hilosopliical^IractiGal 
 
 FROM THE HIGHER LIFE, 
 
 THROUGH THE MEDIUMSHIP OF 
 
 JAJVXE>» JMADI^OIV iVJ^I^BlV, 
 
 ^1 CF «* fi .^\ 
 TOPICS: > -* c ' G * T V s 
 
 1. Life and Its Lessons. 
 
 2. Thought— Its Evolvement and Transmissi&n\ ~ 
 
 — """" /? ^ / 
 #. T/ie Universality of Spiritualism. J fr 3 ty£ &$ 
 
 4. iJxif Esculapius. 
 
 5. " Wherewithal shall ye be clothed ?" 
 
 6. T/«e Spiritual Congress— Its Composition, Pur- 
 
 poses and Prospects. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 J. M. and M. T. ALLEN, 
 Springfield, Mo. 
 
?r- 
 
 v 
 ^ 
 
 .i° 
 
 ;pf 
 
 Copyright, 1896, 
 
 BY JAMES MADISON ALLEN. 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
 Dixon Bros. Printers , 
 Springfield, Mo. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 • • • 
 
 The series of essays here presented is the result of an inspir- 
 ational and mechanical influence, or "control," acting independ- 
 ently of my own volition or conscious voluntary mental effort. 
 
 In obedience to an over mastering desire, suddenly imparted 
 to me from a source seemingly distinctly outside of my own self- 
 hood, and asserting itself as a human mind spiritually embodied 
 and individualized, I would take pen in hand and await the 
 further "moving of the spirit" — wholly oblivious to any parti- 
 cular direction or cast of thought, which it might be the design 
 + o express, and only intent upon yielding myself up to the 
 simple impulse to write, without having the slightest idea or 
 conception as to what must be written. 
 
 In this condition, 1 would suddenly see before me in the 
 "mind's eye" a single letter, a syllable, a word, or possibly a 
 clause or sentence. At the same time the hand would be 
 moved by some interior impulse totally unlike that imparted 
 from any ordinary self-volition, and resulting in the very rapid 
 writing of the said letter or syllable etc. ; which being accom- 
 plished, another mental concept, fragmentary or complete, would 
 instantaneously crowd itself forward with a celerity more 
 than electric — letter following letter, syllable syllable, far more 
 rapidly than in my ordinary state it would have been possible to 
 write, even tho' the words had been previously thoroughly com- 
 mitted to memory. 
 
 In this manner I received and penned word after word, clause 
 after clause and sentence after sentence — taking no note in 
 passing, of the connection of ideas or congruity of the composi- 
 tion, but possessed completely with the immediate work of re- 
 ceiving and externalizing each separate fragment or portion as 
 it presented itself. 
 
 If, sometimes, having made a single letter or syllable of a 
 word, it might occur to my own mind or imagination that the 
 rest of the word or next letter ought to be, or probably would be, 
 this or that, and I would attempt to form it independently of or 
 contrary to the "influence" or presiding mind, the hand would 
 perhaps be suddenly removed from the paper, or so moved as to 
 
result in forming a different letter, syllable or word from what I 
 had "imagined" or attempted. In every such case I invariably 
 found that the word I would have made would have been un- 
 suited to the thought finally expressed, or that the one produced 
 by the invisible intelligence was more exactly appropriate than 
 mine would have been. So I learned that to be passive as pos- 
 sible would give best results. 
 
 On examining the work, after the influence had expended it- 
 self, or departed, there would be before me a complete essay, 
 systematically arranged, with thoughts coherent, sensible, and 
 well expressed. 
 
 I have ventured to hope that the publication of these writ- 
 ings in permanent form may in some degree be productive of 
 benefit to mankind ; realizing as I do that they have emanated 
 from the world of thought that lies beyond the mystic veil, and 
 from advanced minds immortal that have at heart the welfare, 
 progress and happiness of the great family of man. May the 
 earnest and loving thoughts expressed find lodgement and home 
 in the heart of every reader ; and may the time soon come when 
 the two worlds, seen and unseen (so-called), shall be fully 
 blended into one, and the era so long delayed be speedily ush- 
 ered in, of universal peace, purity and progress, health, har- 
 mony and happiness. 
 
 J. M. A. 
 

 Life and Its Lessons. 
 
 • • • 
 
 [given at new haven, conn., may, 1863.] 
 
 fT IS with great respect for that which is noble and 
 worthy, for the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, 
 that we commence our task of elucidating some of 
 ^ the fundamental principles underlying Life. We 
 desire to show that Life has for its aim, in the 
 nature of things, fundamentally, the grandest of all 
 results possible to be conceived of: the entire harmony 
 of all things, animate and inanimate. 
 
 Life has been a scene of contention thus far — conten- 
 tion among all things, in the world of spirit as connected 
 with matter, and in the world of matter as connected 
 with spirit. (We speak now of that which is compre- 
 hensible to finite capacity — of the earth and its surround- 
 ings more especially — not of the entire realm of infinity, 
 which we may suppose to be as a whole at peace with 
 itself.) As to outward demonstrations of the divine In- 
 telligence, in the visible movements of the machinery of 
 the great Cosmos of life earthly, there is apparently a 
 very great abnegation of the sublime principle of harmony. 
 Who can say whether his brother loves, or dislikes, more, 
 the soldier element of discord, or the artist element of 
 concord, except by the veritable manifestations of the 
 one or the other, in daily walk and conversation ? Judg- 
 ing from these evidences — from this criterion — there is 
 but little to satisfy the divine yearning for peace and love, 
 which pulsate in the human heart. 
 
 In the aspect of use, the love principle is, as it were, 
 but a stranger to humanity. It has not that free scope 
 
for action, that ease of manifestation, which it must have, 
 ere the human race can achieve its lofty and sublime 
 destiny. 
 
 Cramped and crippled by the conventionalities and the 
 barbarities of life, the germ of love, true, free, pure and 
 abiding, warm and steadfast, has not yet emerged and 
 burst forth in budding beauty , but holds itself back, 'mid 
 the discords of life, scarcely alive. Warmed and nurtur- 
 ed by true usages, by pure self- dealing and social frater- 
 nity, it would become the grand mainspring of all 
 human actions. 
 
 Oh ! how different from the actual is this presentation 
 of the possible and the true ! How different from the 
 beauty of sweet lovingness and confiding gentleness, is 
 the aggressive harshness of human society ! 
 
 Evidences and illustrations of the incongruity of 
 human institutions, the perplexity of human experiences, 
 and the miserability of human life in general, are to be 
 found on every hand. 
 
 There is enough for "reformers" to do, in the one 
 field of the affections, to occupy their energies a very 
 long time. There is enough for philanthropists to ac- 
 complish, without entering the reverential or religious 
 department of human nature. The social nature is at 
 variance, more distinctly, even, than the religious, with 
 the true principle and idea of human unfoldment. That 
 is to say, the habits of life are even more gross and 
 impure, more perverted from the true expression of nat- 
 uralness, in the affectional realm, than in the moral or 
 religious. Cramped on every side by false standards of 
 action, the love principle is warped and one-sided, de- 
 formed and withered. Seldom, oh ! how seldom, do we 
 discover a soul true and beautiful in all its proportions, 
 unperverted by false education, sweet and gentle in every 
 aspect of life, loving and true to itself, to humanity and 
 to the Infinite. 
 
The warful elements of fanaticism and illiberality wage 
 ceaseless battle against the divinity of the human soul. 
 There is scarcely a custom of human society founded on 
 the love principle, in its true expansion of liberality and 
 charity — scarcely a government (whether of the school, 
 the church, or the state), which is not founded upon a 
 false basis. The reigning idea is not fraternity, justice, 
 progress. Dogmatism (blind obedience to, and aggress- 
 ive assertion of past thoughts hardened into customs) has 
 usurped the place of liberalism (complete willingness to 
 be led by the true and the pure principles of life, whether 
 they have already been out- wrought into customs or not). 
 Thus we have been surrounded by the perversions and 
 antagonisms of false usages, rather than the glories and 
 delights of harmonic conditions, true to the individual. 
 
 In a true state of society, each individual abides ever 
 a "law unto himself" — no jarring of soul, from the harsh 
 judgments of self- constituted umpires or critics ; no fear- 
 ing of the violation of another's authoritative dictum ; no 
 embodiment of egotism in arbitrary and unnatural forms 
 of conventionality. Each individual soul, filled with the 
 elements of pure sympathy and love at all times, is ready 
 to respond promptly to the demands of true refinement, 
 of rational etiquette. 
 
 So much of the usage of civilized society is false, that 
 aspiration for self-improvement is quenched in the greed 
 for popular approbation. So much of the customary life 
 of the world is merely "custom" -ary, (not inclusive of 
 wisdom and the spontaneous propriety of nature), that 
 there is but little comfort for a true soul in the drawing- 
 rooms of fashion, or the halls of the literati. Who can 
 be free in the utterance of brave sentiments of progress- 
 iveness, in the gatherings of the elite ? Who can cen- 
 sure extravagance and recklessness in high places, with- 
 out suffering social neglect ? What topic of philan- 
 thropy can be broached in the "higher circles," so- 
 
called, with any reasonable prospect of eliciting atten- 
 tion and interest, on the part of the rich and favored, in 
 behalf of the poor and oppressed sons and daughters of 
 civilization ? Schemes for the practical benefit of the 
 less favored classes are not to be broached in general 
 conversation. Self-aggrandizement seems at present to 
 be the ruling motive of human action, in a majority of 
 cases, rather than the general good. Christian churches 
 are filled with the spirit of sectarian proselytism, rather 
 than the divine element of universal love. 
 
 Eventually there must be a very different system of 
 civilization from the present. The attributes of the soul 
 will have the utmost freedom of expansion in all the av- 
 enues of life. The yearnings of the affections for social 
 culture and warm appreciation, in the intimate relations 
 of every-day life, will be satisfied — not, as now, the 
 cramp ings of a crude social code, restraining the freedom 
 of friendly intercourse which should exist, according to 
 true purity and naturalness. 
 
 Life must be sweet — divinely sweet ! when man has 
 come into the heavenly condition of harmony — harmon- 
 ious with himself and with his brother ; natural in every 
 outward expression ; free in the utterance of every soul 
 thought ; pure in the outgushings of every emotion ; lov- 
 ing in every condition of external life ; over- reaching in 
 no sphere of social dealing ; just in all his relations ; 
 high-minded in his views ; gentle in his manners ; strong 
 in his aspirations for purity and culture ; in his straight- 
 forwardness and uprightness, majestic ; in his liberality 
 and progressiveness, true ; in his oneness and directness 
 of purpose, consistent ; in his loftiness and internality 
 of perception, God-like and intuitive. 
 
 How much the world must change, ere such beautiful 
 conditions prevail ! Here and there a noble bark is dis- 
 cernable on the great ocean of human existence, richly 
 laden with the gems of the sunny clime, where angels, 
 
with their wealth of love and wisdom, keep patient wait- 
 ing at the port of peace. Here and there a bright sonl 
 breaks away from the chains of rigid conventionality, 
 which have ground so gratingly into the growing soul, 
 and finds its native elements of freedom, all unchecked 
 by the absurdities of social tyranny. Such a being us- 
 ually stands by himself, however. The sweet consol- 
 ings, the fervid joy of domestic life, may be his ; but 
 socially he is proscribed, politically almost disfran- 
 chised, and religiously anathematized. 
 
 Such is the fate of the true soul. Denied the natural 
 congenialities of interchangement, in thought and feel- 
 ing and purpose, he is in "society" a blank, an oddity, 
 a lunatic, a heretic, a disorganizer, a fanatic, a humbug. 
 Anything, everything, but the truth, is spoken of him. 
 Malice, with its thousand tongues, spits venom at him ; 
 scandal falsifies every action, and embitters every sweet 
 experience, by the disenchanting reflections of persecu- 
 tion. 
 
 To change all this, oh ! how much must be done ! The 
 field is large and the laborers few. Let each one who 
 feels welling up within his soul the sweet emotions of a 
 divine love overflowing the being w r ith aspirations for 
 the uplifting of humanity, and the alleviation of suffer- 
 ing — let each one, w r ho loves his fellow-men with a deep 
 and abiding, impartial and far-reaching affection, not 
 cramped by petty distinctions of color, race, clime, sex, 
 or sect — let each one, who believes in that species of 
 Godliness which exhibits itself in practical efforts for 
 the removal of sin and suffering, darkness and error ; 
 let him who believes that God (good) resides in all 
 things, and outwardly manifests itself according to the 
 conditions of external life — that virtue is in all things, 
 but cannot manifest itself, except through conditions of 
 harmony more or less complete ; that the love principle 
 ought to guide and govern men and manners, rather than 
 
10 
 
 selfishness ; — let all such be as active as they may in 
 good works of practical amelioration ; let them spend 
 their lives, their fortunes and their energies in the ad- 
 vancement of needed reforms ; let them die and pass on- 
 ward to the spheres above ; let them labor in the cause 
 of regeneration there, acting upon the embodied souls as 
 powerfully as they may be able ; let heaven and earth 
 be joined, with the sweet embrace of nature, and noble 
 souls in the body act conjointly with progressed souls in 
 the spheres ; let all this be ; let heaven and earth co- 
 operate in sacred harmony for a thousand years ; — there 
 will be still work to do. Harmony throughout all minds, 
 and extending to all things, is to be obtained; and the 
 goal is so far removed from us of the present, that we may 
 even incline to question the possibility of attaining it. 
 
 Noble minds may hesitate, and loving hearts tremble, 
 at the fearful thought of everlasting continuance in low 
 conditions ; of the perpetuity of fear, ignorance, selfish- 
 ness, and crime ; of the prevalence of dogmatism and un- 
 charity, through the rolling ages of eternity. They may 
 well hesitate and tremble, if the gloomy doctrines of 
 modern Christianity are founded upon truth ; and the 
 stultifications of conscience, resulting from a belief in the 
 remission of sins, are to be continued ; and the dogmatic 
 materialism of scientists, and the illiberality of popular 
 thinkers be perpetuated ; and the ignorance of natural 
 laws, now everywhere existing, continue in the future, to 
 darken and mislead the longing, waiting, yearning soul 
 of humanity ; if the principles of commerce be as they 
 have always been — self-relative, rather than mutual ; and 
 the dealings of nations with each other be characterized 
 by mutual jealousy and distrust, antagonism and narrow- 
 minded "patriotism," — if, we say, minds are always to be 
 fettered, warped and stultified by the false conditions and 
 customs of human society, based upon false principles of 
 action and thought; if noble souls, yearning for human- 
 
11 
 
 ity's upbuilding, and the usherance in of universal har- 
 mony, be persistently forced back by men in power and 
 customs in reign, from exemplifying and establishing 
 their principles, their philosophy; if man is to be the 
 creature of ignorance and selfishness, instead of broad 
 culture and deep-seated and far-reaching love ; if disunity 
 in speech, manners, religion, morals, pervade the nations ; 
 and devastation follows the wake of armies ; and curses 
 rise like sulphurous smoke thick to heaven ; and famine 
 and sorrow desolate the hearthstone of countless children 
 of God ; if the race be consecrated by no principles of 
 love and deep-seated charity; if no scientific culture, no 
 integral education, is to reach the masses, through equita- 
 ble association, and equalization of opportunities, privi- 
 leges, and comforts ; if life is to be as it always has been, 
 a scene of contention, — how can we look forward but 
 with horror and dismay, and why continue efforts for the 
 inushering of the reign of harmony ? 
 
 A gloomy picture we have drawn. Gloomy enough to 
 satisfy the most ascetic imagination, the most hopeless 
 and confirmed pessimist. But will the world move on 
 as it has done, governed by principles of intolerance ? 
 Will superstition rear its foul head, and hiss hideous 
 dogmas at a groaning world, bowed down with bitterness 
 and woe and fearful forebodings already ? Will visions 
 of giant spectres, demons damned, haunt the affrighted 
 imaginations of trembling religionists, until man is 
 ready to believe even in the divinity of the Devil ? Will 
 education continue to be conducted, as it always has 
 been, upon the basis of sexual inequality of mental 
 capacity ? Will fashion always reign, to the stultification 
 of the moral (and the "common") sense? Will doctors 
 always purge and blister, bleed and salivate, scarify and 
 mutilate, instead of employing nature's rational and 
 and simple means of cure ? Will soldiers return home 
 limping from the wars of savageism, and the wailing of 
 
12 
 
 orphans and widows be heard evermore so long as time 
 shall last and the sun rise and set upon earth-dwellers? 
 Will commercial speculation peculate forever, and the 
 bulls and bears of the' Wall streets of earth strut disdain- 
 fully, and trample upon the rights of honest labor, which 
 in sweat and blood groans beneath the burdens of life, 
 imposed by inequitable and false principles of social 
 dealing ? 
 
 Will all this be in the expansive future ? God forbid ! 
 Is there no God, no Deific Principle of Good, no Infinite 
 Healer, no Divine and sweet Restorer, that life should 
 always be bitter? Is there nothing to mitigate the in- 
 human conditions of the present, and magnify and in- 
 tensify the love principle ? Is there not to be a thorough 
 change, a regenerating overturn, in every department of 
 life ? Is there not to be a mighty flood of light and love 
 poured out upon the earth, from the celestial heavens? 
 Is there not to be a revivification of the decaying elements 
 of virtue and honor, sobriety and honesty, liberality and 
 tolerance ? 
 
 Will not life on earth be sweet, when the Spirit- World 
 shall have been universally recognized, and its loving 
 presence been made manifest to all — when its sweet lov- 
 ingness shall have permeated every avenue of life, and 
 filled the whole earth with beautiful conditions of peace 
 and harmony ? Will not education be conducted upon 
 liberal principles of scientific naturalness, instead of as 
 now fettered by false standards, set up in the past and 
 sought to be adhered to forever notwithstanding the ever- 
 growing, ever-changing, ever-widening, everdeepening 
 wants and capacities, demands and posibilities of the 
 human soul? 
 
 Think ye not, oh ! friends of truth, progress and hum- 
 anity, that there will be a time when both sexes will be 
 treated with equal consideration, in all institutions of cul- 
 ture ? Will not the enfranchised soul of a Horace Mann, 
 
13 
 
 whose energetic labors for many years on the earth- 
 plane were directed to the establishment of a progres- 
 sive system of education, which should include both 
 sexes, still act, and with increased force, upon the in- 
 stitutions of America and the world ? May not his 
 spirit pervade the colleges, and liberality grow up (by 
 imperceptible degrees, perhaps, but none the less 
 surely), among "faculties," "trustees," patrons and 
 friends of the various schools of learning now perme- 
 ated with very different elements — dogmatic exclusive- 
 ness and routinery ? Ought not the facilities for self- 
 improvement to be extended to all alike ? Ought not 
 the sexes to stand side by side in the acquisition of 
 knowledge, as well as in the application and use thereof 
 — in the school-room, as well as at the fireside ? Na- 
 ture's ways are ways of wisdom, and they do most clearly 
 point to the associated education of the two sexes ; and 
 until this principle, advocated so ably by the noble soul 
 alluded to, and by many others, is everywhere adopted 
 in school, college, and university, there will not cease to 
 be a spirit of exclusiveness and intolerance in the educa- 
 tional world, and a low standard of morality among stu- 
 dents. 
 
 Educated without the refining influence of woman, 
 young men leave the university far different in moral 
 discernment and genuine manhood from that standard 
 which, should be reached by every soul laying claim to 
 liberal culture. No culture can be truly liberal without 
 the permeation of the pure love element, the spiritual ; 
 no education is complete and natural, unless the femi- 
 nine element of refinement and purity, grace and beauty, 
 has entered into it. Thus a great reform lies waiting 
 to be inaugurated and completed in behalf of a suffering 
 womanhood. The institutions which are to be conducted 
 under Spirit guidance, will, we trust, be permeated with 
 the principles of fraternity and progressiveness ; and no 
 
14 
 
 soul desiring development will be denied access to the 
 means on account of sex, race or station. 
 
 The "Lessons of Life," then, are these : — to discover 
 the true designs of nature in the unfoldment of all 
 things, and to build up, upon the deductions of investi- 
 gation, true theories — which may be safely out wrought 
 into institutions and customs, provided the sacred law of 
 individuality be not lost sight of. The individual must 
 not be swallowed up, extinguished, in the institution 
 or custom. All must stand upon the platform of equal- 
 ity, justice and fraternity, and the utmost freedom of 
 individual and social growth be ever permitted. 
 
