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OCCULTISM, SPIRITISM, MATERIALISM. 
 
 DEMONSTRATED BY 
 
 THE LOGIC OF FACTS: 
 
 DISEMBODIED MAN AND SPIRIT PHASES. ALSO, THE 
 
 IMMEDIATE CONDITION AFFECTING MAN 
 
 AFTER DEATH. 
 
 THINGS OF THE MOST INTEREST FOR MAN TO KNOW. 
 
 / 
 
 By ALMIRA KIBD. 
 
 1* 
 
 w,« 
 
 Now, learn of thy responsibilities 
 
 For death is but a change that frees the 
 From matter gross, and from all earthly things, 
 To know its vast accountabilities. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 COLBY & RICH, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 9 Montgomery Place. 
 1879. 
 
 
<<&\ 
 **** 
 
 Copyright, 
 
 1879, 
 
 By Almira Kh>d. 
 
 COLBY ft RICH, 
 
 BLECTROTYPERS AND STEREOTYPES*, 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 Preface, 5 
 
 SECTION I. 
 The Three Factors, .9 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Names Misapplied, ■ . .15 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 PSYCHOMETRY, 18 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 Shadows of Modern Spiritualism, .... 20 
 
 SECTION V. 
 Psychology, 33 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 Spirit: What is it? and its Ultimate, .... 43 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 Occult Forces in Spirit Spheres Illustrated, . . 49 
 
 3 
 
4 INDEX. 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 Spirits Externalizing, . . . . . . .60 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 The Immediate Action after Death, showing Spirit 
 
 Conditions, . . , 81 
 
 SECTION X. 
 Man's Accountability for Transgression. The Law 
 
 of Retributive Justice, ...... 105 
 
 SECTION XL 
 The Continued Showing of Retributive Justice. The 
 
 Assembled Court ; Judgment and Sentence, . . 123 
 
 SECTION XII. 
 Classification of Grades and Condition of Souls in 
 
 Spirit Spheres, 146 
 
 SECTION XIII. 
 Facts versus Theories, and the True Ethics for 
 
 Guidance, 154 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In ' ' The Laws of Being " it was stated that the subject 
 of Psychology would be continued, and the laws of the 
 Occult forces controlling the soul of man, as manifested 
 in the life beyond the grave, illustrated. In these pages, 
 that promise is intended to be fulfilled, and an effort 
 made to show the conditions of the spirit spheres from the 
 earth side of observation. 
 
 The previous volume and the present are each complete 
 in itself, } r et a thread of understanding connects them. 
 " The Laws of Being " relates more especially to man's 
 sphere and being on earth ; these pages, to his sphere 
 and being in spirit, or the continued life after death. 
 
 In a work of this character it is essential that a 
 knowledge of facts, and the source from which they are 
 obtained, should be within reach of the author, and it is 
 therefore here stated that this work is given as the 
 experiences and knowledge of the writer, obtained b}' 
 association with spirit-life, or disembodied mind. 
 
 In the preceding work on Psycholog3 T , the teachings 
 were clairaudientty received as lessons, and as received 
 transcribed. By some persons it may be said that this 
 clairaudience may not furnish statements anj T more 
 reliable than other statements from living or dead. 
 This objection will not apply to this book. There is 
 
 5 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 nothing herein contained dictated especially for these 
 pages ; every line is the result of experiences, manifesta- 
 tions to, and observations made by the writer. Deduc- 
 tions from this logic of facts the readers must draw and 
 apply to their individual benefit. Three essentials I 
 maintain as the substantial features of this volume. 
 
 First. There is no drawing from the imagination. 
 For myself, I have a special dislike to tales of fiction. Life 
 with all its realities has always been too momentous to 
 leave room for fictitious representations ; and through 
 spiritualistic manifestations I have had such a realization 
 of its esoteric conditions, that no higher drama could be 
 pictured than its substantial facts. 
 
 It is the heart of truth we all want to know, the 
 psychology of man's nature on earth and in spirit ; and 
 all tendency to exaggerate the nature and marvels of 
 these laws should be strictly avoided. The spiritual side 
 of man's being is the subject of these pages. Know- 
 ing of its deep importance, it is with deep, reverential 
 feelings that I enter upon the task of giving this knowl- 
 edge of supermundane life to my readers. 
 
 Second. Its purpose is to give and show things in 
 substantial matter of fact without unnecessar3 T elabora- 
 tion, considering that such is more easily digested by 
 general readers, and such I aim to suit. Brevity being 
 the gem of understanding, I adopt it in what I have 
 to say. 
 
 Third. It promulgates no theory. I hold as great an 
 antipathy to theory as to fiction. Humanity has been 
 doctored to death with theory ; from all times, b} T every 
 imaginary, constructive mind, theory has been evolved. 
 The new dispensation is one of facts, and has eclipsed 
 theory by demonstration, which is the logic of facts to 
 inquiring minds. For these reasons, all the examples in 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 these pages are given to show things as they are without 
 a veil ; perhaps, draw the veil aside and show what has 
 hitherto been concealed. This, to many, may be objec- 
 tionable, and the query will arise, What good comes from 
 showing the dark shades ? But these only relieve and 
 subdue the glare that is usually thrown around spirit- 
 things. 
 
 There is no other motive involved than the pure and 
 ardent love of conveying to humanity the facts of spirit- 
 things, and that others may be enabled to see the same 
 as I have seen them. It is intended to give to others a 
 key by which they can open the door themselves. It is 
 because of its importance to all, that I would throw a 
 penetrative light into its secret chambers, and reveal 
 what has hitherto been concealed. 
 
 It is a very common aphorism of the incredulous to 
 say, "No one has been and returned from bej^ond the 
 grave to report what lies there." The writer has not 
 exactly been in the grave, nor in the land over beyond 
 and returned ; but spirit conditions and intercourse have 
 been so familiar and so clearly shown me, I have lived 
 not only upon the earth, but in the land beyond ; 
 the pages of this book will therefore show both sides. 
 1 have not been a public medium, but a medium in the 
 spirit spheres, on the spirit side of life, to revive and 
 externalize enthralled souls, a channel for bringing lower 
 to higher conditions ; giving light to darkness, and con- 
 veying from the most exalted spheres illumination to 
 those who needed light. 
 
 Some may consider it unfair that those long since 
 passed away from earth should be brought up to be 
 gazed at as examples of earth's conditions and their 
 bearings on the future state, or life after death. These, 
 however, are only given as truthful examples, showing 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 what these earthly conditions have to do with the next 
 sphere of action. For this reason, they are taken from 
 my own genealogical connections of whom I know the 
 history on earth in part, while the sequel and results are 
 shown from the other side. Therefore there can be no 
 misrepresentation in this, as the facts are of my own 
 knowledge. 
 
 I have endeavored to observe simplicity and straight- 
 forwardness in the narration of these things, and to 
 avoid all vagueness and hypothesis, for I feel that 
 spiritualism is often nearly swamped in a morass of 
 transcendental inconsistencies. It has rushed up like a 
 balloon in the air, to be gazed at, tossed hither and 
 thither by the contending clouds, without anchor or 
 balast to stead} 7 it ; therefore, a current must set in that 
 will regulate its course, that all may know its easy and 
 rational movements. 
 
 I do not know that efforts in that direction will be 
 appreciated, but, feeling confident that the progressive 
 age of reason must come in occult as in other things, I 
 deem it of importance that I impart what knowledge 
 I possess to the rising structure of spiritual facts. I 
 therefore dedicate these pages to the enlightenment of 
 humanit} 7 , as to the connection of life on earth with the 
 state of being in the world beyond. 
 
THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 Section I. 
 THE THREE FACTORS. 
 
 Occultism. The science of hidden things, and 
 the soul's forces. 
 
 Spiritism. The science of spirit in all its phases. 
 
 Materialism. A treatise on things of matter. 
 
 This triad, blended in infinite law, and factor to 
 one result, forms the subject of these pages. 
 
 Materialism could not wholly be treated separate- 
 ly, as spirit and matter are a duality, acting through- 
 out the universe. But some little review of these 
 isms as elucidated by the theorists of to-day, may 
 require some notice for a better understanding of 
 them. 
 
 Occultism is a branch of science little if at all 
 treated upon, or given the attention its vast impor- 
 tance demands. It is intricate, profound, diversified, 
 and applies to things in external as well as in spirit 
 life. Yet, spiritualists do not appreciate nor con- 
 
 9 
 
10 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 ceive of its true application, and many think it 
 related to necromancy. As it is the science of soul- 
 forces, and as soul belongs to life in the external as 
 also the hereafter, it must express itself in both 
 spheres. As soul has existed eternally, it must have 
 exercised its occult forces during all time. Hence, 
 it is no new-coined idea of some individual's concep- 
 tion. To study and investigate this force is occult- 
 ism. Races and individuals have done this to some 
 extent, far in the remote past, before writing or 
 commercial intercourse was known ; and perhaps the 
 ignorant tribes of ancient times knew its manifesta- 
 tions as well as the scientists of to-day. The very 
 fact that every soul is an entit}^, a god within itself, 
 a law to itself, must clinch the idea of the enormous 
 range of occultism. Therefore, no perfect law or 
 rule can be applied to govern the whole ; only a 
 summary of facts, examples, and manifestations can 
 be given as a guide to the intricacies relating to soul, 
 matter, and spirit. 
 
 Spiritism implies the science of all things of spirit, 
 which is what we claim for all the phenomena under 
 consideration, called " Spiritualism." It is the only 
 true comprehensive term that can be applied, to 
 cover the whole range of the subject. 
 
 Spiritualism applies to a condition of mind, and 
 refers to spiritual-minded people, or superior things. 
 But all spiritualists are not so minded, or superior in 
 that direction. The term Spiritualism was originally 
 designed to designate a doctrine in opposition to 
 Materialism, and claimed that all which exists is 
 spirit or soul, and embraced the religious ideas of all. 
 
THE THREE FACTORS. 11 
 
 superior things. Now, it is the term commonly 
 applied to all spirit phenomena, to a religious faith, 
 and to the teachings of a special class of people. 
 Hence, it means only superior things, and is not 
 applicable to a general science of spirit. 
 
 Spiritism, or the science of spirit, implies all its 
 phases, and one may be a spiritist without being 
 spiritual. As the latter has so much more extended 
 meaning, I prefer it as more comprehensive. What 
 is spiritualism, as understood at this age ? Only 
 the recognized possibility of a communion of the 
 living with the supposed dead. It has no other, no 
 higher definition. It comprises all kinds, shades, 
 and degrees of mentality, and all who have intellect 
 to promulgate a theory are its teachers. As they are 
 strong, or popular, they are credited as authority, — 
 and as others become imbued with their special ideas 
 they become disciples. Just in this ratio there is a 
 diversity of opinions. If there is anything it has a 
 superabundance of, it is transcendentalism. The 
 Alpha and Omega is attained. Spirits tell us thus 
 and so ; there is nothing more to know ; let us button 
 up our cloaks that no vapor may disturb our placidity 
 of spiritual ideas. Such is the line of action. All 
 is subjective to spirit ; naught else can be entertained. 
 They do not have the first conception of the princi- 
 ple of soul; but it is cast out from its intelligent 
 action in humanity to hold a higher place in the 
 transformation of matter, and the soul of things is 
 all-powerful. Thus, matter has soul ; but man is 
 spirit: his soul is of secondary interest. Such is 
 the chain of reasoning its promulgators offer. Yet, 
 
12 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 if some one were to tell them they had not learned 
 the first law and source of intelligent being, or 
 of immortality ; that a mistake is made in a trans- 
 position of terms ; that everything has spirit and 
 will lose itself in some other form ; that soul alone 
 is the intelligent and the immortal principle and 
 part, the cause of spirit manifestations, — they would 
 overwhelm with derision one so unfortunate as thus 
 to disturb their established ideas. 
 
 But the errors in theory enunciated from the 
 spiritualistic standpoint are so numerous, I cannot 
 undertake to notice them in detail here. Let the 
 reader judge of them by the examples given in these 
 pages, for facts and not theory are presented. It is 
 sufficient to say, that the only true definition of 
 spiritualism is an intercourse with the invisible 
 world, or with departed beings. 
 
 As to materialism — a theory, or principle, is best 
 known by its action. If matter rules with spirit, 
 then it has a place to fill and should be recognized. 
 The materialist is not so far astray in his theory as 
 the more subjective spiritualists assert. 
 
 Materialism goes to the extreme of rejecting the 
 superior power of mind or soul, and the ability of 
 intellect to express itself when free from the material. 
 In this only do they differ from those that enunciate 
 the theory of soul. The materialists argue that the 
 elements in matter are transformed from one form 
 or thing to another ; that, as disintegration goes on, 
 the fineness of particles assimilates with some other 
 attractive matter, and thus matter is transformed 
 and re-transformed, and its aggregate in the human 
 
THE THREE FACTORS- 13 
 
 form constitutes all there is; while mentality is 
 inheritance of kind and education. 
 
 I once stood beside the dying-bed of a disciple of 
 atheism and materialism. Knowing his ideas, I 
 sought to lead his mind to some conception of a 
 life after death. He was conscious, knew his dying 
 ' state, and was willingly passing away, sometimes 
 talking of it. So I asked him, " What do you think 
 will be your condition after death?" He replied, 
 "Like that of any other dog. Some of my matter 
 will feed other forms, the rest will be annihilated.'' ' 
 These were his last utterances ; three hours later 
 he ceased to breathe. This expression was pure 
 materialism ; it conveyed the sum-total of all there 
 is of it. 
 
 Herbert Spencer has given to the world the most, 
 or the nearest correct treatise on the laws of matter. 
 In his effort to elucidate the law of evolution, he 
 has placed the needle to the compass by which 
 to be guided in the course of his investigation : — 
 Evolution is the law of the universe, through the 
 whole of which a union runs. Matter is transformed 
 and re-transformed continually on the same plane, 
 and from one plane to some other. Germs take 
 form in matter when there are conditions to bring 
 them out. Thus, types are as immutable as matter ; 
 and what has been on this earth has had similarity 
 in worlds before this, and will be the same in planets 
 now existing or to be formed. 
 
 I do not know that Spencer or any of his school 
 have shown what principle gives instinct, mentality, 
 and other phases of intelligence distinguishing 
 
14 
 
 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 organic from inorganic matter. They never reach 
 that branch of science, " psychology," to show what 
 it is that impels the smallest bird to give its beauteous 
 notes ; the dog his scent ; the horse his neigh ; or 
 man to give expression in so many ways in all the 
 mental phenomena he displays. When materialists 
 bridge this chasm with some proof of what or 
 whence these various expressions are derived, — 
 when soul is held to fill its proper place as the divine 
 principle of expression, — then will the materialist 
 lay the foundation of a structure that time cannot 
 disturb. 
 
NAMES MISAPPLIED. 15 
 
 Section II. 
 NAMES MISAPPLIED. 
 
 Neither in the immediate present nor distant 
 past have things been so interpreted as to present 
 their exact and faultless meaning. Man is so con- 
 stituted that he retains from inheritance and educa- 
 tion, and will transmit his peculiar preconceived 
 ideas. Hence, inspirations are apt to be disregarded. 
 Honest men may give in theory teachings erroneous 
 as well as truthful. 
 
 I know not by whom, nor when, the dogma of the 
 " Soul of Things " originated ; but it is evidently 
 a branch of the theory of Materialism. If it is not, 
 the term applies equally well to organic as to inor- 
 ganic matter, and the law of evolution is true, — 
 which is transformation. It is this transforming of 
 the spirit-essence to the external, which is evolution. 
 I say, if it is not materialism, and if it applies to 
 organic beings, then soul in man is no more fixed 
 than in matter, and the individual is not immortal ae 
 a soul, but may become the soul of some other form. 
 For it is a rule that must work both ways, if true. 
 Some pseudo-scientist must have originally made 
 this very scientific but unskillful and ignorant an- 
 nouncement, or he would not have christened his 
 aura from matter in things, as " soul," which is the 
 intelligent principle moving in organic beings. Now 
 
16 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 all the small fry, from one end of the line to the 
 other, echo forth the dogma of the " Soul of Things." 
 
 Inconsistency seems to be the rule in science. 
 How could a mind that knew the purposes and 
 attributes of soul, so indiscriminately apply it to 
 every atom of matter ? It has been ignorantly, per- 
 haps unintentionally, made to take the place of the 
 proper name. 
 
 The query now arises, What is soul ? 
 
 Something you cannot see, only in expression. It 
 is the invisible principle of intelligence, acting in 
 mentality, disconnected from matter. It is immate- 
 rial, the immortal spirit. How, then, is it applicable 
 to the impression on stone or plastered wall, or the 
 evolution in matter ? The name has been reversed ; 
 it should have been, " Spirit in Things," as the spirit 
 of things exists in all matter. Spirit is tangible ; 
 soul is not. Spirit has form, therefore it is matter ; 
 soul has not form. 
 
 I have not time nor space for discussing whether 
 a stone, brick, or plastered wall — illustrations often 
 used — have any power of soul in the impress made 
 on these materials, for I am to show facts, and let an 
 intelligent people judge therefrom. It will be said, 
 Psychometry reveals thus and so. I have had any 
 number of things psychometrized through me by 
 spirits. They have told of the spirit of a burning 
 tree ; the spirit of a flower ; the spirit of a fire on a 
 hill-top, and many other things ; but no soul has 
 been alluded to by them as existing in those things. 
 
 When Cenis first came to me, he busied himself in 
 psychometrizing everything I touched, and tracing 
 
NAMES MISAPPLIED. 17 
 
 from them what they had been in contact with. No- 
 ticing this disposition, I took two antique trinkets, 
 of the history of which I knew nothing before they 
 were given to me, and asked him to give me their 
 history. One he traced to a nobleman from whom 
 it had been stolen, and the loss of which had been 
 much regretted by him for the relic of hair it held. 
 The other, a handsome ornament in its time, was lost 
 in New York. I asked what there was in them of 
 soul, or force, to give information ? The reply was, 
 " Nothing of soul ; no principle but matter. They 
 were leaders to things they had been attached to ; to 
 mind they had been associated with." 
 
 It is no uncommon thing for some sensitives to do 
 the same ; to trace a lost or absent thing by soine 
 object that has been in contact with it. Matter that 
 has been in contact with other matter will inform of 
 it, if there is a quality in a soul to sense it. It is 
 the power in the instinctive soul of organic beings 
 that distinguishes them from unintelligent matter ; 
 and this is manifested by brute life as well, perhaps 
 even in a larger sense than by man. Spirits who 
 have made some progress will exercise it through 
 mediums. I had a lady-spirit by me once who did 
 it exceedingly well. 
 
 A principle or substance that has been in contact 
 with another, will be a leader to that other. It is 
 the spirit-expression of matter. 
 
 Therefore, to the lovers of truth I say, do not call 
 things by wrong names, when it has such vital im- 
 port. Find something more expressive of truth for 
 evolution in matter than " Soul of Things," 
 2 
 
18 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 Section III. 
 PSYCHQMETRY. 
 
 The peculiar sensing or perception of the ele- 
 ments, called Psyehometry, is the attribute, to some 
 extent, of every soul. It is the occult power in soul 
 to perceive or sense the conditions of some other 
 element. Yet it is not the exclusive property of 
 human nature ; for we see it plainly in animal life, 
 as manifested in a power to trace, hunt, and detect 
 what cannot be seen. In many ways they show this 
 sensing, perhaps more than we are aware of. It is 
 the same principle exercised in both man and brute, 
 the difference being only in degree. 
 
 Every substance, thing, or person, can feel this 
 influence, or emanation, — sense the conditions from 
 this vital aura, or magnetism, flowing from it, and 
 the epitome of its whole nature can be perceived in 
 this way. This is called " Psyehometry," " Spirit- 
 reading," or " Spirit-measuring." I fully realize 
 what it is like, as I have suffered through life in 
 consequence of this sensing of the emanations of 
 other people's mental and physical states, and in be- 
 ing able to detect their unexpressed sentiments. 
 Late developments from spirit-life have shown it to 
 be a fineness of instinct that is unmistakable. 
 
 The principle is, that spirit makes its impression 
 on those things it comes in contact with, and that 
 
PSYCHOMETRY. 
 
 19 
 
 that impression may be perceived by some other. 
 Anything that has been in contact, handled, or part 
 of some one, may convey that aura, or receive the 
 impress ; and the same will be perceived by one that 
 is acutely sensitive to other elements. It is the 
 knowledge of soul reading soul ; the sensing of spirit- 
 conditions ; and shows the vast, far-reaching, pene- 
 trating power of the divine in man. It can be 
 exercised to great advantage by those who heed its 
 promptings. But these facts do not imply that the 
 thing which holds the impression is a soul, or has a 
 aoul. For instance, a knife, comb, hat, stone or plas- 
 tered wall, boards, and furniture, have no soul that 
 gives expression. These things hold only the aura, 
 or they photograph that which they have been asso- 
 ciated with. This a sensitive may detect. It is the 
 law of spirit-essences in matter, and is, perhaps, the 
 universal law of things ; there is no power in man to 
 estimate its wide range. But it is not the soul of 
 things, because, when that material is destroyed, it 
 is lost in floating matter, and can give no token of 
 consciousness. It is not the same with the mind, 
 which retains all its images independent of form or 
 matter. Hence, the only soul-elements manifest in 
 material are instinct and mentality. These form the 
 soul itself ; and it is these that sense the conditions 
 in things. 
 
20 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 Section IV. 
 SHADOWS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 What a vast field this heading opens to view ! 
 Spiritism could not be truthfully considered without 
 its casting shadows. Spiritualism, as now used, 
 covers a diversity of ideas, characters, theories, and 
 professions, as varied in their lights and shades as 
 humanity itself, — in form or out of form. All who 
 have heard what is promulgated from its standpoint 
 during the last thirty years must realize this fact. 
 
 Thirty }^ears past, the fact that the invisibles could 
 give sounds of intelligence was manifested by the tiny 
 raps in America, and came like a revelation from an 
 unknown world. Its development was so rapid, its 
 converts so numerous, from every shade and class, 
 no time was permitted for a clear and impartial 
 consideration of the doctrines so many found it 
 convenient to adopt and advocate. 
 
 Its advent was like the opening of the mountain 
 flood-gates, and the torrent that followed took 
 everything in its course that was free enough to 
 float on its capacious surface. Thus, the debris, 
 drift, and scum, as well as the intellect of all who 
 wished to launch upon it in their little boats, were 
 borne along upon its waters, and they soon became 
 turbid. 
 
 All are welcome, aye, doubly welcome, to its 
 
SHADOWS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 21 
 
 bosom of universal embrace and motherhood. But 
 it is of the idiosyncrasies of its disciples we speak, 
 and it is those which give the shadows, and have 
 made its waters impure. 
 
 Those who took passage on the flood-tide were of 
 all callings and professions, — materialists, atheists, 
 scientists, Christian divines, and teachers of all 
 schools with abilities and habits as teachers. These 
 retained a large proportion of their old ideas, and 
 ingrafted them on their new faith; hence the conflict 
 of individual theories came to be as diverse as the 
 old sects of other faiths. Divisions exist on the 
 most fundamental principles in the following order, 
 namely: The genesis of man. The Divine emanations. 
 Soul entering the matrice at conception. The soul 
 of things. Theories of right. Theories of spirit- 
 force. The assuming that spirit can convey infalli- 
 ble information. That the immediate dead move 
 rapidly to a higher state, or are conscious of things 
 of earth as though living thereon. The evasion of 
 man's accountability for acts on earth, done under the 
 temptations of spirits, or the weakness of flesh, and 
 for which he is not responsible hereafter. This last 
 is one of the most pernicious doctrines promulgated, 
 and one which this work is principally intended to 
 annul by showing the accountability of the doer for 
 his transgressions, and the bearing they have on the 
 next stage of being. 
 
 Honestly, it may be queried, do these theories or 
 doctrines come from reliable inspirational sources, 
 or are they truthful in fact ; and this is what the 
 truth-seeker would wish to know. The facts are, it 
 
22 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 is the fallibility of individual teachers; the lean- 
 ings, biases, and inherited education which adhere 
 to minds, cast their shadows, and dilute the expres- 
 sion of the best control in the transmission of 
 ideas in the reproduction of thoughts. Whether 
 conscious or unconscious, writing or trance, the 
 transmission is more or less influenced by, and 
 diluted from, the mentality of the channel through 
 which it comes. If the mentality is developed 
 sufficiently to hold independent thought, it can be 
 likened to the pure waters of the mountain spring, 
 clear as crystal, pure as the snow-flake in the air, but 
 as it flows through the channels that are trampled 
 over, and filled with extraneous matter, it becomes 
 murky, impure, and vitiated. The pure utterance 
 of supernals, in like manner, are perverted by the 
 conditions of the minds of those through whom they 
 are uttered, and these conditions misdirect the chain 
 of thought. Thus you cannot throw a cannon-ball 
 from a musket ; neither can an idea go through a 
 mind that has not the calibre to carry it ; minds that 
 have not grown or progressed to a receptive idea, 
 will not take it in. This is no more true of the 
 living than of the dead, and very many of the con- 
 trols are of just such small calibre. 
 
 Thus it is, spiritualism is flooded with every phase 
 of enunciation from mundane and supermundane 
 intelligences. There is no absolute purity of expres- 
 sion except in the independent voice. When you 
 hear clairaudiently from space, or from a spirit in 
 close rapport, an audible voice, there is no mingling 
 of ideas by the passing of the expression through 
 
SHADOWS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 23 
 
 other mentalities. Whether the ideas be high or 
 low, they are not in borrowed clothing. 
 
 I am aware it can be said many speakers show a 
 talent surpassing their normal state. This is very 
 true; but there is a latent principle within them 
 that adapts them for this phase of control, and very 
 often it only requires training or development to 
 bring it out. But this does not alter the fact of the 
 biases of that medium's mind coloring what is 
 enunciated. 
 
 These truths can best be understood by examples 
 that will at the same time illustrate what has been 
 said of the shadows in spiritualism. 
 
