
 " coming," he said. " It is a barren high- 
 "way, without life." "Look again," I 
 said. " Yes," he replied, " I now see sign- 
 " boards on both sides, as far as my eyes 
 "can reach." "Can you read them?" I 
 asked. "The first only," he answered, 
 " and there are many." " How do they 
 
 no 
 
"read?" He replied, "I can only read 
 " the first, and it says ' Charity '." Then I 
 understood his condition, — his had been 
 a selfish life, — and the lesson intended, 
 and I told him to go with those who were 
 coming and to practice "charity," that 
 when he should come truly to appreciate 
 its meaning from experience, he would be 
 able to read the second sign. I told him, 
 too, that this would go on, sign after sign, 
 one by one, year by year, until that barren 
 highway should some day lead him to 
 happiness. 
 
 One evening, we of the earth, who had 
 gathered in my working room, were 
 greeted by a minister who had been one 
 of the leading preachers of his time. 
 His voice was strong, his manner, imperi- 
 ous, his speech, autocratic. He had no con- 
 scious appreciation of the change that had 
 come to him. He was still, in his imagi- 
 nation, in his old body, still controlling 
 his church, still the thought-leader and 
 guide of his congregation. It took the 
 combined efforts of our group and many 
 of his old parishioners, in spirit, to bring 
 him to understand that he was out of the 
 material body. They came — those spirits 
 in 
 
— some with imprecations, because, while 
 they had looked to him for guidance, he 
 had deceived them, and they were suffer- 
 ing because they had accepted his word. 
 Others, with more kindness, talked with 
 him in a pacific strain and excused him, 
 because he, too, had accepted blindly the 
 word claimed to be of God, and had as 
 blindly given it to them. Remorse and 
 disappointment were his, when he found 
 that his life-teaching had been a mis- 
 take. He wanted to find truths as he 
 said they were, and eagerly questioned 
 those in spirit to know if the Redeemer 
 liveth. It was hard for him to believe that 
 each must help himself. He would not 
 accept this statement at first. He excused 
 his false teaching by saying his father had 
 taught him so, that he had been educated 
 for the ministry ; that he had learned to 
 believe what the alleged inspired Book 
 said, and that he only gave what he had 
 received. When pressed by one who had 
 accepted his teaching without question, 
 he at last acknowledged that he had not 
 fully believed all that he had taught; 
 that what he taught was popular and 
 what his people wanted; that to have 
 
 112 
 
questioned the Scripture openly would 
 have lost him his position. Thus he 
 showed that the love for gold was greater 
 than the love of truth, and that without 
 considering the wrong he might do to 
 others he had guided them among old 
 traditions, while he himself half doubted, 
 only half believed. So the wrong he did 
 came back, and he was told that his prog- 
 ress would be stayed, until, standing in 
 the portals of that new life, he should 
 meet each one that came after him, call 
 back those who had gone before, and 
 bring each and every one he had deceived 
 into the fields of true understanding be- 
 fore he would be able to advance. 
 
 In times of great disaster, when strong 
 souls are torn from healthy bodies, there 
 is much for us to do. They come troop- 
 ing in with cries of fear and anguish, and 
 I have heard better descriptions of great 
 accidents from those who went out of 
 the body in that way than were ever 
 published in the daily press. With re- 
 turning consciousness they feel at first 
 that they have escaped from a terrible 
 danger, and words of thanks fall from 
 spirit lips. Then our task grows hard as 
 
 113 
 
we undertake to tell and to prove that 
 they have passed the border line. The 
 screams of terror and words of sorrow 
 expressed in those first moments fill some 
 of the sad pages of memory ; but these are 
 brightened sometimes by the joy of a 
 father or mother, long mourned as dead, 
 greeting them with words of tenderness 
 and welcome. 
 
 One of the most beautiful experiences 
 that I recall was the awakening of a young 
 girl who left this world just at the dawn 
 of womanhood. She was the joy and sun- 
 shine of a splendid home, loved by a 
 devoted father, and idolized by a great 
 circle of friends. Life seemed to promise 
 all that she could hope. She was one of 
 the finest characters I have ever known, 
 but almost in a day she sank into that 
 dreamless sleep the world calls death. 
 When we were at work that evening I 
 heard the voice of one of our spirit-band 
 speaking with great gentleness words of 
 encouragement. I was told that this 
 young girl was coming and I was asked 
 to add my welcome. Others seemed to 
 be with her, upon whom she leaned. She 
 was much excited and bewildered, and 
 
 114 
 
greeted me anxiously. She said she had 
 been sick and had suffered great pain in 
 her head ; that she had heard her father's 
 words of anguish and had heard others 
 say she was dying ; that at the same time 
 there had come to her sweet music and 
 she thought she saw angels with radiant 
 faces ; that she was so glad she had not 
 died. My task was hard, — to tell this 
 beautiful spirit that was in love with life 
 and enraptured with the world, that she 
 was no more in earth-life ; that the music 
 that came to her with such sweetness was 
 from the spheres beyond, and that the 
 faces she saw were just those of other pure 
 girls like herself who came to welcome 
 her into the new life. With gentleness 
 and with such words as I could command, 
 I told her what was necessary, and as the 
 realizing thought came home to her, a cry 
 went out to the stricken father from that 
 young girl's heart. It was with difficulty 
 that she was calmed. Then, beautiful 
 souls, in harmony with her own, crowded 
 about her, speaking tender words of con- 
 solation, and she was comforted. She saw 
 with clearer vision ; and there came again 
 the music, the same melody she had heard 
 
 115 
 
as her spirit was leaving the body, — 
 sweeter, she said, than anything she had 
 ever known. Then she was taken away. 
 She had been brought fully to understand 
 the change. When she left she was sur- 
 rounded by beautiful characters who would 
 teach her the way of that life and help 
 her to find that joy and understanding 
 which await the pure in spirit. After she 
 was gone I asked of my teachers who 
 remained, why I could not hear the music 
 she described as well as the spoken words. 
 The answer was that the spoken words 
 were of matter and vibrated on material 
 ears; that the music was of spirit, and 
 could be heard only by those already in 
 spirit. 
 
 Much of our understanding of the next 
 life and the conditions existing there have 
 come from such experiences, and so we 
 appreciate, although in a limited way, 
 what life is in the spheres beyond. 
 
 Is there life beyond the grave? Can 
 any ask when such things as I have de- 
 scribed are possible ? But this is not the 
 question I seek to solve. It is, rather, 
 what is that life and whither does it lead ? 
 
 116 
 
WHAT IS THE NEXT LIFE? 
 
 NEITHER the Old nor the New 
 Testament makes any suggestion 
 that in the after life there is fur- 
 ther advancement to be made or any work 
 to be done. On the contrary, according 
 to its promises, we find rest through death, 
 an eternity without labor. We find that 
 as we are, so shall we ever be, that there 
 is no further opportunity to do, undo, add 
 to, subtract from, or improve ; that death 
 ends all growth or progression; that we 
 are weighed and our account is balanced. 
 For argument only, assume this to be cor- 
 rect, and consider the result. The infant 
 prematurely born must remain in ignor- 
 ance and in helplessness. The child that 
 had only commenced to form its words 
 would never learn to convey its wants, 
 necessities, or desires in language, or 
 reach the splendor of manhood or woman- 
 hood; those suffering mental disease, 
 must remain idiots or lunatics; cripples 
 
 117 
 
must always be cripples; old age must 
 totter through all time. Those who were 
 ignorant at the time of dissolution must 
 always be ignorant ; the vicious, always 
 vicious; the selfish, always selfish; the 
 good, always good. Education and im- 
 provement have an ending with this life. 
 As we go out, so shall we remain for time 
 and eternity. As the tree falls, so shall 
 it lie. 
 
 I cannot subscribe to this doctrine. 
 Around and about us Nature is always 
 progressing, always developing, always 
 becoming more beautiful. There is no 
 time, according to natural law, when 
 Nature ceases to progress. If this is con- 
 ceded, should Man, a part of Nature, be 
 denied what is allowed vegetable life? 
 If life is endless, the time spent in the 
 body, even though the years pass the 
 Scriptural three score and ten, is infini- 
 tesimal compared to eternity, and the 
 opportunity for progression and prepara- 
 tion, according to orthodox teaching, is 
 far from fair. "We are just as much 
 " spirit now as we ever shall be." These 
 words have been often spoken, and I 
 repeat them, that we may fully compre- 
 
 118 
 
hend their import. If we are spirit in the 
 life to come, we are spirit now, always 
 have been, and ever will be. In the 
 change of death, nothing is lost but the 
 outer shell, termed the body. The spirit 
 was no more visible to the human eye 
 before death than it is after, yet it exists 
 the same in each instance. The physical 
 eye cannot see thought, yet it is seated 
 in the brain. The soul is invisible to 
 mortals, yet it is within us. This being 
 accepted, is it wonderful that we do not 
 see spirit out of the body when we did 
 not see it in the body ? In each instance 
 we have evidence of spirit without seeing 
 the thing itself. We do not see the mag- 
 netic forces, but the effect is visible. We 
 do not see electric fluid, but evidence of 
 its existence is found in the lightning's 
 bolt, and in instruments which utilize its 
 energy. In converting water into steam, 
 or even in separating it into gases, we do 
 not change its component parts. By 
 utilizing magnetic forces we do not anni- 
 hilate them. Harnessing the electrical 
 current, and, thereby turning the wheels 
 of industry, does not destroy it. 
 
 So the individual spirit of man at the 
 
 119 
 
moment of separating from the body 
 is identically the same, has the same 
 thoughts, the same ideas, the same knowl- 
 edge, the same ties, and possesses the 
 same spirit that he had a moment before. 
 The infant is an infant ; manhood is still 
 manhood ; old age, still old age ; the 
 vicious, still vicious ; selfish, still selfish ; 
 virtuous, still virtuous; the good, still 
 good. But they do not remain so for 
 ever and ever, any more than they would 
 have done on earth. There is no more 
 stagnation in the spirit-world than here. 
 Neither does that simple step in Nature 
 give spirit wings or make angels. If an- 
 gelic, the spirit became so before going. 
 Death does not immediately add to char- 
 acter nor detract from it. In death, the 
 spiritual body steps out of the old gar- 
 ment which loving hands take to its rest- 
 ing-place, and cover with earth from 
 which it was made, that it may mingle 
 with material and be used again to clothe 
 other life. The spirit did not come from 
 material and does not go back to mate- 
 rial, but, in splendor and in spiritual 
 strength, faces the new conditions into 
 which it has entered. We are taught 
 
 120 
 
that progress and evolution have never 
 stopped, and never will stop. They are a 
 part of this and all other worlds, and a 
 part of the spirit-world. This is a funda- 
 mental principle, has always existed and 
 always will exist. All the so-called dead 
 that in the ages past have lived on this 
 and other planets still live and labor. 
 Education, like time, is without limit; 
 opportunity, without boundaries. Spirits 
 come to know and appreciate the new 
 laws under which they live and work on 
 and on ; they feel the companionship of 
 friends, the joy of more intensified life, 
 and feel the inspiration that comes with 
 knowledge. 
 