 The hope of the world lies in the gradual development 
 and practical application of true theories of life, its de- 
 sign, its origin, its evolution and its harmonization. 
 
 The life principle pervades all things. The ultimatum 
 of life — its highest expression — is only reached in the 
 full-grown human soul. The full-grown soul is an em- 
 bodiment of the perfection of harmony. Harmony, 
 therefore, is the aim and object of all life. 
 
 The origin of life, eternity can only reveal in its full 
 beauty. Co-existent with matter, soul (or life) perme- 
 ates it, fills it, actuates it, developes it. Co-existent, 
 and ever present with it, it can be studied only in its as- 
 sociated relation. 
 
 The origin of life is the origin of God. The origin of 
 God who can comprehend? We only know that life is 
 in all things, and that without it there could be no forms 
 of matter. Self-perpetuating, it must be self- evolving, 
 self-originating. Eternal in its ceaseless round, never 
 ending, it is yet ever ending ; never beginning, yet it is 
 ever beginning. Originating in the necessities of pri- 
 mordial existence, (for without life there would be noth- 
 ing), it must be that life is perpetual, self-sustaining, 
 self-procreating. Endless in its future, it is equally 
 endless in its past. Its "separatrix," the present, is 
 
15 
 
 ever shifting ; and the past may itself become the sepa- 
 ratrix, and the future of that past thus evolves itself in 
 the now-present, or the to-be-past of some future. 
 
 An "inversion of decimals" may thus take place, the 
 extreme of "divisibility," (or pastness), approaching 
 and combining with the extreme of "multiplicity" (or 
 to-comeness) ; and the central point, (the nowness), shift- 
 ing ever from one "extreme" to the other. Thus, in 
 the eye and comprehension of Infinite Life (or God), all 
 things and events are ever present — are here and now, 
 and time and space are as though they were not. 
 
 Oh, Life ! thou art mysterious, yet plain ; sublime, all 
 powerful, yet gentle and sweet ; multiplex and compli- 
 cate, } r et unitary ; pervaded with design, originated in 
 necessity, infinite in expansion, glorious and beautiful 
 in harmonic capacity. As Life is God, and God is Life, 
 the divisibility of God is infinite, and the expansibility 
 or multiplicity of Life equally infinite. 
 
 Thus, each little atom floating in outer space, or tra- 
 versing the intricate network of the human pulmona, is 
 endowed with a principle of expansive and contractive 
 (or pulsative) life — yea, with an eternal principle of ex- 
 pansibility and contractability, perhaps equalled in its 
 capacity by every other atom. 
 
 Evolvement in, through, and from matter will bring 
 each infinitely divided or compressed atom of God-es- 
 sence (so to speak) into expansion again and the ex- 
 panded essence will then divide and subdivide — "con- 
 dense," and evolve itself into and through material ele- 
 ments, again and again ; harmonizing them, and pre- 
 paring them for the indwelling of higher and still higher 
 expressions of expansive and divisive God-life ;' and this 
 process of creation, progression, dissolution, re-creation, 
 or pro-creation, etc., going on, going on, in ceaseless 
 continuity and beauty, reveals to atomic matter, finally, 
 its high destiny as the embodiment of soul. As soul- 
 
16 
 
 growth is the aim of production of new forms of life, and 
 man the ultimatum or climax of progressive evolution, 
 so the embodiment of the human soul is the highest 
 function of matter ; and as the shifting scenes of earth- 
 life reveal but slightly the grandeur, power, and stabil- 
 ity of highly developed soul-life, so the lower forms of 
 matter (that is, matter undeveloped) take on but little 
 "comprehension" (if the term be allowed) of the high 
 destiny which awaits all matter. The theme is exhaustless . 
 
 The evolvement of new forms, and the taking on of 
 new conditions, constitutes development. 
 
 Development is, or points to, harmonization. Mind 
 and matter alike feel the touch of this law, pervading all 
 things, though sometimes slow in its operations ; and if 
 mind, life, soul, God, be in its essence harmonious, it 
 will unlock the prison-house of matter, and evolve per- 
 fection there. Thus all things, animate and "inani- 
 mate" (so-called), will reach the summit of excellence, 
 the perfection of harmony, and the lessons of life be 
 sweet to learn, at last and evermore. 
 
 God reigns ! Let earth rejoice ! 
 
 Ye nations hear his voice ! 
 
 Triumphant shouts ascend , 
 
 Harmonious voices blend. 
 The earth will learn Life's lessons grand, 
 As wafted from the Summer-Land. 
 
 The loves of earth will bloom 
 
 In joy beyond the tomb , 
 
 And love celestial bring 
 
 Sweet flowers of early spring, 
 Plucked fresh from those divine parterres, 
 Where angels walk, in the upper airs. 
 
 Life's lessons learned with ease, 
 
 Will come a sweet release 
 
 From sorrow, pain and care, 
 
 Which now earth- dwellers share. 
 Not then, as now, will earth be sad ; 
 For all will love — all souls be glad ! 
 
 Humanity will learn 
 
 No sad lone soul to spurn, 
 
 Because of error dark 
 
 Enshrouded 'round the heart. 
 All life will be sublime and true, 
 The joys of earth e'er fresh and new. 
 
hought=== 
 
 ITS EVOLVEMENT AND TRANSHISSION. 
 
 • • • 
 [given at new HAVEN, CONN., JULY 4, 1863.] 
 
 jjfN THE divine economy of Nature there is a vast 
 and as yet unexplored source of wealth. The 
 emanations and the immanations of the Divine 
 Intelligence are as yet entirely uncomprehended by 
 mortal man. The play of thought-producing forces 
 or elements is so delicate, so subtle, so refined, that the 
 ordinary action of men's minds (gross as those minds 
 have been) has utterly failed to take in the rationale 
 thereof. 
 
 What is the process by which thought is produced ? 
 How is it that from the mind being vacant and unoccu- 
 pied, it suddenly (or gradually, as the case may be,) be- 
 comes illuminated, inhabited, warmed, impregnated, by 
 stirring thought, which completely changes the mental 
 condition, and increases the stock of mental capital ? 
 How is it that wishing, or the action of the will-power, 
 sometimes brings to us thoughts upon any given sub- 
 ject, while at other times no amount of desire or deter- 
 mination can summon to our aid aught but vacancy ? 
 What is present in the one case and lacking in the other ? 
 What, we ask — what is it ? Is it a substance, an entity, 
 comprehensible to the material understanding ; or a 
 shadowy nothing, a vapory nonentity, only cognizable 
 to the "dim and misty" imagination, having existence 
 only in the realm of pure fancy ? 
 
 How are the operations of mind carried on? What is 
 
18 
 
 it to think f Who can tell ? The vastity of the ocean of 
 thought who can explore ? Who can delineate its boun- 
 daries, fathom its depths, describe its waters, analyze 
 the "drops" thereof, follow with the keen eye of ana- 
 lytic science the intricacies of its currents, or demon- 
 strate the laws of its tidal ebb and flow ? 
 
 The immensity of the universe is filled with thought. 
 God "breathes," and creation teems with intelligence. 
 The Divine Influx permeates all Nature, and a Godsome 
 Wisdom is manifest in all her operations. The deific 
 principle of Light irradiates the hill-tops in the gray 
 dawn of the morning, and straightway the busy world 
 arouses from its slumbers ; the intellect directs the oper- 
 ations of life ; thought is evolved and transmitted ; and 
 the Divine Intelligence is manifested in countless varie- 
 ties of forms and conditions. 
 
 Oh, the sublimity of Life ! When viewed from the 
 stand-point of spirit — beholding as we do the multifar- 
 ious operations of the God-principle in the production of 
 human thought and the guidance of humanity through 
 the transmission of the same — we cannot but think that 
 man is destined to far outstrip, while yet in his earth- 
 form, the present achievements even of the Spirit- 
 World. 
 
 The continuous and ever-expanding action of the hu- 
 man brain must eventually evolve conditions of true 
 wisdom. Guidance from above, continuous also, must 
 ultimately fill the embodied human soul with the trans- 
 mitted wisdom of the Celestial Spheres. The lasting 
 happiness of the world hinges not upon the ever- vary- 
 ing conditions of matter, but upon the reception and ap- 
 plication of fixed principles. These will guide safely ; 
 these must be evolved from the united and increasingly 
 harmonious action of human brains ; these must be 
 transmitted from the Celestial World through the laws 
 of the Eternal Mind operating there and here. 
 
19 
 
 How approach our subject? How answer the ques- 
 tions we have propounded ? Is it possible in a few brief 
 paragraphs to expound fully the laws of mind, and show 
 the exact operation of the mental forces, in the produc- 
 tion and intermingling of thought ? Nay, verily. We 
 could not exhaust the subject, though months and years 
 were spent in the treatment of it. It is illimitable, in- 
 deed, as the Eternal Source of Thought. We can only 
 barely touch the outermost folds of the garment which 
 covers its body — the "soul" itself thereof is unap- 
 proachable. 
 
 Our eyes have not been opened to the full glories of 
 the gorgeous realm of Thought. We stand upon the 
 outer verge, and can only gaze with longing i^eart and 
 feeble eyes towards the unknown and untravelled country 
 beyond. 
 
 We implore the aid of the Infinite Mind, the influx of 
 Celestial Wisdom, while we lay down a few premises 
 and endeavor to develop them to "their legitimate re- 
 sults. 
 
 We shall be brief, concise, and simple as possible, 
 consistent with the magnitude, intricacy, and sublimity 
 of the subject to be treated. If we fail to eliminate 
 much light, we may at least confer some benefit by pre- 
 senting certain general principles, by which we think 
 mankind should be governed in their intercourse with 
 each other and in the privacy of aloneness. 
 
 We lay down as the fundamental truth, underlying all 
 other truths, that 
 
 The Universe of Mind 
 Is a Universe of Oneness. 
 
 With this principle in view, we may proceed to se- 
 quence : 
 
 God and Man 
 
 Are One in Essence. 
 
20 
 
 And 
 
 The Universal Man 
 Is the highest Embodiment of God. 
 Which being true, 
 
 God divells in every human soul, 
 
 And earth and heaven one love enfold. 
 
 The Divine permeation of Thought, 
 Through all things, is thus taught ; 
 And man to man stands thus related 
 In Brotherhood . All things created 
 Are only objects for th' indwelling 
 Of Mind Divine— some shape outwelling 
 From the phase of mental action 
 In each infinite transaction, 
 Whereby God doth manifest 
 Through fair Nature , thus caressed , 
 Some emotion, some reflection, 
 Best expressed by such connection. 
 
 [Oh ! how happy, thus to express the indwelling- 
 thoughts ! As the controlling mind evolves and receives 
 the fruit of mental action in its own selfhood and from 
 other intelligences, transmission is easily effected through 
 another mentality, and words flow out upon paper made 
 by mortal hands. 
 
 What a beautiful exemplification is thus furnished of 
 our subject ! While yet disconnected with the body of 
 the Medium, we perceive the indwelling thought of his 
 mind, and are able — by virtue of the Law of Attraction 
 of Spiritual Forces harmoniously related — to approach 
 that mind, and to enter into such intimate association 
 with it, as to absorb its positiveness, and render it for 
 the time being passive and receptive. As to independ- 
 ent action, it is as if it were not — relying and depending 
 for power and kind of action upon the positive mind con- 
 trolling it. Thus the evolvement of thought within and 
 by the brain of the writer ceases ; and reception super- 
 cedes it, through transmission from the mind of the con- 
 troller.] 
 
 From this digression, let us return. to our axiomatic 
 
21 
 
 lines, and from them make applications to the actuali- 
 ties of life and destiny. If it be true that "the universe 
 of mind is a universe of oneness," we may conclude that 
 all mind is related as the drops of water in the ocean are 
 related ; that there is a principle of unitiveness pervad- 
 ing all the operations of thought ; that thought is in it- 
 self the same, whether existing in the "inanimate" clod 
 or in the human brain — whether in mortal man or high- 
 est angel; that only the manifestation of thought is di- 
 verse in mode, degree, quality. We may conclude that 
 there is a vast ocean whose name is Thought ; that this 
 ocean is all-permeating, giving shape to matter, and fit- 
 ting it for the abode of organized consciousness whose 
 culmination is man. 
 
 If "God and man are one in essence," man is indeed 
 a creature of glorious destiny ! Already "a little lower 
 than the angels," he will pass on, from one degree or 
 sphere of unfoldment to another, casting off the earthly, 
 the spiritual, the angelic, the seraphic, and all the ce- 
 lestial glories — reaching out constantly and endlessly 
 toward the Deific, the Infinite ! Ever finite, he w r ill ex- 
 pand indefinitely ; ever organized in conscious identity, 
 he will approach more and more nearly the diffusive 
 Omnipresence of Deity. 
 
 If "the universal man is the highest embodiment of 
 God," the organization of man is a subject fit for the 
 contemplation of the highest intelligence ; and the eter- 
 nal out-reachings of the God-principle will be towards 
 the production of human souls, as the acme of Divine 
 Architecture, the summum bonum of formative desire ! 
 We are thus epitomes of the universe, God-parts of the 
 Great Eternal ! 
 
 The destiny of the human race is thus grand beyond 
 present comprehension. If 
 
 God dwells in every human soul, 
 And earth and heaven one love enfold, 
 
22 
 
 the potency and the propriety of Charity, for the accom- 
 plishment of reformation or elevation from false or low 
 conditions, is an obvious fact. That this virtue is sub- 
 lime and efficacious there can be no doubt ; for it recog- 
 nizes the divinity of ever} T soul, and by directly appeal- 
 ing to that divinity it is called out into vigorous action ; 
 and the shams and pretensions, follies and depravities of 
 human life are rebuked with a kindliness which appeals 
 to the better nature, and subdues the turbulence of 
 unfortunate development. 
 
 If every soul has a spark of Divinity within it, 
 implanted there by the Divine fiat, there is no virtue in 
 this lower world greater than that of Charity. It uplifts 
 the veil from the torn and bleeding heart of humanity, 
 and amid the wreck and ruin which a false theology and 
 a crude and cruel social system have wrought, discovers 
 the shining jewel of a native purity and goodness. It 
 says to all, however steeped in iniquity or inflated with 
 pride, debased by licentiousness, or crushed by poverty 
 and misfortunes : "There is a destiny in store for you, 
 brother, sister, high and pure, glorious and beatific. The 
 God principle within you will unfold, and you will cast 
 off that which now binds you down — will step forth 
 in the true dignity of harmonized manhood, womanhood, 
 the equal, in all that makes the true soul, of more for- 
 tunate or less tempted ones." Thus Charity addresses 
 the erring wayfarer, and clasps his hand in true affection 
 — recognizing in every human soul an immortal deific 
 attribute, which cannot be eradicated, though it be ever 
 so terribly marred or incrusted over by the debasements 
 and wranglings of undeveloped earth-life. 
 
 The shining hosts of Heaven, with their unspeakable 
 love and charity, join hands with the earnest-souled re- 
 formers and philanthropists of earth. Sweet anthems 
 ascend to Heaven from holy hearts, in praise and 
 thanksgiving for the interchange of thought and senti- 
 
23 
 
 merit now taking place 'twixt heaven and earth. Happy 
 hearts — made happy by the delightful consciousness of 
 angel-guidance — yearn lovingly for the renewed em- 
 braces of pure affection. Sweet endearments from 
 Spirit Life to mortal are given and reciprocated. 
 " Earth and Heaven one love enfold." Oh, the bliss of 
 angels in approaching their loved ones of earth and be- 
 holding the upturned glance, made clear by the develop- 
 ment of Spirituality in soul and body ! The loving rec- 
 ognition of soul-friends, separated by the chemistry of 
 death, has stripped the "king of terrors" of all his 
 gloomy might ! He stands disrobed, dethroned, power- 
 less ; and his "victims" are no longer slaves but con- 
 querors ! Life rules, and the development of the ages 
 has at last brought man to a consciousness of the reality 
 of Immortality. 
 
 Heaven and earth are one at last! 
 The fear of death's forever past! 
 The loves of earth-life still remain, 
 And sundered friends have met againl 
 
 There's naught can happify the soul- 
 Made bear and bleeding by the roll 
 Of Death's dark chariot wheels above 
 The grave of one we fondly love- 
 Like this belief, this cheering thought, 
 Which Spirit-power to earth has brought, 
 That man, though dead, doth live again, 
 And thus complete Love's golden chain! 
 
 That Spirit-life does not remove 
 Immortal souls from those they love; 
 But gives them power their thoughts to bring 
 To those dear ones to whom they cling! 
 
 Thus life on earth and life in heaven 
 Are closely linked — no tie is riven 
 Which binds two yearning souls together: 
 They live and love unsundered ever! 
 
 The majesty of life is thus revealed by these postu- 
 lates. Starting with the Oneness of the Universe of 
 Mind, we have taken the reader through various se- 
 quences, until we have reached the Divinity, the One- 
 
24 
 
 ness, and the Immortality of the human race, and finally 
 the Inseparableness of earth-life and Spirit-life, of earth- 
 love and Spirit- love. 
 
 We are now prepared for the consideration of the na- 
 ture of Thought, and the process of its evolvement and 
 transmission. 
 
 Having viewed man as an embodiment of God (or 
 Good), as the highest type of Divine Architecture, a mi- 
 crocosm and a macrocosm — containing within himself 
 the elements of divinity and the power of self-perpetua- 
 tion — resting upon the bosom of the Great Parent, and 
 drawing from the Ocean of Thought for sustenance and 
 growth of soul — we again inquire, What is Thought? 
 
 The answer comes. Laden with the growth of cen- 
 turies, the human soul can at last manifest itself with a 
 freedom and trueness in vain sought for hitherto. The 
 "perspicuity of perception" possessed at present, pro- 
 vides a positive proof of the permeation of a pure yet 
 palpable "powder," "fluid," or "ether," throughout all 
 things. This "aura" is finer than electricity, more 
 transparent than air, purer than alabaster. It is not 
 thought, but it is that in which thought dwells — being 
 the spiritual body of the great soul of God ; — all ' 'mat- 
 ter" (so-called) being the outermost covering, the "nat- 
 ural body." 
 
 This aura or spiritual body substance furnishes a 
 basis — a medium — a channel, upon or through which 
 the Divine Mind can and does and must manifest itself. 
 The thought is therefore inherent in the soul of God, 
 and the manifestation of thought is. what we see in the 
 clouds and whirlwinds, rocks and valleys, trees and an- 
 imals, men and seraphs. 
 
 There could be no thought apparent to us without the 
 spirit of God, which transmits (or furnishes a means of 
 transmission) the movings of the Deific Mind, and en- 
 ables these movings to give shape and consistence to the 
 
25 
 
 external — thus resulting in forms and identities, new 
 and peculiar according to the character of the Divine 
 mental action. 
 
 Thus we have something like an explanation of the 
 evolvement of the material universes from chaotic unor- 
 ganization ; each step being but a preliminary to another, 
 and all preparing the universe of matter for the indwell- 
 ing of the highest identities, the most elevated individu- 
 alities, the sublime selfhood, expressed in the term 
 m a n ! 
 
 Man, is thus, we may repeat, an epitime of the uni- 
 verse; and in his structure, in his being, in his body, 
 spirit and soul, we may discover all that may be found 
 anywhere. Let us then confine our attention to him for 
 a season, and see if perchance some further light may 
 not be evolved upon the theme of our present contem- 
 plations. 
 
 Man being a triune being, composed of body, spirit 
 and soul, and corresponding in miniature to the Infinite 
 Triune Good of Nature (which embraces all forms, ele- 
 ments and potencies), the same phenomena we have ex- 
 amined as pertaining to Deity, pertain also to man. 
 That which occurs with the Infinite Good, occurs also 
 measurably with the finite man. The same general laws 
 govern each — the difference being that in the one case 
 there is no restriction of power, no limitation of scope, 
 while in the other there is a dependence upon a higher 
 power, and a limited field of action and scope of individ- 
 ual possibilities. 
 
