139

carnot be comprehended and the personification must come from that which he seas and hears. Douitless the realizy will transcend his natural conception, for truly he now, only “sees as through a glass darkly, but then, face to face."

The view I have given is not repugnant to the theological views of any one; let us take the most narrow-minded view any class of men have taken, of who the inhabitants of heaven do and hereafter will consist, and each and every one hopes and believes he will be one. Let every one for himself try and trace the action of results to their cause, and in proportion to his "sensitiveness," will be the vividness of his conception that something has been going on in him he cannot.comprehend; which apart from instinct and reason as naturally at work, impels him to do certain things, which being obeyed, cause success to follow in the track where reason saw no openings.

I have often pondered over a difficulty, weighed, planned, and used all my powers to solve the problem, of how a certain object was to be accomplished, but unsuccessfully. I go to sleep; in the morning, without any apparent effort of mine to revert to the subject of yesterday's ponderings, the solution is before me, and that so clear and distinct, that there is no doubt on my mind, as to its truth. How is this? I, the man, the spirit, having retired till sleep has lulled the body, can excite the organs above the usual pitch; perceive the answer, and communicate the result in a tableau, to the ordinary working state of the faculties; and if my spirit, if your spirit, can do so, during the physical repose or drowiness of nearly the whole of the body; taking into remembrance the power of clairvoyance to see objects not perceived ordinarily, and the power man has by mesmerine to influence persons even miles apart; is it not possible, that our spirits may be in communication with intelligence of a like character to itself, also in the physical body, as well as with Soul-power spirits, who may be free from thephysical incumbrance of the body? Verily, I think so, though I have personally no proof, but what I have derived from a

close watching of the phenomena of the volition of my own mind, under various phases; and the evidences produced by others, who have felt, seen, and heard, what I have not ;-evidences produced by those whose "word is their bond," in the current affairs of life; men, who had no motive for deception; and as in a court of law, two or three independent reputable witnesses, testifying to any fact, settles its truth; so, the same class of facts, testified by hundreds of persons, cannot weaken these facts, nor destroy the existence of the principle developed by them.

If the idea I have placed before you be correct, the LINK is supplied which connects us with unseen life. Man in his natural state, is ever searching after something in advance of that he has, and he takes every possible plan to effect that object; we have a right therefore to conclude, that during natural sleep or repose, we are employing whatever powers we have, or can get, during that time, to gain fresh knowledge for future action; knowledge, which, as it would be of no use to us in our normal state, is not communicated to that "unit" state, required for our physical duties.

I might further elucidate this important section of thought, by extended observations, and illustrations; but my motive in this, as in all past sections, is to condense, to rough-sketch the subject, and leave the reader to fill up the lights and shadows from his own thoughts and experiences, or from future investigations; what I have written, has been all, or nearly all from the book of nature; personal examinations, testing, collecting of facts, and considering the principles involved in those facts; this has been to me a delight. For this purpose, I have travelled hundreds of miles, spent much money, and consumed much time; originally, and till a few months ago, I had not the slightest idea of writing a work of this kind; but the vital importance of the question :-Am I immortal-are my deceased children alive-are my old school-fellows still alive-can they see me-see my engagements? so impressed and roused my energies, that having sought and found the

answer; I felt as if I wished every heart-broken mother to know, every orphan, every helpless and solitary one, to know; that God reigneth, angels minister, and our departed ones still live, and are often near us. The foregoing chapters, appear to me necessary to inform and guide those whose thoughts and previous engagements in life, have been in another direction, so that the links in the chain of evidence being clearly perceived and tested; we may know they are sufficient to hold by, while riding at anchor during the tempests of Life.

SECTION X.

REVIEW.

Ir will be well to review, and also refresh our minds with, the leading positions considered from page 108 to 191; as they embrace a class of phenomena, not often examined either by the man of science, or by the man immersed in the ordinary duties of every-day life. They are the leading invisible powers acting on, and in man; and a firm conviction of their truth on the mind of the reader, will convey him onward and upward during the subsequent investigation, which will require him to rest on data and proofs, super or above our normal condition, for the greater parts of the evidence. The necessity and the safety of this course, we shall have to point out in the next section, Testimony.

The subjects treated of in the Second Division of this book, have been,

1. Spirit, Soul, Body.

2. Mesmerine.

3. Instinct.

4. Reason.

5. Nerves.

6. Biology.

7. Clairvoyance and Somnambulism.

8. Memory.

9. Natural Sleep.

The deductions we make are as follows:

That SPIRIT, SOUL and BODY, are three affinities or bodies; which, though different in character and duties, are one in action. That the spirit has the form of the soul, and the soul the form of the body; and while in affinity, if they could be separated, there would be to the visual organ three distinct bodies, differing in opaqueness. The normal state of the body prevents the eye from seeing the soul and spirit, and if the

body were shed," "the normal state of the soul would prevent it seeing the spirit, but, that the spirit, if freed from the soul, could see both soul and body; its own, as well as those of any other.

MESMERINE, is the aura which issues continually from every human being, and is chemically of the same nature as the man from whom it comes; that it varies in volume, energy, and quality from each person, is illustrated by the distinctive smell, the blood-hound scents on the clothes lately worn, and in the foot-prints of the man it is sent in search of. That as the aura, or effluvia, or mesmerine, is of an illuminating, a narcotic, and a magnetic quality; if it be absorbed by another person in a negative or weakly state of health, effects analogous to mineral and vegetable medicines of like properties are produced; and that, on certain kinds of diseases with more power, because it comes from live matter, and is received by live matter; whereas the mineral and vegetable medicines are dead substances, swallowed to excite the living fibre: That like a horse-shoe magnet, the mesmerine continues attached at some distance from the solid body, and if any other body intervenes with which it is in affinity, before it is disconnected or dispersed by currents of air; the receiver feels not only a chemical change working in his system, but a will or spirit power enter him with it; as more fully illustrated in Biology.

INSTINCT, is the organic affinity of each distinct species of physical nature, to that which will supply its chemical need; in consequence of its individualized sensitiveness, when placed in a favourable position for using that power. Power which like the barometer, feel the thin edge of the wedge of change, before other bodies less sensitive can; or, like the baboon under the excitement of excessive thirst, which appears to be conscious of moisture in the far off distance, where other powers feel no change. INSTINCT is also the perceptive power of avoiding those auras, or essences, or those physical