 First. Some years ago I heard a lady, one who 
 is now on the other side of life, give a discourse 
 against Re-incarnation ; treating the subject with 
 ridicule and sarcasm ; telling her listeners that if 
 they gorged themselves with a mutton dinner they 
 might imagine themselves to be sheep. Then, pict- 
 uring the loss of entity in one who was now Mrs. 
 Brown, and would become Mrs. Blue in one thousand 
 years from now, &c, she proceeded at length in 
 about the same manner. Thus, a talented woman, 
 claiming high psychometrical powers, could not see 
 the absurdity of her position. When a great many 
 women became Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Blue, and Mrs. 
 Gray, in one decade, it would consequently be but a 
 small change in a thousand years from now to be 
 Mrs. Somebody-else. Neither could she tell, with 
 her psychometrical powers, the origin and law of 
 mentality, the expression of thought, and distinguish 
 these from her generalizations on matter. In this 
 
24 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 way her talent, from her standpoint, could mislead 
 her hearers. 
 
 Second. A gifted woman once lectured against 
 Occultism, and throughout entertained her listeners 
 with the statement that it was a new ism to distract 
 spiritualism, originated and engineered from the 
 brain of one man, and not pertinent to spiritual 
 things. Could there be any superior intelligence so 
 ignorant as to be responsible for such a discourse ? 
 For, certainly, all who know of soul-force must be 
 aware that its action is occult : and if the expression 
 is occult, there must have been occultism as long as 
 soul and intelligence have existed; and that is with- 
 out time — all time. Further, occultism has been 
 known, or recognized, as a science for ages by differ- 
 ent classes of people, and does not belong to the white 
 race especially. If it is not pertinent to spiritualistic 
 teachings, then spiritualism must be without soul, 
 and only materialistic. But the opposite of this is 
 true. Soul is the fount from which flows all mani- 
 festation. 
 
 From whence, then, such fallacious discourse, 
 such obscure teachings? 
 
 It can only be answered, by the rule of ignorance 
 or bias in the speaker or control. 
 
 Third. It is but recently that I heard a talented 
 woman give a discourse on the subject, " Spirit : 
 past, present, and future." After describing matter 
 and its transformation from elements to things, again 
 and again, by the law of evolution, she said : " This 
 law of evolution is the soul of things, the only 
 representative of that illusion and delusion known 
 
SHADOWS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 25 
 
 as re-incarnation. This pre-existent state or states, 
 these transformations and re-transformations, existing 
 even in the platform on which I stand, explain all 
 that the re-incarnationists labor so assiduously to 
 theorize upon." 
 
 Thus, a gifted, dramatic speaker, one who pro- 
 claims herself the oracle of authority to teach, 
 preach, and promulgate the ethics of spiritualism, 
 could put forth such a fallacy, namely : Soul is the 
 spirit of matter transformed by evolution from one 
 condition to another in material, and this is re- 
 incarnation ; but when it applies to humanity, it is 
 all an "illusion and delusion." 
 
 Her mind could not take in the grandeur of real 
 soul, and she gave soul to the inexpressive, unintelli- 
 gent matter of the platform she stood upon. At the 
 same time she took occasion to show her prejudice 
 and bias by an attempt to cast odium on a principle of 
 which she was not informed, and which she disliked. 
 
 In the whole discourse on " Spirit : past, present, 
 and future," she never once touched on the deriva- 
 tion of the intelligent principle that actuates spirit 
 and distinguishes it from unintelligent matter ; thus 
 leaving her listeners to conjecture that man is spirit 
 without soul, or that the matter in him is his soul. 
 The query would be, What becomes of it when 
 that form has all decomposed and passed into gases ? 
 Then take it reversely: suppose that form is pre- 
 served, embalmed like a mummy, — the soul would 
 be forever preserved in its form, while its matter 
 remained intact. To follow her in the discourse to 
 the final, the " future" of spirit was, "I know I 
 
26 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 shall live on eternally.' ' A mere blank assertion of 
 an individual belief. Such is not proof ; nor does it 
 convey any evidence to another that such is his 
 destiny. I some years ago heard this speaker say, 
 that God was represented in matter corresponding 
 to its bulk. One in the audience questioned if an 
 elephant, according to its bulk, held more of God, or 
 soul, than man ? Her reply was : "It does. The 
 bulk constitutes the greatest principle it contains.' ' 
 
 I venture to say no materialist could say more. 
 
 The rationale of this theory is : The soul moves 
 through matter into some other thing, form, or sub- 
 stance, and thus becomes the soul of a multiplicity 
 of things alternately by evolution ; for that is all 
 it is, or implies. If all matter contains soul, then 
 there is no distinguishing principle that gives 
 superiority of mentality, or intelligence to humanity 
 over all other matter ; and the human may ulti- 
 mately share the same fate as the tree, the flower, 
 the worm that crawls, the bulky ocean, or any other 
 matter. 
 
 From whence such profound teaching? From those 
 who must know ? Nay ! nay ! It is, as before said, 
 the mind can only draw in inspiration that suits its 
 capacity and calibre, or such as the individual can 
 imbibe. One that is educated in a groove of ideas, 
 that is, biased, cannot go beyond their depth to 
 reason on facts, cannot see the depth of psychological 
 law. Yet such presume to be authoritative educa- 
 tors on spiritual things. 
 
 Speakers and writers will discourse to others on 
 the soul of things until one is made to hold their 
 
SHADOWS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 27 
 
 breath in awe ; yet there is not one whom I know 
 that will allude to, or discourse on, the source, 
 cause, or principle of the intelligence that actuates 
 organic forms and distinguishes them from inorganic 
 things. 
 
 Spiritualists are at variance on some of the most 
 vital points that essentially belong to spirit condi- 
 tions, or relate to man's true status, namely : The 
 attributes and status of soul ; Re-incarnation ; The 
 Genesis of Man. 
 
 Soul is made to hold such a diversity of positions, 
 I cannot presume to know them all. 
 
 By some it is wholly obscured by spirit ; and one 
 is the other. Thus, it is used, vice versa, to mean 
 the same thing. By others, soul is the aura, or 
 emanation from the form, living or dead. Thus, 
 when the body is dead, the element of its matter 
 that the spirit appropriates is the soul. Others 
 give it as the ethereal or spirit element of matter, as 
 stated and denned by the speaker I have alluded 
 to ; while many wholly reject all these theories. 
 
 On Re-incarnation they are wholly divided. While 
 the Buddhists, the Brahmins, French, Spanish, Ger- 
 mans, and European nations, to a large extent, believe 
 it is a truth, the English and Americans mostly reject 
 and dislike it. There cannot be two laws on this 
 vital point, — one that suits each party. But one 
 immutable law must govern. Again, Spiritualists 
 are about equally divided on the law of Biolog}^. 
 One half will preach that man is descended from a 
 divine source, or some Jehovah in the essence of 
 spirit, and various plans are given for the rule 
 
28 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 of action, or descent. While a second half, equally- 
 able speakers, will immediately follow on the same 
 platform, preach man's descent by the Darwinian 
 theory, and illustrate it by all the analogy of struc- 
 tural development of forms, from lower to higher, 
 tracing mentality or development through these 
 forms until it reaches the spirit state. I am not 
 sure but these last have the advantage, as they give 
 a tangibility to their theory. 
 
 But the point in view is the wide divergence. 
 Both cannot be true. Which is right? 
 
 For myself, I have been taught to reject both : That 
 man neither descended from any being of transcend- 
 ent mentality, or soul-essence as spirit, nor developed 
 physically and anatomically from the brute, or lower 
 forms. But I believe the immutability of types is 
 eternal ; that spirit creative germs from other 
 spheres took material form as soon as vegetable and 
 animal life had prepared the earth for human exist- 
 ence, and man came into being a distinct type ; and 
 that his origin has to be sought for in the distant 
 aeons of time, before this earth came together. 
 Perhaps others hold the same views. There can be 
 but one law of truth on the same theme. An 
 immutable law governs these things, and this law 
 must be known to some intelligence. 
 
 This conflict on so fundamental a point, or on all 
 three of these vital essentials of man's being, is 
 self-convicting proof that the teachers only teach 
 from their individual base of understanding and 
 conception of things. I do not say this from any 
 spirit of personality. But, while every unusual 
 
SHADOWS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 29 
 
 crucial and excruciating test is being applied to 
 physical mediums, who can be tested as well by 
 using the senses, some test should be applied to 
 the intellectual person who may proclaim, from his 
 own platform of ideas, gross errors, as coming from 
 superior sources. For their theory may be as faulty 
 as the theological teachings of the sects they seek 
 to throw discredit upon ; and fully as pernicious, 
 because they ingraft them on minds that absorb 
 from others, when they are not clear thinkers them- 
 selves, and likewise depend on others as inspirational 
 authority. 
 
 Theodore Parker was very familiar and social 
 near me and my circle of spirits, visiting several 
 days at a time to witness the manifestations of earth 
 and spirit. Sometimes we discussed the merits of 
 workers in the cause. I did not hesitate to speak 
 very freely my mind in regard to the ideas spiritual- 
 ists hold of the future state. So I one day said to 
 him : "I am amazed to see the fallacy, ignorance, 
 and delusion spiritualists entertain on the subject 
 in contrast with the facts we are shown here. I 
 think them as much deluded as the Christians are." 
 When I cited some things I had reference to, he 
 replied : " I have tried truthfully to give the best 
 information I was possessed of, but I know there 
 are fallacies and conflicts. The tares will grow 
 with the wheat ; the chaff is inseparable because 
 the winnowers are not skilled as workmen in the 
 field. My time is growing less for me to teach ; 
 some other one must do it." 
 
 No doubt there are those who preach and teach 
 
30 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 their own peculiar views from an ambition of being 
 leaders or originators of some new idea. Every 
 competent, ambitious mind can theorize ; and spirit- 
 ualists do their share. What, then, should be the 
 guiding star? 
 
 Nothing but demonstrated fact. Facts are worth 
 more than theories. Do not adopt the ipse dixit of 
 every traveling magnet who has an ax to grind, as 
 the rule of faith. 
 
 No faith should encumber the mind of & sincere 
 investigator. For when such exists, it becomes a 
 wall, obstructing the passage of new light. 
 
 In one or two hundred years from this time, many 
 of the accepted tenets of to-day will be set aside, 
 and much of the voluminous writing will be looked 
 on as verbosity, absurdly unreasonable, and absurdly 
 transcendental. Swedenborg is looked upon to-day 
 by spiritualists as absurdly technical, verbose, and 
 visionary, vague, and incomprehensible. So will 
 future ages regard the promulgators of visionary 
 things of to-day. 
 
 As spiritualism outgrows its ingrafted inheritance 
 from theological teachings and dogmas, it will enter 
 more into the relation of spirit as associated with 
 external things, and will not be so transcendental as 
 it now is. 
 
 Spiritualism shows its lights in an unmistakable 
 way, in its demonstrations and manifestations. It 
 requires no missionary runners with theories to 
 propagate it. Every family and individual may be 
 its own investigator in its own limited circle. It is 
 open to all souls, high and low. Family circles will 
 
SHADOWS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 31 
 
 do more to develop it than all the theorizing of the 
 ablest intellects, which, in fact, only befogs and 
 bewilders the mind with an education that embar- 
 rasses when they enter upon another stage of action ; 
 equally as much so as the Christian faith. I can 
 best illustrate this by a tangible example. 
 
 Some years ago I was slightly acquainted with a 
 woman who was an ardent, earnest, spiritualist, 
 "baptized," as she said to me, "in its full faith 
 and trust." All her family were the same ; they 
 belonged to the earliest investigators and disciples. 
 She died about 1872 or '73. A couple of years after, 
 I went to call at her old home ; all the family were 
 absent from the house. As the view from the porch 
 over-looking the bay was sublime in the setting sun- 
 glow, it enchanted me, and I took a reclining chair 
 to stop and rest, and enjoy the view. Very soon a 
 spirit was talking to me, saying, the family was out, 
 and it being her home once, she still lingered by it. 
 Finding that it was my friend who had recently 
 passed on, I changed the thread of conversation to 
 the sphere she then occupied. I wanted to know 
 how she found things on the other side, to corres- 
 pond with her ideas before she passed over. Her 
 reply was : " A great disappointment ; nothing like as 
 I had pictured to myself. I have made little progress. 
 I am restricted by my embarrassing conditions. I 
 do not move, go, nor come, as I had expected to. 
 This is my principal place of abiding." 
 
 This woman had pictured for herself in the spirit 
 world great power to do and move as she felt 
 inclined, — to see, hear, and know all things desira- 
 
32 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 ble, and to occupy some other spirit place of abode ; 
 hence, her disappointment. 
 
 From a variety of such experiences, I might call 
 others, but I think this sufficient, as these pages will 
 show much of life on the other side. Therefore, I 
 say, knowingly, that spiritualism is encumbered by a 
 class of vague, superficial teachers, promulgating 
 tenets of faith that will have to be eradicated by 
 coming generations. But, " the tares grow with the 
 wheat." 
 
 Its bright lights require no illustration ; they shine 
 for all, and they that seek them can judge of their 
 effulgence. Then, let it shine without shadows, and 
 be its own enunciator. A knowledge of spiritualism 
 can be attained by culture, pure aspiration, pure 
 scientific investigation made in a spirit of truth, 
 seeking to probe its reality ; not in the spirit of 
 antagonism, to destroy its poor tools, the mediums, 
 or to lay the ghost of a divine truth that will 
 manifest itself, notwithstanding all the restrictions 
 man can bring to bear upon it. 
 
PSYCHOLOGY. 33 
 
 Section V. 
 PSYCHOLOGY. 
 
 Originally, the definition of Psychology was, 
 " A treatise of the human soul ; a doctrine of man's 
 spiritual nature." Of recent date, and by so-called 
 scientists, it is made to apply to philosophy in some 
 of its branches, and is indiscriminately used by oth- 
 ers to apply to the laws of Biology, and even to 
 inanimate things, or all matter. Scientists now dis- 
 cover that Psychology is a subject they have not 
 probed to its depth. 
 
 In these pages I use the term " psychology " as 
 meaning the investigation of mental phenomena, 
 the facts and laws of consciousness, and the con- 
 stituent principle of the soul. 
 
 If psychology is the action and a constituent prin- 
 ciple of the soul, then it covers mentality and all the 
 manifestations of embodied or disembodied minds. 
 It relates to the very innermost expression of the 
 soul, which is the source of mentality, and should 
 be restricted to this legitimate idea of soul and its 
 manifestations. 
 
 All beings of instinct have threefold aspects, to 
 wit : The innermost power, denominated the soul ; 
 the spirit, or central, through which it is seen ; and 
 the external, or matter in form. 
 
 The soul expresses itself through matter only by 
 3 
 
34 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 the spirit and mind. Since the soul does not par- 
 take of matter, spirit must be the individual contact 
 of soul with matter, — its personality which repre- 
 sents you. Hence, when we see the expression of 
 mentality, or intelligence, it comes from a soul-prin- 
 ciple. With this understanding of psychology, it 
 must be considered as having a wide field of action. 
 It is the dome that covers and surmounts the whole 
 temple of Spiritualism. From this dome radiates the 
 light that illumines the whole structure. It takes 
 in the very essence of spirit-manifestation. It is 
 mind acting on mind, from the innermost to the 
 outermost, showing itself in a mesmeric power of 
 one mind over a more susceptible one ; and its ex- 
 tensive exhibition by mesmerizers is now familiar to 
 most persons. A strong-willed operator can operate 
 upon two or three individuals at the same time, and 
 each one caused to do and see differently from an- 
 other. The operator causes them to taste, talk, act, 
 and see things as he wills, totally at variance with 
 truth ; and the most ludicrous performances are en- 
 acted. This I have seen done with strong, able- 
 minded men. 
 
 By this very same force and action of mesmeric 
 will-power, a spirit psychologizes a medium, and pro- 
 duces through him all the various mental phenomena 
 of trance, talking, seeing, picturing, &c. 
 
 If psychology is the action of mental phenomena, 
 and a " constituent principle of soul," it has been 
 in action from all time, or during the existence of 
 soul. Hence, the primitive ages must have had 
 spirit-phenomena corresponding to their condition. 
 
PSYCHOLOGY. 35 
 
 There is no record giving accounts of those remote 
 times, excepting the Hebrew Bible. Since the Chris- 
 tian era, from time to time some subject of psycho- 
 logical control has given evidence of being a supe- 
 rior visionary, or revelator. Thus, commencing with 
 the New Testament, or the new era of Christianity, 
 John the revelator gave a series of visions extending 
 through twenty-two chapters. At times he must 
 have been entranced, for he states he " fell down as 
 one dead." In these recitals it is stated that an 
 angel was often present, moving and showing him 
 those things. The record says : " And I, John, saw 
 these things, and heard them. And when I had 
 heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the 
 feet of the angel which showed me these things." 
 " Then, saith he unto me, See thou do it not : for I 
 am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the proph- 
 ets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book : 
 worship God." At another time, alluding to the 
 presence of an angel, he says : " And I fell at his 
 feet to worship him, and he said unto me, See thou 
 do it not : I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy breth- 
 ren that have the testimony of Jesus." 
 
 Thus the writing explicitly states that an angel 
 was with him. And the angel tells what he is : " I 
 am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren ; " show- 
 ing that he was under the influence of an attendant 
 spirit, who was psychologizing him to see all these 
 visions. 
 
 Coming down the vista of time, no clear record is 
 made by any individual subject until the twelfth cen- 
 tury, when the mystic Dante made his record on 
 
36 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 the age in a series of extended visions, believing 
 himself invested with a divine mission ; and in this 
 he marks, or is himself, the transition between the 
 ancient and the modern form of afflatus. His most 
 noticeable work is his "Divina Commedia" in thirty- 
 three cantos, in which the state of the soul after 
 death is considered, and Hell, Purgatory, and Para- 
 dise described. He tells us that the work is to be 
 interpreted in a literal, allegorical, moral, and ana- 
 logical sense. Hence, we are to consider it as an 
 inspirational or a psychological effect. The Roman 
 Catholic Church adopted these pictures of Inferno, 
 Purgatory, and Paradise literally, and exhibited 
 them to its neophytes as veritable representations 
 of scenes in those places, illustrating the passage of 
 the soul through various stages of purification. Con- 
 sequently, Dante has been greatly honored and 
 crowned, as one shown special divine favor. 
 
 The next mystic who made a conspicuous record 
 was John Milton, who, in the seventeenth century, 
 gave his u Paradise Lost," and " Paradise Regained." 
 Contemporary with him was John Bunyan, giving 
 his " Pilgrim's Progress from this World to that 
 which is to come." 
 
 Undoubtedly, these were all works of a superior 
 afflatus and allegorical representation, one being of 
 the same nature as another. But they are not now 
 considered by rational minds as representing things, 
 places, or transactions of reality, and may all be 
 classed as effects of a psychological mentality. 
 
 Following immediately these last, Emanuel Swe- 
 denborg came prominently forth with his library of 
 
PSYCHOLOGY. 37 
 
 writings on seership, and revelations in all depart- 
 ments of the universe. At the age of fifty-seven he 
 took up his mission, when, as he says, he was called 
 of God to the work of revealing to man a new sys- 
 tem of religious truth. For that purpose he was 
 " permitted to converse with spirits and angels, 
 and to behold the wonders of the spirit- world." To 
 that end he devoted his time in the writing of 
 books explanatory of his new doctrines, publishing 
 twenty-four on this special theme during the last 
 twenty-seven years of his life. Besides these, he 
 left at his death an immense mass of manuscript, 
 from which have been printed thirteen books. Cer- 
 tainly he bears the palm, and deserves the crown, 
 for being the most voluminous writer on religious 
 subjects. 
 
 But the advent of modern spiritualism, seventy- 
 six years after his death, modified his accounts of 
 spirit-spheres, and cast a doubt on what many others 
 had previously said. Now, spirits through public 
 speakers will say that his visions were mostly pro- 
 duced by psychological control, and had no exist- 
 ence in fact. 
 
 Seventy-three years after Swedenborg's death, 
 there came into public notice another psychological 
 subject, under more peculiar circumstances. A 
 youth, A. J. Davis, was being operated upon for 
 the exhibition and testing of the newly discovered 
 science of Mesmerism, when he gave evidence that 
 an invisible mesmerizer could operate as well as a 
 visible one, and astonished his listeners with a rev- 
 elation of superior things from the unknown world. 
 
38 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 By being put in the mesmeric state from time to 
 time, he, too, gave to the world a revelation of the 
 universe. 
 
 Being a good psychological subject, he rapidly 
 acquired power in that direction ; so much so, that 
 the invisibles used him independently, and he wrote 
 voluminously. They gave him very extended views 
 of the universe, all its movements throughout being 
 detailed in his writings, including elaborate views of 
 our " Heavenly Home," stated to be in a distant 
 constellation, or in the Milky Way; and all the 
 resources and conditions of this " Heavenly Home " 
 are glowingly pictured. If he thus knows the real- 
 ity of such a location as a fixed " Heavenly Home," 
 as it is represented to be, his knowledge must tran- 
 scend that of every spirit-intelligence in space who 
 has access to earth, for as yet none other has con- 
 veyed an inkling of this location. 
 
 I would not encumber these pages with a notice 
 of the latest revelation on " Elementaries," but for 
 the persistent advocacy and propagation of its the- 
 ory by its disciples. Some incognito, in the borrowed 
 vestments of a more facile writer, in order more read- 
 ily to attract attention, has given the latest novelty in 
 this line of psychological revealments, in the books 
 "Art -Magic" and "Ghost Land." In these are 
 related extended visions of journeys in the land and 
 spheres of " Elementary " beings, who are repre- 
 sented as neither of earth nor heaven ; never were 
 human, and are without souls ; yet possessed of most 
 extraordinary power, force, and intelligence to oper- 
 ate on poor benighted humanity. They are said to 
 
PSYCHOLOGY. 39 
 
 mislead and work injury, and yet are invisible to all 
 but those of their own sphere. 
 
 This class of creatures, to some extent, become 
 souls when they can incarnate themselves in human 
 form; this act imparting to them soul and immortal- 
 ity. To attain this, they make desperate efforts. The 
 land of their abiding is between the spirit-spheres 
 and the earth. The spheres are divided into "Plan- 
 etary Beings," li Spirits of the Human Soul," " Ele- 
 mentaries," and " Demons." With these four classes 
 of characters in space we have to deal. With all of 
 these this incognito is refreshingly familiar, and 
 warns humanity to vigilantly shun all knowledge, 
 inquiry, or communion with these evil-workers, the 
 " Elementaries ; " for if they gain a foothold, they 
 may work our perdition. 
 
 Such is the substance of what this writer sends 
 forth as a new light to accompany the previously 
 revealed works of John the Revelator, Dante, A. J. 
 Davis, and others. Of these books, " Art Magic " 
 and %t Ghost Land," I have only to say that they are 
 unworthy of consideration, except as fiction con- 
 structed out of material to be found in any good- 
 sized library. When one is necessitated to work 
 behind a mask to conceal his own personality, the 
 offspring is a bastard to be relegated to the " Ele- 
 mentaries " from which it sprung, and has no place 
 with legitimate productions for consideration. To 
 foster such illegitimate bantlings, as revealing any- 
 thing of spiritism, would be. a travesty in reality. 
 
 That the ages have shown innumerable instances 
 of mystics, visionaries, and psychological subjects of 
 
40 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 all phases, since the Christian era, — I do not allude 
 to the antecedent ages, — is too well known to deny. 
 But many of these are known only by tradition, hav- 
 ing left no authentic records themselves of their affla- 
 tus, visions, or spirit-intercourse. 
 
 Of the reliability of the visions which the several 
 writers I have mentioned record of themselves, or 
 the tenets they set forth, these pages are silent ; they 
 are only referred to as examples of psychological 
 mentality, and cited as well-authenticated examples. 
 Of their works, others can judge for themselves. For 
 myself, I know that spirits present pictures that are 
 not realities. I know they show things that have 
 only connection with the individual imaginings. I 
 know that any class, even the most unprogressed, if 
 strong in will, may psychologize one on earth, and 
 present pictures, scenes, and conditions at variance 
 with truth, and carry the subject through Inferno 
 or Paradise for hours, at their will, while the things 
 shown are only visionary castles in the air. This 
 imagery of mind into mind, in all its extended pic- 
 turing, is psychological clairvoyance, only intended 
 for the seer, and furnishes no clue by which to judge 
 of spirit-spheres. 
 
 I have given some of my own experiences on this 
 phenomenon in " Laws of Being," page 110, that are 
 noticeable examples of this theme, and I do not wish 
 to further intrude myself here. Suffice it to say, 
 psychological effects can be carried to very great 
 lengths, perhaps more than any other manifestation. 
 Neither does it belong exclusively to disembodied 
 mind; it is exercised by man on his fellow-man for 
 
PSYCHOLOGY, 41 
 
 good and evil, and may even take the life of another. 
 This I am well aware of from facts in my limited 
 sphere of knowledge. As psychology relates to all 
 mental phenomena, it follows that a mind may not 
 always be operated on by some other mind ; but 
 there are numerous instances where an independent 
 ecstatic state may be experienced. Such is self- 
 magnetic control, or statuvolic condition, otherwise 
 called superior condition. This state may be held 
 outside of any spiritualism proper. 
 
 Undoubtedly, very many voluminous writers and 
 speakers hold this phase of mentality, that has little 
 to do with true spirit-influence. Many of the so- 
 called inspirational speakers are examples of this 
 self-magnetism, or statuvolic, superior state. In 
 this condition they deal with things previously 
 known, or that can be digested by the individual 
 mind. From this standpoint their conceptions of 
 things are presented as realities of superior things, 
 widely at variance with facts. 
 
