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PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 
 MORTAL 
 
 AND 
 
 IMMORTAL 
 
 Witk a Rick Collection of Communications from 
 trie Spirit Side of Life. 
 
 PERTAINING TO PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 Subjects of Antiquity and 
 Religious Tkougkt. 
 
 \Vritten Automatically ana Under Inspiration 
 Xkrougk tke Hand of 
 
 CLARK E. BULL 
 DENVER, COLO. 
 
<h° 
 
 ^v 
 
 COPYRIGHT 1909 
 
 BY 
 CLARK E. BULL 
 
 LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
 Two CoDles Received 
 
 JUN 24 1809 
 
 1*% 
 
 OPY B. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page. 
 
 Appreciation— Dr. H. M. Hill 59 
 
 Architectural Beauty— Dr. H. M. Hill 73 
 
 Antiquity of Spirit Thought— Abut 84 
 
 Assassinations — Wm. McKinley 98 
 
 As a Man Thinketh So Is He — Morse 126 
 
 A Saviour — Confucius 130 
 
 A Spirit's View of Psychic Phenomena — T. J. Hudson.. 175 
 
 Brain Culture — Plato 114 
 
 Body, Mind and Spirit — Aristottle 171 
 
 Christmas— Rev. M. W. Reed 78 
 
 Culture of the Brain and Tongue — Socrates 117 
 
 Continued Life— Plato 171 
 
 Divine Intellect — Socrates 64 
 
 Does Death End All?— H .W. Beecher 136 
 
 Desires — Amond 145 
 
 Does Death End All?— Rev. J. H. Thomas 155 
 
 Early Earth Life— A Great Gt. Grandmother 20 
 
 Eternal Progress — One Paul 23 
 
 Eternal Life — Moab 3 < 
 
 Eternal Progression — Christopher Columbus 38 
 
 Easter— M. W. Reed 79 
 
 Easter — Albert 80 
 
 Easter — Pope Leo 122 
 
 Earth People of Ancient Periods — Alexander the Great. 134 
 
 Egypt and Her Antiquities — Amond 160 
 
 God's Mysterious Ways — Socrates 61 
 
 Holy Ghost — Amond 62 
 
 Human Life— Rev. M. W. Reed 81 
 
 Immortality — Great Spirit 32 
 
 Immortality — Pope Leo 40 
 
 Integrity — Robert Earl 7 / 
 
 Isles of Atlanta — Comoe 99 
 
Page. 
 
 Immortality — R. G. Ingersoll 144 
 
 Justice — Robert Earl 75 
 
 Life Beyond the Grave — Amond 48 
 
 Life as Viewed by Socrates — Socrates 50 
 
 Lincoln's Anniversary — Robert Earl 65 
 
 Lincoln's Anniversary — A. Lincoln 67 
 
 Lincoln's Anniversary — Amond 68 
 
 Manhood and Womanhood — H. W. Beecher , 53 
 
 Misfortunes in Life — Robert Earl 58 
 
 Monsoons and Typhoons — Mitchell 103 
 
 Mortal Life as Seen by a Spirit — Rev. J. H. Thomas... 150 
 
 Mormonism Compared — Brigham Young 138 
 
 Marriage — Rev. J. H. Thomas 152 
 
 Marriage Unhappy — Rev. J. H. Thomas 154 
 
 Morth Pole — Albert 69 
 
 North Pole — Mitchell 70 
 
 New Year — A. Lincoln 86 
 
 New Year — Geo. Washington 86 
 
 National Affairs — Wm. McKinley 87 
 
 National Holidays — Wm. McKinley 92 
 
 Opportunities — Mohammed 52 
 
 Our Country — Geo. Washington 93 
 
 Our Country in Prosperity — James A. Garfield 96 
 
 Ocean Tide— Mitchell 102 
 
 Obedience to the Higher Forces — Amond 128 
 
 Progression — Amond 41 
 
 Progression — Aristottle 42 
 
 Progression as Seen by a Spirit — Rev. Jonas Welden ... 44 
 
 Patience — Job 60 
 
 Powers of Investigation — Socrates 129 
 
 Priesthood in Spirit — Father Lenihan 158 
 
 Relationship Between Man and God — Aristottle 43 
 
 Religion — Mohammed 124 
 
 Spiritual Philosophy— Dr. H. M. Hill 9 
 
 Spirit Return — Socrates 35 
 
 Spirit Return — Aristottle 36 
 
 Spiritual Existence — One Paul 46 
 
 Spiritual Life on Earth— Rev. H. W. Beecher 52 
 
Page. 
 
 Spirit Photography — Albert 54 
 
 Spiritual Influence — Joab the Great 56 
 
 bpiritual Talk— Robert Earl 57 
 
 Systematic Education — Amond 61 
 
 Success — One Paul 71 
 
 bpirit Undertaking— Rev. H. W. Beecher 72 
 
 Spiritual War— U. S. Grant 90 
 
 Spiritual Financiering — Geo. Wasnington 91 
 
 Spirit Life—Elijah 127 
 
 Saint Cecelia — Herself 131 
 
 Spiritual Work — Rev. Moses Hull 139 
 
 Soul Life— Rev. J. H. Thomas 157 
 
 Spiritualism As a Religion — Nine Writers 183 
 
 The World Eternal— Dr. Halliburn 30 
 
 The Inner Man — Confucius 51 
 
 These United States — Geo. Washington 89 
 
 The Civil War — A. Lincoln 95 
 
 Tne Rise and Fall of Continents — Mitchell 105 
 
 The Usefulness of Man — Angelo 124 
 
 The Dove and Cross — Sister Cecelia .133 
 
 The World As I See It— Rev. J. H. Thomas 147 
 
 That Which Constitutes Spirit — Rev. J. H. Thomas 155 
 
 That Which Spirit Passes Through— Rev. J. H. Thomas. 157 
 
 Tne Subconscious Mind — Plato 169 
 
 The Transfer— F. W. H. Myers 174 
 
 "Universal Spirit — Alexander the Great 39 
 
 Uses of the Seas— Mitchell 101 
 
 Universal Brotherhood — Rev. J. H. Thomas 149 
 
 Value of Harmony — Socrates 64 
 
 Volcanic Eruptions — Mitchell 108 
 
 Volcanic Eruptions, Continued — Mitchell 113 
 
 Washington's Birthday— Mohammed 83 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 In presenting to yon for your consideration the 
 following series of communications that I have received 
 from the Spirit Side of life by a system of writing 
 known under various names, some of which are "Auto- 
 matic/' "Spiritual/ 5 "Inspirational/ 5 "Inspired/ 5 etc., 
 I desire that you read the entire writings with reverence 
 and candor and consider with thoughtful mind. 
 
 Clark E. Bull, Author. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 
 
 MORTAL AND 
 
 IMMORTAL 
 
 SPIRITUAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 This series of articles are written and will be ex- 
 plained in the course of these writings, for it is pro- 
 posed to furnish yon with perhaps a better understand- 
 ing of the Philosophy of So-Called Spiritualism, which 
 is but the proper understanding of the natural laws of 
 the universe, for all things in this universe are gov- 
 erned by some natural law and that law is often simple 
 when once understood, as will be observed in the case 
 of an apple that grows upon the tree. First the bud 
 appears on the twig. It requires sufficient moisture, 
 sunshine and proper temperature before the bud springs 
 forth to unfold into the bloom, all of which are con- 
 trolled by the laws of nature and by the continuation 
 of these natural environments the bud develops into the 
 full-grown apple. It is certain laws that control the 
 fruit and other natural laws that control the develop- 
 ment of a human being in all of its various phases of 
 existence. Certain laws that influence the human mind 
 in its diversified channels of thought and with the 
 proper control of one's mind it is possible to become in- 
 fluenced by the minds of the "so-called dead," and by 
 withholding one's own will power from his or her arm 
 and hand that it can be and is controlled by the unseen 
 forces of nature outside the human body, and in that 
 
 9 
 
way these articles are being written with the hope that 
 all who read them will in the future be benefited. 
 
 As these articles are to be written upon "Spiritual 
 Philosophy" it will first be necessary to define Spirit. 
 
 Spirit is that which pervades all things, whether 
 it be animal, vegetable or mineral. It is that which 
 produces manifestation or life in all things. It is that 
 which is universal. Thus we will refer to it as the uni- 
 versal Spirit and is known by various names, as "Great 
 and Grand Architect/' the "Almighty God" and many 
 other names and from this universal Spirit comes the 
 soul of man and takes as its abiding place the temple 
 of clay and is known as a human being. It is placed 
 there by the Universal Spirit, the same as the bud is 
 placed upon the tree and for the same purpose, that of 
 making development. Each under their own particular 
 environments will develop as the All- Wise One has in- 
 tended it should, for a higher purpose in the universe. 
 And now as to when the soul enters the human form. 
 We who are on the spirit side of life do not doubt that 
 it is at the moment of conception. In fact, there could 
 be no conception without this spirit life. And in this 
 whole wide universe the human body is the only place 
 where a human soul can achieve development. Neither 
 is there any other place where the apple can grow ex- 
 cept upon the apple tree. 
 
 The human soul thus implanted within this tiny 
 species of humanity has its beginning as an individual 
 or distinct spirit and develops as the child becomes more 
 mature and makes a natural advance or development 
 until the child has become matured sufficiently for its 
 mind to become actively employed in the affair*, of the 
 material life and then while the mind is so engaged it 
 
 10 
 
is very often the case that the Creator is nearly, if not 
 quite, overlooked and under such environments the 
 spiritual portion of this person's nature does not develop 
 as readily as God intended; but as this person relaxes 
 his or her mind and engeries from earthly strife 
 through failure in health or reclining years, the soul 
 nature usually develops more rapidly in making prep- 
 aration for its departure from the temple of clay that 
 has been furnished for a dwelling place for the soul. 
 And at the time of "so-called death" this soul departs 
 from the body and takes for its abiding place a spiritual 
 body (also known as astral body) which is very similar 
 to the mortal body, composed of very similar elements 
 only of a much finer quality, so much so as to be in- 
 visible to the physical sight. And this spiritual being 
 has its sense of sight and is often developed while yet 
 in the mortal body sufficiently to observe spiritual ob- 
 jects, and it is also possible for the other spiritual 
 senses to become developed in the mortal body so as to 
 apply to the spiritual things, such as "Clairandient," 
 which corresponds to hearing. Clairvoyant to 
 correspond with seeing and psychrometics, which cor- 
 responds to touch. There are other psychic senses which 
 develop later on, after the spirit has left the mortal 
 plane, but while yet in the mortal body with these senses 
 developed to at least a fair degree, and should the mor- 
 tal exercise these senses through the mortal body, he or 
 she would become what is known as a medium, that is 
 one who is yet in the mortal body and is mortal and at 
 the same time spiritual enough to communicate with 
 those who have left the mortal body, or "so-called dead," 
 and thus called a medium because of being developed 
 to some extent on both sides of the river of life. All 
 
 11 
 
persons are endowed with the gift of spirit to a greater 
 or less extent. This gift is the soul nature. It is only 
 a question of recognition and development that deter- 
 mines the manifestations produced by this spirit force 
 within. As soon as this spirit force is recognized by 
 the mortal as being a part of his or her own nature (in 
 the same way that one's mental forces are recognized) 
 the soul, or spirit, nature will make more rapid prog- 
 ress in its development. By some philosophers the sense 
 of intuition is considered as a psychic sense, but I prefer 
 to class it as a mortal sense, but that sense is much 
 more active when the soul has become developed to a 
 higher degree. Whenever a mortal is lead or influenced 
 through intuition or impressions, unconsciously that 
 mortal is acting under the influence of some spirit 
 guide using its powers upon the mortal's mind. As 
 some mediums perform difficult acts when blindfolded, 
 such as finding hidden objects, the guide impresses the 
 medium where to go for the hidden article. 
 
 It is often that a child tells its mother of seeing 
 objects that the mother cannot see, and for lack of 
 knowledge the mother tells the child not to lie. When, 
 were the mother clairvoyant, or as the Bible calls it, 
 seer, the mother would see the same object as the child. 
 A child is born with its physical, mental and spiritual 
 nature all about equally divided and all susceptible to 
 growth and development, and after a few years the 
 child is put in school to develop its mental powers and 
 by the use of the hoop, ball and other forms of physical 
 exercise the physical body is developed, but as these are 
 cultivated often the spiritual portion of the child's na- 
 ture is neglected, or perhaps ignored. Several times has 
 the medium, through whom I am writing, seen children 
 
 12 
 
of four to six years of age give evidence of clairvoyant 
 sight but we cannot expect the child's spiritual nature 
 to develop when neglected or ignored. Suppose the 
 mental powers of the child were neglected or ignored, 
 and the physical nature alone developed. We could ex- 
 pect only a weak mentality, but whether or not this 
 spiritual nature is recognized it remains with the child 
 throughout the mortal life and takes its departure in a 
 less developed state and enters the spirit life in a lower 
 state of development. About its condition from "so- 
 called death" on we will describe in a future writing, 
 for at this time we will consider the subject more from 
 the mortal plane. This soul nature we will refer to as 
 the astral body and is susceptible to a degree of devel- 
 opment far beyond the expectations of those who have 
 not given the subject a thoughtful consideration. It is 
 possible, and sometimes is developed to such an extent 
 and with a proper mental understanding of one's own 
 astral powers that the astral body may be separated 
 from the physical body almost entirely at the will of the 
 mental powers, and while so separated is out in the 
 spirit world the same as it is after "so-called death," 
 except that it retains a tiny connection with the phys- 
 ical body by means of a spiritual cord, which is elastic 
 without limit. While thus separated the mortal body is 
 said to be in a trance, and with practice, both mental 
 and astral development, the astral mind can convey its 
 spiritual experiences to the mental mind and the men- 
 tality will be conscious of the astral's observations while 
 separated from each other. And sometimes without 
 very much development, or, I may say, accidental^, 
 while in sleep (for sleep is produced by the astral body 
 withdrawing from the mortal body), and upon awaken- 
 
 13 
 
ing the mental mind, on receiving its astraPs report of 
 its outside experiences, will call this report a dream. 
 All dreams are not astral reports, however. Another 
 class of dreams are caused by too much blood playing 
 upon the brain, brought about by various causes. 
 
 And now with regard to the effect the mental mind 
 has upon the astral body and mind. It is the God- 
 given nature of the astral body and mind to love har- 
 mony—peace and love, so it will be plainly seen that the 
 mental mind that is constantly or frequently at discord 
 with its environments will not be conducive to astral de- 
 velopment and welfare for such mental conditions are 
 out of harmony with God and His children, consequent- 
 ly not favorable to the welfare of the whole astral being. 
 So it will be seen that when one is making an endeavor 
 to develop the astral being, first of all, seek harmony in 
 the mortal surroundings. Until this has been done 
 little will be accomplished in soul development. This 
 is true of the slightly developed astrals, but when the 
 astral has become developed to considerable extent and 
 has become sufficiently strong it can withstand a certain 
 amount of discord and continue to progress in its de- 
 velopment. And the more it is developed the increased 
 spiritual powers thus produced attract harmonious sur- 
 roundings to the mortal and thus the benefits are two- 
 fold. 
 
 When the astral body (or as St. Paul, the Biblical 
 writer, calls it, the spiritual body, which means the 
 same as astral body) takes its final departure from the 
 temple of clay it retains no connection with the mortal 
 body, which has then served its purpose as God intended, 
 and kind friends dispose of it as best suits their ideas, 
 and is left behind to return "earth to earth, dust to dust 
 
 14 
 
and ashes to ashes," and the spirit to God, from whence 
 it came, to go on "world without end," the better pre- 
 pared to fulfill the will of God for having had its ex- 
 periences while in the mortal body. 
 
 The soul of man is that which results from the in- 
 dividual spirit occupying the temple of clay. The soul 
 is to the man what the seed of the apple is to the apple, 
 or that which perpetuates the fruit, and the soul is what 
 perpetuates the spirit of the man in the spiritual plane 
 of existence, and should an individual soul become in- 
 operative, so long as it remains in that state it would 
 be extinct so far as manifestations are concerned, but so 
 long as nothing ceases to exist this dormant soul simply 
 suspends manifestations until some kind and sympathiz- 
 ing soul becomes interested in the dorman souPs wel- 
 fare and arouses it to fields of activity when it again 
 starts on its work of progression. And now as to the 
 environments that produces the dangers of a soul be- 
 coming dormant. Whenever a mortal passes through 
 the mortal life with little or no thought or reverence of 
 his or her Creator and thinks of God only as one on 
 whom to place the blame of the evils in earth life, or in 
 other words, never or seldom thinks of God with His 
 bounteous goodness and mercies, such thoughts are not 
 conducive to soul development and for the soul to pass 
 from the mortal life in such an undeveloped state it is 
 more than likely to arrive in the spirit world in the 
 dormant or dead condition. And the length of time it 
 will remain in this condition is of great variation. Our 
 divine Saviour was three days, while others have been 
 thousands of years. Thus it will be seen the importance 
 of nourishing soul development while the person is yet 
 on the earth or mortal plane of existence. And in giv- 
 
 15 
 
ing you instructions for soul development I know of 
 nothing better than the ten commandments of Moses, 
 as written in the Christian's Bible. These rules should 
 be well memorized and practiced in all your lines of 
 thought and actions, and the effect upon the mortal's 
 mind will be favorable to soul development. 
 
 Man will continue as he has ever been doing in con- 
 forming to God's laws of evolution, which has been in 
 operation since the world began. Man in his conform- 
 ity to this law has evoluted from the mineral kingdom, 
 which receives its life forces from spirit, to the vege- 
 table kingdom and has been many thousands or millions 
 of years in arriving at the vegetable creation and then 
 as much longer, or nearly as long, before he arrives at 
 the animal stage of existence, and finally reaches the 
 human plane, and soon after reaching this degTee of 
 perfection, then for the first time he becomes a con- 
 scious being and as he develops he becomes conscious 
 according to the degree of development he has acquired, 
 as in the case of man's advent into the world as a dis- 
 tinct being. At first he has not yet arrived at the stage 
 of consciousness only to a slight degree, but as this child 
 matures under natural laws, gradually he becomes more 
 and more conscious of his surroundings and it is only 
 in some instances where the individual becomes con- 
 scious of the fact that spirit is the source from which 
 all things emanate. 
 
 And now we will consider man as a distinct spirit- 
 ual being. First we will consider the case of the astral 
 being that has been nourished and had at least fair en- 
 vironments that are conducive to the soul's welfare. 
 
 Such a soul as it has developed gains strength and 
 power which greatly assists in overcoming discord and 
 
 16 
 
inharmony. As one journeys along through the mortal 
 life and at the same time gaining spiritual knowledge 
 and strength, while another person of equal environ- 
 ments, except that the spiritual nature has been neg- 
 lected and has not the same powers of overcoming dis- 
 cords and consequently the mortal is vexed and annoyed 
 to a far greater extent than one where the spiritual na- 
 ture has been nourished and developed. 
 
 THE ASTRAL OR SPIRITUAL BODY. 
 
 To the mortal who has not given this body a care- 
 ful consideration realizes but little of its vast impor- 
 tance, but we who are in spirit life have it as our abid- 
 ing place the same as a mortal has its temple of clay 
 for its temporary home to occupy for an allotted time 
 upon the earth plane. Perhaps you may ask as to the 
 origin of this astral body. In reply I will say that all 
 things originate from spirit and there are no excep- 
 tions. And there is only one place in the wide universe 
 that furnishes a place for an astral body to form and 
 develop and that is in the human body. And there it 
 is evolved and passes on in its course of evolution, and 
 this astral body is the real or eternal self which is im- 
 mortal and survives the grave, and is ever present 
 with the physical bod} r , or at least a portion of it is 
 present. This body grows and develops within the phys- 
 ical body and whenever the physical being is conscious 
 of its astral its development is enhanced. But this has 
 become such a busy world for the mental mind that the 
 astral is little thought of, or perhaps ignored altogether, 
 consequently its development is seriously retarded. 
 Much is said and being written about the conscious and 
 
 17 
 
subconscious mind, which are two very important factors 
 in connection with both the mortal and astral bodies, 
 each having its own and distinct mind and each having 
 its own distinct functions. The conscious mind is that 
 which recognizes its mortal surroundings and is sus- 
 ceptible to its material influences and usually strives to 
 influence its material welfare. While the subconscious 
 mind belongs to the astral body and controls, to a cer- 
 tain extent, the actions of the physical body, it has con- 
 trol over the heart action and respiratory organs and 
 several other minor functionaries of the physical body. 
 The subconscious mind receives communications from 
 the conscious mind, relating its experiences, but the con- 
 scious mind does not receive communication from the 
 subconscious mind only to a very limited extent until 
 the subconscious or astral mind is recognized and de- 
 veloped and as development has progressed just in pro- 
 portion to its advancement will its influence be mani- 
 fested through the conscious mind and mortal body. 
 The powers of the subconscious mind are many fold 
 greater than that of the conscious mind and its advan- 
 tages in gaining knowledge and experiences are far 
 greater also, for the subconscious mind is ever active — 
 always at work — never wearies — never rests, and when- 
 ever the mortal body becomes weary it requires sleep, 
 and slumber is but the withdrawal of the astral body 
 from the mortal, but this withdrawal is not entire, for 
 enough of the astral remains to maintain pulsation and 
 respiration and thus the physical is freed from its activ- 
 ities and relaxes from its energies and is recuperated in 
 preparation for its future energies, and while this body 
 is in a state of repose the astral, with its subconscious 
 mind, are ever continuing its activities, and the distance 
 
 18 
 
it will go from its mortal body depends upon its degree 
 of development. When but slightly developed it seldom 
 leaves the sleeping room and with a greater development 
 may go hundreds of miles, and so on, even to the visita- 
 tion of other planets and in gathering its experiences 
 those experiences may be along the line of material 
 thoughts and subjects, and with other material astrals, 
 or if more highly developed its experiences may be with 
 disembodied spirits, or those who have taken their final 
 departure from the mortal body, which has returned 
 "earth to earth," and as the accustomed time arrives for 
 the mortal body to resume its accustomed duties the 
 astral repossesses it and the awakening of the mortal is 
 said to have taken place. 
 
 And now I will call your attention to the eternal 
 progression of the soul. The soul as it starts on its 
 journey of progression is in its infancy and gains its 
 spiritual knowledge little by little, according as favor- 
 able or unfavorable conditions are furnished and 
 whether favorable or not it will arrive at the spiritual 
 plane at "so-called death," and will continue to progress. 
 With a developed soul its stage of inactivity or dormant 
 stage will be of a few days, while the undeveloped soul 
 may be dormant for centuries, thus it will be seen the 
 vast importance in the development of the astral body 
 while on the earth plane of existence for upon its first 
 entrance upon the spirit plane is wherein the danger 
 lies of becoming dormant and therefore useless for per- 
 haps almost an indefinite length of time. — Written by 
 the Spirit of Dr. H. M. Hill, who passed to Spirit Life 
 in 1828. 
 
 19 
 
EARLY EARTH LIFE. 
 
 As one is brought into the world by a law of nature 
 that is as old as nature itself, I will not go back of the 
 time of birth, for if I should it would be going back to 
 the mineral kingdom and go through a long course of 
 evolution before it had finished the mineral existence 
 and arrived at the vegetable creation and then continue 
 in its evolutionary process until it arrives at the animal 
 stage of existence. So, as I said before, I will com- 
 mence at the birth of a human being. Possessed of 
 spirit, which is the source of all life, whether it be min- 
 eral, vegetable or animal, and as you very well under- 
 stand the infant is very small, helpless and weak on its 
 arrival to the human stage of existence, but nevertheless 
 the substance therein contained is sufficient to grow 
 under natural laws and develop into all the various 
 phases of human existence. Some develop into one sort 
 of a person while another develops into one entirely 
 different, and still a third will under different environ- 
 ments develop into another phase of usefulness, and a 
 fourth one will also develop into still another field of 
 usefulness, and so on. 
 
 And each child that is borne has its field of useful- 
 ness until all have become useful in carrying out God's 
 great plans, which are too vast for human beings to 
 comprehend or even spirits until they are well advanced 
 in their line of progress through their various spiritual 
 spheres. As you understand, the child at birth is very 
 helpless, more so, perhaps, than any other animal. Thus 
 the mother's mind has a great influence upon it, and as 
 thought force is one of the great forces of the universe 
 it is the ruling influence that starts the child right or 
 
 20 
 
wrong, as the case may be. Thus the vast importance 
 of good — pure — loving — noble thoughts on the part of 
 the parents, after as well as before birth, for as those 
 thoughts are so it starts the child on the right or wrong 
 road of the journey of earth life, and as the earth life is 
 it has a very great influence upon the spiritual life. So 
 you will understand the importance of the kind of 
 thought the parents hold in the early infancy, for the 
 child at that time is so very tender that the slightest 
 impression makes its lasting mark on the child's mem- 
 ory, which may not be noticeable until after life in ma- 
 turity. These are ideas that are not usually recognized 
 on the earth plane, but true nevertheless. If all mothers 
 understood such laws of God and would profit thereby 
 a great improvement would be plainly noticeable in the 
 first generation after this additional wisdom, but after 
 the child has gained a little strength and is able to no- 
 tice its surroundings it is not quite so tender and im- 
 pressions are not so easily made as at first, but thought 
 force always will have its effect on the finer mind. Some 
 call it the subconscious mind, but it is really the soul 
 mind, for it is the mind that gathers the spiritual 
 knowledge. But as the child grows older and its men- 
 tality is being schooled this soul mind is gradually 
 neglected until the mental mind is well developed. Of 
 course I am not considering the physical body, for the 
 soul and mental mind are really the reality which we 
 consider, as the physical part is only for the welfare of 
 the higher portion of our being, which is all that is last- 
 ing into eternity. The intellectual faculties should be 
 cultivated for that raises one to a higher plane in earthly 
 existence, for with this cultivation one comprehends 
 more and is able to be of greater usefulness in earth 
 
 21 
 
life. And then when earth life draws to a close such a 
 one will not be so apt in spirit life to be on so low a 
 plane and progression is more satisfactory to all con- 
 cerned. Material progression is more for your social, 
 financial and other standings among your fellow men 
 and society in general, but I consider that most people 
 on earth think too little of God and His great works. 
 Should you people think more of the plans as arranged 
 by the great Creator and less of the accumulation of 
 wealth much more happiness would prevail and more 
 spiritual advancement be made. 
 
 Yes, the people of earth think of almost any other 
 subject before the great subject of the Creator, which is 
 the greatest of all subjects. Then again we all think 
 too much of our own selves and thus become selfish to 
 a greater or less extent, which is not God-like, for His 
 mind seems to be constantly on the lookout for the wel- 
 fare of His children. The child is taught to believe and 
 think as its parents or guardian would have it. Their 
 influence over it by their very thoughts, even though 
 unspoken, is great. So you will understand those 
 thoughts are to the child what the rudder is to a ship, 
 to a great extent, for they guide it on its course in the 
 voyage of life, until as the child gets older and, so to 
 speak, has a mind of its own and to a greater extent 
 handles its own mental rudder, but is affected by the 
 mental winds of public opinion, which often drifts the 
 child out of its natural course, and this condition of af- 
 fairs is effected to a greater or less extent according to 
 firmness or self-reliance of the child in question. So I 
 hope you will gather from this lesson this remark : BE 
 STEADFAST in your purpose in life and not allow 
 yourself to be drifted out of your true or self -selected 
 
 22 
 
course across the sea of earth life. And again, one should 
 always be watchful for those with whom you are closely 
 associated, for you should not encroach upon the God- 
 given rights of others. 
 
 Then one should not become too strongly engaged 
 in any line of work or thought as to forget the All- 
 Wise One for you and all of us are entirely dependent 
 upon Him for even our existence, to say nothing of our 
 welfare or best interests, so if one lives in accordance 
 with the laws of God all will be well and end to your 
 satisfaction. — Written by the Spirit of a Great Great 
 Grandmother. 
 
 ETERNAL PROGRESSION 
 
 First it will be of interest to you to know some- 
 thing of the author of this article. 
 
 While in earth life I was known as Paul, but not 
 the Paul who was so closely associated with the Saviour, 
 for I was on the earth plane many years prior to his ex- 
 istence, and that part of the earth where I lived has long 
 since been submerged. And now that I am asked to 
 give you try views upon the subject of "Eternal Pro- 
 gression," I will proceed to comply with your wish, and 
 as to the length of this article will depend largely upon 
 where I commence for my starting point, whether it be 
 with spirit, from which all things emanate, or from the 
 physical body. Perhaps it will be too lengthy for one 
 article for me to include all in one article, so I will 
 make it a continued article and make it more complete. 
 
 As I just said, all things emanate from spirit, and 
 not from a supposedly personal God, which is quite apt 
 
to lead your minds astray. When I say spirit you will 
 understand that I refer to the Universal Spirit, which 
 includes all spirit and this universal spirit is that from 
 which all things emanate. Take, for example, the min- 
 eral creation, which forms the substance of our planet 
 and gives us our foundation, from which to base our 
 philosophy, and from this mineral substance comes forth 
 the vegetable creation, and from this vegetable kingdom 
 comes the lower forms of animaPs existence, and from 
 the lower forms of animal life comes, through the evo- 
 lutionary process, the higher forms of life, or human 
 existence. Of course you will understand that these 
 various changes require a long course of time to produce 
 their effects upon the next plane of existence, but as 
 many of God's plans are slow, from the mortal stand- 
 point, this is no exception, and after all these various 
 changes have come to pass the human plane of existence 
 has been reached and as this is the plane which you are 
 now living you naturally will be more deeply interested 
 in more of the various details. 
 
 The human plane of existence as you, no doubt, 
 understand is brought about through the law of attrac- 
 tion of one particle towards another. Perhaps I best 
 explain more fully as to the matter of attraction. All 
 things have an attraction for all other substances of a 
 like nature and things of a different nature are to a 
 greater or less degree repulsive, but the things that are 
 repulsive to a given substance will be attractive to sub- 
 stances of its own nature, as you no doubt have ob- 
 served that mortals are not attractive to all mortals, 
 but only to those of about the same degree of develop- 
 ment and refinement. Thus we account for the various 
 stages of society. What one enjoys and is improved by 
 
 24 
 
is not so pleasing to all mortals. Thus yon see the ef- 
 fect of this law of attraction and repulsion, and the 
 same law holds good among the lower animals, as well 
 as in the mineral kingdom and between the mineral 
 kingdom and human life, as well as with the vegetable 
 creation, and the human, as you will see upon second 
 thought, that you are attracted to some of the vegetable 
 productions, such as flowers. You are attracted to them 
 by their beautiful colors and sweet and fragrant per- 
 fumes, and mortals are attracted to them just in pro- 
 portion to the degree of the mortal's refinement, while 
 there are other forms of vegetable growth that are pro- 
 portionally repulsive to you. I refer you to those plants 
 that are known to you as poisonous, or having thorns, 
 which are all vegetable in a different stage of develop- 
 ment. And those that are attractive to you are for your 
 use and benefit in the upbuilding of your physical 
 bodies, and your bodies are built of these substances 
 that the great Spirit, in Its divine wisdom, has so ac- 
 curately supplied for your use. 
 
 Your minds are provided with the proper substance 
 for its nourishment and development, and as your mind 
 is developed that will determine largely your course in 
 earth life, and as your earth life is utilized it has its 
 influence to your advantage, or otherwise, upon your 
 next stage of existence — the spiritual plane. And thus 
 you will see the importance of utilizing your natural 
 forces upon the question of your connection with the 
 vegetable growth that your bodies may become as God 
 intended. So that the mind may be the gainer in prep- 
 aration for the next, or spiritual, stage. 
 
 And now I think I have led your minds up to the 
 time you should direct your thoughts into the future, 
 
 25 
 
or subjects pertaining to what you class as Eternal. Do 
 not draw the conclusion that nothing is eternal but your 
 future life, for all is eternal in the past as well as the 
 future. Only at your present stage of existence is the 
 first plane of which you are conscious, but you, each of 
 you, existed long before you reached the stage of con- 
 sciousness, but, of course, in a different form of life. 
 And as you pass from your present stage of existence 
 you will take on another and higher condition of life, 
 retaining only the best or most God-like portions of 
 your accumulations from nature, such as your intelli- 
 gence and spiritual aspirations, whether they be of the 
 highest and most G-od-like or otherwise, and your prog- 
 ress in spirit life will not far surpass your desires or 
 aspirations, for the same advantages for progress are 
 offered to all alike. And now that I have outlined the 
 Philosophy of Progression, perhaps it will be of benefit 
 to you for me to offer a few suggestions for your spirit- 
 ual welfare. First — Bo unto others as you would have 
 others do unto you, for as such as you give out (under 
 the law of attraction) the same is attracted to you, 
 whether it be good or bad. So ever be watchful over 
 your thoughts, words and deeds and send out such as 
 you would be pleased to receive in return, and with this 
 suggestion constantly before you perhaps will be of as 
 much value as anything that I could say in the same 
 number of words; also remember that God sends out 
 His love to you to attract you to Him. 
 
 And now in closing I will say that this is written 
 by the spirit of one — Paul — who lived in earth life 
 about 1,500 vears before Christ. 
 
 Tt must be understood that T have written upon 
 26 
 
this subject for you recently but confining my remarks 
 more especially to the physical part of the subject, and 
 now I will try and bring before your mind that invisible 
 portion of your nature, known as Spirit. 
 
 As I said before, all things emanate from spirit, and 
 as this article is to be upon the subject of Spirit, it will 
 be well for me to explain more particularly. 
 
