412. The six spiritual spheres are concentric zones, or circles, of
exceedingly refined matter, encompassing the earth like belts or
girdles. The distance of each from the other is regulated by fixed laws.
413. You will understand, then, they are not shapeless chimeras, or
mere projections of the mind, but absolute entities, as much so indeed
as the planets of the solar system or the globe on which you now
reside. They have latitudes, longitudes, and atmospheres of peculiar
vital air, whose soft and balmy undulating currents produce a most
pleasurable and invigorating effect. Their surfaces are diversified
with an immense variety of the most picturesque landscapes; with lofty
mountain ranges, valleys, rivers, lakes, forests, and the internal
correspondence of all the higher phenomena of earth. The trees and
shrubbery, crowned with exquisitely beautiful foliage and flowers of
every colour and variety, send forth their grateful emanations.
414. The physical economy and arrangements of each sphere differs from
the other; new and striking scenes of grandeur being presented to us in
each, increasing in beauty and sublimity as they ascend.
415. Although the spheres revolve with the earth on a common axis,
forming the same angle with the plane of the ecliptic, and move with
it about the ponderable sun, they are not dependent on that body
for either light or heat, receiving not a perceptible ray from that
ponderable source; but receive those dispensations wholly from his
internal or spiritual correspondence, (a spiritual sun concentric with
the sun of your world,)—from that great central luminary whose native
brightness and uninterrupted splendour baffle description.
416. We have no divisions of time, therefore, into days, weeks, months,
or years; nor alternations of season, caused by the earth’s annual
revolution; those periods being observed with reference only to the
affairs of earth.
417. Although we, like you, are constantly progressing toward
perfection, our ideas of time and the seasons differ widely from yours;
with you it is time—with us, eternity. In the terrestrial sphere, a
man’s thoughts, being bounded by time and space, are limited; but with
us they are extended in proportion as we get rid of those restrictions
and our perceptions of truth become more accurate.
418. As order is a primary object in the spheres, there are of course
laws for its preservation. Fundamentally, these proceed through his
ministering angels, from the Divine Lawgiver, who commands the angelic
hosts of heaven and rules the inhabitants of earth; who employs myriads
of ministering angels as the means of intercommunication between their
Supreme Master and his creatures throughout the universe.
419. So far as legislation, subordinate or supplementary to that of
the Supreme Legislator, is required, the government of the spheres is
republican, exercising legislative, judicial, and executive powers.
But these functions are not embarrassed by the necessity of codes
indited or printed, nor by that of physical coercion. The results of
these functions are realized in simultaneous and homogeneous opinions
awakened in the minds of the ruling spirits, as truth takes hold of the
minds of mathematicians, _pari passu_, as they read the same series
of demonstrations. The conclusions in which the chief spirits thus
unanimously concur, are by them impressed upon their constituents, who,
thus impressed, are constitutionally unable to resist the sentiment
which, like a magic spell, operates upon their sense of right, and
overrules any rebellious passion.
420. As, in the rudimental sphere, weighing, measurement, or
mathematical calculation or demonstration, when performed by competent
persons, are rarely disputed, so in the spheres, the decisions of
those whose authority is intuitively evident in moral or legal
questions, meet with acquiescence. It follows, therefore, that neither
imprisonment nor fetters are requisite for the enforcement of moral or
legal restrictions.
421. Moreover, it must be evident that in the spheres, wisdom,
knowledge, rectitude, and conscientiousness are the real vicegerents of
God, the higher spirits acting as his media.
422. We acknowledge no aristocracy but that of mind and merit. In our
diplomatic intercourse with our brothers of earth, when affairs of the
greatest importance are to be transacted, (the present dispensation,
for example,) we intrust them to a delegation of the most advanced
spirits—those who are best acquainted with the affairs of the celestial
country and of that to which they are accredited.
423. Our laws are meted out in the scale of exact justice, from
whose awards there is _no_ appeal. Punishments are but the natural
consequences of violated laws; being invariably commensurate with
offences, and have reference as well to the reformation of the
offender, as to the prevention of future crime.
424. The political economy of the spheres has reference only to wealth,
which being unbounded and free as air and light, can of course be
appropriated by each and every member of society, according to his or
her capacity of reception, the supply being always equal to the demand.