 In the spirit condition the spirits have, 
 first, all that we have here ; or, perhaps, 
 I should say that we have here the coun- 
 terpart of some phases of the spirit-world. 
 Then they must have homes. Not hav- 
 ing material, these homes cannot be 
 builded of brick and wood, but are made 
 of thoughts, which, in spirit become 
 things. This home is being builded by 
 every one of us from day to day, thought 
 after thought, act after act, is building in 
 spirit a structure that will await our com- 
 
 121 
 
ing. These homes can be made, I am 
 told, beautiful beyond our comprehen- 
 sion. Indeed, all material building here 
 is fashioned in imitation of those homes 
 in the world to come, for suggestion 
 comes from spirit that aids our designs. 
 Aided by spirit-thought, we are uncon- 
 sciously imitating that higher world both 
 in building and in living. It differs only 
 in beauty and in substance. That home 
 may be large and have many rooms, 
 richly furnished, peopled with love and 
 happiness; or it may be a hovel, cold, 
 cheerless, and lonely. Every one is his 
 own architect and builder. Every act of 
 charity, kindness, tenderness, and love 
 adds to its beauty and comfort; while 
 every act of selfishness, cruelty, and op- 
 pression casts a shadow ; so that when one 
 opens the door of his spirit-house he faces 
 the deeds of the earth-life. The walls 
 are hung with mental pictures depicting 
 the record made from day to day. A 
 little act of kindness, a word of sym- 
 pathy, a tender touch, are reproduced, 
 framed in harmony. Selfishness, unkind- 
 ness, immorality, wickedness, and dishonor 
 are also pictured and hung on the walls 
 
 122 
 
of that home, there to remain until indi- 
 vidual restitution shall cover or remove 
 them. We are building a home of some 
 character, and furnishing it with the 
 thoughts and deeds of daily life. It is 
 the only place to which we can go, the 
 place to which we must go, when the 
 material existence is ended. If this 
 thought could be brought home to all 
 mankind, how it would fill the world 
 with joy ! How it would lessen the ages 
 of suffering and unhappiness caused by 
 wrongs done in ignorance, an ignorance 
 fostered by orthodox teaching ! Natural 
 law is immutable, and ignorance is no 
 more excusable than violation of the 
 civil law. Both are established, and it 
 becomes our duty to know and under- 
 stand both. 
 
 We are told that in the spirit-world 
 there are colleges and universities of learn- 
 ing, teachers and students, all working 
 and striving to comprehend the philosophy 
 of Nature. Chemists are experimenting 
 with the action of chemicals and making 
 discoveries; naturalists labor to know 
 more of Nature; astronomers are studying 
 the planetary systems ; scientists are aim- 
 
 123 
 
ing to utilize forces, and a great army is 
 working to bring all spirit-kind to under- 
 stand what life is. Mental hospitals are 
 maintained, where the idiot and lunatic 
 may be taken, where the darkness over- 
 shadowing their lives is dispelled, and 
 their spirits quickened, that they may 
 take up life where it was suspended. 
 Women who never knew motherhood 
 gather unborn babes that have been mur- 
 dered, infants who pass in tender years, 
 indeed, all children, they still their cries, 
 nourish, comfort, teach, and rear them, 
 taking the mother's place and doing the 
 mother's part. Art studies abound in the 
 spirit-world. Those who stood foremost 
 in the art ranks on earth are taught by 
 others more advanced, to paint through 
 will-power alone ; they, in turn, are teach- 
 ing those not so far advanced as them- 
 selves. When a picture is perfect, art 
 spirits endeavor to impress it upon the 
 mind of some artist on this, — a lower, — 
 plane. Ideal pictures are the result of 
 such impressions. All inventions are per- 
 fected in the next sphere by spirits inter- 
 ested in that work before they are im- 
 pressed on some sensitive mind still 
 
 124 
 
living on this earth-plane. If those impres- 
 sions are received as they are transmitted, 
 we have a perfect invention ; if the impres- 
 sion is faulty, the invention is imperfect. 
 Those who are gifted musicians and com- 
 posers do not change occupation or pur- 
 suits, but, like the artists, are taught 
 greater harmony, are perfected in execu- 
 tion, and then coming close to a sensitive 
 brain interested in the same thought, aid 
 in the composition of a masterpiece. 
 Does it seem natural or right that com- 
 posers, men of letters, scientists, musicians, 
 and all those who have spent a lifetime 
 here in developing themselves, should 
 have no use for such learning after dis- 
 solution? If this were so, is it worth 
 while to make an effort ? 
 
 Here, the ear is limited to a few vibra- 
 tions. We hear only a small number of 
 the many sounds that fill the air. There, 
 the sense is developed, and where seemed 
 silence are really many voices. Here, 
 the eye focuses on only few objects that 
 fill space. There, the lenses are clearer 
 and they comprehend that all space is 
 filled with intelligent and comprehensive 
 life. Harmony predominates in the higher 
 
 125 
 
spheres, and permeates every condition. 
 The melodies and songs that we produce 
 appear to spirit as the rolling ocean wave 
 to us. All occupations which have to do 
 with mind are continued. Physicians 
 study that they may learn what remedies 
 are required to assist Nature in its effort 
 to restore natural conditions, and as they 
 are able to see clearly and to diagnose 
 disease, impress upon the doctors of the 
 earth diagnoses and treatments. Thus 
 the inhabitants of spirit-land work, on and 
 on, acquiring understanding and perfec- 
 tion in those fields of labor for which they 
 are best fitted. They know the joy that 
 comes from time well spent. 
 
 How do spirits subsist? Do they 
 require food? We answer, yes. In the 
 lower sphere they absorb the essence, just 
 as mortals take the substance. We inhale 
 the invisible perfume of flowers ; they the 
 essence. So close are they about us that 
 ofttimes their thought and suggestions 
 are our desires. As we take food and 
 drink, they find their sustenance in the 
 essence. But as they progress, they absorb 
 spiritual food and spiritual fruits. In 
 time, they can live on these alone. 
 
 126 
 
With many people the earthly life is 
 one great masquerade. They live behind 
 the mask of material, and are never really 
 known. In the spirit-world, we appear as 
 we really are. On earth, all are free to 
 choose place of habitation, surroundings, 
 associates, and to wander where desire 
 leads. Suppose that here and now the 
 secret thoughts, motives, selfishness, greed, 
 and desires of men could be photographed, 
 suppose a camera would make character 
 visible, how startled the world would be ! 
 How many would hide! In dissolution 
 this mask falls from the face. Men are 
 seen, and for the first time, in the mirror 
 of Nature, they see themselves as they 
 really are. Thoughts and desires, the 
 record of every act done in the body, are 
 visible to all the spirit-world even as it 
 was before, for they have always known 
 the deeds and understood the thoughts 
 and desires of our daily life. Even now 
 we hide nothing from spirits. The spirit, 
 then, comes to fully appreciate that his 
 life has always been an open book. Here, 
 there is hypocrisy and doubt ; there, hy- 
 pocrisy is unknown and deceit is impos- 
 sible. The language of spirit is thought, 
 
 127 
 
and thought is visible. The spirit freed 
 from material shows what it is, and all 
 that great beautiful world knows how 
 opportunities have been improved, how 
 character has been developed. How many 
 around and about us would be willing 
 that the spirit-world should know every 
 thought and witness every act, with the 
 motive actuating it? This is a fact, 
 whether we would have it so or not. In 
 that life, each one will be drawn into 
 that condition and into that society for 
 which he is fitted. Harmony is Nature's 
 first law, — universal, fixed, determined, 
 inimitable, — and it draws one into the 
 condition for which he has qualified 
 himself. It may be among beautiful 
 characters, in happy homes surrounded 
 by the loved ones who have gone before. 
 It may be among the selfish and ignorant, 
 with strangers, in darkness and sorrow. 
 The freedom to select society or residence 
 is no longer possessed. Nature's irresist- 
 ible power, that can no more be changed 
 than the path of a constellation, draws 
 individual spirit to its own. 
 
 No good ever came or can come from 
 teaching falsehood, but bad comes and 
 
 128 
 
must always come. It is the duty of every- 
 one to teach and speak what he knows to 
 be true. Having this knowledge, if mine 
 were the only voice in the land, I would 
 raise it. Into the dull face of supersti- 
 tion I would throw the shining lance of 
 reason ; into the darkened room of preju- 
 dice, I would light a single torch. But I 
 am not working alone. Men are no longer 
 satisfied with Christian teaching. They 
 are thinking, and orthodox teaching and 
 thinking along those lines do not harmo- 
 nize with each other. When one begins 
 to think he begins to doubt, and doubt is 
 the dawn of reason. Around and about 
 us are great forces of occult power. Vast 
 influences are continually at play upon 
 the well-being of man. Research is mak- 
 ing this field classic. It is no feverish 
 excitement or vain ambition that leads 
 men to this thought. It is a higher feel- 
 ing, a holier motive, a desire to under- 
 stand and to comprehend the economy of 
 Nature, and to grow wiser and better 
 through that knowledge. 
 
 129 
 
NATURE'S REVELATION 
 
 I CANNOT accept such a God or such 
 a hereafter as the Bible describes. I 
 cannot believe in a God of vengeance. 
 I never could believe that men, women, 
 and children will suffer eternally for 
 not acknowledging a religious system of 
 which, perhaps, they have never heard. I 
 never could assent to the thought that all 
 progression stops with dissolution, or that 
 men and women do right only through 
 fear of God's wrath. I fail to understand 
 how anyone can suppose that a man-God 
 sits on a throne, surrounded with elders, 
 beasts, and birds, or that a spirit adores a 
 lamb with seven horns and seven eyes. 
 Do any actually credit such teaching ? 
 I doubt it. 
 