 With regard to the Universal Spirit, as all things 
 emanate from spirit, you perhaps will wonder how spirit 
 can emanate from itself. It is explained in this way. 
 Bear in mind the Universal Spirit is that all pervading 
 that invades all things, and the spirit or soul of man is 
 but a product of the Universal Spirit, and is the out- 
 come of the physical body of man and thus becomes an 
 individual spirit or soul spirit, and has its own individ- 
 uality in the spirit life, which has its own characteris- 
 tics and peculiarities similar to different mortals having 
 their different peculiarities. And this individual spirit 
 is susceptible of improvement by way of development in 
 all the various ways not so widely different from the 
 human intellect, as you understand that the human 
 mind may be trained along the various lines of intelli- 
 gence so with the soul mind. One may be attracted to- 
 wards one branch of psychical work while another will 
 be attracted to something widely different, the same as 
 all mortal minds do not work along the same lines of 
 thought. Yet all work for the greatest good to all. 
 Some to teach and others to be taught and to show to 
 others what to avoid being or becoming, but each indi- 
 vidual spirit has its own choice as to its thought voca- 
 tions. Thus you will see and understand that there are 
 many varieties of individual spirits as you no doubt 
 have noticed that all spirits with which you communi- 
 
 27 
 
cate have their own ways of expressing themselves, as 
 do mortals one with another, and with these individual 
 spirits the whole field of opportunities are open to all, 
 and as one in spirit progresses from a small beginning 
 their future field is limitless. And thus you will see 
 the word Eternal is well applied in spirit life. 
 
 The field of usefulness of an individual spirit has 
 no bounds for in the spirit world there are innumerable 
 spirits to be taught as well as the spirits who are yet in 
 the physical body gaining their earthly experiences from 
 which it will become the better prepared to do spiritual 
 work in the various planes of life. 
 
 Then again, when the mortal has gained its al- 
 lotted share of experiences it will separate from the 
 spirit and the physical portion will return to the earth 
 and become a part of it. And the spirit will become a 
 part of the Universal Spirit and still have the power of 
 retaining its individuality and be able to concentrate its 
 spiritual forces so as to manifest to mankind through a 
 medium, as I am doing at this time by the use of this 
 medium and his arm and pencil, and thus become use- 
 ful to mankind, which I trust may benefit someone in 
 their search for an understanding of spiritual things 
 while }^et numbered with mortals. 
 
 These few ideas are given to you by One Paul, now 
 on the spirit side of life. 
 
 In continuing this, my third article, along the 
 thought of Eternal Progression, I will discuss the mat- 
 ter of progression of the soul of man. 
 
 The soul of man is, as I said before, the outcome 
 of the physical body and a product from the Universal 
 Spirit and it requires both the body and the Universal 
 
 28 
 
Spirit to produce the soul of man, just the same as it 
 requires the soil and moisture to germinate the seeds of 
 grain before the crop can be obtained. And the soul of 
 man will grow and mature under the proper conditions 
 and when not under the proper conditions it will re- 
 main partially dormant, as does the germinating quali- 
 ties of seeds when not placed under its proper condi- 
 tions, namely, soil, moisture and temperature. When 
 these environments are procured under the natural laws 
 of attration the seed goes through its various stages of 
 growth and becomes a full product. 
 
 So with the soul of man. When the growth or de- 
 velopment once takes root the growth will follow, but 
 it may be promoted or retarded according to its favor- 
 able or unfavorable surroundings, as the case may be. 
 
 And now as to those environments. What pro- 
 duces them and how you can know the favorable from 
 those that are to be avoided. First you should think 
 kindly of everybody and everything, whether it be in 
 the mineral, vegetable or animal kingdom, for each and 
 all, including yourself, are a product of this Universal 
 Spirit, and each is absolutely necessary for the welfare 
 of all concerned. 
 
 And through these various evolutionary changes it 
 seems to have for its great object the perfection of the 
 soul of man for the soul is on its journey perfecting 
 itself for its return to the great Universal Spirit to 
 assist in carrying out the universal plans of progression. 
 Yours for the Welfare of Your Individual Soul, 
 
 ONE PAUL. 
 
 29 
 
THE WORLD ETERNAL. 
 
 In giving yon this article I express the hope that 
 all will be benefited. I will take for onr subject "The 
 World Eternal/' This is a subject that admits of a wide 
 field of thought and in considering so vast a subject it 
 will answer our purpose if I treat it in a general way. 
 When we say world we usually mean this, the earth 
 planet, and I will so consider the subject at this time. 
 The earth has existed for thousands of centuries and 
 spirit has existed through the periods of many worlds 
 and will exist long after this earth shall have passed 
 away. And during the existence of this planet the souls 
 of humanity will continue to inhabit mortal bodies, 
 progress, depart and return to God again the better for 
 having lived in the temple of clay. 
 
 And when we consider the matter from the stand- 
 point of God it is quite similar to a mortal parent send- 
 ing out one of its children to gain knowledge in the af- 
 fairs of mortal life. The child goes out, we will say, 
 to attend school or to gain the knowledge to be obtained 
 at such a place and returns the better fitted for the af- 
 fairs of earth life for having obtained the knowledge 
 so gained. So with the soul of a mortal after it has at- 
 tained to the spiritual plane of life. It is permitted to 
 take for its abiding place the mortal body for the same 
 general purpose as the mortal child — that is to gain 
 certain knowledge by experience that it can gain in no 
 other way. And after gaining this kind of experience 
 or partially gained it, as the case may be, or when the 
 temple of clay becomes unfit for its occupancy for a 
 longer time, it departs and returns to God, from whence 
 
 30 
 
it came, the better prepared for God's work upon a 
 higher plane of usefulness. 
 
 And when I call your attention to the innumerable 
 individual souls that exist upon the earth plane, and as 
 these are returning to God in very large numbers each 
 and every time the earth revolves on its axis, and this 
 has been going on for many thousands of centuries, 
 you will comprehend to some degree the magnitude of 
 the spirit world. 
 
 So when we consider the individual soul of one 
 mortal it is but a very small fraction of the whole. 
 Though small it is, it is the plan of God to watch over 
 and care for it with the tender mercies of a loving 
 Father. 
 
 So should mortals strive to comprehend and under- 
 stand this subject of spiritual life much is to their ad- 
 vantage in the way of spiritual development, for what- 
 ever is gained while in the mortal body is that much to 
 your advantage in leaving the temple of clay, and also 
 in arriving upon the spiritual plane, or I might say, 
 the immortal life, but to say the immortal life might 
 lead you to think that the spiritual life was immor- 
 tal life, for all life is immortal whether it be in a mortal 
 body or an astral one. Yes, I may also say to include 
 the mineral and vegetable life as well, for all is eternal 
 and immortal for all has always existed, does exist and 
 will continue to exist as long as spirit exists, which is 
 eternal. 
 
 The above was written by the spirit of Dr. Halli- 
 burn, who is in the thirty-fourth sphere of spiritual ex- 
 istence. 
 
IMMORTALITY. 
 
 As I have viewed immortality from the earth plane 
 throughout the length of time that mortals usually 
 study that subject and think perhaps that I obtained as 
 much accurate knowledge as mortals do upon that sub- 
 ject, and I also have an experience of about 4,000 or 
 5,000 years of actual existence in the immortal life, 
 perhaps I may prove competent to write you an article 
 that will at least interest if not instruct you. Immor- 
 tality as seen from, or rather understood, upon the 
 earth plane has in all ages of the world been a perplex- 
 ing subject. Many mortals of various creeds and de- 
 nominations have spent long and active lives in their 
 research for a definite solution to this problem and yet 
 there remains an unsettled question as to what becomes 
 of a mortal after the digestive and respiratory organs 
 cease their activity. And in nearly all of those different 
 theories there is more or less of the real truth visible to 
 a greater or less extent, and for want of a broader un- 
 derstanding of the subject much of the eternal truth is 
 still lacking. 
 
 The learned men of the present age rely upon the 
 holy writings as their only guide to knowledge upon 
 this subject. When the All- Wise One has endowed His 
 children with a sense of intuition which is capable of 
 development to so high a degree that with such a one 
 this faculty will always lead them to the truth. 
 
 And as I attempt to put before you the facts as I 
 have thus far found them, I will not attempt or claim 
 to give you only an outline of what I now consider to 
 be eternal truth with regard to the subject under con- 
 sideration, for should I attempt to go into details with 
 
 32 
 
so vast a subject I am sure your patience would weary. 
 To begin at the beginning of this subject would be to 
 commence with the universe itself, for in the broad 
 sense all things are immortal, but the word immortality 
 as commonly understood, applies from the ending of 
 the physical body, thus terminating the earth plane of 
 existence. So I will use "so-called death" as the start- 
 ing point for this subject. 
 
 As the spirit whose abiding place has been in your 
 mortal body has developed to such a degree that the 
 body is no longer a desirable home for it, it ceases to 
 occupy the temple of clay any longer, and kind friends 
 dispose of the old, useless body as best suits their pur- 
 pose, and the spirit returns to God, who gave it. And 
 many mortal minds do not follow it on its evolutionary 
 course through its progression in its course to the 
 throne of God. It ascends little by little, step by step 
 in its upward march to the realms of divinity, and as 
 this upward course is accomplished by earnest and con- 
 stant effort and the reward is gained in the thought 
 that you are doing God's will and thus it becomes a 
 pleasure. 
 
 There are so many phases of spiritual development 
 that I find it hard to decide which will prove most use- 
 ful to the readers of this article. Probably if I take as 
 an example, to illustrate, a soul who has and is devot- 
 ing its energies to the advancement of humanity it will 
 best serve our purpose. It is in spirit life, as you no 
 doubt have observed on the earth plane, one general law 
 of God that like attracts like in both thoughts and 
 deeds. So as one devotes his energies to the welfare of 
 mankind, so will mankind in return devote its energies 
 for your advancement along your line of work. This 
 
same law holds true in spirit life. So one in this life 
 chooses his or her line of thought to follow whether it 
 be for the benefit of some individual mortal or for the 
 welfare of the masses. And whenever one has put forth 
 his energies for any particular object to accomplish the 
 higher forces will come to his assistance when needed. 
 First, one must have a desire to accomplish certain 
 achievements and the greater the desire the more force 
 will gather to reinforce one's energies. Of course we 
 have obstacles along our pathway, as do mortals, but 
 those must be overcome as best we can. And as each 
 obstacle is overcome our work is made easier and more 
 successful. And now as one's vocation has proved both 
 useful and pleasant such conditions are helpful in at- 
 tracting the higher forces to one's assistance. So in 
 choosing one's vocation, it is very beneficial to choose 
 such lines of thought as one is best suited to. This also 
 holds true in the immortal as well as in mortal life. 
 
 Now when we come to consider a mortal as only 
 an instrument of God, to do His will, we find that the 
 more the mortal is willing to do for God the more the 
 higher forces will do for this mortal, but one's efforts 
 must be put forth with an earnest, honest and conscien- 
 tious mentality, and the higher forces will return to 
 you the same kind of assistance for like attracts like 
 between mortals and immortals, as it does between one 
 mortal and another mortal. So with your aim in earth 
 life constantly to do as is pleasing to God, will attract 
 the highest and best forces of the universe to your as- 
 sistance, i 
 
 This is written by one who feels a deep interest for 
 the welfare of humanity, and will sign myself as 
 
 "GREAT SPIRIT." 
 
 34 
 
SPIKIT RETURN 
 
 Spirit return has for all ages been recognized as a 
 truth by people of profound thought. Should they turn 
 their attention to spiritual subjects with a desire to in- 
 form themselves with the subject of immortality there 
 are many co-instances occurring frequently that fur- 
 nishes proof of the truth of spirit return for those who 
 observe and give the matter close attention and pro- 
 found thought. Matters pertaining to immortality and 
 spirit return require something more than a casual 
 thought. The most profound minds of all ages have 
 always found some proof of spirit return, but not 
 enough to be conclusive testimony to all who investigate. 
 But to those who have a certain amount of faith in the 
 fact that all comes from spirit will usually gain enough 
 proof to satisfy their inquiring minds. And it is often 
 the case that the mortal mind is so attentively engaged 
 in the material affairs of life that thoughts of spiritual 
 affairs can find little or no room in so active a mind, 
 consequently are neglected, or, perhaps, I may say 
 ignored. 
 
 Whenever a few persons are gathered together and 
 will devote their attention to subjects of a spiritual na- 
 ture matters pertaining to the spirit life are attracted 
 to them and their own spirit nature will increase and 
 develop and will soon be recognized as a power with 
 them for our Great Teacher, "Jesus," once said that 
 "when two or three are gathered together in My Name 
 I will be there also." 
 
 Eemember that your mortal lives and nature did 
 not develop instantly, neither will your spiritual, but 
 by cultivation one will become stronger spiritually and 
 
 35 
 
more and more proof furnished you of the truth of 
 spirit return. 
 
 Your spirit friend, 
 
 SOCRATES, 
 Of old, about 400 years B. C. 
 
 SPIRIT RETURN. 
 
 Back in the early pages of the history of humanity 
 spirit return was quite generally accepted as true, al- 
 though not so well understood in its details as at the 
 present time. The Christian's Bible affords several rec- 
 ords as evidence of this sublime truth, as when the 
 hand writing was seen upon the wall, and at other times 
 when voices were heard saying certain things as warn- 
 ings and encouragements. The best that was under- 
 stood at that time was that it was a voice from heaven, 
 or that the writing was written by the hand of God, 
 while now, with a more advanced understanding of this 
 subject it is accepted as true that the voice of one cer- 
 tain spirit of a "so-called dead" friend is recognized and 
 conversations held and definite knowledge obtained from 
 this spirit for the benefit of humanity, or rather for 
 those mortals who have arrived at the proper stage of 
 consciousness to accept spirit return as a divine or 
 sacred truth. You may ask why some mortals recog- 
 nize this fact while others of seemingly equal intelli- 
 gence do not. That is explained by the different de- 
 grees of consciousness in different persons. For in- 
 stance, one person may have his or her faculties of per- 
 ception developed only to recognize a portion of the ma- 
 terial objects and ideas connected therewith, while an- 
 
 36 
 
other's perceptive faculties will discern and compre- 
 hend those objects that are invisible to the human sight, 
 and still another will recognize as truth certain facts 
 that reach the seat of consciousness by impressions only. 
 So it will be seen that this subject is seen as or accord- 
 ing to one's own mental and spiritual nature is devel- 
 oped. Occasionally a person may at one time seem in- 
 clined to comprehend spirit return as a truth and after 
 a little time disregard the truth entirely. This is be- 
 cause the mortal mind has been diverted more strongly 
 to material subjects and the mind has relaxed from 
 spiritual subjects. 
 
 Your Spiritual Friend and Philosopher, 
 
 AEISTOTTLE, 
 About 400 years B. C. 
 
 ETERNAL LIFE. 
 
 At this, my first writing for you, I will introduce 
 myself as one who has never written for you before, and 
 in fact never have written but once, before with another 
 medium. I have been in the spirit life for several thou- 
 sand years and am much pleased for this opportunity 
 of writing and expressing my views with regard to 
 "Eternal Life.". 
 
 The word eternal means much as applied to human 
 life. As you upon the earth plane are journeying along 
 in your various vocations little does the average mortal 
 comprehend of what lies in store for you, even yet in 
 the earth life, for little do you realize what will be your 
 experiences a week, month or year in the future, but 
 you are all passing along through the various avenues 
 
 37 
 
of life, guided by an All- Wise One who will lead you 
 not astray, and when your earth life shall have drawn 
 to a close and all that is mortal has returned "earth to 
 earth and ashes to ashes" your real or spiritual self has 
 not ceased its activity, but taken on immortality and 
 journeys among those who have made the change 
 called death prior to yourself. And as I look back to 
 my earth life I comprehend that it was only a prepara- 
 tory stage for the higher or spiritual life and may you 
 all so live and develop your spiritual selves that when 
 you pass over God will say that your earth lives have 
 been well spent. That you may enjoy eternal bliss is 
 the wish of 
 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 MOAB, 
 Of Old, About 1,000 Years B. C. 
 
 ETERNAL PROGRESSION. 
 
 If you will each of you take a review of your past 
 life upon earth I think you cannot fail to recognize one 
 great fact and that is that you are not the same as you 
 were at birth and this change has been brought about 
 by the natural laws of evolution. Of course these 
 changes have been somewhat slow in their process, as all 
 things are, as viewed from the earth plane standpoint, 
 but nevertheless the change has been constantly going 
 on and the result is that you are as you are today. Were 
 it not for this eternal change you would have remained 
 as you formerly were and this change that I have called 
 to your mind is only a portion of the changes that are 
 going on in the general course of eternal progression, 
 
for as your earth life draws to a close it is but a con- 
 tinuation of this change and as your soul arrives in the 
 spirit world and is freed from the mortal body, the 
 body continues to change and goes back to mother earth 
 from whence it came and the spirit returns to God, 
 who gave it, and there still goes on in its regular course 
 of eternal progression. So you will observe that while 
 you are yet living in the mortal body your minds 
 are investigating into the future fields for still fur- 
 ther investigations you are paving the course to con- 
 tinue in the line of progression. 
 
 So may you continue to progress is the desire of 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS IX SPIRIT. 
 
 UNIVERSAL SPIRIT. 
 
 When we come to consider this subject it is a vast 
 one, for when I call your attention to the fact that spirit 
 is the source from which all things come or originate, 
 whether it be mineral, vegetable or animal in its nature 
 it matters not. Spirit is the source of its origin and to 
 take a broader view of the subject and consider the uni- 
 verse, all the various planets of this universe in all their 
 numerous details, also come from this one great source 
 — spirit. Were it not for spirit this universe would be 
 a blank space. When I explain that this universal spirit 
 is known by various names in various portions of the 
 peopled parts of this planet, the more common names 
 by which it is called among so-called English-speaking 
 people are : "The Almighty," "All-Wise One," "Great 
 Ruler," "Supreme Father," "Grand Architect" and many 
 more names which leads the mind of an individual to 
 
 39 
 
think of this Universal Spirit as a personality or personal 
 God, which often leads one's mind astray when striving 
 to obtain a correct understanding of the Creator. When 
 this one point is correctly understood it usually lifts 
 the veil of mystery and greatly assists in forming a 
 correct idea of this important fact. 
 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT, 
 
 About 300 Years B. C. 
 
 IMMORTALITY. 
 
 As I am asked to write for you upon a subject that 
 was closely associated with my earth life I will state 
 that it affords me more than the usual amount of pleas- 
 ure to do so, with the hope that you may gain the cor- 
 rect knowledge of that important subject of immortal- 
 ity that has for so long a time puzzled the most pro- 
 found minds of mortals. This subject has throughout 
 all ages been one of the deepest interest to thinking- 
 people and from the variety of conclusions that have 
 been drawn one can readily see that all of them cannot 
 be correct, neither do I think that the mortal mind ever 
 did or ever will obtain the correct solution to this great 
 problem without the aid of the higher powers of divine 
 intellect. Probably few ever gave this subject as much 
 meditation and thought as myself and my corps of as- 
 sistants while we were all on the mortal side of life. 
 But now that I have passed through the valley of death 
 (so-called) I feel that I can now communicate to you 
 with a higher degree of intelligence than ever before. 
 Immortality is that which is everlasting and the soul 
 
 40 
 
of man being of spirit and is spirit and spirit is the all 
 that is everlasting and the all that is indestructible, 
 consequently has no ending and is immortal. Man is the 
 highest form of animal life, being possessed of a higher 
 soul or spiritual power and is therefore susceptible to a 
 more God-like development. It is only a question of 
 when this higher development is accomplished when 
 one becomes God-like. It is possible and often is done 
 while the soul is yet occupying the mortal body. All 
 should strive to develop their soul nature as much as 
 possible at all times. True the average mortal has 
 much to contend with that retards the growth of the 
 soul power, but these obstacles are conducive to stability 
 of character, which I think God is pleased with. So 
 ever lead onward in your efforts to do God's will and 
 the subject of immortality will be unfolded to your 
 vision as your minds are prepared for it. 
 
 (Signed) THE SPIRIT OF LEO, 
 The Former Pope of the Holy Catholic Church, 
 Through the Hand of Mr. Bull. 
 
 PROGRESSION. 
 
 Perhaps I may say something to you that will be of 
 benefit regarding Progression. Progression in its earlier 
 stages is somewhat slow, as the mortal view of the spir- 
 itual things are to be contended with, and are often 
 somewhat of a fixed matter in one's mind, having in 
 the past been of the opinion that the mortal life was all 
 there was of life, or rather to it, and as one slowly be- 
 comes aware of the fact that there is really another life 
 after "so-called death/' these, then advanced ideas, are 
 
 41 
 
generally met with great doubt, and perhaps in many 
 instances seemingly positive knowledge that the ad- 
 vance thought of a new life is only the lively action of 
 imagination, but as one continues to investigate the 
 matter, step by step and little by little knowledge of the 
 future life is gained, just as the child gains mortal 
 knowledge, but as the mortal becomes more convinced 
 of the truth of immortality, he or she will place less 
 importance upon the mortal life and consider it in its 
 true sense, that it is comparatively of short duration 
 and regarded as a preparatory stage in preparation for 
 the life immortal, which has no end, and as one has 
 progressed beyond the mortal lines of thought progres- 
 sion is more rapid, should one so choose, but the great- 
 est good does not always come from rapid progression, 
 for as one should to accomplish the most think of the 
 welfare of others and work for their good as well as for 
 self exclusively, for the Master says: "Do unto others 
 as you would have others do unto you." He also said : 
 "Help ye one another," and in this way your accom- 
 plishments will be more pleasing to the loving Father. 
 THE SPIRIT OF AM)ND THE ANCIENT. 
 
 PROGRESSION. 
 
 As all mortals and spirits are, or should be, inter- 
 ested in Progression, I am pleased to write upon that 
 subject. 
 
 Progression is one continuous round of evolution 
 and to write exhaustively upon that subject would be 
 to start from the Universal Spirit and go through the 
 thousands of evolutionary stages and finally return to 
 
 42 
 
spirit again, from whence it came and at a certain stage 
 in this line of progression we will be closely related to 
 the earthly body and known as man, at which stage 
 mortals are most interested, for at this stage it is that 
 the stage of consciousness is reached and at present all 
 mortals are made entirely conscious of a spiritual na- 
 ture within their own self. Some mortals are mindful 
 of this fact while others are not. Some do not compre- 
 hend this fact until the spirit plane is reached, but this 
 great fact remains, that the soul of man exists in man 
 whether recognized or not. While not recognized its 
 progress is practically dormant and requires association 
 in gaining recognition and when once recognized its 
 progression has commenced and will proceed as favor- 
 able environments are furnished, but when once pro- 
 gression is commenced it will proceed either slowly or 
 otherwise, according to conditions furnished. 
 Your Spirit Assistant. 
 
 ARISTOTTLE, 
 About 400 Years B. 0. 
 
 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOD AND 
 
 MAN. 
 
 As has already been explained that G-od is Spirit 
 and Spirit is G-od and man emanates from Spirit and 
 returns to Spirit, it will readily be seen that the rela- 
 tionship between God and man is inseparable, but is 
 not always so recognized by man, but true nevertheless ; 
 but would, I think, be so recognized were all mortals' 
 minds developed both mentally and spiritually to com- 
 prehend this sublime truth. But mortal mind, in many 
 
 43 
 
instances, is entertained in the various vocations of 
 mortal life to such, an extent that little or no attention 
 is given to things pertaining to the Holy Spirit, with- 
 out which we would not exist. 
 
 Written by the Spirit of 
 
 AKISTOTTLE. 
 
 PROGRESSION AS SEEN BY A SPIRIT. 
 
 In writing for you at this, my first time, I will 
 attempt to tell you of Progression as I see it. 
 
 You who are yet upon the earth plane no doubt 
 have observed mortal progression to a greater or less 
 extent as viewed from the mortal viewpoint. You have 
 of course observed mortals at many of the various stages 
 of advancements and noticed those of your older ac- 
 quaintances as they have changed, as life has advanced 
 with them, as for instance, while in your earlier experi- 
 ences you will remember your schoolmates as school- 
 mates, and then as time goes on you see those same ones 
 as young people and then as young married people, 
 then as fathers and mothers, and then as the workers in 
 the various vocations of life, and then, should your 
 years permit, you will see those same acquaintances on 
 the retrograde side of life and finally pass to old age, 
 and gradually disappear from the view of active life, 
 and at last pass from earth life altogether. Now as 
 we observe these friends as they pass from stage to stage 
 the change is so slow that it is not noticeable from day 
 to day, but as day by day in course of time constitutes 
 a lifetime, there are changes that occur day by day. 
 This is what I class as mortal progression. Of course, 
 
 44 
 
as I have outlined for you, is considering humanity in 
 general. Were I to describe the progression of an in- 
 dividual I could go into minute details, differing with 
 each individual, that would lead into an almost endless 
 amount of discussions and all differing as one person 
 differeth from another. This that I have already de- 
 scribed applies to humanity chiefly from the physically 
 considered understanding. Then there is the mental 
 progression, which you will observe in the children as 
 they progress from one grade to the next higher in your 
 graded schools. Here the progression is characterized 
 as being about the same with all pupils. Of course this 
 is as could be expected, being each in the same grade, 
 working under the same instruction, the most variation 
 being accounted for by the pupil's receptivity, and this, 
 I think, will illustrate to you the child's mental pro- 
 gression, and after the school period is past with those 
 who are more mentally inclined their mental progres- 
 sion becomes more noticeable to those who observe the 
 older persons. After the time the pupil says adieu to 
 the school house they no longer all work under the 
 same teacher and then the former classmates' minds 
 become scattered among the various lines of mental ac- 
 tivity. Some devote their attention to justice, others 
 to medicine; instruction to others, mechanics, agricul- 
 ture, art, music, literature or any other of the various 
 vocations of life, and each finds its line for progression, 
 which is all good and according to God's law of progres- 
 sion, and in connection with this mental progression 
 there is the spiritual progression, which, I am sorry to 
 sa} r , is too much overlooked by humanity in general; 
 and is in this condition, perhaps, from want of atten- 
 tion and instruction, for if it was better understood and 
 
 45 
 
its importance appreciated, <at least a larger portion of 
 the thinking class of humanity would, I think, at least 
 give the subject a careful consideration. And the sub- 
 ject of spiritual progression is an important one and 
 its effects upon the soul will be eternal. The spiritual 
 progression in very many instances takes its permanent 
 start in early earth life and a little later is crowded out 
 of the person's attention by the material affairs of life, 
 but not always. But this spiritual nature which is en- 
 dowed into all mortals should be cultivated and pro- 
 gressed. And as this progression goes on the mortal 
 will gradually learn to rely more upon God as the 
 source of all things, which is the only source upon 
 which one can rely with a perfect reliance that all will 
 be done for your best spiritual welfare. 
 Writteti by the Spirit of 
 
 JONAS WELDEN, 
 Passed Over in 1822. 
 
 SPIRITUAL EXISTENCE. 
 
 Your earth life, or physical life, is but a prepara- 
 tory existence that you may eventually enter the higher, 
 or spiritual life. All persons will enter upon this plane 
 in some form or another, depending almost entirely 
 upon their earth life for the determination as to one's 
 condition, upon arrival on the spiritual plane. Should 
 the person in question live their entire earth life on the 
 lower planes of mortal life, such as is lived by the ani- 
 mals of the lower order, where one's animal nature pre- 
 dominates, with little or no attention devoted to the 
 heeding of the Ten Commandments, as given to the 
 
 46 
 
world in the Christian's Bible, or devoting one's mind 
 exclusively to the world of business and seldom, if ever 
 devoting his or her attention to God, who permits them 
 to exist, or having little or no veneration for the higher 
 forces, then you will readily see that the soul nature is 
 forgotten and neglected and consequently enters spirit 
 life almost entirely undeveloped and is consequently 
 put to a great disadvantage, for the soul nature is en- 
 titled to retain all of its accumulations of intelligence 
 while in the physical body, but while the soul is in the 
 first sphere on its arrival here it lies dormant and is 
 unconscious of its change, consequently is dead, as that 
 word is mortally understood. And again, to consider 
 the mortal who is living a life of love for God and all 
 that is good and frequently meditates upon spiritual 
 topics, such a mind is more pleasing to God and will 
 naturally attain to Godly things, or thoughts, which will 
 be conducive to spiritual growth and development. You 
 will please understand that all mortals are threefold in 
 their natural possibilities at birth — the physical body, 
 the mental or intellectual and spiritual or astral nature 
 — and each is necessary for the welfare of the others, 
 for without the physical the others would have no abid- 
 ing place and without the intellectual the body would 
 not be cared for, and without the spiritual all would 
 end at the grave. Now to become a perfect mortal all 
 three should be fostered and developed. The first is 
 for the mortal life almost exclusively; the second is for 
 use on both sides of the life line, provided the astral 
 reaches a stage of consciousness in its development. It 
 may seem from these remarks that some never arouse 
 to consciousness, but such is not the case, but the time 
 required to arrive at consciousness does not depend upon 
 
 47 
 
time so much as upon conditions concerning soul de- 
 velopment. When once advanced to consciousness and 
 with the proper desires the soul advances quite rapidly 
 and its advancement is limitless. So you will readily 
 see that the critical and all important period is at the 
 time of making the change called death. Should the 
 soul be well developed while in the physical body no 
 fears need be entertained as to the welfare of the soul 
 upon its departure from the mortal body. 
 
 ONE PAUL IN SPIRIT. 
 
 LIFE BEYOND THE GRAVE. 
 
 To My Dear Friends of Earth : 
 
 As all inquiring minds are seeking knowledge as to 
 whether all human existence ends at the grave or not, 
 perhaps if I give you my views upon that subject it may 
 throw some light before you. In the many thousands 
 of years gone by I once had a material existence quite 
 similar to what you are now passing through. Of course 
 at that time the conditions in earth life were somewhat 
 different from now, but our earth lives accomplished 
 their purpose then as now (that is the preparing of a 
 soul for the eternal spirit life,) but as a lifetime then 
 was of a much longer duration than now, perhaps the 
 soul may have been more highly developed while yet in 
 the mortal body, but I seem to be going astray from 
 our subject. Yes, to a large number of mortals who 
 have not yet advanced beyond mortal views the belief 
 seems to be prevalent that the grave ends all, and many 
 seem quite content with that belief, and have no desire 
 for the absolute truth regarding a future life. To all 
 
 48 
 
such I extend my sympathy, for God knows they de- 
 serve it. If such ones were only physical and physical 
 only the grave would end all so far as consciousness is 
 concerned, but such is not the case, for God wisely com- 
 manded that man should be prepared for a future life, 
 consequently is endowed with a soul which will survive 
 the mortal body. And this soul exists in all mortals 
 whether the mortal is conscious of it or not. When one 
 becomes conscious of this great fact and directs his oi- 
 lier attention to its welfare the soul will develop much 
 more rapidly and will progress as our Father wisely in- 
 tended. So the grave is simply the final resting place 
 of all that is physical, but by no means the end of it, 
 but is the end of mortal consciousness. But the soul 
 that has left this body continues its conscious journey. 
 But the soul that has laid dormant in its mortal body 
 to its death is quite apt to still remain dormant in its 
 astral body on the spirit side of life until the proper 
 assistance is rendered to arouse a conscious feeling of 
 its existence and then it is possible for such a soul to 
 progress, but its progress has been greatly retarded from 
 lack of recognition while in the mortal body. So the 
 grave is the place for the final separation of soul and 
 body — the mortal body to return "earth to earth, ashes 
 to ashes" and the soul to ascend to the higher realms of 
 existence, there to enjoy eternal life by doing the work 
 that has been assigned by the All- Wise One that God's 
 eternal plans may be carried out according to His su- 
 preme rulings. 
 
 Yours for a better understanding of the journey 
 through the valley of death. 
 
 AMOND IN SPIEIT. 
 
 49 
 
LIFE AS VIEWED BY SOCRATES. 
 
 "Life" may be classed as eternal, for it has no be- 
 ginning or ending, it is one continuous round of life. 
 I can best illustrate the continuation of life by holding 
 before your mind a ring, or large hoop, as representing 
 life, and with this ring of life there exists all forms of 
 manifestations from life. The entire mineral creation 
 has its form of life, which is continuous, while the min- 
 eral itself changes as the ages pass by but the -life is 
 the same and invisible. The manifestation of life 
 through the mineral kingdom is of the longest duration, 
 as compared with the vegetable or animal manifesta- 
 tions. The mineral is much more slowly formed and 
 less destructible and in greater abundance, and without 
 the mineral the vegetable could not exist. The vege- 
 table kingdom is another stage in the evolution of the 
 universe, thus making possible the animal creation, 
 which includes all forms of animal life, including the 
 human family, which is the highest form and most 
 Godly of animal life, which is another stage in evolu- 
 tionary process and this stage makes it possible for the 
 existence of the human soul, which is in closer touch 
 with God than any of the former stages of evolution 
 and is susceptible of cultivation and refinement superior 
 to the previous stages of existence, but all have their 
 power of manifestation from this same circle of life, 
 and, as you will observe, that the activity of manifesta- 
 tion increases as the evolution advances and continues 
 to do so on into the spiritual plane, where seemingly 
 time and distance are entirely overcome and vision is 
 without limit. I have used the word life, which may 
 be confused with the word Gocl. God is, of course, the 
 
 50 
 
source of all things, whether visible or invisible, but 
 each life's manifestation has its effects upon other mani- 
 festations and the lower forms of manifestation are in- 
 fluenced less than the higher forms and in the higher 
 forms being evoluted nearer to the Spirit (which is 
 God), are more susceptible to the influence of the higher 
 forces. Perhaps I will make this point clearer to you 
 by saying that I nse the word spirit in connection with 
 the higher forms of manifestation and the word life 
 with the lower forms. 
 