 Perhaps some of the personages heretofore men- 
 tioned might be considered good examples of this 
 self-magnetic " superior condition." A. J. Davis 
 claims this superior state and independence of for- 
 eign influence in seeing or writing. Seers are apt 
 to claim an extended power, by which their spirits 
 make excursions to distant spheres in space ; when, 
 in reality, they do nothing of the kind. There may 
 be some interior intuition of distant things ; bat 
 while the spirit is connected with the form of earth, 
 the spirit will not go beyond the bounds of earthly 
 things. This has been so often and forcibly repeated 
 
42 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 to me, I must assert it, notwithstanding all views to 
 the contrary that may be held by others. If the na- 
 ture of the connection of spirit and form is consid- 
 ered, and the fact that a spirit cannot go beyond its 
 sphere until it has made progress to that plane, it 
 will be readily comprehended that no spirit con- 
 nected with form can do it. We are continually 
 informed by those communicating from the spirit- 
 life, that they do not go beyond their plane of con- 
 ditions, only by stages of progress. Yet they are 
 not subject to the encumbering conditions of matter 
 that would restrict them. They are also very sensi- 
 bly conscious of what holds them in restraint. Not- 
 withstanding this, there are those on earth who claim 
 to be superior to this law of nature, as well as spirit, 
 and that they have the power to roam in all celestial 
 spheres. I will not enlarge on this theme, so prolific 
 in well-known examples. 
 
SPIRIT: WHAT IS IT, AND ITS ULTIMATE? 43 
 
 Section VI. 
 
 SPIRIT: WHAT IS IT, AND ITS ULTIMATE? 
 
 As understood in the biblical sense, and in many- 
 others as well, spirit is the immaterial, intangible, 
 immortal part of a human being. Others designate 
 it the power of mind distinct from the body. As used 
 in a spiritualistic sense, it is intended to denote the 
 forms of the departed, actuated by intelligence. In 
 fact, it has come to be used to designate every thing 
 that shows activity, sentiment, perception, or essential 
 qualities. The term in itself is applied indiscrimi- 
 nately to that which hath power or energy ; or, the 
 quality of any substance which manifests life, 
 activity, or the power of strongly affecting other 
 bodies, extending from the influence of the Holy 
 Ghost down to the intoxicating beverage, alcohol 
 in rum. Thus it has, or is given, a wide range in 
 application. But, as used, applied, and illustrated 
 in these pages, it is intended to refer to some thing 
 eminently pure and refined, the ethereal sublimate 
 of substances, the essences exhaled from matter, 
 taking form in spirit, either with or without soul, as 
 well as to beings actuated with soul in mundane or 
 supermundane life. Hence it may be applied to all 
 things, w'hile the soul-principle is more circumscribed, 
 and only belongs to instinct, mentality, and intelli- 
 gence. 
 
44 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 In " The Laws of Being," the law of spirit is 
 treated of, and it is shown that every aggregated, 
 condensed substance can be resolved or dissolved 
 into its ethereal essences, or spirit parts. 
 
 Thus, every thing we see in nature has its spirit 
 expression, from the tiny infusoria to the greatest 
 aggregated bulk in matter. What constitutes this 
 spirit is the fineness of its particles, the emanations 
 of its essences. The flower emits its semblance, 
 the tree the same, the fruit, and the garment you 
 wear. Thus, the external becomes the highly 
 attenuated substance diffused through space, carry- 
 ing with it the germs of forms and types. As this 
 aggregates or condenses, it takes nebular form, and is 
 again tangible. In time, another planet comes into 
 motion, and all forms of life are developed, and 
 thus again become the external things that had a 
 similarity in former states. This is the eternal law 
 known as " evolution ; " the universal law of change 
 from spirit to matter, and, reversely, from matter 
 to spirit. 
 
 It is the highly attenuated ethers of substances that 
 become spirit and show spirit-form. Thus, the body 
 of a person is continually emitting its spirit elements, 
 and at death, when the body wholly disintegrates, 
 it will hold its form in spirit. Matter has an affinity 
 for its like, and what it has been associated with it 
 will more readily be attracted to and assimilate 
 with. Thus, external matter will imbibe of spirit- 
 essences of its kind, and spirit will draw from the 
 external. This is very aptly shown at this age in 
 the manifestations of materializing spirits. By com* 
 
BPIBIT: WHAT IS IT, AND ITS ULTIMATE? 45 
 
 ing in contact with others who readily give off their 
 particles, they condense their own elements with 
 those they borrow from the medium and individuals 
 forming the circle, and thus for a time show tangible 
 external forms. The same law operates in spirit : 
 they take from any substance the spirit essence they 
 wish to utilize. Examples of this are given in the 
 " Laws of Being." I have space here but for one other. 
 
 I saw at a distance a spirit that I recognized only 
 by the dress she wore, which was of light calico, with 
 a diamond spot. I well remembered it. In her hand 
 she held a large pyramidal bouquet, the apex formed 
 of a peculiar flower I never saw except in the South. 
 The flower took my attention. I heard her ask her 
 friend, a spirit she showed it to, " What is the 
 name of this flower ? " The reply was : " I don't 
 know; where did you get it?" She said, in gar- 
 dens in such a location. She had gathered her 
 bouquet from the blooming plants in the state of 
 Louisiana. 
 
 That bodies expand and yield their particles in 
 this way I know from my own experience, for I 
 have found myself, in sensation, so expanded and 
 puffed out, that my ethereal elements in form filled 
 a large room. I have given examples of this spirit 
 law and matter in the kt Laws of Being." Further, 
 I know this practically by duality ; and more will be 
 shown of it in Sec. VIII. : " Spirits Externalizing." 
 From this showing it must be satisfactorily proved 
 that spirits and spirit things are attenuated matter, 
 and it only requires clear seeing, or spirit vision, to 
 perceive them. 
 
46 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 Every substance, thing or person, emits its spirit 
 character, or aura. A highly sensitive person can 
 feel this influence, sense the impression from this 
 vital aura, or magnetism flowing from it, and the 
 epitome of its whole nature can be perceived in this 
 way. This is called " Psychometry ; " by some, 
 ' Soul of Things." It would be more proper to call 
 it Spirit of Things, or Spirit Metering or Measur- 
 ing: as soul is the conscious intelligent principle, 
 distinguished from matter, or spirit through which it 
 acts, and belongs to organic beings only. In this 
 sense it is the power of spirit matter to perceive the 
 conditions of matter. And this power is not the 
 exclusive property of humankind. We see it most 
 extensively in animal life, where it manifests itself 
 in tracing, hunting, and detecting what cannot be 
 seen, and in many other ways perhaps more than we 
 are aware of. 
 
 The query will here intrude itself: Does this 
 matter of spirit-form eternally endure ; will it not 
 become too attenuated in time to hold together ? 
 
 In time, the ethereal particles disorganize, or be- 
 come more difficult to hold together, and soul moves 
 as pure spirit of intelligence. This has been satis- 
 factorily demonstrated in my presence several times. 
 
 It has been clearly proved to me that old Cenis 
 has been two thousand years in spirit. I noticed 
 he did not stay continually like others in the 
 same atmosphere, but came and went often in our 
 midst. One time he remained unusually long, more 
 than a day. Theodore Parker was also present, and 
 when they started to go they passed together, like two 
 
SPIRIT: WHAT IS IT, AND ITS ULTIMATE? 47 
 
 friends, out of the door. Cenis was suddenly lost. 
 Parker said : " Why, Cenis, you have lost yourself." 
 44 Yes ; wait for me, Parker, until I pick myself up." 
 Parker, in his commiserating, gentle way, said : 
 " Cenis, you are too old to make such long exertions 
 to work in this way." Cenis replied: " I know it; 
 but I like to do it as long as I can. I will be all 
 gathered up in a few minutes if you wait for me." 
 In a few minutes they went out of the door, as two 
 friends. At three several visits. Cenis discussed with 
 spirits the power of materializing, and said he would 
 not be able to hold his elements sufficiently long to 
 do so. 
 
 Another spirit, one who is known by the Chris- 
 tian calendar and historical record to have been in 
 spirit-life nearly two thousand years, came to our 
 circle of spirits. He said he would visit at stated 
 times, but should not stay long, as he could not 
 hold together his personality more than half an hour 
 while near external conditions. 
 
 I made some inquiry on this ultimate of spirit- 
 form, or matter. The reply was : " In the aggregate, 
 the form in time will become so attenuated and 
 ethereal as to be imperceptible, that is, extinguished 
 to its own perceptions ; then, souls will become 
 spirits of intelligence. Within themselves there 
 will exist a knowledge of their being, and there may 
 be a desire to again take form in the external, which 
 they may do in a more advanced sphere or planet. 
 We do not know that there is a fixed state, or abid- 
 ing-place, only that we move to a sun." 
 
48 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 Others of earth profess to be better informed 
 of this. 
 
 A great deal is pictured of local heavens and 
 spirit abiding-places — and these have been given in 
 " Views of our Heavenly Home " — in some distant 
 realm or constellation ; but all such are fantasies of 
 psychological mesmerism. If there is such a fixed 
 abode, it is so far distant that spirits who are in 
 rapport with earth have not reached it. 
 
 Spiritualists have no proof of the identity of a 
 spirit visiting them who has been much longer 
 than two thousand years in spirit-life; now and then 
 some person says they have a caller of that age. I 
 have had three visit me whom I know to have been 
 there that length of time. 
 
 Two thousand years is but a second of time in 
 eternity. What has become of the vast, innumera- 
 ble congregation of souls that have inhabited this 
 earth in the millions of years past ? The thought 
 must impress every mind that some law governs this 
 soul-movement, that it is not a haphazard force. 
 That some such law exists remains to be satisfac- 
 torily proved. 
 
OCCULT FORCES IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 49 
 
 Section VII. 
 
 OCCULT FORCES IN SPIRIT SPHERES 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Perhaps, in treating this theme, I shall show an 
 unusual acquaintance with the expression of supe- 
 rior spheres, that is rarely known by one while a 
 denizen of earth. I am aware that spirits, through 
 mediums, convey some idea of their habits and 
 the phases of their condition. But the inter-com- 
 munion, the esoteric, the action of the superior to 
 the external, is altogether a transcendental phenom- 
 enon, and can hardly be realized except in spirit, or 
 in superior clairaudience. 
 
 Spirits -do not find an entity called God ; but, as 
 soul enters the spiritual or the superior state, there 
 is a knowledge, a perception, of some controlling law 
 that is irresistible and insurmountable, that controls 
 and restrains them. That there is some power 
 that dictates intelligently — is an all-seeing, all-com- 
 prehending, all-pervading force operating through 
 space, is clearly manifest. That the same is in rap- 
 port with lower forms, and all grades of souls, as 
 occasion may require, spirits are continually aware, 
 for it expresses itself audibly to their consciousness, 
 and they know it to be authoritative. This occult 
 power and its mode of operating, the succeeding 
 pages of this book will, to some extent, endeavor 
 4 
 
50 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 to show. I have heard, times repeatedly, its expres- 
 sion to a disembodied soul, as well as to myself, and 
 know its great force, volume, and immensity, and 
 that it will reveal all things concealed. It is the 
 psychophonic voice of the Infinite that speaks to per- 
 sons in the instant of warning, in the quick, impul- 
 sive inspiration, and may give prophecy through them. 
 It has access to those of earth as those in spirit, but 
 is not so clear and perceptible when the conditions 
 of the external are engrossing, and the soul is en- 
 cumbered with matter. 
 
 But I am well convinced that sometimes those in 
 trance, for some special purposes, will speak short 
 sentences from this highest source of inspiration. 
 Of all forces exerted, none are so mysterious and 
 unfathomable as this. With all the vast number of 
 spirits manifesting to those of earth, they have not 
 sounded its depth, nor conveyed an expression of 
 this intelligence that is exerted through space. The 
 reason is, spirits who manifest through mediums are 
 of primary classes. That is, they have only crossed 
 the line of vision and action, and return to call on 
 their friends, with all the earthly conditions, preju- 
 dices, and biases, and even the elements of the ex- 
 ternal, influencing them : hence the conditions of the 
 superior state cannot be conveyed by them. This 
 can only be conceived of and appreciated by those 
 on earth who have some high, superior power of see- 
 ing and hearing. That such have lived, the writer, 
 from experience, does not question. The Bible, from 
 Genesis to Revelation, has examples of it. Further, 
 it may have been this psychophonic voice of intelli- 
 
OCCULT FORCES IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 51 
 
 gence that talked with Moses on the mount, and 
 which he called " God," and likewise expressed it- 
 self to the early Bible patriarchs and prophets ; and, 
 following down the ages to the present, the very 
 same power has been exercised at times, and recog- 
 nized as the individual had power to hear it. 
 
 I know the spiritualists theorize that it is some 
 special spirit in person, near to the individual, that 
 converses with them, and the old style was to call 
 them " Lord," or " God." But this theory will not 
 hold good with the examples that are given in these 
 pages ; neither will it be sufficient for any one to say 
 that he has heard the force of intelligence in space. 
 I know it comes from a totally different source. It 
 can be no rational conclusion to suppose that a source 
 of intelligence that once conversed with humanity 
 would draw off, or shut itself up for all succeeding 
 time, as the Christian sects persist in teaching. Is 
 not God free to all ? Is not one soul as good as 
 another soul, according to development, progress, 
 virtue, and attainments ? There can be no aristoc- 
 racy of distinction, only in its own purely intelligent 
 moral worth. The same laws of the universe are in 
 operation to-day that existed ten or twenty thousand 
 years ago, and a person may hear the voice of the 
 Infinite to-day as it was heard then. 
 
 It is also evident to me, from the expression of this 
 intelligence, that it is peculiar to it to use allegory 
 and metaphor. From this it can be rationally con- 
 cluded that the early, primitive accounts given in 
 the Bible were given allegorically. Especially did 
 the books of the Pentateuch — accredited to Moses — 
 
52 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 employ this form of expression. It was in accord- 
 ance with those peoples' crude understanding to use 
 this form, especially as they had just come from 
 bondage to a people who did so, — the hieroglyphics 
 of Egypt being allegorical illustrations of history. 
 Thus Moses, educated in that school, was most likely 
 to make his record and accounts of creation in that 
 borrowed form of expression. This was well known 
 to be the fact in that age ; in consequence of which 
 was instituted that class of schools known as Cabala, 
 for the interpretation of the hidden sense of scrip- 
 tural symbols in Arabic, Egyptian, and Hebrew. 
 Up to the time of Christ this form of language must 
 have been used ; as he taught in parable, and used 
 metaphor on all occasions. It is probable that the 
 allegorical form of inscription was common with 
 those nations ; but when the Romans made con- 
 quest and subjected them, the Latin customs were 
 inaugurated, and the new school obliterated the old. 
 
 So the Bible, from beginning to end, is written in 
 the old school of allegory, requiring a key to inter- 
 pret it. I do not think that this form is peculiar to 
 any age or class of communicating intelligence, if it 
 comes from old or ancient lights. It is the expres- 
 sion of poetry, and simplifies an idea with a picture. 
 As this volume is intended to demonstrate these 
 forces by the logic of facts, and not by hypothetical 
 deductions, I deem the examples that follow to be 
 the most satisfactory proofs of the truth of the fore- 
 going conclusions. 
 
 In 1868 I made the acquaintance of a young man 
 in Sacramento city, said to be an excellent trance- 
 
OCCULT FORCES IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 53 
 
 medium, but not a public one. As I became better 
 acquainted with him, he condescended to frequently 
 sit for me alone, until he became almost a special 
 medium for remarkable * messages to me. Subse- 
 quent developments proved the accuracy of his 
 trance-afflatus, and the reliability of his controls. 
 I will call him Tom. Through him I had many 
 beautiful allegorical communications referring to 
 persons and events that had a bearing on the past, 
 present, and future. I could not then understand 
 the similes used, nor give them an application. 
 Eight years later, when I was in another territory, 
 and the intelligences were speaking to me psycho- 
 phonically, like a clarion in space, these allegorical 
 sentences were repeated to me in the presence of those 
 to whom they had reference, — persons who had but 
 recently entered spirit-life, — saying : " From the 
 crystal river the pebbles will be picked. Though deep 
 the bottom seems, each pebble must be found." On 
 a second occasion another sentence was repeated : 
 " That ship lies stranded on the shore. Its wreck 
 must be accounted for." Thus was I reminded of 
 past communications that could now be interpreted 
 and seen as pictures of the reality that was being 
 fulfilled, day by day, by the spirit to whom it 
 referred. . 
 
 In 1869 I roomed in a house where there was a 
 man past middle life, a trance-medium, a worker in 
 the spiritual cause, who was often readily entranced. 
 On one occasion I entered the room unannounced, 
 and found him entranced, and speaking to a man 
 and woman seated before him. They motioned me 
 
54 THE LOG 10 OF FACTS. 
 
 to be seated ; so I took a seat beside him. As he 
 finished speaking to them, he turned to me and said: 
 " I will address the sister just entered. You are liv- 
 ing your second dispensation on earth ; when you 
 pass on you will enter the Divine. You are, as Ruth, 
 gleaning in the fields. I see you as an angler; the 
 line and hook are out, and many fishes are nibbling 
 at the bait." This medium was never before known 
 to use metaphor, or such forms of expression, either 
 in a normal or trance state, and had no leanings to- 
 ward re-incarnation. The whole address was an 
 enigma and puzzle to me. 
 
 Several years after I presented the first sentence 
 as a question to a superior trance-speaker, then in 
 San Francisco, as follows : " A spirit said, ' You are 
 living your second dispensation in form on earth ; 
 the next you will enter the third, the Divine.' What 
 is its meaning?" The medium, or the control, im- 
 mediately perceiving it had been given by some 
 superior power, waited a moment, then said : " I 
 must first see what intelligence gave it." Then it 
 was answered in one of the most sublime discourses 
 it was ever my privilege to hear, showing the theory 
 of the Trinity, and its application to man ; that man 
 filled several stages of dispensation, and the entering 
 the Divine was an absorption into the Godhead of 
 universal intelligence. 
 
 These things were given by mediums, who, in the 
 normal state, held no conception of these theories, 
 or the ideas they expressed ; strangers to each other, 
 never having met. Neither was it the impressioD 
 of some guide, or familiar spirit. It was the very 
 
OCCULT FORCES IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 55 
 
 force of occult intelligence that moves in space, 
 that the soul attracts, and with whom it is in 
 sympathy. 
 
 I hold a yet more remarkable example of this 
 allegorical form of illustrating an idea. I received 
 from a psychometrical reader, a Mrs. Sherman, a 
 letter of " Delineation," of four pages letter-sheet, 
 and in it these passages of symbolic writing occur : 
 " You stand before me as a stranger always wearing 
 a veil. Your past is represented by the symbol of 
 a coat of many colors. By this I understand many 
 changes. The coat has many patches, meaning 
 untoward conditions and circumstances. The seams 
 appear to have been sewed and pulled out, until the 
 cloth is too much worn to hold the thread. Can you 
 interpret ? " 
 
 Thus, a stranger to all the conditions of my life 
 could have the whole symbolically given to her in 
 the best symbolical picture that could have been 
 chosen, — better than she could understand or inter- 
 pret ; and she knew it was not a plain, usual reading. 
 
 These examples show an occult-power, intelli- 
 gently using symbols to typify a reality. 
 
 I have had forcible proof of this occult-force, as 
 well as the psychophonic voice of intelligence 
 exercised in space. From very many examples I 
 could give, I make room for but one. 
 
 At a time when I was much engaged with spirits 
 manifesting, Thomas Paine was near and endeavoring 
 to distinguish me as a special medium for his pur- 
 pose. While efforts were being made in that direc- 
 tion, and he was transmitting his desires to the 
 
56 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 circle very forcibly, a very powerful, as well as 
 authoritative voice in space was heard to say : 
 
 "Cenis, hold the medium steady; a special pur- 
 pose is intended. In the light of the celestial is to 
 be given what the terrestrial requires. The superior 
 is to make itself manifest." This seemed to be 
 so authoritative, that its effect was irresistible, as 
 well as startling and impressive. Immediately, 
 Thomas Paine answered : " Cenis, I forego all 
 further effort. The power behind the throne is too 
 great to be resisted. Thenceforth, we are listen- 
 ers — scholars in a class to witness the ultimate 
 results." 
 
 After this no spirit made any special attempt to 
 control. 
 
 At this gathering a vast number of phenomena 
 took place of special interest to the individual spirits 
 present, messages being given, from the superior 
 authoritative source, to some one present, either in 
 marks of promotion or in reminders of some past 
 condition of life. It is essential to know that such 
 an operating force of intelligence exists. From 
 whence does it come? What is it? 
 
 The only reply I ever obtained was : " It is a 
 settled principle of the universe that intelligence 
 exists as a combined, universal soul, and this is 
 utilized as occasion requires for each individual 
 being. As a soul enters more into the superior state 
 it is more clearly receptive, and, hence, sensitive to 
 these forces. Thus, spirits hear clearly these mes- 
 sages, while those on earth sometimes receive them 
 as well." 
 
OCCULT FORCES IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 57 
 
 I am aware it is common to attribute all impres- 
 sions to the immediate presence of spirits, but this 
 is not invariably so. I have endeavored to show 
 that the mind may be reached from superior spheres 
 direct, receiving impressions, inspirations, and fore- 
 warnings in times of necessity. Very many persons 
 can certify to this ; yet it cannot be known from 
 whence it comes, neither is it heeded as it should 
 be, because it cannot be realized as being authentic. 
 
 That there is a power in these forces transcending 
 the ordinary spirit-control, and capable of imparting 
 information superior to that which a spirit might 
 communicate, must be evident to all. Also, that 
 spirits who have but recently departed from us, 
 convey their individual ideas only. Educated in the 
 biases and prejudices of earth, they reflect and trans- 
 mit to us the conditions of the elements they are in, 
 even to the very expression. In this way, spiritual- 
 ists adopt a variety of ideas that are merely tran- 
 scripts of individual minds. 
 
 The visibility of spirit is another phase of occult- 
 force, or soul exercising consciousness. It is, perhaps, 
 very generally supposed that spirits are visible to 
 each other, that they carry form and stature with 
 them as we do on earth. Nothing can be more 
 erroneous in fact, for they do nothing of the kind ; 
 only when they desire to do so, and are visible only 
 when tYizy choose to show themselves to others. 
 
 Usually, they are as concealed from each other 
 as they are to the external eyes of those of earth. 
 There is but one way their presence can be detected, 
 and that is, by the finest sense of feeling, sensing that 
 
58 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 such an element is present. There is no distinction 
 in this very noticeable fact ; it applies to high and 
 low. A soul may be present and know what is 
 intelligently transpiring, and yet not be distinguish- 
 able at all, unless some force of its element is thrown 
 out, and then its presence will be known only by 
 a sensing of that force. I have known so much of 
 this in reality, that it appears to me to be the general 
 law. When, perhaps, several in spirit-form were 
 present, some forcing element would be perceptible 
 that could not be seen, but the sensing of it would 
 be sharp. Those then engaged in talking would 
 say : u Some new or strange arrival is here ; wait, 
 and let us see what it is, or what it has come for/' 
 
 In this, psychometry shows its action in spirit- 
 spheres the same as on the earth. An acute sensi- 
 tive will detect this presence in either sphere. One 
 who is very fine will even sense the character of this 
 element. I could give examples to any extent of 
 these facts, but the continuation of these pages 
 will show them. 
 
 This is also the strongest proof of the true 
 inwardness of our being, the soul-principle that 
 actuates us, that takes cognizance of conditions, and 
 may give intelligence without connection with form 
 or matter ; and it shows that this perception is on 
 earth, and in spirit-life the same. One of the strongest 
 examples of this is shown in " The Laws of Being," 
 in the section on " Duality," page 92, and is well 
 worthy of notice as illustrating this law, showing, as 
 it does, the mentality present in one place without 
 form, or materiality, and at the same time the acute 
 
OCCULT FORCES IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 59 
 
 sensing of others and their conditions, without know- 
 ing or seeing who is present. 
 
 The self-same law operates in spirit-life; they 
 move and exhale their elements without form just 
 the same as with. But when they so desire, they 
 draw to themselves the spirit-essences of matter, and 
 take form ; and may in that way show any condi- 
 tion of life they have passed through. 
 
 Thus, when a clairvoyant sees a spirit, that spirit 
 has drawn elemental matter to itself by which it can 
 be seen. But to sense, or tell the presence of a spirit, 
 is practicable to almost every person who will give it 
 some attention, and is, in reality, much more expres- 
 sive in every one than is supposed. In accordance 
 with the exalted state, or the low, disturbed condi- 
 tion, will the element be sensed that accompanies 
 a spirit, and the high and the low are distinguish- 
 able in this way. 
 
 Such are some of the expressions of occult-forces 
 as manifested by soul in spirit-spheres. 
 
60 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 Section VIII. 
 SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 
 
 Externalizing is a process that spirits bring to 
 bear to enable them to enter the conditions of the 
 external, to recall antecedent states, or take up some 
 condition they held in their earth-life. It is exercised 
 through and under the conditions of some external 
 form called a medium. It enables them to come 
 more in rapport with other spirits, also to throw off 
 conditions and elements of the external world that 
 cling to them. It may be a special transaction they 
 wish to make known, or a general epitome of events. 
 It is often an open confession to some other one 
 interested in it. By doing this, they disengage 
 themselves from earthly conditions, and advance 
 higher in the spiritual scale. 
 
 Any one would consider it the most extraordinary 
 of all manifestations were they to witness it to the 
 extent that I have. Although the pages that follow 
 will show the light it shed on spirit-life, yet the 
 reality and force, the expression and feeling, cannot 
 be seen nor conveyed in a written description. With 
 all the vast amount of the manifestations of spirits, 
 but a small conception of the esoteric conditions of 
 spirit-life, of their ways or manners, is given, while 
 the innermost laws that govern soul are not realized 
 at all. Neither can they be, unless by some one 
 
SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 61 
 
 who has an inside view. Even then, one must be 
 limited to what is shown him ; the whole no one may 
 be able to know. Spiritualistic literature is replete 
 with the showing of phenomenal manifestations, and 
 spirit communion is common in all phases, from the 
 tiny rap to the materialized form. Through these 
 there is no lack of proof of their action on matter, 
 or contact with the external world. But the eso- 
 teric is quite another thing ; its reality is not known. 
 
