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Cornell University Library 
 BF1261 .J93 
 
 Bridge between two worlds 
 
 olln 
 
 / by Abby A. J 
 
 I 
 
 3 1924 028 954 349 
 
The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028954349 
 
The Bridge 
 
 Two Worlds. 
 
 Abby a. Judsom.. 
 
?<2> 
 
 ^^"(^ ,jf:^,^^^^^^^^^<^ 
 
The Bridge Between Two Worlds, 
 
 Abby a. Judson, 
 
 Daughter of ADONIRAM JUDSON, Missionary to the Burmese Emfire. 
 
 Published by the Author. 
 
 Minneapolis : 
 
 AliFBED EOFEB, FBINTEB, 
 
 1894. 
 
l\,llkk,lSr 
 
 Entered according to Act of CongresBf in the year 1894, 
 
 By Miss ABBY A. JUDSON, 
 
 In the ofSce of the Librarian of CongresSv 
 
 at Washington, 
 
THIS BOOK IS 
 
 TO ALL EARNEST SOULS WHO DESIRE, 
 
 BY HARMONIZING THEIR PHYSICAL BODY AND THEIK PSYCHICAL 
 
 BODY WITH UNIVERSAL NATURE, 
 
 AND THEIR SOUL, WITH THE HIGHER INTELLIGENCES, 
 
 TO THUS COME INTO CLOSER CONNECTION 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 OP THE 
 SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 ABBY A. JUDSON. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Introduction 5 
 
 Chapter 1 : The sonl's relation to infinite Boul 9 
 
 Chapter 2 : Souls not denaturalized by death 21 
 
 Chapter 3 : Sonl development the object of ezisteuce SI 
 
 Extract f rgm Milton 39 
 
 Chapter 1 : Our relations with the outside world 40 
 
 Extract from Thomas aKempis 48 
 
 Chapter 5 : The aim of mediumship 49 
 
 Chapter 6 : First mental step, paseivity 58 
 
 Chapter?: Second mental step, receptivity 64 
 
 Extract from Wbittier 68 
 
 Chapter 8 : Third mental step, aspiration 69 
 
 Chapter 9: Fourth mental step, positivity 78 
 
 Extracts on aelf-hood 82 
 
 Chapter 10 : Fifth mental step, readiness for action 83 
 
 Chapter 11: The physical body ..86 
 
 Chapter 13: The psychical body 106 
 
 Chapter 13 : The forces of nature 114 
 
 Chapter 14 : Communication between spirits and mortals 130 
 
 Chapter 15 : Development of the psychical body 137 
 
 Chapter 16 : Harmonizing one's own magnetic currents 152 
 
 Chapter 17 : Some practical applications 170 
 
 Chapter 18 : The mental and physical steps combined 178 
 
 Chapter 19: Some questions answered 189 
 
 Chapter 20: Conclosion 199 
 
 Synopsis of the process .^ 205 
 
 Communications to. the author from her parents 206 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Marie Corelli's fascinating book, "The Romance of Two 
 Worlds," has familiarized the public with the notion that by 
 Two Worlds are meant this sub-lunar earth plane, where we 
 mortals now dwell, and the spheres beyond, where the so- 
 called dead live, and think, and act. In order that one who 
 hears the title of the present book may at once divine its 
 ecope, we have called it " The Bridge Between Two Worlds." 
 But, strictly sjieaking, this Bridge serves to connect, not two 
 worlds, but rather, the lowest stratum with the strata beyond, 
 of the one terrestrial sphere, the lowest stratum being inhab- 
 ited by spirits who are still encumbered by a fleshly body, and 
 the strata beyond by spirits who have passed out of the fleshly 
 body, and who retain the spirit body, so well adapted to their 
 more ethereal dwelling-place. The whole terrestrial sphere, 
 in its more etherealized portions extending far beyond the 
 physical moon, is a unit; the inlfabitants of all parts of it are 
 related to each other more closely than they can be related to 
 those who dwell in the spheres of the neighboring planets; 
 and there are means by which those who still dwell on the . 
 surface of the planet can communicate with those who have 
 passed beyond their plane, and receive aid from them in re- 
 gard to their own spiritual development. 
 
 The Bridge between us and them has always existed; but 
 
6 
 
 Bome portions of it were imperfect, and its upper end was hid- 
 den by clouds of superstition and ignorance. The clouds are 
 rapidly rolling away: the main supports of the bridge are 
 found to rest upon the solidarity existing between all parts 
 of the terrestrial sphere; on the fact that the laws of nature 
 and the great natural forces are not confined to the planet 
 alone, but pervade the whole sphere; and on the brotherhood 
 of all finite souls, who are all equally related to the Infinite 
 Source of all Life. 
 
 This book gives a clear, definite, practical, and systematic 
 process, by which every person may take advantage of this 
 already existing Bridge; and may enter, to some degree at 
 least, into communication with those who have passed from 
 the other end of it into a brighter, freer realm than the one 
 in which we are temporarily confined. The casual and can- 
 did reader will find much to interest him here and there ia 
 its pages. But it is earnestly recommended that those who 
 desire to give the process a faithful trial, and develop their 
 own three-fold nature to the point of being able to make use 
 of the Bridge, be not satisfied with once reading the book, or 
 portions of it. pvery aspirant, or every family of aspirants, 
 needs the book for home use, for frequent consultation of its 
 pages as they gradually deyelop from point to point' them- 
 selves, and for a reiterated study of the processes herein de- 
 scribed. 
 
 A novel, a book of lectures, may be read once, and then 
 passed on to one's neighbor. Not so with the work in hand. 
 It is rather a text-book, like an arithmetic or a geography, 
 that needs to be possessed, until all parts of it are thoroughly 
 mastered, and all rules in it have become the innate possession 
 
of the student. No casual, intermittent practice of the pro- 
 cesses described will avail. Only the persistent follower of the 
 methods herein given can be truly benefitted ; and it may be 
 added that he alone is fitted to give correct judgment regard- 
 ing their efBcacy. 
 
 With the earnest wish that the book may tend to spiritual- 
 ize every reader, and that many a one may be aided by it to 
 realize that the Infinite Power of the Universe works for our 
 advancement, not only by aid rendered us by mortals like 
 ourselves, but also by the aid of those who once walked here, 
 but are now further up the celestial stairway, I subscribe 
 
 myself as your friend, 
 
 The Author. 
 
MISS JUDSON'S BOOKS. 
 
 "WHY SHE BECAMi: A SPIBITUAXIST." In cloth, 264 
 
 pages, Jl.OO 
 '•FKOM NIGHT TO MORN; OB AN APPEAL TO THE 
 
 B APTIST CHDRCH." Pamphlet; 32 pages. One copy, 15 cents; 
 
 Iwo copies, 25 cents; ten copies, to one address, $1.00. 
 "THE BBIDGB BETWEEN TWO WORLDS." 217 pages. 
 
 In cloth, $1.00; paper covers, 75 cents. 
 Each of the above contains a portrait of the author. 
 ^'DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIUMSHIP BY TEBRBSTRIAX 
 
 MAGNETISM." In cloth. 28 pages, 50 cents. 
 Thee books can be obuined by applying to Abby A. Judson, "Wenceitei.. 
 
 Remit by P. O. Order or Express Order. Not in stamps. 
 Miss Judson's general address is W a rc a tur, Mao t. , her letters being 
 forwarded from there, wherever she may be. 
 
 c^-f^Tt^^^^^y ^t^^ 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE SODl's relation TO INFINITE SOUL. 
 
 / 
 
 Each great religion of the human race was founded 
 at a time when certain mortals became especially sus- 
 ceptible to influences coming from above. Buddha, 
 Moses, Confucius, Jesus, Mohammed, Luther, and men 
 of our own age, were sensitive to the impressions of high 
 intelligences, had spiritual aspirations, and became the 
 mouthpiece of the higher powers to men of their day 
 and generation. Each has had a large following; and, 
 making allowance for difference in race and environ- 
 ment, it would seem that the most spiritual religions 
 have deteriorated more rapidly than those whose found- 
 ers were on a lower plane of development. ,. . 
 
 Christianity, founded by one more truly spiritual to 
 
 I the candid mind than any other son of man, has de- 
 
 \ parted far from the teachings and the example of Jesus. 
 
 j He was unworldly' and iiidifferent to fam& and' money. 
 I'he Christian church loves both, has grasped for worldly 
 
 ' power, and still longs for more. He was tender and 
 kind, being severe only to hj'pocrites, and those greedy 
 for ecclesiastical power. His church has won its way 
 to temporal rule by intolerance, torture, and blood ; and 
 has opposed every human reform that the progress of 
 
 ■ the race has brought to the front, being in this decade 
 
10 PRACTICAL DOCTKINES OF 
 
 the advocate of jaonopoly and_of the money po5ser. We 
 speSK' hot of individual exceptions, but of the general 
 drift of ecclesiastical rule. He taught the purest mo- 
 rality, while the immoral doctrines of the church that 
 morality is but "flltliy rags," and that we are saved 
 by believing and not by doing have developed a social 
 system; where hypocrisy, greed for money, drunkenness, 
 and sexual impurity are everywhere prevalent, and one 
 which awakens the disgust of Japanese and Mohamme- 
 dans who are brought in contact with it. 
 • Mohammedanism, on the other hand, whose founder 
 was a practical, moral, but not highly spiritual man, 
 has not deteriorated specially, and holds its vast num- 
 ber of disciples to temperance, chastity, arid mutual 
 confidence. 
 
 Confucius, though he had little thought of the celes- 
 tial world, taught reverence, truth, honesty, and other 
 practical virtues, and has ga.ined a controlling influence 
 over many more millions than any other teacher that 
 the world has known. If the 400,000,000 of Chinese are 
 judged in the length and breadth of their own land, 
 and not by the few off-scourings that visit our Pacific 
 coast, we find them an honest, industrious, and a i-ea- 
 sonably moral people.- A Chinese merchant who deals 
 with Europeans is astonished by their dishonesty. His 
 simple word in business dealing's suflSces for a Chinese; 
 but the Christian traders have to be held by written 
 bonds, which they will shirk if possible. 
 
 That those who have claimed to follow the religion 
 that was most spiritual in its inception h-ave degener- 
 ated so much merely shows that humanity was not yet 
 advanced enough for the teachings of Jesus. Profess- 
 
MOHAMMED AND CONFUCIUS. 11 
 
 ing to follow what the heart rejected developed hypo- 
 crisy. For instance : Jesus said, we ought to do to 
 others whai we want them to do to us. Human nature 
 in general has not reached that point, though it will do 
 so by and by. There is not a single precept of the 
 Nazarene, impractical as it may seem to the American 
 business man, that will not be the every-day rule of 
 conduct to all the world at a future day. 
 
 Confucius, on the other hand, taught precepts that all 
 can practice with attention. Instead of saying, as did 
 the aggressively loving Jesus, that we must do to others 
 what we want them to do to us, he favored the resolve 
 of Tsze-kung, " What I do not wish men to do to us, I 
 also wish not to do to men." That amount of virtue , 
 was practicable, and so the Chinese merchant is honest 
 in his dealings with his fellows. 
 
 Mohammed taught his followers to say their prayers, 
 to give alms, to fast at certain times, and to go on 
 pilgrimages ; to abstain from intemperance, from gamb- 
 ling, from worshipping idols, from murder, theft, and 
 other crimes, and from apostasy. These had to do with 
 outside acts, and could be followed by resolute, attentive 
 persons. So the religion of Moftammed works good 
 results. But Jesus demanded more than right acts. 
 He ^demanded a perfect heart; and humanity must 
 develop to a much higher plane before it can really 
 " profess Christ " without hypocrisy. 
 
 The main object of this work is to aid seeking souls 
 in attaining spiritual development, which is of course 
 the design for which we were brought into individual 
 conscious existence. And the methods that we incul- 
 cate will not prevent our adherence to any form of be- 
 
12 CREEDS M0ST CHANGE. 
 
 lief — Christianity, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, or any 
 other — except that the general result of soul develop- 
 ment is to make us indifferent to outside forms, while 
 the growth of the soul naturally leads it to outgrow any 
 system of creeds. 
 
 All creeds have been useful to certain souls at certain 
 periods of human development, but no creed of a less 
 advanced age will express the consciousness of the hu- 
 man race as it goes on to the ultimatum of development. 
 A creed, to the mind that originated it, or to the mind 
 that adopts it without compulsion, is simply that mind's 
 way of looking at " all things in heaven and earth " 
 from its stand-point at that time. He sees this truth 
 
 . clearly, that one not at all, another truth is distorted by 
 his imperfect vision, and there he sees an error in the 
 place of truth. "We are not to blame for our imperfect 
 views of truth, provided we try to clear our vision of it 
 
 ! by right living, by high aspirations, and by dissolving 
 
 , our prejudices in it, as impurities disappear in clear, 
 
 ^running water. 
 ~ln entering on the subject of spiritual development, 
 which will bring us into living relations, in the name of 
 infinite soul, with all souls higher than ourselves, we 
 wish first to have a true condeption of what we individ- 
 ually are, and of our relations to the physical and spirit- 
 ual universe of which we find ourselves a part. 
 
 Lessing said that if God held in one hand all truth, 
 and in the other the desire for truth, he would choose 
 the desire for it, saying, " Truth, O God, is for Thee 
 alone." While only infinite intelligence can see all 
 truth, yet the candid, aspiring soul can get true glimpses ' 
 of it. He cannot see all, but what he does see mav be 
 
MY OWN SOUL, 13 
 
 correct, if his mind be receptive, aspiring, and free from 
 prejudice and the deceiving shadows of 
 
 " all trivial, fond records, 
 All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past." 
 
 First, then, what am I ? I am an individual soul. 
 We were once taught that man is a sentient being, and 
 has a soul ; and we were further taught that the soul 
 might be lost, leaving one to infer that it was an objec- 
 tive possession, a something separate from one's individ- 
 ual self. We rather say, man is a soul, and has a body; 
 and that though he may lose his body, his soul contin- 
 ues to live, unaffected by the material world, by chance, 
 time, or decay. My soul is the only real part of me. 
 My body is an outside form or appearance, by which 
 my soul is able to express itself to other souls, which 
 are also covered up by a like outside appearance. My 
 soul, as pure soul, can come into direct contact only 
 with perfectly formless soul, which we take to be infinite. 
 All finite souls, wrapped in bodies of greater or less ma- 
 teriality, cannot reach my soul directly, because the 
 form in which they may appear is. a more or less trans- 
 parent veil, through which the real entity but partially 
 reveals itself. 
 
 What is thie most striking thing about my. soul, or 
 rather about meV Undoubtedly, its life, its being 
 alive.' Quiet on my bed at night, no noise in the house, 
 the sounds of nature all hushed ; the curtains closely 
 drawn, no light fr<tai candle, moon, or star ; alone, no 
 human being near, I look within at the real me. Can I 
 doubt my own existence ? That would be absurd. " I 
 think, therefore I am." Less and less sensible of my 
 body and of all outside conditions, I reach out in an 
 
14 , SOUL THE OFFSPRING OF SOUL. , 
 
 aspiration, a longing, that seems almost limitless. 
 Freed temporarily from the body, I am rid of its appe- 
 tites, its intemperance, its sensualities. Far from other 
 human entities, I am freed from anger, from ambition, 
 from envy and jealousy, and from unlawful desire for 
 tjie possessions of another in mind, body, or estate. To 
 be good, to aspire, i« my only thought, and I would fain 
 be always freed from temptation as now, forgetting that 
 it is the struggle for existence in a life with other beings 
 that will fit me for pure being, in communion with its 
 infinite source. 
 
 My soul, in itself and by itself, longs for a purer life, 
 for a better expression of its inner being. It cannot be 
 otherwise, as we realize whence it came into individual 
 existence and consciousness. 
 
 There are certain things that we become cognizant of 
 by observation and experience : there are other things 
 that the soul sees intuitively, without experience or ob- 
 servation. The mind intuitively knows that time and 
 space are infinite, though of course it has observed 
 neither. It intuitively refers all things to a source, and 
 analogy reminds it that an offspring is like the source 
 wlience it came. 
 
 Whence came my soul into individual being ? Being 
 soul, it came out of soul ; and as there are millions of 
 similar souls, the inference is that they too came from 
 soul, and intuition tells us that this source of all indi- 
 vidual souls is universal and infiniUfe. Out of this soul 
 I came, I am its offspring it is my parent ; I must 
 therefore be, in my germ at least, like my source. 
 
 This sense of the parentage of infinite soul is the 
 most exquisite pleasure that the finite mind can experi- 
 
INFINITY NOT TO BE DEFINED. 
 
 15 
 
 ence. ^nd ita most dignified and noble attitude is when 
 it realizes its own derived and consequently subordinate 
 relation to the Over-Soul of the universe. In this real- 
 ization and its consequent ecstatic joy is the origin and 
 foundation of real spirituality. I jnust be good and true, 
 reverent and aspiring, else I debase and disgrace, not 
 my high parentage, for that is impossible, but my own 
 relation to infinite beauty, truth, and goodness, which is 
 a finite mind's conception of the infinite intelligence of 
 the universe. 
 
 To approximate the source whence we came, in per- 
 fectirig our personal character, and in loving all other 
 sons and daughters of the same source, becomes the aim 
 of our existence, as our spiritual nature develops that 
 germ of infinite beauty, truth, and goodness that was 
 laid in it when it was individualized. 
 
 That this infinite life, the soul out of which we sprung, 
 is to any finite sense a person is impossible. Son\e 
 speak of infinite personality, but this attempt to com- 
 bine flniteness and infinity is a mere play upon words, 
 and it were better not to attempt to define by words 
 what cannot be "de-fined," because its nature is with- 
 out "finis" or limit. When we use the words, infinite 
 soul, we extend, by imagination, our own soul-essence 
 as far as we can, and then add the lyord infinite, in 
 ordefr to express that of which the finite mind can never 
 form a conception. To attempt to probe the boundless 
 and to define the limitless is to become like Milton's 
 sequestered angels, 
 
 " In wandering mazes lost." 
 
 Every religion, in the sublime cogitations of its 
 founder, has postulated the innate consciousness of the 
 
16 THE HYPOTHESIS THAT MATTER 
 
 candid soul that infinite intelligence rules all; and some 
 have hinted at that hypothesis of the modern mind, 
 that soul and matter are co-eternal. Moses expressed 
 this perhaps unconsciously in the first verse of Genesis, 
 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the 
 earth." If there was a beginning, was eternal spirit 
 before that? Moses, familiar with the comprehensive 
 esoteric conceptions of infinite intelligence held by 
 Egyptian priests, who diluted this abstract truth into 
 Osiris, Isis, and Horus for the common people, adapted 
 his account of the foundation of material existence 
 to the Jewish tribes for whom he wrote. He made a 
 pictorial representation of what might have appeared 
 to one who saw this planet develop from a gaseous con- 
 dition to one fitted to support the highest mammal, man. 
 That he intended to say that even this little planet was 
 made out of nothing, as some theologians claim, is 
 doubtful. 
 
 Matter, more or less attenuated, is the expression of 
 soul. That infinite soul existed once without expres- 
 sion, and that it then, at a particular time, began to ex- 
 press itself in form, contradicts infinity itself, which 
 knows no time. Soul eternally was and will be. Soul was 
 eternally expressed in form, which we call matter, and 
 will continue to .do so eternally. This " matter " may 
 be worlds, gaseous nebulae, the body of an angel like 
 Christ's spirit body after his resurrection, or imponder- 
 able magnetism. It is all matter, and this soul, being 
 infinite, must express itself infinitely by a limitless ma- 
 terial universe. We know that we are theorizing, but 
 when a hypothesis fits the case, and accord's both with 
 reason and with the innate ideas of the human soul, 
 
AND SOUL ARE CO-ETERNAL. 17 
 
 we are at/liberty to adopt it till a better one be sug- 
 gested. /'It is certainly better than the senseless one 
 that all came by chance, and that planets always de- 
 scribe equal areas in equal times by an accident. But 
 that God is eternal, both in reality and in expression, is 
 a very different thing from believing in the God of the 
 Jewish dispensation or of the Christian theology. God, 
 as we use the term, is the soul of which all souls are 
 the offspring. These souls may be ancient Philistines, 
 the " heathen Chinee," Jesus of Nazareth, all animals, 
 the devil himself if such there be, the lichen on the 
 rock. Jack the Ripper, and Mrs. Browning. • These all 
 have lived, live now, will live, spiritually, if not on 
 this material planet ; their life comes out from infinite 
 life, and each and all are its offspring. Their outside 
 form, their material expression, whether palpable to 
 our present gross physical senses, with all worlds — 
 gaseous, in full development, or in decay — dazzling Mer- 
 cury or distant Alcyone, wing of seraph or Yorick's 
 skull, are all a part of the expression of infinite soul, 
 or, in other words, a part of the body of God. 
 
 "To this, no high, no low, no great, no small ; 
 It ails, it bounds, connects, and equals all." 
 
 Pope will pardon us for changing "he" to "it" in 
 his admirable lines. From his present outlook he sees 
 the absurdity of attributing sex to infinite soul, in which 
 all fatherhood, all motherhood, and all products, are 
 equally enclosed. 
 
 Thd soul of the universe is not a being, subject to the 
 passions of a m'an endowed with super, human power, 
 like the Greek Zeus. It is not a jealous, partial, vin- 
 dictive conception, like the God who led the Jews into 
 
18 I'AUI. AND THE ATHENIANS. 
 
 Canaan. Nor is it a being unchangeable in cruelty, in 
 wliom a false notion of justice has usurped the feelings 
 of parentage, whose early mistakes in creation are to be 
 atoned for in the blood ot his son, like the God of Cal- 
 vinism. It is rather the Deity whose conception came 
 to Pajil, when, with a larger outlook than was his wont, 
 he stood on Mars' Hill, and told the eager minded 
 Greeks that in him we live and move and have our 
 being. Moved by the occasion, he departed from Jewish 
 exclusiveness, and quoted from their own Aratus the 
 expression, "For we are also his offspring." In this 
 oration to Athenians he has not one word to say of 
 blood atonement, but he appeals to the nobilitj' of their 
 natures quite in the spirit of Plato and Socrates. It 
 was only when he spoke of rising from the dead that 
 ■Greek skepticism arose. That the same body that had 
 been dead should again walk and talk was against all 
 the analogies of nature, and not to be accepted by an 
 intelligent Greek. All souls, they doubted not, came 
 from God, but that dead mens' bodies live again they 
 found absurd. " So Paul departed from among them." 
 "When life, or soul, which is expressed in spirit life by 
 the spiritual or psychic body, wholly leaves a physical 
 body, as it did that of Jesus when the spear pierced his 
 heart, it can never again take possession of it. The laws 
 of nature are never broken, least of all by their author, 
 and there is therefore no miracle. What seems miraculous 
 to an ignorant age is seen to accord with nature's laws 
 in an age more conversant with them. Had Paul told the 
 subtle, intelligent Greeks what he wrote to the Corinth- 
 ians some five years later, about the spirit body and the 
 physical body as existing together in a human being, 
 
LIFE HERE AND THEEE MUST COHERE. 19 
 
 they would have listened to,sv|iat would have appealed 
 to their inquisitive nature, (instead, he brought forward! 
 the Jewish materialistic notion that it was the physical] 
 body of Jesus that was seen alter the resurrection, and / 
 his listeners rejected it as an absurdity, which it is J Had 
 Paul followed his statement of the co-existence of these 
 two bodies in Jesus, as well as in every human being, to 
 its legitimate conclusion, he would have had less to say 
 of the physical body and blood of Christ, and the church 
 might not have sunk into the materialism of the Dark 
 Ages. 
 
 Man is in a physical body, amid physical conditions, — 
 under nature's laws. When a priesthood tells him of 
 his soul, and describes spirit existence in a heaven or a 
 hell, no longer under nature's laws, he does one of two 
 things: he accepts witb docility the supernatural, the 
 miraculous, and a condition wholly freed from the phys- 
 ical, or he openly or secretly doubts the truth of what 
 he is taught. There is no sincere middle ground be- 
 tween blind submission and positive infidelity for those ^ 
 who are told that life after the death change is wholly 
 supernatural — wholly outside of and beyond the laws 
 that govern the condition in which we now live. The 
 only hypothesis that can suit an intelligent, unbiased, 
 intuitive nature, in our age or in any other, must make 
 life here and beyond coherent, consistent, and equally 
 in accordance with natural law. These conditions be- 
 ing denied by ecclesiastical authority, we find that An- 
 axagoras, Socrates, the Greeks of Paul's time, Abelard, 
 and our own scientists, were out of harmony with the 
 churches of their time. They will not accept creeds 
 which put human beings under a different regimen in 
 
20 DAWNING LIGHT. 
 
 the body and out of the body. And so science and free 
 thought have been at odds with priestcraft in all the 
 ages. 
 
 But a better day is dawning. Midnight darkness has 
 forever passed away. Glints of rorfy light illume the 
 edge of the sky. This dawning light will increase until 
 the most intelligent as well as the most spiritua.1 men 
 will rejoice in a reasonable religion, which will bind the 
 two woi'lds in one, because life there as well as here will 
 be subject to the same great Ifiws of infinite intelligence. 
 
 "Of law, there can no less be said than that her seat is the 
 bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world : all things in 
 heaven and earth do her homage, the very least as feeling her 
 care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power ; both 
 angels and men and all creatures whatever with uniform consent 
 admiring her as the mother of their peace and joy." 
 
 Richard Rocker. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 SO0LS NOT DENATURALIZED BY DEATH. 
 
 A -reasonable mind rejects what is unnatural, and 
 adopts for its motto, "If true, then certainly^rational." 
 
 In all ages of the world, men have been startled by. 
 strange occurrences, which, seemed to contradict the reg- 
 ular on-goings of nature, and were therefore called 
 supernatural. In this age, and in this alone, has the hu- I 
 man mind begun to assume that these uncommon occur- j 
 rences are just as accordant with nature as the everyday J 
 ones. And so the acceptance of these strange incidents 
 is beginning to be considered an evidence of uncommon 
 intelligence and reason, rather than of superstition, 
 tfr w4to-£aiLflfld a place fo r the rare, the hitherto uncom- ^ 
 Qon, somewhere in na^jij:e^8_law^jgives_better evidence 
 of a well-ordered mind, than^oes_he who blindly rele- 
 1^ gates such occu rrences to the superna turaT He who 
 allows~BTs boat to driTt beyond the reaionable and the 
 credible is without rudder or compass, and his mind 
 becomes ready to accept any absurd or even wicked doc- 
 trines. Let us keep our craft close to the sensible, the 
 natfiral, and therefore the reasonable, and then we need 
 not fear the rule of blind superstition. 
 
 All the religions of the world have been founded on 
 events that were supposed at the time to be supernatural. 
 On this account the philosopher, the reasoner of past 
 ages, has regarded those early manifestations of super- 
 nal power with incredulity, and has paid more attention 
 
22 THE HUKSE-SHOE OF PERSONS. 
 
 to the doctrines taaght, than to the marvelous events on 
 which they were fbunded. 
 
 The Greelis accepted the prophecies and the advice 
 given at Delphi, because experience proved them true 
 and useful. They thought, however, that the priests and 
 sybils were endowed with supernatural power. Within 
 the precincts of the temple the priests sat in a prescribed 
 order, in the form of a horse-shoe, with the priestess in 
 front of them, and then she prophesied. The priests 
 supposed her power to be supernatural. 
 
 In our own day, persons sit in a horse-shoe, in a pre- 
 scribed order, opening towards a person, whose eyes and 
 ears become sensitive to what ordinary individuals do not 
 see and hear, or who tells the truth, unknown to the 
 persons present, of past and future events. But this is 
 npt deemed supernatural in any sense of the word. On 
 the contrary, the whole proceeding is carefully adapted 
 to the laws of nature. A line connecting the two ends 
 of the horse-shoe of persons runs north and south, and 
 the horse-shoe opens to the east, because the magnetic 
 currents of the earth-run north and south, and because 
 the earth turns toward the east. The persons forming 
 the horse-shoe are arranged in order of being positive 
 and negative, because the magnetic battery formed by 
 them is thus more effective. The person to be operated 
 on is placed in the focus of the horse-shoe, because the 
 magnetic currents developed by the battery are concen- 
 trated there. He or she is chosen for the position, 
 because of being more susceptible than others to the 
 action of these currents. The person sees or hears what . 
 others do not perceive, because the powerful magnetism 
 quickens the senses of his spiritual body. It is also 
 
SLATE-WRITING. 23 
 
 probable that intelligences present, who once had phys- 
 ical bodies like our own, but are now clothed only by 
 the spiritual body, which is composed, when well devel- 
 oped, of polarized atoms, produce impressions on the 
 brain of this susceptible person by means of the mag- 
 netism so powerfully concentrated there. So, what 
 seemed' supernatural to the Greeks and Persians becomes 
 to the psychist of our day wholly natural, and we get 
 presumptive proof that disembodied spirits continue to 
 live a reasonable and a natural life, because they are 
 still subject to the laws of nature that govern the_mag- 
 netic currents. 
 
 The Jewish religion was founded by Moses, who was 
 made conversant as the reputed son of a princess with 
 the esoteric lore of Egyptian priests. Circumstances 
 placed him at the head of an enslaved race, whom he led 
 out of bondage, and whose traditions he reduced to 
 writing. Subject to trances, to visions, aware that 
 writing was produced on tablets by no physical hand, 
 seeing wonders wrought through his "magic staff," and 
 multitudes cured of a venomous serpent's bite by look- 
 ing at a brazen one that he raised in their sight, he 
 believed that a supernatural power did all this through 
 him, and this belief was shared by the ignorant tribes 
 he rul^d. 
 
 We now see persons entranced who describe the 
 visions, they see, we see writing produced by no physical 
 hand,* and the other deeds of Moses duplicated, it may 
 
 * Prof. Elliott Coues states the following : " In full view, a few 
 inches from my face, I distinctly saw the pencil write ' of itself,' 
 and finish the last word or two of a sentence which straggled over 
 most of ther slate. That I saw it, just as described, is simply true." 
 — Religio Pllilosofliical Jouri^l oi Feb. 27, 1892. 
 
24 NOTHING IS MIKACIILOUS. 
 
 be by hypnotic power on the subjects of a mesmeriser, 
 or it may be through _magnetic and electric- currents^ 
 directed and applied by some skilled electrician, whose 
 powers in this direction are increased by his greater 
 ^knowledge and the aid rendered by many assistants, 
 unhampered as he now is by his former physical 
 body. 
 
 When these things are witnessed now-a-days, only an 
 ignorant person would think they were produced by a 
 super-naturaX power. The wise man, with power to per- 
 ceive and generalize, examines the manifestations with 
 attention, and is confident that the laws of nature are at 
 work. If he cannot refer each strange incident to its 
 own place in the kingdom of nature, he studies and 
 waits until further and manifold experiments will refer 
 them to their appropriate place therein. In a r uder age, 
 it was declare d that a god was pres entjbecause thfijaws 
 of nature were violated. In a scientific age, we__declai-e_^ 
 tEat it is onlv by the laws of nature that the presence of 
 GrodJi&jnanifested, for "Nature is an effect, of which 
 /god is the cause." 
 
 Jesus^ the founder of true Christianity, was enabled 
 to do many surprising things by a power that he de- 
 clared to be not his own. He and "his followers belonged 
 to a race, .proud of many traditional marks of super- 
 natural presence, and he and they believed that God 
 worked through him. This was undoubtedly true in 
 the sense that all took place in accordance with laws 
 that a supreme intelligence has ordained. His greatest 
 wonders were in healing bodily diseases, controlling dis- 
 ordered minds, and expelling from them tormenting 
 spirits who had taken wrongful possession of tTiem, and 
 
JESUS UNDER NATURAL LAW. 25 
 
 bringing three persons out of a "dead trance" into their 
 normal condition again. 
 
 His deeds are repeated in our own time. Multitudes 
 are cured of diseases by healing streams of magnetism 
 that enter their enfeebled' frames from the harmonious 
 phj'sique of a good psychic healer, the insane are helped 
 and undeveloped spirits are driven from the obsessed 
 one, and entranced persons are brought again into active 
 life when circumstances make it advisable to do so. 
 
 Special conditions made the cures said to have been 
 performed by Jesus more striking than those wrought 
 ■ through many a quiet '' healer " of our own day. He was 
 almost constantly surrounded by crowds of persons who 
 believed that he had miraculous power to cure. T.welve 
 men had been selected by him, whether consciously to 
 himself or not, for their remarkable magnetic as well as 
 spiritual power. These twelve always attended him-^ 
 closely, forming a magic ring as it were around him. 
 These believed in his supernatural power and were per- 
 sonally devoted to him, though one did succumb later 
 to a pecuniary temptation that was great to so poor a 
 man. Jesus was much out of doors, ever walking from 
 place to place. When exhausted by constantly giving 
 out "virtue" to those who pressed upon him, he spent 
 a whqje night alone in some wilderness or on the top of 
 some mountain. Close to mother nature, his natural 
 powers were recuperated. 
 
 His humane and' his spiritual nature were important 
 factors in the work that he accomplished. His " enthu- 
 siasm for humanity," made him wish to relieve all suffer- 
 ing. So he eagerly asked each applicant for aid whether 
 he " believed " that he could cure him, for experienea had 
 
26 JESUS AN EXAMPLE TOR MEDIUMS. 
 
 shown him tliat his power was not effectual unless the 
 faith of the invalid made an open roadway between his 
 body and that of the diseased person. 
 
 Of the twelve, three were more especially endowed, 
 and so it was Peter, James and John that he selected 
 to attend him, when there was to be any unusual drait 
 upon his strength. The after career of these three 
 showed their special gifts in healing, in clairvoyance and 
 inspiration. 
 
 All that Jesus did was according to natural law. 
 Even his appearances to the eleven chosen attendants 
 and other " believers " accord with what takes place 
 now, under special conditions. The only difference was 
 that the apostles thought that only Jesus could show 
 himself after death ; while now, thousands and thou- 
 sands have done the same for their friends. Similar 
 " conditions " were necessary then as now. Among 
 these may be mentioned a quiet room or some solitary 
 mountain top, the semi-darkness of twilight or early 
 dawn, an evening hour with the doors closed, and the 
 presence of persons magnetically endowed. We meet 
 ^the same now as then. The difference is that the dis- 
 ciples thought it was all supernatural, while the merest 
 tj'ro in the present investigations is ready to declare 
 that there is nothing supernatural in it. 
 
 We could wish that all who seek to communicate be- 
 tween the visible and the invisible world had the same 
 spiritualitj', love for humanity, and indifferen ce to pecu- 
 niary gain, as did the famous Nazarene. Even his ene- 
 mies admitted that he was a good man, and it was only 
 by perjury that sufficient evidence could be gathered to 
 make him amenable to the sentence of death. 
 
THE PAULINE THEOLOGY. 27 
 
 The founder of the Christian church, which is a very 
 different thing from the Chi'istianity that Jesus taught, 
 was Saul, afterwards called Paul. In him, too, were 
 various spiritual "gifts," which his disciples regarded 
 as supernatural, and which are all repeated in our own 
 time, (''Clairaudient,)he heard the voice of Jesus speak- 
 ing to him, which his attendants did not hear, as 
 recorded in Acts xxii, *9, though this statement is con- 
 tradicted in Acts ix, 7. He saw visions of angels, his 
 invisible strength resisted the sting of a venomous vi- 
 per, and when entranced he was seemingly caught up 
 into the third heaven, where he heard unspeakable 
 words. 
 
 A man of learning, originality, strong will, argument- 
 ative power, and eloquence, it is a pity that he combined 
 with much insight into psychology,. and a certainty of l 
 existence without a fleshlybody, the old Jewish dogma 
 that Deity was to be propitiated by blood, and the new 
 dogma that faith was moi-e important than good morals. 
 These latter views, as opposed to those of the Nazarene 
 teacher concerning morality and the fatherhood'of God, 
 were eagerly accepted by Jewish Christians, and in 
 time by the whole church. Later came ecclesiastical 
 power, intolerance, murder of Jews and Mohammedans, 
 and tortiire of heretics, until the name Christian was 
 given to manifestations from which Jesus would have re- 
 coiled with horror, and against which he would have 
 wielded his whip of small cords with even more earnest- 
 ness than he used against those who brought money 
 getting into the temple. 
 
 Luther abandoned much that was erroneous, but he 
 clung to the Pauline theology, and looked on the epistle 
 
28 RESULTS OF PAUL'S DOCTRINE. 
 
 of James as heretical. /The evangelical churches of our 
 
 own_da^still follow PauITa^TEgjeaT teachings of 
 Jesus are ignored by them. They shut their eyes to the 
 fact ¥hat Paul taught_ajjhjoUy^ different syst^m^ That 
 they ca;nnot see the contradiction^ bet ween Paul and^e- 
 sus is one of the most, stertling evMgafifiaJlLpiejudice, 
 bigotry, and willful blindness, to, be found in the an- 
 nals of the human mind. Following the errors of the 
 !servant, they trample on the master, and the result is a 
 theological system that makes an enlightened Moham- 
 medan or a Buddhist stare with surprise, and shrink 
 with disgust. The disgraceful selfishness of Christian 
 nations in dealing with true hearted pagans, and the sen- 
 suality and greed for money that distinguish so-called 
 Christian are some of the fruits of Paul's infamous doc- 
 i^rine, that believing is more important than doing. 
 
 " Cast your deadly doing down) 
 Down at Jeisus ' leet," 
 
 sings the church member, who the next day robs a bank. 
 "Not of works, lest any man should boastj' quotes 
 the exhorter, who goes away and seduces his brother's 
 wife. " Jesus will save me," murmurs the murderer as 
 he mounts the scaffold, believing that in a few moments 
 he will be an honored member of the redeemed church 
 on high. No two statements in the world of thought 
 can be more opposed to each other than "A man is just- 
 ified by faith without the deeds of the law," and " What- 
 soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even 
 so to them." Peter seems to have been on the right 
 track, giving practical precepts for right living. John 
 preached love to God and love to man, and all the active 
 fruits of such a state of heart. James fought without 
 
ACTIONS BRING THEIE OWN RESULTS. 29 
 
 'gloves the Pauline doctrine, and said tiiat faith without 
 works was actually dead. His definition of pure relig- 
 ion, " To visit the fatherless and widows in their afflic- 
 tion, and to keep himself unspotted from the world,',' is 
 in jjerfect accord with the Sermon on the Mount, and 
 the parable of the Last Judgment. It is Paul more > 
 than any other that is responsible for that shameless I 
 prostitution of the* teachings of Jesus, known as the/ 
 Calvinistic theology. He wrote many a good thing,\ 
 many a wise thing, but the core of his theology waal / 
 rotten. 
 