 The triunity or trinity in man is as complete and 
 beautiful and perfect as in the natural Godhead. Each 
 individual soul has an encasement of spirit, and each 
 spirit (while in earth-life) an external counterpart or 
 physical body. Thus there is an infinite number (to 
 speak liberally,) of Deity-representatives — each one com- 
 plete in itself as an individual, governed by its own laws 
 
26 
 
 of self-preservation, and yet linked to all the rest by the 
 same spirit- ether of which we have spoken as the spirit- 
 ual body of God. 
 
 This universal aura is itself capable of being subdivid- 
 ed, detached, concentrated and intensified, around an 
 individual soul (or soul-point), thus forming an individ- 
 ual finite spirit ; which, while it is limited, is yet in close 
 sympathy, in near relationship with the Infinite Spirit, 
 and indeed still forms a part of it. The all-pervading 
 spirit-ether is still in unity with (though as it were outside 
 of) each individual spirit, and gives to it a renewal 
 of persistency and permanency — feeding it, as it were, 
 with needed recuperation, from time to time. 
 
 Each individual thus carries with him at all times a 
 somewhat attenuated spirit-aura, surrounding especially 
 the head, and reaching out to a greater or lesser distance 
 therefrom, according to the peculiar organization or tem- 
 porary condition of the person. This aura is more atten- 
 uated than the condensed individualized spirit it approx- 
 imates to, and less so than the general ocean of spirit, 
 from which it has been partially individualized. God, 
 thus, the Infinite Soul, has a controlling power over the 
 individualized finite soul, spirit and body, by means of 
 the graduated aura, forming a medium, a "connecting 
 link" between God-spirit and man-spirit — thus enabling 
 the infinite soul to move upon the finite identity, through 
 the different degrees of spirit density or individuation. 
 God the Infinite thinks, and the thought of man is as 
 nothing — being overpowered or submerged by the Infin- 
 ite Thought, reaching man through the graduated aura. 
 
 As man has been produced from the Infinite, so must 
 he ever be controlled thereby — the connection never be- 
 ing severed entirely which binds the Creator to the cre- 
 ated. That connection, as we have intimated, is the 
 "halo" which surrounds every human brain. It is not 
 dependent upon the body for existence, though its char- 
 
27 
 
 acter and extent are varied somewhat by the conditions 
 of the body. Purity of body conduces to growth of halo, 
 and hence the spirit is more easily and constantly recup- 
 erated and built up by drawing from, or by means of, its 
 surrounding aura, that which it needs for health and 
 growth. An important lesson may here be learned : 
 Live pure physical lives, if you would have strong and 
 healthy spiritual conditions. Keep your bodies unde- 
 filed, if you would carry with you a large and beautiful 
 atmosphere of spirituality, which shall meet and blend 
 with other atmospheres, and thus the happiness, glory 
 and fullness of life be greatly enhanced. Would you 
 bring yourselves into close sympathy with God and Ce- 
 lestial Humanity? So live as to surround yourselves 
 with a far-reaching influence or "atmosphere." 
 
 As the distance from the individuality (having its 
 seat, center or "throne" in the head) to the finest point 
 of attenuation of the spirit-aura is increased, so is the 
 ease of Divine Control and sympathy Avith Celestial Con- 
 ditions enhanced. And vice versa : he who debases 
 himself in any way, must not expect, while in debase- 
 ment, that the sympathy of Supernal Conditions can 
 immediately and effectually approach him. He must 
 create a demand for heavenly guidance, and this demand 
 will bring to him a bountiful supply of spirit-material ; 
 through which he may be made to realize the divinity 
 which is all about him and only waiting for a channel, 
 or medium, through which to transmit itself. 
 
 The aromal medium for the transmission of Divine 
 Thought exists to some degree around every person ; but 
 in many the aspirations are so clouded by false habits of 
 thought or action as to render them almost nugatory. 
 
 It is a matter of surprise and deep regret (let us 
 remark parenthetically) that so many struggling souls 
 should be forced into submission and held in mental 
 bondage by the fierceness of dogmatism. They have it 
 
28 
 
 in their power to shake off the tyranny which oppresses 
 them. Let them call upon the aid of the Divine and 
 Celestial Forces, and their spirits shall be strengthened, 
 and they shall attain mental power, a positive magnetic 
 condition and influence, not to be overcome. Their 
 souls shall take hold upon the Spirit-forces in and 
 around them, intuition shall unfold, and the qualities of 
 Divine and Angelic Mind shall reach them. 
 
 The Angel- World is in closer sympathy with the 
 "Great Spirit" than mortals are. Death does not 
 destroy the aura which surrounds the spirit in mortal. 
 It brings the spirit into still more intimate relations with 
 Deity — identifies it with Deity, in a certain sense. That 
 is to say, the enfranchised spirit — the disembodied — no 
 longer subject in its manifestations to the demands of the 
 earthly physical, can connect itself at will with the aura 
 of mortals, and by virtue of the power of soul, moving 
 through the commingled auras, the mortal becomes 
 guided and inspired by the immortal. 
 
 Thought may be termed, the moving of the soul — as 
 sound is the result of atmospheric undulation. The 
 wonderful phenomena of trance, inspiration, impression, 
 vision, and the more physical manifestations, are thus 
 explainable and easily understood. By virtue of the 
 movings of the positive soul, thought is transmitted 
 through the associated auras to the external plane — the 
 thought of the spirit becoming, "to all intents and pur- 
 poses," the thought of the mortal. The soul movings of 
 the operator are felt upon the spirit of the subject, and 
 thus mind is manifested through another individuality 
 than that in which it originated. This is transmission of 
 thought; and it may occur between embodied individ- 
 uals, as seen in the operations of mesmerism, or disem- 
 bodied, as in the beautiful illuminations of spirit-psych- 
 ics, as well as between spirit and mortal. 
 
 The conditions must be favorable in any case, or the 
 
29 
 
 results will be imperfect. Let Mediums render them- 
 selves pure and spotless in mind and body ; let their as- 
 pirations flow out constantly towards the Highest Source 
 of Wisdom ; let them seek to bring themselves into one- 
 ness with high intelligences of all worlds ; let them seek 
 to draw to themselves copious influxes of spirit-magnet- 
 ism : — they will be developed into beautiful conditions 
 of angelic perfection ; they will become illuminated 
 by halos of celestial light; their influence will reach far 
 out into the spheres, and they will become ever shining 
 lights to darkened souls in Spirit-Life. 
 
 All have in their power to render themselves suscepti- 
 ble to Spirit-influx. All have it in their power to sur- 
 round themselves with radiant auras, which shall be unto 
 them a protection and an education. The soul can be- 
 come illuminated with wisdom from the Spirit- World, 
 and Celestial Light can fill the darkened chambers of the 
 human brain. 
 
 Be passive, oh, ye sons and daughters of earth ! Re- 
 ceive the glory which is waiting to come to you ! The 
 Angelic World has found the doors to your hearts, and is 
 knocking for admission. Open w r ide the windows of the 
 soul, that ye may no longer grope in darkness ! The 
 thoughts of heavenly hosts will come streaming in, and 
 humanity will become wise and loving, harmonious and 
 happy. 
 
 Ye cannot much, longer resist or retard the influx of 
 Spirit-power. The development of the age has brought 
 man into such close relationships with the higher life 
 that the angels of love and mercy can now at last 
 approach, and here and there find a mortal prepared to 
 receive the regenerating, upturning, overturning, puri- 
 fying and harmonizing forces to be applied, for the 
 salvation of the race from all its dark and discordant 
 conditions. 
 
 The evolvement of thought and its transmission, 
 
30 
 
 in and from "disembodied" minds, shall yet usher in 
 the millennial day of "peace on earth and good will to 
 man." The fires of Celestial Wisdom shall yet bum 
 brightly in every soul, and man become practically (as 
 well as in esse) what Nature designed him to be — God in 
 miniature ! 
 
 Ye nations hear! for God hath spoken; 
 The trammels of the past are broken; 
 Humanity shall yet be free — 
 So lift the heart and bend the knee! 
 
 The voices of the angels coming 
 
 Shall seem like music sweetly humming — 
 
 Lift up your hearts, humanity; 
 
 Arouse ye from inanity ! 
 
 Be brave and fearless, strong and true — 
 With powers of good the ill subdue ; 
 March on in might, and valiantly, 
 And fight the good fight gallantly. 
 
 Maintain the right, though showers fall 
 Of earthly wrath, your souls to pall; 
 Submit yourselves to nought that's low: 
 Look up I and fear not earthly foe. 
 
 The cries and groans and tears and sighs 
 Of suffering mortals, ne'er despise; 
 But lift them from their sad conditions, 
 With loving words and kind tuitions. 
 
 The spell of ages holds no longer; 
 The human soul is growing stronger; 
 Humanity shall yet be free — 
 So lift the heart and bend the knee! 
 
 Sweet thoughts, transmitted from the skies, 
 Shall dry the tears from weeping eyes ; 
 And angel lips in love be pressed, 
 And spirit-forms with joy caressed. 
 
 All this shall be when man shall learn 
 Ignoble thoughts of lust to spurn; 
 Humanity shall then be free — 
 So lift the heart and bend the knee ! 
 
 Almighty Power! we call on thee 
 
 To glorify man's destiny; 
 
 And angels, mortals— love- crowned host— 
 
 Join hands, and see who'll do the most! 
 
 The power of thought, evolved and sent 
 From soul to soul in harmony blent, 
 Shall soon the world of man make free — 
 So lift the heart and bend the knee ! 
 
1 he Universality of 
 
 Spiritualism. 
 
 • • • 
 
 [given at FAIRHAVEX, CONN., JUNE, 1863.] 
 
 Note.— The reader will please bear in mind that the following was writ- 
 ten during the progress of the late (un) Civil War. A few sentences have 
 been omitted from the original, the occasion for them having passed by; 
 and some others, of temporary interest, mainly, but which could not well 
 be omitted, have been retained. J. M. A.] 
 
 : ABORERS for the salvation of humanity from 
 Ignorance, Superstition, Depravity, Disease, Dis- 
 cord, Poverty, Sorrow, and Unrest, have a heavy 
 
 i 
 
 task before them. They have a world to con- 
 tend with, steeped in the gloominess of false 
 Theology, which views man not as a divine creature, 
 whose Creator, all-wise, all-loving, and all-powerful, 
 works ever by law, but as a tyrant-ruled, ignoble worm 
 of the dust, whose destiny is, at best, but that of submis- 
 sion to stern decree of irresponsible despotism. The ad- 
 vocates of universal brotherhood have only to cast 
 about them to discover abundant evidence of the gigan- 
 tic work which must be done, ere a cruel and selfish 
 creedism can be supplanted by a liberal truth-love. 
 
 Virtue is supposed to consist of an unquestioning sup- 
 port of a tortured and torturing Bibliotheism, rather than 
 of a practical acknowledgment of the oneness of the 
 human family. Life is made to signify degradation and 
 aristocracy, rather than elevation and equality. Diver- 
 sity of unfoldment is made to signify structural unlike- 
 ness. The creation of a new public sentiment, differing 
 widely from the old in all its essentials, is a work 
 
32 
 
 of time ; but he who gives a new impetus, however 
 slight, to the cause of humanity, lives not in vain. 
 
 Men are prone to consider Spiritualism in the aspect 
 of sectarianism. The broadness, comprehensiveness, 
 thoroughness, of its work and mission, are not realized, 
 even by believers in the genuineness of its phenomena. 
 It is narrowed down, in its significance, to the paltry, 
 things of proselytism. Adherence to a certain set of 
 ideas, amounting in reality to a creed, aims to become a 
 test of genuineness. There is not that complete liberal- 
 ity of sentiment among the acceptors of the Spiritualistic 
 phenomena which there must be, ere the true work of 
 Spiritualism can be accomplished, or even compre- 
 hended. The evil is not great as yet. It has hardly 
 manifested itself externally up to the fullness of the 
 internal ; but the condition exists. It is but a lingering 
 relic of past customs of thought and growth — like the 
 incorporation of Judaism into Christianism, through the 
 conservatism of the earlier Apostles, so is the spirit of 
 Sectism creeping into the Great Church Spiritual. It is 
 well to be warned in time. 
 
 Let not Spiritualists suppose that their work is done 
 when they have succeeded in augmenting the number of 
 avowed believers. Though the whole world be leavened 
 w r ith a little intellectual crumb from the great mass of 
 Spirituality — though the whole human race become be- 
 lievers intellectually in the bare, bald fact of Spirit-Com- 
 munion, yet, unless that acceptance be followed by an 
 entire uprootal of all existing established evils, the work 
 of Spiritualism will be unaccomplished. Unless the 
 cold intellectualism of the Nineteenth century be super- 
 ceded by a mentality which is warmed and genialized by 
 the love element, Spiritualism will not have attained its 
 proper hold upon the human heart. 
 
 Spiritualism means anything but narrowness. It is as 
 comprehensive as the Universe. It takes in everything 
 
33 
 
 bearing upon human conditions, and affecting human 
 interests. It leaves nothing out from its all-grasp. 
 Everything in nature is a subject for it to deal with. All 
 the phenomena of life, whether in the human form, or in 
 the endless variety of forms beneath, are but manifesta- 
 tions of that Spirit, which, in its acknowledgement, lies 
 at the basis of Spiritualism. 
 
 The Great Spirit is boundless in its reachings, Let 
 believers in the New Gospel see that Spiritualism be 
 apprehended as equally boundless. 
 
 There is no limit to the manifestation of the God- 
 Principle. Let there be no limit to the permeation of 
 Spiritualistic principles in the structure and condition of 
 human society. Let them not be limited by creed or 
 ritual, but be free as the boundless flowing ether. 
 
 The great heart of Deity pulsates with Love. Let the 
 followers of the love-crowned Gospel of Spiritualism be 
 equally filled (to the extent of their finite capacity) with 
 the same sublime principle. Let the gentleness of their 
 lives attest the superiority of their faith. 
 
 Deity rules in harmony. Let the "rulers," guides, 
 and teachers of earth, (in high places or low,) be also 
 internally harmonious. Let them show that the har- 
 monizing power of the Spiritual forces has done its work 
 in their hearts. 
 
 The Infinite Spirit plans wisely. Let the thinking 
 powers of Spiritualists so manifest themselves that the 
 world may see that there is a Divine Wisdom out- 
 working itself in the Spiritual movement. 
 
 Deity executes successfully. Let the workers in the 
 new field see to it that the powers which are urging 
 them on be not prevented from the full accomplishment 
 of their designs, by perverseness in their instruments. 
 
 The significance of life has not been fathomed. 
 There is no settled basis on which to build securely a 
 firm and enduring structure — no sufficient compre- 
 
34 
 
 hension of life's meaning. 
 
 The Certainty of Immortality, and the inherent capacity 
 of Unending Progression, are glorious and beautiful facts, 
 lying at the basis of Spiritualism. On this basis man- 
 kind may rest securely. Building a sound philosophy 
 upon such a foundation is at once easy and inevitable. 
 Universal Brotherhood flows so naturally out of these 
 two fundamentals, that it' also may be termed a basic 
 principle. 
 
 No certainty of immortality has been established in 
 the past. A few glimpses have been obtained, at inter- 
 vals, of a renewed life ; but no demonstration of a 
 natural and unvaring law of immortality has been given 
 to the world, until quite recently. The revealments of 
 the past few years have demonstrated, beyond doubt, the 
 existence of a law of continuity, which can no more be 
 expunged from the human soul than sun light can be 
 converted into darkness at the nod of a school-boy. 
 There is a certainty, absolute and soul-cheering, now 
 connected with the faith of those who have been recipi- 
 ents of the blessed truths of continued life beyond the 
 grave, which have lately come to the world. There is 
 no longer room for doubt. Skepticism must flee away, 
 before the tangible demonstrations of identity which 
 have been repeatedly and multitudinously given to 
 earnest seekers. 
 
 The time is coming, and now is, when men shall 
 realize the presence of the "loved and not lost," as 
 keenly and unmistakably as the coarser concerns of 
 external life. The time is coming when the entire 
 mortal world shall realize the communion of angels, and 
 none doubt or question the fact of tangible Spiritual 
 Manifestations. Out of the reception of this realizing 
 faith (based upon actual demonstration), there will 
 grow up a universal acceptance of the principle of 
 Progression. 
 
35 
 
 The idea that all souls have the capacity of unlimited 
 progression, in all lovely and divine attainments and 
 conditions, will so liberalize the world, that the brother- 
 hood of humanity will dawn upon the understandings 
 and hearts of the whole human race. Thus charity 
 may find a resting place at last, in the affections of a 
 progressed and liberalized world, and bigotry and intol- 
 erance be buried forever. 
 
 If all souls are immortal, and endow r ed by nature with 
 a Deific principle of good, and resultant capacity for 
 unlimited growth' in harmony, jealousy of race must be 
 discarded, and color be no longer a pretext for enslave- 
 ment, persecution, clespisement, or neglect. All stand 
 alike upon the platform of incomplete or unfinished 
 development. Egotism or tyranny ill becomes man, then; 
 for his brother, whom he now despises or abuses, may 
 some time occupy far higher conditions of development 
 than he — if he does not already, indeed. The lesson of 
 humility, then, should be learned. 
 
 He is wise who loves his brother; 
 
 Folly teaches, love to smother, 
 Teaches self to prize 'bove all things, 
 
 To depise the "day of small things;" 
 
 To neglect the suffering, erring, 
 
 Never others' burdens sharing. 
 Charity seeks out the lowly, 
 
 Finding ever something holy, 
 
 True and bright, in every lone one, 
 Gasping, struggling, sighing, groaning. 
 
 Humble minds their neighbors' weakness 
 View with gentleness and meekness, 
 
 Ne'er forgetting they are lowly, 
 
 As compared with angels holy, 
 Hovering round them while they slumber, 
 
 Loving seraphs without number. 
 
 Loving souls forget no creature 
 
 Fashioned by the great All-Teacher; 
 All are lowly, you're not highest — 
 
 He you hate has God the nighest ! 
 
 Spiritualism thus destroys the prejudices of race, color 
 
36 
 
 and nationality, and makes of one blood and one destiny 
 the whole human family. It reaches farther than a 
 limited patriotism. It says to the believer, "The world 
 is your country, all mankind your countrymen." It is 
 thus expansive in its tendencies, universal in its 
 reachings. 
 
 It neglects no human soul, but says to all, "You are 
 creatures of one God, and heirs of the same destiny 
 — happiness and harmony." It says to every soul, 
 "You have the capacity of indefinite unfoldment ; you 
 are a part of Deity, being evolved from the great Foun- 
 tain of Infinite Love, Wisdom, and Power ; you have an 
 immortal character, an indestructible identity." 
 
 The Universality of Spiritualism is manifest from the 
 tendencies already evinced among believers to give the 
 right hand of fellowship to Spirits of various national- 
 ities. To be of another race is a recommendation, in 
 Spiritual circles, to immediate hearing and respect. 
 Thus the antagonisms of the past are being rapidly 
 buried, and forever, as one of the first fruits of Spiritual- 
 ism. The formerly despised Indian is now respected 
 and loved, by the multitude of Spiritual believers. The 
 Negro comes to waiting ones, assembled for communion 
 w r ith the "dead," and pours forth his simple tale of 
 wrongs endured at the hands of the task-master ; and 
 straightway the sympathies flow out towards the whole 
 race of down-trodden ones. The Chinaman comes and 
 is allowed a respectful hearing. All are recognized as 
 souls, immortal and progressive, and therefore entitled 
 to respect. 
 
 The great lesson of universal sympathy is thus being 
 rapidly learned. Oh, how much this was needed ! And 
 the wisdom of the Spirit-Cultivators — of the directors of 
 the Spiritual movement — has been especially manifest in 
 this one direction. The first lesson to be learned was 
 broadening of sympathies, so as to take in the whole 
 
37 
 
 race. Not only this, but all humanity, whether in the 
 flesh or in Spirit- Life, were to be included in the all- 
 comprehending grasp of Universal Love ; and souls hav- 
 ing birth upon other planets than earth, were also to be 
 fellowshipped with, and a universal intercourse estab- 
 lished throughout the vast realms of illimitable space. 
 