 I propose to give only my own personal knowl- 
 edge and observation of the esoteric side, intending, 
 more especially, to show the inside manner of its 
 operating forces. It is my purpose to reveal to the 
 denizens of earth the spirit-sphere they are in close 
 alliance with, and the importance it is to them to 
 know of its tangibility and its operations. I shall 
 not hesitate to show this inside view of spirit-work- 
 ing as it is, for it is but a phase of humanity after 
 all, and no special grace is to be accorded to one be- 
 cause he is a spirit. Nothing but example can 
 demonstrate a fact. It has been the external man- 
 ifestation that has satisfied millions of the fact of 
 spirit-life ; and the same rule must apply to the eso- 
 teric ; the proof must be given those that wish to 
 know more of the other side of life and its con- 
 ditions. 
 
 Minds that enter spirit-life oppressed, encumbered, 
 burdened with a weight of the memory of some great 
 wrong to others, or to some special one, will not, nor 
 can they, progress to any extent while so encum- 
 bered. The condition acts as a mill-stone about 
 their necks ; it is an anchor that keeps them to the 
 
62 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 earth — the ghost that haunts them until satisfied. 
 And atonement must be made to those they have 
 sinned against. In this way many souls are held to 
 earth for many years, or so long as those whom they 
 have wronged remain on earth. It is a darkened 
 state of existence, and shows the divine spirit of 
 retributive justice that must and will demand an 
 accounting. No concealment can be made of evil- 
 doing to another. The absolution can only come by 
 atonement and purification. There is a much greater 
 number of this class of spirits than those of earth 
 suspect ; and when you enter spirit-life you may find 
 things revealed to you to make you quake with dis- 
 gust at those you now esteem, or even with an 
 exposure of yourself. 
 
 Many enter spirit-life encumbered with their pe- 
 culiar idiosyncrasies, prejudices, and church bigot- 
 ries, with no great virtue or merit attached to them- 
 selves, and with no knowledge of superior things. 
 These can realize only the conditions of earth they 
 hold to. I call these earthly enthralled souls, and 
 their manner of manifesting will be in accordance 
 with these conditions. This class is in the nearest 
 rapport to earth, and the most likely to convey mes- 
 sages or control mediums. Thus, a vast number of 
 communications come from this sphere, — beneficial 
 to the spirits, but often misleading to those of earth. 
 
 Souls may externalize on the spirit side as well, 
 through some channel that is not conscious of it. 
 Thus, a medium may be used unconsciously to bring 
 two different spheres together, and there will be no 
 external manifestation made of it to the conscious- 
 
SPIBITS EXTERNALIZING. 63 
 
 ness of the medium. It is the elements, the con- 
 ditions the mediums afford, that enable them to util- 
 ize these for their special purpose. Therefore, there 
 are very many more persons who afford elemental 
 conditions than are suspected of doing so. All this 
 will be better understood by examples, the aim of 
 these pages being to convey a knowledge of these 
 things by a showing of facts. 
 
 Spirits are ever ready to use the opportunity and 
 every device to execute their desires, and they are 
 not always honest, truthful, and reliable in what 
 they convey to the external world. Those who are 
 troubled with some weight of conscious wrong, which 
 they would prefer to have concealed, will be at first 
 inclined to mislead, and pervert the truth. Thus, I 
 have a near connection whose soul was troubled with 
 the weight of a secret that would have to be divulged 
 at some time. The very first opportunity there was 
 to speak to me, a rush was made, and an instant 
 committal was shown of the burden on the soul — 
 showing something concealed. Yet a false, pervert- 
 ed statement was given which it took months to un- 
 ravel and straighten ; and then it was not done until 
 higher spheres intervened, when the iniquity was 
 shown in all its enormity. A second secret was at- 
 tempted to be evaded by dodging its responsibility ; 
 misstatements one after another were made ; but 
 when I began to calculate dates and periods of time, 
 I disclosed the inconsistency of the statements, and 
 it was six months before the whole truth was 
 brought out. Thus the consciousness of wrong, 
 that will be discovered, may act like a nightmare to 
 
64 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 them, and show itself in a troubled, untruthful state 
 of delirium. 
 
 A man I once knew very well called on me in 
 spirit, and the very first words he spoke were : "■ I 
 never said anything wrong of you." Six months 
 later he called in company with two others, all three 
 being intimate associates when on earth, and ac- 
 quainted with me. On the occasion of this call, 
 one of them repeated what the first one had told 
 him when on earth, of things relating to myself of 
 a slanderous, defamatory character. Thus, the first 
 impulse of the spirit was to give a test of himself, 
 showing what was on his mind, and trying to evade 
 it by telling an untruth ; denying, without being 
 asked, what he had really done, and in that way 
 acknowledging his error and furnishing proof. 
 
 A gentleman I had been acquainted with when on 
 earth, — a scholarly, scientific man, standing well in 
 that class of society, — one night called on me and 
 reported the death of a mutual friend. This led to 
 considerable inquiry to ascertain the facts. After a 
 time, I found it was all false. This annoyed me, 
 and I made strong complaint to my spirit friends of 
 such falsehoods. Cenis immediately started to dis- 
 cover the author, and the spirit was brought before 
 me to explain, or externalize and account for his 
 statements. This he refused to do ; but soon 
 changed his tactics and repeated a mass of state- 
 ments in regard to the same person, which proved, 
 when inquired into, to be a systematic, spiteful un- 
 truth of a person toward whom he held some ani- 
 mosity. I related this circumstance to Theodore 
 
SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 65 
 
 Parker, to show him how some would convey a false- 
 hood, and its results. He replied : " He was no gen- 
 tleman to do so." Instantly, the spirit spoken of 
 was present, and said : " I consider myself a gentle- 
 man in fact when I show ray true character. I was 
 false ; and false and deceitful in my nature, and if I 
 show it now, I consider I show myself honestly as a 
 gentleman." To this Parker said : "Jf that is the 
 construction you put on it, you may be right." 
 
 These examples show that a troubled weight of 
 memory may exist, and if a spirit is closely bound to 
 earthly conditions, an erratic state of mentality ma} r 
 exist, and he will give statements wholly at variance 
 with truth ; and there is no telling to what extent 
 the conditions of the spiritual are thus misrepre- 
 sented. These are unhappy, troubled souls, know- 
 ing they must purge themselves before advance can 
 be made. I have seen some very striking and sad- 
 dening examples of this action ; but I cannot be too 
 personal in these pages, therefore prefer to use what 
 has been more openly seen. 
 
 A noticeable instance of a spirit taking the char- 
 acter and giving the name of some other one, was 
 shown at a camp-meeting in Massachusetts, in 1877, 
 where a medium, J. F. Baxter, was controlled by a 
 negro spirit who announced himself as one Abe 
 Bunter ; even telling his peculiarity of splitting 
 planks with his head for a quarter ; where he lived, 
 and time of his death. Immediately it was declared 
 by one in the audience that the person of that name 
 and character was not dead ; when the spirit reas- 
 serted that he was, and that he died in such a year. 
 5 
 
66 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 But it subsequently proved that Abe Bunter was 
 alive on earth. Thus it became manifest that the 
 spirit announcing himself to be this person had given 
 false statements all through. The subsequent ex- 
 planation given by a guide was, that a party of 
 negro spirits combined for a performance, and gave 
 the name and continued to reiterate the same, while 
 the guide could not tell whether it was right or 
 wrong. The medium was not satisfied with this 
 explanation, perhaps not liking to think himself the 
 channel of some duping, tricky negroes. But in 
 reality this is more practiced than spiritualists and 
 mediums are aware of. 
 
 It is not uncommon for this class of spirits to 
 practice these deceptions. It only shows the power 
 of imitation. When it is taken into consideration 
 that the sphere immediately after death is the 
 counterpart of earth, and the dead are not meta- 
 morphosed by a change of location, it should be 
 satisfactory to every mind, that inferior, tricky, 
 deceptive manifestations may be given, as well as 
 exalted ones. 
 
 There is nothing in spiritualism that requires 
 more careful consideration than the idea held in 
 regard to guides. It is assumed that guides are 
 always superior spirits, that they have superior 
 knowledge, or are, perhaps, infallible. Nothing can 
 be further from the facts. Guides who are especially 
 assigned to work with one individual are usually of 
 the inferior class, some spirit who needs the exter- 
 nalities of life to aid him in learning of the things 
 of earth, and to advance himself in education from 
 
SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 67 
 
 the external. It is usually supposed that a guide is 
 exclusively for the benefit of the medium ; but the 
 purpose is as well to benefit himself. In fact, they 
 are usually very ignorant minds, and may be artful 
 and unscrupulous. Their purpose is to strengthen 
 a medium in his phase of development, to harmon- 
 ize the two spheres, and to act as a link between 
 them. They are mostly in the sphere of earth them- 
 selves, therefore are not transcendent intelligences. 
 
 The Indian is well represented in this phase of' 
 American spiritualism, and supports a large majority 
 of American mediums. Nothing could be more nat- 
 ural than this law, and the justice of its operation, in 
 the fact that a race, indigenous to the continent, 
 should have the precedence of obtaining knowledge, 
 and cultivating taste, through its mediums. Besides, 
 they have strong animal and earthly elements. But 
 the Indians in this position have their natural inclina- 
 tions, and maybe artful, cunning, tricky, and unrelia- 
 ble ; and while their aid is acceptable, they are not 
 to be considered as high authority. I will give some 
 examples of this fact, as a rule by which others may 
 be judged. 
 
 At one time, when Cenis was entertaining the 
 spirits who were by me, he related the arts and tricks 
 of one " Fleet," as a guide. I said I knew of one 
 called " Fleeter ; "' when he replied, " It is the same 
 one." I told him of a beautiful picture of her, made 
 by Anderson ; when Cenis said : " It is not her 
 likeness; she is a common, homely, old squaw, and 
 I'll introduce her to you some time, that you may 
 judge of her yourself." Very shortly Miss " Fleeter," 
 
68 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 as she styled herself, came among us, or called, came 
 and went for several days ; at these times giving 
 some account of her manner of operating with her 
 medium, and showing her arts generally. 
 
 The name of this Indian woman is given to an 
 elegant, majestic portrait, life-size in bust, express- 
 ing everything to be desired in beauty ; looking like 
 a Roman princess, the crown of plumes alone 
 indicating the Indian peculiarity. This picture had 
 been given through Anderson, the spirit artist, as the 
 likeness of this tricky squaw, and exhibited on many 
 occasions in San Francisco as such, when, in fact, it 
 was nothing of the kind, only a fancy spirit-picture. 
 
 To suppose for one moment, that, because a person 
 has changed his location from earth to spirit-life, 
 his whole outlines, features, and personality are meta- 
 morphosed into an angelic creation, would be to sup- 
 pose that which is contrary to all natural laws. How, 
 possibly, can one change his color and personalitj^, 
 and yet look like himself? Unfortunately, this is 
 believed to a great extent. I know that a person 
 retains his personality remarkably accurate in spirit- 
 life. I have seen Cenis quite well ; he has been in 
 spirit two thousand years, and yet retains all the 
 Indian characteristics of those distant times. He is 
 of copper color, his hair is drawn up and tied on 
 the top of the head, and he is dressed in skins, — 
 showing most conclusively that he has not changed 
 in looks during the long period he has been in spirit. 
 I had a connection who had a disfigurement of the 
 face ; he has been in spirit-life thirty -five years, yet 
 that disfigurement is seen as plainly to-day by those 
 
SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 69 
 
 who see him from the spirit-side, as it was by those 
 near him when on earth. I have heard strangers 
 remark it and ask its cause. 
 
 I had one vivid illustration of the fact of not 
 outgrowing the stature as held when on earth. 
 
 A beautifully arrayed but very small spirit ap- 
 peared before me. I took it to be that of a little girl, 
 but when her identity was made known, it proved 
 to be a lad}^ who took some interest in me when a 
 child. While on earth, she was deformed with a 
 hump-back, and was very short in stature. The 
 spirits present questioned her why she showed her- 
 self so small. She told them of her deformitj 7- , and 
 said : " I was quite short, so, of course, could not 
 raise myself in spirit-stature, while my hump, being 
 superficial, I do not now show." 
 
 I am satisfied, from all I have seen and heard, that 
 when spirits are beheld naturally, they look the 
 same as when in the earth-life. But they may take 
 some foreign character. 
 
 As this artistic form of spirit externalizing has 
 been referred to, and it is of some interest, some 
 further notice of it will exhibit its phases. 
 
 One of Anderson's spirit-portraits was exhibited 
 in California as the likeness of Thomas Paine in 
 spirit-life. This picture had no feature or resem- 
 blance to him as when on earth. In fact, it looked 
 like some Chinaman costumed in the style of a fancy 
 beau, — lace and ruffles. I hold one of the card 
 photographs taken from that portrait, and recently 
 asked Thomas Paine how it would compare with his 
 resemblance now. He replied : " No likeness had 
 
70 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 been given of him from spirit-life, therefore it was 
 not his." 
 
 I would not have it understood that Anderson is 
 the deceiver ; he is only the instrument of some 
 spirit artist. I saw him when taking his large band 
 of Atlantins, and other ancients of history, and I 
 know he draws the outline of a portrait in ten 
 minutes. He is controlled mechanically, and does 
 not see and draw a portrait of the spirit himself. 
 They are beautiful crayon works, and marvels of art, 
 under any condition. As these sketches are given by 
 control, there is no reason why an artist may not 
 give, from the spirit-side, any picture, and represent 
 it as the picture of any person he chooses ; hence, 
 the spirit control is responsible for naming these 
 portraits, unless they are recognizable by other 
 persons. 
 
 In regard to this artistic work, I cannot pass 
 by a very noticeable instance of its manifestation 
 through a lady in Sacramento City, California. A 
 Mrs. Waterhouse, when past sixty years of age, 
 was first moved to it by shadows and outlines com- 
 ing on her wall. Then she tacked up paper, and 
 outlines came on that, and after a while she was able 
 to trace them with a pencil. From these small begin- 
 nings larger ones came, until finally a large canvas, 
 seven feet by four, covering the size of a door, was 
 filled with symbolical characters, intended to picture 
 the meeting and conditions of all nations, times, and 
 races, given in hieroglyphical writing, the same as 
 the ancient picturing of historical events. 
 
 From this, rapid development was made, and a 
 
SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 71 
 
 large thirteen by eleven feet picture, allegorically 
 representing American national conditions — called 
 the Sleeping Giantess, — was painted in water-colors. 
 Since then, enormous blendings of figures and scenes 
 in landscape, characters, and spirit things, and every 
 phase of the art of drawing and oil-painting, have 
 been executed with skill, — flowers, still life, and 
 animal life, marine views, portraits, landscapes, copy- 
 ing, and enlarging. She will take a small four-inch 
 photograph and enlarge it to three or four feet, and 
 will produce an oil-painting with every minute 
 detail brought out true and exact. Nature in all 
 its exactitude is transferred to canvas, — not embel- 
 lished, as most art works are, but in its correct 
 delineation. The most noted places of California, 
 and wonders in natural grandeur of scenery, are 
 transposed to canvas by her uneducated hand. Thus, 
 in her sixty-eighth year she paints every thing, small 
 and large, and has a large collection of her works 
 of art. 
 
 Here is certainly a marvelous phenomenon, that a 
 woman in the decline of life, with poor eye-sight, 
 should be used to do this fine delicate work to such 
 an extent. 
 
 There is one phase of spirit manifestation that I 
 have never seen mention made of by those who 
 expound on the knowledge of spirit-power. While 
 gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and elementaries are 
 liberally told of, no one seems to have suspected 
 that spirits might simulate some character foreign 
 to their real nature, if occasion offered, or they 
 desired. 
 
72 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 In " The Laws of Being," page 111, I have shown 
 how vividly a spirit personated four or five charac- 
 ters at one performance ; and I see no reason 
 why this may not be done by others as well. One 
 of the most marvelous feats of this kind was mani- 
 fested to me, and would quite stagger credulity, if 
 its truth had not been so fully demonstrated as 
 it was. 
 
 At a certain time I had the company of two lady- 
 spirits, one a near relative, the other hud been a nun 
 
 — my teacher in childhood. While engaged talk- 
 ing to them, a foreign spirit made himself familiar 
 in the character of a green Irishman. From one 
 subject of remark to another he flew, using the Irish 
 brogue, taking the most ignorant form of that nation- 
 ality, amusing the ladies, and offering his services 
 as coachman, &c. He went on to tell of his mother- 
 marks on his side resembling a potato patch, por- 
 trayed every other conceivable wild Irishman's 
 freak, and was dressed in a costume to suit his 
 character. During all this, these ladies were engaged 
 in teaching him manners, and cultivating elevating 
 ideas and gentility. Thus, this burlesque and farce 
 
 — at times truly amusing — were kept up one week, 
 when, at an interval of rest, my friend the nun said, 
 " Mrs K., why do you object to the presence of such 
 a one," — giving the name. I replied, " I do not." 
 She made some remark, and said, " He is here." 
 Then the one mentioned addressed me, and the con- 
 versation was general. 
 
 Some hours later they were talking about the 
 character and its personations, when my relative said : 
 
SPIEITS EXTERNALIZING. 73 
 
 " Yes ; but he had none of the Irish character, nor 
 manner of the Irishman, when in this life ; it was not 
 natural to him." Immediately I remarked : " You 
 don't mean to say that that was J.'s performance all 
 the time ? " They replied, " Yes." If a thunder- 
 bolt had struck me, I could not have been more 
 confounded. I had not power nor inclination to ask 
 the whys and wherefores of such a manifestation. 
 When I state that this spirit had been my compan- 
 ion in life on earth ten years, and had gone through 
 all this performance without my detecting who he 
 was, I leave it to the reader to judge to what extent 
 spirits can simulate something foreign to themselves. 
 Further, this person showed no traces of that 
 nationality when on earth, but was a native Ameri- 
 can of Scotch-Irish descent. It may be asked, Why 
 was this done ? The spirit was in such a state of en- 
 thrallment that he had not risen to a spiritual condi- 
 tion. He had never before made himself known to me 
 from his side of life. This was his first approach to 
 my elements, and he hesitated until he had fully 
 entered into the external. Further, he was not 
 happy nor contented, and this exercise threw off 
 certain elements, and brought him into higher condi- 
 tions. He was afterwards very plain and natural in 
 all his ways. 
 
 I will give but one other illustration of this form 
 of externalizing, to show that it is practiced. This 
 is also of a connection — one who had been in spirit- 
 life thirty-five years, and had never, up to this time, 
 approached her relatives in spirit-spheres. On this 
 occasion they all assembled in my room. Yet they 
 
74 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 were as two distinct parties ; one did not draw near 
 the other. At one side of the room, near me, was 
 the lower grade ; on the opposite side, seated on a 
 lounge, were the others. Nothing passed between 
 them except through me. After a time, Eliza began 
 to simulate the character of a raw Irish girl in accent, 
 brogue, and manner. Then she arose and danced an 
 Irish jig, accompanying herself with the air suited 
 to that dance, " Tral la la, tral la la ; " at the same 
 time she was costumed in the style of her 3 r oung 
 days, more than fifty-five years ago. Thus she ad- 
 vanced to the opposite side and returned ; rested 
 while talking, then repeated the dance. In this way 
 she performed most of the night. When she had ac- 
 complished her feat, the friends on the other side 
 remarked that she had perfectly portrayed the char- 
 acter she assumed ; yet she never in her life on earth 
 resembled it. 
 
 The principle involved in this manifestation, is, a 
 soul enters within itself and shows the elements it 
 held by inheritance that may never have been exter- 
 nalized, and that the conditions of primogeniture 
 may exist in an individual and be concealed by edu- 
 cation and circumstances. 
 
 From these examples I conclude, as I am told, that 
 a soul may show itself from any standpoint it may 
 have imbibed from. I see no reason why one may 
 not show himself with horns, hoofs, and tail, as well 
 as a white swan, — which was really done by a lady 
 spirit to Charles H. Foster. It is only masquerading 
 when they have a purpose in so doing. In the very 
 many instances of materializing, matter is utilized to 
 
SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 75 
 
 do the same thing ; they may show themselves nat- 
 urally or in some other character. 
 
 As the elements are no impediment to soul-move- 
 ment, one may act through them as well. Hence, a 
 pigmy may characterize in the bowels of the earth, 
 in a coal-mine, or elsewhere, as well. That there 
 are gnomes, for the time, there can be no doubt, — 
 poor, dark, uncultured souls, that never have known 
 anything beyond their location and avocation. If 
 they die, or are killed, they are bound to those con- 
 ditions for some time ; as much as a scientist would 
 be to his calling. 
 
 I know of two old spirits who have traveled and 
 explored clear through this earth, and under the sea, 
 taking weeks in doing it. These must have been 
 spirits in the earth for the time being. I have never 
 had any experience with haunted places, ghosts, and 
 the like ; but I have heard it asked : " Why should 
 an apparition show itself and the victim, or person 
 against whom an offense had been committed, at the 
 same time ? " 
 
 This should be a simple thing to understand, when 
 it is seen that a spirit can present any picture ; and 
 any event of life may be as easily mirrored to a seer 
 as themselves. When considered as a psychological 
 effect produced on the mind of another, the phenom- 
 enon is easily comprehended. 
 
 This phase of picturing memory and conditions is 
 daily given to some mediums, who convey the result 
 to those for whom it is intended. As it is a phase 
 not well understood, and its effects are too often 
 taken for spirit realities, greatly misleading in vest i- 
 
76 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 gators, I deem it of sufficient interest to illustrate. 
 I give the following example to show what an erro- 
 neous conclusion a seer may reach concerning things 
 presented. 
 
 I visited a mediums' conference in San Francisco, 
 where each one gave to the audience, as the spirit 
 moved, to see or hear. As I wished to see and not 
 be seen, having no desire to be noticed by spirits, I 
 took a seat away from the main part of the assem- 
 bly, at one side, in a corner by myself. When the 
 conference was nearly over, a lady turned to me and 
 said, " A spirit stands beside you," and motioned me to 
 come near her. The seeress was a total stranger to 
 me, Mrs. H. F. M. Brown. Taking my chair with me, 
 I approached her. She described a physical peculi- 
 arity of the spirit. I could not mistake the identity, 
 but, like others, I thoughtlessly asked for the name. 
 This was a silly thing of me, for the name I was 
 steadily thinking of. The spirit would not give the 
 name, but showed her — " MaineT This was far bet- 
 ter, and clearly fixed the identity, Maine being his 
 place of nativity. I had not given it a thought. 
 Thus he refused to repeat my thoughts. 
 
 Then she said, " I see Lucy ; " then, " I see John." 
 I remarked, " But they are not dead." " Oh, I some- 
 times see the living," she replied. She then remarked, 
 that she supposed the spirit belonged to a large com- 
 mercial city, for he showed her shipping and other 
 signs of commerce. 
 
 Here was a medley and a confusion that most per- 
 sons would have rejected as incorrect, and the seeress 
 would have got but little credit. But I preferred to 
 
SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 77 
 
 set her right, and to satisfy her that it meant some- 
 thing. I said, " It is a little misunderstood. Maine 
 is the birthplace of the spirit present ; but the ship- 
 ping and commerce belongs to John ; he is a mariner, 
 and has been familiar with large maritime ports all 
 his life." She was pleased, and said, ik Perhaps 
 that's what it means." 
 
 But the query to answer is, Did she see u Lucy " 
 and u John ; " were they present ? My brother and 
 his child, as I had seen them five years before, and 
 at the time of this interview, as now, residing in 
 Brazil ? No ; they were not present in any form. 
 The whole thing was a picture, presented by the 
 one spirit present who knew those things connected 
 with me ; and perhaps was prompted to give it by my 
 mother, who would like to give such a reminder of 
 friends. I since asked of the spirit in regard to the 
 circumstances, and he told me it was his presenta- 
 tion. Further, he is an adept in giving those 
 mirages. 
 
 Thus, a good seer may not interpret what is pre- 
 sented ; a semblance may be taken for a reality, and 
 credit not be given for what they do see, by those 
 who receive the same. 
 
 This phase of picturing is common in spirit-life. 
 Spirits take up these records, and show them with 
 remarkable clearness sometimes; yet it is seldom 
 taken into account by investigators that they are only 
 presentations, and not realities. 
 
 When a spirit presents something that he had no 
 concern with in life, to parties whom he never saw 
 while on earth, certainly, I see no obstacle in the way 
 
78 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 of a spirit showing the surroundings, accompany- 
 ments, and all persons whom they may have been 
 associated with in the unhappy events that trouble 
 them. When these facts are known, there will be 
 no mystery in it. 
 
 It is interesting to know that such ways and 
 means are resorted to as one of" the phases of spirits 
 externalizing, and it is a grand idea even to contem- 
 plate that spirits have such power over matter, and 
 can control so many ways of its expression. 
 
 In these illustrations of spirit manifestations, I . 
 have only shown the action from the supernal or 
 occult side of life. There remains another form 
 that is not by any means understood, and gives 
 occasion for various theories on the character of 
 spirit-phases. It is this : Occasionally, accounts are 
 given of beings seen in small fantastic forms, figures, 
 miniature-like appearances, &c. By some, a very 
 different construction is put on these appearances 
 than what they should bear. As I have seen a query, 
 asking for an explanation, I give this example, and 
 the facts associated therewith, as it will convey some 
 light on this phase of manifestation. 
 
 In the year 1875, my own spirit practiced the 
 exercise of leaving the earthly, taking spirit-form, 
 and moving among assemblies of disembodied spirits. 
 This spirit-form was noticeably small, being not 
 more than two and a half feet high, but of firm, 
 well-built proportions, even to costume and shape, 
 with nothing vaporous, nubilous, or ethereal about 
 it, but simply a miniature figure of myself. The 
 contrast with the earthly form, which is five feet 
 
SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 79 
 
 seven inches high, weight one hundred and seventy- 
 five avoirdupois, would make this difference YQvy 
 apparent. Yet this miniature being was very active, 
 and exercised intelligence of the strongest kind, 
 in will and individuality. It seemed to me more 
 active than when in the earthly form. It would com- 
 ment on, even ridicule, things associated with myself 
 sitting in the chair. 
 
 Here, my soul was actuating a spirit-being, and 
 showing me in two forms with the one intelligence, 
 for I could hold no thought outside of this little 
 being, only what was a reflex action from it. I 
 knew it was myself and held my life, while the 
 form in the chair was of earth. This was witnessed 
 by hundreds of spirits, time after time. 
 