 An opposite doctrine is winding its way, a doctrine 
 that will revolutionize the world, as the certainty of its 
 truth permeates more and more the inner consciousness 
 of every man in civilized and uncivilized nations. It 
 is this: every thought, every desire, word, look, act, 
 every dream even, will have a direct bearing on our con- 
 dition when we come to leave this world, and this with- 
 out the slightest reference to our accepting this or that 
 church dogma, or submitting to this or that church rite. 
 A murderer's crime cannot be washed away in the blood 
 of Jesus. This blood can not "make clean the red right 
 hand of Lady Macbeth." Every cruel or sensual act, 
 every unkind word, every haughty or triumphant sneei', 
 will make an ineffaceable stain on our house and our 
 clothei in the life to come, yea, an ineffaceable scar on 
 the body that will cover our soul. By deeds of restitu- 
 tion (which we can do better while here), by pangs of 
 heartfelt sorrow, by purgatorial pains borne with eager 
 delight, we shall outgrow the conditions that led us to 
 perpetrate such acts.. So doing, in company with our 
 loved ones, we shall ascend the heights of progression.. 
 
30 DEATH. 
 
 and thus everlastingly unfold the perfect germ that 
 marked our individuality, when we were born out of our 
 infinite parent, the absolute Truth, Beauty, and Good- 
 ness of the Universe. 
 
 " Death is the separation of the ego and its spiritual form 
 from the physical body; and does not in the least affect the 
 attainments, feelings, emotions, or mental faculties. The next 
 life is a continuance of this, death making no change in one's 
 personality," 
 
 Hudson Tuttle. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 SObL DEVELOPMENT THE OBJECT OF EXISTENCE. 
 
 In a previous part of this work, we have laid a reason- 
 able foundation for our individualization, perfect, though 
 in an undeveloped state, from the infinite life and soul 
 of the universe. From this fact grows our obligation to 
 use every means, to give every possible condition, for 
 the development of this germ, thus making the building 
 of our personal character the main object of our desire 
 and our labor. When each human soul does this, as 
 it will in course of time, injustice, poverty, wrong of 
 every kind will have left this earth. We -who grieve 
 over human suffering would sweep it from the earth at 
 one stroke, applying outside force and executed legis- 
 lation to prevent the commission of all wrong. Such k 
 mode of procedure is like, to use a homely phrase, 
 " putting the cart before the horse." All reform, to be 
 lasting and effective, woi-ks out from within. To reform 
 the world by the development of one's individual charac-\ 
 ter seems a slow way. It is a slow way, but it is the way/ 
 by which all steady and lasting growth proceeds. It tooW 
 unnurabered ages to gradually develop this earth to be 
 the home of human beings. This was not done in six 
 days, as superstitious minds have ignorantly believed. 
 The oak tree takes many years to develop its giant 
 strength, and to make the solid wood so useful by its 
 durability. Many years are required to develop a 
 human being from the embryotic stage to complete man- 
 
32 DEVELOPMENT OP CHARACTER 
 
 hood. This is materializatioa in the order of nature. 
 The quickly materialized forms that we see at some 
 seances dissolve more quickly than they are produced. 
 A small, amount of conserved force is employed in such 
 fleeting combinations. Lasting, strong character is not 
 built in a day, nor does it influence others in an hour. 
 Still it influences others to build the same, and in this 
 normal, natural method will the human race go on unto 
 that perfection that is its dfestined goal, from the very 
 conditions of its origin. /The main duty for you and 
 for me is to begin with ourselves, to develop truth, 
 purity, justice, love, reverence, and aspiration in our- 
 selves. In this way can we do our part eflfectively 
 toward the improvement of the human race; and true 
 improvement, from core to outer expression, will bring 
 increased prosperity in material conditions. T o legis - 
 ' late outside^ action is to reverse the course of nature. 
 This view of the matter does not however lead us to 
 relax our present efl"orts to prevent suffering, and to pro- 
 mote the advancement of all, even in outer good. As 
 ever, let us seek to lessen poverty, to cure bodily disease, 
 to use our influence for laws to prohibit undeveloped 
 persons from indulging in what, poisons the human sys- 
 tem, and to adjust conflicting claims, so that the rich 
 may not oppress the poor, and so that monopolies may 
 be forever abolished. Earnestly sli all we labor that mar- 
 riage may be the fruition of spiritual love, though this 
 effort clearly exemplifies the necessity of individual 
 character-building, in order to attain this end. 
 
 EStTiS'endeavor to teach the young that animals have 
 the same inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pur- 
 suit of happiness, because "might does not make right." 
 
IS FROM WITHIN. 33 
 
 No animal should be abused in any way, be it b/ sheer 
 neglect, or by the active cruelties of severe beating, 
 the use of the over-check rein, docking the tail, vivi- 
 section, or being constantly chained or caged. Let us 
 teach them that the lower animals difl'er from us in 
 degree but not in kind, and that the old theologians 
 were wrong who considered man a new creation, en- 
 dowed with qualities that made him superior to animals 
 in kind as well as in degree. 
 
 By promoting tenderness and love to all, anj..a_gpirit 
 of justice, purity, and truth, we can aid reaKsoul growth^ 
 in those we influence, and can thus further the more 
 rapid development of each and all, thus bringing on the 
 long promised millennium of perfection. XThe Golden 
 Age is not in the remote past, but in a future that will 
 come the sooner by our faithful effortsX 
 
 The Nazarene advised that reformation begin in the 
 inner being. There must you and I begin, and another 
 cannot do it for us. Others may aid, counsel, suggest 
 methods and motives ; but the work itself must be done 
 by our individual self, and to that self are we mainly 
 responsible. Methods and suggestions for soul-growth, 
 or true character-building, bringing thus 'iall Heaven 
 before our eyes," form the specific object for which this 
 book is written. 
 
 As stated before, our real self, the true ego, is the soul 
 within, which is veiled by the outside form or body. It 
 will endure, as its infinite source, the all-life, endures ; 
 for, from its inherent nature, it cannot die. The outside 
 forms or manifestations however of this inner being are 
 ever changing and gradually dissolving in the onward 
 progress of the soul to its potential development." What 
 
34 THE SPIEITDAL BODY IS NATURAL. 
 
 are the^e outside forms by which the soul is revealed ? 
 To our present comprehension, the form or manifesta- 
 tion of our soul is of two general kinds; and, though the 
 terms are not quite accurate, we will for convenience 
 name them the physical and the psychical or spiritual 
 body. 
 
 The physical body is literally the natural body, the 
 adjective being derived from phusis, nature; and yet it 
 was emphasized in another part of this work that a hu- 
 man being is still under the laws of nature, still natural, 
 though he have passed quite out of his physical body. 
 The spiritual body, that of Jesus after his resurrec- 
 tion for instance, is, accurately speaking, a physical, 
 because a natural body. But as general usage confines 
 the meaning of the term '■ physical body " to our fleshly 
 tabernacle of muscle, bones, nerve substance, and so on, 
 we use it to signify that portion of our outside form 
 which disintegrates at what is called " death." 
 
 But that the physical body then dissolves is no reason 
 'for fancying that the enduring soul has then lost all 
 form, all mode of manifestation. If that were the case, 
 there could be no " recognition of our friends in heaven." 
 Just as real^ just as natural, more enduring, is the psy- 
 chic body, the more ethereal body of the soul. This is 
 mot created, as some have suggested, at the time of 
 death, as a substitute for the disintegrating body of 
 flesh. On the contrary, when the soiil at the^moment of 
 conception took possessioiT ortlSe germ of the later de- 
 _velopedj3ody, it also began to express itself by a more 
 refined and ethereal form. More subtle, more penetra- 
 ting, this spiritual or psychic body formed a link, a 
 meeting place, between pure soul and the fieshly house. 
 
MAK A TRIUNE ENTITY. 35 
 
 and went on developing in connection with it. Mere soul 
 affects mere material substance, in the constitution of 
 an organic existence, whether vegetable, animal, or hu- 
 man, by the intervention, the middle ground as it were, 
 of a spiritual body. This more ethereal form or mani- 
 festation develops more rapidly and perfectly according 
 to the dominance of the spirit over the flesh, or, to use 
 another word, according to its spirituality. And, as 
 this psychic body will be our sole covering, means of 
 recognition by others, and medium of communication 
 when we pass out of the fleshly body, it is meet that we 
 learij how to develop it here to the best advantage. 
 Fortunately for our condition by and by, this more 
 ethereal body can be evolved into greater perfection 
 while we are still here, and the proper treatment of tho 
 physical body will aid this result. 
 
 To recapitulate this portion of the subject,_ahuman 
 Ijeing, to our present apprehension,Js_ a triu ne entity, 
 a ni/Eural trinity. The component parts of his compo- 
 site being are hi s soul, h is psychic body, and ijis fleshly 
 body. These are not related to each other like the con- 
 centric layers of an onion, or like the husk, shell, and 
 kernel of a walnut. As an organized entity, the soul 
 expresses itself all through the psychic body, and the 
 soul and, the psychic body are expressed all through the 
 fleshly body. The union between the soul and the 
 psychic body is more intimate than that between the 
 two and the fleshly body ; and the soul expresses itself 
 more directly and unerringlj' through the psychic body. 
 This is the reaspn that deceit will be diflScult in the life 
 beyond, and that more unerringly there shall we be 
 known as we really are. 
 
36 THE BODY, SPIRIT, AND SOUL. 
 
 The connection between the soul and the psychic body 
 being thus more intimate, when dissolution impends, 
 the soul and the more ethereal body pass together out 
 of the fleshly one. The union between the two is as 
 close as ever. In fact, the soul clings more closely than 
 before to its only organ of expression. It is now indif- 
 ferent to the discarded body of flesh, which is left to 
 •disintegrate, its elements becoming in a short time free 
 to enter into other combinations. The soul, in its cher- 
 ished envelop, passes on into a finer, freer mode of ex- 
 istence, and.pines for its preceding cramped conditions 
 no more than the butterfly pines to become a creeping 
 worm again. 
 
 A few words on the special terms employed will not 
 be out of place. We use the three terms: first, the soul; 
 second, the spirit body or psychic body; third, the 
 physical or fleshly body. Some use instead, the expres- 
 sions, spirit, peri-spirit, and body. We believe that the 
 latter nomenclature is used by Europeans. Paul, who 
 was somewhat skilled in psychology, spoke of spirit, 
 soul, and body. TermS are of no consequence, provided 
 we understand each other's meaning. That we may do 
 so this explanation is made. We frequently speak of 
 seeing a spirit, or of a spirit's doing this or that. This 
 term ha.rmonizes with our ,nomenclature. We some- 
 times say, " I see a man on the street." Whajt we see 
 is the body of a man, though there, is of course an un- 
 der-lying consciousness that the man is more than a 
 mere physical body. Of course we do not see his soul, 
 nor do we see even his spirit body, unless we be clair- 
 voyant. As we speak of a man on this side of life, so 
 we speak of a spirit on the other side. A clairvoyant 
 
i 
 
 THE SOUL GOOD, BUT UNDEVELOPED. 37 
 
 may see his spirit body, but he does not see his soul. 
 Other spirits see his spirit body or form, and they learn 
 of his soul by its manifestations through his ethereal 
 body. Here; we are men and women to- one another; 
 there, we are spirits to those whom we meet. So in 
 speaking of the departed we use the term spirits, for it is 
 bj' their spirit body that they are known and recognized. 
 As stated before, the soul is a perfect thing in its ori- 
 gin and in its i continuity. It is its outside pre-natal 
 or existing hindrances that cause its manifestations to 
 seem evil to those who, are more advanced. Freeing the 
 soul from these hindrances, so that it may grow, is the 
 end and aim of our efforts in soul-culture. No soul is 
 evil, the old theologians to the contrary : it is sTinplyless 
 devel6ped than it will be by and by. It would be well 
 for those who look down on others as being very wicked 
 to reflect just where they would be if they had the same 
 ancestors,, if their own parents were in the same condi- 
 tion at the time of their conception and gestation, or if 
 they had since been subjected to the same influences. 
 And no mattstjiow advanced_a soul may be, the most 
 degraded one will at scftie time in the course of its ex- . 
 ' istence have attained the same degree of advancement. 
 An ignorant boor will some time be where Shakespeare 
 is now. Judas will reach the moral altitude of Jesus. 
 1 But when this has been accopiplished, Sha,kespeare.will 
 / have hied on to " fresh fields and pastures new," and 
 ! the starry light of Jesus will be poured out at a height 
 X^r beyond the one he now occupies. 
 
 Humility becomes all, for circumstances have raised 
 one higher than another. Reverence becomes all, for 
 there are always those who are more advanced than we 
 
38 THE SOUL AIDED FROM ABOVE. 
 
 are, and the infinite is everlastingly beyond. Love be- 
 fits all, for God is the father of all, and all spirits are 
 brothers. And hope is the inalienable heritage of all, 
 for hope rests on our innate origin as children of the 
 infinite, and on the beneficent laws which rule the bound- 
 less universe. 
 
 Having now. as we hope, smoothed the pathway to the 
 acceptance of the fact that the innate germ of our ex- 
 istence is perfect, and that all souls are brethren, 
 whether embodied in the flesh or not, we will proceed to 
 show how we may take our soul as it is, and go on unto 
 perfect development. Owing to previous conditions 
 more or less remote, and to present hinderances from 
 within or without, we are in different stages of advance- 
 ment or manifestation. Be this as it may, there are cer- 
 tain mental states that we must learn to take at will, 
 before we can enter effectively upon our work of soul 
 culture. Though the work is done by us, there are ap- 
 propriate aids that we may receive from higher spirits, 
 who, as well as we, draw their soul nutriment from the 
 same infinite source. A plant grows because it has in 
 itself a germ of life, but the po^ession of this germ will 
 not make it develop, unless it be able to appropriate the 
 proper aids from the air, the light, and the soil. The 
 little germinating plant does not stolidly shut itself up, 
 and assume that it is enough to itself : from the outside 
 world it persistently draws to itself the needed ele- 
 ments. It also leans in brotherhood to its neighbor; 
 for plants, as well as animals and men, have souls. If it 
 were otherwise, they would not be alive, for soul is life. 
 
VIRTUE. 39 
 
 " Mortals that would follow me 
 Love Virtue, she alone is free : 
 She can teach you how to climb 
 Far above yon sphery chime ; 
 Or, if Virtue feeble were 
 Heaven itself would stoop to her." 
 
 MlI,TON. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 RELATIONS WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD. 
 
 Our soul, living and individual as it may be, is now 
 in earthly conditions ; and, to develop it to best advan- 
 tage, we must consider its iHaterial envelop, and the 
 proper treatment of that. 
 
 In what we have to say of the physical body, we hope 
 it will be borne in mind that due allowance must be 
 made for all the flaws and hindrances resulting from 
 conditions over which we have no control. Because 
 children's mental powers are of diflTerent grades, we d& 
 not send the bright ones to school, and keep the dull 
 ones at home. Neither do we expect all to do equally 
 well. We are satisfied, if reasonable, that all do as well 
 ' as they can. Now, from the deficiencies of our ancestors, 
 and from millions of outside particulars, our physical 
 bodies vary in their adaptability to meet the require- 
 ments of their soul tenants. And, what is quite as bad, 
 many of us are indissolubly associated in life with those 
 who put hindrances in our way, it may be from ignor- 
 ance, it may be from the dislike to soul culture which 
 marks their undeveloped condition. 
 
 Now, for what we cannot help we are not responsible,, 
 though from the undeviating character of the laws of 
 being all hindrances must impede pur progress, though 
 we be not responsible for them. We must do our best 
 when hemmed in by circumstances, and take what we 
 
CONTENTIOK HINDEBS SOUI^-GKOWTH. 41 
 
 can, and if possible we may, if repressed in one' direc- 
 tion, grow more vigorously in another,, leaving it to the 
 future to make our development symmetrical. In gen- 
 eral, the overcoming of difficulties, if done without 
 passion, strengthens our powers. It has been! well'said 
 that if we overcome a difficulty, the strength of the diffi- 
 culty passes into us. 
 
 But when our hindrances arise from the opposition of 
 those to, whom we are linked by earthly ties, it is often 
 better to yield, than to get into the stormy state of niind 
 that results from contention. And the result is often 
 worse when we contend with one we love, for as Coleridge 
 says : 
 
 " To be wroth with one we love 
 Doth work like madness in the brain." 
 
 It is very difficult to lay down exact laws for the govT 
 ernment of the physical body. Different bodies require 
 a somewhat different treatment. It should he noted 
 also that a study of the^ special treatment of one's own 
 body develops reason and self-control. Besides the in- 
 herent difficulty in laying down general laws for all is 
 the danger arising from the fact that if some^ of our 
 readers were prevented from following them in every 
 particular, they would become discouraged and abandoij 
 the whole effort. 
 
 The ancients said, " A sound mind in a sound body." 
 We add, that spiritual development requires that the 
 body shall be under the mind. " Keep the body under," 
 said Paul. 
 
 To keep the body in health, each- one should learn the 
 special weaknesses of his own, because the weakness of 
 one organ prevents it from doing its full share of the- 
 
■42 PERSONAL ILLCSTEATION. 
 
 work. The organ may be inherently defective, or it 
 may have been injured by its abuse. 
 
 To illustrate, the writer, though in apparently perfect 
 health, was suddenly prostrated by bilious colic at about 
 the age of forty. Dp to the time of this attack, she did 
 not dream of liver trouble. In fact, the livfer was good, 
 but its powers had been abused by using too much of 
 certain foods. The physician prescribed a change of 
 diet. This change was not radical enough, and when 
 symptoms of the same trouble reappeared, she had re- 
 course to an occasional liver pill, not knowing that the 
 irritation produced would have worse results than the 
 temporary clogging of the liver. Later, she found that 
 the juice of lemons had a good eflFect, and they were 
 used instead of liver pills till inflammation of the stom- 
 ach was the result. She was feeling her way half-blind 
 from point to point. Of late years, she uses no lemons, 
 no liver pills, and is not bilious either, for she has 
 learned to use the special foods that give sufficient nu- 
 triment, and yet do not produce an excess of bile. 
 . But suppose the writer had been married to a man 
 who from obstinacy or love for rich food had insisted 
 on pies, cake, fried food, and other bile producers, had 
 insisted on no change in the table diet. To avoid the 
 oddity and the additional expense of two separate 
 courses, she would have yielded, for she would probably 
 have found that contention affected her inner being even 
 worse than an excess of bile. 
 
 To develop mentally and spiritually, the physical 
 body needs health; and health, making due allowance 
 for hereditary conditions, depends on pure air by day 
 and by night; food neither rich nor innutritions; mod- 
 
WINNING AN INDIKFEKENT PARTNER. 43 
 
 erate temperature; clothing suited to the season and 
 leaving the body unhampered and unburdened; exercise 
 in pure air; cleanliness of body, clothes and surround- 
 ings; a calm and cheerful disposition; and freedom 
 from all sexual excesses. 
 
 But many are united to partners who prefer the 
 wrong foods, who think it wasteful to allow fresh air in 
 the house in winter, who are cold if the thermometer in 
 the room falls to 70° Fahrenheit, who do not like hygie- 
 nic clothing, who prefer dirt to cleanliness, who demand 
 sexual indulgence though children are not desired, and 
 who are violent or sullen if they do not have their own 
 way in every respect. 
 
 Friend, whether man or woman, thus unfortunately 
 mated and yet desirous of securing proper conditions for^ 
 soul-culture, no one can decide your course for you. That 
 you must decide for yourself; By cultivating a sunny, 
 cheerful disposition, by loving smile and tactful care, by 
 showing a real wish to please and comfort, and by long 
 patience, you may lead your partner to accede to your 
 wishes in one little thing after another. Eemember that 
 his or her yielding in one point is no sign that he will 
 yield the next one. Exert an influence that never fails 
 in kindness and sweetness, and though you may not se- 
 cure what you desire, keep control of yourself, and hold 
 your inner being free from outside annoyances, and you 
 will thus be gaining, in spite of untoward circumstan- , 
 ces, the soul-culture for which you long. 
 
 Eemember that your associate does not share your de- 
 sires, because he is at a different stage of advancement, 
 and that you cannot bring him or her to yours by scold- 
 ing or by any severe means. Help your friend to grow 
 
44 WINNING THOSE WHO OPPOSE. ' 
 
 himself, and it may bei that little by little you will have 
 the comjjanionship of your nearest and dearest in the 
 aspirations that you feel. If wholly unsuccessful, then 
 proceed alone, but do it so unpretendingly, so kindly, 
 that those nearest you will be proud of you, and will 
 say that their husband, wife, parent, child, brother, sis- 
 ter, or friend is the best in the world, ■^^''hen j-^ou have 
 won their sincere respect by the perfection of your own 
 character, you may in the end succeed unexpectedly in 
 what you most desire. But if you never succeed in 
 winning them while on this earth, you have won your- 
 self ; and it may be yours in scenes not of this earth to 
 lead them onward and upward by the same cheering and 
 loving spirit that marked your intercourse with them 
 while you dwelt on the physical planet. Remember, that 
 the very saddest mistake you could possiblj' make would 
 be to cease to aid the one nearest to you in the ties of 
 earth. The duty that you shirk here will have to be 
 done there before you can really progress. 
 
 Some separate from their partner or their relative 
 here on the ground that the association hinders their 
 advancement. This is a grave mistake. They thus 
 throw away the opportunity that circumstances had 
 given them for a certain development that they might 
 have attained by fidelity to their obligations. When 
 the abandoned one clings to you and does not desire to 
 separate, the act has still worse results. If you walk a 
 separate path hei-e, you will have to seek forgiveness 
 there from your injured associate, and make up as well 
 as you can for what should have been accomplished 
 while here by ." patient continuance in well-doing." Ties 
 should not be lightly formed; and when once formed, 
 
FIDELITY TO OBLIGATIONS. 45 
 
 they should not be dissolved unless the spiritual ad- . 
 vancement of both requires the dissolution. NChat the 
 spiritual advancement of one requires it is a fallacy, for 
 the compassionate adherence to duty will do more for 
 that one than walking a more flowery path, with the^^ 
 back turned on one to whom you had promised fidelity. 
 Those who agree to live together while agreeable and 
 convenient to both can never taste the sweetness that 
 arises from making one's duty to another paramount 
 over one's own pleasure. 
 
 " straight is tlie line of duty, 
 Curved is the line of beauty ; 
 FoUow the first, and thou Shalt see 
 The second ever following thee." 
 
 Some mediumistic persons, .part from their companion 
 because the association hinders their medial develop- •" 
 ment. That is not synonymous with spiritual develop^ 
 ment. A person is often a medium without beiii^ 
 spiritual, and as this sort of mediumship is usually ', 
 exerted for pecuniary gain, we should think that to be a 
 very poor substitute for fidelity to one's obligations. '' The 
 life is more than meat." Mediumship is a curse to its 
 possessor, unless it be united with spiritual aspiration.'"" 
 Many a medium will have to walk dark and desolate 
 paths in the spirit world, and will wish he had earned 
 his earthly living in some other way, and let his medi- 
 umship comfort the sad and skeptical, when it came 
 spontaneously as the result of the blending of aura with 
 aura and of soul with soul. 
 
 It is claimed that the exercise of mediumship ex- 
 hausts all one's physical powers, and that all the time 
 between the seances is needed for recuperation. Very 
 true: the mistake lies in giving up all other duties in 
 
46 THE medium's own spirituality. 
 
 order to give all one's physical powers to mediumship. 
 That is what puts a medium into an abnormal condition, 
 and makes him irritable, touchy, and nervous. Many 
 mediums "get nothing for themselves." That is all 
 wrong. Consciousness of the presence of disembodied 
 frie&ds and wise communications from them should 
 first fructify his own nature. After that, the gift can 
 usefully overflow and enrich his friends, in hours of 
 withdrawal from the outside world and of soul-commu- 
 nion. That a medium should sit for any and everybody, 
 as a business, prevents this communication between the 
 visible and invisible from spiritualizing those engaged 
 in it, and makes this last and most glorious gift from 
 the unseen world a laughing-stock or a thing of scorn. 
 
 It is claimed that many skeptics are convinced by 
 just such demonstrations as these. Skeptics who are 
 secretly inclined to Spiritualism by an unconscious de- 
 velopment of spirituality may be convinced. Persons 
 who are materialistic by nature are not convinced. 
 Nothing can convince them, because the substratum of 
 spiritual aspiration is wanting in them. It is that 
 quality that needs to be cultivated. Accepting' the ex- 
 istence of disembodied spirits, and possible communica- 
 tions from them under favorable conditions as scientific 
 ^acts in nature, have no more influence, perlTej in' devel- 
 oping the inner nature, than the acceptance of any other 
 proved fapt, as, that heat usually expands bodies, and 
 that the air diminishes in density as it leaves the sur- 
 face of the earth. 
 
 Better, far better than receiving communications 
 through the organism of other people, — better, far better 
 than to be a so-called medium himself, is it to become 
 
PERSONAL ACCESSIBILITr BETTER. * 47 
 
 spiritually susceptible to high and pure spiritual 
 influences. 
 
 The world has found fault with some Christians, so- 
 called, because they confine their religion to Sunday, 
 the family altar, and the weekly prayer-meeting, instead 
 of carrying it into the thousand recurrences of daily life. 
 Quite as blame-worthy are those Spiritualists, so-called,, _ 
 who confine their Spiritualism to the" seance hour and to 
 the private sitting. Spiritualism cannoit be engrafted in\ 
 our nature by such outward appliances. To be worthy | 
 of the name it must be a growth from within, and be ! 
 entirely independent of what may be received through' 
 the organism of another person. 
 
 Many will say in all sincerity that they are wholly 
 destitute of evidence and consolation, unless they get it 
 through another, because they are not mediumistic. 
 Periiaps they never can be mediums for other persons, 
 but all most certainly can, and to this statement do we 
 beg the most earnest consideration of the reader, all 
 most certainly can become accessible to spirit influences , 
 of a pure order, and can also in time receive in their own[ 
 private, personal experience convincing evidence of\~" 
 the presence and the loving watch-care of their disem- 
 bodied friends. 
 
 But this result, as a general thing, cannot be brought 
 about in a month or even a year. It requires a clear 
 understanding of the processes to be emploj'ed, and a 
 persistent and regular practice of these spiritual meth- 
 ods until the growth of the soul has become apparent. 
 From that point, there is no danger that the delighted 
 aspirant will ever cease a development that has already 
 brought such results. 
 
48 
 
 Four Steps to I*eacb. 
 ' Always try to do the will of another, rather than thine own. 
 Alwaj'S seek to have less rather than more. 
 Always seek the lowest place. 
 Always desire that the will of God (Infinite Intelligence) may 
 
 may be accomplished in you. 
 He that does this enters into the region of rest and peace." 
 
 Thomas k Kempis, 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE AIM OF MEDIUMSHIP. 
 
 When medium ship is sought for spiritual purposes, it 
 is a beautiful thing. Reader^ test the motive of your 
 desire for mediumistic jjower. Do you desire it in 
 order to spiritualize all souls everywhere, whether 
 embodied or disembodied ? Or do you desire it for 
 advancement in earthly fame, or worldly prosperity? 
 The Old Book said, "Try the spirits." Let each one 
 try his own, and scrutinize his reason for desiring to be- 
 come a medium between the visible and invisible worlds. 
 A high motive will draw a spirit actuated by the same, 
 but a low motive shuts the door to such, and welcomes 
 those of a lower grade. " Motives are the impulses that 
 stamp souls," wrote Adoniram Judson from the spirit/ 
 side of life. 
 
 The very word aspiration implies a somewhat towards 
 which the soul desires to grow. And as the fountain 
 does not rise higher than its source, so does the soul, 
 the offspring of God, grow ever towards that out of 
 which it came. But, finite as we are, we cannot compre- 
 hend infinity, and we necessarily lose ourselves in en- 
 deavoring to unite with it. So, in conformity with our 
 own limited and bounded (Jondition, we can distinctly 
 conceive only of intelligences finite like ourselves, and 
 whose tuition, and aid, and influence we destre, because 
 they are wiser, stronger, and better than we are. . 
 
 -A- 
 
50 WE MAY APPLY TO SPIRITS 
 
 A pupil who asks his wiser teacher for instruction 
 does not by that act disown a belief in a mighty wisdom 
 far transcending that of his teacher. The wise mother 
 who guides the aspirations of her child is aware that 
 her Own knowledge comes from a higher source. The 
 thousand things that we do for others and that they do 
 for us, the suggestions we make, the helpful words we 
 speak, are not designed to take the place of the mights- 
 source of all exerted strength. Nay : it is rather because 
 of God (Allah, Jehovah, Jove, Lord, or Infinite Life 
 itself) that we are able to make these efforts, and be- 
 come the instruments by which an absolute potency 
 makes itself felt. The wise instructs him who knows 
 less, the strong aids his weaker brother, the advanced 
 spirit helps his aspiring student of earth, because of the 
 strength to do and bear that comes from away beyond. 
 Our strength, our wisdom, our goodness, are not self- 
 originated. They were implanted in our original germ, 
 and we have thus the security of an existence derived 
 from the Absolute Good. 
 
 And, as the child asks its mother to nurse it, as the 
 student asks the teacher to explain the problem, as we 
 ask our friend to lend us a helping hand when we are in 
 trouble, and do nol!, because of these acts, deny the ex- 
 istence of a power beyond, that enables all these things 
 to be accomplished in accordance with its laws, — so, in 
 like manner, do we ask instruction from wise spirits 
 whose experience enables them to know more than we 
 do, and ask the dear departed to comfort and aid us in 
 those special needs which they care for because they 
 are specially interested in us as individuals, without 
 disowning our trust in God, and our consciousness that 
 
AS WELL AS TO MORTALS. 51 
 
 because God is, spirits, whether embodied or disem- 
 bodied, can do thus and so. 
 
 Also, as the seeking child, the enquiring student, and 
 the applying friend do not by their acts sacrifice their 
 own individuality and personal responsibility, by seek- 
 ing from another one what he can give,' but is enabled 
 bj' wise assistance to develop his own individual power, 
 — so do we, in like manner, ask counsel, information and 
 comfort from disembodied spirits who are able to give/ 
 the same, without sacrificing our own individuality, or' 
 debasing our manhood or womanhood, or lessening our 
 power of self-action and self- resolution and decision. 
 
 Those who object to such applying to disembodied 
 spirits when they accept doing it in the ordinary associ- 
 ations of this life, do it on the mistaken basis that a 
 spirit is, per se, different without a physical body from 
 what he was when he had one. The mother soothed us 
 here: she can, if we become accessible, soothe us from 
 there. The father counseled us here: he can, under 
 like conditions, counsel us from there. The physician 
 helped pur physical condition here: he can, if the laws 
 governing communication be followed, aid us from there. 
 There is no more loss of individuality in being coun- 
 seled, comforted, or helped by a disembodied spirit, than 
 in being treated in a like manner by the men and women 
 in djftly, physical life. In both cases we may cultivate 
 our own individuality, and the sense of our own respons- 
 ibility for our own actions, if we understand our rela- 
 tions aright with the visible and the invisible world. 
 
 There is nothing strained, forced, or unnatural in be- 
 ing disembodied. A mistake is made by those who 
 suppose that a person is made unnatural, and therefore 
 
52 SEKVILITY TO SPIRITS IS UNWISE. 
 
 uncanny and strange, by having passed out of his fleshly 
 body. It makes the invisible smile when we speak of 
 them as being " dead." 
 
 We have thus expressed ourselves, because some de- 
 clare that because we expect counsel, aid, and consolation 
 from the departed, we do by that act seek to lessen our 
 own individuality and responsibility, and that we also, 
 in applying to finite disembodied spirits, deny the ex- 
 istence of Infinite Intelligence that rules all. Having, 
 as we trust, disposed of that misconstruction, we have 
 yet to acknowledge that there are some who commune 
 with the invisible that do seem to lose the sense of their 
 own self-hood. 
 
 It is painfully true that some mediums, in their great 
 fondness for and trust in the intelligences that have 
 manifested to them, are servilely guided by them in all 
 matters both great and small. " The spirits told me to 
 do thus and so " is the reason they assign for all their 
 actions. While it is true that the disembodied can, 
 from their greater insight into spirit, often penetrate the 
 motives and secret designs of those with whom we deal, 
 and can sometimes warn us and direct us m some de- 
 gree, yet a wise spirit would certainly avoid counseling 
 us to the point of affecting our own power of decision. 
 "Use your own judgment " is the often used expression 
 of my most trusted disembodied friend, when I appeal 
 to him what to do. 
 
 Besides, only a selfish mortal would continually de- 
 mand that a spirit should ever walk earthly paths, and 
 always see the earth side of everything, for his own 
 advantage and pleasure. It would also hinder the 
 onward progress of that advancing soul. Spirits there 
 
OBJECT OF OPENING THE DOOR. 53 
 
 are who cling to the earth plane, who care not for the 
 spheres beyond, because their desires keep them earth- 
 bound. Their condition is a sad one. A true and un- 
 selfish medium will surely try to sever the bonds that 
 hold such to earth, instead of strengthening them by 
 holding their attention' constantly to" their own mundane 
 affairs. Some spirits are bound to physical conditions 
 by their continued interest in monej' making, in real 
 estate dealings, and in "corners" on the very necessa-i 
 ries of life. It is pitiable to see a medium encouraging! 
 these tendencies in a spirit, in order to aid Iict to make! 
 money for grasping men by her ""gifts" as a "business) 
 medium." Such a use ofmediumistic power is a pros-', 
 titution of the gift. ' 
 
 The spirit world have not endeavored to open com- 
 munication with mortals in the last half of the nine- 
 teenth century, in order to help men to make money by 
 their neighbor's oversight, to dazzle a crowd, qr to 
 amuse a frivolous company. The movement has many 
 undeveloped hangers-on, on the spirit side of life. But 
 it was originated and carried on by wise, benevolent 
 spirits, who studied and applied the laws of nature, and 
 thus found out how to make communication practicable. 
 Their object was and is to make mortals sure that ex- 
 istence continues, though the physical body decay; 
 that friends knpw each other there and can sometimes 
 communicate with those, left behind, thus proving their 
 individual, conscious existence; and that all acts in 
 earth life have a direct bearing on one's condition on 
 entering the spiritual stage of. existence. Theiij 
 efforts tend to the highest and furthest reaching moral- 
 ity, and to the deepest spirituality. Those through 
 
54 DRAGGING SPIRITS DOWN. 
 
 whom the communications come should therefore seek 
 to rise to the pure motives and the exalted design^ of 
 those spirits who have opened the door between the two 
 worlds. By no means should they lend themselves to 
 the tricky and selfish doings of lower spirits, who use 
 the door merely to umuse, thus hindering their own ad- 
 vancement, as well as that of the medium and his 
 " sitters." 
 
 In the common acceptation of the word, a Spiritualist 
 seems to be one who knows that the so-called dead are 
 alive, because they can sometimes give evidence of their 
 existence to their friends on the earth-plalie. " Spirit- 
 ualists," it seems to us, fall into two great classes, 
 though, as is the case with all immaterial things, the 
 line of demarcation between the two is not very well 
 defined. 
 
 One class seems to wish to drag the denizens of the 
 spiri^; world into physical conditions. They want their 
 " dead " friends to be on the earth and of the earth, to 
 be interested in all mundane affairs, even the fit of a 
 dress and the selling of real estate. They are so hemmed 
 in by the physical that they even want these dis- 
 embodied friends to get again into a physical body, so 
 that they can feel them again with their fleshly hands, 
 and can see them drink coffee and eat candy again. 
 
 JMaterialization, that most wonderful chemical process, 
 po well suited to carry conviction of spirit existence 
 into the heart of a materialist^ is regarded by this class 
 of Spiritualists as the Ultima Thule of Spiritualism; and 
 they would far rather attend a materializing seance and 
 see a spirit make yards of lace and finally dematerialize 
 
 %XB. the middle of the room, than sit alone at home and 
 
RAISING MORTALS TO THEIR LEVEL. 55 
 
 receive spiritual thoughts into their souls from their 
 dear spirit friends, who know thart the unfoldment of 
 the soul itself is the very object for which we were 
 brought into individual existence. If these Spiritual- 
 ists attend a public meeting they choose one where tests 
 are given rather than one where they "just speak." K 
 the speaker is entranced, they prefer to see his eyes 
 closed than open. If- he speaks " under control," they 
 prefer an Indian control to William Denton. They dote 
 on table-tippings, raps, piano- dancing, independent slate-" 
 writing, and "full-form materializations." All these'j 
 manifestations, so important to sceptics, and the door; 
 through which most of us received our first evidence of 
 spirit existence and spirit communion, they seem to take 
 as the be-all and the end-all of the most important event 
 known in the history of the human race. 
 
 The other class of Spirtualists want to raise them- 
 selves and all whom they can influence to a moi"e spirit- 
 ual plane. They say, "Instead of dragging spirits 
 down to our level, let us seek to raise mankind to their 
 plane of existence." Instead of making communication 
 to the lonely mourner a basis of trade, they would show 
 the sorrowing one that evidence through another person 
 is the door into the pathway of self-development, so that 
 he may be fitted on passing out to join the company of 
 that dear one who is fast progressing in spirit life. 
 This class of Spiritualists will care for the interests of 
 true mediums, and try by a kindly and generous stated 
 support to remove from them the temptation to abuse and 
 overwork their gift. Eealizing that the legitimate work 
 of a medium is with materialistic sceptics, they will try 
 to lead their brethren and sisters into self-development. 
 
56 THE OBJECT OF PHENOMENA. 
 
 and thus save them, who profegs to be, spiritual, from 
 having to commune with the invisible through the organ- 
 ism of another individual. 
 
 This class of Spiritualists realize that work in this 
 •direction is of two kinds. The first is to cultivate the 
 soul of himself and all who are convinced of the facts 
 ■of Spiritualism, so that they may become accessible to 
 spirit influence, and in time develop to where they can 
 definitely commune with spirits, exchanging thoughts 
 with them spiritually, as the senses of the spirit body 
 develop. The second is to promote the giving of physical - 
 tests, by raps, tips, independent slate writing, material- 
 ization, and all such methods to materialistic doubters 
 of existence without a physical body, through the strong- 
 est and most moral mediums that can be secured ; at 
 the same time showing investigators the highest moral 
 and spiritual aspects of this wonderful movement. 
 
 It is emphatically by the door of phenomena that we 
 I entered these^ paths, and so long as we'are in the body, 
 ! these manifestations will form the grounds of evidence^ 
 j g,s was the case with Paul. English books are printed 
 by the use of A, B, and C, but as students are not 
 always saying over the alphabet, so is it unprofitable 
 for Spiritualists to advance no further than communi- 
 cation with the invisible world by physical means. 
 