 This is, indeed, a Universality well worthy the efforts 
 of the greatest minds ; and let Spiritualists see to it that 
 they fail not to comprehend and realize the immense 
 scope of the work that is before them, as co-laborers with 
 the mighty hosts of the Celestial Spheres. A glorious 
 destiny awaits them, if they prove true to their sacred 
 trust. They stand as mortal heralds of Progress, in 
 that vast array of reform workers, "seen and unseen," 
 which is yet to sweep away, with a resistless pow r er 
 of integral Spiritual education, all the evils of human so- 
 ciety and human governments, and to establish the era 
 of Peace and Harmony, Wisdom and Unity, o'er all the 
 earth. 
 
 Is there aught of inharmony connected with, or grow- 
 ing out of, the institutions and life of the civilized w r orld, 
 or in the conditions of any portion of the peopled earth ? 
 Spiritualism has come to remove it (and its causes), and 
 to produce in its stead normal conditions of harmony. 
 
 Is there, in any portion of the globe, gigantic wrong 
 practiced upon dependent laborers, by unscrupulous 
 "capitalists" and speculators? Spiritualism has come 
 to demand that honesty and honor prevail, and to secure 
 to productive labor the fuH'benefit of its productions. 
 
 Is there anywhere Intemperance, Gluttony, or Sensu- 
 ality ? Spiritualism has come' to purify, spiritualize, 
 and regulate the appetites and passions. 
 
 Is there anywhere Vice ? Spiritualism has come to 
 destroy it, and to develop and intensify a universal love 
 of Virtue. 
 
 Is there Bigotry and Intolerance in the religious 
 
38 
 
 world ? Spiritualism has come to renovate the churches, 
 to introduce Science and "Common Sense," and build up 
 a just and liberal spirit of Charity and Tolerance. 
 
 Is there Ignorance in any nation, community, or soul ? 
 The New Gospel is a gospel of Wisdom and universal 
 Education. 
 
 Is there llliberality and Pride of Learning connected 
 with institutions for intellectual culture ? Spiritualism 
 developes the utmost freedom of thought and liberality 
 of sentiment. 
 
 Are college doors closed to the female sex ? Spirit- 
 ualism demands (with a potency which cannot long be 
 withstood) that the portals be opened wide. 
 
 Does woman prefer adherence to fashion, over health, 
 comfort and convenience? Spiritualism says: "Clothe 
 yourself according to true fitness. Clothing is designed 
 as a protection and assistance, not as a burden and 
 hindrance." 
 
 Does the worship of Custom and Mammon deaden the 
 affections of humanity, and cast a blight upon the native 
 aspirations of noble souls ? Spiritualism leads to the 
 recognition of the law, and the rights, of Individuality, 
 and demands that Selfishness be supplanted by Love. 
 
 Is there anything wrong, unpleasant, low, degrading, 
 injurious, bearing upon human interests or human 
 rights ? Spiritualism has come to remove it. The work 
 of Spiritualism is thus one of universal scope. 
 
 The Science of Life is the one general science into 
 which all the sciences now known or studied will merge; 
 and Spiritualism will usher in this science. 
 
 Nothing is so low or trivial but that Spiritualism can 
 reach it to elevate ; nothing so high but that it may be 
 reached also, and. rendered still more noble and har- 
 monious. a 
 
 The science of Human Language is one of the most 
 intensely interesting and liberalizing now known. This 
 
39 
 
 will be reached by the genius of Spiritualism, and a 
 glorious superstructure of Unity be erected upon the 
 solid foundation of Universal Oneness of Alphabetic 
 Representation. The establishment of a Universal and 
 Philosophical Alphabet is thus seen to be a work for 
 Spiritualism, as a basis (in connection with Mental 
 Science) upon which to build a thoroughly natural, self- 
 defining, comprehensive and complete World-Language, 
 — and then, the merging of all tongues, races and 
 nationalities ! 
 
 With humanity unitized and internationally harmon- 
 ized, under the guidance of Celestial Wisdom, the work 
 of (introductory) Spiritualism, as a "reform" movement, 
 may be said to be accomplished ; and a new Harmonial 
 Dispensation will come, evolved from the completion of 
 the present era of Spiritualism. 
 
 The Mosaic, Christian and initiatory Spiritual Dispen- 
 sations (of the Western World) having been completed, 
 a new era of peaceful Universal Progress will commence 
 and be carried forward by the highest minds and powers, 
 (instigated and sustained by the controlling power of 
 Omnipotence) ; until it may be, a new universe, a "new 
 heaven and a new earth," shall be evolved from the 
 old, containing new forms and conditions, adapted to 
 the still further progression and development of human 
 souls. The theme is grand, but we must pause. 
 
 Spiritualism, from these views, is seen to be the last 
 and universal dynamic force for the healing of the 
 nations and the harmonization of the human race. 
 Prepared, as it has been, for the advent of this force, by 
 the successive stages of human growth, the world may 
 now receive Spiritualism in something like its fullness. 
 The various sciences which have preceded it have made 
 possible its intellectual acceptance; and the wars, revo- 
 lutions and reforms of past ages — with their gradual rise 
 in moral object, now culminating in a grand humani- 
 
40 
 
 tarian revolution, [referring to the "Great Rebellion"], 
 have aided directly and indirectly to prepare the wa}^ 
 for the moral reception of this sublimely philanthropic 
 Philosophy and practical movement. 
 
 Thus the civilized world is becoming ready for the 
 reception of the new Gospel and for the comprehension 
 and forwarding of its mission. Let Spiritualists see to it 
 that they come fully up to the requirements of so vast a 
 Cause, so sublime a Gospel, so comprehensive a work. 
 
 This is no time to be idle. Let not believers rest 
 content with having asserted their faith in the com- 
 munion of Spirits. Let them bravely assert for Spirit- 
 ualism all that it merits, as the harmonizer of the world, 
 as the new Gospel of Universal Brotherhood and Sister- 
 hood, as the sum total of all Sciences and the founder of 
 new and useful Arts. Let them dare approach the high 
 places of earth, and demand that the overruling hand of 
 angels be recognized in the affairs of State. It is no time 
 to hesitate. The powers of Heaven are enlisted in the 
 good work. Angels of Justice, Purity, Peace and Love 
 are infusing their self-sacrificing and philanthropic spirit 
 into many souls, preparing the way for the reception 
 and acceptance of Celestial plans of amelioration, broad 
 and far-reaching. 
 
 Presidential dignities, imperial crowns, must be no 
 bar to the approach of angel-forces. The times are 
 auspicious. The fires of Spirituality, glowing with the 
 white heat of unselfish love, must burn deeply into the 
 tyranny, the selfish Materiality, of political Governments, 
 and magnetize them into a new and less ignoble animus. 
 The impress of a "Celestial Court" must be rendered 
 visible upon the escutcheon of the nations, — upon the 
 world-flag of a United Humanity. 
 
 Need Spiritualists feel ashamed of their faith — their 
 knowledge — their philosophy — their religion? The 
 potency lying back of these is already shaping the 
 
41 
 
 destinies of nations as no other movement has ever 
 done. Are the heavenly powers sleeping? The Pilgrim 
 Fathers (and Mothers) are yet sojourners among you, 
 Americans. The shapers of American destiny are not 
 ye yourselves alone, ye magnates at Washington and 
 star-honored warriors The practical acknowledg- 
 ment of Universal Brotherhood, by government and 
 people, must be accomplished, ere permanent peace can 
 settle down upon the earth. . . . 
 
 The plans of the progressed minds of the Angel- 
 Spheres for the mitigation of human woe cannot be 
 much longer unacknowledged and unappreciated. The 
 interests of humanity require co-operation from flesh- 
 dwellers, and the united action of all great and good 
 minds. Mutual acquaintance, sympathy and apprecia- 
 tion, of earnest minds in both worlds, is needed at this 
 crisis. Shall it be realized ? 
 
 Shall a Fenelon, a Melancthon, a Servetus, a Socrates, 
 a Pythagoras, a Galen, a Jesus, a Buddha, a Confucius 
 — find here and now loving friends, consecrated co- 
 laborers, in their efforts for human advancement and 
 elevation ? Shall all, modern or ancient, known or 
 unknown to earthly fame, who embark in the cause of 
 Universal Harmony, be heartily appreciated by some 
 earth-friend, and feel once more from those in the flesh 
 the warm heart-throbbing of deep yearning affection? 
 Would that it might be so ! It must be so ! Let longing 
 souls who cluster round their earth-friends, seeking to 
 imbue them with a knowlege and an appreciation of 
 their labors and objects, seeking to draw from them a 
 recognizing heart-throb of gladness, wait patiently but a 
 little longer, and the gentle breathings of Spirit-Love 
 will be felt — oh, joy ! — and the loving eye-glances be 
 reciprocated by the yearning bereaved ones — and the 
 sweet words of undying affection be heard universally and 
 responded to ! Oh, blessed thought ! Divine assurance ! 
 
42 
 
 The Universality of Spiritualism is a theme well 
 calculated to call forth ardent thought, and to stimulate 
 the soul to noble deeds of virtue and philanthropy. The 
 thought that there is no limit to the reachings of the 
 all-harmonizing principle of Spirituality is well calcu- 
 lated to excite the liveliest emotions of gratitude to the 
 all-loving Parent, who has placed so much of promise 
 before us. 
 
 Nothing can exceed the gratitude and joy welling up 
 from our inmost soul, as we contemplate the beauty, 
 majesty, harmony and glory of human life as it is to be, 
 after a period of universal development shall have 
 carried it beyond the turmoil, inharmony and sorrow of 
 the present. 
 
 The coming years are fraught with intense interest. 
 The questions to be settled require the united action of 
 great and "small" minds. None are to be exempt in 
 the solving of the mighty problems of the next century. 
 Perhaps greater trials aw^ait the earnest philanthropist 
 than ever before. More momentous interests are at 
 stake, requiring a more intense and unselfish moral cour- 
 age. The hosts of heaven are enlisted in the work. The 
 struggle with the elements of Darkness and Evil may be 
 fierce and protracted. "Heavy blows" must be struck, 
 and the unyielding determination of the harmonious and 
 positive of earth and skies will alone suffice to win. All 
 who love humanity, who would see the race redeemed 
 from Sorrow — stand firm ! The gigantic enterprise of 
 Universal Harmonization must not fail ! Let none 
 shirk the responsibility of the hour. The reign of Peace 
 and Harmony must dawn ! Preluded, alas ! by fire and 
 bloodshed, devastation, w r oe and horror ! — yet the irre- 
 sistible power of the Deific Principle of Love will over- 
 rule all things for good, restore peace, and evolve new, 
 beautiful, spiritual and harmonious conditions for 
 Universal Humanity. 
 
43 
 
 Humanity shall rise redeemed 
 
 From all its sin and woe , 
 And Peace shall shed its joyous gleam, 
 
 O'er all above, below. 
 
 A universal brotherhood 
 
 Shall be established then, 
 The powers prevail of Light and Good, 
 
 To bless the race of men. 
 
 No more the wars of these sad days 
 
 Shall rage, and ravage earth, 
 For hatred cannot live always, 
 
 And Love will then have birth. 
 
 A universal , lasting Love 
 
 Will be developed then, 
 And earth and skies be like the dove, 
 
 The robin and the wren. 
 
 Let each one aid with all his powers 
 The cause of Truth and Right, 
 
 And joy shall fall in copious showers, 
 And flood the world with light. 
 
 Though ' 'life be dear and peace be sweet, 
 
 Fear not— be not ashamed 
 To mitigate the woes you meet, 
 
 To love, to bless, tho' blamed. 
 
 And then will Life be sweet indeed! 
 'Twill fill thee with the joy 
 
 Which comes of ministering human need- 
 Such bliss can none destroy. 
 
 Though Misery come with drouping head , 
 Though Sorrow pierce thee through, 
 
 With holy sympathy thou' It shed 
 O'er all thy sweet love- dew. 
 
 'Twill banish every stinging pain, 
 'Twill heal each burning wound, 
 
 'Twill bring to Sorrow's cheek again 
 A blooming joy new-found. 
 
 Be kind and gentle, pure, upright- 
 Be loving, wise and true: 
 
 'Twill banish Sorrow's gloomy night, 
 And blooming Youth renew. 
 
 The work of ages culminates 
 
 In this progressive time ; 
 The labor of the angels shapes 
 
 Man's destiny sublime. 
 
 The land of Washington shall rise 
 Triumphant through the storm, 
 
 And Liberty unveil her eyes, 
 And stand erect and strong. 
 
 No more will hatred mar the face 
 
 Of Brothers, in the land 
 Where erst did walk with loving pace 
 
 A Northern- Southern band. 
 
 America redeemed from sin, 
 
 The world will learn to love; 
 And Peace and Harmony flow in 
 
 From Angel-hosts above. 
 
E 
 
 xit Esculapius. 
 
 • • • 
 
 [given at new haven, CONN., JUNE, 1863.] 
 
 INHERE is in the history of man but little to recom- 
 mend him to our respect as a reasonable being 
 in all that pertains to true happiness. He has, 
 ^p in a great measure, failed to comprehend the 
 grand principles underlying life. He has failed 
 to perceive the difference between virtue and vice, fool- 
 ishness and wisdom, health and sickness. He has lost 
 sight, to a great degree, of the basic elements of human 
 progression, and has failed to perceive that there is 
 a virtue of body of well as a virtue of soul. He has 
 failed to reach out into the life of nature, and to perceive 
 there the out-workings and the in-workings of a deific 
 principle. He has failed to realize that there is a divin- 
 ity in physical law. He has not comprehended the 
 beauty and sublimity of the gospel of health. He has 
 not realized that there is a sin of appetite, as well 
 as a sin of passion ; and failing to comprehend this fact, 
 he has bent his energies to the accomplishment of moral 
 reformation, ofttimes ; forgetting the fact that there 
 is equal cause for action in the field of physiology. 
 
 Enough has been done in the realm of physic, it 
 is true, to overflood the world with "light," concerning 
 the beauties and duties of the medical fraternity 
 and medical science. Enough has been done with poor 
 humanity to cripple it with drugs and stupify the physi- 
 cal perceptions. The so-called "doctors" have been 
 ready to physic and vomit, blister and scarify, salivate 
 and mutilate the poor victims of their "skill," until the 
 
45 
 
 world is cursed with wretchedness of body and feebleness 
 of mind, growing largely out of their ministrations. 
 
 The world is blind and deaf to the real interests of the 
 body — forgetting that Nature has established laws for 
 the governance of the physical, as well as of the mental, 
 and that these laws cannot be violated with impunity. 
 
 The world is swallowed up in grossness and impurity. 
 The bodies of humanity are but so many living sepul- 
 chres — walking mummy-forms — foul sewers, in which 
 the filth of the universe runs in concentrated putridity, 
 damming up the avenues of health, and rendering the 
 life-essences but muddy waters of contagion and death. 
 
 Health, free and bounding, sparkling and joyous, is 
 not the portion of humanity in any of the fair lands of 
 the earth. Degradation marks man even more, to the 
 clairvoyant perception, in the department of the physi- 
 cal than in that of the mental. There is more suffering 
 growing out of the ignorance and misapprehension of 
 Nature's laws, which is everywhere prevalent, than from 
 any other cause, There is more weakness of character 
 and physical imbecility, on account of the belief in and 
 general use of medicine, than from almost any other 
 cause. There is more crime, we had almost said, grow- 
 ing out of the dispensary, than from any other cause. 
 
 How can this strong language be substantiated? Shall 
 we attempt to prove that there should be no profession 
 of medicine? Shall we attempt to show the utter folly 
 of dependence upon drug medicine in all cases of de- 
 rangement of physical function? The latter might be 
 easily done. It is indeed folly — stupendous folly — to 
 pervert the instincts of the human soul by a custom of 
 blind adherence to outside authority, rather than self-de- 
 pendence. It is indeed folly to trust implicity to the 
 wisdom of" doctors" for recovery, rather than to rely 
 upon self-investigation into the laws of Nature and 
 health, while yet in the enjoyment of the latter. What 
 
46 
 
 the world needs is not practitioners of medicine, so 
 much as teachers of the laws of life. 
 
 The good of humanity requires that medical men and 
 women should seek to indoctrinate the world with true 
 ideas of life and its laws, rather than to build themselves 
 up upon the ruins of decayed health, and minister to the 
 false conceptions' of unthinking customs, which rushes 
 blindly into the jaws of disease, misery, and corruption 
 — trusting fallaciously to the mysteries of "medical 
 science " for extrication. 
 
 Ah! the world needs, truly, to be enlightened concern- 
 ing the laws which govern them in the realm of their 
 physical, rather than to be permitted to grope blindly 
 on, as they have always done, trusting to an Esculapian 
 "atonement" for their physical sins — needs to cast 
 away the soul- stultifying dogma of the remission of 
 physical sin through resort to medical mediation. 
 
 Casting off of responsibility from self to an "atoning 
 saviour," in the form of medicine or medical practition- 
 ers, is at best but a sin-envoking habit. It leads to vio- 
 lation of law physical, in the vain hope of salvation from 
 its consequences through the merits of a fancied " Re- 
 deemer," (doctor or drugs). It leads to disregard of har- 
 mony between soul and body. It leads to neglect of 
 scientific investigation in the direction of hygiene. It leads 
 to many things from which a natural and philosophical 
 view of individual responsibility in every department of 
 life and organization, would save humanity. It leads di- 
 rectly to disregard of Nature's laws, (through disinclina- 
 tion to investigate £hem), and indirectly to imposition of 
 vile-hearted, money-clutching quackery. It leads to en- 
 tire subversion of naturalness (accordance with an intelli- 
 gent understanding of Nature and Naturic laws), in all 
 physical habits. It leads to false methods of cookery, 
 false habits of dressing, wicked violation of Nature's 
 laws in eating, drinking, sleeping, thinking, working, 
 
47 
 
 resting, reproducing — in all the multifarious operations of 
 domestic, social, commercial, mechanical, and agricultu- 
 ral life. It obstructs the life currents, quenches the fra- 
 grance of the flowers of health, and renders the body but 
 a mass of diseased organization — a fungus growth, fit 
 only to be ranked among the lower orders of evolution. 
 
 Disease in the human body has so usurped the place 
 of health, that there can scarcely be found a hundred 
 persons of mature age, w r hose systems are entirely free 
 from the encroachments of disorder. All, we may say, 
 are tinctured. All have some mark of Cain. None are 
 free, none are pure. Foul humors sicken and disgust at 
 every turn. Blotches and excrescences mar and disfig- 
 ure the fair form of Nature, wherever we turn our gaze. 
 Men and women carry about with them great masses of 
 impurity, imbibed from the grossness of their own 
 physical habits and those of their ancestors. Lust con- 
 tributes with its ulcerations to swell the mass of abomi- 
 nations locked up within the human frame. Excessive 
 passion withers the life-juices, and renders aged and de- 
 crepid the body yet young in years. Tottering imbecili- 
 ty marks many a youth, yet scarcely passed the halcyon 
 days of bounding childhood. Dissipation seizes the very 
 flower of humanity, and drags down the divinity that is 
 in them into the dregs of bestiality — tarnishing the 
 brightness of the God-hood that is in every soul by the 
 worse than devilish blackness of sensuality. 
 
 Oh! humanity, thou art indeed pure and God-like; but 
 the fires of passion and lust have burned so deeply into 
 thine inmost life, that we can scarcely recognize the di- 
 vinity so deeply scarred! When will man learn that he 
 is a creature of laws; that he is governed by deific princi- 
 ples as stern and unyielding in their demands as eternal' 
 power and infinite necessity can make them? 
 
 When will men realize that they cannot squander the 
 life-forces in any way, without losing so much of the 
 
48 
 
 possibilities of useful accomplishment on the earth-plane 
 as will exactly balance the account? Retribution fol- 
 lows, and must follow, violation. Consequence succeeds 
 cause. Health attends obedience to natural laws, dis- 
 ease disobedience of them. 
 
 Life is sweet to him who obeys, in all its phases, the 
 mandates of virtue. We who have passed on into the 
 realm of spirit, looking back into and through human 
 life as it now is in the flesh, behold much which we had 
 scarcely expected to find. The life of fleshliness pre- 
 sents other than beautiful conditions to us as we look 
 with the eye of the spirit through the externalties of em- 
 bodiment. Much — oh how much! — is calculated to give 
 anything but pleasure to the humanitarian— much we 
 would fain have otherwise than as it is. And yet we see 
 in all the misery and degradation of physical conditions 
 but the natural out workings of inexorable law; and we 
 bow in humble adoration of the sublimity of cause and 
 effect — the magnificence of the law of consequence. 
 