 Are not these comments fair and rea- 
 sonable ? And is not mankind entitled 
 to ask such questions ? If we do not 
 reason from experience and from natural 
 conditions, is there any safe basis ? What 
 
 131 
 
was the object of Revelations, the con- 
 cluding book of the Bible ? Was it 
 not to advise the world what to expect 
 beyond the grave, to the end that men 
 should so live as to inherit that King- 
 dom ? "And he said unto me these 
 "things are faithful and true," said St. 
 John. If this instruction is false, what 
 will happen ? Has any one thought ? 
 Shall a man be sent to hell for thinking 
 honestly ? Revelations, if true, is one of 
 the most important books of the New 
 Testament, for the reason that all ought 
 to know what follows this material exist- 
 ence, that they may go to it understand- 
 ing^ and intelligently. How can we fit 
 ourselves for it unless we know something 
 of the place and its conditions ? Nothing 
 should be undertaken without prepara- 
 tion. The youth going to college is 
 taught by one who knows the require- 
 ments of the institution. To enter one 
 of the learned professions, one must have 
 certain qualifications and training. To 
 go into any branch of business, one must 
 first learn the duties of the position, and 
 where and under what conditions he is to 
 assume responsibility. The more impor- 
 
 132 
 
tant the undertaking, the more careful 
 must be the preparation. One who goes 
 to a strange land makes a careful investi- 
 gation. He studies the geography of the 
 place, the way to travel there, the natural 
 and political conditions, his possible du- 
 ties, and his ability to meet them. We 
 are all journeying to a strange country, 
 and each of these questions is again per- 
 tinent. The Christian Church, without 
 any definite knowledge on the subject, 
 assumes to answer them, and to prepare 
 us all for that life. "Falsus in uno, falsus 
 "in omnibus" — false in one thing, false in 
 everything — is a maxim of the common 
 law. We are not bound to credit in any 
 particular a witness who is untruthful in 
 one material statement. So, if we, apply- 
 ing this rule, find that if Revelations are 
 false the whole Bible is unsafe, and the 
 orthodox world is stranded. 
 
 It is not possible, here, to learn and 
 appreciate all that the next life will 
 bring. But one can accomplish much. 
 The question is asked: How do we know 
 that Revelations are false, and how dare 
 we question it ? Our answer is simple : 
 By talking with those who are living in 
 
 133 
 
the next world. Each of us has known 
 many good men and women in whom 
 we had perfect confidence; have known 
 the works and writings of others who 
 held high position while on earth. These 
 have now gone on, or, as the orthodox 
 say, are dead. If it is possible to con- 
 verse with them from day to day, if they 
 speak with their own voices, if they speak 
 with as great intelligence and freedom as 
 before, if they explain just what they 
 found and are still finding, and all this 
 appeals to reason, to what conclusion 
 must one come ? The question may be 
 properly asked : Do we pretend to know 
 all about Heaven ? We answer : No. 
 If life in the next world is endless, if 
 knowledge, opportunity, and progression 
 are without limit, how little could one 
 learn there, say, in fifteen years ! Then 
 how much less must one learn here, en- 
 cumbered with material conditions, in 
 that same short space of time ? But 
 from those who are already there we 
 have learned something. 
 
 Then, where is Heaven ? We answer : 
 It is here around and about us. It sur- 
 rounds this planet. It surrounds, as well, 
 
 134 
 
the millions of other stars and planets 
 where there is life and joy. This I am 
 told by those in that other world, and I 
 believe them. I have talked with great 
 men and good women, with the learned 
 and the ignorant, with the righteous and 
 the wicked, with the rich and the poor. 
 All tell the same story. All agree on 
 what they find there. If life follows dis- 
 solution and if speech with the dead is 
 possible, those who have gone must be 
 better able to describe that condition than 
 St. John. When I say that I can and do 
 talk with those in the after life, I know 
 the statement will be questioned. Many 
 who have gone from among us knew of 
 my metapsychical research before their 
 dissolution. When they reached the after 
 condition, some whom I knew personally 
 and some who were strangers have come 
 and told me of their unkind thought and 
 bitter speech before their change. They 
 have further said, " Why do you not give 
 " this knowledge to the world ? " They 
 have asked me to carry messages to those 
 they left behind. This last I have often 
 refused, and have answered, "Were you 
 " not so prejudiced in the earthly life that 
 
 135 
 
" you would have rejected a message from 
 " a departed one ? " 
 
 Most people believe that their life con- 
 tinues beyond the grave. If this be so, 
 why should they not work with us and 
 among us, when out of this body ? One 
 may possess in this material existence the 
 confidence of the courts ; his word may 
 be accepted in business affairs, and among 
 his friends be unquestioned. Now, with 
 this record, let him make statements of 
 fact of what he is doing from day to day 
 in the unseen world, let him tell of what 
 years of study and research in this field 
 have accomplished, and he is doubted. 
 Why ? Because of the orthodox teaching 
 and prejudice that exist; because man- 
 kind is not free. How many of those who 
 decry the possibility of spirit communica- 
 tion ever spent one day in actual metapsy- 
 chical research, or made any personal 
 effort to know what follows this life ? Is 
 it not a fact that orthodox people go to 
 church, let the priests do the thinking, ac- 
 cept their assertion that it is wrong to 
 question God's word as they themselves 
 have recorded and interpreted it? Is it 
 wise to condemn those things we do not 
 
 136 
 
understand? Is not the statement of 
 one who has spent years of research on a 
 subject entitled to some consideration ? 
 
 I have no monopoly in speech with the 
 other sphere. The avenues that I have 
 traveled are open to all. Any can have 
 what is given to me from day to day. All 
 can enjoy it by mastering the simple laws 
 of Nature and by creating the conditions. 
 Do any want this knowledge enough to 
 try ? I stand ready to demonstrate the 
 fact, at any time, in any place, to any 
 fair man, that, given natural conditions, 
 it is possible to talk with spirits, to talk 
 with those out of the body, just as we talk 
 to each other here. I know of no words 
 that will carry greater conviction than 
 those I have used. I am earnest in my 
 desire to spread this knowledge, because 
 I know its needs, because I know that 
 with it mankind may not only live a 
 better life here, but go on into the next 
 life better prepared to live that life as it 
 must be lived. Let me illustrate. One 
 who has implicitly followed orthodox 
 teaching leaves the body with only such 
 ideas of Heaven as the Church gives. He 
 has but one idea, one thought, — to find 
 
 137 
 
a personal God, Jesus, in the City of 
 Heaven. He wants to join the multitude 
 within the walls worshiping God and the 
 Lamb. Spirit is conscious, individual 
 thought, and this spirit, knowing nothing 
 of what really follows dissolution or of 
 natural laws, has in mind what he has 
 been taught. He knows nothing of the 
 laws that continue to govern, nor how to 
 utilize the first principle. Then where is 
 he and what is he ? Assuming there is 
 such a place as St. John describes, how 
 is he going to get there ? His trouble 
 must commence ; he is a living, conscious 
 spirit, that is about all, and he goes on 
 and on, blindly seeking that Heaven that 
 does not exist. It has never been found 
 by any to whom I have talked, and I 
 have talked with those I want to be with 
 in the next life. In this after life the 
 search for the orthodox Heaven is often 
 long and lonely, and ages may elapse 
 before one comes to realize that Heaven 
 is within one's self. Those who are in 
 the next life tell me that Heaven is here; 
 that with the change they do not go away, 
 that they may do so in time, but that 
 until they progress they are around and 
 
 138 
 
about us, in the home, on the streets, in 
 our offices and workshops, in the fields 
 and forests, just as before. The only dif- 
 ference is that they are invisible to our 
 sight. As they are no longer material, 
 they no longer handle material. As they 
 are spirit, they deal only with spirit. 
 As money is material, they no longer 
 strive for it. They journey with us 
 from day to day. They give us thought 
 and suggestion whenever they can, and 
 stay those acts that are unjust, selfish, or 
 wrong. They do not always succeed, but 
 they try. 
 
 I am told that death is natural ; that 
 in the change we only work along new 
 lines, learning new laws and how to apply 
 them ; that the condition there is a per- 
 fectly natural one, just one step beyond. 
 It is good-night and good-morning. There 
 is no place set apart, no personal God, no 
 Saviour called Jesus, no throne, no lamb 
 to worship, no bowing down for the grati- 
 fication of anyone. It is a great, beauti- 
 ful, natural world, the world of spirit, 
 where men and women love and labor. 
 When they come into understanding and 
 reach the higher planes they find that 
 
 139 
 
Nature has always been revealing herself, 
 not through a single book, but through 
 grandeur and beauty. In every tree that 
 grows and fruits, in every seed that 
 flowers, and in every birth, there is a 
 Revelation. Nature speaks in all lan- 
 guages and to all our senses. 
 
 140 
 
THE FIRST CONDITION 
 
 THE first step in progression is so 
 earth-like it is at first difficult of 
 comprehension. We have been so 
 long taught that the death change is so 
 marvelous, a spirit is reluctant to accept 
 the simple situation. It has been com- 
 pared to the going from one room into 
 another. While surroudings are changed 
 they are similar ; like, yet unlike ; but 
 the thought and individuality are in 
 nowise altered. These are identical ; the 
 mode of expression and the touch only 
 are different. This is not what is ordi- 
 narily expected, therefore it is ofttimes 
 reluctantly accepted. 
 