 Yours for a Correct Understanding, 
 
 SOCRATES. 
 
 THE INNER MAN. 
 
 Whenever I refer to the inner man I refer to the 
 part known as the sonl, sometimes called spirit of man, 
 and again the astral man. 
 
 This inner man is the true, or real, man as seen 
 by God and it is this inner man that is referred to in 
 your Bible, where it speaks of man as created in the 
 image of God, for our Spiritual God is not of the flesh 
 and blood and if He was He wonld not be everlasting 
 and eternal as the same book describes Him as being, 
 consequently the physical man could not have been re- 
 ferred to. A lack of knowledge on this particular point 
 has led to much confusion in all ages among the Chris- 
 tion people and now if I have corrected this one mis- 
 leading thought I have done much to lead the minds of 
 humanity to a correct understanding of the soul of man. 
 
 CONFUCIUS. 
 
 51 
 
OPPORTUNITIES. 
 
 When we consider the opportunities that lie before 
 us for improvement while on the earth plane mortals 
 are quite apt to think that the end comes at the grave, 
 but when properly understood it will be readily under- 
 stood that the mortal life has drawn to a close and the 
 real self has passed to a higher habitation, where still 
 greater opportunities are before us for assisting in 
 carrying out G-od's plans. 
 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 MiOHAMMED THE PROPHET. 
 
 SPIRITUAL LIFE ON EARTH. 
 
 In response to this kind invitation to furnish you 
 with a bit of information from the spirit side of life I 
 will take for our subject what constitutes a spiritual 
 life upon the earth plane of existence. Mortals are 
 born with the three phases of life all about equal. By 
 the three phases of life I mean the intellectual, physical 
 and spiritual divisions pertaining to and constituting a 
 mortal, for with any one of these divisions entirely 
 wanting such a person would not be a complete mortal. 
 For instance, should a child by constant efforts on the 
 part of parents or the persons in charge of the child in- 
 tentionally or otherwise make special effort to develop 
 only the muscular or physical portion of the child and 
 leave the mental and spiritual portions in its infancy 
 as at birth little, or perhaps, almost nothing could be 
 expected of the man or woman that had grown from 
 such a child except muscular power, and should the 
 
 52 
 
mental faculties, only, become developed then more bril- 
 liancy of mind would result, and should the spiritual 
 nature alone be developed the person would hardly be 
 suited to a mortal life for one should to live a suitable 
 mortal life possess sufficient development in the mental 
 and physical divisions to overcome the battles of mortal 
 life when so much strife to satisfy one's selfishness is 
 so frequently noticeable. 
 
 Now, as our subject indicates, I should confine 
 these remarks to a spiritual life on the mortal plane. 
 What to my mind would constitute a spiritual earth life 
 would be one who would leave out all of the human self- 
 interest possible. Of course I would not expect the 
 person to deprive themselves of the comforts of mortal 
 existence for the mortal's life should not be made up 
 of denials and sacrifices. Neither would I say have no 
 limit to earth pleasures, but be temperate in all things 
 and at the same time devote a portion of your thoughts 
 and energies to things pertaining to your Creator, who 
 has so kindly permitted you to exist, and work for His 
 interests with fervent zeal and do so with good cheer 
 and gratitude. 
 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 HENRY WARD BEEOHER. 
 
 MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD. 
 
 To My Dear Friends of Earth : 
 
 Manhood and womanhood in the general sense are 
 the same. Man has his part in life's work to perform 
 and woman also has her's, and when their life's work 
 is properly laid out one can scarcely obtain the best re- 
 
 53 
 
suits alone, and so God, in His wisdom, proclaimed one 
 as a helpmate and as they start out in life as man and 
 wife little do either realize what the future has in store 
 for them, for they do not see very far into the future, 
 and it is well that it is so, for were it otherwise the dis- 
 couragements would appear as well as the joyous side 
 of life. So they move along in their pathway looking 
 into the dim future with bright hopes and overcome 
 the obstacles one by one as they appear to them and 
 each day brings its joys and happiness with enough sor- 
 rows from time to time for them to draw their com- 
 parisons and appreciate the blessings that God is con- 
 tinually showering down upon them. And as one ex- 
 perience follows another each has its lesson for them 
 and all of these various experiences are as God in- 
 tended for their good in moulding their character, for 
 without a varied experience their characters would not 
 be well tried and formed and as their minds are devel- 
 oped with these experiences each trial or obstacle over- 
 come makes them just a little stronger and another still 
 stronger, until finally God will say well done and your 
 reward shall be according to your works. So let me 
 encourage all to be steadfast in character and never 
 fear to do God's will. 
 
 HENRY WARD BEECHER IN SPIRIT. 
 
 SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 To Those Interested in Spirit Photography, or the Art 
 of Photographing the "So-Called Dead": 
 At the present time the masses of humanity know 
 absolutely nothing of spirit return and when that sub- 
 
 54 
 
• 
 
 
 :ii£ 
 
 
 
 M m* 
 
 
 
 I v^W» 
 
 *% 
 
 
 *' : 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 Lower Left — Christ. 
 
 Lower Right — Amond. 
 
 Upper Left — Albert, brother of the author and passed to spirit life in in- 
 fancy in 1842. 
 
 Second — Mrs. Hattie Graves, a dear friend of the author's wife and both 
 in spirit life. 
 
 Third — William McKinley. 
 
 Fourth — Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Last — George Washington. 
 
ject is brought to their attention they seem bewildered 
 and often look upon one who understands something of 
 the philosophy of spirit return with pity and associates 
 them with the insane asylum. When, should that per- 
 son come to a full understanding of this subject and 
 also of their own limited knowledge their own ignorance 
 would be a better explanation. 
 
 There are many spiritual demonstrations that they 
 cannot explain or understand, still they are not inclined 
 to accept the philosophy of spirit return. As an ex- 
 planation: Take, for instance, full form materializa- 
 tion when the spirit form often vanishes in full view 
 and sometimes returns with their view unobstructed. 
 Often mortals will be satisfied with some hypnotic ex- 
 planation in preference to the divine truth of spirit 
 return. But when the photographer arranges his cam- 
 era and negatives in the usual way, as was done to ob- 
 tain the photo from which this half-tone plate was 
 made, which is according to natural laws, which are 
 well understood by mortal scientists, and all that is ac- 
 complished with the camera are well explained to their 
 satisfaction until the face of some departed friend ap- 
 pears in the photograph. This seems to perplex the 
 mortal minds and will continue to do so until they ac- 
 cept the truth of spirit return. True, some demonstra- 
 tions can be explained to skeptics with the belief in 
 hypontism and at the same time they know as little 
 about hypnotism as spirit return. When it comes to 
 photographing spirits it is an indisputable fact that no 
 hypnotist ever hypnotized a camera or a negative plate. 
 The main thing in procuring photos of your departed 
 friends is to produce the right magnetism surrounding 
 the photographer and the sitter such as the spirits can 
 
 55 
 
use in gathering strength so they will be able to ethe- 
 realize their forms and the camera will do the rest. 
 Your Spirit Brother. 
 
 ALBERT BULL. 
 P. S. — This brother passed to spirit life in infancy 
 in 1842.— The Author. 
 
 SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE. 
 
 When we come to consider the power of spirit we 
 find that we have the foundation, or fundamental prin- 
 ciple, of all power, influence and creative force, for to 
 consider spiritual influence as being other than G-od's 
 power would be to consider it as a fool considers. 
 
 Spirit influence is seen at any point where we ob- 
 serve, for without spirit influence nothing would exist, 
 not even this universe. Yet with all this great power 
 which governs and controls universes it also controls 
 even the grain of sand or the leaf upon a bush, it con- 
 trols all life and all things have life. So it controls all 
 things without limit, whether it be upon land or sea, 
 in the earth or above it, it matters not what it is or 
 where it is, the matter or object in question is influenced 
 by spirit. All comes from spirit and will return to 
 spirit after its due course of evolution. And now as to 
 the soul of man, which is the spiritual nature of a 
 mortal and is a part of the Great, or Universal Spirit, 
 and this soul is susceptible to the influence of the Uni- 
 versal Spirit to a high degree, and this influence should 
 be encouraged for the benefits are great and eternal. 
 
 Mortals of their own physical nature are almost 
 helpless until the spirit manifests itself. This law of 
 
 56 
 
spirit should be better understood by mortals and is the 
 wish of Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 JOAB THE GREAT. 
 
 SPIRITUAL TALK. 
 
 Whenever I am offered an opportunity to write for 
 my mortal friends it is a question in my mind what to 
 select for a subject, for subjects are almost without 
 number. Perhaps if I select "Spiritual Talk" it may be 
 as well for all concerned. 
 
 When we consider the vastness of spirit life with 
 all of its various phases it is at first thought bewilder- 
 ing to one's mind. But as we centralize our minds upon 
 a given line of thought and follow that thought to a 
 conclusion we for the time being lose sight of nearly 
 all else except the subject under consideration, and 
 again at another time we select another subject and the 
 former one is temporarily gone from our minds. This 
 is materially no different from the mortal mind. Were 
 I to select a chosen line of thought to follow out I nat- 
 urally would choose one similar to what my mind was 
 familiar with before I made the change, miscalled 
 "death," that of justice, while I was practicing at my 
 profession on the earth plane, that of a legal adviser, 
 and later as an official upon the bench of justice. Little 
 did I realize that I was working in such close accord 
 with the will of God. At that time I considered that I 
 was working for justice between man and man, but now 
 I comprehend that I also was working for justice be- 
 tween man and God. And again, when my decisions did 
 not meet the approval of all men (and seldom they did) 
 
 57 
 
perhaps they did meet the approval of Him who sits in 
 a higher court of justice than I did. But whether or 
 not my decisions were just they were but transitory con- 
 clusions at best, for the Great G-od of Justice, whose de- 
 cisions overrule all former rulings and are final. 
 
 So when mortals are adjusting their differences; if 
 they understood the immortal life as I now see it, they 
 would not put so much importance to their material af- 
 fairs in life as at present, but as GTod does all things 
 well no doubt such things are as G-od intended. 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 ROBERT EARL. 
 
 MISFORTUNES IN LIFE. 
 
 As one journeys along upon the earth plane of life, 
 engaging his or her mind upon any of the various ave- 
 nues of thought and applying their physical energies 
 in connection with the choice of their vocation, one 
 must not expect that at all times their actions will re- 
 sult in accordance with their desires and it is best that 
 it should not, for should one's actions always be pleas- 
 ing life would become monotonous and one would be- 
 come less energetic in their aspirations. To be sure, 
 when one has recently met with a great misfortune of 
 any kind, until the grievous shock shall have passed 
 away (which always does in a greater or less length of 
 time) one naturally becomes discouraged, but such dis- 
 couragement usually is the preparatory stage for still 
 greater efforts in the future, and it also warns the per- 
 son to use proper caution in future ventures, and I 
 think that for a young person to meet with reverses in 
 
 58 
 
the long run it proves beneficial in several wave. First, 
 it makes him or her more considerate and also induces 
 one to be more thoughtful of others who are not so for- 
 tunate as one's self. I think that the majority of the 
 successful men engaged in commerce have at some time 
 in their life met with financial reverses which proved 
 beneficial to them in after years of active life. 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 ROBERT EARL. 
 
 APPRECIATION. 
 
 I will try at this time to give you some idea of how 
 the spirit individuals appreciate the opportunity of com- 
 municating with the mortals upon the earth plane of 
 existence. Perhaps, first, if I give you a brief history 
 of my own experience in such privileges it may be in- 
 teresting and instructive to you. As I passed from the 
 temple of clay in the year 1828, A. D., it may seem a 
 long time to you, but not to us, for time is extinct in 
 spirit life. For many, many years I was trying to be 
 recognized from the earth plane without success. Some- 
 times, but not frequently, did I succeed in attracting 
 attention and my friends were aroused to some extent, 
 but not. knowing of this philosophy of spirit return little 
 did they realize that their attention was aroused by one 
 whom they supposed had ceased to exist, and at the 
 same time I saw them and knew of their actions, words 
 and even their very thoughts, and still for many years 
 they were unconscious of my presence. Still I persevered 
 and at last, after nearly a century of time, I gained my 
 long-cherished hope that I should be recognized from 
 
 59 
 
the mortal plane and make myself known and impart 
 to you some of the divine truths gained by our experi- 
 ence that you so earnestly are seeking. When we think 
 of the thousands of unsuccessful attempts to communi- 
 cate, think of the joy it affords us to know of a medium 
 with whom we can communicate. Mortals often use the 
 word appreciate with the full mortal sense of the word, 
 but I think there is a divine meaning to the word, also 
 which is understood only in spirit life. 
 Your Spirit Friend,, 
 
 DK. H. M. HILL. 
 
 PATIENCE. 
 
 To Our Earth Friends: 
 
 In writing for you at this, my first time, I would 
 like to call your attention to the importance of one 
 feature in one's character, that of "Patience." As one 
 journeys along through the various avenues of life, as 
 all do, each and every one comes in contact with a great 
 variety of circumstances over which one has little or, 
 perhaps, no control whatever. Sometimes these sur- 
 roundings are harmonious and sometimes otherwise. 
 When harmonious and pleasing patience is not known, 
 then all is joyous, harmony and little is thought of pa- 
 tience, for it is not needed and has no place in our 
 thoughts for the time being, but when our pains, woes, 
 troubles and tribulations approach us then patience be- 
 comes a great virtue, for as one worries about their 
 troubles the law of attraction is operative and attracts 
 more troubles to our already overloaded minds and con- 
 tinues until we finally conclude that patience is the 
 
 60 
 
greatest of virtues and submit to the will of God for He 
 knows best what His children should bear. So be pa- 
 tient in carrying your burdens and all will end well for 
 your eternal welfare. 
 
 JOB OF OLD. 
 
 SYSTEMATIC EDUCATION. 
 
 In the matter of all education, whether it be mortal 
 or immortal, you will no doubt see the importance of 
 working systematically. You have all had the ad- 
 vantage of observing the system of your schools, from 
 the kindergarten on through the various grades in the 
 more advanced schools, and each school and grade has 
 its part to perform in bringing about the amount of 
 knowledge to entitle one to be known as a scholarly 
 person. Think of the hours, days, weeks and years that 
 are required to complete a fair education and you no 
 doubt comprehend the importance of taking your 
 studies step by step and each step or grade prepares the 
 mind for the next higher grade. And now think of the 
 chaotic condition of mind that would be produced were 
 the steps reversed and you were required to study the 
 higher sciences first instead of the kindergarten exer- 
 cises. In the mortal line of studies systematic work is 
 well understood, while with some mortals, when they 
 desire spiritual education, they do not seem to compre- 
 hend the importance of following the instructions of a 
 competent teacher who is well versed in the future les- 
 sons and understands just what the pupil is prepared 
 to receive to produce the best results. So do not weary 
 in your search for the eternal truth for I assure you 
 
 61 
 
that with each experience your soul nature is being pre- 
 pared for something higher and better and the results 
 will be everlasting. 
 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 AMOND. 
 
 HOLY GHOST. 
 
 As suggested^ I will explain the relationship of 
 spirit, soul and Holy Ghost. As you no doubt under- 
 stand the magnitude and power of spirit that pervades 
 all things and is the source from which the soul of man 
 emanates and through this connection man in his phys- 
 ical form comes under the influence of the Most High. 
 When man's spiritual nature predominates over the 
 physical and under such conditions God can and does 
 manifest to the earth plane of human observations in 
 such ways as are convincing to intelligent minds that 
 some supernatural power is the cause of such manifesta- 
 tion and may be known to mortals as the workings of 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 AMOND THE ANCIENT. 
 
 GOD'S MYSTERIOUS WAYS. 
 
 Among mortals of all nations, tribes and intellect? 
 each and all have their distinct characteristics, peculiar 
 to themselves and this great variety of peculiarities is 
 caused by the various environments which each are sub- 
 
 62 
 
jected to in their different distinct localities, and are 
 influenced by the character of the soil upon which they 
 live and the atmosphere they breathe (for it is not just 
 the same at all parts of the planet), and the water also 
 differs, and also the food they eat. With some of the 
 conditions the influence is such that it produces a 
 strong physical structure and lower order of intellect, 
 and some are dark-skinned while others are red, and 
 with the usual amount of schooling and mental train- 
 ing some of those minds will improve to a limited ex- 
 tent, but in the whole the improvement will be quite 
 limited, while should that same race of people be re- 
 moved to a more favorable locality where the environ- 
 ments are such as to produce a higher degree of recep- 
 tivity the same amount of brain culture would be much 
 more noticeable. And again, in some other locality 
 (the temperate zone), where the conditions are more fa- 
 vorable to the development of the nerve centers, there 
 we find oftentimes quite superior intellects with but lit- 
 tle mental training, and in this locality we always find 
 a greater mental activity. And as we go to still another 
 locality, farther north, there we find a decline in the 
 mental activit}^, and a less prolific race of people, and 
 with all of these wide variations in characteristics we 
 find in all of them the soul nature. With a given num- 
 ber of those mortals thinking and investigating as to 
 the probabilities and possibilities of a future life be- 
 yond the grave, showing that God in His infinite wis- 
 dom has endowed all of His children wherever located 
 with an intuitive perception that there is a future life 
 that is worthy of the attention of mortals, and all 
 classes of intellects seem to find proof of the Supreme 
 Ruler, suited to his or her ability to comprehend this 
 
 63 
 
sublime and eternal truth. Surely God moves in mys- 
 terious ways His knowledge to extend. 
 Written by the Spirit of 
 
 SOCRATES. 
 
 DIVINE INTELLECT. 
 
 Man has been so organized that within the brain 
 is the seat of consciousness and around this center are 
 located the various faculties of the brain and each of 
 these faculties are susceptible of development, each ac- 
 cording to its functionary duties that it is required to 
 perforin. As these faculties are being developed the 
 person is said to be gaining knowledge when in reality 
 the brain is being the better fitted for the use of the 
 divine powers to act upon it in conveying the divine in- 
 telligence to the mortal world, for knowledge, like all 
 other things, originates in spirit and the mortal brain 
 is the instrument through which the divine mind com- 
 municates its intelligence to mortals. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF SOCRATES. 
 
 VALUE OF HARMONY. 
 
 When we come to consider the subject of harmony, 
 first, we should broaden our minds sufficiently to com- 
 prehend the absolute harmony that exists in the divine 
 ruling of the universe. Each and every planet in the 
 solar universe has its part to perform in maintaining 
 harmony with each and every other planet in this uni- 
 verse, and when we come to consider the vast number 
 
 64 
 
of planets and understand the harmony that exists be- 
 tween each of them and also the universe as a whole 
 we see harmony as it is intended by our Great Ruler in 
 offering this as an example for His children to profit by. 
 And now that this harmony is so perfect that the uni- 
 verse has existed for so long a time. Were not this har- 
 mony so perfect many a catastrophe would have taken 
 place before the present time. Harmony is favorable 
 to perpetuation in all things and when discord prevails 
 it means destruction sooner or later. With discord pre- 
 dominating little or no success can be expected in any 
 of the walks of life, whether it be in business, domestic 
 or public life. As discord in music destroys the music, 
 so does discord in friendship destroy the friendship, 
 while harmonious friendship becomes stronger and 
 firmer as the harmony continues. Harmonious friend- 
 ships are jewels to be treasured highly. Harmony with 
 your fellow beings, harmony with God and all is well, 
 whether it be on the earth plane or the higher planes 
 of existence. Harmony with all your surroundings 
 means Health, Happiness and Success. 
 Your Spirit Helper, 
 
 SOCRATES OF OLD. 
 
 LINCOLN'S ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 To the Friends of America : 
 
 As I am asked to write upon this occasion, "The 
 One Hnudredth Anniversary" of the birth of Abraham 
 Lincoln, I wish to state that while I was in earth life I 
 was always a great admirer of Mr. Lincoln, from his 
 first appearance upon the public arena of his life to his 
 
 65 
 
departure from the mortal body, arid it now affords me 
 much pleasure to express my admiration for so noble a 
 man. Mr. Lincoln was a man for the occasion and the 
 occasion was for just such a man. It was a very critical 
 time in the history of the nation, which had struggled 
 for its independence dating from just prior to the Kev« 
 olutionary war, and was striving to establish a form of 
 government under which her people could all have a 
 fair chance to become a properous and happy nation, 
 and for the length of time their efforts had been ef- 
 fectual had accomplished much. But the time had ar- 
 rived when a struggle was at hand, or all of her people 
 could not be freed from the bondage of ownership. And 
 as it appeared to a majority of the citizens, justice did 
 not prevail regarding the dark-skinned race which 
 formed a portion of America's humanity. This was 
 perhaps the greatest injustice prevalent in this land, 
 and to stamp this wrong out would raise the standard of 
 justice for the United States of America, and the con- 
 flict arose. Like all other conflicts there was a differ- 
 ence in opinions as to what constituted justice. The 
 slave owners considered it an injustice to deprive them 
 of their slave propert}^, but the true Americans, with 
 Abraham Lincoln as their leader, viewed the matter 
 from a more humanitarian standpoint than as a matter 
 of cash value of a colored man or woman as an instru- 
 ment of labor. Abraham Lincoln was the man for the 
 time, for a crises was at hand, blood was to be shed 
 freely, human lives to be sacrificed, to say nothing of 
 the devastation of property. In times like this a leader 
 was needed who had most prominent in his nature 
 JUSTICE, and the ability to decide what constituted 
 justice to all and malice to none. It must be one with 
 
 66 
 
keen foresight and the best of apprehension, and one 
 who commanded the highest respect and confidence of 
 his people. Mr. Lincoln knew from experience ad- 
 versity and hard work, both physical and mental. He 
 was familiar with the conditions of a wide range of 
 people, which enabled him to realize the strength and 
 weakness of the nation. And after long years of war, 
 brother against brother, Mr. Lincoln's great managing 
 ability so planned the Civil war that it was carried to a 
 successful end, even though his life was cowardly taken 
 before the final struggle was ended. And now, after 
 nearly half a century has passed, it is exceedingly fitting 
 that the American people show their devotion to and 
 admiration for this man who was born of a noble woman 
 one hundred years ago today. — Written by the Spirit of 
 Robert Earl with the hand of My Friend, C. E. Bull. 
 
 LINCOLN'S ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 To My Friends on Earth: 
 
 For one to eulogize his own name and to hold up 
 his old and almost forgotten deeds as worthy of emula- 
 tion would, to us who are in spirit life, seem almost 
 folly, but so long as it furnishes entertainment for 
 mortals with the hope of demonstrating to the rising 
 young man that he is or should be doing something 
 that his fellow man may appreciate as being more than 
 the average man is likely to do, that his life and deeds 
 will not be forgotten when he has disappeared from the 
 public platform of life, but to us on this side of life 
 such celebrations are for mortals only, for here we are 
 ever striving to accomplish some good deed that hu- 
 
 67 
 
manity may be made better and more Godly. And now 
 that I am given credit for the emancipation of those 
 colored people while I was on earth, there are still 
 greater achievements to strive for in this plane of life, 
 for many are the souls of those dark-skinned people 
 who are now in spirit life, but still groping along in 
 darkness for the want of an intelligent understanding of 
 the laws of Progression, and as this work proceeds 
 slowly all will be accomplished in time. But in this 
 life we do not look back to past achievements to claim 
 honor or credit for the past, but look at the work before 
 us and apply ourselves as best we can, so that when our 
 work is done we will hear these words, which hold true 
 with spirits as well as mortals: "Well done My faith- 
 ful servant, thou shalt progress." — Written by the 
 Spirit of A. Lincoln. 
 
 LINCOLN'S ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 To My Dear Friends : 
 
 As I have been in spirit life longer than the former 
 writers, I may view the life of Abraham Lincoln dif- 
 ferently from them, for the first one seems to consider 
 Mr. Lincoln almost exclusively from the mortal stand- 
 ing, but my having been in spirit for several thousands 
 of years I have viewed other mortals who have been 
 great benefactors to humanity and no two of them had 
 the same environments to contend with, but all of them 
 have been guided by the Divine Power to a successful 
 termination, and Mr. Lincoln was no exception to this 
 rule. Because these powerful facts are not recognized 
 by the masses of mortals makes them none the less true. 
 
 68 
 
Mr. Lincoln was the Gi'and and Great and Sublime 
 Medium through, which the Divine Power accomplished 
 the will of God, and thus a multitude of colored people 
 were placed in a better line of progression, both mortal- 
 ly and spiritualh', which was God's sublime object. — 
 Written by the Spirit of Amond of Old. 
 
 A SPIRIT'S DESCRIPTION OF THE NORTH 
 POLE. 
 
 In giving my description of the North Pole, it 
 may be well to first state that a spirit's mode of travel 
 is far superior to a mortal's, especially when we visit 
 such uninhabitable regions as the extreme arctic por- 
 tions of this planet called the North Pole. As you all 
 no doubt will understand that in spirit we possess far 
 superior advantages in making such journeys that mor- 
 tals do not comprehend. 
 
 For instance : Time and distance being annihilated 
 in spirit life and temperature is unknown, or at least 
 does not affects us, as we can stand on fire or on ice 
 with the same sense of feeling, and in making trips to 
 the Arctic regions we are not burdened with ships or 
 supplies that mortals cannot dispense with. Perhaps 
 you will see the main features in the advantages we 
 possess over mortals in taking observations that are be- 
 yond the reach of mortal man. And now as I am asked to 
 give a description of the North Pole as seen in spirit 
 life, I will first state that the North Pole is but an 
 imaginary place, similar to looking for the Equator or 
 the Arctic Circle, which are very easy to find when 
 marked off upon the common school room globe, which 
 
 69 
 
has been produced for the purpose of training the 
 pupil's mind. And when we consider that those lines 
 only illustrate an imaginary line upon the earth's sur- 
 face, you will see the absurdity of rinding the so-called 
 North Pole. When spirits explore the Arctic regions 
 we view that as we go farther and farther north we find 
 less and less of vegetable and animal life and more and 
 more of snow and ice, and for me to attempt to describe 
 the beauties of ice and snow, pure white, crystal-like 
 covered portion of the earth, when I describe it as the 
 highest type of pure whiteness the description is told in 
 a few words, for there is nothing more to describe, but 
 when mortal man has exhausted his powers of travel, I 
 will assure you that the most successful explorer will 
 meet with complete success when he travels as spirit, 
 and not until then, or at least that is my opinion. 
 Your' Spirit Brother, 
 
 ALBERT BULL. 
 
 NORTH POLE. 
 
 Whenever the mind of mortal man creates a de- 
 sire to make explorations of any kind that man will 
 usually investigate regions or subjects about which little 
 or nothing is known or understood, and perhaps about 
 the Arctic regions as little is known as any portion of 
 this planet, consequently from time to time parties have 
 been formed for the purpose of making investigations 
 with the hope that they may discover something that 
 will surprise the thinking people of the world, but thus 
 far the most that has been discovered in the various 
 searches for the so-called North Pole is that some men 
 
 70 
 
have more courage than others, for it certainly requires 
 courage to make those long and tedious travels into un- 
 inhabitable portions of the earth. Should one of these 
 parties be successful in crossing across the northern 
 portion of the earth, little or nothing would be gained 
 by way of knowledge concerning the Pole they are look- 
 ing for. So, to use a homely expression, "looking for 
 the North Pole is a wild goose chase." 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 MITCHEL THE ASTBONOMER, 
 
 SUCCESS. 
 
 Among mortals, when the word success is men- 
 tioned or thought of, it is almost instantly associated 
 with the acquirement of earthly riches, such as valuable 
 lands, cattle or other animals that have a commercial 
 value, manufacturing establishments or other property 
 having a recognized and established money value. True, 
 this is success from one standpoint, but it is only tem- 
 poral and of short duration, for when the possessor of 
 this sort of wealth has arrived at the change called 
 death it is all left on the mortal plane and its owner 
 ascends to a higher plane of existence and is often re- 
 tarded in his or her progression by the strong attach- 
 ments for mortal wealth, and when one arrives in spirit 
 life without undue attachments for money aud its ac- 
 quirements they have the advantage of a more rapid 
 progression. I would not ask that you ignore earthly 
 possessions by any means, for at the present time the 
 mortal world has become commercialized to such an ex- 
 tent that it has become necessary that one should devote 
 
 71 
 
more or less of mortal energy to the gathering of that 
 medium of exchange called money, thereby to be the 
 better enabled to secure the comforts of mortal life, but 
 in addition to those comforts spiritual wealth should be 
 gained also. By spiritual wealth I mean a recognition 
 of God, a knowledge of His laws and obedience to His 
 will, for this wealth is not left behind when one takes 
 on immortality. So strive to accumulate spiritual 
 wealth in abundance and you will receive your reward 
 at the hands of your Father, who is in heaven. 
 Your Friend in Spirit, 
 
 ONE PAUL. 
 
 SPIRIT UNDERSTANDING. 
 
 To Those Who Seek An Understanding of Spirit Voca- 
 tion in the Future Life: 
 
 As my earth life was spent almost exclusively in 
 the ministry, I will confine this article very closely to 
 the vocation of such a mortal after he has passed 
 through the new birth and is borne of the spirit. 
 
 On the mortal plane of life many conclusions are 
 arrived at regarding the new birth and what follows, 
 and several of those conclusions have more or less di- 
 vine truth therein contained, but as I have now passed 
 through that change it is no longer a question of specu- 
 lation or faith, for I now have the advantage gained by 
 experience and I will here state that it is quite possible 
 to quite an extent for this new birth to partially occur 
 while the soul yet remains with the mortal body. By 
 "partially" I will explain that I mean that the spiritual 
 portion of a mortal may be so developed that the men- 
 
 72 
 
tal powers may be said to be reborn while yet dwelling 
 in the temple of clay. But the complete rebirth will 
 not occur until the mortal body is cast off and at that 
 time the soul and mentality of the mortal will occupy 
 its spiritual, or "astral" body, as it is often called, and 
 as I have said before, I have been blessed with this ex- 
 change of bodies and can now state my views from the 
 spirit side of life. And as my mind while on earth was 
 actively employed in advocating for the welfare of the 
 souls of mortals with more or less of good results, I 
 now find myself employed in a very similar vocation, 
 while now the opportunity is open for me to use my ef- 
 forts for the welfare of both mortals and spirits also, 
 and as all life is a life of continuous progression (if 
 one so chooses) there is no end to the work for an am- 
 bitious soul, either in mortal life or in spirit. 
 Your Servant, 
 HENRY WARD BEECHER IN SPIRIT. 
 
 ARCHITECTURAL BEAUTY. 
 
 As we on the spirit side of life have and enjoy our 
 homes, I will try and give you a brief description of the 
 way they are frequently ornamented in various ways. 
 Your homes on the mortal plane are but plans handed 
 down from the astral plane, consequently are very sim- 
 ilar in architecture to our astral homes. The chief dif- 
 ferences are that yours are constructed of material 
 substances while ours are of etherealatized substance, 
 which is not visible to your physical sight, but frequent- 
 ly our homes are seen by mortals who are possessed of 
 clairvoyant sight, and are usually spoken of as "man- 
 
 73 
 
sions in the skies." While our homes are constructed 
 not by mortal hands or any physical labor as yours are, 
 our plans come from still higher realms of existence 
 and from these plans mortal plans receive their origin, 
 and as to the ornamentations that adorn our homes, 
 they are very profuse and it is a constant effort with 
 architectural spirits to impress upon mortals the source 
 of joy and happiness to be derived from elaborate dec- 
 orations and ornamentations, for it is something to 
 study and appreciate, and such study and observations 
 are always uplifting to humanity. It attracts the mind 
 upwards to refinement and culture which is Godward. 
 But one of the chief obstructions to these more refining 
 influences is a misconception of wealth. These more 
 refining influences and their results are treasures laid 
 up in heaven, while material wealth vanishes with the 
 last breath of human existence, while the heavenly 
 treasures are eternal. While the architect may be very 
 elaborate in his display of architectural beauty it is of 
 very little avail to the occupant of such a mansion un- 
 less viewed with a desire to mould one's character with 
 a similar line of beauty that will influence the mind 
 to more heavenly aspirations, but to us who are in the 
 spirit world it is sad to behold how often it occurs and 
 so frequently the object of so much of this great display 
 of architectural beauty is more for the display of ma- 
 terial wealth and is not studied and appreciated as we 
 would be pleased to see, but we are much gratified when 
 we observe that often others besides the owners of such 
 homes are benefited with the refining influences brought 
 to bear upon their character. 
 
 Your Spirit Guide, 
 
 DR. H. M. HILL. 
 
 74 
 
JUSTICE. 
 
 In selecting the subject for this article it may be 
 well for me to state that the greater part of my earth 
 life was employed in deciding upon points of justice as 
 considered from the standpoint of the legal profession 
 and as considered by points of legislative law,-, and in 
 writing upon the subject of Justice from my present 
 viewpoint, I will first state that in many instances my 
 decisions would be at variance with my former opinions. 
 Take, for instance, in my former, or earlier, practice at 
 law, where my cases were matters, in many instances, 
 of minor importance, but to the parties involved they 
 considered their grievances worthy to hold the attention 
 of a court of justice, when ofttimes their differences 
 arose from some petty affair which would not be noticed 
 by broader-minded persons, and in such cases the court's 
 decisions were not considered altogether from a point of 
 justice and the court was applauded by the friends of 
 the successful litigant simply because their friend had 
 won his case, and the principle of justice was not taken 
 into account to any great extent, while at that time it 
 was called a court of justice, many other matters were 
 taken into account aside from justice. But as my prac- 
 tice became more extended those petty cases were left 
 behind, so far as I was concerned, and my decisions 
 grew to be more and more from the standpoint of jus- 
 tice to all and favors to none. So what passes for jus- 
 tice is often contaminated with spite as well as friend- 
 ship, but such is not true justice, and as time went on 
 and I was called upon to hold positions of higher re- 
 sponsibilities, and as I now look back over my past earth 
 life I can observe many of my early decisions upon so- 
 
 75 
 
called justice as being far from justice as I now con- 
 sider the word Justice, although for the last twenty or 
 thirty years of my legal work (I may seem egotistical, 
 but in justice to myself) I will say that I consider my 
 work superior to some holding similar positions and I 
 think that a majority of my observers considered my 
 decisions were based upon what I believed to be justice 
 pure and simple and uncontaminated, but perhaps I am 
 giving you too much concerning myself and wandering 
 from the subject of Justice. 
 