425. Wealth consists, upon earth, of those objects of human luxury or
taste, which can only be acquired by means of labour and capital. Other
things being equal, the value is generally in proportion to the cost
incurred in the production. But in the spheres, such objects existing
in profusion, the supply is of course always equal to the demand,
though no less necessary than the air which you breathe; like it, they
have no marketable value; there is no one who has occasion to buy, all
being abundantly supplied from a common inexhaustible stock.
426. Hence it will appear that we have no occasion for gold or silver,
which perisheth with the using, but the currency of _moral_ and
_intellectual_ worth, coined in the mint of divine love, and assayed by
the standards of purity and truth. Our bank, whose charter is eternal,
and whose notes are never subject to fluctuations, and always payable
on _demand_, is none other than the great bank of heaven, whose capital
stock consists of an infinitude of love, mercy, and benevolence, of
which our Heavenly Father is president and director, and in which his
beloved children, the whole human family, are shareholders.
427. With regard to the social constitutions of the “spheres,” each is
divided into six circles, or societies, in which kindred and congenial
spirits are united and subsist together, agreeably with the law of
affinity.
428. Although the members of each society unite as near as may be on
the same plan, agreeing in the most prominent moral and intellectual
features; yet it will be found, on careful analysis, that the varieties
of character, in each society, are almost infinite; being as numerous
as the persons who compose the circle.
429. Each society has teachers from those above, and not unfrequently
from the higher spheres, whose province it is to impart to us the
knowledge acquired from their instructions and experience, in the
different departments of science, and which we in turn transmit to
those below. Thus, by receiving and giving knowledge our moral and
intellectual faculties are expanded to higher conceptions and more
exalted views of the great Creator, whose almighty power is no less
displayed in the constitution of spirit worlds, than in that of the
countless resplendent orbs of space.
430. We do not, as many persons in the rudimental state imagine,
abandon the studies which we commenced on earth, which would
presuppose the loss of our reasoning powers, and our consequent
inferiority to yourselves; but on the contrary, we go on progressing
in knowledge and wisdom, and shall progress throughout the boundless
ages of eternity. You being chained down to earth, by the law
of gravitation, are comparatively limited in your resources for
information; but we having arrived at a higher sphere of thought and
action, and having a more extensive field of vision, can soar higher
and farther into the wonderful workings of that mysterious Being, who,
owing to the infinity of his perfections, must be forever in advance
of us, his finite creatures, and to whom, of course, we can bear no
relative proportion.
431. Our scientific researches and investigations are extended to all
that pertains to the phenomena of universal nature; to all the wonders
of the heavens and the earth, and to whatever the mind of man is
capable of conceiving: all of which exercise our faculties, and form a
considerable part of our enjoyments. The noble and sublime sciences of
astronomy, chemistry, and mathematics, engage a considerable portion
of our attention, and afford us an inexhaustible subject for study and
reflection.
432. Nevertheless, there are millions of spirits who are not yet
sufficiently advanced to take any interest in those pursuits; for you
will bear in mind that the spheres are but so many departments of a
great normal school, for the mental discipline and development of
the race, each of which is reached only by the spiral[11] stages of
progression,—the earth being the first in the series, and the seventh
sphere the last; being preparatory to an entrance into the supernal
heaven. You will perceive, then, that we have an unlimited scope for
the prosecution of our studies, and that whatever knowledge you fail to
acquire in the rudimental state, legitimate thereto, you will have to
obtain, in some of the degrees of the spiritual spheres.
433. We do not study those practical arts, which are so essential to
the earth life, such as mechanics, &c.; for we do not stand in need of
their applications; our studies being wholly of a mental character, we
attend to the fundamental principles only. All the more intellectual
branches of the arts and sciences are cultivated in a much more perfect
manner than that to which we have been accustomed upon earth. The
mind being untrammelled by the gross material body, and having its
intellectual energies and perceptions improved, we can by intuition,
as it were, more clearly and rapidly perceive and understand the
principles and truths on which the sciences are based. We can trace the
various relations of each subject, so as to understand its connective
importance; a knowledge at which mortals arrive only by a long and
tedious process.
434. We are not, for good and wise ends, which in due time will be
fully explained, permitted to reveal all our knowledge to those below
us, as the consequences of such a procedure would be perilous to the
happiness of all, and subversive of order.
435. In addition to our studies we have many other sources of
intellectual, moral, and heartfelt enjoyment, from which we derive the
most ineffable pleasure: one of which is social reunions and convivial
meetings; a coming together of dear friends, brothers, sisters,
children and parents; where the liveliest emotion and tenderest
affections of our nature are excited, and the fondest and most
endearing reminiscences are awakened; where spirit meets in unison with
spirit, and heart beats responsive to heart.