 We would not remove one jot or tittle from the se- 
 verity of suffering. We would not palliate the distress 
 attendant upon violation. We would not have the 
 world free from the possibility of suffering. For we re- 
 cognize in sickness and pain but the necessary sentinel 
 and messenger of the soul, giving notice of the approach 
 and attack of hostile forces. So long as improper ele- 
 ments (or elements inadapted to the basic principles of 
 body-life) are permitted to come into close relations with 
 the life-essences, it were indeed base to desire that all 
 warning be prohibited. Suffering in such cases is but a 
 blessing in disguise. It is an educating influence. The 
 soul so weak as to receive the positive encroachments of 
 error and vice, must needs be educated, through the 
 miseries resulting from them, into strength and positive 
 powers of resistance. Were it not for pain, who would sur- 
 vive the perils of helpless childhood? Forewarned, we 
 
49 
 
 are forearmed. Stumbling, we learn to walk firmly. 
 The stinging pain of the burnt finger teaches the child 
 that there is a law which forbids him from too close 
 nearness with the blaze. 
 
 The atributes of the human soul are many-sided. 
 They reach out into the avenues of life and take in all 
 the conditions anywhere to be found. Normal, exces- 
 sive, deficient, or perverted action of the various facul- 
 ties, leads to all the conditions anywhere existing; and 
 the strength or weakness of the organs, in their various 
 combinations of action, gives tone to all the manifesta- 
 tions of individuality. Each individual is, or presents, 
 an agglomeration of certain conditions; and the identity, 
 personality, self-hood, is only recognizable through indi- 
 vidual peculiarities of agglomeration. That is, each 
 soul manifests peculiar tendencies, which grow out of the 
 special and particular arrangement, proportion, commin- 
 gling, of elements always the same in hind. We are thus 
 epitomes, each, of some peculiar universe; and each soul 
 gravitates inherently towards certain ultimations. 
 
 Types we are of other life than our own finiteness. 
 How sublime the reflection that each individual soul is 
 a thought of God! Breathed forth from the very bosom 
 of Infinity, we are truly divine! Deity has been at work 
 these billions of ages preparing matter for the reception 
 of soul! Worlds have been created and peopled with 
 various forms, antetypes all of the great Ultimorphos — 
 the final form — the God-like residence of immortal soul- 
 germ! Grand is it to contemplate man as an ultimation, 
 a climax of creative force. Stupendous the thought that 
 we have all been breathed forth from the great Soul of 
 God, identities, individualities, indestructible, eternal. 
 
 Infinite wisdom alone can measure the depth of mean- 
 ing wrapped up in the soul-life of man! It alone can 
 pierce the intricacies of human unfoldment, and photo- 
 graph the illimitable windings of human selfhood. It is 
 
50 
 
 vast! It is grand! It is inspiring to thus link together 
 the finite- and the Infinite and make them one! Crea- 
 tures and yet creative God-parts! 
 
 ' ' All are but parts of one stupendous whole , 
 Whose body Nature is, and God the soul." 
 
 From these sublime contemplations of man, in his 
 oneship with God, with reluctant pen and drooping 
 heart, veiled eyes and trembling lips, we turn to contem- 
 plate him in his kinship with the brutes — with the 
 beasts that perish. Alas! that man should compel us in 
 our investigations to behold him so oft debased in brutal- 
 ism, degraded in animality, ignorant in vice, miserable in 
 tyranny, superstitious in bigotry, blind in custom, sick 
 in grossness, deformed in disobedience — leprous, 
 maimed, halt and deaf — running over with impurities, 
 oozing out foulness at every pore — foetid breath, decayed 
 teeth, rotten lungs, and mercurial bones — fever, dyspep- 
 sia, epilepsy, neuralgia, and cephalalgia — doctors and 
 pills, plasters, syrups and anodynes, leeches and lan- 
 cets, and all the hideous paraphernalia of medical 
 mountebanking! 
 
 Who can depict all the horrors of the sick-bed! Who 
 can describe the selfishness of sickness! What greater 
 curse can enter the household than the curse of disease? 
 All the operations of domestic life must be interfered 
 with, all the comfort and sociality suspended. Every- 
 thing must be subservient to the demands of invalidism. 
 
 ■Oh! the sin and suffering which the realm of physiol- 
 ogy attaches to itself at the present stage of man's de- 
 velopement are indeed gloomy realities, far surpassing in 
 magnitude even the horrors of war and slavery. 
 
 The world is one vast hospital, and three-fourths of 
 mankind are nurses, doctors, patients or undertakers. 
 Scarcely a home but has some member ailing with one 
 or more of the thousand maladies which man has 
 brought upon himself. Scarcely an individual, if arrived 
 
51 
 
 at mature years, but has been in the hands of a physi- 
 cian. Scarcely a body but is reeking with impurities. 
 Scarcely a soul but is cramped more or less in its de- 
 velopement by the inharmony of its casement. 
 
 No soul can manifest itself truly and completely unless 
 some degree of freedom from disease pertains 
 to its body. No growth of soul can be thoroughly sym- 
 metrical while gross physical habits mar and putrefy the 
 fleshly covering. No soul, taking to itself that which is 
 gross and impure, can rise in external manifestations to 
 its highest degree. The body and spirit are inter-active 
 and mutually dependent; that is, physical habits and 
 physical conditions modify spiritual habits and spiritual 
 conditions, as well as vice versa. Thus, intemperance in 
 eating, drinking, sleeping, working, passional indul- 
 gence, or aught else pertaining to the physical specially, 
 produces an effect upon the soul, as well as upon the 
 body. In eating its way into the physical structure, and 
 paralyzing the functions thereof, it approaches also the 
 mind, and contaminates it with the vileness of gross de- 
 sires and base ambitions. 
 
 Vulgarity and profanity emanate more from the flesh- 
 pots of modern cookery than from spiritual depravity, 
 aside from physical causes. The juices of animals, low 
 and gross in their nature, permeating, as they do, al- 
 most every article of food placed upon civilized tables at 
 the present day, are vastly more responsible for the low 
 aspirations of humanity in general than we have been 
 accustomed to consider. The pig, in his spiritual en- 
 tity, is a low being. Gross, filthy, ugly, unattractive as 
 he is, there are yet found persons who are willing to 
 (and even think they must) imbibe year after year, con- 
 stantly and habitually, the very " soul-essence " of the 
 animal, by partaking of his flesh and blood and brains! 
 His feet and ears are considered to be delicate morsels, to 
 be rolled under the tongue of man, created in the image of 
 
52 
 
 God, and a "little lower than the angels."! A pig-sty 
 in Paradise, we might almost think some would desire — 
 their bodies and spirits have become so completely satu- 
 rated with the deliciousness of pigosity. 
 
 Must man always remain oblivious to the great truths 
 of spirituality — oblivious to the fact that there is a 
 spiritual invisible essence pervading all forms, and that 
 this element is a part of food as truly and as necessarily 
 as the mere physical, which is perceptible to the ma- 
 terial senses? 
 
 All things have a bearing upon the soul life, whether 
 it be food, or aught else which human beings can take 
 to themselves, and appropriate to self-use. In propor- 
 tion as that is pure which is-taken home and made a 
 part of self, will self be made pure and keep pure; but 
 grossness (of food, drink, air, etc.,) induces grossness 
 correspondent of mind, or at least of its manifestations. 
 When this simple truth is learned and realized, ap- 
 propriated and acted upon, by the people at large, sick- 
 ness will begin to disappear, and men begin to be in 
 their bodies fit tabernacles for the indwelling of holy 
 spirits (their own). Until then, men will continue to 
 walk blindly, all unheeding the great law of Purity, 
 which underlies all elevation. Until then, the world 
 will continue to be sick, and to be cursed with doctors, 
 who minister to ignorance of Law instead of instructing 
 in the knowledge thereof. 
 
 It is not our province at this time to enter into de- 
 tails of conditions pertaining to health, or to lay down 
 rules for its preservation or recovery. Other duties 
 weigh too heavily. We can only call attention to the la- 
 mentable fact of universal neglect of health, and to the 
 prevalence of disease and misery: seeking to enforce, if 
 possible, the idea that law governs health, and that an 
 understanding of the laws of health will enable mankind 
 to so live as to avoid sickness. 
 
53 
 
 Volumes might be written concerning the particular 
 kinds of food, for instance, best adapted to sustain life 
 in good and pure conditions. Much might be presented 
 concerning the preparation of food, frequency, regularity 
 and manner of eating, and the manifold influences which 
 bear, favorably, or otherwise, upon the vital powers. 
 The one rule is sufficient for our present purpose, in this 
 as in all other departments of the Science under con- 
 sideration — study the laws of life and seek to obey them. 
 Do this, and happiness of body will be yours, health 
 will be your dower, doctors will flee from you, and smi- 
 ling peace and plenty, and joyousness of spirit, will be 
 yours. Do this, (oh! ye dwellers of earth), and ye will 
 cease to be victims of scientific (?) experiments from 
 medical highwaymen, — you will cease to sustain a nor- 
 mally needless profession, and create for yourselves 
 knowledge and wisdom which will guide you safely over 
 the billows of life physical. Do this, and virtue (such 
 virtue as has never yet been known) will crown your 
 obedience to the laws of nature with laurels of happiness. 
 Do this, oh! ye suffering, groaning, weary ones; and if 
 you yourselves do not reap the full rewards of duty done, 
 in a renewed lease of life and a firm condition of health, 
 your children and your childrens' children will revere 
 you for such inherited vigor of moral principle as will 
 enable them to carry forward to success, the work so no- 
 bly begun. Do this, and humanity will at length be 
 pure and strong, healthful and joyous ; and from being 
 one vast hospital, the world will become rejuvenated into 
 bounding gladness and rosy-cheeked gaiety. Do this, 
 if you would be strong, healthy and happy, if you would 
 be wise, loving and courageous. 
 
 Drive ignorance from you and be wise! Drive misery 
 from you and be happy! Probe deep the laws of life, 
 and be masters of yourselves, not slaves, as now, to 
 misery, disease and drugs! Cease to depend on an ex- 
 
54 
 
 ternal Saviour, and save yourselves. Let no "atone- 
 ment" dogma stultify you into disobedience of natural 
 law. Let no false hope of escape from the conse- 
 quences of violation of law allure you on to disease, 
 drugs, and doleful death. 
 
 There is no need of dragging out a miserable life in the 
 clutches of disease. There is no need of pondering to 
 falsities of medical pretensions. There is no need of 
 sinking, year after year, lower and lower, into the filth 
 and miry corruption of unhealth. 
 
 There is no beauty in sickness. There is no attrac- 
 tiveness in helplessness. The feebleness of " delicacy," 
 or the delicacy of feebleness, is not a something to be 
 sought after and labored for by sensible people. Young 
 ladies might better employ their time in useful manual 
 labor, than in frequenting the fashionable promenades, 
 bedizzened, bedaubed, and bepinched with the tinselry, 
 rouge and corsets of modern folly. Rosy-cheeked health 
 is better than pinched feet, wasp-waist, and panting 
 lungs. 
 
 Headaches, dizziness, and consumption, are fit conco- 
 mitants of late hours, wine- bibbing, and sexual dissipa- 
 tion. Young men may well inquire why life hangs so 
 heavily upon them. Why are they so listless, aimless, 
 and extravagant? Why is there so much vulgarity, pro- 
 fanity, and riotousness? Why are the beer-shops, gam- 
 bling-hells, and race courses so much better patronized 
 than the lecture-room? Why is virtue so mythical, and 
 vice so real? Wisdom so rare, and folly so prevalent? 
 Why do not young men and women love each other with 
 a true, virtuous, appreciative and beautiful affection, 
 rather than a false prurient, debasing and vulgar ani- 
 mality? 
 
 The necessity for such questions as these is a sad one, 
 in truth! The glory of humanity is almost covered and 
 destroyed by the debasements of bestiality ; and why is 
 
55 
 
 it f Why, oh!' whj r is it? Are there not causes for such 
 deplorable conditions? Cannot these causes be dis- 
 covered? Cannot humanity become pure, and holy, and 
 sweet, and loving, and wise, and strong, and healthy? 
 Cannot the "corruptions be changed to incorruption," 
 the sick bed to the couch of health, the doctors to 
 teachers? Cannot the earth be made a blooming garden 
 of fragrant health and beauty? 
 
 The answer is brief : Study the laws of life and 
 seek to obey them. Then will humanity begin to be 
 healthy and happy. Then virtue will be the possession 
 of young men and women, and purity the condition of 
 both married and single. In their bodies they will be 
 sweet, in their minds loving, gentle, spiritual. 
 
 Study the laws of life! 'Twill elevate and ennoble 
 you. In your conception of the dignity of man in his 
 nature- designed capacities and mission, you will be ele- 
 vated and strengthened ; in your conception of the Infi- 
 nite spirit, you will be exalted. Study the laws of 
 life! They include all laws of mind and matter ; and 
 the study of them will open to your view magnificent 
 fields of beauty, such as, in your frivolity and listless- 
 ness, you have never imagined to exist. Study the 
 laws of life! You have a perpetual fount of wisdom 
 and happiness. Glory will attend you, and love crown 
 you. Study the laws of life! Health and peace, se- 
 renity and joy, will be yours for ever. 
 
 [the remainder of the message was written nov. 1, 1863, by " james 
 Montgomery."] 
 The laws of life ! How sweet to learn to shun 
 Disease and woe. 'Tis well to be upright 
 In body as in soul; for he who fails 
 To yield obeisance to the laws of health 
 Can not be happy, wise, or strong, or true. 
 Disease enchains him. Misery throws her pall 
 O'er every soul untrue to Nature's law, 
 And thralls with magic power the faculties; 
 Until the soul-cramped, wretched, feeble one, 
 No more remains a true, harmonious man, 
 But dwarfed and stunted, insignificant, 
 
56 
 
 He drags his weary life in woe along, 
 And finds at last a grave dug deep and wide 
 For folly's burial. Not such, the life 
 And death of him who seeks to walk upright,— 
 Forgetting not that Nature rules by law. 
 His life is sweet; and rosy-tinted health 
 Waits ever on him, all his hours to bless. 
 Disease cannot approach, for he is armed 
 With weapons true . He stands unmoved : — 
 Virtue repays her willing votaries. 
 And thus the brave man — brave in healthful life- 
 Stands firm and mighty, strong for noble deeds, 
 With health and harmony within, without. 
 The body, as the soul, is pure, and free 
 From taints of grossness, lust and shame, and vice. 
 His powers increased by due obedience 
 To all the laws of life , his labors are 
 More efficacious far than his whose walk 
 Is disregardful of them. Thus 'tis seen 
 Prosperity attends, and usefulness. 
 The waning hours of life behold him young 
 In spirit, joyous, happy, fresh and pure, 
 A life well spent in useful deeds of love 
 Delights the mem'ry, as he contemplates 
 The hours, and days, and months, and years fiown by; 
 And as the hour of death approaches, all his thoughts 
 Are thoughts of satisfaction o'er a course complete. 
 His race well run, his mission here fulfilled, 
 Earth- scenes grow dim, and fade away. He wakes 
 A happy spirit, free from earthly taint ! 
 Oh! may the time soon come when all shall learn 
 To walk uprightly , serving Law in all 
 The pleasures, duties, life devolves on man. 
 Then death shall come a welcome friend to all, 
 And sickness flee from all the haunts of life, 
 And bounding health bless all the sons of man, 
 And virtue reign in body as in soul. 
 
 Exit Esculapius. Part Two. 
 
 VIEWS OF EMINENT PHYSICIANS. 
 
 [COMPILED BY J. M. A.] 
 
 Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes: "The disgrace of Medi- 
 cine has been that colossal system of self-deception, 
 in obedience to which mines have been emptied of their 
 cankering minerals, the entrails of animals taxed for 
 their impurities, the poison bags of reptiles drained 
 
57 
 
 of their venom, and all the inconceivable abominations 
 thus obtained thrust down the throats of human beings 
 suffering from some fault of organization, nourishment, 
 or vital stimulation." 
 
 Dr. Benj. Rush, Univ. of Penn., to Students: "I am 
 incessantly led to make apology for the instability of the 
 theories and practice of Physics. * * * Dissections 
 daily convince us of our ignorance of disease, and cause 
 us to blush at our prescriptions. What mischief have 
 we not done under the belief of false facts and false the- 
 ories ? We have assisted in multiplying diseases, we 
 have done more, we have increased their fatality. In 
 the pursuit of medical knowledge, let me advise you to 
 converse with nurses and old women." 
 
 Dr. Henle, the great German pathologist and teacher : 
 "Medical Science, at all times, has been a medley of 
 empirically acquired facts and theoretical observations, 
 and so it is likely to remain." 
 
 Prof. B. F. Parker, M. D., New York : "Instead of in- 
 vestigating for themselves, medical men copy the errors 
 of their predecessors, and have thus retarded the progress 
 of Medical Science, and perpetuated error." 
 
 Prof. J. Rodes Buchanan, M. D., of Boston, Medical 
 Editor and Author : "Of all known Sciences, none have 
 been more unstable, confused, and contradictory in doc- 
 trines than practical Medicine. Not only is it changing 
 from Age to Age, and even from year to year, but on the 
 very same day. If we pass from Nation to Nation, from 
 City to City, or from one Medical School to another, lo- 
 cated in a neighboring street, we find the most contradic- 
 tor} 1 - doctrines taught with dogmatic confidence at the 
 same hour, and the votaries of each expressing no little 
 contempt for the others." 
 
 Dr. Ramage, F. R. C. S., London : "It cannot be de- 
 nied that the present System of Medicine is a burning re- 
 proach to its professors — if, indeed, a series of vague and 
 uncertain incongruities deserves to be called by that 
 name. How rarely do our medicines do good ! How 
 often they make our patients really worse ! I fearlessly 
 assert that in most cases the sufferer would be safer with- 
 
58 
 
 out a physician than with one. I have seen enough of 
 the mal-practice of my professional brethren to warrant 
 the strong language I employ." 
 
 Dr. Alex. M. Ross, F. R. S. L., England : "The Med- 
 ical practice of to-day has no more foundation in Science, 
 in Philosophy, or Common Sense, than it had 100 years 
 ago. It is based on conjecture, and improved by sad 
 blunders, often hidden by death." 
 
 Dr. Abercrombie, F. R. C. of Physicians, Edinburg : 
 "The Science of Medicine is the science of guessing. 
 The uncertainty of medicine, which is thus a theme for 
 •the philosopher and the humorist, is deeply felt by the 
 practical physician in the daily exercise of his art." 
 
 Voltaire: "The art of medicine consists in amusing 
 the patient while Nature cures the disease." 
 
 Dr. Abernethy : "I have studied the science of drugs 
 all my life, and I must die confessing I know nothing of 
 them that I can demonstrate always the same, so no re- 
 sult is sure." 
 
 Sir Wm. Hamilton: "The history of Medicine, on 
 the one hand, is nothing more than a history of var- 
 iations ; and on the other a still more marvelous history 
 of how every successive variation has by medical bodies 
 been furiously denounced and then bigotedly adopted." 
 
 Dr. Evans, F. R. C, London: "The medical 
 practice of our day is, at the best, a most uncertain and 
 unsatisfactory system ; it has neither philosophy nor com- 
 mon sense to commend it to confidence." 
 
 Prof. Gregory, of Edinburg, author of a work on "The 
 Theory and Practice of Physics :" "Gentlemen, ninety- 
 nine out of every hundred medical facts are medical lies; 
 and medical doctrines are, for the most part, stark, star- 
 ing nonsense. The vagaries of medical theory have all 
 proved unsatisfactory." 
 
 Dublin Medical Journal: "Assuredly the uncertain 
 and most unsatisfactory art that we call medical science, 
 is no science at all, but a jumble of inconsistent opinions; 
 of conclusions hastily and often incorrectly drawn ; of 
 
59 
 
 facts misunderstood or preverted ; of comparisons with- 
 out analogy ; of hypotheses without reason, and theories 
 not only useless, but dangerous." 
 
 Dr. Menzel, German author : "The history of Medi- 
 cine furnishes a meloncholy proof how much the human 
 race have been always groping about in error, upon one 
 of the most important subjects known to them." 
 
