716. Another, after having suggested to his inquiring brother some measures relating to his surviving wife's temporal concerns, spontaneously added the following words: "I am not hapey." The inquiry being made for the cause of his misery, the resulting reply was, "I did not do rite when I was in this world."

717. Another admitted that he was drowned, in consequence of getting dead drunk. On being asked if he were happy, he answered, "Damned happy." In reply to an inquiry whether he was sorry to have quitted this life, he replied in the affirmative.

718. Having evidently been a seaman, who had sailed under an officer who was present, he had preserved the usual fondness of sailors for tobacco and grog. This propensity he could not avoid displaying, notwithstanding his having passed death's dread portal, and the obvious inutility of expressing to mortals his craving for those pernicious stimulants.

719. Thus it appears that in the spirit world one means of retribution for the indulgence of bad propensities in this life, is subjugation to their ungratified cravings.

720. Of course, the more of these a spirit carries with him, the greater is his misery; while the more he founds his happiness on the indulgence of good propensities, the greater his power and opportunities of enjoyment.

721. As an illustration of the manner in which happiness may arise from the indulgence of good propensities, one of the enjoyments of a spirit of the fifth sphere is, as I am informed, in looking after children of relatives and friends, who have not as yet followed them to the spirit world.

722. Believing in the existence of a spirit world, where there are thirtysix grades of existence, corresponding to degrees of purity and intellectual acquirement,―purity alone giving exaltation merely, while cultivation of mind secures breadth of consideration, we have, in the first place, to adhere strictly to truth, honesty, justice, benevolence, and doing as we would be done by, to reach a sphere higher in proportion as we are more successful. Yet, among those on the same plane, superiority in mental attributes gives precedence.

723. Nothing is better known than "while precepts may lead, examples draw," and that subjection to bad examples, even when checked by good precepts, is generally irresistible by the young. But when there are no precepts to check, but, on the contrary, ill counsel as well as bad example, few human beings, however well constituted organically, could resist the tendency of such educational evil. Let bad hereditary propensities be superadded, and what can ensue but a climax of wickedness? Manifestly, however, all this is independent of any choice on the part of the victim. A high degree of virtue may consistently be inferred to result if all these conditions be inverted, and good precepts, good examples, co-operatve in improving a mind of the opposite kind, one which owes to its progenitors. goodness of heart and high intellectual capacity.

724. Much stress is laid upon free-will, but is will ever free from the joint control of reason and passion? What is will, if it be not the resultant of the conflict or co-operation of these? It may be a question whether, without passions, a man would act at all; but certainly he would act like an idiot or baby, so far as his will should be entirely independent of

his reason.

725. It must be conceded, then, that the prodigious diversity between virtue and vice is the consequence of contingencies, which are no more under the control of the individual affected than the colour of his hair or the number of cubits in his stature.

726. The great features of the spiritual religion are, as I understand them, as follows:-Its foundation is laid in the belief of an all-good Deity, whose power is manifested to us by the immensity, profundity, sublimity, ingenuity, and adaptation of the means to the ends in the creation ascribed to the co-operation, if not origination, of his mind. The Bible of the spiritualist is the book of nature-the only one which by inward and outward evidence can be ascribed to divine authorship.

727. In this book we read, as matters of fact, that there is an infinite series of gradation in the rank of animals, as well as variety in their dispositions and propensities. This may be seen, from the half-animal, halfvegetable known as the polypus, up to man, there being gradations not only of genera, but of species and varieties. Thus amid men there are various races, rising one above the other in development, from the Bushman, Hottentot, or lowest Negro, up to the most highly-developed race of white men. But when we have passed through the gradation of the races, we have to enter upon that of individuals, who in the same race are by diversity of organization or education, or of both, made extremely different as to intellectual, moral, and scientific pre-eminence.