436. Yet individuals united by the ties of consanguinity are not always
linked together, even here, by the golden chain of love and benevolent
affection, since it not unfrequently happens that there is much more
harmony existing among those who are not members of the same family.
Notwithstanding that persons who were intimately acquainted with each
other in the natural world, and those who are akin, may be and often
are separated, sometimes for long periods, still they do occasionally
meet together; those in the higher degrees and spheres passing to the
lower, while those in the latter never ascend to the former till fully
prepared for such a transition, agreeably to the fixed and unalterable
laws of progression. The periods of such separations vary according to
the relative gradations of intellectual and moral qualities in each.
437. The peculiar connections and relations of parents and children,
brothers and sisters, and all the minor ties of consanguinity, must be
forever maintained, although there may be an indefinite interruption to
the harmonious play of their affinities.
438. As regards the institution of marriage, I would observe that on
earth it is a civil contract, entered into by two persons, male and
female, mutually or otherwise, as the case may be, for and during the
term of their natural lives, but which is legally annulled on the
demise of either party; so that whether or not it be renewed in the
spiritual world, is determined by choice, not obligation.
439. Celestial marriage, however, is quite a different affair: it is
the blending of two minds in one, resulting from an innate reciprocal
love in each; a conjunction of negative and positive principles,
forming a true and indissoluble bond of spiritual union, which human
legislation cannot reach: a marriage which is born of God, and is
therefore eternal. It is often asked, “Will all be married in heaven?”
I answer, Yes, most assuredly; it never was designed for man to be
alone, either on earth or in heaven: each will seek and find their
counterpart.
440. Each society has a municipal administration or moral code, subject
to the divine government; submission to the will of God, and obedience
to his laws, whether recognised in nature or revelation, forming the
basis of its constitution. With us philosophy and religion go hand in
hand.
441. Evil or misdirected spirits find their affinities in the second
sphere, where the lowest and most undeveloped are associated together,
and remain for indefinite periods, but with all the moral depravity
and darkness with which they are enveloped, through the benign
influence exerted over their perceptive and rational faculties, by
higher intelligences, each begins to feel, sooner or later, the low
and degraded position he occupies; moreover, finding new means of
progress, and new sources of contemplation as well as delight, and his
capacity of making perpetual advancement in knowledge, his intellectual
faculties become gradually expanded, and his moral powers increased.
Hence the grovelling propensities of his nature yielding to the
dictates of reason, his grosser passions subside, causing him to aspire
to higher associations and circumstances, which in turn beget new
wants, thoughts, and feelings.
442. We have no sectarian or ecclesiastical feuds; no metaphysical
dogmas; nor are we troubled with those insatiable cravings and
inordinate ambitions, so often manifested by mortals; nor have we any
taxation for religion, the voluntary contributions of intellectual and
moral minds being its meet support.
443. Our religious teachers belong to that class of persons who were
noted, during their probation on earth, for their philanthropy and
deeds of moral bravery; those who, regardless of the scoffs and sneers
of the time-serving multitude, dared to promulgate and defend the
doctrines of “civil and religious liberty.” These practical reformers
and saviours of the race, instead of worrying their hearers, as is
the custom with many on earth, with horrible denunciations and awful
threats of eternal vengeance for their misdoing, admonish and exhort
them to higher and nobler aims and aspirations; to the study of Deity
as manifested in his stupendous works.
444. They urge upon them, too, the necessity of their co-operation
in the reformation and advancement of their more degraded brethren,
by instructing them in the divine principles of love, wisdom, and
benevolence. They instruct them in the soul-inspiring and elevating
doctrine of _universal_ and _eternal_ progression, and in the sublime
truth that _evil is not an indestructible and positive principle, but a
negative condition, a mere temporary circumstance of their existence_;
and, furthermore, _that suffering for sin is not a revengeful and
malevolent infliction of God, but a necessary and invariable sequence
of violated law_.
445. They teach them also that, according to the divine moral economy,
there is no such thing as pardon for sins committed—no immediate
mercy—no possible escape from the natural results of crime, no matter
where or by whom committed; no healing of a diseased moral constitution
by any outward appliances, or ceremonial absurdities; and finally,
that the only way whereby to escape sin and its consequences, is by
progressing above and beyond it.