 M. Louis, France, Paine's Commentary : "Physicians 
 scarcely agree except on points which are admitted with- 
 out an examination, or as established by long usage 
 which has nothing to recommend it but time." 
 
 Dr. A. T. Still, to Medical Students : "There is no 
 substance known to man on this earth, which has not 
 been experimented with on suffering mankind. * * * 
 You may well ask : Is Medicine a precise science, or a 
 system of groping and experimentation?" 
 
 Dr. L. M. Whiting, to Medical Students : "The very 
 principals upon which what are called theories involving 
 medical questions have been based, were never establish- 
 ed. They are and always were false." 
 
 Dr. Eliphalet Kimball: "There is a Doctorcraft as well 
 as Priestcraft. * * * Physicians have slain more 
 than war. As instruments of death in their hands, calo- 
 mel, bleeding, and other medicines have done more than 
 powder and ball. The public would be infinitely better 
 off without professed Physicians." 
 
 Dr. Coggswell, Boston : "It is my firm belief that the 
 prevailing mode of practice is productive of vastly more 
 evil than good, and were it absolutely abolished, Mankind 
 would be infinitely the gainer.'" 
 
 Prof. J. W. Carson, M. D.,: "We do not know whether 
 our patients recover because we givethem medicine, or be- 
 cause Nature cures them. Perhaps bread pills would 
 cure as many as medicine." 
 
 Prof. Alonzo Clark, of the New York College of Physi- 
 cians and Surgeons : "All of our curative agents are 
 poisons, and as a consequence every dose of medicine 
 diminishes the patient's vitality. * * * In their zeal 
 
60 
 
 to do good, physicians have done much harm. They 
 have hurried thousands to the grave who would have re- 
 covered if left to Nature." 
 
 Prof. Joseph M. Smith, M. D., of the same college : 
 "All medicines which enter the circulation poison the 
 blood in the same manner as do the poisons that produce 
 disease." 
 
 Prof. Jamison, of Edinburg, Scotland : "Nine times 
 out of ten our miscalled remedies are absolutely injurious 
 to our patients, suffering from diseases of whose real 
 character and real cause we are most culpably ignorant." 
 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes, to Medical Students: "I 
 firmly believe if the whole Matera Medica could be sunk 
 to the bottom of the sea, it would be the better for man- 
 kind, and the worse for the fishes.'' 1 
 
 Dr. J. Munson: " Drug physicians make the human 
 stomach a general postal car, whence vegetable and 
 mineral poisons, jumbled in confusion, are dispatched to 
 the nerves and lungs and brain to poison the delicate 
 fountains of life. * * * The human system is a deli- 
 cately constructed magnet ; and the same is true of all 
 organized matter possessing vitality. This magnetic 
 force is the ' vis medicatrix naturx'' so much talked of 
 and so little understood by the learned (?) medical 
 schools." 
 
 Sir John Forbes, M. D., F. R. S. : "Some patients 
 get well with the aid of medicine ; more without it ; and 
 still more in spite of it." 
 
 Dr. Bostock, author of "History of Medicine." : 
 "Our actual information or knowledge of disease does 
 not increase in proportion to our experimental practice. 
 Every dose of medicine given is a blind experiment upon 
 the vitality of the patient." 
 
 John Mason Good, M. D., F. R. S., author of "Book 
 of Nature," "A System of Nosology," "Study of Medi- 
 cine," etc., London: "The science of medicine is ^bar- 
 barous jargon, and the effects of our medicines on the 
 human system in the highest degree uncertain — except, 
 
61 
 
 indeed, that they have destroyed more lives than war, 
 pestilence and famine combined." 
 
 Jas. Johnson, M. D., F. R. S., editor of the Medico- 
 Chirurgical Review : "I declare it as my conscientious 
 conviction, founded on long experience and reflection, 
 that if there were not a single physician, surgeon, man- 
 mid-wife, chemist, apothecary, druggist, nor drug on the 
 face of the earth, there would be less sickness and less 
 mortality than now prevail." 
 
 Dr. Frank, author and practitioner : "Thousands 
 are annually slaughtered in the quiet sick room. 
 Governments should at once either banish medi- 
 cal men and proscribe their blundering art, or they 
 should adopt some better means to protect the lives of 
 the people than prevail at present, when they look far 
 less after the practice of this dangerous profession, and 
 the murders committed in it, than after the lowest 
 trades." 
 
 Prof. St. John, N. Y., Medical College : "All medi- 
 cines are poisonous." 
 
 Prof. E. R. Peaslee, M. D., of the same school : 
 "The administration of powerful medicines is the 
 most fruitful cause of derangements of the digestion." 
 
 Prof. H. G. Cox, M. D., same : "The fewer remedies 
 you employ in any disease, the better for your patients." 
 
 Prof. Joseph M. Smith, M. D. : "Drugs do not cure 
 disease ; disease is always cured by the vis medicatrix 
 nature." 
 
 Dr. 0. H. Richmond: "The physician knows far 
 better than those outside the profession do, that Medi- 
 cine is not a science. He knows that where he gets the 
 one good effect he strives for, he gets a host of bad ef- 
 fects following. His nervines first 'quiet the nerves' and 
 then shatter them. Bromide of Potassium quiets the 
 aching, throbbing head, firstly, and then produces 
 disorganization of the nerves of the stomach, that lays 
 the foundation for innumerable future headaches. 
 
 His purgatives, affording temporary relief to the over- 
 burdened system, produce constipation afterwards. His 
 
62 
 
 stimulants are followed by prostration. His quinine 
 and antipyrin, given with great hopes and in heroic 
 doses to cure La Grippe last Winter, were followed by 
 the total collapse of many physical systems, whereby 
 pneumonia and consumption hastened thousands to the 
 'Summerland' before their alloted time. 1 ' 
 
 Prof. Jacob Bigelow, M. Z>., Harvard University, Pres. 
 Mass. Medical Society : "Medicine in regard to some 
 of its important objects (the cure of disease) is still an 
 ineffectual speculation. The present Calomel practice is 
 a calamity co-extensive with the empire of civilization, 
 and war with all its ghostly concomitants must hail Calo- 
 mel its master. * * * Mercury enters into every 
 part of the body, and there continues ; and if the victim 
 lives, his system will be a living barometer to denote the 
 changes of the weather — great pain making the one dif- 
 ference. I sincerely believe that the unbiased opinion 
 of most medical men of sound judgment and long ex- 
 perience is, that the amount of death and disaster in the 
 world would be less than it now is if all disease were left 
 to itself." 
 
 New Orleans Picayune : A remarkably honest Chicago 
 doctor sent in a certificate of death the other day with 
 his name signed in the space reserved for "Cause of 
 death." 
 
 Hon. Robert Dale Owen : "As when we are our own 
 
 SERVANTS OUR WANTS DIMINISH, SO IF WE W r ERE OUR OWN 
 PHYSICIANS WOULD OUR DISEASES DECREASE." 
 
 THE VIRUS CURE. 
 First they pumped him full of virus from some mediocre cow, 
 Lest the small-pox might assail him aud leave pitmarks on his brow; 
 Then one day a big dog bit him— he was gunning down at Quogue— 
 And they filled his veins in Paris with an extract of mad dog: 
 Then he caught tuberculosis, so tney took him to Berlin, 
 And injected half a gallon of bacillse into him. 
 
 Well, his friends were all delighted with the quickness of the cure, 
 'Till he caught the typhoid fever, and speedy death was sure; 
 Then the doctors with some sewage did inoculate a hen, 
 And injected half its gastric juice into his abdomen; 
 But as soon as he recovered, as of course he had to do, 
 There came along a rattlesnake and bit his thumb in two; 
 Once again his veins were opened to receive about a gill 
 Of some serpentine solution with the venom in it still. 
 To prepare him for a voyage in an Asiastic sea, 
 
63 
 
 New blood was pumped into him from a leperous Chinee; 
 
 Soon his apetite had vanished and he could not eat at all, 
 
 So the virus of dyspepsia was injected in the Fall; 
 
 But his blood was so diluted with the remedies he'd taken 
 
 That one day he laid him down and died and never did awaken. 
 
 With the Brown-Sequard elixir though they tried resuscitation, 
 
 He never showed a symptom of reviving animation; 
 
 Yet his doctor still could save him (he persistently maintains) 
 
 If he only could inject a little life into his veins! 
 
 Exit Esculapius. Part Three. 
 
 PLAIN RULES FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF 
 HEALTH. 
 
 [BY JAMES MADISON ALLEN.] 
 
 1. Under all circumstances keep an even mind. Nev- 
 er allow yourself to be thrown off your balance, by fear, 
 anger, or any other emotion or passion. A happy dis- 
 position — a cheerful, hopeful, contented mind, is a "con- 
 tinual feast" and a fountain of health. Keep a clear 
 conscience. 
 
 2. Spend some portion of each day in quiet medita- 
 tion (that you may be kept acquainted with yourself and 
 real needs, and well individualized), and in silent com- 
 munion with the higher life, with the good, the true, 
 and the beautiful (that you may be purified and spirit- 
 ually vitalized). 
 
 3. Maintain regularity in all your habits. Be syste- 
 matic and orderly. Have a time for everything. 
 
 4. Be not afraid of the life-giving, indispensable sun- 
 shine— visible source of all material blessings — without 
 whose genial rays human existence would be impossible, 
 and the globe itself a dead and useless orb, blanketed 
 with ice and swinging in eternal night "rayless and 
 pathless." Do not darken your rooms, with heavy cur- 
 tains or shutters, but let in the light! — remembering that 
 the cheerfulness of sunshine and the preservation of 
 
64 
 
 health are far more essential than fluffy upholstery, 
 or carpets laden with deadly dust. Every room of your 
 house must, if possible, have the influence of the direct 
 rays of the sun some portion of every day. Have large 
 windows, use them, save your eyesight, and live in 
 vitalized air. 
 
 5. Live as much as possible in the open air. Inflate 
 the lungs frequently to their fullest capacity — always 
 with the lips closed, and best out doors. Never inhale 
 through the mouth. Stand and sit erect, with shoulders 
 back and down, chest forward. Keep out of air-tight, 
 ill- ventilated, stuffy, tobacconized, or animalized rooms. 
 
 6. Subsist upon fruits (best in their natural state), 
 nuts, grains and other productions of the plant kingdom. 
 Use nothing that necessitates slaughter ; do not "canni- 
 balize" by devouring the dead bodies of your fellow 
 creatures.* Avoid (a) all stimulants and narcotics — 
 such as the flesh of animals, strong drinks, tobacco, etc.; 
 (b) animal fats derived from flesh ; (c) chemical prepara- 
 tions for fermenting bread ; (d) bolted flour. Eat slowly, 
 masticate thoroughly. Be temperate as to quantity (one 
 seldom regrets having eaten too little !), cheerful in 
 mood. Rest before eating, if very weary. Eat only at 
 regular intervals. Drink pure soft water. Abominate 
 all mineral or chemical medicines as deadly foes to 
 humanity. 
 
 7. Clothe the body evenly and loosely : — securing 
 equal distribution of warmth, permitting free and full 
 action of every limb, organ, nerve and muscle, and 
 offering no impediment to labor. Support garments 
 from the shoulders, never from the hips. Wear nothing 
 that compresses any part of the body or extremities. 
 
 8. Plan your house for convenience, comfort and 
 health. Let each room be thoroughly ventilated and 
 
 *See a work entitled "Figs or Pigs— Fruit or Brute? Shall We Eat 
 Flesh?" By J. Madison Allen. 
 
65 
 
 well lighted. Let no decaying vegetables or other 
 refuse or deposits accumulate, in cellar or elsewhere : — 
 compost, bury or burn such promptly. Have no cess- 
 pool or water-sewerage, but use the dry earth and lime- 
 chloride system of deodorizing. Keep a dish of water 
 upon the stove when you have a fire, to moisten the air. 
 Shade trees should be not too near the dwelling. 
 
 9. Take abundant exercise. Do something useful. 
 Use every muscle. If your work is sedentary, practice 
 gymnastics, walk, run, jump, swim, climb, etc. 
 
 10. Take daily recreations. Innocent amusements, at 
 seasonable hours and in reasonable quantity, relieve the 
 mind of its anxieties, develop the social nature and 
 heighten the joy of living, quicken the circulation, and 
 greatly improve the health. Cultivate the divine art of 
 music, especially : — its rhymthic pulsations develop 
 harmony in the body as Avell as spirit. 
 
 11. Take abundant sleep. Retire early, and arise 
 when thoroughly rested. Use no feathers for bed or pil- 
 low. Lie with head to the North. Bathe often — with 
 water of suitable temperature. On arising give the bod} T 
 a brisk "magnetic massage" with the hands — wet or dry 
 — finishing with towel or brush — till the skin is aglow 
 with the rose-tint of health. Give special attention 
 to the ventilation of the sleeping room and bed clothing 
 — letting the air do its perfect work. Let the sun shine 
 into the room and upon the bed if possible. 
 
 12. In sex matters, keep the thoughts pure, be chaste, 
 temperate, and strictly monogamic. Do not squander 
 the life forces in dissipation. 
 
 13. Under all circumstances keep the feet warm and the 
 head cool. 
 
" Wherewithal Shall Ye be 
 
 Clothed ?" 
 
 • • • 
 [given at new HAVEN, CONN., JUNE, 1863.] 
 
 Preliminary observations.— it is not our 
 
 M purpose to bring before your minds in detail the 
 jh inexhaustible evidences which exist of a most 
 
 ^t lamentable lack of appreciation of the fundamen- 
 tal principles of good taste in respect to Dress. 
 The details of such matters as dress, diet, exercise, bath- 
 ing, sleep, ventilation, labor, recreation, and all else per- 
 taining to physical Hygiene, are left for those more es- 
 pecially interested in them. We have to do with general 
 principles. 
 
 It has even been questioned by some, whether as im- 
 mortal spirits, occupied with "weightier matters," we 
 can with propriety "descend" to the everyday concerns 
 and conditions of social and domestic mundane life. 
 It has been thought by many mortals that spirits have 
 only to do with strictly "spiritual" things ; that the 
 details of materiality can not even be apprehended 
 from the spirit stand-point. It has been urged that as 
 workers in the great field of spiritual regeneration, we 
 have little or nothing to do with the physical. It is 
 even supposed that there is a sort of "impassable gulf" 
 between spirit and matter ; that they are entirely separ- 
 ate and distinct — each independent of and unaffected by 
 the other ; and that therefore, as spiritual reformers, 
 we have nothing to do with the physical habits of the 
 world we are seeking to regenerate. 
 
67 
 
 There is truth, and yet a great degree of falsity in such 
 a conception. It is true that as immortal beings, dives- 
 ted of the habiliments of mortality, we are able to ap- 
 preciate more fully the immense superiority of the spirit 
 to the body. We can approximate to an intelligent 
 understanding of the God-principle, as it exists in every 
 soul, and realize to some degree the difference between it 
 and the external conditions surrounding it. We can 
 even probe the human soul deeply enough to see that 
 the incongruities and inharmonies through which it has 
 to act are of but little consequence as compared with 
 the soul itself; and reasoning from this conception, it 
 may almost be concluded that the inner being is the only 
 portion of man really worthy of serious and careful at- 
 tention ; and thus concluding, we may for a moment in- 
 cline to ignore the interests of the body, and work di- 
 rectly and only upon and for the soul. 
 
 It is true that the permanent conditions of existence are 
 of vastly greater importance than are those things which 
 are transient and fleeting in their nature. Those things 
 which are to endure (perchance forever) justly merit 
 greater attention than those which are momentary. 
 And thus we may well consider the interests of the soul 
 as of a thousand times greater moment than anything 
 pertaining to the body can possibly be. 
 
 But in our investigations, and conclusions, it must not 
 be forgotten how intimately associated and indissolubly 
 connected, during mortal life, are the mind and body — 
 the mental and the physical. There is no separation of 
 them possible. Whatever affects the one also affects the 
 other. They are mutually dependent, and can no more 
 be divorced than Virtue and Happiness. The loves of the 
 soul act and react upon the attractions of the body, and 
 vice versa. 
 
 Disordered mentality strikes at the root of health, and 
 disturbance of physical function correspondingly affects 
 
68 
 
 the manifestations of mind. 
 
 There is no evading this law of mutuality. It is fixed 
 and unvarying. The soul, while in its connection with 
 the body, is and must be deeply attracted to it in acti- 
 nic relations, and greatly affected by its special condi- 
 tions. Harmony or discord thus affect both — with a 
 mutuality and intimacy hardly realized, as yet, even by 
 the most internal perception. Dyspeptic minds are as- 
 sociated with dyspeptic stomachs ; sudden revulsions of 
 thought or feeling produce sudden revulsions of blood. 
 Apoplexy is not an accidental circumstance, having no 
 relations to mentality. The deadening of mental pro- 
 cesses induces a surchargement of physical tissues. 
 The bloated and corrupt body of the debauchee takes on 
 its corruption as much through the foulness of mental 
 debasement, as from the direct intermingling of bodily 
 conditions. The vacant stare of the mindless onanist is 
 a sad illustration of the interchangeability and inter-de- 
 pendence of bodily and mental conditions. The time 
 has gone by when men can violate with expected impu- 
 nity the law of chastity and virtue ; but even yet it is not 
 comprehended how closely associated are high aspira- 
 tions for virtue and purity with high conditions of 
 physical purity, beauty and health. 
 
 Everything which tends to give purity and harmony, 
 health and strength to the body, acts equally surely in 
 the direction of the mind. It must be so ; for the vast 
 network of nerves ramifying the whole structure of man 
 is but the servant of the mind, carrying messages to the 
 body from the brain sensorium — seat of the soul — and 
 bringing back reports. 
 
 If the nerves in their transmission of thought are 
 forced to work against obstructions, through physical 
 derangement, the potency of their effort is diminished, 
 and they must return with a portion of their task unac- 
 complished. No process of vitality can go forward 
 
69 
 
 without the aid and direction of the mind, acting through 
 the nerves. If the powers of the mind be unduly taxed, 
 in attempting to remove, through the involuntary or 
 voluntary nerves, hostile invaders, or false conditions of 
 the physical, the purity and strength, harmony and 
 sublimity, grace and fervency of those mental opera- 
 tions relating not to the physical are necessarily im- 
 paired. The body thus unbalances the mind — i. e. the 
 mental powers are diverted from their true channels, 
 and made to partake of the inharmony through and upon 
 which they are forced to act. Thus the regularity and 
 symmetry of thought are disturbed, and deformity of 
 manifestation is produced. 
 
 Again, if the purity and harmony of the physical be 
 impaired (as they necessarily must) by diversion of the 
 involuntary powers of the mind from their true function 
 in the body, on account of undue excitement of one or 
 more faculties, or of inharmonious developement, (which 
 involves a tendency toward excitement) ; — if, in other 
 words, too much vitality of mind is expended in the 
 gratification of the demands of the inharmony of the 
 mind, too little nerve power reaches the needy body — 
 and weakness and inharmony straightway pertain to 
 both departments of the being. Thus another illustra- 
 tion is furnished of the mutual dependence, for health 
 and harmony, of the mind and body. 
 
 It is not to be forgotten, therefore, by spirits or mor- 
 tals who are seeking to do good, that the truest way to 
 effect their end is not to despise to consider the physical, 
 but to view man in his compositeness — made up as he is 
 of materal and spiritual. It is true wisdom to consider 
 every department of man's nature — not neglecting the 
 external, physical relations, because of their transient- 
 ness. In the light of eternity, the natural body is in- 
 deed of but slight importance ; but as mortal beings, 
 still allied to the physical, and so greatly dependent 
 
70 
 
 upon physical harmony for mental well-being, it certain- 
 ly becomes those in the flesh to study well their mortal 
 part, that thereby the rewards of health may be theirs, 
 and the mind be not hindered in its Teachings out after 
 Wisdom and Harmony and Love eternal. And it be- 
 comes us, as spirit co-workers for the good of mortals, 
 to take into consideration everything which pertains to 
 the well-being of the soul ; whether it be habits of 
 thought or habits of action, conditions of mind or con- 
 ditions of body affecting mind ; whether it be food or 
 drink, air or exercise, emotional influence or social or 
 industrial arrangements, religious institutions or educa- 
 tional ; whether esthetics or ethics, science or fashion, 
 dress or manners, or anything else which can be 
 shown to have a direct or indirect influence upon the 
 growth of the soul. Thus no subject is interdicted ; for 
 all things in human life and human experience bear, 
 directly or indirectly, upon the inner life — the immortal 
 part — and are thus not unimportant nor unworthy of 
 consideration or treatment from the spiritual stand- 
 point. 
 