 I speak now of those who have lived a 
 fairly good life. The inability to touch 
 the bodies of those in earth-life, or to 
 speak so they can hear, together with the 
 meeting with those who have gone before, 
 bring them to appreciate the natural 
 change that has come to them. Then 
 
 141 
 
comes the thought of what and where 
 they are. The vision is enlarged, and 
 while they see all that was visible to their 
 material eyes, a mental curtain is parted, 
 and there comes a conception of sights 
 and sounds not possessed before. They 
 find, not a walled city with guarded 
 gates and streets of gold; not a judg- 
 ment-throne before which they must ap- 
 pear like criminals at the bar of justice; 
 but a simple, natural world, this world 
 spiritualized. They are helpless then, but 
 they soon learn the first principles, and 
 are able, in a measure, to act for them- 
 selves. They must learn to seek the truth 
 and know self. These cannot be found in 
 searching for falsehood. Where one has 
 all this life been taught error he clings 
 tenaciously to old beliefs, — more in fear 
 of punishment than anything else. In 
 time, when he does not find the condition 
 he was told he would meet, and when he 
 finds instead that friends who braved dam- 
 nation and accepted truth are not burned, 
 courage comes, and old doctrines, faiths, 
 and dogmas are abandoned. Then grows 
 the desire to know the law as it is. There 
 is no real awakening until the earnest wish 
 
 142 
 
crystallizes. Then the spiritual vision 
 broadens, and, first of all, he sees himself. 
 The thoughts of earth-life crowd for recog- 
 nition. Every act awaits reenactment. 
 The only throne he finds is of his own 
 building ; the only judge, himself. He 
 is told that God is universal good, and 
 that only through good shall he find ad- 
 vancement or changed environment, and 
 that good must be of his own gathering. 
 He is taken to the home that his life-work 
 has builded. He is left among those 
 surroundings for reflection, left to think 
 over again the thoughts and deeds of his 
 former daily life. One by one they come, 
 more real than his imagination ever 
 pictured, each claiming his authorship. 
 Little acts of kindness, words of sympathy 
 or encouragement, possibly performed or 
 spoken half unconsciously, return in peace. 
 The vibrations set in motion by some deed 
 of charity are gathered, and in them the 
 spirit is uplifted. He hears again words 
 of thanks for some good done, like distant 
 music. On the walls of this new home, 
 more real than artist can paint, are pictured 
 in many colors, every kind act, deed, and 
 thought, and in retrospection, the heart is 
 
 143 
 
filled with unknown joy. The happiness 
 that one gives to others in every-day life 
 is only loaned, and in the hour of awak- 
 ening it comes back to him who gave 
 it, laden with the joy it carried. One 
 may sow happiness broadcast, like wheat, 
 and, like wheat, it will find fertile soil. 
 The great harvest comes in this hour 
 of need, returning good for good many 
 fold. The doorway will be open, and 
 those who have gone before, who have 
 been helped and aided by the new spirit, 
 come with eager words of thanks and 
 welcome, and in this joy and greeting the 
 material world is for a moment forgotten. 
 This is the home of a good man, a true 
 man, a natural man, one who lived close 
 to the heart of Nature, and did good 
 because he loved it. In this new life his 
 heart is full, his joy unspeakable. The 
 good he did lives and Heaven is about him. 
 But no man's life was all good. This 
 is not possible in the material existence. 
 
 If good multiples and brings much hap- 
 piness, why should wrong not follow and 
 be intensified, laden with despair? Bad 
 thoughts help to build the same as good. 
 They enter into and become a part of the 
 
 144 
 
structure, and are visible to the awakening 
 soul, side by side. Both are to be met ; 
 both to be dealt with. The good at some 
 time, in some place, will overcome evil 
 and predominate ; but this will be in the 
 spheres beyond. Here, among the beau- 
 tiful mental pictures that adorn the walls 
 and enter into the substance of the struc- 
 ture, are evil thoughts which show with 
 equal distinctness the record of a man's 
 life. Here, in startling detail, the spirit 
 sees the wrecks he has made, feels the 
 sorrow and hears the words of anguish 
 wrung from lips of suffering because of his 
 cruelty or oppression. Those in spirit 
 whom he has injured appear before his 
 vision, and the evil he has done returns to 
 claim him as its own. He finds he cannot 
 put this burden on another's shoulders, 
 that he must face it and have it always 
 before him, and his soul cries out in agony, 
 " This is Hell." This is the first plane. 
 The home of the spirit, — in part beauti- 
 ful and in part horrible, in part good and 
 in part bad, — he soon learns it is just as 
 his thoughts builded; that if he would 
 take one unsightly picture from memory's 
 wall he must live the act over, must undo 
 
 145 
 
the wrong, and, in living again, must live 
 it right ; when he makes compensation for 
 the injury, he finds the act no longer visi- 
 ble to him. And so, one by one, he must 
 live each evil thought or act over, and 
 make it this time in harmony with all that 
 is good. The way will be shown, but the la- 
 bor is his, and the journey is ofttimes long. 
 Out of these trials, that which was weak- 
 ness becomes strength; hard natures be- 
 come softened, and the spirit, through 
 remorse and suffering, finds greater devel- 
 opment. When every harsh word has 
 been recalled, every evil eradicated, each 
 wrong undone, each vile thought made 
 clean, new conditions will surround the 
 spirit. The unsightly pictures and mem- 
 ories will pass away, and this first home 
 of the spirit will become filled with happi- 
 ness, a place fair to look upon, and one 
 he may proudly call home. This first 
 condition is the lowest plane of the spirit- 
 spheres, and the saddest one. In it the 
 conscience is awakened, and all the wrong, 
 all the evil, ever wrought in knowledge, 
 or wrought in ignorance, must be lived 
 again ere the soul can take one step on 
 the road of eternal progression. 
 
 146 
 
RIGHTS OF CHILDREN 
 
 A CELEBRATED French writer 
 died in Paris in 1817. She was 
 the daughter of a Minister of 
 Finance under Louis XVI., enjoyed the 
 friendship of Rousseau, Buffon, Gibbon, 
 and other men of letters, and was exiled 
 by Napoleon in 1812. One evening she 
 gave the following talk to a company, 
 which I had invited, on the subject of the 
 early mental training of children and 
 of our duties to them : 
 
 " There are many things I want to say 
 "to you. I was the woman Napoleon 
 " feared and hated. I tried many things 
 "when on earth and made my brain a 
 "brilliant, polished receptacle. I was 
 " without a particle of affection or gentle- 
 " ness. I was proud of my wit and clev- 
 " erness. I have had to spend much time 
 " here trying to make a few bright flow- 
 " ers bloom in the hard soil, and to tear 
 " up the flaming, flaunting ones that had 
 
 147 
 
'taken deep root there. It will help 
 'women very much to understand this 
 'philosophy. They are, as a rule, help- 
 'less and undeveloped souls. It is pa- 
 ' thetic to see the way they follow blindly 
 'where they are taught to go, without 
 ' once considering the wisdom of the teach- 
 ' ing. I think this philosophy will teach 
 'them self-reliance, and will help them 
 ' to understand themselves. Their chil- 
 ' dren will profit largely from it and will 
 'make splendid new types. I am in 
 ' earnest on this subject. It is my especial 
 'work now to bring understanding to 
 ' woman. I am above all things a 
 'worker, and so I find intense joy in 
 'thus making my weak sex understand 
 'what really great spirits they are. 
 ' Sometimes I believe it is a mistake to 
 'think they are more spiritual than 
 ' men. They have not such large vices, 
 ' as a rule, but their souls are small and 
 ' petty, and few rise above sordid, every- 
 ' day duties, and see the great, beautiful, 
 'wonderful world waiting for them to 
 ' enjoy. 
 
 "Many mothers are selfish and lazy. 
 'They either leave their children with 
 
 148 
 
" servants, or let them grow up self-indul- 
 "gent, uncontrolled men and women, 
 "simply because it is too much trouble 
 " to govern and correct. The poor chil- 
 " dren suffer for this all their earth-lives, 
 "and then progress is much harder. If 
 "women could be made to understand 
 " the great responsibility that rests with 
 " every human being, just within herself, 
 "they certainly would teach the little 
 " faltering feet the way to walk the path 
 "of life. Children must learn early to 
 "govern themselves, must learn to be 
 " generous, and, above all, must learn to 
 " think. Stop thinking for your children, 
 " you mothers, you stunt them ! Teach 
 "them they must think in every little 
 " thing. Let them decide for themselves 
 "when it can possibly be done, and do 
 " not make little machines of the poor 
 " little souls. If you do they will grow 
 "into larger machines. The brain can 
 " be trained from babyhood, and must be 
 "so trained to have the best results. 
 " Teach the children to see the beautiful 
 "in life and to appreciate with their 
 "souls, Pour into them all the great 
 "thoughts of wise men, simplified for 
 
 149 
 
'their understanding. Remember that 
 ' you are responsible for their lives. In- 
 'deed, early training can develop a small 
 'virtue and kill a vice which might in 
 ' after years grow large enough to make 
 'a man miserable. Never think it too 
 'much trouble to work for your child 
 ' and with it. Your reward will be great 
 ' and your joy unbounded when you see 
 'the splendid spirits of your children. 
 ' You will remember that you developed 
 ' them and watched them through child- 
 ' hood with intelligent eyes. They will 
 ' be unblinded by the dead superstitions 
 ' of ignorant men. They will be made 
 'keen and self-reliant through this new 
 'enlightening philosophy. It sheds a 
 'light on all the dark places, and can 
 ' easily be likened to that modern inven- 
 ' tion — the searchlight, — which clears 
 ' and brightens all it touches." 
 
 Another said : " Children coming here 
 ' in infancy are given experiences as near- 
 ' ly those of earth-life as possible, given 
 ' those experiences that are needed, as it 
 'were, to form the soil for the plant to 
 'grow. Then they are taken to the 
 'Second Sphere, where they remain a 
 
 150 
 
" long time. They make our best teachers, 
 "having nothing to unlearn, and they 
 " progress rapidly through all the Spheres. 
 " They need some earth-life, but naturally 
 " they are more nearly spirit when young, 
 "and easily take up the life and con- 
 ditions here. I do not think early 
 "dissolution is unfortunate, unless the 
 " parents grieve very much. If they do, 
 " they act as a weight on the little spirit 
 "and chain it to them. The sweetest 
 " sound a good woman knows is the first 
 " appealing cry of her helpless child. Each 
 " day it grows more dear, and when the 
 " little lips respond and the tiny arms are 
 "raised, in confident love, the mother's 
 " heart grows rich with joy. Can you 
 " imagine the anguish of that heart when 
 " the child looks coldly into her eager eyes 
 " and turns from her aching arms without 
 " a sign of love or recognition ? This is the 
 " anguish of the mother who deliberately 
 "destroys her unborn babe. That little 
 " embryo life must live, and it is cared 
 " for by tender spirits. When that mother 
 "enters into the new life, she feels the 
 " hungry, unsatisfied love of years beating 
 " in her heart, and every year the pain is 
 
 151 
 
" deeper. She knows her child, but it sees 
 "only a stranger at whose door when 
 " helpless it had knocked in vain, and it 
 "turns away. The awakened mother's 
 " heart must endure intense agony before 
 " she can win the love she cast away. It 
 " is one of the saddest lessons in spirit-life." 
 
