b'IM \n\n\n\nfmfWM \n\nR! iuffii \n\n\n\nlUM. \n\n\n\nMlfiBKRufl \n\n\n\n[tJlKlwl \n\n\n\nI \n\n\n\nn \n\nB \n\nH \n\n\n\nLIBRARY OF CONGRESS \n\n\n\n\n00015114253 \n\n\n\nDBKMlESHtfH \nStmfl !8bB \n\nHfUflftliifl \n\n\n\n\n\n\n> <e\xe2\x80\x9e \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n^ ^ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ni \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n%\' \n\n\n\nJ I A* \\ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nV ,\xe2\x96\xa0 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n4% \n\n\n\n\n\n\n:\\ ^ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n^ .^ v \n\n\n\niV </>, \n\n\n\n\xc2\xa3i- \n\n\n\nV s ^ \n\n\n\nJ * , O- \n\n\n\n0\xc2\xb0\' . \n\n\n\noo \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\naV <p\xe2\x80\x9e \n\n\n\n\xe2\x96\xa0\' \n\n\n\n.iV \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\xe2\x80\xa2\xe2\x80\xa2 \n\n\n\nA^\'V ^ \n\n\n\nk * A o \n\n\n\n\n.-.S- ^ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<^" \n\n\n\nO V s s \n\n\n\nX> ,# \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\' / "S \n\n\n\n<v \n\n\n\n\xc2\xab "\xe2\x96\xa0 \n\n\n\n.V \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\xc2\xab> \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDigitized by the Internet Archive \nin 2011 with funding from \nThe Library of Congress \n\n\n\nhttp://www.archive.org/details/afterdeathordiseOOrand \n\n\n\nAFTER DEATH : \n\n\n\nOR, \n\n\n\nDISEMBODIED MAI \n\n\n\nLOCATION, TOPOGRAPHY, AND SCENERY OF THE SUPERNAL UNIVERSE; \n\nITS INHABITANTS, THEIR CUSTOMS, HABITS, MODES OF \n\nEXISTENCE; SEX AFTER DEATH; MARRIAGE IN THE \n\nWORLD OF SOULS; THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY \n\nGHOST, ITS FEARFUL PENALTIES, ETC. \n\nBY THE AUTHOR OF \n\nPRE-ADAMITE MAN. \n\n\n\n\nc BOSTON, MASS: \n\nPRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR \n\n18.6 8. \n\n\n\n/ \n\n\n\nAFTER DEATH; \n\n\n\nOB, \n\n\n\nDISEMBODIED MAN \n\n\n\nTHE WORLD OF SPIRITS; ITS LOCATION, EXTENT, APPEARANCE; \n\nTHE ROUTE THITHER; INHABITANTS; CUSTOMS; SOCIETIES: \n\nALSO SEX AND ITS USES THERE, ETC., ETC., WITH \n\nMUCH MATTER PERTINENT TO THE \n\nQUESTION OF HUMAN \n\nIMMORTALITY. \n\n\n\nBEING THE SEQUEL TO \n\n"DEALINGS WITH THE DEAD." \n\nBY THE AUTHOR OF \' PRE-AD AMITE MAN.\' \n\n\xe2\x96\xa0 \n\nSECOND EDITION, REVISED, CORRECTED, AND ENLARGED. \n\n\n\nWhat I was is passed by; \nWhat I am away doth fly; \nWhat I shall be none do see, \nYet in that my beauties be. \n\nSong of the Soul. \n\n\n\n\n/% BOSTON, MASS.: \n\nPRINTED FOR, AND SOLD EXCLUSIVELY BY, THE AUTHOR. \n\n1868. \n\n\n\nfa \n\n\n\nEntered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by \n\nPaschal Beverly Randolph, \n\nIn the Clerk\'s Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. \n\n\n\nr \n\n\n\n5k \n\n\n\nBOOKwell & Rollins, Printers and Stekeotypebs, \n122 Washington Street, Boston. \n\n\n\nPREFACE. \n\n\n\nThe first edition of this work appeared in a "Western city \nin November, 1866. The author had no opportunity to correct \nthe proof-sheets, which were never sent to him ; and, in con- \nsequence, the most vital mistakes occurred in printing. The \ndemand for the work was, however, so great, that, at the solic- \nitation of many correspondents, the author resolved to re-write, \nrevise, correct, greatly enlarge, and supervise the printing \nthereof. This has now been done, "and the work, in proper \nshape, is herewith presented for the judgment and, I hope, \nprofitable acceptance of the thinking portion of mankind. \n\nI dedicate this book to my friends in need, therefore friends \nindeed, \xe2\x80\x94 S. B. Watkous, of Fort Union, New Mexico, and F. \nB. Dowc, of Davenport, Iowa. \n\nPASCHAL BEVERLY RANDOLPH. \n\n\n\nCONTENTS. \n\n\n\nCHAPTEE I. \n\n\n\nPAGE \n\n\n\nWhy? Is there any God? \xe2\x80\x94 Are Souls created here? \xe2\x80\x94 Certain very Important \n\nQuestions 9 \n\n\n\nCHAPTEE II. \n\nWhy is Man Immortal ? \xe2\x80\x94 The Reply \xe2\x80\x94 Singular Proofs \xe2\x80\x94 Invisible People \xe2\x80\x94 \n" Religion" the Liver \xe2\x80\x94 What is God? \xe2\x80\x94 The Answer \xe2\x80\x94 The Exact Locality \nof Hell \xe2\x80\x94 White-Blooded People of the Future \xe2\x80\x94 An Astounding Prophecy 25 \n\n\n\nCHAPTEE III. \n\nThe Rationale of going up \xe2\x80\x94 Matter\'s Immateriality \xe2\x80\x94 About the first Human \nCouple \xe2\x80\x94 Extent of the Sky \xe2\x80\x94 The Origin of Negroes and other Races not \nIdentical \xe2\x80\x94 The Grand Secret of the Ages Revealed ...... 41 \n\n\n\nCHAPTEE IV. \n\nAnalysis of a Human Spirit and Soul \xe2\x80\x94 Why it is Proof against Death \xe2\x80\x94 Singular \nDisclosures about the Parts and Organs of a Spirit \xe2\x80\x94 The Sex Question \nsettled \xe2\x80\x94 Coquettes and Dandies in the other Life \xe2\x80\x94 Spirits\' Dress and \nClothing \xe2\x80\x94 The Fashions among Them \xe2\x80\x94 Do we carry Deformities with us \nthere ? \xe2\x80\x94 What they do in Spirit Land \xe2\x80\x94 The Soul, and where its Seat is in \nthe Body \xe2\x80\x94 Idiots, Thieves, " Stillborns," Cyprians, Maniacs, Insane, Mur- \nderers, Ministers, Suicides, when in the Spirit World \xe2\x80\x94 Monstrosities \xe2\x80\x94 Why \nHuman Beings resemble Beasts \xe2\x80\x94 A Curious Revelation \xe2\x80\x94 Some Stillborns \nImmortal \xe2\x80\x94 Others not \xe2\x80\x94 Why ? \xe2\x80\x94 " Justification " of Suicide \xe2\x80\x94 Consequences \n\nof Suicide \xe2\x80\x94 Harlots even there \xe2\x80\x94 Judgment-Day 51 \n\nV \n\n\n\nVI CONTENTS. \n\nCHAPTER V. \n\n\n\nPAGE \n\n\n\nAre Animals Immortal ? \xe2\x80\x94 The Absorption-into-God Question Settled \xe2\x80\x94 Phan- \ntomosophy \xe2\x80\x94 A Wonderful Spirit Power \xe2\x80\x94 Its Rationale \xe2\x80\x94 Rationale of \nDelirium Tremens \xe2\x80\x94 A Singular Fact \xe2\x80\x94 How Thoughts are Read \xe2\x80\x94 The \nExplanation of Memory \xe2\x80\x94 A New Revelation \xe2\x80\x94 Genius \xe2\x80\x94 A New Faculty \xe2\x80\x94 \nAnimals of the Spiritual World 70 \n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI. \n\nVery Startling Questions and their Answers \xe2\x80\x94 Relationship in Heaven \xe2\x80\x94 The \nAffinity Question Settled \xe2\x80\x94 Is Death Painful ? \xe2\x80\x94 Death by Hanging and \nDrowning \xe2\x80\x94 The Sensations thereof \xe2\x80\x94 Effect of Bad Marriages \xe2\x80\x94 Fate of \nDuellists, Soldiers, Executioners \xe2\x80\x94 Those who Die of Fright or Horror \xe2\x80\x94 \nDrunkards \xe2\x80\x94 Obsessions \xe2\x80\x94 The Fate of Genius, and its Origin \xe2\x80\x94 Crime-En- \ngendering Dangers \xe2\x80\x94 Haunted People and Houses \xe2\x80\x94 A Curious Cause of \nMental Suffering \xe2\x80\x94 Music over there \xe2\x80\x94 Why do People marry over there ? \xe2\x80\x94 \nReply 78 \n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII. \n\nLocation, Direction, Distance, Formation, and Substance of the Spirit Land \xe2\x80\x94 \nA New Planet near the Sun \xe2\x80\x94 The Spirit Worlds Visible to the Naked Eye \xe2\x80\x94 \nThe Throne of God, its Nature, Bulk, and Locality \xe2\x80\x94 Location of the Final \nHome of Spirits \xe2\x80\x94 The Origin of the first Human Soul \xe2\x80\x94 Uncreated Souls \xe2\x80\x94 \nThe Rain of World-Souls and Soul-Seeds \xe2\x80\x94 Location of the Seven Grand \nSpheres or Zones \xe2\x80\x94 Length of an Eternity \xe2\x80\x94 Our Spirit World Visible on \nClear Nights \xe2\x80\x94 Its Depth and Dimensions \xe2\x80\x94 Distance and Substance of the \nSpiritual World \xe2\x80\x94 How we go to and from there \xe2\x80\x94 Plants and Animals of \nSpirit Land \xe2\x80\x94 Scenery about the Spiritual Sun \xe2\x80\x94 Boreal and Austral Suns \nnow forming at the Poles \xe2\x80\x94 Vampires \xe2\x80\x94 Weight of a Spirit .... 85 \n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII. \n\nSpiritual Rivers \xe2\x80\x94 How we get to Spirit Land \xe2\x80\x94 Sects in Heaven \xe2\x80\x94 Fairy \nPeople \xe2\x80\x94 The Complexion Question in Spirit Life \xe2\x80\x94 The Languages used in \nSpirit Land \xe2\x80\x94 Age in Spirit Life \xe2\x80\x94 The Question of Relationship in Spirit \nLife \xe2\x80\x94 Our Occupations there \xe2\x80\x94 Our Names in Heaven \xe2\x80\x94 Number of People \nin Spirit Life \xe2\x80\x94 Good Peter Cooper, the Millionnaire \xe2\x80\x94 Substance, Food, \nDrink, Curious \xe2\x80\x94 Very \xe2\x80\x94 "Free Love" \xe2\x80\x94 Singular 106 \n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX. \n\nThe Heaven of Savages \xe2\x80\x94 First Grand Division of the Spirit Land \xe2\x80\x94 Music up \nthere, and how made \xe2\x80\x94 Houses, Towns, Cities, in the Upper World \xe2\x80\x94 How \nBuilt, and of what Material \xe2\x80\x94 Breath up There \xe2\x80\x94 The Female Thermometer \n\xe2\x80\x94 Curious, but True \xe2\x80\x94 A Wonderful Spiritual Fact \xe2\x80\x94 Jewels there \xe2\x80\x94 Schools \nin Heaven 118 \n\n\n\nCONTENTS. VII \n\n\n\nCHAPTEK X. \n\n\n\nPAGE \n\n\n\nThe Question of Sex and Passion in Spirit Life \xe2\x80\x94 An Astounding Disclosure \nThereanent \xe2\x80\x94 Are Children Born in the Upper Land ? \xe2\x80\x94 New and Strange \nUses for the Human Organs when we are Dead \xe2\x80\x94 The Philosophy of Con- \ntact \xe2\x80\x94 Curious \xe2\x80\x94 Still more so \xe2\x80\x94 Loves of the Angels . . . , \xe2\x80\xa2 132 \n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI. \n\nCertain Organic Functions in the Spirit World \xe2\x80\x94 Eating, etc., there \xe2\x80\x94 Analysis \nof a Spirit \xe2\x80\x94 Its Bones, Organs, etc. \xe2\x80\x94 The Actual Existence of the Trees \nof Life and Knowledge \xe2\x80\x94 Heaven as seen May 22, 1866 \xe2\x80\x94 Institutions, \nEmployments, and Pleasures of the Upper Land \xe2\x80\x94 Description of the People \nthere dead 10,000 years ago 141 \n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII. \n\nExtent of the Universe \xe2\x80\x94 Description of a Heaven \xe2\x80\x94 Curious Power of a Spirit\'s \nEye \xe2\x80\x94 Animals in Spirit Land \xe2\x80\x94 A Palace there \xe2\x80\x94 Lectures \xe2\x80\x94 Studies in \nHeaven \xe2\x80\x94 Loveometers and Soul-Measures \xe2\x80\x94 Contents of a Museum there \xe2\x80\x94 \nMarriage up there \xe2\x80\x94 Love also \xe2\x80\x94 Duration of an " Eternal Affinity " . . 149 \n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII. \n\n; Why "Eternal Affinity" is not true \xe2\x80\x94 Effect of a Bad Marriage on the Victim, \nafter Death \xe2\x80\x94 How Souls are Incarnated \xe2\x80\x94 Why Souls Differ \xe2\x80\x94 The Second \nGrand Division of the Spirit Land \xe2\x80\x94 Seas, Ports, Vessels, Sailors, in Spirit \nLand \xe2\x80\x94 Hunting Scenes there \xe2\x80\x94 The Presbyterian Heaven .... 159 \n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV. \n\nSectarian Heaven, and the Strange Discussions there \xe2\x80\x94 The Mahometan Heaven \n\xe2\x80\x94 The Third Grand Division of Spirit Land \xe2\x80\x94 Sanitoria \xe2\x80\x94 Hospitals for the \nSick, and who they are \xe2\x80\x94 The Wonderful Herb, Nommoc-Esnes \xe2\x80\x94 Its Uses \xe2\x80\x94 \nThe Fourth Grand Division of Spirit Land \xe2\x80\x94 The " Spheres " \xe2\x80\x94 The Heaven \nof Half-Men \xe2\x80\x94 Fifth Division 174 \n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV. \n\nOrigin of the Spirit World \xe2\x80\x94 The first two Spirits \xe2\x80\x94 The Terrific Impending \nDanger of the Destruction of this Earth \xe2\x80\x94 A Fearful and Actually Exist- \ning Possibility \xe2\x80\x94 An Approaching Change in the Earth\'s Axis \xe2\x80\x94 A New \nPlanet near the Sun \xe2\x80\x94 A New Ring about being thrown off from it, and \nthe Formation of other Planets by Cometic Condensation \xe2\x80\x94 Uprising of \na New Continent \xe2\x80\x94 Destruction of the Asteroids \xe2\x80\x94 Gold Hills \xe2\x80\x94 How the \nFirst Spirits discovered the Spiritual Land and went to it \xe2\x80\x94 The Rev. \nCharles Hall\'s Arrival in Spirit Land \xe2\x80\x94 His Surprise \xe2\x80\x94 The Earth a \nLiving Organism 183 \n\n\n\nVHI CONTENTS. \n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI. \n\nPAGE \n\nThe Sixth Grand Division of Spirit Land \xe2\x80\x94 Things Taught there \xe2\x80\x94 The Origin of \nall Matter \xe2\x80\x94 The Lost Pleiad Pound \xe2\x80\x94 A Lightless Sun \xe2\x80\x94 The Law of Period- \nicity \xe2\x80\x94 Soul-storms \xe2\x80\x94 Credo \xe2\x80\x94 A New Revelation of a most astounding Char- \nacter \xe2\x80\x94 The Seventh Grand Division of Morning Land \xe2\x80\x94 Its Superlative \nGlories \xe2\x80\x94 Will Man lose his Identity in the Godhead ? \xe2\x80\x94 A Mournful, yet \nGlorious Pact \xe2\x80\x94 A Home for all, all breaking, bleeding Hearts, all \'sorrow- \nladen Souls \xe2\x80\x94 A new Revelation concerning Sleep \xe2\x80\x94 Why a Spirit cannot be \nDismembered \xe2\x80\x94 Curious \xe2\x80\x94 The Coming Man \xe2\x80\x94 Miscegenation \xe2\x80\x94 Soul\'s Flight \nto the Solar Zone and Second Girdle . 192 \n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVn. \n\nA Philosophical Error corrected \xe2\x80\x94 Conclusion ........ 207 \n\nAPPENDIX. \n\nPart II. A. \xe2\x80\x94 Discoveries \xe2\x80\x94 The Grand Secret of Life 227 \n\nPart II. B. \xe2\x80\x94 New Discoveries \xe2\x80\x94 Things Worth Knowing ..... 245 \n\nPart II. C. \xe2\x80\x94 New Discoveries \xe2\x80\x94 Things Worth Knowing 257 \n\n\n\nCHAPTER I. \n\nWHY? IS THERE ANY GOD? \xe2\x80\x94 ARE SOULS CREATED HERE? \xe2\x80\x94 CERTAIN VERY IMPOR- \nTANT QUESTIONS. \n\nI am moved to write concerning the natural, spiritual, and \ncelestial universes as they have never been written of before. \nBefore doing so, I am led to exclaim : Thank God for death ! and \nthank him for the life beyond the gloomy sea ! Because there \nis rest for the weary, \xe2\x80\x94 for even tired me ! If the agony protracted \ncalled life, that most of us who think, and, thinking, feel, en- \ndure on earth, was all, then, indeed, existence were an awful \ntragedy, and terrible beyond all bearing, the universe a grave- \nyard, and the ruling God a most bitter and malignant fiend. But \nit is not all; it \xe2\x80\x94 the life on the lower globe \xe2\x80\x94 is but the ABC \nof human existence ; and this fact \xe2\x80\x94 however it may, by some, be \ndisputed \xe2\x80\x94 is not merely to the few learned a simple logical pos- \ntulate, \xe2\x80\x94 to them an axiomatical truth, \xe2\x80\x94 but it is one capable of \nabsolute and unequivocal demonstration, in a thousand ways, to \nall mankind ; for it is above all others, the one great thing in \nwhich all mankind are deeply interested. Hence, whatever, or \nwhoever, throws light thereon, does a deed, that of necessity \nendears him and his labor to the world of human beings, who yet \ngrope and grovel through the dark and glimmer, toward the great \nunknown Beyond. \n\nCompared to this question of human continuance, after the grim \nspectre\'s visit, all other questions and matters are trivial ; and \nalbeit the rich man laughs at the poor philosopher, who demon- \nstrates immortality, yet the day comes when he would gladly \ngive all his wealth for one little ray of the seer\'s certain knowl- \nedge. \n\nLet me ask : What are all the honors earth can heap upon us ? \nWhat all the glittering triumphs human genius can win ? What \nall the brilliant homage a myriad potentates might accord ? What \n2 9 \n\n\n\n10 AFTER DEATH ; \n\nare all gleaming riches, troublesome joys, and half-sided loves of \nearth \xe2\x80\x94 a taste \xe2\x80\x94 then death \xe2\x80\x94 actually worth to us, if they are \nto be, as they mainly are, bought with groans, tears, and heart- \nwrung agonies, and, after a brief enjoyment, to be lost \xe2\x80\x94 forever? \nWhat matters this splendid Morning of Intellect, if the inevitable \nNight brings us but eternal Sleep ? \n\nIt is proposed in this book, not only to reply to all these, and \nvery many more similar questions, but to break ground in several \nnew directions ; and, in presenting some of what will be regarded \nits extraordinary statements to the people, no one can be more \nalive to the consequences than the writer hereof. \n\nSuffice it to say that the work has been gestating in my soul for \nlong years. Independent of what is popularly known as spiritual- \nism, I have been a seer from childhood, the record of which seer- \nship has been long before the world. My mother was a seer \nbefore me, and I have been a clairvoyant by spontaneity since my \nfourth year ; and that power has been quickened by mesmeric in- \nduction all along the bitter years, and intensified since the exciting \nadvent of the modern Theargia. Experiences, visions, supernal \nintercourse, in all four quarters of the globe ; and hundreds of \nintromissions into the worlds of disbodied, unearthed peoples ; \nand mental notes, then, thus and there taken, and subsequently \ncommitted to paper, are the authorities for what hereinafter follows. \nThe intent to present portions of what I had thus learned to the \nworld was resolved on four years ago, two of which were spent in \nLouisiana, and places thereaway, where, for weeks together, I was \nobliged to sleep with pistols in my bed, because the assassins \nwere abroad and red-handed Murder skulked and hovered round \nmy door. Daily threats of summary strangling seasoned many \nof my meals, while writing out the first edition of this revelation, \nthe offence being that, under the orders of my Country\'s officers, \nI taught some thousands of "negroes" \xe2\x80\x94 black and white too, \xe2\x80\x94 \nthe sublime arts of reading and penmanship. And yet the work \nlaid out was accomplished then, \xe2\x80\x94 finished now. I bequeath it to \nthe ages ; dedicate it to all struggling souls, \xe2\x80\x94 among whom are a \nfew, \xe2\x80\x94 very few, who really knew, and hence loved me. God \nbless them all ! Thus much prefatorial, except to add that the \nentire work has been wholly revised, corrected, and portions re- \nwritten. Much entirely new matter has been added. It stands \n\n\n\nOK, DISBODIED MAN. 11 \n\nmy darling, and master-piece. I give it to the world, which \nworld will, perhaps, appreciate and value it, when I am dead, \xe2\x80\x94 \nand my spirit, freed from the tempest of the passions, which always \nenveloped me, shall be basking on the green, flowery banks of \nAidenn, in the realm of soals, just beyond the surging seas of \nlife, \xe2\x80\x94 if not before. Till then I can wait. \n\nNow when we gaze about us, with all our senses in health and \nactive play, and realize how very small we are, how insignificant, \nin comparison with the enormous vastitude above, beneath, about, \nand beyond us ; if we are really true men ; if our souls \xe2\x80\x94 our bet- \nter part \xe2\x80\x94 be not subservient to mere sense, mere surface; if \nwe are free, not in the restricted, but the larger sense, \xe2\x80\x94 untainted \nby or with the filth and bitterness of the past ; if we shall have \nbursted our chrysalis shell, and tasted a few drops of the honeyed nec- \ntar of the true soul-life, the upper existence, here below, \xe2\x80\x94 we can- \nnot help believing that all we see, feel, and know to be around and \nabove us, is, after all, something more than the result of mere acci- \ndent or fortuitous chance. He who can believe the monstrous ne- \ngation implied, is not a man, is, in fact, as great a monstrosity as \nthe cold negation he dares to affirm. On the contrary, we must \nand do realize, if we think at all, that we live in the midst of one \ntremendous, stupendous miracle, and that we are ourselves, singly \nand combined, another no less wondrous miracle, \xe2\x80\x94 none the less \nmysterious, awful and sublime, both by reason of our comparative \ntininess, and the magnificent possibilities wrapped up within us, \nand which we instinctively feel capable of achieving, \xe2\x80\x94 openly dem- \nonstrating in the face of heaven, earth, and the glorious God, \nwhom we cannot help acknowledging and adoring. True, in mo- \nments of intellectual pride, or vanity, the result of bad begetting \nand worse culture, we may \xe2\x80\x94 some fools of us \xe2\x80\x94 scout, and \nlaugh " ha, ha," at the idea of a central, creating, self-existent, and \nall-sustaining Power ; and we may call God an " Idea," laugh at \nhis supposed " Personality," ridicule all theology, snap our fingers \nat Brahma, Siva, Vishnu, Buddha, Mahommed, the Nazarene, and \nall the other countless avatars and God-incarnations, so thought, \ncalled, and believed, by myriads of our human earth-born race, and \nin some sense be partly, if not wholly, justified in so doing. And \nyet again we cannot help feeling that although these accounts are \nman\'s feeble attempts to reach solutions of the great mystery \n\n\n\n12 AFTER DEATH; \n\naround us, yet, and still there must be a substratum somewhere ; \nand then we learn to respect these beliefs even if we refuse to adopt \nthem ; no longer sneer at Christ or Brahma, but try to reach a new \nroad to the great goal we long to gain. \n\nThe fact is there are no atheists at heart. All men believe in God \nto a greater or less extent ; and while no two persons exactly agree, \nyet few will, if sane, deny in toto the existence of a great Over- \nsoul, \xe2\x80\x94 a super-ruling power, called, variously God, Aum, Brahm, \nAllah, Jehovah, or Creator ; for the evidences are so numerous \nand palpable that few can gainsay them. While most all men ad- \nmit that God exists, there are various opinions and much hostility \nrespecting Jesus Christ, \xe2\x80\x94 many affirming and more denying his \ndivinity. I object to all quarrels on this point. It matters not to \nme whether Jesus was a myth, a divinely commissioned seraph, a \ngreat and good reformer, or a real avatar ; I adore the character \nwhether it be real or ideal \xe2\x80\x94 and that ideal, never surpassed, is not \nthe dead and resurrected young man of Bethlehem, of nearly \nnineteen hundred years ago ; it matters not whether the crucified \nman was divinely fathered, or the son of Joseph the carpenter, \xe2\x80\x94 \na priest\'s offspring, a Magdalen\'s child, the chieftain of a new sect, \n\xe2\x80\x94 as is variously asserted ; for the spirit of the character is the \nreal Christ, the road to Glory, the avenue to Peace, Quiet, Good \nand Rest. It is folly to raise questions about the individual Jesus ; \nfor, real or mythical, the example reputed to be of him is unques- \ntionably magnificent. He who follows it will live right, and, dy- \ning, be far from wrong. Why trouble ourselves with Strauss and \nthe cavillers ; Fuerbach or Compte, Renan or " Ecce Homo," " Ho- \nmo-Deus " or " Deus-Homo" ? The Christ of my soul, my inmost \nselfhood \xe2\x80\x94 the thing within me, deathless \xe2\x80\x94 is the universal Spirit \nof Good, hovering over us and bathing the universe, into which I \nseek to plunge myself, be washed clean, and made pure. Viewing \nChrist and God from a purely orthodox standpoint, my belief in \neither is not strong ; but viewed from this, the summit of the ages, \nboth, to me, are the sublimest of realities. \n\nWe are told by one set of reasoners, that God and Nature are \none. I do not believe it, neither does my soul accept the view, \nthat regards Deity as the tyrant, vengeful being who sits en- \nthroned upon the pinnacle of the universe, and rains down blessings \non one hand and hurls indiscriminate damnation on the other. We \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 13 \n\nare told that God is heat, and life, and light, and electricity, \xe2\x80\x94 which \nmay be true ; but, if so, that view is only partial, for he is all that \nandfarlnore. We are told that he is an active power, manifesting \nhimself in growth, change, electrically, chemically, magnetically, \nmechanically, spiritually, and in other modes, \xe2\x80\x94 all of which is \ntrue ; and yet one-half the great story has not then been told. Our \nFather is not a tj^rant ; he has a throne ; he is surrounded by \nangels ; he is central, located, yet ubiquitous. He is like man in \none respect. Man\'s spirit and intelligence pervade his body ; but \nhis centre, or pivot, is in the largest brain. Just so is God abroad \nthrough his body, \xe2\x80\x94 the universal system of Nature ; but that Na- \nture has a centre, the universe has a sensorium, and there, at that \npoint, of which more by and by, God exists. Zerclusht says : A \nwinged globe : when the soul was created it had wings. They fell \naway when it descended from its native element ; and cannot re- \nturn till they are regained. How? By sprinkling them with the \nwaters of life ! Where are they, these waters ? In the gardens of \nGod. How are they to be reached ? By following God, when he \npays his daily visit to the soul. Now, there is a great deal in this \nriddle of Zoroaster. I shall solve it presently ; for it is a solemn \nthing, albeit we laugh all gods to utter scorn, that are modelled \nafter us. We tell Ashtoreth and Astarte that they are eternally \ndead ; while Dagon, Bel, and fifty other gods do but excite our de- \nrision and contempt ; nor have we too much respect for Pan, or any \nother of that numerous family ; for only the " Great Positive \nMind " of the Harmonialists satisfies our yearnings, or answers \nthe soul\'s demand for a God. \n\nMorell tells us that we cannot divest our mind of the belief \nthat there is something positive in the glance which the human \nsoul casts upon the world of infinity and eternity ; that there is a \ngoal, a point of points, in short, a conscious God ; and we believe \nMorell ; yet, while doing so, are startled by Sir William Hamil- \nton\'s " Man can have no knowledge of the Infinite God." I do not \nagree with Hamilton. Calderwood says : " There can be no image \nof the Infinite." This maj r not be entirely true. Sometimes there \narise to the surface certain primary beliefs, theretofore lying perdu \nin the deeps of the soul ; and an invincible conviction of God\'s ex- \nistence is the strongest of these. It is strange that philosophers \ncannot see that two, nay, three universes exist, one of which \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n\n\n14 AFTER DEATH; \n\nthe Material \xe2\x80\x94 is but the projected shadow of the other \xe2\x80\x94 the \nSpiritual \xe2\x80\x94 and hence is negatived by it ; for which reason it will \nbe forever impossible for the material, cognizing faculties to grasp \nthat which environs and stretches so immeasurably above it. \nYears ago, I did not dream that time and sorrow and deep trouble \nand constant yearning would develop a faculty whose functions \nshould be that of knowing God, just as that of numbers, \xe2\x80\x94 starting \nfrom a 1, 2, 3, my boj r , and 5 and 5 are 10, my girl, presently deals \nwith the calculus, differential and integral, skips to fluxions, and \nthen measures interstellar spaces and weighs the worlds of farther \nheaven. I know this to be true. I used to believe that not till \nwe were dead and begun to " be " and move in another state, could \nwe know the mysteries, God, time, soul, space ! That here, at \nbest, we are only vouchsafed imperfect glimpses thereof, during \ncertain peculiar conditions inducible by mesmerism and drugs of \nvarious kinds. But these views are changed. There is now devel- \noping in many persons a new or God-knowing faculty ; and one of \nits first revelations to us is, that God is not Panthea or Nature, \nfor that is only his vehicle ; that he is not a being of infinite, ex- \ntension, but infinitely intelligent, qualitatively and quantitatively. \nThis we know by faith alone, which declares that God is ; while \nthe new power tells us what he is. \n\nThe fleet of stars now sailing down the deep ; the storm-fiend, \nlightning-crowned, striding forth to ruin and destroy ; the nebulous \nclusters around the galactic poles, do not proclaim God\'s being \nhalf so solemnly as does this little faculty of the soul, that whis- \npers us, in the midst of the rush and whirl of life, that God lives \nand is; that the great aum, the Lord of lords, has a being, actual, \npersonal, though impersonal ; central, yet circumvolving ; effulgent, \nglorious, \xe2\x80\x94 the Sunshine of Eternal Universes, \xe2\x80\x94 yet the densest \nShadow that exists, \xe2\x80\x94 the clearest light, yet most unfathomable \nnrystery ! God is afar off us all, yet ever near at hand. \n\nAnd this organ, this God-knowing faculty, or power or qual- \nity of the mind assures us that we \xe2\x80\x94 all we are \xe2\x80\x94 all our faculties \nand actions, are weighed in the scales of the great Eterne. \n\nAware that physical death is inevitable, the wise man in whom \nit begins to operate, avails himself of every opportunity to learn ; \nhe hesitates not to question all things, to challenge all conclusions ; \ndemanding the proofs at every step of his great life-induction, \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 15 \n\neven at the risk of being wrongly understood as I have been, and \ndenounced accordingly. But no true man will flinch from duty on \nthat account. He ought not, will not, suffer his soul to be warped \nfrom her true purposes, knowing that ignorance, cupidity, and lust \nof power are the baleful trio of this present civilization. He \nsuffers and grows strong ; his new faculty having taught him that \nthe human soul is in reality an emanation from Deity, \xe2\x80\x94 \xe2\x80\xa2 the august \nGod, and that to it he has imparted original and essential knowl- \nedge, the organs of which are so many windows for his multitudi- \nnous outlooks upon the vast sea, whereon floats all matter, with \nits accidents, like so many tiny shallops on the calm bosom of a \nsilver-breasted lake ! \n\nHowever earnestly a number of men may accept or believe \na thing, doctrine, dogma, or system, it by no means follows that \nthey believe the truth ; but when universal Man not only assents \nto, but in some form affirms, the existence of a God supreme, \ntheir conceptions may not be correct, but it is certain that there \nmust be a ground for their belief, \xe2\x80\x94 a God somewhere in the uni- \nverse. \n\nLet us reflect but one moment, as, admitting the idleness of all \nthese avatar dreams of past ages, we take a look at the vast ma- \nchine, \xe2\x80\x94 the universe, \xe2\x80\x94 a mere speck of which we are ourselves, \nand all our doubts will vanish, as do vapors before the mountain \nblast, or suddenly uprisen sun ; for the proofs of God\'s existence \ndo not come singly, or weakly, but rush in mighty, resistless \narmies, upon our half reluctant souls ; sweeping all our doubts \naway like straws before the gale ! True, we may not be able to \nsatisfactorily locate or personify Deity, but cannot help admitting \nthe existence of a great and mysterious power, in constant action, \nand which, for want of a better term, we call God. \n\nWhen a man has thus pondered, and attained this grand con- \nviction, true happiness and true progress have begun. He is \nserene now, and calm. He has learned that the soul is the mirror \nof the universe, standing in relationship to all living things ; that \nshe is illuminated by an inward light that flows through this new \norgan ; but the tempests of the passions, the multitude of sensual \nimpressions, the dissipations, darken the light, whose glory only \ndiffuses itself when it burns alone, and all is peace and harmony \nwithin. \n\n\n\n16 AFTER DEATH; \n\nWhen we know ourselves to be separated from all outward influ- \nences, and desire only to be guided by this universal light, then \nonly do we find in ourselves pure and certain knowledge. Purity \nof Purpose, Will, and Deed, are the keys which unlock the gates of \nPower, which is Knowledge. In the state of concentration which \nfollows, when we resolve to be truly good, the soul can analyze all \nobjects, things, and subjects on which its attention may rest ; and \nit can unite itself with them, penetrate their substance, explore, \nuntrammelled, all mysteries, even unto God himself, \xe2\x80\x94 so know \nmore of him than hath yet been known, and become master of all \nimportant truths beside. \n\nLove is the touchstone of knowledge ; but to be pure, it must be \nuniversal, and embrace all God\'s creatures in heaven, on earth, \nand in the worlds around us. All efforts of the true God-student \nare not to be confined to studies of former writings about Deity, \nbut to elevate and purify himself. His path will be thorny, his \nroad very rough ; but, although he suffers, the guerdon is certain, \nfor so shall the gates of glory be opened unto him, and he be put \nin possession of the sacred key. I, therefore, announce a new \ntruth, \xe2\x80\x94 not original with me, but handed down the ages from the \npeerless lips of Christ himself, but heretofore not well understood. \nAnd that truth is, that God is, in one sense, a condition of exist- \nence. " I and my Father are one," said Jesus. Why? How? I \nreply : It has been said that the universe is dual, or material and \nspiritual. I believe it to be triplicate, \xe2\x80\x94 Material, Spiritual, and \nDeific, and that a man can become so perfectly good and pure as \nto be in a material body, leading a spiritual life, and immersed in \nGod at the same time ; not as the Buddhists have it, or the \nchurches either, but at perfect union with the great Soul of the \nuniverse, even while living in this valley of Unrest and Shadow. \nLife is the vehicle of soul, soul the vehicle of God. Man is a \ndual mind : with the outer he knows all the things of matter, its \naccidents and incidents ; with the inner, he cognizes that which is \ndisparated from matter, or spiritual things ; and with this inner \npower refined and clarified, he is able to cognize the Great Su- \npreme, \xe2\x80\x94 to cast a bridge across the gulf of death, and land him \nsafely on the further side. Hence, I do not believe in a distant \nGod, or a Christ nineteen hundred years off, but in an ever-present \nCreator, and an ever-present Way. Christ is to me more than a \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 17 \n\nmyth or a fancy. He is more of God than all others ; and when \nhe says to me, " Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy- \nladen and I will give, you rest," it means life to me ; and when I \ngo on the wings of prayer, I fly back with a blessing. I wish there \nwas more of Christ in the churches, and that those who profess, \nalso possessed him, and were immersed in that sea of love which \nI call the God-condition, and which I believe will be the state of \nall good men by and by. I believe in God more than some Spirit- \nualists, more than some Christians ; hence am not a party-man or \nsectarian, because I believe that my soul is filled with the divine \ntruth of a new era in Religion, and I announce it to the world. \nLet us now inquire what the Deity is, and where? in all hu- \nmility and trust. I hold the universe to be triplicate, \xe2\x80\x94 that is to \nsay, Material, Spiritual, and Deific, \xe2\x80\x94 each an octave above the \nother. \n\nFirst. We know that all the suns and worlds of space could be \ncrowded into a very small corner of the vast expanse around us ; \nwe also know that matter is impermanent, fleeting, changeful, \nand therefore must have had, if not an absolute commencement, \nat least a beginning in the form in which we see and know it ; \nand that it is everywhere subservient to Mind \xe2\x80\x94 the Supreme \nMind. \n\nSecond. We know that the direct flight of matter is toward \nspirit ; that is, toward refinement, rarefaction, spiritual, essential, \naromal conditions. \n\nThird. Mind is like spirit and matter, graded ; and we ascend \nfrom the Bushman of Africa to the loftiest genius that ever lived, \n\xe2\x80\x94 each ascending grade being one step nearer the Archetype, the \nCreator, the Supreme. Now, a human mind is restless ; its law, \nexpansion ; hence it must, if immortal, one day reach an intellect- \nual altitude, God-like and grand, and yet can never reach the \nabsolute, because it is limited, that is boundless. Its development \nis in lines and curves. God is fulness, absolute completeness. \nMind finds its field in nature, but the unconditioned God filtrates \nnature, hence cannot be contained wholly within that sphere ; and, \ntherefore, the soul that seeks God must climb the sky, sweep \nthrough the brotherhoods and hierarchies, and challenge the great \nBeyond for an answer to its great question, " What is Deity?" \nI have already defined God as the brain of the universe, and its \n3 \n\n\n\n18 AFTER DEATH; \n\nsoul ; but he is divinely more than that, for he is the centre, and \npervades, by his aura, which is life, embracing law and principles, \nthe vast domains of existence. \n\nThe materia] universe is bounded, limited, circumscribed, and \ncircumvolved, or surrounded, by a vast and almost inconceivable \nocean of Spirit, and on the breast of that vast sea are cushioned the \nethereal belts, zones, and worlds, as are also the material constella- \ntions. The material zones of constellations revolve within corre- \nsponding spiritual or ethereal zones or belts, on, all sides of the \nspaces, ; \xe2\x80\x94 seven of them ; and in the midst of this space, equi-dis- \ntant from each of the seven, embracing alike the material and \nethereal zones, belts, rings, universes and constellations, \xe2\x80\x94 in the \nprofound and awful deeps of Distance, \xe2\x80\x94 is a Third Universe of \nuniverses, \xe2\x80\x94 and this is the Vortex, the centre, \xe2\x80\x94 the dwelling- \nplace of Power, the seat of Force, the fountain of all Energy, \xe2\x80\x94 \nthe unimaginable dwelling-place of the great I am, \xe2\x80\x94 the super- \ncelestial throne of the ever-living God ! Alone ? No ! The puri- \nfied souls of the myriads of dead centuries are there, contemplar, \nbut not co-equal Gods. He is there \xe2\x80\x94 in Human Form, but not in \nhuman shape. Here concentrate, at one point, the quintessence \nof all within the entire family of universes. God is not Panthea, \nJehovah, Aum, Brahm, Allah, Jove. He is self-conscious. Not \nheat or motion, but the soul of these ; not light, or life, or electric- \nity, but their life. Not spirit or soul, but souls\' and spirits\' crys- \ntallization. Not intelligence, but its concentration, its refinement, \nits last and final stage. Not music, or form, or tone, or beauty, \nbut their infinite and last sublimation, \xe2\x80\x94 an auroral Sun of suns, \never-moving, from whose negative radiations convolving nebulae \nare formed, \xe2\x80\x94 themselves the prolific parents of immeasurable gal- \naxies, not of stars, but of astral systems. And this God was never \nwholly incarnate, yet pulsed through many an avatar \xe2\x80\x94 filled the \nhearts of many a Christ, and will till time shall be no more. Hence \nit follows that no soul \xe2\x80\x94 for souls are incarnate rays from God \xe2\x80\x94 \never was, or can be, wholly lost ; and again, that no antagonistic \npower can exist within the domain, lit up by rays from his grand \nDeific Brain. And this is the mysterious God I worship ; and he \nis whom Jesus proclaimed, and adored, and whose rays soften the \nmost obdurate heart, and not unfrequently transforms Christians \ninto followers of the glorious religion of Jesus Christ, \xe2\x80\x94 the most \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 19 \n\nperfect that this world has ever yet developed or produced. This \nGod lives, moves, sleeps not \xe2\x80\x94 loves all. He it is that springs \nthe wires of the Ages, and ordains the drama of the centuries. \nTo him I pray, when all the world is hostile, and bigots rave and \npersecute. He it is, who tells me, " Blessed are ye when men \nshall persecute and revile you falsely for my sake." And so I rely \non him, and say, let the storm come down ; God rules and reigns ; \nall will yet be well. He is here, there, everywhere ; in the bend- \ning heavens, and in everything that lives, moves, and hath a being. \nHe protects and loves us all, and favors us by special Providence \nthrough angelic proxies when we do right \xe2\x80\x94 which is his will. \nHe hears our prayers, and if we pray well, will answer them. He \nlives and loves, rules and governs. He gave us Christ and Cour- \nage, Hope and Faith ; therefore we will trust him, for " He doeth \nall things well." \n\nHere then, we have taken the first step onward ; we have joined \nthe primary classes ; we have taken the first degree, and become \nentered apprentices in the infinite Gkand Lodge ! and we realize, \nconcerning God, the magnificent significance of Emerson\'s sublime \nconception of " Brahma " : \n\n" They reckon ill who leave Me out \nWhen Me they fly, I am the wings ; \nI am the Doubter, \xe2\x80\x94 and the doubt ; \xe2\x80\x94 \nAnd I the hymn the Brahmin sings." \n\nWe have reached a faint view of the fact that a bridge extends \nfrom us to God, connecting the two ends of the vast creation. \nOf course, before we know about this bridge, its nature, con- \nstruction, and extension, we must know something about its either \nend, \xe2\x80\x94 man on the hither ; nature, the stream it crosses ; and God \nat the further side, in whose centre are anchored the eternal cables \nthat sustain the mighty superstructure. \n\nNow our primary doubts are solved ; now that we can no longer \ndrift upon a shoreless sea of unbelief; now that we are certain of \nan under, circumvolving and Over Soul, maugre all our inability \nto define or have a clear conception thereof, \xe2\x80\x94 we begin the work \nof introspection ; and this indicates the soul\'s real thirst for \nknowledge ; for from the moment we begin to look within, as well \nas without, in that same moment we commence to ask a series of \nquestions, each for him or herself. "What am I? Whither go- \n\n\n\n20 AFTEK DEATH ; \n\ning ? Whence ? I came hither through the narrow channel of \nmortal birth : but from where ? Did I originate in the dear moth- \ners\' breast ? \xe2\x80\x94 Her and my father\'s bodies ? Or came I by that \nroad from some other unknown country, afar off in the azure? \nWho knows ? Are man\'s and woman\'s physical organs capable of \nelaborating soul? Or is the metempsychosis true? And if \ntrue, where was the starting-point ? " \n\n" One thing I know, and that is : Presently I shall stop breath- \ning ; and what then ? Ah ! there\'s the rub ! Where then ? and \nhow am I to get there ? and when there, what am I to do ? Here \nI live by eating, drinking, sleeping, and being clad ; but when I \nam dead how am I to exist ? how am I to breathe without lungs, \ndigest without a stomach, keep warm without blood and a heart to \npump it through me ? How am I to live without eating ; and how \ncan I eat without teeth, tongue, jaws, saliva, and appetite ? How \nam I to hear without ears, see without eyes, feel without nerves, \nmove without limbs, or think without a brain? for when dead I \ncertainly know that all the organs perish, and all their functions \ncease ! " And so the man asks countless questions to some of the \nsurface ones of which he reads appropriate answers in the psycho- \nlogical literature of the age ; but no matter how satisfactory these \nmay be in a rational point of view, they do not, and never can, \nthoroughly quench his soul\'s great thirst. He wants to see and - \nknow for himself, and will not sleep contentedly till rocked in the \ncradle of personal certainty, derivable only from individual and \nhome experience. But there are some questions, thus asked, to \nwhich no response comes, either from without or within ; and \nthen down we go into a sort of Bunyanian slough of despond sit- \nuated in the valley of Unrest, and surrounded by as many destroy- \ning angels and tempting devils as Milton\'s imaginary hell was \nsupposed capable of vomiting forth. Yet, in that same valley, \nrare and precious gems abound. It is Sinbad\'s diamond mine ; \nIt is the philosophical well of Zem Zem ! Truth lies at the bottom \nthereof, and whoever wants her must dive deeply, because she \nsteadily refuses to be coaxed up, frightened, or fished out. \nYour true student undergoes two mental processes simulta- \nneously ; he gives off and takes on ; for, like the earth, he has a \ndouble motion, centripetal and centrifugal, \xe2\x80\x94 nay, three ; for he \nis continually changing his poles, and altering the plane of his \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 21 \n\nmental evolution to the great line of the intellectual and moral \necliptic. Truth is like yeast in flour ; the more a soul has the \nhigher it rises. The true student gathers in and casts off; learns, \nand learns to unlearn ; and imperceptibly becomes a new man be- \nfore he is well aware of his change of grooves. There are, how- \never, some natures that" while ever ready to accept new-found \ntruth, yet cling like barnacles to old error. They insist on har- \nmonizing incompatibilities ; tying Noah to spirit rappings, Moses \nto John Brown, and Confucius to the present century, \xe2\x80\x94 neither of \nwhich is possible, else progress is a lie ! Why ? Because Chris- \ntianity is older than Christ, and Truth is newer than the last book \nwritten on it. Error is protean ; experience is kaleidoscopic. \nYou seldom see the same figure twice successively, and must have \na good memory to know whether you have seen it before, for the \nreason that seers differ in their accounts of things seen, \xe2\x80\x94 a natu- \nral consequence of diverse organizations ; innumerable sects have \narisen, all of which are far more intent upon making a good fight \nwith each other, than of getting to "heaven." Religion is their \n" battle cry," and nothing more. Fences are in vogue to-day ; and \nfences are a fallacy so far as the moral life is concerned. " He that \nbelieveth (as I do) shall be saved ; but he that believeth not (as \nI do) shall be damned." "Baptidzo et Baptizo ! get on board of \nPaul\'s boat ! " cries the Rev. Dr. Dry-as-dust. " Get thee hither, \nfriend, ive will conduct thee to the Ark of Safety ! " says Goodman \nBroadbrim. " Shout along the way to Zion," sings oat Brother \nDove, with claivs and eagle bill. " Hear the truth rapped out on \nmy table!" says a Spiritualist, in all honesty. "Oh, that\'s all \nnonsense ! I believe in the Book of Mormon ! " yells another. \n" There\'s no hell," says the next ; " Or heaven ! " screams his \nneighbor. Pourquoi ? Simply because all fences -are bad ; and \nthat\'s the way God takes to tear them down. \n\nOne life, one origin, one God, one destiny, one religion, one hu- \nmanity, is the universal (coming) creed. \n\nYou can\'t get stout or strong by proxy, either in soul or body. \nYou must eat and drink to that end. Go down into the valley ; \ndig for yourself; quench your own thirst at the pool; and then, \nrefreshed, up, up and away toward the green fields of the true \nEden, where grow the trees of life and knowledge, ^and there pluck \nflowers and weave chaplets for your own brows, \xe2\x80\x94 self-crowned, or \n\n\n\n22 AFTER DEATH ; \n\nnot at all ! God helps him who helps himself ! and he who does \nit not will wither and decay ; for even souls grow thin and slim, \nor else wax fat and strong. \n\nIn what else than self-effort can redemption consist ? Not from \noriginal sin \xe2\x80\x94 for that\'s a long way off, somewhere among the first \npeople that existed on the first earths of the univercoelum, five \nhundred million ages ago ! \xe2\x80\x94 but from intellectual and moral pu- \nerility ! Conceded. Well, then, let the motto be " Excelsior ! " \n" Try ! " \n\nThe present, above all others, is pre-eminently the era of ques- \ntion-asking. We all want to probe the unknown, and scan the un- \nsearched ; and that, too, despite the mimic thunder that forbids us, \nand declares certain mysteries to be altogether past finding out. \nEspecially is it true that men are questioning the hitherto settled \ndicta of churches concerning our post-mortem existence and status \nafter death. It is too late in the day for us to rest satisfied with \nthe meagre revelations of printed script handed down through the \ndusty stairs of ages past. \n\nWe rebel against the vague generalities that passed current \n" lang syne." They are too crude for these times ; for the said \ntimes have changed, lately ; and even the cannibals no longer eat \nthe missionaries \xe2\x80\x94 raw; they cook them, and serve you up a pot- \nage au tete de missionaire With sauce piquante, in fine style ; being \nquite au fait in cooking those sent out to cook them. In these \ndays missionary soup, of various kinds, greets all visitors to the \nSociety Islands, just as we cook each other in a different man- \nner. Now if the subjects, of " The King of the Cannibal Islands " \nhave advanced to a perception and appreciation of the mageric art, \nso have we in others. We do not, by any means, believe so \nstrongly in what the Reverend John Smith says from his pulpit, \nfor we go to sleep long before he reaches fifteenthly ; and care but \nlittle either for his poundings of the cushion, or expoundings \nof the Scripture. Existence is too practical in these days. He \ncannot so easily impound our reason, souls or dollars, \xe2\x80\x94 the last \nbeing his great aim, and for the which he was originally " called." \nAristotle and Bacon are united in these days,, and we get at \ntruth by the " high priori," as well as other roads. Refusing to \nbe conducted toward truth, by the deductive or inductive paths \nalone, we very frequently leave earth altogether, and, while our \n\n\n\nOE, DLSBODIED MAN. 23 \n\nbodies are snugly blanketed, our souls are comfortably taking- \nnotes among the distant constellations. In these days not one of \nthe multitude of reasons formerly assigned as triumphantly sus- \ntaining the dogma of human immortality will do. Long ago it \nrequired proofs of a different mould than Plato\'s reasonings, or \nthe olla podridas offered from the pulpits, to convince people of \nmind of the fact of immortality ; and it is only just now that these \nproofs have come along. It is proposed in this work to present a \nfew of these better reasons. \n\nIf twenty men see an object which they all describe alike, you \nmay take it for granted that such an object really exists. Well ; \nnot twenty, but five hundred thousand individuals, within these \ntwenty last past years, have unitedly borne testimony to the fact \nof the existence of a spiritual world, and we must accept, because \nit is impossible to gainsay or impugn their evidence. \n\nIf man had made half as long and earnest efforts to harmonize \ncontending interests and factions as he has to fathom the abyss, \xe2\x80\x94 \nmaster his ignorance of what lies beyond his natural or external \nrange of vision, \xe2\x80\x94 the millenial epoch had long since come. His \nfault has been that his efforts have either been partial, wrongly di- \nrected, or he has relied on men who claimed a great deal too much \nknowledge regarding things supernal and celestial. \n\nAt length the civilized world has grown tired of the Weary, \nweary A\'s, and the barren, barren B\'s, stale stuff and mouldy, \nupon which it has fed, and lo ! the supply comes to meet the \ndemand ; seers are born, lucids discovered, the veil torn away, \nand light, from what has been called the region of darkness, begins \nto flow in, for it is most unquestionably true that \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n" Sometimes the aerial synods bend, \nAnd the mighty choirs descend ; \nAnd the brains of men thenceforth \nTeem with unaccustomed thoughts." \n\nCharacters abound, to whom are ascribed strange powers of a \nspiritual nature, and the concurrent testimony of all such, is that a \nspiritual country really exists, whence messengers not infrequently \njourney hitherward. All this the great world knows, but beyond \nthat point it has gone but a very little way. \n\nSpiritualism, in its advent, has been iconoclastic, and not a few \nsturdy blows has it struck at the cherished images of the past. That \n\n\n\n24 AFTER DEATH ; OR, DISBODIED MAN. \n\nwas its puerile side and mission. Now rises Clairvoyance to the \ntask of eclectic sifting ; thence to a positive career of building. \nMoses and Aaron, Joshua and Jairam get fewer thwacks now, \nat the tongues of mediums and eolists, than awhile since, and \nclairvoyants claim a hearing. \n\nWe are tired of negations, sick of rose-water, full to satiety of \noptimism, and long for a little change in our mental diet, and the \nsense of these facts. \n\nIt is a very noticeable fact that even among the vast army of \nSpiritualists but few positive opinions exist concerning the act- \nuality and. substantiality of the spiritual world. They accept \nthe notion generally, but have not, as a body, any very clear \nconceptions of what spirit is, or where spirits dwell. During the \nfirst four years of modern spiritual manifestations there was a \ngreat deal of inquiry and speculation on these points ; but it \ngradually died out, and men seemed to have lost sight of the very \npoints that ought to have claimed most of their attention. They \nhave claimed their system to be the best the world ever yet saw, \nand that it really accomplishes more for the true interests of the \nhuman race than any other that ever existed ; but this claim is \nderided by nearly every church in Christendom, for it is commonly \nasked of Spiritualists, " If }^our system is so very perfect and su- \nperior to all others, why is it that a higher and purer tone of \nmorals and religion does not exist among you ? Where are your \nfree and open-handed charities ? How happens it that you allow \nyour very ministers \xe2\x80\x94 your media \xe2\x96\xa0 \xe2\x80\x94 to almost starve to death ? \nWhy, if your system is so perfect, is there so much scandal, back- \nbiting, slander, and bitterness in your ranks ? And why has not \nyour system, by its powerful influence upon the practiced lives of \nits votaries, convinced mankind of its superlative excellence be- \nyond all others?" Now I do not pretend to universal wisdom, \nnor to be able to render a just verdict in the case ; but it seems to \nme that no system, in its infancy, can be expected to exhibit as \ngreat perfection as those that have been ripened by time. That \nSpiritualism has given an intellectual filip to the age is conceded \non all hands ; and that it will presently wear off its angles, corners, \nsharp points, and crudities, is equally certain. The mission of \nSpiritualism, in my judgment, has hitherto been that of an eye- \nglass, enabling all men to see God\'s Truth more clearly. \n\n\n\nCHAPTER II. \n\nWHY IS MAN IMMORTAL? \xe2\x80\x94 THE REPLY SINGULAR PROOFS \xe2\x80\x94 INVISIBLE PEOPLE \n\n"BELIGION" THE LIVER \xe2\x80\x94 WHAT IS GOD? \xe2\x80\x94 THE ANSWER THE EXACT LOCALITY \n\nOP HELL WHITE-BLOODED PEOPLE OP THE FUTURE \xe2\x80\x94 AN ASTOUNDING PROPHECY. \n\nSuppose that you, the reader, should take it into your head to \nask the writer certain questions ; if the latter was competent to \nanswer them, the former would have the right of testing the sound- \nness of the replies by the rules of the best logic extant. Before \nentering on the great task that lies before him, therefore, he, the \nwriter, proposes to submit himself and the cause he advocates to \nsuch a test and trial. \n\nThen let it be understood that the questioner, throughout, repre- \nsents the skeptical world ; and that he, conceding nothing as grant- \ned, demands all, \xe2\x80\x94 like Shylock, must have his fall due. Thus we \nshall be able to do something more than "guess at truth." \n\nPremising that I will not attempt to fully solve the problem \n" What, where, and who is God? " because I cannot do it, although \nbelieving in his existence, I \xe2\x80\x94 trusting to be excused for the third \ntime using the personal pronoun \xe2\x80\x94 say to the disbeliever, "Ask \non!" \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 " You proclaim human immortality ; I for the sake \nof learning, deny it, and demand the logical reasons of your belief \nin that mysterious dogma." \n\nResponse. \xe2\x80\x94 I believe in human immortality because : \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n1. The great majority of human kind, in every clime and age, \nand under all varieties of creeds, condition, and faith, believe it ; \nand it is impossible for a faith so widely spread not to be founded \non a truth. \n\n2. Because all human history is replete with testimony affirm- \ning the reappearance on earth of persons known to be dead. In- \nformation unknown to the living has, in millions of instances, \nbeen imparted by such reappearing persons to the living, or rather \n\nthe embodied. \n\n4 \' \xe2\x96\xa0 25 \n\n\n\n26 AETER DEATH; \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 "But how do you know, supposing these appear- \nances are not mere phasmas, that they are disbodied men and \nwomen ? " \n\n3. Because things that resemble each other in all respects must \nbe of the same species. These disbodied people look like us, \nclaim to be of us ; they love us, hate us, deceive us, caution, warn \nand protect us, and in all respects are like us ; some being wise, \nand some otherwise. \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 " How, supposing we admit them to be human, do \nyou know but that they are from other worlds, and not from this ? \nWhy may there not be those who know all that we know of our- \nselves, and who amuse themselves at our expense? " \n\n4. (a.) "We know these people to be human, because of all \nknown creation man is the only one that can lie. They do some- \ntimes tell fibs ; ergo, we pronounce them human, and if one of \nthese ethereal people deceives us, it proves that immortality is not \nthe result of the operation of either intellectual or moral, but of \nsome other law or laws. \n\n(6.) No two things in nature are precisely alike. We have no \nreason to believe that there exists another world exactly like this ; \nnor that the people of those worlds resemble us in all respects. \n\n(c.) No adequate motive (and man everywhere, must act from \nmotives) exists for the denizens of other worlds either to deceive \nus or to make themselves so familiar with the minutiae of our af- \nfairs, as do these, our ethereal visitants. \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 " But these visitants are spiritual and therefore in- \nvisible ; now how is it possible they can be human ? " \n\n5. You cannot see air, gas, or clear glass, yet all these are gross \nand heavy. You cannot even see a man I We are just as intangi- \nble before, as after death. You see his coat, his skin, blood, bones, \nnerves, brain ; \'Ms qualities and properties all the time, but not \nhimself. Spirit forever eludes physical sight, save under extraor- \ndinary conditions, quite exceptional to the rule. We universally \nspeak of " my bocty." Because we instinctively know that the \nbody is not us. No man ever saw another, for the reason that \nman himself resides in sealed chambers in the brain. The body \nis his general organ, his nerves the feelers, and his eyes the win- \ndows through which he knows the outer world. It is no argument \nagainst immortaljty that souls are unseeable ; for we cannot see the \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 27 \n\nessence of anything whatever ; and at best can become only par- \ntially acquainted with anything. \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 "I have heard that immortality resulted only from \na strong belief in the Christian creed ! Is faith essential to it? " \n\n6. God created all men, we are taught. He must love all men \nequally well. All men resemble each other, and all differences be- \ntween persons or races are in degree only, for all are subject to the \none great law of nature ; hence Carlyle and Quashee are on a par, \nso far as natural law is concerned ,; and if one man survives death \nand rises triumphant thereafter, that one fact guarantees the im- \nmortality of the entire human \xe2\x80\x94 strictly human \xe2\x80\x94 races ; because - \nthe one man achieved it through a law, and all others that re- \nsemble him in what constitutes his humanity, must also, like him, \nbe death-proof, so far as the real self-hood is concerned \xe2\x80\x94 the I \xe2\x80\x94 \nthe self \xe2\x80\x94 the ego. . All the trees, earth, water, vegetation, and \nanimal life on the globe, are but so many stomachs digesting the \ncrude material, and elaborating therefrom its finest essences, or \nunparticled matter. We have reason to believe that in man this \nchemical process reaches its ultimation ; for if man\'s spirit was \nparticled, the bullet that takes off his material leg or arm, would \nalso carry off the correspondent ethereal limbs. Instead of which \nwe constantly scratch our knees, albeit the physical leg lays buried \nin the garden, or adorns, in liquor, some surgeon\'s shelf. Our \nknee still itches, and still we scratch at the place where we once \nsaw it ! Well, if the knee or arm is not destroyed, save so far as \nflesh and blood are concerned, why you may dissect his lungs \naway ; then his bowels, body, brain, and still the man remains in- \ntact, undissectable, undisturbed, uncut, \xe2\x80\x94 wholly none-get-atible. \nIt is this invisible man that stalks about the streets with so many \npounds of matter ; and who, when at last he gets rid of his load, \xe2\x80\x94 \nat death, \xe2\x80\x94 takes pleasure-trips back to his old homestead, raps^ \ncommon sense into, and folly out of, our heads ; points us to the \nlong bridge that spans the eternal gulf that will forever separate \nthe ethereal from the material worlds ; brings to us the new gos- \npel of love and heaven, as realities instead of dreams ; prepares \nus for the pleasant journey ; proclaims the extinguishment of hell, \nand the death of all the bugaboos ; heralds the better time coming ; \nsoothes our sorrows ; lifts up our bowed-down heads and hearts ; \nrobs death of its terrors, and the grave of its gloom ! \n\n\n\n28 AFTER DEATH ; \n\nv \n\n7. I repeat the argument suggested in preceding lines of this \nwork. A sailor, being bored by a parson, replied, "If I am to be \nborn hard, live hard, fare on hard tack and salt junk ; be kicked \nand buffeted about by bad captains and worse mates ; sleep on \nthe soft side of an oak plank ; dream the devil has got me in his \nclutches, or that Bill Marlinspike has just cut sticks with my wife \nand kids ; wake up in a nor\'-wester ; get shipwrecked on the Ton- \ngo Islands ; help eat the ship\'s carpenter made into soup, and \nthen die and go to hell at last, it is what I call par-tic-u-lar-ly hard, \nif not more so ! " So I think, too. The sailor\'s plea is backed by \nsound philosophy. There is no satisfaction on this side of the \ngrave ! Not one of us realizes our anticipations ; joy escapes us \nere we have tasted its promising cup ; love centres round self, and \nis finally summed up as a pleasant dream. Knowledge but whets \nour appetite for more, and that more must be dived for in the \ndark. \n\nAmbition is a cancer that eats out our hearts, and wealth turns \nus into vinegar before our time. \n\nEeligion ! I mean the popular party, \xe2\x80\x94 mutual- admiration - \nsociety sort, \xe2\x80\x94 what is it, in presence of the revelations of psychical \nscience ? An excitement, mainly, \xe2\x80\x94 dependent on the size and \nstate of the liver and spleen. Negroes have large livers and \nplenty of " religion." Now every one of man\'s countless faculties \nare susceptible of infinite expansion. We begin with, "Twice one \nare two ; three times three are nine," and in a little while we be- \ngin to weigh the planets, and calculate the distances of the blaz- \ning suns of further space ! And are we satisfied then ? Is that \nthe limit of the mathematical faculty ? Verily I trow not ! Life \nhere on earth is all too brief and circumscribed, jammed in, im- \npeded, and obstructed, to permit even half play, scope, and growth, \nto a single faculty or power of the mind ! Can it be that this \ndeathless thirst of the soul, these unutterable longings, are \nnever to be satisfied? Are we never to take the quenching \ndraught ? I trow yes ! else God and the Universe exist in vain. \n\nNot here, but over yonder, across the deep, dark river will they \nbe, \xe2\x80\x94 away yonder, glory be to Heaven\'s Lord, \xe2\x80\x94 the Peerless God \nof right, \xe2\x80\x94 where a man\'s bank-stock, coat, stature, money, and \ncolor, God\'s own signet on human brows \xe2\x80\x94 are not sine qua non \nto admission into the University ! Apply this reasoning to all the \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 29 \n\nknown faculties of the mind, \xe2\x80\x94 never forgetting that man is yet \nbut an infant, and this only a baby-world, not yet done suckling \nat the teats of the Past ; that hundreds of faculties and powers \nare yet to be unfolded ; that probably months, if not years of \ncenturies must pass before one half the latent man comes up and \nout, \xe2\x80\x94 one half the family of mental forces be grown even to \npuberty, \xe2\x80\x94 so to speak ; apply it to all the known and possible \npassions, loves, ambitions ; take even those we are familiar with, \n\xe2\x80\x94 and I will not insult your understanding, or linger on this point, \n\xe2\x96\xa0 \xe2\x80\x94 and it is impossible not to see that threescore years and ten \nmay suffice for the "primer" development of many, but that \neven myriads of ages, at topmost speed of advancement will \xe2\x80\x94 \nay, must, in the nature of things ! \xe2\x80\x94 still find him a " Freshman, " \nor at best a " Sophomore, " in God\'s stupendous College ! When, \nhow, or where, he will graduate, if ever, I, at least, am not so \npresumptuous as to attempt to state or hazard even a conjecture. \nSufficient for me to know that he does leave this planet, does find \na new home, \xe2\x80\x94 houses not made with hands, in the starry heavens ; \nand that he does go to school, and learn lessons far more impor- \ntant than any ever studied here. \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 " Sir, you say that we, by virtue of our organiza- \ntion alone, are destined to a life beyond the grave. Now, is that \nbelief based upon your experience of modern spiritualism ? " \n\nAnswer. \xe2\x80\x94 No I \xe2\x80\x94 emphatically No ! \n\nMy knowledge of, not mere belief in, immortal life has not been \nderived from an experience of what purports to intercourse with \ndisbodied men and women, through any kind or phase of the \nso-called spiritual manifestations. I am, at this writing of the \nfirst edition of this book, here in the carpenter shop of Auguste \nLandry, in St. Martinsville, St. Martin\'s Parish, Louisiana, May \n12th, 1866, over forty years of age. Twenty-five of those years, \nhave mainly been spent in the one single pursuit of knowledge on \nthe subjects whereof I am now writing, \xe2\x80\x94 concerning Psychical \nMan. I have sought for this knowledge in twelve States of this \nUnion ; in France, Ireland, Scotland, England, Turkey, Egypt, \nSyria, Central and Western America, Arabia, Mexico, and Cali- \nfornia. \n\nI was born a Seer, and for many years have been more familiar \nwith disbodied men and women, and their magnificent dwelling- \n\n\n\n30 AFTER death; \n\nplace across the river Death, \xe2\x80\x94 r know more, far more, of their \nsplendid worlds than I do of that which holds my suffering body, \nand still more suffering soul. \n\nThe conclusion I have reached as the total result of all my \nreading, investigation, hearsay, and actual personal experience, \nis, that intercourse between our own and the so-called world of \nspirits, \xe2\x80\x94 more properly, disbodied people, or ethereal men and \nwomen, \xe2\x80\x94 is, and for long ages has been, a fixed and indis- \nputable fact, \xe2\x80\x94 most unequivocally demonstrated, in all lands, by \nall classes of minds, in a myriad ways ; and so firmly established, \nrooted, grounded, as to be neither prevented, disproved, gainsaid, \nor denied, by any power on the earth, or off it. \n\nIf it be asked : Do all these ethereal people, when questioned, \nspeak the truth ? Can we trust, believe, rely upon what they tell \nus now, and have been reported to tell all along the ages ? Then \nI should answer : All men, on earth, are not habituated to speak \nthe truth, neither can they be supposed to do so simply because \ndisrobed of flesh and blood. Habit is second nature, and it takes \ntime to cure a liar, as it does the \'scrofula or cholera. There are \nchronic liars in both worlds ; but then, a well-proven lie, once fas- \ntened on a spirit, demonstrates his existence quite as well as if he \ntold the most glowing truth. It is the teller we want to fix, and \nnot what he may happen to tell ! Identity once proven, we need \nask no more, for immortality is demonstrated. \n\nWe humans are like sponges, absorbent ; we are chronically \nangular, and not a half-way perfect man or woman ever existed, \nperhaps never will, for the horizon expands and stretches away to \nthe Ideal and Possible, as we ascend life\'s ragged, rugged moun- \ntains. \n\nSoul, \xe2\x80\x94 which I define to be the Think-Part of us, \xe2\x80\x94 like a photo- \nplate, is susceptible to all sorts of impressions, impingements, \nlights and shades, and those that are chemically strongest affect us \nmost and last the longest ; for even now, in the 19th century, the \nvandal proclivities of our barbarian ancestors crop out, and we are \nheld personally responsible for the sins of generations five hun- \ndred centuries dead and gone. Essentially pure, the better part \nof each of us gets crusted with "Evil," and experience is the \nmill that grinds them all away. The most delicate and sensi- \ntive maiden will soon become contaminated, and her fine moral \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 31 \n\nsense blunted, if exposed to the coarse and ribald society of the \nlow and vulgar ; and so, too, these last become refined by frequent \ncontact with those already so. As a tree falls so it must lie un- \ntil it decays at is removed ; and as a man dies so is he until new \ninfluences acting upon, change him, gradually and always for the \nbetter ; because no one can grow worse in the upper world, \xe2\x80\x94 the \nthing is a sheer impossibility, and for this reason : Laws there \nare the works of Wisdom ; here they are the fungi of politics and \nparty, prejudice and pretension, and have no more real justice in \nthem than an egg has of prussiate of potash. All men\'s habits \ncling to them in esse when over on the other shore until outgrown. \nHence it is not surprising that some of those who visit us from the \nother side prevaricate, lie outright, palm off their fancies for sober \ntruths, frighten us, equivocate, and take us in after many ways and \nstyles. Why is this? people ask; and to the question there are \nother replies than those above suggested, one of which is this : \nDisbodied, or rather ethereal people, of a lofty order, generally, \nbut by no means universally, undoubtedly direct, in all essential \nrespects, the great spiritual movement of the age. Individually, \nof course, there as here, such would scorn to tell wrong stories, \nand when wrong stories purporting to come from such are told, \nset them down to the score of the " Media," the imperfect chan- \nnels through which the matter flowed ; and for this reason alone \none revelation of genuine clairvoyance outweighs in real value \nfive hundred mediumistic ones. \n\nI have had an extended personal experience of both, and to-day \nregard every hour of my clairvoyance with pride and soul-felt joy, \nbut I turn With loathing and horror from the bare recollection \neven, of my " mediumship ; " for each hour of clairvoyance was \nworth five years of mediumistic existence. \n\nYet a demonstration of immortality could never have been had \nwithout the aid of mediums. The grand object of the people on \nthe further shore was to convince us of our absolute deathless- \nness, to do which they were compelled to avail themselves of all \nsuch means and agencies as have been in use since the grand \nmovement began ; and while mediumship fulfils its office in prov- \ning the fact of immortality, there its use is ended, for as a revela- \ntive power it is worthless ; while just at that point the value of \nclairvoyance begins. The better class of disbodied people were \n\n\n\n32 ATTER DEATH; \n\nforced to employ proxies far lower than themselves, just as archi- \ntects do hod-carriers and mortar-mixers, undoubtedly because such \nlower and grosser people are affinitively, perhaps electrically and \nmagnetically, certainly chemically, nearer earth than themselves \xe2\x80\x94 \nhence better able to produce those sensational phenomena, which, \nwhile laughed at by the wise ones of the lands, nevertheless startled \nthe world from its apathy, and utterly and forever revolutionized \nMental Science, Philosophy, Theology, and Religion, \xe2\x80\x94 such oaks \nfrom little acorns grow ! \nf The agency of the higher class of disbodied ones ceases with the \ndemonstration of human existence beyond the grave, and what- \never of lying and boasting that followed or follows thereafter, must \nbe set down to. the private account either of spiritual, or vain-glo- \nrious, or half-demented mediums. \n\nThese proxy-spirits, like others here, abound in gasconade, and \nare never so tickled and delighted as when obfuscating investiga- \ntors by representing themselves to be whom they are not. Hence \nit happens quite often that asserted mothers cannot rap out or tell \ntheir maiden names, date of marriage, or the number of their own \nchildren ; asserted fathers forget their own names ; Caesars are \nignorant of Latin ; Voltaire unable to answer questions propounded \nin French. It is just as if a gentleman were to give his unlettered \ngardener orders to show visitors certain flowers, rare and costly, \nfor which said gardener, to show off, might invent all sorts of names \nand stories concerning the origin, use, and nature of, when, in fact, \nall he knew of them might consist in that he hoed, watered, and \ntended them for his patron, who of course could not be held re- \nsponsible for the abnormal play of the ignorant gardener\'s love of \napprobation. The fact of the plant\'s existence would still remain, \nno matter how absurd the man\'s theories were. \n<* It is certain that the directors of the spiritual movement, from \nthe other side, have, up to this period, mainly confined their \nefforts not to revelation, but to demonstration ; they have laid a \nsolid foundation of facts, and on that foundation genuine clair- \nvoyance is about to erect a superstructure of infinite use and \nbeauty. The incomprehensible jargon that has so far accompanied \nthe physical proofs of immortality must be credited to the servi- \ntors, not the masters. When people are reasonable and talk com- \nmon sense, they are to be credited, dwelling here. So with our \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 33 \n\ndisbodied brothers and sisters, who are but men and women like \nus, and as such liable to the same errors and obliquity of vision \nas ourselves, until they vastate it, and learn better. We may \nbelieve what they tell us or not, just as their tales accord with \nreason, or rather with common sense, which is the Genius of the \nPeople. But the bare fact that we are told anything at all from \nbej\'ond the grave, incontestibly proves the existence of tellers. \nThese tellers resemble us in all our mental, moral, social, and \nother qualities and attributes, which is the great point gained, \nand really all that we require at that stage of our researches and \ninvestigations, no matter if all we get from that source be mere \nbadinage or falsehood ; for, remember only liars can lie, and every \nknown liar, so far, has been \xe2\x80\x94 Man ! \n\nGod is the name men give to the utterly impenetrable mystery \nsurrounding them ; to that incomprehensible existence , which we \ncannot help acknowledging, but of which we are, and necessarily \nmust remain forever to a great extent utterly ignorant. Were it \notherwise possible ; were this one difficulty surmountable ; could \nwe comprehend the mighty essence of Being, the Etre Supreme, \nthe central Oneness, Almighty God, \xe2\x80\x94 we would cease to be Man, \nand there would be nothing more to acquire ; no higher knowledge \npossible of attainment, no fuller joy reachable ;*and what we call \nChange and Progress would cease ; stagnation and universal dis- \ngust immediately ensue ; Heaven reach a termination ; Time an \nend ; Eternity a full stop ; and grim, desolate Chaos come again. \nAnd all this, even if the Buddhistic doctrine be true, and man\'s \nfinal absorption and incorporation, \xe2\x80\x94 his eternal co-mingling into, \nand with God, Deity, Brahm, a central fact. \n\nI have an invincible conviction that God exists. I believe that \non several occasions \xe2\x80\x94 the last on January 19th, 1868 \xe2\x80\x94 I have \nseen Deity ; beheld the centre of the boundless sea of universes, \nand gazed, appalled beyond utterance, upon the ineffable glory of \nthe Lord of Lords ; and yet that transcendent intromission, that \nsuper-glorious view, left my soul in a deeper mist than ever, con- \ncerning Almighty God in Essence ; hence, I am led to ask, Why, \nat this stage of our unfolding, should we pester ourselves with what \nwe have neither the developed cerebral organs to cognize fully, \nnor the mental power and muscle to comprehend or grasp ? Un- \nquestionably, by and by, in ages ten or twenty thousand millennia \n5 \n\n\n\n34 AFTER death; \n\nhence, there will arise an organ whose functions will be that of \nmore clearly knowing what now the best of us merely glimpse. \nThat organ will definitely settle this question of the God-head. \nIt is but a mere mathematical point in me yet, or in Cuffee, or \nCarlyle. Let us trust God, and wait for a solution of his own \nenigma. \n\nAt present man cannot comprehend, at any stage of his advance- \nment, that which is greater than himself. So far in our history, \nGod, if he exist at all, \xe2\x80\x94 as I believe he does, \xe2\x80\x94 has proved himself \naltogether past finding out, in essence ; albeit, in manifestation and \noperation, he is well-known, and everywhere, not only visible, \nbut comprehensible. I define him to be our father, and something \nmore. In other words, I conceive Mathematics to be the soul of \nLaw, and God the soul of Mathematics. Electricity is the essence \nof Matter ; Magnetism the essence of Electricity ; Od the essence \nof Magnetism ; Ether the essence of Od ; Ethylle the soul or sub- \nlimation of Ether ; Spirit the soul of Ethylle : Soul the crystalliza- \ntion of Spirit ; and God the supreme essence of Soul. Or, in \nbriefer terms, Spirit is the soul of Matter, and God the soul of \nSpirit ; Mind is the basis of soul, and God the soul of Mind. \nMusic I conceive to be the soul of Sound ; and God the soul of \nMusic. The universe, to me, is the expression of Power, and God \nthe foundation basis of the Universe \xe2\x80\x94 by which I mean the entire \nrain of starry globes now falling on the deep ! Goodness, to me, \nis the soul of Love, and God the soul of Goodness. "Man intui- \ntively, if not by reason, knows what I here write is true. He in- \nstinctively sees and recognizes these and cognate truths ; nor can \nhe help acknowledging the universal God-ness, which is but Good- \nness, in the loftier sense. By a law of mind, as well as by what he \ncalls " Free Will " (forgetful that we and all our acts are but out- \nward expressions of influences and conditions preceding and sur- \nrounding us all, and over which we have not the slightest personal \ncontrol ; hence, that all sin is a dead letter, so far as soul is con- \ncerned, \xe2\x80\x94 a mere incident or chapter of accidents not worth men- \ntion or notice in view of the millions of ages yet before us, every \nhour of which will put an ocean between us and " Sin " and its \nconsequences), man ascribes it all to a great, mystery, which, for \nwant of a better name, he calls God, Deity, Light, \xe2\x80\x94 and he is \nright. God reigns victorious. \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 35 \n\nI have read and listened to many descriptions of the Supreme \nOne, but none clearer or fuller than the definition just given. At \npresent I am incapable of understanding a better one, no matter \nif it occupies reams of paper, and I sum up all I have to write on \nthat point in the following brief words : God is, to me, the first \natom, \xe2\x80\x94 the primal, underlying essence, or substratum, of all con- \nceivable existence. He is also the Over-Soul, and the cardinal \npoints of all, and all Possibility ; the centre of being, and the \nfocalization of every Positive quality, and their negatives ; the in- \nforming soul and essence of all Being ; dwelling everywhere, but \nmost palpably in our tearful hearts ; is universal, impersonal, in \nthe ordinary sense of Personality, yet is conscious at all points, \nand is the culmination, crystallization, and