“How can I return into nature?” said I. “How can I get back into the
natural body? How can I die here when there is no death?”
“The difficulties which seem to you impossibilities,” said John, “are
easily met. The process is perfectly intelligible from the spiritual
stand-point. Attend to my elucidation of it; for it involves the true
nature of miracles and of the redemptive work of the Lord.
“You understand that Christ exists consciously and actively in both worlds
at the same time; in his spiritual body here, in his natural body upon
earth. You know this, for you have seem Him in both spheres.
“He is performing a series of divine works in both worlds at once; and a
wonderful parallelism exists between his works here and his works there.
What he does in this sphere is repeated in that in a different but
corresponding form.
“This is the world of causes, that is the world of effects. There is no
effect without a cause. It seems to men in the flesh that the miracles of
Jesus are performed by his word alone—by the breath of his mouth. That is
a mistake. They are the natural effects of spiritual causes. Jesus is
engaged in this world of spirits in instituting a series of causes which
are to produce certain natural effects; among them, his benevolent works
called miracles.
“Miracles are not violations of natural law. They are only proofs that
spiritual or divine forces govern in all the transformations of matter.
They teach men the true source and origin of causes, and the true relation
between the spiritual and natural worlds. All things are miracles. They
are only wonderful when the events are new, extraordinary, not understood,
or misinterpreted.
“Christ could not restore natural sight to a blind man, unless he excited
into activity those spiritual causes which produce both spiritual and
natural sight. Imparting spiritual light or wisdom to the spiritually
blind in this world, he originates a force which, passing through his own
natural body, restores vision to the correspondingly blind man on the
earth upon whom he lays his hands.
“He here infuses moral vigor into souls who had lost the power of
performing their spiritual duties. This becomes a cause producing a
corresponding effect upon earth; namely, that the touch even of the hem of
his garment will restore muscular strength and will to the paralytic.
“When the Divine Man resists and subdues the evil spirits who would
destroy him, the natural effect is, that He stills the tempest and treads
upon the waves,—that even the winds and the seas obey him.
“When he preaches spiritual truth to those who have never risen above the
perception of natural things, and their minds are lifted from the natural
to the spiritual degree of thought, the natural effect is, that he turns
water into wine.
“So of all his miracles, even that of raising the dead. When he imparts
spiritual life here to those who are spiritually dead, he sets in
operation a spiritual cause which imparts life again to those who are dead
in the natural sense.
“Such is the spiritual philosophy of miracles, which men in their
ignorance suppose to be contraventions of natural law, designed to prove
the possession of divine power. God violates no law either spiritual or
natural. He is Law itself. It would be a contravention of the eternal
organic law if miracles did not ensue, after the institution of their
specific causes in the world of spirits.”
“You draw indeed,” said I, “a wonderful and beautiful parallel between the
spiritual and the natural works of Christ. It is clear that the biography
of the Divine Man can only be written from the spiritual side. I
understand also, in some measure, your philosophy of miracles; still I do
not perceive how I am to get back into the natural world.”
“I will make it plain to you presently. When you come within the power of
an evil sphere, it endeavors to absorb your individuality, and to
assimilate you entirely to itself. If you approach the sphere of spiritual
pride and self-righteousness, unless you are under divine protection, you
will become proud and self-righteous. Approach the sphere of ambition, and
you become fired with the insatiable lust of dominion. Approach the sphere
of sensuality, and your heart, blood, brain, are all set on fire with
hell.
“Such is the contagion of evil. Contagion, whether moral or physical, is
simply the influence of spheres—the imposition of one’s state upon
another—the transference of conditions.
“Now if under certain circumstances you enter the evil spheres of this
world, you will be reduced to the state of the spiritually blind, deaf,
dumb, paralytic or dead as the case may be. You will then be connected
interiorly and by correspondence with the blind, deaf, dumb, paralytic or
dead, in the natural world. Do you not see?”
“Go on,” said I, following with deep interest the chain of his reasoning.
“Well, you will descend among these people whom we call the spiritually
dead. You will enter into their spiritual state. Your spiritual body will
be then reconnected by correspondence with your natural body now lying in
the sepulchre; all without your co-operation, without your consciousness.”
“Well—and then what?”
“When Christ in his judgment approaches the sphere of those who are
spiritually dead, he will cast out the evil spirits who possess them.
Spiritual life will begin to dawn on their souls. Both spiritual and
natural life will spring up for you simultaneously.”
“Why for me alone? Why will not _their_ dead bodies also arise?”
“Because their connection with nature has been long and totally sundered.
On the contrary, you have still a natural body not yet disorganized;
indeed, preserved by special providence for your resumption at the proper
moment—thus manifesting the power and glory of God.
“Your spiritual companions will be delivered from their bondage to hell,
and will emerge into the activities of spiritual life. You will be
correspondently delivered from the bondage of hell and the grave; and will
be raised from the dead and restored to your friends in Judea.”
I contemplated with awe the extraordinary fate that awaited me. I felt
some reluctance at leaving a sphere so bright and beautiful, where I had
been initiated by such charming friends into high and holy truths. I felt
deeply convinced, however, that I was unprepared for heaven, and was
grateful for a more extended probation on earth. An encouragement also to
resignation was the thought that I was going back to comfort and protect
my loving and lovely sisters, Martha and Mary.