 152 
 
THE SPHERES OF LIFE 
 
 EARLY in my work I understood 
 that life continued beyond the 
 grave; that personality was in 
 no way lost; that when the spirit had 
 compensated for all wrongs and made 
 them right he would progress ; but it has 
 taken many years to reach these advanced 
 spirits, and from them learn just what 
 was beyond the first sphere, where our 
 work had hitherto largely been confined. 
 We have often asked what was beyond, or 
 to what progression led, and have as often 
 been told to have patience, that when we 
 were prepared to receive and to under- 
 stand, the knowledge would be given. 
 
 At last the knowledge that has long 
 been desired has been revealed, and we 
 find that the future life has seven spheres, 
 each containing many planes; they are 
 as follows : 
 
 1. Restitution. 
 
 2. Preparation, 
 
 153 
 
3. Instruction. 
 
 4. Trial and Temptation. 
 
 5. Truth. 
 
 6. Harmony. 
 
 7. Exaltation. 
 
 I have written of the conditions in the 
 first sphere as I know them from work 
 done there and general information given 
 me by spirit people ; but in taking up the 
 spheres beyond the first, I am now able to 
 give the language of those who live in 
 them and who describe them. One said : 
 
 " I know what we all know,— that there 
 " are seven spheres. I have just reached 
 " the third. Sometimes a spirit can speak 
 "from his sphere to the next higher, as 
 "you do while in the body, but only in 
 " the same way. I mean that there is no 
 " mingling together. When a spirit goes 
 "from one sphere to another it is quite 
 "unlike dissolution in earth-life. He is 
 " warned that the change is near and has 
 "time to put his spirit into a higher 
 " plane of thought so that he will be pre- 
 pared to meet the new life. He says 
 " farewell to all his friends. They join in 
 " a general thanksgiving and celebration, 
 "all congratulating and helping him on 
 
 154 
 
" his way by strong uplifting thoughts. 
 " When the time comes he is put quietly 
 " to sleep, with the thought dominant in 
 " his mind that he is to make the change. 
 " When he awakes he is in his new home 
 " in the next higher sphere. He has dis- 
 " appeared from the old. There is no old 
 " body to bury and decay. Each change 
 " is for a higher and better life, and the 
 " home awaiting is more beautiful, as he 
 " builds with a surer, wiser hand, or, 
 "rather, spirit. His home ceases to be 
 "among his former friends when this 
 " change comes. Thought has fitted him 
 "to progress, and when that thought 
 " which held him to the lower plane has 
 "ceased, the embodiment of the spirit, 
 " which is held together by his thought, 
 " is visible no longer. 
 
 " Each new change is more difficult to 
 " explain to you than the one preceding. 
 " It is simply a higher life and a busy one 
 "in which to develop ourselves along all 
 " lines, especially the ones suitable to the 
 "individual's taste. In this way, each 
 " spirit becomes better fitted to be a teacher 
 " and helper. It is a very active, pleasant 
 "life, and sometimes seems like a big 
 
 155 
 
"university town or country, with busy 
 " students hurrying from lecture to lecture 
 "and class to class. All are congenial 
 " and light-hearted there. 
 
 "In the lower sphere one sees much 
 " suffering among those still earth-bound. 
 " They, too, are- busy working out past 
 " faults and they are often heavy-hearted. 
 "Generally speaking, the first sphere is 
 " the one where restitution must be made, 
 "and where the final wrenching away 
 " from earth conditions takes place. The 
 " second is one of instruction, is a period 
 " of study, during which the spirit gains 
 " knowledge of self and natural law. The 
 "third is one of teaching those in the 
 "lower spheres, as I have said. The 
 " fourth sphere is one of trial and temp- 
 " tation. The fifth is truth, where error 
 "and falsehood are unknown. In the 
 "sixth, all is harmony. In the seventh, 
 " the spirits reach the plane of exaltation 
 "and become one with the great spirit 
 "that rules the universe. There are 
 "others, more advanced than I, who can 
 "better tell you of the spheres beyond 
 " this than I can. I have not been to the 
 " fourth, and only know of it as you do, 
 
 156 
 
" by the teaching of those who are there. 
 " We are told the spirits in the sphere of 
 "exaltation do not even there lose indi- 
 " viduality. They are embodied in all 
 " the beauty and good of the universe. I 
 " do not know that I can make my mean- 
 " ing clear. Although they keep individ- 
 " uality they permeate the universe. They 
 " have become so great and universal, we 
 "sometimes think they go beyond and 
 "must lose their personality; but we have 
 " no definite knowledge, and it is generally 
 " accepted they do not. It is difficult to 
 " understand or appreciate what this last 
 " sphere is, the development is so beyond 
 " our comprehension. Those in the second 
 " sphere do little, except to fit themselves 
 " for a broader and better work. Before 
 " reaching this condition they have freed 
 " their spirit from the burden of wrong 
 " done in the body, repaid every debt due 
 " mankind, dispelled the darkness of the 
 " first sphere. They work with open eyes 
 "and clear spiritual vision, and are at 
 "peace with all. This must precede the 
 " sphere of study and development. I 
 "have classes on purity, beauty, and 
 " patience, and there are classes on every 
 
 157 
 
" conceivable subject,—- music, chemistry, 
 "everything. They are different from 
 " those in earth-life, and one has to adopt 
 "different ideas. One of our engineers 
 "magnetizes your room each time you 
 "hear our voices. It is easier for those 
 " who have advanced to higher life to 
 " reach us than for us to reach you ; there 
 "are not so many barriers. Yes, we 
 " always have places that resemble homes. 
 "Thought is not indefinite, and that 
 "makes our homes, and while we keep 
 " that thought our homes are permanent. 
 " You ask where is that home located. I 
 "would say to you that all that is space 
 " is peopled by spirits." 
 
 This lecture gave to us the spheres of 
 progression. As you see, we were told 
 not only their names, but something of 
 the occupations that are pursued in the 
 higher life. Not much can be told, I 
 assume, but possibly all that a finite 
 mind can grasp. I believe what I have 
 written, not only because I know the 
 one who talked, but because it appeals to 
 reason, and is in harmony with natural 
 law, as I understand it. 
 
 True, it is hard to understand where 
 
 158 
 
these spheres are, but there are many 
 things quite as difficult of comprehension. 
 Astronomical instruments have shown 
 that it is ninety-three millions of miles to 
 the sun, but this really conveys nothing 
 to the mind, because one cannot compre- 
 hend such a distance. We know that 
 light travels at the rate of one hundred 
 and eighty-six thousand miles a second, 
 but what that rate of speed is we cannot 
 understand, for there is nothing tangible 
 with which to compare it. Our actual 
 knowledge of the electricity, of magnet- 
 ism, or even of gravitation is limited, as 
 are all of Nature's laws. Then, is it 
 strange that one finds difficulty in appreci- 
 ating what space is and how it is peopled ? 
 This thought of ours is even now free and 
 can pass through space, but it goes with 
 closed eyes, hears no sounds, and feels no 
 touch. At dissolution, each sense is quick- 
 ened, and all life that fills space is visible 
 to the spiritual senses and tangible to 
 spiritual touch and brain. Space must 
 then take form, substance, and reality, — 
 in a world of thought, boundless and end- 
 less. 
 
 159 
 
LIFE AMONG THE SPHERES 
 
 THERE is much to be considered 
 " in putting this knowledge of the 
 "future before earth minds. The 
 ' incredulous and ignorant will only jeer. 
 ' Remember," said one who has been in 
 spirit-life nearly four hundred years, " the 
 ' world in which you live is in a very low 
 ' order of development. In many of the 
 ' other planets this philosophy of life is 
 
 * universally taught, but you have com- 
 ' paratively only a few minds high enough 
 'out of the slough of materialism to 
 1 comprehend it. In the Fourth Sphere, 
 
 * where I am, that of trial, we are fitted 
 ' for a higher order of life. Here, any 
 
 * weakness a spirit may still hold becomes 
 ' doubly alluring and seemingly irresisti- 
 'ble. We finally overcome this by 
 'throwing it out of our spirit. Some- 
 ' times it is a long, hard task. We are 
 ' made to do anything we do not like to 
 ' do, or, rather, we must learn to like to 
 
 161 
 
" do it. Often when we help others, the 
 "task is irksome and we long to keep 
 "ourselves free for spiritual develop- 
 "ment, forgetting that each deed for 
 "others helps our own growth. In the 
 "Sphere of Truth the spirits learn all 
 "about the other planets and become 
 " wise and uplifted, so that they can en- 
 " ter into perfect harmony with the uni- 
 " verse. Of course, this needs special 
 " preparation and a high degree of devel- 
 " opment. There, they are not taught by 
 "contact with teachers from the higher 
 "spheres — in fact, in my sphere we see 
 "no teachers, everything comes through 
 "suggestion. Our minds are receptive 
 " enough to be taught and guided in that 
 "way. Each sphere makes suggestion 
 "just a little clearer and easier to grasp 
 " than the one before, and so we are fitted 
 " for the last, where we are able to throw 
 "our individuality into the dominating 
 " forces of the universe. 
 
 " The Sphere of Harmony is a prepara- 
 tion for the last great sphere, that of 
 "Exaltation, where all the universe be- 
 " comes one. There, they mingle with 
 " all in the universe, and are helped and 
 
 \m 
 
"encouraged by them until they are 
 "ready to enter into a glorious com- 
 " munion of spirit. This means becoming 
 "an inseparable part of all the great 
 "forces of the universe. I have never 
 " heard of any spirits coming back to the 
 "lower planes from the Seventh, except 
 " through suggestion and influence. But 
 "through these, they are very near all 
 "spiritual natures. They really consti- 
 " tute the dominating force for good that 
 " is in and around everyone. The spirit 
 " of good in the universe is not individual, 
 "but universal. In the last sphere each 
 " spirit keeps his individuality, but each 
 " has by then become so great and mag- 
 "nificent that it can mingle with other 
 " spirits in harmony, making one grand, 
 " wonderful whole. If the spirits in the 
 " Plane of Exaltation could by any pos- 
 " sible chance become out of harmony, 
 "the universe would be obliterated and 
 "cease to exist. But this cannot be. I 
 " simply say this to show how they gov- 
 " ern and dominate everything. You ask 
 " if any from your earth have ever reached 
 "the Seventh Sphere. I am not sure. 
 "Your world is young compared with 
 
 163 
 
" almost all the others and so there could 
 " be comparatively but few. 
 
 "Some of the planets do not have as 
 "many as seven spheres to perfection. 
 " They begin with a higher order. There 
 "is not much more that you can grasp, 
 " my friend. You have learned the essen- 
 tials of each sphere, and the minor 
 " details are so vast and varied that you 
 " would have to write a book on each one. 
 " Besides, as I have said, it would be hard 
 "to convey the knowledge to material 
 "minds. Yet it is simple, and on the 
 "same lines as the rest that I have told 
 "you." 
 