 With such views we approach the subject of Dress 
 Reform. Realizing, as we do, the importance of cor- 
 rect views upon so universal a subject of practical 
 thought as the covering of the human body, we cannot 
 refrain from presenting in a few earnest words some of 
 the results of our observations and investigations. It is 
 well that the mundane world should know and realize 
 that its interests are guarded from many a different 
 point of view — that its every act and thought is scruti- 
 nized and "weighed in the balances" in the life beyond. 
 
 We shall endeavor to make ourself plainly understood, 
 and as thoroughly comprehended as possible, without 
 descending to minor points ; never losing sight of general 
 principles. 
 
 Whence the necessity of such a procedure as the in- 
 
71 
 
 vestigation of the subject of Dress? What is there in 
 the covering of the human body to merit the considera- 
 tion of the philanthropist or statesman of Spirit-Life? 
 What to deserve the attention of any, with a view to the 
 discovery of laws and general principles ? Does the sub- 
 ject of clothing possess that importance which would 
 seem to be attached to it when we speak of Dress Re- 
 form? Reform, in the technical sense, is a comprehen- 
 sive word ' and to be applied to dress it must either be 
 narrowed down in its signification to a very paltry idea, 
 or else the subject of clothing must be elevated in dignity 
 very far above its present level. 
 
 Who ever heard of the giddy followers of fashion, 
 though displaying so much practical interest in the sub- 
 ject of dress, attempting to apply natural principles, or 
 to recognize anything like natural laws [divine laws] 
 in the construction of their clothing? Natural law and 
 the inherent fitness of things are utterly ignored. The 
 virtues of the toilet are not the virtues of Nature, but 
 conformings to artificial and unnatural standards, set up 
 by the caprice of fashion. 
 
 In her tyranny, Fashion is more fickle than the vary- 
 ing winds. Nature in her demands is ever the same. 
 
 No violation of natural law to-day will become any- 
 thing else but violation to-morrow ; and no obedience 
 to-day will become disobedience to-morrow. Yesterday, 
 to-day and forever the same, her mandates are simple, 
 unvarying and just. 
 
 Fickleness is ever tyrannous, real stability tolerant. 
 
 Fashion may to-day be a tolerably near approach to 
 naturalness, to-morrow as far removed as darkness from 
 light. Nature fixes her boundaries and standards 
 and thus they remain, through storm and sunshine. 
 
 Fashion perverts the natural instincts of the human 
 soul, and renders its devotees the veriest slaves. Nature 
 allows the freest expansion, in gentleness and harmony. 
 
72 
 
 Fashion pleads for degredation . Nature tends to ele- 
 vation. Fashion bigotizes ; Nature liberalizes. Fash- 
 ion cripples and distorts ; Nature expands and beautifies. 
 
 With a power all-crushing,- fashion belittles the human 
 soul. Nature glorifies and strengthens, with a potent 
 gentleness of persuasion. 
 
 Fashion gormandizes with insatiable maw — devouring 
 alike the gross and the pure, the coarse and the fine, 
 the ugly and the beautiful. Nature is ever temperate — 
 adapting supply to needs with a perfect regularity and 
 propriety. 
 
 Fashion is deaf to the calls of suffering humanity — 
 preferring inglorious ease and selfish gratification to the 
 ministration of the "soothing balm." Nature is ever 
 kind and loving, earnestly philanthropic — "abounding 
 in good works." 
 
 Who will be free ? Let him follow Nature. Who 
 will be wise and loving ? Let him follow Nature. Who 
 will be pure and gentle, meek and lowly ? Let him fol- 
 low Nature. Who will be beautiful, healthful, noble, 
 powerful, harmonious ? Let him follow Nature. 
 
 What man or woman wishes to be a slave ? Worship 
 Fashion, and you are one ! What person loves fickle- 
 ness? Follow Fashion, and enjoy it to your heart's con- 
 tent ! What person craves the esteem of shallow-minded 
 fops? Yield to the requirements of Fashion, and you 
 can have it ! Who loves the approbation of unknown 
 arbitrators of "style," better than health, comfort, con- 
 venience, true beauty, and the elegance and propriety of 
 naturalness? Act as the majority of man-and-woman- 
 kind act ; ask no questions, but blindly follow where 
 Fashion leads ! 
 
 Do you wish to pass this life all unheeding the great 
 lessons it is designed to teach — content to wallow in the 
 mire of selfishness, extravagance, frivolity and dissipa- 
 tion ? The way is open ; Fashion will conduct ! 
 
73 
 
 Do you prefer to squander time, given for useful em- 
 ployment in the cultivation of the soul, in the idle pur- 
 suit of selfish gratification ? How easy ! Only follow 
 the fashion ! 
 
 Do you prefer butterfly life, with its gaudiness, giddi- 
 ness and fleeting show, to the solid, substantial, and en- 
 during attainments of scholastic culture ? Coat your- 
 self with rainbow tints, and in all the pomp and cere- 
 mony of "gentility" strut your brief hour upon the 
 stage of life, and pass off with soul stunted to the di- 
 mensions of the beautiful insect — with aspirations as 
 high, and attainments as huge and diversified ! 
 
 Do you feel like sneering at the simplicity and true 
 beauty of Nature — preferring the bedizenments and af- 
 fectations of artificiality ? You are not alone ; the whole 
 world of Fashion is with you ! 
 
 Do you prefer anything rather than genuine manhood 
 and true womanhood ? You are in the height of Fashion 
 in so preferring ! 
 
 Is this world to you but a place for the exhibition of 
 gewgawry and the fantastic conceits of fashionable life ? 
 You have learned your lesson well, and can take your 
 place among the elite. 
 
 Has life no meaning in your eyes beyond develope- 
 ment of vanity, self-conceit, shallow-mindedness, and 
 hypocrisy? You are among the most "fashionable!" 
 
 Fashion strips Nature of her lovely garments ; distorts 
 her fair features into grimaces and smirks ; coats her 
 all over with fantasticalness and bijouterie ; makes her 
 hobble and wiggle and strut ; powders her face with 
 rouge and carmine and white ; pinches her waist until 
 her poor vitals shriek with torture ; covers her head with 
 unsightly disfigurements ; restricts her arms from free 
 movement ; rolls her hair into heat-and-headache-pro- 
 ducing balls ; binds her fair limbs with ligatures tight, 
 checking the flow of the ruddy life-currents thereby ; 
 
74 
 
 cramps and squeezes her feet into shapeless and horrible 
 deformity ; — from head to foot unnaturally attired ; with 
 garments sweeping and bedraggled ankles ; encircled 
 in iron bands of slavery ; down-pressed in vital parts by 
 weight of skirts ; not a limb, organ, or member uncursed! 
 
 Well may angels weep and thoughtful mortals hide 
 their heads in shame ! 
 
 Bodies alone do not suffer by the cruel mandates of 
 Fashion. She tyrannizes over the mind as despotically, 
 and with a thousand-fold more potency of evil. When 
 once she strikes her victim, there is no longer manhood 
 or womanhood able to assert itself. Abject and submis- 
 sive, the poor subjects of her despotism cower in a 
 slavishness of mind worse than the degradation of Afri- 
 can bondage. 
 
 The love of fashion is a deadly upas, which blights 
 every aspiration of the soul and stunts the growth of 
 true character with a deadly potency. All other interests 
 must yield to those of Fashion. All virtues are concen- 
 trated in the one word "Gentility !" 
 
 Innate love of humanity must step aside, if it conflicts 
 with the pursuit of Fashion ! Intellectual culture is of 
 no consequence, as compared with the vast impor- 
 tance of fashion-wisdom ! Morality is nothing without 
 the conventionalities of bontonism! Religion is of no 
 worth, unless attired comme itfaut! The worship of 
 God must be conducted by "genteel" clergymen, and 
 participated in by "genteel" devotees! Everything 
 whatever must be "genteel," or it is deemed unworthy 
 of notice by the fashion-world-rulers ! Everything must 
 have stamped upon it in glowing letters—" Style !" 
 
 The very babe aud the unborn must feel the weight 
 of the heavy curse — it is unfashionable for mothers to 
 bring forth, to nurse and care for, the children Deific 
 law has given them ! Dress and fashionable folly usurp 
 the place of the maternal instinct — of motherly virtue and 
 
75 
 
 self-sacrificingness. The first lesson of the little boy or 
 girl is one of folly and vanity.. "My new dress," "My 
 pretty hat," becomes early the summum bonum. The 
 greatest care of the anxious, fashionable and "wise" — or 
 otherwise — parent, is not to allow her child to act natu- 
 rally, to play and romp freely in the open air, and thus 
 expand and grow vigorous, healthy and lovely ; but, 
 "Don't soil your dress !" The full-dressed, fashionably 
 attired "lady" can not even permit the natural express- 
 ion of the lovingness of innocent and confiding child- 
 hood, in the sweet fond kiss and earnest artless embrace ; 
 — the silken token of her slavishness to Fashion and 
 frivolity might be crumpled ! And the poor child is put 
 away, with a soul starving for a mother's love. 
 
 These are sad facts. The cause of progress and re- 
 form can never succeed, in its fulness, until heavy 
 blows are struck at the gigantic and almost omnipotent 
 tyrant whose sway converts human beings into butter- 
 flies, dries up the juices of human affection, deadens the 
 moral sensibilities, perverts the instinct of freedom, de- 
 grades the aspirations, weakens the intellect, and en- 
 feebles the body. Fashion does all this ! 
 
 And what is the duty of reformers ? What is the duty 
 of philanthropists ? What the duty of Spiritualists, who 
 occupy and are to occupy the front rank in the cause of 
 universal harmony ? What the duty of woman — and 
 especially of those who have been blessed with divine 
 revealments from the Angel-world of the glorious mis- 
 sion and destiny which awaits woman in the harmonious 
 future — who have come out of the obscurity in which 
 past customs had placed them, and are nobly laboring 
 in behalf of Spiritual illumination ? 
 
 We say unto you, shake off the shackles which have 
 so long bound your sex ! Stand in true dignity and 
 freedom! Dare to be women, and be slaves no longer! 
 Let not fashion rule you, of all persons ! 
 
76 
 
 Dare to follow the instinct of naturalness in your dress- 
 ing, and discard the abominations of Fashion. Assert 
 your right to consult your own taste, your comfort, con- 
 venience, and health, your sense of fitness, in all matters 
 pertaining to dress, whether it lead you with Fashion or 
 against it. Be bold and fearless advocates of freedom in 
 dress ; and advocate it not merely in words, but in the 
 practical adoption of its principles in your every day 
 "walk." 
 
 Be not ashamed to shorten your garment, if thereby 
 you may lengthen your lives. Do not hesitate to adopt 
 or reject any article or form of clothing, if the require- 
 ments of convenience or comfort demand it. 
 
 Believe that you have the right, inherent in every soul, 
 to so depart from the customs or fashions as in your 
 own individual case may seem proper. 
 
 The interests of woman require this ; and as laborers 
 in the cause of woman's elevation you do not your 
 whole duty, unless you exemplify in your own persons 
 the superiority of common sense to the unthinking 
 Fashion-following, which characterizes the masses (both 
 male and female) of to-day. Realize the sublimity of 
 woman's mission ! Comprehend the glory of woman's 
 destiny ! Be dauntless, loving and consistent, in all 
 your actions and habits, mental and physical. Consis- 
 tent you can not be, so long as you drag about in your 
 itineracy, or in your domestic life, the weight of Fash- 
 ion's curse! We appeal then to you, as examples for 
 the guidance of your sex, not to present your sisters 
 with the darkness of the past, but in your own persons 
 show that you take in fully the significance of the 
 Spiritual revelation which is sweeping over the world, 
 and seeking to elevate woman to her true dignity, 
 as something more than a giddy butterfly of Fashion and 
 
 folly. 
 
 The grandest mission of Spiritualism may be said to 
 
77 
 
 be the practical elevation of woman to the lofty standard 
 of her diviner nature. A mighty work is to be done in 
 this direction. The greatest hindrance to her regenera- 
 tion is, however, her own apathy, and non-realization of 
 her real present condition. A slave — she knows it not. 
 Cursed beyond measure by the tyranny of Fashion, woman 
 is apt to consider herself blessed by it instead. Until a 
 deeper comprehension of her condition can be brought to 
 her, and infused into the depths of her being, she will 
 hardly rise in self-defense and cast off the fetters which 
 now bind her. 
 
 Awake, oh mothers ! Arouse from the sleep of ages, 
 and grapple with the realities of existence ! Arise to a 
 perception of the infinite possibilities of womanhood ! 
 Teach your children the lessons of life, and exemplify to 
 them the beauties of lofty development. Show them 
 that life means something more than dressing, flirting, 
 superficial accomplishments, and the worship and pur- 
 suit of pleasure, mammon, fame or power. Live wise- 
 ly and lovingly, gently and purely ; yielding obeisance 
 to truth, virtue and humanity, but to Fashion never, un- 
 less she leads in the direction of comfort, convenience 
 and health. We shall then see a race of mothers greater 
 than queens — truly worthy the admiration and love 
 of good men and angels ; and the salvation of the world 
 will be secured. 
 
 Awake, ye daughters, and seek to learn the meaning 
 of life ! Lift your aspirations towards the Infinite source 
 of Wisdom, and be wise. Spurn the allurements of 
 Fashion, and learn to walk humbly, simply, and loving- 
 ly. Be something more rational, and truly beautiful be- 
 cause natural, than you have ever been. You have it in 
 your power to accomplish much by womanly independ- 
 ence, for the salvation of your brothers. They need re- 
 generation and liberation from lust and avarice and mad 
 ambition, as well as from Fashion's power. Entwine 
 
78 
 
 about their hearts the sweet tendrils of sisterly affection, 
 and by your appreciation of the Divinity of life, stimu- 
 late them to higher aims and loftier ambitions. You 
 have it in your power to bless the world beyond measure. 
 Exercise it thus, and your destiny will be one of glory 
 and happiness. How insignificant and despicable do 
 the giddy pomp and silly affectations of fashionable life 
 appear in the contrast ! Be true, then, oh ! ye mothers 
 and daughters, sisters and affianced, to the higher in- 
 stincts of nature. Rise above the contemptible frivolities 
 of Fashion, and dare clothe yourselves rationally, think 
 deeply, and act wisely, earnestly and bravely. 
 
 Then virtue o'er the soul will shed her ray 
 Of love, to beautify and bless the heart. 
 Then pride will no more curse the world with scorn, 
 Nor slander poison with her fatal dart. 
 Then men and women, strong and brave and true 
 Will walk the earth with majesty and power; 
 And healtn and strength triumphant take the place 
 Of all those ills disease o'er man doth shower. 
 And Fashion with its rod of iron will sway 
 No more the sons and daughters of the earth; 
 The sense of duty to one's self will check 
 Her rule despotic— there will thus have birth 
 The reign of individuality. 
 
 Each soul will thus become self-poised and firm 
 Unheeding all the foolish calls of pride- 
 Content of Nature and her simple truths to learn. 
 The time must come when man shall learn to walk 
 With eye upturned, and ever- trusting heart; 
 And woman bear the weight of shame no more — 
 Endowed with power to struggle ' gainst the arts 
 Of folly. Long has woman been the tool 
 Of giddy Fashion, crushing with its spell 
 The finer, higher attributes of soul; 
 She now may rise, and dare the world to tell 
 How glorious, how sublime her destiny, 
 When she has shaken off the galling yoke 
 Which hitherto has bound her down in chains, 
 And made her life a mockery. Once broke, 
 The spell which holds her now will ne'er again 
 Regain its power. The lessons of the past 
 Will not be lost, and she will rise at last 
 In dignity and worth. A lofty name 
 In letters bright on Nature's scroll of fame 
 Will yet be hers, as side by side she stands 
 With man her brother, friend and mate. Her hands 
 Will then be free ' 'to labor and to wait, ' ' — 
 And life will open wide the "golden gate' ' 
 To everlasting joy and peace and love, 
 And wisdom, in the shining courts above. 
 
1 he Spiritual Congress : 
 
 ITS COMPOSITION, PURPOSES, AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 • • • 
 [given at new haven, conn., may, 1863.] 
 
 
 WHE SPIRITUAL CONGRESS is a body of men 
 
 >5p and women inhabiting the Celestial Spheres, 
 
 whose earthward object is the removal of sick- 
 
 ^p) ness, sin and sorrow, the harmonization of the 
 races, and the inauguration of perpetual and 
 universal peace on earth, good will. Composed as it is 
 of the greatest and best minds that have ever occupied 
 the flesh form on earth, it may well be expected that 
 there will be wisdom in its operations and success in its 
 e ventuation. 
 
 Such in brief is the Spiritual Congress, in its composi- 
 tion, purposes and prospects. A thorough comprehen- 
 sion, however, of the mighty interests involved in the 
 movement inaugurated by the body thus termed, can on- 
 ly be realized by an extended examination of the present 
 condition of the races, nations, institutions and average 
 individual. Thus it will appear that there is indeed a 
 mighty work for such a body to perform ; and it may 
 well occupy the thought of the noblest and best of 
 earth's children, whether still in the flesh or ascended to 
 the higher life. 
 
 A mighty concourse of souls awaits the realization of 
 the Unitary, or Mutual, System of Ethics and Religion, 
 Science, Education, Art, and Commerce. The oneness 
 of nationality realized in the higher spheres of Spirit- 
 Life, and the harmonization of the entire human race 
 
80 
 
 foreshadowed thereby, are worthy subjects of our 
 thoughtful contemplation. 
 
 Let us elucidate, to some extent, the principles under- 
 lying society as it now exists. Commencing at the fire- 
 side, let us branch out into all the avenues of Life — em- 
 bracing in our investigations the Schools, the Churches, 
 the Governments, the fashions, the customs and the 
 manners. Let us elucidate the principles of thought and 
 action predominating in each, and compare them with 
 those which should actuate in every department. 
 
 We lay down, as our fundamental axiom, that all 
 things are designed for good, and will eventuate in or be 
 over-ruled for good. We also affirm (what would seem 
 to be self-evident, but which is denied by many,) the 
 eternity of good and the temporality of all evils. It fol- 
 lows that whatever conduces to good temporal, must al- 
 so conduce to good eternal ; or, in other words, the evil 
 which is in man, if met by the good, must result ultim- 
 ately in death of the evil and supremacy of the good. 
 
 By evil is meant that which conduces to temporary 
 unhappiness. By good is meant that which conduces to 
 permanent happiness. 
 
 Happiness in low conditions — or low grades of happi- 
 ness — may exist temporarily ; but the admixture of 
 evil, or unhappiness-producing conditions, is so potent, 
 that the real good, the eternal good, is lost sight of 
 or unattained. Thus humanity, in the vain pursuit of 
 wealth, fashion, popularity, or sensual pleasure, deprives 
 itself of the true, the real, the substantial, the eternal 
 good, in being satisfied with that which is, in its very 
 nature, transitory and fleeting. Thus the high and the 
 holy is lost sight of, in the greed for the low and the un- 
 holy ; and man lives and dies the mere creature of cir- 
 cumstances — buffeted about by the fickle breezes of tem- 
 porality, rather than guided by the strong, unerring and 
 unwavering principle of good ; and unhappiness or low 
 
81 
 
 grades of happiness is hence the common lot of the 
 world. 
 
 The great aim of advanced minds is to expand the per- 
 ception of good, and to elevate the standard of happiness. 
 Were all satisfied with low conditions of happiness, and 
 unaspirative to high, there would be no eternity of good 
 actively existing ; but so soon as the soul expands to the 
 appreciation of high truths, the happiness becomes more 
 actively eternal in its quality. That is to say, he who 
 lives in high conditions of harmony is possessed of that 
 which can never be taken from him, and which is thus 
 eternal in its nature ; whereas he who persists in that 
 which is low, stultifies his soul to the perception of that 
 which is high ; and the good he enjoys, the happiness he 
 feels, is unsatisfactory, unstable and fleeting. 
 