 Justice is that which one deals out that does not 
 wrong anyone, oneself included. Usually an average 
 mortal establishes a certain standard of justice to be 
 guided by in his or her transactions. Of course that 
 standard is from one personal standpoint and as all 
 persons are of a different mental caliber this standard of 
 justice will differ accordingly. So what seems justice 
 to one will not seem the same to all persons. Thus you 
 will see the many perplexities a judge has to contend 
 with as a court of justice, but as I now view the sub- 
 ject, the only true justice comes from that Supreme 
 One that is the only Judge who does not err in judg- 
 ment and deals out justice to all and in all cases that 
 falls to Him to decide. 
 
 Yours that you may give and receive justice pat- 
 terned after the All- Wise One. 
 
 Your Friend, 
 ROBERT EARL IN SPIRIT. 
 
 76 
 
INTEGRITY. 
 
 As I am asked to write upon a very important sub- 
 ject, one that was very closely allied with my mortal 
 life, I am pleased to write upon the subject of "In- 
 tegrity." 
 
 Probably from the earliest history of mankind 
 mortal man has been prone to a weakness as to forming 
 the highest ideals in his mind regarding his integrity. 
 Integrity means justice in your affairs of life. Just to 
 all, yourself included. Oftentimes it is difficult to de- 
 termine just what is exact justice, but the more one 
 studies the subject the easier it is to decide next time, 
 and the more likely one is to be more correct than for- 
 merly. Whosoever never centers his mind upon justice 
 is more often unjust than just, and to begin with, there 
 are people who never consider this subject much more 
 than do some of the lower animals. To those, they 
 usually think and believe everybody is unjust towards 
 them, not being competent to judge either for or against 
 them, and it being natural for such people to be sel- 
 fish, they are quite as apt to feel wronged as otherwise 
 in their dealings with their fellow man, while others 
 who have a more kindly feeling for others are less apt 
 to feel offended and will and do bear with the faults of 
 others without complaint, but this is unjust for the 
 patient one, but such is life on the mortal plane. When- 
 ever one is patient and looks for justice, in the long 
 run justice will prevail and will in time be the better 
 enabled to decide between justice and injustice, and 
 will be known as one who has established a reputation 
 based on integrity and I know of no better standard 
 upon which to live than that of integrity. Integrity 
 
 77 
 
we find inculcated within the characteristics of nearly 
 all the nations of the earth and in the various stages of 
 development. The higher degrees should be earnestly 
 and steadily kept in mind as objects to strive for 
 through life and to those who succeed the reward is and 
 will be great. 
 
 Yours for the Betterment of Humanity, 
 
 ROBERT EARL IX SPIRIT. 
 
 CHRISTMAS. 
 Whenever friends are gathered together upon or at 
 Christmas time all hearts are, or should be, filled with 
 joy and gladness with the thought that God in His in- 
 finite goodness and mercy did send into the world a Son 
 so capable and willing to show to humanity the way to 
 eternal life. He done the will of the Father with no 
 hope of personal reward that the children of man might 
 follow His example that they might be saved from the 
 lost condition upon arrival in spirit life after the "so- 
 called death." The life of this blessed Saviour seems 
 to have had but one object to perform on the earth 
 plane, and that was to do the will of our Heavenly 
 Father that humanity should be rewarded for His hav- 
 ing lived on the earth plane. He suffered mortal pain 
 more than is usual for mortals to do that His faith in 
 God might be proven, and He never faltered but con- 
 tinued to demonstrate to the world that God is the All- 
 Supreme Power that carries one along when all other 
 help has vanished. But in the later 3 r ears material mat- 
 ters have to quite an extent overcome the spiritual 
 thoughts that should occupy the minds of mortals at 
 this great festival day. As Christ was ever on the alert 
 
 78 
 
for the souls of humanity and their spiritual welfare, 
 so should the minds of mortals be at the present time, 
 ever seeking the higher planes of spiritual life, ever 
 seeking knowledge pertaining to the soul's betterment, 
 for by so doing eternal happiness is secured and with- 
 out so doing happiness is quite limited. And when one 
 is in harmony with the will of God and at peace with 
 mankind any happiness is limitless. So at this Christ- 
 mas we should all look to Christ as our Leader and 
 Teacher and follow His teachings that we also may set 
 an example for others to follow that will direct their 
 minds towards higher spiritual aspirations. 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 MYRON W. REED. 
 
 EASTER. 
 
 To All Lovers of Easter Sunday : 
 
 While I was upon the earth plane and living as you 
 are today in a mortal body, I little appreciated Easter 
 from the higher view of that subject. I had supposed 
 that Easter was observed only by mortals, but such is 
 not the case, for I assure you that the origin of all 
 earthly Easter joys is in the spirit world, for here all 
 spirits who are past the darkened spheres enter into the 
 joys of Easter day and the Easter joys of mortals is but 
 an echo from the spirit world and the joys here cannot 
 be fully described, but I will try and give my mortal 
 friends a faint idea of Easter in the spirit world. 
 
 First, Easter day is looked forward to with bright 
 anticipation for a long time and as the day approaches 
 us we are so enthused with joy that all thoughts of 
 
 79 
 
anything but joy are crowded from our minds and it 
 seems that the songs of the birds are sweeter and more 
 in harmony with nature than at any other time, and all 
 musical instruments seem to produce more harmonious 
 melodies than usual, and the angels' voices send forth 
 their best strains of harmony and soul-inspiring vigor 
 and when we consider the vast number of souls who 
 have been passing to the spirit life for the past ages and 
 compare that vast number with those comparatively few 
 who are yet on the earth plane, you will also consider 
 that of all the mortals who recognize Easter it is only a 
 small portion of the whole who are on the earth plane, 
 and in spirit all are united in singing praises to God in 
 the highest in honor of His Holy Name. 
 Your Spirit Well-Wisher, 
 
 MYRON W. REED. 
 
 EASTER SUNDAY. 
 
 As this is the day that all nations living under the 
 teachings of the Christian religions hold as the day 
 above all others for the refreshing of their memories 
 regarding Him whom all spiritualists consider the Great 
 Teacher of principles by which one may enter into the 
 joys of eternal life, perhaps for me to write for you 
 upon the subject of "Easter" will be more appropriate 
 than any other subject as today is known as Easter 
 Sunday. 
 
 Easter Sunday, as it is observed by the people in 
 general, I fear is more for the display of wordly riches 
 than Jesus would approve of were He on the earth plane 
 of existence today, for when He was living His material 
 
 80 
 
life little did He care for property riches, for the riches 
 that He was most interested in were those that "moth 
 and rust doth not corrupt, nor thieves break through 
 and steal/' meaning an understanding of God's laws 
 pertaining to the higher or spiritual life, which is 
 within the reach of all mortals. When Jesus said, "Suf- 
 fer the little children to come unto me," and again, 
 when he said, "Ye must become as little children before 
 you can enter the Kingdom of Heaven," He referred 
 to the real self and not to the physical body as being 
 young in years; for again, when He said that "As one 
 dies as a mortal body he is raised up a spiritual body." 
 And thus the mortal body has served its purpose and 
 returns "earth to earth and ashes to ashes," and the res- 
 urrection of the spiritual body takes place and ascends to 
 the higher life to dwell in mansions in the skies, not 
 made with hands, but eternal in the heavens. And as 
 Jesus made this change called death so will you all in 
 due course of time and each will have a resurrection day 
 as the soul passes or frees itself from the mortal body. 
 And should your soul nature be so developed that it will 
 not remain in the darkened spheres of spirit life, God 
 will say "well done my good and faithful servant." 
 Your Spirit Friend and Brother, 
 
 ALBERT BULL. 
 
 HUMAN LIFE. 
 
 The mortal, or human, being is placed upon the 
 earth plane by our Heavenly Father for a high purpose 
 and all should so consider it for there is no higher 
 object conceivable upon the earth plane than the growth 
 
 81 
 
and development of a mortal soul, and in the hitman 
 body is the only place in this great universe where the 
 soul can be nourished in its earlier stages as an indi- 
 vidual entity. The body is the feeding ground for the 
 soul in these years of earlier growth. There is no other 
 place to establish a distinct soul entity and the develop- 
 ment of the soul while yet living in the human form 
 depends largely upon the mentality of the mortal, not 
 necessarily a great mentality, but one that recognizes 
 God as the author of all things. To illustrate: You 
 have no doubt known persons who very nearly disregard 
 their Creator and scarce if ever think of Him with rev- 
 erence. The soul that inhabits such a body does not 
 make as rapid progress on the earth plane as does one 
 who frequently recognizes that there is a higher power 
 than human power, and whenever the mortal recognizes 
 the fact that there is an individual soul within him or 
 herself and is placed there by God Himself, from this 
 time onward the soul will develop more rapidly and 
 more satisfactorily than before this fact is observed. 
 God has planned His great work with wonderful skill 
 and the human being has its part in the universal pro- 
 gram to perform. While the body is but a temporary 
 place of habitation for a comparatively few years much 
 in the way of soul development can be accomplished. 
 Some mortals are successful in developing their 
 souls past the darkened spheres before the spirit leaves 
 the bod}^ and others do not. All should strive to so 
 live and develop their soul natures that the darkened 
 spiritual spheres will be for only a short while and 
 spiritual progression will be more rapid and satisfac- 
 tory. — Written by the Spirit of Myron W. Reed. 
 
WASHINGTON'S B1KTHDAY. 
 
 As this day is another one of those days that mor- 
 tals are pleased to designate as "Washington's birthday" 
 in reverence for his noble mortal name, it is but fitting 
 that your spiritual associates should join with you in 
 doing honor to so great a man as George Washington, 
 and it affords me much pleasure to have this opportu- 
 nity of writing for you from this side of life to assure 
 you that the immortal ones also appreciate this noble 
 spirit who done so much for his country while he was 
 active in the mortal form, and I would like to impress 
 upon you that his usefulness did not end when he 
 passed from the mortal sphere, for he continues with 
 his energies for the welfare of the country he done so 
 much in establishing more than a century ago, for he is 
 ever watchful in caring for his nation's best interests, 
 that his fellow men may have a bright and prosperous 
 country in which to live. And as he views this nation 
 from on high at the present time so may all mortals in 
 the great future look back and behold your earthly 
 works and (I hope) appreciate all the noble deeds done 
 while in the body. And may you all so live and act that 
 your deeds may be looked back upon in future lives as 
 being worthy of your admiration and be considered as 
 seeds sown upon good ground that they may bear good 
 fruit by being emulated by future generations as are 
 the deeds of him whose name this day commemorates. 
 And as Mrs. Martha Washington was his true helpmate 
 on earth so she still continues to be, and all due rever- 
 ence should be bestowed upon this noble woman, for as 
 a wife thinketh of her husband so is he. And the same 
 is true when reversed. And as the world goes on from 
 
 83 
 
time to time other men and women have and will be- 
 come leaders of affairs and prove to be benefactors of 
 their countrymen and humanity, and whose names will 
 become great before God and men. And may you all 
 strive to become a benefactor to a greater or less extent 
 as opportunities may arise before you and thus assist 
 our Good Father in carrying out His divine plans that 
 surpasseth mortal understanding. — Written by the 
 Spirit of Mohammed the Prophet. 
 
 ANTIQUITY OF SPIRIT THOUGHT. 
 
 As it has been many centuries since I have com- 
 municated direct with the mortal world it will, no 
 doubt, save many inquiries if I state something con- 
 cerning myself. I cannot state how long it has been 
 since I was living the life of a mortal, as we in spirit 
 know no time, but will say that it was many thousands 
 of years ago, prior to the Christian era. Yes, before 
 Confucius or Zoroaster were recognized as a saviour. 
 In earth life my mind was much employed in the soul's 
 welfare of men. My native land was one of the chief 
 islands in the group known as the Isle of Atalantas and 
 long since become extinct from the surface of the sea. 
 For many years I was the chief ruler of that land and 
 in those times the ruler was in duty bound to admin- 
 ister to the soul's welfare and development as much as 
 to guard over the people's material interests, conse- 
 quently my mind was well directed towards spiritual 
 subjects, so perhaps I may be able to interest mortals if 
 I tell you something about the "antiquity of spiritual 
 thought." 
 
 84 
 
So far back as I was or am able to gain any knowl- 
 edge pertaining to spiritual thought, the thinking por- 
 tion of humanity has had its mind engaged upon 
 thoughts leading to the desire to know more of truth 
 pertaining to a future life or an existence after the 
 mortal body was cast off. And as each mind was search- 
 ing for this understanding many conclusions were 
 reached, and usually ail had found a portion of the 
 truth as he or she was able to comprehend and as each 
 truth was conveyed to another mortal, and should that 
 mortal not comprehend or understand it, it was not ac- 
 cepted 'as a truth. And I think this has been the con- 
 dition through all ages of the world, thus such a con- 
 flict upon religious thought in its details. But there 
 seems to be one sublime truth that all profound think- 
 ers obtain the same conclusion upon, and that is that 
 there is a future existence of some kind, but the di- 
 versity of opinions arise with regard to the details of 
 that life. Much harm has been done by the common 
 saying that is still being quoted by mortals, that "No 
 one ever came back to tell us about the future life.'* 
 And that saying is so impressed upon the minds of 
 most mortals that they do not believe that it is erron- 
 eous, for your spirit friends do hover around their 
 friends, but are not recognized only by the few. 
 
 The ancients were much more given to spiritual 
 thoughts than at present and when a person had proven 
 to him or herself a certain fact that fact was recog- 
 nized as such by this one person and was of little or no 
 use to another, and in this way each one must think out 
 and prove his or her own knowledge concerning their 
 God, and in this way each became intelligent according 
 to his own ability to search for the truth, and the re- 
 
 85 
 
ward was given according to the exact truth found. — 
 Written by the Ancient Spirit, by Name Abut. 
 
 NEW YEAR. 
 
 To Our Mortal Friends : 
 
 As the new year approaches it behooves all, both 
 mortals and spirits, to renew our energies for higher 
 and nobler undertakings, as God sees our deeds. 
 
 Should all mortals hold steadfast in their minds 
 this thought, "That God is the All- Wise Ruler and out- 
 lines our destnry," and remember that we are His chil- 
 dren and should do His will, and whenever we go 
 astray from God's plans our true happiness suffers. 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 A. LINCOLN. 
 
 NEW YEAR. 
 
 Upon so close an approach to the new year it is 
 but fitting that our minds should be in meditation upon 
 the past year with thoughts and anticipations of the 
 new year, so close at hand. 
 
 As the years roll by, to the mortal mind it is but a 
 matter of calculation with regard to material affairs, 
 while in spirit life the years of time do not concern us 
 except as we direct our minds to the earth plane for 
 our mutual welfare, for in spirit life when we accom- 
 plish a good purpose it matters not at what date it was 
 done, the all important part is that the good deed was 
 done, that God's eternal plans had been assisted and 
 
some soul had been uplifted and shown the way to eter- 
 nal progression, and when your material year has ended 
 you should review your deeds and with the desire to 
 improve your lives so as to live in the new year with 
 renewed energy and aspiration to do God's will that 
 still greater achievements may be recorded. And to all 
 who have lived good and faithful lives during the past 
 year true material happiness will follow and such will 
 enter the new year with good cheer and hope for a still 
 more useful life in the approaching new year. And to 
 those whose lives have not proven satisfactory in the 
 old year those should meditate and create a desire for 
 more Godly acts and deeds, and I assure such that your 
 reward will be commensurate with your deeds, and if 
 such will hold prominent in their thoughts an. earnest 
 desire for better thoughts, better deeds will surely fol- 
 low, for every deed is the product of a thought and 
 thoughts are products of desires. 
 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 NATIONAL AFFAIRS. 
 
 It is w T ith great gratification that I respond to your 
 kind and thoughtful invitation to express my views 
 upon the political situation that confronts this great 
 nation at the present time. 
 
 To say that this vast nation is the home of mil- 
 lions of happy and prosperous people of nearly all na- 
 tionalities goes without contradiction from the more 
 enlightened class of our citizens. Of course there are 
 in this nation, as in all other nations, many people who 
 
 87 
 
are less favored in their gifts than others, who, as a 
 rule, look upon national affairs from their own per- 
 sonal standpoint, which does not comprehend so vast a 
 subject in its entirety. So when one becomes aware of 
 the importance that is attached to the leadership of a 
 nation then that person comprehends the necessity of 
 selecting the man for a leader who is known to possess 
 true patriotism, and has the courage to assert the rights 
 of the masses as against the few who use their talents 
 and energies solely for the benefit of their class, which 
 is usually for the one purpose, that of financial gain, 
 for it must be understood that it is only a portion of 
 humanity that get their happiness from financial gain. 
 Think for a moment of the happiness people derive 
 from the following lines of thought, whether it be their 
 vocation or not : Take music, art, literature, mechanics, 
 floral gardening, or any other vocation where finance is 
 not the leading ambition, all of these are sources of 
 happiness to the ones so employed, I think, to a higher 
 degree than where one's thoughts are confined almost 
 entirely to financial gain. True, under the present 
 system of living it is very important that one should 
 derive a reasonable amount of financial income, which 
 most people can and do succeed in gaining, but like 
 most other vocations, it is good up to a certain limit 
 and when one gets beyond this limit the most of the 
 good is overbalanced by the evils attached to their un- 
 dertakings. 
 
 And again, when we look for the welfare of the 
 masses the government to do its full duty should guard 
 well the interests of the medium and so-called lower 
 classes, for it is with these classes that the greatest of 
 true happiness is found. Therefore cultivate that which 
 
is best and increase this class of humanity and hold in 
 check as much as possible the classes which are encour- 
 aging that which is not promoting true happiness, true 
 manhood and womanhood, true prosperity and all that 
 is leading up to the principles of Godhood, that all may 
 end well in the presence of our Heavenly Father 
 Is the Hope of Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 WML McKINLEY. 
 
 THESE Ux\ T ITED STATES. 
 
 These United States as viewed from the spirit side 
 of life by one like myself who has had a deep interest 
 in the nation's welfare from its earliest inception, ap- 
 pears to be an exceptionally bright and happy country 
 in which to live, from various standpoints. From the 
 climatic point it is considerably varied. It does not 
 have the extreme frigid temperature enough to render 
 a portion of its territory uninhabitable, neither is its 
 southern portions too torrid for light-skinned races to 
 thrive, and a larger portion is the agreeable medium 
 that is well adapted to the uses to which its inhabitants 
 desire to produce the necessary requirements for health 
 and happiness. 
 
 And from the standpoint of wealth it is as a nation 
 difficult to find its equal. It produces of the staple 
 grain products enough for its people and to share with 
 the less fortunate sister nations, and nearly all of her 
 people have fruit in abundance, and among the metals 
 it produces for all requirements and to spare. And 
 with a constant and increasing population the nation's 
 resources will continue in abundance and from these 
 
 89 
 
products from fields and mines great trade relations 
 thrive with other nations, thus furnishing traffic across 
 both land and sea that transportation may be main- 
 tained. — As seen by the Spirit of Geo. Washington. 
 
 SPIRITUAL WAR. 
 
 In attempting to enlighten you in this way I will 
 choose for the subject "Spiritual War." 
 
 This may seem somewhat absurd to you at first, 
 but when you bear with me a few moments perhaps 
 you will reconcile your minds to the truth pertaining 
 to the subject. It is a fact very well understood that 
 one's mind in the spirit world is quite apt to follow in 
 about the same vocation as it did while on the mortal 
 sphere, so you will see that those who were defenders 
 of their fellow man's welfare on the mortal plane of 
 life will naturally follow in a similar line of usefulness 
 when in the spiritual plane. While we do not actually 
 muster great armies of soldiers, as is done on the mortal 
 plane, we do marshal our mental forces and send forth 
 our psychic force for the welfare of our fellow beings, 
 whether tliey be on the mortal or spiritual plane of ex- 
 istence. So should all of G-od's spiritual children see 
 from the same standpoint there would either be all war 
 or no war as the case might be. True our property 
 rights do not enter into our strifes as is often the case 
 with mortals, but our wars are for or against God's laws. 
 Those who are acting to please God are battling con- 
 tinuously that God's will shall be accomplished with 
 the hope that at some future time our victory will be 
 recognized and we will hear our Heavenly Father say: 
 
 90 
 
"Well done my faithful servant." So may you mortals 
 join in this warfare that God may be glorified, is the 
 wish of your former defender, 
 
 U. S. GRANT IN SPIRIT. 
 
 SPIRIT FINANCIERING. 
 
 You may perhaps think somewhat strange of 
 spiritual financiering, but it is a fact, nevertheless, that 
 spirits who were financiers while in mortal life con- 
 tinue in a similar line of mental efforts after leaving 
 the mortal body. Such spirits hover around mortals 
 who are employed in such mental work and influence 
 them as best we can and our success depends largely 
 upon the mortal's susceptibility to receive impressions. 
 Whenever we can and do make our influence felt by 
 the mortal we usually succeed in our object, but the re- 
 sults are unsatisfactory to the mortal. Quite often the 
 reason for this is that the mortal's object is usually 
 based upon too selfish motives, while we consider the 
 matter from a broader view. So when we consider the 
 matter in the interests of all concerned we think we are 
 entitled to call it Success. Even the chief actor in the 
 transaction is a little dissatisfied at the time, but quite 
 often this mortal takes a different view of it in after 
 life. So if such ones would study and apply the Golden 
 Rule more closely their lives and actions would more 
 nearly comply with God's desires and such a one would 
 be doing more to carry out God's plans that all would 
 end to the glory of God, which is the highest of all ob- 
 jects to be accomplished by either mortal or a spirit. 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 GEO. WASHINGTON. 
 
 91 
 
NATIONAL HOLIDAYS AS SEEN FROM SPIRIT 
 LIFE, 
 
 It has been the custom of the people of this nation 
 to observe holidays since this nation gained its inde- 
 pendence from its mother country, and by acts of Con- 
 gress, from time to time, another holiday has been 
 added and almost each year ends with a new holiday, 
 with some object in view for this new holiday, and 
 there are some days observed as holidays that are not 
 legal holidays, but to those who observe such holidays 
 to them their object is gained the same as though it 
 were authorized by law. I observed not many days ago 
 that many people observed what they are pleased to 
 term "McKinley Day," in honor of the mortal works 
 of him whose spirit is now writing. While I was living 
 the mortal life little did I think that my deeds would 
 be regarded as worthy of emulation by setting apart a 
 day as "McKinley Day," but perhaps my deeds were 
 more noble than I thought at the time. Were 1 at that 
 time told that such would be the case I would at least 
 have had great doubts about it, but were I then told that 
 I would still live to witness such an affair I would have 
 still greater doubts, but as we journey along through 
 life little do we realize concerning our future. Gen- 
 eral Washington is here by my side. He says our minds 
 seem to run parallel on this subject. So may you all 
 so live and act that your lives and deeds may be worthy 
 of emulation by future generations, is the wish of 
 WM. McKINLEY IN SPIRIT. 
 
 92 
 
OUR COUNTRY. 
 
 As it is only very seldom that a spirit is offered an 
 opportunity to write a message from the spirit side of 
 life back to the mortal world, where I once lived and 
 was known as a mortal, you may judge of the pleasure 
 it affords when an opportunity is offered. And as my 
 mortal self was and still is known as the "Father of 
 Our Country," it is but appropriate that I write of 
 "Our Country." 
 
 As the seventeenth century was drawing to a close 
 what few people had adopted this land as their home 
 became inspired to establish a form of government of 
 their own, and as the years rolled by this sentiment 
 gained in favor and the people became united in their 
 demand for a separation from Briton's rule, with the 
 result that the people's desire should be gratified. Much 
 blood was shed, lives lost and many sacrifices made, but 
 as God considered these demands were but just the na- 
 tion, known as the United States of America, gained 
 its independence, and in a comparatively small way es- 
 tablished its own government. It was formed so as to 
 be much better suited to the needs of our people than 
 the rule that had formerly been exercised over them, 
 and in the earlier years of our history my name was 
 closely associated with the affairs of our government, 
 and I will say that I took a deep interest in the affairs 
 of our young nation and it made an eternal impression 
 upon my mind that stays with me even to this day on 
 the spirit side of life. The thoughts of our country 
 were uppermost in my mind until I ceased to exist as a 
 mortal and since I have been in spirit life my mind has 
 
 93 
 
not relaxed in its energies to assist in keeping the gov- 
 ernment apace with the ever-increasing population, and 
 I will also state that I am well pleased with the growth 
 and prosperity of our earlier work, which has been pro- 
 ductive of happiness and contentment. Of course evils 
 have crept in and have been subdued, some of which 
 have caused great alarm, especially the question of 
 slavery, about the middle of the eighteenth century, 
 which caused one of the most cruel wars of history, but 
 in the end millions of human slaves were made free, 
 and thus God's will was carried out for the welfare of 
 humanity, and the nation prospered and has enjoyed a 
 season of commercialism never before equaled by any 
 nation and I think will continue in its onward inarch 
 of continuous prosperity, contentment and happiness. 
 So now I think that we who held the reins of our young 
 government guided the ship of state better than we 
 thought at the time we were assuming our official duties. 
 We on this side of the river of life look upon the nation 
 and look to the welfare of all of the people and not to 
 the welfare of any political party. 
 
 Political parties are essential to the welfare of 
 the nation, but in some instances I think the welfare of 
 party is more prominent in the minds of some politi- 
 cians than true patriotism, but such conditions to a 
 slight degree always have existed and perhaps always 
 will so long as selfish mortals exist. But whenever mat- 
 ters of vital importance arise and the entire mind of 
 the populace becomes aroused sufficient to take an en- 
 thusiastic interest then Grod-given justice will predom- 
 inate. So follow the motto that is upon some of your 
 coin — "In God We Trust" — and so live and act that the 
 whole world will recognize that that motto was not put 
 
 94 
 
before the e) r es of the people in vain.— ^-Written by the 
 Spirit of George Washington. 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 As I am offered this opportunity to express my 
 views from the spirit side of life to the mortal world, it 
 affords me much pleasure and gratification to write 
 upon the subject that brought my mortal self so promi- 
 nently before the minds of my fellow mortals, namely, 
 The Civil War. 
 
 About the years 1845 to 1850 a feeling of injustice 
 began to be noticeable in the minds of some of the lead- 
 ing minds of our nation concerning the question of 
 slavery in some sections of the land. It was reasoned 
 by the advanced thinkers that as all mankind were 
 created equal in the sight of God, mortals, or at least 
 some mortals, were obstructing the will of God by keep- 
 ing some of God's children in the bonds of slavery to 
 spend their lives for the commercial welfare of their 
 owners seriously to the detriment of the mental and 
 spiritual welfare of the dark-skinned race, whose life's 
 energies were used for personal gain. Those advanced 
 thinkers advocated their convictions to their fellow men 
 and their principles met with favor in one section of 
 the country and with opposition in another section, but 
 the opposition had for its principle chiefly the de- 
 fense of their property rights to hold and own their 
 colored servants at a fixed cash value. As will be ob- 
 served in the first instance, the principles advocated was 
 justice to the greatest numbers, which is recognized by 
 the Great Ruler over all justice. And in the next in- 
 
 95 
 
stance their principles had their origin in mortal man 
 that their own selfish motives should prevail. 
 
 The struggle for supremacy was long and severe. 
 A very large number of lives were taken from the mor- 
 tal body, many cripples left and disease followed in the 
 trail of this war and when viewed solely from the mortal 
 standpoint one is quite apt to think most of the loss of 
 human life and blood and the devastation of property, 
 but as God was and is the All- Wise Ruler, He consid- 
 ered the soul's welfare of the dark-skinned race from a 
 mental and spiritual standing and He desired that their 
 souls should be put upon an equal standing with the 
 rest of humanity, for God is not particular about the 
 color of the skin of a mortal. 
 
 And when I consider this phase of the Civil War 
 I am well pleased with the final results, for we should 
 consider that those who passed out of their mortal 
 bodies in that conflict their lives did not end when their 
 breath stopped, for "so-called death" does not end all at 
 the grave, for their souls go marching on to victory in 
 the sight of God. And at the same time the souls of 
 those colored people are given the same opportunity to 
 progress also, which I consider of sufficient reward for 
 all that the war cost in blood, mortal life and financial 
 expense. — Written by the Spirit of A. Lincoln for the 
 Consideration of Humanity. 
 
 OTTR COUNTRY IN PROSPERITY. 
 
 In presenting this, my first article written through 
 this medium, I wish to express my gratitude for this op- 
 portunity of offering to the mortal world my views from 
 the spirit side of life upon a subject that was close to 
 
 96 
 
my heart while I occupied the Presidential chair of this 
 country, and for years previous to my election to that 
 high office my aspirations were to see this nation upon a 
 higher plane of prosperity than any other nation on the 
 planet, but as a brother mortal saw fit to cause the sep- 
 aration of my self from my mortal body while I was 
 yet striving to -lay the nation's foundation for a still 
 higher wave of prosperity than the nation had ever en- 
 joyed, my plans were thwarted to some extent, but as 
 my plans were well under way at the time of my assas- 
 sination and were receiving the approval of the spiritual 
 powers, the nation has continued in its onward march 
 to victorious prosperity as a nation, and we on this, the 
 spirit side of life, observe with satisfaction the com- 
 mercial achievements that are so essential to prosperity 
 in a commercialized nation. We who were once so deeply 
 interested in the welfare of our nation still retain that 
 interest for the well-being of our fellow mortals and are 
 all using our spiritual forces to lead the way for our 
 mortal brothers and sisters to peace, plenty and pros- 
 perity, as God views such matters, for God in His in- 
 finite wisdom does not consider prosperity solely from a 
 financial view, for from that standpoint the success that 
 may be obtained is solely from the material view, and 
 as God's chief object is the prosperity of man's spiritual 
 self so I think this remark will show you that success 
 in mortal things is not the highest form of success. So 
 a nation should not confine its prosperity alone to the 
 material prosperity, but at the same time direct its at- 
 tention to the spiritual prosperity for that is the pros- 
 perity that survives the grave and is eternal. Material 
 prosperity is an essential to material happiness, and as 
 the nation is prosperous it sets the example for the in- 
 
 97 
 
dividuals comprising the nation and the prosperity of 
 the individual and the prosperity of the nation go hand 
 in hand but the spiritual prosperity should not be 
 neglected- — Written by the Spirit of James A. Garfield. 
 
 ASSASSINATIONS. 
 
 Allow me, in introducing myself, to express my 
 gratitude for this opportunity to communicate with the 
 mortal world from this, the spiritual world, and as I 
 was one of the assassinated Presidents of the United 
 States I will express my views of such occurrences. 
 
 The assassination of a mortal, from the mortal 
 viewpoint, is looked upon as one of the highest forms of 
 crime, but from the Godly standpoint it does not look 
 so serious, for whenever an official is thus removed from 
 official power there is always another to take his place 
 in the affairs of the nation or state, as the case may be, 
 and so the governmental affairs go on about the same, 
 but mortals consider the crime uppermost, and so far 
 as the life of the one who has left the mortal plane is 
 concerned that is an individual matter, and if his life 
 has been in accordance with the laws of God all is well 
 with him. And as the welfare of only one soul has 
 passed from the mortal to the immortal life and still 
 lives the matter is not so serious as mortals usually 
 think. The welfare of the nation is by far the greater 
 in importance for the destiny of a people depends much 
 upon the form of government under which they live, 
 and as the successor cannot make any radical changes 
 in the governmental affairs the nation goes on about the 
 same as before, but mortals are prone to express their 
 
 98 
 
grief, both publicly and in private and thus keep the 
 affair in mind and do not consider the matter as God 
 sees it. Of course all precaution should be taken to pre- 
 vent such occurrences, not so much to avoid any imag- 
 inary calamity to the nation, for such will not occur 
 from such a cause, but to discourage crime in general. 
 Such occurrences are usually brought about by some 
 mortal who has not in the past had his thoughts well 
 directed. Any mortal who considers him or herself a 
 child of God and strives to do His will, would never 
 have committed such a deed, but such deeds are brought 
 about by a mortal whose mind is lead astray in the be- 
 ginning by some other uncontrolled mind and is allowed 
 to continue in its thoughts of evil doings and sooner or 
 later one's actions will indicate the past workings of the 
 mind. So I trust that a lesson may be drawn from this 
 remark and mortals will comprehend the importance 
 of guarding well their thoughts and keeping them well 
 in the vibrations of virtue, that your actions later in life 
 may be for the glory of God. — Written by the Spirit of 
 William McKinley. 
 
 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF 
 ATLANTAS. 
 