 Soul-culture being the real object of the spiritual 
 movement, those engaged in it should endeavor as fast 
 as possible to rise to the condition where they may 
 personally comniune with progressing spirits without 
 the intervention of the fleshly body, and the senses 
 thereof. Demanding evidence of this nature at first, on 
 account of being then materialistic, like the rest of man- 
 
LIKE ATTRACTS LIKE. 57 
 
 kind, who will not 4jelieve unless they have the evidence 
 of their eyes and their ears, let us now rise to a more 
 spiritual plane, and never rest till our own communion 
 be established in a more spiritual manner. 
 
 Personally, I was convinced of disembodied existence 
 by the sudden dematerialization of the temporary body ' 
 of a young man I knew, and he has always been proud 
 of what he accomplished on that occasion. Later, it was 
 by table-tipping, under circumstances that excluded 
 imortal efforts and mind-reading, that I found that my 
 father's individual spirit was communicating with me. 
 In those days I had no clair-voyance, no clair-audience, 
 no mediumistic power as I supposed ; and long did I 
 haunt seance rooms, in the hope that my dear departed 
 could communicate definitely with me. It was not to be. 
 My disembodied friends said, " Come up higher." I was 
 taught how to develop my own powers, and not weakly 
 commune with my ovm through some one else. Later, I 
 would see and sometimes hear, and what was still more 
 important to the work done through me, they began to 
 sensibly impress their thoughts on my brain. The 
 prophecy of my father has begun to be fullfllled : " Soul 
 to soul like the blending of light, will our souls mingle." 
 
 "The truth can always be had by those who desire it, but 
 each one must seek it for himself. That only which we have 
 within can we see without. If we meet no gods, it is because we 
 harbor none.'' 
 
 Emerson. 
 
58 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 FIRST MENTAL STEP, PASSIVITY. 
 
 The same temper of heart which enables some to re- 
 ceive much more satisfaction from a medium than do 
 others, will, if applied wtien alone, give good conditions 
 for his own' development. And the results wWl be the 
 more satisfactory, because in addition to actual evidence, 
 he will obtain increased accessibility to disembodied in- 
 fluence himself, and may become in time a medium for 
 other persons less advanced. 
 
 This desirable frame of mind is passiveness. Often 
 a disappointed seeker for evidence is told that he is "too 
 anxious." He is exceedingly sorry for this something 
 in himself that prevents his gaining his end, but he 
 does not know how to get rid of it. He is told not to 
 be so positive. Positive, earnest by nature, he does not 
 know how to lay the quality aside at will. 
 
 In my own case, though having been thoroughly con- 
 vinced that our dead friends were still cognizant of our 
 doings, and could sometimes communicate with me 
 through another, I could receive much less from medi- 
 ums than my friends who were less positive; and I 
 could get nothing myself, not being mediumistic, as I then 
 supposed. Subsequent observation has shown me that 
 all are susceptible to spirit influence, every human be- 
 ing having a spii'it body and soul, as well as a physical 
 body. Mediumship, or the preferable term, spiritual 
 susceptibility, is the development of the inner body, and 
 
CONQUJEKING KEKVOUS TENSION. 59 
 
 its increased freedom from the domination of sense. 
 Whatever makes the body purer, and whatever tends to 
 free us from sense conditions, will give us the condition 
 we desire. 
 
 To become passive or nega,tive, we must learn to lay- 
 aside every care and annoyance. We And that their 
 very anxiety to develop acts as a hindrance to many. 
 This care, like every other one, must be laid wholly by.- 
 Remaining perfectly quiet in body will help us to 
 attain that end. ' Several years ago, being engaged in 
 teaching nine consecutive classes, besides the care of 
 my Seminary, I would find myself so exhausted after 
 dinner that I could' not rest. An instinct, as I then 
 supposed, the influence of my departed parents, as I 
 now know, led me to draw the shades down, and to sit 
 in my most comfortable chair, with my back to the 
 light, and to keep perfectly quiet. For some ten minutes 
 I would have to use all the strength of my will , to keep 
 absolutely motionless, for I found that I must not only 
 seem quiet, but that there must not be the slightest 
 unseen contraction of any muscle in my whole body. I 
 never found anything more difficult to do, as my previ- 
 ous labor had almost nullified the tone of my nerves. 
 But after holding myself thus in absolute stillness, in a 
 few moments the nervous tension was suddenly relieved, 
 and fof a little while I could really rest, and then gp 
 about my work with renewed strength. I mention this ( 
 experience, so that any similarly conditioned may be \ 
 benefitted by doing the same. But truth compels me to 
 add that since forming the habit of the processes to be 
 described in this book, I no longer fall into those ner- 
 vous tensions, though frequently subjected to nervous 
 
GO ALL nNKIND FEELINGS EXCLUDED. 
 
 and mental exertions far surpassing those of the time 
 just alluded to. f 
 
 To return: the first mental state to be attained is 
 absolute indifference to every care, no matter how en- 
 grossing it may be. The mother in deep anxiety over the 
 alarming illness of her child must be able to throw even 
 this care aside, when she withdraws for a moment into 
 her inner nature, in order to receive spiritual help. 
 Thus doing, she will also- aid her child. Almost mad- 
 dened with anxiety, there is no room in her mind for , 
 the helpful suggestions that her angels are trying to 
 give her. But let her empty her mind for a moment, 
 and a sudden inspiration may tell her of something that 
 will relieve the little sufferer. Moreover, her nervous 
 system being calmed by the moment's respite and by 
 the aid of those who minister from above, a most sooth- 
 ing influence will flow from her own system on the little 
 one. 
 
 The business man, and all anxious ones, however en- 
 gaged, must learn how to enter into their inner closet, 
 and to "shut to the door" on all the worriments that be- 
 set them. A few moments yielded to these silent, invis- 
 ible influences may make all the difference between 
 success and failure in the work of the day. 
 
 But not only must all care and trouble be laid aside: 
 -^U anger, all bitterness, all indignation, no matter how 
 well founded, must be entirely excluded from the mind. 
 The unkindest deeds, the bitterest insults, must be re- 
 garded with indifference. This does not mean that we 
 are to be stolid or stoical. The thought of those who 
 have injured us must be gentle, quiet, forgiving, and*at 
 least indifferent, if we cannot succeed in making it well- 
 
MEDIUMS IN SPECIAL DANGER. 61 
 
 wishing. To some, this is more difficult than to lay- 
 aside anxieties and cares. But it must be done. 
 
 To lay bur souls open to invisible influence, and at 
 the same time to indulge in anger and bitterness is to ~ 
 be mad indeed. It is to open the door of our precious 
 soul, our inner, most cherished possession, to sotne- 
 disembodied spirit who is filled with similar passions. 
 The spirit of some murderer, filled with yet more baleful 
 passions by "the deep damnation of his taking off" 
 than even those of the hour of his crime, may be passing 
 by. Seeing your heart a prey to the evil feelings that 
 rack his own, he enters the open door; and, quite un- ^ 
 knowing why, you feel more angry and Ijitter than you F 
 did before. ,, 
 
 Persons often wonder why mediums so often evince 
 envy, jealousy, and petty spite. They are sensitiyes, anli 
 tlierefore susceptible to every, paasipg-^influence. More 
 than ordtHary persons do they need to watch themselves- 
 closely, and to pay special attention to soul-culture and 
 character-building. Mary Magdalene was one of these. 
 Sensitive and susceptible, in an evil hour she yielded to 
 stormy passion, and not only one, but seven undevel- 
 oped spirits took possession of her inner being. Another 
 medium, whosB strong will shut the door against all 
 baser spirits, was able to conquer all seven, and thus to- 
 set her free. It is no wonder that she " loved much," and 
 that her adoring love led her alone in the morning twi- 
 light to his tomb, and made her the first to see him in 
 his spiritual form. 
 
 When engaged in doing missionary work from place- - 
 toplace, in one town a young lady came to ihe to take a 
 private lesson in soul-development. She was positive- 
 
62 THE NEGATIVE, THE INTIAL STEP. 
 
 in nature, affectionate, and intelligent. I soon found 
 that she felt very bitter toward her own father. The 
 circumstances were these. Her mother had " died " a few 
 weeks before, and during her whole mai-ried life this 
 father had treated his wife with cruelty and injustice. 
 The daughter had seen her mother's sufferings, even to 
 the brink of the grave, and she did not forgive her father. 
 I tried to dislodge the feeling from her mind, and to 
 show her that her father, bad as he now was, would in 
 the future repent and become a progressive spirit though 
 he might suffer for ages first. No: she could not lay 
 aside her bitterness, for she felt that in so doing- she 
 would be disloyal to her mother. At last, willing to leave 
 tliis subject, she asked me to give her the lesson. I told her 
 that there was no Use in her receiving the lesson, as she 
 was unable to take the very first step of the process ; that 
 she must lay aside all unkind feeling to her father, along 
 with all cares of every kind. She felt unable to do so. 
 At last I said, " Cannot you lay aside this unkind feel- 
 ing just this one little minute while we are talking ? " 
 She looked at me and said, "Yes: I can now ; but it 
 will come back. " " Of course it will come back, " I 
 said ; " and when it does, you must withdraw into your 
 inner self, and cast it out again." She seized the idea, 
 admitted that she felt better without it, and learned the 
 whole process. I afterward learned that she was greatly 
 benefitted thereby. 
 
 Some one will ask if it is wrong to feel anxiety. It is 
 what some call wrong: it is what we call undevelojped, 
 when using language cai-efully. The Master-medium of 
 all bade those who desired to attain his moral elevation 
 to "'take no thought for the morrow." 
 
A SWEBT TEMPEB. 63 
 
 All pride in self, all selfish determination to have 
 things our own way must be laid aside, when we take 
 the initial step in soul-culture. In this connection it is 
 well to consider Thomas a Kempis's " Steps to Peace," 
 as given on page 48. We can easily see that most of 
 the contention and strife of the world arise from an 
 eager longing to get yet more, to do everything in our 
 own way, and to get up higher than our neighbors. 
 Could these desires be eliminated, peace in the soul and 
 consequent peace with those about us would certainly 
 follow. 
 
 The question has already been asked by some of our 
 readers, "Will not getting into this iiegative, passive' 
 state, without all care, indignation, and desire to surpass 
 others, take away all ambition, and make us all milk- 
 and-water persons?" Most certainly, if this were all. 
 Bear in mind that this is only the initial step of the 
 process, and that after acquiring the power to take this 
 mental attitude at will, we shall later be taught to be- 
 come positive, self-reliant, and individual enough to do "" 
 a,ll things that maj' be required of us in the active du-- 
 ties of terrestrial life. But he who is positive before he, 
 has known how to become negative at will, may be dog- 
 matic, imperious, grasping, and altogether disagreeable 
 We will consider our first mental steps in their entirety, 
 and we'shall then be able to go on to those that tend to 
 bring out the most active forces of an individual and 
 active being who will manfully do his duty in this work- 
 a-day world, and on whom weaker men and women will 
 instinctively lean. 
 
 " Sweet in temper, face, and word, 
 To please an ever present Lord." 
 
64 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 SECOND MENTAL STEP, KECEPTIVITY. 
 
 Having by our initial step in the process here taught 
 become gentle, free from all anxiety on every subject, 
 and from all unkind and bitter feeling to every individ- 
 ual in the universe ; having become humble, contented, 
 willing to take the lowest place, and willing to please 
 others in any way that is not wrong, we are now ready 
 to enter on the second step. This grows so naturally 
 out of the first one that we shall not need much space 
 to elucidate it. 
 
 The first step is to be passive, the second is to be re- 
 ceptive. Having cast out all hindrances to the growth 
 of the soul in the right direction, we are now willing to 
 receive all that may come to us from pure and wise in- 
 
 Ifluences, whether mundane, celestial, or infinite. We 
 need not fear that in becoming receptive we may become 
 a prey to undeveloped, mischievous spirits. Like is at- 
 tracted to like. Vengeful spirits will not draw near, for 
 there is no unkindness in our soul to attract them. 
 
 i Greedy, sensual spirits will not come, for we have no- 
 thing similar in our own being at this time. Envious, 
 hateful spirits see nothing in us to draw them, and they 
 pass on to some unfortunate sensitive who may become 
 their victim because he has indi\lged in the same bad 
 feelings. 
 
 We must here emphasize the strong necessity that is 
 laid on all mediums to*cast out persistently all selfish 
 
INFLUENCES 0\ A SENSITIVE. 65 
 
 Jind malicious feelings from their own hearts, so that! 
 only pure, peaceful, unselfish and up-lifting spirits mayj 
 find a foothold there. Letters received from sensitives! 
 and mediums in all parts of the United States show me 
 the dangers that such persons run, from the want of 
 self-control and proper instruction. 
 
 Let us present a case that is repeated thousands of 
 times in Spiritualistic circles. A sensitive, one very 
 susceptible to all outside influences, whether embodied 
 or disembodied, desires to be " developed," and comes to 
 sit with others. He may be exhausted by a day of hard 
 work and his power of resistance be thus diminished. 
 But it is most likely that he will not think of resisting, 
 for, has he not come in order to be developed ? He is 
 passive or negative enough. Perhaps the remains of 
 displeasure against some one who has injured him re- 
 mains in his heart. Perhaps he is inclined to sen- 
 suality and some person present of the opposite sex 
 excites his passions. He may have no feeling of the 
 kind, but in a promiscuous circle, persons present may 
 be filled with malice, revenge, deceitfulness, lust, a 
 desire to drink liquor, to use tobacco, or to eat rich food. 
 Envy of the spiritual gifts, or the fine clothing of some 
 person present, fills another heart. A desire to win 
 money by a selfish trade or a false presentation of goods 
 fills the mind of another 
 
 All these — good, bad, and indiflferent — take their seats 
 in the circle, the sensitives among the rest. The lights 
 are darkened, the circuit of magnetism is completed and 
 opens the door to disembodied spirits. A lustful spirit, 
 earth-bound by the desires that he cannot satisfy in his 
 present state, is passing near. He feels a strong emana- 
 
66 IT IS BETTEU TO SU' ALONB 
 
 tion from some sensual person present and blends his 
 magnetism with his own. Thus re-enforced he takes 
 possession of some unresisting sensitive; and for a long 
 time after this seance this susceptible person is troubled 
 by a tendency to sensual thoughts, that require perhaps 
 more than the strength he can command to keep him 
 from committing what he will never cease to regret. In 
 like manner an envious spirit finds the same quality in 
 some of the sitters, combines their strength with his 
 own, and fills the mediums present with such envy of 
 all who possess greater spiritual gifts, and such jealousy 
 of those who possess any gifts at all, that their feelings 
 are expressed in their conduct, and observers wonder 
 why mediums are so painfully jealous of all others. 
 
 At the risk of opposing many, we will add that we 
 favor development alone to sitting in company with 
 any other persons, except in rare instances. The meth- 
 ods we inculcate, if faithfully followed, will make one 
 perfectly secure from untoward disembodied influence, 
 while the strength used in resisting the fault-finding 
 spirit, or the self-will of really good men or women pres- 
 ent, may nullify all the strength that might have come 
 from their presence. The sensitive has often to turn his 
 mental power to overcome the wrong conditions of some 
 true friend present, instead of opening his heart in un- 
 resisting simplicity to the benign influences of the spirit 
 world. No such hindrances can work if he develop alone. 
 To his own master, that is, to his own inner self con- 
 sciousness, does he stand or fall. Having eliminated all 
 that is bad, and having opened the door to the high and 
 the holy, his quiet, solitary communings do not exhaust 
 him, and " Heaven comes down, his soul to greet." 
 
THAN IN COMPANY. 67 
 
 We are aware that there are cases where perfect congeni- 
 ality between the sitter and his assistants, and perfect 
 consonance of feeling, make it an advantage for him 
 to sit with them, but such cases are rare. 
 
 A right method and a sincere desire will draw about 
 one disembodied spirits who are wiser than we of 
 earth, and who make no mistakes in assisting the aspi- 
 rant In his preparation for future usefulness. Where 
 ignorant, mischievous, and sensual spirits flnji entrance, 
 the blame lies at the door of the sensitive, or of some 
 person present, who has consciously or unconsciously 
 admitted them by a similar condition. The only ex- 
 ception to this is when benevolent spirits bring an 
 ignorant, malicious, or sensual spirit, who desires to 
 improve, in order to be benefitted by the help of a strong, 
 spiritually minded medium. The high counsellors pour 
 the right thoughts onto the sensitive brain of their 
 medium, aind as he is still iii the body, he can transmit 
 their counsel and strength to the suffering spirit, whose 
 condition keeps him bound to the physical earth, better 
 than they can do. This work is one of the noblest and 
 holiest in which a medium can be engaged. But it is 
 useless for him to reach out after it before the time. It 
 will be brought to him by benevolent spirit workers as 
 soon as he is prepared to do it aright In their philan- 
 thropic work of advancing all souls, they use all possible 
 means to accomplish it, thus working in unison with 
 ,the infinite soul of the universe, whose "ministering 
 angels" they are. To be their instruments, and thus 
 the instruments of the All-Good, is the noblest sphere in 
 which a mortal can be engaged. 
 
68 THE RECEPTIVE MIND. 
 
 ' The west winds blow, and, singing low, 
 I hear the glad streams run ; 
 The windows of my soul I throw 
 Wide open to the sun. 
 
 And so the shadows fall apart, 
 And so the west winds, play ; 
 
 And all the windows of my heart 
 I open to the day." 
 
 Whither. 
 
69 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THIRD MENTAL STEP, ASPIRATION. 
 
 The aspirant is now ready to be instructed in regard 
 to the third step in this heaven-given process of soul- 
 culture. He has become negative to all cares, unkind- 
 ness, and pride, and a vacancy has thus been created in 
 his soul for higher influences. He has become receptive 
 to what may come, though a careful watch of the initi- 
 atory process has made him ready to receive from the 
 good and not the bad, and he is now ready for the third 
 step, which is to become ^as2irational. Each step grows 
 easily out of the preceding oneTbeing its natural se- 
 quence. This new step is a distinct advance in spirit-j 
 ual activity. From the quiescence of the negative stage,,- 
 and the willingness of the receptive one, we pass readily 
 into the active wishfulness of aspiration. 
 
 To aspire is literally to breathe towards. As the 
 flame from a little candle streams up and away from 
 the earth, so does the aspiring soul reach up and away 
 from what is connected with the physical plane of life. 
 It has been remarked that to long for a thing is to de- 
 sire it so earnestly that we literally .grow long in that 
 direction. So does the aspiring soul stretch towards 
 spiritual things and towards its inflnite source. 
 
 " It upyfard tends to that abode, 
 To rest In its embrace." 
 
 One of old said, "I aspire while I expire." That is 
 not always applicable. Many a dweller on earth is to- 
 
70 ASPIfiATION THE NORMAL CONDITION. 
 
 day more really in heaven than many a disembodied 
 spirit whose wishes hold him to the earth-plane. That 
 desire being contrary to the natural movement of, his 
 new mode of existence, he feels himself to be in hell. 
 And in hell he remains until aspiration harmonizes him 
 with his new state, and he joyfully joins the host of 
 progressing souls. Happy those who learn to aspire be- 
 fore they leave the physical bodj'. 
 
 What is the source of this spiritual aspiration ? Is 
 it natural to aspire, because this tendency originated in 
 our own will, our own determined agency ? Does the 
 plant grow out of its own self-originated determination ? 
 It grows rather because a germ of life was Implanted 
 therein by the infinite activity ; and so, hindrances being 
 removed, and nutrient conditions being supplied, it 
 grows, and it must do so. It is the same with our spir- 
 itual nature, this higher scion from the same infinite 
 stock or source. The soul lives, because it is born of 
 God, and when hindrances are removed, it grows natur- 
 ally and inevitably towards the infinite All-Good, All- 
 Wise, All-Fair. 
 
 But being detached and individual agents, it is for us 
 to prove our activity by removing so far as in us lies all 
 hindrances to the onward growth of our soul. We have 
 now made it lord and master over its physical envelop 
 by conquering all fleshly appetites ; we have tried to 
 substitute kindness for hate, humility for pride, self- 
 eflacement for self-will, and' trust for anxiety. The 
 hindrances being thus removed, we can reach upward to 
 the source of all, and to those bright intelligences that 
 depend on' that everywhere pervasive energy, as thp 
 illimitable solar systems sweep their mighty orbits in 
 
OUR RELATION TO INFINITE LIFE. 71 
 
 obedience to the laws by which infinite intelligence ex- 
 presses itself on the largest physical scale. 
 
 Why do we aspire ? Because, as the sublime Plato 
 said, "From God we came, and to God we shall event- 
 ually return." Plato's God was no selfish Zeus, no 
 narrow Jehovah. It was the infinite truth, beauty, and 
 goodness that expresses itself in all physical emanations, 
 and in all individual souls, that may wander afar for 
 awhile, but will eventually return to bask in the love of 
 their mighty source. 
 
 On entering the third mental step our first aim is to 
 realize our personal relation to the Universal Soul of all 
 that is. Not with fear, as was taught by the old 
 theology, do we seek to realize the truth of the Pauline 
 statement that " in him we live and move and have our 
 being." But rising beyond the personality implied in 
 the use of the word "him," we liet such thoughts as 
 these have sway : 
 
 " I am alive. I live because of the infinite life of the 
 universe. Life is every where, and as I am alive, I am 
 a part of it. I am a part of God, though I am myself 
 frail and small. But I fear not. I do not have to cling 
 to this life, for it holds me; and as I am a part of it, my 
 life can never end. I rest in it. I love to rest, mote 
 that I am, in this infinite, beneficent life. As the little 
 fish flpAts on the bosom of the great ocean which it does 
 not comprehend, so do I fioat in this boundless life. As 
 the little bird soars and is poised in the bosom of the 
 atmosphere, whose scope is beyond its grasp, so do I 
 soar and so am I poised in the bosom of this mighty life 
 of which I am an integral part." 
 
 Having attained this state of mind, safely, joyfully 
 
72 THE INVOCATION. 
 
 resting in the all of being, we ai'e ready to express a 
 definite aspiration, which we may do in words like these, 
 varying them to suit our individual needs and longings, 
 or, it may be, to suit a present creedal environment: 
 
 "In the name of Infinite Life, in which I live, and 
 move, and have my own share of individual, conscious 
 being, I now beseech all good, pure, true, loving, wise, 
 and strong influences to come to me at this time." 
 Thus do we, in conformity with our finite condition, call 
 on special, finite influences or intelligences of the kind 
 that we crave, to come to us ; but we do it only in the 
 name, and in fhe full consciousness of that Infinite 
 Fountain, out of which we, and thej-, and all finite 
 intelligences, came into individual and conscious ex- 
 istence. 
 
 Instead of Infinite Life, some will prefer to say God, 
 Jesus, Holy Spirit, Allah, or even Universal Force. The 
 word matters not, provided we attain the mental state 
 above described. But if there be any that deny a force, 
 power, life, transcending all finite comprehension — if any 
 deny their individual dependence on this "power not 
 ourself that makes for righteousness," for them this 
 book was not written. Denying these primal facts, 
 they have no real ground for soul-culture. Conceiving 
 that there is nothing higher than themselves, there is 
 nothing for them to grow towards. Thinking that their 
 strength is all self-produced, there is no room for rever- 
 ence or aspiration. Such a one worships himself, and 
 believes he is the petty god of his own little universe. 
 
 It may be granted that we are either finite or infinite. 
 If we are infinite, of course there is no occasion for feeling 
 reverence, anything mightier than we being excluded 
 
THE KIND OF INFLUENCES WE WANT. 73 
 
 by the natur^ of our own being. Jf we are finite, there 
 is something beyond us, and to that it behooves us to 
 look with reverence, aspiration and well-grounded hope. 
 Infinity beyond us being conceded, that "we live and 
 move and have our being" in it is the necessary sequence. 
 So, in the name of this double consciousness of self and 
 of our mighty environment, we beseech that such an£l 
 such lesser beings may come to us. 
 
 The word " beseech" is suited to the occasion. It 
 is not for us, " earth-darkened " as we are (to use Mrs. 
 Browning's apt expression), to command or demand 
 aught from enfranchised spirits. For them to come to 
 us in our present low estate is a condescension from our 
 point of view, though if they felt it to be such they 
 would not be the good and wise ones that we want. 
 
 The six epithets, " good, pure, true, loving, wise, and 
 strong," were the outgrowth of my own special circum- 
 stances. At first I besought only good spirits to come 
 to me. A longing for a purity and truth not found on 
 earth led me to also beseech " pure a^d true " ones. As 
 clairvoyance and general mediumship developed, I was 
 sometimes a little timid in these new paths, but thought 
 I could never feel timid if " loving " ones came. And 
 when, after many months the word came that I must 
 give up my home, and go alone, so far as mortals are 
 concerned, from town to town and from State to State 
 to spread far and wide the light of the New^ Dispensation, 
 I felt that I did indeed need " wise and strong " ones to 
 go with me, to tell me what to say, and to aid me with 
 their own "derived" strength. 
 
 And we ask this aid " at this time," in the same spirit 
 that led Jesus to teach his disciples to ask for " this 
 
74 RESULT OF OUR ASPIRATION. 
 
 day" their daily bread. Yesterday and to-day we be- 
 sought these influences, and day by day as the days 
 come will we continue to ask them, in the name of that 
 original power of which all helpful spirits are the direct 
 instruments. 
 
 So stands the invocation, suited to my own needs, and 
 easily altered to suit the various conditions and desires 
 of- the readers of this book. 
 
 Let us now seek to realize the result of the earnest 
 accomplishment of the third mental step. In the first 
 place we have put our soul into harmony with pure and 
 high ones, making it possible for them to shed benign 
 influences upon us. Eagerly do they watch the mani- 
 festations from this lowest sphere of the spirit world of 
 our earth. Lovingly do they welcome the little ray of 
 light that streams up from the aspiring soul, and rein- 
 force it with their own, which is itself fed from spheres 
 beyond. 
 
 Once after long continued effort had brought me intO' 
 conscious relation with these spirit helpers, a beautiful 
 incident came to me. Greatly exhausted by the labors of 
 Sunday, and somewhat weighted by expecting to speak 
 Monday evening in a neighboring town, I lay down after 
 dinner to take a nap. Sleep did not come, for they had 
 something better for me. As I lay with closed eyes, waves- 
 of magnetic light of a clear purplish tint were poured 
 over me. I gratefully accepted the strength thus im- 
 parted, and then saw a lovely woman's face close to 
 mine. Her large brown eyes looked tenderly into mine, 
 and from her kind and firm countenance radiated love 
 and strength. I heard her say, " We are supported by 
 those who are higher than we. " Who she was in earth- 
 
EARTH NAMES BECOME UNIMPORTANT. 75 
 
 life I do not know ; but I felt" that she was one who 
 knew my beloved parents, and had perhaps loved me 
 when a little girl in far-away Burmah. Her words gave 
 me a most encouraging train of thought. I was trying 
 to support by my words those who knew less than I did, 
 she was supporting me, while being herself supported by 
 those still itore advanced, and so on continues the end- 
 less chain reaching ever towards the infinite support of 
 all that'is. 
 
 What mattered it who that woman was in earth life, 
 and what name she then bore? That name, being just 
 an arbitrary, meaningless sign, was not appropriate to 
 her nature. It had long since been dropped, and her 
 name there is the expression of what she really is. Of 
 that reality I drank in somewhat. It is only to give a 
 test to those imbedded in materiality that a high spirit 
 would deign to give the long ab*andoned name of earth, 
 brought occasionally from oblivion for the assurance of 
 us children of a lower sphere. Earth bound spirits 
 retain the old name, but we want spirits " of a different 
 sort." How tender, how kind are these high ones, 
 returning into earth conditions, and sometimes giving 
 their old earth name and the date oif long past physical 
 occurrences, to please and assure poor mortals ! Let us 
 not greedily demand that they continue to do it through 
 all time. Let us " covet earnestly the best gifts." 
 
 Our third mental step, if really taken, is an aspiration, 
 and makes the soul really grow. Persevered in, little by 
 little do its I wings lift and flutter, till at last it rises a 
 little from the work-a-day world, and breathes still more 
 of the'spiritual atmosphere. Never has it to make the 
 effort alone. Always does the appeal fot help from 
 
76 ALL SPIRITS LINKED TOGKTHER. 
 
 above draw the kindly spirit ones to its aid. And as 
 the advancing earth soul imparts its new light and 
 strength to all around, thus becoming a real spiritual 
 worker, does it come to claim with all the confidence of 
 a loving child the aid of its divine helpers. Nothing in 
 this earth life is sweeter than to spend all one's strength 
 to uplift one's fellow mortals, and then to turn to these 
 beloved spirit aids and say, "I did the best I could, dear 
 ones. Rest me, give me more strength to do what you 
 want done for the. true kingdom of God." 
 
 Yes : they aid us, and are themselves aided from be- 
 yond, and thus all spirits are inevitably linked together 
 by indissoluble bonds. "All men are brethren," said 
 Jesus to men who had begun to creep just a little way into 
 the spiritual kingdom. Could they have apprehended his 
 meaning he would have said, " All spirits are brothers ;" 
 and it is said that wherf out of the mortal body, he even 
 visited imprisoned (earth-bound) spirits, feeling that 
 they too were entitled to his help, from the brotherhood 
 of all souls. 
 
 Our third step makes our own soul rise a little, a very 
 little it may be, and yet it is a distinct uplifting. Now, 
 from the fact that all souls are united in bonds that 
 cannot be broken, as they all come origin'ally from the 
 same primal fountain, comes a solemn and an astonish- 
 ing thought. It is this : when our one little soul rises, 
 though never so little, the act does not affect itself alone. 
 It really affects, though to a slight degree, the whole spir- 
 itual universe. The high spirits of distant worlds, more 
 sensitive by their higher development, feel it too. They 
 realize in their inner being that somewhere a brother 
 soul is rising, and they are glad. This thought may 
 
OUR ATTITUDE AFFECTS ALL. 77 
 
 not be received by all, but it is none the less true, resting 
 as it does on the universal brotherhood of souls, and 
 the universal parentage of God. Yes: high souls are 
 glad when you and I try to be good. The old saying is 
 literally true that " the angels of God rejoice over one 
 sinner that repen'teth." 
 
 The above being true, alas ! the converse is also true. 
 Every degradation, every turning of the hack on the 
 higher call, every wallowing in the slush of sensuality, 
 every downwatd drooping of the soul also affects the 
 whole spiritual world, the most advanced sensing it 
 more than those below them. Paul's statement that 
 " no one liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself" 
 is thus literally true. We are thus responsible not 
 only our own advancement, bjjt also, to a degree, for 
 the advancement of the whole. The noblest beneficence 
 will lead us to rise in the scale of moral being, not for 
 our own sake alone, but for the sake of brother souls 
 throughout the universe. 
 
 " All are needed by each one ; 
 Nothing Is fair or good alone." 
 
 "One infinite and eternal sea of deific essence fills immensity ; 
 
 and we, as individuals, while differentiated out of it, yet retain 
 
 with its limitless, encompassing wisdom, a continuous connection. 
 
 According to our recognition of this reservoir and our desire ta 
 
 draw upon its vitality, will be the unfolding of our intuitive 
 
 faculties." 
 
 Hester M. Poole. 
 
78 
 
 CHAPTEiR IX. 
 
 FOCRtH MENTAL STEP, POSITIVITT. 
 
 Having become by the third step in harmonious rela- 
 tion with high and good spirits, let us review the previ- 
 ous ones before proceeding to the fouFth. First, we 
 became placid by dropping all anxieties, unkind feelings 
 to each and all, all pride and self-will, and then were 
 ready to receive whatever might come from above to aid 
 lis. We then sought to realize our happy dependence 
 on the Source of all, being, and in this dependence we 
 sought the aid of all souls further advanced up the slope 
 of progression. Having been placid, receptive, and aspi- 
 rational, we are now fitted to take the fourth step, and 
 to hecome positive in the right way. 
 
 Most of those who enter these paths have been, like the 
 writer, so engrossed with the responsibilities and efforts 
 of daily active life that they are already too positive to 
 enter easily the first mental step of the process. With 
 her, it required persistent, repeated mental efforts, with 
 the physical expression of tlie same, detailed in another 
 part of this book, to learn how to become indifferent at 
 will. But, the lesson once learned, it requires but little 
 effort, in a crowd, when thrown by an opposer into an- 
 tagonism, ot when well nigh overwhelmed by care, to 
 withdraw the soul into its inner chamber for a moment, 
 and to become truly quiet at the center. Active life has 
 made some so positive that they are disagreeable to 
 
A TOO NEGATIVE TERSOK. 79 
 
 many whom they meet. Such persons need to pay special 
 attention to the first step of this process, and to culti- 
 vate the power of throwing off their cares. Then, when 
 they enter a' seance-room, a private sitting, or an hour of 
 quiet communion at home, 
 
 " The cares that infest the day 
 
 Will fold their tents like the Arabs, 
 And silently steal away." 
 
 They are now in condition to receive what the angels 
 desire to give them ; and can, when the hour for sleep 
 comes, abandon themselves to repose withqut having to 
 live over again the cares and labors of the day. 
 
 But all are not active and positive. Some, especially' 
 those endowed with what we may call the mediumistic 
 temperament, are not positive enough. They are sensi- 
 tive, and thej' are, from this and from an inner pliability, 
 very susceptible to outside influences, and liable to act 
 in accordance with them. These persons feel every 
 spirit wind that blows, whether the spirit be embodied 
 or disembodied. In extreme cases, the "sensitive" 
 seems wholly destitute of all power of resistance. Some 
 one says, "Let's go and help that poor woman." He 
 goes at once. Another says, "Let's have a drink, and 
 have a high old time." He accedes just as willingly. 
 He yields to the nearest influence, whatever it may be. 
 A disembodied spirit is passing near. Seeing that he is 
 a "sensitive," this spirit impresses him with his own 
 individuality, and the man goes "under control," acts 
 the part of the spirit in earth life, assuming his speech 
 and his. looks. The spirit may be earth-bound, and 
 desirous of enjoying the sensuous pleasures of earth 
 again. The pliability of the sensitive enables him 
 
80 THE POSITIVE MENTAL STATE. 
 
 to do SO, and so the mediumship of this weak one 
 becomes a means of debasement to that spirit. His 
 susceptibility to outside influences makes him what 
 some call a good medium, but no person who walks the 
 earth needs our process, especially the fourth mental 
 step of it, more than does he. 
 
 Other persons, while not having the physiological con- 
 ditions that enable the disembodied to manifest through 
 them, are still very easily influenced, and often find it 
 hard to maintain their individualit3% and to adhere to 
 their determinations, when opposed by persons around 
 them. All such need to give careful heed to the fourth 
 step — to the becoming positive at will. 
 
 Having become quiet, receptive, and aspirational, we 
 are in good condition to assert our own individuality, 
 without being dogmatic, arbitrary, willful, and disagree- 
 ably positive, as might have been the case if we had 
 taken this step first, without the previous preparation. 
 The mental slate sought might be expressed by words 
 such as these: 
 
 " I am myself. I am an individual being. You, dear 
 spirit friends, will aid me, but it is I that must do the 
 work at hand. And I can do it. I have strength to do 
 it. My strength will be re-inforced by yours. I feel 
 your sympathy, and yet I am the one to go on and do 
 what there is to do. No one can do it instead of me. 
 It is I that is to do it. There is a power within that I 
 can exert. ^I am as truly an individual being as the 
 greatest in the universe, and my self -hood is my own. 
 It cannot be taken from me. It will increase." 
 
 Thus impressing the sense of self -hood in our inner 
 being, and, as it were, taking possession of our own self. 
 
SELF-HOOD. 81 
 
 we become positive and strong, and able to use our own 
 powers with conscious strength. We are not selfish nor 
 dogmatic, for we have realized our absolute dependence 
 on infinite power, and feel that good finite spirits are 
 willing to aid us so far as they can ; and we have aspired 
 to- be good. After such preparation, we may not fear to 
 take full possession of the c'itadel of volition and of de- 
 termined action, and are ready to attempt any duty in 
 tlie immediate future, it matters not how difficult nor 
 how disagreeable it may be. 
 
 We have heard of a man who has mkny and varied 
 responsibilities and much to do, as preparing himself 
 for work in the following way. When he has a specially 
 hard day before him, he goes into a room alone, takes 
 his position in the center of it, and puts himself in con- 
 nection with the forces of the universe. So doing, he 
 feels that he can do twice the work in that day that he 
 otherwise could. 
 
82 INDIVIDCAUTY. 
 
 "Insist on yourself: never imitate." 
 
 Emerson. 
 
 " No man knows his powers until he has tested them by 
 actual trial." 
 
 " Of all the elements of success, none is more vital than self- 
 teliance — a determination to be one's own helper, and not to 
 look to others for support." 
 
 Mathews. 
 
 " The man who dares to think for himself and to act inde- 
 pendently, does a service to the race." 
 
 John Stewart Mill. 
 
83 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FIFTH MENTAL STEP, KEADINESS FOR ACTION. 
 
 Having completed the fourth step by realizing your 
 own self-hood, and by consciously taking possession of 
 all your powers, you are ready for the fifth, which is a 
 simple outgrowth of the preceding one. From being 
 positive you become confirmed and settled, and you lock 
 up your resolution within your inner self, and are now 
 ready for action. 
 
 To be able, at will, to become successively negative, 
 receptive, aspirational, strongly individual, and settled 
 for the time being, enables one to perform any kind of 
 work that belongs to his mortal career with an ease and 
 an ability that will surprise the persevering aspirant. 
 
 We have known a timid, sensitive woman, who had 
 tried to sing in public, but was utterly unable to do jus- 
 tice to her voice and technique, which were really very 
 fine. After learning and practicing this mental process, 
 in connection with the accompanying physical ones 
 which will be detailed later, she was able to sing in 
 public With self-command, with apparent ease, and even 
 delight as she continued her efibrts. 
 
 Another lady, who was unfortunately married to a 
 very dictatorial, obstinate, and selfish old man, found 
 her home relations much pleasanter by the practice of 
 this process, and declared that she would not surrender 
 the knowledge she had gained for any sum of money. 
 
84 EFFECTS OP THESE PROCESSES. 
 
 A teacher whose school had been unruly and almost 
 unbearable, and who had nearly decided to resign her 
 position, found that these methods brought her into a 
 condition that made the pupils desire to please her, in- 
 stead of the opposite, and her work became pleasant 
 and comparatively easy. Man}' a business man who 
 loses his head completely would be saved by persever- 
 ingly adopting this normal, logical, and natural training. 
 
 To further illustrate, the writer of this book is natur- 
 ally so timid that when a young teacher she found it 
 almost impossible to look at her pupils when asking 
 them the questions. She preferred to walk on solitary 
 roads, for fear of meeting some one that she knew. A 
 member of a church which expected its communicants- 
 to speak in meeting, especially in the " covenant meet- 
 ing," she was forced sometimes to say a few words. 
 The effort would result in a sleepless night. 
 