728. It is difficult for human reason to reconcile with impartiality this immense diversity in the lot of the creatures of God; but that such is the law of nature is self-evident: it is an intuitive truth. To reconcile it with the all-goodness of God, we must suppose a limitation of power, and that it has been beyond his power to put created beings more nearly upon a level. But, as Seneca observes, all have received more than they had a claim for. Some may think that the parable of the hiring of labourers for a vineyard, conveys an idea like that of the Roman sage.

729. These considerations being premised, it would seem that punishment in the spirit world is only the carrying out of the same system, excepting that while the deficiencies or vices which have arisen in this world become a punishment in the next, they also operate as the means of improvement, or, to use the language of that world, of "progression." It may be inferred that as in this world the power of the Deity, although commensurate with the all but infinite universe in which we exist, was so restricted by conditions as to induce that enormous diversity of position in

the scale of animation which has been presented to view. Yet in the world to come these defects and vices are liable to be remedied; and, though they react upon their victim, it is with a view to his own ultimate benefit. There is not a malevolent devil to seize the poor miscreant, and, like the savage Indian, torture him with a fiend-like pleasure. He is regarded with compassion, and as soon as contrition is induced, treated with sympathy by the higher spirits, and assisted by counsel and enlightened by instruction. Unable any longer to indulge his bad propensities, the desire of rising to a higher level becomes a passion. Intellectual and social pleasures begin to be enjoyed. So long as he remains under the influence of his mundane appetites, he has to consort with spirits who are similarly actuated; they read each other's mind, and thus are made. acquainted with the deformity of their own. They eventually thus become instrumental in reciprocal correction. So soon as an aspiration for a better state is awakened, they rise to the next plane or circle above that in which they may have been existing; the only difficulty is in taking the first step. Progression grows with its growth, and strengthens with its strength, so that all beings may sooner or later attain to the highest sphere in the spirit world. It should be understood that there is no pardon for existing sin. Pardon can only exist as a consequence of reform, and in proportion thereto. (92.)

730. An assailant of Spiritualism, who not long since lectured at Sansom Street Hall, founded one of his charges on the commiseration felt by good angels for sinners, agreeably to Spiritualism. But from the examination above given respecting the origin of the difference between the virtuous and vicious, does it not appear that the fate of the latter is quite as hard as can be reconciled with justice, even under the more benign institution of Spiritualism? According to this, there exist in the spirit world six spheres, each subdivided into six circles or planes, forming together a succession of grades in which the soul finds its place according to moral and intellectual merit. The first of the spheres is throughout comparatively hideous in its aspect and disgusting in its inhabitants, who are designated by a dark halo in lieu of the effulgence which distinguishes spirits of the rest of the spheres. Moreover, this distinguishing effulgence, as well as the beauty of the spirit world, augments with the grade of the being whom it envelops, thus making a series of ranks in society founded on real nobility of head and heart. When it is considered that this immense diversity ensues mainly from contingency in organization, education, and greater or less exposure to trial, it must be clear that the difference made between the good and the bad by Spiritualism does not fall short of the degree which human reason can reconcile with justice.

731. The assailant of Spiritualism to whom allusion was made, while admitting the truth of the evidence given of communication with spirits, explained it by reference to Satan. It is remarkably inconsistent with

this idea that this evidence is of a nature to abrogate the existence, and of course the sovereignty, of that imaginary arch-fiend. Again, it can hardly be conceived that the greater commiseration for sinners should come from a malevolent devil, and the urging for everlasting and cruel torture from a sincere disciple of the benevolent Jesus Christ. But how much, then, must it shock one who embraces these views, that in addition to the misfortune of being badly organized, badly educated, and badly tempted, the being subjected to these disadvantages is to be exposed eternally to misery, typified, if not realized, by broiling on burning brimstone! I am aware that doing away with the more horrible attributes of hell will be alleged to be subversive of one of the restraints upon criminality; but, in the first place, it is evident that a man who is restrained from crime solely by the fear of punishment is only a more prudent villain than one who is not restrained by that selfish apprehension. When a man is deterred from crime only by prudence, hope of reward, or fear of punishment, he ought not to have a higher grade in heaven than the perpetrator of the crime.