focal point of all ex- \nisting, or possible, substances, laws, and principles. Man lives \xc2\xab \nin all his body, but is central in the brain ; and just so God Al- \nmighty radiates through all existence, yet dwells in the heart of \nthe Universal Brain, and {hat dwelling-place is in the centre of \nwhat I call the Deific Universe, which I have tried to describe in \nthe first chapter of this work. \n\nAt this point occurs this \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 "Is there no other God than the \'Positive mind\' * \nhinted at, and which the majority of mankind define as quite \nsynonymous with Nature ? " \n\nBeply. \xe2\x80\x94 Doubtless there are millions of Gods, but they all de- <> \npend upon and derive their existence from One . great and un- \nfathomable Over Soul ; one great and all-pervasive and pursuasive \nessence. In the light of revelation, I proclaim the existence of \nentire orders, kingdoms, empires, and republics of Gods : deriva- \ntive, not original ; personal, not universal ; local, not omnipresent ; \npowerful, not almighty ! \n\nThere is but one universal basis,- and it must ever remain un- \ncomprehended, in its fulness and essence, by any and all powers \nless than Itself. I affirm this in the light of a clairvoyance vouch- \nsafed me, which was, and is, the result of untold mental agony, \nand long years of sorrow ; which has grown with my groans, and \nstrengthened by my anguish, in a world where friendship is little \nmore than a name, \xe2\x80\x94 a clairvoyance that dared to scale the ram- \nparts of Heaven, and which never yet shrunk from grappling with \nany question capable of being put into formula, and in its light, \n\n\n\n36 ATTEE DEATH ; \n\nI affirm, that in the ages yet to be, the men of this earth \xe2\x80\x94 one \nof the tiniest and poorest in the zone of which it forms a part \xe2\x80\x94 \nwill reach such sublime heights, degrees, and grades of Intellectual, \nPersonal, and Psychical development, that, to even a very exalted \nmind, they will infinitely surpass the most magnificent conceptions \nthey now have of even a God ; yet that will be but the beginning \nof further unfoldings. But, while this will be true of men yet en- \ncased in the flesh here on earth, it will be as nothing compared to \nman\'s advancement in the aromal worlds above ; but here let me \nsay, that the spiritual eminence alluded to will not be reached in \nthe domain to which man goes immediately from this earth. It \nmay not be attained while he is a denizen of, or hoverer around, \nthis solar system, this constellation, or even this galaxy. But it \nwill be reached in the culmination of centuries, by all of us, and \nto-day has been reached and surpassed in certain grand stages of \nunfolding, concerning which I have very much \xe2\x80\x94 not in quantity, \nbut quality \xe2\x80\x94 to say, before my present task has been fully com- \npleted. \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 " If God, being all Goodness, fills and is the centre \nof all, of course, then, there is no such being as a devil ! What \nsay you, sir ? " \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 To this question I answer YES ! There are thou- \nsands of devils here, there, and everywhere ! but no eternal Prin- \ncipal or Principle of Evil, individual or impersonal ! Evil is the \nShadow, Good is the Light, and both are circumstantial ; man \nbeing surely destined to a career beyond all malign influences, of \ncourse vastates all evil, and as good exists only by contrast with \nthe known bad, it is manifest that, when we shall have outgrown \nour inherited and circumstantial angularities, we shall bid eternal \nfarewell to Evil, and our "Good" will be vastly different from \nwhat that term means to-day. I repeat : Evil is the Shadow, Good \nis the Light ; man and matter being the middle term, field or ex- \nistence whereon these twain act and operate, not for all time \neither, but only until man becomes truly civilized, \xe2\x80\x94 the glorious \nday wherein every female shall be a true woman ; every child be- \ngotten and born right and under right conditions, and when every \nman on earth shall \n\n^\'Live, and bear, without abuse, \nThe grand old name of Gentleman." \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 37 \n\n"When I think of modern philosophers, who claim all the light, \ndecency, and civilization of the world, and contrast them with the \nsublime sense of these two lines, I feel sick ! Why? \n\nClear glass throws no shadow, for the light penetrates and \nstreams through all its pores. Jus^t so pure and clear minds im- \nagine no devil, develop no evil. The notion of a personal arch- \nfiend, of the Miltonian, or any other type, is a pure barbarism, \naccepted only by cowards, fools, and barbarians, \xe2\x80\x94 not all of \nwhom dwell in the Tongo Islands or in Timbuctoo. It is an idol- \natrous notion, and idolatry abounds quite as much in Christendom \nas in the wilds of Africa, the difference being that some worship a \nVirgin Mother, aud s#me adore an anaconda ; some pray to \nChow-chow-pow, and some to the Virgin\'s Son ; the latter class \nhaving a surplus of Christ on the brain, and not a drop of him in \nthe heart \xe2\x80\x94 where lie ought to be! \n\nThis notion of a Devil is Oriental in origin ; is childish, puerile, \nutterly contemptible ; belongs to the infantile stage of humanity ; \nis unworthy of man or manhood ; is invariably outgrown, like an \nold coat, as we advance, and is finally repudiated and cast aside \nforever, among the other shoddy remnants of our suckling days, \nand is never paraded except by shoddy preachers, who cannot ap- \npreciate the sound cloth of sturdy common sense and truth. But \nthe notion is not half so much believed in by the ministers and \npriests who are paid to preach it, as some people would be \nled to imagine. The myth dissipates in the dawning light, because \nit is the fog of ignorance, the mist of Superstition, and necessari- \nly dies and decays with their decay, and, like an old mile-stone, is \never left behind as we go marching on ! \n* Question. \xe2\x80\x94 " Of course, then, there is no such place as Hell? \nThe fire and brimstone pit is a mere myth ? " \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 Yes, there are more hells than I am able to count ! \nThe mind of every unhappy human being is a hell to him or her \xe2\x80\x94 \nand so are a great many of our badly organized bodies, too, and \nhells must be looked for beneath the hats, and over the shoes of \nthe people round about us \xe2\x80\x94 perhaps beneath our own crowns. \nHell consists in discontent, angularities, and pain, just as its op- \nposite does in contentment and pleasure. Mental, moral, and \nphysical pain and disturbance constitute as terrible and bitter \nhells, while they last (which, thank God ! are but for short sea- \n\n\n\n38 AFTER DEATH ; \n\nsons) , as the most devout Christian brother could wish for, as a \nmete punishment for such " wretches" as refuse to " believe and \nbe baptized." \n\nThe writer of these pages, twice in his life, has been, by the \ntreachery and lust of gold on the part of pretended Mends, rob- \nbed of his all, and left stranded on the shores of doom, the bitter \nagony of which was as dreadful a hell as he can imagine, for such \nwas the mental pain that his hair turned gray inside of ten days. \nTrue, the dark hair came again, but the scars of their sabre-thrusts \nremain, and the memory of them will be fresh in his soul a thou- \nsand ages hence. * The wrongs iimst be atoned for, and there can \nbe no pardon till they are. Thus, Hell ys an exchangeable series \nof conditions , \xe2\x80\x94 yours to-day, mine to-morrow. \n\nIt may arise and exist from within, or without the selfhood. It \nmay burn from the fires of remorse, or the stings of an outraged \nconscience. It may result from bodily fear, loss of property, be- \ntrayal and ingratitude by and of so-called friends, or from blighted \nhopes and love ; and we suffer just as acutely if hell comes to \nus from external pressure, \xe2\x80\x94 is forced upon us, \xe2\x80\x94 as if from our \npersonal act. All of us have a light and shadow side , \xe2\x80\x94 a sort \nof mixed angel and devil nature, which will cling to mankind un- \ntil the race becomes so refined as to refuse all coarse conditions, \xe2\x80\x94 \ntill the blood in its veins, no longer blood-feel, shall flow, not in \nred streams, and coarsely liquid through its channels, but shall, as \nit one day will, bound along white, clear, pellucid, and ethereal. \nThat clay is coming, but it will not be here until the last priest has \nsaid his last mass ; the last gallows have rotted away in the de- \nserted yard of the last jail ; the last king have descended from \nthe last throne ; and the last political party have finished its final \ncaucus on earth ; when all wedded couples agree, make home a \nheaven, and interchange true-love courtesies on the emerald meads \nof Wife-and-Husband-land, \xe2\x80\x94 things that will probably be \xe2\x80\x94 some- \nwhere about " Anno Domini " 3000 ! \n\n* But there is another view of the subject. Hell, or Pain, be it \nof whatsoever nature, is, after all, to be regarded, and, if we can do \nit, be accepted, not as propitiary, but as disciplinary fire, burn- \ning up the dross of passion and the senses ; purifying the genuine \ngold within us all. And j^et it is none the less dreadful for \nall that. Our capacity for suffering gauges our ability to enjoy ; \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 39 \n\nand our hells arc the indices of our heavens yet to be. Our ex- \nistence here is a pendulum in motion. "We touch grief, pain, an- \nguish, and sorrow, as it swings, but only for a brief season ; for \nas we rise the swampy ground recedes, the world rolls on, and we \nnever again fly over the same spot, because life and its incidents \nmove in spiral curves. As it swings, the pain-realm sinks away, \nand we are forever free of that particular sort of anguish \xe2\x80\x94 what- \never it may be ; but that we shall ever find complete rest I doubt, \nand fervently hope not. Why, can easily be imagined. \n\nHeaven [Happiness] springs from right thinking and well-doing, \nto the top of our bent ; and the mythical Gehenna \xe2\x80\x94 the fanciful \nsulphur-pit, wherein we were told souls are to be broiled and grilled \n\xe2\x80\x94 [souls being fire-proof, too !] has ceased to inspire much terror ; \nand when we have all learned to do right, and practise it, all the \nother hells will be abolished forever, and forevermore \'. \nt Question. \xe2\x80\x94 4 \' If, sir, there is no universal hell for sinful \nwretches [people who do not believe as we do], \xe2\x80\x94 on what do you \npredicate the existence of a universal heaven ? Is there any local \nhabitation for the righteous and redeemed ? or is there not ? " \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 First, in reference to the " Redeemed." \n\n"Captain," said an Irish sailor, "is anything lost whin yez \nknow where it is ? " \n\n" Why, you fool, of course not ! " \n\n"Thin, bedacl, sur, the axe isn\'t lost, but it\'s at the bottom of \nthe say, for it fell overboard forninst the last big wave that passed \nby the ship." \n\nThe application is apparent. \n\nSo also with reference to our own souls. If we have ever been \nlost, we have been easily found again. But we have neither been \nlost, found, or redeemed, \xe2\x80\x94 not even by " the blood of the Lamb." \nTrue it is, that the Romans, Jew-incited, killed Jesus, \xe2\x80\x94 a great \nshame to the scoundrels that did it ! \xe2\x80\x94 but that sad fact and act did \nnot redeem mankind, for we have been cheating, lying, swindling, \nstealing, murdering, jailing, slandering, hanging, slaughtering, from \nthat day to this, \xe2\x80\x94 pretty conduct for redeemed sinners, I trow ! No. \nWe have ever been in God\'s universe, and there we shall remain. \nHe understood his work, and did it very well indeed. He lives, \nrules, reigns, and governs yet, as of old : and hell and heaven \xe2\x80\x94 \nantipodes \xe2\x80\x94 are states and conditions, not localities or places. \n\n\n\n4v ATTJSR DEATH ; OR, DISBODIED MAN. \n\n* There are unnumbered myriads of local heavens beneath the hats of \nthat number of individuals ; but, \xe2\x80\x94 and I predicate the assertion \nupon absolute personal knowledge, obtained during a career of \nforty odd years, during over thirty of which I have been more or \nless clairvoyant, \xe2\x80\x94 there are no such heavens as Christianized \nPagan Mythology has endeavored to convince us of, \xe2\x80\x94 not one! \nThere are spirit homes in abundance, but the people in them have \nsomething else to do than engage in one eternal psalm-singing. \nNor do the inhabitants of these lokas tread on streets paved with \ngold. They have finer materials ! Neither do they thrum on gold- \nen harps, or worship any bleeding lambs. On the contrary, as a \ngeneral rule, they employ themselves in the paying business of \nself-improvement ; in cultivating life\'s roses, minus the thorns ; \nand they sound the praises of Star-eyed Science, instead of tooting \non golden horns, all the live-long ages ! Disbodied people are \nstill rational beings, not idiots, and downright fools. Those of \nthem who know, or have heard of, Jesus and other noble hearts, \nhonor him and them, but do not worship other than the viewless \nGod, \xe2\x80\x94 as sensible folks do here. They keep his commandments, \nby doing right, obeying the higher, and avoiding the penalties of \nthe lower laws of being. In a word, heaven means personal hap- \npiness. It springs from the normal, healthful action of, not one, \nbut all the faculties, qualities, energies, and powers of the woman \nor the man. Place a murderer, whose soul is burning with re- \nmorse, in the midst of a happy, joyous circle, and still he would \nbe in hell. Place a good man in the midst of a gang of rascals, \nand still he would be in heaven. They each would carry their \nstates with them ; nor is it possible to run away from one\'s self, \neither here, or in the spiritual world or lokas. \n\n\n\nCHAPTER IH. \n\nTHE RATIONALE OP GOING UP \xe2\x80\x94 MATTER\'S IMMATERIALITY \xe2\x80\x94 ABOUT THE FIRST HUMAN \nCOUPLE \xe2\x80\x94 EXTENT OP THE SKY \xe2\x80\x94 THE ORIGIN OP NEGROES AND OTHER RACES NOT \nIDENTICAL \xe2\x80\x94 THE GRAND SECRET OF THE AGES REVEALED. \n\nTrue there are, in the spirit lokas, special brotherhoods and \nsocieties, as the Foli, Neridi, Pythagoreans, Christians, and so \nforth ; and in some of these a peculiar art or science is taught and \nstudied, and special ends sought, special joys cultivated. These \nsocieties not infrequently number many millions of members ; and \nto distinguish them, we will call them by the letters of the alpha- \nbet. Now all, within themselves, are happy ; yet transport a \nmember of society A to society B or C, who are perfectly joyous,- \nbut for whose studies, pleasures, occupations, or enjoyments the A \nman is not adapted, and in so far as he could not assimilate with \nthem, he would be in a sort of hell, if forced to remain, while all \naround him might be enjoying a perfect state of heaven, because \nhe was not in accord, not adapted to that state. He is out of \nplace, and therefore is unhappy. \n\nUntil July, 1866, I was an officer of the Freedmen\'s Bureau, in \nthe State of Louisiana, which place I resigned to write the first \nedition of this work ; and my duties often called me into saloons \nwhere men played billiards, cards, and drank very dreadful, mur- \nderous whiskey, especially in a rum-hole, called "Belle Poule," \nkept by a mulatto dandy ; but I never yet entered their or its \ndoors that my hair did not bristle with agony. It was not my \nstyle. I could not play cards, billiards, or gamble in any way, \nand consequently while I was inside those doors I was in unmiti- \ngated hell. \n\nMan\'s after life, being spiritual, may be allowed to rest from \ndiscussion awhile, while I, in behalf of sceptical readers, pro- \npound a question that necessarily underlies, or at least, precedes \nit. That question is, " Can you tell me if matter is eternal, as. \n6 41 \n\n\n\n42 AFTER death; \n\nspirit seems to be? Or, did matter have a beginning? and, if so, \nwhat, and how, and when, was its origin?" \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x944 Beyond all question, spirit existed alwaj\'s, in some \nform ; and matter is but a form, condition, state, or manifestation \nof spirit, which is the great substratum of the entire universe. \nSpirit is what ? Put mercury over a fire and you spiritualize it ; \nit escapes. Subject water to a white heat, and it becomes spiri- \nform. Spirit is the essence of matter, and like it, too, is graded, \nterraced, so to speak. Solid, fluid, and liquid substances are but \nso many forms or grades of spirit. Substance is but one phase of \nuniversal spirit. We see a lump of granite, and know that time \nand attrition will wear it down to sand ; sand will divide up until \nwe have alluvial soil, out of which comes vegetation, in various \ndegrees of refinement, from the coarse cryptogamia to the most \nsplendid flower and delicious fruit. Were it possible to behold \nthe procession of the Flora pass before us in one glorious pano- \nrama, we would behold gigantic ferns and grasses, flourishing in \nmiraculous fertility for ages ; heavy carbonaceous plants, chemical \nlaboratories of the first order, \xe2\x80\x94 extracting the grosser substances \nfrom the air and elaborating oxygen to fill their places. Pres- \nently \xe2\x80\x94 ages having elapsed \xe2\x80\x94 they fall and rot, making new soil \nand richer, out of which comes a higher order of plants, \xe2\x80\x94 chemi- \ncal laboratories of the second order, \xe2\x80\x94 producing still more marked \nchanges in the atmosphere and climate. Presently, as the picture \nunfolds, we behold orders, genera, and species succeeding each \nother at every tick of eternity\'s clock ; finer, fairer trees and flow- \ners now deck the scene, and animal life comes in \xe2\x80\x94 as chemical \nlaboratories of a still higher order. For if vegetation alone were \nadequate to the preparation of the earth, air, and waters for the \nabode of incarnate mind, there would have been no need of ani- \nmals, and there being no demand, there would have been no sup- \nply. But vegetation could not do it ; nor could a single species \nof animal do it, but it required millions of species of differently \norganized animals to prepare the world for man ; to cook the air \nand cleanse it ; to purify the waters, and render them fit for higher \nuses, just as it required a million varied flora to throw down the \nnoxious vapors, condense them into fibre, to be converted by and \nby into coal-beds and petroleum lakes, \xe2\x80\x94 just like the mighty bay \nof oil now underlying the parish of St. Martin\'s, La., and which \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 43 \n\nbranches off to Rapides, Vermillion, Lafayette, and Calcasieu, \xe2\x80\x94 a \nbody large and deep enough to furnish fuel to the world for a \ncentury. \n\nAnimals, feeding on vegetation, refine the matter ; these animals \ndie or eat each other, \xe2\x80\x94 all steps in the great chemical processes, \nwhich still go on ; until at last, man appears ; he is coarse, rough, \nsavage, uncouth, gross, dreadful, terrible to look at, \xe2\x80\x94 a rough \ndiamond, \xe2\x80\x94 an uncut, unpolished koh-i-noor, of most magnificent \nproportions ; young, yet stronger than the winds, \xe2\x80\x94 for he was des- \ntined to control them ; unarmed by nature, yet monarch of all the \nanimated globe ; small, yet able to " pull out leviathan with a \nhook," and hunt behemoth, till he roared with fright ; created \nwith two good eyes, yet he complains that he can neither see as \nsmall things as a gnat can, nor so far off as the eagle ; and forth- \nwith manufactures artificial eyes that enable him to outstrip both \neagle and gnat, \xe2\x80\x94 for what is an eagle\'s glance to Rosse\'s tele- \nscope ? or a gnat\'s eye to the solar microscope ? Disgusted with \nhis own legs as means of locomotion, the young giant impresses \nthe camel and horse ; but after a fair trial, these are voted too \nslow, and he harnesses his teakettle to a rolling palace, and goes \ncareering over the ground on iron rails at a hundred miles an \nhour. Discontented still, he sees the birds fly, and forthwith \nmakes a bag, gets into a basket, fills the sack with gas he has just \nstolen from the waters, and away he sails through the air, in such \ngrandeur and majesty that the eagles hide themselves for very \nenvy and shame ! Is he content yet ? Nothing of the sort ! \nSteam is too slow, and so he employs the lightning as an errand- \nboy, and makes it bear his messages ! Contented now ? Oh, no ! \nfor he now orders the sun to paint his portrait, and the sun obeys. \nHe can even make it rain, if he thinks it worth his while. Now \nhe goes down into earth\'s bowels, and brings up gold and gems ; \nto the floor of the sea, for sponge and pearls ; and having heard \ntell about \xe2\x80\x94 \n\nDeep the gulf that hides the dead ; \nLong and dark the way they tread; \n\ndetermines to look into the matter to see if it is true ; sets to \nwork, and in a little time proclaims in triumph that the so-called \ngulf is quite narrow, and easily crossed ; that he has produced \nartificial death (magnetic sleep), and sent a hundred messages \n\n\n\n44 after death; \n\nand messengers to the other side, whence they returned in safety, \nbringing words of cheer, and strange good news from the people \nover there. He proclaims his ability to take a look at what\'s \ngoing on there, just whenever it suits him (by clairvoyance) , and \nhe even prevails on some of the ethereal folks to cross the bridge, \nand perform quadrilles and " Sir Roger de Coverly " in his back \nparlor, with chairs and tables, for the delectation of his uninitiated \nfriends ; and, Spiritualists tell us gravely, has even succeeded in \ninducing them to perform grand concerts in public, on an old \ntrumpet, a cracked fiddle, and wrecked guitar, before a crowded \naudience, varying the performance now and then by poking out \na half-dozen arms from the spirit land in bright daylight ! Once, \nquite scared at ghosts, he has them now for daily companions. \nDoes he rest quiet yet? Not a minute ! Having heard of Jesus, \nhe straightway examines his pedigree ; finds that Christ\'s father \nand his own were identical, and that neither was born of a virgin. \nAt last accounts the name " God " struck upon his ear, and with \na " Who\'s he? where? what?" is deeply bent on trying to find a \nsolution to those weighty questions. What success he will event- \nually achieve must be ascertained in the future years. And yet \nthis man, this prodigy, is but a mere baby still, and living in a \nbaby world. What will he do when fully grown ? \xe2\x80\xa2 \n\nAnd so the circle is complete, \xe2\x80\x94 from spirit to granite rock, \nfrom granite rock to spirit. Matter has again returned whence it \ncame ; but this time individualized, and perfected as to final form \n(not shape) and duration. \n\nLife is a fluid, flowing out upon the ether ; and it clothes itself \nwith varied raiment ; one dress that it wears we call an ox ; an- \nother a lion ; but its gala dress is man. ^Absolutely speaking, \nthere is no matter, but only varied forms of spirit.- If matter \nwas actual in the stricter sense, we should be able to discover an \natom or ultimate, indivisible, particle thereof, which, it is well \nknown, we cannot do. If we take the hardest known substance, \nand subject it to the action of intense fire, we spirify it, and it \neludes us by its rarity. Water thus treated, is changed, at the \nfirst stage, into wet steam, then into dry steam ; look sharp now, \nfor you are converting it back to spirit, and spirit cannot be con- \ntrolled when its temper is up ! Lo ! the next stage converts it \ninto electricity ; the next, by a mere change of polarity, it is mag- \n\n\n\nOH, DISBODIED MAX. 45 \n\nnetism. Another change, and it becomes Von Reichenbach\'s \n" Od " \xe2\x80\x94 a very odd \xe2\x80\x94 force ; and the next stage it becomes Life. \n(This is the actual process within our bodies every day.) Within \nthe body the next change is into nerve aura ; the next into ether, \nand the next into absolutely coalescent, indestructible, unparticled \nspirit, \xe2\x80\x94 that which constitutes the eternally-enduring vehicle of \nthe thinking principle of man. [I am impressed at this point to \naffirm that even spirit in esse, like matter, is graded. Fuuther on, \nperhaps, I shall apply this principle to the soul, when I reach the \nanalysis thereof.] Without the body this vast ocean of life, con- \nstantly being evolved from matter, flows off through the atmos- \nphere, into, and blends with, the cether of universal space. It is \nnot stationary in itself, but is graded also, just as matter is. I \nshall recur to this subject again. \n\nIt is thus seen that matter is but particled spirit ; and it is far \nless, quantitatively, than that whence it is derived ; for the mighty \nuniverse of material suns and earths, vast, and to us incompre- \nhensible in magnitude and volume, though it be, is, after all, but \nan insignificant little island, floating like a tiny bubble on the \ncalm, unruffled breast of the tremendous, inconceivable ocean of \nSPIRIT. \n\nThe whole vast domain of substance, as known to human vision, \nor the telescope, bears, in bulk, about the same relation to that \nawe-inspiring Sea, that a single cherry does to a vast orchard, \nloaded down with similar fruit ; or as an ear of corn does to a \nleague-square field thereof on the prairies of Illinois, \xe2\x80\x94 and no \nmore, scarce as much. If you doubt it, look out upon the sky, \nand see into what a small corner of the space before you every \nvisible sun and globe could be packed ; and yet one of these \nglobes \xe2\x80\x94 our sun \xe2\x80\x94 is eight hundred millions of times larger than \nour earth ; and some of the stars of the night are as much more \nbulky than our sun as this earth is than one of its own mountain \nranges. The realm of matter is conditional, limited, bounded, \ncircumscribed, floats on the edges of the vortex, \xe2\x80\x94 is, so to speak, \ncushioned on God\'s infinite and eternal breast! .Spirit \xe2\x80\x94 the \niEth \xe2\x80\x94 is the white blood of Deity flowing through his veins. It \nconstitutes the base and crown of all existences ; its motion is \ngravity, \xe2\x80\x94 the gravivic force of astronomers ; it fills all cavity, \nand it conditions both space and continued time, \xe2\x80\x94 which we call \n\n\n\n46 after death; \n\neternity ; while matter simply, yet grandly, develops time limited, \nand what we call distance. There was when time was not, for \nthere were no suns or planets, or other means of measuring dura- \ntion ; no revolutions, axial or orbital ; no alternations, risings, \nsettings, transits ; hence no sequences, and therefore no time. \nWhen the mission of the present material universe is fulfilled, \nwhen the last globes have contributed to form the last man, then \ntime will be no more again, until the new beginning ; but that \nbeginning will exceed the last ! \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 " What and where was the origin of the first human \ncouple ? In your volume . concerning \' Pre-Adamite Man,\' you \nhave effectually demolished the Eden story ; and what you left un- \ndone has been thoroughly accomplished by Luke Burke, the French \nand English geologists, Agassiz, Owen, and others ; but I want to \nreach an absolute starting-point of the human family per se." \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 In a former work of mine, of which this is the sequel, \n" Dealings with the Dead," pages 39 to 50, \xe2\x80\x94 the question so far as \nwe of this world are concerned, is answered, but the question ad- \nmits of a vastly higher range, as you have seen proper to pro- \npound it. \n\nIf you look out upon the sky, on a clear night, through a good \ntelescope, you will behold an enormous field or sea, dotted with \nstarry flecks, visible to the unassisted eye ; but your telescope re- \nveals a thousand times as many ; increase its power twenty-fold, \nand your eyes will gaze on Eternity\'s floors, thickly strewn with \nstar-dust ; while such an instrument as the Irish Rosse\'s will ap- \nprise you of the astounding fact that the grand and entire totality \nof all that you have hitherto beheld constitutes but a single point, \n\xe2\x80\x94 one solitary cluster, ring or belt of stars amidst unnumbered \nmyriads of stellar clusters and astral zones. And yet telescopy \nis in its veriest infancy ; for before the century expires instruments \nwill be produced, which, compared to that of Eosse, will exceed it \nin space-penetrating power as much as that one does an ordinary \nspy-glass ; and I look to the Astors, Vanderbilts, Weeds, Stewarts, \nand other millionnaires to order Science to produce such instruments \n\xe2\x80\x94 "and at their command Science will obey \xe2\x80\x94 so powerful is the \nGolden baton ! We already know that the bright belt that spans \nthe heavens, and which we call the via lactea, or " milky way," and \nto which belt this, our solar system belongs, is but a single clus- \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 47 \n\nter of suns, and each sun surrounded by its family of planets, and \neachjplanet producing its own specific order and genera of human \nfruit. The suns alone of that single cluster are myriads in num- \nber, and what then must be the sum total of their planets ? \n\nBeyond that galaxy of suns, in the awful profundities of further \nspace, such clusters are as plentiful as snow-flakes in a winter \nstorm, leaves in the forest, or blades of grass on earth\'s green \nfields. Light, according to recent statements of investigators, \ntravels quite two hundred thousand miles in one single tick of the \nclock ; yet the distance between some of these nebulous clusters, \nthat look to be so closely huddled up together, is so great, so ut- \nterly tremendous, that light requires five hundred millions of years \nto bridge the awful chasm ; while a seraph riding on a beam of \nlight could not cross the abyss that separates our cluster from oth- \ners known to exist, in the multiple of that enormous period \xe2\x80\x94 not \nin years, but in centuries. And yet we know only of the outside \nedges of the material universe ! \n\nOur own astral system, one of myriads, is composed of some \nthousands of millions of blazing suns ; and each of those tiny \nflecks, that we see twinkling in the sky, is one of these suns ; and \nwe have every reason to believe that some of them are not only \nlarger than our luminary, but equal to the consolidated bulk of our \nentire solar fainiby. \n\nAgain, every one of those suns is the centre of a series of plan- \nets, few having less than ten, others as many hundreds ; and the \nmajority of those planets are man-producing globes, similar to our \nown. The number of such solar systems would defy an angel\'s \narithmetic ; while the sum total of the soul-producing planets of \nthose solar systems would require a seraph\'s mathematics to com- \npute. Consequently, for me, or any other man, to even attempt to \nanswer the question " What and where was the origin of the first \nhuman couple ? " would be barefaced presumption ; would be to ar- \nrogate infinite perception and comprehension \xe2\x80\x94 God\'s prerogatives \n\xe2\x80\x94 \xe2\x80\xa2 an absurdity \xe2\x80\x94 a simple impossibility. [See " Pre- Adamite \nMan," and " Dealings with the Dead," for various human origins.] \n\nNot so difficult, however, with reference to human beginnings oh \nthis globe, this tiny world, this infinitesimal speck of God\'s uni- \nverse ; for we know how we originated here, and by parity of rea- \n\n\n\n48 AFTER DEATH; \n\nsorting can conceive somewhat how, but not ivhen, man came into \nbeing elsewhere. \n\n\xe2\x80\xa2 On this earth the original protoplasts or autocthones, were the \nresults of natural forces and refining processes steadily conducted \nthrough vast decades of, not centuries, but epochs ; and wherever \nthe thing took place \xe2\x80\x94 probably in scores of localities simultane- \nously \xe2\x80\x94 the first couple or couples were the crowning results of \nthe great experiment. Indeed the development business is still \ngoing on, for there are not only gorillas and neschiegos that look \nawfully like a batch of men spoiled in the making, or not yet fin- \nished, but we have men in South Africa who have not yet out- \ngrown their tails, for tailed men have within these ten years past, \nbeen exhibited in several European capitals, \xe2\x80\x94 a most distressing \nfact to the Monogenesists and Adamites, and one that puts a broad \ngrin of triumph on the faces of the advocates of the development \ntheory of the author of the " Vestiges of Creation," and people of \nthat ilk. \n\nThe scientific, and a goodly portion of the reading world, have \nquietly given Adam the go-by, and are well satisfied that there \nmust have been scores of " first couples," the pair of Eden having \ndanced themselves away ; and when they went the " fall " and all \nthat falls after it went too. We no longer believe that the proto- \nplasts, or first couple, whence sprung the Digger Indian, were the \nsame who produced the mystical Aztec ; nor that the Aztec had \nthe same first parents as did the red Indian or the swarthy sons of \nPeru. The first pair whence came John Chinaman, with his queer- \nlooking eyes, were not the same whence sprang Phillis and Dinah, \nSambo or Quashee ; nor did the " Pa" and " Ma," of the Caucas- \nian tribes, produce the almond-eyed Kalmuck. \n\nHorace Smith, when gazing at one of Gliddon\'s Egyptian mum- \nmies, exclaimed : \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n" I need not ask thee if that hand, when armed, \nHath any Koman soldier mauled or knuckled ; \n\nFor thou wert dead, and buried, and embalmed, \nEre Romulus or Remus had been suckled. \n\nAntiquity appears to have begun \n\nLong after thy primeval race was run." \n\nTwo worthy sons of Auld Scotia were, once upon a time, cosily \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 49 \n\ndroning over a bowl of " Mountain Dew," anglice, whiskey punch, \nand begun disputing each other\'s pedigree and their respective \nlengths. Now Donald MacGregor had safely "bagged" fourteen \ncenturies, as he supposed, in triumph ; when, to his utter amaze- \nment, he was routed, horse, foot, and artillery, by Bailey Grant, \xe2\x80\x94 \nsupposed to be distantly related to a famous Yankee soldier of the \nsame name, \xe2\x80\x94 who, derisively smiling, exclaimed, as he struck the \ntable with clenched fist, " Hoot, mon ! when the gude Laird was \nmakin\' Adam, even then the clan Grant was as thick and numer- \nous as the heather on yon hills," \xe2\x80\x94 which, if true, as is not unlike- \nly, the " hero of Vicksburg " comes of ancient stock indeed. \n\xc2\xbb Seriously speaking, it is impossible to accept the accounts of \nhuman origin heretofore in vogue. We did not originate accord- \ning to the Hebraic theories and statements. The sun never yet \nshone hot enough to tan a white man jet black, frizzle his hair, or \nchange his nature ; nor did ever the cold blasts of the Caucasian \nhills or Lesbian mountains bleach a Hottentot white. On the con- \ntrary, nature occupied long ages in refining stone to soil, soil to \nplants, plants to animals, animals to men ; and we citizens of earth \nare unquestionably but germs of mighty seraphs, destined to what \nstupendous uses ! Poor, despised, forlorn, forsaken, though I and \nothers be, yet I know it cannot always be so, for, \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n" We hold a middle rank, \'twixt heaven and earth, \nOn the last verge of mortal being stand ; \nClose to the realms where angels have their birth, \nJust on the boundaries of the Spirit Land." \n\nBriefly, nature, step by step, improved her work, developing, \nfirst, the general human form, \xe2\x80\x94 features, limbs, brain, \xe2\x80\x94 until at \nlast she produced an organism too fine to draw all its supplies from \nearth, too coarse to inhale and crystallize pure ether. Then, im- \nproving on that experiment, a more perfectly developed physiolog- \nical apparatus followed next ; it breathed in and incarnated a \nmonad, in consequence of which gestation went one step further \xe2\x80\x94 \nwas ^ prolonged another stage; anebwhen that youngling saw the \nlight it was superior to either parent. Its organization, for the \nfirst time since animals had a being here, enabled it to exhaust all \nthe finer essences from its nutriment, to crystallize aud refine it into \nnerve aura; at the same time it inhaled the blessed ether, and the \nmoment that these two met within its body, limbs, fibres, that mo- \n7 \n\n\n\n50 AFTER DEATH ; OR, DISBODEED MAN. \n\nment they coalesced, became united in indissoluble marriage, and \nthere was one immortal spirit in existence ! \n\n*\xe2\x80\xa2 No one can tell the exact point, moment, or stage, that a boy be- \ncomes a man. Nature has a sliding-scale. There are sensitive \nminerals, plants, and plant-animals, partaking of both natures. \nSo also are there animals, rwmanes-ape-like, manlike, but not im- \nmortal. One step more, and we have man, who blends with and \nincarnates spirit till he becomes one himself ; then blends with as- \ncending orders, towering away to the ineffable beyond, forward \nforever ! The stone had motion ; motion \xe2\x80\x94 attrition begat life ; \nascending life begat sensation, out of which grew intelligence, fol- \nlowed by reason, and resulting in intuition. " In the image of \nGod created he him, male and female created he them." Omnis- \ncience is God\'s all-knowing ; intuition is man\'s much-knowing ; finite \nresemblance of an infinite parent. In essence man is spiritual, and, \nlike God, had no conceivable beginning. Thus, then, I have an- \nswered the sceptic\'s question, in so far as it was possible to do so. \n\nSuccinctly, the Spiritual Ocean is spirit positive ; the extracted \nspirit of food, drink, and air, is spirit negative. When an organi- \nzation was perfected capable of the act, then in that organism these \ntwo phases of spirit, produced a third, differing from both by reason \nof the fusion. This fusion was spirit individualized, a monad thrust \ninto outer life ; the operations of which generated mind. The \nwhole story is told ! And thus, and thus only, is it true, literally, \nexactly true, that, " He breathed into his nostrils the breath \nof life, and man became a living soul ! " Eureka ! Eureka ! \nI have found it ! The grand secret of the ages stands revealed ! \n\nThe development theory is, therefore, as hitherto promulgated, \nsubstantially true ; literally so as herein set forth. Nature is in- \ncompetent to transmute a man from a monkey, gorilla, ape, nes- \nchiego, orang-outang, or any of the Simia. These were her failures ; \nman, her grand success. Nothing is more certain than that man \ncame as here revealed ; nor, if we were all swept from life to-day, \nthat she would, in time, reproduce the species, except that, the \nearth being now in a better and higher state, she would produce \ncorrespondingly superior types of the race. Although we know \nnothing about the history of man on other planets, still we are \njustified in the belief that the plan herein sketched of man\'s origin, \nis generally, the same elsewhere. \n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV. \n\nANALYSIS OF A HUMAN SPIRIT AND SOUL \xe2\x80\x94 WHY IT IS PROOF AGAINST DEATH \xe2\x80\x94 SIN- \nGULAR DISCLOSURES ABOUT THE PARTS AND ORGANS OF A SPIRIT \xe2\x80\x94 THE SEX QUES- \nTION SETTLED \xe2\x80\x94 COQUETTES AND DANDIES IN THE OTHER LIFE \xe2\x80\x94 SPIRITS\' DRESS AND \nCLOTHING \xe2\x80\x94 THE FASHIONS AMONG THEM \xe2\x80\x94 DO WE CARRY DEFORMITIES WITH US \nTHERE ? \xe2\x80\x94 WHAT THEY DO IN SPIRIT LAND \xe2\x80\x94 THE SOUL, AND WHERE ITS SEAT IS IN \nTHE BODY \xe2\x80\x94 IDIOTS, THIEVES, " STILLBORNS," CYPRIANS, MANIACS, INSANE, MURDER- \nERS, MINISTERS, SUICIDES, WHEN IN THE SPIRIT WORLD \xe2\x80\x94 MONSTROSITIES \xe2\x80\x94 WHY HU- \nMAN BEINGS RESEMBLE BEASTS \xe2\x80\x94 A CURIOUS REVELATION \xe2\x80\x94 SOME STILLBORNS IMMOR- \nTAL \xe2\x80\x94 OTHERS NOT \xe2\x80\x94 WHY ? \xe2\x80\x94 " JUSTIFICATION " OF SUICIDE \xe2\x80\x94 CONSEQUENCES OF SUI- \nCIDE \xe2\x80\x94 HARLOTS EVEN THERE \xe2\x80\x94 JUDGMENT-DAY. \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 " What, sir, is a human spirit ? What a human soul ? " \nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 I have already partly answered that ; but in addition \nwill say, it is a human form, composed of the materials already \ndefined and indicated. It is, in other words, indestructible, be- \ncause it is constituted of the highest and finest essences of matter, \nheld together by the highest law of the material universe, \xe2\x80\x94 the \nlaw of fusion. It is, to our vision, an invisible, indivisible being, \nshaped like a man, woman, or child, having head, feet, arms, hair, \nstomach, lungs, eyes, hands, legs, mouth, \xe2\x80\x94 a perfect human being \nboth in mind and person. It has all the apparatus that we have, \nsave that no liquids, but only aereal fluids, circulate through its \nvessels, are secreted by its organs, or imparted by its contact. \nThere is no micturition or defecation there as here, because it \nneither eats coarse solid food, or partakes of fluid, the waste of \nwhich must be carried off through appropriate channels. \n\nTrue, there are functions performed analagous to those alluded \nto, in the lower stages of post-mortem life. There is no red blood, \nonly a pure, white, or colorless electric current. The muscular and \nosseous systems no longer exist, as such, but what serves as such \nare batteries for the generation of a peculiar power applied in locomo- \ntion. An analogue maybe seen in the marrowless, air-celled bones \nof birds, and the air-bladders of certain fishes. By an effort these \ncells or bladders are filled or emptied as the animal wants to rise \n\n51 \n\n\n\n52 AFTER DEATH ; \n\nor fall. So with the spirit. By the use and application of that \nwhich is thus generated, it can rise or sink at will, go straight for- \nward or obliquely, just as it pleases, for the legs are not used as \nhere, in going to distant points, although they are for short jour- \nneys, but even then more from the force of habit than necessity. \nThe larger sacks of the body there become a sort of Leyden jars \ncontaining fluids, the like and nature of which do not exist on the \nearth. All movement is, so to speak, polar. It is very difficult to \nconvey my meaning at this point ; but, perhaps, a notion thereof \nmay be had if I say that every point, person, or thing in the Spirit \nWorld or elsewhere, has its particular, so to say, magnetic attrac- \ntion ; and in order to reach a given point, the man or woman there, \nby the exercise of one of its new-found powers, can and does ren- \nder him or herself negative to that attraction ; they rush through \nspace with a rapidity almost inconceivable. By reversing the poles \nthe return trip is as easily performed. I once asked a man how he \nfelt when rushing through the ether ; and he said at first he felt \nthe same curious sensation as makes a school-boy yell when " scup- \nping " too high on a swing ; or as one feels when jumping from a \nhaymow down below. Presently he got used to, and didn\'t mind \nit. The passage to and from the earth can be performed in two \nways, hereafter to be explained. \n\nThe people there, as here, do not go naked, because shame at- \ntends us on both sides of the grave. Dandies and coquettes are \nquite as fond of showing off their fine points over there as on the \nhither side ; and a neat and well-turned ankle is as much appreciated \nup among the live folks as down here among the dead ones. The \nclothing consists of fine, aerial, gossamer-like apparel ; can be had \nfor the asking, and is fashioned to suit their own tastes or the fancy \nof others. Thank God ! clothes are cheap up there, for there are \nno tailors needed, nor is there a single milliner\'s shop, or dry-goods \nfiend to drive husbands and brothers to despair ; neither are there \n"loves of bonnets" to send a woman crazy or a man mad; nor \nJews to deplete our purses, save only in that comparatively small \nregion where phantasies and insanities abound. I said small, yet \nit is a large realm, save when compared to the grand divisions and \nsections of the magnificent belt comprising the entire Aidenn of \nthe dead, of these nether globes. \n\nTeeth, in that land, are not to bite with. They help us speak \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 5\'3 \n\nand sing. They add to our beauty. Who had bad teeth here, or \none eye only, or club feet, or doubtful eyes, find them all right and \nstraight when they get there. \n\nThere is no saliva in the better land ; no bile, virus, bodily dis- \nease (save in the region above indicated), or deformities; no \nscars, supernumerary legs, toes, eyes, limbs, or fingers ; and no \nmatter how crooked, maimed, hacked up, or misshapen one may \nhave been here, he finds himself perfectly whole and sound when \nhe arrives there, so far as externals are concerned ; and eventually \nbecomes so mentally and otherwise \xe2\x80\x94 inevitably. Behold the \nlittle boy that was born with no legs ! See the girl with snake \narms, or the double children ! Well, these have good spiritual \nlimbs there ; only that in the womb, the spirit of the foetus not \nbeing able to clothe itself properly, did the best it could ; but the \nnext birth will witness no club feet or deficient limbs. \xe2\x80\x94 Thank \nGod for that ! \n\nMemories are perfect there ; and occurrences mark duration as \nhere ; albeit there are no alternations of day or night as we know \nthem here ; still there are magnetic ebbs and flows that indicate \nseasons of rest, study, and enjoyment. People there are not un- \nnatural, simply because they have escaped from their earthly \nprisons ; nor are they all psalm-singers either ; for there is as much \n(and more) wit, drollery, and fun among them, as here. \n\nIn the spring of 1854, there died in New York, a celebrated \nMethodist parson, who no sooner got to the better country than he \nwent to singing, and shouting, and disturbing people generally, for \nhe wouldn\'t stay among the people of his church, but must needs \ngo about fiddling and harping in search of the " Lamb ;" but he \ndidn\'t find him. Being met by a friend ten j^ears afterwards, he \nwas asked why he wasn\'t as zealous as of yore? " Oh," said he, \n" that\'s all nonsense ! I have hung my harp on a willow-tree \xe2\x80\x94 \nand there it may stay till the crack of doom, for all I care ! " \n"Well," said his friend, " that shows progress ; but what are you \ndoing now?" " I am taking my first lessons in practical Christian- \nity ; unlearning my follies, and helping on the great rebellion clown \nbelow." "Indeed, and which side are you on?" "I\'m on the \nSouthern side, and have trained a large number of persons to go \ndown to fire up the Southern heart!" "Why?" "Because \nwhom God would destroy he first makes mad ; and the more en- \n\n\n\n54 AFTER death; \n\nraged I can make them, the sooner will human slavery topple in- \nto its grave ! " \n\nPeople sleep, dance, sing, and give parties, and make merry ; \ncourt and marry in the upper lands ; and on the lower belts and \nouter circles they quarrel, fight, have lawsuits, trade, buy, sell \nand barter, as of yore ; while from these lower planes vast multi- \ntudes of topers, hasheesh and opium eaters, and tobacco-users, \nflock earthward to establish magnetic concordance with others of \nlike ilk in the flesh ; as do frequenters of brothels, pugilists, and \nrowdies, Methodists, Baptists, Dervishes, actors, enginemen, and \njugglers, and other sensuous people, whose attractions ai\'e so \nstrong toward the scenes of their earth experience, that they not \nseldom wish themselves back, and to wish so is to be there. \n\nDo not forget my definition of a human spirit ; for on a clear \nunderstanding of it depends your knowledge of that which is to \nfollow. I, therefore, ere launching out upon the broad and mag- \nnificent ocean of truth, the shores of which we are rapidly coasting, \nrepeat the definition : A human spirit is necessarily indestructible, \nbecause it is the very quintessence of matter held in absolute \ncoalescence by the highest and most absolute force in nature, \nunder God, \xe2\x80\x94 the Lex Suprema, \xe2\x80\x94 the law of fusion. Man\'s \nbody is fibrous, liquid, granulated. No two atoms thereof touch \neach other ; but the spiritual, or rather the ethereal, body is a sub- \nstance homogeneous \xe2\x80\x94 that of this earth-form heterogeneous . It is \nan essence, tenacious, indivisible \xe2\x80\x94 one. No liquids enter into its \ncomposition, nor solids, but only fluids, aeriform, for not even the \nrivers of that fair land are liquid, nor are any of the human \n" secretions " or " excreta." Thus the spirit. \n\nNow, a human soul is a different thing. It is the thinking, \nknowing principle in man, and dead or alive, it has its seat and \nthrone in the centre of the head. Soul may be defined thus : As \nbeing the final and supreme crystallization of substance or spirit, \nas that is the final sublimation of matter. In the human spirit all \nessences find their culmination ; in the soul all laws and principles \nare focalized. \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 "Are any human beings non-immortal? and if so, \nwhat ones ? What becomes of all the" idiots, stillborn children, \nabortions, maniacs, thieves, harlots, murderers, hypocritical \npreachers, all other criminals and suicides ! What of monsters ? " \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 55 \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 Here are vital questions to be responded to ; and, \n1st. As to idiots. All human beings born with perfect heads \nare thenceforth deathless in the higher sense, and that, too, not- \nwithstanding the intellectual spark may be so extremely dim and \nflickering as scarcely to be perceptible. A Cretan or full idiot \nlabors under a physical, and very seldom a psychical disadvantage. \nThe same reasoning applied on a former page to the maimed or de- \nformed is equally applicable here. No man can work with his \nhands tied, nor without proper tools. When an idiot exists, it is \nnot that he has no spirit, but because some physical obstruction \nhas either prevented his soul from locating at the proper point in \nthe brain, \xe2\x80\x94 if the head be well shaped, \xe2\x80\x94 thus preventing the \nspiritual forces from their due circulation through the cerebral or- \ngans ; or else the foetus has not been able to collect sufficient of the \nright kind of substance from the mother whereof to build up the \nright amount of brain in the proper spot in the head. Hence the \nlow foreheads we often see. But understand : If, in the process \nof gestation, that office be suspended or arrested, or deflected at a \npoint where the brain has not ascended beyond the animal plane, \nthen there can be no personal immortality for that creation. Every \nobserver must have noticed, more or less, the marvellous resem- \nblances between certain persons and various animals, as the hawk, \neagle, lion, wolf, cur, bull-clog, cat, weasel, monkey, tiger, snake, \nvulture, rat, and others. Well, all this means much more than ap- \npears upon the surface. \n\n2d. It is an indisputable fact of the science of embryology, \nattested in thousands of instances, that the human being, in utero, \nis at first but a mere point of jelly, \xe2\x80\x94 and so were the first forms \nof animal life upon this globe ; then it assumes a reptilian out- \nline, \xe2\x80\x94 a tadpole-looking thing, with a large point and a small \none, \xe2\x80\x94 a sort of compromise between fish, lizard, and snake. Who- \never has visited a hospital where this science can be studied, \nhas verified these facts over and over again ; and there are old \nwomen \xe2\x80\x94 nurses \xe2\x80\x94 who can attest them easily from their personal \nobservations. The foetus now rapidly passes through a series of \nstrange mutations, successively resembling bird, beast, and simia \n(apes), until finally the strictly human plane is reached, and \nmore or less strongly marked ; and if the mother understands her \n\n\n\n56 AFTER DEATH; \n\nbusiness, it is in her power just as easily to produce a giant of \nmind as an intellectual pigmy ! \n\nNow if the foetus dies before it has reached the strictly human \nbody, it dies forever, and its monad escapes, because it requires the \nchemical and other properties of the human body to properly \nelaborate the human spirit and fashion it for eternity. But if that \nhuman shape be reached before it dies in the womb, then that is a \ntrue child, and is, of course, immortal, for it, though weak, sur- \nvives the physical death, and is taken and cared for by those gentle \nones from the other side who have the love of babies " large." \n[See page 47, Dealings with the Dead.] \n\n3d. No matter how idiotic a child may be, provided it has two \nhalves to the cerebrum and cerebellum \xe2\x80\x94 however small the former \nmay be, it will live beyond the grave. For this reason the pro- \ncuration of abortion at any stage of foetal growth is murder ! En \npassant, I will answer another of your questions, and say\' that \nmonsters, if such be possible, with only one human parent, are not \nimmortal ; nor is an entirely brainless thing, although both its \nparents be human. \n\n4th. Maniacs, lunatics, the insane. These, like other sick \npeople, are specially provided for, and nursed back into health \nand soundness in some one of the many sanitoria of the sunny \nshores of Aidenn. But there are various kinds of madness. \n\n(1st.) A person may, from causes operative antecedent to his \nbirth, come hither with such a peculiar cerebral conformation that \nit will be impossible for him to think right on any given subject. \nSuch soon get sound ; for they will speedily get rid of all their \ntransmitted or inherited disabilities of that sort, if those disabil- \nities result from physical causes. One insane from a blow on the head \nbelongs to the same category as the last. (2d.) There are others \nwhose insanity is the result wholly of psychical causes : \xe2\x80\x94 loss of \nproperty, remorse, violent passion, disappointed affection, un- \nanswered longing for love ; insanity \xe2\x80\x94 the worst \xe2\x80\x94 produced by \na crime against self, denounced in Genesis ; personal excess ; the \nlove of gold, ambition, too profound study too long continued ; \nthe madness that follows the offspring of cousins, or other forms \nof incest ; that from religious excitement, \xe2\x80\x94 these, all these, are al- \nmost invariably long sufferers in the spiritual realms ; and there \nare maniacs there of two centuries\' standing. Indeed, there are \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 57 \n\nsocieties, millions strong, without a sane man or woman among \nthem, except those whom a merciful code of laws provides to care \nfor and to cure them. , \n\n5th. Murderers \xe2\x80\x94 God help them ! \xe2\x80\x94 and criminals of all sorts \nand degrees, if not utterly debased, are still (and in any case) re- \ngained as human beings, and treated as such, in the upper country. \nMurder is mainly done when a man is crazy ; rarely when he is \nsane. When there is one of the latter sort, he generally is for a \nlong time incorrigible ; and, instead of trying to become better, \ngrows desperate daily. \n\nWithin a few miles of where I wrote the first edition of this \nwork there lives one Pierre Bergereaud, a planter, who, before the \nwar, regularly tortured his slaves for amusement. He would bury \npregnant women to their waists, and then flog their shoulders and \nbreasts till they were raw. Scores have died under the lash ; and \nin more than one instance has he put negroes in an oven and roast- \ned them alive. Well, it will go hard with such a wretch for many \na long century, because he must expiate Jiis crime. No one can be \nhappy there who is unforgiven by the victim, and some victims \nhave very long memories, and are hard as adamant to be softened. \nConscious crime \xe2\x80\x94 crime that could have been avoided \xe2\x80\x94 tells \nheavily against a man hereafter, because like any other well-rooted \ndisease, it has distorted the man, who must grow morally straight \nere he can be happy ; and to do that requires time. An evil deed \nwholly the result of organization, of an inherited abnormal bias, \nis an illness, and not always a purposed violation of the man\'s \nmoral nature, for that frequently lies dormant until some tornado \nor earthquake of the soul awakens it from its slumber. \n\nThere is no need of a brimstone hell, even on the supposition \nthat a soul could \xe2\x80\x94 which it cannot \xe2\x80\x94 be burned with material \nfire ; and you might just as well attempt to scorch a shadow as to \nsinge a spirit. For the flames of remorse, shame, loss of self- \nrespect and that of others ; the consciousness that everybody \nknows you to have been a villain, swindler, thief, or murderer, and \nthat you are avoided (until reparation is made) by all the good \nand pure, is itself a hell of ten thousand degrees of fervent heat ; \nand just as the spirit is higher, finer, and more sensitive \xe2\x80\x94 more \nkeenly alive to pain than the mere body, so is the hell of a man up \nthere worse than even the fanciful Gehennas of Gautama Buddha \n\n\n\n58 after death; \n\nor the last new Methodist parson. It is supremely dreadful, and \nthere\'s no escape from its inflictions. Talk about wishing for \nrocks and mountains to fall on and crush you ! Why, when a \nman is fanged by the relentless lashes of remorse, up there, he \nwould exchange situations with the most tortured soul in brimstone \nhells, were that possible, and give a myriad of years to boot. \n\nThere is a class of people there, who, when here, were mastur- \nbators and Onanists, whose agonies are so dreadful that I had \nrather endure the punishment for murder than their torture. It is \nfearful beyond description ; and the only hope such can have of \nhappiness when there, is to fully break and cure the habit here : \xe2\x80\x94 \na task not half so hard as. the poor victims imagine, but one \nwhich if not done, entails misery so dreadful, that death by fire \nwere preferable thereto. \n\nReader, just as certain as that God lives, are these words very \ntruth ! Many of those who suffer most up there, are suicides. \nBut there are grades of even these. Those poor French, and in- \ndeed, other girls, and some men and children, who shuffled off life \nfrom disappointed love ; from loss of friends ; from penury, \xe2\x80\x94 those \nwho rushed into the other world because they could find no loving \narms in this, \xe2\x80\x94 are immediately taken to a proper sanitorium and \ntenderly cared for until they are well again ; until the lost is found ; \nthe friendship discovered, and the yearning, loving heart, meets its \nholy desire. These are all fine-strung people, in whom love, not \npassion, pulsed and thrilled. Such have endured their hell on \nearth ; and yet they suffer in another sense : \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n1st. The painful consciousness that they have infracted one of \nthe highest laws governing the universe, . \xe2\x80\x94 that of self-conserva- \ntion. No one, it matters not how fearful be their misery, has a \nright to, or is justified in, suicide. The fact that they have done \nso is patent to every inhabitant of Aidenn, \xe2\x80\x94 every citizen of the \nupper country. They can neither hide it from themselves or \nothers. True, friends endeavor to conceal their knowledge of, but \nthe individual can never forget it. True, they become eventually \nhappy, but it will be a long time before they can think of it with- \nout a shudder. \n\n2d. No one has a right to shrink from duty ; and our duty is to \nsuffer \xe2\x80\x94 if we can\'t help it ; and be strong \xe2\x80\x94 or at least try to be. \nWe were born to die ifaturally, and when the measure of our years \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 59 \n\nt \n\nis full. If we are hurried out by war, murder, accident, or dis- \nease, while in our prime, we shall lamentably fail to be what we \nmight have been, had we lived on till old age gave us up to God \nand death ; but if purposely, and by our own act, we rush on to a \nplane of being for which we are unfitted, then our law-imposed \nsentence is that we must hover about the earth ; learn all we can ; \nmake our lean souls fat with knowledge ; and our moral natures \nplump, by the good deeds we do to embodied people, in various \nways ; from the awakening of the sense of immortality, by noises \nmade and feats performed ; cautioning some wrong-intender in a \ndream, or otherwise ; prompting, subtly, some sensitive to good \ndeeds ; suggesting noble thoughts, comforting some poor mourn- \ning soul ; frightening the murderer from, or warning his intended \nvictim ; to thundering God\'s gospel into the ears of the multitude, \nthrough the brain and lips of some medium. In this way must the \nbalance of the time be passed until that day in which your bodily \nclock would have naturally run down, had you not, by suicide, \nhave snapped the cords asunder. \nr. You have asked, what becomes of the harlots? This question \ncovers a great extent, and embraces a great many people, \xe2\x80\x94 more \nthan perhaps might be suspected. Now, it seems to me, there \nwould be none such were there no patronage ; and I do not hold \nthe woman more guilty than the man. I think these people do \nwrong ; but they are not to be damned, for all that. I can tell \nwhat became of one ; and Jesus might tell what happened to \nanother, \xe2\x80\x94 one Mary Magdalen. Attend ! Let me carry you \nback, two thousand years, to* a scene enacted upon the stony \nheights of Calvary : \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n"Eloi! Eloi ! Lama Sabachthani ! " groaned the dying Christ, \nas he hung upon the cross to which he had been tied and nailed by \nthe " chosen people of God," yet who coolly swore away the life \nof an innocent man, and one of the best the earth had ever pro- \nduced ; but he groaned only to be mocked and derided, even at \nthe awful moment when the terrible death-agony swept in relent- \nless pain-billows over his quivering frame and rack-tortured nerves. \nAnd even thus, " My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me ? " \ncomes up through many a pallid lip, comes welling, surging up \nfrom many a poor giii\'s heart, as she feels and realizes that she \nstands tottering upon the brink of some terrible danger, ready at \n\n\n\n60 AFTER death; \n\na touch to topple over the verge into a gulf of endless misery \xe2\x80\x94 \nand the fright and agony are none the less real and fearful in that \nshe is the victim of an old and idle superstition, and has been \ntaught to value her perishing body at a great deal higher price \nthan is set upon her viewless and immortal spirit. Put this is the \nfault of the past, that the present will check, and the future en- \ntirely correct. Yet she feels all the horror possible, while her \n"lover" (?) \xe2\x80\x94 picture it, think of it, her lover \xe2\x80\x94 stands pleading \nwith her against herself, and does not fail to rack the logic of \nhell, heaven, and earth, for argument, wherewithal to carry his \npoint, ruin her, and put out another light. "Ah, my God !" she \ncries, " what shall I do? " and then, poor thing ! unable longer to \nwithstand the triple tide and storm of passion, love, and impor- \ntunity, she bows her head upon his shoulder, and yields to what \nshe was wholly unable to resist. Well, the pure, dear, delicious, \ntender-hearted world says she has "fallen;" but I say, by the \neternal truth of God, that the " world" lies ! for not one fleck of \ndust hath fallen on her soul, to mar its immortal beauty here or \nhereafter, as she roams down the sylvan glacles of Jehovah\'s star- \nry islands. Siu, if there be any, is a transgression of our moral \nnature; is a thing of soul; and in "falling," that poor child\'s \nerror is justly chargeable to the tempter, not the tempted. It \nis him who danced, and somewhere, at some time, he is bound to \npay the music, not her. Something might even be said for him, \xe2\x80\x94 \nespecially in view of the fact of his age, the age, and the social \nfalsehoods of the era. All " sin " is the result of bad conditions ; \nwhen these are removed, all badness will go also. As for the \n" devil," whom all Christians so belabor, I\'m sure I cannot see but \nthat he is their best friend, for what would priests and parsons do \nfor bread, suppose the people should suddenly find out that Luci- \nfer was all smoke, and should burst into a universal guffaw at dis- \ncovering how they had been " sold"? \n\nOnce there was a woman of the town who nursed me into health, \nwhen all the world forsook me. And again, in 1865, another, \nwhom I had taught to read and write, heard that the terrible fever \nthat ravages New Orleans, where I was, had stricken me down. \nIt was true ; and of all the hundreds, white and black, whom I \nknew in that city, only she, and a poor old black servant of hers, \noffered the slightest assistance. Again was I saved by a "bad \n\n\n\nOK, DISBODIED MAN. 61 \n\nwoman." When the pestilence recently scourged Chicago, I be- \nlieve, or some Western city, the most tireless, faithful, generous \nvolunteers at the bedsides of the sick and needy were these self- \nsame outcasts from society, and I never yet saw or heard of one \nof them whose heart was not soft and tender, and hands ever open \n\n*to relieve genuine suffering and distress. But I \'have seen many a \nhigh-born lady turn the starving beggar from her door, and shrink \nwith holy horror from even distant contact with God\'s suffering \npoor. Out on such, I say. Let us give even the devil his due, \nand forget not that souls \xe2\x80\x94 not their shells \xe2\x80\x94 are immortal ! \n\nOnce again in my career, I became acquainted with a young \nwoman, who had been " deceived " by a married member of a \nchurch in Western New York \xe2\x80\x94 " deceived " By the agency of her \nown toothache and his chloroform. Part of the facts leaked out, \nbecause they could not be hidden ; she was expelled from the \nchurch (where sinners ought to be saved), and hooted from the \ntown and State by the elders of that branch of Zion ! was driven \nto the heartless metropolis, there to rise, if she could, \xe2\x80\x94 at sewing \nshirts for ten cents each, \xe2\x80\x94 or to sink into a hideous walking pesti- \nlence, if she could not. She had no money. Board was three \ndollars a week, and by eighteen hours\' of hard daily labor she \ncould manage to earn two dollars and a half ; her rascally employer \noffered to make up the balance " on conditions." She refused ; \nwas turned out upon the wintry street, and then \xe2\x80\x94 ah, then ! \nWell, it is the same old story of forced error. \n\nOne clay, they told me a woman was dying. I went. Lauda- \nnum ! \xe2\x80\x94 Stomach-pump ! I saved her, and learned her story. Be- \nhind her lay as pretty a prattling crower of four months as ever \n\n, my eyes had seen ; and to me both mother and child were as pure \nand unsullied as spotless snow. Would to God that I had been \nhalf as good as that poor, tender, wayworn, and suffering soul, \xe2\x80\x94 \nso true, so forgiving, so noble at heart, and so aspiring, yet so \nsensitive and wretched ! And yet, had the world heard the tale \nshe poured into mine ear, as the hot tears of her telling fell thick \nand fast upon the floor, and there mingled with the tears of my \nmanhood\'s hearing, doubtless that chaste and holy world would \nhave said she was impure, not virtuous, with more unco\' righteous \ncant of the same sort ; and why ? Because she had loved both \nwisely and well, \xe2\x80\x94 just like God is said to have done, \xe2\x80\x94 loved her \n\n\n\n62 after death; \n\nchild so well that she freely sacrificed herself upon the altar of \nshame, that it might live and not die of starvation and cold. A \nGod could do no more ! And yet there are hundreds of similar \ncases ; and no one can tell the deep agony concealed beneath the \nflaunting colors and tawdry smile of the courtesan. \n\nThe chloroform practitioner wiy have a long bill to settle just as \nsure as heaven smiles above us ! I listened to the tale, and cursed \nthe hypocrisy of a Christian world, and " civilized society," which, \nwith a vast deal, \xe2\x80\x94 whole mountain ranges of "preach," and \n" talkee, talkee," has so very little practice. Now when, as it \ndoes, society affirms such a woman not virtuous, and that, too, of \nthe loftiest order, I again tell it that it lies ! for if the word virtue \n(a moral attribute) means anything at all, it means the intent \nto be and do good ; to give it and receive it. Many a woman, \n\nlike poor Maggie S , is compelled by poverty to submit to \n\nthings \xe2\x80\x94 most infamous wrongs, and crowds of them \xe2\x80\x94 from which \nshe instinctively recoils in horror \xe2\x80\x94 both in and out Of "mar- \nriage," in exchange for current coin, or what it will bring. Fool- \nish men think, in both cases, that they have bought her. Sad \nmistake ! She has rented her cloak, she not being therein at all ; \nand I apprehend there\'s no more virtue in a cloak than in a fila- \nment ! \n\nWell, after listening to the woman\'s story, I went home and to \nbed, pondering on the general subject ; and, as is usual when my \nspirits are at ebb tide, soon felt the soothing magnetic waffcings of \nmy dear departed mother, or some other ethereal one, who knew, \nand, therefore, loved me. We are all loved when we are really \nunderstood, \xe2\x80\x94 and I was quickly transported on the fleet pinions \nof the Sleep-Angel to the happy Land of Dreams. Awaking \ntherefrom, in the middle op the night, lo ! there came a wonderful \nchange, vision, and experience. I was in the spirit ; my soul was \nfree. A divorce, temporarily, had taken place between me and my \nearthly body ; and up, up, up, will-borne, in a thought-shallop, \nthrough the star-flecked azure, I sailed, until I reached the roseate \nPlains of Vernalia, in the Golden Morning Land, and, stepping \nforth, took my stand hard by a shining gate, near which stood the \nveiled Judgment-Seat of the Infinite, Eternal, Over Soul, and my \nspirit was wrapped in clouds of awe. Soon, a mighty voice said, \n" Sound the Trumpet ! " and straightway the chief of the Antar- \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 63 \n\nphim blew a blast, and instantly ten million echoes awoke the still- \nitudes of the vast universe, with the startling summons, "Arise, \nye dead ! and come to judgment ! " and then I trembled, for I \nknew that many a " sin " had left sad marks upon me ! that, having \nbeen thrice robbed of all I had on earth, by black-hearted, pretend- \nlied friends, I had, in my agony, bitterly cursed them, and consigned \nall my foes to eternal perdition ; and now, albeit I had forgiven \nall these wrong-doers, was yet doubtful of a speedy and safe \ndeliverance. While thus standing, and calculating the chances \nwhether I, or those who had been the cause of all my trouble, and \nmost of my sin, would be eternally damned, I suddenly beheld a \nvast spectral army, \xe2\x80\x94 all the dead nations, marching up to where \nsat the Recording Angel, with the Book. \n\nPresently, the Emperors, Kings, Princes, Generals, Popes, Car- \ndinals, troops of Priests, Ministers, Lawyers, Judges, and Phi- \nlosophers, \xe2\x80\x94 wise and otherwise, with cohorts of Editors and Re- \nporters, Critics, some of whom had not been bought, marched up, \nfull of confidence, as if their toll were already paid, and essayed \nto pass through the Golden Gate into the pearly meads beyond. \nBut in this, to their intense astonishment, they were foiled, for the \nVoice, in tones of thunder, said, " Stand back ! The weakest \nfirst ! " And so they filed away to the right hand and the left, \n\xe2\x80\xa2 and stood back, and made way for a crowd of world-weary souls, \xe2\x80\x94 \nunfortunate authors, slaves, beggars, and many a poor thief! And \nas these went tremblingly up, the Angel selected the feeblest and \nmost woe-begone, asked their name, ran his eye over the Book till he \nfound them, and then, with a " strong in purpose ; weak in exe- \ncution by reason of circumstance ; " or, " victim of conditions ; " \n" erred from external pressure ; " " sinned by reason of physical \ndisease ; " " went astray from the influence of hereditary bias ; " \n" foul without, but pure within," ordered the servitor to swing \nwide the Gates of Glory, and bade the mournful throng pass in, \nwhich they joyfully did forthwith, to the infinite surprise and dis- \ngust of the aristocratic philosophers, and others of the lofty ilk, \nwho could scarcely credit their senses as they beheld the scene, \nand looked as if they would like to have appealed from Almighty \nGod\'s decision, if they but knew how ; yet, nevertheless, they had \nto submit, but with a very ill grace. \n\nI now began to understand how and why Deity is no respecter \n\n\n\n64 - AFTER death; \n\nof persons, and that in his sight hearts, not purses, souls, not \nposition, carry the most weight in the scales of Justice, and the \nCourt of Heaven ! \n\nAt last came the woman, Maggie, " the fallen one," with whom \nI had conversed, and whose touching story I had listened to. \nAgainst her name, in the Book, were the words, "prostitute, \xe2\x80\x94 by \nthe force of circumstances;\'" upon reading which the Angel wept, \nand his tiears fell upon the page, and on the words there written. \nPresently, the seraph turned toward her, and as he did so, his \nsleeve swept over the page, his own tears, and the record of her \nsin, and the words were obliterated from the Book, and when he \nagain looked at the writing, it had disappeared, \xe2\x80\x94 wiped out by \nangel tears ! \n\nShe safely passed the ordeal, and was bidden, with her babe, \n"bastard" though it was called, to enter through the Grate ; but \nshe would not, and could not, by reason of a fine, but very strong \nsilken cord, called " Sympathy," that bound her to me ; seeing \nwhich the Angel said, and smiled, while a tear glistened in his eye, \n" Pass in along with her, for it is written against your name in \nthis Book of Life, \' Even as ye did it to the least of these, my \nservants, ye have also done it unto me ; \' " and so I entered the \nblessed glades of celestial glory. \n\nI entered the Gate of the Golden Country, when, lo ! I saw that \nthe woman at my side still loved the man to whom she had given \nall that woman can. And she went to the top of Heaven\'s battle- \nments, and gazed afar off to the surging seas of the world she had \nquitted forever, and there, upon the wide waste of waters, she be- \nheld, and I, too, the ship on which sailed the man that had be- \ntrayed her ; and methought his name was Thomas Clark, and his \nlot in life had changed since he ruined and deserted the poor girl. \nAll, all was strangely altered, and he found himself tossed on the \nrough, tumultuous sea ; his lot was cast upon the deep \xe2\x80\x94 upon a \nwild and weary waste of waters. . . . The rain \xe2\x80\x94 great \nround and heavy drops of rain \xe2\x80\x94 fell in torrents ; the mad winds \nand driving sleet \xe2\x80\x94 for the rain froze as it fell \xe2\x80\x94 raved and roared \nfiercely, fitfully ; and the good ship bent and bellied to the hurri- \ncane, and she groaned, as if loth to give up the ghost. And she \ndrove before the blast, and she plunged headlong into the foaming \nbillows, and ever and anon shook her head \xe2\x80\x94 brave ship ! as if she \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 65 \n\nknew that ruin was before her, and had determined to meet it as a \ngood ship should \xe2\x80\x94 bravely, fairly in the face. I have } r et to dis- \nbelieve that every perfect work of man \xe2\x80\x94 ship, watch, engine \xe2\x80\x94 \nhas a semi-conscious life of its own, \xe2\x80\x94 a life derived from the immor- \nI tal soul that gave its idea birth, \xe2\x80\x94 for all these things \xe2\x80\x94 these ships, \nwatches, engines, are ideas, spiritual, subtle, invisible, till man hides \ntheir nakedness, with wood, iron, steel, brass, \xe2\x80\x94 the fig-leaves of \nthe Ideal World. Some people cannot feel an idea, or be intro- \nduced to one, unless it be dressed up in matter. Sometimes we \nlay it on paper, or canvas, and draw pencil lines around, or color \nit, and then it can be seen ; else we take one, and plant it out of \ndoors, and then put brick and iron, marble and glass sides to it, \nrendering the spirit visible, and then the good people see the Idea\'s \nclothing, and fancy they behold the thing itself, just as others, \nwhen looking at a human body, imagine they behold the man, the \nwoman, or the child. A mistake ! None but God ever beheld a \nhuman Soul, and this it is, and not the body, or its accidents, that \nconstitutes the Ego. \n\nAnd the ship surged through the boiling seas, and her timbers \nstrairjed and cracked in the combat, and her cordage shrieked as \nthe blast tore through, and the torn sails cried, almost humanly, \xe2\x80\x94 \nlike a man whose heart is breaking because his wife loves him not, \nand all the world for him is robed in mourning, \xe2\x80\x94 and they cried, \nas if in deadly fear ; they were craving mercy at the Storm King\'s \nhands. He heard the cries, but he laughed "ho! ho!" and he \nlaughed " ha ! ha ! " and he tore away another sail and hurled it \nin the sea, laughing madly all the while ; and he blew, and he rat- \ntled, and he roared in frightful glee ; and he laughed " ha ! ha ! " \nand he laughed " ho ! ho ! " as the bridegroom laughs in triumph. \n\nAnd still the storm came down ; and the yards bent before the gale, \nand the masts snapped asunder, like pipe-clay stems, and the bil- \nlows leaped and dashed angrily at her sides, like a trained blood- \nhound at the throat of the mother, whose crime is being black, \xe2\x80\x94 \nchivalrous, well-trained blood-hounds ! And the waves swept the \ndecks of the bark, \xe2\x80\x94 swept them clean, and whirled many a man into \nthe weltering main, and sent their souls to heaven by water, and \ntheir bodies to the coral caves of ocean. Poor Sailors ! The Storm \nKing\'s wrathful ire was roused, and his fury up in arms ; and the \nangry waves danced attendance ; the lightning held high revelry, \n9 \n\n\n\n66 AFTER DEATH; \n\nand flashed its applause in the very face of heaven, and lit up the \nnight with terrible, ghastly smiles ; and the sullen growl of dis- \ntant thunder was the only requiem over the dead. It was night. \nDay had long left the earth, and gone to renew his youth in his \nWestern bath of fire, \xe2\x80\x94 as we all must, \xe2\x80\x94 for death is our "West, \xe2\x80\x94 \nand the gloomy eidolon usurped Day\'s throne, arrayed in black \ngarments, streaked with flaming red, boding no good, but only ill \nto all that breathed the upper air. And the turmoil woke the \nNorth, and summoned him to the wassail ; and he leaped from his \ncouch of snow, with icebergs for his pillow, and he stood erect\' \nupon his throne at the Pole, and he blew a triumphant, joyous \nblast, and sent ten thousand icy deaths to represent him at the \ngrand tempestuous revel. They came, and as the waters leaped \ninto the rigging, they lashed them there with frost-fetters ; and \nthey loaded the fated ship with fantastic robes of pearly, heavy, \nglittering ice, \xe2\x80\x94 loaded her down as sin loads down the transgressor. \n. . . And still the noble ship wore on \xe2\x80\x94 still refused the \nbitter death. Enshrouded with massy sheets and clumps of ice, \nthe good craft nearly toppled with the weight, or settled forever \nin the yawning deep ; for despite of her grand endeavors, \xe2\x80\x94 her al- \nmost human will and resolution, \xe2\x80\x94 her desperate efforts to save \nher precious freight of human souls, \xe2\x80\x94 she nearly succumbed, and \nseemed ready to yield them to the briny waters below. Lashed \nto stanch timbers, the trembling remnant of the crew soon \nfound out, while terror crowned their pallid brows, that the tor- \nnado was driving them right straight upon a rock-bound coast ; \nfoaming and hopeless for them, notwithstanding that, from the \nsummit of the bold cliffs, a light-house gleamed forth its eye \ncoldly, cynically upon the night, in mockery lighting the way \nto watery death and ruin. Steadily, clearly it glimmered out upon \nthe darkness, distinctly showing them the white froth at the foot \nof the cliff, \xe2\x80\x94 the anger-foam of the demon of the storm. Ah, God ! \nhave mercy ! have mercy ! . . look 3 r onder, at the stern of the \nship ! What frightful gorgon is that ? You know not ! Well, \nthat is Death, sitting on the taffrail. See, he moves about. \nDeath is standing at the cabin door ; he is gazing down below, \nlooking up aloft, gazing out over the bleak, into the farther night. \nSee ! he is stalking about the deck, \xe2\x80\x94 the icy deck, \xe2\x80\x94 very slippery \nit is, and where you fall you die, for he has trodden on the spot. \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIEH MAN. 67 \n\nAh, me ! ah, me ! Woe, woe, a terrible woe is here, Tom Clark ! \nTom Clark, don\'t you hear ? Death stands glamouring on you ! \nHark ! he is whistling in the rigging ; he is swinging on the snap- \nping ends of yonder lodsened halliards ; if they strike you, you are \ndead, for they are whips, and Death is snapping them ! He is \ncalling you, Tom Clark ; don\'t you hear him ? \xe2\x80\x94 calling from his \nthrone, and his throne is the tempest, Tom Clark, the tempest. \nNow he is watching you, \xe2\x80\x94 don\'t his glance trouble you? Don\'t \nyou know that he is gazing down into your eyes ? How cold is his \nglance ! how colder his breath ! It is very, very cold. Ah ! I \nshiver as I think \xe2\x80\x94 and Death is freezing you, Tom Clark ; he \nis freezing your very heart, and turning your blood to ice. . . . \nAnd the vessel drove before the gale straight upon the cliff. All \nhope was at an end ; all hope of rescue was dead. There was \ngreat sorrowing on board that fated barque. Heads were down- \ncast, hearts beat wildly, ears drank in the mournful monody of the \nscene, and lo ! the strong man lifted up his voice and wept aloud. \nDid you ever see a man in tears, \xe2\x80\x94 tears tapped from his very \nsoul ? God grant you never may. . . The strong man wept ! \nthe very man, too, who, a few brief hours before, had heaped \nup curses for trifling reasons, upon the heads of others ; but \nnow, in this hour of agony and mortal terror, he fell upon his \nknees in the sublime presence of God\'s insulted majesty ; there, \nlashed to the pump, trembling in his soul\'s deep centre, he cried \naloud to Him for \xe2\x80\x94 Mercy! God\'s ears are never deaf ! At that \nmoment one of His Angels, Sandalphon, the Prayer-bearer, in \npassing by that way, chanced to behold the sublime and moving \nspectacle. And his eyes flashed gladness, even through his seraph \ntears ; and he could scarcely speak for the deep emotion that stirred \nhis angel heart ; but still he pointed with one hand at the pros- \ntrate penitent, and with the other he placed the golden trumpet to \nhis lips, and blew a blast that woke the sleeping echoes through- \nout the vast Infinitudes ; and he cried up, cried up from his very \nsoul: "Behold, he prayeth!" And the Silence of the upper \ncourts of Heaven started into Sound at the glad announcement. \nThere is not only the difference of a species, but of an entire or- \nder, between a formal and a soul-sent prayer. " Behold, he pray- \neth ! " And the sentence was borne afar on the fleecy pinions of \nthe Light, from Ashtoreth to Mazaroth, star echoing to star. . . . \n\n\n\n68 AFTER DEATH ; \n\nAnd still the sound sped on, nor ceased its flight until it struck the \npearly Gates of G-lory, where was an Angel standing, the Re- \ncording Angel, writing in a Book ; and, oh ! how eagerly he penned \nthe sentence, right opposite Tom Clark\'s name : " Behold, he \nprayeth ! " and the tears \xe2\x80\x94 great, hot scalding tears, such as, at \nthis moment, I am shedding \xe2\x80\x94 rolled out from the angel\'s eyes, so \nthat he could scarcely see the book, \xe2\x80\x94 mine own eyes are very dim, \n\xe2\x80\x94 but still he wrote the words. God grant that he may write them \nopposite your name and mine, opposite everybody\'s, and every- \nbody\'s son and daughter, opposite all our names. "Behold, he \nprayeth ! " And, lo ! the Angels and the Cherubim, the Seraphs \nand the Antarphim, caught up the sound, and sung through the \nDome ; sung it till it was echoed back from Aidenn\'s golden walls, \nfrom the East to the West, and the North and South thereof ; un- \ntil it echoed back in low, melodious cadence from the Veiled \nThrone, on which sitteth in majesty the Adonai of Adonim, the \npeerless and ineffable Over Soul, the gracious Lord of both the \nLiving and the Dead ! . . . And there was much joy in the \nStarry "World over one sinner that had in very truth repented. \n\n\n\nI saw the catastrophe, in this dream that was not all a dream. \nI saw the soul of the man saved by the prayers of the woman he \nhad so deeply injured, and I awoke, convinced that a sin against \nthe pure love of the soul entails upon the transgressor penalties \nof a fearful kind. How many of us have them to pay ! \n\n\n\nYou have my answer as to " What becomes of harlots ? " Of \ncourse I deprecate their existence, as does every well-wisher of his \nrace, as well as every other social, moral, religious, or political \nevil. But I won\'t throw stones, and have never yet seen the man \nwho could fling the first one ; and I know that every harlot was \nonce as pure as your sweet child, or mine, ay, and will be so again, \nup there in the starry sky where God\'s Justice rules, and not falli- \nble man\'s prejudices and passions. Besides, I happen to recol- \nlect that two parties\' are essential to adultery, and one must be a \nmale, not a Man altogether, but a mere " He ! " \n\nNo woman ever sinned alone, but was hurled down by what \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. G9 \n\nlooked like, but was by no means, a Man. Real men never do \nthese things ! Woman may be to blame, but not all the fault is \nhers. If she loved not, she would have stood ! We can and do \ntalk glibly of the folly of yielding to temptation, who have never \nbeen tempted. Oh, the beams in our eyes ! and oh, the motes in \nour neighbors\' ! \n\nWhile on this general subject I will here remark that all the \naberrations in the matter of love, in this our world, come from \nblindness, ignorance both of ourselves, each other, and the \nprinciple of love itself. This will not always be so, and would \nnot now were not our bodies corrupt from head to heel, with \ndiseases transmitted to us from a thousand centuries ago. Not \nonly are our bodies in this condition of radical impurity, but \nwe have inherited all the moral and mental angularities of our uni- \nversal ancestry. If this be so, \xe2\x80\x94 and who can doubt it ? \xe2\x80\x94 what \nwonder that love and marriage are anything else than what they \nshould be? None at all! Just so long as we feed, drink, live, \nand move in the world as we do, just so long will happiness be \nthe exception and not the rule, as is the case to-day. I have else- \nwhere said, and here repeat, that love lieth at the foundation, and I \nhold that his or her chances for speedy happiness bej^ond the .grave \nare in exact proportion to the love developed in them here, for a \nbad love is better than none at all. At present magnetic and pas- \nsional attraction takes the place of genuine love, and it will be so \njust as long as we subsist on blood-inflaming food, and deify lust \nand imagine it love. In the starry homes of freed souls on the \nfurther shore, love is the very first lesson we begin to learn ; and \nit were well if we began here. There are Sanitoria in nearly all \nthe grand divisions, where those unfortunates who have loved \nvainly, \xe2\x80\x94 yearned for just a little true human love, and have been \nmet with brutal passions, \xe2\x80\x94 bridleless lust, \xe2\x80\x94 are nursed into \naffectional health and strength. I hold it impossible for a bad \nman to truly love, and equally so for a man who truly loves to \nbe bad. Love elevates ever and always, and it is only lust that \ndebases and destroys. \n\n\n\nCHAPTER V. \n\nABE ANIMALS IMMORTAL ? \xe2\x80\x94 THE ABSORPTION-INTO-GOD QUESTION SETTLED \xe2\x80\x94 PHANTOM- \nOSOPHY \xe2\x80\x94 A WONDERFUL SPIRIT POWER \xe2\x80\x94 ITS RATIONALE \xe2\x80\x94 RATIONALE OF DELIRIUM \nTREMENS \xe2\x80\x94 A SINGULAR FACT \xe2\x80\x94 HOW THOUGHTS ARE READ \xe2\x80\x94 THE EXPLANATION OF \nMEMORY \xe2\x80\x94 A NEW REVELATION \xe2\x80\x94 GENIUS \xe2\x80\x94 A NEW FACULTY \xe2\x80\x94 ANIMALS OF THE \nSPIRITUAL WORLDS. \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 " Are all or any animals immortal? Are there any \nanimals in the upper land ; and if so, whence and what are they ? " \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 To the first interrogatory, I emphatically answer, so \nfar as my knowledge and experience goes, not one! I do not \nknow how extensive have been the investigations of Swedenborg \nand more modern seers ; I can only say that I have been more \nfamiliar with spiritual realities, for many years, than with things \nof earth. The faculty of independent seership was born with me ; \nand bitterly, bitterly have I regretted it ; for mine has been a \nlonely, dreadful existence in consequence of that hereditar}^ pos- \nsession. I have been forced to live and labor in a world for which \nby birth I was wholly unfitted ; and to earn my bread without \nknowing how. Hundreds of times people have said, "Randolph, \nif I had your powers, your genius, your oratorical and literary \nabilities, I would give half my life and all my property ! " and I \nhave invariably replied, " You would lose by the exchange. If it \nwere possible to get rid of this power, I would do it at the sacrifice \nof everything on earth. But it cannot be done. Then came other \npsychical phases, which I assiduously cultivated, \xe2\x80\x94 for I could not \nhelp it, \xe2\x80\x94 cultivated these strange faculties ; have tried to fathom \nall mystery, and succeeded in some cases ; but never did I hear \nof, or see, an immortal clog, cat, or any other animal ; and while \nanalyzing the principia underlying human psychology, have neces- \nsarily deeply studied that of animals, whom I found non-immortal, \nfor the reason that they are not high enough in the scale to elabo- \nrate from matter the indestructible essences which enter into the \n\n70 \n\n\n\nAFTER DEATH; OR, DISBODIED MAN. 71 \n\ncomposition of the spiritual body of man. We know nothing of \nall nature, only so much thereof as pertains to our earth ; and so \nfar as our earth alone is concerned, all nature exhausts her re- \nsources in perfecting the human machine, or rather, chemical ap- \nparatus, whose function is that of distilling matter and elaborat- \ning spirit. The process begins in utero, and ends in the grave. \nIt is accomplished by and through the chemical, mechanical, elec- \ntrical, galvanic, and magnetic apparatus, man\'s various organs \noperating on what he eats, drinks, inhales, and absorbs. The liver, \nlungs, heart, pancreas, spleen, brain, nerves, stomach, intestines, \nnostrils, solar plexus, the ganglia, and sexual apparatus, \xe2\x80\x94 all these \nare so inany agents and vessels wherein meat, bread, fruit, air, \nwater, electricity, magnetism, and all other substances and fluids \nare clarified, refined, crystallized, and fashioned in the human form \nor shape, and that form or shape appears to be that which the man \nhimself is to wear through all the future ages. \n\nOnce, when en rapport with a vast brotherhood of learned Budd- \nhists, of the better land, they taught, and I believed, that there \nwould come a period when man would be so pure and perfect \nas to lose his identity, and be swallowed up in G-ocl, \xe2\x80\x94 be absorbed \ninto the great Brahm, a component of whom he would then be- \ncome. Somewhere, in one of the many books I have written,, that \nidea has place. I forget the order of the argument, but remember \nthat it was based on the assumption, that whatever originated in, \nand started on its elliptical orbit of existence from, must neces- \nsarily return to, God. The reasoning was fallacious, because an \nellipse has two, and not one single point, \xe2\x80\x94 two foci. They can \nnever approach each other. A yawning and impassable gulf eter- \nnally and forever keeps them apart. Man is at one focus of this \ntremendous ellipse, God is at the other ; and the ellipse itself is \nlaw, \xe2\x80\x94 the principles of existence ; they move, are, and act from \nGod, on man, and bind the twain together. But it was a long \ntime ere I reached the sublime truth I have just penned. I now \nbelieve in our continued existence as humans, \xe2\x80\x94 in ascending orders \nand hierarchies ; and this from reason, < \xe2\x80\x94 from a clear comprehen- \nsion of known principles, and because my conclusions are corrobo- \nrated and sanctioned by my tutors, \xe2\x80\x94 men of Morning Land, \npossessed of immense stores of knowledge on this recondite sub- \nject. \n\n\n\n72 AFTER DEATH ; \n\nBeasts, being but secondary chemical vessels, perish at death. \nTrue, we all have heard of the ghosts of dogs and birds ; and \nphantoms in those shapes have most undoubtedly been seen ; but \nsuch are phantoms only. For instance, no. truer thing was ever \nwritten than that statement of the great Swede, that thoughts have \nforms. Proof: Take a good mesmeric subject, and, although you, \nthe magnetizer, may never have seen a ship, a Turkish mosque, or \nspotted tiger, although the subject may be as unwise as you on \nthose points, yet, when in the slumber, if you think of those things, \nthe subject will not only see, but will describe them, each and all, \nminutely. \n\nThe thoughts have shape ; the objects seen are phantoms. Thus \nan animal, dog, or bird, is loved by a man or woman ; still they \ndie ; but when dead, the ideas of them still exist \xe2\x80\x94 forms of love- \nthought \xe2\x80\x94 in their respective owners\' minds. Now, with those \nimages in your mind, you ask a seer, " Do you see my pet in \nheaven?" The answer is "Yes!" and no wonder, for you have \njust that moment sent the image there. Nor is it any more easy \nfor the seer to distinguish between the reality, and the shadow, \nthan for you to tell whether the figure you see in a large mirror, of \nwhose existence at the other end of the cabin of a steamer you are \nignorant, is a man or his reflection, until experience shall have \ntaught you better. Again : In this world, we can project or put \nour ideas upon paper or marble. By the aid of concaA r e mirrors \nwe can project a figure upon the air so perfectly that one would \nswear it was a real person standing there, and not a mere image. \nSuch things are often clone at the London Panopticon ; and we all \nremember the theatrical " ghost excitement" imported therefrom a \nfew years ago. In the spiritual country new powers of mind are \ndeveloped. Here Ave can build castles in the air, but, unless we \ndescribe them, they please none but ourselves. There, on the \ncontrary, they can be, and are, made visible to all who choose to \nlook ; and the exercise of this power affords boundless enjoyment \nand amusement to myriads of people. Here a lecturer must either \nillustrate his subject by skilful word-painting, or resort to dia- \ngrams or the panorama. There, however, he can produce the \nscene upon the air, so that all can see and understand ; and, in \nconsequence, the schools there are rather better than we find them \nhere. There, our ideas can be, and are, visibly projected ; they \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 73 \n\nbecome externalized creatures of our wills, deriving their life, their \nall, from our love, and remaining objectified subjects thereof as \nlong as that special love is dominant. What then shall hinder me \nfrom having my dog Ponto ? What shall prevent my Cora from \nstill having her pet canary? \'In the upper country the law of \nsupply and demand is a great improvement upon its action here. \nWhen seers behold appearances of well-known beasts, they may \nrest assured that they are beholding phasmas ; and were they to \nlook well about them they would often see the person from whose \nmind they were projected. Of course, these phantom pets are not \nthe same as those on earth ; neither are they, in any sense, the \nsouls thereof. These loves are projected oftentimes unconsciously, \nand the disbodied person may believe, and through rapping-tables \ntell us, that they really have their pets with them. It is well known \nthat here we are often subject to spectral illusions, so finely illus- \ntrated in Warren\'s " Diaiy of a Physician." A person was haunted \nby a large yellow dog. The phenomenon resulted from some compli- \ncated disarrangement of the organs of love, memory, and imagina- \ntion, operating through a disturbed retina. The same disease in \nanother form is the creating cause of the mice, rats, snakes, and devils \nof delirium tremens. There is another arcanum just here. There \nare general as well as personal and special projections from and of \ncertain portions of the spiritual zones, divisions, communities, and \nbrotherhoods. Here our architects, engineers, artists, are com- \npelled to build upon their ideas or out-creations, in coarse material, \n\xe2\x80\x94 stone, wood, iron, canvas, glass, and paint, before they are \ngenerally perceptible. How we often wonder at our unuttered \nthought being read and spoken by some seer or disbodied person ! \nMany attempts have been made to solve the mystery without suc- \ncess. The theories have been too far-fetched. As usual, men \nhave looked away off, when, in fact, the solution lay right before \ntheir ej-es, and is as simple as the day is long. Remembering that \nthoughts are things, \xe2\x80\x94 have tenacitj*, coherence, and life, \xe2\x80\x94 that \nthey are real entities, \xe2\x80\x94 the rest is perfectly plain. When a thought \nis forged in the furnaces of the soul, we are not apprised of it ; for \nthe soul works on the other side of consciousness, and we are \nignorant of what has been going on, until the thought itself, as \ncomplete as the unpractised soul could make it, passes across the \nfield of consciousness. Then we know it, see it, hail it ; but we \n\n\n\n74 AFTEK death; \n\nare not conscious of building it up piecemeal ; we only know that \nwe desire to have a certain piece of unknown information. The \nthought at such a point is an m-creation ; when we project it \nbefore our faculties, and view it, it is an oirf-creation. All an \narchitect has to do is to first photograph his thought well upon his \nmemory ; then place it where he wants it, putting stone, brick, \nmortar, glass, paint, and so on, to the sides, bottom, top, and in- \nterior ; in short, clothe this spiritual idea with material habili- \nments, and lo ! your palace stands revealed to the gaze of the world. \nWell, every thought conceived comes from the deeps of being, so \nto speak, \xe2\x80\x94 a thin, filmy picture, from the very centre of that myste- \nrious fiery globe in the centre of the head, to which allusion was \nmade in my "Dealings with the Dead," pp. 167, et seq. This sun \nof man, this seat of power, constantly exists as a point, of greater \nor less dimensions, within the centre of a globe less bright than \nitself, and on the walls of this outer globe the soul-forged pictures \npass, and, as matter is pervious to the sight of spirits and some \nclairvoyants, nothing hinders them from seeing these pictures, and \nreading these thoughts. But neither these images, nor those that \ncome to us from the outer world, through sight, sound, touch, hear- \ning, or emotion, are lost ; for when they have passed before the \nsoul\'s outer eye, they depreciate in magnitude, and enter into cells, \nand remain there for longer or shorter periods, until, like a photog- \nrapher\'s negative plate, they can no longer subserve the ends of \nuse, whereupon they dissipate and are forever gone. This is the \nrationale of memory. \n\nThe scenery of the upper worlds is, in a great measure, the ex- \nternal projection of the general, popular mind, and the loftier are \nthe people, the finer are their surroundings ; just as here a barba- \nrous man merely tills the ground for what food comes from it, while \nthe polished and aesthetic man projects pleasure-grounds, conserva- \ntories and splendid gardens. It is the same law operating under \ndifferent conditions. The greater, and therefore the more misera- \nble, is a so-called " genius" here, the more marked is the work of \nhis half-dozen abnormally expanded faculties ; for genius is ever \na crooked, unmanageable crab-stick, angular and full of sharp \npoints, often, nearly always, meaning well, but almost as invari- \nably stumbling headlong into ill. So of the Spirit Land. In the \nlower regions, Where to some the general view is angular and \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 75 \n\ncheerless, it is no uncommon thing to behold isolated specimens \nof the most magnificent out-creations, architectural, artistic, or \notherwise, \xe2\x80\x94 like a diamond breast-pin in a beggar\'s shirt-front, \nor a pearl jewel on a blackguard\'s finger. But the higher the \ngeneral mind up there, the more varied, simple, yet ornate, lovely \nand beautiful is that out-creation ; wherewith it surrounds itself, \nand is environed by that mysterious directing, silent, but omnipo- \ntent power called God, but who is really as unknown in those \nspheres, as in Booraboola Gha, except that no one denies its exist- \nence, because the evidences thereof, as here, are too palpable and \nclear. Human likes, dislikes, and tastes are everywhere depend- \nent upon organization and circumstances. A band of freebooters \nwould here delight in gloomy forests and dark caves, contiguous to \nsome well-travelled high-road, and not too far off some well-stocked \nlocanda or cabaret, abounding in good wine and maidens fair of \nnon-resistant principles. A crew of pirates would exult in a long, \nlow, black schooner, capable of putting the wind\'s eye out on a \nbowiyie, and of showing her teeth to an Indiaman, or her heels to \none of your crack steam iron-clads. Artists would luxuriate in \nfine landscapes, fair grounds, toppling cascades, and something \ngood to eat. Poets would prefer love in a cottage, not too re- \nstricted, generous wine, and in the members of the Mutual Admi- \nration Society ; while people of a different make-up would sur- \nround themselves with magnificent grounds and palaces, something \nafter the style of Poe\'s " Domain of Arnheim," or Calvin Blan- \nchard\'s unique conception of earth after the expiration of what \nhe so justly called the " Dismal Ages." In the Spirit Land we \nfall, plump and square right into the very place we like best. If \nalone, why, then alone. If otherwise, among the people best \nsuited to us. True, we may get into some region of phantasy, or \nfind ourselves in a sanitorium or a school ; or we may have to join \nsome earth-visiting Missionary Society, bent on civilizing the \ncivilizees, or converting Christians to Christianity, cleaning the \ninsides of the platitudinous platters. Still we will like the place \nand the work, whatever it be, and take to it as web-footed animals \ntake to water. Moreover, as every useful thing or knowledge is to \nbe had without too much trouble, and none of this clinking cur- \nrencj\'-, why, we live quite cosily and comfortably, and just as our \nlonging souls desire ; and this fact, be it known, constitutes \n\n\n\n76 ATTER death; \n\nHeaven, \xe2\x80\x94 simply the dwelling in the arena of harmony, and there- \n, fore, in the bonds of peace. Even Presbyterians are measurably \nhappy, blue, as they are said to be, \xe2\x80\x94 but wrongly, \xe2\x80\x94 for they are \ndecidedly green, \xe2\x80\x94 for a while. All things leave their imprints \nbehind them in, so to speak, the great memory-cells of the uni- \nverse ; hence, whatever has been can be known, and will be (to \nsome extent already is), by the exercise of a now-developing \nfaculty, whose function it is and will be to read these so-called \n" scrolls of oblivion." Man, universal man, will yet defy the \npower of forgetfulness, for he will dive into the darkest caverns \nof the past, and, with a few bold strokes, triumphantly swim every \nLethean sea ; make every grave give up its dead ; recover the \n" lost arts," and prove history to be something more than biog- \nraphy. \n\nThis is already \xe2\x80\x94 "already" did I say? I forget. This has \nbeen known millions of years by some of the myriads on the \nfather zones ; and is in that pertaining to our own system. For \ninstance : a lecture is there announced ; subject, \xe2\x80\x94 Zoology ; and \nthe speaker alludes to a megalodon and an icthyosaurus, \xe2\x80\x94 pristine \nbeasts of earth, about which none of the hearers know anything \nwhatever, save that they once existed. But the lecturer now wills \nthat they shall know, and lo ! straightway the lemur, or eidolon, \nof the beast, stands revealed before them, just as the ship or \nmosque did before the interior eye of your mesmerized subject. \nThe thing appears just as do the phantom dogs and birds, and by \nvirtue of the same laws of projection and universal memory ; and \nthe congregation are at full liberty to examine the wretch to their \nhearts\' content, \xe2\x80\x94 and they do so. \n\nI may here say, en courant, that there are a great many more \n" radical " and other passions in the human soul, than either Owen, \nFourier, Prodhon, Professor Buchanan, Gall, Fowjer, or even \n"William Fishbough \xe2\x80\x94 the greatest thinker of them all \xe2\x80\x94 ever \nthought or dreamed of. And it is equally and also true, that every \nthing or animal is the external symbol of something mental, intel- \nlectual, moral, sensational, affectional, or spiritual. Indeed, this \ntruth is generally and practically believed ; for we all, more or \nless, admit that the dog symbolizes constancy, the ant faith, the \nspider patience, the partridge courage, the bull strength, the hog \nindolence, the bee indusfe^, the fox cunning, the horse nobility, \n\n\n\nOK, DISBODIED MAN". 77 \n\nthe tiger ferocity, the sheep innocence, the peafowl vanity, the \nturkey pride, the cock lust, the clove love, the gazelle beauty, the \nelephant generosity, the ass contentment, the mule obstinacy, the \nhyena deceit, the snake malignancy, the ostrich cowardice, the \nwasp anger, and so on to the end of a very long list. . Well, all \nthese types and many others are occasionally seen in the upper \nglobe and better country ; not as real existences, but as forms pro- \njected and mirrored on the air, for the purpose of illustration, \xe2\x80\x94 \n" to point a moral and adorn a tale." But besides these protean \nand phantasmal forms of things that were, and are still here, there \nare others indigenous and pertaining to the other world ; for indeed \nit were a poor land if all the animated beings there were strictly, \nwholly, solely human. No ; there is a fauna and flora, too, of the \nMorning Land, transcendently beautiful and interesting. And I \nam inclined to the opinion that whoever wrote certain Arabian \ntales of singing trees and laughing waters, talking birds and sensi- \nble plants, must have caught a glimpse of some of the startling \nrealities of the upper land, and whenever hereafter in this work I \nspeak of animated forms, let it be understood that I mean real, \nactual animals, unless treating specially, and naming, phasmas. \n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI. \n\nVERY STARTLING QUESTIONS AND THEIR ANSWERS \xe2\x80\x94 RELATIONSHIP IN HEAVEN \xe2\x80\x94 THE \nAFFINITY QUESTION SETTLED \xe2\x80\x94 IS DEATH PAINFUL ? \xe2\x80\x94 DEATH BY HANGING AND \nDROWNING \xe2\x80\x94 THE SENSATIONS THEREOF \xe2\x80\x94 EFFECT OF BAD MARRIAGES \xe2\x80\x94 FATE OF \nDUELLISTS, SOLDIERS, EXECUTIONERS \xe2\x80\x94 THOSE WHO DIE OF FRIGHT OR HORROR \xe2\x80\x94 \n- DRUNKARDS \xe2\x80\x94 OBSESSIONS \xe2\x80\x94 THE FATE OF GENIUS, AND ITS ORIGIN \xe2\x80\x94 CRIME-ENGEN- \nDERING DANGERS \xe2\x80\x94 HAUNTED PEOPLE AND HOUSES \xe2\x80\x94 A CURIOUS CAUSE OF MENTAL \nSUFFERING \xe2\x80\x94 MUSIC OVER THERE \xe2\x80\x94 WHY DO PEOPLE MARRY OVER THERE? \xe2\x80\x94 REPLY. \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 " Will, or can you, tell me concerning relationships \nin the other world? Shall we meet our parents, wives, children \nand friends ? Is the process of death painful ? What is the effect \nof bad marriages here, \xe2\x80\x94 upon us there ? What is the fate of \nsoldiers, generals, and other leading executioners? What of those \nwho died of fright ? What is the effect of habit ? Perverse will ? \nThe fate of genius, and its origin ? Is there music there ? Why- \ndo people marry there ? what the effect of suffering here, \xe2\x80\x94 over \nthere?" \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 As to " relationships : " So far as our common origin \nis concerned, we are all brothers and sisters. It is blood and \nphysical birth that constitutes relationship in this world ; but the \nmere ties of consanguinity go but a little way in the other one. \nIndeed, men and women are often more closely knit and bound to \nstrangers than to the children of their own parents. Affinity of \npsychical constitution, mental habitudes, or a common love, ambi- \ntion, aspiration, and aim, constitute the real relationship here and \nhereafter. \n\nI have already said that love rules in the sky, and if that love \nprompts you to seek the man who begat, or the mother who bore \nyou, why, all you have to do is to will yourself in their presence, \nand you are there. But if there be no stronger tie between you \nthan that of physical parentage, the renewed acquaintanceship \nwill not be of long continuance. \n\nPeople there are graded, not by outside pressure or enacted law, \n\n78 \n\n\n\nAFTER DEATH? OR, DISBODIED MAN. 79 \n\nbut by the higher law of love, affiuitucle (or similarities), common \naspiration, moral and intellectual development, and refinement, \nand organizational tendencies and peculiarities. If your relations \nare in these respects like you, they will be graded, and dwell in \nthe same region, with you ; but if not, then not. Nearly every \none at first seek out their parents, relatives, and friends ; their \nchildren and acquaintances. If not in the same grade, then for \na while a visiting intercourse is established, which, there, as here, \ndepends for its duration on mutual attraction. When that ceases, \nthe acquaintance drops, or is exchanged for those that are more \ncongenial. \n\nIs death painful? If by a disease that racks the nerves, yes ; \nbut the agony is short. If b} r a bullet in the head or other vital \npart, no ; for you are numbed instantaneously. If you are afraid \nof hell-fire ; if your life has been so bad that your death-bed is \nhaunted by the ghosts of evil deeds ; if you shudder at facing \nyour own music ; if you behold, in mind, the mournful faces of \nthe victims of your lust, rapacity, vengeance, hatred, poison, \nbullet, steel, or the worse instrument, slander; then take my \nword for it, you will find it very uncomfortable dying ; and I had \nrather not be in your place. In a word, the mental anguish at \nthat moment, far, very far, exceeds in poignancy, the physical ; \nbut, as a general thing, the act of dying is a very exhilarating \nbusiness. \n\nDuring the rebellion I knew of a colored man, who was caught \nand strung up to a tree, by the "patriots" of the " C. S. A." \nJust after he was done struggling, they took him down, and, by \ndint of plentiful ablutions of cold water, he revived, his neck not \nhaving been broken. Failing to get the information sought, they \nagain hung him till still, and again took pains to revive him, after \nwhich they let him go. "Well, that man declared that after the \nfirst choking sensation caused by the stoppage of breath, he ex- \nperienced not the slightest pain whatever ; and that hanging was \none of the pleasantest feelings imaginable. Such, also, is the \nunvarying testimony, of hundreds who have had a similar ex- \nperience. \n\nWhen a boy, I fell overboard at the foot of a pair of boat stairs, \nor rather was pushed over, by Steven Vanhorn, a dusky chum of \nmine, since dead. I was fairly drowned when they got me out, \n\n\n\n80 after death; \n\nbut not a spark of pain felt I till my lungs were reinflated by the \npeople near. Again, down South, last year, a boat ran into mine \nand dropped me to the bottom of seven feet of water. I went \ndown, feet foremost, and saw the mud rise as my feet struck bot- \ntom ; and I fell over on my back. For an instant, a sharp pang \nshot through me, and then I lay still, croning and dreaming, per- \nfectly happy, and wondering at the magnificent play of colors that \ndanced before my eyes, and the delicious strains of music that \nthrilled through my enraptured soul. But suddenly it occurred to \nto me that that was death, and that, unless I made some effort to be \nsaved, it would be suicide ; and yet it was hard work to rouse suf- \nficient energy to make the trial. I did so, however ; got up, raised \nmy arm, and was pulled out, thoroughly convinced that death, in \nitself considered, was nothing to be feared in the least degree. \n\nBad marriages here ? All I can say on that point is, that there\'s \na safe deliverance in the Spirit Land, without the intervention of \ncouncil, judge, or jury. So far as this life is concerned, bad mar- \nriages are an obstacle to progress ; an unhappy, woe-begetting \nunion is not marriage ; none but fools can call it so ; and it ought \nnot to be considered binding on either victim to it. At least I \nwould not, do not, so regard it. Where\'s no love and respect, \nmutual and reciprocal, there\'s a violation of every human sanctity, \nand legislators ought to be made to understand it. I am certain \nthat a bad marriage here retards our advancement hereafter, \nbecause it prevents the development of our better and higher \nfaculties, and at the same time calls into active play many of the \nlower. \n\nWhat is the fate of generals, soldiers, and other legal man- \nslayers? If the cause in which they have fought be that of \nhuman right, then \xe2\x80\x94 although all wars are wrong \xe2\x80\x94 the men who \nhave fought them are not morally punished for the slaying they \nmay have done or caused. \n\nThose who have died of fright, terror, horror, are, as a general \nthing, a long time recovering placidity and composure, as is the \ncase with duellists and those who die of delirium tremens. But a \nman whose trade was that of an executioner is in a bad plight, for \nthey are seldom speedily forgiven by those whom they have judi- \ncially slain ; and until they are so forgiven, they are not happy. \nIndeed, no one can be thoroughly contented while there exists \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 81 \n\nanger or a sense of wrong done, in the mind of any one, on earth \nor in the Spiritual Country. \n\nWhat is the effect of perverse will, and bad habits, \xe2\x80\x94 such as \ndrunkenness ? I answer, self-abasement, finally ; disrespect of \none\'s self; self-reproachment, based on the consciousness that \nthose habits were a species of suicide. Lowly organized men for \na while rush back to earth, visit their old haunts, and establish \nsympathetic rapport with those of their own grade, where possi- \nble ; but where not so, they not seldom infest some poor medium, \nand drive him or her to acts whereat the victims would, if left to \nthemselves, shudder and turn pale. Many a poor sensitive me- \ndium has been rushed into crime and folly by being made the \nunconscious proxy of some unrepentant wretch from the other \nside. And when once the rapport is firmly established, it is ex- \nceedingly difficult to dispossess the obsessing spirit. Nothing, \nhowever, is more certain than that the obsessors incur a dreadful \npenalty for their acts ; and their sufferings will, in the end, be \nvery severe. Of course these pains are mental. \n\nYou ask, what is- the origin and fate of genius ? and I reply : \nGenius arises from three sources. \n\n1. It may be the culmination of an education or culture of a \nsingle set of faculties in a family for a long period of time. \n\n2. It may be caused by the persistent exercise,\' by the mother \n(during gestation), of her mind in a given direction. \n\n3. (a) It may be, and often has been, produced by constant \nmagnetic operations on the unborn child, by spirits anxious to \nproduce a given result ; and \n\n(6) It may result from nervous excitability, sadness, and a bias \nimparted to the child ; turning the whole current of the mind into \nparticular channels, \xe2\x80\x94 the voluntary or involuntary culture of \nspecial faculties. \n\nEvery genius is ticketed for misery in this life ; for there\'s but \nan angular, one-sided, painful development. A few advantages \nare purchased at enormous cost : a short, brilliant, erratic ca- \nreer ; more kicks than praises ; more flattering leeches than fast \nfriends ; rich and joyous to-day, houseless and suffering the pangs \nof hell to-morrow ; understood by God alone ; seldom loved till \ndead ; the victims of bad men, and constant dupes \xe2\x80\x94 even of \nthemselves ! Genius is a bright bauble, but a dangerous posses- \n11 \n\n\n\n82 after death; \n\nsion. Invariably open to two worlds, they are assaulted, coaxed, \nflattered, led captive on all sides, and the only rest comes with \ndeath. And although measurably happy, and entirely relieved of \nmany disabilities on the further shore, they yet have enormous \ntasks to do. They are compelled to train all their previously \nneglected faculties to something like consonance with those few \nwherewith they startled the world below. For instance : A man \nwho was a great architect, musician, plrysiologist, painter, sculp- \ntor, poet, reasoner, must cultivate all his other faculties until he \nbecomes rounded out, outgrows his special angularities, and be a \ndifferent man altogether. It is a blessed thing to be able, as I \nam, to tell all such, and all the other tearful, unknown, sad- \nhearted, weary souls ; the unpitied, unappreciated wives j; the \nstruggling, honest man, who goes to the wall because he cannot \npollute his soul by chicanery and low knavery, whereby coarser \nmen find thrift, \xe2\x80\x94 I repeat, it is joy to me this night to be able to \npen these lines of assurance that in very truth there\'s rest, and \npeace, and sweet sleep, and comfort, and sympathy, appreciation, \nand warmly yearning, loving hearts for them up there. How \nsome of us will rest, when our year of jubilee shall come, and \ndeath shall set us free ! \n\nLet me here say two important things. 1st. Whatever is of \nvalue comes through much tribulation and pain. Many a great \nthought nearly kills the thinker in its birth. Men and women \nsensitives are often plunged into the most dreadful abysses of \nmisery by spirits, in order either to bring out some latent power \nof the mind, or to enable the victim to rise to some correspond- \ningly dizzy mountain-top of thought, philosophy, invention, or \npoesy. \n\n2d. Thought is born of sadness and sorrow ; and many of us \nare sorrowful from the cradle to the grave. These are seed suffer- \nings, from which, in another sphere, will spring gorgeous flowers \nof happiness, whose rich and solacing perfume will undoubtedly \nreward us for our pain. It is a long time to wait, but wait we \nmust. I am here speaking of the special sufferings of particularly \ncircumstanced and organized persons. \n\nIs there any music over there ? In reply, let it be forever known \nthat the spiritual is not a silent land. But this question involves \nmore than at first appears. I have elsewhere said that man is \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 83 \n\ninfinite, not in power or development, but in capacity. In the \nearly efforts of the race a cave sufficed for shelter, and that sug- \ngested artificial caverns, \xe2\x80\x94 a hut being the result. To-day we \nbehold crystal palaces, and gorgeous buildings lining our streets. \nWhat a contrast between the first and last, \xe2\x80\x94 the hovel and the \npalace ! and yet both were the work of the same human faculty. \nAgain, there is quite a difference between the notched-stick \nmethods of our ancestors, and the last series of logarithms ; be- \ntween simple one, two, three, and the calculations of an eclipse \nfor the year A. D. 10,000, yet both are from one little organ of \nthe same human brain. Listen to the horrid din of rude fiddles \nand worse drums in a West- African Kraal, and then to Offen- \nbach\'s great opera, TJie Duchess of Gerolstein, for instance. \nBoth originated in the same faculty, and we being still babies, j^et \nhaving our Duchess, what sort of improvements will we not wit- \nness at the end of say a couple of thousand years from now ? \n\nNow let us look at all our faculties, and we cannot help seeing \nthat, life here being altogether too short for their perfect cul- \nture, they must still expand and enlarge in our other home ; for, \nbelieve me, these mighty powers were not given in vain ; conse- \nquently the singer will still sing, the builder build, and the \narchitect design, up yonder. It is not our ears that hear ; it is the \nprinciple within, and we carry that principle with us. There is, \ntherefore, music in the Spirit World. Indeed, we often catch \nstrains of it here, and it is far sweeter even than Mozart\'s or \nBeethoven\'s. \n\nIt is asked, why do people marry over there? and I answer, \nprecisely for the same reason they do here, \xe2\x80\x94 companionship, love, \nkindliness, mutuality. \n\nIt is also asked what effect follows suffering here, when we are \nover there ? To this I answer that, generally speaking, all suffer- \ning is disciplinary. It serves to bring out and develop the man ; \nit prepares him to enjoy ease and peace ; it fits his spirit for the \nmighty work of ages that lies before it ; it softens and rounds out \nthe inner self ; it shows us the difference between mind and matter ; \nit helps fashion the shape and tendency of our minds, and it \nteaches us that there is a God ; for when in pain all mankind \nbelieve firmly in the Deity. \n\nIn the Spirit Country people do not suffer the same sort of \n\n\n\n84 aftee death; oe, diseodied man. \n\ninconveniences as they do here ; but yet whosoever imagines there \nis one eternal Sabbath there, \xe2\x80\x94 a period of no work and all play, \n\xe2\x80\x94 will speedily have to correct that error ; for there are no idlers \nthere ; just as it is true that a life of perfect innocence is the only \ntrue life, so a life of labor is the only worthy life, no matter \nwhether we be in one world or another. A perfect development is \nimpossible to be had on earth, for we are surrounded on all sides \nwith conditions that prevent, or militate against it. No matter \nhow tame a forest beast may become, there are times when its \nsavage, wild nature, will, in spite of all kindness, assert itself. \nSo also with man, individual and collective. The memory of the \nshort time back when we were forest rangers and cave dwellers, \nwill occasionally come up ; and we rise from worship to a feast of \nblood ; leap at a bound from peaceful tables to plunge and rush \ninto " glorious war." In individual cases, it matters not how \ngood and gentle, well-intentioned or just a man may be, there are \nmoments when the "Old Adam" bubbles up; when even Chris- \ntians persecute, and " God\'s mouth-pieces " damn the souls of \nthose who disagree with them; hell itself occasionally blazes \nforth, gleams in other time lamb-like features, and the glare of a \nfiend flashes forth from angry eyes. This is because physically he \nis not yet man, any more than mentally. We at best are but \nlarge children, slowly approximating manhood, and with plentiful \nrecollections of the savage foretime. How true it is that even in \nthe most polished and "civilized" society \n\n" There\'s a lust in man no power can tame, \nOf loudly publishing his neighbor\'s shame ! \nOn eagle wings immortal scandals fly, \nWhile virtuous actions are but born to die." \n\nBy and by the blood that courses through us will lose its affini- \nties for physical fire ; we shall outgrow our similarities to the ani- \nmal, and gradually become wholly human. \n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII. \n\nLOCATION, DIRECTION, DISTANCE, FOBMATION, AND SUBSTANCE OF THE SPIRIT LAND*\xe2\x80\x94 \nA NEW PLANET NEAR THE SUN \xe2\x80\x94 THE SPIRIT WORLDS VISIBLE TO THE NAKED EYE \xe2\x80\x94 \nTHE THRONE OP GOD, ITS NATURE, BULK, AND LOCALITY \xe2\x80\x94 LOCATION OF THE PINAL \nHOME OF SPIRITS \xe2\x80\x94 THE ORIGIN OF THE FIRST HUMAN SOUL \xe2\x80\x94 UNCREATED SOULS\xe2\x80\x94 \nTHE RAIN OF WORLD-SOULS AND SOUL-SEEDS \xe2\x80\x94 LOCATION OF THE SEVEN GRAND \nSPHERES OR ZONES \xe2\x80\x94 LENGTH OF AN ETERNITY \xe2\x80\x94 OUR SPIRIT WORLD VISIBLE ON \nCLEAR NIGHTS \xe2\x80\x94 ITS DEPTH AND DIMENSIONS \xe2\x80\x94 DISTANCE AND SUBSTANCE OP \xe2\x80\xa2 THE \n\nSPIRITUAL WORLD HOW WE GO TO AND FROM THERE \xe2\x80\x94 PLANTS AND ANIMALS OF \n\nSPIRIT LAND \xe2\x80\x94 SCENERY ABOUT THE SPIRITUAL SUN \xe2\x80\x94 BOREAL AND AUSTRAL SUNS \nNOW FORMING AT THE POLES \xe2\x80\x94 VAMPIRES \xe2\x80\x94 WEIGHT OF A SPIRIT. \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 "What and where, in the Spirit World, Morning \nLand, Better Country, Home of the Soul, or Aidenn, are the \nspheres or dwelling-place of the^disbodied human spirit? What \nis it made of? In what way is it distinct from matter, and the \ngreat ethereal ocean you have spoken of ? Is it subject to gravita- \ntion ? How do we get there, and back ? Is there any death there ? \nDo we sleep? What are our occupations? Do sects abound \nthere as here ? How do we live when there ? What is the size of \nour spirits ? Can we penetrate solid matter and exist ? Is it pos- \nsible to annihilate a spirit ? Would a man live after being blown \nto atoms from a gun? Are we there, as here, characterized by \nred and dark hair, complexions, slenderness, and obesity? Do we \nuse vocal language? Are there kings and rulers there? Are \nfamous persons here celebrated there? What are the standards \nof beauty ? Are there books ? Are nations distinct ? Where are \nthe dead of a million years ago ? " \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 Here is a formidable catalogue of questions, truly! \nThey are to be answered specifically, as well as" in the light of \ngeneral principles ; to one of which latter I must now call your \nattention, my object being to impart a clear understanding of the \ngeneral subject of human immortality. Take an onion or a rose and \nyou forthwith know of their existence by the sense of smell, as well \nas those of touch and sight. Well, all things else give off similar \n\n85 \n\n\n\n86 AFTER death; \n\nemanations, a part of their life or spirit ; and everything is sur- \nrounded by its own peculiar atmosphere, invisible yet perceptible, \nimpalpable yet material, spiritual and real ; spiritual, because \neven the invisible odic or perfume sphere, in turn gives forth \nemanations bearing the same relations to it, that the sphere does \nto the object emitting it. The dog knows his master\'s sphere \namong a thousand others, and never .makes mistakes. We are \nimpressed favorably, or the reverse, according as the personal \nspheres of those we contact with, affect us. We instinctively \nlike or dislike individuals solely on this ground. By and by we \nwill all become so sensitive to the spheres of individuals as to \nunderstand them perfectly, and detect with unerring certainty a \nbad man or woman, no matter how honeyed and plausible their \nverbal protestations may be. Well, this and all other planets, like \nobjects on their or its surface, emit a vast sphere composed of \ncarbo-oxygenic bubbles, or minute globules, developed by the \ndecomposition of watery particles in the five vast salt oceans of \nthe globe. Being globular they are also hollow ; and a higher \nchemical change is constantly taking place in them, each and \nevery one. By the action upon these tiny globules (atmospheric \nair) of the magnetic and electric emanations from the land, each \none of these globules \xe2\x80\x94 batteries they are \xe2\x80\x94 becomes filled with a \nfiner fluid, and this is life, or nerve aura of the earth ; for, let it \nbe understood, the earth is itself a living organism, \xe2\x80\x94 not an ani- \nmal, but still alive ; were it not so, it could not produce living \nthings, either sentient or vegetable. When we inhale air these \nbubbles burst ; the carbon they contain is partly thrown out by \nthe lungs ; the oxygen goes to build up the body, while the spirit \nor life goes to sustain the interior nervous being of men and \nbrutes. But all the atmosphere is not used up. We live in a sea \nof it forty-five miles deep ; the grosser particles floating nearest \nearth, and the more ethereal portion far up, or down, towards the \nzenith. We all know that the centripetal motion of a revolving \nbody tends to shape it oblately spherical, and that the lighter par- \nticles fly off at \'a tangent on the equatorial line ; or at a point \nmidway between the oblate polar ends. Here, then, is the princi- \nple, briefly. But I wish to impress a great fact upon your mind \nright here. It is this : The earth rotates upon its axis ; performs \nan orbital revolution round the sun : another in the course of long; \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 87 \n\nages, with the sun about his superior sun ; and the entire galaxy \nto which he belongs revolves upon its galactic axis, and that con- \nstitutes its enormous day, around its unimaginable centre, and \nthat makes its, to us, almost eternal year. And it, too, like this \nglobe of ours, has its eccentric revolutions, performed in periods \nof time that defy all our arithmetic to compute, our fancy to con- \nceive. It is difficult to restrain myself from enlarging on this \nmagnificent truth, shining so clearly upon my soul on this beauti- \nful May morning. \n\nEvery atom of matter yields up its perfected spirit, and the earth \nthrows off a continual stream thereof on the equatorial line. It is \nhot there ; particles expand ; decomposition and chemical change go \non more rapidly and perfectly in the torrid than in any other zone. \nIn torrid climes the earth-essence, the spirit of the air, rushes off \nfrom the surface ; and only enough is retained to merely support \nnerval life ; hence torrid people are more sensational than nervous, \nmore flashful than enduring, more passional than affectionate, more \nanimal than human, more impulsive than principled, and more super- \nstitious than intellectual. In the colder countries this earth-life, \nthis subtle vif, this nerve-essence of matter, flows along the sur- \nface toward the equator. It is breathed and appropriated by man \nin much larger quantities ; and therefore the people there, away \nin the temperate zones, have larger brains ; more and finer strung \nnerves ; keener and broader aspirations, ambitious, and intellects ; \nand they indisputably govern the entire world. Now the " Spirit \nWorld" means more than at first the term conveys : for not only \nis there one for this world, surrounding it as does the atmosphere, \nbut there is a belt or zone above that, and one above that, and \nstill another. So is there one or more, according to the stage \nof geographical, vegetative, and animal refinement it may have \nreached, about every planet in our solar system, the asteroids and \na few moons excepted, which have only a mere ethylic or mag- \nnetic envelope so far. With reference to the moons of the solar \nsystem, no doubt they will in time be peopled ; but not so with \nreference to the asteroidal fragments of the shattered planet that \nonce revolved between Mars and Jupiter. These will all, sooner \nor later, be drawn into the seas of the various globes whose paths \nthey cross. When that planet burst asunder and scattered its \nfragments over the floor of space, it altered the relations of the \n\n\n\n88 AFTER DEATH ; \n\nentire solar system ; and was the cause of the great cataclysm \nthat swept this earth with a. watery bath; sunk Plato\'s Atlantis \nisland ; upheaved Sahara ; rent the continents asunder, and filled \nthe world with terror. Lately a new planet has been formed \nwithin the orbit of Mercury ; another ring is being forced from \nthe sun, and two comets are globating on the outer verge of the \nsystem ; and it is owing to these changes that the earth is now \naltering both its axis and its inclination to the plane of the eclip- \ntic. Hence universal disturbance, wars and rumors of wars, have \nfor some time prevailed, and will, until an equilibrium is again \nestablished. \n\nAnother and another change will follow, until the era of univer- \nsal harmony is physically, and therefore mentally and spiritually, \nreached. \n\nThe sun himself is surrounded by spiritual belts, just as is this \nearth, whose spirit zone is visible to others, and partly so to us \n(we call it in scientific parlance, "the zodiacal light"), just as we \nbehold the lower belts or zones of Jupiter and Saturn. Well, the \nlaw holds good which ever way we look ; for the entire solar sys- \ntem is girdled with a belt of spiritual substance ; and on its sur- \nface is finally collected all the spiritual offspring of all the planets \nwithin its royal embrace, from whence they eventually take their \nflight to that vast zone which encircles our entire galaxy. Nor \ndoes our career stop even at that point. But of this more at \nanother time, space forbidding me to here enlarge or amplify the \nsubject. To return : \xe2\x80\x94 \n\nThe spiritual world to which we go from this earth in dream, \nvision, or when life\'s fitful fever is over, is, as already stated, a \nzone, or belt at right angles with the poles. It is composed, sub- \nstantially, of the unused essences of matter, electric, magnetic, \nodic, projected from earth in its constant axial revolutions. The \npeculiar substances of which I speak are not absolutely, though \napparently coalescent, and while not being the refuse of earth, \nare not required for other than the purposes they subserve. Each \nplanet, sun, astral and stellar galaxy in universal space is simi- \nlarly belted. Here I must call attention to a stupendous fact. I \nhave already said that this material universe, embracing uncount- \nable systems, is elliptical in form. I have also said that it occu- \npies one of the foci of another awful ellipse, \xe2\x80\x94 an equally mighty \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 89 \n\none being at the other. The movements are all elliptical, or \ngyral, \xe2\x80\x94 in special instances. Well, just imagine the entirety of \nsystems of suns to be a point in this infinite ellipse, and that the \nother is occupied by a Sun of suns, ultra spiritual, immeasurably \nless in magnitude, but shining with an effulgence inconceivable, \nbalancing the whole, and sustaining all, and you will have a faint \nidea of the dwelling-place of power, the great spiritual centre ; \nthe sky from whence suns and starry systems rain down like \nsparks from a rocket, or snow-flakes in wintry weather ; you will \nbehold the vortex where matter and spirit alike are forged ; the \nhome of the great Positive Soul ; the head and brain and eye of \nall Being ; the inscrutable ante-chamber where souls are fashioned, \nand wait to be sent forth to be born, the mystery of mysteries, the \nveil which conceals the infinite, eternal God. \n\nNot all spirits have yet beheld that sun ; not one will ever be \nable to comprehend it ; but all will be warmed by its rays ; all \nwill be expanded by its heat. Well, around this sun, around \nthis entire ellipse, embracing all matter, is another and final zone \nor belt, and this is the final scene, and will be so long as the \npresent universe exists. " Then the final home is outside of mat- \nter and of God?" No, for God there is the Alpha Sun in its \nzenith, and the Omega in its nadir ; and his divine aura pulsates \nin and through it as blood circulates through the veins. \n\nThe career run by mankind on this or any other earth of space \nconstitutes his first, rudimental or primary stage of being. \n* Question. \xe2\x80\x94 " But there must have been a time when no earth of \nall the spaces had yet produced a single human being ; a time \nwhen only God and matter, or that substratum whereon it is \nbased, were in existence ? If there ever was such a period, how \ndo you account for the creation of the first human soul, the primal \nman? In a word, where do souls originate? Let that question \nbe settled." \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 Undoubtedly souls are monads; are not created, but \nonly incarnated, through and by the agency of the human duo-sexual \norganism. From the great vortex, \xe2\x80\x94 from the Fountain, there is \na perpetual outflow of, not worlds, but world-souls ; not human \nbeings, but human seeds, monads. Their number is incalculable. \nThese monads flow to every perfected earth in the universe, and \nthere become incarnated, and thence intelligent, deathless beings. \n12 \n\n\n\n90 after death; \n\nThe only difference between them consists in sex, and the more \nor less perfect conditions and refinement of the special projecting \nfathers, and nidulating, nursing mothers. There you have the \nanswer in brief space. \n\nThe first stage of a human career being on this earth terminates \nat death. The scene of its activities is then transferred to the \nsurface of the zones surrounding this earth (or any other) situated \nbeyond the outer limits of its or their atmospheric envelopes re- \nspectively. The third stage of being succeeds the second. (But \nlet it be remembered that the second stage embraces a career upon* \nall the zones or belts connected directly with and crowning, the \nearth or earths.) The scene of the third grand stage is upon the \nsolar belt. The fourth grand stage is upon the majestic and mag- \nnificent zone which engirdles the entire solar system. The fifth \ngrand stage of human existence succeeds the fourth, and its scene \nis upon the immense belt or zone that encircles the tremendous \nglobe around which not only our own sun with its attendant family \nof planets, but the cluster to which it belongs, revolves, performing \na single circuit in a period not less than eleven hundred billions \nof quintillions of solar years. This vast body is one of the \nPleiades, or " Seven Stars " now known to be, not the star \n" Alcyone," as some astronomers have asserted, but which I de- \nclare to be a non-luminous sun in that direction, and which sus- \ntains the same relation to this Galactic System, that our sun does \nto us and our sister planets. Around that central globe unnum- \nbered millions of suns and planets pursue and whirl their varying \ncourses. The sixth grand stage of human existence succeeds the \nfifth, and its scene is upon an immense belt or zone that surrounds \nanother dark sun, exactly balancing that in the direction of \n" Alcyone," \xe2\x80\x94 the twain constituting the foci of an immense ellipse, \n\xe2\x80\x94 one being a Positive " the other " Negative ; " tve pertain to the \nlatter. About these two foci two awful galaxies severally perform \ntheir tremendous sweep in opposite directions. When first I saw \nthis it was impossible for me to comprehend the principia thereof, \nand I so stated in the first edition of this work ; since then, how- \never, I have discovered the grand dual law of existence, Positive \nand Negative, Male and Female, extending through all being, \xe2\x80\x94 \nstarry clusters, nebulae, and galaxies being no exception to the uni- \nversal rule. \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 91 \n\nBrainful men have recognized this law in earthly things, and \neven applied it to the Godhead, and it is passing strange that \nthey have never dreamed of its universality ; that some planets, \nsystems, clusters, galaxies are male, and others female ; that some \ncontinents and empires are of one sex, and others of the opposite ; \nthat some ages are male, other ages female, \xe2\x80\x94 in short that the \nduality is complete from moss to starry zones. I saw, and now \ndeclare, with reference to the amazing ellipse written of, that one \nof the foci represents the female, and the other the male, \xe2\x80\x94 just as \nmatter is male and spirit female, \xe2\x80\x94 in the broader sense. Around \neach of these foci sweeps an awful train of luminous worlds, and \nspanning each one is a spiritual zone of vast magnitude, each \nteeming with myriads of angelic beings, and overflowing with un- \nutterable beauty. \n\nIf, before I pass over the river to the better shore, I am permitted \nto write further concerning the Spiritual Kingdoms of farther \nspace, I shall amplify the points here merely touched upon, not \nfor want of inclination, bat of means to give what I write to the \nworld. [Oh, for some Stewart with an open hand to aid poor strug- \ngling authors, \xe2\x80\x94 the sad, toiling, unrequited workers like myself, \nalmost starving for bread, yet whose eyes are overflowing with \ngrateful tears because God halh opened them to a few of his most \nexcellent glories !] \n\nAround both these foci and the galaxies they control, \xe2\x80\x94 encircling \nthe entire ellipse like a belt of molten silver, is another zone ; \nand on that zone is the scene of the seventh grand stage of human \nexistence. This mighty belt completely environs all created or ex- \nistent matter ! It encircles the entire galaxies, just as Saturn\'s \nrings engirdle him, or the Zodiacal light embraces its material \ncentre, \xe2\x80\x94 our earth. \n\nIn this present work I design, for the purpose of correcting some \nvery popular misapprehensions existing on the general subject of \nthe spiritual worlds, to treat principally concerning that portion \nof the supernal realm, or ethereal world immediately connected \nwith this earth and the solar system to which it belongs ; and con- \nsequently, mainly concerning man\'s -second grand stage or sphere \nof existence. As previously remarked, should opportunity offer, I \npurpose to write concerning the other grand stages of being in \ntheir due order and sequence, \xe2\x80\x94 especially concerning the origin \n\n\n\n92 AFTER death; \n\nof souls. The final zone, I may here say, however, crosses our \n"Milky Way" at right angles. Here however, let me be clearly \nand distinctly understood : I have spoken of the " Final zone," and \ndescribed it as circumvolving all the material suns, planets, and \nsystems in being. This is true. But it is also true that there are, \nno less than six other grand zones resembling it, but infinitely \nsuperior thereto ; albeit the transcendent glories of the first one \nexceed the powers of a seraph to describe. In and of these other \nsix, there is absolutely nothing whatever resembling anything per- \ntaining to the first. They are separated from our grand zone and \nthe Realm of Matter as we know it by distances so inconceivable, \nthat the life of an archangel would be too short to compute them. \n\nThe whole seven may be said to resemble a series of hoops, \ncrossing and circumvolving each other in various directions, no \ntwo being in the same line or plane, and the whole forming one \nvast globe, equatorially bulging, oblate at the poles, limited by an \namorphous wall, and crowned by the heaven of heavens, \xe2\x80\x94 the \nDeific realm, or Universe of universes, the central Brain of Ex- \nistence, the unimaginable dwelling-place of the Incomprehensible \nGod! .... Let us return from this enormous flight \xe2\x80\x94 not \nof imagination, but of clairvoyance \xe2\x80\x94 to what more directly con- \ncerns us. And, first, let me here observe, that, when man has \nexhausted all the resources of the grand galactic zone ; when he \ncan draw no more of knowledge, power, or wisdom therefrom ; \nwhen its seven stages general have been passed, and he graduates, \nor is prepared to, he will have completed one grand cycle of his \ncareer, vast and mighty, \xe2\x80\x94 during the period losing never a day \nof advancement ; but there will remain many other cycles to be \nbegun and ended, concerning which tremendous truth-facts the \nrevelation hour is not yet come. But it will come, and till it does, \nthe student, the curious, and the world must wait. \n\nGases thrown off from revolving bodies by centrifugal force, \nmust necessarily, by the laws of motion, applied to elastic fluids, \nassume the form of continuous belts, oval or circular in form ; \nand this law it is that determines the form of the spiritual zones ; \nand the vast wave of sublimated matter whereof they are com- \nputed, invariably conforms to this beautiful law. In fact, at \ntimes, the spiritual crown of this earth is distinctly visible to the \nhuman eye, and its shape ma} r be observed ; for, if you look close \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAIST. 93 \n\nto the sun, just before it " sets," you will see a luminous aura, \xe2\x80\x94 \nthe edge of the spiritual belt of earth, and be told by astronomers \nthat it is the " zodiacal light," albeit they are ignorant of its \nnature, origin, use, or substance. Now, the average thickness of \nthis belt varies, from one mile at its polar edges to nearly six \nhundred times that much at its equator, and in some places ap- \nproaches nine hundred miles in depth. At a distance of between \nfour and five hundred miles above it is another belt, and others \nstill beyond that ; but these are mere laminations of the first one, \nand are in no sense to be regarded as separate or disparated \nzones, \xe2\x80\x94 they are parts of one zone, \xe2\x80\x94 just as a lady\'s belt, \nleather, velvet, silk, jewels, are all portions of one ornament. \nThe joint axis of revolution of these laminae or belts is that of \nearth, \xe2\x80\x94 except the most external one, which to me has never ap- \npeared to have an axial movement, \xe2\x80\x94 at least, such as I could \ndiscern. The common rate of revolution of this laminated zone \nis evidently less than that of earth. \n\nThe material of these zones is no impediment to the solar ray. \nThey move with the earth around the sun, and with the sun around \nthe dark star, in the direction of Alcyone, \xe2\x80\x94 as already stated. \nA complete revolution about that great centre, according to as- \ntronomical calculations of recent date, requires a period of three \nhundred and ninety-four billions of solar years ! \xe2\x80\x94 an error, for \ntruer computations will conform to the periods set forth on a pre- \nvious page of the present work. \n\nMany " Spirits " \xe2\x80\x94 I dislike that term, and prefer " Disbodied," \nor "Ethereal People" \xe2\x80\x94 roam for a time, and exist upon the \nupper surfaces of earth\'s atmosphere, at distances varying from \nfifty to four hundred miles above the highest mountain-tops ; yet \nthere are scores of thousands who linger here in our midst for \nlong years, not seldom " haunting " houses, and troubling people \ngenerally ; but the mean distance of the lowest zone proper \nfrom earth, is not less, I judge, than fifteen thousand miles. By \nreason of its rarefaction, compared with terrestrial things, and its \ngreat distance combined, it is, save under the conditions above \nstated, transparent to mortal eyes ; and yet is, in one sense, far \nmore solid than the gross materials about us here ; because spirit, \nor subtle essence is actual, real substance, \xe2\x80\x94 is the changeful, but \nindestructible substratum of all material, or visible and external \n\n\n\n94 AFTER death; \n\nexistences. The average breadth of that first zonal world, crown- \nino* this world of ours, is three hundred and nine thousand \nmiles, except at two points, \xe2\x80\x94 what may be called its polar \naxes, where it decreases to about a uniform breadth of forty \nthousand miles. \n\nEespiration and expiration are universal ; we see it in animated \nnature and in the vegetable kingdom \xe2\x80\x94 ay, even in the tides of \nocean. It is also true of worlds and zones, for the latter inhale, as \nit were, the aromal essences of earth, and exhale their finer and \nmore sublimed particles, which volatile essences rise and in turn \nconstitute a belt or lamina above it, and so on until the last \none, which gives off a river of fine substance, \xe2\x80\x94 an aerial, majestic \nstream of flowing pellucid electroidal essence, which runs to, and \nconnects it with, the solar zone, whence other similar rivers flow \nto those other and vaster belts elsewhere described, and finally to \nthat colossal one which encircles and embraces the immense clus- \nter of stars and nebulae to which we belong. \n\nAnother singular fact must here be noted. At the north and \nsouth poles of this earth is an aerial river. Where it enters the \nearth\'s atmosphere it is electric ; where it quits it it is magnetic. \nThis river flows along the earth, and through it, and on both sides \nconnects it with the great zone. On that zone it flows across it, \nbut not always in the same place. It brings to earth somewhat of \nthe spiritual air of the upper land ; and on its buoyant tide our \ndisbodied brothers and sisters, if so disp6sed, joyously hie them \nhither ; and on its pellucid stream, swelled to a broad river by \nelectric contributions from earth\'s surfaces, our visitors return to \nthe upper globe, and the newly dead go home. \n\nThe lower or hitherward side or surface is rugged, hilly, and \nconcave ; for mountains and superficial inequalities above extend \nbelow, precisely as with the terrene and sub-terrene elevations \nhereon earth. The superior surface is slightly convex, but not \nnearly so much as is this world below. To the physical eye the \nzonal material would appear as if made of the most gossamer-like \nand fleecy cloud substance, its general color being a lightish-gray, \npearl-dashed green, shading up to white, and toning down to a \nsombre drab-gray. Indeed, with reference to some portions there- \nof, the light and beautiful appearance of the glorious multi-tinted \nvapors of a tropical sunrise is the nearest approach to a just descrip- \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 95 \n\nfcion of it that I am able to give ; and that falls far short of the \nreality ! \n\nThe general appearance of Vernalia, or Aidenn, as not a few \nEnglish, American, and Arab dwellers therein, call the upper coun- \ntry, to a great degree resembles that of this world, save that ex- \ncept in certain, what may be justly called, Edge-regions ; it is in- \ncomparably more beautiful, refined, diversified, and variegated ; \nand its fauna and flora are entirely different from, and superior to, \nanything seen here, if we partially except the production of fa- \nvored spots in India, Africa, and Central Australia, \xe2\x80\x94 the gardens \nand conservatories of earth in those respects. \n\nNow, let the reader understand, once for all, that in no sense \nwhatever is the upper country a phantom land. On the contrary, \nit is far more real, solid, and enduring than the firmest rock-ribbed \nmountains of this sub-solar globe ; and to its inhabitants is quite \nas real and tangible as is the land and water about us here on \nearth to us. Never let these facts be forgotten. I am perfectly \naware that there now floats upon the tide of so-called " Spiritual" \nliterature, hundreds of fancy descriptions of the farther land ; but \nthese all, or nearly all, have their origin in the imaginations of the \nwriters, who have never yet caught one single glimpse of what \nthey have undertaken so minutely to describe. Nor am I unaware \nthat my own descriptions may be challenged. I expect they will \nbe. But I also know that the age of clairvoyance is rapidly ap- \nproaching, and, in the myriad concurrent testimonies of coming \nseers, I look for corroborations of what I have here written, and \nam to write, perfectly assured that every one of my statements \nwill be demonstrated to be as true as light is true ! \n\nOur senses, over there, are vastly more acute and powerful than \nwhile we are here, especially the seeing power. The very slight \ngeneral slope or rotundity of the surface there, affords a vast \nrange of vision. Any object here, even the loftiest mountain, soon \nsinks beneath the horizon. Not so there, for the pitch is far less : \nhence a wider range of view can be, and is, had of its varied and \ndiverse scenery. Not that, like the pampas, prairies, or even the \nlowlands of Louisiana, it is a dead level, \xe2\x80\x94 for such is by no means \nthe case ; for there are hills, dales, mountains, levels, brooks, slopes, \nglades, valleys, lakes, rivers, and seas ; in a word, our spirits are \nthere, and so is that of our earth, and all that marks and adorns \n\n\n\n96 after death; \n\nit, so far as these marks are beautiful, good, and true, and near- \nly all that is not so remains here, and by us is forever left behind \nuntil by upward change it becomes so ; for the good, the true, and \nthe beautiful are imminent, and inherent in all things, and only \nthe element of Time is required to work them to the surface. To \nillustrate : there are gigantic men and women, \xe2\x80\x94 fat monstrosities \neverywhere in the world, \xe2\x80\x94 people who weigh four hundred pounds \nor more. They die ; but in looking for them there, you would not \nexpect to. see an overgrown spirit ; nor, if you did, would you find \nit. But, on the contrary, you would see them of the same general \ndimensions as other people. There is an apparent exception to this \nrule, but it is apparent only. Media and seers very often describe \nthe dead just as they appeared when on the earth, and by these \nmarks are identified. Well, in such cases it is never the spirit that \nis seen, but merely a phantom, \xe2\x80\x94 a projected image from the spirit. \nMy experience as a seer gives me authority to say that only about \nten per cent, of the spirits, and scenes claimed to be viewed by the \npersons referred to, are real ; , and that ninety per cent, are pure \nphasmas, or images projected by spirits upon the mental retinas of \nthe sensitives of the world ; for real and absolute clairvoyance is \nas rare in these days as are genuine physical media. And here \nlet me say once for all that jugglery has been so systematized in \nthese days, that not more than one so-called physical manifesta- \ntion in fifty is to be relied on for what they purport to be. \n\nFor years I had, without once thinking to apply the test of clair- \nvoyance, firmly believed in, and accepted the Davenports, Ellis \ngirls, and other physical " wonders," as real and genuine, and \nflew off at a tangent when people denounced them as expert jug- \nglery. Now all that is changed. I was first brought to examine \nthe matter from a conversation with a gentleman named Dyott, of \nPhiladelphia, who first put me on my guard against all that sort \nof thing ; and, subsequently a Mr. Von Vleck, whom, with others, \nI had been led to denounce as an impostor, convinced me that the \nwork he was doing, in the exposure of the charlatans, was well \nworthy Of an honest, honorable gentleman ; for while both these \ngentlemen firmly believed in Spiritualism, they were possessed of \nbrains sharp enough to detect imposture, and noble outspoken \ncourage to properly denounce it, and put the world on its guard \nagainst a species of scoundrelism the most mean and contemptible \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 97 \n\never undertaken, \xe2\x80\x94 that of publicly sporting with the most sacred \nfeelings of the human heart, and palming off on human beings \ntheir adroit tricks as the* genuine manifestations of the disboclied \nloved ones gone before. All honor to Dyott and his co-workers ! \nSuccess to Von Vleck, in the exposure of fraud ! \n\nThe scenery of the upper land is illumined, in the first instance, \nby the self-effulgent atmosphere of that region; in the second \nplace, by the spiritual zone of the sun, which zone by the way, \nwas seen by Swedenborg, and was described by him and many of \nthe ethereal people he held intercourse with. It was errone- \nously supposed, from its transcendent glory, to be the throne of \nGod ; and was constantly spoken of as " The Spiritual Sun shin- \ning in the mid-heaven." \n\nThe third source of light, in the spiritual realm alluded to, is \nthat of two vast magnetic moons surmounting its two poles, and \nmoving in very brief orbits, \xe2\x80\x94 just as, by and by, this earth of \nours will be lighted, \xe2\x80\x94 for when its present third motion ceases, it \nwill have changed its poles, swung round again, as it has before \n(when the deluge was, and tropical beasts and forests were buried \nbeneath arctic snows in the twinkling of an eye, from which snows \nwe no T .v get their relics and remains), \xe2\x80\x94 only that this time the \nchange will be more gradual ; the earth will slowly swing into a \nnew position with reference to the ecliptic and galactic planes ; \nits ices will melt ; the seasons become less extreme and irregular, \nbut more even and equable ; the molten materials in its vast \nbowels will be shifted, and new oceans of electricity be generated ; \nthe electric, magnetic, diamagnetic, and thermal lines will change, \n\xe2\x80\x94 one consequence of which will be, that man will breathe a more \nelectric and less carbonaceous air, hence will be more intelligent, \nspiritual, intuitive, gentle ; and less belligerent, sensual, mean, \ngrasping, and slanderous ; \xe2\x80\x94 and the earth will receive a great \naddition of light ; first, from a boreal and electric sun, just over \nits then north pole, and a corresponding austral one over the \nsouth pole. The first one of these I proclaim to be already in \nprocess of formation, just westward of the earth\'s axis of gravity. \nThis boreal sun is to be a permanent, and ever-enlarging auroral \nglobe ; not in sheets or fitful and transitory electric flashes, as \nare now seen on wintry nights in arctic regions, and which shoot \nup and stream off into space, leaving no sign, but globular, bril- \n13 \n\n\n\n98 after death; \n\nliant, and enduring ; \xe2\x80\x94 and when this takes place, .arctic climates, \nas well as tropic heats, will have ceased to be forever. This sun, \nthese suns, will gradually recede till they\'reach certain points in \nthe arctic and austral zeniths, where, describing short circular \norbits, they will remain. Such are some of Jupiter\'s moons to- \nday, and some other planets are similarly favored, but not all. I \nregret that space will not allow me here to enlarge upon the \nwonderful effects those changes will bring to earth and its inhab- \nitants, and only will I here remark that when the fearful storms \nand tempests which will inaugurate these changes shall have \nceased, the dawn of the good time, so long coming, will be here. \nCivilization and religious and political changes and revolutions \ndepend, far more than men imagine, upon the electrical conditions \nof the globe ; and so long as those conditions are liable to the \nchanges consequent upon the earth\'s efforts to reach, her proper \nplace, state, and conditions, just so long will chaos reign as now ; \nfor we are just what these changes make us, no more, no less, no \nbetter, no worse. What a seed-thought is here ! \n\nThe fauna and flora of the upper land differ in diverse sections \nthere as here. v Forests there are, and natural gardens ; but all \nthese differ amazingly from any similar things here below. Media \nin various localities, in the early clays of modern spiritualism, \nvery frequently drew pencil pictures of various nondescript fruits \nand flowers that resembled nothing on or under the earth ever \nseen before. These purported to be, and probably were, sketches, \nmore or less imperfect, of upper-land realities, but invariably of \nthe lowest grades and orders, and bearing the same relation to \nthe higher and better forms there that our coarse giant ferns, \ngrasses, reeds, moss, and lichens do to our most perfect dahlias, \nroses, peaches and \xe2\x80\x94 highest of all earthly fruits \xe2\x80\x94 the pear. \n\nWith us on this globe heat and moisture are the sources and \nsprings of all vegetable life, motion, and form. It is not so up \nthere. Such warmth as we experience here is not known in any \npart of that fair countiy. True, there is a sort of heat, but it is, \nso to speak, exusive \xe2\x80\x94 or from within ; it is the result of interior \nmotion \xe2\x80\x94 (as is the heat inspired by anger and desire here) , \xe2\x80\x94 has \nits rise from the centre, and is not externally applied by the sun\'s \nraj^s, or heat from any astral body. \n\nMoisture, as we understand it, is there wholly unknown. But \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 99 \n\nin its stead there is a life-principle in the very air, that invigorates \nand sustains all with which it contacts. Actinia, the chemical \nprinciple of light, is there not needed in the same form as here, \nand therefore does not so exist, for in that land there can be no \ndecay, as in these realms where life is dependent on the solar ray. \nOf course cold \xe2\x80\x94 which is \xe2\x80\x94 maugre all the scientists aver to the \ncontrary \xe2\x80\x94 something more than a mere absence of caloric, or \nnegation of heat \xe2\x80\x94 is there wholly unknown. \n\nWere it not so, and a disbodied one were exposed to its rigors, \nno spirit lives who could withstand it ; for no being thus subject, \ncould pass through the bleak regions forty miles above the earth \nwhere the cold reaches some thousands of degrees below the point \nof frozen alcohol ! \n\nIn that fair land above us all floral life is vastly fuller, com- \npleter, and more perfect than in this, comparatively, dismal \nworld ; for magnetoidal, electroiclal, and etheroidal elements \nand principles supersede heat, cold, moisture, solar light, and \nactinism ; hence, in consequence of the non-existence of the \ncoarser chemistry, decomposition is never seen or known. Nine- \ntemhs of the " sins" of this lower world \xe2\x80\x94 and virtues as well \xe2\x80\x94 \nare, and hereafter will be proven to be, entirely chemical in their \norigin, \xe2\x80\x94 that is to say, will be seen to be dependent on purely \nchemical conditions, as is well known to thousands up there ; and \nwhen that truth finds a lodgment here, the race will bid " good- \nby " to jails, gibbets, priests, politicians, and the whole list \nfor which Christ died to redeem man from the effects of, \xe2\x80\x94 \naccording to popular belief. \n\nUp there it is true in more senses than one, that " Death is \nswallowed up in victory," \xe2\x80\x94 in fact is a misnomer everywhere, \n\xe2\x80\x94 but there totally and wholly unknown in any form whatever. \nTrue it is specially revealed to me that, at a certain stage, of \nman\'s career, a change, correspondent thereto, occurs to him ; but \nthat change is a whole epoch off in the misty future, and of that \nI am not now inclined to write. /Suffice it that when it is reached \nhe will lie down and sleep awhile; but from that wondrous slumber \nhe will rise again, \xe2\x80\x94 rise in majesty and might \xe2\x80\x94 to the exercise of \nCreative energy ! But I am trenching here upon forbidden ground- \nLet us return, and pursue our even way. \n\nAll earthly elements and things refine away and advance to \n\n\n\n100 AFTER DEATH ; \n\ncertain stages and degrees of perfection gradually changing their \ngrosser forms, and^ finally exhaling like vapors in the summer \nsun, flow off into, and combine with, the great ascending elec- \ntrical rivers, and in time become part and parcel qf the externe of \nthe zone ; and the same facts obtain of the zones themselves, \nuntil the very last and final one of all, and then the. next step is \n\xe2\x80\x94 Deity ! \n\nThe absolute forms of things, being, in esse, ideas of God, or \nthe supreme Thinker, cannot wholly perish ; but the coarser \nrefine away toward absolute beauty, reproducible, in higher \ntypes, to all the vast eternity ; for they are, at bottom, more or \nless modified, divine, and celestial principles. For instance, to \nillustrate the idea ; take two persons, one a Hottentot, digger- \nIndian, or thick-lipped Negro of the Potter tribe, \xe2\x80\x94 two or three \nspecimens of whom may be often seen waddling up and down the \nstreets of Boston, listlessly staring in the shop windows and \nfancying themselves ultra human, when but three removes from \nthe horn-headed gorilla, \xe2\x80\x94 the other shall be a glorified seraph \nfrom the galactic girdle of the universe of universes. They are \nboth men, \xe2\x80\x94 are the same externalized idea, but what a difference ! \none would eat his brother \xe2\x80\x94 the Hottentot ; one is ignorant of God\'s \nexistence \xe2\x80\x94 the Digger ; one, the thick-lipped Negro, is wholly \nunprincipled, incapable of refinement or true civilization, and \nwould swear away the liberty or life of his best friend with per- \nfect nonchalance and moral unconcern ; \xe2\x80\x94 while the last, the \nseraph, would plunge into the seething hell \xe2\x80\x94 if one existed \xe2\x80\x94 to \nsave his most malignant foe. It is the difference of a lump of \ncharcoal against the koh-i-noor, the largest and most costly dia- \nmond known ; and these last are again both identical in sub- \nstance, \xe2\x80\x94 the very same idea, each being carbon ; but one is valued \nat ten cents a bushel, the other at two million pounds sterling, \xe2\x80\x94 \nan emperor\'s ransom twice told ! Now, a word here about grades. \nI do not believe there ever will be a time in all being, when \neither the Digger, the Hottentot, or the Potter Negro, will approach \nthe same sort of perfection the seraph hath reached, \xe2\x80\x94 not even \nwhen billions of centuries shall have rolled away. For they have \nneither the quality, grade, volume, or quantity of soul the other \nhas ; and they never can attain it, not that they will not be happy \nand measurably perfect, but the grades never either mingle, merge, \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 101 \n\ncross or fuse. An eternal gulf divides them here, an eternal gulf \nwill always roll between them ! I find seven distinct grades and \norders of men here, all moving in separate grooves. I find the \nsame seven distinct grades in the Spirit World, and I believe the \nseparating lines to be eternal. It is impossible that a low-grade \nman or woman can overtake a high-grade one, for, as progress is \nin arithmetical order, the high-grade man will not only always \nkeep his immense advantage, but will forever increase it ; and a \nthousand eternities will not be long enough to enable Cuffee to \ncatch Carlyle, or low Pompey to overtake high Theodore Parker. \nIt can never be ! There is no democracy in the spheres ! It is \nall a system of grades, and men there as here, will forever rise \nhigher than others. Aristocracy prevails in Aidenn ; but it is \none based on integral volume, inherent weight and worth, and not \nupon pretence or wealth. No one believes one man as good as \nanother here ; no one does over there. \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 "Yon have heretofore spoken of a vast Spiritual \nOcean, \xe2\x80\x94 an Ethereal Sea, \xe2\x80\x94 a mighty, space-filling reservoir. Now, \nhow, and in what way, and respect, is the spirit-home, as such, dis- \ntinct from that wonderful sea, whereon the material universe floats \nlike an island, and is forever upborne ? And in what consists the \ndifference between the material, so to speak, of that ocean, and \nthat whereof the spiritual zones are composed? These are re- \ngarded as very pertinent queries, and such as no writer has ever \nyet attempted a repty to. And is it true that spirits can go out \nat will into open space, or whither they please upon the waves of \nthat shoreless tide ? " \n* fieply. \xe2\x80\x94 And to the last question first : I affirm that no spirit \nwhatever can go out into absolute space, any more than a man \nhere could walk on unfrozen water ; for in each case the adventur- \ners would instantly sink, \xe2\x80\x94 the one to the bottom of the flood, the \nother to the abyss ; provided he was not by gravity hurled within \nthe orbit of some star in space, \xe2\x80\x94 very likely to be the case. \nEvery spirit is compelled to make all its transits on the lines of \nthe various and numerous ethereal rivers, which rivers connect, \nmore or less directly, every sun and globe in each system with \neach and every other sun and globe therein ; while similar streams \nafford connections between diverse systems and starry clusters, and \nstill others communicate with the different circles or belts of suns ; \n\n\n\n102 AFTER death; \n\nhence the several parts of the Grand Universe of Universes are \nunited by a majestic network of rivers of light. So far that \nspecial point. \n\nNow observe : The zonal homes of mankind differ from the vast \nspacial sea around us, and in which we float, in this respect : the \nlatter may be likened unto a sea of water ; the former to the bubble \nof free oxygen floating on its bosom. The one is original, primal, \ncrude, \xe2\x80\x94 just as evolved from the Vortex, \xe2\x80\x94 is, and serves as, a \ncushion ; the other is derived, refined, rectified, and is cushioned. \nA simile : It is (as) raw alcohol compared with finest wine ; soil \nto roses, sunlight to a taper, coarse wool to peerless satin, tow \ncloth to a queen\'s scarf, oyster shells to rarest pearls, or a bar of \ncast iron to a coil of watch-spring, \xe2\x80\x94 so vast and wonderful are \nthe disparated differentia of the two existences. \n\nWe must have a nomenclature ; for without names, ideas can \nneither be expressed nor conveyed ; wherefore we call the aura \nwhich surrounds and embraces all the galaxies AETHER (using the \ndiphthong) ; that which fills the interstellar spaces, Ether (without \n, the diphthong) ; that which on the belts serves as atmospheric air \ndoes here, and is there breathed, we call Ethylle; and the sub- \nstance of the zones themselves we call etherod ; the material of \nman\'s ethereal form we call Spirit; the informing, intelligent \nspark we call Soul, and the motion of that Soul is \xe2\x80\x94 Mind ! \n\nWhen a man, woman, or child here is about to die, some one up \nthere knows it beforehand, even if that death appears to every one \nhere the result of an unforeseen accident, as a stroke of lightning, \nsudden bursting of a gun or boiler, \xe2\x80\x94 no matter what ; there was \nno accident about it ; the thing was foreordained and foreknown ; \nand the ethereal friends prepare for the event with as much ear- \nnestness and interest as midwives and others clo when a mother is \nabout to give a child to the world and God. But the newly dead \ndo not by any means always hie off to the Morning Country from \nthis Mourning Land of ours ; but they not seldom linger for weeks, \nmonths, and even years, their attachments (as with certain misers \nand murderers) being so very positive and strong, in some cases ; \nand in others, they, like still-born children, undergo a discipline, \xe2\x80\x94 \na sort of practical, magnetic education, within the limits of the \nearth\'s atmosphere. Thus we have haunted houses ; and it is not \nan uncommon thing for persons here to receive long essays about \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 103 \n\nthe other world, and transmundane life, from spirits who have \nnever, or scarcely, been there at all, and really know no more \nabout it or its mysteries than some newspaper traveller, whose \nvoyages were all made in his library, but who in reality was igno- \nrant of the countries he attempts to describe ; or a Louisiana \nKedjin of the Milky Way. These roving spiritual gentry are they \nwho delight to make spectral appearances, to fright the souls of \nfools and cowards ; who are in raptures when they can infest and \nobsess another class of people ;. frequently so sapping their ner- \nvous system as to make life itself a burden. But this obsession \nand possession is no new thing, for spiritual infestation is, and has \nbeen for ages, quite too common. It comes of resigning the Will, \nand is followed by all sorts of vagaries and madness. Perfectly \nsane, healthy, normal, and sound media are as rare as white black- \nbirds. I know hundreds, but cannot point to one who is not either \nfull of angles, broken-hearted, forlorn, and world-weary, or else \nbadly diseased in body, mind, or morals, \xe2\x80\x94 sometimes all three at \none time, \xe2\x80\x94 and all from obsession ! This fact of infestation \nought alone to have demonstrated the post-mortem life of human- \nkind long ago, for every age, since the dawn of civilization, has \nbeen familiar with it. What else were the oracles of Delos, Del- \nphos, Dodona, and Phrygia? What else the demoniac possessions \nof Christ\'s time ? What else the Obi and the Voodou spells of \nAfrica, the West Indies, Long Island, and New Orleans? What \nelse the secret mummeries of the Druids ? And what else is the \npractice of modern mediumship ? for from the lips of its oracles \nyou hear divinest teachings, and the next hour ribald curses and \nmost awful blasphemy ! Why ? Because the unfortunates are in \nthe merciless grasp of the exuvia of the spiritual worlds \xe2\x80\x94 the \nlarvae of the starry skies. To all such, God himself thunders, \n" Break thy chains ! Be a Woman, or a Man ! " And they can \nbe neither one nor the other until the chains are broken. \n\nThe Orientals called, and still call, all such earth-infesting spirits \nGhouls, that is to say, Vampires, or life-suckers, and too much \ncare cannot be taken to guard against their devastating inroads. \nThe rationale of the whole matter has never been explained, nor \nwould I stop to do it now, were it not a bounden duty. That ex- \nplanation is perfectly simple, and measurably relieves the class of \nspirits referred to from the awful charge of unmitigated malig- \n\n\n\n104 AFTER death; \n\nnancy generally laid at their doors, so to speak, by both Oriental \nand Occidental writers on the subject. \n* I have already stated that on the surface of the Spiritual Zones \nevery essential requisite for sustaining spiritual beings has been \nprovided by a beneficent God. Spirits, like mortals, must subsist ; \nfor all activity engenders waste, and this waste must be provided \nagainst. Let a healthy person here sleep with a diseased one, and \nthe tone of the first will fall and the other rise, simply by the \ntransfusion of magnetic life and vitality from one to the other. \nNow, within our atmosphere, no spirit can find the magnetic condi- \ntions required to sustain their activities, and therefore they fasten \nlike leeches upon all such sensitive and approachable persons as \nare accessible to them. Of course the victim is at first aware of \nthe possession, and the spirit forthwith begins to flatter the vanity \nof the medium ; puffs him or her up to believe in some most won- \nderful and important mission or other, and, in order to keep good \nhold, frequently simulates the mighty dead ; and thus we have any \namount of Caesars, "Washingtons, Lincolns, and even Christs and \nGabriels, who pour their sickening flux of words into the ears of \nsilly people, through the lips of poor victims, \xe2\x80\x94 to their own vanity, \n\xe2\x80\x94 and the play generally ends with suicide, insanity, domestic \ntrouble, elopements, divorce, or early graves. Now, on the mag- \nnetism of such victims these spirits live, exactly as " Grandma " \nlives on little Julie, her grand-daughter, who sleeps with her ; as \nDavid lived on that of the virgin whom he knew not ; and as \nwhite-livered consorts live upon the vitality of their mates in what \npasses for wedlock or marriage, in these dismal ages ! \n\n" But," the reader says, " all this is evil ! Why does God per- \nmit such atrocious wrong to exist, and allow these wandering \nghouls to play such a dreadful game ? " \n\nTo which my reply is, I do not know ! Rum-making, perjury, \nwar, rape, lying, murder, and ten thousand other things, are, in \nour view, most decidedly wrong, and yet God, for some, to us, \ninscrutable purpose, permits them to be. But, be that as it may, \none thing is certain : neither the ills named, nor the infestations, \ncan be gotten rid of without some conflicts and trials. None of \nus can become better from mere outside pressure, and that virtue \nthat cannot take care of itself is rather poor stock ! All freedom \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 105 \n\nmust be self-achieved, else it- is not freedom. Begin at borne ! \nThat\'s the point d\'appui I \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 " This is decidedly interesting, sir, and as you seem \nwilling to share your knowledge with us all, pray tell me if the \nspiritual world, per se, is, like ours, subject to the law of gravita- \ntion?" \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 In a measure, yes ; but of course not to the extent that \nthis globe is. Neither the spirit worlds nor their occupants are al- \ntogether imponderable, but have sensible weight, \xe2\x80\x94 bulk for bulk ; \nthe difference between them is about two thousand eight hundred \ntimes less in weight there than here. You, who weigh one hun- \ndred and eighty pounds on the planet, will not balance even one \npound there ! \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 " How do we get there, did you say ? " \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 As an almost universal rule, the exceptions being \nstated before, the newly dead are come for, met, and conducted by \nloving friends to the polar river already described. Sometimes \nthey are conscious, sometimes not ; and upon its ascending elec- \ntric billows they recline, but do not sink therein, any more than a \nbubble sinks on the surface of a brooklet. Calmly, tenderly, the \nfriends place themselves upon the current, the head of the newly \ndead one pillowed gently upon a loving bosom ; and thus, in a very \nbrief space of time, and without jar or disturbance of any sort, \nthey are jo}^ously transported to the ever-blooming and fadeless \nshores of the higher and the better land ! \n14 \n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII. \n\nSPIRITUAL RIVERS \xe2\x80\x94 HOW WE GET TO SPIRIT LAND \xe2\x80\x94 SECTS IN HEAVEN-^- FAIRY PEO- \nPLE \xe2\x80\x94 THE COMPLEXION QUESTION IN SPIRIT LIFE \xe2\x80\x94 THE LANGUAGES USED IN SPIRIT \nLAND \xe2\x80\x94 AGE IN SPIRIT LIFE \xe2\x80\x94 THE QUESTION OF RELATIONSHIP IN SPIRIT LIFE \xe2\x80\x94 \nOUR OCCUPATIONS THERE \xe2\x80\x94 OUR NAMES IN HEATEN \xe2\x80\x94 NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN SPIRIT \nLIFE \xe2\x80\x94 GOOD PETER COOPER, THE MILLIONNAIRE \xe2\x80\x94 SUBSTANCE, FOOD, DRINK, CURIOUS \n\xe2\x80\x94 VERT \xe2\x80\x94 "FREE LOVE" \xe2\x80\x94 SINGULAR. \n\nThis river debouches into a wide gulf-lake, running on a line \nwith the zonal equator. The upward flight is arrested, and the \nnew-comer \xe2\x80\x94 and there are tens of thousands every day \xe2\x80\x94 is met \nupon the glowing shore by the dear and loved ones gone be- \nfore ; or, if there be no such, as is often the case, then by some \npitying souls who know the life you have led, and either sympa- \nthize with, or commiserate you. Perhaps, and likely, it will be \nyour mother, sister, husband, wife, or lover, who awaits your \ncoming, \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n" And oh 1 the rapture of that meeting, \n\nOf that blessed spirit greeting, \n\nIs unknown to mortals ; they can never, \n\nTill they pass the dark, deep river, \nThat divides their world forever, from our own, \n\nComprehend how hearts once blighted, \n\nIn a world with sin benighted, \nAre forever reunited, on the shore \n\nOf that river brightly glowing, \n\nFrom eternal fountains flowing, \nWhere the trees of life are growing, evermore." \n\nThis vast lake or sea is one of two special ones, at either side \nof the zone. They are connected ; and one discharges a river to- \nward the earth, as the other receives one therefrom. But each of \nthese streams has returning eddies, or side currents, quite avail- \nable for passage to or from by either river. As a general thing, \nwhen a person wishes to return to earth, he or she repairs to the \nmagnetic polar stream that ever sets its tide toward the land of \ntheir travel and travail, and the swift current speedily bears them \n\n106 \n\n\n\nAFTER DEATH; OR, DISBODIED MAN. 107 \n\nhither. When the river reaches the earth it debouches, and spreads \nupon the surface thereof; and when ethereal people arrive they \nquit it, and either transport themselves whither they please, by \nmeans peculiar to themselves, described elsewhere, or else walk \nupon the air, which is terraced or laminated so as to permit it ; or \nthey can pass through any part of it, and against the strongest \nwind that ever blew. In my " Dealings with the Dead " I have \nexplained that mystery, and also how a spirit can brave a storm \nof rain and not be inconvenienced thereby. \n\n" Do sects abound there? " \n\nMost decidedly they do. You will find people of all shades of \nreligions faith and opinion in all the lesser societies ; while in the \nhigher there exist countless brotherhoods, no two of which are ex- \nactly alike in those respects ; and it is only in the highest that \nperfect unanimity prevails. But there is no rancor generated be- \ntween people on account of these dissimilarities ; for they all know \nthat while truth and God are real, they are also kaleidoscopic, and \nexcept in cases of absolute fusion of individualities, is it possible \nfor two to think exactly alike, because each is compelled to see the \ntruth from his own peculiar stand-point, and through his own \norganization. The law of individuality is acknowledged and \nrespected throughout all the higher ranges of transmundane ex- \nistence. \n\nHow we live there will presently appear. \n\nThe size of an ethereal person is, but not invariably, such as, \nwere they solid substance, would balance from eighty to one hun- \ndred and fifteen pounds ; albeit, there are in some of the spiritual \nzones very tiny people indeed, who, having been occasionally seen \nby earth-dwellers, have been christened Fairies, Fays, and Ban- \nshees. There are others ten feet and over in height ; while on \nthe farther zones there are people wholly and totally dissimilar in \nall respects from those of this solar system. Here is the law: \nLarge earths produce large creatures ; small earths, small ; and if \nour moon\'s inhabitants ever reach the human plane, they will not \nexceed the height of thirty inches ; while the people of Jupiter, \nHerschel, and Saturn, are a great deal larger and finer than our- \nselves. The size of the planet also determines the law of duration. \nWe. are old men when Jupiterians are mere boys ; and their school \n\n\n\n108 after death; \n\nchildren would laugh at the mental imbecility of our profoundest \nsavans. Pope was truly inspired when he wrote the lines : \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n" Superior beings, when of late they saw \nA mortal man unfold great nature\'s law, \nAdmired such wisdom in an earthly shape, \nAnd showed a Newton, as we show an ape." \n\n1 An ethereal man cannot penetrate solid matter while organized. \n"Were he enclosed in an iron coffin he would pass through its pores \nas sweat through the cuticle, re-form on the outside, and consider \nit a very unpleasant experiment, not to be repeated. An ethereal \nman could not be annihilated by any means whatever, even though \nblown from a thousand cannons. Such a thing would shock a \nman, and incapacitate him from thinking clearly for a time^ but \nthat is all. \n\n\xe2\x96\xba " Do we retain our physical characteristics, as hair, eyes, and \nso forth, in the other life? " \n\nTo a certain extent, as to general form of features, save that de- \nformities are toned down. Our red and other colored hair here, is \nof a general flaxen hue there ; it is long and flowing ; we are \nbeardless, except we choose to assume the contrary appearance, as \nis the case with Persians, Arabs, Jews, and Northmen. Fat men \nlose their fatness ; negroes lose their short, crisp, woolly hair, and \nthey are no longer black. Nearly all of us there are of a beautiful \nolive-pearly tint, with the peach-rose in either cheek ; our eyes are \nboth light and dark, but not violently so ; the tall man becomes \nshorter ; the stumpy man or dwarf increases in stature ; and the \nlank skeleton attains to beautiful and harmonious proportions. \n\nIn reference to vocal language, I reply : It is used. At first we \nspeak in our native tongues ; but rapidly learn others, because \nhearing the sounds that convey a man\'s meaning, and at the same \ntime both feeling and seeing his thought, we soon acquire what \notherwise would necessitate long study. The tendency of all \nvocal speech there is towards a universal Phonetic system, and in \nthe upper grades such is universally used. But there also we \nhave two other modes of conveying information : one of which is \nthrough reading ; the other, by conforming our features to the re- \nquired expression, which is readily understood by the developed \ninitiates. \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 109 \n\n\' I will take occasion here to saj\' two things. 1st. That children \ngrow up there as here ; and 2d, that females generally, though not \nuniversally, appear to be about twenty-four years old, some \nyounger, and a few choose to appear as matrons of from thirty- \nfive to fifty years. Men generally appear of from thirty to forty- \nfive ; while occasionally one is seen a la patriarch, and many as \nmere lads. A few of earth\'s celebrities are famous there ; not be- \ncause they were kings and generals, but by reason of the parts \nplayed in the moral, political, and religious worlds. Thus, Gau- \ntama Buddha, Pythagoras, Luther, Plato, and others, including \nthe Moslem Chief, are the centres of great attention and at- \ntraction still ; but I never knew of such a person as Christ \nbeing seen. \n\nThe standards of beauty vary there, according to the tastes of \ndifferent constitutions, nations, and customs. Purity and intellect \ngenerally are the criteria ; for, as these are possessed, they are re- \nflected on the countenance. \n\nIt is asked if there are books there ; and I reply yes ; but not \nsuch as we have. They are on scrolls, not pages, and are picture- \nwritten, not type-printed or morocco-bound. There are libraries \nto which all who wish have access. \n\n, Are there kings and rulers there? Yes. But these, except in \nthe lower regions, are such by natural, spontaneous gravitation \nand selection. Mistakes are never made, for the reason that the \nright man glides into the right place by a natural process. \n\nAre nations distinct there ? At first, and on the lesser planes, \nyes ; but soon a great intercommingling takes place, as individuals \nrise from, and gravitate out of conditions tending to isolation and \nnon-progress. Whoever would ascertain the condition of the dead \nof a million years ago must quit the boundaries of this solar sys- \ntem, for none from it are in that sphere, and search for them among \nthe constellar zones of space, where they exist in myriads. \n> The next question on the list concerns our occupations in the \nworlds of ethereal people. To fully reply to it would require \nnot one, but an entire library of books. I can, therefore, give but \na very general response thereto, as I am but treating of the mere \nsecond stage of human existence, and necessarily but partially of \neven that. I shall therefore epitomize the several responses there- \nto under alphabetical heads, in order to be clearly understood. \n\n\n\n110 AFTER DEATH ; \n\nTrusting that the principles herein discussed and demonstrated, are \nwell before the reader\'s mind, I proceed to remark, first : \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n(a) We retain and acknowledge no relationship there, save such \nas have love and friendship for a basis. My father is not neces- \nsarily related to me, merely because he was the nervous channel \nthrough which I came to earth ; nor is my mother any nearer to \nme simply because she received the monad Me, incarnated it in a \nflesh-and-blood body ; nursed me for seven years, more or less, and \ncalled me her son and darling. Ties, blood, race, or family, count \nfor little or nothing over there ; for it continually happens, as \nsaid before, that the veriest stranger is nearer and dearer than \nhusband, wife, parent, sister, child, or brother ; ay, even than \nthose we sometimes believe to be our " Eternal Affinities." And \none of our occupations there is the study of the laws that govern \nthis subject. % \n\n< Kindred there is based on homeogeneity, not on consanguinity or \nexternal law. We love those who love what we do, and these are \nour brethren and sisters. Two cannon-balls are not necessarily \nrelated because cast in the same mould ; nor are people brothers \nor sisters merely because their parents were the same ; for their \nnatures may be, and often are, wholly opposite and antagonistic ; \nnor is it unusual to see a coarse, rough, brutal, lowly-organized \nman, and a girl born of the same couple,, who is fine, gentle, sensi- \ntive, intellectual, and spiritual, to a very high degree. Where\'s \nthe relationship ? In what does it consist ? The study, then, of \npsychical law, will afford scope for the best minds in the spiritual \nworlds. \n\n(6) "What\'s in a name?" some one asks. A great deal, I re- \nply. There are long catalogues of names, and what they repre- \nsent, to be learned ; and in one single branch of nomenclature, \nthat of botany, we have abundant occupation in the study. Then \nthere is architecture, history, algebra, the higher mathematics, \ngovernment, ideology, phonetics, music, melody, harmony, vision, \nacoustics, and ten thousand other arts and sciences to engage our \nattention and occupy our thoughts. Speaking of names, reminds \nme that those given us or assumed here, go for nought in our \nupper homes. There are no John Smiths there ; nor is Mynheer \nJohannes Von der Spreuchtlinsaber any longer compelled to re- \nspond, when hailed by that formidable appellation. \n\n\n\nOK, DISBODIED MAN. Ill \n\n\xe2\x80\xa2\xc2\xbb (c) Old names, then, are dropped, soon after our arrival there, \n\xe2\x80\x94 albeit, if an earthly sufferer yearns for the ministrations of an \nethereal friend, whose name might once have been John Truman, \nor William Hardy, his electric summons will reach him in the \nupper land, wherever he may be. Every person\'s quality is ex- \npressed upon the features, just as the unspoken thought is mirrored \non the tablet of consciousness. Like that, too, it can be read, un- \nless, indeed, as is possible in both cases, \xe2\x80\x94 but only by a painful, \ncontinued effort, \xe2\x80\x94 the person wills to conceal the thought, or give \na false impression to the features ; and that general quality, or a \npeculiar trait determines the name by which the person will be \nknown. Now, the combination of qualities and traits are simply \ninfinite, and so are the names of the myriads who possess them. \nNo two are alike ; no language could express this multitude of \nqualities and specialties. \n\nThat can only be achieved through and by the celestial phonetics \nof the spheres. For instance, Olive Belk, of Janesville, Honey \nLake Valley, California, was the peerless and redeeming spirit of \nthat town, \xe2\x80\x94 a gentle, tender, affectionate, and loving soul, \xe2\x80\x94 \nqualities expressed in the higher phonetics by the sounds Zoi-li- \nvi-ia ; hence her most beautiful name will be Zolivia. Mary \n"Winthrop may on earth possess qualities, social and intellectual, \nwhich not only stamped her as a genius, but also made her the \ncherished idol of society. She will therefore be known as Eu- . \nlam-pi-ia, \xe2\x80\x94 Eulampia, Greek, Evlambea, Anglice, Bright-Shining \nLight. \n\nIt is not difficult to determine, from a three-quarter portrait, not \nmerely the character of the original here, but his status, place, grade, \norder, general occupation, and even name, in the higher country, \nbecause all this is governed by immutable law ; ynay, and ought \nto be learned here, and is one of the sciences taught there, and \naffords pleasant study and occupation to thousands. I call that \nscience Tirau-clairism, as I practise it now. \n\n(cZ) The vast encircling zone of earth has many small, and \nseven grand divisions, discreted in some respects, continuous in \nothers. There is, therefore, so to speak, a geography and topog- \nraphy, thereto ; and here we have another source of study and \noccupation, to say nothing of the sciences of government ; the \naffairs of earth, philosophy, philology, ethics, the laws of beauty ; \n\n\n\n112 AFTER DEATH; \n\nthose of comparative zoology, of learning, theology, theosophy, in \ntheir less-exalted departments. \n\nI am speaking within very moderate bounds, when I say that the \nfirst or lower sphere \xe2\x80\x94 that right over our heads \xe2\x80\x94 is tenanted at \nany one given moment by not less than three hundred and forty \nmillions of times as many persons as occupy earth at any moment ; \nwhile the same ratio holds good between it and the next above ; for \nthe dimensions of each succeeding belt are as great between it and \nthe next below, as between earth and the primary girdle. There \nare four beings born on earth, and two die, every second of time, \nfrom natural causes. But accident, wars, disease, and pestilence \nsweep off additional millions every year. People are, therefore, \narriving at the first zone at the mean rate of not less than three in \nevery second of time ; one hundred and eighty a minute ; sixty \ntimes, that, or ten thousand eight hundred an hour ; .twenty -four \ntimes that, or two hundred and fifty-nine thousand two hundred, a \nday ; and twenty-six millions and five hundred and eight thou- \nsand between the firsts of two Julys. \n\nIf here is not food for thought and study, I know not where it \ncan be found. \n\nThe departures from one sphere to another are in proportion \nto that vast emigration ; forever settling the question of special, \nand establishing on immovable bases that of, general Providence. \nHere then, again, is food for the mind and time of an archangel, \nmuch less you and I. \n\nThe seven Grand Divisions of Vernalia (the ever-blooming \ncountry) are each subdivided into seven minor sections ; and \nwhile each Grand Division is peopled by one distinct order of peo- \nple, each of the minor ones has its respective classes and sub- \nclasses. Another grand source of occupation : \xe2\x80\x94 the laws govern- \ning the differences between men. \n\nLet it be understood, at this point, that the graduating qualifica- \ntions essential to advancement from one section or division to an- \nother, consist not in intellectual ability alone, for there, as here, \nare plenty of intellectual wretches, \xe2\x80\x94 morally unprincipled people, \nwho have not yet learned to respect themselves and others suffi- \nciently to warrant their transference to better society. They \nmust first outgrow their present position and yearn for something \nbetter. The law of progress depends upon manhood, goodness, \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAX. 113 \n\nrounclecl-out-ness, character, aspiration combined with intelligence, \nand a cultivated will. Surety, the philosophy and rationale of \npersonal purification and reform is no mean study or occupation \nfor man, either here or there ! \n\nV (e) The higher classes and orders constantly mingle with and \nvisit the lower, on educational errands, just as sisters of charity, \nlay and clerical, Protestant and Catholic, in the church and out of \nit, here mingle with the low and depraved, for redemptive ends and \ncivilized uses. But neither here nor there do the high mingle with \nthe low on terms of equality, for, strictly speaking, there is no such \nthing as human equality, save in two respects, \xe2\x80\x94 immortality and \nunprovability. Nowhere does the man of lofty mind and high \nmoral tone consider the being of low habits and instincts by any \nmeans his equal or peer. He is willing to instruct and polish his \nunfortunate neighbor. Here again is another vast field wherein \npeople occupy themselves in the other life, and a splendid and \nmagnificent one it most assuredly is. \n\n(/) There is an aristocracj^ of mind as well as of wealth, title, \nand rank ; and the former is the true one. On earth artificial, un- \njust, and, in many respects, absurd distinctions, separate men and \ncreate classes. It often, indeed generally, turns, out that your \ngenius lives in a garret, faring sumptuouslj 7 on, fifteen cents\' worth \nof poor crackers and worse cheese, with a small glass of exceed- \ningly mild ale, per diem, while just across the square, a fool of a \nmillionnaire, whose only wealth is gold, dwells in a palace, richly \ndecorated with all that art can create or wealth procure. I say \nfool, because money avails no man after death ; and when its ac- \nquisition becomes the passion of a life, he neglects all else, and \narrives there shrivelled aud weak ; is laughed at for his folly, has \nlost all the respect his dollars once commanded, and finds he has \ncommitted the worst kind of suicide. His house there is poorly \nfurnished ; that which he occupies here has its gay carpets, crys- \ntal windows, splendid piano, rich harp, rare books, and fine pic- \ntures, \xe2\x80\x94 things he has for ostentation\'s sake, but which, ten to \none, he can neither appreciate nor understand. He puts on airs \nbecause he can, and it is fashionable to do so. \n\nI am not deprecating wealth because I am poor. I have not a \ndollar of mine own, as I write these lines. I am friendless, save \nby the ethereal ones who are prompting me, and who manage to \n15 \n\n\n\n114 AFTEK death; \n\nfind me bread. I am not satisfied with my poverty nor envious of \nthe wealthy. I would be rich if I could ; and yet, poor as I am, I \nwould not barter my manhood for all the gold of Colorado ; and \nclairvoyance tells me that there exist hills of it there, and that I \ncan find it \xe2\x80\x94 indeed, I am certain of it. I would do as Peter \nCooper \xe2\x80\x94 great, good man ! \xe2\x80\x94 with my wealth. I would make a \ntelescope capable of resolving all the nebulse ; and I would put a \nfree school on every plantation in the South, that Africans might \ndrink at the fount of knowledge ! \n\nDeath is the great leveller who straightens out many things as \nthey should be, and rights many a wrong. I know of a man, of at \nleast ten millions of dollars, whose food, on silver dishes, is handed \nto him by a servitor in livery, wko, if report be true, knows more \nof real knowledge in five minutes than his wealth-laden master \nprobably will in a century* The man shares his six hundred a \nyear with those who know hunger ; the master seldom bestows a \nloaf of bread. When death shall touch them both, I had ten \nthousand times over be honest John Thompson, the waiter, than \nOld Ingots, the possessor of millions ; and yet, money is an \nenormous power, \xe2\x80\x94 is not to be despised, \xe2\x80\x94 only the unworthy uses \nmade of it. \n\nHere, then, we have social and domestic economy ; wealth and \nits uses ; the psychical results on men and nations ; the grand \nstudy of the ways and means to remedy the error of ages ; and a \nthousand contingent and cotangent questions and subjects for our \noccupation in the land of disbodied souls. \n\n(g) To return from this digression, wrung out of my heart and \npen, let me observe that the lower societies of mankind \xe2\x80\x94 by which \nis not meant the vile or wicked merely, but the ignorant, savage, \nultra-barbarous sons of earth \xe2\x80\x94 occupy a broad area on the edges \nof the zone. Between these edges and the next interior country \nthere are given routes of travel ; as there are also between the two. \nedges across the zonal continent. People there, as here, improve \nby making vogages, and visiting countries other than their own. \nThere are no railway or steamer fares to pay, and millions find \nprofitable occupation in visiting and studying the habits and cus- \ntoms of other people. \n\n(7i) The quality (and here I remind you that I am only treating \nof the first zone) of the grand divisions improves and ascends as \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 115 \n\nyou approach the centre ; and the highest societies, the supreme, \nor solar section, occupy the zonal equator, whence the people who \ncompose it, after finishing all they can accomplish there, take their \nflight to the belt or sphere above. There they settle on the edges, \nas the savages did on theirs ; for the lowest society of the next \nsphere was the highest of the one below. \n* I have already stated the universality of the sex-principle. It \nobtains of Divisions and Sections, quite as generally as it does of \npersons, for each division and section has its north and south \nsides, peoples, degrees, and societies, \xe2\x80\x94 in other words, its male \nand female principles, and it is by the attrition, contact, fusions \nand interactions of these two that progress is achieved and real \nadvancement made. There is no part of God\'s universe where \nthese principia do not operate. \n\nThe system of government on the zone whereof I have been \ntreating, and, indeed, of all others, is fashioned on the model of \nour solar system. The grand equatorial division is as a Sun, which, \nthrough its agents, irradiates its mental and ethical warmth and \nlight over the entire sphere ; and its neighboring divisions may be \ncompared to the planets, moons, and comets of the system, \xe2\x80\x94 \nthey being tributary, and in some sense dependent upon it. \n\nThis law of solar harmony, be it known, obtains throughout \nGod\'s illimitable universe of matter and spirit, so far as known to \nman, or revealed by mighty spirits. Now, here is again food for \nstudy and occupation \xe2\x80\x94 the laws of solar and social order ! \xe2\x80\x94 \nthemes fit to engage the intellect of seraphs. \n\n(i) We come now to special topics. \n\nThe first portions of the first grand division, the edges, are devoted \nto, and peopled by, the most imperfect tribes of humankind \xe2\x80\x94 the \nsavage and canmbalic men and women of the earth ; those that \nare just immortal, and no more, \xe2\x80\x94 that is all; those who are but \na touch-grade above the beasts of the forests, or the giant apes \nand troglodytes. \n\nHere are to be found the Kaffirs, Jaloffs, Mandingoes, Hotten- \n. tots, Bosjesmen, Diggers, Marquesans, and others of similar grade, \nwho live for long ages pretty much as they did before they went \nthere ; that is to say, pretty much as they please, \xe2\x80\x94 a wild, semi- \nclownish life, without law, save that of nature ; for reason, the \nGodlike attribute, is still latent in them. True, they are taught ; \n\n\n\n116 AETEK DEATH; \n\nbut their education is a very slow and tedious process. They sel- \ndom realize that they no longer inhabit earth, though sensible of a \nchange of localities. The scenery around them corresponds to \ntheir condition. It looks tropical, and the trees and other flora are \nin accordance therewith. All spiritual beings subsist on, or are \ninvigorated and refreshed by, the atmosphere inhaled, and subtle \nauras absorbed, as well as by proper food. . These people gather \nand consume fruits of various kinds, which, by God\'s bounty, \nexist there as previously on the earth. When one at first sees \nsuch persons there, it is hard to believe that one is not dreaming, \nor in some unpleasant vision. Yet, it is true such men are there, \nand will, in the course of ages, develop out and up. The first \nimmortals must have been quite as low as these are, and yet not \none but has long since taken his flight from the equatorial division, \nand is probably now on the solar zone. Wherever there is a soul, \nthat soul must grow and expand ; indeed, I deem it far easier for \none of these sinless ones, as they are, to grow to full manhood, \nthan for many a man who proudly walks earth\'s streets to-day. \n\nThe reasons are self-apparent. Their habits and customs are in \nstrict accordance with savage rules, save that cannibalism and \nflesh-eating are simply impossible, \xe2\x80\x94 they cannot tear each other \napart, or bite and cut to pieces. This at first surprises them. The \nfact they realize, cannot account for, and finally give up trying to, \nand take to a frugivorous diet. \n\nMarriage, either mono or polygamic, is of course unknown ; but \nan indiscriminate freedom in its functions is the universal rule. \nOf course, there can be no palpable result to this ; for no children \nare born there, but they do not comprehend the fact. They im- \nagine different results, and their females realize their wishes with \nreference to offspring ; but of course not as upon the earth, though \nof that fact, too, they are ignorant. \n\nWhen Quisbee wants a baby badly, she receives one of the \nproper grade for her, if such is to be had ; for that whole region is \npresided over by a superior wisdom quite equal to that governing \nhigher circles. She find the child by her side ; don\'t know how it \ngot there ; thinks she bore it ; but is mistaken, for, in fact, it is \none just dead in Kaffir-land ; or an emigrant from the slums of \nCanton, or the banks of the Zambezi, or Niger, just sent home by \nhaving its brains knocked out for coming when not wanted, \xe2\x80\x94 a \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 117 \n\ncustom, although the modes may differ, quite too common out of \nKaffir-land, or Canton ! \n\nThis youngling she accepts as her own, and rears, until the \nyoung thing is strong enough to be removed to a better nursery, \xe2\x80\x94 \nfor many such there are in all parts of Spirit Land. Here behold \nthe Divine economy ! See what a study of God and his good- \nness ! \n\nWhile speaking of children, I beg leave to remark that, of all \nsubjects that can possibly engage our attention here, not one \xe2\x80\x94 \nsave that of marriage \xe2\x80\x94 is so deeply important as that of the \neducation of children ; and of all sights that burst upon the \nenraptured vision of the seer, none are so electrically joyous and \nhappifying as those of the schools of the Morning Land, where \ncountless millions of children are being trained and educated. \nThere are more people in the spiritual country who went there \nwhile children than who passed away at maturity ; for there are \nbillions who went there before their second year of life, and these \nare all graded and sent to those peculiar schools and nurseries \nfor the which, upon a true analysis, they are found to be best \nadapted. How good is God ! What a blessed heart-warming \ntruth is this, \xe2\x80\x94 that even all these little ones are loved and \ntenderly cared for by the peerless Lord of ineffable glory ! Our \nroyal King, \xe2\x80\x94 our beneficent God ! \n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX. \n\nTHE HEAVEN OP SAVAGES \xe2\x80\x94 FIRST GRAND DIVISION OP THE SPIRIT LAND \xe2\x80\x94 MUSIC TIP \nTHERE AND HOW MADE \xe2\x80\x94 HOUSES, TOWNS, CITIES, IN THE UPPER WORLD, HOW \nBUILT, AND OF WHAT MATERIAL \xe2\x80\x94 BREATH UP THERE \xe2\x80\x94 THE FEMALE THERMOMETER \n\xe2\x80\x94 CURIOUS, BUT TRUE \xe2\x80\x94 A WONDERFUL SPIRITUAL FACT \xe2\x80\x94 JEWELS THERE \xe2\x80\x94 SCHOOLS \nIN HEAVEN. \n\nThere are places and persons, hospitals and societies, to whom \nand which are assigned all the poor little murdered ones, whose \nbodies choke the sewers of London, Paris, and Vienna, and which \nfester in the docks of more than one American city, \xe2\x80\x94 a dreadful, \nbut a common crime, and one only to be prevented when mankind \nbegins to learn the value of a human being, any human being, \nwhether " legitimate " or not, and provides against that kind of \nwholesale murder, as Russia does, by foundling hospitals and \nMagdalen retreats. Russia, where motherhood is not counted a \ncrime, second only to murder, unless \xe2\x80\x94 unless \xe2\x80\x94 well, let us say \nnothing further on that, and pass on. ... I repeat, the low \npeople of the section just treated of do not know how they came \nthere, until their minds become expanded, and they pass its limits \non their upward way. People find abundant occupation in the \nstudy of the laws of psychical development and soul growth. \n\n(J) The next section of that grand division is a great improve- \nment on the first. It occupies more surface ; is greatly diversified ; \nis higher, both in reference to the scale of perfection and the equa- \ntor. The fauna and flora are less coarse and rough, corresponding \nto our semi-tropics. The fruits are finer ; the forests less dense \nand uninviting ; the atmosphere is much more agreeable. The \ninhabitants are still quite coarse and low, but far less brutal and \ngross than in the former section. It is mainly peopled by Kanakas, \nthe ruder Negroes, Esquimaux, Finns, the refuse of China, Tartary, \nJapan, India, and certain tribes of aborigines from all four of our \ncontinents. They are mainly employed in roaming over their ex- \ntensive territories, and enjoying a sensuous, semi-animal existence ; \n\n118 \n\n\n\nAFTER DEATH; OR, DISBODIED MAN. 119 \n\nalbeit they already show slight promise of improvement. Passing \nacross the barrier, we come to \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n(k) The next section, which, besides containing all the multi- \ntudes, whose moral and mental gravitation has fitted them in proper \nplaces here, also contains an immense host of Mongols, Tartars, \nChinese, Malays, Arabs, Lesbians, Greeks, Turks, Poles, Irish, \nScotch, Negroes, Indians, Esquimaux, English, French, Swedes, \nFinns, Spanish, Russian, Austrian, Prussian, Moors, Kanakas, \nIslanders, and Japanese ; in fact, immense numbers of the semi- \nsavage classes of all nations of the earth ; the lower orders of all \nhuman society, \xe2\x80\x94 the nearly ineducable hosts of the world, em- \nbracing vast multitudes of soldiers, miners, sailors, peasantry, and \nother external, coarse-grained people ; large delegations, or rather \ngraduates, of whom, rapidly pass on to the next section, because \nthey improve their opportunities, and their surroundings are such \nas, when appreciated, to make strong, good, and lasting impres- \nsions upon them, and to beget a more intense longing for further \nimprovement. They begin to feel and appreciate the first con- \nscious throbbings and yearnings for a higher and better sort of \nexistence. They vaguely, dimly comprehend that they have \nneither obtained the possible acme, nor a final state of content, but \nthat there is still much, very much, ahead to be had and labored \nfor, \xe2\x80\x94 a good lesson for earthlings, that ! \n\nThe scenery in this particular section is a great improvement on \nthat of the last. There is more vif or life in the air, precisely as \nthere is more physical life on a given area in the tropics \xe2\x80\x94 crude, \ncarbonaceous life \xe2\x80\x94 than on the same space in the temperate zone ; \nand more of the higher, electric, or oxygenic life in the latter than \nin the former. \n\nThe flowing rivers are finer to look at and float upon ; the moun- \ntains are not so high, steep, precipitous, jagged, and uninviting ; \nthe light is purer, clearer, better ; the trees, flowers, fruits, and \nbirds decidedly of a higher order and standard. There are fewer \ncaves, natural or artificial, and far more pretension to order, sys- \ntem, and a sort of rude, weird beauty. The people are clad in \nfiner, more comely, and better-adapted apparel ; for God, who \nclothes the fields and fauna, also arrays his human children in fit- \nting garments, with but an almost unconscious wish of themselves \nor others. \n\n\n\n120 AFTER death; \n\nIn this section some taste, esthetic and normal, in these re- \nspects, begins to be manifest ; and out of these awakened senses \nthere slowly rises the vague idea of a power superior to them- \nselves, and nascent energies of their own, that dimly foretell \ngreatness yet to be. As a matter of course this feeling, as among \nMoslems, Baptists, Methodists, and other noisy demonstrationists, \nmanifests itself in external jubilance, as is the case invariably \nwith all barbarous minds, orders, and grades of humanity every- \nwhere ; for civilized and refined people never make a noise about \nreligion, because with such it is a supreme consciousness of unity \nwith goodness, and not the effect of mesmeric repletion. It is \nwith them a principle, not a mere passion, excitement, or magnetic \nebullition, as among dervishes, Christian or Mahommedan, and \npeople of that class \'generally. Hence worship and God-recogni- \ntion, in that section, is a feeling or sentiment not yet crystallized, \nor intellectually perceived and appreciated. It is sensuous and \nemotional altogether, and in strict accordance with the universal \nlaw. \n\nBehold the striking analogy between the physical world without \nand the human world within us. We have a mineral basis or \nsub-strata in the earth, \xe2\x80\x94 our granite, feldspar, scoria, upon which \nall the teeming beauties of material life are reared and buildecl. \nIt is hard, intractable, impervious, and low. But presently the \nmineral gives way, softens, crumbles, becomes more and more \nsusceptible to every active influence ; at length produces, or is \nchanged into, soil, from which springs the grosser vegetation, \xe2\x80\x94 \nferns, reeds, moss, grasses. So with man. His heart, or \nemotional nature, was as solid stone ; his religion mere existence ; \nbut presently he begins to crumble, soften, and to yearn toward \nsomething better, higher, fuller. His was a vegetative life with- \nout and within ; but by and by he grows, refines upon it till a \ndegree of beauty is reached and grasped. Look at earth once \nmore. The animal succeeds, or is an outgrowth of, the vegetable ; \nand as comes the animal on earth, just so man also reaches a plane \ncorrespondent thereto, namely, a purely sensational religion ; \nand even as animals mark a scale from perfect docility to the \nutmost ferocity, so with man\'s religion at a certain stage of \nhuman growth ; \xe2\x80\x94 now in the ark, devoutly praying ; then trying \nto propitiate God with sacrifice, self-denial, and burnt offerings ; \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 121 \n\nand anon burning men and women to his glory, at an auto-da-fe; \nthis day petitioning " Our Father," and to-morrow whetting the \nknife for wholesale butchery and indiscriminate massacre ! " Thy \nwill be done ! " in one breath, and " Death to the Heretic ! " \nin the next. Presently he refines on that ; sees his error, and, \nafter a time, quietly corrects it ; and bigotry, no longer possess- \ning discretionary killing powers, quietly murders Religion to \nfrighten fools with her ghost. \n\nAgain : The earth produced intelligence, as succeeding sensa- \ntion. So also hfinian religion transmutes, changes, grows, ex- \npands, advances, ascends ; the lower classes of human kind still \ncling to more or less modified sensational forms, and boast \nloudly of Methodism, Baptism, repentance, regeneration, justifi- \ncation, love-feasts, revivals, hell-fire, the hoofed and horned \ndevil, a pregnant maid, fatherless son; a grand auto-da-fe \xe2\x80\x94 that \nof Calvary \xe2\x80\x94 a judgment-day, vindictive God, physically enforced \nmoralism and virtue, with ten thousand other infantile crudities. \nThis is a transitional stage of human growth ; for very soon the \nintellectual phase begins, and we have all shades of religious \nopinion, from intellectualized sensationalism, to sensational \nintellectualism, shading away to an utter denial of all but \npure material religion, like that of the late Calvin Blanchard \n\xe2\x80\x94 (a sensual devotee, whose worship was incarnate lust) \xe2\x80\x94 \nFourier, Pearl Andrews, Owen, Cabot, and Brisbane, \xe2\x80\x94 mainly \nvisionaries, and all but the last named wholly unpractical ; as \nwell as the systems of many sound and great reformers, who, \nseeing new truth, hastened to proclaim it from the house-tops, that \nall might hear and be saved, \xe2\x80\x94 not from a blazing hell, or the \nclutches of an imaginary devil , but from making more mistakes ; \nthe deepest and gravest of which is \xe2\x80\x94 false marriage. \n\nWell, earth\'s drama still goes on, and she crowns intellect with \nspirit. Lo ! what a change ! Instantly the thirsty army of \nadvance drink of the flood ; they abandon sensational emotional- \nism with all its noise, confusion, shouting, yelling, baptizing, \nlove-feasts, dervish-dances, shakerism, free-love platforms, hell, \ndamnation, and the devil ; abandon all your partialisms of what- \never sort ; quietly bid farewell to all socialisms, burnt-offerings, \nand bleeding lambs, and stoutly lay hold on natural law and cling \nto immortality, \xe2\x80\x94 by which I do not meau mere spirit-rapping or \n16 \n\n\n\n122 AFTER DEATH ; \n\nany of that crude stuff, \xe2\x80\x94 but I do mean a belief in post-mortem \nexistence, so sound and well-based, that it makes a man a better \ncitizen instead of a libertine, and a woman a true daughter of \nGod, instead of a sly and lascivious wanton. So far the corre- \nspondence ; but, behold ! scarcely are they \xe2\x80\x94 this army of advance \n\xe2\x80\x94 well-grounded in their new faith, ere nature effects still another \nchange. She had given the world minerals, vegetables, animals, \nand man ; she had produced motion, life, sensation, and intelli- \ngence ; but .now she crowns intellect with reason, and has spirit- \nualized it ; the first effect of which is the birth of intuition, \xe2\x80\x94 a \nshining coronet, flashing o\'er the whole, \xe2\x80\x94 man\'s ubiquity to God\'s \nomniscience, \xe2\x80\x94 our human much-knowing to his all-knowing. \n\nThis last improvement sounds the everlasting, resurrectionless \ndeath-knell of all priests, ministers, kings, potentates, and princes ! \nThat change is coming, just as surely as that truth exists. Al- \nready we are \xe2\x80\x94 some of us \xe2\x80\x94 fearlessly breasting the last waves \nof refined barbarism, trusting to the unerring guidance of crowned \nreason ; fully aware of the dangers of what to many has proved \na death sea ; for we know all its terrors and all its shoals and \nsoundings, but caring nought for them because we have reliable \ncharts and skilful pilots who \xe2\x80\x94 these clairvoyants \xe2\x80\x94 have often \ncrossed it, and know much about the Morning Land on the \nother side. The demonstration is complete ; the analogy is per- \nfect. What a sublime study and occupation is here for embodied \nand disbodied men ! \n\nThe people of the section we have now left are just beginning \nto develop the thinking, reflective, perceptive, and religious facul- \nties ; there is a vast difference between Cuffee and Carlyle ; yet the \nformer will bridge it in time, just as the latter will leap the chasm \nbetween himself and the myriad Cuffees of ages lang syne, \xe2\x80\x94 and \nthese have just fairly started on the journey. \xe2\x96\xa0 Already they begin \nto appreciate their teachers, and to comprehend their lessons, \nalthough quite stolid on many points, and indifferent on others. \nOf course their tastes are those of other barbarians ; their modes \nof thought immature and crude ; their customs and habits openly \ndisgusting to the refined ; their pleasures nearly all grossly sen- \nsuous, and nothing like system or social order is observable. \nSchools of the primary order are established among them, taught \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 123 \n\nby chiefs and assistants from several of the higher sections and \ngrand divisions of the zone. \n\n(I) The fourth section of the first grand division shows us still \na larger conglomeration of men and nations, markedly higher than \nthe last, but yet, compared to what we know of many communities \non earth, very crude and undeveloped. The numbers and extent \nof area have been constantly enlarging and increasing as we have \nascended and gone toward the equatorial division. The people in \nthis fourth section are like the leaves of the forest. The country, \nin appearance, is greatly finer there and superior to the last pre- \nceding section. There are here immense lakes, rivers, seas, and \nmountains, trees, valleys, and rolling plains. The people no \nlonger live so isolated as before ; are generally nomadic, but \noccasionally live in apologies for towns. Their clothing is neater \nin shape and outline, but is of high colors, crudely matched, and \nrather flaunting and fantastic. Towns and villages begin to \nappear, but not orderly or beautiful ; still there is apparent, in \nall the people and their surroundings, quite palpable evidences of \na yearning and striving for man and womanhood. The sense of \nshame is decided and pronounced ; they have scented the fruit of \nthe tree of knowledge, and begin to have vague longings for a \ntaste of that which grows upon the (mental) tree of life ; \xe2\x80\x94 they \nwant to eat of it and live forever, \xe2\x80\x94 free from certain disabilities, \nand obstructing influences, \xe2\x80\x94 for the better self-hood is strongly \nseeking for expression. Emulation and taste are beginning to \ndisplay their power in moulding character ; an undefined ambition \nbegins to spur them to something like sustained mental effort, the \neffect of which is a sort of envious competition for the general \ngood opinion. \n\nThe divine idea of music here, also, for the first time, comes to \nthe surface, as a prophetic thing, and is hftarcl with strange, wild \ndelight by those who succeed in producing it, and by others, who \nforthwith endeavor to imitate, equal, and then surpass it. This \nmusic is vocal, \xe2\x80\x94 not words, but sounds, produced by humming, \ncroning, droning, and gurgling ; and it is, of course, crude, sharp, \nangular, hissing, guttural, and uncertain, \xe2\x80\x94 rude and harsh to \nears refined, but the quintessence of melody, and exceedingly \ndelightful to themselves. All things, mundane and ethereal alike, \nare comparative, and doubtless there are those in some of the \n\n\n\n124 AFTER death; \n\n" spheres" who, listening to one of our finest concerts or most \ndelicious operas, would wonder what we were grieving about ; or \npossibly mistake our sweet and dulcet strains and notes for the \nharsh filing of dull-set saws. The sounds alluded to above are \nmade in the throat and chest, and some of them, when first heard, \nare quite novel, startling, and moving ; in many respects remind- \ning one of the Arabian and Turkish music which I, and others \nhave frequently listened to in Cairo, Smyrna, Beyrout, Constanti- \nnople, and Jerusalem. Especially is there a close resemblance \nbetween portions of it and that very peculiar oriental female cry, \nknown as the Ziraleet, \xe2\x80\x94 a prolonged, sharp, shrill sound, pitched \nin C, and that cuts its way through the ear, as a barbed arrow \ndoes through the flesh. And yet out of that shrill seed grows the \nsublimest musical harmony of lofty seraphs. \n\nIn that section, also, custom rises to the dignity of artificial \nlaw,\' \xe2\x80\x94 rather Draconian in spirit, certainly, but nevertheless evin- \ncing a tolerably fair beginning ; for their civilization is just in the \nbud. All the surroundings of these people are less chaotic than \nin sections below ; and their habits, customs, manners, \xe2\x80\x94 every- \nthing, are decided advances upward and onward. It is often \nasked : What possible occupation can an intelligent person have in \nthe next life ? and I have just partly answered it. There are plenty \nof subjects to engage our attention ; for instance, with reference \nto the section just described, we have the study of human prog- \nress, in its relations to final perfectibility ; the laws of Music, \nand the relation it sustains to religion, intellect, and the senti- \nments and affections, \xe2\x80\x94 subjects not quickly exhausted. \n\nA wide interval separates this fourth from the fifth section. \nThey are not restricted within those limits by external barriers, \nwalls, or rules, but by the action of inherent principles, that, if \nnot already apparent to the reader, will become so as I proceed \nwith the revelation. \n\n(m) Another step onward and upward brings us to a section of \nthe ethereal home of disbodied souls, many times more refined and \ngenial than the last. Its superficial area and extent is incompara- \nbly greater than that of the section just described. Here order \nfairly begins its triumphant reign ; society conforms to something \nlike disciplined system ; sects, societies, tribes, and clans exist ; \ncities in embryo deck the wide-spread scene ; the mountains are \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 125 \n\nless stupendous ; the air more balmy, clear, radiant, refining, and \nexhilarant. Let us rest awliile, just here, for at this point two \nvery important, though subsidiary questions and topics present \nthemselves, and demand elucidation. The first of these is, " How \nare cities built? of what material? for what uses? \xe2\x80\x94 seeing there \nare no climatic influences to guard against, no cooking to be \ndone, or anything of that sort ! " The second topic concerns the \natmosphere ; and, as it is more convenient to me, I propose to \nanswer the last question first. \n\nEthereal persons (" spirits") of a high grade can inhale the air \nof a low society, and escape injury if not too long persisted in, \njust as a man of high health here may defy an air charged with \nepidemic death, in the shape of disease, which shall sweep off its \nthousands of those less prepared to encounter its devastating \npower. But, let it be distinctly understood, an ethereal person \nof a low grade cannot, for any lengthened period, breath the air \nof higher climes, sections, regions, or societies, because it is pain- \nful to do so. Every man, woman, or society, there, as here, gives \noff an aura or atmosphere thoroughly impregnated with them- \nselves, or itself, and unless one is in the same plane, of the same \ngeneral grade, and in the same sphere of loves and uses, these \nspheres are unqualifiedly distasteful, repellant, and, in some cases, \nquite abhorrent. \n\nPut a quiet Quaker into a noisy Methodist meeting, and he is \nby no means the happiest man alive. Put a Methodist into a \nQuaker assembly, and the poor man straightway becomes entirely \nmiserable ; for the enveloping sphere constricts his chest, seals \nhis lips, chills his heart, and he aches and tingles to get away. \nThis law operates throughout the universe, \xe2\x80\x94 alike on solid earths, \nand imperial spiritual zones, \xe2\x80\x94 the triple law of attraction, affin- \nity, and repulsion being general in its operations. Familiarity \nwith the fumes of sulphur will render them endurable ; but no \none likes them for all that. Here, we are often obliged to breathe \nrepellant spheres ; but there, we can and do escape them. Here, \nwe are forced by circumstances to breathe foul airs, moral and \nphysical, and we glide along the scale like a woman, tempted to \nsin, who has a gamut of twenty degrees, \xe2\x80\x94 zero, two below, and \nseventeen above it, \xe2\x80\x94 easily accustoms herself to breathe badness \nthrough all the stages of dead-heart, ice-heart, zero-ice, cold-heat, \n\n\n\n126 after death; \n\nindifference, great modesty, shame, attention, sympathy, attach- \nment, irresolution, vulgar love, temperate love, ardent love, exalted \nlove, intense love, passion, extreme passion, culpable passion, crimi- \nnal passion, and the next step is total abandon! This feminine \nthermometer illustrates what I mean by " Spheres," for in each \nof them she breathes foul air, but here cannbt always escape it. \n\nIn reference to the necessity for houses in the upper country, I \nmay here say that there, as here, there are times when we want to \nbe \xe2\x80\x94 and ought to be \xe2\x80\x94 alone ; and others when it is not agreea- \nble to have our sacred privacy intruded upon by the best or dear- \nest friends we have. In the next place, we, there, not being wild \npeople, naturally desire to display our civilization, and that is \nclone by and through elegance, taste, and luxury. The upper is \nnot a phantom land, but real and palpable. The hills, mountains, \nplains, forests abound, not with material trees, stone, marble, \ngold, silver, and so on ; but with their sublimated equivalents, \nwhich answer the same purposes there that their cognates do here. \nWe erect our buildings in the same general way, save that there \nare higher and more perfect agencies than saws, hammers, nails, \npaint, putty, glass houses, and all that. We do those things in a \nday there that require months on earth. True, there, as here, we \ncan build any amount of castles in the air ; but they tumble to \npieces unless, as here, we plant more enduring substances around \nthem. "We keep our houses till we want to get rid of them, and \nthen we unbuild and scatter the material into thin air ; for the \npalace is built through a law of will. By that law it is sustained, \nand when that love and will are withdrawn, like sap-life from a \nboard fence, it drops apart, and is forever gone. Just so is it \nwith our jewels that ornament ; in short, with anything we want \nor need. So much for these mooted points. Presently we shall \nencounter others still more difficult. \n\nIn the section now written of, there are numerous institutions \nof learning, \xe2\x80\x94 the first-reader classes of the great university. \nThey are attended by millions of pupils, and their instructors \ncome principally from the third and fourth grand divisions, \xe2\x80\x94 \nthemselves being under the tutelage and guidance of teachers from \nthose particular solar societies, which make the art of instruction \na particular specialty. Onward goes the mighty movement, with, \nlike a falling body, a constantly accelerating rate of motion. Here \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 127 \n\nwe find an uncountable multitude of people, dwelling in large \ncities, and scattered generally over a surface above four thousand \nmiles in average width, and nearly as long as the entire periphery \nof the zone. These people represent all the nations of the earth, \nboth those that are now extinct here, and those that still exist. \nThey are the barbarians, not the savages, of terrestrial so-called \ncivilization, \xe2\x80\x94 the latter idea being yet a misnomer on the earth, \nand as yet an unrealized dream ; for civilized people will not \nfight, quarrel, get drunk, steal, lie, rob, cheat, swindle, murder, \ngo to war, or \xe2\x80\x94 worse than all \xe2\x80\x94 slander ! \n\nHere are found immense delegations of the democracy, \xe2\x80\x94 hunt- \ners, miners, hod-carriers, sancl-hillers, boatmen, soldiers, canallers, \nbutchers, drovers, farmers, shepherds, planters, and their former \nslaves, serfs, banditti, lazaroni ; together with the riff-raff, scum, \nruff-scuff, and huge-paws of deserts, wilds, villages, towns, and \ncities ; millions of those who once were murderers and pirates of \nlow grade ; people who have been hanged, garroted, guillotined, \nslain in drunken brawls, duels, killed themselves, fallen in unjust \nwar, prison-birds, thieves, pickpockets, rowdy politicians, pugi- \nlists, street prostitutes, and others, of the lowest, but not there- \nfore necessarily the worst types of mankind ; for clairvoyance \nreveals the fact that by far the largest portions of these people \nwere born in an atmosphere of vice, were reared to crime, and \nwere made worse by inhuman treatment, \xe2\x80\x94 \xe2\x96\xa0 people crowned with \nthe priceless gem of immortality, but so badly situated as to have \neither no moral or mental light at all, or only just sufficient to \nrealize that they have done wrong ; with half latent aspirations \nupward, but not sufficient integral stamina to defy, temptation, \nor inner force to stem the downward tide. \n\nQuestion. \xe2\x80\x94 "What are crimes, in reality ? how do they affect \nthose who commit them here, after .death? and what is the effect \nof disease upon us here, after we have died? and can any disease \nhere, affect the immortal soul?" \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 Few more really important questions than these four \nit would be difficult to ask. Crime is graded, and, as said before, \nfar oftener results from chemical, electrical, magnetic, and other \npurely physical causes, than it does from " moral turpitude." \nWhatever chemical acridity operates upon the physical brain ; \nwhatever redundancy of acid in the blood, alkali in the liver, oily \n\n\n\n128 AFTER DEATH; \n\nmatter in the kidneys, sourness in the lubricating fluids of the \njoints and bones ; the retention of the various secretions ; neglect \nof washing all over; the frequent presence of various kinds of \n"worms in the intestines, liver, brains, stomach, flesh ; animalcu- \nlse in the pancreas, veins, arteries, heart, prostate gland, womb, \nvagina, peritoneum, muscles ; electrical and magnetic insulation \nof any of the nerves ; sanguineous bitterness ; induration of the \ntestes ; an excess of lime, iron, urea, uric acid, \xe2\x80\x94 all and singu- \nlar, are so many physical causes of what we call crime ; and thou- \nsands of human beings are daily sentenced to long terms of dreary \nduress, who, morally, are as irresponsible as a child unborn, and \nwho are fit subjects for hospitals instead of jails. Men are hung \nfor deeds of violence justly attributable to worms in the brain, or \nulcers there. I lately looked into the brain of a woman who had \nbeen guilty of deliberate perjury, and found the whole brain suf- \nfused with a dull-red inflammation. Morally, therefore, she was \ninnocent. I know an editor of a religious paper, who is a good \nman, but from excessive toil liable to periodic attacks of cerebral \nsuffusion and undue heat, in which case he damns everything sky- \nhigh, and swears worse than " our troops in Flanders," or Gen- \neral T -, who, under like conditions, used to send for Colonel \n\nB to come and help him " curse those infernal mules." I \n\nknow another man who at the least excitement will fly off into \nviolent anger. Congenital inheritance ! Another, the extreme \nvampiral (all take, no give) passionalism of whose wife has \npulled him down from heaven to hell, \xe2\x80\x94 for to that one end \nalone that woman sacrificed him in every possible way, \xe2\x80\x94 robbed \nhim, stole funds entrusted to his care, purposely made him jealous, \nassociated with her inferiors, and with them hatched plots to de- \nstroy the man who loved her dearer than life itself. Finally, \nthey drove him from his own house, and, when he resisted, arrested \nhim for assault and threats, endeavored to utterly ruin him, and \ndid destroy his business. In consequence of all this, he became \nirritable, unsocial, and quite angular, for the constant play of her \nunappeasable scortatory magnetism upon him at length produced \nan extreme feverish tenderness and inflammation throughout the \nentire cerebellum, and this affected the 1 man\'s whole nature. Relief \ncould only come from death or separation. He resolved upon the \nlatter. The vampire returned to her Louisiana swamps to carry \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 129 \n\non her destructive war, and the man was cured and again began \nto climb the ladders of thought God planted in the world. \n\nNow, when people thus physically disturbed are also magnetic \nsensitives, the cases are ten times worse ; for not only are they \nsubject to Jits and spells of moody gloomery, but during the \nparoxysms are entirely open to, and nearly defenceless against, \nthe life-depleting attacks of the vampire host of spirits already \ndescribed in these pages. But such, and all similar victims to \ndisease, escape hereafter the moral pangs of other criminals, be- \ncause it is clear that they are, like young children, wholly irre- \nsponsible for conduct that, under other conditions, would be repre- \nhensible, and merit proper correction. \n\nSome diseases here leave long-enduring impressions or effects \nupon us there, entailing sadness, \xe2\x80\x94 as in cases of consumption. \nIrritability and impatience of restraint, contradiction, and teach- \ning accompany for a time the victim of dyspepsia. The insane \nfrequently abide in their illusions, sometimes for years, But, as a \ngeneral rule, we speedily recover the benumbing effects of nearly \nall diseases. But to this rule there is an invariable and painful \nexception, \xe2\x80\x94 indeed, three exceptions, but the principles underlying \nthem are identical. First, the victims of syphilis suffer long and \nmost poignantly. Second, those who have destroyed themselves \neither by sexual excess, or total abstinence therefrom, remain \nmorbid, restless, unsatisfied a long time, and with them are the \narsenic, opium, hasheesh, beng and tobacco eaters, rum-drinkers, \n\xe2\x80\x94 to excess, \xe2\x80\x94 and all who have habituated themselves to ab- \nnormal appetites and habits. Third, \xe2\x80\x94 and worst of all, \xe2\x80\x94 the \nonanists and masturbators often suffer the pangs of concentrated \nagony for long, long years. The reason is that whoso robs the \nsoul of its physical aliment, \xe2\x80\x94 as all these, and especially the \nlast do, \xe2\x80\x94 prevents that soul\'s due normal and proper expansion. \nAll know that such is the case here ; and I and other seers know \nwhat the effects are there. I therefore not only caution the vic- \ntims of this last habit, but I declare it to be what was alluded to \nin the Apostolic days, as the Sin against the Holy Ghost ! It \nsaps the vitality of soul, body, spirit, mind, and morals ; makes \nfat souls lean, and, unless its ravages are promptly stayed, and its \neffects obviated, I repeat what I have written before, I had \nrather endure the punishment due to murder, than undergo the \n17 \n\n\n\n130 after death; \n\nstrange and horrible penalties to be undergone, as sure as God \nlives and reigns, by those who, by solitary vice, and abuse of the \nsexual system, mar their eternal prospects hereafter. It was \nthis discovery in 1854, that induced me to study this class of \npatients, and since that day that study has been my specialty, \xe2\x80\x94 \nnot solely for the emolument accruing, for I have treated nine in \nten gratis, \xe2\x80\x94 but because that specialty was in the hands of \nempirics, and scarce a respectable practitioner would touch it, \nand yet none are to be so pitied and assisted as these poor victims \nof what passes current as nervous diseases. \n\n\n\nLet us now return to our researches in the world of spirits. \nIn the sanitary schools established for the education and heal- \ning of these sick ones, regular seasons of active work and rest \nprevail and alternate. Emulation and true endeavor are caroused \nby judicious systems of praise and reward ; but there is very little \ncensure. In some of these Sanitoria, law courts are simulated, \ncases are made up and tried in due form, dignity, and strict deco- \nrum ; counsel plead on either side, and attentive juries watch \nevery point that may be made ; and he is crowned victor who \ngains his cause on the clearest principles of abstract, unequivocal \njustice. \n\nDebates are also encouraged by their tutors. Bickerings, ex- \ncitement, false statements, personalities, and abuse, being strictly \ninterdicted ; but all strife must be amicable, all bitterness avoided. \nAt their conclusion, the teacher reviews the whole proceedings, \ncorrects* all errors that have been made, sets the subject before \nthem in the light of truth, as seen from his stand-point ; demon- \nstrates the uses of self-restraint, as contrasted with enthusiasm ; \nand the whole has a direct and positive tendency to make them \nwiser, less excitable, and therefore better men and women. \n\nThe people of the section just described, as well as their \npleasures are sensuous-intellectual, but not advancedly so. \n\n(n) The remaining portions of this, first, grand division, pre- \nsent corresponding improvements upon all the rest below. A \nhigher and more thoroughly scientific system of education pre- \nvails. Worship habitually obtains ; clanship \xe2\x80\x94 rather indiscrimi- \nnate \xe2\x80\x94 \xe2\x80\xa2 still exists ; but the lines between clans are softened ; \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 131 \n\nSchools abound on all sides ; life, customs, habits,, modes of \nthought ; the scenery, fauna, flora, atmosphere, are, one and all, \ngreatly superior* to any yet seen on our march from the first sec- \ntion to the last of this first grand division. \n\nThe people I am now describing, are in the first degrees, of intel- \nlectual sensuousness, and they begin to clearly understand that \na man is a vast deal more than a mere bundle of nerves, senses, \nprejudices, habits, appetites, penchants, and passions, \xe2\x80\x94 a lesson \nthat might with advantage be learned by those in power on this \nearth of ours. \n\nHow strange it is that the idea of grades in the world of souls \nnever struck our religious teachers ! and yet, how readily they accept \nthe thought when fairly set before them ! That would be a strange \nhuman society here on earth in which all grades of men and \nwomen indiscriminately mixed and mingled. No refined, intel- \nlectual, cultured person could possibly be or feel at home among \nthe coarse, low, degraded, brutal, savage, and barbarous peoples \nof this globe ; and, retaining all our sterling qualities after death, \nnone of us who have become cultured, civilized, and refined, \ncould feel happy were our lots forever cast among those who are \nin every sense beneath us. We are not to be thus humiliated. \nThere are grades, grooves, places, for us. all, and each child of \nGod finds him or herself just in that precise spot for which by \ncapacity, organization, and culture, he or she is best and most fitly \nadapted. \n\n\n\nCHAPTER X. \n\nTHE QUESTION OF SEX AND PASSION IN SPIEIT LIFE \xe2\x80\x94 AN A.STOUNDING DISCLOSURE \nTHEEEANENT \xe2\x80\x94 ABE CHILDREN BORN IN THE UPPER LAND? \xe2\x80\x94 NEW AND STRANGE \nUSES FOR THE HUMAN ORGANS WHEN WE ARE DEAD \xe2\x80\x94 THE PHILOSOPHY OF CON- \nTACT \xe2\x80\x94 CURIOUS \xe2\x80\x94 STILL MORE SO \xe2\x80\x94 LOVES OF THE ANGELS. \n\nHaving thus completed my rapid survey of the first grand divis- \nion, it remains but to discuss a few other topics in order to com- \nplete the present initial revelation of the Spiritual Country. In \nthe six other grand, and forty-two minor divisions, man reaches a \ndegree of unfolding absolutely beyond the comprehension of our \nloftiest intellects, \xe2\x80\x94 attains to power and knowledge of the princi- \nples of the worlds without and within himself, so great as to be \ninconceivable by earthly minds ; and yet, even at that exalted \npoint, his wonderful career is but just begun ! \n\nIn preceding pages I am aware of having mooted a long-con- \ntested point of great importance, promising to recur to it at a \nsubsequent stage of this essay. I now do so because the pudeur \nof others has hitherto prevented its just discussion. Strong ob- \njections will be, and have been made, to the position I am about \nto assume and maintain ; not for argument\'s sake, but because it is \nan impregnable truth, and one that ought to be revealed and un- \nderstood. \n\nProposing to meet this objection fair and square in the face, I \nshall present it in the strongest possible luminous light and lan- \nguage, after which it shall be demolished by the inexorable logic \nof facts, and analogy ; for if God has made a mistake on that one \npoint, then, not only does the theory of his perfection fall to the \nground, but immortality is scarcely worth the having, \xe2\x80\x94 that is, \nif we still retain our human nature there, in another world. As \nfor myself, I know we do from personal experience, from the testi- \nmony of thousands of others, and from what I see and hear at the \n\n132 \n\n\n\nAFTER DEATH ; OR, DISBODIED MAN. 133 \n\nvery moment that I am in this barn in St. Martinsville,* penning \nthe lines now before the reader\'s eye, for those who have passed \nbeyond the tomb are at my side, and mine eyes are unsealed to \nthe great realities I am, with their assistance, attempting \xe2\x80\x94 oh, so \nfeebly ! \xe2\x80\x94 to describe. If ever a religious enthusiast was justified in \nsinging with a verve the following lines, I am without enthu- \nsiasm, for daily, nightly, I can truly say and sing, \xe2\x80\x94 \n\nBright angels have from glory come; \nThey\'re round my bed, they\'re in my room, \nThey wait to waft my spirit home ! \n\nAll is well ! All is well ! \xc2\xbb \n\n" Am I," so goes the objection, " to understand that all the im- \npulses, tendencies, penchants, desires, and passions, which char- \nacterize us more or less, while here, are retained after our immi- \ngration to the scene of our new activities, on what we call the \nfarther shores of time ? To put the question clearer : Are we to \nunderstand that men and women after death are, even for a while, \nthe creatures of passional impulse ? I supposed that we left all \nthat behind us ; that the blood-fire alone caused it ; and that after \nwe parted therewith we also parted with its effects. Is the fact \notherwise? or are we still tempest-tossed and passion-driven? \nIt has been affirmed, by noted authorities on matters spiritual, \nthat subsequent to death the loves are purely amicive, or friendly ; \nin no sense different ; but strictly platonic. In a word, that ama- \ntory passion and the uses thereof end with the grave\'s edge ; \nthat sexual intercourse, or the appeasement thereof, was both im- \npossible and unknown to and in the other world. Tell us, is this \nso or not? If so, why? If not so, why? Still \xe2\x80\x94 " \n\n(o) There ! I think that question could not possibly be more \nfully or fairly put. It shall be as fully and fairly answered, be- \ncause it ought to be. But, let it be remembered that in doing \nthis the design is neither to gratify a morbid thirst for occult \nknowledge, or provoke criticism ; but because it is a vital ques- \ntion ; a holy, natural, and pure one, that interests every human \nbeing, of either sex, and it opens a new vein of philosophy hith- \nerto almost wholly unexplored. For after reading Von Reichen- \n\n* Where the first edition of this work was written, in May, 1866. Published in \nChicago the same autumn. \n\n\n\n134 aftek death; \n\nbach\'s "Dynamics of Magnetism," the man who is not deeply \ninterested in nerveology and the rationale and philosophy of con- \ntact, whether by and of hands, spheres, nerve-aura, the kiss, or \nother modes, is not so keen a student or lover of knowledge as he \nwill one day be. Honi soit qui mal y pense ! and let us now pro- \nceed. \n\nIf a man goes to sleep a zealot, bigot, or fool, I see no good \nreason why he or any one else should expect him to wake up next \nday a perfectly right sort of person, sane and sound in all re- \nspects ; entirely and completely changed, re-made, worked over, \npurified, and crystallized; do you? If a Jersey rogue starts on \nthe ferry-boat from Hoboken, I see no reason why, or method \nthrough which, his nature should have undergone an entire change \nby the time he reaches the dock in New York ; do you ? If Oscar \nor James should happen to be either political simpletons or no- \nble-hearted patriots in New Orleans, I see no reason why they \nshould be either diplomatic chiefs, or black-hearted scoundrels, by \nsimply crossing the Mississippi to Algiers ; does any one? Well, \ndeath is but a ferriage across a rather broader stream. All a \nman\'s acts are expressions of himself, under more or less pres- \nsure, and consequent distortion, from without. What he does \nunder that pressure he cannot be held wholly unaccountable for \neither to God, society, or himself ; but what he is in the long run \nand from his traits alone ; that is, himself, legitimate expressions \nof his present selfhood and organization, \xe2\x80\x94 is the result of his \nexperience, and in all cases he requires time for modification and \nreformation. Habits are acquired ; they may be conquered or \noutgrown ; but a functional habit, though it may be suspended, or \ndistorted, being natural with the man, must resume its action \nwhen the obstructing causes are removed. But it can be wholly \ndestroyed \xe2\x80\x94 never ! Suppose a man\'s eyes are blown out, the \nprinciple of vision yet remains. Proof: he sees in his dreams, \nand can be made clairvoyant, be his eyes never so sealed. And \nso throughout. \n\nNow there are those who declare the passion we are discussing \nhas its function fulfilled when offspring ensue from its exercise. \nHalf the human race laughs at such an absurd conclusion ; for so \nfar from being true, that result is but an attendant thereupon, for \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 135 \n\nreasons self-apparent. Its use is triple, generative, equilibrative, \nand expressive. What were human love without it? \n\nThe "Perfectionists" of Oneida have certainly struck upon a \ntruth, albeit I differ from their conclusions, because I believe in \nmonogamy, \xe2\x80\x94 where perfect love reigns supreme, on both sides. \nWell, then, springing from this triplicate function, comes joy, not \nhappiness, but an element thereof. \n\nWhen the sleeping fool wakes up, and the rogue reaches the \ncity, one will still be a ninny, the other a rascal. One must grow \nwise ; the other grow good. The days of miracle are past, and \ninstantaneous conversions are \xe2\x80\x94 ? Well, death is sleep\'s twin \nbrother. A man may quit this world at the point of a triple- \nedged sword or bayonet, on the field of martial glory, \xe2\x80\x94 just think \nof it ! or at the end of a yard or two of good, stout Christian \nrope, \xe2\x80\x94 just think of that, too ! or he may die on one of old In- \ngot\' s satin- velvet couches ; but, asleep or dying, he\'s the same man \nstill, \xe2\x80\x94 for it is his soul, not body, or bones, that makes him what \nhe is. Death, at most, is but a short slumber ; and no matter \nwhere, how, or when one may awaken from either, the " man\'s \nthe man for a\' that." Man will be man and woman be woman, no \nmatter where they be, asleep, awake, or in another world ; in a \ncarbonaceous or electroidal body ; they are essentially the same, \nand so remain until modified by a new series of conditions and \ninfluences. A man carries himself with him wherever he goes ; \ncarries all his good and perverted qualities, all his appetites and \npassions, and is quite as much a man on the other, as he is on \nthis side, the veil of so-called death. \n\nAt this point, then, abiding more decisive argument, I affirm \nthat marital form, in union, essence, rite, and fact, exists in the \nland of souls just as here ; and in the same respect. . The loves \nbetween the sexes are the same in kind beyond, as here, differing \nonly in degree. And it would be a poor Spiritual World, and a \nvery gloomy heaven, were it not so. For what else are souls duo- \nsexed ? That\'s what people want to know ; nor will it do to ar- \ngue that we carry all other parts of us along, but that sex is left \nbehind us ; for in that case we were no longer human, but only \nmonsters. But, let it be forever known, mutual love decides the \nmatter there ; and we win our wives and husbands with something \nbetter than smiles and money. \n\n\n\n136 AFTER DEATH ; . \n\n" If this be so. then I suppose that offspring are born to us \nthere. If not, why not ? " \n\n(p) An erroneous supposition : because the human material \nbody is essential to the reception of soul monads ; to their in- \ncarnation ; to the formation of the spiritual or ethereal body ; and \nan earthly life and experience are essential to its development, \nand to prepare it for the field of future operations subsequent to \nits flight ; and this, in brief, is the why not ! Babes are neither \nbegotten or born through marital union there. \n\n" That is very strange. Such is its purpose here, such at least \nare the results. Two new difficulties now appear. The test of \nwoman is her love ; no love is, at least on earth, at all comparable \nto that for her young, \xe2\x80\x94 her self-sacrificing love for children. How \nis that gratified in the other life, if offspring is denied her ? Again : \nthe purpose and the function of the liver, lungs, and all the special \npelvic organs are well known. Now, if we carry all ourselves to \nthe other world, what possible substitute can there be for the \nprocreative function ? Here appears a break in the economy of \nexistence, for there is a use without an end." \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 So far as philoprogenitiveness is concerned, there are \nmyriads of earth-sent children to call forth its tenderest display. \nThere are also millions of children yet in earth bodies to invoke \nits dearest action. In the statement concerning the new uses of \nthe stomach and other viscera, to the effect that they become bat- \nteries generating and diffusing different auras, the answer to the \nfirst objection just stated is found. The special ethereal uses of \nthe pelvic viscera will presently appear. Let it not be forgotten \nthat conjugation seldom or never purposely serves the end to wJiicJi \nnature applies it. She steals a march on it, and serves herself \nand us at the same time ; for her part of the mystery is not ex- \npressly sought by one in a hundred millions of us who use the \nmeans. \n\nOffspring everywhere are natural accidents. At this point I \nask a question in my turn. Do you know ivhy two men shake \nhands ?\xe2\x80\xa2 Not exactly. Well, it is simply because each imparts \nand receives an odic, magnetic, electric, nerval, or spiritual shock \nor current, all the more pleasurable for the purity and depth of \nthe sentiment or feeling that prompts the act. In fact, all con- \ntactual joy hinges on the truth here set forth, whence may G-od \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MA1ST. 137 \n\npity the unhappily married, in which case there is no contact of \nspirits, and the auras, otherwise reciprocally imbibed, are wasted, \nlost, dissipated into thin air, making people grow old, thin, \nwrinkled, and superlatively discontented and wretched long before \ntheir time. I have treated fully upon that subject in my book, \nentitled, " Love and its Hidden History." \n\nDid you ever study or imagine the meaning and philosophy of \na kiss, \xe2\x80\x94 the rationale of contact ? No ? It is because there are \nnerval poles in the lips, as there are elsewhere, \xe2\x80\x94 connected, \ntelegraphically, through nerves, to the very penetralium of soul \nitself. What are the nervous ganglia, but relays and retorts, \ngenerating, storing up, and diffusing the electric fluids that flash \nalong their filamental wires, telling the soul what\'s going on in the \nexternal world, \xe2\x80\x94 in the mines, on the mountains, in the valleys, \nover the continents, and through the seas of its material and \nspiritual world of body and its lining? Nothing else. Now the \nsoul is a king, having various offices where each separate sort of \nbusiness is transacted and messages received ; nor is the news \nof grief, pain, sorrow, recorded on the same tablets, or in the \nsame chambers as is that announcing victory, pleasure, love, \nfelicity, good news, and joy ; but when one of these chambers is \nopen, the others are partially or wholly closed. News reaches the \nman not only through the senses, but he has telegraphic com- \nmunication with vast worlds above and around him, which enter \nhim through the brain directly ; for it is veiy true that \xe2\x80\x94 as else- \nwhere quoted in this book \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n" Sometimes the aerial synods bend, \nAnd the mighty choirs descend, \nAnd the brains of men thenceforth \nTeem with unaccustomed thoughts." \n\nYour lukewarm, sentimental, unimpassioned kiss sends a \nplatonic message of a peculiar sort to the soul. Another sort of \nkiss despatches a courier to say that all is right and square in the \nfilial,\' child-loving, fraternal, op parental departments of the great \nrepublic. Another sort of kiss, external, short, business-like, and \ncustomary, conveys the intelligence that things might be better, \ndeeper, more sincere in the affectional domain. When warm lips \nmeet warm lips, rendered odorous by balmy breaths, charged with \ndeep desire, then there is let forth a whole batteiy of lightning, \n18 \n\n\n\n138 after death; \n\nthat wakes up the slumbering soul, closes all other doors, and \nbrings the king down from his couch, not only to see what\'s going \non, but to mingle in the scene. Messages are despatched to all \nnooks and corners of the physical continent, and all the bodily \npowers are invoked to the congress of \xe2\x80\x94 sex. Then the spiritual \nand chest organs of either and both tiugle again, and all things, \nbut love are unheeded and forgotten ; for even death, disgrace, or \ndanger are laughed at in utter and contemptuous scorn. But \nwhen two fond hearts and loving meet upon the lips ; when that \nlove is pure, deep, sincere, and right straight from the soul ; when \nit is natural, full to the brim, based on mutual fitness, then, oh, \nthen! \xe2\x80\x94 the soul, spirit, body, \xe2\x80\x94 all \'desire, \xe2\x80\x94 are instantaneously \nkindled up into a blaze, \xe2\x80\x94 not consuming, but creating, \xe2\x80\x94 with, \nto and in, a fervid, fiery, non-exhausting, magnetic glow, thrilling, \nfilling, plunging both into a bath of exquisite delight, \xe2\x80\x94 a deli- \ncious, delirious, soft, yet almost killing rapture ; a lavement in a \nsea of glory, of supreme bliss ; so universal, so deep, so acute, so \nintense, full, sweet, biting, as to be inexpressible by tongue or \npen ; compared to which all other joys are tasteless, dull, and in- \nsipid, yet wholly unknown, and unattainable to all who do not \nfully, purely, centrally, and wholly, yet holily love each other. \nMere fitful, physical, blood, electrical, and magnetic lovers realize \nnothing of all this, because they love not fully, truly ! In many \ncases their wilful waste makes woful want. They must die and \nlive again before they get the first taste, or understand love\'s \nprimary lessons ; but up there, and there only, can its deep \nmysteries be fully known, its keener joys be felt ! \n\nHuman love is made sport of in these dismal ages. It is mainly \nregarded as animal ; but that is only one of its phases. The thing \nitself is really divine ; it can only thrive in purity, and that of \n\xe2\x80\xa2course is holy. To sum up, then, \xe2\x80\x94 the meaning of handshaking, \nthe kiss, and other unions, is the realization of contact. Bearing \nthis in mind, let us now proceed. \n\nTrue marital or conjugal love strengthens ; but mere passional \nor scortatory love is false, consuming, dangerous, wasteful ; for it \nnever is appeased, is always longing, easily dies ; and it entirely, \nusually, both maddens and destroys. \n\nTrue love is pure and sweet desire, \nBut passion\xe2\x80\x94 lust\xe2\x80\x94 consuming fire. \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 139 \n\nIn a love like this last \xe2\x80\x94 either in or out of wedlock, \xe2\x80\x94 noi \nmarriage, for marriage is never desecrated, \xe2\x80\x94 all the fire is on the \nsurface, in the blood ; and when it goes out just so much life goes \nwith it; souls repel, while bodies endure each other; beautiful \nwomen drop by thousands into premature graves, while men spit \nthemselves away in tobacco, fume away in smoke, or drown them- \nselves in fiery baths of disguised alcohol. Real love is a divine \nand sacred thing ; sex, and sex along, is the field and means of its \ndivinest operations. I do not mean merely and only the physiolog- \nical fact, but the mental, spiritual, psychical ones as well ; for \nthe mere physics of it is its least part and charm ; which latter \nreside, and are to be sought for, in the spiritual and metaphysical \ndemesne of the great human estate. All are not women who wear \nthe human shape, nor men that look like the homos. The one\'s \nmasculinity has to be softened down, the other\'s femininity toned \nup, to proper points, \xe2\x80\x94 not here, but in the great hereafter. Let \nthis revelation never be forgotten. \n\nTo a greater or less degree, spirits touch when hands are \nshaken ; but in most cases touch merely. In the ordinary kiss of \nfriendship, a little more of the two surfaces come in contact ; in \ncommon marriage, if positive spiritual repulsion on her part does \nnot exist, spirits come, at times, a little closer ; but souls them- \nselves not only touch, but actually fuse and interblend, in the \nhigh, holy, and mystical conjugations of real marriage ; because \nlove lies at the basis of our human nature, procreation of the \nspecies being its lowest office ; procreation of ineffable fo*rms of \nbeauty and divine sensation one of its highest. All animals, and \nman, too, outgrow parental affection in time ; the instinct ceases \nwith the self-helping stage of growth in the young. In man it \nmerges into all-embracing fraternal love. \n\nThe procreative power and functions of earth cease at death, \nand perish, in woman, with the last catamenia. Still she loves \non as ever ; indeed is then more fully ripe, and clings to her idol \nmore tenderly, sweetly, and dearly than ever, there being no more \nfearful risks to run, or terrible price to pay ; wherefore also love \nconjugal is relieved of dread, and is forever untrammelled, in the \nrealms of disbodied souls. For this reason, among others, lovers \nknow each other more perfectly than is possible here, because no \n\n\n\n140 AFTER DEATH ; OR, DISBODIED MAN. \n\ndrop of poison taints the wine, and fear, the gorgon of the feast, \ndeparts forevermore. \n\nDeath cloe& not radically change us, and I affirm again that the \nunion referred to does constitute one of the lesser, yet full and \nperfect, joys of man\'s post-earthly life. \n\nWhy should it not be so ? We all know that the fusion of male \nand female spheres constitutes the supremest joy of existence ; \nand that we retain sex beyond the grave, is not only reasonable, \nbut is actually true. Why should God unsex us there ? There is \nno reason why he should, and accordingly he does not. I am fully \naware that the position here taken will be assailed ; but what of \nthat? It will still be true, notwithstanding. That all the attrac- \ntion between male and female here hinges on sex every one is \nfully aware, and that the same laws obtain in the realms beyond \nis equally certain and true. \n\nI have a further revelation in regard to sex to make, but defer it \ntill I write the sequel to this present volume. But one thing I \nwill here say, and that is, I know that what I have here written \nis true, and that when this matter of the sexes and their proper \nrelations is fully understood here, misery will take wing and fly \naway forever. While I remain in the body, I am willing to cor- \nrespond with friends on these points, and thus can say what I \ncannot now spare time to write or print. Let us pursue the sub- \nject a little further in the next chapter. \n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI. \n\nCERTAIN ORGANIC FUNCTIONS IN THE SPIRIT -WORLD EATING, ETC., THERE \xe2\x80\x94 ANALYSIS \n\nOP A SPIRIT ITS BONES, ORGANS, ETC. \xe2\x80\x94 THE ACTUAL EXISTENCE OF THE TREES OF \n\nLIFE AND KNOWLEDGE \xe2\x80\x94 HEAVEN AS SEEN MAT 22, 1866 \xe2\x80\x94 INSTITUTIONS, EMPLOY- \nMENTS, AND PLEASURES OF THE UPPER LAND DESCRIPTION OF THE PEOPLE THERE \n\nDEAD 10,000 YEARS AGO. \n\n(g) Now comes the specialty, \xe2\x80\x94 the res gestce of this part of the \npresent revelation. The ethereal or spiritual, like the material \nbody in some respects, is subject both to waste and want, not in \nits absolute nature, \xe2\x80\x94 for as it lives on aerial essences, to a great \nextent, through inhalation and absorption, to starve a spirit to \ndeath would be like the attempt to handle a shadow, a simple im- \npossibility, \xe2\x80\x94 but in what may called, not exactly its organic, but \nrather some of the functional departments of its nature. As said < \nbefore, there is no foecal waste, micturition, catamenia, bile, \nsaliva, tears, exuvia, liquid-blood, prostatic fluid, or semen, \xe2\x80\x94 all \nof which, while we are here, are mere material vehicles for the \nessential fluids, aeriform and volatile, electric and magnetic, \nwhich are generated in the body for the building up of spirit. \nWe do not live on food, only on the gases it contains. These are \nextracted from it by the digestive apparatus ; the essences are ap- \npropriated, and the material refuse expelled from the system in \nsolid form, as the excreta ; liquid, as in perspiration, and so forth, \nand fluid, as in carbonic acid gas from the lungs and through the \npores. Of course, then, these vehicles, being no longer needed, \nare dispensed with after death, and the chemical process goes on \nwithout them ; the gases and essences, necessary in their then \nstate or stage of existence, being made by a more summary pro- \ncess, but by the same set of organs, unencumbered with flesh and \ntissue. Waste, effete, and unappropriated essences are there got- \nten rid of by a process quite analogous to cuticular exudation. \n\nThe question arises here, " What, in the outer sense, constitutes \na man or woman or child?" Certainly not one of their special \n\n141 \n\n\n\n142 after death; \n\nparts or organs, any more than a bed constitutes a home ; but the \nunitary combination, \xe2\x80\x94 the full consolidarity of the entire catego- \nries. If a spirit is anything at all, it is a full man woman or \nchild, \xe2\x80\x94 the whole being, bereft of none of its parts, save only the. \ntemporary physical coating of flesh rt once wore. If a spiritual \nperson thinks, there must be a head, brain, and organs to think \nwith ; it must have hands and legs to use ; and these, it is affirmed, \nwe often see, re-clothed for a moment, in the presence of media. \nIt sees, and must have eyes ; hears, and has ears ; talks, and must \nhave organs, lungs, heart, face, nostrils ; sex, and the consequences \nof sex must follow ; in short, there must be all that goes to make \nup the complete and complex homo. Whether organs determine \nfunction, or function organs, in either case they were made for spe- \ncific ends, \xe2\x80\x94 to serve a purpose in the grand economy, \xe2\x80\x94 and that \nend is far from being accomplished in this short and fretful life. \n\nTrue, function may be changed, as in some sense is the case in \nregard to the human osseous and muscular systems, for neither are \nneeded in the other life ; but while both serve the same anatomical \nend, they become also batteries for the elaboration of electric \nforces there, just as here, only not indirectly then. New condi- \ntions require, command, and enforce new modifications ; but take \naway a single organ, and it is no longer a man or woman who \nstands before us ; it is neither brute nor human, but a monster, \xe2\x80\x94 a \nthing without a name in nature, or a proper place within the univer- \nsal realm. But, thank God ! not an organ or facultj r is lost, but \nmany more are gained ; not a natural or normal power is withheld. \n\nIn the first stages of man\'s post-mortem career, all his organs \ncontinue to act as before, and for a while old habits are retained. \nAs he ascends, he refines, and their action is modified. Eating, \nfor instance, ceases to be an absolute necessity ; is indulged from \nhabit, continued for pleasure, and finally becomes a matter of the \nhighest and finest science and philosophy. Here, our best cooks \nor chemists are unable to tell us the precise effect of a given dish \nupon different persons, or the same person under different circum- \nstances ; but there, in the higher grades, all this is clearly studied, \ndiscovered, and imparted to the teeming millions, who thereafter \npartake both for joy\'s sake, and to effect certain desirable changes \nor states. \n\n" What, sir ! Food affect a spirit or soul? " \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 143 \n\nYes ! I reply. Why do you take champagne ? Is poor De \nQuincey and his opium-eating, then, so strange to you? Have you \never read Fitz Hugh Ludlow\'s astounding experience with hash- \neesh ? or Theophile Gautier\'s ? or Alexander Dumas\' ? or Bayard \nTaylor\'s ? In short, have you ever taken a drink of brandy ? If \nso, then you know that matter cannot only act on matter, but on \nspirit also, and through spirit on the regal soul itself. Besides, it \nis not rum, hasheesh, opium, or wine that does the business ; it is \ntheir essences, their auras, their volatile principles, \xe2\x80\x94 soul acting \non soul. Everywhere man imbibes the essences that keep him up \nand on ; but there he takes food that develops faculties and acts \ndirectly on him for positive enuu. The tree of life, and of the \nknowledge of good and evil, are not mere figments, but profound \nand solid truths ; though how the world came by them four thou- \nsand years ago is not quite so clear and plain. \n\nAt best, we, and our organs too, while here, are but rude, rudi- \nmentary, and germal. There, as here, the love-organs perform the \nhighest office in the spiritual, but not the psychical, economy ; for \nthey extract from the system and condense in suitable reservoirs \nthat fluid white fire, which when set open in love\'s embrace, even \nhere below, rushes like a whirlwind through man, plunges soul and \nbody in a baptism of delight, as it sweeps along the nerves, giving \na foretaste of heaven, \xe2\x80\x94 the most exquisite rapture he is capable \nof enduring. And yet he is coarse to what he will be, and his \nnerves are dross-coated and dull to what they shall become. "We \nsing " Oh, there\'s a good time coming, wait a little longer," and \nsing truly too. \n\nA merely sensual person is a brute ; a merely religious one a \nfool ; a merely intellectual one a monster ; but just combine this \ntrinity of evils, and you will not have a religious sensual brute, \nbut a full-robed man of sense, intellect, and religion ; one only just \na little lower than the angels. Two evils may neither neutralize \neach other, or make one good ; but combine the three named, and \nyou have a seraph in embryo. \n\nMan will be man all along the line of the culminating ages ! and \nstill man when eternities shall have ended and material universes \ntoppled in decay ! His life beyond must be triple, \xe2\x80\x94 is triple \nthere, as here ; ^sensuous, intellectual, religious. He has nerves \nto tingle with sensuous enjoyment, to inhale God\'s odors, and \n\n\n\n144 AFTER DEATH; \n\nsmell the rich fragrance of his gardens there beyond ; to thrill with \nthe kiss, and languish under love and luxury\'s spells ; a moral \nnature to worship the Adorable One, and riot in good deeds done \nto fellow-man ; and an intellectual power to sound the deeps of \nscience, and plumb the mysteries about him. \n\nWhat are our dearest memories here ? Are they not associated \nwith our magnetic, nervous life ? Unquestionably ! With what \ndelight we recur to this dinner, that supper, or the other dance! \nHow an old opera tune, or the pleasant refrain of an ancient song, \nwill linger for years,- echoing in and through our souls, \xe2\x80\x94 sweet rem- \niniscences of the glorious foretime ! What sighs a bit of satin, \na leaf, a lock of hair, or an old ball-dress, will bring from the \nheart, sometimes crowned with, " and now I\'m old and \xe2\x80\x94 dying! \nHeigh ho ! what next, and where then ? " This I am trying to tell \nyou! \n\nHow well we remember the stroll in the country, lang syne ; the \nripe berries, sweet milk, green grass, and fragrant new-mown hay ! \nAh ! Again, how clearly we recollect the deep, thrilling, tingling \nof our nerves, once upon a time, long ago, long ago, when with \nfull and happy, bounding heart, with only one loved one by our \nside, we have tasted the nectar on the lips of our darling, and \nhave melted beneath the spell of her dear eye \xe2\x80\x94 or his ! And yet \nall this, keen as it may have been, thrilling though it was, is no \nmore to be compared to that of the love-joys of the other world, \nthan bricks are to emeralds, or cast iron to golden bars, \xe2\x80\x94 so su- \npremely felicitous and delightful is contact with hands, and lips, and \nforms of those we love and who love us in return ; for the joy and \nrapture \xe2\x80\x94 magnetic, if you please \xe2\x80\x94 . that one lover feels even in \nthe mere presence of the other, is so full, so complete, intense, and \ndeep, that embodied people could not endure it, nervous filaments \nconvey, or earthly brains fully conceive. The finest-grained \nvoluptuary, the keenest Sybarite here can have no adequate idea \nthereof. Here there is ever a point to be reached, which never is \nattained, \xe2\x80\x94 there is dissatisfaction at the best, \xe2\x80\x94 there is always \nsomething wanted ; but over yonder the cup runs over ; we are con- \ntent and cry, \xe2\x80\x94 hold ; enough ! \n\nThe senses : Roses emit sweet odors, yet not all the fragrance \nof the Gulistan, ten thousand times refined, can equal the blessed \naromas that float upon the breezes of the happy land of educated \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 145 \n\nsouls ! Color : prismatic hues are fine ; the flash of sparkling \ndiamonds transcendently beautiful, while the play of colors in \npolarized light is vastly more splendid still ; but no man of earth, \nsave through clairvoyant intromission, \xe2\x80\x94 and that is extremely \nrare, \xe2\x80\x94 ever yet saw, or even imagined, the superlatively magnifi- \ncent melody of hues and tints, or the ineffable brilliance and \nglorious beauty of the flowers blooming there ! \n\nMusic : Ah, how shall cold human language convey an idea or \nsense of the transcendent melodies, tones, and exquisite sounds \nheard and felt in the upper divisions of the spirits\' home, whereof \nI am writing ? It is impossible ! I dare not undertake the hope- \nless task ; and yet it will, one day, be described. Those who have \nlistened to Offenbach\'s opera, La Duchess de Gerolstein, will re- \nmember the exquisite orchestral overture to the third act, just \nbefore Fritz\'s disaster. Well, I am positively certain that that \npiece of music came to him complete, and note by note, from the \nSpirit Land ! \n\nScenery : Imagine your highest ideal spread out before you ; \ndeck it with the most regal and imperial cities, every house of \nwhich shall be a perfect palace ; surround it with parks, adorned \nwith trees, whose fruit and foliage shall be unequalled save in a \npoet\'s or a lover\'s dream ; let there roam beneath these trees, or stand \nunder their outspread branches, parties and groups of loving men \nand women, all of whose forms are fair and faultless ; females of \ntranscendent grace and beauty ; men looking every inch as kings, \nof intellect, and royal, gentle manhood ; children lovely as the \nsummer sunshine, gay as mountain-birds ; animals, compared to \nwhose forms that of the gazelle is dull, tame, and crooked ; and \nwhen you have all this in your mind\'s eye, believe me when I say, \nit is no more equal to the reality up there than a cedar swamp is \nto a king\'s garden ! \n\nTaste ! Flavors ! Wait till the nectar is quaffed and the am- \nbrosia tasted by yourself ; for no human tongue can tell, no pen \nexplain them, or even intimate their scale or gamut. \n\nTouch ! Contact ! Ah, my God ! I have attempted, and may \nagain, attempt to describe them ; but as I look at my descriptions, \nglowing and impassioned though the} r be, I am sensible of having \nfailed to convey even a dim aud faint notion of the thrilling rap- \ntures and exquisite joys of touch and contact awaiting us all \n19 \n\n\n\n146 AFTER DEATH; \n\nover there, and now being experienced by countless billions who \nhave gone before 1 \n\nBuddha\'s Lokas, the Moslem\'s Paradise, and the Christian\'s \nHeaven are conceptions cold and tame, compared with the realities \nof man\'s home in the higher divisions of earth\'s auroral zone ! \n\nThere blessed peace reigns supreme ; harmonious melody pre- \nvails ; God, not man, or creeds, or a book, is there devoutly wor- \nshipped ; love underlies, will compels, and lofty wisdom directs all \nmovement there. Best and labor alternate ; God rules through \nmagic-working law, to which all most joyfully assent ; order pre- \nvails on every hand, and chaos is unknown ! \n\n(r) Feasts, fetes, parties, balls, operas, concerts, the drama, \nshows, schools, colleges, universities, libraries, museums, lectures, \ntheatres, orations, celebrations, congresses, elections, coronations, \n\n\xe2\x80\x94 in fact, everything good that man here enjoys, he also has there, \nin the upper country, with the exception of genuine law courts, \nchurches, baptisms, and funerals ; and some of the glorious scenes \nthere exhibited immeasurably surpass the most ecstatic vision of \npoet, voluptuarj r , enthusiast, or dreamer. \n\nLook ! Lo ! at this very moment, as my pen indites these lines \nof this second edition of my work, all alone in my little chemical \nlaboratory here in Boston, \xe2\x80\x94 where my hours are mainly spent in \npreparing my heaven-given remedies known as Amylle and Phy- \nmylle, for the healing of the people on a new principle discovered \nby myself, \xe2\x80\x94 mine eyes are opened, and, cla\'irvoyantly, I am there \nand the dearly treasured lost ones look unutterable love, tender- \nness, kindness, and sympathy into my eyes again, as of yore, in the \nforetime. Oh, how joyful is this inrushing sense that, even as I sit \nhere by my lonely table, deserted by all the world because I am \nunlike the people who inhabit it, some one loves me, even the \nso-called dead, and that the blessed ones of Aidenn, who know me \nbest, pity the toiler at his work for the world, and afford him \ncounsel, and direct his gaze as distantly he catches brief, yet satis- \nfying, views of man\'s future home, \xe2\x80\x94 home ! what a word ! what a \nblessed thought, for lonely ones ! \xe2\x80\x94 in glory, to assuage his sorrow \nand prepare the way for The Coming Man \xe2\x80\x94 now on his way! \nfor he is already born ! \xe2\x80\x94 bright and glorious Healer of the Nations \n\n\xe2\x80\x94 Reformer of the World ! \n\nReader, come with me and share this vision ; gaze upon these \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 147 \n\nglories \xe2\x80\x94 all to be yours \xe2\x80\x94 and mine \xe2\x80\x94 one of these approaching \nyears. Look down yonder sylvan glade, and behold these hun- \ndreds upon hundreds of sylph-like human beings of either sex. \nThey are not of our times, or our form of mind ; they are Phoeni- \ncians, Babylonians, Ninevites, Arabs, Persians, Egyptians, Hindoos, \nMoors, Chinese, and some from Central Africa, some from Greece, \nand some from old Etruria, and the site of storied Troy. Many * \nof them immigrated from earth ten thousand years ago, \xe2\x80\x94 some \nlonger than that ; and very few of them less than half that vast \nperiod of time ; and yet not one of them looks to be over five and \nthirty years of age ! They have drunk at the fountain of per- \npetual youth and partaken of the fruit of the life-conferring tree. \nThe females ! How like peerless queens of Grace and Beauty ! \nWhat holy love and tenderness beam from every eye ! What \nmelting passion dwells on every lip ! How like clouds of lovely \nglory they move along ; and what amazing perfection sits crowned \non every feature ! And all of them were once poor, weak mortals \xe2\x80\xa2 \nlike you and I ; vexed at a trifle, pleased at a straw ; small in \nspirit, cramped in mind, and warped in soul, heedless of all but \nwhat the fleeting hour afforded of pain-mixed joy ! Many of the * \nwomen you see there were once the victims of a victor\'s whims, \nservitors of his lusts, and creatures of his passion. And yet, for \nall that, they were not ruined, else they had not been where we see \nthem now. No guilt lasts ten thousand years ; no hell is half so \nlong ! \n\nOthers of them were stately, cruel queens on earth ; filled with * \nenvy at another\'s beauty, and who were accustomed to wash out \nall rivalry in a brook of blood shed from victims\' veins. And yet \nthey were not damned ; for lo ! they flourish still ! Others of them \nwere dusky handmaidens on the banks of Tigris and of Nilus ; but, \ndark and bond as they were, they found their way to Heaven ; and \nso, one day, will all who wear earth\'s burdens now. So, too, will \nall others, no matter how stained by time and accident, for are not \nthey and we in His hands who doeth all things well, and who \nnever makes mistakes ? Ay, they are ! Look yet ! How grace- \nfully the pleasant throngs glide through the royal bowers ! See ! \nthey are clad in pearly white, purple, azure, green, and gold, while \nzones of cerulean blue, star-flecked, float from their shoulders and \nshimmer in the zephyr\'s sigh ! What royal, queenly robes are \n\n\n\n148 after death; or, disbomed man. \n\ntheirs, whose voluptuous undulations, as they rise and fall in gentle, \nwavy motion, distract a man\'s soul, and make him sigh for sudden \ndeath, that he may take his chances there, \xe2\x80\x94 all too forgetful \nthat heaven must be made within, and that false coins are uncur- \nrent in the skies ! "When he knows as much, lives as truly, wor- \nships as sincerely, deals as justly, loves as soundly as they do, he \nwill join them there, and not a moment sooner, even though his \nprobation lasts five hundred earthly ages. \n\nWhat a splendid sight is that we are beholding up there ! How \nravishing those flowing garments ; how bewitchingly they are \nlooped upon the shoulder, and festooned at the bottom ! Their feet ! \nAh, what exquisite forms ; what sandals ; what perfection of turn \nand outline ! Those taper hands, and slender fingers ; what peerless \narms, half naked to the upper sleeve, exposing just enough to add \nthe last drop of admiration to the already overflowing goblet ! And \nsee ! they are adorned and braceleted with jewels that pale the \ndiamond in lustre, and exceed the pearl in purity and whiteness. \nThese are real jewels ; those of earth are but material imitations ! \nSee how they glitter and flash a thousand colors in the soft and \nmellow light of the heavenly aurora ! What faces, necks, swelling \nbusts and shoulders ! What superlative, intoxicating love-aromas \nfloat around them, to entrance us poor on-lookers with rapt se- \nraphic, delirious, entrancing joy ! \n\nEeader, you are destined to realize that and more, whereof this \npicture is the crudest sketch ! \n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII. \n\nEXTENT OP THE UNIVERSE \xe2\x80\x94 DESCRIPTION OF A HEAVEN \xe2\x80\x94 CURIOUS POWER OP A SPIRIT\'S \n\nEYE ANIMALS IN SPIRIT LAND \xe2\x80\x94 A PALACE THERE \xe2\x80\x94 LECTURES \xe2\x80\x94 STUDIES IN \n\nHEAVEN LOVOMETERS AND SOUL-MEASURES \xe2\x80\x94 CONTENTS OF A MUSEUM THERE \xe2\x80\x94 \n\nMARRIAGE UP THERE \xe2\x80\x94 LOVE ALSO \xe2\x80\x94 DURATION OF AN "ETERNAL AFFINITY." \n\nBehold those splendid bands of braided hair ; those magnifi- \ncent curling tresses ! Ah, it is too much ! Look at the men ! \nwhat kingly dignity ; what imperial grace and ease ; what native, \ngentlemanly bearing ; what clear and lofty brows, where reason \nsits enthroned, and knowledge holds her daily courts ! See what \nperfect shapes ; what soft, yet searching eyes ; what manly, yet \nsupremely courteous, gentle, tender bearing. No wrinkles mar \nthose features, no corroding sorrow casts its sombre shadows to \nmar angelic simplicity and ease, or spoil transcendent grace. \nAnd yet, O my brethren, all these were once erring, sinful, sor- \nrowing, imperfect, grumbling, perverted, bereaved, sour, and discon- \ntented people, just as we are at this present hour, and each one of \nthem can truly say to each of us : \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n" Remember this, as you pass by, \nAs you are now, so once was I; \nAs I am now, so you shall be." \n\nIt is a gala day in Aidenn ! They are holding high festival on \nVernalia\'s emerald slope, and troops of angels are flocking to the \nscene. It is Shelley\'s dream actualized and more, for even that \nmost noble of poets never imagined supernal glories such as we \nare here beholding. \n\nNo suspicious hearts beat there ; no overshadowing pall of \nindefinable dread \xe2\x80\x94 of what, you know not ; from whence, you \ncannot tell \xe2\x80\x94 falls on you there; because those above you are \nsinless, and consequently there is no vicarious suffering ; no \nsuperior agony reflects down upon your head, as is the case with \n\n149 \n\n\n\n150 after death; \n\nus of earth. Not a line of grief, jealousy, or envy traces its \nwrinkled course upon a single cheek or brow of these, my readers, \nyour sisters and mine, my brothers and your own. Not a mark \nof trouble retains its impress, or sets its seal upon the dwellers of \nthe seventh section of this the fifth grand division of the sphere. ; \nand yet high, refined, and blissful as they are, they occupy but sub- \nsidiary positions in the grand hierarchy of ascending grades and \norders ; for there are millions incomparably superior to them, even \non the first zone, there being no less than fourteen sections there, \nimmeasurably above it in all conceivable respects. But even there \nin the fifth division, which I have been delineating, \xe2\x80\x94 not describ- \ning, \xe2\x80\x94 for this last, as it should be, were an impossibility, \xe2\x80\x94 all \nthings exceed the highest conception of us poor, half-developed \nchildren. \n\nThat some faint idea may be formed of what the universe is, \xe2\x80\x94 \nwhich universe is the grand scene of man\'s unfolding, and we and \nour spiritual worlds, with all their wondrous perfections, but at \nthe starting-point of advancement, \xe2\x80\x94 let us glance but for a moment, \nnot at revelation, but at the deductions of human science, con- \nfessedly in its veriest infancy* Dr. Nichol, in his work describ- \ning the magnitude of the power of Lord Eosse\'s celebrated tele- \nscope, says that he has looked into space a distance so tremendous, so \ninconceivable, that light, which travels at the rate of two hundred \nthousand miles in a second of time, would require a period of two \nhundred and fifty millions of solar years, each year containing about \nthirty-one millions of seconds, to pass the intervening gulf \nbetween our earth and the remotest point to which that wonderful \ninstrument has reached ! How utterly unable is the mind to \ngrasp even a fraction of the immense period ! To conceive the \npassing events of one hundred thousand years only, is an impos- \nsibility, to say nothing of millions and hundreds of millions of \nyears. The sun is more than ninety millions of miles distant from \nthe earth ; yet a ray of light will traverse the immense distance \nin about eight minutes. Long as may seem the distance passed \nin so short a time, what comparison can it bear, \xe2\x80\x94 what com- \nparison can the mind frame, between it and that greater distance \nwhich Dr. Nichol and Lord Rosse absolutely, unequivocally, math- \nematically demonstrated, would require every second of that time \nto be represented by more than five hundred thousand years? \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 151 \n\nAnd yet Rosse had only penetrated the edge, \xe2\x80\x94 the outer crust of \nspace, \xe2\x80\x94 and had no more sounded its depths than a boy\'s sixpenny \nfish-line has sounded the retreating fathoms of old ocean. All the \nvast congeries of constellations yet revealed to the telescope, are \nbut the archipelagos, \xe2\x80\x94 the island groups upon the bosom of the \nabyss. They merely dot the shores of the material continents ; \nyet all combined is but a bubble of substance floating on the \nshoreless sea of Spirit, \xe2\x80\x94 of the JEther, \xe2\x80\x94 of the Vortex, \xe2\x80\x94 of the \nworkshop of the incomprehensible God ! Truly, every immortal \nhas good reason to swell the sounding chorus of the " Song of \nthe Soul:" \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n" What I was is passed by; \nWhat I am away doth fly; \nWhat I shall be, none doth see; \nYet in that my beauties be ! " \n\nReturn we now again to the primary zone surrounding earth. \nI said it was a gala day with the people there, and that there \nwas a nameless, glorious something, around them, \xe2\x80\x94 an aura \nof goodness, an odor of power, a perfume of happiness, that earth \ncan never give, but to something like which it will one day attain. \nMagnificent and lofty trees, the very movement of whose leaves is \nsoftest, sweetest music, the melody of motion, are there in rich \nprofusion, forming bowers and arched vistas, in and through which \nseraphic people wander, hand in hand ; soft eyes beaming tender- \nness and love to eyes that more than speak again, and. marriage \nbells are nowhere. Streams of living water ripple through the \nsylvan scene, flashing back a thousand rich tints and hues of more \nthan magic beauty, to the stately but unmoving boreal and austral \nsuns shining in the heavens. Flowers of rarest conformation, \nwhose colors and rich fragrance put earth\'s fairest products to the \nblush of envy, unfold their glory-cups in countless millions to \nheaven\'s starry eyes, and yield grateful incense to the mellow air ! \nBowers of gorgeous shrubs and vines, laden with nectarous and \nambrosial grapes and fruits, gladden the eye and tempt the taste \nof those who wander by. Resplendent meadows, redolent with \nrichest perfume, tempt to glory-walks along the brinks of many a \nsilvery brooklet. Magnificently crowned and stately trees, in \nstately groves, adorn the sylvan scene, through which hilarious \n\n\n\n152 AFTER death; \n\nand joyous crowds of merry children trip and play ; for this \nbeing a fete day, they are brought thither to have a foretaste of \nwhat shall be theirs, when the necessary progress has been made. \nAmong these glades, seeking retirement, soul-wed lovers stray ; \nand wives and husbands enjoy God\'s smiles and each other\'s \nsociety, \xe2\x80\x94 a fashion that ought to come in vogue on earth. \n\nSplendid palaces tower in the distance, and cosey cottages peep \nout \'twixt groves of greenery, \xe2\x80\x94 the solidified thoughts of some \ngreat soul, or comfort-loving swain. I have stated the process of \nbuilding there ; and here we see the finished result. All these \nwill remain just so long as they satisfy their owners\' ideals. \nAfter that they will disappear, and others more ornate or simple \nwill occupy their places ; for as we grow our ideals change and \nexpand. The world is not the same to us as that of twenty years \nago ; nor do the things that gratified then, afford us satisfaction \nnow. \n\nThe interiors of these cottages and palaces are rich and beauti- \nful beyond comparison, even though we take old Ingot\'s parlors \nor Napoleon\'s dwelling as standards. Gorgeous domes, star- \nfretted as the sky ; magnificent halls, that shame the lanes of \nSydenham or Champs Elysees ; emeraldine tesselated floors, and \ntapestried walls ; diamond-studded ceilings, constellated and \nastral. Beautiful courts, sparkling fountains, pleasant grottos, \noutvying old ocean\'s coral caves ; perpetual bridal chambers, \xe2\x80\x94 \nmore resplendent than all, \xe2\x80\x94 divine alcoves -sacred to love\'s most \nendearing caresses and mysterious joys, are there, and within \ntheir pearly walls disgust, repugnance, sorrow, sickness, and pain \ncan never, never enter. On earth our every pleasure\'s bought \nwith pain ; but not so there ! for in every joy there\'s nothing to \nbe asked for more. * Here all caresses are magnetically exhaust- \ning ; not so there, for every taste but whets the appetite for, if \npossible, another wave of varied bliss ; and it comes ! and so on \nforever and forevermore ; and each successive draught but makes \nus fitter, stronger for the next. Near at hand is the opening of a \nvista, down which we gaze upon the green, flowery banks of a \ngolden-tided river, on whose grassy brink, studding it like pearls \nin a virgin\'s mouth, are rows of cottages ornee, gemmed with \nclimbing clusters of arbutic vines, around which are seen green \narbors and flower-decked trellises, shedding the most delicious \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 153 \n\nodors, rendering supremely happy the rightly-wedded ones who \ntherein lovingly reside. \n\nLook yonder ! See the coming hundreds from miles and miles \naway ; some skipping through the odorous air like lovebirds in \nthe morning, and others gliding along the surface like shadows of \nbeauty before the noontide sun ! We need no telescopes there to \nenable us to scan distant objects ; for the air is more pellucid and \nclear than that of Araby the blest. No dull, darkling clouds are \nthere to obscure the roseate light, but only glowing crowns of \nelectric vapor, tinged and gilded with the most splendid colors, \nand ever and anon breaking into a thousand fantastic and beauti- \nful aerial scenes, are observable in the bending heavens above our \nheads, far outvying the gorgeous sunsets of most favored tropic \nlands. \n\n(s) Another arcanum here must be revealed. On earth we \nshorten or lengthen the telescopes we use, else replace eye-pieces \nby those of greater power. We need no such machinery in Ver- \nnalia ; for, by a slight volitional effort, we can render vision sub- \nservient to the ends we seek ; and can so control the eyes as to \nrender their powers immeasurably finer than the most perfect \nmicroscope yet made on earth, or instantly endow them with \nspace-penetrating and defining powers, such as put Rosse\'s tele- \nscope entirely in the background. That instrument has resolved \nmany of the nebulae into starry clusters, yet leaves many a dusky \ncloud unsolved ; but I am enabled to say that not one of these yet \nseen clouds are really nebulous, but are, in fact, distant universes, \nfar more vast than our galaxy, but which are so far off as to \nappear no larger than an orange. Well, the human vision up \nthere is capable of resolving even these nebulous points ; and yet \nthere are others at such awful distances across the abyss, that \nRosse\'s nebulae are but next-door neighbors in comparison ! They \ndefy the powers of a seraph\'s vision to fairly and completely \nsolve. And these nebulae are as thickly strewn upon the floor of \nSpace as stars are upon a clear and silent midnight. Talk of \ndistance, after that ! \n\n(ss) It has been said that animals are there. This is true ; not \nmerely phantasmal forms, but really living beings, some of famil- \niar shape, like lambs, gazelles, pet dogs, kids, and playful kittens ; \nand some entirely different, and of strange, peculiar forms and \n20 \n\n\n\n154 AFTER DEATH; \n\ngracefulness. They are in no sense the immortal spirits of ani- \nmals that once lived here ; but are the spontaneous productions \nof all bountiful and prolific nature there. How they originate, \nlive, yet do not perpetuate their species, is one of those labyrin- \nthine questions that is quite as difficult of solution as is that of \nthe origin of species here. Both facts exist, but the principia of \ntheir evolution is not easily soluble. One thing, however, is \ncertain : All the fauna there typify or symbolize some salient \nand positive love, principle, or affection. There are no reptiles \nor vermin in the regions named ; nothing noxious, dangerous, or \ndisgusting, to create a shudder or a qualm of fear ; nothing offen- \nsive ; no bugs, snakes, spiders, mosquitoes, flies ; none of the \nlarvse, worms, fearful brutes or parasites, except their lemurs in \nmuseums, to be yet described. Among the most pleasant things \nup there is the universal tameness of these animals ; and a great \ndeal of pleasure is derived from rare birds of the most brilliant \nplumage, which flit among the branches of the trees, making the \ngroves of Vernalia vocal with their sweet and trilling warblings. \nTheir numbers and variety are legion. \n\n(t) Look yonder ! at that rich and massive, yet light and airy \ntemple, on the smooth summit of the gently sloping hill upon the \nright, standing in the midst of the beautifully ornamented plaza. \n\nWhat do you suppose it is? "A cathedral, perhaps." No; it \nis one of a vast number of Halls of Science ; it is a temple of \nLearning, and in it are taught the very fulness of much, indeed, \nnearly all, whereof on earth man has but an inkling. Here is \nknown and taught nearly all that has ever been developed in \nwhole or in part below, or discovered in the lesser sections of the \ncircumvolving girdle. \n\nThat upon which our attention is fixed appears to have been \nbuilt of finest jasper and chrysolite. It is very like what one \nJohn of old beheld in vision and described in the Apocalypse. \nThe building before us is septagonal in shape ; has a central dome \nof crystal, clear as air, flanked by six minarets or turrets. It \nembodies all the excellences, and bears none of the crudities, of \nearthly architecture ; it has all the advantages, from those of the \nsimple cavern, to the most ornate composite of the current year. \nIn size this temple exceeds those of Karnac and Nineveh, for it \ncovers a space five square miles in extent, and is of corresponding \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 155 \n\nheight. In it are many halls, from the rostra of which lectures \nare given to thousands upon thousands of eager and delighted \nstudents, who, beside being personally benefited thereby, are \nfitted to go forth as teachers to the innumerable multitudes of \nlesser grades ; and also to the earth. Many and many are the \naudiences here who have sat spellbound beneath the eloquent \noutpourings of some entranced medium, through whom these \nethereal envoys were repeating the substance of many of the lec- \ntures originally delivered for their instruction in the temples of \nthe Rosy Land. \n\nIn the temple before us are taught the rudimentary principles \nof the higher grades of knowledge ; and people, not morally, and \notherwise fitted to dwell in that grand division, but whose intel- \nlects demand such food as is there dispensed, are, under certain \nconditions, allowed to listen to the teachings, just as a semi-re- \npentant rebel might be allowed to attend speeches upon loyalty \nand the inalienable rights of man in one of the loyal institutions \nof his country. There are also taught letters, generally; fine \nart ; sculpture ; architecture ; enginery ; the elements of music as \na graded science ; elemental algebra, with all the lesser mathe- \nmatics ; spherical astronomy ; geology ; plane and spherical trigo- \nnometry, with reference to both astronomy and sphereonomy, \xe2\x80\x94 \nthe science that there corresponds to geography here ; zoology, \nthe elements of medical jurisprudence ; elements of social physics, \nstatic and dynamic ; elemental logic ; mechanics ; chemistry ; ele- \nments of language ; natural history ; elemental botany ; elemental \nembryology, and the sciences relating to the origin, dissemination, \nand intercommingling of nations, and their primary effects. \n\nIn this temple are laboratories for experimentation in all de- \nmonstrable sciences of an external nature. There are here, also, \ntwo singular instruments of a magnetic character, one of which is \na loveometer, and the other a soul-measure. By the first can be \ntold the love power of the soul ; by the other the development and \ncapacity of the soul itself. But these, like phrenological callipers, \nand the gyroscope, are philosophic toys, rather than really useful \nagencies. \n\nWe have here also very fine museums, in which we may inspect \nwhatever the earth has produced, both normal and monstrous ; \nthere are also valuable scroll volumes, and numberless caricatures, \n\n\n\n156 after death; \n\nintended to teach by antitheses and ridicule. Here also may be \nseen representatives of animated nature, from the common zoophyte \nto the monster creations of ten millions years ago, not a vestige \nof which has ever been seen by earth-embodied man, but whose \nsimulacra are reproducible by a law stated in a previous chapter \nof this work. \n\nGreat sport is made, in pictures, of the physician who under- \ntook to cure a mental disease by solely physical means ; and vice \nversa; of an educated man whose fame and gain resulted from his \nskill in lawing and lying ; the picture of a pulpit ; an ordained \nminister ; a newspaper editor ; an honest politician ; the virtue- \ncompelling appliances of these dismal ages, in a series, embracing \nracks, thumb-screws, cat-o\'-nine tails, tar, feathers, jails, revolvers, \nState-prisons, bowie-knifes, dirks, whiskey distilleries, a la that of \nDeacon Giles ; a few guillotines, an executioner ; a fine repre- \nsentation of hell-fire, with grilling souls and grinning parsons \ngayly looking on ; with a club-footed bugaboo \xe2\x80\x94 most ridiculous \nof all ! \xe2\x80\x94 with pitchfork and dragon tail, all in complete Miltonian \nstyle ; a gallows or two ; genuine copies of Christian divorce laws ; \nstatues of a happy married couple of 1868 ; portraits of the public \nman or woman who .escaped scandal or slander, and who were \nrighted by taking notice thereof; a wife that preferred being \ndriven, to being drawn, to duty ; a husband who relished Caudle \nlectures, and whose love increased for his wife in proportion as \nshe put on airs and exposed his faults to the world ; a child that \ngrew up properly by being abused and beaten ; a man really grate- \nful for a favor bestowed ; one who remained true to him, of whom \nhe borrowed money ; him whom a prison reformed ; a case where \npersuasion effected less than force. Such and a thousand other \nmethods of teaching by antithesis are adopted in these colleges. \n\n(u) Marriages in the soul world are not dependent upon what \npeople say or think of a proposed match. Nor is it necessary to \nprocure a license or employ justice, parson, or priest ; for as it \nconcerns the parties themselves, they never say, " By your leave," \nbut go straightway and marry themselves, \xe2\x80\x94 that is, their fitness \nfor each other being apparent, their union being natural and spon- \ntaneous, is forthwith recognized as right and proper by themselves \nand everybody else. " My eyes met his," said a disbodied \nwoman, referring to her meeting with one she loved and who loved \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 157 \n\nher as well, " and in this meeting there was a mingling too. "We \nfelt the blending ; knew we were for each other ; tacitly acknowl- \nedged that we twain were one henceforward for a time, if not fa- \ndeed forever. Poor me ! I did not then know how long \' forever \' \nis. In love affairs on earth it practically means two months, more \nor less ; and until both parties are exhausted by excess, or the \nmagnetic attraction changes polarity, and bodies repel as they once \ndrew together. But the term stands for a longer period in ethereal \nland, but yet fails to embrace all the category of eternity \xe2\x80\x94 quite. \nStates mark duration here, in some respects, and not the tick-tick \nof the mantel-clock ; and marriage lasts just so long as the parties \nthereto are agreeably and mutually pleased with, and attracted, to \neach other, and no longer. It may endure for ten weeks or twenty \nages. But just so soon as perfect happiness no longer results \nfrom the union, a mutual separation inevitably results, and each is \nat liberty to find another better adapted to that end." Nothing \ncan break a union there but mutual discontent, and nothing can \nperpetuate it where that exists. It does not in the spiritual \nworld ; it ought not in this. People never quarrel about these \nmatters in the upper grand divisions. They know that anger is \nfolly, its exhibition barbarous, that it never mends matters or* \nheals any ill whatever, and so they tacitly agree to disagree, and \nthere the matter ends. \n\n" On earth," says the lady, " I, as a thousand others had, be- \nlieved in the dogma of eternal affinities, or that God had from the \nbeginning created and appointed a certain man ta husband a cer- \ntain woman, from the time they met, \xe2\x80\x94 a matter, of the merest \nchance, \xe2\x80\x94 till the end of the \' everlasting ages,\' \xe2\x80\x94 a term or ex- \npression wholly meaningless. According to that doctrine, God \nhad foreseen that Tom, the tinker\'s happiness, depended upon his \neternal conjugation with Betsey, the chambermaid, and hers upon \nthe same conjunction, and yet took infinite pains to so mix things \nup in the world, where Tom and Betsey needed each other most, \nthat they had just about as good a chance of meeting each other as \nthey would of again finding a single drop of red ink flung into the \nsea. True, people not seldom find their \' affinities \' on earth ; but \nso far from being everlasting are they, that if they endure for six \ncalendar months, that particular eternity is unusually long ! \nThousands, with myself, had believed that every one would some- \n\n\n\n158 AFTER DEATH ; OR, DISBODIED MAN. \n\nwhere meet with a congenial partner ; and so far the dogma is un- \nquestionably correct and true ; but when it is also affirmed that in \ncompany with the particular congenial one the amazing cycles of \neternity would be spent and passed, then a grave error was com- \nmitted ; a false conclusion reached ; and here are the unmistak- \nable reasons why : No one is infinite, except in capacity of acquire- \nment. At every stage of the human career, the cry is more, more ! \nand constantly, we find new wells whereat to partially quench the \nsoul\'s thirst. There is an attainable point of development just \nand evermore beyond. And albeit a joy experienced in section \nfive may be full to the point of pain, yet that same degree experi- \nenced in section seven would be a very tame affair. A, b, abs, \nand simple addition lose their interest at twenty-five. The intel- \nlectual and every other horizon, vast as it may be, will still grow \nlarger, like that of a man going up a steep mountain, who from its \nsummit sees villages close to its foot and near at hand, which yet \nare fifty miles away, while the ocean yonder is three times as \nfar." * \n\n* Taken from my work, the antecedent of this one, called " Dealings with the \nDead," published in 1861. P. B. R. \n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII. \n\n\n\nWHY "ETERNAL AFFINITY" IS NOT TRUE \xe2\x80\x94 EFFECT OF A BAD MARRIAGE ON THE VIC- \nTIM, AFTER DEATH \xe2\x80\x94 HOW SOULS ARE INCARNATED \xe2\x80\x94 WHY SOULS DIFFER \xe2\x80\x94 THE \nSECOND GRAND DIVISION OF THE SPIRIT LAND \xe2\x80\x94 SEAS, PORTS, VESSELS, SAILORS, IN \nSPIRIT LAND \xe2\x80\x94 HUNTING SCENES THERE \xe2\x80\x94 THE PRESBYTERIAN HEAVEN. \n\n\n\nThe scope, sweep, and extent of the entire human being must \never enlarge : mental, like physical motion, gives heat, and heat \nexpands its subject and object. As we advance in the spirit, as in \nthis life, new, higher, and better and nobler ideals are conceived, \nand we are impelled by the law within to work up to, and act on, \nthose ideals, whatever they may be ; and whether they interest the \npersonal, social, moral, sesthetic, religious, or intellectual depart- \nments of our nature. New possibilities will ever be attempted \nand achieved, albeit nothing whatever can permanently fill the \nvast reservoirs of the soul, for though they be filled to-day, the \npressure will expand them and thus make room for more ere to- \nmorrow shall end. True, the soul may rest satisfied for a while, \nand a long while ; but the monotony will at last be broken, and it \nwill sigh and seek for change. Action is the law of true life, \nmultiplied and varied action. Eternal sameness means eternal \nstagnation. \n\nThe love of thirty years is not the love of eighteen or forty-five. \nNo one goes alone from earth to Spirit Land. Some loving one is \nalways by his side or hers, from the last breath till eternity grows \nbald and gray. No one goes alone from one grand division to an- \nother ; no one can gravitate from a low to a higher state before he \nor she is fully fit to do so, and then they graduate in couples. \nBut it does not follow that those loving classmates or kindly ones \nare ever the same persons. It were a poor heaven if only one \ntrue soul sincerely loved us. If comrade A, in division three, is \nnot prepared to go with B to division four, then A\'s place is im- \n\n159 \n\n\n\n160 after death; \n\nmediately taken by C or D, who are prepared, and the union, thus \nbased on fitness, is far closer than that just dissolved. \n\n" As like as two peas ! " Well, no two peas are alike, nor any \ntwo persons in existence; no two souls can develop alike, in all \nrespects and at the same rate, because no two can be exactly simi- \nlar ; and if they were, the chances are a million to one that this \none forges a little ahead of the other, or that one springs a mine \nwithout the other\'s sphere. The chances are infinitely against \ntheir remaining alike for any given period. Their earthly experi- \nences could not have been parallel, and a single reminiscence, a \nmemory, may beget a change that will establish a divergence of \neternal duration. A tone heard, a flash of light, a motion seen or \nfelt by one of the parties, may beget a movement th\'at in time \nwould completely change the entire mental and emotional consti- \ntution, just as continued grains of poison would modify the body \nthat took them. For this reason, then, that no two souls can forever \ndevelop in parallel lines, one of them must, in time, diverge from, \nadvance beyond, rise above, or constitutionally change, outgrow \nor offgrow the other : the \' \' eternal " affinity must be considerably \nforeshortened and lopped off here and there, until common sense \nmakes all clear, plain, right, and the Infinite wisdom be vindi- \ncated. Yet souls are made in pairs ; but this involves perpetual \nfriendship, but by no means eternal marriage, \xe2\x80\x94 it requires oppo- \nsites for that ; but our twin is very like ourself. Hence we don\'t \ncommit incest up there ! \n\nMarriage m Aidenn is an entirely different affair and institution \nfrom what it is on earth in these most dismal days of these dismal \nages, in purpose, nature, and result. Lust or passions, as such, are \nlopped off altogether in the higher communities, and loftier stages of \npost-mortem existence. On earth true love often goes begging for \nrecognition, appreciation, and return. Generally, love is surface \nonly ; is short-lived, plebeian, \xe2\x80\x94 amounts to trouble and nothing \nmore. In the better land it is imperial, human, natural, and pure. \nOn earth it has many counterfeits ; people are deceived thereby ; \nlegal union follows ; and what promised to be a fair heaven, proves \nthe hottest kind of \xe2\x80\x94 its opposite. "Whoso disputes this needs but \nlook at the pale and haggard cheeks of women ; the long train of \nuterine diseases ; the half-made children ; the millions of graves \nnot three feet long ; the thousands of tombstones showing how \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 161 \n\nyoung Mrs. So-and-so died ; the multitude of grog and tobacco \nshops ; the long rigmaroles of quack doctors, in the public prints ; \nthe brothels, high and low, open and secret ; the sickening cata- \nlogues of infamy in " criminal " and "criminal " journals ; and the \ngeneral hell of society at large, \xe2\x80\x94 all of which is the pestilent result \nof false marriages, and what comes of them ; and none of which \nwould exist if love, not interest and passion, reigned in the fami- \nlies of Christendom. This is gall and wormwood, I know ; but it \nis as true as truth\'s gospel, nevertheless. " And the Spirit says \nwrite ! " and I write ; for these truths are written on the whole face \nof the universe, and whoso fails to read, fails in human duty. \nFirst, the establishment of the logical grounds of immortality and \nits demonstration ; and then to strike at the evils of society, \xe2\x80\x94 \namong which that of wrong marriage is one of the greatest, \xe2\x80\x94 was \nand is the mission of spirits to the earth, and true clairvoyance to \nthe world. \n\nAmong nominal reformers one of the vital questions for discus- \nsion and settlement is that of " virtue," meaning chastity, because \nit is a basic subject. All sorts of opinions have been ventilated ; \nand measures proposed to heal all ills in that direction ; and some \nhave even proposed the homoeopathic system, and to establish the \nreign of virtue by making libertines of all the men, and prostitutes \nof all the women. This claiming too to be " philosophical " might \ndo it, but hoio I am unable to perceive. \n\nThese people call themselves individual sovereigns, under the \nleadership of one who, being a man of brains, though not quite a \n" god," ought to know better. Then there are those who dwelt in \n" Agapomene," or the " abode of love," along with the late " Broth- \ner "Prince; then there are the nasty "perfectionists" of Oneida, \nwho live in "complex" marriage with four hundred "wives," \nmostly red-haired \xe2\x80\x94 more or less, under the tutelage of Noyes ; \nthen there are the latter-day saints of Utah \xe2\x80\x94 an absurd lot ; next \nwe have "Passional Attractionists," or "free love," which gets \nmore people into exceedingly hot water than into heavenly bliss ; \nall of which shows that the land of marriage needs exploration and \nclearing up. \n\nNow, people go to the lower divisions of the spirit world just as \nthey were here ; what wonder, then, if occasionally some unhappy \nsensitive is tempted into error by them, or the wandering spectral \n21 \n\n\n\n162 after death; \n\ngentry already described herein ; or that the most absurd things \nare " communicated" on the subject of marriage, including all the \nabove and other ridiculous notions, still more revolution ary. Such \nteachings come from the second grand division invariably, whose \ninhabitants are as prone to absurd fallacies as are similar grades \non earth. It is, at the same time, most undoubtedly true that all \nSpirit Land is constantly assailing the marriage laws and customs \nof Christendom, and I think justly too, especially in all that relates \nto divorce, because they are unable to see why an unhappy couple, \nwhose misery is complete, should be necessitated to commit a \ngrave error, not to say crime, in order to a safe deliverance from a \nfalse and wretched bond. So am I. Pure streams cannot flow \nfrom corrupt sources. Good children cannot come of unhappy \nparents ; nor a family, on the whole, be right and normal, the \nheads of which are improperly mated. We expect devils in hell, \nsocial or domestic, to exhibit their traits, and produce their kind. \nCouples who mutually love can easily prolong their union till \ndeath, and such never, or very seldom, wander astray after \nstrange faces. But it sometimes happens that\' a genuine love \nbetween man and wife, from two unsuspected causes, grows cool \nand dead. But as a general thing all the disturbance can be \nrighted quite easily, and domestic infelicity be forever ended by \nthe observance of a few simple rules that may be written on a \nsingle sheet of paper. It is not my province to write them here.* \nTo resume : Let it be clearly and thoroughly understood, that \nthere can be no universal heaven until all the domestic and social \nhells are completely changed. Then, and not till \n\n" Then, will the reign of Mind begin on earth; " \nAnd all mankind pass through the second birth ; \nDomestic love shall rule, the wide world o\'er, \nAnd discord, pain, be banished evermore I \n\n(v) Comparatively few people really know anything about the \nwonderful extent of what they call Nature. For instance, how \nfew are aware that, in regard to bulk, a common flea holds the \nmiddle rank of all land, and probably all sea, animals also ; that \nthere are sentient beings as much smaller than a flea, as that flea \n\n* I shall print, during 1868, a very important work, covering the entire ground of \nthe sexes and their relations \xe2\x80\x94 called "Love and its Hidden History; " same size as \nthis work. Meantime, information on the points alluded to above may be had by \naddressing me at Boston, Mass. P. B. R. \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 163 \n\nis smaller than the most bulky elephant or mastodon ! And this is \nnot mere talk or assertion, but is clearly demonstrated ; for we \nfind animals by aid of the solar or oxy-hydrogen microscope, so \nexceedingly small that even then they are barely perceptible, \nand yet the glass shows them to us from fifty thousand to three \nhundred thousand diameters larger than they really are ! Now, each \nof these animals has organs ; what then must be the amazing \ntenuity of the blood and nerve fluids that course through its \ntiny veins? Of what bulk must be the creature\'s eyes? its joints? \nthe particles composing its cuticle ? \n\nNow, if so many are uninformed of these marvels of animated \nnature, and are lost in wonder at their contemplation, how vastly \ngreat would be their astonishment were they made aware of the \ngreater mysteries of the human being, and the yet more wonderful \nprocesses and machinery by which the human spirit is elaborated \nand built up, and the death-proof soul incarnated. At the request \nof very many correspondents, and in pursuance of a promise \nmade in a former chapter of this book, I will now proceed to un- \nfold a chapter of esoteric physiology, hitherto unattempted by any \nwriter that I am aware of, living or departed. \n\nThe question has long been mooted whether the mother is \nthe creator of the soul of her child, or the father. Some, and Dr. \nJ. H. Redfield among the number, maintained that the only office \nfulfilled by the male in the procreative or sexual act, is to quicken \ninto active life the germ already in the female organism. Others \ncontend that the germ of the body is furnished by the woman, \nthat of the soul by the man ; still other theories and hypotheses \nexist. In the semen of a healtlry man there is found by the micro- \nscope quite a large number of tadpole-looking worms, and to \nthese, which some think to be germinal human beings, has been \ngiven the name " Spermatozoas," " Spermacules," and simply \n" Zoas," by which latter name I shall speak of them. They are \nundoubtedly living creatures, created or existing for a special \nmission. They have often been seen to fight, show signs of anger \nand satisfaction, and to force their way through the coating of the \nfemale ova, or egg, and it is their numbers and activity, while in \nman\'s pelvis, that occasions the feeling of desire or lust, \xe2\x80\x94 that \nbeing one of God\'s methods to provoke man to procreate his \nspecies, the act of which, in right union is the source of the \n\n\n\n164 AFTER death; \n\nhighest nerval joy the human, frame is capable of experiencing. [I \nmay here, say, in passing, that more than seven-tenths of the dis- \neases man endures arises from the presence in his blood- of an \nacrid substance, \xe2\x80\x94 a compound of bile, uric acid, and phosphatic \nsalts, that hills these zoas, rendering him nervous, irritable, angular, \ndj\'speptic, and the prey of morbid fancies, not seldom ultimating in \nchronic impotence, magnetic depletion, and confirmed insanity.] \n\nAs observed before, these zoas have been supposed to be the \nliving germs of future human beings, and that they are merely en- \nlarged, in the womb, by the absorption of juices from the mother, \nuntil, at the end of a certain period of time, expulsion takes place, \nand the child, which has thereto lived in and breathed water, like \na fish, now breathes the upper air, and becomes a living soul. \n\nThis Irypothesis is, and is not, correct and true. It is true that \nthese zoas are the material points about which is deposited that \nwhich subsequently becomes a human body ; but it is not true that \na mere enlargement of the zoa in utero constitutes that body ; for, \nin the first place, such an enlarged zoa would be a monster, formed \nsomething like a gelatinous lizard ; and, in the second place, the \nzoa, like all other seeds, dies as a seed, or zoa, before it becomes \na human being. As a zoa it subserves another end, presently to \nbe stated ; but I will here remark that those children who are be- \ngotten when, on both sides, passion\'s tide is at the highest flood, \nand neither party exhausted, \xe2\x80\x94 when impregnation results from \nthe first contact after prolonged absence and abstinence, \xe2\x80\x94 are \nimmeasurably superior to those of the same parents, launched into \nbeing from exhausted bodies and fagged and weary minds ; for \nsuch children are from ripened zoas, invariably, and a ripened zoa \nmay be of the fourth or fifth order of monad, concerning which \nmystery read on. So far as the zoospermes of beasts are con- \ncerned, they have solid heads, and, in some of the lower orders, \nseem to enlarge, and finally become gestated into the perfect ani- \nmal whose species they are. To a great extent this is also the \ncase with the zoospermes of the simia, embracing all the apes, \neven up to those which almost trench on human ground, \xe2\x80\x94 namely, \nthe orang, chimpanzee, gorilla, and neschiego, \xe2\x80\x94 the link below the \nbushmen and tailed " men" of Western Africa. It is not so with \nreference to the strictly human zoas, or germs, for each one of \nthese has a crystalline head ; but, again, these heads approach the \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 165 \n\nsolid or beast type, the lower in the mental scale is the man or \nmen whose they are. For instance, those of negroes are nearly \nopaque, and but dimly clear at best ; while those of a cultivated \nwhite man, like Poe, President Lincoln, Persons the healer, and \nmen of their mental calibre, are very clear and crystalline. This \nclearness differs in accordance with the mental stature of the man. \nI have said that every zoosperme of the strictly human being has \na crystalline head, \xe2\x80\x94 which fact the microscope will ere long dem- \nonstrate, \xe2\x80\x94 and in that head is contained a monad, and a monad \nis a seed-soul, just as it came from God ; and each one of them has \na history, mission, and destiny of its own, being distinctively and \nessentially unlike any other monad or soul in existence, and yet \nhaving affinities for all others, and a special one for its own twin, \n\xe2\x80\x94 for in the beginning all monads are dual, \xe2\x80\x94 male and female; \nand hence, in very many respects, are peculiarly fitted for each \nother, although it may happen that one of these twin creations \nmay be incarnated ten thousand years before its mate. It may \nalso happen that one of them will develop into a human being the \nfirst time it is lodged in utero, and that its mate may not succeed \neven on the fourth trial. In such a case the superior one will act \nas guardian over the other, and develop the mate through magnetic \nrapport to a degree measurably corresponding with its own. It is \nby reason of this mysterious principle that marked characters \noften love and wed far beneath themselves, \xe2\x80\x94 something impelling \nthem thereto which they do not understand. \n\nGenius almost always weds with folly, and the most brilliant \nminds consort \xe2\x80\x94 unhappily, ever \xe2\x80\x94 with beautiful stupidity ; yet \nprobably the world is all the better for it in the long run, because \nin the children the obtuseness of one parent is toned up and raised, \nand the angularities of the other rounded off, producing a charac- \nter or characters brighter than one, less eccentric than the other, \nand more useful than either. Elsewhere in this book, also in a \nsheet long printed, I have given a rule for the production of off- \nspring, which, if heeded, will be productive of children of surpass- \ning beauty, worth, intellect, and power. \n\nObserve these facts : the crystalline head of the zoa is both \nmaterial and spiritual. It contains something of all parts of the \nfather, for it is the foci of the human ellipse, about which every- \nthing within him rotates, and which is influenced by all that dis- \n\n\n\n166 after death; \n\nturbs or pleases him. Proof : a child begotten under the influence \nof extremes of any kind is sure to bear the marks thereof either in \nmind or body. "Witness the effects on the child of liquor or to- \nbacco, anger or avarice, passion or power, on the father\'s or the \nmother\'s part. \n\nEach of these crystalline heads of zoas bears mental and psj\'-chical \nmarks as well as merely physical of the father ; it also bears the \nstamp of ages, \xe2\x80\x94 impressions, strangely transmitted, of the fore- \ntime, which subsequently are recognized as resemblances, more or \nless marked and pronounced, social, physical, mental, moral, pas- \nsional, to ancestors dead half a century before. It is this \ncrystalline head or spirituo-material point (enveloping the monad) \nthat determines the shape and grade of the body, spirit, and soul \nof the woman or the man ; for the heavenly tenant is forced to ac- \ncommodate itself to the apartments furnished it ; and conditions \nprecedent to, and during gestation, combinedly, decide that point. \nIf they are large, open, and roomy, the soul thus situated for a \ntime will correspond : if they are narrow, dark, dingy, cabined, \ncribbed, confined, so will be, perhaps for a lifetime, the royal prince \nof the house of God ; but it is sweet and excellent to know, as I \ndo, that he will not be forever thus victimized, for time will burst \nhis chains ! \n\nWithin the atmosphere of earth the spiritual ethers float ; and \non that inner air the monads are upborne. These monads cluster \naround all males of the human species, but are not drawn to, \xe2\x80\x94 in \nfact are magnetically repelled from, the female. At puberty man \nbegins to breathe them in. They enter the lungs, pass into the \ncirculation and, while there, visit every conceivable portion of the \nbody, gathering some property and quality from each part. They \nnext pass into the testes, where they received their first purely \nmaterial investiture, \xe2\x80\x94 their tadpole-like extremities. When that \nprocess is completed, they leave those special organs and rise \nto, and enter the tube or vessel above, where they are exposed \nto two new influences : first, they are played upon by a combined \nmagnetic, electric, and nerval battery, \xe2\x80\x94 the generation of the \nright and left teste, generally, although that from eitherwill suffice ; \nand from that source impressions of greater or less intensity ; they \nalso receive tendencies, bias, and predilections from the physical \nman, more or less modified by the continued and contained force \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 167 \n\nof his ancestry, which effects are again modified to a greater or \nless extent by the corresponding physical influences of the mother \nand her line of progenitors. \n\nLet us watch this holy and wonderful process a few stqps fur- \nther ; the expulsion of the prepared monad from the ejaculatory \ntube of the father, into the incarnating apparatus (womb) of the \ndear mother, where it receives not merely body and a new form of \nlife, but impressions more or less strong and distinct from her. \nSometimes the impressions from both parents mingle, coalesce, \ncombine, and the resultant child resembles both. Sometimes one \nset neutralizes the other, and the child resembles either, and some- \ntimes both are completely obliterated by a more powerful impres- \nsion, in which case the child resembles neither, but perhaps looks \nlike some one else who has very strongly engaged the mother\'s \nattention ; the non-understanding of which law has made many \na man wretched, and brought suspicion and untold misery upon \nmany an innocent woman. \n\nAnother singular fact just here : all children by different \nfathers resemble the man who first knew the mother, and all the \nstronger if she bore children by him. Again : a negress or white \nwoman who may have offspring by fathers of the opposite races, \ncan never afterwards have them of pure blood, even by pure-blooded \nparents I because the blood of the first progeny has mingled with, \nand become a part of the current of her own, and of course enters \ninto all she ma}\' subsequently bear. A cow who has her first calf \nby a red or black bull will never have one, even by sires of differ- \nent hue, that will not bear the plain marks of the first coverture ! \nand the same law is operative in the human world as well. \n\nSpeaking of human germs, there are hundreds of them in every \ndrop of semen. In the successful impregnation, one, sometimes \ntwo, and occasionally three, or more, develop into human beings. \nThe balance decay, all but the monad within the crystalline head, \nwhich returns to the atmosphere, \xe2\x80\x94 the great ante-chamber of the \nworld, where souls wait for mortal birth and incarnation. But \nthese last monads have gained a great deal in some respects, albeit \nthey have failed in the great end sought. Some of them have \nfailed three, four, \xe2\x80\x94 and sometimes five failures have marked their \ncareer. \n\nElsewhere I have said that mankind was graded off into finer \n\n\n\n168 after death; \n\nor coarser ; and that grades of like nature affinitized. Well, let \nme here state that men of the first or lowest grade are they who \noriginated from a germ that became incarnated on the first trial. \nThe next higher grade of human kind spring from monads that \nhave twice passed through the laboratories of both sexes ; and so \non to the highest. Occasionally we find a man or woman of the \nfifth order on the globe ; the majority of the better classes, es- \npecially in America, being of the third and fourth. \n\nIn the physical processes of incarnation, accidents sometimes \noccur ; monsters, like the twins of Siam ; double headed and \nlimbed children ; limbless and idiotic imbeciles ; dwarfs, like \nStratton, Nutt, and the Warren girls ; or huge giants are born ; \nyet all of them have properly shaped spirits ; nor are there any \nligamentary attachments beyond the grave. \n\nMonads that have repeatedly passed through the ordeal enlarge \nas they do so, and produce larger men ; a fact we all recognize, \nwhen we speak of " Mr. Jones\' little, tucked-up," or " Mr. Wil- \nbor\'s great, big soul." \n\nNow, I have stated that there was a mission for the tadpole- \nlooking termination of each zoa. It is thus formed in order that \nit may move, and it can go only in one direction, \xe2\x80\x94 straightforward. \nWhy ? Behold ! On the instant that the semination takes place, \nand the monads enter the uterus, they start in a straight line to- \nward an attractive point therein, \xe2\x80\x94 the ripened ovule, or female \negg, \xe2\x80\x94 fighting and contending on the way, the strongest gener- \nally, but not always, winning the race. The one that reaches the \nripe ovum (sometimes there are several ripe ova in the uterus, in \nwhich case multiple impregnation is likely to occur) first, immedi- \nately attacks it, forces an entrance, and forthwith dies, in its then \nform, to live again in a higher one. As soon as the zoa has en- \ntered the ovum, the aperture it made immediately closes and \nshuts it in. Then the central vesicle, or "yolk" of the ovum \ndivides, admits, and envelopes the crystalline head of the zoa, \nand the gestative work goes on, \xe2\x80\x94 successively passing through \nall the stages that life passed through on the outer globe, namely, \na gelatinous point, analidal, fish, reptilian, quadrumanal, simial, \nuntil finally it reaches the human plane of development, \xe2\x80\x94 for the \nunqualified truth of which statement I appeal to every true embry- \noloaist in the world. \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 169 \n\nNow, if no interruption takes place, a new soul is in existence. \nIf otherwise, then the mere material carcass, death-charged, is \nborn, and the imperial spirit abides its chances for another trial. \nIf the process is arrested, but not stopped entirely, the child will \nbear the image of that class or order of animated nature at whose \npoint the estoppal took place. \n\nIt may happen that monads of a high grade are incarnated \nunder favorable conditions by parents of a low one, which accounts \nfor many of those exceptional cases, wherein couples of coarse \ntexture produce extraordinary children, with physical, moral, and \nmental organizations immeasurably superior to that of either \nparent. \n\nAnother fact : zoas are things of growth, just like anything \nelse ; and it requires time for them to ripen and become crystal- \ncrowned. We can eat green fruit, but it is not good to do so ; and \nwe can also lodge these zoospermes in utero before they are duly \nprepared ; but whoso plants unripe seed cannot expect good trees \nor fruit. Unless the zoas are at least nearly ripe, the results are \nbad; if not ripe at all (from excess, disease, etc.), no living re- \nsults can follow. \n\nNow, suicide is a dreadful crime ; so is wilful murder ; and \nwhoever commits the first, by habitual violation of the natural \nmarriage and parental laws of being, \xe2\x80\x94 or the other, by too fre- \nquent violation of the sanctities of his own or another\'s nature, \xe2\x80\x94 \nwill pay for it by an exceedingly long pilgrimage to the fifth grand \ndivision of Spirit Land. \n\n\n\n(w) The reader will please remember that on the completion of \nmy rapid survey of the seventh section of the first grand divis- \nion, I had a view of the fifth grand division, which view I invited \nhim or her to share and enjoy with me ; and that I took advantage \nof the opportunity thus offered to reveal certain arcana of great \nvalue and importance ; having done which, I now go back to the \npoint where I finished the description of the last section of the \nfirst division. \n\nNow, the second division occupies a belt or area more than \ntwice as broad as that just below it, in order, and is peopled by \nmany millions more than that ; indeed, the population is so im- \n22 \n\n\n\n170 AFTER death; \n\nmense that it can only be numbered by grades, nations, societies, \nbrotherhoods, communities, large families, and special orders. \nHere natural laws begin to be modified by human laws, or, \nrather, natural laws are studied, classed, codified, and laid down \nas guides and rules of life. \n\nAs a matter of course, there are no " statute books." People \nbegin to understand the importance and value of self-restraint, \nand to check a too exuberant spontaneousness. Enthusiasm, as \ncontrasted with principle, is realized to be nearly altogether un- \nreasoning and emotional, hence not to be depended upon, being \nfar less reliable than calm reflection. Tolerable order prevails. \nEeligions multiply, and are encouraged, but are quite superficial, \nfew of them being grounded on either understanding or principle. \nIt being a semi-barbarous region, kings, priests, chiefs, and rulers, \ngenerally, affect great pomp and state. Rites, ceremonies, \npageants, processions, celebrations, and embassies are both fre- \nquent, and conducted with great display and on a magnificent \nscale, \xe2\x80\x94 in that respect outvying the old Greek and Roman tri- \numphs. Here it is seen that barbarism is softening its lines, has \nperceptibly declined, and is fast refining away toward something \nbetter and more worthy of man. \n\nIn this division immense numbers of children of the lower and \nmiddle class or grades are trained and taught, in a variety of \nways, by numerous tutors, who are themselves the pupils of \ndevoted missionaries from loftier realms. \n\nThere is one thing very peculiar in this division, which, from \nits singularity, merits special mention. I refer to the region of \nphantasies, \xe2\x80\x94 a sort of lunatic asylum on an enormous scale. \nOne entire half section of this division is put to very strange uses ; \nbut it is also a vast sanitorium, as will be seen. \n\nHere are seen vast seas, some of which bear the names of ours ; \nand on them, myriads of ships, boats, and other craft generally, \nare navigated by persons who were used to such occupations \nbefore death. On the shores of those seas maritime ports and \ncities exist, to which these seamen sail and trade ; and all \nthis in strict accordance with the wonderful law of Projection, \nbut in a dual sense. First, it is an out-creation of the general \nand particular master-mind of the water-loving classes ; and is at \nthe same time, a special providence of the Over Soul, hence is also \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED M4X. 171 \n\nthe creation of general law. What would otherwise give joy to, \nor gratify the mariner or his class ? Evidently, at first, none at \nall. \n\nSpeaking of the Indian\'s heaven the poet says, \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n"His faithful dog shall bear him company; " \n\nand it is true of other classes as well as of the red man of the \nwilds. And so far as sailors are concerned, nautical they were \nbred and many of them born ; nautical they lived, nautical they \ndied, and after that to a nautical scene they go. The principia \nof all this will shortly be seen. \n\nSuch persons would be simply wretched and miserable in a \nscene purely terrene. On earth they were used to splashing \nwaves, roaring seas, and gayly festive scenes ashore ; and pro- \nvision has been made for them quite as much as for the self-styled \nmagnates of society and the world, no matter how "great" or \n" popular" they may be or have been. Such persons \xe2\x80\x94 mariners \n\n\xe2\x80\x94 want such scenes and surroundings, and lo ! they have them \nthere, just as here ; and phantom-like shallops, laden with phan- \ntasmal fruits, and no on, go alongside of phantasmal ships, dis- \nposing of phantasmal goods to genuine sailors, for phantom \nmoney. Brokers, bankers, exchangers, grocers, money-getting \nJews, \xe2\x80\x94 such as killed Christ and sell old clo\' in Chatham street, \n\n\xe2\x80\x94 abound thereaway ; and a life of stir and commerce gratifies \nthe tastes of persons in that peculiar phase of love and life. In \nanother part of that same section, Indian hunting-grounds are \nfound, stretching away for many a furzy, grassy league ; and \nmany a spectral stag or buffalo is chased, with whoop and yell, to \nphantasmal death and capture ; whereat loud sounds the triumph- \nsong, merry goes the free, wild dance, and all are filled with \ntarantulean joy and gladness ! Here, also, are large domains, \nwherein fox-hunting lords and squires renew their old pastime. \nLoud rings the " tallyho ! " and "harkaway;" while spectral \njowlers, growlers, ring-doves, and fowlers, spurred to wild \nfrenzy by the weird hunters\' hip, hurrah! hilloo, hilloi! \xe2\x80\x94 leap \nphantom ditches, bound o\'er phantom walls, and rush, full cry \nand pell-melJ. through phantom forests, fens, and brakes, followed \nhelter-skelter, at neck-or-nothing paces by as jocund a set of \ngenuine sportsmen as ever followed stag or emptied punchen \n\n\n\n172 AFTER death; \n\nbeaker. Many a reynard is thus worried out of his brief and \nphantom life. What a host of originals these weird pleasure- \nseekers have left behind them here on earth ! \n\nHorse-racing \xe2\x80\x94 making better time than did ever Childers, Sir \nHenry, Fashion, Kentucky, or Eclipse \xe2\x80\x94 is of frequent occurrence \nin that section, sandwiched with deer-stalking, regattas, cock- \nfighting and rabbit-coursing. Clubs for pleasure abound, suited \nto all tastes and all sorts of people, who delight in hurdle-leaping, \nball-play, quoits, rackets, draughts, chess, bagatelle, and billiards. \nTurner festes are favorite amusements among Teutonic peoples ; \nwhile many a Spanish don and grandee\'s heart leaps again as of \nyore/ in their earthly days, at the exb.ilarant spectacle of a fero- \ncious bull, receiving the coupe de grace at the spear\'s point of some \nvictorious matadore. In short, nearly whatever you see here, \nyou will see there, also, in accordance with a law already partly \ndefined in this book, and thoroughly so in its antecedent \xe2\x80\x94 \n"Dealings with the Dead." \n\nBut, after awhile, this life of phantasy ceases to be pleasurable, \nprecisely as a lunatic grows weary of his lunacy, as reason begins \nto reassume her sway. A higher law comes in operation, grad- \nually elevating the subject, and effecting changes in the indi- \nvidual, and making all these things tasteless, vapid, insipid ; and \nas distaste increases, first one and then another person gravitates \nfrom them and thenceforth seeks for normal joys\', labor, and ad- \nvancement. They ascend to higher and better grades, sections, \nand societies. The law of Vastation asserts its power ; they \nthrow off the old, begin de novo, and their healthful, upward, nor- \nmal life commences. \n\nIn still another part of this section of phantasies, large numbers \nof Christian sectarists abound, all still most devoutly believing \nin election, salvation, predestination, the efficacy of prayer \xe2\x80\x94 in \nwords \xe2\x80\x94 not deeds ; \xe2\x80\x94 justification by faith, \xe2\x80\x94 whatever that may \nhappen to be, \xe2\x80\x94 and in the utter, final, and complete damnation \nof all outsiders. They still, as of yore, believe that there is a \nreal, sulphur-burning hell, presided over by a devil with hoofs, \nhorns, tail, trident, pitchfork, and whose common beverage is \nmelted lead ; that the floor of that hell is thickly strewn with \nhuman infants just a span long, or thereabouts, and that all the \nfuture ages are to be spent by themselves and God in listening to \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 173 \n\nthe delicious music of the eternal groans of all these myriads of \ngrilling souls ! They keep on believing such folly, until time, \nreflection, and testimony modify their opinions, whereupon one \nfallacy after another is dropped ; they become convinced of having \nhugged sable Error as Divine Truth ; and then they, under the \noperation of the law of advancement, seek admission into societies \nwhere better things prevail. \n\nSpeaking of Phantasies, leads me to remark that, scout at it \nwho may, eleven-twelfths of us here on earth dwell in that \nidentical region. More than one great thinker in this world \nhas contended stoutly that this earthly existence of ours was, \nand is, but a dream life, and that death is our waking hour. \nHowever that may be, it is certain that most of us lead anything \nbut truly normal, wakeful lives. " What shadows we are, and what \nshadows we pursue," is daily thrown up to us by the waves of \nexperience. How many millions of us fancy this or that to be \nour supreme good, when afterward it is proved to have been a \nmerely phantasmal benefit? What is party, sect, creed, fashion, \ninordinate wealth, personal vanity, pride, ambition, human glory, \nbut an existence in the realms of the phantasmal ? It will not \nalways be so, but certainly is to-day, and nine-tenths of our \nmistakes in life are the result of looking through phantasmal \nglasses at what only appears to be human good. By-and-by we \nshall see face to face, and things as they are, and not through a \nglass, darkly, as now. So may it speedily prove to be ! \n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV. \n\nSECTARIAN HEAVENS, AND THE STEANGE DISCUSSIONS THEEE \xe2\x80\x94 THE MAHOMETAN \nHEAVEN \xe2\x80\x94 THE THIRD GRAND DIVISION OP SPIRIT LAND \xe2\x80\x94 SANITORIA \xe2\x80\x94 HOSPITALS \nFOR THE SICK, AND WHO THEY ARE \xe2\x80\x94 THE WONDERFUL HERB, NOMMOC-ESNES \xe2\x80\x94 ITS \n\nUSES \xe2\x80\x94 THE FOURTH GRAND DIVISION OF SPIRIT LAND \xe2\x80\x94 THE "SPHERES " THE \n\nHEAVEN OF HALF-MEN \xe2\x80\x94 FIFTH DIVISION. \n\nIn other sections of this second grand division may be found \nlarge societies of Methodists, Baptists, Shakers, Episcopalians, \nCatholics, and other sects, though they are only of the rank and \nfile armies, for the leaders generally must be looked for among the \npeople who, knowing truth, yet followed error, either because they \nsaw profit and place therein, or were too indolent to investigate. \n\nOne excellent custom has been introduced and prevails here. \nLong, spirited, and interesting discussions and regular debates \noccur, in which many profound and valuable questions are brought \nforward for examination pro and con. Such as, Who was Jesus \nChrist? Was he God incarnate; a special creation? or simply \nthe truthful-hearted son of Joseph, the carpenter? The doctrine \nof transubstantiation or the real presence of the Holy Ghost in \nthe Eucharist ; and is there any Holy Ghost at all ? To what ex- \ntent is the religious emotion dependent upon bodily states and \nphysiological conditions ? Will there be a general judgment-day, \nand if so, what are the chances of a safe deliverance ? To what \nextent is man personally responsible, either to man or God, for \nhis acts ? Is a man responsible for his thoughts ? Could a man \ncommit a crime so terrible as to justify eternal damnation, or even \na hell-bath, one hundred years long ? Is there really a hell ? If \nso, where ? Has it a club-footed monarch, or any monarch at all ? \nand if so, where did he originate, and what was the origin of the \nfirst sin? Is there really a principle of absolute, unqualified evil? \nIf so, and good be universal, and God the supreme King, how can \ntwo eternal principles, forever antagonistic, \xe2\x80\x94 how can God and a \nDevil exist within the limits of one universe? If evil exists., \n\n174 \n\n\n\nAFTER DEATH ; OR, DISBODIED MAN. 175 \n\ninter alia, what can be God\'s reasons for permitting it ? Is it ab- \nsolutely necessary that all human development be achieved through \nsuffering? that man must wade to heaven through the swamps \nof perdition, social and otherwise? Such and similar are the ex- \npansive topics discussed in these assemblies. They also study \nthe first lessons of the primary catechism of creation ; causality and \ncomparison receive a fillip, and the general advancement is slow, \nbut sure and healthy. \n\nA singular noteworthy fact here presents itself. In all this \ndivision, not a single edifice can be found dedicated to any form \nof religion whatever. The teachers are all intent upon incono- \nclasm ; they seek to obliterate dividing lines, and to demolish all \nseparating fences ; the object being to unite and not diverge the \npeople. There is a wonderful law tacitly obej^ed which prohibits \nthe establishment of any source of discord ; and when such do \narise, the teachers, who thoroughly read and understand their \npupils, immediately explain the matter so that all see it aright, \nand the trouble forthwith ceases. \n\nAll worship takes place in the open air, for the people have not \nyet learned the better way of silent homage, and perpetually \npresent religion, \xe2\x80\x94 the religion of smiles, and love, and joy, con- \nstantly upwelling from grateful, happy hearts. The congregations \nare ever shifting and changing, as graduates advance higher, and \nnew-comers arrive from grades below. \n\nIn the seventh section of this grand division are to be seen vast \nsocieties of lay brethren of the Brahminical and Buddhistic faiths, \nsuch as blindly worshipped either God ; and there are similar col- \nlections of the worshippers of the Llama as well as of the Lamb. \nAs a rule, the Mahometans are decidedly the most interesting, \nbecause they are the most active-minded, and are of a religious \ngenius that enables them to conform to custom and law, as well as \nto appreciate the sensuous advantages of their heaven. None of \nthese worship in pagodas, mosques, or temples, although these \narchitectural ornaments grace the scene, and lend a charm to all \naround ; but kneel, bow, or prostrate themselves in postures of \nadoration. \n\nClass for class, and grade for grade, the Mussulmans are happier \nthan the Christians, and more rapidly advance ; their tempera- \nments are more generous, because their minds have never been \n\n\n\n176 AFTER death; \n\npacked and crowded with ten thousand follies ; hence they have \nfar less to unlearn and get rid of, preparatory to ascending to \nhigher grades. Their minds are more yielding and speculative ; \ntheir loves fuller and more intense ; their faith in God deeper, \ntruer, more soulful, and sincere ; for in many cases the former keep \nthemselves midway between two powers, placating God and hav- \ning a weather eye open for the advantages of the "other party," \xe2\x80\x94 \nworshipping heaven through fear of hell, \xe2\x80\x94 as most of them do here. \n\nThe sons of Islam and Esau, on the contrary, believe in all the \ngood they can obtain, and search after it unwearily. Voluptuous \nto the last degree, they bask in the sunshine of God\'s favor ; \ntrouble themselves precious little about anything but their own \naffairs, and, believing in fate, \xe2\x80\x94 that what is to be, will be, and no \nhelp for it, \xe2\x80\x94 they find but little time or inclination to dispute, \nquarrel, go about on philandering excursions after what don\'t \ndirectly concern them, or to insure themselves against hell-fire. \n\n(x) The third grand division exceeds in grandeur and magnifi- \ncence anything earthly except the hasheesh vision of a refined \nTurk, or the blissful dreams of a poet in love with an unreachable \nbeauty. It may be called the grand Sanitorium of the zonal \nworlds ; for it is the place where, like Bunyan\'s Pilgrim, we drop \nmany and many a load, borne in some instances for a thousand \nyears or more of earthly time. For our progress is entirely spon- \ntaneous and voluntary, and is forced upon us in no possible de- \ngree. In this division many and splendid hospitals abound ; not \nlarge houses with long rows of beds, tons of nauseating doctor\'s \nstuff, paid nurses wishing you would hurry up and die, so as to be \nable to get the purse under \'your pillow, or the jewels from your \nears and fingers ; there\'s nothing of the sort there ; no crutches, \nslops, water gruel, bad wine, and worse panada. But these \nSanitoria are vast estates, leagues in extent, diversified with all \nthat is charming and grateful to the senses ; pleasure-grounds, \nbrooks, groves, mountains, vales, hills, dells, prairies, meadows, \ngurgling rills, silvery rivers, neat cottages, gorgeous palaces, \nretired groves and pearly grottos, gymnasia, and museums, model \nhills, and contrasted pictured heavens ; panoramic displays of \nearth\'s history, and man\'s progress from creation till the passing \nhour. Here, all those of a tolerably fine temperament, but who \nwere crookedly grown in mind ; who were mentally and morally \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 177 \n\n, unhealthy ; violently or partially insane or demented, are ration- \nally and scientifically treated to perfect recovery ; for no one can \nreach the next division who is not sound (although perhaps still \nweak) in the mental, moral, and religious departments of their \nnature. Some of these graded estates are larger in area than \neither of earth\'s continents, and every conceivable means of cure \nare faithfully resorted to. The stay of a patient depends upon \nhimself. If he learns fast, he passes on ; if not, he remains till \nhe is prepared. \n\nThe medicine most in vogue there is that of Nommoc-Esnes, \nsometimes used on earth. When well applied and digested, it \nthere, as here, effects the most marvellous cures. I may state, \nhowever, that people on earth spell -the name of this great \nremedy backwards, for here the letters are reversed. Every one \ncan find and use it, and it is already being applied to the cure of \nmany ills, among which are those of marriage and religion. \n\nThe diseases treated there are mainly various forms of mental \nand moral insanity ; and many are admitted whose minds are so \nwarped that they actually believed in the absurdity of promiscuous \nand temporary passional marriages, of the merely physical grade \nor order, \xe2\x80\x94 the "Sociologists," "Free-lovers," "Mormons," \n" Agapemones," and others of that ilk, as well as the " Shakers, " \nand other opposite extremists. Many are there doctored to health \nwho once firmty and honestly believed in hell-fire, eternal damna- \ntion, capital punishment, distilleries, rum-selling, absynthe, and \nother dram-drinking, wars, duelling, slavery, woman-buying, and \nman-selling, in more senses than one ; the divine right of kings ; \nthat complexion or money makes the man ; that span-long babies \nare in torment ; that the heart is depraved, above all things, and \ndesperately wicked ; that God\'s heart can be touched through his \nears, while the conduct and thought are far from him ; that he \ncreated and gives free scope to a personal devil ; that might is \nright ; that Adam was the first man, or that any such family as his \nand Cain\'s, Abel\'s and Seth\'s, ever existed, save in Israelitish and \nother Oriental legend ; that the Eden story is anything more than \na pretty fable, conceived by men anxious to account for what they \nsaw, and could not understand ; that all men descended from a \nsingle pair; that God ever selected the Jews, \xe2\x80\x94 such as killed \nJesus, and live in Chatham street, \xe2\x80\x94 as his peculiar people ; that \n23 \n\n\n\n178 after death; \n\nthey ever were a nation, or anything else than a class, with old \nclo\' and banking penchants ; that Moses or any other man, mysti- \ncal or real, ever talked face to face with the Creator ; that Moses \never saw God\'s posteriors, or that God has such at all ; that \nBaalam\'s ass ever talked Hebrew, good, bad, or indifferent ; that \n\xe2\x80\xa2Samson slew a thousand Philistines, with the jawbone of an ass \n\xe2\x80\x94 except in print; that Adam and Eve were snaked out of Para- \ndise, and that said snake was a good linguist, skilled in the art of \nseduction ; that a man threw down a stone temple by main \nstrength ; that he carried off the gates of Gaza ; or that his power \nlay in his hair, and not in his muscles ; that the whale swallowed \nJonah, or vice versa; that Noah\'s fabled ark contained a pair of \nall animals ; that Noah, Jesus, Buddha, or any other man, was \never born of a virgin, or were special incarnations of Deity ; that \nthe prevalent idolatries, Christian and otherwise, of these dismal \nages, will not be superseded by the religion of Reason, Science, \nand Common Sense, \xe2\x80\x94 the only great and truly reformative faith yet \nextant ; that lip and formal worship is equal to that of silence and \nthe heart ; that divorce consists in a judicial decision ; that re- \nligion really consists in anything else than practical goodness, \nbased upon interior conviction, outcropping in noble actions and \nbroad sympathies ; that marriage consists in a ceremony. In \nshort, millions of people are treated for such and similar insani- \nties ; and their cure is thorough, radical, and complete. \n\n(y) The fourth grand division is the general receptacle of the \ngraduates of all below it, coming through the third. From cer- \ntain sections of this circle, constituting the great Missionia, go \nforth the thousands of ethereal people who are now engaged in \nrapping common sense into the public head, and reasonable \nthoughts and rational faith into the people of earth generally, \nthrough tables, chairs, and other furniture, from which articles the \nAmerican people have advanced to "bureaus," \xe2\x80\x94 the Freedmen\'s \nand Educational, \xe2\x80\x94 the former being an imposition, the latter a \nblessing to the world. \n\nThis division is the one so frequently alluded to by rapping \nspirits and speaking media, as the " spheres," its sections being \nnumbered from one to seven, inclusive ; although, in fact, it is far \nbelow the spheres truly thus numbered, \xe2\x80\x94 for if we speak of abso- \nlute spheres, thus they are : first, the entire shell of zones sur- \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 179 \n\nmounting earth, for the first sphere ; the seventh being in that \nzone that embraces our starry galaxy, and which is situated octil- \nlions of billions of trillions of miles away in straight lines from \nthe earth, for it encircles nearly every star that we can see. \n\nThe principal studies in this division comprise chemico-dynam- \nics, algebra, geometry, electro-dynamics, magnetism, phrenology, \nbiology, reasoning, and kindred branches of anthropological \nscience, social statics, history, and that branch which teaches \nhow to upset a man\'s prejudices by overturning his mahogany. \nSpiritual communion in its multiform phases is an exact science, \nand a lofty one, nor is it easily mastered by those on or off the \nearth. \n\nThousands of actors, mimics, preachers, authors, artists, mu- \nsicians, doctors, lawyers, sculptors, engineers, judges, poets, sena- \ntors, orators, singers, thinkers, dramatists, kings, generals, queens, \nemperors, scientists, mechanics, cultivated Indians, are there, and \nmore of that general class of half men and women, rapidly wearing \noff their angles and rounding out to fulness. \n\nFrom these sections undoubtedly come the most of the " kings " \nand "Richards," and manifesting spirits generally; while from \nother and higher parts come such as develop the higher grades of \nclairvoyance and seership ; for, under the direction of societies of \nthe next division, they have general charge and supervision of the \ngrand spiritual irruption to the earth. Of course there are mil- \nlions who come independently ; but it is they who teach mankind to \ndo good, combat the errors of the age, dethrone Superstition, and \nhasten the good time coming. \n\nHere will be found large numbers of people of all nations i \nChinese, Hindoos, Arabs, Greeks, Irish, Scotch, Welsh, Swiss, \nSwedes, Finns, French, German, British, Negroes, Mulattoes, a \nfew Jews, Indians, Spaniards, Italians, Japanese, Russians, Turks, \nand Americans, representing all nations in themselves, for they \nowe their greatness to the fact that they are miscegens, or com- \nposite men, formed by international blendings, in and out of wed- \nlock, and representative delegations from all these constantly \nteach in lower spheres, and flit back and forth from the earth \nupon various philanthropic and scientific missions. These people \nare mainly those who have outgrown many, if not all, of their \ntheological, religious, and social errors, and who have gone far to- \n\n\n\n180 AFTER DEATH ; \n\nward correcting their mistakes. Their sole business is not to \nteach partisan creeds, but to uproot thern from their well-posted \nstrongholds in the public mind, and to lay instead thereof the \nsolid foundations whereon truth may be hereafter built ; first, by \ndemonstrations of the prime cardinal fact of immortality, irre- \nspective of all moral, mental, and religious qualifications ; and \nafterward by stirring up the thinking powers of mankind at large. \nThis division excels the one below it, as much as that does the \none beneath itself. The area is vast indeed ; the language is an \nimprovement on the phonic speech of the third division ; the fields \nof air are fairer and more vivifying ; their lives are sweet ; their \naspirations actively upward ; and in all respects they are a great \nadvance upon all or any human society on the earth. The music \nthere is very sweet and ravishing indeed. \n\n(z) The fifth grand division has already been described ; and I \nhave only further to say of it, the necessity of restraining and re- \npressive laws not existing, there are none such. The inhabitants \nare not givers and takers in marriage in the same sense as of \nearth and the spheres below, for they are angels in heaven, and \nmarriage is not only spiritual, but is mystical also, for in these \nunions and blendings something of each is imparted to the other \nof a permanent and enduring character. Let me explain. A per- \nson who has reached this grade, generally has fully developed all \nthe faculties possessed on earth ; but on reaching this division all \nthose faculties may be regarded as being consolidated into one, \nand when the love fires of this division begin to burn, other, and \ntherefore latent or nascent, powers spring into life, modifying the \nentire nature, and opening new windows in the spirit through \nwhich the soul can look out upon new sections of the mental and \nmoral universe. \n\nTalk of human felicity ! What is it at best compared to the \nsuperlative joys of this glory-crowned paradise ? It is a tuft of \ngrass to a boundless prairie ; tow cloth to satin garments ; iron \nmoney to golden coin ! The males there are perfectly regal and \nmagnificent, \xe2\x80\x94 but the women ! Ah, the women ! My God ! \xe2\x80\x94 but \nit is of no use writing or talking about them, for the subject is too \nfine for speech or pen, and I feel half-disposed to throw my ink \nout of the window in sheer despair at my inability to do them jus- \ntice, not alone as regards their supra-mortal loveliness and heart- \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 181 \n\nsubduing beauty, but their odor of purity, excellence, and knowl- \nedge. I well remember the effect upon my soul of the appearance \nof one of the radiant women of the upper land. On the night of \nJuly 4th, 1864, I was writing the biography of the Brothers Da- \nvenport, and correcting the stereotype proofs in an attic, \xe2\x80\x94 I gener- \nally live as near heaven as I can get, for want of means to live \nnearer earth, \xe2\x80\x94 at No. 68 Sixth Avenue, New York, when sud- \ndenly raising my head from my work, I absolutely, unmistakably, \nunequivocally beheld, just without the sash the head, eyes, face, \nand part of the bust of a woman from one of the higher sections \nof an upper grand division, and that woman was my mother, \xe2\x80\x94 \ndear, darling, ever true and faithful mother ! \xe2\x80\x94 thirty -three years \nin heaven, and I, as many, in a capital substitute for the other \xe2\x80\x94 \nfabled \xe2\x80\x94 place, especially now, since two years have been spent in \nNew Orleans and Louisiana, \xe2\x80\x94 as near perdition as embodied man \ncan get ! Her eyes, beaming with immortal love, gazed long and \nearnestly into mine. She spoke not, only telegraphed this mes- \nsage, " There\'s a good time coming, dear ! wait a little longer ! " \nand was gone. Reader, whosoever you are, love your mother, for \nher love is deathless and will only change when you are perfectly \nhappy, not before ; and she, like mine, will bridge the eternal \ngulf, to cheer you in your labor, and be the friend at your side \nwhen all but her and God are deaf. Reader, love your mother ! \n\nIn this fifth division there are many colleges and universities, \nin which spirit, its laws, static and dynamic, are taught. Mem- \nory, the laws of thought ; the statics of life ; the principles of \nsocial evolution ; light, its sources and nature ; esoteric laws \nof life ; embrj-ology ; the integral and differential calculus, direct \nand in their application to various branches of human learning;" \nentosophy, astronomy, paralactic calculations ; the higher mathe- \nmatics, algebra, and the true theory of the higher equations, psy- \nchological law, and a hundred sciences not yet evolved by, or sent \ndown to, man on earth ; the laws and dynamics of beauty, har- \nmony, melody, form, government, religion, God, the laws govern- \ning friendship, affection, love, the source of the generation and \ngrowth of thought, and a thousand things beside. \n\nThe people are extreme^ refined, and seem to have decreased \nin size from what they were in the grade below. They partake of \nfruits and various aromas, bathe for pleasure\'s sake and certain \n\n\n\n182 AFTER DEATH ; OR, DISBODIED MAN. \n\nends to be obtained, and already explained. They are mainly \nsustained by what they absorb and inhale. They sleep, as do all \nothers, and are refreshed thereby. There are no crowded cities ; \nnor is the scene entirely rural ; but their houses, cots, and pal \naces are scattered at convenient distances apart over a vast area \nof surface. They frequently visit the divisions above and below \nthem, and occasionally they visit other realms of human abode, \njust as we here are intromitted to higher ranges of being occa- \nsionally. \n\nNote. \xe2\x80\x94 While correcting the proof of these chapters a very \nremarkable occurrence took place at my residence. I was cleaning \na spirit-glass, or magic mirror, that I had just ordered for a \ncorrespondent, when a lady called, and began to look into the \nglass. She almost instantly saw, clear and distinctly, not only \ndistant scenes, places, things, and persons on the earth, but \ndeveloped another extraordinary power. To illustrate : Said I, \n\n" Who do you see, Ellenor ? " " I see Kate and O !" "Where \n\nare they?" "In T ." " Can you make them conscious that \n\nyou see them ? " " Yes." And placing her will upon one of \nthem, she soon said : " She sees and hears me." " Tell her that \nI am very ill, but do not mention of what." " I will do so ; but \nshe is ill herself, \xe2\x80\x94 she has been ill herself, \xe2\x80\x94 been struck by a \nfalling sign, and hurt her left cheek and side ; she will die, \xe2\x80\x94 she \nwill pass to section seven, division four. I now see that glorious \nregion, \xe2\x80\x94 James, Henry, my mother, dear mother ! are there. I \nnow believe in immortality. I shall become a seeress. I thank \nGod that I came here this day ! " And, overcome with emotion, she \nburst into a flood of happy tears. One more human being rescued \nfrom utter disbelief through the "accidental" agency of what \nhalf this world laughs at, but which in these days, as in those of \nthe persecuted Dr. Dee, is unquestionably worth the most serious \nand profound attention. To test the truth of the lady\'s clair- \nvoyance, a friend telegraphed and found the account all true, \nand that at that very hour Kate had beheld Ellenor as plainly \nas if in bodily form. What they did others can do as well. \n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV. \n\n. ORIGIN OF THE SPIRIT WORLD \xe2\x80\x94 THE FIRST TWO SPIRITS \xe2\x80\x94 THE TERRIFIC IMPENDING \nDANGER OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THIS EARTH \xe2\x80\x94 A FEARFUL AND ACTUALLY EXISTING \nPOSSIBILITY \xe2\x80\x94 AN APPROACHING CHANGE IN THE EARTH\'S AXIS \xe2\x80\x94 A NEW PLANET \nNEAR THE SUN \xe2\x80\x94 A NEW RING ABOUT BEING THROWN OFF FROM IT, AND THE FORMA- \nTION OF OTHER PLANETS BY COMETIC CONDENSATION \xe2\x80\x94 UPRISING OF A NEW CONTI- \nTINENT \xe2\x80\x94 DESTRUCTION OF THE ASTEROIDS \xe2\x80\x94 GOLD HILLS \xe2\x80\x94 HOW THE FIRST SPIRITS \n\nDISCOVERED THE SPIRITUAL LAND AND WENT TO IT THE REV. CHARLES HALL\'S \n\nARRIVAL IN SPIRIT LAND \xe2\x80\x94 HIS SURPRISE THE EARTH A LIVING ORGANISM. \n\nQuestions. \xe2\x80\x94 "There is one point of vital import hitherto and \npurposely left undiscussed in this work ; and I do not know, or be- \nlieve it has ever been treated of before since the world began. I \nrefer, not to the origin of spirit, but of the Spirit World. If there \nis such a place, then it must have had a beginning? is a very \nnatural question, and one that immediately suggests another, \nwhich is, What prevents the earth from slipping out sideways \nfrom within the encircling zones ? Now, such a thing might hap- \npen ; for instance, the earth might explode by dint of the tremen- \ndous pressure of its internal gases and fires, if, by any means, the \nvolcanic rents or escape pipes should be stopped up, as they easily \nmight be by the caving in of land ; or, should the floors of the \nocean give way, and let the waters into the awful chasm of white \nand fervent heat below, the globe could not fail of being instantly \nshattered into a myriad of pieces ! Suppose the not impossible \ncase, and what would be the consequence? What would become \nof the spiritual world or zones above it ? " \n\nReply. \xe2\x80\x94 1 st. Wishing to bring facts, illustrative of foregoing \nprinciples, prominently before the minds of those who read this \nwork, \xe2\x80\x94 to leave no stone unturned that can add to or strengthen \nhuman belief in immortalit} 7 , \xe2\x80\x94 the proof of which is vainly sought \nelsewhere than in the new philosophy, variously called spiritual \nand harmonial, \xe2\x80\x94 it is necessary to retrace our steps down the \nvast avenue of ages, and plant ourselves upon some commanding \n\n183 \n\n\n\n184 AFTEK death; \n\nmental height, whence we can clearly view the panorama of crea- \ntion, as it unrolled from the chaos of the pre-human world. \n\nThere was a time when there was no spiritual zone, or belt of \nsublimated matter, surrounding earth\'s atmosphere ; and then \nthere came a time when it began gradually to form. There was a \ntime, also, when there were but two persons who had died and left \ntheir bodies behind them ; and as others slowly quit the form, their \nsparse numbers were added to, forming scarce anything like \nsociety, for they were exceedingly weak, and very lowly organ- \nized. \n\nThese younglings of the race, these first fruits of immortality, \nthese ethereal protoplasts, these pilots on the mighty deep, fear- \nlessly put to sea, without chart or compass, for they were the first \nwho had sailed over these mysterious waters, \xe2\x80\x94 the first who had \nessayed the untrodden paths. Of necessity, all these people dwelt \non the earth and in its atmosphere, for as yet there was no higher \nrealm, although it was then being fabricated, \xe2\x80\x94 they needed it not, \nthey were so low in the organic scale, \xe2\x80\x94 just barely imperishable, \nand no more, like unto many and many a one this very day. \nNo other sphere was required. Demand and supply are inter- \nrelated and dependent laws. \n\nIn the course of ages disbodied people increased to millions ; \nsome had greatly advanced toward a higher, though still exceed- \ningly low state. A wider field was needed. Meantime the earth \nhad given off such an amount of subtle matter, that it formed an \nequatorial belt, at about fifty miles above its surface, and, while it \nconstantly received new additions from the earth, it also evolved \nits own mqve sublimated material, which ascended to a distance \nof two hundred and fifty miles perpendicular height from earth\'s \nsurface ; and that belt also evolved another, whose mean distance \nfrom the common centre was eleven hundred miles, and so on till \nthe entire series were formed. Not for a hundred thousand years \nfrom the death of the first immortal did a spirit enter upon the \nfirst zone, and not till that zone was well filled with people, did \none of them ascend to the higher ; and myriads of those who have \nbeen out of the body for a dozen millennia, have been passed and \nsurpassed by spirits but just, as it were, from earth ; while others \nagain of earth\'s first-born, are to-day towering immeasurably \nabove the reach of men of this last ten thousand years. These \n\n\n\nOR, DTSBODIED MAN. 185 \n\nzones gradually receded from each other and the earth for a long \nperiod, but, when the great catastrophe befell the planet that burst \nasunder between Mars and Jupiter, the earth changed its axis, and \nits inclination to the ecliptic and galactic poles. Millions of peo- \nple were killed on this earth, for the centre of gravity was instantly \nchanged. " I consider," quoting from my own book " Pre- Adam- \nite Man," pages 134, et seq., chapter on cataclysms, " the testi- \nmony concerning the flood as being unimpeachable. There must \nhave been at least two great cataclysms in Asia and Africa, \nbesides others of equal extent in America. . . . The melting \nof the ice at the poles, the bursting of volcanoes, and other fright- \nful convulsions, ... caused the molten bowels of the earth \nto move ; and in their movements, islands, mountains, continents \nwere upheaved in some portions of the globe, and other islands, \nmountains, and continents sunk to rise no more. Vast floods of \nwater rushed down from the north pole, and up from the south, \nand myriads of the people attained immortality in the twinkling \nof God\'s eye, and their souls rose in millions to heaven, and \nentered the portals of disbodied glory, while their fleshly forms \nsunk, food for fishes and for worms, leaving only here and there a \nfragmentary bone or skeleton, to become, in future ages, mute but \neloquent witnesses to the fact that there did exist, once upon a \ntime, pre-Adamite races of men. The particular event here al- \nluded to is not the oriental flood of Noah, Deucalion, and others. \nBut there was one before that, and infinitely more fearful. I allude \nto the \' mysterious event,\' so dimly indicated in the early Chinese \nannals, and, perhaps, may be the same terrible catastrophe alluded \nto by the priests of Sais, in their conversations with Solon, some- \nthing like six centuries before the Christian era. \n\n" Upon geological, astronomical, and other grounds, I have \nreached the conclusion that, at a period not less than forty-two \nthousand, nor more than fifty-eight thousand six hundred years \nago, there occurred the most tremendous event this earth ever wit- \nnessed, or ever will witness until a final convulsion shall hurl it \nout of being, as a habitable globe." Since I wrote the above I \nhave become convinced that we are liable to such a catastrophe at \nany moment. Indeed this sense of a terrible impending danger is \ngeneral ; witness the adventists and Dr. Cummings, the " Great \nTribulation " man. And, while not an alarmist, I feel it to be my \n24 \n\n\n\n186 AFTER DEATH; \n\nsacred duty to indicate the direction whence this danger is to come. \nI have already hinted at an approaching change in the earth\'s axis, \nand inclination to the ecliptic. It may burst upon us like a whirl- \nwind, and it may be that children now born will live to see it \nverified ! There will occur a throwing off of an immense ring \nfrom the sun, accompanied with the conglobation of several \ncomets within the solar field ; simultaneously with which the \nfamily of asteroids will be precipitated upon the solar disc, and \nthe planets that cross their path. This will cause the northern \npole of earth to sink, and the southern one to rise, \xe2\x80\x94 forever alter- \ning the inclination of its axis ; entirely changing the seasons ; \ncausing terrific storms, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. The \nbed of the Adriatic Sea will fall, and all that portion of the globe \nwill sink and again be thrown up, as has already been the case \nwith Sahara and the Asiatic deserts. TA new continent will appear \nin the South Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans ; thousands of \nislands will dot the seas ; mountains and mountain-ranges will be \nlevelled ; earth\'s bowels will be completely out-turned ; gold, silver, \nprecious stones, and metals will be thrown to the surface in quan- \ntities that will forever bar them as standards of value, \xe2\x80\x94 for entire \nhills of them will be discovered, and the consequent effect upon \nhuman society may well be imagined. Thus will be ushered in \nthe millennial period of earth. Let it be remembered that I pre- \ndict these things on this 24th day of May, 1866, and that I say \nthey may, in all probability come to pass within the next century ; \nor, if not then, certainty within two hundred years ; but I believe \nthey will come to pass in less than eighty years from this day ! \nTo return to the quotation from " Pre- Adamite Man," referring \nto the last great cataclysm : " It is known that the solar planets \nare interdependent ; mutually connected . . . Fifty-eight thou- \nsand six hundred years ago, the planet then revolving in an orbit \nbetween Mars and Jupiter, burst asunder (in consequence of the \nfalling of an ocean floor upon the central fires in the world\'s \nbelly) , scattered into a million fragments ; the larger ones now \nconstituting the Asteroids, Juno, Pallas, Vesta, Ceres and a hun- \ndred more, and the smaller bits of which are revolving at greater \nor less distances apart, in a track or belt so situated as to be \ncrossed by the earth from the 13th to the 24th of every November, \nat which time, it is well known, we are visited by showers of mete- \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 187 \n\noric stones, attracted then by the globe. And these stones in- \nvariably enter the atmosphere at its highest, which, of course, is \nthe northern polar point. As the result . . . this earth sud- \ndenly changed its axis and its angle toward the ecliptic ; the sun \n(and internal fires) melted the ice at the poles ; the molten mass \nin the earth\'s bowels became disturbed, and it vomited forth (as it \nwill do again) fire and flame from a hundred volcanic mouths ; and \nStrombolic craters rained down fire enough to bury a thousand \nSodoms and Gomorrahs. The reminiscences and legends of those \nscoriae rivers, \xe2\x80\x94 those fiery tornadoes, \xe2\x80\x94 those floods of sulphur- \nous flame, in my opinion, furnish the basis of the Sodom and \nGomorrah stories ! Who can doubt it, in the light of science, \nand common sense ? \n\n" Earthquakes rent the globe asunder \xe2\x80\x94 almost ; scores of \nAsiatic, European, African and cis-Atlantic cities, countries, peo- \nples, nations, were hurled into watery and fiery graves ; the Atlan- \ntis island sunk to rise no more ; the great lake of Central Africa \n(Mosioatunye) was drained ; the British isles were riven from \nCentral Europe ; the vast regions tying between the fifteenth and \nthirty-sixth parallels of south latitude, and now known as Sahara, \nwere upheaved from the bottom of the salt sea, to which, when \ntillable and peopled, they had once sunk, perhaps, \xe2\x80\x94 else whence \nthe pyramids? The Hesperidean lake of Diodorous Siculus, \n(Sicily and Naples itself, being probably one of the oldest coun- \ntries and cities of the globe) , situate in Afric\'s heart, ceased to be ; \nthe regions of the Atlas and the Soudan were tossed up from \nbriny depths ; the Arabian peninsula, the Deserts of Zin and \nShur, Lib} T a and the salt Kuveers of Persia ; the prairies and \ndeserts of America, and the sterile steppes of Russia, Tartary, and \nSiberia, appeared with all their dreary majesty and chilly horror \nupon the surface of the visible world. By this great convulsion, \nChina was torn from Japan, \xe2\x80\x94 a family was separated, and lo ! \nwhat a difference has developed between the two branches of that \nself-same tribe ! And then go back to their common progenitors, \nfrom whom themselves and the Tartars sprung, and see what time \nhas done for either branch ! The Carribean Islands were \nwrenched from Columbia\'s main ; the Greek Archipelago was \nbrought into being ; the climates of whole continents were changed, \nwhich is proved from the fact that bones of tropical animals and \n\n\n\n188 after death; \n\nremains of tropical plants are now found in frozen regions, and \nthe plants and remains of northern fauna now exhumed from tropi \ncal graves. ... I believe I have handled things fashioned by \nmen who lived before that terrible devastation. And there can be \nbut little doubt that the cyclopean structures of Etruria, the stately \npyramids of Egypt and Central America ; the imposing and \nmournful ruins of Palenque, Copan, Uxmal, Kuzan, Chichen, \nand Cuzco, are remnants left of those which were swept away in \nthat awful ruin. Death rode in many chariots in that dreadful \nhour ; and men and animals perished by carbonic, sulphurous, and \nnitrogenic blasts, those only escaping who occupied favorable \nlocalities." Thus has it been ! Thus, and more dreadful may it \nbe again ! The earth is gestating new and better children : fear- \nful will be her parturition ; but joyous will the family be ! \n\nI do not say that there were no people upon the spiritual zones \nat that period, for there were ; but I do say that there were vast \nnumbers of disbodied people roaming about the earth long before \nthere was a place prepared for them above the world ; or rather \noff the world, for there is no spiritual world either above or beloiv \nus; for above, as the earth swings in space T is due north, whei-e \nflows the stream from upper land, and where is a vast open sea of \nspace, through which come the meteors and aerolites as we cross \ntheir paths. A similar opening is at the south pole. Hence the \ncentre of the supernal zones is directly above the equator. \n\nWhile these armies of dead people were slowly rising intellectu- \nally, the earth itself was refining and giving off its unappropriated \nessences ; the zone and zones were gradually formed, and as grad- \nually receded to their present distances from the earth ; the polar \nrivers began to flow ; the spiritual people discovered them ; were \npleased ; made experiments ; trusted to chance ; launched them- \nselves upon the ascending tide, and were conveyed to a scene \nimmeasurably superior to the one just left behind, \xe2\x80\x94 to their house \nnot made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Ah ! what a joyful \nhour that was ! It was only equalled by that of a wicked Baptist \nminister of New Orleans, a man who had lived by hypocrisy all \nhis life, fell sick, and felt sure that when death closed his eyes \nhe would only open them again in the midst of perdition, which he \nalso felt he richly deserved. He died horribly ; but what was the \nalmost ludicrous surprise of the ex-Reverend Charles Hall at \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODTED MAN. 189 \n\nfinding himself unscorched in the midst of a crowd of former \nbacchanals, in the upper land, who were gathered around him to \nsee the effect of his awaking to the reality. When he felt certain \nthat he was safe from hell and the clutches of the devil, a more \nuproariously joyful man was never seen before or since. \n\nCuriosity is the spur of knowledge, the road to wisdom, and the \nkey to all mystery. It opens all doors, and is operative upon all \nmen precisely alike, \xe2\x80\x94 save only in degree. Of course the immi- \ngrants immediately began to explore their new-found home, and it \nwas not long before they came across another river flowing away \ntoward a large brown ball floating out upon the sky ; and they saw \nanother river flowing away from that ball toward what they rea- \nsoned, correctly, to be the other side of their own newly discovered \nhome. The brown ball was a big bead strung upon a silver cord \nhung around God\'s neck, \xe2\x80\x94 or the inscrutable something beyond \nthemselves. And so they tried another ride through space ; made \nthe trip in safety ; saw their friends ; told the good news to all \nthey could, and returned to their blessed homes again. And thus \nwas established the first express route between heaven and earth, \nand their example has been followed to the present hour. \n\nOriginally the zone was but a few hundred miles across ; it \'-ex- \npanded, however, continually, \xe2\x80\x94 the finer substances at the center, \nthe coarser near the edges. It is graded, as are those above\'~l*k \nEven the earth is not a lump of dead matter, but is a living organ- \nism, with the tides for its pulse, volcanoes for its breathing appa- \nratus, its gastric juice is white fire, and forests are its hair. Its \nsurface constantly becomes more porous, and penetrable to astral, \nlunar, solar, and spiritual (ethereal and ethyllic), influences from \nthe external ; while its internal heats, its wonderful chemical ac- \ntion upon its own substance, its evolution of gases, its refining \nretorts, and man\'s handiwork, materially modify it year by year ; \nand its superficial magnitude continually enhances and increases ; \nas in fact is the case with other planets of the solar system. Even \nour moon\'s actual diameter will show a sensible increase over \nmeasurements taken a\' century ago. Especially is this true of \nVenus and Mercury, both of which, with the earth, are receding \nfrom the sun to make room both for the small planet that revolves \nnearer the sun than any other, and for the tremendous fiery ring \nere long to be cast off from the sun, and which, as with the case \n\n\n\n190 after death; \n\nof all the comets belonging to this solar world, will one day con- \nsolidate into earths like this. \n\nOn the zone the people naturally divided off first into two, and \nthen three, and finally into seven classes, representing so many \ngrades of intelligence, and as they advanced in these respects, new \nlaws came into play, and orderly development speedily followed. \nAs the superficies of the zone increased, and the people advanced \nin knowledge and numbers, each division again divided by seven, \nand again into sub-sections. There was a time when the highest \nsociety was not equal to the intelligence and refinement of the \ngrog-shop philosophers of the present day. And the time will \ncome when the lowest society there will be higher, more intelligent \nand refined than any collection of people now on earth, even if \nselected especially for the contrast. "What, then, will be the \nseraphic development and condition of the highest sections of the \nseventh grand division? Of the seven grades of the second zone? \n\xe2\x80\x94 the next ? \xe2\x80\x94 the next ? \xe2\x80\x94 the last ? \xe2\x80\x94 of the solar zones ? Stop ! \nHuman imagination can no further go ! That the same relative \ndistances separate minds is certain ; and that progress is alike \noperative in all parts of the human universe is as true as figures \nthemselves, and is known to us by reason, revelation, inspection, \nanda intromission. \n\n\'\xe2\x80\xa2To-day I saw the sides of the first zone clearly. It resembled \nmottled marble ; it was clear, palpable, and seemingly quite solid. \n\nThe question is asked : Would it be possible for the earth to \nbe hurled out into open space from the centre and embrace of its \nencircling girdles ? Could it fall through ? and if so, what would \nbecome of the zones ? I answer : Nothing short of an utter shat- \ntering of the globe could alter its relations to the girdle. But if \nthat should occur then the zone would sail away to, and become \nincorporated with, the sphere of the planet nearest like its own, \nwhich in our case would be that of Mars, to whose societies all our \nspiritual people would instantly be transferred. This has already \noccurred, for the sphere of the lost planet has become part and \nparcel of Jupiter\'s sphere, and constitutes ohe of his visible belts. \n\nThus, having answered the questions propounded, let us now \nresume our subject. \n\n(aa) We take another flight across the glorious country, and \narrive within the boundaries of the sixth grand division of earth\'s \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 191 \n\nspiritual girdle. Human language is all too poor to do justice to \nthe more than auroral magnificence of the magic realms we are \ndaring to approach ; and yet, ineffable thought ! supremely glori- \nous and superlatively gorgeous though it is, and so far, so very \nfar, transcending human conceptions here, of blest Utopias and \nbright arcadias, it is not even the half-way house for human pil- \ngrims on their everlasting journey through the heavens. \n\nThe scene is semi-equatorial ; it is entirely different from any- \nthing beneath, either on the earth or in the spheres ; and at first \nview it seems impossible that there can possibly be nobler men, \nmore lovely women, fairer children, happier people or delightful \nsituation. The extreme breadth of this division greatly exceeds \nthat of any of those at which we have glanced. \n\nThe transcendent beauty, intellectual power, dignity, and maj- \nesty of the teeming myriads of our brothers and sisters who dwell \nin this celestial region, exceed all human powers of description. \nWhile gazing at the glowing scene, a mystery was revealed to me, \nnamely : It was given me to know the sphere, division, grade, or \nsection, to which any man or woman on the earth interiorly per- \ntains and belongs ; and to know that the signs are printed plainly \nboth upon human hands and faces. This is a new branch of \nTirau-clairism ; and by seeing either a person or a three-quarter \nportrait, and a portrait of the left hand, I am absolutely certain \nof being able to decide to what sphere, grade, division, section, \norder, or fraternity, such persons may belong ; for the information \nis printed upon them just as plainly as is any one of their features \nwhich all may see. The knowledge then and thus acquired is \none of the branches of science taught in the schools of this grand \ndivision. \n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI. \n\nTHE SIXTH GRAND DIVISION OF SPIRIT LAND \xe2\x80\x94 THINGS TAUGHT THERE \xe2\x80\x94 THE ORIGIN \nOF ALL MATTER \xe2\x80\x94 THE LOST PLEIAD FOUND \xe2\x80\x94 A LIGHTLESS SUN \xe2\x80\x94 THE LAW OF \nPERIODICITY \xe2\x80\x94 SOUL-STORMS \xe2\x80\x94 CREDO \xe2\x80\x94 A NEW REVELATION OF A MOST ASTOUND- \nING CHARACTER \xe2\x80\x94 THE SEVENTH GRAND DIVISION OF MORNING LAND \xe2\x80\x94 ITS SUPER- \nLATIVE GLORIES \xe2\x80\x94 WILL MAN LOSE HIS IDENTITY IN THE GODHEAD? \xe2\x80\x94 A MOURNFUL, \nYET GLORIOUS FACT \xe2\x80\x94 A HOME FOR ALL, ALL BREAKING, BLEEDING HEARTS, ALL \nSORROW-LADEN SOULS \xe2\x80\x94 A NEW REVELATION CONCERNING SLEEP \xe2\x80\x94 WHY A SPIRIT \n\nCANNOT BE DISMEMBERED \xe2\x80\x94 CURIOUS \xe2\x80\x94 THE COMING MAN MISCEGENATION \xe2\x80\x94 SOUL\'S \n\nFLIGHT TO THE SOLAR ZONE AND SECOND GIRDLE. \n\nIn all cases these divisions are discreted and in no sense con- \ntinuous. There are unappropriated tracts or sections separating \nthem ; there are stated routes or passage-ways leading from each \nsection and division on one side of the equator to the correspond- \ning ones on the other, and above and below. \n\nThe fauna and flora there are beautiful beyond comparison. \nThey cannot be likened unto any corresponding existence ever \nseen elsewhere. The trees are vocal with melody beyond descrip- \ntion, and these melodies are perfectly lawful; that is to say, lan- \nguages, ideas, and expressions that are clearly understood and \ntranslatable by the human people there-away. The architecture \nis wholly indescribable by reason of its magnificence, its grand \nsimplicity, and the infinite diversities of form, of its myriad pal- \naces, and dwelling-places, exceeding in size, material, and beauty, \nanything yet imagined upon earth. They, in material, resemble \nnothing so much as a soap-bubble inflated to the collapsing point, \nfor they contain and reflect a thousand kaleidoscopic hues , shim- \nmering gloriously in the pearly light of Aidenn. Vast theatres, \nmuseums, colleges, parks, laboratories, and universities are plen- \ntifully distributed about that auroral country. In the institutions \nof learning are taught all the arts and sciences known here, with \nmany that are yet undreamed of. Here teachers from the solar \ndivision (themselves taught by missionaries from the zones) ex- \n\n192 \n\n\n\nAFTER DEATH; OR, DISBODIED MAN. 193 \n\nplain the true principles of knowledge, through the means of the \nsolar language, \xe2\x80\x94 a perfected phonic system, in which a single \nsound stands for a single thought, and words are perfect pictures \nof even convolute ideas ; the exact theories of mental action ; \nthe true laws and gradations of matter \xe2\x80\x94 generic and special ; the \ntrue account of the imponderables, and the intricate laws govern- \ning the same ; the calculus, integral and differential of life, anti \nand prezonal ; the esoteric laws and principles of mental evolu- \ntion, as modified or caused by nervous states and physical condi- \ntions ; the seven grades of love and its forty-nine modifications ; \nmonadology ; the laws of chemical, mechanical, social, psychical, \nmagnetic, electric, spiritual, physical, moral, nerval, amatory, \nmental, odic, and reflective affinity ; the rationale of contra-resem- \nblances, physical, religious, moral, political, natural, spontaneous, \nand acquired ; the wonderful law of differentiation. Here also \ngeology is taught in its purity ; as also spirit\'s departure toward, \nand its return from, matter ; how there is but one single base to \nmatter in all, especially its metallic, forms and modes ; how that \none base, associated with from one to six or seven gaseous accom- \npaniments, constitutes the various metals known to man ; as iron \nthree, silver four, gold five, and so on ; different proportions de- \ntermining the characters of the various metallic substances ; here \nis taught why and how heat is but a mode of motion ; how fire is \nbut another form of it ; how fire is spiritual substance in violent \naction, in its last analysis, whose efficient cause is in God himself : \nhere is taught how and why all matter is but one form or mode of \nspirit ; that all solar bodies were first material germs from the \nabyss, and then immense spheres of ethyl in violent motion ; then \ntremendous globes of incandescent vapor ; that all suns discharge \ntheir cooling crusts in annular rings, which subsequently conglo- \nbate into nascent planets, the outermost of which rotate and revolve \ngenerally on the plane of the former solar periphery, the interven- \ning distance being developed by mutual recession and condensa- \ntion, consequent upon their irradiation of heat. Secondly, in an- \nnular rings, which being denser at given points, impel the entire \nfiery mass through space, as comets, themselves destined to be- \ncome planets in due process of time ; and these are the reasons \nwhy all the planets of this system are in the plane of the zodiacal \nzone, not far from the line of the solar equator ; and herein also is \n25 \n\n\n\n194 AFTER DEATH; \n\nseen why the equators of both sun and earth, and therefore their \npoles are constantly shifting, more or less ; why the earth requires \nover sixteen thousand years to complete one cycle in space, \nequi-different from its axial and orbital revolutions, many of \nwhich are accomplished while the sun is making a single revo- \nlution around his distant centre, in the awful period already stated \nin this essay. I may here say that the dark sun near the path of \nAlcyone, was not always so, but is what is known to astronomy as \n" the lost Pleiad," because a few centuries ago its light faded, for \nreasons easily explainable, but not necessary to this treatise. It \nmay be treated of in a future work dedicated to a description of \nthe Planes Beyond. \n\nIn the institutions the laws of motion, gravitation, magnetism, \nelectricity, heat, light, polarization, are taught, statically and \ndynamically. Meteorology, cometology, and all solar and planet- \nary laws are explained. Ascending to other educational institu- \ntions, we find that vast hosts of people are instructed in the high- \ner branches of social science, and they find out for the first time \nthat the law of periodicity is an eternal, unvarjdng one, operative \nalike, in all departments of the physical, moral, mental, social, and \npsychical universes. They see, for the first time clearly, why a \ncertain word will occur just so often exactly beneath another word \njust like it in writing, why we are at stated periods more like \ndevils than angels ; why storms prevail in the soul as in the air ; \nand learn for the first time that all mental, social, and moral evo- \nlution follow laws of periodicity as regularly as the seasons or \nany other physical phenomena. . Here they learn that the Egyp- \ntians did not build the Pyramids, but that they were erected thou- \nsands of years before the existence of the people so-called ; that \nthere have been four preceding eras of civilization starting from \nthe people of This, Memphis, and Philoe; thatlsis, Osiris, Brahma, \nand Gautama are comparatively modern people, therefore that \nk< Adam " was not the first man by ten thousand generations, and \nthat all these epochs of civilization are discreted from each other \nby interregnums of not less than five thousand years each ; that \nthe earth may be said to be periodically renewed, and that the \ncivilization in existence at the beginning of the earth\'s epoch (six- \nteen thousand solar years in length) is invariably replaced by \nanother of a different genus at its termination. \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 195 \n\nIn all these, and a thousand more similarly novel, useful, and \ndelightsome studies, the people of this blissful region find them- \nselves much more profitably employed than they possibly could be \nin tooting on any number of horns, silver, or copper, or in playing \neverlasting Old Hundreds on golden harps for the special delecta- \ntion of the Presbyterian God ! \n\nThe entire career of human kind in the series of divisions and \nsections here treated of, are but so many ascending. grades or classes \nin what may properly be called the great university of man\'s second \nstage of existence, the highest, or graduating class of which, is that \nof the seventh or equatorial grand division. \n\nOn earth we are merely rudimentary at best, and are only \nprimary pupils at the highest. On the zones we enter and pass \nthrough the preparatory or intermediate grades, and graduate \nfrom the last department into the Freshman classes of God\'s \ngreat college in another sphere of being. That college is the \nlimitless universe, material and ethereal. Every successive stage \nof human career is but an ascensive step from one class of that \ncollege to another ; but the graduating point of all is what neither \nman nor angels know, simply for the reason that they are not \nomniscient or ubiquitous, \xe2\x80\x94 both of which are prerogatives that \nbelong to the great mystery, or God, alone. \n\nAnd yet I have much that I could truly say, concerning human \nkind in the upper worlds of space, infinitely surpassing in marvel- \nlous truth the loftiest fact, idea, conception, or revelation herein set \nforth, or that ever yet fell from my tongue or pen. It may happen \nthat some reputed seer may dispute the correctness of that herein, \nor hereafter to be, revealed ; yet, let this be as it may, I have re- \nvealed nothing but truth precisely as I saw it, and as it has been \nhanded down to me from hundreds of actors in the scenes de- \nscribed. \n\nThe creed I believe in, and which is essentially that of the \nhighest circle in the world above us, is the same as that announced \nin the 13th century by the Abbe Porteus of Xeres, in Spain. It \nhas scarcely been equalled, never surpassed, by the loftiest phi- \nlosophers of earth or Aidenn. This creed I here transcribe, and \ncommend to all mankind as the most perfect yet evolved from the \nhuman intellect, and when it shall be that of all mankind we may \nlook for the speedy advent of the good time coming. \n\n\n\n196 after death; \n\n(bb) I believe in God, the universal law, the all-pervading spirit, \nomnipotent, omnipresent, immutable, infinite, and eternal ; ruling the \nprocesses of all existing things with wisdom, regularity, harmony, and \nperfection, and causing all these things to exert themselves for good. \n\nI believe that there is no evil in the world save that arising \nfrom obstructions to the processes of nature, and that upon these \nobstructions a penalty is imposed ; but that the processes possess- \ning within themselves a corrective power, the evil is corrected, and \nthe result is good. I believe that it is our duty to do all the good \nwe can, and to avoid evil, by conforming to the regularities and \nharmonies of nature ; and this ? not for the hope of reward or fear \nof punishment, but in deep love and reverence of the Supreme \nEuler of all existing things. This matchless creed, it seems to me, \nembraces " the whole duty of man." \n\n(cc.) In the sixth grand division worship is crystallized, and \nassumes a higher tone and form than is yet known to, or con- \nceivable by, earthly man. Music exists in a state of perfection not \nto be described in the cold, dull drapery of words ; and in that \nsphere man first obtains an inkling prophetic of his future sphere \nof activity, and begins to know that to be man at all is to finally \nbe a creator \xe2\x80\x94 a god \xe2\x80\x94 or even a God! In that sphere also he \nrealizes somewhat of the subtle meaning of the sentence " universal \nmarriage." Parental, social, filial, passional, fraternal, and other \nloves now begin to concrete, crystallize, and deepen into general \nand universal love ; and an exquisite, melodious harmony of affec- \ntion commences to wed the denizens of that auroral abode into a \nunion almost absolute and perfect. The diverse faculties are con- \nsolidating into one, preparatory to the unfolding of a new series \nof organs and corresponding faculties, with which mankind will \nbegin a new career when it shall have quitted the second for the \nthird stage of the immortal career ! \n\nHere Pagan, Christian, Brahminical, Buddhistic, Greek, Ma- \nhometan distinctions between men and races begin to disappear, \nand all those deaths are swallowed up in victory ! The earthly \npassions, penchants, prejudices, are all outgrown. Vast societies, \norders, communities, brotherhoods begin to mingle into one, for all \nseparative barriers are being \xe2\x96\xa0 thrown down and surmounted ; and \nall souls begin to come en rapport with the perfectly divine ; in \nconsequence of which, all the asserted and so-called " beatitudes " \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 197 \n\nand blisses of the fabled heavens of theological and ecclesiological \nlore are much, very much, more than realized. \n\n(dd) Lo ! We are approaching the seventh grand division. No \nhuman tongue or pen is equal to the description of the ineffable \nglories and grandeur of the scenes now bursting on the view ; for \neven those of the division below immeasurably surpass the wildest, \nmost roseate, and impassioned vision of sybarite, poet, or en- \nthusiastic dreamer ; and what then shall be said of this section, \nwhere all things are as superior to those, as is a garden to a bleak \nand ston3 r wilderness ! A few men, while yet embodied have been \npermitted to catch a distant glimpse of that celestial country. \nOne of these was Gautama Buddha, who called it the seventh \nBrahma-loka, and who believed it not only to be the supreme and \nhighest heaven, in which he was, as others have been, mistaken, \nbut he believed that there he and all others of the finally faithful \nwould attain the divine degree of Narwana; absorption into Deity. \nHe tasted of its bliss, and conceived that the next step of joy would \namount to, and result in, virtual annihilation, \xe2\x80\x94 a swallowing up \nin God, an eternal oneness with him ; a loss of personal identity ; \nan everlasting fusion, just as a d,rop of water mingles inseparably \nwith, and is forever lost in, the fathomless deeps of ocean ! In the \nsixth grand division are to be found a great many of the honored \nand revered ones of former ages, Zeno, Plato, Aristotle ; scores of \nGreek and Egyptian, Ninevite and Etruscan kings, princes, and \nnotables ; scores of thousands who never had place or name among \nthe world\'s great ; other scores of hundreds of the martyrs of all \nraces and ages, including some very celebrated ones whose names \nI forbear to mention, but whose reputations are world-wide. In \nthis same sixth division, under the inspiration of the solar division, \nthe affairs of the earthly nations are discussed, and means and \nmeasures resolved upon, and thereafter carried out, whose ultimate \nresults are the amelioration of the social, intellectual, moral, politi- \ncal, and spiritual condition of the peoples ; sometimes, as in the \ncase of Italy, Sardinia, France, Russia, Turkey, Mexico, and the \nUnited States, wars, long and bloody, are precipitated, dreadful \nwhile they last, but regenerative in final results. At other times, \nand under similar impulses, they decide to so operate upon some \nselected earthly couple, as to produce a specific and important \nresult, in the peculiar constitution of a child, whose subsequent \n\n\n\n198 AFTER death; \n\ncareer and mission is that of a hero or reformer of the world. \nThere are many men thus moulded in existence, there have been \nmany, and there will be many more. Such men are nearly always \nisolated and wretched to the last degree, seldom live long, perform \ntheir parts midst blood and\' tears, and are generally crucified at \nevery step from the cradle to the grave, yet \n\n" Departing, leave behind them \nFootsteps on the sands of Time." \n\nThe seventh grand division can have but little said of it here, \nfor the reason that it was not embraced in the general design of \nthe present work, \xe2\x80\x94 I intending to make it the subject of a chapter \nin a work sequeling this, \xe2\x80\x94 if I live to write it. \n\nWhile it abounds with human beings, it bears scarcely any re- \nsemblance to aught ever seen on earth ; .and yet I proclaim, in the \nlight of principles well-known and universally operative, that the \nlowest society of the Spirit World, next to this identical earth of \nours, will one day be in some marked respects superior to that \nresplendent zone, and then the first circle of the sixth grand divis- \nion will far exceed the highest now existing in this solar system, \nand the seventh division of the zone of that era will be \xe2\x80\x94 ah, who \ncan imagine what it will be? But this I know: that will be a \nmai-vellous epoch wherein the lowliest inhabitants of this world \nshall rank in the scale above the best, noblest, most intellectual, \nand spiritual, not only of us, here and now, but above the beatific \ndwellers of the zonal heaven, \xe2\x80\x94 the present perfect paradise of \nman! \n\nOmitting, then, till another occasion, all detailed description of \nthe people of the equatorial societies, their appearance, powers, \noccupations, studies, scenery, edifices, arts, sciences, customs, and \nsocial structure, I shall close with a few lines regarding the prin- \ncipia culminating in the ineffable glories of the solar section and \nits peoples. \n/V People from earth are not necessitated to pass through all the \nsections in regular gradation ; for many are already fitted for asso- \nciation with clubs, societies, orders, families, or communities in \nmany of the sections and sub-sections of the second and third grand \ndivisions, rarely for the fourth, and very Seldom indeed, if ever, for \nthe fifth ; occasionally there is a man or woman here who ascends \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 199 \n\ndirectly to the third section of the fourth division ; such, for in- \nstance, as Elizabeth Barret Browning, Frances S. Osgood, Letitia \nL. Landon, John Brown, of Ossawattomie, and those of that moral \nand mental stamp of all climes and ages. When persons die they \ngravitate to that particular society in any of the sections for which, \non a general average, they .are best fitted. No matter what the \npeculiarity of their specific cast, grade of mind, or personal genius \nmay be, there are people and places where they will be perfectly \nat home ; their entire development determining the precise spot in \nsociety for which they are peculiarly adapted. * \n\nThe treatment or discussion of the science of foretelling future \nevents lies not within my present design ; but that men there and \nhere can foretell things, is quite certain; only that there they see \nclearly, and not through the glimmer as do we ; hence by the ex- \nercise of that strange power they are often aware of the exact \ntime when a friend on earth is about to die, and prepare themselves \naccordingly. But in the case of one who has been and worked \nin sj\'mpathy with a special society, that society often make the \ngrandest demonstrations in celebration of his or her arrival ; those \npoor ones who have toiled through life, in the good cause of truth, \nall alone and unaided, midst thorny paths with naked feet, head \nbared to the pelting storms of undeserved sorrow and grief, hands \nall torn, hearts aching ready to burst, souls bowed down, and \nbloody sweat oozing from the brows, are happily comforted there. \n\nPreparations are made for the advent of these tired souls who \nneed so much care and rest. Cottages and palaces just suited to \nthem, and around which the lovely forms of tender hearts are flit- \nting, are prepared, and the dead-to-earth are there conducted, \nwhere sometimes they sleep on flowery couches for an entire \nmonth, during which time they are inhaling the vigor-giving at- \nmosphere of Aidenn. \n\nHaving incidentally mentioned sleep, I may as well, in a few \nwords, relate what I have recently discovered concerning that phe- \nnomena. Sleep is the result of the inhalation of a very subtile, \nethereal fluid, filling the interstices of the outer air ; it is breathed \nin by all vegetable and animal being ; its action is positive, some- \ntimes to\' the extent not only of closing all the outer avenues of sense, \nby its somnific, yet strengthening effects ; but it can render the \nentire being heedless of pain. It is a peculiar aerial fluid, gen- \n\n\n\n\xe2\x80\xa2" \n\n\n\n200 AFTER death; \n\neratecl by the friction of light upon the electro-magnetic sea above \nand around us. It is a fine, elastic, and powerful sort of mag- \nnetism ; and one of its offices is, by its friction with the nervous \nfluids, to create a peculiar form of electricity, which not only \ncharges the digestive apparatus with vital power, but effects the \nchange of food, etc., into tissue. All things grow in sleep ; all \nthings waste without it. One step more : No two particles in the \nhuman body touch at all ; no two atoms contact. The spirit in \nman is a reticulated structure, \xe2\x80\x94 a very fine sieve, whose particles, \nso to speak, touch at seven points. They are star-shaped, and \ntheir contact at these points is absolute. Through this network \ncirculation goes on. It remains so forever, only that after death \nthe interstices become exceedingly minute. \n\nEvery part of the body in life is full of minute cells, to the \n\' number of quadrillions ; and as the life-principle, rendered polar, \nand charged with elemental force, so the sleep-principle rushes along \nthe myriad-telegraph system of the body, each one of these cells \nbecomes filled therewith, and we become stronger and refreshed. \nThese cells are so many galvanic retorts, and they manufacture \ntheir contents, \xe2\x80\x94 the coarser into flesh, blood, bone, hair, nails, \nlymph, saliva, pancreatic juices, milk, tears, and so on, \xe2\x80\x94 while \nthe finer is converted into lochia, sperm, prostatic liquid, and \nspirit, the crystallized, immortal man ; and nearly all this while \nslumber seals the senses. When the supply in these cells gives \nout, generally those of the brain and nervous centres first, they \nimmediately yearn for more, and we grow " sleepy." "When full \nor nearly so again, we awaken ; when partially full only, we dream ; \nand this, in short, is a true philosophy and rationale of sleep, \nand is here first given to the world. \n\nIn the entire categories of spiritual worlds, spontaneity takes \nthe place of repression here, and all effort has a direct tendency \ntoward the correction of angularities, eccentricities, and those gen- \neral and special insanities which characterize all civilized people \nmore or less, especially those concerning social life and marriage. \nIn the higher departments there, human love between the sexes is \namative, magnetic, spiritual, and even propagative, but of ideas \nand higher states, not offspring, or young spirits. But generally \nthose people expand soonest who were parents on the earth. Wo- \nman there, as here, is the highest form and embodiment of love ; \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 201 \n\nand the expression thereof is the source of the soul\'s most thrilling \njoy. There lies the fountain of all human pleasure, the eternal \nspring of all progress and effort in the field of discovery ; for inves- \ntigation would count but little but for her smile\'s reward ; and ex- \nertion were tiresome but for her appreciation and encouragement. \nThe secret of heaven is to be a true law unto one\'s self, on \nearth, and in the arching skies. All in the higher divisions know \nfull well that law against Nature is law against God ; that to \'be \nin harmony with all surroundings is to tap perennial springs from \nwithin, whose murmuring waters bear joy-bubbles to every part \nand hall of being ; that the law of sex is the law of power and in- \nspiration ; hence they love one another; and unless the sex-love, \nand philoprogenitive nature be developed on earth and unfolded \nin the heavens, human progress is far less swift and sure. . These \nare basic loves, the rich and fruitful soil whence spring luxuriant \naftergrowths of myriad joys and pleasures. Some trumpet-tongued \nson of God will yet spring from the bosom of the people here, well \nfitted for his work, and he will tell the world, in tones not to be \nmistaken, that man and woman have, among other inalienable \nrights, that of being truly and thoroughly known by all others, and \nof being justly rated and read. The table of contents of the human \nsoul may be found under the head-line "Love;" and whoso thor- \noughly understands the index will easily turn to the proper leaf. \nHe will tell them that men and women must have love, and of the \nright sort, too, and that failing to obtain it they peddle themselves \nupon life\'s highways for a sorry substitute, painfully realizing that \na lean and poor, is far better than no love at all. He will, per- \nchance, demonstrate that one of the causes of prostitution and \ncrime \xe2\x80\x94 and a very efficient one too \xe2\x80\x94 may be found springing \nfrom one of the holiest fountains of the human soul ; but turned \naside by "obstructions," and rendered foul and turbid by reasou \nof the murk and slime through which it is forced to flow, in \nthe fens and swamps of miscalled " social " life. In that day that \nman will plead with heaven\'s eloquence, for the poor harlot, the \nthief, and lowly-organized and worse-cared-for and instructed ones \nof the world ; echoing the divine words of the man of Bethlehem, \n" Son, daughter ! neither do I condemn thee ! Go tlry way, and \nsin no more ! " Oh, the inestimable power and blessings resident \nin one kind\'word ! That man, as a man, will point the race to the \n26 \n\n\n\n202 AFTER death; \n\ntrue causes and the cure of crime. World, hail that conquering \nhero here when he comes ! Behold I, who am not worthy to un- \nloose his shoes, proclaim him to be now coming to meet us on the \nway! \n\nThe laws and operations of Nature are from unity to diversity, \nand forward, not back, again to unity. Probably all families \nstarted from single pairs ; increased and diversified into classes, \nfinally consolidating into different nations, developing various \nlanguages, habits, customs, genius, and modes of thought, relig- \nious and intellectual. All human speech started from monosyllabic \nsounds, at first phonetic, and gradually changing as human wants \nmultiplied and ingenuity suggested modifications and improve- \nments. Thus it developed into different forms of speech, \xe2\x80\x94 the \ntwo great classes, Iranian and Turanian, finally consolidating into \nthe crystalline and concrete English, \xe2\x80\x94 the culmination of them \nall. As with their speech, so with the speakers ; they inter- \nmingled, and each cross improved the blood and stamina intel- \nlectually and constitutionally, until, as on this northern continental \nsection of the globe, the race is rapidly blending and making the \nconcrete man, or perfect miscegen ; for here all bloods are inter- \nmingling. All human faculties start from similar unitary points, \nas do all animated things from the simple cell. The mere animal \ninstinct of feeding \xe2\x80\x94 a unit \xe2\x80\x94 develops as the child grows, \xe2\x80\x94 \nwhether that child be an individual or a young species or nation. \nFood, in either case, begets strength and the desire to provide, \nwhich in turn suggests appropriate means of gratifying the wants. \nAnd so the person or nation grows until a single power has be- \ngotten a hundred new ones, and mere animal wants have increased \nthe mentality to the extent of a hundred faculties or more ; all of \nwhich consolidate toward unity again ; but a unity embracing \nthem all under the grand name of intuition, or clear-seeing, in all \nthe hundred directions ; or faculty-windows of the mind ! In the \nfirst five grand divisions man\'s faculties spread, concrete, diver- \nsify, there being but a slight degree of crystallization in the last, \n\xe2\x80\x94 where he just begins to ripen and be generally intuitive, or in- \nstant-seeing and much-knowing. In the sixth, the faculties have \nan unmistakable tendency toward consolidarity, oneness, or unity, \na perfect and complete blending or fusion of the whole into one \nextraordinary, intellectually, ubiquitous, comprehending central \n\n\n\nOB, DISBODIED MAN. 203 \n\npower or faculty. This wonderful change continues through the \ncareer of the seven sections of the equatorial division or solar sec- \ntion of the first zone, and this goes on until in the last period of \nhis stay in the last section he again reaches unity, \xe2\x80\x94 that is to say, \nall his separate organs or faculties are blended into one grand \nfaculty or oneness, and he becomes all knowing of everything be- \nneath and around him, except, of course, himself. Finally, he \nreaches the highest possible perfection attainable there, \xe2\x80\x94 becomes \nmore than we imagine of archangel or seraph ; earth can give him \nno more ; he has exhausted all that that zone can impart, and he \nprepares, not to die, but to slumber awhile, during which he takes \nhis everlasting flight from that glorious sphere, as a permanent \nresident, to far loftier ones in the ascending series, until he reaches \nthe incomprehensible grandeur of the solar zone, whereof in future \ndays I may be permitted to speak. \n\nArrived at the second girdle of earth, he finds it divided and \nsectioned off into sevens, as before ; but now he has, as a new- \nborn child, \xe2\x80\x94 on reaching that marvellous world, \xe2\x80\x94 but one single \nfaculty, but that one is the crystallized, consolidated unitization of \nhundreds theretofore developed on his amazing pilgrimage through \ntwo worlds. And now from that amazing unity, with that tremen- \ndous capital he goes on, \xe2\x80\x94 for remember he starts from the low- \nest grade of his new state, \xe2\x80\x94 he goes on to a new diversity, to \nthe development of other hundreds of faculties, far greater than \nthat mighty one with which he sets out ; with that capital he \naccumulates mental and spiritual riches in profuse abundance, \ncontrasted with which all his other accumulations were poverty it- \nself ! What these latter are, their nature and direction, I may \nstate at another time. \n\nThe man goes on and upward, section by section, grade after \ngrade, division succeeding division, till he reaches the sixth, \nwhereat the same law of unitization from diversity again comes in \nplay, a new ripening begins, another unitization commences, re- \nsulting in "another crystallization into unitary faculty and power. \nIn the seventh section of the last division of this second zone or \ngirdle, all these tremendous powers, qualities, and faculties con- \nverge and blend and mingle into one. He has again reached the \nplane of unity, \xe2\x80\x94 has become as a God. And now a stupendous \nfact. When he shall have received all that he can in even that re- \n\n\n\n204 AFTER DEATH; \n\nsplendent stage of his career, he has but two faculties developed ; \nbut these two are inconceivable to mortal man. He is destined to \ndevelop as many of these as he did those of earth, \xe2\x80\x94 whose num- \nbers are over one hundred. A greater fact still : When he shall \nhave as many of those royal powers unfolded as he had of primary \nfaculties, all these will in turn consolidate into unity, and he will \nbegin a career totally inconceivable by the loftiest imagination on \nearth, except from actual revelation and intromission under the \nmost favorable circumstances. \n\nEven after we shall have exhausted all the grand and unutterable \nglories and ineffabilities of the earth and all its encircling zones, \nour career is but just begun, as I could, were permission accorded, \neasily and triumphantly demonstrate. But the time may yet \ncome. ... Thus it is in one sense, most unreservedly and \nemphatically true that, \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n" When we\'ve been there ten thousand years, \nBright shining as the sun, \nWe\'ve no less days to sing God\'s praise \nh Than when we first begun." \n\n\n\nIt is a happj\' thought that, after all our trials and sufferings and \nsorrows here ; after all the war, bloodshed, and carnage, deceit \nand slander, treachery and ingratitude of this world, and the lives \nwe are compelled to lead, we shall one day pass over the boun- \ndary, and find our pathway illumined by the sun of certainty, rest, \nand happiness, on the further shore ! \n\nThe days of priestcraft and eolism are numbered, and those of \npositive revelation are already dawning. They herald the coming \njubilee ; and in the noontide of that day all sin will be overcome \nof practical, unbought righteousness. \n\n" In that new childhood of the world, \n\nLife of itself shall dance and play ; v \n\nFresh blood through Time\'s shrunk veins be hurled, \nAnd labor meet delight half way." \n\nGod himself is now speaking unmistakably to his children, both \nby the logic and speech of events, and through the lips of the tri- \numphantly risen dead, bidding them rise from their sloth and folly \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 205 \n\nto the house not made with hands. It is a blessed thought that \nour real trials cease with death, and that our truest, best, and \nhighest education begins after we quit these frail bodies, and this \nscene of strife and confusion, suspicion and distrust. \n\nThus my present task is finished, and it only remains to review \nthe unwise positions and declarations of a class of misled and mis- \nleading teachers of the people. \n\n[Note. \xe2\x80\x94 In reference to a point broached in the foregoing, I \nsubmit the subjoined, from a recent British work, \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n" Planets Destroyed. \xe2\x80\x94 The belief that the world is ultimately \nto be destroyed by fire is supported by the discovery that such a \nfate has befallen far larger planets than ours. French astrono- \nmers assert that no fewer than fifteen hundred fixed stars have \nvanished from the firmament within the last three hundred years. \nTycho Brahe gives an interesting account of a brilliant star of the \nlargest size, which, on account of its singular radiance, had be- \ncome the special object of his daily observation for several months, \nduring which the star gradually became paler, until its final disap- \npearance. La Place states that one of the vanished fixed stars of \nthe Northern hemisphere afforded undoubtable evidence of having \nbeen consumed by fire. At first the star was dazzling white, next \nof glowing red and yellow lustre, and finally it became pale and \nof an ashen color. The burning of the star lasted sixteen months, \nwhen this sunny visitor, to which perhaps a whole series of planets \nmay have owed allegiance, finally departed and became invisible."] \n\n\n\nNOTE CONCERNING MAGIC MIRRORS AS A MEANS OF BEHOLDING \n\nSUPERNAL VERITIES. \n\nt \n\nThe famous Dr. Dee, of London, and thousands of others before him, \nand since, too, used a plate of -polished cannel coal, and other similar \nobjects, as an instrument whereby to scan spiritual mysteries. Some \nsturdy, matter-of-fact people in these days laugh at the idea of an oval \nconcave, black mirror enabling a person to see spiritual realities ; but I \ncan produce hundreds of persons, right here in America, who will testify \nto the absolute and startling reality and truth of what Dee and others \nclaim in that regard. Says one of the first seers that ever lived, \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n\n\n206 AFTER DEATH ; OR, DISBODIED MAN. \n\n"What if upon the Mirror\'s face serene \n\nYour lot in life be written ? What, if its pearly sphere \n\nDisclose to mental view the far and dark unseen ? \nThis seemeth strange, yet doth to me appear. \n\nI, far events can often clearly presage, \n\nAnd in my thrice sealed, dark, prospective glass \n\nForesee what future days shall bring to pass. \n\n" There, various news I learn, of love and strife, \nOf peace and war, health, sickness, death, and life; \nOf loss and gain, of famine and of store ; \nOf storms at sea, and travels on the shore ; \nOf business speculation, good luck in the air; \nOf when to stop, or go; \'gainst danger to prepare; \nOf turns of fortune; changes in the State; \nThe fall of favorites; projects of the great. \n\n"the Mystical \n\nHath been to me a more familiar face \n\nThan that of woman, \xe2\x80\x94 man ; and in its solemn school \n\nOf dim and solitary discipline, \n\nLearned I the languages of other peopled worlds." \n\nAnd scarce a week goes by that I have not to select mirrors for people \nwho prefer to pursue that ancient route to clairvoyance. The days of \ncrystal-seeing are not yet past, and in my opinion the interior spiritual \nvision can be more easily and quickly attained in that way, than by the \nslower process of mesmeric induction, \xe2\x80\x94 certainly at less expense of \ntime, trouble, and money, for a good Tkinue glass is certainly, for mes- \nmeric purposes, worth all the mesmerists in the land, to say nothing of \nthe avoidance of the known dangers of mesmerization, \xe2\x80\x94 a practice to \nwhich I am opposed on grounds easily seen and understood. \n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIL* \n\nA PHILOSOPHICAL ERROR CORRECTED \xe2\x80\x94 CONCLUSION. \n\nWithin a few brief years many, very many novel and exceed- \ningly strange, not to say hurtful, ideas and notions have sprung \nup, to challenge attention and demand analysis ; nor have they \nfailed to impress themselves upon the plastic front of this, the \nmost remarkable age, and eventful epoch, of the great world\'s his- \ntory. No notion, theory, hypothesis, or statement, no matter \nhow wild, immoral, obscene, or ridiculous, but will find some to \naccept and believe it, even with all its palpable absurdities. Uto- \npianisms, of all sorts and kinds, are rife to-day in the public mind. \nStrange, wild vagaries abound on all sides ; and we encounter ex- \ntremes of the most violent description, turn whithersoever we may. \nIn fact, as a general rule, the wilder the vagary, the more it de- \nparts from common sense and innate respectability, the more \ncertain it is to attract attention and enlist recruits, \xe2\x80\x94 so deeply \nruns the abnormal vein through the bodies politic, social, philo- \nsophic, and religious. Sinners of all sorts, but more especially \nthose with penchants toward a particular kind of license, have al- \nways been on the qui vive for plausible excuses for their derelic- \ntions from the path of common honesty and moral and personal \nrectitude. Nor have the so-called philosophers of the times been \nat all backward or slow in the work of supplying these excuses. \nEvery sort and species of villany is, in these days, attempted to \nbe based upon \xe2\x80\x94 Sacred Scripture. Your Mormon "seals" a \ndozen or two wives, according to Scripture ; your affinity man -or \nwoman claims holy inspiration as his or her warrant for infracting \nevery social law; the Perfectionist who lives in " complex mar- \nriage " with two hundred and seventy-four \xe2\x80\x94females \xe2\x80\x94 (for to \ncall them women were a desecration of that holy name ! ) tells you \n\n* The substance of this chapter was originally published under the nom de plume of \nCynthia Temple. \n\n207 \n\n\n\n208 AFTER death; \n\nthat " the true Church of Christ constitutes one great soul ; " and \nthat the union between its members, of right, ought to be of the \nmost intimate character. And these people have the effrontery to \nassert that in so doing they are but following out the example and \nprecept of Jesus the Blessed ! People there are by thousands \nwho seek to so freely translate texts of Scripture, or philosophical \nstatements, that they can go on doing just as passion prompts, \nand yet apparently not transcend the law. Language, in these \ndays, is twisted and distorted to such an extent, that one can \nhardly affirm that black is black, or that two and two are four, lest \nsome so-called reformer or transcendental genius steps forth, and \nin a long disquisition proves to you that " black is not black, for \nthe simple reason that the sheen upon which the eye strikes is in- \nvariably white ; and that so far from two and two being four, they \nare really only three, because the mind can never conceive of sim- \nilarities. There are no absolute resemblances in figures, volume, \nor anj^thing else ; wherefore two and two must make either more \n\nor less than four ! " \n\ni \n\n" And so with words the fellow plays, \nTalks much, yet still he nothing says." \n\nSophistry reigns king to-day, and rules it with a strong hand \nover every domain of human life, and human endeavor and in- \nterest. There are those who will give you a "moral law" and \nScriptural authority for the commission of every crime in the en- \ntire calendar. There are others who take refuge behind the walls \nof an exploded Optimism ; call aloud to the passer-by ; bid him \nor her take full advantage of the times ; eat, drink, and be merry, \nfor " Whatever is is Bight)" \xe2\x80\x94 itself, in so far forth as human \nlife, interest, and action are concerned, one of the most pestilent \nfallacies, and philosophical absurdities, that ever seduced a human \nbeing from the paths of moral rectitude and virtue. The abomi- \nnable notion has gone forth, and to-day is slowly but surely not \nonly sapping the foundations of domestic and social happiness, \nbut is certainly infusing its deadly miasma over all the land. \n\nPeople in these days talk much of " liberty," when there is al- \nready too much freedom in some respects; for "philosophers" \n(Heaven save the mark !) have talked so much of liberty to do this, \nand liberty to do the other, that instead of wearing the goddess\' \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 209 \n\ncrown, she has of late been clothed in the wanton\'s cap and robe. \nVirtue has seceded from liberty ; and vice, for a time, has usurped \nher throne ; but, with Heaven\'s aid, we trust to drive her from the \nseat. \n\nWithin a comparatively recent period, the Popeish doctrine that \nwhatever exists is just as the Eternal One decreed and designed, \nhas gone forth to the wide world under the express sanction of \nmore than one pseuclo great and honored name ; and it has re- \nceived the implied, if not the direct, countenance of scores of \nothers, not a few of whom call themselves thinkers, philosophers, \nand philanthropists. This dogma, as it is (and it cannot fail to be \npopularly understood), is the most formidable and dreadful bat- \ntery ever levelled against human happiness from the frowning ram- \nparts of hell itself; for, while apparently encouraging a reliance on \nthe goodness of our heavenly Father, it in reality sets a high pre- \nmium on vice, and is the direct result of the most appalling and \ndreadful enginery of error, attacking man, as it does, in his weak- \nest points, and throwing a glamour over the moral sense which at \nonce shuts out the benign light of all that is pure, and good, and \ntrue. It is the grpat gun of wickedness, \xe2\x80\x94 ignores all human re- \nsponsibility, fosters all sorts of iniquity, prolongs the reign of evil, \nretards the dawn of righteousness, makes a person a mere natural \nmachine, stultifies the moral sense, sears the conscience, libels na- \nture, blasphemes the Infinite, panders to the basest of all appe- \ntites and prejudices, dethrones the virtues, and inaugurates discord \nand error. It tears down at a single effort every rampart of do- \nmestic virtue, and becomes the authoritative warrant for license \nof every sort, and for every kind of wrong-doing, libertinism, and \nprofligac3 r , that barbarous minds can invent. \n\nSurely, something can, and ought to be clone, to extract the \nfangs of this viper, and to send it back writhing to its home, \namong all the other festering falsehoods of the past ages ; to send \nit back to associate with all other foul and loathsome things that \nhave ever cursed the earth. \n\nMay the world have a safe and speedy deliverance from this last \nnew pirate ! At all events, I feel called upon to do my part to- \nward this most desirable end ; and every man who remembers the \nword \' : mother," and recalls all the holy memories which cluster \naround it, \xe2\x80\x94 every man who has a sister, or presses an innocent \n\n\n\n210 AFTER DEATH; \n\ndaughter to his heart, will gladly become my helper in this impor- \ntant labor. \n\nIn a certain merely material aspect of the subject, it is undoubt- \nedly true that "whatever is is right;" but when the venue is \nchanged to intellectual, social, moral, religious, and domestic \ngrounds, then the affirmation is as foreign to the truth as any false- \nhood well can be. Take the civilized world at large, and not over \nten persons in every one hundred can or will comprehend, or rest \ncontented with the higher and nobler definition of the great pos- \ntulate, but a postulate only on the material, climatic, and other \nphysical planes. On the contrary, if you affirm in the presence of \none hundred persons that " it is all right," ten to one but that \nninety of them will secretly roll the knowledge up, and profit by \ntheir \xe2\x80\x94 not your \xe2\x80\x94 intended definition thereof. It is human na- \nture to take advantage of everything that promises to cut the re- \nstraining cords, and permit a looseness of action, thought, and \nsentiment. There are scores of thousands in this vast empire, \nwho, upon learning that the so-called great men and women of the \nworld have asserted that all actions and all things are right and \nproper, will clap their hands in jubilance, and secretly, if not \nopenly, avail themselves of the sophism to drive with a loose rein \nalong the roads of life ; do all sorts of evil things ; give passion \nand prejudice full scope and play, and do their utmost to gratify \nself, heedless of the certain consequences that must accrue to \nthemselves as individual integers of society, or to community as a \nwhole. What care they if the walks and ways of life are trans- \nformed into practical realizations of pandemonium, so long as \ntheir ends are served by the removal of the restrictions, every \nbarrier and mound of which is swept away by the little sentence \n"whatever is is right"? Not much, it seems to me. True it is, \nthat all men are not either villains or badly disposed ; equally \ntrue it is, that all women are not at heart unchaste ; yet, if this \nmodern doctrine be true, both may become so, and that, too, with- \nout violating any of God\'s laws ; for if they remain virtuous, it is \nall right ; if they sink into rotten filth and vice, it is all right \nstill. \n\nUnmistakably this sophism is the most dangerous one that has \nyet arisen, either within or without the ranks of Spiritualism, \xe2\x80\x94 \nthe great and prolific mother of a very singular family of ideas. \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 211 \n\nBut, it is said, the notion did not originate with those who believe \nin the advent of human spirits to the earth, and in their interfer- \nence in mundane affairs. The advocates of the dogma do not pre- \ntend it to be a revelation from the other world ; yet it cannot be \ndenied that very many of those who have been most active in \nfoisting this last absurdity on the world, are also those who be- \nlieve devoutly in the ministration of departed souls. Justice, \nhowever, must be done, and therefore it is incumbent upon me to \nsay that, notwithstanding many Spiritualists profess to believe \nthis phase of Optimism, yet itself forms no essential part of the \nSpiritual creed ; and tens of thousands of this class of thinkers, \nreject the new ism in utter scorn. Only a few have clear concep- \ntions or realizations thereof. Some people say that they most de- \nvoutly believe in infinite damnation ; heartily concur in the asser- \ntion that some are elected to reign in the courts of glory, and that \nsome are God-voted to an eternal baking, roasting, broiling, grilling \nin the deeps of hell. No doubt these people are honest ; still all \nsuch, save rarely a lunatic, consider the chances of " number one " \nas most excellent for escape from, or evasion of, the fire-doom \nwhich they feel equally assured will be the lot of their neighbors, \nthe numbers two, three, and four, and so on. Self-love rules this \nage. \n\nSaj^s G., in public confession, " Brothers and sisters, pray for \nme. I am the most heinous sinner, the vilest wretch on earth ; \nand, feeling the full enormity of\' my wickedness, I can but have a \nblessed assurance that if my just deserts were meted out, I should \nat this moment be grilling on the bars of hell, over the belching \nflames of the eternal pit, fanned by the infinite wing of God\'s jus- \ntice." Mr. G. knows that he is not uttering his real sentiments. \nHe does not believe one word of such an absurd doctrine, and only \ntalks for the purpose of trying to say something eloquent, \xe2\x80\x94 some- \nthing that shall tingle in the ears, and awake the sleeping emotions \nof his audience. Down he sits, and straightway the moderator calls \non brother H. to tell 7iis experience. Brother H. rises, and, having \na spice of satire in him, says, " As for myself, I know that I am \nless virtuous than it is possible to be. I have nothing to say con- \ncerning my soul or its conditions ; but I feel assured that every \nword uttered in regard to himself by brother G. is true, \xe2\x80\x94 every \nword of it!\'* "Why you miserable He-better, I\'m a better man \n\n\n\n212 after death; \n\nthan you any day ! " thinks, if not exclaims, brother G., in high \ndudgeon, at the idea of being supposed to believe for a single in- \nstant the unreasonable things whereof he had, but a moment since, \ndelivered himself. It is utterly impossible that he should believe \nit. Mis first speech was unnatural, and its substance false and \nhollow ; his second one was spoken from the heart, and was in all \nrespects a normal exhibition of human nature. \n\nThe advocates of the fallacy are so many brother G.s ; they \nsail in the same boat, and when weighed in the same balances, \ntested by their own doctrines, will, to a man, be found wanting, \nand practically refute their own theory. That very odd sort of \nphilosophers, who claim to be optimists, and believe that " what- \never is, is right," who " recognize neither merit nor demerit in \nsouls, have no fear of evil, devils, men, God, or angels," and who \nuse words to so little purpose, cannot for an instant stand the fire \nof honest, candid criticism. Cheat one of them out of a dollar ; \ntraduce his character ; call his wife a harlot, and his children bas- \ntards ; break his heart by all sorts of ill-usage ; and then ask him \nif it is all right ; and he will admit it to be so, \xe2\x80\x94 if I may use an \nexpressive vulgarism, \xe2\x80\x94 over the left. If he replies, "It is all \nright that those things should be done ; but it is also right that I \ndefend myself and make you suffer all I possibly can," then set \nhim down as so far non compos, for green and purple cannot be \nthe same color ; a valley and mountain cannot be the same. Such \na man is bent on riding his hobby. Like Ephraim, he is bound to \nhis idols, and the more he is let alone, the better for all con- \ncerned. \\ \n\nLogic is worth something in the affairs of the sublunaiy world. \nBy its aid we determine truth, and are enabled to detect error ; \nand whosoever ignores its canons, not only usurps the title of phi- \nlosopher, but evinces a woful want of common sense beside. \n\n" God made all things ; God is perfect ; he never makes mis- \ntakes ; ergo, \' whatever is, is right,\' proper, \xe2\x80\x94 just what it should \nbe, else God is a delusion, and Nature a blank lie." Such is a \nfair specimen of the looseness with which these modern optimists \nreason. One would think they were afflicted with something \ndenser than mere intellectual obtuseness, else they could not fail to \ndetect the glaring absurdities hidden away in the above ridiculous \nproposition. Entrenched behind that rampart, they imagine their \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 213 \n\nfortress to be impregnable ; when if they would inspect it a little \ncloser, the seeming adamant would prove to be even more flimsy \nthan brown paper. Let us see : The advocates of the doctrine \nnow being anatomized, pretend to believe most devoutly in the \ngreat " principles of progression." Now if these last do really \nexist, then their new ism is a falsehood. "Why? How? Because \nthe very fact that all things \xe2\x80\x94 man and his institutions included \n\xe2\x80\x94 have, during all past time, been ceaselessly advancing from the \nimperfect toward a higher and completer state, \xe2\x80\x94 have been, and \nstill are, steadily going ahead from bad to better, and from better \nto best, \xe2\x80\x94 proves irrefutably that God never made a perfect thing, \nnever created perfect conditions, but only planted perfectibility \nin all that he has made. Of course, then, if this be so, \xe2\x80\x94 and all \nthings abundantly prove it, \xe2\x80\x94 whatever is cannot be right ; but all \nthings are steadily moving in that direction. \n\nAccording to some people, there must be a period in a man\'s \naffairs, wherein it will be all just, and correct, and proper, for him \nto either sit calmly while some one insulates Ids head from \nhis shoulders, or for him to perform the same operation on \nanother person. There must be a time wherein it is all right and \nproper, and very fine for him, to run off with his neighbor\'s wife, \nor his ox, or his ass, or anything that is his. It will be all right \nfor him to seduce his friend\'s daughter, debauch the morals of his \nson, and to do other delectable things of the same general ilk, \xe2\x80\x94 \nsince " there\'s a time for all things." \n\nNow I broadly assert that whosoever affirms that there ever \nwas, is at present, or ever will be, a time wherein murder \xe2\x80\x94 grim, \ngaunt, spectral, red-handed, bloody-mouthed murder \xe2\x80\x94 is all right, \nis either a maniac or a fool ! And yet the oblique, if not the \ndirect effect of the promulgation of the sophism cannot but be the \npositive encouragement of that and all the other deep villanies \nGod\'s earth ever groaned under, or God\'s angels ever witnessed \nand wept over. \n\n" Oh, these things are all right to the conditions that gave birth \nto the acts you deprecate," replies the optimist, to which I rejoin, \nSir, or madam, are these conditions right? Let us probe the mat- \nter a little deeper. You are a merchant ; I enter your store to buy \nsome cloth. We differ as to the price. I am an honest woman, \nlet it be supposed ; and you think to lure me from virtue\'s path ; \n\n\n\n214 AFTEK death; \n\nand instead of conversing about calico, you talk about love and \npassion, iny red, rosy cheeks, plump figure, sparkling eye, and a \ndeal more in the same direction. Is this all right? Well, I go \nhome, and, somehow or other, my husband finds it out, and, as a \nrecompense for your gallantry, breaks nearly every bone in your \nbody ; and, in laying you on a sick-bed for a year or so, not only \nruins your business, and reduces your wife and children to beg- \ngary, but also blasts your prospects for life. Is this all right ? \nAgain : Suppose that I am a man ; that I have a quarrel with \nyou ; that, tempted sorely, urged on by a momentary but ungov- \nernable rage, I deal you a blow which sends you across the sea of \ntime to the shores of eternity in less than five minutes. Is that \nas it should have been? Come, sir optimist, speak out! Now \nthat stroke of my fist may have forever decided the question \nwhether you are thereafter to be an inhabitant of heaven, or a \ndenizen of hades. Do not fail to take this consideration into the \naccount. \n\nOf course I am arrested, jailed, tried, convicted by a deliber- \nating jury, of a deliberate homicide, for which I must be delib- \nerately choked, \xe2\x80\x94 gaspingly, horribly choked to death ! Your \nbusiness was settled in ten seconds ; mine takes as many months ; \nand, within a day or two of the final act, my ears are regaled with \nthe delicious music of the saws and hammers, busily plied in con- \nstructing the gay little platform from whence I am to step into, \xe2\x80\x94 \nah, God ! what may I not step into from that platform, if common \ntheology be true ? \n\nDuring the delightful season of my waiting, my poor soul is \nprayed to, for, with, and at. I am well fed, it is true, during the \nintervening days, weeks, and months, but I can\'t grow fat ; my \ndigestion is exceedingly poor, and I cannot eat for thinking. Ah, \nit is a terrible thing to think, under certain circumstances, yet it \nis our doom ; and in compelling man to think, God created man\'s \nheaven or his hell. Well, the day has come at last, \xe2\x80\x94 a gala day \nit is, too ; for don\'t you see the soldiers are out, in all their feath- \ners and finery ? Certes ! it is a gala day, \xe2\x80\x94 these hanging times ! \nOne would think the most fitting colors to be worn on such occa- \nsions should be black, \xe2\x80\x94 black as the heron\'s plume, \xe2\x80\x94 black as \nnight ! \n\n\'Tis a deed of darkness to be done ; \nPut out the lights, \xe2\x80\x94 conceal the sun I \n\n\n\nOB, DISBODIED MAN. 215 \n\nThere stands the monument of the civilization of the nineteenth \ncentury, \xe2\x80\x94 a gibbet. Up, up its steps I walk, \xe2\x80\x94 painfully walk, \n\xe2\x80\x94 for my arms are tied behind me. True, I am supported b}^ a \nman of God on one side, and a sheriff on the other ; one to sign my \npassport to the other world, the other to see me safely on the \nvoyage ; but the consciousness of these things makes it very pain- \nful walking up these sixteen steps. At last we reach the platform, \nand I take a look upward, \xe2\x80\x94 one last lingering look at the bright \nblue heaven above me ; but instead of it, my bulging eye-balls \nfairly crack with agony as my sight rests upon the cross-beam, to the \ncentre of which depends a short chain with one large link. I know \nthat the link is for the hook attached to one end of a rope ; the \nnoose at the other end is for my neck! Ah, God, have mercy on \nmy soul! " Time\'s up!" saj^s the Christian sheriff, "you must \nprepare to \xe2\x80\x94 die!" The military, the policemen, the "invited \nguests," and holders of tickets to the hempen opera, catch his \nwords, and a nameless thrill pervades the mass, every one of \nwhom stands there to receive a lesson in humanity, justice, mercy, \nand Christianity ! And now the rope is adjusted, the signal \ngiven ; there is a sudden chug, \xe2\x80\x94 strange colors float before my \neyes, and stranger sounds salute my hearing sense, \xe2\x80\x94 soft, low, \nsweet, dulcet sounds, \xe2\x80\x94 it may be the requiem for the dead which \nGod\'s angels sing ! \xe2\x80\x94 I am dead ! My soul has been sent upon \nits long journey at the end of a yard of rope, and my body \xe2\x80\x94 poor, \nsinful body \xe2\x80\x94 is dangling there to damn the age which sanctions \nthe deed, \xe2\x80\x94 dangles there a sickening sight, to sear the memories \nof the little host who had gone out there to see a man die, \xe2\x80\x94 to \nsee me strangled ! \n\nOf course, all these things are right, \xe2\x80\x94 are they? \xe2\x80\x94 all just what \nGod intended when he made the worlds, \xe2\x80\x94 are they ? Nonsense ! \nBut this is not all. Next day the story of my strangling is most \nminutely told in all the papers. The horripillant feast is forced \nupon scores of thousands, who read it from the fascination of hor- \nror. Out of all this mass of readers, some three or four, who are \nlife-weary, reading how " very easily" the culprit died, go straight- \nway and hang themselves, as the most expeditious and pleasant \nway to shuffle off their miseries. We are not to the end even yet ; \nfor my wife dies of a broken heart, and my children are very fre- \nquently and benevolently told that their father once upon a time \n\n\n\n216 AFTER death; \n\ndanced a hornpipe upon the empty air ; until at last the taunts and \njibes and jeers upset their reason ; they run stark staring mad ; \none commits suicide, and the other ends her days in the mad-house. \n7s all this right? Oh, but we are dealing with a glorious doctrine, \nmost assuredly ! \n\nHave we reached the end of the disastrous results springing from \nthe popular interpretation and acceptance of the All-Right doc- \ntrine? Verily, nay ! For the terrible act, the slaying of a man in \nmy anger, may have doomed me to an awful punishment in the \nworld bej\'ond, if Christian theology should happen to be true, \xe2\x80\x94 \nwhich it isn\'t! It may be, that by that act of slaying I may have \nincurred a penalty not be satisfied when ages of agony shall have \nelapsed ; and by that one single deed every facult}^ of my being \nmay have been transformed into an instrument of torture. Man- \nkind must think ; and so long as my soul is capable of thinking, \nthe memory of my awful deed must cling to me, and I be doomed \nto see the fearful drama, myself the chief tragedian, constantly \nbeing re-enacted before the mind\'s eye, until, if ever, it may please \nthe King of kings to bid my torment cease. It may be that my \nguilty soul shall be compelled to wander through all the eternal \nages yet to be, haunted by that terrible remembrance, and lashed \nto agony by the inexorable whip of remorse, \xe2\x80\x94 the racking miseries \nof a guilty conscience, \xe2\x80\x94 than which, no greater hell can be well \nconceived ! The deed was mine, and I must suffer the dreadful \npenalty ; there can be no evasion, no escape ; for a man cannot \ncommit suicide in eternit} r , \xe2\x80\x94 cannot run away from himself ! Yet \nthis murder, this execution, and all the dire consequences that \nfollow in its train, is all right ! May God have mercy on us, and \nforbid it for his own sake ! \n\nAt this point we are met with something after this style by the \nwould-be optimists : " In the light of great general principles, \neverything must be as it should. From the Infinite\'s stand-point \nwhatever is, cannot but be a right." To which I rejoin : How do \nyou know? You are not the Infinite ; and what can you know of \nthe views he entertains of man and his actions, save that, being \ngood himself, he loves to see his creatures so? \n\nNo one will, or, being sensible, can dispute the existence of cer- \ntain immutable or fixed principles, which govern all things in \nGod\'s material universe ; and, so far as dead matter and the un- \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 217 \n\nreasoning brutes are concerned, scarce a person can be found silly \nenough to deny that whatever is, is right. But it so happens that \nman belongs to neither of these categories, \xe2\x80\x94 is not a citizen of \neither of these dominions ; on the contrary, he pertains to a higher \nrealm altogether than those to which trees, stones, dogs, horses, \nsheep, goats, and oxen pertain, and wherein they begin and end \ntheir being ; yet the doctrine in question places man and all else \nin the same category. \n\nThe same things cannot be predicated of man that are justly so \nof animals. People have liberty to choose and decide ; trees and \nbrutes do not. Human beings have a sense of fitness, fairness, \nand penalty ; but I have never } r et seen a conscientious tree, nor \na dog or tiger suffering under the pangs of remorse. How hap- \npens it, if "it is all right " that we cannot elevate robbery and \nwrong to the dignity of the fine arts ? How is it that he who de- \nbauches his soul, or the souls and bodies of others, cannot sleep \nquiet o\'nights? Why will the thing called conscience be forever \nraising up the ghosts of evil deeds, to haunt the doer till the \ndeath ? \n\nGentlemen and ladies of the All-Right school, you have missed \nit this time ; for not only the moral and religious sentiments of \nthe age are against you, but it requires but a single effort of \nreason, to arouse the common sense of all the world to arms against \nthe sophistry. Nor do I care how closely you wrap yourself in \nthis new blanket, it is impossible for you to evade the law of your \nown minds, or escape the inflictions of conscience whenever that \nlaw is broken ; and this consideration and fact tells against you \nwith immense force and power. \n\n" Oh," replies the All-Right philosopher, " it is evident that you \nare a Pharisee, \xe2\x80\x94 one of the self-righteous ones, who rub their \nhands and thank God that they are not like other people ! " Well, \nI reply, if they are better, why, I say, " Good for the Pharisees ! " \nthat\'s all. But if you go on proclaiming your ism, you will be \nquite Sad-you-see, before long, provided that truth and logic are of \nmore vital stamina than their opposites ; besides which, I confess \nto a liking and respect toward him or her, who, in full view of the \ndeep rascality everywhere abounding in scores and hundreds of \nour human kinsfolk, can inwardly, truly, fully feel that himself or \nherself is really righteous, and in the heart-deeps of being, and in \n28 \n\n\n\n218 AFTER DEATH ; \n\na strong conviction of personal probity, thank God they are not \nlike certain other people. Good for the Pharisees ! I saj^ again, \nprovided they be of the sort just sketched. \n\n. At this, the All-Right person feels gleeful, and says, " Ah, now \nI have 3\'ou, for you can\'t help admitting that what you have just \nsaid is all right ! " \n\nNot so fast, friend. I do not for an instant admit that the fear- \nful contrasts among men, which alone can provoke such exclama- \ntions, \xe2\x80\x94 without which no such expressions could ever be made, \xe2\x80\x94 \nare at all right. Every man and woman should be good and true, \njust and righteous, and not merely a few of earth\'s children. \n\nThe age of virtuous talk is passing away; the age of virtuous \naction, we humbly trust, is drawing near. The genuine test of a \nphilanthropist\'s honesty lies in the performance of good deeds, \xe2\x80\x94 \nnot in contenting himself with telling people it is all right, when \nhe knows, if he will but look about him, that much that is, is \nwrong. The only credentials current in the courts of heaven are \nthe good deeds done while in the body ; nor will any amount of \nsophistical twisting impose upon the recording angel who sits \nwithin the gates of glory. Heaven has its customs law, nor will \nany contraband articles be allowed to enter, much less a soul whose \nbest days have been spent in deluding the multitude unto the \ninsane belief that every crime in the calendar was all right. \nThere, a man must appear to be what he really is. The law of \ndistinctness is imperative. \n\nSoul is an eternal asbestos ; it cannot be consumed, but is \npurified by fire ; and so, whoever would have the soul a pleasant \nfount of joy in the worlds above, must not lay up bad memories of \nbad deeds, but forever steer clear of the rocks whereon it is certain \nto strike if the " All Right " be the beacon or the chart. \n\nEducation has much to do in man and woman\'s final making up. \nThere is a deal of good in every soul, \xe2\x80\x94 whole mountains and rivers \nthereof; but there is also much that may be perverted, \xe2\x80\x94 many a \nlittle brooklet of very bitter water. In human education many of \nthese have been unduly increased, till now they threaten to over- \nflow the whole estate. Let us dam them up, cut off the supply, \nand see to it that these brooklets \xe2\x80\x94 the passions and bad tendencies \n\xe2\x80\x94 be not caused to flourish by such culture as the oft-quoted max- \nims would encourage. \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 219 \n\nThe age of extremes of one sort \xe2\x80\x94 now happily sliding away \xe2\x80\x94 \nbids fair to be succeeded by another kind, unless good men and \nearnest women seek to check it ere too strongly grown and mind- \nentrenched. \n\nWe stand in the door of the dawn, fully persuaded that the sun \nnow rising will, ere long, gladden the hearts and homes of men. \nWe have had a surfeit of philosophy, and now need a little common \nsense. The fact that the race can see the first gleams of a better \nday constitutes no just reason why any man or woman should as- \nsume an attitude of self-complacency and proclaim alike to those \nwho can, and those who cannot, think clearly, that all the sin and \nsorrow, vice and misery, now causing the very land to groan \nbeneath the heavy load, is all right ; because to do so is to pro- \nclaim \xe2\x80\x94 a lie ! and never was nor can be otherwise. It will not \ndo to shift the responsibility of all existing evils from ourselves to \nthe Creator. God is no more responsible for your deeds or mine \nthan we are for those of our descendants forty centuries hence. \nWere it otherwise, then creation is a stupendous farce, and God \nbecomes our inveterate enemy, instead of being, what I believe \nhim, \xe2\x80\x94 our best and most benignant friend. The Infinite One \ncreated, made, fashioned, and decreed the progression and proces- \nsion of all things. But his work is not yet done \xe2\x80\x94 the mighty \ntask is not yet completed ; for he is, at this day, still working up \nthe worlds toward the standard himself can only know. He is \nstill present with and over us, in his divine Fatherhood and Prov- \nidence ; he still smiles when we do his will, \xe2\x80\x94 still grieves, as of \nyore, at all that is bad or brutal, unseemly, unmanly, unwomanly, \nand wrong. \n\nNo, no ; it will not do to charge God with our shortcomings, \nand none but an arrant coward would seek to crawl away from the \npresence of the music himself has evoked ! Every true philanthro- \npist, \xe2\x80\x94 and these, be it known, are not such as talk temperance, \nand fatten on the worm of the still ; are not such as publicly \nmourn over harlotry, and let houses for its prosecution ; are not \nsuch as say, " It is all right," and by their daily actions give them- \nselves the lie direct ; are not such as commiserated poor Pompey, \nand voted him back to the gyves ; are not such as go into holy \nhysterics once a year, and from gayly thronged platforms proclaim \nthe negro a man and a brother, and next day " damn his black pic- \n\n\n\n220 AFTER DEATH ; \n\nture " because he offers love to their daughters, or attempts to sit \ndown at the same table, \xe2\x80\x94 merely by way of testing their honesty, \nand perpetrating a " black joke " at the same time ; not the strong- \nminded ones who are so rampant for women\'s rights, public ap- \nplause, oratory, and fanaticism, that they must needs enlist for life \nin a warfare against men, \xe2\x80\x94 not one of whom they ever made happy \nfor a single hour ; not j T our lady of harsh voice and vinegar soul, \nwho, in the business of world-saving, " goes it with a rush," to \nthe utter neglect of the fireside, the husband, the baby, and the \ndear, sweet home ; not the Spiritualist, who talks exceedingly \nspiritual, and acts as if the body and its gratifications were the \nonly things worth while attending to ; not the Harmon ialist, whose \nharmony of life, deed, and influence partakes of the nature of filing \nsaws and discordant penny trumpets ; not of this sort is the true \nphilanthropist ; but rather he (or she) who in a quiet way does all \nthe good possible, and sticks to it, \xe2\x80\x94 every such an one, I repeat, \nrealizes that the world needs bettering ; and, for that reason, feels \ncalled upon to encourage much less " talkee, talkee," and much \nmore action, action, action, with strong arm, steady purpose, and \nin the right direction. Evils \xe2\x80\x94 tremendous, soul-dwarfing, spirit- \nsubjugating evils \xe2\x80\x94 such as now afflict the world, can never be \ntalked down ; they must be written, worked, lived, and fought \ndown ; and the true business of every man and woman who wishes \nwell to the world, is to be up and doing, and keep doing all the \nwhile. Will the evils whereof we so justly complain \xe2\x80\x94 prostitu- \ntion, for instance \xe2\x80\x94 disappear if we merely stand idly looking on, \nproclaiming that it is all right, and voting ourselves philosophers \nwhen we approach much nearer being fools? He or she who thinks \nso is neither man nor woman, but only a sort of " What is it?" \nvery interesting to look at and listen to, but a "What is it?" \nnevertheless. \n\nSee ! yonder goes a woman ; she is fallen, degraded, lost to \nevery sense of decency or shame. Her present mission is to sell \nherself for so much ready coin to the first human brute who will \npurchase her. Does she do this fearful sin for the pure love of \nsinning? No! she does it that she may hand over the jingling \ndeity to the baker, in exchange for bread ! bread, sir, to keep her \nsoul within her body yet a little while, and to keep that body \nabove the ground for just a little longer. She is coarse and un- \n\n\n\nOR, DI8BODIED MAN. , 221 \n\ntidy, uses bad. language, and is low ; but still, she is a Avoman, like \nyour mother and like mine, and like them, too, she was once pure \nand sweet, and beautiful and good. But ah, Christ ! how fallen, \noh, how fallen ! Yes, she was once like them ; God grant that they \nmay never be like her. Is she fulfilling her proper destiny ? Virtue is \nnatural ; vice is acquired. Bias toward either is hereditary. \nCircumstance governs the fate of many unfortunates like that \nwoman ; she, nor j t ou, nor I, can control circumstance alone, but \nwe can join the army of goodness, before which bad circumstance \nmust fly, and better take its place. Come, let\'s do it. Let us see \nhow many of such fallen ones we can save in a year, \xe2\x80\x94 this very \nidentical current year. I\'ll try ! Won\'t you? \n\nThe woman, that wretched sister ! \xe2\x80\x94 is she and her actions all \nright? Nonsense ! Blasphemy to assert it ! She is sliding down \nthe hill of ruin, and will reach the fatal bottom, unless we who \ncan, shall, and will, put forth the effort to redeem and save her. \nShe, poor thing! and there are millions of such, \xe2\x80\x94 more\'s the pity \nand the shame to those who have made her and them what we see, \n\xe2\x80\x94 she is marring the beauty of her deathless soul ; is killing by \ninches the body she wears ; is defacing the priceless tablets of her \nimmortal being ; and whoever says all this is right is a fit subject \nfor the lunatic hospital. And yet, there are those who do make this \npreposterous assertion. Now hundreds, ay, thousands, there be, \nwho do not scruple to brand that woman \xe2\x80\x94 the unhappy represen- \ntative of an entire class \xe2\x80\x94 with all sorts of infamous and oppro- \nbrious epithets, instead of, as they ought, saving and doing all \nthey can to reclaim and save her. They rack the language for \nharsh names to apply to her, until the poor creature, feeling \xe2\x80\x94 \nmost bitterly feeling \xe2\x80\x94 that no kind heart throbs for her, no ten- \nderness is, or ever will be, vouchsafed ; that she must remain a \nvictim to the spirit of human cruelty, or what is, if possible, still \nworse, \xe2\x80\x94 mock charity; feeling all this, and that she must con- \ntinue to grope her way all alone through the world, and then drop \nprematurely and uncared for into the cold, damp grave, from a \nstill colder world, and, all unprepared, crawl up to the Judgment- \nSeat she has been taught to believe in ; feeling all this, and more, \nit is no great marvel that her heart grows hard, and her once pure \nsoul now totters on the very brink of desperation, while she eats, \ndrinks, and sleeps, the food, and drink, and slumber, of vice and \n\n\n\n222 AFTER death; \n\ninfamy, day by day, and week after week. Look ! there she has \najccosted a man upon the sidewalk, but scarce has a single word \npassed, ere one of the potent guardians or custodians of the pub- \nlic morals \xe2\x80\x94 an individual in blue coat, brass buttons, and large \nauthority, who has just tossed off a glass of the " good Rhein \nwein, " the generous proffer of a burly ruffian who can afford to \npay for the protection of his magnificent looking-glasses and mar- \nble counters, behind which he stands to deal out liquid ruin at so \nmuch the glass \xe2\x80\x94 catches sight of the Cyprian plying her dreadful \ntrade. She, he knows, cannot pay, and so he grows indignantly \nscrupulous, gruffly tells her to move on, and accelerates her move- \nments with a round oath or two, and a not very gentle push. \nShe mutely obeys, because resistance is out of the question, be- \nsides which, she knows that he carries a legally authorized blud- \ngeon in his pocket, and that he would not hesitate to use it on the \nslightest pretext, either upon herself or any one who should ex- \npostulate or counsel gentler measures ; a very dirty bludgeon it is, \ntoo ; still he tries to keep it clean, and once in a while washes it \nof the blood spots, and cleans it of the matted hair, \xe2\x80\x94 human \nhair, \xe2\x80\x94 from the heads of the last half-dozen drunken sots whom \nhe found asleep upon the sidewalks, and took such Christian means \nto arouse from their airy slumbers. But why should we find \nfault? Isn\'t he a regular policeman? Well, be quiet, then, and \ndon\'t complain. What better can you expect? Is it at all rea- \nsonable to demand that an officer should have plenty of muscle, \nand a heart at the same time ? Nonsense ! Now I ask if all the \nparts or any of this picture are right ? and I answer No ! and the \nutterance is both deep and full ; so deep, so loud, so full, that the \nvery vaults of heaven echo back, and ring out, No ! \n\nNo human being exists but in whom the germs of the generous \nand good, the beautiful and the true, lie ready to spring forth into \nexcellent glory. We know this, and know it well. These germs \nmay be in fallow ground ; still they are there, and it is your busi- \nness and mine to so plough this fallow land that it shall cause these \nseeds to spring up and thriftily grow. What though the soil be \nhard and stony, dry and parched ; the fruit of our culture will be \nrich arid succulent, for the warming beams of God\'s sunlight and \ngrace will perfect and ripen the produce, and it shall be immor- \ntally sweet, eternally beautiful and fragrant, forever and for aye ! \n\n\n\nOR, DISBODIED MAN. 223 \n\nReader, have you never observed the fact that even the very bad \nand vicious occasionally flash forth somewhat of the Divine, \xe2\x80\x94 \nsometimes gleam out the hidden glory ? Well, there\'s a mine of \ndiamonds in every soul, and God and nature, and all human love, \ncalls on you and me to bring these diamonds forth to the sunlight, \nthat they may catch the radiance of heaven, and flash out their \nglories on the air and to the world, kindling up the emulation of \nvirtue and excellent doing in all human souls. \n\nThere goes that abandoned woman. Let us follow her, \xe2\x80\x94 this \nprostitute, this lost and ruined sister, this creature, fashioned \nafter the likeness of our God, but now, alas, so supremely foul \nand wretched. She is hieing homeward! Homeward? what a \nmockery that word conveys ; yet she has what she calls a home, \nand beneath that shelter, such as it is, lies at this moment, upon \nits pallet of straw, a babe, \xe2\x80\x94 her child, bone of her bone, and flesh \nof her flesh. Poor infant ! truly begotten in sin and brought forth \nin iniquity ; but none the less a precious, priceless, immortal soul, \nfor all that, \xe2\x80\x94 a soul just as dear as any for which we are told \nGod\'s Son forsook the courts of glory, and came to earth to suffer \nand to die on the stony heights of Calvary, \xe2\x80\x94 a soul just as \nprecious to the Infinite heart, as the best-born of ^earth, because it \nis a human soul, and his life pulses through it, as well as through \nyou or me, or the holiest ones of earth or heaven ; and albeit, we \nmay, and, as virtuous citizens of the great world, can but frown \nupon the guilt and folly that opened the gate by the which it \nentered into outer being ; yet nevertheless it is a soul, and as such \nhas crying claims upon our love, and care, and kindliness ; for \nbeing here is not that blessed baby\'s fault, and in the coming \njudgment, if there be one, God\'s prosecuting angel will hold it \naccountable for its own sins, not for its mother\'s sorrows and mis- \nfortunes. And- even for its own sins, Sandalphon, the prayer- \nangel, will eloquently plead at the foot of the eternal throne. \n\nWell, she has left the highway, and turned down a narrow, \ndark, and dreadful alley, one of those horrible sinks of moral \npoison, pestilence, and perdition ; the awful and disgusting vice- \ncancers, sin-blotches, and festering pest-lanes, which are the \neternal disgrace of all the great cities of the world ; infamous \npurlieus of miser}\'\', wherein gaunt Robbery moodily sits plotting \n\n\n\n224 AFTER DEATH; \n\nhis villany, and pale Murder lies nursing red-handed Butchery, \nwho ere long will fright the very world with horror. \n\nHow strangely people change ! A little while ago, and that \nwoman\'s crest was held aloft and erect, in brazen impudence and \ndefiance, \'as she paced up and down the streets, a human spider, \nintent upon drawing silly human flies into her horrible web, \xe2\x80\x94 a \nweb which they can never quit as pure, and good, and innocent in \nbody and in mind, as when they entered ; for it is poison, \xe2\x80\x94 every \nthread and fibre of it, except the baby in the bed, \xe2\x80\x94 and the deadly \nodor of the Upas fills all the region round about. \n\nWhy turns she so quickly down that lane ? Well, I will tell \n3\'ou. Because the itching and the tingling of her breasts told her \nthat the babe of her agony and her shame was a-hungered for the \nthin, bine milk of her bosom. And so she quits the street, for \nmaternal love is much stronger than the love of gnilt or money. \nSoon the glare of the street lamp no longer shines upon her form, \nfor it is lost amid the labyrinths and devious windings of that \ndark and noisome alley-way, this horrid tomb of all the human \nvirtues. But her aspect has changed ; and the flaunting courte- \nsan hangs her head, as she carefully and lightly threads her way \nalong. The harlot\'s sun\'has set, and the star of the Woman and \nthe Mother reigns triumphant for \xe2\x80\x94 an "hour ! \n\nUp, up, up, the dark and filthy stairs she flies, for the milk-pains \nurge her on ; anon the attic is reached ; a little brass key turns in \nthe lock ; a ready match is ignited ; the little lamp illumes the \nseven-by-nine den, for chamber it cannot be called ; she runs to \nthe bedside, falls lovingly upon it, snatches up the prattler, \npresses it to her bosom, and " my babe, my precious babe ! " she \ncries, as the great round tears gush up from her heart, \xe2\x80\x94 her \nwoman\'s heart, after all ! The little one answers with a gleeful \nchuckle, and in another moment is busily engaged in drawing \nvitality from the body of weakness, virtuous life from the paps of \nguilt ! Love, pure, dear, sweet, and precious love reigns then and \nthere ; just such love as your mother felt for you, my reader, my \nsister, or my brother ; just such love in kind, and degree, as Chris- \ntians tell us prompted our God to send his only begotten, because \nmost perfectly begotten Son, to earth for purposes of salvation \nand redemption ; just such love as made the meek and lowly \nNazarene toilsomely bear his cross up the stony steeps of Cal- \n\n\n\nOE, DISBODIED MAN. 225 \n\nvar-j , and afterward groan and die thereon ! Surely that woman \nis not wholly lost who feels even a little love like this. \n\nAnd so we see this woman in all her sin and misery. Is it all \nright? By the God of Heaven, no; a pealing, thundering, heaven- \nrending NO ! It can never be right for a true woman, or a true man, \nto rest contented while such things be ! Society \xe2\x80\x94 you, sir, and \nme, \xe2\x80\x94 you, madam, and I, as integers thereof, must work, work, \nWORK, to bring about a better state of things. It can never be \nright to foster or in any way encourage the growth of such mon- \nstrous evils, as I, who love the race much better than a party or a \nphilanthropic clique, herein attempt to outline and depict. The \nmodern declaimers for the doctrine " whatever is is right " could \nnot have foreseen the fearful consequences likely to arise from the \nenunciation of the great sophism. I am charitable enough to \nbelieve they did not so foresee them. \n\nNevertheless the infectious malaria has gone out upon its peace- \ndestroying mission ; and doubtless there are scores of thousands \nwho, failing to perceive the utter rottenness of the fallacy, felici- \ntate themselves that, being God\'s creatures, they can do no wrong ; \nbecause he is at the head of all human founts and springs of \naction, therefore everything is as it ought to be. It is quite time \nthe calumny was refuted, and the people set right on this question, \nand if this endeavor in the right direction shall have, as I believe \nit will, the effect of depriving this new viper of its fangs, this \ndetestable serpent of its sting, this asp of its poison, I shall not \nfail to thank God, with an overflowing heart. \n\nDoubtless all things in the mere material, and dumb, deaf, un- \nthinking, unconscientious, and unreflecting world are right, and \nthe man or woman must be insane who would find fault, cavil at \nor dispute the truth of what, in this light, confessedly, becomes \nan axiom. \n\nI cannot evade the conclusion, looking at the subject from the \nstand-point of intuition and clairvoyance, that God understood his \nbusiness well when he began the world ; and when we take this \nlofty stand to pass judgment on the " All-Eight " philosophy, we \ncannot help affirming that, beyond all cavil, the man is correct \nwho affirms that " whatever is is right." \n\nBut my endorsement of the doctrine extends not one single \nstep beyond the mere physical world, its laws and action ; for \n29 \n\n\n\n226 after death; or, disbodied man. \n\nwhen the All-Right doctrine ventures beyond that and enters the \nvast domain of custom, habit, philosophy, morals, and religion, \nthen it is woefully out of place, and unworthy of even respectful \nconsideration. Let us live, act, talk, and die right, \xe2\x80\x94 then it will \nindeed be for us and the world \xe2\x80\x94 All Right. \n\nOur life on the other side will demonstrate the truth of what \nthis book contains, carp at it now who will or may. I have penned \nit at a time when it was more than doubtful if I should live to \nfinish it. In the words of poor Poe : "What I have here writ- \nten is truth, therefore it cannot die ; or if it be trodden down so \nthat it die, it will rise again to the life everlasting. \n\nI thank God for this great living light of clairvoyance, which \nhas enabled me, a man who never had two years\' schooling in his \nlife, to behold these eternal verities and principles. It is not a \nspecial gift, but a latent power in us all, and as I have stated in \nmy book the whole art op clairvoyance can be attained by a \nmajority of those who patiently try. \n\n" No curtain hides from view the spheres elysian, \nSave these poor shells of half-transparent dust, \nAnd all that blinds the spiritual vision \nIs pride, and hate, and lust." \xe2\x96\xa0 \n\nAs for me I shall still, while I remain on earth, devote my life \nand clairvoyance, not to the mere examination, but to the treat- \nment and cure of those human ailments and diseases that I have \nmade a specialty, and in which, by God\'s great favor, I have been \nthe means of curing to so great an extent. \n\nAnd now, little book, go forth and work out the mission for \nwhich you were designed ; and may all who read you find peace and \ngood, and, dying, meet your author where the weary cease from \ntroubling, and the wicked are at rest. \n\nP. B. Randolph. \n\nBoston, Mass., March, 1868. \n\n\n\nAPPENDIX. \n\n\n\nPART II. A. \n\nDISCOVERIES \xe2\x80\x94 THE GRAND SECRET OF LIFE. \n\nThat soul, spirit, and body are, in this life, closely related, and \ninterdependent, is a truth which, although denied by unreasoning \nzealots, is so plain and clear, under the strong light that starry \nScience has thrown upon the subject, that none but semi-idiots can \npossibly disaffirm. \n\nI now announce another startling truth, believing, most solemnly \nbelieving, as I do, that moral, social, domestic, and intellectual \nhealth cannot possibly exist unless the human body is also in a \nfree, full, pure state of normal health likewise. I have not the \nslightest doubt but that the bodily states here affect the immortal \nsoul hereafter, and that the sin against the Holy Ghost is, in its \nulterior effects, the most terrible that man can imagine. Else- \nwhere I have defined it, and also announced the discovery of two \nother very important truths, namely, That nine-tenths of all the \n"Crime," "Sin," and "Iniquity" committed on the globe, and \nespecially within the pale of so-called "civilization" is wholly, \nsolely, and entirely the result or effect of Chemical, Electrical, and \nMagnetic conditions ; and that if those who commit them were \nunder the influence of an opposite state of things, quite opposite \nresults and conduct would be the rule and not the exception ! \nHowever this theory may be misapprehended jiow, the day is not \nfar off when its golden truth will be gratefull}- acknowledged on all \nsides ; for it will be clearly seen that the same laws govern the mind \nas rule the body. Who is there that does not know that drunken- \ness is a mere chemical condition ; that the effect of sudden ill-news \nturns one sick at the stomach ; that disappointment hardens the \n\n227 \n\n\n\n228 NEW DISCOVERIES. \n\nliver ; that fear relaxes the bowels ; that grief unstrings the \nmuscles ; and that, in fact, a hundred other purely chemical effects \ndemonstrate the truth of this my new theory? \n\nMy researches into the arcana of mental and physical disease \nhave fully satisfied me that this world of ours will never be the \ndelightful place it is capable of becoming, till the great chemico- \ndynamic laws are clearly understood and obeyed. At intervals \nduring twenty-five years, I have practised Medicine, which I have \nagain resumed, and have made nervous diseases, including in- \nsanity, and curing the habits of liquor and tobacco using, a \nspecialty ; and I now make public the secret of my success in the \ntreatment of such, and correlated diseases, trusting that the dis- \nclosures may fall into the hands of those who are not so strongly \nbound to the old as to reject a better theory and system, and one, \ntoo, that has never yet failed where fairly tried. \n\nShould my readers, and\' the vast public that I now address, be \nasked to state what they considered the most supreme bliss of \nphysical life, no two answers would probably be the same ; for one \nwould name this, another that, and so on through them all ; and \nthe chances are that not one of them would correctly name it. \nBeyond all question the most rapturous sensation the human body \ncan experience is sudden relief from pain, \xe2\x80\x94 an assertion amply \nconfirmed by every one\'s experience. Freedom from pain is a \nsupreme joy, perfect health the chief good, \xe2\x80\x94 facts not realized \ntill both are gone. \n\nThe surgeon at his dissecting table is struck ^with awe as he \nbeholds the marvels of the human body, even when still and cold \nin the icy folds of Death ; but what would be his astonishment \nand awe, could he with true clairvoyant eye behold the mighty \nmachine in full and active motion, \xe2\x80\x94 as I and many others have \nthrough that marvellous magnetic sight? Not for an emperor\'s \ndiadem would I exchange the blessed knowledge thus acquired, for \nit has saved many a valuable life, and the glory is greater, and \nhereafter will be more highly prized, than that of any imperial \nbutcher whose fame is builded upon rape, carnage, and fields red- \nwet with human slaughter. \n\n" It is all guess-work ! " said one of earth\'s greatest physicians, \nwhen speaking of his own art ; and it is certain that nearly all the \nold theories of diseases and their remedies are fast dying out, and \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 229 \n\nthat the era of Positive Science is already dawning on the world. \nPeople now begin to understand of what their bodies are com- \nposed, and to realize that the best remedies are those already \nmanufactured and compounded by Nature herself; or,. in other \nwords, they begin to know that any given form of disease indicates \neither the excess or absence of one or more of the elements that go \nto make up the body, and that means must be used to vacate the \nexcess, or to supply the deficiency, which being done, and chemi- \ncal harmony and electric and magnetic equilibrium being restored, \nphysical, mental, and moral health follow, must follow, with math- \nematical certaiuty and precision. These physical remedies of Na- \nture are heat, water, light, exercise, sleep, food, and fresh air, \xe2\x80\x94 \nthe last being greatest, seeing that it is the most direct vehicle of \nlife itself. \n\nMen, and women too, have existed for long years immured in vile \ndungeons, deprived of all light ; for no blessed sun-ray ever reached \ntheir blank abodes. These same victims, and millions more, existed \nand exist, without exercise, and with but poor food, and a worse \nsupply of water. Caravans on the desert, and sailors becalmed \nor wrecked, have gone even twenty days without water, and yet \nsurvived to tell the dreadful tale of their fearful agonies when thus \ndeprived. We are all familiar with the records of the long periods of \nforced abstinence from food, not a few instances having reached the \nenormous period of thirty consecutive days ; nor need I scarce men- \ntion the wonderful resisting power of the human body against the \nextremes of both heat and cold, but especially the former. In some \nparts of India, Australia, and Africa, men thrive under a temper- \nature within twenty-five degrees of that of boiling water ; while here, \nright in our midst, thousands of fools flock to see others of the same \nspecies handle bars of hot iron, wash their hands in molten lead, \nwalk barefoot on red-hot plates, and enter ovens with raw meat, \nabiding therein till said flesh is thoroughly done. Pity some of \nthese foolhardy people couldn\'t find some safer way to earn a \nlivelihood than by thus sportively trifling with sacred human life ! \n\nIn reference to sleep, how many of my readers have spent \nsleepless nights for weeks together, when, by nervous irritability, \ntrouble, or illness, it has been utterly impossible to snatch a mo- \nment\'s respite from the terrible unrest ! How often the poor, pale, \nsad-hearted mother, as she leans and lingers over the sick-bed of \n\n\n\n230 NEW DISCOVERIES. \n\nher fever-stricken darling, finds sleep a stranger to her eyelids, \nand a fearfully intense wakefulness baffle all her attempts to catch \neven one brief half-hour\'s slumber and repose ! How often the \n" business man," \xe2\x80\x94 he who breathes the atmosphere of money-bags, \nlives wholly on \'Change, and whose sweetest melody is the music \nof jingling dollars, \xe2\x80\x94 the man who reads with feverish anxiety the \ndaily commercial news, and watches with deep interest the fluctu- \nation of stocks" and commodities in the half-glutted marts of the \n" civilized" world, as he bends in slavish worship at the shrine of \nthe golden god, \xe2\x80\x94 how often, I repeat, do men like him, \xe2\x80\x94 and \nthey are very plentiful in these dismal days, \xe2\x80\x94 go day after day, \nfor months and years, with scarce a night\'s sound sleep ! Thus it \nis plain that mankind can, and often does, support existence, \nwhen deprived of food, raiment, light, heat, exercise, water, sleep, \nand fresh air. \n\nAtmospheric air is a compound, one-third of which is oxygen ; \nand this oxygen contains the principle of animal life within the \nminute globules whereof it is formed. Now, if there be an excess \nof this life-principle in a given volume of oxygen, whoever breathes \nit burns up, as it were, and becomes unfitted for normal living. \nIf in the air we breathe there be less than a due amount of oxygen, \ncontaining the vital principle, whatever breathes it, slowly but \nsurely dies. This discovery \xe2\x80\x94 that oxy gen is more than a common \ngas ; that it is the vehicle of the vital principle, hence is itself a \nprinciple \xe2\x80\x94 is a most important one to the world, and especially \nthe scientific portion thereof. If oxygen were to be withdrawn \nfrom the air for one short five minutes, everj^ living thing \xe2\x80\x94 man \nand plant, animal and insect, reptile and fish, bird and worm \xe2\x80\x94 \nwould perish instantaneously, and the globe we inhabit be turned \ninto one vast festering graveyard. Not a vestige of any kind of \nlife would remain to gladden the vision of an angel, should one of \nGod\'s messengers chance to wing his flight that way. All terres- \ntrial things would have reached a crisis ; creation\'s wheels and \npinions be effectually clogged ; life itself go out in never-ending \ndarkness, and gaunt, dreary chaos ascend the throne of the mun- \ndane world, never again to be displaced ! \n\nThe immense importance of this principle may be seen in the \ncase of those who delve for lucre in the shape of coal, tin, etc., \netc., hundreds of feet beneath earth\'s surface ; for these people \n\n\n\nTHINGS WOETH KNOWING. 231 \n\nmanage to live with a very limited supply of oxygen and the vital \nprinciple as inhalants, making amends for it by eating highly \nphosphoric and oxygenic food ; but the very instant that the gas- \neous exhalations, frequently generated in such places, reach a \npoint of volume, bulk, or amount, sufficient to absorb or neutralize \nthe oxygen, as is liable to occur from the combination forming \nnew compounds in those dark abodes, that instant, grim Death, \nmounted on the terrible choke-damp, \xe2\x80\x94 as the accumulation of foal \nair is called, \xe2\x80\x94 rides forth to annihilate and exterminate every \nmoving, living being there ! \n\nAgain : It may happen that oxygen, which is the principle of \nflame, accumulates too fast, gathers in too great volume, and \nunites with other inflammable gases. In such a case, woe be to \nthat mine and its hundreds of human occupants, \xe2\x80\x94 if by accident \nor carelessness the least fiery spark touches that combustible air, \n\xe2\x80\x94 for an explosion louder than the roar of a hundred guns upon \na battle-field takes place ; one vast sheet of red-hot flame leaps \nforth to shatter, blast, and destroy, and in one moment the work \nof years is undone ; the mine crushed in, and no living being es- \ncapes to tell the dreadful story of the awful and sudden doom. \n\nIf the entire oxygen of the air should take fire, as it might by a \nvery-slight increase of its volume, the entire globe would burn like \na cotton-field on fire, and, the entire surface of the earth be changed \ninto solid glass within an hour ! \n\nAnd yet this terrible agent is man\'s best and truest friend. It \nis a splendid nurse, and a better physician never yet existed, and \nnever will. \n\nThis great truth long since forced itself upon the popular mind ; \nbut no sooner were the people familiar with the name of oxygen, \nthan empirical toadstools, in the shape of unprincipled quacks, \nsprung up all over the land, persuading sick people that they \nwould speedily get well by breathing what they had the impudence \nto call " vitalized air," as if God himself had not sufficiently \nvitalized the great aerial ocean in which the world is cushioned ; or \nthat health and power would come again by inhaling " oxygenized \nair," \xe2\x80\x94 as if it were possible to add one particle of oxygen to the \nair we breathe more than God placed there originally. \n\nA couple of these harpies once partially convinced me that they \nreally effected cures by administering what they called oxygenized \n\n\n\n232 NEW DISCOVERIES. \n\nair, and, liking the theory, I accepted it, and even wrote two or \nthree articles in its favor. But when I looked into the matter and \nfound the theory false, \xe2\x80\x94 having been led" thereto by an article \nwritten by the ablest chemist in America, Dr. Nichols, of Boston, \xe2\x80\x94 \nI decided that whoever was so unwise as to inhale their stuff was \nin danger of sudden death, while whoever should breathe pure \noxygen would as certainly burn up inside, as if he or she drank \npure alcohol and kept it up. \n\nThere is but one way in which the inhalation of oxygen can do \nany good whatever to a person, sick or well, and that is to breathe \nit just as God intended it should be, \xe2\x80\x94 in the sun-warmed, open \nair! \n\nI have elsewhere said that no one can be good or virtuous in \nsoiled linen. I strengthen it with \xe2\x80\x94 nor unless the lungs be well \ninflated ! \n\nLook at the operation of this principle in the case of a man \nwho is pent up\' in an old dingy office three-fifths of every day. \nHe cannot enjoy life. Why? Because his lungs are leathery \nand collapsed, never filled with aught save close, dusty, foul, \nover-breathed, stove-heated air. The man is, though ignorant of \nthe fact, dying by inches, because his blood and other fluids are \nloaded down with the foul exhalations which he draws into his sys- \ntem while breathing his own breath over and over again, as he \ndoes at least five thousand times a day ; and at every breath he \nputs a nail in his own coffin, and drives it home by every half- \nchewed meal he eats. Now, let that man smell the heart of an \noak log two feet thick every morning, \xe2\x80\x94 after he shall daily cut \nhis way to it with a dull axe, and in one month his ills will vanish \nunder this prescription of " oxygenized air ; " his weight will have \nincreased twenty pounds ; for the labor will have made him puff \nand blow, and his lungs, taking advantage of that puffing and \nblowing, will have luxuriated in their oxygenic treat. Why? \nBecause they impart it and its contained vitality to the blood, and \naway that goes, health-charged, through every artery of the body, \ncleaning out the passages as it flies along, \'leaving a little health \nhere and a little there, until, in a few months, the entire man is re- \nnewed and made over from head to heel. His color comes again ; \nhis haggardness has gone ; he is full of life, vivacity, and fun ; \npokes your ribs as he retails, with flashing eye and extreme unc- \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 233 \n\ntion, the last new practical joke he plaj^ed. He eats three times \nhis usual quantum of roast beef and plum-pudding ; plays at leap- \nfrog with his boys in the parlor, to the utter bewilderment of all \nthe rest of the family ; and when his wife expostulates, embraces \nand kisses her with a fervor that reminds her of the early years, \n\xe2\x80\x94 lang syne ; laughs at dyspepsia ; bids the mully-grubs good- \nby ; dismisses his doctor ; cracks a mot at the expense of the \ncemetery man ; outwits his peers on \'change ; dances the polka \nwith his head-clerk, to the can-can tune of Offenbach\'s " Duchess \nof Gerolstein;" enjoys life with a rush, generally, and swears he \ncannot die for laughing ! So much for oxygen, \xe2\x80\x94 inhaled as it \nonly ought to be, \xe2\x80\x94 naturally. \n\nNow, look at these other pictures : One is the babe of parents, \nfast, fond, and foolish, as ever drew breath, hence their child\'s first \npractical lesson is to have a holy horror of fresh air, sunshine, \xe2\x80\x94 \nnot a hand\'s breadth of which ever falls on its pretty face lest it \nget tanned, and some fool declare its grandfather must have been \nan American citizen of African descent, \xe2\x80\x94 and cold water. Out \non such folly ! The poor child is gasping for God\'s free air ; and \nits pale lips and sunken blue eyes, white, delicate, semi-lucent \nskin, narrow chest, and cramped soul and body, are so many elo- \nquent protests against baby-tide, and pleadings for more light, \nair, life ; more backing against the croup, measles, scarletina, fe- \nvers, worms, wasting, weazenness, and precocity, to which all baby \nlife is exposed, and which it must meet, conquer, or die itself. \n\nInstead of exercising common sense, the child is padded on the \noutside, and stuffed and crammed with sweets, cakes, pies, candies, \nand a host of other abominations, all of which diminish its chances \nfor health, and tend directly to ripen it prematurely, so that at ten \nyears of age, if it lives that long, it is perfectly well posted in cer- \ntain baleful school habits, which I have elsewhere stated is the \nsame that in Scripture is meant by the " sin against the Holy \nGhost." In plain words, I refer to self-pollution. \n\nLook now at another baby, the child of yonder Irish woman, \nclad, it is true, in coarse raiment ; whose poverty won\'t afford \npies or such trash, but only the coarsest kind of food, which is, \nhowever, most deliciously seasoned with that richest of all condi- \nments, \xe2\x80\x94 hunger. But poor as she undoubtedly is in this world\'s \ngoods, she is richer than a queen in real wealth ; for she is con- \n30 \n\n\n\n234 NEW DISCOVERIES. \n\ntented with her lot, by reason of robust health, itself the result of \nlabor, and supremely blest and happy in her glorious but uproari- \nous family of children, \xe2\x80\x94 nine young ones and two at the breast, \n\n\xe2\x80\x94 regular loud-lunged roysterers are most of them, the terror of \nsquirrels, birds\' nests, and stray dogs, but at the same time the \nhope and pride of Young America, \xe2\x80\x94 of Milesian lineage, \xe2\x80\x94 chaps \nwho will one day give a good account of themselves, if ever the \nforeign foe invades the soil of this fair land of ours S Girls that \nare girls in every sense, with something tangible rather than \nspring-steel or cotton-paddible to boast of ! \xe2\x80\x94 cherry-lipped, rosy- \ncheeked, plump, and fair, destined to family honors by and by, \nprouder than a queen upon her jewelled throne. No disease lurks \nthere ; no consumptive lungs under those breast-bones, and no \nterrible catalogue of aches, pains, bad teeth, and worse breath ; no \ncramps and qualms and female diseases there, because the house \nthey live in is built on beef and potatoes, instead of hot drinks \nand fashionable flummery. \n\nNow, it will be just as difficult for the children of that poor \nwoman to fall into the popular train of vices characterizing too \nmany American youth, as it will be easy for the children of the \nfirst couple to be victimized before they reach their fifteenth year. \nThe coarser type will outlive the more delicate, and when all is \nover will have been of more real service to the world. \n\n"How the candle flickers, Nellie! how the candle flickers!" \nsaid a dying man to his darling wife, the idol of his heart, the be- \nloved of his soul, the pure, the true, the beautiful Nellie, wife of \nhis soul. " How the caudle flickers, darling ! put it out, \xe2\x80\x94 and \n\n\xe2\x80\x94 go to \xe2\x80\x94 bed, weenie. I shall sleep well \xe2\x80\x94 to-night \xe2\x80\x94 and \nawaken \xe2\x80\x94 in the \xe2\x80\x94 morning ! Good-night, darling ! How the \ncandle flickers ! " \n\nIt was not the candle that flickered, it was his lamp of life \nburned to the socket ; for death was veiling his eyes from the \nworld, \xe2\x80\x94 at fifty years of age, \xe2\x80\x94 mid-life, when he should have \nbeen in his prime. \n\nWhy was he dying? Why did life\'s candle flicker ere half- \nburnt out ? Because his had been a life of thought. To embel- \nlish immortal pages he had toiled, almost ceaselessly, and wholly \nunrequited, during long years, and that, too, in gaunt poverty, \nwhile those about him whom bis brain-toil had enriched and made \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 235 \n\ninsolent, fared sumptuousty every day, while he was immured in a \ngarret, painfully laboring for an ungrateful world, \xe2\x80\x94 which usually \ncrushes a man down, and stamps upon him for falling ! As fell \nthat man, so have thousands of the world\'s true heroes and geni \nfallen. But he and they are not blameless. His fault was \nneglect of his lungs and general health while recuperative energy \nyet remained ; and then came colds, coughs, nervous debility, \nuntil at last he gave the signal of departure for the summer shores \nof Aidenn in the sad, sad words that fell like leaden rain on the \nheart of her who loved him so tenderly and well. \n\n"The candle flickers, Nellie. I \xe2\x80\x94 shall \xe2\x80\x94 sleep \xe2\x80\x94 well! Go \nto \xe2\x80\x94 bed \xe2\x80\x94 weenie. I shall awaken, darling, \xe2\x80\x94 I shall awaken in \nthe " \xe2\x80\x94 vast eternity ! \n\nDied for want of an ordinary precaution, and because those \nwho make disease a professional study did not, could not, com- \nprehend his case. When, oh, when will people of brains learn to \nabide by Charles Reade\'s advice, " Genius, genius, take care of \nyour carcass"? \n\nThis simile of a flickering candle is a true one, for the very in- \nstant you cut off the supply of carbon and oxygen, out it goes. \nSupply what it wants, and instantly it regains all its power and \nbrightness. Just so it is with our bodies. When sick they do \nnot require a heroic system of treatment, but simply a clear under- \nstanding of what elements are in excess or exhaustion, and a \nscientific procedure on that basis will not fail to brighten up many \na human candle that otherwise would speedily go out forever, so \nfar as this life is concerned. \n\nOf course it is seen from this that the system I claim to have \ndiscovered, and which I apply in my practice, and am here trying \nto impart to others, aims to entirely revolutionize the medical \npractice of Christendom ; and that it will do so is just as certain as \nthat truth is of more vital stamina than error ; and I gratefully \nappreciate the reception of my theory by so large a number of in- \ntelligent and prominent physicians. \n\nTliat system has never yet failed in a single instance. It is, \nbriefly, the power and art of extirpating disease from the human \nbody by supplying that body with the opposite of disease, which \nis life. Now, it has been demonstrated that all known diseases \nare the result of the excess or absence of one or more of the seven \n\n\n\n236 NEW DISCO V-EKIES. \n\nprincipal components of the body, \xe2\x80\x94 potassa, manganese, chlorine, \nazote, osmozone, oxygen, and, not as chemists heretofore have \ncontended, phosphorus, but an element embracing that principle, \nand which I have named phosogen, \xe2\x80\x94 the hypothetical radical of \nhyposphorous acid, chemically speaking, and the base of the dy- \nnamic-medical agent, called phosodyn. Now, while the admin- \nistration of any of these in crude form would be useless, it is \nabsolutely certain that ethereal, semi-homoaopathic combinations of \nthem furnish the most prompt and radical means of cure the world \nhas ever seen. Here are the principles ; let them be fairly tried \nby the profession, and failure is impossible. So far in my prac- \ntice I have made but four combinations, \xe2\x80\x94 the three most impor- \ntant ones, namely, chlorylle, phosodyn, bromidium, I have found \nto be perfect agents in the treatment of diseases of the nerves, \nand those resulting from extreme or inverted passionalism ; but for \nother diseases other combinations should be exhibited. \n\nMy life has been spent in treating nervous diseases and to \neffectually extirpate the abnormal appetite and craving for to- \nbacco, and alcoholic stimulants, hence I have never made but four \ncombinations, and these I found to perfectly meet the requirements \nneeded, invariably compounding them of such materials as abound \nin the elements used, and never of the crude substances them- \nselves, \xe2\x80\x94 as any mere tyro in chemistry can readily do. Now, \nwhen the physician or nurse administers a cordial thus com- \npounded, as soon as it reaches the stomach and comes in contact \nwith the gastric surfaces, they are instantly changed into vital \nforce in liquid foym ; for oxygen itself, independent of its con- \ntained vitality, is not a simple, but a compound, whose constitu- \nents are heat, light, and electricity, as I have discovered and \ndemonstrated, and that great agent is immediately generated in \nlarge volume within the body, and in its natural form ; thus the \nblood which takes it up is instantly charged with absolutely new \nlife, and the life thus supplied is ramified through every nook and \ncorner of the system, and the elements of death, in the shape of \nmorbid conditions, and foul and offensive matter are straightway \ndislodged, expelled the system, the worn-out tissues rebuilt, \nthe nervous apparatus rendered firm, the wastes made to bloom \nagain, grief taken from the mind, sorrow from the heart, morbid- \nity from the soul, and a new lease of existence taken, simply be- \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 237 \n\ncause . the abnormal polarities are changed, and . the chemical \nconditions entirely altered, \xe2\x80\x94 for it is an axiom that the condi- \ntions of death cannot coexist with life. \n\nThe human body may be compared to a steam-engine, which so \nlong as the fires are kept up goes well ; but if the furnace is fed \nwith wet wood, the speed slackens, fires go out, and the machine \ncomes to a stand-still. But suppose you put the very best wood \nin the boiler instead of in the furnace ! Why everybody says you \nare a fool, and laughs you to scorn because you tried to drive an \nengine after that absurd fashion. Well that is exactly what \nmedical men are doing with the human body, in their attempts to \ncorrect the evils of perverted or excessive passionalism, and the \nhorrid train of nervous aberrations that now afflict the better half \nof civilized society. I am loth to say it, but it is the eternal \ntruth nevertheless ! If a person is ill, it is fashionable to assign \nthe disturbance to the stomach, and to forthwith begin to cram \nthat unfortunate organ with purgatives, and a long catalogue of \nherb teas, and outrageous compounds, which, if cast into the sea \nwould poison all the fish, turn leviathan\'s stomach inside out, and \nline our coasts with rank carcasses, sufficient to kill all who dared \nbreathe the pestilent odor ; and yet this is called medical " science !" \nIf a woman is sick, give her quassia, say the doctors ; if rheu- \nmatic, give cholchicum ; if she is irritable, administer assafoetida, \nbitter almonds, castile soap, croton oil, valerian, and cubebs ; or \nelse attempt a cure on strictly homoeopathic principles, \xe2\x80\x94 with the \nlittle end of nothing whittled down to a sharp point ; with boli of \nthe quintillionth solution of a grain of mustard seed ! else souse \nher, douse her, stew, steam, bake, broil, grill, roast, boil, freeze, or \ndrench her ; else resort to botanizing her with marley, barley, \nparsley, mullein, rose-leaves, lilies, toadstools, catnipj and daffy- \ndowndillies ; or pull her to pieces with the " Movement Cure ; " or \ntake the prescription of one of the charlatans who, calling them- \nselves professors, are as ignorant of the chemistry of the human \nbody, as they are of who built Baalbec, or " The Old Stone Mill." \nPursue either of these courses and perhaps you will cure the \npatient as fishermen cure shad and salmon \xe2\x80\x94 when well dead ! \xe2\x80\x94 \ncertainly not before that event ! \n\nA man who has the catarrh : Well, give him plenty of peppery \nsnuff, to irritate the seat of his ailment ! Rheumatism, \xe2\x80\x94 go \n\n\n\n238 NEW DISCOVERIES. \n\nand rub him down with cayenne pepper, coal oil, alcohol, pitch, tar, \nand turpentine, giuger, salt, and allspice, \xe2\x80\x94 for these are all capital \nthings to " cure." \n\nLook ! yonder is a fair, pale-visaged girl, \xe2\x80\x94 said to be dying \nwith consumption of the lungs, and being doctored accordingly, \xe2\x80\x94 \nwhen the chances are a hundred to one that the seat and source \nof her disease is in the valves of the arteries, fimbras, pudic nerve, \nuterus, duvernayan glands, or in some of the minute lacunae of the \npelvic region, producing, of course, nervous exhaustion, followed \nby lung ulcerations and death, in nine cases in every ten. Now \na month\'s treatment with the prepared bromides, followed with \neither of the phymyllic remedies would put that girl upon her feet, \nsound and well ; but instead of that she is plied with lime, cod- \nliver oil \xe2\x80\x94 pah ! mustard-plaster, onion syrup, iron, soda, morphine, \nand a hundred other unavailing nostrums. \n\nWait awhile : " What\'s the news ? " " She died last night ! " \nAnd thus it is in the majority of cases of real or apprehended \ntubercular consumption, asthma, dyspepsia, bronchitis, neuralgia, \nfemale complaints, prolapsus uteri, spinal disease, and all that \nvast host of illnesses that have their origin in disturbed affection, \nunrequited love, uterine diseases and continued grief in women, \nmarried and single. And yet these are not diseases, but symptoms \nof one great disease, \xe2\x80\x94 a chemical disturbance, originating mainty \nin morbid conditions of the nervous apparatus, hence emotional \nsystems, of men and women, \xe2\x80\x94 causing radical changes in the \nfluids of the body, and thereby loading them with bitter, acid, \nacrid, corroding, biting elements, which malignant elements never \nwere, nor can be, driven out by any amount of drenching or mere \ndrugging ; for so long as they are there the patient must move \ngraveward. Now, when once the fluids are thus charged with these \nangular and corroding atoms, the latter invariably locate them- \nselves in, and fasten upon the weakest spot. If the lungs are \nweak and shallow, look out for consumption, bronchitis, asthma, \npneumonia or peritonitis ; if other parts be more vulnerable, then \ndyspepsia, epilepsy, nervous weakness, magnetic depletion, fits, \nuterine prolapsus, cancer, scrofula, spinal complaint, are sure to \nfollow, and not unfrequently the brain itself is attacked. And no \ndrugs can cure them, because they indicate the absence of five \ngreat elements from the body, and three others in excess. Now, I \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 239 \n\naffirm that a judicious combination of the elements already named \nwill unquestionably banish all such forms of disease from the \nworld forever, and I believe that I shall not have been many years \nin the land of disbodied souls, ere the discoveries I now announce \nwill be accepted the wide world over, and that the binary combina- \ntions of these few elements will supersede all other medical agents \non the globe. In making these disclosures I do not pretend to say \nthat I am not desirous of duly reaping a fair profit for the brain \ntoil given to perfect my discoveries ; for to do so would be untrue ;. \nbut personal gain is by no means the strongest motive that actuates \nme ; for I know these dynamic agents will cure all nervous diseases ; \nI know all nervous diseases spring from disarrangements of the \nsexual system, from various causes, and I believe these diseases \naffect the human soul and spirit on both sides of the eternal gulf, \nand for that reason alone I make these disclosures. True, I am \ngrateful when orders come for them, and I gladly shut myself up \' \nin my laboratory to compound and fill them ; but if never a dollar \ncame I should still give my knowledge and thank God for the \nopportunity of saving hundreds, and perhaps, by G-od\'s mercy, \nthousands, of insane, nervous, and exhausted people of both sexes, \n\n\xe2\x80\x94 unfortunate victims of amative extremism and inverted pas- \nsional appetite, \xe2\x80\x94 people now robbed, poisoned, and irreparably \ninjured by the rampant quackery of the times in which we live, to \nsay nothing of the relief that by these means may be given to the \nvast armies now rapidly marching on to irremediable ruin under \nthe baleful influence of the three great fiends of modern civilization, \n\n\xe2\x80\x94 alcohol, opium, and tobacco, \xe2\x80\x94 all of which I not only believe, \nbut absolutely know, to be not merely destructive to physical health, \nbut deeply injurious to man\'s immortal interests after the passage \nover the river of death, \xe2\x80\x94 injurious to a degree only less than that \nof solitary pollution, \xe2\x80\x94 the crime against God, and beyond all \ndoubt the sin against the Holy Ghost ! \n\nV Teachers innumerable, male and female, have asserted that love \nis in no wise connected to, associated with, or influenced by,, \namorous desire. So far as my long-continued observations go, \nthey are both right and wrong. Eight, when they elevate the \nsentiment of friendship and call it love ; wrong, when they con- \nfound the amicive or friendly feeling, with the amative passion. \nAffection is an attribute of the soul, per se, and in one of its \n\n\n\n240 NEW DISCOVERIES. \n\nmoods or phases is altogether independent of magnetic attraction, \npersonal appearance, sex, or condition ; and yet it is impossible for \na really fine soul to fully love a brutal or coarse one ; and when \nsuch anomalies present themselves, as occasionally they do, the \npassion is unhealthy, abnormal, and must be set down to the score \nof insanity. Intensification of friendship undoubtedly consti- \ntutes one of the supreme blisses of our port-mortem existence ; and \nyet it would be a poor heaven, in my judgment, in which there were \nno reciprocal play of the purely nerval sexual forces of the human \nsoul ; for that love, above all other phases of the master-passion, \nis, after all, the attractive chord, chain, motive, substance, or \nprinciple, which connects the two universal sexes together, and \nof them constitutes the one grand unity, Man. It is entirely dif- \nferent from that which binds together persons of the same gender. \n\nI announce another new truth when I affirm, as I do, that love \nis not only liable to, but often is, the subject of disease, and from \nthe diseases thus originated spring nine-tenths of all human ail- \nments. \n\nNot a tenth part of civilized mankind are free of all effects of \ndiseased passion and love, nor can perfect concord reign until all \nare so. The existing state of things can and ought to be remedied. \nIf the love of a man be diseased, then there is not sufficient secre- \nting or generating power to produce the prostatic and seminal \nlymph, or to effect the chemico-magnetic change into nerve aura, \nthat fluid fire which suffuses and rushes like a dream-tempest \nthrough our souls, bodies, and spirits, when in presence of one who \nevokes our love, \xe2\x80\x94 love in its very essence, purity, and power. \nIf a woman\'s love-nature be diseased, then her whole better nature \nbecomes morbidly changed, and a dreadful catalogue of suffer- \nings gradually fastens upon her, not the greatest of which are the \ninnumerable weaknesses, cancers, nervousness, neuralgias, con- \nsumptions, and aches, which remorselessly drag her down to pre- \nmature death, and whereupon unfeeling quacks wax rich. We* \ncannot have great men till we have healthy mothers ! \n\nIt may not, perhaps, be amiss to briefly show the interrelations \nand mutual interdependence existing between our souls, our spirits, \nand our material bodies ; I will therefore briefly do it. \n\nOver eight-tenths of the food we take consists of water and \nearthy, carbonaceous matter, most of which the body expels, while \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 241 \n\nthe fine essences enter the blood, are carried to the heart, and \nafter being charged with additional oxygen and vitality in the \nlungs, where they are first forced, and afterwards pumped through \nthe body, building it up and renewing every part through which it \npasses while swinging round its circle, \xe2\x80\x94 nervous, osseous, muscular, \ncerebral, pelvic, \xe2\x80\x94 and thus supplying mental, plrysical, emotional \nand passional energy. Now suppose, as is really the case in eight \nout of ten ailing persons, that the lacteals, the mesenteric glands, \nand absorbents are broken down by over use, tobacco, liquor ; or \nthat they are packed and clogged with earthy, chalky matters, or \nslimed up with purulent mucus, \xe2\x80\x94 why, then over three-fourths of the \nfood taken fails of the end sought ; is expelled with the waste, and \nthe blood rushes over its course with either too few nourishing \nelements, or is heavily loaded with pestilential substances, utterly \nhostile to health and vigor, and prolific of a thousand pains and \npenalties. \xe2\x80\xa2 By aid of a power peculiar to myself in some respects, \nat least, I have been able to demonstrate that the blood is a clear \nlymph, in which floats myriads of round red globules ; and that \ncertain chemical conditions of the, system greatly alter or change \nthe shape of these globules ; and that wherever they are thus \nchanged pain is an absolutely certain resultant. If these globules \npreserve their proper shape and consistence, they glide along \neasily, smoothly, and deposit their treasures in proper places, \xe2\x80\x94 \neye-material to the eyes ; nail, bone, cartilage, nervous, muscle, \nbone salival, prostatic, seminiferous and other materials, all are \nlodged just where they are wanted. But let there be a chemical \nalteration, changing their shape, and the wrong materials are quite \ncertain to go just where they are not wanted ; hence irritating parti- \ncles are frequently lodged in the lungs, instead of, perhaps, in the \nbones, where they properly belong. Now these irritant atoms are \nsure to beget ulcerations, which may, and often do, terminate in \ndeath. If such atoms are lodged in the brain, we have insanity, \nhead trouble, etc. If in the nerves, neuralgia follows ; if in the \nartereal valves, the heart sufferers ; if in the prostate, then seminal \ntroubles ensue ; and so of all other parts of the grand bodily \nmachine. Perhaps, because this theory is new it may prove offen- \nsive to antiquated medical " science ; " but it is none the less true, \nand real for all that ! \xe2\x96\xa0 \n\nAny one can swallow peas, currants, or even small shot without \n31 \n\n\n\n242 NEW DISCOVERIES. \n\ninconvenience, because they are smooth and round ; but if each \npea, currant, or shot, should happen to be armed with several stiff, \nsharp points, leaning in all directions, the task were a great deal \nless agreeable. Now, if the blood be loaded down with acid, \nacrid, or other morbid matters, indicating a change of chemical \ncondition, as well as of magnetic and electric polarity, the blood \nglobules become flattened, bulged, angular, and pointed ; hence \nthey clog and impede the general circulation. Lodge these angular \natoms here, there, and everywhere, and we are forthwith tortured \nwith sciatica, gout, rheumatism, acute, stationary, chronic, or flying. \nFlying, why? Because by hot fomentations, rubbing, etc., the \nblood-vessels are warmed. Heat expands; the channels widen, \ndisgorgement occurs, and the fluid blood carries the semi-solid \nangular globules somewhere else, and the shoulder agony is ex- \nchanged for knee torture, \xe2\x80\x94 only that, and nothing more ; for we \nnever get rid of rheumatism till the blood globules change their \nform, which they will only do when supplied with the deficient \nelements, or the excessive ones are withdrawn. And so with every \nother form of disease known to man. No patient ever yet died of \ncholera, or yellow fever, to whom chlorine and phosodyn elixir \nwas administered before death seized on him ! No one ever yet \ndied of consumption who was treated on the principles herein laid \ndown. \n\nIt is well, too well, known what slaves mankind are to alcohol, \nopium, and tobacco. Why? Because the globules are retained \nby the blood in a multi-angular shape, and the effort to regain their \nnormal form, when the victim tries to burst his bonds, is exceed- \ningly painful. But suppose these victims take chlorylle a few \nweeks. What then? Why that angularity is gradually and pain- \nlessly removed by a chemico-dynamic operation on the blood, and \nthe victim is released from his gyves forever. Not one such effect \ncan be produced aside from the principles here set forth. \n\nIt makes not the slightest difference to me who applies these \nprinciples practically, so long as their application works toward \nhuman redemption from the thrall of disease. Had I the capital \nto put my discoveries before the world, and my remedies in every \nhousehold, I would be content to die, that man might live ; but I \nam too poor to do it, for all that I have ever saved has up to this \nhour been spent in perfecting what I religiously believe to be the \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 243 \n\npurest and best system of medical treatment, and most perfect \nseries of medical agents the world ever yet saw ; and this not for \ngain alone, but because I solemnly believe that certain forms of \ndisease affect the human soul, and toaste it, and that these effects \nare not soon vastated or gotten rid of even beyond the grave. I \nalso know that the system I have wrought out will cure these \nspecial forms of disease, and of both these things I am as certain \nas that I know my Creator lives and reigns triumphant beyond the \nstarry sky that bends above our heads ! In the light of these new \nprinciples I affirm that potassa will cure the bites of mad clogs, \nrattlesnakes, or any other animal poison, administered at any time \nbetween the bite and the dreadful moment when, gathering de- \nmoniac force, the effects rush forth in such appalling horror as to \nfright the souls of bravest men. Why ? Because the alkali dis- \nsolves the virus, expels it from the body, and brings back the \nangular globules to their normal chemical condition, and therefore \nshape. By the application of the same principle, consumption \nand the pale train that accompanies its deadly march is surely \nrobbed of all its terrors, and we need no longer be horrified by the \nspectacle of millions of graves of people cut off by that fell pest \nin the midst of life and youth. \n\nWilful waste makes woful want ; yet to those who chew and \nsmoke their lives away, these principles afford the only known and \npositive refuge ; while that larger class, who, in youth and igno- \nrance, have sapped their own lives, manliness, womanhood, beauty, \ncourage, health, and power, \xe2\x80\x94 who have sacrificed themselves on \nthe altar of a deceptive, ruinous, and pernicious private pleasure, \xe2\x80\x94 \nthe baleful habit of solitary vice, \xe2\x80\x94 in these principles and their \nagencies have probably their sole and only earthly salvation, \xe2\x80\x94 \n[and here let me caution parents and guardians to treat these \nerring ones as patients, not as quasi criminals, for the trouble is \nchemical, not psychical, and kindness is better than its opposite, \nin their, as all other cases ; for a kind word, fitly spoken, may \nchange the whole career of a human being. When it is remembered \nthat it is as easy to speak a kind as any other sort of word, and \nalso reflect how in one case it may do worlds of good, or in the \nother worlds of evil, is it not strange that so few of the former and \nso many of the latter are uttered ? It is true that words are only \nair, but air sometimes suffocates and destroys. If rightly com- \n\n\n\n244 NEW DISCOVERIES. \n\npounded and good, it gives life and strength ; if otherwise, it en- \nfeebles and kills. Think how much you may do with a kind word, \nand then go and utter them, for there are waiting opportunities on \nthe right hand and left of you, and this above all, in cases where \nfrom folly or moral accident erring ones have tampered with their \nown lives and happiness, as I believe, here, and after death has \ntransported them beyond the darksome river.] \n\nThe whole and only secret of this, revolutionary theory of \ndiseases and their remedies is, briefly : oxygen is heat, light, and \nelectricity in unitary form. When it and phosogen are present \nin the body in proper quantity, it acts as a solvent to all morbid \naccumulations, and expels them from the system, while its con- \ntained vif or vital principle builds up and restores. It is the only \nperfect vehicle of the curative principle in existence, and cannot \nbe administered through the lungs by any system of inhalation to \nan extent sufficient to do much good, if any at all ; and this dis- \ncovery consists in a means whereby a combination of two or more \nof the seven named elements are made to generate vitality upon \ncoming in contact with the gastric, Miliary, and pancreatic secre- \ntions, positively, promptly, effectively. \n\nBeautiful, blessed, life-giving, health-laden oxygen ! It is thy \ntriumph I celebrate ! With thee, the physician of the future shall \nbe armed at all points, for thou never failest in thy holy and per- \nfect work ! Royal principle ! sweetly sleeping in the virgin\'s heart, \nand playing on the infant\'s lip ! Thou givest zest to the story, \nand point to the epigram ; and thou art the spirit of eloquence on \nthe orator\'s tongue ! On the rugged mountain-top thou art breathed \nforth -by myriad giant trees, and in the valley thou sighest from \nthe corolla of a flower ! Thou art the destroying breath of the \ntyphoon and sirocco ; and thou the sweet perfume exhaled from the \nlily\'s spotless chalice ! Thou givest strength and fury to the \nflame that wraps vast forests in sheets of living fire ; and thou \nlayest waste great cities, leaving them shrivelled and seared behind \nthee, as thou marchest forward in thy wrath ! And yet thou art \ngentle as a mother\'s love, \xe2\x80\x94 lovely as the blushing dawn, \xe2\x80\x94 true \nfriend of man, when he understandeth thy moods and law ; but a \nbitter teacher of those who know thee not ! \xe2\x80\x94 Thou tender nurse, \nfaithful friend, and chief of all plrysicians, \xe2\x80\x94 \n\n" They reckon ill who leave thee out I " \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 245 \n\n\xe2\x80\x94 thou servant of Heaven ! beautifier of earth ! maker of happy \nhomes ! healer of all human ills ! comforter of our souls ! dispenser \nof life ! foe of death ! banisher of pain ! \xe2\x80\x94 ever blessed, lovely, \nbeautiful, holy, and God-Sent Principle of Life ! \n\n\n\nPART II. B. \n\nThe proper study of mankind is Woman ! and precious few are \nthey who really know anything about her, although millions of \nthose who wear pantaloons and sport whiskers, imagine that of all \nother studies of this mundane life of ours, they have mastered \nthat; but a greater mistake was never made since creation began, \nand the morning stars sang together for joy. If it be true that \nof all enigmas and mysteries on this earth, man is the greatest \nand most profound, then certainly the most difficult part of that \nmighty riddle is the wonderful being called Woman. Wonderful \nin many ways and senses, as I shall most abundantly demonstrate \nbefore the conclusion of this brief article. \n\nThere is an old Talmudic legend concerning the advent of \nwoman on this earth, which goes far toward showing that in many \nthings she was understood better some thousands of years before \nthe Christian era, than she is to-day, even among the most highly \ncultivated and polished circles of modern civilized society, in the \nloftiest centres of learning and refinement. The legend tells us \nthat when the idea struck the Elohim that they would people this \nearth with beings only a little inferior to themselves, they were so \npleased with it that they forthwith set themselves to work to \ngather the very finest and most perfect particles of dust they \ncould find in ten thousand years ; which dust their chief straight- \nway formed into a man, and in doing so, used up all the material. \nAfter enjoying the sight of the new-made being awhile, they put \nhim in a very pleasant garden ; but the lonely one was very mis- \nerable and unhapp}^, and at last made such a hideous noise with his \ngrumbles and growlings, that, to save their lives, the Elohim could \nnot get a wink of sleep. He kept it up, however, night and day, \n\n\n\n246 NEW DISCOVERIES. \n\ntill his hair frizzled all over his head, and he grew quite black in the \nface. That was the Talmudic origin of the black race. But one \nday he chanced to go near some still water and saw his own image \nreflected therein, which sight so frightened him that he stopped \ngroaning. Now the sudden cessation of the noise caused one of the \nElohim to look out of his window in the sky, to see what on \nearth could be the matter, and, observing the man, he went down \nand asked him what was up. Says the man, " I\'m tired of this \ngarden, \xe2\x80\x94 it\'s altogether too lonesome." "Well, J haven\'t any- \nthing to do about that. Who are you, anyhow? I never saw \nyou before, \xe2\x80\x94 that\'s certain!" Said the man : " I wonder, now, \nwhy you made me, and put me here? " " I made you? Why you \nblack wretch, I never saw you till this moment," and with that he \nslapped his face, flattened his nose, spread his feet, and he \nhas remained so ever since. That first experiment was a failure. \nAfte,r the Elohim had discovered his mistake, the council deter- \nmined to try again, and this time made a fine-looking fellow, and \nput him into garden number two. But he grumbled also, till he \ngrew red in the face, scaled the walls, and went for the woods. \nFailure number two. Again they made another man ; but he knew \nat once what he wanted, and so kept continually crying " Woh- \nzoel woh-zoe!" which in the Edenic language signifies, " Woman, \nwoman ! " " Sure enough," said Elohim, " he very naturally \nwants a wife ! " But where to get one was the difficulty ; seeing \nthat it took thirty thousand years to collect materials to make \nthree coarse men, it would take ten times as long to find the \nwherewith to make one fine woman. At last one of them sug- \ngested making her out of a part of man, and acting thereupon, \nthey straightway put the three men asleep, took a rib from each, \nand thereof made three females, or woh-zoes \xe2\x80\x94 which means \nwoman \xe2\x80\x94 seeing that she was taken out of man. Now when the \nthree men woke up, they were surprised and delighted exceed- \ningly. The black man took his Dinah to Africa, and stayed there ; \nthe red. man took his squaw to America ; the white man was so \ndelighted with his sweetheart that he began to whistle " Over the \nhills and far away," with variations on "Yankee Doodle," and \n"Push along, keep moving," and he has kept moving from that \nday to this, evincing his superiority to the other two by demon- \nstrating practically that though a rolling stone gathers no moss, \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 247 \n\nyet a travelling man gains knowledge. In proof of which the \nwhite man to-day is master of the world, and says, does, and \nknows just twice as much .as both the others combined. The \nwhite woman is chief of all women, as the white man is unques- \ntioned king of all who wear the human form ; and yet, wise and \nknowing as he undoubtedly is, he has yet to learn a thing or two \nabout women. \n\nAmong other errors concerning her, now prevalent, is the \nabsurd idea that, sex excepted, she is precisely what man is, in \nall respects whatever. While the truth of the case is, that in all re- \nspects she is his opposite and counterpart, mentally, socially, phys- \nically, esthetically, physiologically, anatomically, magnetically, \nelectrically, chemically, and mechanically ; and to regard her as \nbeing but a softer, finer, more delicate sort of man, or male, is not \nonly a grave mistake, but one that does her rank injustice. And \nyet how many thousands of men fall headlong into it, and during \nthe whole course of their lives are stone blind to some of the most \nbeautiful facts of existence. For instance : woman everywhere, \nand under all circumstances, is cleaner than man. Soap and \nwater, fresh linen and free air, will always purify her, no matter \nwhat her previous state may have been. Not so with man. Let \nthe cleanest man living wash in forty clear, pure, fresh tubs of \nwater, one after another, and the last water will be dark and \ncloudy ! But let a woman do so, and the thirty-five last tubs of \nwater will be as pure and clear and free from clouds as the forty- \nfirst one just drawn from the running brook or bubbling spring \nupon the hill-side. Again : there is said ever to be a dirty corner \nin the mind of every man that treads, or has ever trodden, the earth. \nThis is never true of woman ! and doubtless never will be. \n\nThat she is magnetically different from man is proved by the \nsuperior results of the care and nursing of both sexes by woman \nand man. In the case of man he merely allays physical anguish, \nwhile woman does that, better still, and at the same time soothes \nthe spirit and leads back, with silken cords, the rebellious soul to \nvirtue, truth, and God ! Anatomically she differs, being wide in \nthe pelvis, where man is narrow, and narrow in the shoulders, \nwhere man is wide. She eats the same food man does, and drinks \nthe same general fluids, but she makes a far different use of them ; \nfor while man converts them into muscular force, woman changes \n\n\n\n248 NEW DISCOVERIES. \n\nthem into nervous power ; milk, \xe2\x80\x94 during lactation ; and into love \nand affection, besides various forces that are unknown to the \nsterner sex. Physically, she is immeasurably inferior in strength ; \nbut in endurance, fortitude, courage to undergo, and victoriously \nto endure pain, she rises as far above the best man living, as the \nmidsummer sun transcends a tallow candle ! And if any man \nwere called upon to suffer one-half the physical anguish that every \nfemale has to encounter, the graveyards would overflow with their \ndead bodies within a single year ! While if men had to suffer \nmentally half that women do every month of their lives, the in- \nsane retreats and mad-houses would be crammed to suffocation. \nLet no one henceforth speak sneeringly of Woman as being " the \nweaker vessel." \n\nThis point will be clearer when it is understood that a woman\'s \nnerves are not only far more in number than man\'s, but they are \ninfinitely finer, more subtle, sensitive, and acute ; hence she is \nliable to a variety of diseases of a purely nervous character, \npeculiar to her sex alone ; for instance, variously seated neural- \ngia, \xe2\x80\x94 one of the most excruciating tortures the human frame is \ncapable of enduring; while, when we speak of the pangs of mater- \nnity, ulcerations, prolapsus, ovarian tumors, swelled breast, pro- \nfuse, painful, suppressed or abnormal periods, \xe2\x80\x94 we speak of \nthings whereof man can have no experience whatever, and there- \nfore no adequate idea. Even learned professors know very little \nof woman, and not one in a thousand has a clear understanding \nof her nature, \xe2\x80\x94 a being so delicate, so full of mystery, and in \nwhom the nervous life is all in all. Disappoint a man in love, and \nhe straightway recovers from the shock. Disappoint a woman, \nand forthwith she languishes, falls into consumption, and dies. \nIt is a very grievous sin to do such a thing. She needs \xe2\x80\x94 always \nneeds \xe2\x80\x94 the love and support of a protecting arm, \xe2\x80\x94 not false \nlove, but true. When she has this, sick or well, she is a tower of \ngrandeur, and you cannot deceive her. Without it, she becomes \nwarped and soured, and the prey of a hundred forms of disease ; \nand to cure which, people pill, purge, leech, blister, and narcotize \nher. What nonsense ! Blue pill for a breaking heart ! Catnip \ntea for disappointed love ! Blister plasters for a jealous fit ! A \nnew bonnet to pay for nights of absence and days of cruelty, \nneglect, and abuse ! \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 249 \n\nTo successfully treat the diseases of woman, requires a vast deal \nmore of science, art, culture, patience, experience, and ability, \nthan it does to treat those of the opposite sex, for the reason that \nher organism is infinitely more complex, and her mission and \nfunction broader and deeper than man\'s. "Not so," says a \ncaviller. " Pray, what has woman clone in the world? Has not \nman built civilization, erected cities, states, and mighty king- \ndoms? made ships, mills, railways? has he not done all this?" \nI answer, "Most certainly he has; but look you, sir: Woman \nmakes the man who in turn does these mighty things ! " \n\nThe great physical difference between the sexes consists in the \nuterine system of organs and its tremendous offices, \xe2\x80\x94 that of \nbuilding human bodies and incarnating human souls, \xe2\x80\x94 and the \nmammary glands, or breasts, whereby the young soul is nurtured \ninto life and strength. Now, if by any cause whatever, the life \nor happiness of the woman be disturbed, there is straightway a re- \naction upon the breasts, heart, lungs, and the entire uterine system, \ninvolving the dreadful chances of cancer, heart disease, consump- \ntion, dyspepsia, and prolapsus, to say nothing of the hundred \nother specific forms of female diseases, often resulting in life-long \nmisery, mental agony, and early death, \xe2\x80\x94 and all from a variety \nof causes to which no man can possibly be exposed. Hence I \nagain repeat, and without fear of successful contradiction, that at \nleast ten times the skill is required in treating her diseases than \nin those of men alone. \n\nIf a man receives a blow upon the breast, he speedily recovers ; \nnot so with woman ; for it may so injure her as to cause tumors, \nulcers, or cancer ; and if not, then the milk glands may be ruined \nfor life ; and on her ability to do justice to her child, both before \nand after birth, depends the inferiority or superiority of the race \nof men who are to rule the world hereafter. \'It is a sad truth that \nI utter when I say that nine-tenths of the women of this country \nlabor under some form of disease peculiar to them alone. The}\'" \nare most common and distressing, by reason of their annoyance \nand exhausting effects ; the constant irritation, and the extreme \ndifficulty experienced in getting rid of them when once firmly \nsettled upon the system of the sufferers. They are common to \nboth married and unmarried women, but far more so among the \nformer than the latter class, owing to a variety of causes. One most \n32 \n\n\n\n250 NEW DISCOVEKIES. \n\ndistressing and depressing trouble is prolapsus of the uterus, with \nwhich most American ladies are more or less afflicted ; and to he \nrelieved of which, they often resort to very questionable means, \namong which are the forty thousand illiterate, money-catching \nquacks, \xe2\x80\x94 with their catholicons, balsams, pessaries, belts, and \nHeaven only knows how many more detestable, cruel, poisonous, \ninefficient, yet always unavailing and positively injurious con- \ntrivances. More than nine-tenths of woman\'s illnesses is the re- \nsult of vital and nervous exhaustion. It comes of too hard \nphysical labor, lifting, too frequent child-bearing, and, what is \nworse yet, and the principal cause of four-fifths of it, from con- \ntinual domestic inquietude and fretting. \n\nThis last cause alone is productive of far more illness than would \nreadily be believed, did not general observation and experience \ndemonstrate it beyond all cavil. In the first place passion\'s true \nobject, so far as nature is concerned, is offspring, and whenever, \nwherever, and by whomsoever it is habitually and unwisely per- \nverted to other and mere animal, not pure affectional uses, it is a \ndesecration of woman\'s holy nature, and an outrage on the exquis- \nite sanctities of her being ! \n\nUnwelcome "love" is no love at all. To force nature is a \ncrime against God. The strain is too heavy on the nervous \nsystem, to say nothing about deeper parts of human nature. That\'s \nthe way that some, and a good many wives are poisoned. That \nis the reason wiry so many of them mysteriously waste away, \nsicken, grow pale, thin, waxen, and finally quit the earth, and send \ntheir forms to early graves, \xe2\x80\x94 like blasted fruit, falling before \nhalf ripened. It is a terrible picture, but a true one. \n\nIf poison \xe2\x80\x94 prussic acid or strychnine, for instance \xe2\x80\x94 be admin- \nistered to a woman, she dies from its effects. But why? Because \nit enters the seat of life, changes the nature of her blood and death \nfollows. Well she may be poisoned quite as effectively in other \nways ; for she may be exhausted and die for want of nervous \nenergy ; or she may have morbid secretions, the poison of which \nis sure to enter the blood, until the blood is so heavily charged \ntherewith that the disease assumes another form, while retaining \nthe old one, and before she is aware of it, the foul-fiend Consump- \ntion, has laid siege to her lungs, or Scrofula in some of its myriad \nforms, \xe2\x80\x94 from cancer to salt rheum, \xe2\x80\x94 saps the foundation of her \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 251 \n\nhealth forever. And yet a certain class of physicians tell us that \nher ailments can be cured with drugs, herb teas, bathing, magnetic \ntreatment, electric shocks, or any one of ten thousand methods, \xe2\x80\x94 \nall and singular of which, are as worthless and useless as a last \nyear\'s almanac, for you might as well expect an oyster to climb a \ntree, or to see a whale dance the polka, as to expect utter impos- \nsibilities in the direction indicated ; for never, since the world \nbegan, did any such treatment cure a woman of the troubles referred \nto ; nor is it possible unless the active and producing cause be \nfirst understood, then attacked, and finally removed. And they \ncannot be so removed unless she be purified and strengthened. \nWill herb teas do this important work? Will all the drugs ever \nimported \xe2\x80\x94 to kill patients and make doctors rich \xe2\x80\x94 do it ? will \nwashing, sousing, dousing, scalding, accomplish the desired work ? \nWill any amount of magnetizing, electrifying, or pulling, hauling, \nblistering, bleeding, purging, plastering, or manipulation, solve \nthe great problem and banish these diseases? I answer most \nemphatically, no ! Why ? Because all these methods proceed \nupon the plan of relieving symptoms, not fighting the real disease ; \nand just as long as such plans are adhered to, just so long will the \nagonizing groans of millions of suffering women ascend to Heaven, \ncraving the help from thence that is denied them here. \n\nTo cure the outer, physical, and most of the mental and emo- \ntional ills of women, nature herself must be taken as both copy \nand guide. Indian women, negresses, and, in fact, none of the \ndark-skinned women of the world, are ever troubled with the griev- \nous catalogue of disorders and complaints that afflict so many \nmillions of the fair daughters and mothers of our otherwise favored \ncountry. And why is this ? The answer is plain. In the first place \nthey are born right, and of perfectly healthy mothers, whatever may \nbe said of them on the score of morals, beauty, and intelligence, \xe2\x80\x94 \nthey being confessedly as far inferior to American women in these \nthree respects, as themselves are undoubtedly inferior to their dark- \nskinned sisters in point of health and physical stamina. This is \nproved by their utter freedom from all diseases of the pelvis and \nnerves, and by their exceeding brief, and almost painless illness \nin confinement ; nor is this fact accounted for on the theory that \nwere their children as large-brained as American babes, their suf- \nferings would equal those of our wives and mothers, \xe2\x80\x94 for there \n\n\n\n252 NEW DISCOVERIES. \n\nare large-brained oriental people, \xe2\x80\x94 bat the results in no wise \ndiffer from the rule laid down. \n\nNow, why this immunity from disease? I reply: because, first, \nthey live right ; they are not pampered with health-destroying \nhot teas, coffees, pork-fat, sweets, quack doctors, or any other \nabomination. Second, they have plenty of out-door exercise ; con- \nsequently their lungs are well inflated and their blood oxygenized. \nAnd, third, they are not worn out by exactions which kill half the \nwhite wives before their lives are more than half spent ! \n\nThe domestic habits of American women are by no means calcu- \nlated to promote health or prolong life. An excess of fat food, \ndoughnuts, rich indigestible pastry, hot drinks, hot air, feather \nbeds, close rooms, lack of amusement, warm bread, and com- \npressed chests, are, each and all, making sad marks upon American \nwomen. But this is not the worst feature of the case, by any \nmeans, in two respects. 1st. Whatever other just things our \ncountry may boast \xe2\x80\x94 whatever pride it may fairly have in its \ninstitutions \xe2\x80\x94 it is a deplorable fact that marriage in our land, as a \ngeneral thing, is anything but a " bed of roses," as is demon- \nstrated in a thousand ways daily, in every section of the land. \nDisgust, discontent, hidden grief, and a hundred real and imagi- \nnary evils and wrongs, are constantly paling the cheeks and dimming \nthe eyes of scores of thousands of wives in this our fair and vast \ndomain. It is certain that scores of thousands of wives perish \nyearly, \xe2\x80\x94 victims of thoughtlessness on the part of others and \nthemselves too. They have failed to fortify themselves, \xe2\x80\x94 their \nnerves and constitutions, against the excessive drainage to which \ntoo many of them are exposed. A very little knowledge, of the \nright sort, would enable them to successfully do this, and no one \nthe wiser for, or the loser by, it. Never shall I forget the terrible \nimpression made upon me by the account of a young wife\'s dying \nbed, told me by Mrs. Reed, of Boston, \xe2\x80\x94 a fair young creature, \xe2\x80\x94 \na gazelle, \xe2\x80\x94 mated with a brutal elephant, \xe2\x80\x94 a thing shaped like a \n-man, but who had no more real manhood than a wild buffalo. \nNow, had that murdered wife \xe2\x80\x94 a victim to Christian marriage \xe2\x80\x94 \nbeen wise, as she might have been, she could have preserved her \nlife and health in spite of the thing that called himself her husband. \n\n2d. "Women, when afflicted, frequently become the victims of \ncharlatanry and medical mal-practice to an alarming extent, and it \n\n\n\nt \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 25 i \n\n\n\nis an open question whether the outrageous exposures, operations, \nindelicate manipulations, heroic drugging, and unmanly, unscien- \ntific, and inhuman treatment generally, to which they are subject, \nis not more fatal and injurious, in the result, than the original dis- \nease sought to be remedied ! I hold the man, physician or not, \nwho unnecessarily violates the holy sanctities of woman, and rudely \nassails her delicacy, as being no man at all ; and here let me say, \nis to be found one of the prolific causes of the general unhappiness \nof woman in wedded life. Husbands forget three things of vas \nimportance to the happiness of wedlock : That love can only be \nmaintained by Tenderness, Consideration, and Respect ; and that \nhe comes too near, who comes to be denied ; and that it is not and \nnever was or will be true, that a man may do what he likes with \nhis own ! \n\nBut where unhealth exists from domestic causes, the woman has \na sure relief, and it mainly consists in expanding the lungs, brac- \ning and invigorating the nervous system ; the means adapted \nspecially to which end, I have already indicated, in ox3^genization. \nBut, the question rises : " What is this oxygenization of which \nyou speak ? and by what method is it done ? and how does it act \nto produce results so desirable to nearly every female in the land ? " \nThese are very just and pertinent questions, demanding clear and \nexplicit answers. In the first place, then, it is impossible for a \nwoman to be ill, in the direction here alluded to, if her lungs be \nlarge and sound, her blood pure, and her waist uncramped by the \ntja\'anny of fashion. But if her lungs be squeezed into the shape \nof a blue-bottle fly, or an hour-glass, it is impossible that they can \nbe filled with fresh air, or any air at all ; and if they are not so \nfilled at every breath she draws, the blood that rushes to the lungs \nfrom the heart cannot receive the due share of air to which they \nare entitled, and for which they were created. Now, if such is the \ncase, it follows that by degrees the blood becomes foul, because it \ncannot rid itself of the impure and noxious substances gathered \nfrom all parts of the bod}\', and of which it would speedily dis- \ncharge itself, if the heart and the lungs were permitted to do their \nfull duty. \n\nI have already demonstrated that the body of woman is infinitely \nfiner, more delicate and susceptible to all sorts of impressions and \ninfluences, than is that of man ; and, by reason of her sex and its \n\n\n\niai \n\n\n\n254 NEW DISCOVERIES. \n\nresponsibilities, she is doubly liable to what man never can be, \xe2\x80\x94 \ndisarrangement of peculiar organs. \n\nI need not say \xe2\x80\x94 for every one knows perfectly well \xe2\x80\x94 that the \nuterus (and its appendages) is the most wonderfully delicate and \nsensitive mechanism ever constructed by the hand of the living \nGod ; for in it, by it, and through it, the purpose is accomplished \nand completed, for which the Eternal Being has ceaselessly \nlabored during countless millions of rolling centuries ! It is the \n\ncred recess wherein nature\'s loftiest and finest work is done ! \nt is the sealed and thrice-holy laboratory, wherein G-od manufac- \ntures the most surprising machines. He builds the most exquisite \nfurnaces therein, \xe2\x80\x94 witness the lungs ! The most magnificent chemi- \ncal works ; witness the stomach of a babe, \xe2\x80\x94 a machine that \nconverts gross food into eternal and infinite thought, and im- \nperishable mind ! The most wonderful dyeing works in existence, \nfor what can equal the marble purity of an infant\'s skin? or the \ncarnation of a maiden\'s cheek ? or the blushing coral of her lips ? \nBehold the fourteen miles of blood-vessels, and the five hundred \nmiles of nervous filament, every one of which is an electric tele- \ngraph a million times more perfect than that of Morse ! Behold \nthe skin that covers the human form, with its forty-five millions of \npores, through which is hourly sifted noxious substances too fine \nto be seen by the human eye ! The human eye itself ! What \nmicroscope can rival it ? What telescope compare in elaborateness \nand use ? The ear ! What a wonderful instrument ! Behold the \nmystery of the hand and arm ! Look at the astonishing perfect- \nness of the wheels, levers, hinges, doors, cells, wells, pumps, and \npillars of the human structure, and you are lost in amazement at \nits extraordinary and marvellous workmanship ! Yet it is all \nfashioned and completed in the uterus of woman ! Nor is this all. \nWhen we look at the human body, with all its wdndrous workman- \nship, we realize the stupendous truth that it was created especially \nas the temporary residence of the eternally enduring human soul. \nAnd that soul itself, with all its transcendent powers for good and \nevil, is fashioned, biased, built up and modelled for all eternity, \nwithin its holy walls, from whence it is launched upon the waves \nof eternal ages ; and its destiny here and hereafter unquestionably \nis determined before it sees the light, by the happy or unhappy, \nsick or well, condition of the mother whose work it chances \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 255 \n\nto be ! In Heaven\'s name, then, how can we expect wives to \nbring forth children but a little inferior to angels in perfection, \nwhile the mothers are in some respects treated inconsiderately, \nrudely, and ignorantly, like unto the beasts that perish? Now \nobserve : whatever sensation, emotion, pleasure, or pain the woman \nhas, be it mental or plrysical, immediately acts upon the uterus, \nand its appendages, causing either pleasurable, healthful feelings \nto pervade her entire being, or inducing pain. But if, from \ncramped or diseased lungs, the blood be impure and charged with \nnoxious substances, there is sure to be trouble, either in the \nuterine, digestive, or nervous sj 7 stem, but mainly in the former, and \nmanifested by weakness in the back and loins, nervous irritability, \nsickness, nausea, side-pains, headaches, and impure catamenia, \xe2\x80\x94 \nnot infrequently ultimating in ulcers, cancer, or confirmed consump- \ntion. Frequently the uterine ligaments become weak, relaxed, \nflimsy, and suffer the uterus to fall forward, backward, descend, or \nbecome partially turned inside out ; and if it becomes bruised \nwhile thus hanging down, as it very often is, cancer may follow, \nor a chronic induration supervene, \xe2\x80\x94 in either case causing the \nmost intolerable anguish, or a lingering, painful, wasting illness, \nto which death itself is very often preferable. For this state of \nthings I have never found any medicinal agents at all comparable \nto those discovered by myself ; especially that known as Phosodyn, \n\xe2\x80\x94 an element closely approximating the principle of vitality itself, \nbecause it is speedily absorbed by the blood, is carried to the \nlungs, \xe2\x80\x94 which it heals if ailing, \xe2\x80\x94 and from there, having gained \nadditional oxygen from the air, back to the heart, which, with \nrenewed energy, sends it whirling, flying, searching, into and \nthrough every vein, artery, cell, muscle, organ, and crevice of the \nentire body, leaving not a single spot un visited, unsearchecl, unex- \nplored by the life-charged blood, \xe2\x80\x94 I say life-charged, for this \nsubtle agent most assuredly is very near akin to life itself, and \nwhile as perfectly harmless as the air we breathe, is, like that very \nair, the accredited vehicle of muscular, digestive, cerebral, and \nnervous energy ; for wherever it goes it carries life, vigor, health, \nand strength. The lungs, be they never so badly diseased, im- \nmediately begin to heal. Sleepless nights are exchanged for hours \nof sweet slumber and calm repose. Exhausted nerves gain new \nthrills of gleeful, joyous life, activity, and vigor. The dyspeptic \n\n\n\n256 NEW DISCOVERIES. \n\nstomach regains its healthful tone, the liver is forthwith cleansed \nand purified, the kidneys begin to thoroughly do their proper work, \nand the excess of uric acid, urea, chalk, carbonate of lime, pus, \nslime, and poison is strained from the blood, as they ought to be, \nand are, through the bladder, effectually cast forth from the body. \nThe brain is relieved from pressure, and its functions are again \neffectively carried on. The ligaments of the uterus contract, and, \nas they do so, the organ is drawn up and back to its proper place. \nThe acrid secretions are effectually cut off; the scrofulous humors \nthat have tainted the blood are completely and thoroughly nulli- \nfied, rendered harmless, and evacuated from the system ; and the \npatient\'s groans and heart-rending sighs are heard no more ; for \nthey are changed to notes of joy and gladness, hope and rest, by \nthis most thorough of all known remedies. \n\nThe value of this discovery, in the treatment of female diseases \nalone, cannot be computed, by millions even ; for just as it would \nbe impossible to weigh out or measure the full amount of pain \nand agony endured in a single year by the women of this country, \neven so it would be impossible to estimate the amount of good \npossible to be accomplished by its means. All other attempts \xe2\x80\x94 \nfor they are and were attempts only \xe2\x80\x94 that have hitherto been \nmade to cure nervous diseases, especially those of women, have \nbeen either the hap-hazard essayals of ignorance, the results of \nerrant quackery and empiricism, or the lamentable experiments of \nphysicians who went on the theory that one class of agents alone \nwould cure them, and what might be given to a man would also do for \na woman ; when, in fact, the chemical difference between the two \nsexes ought to have taught them a far different doctrine. Give a \ngood chemist a bloody handkerchief taken from a cut hand, and he \nwill tell you whether it is that of a man or woman ; hence the \nidea of treating both sexes alike for disease is absurd ; but not \nquite so illogical as the attempts daily made to relieve women of \ntheir own peculiar ailments by flooding the stomach with all sorts \nof so-called " medical" agents, but which are mainly ineffective, \nif not poisonous. Most medicines\' merely excite the stomach to \nrenewed activity in the effort to dislodge and get rid of what is \npoured into it. They act upon the mucous membrane and excite \nthe glands to increased action, and the engendered slime invests \nor dissolves the drugs, and they are carried from the body ; but in \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 257 \n\nnearly all cases leave that body in a far worse condition than ever. \nThus by mal-treatment five sixths of all the women of our country \nare invalids in reality, and, were it not for the wonderful en- \ndurance of American women, over all others, by reason of their \nlarger and finer brain, and nervous systems, a very large per- \ncentage of them would die before they do. \n\n\n\nPART II. C. \n\n\n\n" I cannot remember a night so dark as to have hindered the \ncoming day ; nor a storm so furious or dreadful as to prevent the \nreturn of warm sunshine and a cloudless sky ! " \n\nNot every one who proclaims himself your friend will stand by \nyou when friendship is most needed. \n\nListen well to all advice, \xe2\x80\x94 and follow your own ! \n\nIt is bad policy to give your last coat away ; and worse to be- \nlieve what all men say they mean. \n\nIt is poor wisdom to sell your friend for present gain. \n\nHusbands were not made to be destroyed for a wife or mother- \nin-law\'s whims ; nor were wives made to be neglected for a wan- \nton\'s smiles. An ounce of love is worth a ton of passion ; and it \nwon\'t do to always speak your mind or give your suspicions to \nthe winds. Stop and think ! Consider, soul, consider ! A hus- \nband is worth more than a key or a portrait ! Don\'t you think so ? \n\nAll modern theories of diseases are wrong ; they are not in \nthe blood, but are the results of wrong, excessive, scant, or \nmorbid magnetism ; hence are to be thoroughly cured only by \nmagnetic means, either directly, by the touch, or by magnetic \nmedical agents, of which there are but few in existence, and \nnone equal to those discovered b} r myself. \n\nNever yet was an injury so deep that time could not assuage it ; \nnor an angry man that did not injure himself more than he did the \nobject of his wrath ; nor an enemy so bitter but that Right and \nJustice in his heart did not eloquently appeal for his opponent ; \nnor was there ever a trouble but that, somehow, a woman was at \n33 \n\n\n\n258 NEW DISCO VEEIES. \n\nthe bottom of it ; nor a joy that she did not create ; nor a hatred \nequal to hers ; nor a friendship half so true as woman\'s. She is a \ncreature very weak, yet capable of twisting^ the strongest man \nthat ever lived around her little finger ; little, but great, and who \ncan reduce the sternest man\'s resolutions into the consistency of \nsoft-soap before he can say " Jack Robinson." \n\nI have never failed to observe that those who loudest denounced \nthe amative passion as " animal," " unholy," " impure," and the \nlike, were its veriest slaves. \n\nNever sell your bed or fool it away. It is bad policy. . . I never \nknew either doctors or philosophers to speak well of each other ; \na " strong-minded" woman who was not a termagant at home ; or \na moral reformer that had not a leak in his character or a soft \nspot in his head. \n\nA husband \xe2\x80\x94 a true one \xe2\x80\x94 is worth ten thousand " friends," and \na true wife worth a myriad wantons. \n\nI have never known a family difficulty that did not originate in \npassional satiety, or disturbance of the magnetic equilibrium be- \ntween couples, and consequent^ none that were incurable. Man \nis a whimsical creature, \xe2\x80\x94 a curious mixture of good and evil ; \nwoman a bundle of strange contradictions. Both are God\'s mas- \nter-work ; and if each stopped to think a little before a given \naction, there would be less domestic trouble in the world. \n\nI know that men and women fail and die through feebleness of \nwill ; that love lieth at the foundation ; that silence is strength ; \nand that goodness alone is power ; hence that though all the world \narray itself against a man, yet, if he be right, God and himself are \na majority ; and, lastly, I know that a great deal of life\'s miseries \nspring from unrequited love, \xe2\x80\x94 the unappeased longing and yearn- \ning for the great human right, \xe2\x80\x94 that is, the right to be loved for \nourselves alone, not merely for the accidents that environ us. But \nI have more to say on this subject, and shall soon utter it in my \nvolume entitled " Love and its Hidden History." \n\n\n\nSince March 25th, 1868, I have made arrangements whereby in \nfuture I shall have the use of a far better laboratory than my own ; \nhence shall be able to produce my improved remedies for all ner- \nvous diseases, not only of superior quality, but can now make them \n\n\n\nTHINGS WORTH KNOWING. 259 \n\nfresh and perfect for each case, \xe2\x80\x94 an advantage readily appreci- \nable. In no case will I again make the old forms of phymylle or \namylle, as my new combinations are immensely superior to either \nof them ; hence hereafter the public will understand that all arti- \ncles bearing those names, and not having my seal upon them, when \nsold by parties other than myself, are counterfeits. \n\nI shall keep none of my remedies on hand; but when patients \nconsult me and describe their cases, I will prescribe for and pre- \npare either or all of my remedies, and forward the same by desig- \nnated express, at the uniform rate of five dollars per large flask of \neither of the remedies, eight dollars for a large flask of two, and \ntwelve dollars for a full course of three remedies, \xe2\x80\x94 being but a \nslight advance on the cost of preparation, \xe2\x80\x94 I depending on their \nextensive sale, rather than on large gains upon small quantities. \nThe preparations will be furnished absolutely pure, for they are \nmade in the best laboratory in the United States, with the assist- \nance of two of the best chemists the world now possesses. \n\nThe remedies are designated as Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, and are sent \nseparate or in courses, as required. It is always best for patients \nor their friends to describe the symptoms of the case ; how long \nailing, sex, age, and temperament ; the supposed origin of the ail- \nment, and state of the digestive organs. On the data thus fur- \nnished, a clear judgment can be formed, and the appropriate reme- \ndies be prescribed. A cure will be effected in almost every case, \nif the directions given are strictly and punctually followed. \n\nLet it be clearly and distinctly understood that these remedies \nare in no sense " patent medicines," made only to sell ; but they \nare fine elements, the grand triumph of chemical skill and re- \nsearch, and the perfected results of twenty-five weary years of \nlabor and study. \n\nNos. 1 and 3 taken as directed, will clear the body of all sorts \nof poisonous humor or virus that may be lurking in the system. \nThey enter the blood, vitalize it, and give magnetic nervous force, \nwhile most effectually removing all acid, acrid, slimy particles, \nand hence promptly curing rheumatism, scrofula, neuralgia, and, \nabove all, speedily correcting the morbid secretions incident only \nto womanhood, hence quickly relieving headache, heart disturb- \nance, bearing down, and all that class of lingering complaints. \n\nNos. 2, 3, and 4 constitute a positive and absolute specific for \n\n\n\n260 NEW DISCOVERIES. \n\nthat sad catalogue of ills resulting from youthful inversionism, or \nsolitary error in either sex. I prefer to say no more on that pain- \nful subject, further than to remark that these agents unmistakably \ncure them. I have in my possession hundreds of letters from the \nvictims of both the errors alluded to, and of the conscienceless \nscoundrel quacks who pretend to be able to cure them and cannot, \n\n\xe2\x80\x94 harpies, whose obscene advertisements are the standing dis- \ngrace of the American press. \n\nNo. 1 alone \xe2\x80\x94 but better still if taken with one of the others \n\n\xe2\x80\x94 will cure incipient consumption, passional apathy, and derange- \nment, nervous exhaustion, vital prostration, loss of magnetic \npower and vivacity, skin diseases, and insanity, resulting from \nover-work or inconsiderate waste. For woman\'s nervous states \nnothing on earth equals this blessed agent. \n\nNos. 2 and 3 are the proper remedies for all complaints affect- \ning the bladder and urinary organs of either sex. \n\nNo. 4 is an effective corrector of the baneful habits of opium- \neating, tobacco-using, and the use of alcoholic liquors. I discov- \nered this accidentally, for I had prescribed this agent for many \npersons laboring under nervous diseases^ and who were also vic- \ntims of the habits named. They were cured ; and with the dis- \nappearance of their disease also went, effectually, the morbid \nappetites, which no doubt had, in a measure, Originally caused \ntheir complaints. Since then I have treated many cases espec- \nially, and a success beyond all my hopes or expectations followed. \n\nThis remedy \xe2\x80\x94 as all the others \xe2\x80\x94 operates on a newly discovered \nprinciple, \xe2\x80\x94 that of altering and correcting the magnetic polarities \nand shape of the blood-globules, cooling the inflamed surfaces, \ndislodging the irritant and poisonous particles from blood, nerve, \nmuscle, brain, and leaving them as nature intended, \xe2\x80\x94 free from \nall morbid craving. I believe it is the only agent in the world \nthat will or can accomplish these results. \n\nI have no agents or confidants ; am the only maker of the Four \nNervous Remedies in the world; therefore hereafter the public \nwill deal with me alone, both as regards my Specialities and my \nPublications, especially my manual of instructions for those who \nseek to become Clairvoyants (price $1.00). \n\nAddress Dr. P. B. RANDOLPH, \n\nBoston, Mass. \n\n63 1 I 1 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nV V \n\n<$ \n\n\n\n\n*"+ *$ " % i \n\n\n\n\xe2\x80\xa2\\ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n% / \n\n\n\n\n\n\nDeacidified using the Bookkeeper process. \nNeutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide \nTreatment Date: Nov. 2004 \n\nPreservationTechnologies \n\n\n\n%>? \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION \n\n1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive \nCranberry Township, PA 16066 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\no o \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\xe2\x80\xa2 *> \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nto*- \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n./v \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<V C\' \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nv \n\n\n\n\n\n\n^ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n^ v^ \n\n\n\nH\\ X \n\n\n\n\n\n\n'