 When informed after the age of fifty that she would 
 speak in public, she considered that quite absurd, know- 
 ing her inability to face an audience. She has learned 
 to do so with ease and pleasure, simply by the persistent 
 foUow'ing of the methods laid down in this book. 
 
 When about to speak, she withdraws into an ante- 
 room, and she takes the first mental step by throwing off 
 the audience. She effaces their personality, and she 
 becomes as indifl!"erent to the men and women awaiting 
 her as if they^ were not there, though of course at the 
 time of speaking their presence and personality become 
 a great aid to her. She throws off every care connected 
 with the whole effort. She then becomes receptive to 
 whatever aid may come from above. Then she realizes, 
 the Infinite Life in which she rests, and in that abiding- 
 
AID FROM ABOVE. 85 
 
 place invokes the aid of high and pure spirits. She 
 then takes full possession of her own powers, for though 
 aided by them she is to be the active worker for the 
 occasion, and is then' settled to carry her resolve into 
 immediate action. 
 
 If there is no ante-room, she goes through the mental 
 process quietly sitting on the platform. But an ante- 
 room where she can be alone is far preferable, for two 
 reasons. One reason is that^ the mental part can be 
 better done when quite undisturbed by the presence of 
 other persons. The other reason is that there is a phys- 
 ical accompaniment of the mental process, that not only 
 expresses in physical action what the mind is seeking- 
 to do, thus aiding it materially, but also puts the body 
 into actual harmony with the magnetism of the planet, 
 thus making it a better vehicle for the e?;pression of the 
 soul, and also enabling the disembodied helpers to reach 
 her by these same currents of magnetism. But more of 
 this in a succeding chapter. 
 
 "So near is grandeur to our dust, 
 So close is God to Man, 
 When Duty whispers low 'Thou must,' 
 The youth replies, ' I can,' " 
 
 Emerson. 
 
86 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE PHTSICAL BODY. 
 
 The main object of the whole mental process accom- 
 plished by these five steps is to put the soul into harmo- 
 nious relation with the higher intelligences of the spirit 
 world. If we were all soul, and had no body of any 
 kind, either fleshly or psychic, the exposition of the 
 method would be complete, and our present work would 
 be accomplished. But as the soul must express itself 
 through the two kinds of bodies, we shall next explain 
 how to put our outward form into harmony with the 
 magnetic currents of the planet and of its accompany- 
 ing spirit-world. 
 
 So far we have dealt mostly with the means for de- 
 veloping the soul. The second part of the book will 
 describe the process of developing the physical and the 
 spiritual envelop. 
 
 I must here emphasize the importance of clearly un- 
 derstanding and accepting what has already been said, 
 before beginning to practice the physical portion. Dur- 
 ing the four years that have elapsed since the writer be- 
 gan to place this method before the public, it has been 
 practiced by many hundreds, and has benefitted many. 
 But conversations and letters received show that a large 
 proportion began to practice the physical part without 
 sufficient attention to the mental. . That is owing to 
 their physical condition and their material environment- 
 
NEGLECTING THE MENTAL PART. 87' 
 
 This book has been written so that the spiritual part 
 may be more clearly understood, and the writer here 
 most earnestly implores all readers to remember that if 
 they really desire soul developinent, they will pay more 
 attention to the mental steps than to the physical. 
 
 While it is true that both are necessary to a complete 
 development, yet as the soul is the higher and the more 
 during, as the body is for the soul, and not the soul for 
 the body, as the body should be kept subordinate to the 
 soul, it will follow that the wise aspirant will by no 
 means enter on the physical process without making 
 the mental part more prominent than the material. 
 
 Many will be inclined to use (Or rather abuse) this 
 book in this way. They will glance at the first part, 
 and see that there is in it a good deal abo.ut the soul, 
 the inner part of our being. And as that does not in- 
 terest them, they will pass slighbly over that portion 
 and turn to where it looks more interesting to them, 
 because it is about magnetism and physical motions. 
 Becoming interested in that, as it has more to do with 
 the body, and they are still hampered by material condi- 
 tions, they will begin to practice that, thus leaving the 
 part for which the physical portion is made, quite ne- 
 glected. Such persons may become physically more 
 magnetic, and a lower form of mediumship may be in- 
 creased, but they are treading on slippery places, as is 
 the case with all mediums who lend themselves to phys- 
 ical manifestations of the power of disembodied spirits, 
 while neglecting their own spiritual unfoldment. The 
 higher Spiritualism, or rather true Spiritualism, is to 
 develop the spiritual nature, and to keep the body sub- 
 jected to its soul center. 
 
88 THE FLESHLY BODY. 
 
 Thus premising, we go on to say that our soul princi- 
 ple is at present in a material body, and its own cultiva- 
 tion will proceed more rapidly and harmoniously if the 
 cultivation of the body go hand in hand with it. 
 
 Let us first try to consider the nature of the two kinds 
 of material form through which the soul expresses itself. 
 The fleshly body is that of which we first become con- 
 scious at the beginning of our earth life. The little one 
 examines his hands and his feet, and his dawning in- 
 telligence leads him to play with them, as he plays later 
 with the toys that indulgent love supplies to him. He 
 seeks his food with baby hands and little mouth, and in 
 the satisfaction of his physical wants he finds content- 
 ment. This consciousness of his physical being, the 
 first that comes to him, he retains to a greater or less 
 degree till the final moment of earthly existence, when 
 he, the real entity, passes out from it, enwrapped in the 
 more ethereal form. 
 
 During his whole existence here, this body must re- 
 ceive nourishment, its' blood must be continually oxygen- 
 ated, its power must be developed by exercise, a certain 
 degree of temperature must be maintained; it should be 
 clean, and it must have frequent opportunites for recu- 
 peration by sleep. The desire to propagate its kind, dor- 
 mant at first, awakens and increases up to' the time 
 when his own complete development may lay the foun- 
 dations for the same in his offspring. 
 
 This consciousness of the physical body and the desire 
 to satisfy its needs are natural, normal, and therefore 
 right. And if there were no higher being within, de- 
 signed to be its master, to satisfy these various cravings 
 even to satiety might not be objected to. But as the 
 
LIVING TO EAT. 89 
 
 body is for the soul, and is only its temporary habitation, 
 something higher than the mere satisfaction of physical 
 cravings becomes natural, because normal, and therefore 
 right. Where the soul is in subjection to the body, the 
 individual desires more food than the amount that will 
 nourish the system: he also craves those kinds of food 
 that are injurious. Though experience has shown him 
 that table indulgence brings on bilious colic or stupefac- 
 tion of his mental powers, he continues to satisfy the 
 cravings of his palate and his stomach, and becomes 
 that disgraceful object, one. who " lives to eat,"' instead 
 of one who " eats to live." , 
 
 Most of the persons we meet from day to day are in 
 this low condition, to a greater or less degree. One of 
 the first things for them to do in beginning the import- 
 ant process of soul-culture is to keep the stomach under. 
 If you feel a disgust for plain wholesome food, and can- 
 not eat unless it be fried in animal fat, or made pala- 
 table (to your abnormal palate) by spices, vinegar, or 
 gre^t sweetness; if you prefer cake to bread, and fruit 
 jellied or candied to fruit in its natural state; if you 
 want pie, and that of the richest kind, and are capable 
 of eating candy until you loathe proper food, you have 
 to begin by conquering this fleshly craving, and live 
 only on pure, natural, simple, plain food, until you have 
 gained tte condition when it will satisfy your appetite. 
 After reaching that point, you will have no desire to 
 return to the degraded condition in which you now are. 
 
 A word in regard to animal food may here be desired. 
 Carnivorous animals have only teeth to tear flesh, and 
 are expected to eat animal food when in a state of na- 
 ture. We find that many of them, when brought into 
 
90 EFFECT OF CARNIVOROUS FOOD 
 
 close proximity with man by domestication, begin to 
 eat less flesh and to be satisfied with a diet made up in 
 part of grains, nuts, and vegetables. Carnivorous ani- 
 mals that eat flesh alone, and that raw, are fierce, com- 
 bative, cruel, and masterful ; while those which live on 
 herbs and grains are no less strong, but gentle, peaceful, 
 and yielding. In like manner, nations who eat a great 
 amount of animal food, like the English, are combative, 
 masterful, and domineering. 
 
 Their intellects are strong because they are strbng in 
 every direction, and their persistency helps to develop 
 their men,tal powers. The nations who eat almost no 
 animal food, but subsist on rice, fruits, and grains, have 
 good physical endurance, and are not combative, such as 
 the metaphysical Hindoo, the industrious Chinese, and 
 the peaceful Japanese. 
 
 While spending some time in England, in 1876, I was 
 greatly surprised at Christmas to find that much of the 
 candy for that festive time was made in the form of 
 joints, rounds, and sirloins of beef. Uncooked, the red 
 blood and muscles and the white fat were simulated in 
 their natural colors. I had never seen candy presented 
 in such forms before, and it offended my taste; It was- 
 accounted for by the excessive use of flesh fopd in that 
 country; and so what would offend the artistic taste of a 
 Frenchman, and the more natural taste of an American, 
 who eats much fruit and vegetables, was liked by Eng- 
 lishmen, and considered appropriate for the happy 
 Christmas-tide. 
 
 Climatic environments arcsomewhat responsible for 
 this meat-eating tendency on the part of the British. 
 The dampness and the clouds, through which "the 
 
ON THE ENGLISH. 91 
 
 swart star sparely looks," prevent the luscious maturing 
 of fruits and vegetables as in America, and favors deli- 
 cious grass on which cattle and • sheep fatten readily. 
 So it is not strange that the denizens of the staunch 
 little isle like their juicy roasts, and their tender chops. 
 Their descendants will develop to a higher condition. 
 
 Meanwhile she has " governor-^rewflraZs " in remote 
 lands and isles that she has conquered by fight, and 
 which she retains by British soldiers and trained sepoys, 
 which provinces yield enormous revenues to the govern- 
 ment and to capitalists. She Captures those countries, not 
 to evince the brotherhood of all men, that Jesus taught, 
 but to make revenue out of them, to exert her master- 
 ship, and to give her young men a military training. The 
 same disposition is nianifested by her poor and ignorant 
 in wife-beating, legalized by her " common law," unless, 
 the stick be thicker than her husband's thumb, and the 
 most cruel and terrible punishments that I ever heard 
 of being iijflicted on children. We "do not read of such 
 deeds in the United States, though everything is printed 
 in our papers here. English newspapers do not tell so 
 much as ours do, but the statistics given in the reports 
 published by their societies for the' Prevention of Cru- 
 elty to Children make a painful record indeed. And 
 was it not in England that the horrible agony induced 
 by sawing off the vertebral portion of the 'horse's tail 
 originated ? The existence of such facts, in spite of 
 the sense of duty which an Englishman possesses to a 
 marked degree, shows the effect on the disposition of 
 eating flesh to excess. There is far less of it among the 
 Scotch and Irish, who subsist largely on oat-meal or 
 potatoes. 
 
92 FLESH-EATING WILL DECREASE. 
 
 Herbivorous animals are designed to be such, by the 
 shape of their teeth and the arrangement and kind of 
 their stomachs. They sustain the carnivorous ones, as 
 it is mostly on them that they feed. 
 • Man has both kinds of teeth, and he may therefore 
 choose a carnivorous, a vegetable, or a mixed diet, ac- 
 cording to the age in which he lives, and his individual 
 advancement. Primitive man had to be fierce, combat- 
 ive, and domineering, in order to wrest his food from the 
 fierce animals, from whom he was but a little removed 
 in devel«pment, and to protect his den and his young 
 from their aggressions. No doubt he subsisted largely 
 on flesh and ate it raw, cooking or " burning " it, as 
 Charles Lamb says in his " Eoast Pig," being a later 
 refinement. 
 
 As humanity became more intellectual, meat-eating 
 tribes retained the habit which hereditary conditions 
 made almost necessary to them, and employed their 
 mental powers to dr^sing it in many appetizing ways. 
 They remained combative and cruel to those who did 
 not submit to their sway, like the Eomans, who had the 
 known world at their feet, and abandoned themselves 
 to sensual extravagance at the table. 
 
 As humanity develops towards the spiritual condition 
 — its final goal — less flesh will be eaten and a more 
 simple diet will prevail. Spiritual men and women will 
 loathe the thought of feeding like the carnivorous an- 
 imals, and of putting into their stomach the amount or 
 the kind of food that will hinder their intellectual 
 functions. In ages to come no flesh at all will be eaten. 
 Then, wars will be unknown, all will live as brethren, 
 the flesh will be dominated by the spirit, and the door 
 
DROPPING IT GRADUALLY. 93 
 
 between the visible and the invisibPe worlds will be wide 
 open. In fact, there will then be no invisible world ; 
 fbr all will be spiritual enough to enter at will into the 
 inner chamber from whose windows they can look into 
 the bright domains of the spirit world. But by that 
 time mankind will have forsaken many other degrading 
 habits besides that of the eating of flesh. 
 
 But we do not go so far as to say that all should now 
 totally abandon the use of all flesh, in order to begin a 
 spiritual development. Some persons are so affected by 
 hereditary conditions that the sudden and total aban- 
 donment of all that comes from animals — flesh, eggs, 
 butter, and milk — would weaken them to the degree 
 that they could not do their work. Let your system be 
 gradually habituated to do withojit it, and your children, 
 if not you yourself, may cease to be carnivorous animals 
 without becoming physically weak. 
 
 Those who have eaten meat three times a day can 
 come down to once a da,y. Those who are accustomed to 
 eating once a day can discontinue it except on rare oc- 
 casions, and continue to eat eggs. Those who have 
 given up meat and eat eggs, will find that that is really 
 animal food, for the contents of an egg become a chicken 
 in time without the addition of any outside matter. If 
 the reader cares to know the present status of the wri- 
 ter, she will add that she continues to eat butter and 
 milk, for the young of even an herbivorous animal is 
 nourished on the milk of its mother, and butter is made 
 out of milk. No doubt in ages to come, the world will 
 see that it is an infringement on an animal's rights, and 
 therefore wrong, to take her milk from her own young, 
 or to l^illit for:,:the,same purpose, in order to appropri- 
 
94 EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL. 
 
 ate it for our own use. But, pending our advancement 
 to that stage, slie continues to use milk and butter. . 
 
 But, laying personalities aside, no doubt the spiritual 
 development of the race as a whole will lead it to use 
 only vegetable products, and preferably those that grow 
 in the open air to those that are matured below the sur- 
 face of the ground. Indeed, it may reach a point where 
 it will be nourished only by atmospherean and gaseous 
 nutriment, which will be received as the air-plant drinks 
 in what sustains its life. 
 
 • For us, let us reasonably, gradually, and without 
 " crankiness," learn to use the diet that will leave our 
 intellects clear, and make our physical body an appro- 
 priate home for its immortal tenant. 
 
 But there are' other branches of this subject to which 
 we must advert. Not only must injurious and debasing 
 foods be discarded by one who peeks to keep, his body 
 under his soul, but spirituous drinks and narcotics will 
 be rejected by him who would keep the body subordi- 
 nate to the inner self. 
 
 The immediate sensible effects of alcohol should make 
 . it rejected by one who desires that his inner nature con- 
 trol his outer. The well-informed person, who knows 
 that alcohol kills the delicate living membrane which 
 afterwatds sloughs off from the body, that it makes the 
 heart beat more rapidly thus exhausting the vital force 
 and resulting in the degeneration of the muscular fiber 
 of that organ, that every tiny vein is first inflamed and 
 later subjected to vascular enlargement, that the red 
 corpuscles of the blood lose some of their power to carry 
 oxygen, and that it affects the oxygenating power of the 
 iungs, will avoid alcohol in any form -whatever, be it 
 
USE OF NARCOTICS. 95 
 
 present in larger or smaller quantities. We are here 
 treating of the body alone, as the temple of the indwell- 
 ing soul. The eifect of its use on the mental powers, on 
 the disposition, on family life, on social conditions, on 
 murder and crime of every kind are aside from our 
 present line of thought, though worthy the most serious 
 attention and the most strenuous endeavor of every man 
 and woman who wishes humanity to progress to higher 
 conditions. ' , 
 
 The use of all narcotics will be avoided by the aspi- 
 rant to soul-culture. Tobacco, so extensively used, leads 
 to the drinking of alcohol, as it creates an abnormal 
 thirst that seems to be satisted only by spirituous 
 liquors. Opium, hasheesh, absinthe, and their baleful 
 kin. tamper directly with the brain, the organ of the 
 mind, and will be carefully avoided by those who realize 
 the potential energy of the indwelling soul, and its 
 temporary dependence for its expression on the human - 
 brain. He who desires to cultivate and develop his soul 
 must have his eye fixed on that object, to the exclusion 
 of all that may hinder that progress. He must " forsake 
 all that he hath," to be its " disciple." 
 
 Having thus treated, though quite inadequately, the 
 various things taken into the body by way of nutriment, 
 we leave the application to the individual reader, and 
 will next consider that the blood of this body should be 
 continuallj' oxygenated. Most intelligent persons are 
 so well aware that we should have a constant supply of 
 fresh air that it might seem unnecessary to speak of 
 this point. But, alas I persons are perishing everj' day 
 through ignorance on this subject, or failure to niakfe "a 
 practical use of their knowledge. Do we not sometiiues 
 
96 EFFICIENT VENTILATIION. 
 
 hear a person seemingly intelligent, say that he does 
 not need any more air, because his rooms are large and 
 the doors between them open ? He does not seem to 
 realize- that though there is more oxj^gen in more cubic 
 feet than in less, the available amount in the larger 
 space can soon be exhausted. No matter how spacious 
 the rooms, how high the ceilings, there should be a 
 constant, never, never-ceasing supply of new air and a 
 way of exit for the old. Few houses are scientifically 
 ventilated. Two very slight openings, however, at a 
 distance from each other in the same room, or at the 
 extremities of a suite of rooms, will be effectual. The 
 colder the weather, the smaller the ap.erture, for the 
 main point is that the supply be constant; and in in- 
 tensely cold weather, the air outside is so much colder 
 that the air in the room will go out through a very small 
 opening. The flat of a knife laid under the sash of two 
 windows will make all the difference for the whole fam- 
 ily between debility and a headache condition and en- 
 tire freedom from the same. Persons of limited means, 
 and economical persons with ample means, will plead 
 that it will take more fuel. Yes : and no. If more fuel 
 be required, money better go that way than in doctors' 
 and undertakers' bills. It is however likely that the 
 well oxygenated blood of the inmates will make them 
 feel warm at a lower temperature than they required 
 when the blood was sluggish and impure. Oxygenizing 
 the blood makes heat within the body. A constant 
 combustion goes on that supplies heat, and even makes 
 the poor aching feet, once clammy and cold, feel warm 
 and comfortable. 
 
 We once knew of a family of women who lived in a 
 
EFFECTS OF BAD AIK. -97 
 
 few small rooms, constantly subject to colds, influenza, 
 and headache. One day, a stone broke a small hole in 
 a window pane. They neglected to have it mended. 
 After a while, they found their colds and headaches had 
 disappeared, and having really the power of deducing 
 conclusions from premises, they accepted the fact that 
 they were air in better health frpm that one small inlet 
 of pure air. 
 
 In Russia, there is an extraordinary amount of lung 
 disease. The severe cold has led to the habit of very 
 close rooms and very hot stoves. There is but little 
 oxygen to penetrate the exquisitely flne membranes in 
 the lungs that separate the air from the blood. The 
 purple, venous blood cannot become red and strong, and 
 the slightest exposure results in pneumonia; while those 
 who are not exposed at all are gradually asphyxiated, 
 and die like the ill-fated Ginevra in the oaken chest. 
 
 Did any of my readers ever go to a seance, where 
 there were thirty persons crowded into the room, with- 
 out the slightest rpeans of" ventilation ? We fancy that 
 the " manifestations " under such conditions must have 
 been of the earth earthy, rather than of celestial grace 
 or purity. If they never went to a seance, perhaps they 
 Jiave been to a prayer-meeting, with many crowded to- 
 gether and no fresh air. Sleepiness and headache 
 could only be averted by a powerful leader, who kept 
 his hearers awake by the tones of his voice,- or galvan- 
 ized them into seeming activity by a force not their 
 own. 
 
 There is always a cause for every existing condition. 
 The wise man will look for that cause, in order to pro- 
 mote the condition, if healthful; or to remove it, if un- 
 
98 EXERCISE IN PURE AIR. 
 
 desirable. If when working, sewing, studying, writing, 
 your head begins to ache or to feel oppressed, note the 
 ventilation of the apartment, and answer the appeal of 
 your physical nature, if pure air be wanting. 
 
 I have known a little child, the darling of the house- 
 hold, to fall a victim to a disease that did not conquer 
 the other members of t^e family. The business of the 
 father called him daily into the open air. The matured 
 physique of the mother resisted malaria, though her 
 house was not supplied with constant pure air, and the 
 temperature kept high by heating apparatus. The 
 older children went to school or played out of doors. 
 But to the little one came no outside invigoration, for 
 fear she would "take cold." The delicate little lungs 
 must breathe the same air over and over again. So, 
 though nutritiously fed and tenderly nurtured, the un- 
 oxygenized blood could not resist malarial germs, and 
 the cherished pet left her physical body to dwell in the 
 spirit world. 
 
 Of course exercise will not be neglected by him who 
 would have a good body. But the exercise should be 
 taken out of doors or in a well-ventilated room. Per- 
 sons of the middle class, the great majority in the Uni- 
 ted States, have exercise enough if taken under right 
 conditions. The wealthy have leisure to take the kind 
 they prefer. It is to be hoped that they may take it for 
 themselves, and not by proxy, as in massage treatment. 
 Though this method is a boon indeed for the invalid or 
 for the bed-ridden one, it should not be received by those 
 who can take muscular exercise themselves. Letting an- 
 other do our exercise for us is a lazy way, and savors 
 too much of the old school of " orthodoxy," according to 
 
PROPER TEMPERATURE. 99 
 
 which persons. were supposed to be "saved" by the good- 
 ness of some one else, rather than by their own. 
 
 And Oh ! you that are rich and can pay for massage- 
 treatment, we pray you not to keep your dog chained in 
 a kennel, for exercise is his life. Shut in a portion of 
 the yard by a high fence, and let him run about in that. 
 If that be not practicable, then let the ring of his chain 
 slip over a long wire, and he can then run backwards 
 and forwards its whole length. - You can read a novel 
 or talk while inactive, but he cannot ameliorate his con- 
 dition by so doing, and suffers more than you dream, 
 chained day and night, and unutterably weary of his 
 kennel. He would be far happier in freedom, though 
 forced to hunt for, a precarious living. Pity him. Give 
 him the exercise that he needs. 
 
 • With regard to temperature, persons are apt to have 
 too much artificial heat in winter, as well as to eat too 
 much food. The degree necessary fer comfort depends 
 somewhat on habit. Some have accustomed themselves 
 to require eighty degrees Fahrenheit, while others are 
 comfortable at sixty-five. Frequent exercise and pure 
 air will enable many to keep well at the lower named 
 temperature. It is needful that we develop suflScient 
 bodily vigor to resist a sudden fall of the temperature, 
 BometimQS unavoidable in the best regulated household. 
 JudgraesHt will enable us to strike the balance between 
 enervating the body by supplying too much outside 
 heat, and exhausting its forces by employing too much 
 of its strength in resisting the cold. 
 
 When persons are still able to choose the climate in 
 which they will make their home, it would be well to 
 avoid the northern latitudes in our country, where the 
 
100 PERSONAL CLEANLINESS. 
 
 thermometer suddenly drops to thirty degrees below- 
 zero, and the forces of the system are exhausted by try- 
 ing to keep it at one hundred and twenty-eight degrees 
 above the surrounding air. The lives of our aged rela- 
 tives and of our children are thus shortened, and it is 
 exceedingly cruel to convey helpless beasts to such a 
 latitude, to suffer by freezing or by pneumonia. Nearly 
 as bad as the above is too warm a climate. There is 
 less actual and extreme suffering, but the physical 
 system of both men and beasts is enervated by being 
 subjected to the same. But as most dwell where cir- 
 cumstances have placed them, we may maintain any- 
 where a bodily condition conducive to the development 
 of the spirit by attention to the laws of health. 
 
 The question of clothing opens an almost endless 
 field of enquiry. While adapting its weight to the sea- 
 son, and its outline and colors to one's appearance, we 
 should of course avoid what will compress any portion 
 of the body, hamper it in any of its motions, or bring a 
 weight on any part of it that should be borne by the 
 shoulders. 
 
 Personal cleanliness should have an especial atten- 
 tion if we wish the indwelling soul to increase in purity. 
 The body should be thoroughly clean, and this cannot 
 be effected without frequent washing. Great stress was 
 laid on this point by the practical Mohammed. His 
 followers are required always to wash all the parts of 
 the body that are exposed to the air before prayer; and 
 to wash the entire body frequently. If water cannot be 
 reached, as might frequently occur in the desert regions 
 of Asia, they are allowed to use dry dust or sand in 
 its stead. 
 
HOW TO KEEP THE BODY CLEAN. 101 
 
 Dr. Newbbrough, through whom "Oahspe" was writ- 
 ten, bathed twice a day for some ten years before this 
 great work was written through a type-writer manipu- 
 lated by his hands. He never read a word of it till it 
 was completed. It was fifty weeks in being written, and 
 the writing was done early in the morning and did not 
 interfere in the slightest with the active duties of his 
 profession of dentistry. Pure spirits prefer to come in 
 contact with a spirit that dwells in a clean body. They 
 cannot be drawn as well to one in a dirty body. 
 
 We believe that the washing of the whole body, at 
 least once in twenty four hours, is essential to an 
 attractive degree of cleanliness. Warm water of course 
 cleanses more effectively, but as soaking the whole body 
 in hot water is generally enervating, and- as it is often 
 impossible to command that amount of hot water, a 
 little will answer the purpose. Even persons who live 
 in a house supplied with the "modern conveniences" 
 that Beecher so laughably described in one of the " Star 
 Papers " often find it diflflcult to get a' little hot water at 
 the moment it is needed. But even one who " lives in a 
 trunk" can always have it when desired. He only 
 needs a little oil stove bought for a dollar, a flat whiskj^ 
 bottle for his oil (the kerosene of course forming more 
 suitable contents than whisky for a spiritual aspirant), 
 and a tin pan. A pint and a half of water will heat in a, 
 few minutes. With that, a wash cloth or sponge, soap, 
 a small towel and a large rough towel, he can wash his 
 body thoroughly, wherever he may be, often enough to 
 be clean. A little fine oat-meal in the water adds to its 
 cleansing and comforting qualities. We hope the fas- 
 tidious reader will pardon the details of the above sug- 
 
102 SLEEPLESSNESS CAN BE CURED. 
 
 gestion. We felt it necessary to make it, for many per- 
 sons who look tolerably well, who dress well and have 
 agreeable manners, have not really clean bodies, either 
 through want of knowledge, want of bodily activity, or 
 the difficulty of procuring a little hot water. 
 
 Sleep, which comes readily to the lower animals and 
 to the savage, sometimes forsakes the pillow of those 
 oppressed with the cares of a higher civilization. Many 
 form a sleepless habit by indulging in late reading or 
 late conversation. Our servant, the body, can be trained 
 to obedience by regularity, and we often get it into bad 
 habits by a bap-hazard mode of living. But as those 
 who sleep easily will be sure to obtain the necessary 
 amount ; and as those who are afflicted by insomnia, as 
 thevwriter was during a period of twenty-three years, can 
 certainly be cured by carrying out the processes incul- 
 cated in this book, we will not speak of sleep to any ex- 
 tent at this point. We merely suggest that if we desire 
 our body to get its proper rest in sleep, we must place ^ 
 it at a regular time in a restful attitude in a comfortable 
 bed in a well-ventilated apartment. If these details do 
 not prove effective, our processes will bring aid that 
 will transform the restless, uneasy, easily wakened, ner- 
 vous and irritable victim of insomnia into a person re- 
 freshed many hours of every night by deep, restful and 
 .restoring sleep. Of all the physical well-being brought 
 to the writer by this process of development which she 
 so willingly places before her readers, the most comfort- 
 ing and delightful is her regaining the sweet, refreshing 
 sleep of youth. 
 
 Having thus made the suggestions that occurred on 
 food, alcohol and narcotics, exercise, temperature, cloth- 
 
HOW TO CONQUER SEXUAL PASSION. 103 
 
 ing, cleanliness, and sleep, in order to make the body 
 serve the progressing soul, we find yet another branch 
 of the subject on which a few words should ' be said. 
 We refer to the deleterious effects of indulgence of the 
 sexual passion in our effort to attain more spiritual de- 
 velopment. Custom and natural delicacy make most 
 persons unwilling to write or read on this subject, but it 
 would be wrong to le^ve it wholly untouched. 
 
 To premise, if we carefully follow the rules of health 
 in the relations already alluded to, the sexual cravings 
 will already have been brought insensibly nearer to the 
 normal condition of a spiritual person. Experience and 
 observation show that those who live on plain diet, 
 avoiding the flesh of animals, who eschew alcohol, and 
 the tobacco that stimulates the craving for spirituous 
 liquors, who exercise the body in pure air, and who are 
 learning to sleep regularly and restfully, find the sexual 
 craving far less urgent, far less masterful, than when 
 living contrary to the suggestions made above. This 
 desirable result may be aided in many other ways. Our 
 newspapers, always yielding to the vote of the majority 
 expressed by an increased circulation, teem with ac- 
 counts of sexual crimes, and stories that stimulate this 
 passion. When the eye falls on such, restd it not. Pass 
 at oncejto something different. Do the same in all your 
 reading, and in the conversation of those you meet. 
 Remember that no act, however sudden, is ever com- 
 mitted without being first performed in the brain. In 
 quiet moments, when the mind begins to dwell in the 
 slightest degree on anything connected with these pas- 
 sions,, say at once, "No, no! I will not." Say it in 
 words, as that will crystallize your resolution. At once. 
 
104 RESULTS OF SENSUALITY. 
 
 look up and beyond. Plead, " Good spirits, help me." 
 If this course be taken at once, it will be eflfectual, both 
 Tjy your using your own will, and by getting actual help 
 from good spirits, some one of whom is always near 
 •every human soul to aid him to resist evil. Remember 
 that it is thinking on these subjects that leads to un- 
 bridled lust, to abuse of your companion in marriage, 
 •or to self-abuse. Cut off the vejry fountaiurhead, by 
 never allowing yourself to think for a quarter of a min- 
 'ute on these subjects, and j'ou are safe. 
 
 Zn our civilization, sexual stimulation has reached 
 «, height that is most baneful. The social evil has at- 
 tacked all classes of society, and licentiousness, both in 
 the marriage as well as out of it, forms the rule and not 
 the exception, y/lt is far worse withus than with Moham- 
 medans, Buddhists, and some uncivilized nations. The 
 press both leads and follows. Legislation may cut some 
 of the lesser twigs of this gigantic, malarial growth ; but 
 it is individual resolve to avoid impure thoughts, and 
 whatever leads to them in himself and others, that will 
 gradually cut the main trunk into pieces. 
 
 Of course it is not needful to dwell on the baneful 
 effect of excessive sexual passion on the development of 
 the inner, immortal self. If indulged in, then the more sus- 
 ceptible one is to disembodied influence, the worse will it 
 be for both him and them. His impure thoughts attract 
 to him disembodied spirits who long for the old sensual 
 pleasures that the deprivation of a fleshly body prevents 
 them from satisfying. The strongest get almost inside 
 of him, and thousands more make a solid phalanx about 
 him, which prevent good spirits from reaching him, and 
 that only the strongest exertions of his own will can 
 
UNCLEANNESS STAINS THE SOUL. 105 
 
 break through. His increased sensuality reacts on them. 
 He is responsible for his own degradation; and par- 
 tially responsible for the continuance of theirs. If he 
 dies while in this horrible environment, he joins their 
 company, and they together seek some other susceptible 
 and sensual mortal, to cling to him, and feed their 
 fleshly longings through his organism. This is a sicken- 
 ino- picture, but it is a true one. He who would advance 
 his own soul, as well as that of others, must indeed " ab- 
 stain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul," as 
 the energetic P^ter wisely advised. (See 1 Peter ii, 11. 
 
 Many more suggestions might be made regarding the 
 care of the fleshly tabernacle in which we are temp- 
 orarily enswathed, but we will leave them to be 
 made by each individual aspirant, for they will come to 
 him in the course of his development, and special ones 
 suited to his own needs will doubtless be impressed on 
 hi9 brain by his disembodied friends. Spirits who are 
 worth harboring will do all in their power to influence 
 the one in whom they are interested, to " keep the 
 body pure." 
 
 " But if the soul depart full of uncleanness and impurity, as 
 having been all along mingled with the body, always employed 
 in it%, service, always possessed by the love of it, wheedled and 
 charmed by its pleasures and lusts, do you think, I' say, that a 
 soul in this condition can depart pure and simple from the body ? 
 No: surely that is impossible. On the contrary, it departs 
 stained with corporeal^ pollution, which was rendered natural to 
 it by its continual commerce and too intimate union with the 
 body, at a time when it was its constant companion, and was 
 still employed in serving and gratifying it." 
 
 -Socrates. 
 
106 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 THE PSYCHICAL BODY. 
 
 Let US now turn our attention to the second element' 
 of our complex constitution — the spiritual or psychic 
 body. 
 
 In the first place, what is it ? Of wjiat is it made ? 
 The latter question would seem absurd to an old-time 
 theologian, who, oblivious of the teachings of Paul, 
 taught that when the body dies, only the soul remains, 
 to be relegated at the time of decision to either heaven 
 or hell. Some spiritual scientists of our own day, whom 
 the proved facts of modern spiritualism ought to have 
 enlightened, cling to the same old theory, and claim 
 that the death of the body leaves only a soul principle 
 that cannot possibly affect matter by using the forces of 
 nature, nor affect in the slightest us who are Still ten- 
 ants of the earthy body. Their mistake lies in suppos- 
 ing that our friends who go out of the physical body 
 become at once pure soul, without any body at all. The 
 truth is that- while we are here, we have, besides the 
 ileshly body, a more ethereal one, both being an outside 
 material form, by means of which the essence of pure 
 soul within expresses itself, and communicates with 
 other individual soul essences, similarly enfolded. 
 
 When asked what the physical body is, and what it is 
 composed of, we readily answer that it is the outside 
 fleshly covering of the inner being, and that it is com- 
 
THE ATOMIC THEORY. 107 
 
 posed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and many 
 more chemical elements. We, a;ccept this statement be- 
 cause chemists have analysed organic bodies and have 
 found that they separated into these elements, or because 
 a very few of us have made such an analysis ourselves. 
 This was done of course after the l^fe had left the whole 
 body, or to some portion of it that had been separated 
 from the living body. Here we at once confront some- 
 thing that we do not understand. That a finger-nail, or 
 hair, or a bit of dead flesh, or a leaf or root can be re- 
 solved into its original elements we think we understand, 
 but what once made it alive is beyond our compre- 
 hension. 
 
 The atomic theory seeks to account for certain mys- 
 terious pushings and pullings which we find to exist. 
 No one ever saw an atom, but as this theory accounts 
 for much that we see take place, it has been adopted. 
 So scientists state that gaseous elements are themselves 
 composed of atoms, each of which is solitary, being 
 inconceivably removed from every other one, and con- 
 taining in itself both kinds of electricity, which some- 
 times neutralize each other, and at other times manifest 
 polarity as they become magnetized. 
 
 Well, all this is about material things. An atom is a 
 real thing, we think, though inconceivably small. So 
 we accept the theory, and believe that we can really com- 
 prehend it. But what is life ? What is it that makes a 
 physical body move without any force being brought to 
 bear upon it from the outside ? 
 
 Herbert Spencer has with marvelous astuteness and 
 metaphysical accumen given us a definition. He says 
 that life is " The definite combination of heterogeneous 
 
108 spencer's definition of life. 
 
 changes, both simultaneous and successive, in corres- 
 pondence with external co-existences and sequences." 
 This, translated into every day English of average per- 
 sons is saying that life is the actual putting together 
 of different sorts of changes, some going on at the 
 same time with each other, and some coming in order 
 after each other, all fitting into things outside that go 
 along at the same time, or that follow each other, 
 because that's the order in which they have to go. 
 
 We do not criticize Mr. Spencer's exact and transpa- 
 rant language. It is only necessary to know the lan- 
 guage by which the thought is conveyed. Many of my 
 readers are more familiar with every-day English than 
 with that which is plain to those conversant with the 
 classical tongues. And I will confess that though a stu- 
 dent of philology and Latin, I was obliged to ponder 
 on that definition a good deal, before I even thought 
 that I took in its meaning, 
 
 'We are here reminded of a tendency in some persons 
 interested in psychical subjects to substitute words of 
 classical derivation for every-day English ones, or new 
 ones for some already well understood by the general 
 public since the dawn of modern Spritualism some fifty 
 years ago. Is it well to substitute veridical for truth- 
 ful, subliminal for under-lying, telepathy for spirit-sens- 
 ing, telekinesis for moving of material objects, hypnotism 
 for mesmerism, psychic for medium, percipient for per- 
 ceiver, astral body for spirit body, and so on? 
 
 It is facts properly arranged that make, science. It is 
 no more sciehtific to use newly coined words of Latin 
 and Greek derivation than it is to express the same 
 thought by words in common use that mean the same 
 
THE USE OF FOREIGN WORDS. 109 
 
 thing;' and it is far more clumsy. Many of the words 
 used above are not yet in the dictionary, but they will 
 be found there by and by, thus adding to our already 
 enormous freight of foreign words, many of which were 
 coined by those who have studied foreign tongues in 
 order to impose , the appearance of superior knowledge 
 on these who know only English. 
 
 Our composite language is inferior to the German in 
 one respect at least. "When the German wants a name 
 for a new object, he takes if, possible, a word already 
 existing in the language. If there be nqne, he makes a 
 new compound from German words. He does not com- 
 pound one out of the dead languages. When our stu- 
 dents are studying the heart, they have to learn two 
 things instead of one. They learn that systole and 
 diastole mean the contracting and the enlarging of the 
 heart, and also, that the heart does so contract and en- 
 large. The German has to learn but one thing — tjiat 
 the heart enlarges and contracts. The unwary English 
 student is led to infer that the Geeek used these words 
 only in relation to the heart, not realizing in his befud- 
 dled condition that systole, for example, was used by 
 them in regard to expenditures, thinness of the body, 
 a shrinking in one's courage, as well as in regard to a 
 bodily organ. 
 
 Now perhaps some reader will look up and down this 
 page, to see how many words derived from dead lan- 
 guages are used by the writer. She frankly admits that 
 she might use a lessernumber; but she is at least not 
 guilty of the enormity of coining new words to take the 
 place of some already existing that are quite as good. 
 