 In the modern years of the world's history much 
 speculation is discussed with regard to those islands 
 which are now extinct so far as mortal vision is con- 
 cerned, but as nothing in God's universe ceases to exist 
 these former islands are no exception. They, like all 
 other changes, have simply passed a certain stage of 
 evolution and so far as mortal life is concerned have 
 
 99 
 
ceased to exist, and as this article is upon a given sub- 
 ject I will not digress. Those islands once were the 
 center of the world's habitation, but many centuries 
 ago. In fact, at a time so remote that there seems to be 
 no mortal record that is very definite that such islands 
 ever did exist, but as my earth life was spent upon the 
 chief island in that group, perhaps few if any are 
 capable of giving you as good a description and history 
 of that once important portion of this planet. This 
 group of islands were located in a northerly direction 
 from Honolulu, in the Pacific ocean, but of course Hon- 
 olulu did not exist then, neither did the island upon 
 which it is built. The Atlantas group extended well to- 
 wards the North Pole and was composed of a large 
 number of islands, probably never numbered or named, 
 and only a few of them were inhabited by more than 
 sea animals. Those islands existed for many thousands 
 of years and with the slow but sure process of evolution 
 they one by one disappeared from the surface of the 
 sea and finally were what mortals call extinct. The soil 
 of those islands (the larger ones) was much more fertile 
 than can be found at the present time, not excepting 
 the famous valley of the Nile river in Egypt. This is 
 not true of all of those islands, for some were composed 
 of barren rocks and consequently of little importance 
 so far as man was concerned. I will speak now exclu- 
 sively of the Island of Atlanta, upon which I passed 
 my mortal days, or years. This was perhaps the largest . 
 in the group and supported the greatest number of people 
 of any island in the group. Various kinds of food veg- 
 etation were abundant and the earth produced it almost 
 without cultivation. Chiefly of the products were fruit 
 and corn, wheat and rice, similar to those grown at the 
 
 100 
 
present time. The people were much larger, both taller 
 and heavier than most people of the present day, for I 
 myself was eight feet four inches tall, in the present 
 way of measurement, and I was but little taller than 
 the average, and as for knowledge, but little of what we ' 
 then called knowledge would be considered as such at 
 this time from the standpoint of mortals, but as God 
 views the subject of knowledge, we, I think, were far 
 superior to mortals of the past few centuries. Our 
 knowledge was more, or almost, exclusively confined to 
 divine law, through which all knowledge reaches mor- 
 tals, and by relying almost entirely upon the Divine 
 One to guide and control us, it was unnecessary to cul- 
 tivate our intellectual faculties as is done in later cen- 
 turies, which is a result of the influence upon mankind 
 in substituting faith for knowledge concerning one's 
 God. 
 
 As we in spirit do not take time into account, were 
 I to say how long since these islands existed it would be 
 at the best a mere guess. I can only say that I feel 
 certain of having been in spirit life from 4,000 to 5,000 
 years or more. I will say adieu and sign myself as 
 the spirit of 
 
 COMOE THE GREAT. 
 
 USES OF THE SEA. 
 
 In writing for you at this time I will take for our 
 subject the seas, their uses, etc. 
 
 As this planet was being produced by the process 
 of evolution certain chemical elements were necessary 
 and as water contains a great variety of these elements 
 
 101 
 
our Heavenly Father wisely produced water in abun- 
 dance. I think about two-thirds of the earth's surface 
 is water, but as the seas do not extend to the center of 
 the planet or as near to the center as does tho mineral 
 substances, the earth is much more than one-third min- 
 eral formation. True, in most portions of our planet 
 much water is distributed. The object of the seas is, I 
 think, for an immense storage, with larger surface ex- 
 posure, to produce evaporation that moisture would be 
 abundant for all its various uses, such as to form clouds 
 to furnish rain for the production of vegetation and for 
 the use of the animal creation or neither could exist. 
 Were water to become extinct I doubt that this planet 
 would exist very long. With the moisture constantly 
 rising from the seas and other bodies of water and 
 transported in various portions of the earth with the 
 air currents the moisture is carried to points quite re- 
 mote from the sea and thus the moisture is placed where 
 it is needed to carry on God's great work of evolution 
 that man may thrive and develop and become the dwell- 
 ing place of an eternal spirit. — Written by the Spirit of 
 Mitchel the Astronomer. 
 
 OCEAN TIDE. 
 
 When writing upon so vast a subject as the ocean 
 and its various actions it necessarily requires consider- 
 able preliminary explanation to make the subject com- 
 prehendable, as the writer intends it to be understood. 
 As I wish to explain with regard to the ebb and flow of 
 the ocean's tide, I must call your attention to some of 
 the other planets which go to compose this great uni- 
 
 102 
 
verse, and as you no doubt understand this universe is 
 supporting many, many other planets, and each and all 
 have their own sphere in which to perform their part 
 in making this universe a perfect one, each have their 
 own powers of attraction and repulsion with the various 
 other planets, and as each is revolving on its axis and 
 has its revolutionary orbit in which it has its own true 
 course to follow, and when we consider the great num- 
 ber of these planets and the various attractions that 
 each planet has for the other planets, just stop and 
 think of the complexity of this great universe, and one 
 of the more prominent effects these other planets have 
 upon earth will be seen as one stands by the ocean's 
 side and observes the ebb and now of the tide, which is 
 but one of the constant and regular effects that the 
 other planets have upon the waters of the earth. 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 MITCHEL THE ASTRONOMER. 
 
 MONSOONS AND TYPHOONS. 
 
 In giving you this writing I will take for our sub- 
 ject "Monsoons, Typhoons and Sand Storms." 
 
 First, I will call your attention to the fact that all 
 these are brought about by the natural workings of the 
 various planets, either primarily or as a secondary re- 
 sult of some other mighty force in the universe. First, 
 I will explain some of the many wonderful workings of 
 the planets aside from the one upon which you now 
 live. Of all of the planets the earth is among the lesser 
 ones as regards its size and influences among the gen- 
 eral whole number, or in other words, it is affected more 
 
 103 
 
by the influence of other planets than its influence is 
 felt by the other planets. As the earth passes around 
 in its orbit at some' times of the year it comes nearer to 
 other planets than at other times, thus affecting and be- 
 ing affected by this closer proximity in various ways, 
 and as each planet has its own peculiar influences to 
 act upon other planets, as Well as in receiving the in- 
 fluences from the other planets, it will be seen that with 
 all the many planets these influences are quite complex. 
 At certain times the atmospheric pressure becomes 
 greater or lesser in its effects upon the earth's surface, 
 producing a certain electrified condition in one portion 
 of the earth and a reverse condition at some other part 
 of the earth, and as the atmosphere in its efforts to 
 equalize the conditions produces these tremendous winds 
 until they reach the proportions of a monsoon at sea, 
 or typhoon on land, and when on land and over a dry 
 and sandy surface the sands are carried at a high veloc- 
 ity for long distances, and as those storms usually cover 
 about the same area at intervals the effect upon the soil 
 is to extract the fertility and that part of the earth's 
 surface is commonly known as a desert, such as is known 
 as the Sahara, in the northern portion of Africa. There 
 are islands in the sea that are just as barren from the 
 same cause. How long these influences have or will 
 exist is beyond my means of knowledge, but I will 
 venture to speculate upon this problem. As the planets 
 each must have had a beginning and will have an end, 
 it is but natural to suppose that all did not begin nor 
 will end at the same time. As one planet gradually 
 ceases to exist its influence will be changed and in course 
 of time, perhaps millions or billions of years, the dis- 
 appearing of planets will change these influences, 
 
 104 
 
should the earth last longer than the other planets that 
 produce these influences. And again, perhaps this planet 
 may increase or decrease in its powers so as to change 
 the condition that now exists. And as to cyclones, with 
 which you are more familiar. These are produced in 
 the same way only to a lesser degree. 
 
 These few ideas are expressed by Mitchel the As- 
 tronomer, hoping that mortals will be enlightened upon 
 the workings of God's universe. 
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF CONTINENTS. 
 
 First it will be well for me to call your attention 
 to the wonderful workings of God's great universe, that 
 you may the better understand the subject in hand. 
 
 As the earth (as you no doubt understand) re- 
 volves upon its axis and at the same time moves around 
 in its orbit once in about 365 days, you will readily see 
 that the earth has two separate and distinct motions of 
 itself and the other planets of this universe (I say this 
 universe, for there are other universes) also have their 
 parts to perform in carrying out of God's plans, some 
 of which are positively charged with electricity, while 
 other planets are charged negatively, some being attract- 
 ive to earth while others are repulsive to a greater or 
 less degree, and the earth is only one of the many 
 planets being affected by these attractions and repul- 
 sions. It makes the effects upon this planet, as you will 
 see, quite complex, yet all work with great exactness, 
 so that when the earth comes to be under the exact 
 same influences it may be centuries before the same in- 
 fluences are exactly the same again, and as the influ- 
 
 105 
 
ences are very slow and gradual in producing their re- 
 sults the same influences are just as slow and gradual 
 in disappearing. The effects upon our planet are just 
 as slow and gradual in producing the changes upon the 
 earth's surface, and as the earth's surface is about two- 
 thirds water and one-third land these waters are per- 
 forming their part to produce the rise and fall of a con- 
 tinent, and as the waters in the various streams, both 
 large and small, are all helping to bring about these 
 changes by carrying the particles of sand and rocks to 
 what is now a lower portion of the earth's surface, the 
 large bodies of water are slowly but surely being filled, 
 thus sending the waters to the dry land. And thus you 
 will see that what is now dry land will in time become 
 submerged and the volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, 
 etc., will and do elevate certain portions of the earth's 
 surface little by little, so that the earth's surface will 
 continue to remain about one-third land and two-thirds 
 water. This is my explanation of the rise and fall of 
 continents, and now I will speculate upon this subject 
 as to the final outcome of this great piece of phenomena 
 which has been going on since a time that I dare not 
 attempt to state, but I will venture a prophesy that in 
 an almost unnumberable term of centuries the land, or 
 dry portions of the earth, will gradually become less 
 and less and the waters will also become less and less 
 until the earth fails to resist and attract the various 
 influences that I have already mentioned and finally be 
 absorbed by the other planets. — This is the Philosophy 
 of Mitchel the Astronomer. 
 
 Question by the Medium — What becomes of animal 
 and vegetable life with this change? 
 
 106 
 
Answer — That is another matter and I refer you 
 to Plato the Philosopher. 
 
 As Mitchel the Astronomer has referred you to me 
 to answer your inquiry that comes more in my line of 
 work than his, it affords me pleasure to express my 
 views upon so profound a subject. 
 
 I quite agree with Mitchell in his explanation and 
 would say that from experience I cannot answer at all, 
 but will state what I would expect in a philosophical 
 question like this, that as these slow but gradual changes 
 that are going on constantly with the earth, and as life is 
 first manifest in the mineral kingdom and then ad- 
 vanced to the vegetable and then to the animal, and 
 from animal to the soul of man, and as the earth would 
 be gradually diminishing its forces, eventually life 
 would cease to manifest in the animal and later with a 
 still greater diminution in the earth life would fail to 
 manifest in the vegetable kingdom, and with a still 
 greater deterioration of the planet life would fail to 
 manifest in the mineral and by this stage of evolution 
 I think the mineral substance (and that would be all 
 that is left) would gradually be absorbed by the other 
 planets of the universe. — The above explanation is given 
 by Plato in Spirit. 
 
 The Medium) — In this evolution what becomes of 
 the souls of men? 
 
 For an answer to that question I will refer you to 
 a spirit named Nero. 
 
 In giving you my views as desired by Plato, I wish 
 first to explain that many, many thousands of years ago, 
 when I was on the earth plane, my mind wa& largely 
 
 107 
 
employed upon subjects pertaining to the souls of men, 
 but while on the mortal plane I was no exception to 
 other mortals with regard to material contaminations of 
 thought, which is quite apt to influence one's conclu- 
 sions in searching for the truth regarding so profound 
 a subject, but, as on earth, I am still much interested 
 in the more advanced study regarding the eternal pro- 
 gression of the souls of mankind, and in answering your 
 question to Plato, who refers you to me, I will say that 
 as the soul of man is a product from the highest form 
 of animal life it would be impossible for this product 
 to be brought forth without the animal as one of the pro- 
 ducing elements. As a comparison: The wheat is a 
 product from soil, water, temperature and sunshine and 
 with any one of these elements missing the wheat would 
 not be produced. 
 
 Signed by the Spirit of 
 
 NERO OF OLD. 
 
 VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS AND EARTHQUAKES; 
 THEIR CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 Before commencing this article I wish to make a 
 few statements with regard to myself. While I was on 
 the earth plane of existence I was known as Mitchel 
 the Astronomer and spent many years in the study of 
 astronomy and kindred subjects, and as one's mind finds 
 employment on the earth plane it is quite apt to follow 
 in a similar vocation on the other side of the grave, or 
 "so-called death," and in my case it is no exception to 
 the general rule, yet while in the spirit life one has very 
 superior advantages for investigation along this line as 
 
 108 
 
compared with mortals, as you will readily comprehend 
 when you know that time and distance are annihilated 
 in the spirit world and we can also penetrate any and 
 all solid substances, which is of great value to us in our 
 geological investigations. 
 
 Now as I have promised to write for you upon the 
 subject of "earthquakes, volcanic eruption," etc., with 
 their causes and consequences, I wish to impress you 
 with the mighty magnitude of the subject in hand at 
 this time. 
 
 In the first place it will be well for me to call your 
 attention to the exactness with which God demands in 
 the workings of this mighty universe, for each and 
 every planet has its own world by itself, subject to its 
 own peculiar environments, and with all these thou- 
 sands of planets included in this universe, for each to 
 keep up its regular and constant motions and not to 
 come in conflict with any other planet and to keep in its 
 own sphere of usefulness is to my mind a most astound- 
 ing piece of phenomena, far past the comprehension of 
 any human mind; yes, or the minds of the immortal 
 ones, for this subject is one that only the few compara- 
 tively devote but little attention, but as this was my 
 favorite subject in earth life and is still deep in my 
 aspirations, I am, as in earth life, practically, or nearly 
 so, alone in my investigations upon this subject. Still 
 my heart and soul are deeply interested in these 
 thoughts and I assure you of my gratitude in offering 
 me this opportunity of giving the world the results of 
 my much cherished investigations. 
 
 Now as to volcanic eruptions. I will use for my 
 special one, to explain, upon the one which occurred a 
 few years ago at Mount Pelee, in the Atlantic ocean. 
 
 109 
 
This mountain was high above the water line of the 
 surrounding island. At various places on this high ele- 
 vation were many lakes and streams of various sizes, 
 and this was a mountain of nearly solid rock and gran- 
 ite, with some few crevices that went down deep enough 
 to reach far below the level of the ocean and down deep 
 into the bowels of this planet. There are many caverns 
 of various sizes, a few of which extend to the earth's 
 surface and make themselves known to mortals by an 
 opening which leads the way for mortals to explore the 
 inward portion of mother earth. I will sight you to 
 what is known as the "Mammoth cave of Kentucky," and 
 well-known caverns in Colorado and many other less 
 advertised curiosities of this nature in various portions 
 of the earth, and I assure you it is only the very few of 
 these caverns that come to the earth's surface, so mor- 
 tals do not know of the others that are entirely hidden 
 from mortal view. Now as I said Mount Pelee fur- 
 nished an inlet into some of these mighty caverns, and 
 from those lakes water found its way down through 
 these crevices, though in very small quantities at first, 
 but with constant washing its way for perhaps many 
 thousands of years this tiny waterway gradually be- 
 came larger and larger and this water found its way 
 into one of these caverns, and as the earth is gradually 
 becoming warmer as it reaches great depths it is but 
 natural that this water is converted into steam and this 
 moisture thus produced creates a change of conditions, 
 and with the water continually coming in and the 
 steam still increasing until the cavern becomes like the 
 boiler of a locomotive, only of so much greater power 
 that no mathematician could calculate the power thus 
 engendered, and with this mighty force confined for 
 
 110 
 
many years and constantly increasing it would find its 
 easiest escape in the weaker walls surrounding the cav- 
 ern, and as these crevices leading down from the earth's 
 surface to the cavern weakened the walls and this im- 
 mense pressure found its escape and the eruption of 
 Mount Pelee was so great that it startled the whole 
 world with its consequences, as you will remember. It 
 belched forth ashes that went for miles up into the air 
 and the winds carried those ashes many miles in suffi- 
 cient quantities to be noticeable on distant islands, as 
 well as on the decks of ships that happened to be within 
 the radius of this shower of ashes. 
 
 And now as I have, I think, shown you as to the 
 causes of these disturbances, I will call your attention 
 to some of the consequences following eruptions of this 
 kind. First I will call your attention to the large 
 number of mortals that passed to the immortal sphere 
 almost instantly and without warning. Homes were 
 destroyed, families separated, property wasted, after 
 years of toil in collecting, animals were killed and even 
 fish in the ocean also died from the shock. Telegraph, 
 telephone, the printing presses, the lecture platforms 
 and the pulpits were furnished with work to inform the 
 world of what had happened and many and varied ex- 
 planations were given by scientific mortals as to the 
 cause of this catastrophe, but of them all none are as 
 satisfactory (at least to my mind) as the one I have 
 just given. 
 
 This mighty explosion was with sufficient force to 
 disturb this entire universe, but more particularly this 
 planet, as you no doubt already know how this planet 
 revolves on its axis every twenty-four hours and makes 
 its course around the earth's orbit in about 365 days, 
 
 111 
 
thus producing the seasons. And I wish here to em- 
 phasize the wonderful precision and exactness with 
 which God's plans are carried on. It is so exact that 
 the earth at a given time in the year is in the exact 
 space that it occupied at each previous year at that time, 
 but with the Mount Pelee explosion as great as it was 
 it swayed this planet out of its true path and so exact 
 is the course of the other planets that the influences of 
 the other planets were exercised to put the earth into its 
 true course again, with this effort to get the universe 
 into its normal state again it set the earth to oscillating 
 back and forth and with each oscillation becoming less 
 and less, finally the earth attained to its own true path, 
 but with this swinging of the earth the waters became 
 moved irregularly and what is known as tidal waves 
 were produced that encircled the planet and many small 
 islands were washed away from sight, but those that 
 were not inhabited little or nothing was known to mor- 
 tals, but the damage became greater as the waves 
 reached the peopled lands and did its greatest harm 
 at Galveston, Texas, where vast areas of territory were 
 washed over and many more mortals were hurried away 
 from their earthly homes. 
 
 And now as to earthquakes. As I said before, those 
 caverns are many and varied in size and distances apart 
 with solid stone walls separating one from another and 
 the pressure of steam and gases are caused, as I have 
 already described, but the pressure finds its escape with- 
 out coming to the earth's surface by forcing the walls 
 that separate the various caverns and thus the earth re- 
 ceives the shock. — This article is given by the Spirit of 
 Mitchel the Astronomer. 
 
 112 
 
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS CONTINUED. 
 
 And now after many months from my former arti- 
 cle upon volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, etc., I will 
 continue, for the benefit of interested ones. 
 
 As to earthquakes there are many, yes, very many, 
 that little or perhaps nothing is known to the mortal 
 world as they do not affect the inhabited portions of the 
 planet. For instance: An island at sea that has no 
 people upon it, or perhaps only unintelligent persons. 
 Such islands are sometimes entirely obliterated from the 
 surface of the sea and nothing is known to the intelli- 
 gent portion of the earth that such a catastrophe has 
 taken place, when, perhaps, thousands of animals and 
 humans have left the mortal plane of existence. And 
 when the quake occurred in Southern Italy, it being 
 quite well populated and with mortals' keen desire to 
 spread the information, the world was again startled 
 when the great camlamity became known, but I fail to 
 find any better explanation as to the cause than the one 
 formerly given. True, as some scientific mortals ven- 
 ture to state as a cause, that of the sands from the 
 mountains and hills are constantly being carried into 
 the sea thus changing the pressure upon the earth's 
 crust. I will not say that it does not have its influence, 
 but I hardly think is the chief cause of these disturb- 
 ances. As to the frequency and magnitude of these 
 calamities it is difficult to state whether they are on the 
 increase or decrease from the fact that they seem to 
 have no fixed regularity, and to determine that ques- 
 tion it would be necessary to review many, many thou- 
 sands of years and as it is only within the past few 
 years that an authentic record has been kept we have 
 
 113 
 
no way of knowing very much about the matter beyond 
 the fact that quakes have taken place. While mortals 
 will judge the enormity of each quake by the loss of 
 lives and of property, when, perhaps, a still greater dis- 
 turbance has taken place and no such loss has occurred. 
 Your Spirit Friend for Our Mutual Satisfaction, 
 MITCHEL THE ASTKONOMEE. 
 
 BKAIN CULTUKE. 
 
 Were it not for the brain of man little would be 
 comprehended upon the earth plane, as you will see that 
 the lower animals are all that would be left to compre- 
 hend were the brain of man stricken out. So it will 
 readily be seen that the brain of man is a very impor- 
 tant factor in the universe, for without this important 
 factor I doubt if the souls of mortals would exist. And 
 now that I have shown the importance of the brain of 
 man, and so long as it lies within the power of man to 
 cultivate this wonderful portion of the human structure 
 called the brain at will, if he so chooses, it is very im- 
 portant that one proceeds along the proper lines to 
 work upon to produce the desired results. 
 
 To begin with, the brain is a very plastic sub- 
 stance, and susceptible to exceedingly delicate impres- 
 sions, and is perhaps capable of almost any form of 
 changes, both desirable and undesirable. As one should 
 observe whenever you meet a person with only a slight 
 development of his mental powers, and then compare 
 this person with one whose mentality has been culti- 
 vated, until in many instances one man's brain power 
 has changed the mental operations of thousands of 
 people. 
 
 114 
 
I desire to impress upon your mind the importance 
 of brain culture, for it rests largely with your own de- 
 sires as to what results your brain power will bring 
 about. The brain is affected favorably, or unfavorably, 
 by the condition of the physical system. A healthy 
 brain is found only with a healthy system, and to get 
 the best results from the brain the body should be well 
 cared for, and the care of the body is a subject of it- 
 self ; so I will only touch it briefly. 
 
 It is said that "cleanliness is next to Godliness/' 
 but I will say that cleanliness is Godly, or Godlike. The 
 body should be properly fed, but not overfed, which re- 
 tards the action of many a person's brain, and thus 
 many great possibilities are wasted, or greatly dimin- 
 ished. Each class of food has its peculiar action or ef- 
 fect upon the body, and from the body to the brain. 
 Animal foods, i. e., meat, blood, etc., stimulate an ani- 
 mal nature and animal thoughts, creating animal mag- 
 netism, which is detrimental to the higher forms of in- 
 tellectual work and usefulness ; as will be seen that the 
 pugilist is always a heavy meat eater, while the angelic 
 class of mortals eat little or no meat. The cereals are 
 good for the body building, which is very essential with 
 the young who have not yet arrived at maturity, but 
 vegetables, fruits and nuts are best for the development 
 of the brain. 
 
 Now that I have defined the care and nourishment 
 of the body I will assume that all are students for their 
 improvement, both physically and mentally. To keep 
 the physical body at its best working condition one 
 should take a fair amount of muscular exercise, but not 
 enough to become weary, for more will tend to over- 
 develop the muscular system, to the detriment of the 
 
 115 
 
brain, and as this subject is brain culture I will not ad- 
 vise over-exercise ; and to assist you as to what lines of 
 development you wish to cultivate, just hold in mind a 
 fervent desire to improve in a given direction and the 
 higher forces will assist you to obtain the desired results. 
 Were it possible for you to know the secret desires of 
 men who have achieved greater results, you would read- 
 ily understand the force of desire. 
 
 The brain is the mortal's means of obtaining knowl- 
 edge, but you may ask Where does knowledge originate ? 
 As it is very well known that all things come from 
 Spirit, or God (which is the same), and knowledge is 
 no exception, and the human brain is the means by 
 which this knowledge is conveyed to the mortal world 
 for the benefit of humanity, and the more highly the 
 brain is cultivated the more useful it will become. 
 
 In mental philosophy, both ancient and modern, 
 man has, to a great extent, dwelt in limitations on the 
 vast expansion of the mind. In the early years in my 
 time of life, we were to a great extent spiritually edu- 
 cated. Gur intellectual faculties and instructions were 
 based on intrinsic principles, which I followed through 
 divine instructions. I find my teachings in life have 
 proven to be of great import, and indelible on the minds 
 of men. My great study was to encourage all human- 
 ity to live on an elevating basis of mentality. The great 
 intellect, soul or mind should be enthused with all the 
 requirements of heaven and earth. The mind should 
 be capable of evolving all things. The capabilities and 
 influences of the mind are manifested through all crea- 
 tion. God created man an intelligent being, a thought- 
 producer, a thinking manufacturer and inventor. These 
 thoughts and calculations are put into execution and 
 
 116 
 
become materialized in their various vicissitudes, and 
 have accomplished what becomes the wonders of the 
 world. 
 
 Now let me ask the mental philosopher by whom 
 have you received this knowledge which you are giving 
 to the world? The answer is usually, his quickness of 
 brain power, but not admitting that these thoughts, 
 these intuitions, which pass through the mind volun- 
 tarily, to calculate, estimate and explain the whys and 
 wherefores are emanating from an unseen force. 
 
 The inventor who has a difficult problem to solve 
 will close the doors from annoyance and interruption, 
 to accomplish some ideal work of which the world 
 knows not, and does not understand. We are helping 
 all the inventors and manufacturers in producing their 
 new inventions which are being used on the earth plane. 
 All the manufacturers which have been produced have 
 been directed, and their merits tested and proved in 
 spirit life. All the wonderful productions are an ema- 
 nation from divine intellect; therefore, the brain is 
 likened to the keyboard of a piano ; it is receptive to the 
 touch of Deity, and it responds to the different notes 
 which are vibrated by the hand of Divinity. Man re- 
 sponds to these impressions and completes his work. To 
 the world he becomes famous, and his fame is heralded 
 throughout the universe. 
 
 Man, in his own intellect, is capable of consummat- 
 ing great productions from his own mentality, but they 
 are guided, aided and directed by an invisible force. 
 When the mind is in a receptive state it is surprised at 
 the wonderful involuntary impressions it receives. 
 
 I wish to express a few ideas upon brain culture 
 and its technicalities to show how different sections of 
 
 117 
 
the brain are more developed than others. One section 
 may be diseased, the other sections assume their normal 
 condition. The section affected may be inactive and 
 the retention of memory entirely lost, never to be re- 
 gained. The brain is very sensitive in its organization, 
 and dependent upon the nourishment it receives through 
 the body, and responds quickly to the physical condi- 
 tion of the body, not less the body to the brain. The 
 less animal magnetism your system is environed with, 
 the more refined the intellect. A vegetable and fruit 
 diet produce a refined nature and active and receptive 
 mind. Where there is an active brain, is a well-centered 
 mind. The person is slow and firm in conclusions and 
 usually correct. With an unequally developed brain, 
 nervousness, irritability and self-conceit are leading 
 characteristics. The fullness over the top of the head 
 shows a reverential development, very receptive to im- 
 pressions and inspirations of spiritual enfoldment. In 
 study, train the mind to become active and retentive; 
 that will produce brilliancy of mind and fluency of lan- 
 guage. It is the mind that makes the man. The mind 
 shines forth from those little orbs, the eyes; they ex- 
 press to you the purity and strength of intellect which 
 lies encased in their background. 
 
 The mind is innate. It is subservient to the divine 
 intellect. Therefore let us strive to cultivate our men- 
 tal faculties in obedience to His divine will. — Written 
 by the Spirit of Plato of Old. 
 
 118 
 
CULTURE OF THE BRAIN AND TONGUE. 
 
 The human brain is that portion of the body by 
 which all intelligence reaches the seat of consciousness. 
 It has a nerve connection with every other part of the 
 body and is the fountain head of the entire nervous 
 system. The brain is developed in sections and each 
 section has its particular functionary object to perform. 
 For instance, one section looks after the matter of food, 
 another the physical energy, another the sounds, and 
 so on, and each is susceptible of development distinctly 
 from the others, and for the best results the physical 
 system should be kept in as nearly perfect condition as 
 possible for some portion of the brain will be affected 
 to its detriment upon any inactivity of the body. So it 
 will be seen that the body plays a very important part 
 in its effect upon the brain. So first in cultivating the 
 brain look well to the welfare of the body. And as the 
 body is a very important factor I will first discuss the 
 welfare of the physical system. First, God has ordained 
 that the body shall under normal conditions be of per- 
 fect form and size, and when it is not so formed it is 
 because of some abnormal condition closely related to 
 the person in question. And of these conditions there 
 are a large number and of great variety that will have 
 their influence upon the formation and growth of the 
 body and many are not noticed at all, while others are 
 observed and attract but little attention and Nature's 
 warnings go unheeded and the results of these un- 
 heeded warnings are noticeable in after years. And as 
 a rule to. produce a perfectly formed body a parent 
 should hold a steadfast desire for a perfectly formed 
 offspring and when the child becomes old enough to 
 
 119 
 
think with a fair degree of firmness the same line of 
 desire should be inculcated into the child's mind. And 
 with this desire held to steadfastly while the body is 
 maturing the body will mature in accordance with this 
 predominating desire. 
 
 And now I will consider in the question of brain 
 culture that you hold in mind the brain that belongs 
 with the well-formed and healthy body for this is the 
 body as God has intended all should possess. And that 
 all are not such is because someone has transgressed 
 some one or more of God's all-wise laws. And now we 
 will consider that we have the brain to cultivate that is 
 a portion of this normal physical structure. In the 
 culture or development of the brain the same principle 
 holds true as with the body, that of a steadfast desire. 
 Should this desire be for the development of the animal 
 portion of the brain such a development will follow, 
 and should the desire be for the higher form of the 
 spiritual portion then spiritual advancement may be 
 expected as the result. And for the advancement for 
 the intellectual faculties hold your desire in that direc- 
 tion, but it is very desirable that all divisions of the 
 brain should be developed proportionately, with the 
 spiritual division somewhat in the lead. Whenever the 
 intellectual portion is in the lead or the predominating 
 section it requires more of the body's vitality to support 
 this portion of the brain than either of the other divi- 
 sions. So should this condition arise my advice is to 
 such a person, look well to the cultivation of the animal 
 division and thus be able to create more of the vital 
 force to supply the increased demand upon it. 
 
 The body should have proper nourishment; not a 
 large quantity at a time, but good, fresh, wholesome 
 
 120 
 
food in small quantities at frequent intervals and never 
 eat to excess or enough to cause the least discomfort. 
 The food one eats- determines to considerable extent the 
 line of thought to which one's mind will be most read- 
 ily attracted. For instance, the flesh of animals will 
 influence the thoughts toward the animal portion of 
 the brain while cereal and vegetable foods are more for 
 the upbuilding of the body. The various fruits and 
 nuts eaten in their natural state are best for the intel- 
 lectual portion of the brain and the spiritual portion is 
 so closely related with the intellectual that the same 
 foods are desirable, but when the mind is occupied with 
 spiritual thoughts the least food is required and the 
 most food is required to support the body when the ani- 
 mal portion of the brain predominates. And as you 
 no doubt see that in the matter of brain culture one 
 will accomplish most by first selecting the food that 
 Nature has provided each for its special purpose. And 
 again, the air one breathes also has its influence, for 
 one breathing impure air will contaminate the body to 
 a certain extent, more or less, according to the condition 
 of the air's contamination, and thus consuming the life's 
 forces which will detract from the brain functions and 
 place brain culture to a disadvantage. And again, in 
 brain culture one should, by practice, daily accustom 
 themselves to a more active use of the upper lobes of 
 the lungs as it is this portion of the lungs that support 
 the brain power with its nerve force. So with the 
 proper selection of food, with proper attention to the 
 breath and an earnest, fervent desire to cultivate the 
 brain one will soon observe the results of his or her ef- 
 forts. 
 
 And with regard to "Tongue Culture." The tongue 
 
 121 
 
as now considered is for the purpose of making known 
 to others the results of our mental activities and in most 
 instances should be at rest until the mind has arrived 
 at a conclusion upon a given subject. But humanity 
 in general has acquired the habit of talking too much 
 in advance of the mental conclusions, consequently quite 
 apt to advance ideas and a little later reverse what had 
 been previously said, and as a result a confusion of ideas 
 and much misunderstanding and discord is the result, 
 and for best results harmony must prevail. So as a 
 rule advice to most mortals should be to think more 
 considerately and talk less until definite conclusions are 
 arrived at. And again, the tongue should be cultured 
 to express only such thoughts as will be comprehended 
 by those who are the receivers of the thoughts sent out 
 by the tongue, for otherwise misconceptions arise and 
 discord follows. Whenever the tongue cannot be used 
 to promote harmony it is best that it remain idle, or 
 at rest, for discords or inharmony are always detri- 
 mental to all concerned and should be avoided at all 
 times. — Written by the Spirit of Socrates of Old. 
 
 EASTEB. 
 
 To My Dear Earth Friends : 
 
 As the date of this article falls between Good Fri- 
 day and Easter I will express my views of the value of 
 observing these holy thought days. 
 
 When we consider Good Friday as the day that all 
 Christians in the land observe in commemoration of 
 that greatest of all demonstrators to humanity that 
 with the soul development one is well-armed against 
 
 122 
 
the evil desires and actions of those whose minds have 
 not yet found the fruits of G-od's higher teachings. And 
 living in full confidence that our Heavenly Father pro- 
 vides for His children under all conditions, particularly 
 at the time of "so-called death." I use the word "par- 
 ticularly" in this instance as God's care was so beauti- 
 fully exemplified on Good Friday at the crucifixion of 
 our Great Teacher, who bore His suffering of the mortal 
 body with such true Christian fortitude, as a lasting 
 example before humanity that God is ever ready and 
 willing to assist His children. And when the mortal 
 form of our Christ had become lifeless upon the cross 
 Grod and the angels were still in guardianship over the 
 immortal Saviour and their influence was sufficient that 
 Christ aroused from His season of spiritual sleep 
 on the third day and He is said to have arisen from the 
 dead and made His appearance in a spiritual body to 
 His friends in the mortal part of life. And now in 
 commemoration of that eventful day mortals are pleased 
 to know it as Easter Day. And as each year passes and 
 is gone I am pleased to see that thinking mortals who 
 are spiritual minded observe this day with noble 
 thoughts of Him who passed to the spirit world, that 
 other mortals might (if they will) follow His example 
 and teachings and thereby enter the heavenly realms of 
 bliss, usefulness and happiness. — Written by the Spirit 
 of Leo, the former Pope of the Holy Catholic Church. 
 