 Of this manifestation I have given a more detailed 
 account in "The Laws of Being," section on 
 "Duality." 
 
 This explains, to some extent, the accounts giveL 
 of dwarfs, pigmies, and deformed shapes of spirit- 
 things; gnomes, "Little-Hammers," and other active, 
 expressive beings. 
 
 There is no doubt of these being spirits in reality. 
 Rest assured, they are souls that take that form, 
 because they can do so with far better effect. 
 
 The principal law that acts in these operations 
 is that which enables the spirits to condense the 
 spirit-matter to a focus, and so concentrate its form, 
 so that it can be more clearly seen. 
 
 It is well known that the spirit, in itself, when 
 seen, is a mere point of light from which evolve 
 
80 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 the shapes that are seen ; the more expansive, the 
 more transparent they are. 
 
 This can be very readily understood by an illus- 
 tration. If a piece of India-rubber, say one half 
 inch square, is soft and pliable, it can be distended 
 several feet, and become thin and transparent, but 
 as soon as the tension is released it will contract. 
 Just so pliable is the substance called spirit-element, 
 or matter, and it is used in about the same way. 
 
 It is quite essential to know this operation, in 
 order that mediums may understand the many ways 
 spirits resort to for an effect. 
 
 It is supposed by investigators, and those who get 
 messages, that a medium should understand the 
 meaning and interpret the clear application of what 
 they see ; whereas, they are only given them to 
 transmit, for the recipient to understand and to 
 interpret for himself. 
 
 Such are the ways and means of spirit-expression 
 from the esoteric to the external. I have not touched 
 on an}^ of the many phases that are commonly known 
 to exist ; these speak for themselves, and are handled 
 by abler pens. I purpose only to treat of the occult- 
 form, or that which is behind the veil. 
 
TEE IMMEDIATE ACTION AFTER DEATH. 81 
 
 Section IX. 
 
 THE IMMEDIATE ACTION AFTER DEATH. 
 SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 
 
 The first essential of being is to know of self. 
 The next most important thing is to know of the 
 immediate condition after the demise of the body. 
 To know what relation one state has with another, 
 should be of interest to all. 
 
 There is no subject that humanity should desire 
 more to know of than that relating to the conditions 
 immediately following the decease of external life — 
 called death. At the same time, there is none so 
 little known, and so much disregarded by all except 
 spiritualists, who in some directions take notice of 
 this state ; but even they have not very correct ideas 
 in regard to it in all respects. All other classes and 
 sects seem to have made the greatest efforts to remove 
 to some great distance the soul from its late scenes 
 and sphere of action, and to locate it in some imagi- 
 nary place of bliss or torment. 
 
 It does seem inconceivably strange how such a 
 constructed theory ever obtained a hold on intelli- 
 gent minds, without any proof to sustain it — a the- 
 ory that rests entirely on the imagination. Here let 
 me say, that the reader will be disappointed if he 
 expects to find in these pages an account of some 
 fixed abiding-place — a heaven or hell. I shall not 
 6 
 
82 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 carry him to any remote sphere, but remain just in 
 that of earth, and show, so far as I am able, the 
 mind's action in that state. 
 
 It is of the least moment to us to know what is in 
 the far distance, or what place will be our home some 
 thousands of years from now ; but, one sphere at a 
 time ; let one grade after another take care of itself. 
 It is the present state that makes the next, and is a 
 prototype of what it will be. Build in this one for 
 the next. 
 
 Spiritualism truly teaches that the character and 
 mentality remain the same in the sphere of life that 
 succeeds the present. But nowhere have I seen it 
 shown, exactly, what the results or conditions are 
 immediately at the separation of body and soul — 
 the most momentous time of our being. By this 
 " exactly " I mean to say, that most statements on 
 this theme are intended to measure all by the same 
 rule. All are not alike in the conditions of life ; so 
 all do not experience the same results at death. 
 What each individual experiences is peculiar to that 
 individual soul. Thus, by showing a variety of 
 these experiences, a good estimate can be formed of 
 the whole. 
 
 Although these examples may, some of them, ap- 
 pear strangely at variance with popular ideas and 
 teachings on this state, they are, nevertheless, well 
 proved to be true. They were shown to me in 
 courts, or assemblies, of superior spirits, who could 
 see their truthfulness ; and were even shown for 
 this express purpose of informing me of realities. 
 Hence, what I state is not the obscure utterance of 
 
TEE IMMEDIATE ACTION AFTER DEATH. 83 
 
 one individual spirit. Further, my own knowledge 
 of these characters while on earth, and subsequent 
 experiences with them from the other side, substan- 
 tiate the truth of these statements. 
 
 It is commonly assumed, and extensively taught, 
 that our friends continue to take cognizance of us, 
 and are familiar with what concerns us, after they 
 have left for the other shore. This is not generally 
 so, although there are some instances of such action. 
 Whether so or not, depends wholly on conditions 
 between the individuals — the attractive or repel- 
 lent forces existing between them. After the body 
 is laid in the bosom of mother earth, the soul may 
 remain in total darkness of all those with whom it 
 was connected on earth, and never approach them ; 
 while some others may keep a close watch on those 
 they have an interest in. - 
 
 In order to understand these spirit-states, the prior 
 history on earth of the spirits should be understood. 
 Hence, occasionally I must introduce the reader to 
 the externalities of their lives, or what they were 
 when in this world. 
 
 In the year 1839 a connection of mine died. He 
 had been a man of some ability ; but sociability in 
 business led him to drink, and he became an habit- 
 ual drunkard. Where such a state exists, there 
 must be distress, discord, and all kinds of unhappy 
 conditions in a family. In his it was especially so ; 
 and they soon came to want and destitution — were 
 virtually turned out of doors for nonpayment of rent. 
 Then his wife sought a home for herself and small 
 children, and left him. A few months later she sued 
 
84 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 for and obtained a divorce, and thus freed herself of 
 him. After this, he entirely abandoned himself to 
 drink, which soon told on his constitution, and a 
 year later he died in a mariner's hospital. 
 
 When he had been in spirit thirty-six years, 
 at the request of his wife he made his presence 
 known to those assembled in my room, and I was 
 enabled to witness their first meeting on the other 
 side. He called frequently after this first visit, and 
 always interested and instructed us in some new 
 light regarding the life beyond, that was marvelous 
 to learn. 
 
 He told the conditions and incidents of his spir- 
 itual life and belongings with remarkable vividness, 
 and showed the blending of the spiritual with the 
 external in an unusual clear manner; at the same 
 time illustrating the presence of some superior law 
 and overruling power which guides and directs all 
 things. 
 
 He stated that as soon as his body was buried, a 
 spirit led him to a ship, and told him he could go 
 to sea and learn his profession. He immediately 
 accompanied the ship, and had continued going to 
 sea all the years he had been in spirit-life. From 
 one vessel to some other he would change, and in 
 this way passed several times round the world, visit- 
 ing all the ports of the several oceans. He related 
 many of the incidents he had experienced with sail- 
 ors and officers on these various vessels. Never had 
 he deviated from his line of occupation but once, 
 when he was informed that one of his ancestors — 
 the oldest, or the last — was dead, and he was wanted 
 
THE IMMEDIATE ACTION AFTER DEATH. 85 
 
 to attend the burial. Of this ceremony he gave a 
 minute relation, in which he stated that all the fam- 
 ily of the spirits attended as pall-bearers. Never, 
 in all these years, had he approached, or heard from, 
 his wife or children, although going in and out of 
 the port where some of them were. Everything in 
 regard to them was to him as silent as the grave. 
 
 When he had been in spirit thirty-three years, he, 
 being then on a vessel in the Pacific ocean, received 
 this notice from the infinite source of intelligence : 
 "You are called to be present at the death of the 
 mortal form of your wife," — naming the place. He 
 did not hesitate a moment, but took a direct course 
 for a city he had visited a number of times. 
 
 Arriving in her presence, he could not see that 
 the earthly life of his wife was near its end, as she 
 was moving about the room ; and he concluded that 
 he would wait and watch the progress of events. 
 But shortly the woman had a spasmodic attack of 
 her disease, lay down, and died in half an hour. 
 Even to him it seemed surprisingly quick. No other 
 spirit, that he could see, was present. He remained 
 by the family and watched the whole proceedings. 
 When the family came together at the table, he an- 
 alyzed the group to note the existing ties among 
 them. He gave every detail of what transpired 
 during the preparations for the funeral. 
 
 To obtain additional proof that he was present at 
 the exit of his wife, I questioned to know of things 
 connected with it. In reply, he gave the exact ar- 
 rangement of the room, doors, windows, and furni- 
 ture ; the parties present, and their movements ; the 
 
86 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 coming and going ; the passing of money to buy 
 crape; the dressing. Nothing was omitted. But 
 the great ecstasy of his delight among the family 
 were two little girls, whom he wanted to fondle and 
 hug. He minutely described their dress and adorn- 
 ments; how pretty they looked, and how they had filled 
 his soul with delight, without knowing whose they 
 were. When told they were his grandchildren, he was 
 speechless with amazement, and could hardly credit 
 that it was so, since he had not discovered the rela- 
 tionship at the time. 
 
 He was so exact in detailing the appearance of 
 these children, in white dresses and black ribbons, 
 that the wife, who, as a spirit, was present, thought 
 it not likely to be correct ; but, as I was present and 
 assisted them, I could certify to his statement being 
 true in all its details. 
 
 When it came to the funeral exercises, the great- 
 est surprise to him was the elaborate, showy coffin. 
 His wonder was, to know what was to be done with 
 such an elegant piece of furniture — as he styled it. 
 He concluded it was to be set up on some shelf to 
 be looked at. He compared its dazzling silver deco- 
 rations to the rough boards in which his body was in- 
 cased. Waiting for the ceremony to be gone through 
 with, he would not stop in the room to listen to the 
 long sermon, but promenaded outside of the house. 
 When the procession started, he took up his position 
 as pall-bearer, and traveled beside the hearse. As 
 he was the only spirit present, he could have gone 
 in a carriage, but he preferred to act as escort to the 
 body. At the grave he was greatly surprised and 
 
SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 87 
 
 disappointed to see the coffin put in the ground. 
 He thought it a wasteful extravagance to bury such 
 a showy piece of furniture. When it was covered 
 he immediately left. Thus, this spirit showed us with 
 what vividness one may take in all the externalities 
 of life. At the same time it shows what an over- 
 ruling power there is, that guides and directs all 
 things. To this spirit there was, in all that he 
 related, a very special purpose carried out. 
 
 Of the woman, his wife, — where was she ? What 
 was her consciousness ? 
 
 She had been a sufferer for years with spasmodic 
 attacks of cancer, but went about, and was actively 
 engaged in her room to within a few minutes of her 
 death. At the last hour she passed out in great 
 agony and in total unconsciousness of spirit, like 
 one in a cataleptic state. The effect of this was, 
 that she was dead to every thing until the time of 
 the funeral, when semi-consciousness returned, and 
 she could see the adornments of the body and what 
 surrounded it. Myself being the only one present 
 she recognized, sensed, or could see, she caused me 
 tangibly to feel her presence. The weakness of 
 spirit was so great that she could not revive, and so 
 soon as the body was buried, she subsided into the 
 previous unconsciousness. For two and a half 
 years she thus remained ; while through me came 
 her returning strength and consciousness, and in 
 my presence her meeting and reunion with all her 
 connections that had preceded her to spirit-life. 
 
 One of her ancestors most interested in her had 
 been informed at the time of her death of the same, 
 
88 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 by the same force of intelligence, the voice that 
 speaks in space, but waited for her calling when 
 she desired to see him. The same it had been with 
 the man who had been her husband, and others ; 
 none of them sought her until she called for, and 
 desired to see them. 
 
 This I believe is the law : that, when there is an 
 earnest desire of the soul, it will be heard and 
 answered ; but if there is no desire, they will remain 
 silent to each other. Further, if a soul is not in a 
 state to see or receive another, it will not do it, 
 because there can be no force. For soul is the most 
 impenetrable of all universal things. 
 
 I had a striking example shown me that all souls 
 do not take cognizance of things of earth, nor even 
 move in spirit-life at death, but remain dead, as it 
 were, in spirit for some length of time. 
 
 One, whom I was intimately acquainted with, had 
 been dead fifteen years, and during that time had 
 been almost continually in a torpid state. He 
 informed me, in the presence of those who could see 
 its reality, that he never left the location of the 
 place where he was buried. When first emerging 
 from his state of torpor, he was so unhappy that he 
 soon returned to rest in his grave. He never in 
 these years knew one incident relating to his affairs, 
 his wife, or his children : nor had he been at any 
 time in their presence, but was ignorant of every- 
 thing concerning them. I was much interested in 
 this man's condition, and many things concerning 
 him I heard and saw. There was a cause for this 
 
8H0W1NQ SPIRIT CONDITIONS. gfl 
 
 state of silence, but it is not essential to the facts 
 _ive it here. 
 
 many soul- do not enter immediately 
 a si spiritual existence is true. There are 
 
 spirits that seern. as it were, obliterated, so little 
 of them being left that they are hardly recognizable 
 as human souls. Yet there is a spark remaining ; 
 there is a soul-principle which corner to itself, even 
 if ages go by. before the time is reached to fix itself 
 in spirit. The principle is. there is an innermost of 
 their being, the soul, and if it is obscured with the 
 conditions of earth, it will for a period remain 
 silent and inactive, but in time, as conditions that 
 affect them change, they will externalize. Thus it 
 depends on the fitness in the mental, moral, and 
 spiritual state of the soul at the time of death, or 
 exit from the form, what its manifestations and 
 movements will be. That there is another side 
 to this state of being is equally true. Some may 
 take an active part in the externalities of life, and 
 even not be very fine in spirit qualities, perhaps 
 quite inferior. In fact, those are spirits of much 
 inferiority who manifest and externalize, as the 
 following examples will show. 
 
 In the year 18C7. a man I was well acquainted 
 with died. He was rich in valuable real 
 owning hundreds of city lots. Being a man of 
 shrewd business calculation, he arranged his affairs 
 in a good bu-iness. as well as legal, shape, to his 
 liking, for the benefit of his family, preparatory to 
 his expected death, as he was passing away with 
 consumption. Eight years after his death he was 
 
90 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 very social and familiar among my spirit visitors. 
 Of the many things he had to say, he gave this 
 statement of his doings : — He had never ceased to 
 watch his executor. He could tell every move, 
 every entry made on his books ; could dictate to 
 him, move him to his wishes, and converse with him 
 as to a proper management of business. These 
 things seemed to engage the principal part of his 
 attention ; and he enjoyed his business transactions, 
 from his side of life, with the reality of the external. 
 
 A singular and very remarkable incident, associa- 
 ted with this man, took place while he was familiarly 
 near me, showing spirit-action immediately after 
 death. 
 
 The woman he left as his wife, died, and so very 
 suddenly as to shock all who knew her. She was 
 not a woman of any culture, acquirements, or talent, 
 but gross and vulgar in manner, and had nothing to 
 recommend her but the property her husband left. 
 She had married again, and at this time was the 
 wife of another. 
 
 I was residing at the time not more than one hun- 
 dred and sixty yards from, and in a direct line of, 
 her dwelling. 
 
 About five or six hours after her death, this spirit, 
 who had been her husband, and had died eight years 
 before, brought her to my rooms, and was earnestly 
 engaged talking with her, questioning her on all 
 their domestic affairs, property, and her stewardship 
 generally. She was much annoyed and somewhat 
 displeased that she was dead to external life, saying, 
 she did not see the necessity for it ; that she should 
 
SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 91 
 
 have lived ; her time was not run out, &c. ; then 
 suddenly left. Then he told us of his plans, saying : 
 " I brought her here to draw strength and externalize 
 from Mrs. K.'s elements. She is fresh and strong 
 now, and thinks herself all right ; but just so soon 
 as that body is laid in the ground, she will waken 
 and lose herself. I know that very well. She 
 thinks she will tie on to me and be, as of old, in 
 my company, but she is greatly mistaken ; I shall 
 not notice her, nor will she be anything to me hence- 
 forth. She is not attractive to me. I only wish to 
 find out what statement she makes of the general 
 things I have an interest in." 
 
 Shortly, the woman was back with us. Thus she 
 made trips between her house and my own several 
 times through the clay. When night came, what a 
 scene I was made acquainted with ! By some 
 strange taste, her house was illuminated ; from every 
 door, window, and obscure corner rayed forth a 
 glaring light. I noticed this from the street as I 
 passed it, and questioned its good taste. 
 
 I was no sooner in my room than these spirits 
 were by me. The woman was in a rage of anger 
 that her house was so grandly illumined, and said, 
 " It seems they are trying to put me in hell as quick 
 as possible. The house is too hot for me to stop in. 
 I had shut off the gas for the summer, and it has 
 been put on for this occasion. Lights are even put 
 where I never had them, that I may be burned out 
 while U13* body lies in the house." 
 
 She also said much else, concerning the doings 
 around that house, that did not convey a soothing 
 
92 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 solace to her feelings, nor peace to her soul. This 
 closed her visits for a time. I heard no more of 
 her from this night before her burial, until some 
 months later. When I did hear from her, she was 
 in an uneas} r , disturbed, incoherent state of mind. 
 
 Some time later, when an assembly of spirits was 
 present, and her first husband among them, she 
 came. She was then as delirious as possible, frantic 
 with jealousy of the man she had left with her 
 family, and made every wild and unreasonable 
 accusation against him. Her state of mentality 
 was wretched, and she was more like a maniac in 
 her wild ideas and expressions. Although her first 
 husband was present, she took no notice of him, 
 and did not seem to realize the fact. Neither did 
 he seem to care for her, but witnessed this state of 
 dementa with a kind of contempt. All he said was, 
 she might enjoy herself without his interference. 
 
 I several times subsequently heard of her, but 
 she remained in the same delirious, irrational state. 
 
 The principal cause of this woman's troubled con- 
 dition was, that her family had become dismembered. 
 A wrangling discord set in among them, and they 
 became at enmity with each other. All this she 
 sensed without an actual knowledge of the reality. 
 This, coupled with her own want of accord with 
 her changed state, forced her into inharmony with 
 her spirit conditions. Thus, an unhappy and reflex 
 action from earthly conditions made her wild. 
 
 It is not, however, uncommon for spirits to be in 
 this state. I have had experiences with others, 
 some even more perturbed than she. It shows itself, 
 
SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 93 
 
 for a time, in a want of fixedness in location, an 
 inability to enter the conditions of the spiritual, 
 coupled with earthly memories of unhappiness. 
 They are earth-bound souls for a time. I have 
 stated, in " The Laws of Being," that dementa is 
 absolutely a state of inharmonious spirit -mentality. 
 This cannot be denied when it is exhibited the same 
 in a disembodied state, where there is no brain-mat- 
 ter to induce it. 
 
 By this it is seen with what vividness one may 
 take on the realities of life, meet for a time as old 
 friends, and become as strangers when it is found 
 there exists no inward attraction for each other. 
 It is often set forth in spiritualism that there is a 
 reunion, or mating, on the other side of life. This 
 wholly depends on the depth of the inward require- 
 ments and attractions of the souls interested. Very 
 few take the companionship with one they have 
 been associated with as mates on earth ; but in- 
 stances do occur of such requirements and contin- 
 ued mating. I was made familiar with one very 
 remarkable instance, which, from its peculiarities 
 and singularities, is worthy of notice. 
 
 Fifty years ago there lived in the south of France 
 a young married couple lovingly united. The wife 
 seemed to have a quick, impulsive temper. The 
 man a tease, to aggravate and make her show her 
 vim. In these skirmishes she once drew her stiletto 
 and punched him in the chest, and made a wound ; 
 but it was not serious, and soon healed. At another 
 tormenting spat she drew her scissors, and said she 
 would kill him, and not fool about it as she did before. 
 
94 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 At this her husband became angry, and said, as 
 his life was in danger from her temper, it was best 
 to keep out of harm's way. So he took his depart- 
 ure from her. She had an infant at this time two 
 or three months old. Her father was much angered 
 at her for this proceeding, reprimanded her severely 
 for it, and told her the best thing she could do 
 would be to enter some convent, hide her disgrace, 
 atone for her sin, and cure her temper ; and he would 
 take care of the child and make it his heir. As he 
 was wealthy, and able to do well by the child, she 
 took him at his suggestion, and, to evade his cen- 
 sure, entered a convent of the Ursuline order. 
 
 The regulations of these institutions are three 
 years novitiate, or probation. At any time before 
 the final vows, novitiates can withdraw if they so 
 desire. When she had nearly passed the proba- 
 tional time, her husband wanted to see her, to in- 
 duce her to relinquish her design. So he called for 
 that purpose. However, he was only allowed to see 
 the Superior, who told him it was useless to attempt 
 to influence her to go back on the step taken. He 
 earnestly pleaded to see his wife. The Superior in- 
 formed him he could not, as she was in retreat for 
 her final vows ; and he was thus turned away, 
 broken in spirit and hope, to plod life's dreary path 
 alone. He afterward became careless and indiffer- 
 ent of himself, with no desire only for the time 
 being. 
 
 It is also the custom of this order, when a new 
 sister has completed her vows, and it is wished to 
 isolate her from old memories, and the vicinity of 
 
SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 95 
 
 old associations, to send her to some far-distant new 
 mission, — as they call it. So, in a few weeks, this 
 one was sent to America, never more to see any one 
 she had before known, and was the same as dead 
 and buried to all interested in her. 
 
 It was here I became acquainted with her as my 
 teacher in the Ursuline Convent in New Orleans. I 
 ever remember her with sincere affection. She was 
 a small, lively, cheerful body, not over-rigid, kind 
 and easy with her class. While I was her pupil, she 
 received tidings of the death of some near connec- 
 tion. I only saw her grief, bat knew not for whom 
 it was. After this, knowledge came to me of her 
 from the spirit side of life, and I was informed it 
 was her husband for whom she mourned. 
 
 It is in this husband that the sequel and the inter- 
 est centres. Losing spirit and ambition in life, he 
 neglected himself, and not many years after the sep- 
 aration from his wife he died. Immediately he was 
 told by the superior voice in space — which I have 
 before mentioned — that his wife was in America, 
 and he might find her. This was a notice for him 
 to do so ; but at what place in America she was lo- 
 cated, he was not informed. He therefore began in 
 the Canadas, and went through every institution of 
 the order there, and then through the United States, 
 inspecting every one, until he came to the last and 
 final one, in which he found her. 
 
 Having succeeded in his search, he was content to 
 wait developments. For this he took up his abiding- 
 place within the institution, watching its workings, 
 and developing conditions he desired surrounding 
 
96 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 her. More than a year was occupied in this way 
 before he accomplished his desires, when he ap- 
 peared to her in her chamber. 
 
 From time to time he would do this, and it became 
 a great trouble to her. Putting the construction on 
 it that he must be restless, and needed prayers, she 
 redoubled her devotions in his behalf for the mitiga- 
 tion of purgatorial torments. From this he took the 
 cue to mimic her useless prayers. After a time she 
 besought him not to trouble her, as it compelled her 
 to pray so hard, and to give penance in his behalf to 
 such an extent that she became exhausted and dis- 
 tressed in consequence. Then he told her he would 
 not trouble her, as he did not need her prayers ; but 
 he would break her vows, and take her from the 
 order. 
 
 Not a great length of time after, she was attacked 
 with an acute malady of the viscera, causing spasms 
 and unconsciousness. For a time she was thought 
 to be dead ; but she soon after revived, and told the 
 Superior of her interview with her husband, and that 
 he was determined to compel her to break her vows 
 and take her departure from the convent. 
 
 I should judge, by the extent and impressiveness 
 of the communication, that the spirit controlled the 
 woman while she was in an unconscious state. The 
 Superior herself told me of this part of the transac- 
 tion. The impression it made on her was painful and 
 annoying, and she looked upon her statements as the 
 ravings of a disordered mind. Immediately after, 
 there was a return of spasms, in which she died. 
 
 Thus released from the form, she was immediately 
 
SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 97 
 
 cared for by her spirit-husband, and they became 
 inseparably united. They were as twin souls; the 
 being of one was dependent on that of the other. 
 She had been in spirit more than thirty years when 
 she made these repeated calls on me, and gave me one 
 whole day's visit ; and, at this time, her Oscar was an 
 indispensable attendant, and constantly exhibited all 
 the anxiety of a young lover for his Marie*. It was 
 Oscar and Marie ', in dearest bonds of union, love, 
 and progress. 
 
 What thoughts will suggest themselves from such 
 an example as this, it is best to let the reader judge 
 for himself. Was it a supernatural intervention, to 
 show that they could not transgress a natural law? 
 Who can tell? After parting in anger, and after 
 the taking of sacred orders and vows of marriage 
 to Christ and his Church, these vows were set aside 
 by divine law, and the natural obligation that had 
 been assumed had to be satisfied. From such ex- 
 amples it can be judged whether there is not some 
 interior power of soul-law that governs the condi- 
 tions of mating in spirit-life. More on this subject 
 will be shown as we advance. From this we will 
 change our subject to other moods and conditions 
 immediately attending the transfer from earth to 
 spirit. 
 
 On November 4, 1875, the steamship Pacific was 
 sunk, forty miles off Cape Flattery. At the time, I 
 was residing in the city she had taken her freight of 
 merchandise and passengers from, and the officers 
 and crew, and many passengers, were well known 
 by the residents of the place. On Sunday, at two 
 7 
 
98 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 P. M., her loss, with all of her two hundred passen- 
 gers, was telegraphed, and notices put up of the 
 same, causing great commotion aud feeling among 
 the citizens. 
 
 In the evening, I being alone in a passive mood, 
 and having no special thought of the calamity, a 
 spirit began to talk to me very finely, with pure, 
 spiritual expression, and alluding to the lost ship, 
 said : "I am not accountable for the loss, and the 
 sending all those souls into eternity unwarned. 
 There lies that great vessel on the bottom of the 
 sea, that I commanded, lost in such a pitiful way, 
 and all those lives have passed from earth without 
 warning, carrying anguish to many homes. I am not 
 responsible; I know not how it came about." 
 