446. We derive much pleasure from the exercise of our talents in vocal
and instrumental music, which far excels the noblest efforts of musical
genius on earth. When we convene to worship God in our temples, whose
halls and columns beam with inherent celestial light, our voices are
blended together in songs of praise and adoration to the Almighty
Author of our existence, from whom all blessings are derived.
447. From what has been stated, it may be perceived that we are moral,
intellectual, and sensitive creatures. Instead of being, as many of
you imagine, mere shadowy and unsubstantial entities, we are possessed
of definite, tangible, and exquisitely symmetrical forms, with
well-rounded and graceful limbs, and yet so light and elastic that we
can glide through the atmosphere with almost electric speed. The forked
lightnings may flash, and the thunders roll in awful reverberation
along the vault of heaven, and the rain descend in gushing torrents;
nevertheless, by the mere act of volition, we may stand unharmed at
your side.
448. We are, moreover, endowed with all the beauty, loveliness, and
vivacity of youth, and are clothed in flowing vestments of effulgent
nature suited to the particular degree of refinement of our bodies. Our
raiment being composed of phosphorescent principles, we have the power
of attracting and absorbing or reflecting the rays evolved, according
as our condition is more or less developed. This accounts for our being
seen, by clairvoyants, in different degrees of brightness, from a dusky
hue to the most intensely brilliant light.
449. The spiritual body is a perfect human form, originating in,
and analogous to, the corporeal organization in its several parts,
functions, and relations. The heart beats in rythmic pulsations, the
lungs fulfil their office of respiration, and the brain generates
its vitalized magnetic fluid, whose life-giving currents permeate
every portion of the spiritual organism. Man in the rudimental state
is tripartite, consisting of soul, of spirit, and flesh; but in the
spheres a duality, composed of soul and spirit. Having approached the
portals of death, he disrobes himself of the exterior form as he would
put away a worn-out garment. The gross and cumbrous physical machine,
which was given for the purpose of developing his more beautiful and
excellent spiritual body, and of bringing him into more immediate
relationship with the outward world, can serve his purposes no longer.
450. For your clearer understanding of the _modus operandi_ of our
intercourse with man, you will remember that by our transition to
the world of spirits we part with the body only. We lose none of our
intelligence by the transfer, but, on the contrary, become daily more
and more developed in our knowledge of and power over the forces in
nature; so that we are enabled to perform many feats to you, seemingly
wonderful, and which really appear miraculous to the majority of those
who witness them.
451. Having disposed of the external mechanism of flesh, we cannot come
into direct contact with physical matter, but we are able, through the
sphere of the medium, when natural conditions are complied with, not
only to communicate our thoughts and wishes to our friends, but to move
solid, ponderable bodies. By spheres, I mean the particular mental or
physical state, or emanation by which all bodies, organic or inorganic,
are immediately surrounded, and the particular electrical relations
which they sustain to each other, causing repulsions and attractions in
man and animals as well as in chemical reagents.
452. When we wish to impress the mind of the medium, by the effort of
our magic will, (provided always that he or she is in sympathy with
or sustains a negative relation to the operator,) we can dispose and
arrange the magnetic currents of the brain so as to form or fashion
them into ideas of our own. We can also learn to read the thoughts
of another—conditions being favourable—as readily as you can gain a
knowledge of the characters or symbols of a language foreign to your
own.
453. Thoughts being motions of the mind, assume specific and definite
forms, and when _distinct_ in the mind can be clearly perceived and
understood by any spirit who is in sympathy with the mind in which they
are generated.
454. To influence, mechanically, the hand of a medium to write, we
direct currents of vitalized spiritual electricity on the particular
muscles which we desire to control. In order to produce the physical
manifestations, it is not by any means requisite that the medium should
be possessed of a good moral character or well-balanced mind, as an
individual of small mental calibre would answer our purpose equally
well; but an advanced spirit could not directly impress or control the
organs of a mind with which he is not in affinity, and _vice versâ_.
455. We can instantly determine the sphere of a spirit, in or out of
the body, by the particular brilliancy and character of the light in
which he is enveloped, as well as by the peculiar sensation which his
presence creates.
456. The raps are produced by _voluntary_ discharges of the vitalized
spiritual electricity, above mentioned, from the spirit, coming in
contact with the animal electricity emanating from the medium. These
discharges we can direct at will to any particular locality, thereby
producing sounds or concussions.