 123 
 
RELIGION. 
 
 In offering you this article I am asked to select a 
 subject and will take "Religion" as our topic. 
 
 From the earliest history of the human race and 
 with all the various stages of mental development some 
 conception of God has existed, and there always has 
 been (and upon the earth plane there probably always 
 will be) a confusion of beliefs with regard to what is, 
 where is and who is God, each according to his or her 
 own belief have satisfied their own mind with regard to 
 their own investigations, while another will entertain 
 other ideas even though they conflict. Each claims to 
 have the truth and are willing to live and die in that 
 faith. If these various minds were possessed with ex- 
 actly the same degree of knowledge their beliefs would 
 not be so dissimilar, but as one advances in their own 
 individual spirituality he or she obtains spiritual 
 knowledge which is eternal. And religion is but a word 
 to denote one's understanding of who, what and where 
 God is and a knowledge of the relationship existing be- 
 tween mortals and their Ruler and Creator. So one's 
 religion is determined by the amount of spiritual knowl- 
 edge one has attained to. 
 
 Yours for Spiritual Attainment, 
 
 MOHAMMED THE PROPHET. 
 
 THE USEFULNESS OF MAN. 
 
 In writing for you this, my first time, I would like 
 to preface my remarks by stating that I feel very grate- 
 ful for this opportunity as I have been desiring to write 
 
 124 
 
for some medium for many years and this is my first 
 privilege to do so, and I will take for our subject one 
 that was close to my heart while on the earth plane. It 
 is "The Usefulness of Man." 
 
 Man as he is developed at this time is far superior 
 in some respects and just as far inferior in other re- 
 spects as compared with man at the time I was consid- 
 ered a man in human form, which was many centuries 
 ago, or prior to the beginning of the Christian era. 
 Man is ever changing when considered as an individual, 
 as well as when considered from a general standpoint, 
 or as a whole. Man has existed from time immemorial 
 in some form or another and is undergoing a series of 
 changes known as evolution. These changes in some re- 
 spects may seem detrimental and in other respects ben- 
 eficial, but it was truly said that "God moves in myste- 
 rious ways His wonders to perform," and this applies to 
 man as well as to many other matters pertaining to our 
 universe. With the usual time that elapses in one's 
 earth lifetime this change is scarce noticeable, but as 
 each generation comes and goes, from material view it 
 can be observed that changes occur in the family char- 
 acteristics. True, many traits of character follow from 
 one generation to another, but still the changes are go- 
 ing on gradually, slowly and surely, and always for the 
 betterment of mankind. Perhaps this statement may 
 not seem correct from the mortal view of the matter, 
 but I think is true from the sight of God. God has His 
 ideal standard for man and so do mortals, but the two 
 ideals are not always the same. So from the higher 
 standard these changes always lead upward towards the 
 higher standard and whenever mankind forms the Godly 
 standard for man then and not until then will these 
 
 125 
 
changes appear to man as they really are (that is), ever 
 leading the way to a higher life. You may have in your 
 mind a person whose life may for a time appear to be 
 degenerating, but that degeneration is only temporary 
 in the sight of G-od. 
 
 One of Your Ancient Spirit Writers, 
 
 ANGEiLO BY NAME. 
 
 AS A MAN THINKETH SO IS HE. 
 
 In writing for you at this, my first time, it may be 
 of interest to you to know something of the writer. My 
 earth life was spent in the southern portion of Egypt 
 about 300 years before Christ, and my vocation was 
 that of a mechanic, but devoting much of my attention 
 to spiritual subjects and at this time I will take for our 
 subject "The Egyptian Race From a Spiritual Point of 
 View/' The Egyptians of ancient ages were well de- 
 veloped in their spiritual minds, much more so than at 
 the present time, but as far as the mental mind is con- 
 cerned they would not be considered the equal of an' 
 average person at the present time, but when we con- 
 template upon their spiritual nature we find them far 
 superior to the most of the race of later centuries, for 
 as the world has advanced with time civilization to a 
 large extent has been substituted for spiritual education. 
 The first is conducive to a higher form of life from a 
 material point, but it is done to the sacrifice of the soul 
 nature, and as happiness is or should be the chief object 
 of earth life so should the welfare of the soul be the 
 chief object in the preparation for the spiritual or future 
 life — after "so-called death." 
 
 126 
 
So "as a man thinketh so is he." To illustrate: 
 The person whose thoughts are chiefly upon material 
 things will be a material man in his nature and he who 
 devotes his mental work to spiritual things will culti- 
 vate his Godly nature and will be more inclined to do 
 God's will. So it will be seen that as one directs his or 
 her thoughts so will that person become. 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 MORSE THE GREAT. 
 
 SPIRIT LIFE. 
 
 I will give you a brief, yes, I will say, very brief, 
 account of spirit life. 
 
 In spirit life we who are now upon that plane and 
 have been for several centuries, our experiences have to 
 quite an extent led our minds away from the earth 
 plane, or rather from the lines of thought usually fol- 
 lowed by mortals. 
 
 As one ascends from the mortal to the spiritual 
 plane of life there is but slight change of thought at 
 first, or, perhaps, for a few weeks, months or years, as 
 the individual case may be, owing to the variations in 
 the individual mortal minds, some quite spiritual- 
 minded and others otherwise, but as the spirit gains its 
 experiences on this side of life he or she will naturally 
 lose interest in the mortal life and as this change of 
 mind takes place the spirit's aspirations soar to more 
 and more Godly lines of thought and as we gather 
 around you mortals it is for the purpose of uplifting 
 you spiritually. Although we consider it well and 
 proper for us to assist you in your mortal undertakings, 
 
 127 
 
we fully realize that you have your mortal life to live 
 and it is for your welfare that you live a successful life, 
 and by your gradually learning to rely less upon your 
 mortal ability and more upon your spiritual strength 
 you will soon understand that your greatest strength lies 
 in the higher forces that surround you and are ever 
 ready and willing to assist you in all your noble under- 
 takings. So you should learn to rely upon the divine 
 spirit to guide and aid you. I would not ask you to 
 cast aside your own individuality, but exercise your own 
 mental powers to the fullest extent, but work in har- 
 mony with the will of God and all will end well. And 
 may you continue in your search for the divine truth as 
 it is offered to you, is the wish of your brother in spirit. 
 ELIJAH THE PROFIT. 
 
 OBEDIENCE TO THE HIGHER FORCES. 
 
 At this time I will explain the matter of obedience 
 to the divine will of the higher forces. 
 
 Whenever mortals are at discord with the higher 
 forces little or no progress will be made in spiritual de- 
 velopment, consequently such a mortal will be con- 
 trolled principally from the physical plane with mate- 
 rial objects in view to be accomplished, and often ac- 
 quire material wealth in abundance and usually form 
 the practice of worshiping material things of commer- 
 cial value and how often, when such a one has met with 
 what mortals call misfortune, this person is discouraged 
 with his or her efforts and sometimes to such an extent 
 that from their own material standpoint feel justified 
 in taking their own life, which is very hazardous to the 
 
 128 
 
welfare of their soul nature. When, should this same 
 person have had a better understanding of God's laws 
 pertaining to the life immortal, he or she would have 
 understood that the soul would have been by 
 far in better condition to have lived the natural 
 mortal life, but when a mortal confines its mind 
 exclusively to mortal lines of thought it cannot be ex- 
 pected to make any advance spiritually. So you will 
 see, I think, that while you are developing your astral 
 nature, while yet in the mortal body, you are laying up 
 for yourselves treasures in heaven that will prove to be 
 everlasting and your reward will be great. So be not 
 weary in well doing for all will end well and be pleasing 
 to our Heavenly Father. 
 
 Your Ancient Writer, 
 
 AMOND. 
 
 POWERS OF INVESTIGATION. 
 
 Humanity has through all the past ages been 
 searching for an understanding of the philosophy of 
 life, both the mortal and the immortal. And as will 
 be seen by a casual observation that a very great variety 
 of conclusions have been arrived at and many of those 
 conclusions are decidedly conflicting with each other. 
 Some of the conclusions arrived at are that death ends 
 all, while others are directly the opposite. Of course 
 both cannot be the truth. Some other investigators 
 conclude that there are many phases in this philosophy 
 that are past mortal understanding, which, I think, is 
 true, but the amount of knowledge that is past mortal 
 understanding depends upon the mental capacity- of the 
 
 129 
 
investigator. What one comprehends and understands 
 another cannot. But the All- Wise One has so ordered 
 that when an investigator has reached the limit of his 
 or her mental capacity that mental capacity is suscepti- 
 ble to mental expansion and thus be able to investi- 
 gate the subject with greater powers of comprehension 
 and will become the better enabled to arrive more nearly 
 to the eternal truth. 
 
 Yours for a More Advanced Understanding, 
 SOCRATES IN SPIRIT. 
 
 A SAVIOUR. 
 
 As I was known to a portion of mankind as their 
 Saviour perhaps it may be beneficial if I explain what 
 God considers a Saviour. 
 
 A Saviour is one who shows to mortals the path 
 that leads to the Heavenly Kingdom, and that path is 
 found by a constant desire to follow God's plans along 
 the line of eternal truth. Many may be lead astray in 
 various ways, but when one is on the correct path it is 
 more accurately followed than any other path. So to 
 be a Saviour is to assist" others in finding the eternal 
 path, and when once found the angel world will use 
 their powers that God has given them to show the way 
 to eternal bliss and usefulness. So do not think that 
 one to be a Saviour must suffer upon a cross, for all 
 who assist a straggler from truth in finding the true 
 lines to follow he or she is a Saviour. 
 
 Your Eternal Spirit Friend, 
 CONFUCIUS THE SAVIOUR OF MANY PEOPLE. 
 
 130 
 
SAINT CECELIA'S ACCOUNT OF HERSELF. 
 
 Question by the Medium — Keferring to Page 44, 
 Vol. 4 of Chambers' Enclyclopedia, will you read and 
 state which Saint Cecial yon were, of which the follow- 
 ing is a copy ? 
 
 "Saint Cecelia, the Patroness of Music, is said to have 
 suffered martyrdom in 230 A. D. Her heathen parents, as 
 we are told, belonged to a noble Roman family and be- 
 trothed their daughter, who had been converted to Chris- 
 tianity, to a heathen youth named Valerian. This youth 
 and his brother, Tiberous, became Christian converts and 
 suffered martyrdom. Cecelia, when commanded to sacri- 
 fice to idols, firmly refused and was condemned to death. 
 Her persecutors, it is said, first threw her into a boiling 
 bath, but on the following day found her unhurt. The ex- 
 ecutioner next attempted to cut off her head but found it 
 impossible. Three days later she died — rather a lame con- 
 clusion to such miraculous inferences. 
 
 "As early as the fifth century there is mention of a 
 church dedicated to her in Rome. In 821, by order of Pope 
 Paschal, her bones were deposited there. Saint Cecelia is 
 regarded as the inventor of the organ and in the Roman 
 Catholic church her festival day, November 22, is cele- 
 brated with splendid music. 
 
 "Chauncer, Dryden and Pope have celebrated Saint Ce- 
 celia and the painters, Raphael, Domenischno, Dolce and 
 others have represented her in fine pictures. 
 
 "Another Saint Cecelia was born in Africa and suffered 
 martyrdom by starvation under Diocletian. 
 
 "The Roman Catholic church celebrates her festival 
 day the 11th of February." 
 
 Yes, the first one mentioned. 
 
 Question by the Medium — Will yon state to us 
 
 something of your life and spiritual career ? 
 
 It is with pleasure that I comply with your wish. 
 This mortal record is not quite correct, the date of my 
 passing from the mortal body I think is correct, but my 
 trial and conviction is not stated, but nevertheless it is 
 true that I was tried and convicted as a witch, as such 
 
 131 
 
mortals were then called, but in later years called me- 
 diums. We, or rather I, was a medium through whom 
 demonstrations were performed by the higher forces, 
 but at that time little did I understand how these mar- 
 velous demonstrations were produced and it is not 
 strange that mortals considered my actions dangerous 
 to the welfare of mortals. Yes, I was tried before the 
 highest mortal judges of that time and proven to be a 
 witch and the death sentence placed upon me, which 
 meant that my head should be severed from my body 
 and was considered that I was annihilated and could 
 do no more possible harm, as such things were consid- 
 ered at that time, but at that time certain other demon- 
 strations were performed by others and were considered 
 good and sacred and worthy to be considered holy, such 
 as the handwriting on the wall and voices from heaven 
 were heard. But mine were physical demonstrations 
 and were considered bad and very harmful, consequently 
 my physical body was deprived of its life, or spirit, and 
 was consigned to the earth, but the soul spirit that once 
 occupied it still lives and is very pleased to notice that a 
 portion of humanity has become more intelligent upon 
 such subjects, until now the most severe punishment 
 that is dealt out to such mediums is scorn from people 
 who have not yet investigated the subject of rpirit re- 
 turn and spirit communications and spirit manifesta- 
 tions of various kinds. 
 
 I thank you for attracting me and hope to write for 
 you again in the near future. 
 
 Your Spirit Servant, 
 
 SAINT CECELIA. 
 
 132 
 
THE DOVE AND THE CEOSS. 
 
 In writing for you at this, my first, time, it may 
 interest yon to know something of the writer. My life 
 on the earth plane ceased to exist three or f onr centuries 
 ago (I cannot be more definite) and the greater por- 
 tion was devoted to the sick as a sister of charity nurse. 
 So, of course, my life outside of my work was not an 
 eventful one, although I considered that I was working 
 for our Heavenly Father in assisting others who could 
 not well assist themselves. And now that I have been 
 long in spirit I find myself still assisting those who are 
 in need of any assistance that I am able to give. 
 
 And now as you no doubt have seen the spiritual 
 emblem of the Dove of Peace carrying the Cross of the 
 Crucifix, I consider it my duty as well as pleasure to 
 explain that beautiful emblem. The white dove is se- 
 lected from all the other birds because the dove is the 
 most peaceful of all creatures. Always at peace even 
 though other birds of prey may seek its life that its 
 flesh may be devoured and still the dove's peace remains 
 tranquil. No matter how much the dove is transgressed 
 upon its loving peace is still in evidence, and a white 
 dove is chosen on account of white signifying purity, 
 originating from the fact that as souls while dwelling 
 in the mortal body are clothed in garments of various 
 colors, and as those souls ascend to the more advanced 
 spheres in the world of spirit they are always clothed in 
 white garments and never yet has white been contam- 
 inated with the baser forms of thought and magnetism. 
 
 And the cross is taken in connection with the white 
 dove on account of its being the form or frame upon 
 which Jesus' soul took its final departure from the mor- 
 
 133 
 
tal body while His mortal self maintained that dove- 
 like peace and love, showing to humanity that the Christ 
 nature within a mortal, when sufficiently developed, is 
 equal to any and all occasions. And this is an emblem 
 entirely suited to all who believe in our Heavenly 
 Father and His Son who gave His life that others may 
 know that His example is worthy of followers who wish 
 to enter the haven of eternal bliss. 
 
 SISTER CECELIA. 
 
 EARTHLY PEOPLE OF ANCIENT PERIODS. 
 
 In writing this article for you it may be desirable 
 for me to make a few statements regarding myself be- 
 fore approaching our subject proper. 
 
 I will say that my earth life was spent many cen- 
 turies before Christ entered spirit life. As we in spirit 
 do not consider time except as we return to the earth 
 plane, I cannot be more definite, but to write for you I 
 will take for our topic "Earthly People of Ancient Pe- 
 riods." I will attempt to describe them from a physical 
 point first. At that period in the earth's history people 
 lived much nearer to the plans of nature than at present, 
 and as a result of such living, physically speaking, the 
 people were much more muscular and of greater stature 
 than at the present time and I may say, to the credit 
 of my ancient brethren, that at that time few if any ill- 
 formed children were born and nearly all births lived to 
 mature years, and at that time maturity meant cen- 
 turies instead of scores of years. Then the physical 
 bodies were not subjected to such extreme labor endur- 
 ances. True, the mental strain was also less than now, 
 
 134 
 
which also would preserve the body. Still, under a test 
 of endurance the ancients were far superior to the more 
 modern races. At that time the female portion of our 
 race were considered and were slaves. 
 
 Now that I have given you a brief idea of the phys- 
 ical ancient, we will consider from the mental or intel- 
 lectual ability. 
 
 In the ancient periods of the world's history your 
 present system of educating the young by means of 
 graded schools and colleges, to say nothing of specialty 
 schools, as law, medical and theological institutions, 
 were entirely unknown or thought of. So it will be 
 seen that what is now known as an education was un- 
 known at that period. What learning was obtained then 
 was done chiefly by observation or imitation, conse- 
 quently quite limited as compared with more modern 
 ages. 
 
 But when we come to acquaint ourselves with the 
 ancients from the spiritual 'point, I think, as a whole, 
 we were far superior to the present average spiritual 
 development. Of course all ancients were not highly 
 developed, neither are the modern races, but as a whole 
 the ancients were far the superior. So when we come 
 to consider the changes in developments as the ages 
 have passed and gone great changes have taken place 
 and it seems that as gradual as these changes have been 
 two points rise into prominence. First, the minds have, 
 as the world advances in age, become more and more in- 
 clined towards the material life and wordly happiness, 
 and at the same time people's minds and thoughts drift 
 away from the spiritual portion of their existence, con- 
 sequently eventually loose interest in what modern times 
 call immortality. This, I think, is due to the teachings 
 
 135 
 
of theology, where theories and faith are substituted for 
 knowledge or correct understanding of the ancients who 
 devoted their attention to the welfare of their future or 
 spiritual life. Nearly all accomplished their object, 
 that is of gaining a good understanding in regard to 
 the spiritual life while yet living in their earthly abodes. 
 And when we consider lifers problem as a whole, we find 
 that the earth life continues but comparatively a few 
 years while the spiritual life continues without end. 
 So it will be plainly seen that the ancients were superior 
 from the spiritual standpoint, but I am pleased to ob- 
 serve that of recent years more attention is directed to 
 thoughts concerning God's laws as applied to life after 
 the "so-called death." 
 
 With bright hopes of your success in gaining a cor- 
 rect understanding of your future existence, I will sign 
 myself as 
 
 Your Spiritual Well-Wisher, 
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 
 
 DOES DEATH END ALL? 
 
 In discussing this all-important subject it is of 
 greater importance to those who are yet on the earth 
 plane of existence in human form than to those who 
 like myself have passed through the change mortals 
 call death. And it is at this stage of existence that this 
 subject is debatable. There once was a day or year 
 when every intelligent and thoughtful boy and girl was 
 debating the question of whether or not he or she would 
 ever become a man or a woman, but as God's process of 
 evolution was constantly at work and almost uncon- 
 
 136 
 
sciously the stage of manhood and womanhood waa 
 reached and whether or not those children thought out 
 the correct line of reasoning, it made but little differ- 
 ence for God's universal plans were not disturbed. And 
 now, when children have arrived at advanced years, 
 their minds are still looking into their future for sub- 
 jects to investigate. And all thinking people realize 
 that their earthly habitation is drawing to a close, and 
 it is but natural that the mind should be employed in 
 investigating with regard to "so-called death/* One 
 usually has a strong desire to understand whether death 
 ends all or is there a future life beyond the grave. This, 
 I think, is a matter that perhaps cannot be proven with 
 material evidence. One may state his or her belief one 
 way or the other, but that is not proof. When one ar- 
 rives at a certain stage of spiritual development and at- 
 tempts to prove the truth with spiritual evidence to 
 those mortals who will accept this kind of evidence, the 
 proof is undeniable that death ends only the physical 
 body and that the spiritual body still lives and moves 
 and enjoys the intelligence it had acquired while in the 
 mortal body. But so long as one does not accept spirit- 
 ual evidence as proof, I think, just so long will the in- 
 dividual be in doubt as to whether or not "death ends 
 all." 
 
 The greatest of all Spiritual Teachers said: 
 "Blessed are those who believe and have not yet seen.'" 
 That saying is as true today as it was when the Nazarene 
 uttered those words, so I w r ould offer as a suggestion to 
 all who are still in doubt : Search for spiritual evidence 
 and not for theoretical proof. Christ also said : "Search 
 and ye shall find," and this also is as true as when those 
 words were first spoken. 
 
 137 
 
These few words are written with the hope that 
 some perplexed mind will seek and find the great truth 
 that God is offering to all. — Written by the Spirit of 
 Henry Ward Beecher. 
 
 MORMONISM COMPARED. 
 
 Modern and ancient religions as observed by a 
 spirit whose mind was occupied in earth life, chiefly for 
 the welfare of mortals, both from a spiritual and ma- 
 terial standpoint. 
 
 While I was spending my life's forces in the 
 church known as the Morman church by a large portion 
 of humanity, I had in view the welfare of its followers 
 from the standpoint of both the spiritual and material 
 as well, for while one is living their material life ma- 
 terial environments must be encountered. And as the 
 mortal body subsists upon material food and raiment 
 then material preparation must be considered. And as 
 our arrangements were so ordered that all of its follow- 
 ers were provided for both materially and spiritually, 
 believing that at the mortal stage of human advance- 
 ment both are necessary for the welfare of each other. 
 And now that I have passed to the spirit life exclusively 
 the more important such a plan appears to be. True, 
 in most other religions each mortal follower uses his or 
 her own individual energies and mentality to provide 
 themselves with their necessary supplies, and as a gen- 
 eral rule are successful in their efforts, but not quite al- 
 ways so. But my objections to their plan is that it too 
 often generates strife through competition, and strife 
 leads to enmity, hatred and malice and often to crimes 
 
 138 
 
of various kinds. While, should the church or religion 
 provide a plan whereby this strife is obviated, a more 
 harmonious feeling would exist among the mortals con- 
 cerned, thus producing a more Godly condition for har- 
 monious thoughts are directed more to the welfare of 
 their spiritual enfoldment than which now predom- 
 inates among those whose minds are, so to speak, forced 
 to use their entire energies to material affairs to the 
 detriment of their eternal nature, which should be nour- 
 ished that their souls may enjoy to a higher degree the 
 life that is to follow their present or mortal life, for I 
 believed then, and still am firmly convinced, that some 
 form of religion should be advanced whereby the minds 
 of its followers can be the more firmly applied to the 
 thoughts pertaining to the mortal's future life that they 
 may the more intelligently comprehend its meanings. 
 And to make this change the mortal mind should not 
 be required to be so actively engaged in the affairs per- 
 taining to the material life and by so doing would give 
 an advanced advantage for silent meditation and devo- 
 tion to G-od and thereby cultivate one's spiritual nature. 
 — Written by the Departed Spirit of Brigham Young. 
 
 SPIKITTTAL WORK. 
 
 To Mr. Bull: 
 
 As I am informed that you intend to publish a 
 book largely composed of communications from the 
 spirit side of life for the purpose of conveying spiritual 
 knowledge to the earth plane, I am pleased to contribute 
 my share in spreading such knowledge for the greater 
 portion of my earth life was spent in work of this char- 
 
 139 
 
acter, and in such work I based my efforts upon the fact 
 that the "Holy Bible" was filled with knowledge per- 
 taining to the subject of spirit return and many are the 
 passages that should lead the minds of mortals in the 
 path of perfect vision in this matter, but for one reason 
 or another it is only the minority of the Bible's readers 
 that comprehend the truths therein contained from a 
 spiritual standpoint. But I think the world is improv- 
 ing fast with regard to a spiritual understanding of 
 matters pertaining to the life immortal. And as I spent 
 a large portion of my earth life in what I thought at 
 the time was for the welfare of the souls of humanity. 
 I can now look down upon my past life and see what I 
 could have done to interest still another class of mortals 
 for there are a large class of mortals who have a desire 
 to look into this subject from a philosophical stand- 
 point and as a rule this class of profound thinkers sel- 
 dom have an opportunity to listen to or read about the 
 subject of the future life from the standpoint of a phil- 
 osopher, and to a large extent this book will be appreci- 
 ated on account of its many articles written by the an- 
 cient philosophers. To this class of mortals philosophy 
 will appeal to their reasoning mind even more strongly 
 than the Bible will. So what line of thought will ap- 
 peal to one the more strongly will not interest all, but 
 others can be reached by another line of thought. My 
 past life's work appealed to those who most firmly be- 
 lieved the "Holy Bible." That divine book was written 
 under the influence of the higher forces in a similar 
 way that divine writings are passed to the mortal world 
 in this the twentieth century (that is) by the use of 
 some medium in the various ways of communicating 
 with the mortal world. And as all true knowledge em- 
 
 140 
 
anates from the spirit world and is transmitted to mor- 
 tals, that law of God has not changed since all former 
 knowledge commenced to be recognized on the earth 
 plane in the ancient periods of the earth's existence. 
 But in the last half century mortals have come to recog- 
 nize the fact of spirit return more intelligently than 
 ever before on account of so many of the world's recog- 
 nized scientists having directed their attention to what 
 they term "unaccountable phenomena." True, it is much 
 that is unaccountable from the mortal or mental way of 
 reasoning, and as they are yet somewhat aloof to ac- 
 knowledge spirit return publicly the question in the 
 public mind is still largely a debatable one for all per- 
 sons are not so constituted as to investigate and decide 
 so profound a question within themselves. Still, event- 
 ually each and every mortal will be called upon to do 
 so for as the Good Book says every man must work out 
 his own salvation. And I will say that each will be re- 
 warded for his or her own efforts. And to all who will 
 can find abundant authority in the Christian's Bible as 
 proof of spirit return and spirit manifestation to mor- 
 tals. I will call your attention to a very few of the 
 many passages that it seems strange are overlooked by 
 most Bible students. I will first call your attention to 
 those passages referring to spirit writings, for that is 
 what you are now reading : 
 
 II Chronicles xxi-12: "And there came a writing to 
 him from Elijah, saying," etc., etc. 
 
 From Daniel v-5: "In the same hour came forth fingers 
 of a man's hand and wrote over against the candlestick 
 upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace and the 
 king saw the part of the hand that wrote." 
 
 In Deut. v-22 we find the following: "And He (the 
 Lord) wrote them in two tablets of stone and delivered 
 them unto me." 
 
 And in Exodus xxxiv-1 is recorded: "And the Lord 
 
 141 
 
said unto Moses: 'Hew thee two tablets of stone like unto 
 the first and I will write upon these tablets the words that 
 were in the first tablet which thou breakest.' " 
 
 We also find the following records of trumpet com- 
 munications which are in use at the present time by 
 trumpet mediums: 
 
 Exodus xix-19: "When the voice of the trumpet 
 sounded long and waxed louder and louder Moses spake 
 and God answered him by a voice." 
 
 Revelations i-10: "I was in the spirit on the Lord's 
 day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet." 
 
 In regard to a trance we find the following : 
 
 Acts xxii-17: "And it came to pass that when I was 
 to come again to Jerusalem even while I prayed in the 
 temple I was in a deep sleep." 
 
 Daniel viii-18: "Now as He was speaking with me I 
 was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground, but He 
 touched me and set me upright." 
 
 In reference to materialization will quote the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 Ezekiel ii-9: "And when I looked, behold a hand was 
 sent unto me and lo; a roll of a book was therein." 
 
 Genesis xviii-1: "And the Lord appeared unto him in 
 the plains of Mamre and He sat in the tent door in the 
 heat of the day." 
 
 Genesis xxxii-24: "And Jacob was left alone and there 
 wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." 
 
 St. Luke xxiv-15: "And it came to pass that while 
 they commenced together and reasoned, Jesus Himself 
 drew near and wect with them." 
 
 Sixteenth verse: "But their eyes were holden that 
 they should not know Him." 
 
 Twenty-ninth verse: "But they constrained Him say- 
 ing: 'Abide with us for it is towards evening and the day 
 is far spent,' and He went in to tarry with them." 
 
 Thirtieth verse: "And it came to pass as He sat at 
 meat with them He took bread and blessed it and broke 
 and gave it to them and their eyes were opened and they 
 knew Him and He vanished out of their sight." 
 
 And hundreds of other references could be given 
 
 to show that in ages long gone by there were the same 
 
 means of communication between the two planes of life 
 
 142 
 
that are recognized today by nearly all who have given 
 the subject of spirit return an earnest and spiritual in- 
 vestigation. 
 
 And I am sorry to observe that this good and di- 
 vine work is so often hampered in one way and another 
 to retard its progress, which is wrong and should be en- 
 couraged instead of discouraged. The reasons for this 
 are varied but mortals have much to contend with. 
 Often it is done for the purpose of making some person 
 mortal gain. Whenever a legislative body enacts laws 
 imposing a license upon a medium it is done through 
 the greater attraction towards material welfares than 
 spiritual. True, there is occasionally some mortal pos- 
 ing as a medium who receives little or no knowledge to 
 guide the tongue from the spirit side of life, but happily 
 their number is small, and true mediumship is as noble 
 a calling as a mortal can attain to. But as the world 
 advances I look for more enlightenment to follow upon 
 subjects pertaining to immortality. Great strides have 
 been made in the last half century and this divine truth 
 is spreading rapidly among the thinking class of mor- 
 tals. And now that so many scientists in the past few 
 years have devoted their attention to this subject to such 
 an extent that it attracts other minds also and in this 
 way this divine truth will spread and the people will 
 have a more intelligent understanding of immortality. 
 — Written by the Spirit of Rev. Moses Hull 
 
 143 
 
IMMORTALITY. 
 
 While many may or may not be familiar with the 
 phases of immortality as expounded by me on the earth 
 plane those of yon who knew of my teachings will re- 
 member that my views met with very bitter opposition 
 from the ministry and priesthood alike. And as all of 
 ns were then but mortal and quite susceptible to error, 
 those of us who have passed to the higher life now see 
 our errors and make a new review of our opinions then 
 formed. And as we all correct our erroneous conclu- 
 sions we find ourselves not so widely different in our 
 later conclusions regarding immortality or rather our 
 life in spirit, for here we all agree that death does not 
 end all. In fact it only ends the physical body which 
 has fulfilled its mission when it has developed a soul 
 ready for the higher life, much the same as the straw 
 has done when it has served its purpose in the develop- 
 ment of the full and plump kernel of wheat. The wheat 
 is the real object and with man the soul is the real 
 object and both the physical body and the straw soon 
 will return "earth to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes," 
 and the wheat and the soul go on for future usefulness, 
 but as regards myself and the priesthood in this, the 
 spirit life, we vibrate on the same plane and co-mingle 
 our ideas with benefit to both of us and both are pleased 
 to correct our mistaken teachings as best we can. And 
 now let me say that by a continuation of your search 
 for the eternal truth you will establish a higher standard 
 of happiness and usefulness while on earth and your 
 reward will be suitable to your works. 
 
 Your Spiritual Helper, 
 
 ROBERT G. INGERSOLL. 
 
 144 
 
DESIRES. 
 
 Desire is the root thought from which a large part 
 of mortal achievements receive their origin so far as a 
 mortal is concerned. Of course all of mortals 7 achieve- 
 ments and possibilities are stored up in the spirit world 
 for the use of those for whom they are intended, as all 
 things known to mortals originate in the higher planes 
 of life and are all worked out, tested and proved correct 
 before being offered to the earth plane and all these 
 future achievements, whether it be in the way of me- 
 chanical inventions, plans for navigation or land trans- 
 portation, the works of art, literature or music, all have 
 their origin with the higher forces and for a mortal to 
 receive the benefit of those gigantic forces one must first 
 create for themselves a desire for certain accomplish- 
 ments and their desire to quite an extent will attract to 
 the desirous one those higher influences that work for 
 good that these advance thoughts may be offered to hu- 
 manity for their use and benefits. And to the power or 
 intensity of that desire the successful influences will be 
 attracted in proportion to the earnestness of that desire, 
 and this is true whether this desire be for good or for 
 evil purposes. Thus the importance of holding desires 
 for good and noble purposes. Whenever one expresses 
 a desire, even though it be only with thoughts, the 
 higher forces observe that thought desire and respond to 
 the call even when the mortal is unconscious of the 
 force that the desire has attracted to it. And should 
 that desire be for an ungodly purpose there are spirits 
 who will respond to the opportunity just as readily as 
 those who are so deeply interested in the carrying on of 
 God's divine work. That the souls of humanity may be 
 
 145 
 
developed in a higher, purer, nobler and more Godly di- 
 rection I desire to impress upon you this thought prin- 
 ciple of safeguarding your desires that your desires may 
 be only such as will be uplifting to yourselves and to 
 humanity. And again, desire has its influence upon 
 those with whom you converse and express your desires 
 by assisting in the creating of a similar desire in their 
 mind also. And in this way the effect of your desire 
 has been multiplied and I can but warn you in regard 
 to expressing your desires except that such desires are 
 for the uplifting of all concerned. One should always 
 hold in mind the principle of eternal progression and 
 ever strive to so desire, think, speak and act that your 
 mental energies will assist in this progression. Desire 
 also can and is used both consciously and unconsciously 
 in its influence upon others aside from oneself. For 
 instance, one may create a desire with reference to an- 
 other and the second person receive the influence de- 
 rived from that desire. And in this way one can exer- 
 cise a strong influence upon the thoughts, words, actions 
 and deeds of another. So I trust it is apparent to you 
 how important it is to hold desires and thoughts to- 
 wards others that will be recognized by the Euler over 
 all destinies as being for a good and noble purpose. And 
 also remember that the desires of others have their in- 
 fluence upon yourself to just as great an extent as yours 
 do upon others. So I think I have shown you the im- 
 portance of entertaining desires that tend towards the 
 uplifting of the minds of all concerned towards the All- 
 Wise One from whom all blessings come. 
 