732. But, agreeably to experience, of all restraints upon crime, none are more efficacious than the fear of degradation. The lawyer who will do the bidding of a caucus (or of a powerful demagogue in the executive office) in order to get a judicial appointment, when securely seated therein, will not give a charge which will degrade him in the eyes of the legal profession, and consequently in that of society, as well as in his own estimation. The dishonest gambler, who neglects to pay his tradesman's bill, will not fail to pay his gambling debts. The debtor who will take every advantage in getting a high price for his goods, and who will put off any other payment as long as possible, fails not to pay his note at a bank. Sovereign states, who pay no other claims, take every means to meet the interest on their funded obligations. "Failure" in the one case, in the mercantile adaptation, involves the loss of reputation for good financial faith, abroad as well as at home; but the just complaints of domestic claimants, not heard upon the exchange, are unheeded. The great object, in many cases, is not to leave the crime "undone, but to keep it unknown.” The corrupt, selfish politician, who would promote war in order to give himself an opportunity of emolument or official pre-eminence, when facing the enemy in the field of battle will nominally die for that country whose interests he has sacrificed. But not from the alleged motive will he die, but either to avoid being degraded as a coward, or for the hope of popularity which may help him to office.

733. In the spirit world, all are seen through and justly estimated, so that degradation and vice, or elevation and virtue, are inevitably associated. by spiritual intuition. Yet there is, in my opinion, far more satisfactory proof of the truth of Spiritualism than of any other creed involving immortality; while, so far as adopted, it must tend to do away with priest

craft, sectarian malevolence, and religious intolerance. Man will go to the spirits of his ancestors for his religion, not to a fanatical, bigoted, or interested priest. Should spirits actually exist, as supposed, and convey the same religious knowledge all over the world, all men will agree that virtue is to be the means of salvation, not bigotry, under the name of faith.

734. It is conceived that Spiritualism has all the desirable attributes of religion, as stated in the second page of the introduction of this work. It sanctions the idea of the existence of one Supreme Being, who is represented as all love to his creatures; while his powers are made known to us by the sublimity, profundity, magnificence, and inconceivable extent of the creation which he rules. It does not represent him as selfishly creating us for the purpose of worshipping him, as capable of jealousy or implacable wrath for the result of errors which his alleged omnipotence could by a fiat correct. On the contrary, we have been created to be happy sooner or later; evil existing not through design, but in consequence of conditions which he cannot control or cure unless through the operation of general principles.

735. With a view to mutual happiness, reciprocal beneficence is enjoined. We are required to obey the precepts of acting toward others as we would have them act toward us.

736. This innate law is appealed to instinctively by any child who is oppressed by another larger than itself, and was consecrated by Confucius six hundred years before its judicious sanction by Christ.

737. Spiritualism has the merit pre-eminently not only of furnishing a knowledge of immortality beyond the grave, but a precise knowledge of the spirit world in lieu of the silence of the Pentateuch and the vagueness and inconsistency of the gospel. An effort to establish the truth of these allegations will be made under the next head.

THE HEAVEN AND HELL OF SPIRITUALISM CONTRASTED WITH THE HEAVEN AND HELL OF SCRIPTURE.

738. On the first spiritual manifestations occurring, the great object of the mass of observers was to see the physical effects. In the next place, intellectual communications were sought, but these being obtained by a tedious process, it was deemed sufficiently interesting if a few sentences could be made out, or even one. It was, moreover, a great object with inquirers to ascertain by the interchange of language, whether the spirit. of a relation or friend were really present, as alleged by the supposed spirit. Hence, the communications were very deficient as respects any information of the spirit world. It is not surprising, therefore, that prejudicial unbelievers should have taken up the idea that there is nothing inviting in the