 No voice from the Seventh Sphere ever 
 spoke to human ears. Spirits from this 
 do not return and speak to those on the 
 lower planes. Their work is done through 
 suggestion. In this way they come close 
 to us all, but only the conscience hears. 
 
 One from the Fifth Sphere told me a 
 little of the life there and of the con- 
 ditions prevailing. He said : 
 
 "I am told that you have never had 
 " anyone before from this sphere. Here, 
 " we are taught all knowledge and how to 
 " use it for our individual good. We are 
 
 164 
 
'brought face to face with the great 
 'problems of life, the reason for all 
 ' things, and the ultimate result. These 
 ' are vast questions and are not yet fully 
 6 comprehended by us, but they must be 
 'understood before we can enter into 
 ' Harmony, where we are taught how to 
 ' attune ourselves to the universe. There, 
 'we will be taken into the life of the 
 ' worlds, but not until the last sphere are 
 ' we able to merge our individualities into 
 'the creative dominant force. In the 
 ' Fifth we are taught all there is to know, 
 'but in the Sixth we learn by actual 
 'contact, and how to adapt ourselves 
 'to all conditions of the universe. We 
 'are all working toward perfection, and 
 'labor to gain the last great Sphere of 
 ' Exaltation. My friend, I cannot explain 
 'our life to you, because you would not 
 'comprehend it at all. We are all 
 'tending toward one great harmonious 
 'whole, and each day brings us nearer 
 'that state of harmony we desire. In 
 ' these last spheres our home life is almost 
 'lost sight of. We are bands of con- 
 ' genial people, of course, but we are 
 'separate, individual beings. Man no 
 
 165 
 
' longer, like the animals, chooses a mate 
 'and carries her off to his lair. Here, 
 'there is something much higher and 
 'better, a universal brotherhood and 
 'companionship, always growing closer 
 'and higher until complete blending is 
 'formed. It is hard to put this into 
 ' words, because it is so vast and wonder- 
 ' ful and I doubt if you could grasp the 
 ' whole beauty and force of it. 
 
 " There is life on many planets. Some 
 'are more advanced than yours; a few 
 ' are even newer. Each is striving toward 
 ' the same end and must reach it through 
 ' many spheres of spiritual development, 
 'just as you will, until all are one. Life 
 ' on the different planets varies, of course. 
 'On some the people are stronger, both 
 'physically and spiritually. Some have 
 ' a first sphere that corresponds to yours. 
 'Others combine into one sphere what 
 6 we do in three. When a planet is pre- 
 ' pared, the life-force of the universe is 
 ' clothed and individualized. When the 
 ' soil is ready, the seed is planted. Other 
 'planets than the earth teem with life. 
 ' I have not been to them, but have been 
 ' taught of them by suggestion and know 
 
 166 
 
" something of each and what degree of 
 "development each has attained. I will 
 "not be able to visit them until I gain 
 "the Sixth Sphere. I lived in England 
 " during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, so 
 "you see my progress has been rapid. 
 " Fortunately, I was a good man and had 
 " no prejudices to start with." 
 
 From this I conclude that in the last 
 sphere the soul of man reaches perfection 
 and becomes a part of the great spirit that 
 rules the world. Some idea of what this 
 is may be obtained by considering the 
 power of man's mind over matter, in the 
 material sense. By the power of his intel- 
 lect on this earth-plane man makes matter, 
 in a limited way, subject to his will. This 
 mind through ages of development and 
 change grows in strength and power, 
 becomes pure in thought and uses itself 
 for good. When one possesses all that is to 
 be gained in the lower spiritual spheres he 
 will enter into that last sphere of strength, 
 beauty, power, and splendor. His mind, 
 which has gathered much power in its 
 journey, mingles with all others that have 
 ever lived, and that have reached per- 
 fection. This spirit-thought from all 
 
 167 
 
the worlds, blending as one, makes the 
 force that is called God — or universal 
 good. 
 
 168 
 
SPIRITUAL CONCEPTION 
 OF GOD 
 
 IN order that one may have some idea 
 of the character of my work, I give 
 in this chapter a report, word for 
 word, of a discourse given me on God. 
 The spirit who gave it has aided me much 
 by his teaching of the higher life. He 
 said: 
 
 "I have some ability and am given 
 " much thought. I was interested in meta- 
 " psychic philosophy, and naturally I was 
 " in very bad repute among those who 
 " thought they knew life and its problems. 
 "I could and did receive inspired writ- 
 " ings, but they were destroyed after my 
 " death by a sister. I knew something of 
 "spiritual law, and I practiced it to the 
 "best of my ability. I appreciated the 
 " need of helping others. This led me to 
 " establish a harbor for the sick." (Heriot 
 Hospital, Edinburgh.) "Some one sent 
 " me the thought that I was needed here, — 
 
 169 
 
I do not know who it was, but it was my 
 desire to be with you. I am interested 
 in your work, because my own life was 
 so much given to this thought. I did not 
 have much enlightenment save from phe- 
 nomena, but it was enough to make me 
 ready for the change. Yet I was dazed 
 at first, it was all so beautiful. I found 
 a dear younger sister waiting for me, 
 and together we have climbed to great 
 heights. 
 
 " Progression is unlimited. It stretches 
 away into the vast future. One may 
 climb and soar, but never reach the end 
 of all that can be done to make one's self 
 a perfect being. I understand that there 
 are seven spheres. I am in the Fourth, 
 but the last is without limit. Each plane 
 is more ideally beautiful than the preced- 
 ing ; each, harder to tell about to earth's 
 ears. I cannot describe the wonderful 
 sounds we call music ; they are so rich, so 
 harmonious; they find an echo in the 
 deepest places of the heart ; they create 
 beautiful thoughts, and help one's devel- 
 opment in every way. The fields are 
 blazing with posies, and filled with song- 
 birds of brilliant plumage. Everything 
 
 170 
 
* the heart or eye can desire is there, only 
 6 enhanced in beauty beyond our compre- 
 
 * hension, and as we pass from plane to 
 
 * plane we are always astounded. It be- 
 ' comes sublime. When one is away from 
 ' the earth-plane there is no more mixing 
 'with the lower classes, except as your 
 ' work takes you among them when they 
 ' need help ; but you live among your own 
 ' kind and often meet them as neighbors 
 ' through many planes, if your progression 
 ' is about the same. 
 
 " In coming back to you we pass through 
 ' all the planes below us, taking on their 
 ' different conditions as we come, taking 
 'on a little more material in each one. 
 'I can explain it only in this way, al- 
 ' though, of course, it is not material, a 
 ' little less spiritual would be a more cor- 
 'rect expression. It is not difficult to 
 'come back, but it is a little strange. 
 ' To go into the lower spheres seems like 
 ' taking a plunge into muddy water. As 
 'a rule, each plane helps those directly 
 ' below it, except in special cases like this. 
 ' I think many of your friends have not 
 ' progressed as far as I have, and I was 
 ' sent for because it was thought that I 
 
 171 
 
'could explain further. Those in the 
 ' lowest plane have only to come near, for 
 'that is the earth-plane. Spirits in the 
 ' earth condition are on the first plane. 
 ' You are on the material plane, which is 
 'lower still, and does not count among 
 ' the spirit ones. Our home may be said 
 ' to be space and what thought makes it. 
 'We simply create the different condi- 
 ' tions about us by thought. A spirit in 
 'the earth-condition, can, by his better 
 'thought, change the conditions that 
 'exist where he is, and be able to see 
 ' different good spirits about him. 
 
 " I would give this message to the world: 
 ' Be clean, faithful, and strong, and your 
 ' progression here will be rapid. I would 
 ' add to this : Be tender of the weak, and, 
 ' even if you understand nothing of the 
 ' future life, your progress will be good. 
 ' You ask me who and what is God ? I 
 ' answer, God is universal good. I mean 
 ' the spirit of good that is in every man's 
 ' heart, tho' it is sometimes covered with 
 ' dust and dirt. I said universal, because 
 'I know it is there. Sometime it will 
 ' grow and blossom. There will come a 
 ' time when man will know he is a part 
 
 172 
 
" of the great scheme of the universe, and 
 " will realize that this scheme is good. 
 " More of God will come into his heart, 
 " the dust will scatter, and the bud will 
 " grow. God is the life, the spirit entity 
 " of each man, all the better part of him. 
 " God is the spirit that permeates all the 
 "best in man and matter. The word 
 " God is used by us. It is the thought- 
 " term of good. The Christian Saviour 
 " was simply a type such as all religions 
 "have, — a symbol of a perfect man. 
 "Each one should lead a good life, the 
 "best his conception suggests; then he 
 " will know that good is a blessing, more 
 " lasting than riches and renown. One 
 "cannot talk to the Church, my friend, 
 "but to individuals, and through them 
 " hope to reach the Church itself. Through 
 " the shepherd, you reach the flock. The 
 " change is very disappointing to many. 
 " They expect to find something very dif- 
 " ferent, and cannot make up their minds 
 " that they are not to throw all their bur- 
 "dens upon someone else. As I have 
 "said, when people have been conscien- 
 " tiously good, they are very easily taken 
 " into their right place. Sometimes they 
 
 173 
 
are stubborn for a while, but it all comes 
 right in time. 
 
 " The best any can do is to try to make 
 the world realize that the best in every- 
 thing is most desirable, and that every- 
 thing filled with good is best and lives on 
 when evil is found despicable. One is 
 happy when good ; fearful and miserable 
 when bad. Nature is God, is always 
 good, always smiling even in her storms. 
 Nature is but fulfilling her promise of 
 future plenty, as a mother goes through 
 the storm of childbirth that she may 
 replenish the earth. Be not wiser than 
 Nature. Follow her as closely as you 
 can. Nature is natural in all her changes. 
 The God-spirit is breathing through 
 every fold of the rose, every leaf and ear 
 of corn. Let the sunshine pour into 
 your heart, and be generous, natural, 
 and abundant with your good-will and 
 cheerfulness. The rains will come when 
 they are timed. They will replenish 
 the green of the harvest and make it 
 richer. The storms of life may beat 
 upon you, but you will find they only 
 break down the dead branches and you 
 will be more straight and fair for their 
 
 174 
 
" passing. God is in all this, and if you 
 " but open your heart and let into it all 
 "the good there is, you will find peace 
 "and exaltation. I will come again. 
 " Good night." 
 