“But these people who are spiritually dead,” said I. “Are their corpses
here, also, and sepulchres and monumental inscriptions?”
“Oh no!” said my father, who took up the conversation; “you are now
thinking from your natural stand-point. The spiritually blind are those
who are blind to spiritual things. The spiritually dead are those who are
dead to spiritual things. They comprise an innumerable multitude of souls
who have lived a merely sensual life, and who have no knowledge or love of
anything higher or better or purer than the wretched existence they led in
the life of nature.”
During this conversation we had been advancing toward the north. We came
now to the brow of a great hill, whence the country sloped suddenly
downward and spread into a vast plain. It had a cheerless and wintry
aspect; for the cities and villages and fields were all covered with snow.
Afar off along the line of the horizon was a dim blue ocean, full of
icebergs of enormous size. A gray twilight hung over this cold region, the
darkness of which was occasionally illumined by electric flashes in the
sky.
“There are spiritual as well as natural zones,” said my father—“zones of
thought and affection, in which the heat and light vary in intensity
according to the interior states of the dwellers. Cold and darkness arise
always in this world from the want of spiritual heat and light, which are
love and wisdom.
“Here we take our adieu,” he continued, in a tone which revealed a touch
of sadness. “That great light just rising in the east and south indicates
the approach of the Lord with all his hosts of ministering angels and
spirits. His presence will disperse the demons of darkness, who have so
long sat like ghouls upon the hearts of myriads of feeble and helpless
beings.
“Ah! how the love and faith of the Church in heaven have watched over
these dead souls! and have wept and prayed for them, like two lovely
sisters weeping and praying over the body of a dead brother! How have they
longed for this day of the Lord, and how have they wondered, sorrowing,
that He has so long delayed his coming!
“He comes! He who is the resurrection and the life! and these dry bones
shall live; these dead souls from all pagan lands shall come out of their
graves; and the power of death and hell shall be overthrown!
“Descend, my son, into the grave that leads you back into life.”
My spirit-friends now bade me a tender adieu, pronouncing benedictions
upon me and speaking words of encouragement. Bewildered and amazed,
wondering and fearing what would happen next, I went down the steep slope
toward the cold and silent plain. As I moved along, a great change came
over my spirit. There was a perceptible closure of some window from above,
through which the vital currents descend into the soul. This was followed
by a loss of memory, a vanishing of thought, a sense of fainting or death.
The last thing I remember was the music of a sweet hymn wafted softly from
the brow of the hill. The words were these:
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil.”
It was my father and John the Baptist comforting to the last the forlorn
spirit that was sinking in the waters of Lethe.
Of what occurred after I reached the plain, I have not the slightest
recollection, if indeed I ever knew. What kind of people I saw, what they
were doing, what Christ and his angels did, what changes followed—all is a
perfect blank to me. I cannot account for this fact. It will all be made
plain to me when I ascend again into the spiritual world. Certain it is,
that a sublime scene of judgment and deliverance took place, but that it
did not come within the range of my consciousness.
The first thing I became aware of, was a sense of infinite pity. I did not
know whether I was in the spiritual or in the natural world. I was flooded
with a vast, deep, boundless spirit of compassion. I wept—I did not know
why. This was the communication to my soul of the life flowing from the
Divine Man.
“Jesus wept.”
He was not only weeping for me, as the Jews supposed who witnessed the
external side alone of this wonderful scene. The loving heart of the
Divine Being was touched with infinite, celestial pity for the innumerable
multitude of the spiritually dead. It was a drop of that infinite pity
which stirred my soul from the sleep of death. It was a drop of that
infinite pity which trickled down the face of Jesus, as he wept in the
garden for the brother of Martha and Mary.
That communication of the divine grief to me must have come from the
spiritual side of my perceptions. I passed again into a dreamy, almost
unconscious state, from which I was aroused by a clear sweet voice,
saying,
“Lazarus! come forth!”
I started to my feet. Blind, bound, bewildered, I staggered toward the
voice. The fresh air struck sweetly on me, and I revived.
The voice continued:
“Loose him and let him go!”
Oh how many myriads of invisible but happy spirits heard at the same
moment similar words of deliverance and comfort, from the omnipresent God
speaking in the world of spirits as He had spoken on earth!
I was freed from the shackles of the grave and looked around me. I was in
the sweet garden of Bethany, standing by the stone which had been rolled
away from the sepulchre, beneath a bright and beautiful sky. A crowd of
friends, with faces full of wonder and joy, were grouped around. My
sisters had swooned at the feet of Jesus, who was smiling benignantly upon
me.
I took in the whole situation at a glance. Remembering everything;
remembering my former unbelief and indifference; remembering the wonderful
scenes I had witnessed; remembering Jesus in his spiritual body, seen also
by the three disciples on the mount; remembering his divine character, his
warfare with hell, his judgments, his mercies; and now understanding in
part the divine mystery of the incarnation; I knelt at his feet in the
deepest humility and the most undoubting faith, exclaiming,
“My Lord and my God!”
[Illustration: Ornament]
[Illustration: Ornament]