 At the time this was being said, a picture was 
 presented to me of the ship, lying on the bottom of 
 the ocean, resting on one side. I asked no questions. 
 
 Two months later, January 12, 1876, a band of 
 spirits was by me, — one of the number being Theo- 
 dore Parker, — when a stranger came into our midst, 
 announcing himself as Captain Howell, of the lost 
 " Pacific." 
 
 To well understand what here follows, it should 
 be stated of Captain Howell, that he had been a 
 cadet at West Point : a man of experience, travel, 
 and acquaintance with the ways of the world. 
 
 For the entertainment of this circle of spirits he 
 entered into a familiar, social recital of things then 
 occupying public attention in this mundane sphere 
 of ours. He related the incident of his forty -eight 
 hours' floating on the raft, or float, with anothei 
 
SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 99 
 
 man, until he lost consciousness. This man on the 
 float with him was picked up as one of the only two 
 survivors found, to tell the tale of her going down. 
 By this rescued man's account of the time the 
 Captain died, he could have been dead but a few 
 hours when he first came near me and communicated. 
 
 Immediately, when he found himself in spirit, his 
 first impulse was to start for his ship and discover, 
 if possible, the cause and extent of her condition. 
 He inspected every timber and plank in her ; found 
 her rotten and honey-combed from the teredo; that 
 she was not fit to float, and it was questionable how 
 the passage would have terminated had she not been 
 run into. Of her unseaworthiness he was vehemently 
 expressive, condemning the inspectors, and the impo- 
 sition practiced in giving certificates. 
 
 He then gave a review of his own history, his 
 connection with Jefferson Davis, and his antipathy to 
 him. Gliding into spiritualism, he said he gave it some 
 attention, and was favorable to it. From this theme 
 he passed to Woodhullism and its practices among 
 the traveling public. This led to the Beecher and 
 Tilton discussion, and he gave a vivid account of its 
 effects upon the public mind. At the same time, 
 several other themes of less public interest were 
 touched upon. These subjects then engrossed public 
 attention. 
 
 During this entertainment, which lasted all night, 
 about nine hours, the circle clustered around him, 
 seated at the foot of my bed. Theodore Parkei 
 was chairman, or leader. Every few minutes he, or 
 some one of them, would ask a question, as they 
 
100 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 wished more particular information on points that 
 were being discussed. The interest in what was 
 said was to all most absorbing. 
 
 Towards morning Cenis came, saying, "Some* 
 thing is attracting great attention here." Parker 
 replied, " Yes ; we have a new arrival from earth, 
 of much interest. We have had a feast of an 
 entertainment." Then, addressing the Captain, he 
 said : " We are always happy to greet new-comers, 
 Captain, and well-informed minds especially, and we 
 thank you for the information you have conveyed to 
 us from the external world." 
 
 Then, addressing me, he said : " There, Mrs. K., 
 you see how we receive information from the out- 
 side world. These arrivals from earth are like 
 passengers of travel, bringing news from father- 
 land." 
 
 I have given this extended detail, showing this 
 manner of intercommunion, as it is illustrative 
 of the reality of social gatherings, and the way 
 information is transmitted among spirits. To me, it 
 was exceedingly entertaining : not for the subjects 
 discussed, for these I knew of, but as showing these 
 phases of spirit-life, and the intimate blending of 
 the interests of the two worlds, one merging into 
 the other. We will now consider the more immedi- 
 ate condition of the spirit at the time of death, and 
 what its sensibilities and requirements are. 
 
 In the spring of 1877 I had as near neighbors 
 an Irish family. The man was a great sufferer, 
 dying with complicated maladies. They were rigid 
 Roman Catholics, and he had all the ceremonies of 
 
SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 101 
 
 his church administered, and died while their prayers 
 were being said. When dead, his wife came for me 
 to render some aid in preparing the corpse. Not 
 thinking of my susceptibility of spirit-conditions, I 
 went to work earnestly. I washed the face, then the 
 hands, and, while so doing, the spirit-hands of the 
 corpse closed on mine with a grip so forcible, that I 
 looked to see if the corpse had not done it. Imme- 
 diately I was filled with the whole sensation of the 
 conditions of that body; they went into me like 
 electricity, and I became deathly sick, even to 
 vomiting. 
 
 Six weeks later, I was sitting alone in my room, 
 when a small black cross was shown me, and some 
 spirit began talking, saying, " That is of no use to 
 me now. I am free of such symbols. I use it to 
 show myself as one risen from the dead." Other 
 remarks were made, of no importance to repeat now. 
 
 A couple of weeks after this call, this same black 
 'cross was before me. The spirit wanted a message 
 given to Ms wife, advising her of what would be to 
 her interest to do, and not to do, in regard to a 
 change of location. 
 
 I could not attempt to convey his wishes to her. 
 Her great bigotry to church-doctrines, and general 
 ignorance, forbade it. If I had broached such a theme, 
 she would have shut the door on me, and told me it 
 was the work of the devil, and she wanted none of his 
 imps near her. Perhaps she would have done worse. 
 Such, at least, would have been my reception with 
 any message from her husband ; so she was none 
 the wiser for his making known his presence to me. 
 
102 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 The following manifestation from one I had known, 
 and connected in a family I was associated with, 
 gives much the same idea of a spirit's interest in 
 surroundings. After an absence of some time, I 
 returned to the place where they resided in the 
 autumn of 1877, while the eldest member, and 
 husband to the mother of the family, was dying. 
 Immediately after, I was told of his death, without 
 my having seen him, and requested to attend his 
 funeral. I started to do so, but was too late ; it had 
 gone when I reached the house, so I waited until the 
 family returned. The family was a numerous one, 
 consisting of the wife, her eight grown children, and 
 two grandchildren. Very soon this whole family 
 sat down to the table for dinner, and I with them. 
 My special attention, however, was given to the 
 infant, seven months old, which I held in my lap. 
 While they were thus engaged eating, a spirit was 
 saying to me, " I'm satisfied, I'm satisfied." I did 
 not intend to converse with it, so, to distract my 
 attention, I gave more notice to the infant I held, 
 when the spirit said, very clearly, "Little darling ! " 
 
 Then I asked how he found himself, and how he 
 was suited with the change. He answered : " I'm 
 satisfied, but very weak. I am so pleased to see 
 you all seated around that table at a meal. I only 
 wish to thank them for their attention to me, and 
 what has been done for me. I have not moved any. 
 I must rest to gain strength. I'm satisfied." 
 
 Thus, a spirit, returning with them from his own 
 burial, could express these thoughts and wishes, but 
 they were not informed of it. If I had intimated to 
 
SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 103 
 
 that assembled family such a thing, it would have 
 filled them with horror at me, and been a gross offense 
 to them. They would have felfc like showering on 
 me the table-ware, of leaving their meal unfinished, 
 or of doing something worse ; so I remained silent, 
 and they continued in ignorance of what had 
 occurred. I afterwards was informed that the last 
 recognition and words this man spoke on earth was, 
 to notice the infant I was holding, and to say, 
 "Little darling!" 
 
 I have given these examples to show how near 
 and how readily spirits may take on conditions of 
 the external, and how free they are to communicate. 
 Yet, never is such a thing thought of by those* they 
 leave. Immediately, when the breath leaves the 
 body, it is carried out ; all approach is forbidden by 
 a fear of committing sacrilege against the dead, and 
 it is believed they are gone beyond accessibility, to 
 some distant heaven or hell. 
 
 Theology has educated the world to look with 
 horror on any such approach or accessibility, and 
 both those that leave and those that remain are made 
 to feel the distance. In fact, every move is made 
 with that view. It is the unrelenting policy of the 
 Church to forbid all knowledge of disembodied man. 
 
 As it may be of interest to know something of 
 the conditions to be observed before burial, I give 
 here these general rules, apparently common to all. 
 They have been shown me so often, that I take them 
 to form the invariable law. 
 
 A few hours after the breath leaves the body the 
 mentality and consciousness recovers ; at least, until 
 
104 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 the body is buried, there will be more or less activity 
 of the spirit. No body is buried, without the soul 
 that has vacated it seeing and knowing something 
 of its condition and manner of disposal. When it 
 is disposed of, or buried, the connection is lost. 
 Then, some may take a rest of a considerable length 
 of time in silence. Others may not be able to 
 establish their balance in spirit immediately. Others 
 may become erratic. Various other conditions 
 supervene, some one way, some another. Before 
 burial is the most favorable time to commune and 
 bring that soul out, or ascertain its wishes if desired, 
 provided a fair medium is accessible. If a seance 
 can he held, it will be beneficial to the spirit. 
 
 As little candle-light as possible, at any time near 
 a corpse, is best ; quiet and darkness are soothing and 
 reviving. 
 
 In this section I have shown what a diversity of 
 conditions there are. The way of one is not the 
 way of another. Each is a law unto himself of his 
 own movements. This same law they act by through 
 time. Do not expect to gauge one by another's 
 movements. The spirit-land is as heterogeneous in 
 the diversity of the character of its inhabitants as 
 is the earth. 
 
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR TRANSGRESSION. 105 
 
 Section X. 
 
 MAN'S ACCOUNTABILITY FOR TRANSGRES- 
 SION.— LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 
 
 Perhaps there is no subject, condition, or state 
 of interest in which humanity is concerned, of more 
 importance to know, at the same time one that is 
 more diversely treated in theory, than the law of 
 future rewards and punishments. 
 
 It would be a colossal task to enter into a recital 
 of all the ideas that have been presented on the sub- 
 ject, and one person cannot possibly know all these 
 various theories, from the doctrine of a never-end- 
 ing, burning, brimstone hell, — so familiar to ortho- 
 dox Christians, — in which poor souls are pitch- 
 forked forever, to that of the optimist, who rushes 
 as far the other way, and teaches that all that is, is 
 right, that there is no such thing as sin, that evil is but 
 undeveloped good, and that man is not accountable 
 for transgression, for it is only the idiosyncrasy of 
 his nature, his inheritance, and an element that impels 
 him, and dictates his actions. 
 
 Of these two extremes, the first — in relation to a 
 burning hell, so long held as a terror to the un- 
 godly by Christian theology — is no longer worthy 
 of consideration by an intelligent mind. Spiritual- 
 ism has put its fires out, and blown the ashes to 
 the winds. It has conclusively proved that no such 
 
106 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 location exists. Hence, it has passed its time of 
 life, and may be classed with the obsolete ideas of 
 the dark ages. 
 
 Optimism, however, is more insidious, as it is 
 taught by a class of minds calling themselves lib- 
 erals, and by some spiritualists, and is calculated to 
 work the greatest evil to those who rely on it to 
 shield them from the consequences of wrong-doing. 
 It is questionable whether humanity is not benefited 
 more by restraint from fear of future torments than 
 it would be by a perfect freedom to act out every 
 impulse of its nature, satisfying every desire, without 
 respect to any future accountability. 
 
 It is to be regretted that the doctrine of " what- 
 ever is, is right," has found advocates and teachers 
 in the new dispensation. Nevertheless, it is so, and 
 verifies the statement that I have already made, that 
 some teach from their individual ideas, without know- 
 ing the truth of spirit-conditions. 
 
 What relation of truth Optimism has to matter, 
 elements, or the order of things in the universe, that 
 is adapted to produce the most good, or what bear- 
 ings it may have on worlds in space, it is not for me, 
 or others, to say, as we cannot know the law that 
 moves all things. But in its application to soul — 
 the constituent principle of intelligence — it has no 
 place. Soul is not governed by any law outside of 
 itself. It is transcendent in action, as well as most 
 potential. It is because of the existence of super- 
 ficial spiritualism that this esoteric nature of being 
 is not understood, and, to a great extent, not even 
 recognized. 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 107 
 
 Why, it may be queried, is this so ? For the rea- 
 son that the majority are not students, searchers, 
 or thinkers, in reality. They are merely surface- 
 swimmers, who devote themselves to catching the 
 small insects that float along, with which to gratify 
 their appetites; and, like the cuttle-fish, these su- 
 perficials darken the transparent waters with their 
 inky emissions, blinding those who float near them. 
 It matters not that some of these are mediums ; 
 their positive, preconceived ideas will darken the 
 surrounding waters with their element, and what 
 they give will be of the same hue and kind. 
 
 This section will show : — 
 
 That there is a principle in man, indescribably and 
 fearfully made in expression and action. 
 
 That there is an overruling Power that demands 
 an accounting for all that is done by man. 
 
 That every talent given to man is to be accounted 
 for by him. 
 
 That man will pass in review of judgment for 
 every act and transgression. 
 
 That a crushing state of mental torture may, and 
 does, overshadow some spirits. 
 
 That no vicarious atonement will be efficacious in 
 spheres beyond, but that every soul must atone for 
 itself, and work out its own salvation. 
 
 And yet I might, like others, wish to conceal this 
 dark revelation of spirit-life. But why should I ? 
 The object of these pages is to show facts, — man's 
 accountability to man, and the law of retributive 
 justice. To do this, absolute facts must be given. 
 
 It has been my experience to be made acquainted 
 
108 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 with the conditions in spirit of those I knew when 
 they were on earth. The spirit sequel to these lives 
 on earth has been furnished me from the other side 
 of life, and thus I have been shown, in an unmis- 
 takable manner by their own expressions and state- 
 ments, the conditions and requirements they there 
 became subject to. 
 
 If the reader will but bear in mind that the knowl- 
 edge here imparted was given by disembodied souls, 
 conscious both physically and spiritually ; that they 
 Came before me as before a tribunal, to render an 
 account of their condition ; with the view and pur- 
 pose of lifting the veil of the esoteric phase of life, — 
 then will it be understood that my mind had no part 
 nor parcel in the conditions portrayed. This will be 
 self-evident from the history and the unexpected 
 information received. 
 
 I must here premise by saying, that while this 
 exhibit is most unusual and strange to read of, the 
 manner of its being given was a most surprising 
 manifestation. Even the band of spirits before 
 whom this externalizing took place, stated it to be 
 the most unusual, even marvelous, series of mani- 
 festations they had ever known to come before one 
 on the earth-side of life, in a perfectly normal state ; 
 one before whom spirits had to be reviewed to their 
 innermost being, as before a confessor, in order that 
 they might reach higher conditions. 
 
 To have the thread of understanding continuous, 
 as well as clearly comprehensive in its parts to the 
 reader, I take up the history of a family from the 
 earth-plane, and follow it into spirit. In this form, 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 109 
 
 spirit states will be brought to view, and the tale will 
 tell for itself, without further comment from me. I 
 will merely preface this by saying that the persons I 
 here refer to were my ancestors, of whom I may be 
 supposed to know something. 
 
 At the time of the American revolution, 1776, 
 there lived in Boston, Massachusetts, a child named 
 Elizabeth, who could then take observation of the 
 revolutionary incidents of that epoch. At the same 
 time a youth in Virginia, named William, was en- 
 gaged on the waters of Chesapeake Bay and along 
 the coast. He took to the sea as a profession, and, 
 in time, became master-mariner. Ten or twelve 
 years later, in passages to Boston, he made the ac- 
 quaintance of the girl Elizabeth, and married her. 
 This couple were the progenitors of the family, and 
 the root from which these incidents of life spring. 
 
 At the time of marriage, the husband was master 
 of his ship. In those days, a person filling that of- 
 fice, and who now would be known as captain, was 
 called " master-mariner." His wife accompanied him 
 on voyages to and from Europe, until they had three 
 children, when a home was made in New York city, 
 and there she resided the remainder of her days on 
 earth. 
 
 This couple appear to have been comfortably cir- 
 cumstanced and happy, until the husband entered 
 the house one day and saw a man sitting in their 
 apartment, while the woman was engaged making 
 her bed. At this simple incident he took a fit of 
 jealousy, walked out of the house without saying 
 why or wherefore, good-by, or what he should do. 
 
110 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 In fact, there and then he deserted wife and chil- 
 dren, fully intending so to do, and she never saw 
 him again. After some considerable time had elapsed, 
 he sent word to her that he had taken a ship in Bos- 
 ton, and was going to Liverpool. 
 
 It is this deserted wife, the incidents that accom- 
 panied her forlorn condition, and the misfortunes put 
 upon her, with their sequence in spirit-life, that we 
 are to follow, and see what results these things have 
 on the next stage of action. 
 
 Thus left in ignorance, doubt, suspense, and anx- 
 iet}', she was for years expecting, hoping, and an- 
 ticipating the return of her husband from some 
 prolonged voyage. As she had only the house they 
 lived in, something had to be done for the mainten- 
 ance of the family. To this end she worked in 
 various ways until her children were able to help 
 themselves. The motherly care she thus bestowed 
 was repaid in an unusually unkind and heartless 
 manner. 
 
 As these transactions had to be accounted for in 
 spirit, and carried retribution with them, there is no 
 alternative but to give them to my readers as they 
 occurred; for as the one relates to the other, the 
 spirit sequel will not be understood unless the earth- 
 side is known. 
 
 The eldest child, Ann, appears to have possessed 
 a violent, bad temper and perverse nature. When 
 a young woman, after being absent from home for 
 some time, she returned, accompanied by a man 
 whom she said she had married, and the two took 
 up their abode in her mother's house. After a time, 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. HI 
 
 a child was born to them — a girl. The husband 
 was a mariner, whose business was along the coast- 
 After a year of care of this family, the mother asked 
 for some compensation from the man. He responded 
 by saying that he had no legal responsibility in the 
 matter, and she could not compel him to pay her 
 anything. She then brought legal action against 
 him for settlement. As the daughter declared on 
 oath, in court, that she was married to him, judg- 
 ment was against him, and he settled the claim by 
 paying it. 
 
 He returned with his wife to the home of her 
 mother, and when again ready to go to sea, he took 
 the young child, put it in the arms of its grand- 
 mother, and told her to keep it until his return, 
 and he would pay for its care. His wife was to go 
 with him on the voyage. The result was, the daugh- 
 ter went, and the child remained. 
 
 The return, however, never came. The grand- 
 mother never afterward heard of him, and she was 
 now deserted by her daughter, as she had been, 
 years before, by her husband. 
 
 The rearing and care of this child, deserted by its 
 parents, to be brought up by one who had labored 
 to bring up her own family, with only her own ex- 
 ertions to depend upon, was no small matter of 
 anxiety. However, the child was kindly and most 
 affectionately cared for, until she was thirteen or 
 fourteen years of age. After these many years, as 
 from the lost, the daughter made her appearance, 
 leading by the hand another child, a boy of ten 
 years. The account she gave of herself, was, they 
 
112 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 had gone to Virginia, where she remained while the 
 man went to sea and was lost, or disappeared, for 
 she did not hear from him. She had married again, 
 and had this boy who was with her. His father was 
 killed by the bite of a poisonous snake; and now 
 she had made her way back. No one knew the 
 truth of this statement but herself. Her presence 
 was soon perceived, for she set up a demand for the 
 control of the girl they had deserted. A system of 
 petty annoyances was pursued, such as taking the 
 proceeds of her labor, selling her clothing, &c. 
 
 Finally, she obtained control of the girl, offered 
 her for sale, and actually sold her to a young man 
 for a few shillings. This man took her out of town. 
 After a time she returned to her grandmother, and 
 reported what had been done. This created some 
 commotion, and considerable inquiry was made by 
 the grandmother to ascertain the truth. When the 
 mother of the girl came to her house, she was told 
 that "she never should again look in her face nor 
 enter her door." 
 
 Of the sorrows that pursued this girl in conse- 
 quence of this episode, I can say nothing here, nor 
 are they essential to be known, as only what the 
 grandmother had to do with concerns these pages. 
 The girl was thoughtless, or ignorant of responsibil- 
 ity; for two or three months later she attended a 
 mariners' ball, where she met a young English sailor, 
 belonging to the navy, who asked her to marry him, 
 on their first meeting and no acquaintance. She ac- 
 cepted, and there and then was married to him by the 
 minister of the mariners' church, and in her ball-attire. 
 
LAW OF RETEIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 113 
 
 Such a careless, thoughtless act, under the circum- 
 stances, would appall most persons to think of doing, 
 especially with a stranger, a sailor that would leave 
 in a few days with his ship, and possibly never again 
 be heard from. When her grandmother was informed 
 of this transaction, she was horrified at her temerity, 
 and could only say : " As she has sown, so shall she 
 reap; as she has made her bed, so shall she lie 
 in it." 
 
 The girl at this time was sewing for her livelihood, 
 and continued to do so after her sailor-husband had 
 gone to sea. In time the trials of motherhood were 
 upon her. Having no home or place of shelter for 
 such requirements, she was taken to a lyiug-in 
 hospital, where she gave birth to a child, a girl. 
 As the young mother lingered very sick, she became 
 quite low, and, perhaps being insufficiently cared for, 
 her state became extremely pitiful. This coming to 
 the hearing' of her grandmother, she visited her and 
 had her removed to her own home, to be cared for 
 by herself. 
 
 At this kind, humane act, her son William, then 
 a young man, became incensed against his mother, 
 and said, if she were going to take in another child, 
 to be imposed upon as she was with the first, he 
 would leave. To this the old lady replied, she 
 would not turn them out of doors. At this her son 
 did leave. He took his departure from her in this 
 trying, hour, left the city, and she never heard of 
 him after, nor the direction he went. This was the 
 third man who took the same track to oblivion, 
 abandoning her to want and difficulty. The young 
 8 
 
114 THE LOGIC OF FACTS, 
 
 mother she cared for until well. A few months 
 later, her sailor-husband returned and took his wife 
 and her child to himself, gave up the sea, and made 
 his livelihood on land the remainder of his life. 
 The old lady had yet one child with her, the young- 
 est girl, grown to womanhood. 
 
 Now a calamity befell her home ; it was destroyed 
 by fire, and she lost all she had but the ground. A 
 law was then in force in New York, forbidding the 
 erection of any wooden buildings within the fire 
 limits. This was within those limits. Hence, she 
 was barred out, and the only thing she could do 
 was to sell the ground. This she did, and the money 
 was put in an institution called " The Widows' 
 Home, or Old Ladies* Shelter," and by so doing she 
 secured a claim on it for maintenance the remainder 
 of her life. 
 
 At this providing for herself against want and 
 destitution, her remaining child became incensed, 
 abused her, said she would have nothing more to do 
 with her; and she, too, very soon left, and went south, 
 where she remained until death. The grandchild 
 was the last remaining by her ; soon the husband, 
 considering he could do better elsewhere, took his 
 wife and child south. And thus the old lady was 
 left entirely alone. 
 
 Not many years after this last departure an 
 accident befell her ; she was thrown from the plat- 
 form of a street-car and badly hurt, from the effects 
 of which she died, with no member of her family 
 near to care for or see her buried. 
 
 Here we will let her rest for a time, and follow 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 115 
 
 the closing years of her eldest child, Ann, as she 
 will be the most observable character in the future 
 life. 
 
 This woman, after her return from Virginia, 
 married again, and had one child. Thus she had one 
 child by each of her three husbands. After several 
 years, bhe left this third husband and went with her 
 son, a young man, to a southern State. This son 
 died at about the age of thirty years, preceding his 
 mother to spirit-life about eighteen years. After 
 this death she became a Methodist, and earnestly 
 subjected herself to all the regulations and disci- 
 pline of that sect, prayer-meeting and psalm-sing- 
 ing forming her principal occupation. Her sight 
 had always been bad from a malady in infancy that 
 injured the eyes, and as she advanced in years, it 
 grew worse. She became almost blind, yet she 
 could read very large print. Finally, with age, she 
 lost her sight entirely, so that she was obliged to be 
 led by a child when she went to church. She passed 
 her time principally in singing and praying, and was 
 looked upon as a very earnest Christian by the 
 church-members. She lived thirty years after her 
 mother had passed away, and reached an age exceed- 
 ing that of her mother ten years, when she died. 
 
 The object of these pages is to illustrate spiritism, 
 and this cannot be well understood without the 
 external, which precedes the spirit-life and has a 
 reflex action to that sphere ; hence these external 
 transactions should be known in order to understand- 
 ingly follow the spirit. In doing this, it will be 
 shown that there is not a transaction in earth- life 
 
116 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 that has not to be accounted for, and bears its results 
 in the world beyond. 
 
 The sequel to all this history and these parties in 
 spirit-life I will now give in a narration of one of the 
 most extraordinary manifestations that has ever been 
 givesi to a being on earth. Every incident associated 
 with them was brought to light in assemblies of 
 spirits, probed, and so laid open that nothing remained 
 concealed. I state this that the reader may observe 
 how far-reaching and penetrating spiritism may be. 
 
 I have heretofore in these pages mentioned a good 
 trance-medium — "Tom," who favored me with 
 sittings. 
 
 In the autumn of 1868, one of these seances was 
 held in my house, myself being alone with the 
 medium, when some strange spirit talked through 
 him in a most peculiar manner. He said he was 
 related to me, and went on to picture his forlorn 
 condition, demented in a foreign land, and cared for 
 in a charitable institution, — so far away from friends 
 and family that no tidings could reach them to tell 
 of his condition ; of his many, very many years of 
 incoherent, melancholy existence, and of his dying 
 in old age without its being known who he was. 
 His manner of telling it was with much sadness. 
 To this I replied : 
 
 "I have no such relative who passed through 
 that condition, and you must be mistaken in the 
 person." He said : 
 
 " You may not think so, yet I am an ancestor of 
 yours ; I feel it myself." 
 
 Nothing more was said between us. 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 117 
 
 I never was ready to take all that spirits said, with- 
 out some evidence of the truth, so this passed out 
 of my memory as one of those vagaries of rambling 
 spirits who come into the elements of mediums, and 
 I never afterward gave it a thought. In fact, I 
 should have forgotten it entirely, had it not been 
 recalled many years after. 
 
 This closes the external part of this history ; and 
 now we are to enter the spirit conditions. I will 
 speak as though telling of people in this life, yet 
 the reader will understand they are all spirits with 
 whom we have to do, excepting myself. 
 
 When the head of the family, Elizabeth Hull, en- 
 tered spirit-life, she was immediately told by the 
 celestial voice that her husband was yet on earth, 
 and how he was situated. Her son was yet living. 
 The man who left her the child to care for, and had 
 forgotten it, was yet living. She had preceded them 
 all to spirit-life. 
 