 Asking pardon for this long digression, let us return 
 
110 NEITHER THE PHYSICAL BODY, 
 
 to the main road, which we left after quoting Spencer's 
 deQnition of life. It is probably just as good a one as 
 •can possibly be made by one who seeks to account for 
 everything on a material basis. It expresses perfectly 
 the physical changes and existences ; but the real thing, 
 the life itself, flits away into the unseen, leaving faint 
 traces of an elusive though tender smile right in the 
 face of him who would judge her from a material stand- 
 point. 
 
 Life: what is it ? Is it in and of the material body ? 
 Most thinking persons think not, though a savage once 
 burst out laughing when a missionary was tiying to im- 
 press on him that he could go on living without a phys- 
 ical body. The notion was extremely absurd and ludi- 
 crous to him. This unthinking man had not yet devel- 
 oped out of materialism. Let not those who claim a far 
 higher development than his remain imbedded in the 
 same. 
 
 What is the spirit body ? Is that the life ? It is no 
 more life than is the physical body. The latter is the 
 vehicle, it is that through which life is expressed while 
 we dwell on the earth; and in the same way, the spirit 
 body, called by some the astral body, continues to ex- 
 press the same after the disintegration of the physical 
 body. After that, it is the only means remaining by which 
 the inner life is directly manifested. While here, our life 
 manifests itself directly by the body itself, and indi- 
 rectly by material things that it affects by the exertion 
 of its power in accordance with natural laws. It is the 
 same over there. The life there expresses itself di- 
 rectly to other spirits and to some mediumistic mortals 
 through its psychic body, and indirectly by itsapplica- 
 
NOR THE SPIRIT BODY, IS LIKE." Ill 
 
 tion to ethereal or terrestrial matter of the finer forces 
 of nature, 
 
 Allow me to turn aside for a moment and explain 
 why the expression spirit body is preferable to astral 
 body. "Astral" means pertaining to the stars, and its 
 application to our body after death is a reminiscence of 
 the doctrine of old-time theology, that the soul after 
 death went at once beyond the stars. 
 
 " The voice that now Is speaking will be beyond the stars," 
 
 sung Tennyson. If we went at death beyond the stars, 
 " astral body " would be appropriate, but as we pass 
 into the next stratum of the spirit world of mother 
 earth, spirit body is the right term. Psychic body may 
 answer, to avoid a repetition of the same word, perhaps, 
 but words of Greek derivation are, other things being 
 eqnal, more remote from ordinary modes of thought 
 than those of Latin origin. 
 
 The spirit body is a material form, suited in ethereal- 
 ity to the conditions of a life that is more spiritual than 
 the mundane, but it cannot be said to be life. The life is 
 the soul within, that expresses itself through these out- 
 side forms, and is itself the actual, direct offspring of 
 the infinite life or soul of the universe. We are sons of 
 God, not by adoption, but absolutely, inherently, indis- 
 solubly,and can no more be disinherited than we can be 
 annihilated. 
 
 The soul expresses itself more easily, more directly 
 through the spirit bod^ than it can when hemmed in 
 besides by the terr^trial one. - The density of the latter 
 makes it easy to deceive one another here. To do so 
 will be nearly impossible when deprived of it. There, 
 the soul must manifest itself through its ethereal form. 
 
112 DECEPTION INFREQUENT OVEK THEllE. 
 
 and for this reason we shall be known there as we really 
 are. The desire to deceive will cling to the hypocritical 
 soul. All his sensual longings, all his malicious desires 
 ■jyill show themselves without disguise, and he will 
 shrink in affright from the lighter regions, and in shame 
 from the presence of better spirits. He will remain in 
 dark places, and seek the company of licentious and 
 malicious spirits like himself, until in the course of 
 ages, it may be, he and they will come to realize their 
 sonship to Infinite Purity, and exert the whole strength 
 of their inner being to cast off these self-imposed fetters 
 of the soul. 
 
 Having answered the question, " What is the spirit 
 body?" we take up the second one, "Of what is it 
 made?" The question is a natural one, for scientists 
 have told us to our satisfaction of what elements the 
 fleshly body is composed. It having been asserted that 
 the spirit body is not life, that it is a form, and mater- 
 ial, we desire to know the name and the nature of this 
 matter of which it is undoubtedly composed. 
 
 Of course we in thought clearly distinguish matter 
 from soul. Matter is the form by wtich real soul is 
 brought into expression. Matter is, as Plato called it, 
 only the shadow of eternally existing realities. To our 
 thinking, even the spirit world is but a shadow of the 
 soul itself. He who has begun to be truly spiritual by 
 recognizing his own soul existence apart from the body, 
 and by making it dominate the body, has no difficulty 
 in conceding the secondary nature «f all matter. But 
 to be wholly freed from formi " the undying playmate of 
 the gods," as Schiller called her, is beyond our present 
 conception of the scope of a finite being. What life or 
 
fEHEBAR ON DEATH. 113 
 
 soul may be, when separated from all form, we may pon- 
 der and seek to grasp, but it flees from our power of 
 conception. We shall in the following chapter answer 
 the question, " Of whai is the psychic body composed ? " 
 
 " Head ! who .is dead .' No one dies. The covering changes ; 
 is laid aside, rots, but the man lives. Love cannot die, hate 
 cannot die. The power which thinks, like the power which feels, 
 never dies. There is no death, only change and progress 
 through all his dominions. VJhy will you, foolish ones of earth, 
 try to believe and reason among yourselves, that the change of 
 condition is the ceasing to be .' " 
 
 Kehebar, through Sidney Dean. 
 
114 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 THE FORCES OF NATURE. - ' 
 
 Soul expresses itself through matter. It also acts on 
 matter, moves it, makes it into new forms, which some 
 have erroneously called creation, and through the forces 
 employed by it is ever bringing out new forms, thus 
 making the " unending genesis " of nature. Soul is not 
 matter, of course. Neither is it the forces by which it 
 acts on matter. These forces are as truly a manifesta- 
 tion of soul itself as are the material forms which are 
 brought through them into objective existence, in either 
 the physical planet, or in its far vaster spirit world. 
 Forces are the highway along which soul passes into 
 material expression, Force, ^er se, is inherent in soul, 
 but the forces of nature, in terrestrial or spiritual exis- 
 tence, are the means by which the soul brings anything 
 whatever into material form, keeps it in existence, and 
 at last disintegrates it. 
 
 We call these forces by different names : electricity, 
 magnetism, heat, light, celestial radiation,, vibration, 
 and so on, according to our scientific standpoint. What 
 these are, or rather what we may be enabled to accom- 
 plish by their application, mankind is but just begin- 
 ning to learn. As the vortexan theory of world-building 
 will be everywhere accepted, making objects seek the 
 center of the earth, not by its own gravitation, but by 
 the force of the vortex in which they whirl, which thus 
 
THE FORCES OF NAtURE ARE ONE. 115 
 
 made the earth, — so perhaps celestial radiation may be 
 the earth name for something which will include in its 
 vast round electricity, magnetism, heat, light, and every 
 conceivable expression of force ; and will finally bring 
 the spirit world of the planet within the sensible sphere 
 of those yet dwelling on the earth. 
 
 While admitting that the finer forces of nature, which 
 have attracted so much attention during the century 
 that is now drawing near its end, may all be distinct 
 expressions of the one mighty radiating force, as sepa- 
 rate stars make the gems of Orion, and that the near 
 future may make this manifest, yet we wjll try to give 
 some notion of what the spirit body consists, according 
 to a comprehension so badly, so grossly limited by the 
 environments of sense. 
 
 That fine, ethereal covering of the soul, more refined 
 than that how visible to the physical organ of sight, 
 and yet resembling it so really that " we shall know 
 each other there," — what is it in texture, in material V 
 Dare we say that it is made of magnetism, as many say, 
 and as is even reported to be said by disembodied spirits, 
 whom curious, eager mortals ply with questions regard- 
 ing life conditions in the spirit world, when they can 
 get an opportunity of doing so ? Buit those that give 
 this answer add, " This is the best we can tell you. 
 ■You oonnot understand till you come where we are." 
 
 One spirit, known while on the earth-plane as Martin 
 B. Anderson,' President of Rochester University, a man 
 of capacious mind, wide culture, and benign nature, has 
 gone so far as to say from his present altitude, " The 
 Holy Spirit is nothing but pure unadulterated magnet- 
 ism." Substituting for " magnetism " the expression 
 
116 COMPOSITION OF THE SPIRIT BODY. 
 
 " magnetized atoms," we will say that the well developed 
 spirit-body of a progressive soul is composed of magne- 
 tized ultimate atoms. As an ultimate atom is beyond 
 physical comprehension, this conception of the compo- 
 sition of a spirit-body may well suit our present appre- 
 hension of it. 
 
 This portion of the book is designed to give practical 
 instruction how the aspirant may develop his spirit-body 
 here by making it more magnetic, rather than to scien- 
 tifically explain why certain processes will produce a 
 certain result, yet, we will pursue this preliminary field 
 of inquiry a little farther. We will ask what magnet- 
 ism is, how it differs from electricity, and what the 
 reason is that disembodied spirits can impress our brain 
 more readily when we are in a magnetic condition. 
 
 The natural forces, as motion, magnetism, heat and 
 light are all the same thing, and are atomic in charac- 
 ter. Soul is back of an ultimate atom. This is the 
 conception of God, according to modern spiritual science. 
 We are not atheists. The conception of God advances 
 with the developing reason of man. Many think that 
 infinite soul and the infinite cosmic ether of ultimate 
 atoms are co-eternal. While it were folly for a finite 
 being to fancy that intelligence less than infinite can 
 settle that matter, we reiterate our previous statement, 
 " Soul is back of even an ultimate atom." It is " ulti- 
 mate " merely in a physical sense. 
 
 The great natural forces readily pass into each, other. 
 We may say in general of the two specially concerned 
 here, that electricity resembles a force, while magnetism 
 resembles a condition. When the positive and negative 
 kinds of electricity in a body are equal, they neutralize 
 
THE EAUTH A GKEAT MAGNET. 117 
 
 each other, and nothing happens. But the slightest 
 motion disturbs this equilibrium, and the effort to regain 
 it expresses the power of this force, and can be measured 
 by the resistance that it meets in reaching this result. 
 Much has been done, and far more will be done by this 
 sort of manifestation of universal force. 
 
 Magnetism, on the jother hand, ' seems more like a 
 condition. Every molecule of matter contains the two 
 kinds of electricity. When the object formed by the 
 united molecules is magnetized, the positive and nega- 
 tive kinds of electricity separate and go to the opposite 
 ends of each molecule; and each molecule being thus 
 polarized, the object which they compose manifests 
 polarization as a whole. Consequently the positive end 
 of the object shows an inclination to reach the negative 
 end of any larger object that may be near it, and its 
 negative end, the positive of the other. 
 
 The earth as a whole is in a magnetized condition. 
 Therefore every object within it or on it partakes of the 
 same condition, like the molecules in the object before 
 alluded to. In a normal state, all these objects man- 
 ifest polarity, and are then in natural harmony with 
 the large world of which they form a part. Every con- 
 ceivable motion and force is constantly seeking to dis- 
 turb the equilibrium between the two poles of the earth, 
 and so currents are ever passing from one to the other, 
 in order to maintain this equilibrium. She is " old 
 enough, big enough, strong enough " to do this, always 
 in submission to mighty law, of course, and so the cur- 
 rents pass ever from pole to pole, and are not diverted 
 from their course. All the objects that make 'its bulk, 
 — rocks, continents, waters, atmosphere, plants, animals, 
 
Il8 A MAGNETIZED CONDITION IS NORMAL. 
 
 bodies of men — partake of its magnetism, and tend to a 
 polarized condition. Animals, especially those in a 
 wild state, are in harmonious vibration with these cur- 
 rents. But man, being what theologians call a free 
 moral agent, has something contrary, eager, independ- 
 ent, lawless in his nature, and is acted upon by more 
 contradictory forces than the lower animals. So he is 
 often out of harmony with these currents, and needs to 
 become magnetized again, in order to manifest polarity. 
 When out of harmony with the earth currents, when not 
 magnetized, he is in an abnormal condition. When 
 polarized, the negative pole of his own material body is 
 attracted, though this attraction may not be expressed 
 by visible motion, to the positive pole of his mighty 
 mother magnet; he is in harmony with her; and his 
 condition has become normal. 
 
 " Everything goes by comparison," says the old pro- 
 verb. So, though this earth on which we live is but a 
 ball compared to Jupiter ; a dot, a molecule, an atom, 
 to some of those stupendous orbs away beyond the neb- 
 ula in Andromeda, it is yet very large to us human beings. 
 We are told that it is eight thousand miles in diameter. 
 Can yoii grasp in your thought the length of a mile, 
 kind reader, rod by rod, furlong by furlong, till you 
 have a clear conception of one mile in length ? Having 
 that, can you conceive a square mile ;• and after that 
 a cube with only one mile for its side? The surface 
 of our earth has an area of 197,000,000 of just such 
 square miles, of one of which very few persons can form 
 an adequate conception. Compare this extent with an 
 object si* feet long and two feet wide. A human being 
 is almost literally an atom compared with the mighty 
 
RESULTS OF MAGNETIC INHARMONT. 119 
 
 mother of his corporeal frame. So when we think of 
 him as a small object upon so immense a magnet, it does 
 indeed behoove him to seek to have his own puny cur- 
 rents in harmony with those of this enormous mass on 
 which he is temporarily situated. 
 
 To begin with, his body cannot be in perfect health, 
 unless it be in perfect harmony with the magnetic cur- 
 rents of the earth. Out of harmony, he becomes irrita- 
 ble and nervous, and at last really ill. This jarred and . 
 disabled condition exhausts his vital strength till some 
 weaker organ of his body begins to pain him in evidence 
 that disease is fastening on that point. Biliousness be- 
 comes chronic, the lungs become tuberculous, the spine 
 begins to curve, an ovarian tumor gathers, or some other 
 dread disease is manifested. The inharmonious condi- 
 tion that brought on the disease has no cure to offer. 
 Drugs produce partial cleansing, but at the same time 
 they inflame. The surgeon's knife cuts oflF, or cuts out 
 the diseased portion, but as its cause was not removed, 
 it breaks out later in some other spot. A proper diet, 
 a change in environment that permits the personal cur- 
 rents to regain harmony may reinove the disease. 
 
 As is well-known, a powerful magnetic healer some- 
 times removes an ailment that skilled medical ahd surgi- 
 cal talent fails to reach. This is because the magnetized 
 condition of the healer's body is communicated to the 
 molecules of that of the patient, which in its turn be- 
 comes harmonious with the earth, and the disease begins 
 to give way. And so closely connected is the mind with 
 the body, that a passive, receptive frame of mind, espe- 
 cially a belief in the power of the healer on the part of 
 the patient and of his immediate friends, may conduce 
 
120 THE BEST PHYSICIANS ASSIST NATURE 
 
 materially to this end. In this way was the Nazarene 
 healer able to cure vast multitudes. The special circum- 
 stances which were connected with his work were especi- 
 ally conducive to this result, as described in another 
 part of this book. 
 
 Not many magnetic healers possess enough transmis- 
 sible force to remove tumors, cancers,and the dread lep- 
 rosy which'involves so large a portion of the tissues of 
 the body, yet it has been done and will be done still more 
 frequently. As is often remarked by all physicians, if 
 the patient had applied to them when the system had 
 first shown signs of derangement, such abnormal growths 
 would not have gained a headway. The magnetic treat- 
 ment, like every normal one, will prevent disease. We 
 are informed that in Japan, a physician is gaid so much 
 a year by a family, the number of days that any of its 
 members are ill being deducted from the annual salary. 
 He is thus responsible for warding oflf disease, rather 
 than for removing it aftei* it has been established. 
 
 Most will concede that the best physicians will try to 
 remove whatever prevents nature from doing her work. 
 Surely this can be appropriately done in most cases by 
 getting the patient's body to vibrate in harmony with 
 universal nature. So the magnetic healer, if genuine 
 and strong, will be sought after more and more, and his 
 methods will be adopted to a greater degree by special- 
 ists. Of course magnetic currents are not going to re- 
 duce compound fractures, nor straighten spines long bent 
 by unequal distribution of cartilaginous matter. Out- 
 side material aid must be applied^ in all similar cases. 
 Mechanical skill will supply a frame in which the free 
 swing of the limb can prevent all pressure on the dis- 
 
AND HARMONIZE WITH HER FOKCES. 121 
 
 eased part in hip disease. These aids are essential in 
 all kindred cases. The magnetic currents can not fill 
 holes in the teeththat have already been made, nor take 
 a cataract off the eye. But all specialists will find that 
 these currents will aid nature to carry on the healing 
 process, while the mechanical aids are removing ma- 
 terial hindrances. And many of them have always em- 
 ployed its aid in their work, though not always consci- 
 ous what power it was that they invoked. When they 
 sought calmness and strength for themselves, when they 
 poured confidence into their . shrinking patient, when 
 their touch or their mtee presence brought aid to the 
 suffering one, it was because their own bodies vibrated 
 in harmony with the earth currents, and their own souls 
 in harmony with the spiritual forces of the universe. 
 Church membership has naught to do with the latter 
 condition. Many a physician and surgeon, looked upon 
 as infidel or atheist, has a soul that has been in as har- 
 monious accord with high spiritual intelligences as did 
 that of Elijah or Jesus. -ll is not the name we call a 
 thing by that avails. It is the temper of heart that 
 enables us to appropriate supra-mundane aid. 
 
 It has been often noticed that many physicians are 
 skeptical regarding the immortality of the soul. This 
 results from the tendency of the profession to pay more 
 attention to the patient's body than to his mind, to note 
 the physiological rather than the psychological aspect. 
 While "throwing physic to^the dogs" (a great injustice 
 to the dogs, by the way), let them more and more '• min- 
 ister to the mind diseased." ■ Looking beyond the scalpel 
 and the drug, let them so study the soul that the skep- 
 tical class can no longer doubt its continued existence. 
 
122 SECONDHAND MAGNETISM NOT AS GOOD. 
 
 anrVit will be as impossible for them to be "undevont. '■' 
 as for "the astronomer.'' 
 
 The surgical profession, like other professions, and to 
 a less degree than some others that might be named, 
 needs to progress: it is progressing in the dawning light 
 that comes with the close of this amazing century. Its 
 members, like all other men, will share in the gradual 
 spiritualization of the human race. 
 
 While pointing out the benefits accomplished by mag- 
 netism brought into a body from the organism of 
 another, let it be borne in mind that acquiring it thus,, 
 at second-hand as it were, is not so beneficial as to re- 
 ceive it from the earth itself. The magnetic healer is 
 not essentially diflferent from other men. They possess 
 inherently what he does : a physical body, a spirit body, 
 and a soul. His magnetized condition comes from 
 being in harmony with the larger magnet, the terres- 
 trial one, and not from his having originally something 
 different from other men. It is true that pre-natal con- 
 ditions, a strong physique, 'and his temperament have 
 made him especially magnetic. 
 
 But as a bar of iron becomes polarized by being put 
 in connection with a magnet, so he has become what he 
 is by what he gets, consciously or unconsciously, from 
 the earth, and We all can do the same, by the normal 
 processes that this book brings to your attention. 
 While we are thankful that he is able to aid those who 
 are unharmonious with the. currents, our object is to 
 suggest a way by which all may get the same condition, 
 and which will in the progress of humanity make the 
 work of a magnetic healer unnecessary. As the body 
 of every person on the earth comes to vibrate in har- 
 
AS IT IS TO BE. 123 
 
 mony with its earth mother, and as every incorporate 
 soul vibrates in harmony with high spirit intelligences, 
 will bodily disease, as well as every wrong condition of 
 the soul", disappear from the earth. 
 
 When we say that disease will totally disappear, we 
 by no means intend to imply that the fleshly body will 
 never die, and that persons will continue to inhabit it 
 forever, thus confining us perpetually to existence in the 
 flesh. Disease is an abnormal means of driving the 
 spirit body out of the fleshly one before the time. As 
 it disappears, persons will live on the earth in full en- 
 joyment and without pain. The fleshly, tabernacle will 
 develop more perfectly, and become more responsive to 
 the needs of the indwelling soul and to the touch of 
 the invisibles. After attaining all the development 
 possible, being mortal, it will begin to decay. But that" 
 will not disquiet its temporary denizen, in whom Paul's 
 words will be verified, "Though our outward man per- 
 ish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." (See 
 2 Cor. iv, 16.) Without pain, without discomfort, will 
 its powers decay. As its special senses weaken, the in- 
 ner eye sees celestial forms, the inner ear hears a music 
 not of earth. More attenuated, more refined, it gradu- 
 ally fades to a mere shred of its former physical glory. 
 At last sinking to earth like the withered petal of a rose, 
 it falls away from the already developed spirit body, 
 which rises in humble inquiry and unutterable content 
 to the next sphere of the spirit world. 
 
 " So fades a summer cloud away ; 
 
 So sinks the gale wheu storms are O'er ; 
 So gently shuts the eye of day ; 
 So dies a wave along the shore." 
 
 When mankind has developed to this, its certain goal, 
 
124 NOTHING IS TOO BEAUTIFUL 
 
 death of the body will not bring the agony to surviving 
 friends that it now brings. Parents will not lose their 
 children, for children will not die before their parents. 
 Friend will not be snatched from friend in the vigor of 
 manhood. Men will not die by another's hand, and the 
 powers of nature will be so utilized and submitted to 
 that death by accident or catastrophe will be reduced 
 to a minimum. All will live to be aged, but old age 
 will be tranquil towards earth conditions, and happy in 
 the anticipation of the coming freedom. The children 
 of the aged will be themselves advancing in years, and 
 instead of mourning that their parent has been trans- 
 lated to a higher sphere, they will with pleasure look 
 forward to the time when the same event will come to 
 them. 
 
 Is this picture too beautiful to be accepted, even as 
 descriptive of what may come after many, many ages V 
 Eemember that nothing can be more beautiful than will 
 really come to pass sometime. Our imaginations can 
 but feebly delineate the final development of the hu- 
 man race. That we can fancy such a denouement 
 proves its possibility. The progress of man from age to 
 age only unfolds the potentialities that were laid in the 
 original germ that grew out of the infinite. We can- 
 not share in the final perfection of human existence on 
 earth, and men of pre-historic times could not share the 
 advancement that we now enjoy. They passed their 
 earthly sojourn under the conditions that were then 
 possible, and they have received further development up 
 to this time outside of fleshly conditions. We do the 
 same, and shall do as they have done after we leave the 
 physical body. Those who live on the planet when 
 
TO COME SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE. 125 
 
 mundane development has reached its ultimatum will 
 get during their earthly sojourn what we cannot. It 
 would be foolish as well as ungrateful to repine. It is 
 for each one in every age to do his part towards the un- 
 foldment of humanity, and, as sweet Lucy Stone said in 
 the hour of transition, to " make the World better." 
 
 Development is of an individul, and also of the whole 
 race of which he is a member. The Infinite Intelligence 
 out of which each sprang holds ultimate perfection in 
 an individual, as well as in the race of a planet. At 
 different stages,, and in different circumstances, is more 
 or less of this development expressed in the terrestrial 
 environment. And in thinking of the many planets and 
 the possible expressions of life in them, who can divine 
 the races of beings in them, most of which must excel 
 that which inhabits the earth, as most planets excel 
 ours in size, and most suns excel our own in mag- 
 nitude ? 
 
 We can set no limit to human development, for it is 
 hej'ond our present conception. But its ultimatum will 
 come, and all the more quickly if we do our part in our 
 day and generation. Self-purification, both mental and 
 physical, justice and humanity to all, and especially to 
 those who are weaker than we, whether human or only 
 animal, will be our most direct and practicable way of 
 bringing on the " Golden Age." The adjective is not 
 appropriate, but the expression conveys our meaning. 
 An eloquent poet has pictured the future as the time 
 " When men shall live by reason, 
 And not alone by gold. 
 And the whole world shall be lighted, 
 As Eden was of old." 
 
 But the true Eden was not in the past. It will come 
 
126 NORMAL MORTALS AND SPIKITS 
 
 by and by. It will not be created by a higher power. 
 It will be the outcome of man's individual effort, as each 
 age profits in time by the increasing light and the cumu- 
 lative efforts of the preceding one. It is to do our hum- 
 ble part towards this grand consummation that we bring 
 to the world this little book. 
 
 Retui-ning to the main current of thought, we remind 
 the reader that we have defined magnetism according to 
 our present scientifli light, have indicated how it differs, 
 as an expression of the same force, from electricity. 
 Leaving those who desire to examine these more scien- 
 tific aspects to their own cogitations, we pass on to the 
 reason that disembodied spirits can impress our brain 
 more readily when we are in a magnetized condition. 
 
 We have shown that being dwellers on this planet, it 
 is quite right that we seek to have our physical frame in 
 the same magnetized condition as is the earth itself 
 And this condition is a thoroughly harmonious one, it 
 being abnormal not to be in magnetic accord with the 
 earth. We hear persons ask mediums, especially men- 
 tal mediums, in regard to any particular effort, " Were 
 you in your normal condition ? " This question be- 
 speaks a certain degree of ignorance on the part of the 
 questioner. Good mediumship is natural, and just so 
 far as the medium is in an abnormal condition is he 
 unfitted to de his part well. It is wholly normal to be 
 accessible to the influence of spirits, just as it may be 
 wholly normal to have one's intellectual powers more 
 developed than those of a savage. Persons in a lower 
 stage of development in any respect — physical, mental, 
 or spiritual — are apt to think those further along are a 
 little "oivt," a little crazy — in short, not just right. 
 
CAN COMMCNICATE. Vll 
 
 In true mediumship, the power to commune with in- 
 visibles, by phj'sical means or by impressions on the 
 brain alone, is wholly accordant with the laws of nature, 
 and only bespeaks a further development of natural 
 powers in this special direction. All the particular 
 power displayed by a medium is potentially in every, 
 human being on the face of the earth. But in him, the 
 power that is only latent in some others has been 
 brought to the surface, and utilized in a practical way. 
 There is no mii-acle fn it. There is a simple develop- 
 ment of what is natural ; and all are capable, to a greater 
 or less degree, of- a similar development. We earnestly 
 counsel those who are seeking to have their curiosity 
 fed by seeing abnormal phenomena in others, to turn 
 their attention to tjie development of their own natural 
 powers in the way of medial development. 
 
 Our question being* why disembodied spirits can com- 
 municate more readily with mortals the more magnetic 
 they are, we reply that it is because the spirits are 
 themselves under the laws of nature, and are also in 
 harmony with the magnetic currents, in the more ethe- 
 real regions where they dwell. 
 
 It is not only the solid ear1;Ji, its liquefied interior and 
 its surface, that are prevaded by the magnetic currents. 
 They extend through the atmosphere i And more: they 
 extend through the whole region that particularly be- 
 longs to this member of the solar system, including a 
 space far more than the distance from the earth itself 
 to the moon. All this vast space, — vast to us, but a 
 very liinited space compared with that enormous one 
 occupied by the sun and its entire retinue of worlds, of 
 which ours is but one — all this space, including our earth 
 
128 WHIRL THEORY OF WORLD-BEING. 
 
 and its moon, is in a whirl of the cosmic ether of its 
 own. In this mighty earth-whirl the more solid parti- 
 cles inevitably coalesce into the' planet itself, and are 
 held there at the same relative rates as are measured 
 by what have been called the laws of gravitation. The 
 6nly difference is that where it has been supposed that 
 the weight of the earth draws particles to it by gravi- 
 tation, it will be known better in the future that it is 
 the impetus of the whirl (whatever, it be that originated 
 it) that drives the particles to the earth, and thus formed 
 it out of previously existing atoms. 
 
 As this member of the solar system was thus formed, 
 so were all the other planets of our system concreted, 
 each in its turn. And inconceivable ages before the 
 earliest planet took form, did the sun itself begin to 
 coalesce, owing to the impetus of the tremendous whirl 
 that began in the cosmic ether in preparation for a new 
 solar system. 
 
 What made this whirl in the cosmic ether? "What 
 made the myriad whirls in the immensity of the uni- 
 verse, each one of which, perhaps, brought into form a 
 sun, its planets, their satellites, and in process of time 
 in each one of these, varied succesive forms of vegetable 
 and animal life, culminating in each in a creature higher 
 than all the others in that planet, just as man culmi- 
 nates all the lower animals on this particular world on 
 which the writer and readers of this book are now liv- 
 ing ? What started the whirls that brought all this 
 into form ? Shall we say, a god ? If we call this forming 
 force by that name, we need not necessarily conclude 
 that he made the cosmic ether of atoms out of nothing at 
 all. Infinite Soul, beyond any finite conception of gods. 
 
GOD AND NATURE. 129 
 
 or "half-gods," brought ultimate atoms into cosmic 
 ether ; and afterwards its finite offspring, which we may 
 call gods, if we will, brought individual worlds into 
 form, 
 
 FROM pope's "essay ON MAN." 
 
 ' " All are but parts of one stupendous whole; 
 Whose body Nature is, and God the soul ; 
 That changed through all, and yet in all the same, 
 Great in the earth, as in the ethereal frame. 
 Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze. 
 Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees. 
 Lives through all life, extends throiigh all extent, 
 Spreads undivided, operates unspent, 
 Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part. 
 As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart, 
 As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns 
 As the rapt seraph that adores and burns : 
 To him, no high, no low, no great, no small : 
 He fills. He bounds, connects, and equals all." 
 
130 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SPIKITS AND MORTALS. 
 
 Well, the persistent impetus to whirl expresses itself 
 in many modes of effort, that we denominate motion, 
 heat, light, electricity, and so on, according to the effect 
 produced. And as magnetism impresses us as a condi- 
 tion, rather than an active force, this condition of being 
 magnetized is normal to everything within this whirl of 
 the cosmic ether. Therefore, not only the , physically 
 /embodied beings who dwell on the surface of the earth 
 are not truly normal unless they are accordant with the 
 magnetic currents, but also those who are denuded of 
 the fleshly body, retaining only the ethereal spirit en- 
 velop, are not really normal unless they too are in the 
 magnetic condition. Many spirits are not so, and so 
 they are neither healthy, in the spiritual sense, nor can 
 they yet progress. But after the spirit body has become 
 magnetized by the polarization of all the atoms that 
 compose it, then it takes on a new lease of life as it were, 
 adapts itself to the forces by which it is surrounded, 
 uses them under the direction of the indwelling soul, 
 and becomes an active agent under the guidance of In- 
 finite Intelligence. . Being in the magnetized condition, 
 it vibrates in perfect harmony, not only with the sur- 
 rounding spirit world, but with those spirits that are in 
 harmonious vibration with itself. With them it com- 
 municates freely, and uniting their forges, they accom- 
 
EFFORTS OF SPIRITS IN PAST YEARS. 131 
 
 plish I'esiilts that would be absolutely, impossible dirt 
 they not harmonize with the mighty forces that environ 
 them. 
 
 Let us in thought trace the career of such a spirit in 
 his relations to those still living on the earth plane. 
 Being still himself, not having lost his personal identity 
 by having lost his memory, he remembers those that 
 were so dear to him while on earth, and he longs to 
 reach them and tell them of his own well-being, and of 
 his unchanging love. For thousands of years have 
 spirits longed to do this, but the obstacles were too 
 severe to be overcome. In some ages, the effort at com- 
 munication was immediately absorbed by priest-craft, 
 and utilized to heighten ecclesiastical power, as is done 
 by the Romish church in our own day. At other times, 
 the manifestation of a spirit was received with terror 
 and fright, and the loving spirit retired from the earth- 
 plane rather than bring dread fear on those whom he 
 desired to console. In many instances, the effort to 
 reach mortals through persons through whose organism 
 they could communicate caused such persons to be ma- 
 ligned as wizards or witches, and sometimes to meet an 
 agonizing death. So the dead of earth withdrew to 
 higher realms, and waited for a future time when the 
 spiritual advancement of the human race, and its more 
 intelligent comprehension of the forces of nature, would 
 unlock the door between the physical and the spiritual 
 portions of the earth sphere. 
 
 Up to the 'century now closing, mankind had used 
 what may be called the coarser forces of nature. The 
 utilization of the invisible steam, or rather of the gigan- 
 tic power lying in its imperative demand to occupy 
 
132 THE SPIRIT MUST BE MAGNETIC. 
 
 many times its. bulk in the form of water, was a grand 
 step in the right direction. But steam itself is cum- 
 bersome, clumsy, and rude, compared with the finer 
 forces that are now being used, and that will become still 
 more the servitors of the men of the coming century. 
 The tremendous spiritual stride made by the present 
 generation has opened the door between the two worlds 
 far wider than ever before. In our day, when a spirit 
 friend desires to come in contact with his friend still 
 in the flesh, having learned that he must himself be in 
 harmonious vibration to accomplish the result, lie ex- 
 amines the condition of his own spirit body, to see if 
 that step is well taken ; and, if truly aspiring, he also 
 sees that his soul is in harmony with yet higher spirits, 
 so that their knowledge and purity may reach through 
 him the earth friend with whom he seeks to come in rap- 
 port. Having attained the best conditions, aided by 
 those more experienced in work of this kind, he ap- 
 proaches the aura or spiritual atmosphere of his friend. 
 On the condition of the latter is he now obliged to de- 
 pend, and if the mortal be not in harmonious vibration 
 with the magnetic currents of the earth sphere, the spirit 
 is unable to reach him directly. Attention is especially 
 called to this statement, because it answers the anxious 
 query of many a child of earth, " If my spirit friends 
 can come back, why don't they come to me ? " Eager 
 as the spirit and mortal may be to communicate with 
 each other, it will be impossible for them to do so sen- 
 sibly, unless the magnetism of each can Vibrate in uni- 
 son, by their both being in touch with the magnetism 
 of the whole earth sphere. If not, the spirit cannot 
 reach his friend directly but must come tp Mm by the 
 
THE MOTIVE STAMPS THE SOUL. 133 
 
 intervention of a medium in whom he can find available 
 conditions. Watching his chance, he tries to bring his 
 friend to such a person, and at last he is able to c6m- 
 municate with him in this indirect way. Knowing that 
 his friend has latent powers by which he could commun- 
 icate with him directly, if brought to the surface, he 
 urges the medium's "control" to impress on his friend 
 that he is mediumistic, and that he should seek to de- 
 velop his accessibility to spirit influence. 
 
 The friend either thinks that this cannot be the case, 
 that the medium says this to flatter him, and reflects 
 that "they all say this" to their sitters; or he believes 
 that he is mediumistic, and thinks he will try to be de- 
 veloped. Now, just here, is the crucial point. What is 
 his motive in trying to develop, for "Motives are the 
 impulses that stamp souls." Does he wish to develop 
 in order to become accessible to high and pure intelli- 
 gences, so that he may rise in spirituality ? Or, does 
 he wish it, iu order to have the glory of being a medium, 
 or so as to make a living by it, as he sees others do ? 
 If the latter, it were far better for his remote future that 
 he do not begin to develop. If the former motive be 
 the governing one, high spirits will rejoice to welcome a 
 new mortal through whom they can give to the world 
 something that will bring mankind to a higher plane. 
 
 Eetuirning to our communicating spirit, he may find 
 that his friend is prejudiced against what is called Spir- 
 itualism, and cannot be induced to be brought in con- 
 tact with a medium. The spirit will then do one of two 
 things, according to the persistency of his nature. He 
 will return sadly to the spirit sphere, hoping that at 
 some future time he may find a better opportunity to 
 
134 RESULT WHEN IHE MOKTAL IS JIAUNETIC. 
 
 reach his friends on the earth plane; or, he will linger 
 near, watching the spiritual avenues of approach, and 
 endeavoring to impress the sOul of the dear one at some 
 un,wary moment with the thought of his own presence, 
 and in one way or another to bring him near some one 
 through whose intervention he can at last reach and 
 impress the one he so dearly loves. 
 
 Perhaps the spirit is so happy as to find that his 
 earth friend is magnetic, and therefore accessible by 
 nature's laws to influences from the spirit side of life. 
 Wisely experimenting, and aided by other spirits, he 
 seeks an opportunity when the clear magnetic emana- 
 tions from his friend show that he is attuned harmoni- 
 ously. His own magnetism, also harmonious, vibrates 
 in unison with that of the mortal, and the latent medi- 
 umship of his friend is utilized, and brought into effect 
 at one of the organs of sense. Perhaps he sees the 
 countenance of the loved and lost, shining with spiritual 
 beauty. Perhaps 'he hears his loved accents, bidding 
 him weep no more, and telling the joys of the spirit 
 home awaiting him. Perhaps he feels a hand stroking 
 his forehead or caressing his cheek. Or, he may feel 
 the kiss on the lips, though he knows that no mortal is 
 near. Perhaps the Way is opened to his very soul, 
 .without the intervention of the senses of his spiritual 
 body. In this latter case, he knows the lost one is with 
 him and his thoughts pass into his heart like the dew 
 upon the petals of the violet. Certainty takes the place 
 of doubt, and the comforted mortal falls asleep, to wan- 
 der in his dreams with his dear friend in the beautiful 
 home of the soul. 
 
 Where the first intimation of a spiritual presence falls 
 
THE wkiteb's experience. 135 
 
 on a mortal by feeling " the touch of a vanished hand," 
 or by seeing a spirit, he may be .startled or alarmed. 
 The spirit friend then quiets his soul by comforting 
 thoughts ; and after a few experiences of this kind, the 
 mortal looks forward to such evidences of the presence 
 of dear departed ones as the most beautiful thing that 
 can possibly come to him here below. 
 
 Sometimes the spirit finds his friend capable of sens- 
 ing spiritual presences, but so enwrapped in the old be- 
 lief that the dead are millions upon millions of miles 
 beyond the sun, or so absorbed by earthly cares and 
 labors, that he has to wait years, or his whole lifetime, 
 before being able to convince him of his presence.. It 
 was thus with the writer of this book and her spirit 
 friends. At ten, she lost her mother; and at fourteen 
 and a half, her father. She thought they were in Heaven, 
 never more to come to earth. As a young girl, she often 
 saw clouds of magnetic light after retiring. They often 
 opened and closed over her brighter than the Northern 
 Lights. She thought nothing of it, supposing every- 
 body saw the same in the dark. She did not know it 
 was magnetism. At seventeen, she saw the spirit of 
 her step-mother, who died the next day several hundred 
 miles away. Some fifteen years later, with no human 
 being near, she heard her father call her tenderly by her 
 first name, just as Charlotte Bronte made Jane Eyre 
 hear Rochester call "Jane !" Knowing her father was 
 dead,, she thought it was a brother's voice, and that he 
 had just died. No brother died, and she could not ac- 
 count for it, though she knew that she had heard the 
 voice say, '"Abby." Enwrapped in old beliefs, which 
 .alternated with materialistic doubts, it was not till the 
 
136 CONSCIOUSNESS OF SPIKIT PRESENCE. 
 
 age of fifty-two that the mists were wholly rolled away; 
 and the evening of her earthly days, which once prom- 
 ised to sink into midnight gloom, unlighted by a single 
 star, has become a mellow morning twilight, brightened 
 by many a star of promise, which will soon give way to 
 t&e rosy, celestial light of day in the spirit world. 
 