457. The question being often asked, “How do you move solid
substances?” I would partly answer it by asking, How does a magnet
attract and raise from their resting-places certain bodies within
whose sphere it is brought? How does a man move his body and direct it
whithersoever it goeth? How does God, the almighty cause of all causes,
move and keep in perpetual motion the immense systems which revolve in
space, and maintain each in its due relative position? I answer, By the
magnetism of a _positive_ will.
458. We, in common with you and all animals, possess an infinitesimal
portion of this power, varying in degree in different classes and
in different individuals. When you raise your arm, as in the act of
lifting or moving a body, you direct by the force of your will-power
galvanic currents on the muscles required to perform the function. The
muscles acting as levers, through the stimulus of the subtle element,
act and react on the more solid parts, the bones, and thus is the
object laid hold of and moved, and still you do not come into direct
contact with the object. Now, this is called a _very simple_ operation,
and so it would appear, but who understands it? Although advanced
spirits are much more conversant with the forces operating in nature
than the most intellectually developed man in the form, still they do
not, nor can they ever, as long as eternity rolls on, understand the
hidden sphere of cause. The operation of the will it is impossible
to understand. Now, as I have said, we are not possessed of physical
bodies; still we can make the imponderable elements subserve our
purposes by acting as bones, nerves, and muscles.
459. Touching our peregrinations and voyages of discovery, about which
so much has been said by spirits, as well as mortals, I will say
that it is a fallacy to suppose that every spirit can visit at will
the planets of the solar system, much less those of the more remote
systems, since I am certain that none but the residents of the seventh
sphere, or the angels of the “Supernal Heavens,” have the power to do
so; because each planet, being an inhabited globe, hath its concentric
or spiritual spheres, through all of which in order to reach it a
spirit must pass. It is obvious, therefore, according to the immutable
law of progression, that the transit of a spirit to a distant planet
would require its adaptation to the highest sphere of that body.
460. Having spoken of the angels of the “Supernal Heavens,” I will
explain what is meant by this designation. They are those pure and
comparatively exalted beings who, having advanced beyond the highest
sphere of the planet to which they belonged, and attained a very high
state of moral and intellectual development, have been admitted into
that great and illimitable sphere of progression which lies outside
of all other spheres, and in which the greatest conceivable degree
of harmony reigns. It is composed of one grand harmonial society,
whose members are privileged to go wheresoever they will through the
boundless empire of space. They are principally from the planets
Jupiter and Saturn, and hold a much more distinguished rank in the
intellectual, moral, and social system than the inhabitants of earth.
I have not learned that any spirit from our planet has yet reached the
Supernal Heaven.
461. It has been said that spirits hunger, thirst, and stand in need
of repose. It is true that those states do pertain to spirit life
agreeably to the law of spiritual correspondences. The grosser and more
undeveloped the spirit, the closer is the analogy between it and the
physical states.
462. Physical laws and substances are gross or externalized spiritual
laws and things. The more refined and developed the spirit, the less it
requires of gross aliment. Refined, intellectual, and moral beings are
nourished and sustained by refined, intellectual, and moral nutriment.
Their food is derived from the “Tree of Knowledge,” and they slake
their thirst at the crystal streams which continually flow from the
inexhaustible fountain of God’s wisdom and love. The lowest undeveloped
spirit lives on comparatively refined aliment to that on which mortals
subsist. It consists of the more refined elements of spiritual fruits
and vegetables. The spirit’s need of rest depends on its particular
degree of development, diminishing in proportion to its advancement
from the material plane.
463. Though the principles embodied in our teachings and philosophy
may be regarded, by the majority of mankind, as _strange_ and
incomprehensible, they are, nevertheless, no more so than the
principles of natural science would be to the unlettered mind. As the
ability to comprehend the principles on which the natural sciences are
based increases with the expansion of the intellectual faculties, in
like manner is the power of perceiving spiritual things and relations
increased by the development of the interior or spiritual faculties.
464. As there are no words in the human language in which spiritual
ideas may be embodied so as to convey their literal and exact
signification, we are obliged ofttimes to have recourse to the use of
analogisms and metaphorical modes of expression. In our communion with
you we have to comply with the peculiar structure and rules of your
language; but the genius of our language is such that we can impart
more ideas to each other in a single word than you can possibly convey
in a hundred.