 Five or six years later her husband died in Eng- 
 land. Immediately she took charge of him in spirit; 
 for what purpose will be seen. One after another 
 they all passed over to the other shore. They had 
 never, as friends or relatives, found each other, nor 
 met, excepting as it is here mentioned. 
 
 In 1875 all this family of spirits externalized — 
 as they called it — through and by me. The occa- 
 sion of Elizabeth Hull's first coming into my pres- 
 ence was at the earnest call of the grandchild she 
 had raised, who had been dead nearly three years. 
 This call was most peculiar. It seems that the soul 
 enters within itself, to the exclusion of all else, with 
 
118 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 a retroactive will of some former state. This spirit, 
 Lucy, was to me the most noticeable example of this 
 action, as she entered this state several times when 
 she desired, and called for those she had not found. 
 In fact, she seemed to be the resurrectionist, to bring 
 the absent ones to her, and call up all this family. 
 
 I will here digress to say, that twice in this way 
 she called for her infant children who died forty years 
 before. But no response came, nor have they been 
 heard from to this time. When these several adults 
 came to her call so readily, what conclusions do the 
 non-discovery of the infants suggest? The fact is 
 its own reply. When the grandmother came, she 
 addressed her as a child, while the childish manner 
 continued for a time. This, then, was the manner of 
 their meeting. The old lady said she knew of her 
 death when it occurred, but did not seek her, wait- 
 ing until she could receive her, or desired to do so. 
 
 From time to time the old lady called, and was 
 quite pleasant ; but I observed she never staid long, 
 seemed desirous to leave, and spoke of having the 
 care of some one who required her time. After sev- 
 eral calls, she came one day with her charge, while 
 most of these parties were present. 
 
 There entered my door an old man, bent forward, 
 leaning on a stick with both hands. He looked at 
 me a moment and said, " I have been in your pres- 
 ence before." " How ? where ? when ? " I asked. 
 Then he related the incident of talking through a 
 young man to me. This did not convince me of 
 his identity, and I wanted something more definite. 
 Then he went on to describe the peculiar pictures 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 119 
 
 and surroundings of the room in which the seance 
 was held. Even then, I thought he might take 
 these details from my thoughts — pictures of my 
 memory. Seeing that I was incredulous, he gave a 
 detail of incidents occurring in the house after the 
 seance closed. These transactions I had not placed 
 at that special time, but knew they occurred about 
 that date, and he gave such a minute relation of 
 them, in such a way, I could not question the fact 
 that he must have been present. 
 
 Here was a train of incidents brought to my recol- 
 lection that I never expected to hear spoken of. 
 The occasion of this couple's calling as they did, was 
 the presence of their long-absent son. Lucy had 
 sent out her call to him, and he came. Then his 
 parents came to hear his statement. He had no 
 plea to make for his desertion of his mother, so he 
 only gave an account of his subsequent life after 
 leaving her. He had gone out of all reach of in- 
 telligence ; his destination was Valparaiso, Chili. 
 There he remained, took a wife, had children, 
 learned to talk Spanish fluently, and died some 
 years before this occasion, not a very old man. 
 
 He appeared to be of an active, quick, intelligent 
 mind, but not spiritually advanced ; hence was on 
 the earth-plane. He made quite an extended visit, 
 it being of a day or more. When he left, I heard 
 no more from him until the close. 
 
 The old man only remained while this account 
 was being given, and came not again before me for 
 some months. As the old lady came frequently, and 
 would remain, enjoying the manifestations, he would 
 
120 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 call for her as though in need of her presence. As 
 this was often repeated, and she would say, ■'•* I must 
 go ; William is so dependent I cannot leave him long," 
 it was asked why she was so bound to attend on him ? 
 She replied, " He is so helpless that I feel as though 
 I must give him all my attention ;" intimating that 
 he was in his dotage. 
 
 As he has no further prominent notice in this rela- 
 tion, perhaps it will be as well to anticipate the final 
 disclosures concerning him. He had intentionally 
 deserted his wife and children, gone to England, — 
 like most men he took a woman to live with, — and 
 engaged for several years in some occupation with 
 ships. While thus employed, an accident befell him. 
 He was struck on the head by a ship's spar, made 
 senseless, and so injured that he never fully recov- 
 ered his mentality, but remained imbecile and in 
 childish dotage the remainder of his days on earth. 
 He was cared for by some institution or parties, and 
 lived to old age. When he died, his wife, who had 
 preceded him to spirit, took charge of him. The 
 condition of imbecility had been so prolonged that 
 it became his normal state, from which he did not 
 recover upon entering spirit-life. Although he had 
 a consciousness of the reality and true basis of things, 
 yet there was no recuperation ; he was constantly 
 made to feel that his wife's presence was an indis- 
 pensable necessity to his existence. Thus he sat 
 constantly to look at her motions. When she was 
 not by him, he whined like a child for its parent. In 
 these thirty-five years he had been in spirit, he had 
 not made an advance move. In this way he was 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 121 
 
 made to feel his utter helplessness, and dependence 
 on her. This was part of his punishment, and the 
 retributive justice meted out to him. It was, how- 
 ever, only the first installment ; others followed. 
 
 Soon after, the youngest daughter externalized, 
 and had an explanation and reconciliation with her 
 mother and friends. The eldest daughter remained 
 to be heard from. 
 
 Some months had passed since these last-related 
 transactions concerning this family occurred, and I 
 heard nothing from them. Consequently my atten- 
 tion was not engaged with them at the time of which 
 I am about to speak. For a couple of days, when at 
 meals, in eating, some affection troubled my jaw, and 
 seemed to be so persistently growing that I said to a 
 spirit-friend who was by me : " Some trouble seems 
 to be in my jaw. Will you look as I eat, and see 
 what it is ? " As soon as I said this, a stranger was 
 perceived to be present, entering my elements, and 
 making his physical condition felt ; for he imme- 
 diately announced his name. This was the opening 
 introduction to surprises in new and strange phases 
 of spirit-life. It was soon perceived he was not 
 alone, as he was conferring with some associate, or 
 companion, in an undertone. Their conversation 
 concerned the medium, and their object was to 
 inspect her capabilities and see who it was. These 
 spirits were moving very slowly, as though feeling 
 their way. After a time he announced who was in 
 company with him. It was his mother, Ann, the 
 eldest child of the couple, who had not heretofore 
 been heard from. 
 
122 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 When I was told who it was, I knew what was to 
 follow: a raking over of old scores, like the opening 
 of a boil that it might be cleansed. For various good 
 reasons I felt indignant at what I thought likely to 
 be the proceedings and display of evil doings. So I 
 set up rny will, and said : " If my presence is to be 
 a court of justice, I will have my say, and all must 
 be excluded but the parties concerned." To this 
 proposition of mine they objected. " Well," I said, 
 " the spirits have had their way, now I'll have mine, 
 and the proceedings shall not go on until conditions 
 suit me. They will wait my time, at least." 
 
 So I went out and busied myself about other 
 matters. 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 123 
 
 Section XI. 
 
 THE CONTINUED SHOWING OF RETRIBUTIVE 
 JUSTICE. — THE ASSEMBLED COURT; JUDG- 
 MENT AND SENTENCE. 
 
 After I had retired at night, the spirit Ann be- 
 gan whispering to me, saying, She would be easy ; 
 she would wait my time with pleasure ; she liked 
 me and would stay by me. 
 
 Slowly the development followed. She showed 
 a singular want of spirit-force or understanding, and 
 often said she could not see ; that she had not seen 
 or known anything in spirit-life. This quite sur- 
 prised me, as she had been in spirit twelve years. 
 Cenis being present, as he always was on unusual 
 occasions, I asked him how this could be — if it were 
 possible the blindness she had on earth accompanied 
 and affected her in spirit-life. Further, why was 
 she so obtuse ? He replied : 
 
 "No; it is not that. She is a dark spirit." 
 
 " Dark ! Do you mean to say it is blind darkness 
 of spirit that prevents her from seeing or understand- 
 ing things in spirit-life?" 
 
 " Yes, I do. There are such dark spirits, and she 
 is of that class," he replied. " We will see how she 
 comes out." 
 
 One and another were informed of her presence, 
 and came in, her mother and sister included. 
 
124 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 This woman in spirit could not hear one word 
 that was said by these other spirits, only as it passed 
 through me. She was as deaf as she was blind to all 
 these parties. She repeated to me in the most pitiful 
 manner her total want of sight, and said that if God 
 would only permit her to retake form on earth, she 
 would do her duty, take the best care of children, 
 and fill all her obligations to their full requirement. 
 In fact, she seemed to sense that she could rehabit 
 form and be again on earth, do better than she had 
 done, and in this wa}^ retrieve herself. 
 
 To Cenis I applied for more light. I wanted to 
 know if it were possible for one of such advanced 
 age to re-incarnate ? Pie replied : 
 
 "I do not think it is." 
 
 As this person was very slow in her movements, 
 and did not enter into communion with those pres- 
 ent, her son, who was her escort, externalized, and 
 entered into the spirit of reunion with these rela- 
 tives. 
 
 This young man had the great misfortune, in boy- 
 hood, to have a severe fall, by which his jaw was 
 broken. As it was not properly attended to, it grew 
 one-sided, and eating was a painful operation. The 
 misfortune was, probably, the ultimate cause of his 
 early death with consumption. It was this defec- 
 tive reminder of his conditions he had conveyed to 
 the sensation of my organism for several succeeding 
 meals. When he plainly showed himself, a stranger 
 remarked, " What a terrible misfortune you had in 
 the face ! " He replied, " Yes ; it was torture 
 always for me to eat." 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 125 
 
 This spirit had no accountability to render to the 
 parties present, nor rectification to make, so he 
 entered into the spirit of the circle and took his 
 place with those composing it. He gave a state- 
 ment of his association with his mother. When 
 he found her in spirit and in need of help, he rallied 
 to her assistance, and led and aided her in finding 
 what she sought. I understood this to be a benefi- 
 cent act, not a compulsory one. He represented 
 that they had been told she should come, or make 
 her first step of advance, through one of her descend- 
 ants, and they had looked entirely in another direc- 
 tion for it ; consequently, their approach to me was 
 unexpected. Further, he represented her state as 
 fearfully wearing and tiresome; — that she was 
 picking, picking at every one she could approach, 
 to see if an impression could be made, or if it were 
 the one she was in search of. He had all the obser- 
 vation to make, and transmitted to her all he could 
 ascertain. Such appears to have been the course 
 of procedure for several years. 
 
 Gradually, she was developed to hear and under- 
 stand the expressions of the relatives present. With 
 the superior force of her mother, who entered into 
 the spirit of relating incidents of the past associated 
 w r ith her, she would imbibe the idea and study out 
 her own history. In this way, by piecemeal and in 
 detail, it was completed in substance as follows : — 
 She had never been, according to legal ceremony, 
 married to the man who was responsible for leaving 
 the infant girl to the grandmother. In this she had 
 seriously imposed on and deceived her mother. 
 
126 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 When they left they went to Virginia. There the 
 man deserted her, and she heard no more from him. 
 After a while she consorted with the father of the 
 boy, but had no legal binding claim on him. A few 
 years later she returned to her native place, New 
 York, and was married. This husband she left, and 
 him she was now desirous to find or to hear from. 
 Such is a brief account, and all that is necessary to 
 give, bearing a relation with what has been detailed 
 in preceding pages. 
 
 A clear explanation and understanding was arrived 
 at by all parties on the points to be cleared up. But 
 this woman remained m total blindness. On one 
 occasion her mother said to her, " Well, Ann, I told 
 you, when last I forbade you my presence, that you 
 should not look on my face again ; but I would let 
 you see me now, if you could. When you can look 
 on my face, you shall do so." 
 
 When all this had passed, and all had been 
 explained to the relatives, this dark spirit took 
 another course to find some consolation from a 
 higher source. She appealed to her God of theo- 
 logical ideas for light, and looked to him to give 
 her some reprieve. I endeavored to convey to her 
 that she would gradually and slowly gain spirit- 
 sight. Cenis told her of these conditions of a 
 gradual development of progress. Immediately she 
 took him to be God's vicegerent, or the angel Gabriel. 
 She began to pray him to conve} r her message to 
 God, and to tell him of her penitence and prom- 
 ise of future good conduct; frequently repeating 
 passages of scripture, and praying in the name of 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 127 
 
 Jesus Christ, her savior. The more we tried to 
 give her an idea of truth, the deeper she sank in 
 Methodist theology and Jesus-Christ ideas. At 
 this, Cenis impulsively and very earnestly said to 
 me: ' 4 If she is going into that Bible and Jesus- 
 Christ business, you must handle her, Mrs. K. ; I 
 cannot do it. I never can manage that class of 
 people : they are the stupidest of all the human 
 family." Then, turning to the others present, 
 most of whom were, or had been, church-members, 
 he said : " How such an abomination of absurdities 
 could ever have been adopted by any class of people, 
 I cannot understand. I have always thought they 
 had not the common sense of the Indian." 
 
 These remarks were so earnestly and forcibly 
 spoken, that every one felt the ludicrous position, 
 and grandmother Elizabeth replied, " Well, it does 
 seem very ridiculous when one sees how it is, and 
 when all its fallacy is found out." 
 
 While I was trying to inform Ann that sight 
 would gradually come to her, a superior message, 
 like electric writing from some superior source, came 
 to her hand. " There," said Cenis to her, " you have 
 a message in your hand. Read it." Then Ann 
 began to spell it out. It was short, and informed 
 her that it was a token she should have sicjht at a 
 stated time not very distant. Then the celestial 
 voice was heard to say, " You have been an unduti- 
 ful, thankless child, and failed in all your natural 
 obligations ; hence your darkness." 
 
 Upon this, Ann began to pray,' asking if God 
 would give her sight by the time she was one 
 
128 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 hundred years old. If so, she could wait with 
 cheerfulness. This was subjecting herself to twelve 
 years of probation. We could not, however, bring 
 her out of her old way of thinking, nor make any 
 impression upon her mind contrary to preconceived 
 ideas of church-theology; and in reply to what we 
 said she would repeat those dogmas. This quite 
 discouraged us in our efforts to help her, and so we 
 gave up in despair. 
 
 Here was the example of one, who. nearly all her 
 life, from her devilish disposition, had been the terror 
 of those with whom she was connected, failed to do 
 right by any one, and never did a beneficent act; 
 yet, in the decline of life, for company and enter- 
 tainment, went to church and became possessed, to 
 the full extent, with the spirit of Methodism as a 
 means of salvation and redemption, through the 
 blood of Jesus Christ ; and this very faith and 
 engrossing idea formed the impervious helmet that 
 encased her soul from any penetrating light or even 
 an understanding of true spirit-conditions. Thus, 
 her religious faith acted as a punishment to keep her 
 in bondage. Such an exhibition of burlesque on 
 the Christian faiths could hardly have been made 
 more ludicrous or transparent. 
 
 There are many of these dark, encased souls 
 made so by these very same teachings and confident 
 reliance upon mere dogmas for their future happi- 
 ness. As I have had a close acquaintance with 
 many of the rigid votaries, both Protestant and 
 Catholic, I know what they think of it on the other 
 side of life. They very soon become disgusted 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 129 
 
 and feel ashamed of the belief they adopted on earth. 
 Some even scornfully listen to the name of Jesus 
 Christ, while others feel bitter that they ever were 
 associated with such dogmatic faiths. 
 
 I do here assert that in spirit-spheres there is no 
 sympathy, no accord, no respect for the Christian 
 church or its theology, and that all its tendencies are 
 to befog, embarrass, and darken the human soul in a 
 future state. There. is not one redeeming teaching 
 associated with the Church, unless it be that in the 
 Catholic there may be found some beneficent ideas. 
 It not only embarrasses future progress, but it is as 
 a leech on the material welfare of its members, in 
 taxing them for the support of churches and a lazy 
 priesthood ; while, at the same time, the ministry 
 preach what they have no knowledge of, — a redemp- 
 tion by a vicarious atonement, — and fail in every 
 sense to make known the true basis of man's salva- 
 tion. They likewise deter listeners from indepen- 
 dent research, and the ignorant are held in bondage 
 by creeds. When these obscure, befogged souls en- 
 ter spirit-life, they are more like devils than saints, 
 for they find nothing they had been led to expect. 
 On the contrary, they find every phase of embar- 
 rassment in progress, while many become helpless, 
 torpid, or wholly in the dark, and in time find their 
 church and faith have wrought out for them a pun- 
 ishment rather than a reward, and proved less a 
 blessing than a curse. It must be one of those in- 
 scrutable ways of Omnipotence that has permit- 
 ted priestly creeds and churches to hold sway over 
 humanity, else the spirit-host would long since have 
 9 
 
130 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 combined, and, by its united powers, hurled it into 
 chaos. If its votaries could but see its action on earth 
 and its action in spirit as I have seen it, the church 
 would be shunned with scorn as a monster that can 
 only do one deadly injury. I cannot here give space 
 to show why the Christian theology is such a mill- 
 stone about the neck of its victim. The pages that 
 follow will in some measure do this. 
 
 After this circle dispersed, I heard no more from 
 these parties for some four or five months. At the 
 expiration of that time, spirits were gathering at my 
 home for a development. As the development pro- 
 gressed, there came among us some high and bright 
 lights of the superior spheres, and the proceedings 
 merged into a court of justice ; to which messages, 
 instruction, and light from celestial realms, of the 
 most impressive and awe-inspiring character, were 
 transmitted. To attempt to relate the incidents the 
 power revealed to this august assembly, would not 
 convey an estimate of the reality. The exposures 
 it brought out were most fearful. Its effect on indi- 
 viduals was terrific. The retribution meted was 
 amazing. In fact, it was the most forcible exhibi- 
 tion of spirit-conditions that I have witnessed. 
 
 In the course of this gathering there came the 
 head of this family, Elizabeth Hull. She brought 
 her husband with her; and the other members of 
 her family, one after the other, came also. She was 
 led to give a detailed account of her experience on 
 earth and in spirit. She said : 
 
 " When I found that my husband was yet on earth, 
 and that he had purposely deserted me, I could have 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 131 
 
 cursed God to his face, from the depths of ray soul, 
 that he had permitted my life to be so bitter with 
 trials, from no cause or act of mine. Immediately 
 I was filled with a disgust of all earthly things, and 
 determined to shun all observation, interest, or ap- 
 proach to earthly elements or their associations ; and 
 this determination I maintained forty years, never 
 looking to find those who had died, until my grand- 
 child so earnestly called me." 
 
 From this statement I learned why she was so rest- 
 less when coming before me : she was fearful of being 
 drawn too near earthly things. Her husband was 
 the exception, as she had taken charge of him when 
 he died. She had given her undivided attention to 
 this helpless dotard for thirty-five years. She did 
 not fail to picture his meanness in the manner he 
 left her, and averred that he should have informed 
 her of his intention ; then she would have known 
 what to depend upon — perhaps married again. 
 
 As her history was peculiarly sad, the whole circle 
 could feel it, and remarked that it was strangely 
 melancholy. Then I asked her, " What good resulted 
 from it? where was the silver lining? what purifying 
 to the soul by these unusual hardships and trials ? " 
 " None," she quickly replied ; " it embittered my 
 memory of the life on earth, that I could never re- 
 call with pleasure, while I reflected on it ever after- 
 ward with pain. It was a cheerless desolation that 
 will ever bear its memory of lost advantages I should 
 have had in life." Such was her version of life's ex- 
 periences and its rewards for sorrow and trials. 
 
 Further developments will show the fallacy of such 
 
132 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 self-contradictory and deceptive theories as, " What- 
 ever is, is right ; " " There is no cloud without its 
 silver lining;" "Suffering and tribulation are for 
 the good and purification of the soul ; " "Evil ulti- 
 inates in good," &c. 
 
 Her family had all come into this assembly ; but 
 nothing was said by any one of them. Elizabeth 
 then addressed her husband, and said : " William, 
 3^ou may go. I do not want you by me any more. 
 I now relinquish all care of you. There are your 
 un dutiful, thankless children. Go with them. Lead 
 them out of darkness into light. Bring them up. 
 I am done with you, and take Lucy for my com- 
 panion." 
 
 Such, then, was the disposal of this man. He had 
 been thirty-five years a helpless dotard, dependent 
 on her continual presence ; while her care of him 
 was not one of love, but of mercy or punishment, 
 that he should feel his weakness. Now he was re- 
 leased, to begin his work among the lowest class of 
 benighted souls and his children whom he had failed 
 to care for. He spoke not one word in reply, but 
 went as though it was something expected; while 
 she took the grandchild she had reared, as a more 
 congenial companion. 
 
 As Elizabeth was the only one of them permitted 
 to talk in this assembled court, nothing was said by 
 the others. Neither do I know anything of them 
 since that time. Hence, how they progress or de- 
 velop, I am not as yet informed. 
 
 The whole history furnishes a revelation of spirit- 
 conditions, phases, retributive justice, and an exhibit 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE, 133 
 
 of some omnipotent, overruling power associated 
 with the soul, that humanity should be informed of. 
 And it teaches that spiritualists and others should 
 ponder these truths before preaching optimism as 
 applied to the doings of humanity, and giving the 
 general idea that summer lands, heavenly homes, and 
 perpetual bliss, are indiscriminately the immediate 
 portion of all. 
 
 As before said, this assembly proved to be a high 
 court of justice to show right and wrong. Other 
 persons, not known to this family, were brought to 
 exposure and judgment iu the most startling man- 
 ner, and in a way that made a most intense impres- 
 sion on all present. 
 
 Again the external must be introduced, in order 
 to understandingly explain the spiritual. 
 
 In the first decade of 1800 there lived in Penn- 
 sylvania a couple. Soon after the birth of their last 
 child, a son, the father died by drowning, and the 
 mother was left alone to rear her two children. The 
 boy, as he grew up, was exceedingly wild and trouble- 
 some. However, he did one good act for himself; 
 for, in his teens, he apprenticed himself to learn the 
 trade of machinist and engineer, applied himself 
 steadily to his work, and became a good mechanic. 
 When he was twenty-one he left home, and his 
 mother never saw him afterward. 
 
 Having cut loose from obligations to his mother, 
 he engaged in the occupation of running and man- 
 aging steamboats. His morals and habits were the 
 most reckless and abandoned, although he was not 
 addicted to drunkenness. His character was sensual 
 
134 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 to excess. He consorted with fast women and gam- 
 blers, and in all the most lecherous indulgences he 
 had no equal. Thus he spent twelve years in 
 licentious revels. Then he met a young girl whose 
 grace of form and beauty arrested his attention, and 
 he thought he would marry. 
 
 Of his habits and character she knew nothing. 
 She onl}- knew that he was in good business, and 
 temperate, and these recommended him. As great 
 a contrast existed between them as between heat and 
 cold. The girl's age was just one half of his. She 
 was as pure as an angel, and as innocent as a babe 
 of all lasciviousness. Her habits were pious, her 
 nature aspiration al and inspirational, with every 
 quality calculated to make a practical helpmate and 
 a devoted wife. 
 
 He very soon manifested a domineering spirit ac- 
 companied by jealousy. They had lived not more 
 than a year together when he began to neglect her, 
 and to spend his leisure time with companions of his 
 own habits; and became so arbitrary and overbearing 
 that she was not allowed to look or even to think with- 
 out restriction or being dictated to by him. With no 
 kindness, thought, or attention bestowed on her, this 
 sensitive soul soon shrank within herself, and all con- 
 fidence and sympathy ceased between herself and hus- 
 band. After a time, she was drawn from him, and 
 they lived more like strangers than friends. 
 
 This man's nature was selfish, self-willed, positive, 
 overbearing, and relentless to all and everything he 
 dealt with. He had no sympathy or benevolence — 
 probably never in his life did a beneficent act. His 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 135 
 
 theology was atheistic and infidel. " Life now is all 
 I have to care for ; the world is to please me ; naught 
 else do I care to know," — this was the creed he 
 adopted and lived by. Yet he had mind, intelli- 
 gence, and some research, and passed as quite a re- 
 spectable man and good citizen. 
 
 Such a nature allied to the exact opposite would 
 soon crush the heart of a sensitive. And so it did. 
 His wife soon became so mentally oppressed that 
 nervous derangement made a permanent impression 
 on her health. 
 
 Fortune had favored him in more waj^s than one ; 
 yet he failed to take advantage of her favors, or to 
 improve his opportunities. When he had so man- 
 aged his affairs as to become embarrassed, he dis- 
 posed of himself, and by his death left a young 
 family, wholly unprovided for, to flounder about in 
 the difficulties he had created. 
 
 Now he is in spirit. What of him? We will see. 
 
 How long he remained dormant T cannot now say, 
 but his movements were for a long time hardly per- 
 ceptible. In fifteen years he had not moved from 
 the location where he was buried. His intimate 
 friend has said, " He would occasionally find me ; 
 but I could not account for his want of animation 
 and his oppressive unhappiness." Latterly, he him- 
 self stated that he only emerged from his grave to 
 return to it for unconsciousness. He knew nothing 
 of any transactions relating to his affairs or his fam- 
 ily. And I am satisfied, by testing this statement, 
 that he was totally ignorant in regard to them. So 
 much was he restrained from approaching them, that, 
 
136 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 when his son came to the vicinity where he was 
 then abiding, he was forbidden to remain, or to ap- 
 proach anywhere near the location the son might 
 be in. 
 
 His mother had found him, and seems to have in- 
 formed him that he should make amends to his wife, 
 for it was only by doing so he could rise from his 
 unhappy condition which was the mountain which 
 would overshadow him and obstruct his progress ; 
 and that he would crawl until he could stand up- 
 right and uncondemned before her. Although he 
 had been sometimes present with others, little ad- 
 vance was made. 
 