 " Whether near or far, 
 On earth or in yon star 
 
 Their dwelling be, 
 So live that naught of dread 
 Would make us bow the head 
 Should we be told ' The dead 
 
 Can all things see.' " 
 
137 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE PSYCHICAL BODT. 
 
 There are three special benefits that come to a mortal 
 by having his body come into harmony with the magnetic 
 currents of the earth sphere: first, the improved health 
 of the fleshly bod3'; second, his being reached by disem- 
 bodied spirits who are also in harmony with these cur- 
 rents ; and third, the development of his spirit body while 
 still on the earth plane. The first two have been treated 
 of at some length : we shall now speak of the third. 
 
 The effect on physical health is something that may 
 be made evident to all, as it has to do with the flesh 
 with which we are so familiar. That its being magnetic 
 facilitates our communication with the spirit world is 
 soon seen by him who investigates the possibilities of 
 spirit communion; but the effect on the spirit body it- 
 self is less susceptible of proof to materialistic persons. 
 But it is none the less true. , That a car can be pro- 
 pelled by the same force that was produced by fric- 
 tion on amber would not be believed by an ancient. That 
 it could be propelled by the same power that makes the 
 lid of a tea-kettle vibrate would have been considered 
 absurd in the seventeenth century. It is intelligent de- 
 velopment that brings one generation to accept as truth 
 what was scorned by the preceding one. A thoroughly 
 materialistic person is not in condition to judge of the 
 
138 THE UESULT OF MATEKIALISTIC VIEWS. 
 
 truth of much of the spiritual philosophy. It is by no 
 means the philpsophy that is at fault. It is himself 
 that is to be blamed. Certain things are to be " spirit- 
 ually discerned," to use the expression of that skilled 
 psychologist, " Saul of Tarsus." 
 
 If a materialistic person chance to be a medium and 
 to see a spirit with the visual sense of his spirit body, 
 he thinks that he was hallucinated. If a magnetic 
 healer cures his disease, he will attribute the cure to 
 any theory rather than that of the aid of disembodied 
 spirits, who use these currents. If he clasp a materi- 
 alized form that dissolves in his very embrace, he thinks 
 that he was psychologized by- some person present. If 
 his spirit friends come to him in his sleep, and with ten- 
 der caresses lead him into some of the purlieus -of the 
 spirit land, he thinks it was just a dream. His' persis- 
 tent looking at everything from a fleshly standpoint dis- 
 torts his spiritual vision, and true things that are seen 
 clearly by a more spiritual person are not seen by him 
 as truth, but as illusion. To see one's deficiency in any 
 direction is the first step towards improvement. But to 
 hug a deficiency as a merit prevents one from beginning 
 to walk towards the truth. 
 
 To accept the statement that 'becoming magnetic de- 
 velops the spirit body, one must of course acknowledge 
 that there is such a thing as a spirit body. Objectors 
 lo this fact are of' several classes. Thorough material- 
 ists claim that matter is all that there is, that what is 
 called mind is an educt of the brain. Another class 
 think that human beings are only physical body and 
 mere soul. They claim that when soul leaves the fleshly 
 body, it has no body of any kind, and can no longer 
 
THE TKINAL NATURE OP MAN. 139 
 
 reach persons in the flesh. Many church people believe 
 thus, and some out of the church think that when a 
 soul is denuded of the flesh it at once passes into the 
 region of pure soul, and is unable to make any sort of 
 mani^station to those left behind. There are these 
 three classes of opponents to Paul's doctrine of a spirit 
 body. To such we cannot teach how to develop the 
 spirit body, as we have no common ground to stand 
 upon. So if any are fully persuaded that they cannot 
 accept such a thing as a spirit body (which they are 
 personally possessed of all the time, whether they think 
 it or not), they may just as well close this book at this 
 point, and, hand it to some one who accepts with Paul 
 that we have now a fleshly body, a spirit body, and a 
 soul. 
 
 This trinal nature of man forms the basis of the 
 Spiritual Philosophy. That Paul declared it will have 
 great weight with some who by education and a conser- 
 vative tone of mind prefer authority to reason. That 
 maimed persons have a vivid consciousness of a severed 
 arm or leg, to the end of their mortal existence, points 
 in the same direction. But the great proof of this tri- 
 nal nature of a human being is that it coherently and 
 clearly accounts for all the phenomena of Modern'Spir- 
 itualism^ for all the facts brought to the notice of those 
 .who investigate the relations between the two worlds. 
 That it does so account for all such facts, without an 
 exception, gives a basis to the theory. It is on a simi- 
 lar bsisis that all the propositions of science are founded. 
 When Kepler felt thg,t there must be some definite re- 
 lation between the time of the revolutions of the planets 
 and their distance from the sun, he applied many dif- 
 
l-iO THIS THEOKY ACCOUNTS FOR 
 
 ferent hypotheses to the known data, and they did not 
 fit. At last it occurred to him to try the relation be- 
 tween the square of the time of revolution to the cube 
 of their distance. This hypothesis accorded with the 
 facts of the case in different planets, and so it was ac- 
 cepted by the astronomical student as one of the laws 
 of the solar system. Kepler patiently tried one combi- 
 nation after another, till he hit upon the one that was 
 true, because it accounted for all the phenomena. 
 
 Some laws oi nature have been discovered by what 
 some have called the scientific imagination, some an 
 intuition into the truth, and others the prompting of an 
 intelligent disembodied spirits. In some such way did 
 it occur to Gcethe, that every part of a plant — pistil, 
 stamen, petal, sepal, stipule — were just altered leaves. 
 If this had been but a mere flight of the imagination it 
 would not have been accepted. But as his hypothesis was 
 found to accord exactly with all the phenomena of plants, 
 it was accepted as a truth in nature, and revolution- 
 ized the science of botany. 
 
 Now if the theory of the trinal nature of man were 
 a mere fancy, and not in accordance with known facts, 
 it would go with other flights of the imagination, and be 
 no more considered than they. But as this theory clearly 
 and beautifully accounts for and explains clairvoyance, 
 clairaudience, materialization of parts of a body or a 
 whole body, spirit photography, a person's consciousl}- 
 looking down on his own body as it lies seemingly asleep, 
 the feats of the somnambulist, apparitions of the dead 
 or of persons lying in a trance, the wonderful journeys 
 some persons take in sleep, either in the mundane or 
 in supra-mundane spheres, such a historical fact as 
 
ALT. THE FACTS OF SPIRITUALISM. 141 
 
 the appearance of Jesus in bodily form to his disciples 
 after the death of his fleshly body, the " voices " heard 
 by Joan of Arc, the preinonitory apparition seen three 
 times by Abraham Lincoln, and the many, many occur- 
 rences often recounted by persons who declare that they 
 are not Spiritualists ( oh, no ! ), it seems more reason- 
 able to accept it than to refuse it. We want a philosophy 
 that will account 'for the facts. We do not desire a philo- 
 sophy like that Hamlet attributed to Horatio, which did 
 not account for all things in heaven and earth. 
 
 Of course some will say that this theory can not be 
 true, because the facts with which it is said to accord 
 are themselves not true. They would be like a person 
 who doubted whether the parts of a flower were really 
 changed leaves because he did not believe in the existence 
 of stamens and sepals. Perhaps, like Casper Hauser up 
 to the age of seventeen, he has never seen a flower. Well, 
 let him look for flowers, and he will soon be convinced of 
 the existence of stamens and petals. It is easy to in- 
 vestigate the phenomena of Spiritualism in this free 
 country, and he who looks for them aright will soon find 
 evidence of their existence. A King of Siam, who had 
 never been where it was colder than thirty-two degrees, 
 said that it was an absurd lie to say that water could 
 ever become solid, so that men could walk on it. He said 
 it was against nature, and therefore it was impossible. 
 He judged the whole earth by the latitude in which 
 he lived. So some persons judge the universe itself 
 by the contracted platform on which they walk back 
 and forth, declaring that nothing can take place any- 
 where that does not take place on their petty plat- 
 form. We do not wish to be foolishly credulous. Nor, 
 
142 THE SPIRIT BODY IS SOMETIMES SEEN. 
 
 on the other hand, do we wish to be so sceptical as to 
 refuse to accept the facts 'of nature, and the theories 
 that will reasonably account for them in their entirety. 
 
 "We would ask those persons who expect to recognize 
 their friends in heaven how they will recognize them, if 
 they are pure soul and have no body at all. Thej- 
 never saw their soul whil6 in the flesh. They saw only 
 the manifestations of the soul through the flesh. Would 
 the disciples of Jesus have recognized their master, if 
 they had been brought face to face with his mere soul, 
 if that soul had no sort of body through which to ex- 
 press itself? All who grant that man is a soul, which 
 manifests through a form, may reasonably expect it to 
 continue thus, and accept the statement that as a grosser 
 form disintegrates, there will remain a more ethereal 
 one, through which soul itself may still be revealed. 
 Some claim that' when a fleshly body disintegrates, a 
 spirit body is then created to take its place. In that 
 case, how shall we account for persons seeing another 
 one whose body is many hundred miles away. What is 
 it that they see, if it be not an already existing spirit 
 body, temporarily separated from the fleshly one, which 
 is always at such a time asleep or entranced V Such 
 statements are new to some of my readers. To such I 
 would say that if they have not yet investigated these 
 subjects much, then they cannot yet have many facts to 
 which to apply a theory. By pursuing these investiga- 
 tions, they will find many things to be facts that were 
 undreamed of before. And what I saj' to them applies 
 to all, the writer included. We are all on the bprder 
 land between materialism and real spiritualism. This 
 age is just on the outer edge, the very fringe as it were. 
 
THE SPIRIT body: DUKING SLEEP. 143 
 
 of the perfected garment of human spirituality that will 
 be by and by. 
 
 In ages to come, this fleshly body will become less 
 gross, features will become more refined, more spiritual, 
 the spirit body will become more and more independent 
 of the outside body, so that friends will visit each other 
 though separated in the flesh by great distances, so that 
 when the spirit goes out of the body for the last time 
 — expires — it will awaken but little attention in those 
 about the person. 
 
 Some claim that every time we exhale our breath, the 
 spirit body goes out a little way, and at once returns, as 
 the breath is inhaled. On this principle do the Hindoo 
 adepts pass into the inner condition by drawing in very 
 short and. infrequent breaths barely suflScient to sustain 
 life. There is no doubt that in sleep the spirit body 
 goes out of the physical body, though it is still con- 
 nected to it by a cord invisible to the physical eye. In 
 rare cases, this cord parts d,uring the absence of the 
 spirit, and then the person is said to have died in his 
 sleep. Where the spirit goes during sleep depends in 
 part on its development. If the person lives a gross, 
 sensual life, the spirit is close to the ph3''sical, and 
 mingles with undeveloped ones like itself Often the 
 spirit goes to new places in sleep, and sometimes forms 
 the acquaintance of persons that it has not met while 
 awake, especially those of a kindred spirit. Sometimes 
 later in life he goes in the body to places that he had 
 visited in his sleep, or he meets persons that he had met 
 in the same way. These places and persons are familiar 
 to him, he knows he has met them before, he also knows 
 that this did not take place in the flesh, so he fancies 
 
144 VISITING THE SPIRIT LAND. 
 
 that he was incarnated before this present existence, 
 and saw these places or met these persons then. 
 
 If he lives a spiritual life, and his spirit friends can 
 reach him easily, they sometimes take him a little way 
 into their beautiful surroundings. They lead him over 
 the border of the spirit land, he sees their home of en- 
 chanting loveliness, and their dear faces. They are 
 careful not to keep him too long out of the body, lest 
 the cord wholly part. At the' moment of his greatest 
 happiness, when the danger that he cannot return be- 
 comes imminent, he suddenly finds himself on the earth 
 -plane, and awakes wishing with all his heart that- he 
 could have dreamed the rest. The mourner for one 
 loved and lost sometimes meets the dear one in a dream. 
 He wakes, and regrets that it was only a dream. It was 
 not a dream : it was reality. In deed and in truth, his 
 spirit body went out a little way, and could consciously 
 meet the dear one, who is not dead, but has only a' spirit 
 body now, having dropped the physical one. Many 
 who have lost their loved ones wish that they could 
 dream of them, but they cannot- This is because their 
 great anxiety after the departed one makes them so 
 positive that it is impossible for the one who is new in 
 spirit life to be able to meet him in the land of dreams. 
 But later, when in a more passive frame of mind, and 
 when the spirit has learned more of the laws of his new 
 mode of existence, and when aided by the presence of 
 some mediumistic person, the bereaved one enjoys the 
 sweet happiness of dreaming of the dear one, whom he 
 really does meet in spirit. 
 
 I was at one time visiting in the house of a gentleman 
 whose wife had di«d about four months before. His 
 
THE SPIRIT WIFE VISITS HER HUSBAND. 145 
 
 grief was painful, and his only pleasure was in carry- 
 ing out for his motherless children what she would have 
 desired for them if still being with them. He had 
 never once dreamed of her, though he longed to do so. 
 
 Sunday I had spoken twice under the influence of my 
 spirit friends, and was of course thoroughly magnetized. 
 After retiring, my glasses, which were lying on a marble 
 wash-stand in a corner out of the draught, were rattled 
 several times quite violently. I knew that some spirit 
 did it, and went to sleep. In the morning the gentle- 
 man said, that he had dreamed of his wife twice during 
 the night. The first time, he was with h^r in the gar- 
 den, and then he woke up. On sleeping again, she was 
 with him and his children in the room, and then he 
 woke up again. Being new in spirit life, she embraced 
 the first opportunity given by the presence of a mediuin. 
 She drew magnetic strength from me, practiced with 
 this power by shaking my glasses, passed then to the 
 room of her beloved husband, who lay in bed with a lit- 
 tle child on each side of him, and was enabled to meet 
 him twice, to his own consciousness, in sleep. I will 
 a8d to this narration that the night before I left his 
 house, I saw her standing by my bed, spoke to her, and 
 congratulated her that she had accomplished so much 
 in reaching her friends who remained on the earth side 
 of life. • 
 
 Simple incidents like the above, of frequent occur- 
 rence with persons who are in any communion with the 
 invisible world, prove the facts maintained in this book. 
 If this lady had not a spirit body, how could I have 
 seen her with the eyes of my spirit body, developed as 
 they were by the habit of being harmonized with th6 
 
146 MAST IS A SOUL AND HAS A BODY. 
 
 magnetic currents ? I would not see mere soul. "What 
 did I see, if not her spirit body, for I certainly saw 
 something? And, in ethereal form as she was, how 
 could she have moved those material gold spectacles, 
 striking them upon the marble, if she had not used nat- 
 ural forces, common to her form of existence and to our 
 own ? And, her husband not being magnetized nor 
 mediumistic enough to be reached in any way in his 
 physical body, how would it have been possible for her 
 to have met him in sleep, if she did not meet his spirit 
 body, of which he is now in possession, when it was 
 partially disconnected from his physical body, while in 
 deep sleep ? 
 
 When persons are no more developed in this commu- 
 nion, by natural means, with the invisible world, than 
 was the writer of this book prior to 1887, it is not for 
 them to doubt such experiences, nor to reject the plain, 
 simple' philosophy by which they are brought within 
 the domain of natural science, When they have used 
 the same means, and established personally a similar 
 communion with the spirit world, they will be in better 
 condition to express an opinion on these subjects. * 
 
 Yes: man is now a soul, and has a physical or fleshly 
 body, and he has a spirit body now; and through these 
 two bodies does his soul now express itself. It expresses 
 itself through the physical body to other souls who are 
 like him temporarily enshrined in the flesh. His disem- 
 bodied friends manifest to each other by means of their 
 spirit body. They manifest to him very indirectly 
 through his fleshly body by means of what are called 
 physical manifestations. If he is very undeveloped, 
 that is the only way in which they can reach him. For 
 
THE SPIRIT FATHER VISITS HIS CHILD. 147 
 
 this reason, at this very immature stage of real Spirit- 
 ualism, there is a great and earnest call for physical 
 mediums and tests. They serve an important end for 
 the sceptic, for the materialist, and for the undeveloped 
 Spiritualist. 
 
 , If the human being is somewhat developed spiritually, 
 the disembodied can reach him in dreams, when he is 
 reached directly in spirit. As he becomes more devel- 
 oped, they can reach him in spirit, when he is not 
 asleep, but wh^n his spirit is temporarily unloosed from 
 the confining clay. 
 
 For instance, one day being wearj"^ from sweeping a 
 large school-room, I went into my parlor and sat down 
 to rest in a large easy-chair. I was thinking of nothing 
 in particular, was expecting nothing, was therefore per- 
 fectly passive, and found myself sitting in iny father's 
 arms ! The forty years since he had passed to spirit 
 life were annihilated, I was a child again, and was held 
 to his breast again by his loving fatherly arms. This 
 was not fancy nor phantasy — / felt his arms. I spoke 
 to him and he to me. We conversed, and I remember 
 what we said. He did not materialize on this occasion. 
 It was my spirit body that he held in his spiritual arms, 
 and we talked together just as we shall by and by when 
 I shall be so happy as to have left forever the inswath- 
 ing tabernacle of»clay. My father never materializes 
 for me. I should be very sorry to have him do so, for' 
 it is not necessary. 
 
 Where the earth friend is not yet developed enough to 
 meet his friend, both in their spirit bodies, then he longs 
 to hold the departed again in his physical arms, and to 
 see him with' his physical eyes. To gratify his earth 
 
148 PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS. 
 
 friend, an advanced spirit will condescend to get again 
 into a temporarily materialized form ; and many of them 
 are glad to thus deign in order to convince sceptics. 
 But they take these initial steps for them, in the hope 
 that they will develop later to the point of being reached 
 by more spiritual means. There are also many spirits 
 who linger near the earth, who have not progressed 
 much, and who still love physical conditions. They 
 like much to materialize, and delight in the praise that 
 mortals give them for " making up ■' so perfectly. They 
 are doing a good work, as they convince many sceptics, 
 and help also to fortify the faith of manj' a materialistic 
 Spiritualist. They work under the permission of higher 
 spirits, and manifestations of every grade are made from 
 the spirit side of life, to meet the varied needs of mor- 
 tals who are on different rounds of the ladder of pro- 
 gression. 
 
 That some can be reached in spirit does not remove 
 the necessity that those less advanced be reached in a 
 more indirect (physical) way. In our physical condi- 
 tion, our souls have to meet each other in a very indi- 
 rect way, at best. The soul, through the spirit body, 
 makes the physical tongue affect the air by its particu- 
 lar motions, and this effect on the air is carried to the 
 ear and brain of the other, and then, through his spirit 
 body, reaches his soul. When a disembodied spirit 
 communicates with another, disembodied spirit,^ the 
 communication is not absolutely direct, as it goes by 
 means of the spirit 'body of each. But this kind of 
 communication goes on with an ease and a rapidity in- 
 comprehensible to us in the -flesh. When a disembodied 
 spirit reaches an earth friend who is developed to the 
 
REACH MORTALS INDIRECTLY. 149 
 
 point of being reached through his spirit body, the com- 
 munication resembles in ease and rapidity, to a less 
 degree of course, that which obtains in the spirit world. 
 But when he is forced to reach him through the phys- 
 ical bodj' of his friend, or through the organism of 
 somebody else, then the communication is indirect, clumsy, 
 and all we can say of it is that it is far better than none 
 at all. But most desirable is it that our spirit body be 
 developed to the point of being the medium of spirit 
 communion, and as it develops by becoming in harmony 
 with the magnetic currents of the whole earth sphere — 
 physical planet and spirit world both — will it be in con- 
 dition to receive for itself communications from the dis- 
 embodied, and to return them in the same way. 
 
 A very common means of communication is by raps, 
 or by the tipping of the table. Many a one has been 
 delighted to find that "the table will tip for him," mean- 
 ing that spirits can tip the table through his organism ; 
 and many will go far to visit such a one, and hear Irom 
 their spirit friends by the tips and raps produced 
 through him. This means of communication should 
 not be despised by those who have outgrown it. It was 
 by these very tips and raps that the spirit world defin- 
 itely opened intelligent communication with mortals, 
 through some little girls in Hydeville, New York, In 
 1848. 
 
 In fact, a mental condition of scorn and contempt is 
 one of the very worst to be indulged in by those who 
 seek to commune with the world beyond. While we feel 
 that to commune through spiritual rather than through 
 physical means bespeaks the onward progress of the soul, 
 yet we leel that some who communicate by the latter are 
 
150 l>KIi)E AXU SCOKN REPKL HIGH SPIKITS. 
 
 far in advance of those who look on their doings with so 
 baneful a feeling as that of scorn. If by a further process 
 of development, we have come to sense spirit presence by 
 something more direct than the movement of physical 
 objects, we may rejoice, and strive to impart to others 
 the means by which we attained it. But if, before hav- 
 ing attained anything Ipeyond them, we speak slightingly 
 of physical manifestations, so as to try to make others 
 think that we are too refined for them, and that we are 
 far too spiritual and high-toned, and to please those who 
 prefer psychological research to Spiritualism, just be- 
 cause society thinks that it sounds better, a clear view 
 of our own soul would lead us to wish to exchange 
 places with those we have presumed to despise. 
 
 A case in point is of a woman who would have noth- 
 ing to do with the Spiritualists in her town because 
 they communed with spirits by the tipping of a table. 
 She was no further along herself. In fact, she was not 
 so far along, for her headstrong, positive spirit prevented 
 her from gaining anything truthful through mediums, 
 and she was unable to receive anything through her own 
 receptivity. She would speak of psychic themes, and 
 desired to form a society for psychological research. 
 But it was found that the simple folk who sat at a table, 
 and humbly opened the way to spirit communion by the 
 avenue that was open to them, received comfort, instruc- 
 tion, and direction that the one who despised them was 
 unable at that time to gain in any way. 
 
 It is the humble, teachable, receptive soul that is the 
 most easily reached in our day, just as it was in the 
 previous spiritual dispensation that was signalized by 
 the humble Nazarene. The temper suited to a finite 
 
THE HIGHEST MEMUMSHIP. 151 
 
 being is manifested by docility and reverence towards 
 those higher than himself, and by helpfulness and pa- 
 tience towards those who ai-e less advanced ; and, run- 
 ning through his dealings with all, the golden thread of 
 love. 
 
 " As, in a condition of perfect physical health, we do not real- 
 ize through sensation the existence of our vital organs ; and^as 
 in healthful sleep we have no consciousness of physical existence; 
 ■ — so, in the higher spiritual unfoldment, we live with angels, re- 
 ceive their impressions^ and are assisted by their counsel "without 
 realizing their personal presence. This is the highest forrp of 
 mediumship — blending one with God and the angels." 
 
 Albert Morton. 
 
152 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 HARMONIZING ONE's OWN MAGNETIC CURRENTS. 
 
 Before we take up the processes by which we may 
 put our physical and spirit body into harmony with the 
 currents of magnetism, we have to remind the reader 
 of two things. 
 
 One is the unity prevailing through the whole earth 
 sphere, so far as the forces of nature are concerned. By 
 the earth sphere, we mean not only the physical planet, 
 but also the whole of its spirit world, extending far be- 
 yond the moon. The latter) having been brought into 
 form by a whirl of its own, said whirl being subordinate 
 to the far larger one that brought the earth into sensi- 
 ble form from the cosmic ether, the moon is thus a part 
 of the earth sphere, just as the latter is in its turn a 
 part of the solar one. The earth sphere is therefore a 
 unit, so far as what is beyond it is concerned, and all 
 the beings living in its different parts are connected to 
 each other in a way that they are not connected to be- 
 ings living beyond it. "Whether any of us be ever 
 brought into immediate and sensible communication 
 with those of planets beyond will depend solely on our 
 having first used all the means of development pertain- 
 ing to the terrestrial sphere to which we belong. 
 
 We who are in our fleshly bodies now are just as 
 much members of the spirit world of the earth as those 
 
WE AKE NOW IN THE SPIKIT WORLD. 153 
 
 who have dropped the fleshly body. We are spirits now, 
 in these bodies, and where we are now is the lowest 
 sphei-e of the spirit world of the earth. It is here that 
 we take up the thrfead of individual, conscious existence, 
 though the infinite life out of which we were born has 
 always been. To our mind, the most amazing thing 
 about the formation of entities is that out of the infinite 
 fountain are evfer coming new ones, each endowed not 
 only with individual consciousness, but with what meta- 
 physicians call " the power of cbntrary choice." This 
 fact, which we must accept, because it is fact, is easily 
 accepted, if we bear in mind what the nature of infinite' 
 power must be, and what it can therefore do. 
 
 On this plane do we come into conscious being, and, 
 once done, the act is not repeated by any one individual, 
 80 far as being actually born again is concerned. In 
 the present imperfect development of our whole sphere, 
 nearly all who pass out of the physical body will still 
 have lessons to learn on this plane. They will linger 
 near, they will share our doings, our sufferings, our ex- 
 periences, in connection with us. They will even take 
 control of a physical body temporarily, while its normal 
 tenant is psychologized by its own attendant spirits. 
 "When in these and similar ways its physical develop- 
 ment has been completed, it will npt return to this plane, 
 only as it seeks to benefit mortals. When the whole 
 earth sphere has reached its full development, thi.s par- 
 tial return will not be necessary. Each will fully get 
 what it needs in its earthly sojourn before passing out 
 of the fleshly form, and in each will be realize'd Mil- 
 man's beautiful lines regarding the ascension of the 
 Nazarene : 
 
154 SOUL cui/ruKK the main kstd. 
 
 " Then calmly, slowly wilt thou rise 
 Into thy native skies. 
 Thy human formi dissolved on high 
 In Its own radiancy." 
 
 To that time do we look, and towards that consumma- 
 tion do all our energies bend. 
 
 We would next earnestly remind the reader that the 
 physical processes of harmonizing with' the currents of 
 the earth sphere should not be attempted until the first 
 part of the book, the part that relates to harmonizing 
 the soul with the higher intelligences, has been fully. 
 • comprehended and accepted. It were better not to de- 
 velop magnetism at all in the outward forms than to do 
 so while leaving the development of the soul at the same 
 time unattended to. On this rock has many a medium 
 found his bark wrecked, and ages of his spirit life may 
 be expended in the long struggle to make up his sad 
 neglect while here. Just as the wise man will " eat to 
 live'? and not "live to eat," so the wise aspirant to 
 higher conditions will make the development of his mag- 
 netic (mediumistic) development wholly subordinate to- 
 the urifoldment of his soul. 
 
 If human beings ever become wholly magnetic, in per- 
 fectly harmonious surroundings, they will not then need 
 processes to regain harmony. But not having yet at- 
 tained such a condition permanently, we still need tO' 
 employ ways and means, though it is very likely that 
 further progress may allow the practice of these meth- 
 ods to take place at longer intervals. 
 
 We will suppose a case, alas ! the very condition of 
 too many, and the condition of the writer prior to her 
 development. Of this person we may say that his in- 
 
AN UNHAKMONIZED PERSON. 155 
 
 dividual being is out of harmony witli the magnetic 
 currents of the whole earth sphere, and he does not al- 
 ways, feel well. He becomes nervous and excited when 
 his cares multiply on him. Once, he could sleep in 
 spite of care, but now laying his head on the pillow 
 seems to bring his troubles more vividly before his mind. 
 Like the evil messengers to Job, while one trouble stares 
 him in the face, another comes to mind, and before that 
 is fairly faced, yet another appears before him, till his 
 head throbs, sleep flies far away, and he sits up in bed 
 staring at the wall " like a well-bred maniac," a prey to 
 ten-fold cares, any one of which is enough to distress a 
 human being. That he is their prey is literally true. 
 He is their victim. They have their way with him 
 wholly, and he cannot resist. Perhaps he does not sleep 
 at all ; and, if h^ does so, these cares become embodied 
 in painful forms or disastrous events in his dreams, and 
 he rises in the morning to fight the world, or to succumb 
 to leaden-eyed despondency. His nervous condition 
 makes him irritable, and liable to disease. Perhaps he 
 is a Spiritualist, and knows that spirits return to bless 
 some persons, but he has personally no sense of their 
 presence. If he knows nothing of these things, God 
 seems afar off, and not at all like a father, and even his 
 loved ones here seem to have changed. Alas ! for the 
 milliotis in our country who are in these hard conditions, 
 especially since the multiplication of monopolies has 
 increased so grievously the burdens of the poor ! And 
 the millionaire is perhaps no happier than the poor 
 man. Having money does not make him magnetic, and 
 his physical and mental gearing is out of order. 
 
 Harmonv with one's environment is what he needs, 
 
156 MAGNETIZED CONDITION OF THE EARTH 
 
 and as we are now on the physical part, we will give the 
 first step in the physical process. The object of this 
 first step is to throw off one's present personal magnet- 
 ism, in order afterwards to replace it. by that which is 
 in harmony with the whole earth sphere 
 
 In a former part of the book, we spoke of the earth 
 being a magnet, itself ; and though this is equally true 
 of the whole earth sphere, including its spirit world, 
 we direct our attention now to the physical planet on 
 whose surface we now dwell. Being a magnet, it is in po- 
 larized condition, and most scientists call the north end 
 of it positive and the south negative. French savants, 
 with the same accuracy which leads them to measure a 
 piece of ribbon by the forty -millionth part of the earth's 
 circumference through the poles, call the north pole of 
 a magnet its negative end, and vice vei*a, because it is 
 the positive end of a free magnet that turns to the north. 
 We should be inclined to say that the north pole of the 
 earth is its negative end ; and therefore the positive end 
 of a magnet, it^ north end, as most nations call it, turns, 
 when free, to the north. 
 
 In accordance with the fact that the particles of coars- 
 er matter are borne to the axis between the poles by the 
 force of the whirl that formed the earth, we see that 
 the denser particles go towards the negative pole, thus 
 perhaps causing the great continents to greatly predom- 
 inate in the northern hemisphere. 
 
 But while the mind eagerly seeks the true cause and ex- 
 planation of things, our real object is to show what the 
 process is by which a person msiy throw off his desultory 
 and inharmonious magnetism, preparatory to harmon- 
 izing himself, leaving it to others to show how this 
 
THU FIKST PHYSICAL STEP. 157 
 
 .actually effective process may be explained by their 
 theory regarding terrestrial magnetism. 
 
 For some reason that must be found in the actual laws 
 of nature, because our act produces the effect desired, we 
 stand (it not disabled) facing the north pole of the earth. 
 We do this wherever we may be, because it is the earth 
 as a whole that is a magnet. As we wish to throw off 
 our cross magnetism, we first take it under control by 
 drawing it towards our person by any movements that 
 seem conducive to that end. The writer finds it best to 
 collect her magnetism to herself by motions with her 
 hands and arms. The arms, with the back of the hands 
 uppermost, are raised, and sweep the magnetism towards 
 the body by successive downward movements. The- 
 hands as well as the arms participate in this act. If 
 we make, only these movements, we should be ever con- 
 centrating our personal magnetism, without getting rid 
 6f it in the slightest degree. So, while we are drawing 
 it within our control, we must at the same time do some- 
 thing to throw it away from the body. This is accom- 
 plished by slowly turning around to the left two or three 
 times, while continuing all the while the' movements of 
 the arms described above. 
 
 Of course, most readers will at once inquire whi/ turn- 
 ing to the left makes the magnetism leave the body. 
 And yet, (may I say it ?) I had practiced this for years 
 without ever asking why I turned to the right or left, 
 doing it because I was bid to do so ; and it was only 
 when I began to teach others, many of whom asked this 
 question,-that I was led to think of it. Whether it was 
 stupidity or receptivity on my part, I do not know. I 
 say this in humility and candor. 
 
158 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WHITEK. 
 
 Pardon mj- using the homely old proverb, "The proof 
 of the pudding is in the eating." What I do know is 
 that I never heard of any such processes till I was fifty- 
 two years of age, and that I at once began to practice 
 them according to the physical directions laid down in 
 this book. Soon the mental part grew on me, till it de- 
 veloped to what has previously been 'expressed. Before 
 beginning this process, I had no mediumship that I 
 knew of, though it was latent in me, as in all. By this 
 process, I have become clairvoyant enough to see many 
 spirits when alone, especially those dearest to me;, to 
 sometimes hear them speak to me; to be frequently im- 
 pressed by them in my mind; to feel my mother's ca- 
 resses and my father's embrace. Besides these precious 
 personal experiences and hundreds more, I have by fol- 
 lowing these directions become enabled to often give 
 extempore lectures in public. Once so timid that I 
 could nolf speak a word in a prayer-meeting without hold- 
 ing onto something, I can now face any audience with- 
 out fear. Also, I am enabled to work for the spirit 
 world, having learned how to put myself, at will, into 
 condition to write a book as large as this in less than 
 five weeks. It goes to the printer in first copy, just as 
 written originally, barring the alteration of a word or 
 so, or some change in punctuation. It is true that I am 
 not writing for literary praise or perfection. I am just 
 using this avenue to communicate to those who desire 
 to know what has proved so beneficial to me, in the 
 hope of forwarding the " latter day glory " foretold long- 
 ago. , 
 
 Of course there is a reason in nature's laws for turn- 
 ing to the left when throwing ofl" magnetism, and for 
 
THE PROCESS IS EFFECTUAL. . 159 
 
 turning to the right when centralizing one's own forces. 
 All this will be explained by scientists, as this proce^ss 
 is found to produce the desired effects in many persons, 
 and to be thus accordant with these laws. 
 
 Mankind used the polar star to guide their path, no- 
 body knows how many thousand years before it* was 
 ascertained that it was no more stationary than the 
 equinoctial star.' They trusted the polar star, and com- 
 mitted themselves to its guidance, an(i did well in doing 
 so, though their explanation of natural reasons was far 
 astray. 
 
 For myself, when I am going to throw off, I face the 
 north (which I take to be the negative pole, though 
 that matters not), draw my magnetism under control 
 with the movements of my arms, and as I turn round 
 and round to the left, I can feel the magnetism leaving my 
 body. 
 
 What has just been described is the first physical 
 step. Having gotten rid of that previous, mixed, inhar- • 
 monious, and disagreeable condition, I am now prepared 
 to receive new, harmonious magnetism from the great 
 earth magnet ; or, in perhaps better words, to put myself 
 in harmony with its currents, by putting my body in 
 the position that will best conduce to this result. 
 
 Having been careful during the first step to con- 
 stantly iturn toward the left, never interrupting the pro- 
 cess of throwing off by turning the least in the Opposite; 
 direction, we come at its close into quiet equipoise, as 
 we find ourselves at the beginning of the second physi- 
 sical step, facing the south pole of our great mother 
 magnet. 
 
 It is a law with these currents that when two of them 
 
160 » THE SECOND PHTSICAL STEP. 
 
 are free to move, they seek to become parallel. We, too, 
 are small magnets, each in himself, and being now clear 
 and free, our personal currents may begin to harmonize 
 with those of the earth itself. 
 
 Let us, then, so dispose ourselves that the currents 
 of this small human magnet may most easily become 
 parallel with those of the immense magnet on which it 
 is placed. I face the south, that being the direction 
 from which the currents emanate with which I desire to 
 assimilate. That this magnet may be as free as possi- 
 ble, I not only stand, but I rest on the balls of my feet, 
 rather than on the back of the foot. It is noticed that 
 inspirational speakers naturally stand thus, this position 
 gracefully expressing our aspiration towards something 
 higher. Desiring to blend with the currents from that 
 direction, I bow the head a little towards the pole, and 
 close my eyes in order to shut away outside and divert- 
 ing influences. As it is to the south that 1 look for the 
 •life-aiding currents, I stretch my arms and hands to the 
 south. I keep the fingers apart, as every finger acts as 
 a wire for the conduction of the currents. I keep my 
 hands apart, and am , thus a small horse-shoe magnet, 
 one hand being its positive pole, and the other its neg- 
 ative. 
 
 While the above attitude, being in accordance with all 
 the facts of the case, is the best one that can be taken 
 at this stage of the process, we cheerfully admit that 
 many persons can assimilate themselves with the earth 
 currents in some other position. One might do it, facing 
 the east; but one does it more easily, facing the south. 
 The end might be attained sitting down, but less readily 
 than in the way that has been indicated. No doubt the 
 
THE TIME IS NOT IMPORTANT. 161 
 
 second step may be done just as effectively in a recum- 
 bent position, with the head to tlfe north, and the hands,- 
 in free air, stretched towards the south. This is especially 
 recommended to one who is in the practice of this pro- 
 cess, when he finds himself unable to sleep. But in the 
 general practice, which includes the five successive steps, 
 it is more convenient to stand during the second step. 
 
 I have often been asked how long one should stand 
 while thus harmonizing his body. There can be no 
 definite time the same for all. The same person may 
 continue this second step a longer time on one occasion 
 than on another. One should certainly not stand till 
 tired, nor continue standing when any unpleasant feel- 
 ings come. From a minute to perhaps- three would be 
 right. But we advise all to let their watches and clocks 
 wholly alone in these processes. Waves of magnetism 
 and soul waves are not to be measured off by the ticks 
 of any earthly chronometer. Personal feelings, and the 
 impressions made on one's brain by those disembodied 
 friends who desire to aid our progress, will soon guide 
 us aright, if our motives be aspirational. 
 
 While engaged in the second step, some persons feel 
 a tingling in their hands, or a thrill along the back, the 
 first time-they try the process. Others may have to 
 keep it up for months before perceiving any etfect at all. 
 The latter was the case of the writer. Being quite out 
 of magnetic harmony through -a long course of severe 
 labor in the exercise Of her profession as a teacher, 
 though very magnetic, and thus successful in what she 
 undertook, she felt no currents at all. But as she be- 
 lieved in the method, and was willing to try anything 
 however hopeless that might bring her into rapport with 
 
162 PEKSISTESCE IS IMPORTANT. 
 
 the spirit world, and doubtless urged to perseverance by 
 the persistence of her spirit friends, she kept on; and at 
 last, after months, she began to feel thrills of magnetism 
 along the nerve centers of the back, when engaged in 
 the second step. At the present time, she cannot go 
 through the process without experiencing the same in a 
 marked degree; and many times when reading, speak- 
 ing, or thinking, she feels the same, and realizes that 
 invisible ones are seeking to impress some thought or 
 feeling on her brain. The thrill is magnetic, as is 
 proved by its being exactly the same as the quiet cur- 
 rent that one feels when holding the ends of a magnetic 
 belt that have been dipped in acid. Experiencing this 
 frequently, and being easily influenced thus by the dis- 
 •embodied, shows a considerable advance from what she 
 was when beginning this exercise. 
 