 Having thus presented the idea that elevation of men- 
 tal condition is the proper and legitimate object of aspir- 
 ation, and the only true standard of good, we proceed to 
 the consideration of some of the conditions now existing 
 in the world. Commencing at the fireside, what do we 
 find ? — a state of peace, harmony and wisdom, loving- 
 ness, confidence and purity, frugality, culture and refine- 
 ment ? Except in rare instances, the domestic circle is 
 but little more than a place for eating, drinking, sleep- 
 ing, talking, and the like — for the general and 
 special gratification, that is, of the animal wants 
 and desires. The holy interchange of thought and 
 affection, outgushing like the gentle rivulet from the 
 cool spring in mid-summer, or like the glowing beauty, 
 the gorgeous serenity of the setting sun in fair Italia ; 
 the loving sweetness which should characterize all the 
 manifestations of domestic life ; the hallowed feeling of 
 rest and quiet, peace and contentment, serenity and 
 cheerfulness, which should prevade the atmosphere of 
 home ; the satisfaction which should exist with partner 
 and children, and all that pertains to the domestic circle, 
 
82 
 
 (whether of mind or matter, thoughts or things) ; the 
 perfect heaven of conditions which home should embody; 
 — oh, how sadly deficient are the fire-sides of the world 
 in all these essentials ! 
 
 Instead of perfect love and confidence between hus- 
 band and wife ; instead of the soul-commingling and per- 
 fect bliss of union which should pertain to marriage ; 
 instead of heaven, realized in the conjugal relation; in- 
 stead of perfect unity and sympathy of objects and de- 
 sires ; — there is discord and wrangling, unappreciation 
 and recrimination, heart-burnings and unsatisfied soul- 
 yearnings, bitter spurnings and devious turnings, sepa- 
 ration and desolation. Instead of home being the holy 
 of holies, where none can invade the blessed sanctity of 
 the "household gods," dissatisfaction and unhallowed 
 seeking after "strange gods" tears up the very foundation 
 of the domestic edifice, and brings woe and remorse, 
 wretchedness and despair, curses and bitter agony, into 
 thousands of homes, daily and hourly. 
 
 Oh, what a sad picture does the domestic life of man 
 as he now is, in his undevelopedness, present ! How 
 gloomy the spectacle of a hearthstone, made desolate by 
 the dreariness of domestic inharmony, by the bitterness 
 of discord and wrangling ! How sweet, on the other 
 hand, are the endearments of connubial love, where har- 
 mony reigns ! How delightful to contemplate the 
 beautiful sports of innocent children, made happy by the 
 lovingness of parents ! How charming and blissful the 
 daily gatherings of the sacred home circle, where souls 
 communing send up ^aspirations from loving hearts 
 towards the Great Maker of all things, and his loving, 
 gentle, pure and holy, wise and protective messengers, 
 the celestial visitants of the spheres above ! The music 
 of the household ascending from happy hearts, made 
 pure and lovely by the harmony of conjugal love, and 
 the mutual appreciation and sympathy of parents and 
 
83 
 
 children — how sweet to draw near, and drink in the 
 flowing melody ! Angels of mercy and peace can find 
 no happier scene in their love-impelled wanderings over 
 earth. The gaudy display of fashionable dissipation 
 presents no such heaven-born conditions as the happy, 
 harmonious, contented household, where angels of light 
 may walk, and feel at home as in the very atmosphere 
 of Heaven ! 
 
 The hollow honors of public life can never compensate 
 the loss of domestic endearments. The blandishment of 
 fame are but poor satisfaction to him whose heart-strings 
 are torn and bleeding. Love must permeate and wisdom 
 regulate the every-day life of home; or "church honors," 
 educational emoluments, political advancement, or what- 
 ever else the outside world may convey to the struggling 
 soul, are but as "sounding brass and tinkling cymbals," 
 full of empty sound, signifying nothing. 
 
 Oh, for more glimpses of heaven, 'mid the wide wastes 
 of desolation which the homes of the world present ! 
 Oh, for pceans of divine harmony, instead of the dis- 
 cords of tempestous wrangling ! A dreary desert of 
 wretchedness greets the weary traveller, with scarcely an 
 oasis of beautiful joy. Half-happy, unhappy, wretched, 
 are many homes — happy, harmonious, blissful, but few. 
 And thus will it ever be, until the true meaning and 
 issues of life are thoroughly apprehended by young souls, 
 coming together, as they fondly trust, through the 
 promptings of true mateship. 
 
 The work devolving upon the Spiritual Congress is in- 
 deed a mighty one, if it is to probe to the very core the 
 rotten fruitage of domesticity as it now exists, and sub- 
 stitute a fresh and sweet, true and pure, gentle and 
 wise, beautiful and harmonic Love-Eden of bliss. Any 
 power which can bring true angelic conditions into the 
 homes of the world, must be mightier than armies and 
 potentates, "principalities and powers." 
 
84 
 
 The education of the world presents almost as sad a 
 picture as the domestic life — perhaps even more sad, in 
 some of its aspects. The systematic cramping of the 
 human powers, from early childhood to vigorous man- 
 hood, by unnatural methods of development, is by no 
 means a trifling matter for consideration. Rigorous in 
 its exactions, the established code of education is directly 
 calculated to wither and stultify, rather than expand and 
 strengthen, the growing powers of the soul. 
 From the intricacies of written language, grow- 
 ing out of unphilosophical alphabets and still more 
 unphilosophical methods of combination in spelling, very 
 much of the real wisdom in Nature is placed beyond 
 the reach of multitudes of minds, yearning for light 
 but receiving darkness instead — yearning for true 
 fruitage but receiving dry husks. 
 
 Much of the learning of the schools, we repeat, is not 
 wisdom ; much of the knowledge, useless ignorance 
 falsely labelled.. Of what avail is it to repeat, year after 
 year, the absurd dogmas of the English spelling-book ? 
 Is it wisdom to know that the letters i s spell iz, in- 
 stead of ice f — that the letters d o spell doo, instead of 
 doh f — that the letters a m spell not aim, but am f — that 
 three letters sometimes represent three sounds, some- 
 times two, sometimes one, and again none ? Is it in- 
 creasing one's real wisdom to learn that till is to be spelt 
 with two Vs while until must have but one ? — that the 
 word "leave" requires ea, but "believe" ief — that one 
 and the same sound (long ee, so-called), must be spelled 
 differently in each of the following words : — that is, by 
 the letter e in "be," by ee in "see," by ea in "bean," 
 by e'e in "e'en," by eg in "impregn," by eiin "conceit," 
 by co in "people," by es in "demesne," by ey in "key," 
 by eye in "keyed," by i in "magazine," by iein "grief," 
 by ig in "signor," by il in "fusil," by is in "debris," 
 by eig in "seignor," by ce in "foetus," by ui in "mos- 
 
85 
 
 quito," by uay in "quay," by uaye in "quayed," by 
 eae in "fleaed," by egh in "Legh," by eigh in. "Leigh," 
 by eip in "receipt," by aiu in "Caius," hoe in "diar- 
 rhoea," etc. ? Is it a profitable or wise use of time to 
 commit to memory the arbitrary and absurd spellings of 
 a hundred thousand words? Can that deserve to be 
 called "orthography," or "correct writing," which per- 
 mits less than one word in a thousand to be spelled as it 
 is pronounced ? 
 
 The foolish and wicked waste of time, labor and 
 means, the injury to the intellectual, moral and physical 
 nature, involved in the common spelling of English, and 
 in the study, acceptance and use of it— are they not 
 absolutely incalculable ? 
 
 Those who have grappled with the stupid intricacies of 
 written language, and have become familiarized with the 
 abominable and innumerable falsehoods of "correcf'spell- 
 ing, by long and weary years of laborious effort in 
 youth, and continued use in later years, have become 
 also (too often) measurably reconciled and indifferent — 
 unmindful of the terrible darkness and entanglements of 
 the road over which they have travelled. 
 
 "Vice is a monster of such hideous mien, 
 That to be hated needs but to be seen; 
 Yet seen too oft, familiar with its face, 
 We first endure, then pity, then embrace." 
 
 Thus men and women long accustomed to the jargon 
 of English orthography, are prone to forget their 
 original unutterable disgust, and even in some instances 
 imbibe a factitious longing for a continuance of the 
 bondage at first so irksome. 
 
 Let but the philosophy of a true Phonism (including 
 alphabet, orthography, and speech itself) ramify the 
 whole structure of education, and the mighty outburst of 
 intellectuality (conjoined with an emancipated Spirit- 
 uality) which will ensue, will eclipse the achievements of 
 
86 
 
 the past as the trained lightnings outstrip the lumbering 
 mail-coaches of by-gone days. 
 
 The very foundation of all literary culture is at fault ; 
 and the Spiritual Congress has taken it upon itself to 
 revolutionize the existing systems of education, com- 
 mencing at the beginning. A universal natural alphabet 
 and language, transmitted to earth from the heavens, 
 will form a visible rational basis upon which to build a 
 Spiritual Natural System of Education and Life, and the 
 world will be blest as never before, by rational and pro- 
 gressive methods of culture, and adequate and impartial 
 facilities for the pursuit of wisdom and happiness. 
 
 In the realm of Religion (so-called) there is seen at a 
 glance astonishing discrepancy of opinions, multiplicity 
 of creeds, bigotry, intolerance, and endless and cruel 
 persecutions. 
 
 The whole religious world is horrified at thought of 
 innovation upon existing dogmas and ceremonies by the 
 introduction of more advanced views of God, man, duty 
 and destiny ; and yet each established creed is itself but 
 an innovation upon those which have preceded it. And 
 thus in presenting an opposing front to each new 
 thought, doctrine, or faith, the religious world stultifies 
 itself by the inconsistency of doing that which itself had 
 previously suffered from and condemned. Religion 
 itself is indeed but a hollow mockery, a myth, a 
 scourge, if we are to draw our definition of it from what 
 we see of it in sectarian manifestation. Churches organ- 
 ized in the name of the "Prince of Peace" exhibit the 
 spirit of bitterness and rancor in their dealings with 
 each other, and the word proselytism seems more fitly to 
 characterize their dealings with the world than philan- 
 thropy. Not "how much good," but "how many con- 
 verts." 
 
 The elevation and emancipation of ivoman is not 
 sought by the Christian Church, as such ; but instead, 
 
ecclastical power is brought to bear upon her, to repress 
 the noblest elements of her nature. And Colleges under 
 the patronage and supervision of the Church refuse her 
 admittance (or fetter her with limitations, "adapted to 
 her sex,") and she is forced to accept a partial, one- 
 sided, superficial education. Separated from her brother, 
 or associated on unequal terms, she feels the inferiority 
 of the position assigned her by her "lords," and often 
 essays to make up for deficiency in solid attainments by 
 squandering time in frivolities, excesssive adornment, 
 false sentimentality, etc.; using the energies of her soul, 
 which have been diverted from their true channel, in 
 doll life, superficialities, tattling, and street-sweeping. 
 Is it not high time for religious organizations to open 
 wide the portals of Liberality, and cease to care more for 
 proselyting, catechizing, dogmatizing and tyrannizing, 
 than expansion of soul, and practical mitigation of 
 human woe ? 
 
 The Church has been and is a vast machine for 
 cramping the human soul, and diverting the energies of 
 life into false channels. It ought to be, might and may 
 be, a stupendous instrument for the good of man, in 
 every relation of life. The work of Spiritualism in this 
 department is truly stupendous. The whole structure 
 of organized Religionism (now perverted and degraded 
 into Sectarianism) is to be undermined, overthrown, 
 pulverized, and the revivified dust (mixed with the 
 cement of Love and Charity) moulded* and formed into 
 beautiful and translucent building-blocks, fit for a new 
 temple of worship capacious enough to accommodate 
 universal humanity — bright and warm with the sunshine 
 of peace, love and wisdom— sparkling with crystalliza- 
 tions of Science and Truth. 
 
 Let no one say there is no power adequate to the 
 accomplishment of such a work. The potency of 
 celestial love and wisdom is sufficient to harmonize a 
 
88 
 
 world ; and the systemizing of effort, in accordance with 
 the highest light of the spirit realms, cannot fail to produce 
 gigantic results in the near future, and the complete 
 harmonization of humanity in the remoter distance. 
 
 Progress rules, and religious authoritarianism trem- 
 bles ! The bigotry, the crushing intolerance, the waning 
 power of the long-established priesthood can not much 
 longer continue to curse the earth. It is already gasping 
 for breath, and the heavings of the great soul of human- 
 ity will soon submerge it 'neath the billows of death ; 
 and the nations will rejoice. 
 
 Oh, what a spectacle for the gathered nations is the 
 illuminated wisdom of the celestial hosts ! Their love- 
 crowned heads shed light and sparkling joy o'er all 
 the world. Their sweet anthems diffuse life and vigor, 
 and fill the courts of Heaven with divine beatitudes. 
 Their glorious combinations of love- magnetism reach 
 far down into the gloomy shades of undevelopedness, and 
 with their warmth dissipate the cold selfishness of 
 contending souls, as the sunlight of heaven scatters the 
 morning fogs. 
 
 Streaming down, with a mighty power, over the 
 haunts of men and into the high places of rank and 
 honor, the vivifying inspiration of the upper world, 
 directed by the wisdom of a Celestial Congress, will yet 
 purify the murky atmosphere of earthly courts, and 
 cause the rulers of the world to become truly wise and 
 human, unselfish and just ; and the Spiritual Congress 
 shall be acknowledged as a legitimate guide of national 
 and international destines. 
 
 Deity rules through means. The Celestial Court, 
 more closely in sympathy with the Divine Spirit, will 
 diffuse wisdom and love o'er all the earth, blend in 
 oneness all the nations. 
 
 The life of the present is not the life of the future. 
 The governmental conditions of the world must change. 
 
89 
 
 Wars, both international and internal, must cease. The 
 powers of good must be arrayed against the powers of 
 evil, and this "holy war," a bloodless one, go on until 
 all the nations be harmonized, through the triumph of 
 the good. Thus the world will be unitized, and the 
 work of the Spiritual Congress, nationward, accom- 
 plished. 
 
 In the realm of Fashion — ah ! who can depict the 
 hollow-heartedness, the mental servitude, so prevalent 
 all over the civilized world ! In the name of humanity, 
 grovelling as it is in the very dust, with all its powers 
 prostrated by the enervating influences of fashion 
 tyranny ; in the name of religion, pure and undefiled, 
 whose mantle is stained by the foulness of fashion 
 hypocrisy ; in the name of woman, whose innate noble- 
 ness is almost extinguished, whose purity is beclouded, 
 whose intellect is benumbed, and aspirations degraded, 
 by the frivolities and gauds of fashion life ; in the name 
 of all good things, known and unknown, above and 
 below — we protest ! — in the name of heaven Ave protest 
 against the wholesale (and retail) slaughter of individ- 
 uality, the indiscriminate merging of self-hood, to answer 
 the demands of popinjay fashionarchy — of the useless, 
 brainless, nerveless, purposeless fashion-life of the 
 nineteenth century ! Oh, what a dearth of true life there 
 is in the wide-extended domain of the fickle goddess, 
 whose miserably tyrannical behests are crushing human- 
 ity with an intensity of diabolism far exceeding the 
 demon war — (we had almost said chattel slavery ; but 
 fashion bondage is itself the lowest, saddest, most soul- 
 cramping, of all slavery, and the sum total of degrada- 
 tion influences can hardly exceed the one degradation of 
 blind and stupid obedience to fashion's mandates.) 
 
 Oh ! when will men and women cease to follow fickle 
 fashion, and learn to obey the promptings of common 
 sense and the requirements of health, comfort, conven- 
 
90 
 
 ience, and true elegance ? When will life present other 
 and better conditions than universal parrotism and 
 butterfly gaudiness ? Not until a profound spirituality 
 from above has reached the hearts of humanity, and 
 produced a conception of true beauty, taste and pro- 
 priety. Not until the Spirit- World and the Spiritual 
 Congress have become conscious entities in the affections 
 and perceptions of humanity, and the human soul been 
 laid bare, a genuine offering on the altar of purity — 
 stripped of its false decorations of "tinselry, flummery 
 and flounces," and weighed in the balance of true 
 virtue. 
 
 The Customs of the world are open to the same 
 objections as the fashions. They are founded on a false 
 perception of the significance of life, and of the objects that 
 should actuate rational human beings. They confound 
 the requirements of the Spiritual nature with those of 
 the animal. They are false to the law of development. 
 They reach not out into the domain of progressiveness, 
 taking in the higher demands of soul-life. They are 
 devoid of the spirit of universal love. They fail to 
 give scope for the full play of all man's faculties. They 
 are destitute of much which humanity needs for its 
 happiness and harmonious growth. 
 
 The Manners of the world partake of the elements of 
 selfishness. Hypocrisy is fostered by the false standards 
 of behavior, which require that certain formulae of 
 speech etc. be adhered to, regardless of real sentiment. 
 The tone of the voice is modulated according to the 
 supposition of true friendship, whether such sentiment 
 exists or not. The attitudes and gesticulations of the 
 drawing-room or street are as meaningless, or false, 
 many of them, as though there could be no possible 
 connection between motion and mind. They are wholly 
 arbitrary — yieldings to the false notions of the require- 
 ments of gentility, rather than natural outspeakings of 
 
91 
 
 the soul. And thus the standards of "gentility" are 
 hypocritical, and mannerism has usurped the place of 
 true manners. 
 
 And thus the indwelling spirit is cramped and fettered 
 in all its Teachings after virtue. The demands of society 
 upon its manners keep the soul oblivious to motives. 
 The external usurps the place of the internal ; outward 
 formalities outweigh inward principles. 
 
 One who is swayed by the sentiment of brotherly 
 love, will in all his dealings with his fellows mani- 
 fest the highest type of gentility. Let charity and 
 virtue pervade the masses, and they will become truly 
 "accomplished" in "good manners." 
 
 Let respect be felt for that which is truly noble, and 
 the shocking contempt of humanity, manifested by the 
 curling lip of the foppish mannerist, will be witnessed 
 no more. 
 
 We have thus attempted to lift the veil from the face 
 of humanity, and to peer into the very soul. If we have 
 discovered what is not patent to the common gaze, it is 
 because the standpoint of our investigations is in the 
 spirit, spiritual. Defective to the very core, the institu- 
 tions of the earth-world must be revivified, permeated, 
 by a spirituality not of earth. The positive evils of 
 human conditions must be mitigated through the influx 
 of positive good from the Celestial Spheres. 
 
 The Spiritual Congress has been instituted for this 
 very purpose. The most positive minds — positive for 
 good — of the Spirit- World, have banded themselves 
 together, with a determination never to cease their 
 associative labors until the last groan has ascended to 
 heaven from mortal lips ; until the last tyrant has lashed 
 humanity ; until ignorance has disappeared, poverty 
 become unknown, crime vanished, wars been learned no 
 more, and freedom triumphed everywhere ; until man 
 has learned to walk hand in hand with angels, acknowl- 
 
92 
 
 edging with eyes upturned the guidance of higher 
 powers ; until peace, prosperity, and plenty, justice, love, 
 and purity, prevail o'er all the earth, and man becomes 
 as nature designed him to be, radiant with happiness, 
 beautiful in harmony, God-like in wisdom. 
 
 The hopes of the world are centered in this movement. 
 The powers of heaven are to be concentrated, with 
 almost fearful sublimity and intensity, and with more 
 than mortal glory. The means are at hand ; represent- 
 ative minds of the spheres above will meet with co-oper- 
 ation from advanced minds and powers of earth, and the 
 harmony of the association will bring with it a mighty 
 power, which with its overwhelmingness will finally 
 submerge every existing evil, and establish permanently 
 the reign of justice and peace, virtue and happiness, 
 over all the earth. 
 
 3 20 isc 
 
•<: 
 
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 MESSAGES FROM THE 
 
 Spiritual wongress 
 
 THROUGH THE MEDIUMSHIPOF 
 
 JAMES MiVMSOJV AJ^IvEIV, 
 
 ^ 
 
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 TOriCS: 
 
 1. Life and Its Lessons. 
 
 | 2. Thought— Its Evolvement and Transmission. 
 
 | #. T/ee Universality of Spiritualism. 
 
 ■\\ 4. Exit Esculapius. 
 
 5. "Wherewithal shall ye be clothed?" 
 
 \ (i. The Spiritual Congress— Its Composition, Pur- ■ 
 
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 <<1 
 
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