465. I have thus given you a general outline of the leading facts
connected with the destiny of the race. I have endeavoured to show you
that man is a progressive being, that he possesses a refined material
(449) organization, which, going with him at death, serves as a medium
through which he may communicate with the visible world. I will here
add that, under certain circumstances, this spiritual organization has
the power of reflecting the rays of light, so as to be rendered visible
to the natural eye, as are certain gaseous bodies.
466. I have attempted to show you, too, that the spirit on entering the
spheres, being governed by its affinity, takes its position in that
circle for which it is morally and intellectually adapted; hence the
first sphere is the abode of all the most degraded spirits, and that
their advancement, however slow it may be, is nevertheless sure, since
“onward and upward” is the motto emblazoned on the spiritual banner.
467. I have endeavoured to show you, also, that the spirit is a
_finite_ being like man in the form, and, therefore, _fallible_, and
that as he advances in knowledge, he grasps more of truth and drops
more of error. I have attempted to show you that the spirit world is
a counterpart of the natural world, and that we, no less than you,
are subject to surrounding conditions and circumstances. Spirits of
congenial minds and opinions are drawn toward each other and to you,
on the principle that “like attracts like.” In order to receive high
moral and intellectual communications, it is essentially necessary that
the medium and circle should be in affinity with each other, and with
the spirits who are capable of giving such communications.
468. Besides the topics adverted to, I will briefly call your attention
to a few of the most prominent among the beneficial results which
will flow from spiritual intercommunion. It will settle the important
question, “_If a man die, shall he live again?_” It will reduce the
fact of the immortality of the human spirit to a certainty, so that
the world’s knowledge of the fact will not be the result of a _blind
faith_, but a positive philosophy. It will show the relation existing
between mind and matter. It will make men thinking and rational beings.
It will establish a holy and most delightful intercourse between
the inhabitants of the terrestrial world and their departed spirit
friends. It will expand and liberalize the mind far beyond your present
conceptions. It will fraternize and unite all the members of the
human family in an everlasting bond of spiritual union and harmonial
brotherhood. It will establish the principles of love to God and your
fellows. It will do away with sectarian bigotry. It will show that
many of the so-called religious teachings are but impositions on the
credulity of mankind, being founded on the grossest absurdities and
palpable ignorance of the nature of things.
469. It will give man higher and infinitely more exalted views of God,
and bring him into closer communion with the Author of his being. It
will do away completely with the sting of death, and rob the grave of
its terrors. It will teach the eternal progression of the soul, and
show that the time is fast approaching when the moral condition of the
race is to be vastly improved; when error is to be abolished, and truth
is to take its place; when the glory of the Lord is to be revealed, and
all flesh shall see it together! In fine, it will be a help to the soul
in the hour of its adversity, and enable it to bear up under affliction
with noble and heroic fortitude; and when about to launch its barque on
the river of eternal life for the fair and beautiful land of promise,
it will be its stay and sheet-anchor.
Your father, ROBERT HARE.
_Communication from a Spirit Son of the Author._
I have in the spirit world two sons, one of whom died, thirteen months
old, in 1813; the other, five months old, in 1825. Both have been to
communicate with me. I subjoin a letter received from the younger:
470. “_My Dear Father_:—I made a very brief communication to you
through the medium of Mr. Gordon, which was my first successful effort
to control the human organism. It has been long known to me that
spirits could manifest themselves to mortals; and that they have always
held communion with their brethren in the flesh, is not new to me. The
law is as natural as gravitation, and like it, I presume, will endure
forever. But so great has been, and still is, the superstition of the
masses, and to such an extent has man’s mental vision been obscured by
his so-called spiritual teachers, that, excepting a comparatively few
instances, spirits have failed in their attempts to reveal themselves
to the civilized portion of mankind. The conditions have, for the most
part, been wanting, owing to the above causes, and which have grown
out of man’s false notions respecting his natural and true relation
with the unseen world. The less civilized of our Father’s children,
in regard to their communion with spirits, have been much more highly
favoured than their otherwise more fortunate brethren, since it has not
been an uncommon circumstance for them to commune with their departed
friends.
471. “Many years, my dear parent, have elapsed since I entered the
bright abode of the blest—a very little child, yet a very happy one. My
first and second birth rapidly succeeded each other; but so little did
I know, from actual experience, of my rudimental condition, that I have
never realized the change. I have no memory of my earth-life, yet I
know from observation and reflection that I am to some extent the loser
by my premature birth into the spiritual state. I have, it is true,
measurably obtained since then that knowledge of exterior nature which
I should have acquired in the flesh, on the globe which gave me birth,
as an independent, individualized existence.