 This is what is now coming to me from 
 a little beginning, and I give these words 
 to you as I received them, unaltered and 
 unchanged. 
 
 175 
 
ORIGIN OF MAN 
 
 THE subject next in importance to 
 the future condition or state is the 
 origin of the spirit or soul of man. 
 Darwin, Huxley, and many other great 
 naturalists, biologists, and scholars, have 
 reasoned and speculated on this theme 
 with great force and logic. They do not 
 claim to be authoritative, and they offer 
 to the expectant world no definite, tangi- 
 ble facts. All is theory. Their reasoning 
 from a material standpoint is unanswera- 
 ble, and if my authority is no better 
 than theirs these words ought not to be 
 weighed in the balance against the others 
 that have been written on this subject. 
 Certainly, I would not assume to treat of 
 a subject so vast without definite infor- 
 mation from splendid minds in the higher 
 spheres of the great beyond. I know of 
 no source in this material world where 
 any positive knowledge on the subject 
 can be obtained. Anything definite must, 
 
 177 
 
therefore, come from the more advanced 
 planes. If life continues and greater 
 knowledge is acquired, life at some time 
 in its progress will come to know some- 
 thing of the inception or origin of the 
 spirit that is on the earth for a little 
 time to develop character and individu- 
 ality, and to fit it for the next plane. 
 Some who have obtained such knowledge 
 in their progression have talked to me on 
 this subject. 
 
 I do not try to grasp and comprehend 
 the Infinite Mind or the spirit-force that 
 holds the universe in place and guides 
 the stars, planets, and constellations in 
 their courses, for I know that it takes 
 ages and ages of development and work 
 among the spheres of progression before 
 minds become broad and receptive enough 
 to grasp and to comprehend such teach- 
 ing. So we in the lowest sphere can at 
 best but touch the outer garment of 
 spiritual knowledge and understanding. 
 This Earth is yet young. When it came 
 into being and was first peopled, millions 
 of other stars and planets, teeming with 
 life, were growing old. Those who had 
 lived on them since the dawn of time 
 
 178 
 
had long before met the change and 
 mounted upward, through the spheres of 
 progression surrounding their planets, on 
 the journey to the Sphere of Exaltation. 
 When a spirit enters the Seventh Sphere 
 he throws into the dominant life-force 
 all the knowledge and good that he has 
 gathered in his journey toward perfection, 
 and his perfect soul becomes a part and 
 parcel of that power we call universal 
 good. This spirit of good that radiates 
 and permeates around, about, and through 
 every terrestrial body, this life-force that 
 is here and everywhere, is the combined 
 souls of the exalted, and has power to 
 speed embryo life. 
 
 "When matter, according to natural 
 law, becomes receptive, it is impreg- 
 nated with this life-force of the uni- 
 verse, and with the help of material 
 nature develops a soul. This overpow- 
 ering spirit-force, so strong and har- 
 monious with Nature, is able to enter 
 into the seed and give the power to live. 
 It is like the touch of a hand that starts 
 a machine into motion. The great 
 spirit of life, called God, is the match 
 to light the fire. Material must be laid 
 
 179 
 
" ready, for spirit cannot create in earth 
 " planes. It is not reincarnation, because 
 " individual spirit does not enter. Only 
 "the touch that germinates life in the 
 " material seed is given." 
 
 Before occupation, this life-force was 
 universal. The moment it is clothed, it 
 becomes forever individual. This spirit 
 of man comes from the Sphere of God, 
 or Universal Good, and it returns some- 
 time, enriched and glorified, through the 
 spheres and planes of progression. So it 
 completes the circle and adds its domi- 
 nant force to the universal spirit that 
 speeds embryo life and holds dominion 
 over all worlds. Little understanding we 
 have of the strength and power of mortal 
 mind. No one here can have much 
 appreciation of the power of one earth- 
 mind after it has developed for ages. 
 Little will any man ever know in this 
 material world of the power of all the 
 minds that have ever lived in this and 
 all the other worlds, working in per- 
 fect harmony as one in the Sphere of 
 Exaltation. Yet to this mighty force in 
 and about us and all the other worlds we 
 give the indefinite name of God. This 
 
 180 
 
spirit-force, universal in character, this life 
 that is not visible until clothed, enters, 
 when material is receptive, and sub- 
 stance closes about it. What it becomes, 
 whether vegetable or human, depends on 
 the character of the matter that it 
 inhabits, depends, also, on how much 
 spirituality has entered. Gross matter 
 will not receive as much of the spirit of 
 God as refined material. What further 
 becomes of it depends on the environ- 
 ment, teaching, and effort as it comes to 
 maturity. Children of the base do not 
 receive in the beginning as much of God 
 as the children of those who have devel- 
 oped and who live spiritual lives. The 
 more spirituality one takes on in embryo 
 life the better life he will lead, the 
 nearer to Nature he will come. 
 
 Spirit may enter matter and start it on 
 the journey, but does not dominate it. 
 This spirit that is clothed with a body 
 becomes individual, is free to act and free 
 to think. If filled with spirituality, the 
 labor will be easier than for one on the 
 lower planes. But all starting with what 
 Nature was able to give and with what 
 they were able to receive, must work 
 
 181 
 
with what was given them ; for it is only 
 by labor and trials that character is made 
 and the germ of spirituality increased. 
 Little can be given in the beginning to 
 anyone. All can make much of it, and 
 must, in this or some other sphere, bring 
 it to perfection by gradual growth. Spirit 
 is a seed planted by Nature in each 
 material body. Let the soil be fertile 
 and kept clean, and spirit will develop, 
 adding to the beauty of this and all the 
 worlds to come; but without care or 
 effort, spirit will not radiate ; the weeds 
 of vice and wrong will choke and smother, 
 and it will lie dormant within the con- 
 fines of the unclean substance that does 
 not nourish or aid its development. With- 
 out culture and help it will not grow; it 
 will not die; its progress will be stayed 
 by mankind and it will be held in dark- 
 ness. This spirit within us must have the 
 light shed by kindness, and be watered 
 by tears of sympathy and sorrow for the 
 suffering world. The hand that does 
 good unconsciously cultivates the soil and 
 the hungering soul is nourished. It grows 
 with wonderful speed with such aid, and 
 vibrates within the body it inhabits, drawn 
 
 182 
 
outward and upward by the dominant 
 force of good from whence it came. This 
 is the longing, the desire, the hope, the 
 ambition of mankind for better things 
 that speeds men to higher life. 
 
 This soul of ours was first a part, then, 
 of the universal spirit of the exalted, 
 which man calls God. It was an atom 
 which in the instant of conception impreg- 
 nated and entered receptive matter, which 
 clothed with material became individual 
 and commenced its journey on this earth 
 of ours. It must go back through this 
 and the other spheres of evolution and 
 progression to God, whence it came. 
 This is not done in the moment of disso- 
 lution, but must be reached by ages of 
 labor in developing and perfecting the 
 soul according to immutable laws. Not 
 one step can be taken until it is earned. 
 No wings will aid this progression to the 
 higher spheres ; only honest, earnest work 
 will avail. This is the watchword of 
 future life. 
 
 183 
 
GREAT PROBLEMS 
 
 THOUGH we talk freely, when all 
 conditions are at their best, with 
 men and women after they have 
 passed through change called death, though 
 we find that they retain consciousness and 
 individuality, and are told much of their 
 occupation and environment, many prob- 
 lems still remain. The spirits do not 
 solve them, because they know little more 
 of the solution than we do. They, like 
 mortals, know what they have been taught 
 only. 
 
 One who has worked with the Ameri- 
 can Branch of the Society for Psychical 
 Research and its great thinkers, who has 
 himself made this thought the study of a 
 life-time, read some of these chapters, and 
 asked me pertinent questions, which I sub- 
 mitted to spirit-intelligence. In answer- 
 ing, I use the words given me by spirits 
 as are included within marks of quotation. 
 What of the Creation ? 
 
 185 
 
" The beginning of things was brought 
 "about long before this world existed. 
 " The universe was in a chaotic state for 
 " many centuries, while this solar system 
 "was gradually forming and becoming 
 "perfected. The great forces were very 
 "slowly evolved. The original propel- 
 "ling force came from a mere atom 
 " of good, that permeated seething, mass- 
 "ing material. This held the tiny ele- 
 " ment of upliftment. Very slowly light 
 " came where there was darkness. Worlds 
 " were gradually fashioned. Finally, life 
 "began to take on form, — first, in vege- 
 table; second, in the lower animal; 
 "third, in man. All these simply came 
 " from an element of progress, impossible 
 " to understand or to resist." 
 
 Many seem to think that one out of the 
 body must know all about the universe. 
 My own impression is that if he possessed 
 the information a complete answer re- 
 quires he would have advanced so far that 
 he would return only with difficulty. 
 
 What of the personality of God ? 
 
 " We have tried to explain the person- 
 " ality of God to you before. We have 
 " said we do not know absolutely. Many 
 
 186 
 
" spirits think that God has personality ; 
 "others, that God is but the combined 
 " souls of men, risen to the sublime height 
 " that makes them one with the universe. 
 "Spirits, just as minds on earth, form 
 " ideas from experience. I, myself, do not 
 "think there is a God other than this 
 " great united force of good." 
 
 I cannot conceive of a man-God, with 
 personality. The universe is so vast, and 
 this earth and all thereon so small in 
 comparison, that I cannot understand how 
 such a conception could be possible. But, 
 comprehending in some little way the 
 power of one man's mind over matter, 
 I can appreciate the power and force 
 of all minds in the universe working 
 in perfect harmony. I can see God as a 
 principle working universal good. I do 
 not know what God is beyond what is told 
 me. I cannot grasp the infinite ; neither 
 can spirits, until they become one with it. 
 
 What of the Christian Saviour ? 
 
 " Christ was a wonderfully spiritual be- 
 " ing. His communion with spirits was 
 " unlimited, and He lived His life in an 
 "exalted state, which made Him seem 
 "different from other men — that is, of 
 
 187 
 
'course, believing His life was not a 
 ' mere legend. If He did live, He could, 
 'since He was so spiritual, have risen 
 8 rapidly to the highest sphere and min- 
 'gled with those other exalted souls — 
 6 exalted through gradual purification, — 
 ' and so fulfilled His inspired promise 
 'to mankind. From time to time 
 'you have such unusual spirits among 
 'men. Religions have been evolved 
 'from their lives, all tending to uplift 
 'men. Christ was the highest type 
 'that has come to us, and the influ- 
 ' ence for good in the story of His life is 
 ' still unlimited. I have never seen the 
 'so-called Redeemer, nor any one who 
 ' had; nor have any whom I know ever 
 ' found any evidence here that He lived 
 ' among men." 
 
 Why, then, is there conflict between 
 spirit revelations ? 
 
 Why ask a spirit to tell us now that 
 which he himself may not learn for a 
 thousand years ? Spirits do not know 
 what is beyond them any more than we 
 know what is beyond us. If life is end- 
 less progression, how can they? From 
 actually living in the next spheres, they 
 
 188 
 
form opinions, based on such information 
 as they have obtained, just as we do on 
 economic questions. Those ideas may be 
 honest, but may differ in conclusions. 
 
 I have positive knowledge that there is 
 no death ; that it is instead a continua- 
 tion of the earth-life. My neighbor has 
 positive evidence of his present life, but 
 no information as to any beyond, and he 
 denies that life continues beyond the 
 grave. He and I are both honest and 
 each maintains his own opinions. So 
 it is with spirit-people. All there know 
 that life goes on. They know that they 
 live, and think, and act. They see and 
 feel their environment and learn some- 
 thing of the new laws. But it is absurd 
 to expect them to tell us all about the 
 universe, or to what progression leads. 
 They know positively only the conditions 
 that immediately follow earth-life. In 
 this belief all spirits agree. They can 
 only form an opinion based on their 
 knowledge as to life in the further 
 spheres of progression. Therefore, many 
 spirits differ about the creation, about 
 the personality of God, whom they have 
 not seen, about the divinity of the 
 
 189 
 
Redeemer they have not found. A con- 
 clusion based on an unknown hypothesis 
 is pure conjecture. 
 
 It is not necessary or possible at this 
 time for mankind to have positive infor- 
 mation concerning the creation or the 
 personality of God. It takes ages of 
 labor and development to reach the 
 sphere where dwells Universal Good. 
 We ask too much of spirits. They know 
 but little more of the Creation, of God, 
 and of the Redeemer than we do, and 
 one should not expect their opinions to 
 agree regarding life and its conditions in 
 spheres unknown to them. 
 
 Those in the same sphere may disagree 
 as to future progression, and still be hon- 
 est. One may believe that individuality 
 is lost in the Seventh Sphere, while an- 
 other may believe it continues. These 
 questions are too vast for human compre- 
 hension, and are not necessary for human 
 welfare. What we want to know is, 
 Does life continue ? If so, in what form ? 
 Truth is always in harmony with truth, 
 but this does not mean either spirit's or 
 man's understanding or expression of it. 
 I condemn the teachings of no honest 
 
 190 
 
spirit concerning life beyond his progres- 
 sion, for he can only express his opinion, 
 as those spirit-intelligences working with 
 me express theirs. They do not differ 
 regarding the lower spirit-conditions, 
 about matters they know as facts. Many 
 mortals, not content to wait until indi- 
 vidual development shall enable them to 
 comprehend the answer, ask to know the 
 Infinite, to find God, to see His face, to 
 find a personality, to call Him, Father. 
 
 I see good in every act of kindness, 
 in all the words of tenderness that fall 
 from human lips, and to me the universal 
 sum of all the good in all this world is 
 God. 
 
 A short time ago I saw a strong man die. 
 Throwing aside the dust that once it wore, 
 a human soul went forth into the night, 
 swift as an arrow sent from the bowstring, 
 leaving no footprint on the trail. His 
 own people were gathered about him, and 
 with aching hearts and tear-dimmed eyes 
 they saw the shadow fall. They did not 
 know how or in what unfamiliar guise 
 the soul left the world of men, — only 
 knew that love and their restraining hands 
 could not cause one hour's delay. Time 
 
 191 
 
lost its power and even space could not 
 hold the spirit back. The spirit sped out 
 from the sight of those once held dear. 
 Only thought could follow. Looking 
 upon the mystery of death, we did not see 
 the spirit rise above the clay and mount to 
 a higher sphere, but who can say that it 
 did not ? If so, where and in what plane 
 is the splendid mind that held dominion 
 over the body, now lying inert, senseless, 
 and useless ? Is death the end ? Is that 
 sleep so deep it never finds its day ? This 
 has been a problem of life ever since men 
 came out of savagery, of greater impor- 
 tance than all the aims, ambitions, and 
 desires combined. We fear the mys- 
 terious, but fear is lost when understand- 
 ing comes. All that is natural is good, 
 and all that is good is for mankind. 
 
 A great wave of thought is sweeping 
 over the civilized world. Men are not 
 content to remain in ignorance. They are 
 seeking to solve this mystery. They are 
 working in secret. They are hungering for 
 knowledge. They want to know where 
 and in what sphere those they love and hold 
 most dear live and labor. And to those 
 who yearn for definite information regard- 
 
 192 
 
ing the condition of the so-called dead 
 they have lost and mourn, I send this 
 greeting : There is no death, there are no 
 dead. Those who have lived their time 
 and passed from sight, still live and love 
 and labor in the fields of everlasting life. 
 Make the condition that Nature requires, 
 and their voices will speak to you and 
 greet you as of old. Make the condition, 
 and they will write with the old legibility. 
 Make the condition, and the hand of 
 spirit, clothed for the moment with mate- 
 rial, will clasp your hand. Make the con- 
 dition, and you will see their faces. All 
 these possibilities have been realized by 
 me, as year by year I have made our con- 
 ditions more perfect. 
 
 I want to emphasize this fact, that each 
 one possesses latent psychic qualities which 
 are subject to development in some de- 
 gree ; that in almost every family ordinary 
 investigation will demonstrate that some 
 member will be found who, in harmony 
 with these laws, can get intelligent move- 
 ment of solids, do automatic writing, see 
 the form, and hear psychically the voice 
 of spirit ; and, in rare instances, contribute 
 those qualities and conditions in which 
 
 193 
 
spirit-people may clothe their vocal organs 
 and speak with independent voice, vibrat- 
 ing in our material atmosphere, so that 
 any one can hear just as I do. When such 
 research is carried on in the home and 
 results are obtained, they will aid under- 
 standing of these laws, because the source 
 cannot be questioned. I have made the 
 experiment in five well-known families 
 and succeeded in four of them. While 
 many others working quietly communi- 
 cate with their friends out of the body 
 with great freedom, and some I know 
 who, having developed their psychic sight, 
 see members of their family who have 
 gone on, and other spirits, as distinctly as 
 we see mortal. 
 
 These laws are all simple and natural. 
 Those things that to mortal minds are 
 mysterious in this philosophy, are called 
 phenomena. But Nature never made 
 anything phenomenal. Things seem so 
 to the undeveloped mentally. Mastery 
 of these laws does not require the labors 
 of the scientist, who is a materialist and 
 only dealing with material, has no com- 
 prehension of the laws that govern life. 
 This understanding is within the grasp of 
 
 194 
 
the family in any household, and it is 
 from this source that knowledge of these 
 laws must come. 
 
 Many great problems cannot be solved 
 by mortal, but the primary question of 
 continuity of life beyond this physical 
 condition and the environment in the first 
 spheres of progression may be learned by 
 almost any household in the world to-day, 
 by developing those psychic forces there 
 possessed. 
 
 195 
 
THE JOURNEY'S END 
 
 THE canoe rocks idly at the land- 
 ing and my splendid Canadian 
 guide, a child of Nature, who has 
 for many years taught me woodlore, who 
 has never been beyond the forest fastness, 
 patiently waits, with paddle ready, to 
 take the homeward trail across the lakes, 
 over the portages, and down the rivers to 
 the big water. The timid gulls that we 
 have taught to come daily for food, and 
 who know no fear, soar with graceful 
 poise in the clear sky, uttering their 
 plaintive cries, like a farewell. Standing 
 at the water's edge looking at the little 
 islands grouped about us, like sentinels 
 guarding our cabin, and at the great 
 trees which fringe the impenetrable for- 
 est, one feels a sense of companionship — 
 they have been my friends these summer 
 days. Here in the forest deep, Nature's 
 mirror of the waters reflects the forms of 
 rocks and trees, the glorious shine of sun 
 
 197 
 
and stars and journeying clouds only less 
 divine than man. And, now, with the 
 first fallen leaf my task is ended — not 
 completed, but finished to the best of my 
 limited ability, — and I gather up the 
 written pages and make ready to return 
 to the noise and struggle of the city. 
 
 The woods are brilliant with red and 
 the first kiss of winter is felt. The hun- 
 ters are coming, and I long to be away 
 before they have killed any one of the 
 wild things I have lived amongst and 
 learned to hold dear, because of their 
 nearness to the Nature I love. 
 
 " We are leaves tossed on the broad 
 "river of life, sometimes lying in the 
 " small dark shallows near the shore until 
 " a breeze or ripple quickens us to action, 
 " and then we are carried toward the ulti- 
 " mate end of all, the great Ocean of Ex- 
 " altation. Wise are they who seek the 
 "faster current, avoiding all stagnant 
 " pools. The great force of the universe 
 " sweeps us on and on, and in the end we 
 " become a part of the power that speeds 
 "all life." 
 
 If thinking men and women find reason 
 and food for thought in these chapters on 
 
 198 
 
Truth, I shall feel compensated. That 
 they will do so, I cannot doubt, for I have 
 had the knowledge brought so clearly and 
 forcibly to me that to question would be 
 to doubt my own reason. If man would 
 only grasp the real meaning of life, if he 
 would open the gates into the garden of 
 thought, and plant therein seeds of under- 
 standing and truth, they would grow and 
 bear blossoms that would fill his life with 
 good. He would find flowers of happiness 
 in every walk. Believe me, this is a cry 
 from the hearts of many who have gone 
 before, who have urged me to give the 
 truth so that others might in time learn 
 and avoid many mistakes. 
 
 The span of earth-life is pitifully short, 
 and one's deeds are mighty in comparison. 
 Let this truth reach you. Do not close 
 the book with prejudice, but ask yourself 
 if there is not reason and logic in what I 
 have tried to tell you in this plain way. 
 Any teaching that points to a good, up- 
 right life cannot be false. 
 
 " God is love and permeates every con- 
 dition of Nature, love yields to the 
 " higher, turns the bad to good, and it is 
 " good because love has touched it." 
 
 199 
 
How few think justly of the thinking few, 
 How many never think who think they do." 
 
 Schopenhauer. 
 
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