 Now we have reached the occasion which induced 
 this statement, the recording of the incidents which 
 took place in this assembly of spirits, before whom 
 these parties were exposed, all parties concerned and 
 interested being present. The circle seemed filled 
 with celestial force, and under its influence, this 
 man, in the course of proceedings, confessed he had 
 been not only untrue, but repeatedly guilty of the 
 heinous crime of incest with his wife's nearest rela- 
 tive, the details being given. When this was fully 
 developed before this august assembly, it was shaken 
 as by an earthquake. The force thrown into it, as 
 from superior spheres, was tremendous. Flash after 
 flash of light disclosed every secret, while, for my- 
 self, my soul was shaken with a power that no lan- 
 guage can describe. If such expresses the sense of 
 feeling in spirit-spheres, then there is nothing on 
 earth that approaches it in susceptibility. When 
 the sensations that filled this gathering had sub- 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 137 
 
 sided, this man implored that he might be annihi- 
 lated, or that he might be allowed to rest and retake 
 earthly form. 
 
 To this the celestial voice was heard to reply : " It 
 cannot be done. You came to years of maturity ; 
 you had mind, intelligence, and judgment; you 
 threw away your opportunities and advantages: the 
 consequences are your own, and you must endure 
 them." 
 
 Yet he still desired he might be allowed to rest. 
 
 To this the same voice replied : " If you so much 
 desire it, you may rest the remainder of your wife's 
 stay on the earth." 
 
 At this his mother, who was present, implored 
 him not to think of such a thing; to keep himself up, 
 and to work for his own advancement. He replied : 
 " I cannot bear my presence ; let me forget my- 
 self for a time. I must stop." And into rest for a 
 time he went. His mother was much pained at this, 
 and said : 
 
 "I have worked to bring him out. I knew he 
 had a great accountability to render, and now I 
 tremble to think of his future. His punishment 
 will be terrible." 
 
 I then asked her : " What benefit will this resting 
 be to him ? What good results from this temporary 
 rest?" 
 
 " None," she replied. "It is a retrograde move- 
 ment. He will only revive in the same condition 
 with less strength." 
 
 In this way this man absolutely took on a state of 
 unconsciousness, probably to remain so for many 
 
138 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 years; and it will be thirty or forty years after 
 his death when he commences his labor of working 
 out his advancement to a higher state. In the inter- 
 vening time he will be in total ignorance concern- 
 ing the things of earth and those he left thereon. 
 
 Such is retributive justice. Such is man's accounta- 
 bility for transgression. 
 
 How different this showing is from the teaching 
 of all theological sects ! How different it is from 
 that of some classes of spiritualists who take it upon 
 themselves to promulgate theories in regard to 
 supernal life, when they are totally ignorant of these 
 conditions! Where is the doctrine sustained that 
 man is not accountable for acting out the predisposi- 
 tions of his idiosyncrasy? Where is the doctrine 
 sustained that there is no merit in one who is benefi- 
 cently disposed because it is his disposition, more 
 than there is in one more selfish, for each only acts 
 out his nature ? This was once told me by a teacher 
 of spiritual things. Where is shown the truth of 
 the doctrine that all evil is but undeveloped good ? 
 Where is it seen that whatever is, is right? 
 
 If these theories, or any one of them, had a basis 
 of truth, so far as they apply to the human family, 
 what would be the sequence ? It would be one of 
 the most unjust in existence. The following would 
 be the rule of its operation : — All are of the same 
 origin ; the same constituent principle, soul, is the 
 being of each one ; and consider that one who is 
 quiet, kind, or perhaps superior, shall be made to 
 suffer great sorrows and tribulations, perhaps the 
 whole life on earth blasted as by a sirocco, the 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 139 
 
 effects of which will extend long into the hereafter ; 
 and this imposed on him by some other person 
 whose idiosyncras}^ led him to do so. In this way 
 the one must suffer because the other is evil-disposed. 
 Then, if it happens to be a worthy person who is 
 the victim, his soul wants this experience to purify 
 it, to crush out his meekness, to make him see his 
 want of force ; while the one who is the cause of 
 this experience is only doing God's will. He is not 
 responsible, because it is his nature, his idiosyncras}^. 
 Perhaps he is only instigated by some disembodied 
 mind that God permits to work in this way for the 
 one that suffers ; while the oppressor is not supposed 
 to be accountable ; hence he has the best of this 
 life on earth, and has just as good prospects for the 
 spirit-side, and the same results and conditions are 
 common to both. The " summer land " it is for one 
 and all ; for is not all " evil undeveloped good," 
 and " whatever is, is right " ? Such is the logic, in 
 substance, of these very cream-like spiritualistic the- 
 ories, and the rule of their operation. 
 
 It will be remembered that it is stated, on a 
 preceding page, that all spiritualists do not hold the 
 same theories. 
 
 In contrast with these is the Christian theological 
 doctrine, that, no matter how heinous a sinner one 
 has been, he may repent, join some church, pray, and 
 believe the blood of Christ has washed him white, 
 and thus be redeemed and fitted for heaven. It 
 matters not what the results of their doings may be 
 to their victims, they are of no further consequence 
 in this life or the next. 
 
140 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 This is not an extreme, nor an exaggerated state- 
 ment of either side, as every one must admit who 
 knows anything of the doctrines. 
 
 What, then, it may be well to know, is the conse- 
 quence of transgression, or sin against others ? Is it 
 pardonable ? No. No offense that encroaches on 
 another's rights of happiness is pardonable. Noth- 
 ing but atonement, the making of reparation, will 
 mitigate the consequence of such transgression. 
 The atonement must come by beneficent works, 
 self-abnegation, and labor for the welfare of others, 
 — even to work for the humblest creatures. The 
 example is given in the old man who was helpless 
 until he descended to the lowest grade, to work for 
 the alleviation of dark spirits, the very lowest there 
 are. 
 
 I would not have the reader understand this is 
 exclusively reserved for spirit-spheres ; humanity 
 can be benefited on earth, and many persons may 
 counterbalance the evil they have with some good 
 on earth. 
 
 A very striking example of this I know of, in a 
 person I was well acquainted with, and whose whole 
 career in life has been shown ine from the spirit-side. 
 She was a person of erratic character, violent pas- 
 sions, and many irregularities, according to the 
 judgment of the world, but her acts mostly affected 
 herself. Yet she was quite benevolent, and made 
 great personal exertion in laboring for the care 
 and welfare of a family of children, being of great 
 benefit to them. She made no advance in spirit for 
 a time. She discovered she would make no progress 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 141 
 
 until her record was examined and judged, — not 
 a very desirable entertainment either. In the course 
 of such an examination, it would recur to her how' 
 low she might have been, and she would say : 
 " Those blessed children, they have been my salva- 
 tion. Where would I have been without them ? 
 They have given me all the advantages I have." 
 This she several times repeated, declaring that the 
 children she had cared for were the means of her 
 advancement. So I know that her beneficence to 
 others favored her, for, after she became equipoised, 
 and started to advance, she made rapid progress, 
 more so than any other spirit whom it has been my 
 privilege to know. 
 
 I have seen a practical illustration of this, one 
 that every reader will understand. As the parties 
 were so dissimilar in their action, and as it is most 
 important that all should know what constitutes the 
 law of standing and advancement in superior spheres, 
 I give it here as an illustration. 
 
 All readers know who Theodore Parker was. 
 Further, that he was a Protestant divine, a scholar 
 and linguist, liberal and humanitarian in all his 
 teachings. He died in Italy, the 10th of Ma}% 
 1860. Most spiritualists suppose him very advanced 
 in power of spirit, and in superior things. 
 
 I am now only to show what constitutes merit. 
 
 About the same time he died, there passed to 
 spirit-life a nun. This woman was Superior of a 
 convent many years, an institution that sheltered 
 nearly three hundred souls all the time. Every 
 movement she dictated. The whole system and 
 
142 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 management she supervised. She constituted the 
 whole board of officers ; in fact, she was general- 
 issimo of the inside and out ; consequently her life 
 was a very busy one, and devoted to the comfort and 
 benefit of others, as she had no compensation other 
 than the satisfaction derived from well-doing. It 
 would be supposed that the mental biases to her 
 Church would cloud her advancement; however, 
 this was not so, as she was purely spiritual. 
 
 This nun, as I happen to know by good evidence, 
 much surpassed Parker in power of spirit, that is, in 
 the innermost of superior spirit-conditions, the enter- 
 ing into the angelic states. Why so ? it may be asked. 
 Because her whole life had been a practical humani- 
 tarian industry, dedicated to the welfare of others ; 
 at the same time her nature was spiritual. Her 
 earth-work was a practical execution of beneficence. 
 Parker may have preached the same ; but it is works 
 that tell. From this example it can be judged what 
 constitutes merit. A brilliant education does not 
 always qualify one for high rank in spirit-spheres. 
 
 Perhaps there are no ideas that humanity hold an 
 opinion of, that are so widely at variance with the 
 true facts, as that of evil, or what is the sin 
 deserving of the greatest condemnation. It is 
 generally considered that suicide and murder are 
 the greatest of all offenses against God. This is 
 borrowed from the idea that man is made by some 
 god, and that he is a vassal only at that god's com- 
 mand. The opposite of this is the truth. The soul 
 in man is its own creator, the only god it is subject 
 to. It follows as a natural sequence that this is the 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 143 
 
 only god to offend ; hence, it is far from the truth 
 that those are the greatest sins man may commit. 
 
 Whom does the suicide offend ? No one but him- 
 self. If a person chooses to pluck out one eye and 
 be half blind, he is the greatest sufferer. If he 
 takes off one hand, it is to his own inconvenience. 
 Any irregularity that a mortal is guilty of, entails 
 its own penalty on himself. There is no superior 
 power in the universe that will call him to an 
 account for it ; hence, the suicide has only injured 
 himself by dwarfing his opportunities. 
 
 I have been in rapport with three suicides, and I 
 could not perceive that the act they had committed 
 very much affected them, further than to arrest their 
 advancement, and oblige them to be closely allied 
 to earthly conditions. Further, it is not known 
 what a state of desperation a person may be in when 
 he takes his life. Again, there are very many who 
 are suicides by slow processes. Intemperance pro- 
 duces the largest number. That not only kills the 
 mind and body on earth, but stops its movements in 
 the hereafter. There are numerous other ways in 
 which persons are the cause of shortening their 
 lives. 
 
 The taking of the life of another would appear to 
 be a very heinous offense against one's fellow-man. 
 How far one is held to atone for it I do not know, 
 as I never had one near me that took the life of 
 another. There are usually, however, other irregu- 
 larities and bad conditions accompanying this act 
 that would cause its perpetrator to become associated 
 with a low, dark class of spirits. 
 
144 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 What, then, is the greatest sin, or transgression 
 for which man is held accountable ? 
 
 It is that against his fellow-man, — the injury 
 caused to others. It is the trampling on the rights 
 of another soul, — the shadowing and obstructing 
 the happiness and progress of others. This is the 
 God that man offends. This is the God that will 
 call him to judgment — the God to whom he must 
 atone. Why is this so ? 
 
 Because all soul is a universal principle of deity — 
 links in one continuous chain. Each entity of that 
 principle has its right to life, liberty, and the pursuit 
 of happiness and progress, without infringing on 
 that of another, or being debarred of the same by 
 another. Hence, if one's soul is shadowed and 
 defrauded of this right, it is a transgression against 
 the divine principle in man — the only god that can 
 feel the offense. From this it follows, that to cause 
 sorrow and injury to a fellow-man, is the greatest 
 transgression man is held accountable for. 
 
 This being the rule by which to judge of trans- 
 gression, the opposite condition, how to serve God 
 best, -would be in serving mankind. Hence, good 
 practiced for humanity, "beneficence to others, consti- 
 tute the true service rendered to God. 
 
 It must follow, then, that those who have been the 
 most humanitarian, those who have done the most 
 to ameliorate the condition of their fellow-men, will 
 be judged worthy of happiness and honor. I hesi- 
 tate not in affirming that this is the inflexible law 
 by which man is to be judged ; and those who will 
 
LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 145 
 
 so understand it can estimate in this life what 
 another's position is likely to be in # the next. 
 
 This true golden rule was given to the world 
 twenty-five hundred years ago by Confucius. "Do 
 not unto others what you would not have them do 
 unto you." 
 
 Jesus, the Christ, repeated it in this form : " Do 
 unto others as you would have others do unto you." 
 
 No higher or greater rule could be given. It 
 constitutes the whole law of duty to God. 
 
 Jesus has further stated the true law of judgment 
 as given in the parable of the last judgment. "And 
 the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I 
 say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one 
 of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it 
 unto me." While to those who are condemned for 
 not doing, he said : " Verily I say unto you, inasmuch 
 as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it 
 not to me." 
 
 In Proverbs xiv. 31, it is said : " He that oppress- 
 eth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that 
 honoreth him hath mercy on the poor." 
 
 No teachings can be given to the world higher than 
 these ; no spiritualistic ethics can overreach them. 
 They include the whole law that should govern man's 
 acts. Your mental and intellectual duty is to your- 
 self, and you are not supposed to neglect this duty 
 while being just to others. 
 
 I think the examples in this section sufficiently 
 illustrate this fact, and no remarks can be made that 
 will add a feather's weight to their demonstration of 
 truth. 
 
 10 
 
146 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 Section XII. 
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF GRADES AND CONDI- 
 TIONS OF SOULS IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 
 
 It must be observed by the reader of these pages 
 that there is a dissimilarity of grades and conditions 
 in spirit-life. All true spiritualistic teachings repre- 
 sent this truth; but I do not know of any spiritual- 
 istic teachings that have given a clear or full classi- 
 fication of these grades, or even mentioned all of 
 them. 
 
 These pages have already shown many phases of 
 spirit-life, and it would be well to know of these 
 stages and conditions as classes or grades. These I 
 give only as they have been demonstrated to me. 
 
 In " The Laws of Being," Part First, Re-incar- 
 nation is treated of, and the conditions leading and 
 appertaining thereto. To this work the reader is 
 referred for more extended information on that 
 subject. 
 
 Souls who become re-incarnated are of a class that 
 cannot advance — cannot progress in spirit-spheres ; 
 to whom the externalities of the material are indis- 
 pensable for further development either mentally 
 or physically. Of this class are the mentally de- 
 formed — of whom I have given examples in the 
 book above referred to. To this class also belong 
 those taken from earth without mental develop- 
 
GRADES OF SOULS IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 147 
 
 ment, — such as infants and children, and those on 
 the animal plane in the lower races. These several 
 grades of conditions do not long sustain themselves, 
 but find an inert weakness within, from a want of 
 adaptability and capacity suited to the spirit-state ; 
 and further development can only be acquired 
 through a more extended life on earth. In the 
 interim, these souls must be in some condition. 
 When this class of souls are in spirit, they live and 
 act as on the earth-plane, and such will be their con- 
 dition for a longer or shorter time. They may com- 
 municate with those of earth, be seen, &c, as they 
 are in close rapport to earthly states. However, 
 they do not progress to any appreciable spiritual 
 light. After a time they lose in strength, weaken, 
 and feel as any one would out of his element. They 
 seek rest, pass through a state of weakness analogous 
 to death, and find repose in torpid sleep,*perhaps from 
 one hundred to two thousand years. These are rest- 
 ing-souls of the first class, and have no influence on 
 earth or in spirit, more than anything in torpor can 
 have. 
 
 There is another class of resting-souls, as has been 
 seen by the examples in these pages. These are not 
 deficient, nor are they malignant, but they are un- 
 happy and discontented, and will remain so while 
 conditions are oppressive. These prefer rest while 
 such conditions continue : it may be longer or shorter. 
 Very many spirits of good intelligence belong to this 
 class. In fact, most souls on entering spirit-life 
 require some season of rest, and maj r not take up 
 an activity for some years after passing there. I 
 
148 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 found this quite common with those in ignorance of 
 the true spirit-state, — church-befogged minds, for 
 instance. Hence, there are several grades of this 
 second class of resting-spirits. 
 
 After these, are the benighted, dark spirits. These 
 are totally blind and deaf to all conditions beyond 
 those they were in on earth. They can only imbibe 
 by sensation and by groping near those of earth. I 
 do not know what influence or effect these may ex- 
 ercise upon those on earth. I have given an example 
 in the preceding pages that conveys a good idea of 
 this class of souls. 
 
 The next class are the erratics. These are the 
 most noticeable and active, and have the most to do 
 in physical manifestations. They include all degrees 
 of mentality, from the most accomplished scholar to 
 the poorest. 
 
 They are so classed because they show a want of 
 fixedness or steadiness. They are not disenthralled 
 from earthly conditions ; they have not entered into 
 the fullness of the spirit-state. 
 
 It must be understood by most minds that the hu- 
 man family have been educated in some groove or 
 line of ideas in regard to the hereafter, and when they 
 enter the spirit-world it is found totally at variance 
 with all their preconceived ideas. To the Material- 
 ist, Infidel, and Christian, this change is bewildering. 
 Though they may have been highly educated on 
 earth, the unexpected difference is so great that they 
 do not immediately harmonize with its conditions. 
 Further, if a person is not, within himself, of a 
 spiritually fine nature, or character, he will not take 
 
GRADES OF SOULS IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 149 
 
 in the spiritual state immediately, but remain — in 
 legal parlance — in statu quo. Such are in the closest 
 rapport with earthly conditions and mediums. If 
 they are inclined to dishonesty and untruthfulness, 
 those traits will be manifested. I have given an 
 example of this in the scholarly, scientific person 
 who could make and maintain falsehoods to gratify 
 his personal spleen. I have had numerous proofs of 
 the same in others. 
 
 At the same time, many of this class are power- 
 ful magnetizers ; in fact, it only requires positive 
 will-power to psychologize some mediums, and all 
 the rhapsody conceivable may be conveyed through 
 that individual. This appears in disquisitions on 
 philosophy, in essays and lectures, in revelations of 
 the supernal life. It is most abundant, and some- 
 times quite dense, aud any amount of sciolism is 
 given through these channels. Examples are shown 
 in the pages on psychology. One of these erratics 
 may affiliate with a mind in sympathy with his ideas, 
 and extended disquisitions on superior things may be 
 spoken or written that have no reality outside of their 
 own rambling minds. Just on the same principle 
 Dickens completed from spirit-life, through another 
 mind, his "Edwin Drood," a fictitious romance. In 
 the same way may be transmitted posthumous works, 
 such as " Beyond the Veil," by P. B. Randolph, 
 the whole of which is probably fiction, or an er- 
 ratic state of mental wandering peculiar to his con- 
 dition. 
 
 Very many of the visions are induced in this way : 
 
150 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 It is psychologic ; and you may get to any extent 
 such views as related in " Ghost Land," " Views 
 of our Heavenly Home," and other works I do not 
 recall, that run in the same groove of imaginative 
 ideas. It may be thought the writer is exaggerating 
 on this form of influences and their operations. Not 
 so. I have had an unusual experience with this class 
 of spirits, and know their capabilities, and hesitate 
 not to affirm what I state, as absolute facts. It has 
 not been from any influence on my organism, but 
 from knowledge demonstrated to me in spirit-groups, 
 circles, and assemblies, where such spirits have been 
 present. 
 
 This sciolism and haziness, and these transcen- 
 dental communications of supposed supernal things, 
 are not to be thought to appear in the messages from 
 those who speak to their surviving friends through 
 some good medium. Such may convey information 
 relating to their mutual interests, without deviating 
 from facts known to them, and have no interest to 
 convey aught else. It is the more intelligent that 
 will enter extendedly into the first form of communi- 
 cating through some other mind, and yet be very far 
 from clearly comprehending the subject on which 
 they speak. 
 
 To this class — the erratics — may be assigned the 
 insane, those who are temporarily demented, and the 
 delirious. It may appear novel to hear that this state 
 of mentality exists in spirit-life, yet it is true. Nei- 
 ther does it belong exclusively to those who have 
 been so afflicted on earth. Spirits become delirious 
 
GRADES OF SOULS IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 151 
 
 after death; and this is no uncommon occurrence 
 when they first begin to realize the changed condi- 
 tion. More especially is this so if some external 
 state weighs on their minds, or some reflex action 
 reaches them. I have given some examples of this 
 in other passages. I do not, however, assert this 
 from information I have obtained of strangers, but 
 from what I have known of my nearest and dearest 
 friends, — those whom I stood by in sickness and 
 death ; those whose mentality remained sound until 
 their senses were extinguished ; those who recog- 
 nized and bade me good-by with the full conscious- 
 ness they were going. When reviving from a state 
 of rest, they were wandering and irrational for weeks 
 and months ; but this passed away, and they came 
 out bright and clear. 
 
 I know some who had no mental derangement on 
 earth, who became wildly demented in spirit, and 
 raved just as any maniac would on a subject that 
 troubled them. 
 
 When these facts are realized to be a condition of 
 spirit, what a light must be thrown on the diagnosis 
 of these mental affections on earth. 
 
 None of these states are permanent ; they all pass 
 away, and the spirit progresses out of them sooner 
 or later. Hence, they may be said to be conditions 
 of earth-life, and not properly those of superior 
 spheres. 
 
 The next class is composed of the normals, — those 
 who have progressed beyond these conditions, and 
 are more equipoised ; to whom the spirit-state has 
 
152 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 become the normal condition. These may not all be 
 remarkably gifted with knowledge of superior things, 
 or power of spirit-force, but they are at home, and 
 enter more and more into the knowledge and power 
 of spirit. This class takes in all degrees of advance- 
 ment and progress. A classification of these grades, 
 perhaps, would not be accurate, as they are only de- 
 grees of advancement, and the spirits demonstrate 
 them best by the manner in which they manifest. 
 How far they can be classed in the beyond, I have 
 no means of knowing. The reader must judge of 
 that by these pages, and all others as well. I am 
 writing of facts within my own knowledge. I am a 
 denizen of earth, and not familiar, as yet, with an- 
 gelic, celestial realms. Neither have I penetrated 
 the realms of elementaries, to know anything relat- 
 ing thereto. 
 
 I have endeavored to show what a diversity of 
 conditions the spirit- world is formed of; that its in- 
 habitants are not saints nor angels ; neither are they 
 devils, given over to work ruin to mankind. They 
 will not abide near or with those of earth who do 
 not attract them ; but those of earth make the con- 
 ditions they come through or like to abide in. 
 
 There is not a soul that will find it can attribute 
 its transgressions or predilections to the presence 
 or temptations of another. Hence, all the elabo- 
 rate teachings, stating that spirits influence those 
 of earth in wrong-doing, is a libel on them, and de- 
 grading to the individuality and independence of 
 the human family. 
 
GRADES OF SOULS IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 153 
 
 The condition of those in advanced and distant 
 spheres is not of vital import to us, for the reason 
 that the sphere of earth is the most important to 
 those who are upon it. How the present affects the 
 future, is what we most desire to know, that we 
 may be guided aright. A knowledge of what there 
 may be in the remote ages, or far-distant spheres, 
 will not benefit mankind one straw here, nor aid 
 them to advance in the next stage of action. 
 
154 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 Section XIII. 
 
 FACTS VERSUS THEORY, AND THE TRUE 
 ETHICS FOR GUIDANCE. 
 
 If there is any one thing more than another that 
 has afflicted the human family, it has been theory, — 
 the speculation on cause and effect, — and this, under 
 the name of theology, has been practiced since mind 
 has had expression or could form conclusions. 
 
 Some active brain will construct a theory. If it 
 is plausible to any extent, others will adopt and con- 
 tinue to teach it, until, becoming general among 
 classes, tribes, or people, it is widely diffused, and 
 becomes a cardinal belief of a sect, and part of some 
 religious creed, and is adopted, generation after gen- 
 eration, as a theological tenet. All creeds have had 
 this starting-point, the theory of some one mind, and 
 have taken about the same course as here stated. 
 That all forms of religious belief have been initiated 
 in this way, is undeniable. The Christian theology 
 is no exception, because when its creeds and faiths 
 come to be known, they will be found to have no 
 foundation in fact. Hence, it must be evident to 
 what extent mankind may be misled by theory. 
 Now that a new dispensation has come to earth, let 
 the new Tree of Life be guarded from this blighting 
 worm that lies concealed near its core. 
 
 It is plainly evident, and cannot be concealed, 
 
FACTS VERSUS THEORY. 155 
 
 that spiritualism is afflicted to some extent with this 
 class of speculative minds, disguised by what is 
 termed a superior state of inspirational afflatus. 
 Some of these have weighty influence, because nat- 
 urally gifted with intellectual ability. 
 
 It has been intimated in these pages how these 
 sciolisms of supernal things may be exercised by 
 such talented minds. The rule of guidance should 
 be : Take nothing on faith, accept nothing as reliable 
 unless well substantiated. 
 
 What does spiritualism owe to teachers merely? 
 Nothing. Its many manifestations are facts, that 
 give all that is of importance to know. It has been 
 its phenomenal phases that have planted it over the 
 whole earth, and carried truth to every man, without 
 distinction of race or color. From the tin} T rap, step 
 by step through every other phase, it has advanced 
 to the full stature of its present growth ; yet no one 
 has been able to arrest its development nor advance 
 its progress. It has moved at the bidding of no indi- 
 vidual, and all teaching has been made subordinate to 
 its demonstrated phenomena. The spirit-world has 
 substantially proved for itself the continued exist- 
 ence of mind after the death of the earthly body, — 
 as well as other facts, too well known to require men- 
 tion ; and from the past it can be judged amply able 
 to take care of itself in the future. 
 
 Whatever deception tricky spirits may play, or 
 dishonest mediums practice, is insignificant, and not 
 a feather's weight against its genuine facts. Neither 
 is this deception so detrimental as erroneous teach- 
 ings or the promulgation of tenets at variance with 
 
^ 
 
 156 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 
 
 facts. For, while dishonest practices have only a 
 passing notice, and can be avoided when detected, 
 erroneous doctrines are far more lasting, — quite as 
 much so in spiritualism as in Christianity or any 
 other religious faith. There are no ethics in modern 
 spiritualism that surpass what has been given before. 
 No other teaching can transcend the simple inspired 
 statements, " Do unto others as you would have oth- 
 ers do unto you ; " " For inasmuch as ye have done 
 it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye 
 have done it unto me." None other can ever super- 
 sede this Divine command, the ethics it implies, or 
 the rule it gives with which to determine man's fu- 
 ture. Hence, all the philosophical disquisitions on 
 the ethics of spiritualism are of little importance ; 
 they are but the effusions of active minds. 
 
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