 She has thus related her own experience in this par- 
 ticular, in order to encourage those who, like her, feel 
 nothing when they first begin. Let such take courage, 
 and recollect that during the time they feel nothing, 
 ■they are still being prepared, if they persevere, for the 
 condition when they will sense the magnetic currents, 
 and will surely succeed in the end if they keep on. 
 
 To recapitulate, we have in the first step thrown off 
 all inharmonious, personal magnetism ; in the second, we 
 have sought to blend that of our own little magnet with 
 that of the terrestrial sphere. We are now, if successful, 
 in a magnetized condition, every atom of our corporeal 
 frame, both the fleshly and the spiritual, being polarized, 
 and vibrating in harmony with our far-reaching envi- 
 ronment. As high disembodied spirits are in the same 
 condition, we may now appropriately invoke their assis- 
 
THE THIRD PHYSICAL STEP. 163 , 
 
 tance, because they can now reach us. They could not 
 reach us freely before we were thus magnetized, however 
 desirous they were of doing so. Let us now describe 
 the physical part of the third step. 
 
 The second one had us standing facing the south, 
 having reached that position by turning to the left. 
 From this point, we turn no more to the left, but wholly 
 to the right, because we are now harmoniously magne- 
 tized, and of course desire to retain that condition as 
 long as possible. So, at the close of the second, we turn 
 to. the right' till we again face the north, and are now 
 completely read}' to take the third. 
 
 We raise our bands to wards'- the part of the spirit 
 world that is above us, because it is from beyond the 
 earth plane that we expect our help. We also look with 
 uplifted head and open eyes in the same direction. We 
 do not need to cringe and bow, in fear and terror. We 
 look up with all the confidence of a child who knows 
 that he is loved. In this attitude, we think of the power 
 and life of the universe, of the Infinite Intelligence that 
 pervades all. Having attained the consciousness of our 
 share in the all- pervading force, and of our oneness with 
 the infinite life, we make the invocation that was given 
 on page 72. While making the invocation, which we give 
 audibly or silently as suits our feeling, we turn clear 
 round once to the right, with our hands and eyes 
 still uplifted. That brings us again facing the north, and 
 the third step is completed. There should be no pause 
 between the third and fourth step. Having thrown oflTN 
 all inharmony, having become magnetized, and having I 
 received aid from above, the result of being in full rap- ' 
 port with God and the angels, we at once proceed to 
 
164 THE FOURTH PHYSICAL STEP. 
 
 take full possession of our own magnetic sphere, in the 
 fourth step. ■ 
 
 It will be remembered that in the second one we drew 
 our magnetism towards us, preparatory to throwing it 
 off, and that we brought it to our body by certain move- 
 ments of the hands and arms. We now make the same 
 movements that serve to bring our magnetism within 
 our own control, but instead of throwing it off by turn- 
 ing to the left, as in the second step, we now turn to the 
 right, while making the same movements with the arms 
 and hands, and thus gather and concenti^ate all the 
 available force within our own sphere. 
 
 It is by no means selfish to do so, for thus doing we 
 detract nothing from those about us. In fact, the avail- 
 able strength of all who thus do is greatly increased, 
 both individually and by the union of their forces. 
 High spirits do the same, or they are continually in the 
 same powerfully magnetized condition, without going 
 through the set processes of renewal which are needful 
 for those On the earth plane at the present stage of hu- 
 man advancement. Spirits that we may call highly de- 
 veloped when venturing to compare them with ourselves 
 are not only very strong as individuals; but, by the 
 great harmony mutually prevailing, they unite their 
 forces and can accomplish results that old-time thinkers 
 presumed only a god could accomplish. May it be sug- 
 gested that even the mighty forces by which the cosmic 
 ether is made to whirl, preparatory to the formation of 
 a new system of worlds, may be brought into action by 
 many individual and powerful spirits who, in perfect 
 harmony, work to the same end ? By such a suggestion, 
 we by no means would imply that the existence and acts 
 
OUR MAGNETIC SPHERE. 165 
 
 of such mighty spirits militate against a force far be- 
 yond them, which we may call, for want of a better 
 term, the infinite power. Ah! no: the greater the power 
 and the acts of finite intelligences, incomparably beyond 
 them is that which is wholly absolute,, unconditioned, — 
 the all and in all ! 
 
 But let us return to the fourth step, where, as previ- 
 ously described, we turn round and round three or four 
 times to the right, thus wrapping ourselves up in our 
 ■own magnetic sphere. Thus enwrapped, nothing uncon- 
 genial to us can penetrate it. A person may touch us 
 physically, but if we are thoroughly wrapped up, he can- 
 not aflfect us magnetically. 
 
 Our magnetic sphere is said to extend some twelve 
 feet beyond us in every direction — above, around, and 
 even below — for the earth and material objects are per- 
 meable by magnetism. When we say that this personal 
 sphere is some twenty-four feet in diameter, we mean 
 that our individual magnetism easily reaches so far. 
 Of course persons may be within this radius who are 
 wholly unable to affect it. We may be so perfectly en- 
 wrapped that we shut him out completely. A skilled 
 magnetic healer understands this. He can '"shut him- 
 self up;" as one expressed it, and prevent the streams 
 of his magnetism from reaching one whom he does not 
 wish to reach, while directing them in all their benefi- 
 cent power upon the one he desires to heal. 
 
 A great orator has great magnetic power. Endowed 
 with a physique easily permeated by it, he creates 
 around him a sphere that is powerfully felt by sensitive 
 persons. While his own concentrated sphere does not 
 individually extend through the space of a large audi- 
 
166 THE OKATOR AND HIS AUDIENCE. 
 
 torium, he can easily reach an immense audience. This 
 is done by the aid of persons who are present. If his 
 nearest hearers were some two hundred feet away, he 
 could not affect them easily, though his voice were amply 
 sufficient. Magnetic hearers, who are personally within 
 his magnetic sphere, and who are interested in what he 
 says, have their own currents which blend harmoniously 
 with his own, and enlarge his sphere. Others beyond 
 are enfolded in the same, till the whole audience is 
 melted into a harmonious unit of eager listeners, and he 
 sways them at his will. 
 
 I have heard that" the famous and philanthropic 
 woman orator of Kansas remarked that she did not like 
 to be on too high a stage, because it made her magnet- 
 ism go higher than the heads of her audience. Experi- 
 enced speakers do not wish their audience, the front ones, 
 too far away. Most will agree that it is easier to speak 
 when the nearest ones are not more than twelve feet 
 away, especially when those who are nearest are in full 
 sympathy with the subject discussed. Clergymen like 
 to have the front seats occupied. If these are filled they 
 are indifferent to the rows in the rear. One of the most 
 spiritual men I ever listened to, a sensitive and magnetic 
 man, who could thrill a great audience if the conditions 
 were right, always urged the ushers to fill up the front 
 pews first. The modern style which substitutes a low 
 platform for the boxed-up elevated pulpit, and comfort- 
 able open chairs for the little separate walled in rooms 
 for the audience, is in accord with the laws of magnet- 
 ism. Opera-houses and lecture-rooms led the way in 
 this reform, and the church, as usual (begging its par- 
 don most humbly), followed. 
 
HENUY WARD BEECHEU. 167 
 
 Perhaps some of my readers were visitors at Mi-. 
 Beecher's churcli some twenty -five or thirty years ago. 
 .Well do I remember' the great audience-room, filled to 
 repletion, with all the space clear to the speaker's stand 
 occupied by seats, which surrounded it, for there were 
 nearly as many persons behind it as in front. Thus en- 
 compassed, and re-inforced as it were, was the great 
 orator of humanity. His powerful and generous phy- 
 sique, his great brain, his inspired glance, were all mag- 
 netized, and he held the vast throng without an effort. 
 Blue, ministerial. New England blood was in his veins ; 
 but a bluer blood, that of generic man, filled them, 
 showing the " heart within blood-tinctured, of a veined 
 humanity." He spoke to man as he was in reality, not 
 as falsely pictured by a mistaken theology. His giant 
 shoulder gave a mighty push to the car of human ad- 
 vancement. 
 
 Beecher helped his audience and his audience helped 
 him. He spoke with them, and not to them. His mag- 
 netic and spiritual spheres blended with theirs, and the 
 resulting harmony was a power that was felt to the ends 
 of the nation, and far beyond. His free soul seldom 
 knew hesitation or fear, and he easily heads the long 
 line of American pulpit orators. 
 
 One easily recalls the names of those men who have 
 greatly influenced others by powers that were made 
 effective by their magnetism. Moses, Jesus, Demos- 
 thenes, Caesar, Mohammed, Luther, Napoleon, Lincoln, 
 were largely endowed with this easily conducting vehicle 
 of the force within, and show how much can be done 
 with its aid; and how little men are personally influenced 
 bv those who repel them, like Justinian, Calvin, and 
 
168 FIFTH PHYSICAL STEP. 
 
 Erasmus. Other things being equal, it is the magnetic 
 men that are followed, listened to, and that get the 
 ■votes. \ 
 
 By the third step, our personal magnetism was har- 
 moniously blended with that of the earth ; and by the 
 fourth, it is gathered together and is fully under our 
 own sway. The more frequently that this occurs, the 
 longer does this effective state continue; but, until com- 
 plete development be attained, our labors in the outside 
 world and the influence of the inharmonious streams 
 from persons we meet, cause it to dwindle away, and to 
 be replaced by an inharmony that needs a repetition of 
 the entire process. To defer this necessity as long as 
 possible^ to lock up our sphere as it were, we now pass 
 to the fifth physical step, which should follow up the 
 fourth without any delay. 
 
 In this we lock up the centralized power that we 
 have attained, by passing the fingers of one hand across 
 the palm of the other hand, without touching it. We 
 then reverse the reciprocal action of the two hands, and 
 repeat this alternative action two or three times. The 
 hands being the poles of our personal horse-shoe magnet, 
 these motions tend to hold the physical system in a po- 
 larized condition, somewhat as the soft iron armature 
 placed across the ends of a steel magnet causes it to 
 retain its polarity. 
 
 In this connection, if we find ourselves in pi-esence of 
 a person who is inharmonious, or who seeks to influence 
 us unduly for self-interested motives, we may concen- 
 trate our own magnetic forces, and thus protect our- 
 selves, by quietly putting our feet together, and placing 
 one hand over the other. These motions actually con- 
 
GOU IS EXPRESSED BY LAW. 169 
 
 centrate our magaetic currents, and the act also brings 
 our mind into a more positive state. 
 
 In the fifth step, it is better to first pass the fingers of 
 the positive hand across the palm' of the negative hand ; 
 but this is not essential, if the alternative motions of 
 the hands be repeated two or three times. Some per- 
 sons find it difficult to decide which hand or which side 
 of the body is positive. The right is generally the posi- 
 tive; but as there are exceptions to this statement, we 
 may say that the hand, the cheek, the wrist that is hab- 
 itually warmer than the other, indicate that that side is 
 positive, and the cooler, the negative. One may test 
 one's own cheeks, always with the same hand ; or have 
 another person test one's hands, — with his same hand, 
 of course, as his own hands differ in temperature from 
 «ach other. 
 
 We have thus described the five physical steps of the 
 process, leaving it to Chapter XVIII to sho-fr how to 
 ■combine them with the mental steps given in previous 
 •chapters of the book. 
 
 " Conscious Law is king of kings 
 From world to world the Godhead changes, 
 Thou meetest him by centuries, 
 And lo ! he passes like the breeze : 
 Thou seek'st in globe and galaxy, 
 '" He hides in pure transparency ; 
 He is the axis of the star, 
 He is the sparkle of the spar ; 
 He is the heart of every creature, 
 He is the meaning of each feature ; 
 And his mind is the sky, 
 Than all it holds more deep, more high." 
 
 Emerson. 
 
170 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SOME PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS. 
 
 It is well to ascertain which side of the body is posi- 
 tive and which is negative, not so much to begin with 
 the proper hand in the fifth step, as to know which side 
 of the body is more liable to disease by being negative, 
 and which hand to use in correcting our own ailments 
 and those of other people, as it is generally better to 
 make use of the positive hand. 
 
 While we shall not look for symptoms of liver trouble 
 or appendicitis on our left side, nor for inflammation of 
 the cardiac orifice on the right, yet where the opposite 
 parts are similar, the negative side is more prone to 
 disease. The left being usually negative, ovarian tu- 
 mors and the like ai-e apt to come on that side. One 
 who is developing into a magnetized condition will find 
 that he can easily avert an ailment in himself or in an- 
 other by the simple application of his positive hand, if 
 he do it just as soon as the slightest pain begins. This 
 is especially the case when it is a slight inflammation ; 
 but when the liver is gorged with bile by a long course 
 of improper food, or the spine has begun to curve, or a 
 tumor has formed in the ear, it will take something 
 more than the "laying on of a hand" to remove the 
 trouble. The powerful magnetic healer and perhaps 
 skillful mechanical appliances will then be necessary. 
 
A MAGNETIC PERSON AIDS OTHERS. 171 
 
 But such things need never come to our posterity if all 
 the rules of health described before are attentively fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 A grown person can often remove serious trouble from 
 the small body of a child by laying the positive hand on 
 the affected stomach or abdomen, or aching tooth or ear. 
 "Where a part of the head or body reached by any one of 
 the twelve pairs of cranial nerves is in pain, it is well to 
 place the positive hand at the base of the sufferer's 
 brain, and the other hand on the part that pains, and 
 then wait quietly until your stronger magnetism begins 
 to run from his brain to the part affected, when relief 
 will be sure to follow. But as the mind re-acts on the 
 body, do not attempt these normal methods unless the 
 sufferer, child or grown, likes you, and has confidence in 
 you. Even Jesus Had to be sure tha>t the sick man 
 " believed " that he could heal him. 
 
 But as the writer has not much experience as a healer, 
 she will not continue these suggestions. She will content 
 herself by pointing out the process by which each one 
 can become magnetic and in better physical health, 
 leaving the application of magnetic currents to those 
 whose work lies in that direction. Her own health has 
 been remarkably improved by following the directions 
 laid down in this book, and she is happy in communi- 
 cating them to others. 
 
 One side of the body is positive and the other nega- 
 tive, and it is also true that the front of the body is 
 always positive, and the back negative. The back hav- 
 ing less resistant power, a draught on the exposed back 
 of the neck will cause one to catch cold, when the same 
 draught in front woul<i be harmless. Disembodied 
 
172 A BATTERY MANIPULATED BY SPIRITS. 
 
 friends can reach us more easily where we are negative 
 to their influences. In my own case, a loving pressure 
 on the left brow, or cheek, on shoulder, especially on 
 the back of the latter, shows me that some friend out of 
 the body is in sympathy with what I may be doing. 
 While yet engaged with my school, if my talk with the 
 class turned on purity or spirituality, I was often sud- 
 denly reminded of my mother by her stroking my left 
 brow. How little did those impressionable young girls 
 realize the unseen forces that were at work with their 
 loved teacher ! 
 
 When we have become well magnetized by a long 
 course of these or similar processes, our unseen helpers 
 can bring us very eflFective aid if we are ill. At the risk 
 of awakening an incredulous smile on the part of some 
 readers, I will give an instance of this in my own case. 
 
 Before having quite Eschewed the " flesh-pots of 
 Egypt," and having been visiting friends a number of 
 weeks, I found myself on returning home feeling quite 
 ill. I did not know that I was bilious, but I could not 
 work nor enjoy myself. One day I went through the 
 magnetic process, and drawing the window shades down, 
 I seated myself in the same chair where I once felt my- 
 self in my father's embrace, saying to myself, "Perhaps 
 my spirit friends can help me." Very soon, I felt a 
 hand make a powerful downward stroke over the liver 
 with more force than I could possibly use. The stroke 
 was repeated more strongly, and was followed by a third 
 that was so powerful that I involuntai-ily put my hand 
 to push it away, and said, " Oh ! don't; I can't bear it.!' 
 Every bad feeling at once disappeared, and I then real- 
 ized that the liver had been engorged, and that three 
 
THE wkiter's insomnia. 173 
 
 strokes by a powerful unseen battery had freed it from 
 the excess of bile. • 
 
 Many mediums can relate similar incidents, and we 
 are not surprised that those who do not know the close 
 connection between the two worlds,„and the power of 
 the disembodied to aid us, if we give them the right condi- 
 tions, are unable to accept the truth of such statements. 
 But as this connection is manifested in many new cases 
 with each succeeding year, we have not nearly so much 
 doubt regarding their universal acceptance by and by 
 as Fulton had when his little steam-craft made its first 
 journey up the Hudson river, in sight of crowds of 
 doubters on the bank. , 
 
 As many of my readers are troubled with insomnia, 
 I will now relate how greatly I have been helped in this 
 direction. Up to the time that I began to realize the 
 help of the invisibles, which -wjas during the winter of 
 1887-8, I had been a very poor sleeper. Inability to 
 get a healthful amount of sleep had been fastened on 
 me about twenty-three years before this time. Always 
 a hard worker in my profession, and placed in positions 
 of great responsibility, I had been for many years so 
 nervous, that any noise in the hour or two after retiring 
 put me into the sleepless condition. A blind rattling, the 
 voice of a neighbor, a piano within hearing, the mouse 
 foraging for something to fill his empty little stomach, 
 threw painful shocks through my system, and made me 
 unable to sleep till two, or four o'clock, or till the hour 
 came to rise and renew my daily toil. I had tried all 
 the methods that I ever heard of. One might aid me 
 perhaps once, but never again. Valerian, chloral, and 
 other medical drugs always made me more restless. 
 
174 SPIRITS AID BY OUK OWjT MAGNETISM. 
 
 This condition, instead of decreasing, was on the in- 
 crease. „ 
 
 In the winter after I had found out that my parents 
 were really alive in a natural way, and were sometimes 
 close at hand, I found that if I read in the " Banner of 
 Light," or in some such book as " Esoteric Christian- 
 ity," after retiring, I became tranquillized, and could get 
 asleep, though all previous reading had made me more 
 wakeful. The next summer I began the magnetic pro- 
 cess herein described, and my spirit friends were thus 
 enabled to aid me more effectually. The insomnia of 
 twenty-three years' standing has been removed, and a 
 wakeful condition has become a rare exception, instead 
 of the standing rule as it was during all these years. 
 
 My sleepless friend, you cannot be worse off in this re- 
 gard than was I. If I could be cured, so can you, if 
 you will persistently practice the same methods. First, 
 3''ou want to practice the magnetic process, until your 
 magnetized condition has calmed and strengthened your 
 nervous system, and has opened an avenue by which 
 unseen helpers can reach yon, and blend their celestial 
 magnetism with your own. After attaining this condi- 
 tion, you can soon be aided by them. While you are 
 yourself not magnetic, your dearest friends in spirit 
 life may long to aid you, but it is impossible for them 
 to do so; for it is magnetic currents, and they alone, 
 that enable them to reach you. I will tell you the sim- 
 ple process that has been so effectual in my own case. 
 
 Of course I take the magnetic process before retiring, 
 for I never commit myself to rest till I have harmon- 
 ized my body with the currents of terrestrial magnet- 
 ism, and my soul with the higher powers. Perhaps, 
 
HOW MY MOTHER PUTS ME TO SLEEP. 175 
 
 after going to bed, I engage in some interesting train of 
 thought, or plan some future work, and think too long. 
 Or, I have at sometime during the past day been brought 
 in contact with some inharmonious person, who has in 
 some weak hour of mine been able to unsettle the tran- 
 quil flow of my inner being, and I live over again their 
 words or the circumstances that gave me pain. I find 
 myself becoming restless, and the old shocks to my ner- 
 ,vous system, which once led to a sleepless night, begin to 
 recur. I see all my danger, and take the following course. 
 I lie flat on my back in an attitude of complete rest, 
 make myself perfectly passive (a thing I could not do 
 in the old days, but have learned to do by practicing the 
 First Step), and say, " Some good spirit friend, tell mv 
 mother that I cannot sleep. Ask her to come, and bring 
 spirits with her, and plenty of ■magnetism. I am sorry 
 to trouble her, but I need her so much." In a minute 
 or so, when she has had time for the message to reach 
 her wherever she may be engaged in the spirit world, 
 and has come on the wings of love to aid her earth 
 daughter, I stretch my arms up to the world above. I 
 feel magnetic currents, and my own magnetism is the 
 roadway by which theirs can blend with mine, and they 
 magnetize me so thoroughly that I at once fall asleep 
 and have a good night's rest. If I had not become 
 somewhat magnetic to begin with (by training) my 
 friends could not reach me, but they use my own cur- 
 rents, as a starter, and their own powerful currents com- 
 plete the work. Of course the control over my own 
 mental processes, acquired by the same training, is an 
 equally essential factor in the result. 
 In this age of increasing spirituality there are many 
 
176 DEFECTS IN SOME KECENT SCHOOLS. 
 
 schools, many methods for development, all of which 
 are like different pearls strung on the same one golden 
 thread of keeping the body under the soul. Some of 
 these " spiritual " and "mental" schools, while accom- 
 plishing much good, are yet defective. They are imper- 
 fect in that they lay all the stress and all the efforts in 
 the mind itself, some going so far as to say that " Spirit 
 is the only substance," thus contradicting the grand 
 truth that spirit and matter exist together. They ig- 
 nore the fact that we have a body, two bodies in fact, 
 one more ethereal 'than the other. Of course there is no 
 room in their system for magnetic currents or any forces 
 in nature that can affect us. They claim that we are 
 wholly independent of anything of the sort. They are 
 thus still wrapped in the swaddling clothes of the old 
 theology. That S3'stem' claims that when the soul leaves 
 the body it is wholly beyond all the laws of nature, its 
 heavenly body, if it has one, having nothing whatever 
 to do with them or with anything connected with the 
 forces of the material world. Some of these new systems 
 claim that even while we live here, we have virtually no 
 body, have riothing to do with forces in nature, and may 
 become as independent of earthly things now as they 
 fancy we shall be after the change called death. 
 
 The rational view is the true one: that we have a 
 fleshly body now, that its well-being is promoted by its 
 being in harmony with natural forces; that we have at 
 the same time a more ethereal body, whose well-being 
 and fitness for being the only covering of the soul by 
 and by are promoted then and now by the same means ; 
 and that our soul, our true self, manifests itself to others 
 by these atomic forms of different degrees of density. 
 
LIFE LASTS, THOUGH FORMS CHANGE. 177 
 
 How beautiful is the correlation between our different 
 forms of existence ! As Paul said, " First that which is 
 natural (physical), and afterward that which is spir- 
 itual." Not that we are all physical at first, and the 
 spiritual part of us superinduced later; but we are 
 physical and spiritual from our first independent con- 
 sciousness: the physical at first seems more apparent, 
 and, as it sloughs off, the finer part remains -and will 
 long remain as a body to the really immortal soul. 
 That will endure forever. Its manifestations may dis- 
 appear, in many planets, in many worlds, but "the 
 thing in itself" is immortal. 
 
 " The Spirit- world around this world of sense, 
 Floats like an atmosphere ; and everywhere 
 Wafts through these earthly rfists and vapors dense 
 A vital breath of more ethereal air." 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
178 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL STEPS COMBINED. 
 
 The former part of this book gave' in detail the five 
 mental steps, and we have just described the five physi- 
 cal ones : it remains to show how to blend them together, 
 so that the double being, composed of soul on the one 
 hand, and the two differing bodies on the other hand, 
 may develop equally and harmoniously together. The 
 number of steps is the same in each, and while we are 
 taking each mental one, it is accompanied by its corre- 
 sponding one in the physical. 
 
 It will be here appropriate to say that each physical 
 one expresses in action the very thing that the mind is 
 then seeking to do, and that this action is all the while 
 training the mind to do what it f)erhaps could not do 
 before. Some have asked me why the process cannot be 
 done wholly in the mind, leaving the body quiescent. 
 The reasons are two. Befng still in the body, and the 
 mind being untrained in voluntarily taking the succes- 
 sive mental states, it is greatly aided in learning to do so 
 by making the body, the servant, say what the inner 
 part endeavors to 'do. That is one reason. The other 
 is that the physical steps do actually throw off our per- 
 sonal inharmonious currents, actually result in our 
 being magnetized, and in retaining that condition for a 
 considerable period, as truly as that magnetism is in- 
 duced in a bar of soft iron by being brought in contact 
 
THE MENTAL RULES THE PHTSICAL. 179 
 
 with a steel magnet. It would be as unwise to contest 
 this statement before having put it to the test persist- 
 ently by the exact methods indicated, as it would be to 
 combat any other natural facts tested by others because 
 we have not gone through with the experiments our- 
 selves. Hundreds are practicing these methods all over 
 the United States, and will bear testimony that they 
 have proved eflScacious in improving their physical 
 health, in making them more susceptible to the influ- 
 ences of good spirits, and in making the spirit body 
 more independent of the physical one, as is shown by 
 increased clairvoyance, clairaudience, and other phases 
 of mediumship, so called. 
 
 Let us now go through with the five steps, combin- 
 ing the physical with the mental; and Here allow me to 
 reiterate, what should never be forgotten, that while 
 both are essential to a complete development, tile mental 
 part is more important than the physical, in "that the 
 soul should dominate the body, and thus make it its 
 willing and obedient servant. 
 
 Being ready to harmonize myself, and preferably in a 
 room alone, or alone out of doors, .1 turn towards the 
 north, and begin to draw my magnetic forces to my body 
 by corresponding movements of the hands and arms, at 
 the same time throwing the currents away from me by all 
 the time turning slowly around to the left. While thus 
 throwing off my magnetism, I am becoming placid and 
 negative in my mind, by letting every care and anxiety 
 drop away from me; by discarding all anger, all indig- 
 nation at every being in the universe, no matter how i 
 well founded that anger or indignation may seem to be;/ 
 all .pride, all vain-glory, all envy, all eager desire. In' 
 
180 COMBINING THE FIRST, SECOND, 
 
 the place of all these, I become indifferent, placid; in 
 one word, negative. Naturally positive persons, who 
 are told that they are too anxious, too willful, and who 
 do not know how to go to work to remedy the defect, 
 are counseled to" pay great attention to this part of the 
 process. By keeping this up week by week, month by 
 month, dropping all . such cares from the mind while 
 their magnetism is leaving the body, they will in time 
 attain, as did the writer, the ability to become negative 
 at will. No matter what the strain or disturbance may 
 be, they can in the midst of turmoil get into the secret 
 chamber of the soul, and become placid and indifferent 
 to what would have nearly overwhelmed them before at- 
 taining this power. As the body becomes more and 
 more the servant of the mind, the physical motions 
 make it still easier for the mind to do the same, so that 
 at last one can take the mental attitude without the 
 physical part, when desirable to do so, as in traveling, 
 when in company, or -whexf. for any reason privacy is im- 
 possible. But when possible, the physical motions 
 should accompany. Why ? Because we are still in the 
 physical body. . 
 
 I shall be careful not to turn thus if it should make 
 me giddy. Should it affect me thus, I turn very slowly, 
 perhaps only half round, or once and a half, so as to be 
 facing the south at the end of the first step ; but I shall 
 be very sure to move slowly, and to do the mental part 
 thoroughly. The writer usually turns clear around 
 three and a half times, as she is not annoyed by giddi- 
 ness. I am now ready for the second step. 
 
 I am now facing the south pole, whence the currents 
 come with which I desire to blend. I stretch my arms 
 
AND THIRD MENTAL AND PHYSICAL STEPS. 181 
 
 and hands to the soiith with my fingers apart. I do not 
 stand on tiptoe, but I rest on the balls pf my feet. I 
 close my eyes, and bow my head a little. I do not assist, 
 I do not resist, I simply receive. The mental attitude 
 flows naturally out of the placidity that was attained in 
 the first step. With my body, I receive the currents 
 and blend with them, and I am receptive in my mind. 
 If I am not far enough advanced to feel the currents, 
 that does not make me in the least anxious, because I 
 have thrown oif every care and worriment in the pre- 
 vious step. The writer often talks at this time to her 
 spirit friends, and asks them' to help her physically, by 
 blending with the earth currents the finer, purer mag- 
 netism that they have gathered in more ethereal realms. 
 Being thus magnetized, I am now ready to put myself 
 in- rapport with all high, pure intelligences in the 
 third step. 
 
 From facing the south, I now turn to the right until I 
 face the north. Raising my hands towards the regions 
 above, and looking with uplifted head, " as seeing him 
 who is invisible," I pause thus until I /ee? (not think) 
 the mighty , power that permeates the universe; the 
 invisible and infinite life in which I live and move. 
 When I am sensible of this, I am ready to make the 
 invocation, which I say, audibly or silently, but from 
 my inner soul, as I turn slowly round once to the right 
 with my hands and eyes still raised. This action ex- 
 presses my desire to put myself in rapport with all who 
 are beyond me, while recognizing the boundless fountain 
 out of which we all came into sensible existence. My 
 invocation is in the following or similar words : — " In 
 the name of Infinite Life, in which I live and move and 
 
182 IT IS BETTER TO TAKE IT ALONE. 
 
 have my share of individual conscious being, I now be- 
 seech all good, pure, true, loving, wise, and strong influ- 
 ences, to come to me at this time." 
 
 This step, even more than the others, better be taken 
 in solitude; and in this connection Sarah A. Underwood's 
 noble lines are appropriate : 
 
 , "So, seeking these with ardent longing heart, 
 I do not mind that isolate, apart, 
 My search Is made. The light that leads me on 
 Shines brightest, clearest, when I'm naost alone." 
 
 As an individual human soul, I seek to come into 
 rapport' with high and holy ones everywhere. One 
 would have to be in rare and special rapport with an- 
 other human soul to be able to do this in association 
 with him. Still, our actions have to be shaped to some 
 degree by circumstances, and we Will do the best that 
 we can. One hesitates to take this attitude, expressing 
 the utmost aspiration of the individual soul in the 
 presence of one who may not wholly sympathize, unless 
 he does it by way of^instructing him how to go through 
 the process, so we advise solitude for the whole practice, 
 if practicable. Another's glance leads to self-conscious- 
 ness, and that kind of self-consciousness detracts from 
 the efficacy of the process in thus developing the soul 
 itself. 
 
 After turning once wholly around during the invoca- 
 tion, I am again facing the north, and proceed at once 
 to the fourth step. Making the movements of my arms 
 to draw my magnetic forces .to my own body, J turn 
 round to the right, in order to take possession of my 
 own magnetic sphere. The writer usually turns around 
 three and a half, or even four and a half times, in her 
 
THE FOUETH STEP EMPHASIZED. 183 
 
 great desire to be ready for work by being well central- 
 ized. While thus turning, I am likewise taking pos- 
 session of my self-hood, aud realizing my own individual 
 powers, which must be exerted by myself alone, how- 
 ever much I may be assisted by other spirits. I take 
 myself well in hand, and feel that I am ready in and of 
 myself to meet the duty of the hour. 
 
 We take this opportunity to earnestly urge all medi- 
 ums, especially those who ifrom the nature of their own 
 mediumship are very negative to influences outside of 
 themselves, to pay great attention to this fourth step. 
 By so doing, they are not opposing themselves to high 
 and noble spirits, though it is quite possible that they 
 may neutralize the influence of those of a less desirable 
 • kind. The writer has known of mediums who were 
 under the control of sensual or malevolent spirits, who 
 did not dare to practice this process, for fear of driving 
 away these same spirits. They did not wish to drive 
 them away, because it was through their aid that they 
 were able to give lucrative sittings or seances. 
 
 One medium in particular, a materializing one, was so 
 afraid of his " controls," that he did not dare to sleep 
 alone. If alone, and sometimes when sleeping in a bed 
 with some one, he would find himself in the middle of 
 the flooi-, with his spirits pulling his hair, pinching him, 
 and making ugly faces at him. They did this in order 
 to keep him in subjection to them. 
 
 Now let not the timid investigator become alarmed by 
 such a recital. There was no necessity for this me- 
 dium's remaining under their influence, nor of falling, 
 under it in the first instance. If we seek spiritual gifts 
 from a'proper motive, and think of them with a view to 
 
184 MATERIALIZATION UNDESIRABLE. 
 
 our spiritualization, instead of degrading them to a 
 business standpoint or other unspiritual basis, low spir- 
 its cannot approach us. In the case of this particular 
 medium, he could have thrown off those rough, undevel- 
 oped spirits; but he did not wish to do so, because by 
 their aid, supplemented perhaps by more material ob- 
 jects, he was able to give six or eight full-form materi- 
 alization seances a week, averaging twenty-five dollars 
 apiece. If he had centralized himself against them, 
 he knew that they would leave him; and he had not 
 enough confidence in the powers above to know that 
 their places would then be taken by spirits of a higher 
 grade, who could have done far better work through his 
 organism. 
 
 Materialization requires absolute submission of the 
 ' medium to his control. The powers who take him in 
 hand, to produce temporary forms out of the elements 
 of his body, usually insist that their subject be in a 
 dead trance, so as to use him at their will. If he has 
 perfect confidence in them, he does .not fear, though he 
 is forced to give himself entirely away into their hands. 
 If he has not a perfect trust, he fears them, and they 
 hold him in terror of them in order to retain absolute 
 sway. And he submits,- because of the "money there 
 is in it." 
 
 Of all phases of mediumship, this is the least desira- 
 ble for the subject. He is uSed' physically, he does not 
 advance mentally nor spiritually. And yet we hear 
 many persons in their ignorance gleefully intimate that 
 they have been told that they should get materialization. 
 But this phase is used under the permission of advanced 
 spirits, because when well carried out, it is the most 
 
SOUL CULTURE BETTER THAN MEDIUMSHIP. 185 
 
 convincing to all materialistic persons, unless it be that 
 of independent slate-writing. But, to attain this end, 
 both should be under as absolutely perfect, though pain- 
 less, test conditions, as human ingenuity can devise. 
 
 Returning from this digression to the fourth step, we 
 earnestly advise all who seek any phase of mediumship 
 to so strengthen their own individuality as to make it 
 impossible for a low grade of spirits to get control of 
 them physically or mentally. By holding their own to- 
 wards all such, while looking for aid and light-to those 
 who are higher than themselves, and by watching earn- 
 estly the motive that actuates them in their eflforts, they 
 can raise the tide of their own being, and help Spirit- 
 ualism to take its righttul place in leading mankind to 
 a higher condition. 
 
 There is one thing that cannot be too highly empha- 
 sized. But it is with sadness that we seek to impress 
 it on the reader, for we know that it will have no mean- 
 ing and sound like an idle tale, if he is not yet advanced 
 enough to accept it. It is this : 
 
 It is better to become accessible to high spirit influence than 
 to become a medium. 
 
 Mediumship is doing and will do a grand work during 
 the whole transition period between the intellectual and 
 the spiritual eras of human development. Still, the 
 main work of every one is his individual development. 
 This is his work, not another's; and if any phase of 
 mediumship is hindering his own spiritual advance- 
 ment, he better discard it, at any sacrifice (speaking 
 in a wordly way), and " cdvet earnestly the best gifts." 
 Thus doing, he will enter spirit life better equipped, and 
 will not have to linger in the border-land in darkness 
 
186 THE STEPS RECAPITULATED. 
 
 and in misery, as many a poor medium will have to do, 
 because, though spirit return was proved to others 
 through his organism, he yet neglected his most import- 
 ant duty, the development of his own soul towards its 
 destined goal. 
 
 I have now taken the fourth step, and am facing the 
 south. Eemaining thus standing, I pass the fingers of 
 one hand across the palm of the other hand, without 
 touching, and then reverse the reciprocal action of the 
 two hands. I repeat this two or three times, to lock up 
 for as long a time as possible my own magnetic sphere. 
 At the same time, I lock up my mental forces, and settle 
 myself to the work that is before me, whatever it may 
 be. Like Macbeth, though with a very different end in 
 view, I may say " I am settled, and bend up each cor- 
 poral agent to this feat." ' 
 
 The five successive mental steps are : — 
 
 First, placid or passive; 
 
 Second, receptive; 
 
 Third, aspirational ; 
 
 Fourth, positive; 
 
 Fifth, settled for action, 
 
 The five physical steps that accompany the mental 
 ones are: — 
 
 First, throwing off inharmonious magnetism; 
 
 Second, blending with the magnetism of the earth 
 sphere; 
 
 Third, blending our magnetism with that of high 
 spirits ; 
 
 Fourth, taking possession of our own magnetic sphere; 
 
 Fifth, locking up our magnetism. 
 
THIS METHOD MEETS THE NEEDS OF MANY. 187 
 
 , " Thia do, and thou shalt live," 
 
 for we truly live when we have begun to develop our in- 
 dividual, immortal soul— the main object for which we 
 exist at all. 
 
 Mankind, progresses from age to age. We not only 
 know that men should love the source of all. being with 
 heart and soul and strength, and their finite neighbors 
 as themselves, but we have gaitfed a glimpse Of the way 
 in which these sentiments, too ideal for the world when 
 Jesus lived, may be carried into daily practice. We 
 have found the way: we are just beginning to walk in it. 
 What we here inculcate is in exact, line with the two 
 commandments that Jesus approved ; and we go a step 
 further. We show how we may actually begin to prac- 
 tice the same; and though it is only a boginning,.it has 
 in it the elements of ultimate attainment. Thank the 
 constitution of the universe, the ultimate is not^rrevo- 
 cably fixed while we are in the fleshly body. The tree 
 does not necessarily lie forever in just the way it' fell. 
 
 In the methods herein inculcated, my petty, paltry 
 knowledge, my " dim beginnings " of glimpses into eter- 
 nal truth, have been supplemented by what has been 
 given me, while writing, from the spheres beyond this 
 mundane one. The work is imperfect. It is but a fore- 
 gleam of the perfected methods that will be the outcome 
 of ages of human advancement, but it will meet the 
 needs of multitudes who desire to make a personal ap- 
 plication of angelic ai<J, and would fain span the gulf 
 between the two worlds, so that they may " live with 
 angels, receive their impressions, and be assisted by 
 their counsels." The gulf which so long yawned bet- 
 ween the living and the so-called dead has indeed been 
 
188 STEP BT STEP. 
 
 spanned by this rainbow bridge. It needs to be strength- 
 ened by individual effort, it needs to be used daily by 
 all who know of its existence, so that many more will 
 also come into communion with the invisibles, and this 
 earth become indeed the lowest round of the celestial 
 stair-way. 
 
 "lleaven is not reached at a single bound : 
 We build the ladder on which we rise 
 'From the lower earth to the vaulted skies, 
 And We mount to the summit, round by round." 
 
 From " In Memoriam." 
 