472. “My life here has been a charmed one; enrapturing scenes of beauty
being constantly presented to view, like the ever-varying landscapes
delineated on the canvas by a skilful artist. Now is seen a beautiful
silvery lake on whose translucent bosom floats the graceful swan,
bending his pliant neck, as if proudly conscious of his surpassing
beauty; and anon, among the lilies of this lake, which appear like gems
placed on a virgin brow, shoots a tiny barque, freighted with angelic
children. Then is presented a bolder view, of towering mountains and
wide-extended plains, with the accompanying characteristics of hill and
dell.
473. “In answer to a question which would naturally suggest itself to
your mind, respecting the means by which I have become acquainted with
that knowledge of the external world which I should have gained in it,
I would say it has been acquired by frequent visits to the earth. I
have been accustomed to accompany you, father, in your daily walks, and
to study, through you and mother, those elementary lessons which are
so essential to the full development of the spirit. Your son Theodore,
though nearly forgotten by you, has not been far distant. The time is
fast approaching, and is near at hand, when man’s spiritual nature and
destiny will be much more fully comprehended by the world. Then spirit
manifestations and spirit intercourse will be considered as natural as
for the sun to rise in the eastern heavens. Spirits highly elevated in
love and wisdom would not descend from their exalted position except
to teach, for their attractions are upward, but their mission is to
instruct those below them, from which they derive much happiness.
You know, father, how much pleasure it gives you to impart knowledge
to others. How much greater then is our enjoyment, whose minds are
intensely more susceptible of real joys! Your spiritual mission on
earth has just begun, and we are endeavouring to impress your mind with
the sacred importance of its fulfilment. Give unto others that we give
unto you, and you shall receive abundantly. I occupy a place which
has not yet been opened to your perception. Prepare yourself, my dear
father, for its higher and more glorious unfoldings, by first gaining
that knowledge which pertains to the lower degrees, and you will
thereby become elevated to the higher spiritual planes, and increase
your knowledge of things celestial, and greatly develop and enlarge
your sphere of usefulness. THEODORE.”
_Additional Communications from Spirits who died while Infants._
474. THE brother of a medium reported himself by spelling out his
name in full—Dewitt Matthias. He had departed this life at the age of
thirteen months. I inquired if he had taught himself to spell. I was
instructed, was his answer.
475. While I was in a state of extreme unbelief, Dewitt’s mother
told me that her son, who died when aged only thirteen months,
had communicated with her; and said that his stature had grown
with his age, now sixteen years. This statement I mentioned as an
exemplification of credulity, little thinking that this wonder would be
realized by the existence of my spirit children being made evident to
me by such communications as that from Theodore, above given.
476. The eldest child of my parents died an infant, yet my elder
brother, Charles, in his account of his spiritual birth, mentions that
this brother came as a full-grown spirit to greet his translation to
the spirit world.
_Communication from a very young Spirit child to its Parents._
477. The following communications have been received from a spirit
child, as I understand, of about six years old. It will be perceived
that it was assisted by its grandmother. They have been handed to me by
the child’s father, Mr. George Helmick, in whose sincerity I have great
confidence.
478. The following message, says Mr. Helmick, came through the medium
of Miss Irish, some eight months since, on an occasion when there were
some twelve or fifteen persons present, nearly all of whom were entire
strangers to me and my wife, who was also present. We had never seen
Miss Irish before, and _we know_ that she had no knowledge of us in any
respect.
479. The _fact_ that we had a child in the spirit world was _not_ known
to _any_ present but myself and wife.
480. “Father, do you not, kind father, feel my soft and gentle touch
upon your brow?[12] Can you not feel my presence, as grandmamma and I,
with care, enfold you in our embrace?
“Mother, gentle, loving mother, do you not feel my angel kiss, as I
imprint it upon your cheek?
“Father, mother, I left you before earth’s errors had a chance to take
root within my young and tender mind.
481. “Then, loving parents, think of me as you do of a gentle
moonbeam, which struggles to bless earth with its presence but for a
moment, and then softly and sweetly returns to heaven again.
“SPIRIT CHILD.”
_For George Helmick._
* * * * *
The following message was received through Mrs. Gourlay on the 27th of
October last, by the aid of a disk and alphabet as arranged by Dr. Hare: