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I LUING I S
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The Spirit World.
WThere Is

It?

A

What Is It?

LECTUR2E
BY

W.

PROF.

F.

PECK,

OF ST. LOUIS, MO.,

DELIVERED AT

\ASHINGmTON,

Sunday

ID.

C.,

M~iarch

hNorning,

17,

REPORTED BY

I. C. I. EVANS.

Price io Cents, 3 Copies for 25 Cents.

ISSUED BY THE

NATIONAL SPIRITUALISTS ASSOCIATION,
6oo PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE S. E. ,
WASHINGTON,

D. C.

1901.

The demand for the publication of this lecture at the time of its delivery
was so great that the National Spiritualists Association officials decided to

scien-

have it put in type and circulated as a tract to supply the demand for
arguments in support of the spiritualistic hypothesis. This lecture

tifilc

will go far to show that our claim that spiritualism and science go hand in

hand has a logical foundation.

TRUTH CANNOT

CONTRADICT ITSELF.

THE

SPIRIT
Where Is It?

The third pioposition in the declaration of
principles adopted by the First Church of
Spiritual Unity of St. Louis, of which I have
the honor at present to be settled speaker
and pastor, reads as follows : " The spirit
world, the future home of the soul, is a real
world, varying in its nature and character
from the gross to the refined ; from darkness
to light ; from states of misery and suffering
to spheres of harmony and peace." This is
the entire proposition,but we are to-day more
particularly interested in the first partthe first declaration of that article, namely,
" The spirit world, or future home of the
soul, is a real world," as real, as tangible to
the spiritual senses as earthly things and
this earth world are to our physical senses.
The acceptance of the theory that man is
" a soul and survives the dissolution of the
body necessitates the further postulate that
there must be a spirit world or realm the
conditions of which are fitted to the needs
and adapted to the requirements of the soul,
'
or spirit, when it has outgrown the physical
body through which it manifested itself on
That there is another
the earth plane.
(A orld, or spiritual sphere, of course there is
no room for argument among believers in
immortality, but when we endeavor to define
the nature, character and location of that
sphere, then the difficulty begins,
It is worthy of note, that, although the
belief in a future world or home of the soul
has been almost universal among mankind,
yet there are probably few questions upon
which men have differed so widely as they
have regarding the nature, character and location of that world. It must occur to the
thoughtful mind that the reason for this
difference lies in the lack of reliable information upon the subject. Men always differ most about those things of which they
know the least, and, per contra, differ least
about those things of which they know the
most. The chemist, for instance, never
quarrels with his brother chemist as to the
amount of oxygen and hydrogen contained
in water, nor as to the chemical constituents
of common salt. These facts are unques
tionable. There is no room for any argu
ment; but, when man begins to speculate

WORLD.
What Is It?
upon those subjects of which he has little
scientific data, then the way is opened for a
vast diversity of opinion. The lack of a reliable and solid foundation upon which to
predicate a future world has rendered agreement upon that question absolutely impossible, and until men have discovered a more
solid foundation upon which to postulate such
an existence than the mere dream of the poet
and romancer we can never hope for any
unity of belief upon the question.
While, as I said before, the very large majority of mankind have accepted the doctrine
of a future life almost without question, yet
there is a very large and respectable minority who not only entertain grave doubts
upon the subject but absolute disbelief. And,
it must be admitted, this minority is largely
made up of the most thoughtful and intelligent of the race ; to convince such people
will require the presentation of the most convincing proof, the most unquestioned facts,
and it is to such minds as that I want to appeal this morning while I present the question of "The Spirit World. Where is it ?
What is it ?" it such light as I trust will, at
least, appeal to their reason and judgment.
Last Sunday night, as many of you remember, I spoke from this platform upon
the theory of evolution, and its bearingupon
the doctrine of immortality. In that discussion I presented what I believe to be the
most logical and convincing evidence in favor of a continued existence. I presented
what seems to me to be the most convincing
argument that, if evolution is true, if the
evolutionary theory is a fact, then there
must be another world, another sphere of
existence, adapted to the needs and requirements of the soul when it has outgrown this
physical body, and today I want to present
what I believe to be quite as convincing an
argument in favor of the existence of such
a world, and its location.
I think you will all agree with me that inasmuch as the spirit of man can only adapt
itself to this plane of existence by taking
upon itself a physical body by and through
which it is enabled'to come en raffjort with
the things of earth; by and through which
it is enabled to manifest its desires, its will,

THE SPIRIT WORLD-WHERE

its purpose, therefore it follows logically
that when it has cast off this physical body
through which it manifested itself on this
plane, then the soul must exist in a sphere
widely different from that in which the body
dwelt. This, it seems to me, is the logical
conclusion.
The difficulty of conceiving
from our present standpoint of a sphere of
existence so widely different from the earth
sphere has been the obstacle, and is the
greatest obstacle to-day in the way of the
acceptance of the doctrine of a future life,
a future world, on the part of the careful
thinker. And hence, the question which
the doubter has ever hurled at the priest is,
"If there isa spirit world, where is it located?
Where is heaven ? What is the location of
hell ?" This, I say, has been a question
which the doubters have ever hurled at the
priest. Before the birth of science, or while
it was in its infancy this question was not
regarded as a difficult one, science and theology went hand in hand. The church being
supreme the priest simply fitted the facts
of science to the dogmas of religion. The
Bible was supposed to contain all that man
needed to know upon any subject. Moses
and th$ prophets were the only scientific authorities,and their glaring ignorance regarding the facts and phenomena of nature was
still further distorted in order to make them
fit the dogmas of religion.
According to the science of that dayscience so called-the universe was constructed in the form of a huge box (the
Jewish tabernacle was constructed a t ter the
supposed pattern of the universe). The sky
was solid, it was the ceiling of the earth and
the floor of heaven, above it dwelt God and
the angels, while men occupied this floor ;
hell and the devils occupied the cellar. Just'
beneath the surface of the earth were hell
and the infernal regions.
Now we can easily understand how easy
it was for mankind to arrive at this conclusion. The rumbling of the earthquakes, the
pouring forth of boiling water from the hot
springs, the belching forth of fire from the
volcanoes were positive evidence to them
that hell lay just beneath the surface of the
earth, and so the location of heaven and hell
was a very easy matter to them. But when
astronomy was born and swept the heaven
with its telescope it swept away the solid
arch and yet failed to find the home of the
blessed out there. When geology was born
and began with pick and spade to dig into
the depths of mother earth without discov
ering the regions of the damned, then skepticism took a new lease of life and flourished
with increasing strength, and so the question recurs with even more force and persis-

IS

IT?

WHAT

IS

IT?

tency, "Where is the spirit world? Where
is heaven? Where is hell ?"
It is a favorite theory, as you know, among
a certain class of metaphysicians, that
heaven and hell are merely conditions and
not localities; that the spirit world is purely
subjective and not an objective reality, and,
therefore, it cannot be located-has no location. To my mind that conclusion is very un
satisfactory, for while I admit freely that, in
a sense, heaven and hell are conditions, or
states of consciousness of pleasure or pain,
happiness or sorrow, yet, nark you, these
conditions or states of consciousness must
exist in space somewhere, and therefore,
must have location. If the human soul is a
real individualized entity then it must be
an objective personality, and being an objective personality its environments, its relations must also be objective, and if they
are objective then they must have locality.
It is impossible to avoid the conclusion.
We often hear people say that there is no
such thing as time and space in the spirit
world. Now it seems to me that when a
person utters that statement he or she fails
to comprehend the stupendous question involved; fails to comprehend the momentousness of that statement. Let us examine
that point logically. "No time nor space in
the spirit world."
What is time? What is
space ? Time is distance between events.
Time of itself is nothing, but it is a measure
of distance between events. What is space?
Space of itself is nothing, but it is a measure
of distance between objects. Now, if there
are any objects in the spirit world, if there
are any events taking place there; there must
be both space and time. (Applause.) Get
away from that logic if you can, I can't.
(Applause.) If there is no time and no
space in the spirit world then there is nothing, there are no events and no objects, and
you can't get away from the logic to save
you. Therefore, I say that the spirit world
is a real world, a natural world, far more
substantial than this world, that it has both
time and space and also that it has location.
A little while ago I said to you that the
conditions and environments of the spirit
after it has left the body must be widely
different from this, so the question occurs,
Where can such conditions exist in this universe of ours? conditions adapted to the
needs and requirements of the spirit ?
Some speculators have theorized that the
excarnate spirit passes to another planet.
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have all been located as the home of the spirits, and the sun,
because of its superlative brilliancy and
power, has been believed by thousands of
people to be the heavenly home of the ex-

THE SPIRIT WORLD-WHERE

carnate spirit. But science, that relentless
icnoclast, has shattered that belief by
showing that the sun and planets, through
-spectrum analysis, are composed, practically, of the same elements as the earth.
And that, therefore, the same difficulties that
prevent the excarnate spirit dwelling upon
earth also exist upon those bodies, and so
driven from their refuges one by one by the
irresistible attacks of science, we are compelled to seek a solution of the question in
accordance with the facts of nature and the
science of the age.
Before I proceed to locate the world of
souls as seems to me reasonable and scientific, I want to call your attention to a few
very startling and suggestive facts in connection with the evolutionary process of
Nature's laws as applied to the visible and
natural universe (and a consideration of
these facts will surprise some of us, perhaps, because they indicate that the apparently wild vagary indulged in by many
religionists of the final destruction of the
universe is not so wide of the truth after
all).
Ti consensus of opinion among astronome- of to-day is that the trend of past and
present points to the final extinguishment
and death of the visible universe; the
elimination of all force, all power and all
life from the visible universe.
Trace the progress of the universe from
chaos up to man ; from the primal fire mist
to the solidified worlds, and one fact becomes apparent, viz: the original heat of
the worlds and suns is fast being eliminated
and along with the heat, the power, the
force and energy which held them in their
respective orbits, that, in fact, the visible
universe is running down. All the indications are-and I think there is no astronomer on earth who denies it-tbat the planets
which revolve around our sun are gradually
but slowly contracting their orbits with
each annual revolution, and that they are
destined eventually to fall into and be incorporated with the sun. Long before that
shall take place, however, every planet will
have yielded up all its heat, all its life, and
no living thing will exist upon it. It will
roam through space, a barren desert waste,
a spectral form, a ghost of the skies, a dead
world, a burnt-out cinder, what our moon
is to-day.
As I said, this seems to be the evident
and necessary conclusion. The sun in itself
is gradually cooling off, but its fires will be
renewed temporarily as each planet plunges
into its bosom, and for a time it will burn
with all its former splendor, but at length,
at a period so far distant that figures utterly

IS IT?

WHAT IS

IT?

fail to express the lapse of time, the last
planet will be absorbed, the last bit of fuel
exhausted and the sun, too, will be cold,
barren, dead, and will probably be absorbed
by some still greater orb, until at length, at
a period so vast that no imagination can
conceive the figures, the entire visible universe will cease to live.
That is the conclusion which all physicists
admit. There is no avoiding it. All the
indications point that way.
I am not going to argue the question as
to whether this conclusion is correct or not.
I am going to accept the statement as a
fact that this physical universe of ours is
actually running down, like a clock that has
been wound up and is ticking away its
stored energy.
Admitting all that, can any intelligent,
reasoning being believe that this is to be
the end of conscious existence ? Can anyone believe for a moment that, after having
wrought through millions of millions of ages
in order to produce the wonderful and stupendous results we find about us to-day,
Nature is going to end her majestic work by
such an abortion as that? To my mind
such a conclusion is utterly irrational, utterly opposed to the doctrine or theory of
evolution, and I will tell you why.
The doctrine of the conservation and correlation of forces has gotten beyond the
theoretic stage, and it is admitted to be a
fact. As matter is indestructible and cannot be annihilated, so force, energy, which
is its inherent quality, is also indestructible.
Matter may change into various forms, visible and invisible, so force may change its
nature, its character and mode of motion,
light, heat, electricity, and perhaps thousands of other modes of motion, but not the
most minute particle of energy can be destroyed. It continues to exist in some one
or more of its many modes of motion. That
being accepted, and you will admit that
there is not a scientist on earth to-day that
denies it, then the question occurs, What is
to become of these mighty forces that are
manifested in the material universe, at the
death of these worlds and suns? That stupendous force which manifests itself in the
light and heat of the sun, which hurled these
ponderous globes through space, which
manifests itself in the growth of the vegetable and animal, in the thousands of methods and chemical action? Is it to be destroyed? If the doctrine of the conservation of energy is a fact it must exist somewhere-but where?
Now, I am going to offer what some of
you may think is a rather novel theory. But
first, let me'say, there is no such thing in

THE SPIRIT WORLD-WHERE

the universe as empty space. Matter in
some form fills all space. There was a time
when it was supposed that outside of the
atmosphere of the earth and the other planets there existed an absolute vacuum. Now.
it is conceded by all scientists that a very
attenuated and sublimated form of matter
or substance fills all space between the heav
enly bodies. For want of a more specific
term it has been designated as "ether". I
have not time, if it were necessary, to give
you the evidences and reasons why scientists
have arrived at this conclusion. I can only
say that they have reached that conclusion
because they cannot avoid it; because there
is no other way to explain many of the phe.
nomena such as the transmission of light,
heat, electricity and that wonderful and
marvelous force called " Gravity."
The existence of this hypothetical ether of
space is as thoroughly accepted and believed
in by scientists as is the existence of this
earth on which we dwell. Finer than any
known form of matter on the earth, more
sublimated than any gas of which we have
any knowledge; what its constituents are
they cannot tell. But I am going to venture
even at the risk of illustrating that old saying that " fools walk in where angels fear
to tread." I am going to tell you that it is
spirit substance. (Applause.) That is what
it is. Finer than any known matter on the
earth; apparently defying the ordinary laws
of gravity and the laws that govern ordinary
matter. It is found through all space, not
only through space between planets, but
through every particle of matter that exists
on this old earth of ours. The earth moves
on through the ether and the ether through
the earth. Everywhere, all space, all interstices, are filled with this spiritual matter,
this spiritual substance.
Now can anybody believe for a moment
that that matter, filling All space with its
sublimated essence, is lifeless ? that it is
unoccupied ? that it is a merebarren waste
unoccupied by intelligence ? unoccupied by
living, intelligent beings? Why, it would
be folly to so conclude.
And that brings me back to the question
I asked a while ago, what has become of
those mighty forces that manifested themselves in these old worlds? Have they been
No, not for one instant, for
destroyed?
these forces cannot be annihilated. Back
into that fathomless space from whence
they came. Back to the source from whence
they were derived; out into that mighty expanse, permeating the atoms afloat in space,
developing and revealing a universe so
: immense in extent, so wondrous in beauty

IS IT?

WHAT IS

IT

?

and grandeur, that in comparison all that
which has gone before is as nothing.
Now, so far as we can observe, all life and
activity are confined to a limited portion of
the universe; the visible world and sun
occupy the merest space, leaving all the vast
domain outside useless, lifeless, inert, if
we are to believe the materialistic theory;
but who has a right to determine that all
life is confined to a comparatively insignificant portion of the universe? On the contrary with that mighty expanse of space
filled with spirit matter and with the active
forces of light, heat and electricity permeating it through and through, what wonderful scenes may be revealed to the eye that
is sufficiently developed to perceive them?
Andrew Jackson Davis, the grandest seer
of the nineteenth century, and many other
clairvoyants, have seen and described to us
the wonderful scenes over there. Mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, forests and plains,
as real and as tangible to the spirit senses
as earthly things are to the mortal senses.
Is there any good reason why that should
not be true? Shall we doubt that the active
reforces operating upon that abundart
fined matter may develope scenes of beauty
earth ?
far eclipsing anything known on
Cascades and fountains, whose silvery spray
would dim the brightest diamond; forests
and plains, trees and shrubs, fruits and
flowers, fairer even than the poet's dream.
Indeed a veritable fairy-land which by virtue of its greater diversity is so much
grander, lovelier and more enjoyable than
this.. I know there are some who will sneer
at this. I know there are those who will
say : " Moonshine"! "Moonshine"! Tat
is so vague. That is so mystical. That is
unscientific That is "impossible." But I
tell you, my friends, it behooves us to be
very cautious how we pronounce upon the
possible and impossible in the realm of
physics.
A great scientist has said that he would
not venture to pronounce anything impossible outside of the domain of mathematics.
Twice two will always equal four, it could
not equal five, but outside of the domain of
mathematics he would not pronounce anything impossible, and it behooves us to be
cautious how we pronounce anything possible or impossible.
We should remember that all conditions
are relative, comparative, that although the
ether of space seems too attenuated to permit of the results we have mentioned, it is
because we judge from our own standpoint,
our own conditions. Water is a very treacherous element upon which to set one's foot,
yet the fish navigates the water with ease

THE SiPIRIT WORLD-WHERE IS IT

and

comfort.

Take that fish out of the water
in the air and it will
fall to the earth at once, and yet a bird will
float in the air with the same ease and com"ort as a fish floats in the water. If you had
never seen a fish swim in the water or a fowl
in the air you would declare either to
be impossible.
You probably remember the story of the
traveler who visited one of the savage monarchs in the interior of Africa and told him of
tue marvels of the world. The savage was
very much interested in the story that the
traveler told him about the things at home,
and the traveler told him some pretty big
stories, but he believed them all, until at
length he told the king that at a certain
sason of the year in his country the water
aeame so hard people could walk on it.
That was enough for that savage. He could
believe everything else the traveler told him
but he could not conceive how water could
become solid enough to walk upon.
Now, a drop of water is a very small thing
to us, but it may contain a world of life all
unknown until the microscope reveals it.
What myriads of forms of life are all about
us to-day which the most powerful glass cannot discover? And so with this celestial
ether, the realms of space. Our dim vision
cannot discover life there, it cannot be cognized by our physical senses, yet our failure
to do so does not prove that it does not
exist there. And right here science, materialistic science, comes in to support our assertions. Comes right in here to support our
statements by declaring that this ether of
space which seems to us so attenuated is
really more solid and substantial than any
known form of matter on this earth.
Prof. J. Stanley Jevons, probably the
greatest authority to-day on physics, tells us
that this ether of space ' is infinitely more
solid and elastic than steel." Think of that!
Who can comprehend it? Sir John Herschell,
I think it was, calculated that this invisible
substance exerts a pressure upon the earth
of seventeen billions of tons per square inch,
and yet," says Prof. Jevons, "we live and
move without appreciable resistance through
this medium infinitely harder and more elastic than adamant." Talk about the big
stories the spiritualists tell, there is nothing
a spiritualist ever told regarding his experience that is so difficult to comprehend and
realize as this frank and outspoken statement of this physical scientist. (Applause.)
Nothing that ever occurred in a spiritual
seance was so difficult to accept and comprehend as this. Why is it? How is it that
it can be so solid and yet you cannot realize

And require it to float

lying

f

WHAT

IS IT

it? You can't teel it simply because of its
infinite elasticity.
You know that spiritualists have been
teaching ever since Spiritualism began that
spirit is the real substance and that these
visible, material things are only shadows of
that substance. That is what we have been
teaching right along, and here comes the
scientist now to back us up. Let me tell
you right here, that it is in the facts and
discoveries of science that the doctrines and
teachings of Spiritualism are based. (Applause.) Every new discovery in scientific
research is an added support to what our
mediums and teachers have been giving us
through the decades of the past. So, I repeat, here we have science coming in to
support the statement that spirit is the real
substance, and what we call matter, visible
matter, is only the shadow of that substance,
by saying that this invisible, intangible
substance, the ether, is infinitely more solid
than the most solid matter of which we
have any knowledge on this earth. Can
anybody accept that and then deny our
proposition that all space is full of life and
filled with intelligent beings? Why, to deny
one and accept the other is simply to strain
at a gnat and swallow a camel.
Doctor Young, the discoverer of the undulatory theory of light, has fairly committed himself to the belief that there are
spheres inhabited by intelligent beings all
around us in the invisible realms of space.
Let us remember this, friends, that the difference between perception and non-perception is only a difference of a few vibrations. An owl or a cat will see very clearly
when to a man all is darkness. A dog will
smell odors that make no impression whatever upon man's olfactory nerves, and so the
fact that we are unable to see those things
and realize them is no evidence that they do
not exist. It simply proves that we have
not reached that higher plane of vibration,
and when the medium clairvoyantly sees
these things, as hundreds and thousands
do, it means that they have gotten up to the
spiritual plane of vibration, and are seeing,
spiritually, the real things as they exist.
Mankind, for ages, has cherished a faith in
a life apart from this, in a world separate
from this world in which we live. Dreams,
visions, strange messages, have come in various ways from that realm; there are many
who claim to have seen it, to have seen its
inhabitants, and to have recognized in them
the faces of those they had consigned to the
grave. The testimony of the people of all
ages points to a life separate from this; points
to beings unclothed with visible forms. The
stories of a land of fairies blossoming in per-

THE SPIRIT WORLD-WHERE IS IT ?

petual beauty, haloed by constant rainbows,
inhabited by beings of wondrous loveliness,
have come down to us through the ages and
have been implicitly believed in by millions
of people. Are we to conclude that all
these stories were simply vagaries of the
imagination ? That they had no basis or
foundation in fact ? He who would unqualifiedly say yes is a bigot. Your true
scientists will not say so, but they will say,
" I don't know," and plod on in search
of facts. There is not a scientist on
the face of the earth to-day who will
say the conditions I have described are
impossible. Not one. If, then, these mystic
stories, these half-waking dreams, these
visions more or less distinct have had a
foundation in fact-a fact, by the way,
which has been demonstrated to millions of
people through the phenomena of Spiritualism (applause); if there is, I repeat, another world, another sphere of existence,
where i% it located if not in the boundless realm of space ? I tell you no narrow
and contracted "City of Gold" can begin to contain all the emancipated souls of
men and'women. (Applause.) The heaven,
the future world of Christianity, was imagined before science had demonstrated that

WHAT

IS

IT

?

this little earth on which we dwell is only a
speck of dust, instead of being the center of
the universe, and is only one of myriads of
worlds floating in the ocean of infinity.
Heaven will have to be immensely enlarged
to meet the requirements of science (Applause.) Nothing less than the whole expanse of space will answer.
(Continued
applause.) And that is where it is. Out
in that mighty expanse; that wondrous
realm stretching from star to star and
sun to sun ; that mighty expanse into
which the escaping forces of the material worlds have gone, developing and revealing scenes of beauty far eclipsing even
a poet's dream. Indeed a veritable fairyland
which, as I said before, by virtue of its vast
differentiation, is so much grander and more
beautiful than this. A land of perpetual
sunshine, a land where the emancipated
spirit will wander with its chosen companions, reveling in joys of which we have
not the remotest conception in this life ;
soaring out into the infinite, through an
eternity of time, where beauty and harmony
will continue to increase; where joy and
pleasures will multiply as the ages roll on
like the waves in the ocean of eternity.
(Great applause.)

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