 And as G-od in His infinite wisdom sends out His 
 love to His entire creation so may all humanity do like- 
 wise. AMOTD OF OLD. 
 
 146 
 
THE WORLD AS I SEE IT. 
 
 In giving yon this, my first writing in this way, I 
 will take for my subject "The World As It Is, or As I 
 See It. ,J 
 
 The world is a vast affair and should be so consid- 
 ered when we attempt to write about it for a subject. 
 When mortals speak of the world it is generally under- 
 stood that the planet earth is referred to, and conse- 
 quently I will confine my remarks upon the subject in 
 the same way. 
 
 This world is too vast for any human mind to 
 comprehend it all, even though one does not go into any 
 details in any branch of its various phases. Take for 
 our present object lesson and consider the world from 
 a geological standpoint, and consider the many solid 
 formations, many of which man" has as yet not placed 
 any valuation upon, while others the valuation is great 
 and is of great value and use to man and his welfare. 
 To mention all of the various uses that the many varie- 
 ties of stones are used for would require much time to 
 just hint at their uses. Some for building fences for 
 the protection of stock, while another may be worked 
 into fine and elaborate ornaments for decoration pur- 
 poses and thus become a thing of beauty, and thus serv- 
 ing an entirely different purpose, yet both for the use 
 of man or womanhood. And then take the earth, or soil, 
 and think of the different qualities, some rich in nutri- 
 tion to the vegetable kingdom and some perfectly barren 
 and so far as vegetation goes is worthless. And take 
 also the water that composes so large a portion of this 
 planet, and some is so strongly impregnated with salt 
 that it is not well for one to drink it, only in very small 
 
 147 
 
quantities, while other water, usually coming from 
 springs, is very useful for persons suffering with disease 
 on account of its medical properties, and often prolongs 
 life in the mortal form. And water of other ingredients 
 being so well adapted to the normal use of man and 
 beast and enters so largely into the construction of the 
 physical body. Were it not for water nothing in the 
 world would exist, not even the world itself. So with 
 the world, with all of its mineral formations taken in 
 conjunction with the water so abundantly supplied, the 
 vegetable creation is brought forth. And think of the 
 multitudinous varieties in the vegetable kingdom; the 
 forests of all kinds of timber for the use of man and 
 beast, then the various kinds of grass, and each has its 
 use. 
 
 Then comes the fruit-bearing trees — vines of many 
 classes, some of which bring forth fruit, others flowers, 
 others beautiful foliage, etc. And then comes your 
 garden vegetables for your food, also what you know as 
 weeds, which are also useful when you find their proper 
 use, some as a medicine, while others are susceptible of 
 being improved to a higher plane of usefulness through 
 proper cultivation. And now, in conclusion, I will say 
 that with all these useful things as they are, and it 
 seems to me they are all for a high purpose, and the 
 purpose is to produce the conditions which make it pos- 
 sible that the soul of man may be produced, developed 
 and perfected to a greater or less degree that it may be 
 the better prepared to meet its God, from whence it 
 came. 
 
 Your Friend in Spirit, 
 
 REV. J. H. THOMAS. 
 
 148 
 
UNIVEBSAL BKOTHEiKHOOD. 
 
 In giving you this, my second writing, I will take 
 for my subject "Universal Brotherhood." 
 
 When we take the subject of Spiritualism in its 
 true sense it is indeed a broad subject, for it includes 
 all, for all comes from spirit and Spiritualism is the 
 understanding of the laws pertaining to the workings of 
 spirit in its various phases, or the understanding of the 
 harmony of the universe. When harmony does not exist 
 with the individual it is not that the universe is out of 
 true harmony but the discord is occasioned by the indi- 
 vidual him or herself. So whenever one feels at discord 
 with their surroundings you should always look first to 
 yourself for the cause,, and as soon as you become in 
 tune with the natural or spiritual laws all will be well. 
 So should all humanity become in tune with this uni- 
 versal spirit. You would then have a universal Brother- 
 hood Humanity, but just so long as a large portion of 
 humanity is at discord with the natural laws of God, 
 just so long will those persons be in discord with their 
 surroundings, be they what they may. This may not 
 be quite what you may call Spiritualism, but we who 
 have studied Spiritualism from the higher standpoint 
 consider that any subject pertaining to the laws of God 
 is Spiritualism. 
 
 And now as I took for my subject "Universal 
 Brotherhood" I would like to bring out a point or two 
 from your standpoint. Many mortals consider brother- 
 hood as signifying that one belongs to some lodge where 
 one is called "Brother," or perhaps, in some unions, 
 where the members are known as "Brother," but I call 
 your attention to the fact that such associations are 
 
 149 
 
usually good in the place for which they are intended. 
 There is a Brotherhood of which God Himself holds 
 the high office of Ruler and all humanity are as mem- 
 bers unto Him, and all members of this Universal 
 Brotherhood are expected to conform to the laws of this 
 Almighty Ruler, but is unlike the lodges I referred to, 
 for they will expel an unruly member and cast him out, 
 but God does not. But on the contrary He holds them 
 accountable and in various ways He gives him or her 
 their instructions as to the laws of this Universal 
 Brotherhood that they may overcome their faults and 
 attain to a higher life which will eventually follow, 
 where all may see their errors and praise God for His 
 patience with us, though often, yes, very often, these 
 instructions go unheeded, but sooner or later they will 
 be kindly and intelligently received and then the person 
 will recognize this fact, that all ends well with God. 
 Yours for Universal Brotherhood, 
 
 REV. J. H. THOMAS. 
 
 MORTAL LIFE AS SEEN FROM SPIRIT. 
 
 As we who are on the spirit side of life look back 
 to the past life and observe our mortal friends doing 
 about the same as we ourselves did, it is curious to 
 observe the mortals making the same mistakes we once 
 made ourselves. Yet, while in earth life, we thought 
 our actions well deserved respect, as you no doubt think 
 at the present time of your recent acts and deeds. Take, 
 for instance, the average mortal's ideas and convictions 
 upon the subject of future life after the change called 
 "death." Think of all the various religions in their 
 
 150 
 
various phases, and the followers of each and all are 
 usually earnest and sincere in his or her belief and oft- 
 times in almost direct conflict with all other religions, 
 and all from want of a more extended knowledge think 
 and believe that his or her religion is the only correct 
 one. But as one widens their knowledge upon a given 
 subject the more comprehensive their mind becomes and 
 it naturally follows that the more liberal that person 
 becomes with regard to other people's views upon the 
 subject under consideration. And when one arrives at 
 the sphere of comprehension, or third sphere, in spirit 
 life, then, for the first time, can one look back over their 
 past life and see it as God sees it. And at this stage of 
 existence one begins to comprehend in the fullness of 
 that word what vast opportunities have been cast down 
 for want of a fuller understanding of God and His true 
 principles. And again, when we as spirits look back 
 and observe man as a mortal we cannot avoid noticing 
 his weakness in depending almost entirely upon his own 
 mentality for his success in life. When, should man 
 know more of God's universal laws, he would observe 
 more of his errors and by keeping his actions and deeds 
 more in accord with God his life would be much more 
 satisfactory to himself and God as well. But man in 
 his vain glory in himself passes on, thinking he is IT 
 (to use such a phrase) and seems to be very well satis- 
 fied with himself. But the Great Teacher said that "Ye 
 must become as a child before you can enter into the 
 fullness of life and enter into the kingdom of bliss." 
 But such men pass on and pass through their various 
 experiences in earth life and gradually get the rough 
 edges smoothed down so that eventually they do not rely 
 so much on their mortal ability and then they usually 
 
 151 
 
see the importance of recognizing God and His all-wise 
 power. And the more they realize God and His laws 
 the more freely they acknowledge His supremacy over 
 their own mortal self and soon observe that more true 
 happiness and true prosperity, and true success, and 
 true goodness (as judged by the All- Wise One) they 
 are permitted to enjoy. And then again, at this stage 
 of one's progression, God being recognized, His lessons 
 are the more readily observed and comprehended, conse- 
 quently his true progress is the more satisfactory to all 
 concerned. 
 
 And to still further illustrate this matter of what 
 I will call "conceit," there are persons who pass to the 
 spiritual existence and have still very little knowledge 
 of God and His influence over mortals, but the mortal 
 life has drawn to a close and as the spirit has returned 
 to God, who gave it, these mortal errors are easily ob- 
 served and the process of drawing new conclusions upon 
 old subjects will usually be quite rapid and spiritual 
 progression is more satisfactory to both God and the 
 mortal. — Written by the Spirit of Rev. J. H. Thomas. 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 In responding to Albert's request to write upon a 
 subject that he selected, it may be well for me to state 
 that the subject of "Marriage" is a very familiar one to 
 me, for while in earth life I performed a very large 
 number of marriages and in the years that followed I 
 still retained the acquaintance of many of those couples, 
 so I think that my observations may be of value now in 
 writing upon the subject of "Marriage." 
 
 152 
 
Marriage is a very exalted subject, for upon mar- 
 riage and its relations so much depend. First, the so- 
 cial happiness that is or should be produced by the 
 union of man and woman. In some instances marriage 
 is not productive of happiness, from various causes, but 
 in most cases marriage does produce a twofold purpose, 
 that of producing domestic happiness, which is the 
 foundation for the heart of earthly happiness in all the 
 varied forms. But without domestic happiness, I think 
 very little happiness will follow. So to insure true hap- 
 piness the man and woman should so understand each 
 other that the utmost confidence is reposed in each 
 other. And when this confidence is imperfect the im- 
 perfections are quite apt to increase unless carefully 
 guarded against, which, in such a case, both should 
 consider that this matter should receive their most care- 
 ful consideration, so that what God has joined together 
 in love may continue through their earth life and then 
 they will naturally attract towards each other in the 
 world of spirit and thus perfect marriage relations will 
 be eternal. And now to consider those marriages which 
 are unfortunate to the extent of being at discord with 
 God's laws. My advice is for them to make their very 
 best efforts to cultivate that true love and respect for 
 each other that God intended should exist between man 
 and wife and in most instances, with their best en- 
 deavors, their object will be accomplished. And as for 
 those who do not succeed in establishing this full confi- 
 dence and affection it is only a question when a separa- 
 tion will be made, which may come while on the mortal 
 plane or not until the spiritual plane is reached. So I 
 hope that I have shown to you the importance of an 
 earnest, honest and steadfast effort to make the mar- 
 
 153 
 
riage relations what God has intended. It is truly said 
 that the marriage relations are sacred before God and 
 should be so considered by man and wife that their 
 earth life may prepare them both for eternal bliss, which 
 is pleasing to our Heavenly Father. And now may the 
 blessings of God rest upon all married couples is the 
 
 wlsh of REiV. J. H. THOMAS. 
 
 UNHAPPY CARRIAGES. 
 
 As I have already written upon the subject of 
 "Marriage/' dwelling more especially upon happy mar- 
 riages, I will take for the topic "Unhappy Marriages." 
 
 Whenever a marriage takes place it is seldom that 
 unhappiness is looked for or expected, and if the con- 
 tracting ones are joined together by God, or according 
 to God's laws little but true happiness will result. It 
 often follows that one command was not considered as 
 closely as it should have been. "Love thy neighbor as 
 thyself" is often looked upon too lightly, or, I fear in 
 some cases, overlooked entirely. 
 
 Whenever unhappiness results it is from an over- 
 sight of some one of God's laws, such as not giving due 
 consideration to the command that I just quoted, for 
 on this law hangs nearly all that constitutes true happi- 
 ness for it contains the underlying principles for all 
 true happiness, for to guard this law constantly excludes 
 a very large share of the world's unhappiness, whether 
 applied to marriage or otherwise. So I will more im- 
 pressingly quote the law again : "Love thy neighbor as 
 thyself/' 
 
 Yours for Happiness in Marriage, 
 
 REV. J. H. THOMAS. 
 154 
 
DOES DEATH END ALL? 
 
 This is a subject that has perplexed the minds of 
 mortals from time immemorial, up to and including 
 the present week. And to mortals with only a material 
 mind it is as little understood as it was 2,000 years ago, 
 at the time of Jesus' advent upon the earth plane. With 
 few exceptions, little was known at that time of the 
 spiritual or soul mind, and it was His mission on earth 
 to demonstrate to the world the existence of a soul or 
 spiritual mind (which is of a higher form of intellect 
 than the mortal or material mind) and to prove that 
 the spiritual mind had superior advantages for obtain- 
 ing knowledge in regard to spiritual matters which He 
 demonstrated to all who would accept spiritual evidence 
 as proof, but to those whose faith was and is bound to 
 material proofs they are today as they were centuries 
 ago, still discussing the subject with more or less doubt 
 in their minds, and will continue to do so until their 
 spiritual nature has developed to a degree where it will 
 accept spiritual evidence as proof. — Written by the 
 Spirit of Rev. J. H. Thomas. 
 
 THAT WHICH CONSTITUTES SPIRIT. 
 
 Spirit is that which pervades all things and consti- 
 tutes what is known as life in all things, whether it be 
 in the animal, vegetable or mineral kingdom. Without 
 this life nothing would exist, not even the earth or any 
 other planet, consequently there would be no universe. 
 But as the Universal Spirit is the source from which all 
 things emanate after due course of time all will (after 
 
 155 
 
passing through its evolutionary process) return to 
 spirit again. And as for that portion of spirit known as 
 the soul of man it has passed through its various experi- 
 ences and has been fitted for a higher and nobler place 
 in the Kingdom of God, and as to how much improve- 
 ment has been acquired from its experiences gained in a 
 physical body depends largely upon the mental attitude 
 of the mentality of the person under consideration. 
 Should this person, from his or her own choice, see fit 
 to live a purely material mental life, of course it will 
 naturally follow that the soul of such a one would not 
 develop as rapidly as one who devotes more of his or her 
 mental energy in the seeking after spiritual things. You 
 may ask, how about a case where the person devotes 
 his energies exclusively to spiritual things and neglects 
 their mental powers? In reply I will explain that as 
 the mortal's life and energies consists of, or rather is, 
 the result of spirit, you no doubt will see that your 
 mental powers rely upon spirit for its intelligence, and 
 by relying upon the All-Wise Spirit you will derive 
 your intelligence from the true source of all knowledge, 
 which is Spirit, but known by other names, such as the 
 "All-Wise One/ 7 "Eternal Father/ 7 "Great Architect/ 7 
 "God 77 and various other names, too numerous to men- 
 tion. And upon a careful thought it will be seen that 
 one receives intelligence from the spirit source through 
 spiritual channels as well as by their own mental ef- 
 forts, which is on the material plane of existence. 
 Things to be acquired on the material plane which are 
 of the material life are acquired from or by the mental 
 source, which is material. So by relying upon the spirit- 
 ual source of information one has a double source with 
 which to gather the desired knowledge and thus is not 
 
 156 
 
so apt to get a confusion of ideas upon subjects pertain- 
 ing to either the material or spiritual plane. And that 
 which you gain pertaining to the spiritual is eternal and 
 therefore well worth your attention. — Written by the 
 Spirit of Rev. J. H. Thomas. 
 
 THAT WHICH SPIRIT PASSES THROUGH. 
 
 Spirit as we know it in the main is the Universal 
 Spirit and it is constantly passing through a change by 
 way of progression. As a small portion of the Universal 
 Spirit takes up its abiding place in a material body it is 
 for the purpose of improving itself by the material ex- 
 periences it gains in the mortal body and it always 
 gains experiences that it can get in no other way. And 
 w r hen the physical body has served its usefulness in fur- 
 nishing the abiding place for this spirit, the spirit de- 
 parts from it and passes to the Universal Spirit, from 
 whence it came, and the body goes back to the elements 
 of earth. And all of this evolutionary change is for the 
 benefit of spirit and not for the benefit of the mortal 
 body, as many materialists suppose. When mortals rec- 
 ognize these facts much is gained for their spiritual 
 welfare. — Written by the Spirit of Rev. J. H. Thomas. 
 
 SOUL LIFE. 
 
 The soul of man, as you all know by this time, is the 
 real self, or personality, of one being, or existing, for 
 without the soul life the mortal body would in a short 
 time cease to exist in its present form of matter. The 
 body exists for one purpose only — that of making an 
 
 157 
 
abiding place for the soul in its early stages of develop- 
 ment as a distinct entity, and after the soul has reached 
 a certain stage of development the body ceases to be of 
 value to the soul any longer as an abiding place, conse- 
 quently returns to earth, or earthly substance, and the 
 bouI ascends to the spiritual spheres, there to continue 
 in its line of progression. Without a mortal body the 
 spirit would not become a distinct soul. 
 
 It is for the welfare of the soul upon leaving the 
 body to be left in peace and quietness for a time that it 
 may be nourished with spiritual nourishment and as 
 soon as it is sufficiently nourished it will begin its pro- 
 gression. 
 
 Your Friend in Spirit, 
 
 REV. J. H. THOMAS. 
 
 PRIESTHOOD IN SPIRIT. 
 
 In writing for you from the spirit side of life I feel 
 that having passed the most of my earth life in the 
 priesthood of the Roman Catholic church, and now hav- 
 ing passed to the world eternal and cleared away the 
 most of the misty ideas I entertained in the mortal 
 body, that I may be the better enabled to hold your 
 minds more closely in the path of eternal truth. I am 
 pleased to announce as our subject 'The Priesthood In 
 Line of Progression/* 
 
 You may not be aware of the fact that most Cath- 
 olic priests commune with the angel world before they 
 leave the mortal body. In fact the large part of their 
 good work is due to assistance received from the "so- 
 called dead." And well that it is so, for all true knowl- 
 edge passes from the angel world to the earth plane and 
 
 158 
 
whenever God sets out to use His influence over mor- 
 tals you will at once observe that all-resisting influence 
 that is brought into use that all things will be done ac- 
 cording to God's will. When a priest enters his silent 
 study for prayers and meditation he then and there 
 asks God's assistance and God's angels respond to the 
 call as workers in the vineyard of God's great field. So 
 in this way all priests may be considered a medium be- 
 tween God, the angels and the mortal plane of exist- 
 ence. Blessed be the priest and all other true mediums. 
 As will be seen upon a slight meditation of thought that 
 as the priest at the time of "so-called death" has al- 
 ready become more or less familiar with the laws of pro- 
 gression he is prepared to progress on the spirit side of 
 life and almost at once passes to fields of usefulness. 
 
 When a mortal is schooling himself for the priest- 
 hood it is of the least of his thoughts that he has chosen 
 a vocation that will continue after "so-called death." 
 Such a mortal, or at least I considered that my only 
 work, was to advance the condition of the souls of hu- 
 manity to prepare them for the spiritual life. But now 
 having passed beyond the activities of the mortal plane 
 I find that God in His infinite wisdom was preparing 
 my mind for larger fields of usefulness, and now that I 
 am on the spiritual side of life I find myself still work- 
 ing for the welfare and advancement of the souls of hu- 
 manity after they have left the mortal plane. And it 
 is well that it is so. And now as I understand I am to 
 continue in this line of work throughout eternity and 
 I am pleased that it is so, for it is my own self-chosen 
 work. 
 
 Yours for Our Mutual Benefit, 
 
 FATHEE LEMHAK 
 
 159 
 
EGYPT AND HER ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 It is several centuries since I have attempted to 
 communicate with the earth plane, but I still am of- 
 fered an opportunity to do so, which affords pleasure to 
 me at this time and especially so when I am asked to 
 write and impart information upon a subject so remote 
 as the interesting topics of an ancient land like Egypt. 
 
 First, it no doubt will be interesting to the earth 
 plane if I give you a very brief history of myself, so I 
 will state that my earth life was spent in the land now 
 known as Egypt, but how many years have since elapsed 
 it will be impossible for me to state as time does not 
 exist only on earth plane. And as regards the ancient 
 marks of antiquity that still are standing the test of 
 endurance against time along the valley of the river 
 Nile I hope to be able to throw some light for your 
 benefit. 
 
 The river Nile was and still is the only source of 
 water for a vast expanse of land, consequently all ani- 
 mal life congregated along its course, for there was and 
 is the only vegetable growth, and without vegetable 
 growth animal life can not exist, and at that time, with 
 little or no knowledge of the earth's existence, beyond 
 this river, it was thought that this stream and its results 
 constituted the planet. And as this water was — to 
 them — the source of all growth and life, these waters 
 were considered holy and were worshiped by the spirit- 
 ual-minded as the most devoute persons worship their 
 God at this time. And as a result arising from this 
 worship many lasting works of art were constructed in 
 various ways in honor of this holy water, without which 
 all life would perish. Some of these ideas have been 
 
 -160 
 
perpetuated through the centuries down to the present 
 time, as we find when a barren country is becoming in- 
 habitable by being supplied with water it is not very 
 long before some recognition of God is noticeable in 
 that land, as seen by the people making sacrifices that 
 a suitable place is provided for the worship of God. So 
 in the more ancient periods greater sacrifices were 
 made than now for humanity lived nearer to God's laws 
 at that time than now and thus many structures were 
 erected in honor of this — then — holy water, including 
 the regularly formed and substantially built pyramids 
 that have stood since the earlier conception of holiness. 
 These huge pyramids were constructed with great pre- 
 cision and exactness, as you who have made a study of 
 this subject no doubt have learned that these pyramids 
 were erected with respect to the North Star and from 
 thence at right angles in all directions. This was done 
 for this reason : It was then believed that this star was 
 the source of all true light and came from heaven, or 
 some other place unknown to them and each block of 
 rock had the same regular shape and size for an ex- 
 ample for all souls to become of equal sameness and 
 should ever strive to ascend higher and higher in the 
 course of perfection. 
 
 And now these huge master sphinx that still are 
 preserved were made as a representation of the holy 
 waters for various tribes of people to worship according 
 to their individual ideas of worship. You must bear in 
 mind that in those ancient times those persons who did 
 worship did so to a much higher degree than the most 
 devout at the present time. The different sphinx were 
 worshiped by the different tribes, or families, and as 
 the world has become more enlightened with regard to 
 
 161 
 
material things the people take less and less interest in 
 their spiritual God and consequently those ancient ob- 
 jects of worship are less thought of than originally until 
 now they are more objects of curiosity than objects of 
 worship, and in the more modern centuries some of the 
 forms of worship are fully as far from the truth as ever, 
 but as God considers their intentions and not their in- 
 telligence all is well. 
 
 When one attempts to write of those marks of an- 
 tiquity, there being so many of them, it is perplexing 
 to say what to describe for you, for no doubt any of 
 them would be valuable knowledge for you, but for this 
 article I will tell you more about these sphinx. As I 
 said before, they were objects of worship for certain 
 tribes or families. Some of them will be found to face 
 north, others south, west and east. Each faces in its own 
 direction for a purpose peculiar to itself. For instance, 
 one faces north in honor of the North Star and those 
 who worshiped this one believed that all true light and 
 truth has its origin from that planet, and the one facing 
 the south is opposed to the faith of the last described 
 one and thought that all knowledge was found within 
 some human mortal. The one facing the east believed 
 all good and perfects gifts came from this direction, 
 because the ever-shining sun always came from the east. 
 And the ones facing the west were worshiped by those 
 who were opposed to those who looked to the east for 
 their source of truth and made no claim for any belief. 
 In those ancient periods all persons worshiped some 
 object, or graven image and continued to do so up to 
 within a few centuries of the Christian era, when a new 
 light appeared to their mind and humanity has grad- 
 ually been seeking for (to them) a new truth, and when 
 
 162 
 
Jesus appeared first as a mortal He opened the road for 
 more advanced ideas, for He was born of God, with His 
 spiritual self so developed, or rather lived and had His 
 being in the spirit world and the earth plane at the same 
 time and was useful simultaneously in both fields of 
 usefulness. To be sure there were others of a similar 
 nature to Him born both before and after Him, but He 
 proved to be the greatest of all teachers upon spiritual 
 topics and His teachings and examples are followed 
 with greater intelligence than the others. 
 
 In continuing my discourse upon the antiquities of 
 Egypt I will describe more fully those pyramids. 
 
 Those immense structures, as viewed by mortals, 
 at first appear of such vastness that at the present time 
 were they to be duplicated would be considered as a vast 
 achievement, for a fair-sized army of workmen is re- 
 quired to accomplish in the given time usually required 
 to erect even the largest buildings of the present cen- 
 tury. But those pyramids were not constructed in any 
 one generation and a generation at the time these were 
 built was a much longer period than now. And at that 
 time mortals did not have the modern means of con- 
 struction as at present, consequently much more time 
 was required to complete such works and the workmen 
 who were spending their time and energies in erecting 
 the structures considered that they were working for 
 their Creator, whatever or whoever that might be. Each 
 stone represented the work of perfecting a human soul, 
 that when perfected it might be a fit soul to be applied 
 in the work of God, or at that time called Jehosophat. 
 And the whole structure when completed illustrates the 
 human soul in its ascent to the higher realms of spirit- 
 ual life — (that is) — the ascension is made step by step 
 
 163 
 
and requires patience and toil to make the progress nec- 
 essary to accomplish G-od's holy will. But this work is 
 always found pleasing and the reward more and more 
 satisfactory as one progresses in this eternal work of 
 spiritual ascension. And may you all continue to pro- 
 gess as God has intended is my wish. 
 
 That ancient land and river were to humanity then 
 as the whole planet is at this time (that is), the fertile 
 lands along this stream was as far as their knowledge 
 extended regarding the earth's surface, while since that 
 time continents have been discovered and bounded and 
 by the aid of the mariner's compass ships traverse the 
 ocean and reach a given port and return again. As the 
 mind of man has expanded more and more has been 
 discovered for the benefit of humanity, and as this 
 country is the oldest about which we have any knowl- 
 edge we will consider it the starting point of the human 
 soul, so far as the knowledge of man can comprehend, 
 and 'consequently those pyramids and sphinx are the 
 most ancient objects of worship of any that exist at the 
 present time. So it will be seen that from the earliest 
 conception of man humanity, has always had some ob- 
 ject of worship. So far as I know the two objects al- 
 ready mentioned were the only objects of worship at 
 that time and as man has advanced other objects have 
 been substituted with various other forms and ideas too 
 numerous to mention. And now down to and since that 
 period in the world's existence man has adopted many 
 creeds, ceremonies and customs of worship, almost with- 
 out number, but all hold to one central idea, that there 
 is something to worship and that it is good for human- 
 ity to do so. 
 
 In the days while these objects were being built 
 
 164 
 
humanity did not have their minds so strongly attracted 
 away from nature as at present, for at that time nearly 
 all persons tilled the soil and produced his or her own 
 food and necessaries of comfort and little or no atten- 
 tion was given to commercialism, manufacturing, trans- 
 portation, or the hoarding of wealth, consequently think- 
 ing people could and did devote more of their time and 
 attention to their Creator. But as the material world 
 has progressed with its material object in view it is but 
 natural that their reverence for their Creator is thought 
 less of and perhaps in some instances forgotten or nearly 
 so, thus leaving an open field for the mind of man to 
 introduce his forms of worship and from unthinking 
 persons gain his followers, even though his theories were 
 seriously erroneous. But when the Great Saviour of 
 mankind was presented to the world with His extremely 
 well-developed psychical powers more rapid progress 
 was made in the world's spiritual welfare, but His teach- 
 ings have gradually been contaminated with the mind 
 of mortal man until his original teachings are fre- 
 quently lost from view. But enough is still inculcated 
 in the minds of humanity to induce thinking people to 
 continue their search and investigation after the eternal 
 truth, which will be found, as Jesus said: "Seek and 
 ye shall find," and the reward shall be great. 
 
 Should the winds remove the sands from some por- 
 tions of Egypt along the region of the Nile valley many 
 and interesting objects of antiquity would be brought to 
 the attention of the world that to mortals of today, 
 perhaps, little or nothing is known, some of which are 
 many scores of feet below the surface of the soil. And 
 you may ask me to explain why these are so far below 
 the surface while the pyramids are on the surface. It 
 
 165 
 
is accounted for in this way : That as time and winds 
 have moved along the soil or sand has changed places 
 and in fact the great waters of the Nile do not flow to 
 the sea over the same track of country as was done many 
 thousands of years ago, neither is the sea shore in the 
 same place as it once was. These ancient antiquities 
 were constructed many thousands of years prior to the 
 p}nrarnids. So should the course of evolution continue 
 in due course of time those gigantic pyramids will be. 
 hidden from view also. These objects that are hidden 
 from mortal view are of various sizes, shapes and forms 
 in their construction and were built as objects of wor- 
 ship suited to the various conceptions of what was or is 
 the Creator of all things. Then, as at present, there 
 were many conflicting beliefs concerning the Creator. 
 One of the most popular conceptions of the Creator be- 
 ing that the Great Giver of all good gifts was con- 
 tained in water, as they considered that nothing could 
 exist without water and nothing was visible in water 
 that should produce vegetation. Therein was a mystery 
 that surpassed human understanding. And then, as 
 now, there was much that surpassed human knowledge 
 and these objects of worship were as reminders of the 
 real object to be worshiped, the same as in the later 
 centuries the cross is but a reminder of the real object 
 of worship. 
 
 I will now explain for you the philosophy of the 
 early Egyptians in so treating the bodies that have been 
 deserted by the spirit as to put them in a state of pres- 
 ervation for supposedly future use by the same soul that 
 had formerly occupied it. In those ages long since past 
 and gone their understanding of immortality taught 
 them to believe that the soul would in the future return 
 
 166 
 
to earth and on its return would require its old body 
 for its second life, not knowing anything about the 
 spiritual or astral body. So their mortal bodies were 
 put in a state of preservation and the more modern 
 ages are pleased to call them "mummies," but as those 
 spirits returned to earth the G-ood Father had provided 
 them with a spiritual body which far surpasseth their 
 old mortal body, which is additional evidence that the 
 Father doeth all things well for His children. 
 
 As I have been writing pertaining to Egyptian 
 antiquities, going somewhat into details, at this time, 
 perhaps a few words upon the evolution of Egypt will 
 prove beneficial. 
 
 In the beginning God created the heavens and the 
 earth and it was done for an all- wise object, too vast, 
 sublime and magnificent for human understanding. In 
 the earlier ages of the world's existence all environ- 
 ments of man were in a crude condition as compared 
 with the present time. For instance, as the Christian's 
 Bible tells you the clothing of man and woman consisted 
 of a leaf from a tree. Now just compare humanity's 
 wearing apparel at that time with the present and no- 
 tice the changes that have occurred with the work of 
 mortals to keep pace with mortals' ideas of mortals' 
 needs, while God provided the leaf, which was sufficient 
 for the spiritual needs. The land of the present Egypt 
 was originally barren and fruitless, but for the purpose 
 of supplying mortals with mortal necessities man has 
 from time to time gained knowledge of the laws of na- 
 ture and has, by the assistance of the waters of the Nile 
 river, made the soil along that great valley so productive 
 that it has long been known as the most bounteous of 
 any section of this planet. 
 
 167 
 
And with this changed condition in view, what has 
 been the effect upon mankind ? 
 
 In the earlier periods the soul, or spiritual portion 
 of a mortal, was given more attention and cultivation, 
 and the consequence was that then man lived closer in 
 accord with nature, or God and the welfare of the soul 
 was constantly in mind, but as time has moved along 
 mortal mind has decreed that mortals will enjoy mortal 
 life to a higher degree, even though it be to the detri- 
 ment of their own sours welfare. 
 
 But as the thoughtful minds turn their attention 
 to the will of God they discover that whenever one turns 
 his mind to mortal things it is to the detriment of the 
 spiritual being, and the same is true when reversed, but 
 remember the mortal life is but a few years and the im- 
 mortal life is without end and eternal. 
 
 As I said formerly, there are other subjects regard- 
 ing Egyptian antiquities about which practically nothing 
 has been known to the mortal world for many centuries, 
 having been hidden from their view by being buried far 
 beneath the surface by the drifting sands of the desert, 
 which are ever changing. There are other objects of 
 worship that are anterior to the pyramids and sphinx. 
 Of course these objects are very ancient as compared 
 with the present objects of worship but when we con- 
 sider the time that this planet has existed it antedates 
 by far those pyramids and sphinx. And from the be- 
 ginning of mortal life we find evidences that mankind 
 in all stages of his development has had some object of 
 worship. Man seems to be so constituted that his happi- 
 ness is increased by having some object of worship and 
 what that object shall be seems to vary with one's powers 
 of observation. Those whose vision is deficient or but 
 
 168 
 
slightly developed may consider (unconsciously) a dog, 
 or a horse, or a stone worthy of his highest forms of 
 worship, while another may worship his wife and chil- 
 dren, or material wealth as his highest forms of wor- 
 ship. And still others have ascended to higher planes 
 and worship the church or their pastor, or priest, and 
 this satisfies their aspirations for worship. And still 
 others seek a closer communion with their Creator and 
 by following the example and teachings of the world's 
 highest Teacher, "Jesus," one will by faithful devotion 
 to His teachings and the ever-ready angels' assistance, 
 reach higher planes of spiritual existence than any of 
 the other forms of worship and thus become more Godly 
 and Christlike, consequently a more useful servant in 
 carrying on God's great work in purifying the souls of 
 humanity. — Written by your Ancient Historical Guide, 
 Amond in Spirit Life, About 5,500 Years. 
 
 THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND. 
 
 That there is some unseen source and also misun- 
 derstood power by which the mortal mind can and often 
 does gain knowledge from some unseen source there is 
 to the close observer and profound thinker no doubt. 
 And for one to investigate and hope to understand the 
 philosophy of this phenomena requires much study. And 
 several other subjects should be well understood to lay 
 the foundation for this philosophy to make it the better 
 understandable. However, I will give you my views of 
 this unseen power and I may be pardoned for stating 
 that in my earth life I was given the credit and honor 
 of being the first mortal to advocate publicly that the 
 
 W 
 
entire mortal life was but the preparatory stage for a 
 higher, purer, nobler and more Godly life after the 
 mortal body ceased to exist with any attempt to ex- 
 plain philosophically of the future life (bear in mind I 
 say with a philosophical explanation of the same), and 
 as long as my investigations continued on the earth 
 plane I did not discover an explanation for the continu- 
 ation of life after it had left the mortal body, nor did I 
 until I had passed the mortal stage and continued my 
 investigations on the spirit side of life. Neither did I 
 wholly understand the spiritual body while I was in the 
 mortal life. But after I arrived in the spirit world I 
 found superior advantages for investigation of this and 
 kindred subjects, for what is unseen to mortals has be- 
 come visible to a spirit. And I find that each and every 
 mortal has been furnished with another body, or dupli- 
 cate of the temple of clay, except that it is composed of 
 a finer and more delicate extraction of the chemical ele- 
 ments and is invisible to mortal sight. Its dwelling 
 place is within the temple of clay and has, with the as- 
 sistance of other forces, the power to vacate the mortal 
 body at will and does whenever the process of sleep takes 
 place. And at its own will it can repossess the temple of 
 clay and the mortal body has quickened. This spiritual 
 body (or as in later years is called "astral body") has 
 its senses with a much keener sense of observation than 
 the physical senses, so much so as to observe those finer 
 objects that correspond to its own finer organic struc- 
 ture. And now if you will comprehend this astral body 
 as having all the attributes of the physical and in addi- 
 tion has other powers of making its investigations, and 
 is a distinct entity from the mortal, but using the mor- 
 tal as its place of abode in its earlier stages of develop- 
 
 170 
 
ment (and in the human body is the only piace where 
 it can gain its nourishment for its development), then 
 you will have gained much that will assist you in ob- 
 taining a correct understanding of the life immortal. 
 As I said before, this astral body has its senses and 
 these senses produce a mind of its own that seeks after 
 the things that are spiritual and mortals are pleased to 
 call it the "Sub-Conscious Mind." By a certain class of 
 mortals this sub-conscious mind and senses are developed 
 sufficiently to be recognized by the mortal mind. The 
 sub-conscious mind is cognizant of all of the mortal 
 mind's activities and the stronger of the two minds will 
 predominate in the mortaPs life and control its actions, 
 lines of thought and deeds, and this astral body is so 
 near spirit that it is indestructible and survives after 
 the mortal body has ceased its activities, but in an un- 
 developed state the sub-conscious mind and mentality 
 may become dormant on its final separation from the 
 mortal body and to avoid this state of lethargy in your 
 future life in the spirit existence it behooves all intelli- 
 gent minds to inform themselves and create a desire for 
 spiritual advancement while yet on the mortal plane of 
 life. — Written for the benefit of thinking humanity by 
 the Spirit of Plato, the Ancient Philosopher. 
 
 THE BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT. 
 
 The body is that accumulation of chemical elements 
 so formed and constructed that it becomes a suitable 
 structure for the habitation of a man made in the image 
 of God. This structure is one of the most wonderfully 
 constructed works of the Creator, even past the com- 
 
 171 
 
plete understanding of mortal man. It baffles the un- 
 derstanding of any one mortal mind. The physiologist 
 gains a nearly complete understanding of man from his 
 standpoint, and the mental scientist takes another 
 branch of this structure and finds that he cannot com- 
 pletely master his subject. And beyond this point the 
 spiritologist finds still more that the first two investi- 
 gators had overlooked, or nearly so. I know of no other 
 work of the Creator that is so intricate. And it is so 
 finely organized as to surpass complete mortal under- 
 standing. And when we consider the mind much, or 
 nearly all, depends upon the body for the most delicate 
 discord in the body will manifest itself in the mind in 
 one way or another, therefore great importance should 
 be given to the proper care and use of the body for upon 
 this so much depends. With the body preserved in its 
 highest standard of perfection the mind is well sup- 
 ported and will (if well directed) mature to vast fields 
 of usefulness in any of the varied channels of thought. 
 Some to philosophy, art, music, architecture, instruc- 
 tion, physiology, agriculture, geology, it matters not to 
 which one devotes his or her attention a limitless field 
 is found for their mental operations. And now when 
 we consider that this physical structure with its product, 
 the mind, is an instrument through which the spiritual 
 powers can and do act whereby God is continually dem- 
 onstrating the power of spirit to the mortal world it is 
 truly said that "the greatest study for man is man him- 
 self," for there is no line of thought that demands such 
 close attention or becomes so interesting to such a stu- 
 dent and the results so far-reaching, for the study of 
 the body and its welfare is the laying of the foundation 
 upon which to develop the mental and spiritual struc- 
 
 172 
 
ture according as the mind is directed and in each their 
 fields for investigations are limitless. For the time be- 
 ing this may seem untrue, but remember that the pow- 
 ers of the mind will expanded (provided the body is 
 normal) and thus enlarge its scope of observation and 
 understanding and will then behold unthought of fields 
 for mental operations as well as spiritual investigations. 
 And thus it will be seen that the mind is automatic 
 with the outside environment, provided it is supported 
 by a well-formed and healthy body that is properly 
 cared for. Therefore, I consider that the highest gift 
 of God to man is a perfect body, for with this all else is 
 susceptible to a higher and higher degree of develop- 
 ment in the mental and spiritual planes of usefulness, 
 which are the portions of the products of the body that 
 are lasting unto eternity, therefore is immortal. But 
 whenever one is not favored with a body that is not well 
 nigh unto perfect then that which is to follow will suf- 
 fer to a degree, but not in general for the physical ail- 
 ments do not seriously affect the entire structure. One 
 ailment affects one portion of the mind while another 
 ailment will affect some other portion of the mental or 
 spiritual activities of thought. But as the mental mind 
 becomes weakened from a diseased body the mind will 
 of itself direct itself more actively towards the next 
 higher or more advanced fields of investigation pertain- 
 ing to the subject of immortality, and in this the spirit - 
 ual mind, which is of the spiritual body, becomes more 
 active and having a perfect body (the astral body) the 
 life's interest gradually transfer to this more advanced 
 plane of life, which has for its place of habitation the 
 spiritual body. There is a period of time when the 
 mental and spiritual mind are about equally divided, 
 
 173 
 
similar to the time when in earlier life the physical and 
 mental powers are about equally balanced, and as the 
 mental powers increase with maturity so will the spirit- 
 ual powers increase as they become developed, which is 
 but an action of nature in its course of evolution. — 
 Written by the Spirit of Aristottle of Old. 
 
 the teansfee. 
 
 While the spirit who is writing was living in the 
 mortal body, I, Frederick W. H. Myers, considered 
 that in making the transfer of the real self from the 
 mortal body to the spiritual body that all was left be- 
 hind for the mortal world and that the spirit in its new 
 surrroundings commenced anew at the very beginning 
 of this new existence, but I find from experience in 
 making this transfer that all that a mortal has acquired 
 in the mortal life and stored up for future use is sifted, 
 or separated, and that which is of the material is left 
 with the material world with the material body. And 
 of that accumulation that which is spiritual in its na- 
 ture remains with the mortal's real, or substantial, self 
 which survives the grave and is indestructible, while all 
 that is material is destructible, or at least returns to 
 earth and remains material, while that which is spirit- 
 ual still lives and continues in its fields of usefulness. 
 While I was making my investigations upon the subject 
 of psychical research upon the mortal plane I consid- 
 ered that the mortal mind was comprehensive enough 
 to understand all with which a mortal comes in contact, 
 but now I find that such is not the case, but that God in 
 His infinite wisdom, endowed man with a deeper and 
 
 174 
 
more comprehensive mind than the mental mind, known 
 as the "Sub- Conscious Mfind," and is susceptible of rec- 
 ognition and training that will, by its activities rein- 
 force the mental mind to such an extent that much 
 deeper problems are solved by the mental, or conscious, 
 mind than ever before and is of untold benefit to the 
 mortal in making investigations along the line of psych- 
 ical research. And as a suggestion to those who desire 
 the underlying truth to recognize the sub-conscious mind 
 and nourish and cultivate it and you will be rewarded 
 for your energies. — -Written by the Spirit of Frederick 
 W. H. Myers. 
 
 A SPIRIT'S VIEWS OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENA. 
 
 "Psychic Phenomena," from the mortal side of life, 
 is a subject that has been and still is much discussed, 
 and as I, while on the mortal plane, took a deep interest 
 in that profound subject, and after much study and in- 
 vestigation, I published the results of my mental efforts 
 and the work was known as "Hudson's Law of Psychic 
 Phenomena." And as my investigations were purely 
 from a mental and mortal standpoint I was seriously 
 handicapped for the want of the spiritual assistance 
 and guidance in my mental efforts, for as I have since 
 passed through the ordeal called "death" and conse- 
 quently gained access to the storehouse of universal in- 
 telligence, from which all true knowledge is supplied to 
 the mortal world, I find that in several instances my 
 mortal views were not quite correct for they lacked the 
 spiritual touch of truth. In many instances, had I have 
 recognized the spiritual powers more fully and not 
 
 175 
 
ascribed so much to human mentality, I would have fur- 
 nished the world with a work that would have not left 
 so many misty ideas to perplex the minds of those who 
 read the book. 
 
 And now as I understand the subject I should have 
 given the psychic forces credit for the unaccountable 
 phenomena, or such as could not be explained by mortal 
 reasoning, for now, as I am in spirit life and am still 
 studying the subject, I find the spirit force working un- 
 der the influence of the All- Wise One in ways that are 
 not usually observed by mortals the subject is more 
 nearly understood, for when we recognize the fact that 
 mortal man is but an instrument through which the 
 higher forces and intelligence communicate the work- 
 ings of the spirit world to the earth plane, then, and 
 not until then, will mortal man be able to understand 
 how psychic phenomenal demonstrations are produced, 
 for without the recognition of spirit force and intelli- 
 gence such demonstrations cannot be fully explained to 
 a profound mind. Much credit is given to the sub-con- 
 scious mind, but when I explain that the sub-conscious 
 mind of a mortal is the spirit mind in man and is the 
 connecting link with the spirit forces and when recog- 
 nized and developed is the source through which the 
 mortal, or conscious, mind has access to divine truth, 
 which is the universal storehouse of knowledge for all 
 things come from spirit, including wisdom. 
 
 Were I to write another work upon the "Law of 
 Psychic Phenomena" I would give credit to the higher 
 forces of nature (that is), those forces that are superior 
 to and usually unobserved by mortals. And I would 
 consider mortals as the children of our Creator and the 
 psychic phenomena is offered to these children for their 
 
 176 
 
study the same as the school teacher uses the black- 
 board as an object lesson to her pupils. — Written by the 
 Spirit of Thomson Jay Hudson. 
 
 CONTINUED LIFE. 
 
 For the benefit of mortals who have a desire to 
 study the eternal truth as I have found it, this article is 
 written through the hand of Mr. Bull, with the object 
 in view that perplexed minds upon so broad a subject 
 may be lead in the path of truth as I understand it 
 after having spent a lifetime as a mortal in the study 
 along philosophical lines of thought, and in addition, I 
 have had the advantage of several centuries of investiga- 
 tion as a spirit in the higher realms of existence. And 
 now as much of our work in the higher spheres is useful 
 to the mortal world, it affords me much gratification 
 to be afforded this opportunity to give to the mortal 
 world the conclusions that I have arrived at upon the 
 subject under consideration. 
 
 Life and its workings is a subject that has been 
 much discussed and many conclusions arrived at. It is 
 often a perplexing subject with mortals as it is an in- 
 visible quantity and only its manifestations can be seen. 
 And as some mortals care but little, or take but little 
 interest in the unseen, I cannot expect to interest all 
 classes of mortals. As is very generally accepted by pro- 
 found thinkers, all things originate from spirit, it mat- 
 ters not what the thing or object is, and life is no ex- 
 ception. Life is, perhaps, the first emanation from spirit 
 and has its various phases of manifestation. In the 
 first manifestation the universe was created and in it 
 
 177 
 
life was manifest through the mineral kingdom, and in 
 this class of manifestation life is less active than in its 
 various other phases of making itself manifest. Though 
 the mineral itself changes in its course of evolution the 
 life that supports it is the same life continued. And in 
 this course of evolutionary process the vegetable crea- 
 tion has its origin. Were it not for the mineral creation 
 the vegetable kingdom would not exist. But as we have 
 now shown how the mineral and vegetable kingdoms 
 have their origin, the life itself is a continuation and 
 the vegetable growth is susceptible to its laws of evolu- 
 tion, as will be observed when we recognize this fact 
 that all vegetation now made use of by man has been 
 evoluted from some lower form of vegetation and some 
 of the cereals and fruits are still being improved upon 
 to bring it to a higher state of usefulness for man, as 
 will be seen in the case of the apple that has its varieties 
 that have been so cultivated that it retains its desirable 
 qualities for the use of man for several months from 
 the time it has completed its growth and maturity upon 
 the tree. And I will predict that in a few years more 
 some of the quickly perishable fruits will be so improved 
 upon as to contain similar keeping qualities, thus be- 
 coming more useful for the use of man, and all brought 
 about by this same plan of evolution. And through this 
 evolutionary process the life is continued and with the 
 use of the vegetable creation it becomes possible for the 
 animal kingdom to exist, which would be impossible 
 were it not for the vegetable growth. And now that 1 
 have lead your mind up to the animal kingdom, I will 
 endeavor to explain more fully regarding it, for it is at 
 this stage in this continuation of life that the stage of 
 consciousness is reached. You may naturally ask, 
 
 178 
 
Where does animal life originate ? As I said before, all 
 things came from spirit and animal substance is no ex- 
 ception. As the planet was created from spirit so was 
 the animal form and when created the spirit takes pos- 
 session and it becomes a living being, whether it be the 
 smallest living creature or the more refined structure 
 we call man or woman. And each and every creature 
 was wisely created for an all-wise purpose. Much of 
 which is not understood by mortals, neither is all made 
 known to the lower developments in spirit life, but for 
 the purpose of this article I will only discuss animal 
 life as it applies to man directly. 
 
 Man was created threefold. First, the physical 
 form. Were it not so it would be impossible for any 
 other developments to follow, the same as if this planet 
 were not created no mineral or vegetable creation could 
 exist. So with man. First, the physical form, or struc- 
 ture, to support what follows, and we find a variation 
 in different forms, owing to environments, which differ 
 quite widely, but with all this variation each and all 
 hold to one condition and that is that the body is a suit- 
 able abiding place for a brain and a spiritual soul, mak- 
 ing or constituting the threefold nature, and each of 
 these three divisions of this structure is susceptible to 
 development and each and every structure is created 
 equal and has the same oportunity from God for its im- 
 provement, but it is only a few that do not meet with 
 some mortal environment that is to the disadvantage 
 of some one or more of the three divisions. In some the 
 body suffers, others the brain, which constitutes the 
 mental, but most of all that suffers is the soul nature. 
 But as the subject is "Continued Life" I will confine 
 myself more closely to that subject. 
 
 179 
 
By the combination of these three distinct natures 
 in man the soul has the necessary elements for the 
 growth and development of an astral body and this 
 body also has its functionary elements quite similar to 
 the mortal body, and each has its part to perform that 
 this same life may be continued on to a higher plane of 
 existence. To begin with, at about this stage of mortal 
 existence the minds are most perplexed as to whether or 
 not "death ends all," but allow me to give peace to the 
 mortal mind by stating that death, as usually under- 
 stood, is a delusion, for were it not the life would not 
 continue in its rounds of evolution back to spirit again. 
 As all things will sooner or later return back to spirit, 
 from whence it came. And I will say that the reason 
 for this debatable question in answering the question 
 "Are the dead alive?" comes from a lack of understand- 
 ing from a broader view of the subject. When all is 
 understood it ceases to be a subject of inquiry, and then 
 the question arises with regard to the development of 
 the astral body. 
 
 The astral body is the product of this threefold 
 combination of the human being which furnish the 
 suitable conditions for its early growth, as compared 
 with soil, moisture and temperature to produce the 
 proper conditions for the growth of the corn and wheat. 
 Although each has its own distinct objects to obtain and 
 each will mature more readily under the most favorable 
 environments. I will digress somewhat from my sub- 
 ject for at this stage in the "Continued Life" the 
 minds of the profound thinking mortals seem to be 
 somewhat perplexed. One of the chief elements in the 
 growth of the astral body is, first, Peace and Harmony 
 in the mortal mind, and, second, a positive recognition 
 
 m 
 
of one's Creator and a fervent devotion to the Eternal 
 Ruler. When these two divine principles are complied 
 with and all of mortal life's rulings are in compliance, 
 the underlying principle is gained and for your further 
 assistance I know of no better rules for your guidance 
 than the Commandments as laid down in the Christian's 
 Bible. And now to return to our subject, "Continued 
 Life." This astral and mortal body in the early stages 
 of development are so closely interwoven that it is hard 
 to say at just what point a distinction is observed, but 
 it is noticeable as one is developing what are usually 
 known as mediumistic, or psychic, powers, for these 
 manifestations are none other than the expression of 
 this astral body, and often the mortal is given credit 
 for performing miracles, but when the powers of the 
 astral body are understood it is found that all "so- 
 called" miracles are brought about by some natural law 
 of the All- Wise One. As I said recently, the two bodies 
 are incorporated very closely in their earlier stages and 
 under at least fair conditions the astral will develop, 
 and as the mortal body is subject to wear and decay and 
 the astral is not, the life that is to continue gradually 
 transfers to the astral and finally the mortal body has 
 ceased to be attractive to the astral and a final separa- 
 tion takes place and the body of flesh and blood is con- 
 signed to earth and continues its life in another form 
 and has lost its consciousness, and the astral has as- 
 cended to the higher planes of its existence and is no 
 longer contaminated with the lower planes of life, for 
 this continued life has survived the grave and is at first 
 in the lower realms of spirit life and has retained its 
 consciousness and intelligence that it has developed in 
 earth life and its spiritual growth from now on is much 
 
 181 
 
more rapid than at any previous time. And you may 
 ask what about the astral body that has been hampered 
 by unfavorable environments. In reply I will say that 
 all astrals will sooner or later develop if not in the mor- 
 tal life. Then there is the danger of many years or 
 thousands of centuries, perhaps, before this astral, or 
 spiritual, body will again attain to a stage of conscious- 
 ness, but during this lapse of time its life continues but 
 is dormant. Thus it will be seen the importance of 
 astral development while in the mortal body. And now, 
 for the purpose of explanation, I will call your atten- 
 tion to the fact that in this article, while referring to 
 the lower forms of life I use the word Life, and with 
 the higher forms I use the word Spirit, which repre- 
 sents the same life only in its higher or more advanced 
 forms of manifestation, and I will call your attention 
 to another universal law, that in the lower forms of 
 manifestations the manifestations are on a lower vibra- 
 tion and the vibration increases as the life advances to 
 its next form of manifestation and continues to do so 
 on past the mortal plane of existence, where, in the 
 purely spiritual world, time and distance are obliter- 
 ated, and I will say that in spirit life the soul continues 
 to advance in its search for a still higher truth, which 
 knowledge is made known to the inquiring mind as soon 
 as such a mind is prepared to comprehend the sublime 
 truths as taught in the more advanced stages of mental 
 evolution. — Written by the Spirit of Plato of Old. 
 
 182 
 
SPIRITUALISM AS A RELIGION. 
 
 To Our Dear Friends : 
 
 It is planned to call upon several spirit friends to 
 express their views upon a given subject — "Spiritualism 
 As a Religion" — and as I am asked to write the first 
 article I will define the word "Religion" by saying it is 
 the relationship between mortals and their Creator, and 
 ''Spiritualism" is the learning of God's natural laws as 
 applied to the higher or unseen forces. Therefore, 
 "Spiritualism As a Religion" is the obtaining of a cor- 
 rect understanding of the laws and relations existing 
 between God and His children and in these articles we 
 will consider His children only from the mortal stand- 
 point, so that in the study of Spiritualism is in itself 
 "prima facie" evidence that the pupil recognizes God as 
 the Creator and is desirous to learn the psychic laws 
 that he or she may be the better enabled to serve the 
 Master and fulfill His Commandments. 
 
 And when the pupil has arrived at a stage of de- 
 velopment where he or she is able to receive communica- 
 tion from the spirit side of life you will get the benefit 
 of receiving instruction from those who have had the 
 usual mortal experience and in addition the experi- 
 ences gained upon the immortal side of life also, which 
 will be uncontaminated with Theology or mortal-made 
 religion but will closely adhere to the principles as 
 taught by the Saviour, "Christ Jesus." Therefore it 
 appears to us on this side of life to be the correct re- 
 ligion. While all the other forms of religion have their 
 good teachings the most of them apply almost excusive- 
 ly io the material life, while Spiritualism, I think, the 
 
 183 
 
better prepares the mortal to make the change called 
 "death." 
 
 Therefore, this subject "Spiritualism" is the proper 
 understanding of God's laws whether it pertain to im- 
 mortality of the soul or the laws governing mortal pro- 
 gression. A mortal in his investigations into such laws 
 concerning the general workings of the visible things of 
 the universe is commonly called "science/' when it 
 really is the understanding of spiritual laws, and as re- 
 ligion in the generally accepted meaning of the word is 
 based upon faith without this knowledge of God's laws, 
 so religion is the substitute for actual knowledge. 
 Your Spirit Brother, 
 
 ALBERT BULL. 
 
 SPIRITUALISM AS A RELIGION. 
 
 ^Spiritualism As a 'Religion'* is a subject of much 
 importance and in complying with the request to write 
 something upon that subject I will say that while in 
 earth life I devoted much attention to the subject of 
 religion and justice, in fact my greatest energies were 
 spent along those two lines. While I found much satis- 
 faction in my devotions to the church I always felt that 
 there was something deficient regarding my true rela- 
 tionship to God. Were I to return to the earth as a 
 mortal I would be much benefited in a religious way by 
 my having had the experience called "death," which 
 shows me that the orthodox church has in many in- 
 stances wandered from the teachings of our Great 
 Teacher, "Jesus," and as I now understand Spiritual- 
 
 184 
 
ism its teachings adhere more closely to those of Christ 
 than any other form of religion. 
 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 EOBEET EARL. 
 P. S.— This writer lived about 20 years as a judge 
 in the Court of Appeals in New York state. 
 
 SPIRITUALISM AS A RELIGION. 
 
 Religion has in all ages gone by been a topic that 
 has occupied the minds of profound thinkers and many 
 and varied have been the theories accepted as the truth 
 regarding immortality. As a minister of the Gospel in 
 earth life for many years I was firm in the doctrine of 
 the orthodox church, but in the last few years of my 
 earth life I wandered somewhat. I knew not why, ex- 
 cept that I felt strongly impressed that there was a 
 higher truth to be obtained, but I did not gain the de- 
 sired truth until I passed from the mortal body. Had 
 I have understood the philosophy of Spiritualism my 
 ministry would have done more for the souls of men. 
 It now seems strange to me that I should study the 
 Bible and not see more of the spiritual influence that 
 now is so plain to me. 
 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 REV. MfYRON W. REED. 
 
 185 
 
SPIRITUALISM AS A RELIGIOH. 
 
 Spiritualism is a philosophy for the study of mor- 
 tals that they may understand their relationship towards 
 their God. Each person comprehends just in accord- 
 ance with his or her powers of comprehension. Some 
 comprehend more, some less when the opportunities to 
 comprehend are equal and each one will comprehend 
 only what it can make use of or what the mind is pre- 
 pared to receive. Spiritualism in the true sense is com- 
 prehended only by those who desire divine truth and 
 will accept the sublime truth of spirit return. I often 
 think that many of the man-made religions are but step- 
 ping stones to the truths contained in the philosophy of 
 Spiritualism, which will lead the minds of mortals to 
 higher realms of thought which will associate them 
 more closely with their God than other forms of re- 
 ligion. 
 
 Your Spirit Friend, 
 
 REV. J. H. THOMAS. 
 
 SPIRITUALISM AS A RELIGION. 
 
 In Spiritualism one comes in contact under direct 
 influence with the higher or spirit forces which draws 
 more closely with the will of God and these forces are 
 always ready and willing to supply just what is needed 
 for the welfare of the soul of man while most other 
 forms of religion are forced to entertain the mortal 
 mind to a great extent or preach to empty chairs. But 
 with Spiritualism the soul craves its teachings and finds 
 satisfaction and soul development. By so doing one is 
 
 186 
 
the better fitting the soul in preparation for the change 
 called "death," which is the goal to which all mortals 
 should strive. So I think that Spiritualism is suscepti- 
 ble of accomplishing the desires of the soul more satis- 
 factorily than Theology of any school or sect. 
 Your Spirit Helper, 
 
 HENRY WARD BEECHER. 
 
 SPIRITUALISM AS A RELIGION. 
 
 "Spiritualism As a Religion' is a broad subject. 
 Indeed, so broad that it could not be properly dealt with 
 in a single article of this kind, so I will deal with it 
 somewhat briefly as others are to write upon the same 
 subject. When we consider a religion of any kind or 
 belief each mortal thinks out a philosophy that is suited 
 to his or her ability to comprehend. With some who 
 are satisfied with faith without knowledge much de- 
 pends upon the inquiring nature of their mind. It is 
 often the case that a religion resting on faith serves it 
 purpose for a time or until that mind seeks a better un- 
 derstanding and starts out to investigate for itself for 
 the purpose of arriving at conclusions that will be more 
 satisfactory to oneself, and upon an intelligent investi- 
 gation little by little will the mind catch fragments of 
 the real truth as it was taught by our Divine Teacher, 
 "Jesus," and when convinced of the sublime truth that 
 the dead still live then, and not until then, will the phil- 
 osophy of Spiritualism appeal to the candid, sober 
 thought conclusion as being true and when this condi- 
 tion of mind has been reached and one is still craving 
 more knowledge one soon recognizes that God is the 
 
 187 
 
source of all things, including one's self. And as reli- 
 gion is the understanding of the relationship existing 
 between oneself and God this brings us in very close 
 communion with God Himself. So I think that Spirit- 
 ualism in the deeper sense should be considered as a re- 
 ligion as Christ taught it and as His plan of teaching 
 has proved a success mortals can safely adhere to it as 
 the most beneficial. 
 
 Yours for a Successful Voyage Through the Sea of Life, 
 
 ONE PAUL OF OLD. 
 
 SPIKITUALISM3 AS A RELIGION. 
 
 It affords me very great pleasure to respond to your 
 call for an expression of my views upon the subject of 
 "Immortality, or Spiritualism As a Religion/' 
 
 As you perhaps all know that this and kindred sub- 
 jects occupied much of my attention while in the earth 
 life and at that time I could only speak from the material 
 standpoint, but now, having passed through the gates 
 of "so-called death/' I am permitted to express myself 
 from the spirit side of life. 
 
 The subject of immortality has been one of much 
 thought and many conclusions arrived at by mortals in 
 the past ages, but as it is comparatively the few mortals 
 that are aware of the fact that there is a means of com- 
 munication between the spirit and mortal planes of life 
 the large majority of the reasoning upon this subject is 
 done only with mortal reasoning, consequently lacking 
 in the highest source of gaining knowledge. When we 
 come to consider the philosophy of spirit return and 
 
 188 
 
consider it as a religion it differs so widely from most 
 mortals' conception of what religion really is, it perhaps 
 would not be accepted as a religion, but such it really 
 is, for it deals more thoroughly with facts, not theories, 
 than any so-called religion. Were the minds of all 
 mortals directed to this philosophy many would be too 
 skeptical to accept what they could not disprove. So 
 with such time and experience alone will demonstrate 
 to them that the dead still live, and to those who would 
 accept spiritual proof and will be lead by their higher 
 nature to investigate for themselves will surely satisfy 
 their inquiring minds that the philosophy of spirit re- 
 turn is true. All humanity seems to have been en- 
 dowed with an instinct that there is a future existence 
 in some form, which should of itself be conclusive of 
 this great fact that there is no death. As for Religion. 
 I do not like the word, for to the intelligent mind 
 knowledge, or an intelligent, understanding is much 
 more satisfactory, for man is also endowed with an in- 
 tellect for the purpose of knowing and understanding 
 that with which he comes in contact and now why ex- 
 clude this intellect and substitute faith when it comes 
 to so important a matter as the question of immortality ? 
 Yes, so-called Keligion is susceptible to much improve- 
 ment and that improvement will be made when mortals 
 obtain an intelligent understanding of the laws of Al- 
 mighty God. Most thinking mortals accept God's laws 
 pertaining to the material existence, such as the laws 
 pertaining to the growth of all plant creation. First 
 the seed, the twig, the tree, the fruit, the food, the nour- 
 ishment, the man, the soul and then stop and some stop 
 at the man but fortunately God's laws do not stop there. 
 In fact the procedure has only just become fairly started 
 
 m 
 
for this progression goes on and on throughout eternity 
 and has no ending. 
 
 Yours for the Good of Humanity, 
 ROBERT Q. INGER80L IN SPIRIT. 
 
 SPIRITUALISM AS A RELIGION. 
 
 Whenever one's mind is attracted to the word Re- 
 ligion most people associate it with a church or large 
 building with a tall spire and to quite an extent many 
 persons have come to worship such a building and their 
 minds do not reach beyond, and within only to the man 
 (just human), who occupies the speaker's desk. This, 
 of course, is all well and good so far as it goes, but to 
 such, for one reason or another, do not aspire to knowl- 
 edge of their own regarding their own personal rela- 
 tions that exist between themselves and their God. 
 
 The subject that is before us is a subject that is 
 susceptible of many interpretations, for the word Spirit- 
 ualism is distinctly an English word and is understood 
 as applied to spirit return. While Spiritualism when 
 taken in the full sense of the word applies to all forms 
 of demonstrations, whether it be full form materializa- 
 tion of your "so-called dead" friends or what is demon- 
 strated as magic upon the platform. So for the pur- 
 pose of this article I will consider the subject from the 
 highest standpoint, that of the welfare of the souls of 
 humanity, for as one ascends to the spiritual planes of 
 existence provided with a spiritual body such is the will 
 of God for the welfare of His children. And as a re- 
 ligion one should seek the desires of God with reference 
 to oneself and strive to so live and act that when the 
 change called "death" takes place the soul will come in 
 
 190 
 
closer communion with the Father and be the better 
 prepared to do His will. The understanding of God's 
 laws may be classed as Spiritualism. 
 
 Yours for the Welfare of Your Souls, 
 AMOND, AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN. 
 
 SPIRITUALISM AS A RELIGION. 
 
 To My Dear Friends On the Earth Plane : 
 
 It is with much gratitude that I am offered this, 
 my first opportunity to communicate with the dear ones 
 of the earth plane through this instrument, and no 
 doubt it will be both interesting and beneficial should I 
 discuss religion from the spiritual side of life. People 
 of all ages of the world have had a desire to know more 
 of God and a diligent search has been made by all classes 
 of humanity with greater or less success in obtaining 
 knowledge in this direction, but with each degree of in- 
 tellect the much-desired object has been gained to some 
 extent according to each one's ability to comprehend. 
 Some depend upon their pastor or priest, others chiefly 
 upon their prayers, others upon what they can learn 
 from the reading and study of the Holy Bible, and still 
 others upon their meditations in their lonely silence, all 
 of which are good and conducive of soul development in 
 the better preparation to ascend to the higher planes of 
 usefulness. But to the few who have devoted their at- 
 tention to close spiritual communion and have the 
 proper qualities of both mind and body to be favored 
 with communication with those who have passed to the 
 more advanced planes of life, they, and they alone, have 
 the true source of obtaining the eternal truth — the 
 
 191 
 
truth as it was understood and taught by our Blessed 
 Lord and Saviour. But when this class, or source, from 
 which an understanding is obtained is classed as a Re- 
 ligion it differs so widely from the world's conception 
 of that word that it would hardly be accepted as a re- 
 ligion, but I would class it as a more advanced stage of 
 spiritual thought^ for our Blessed Saviour acquired this 
 line of work without the use of the church or any form 
 of the present-day religion, and after a few centuries 
 the church was organized in a crude way and has since 
 been developed to its present stage of usefulness and 
 continues to attract the minds of mortals away from 
 worldly objects and towards God. And in the present 
 age many have become enlightened through the church 
 in preparation to comprehend the spiritual truth indi- 
 vidually. So I would class the philosophy of Spiritual- 
 ism as too advanced to be called a religion for its faith- 
 ful followers are seeking a better understanding of 
 God's laws than is obtainable through the teachings of 
 religion in the church, which is based upon Faith, which 
 is good for those who have not advanced beyond that 
 stage of development. It would be well and just were 
 Spiritualism and its philosophy be renamed and called 
 "Advanced Spiritual Thought." 
 
 The subject of religion requires much thought be- 
 fore the soul itself becomes aroused in the mortal body 
 and is developed sufficiently to move onward in its 
 march in search for eternal wisdom, and this line of 
 work should always be encouraged for there is no higher 
 and more Godly field for mental operations. And may 
 our loving Father ever keep guard over you, is my wish. 
 — Signed Leo, the Former Pope of the Holy Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 192 
 

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