"A STUDY OF SCIENCE IS A STUDY OF GOD."--COMMUNING WITH ANGELS.
"This is incredible," I exclaimed.
"You need not be astonished," he answered. "Is there any argument that
can be offered to controvert the assertion that man is ignorant of many
natural laws?"
"I can offer none."
"Is there any doubt that a force, distinct and separate from matter,
influences matter and vivifies it into a living personality?"
"I do not deny that there is such force."
"What then should prevent this force from existing separate from the
body if it be capable of existing in it?"
"I can not argue against such a position."
"If, as is hoped and believed by the majority of mankind, even though
some try to deny the fact, it is possible for man to exist as an
association of earth matters, linked to a personal spirit force, the
soul, and for the spirit force, after the death of the body, to exist
independent of the grosser attributes of man, free from his mortal body,
is it not reasonable to infer that the spirit, while it is still in man
and linked to his body, may be educated and developed so as, under
favorable conditions, to meet and communicate with other spirits that
have been previously liberated from earthly bondage?"
"I submit," I answered; "but you shock my sensibilities when you thus
imply that by cold, scientific investigation we can place ourselves in a
position to meet the unseen spirit world--"
It was now my turn to hesitate.
"Go on," he said.
"To commune with the angels," I answered.
"A study of true science is a study of God," he continued. "Angels are
organizations natural in accordance with God's laws. They appear
superhuman, because of our ignorance concerning the higher natural
forces. They exist in exact accordance with the laws that govern the
universe; but as yet the attraction between clay and clay-bound spirit
is so great as to prevent the enthralled soul of man from communicating
with them. The faith of the religionist is an example of the
unquenchable feeling that creates a belief as well as a hope that there
is a self-existence separate from earthy substances. The scoffing
scientific agnostic, working for other objects, will yet astonish
himself by elaborating a method that will practically demonstrate these
facts, and then empirical religion, as exemplified by the unquestioning
faithful believer, and systematic science, as typified in the
experimental materialist, will meet on common ground."