189 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 This chapter will be somewhat personal, and will 
 seek to answer the questions of individual seekers. In 
 the autumn of 1890, 1 had been practicing this process 
 for some two years, and sent my " Directions for Taking 
 Terrestrial Magnetism," as I then called it, to a number 
 of newspapers. It was printed in each one, and I waa 
 soon in receipt of many l,etters, asking to have some of 
 the points cleared up, and seeking more informiition. So 
 eager were persons to have a definte, practical, system- 
 atic method for individually building a bridge from the 
 seen to the unseen world, that the article attracted much 
 attention, and was translated into other languages, and 
 appeared in some European psychological papers. I wish 
 I had at hand all the different enquiries made, but will 
 answer some that occur to me. 
 
 As we sometimes speak of unwrapping ourselves, and 
 being again wrapped up, many ask if they are to take oflf 
 their garments, and put them on again. It has nothing 
 to do wilfti one's clothes, except that in harmonizing one- 
 self, as well as in every action during the whole of mor- 
 tal life, we should always wear garments that will not 
 cramp or, confine our movements in any way, or that 
 weigh us down unduly. 
 
 " How often shall I go through the process ? " is asked 
 by almost everyone: For the first few months, being 
 
190 HOW OFTEN SHALL WE TAKE IT. 
 
 somewhat at leisure during my summer vacation, I took 
 it many times a day. After returning to my school, I 
 often withdrew at recess for this purpose, and found 
 that it renewed my nervous calm. From the beginning, 
 I have taken it every morning before leaving my room, 
 and at night before lying down. Probably I have not 
 omitted it six times in nearly six years. Whether I am 
 more or less disrobed depends on the temperature and 
 my personal convenience. Besides beginning and clos- 
 ing the day with the process, I frequently take it when 
 I am going out, or when I anticipate an important inter- 
 view; always before starting on a journey, before lectur- 
 ing, and before giving a lesson on spiritual subjects to 
 one person or to many. As the objects are to bring the 
 body into harmony with the earth currents, and the soul 
 into harmony with higher souls, it would seem as if one 
 needed to do it less frequently as one advances in devel- 
 opment. While this may be true, we certainlj' need to 
 do this at least twice a day while on the mortal plane, 
 and I find it best for myself to take it three or four 
 times a day. One surely needs it in a special degree 
 when going out in the world, to meet different and in- 
 harmonious magnetisms; and also when about to sleep 
 should one enter the harmonious condition. So that, one 
 may "dream true," as Mr. Colville says; and meet the 
 dear disembodied in the land of souls. 
 
 But the question most frequently asked is, " How long 
 must it take; and especially how long must I receive, in 
 the second step ? " One rule cannot guide all, nor can 
 one rule guide one person at different times. Probably 
 the ordinary time for going through the whole process 
 may be from two to five minutes. Certainli^ one should 
 
REDUCTION OP EXCESSIVE WEIGHT. 191 
 
 not continue any portion of it till one is wearj'. If 
 very tired, it is best to rest a little while before taking 
 it. If disabled from walking or standing, then sit or lie 
 down, and -do it as well as you can, remembering the 
 currents of the earth, and adapting yourself to them 
 psychically, if you. are unable to' do so physically. 
 
 At the risk of being exceedingly personal, there is, 
 besides being cured of insomnia, another thing in which 
 I have been aided by this magnetic process; and I feel 
 that it should be spoken of for the benefit of those wiio 
 are troubled, as was the writer, by excessive embonpoint. 
 
 Though scarcely of medium height, my weight had 
 at last attained, in 1888, the maximum of on^ hundred 
 and seventy-seven pounds, and as every year brought an 
 addition of some six or eight pounds, I felt anxious and 
 annoyed, as well as personally humiliated, I felt that 
 it disgraced me to weigh to such excess, but knew not 
 how to remedy it with safety. Like most very stout 
 persons, I was not a large eater. 
 
 About July 1, 1888, I began this magnetic process, 
 with a view to spiritual development, without a thought 
 of physical benefit. Being away from home on a short 
 visit, in company with the gentleman who taught me 
 the physical part of the process, and his wife, I noticed 
 that my gowns-seemed very loose. On returning home, 
 I found that I weighed one hundred and fifty three 
 pounds, having lost in six weeks twenty four pounds, 
 yet feeling remarkably well and strong. For some 
 years I continued to lose, and suppose my normal weight 
 now is about one hundred and thirty-five pounds. A 
 singular fact is that during the five weeks occupied by 
 writing this book, my weight has lowered to one hun- 
 
192 PROMOTES ASSIMILATION WHEN NEEDED. 
 
 dred and sixteen pounds, being my weight before the 
 age of twenty. My health remains excellent, in spite of 
 this decrease. So, my dear friend, who may be inclined 
 to say with Hamlet, 
 
 " O that this too, too solid flesh would melt, 
 Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew," 
 
 there is a way in which you can be relieved^-a normal 
 way — a way that will benefit you in every particular. 
 This obesity, this excessive corpulence, can be remedied 
 by rejuvenating "the whole system by harmoniously 
 magnetizing it, far better than by hindering the diges- 
 tive processes by the exhibition of anti-fat remedies. 
 
 But I foresee that some reader, who is not too fat, 
 but too lean, 8*5^8 that he does not wish to become mag- 
 netic, if he is to lose any more. But be not alarmed. 
 The excessive corpulence is a symptom of a diseased . 
 condition, and as one becomes physically harmonious, 
 it gradually disappears. If emaciation is caused by 
 imperfect assimilation of the food, a normal magnetic 
 condition will make one gain in flesh. Becoming nor- 
 mally magnetic brings the whole system into equipoise. 
 Of course some will always be stouter than some others, 
 and we may thus have a pleasing variety, while all may 
 still be in harmony with the laws of their own individ- 
 ual being. * But, as said elsewhere, it is only a persist- 
 ent perseverance in the practice of our methods that 
 will produce apparent results. 
 
 Though asked so many times how long it takes me to 
 go through the process, I have to state the singular fact 
 that though I have looked at my watch before beginning, 
 in order to find out, 1 have never yet succeeded in re- 
 membering to look at the time on closing. This is 
 
TAKING CARE OF THE MENTAL PART. 193 
 
 probably because I give myself up so completely to the 
 mental part, that I lose all sense of time, and forget 
 wholly my intention to see how long it took me. Expe- 
 rience will teach one how to be guided through the 
 process. I sometimes return to preceding steps before 
 completing the process. For instance, I keep on aspir- 
 ing in my mind, while I am taking the fourth step, and 
 do not make myself positive. Then I do the fourth 
 again. Or, while receiving in the second one, my poor 
 mind reverts to the earth cares that I had just laid 
 aside, and I go on with the physical part without doing 
 the mental. Then I begin all over again. By practice 
 one soon becomes so habituated to the process that one 
 does not have to think what to do next. It becomes 
 second nature. Of course one begins to derive more 
 benefit when one gets to where one does not have to 
 recollect what to do next, or which way to turn, and the 
 other details. 
 
 If one should remember after retiring that the process 
 had been neglected, it might be well to rise and take it, 
 provided of course that it is not a Minnesota winter 
 night, with the thermometer thirty degrees below zero. 
 But not all are advanced enough to receive the beautiful 
 reward that came to a lady in New Hampshire. Find- 
 ing she had forgotten, she got up and took it in the 
 dark. To her surprise and delight, she saw eight 
 spirits taking it with her. She said it was tte grandest 
 sio'ht she ever saw. She wrote me that she had been a 
 clairvoyant all her life, but could never commune with 
 spirits until she adopted this process. 
 
 A few words more regarding the physical motions. 
 Persons who do not understand what positions mean 
 
194 FEELINGS EXPRESSED BY ACTION. 
 
 often find them ridiculous. A savage who saw the mis- 
 sionary kneel and pray, thought it very funny that he 
 should get down on his knees and talk to the ground. 
 Monkeys think it a treat to see an orator gesticulate and 
 shout, and they imitate his actions without any concep- 
 tion of what they signify. The graceful gestures of 
 Edward Everett would be thrown away, on them. When 
 a movement or an attitude expresses what a person feels, 
 it aids his own efforts, and is appropriate in the eyes of 
 those who sympathize with his feelings. The move- 
 ment or attitude should be used only when it expresses 
 an inner condition, and never merely because it is con- 
 sidered appropriate to the time and place. When a 
 clergyman desires all heaven to come down and bless 
 his flock, and raises his arms in invocation, the gesture 
 is natural and effective, because it is the expression of 
 a real feeling. But when this gesture is copied by an- 
 other, who has not the feeling, and adopts it because it 
 looked well in the other, and befits the occasion, one 
 despises him and calls him an actor, for the most un- 
 thinking demand absolute sincerity, in those who claim 
 tb represent the invisible world. All the motions given 
 in our physical process are inappropriate, unless they 
 express the inner wish of the soul, or at least the desire 
 of the person to attain such and such mental states. 
 The whole process is for the individual as one alone, 
 and not collectively, and will be to each one more appro- 
 priate and more expressive the further that his develop- 
 ment advances. < 
 
 Reverting to the fact that one side of the body is pos- 
 itive and the other negative, we remind our readers that 
 this knowledge may benefit us in our dealings with 
 
CAUTIONS FOR MENTAL MEDIUMS. 195 
 
 Others. Suppose you are walking with, an aged person, 
 or an invalid, whom you desire to strengthen. Put your 
 negative side next to his positive, and your strength will 
 pass easily to him. This is generally practicable, for it is 
 exceptional that the right side is negative. Of course, 
 
 • if you are in a weakened condition, and have a sickly 
 person on your negative side, you will feel much worse. 
 Suppose a lady has been giving a public lecture. The 
 effort being completed, she feels her nerve force at the ebb. 
 In walking home, if she can take the negative arm of 
 some person of strong nerve force on her positive side, 
 she regains her strength, and he is no doubt glad to im- 
 part to her what she needs and what he can easily spare. 
 With regard to seances, a person who is engaged in 
 mental e^fforts of a psychical nature should never sit in 
 a circle for physical manifestations ; and he had better 
 not sit at all in a circle, unless absolutely sure that the 
 conditions will not affect him to his detriment. Many 
 ignorant persons rush into these circles, having no con- 
 ception of the unseen but real forces at work in them, 
 and they sometimes blame one who is cautious in plac- 
 ing his own organism in unknown and deleterious con- 
 ditions. We expect person? to avoid the food that is 
 bad for their physical body, and we should certainly 
 not blame them if they exercise the same right in re- 
 
 , gard to their finer, psychical forces. Sitting in a circle, 
 with the principal medium on my negative side, has 
 kept me from sleeping the whole night, and it has taken 
 days to restore me to my psychic equilibrium. Our 
 spirit friends can do much for us, but if we violate the 
 laws of our own psychical being, we must expect to suf- 
 fer the penalty. 
 
196 RELATIVE MAGNtTISM. 
 
 Every person should sleep alone, that is, in a separate 
 bed, if possible. But if it be necessary that two persons 
 should sleep habitually in one bed, they should exchange 
 sides about every two weeks. An application of the 
 preceding statements shows the reason of this. If the 
 positive side of one person be always next the negative 
 side of the other, the first is always drawing from the 
 second, and detracts continually from the strength of 
 the latter. By exchanging sides at frequent intervals, 
 equilibrium of the magnetic forces is maintained. One 
 may be much stronger than the other, and desire to im- 
 part some of his greater strength, and may therefore re- 
 tain the relative position to effect this end. But even in 
 this case too long persistence in one relative position 
 will in the end detract from the power of the stronger to 
 aid the weaker one, and it is therefore better to make a 
 change. 
 
 Some maintain that the sexes are by their sex quali- 
 ties at the opposite poles of a magnet, the male being 
 positive, and the female negative. This is not true now, 
 however it may be after humanity has attained its com- 
 plete development. At present, it is often the woman 
 that is positive and the man that is negative; and we 
 must do the best possible in present conditions, ever 
 aiming towards the perfection that will be by and by. 
 
 The touch of an outsider will often bring sleep to the 
 invalid, that the watchful, loving relative is unable to 
 briiig. This is because the continuous magnetism has 
 lost its effect, and one from the outside world brings 
 that that can assimilate with the latent forces of the 
 sufferer, and thus supply the needed rest. 
 
 Our great-grandmothers used to say that one should 
 
SLEEPING WITH HEAD TO THE NORTH. 197 
 
 sleep with his head to the north. This notion, like 
 many similar ones, is founded on their intuitive conclu- 
 sions based on many facts. One should in general 
 sleep with the head to the north, especially those who 
 by practicing the processes of this book are in a fair 
 way to be small individual magnets who harmonize 
 with the great magnet. An exception to this rule is 
 stated by nurses, who find that certain patients are more 
 restless with the head lo the north. This is an excep- 
 tion that sustains the rule. These patients have a most 
 inharmonious magnetism that has at last brought them 
 onto a bed of sickness. In their weakened condition, 
 the powerful earth currents, most perceptible in the 
 lines connecting the poles, are too exciting. As the 
 patients become stronger and regain their equilibrium, 
 it can then be maintained in them as in others by sleep- 
 ing with the head to the north. It is the normal posi- 
 tion, in normal conditions. 
 
 Becoming magnetized by these processes gives one 
 protection against undesired hypnotism, against psycho- 
 logic influence unduly exercised, against what was called, 
 with intuitive insight, "the evil eye," and against 
 all danger of being obsessed by undeveloped, malign 
 spirits, as was said to be the unfortunate condition of 
 King Saul apd Mary Magdalene. (See 1 Sam. xviii, 10 ; 
 and Mark xvi, 9.) Many an innocent young ladj"^ has 
 been psychologized by the strong will exercised to her 
 ruin by one of the opposite sex. This would have been 
 impossible had she been taught to strengthen her own 
 individuality, and to take possession of her own mag- 
 netic sphere. 
 
 Becoming strong in these ways, we are not only able 
 
198 TRUT& IS ETERNAL. 
 
 to develop our own powers, but also to exercise a power- 
 ful influence on those whom we meet. And as we seek 
 to be in rapport only with high and pure spirits, this 
 influence will be for good. Nothing is more atrocious 
 than the conduct of a man or woman who uses his 
 psychologic force to lead another astray. There are 
 such, who dare to take the name of Spiritualists, as 
 "Satan himself transformed into an angel of light," 
 against whom all that aspire to be pure should streng- 
 then themselves. "We wrestle not against flesh and 
 blood, but against powers, against spiritual wicked- 
 ness." But we need not fear, if we watch aright, for 
 we have not only the innate power which is our original 
 possession, but also aid from the whole spirit world, who 
 have attained their present height in the same way, 
 and who with us vibrate in celestial harmony with Infi- 
 nite Intelligence itself, at every conquest over evil on 
 the part of every finite being anywhere in the universe. 
 
 "The dawn is not distant, 
 Nor is the night starless : 
 
 Love is supernal I 
 God is still God, 
 
 And truth is eternal." 
 
 Sarah A. MacGeagh. 
 
199 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Our task is drawing near its close. The latter part 
 of the book being more on the physical part of our pres- 
 ent nature, let us revert to our original statement of the 
 trinal constitution of each and every one of us while on 
 the earth plane : physical body, spiritual or psychical 
 body, and soul. The soul does not alter in its original 
 nature, it unfolds towards that perfection that inheres 
 in its conscious individualization. Plato said, "From 
 God it comes, and tb God will it eventually return." Be 
 that as it may, our duty is clear : it is to remove all hin- 
 drances, it is to apply all aids, towards its growing to 
 its ultimate perfection. 
 
 As we fondly believe, it will, as an individual con- 
 scious entity, fendure forever. On this point, no advanced 
 intelligence can enlighten us, for it can know only what it 
 has itself experienced, and it has not yet lived eternally. 
 But we may be sure that if in the course of unimagin- 
 able eras, it is destined to lose consciousness of individ- 
 uality by being merged into the infinite, it will do so 
 with no sense of pain. On the contrary, if that is to be 
 its ultimate, we may be sure that its onward growth 
 will bring it more and more joy, so that that engulfment 
 into the absolute and infinite will be accomplished with 
 a rapture far beyond our present thought and concep- 
 
200 CONTINUOUS PROGRESSION. 
 
 tion. Never, never will the soul die. Its birth-right is 
 eternal. 
 
 If that is to be the ultimate of our individual en- 
 tity, we shall gladly participate in it when it comes. 
 But meanwhile, we have our present life in a physical 
 body on the earth plane. Passing out from that by 
 the " emancipation act " of death, we go on in the next 
 sphere of the spirit world. Our enlarging comprehen- 
 sion will show us conditions beyond for us to attain, 
 and work that we can still do for those left behind us 
 in the bonds of the flesh. Soon they will join us, and 
 we shall proceed together. Always dropping what is 
 grosser, we shall advance to more spiritual states. All 
 the successive and constantly more refined strata of the 
 spirit -world of mother earth will be in turn our home, 
 until dropping the last terrestrial shred of materiality, 
 we shall emerge into the cosmic ether of the spaces 
 between the spirit worlds of the different planets, in an 
 etherealized condition that we cannot now picture. So 
 far can we now go in thought, and our stay and support 
 is in the constitution of the universe, the expression of 
 Infinite Intelligence and Love. 
 
 But, for spirits in the spirit world to progress rapidly, 
 it is necessiary that those of them who are still bound 
 in the robes of flesh be also progressing. The lowest 
 must be advancing, or else those beyond are hampered 
 in their onward progress. And those on the earth, in 
 the very lowest sphere of all, can be greatly aided by 
 those who have dropped the physical body, . and are in 
 the next degree of spirit life. 
 
 That they may thus aid us, we want a bridge between 
 the two worlds, on which they can come to us, and 
 
THE BRIDGE HAS ALWAYS EXISTED. 2G1 
 
 we go to them. Such a bridge has always been. Its 
 foundations were laid when the first human being passed 
 out of the body, and found he was not with those he 
 loved in just the way that he had been. He tried to 
 reach them, to speak to them, but the bridge was too 
 imperfect for him to really reach them. It has im- 
 proved with the successive unfoldment of man. But 
 superstition, ecclesiastical appropriation, and mate- 
 rialistic views have hindered its construction. The 
 greatest hindrance of all has been the settled belief of 
 mankind that those who " die " have passed into a su- 
 pernatural condition, that they are de-naturalized, being 
 thus no longer subject to the laws of nature. Nature 
 has been separated from religion. Scientists have been 
 opposed to the church, which declared that heaven was 
 millions of miles beyond the sun. " I shall go to him, 
 but he will not return to me," said David about his 
 dead son, and so has it been universally believed. The 
 church has fostered thi^ unnatural view by declaring 
 that Infinite Love allowed only evil spirits to come to 
 us. Opposers have declared that those who began to 
 commune with the dead were dealers in the supernatural, 
 when the whole spiritualistic movement of the nineteenth 
 century is based on the impossibility of there being anj--' 
 thing unnatural, or supernatural, or miraculous, in the 
 universe. 
 
 This book is entitled " The Bridge Between Two 
 Worlds." This title was chosen in accordance with 
 modern parlance, so that its scope might be appre- 
 hended by those who heard its name. But this of 
 which we speak is not a bridge between two worlds. 
 Hades is not another world from the present world 
 
202 FOUNDATION OP THE BRIDGE. 
 
 where we now live in oiir fleshly bodies. This bridge 
 is rather between us who live in the lowest sphere of 
 the spirit world of mother earth, and those who live 
 just beyond us, in the same great world, without fleshly 
 bodies like our own. 
 
 The foundation of this bridge rests on the solidarity 
 of all the difierent parts of the one spirit world of this 
 earth. All parts of it have material atoms, by which 
 souls express themselves in organisms of greater or less 
 ethereality. All parts of it are swayed by the same 
 great natural forces. All parts of it are occupied by 
 souls of greater or less aJdvancement in spirituality. 
 We may be in heaven here and now. 
 
 This bridge is on the solid foundation of the unity of 
 all nature, and the keystone of its main arch is the 
 statement of Jesus, somewhat enlarged, " Infinite Spirit 
 is the parent of all finite spirits, and therefore all its 
 oflJspring are brothers." 
 
 We meet the departed, as we meet each other here, on 
 the high roads of natural forces, and they communicate 
 thoughts to us, and influence us in the same way. There 
 is nothing supernatural in it. It is scientific, in so far 
 as we refer certain experiences to certain laws of nature. 
 Enlightened souls now smile at the ignorance of those 
 who fancy there was anything supernatural in what 
 Jesus did. Nothing is supernatural, unless we except 
 a supreme being of whom the laws of nature are the 
 expression. But such " a being " no finite soul can com- 
 prehend. Emerson's penetrating words are to the point. 
 " Law rules throughout existence ; a law which is not 
 intelligent, but intelligence ; not personal nor impersonal : 
 it disdains words and passes understanding; it dissolves 
 
HIGHER SPIRITS WILL AID US. 203 
 
 persons; it vivifies nature; yet solicits the pure in heart 
 to draw on all its omnipotence." 
 
 Passing into the next kind of life by the gateway of 
 death is no more solemn than living here. Living here 
 becomes more sublime as we realize that we are now 
 laying foundations for future progress. Spirits are not 
 necessarily, -per se, any holier than we are. 6ut many 
 of them are holier t|;ian we, for they have conquered 
 more of self; and many of them are wiser than we, for 
 they have attained a clearer outlook. As aiding those 
 who need help is one of the essential elements of their 
 progress, it is well for us to be enlightened by their wis- 
 domj to be stimulated by their example, and to be 
 strengthened and supported by the knowledge of their 
 continued love. It is to show a clear, definite, and 
 effectual waj"^ by which we may attain to commune with 
 such spirits that this book has been written. 
 
 Go forth, my little book. May many read you ! May 
 many practice this process . of harmonizing their own 
 currents with those of the terrestrial sphere, and of 
 harmonizing their inner being with pure and high 
 spirits ! May many minds thus learn how to take that 
 mental attitude that will-enaible' exalted spirits to reach 
 the benighted of earth through their instrumentality ! 
 May those who practice these methods be guided by the 
 best Imotives, for " Motives are the impulses that give 
 shape to the destiny of souls." Thus may the skirts of; 
 our garments be made free from all that is deceitful, 
 selfish, and impure. 
 
 Go far and wide, my little book, and thus help me to 
 do my humble part in hastening the latter day glory of 
 our planet, when man, its highest product, shall be com- 
 
204 THE soul's aspikation. 
 
 » 
 
 pletely spiritualized, and wnen all who then live upon 
 the earth will be in individual, conscious, and blissful 
 communion with higher spirits, whose happy company 
 they are preparing to join. One pure mortal joined 
 them a short time ago. With his simple and perfect 
 lines we will close: 
 
 ' Make my mortal dreams come true, 
 With the good I fain would do : 
 Clothe with life the weak intent; 
 Let me be the thing I meant." 
 
SYNOPSIS OF THE PROCESS. 
 
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206 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 COMMUinCATION FROM MY FATHER, ADONIRAM JUDSON. 
 
 On the 12th of August, 1891, while with our inspired 
 speaker, Mrs. E. S. Lillie, in a private room, she saw 
 my father standing by my side, with the eyes of her 
 spiritual body ; and she wrote down the words of the 
 following communication which she heard clairaudi- 
 ently, as they fell from his lips : 
 
 " Dear child, can I tell you how thankful we are 
 that your mind has been turned in the direction of 
 this great truth ! How earnestly I sought to leave 
 you in the hands of God! Has not my wish been 
 granted, in that he giveth far greater blessings than 
 our weak minds can ask for, and answereth in a far 
 . wiser way than according to our understanding 5 
 
 My belief was unshaken. The unsaved world was a 
 burden which my soul could not bear and feel that my 
 duty had been discharged until I sacrificed life for it. 
 If true, every Christian should feel this load, until all 
 the world received this message. Thank God, it is 
 not true. Love is all-sufflcient. Hatred has no place 
 in the bosom of God. We are saved by doing, not by 
 believing. 
 
 To be sure, your life had passed a little into the 
 shadows, when this great truth came to you ; but all 
 your' former years were not wasted. You found spir- 
 
COMMUNICATIONS. 207 
 
 itual soul growth. It could not te otherwise, for you 
 were conceived at a time when the all-abBorbing wish 
 of my life was spiritual consecration ; and if, in adher- 
 ing to the letter, I failed in the true spiritual render- 
 ing, the motive was the same, and motives are the 
 impulses which stamp lives before birth, giving shape 
 to their destiny. 
 
 Your life will yet accomplish much good for others. 
 Your work in Minneapolis is only a beginning. The 
 world must be your field. Do not think I am egotis- 
 tical. The great mass of mankind who knew me once 
 must know me again through you, not through Spirit- 
 ualism alone, but through truth, which is broader 
 than all 'isms. Churches who have honored your 
 father will honor you sufljciently to hear your simple 
 story of plain facts relative to your progress from the 
 old to the new. The church is expanding. It will be 
 ready for your message before you are called to take 
 your departure. Your hairs are white, but your step 
 is firm. Be fearless in the advocacy of what you have 
 and more will be given you. 
 
 Your work will be done largely by what we term 
 "impulses," as your book was written.* When these 
 impulses come, do not hesitate. We direct tou thus. 
 Clairvoyance will gradually grow with you. Slight 
 visions, then more complete and satisfactory. Many 
 spirits are drawn to you, who will do all they can for 
 you. Love be thine. Your mother joins me in loving 
 
 *My book, "Why She Became a SpiritxiBlist," was written in about two 
 months, and I was at the same time teaching every week day and lecturing 
 nearly every Sunday. 
 
208 COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 greeting. We are ever with you. My child, fear not. 
 Affectionately^ your father." 
 
 The following communications came through a 
 medium in New Hampshire. We have never met her 
 personally. She is alluded to on page 193. As she has 
 practiced the process inculcated in this book, it will 
 he appropriate to quote her words in a letter to me : 
 
 "The third night after practising it, I saw three 
 spirits standing in a group, clothed in white. They 
 were indeed heavenly guests. I have been seeing 
 them many years, but this magnetic process is of great 
 benefit, as I can now commune with them. 
 
 On the night that you wrote your letter of January, 
 I saw your mother; and the next night she was ac- 
 companied by your father. They were both clothed 
 in long, loose, flowing white garments. They did not 
 walk, but sailed into the room. They gave many mes- 
 sages of love for you. They are both beautiful and 
 exalted spirits. I know such by the color surround- 
 ing thepi. I have slept better than for many years. 
 When I receive the current (the second step) I see the 
 spirit standing before me. Last Tuesday night I for- 
 got it, and rose in the dark. I think that there were 
 as many as eight spirits in the room. As I turned to 
 the right, they passed around the room just as fast as 
 I did. It was a wonderful manifestation." 
 
 The inspirations given to this medium are so pure 
 and high, that it is hoped that they may be given to 
 the world in extended form. Here follow what came 
 through her pure mediumship : 
 
COMMUNICATIONS. '• 209 
 
 FROM MY MOTHER, SARAH BOARDMAN JUDSON, JAN. 27, 1892. 
 
 My Darling : — 
 
 Many are hearing the voices which have been 
 speaking to the inhabitants of the earth all up the 
 ages ; and man shall yet be redeemed from the thrall 
 in which he has so long been held by the ignorance of 
 the generations that have preceded him ; and stand 
 forth as the Supreme Mind intended he should — the 
 highest expression of His love and wisdom, and^ver 
 be drawing nearer and still nearer to the great pri- 
 meval cause. 
 
 God is love, and hence man ■«'as conceived — not in 
 sin, as man in a finite state apprehends sin — but in 
 love. And we being parts of the Infinite must event- 
 ually all be merged, cemented, and lost to all that 
 hinders eternal progression, and be at last swallowed 
 up, so to speak, in this love, which, as a law, is with- 
 out a beginning, hence, can have no end. 
 
 I come so gladly, so lovingly to send you this mes- 
 sage at this time. And my heart expands in gratitude ■ 
 to the All-Wise that through me he gave to the world 
 one who is so constantly bringing knowledge from the 
 higher life. 
 
 I have, my child, seen all your struggles and tempta- 
 tions in the past, to turn aside and be dominated by 
 that whicli was not reason. But let us rejoice that 
 the days of darkness have fled. And, in a few short 
 years, what then ? Oh ! the joy is too great for me 
 to tell. But listen, and you will hear the angels 
 
210 COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 chanting praises to the Infinite, while they say to you, 
 "Child, it is enough ; come home !" 
 
 YoDR Loving Mother. 
 
 With regard to the following letter, it should be 
 stated that after being packed away for two years I . 
 had found the stereoscopic view of my mother's grave 
 on the island of St. Helena and had looked at it sev- 
 eral times with tender tears. I was in Minneapolis-, in 
 the privacy of my own room ; and the medium away 
 in I^ew Hampshire had no possible way of knowing 
 what had engaged my mind. 
 
 raOM MY MOTHER, MARCH 14, 1892. 
 
 My jSrecious child : — 
 
 I am glad that my body is resting on the lonely isle. 
 I often repair thither, to see the beautiful sunny spot 
 and hear the birds sing. Not that I care aught for 
 the little dust there reposing, but because I fell at my 
 post battling for the right, as I then conceived it ; 
 hence it was a duty well and faithfully done. For, to 
 maintain it, did I not sacrifice home and friends, and 
 nearly all that which goes to make up the sum of 
 human happiness ? And I now know that their souls 
 are just as white, though their skins be dusky, as any 
 of God's more favored children. I have met many of 
 them in this life, and they always smile and bless me, 
 calling me the good white angel who led them out . of 
 darkness into light. 
 
 I will not again insist on your answering all the 
 letters that you receive, as I see your efforts have al- 
 
COMMUNICATIONS. 211 
 
 ready drawn on the physical. The motive and desire, 
 if physical inability prevents, will meet the same 
 reward a^ if accomplished, as you will know when 
 life's duties, have all been done, for a convoy of an- 
 gels will sing praises to Him who was, and is, and is 
 to be, while they conduct you through the azure gates 
 of glory into the 6ity of the Great Mind. 
 
 Your Loving Mothee. 
 
 from mt mother, hec. 2, 1892. 
 
 (After my engaging for seven months in mission- 
 ary work.) 
 
 My own beloved Abby, iny precious child : — 
 
 My enraptured soul soars aloft on waves of har- 
 mony, and I will exult more and more as I see my 
 beloved sowing the seeds of eternal truth. Some must 
 indeed fall on sterile soil, others be choked by the 
 weeds of error ; but, all glory be to the Infinite, there 
 is much soil so mellow, that the little seed dropped by 
 my beloved, watered by the dews of truth, and warm- 
 ed by the sunshine of wisdom, shall flower and send 
 forth a fragrance which shall rise as holy incense to 
 heaven and be accepted by the Giver of all good as 
 the beautiful golden talent, put to usury, which hath 
 gained more than ten-fold. Go on, my precious one, 
 and in the ages to come you shall look back to this 
 time with supreme satisfaction ; for, to be approved 
 of one's self, affords the highest happiness to which a 
 mortal can attain, and this will come of enlightening 
 the world. Receive a mother's blessing! 
 
212 COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 FROM MY FATHER, DEC. 2, 1892. 
 
 My beloved daughter : — 
 
 Angels are hovering near, and the ladder which 
 Jacob so long ago saw is let down from heaven and 
 the angels are ascending and descending upon it. 
 
 Buckle on more firmly the whole armor of truth. It 
 matters not whether they hear or forbear, so that you 
 do the bidding of those by whom you are directed. 
 And when your pilgrimage is ended, a legion of those 
 whom you have helped redeem from error, both on 
 this side and on the mortal side of life, shall speed 
 you on your upward flight, and give you joyous wel- 
 come into this life. Your Loving Father. 
 
 And yet, in spite of such inspiring comfort and sup- 
 port, the "labors more abundant," the "journeyings 
 oft," and, saddest of all, the " perils among false 
 brethren," for some, miscalling themselves Spiritual- 
 ists, opposed my efforts to advance true spirituality, 
 caused me to break down physically only two months 
 * after the last two letters were given. Still, I do not 
 regret it, for loneliness, and physical languor, and 
 soul-weariness, made me more accessible to spirit in- 
 fluences than ever before. My mother's hand caressed 
 my face and wiped away the tears ; my father's strong 
 hand, laid in mine, led me on ; I saw their smiling 
 countenances pouring serene peace on my soul ; and 
 the wells of Baca became waters of refreshment. 
 Later came the following : 
 
COMMUNICATIONS. 213 
 
 FROM MY FATHER, OCT. 1, 1893. 
 
 Penned at the very hour I was giving my opening 
 lecture in a great city. 
 My Beloved Daughter : — 
 
 Onward ! is the watchword, as it has been through 
 all the ages of- the past. I have before told you that 
 the world is your field. Like a faithful sower, you 
 have gone out into the unbounded fields of a new and 
 glorious truth, and scattered seeds that have grown, 
 until many have become so wise in time that they will 
 have a glorious entrance into eternity, because of the 
 knowledge imparted by you. 
 
 Your mother came with me to this place, but she 
 has sped away on wings of love, to give you strength 
 and courage while you utter burning words of truth.* 
 Be strong and steadfast, my child ; falter not. And 
 now may the love of the All- Wise Father give you the 
 strength which comes alone to those who implicitly 
 trust in Him, and realize that the ministry of angels 
 is the greatest of the many blessings that come to the 
 children of earth. 
 
 Your Affectionate Father. 
 
 On the completion of "From Night to Morn," and 
 "The Bridge Between Two Worlds," the attendant 
 labor leaving me in a somewhat exhausted physical 
 condition (for, dear friends, their child is, in the mor- 
 
 *Tlie mecUnm in Mew Hampshire conld not know what I was doing this 
 very hour, 11 a. m., Oct. 1, in Cincinnati, ae the engagement to speak was 
 made sadoenly. 
 
214 COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 tal, nearly sixty years of age), I received the following : 
 
 COMMUNICATION FKOM MY FATHER, ADONIRAM JUDSON, 
 GIYEN THROUGH MRS. R. S. LILLIE, MARCH 22, 1894. 
 
 Sometimes, even from our standpoint in spirit life, 
 we balance accounts, and ask ourselves, will our work 
 and influence count in the great reckoning, enough to 
 compensate for all we require on the part of mortals 
 to carry out our wishes? But these thoughts do not 
 hold us long in bondage. I am buoyed up with a 
 great purpose, and already feel coming to me the re- 
 ward. 
 
 Your book has accomplished a great deal more than 
 you know of, while it is my pleasure to see and sense 
 much more than you can. I speak of your first one. 
 " Why She became a Spirtualist." The number sold 
 is not the indicator. Each one is perused by those 
 who think it a good work to loan. The friends who 
 have purchased it lend it to a Christian with a great 
 deal of coniidence, feeling he will heed that, when he 
 would not heed many other works written upon the 
 subject of Spiritualism. This comes to me. I can 
 see what is not yours to behold, and am quite sure we 
 are not working in vain. Your last pamphlet (From 
 Night to Morn) will accomplish a great deal. The 
 letters you receive are few compared to the unwritten 
 ones I see In many minds, who do not seem to think of 
 giving their thoughts an outward expression in words. 
 To be sure, some are certain or feel sure that you have 
 been led downward by seducing spirits, " who should 
 
COMMUNICATIONS. 215 
 
 come in the last days, to deceive." But the light is 
 spreading, and most people are breaking some fetters, 
 
 and your brothers will yet see the light. , who 
 
 has been kindest to you, and who has least to fear of 
 men, will receive this light, and walk in it, acknowl- 
 edging it before men. His added testimony will have 
 effect with the others, and before they pass on, they 
 will know that you have been in the right. 
 
 I want to speak to you of your future work. I have 
 a work in mind of a 'religious nature, descriptive 
 partly of my work on the earthly plane. The spirits 
 who work in that direction will show that in that I 
 was led, carrying out a part of the great plan of civ- 
 ilizing by Christianizing, and then by liberating from 
 that, by leading to greater heights. Step by step the 
 heights are gained, where freedom stands in her full 
 glory. We may not know it, but we are bricks in the 
 great temple of eternal truth. What seems like error 
 at one time was, when it was given, all of truth that 
 mankind was at that time and age able to receive. And 
 so the great law of continual unf oldment is going on. 
 
 Take hold with renewed vigor. Fear not. I* am 
 always conscious of all your sacrifices — the inconveni- 
 ences and annoyances to which you are subjected. 
 But we will not mind. Our work is a great one and 
 correspondingly great may be the trials we are called 
 on to endure. But ever will we pra,ise the Infinite 
 Father that we have part in so great a plan of re- 
 demption of the race by knowledge of the truth. 
 
 YouB Affectionate Father. 
 
216 COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 Another through the same medium : 
 
 Tell my blessed child that I am with her. Good- 
 ness and m^rcy follow her all the rest of her days ! 
 
 Do not think that we who do less in the great work 
 are with you less in spirit. Your every thought Is 
 made known to me. I shall ever be near you, my 
 precious child. Yodb Mother. 
 
 I have given the reader these communications that 
 came to me through Mrs. E. S. Lillie and the lady in 
 New Hampshire, because they are given in definite 
 words. The same and more have come to me when 
 alone, when my parents have poured knowledge, com- 
 fort and strength into my soul, by impression, and 
 when I have seen clairvoyantly their loVing faces. 
 
 Can I hesitate with such a father and mother to 
 lead me on ? 
 
 "To doubt wovild be disloyalty ; 
 , To falter would be sin." 
 
 No; in spite of worldly losses (how trivial com- 
 pared with the exchange ! ) ; in spite of being for- 
 saken by friends of a lifetime, whom prejudice and 
 love of the world prevent from seeing the truth ; in 
 spite of thp askant looks of brothers in the ministry, 
 once tender and kind ; in spite too of opposition from 
 mis-named Spiritualists, who aim to drag spirits down 
 to the earth plane instead of raising mortals up to 
 their level , in spite of all the doubt that a material- 
 istic world can cast on the doctrine of spirit existence 
 and spirit return, — / know that because they live With- 
 out a physical body we too Shall do the same ; I know 
 
COMMONICATIONS. 217 
 
 that under certain favoring conditions they can com- 
 municate intelligently with us; I- know that our acts 
 here, no matter what may be our belief, affect directly 
 our condition there; and I know that all, however 
 base and undeveloped may be their condition here, 
 will, being children of the Infinite, have an opportu- 
 nity to progress there. Knowing these basic facts, 
 more or less money here, more or less friends here, 
 more or lefes worldly comfort here, more or less labor 
 here, are of infinitesimal consequence in comparison 
 with the eternal weight of glory that will be ours 
 there, if we live aright, if we accept the truth, the 
 whole truth and nothing Tjut the truth, and do our 
 utmost to communicate that truth to others. I am a 
 poor, iraperfect creature, but I am a happy one. May 
 you, dear reader, be as happy, is the wish of your 
 friend. The Adthob. 
 
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