SECTION XIII.

HEAVEN.

I HAD commenced a section on Heaven,—but when I reflected upon the different opinions of men, and asked myself what I knew of Heaven, I found myself so thoroughly ignorant; that I cancelled what I had written; and narrow my remarks to one or two thoughts: and they are-THAT HEAVEN IS HAPPINESS, and HAPPINESS IS HEAVEN; and, as happiness in the law of nature, arises from our affinity to, and sympathy with, our surroundings, animate and inanimate; it matters not, whether they be 5, 50, 500, 5000, or 5,000,000 miles off-near or afar; wheresoever those conditions are in the universe, there is Heaven: -and if so, I see nothing repugnant in the thought of Heaven being in the uplands of æther connected with our earth; and the Heavens mentioned by St. Paul as several—he being caught up to the third of them whilst in his body-having their divisions upwards, according to their ethereality. The physical body of man cannot live above a given altitude, but a given density of atmosphere can; so can the soul; but it may not be able to rise above a given height, any more than the physical body; but spirit freed from the soul may rise higher still, and find its surroundings, powers and modes of enjoyment as far superior to the physical, as a butterfly roaming from flower to flower, seeing the variety of colours and forms, and inhaling their fragrance, would feel happiness superior to the caterpillar crawling on the cabbage leaf of a kitchen garden.

Doubtless when ethereal, we shall understand ethereal substances; have enjoyments in ethereality, as far superior to our present knowledge and comprehension, as our knowledge of scenery, and of the elements of wood, water, land, and colours, which in their collective energy produce in us delight, transcends the knowledge and comprehension of the miner, born and reared in the silver mine, but who never saw the top

soil of the world on which he lives. The upward glance from the shaft of the mine, gives him nothing to understand or conceive, but a point, a diamond point of light;—a something, a nothing, in comparison to the knowledge and happiness of those of his fellows above, who bask in the glories of divine wisdom as displayed around them. God always adapts the means for the end; the valley for the oak-the rock for the lichen-the prairie for the buffalo-the jungle for the tigerthe hedge for the sparrow-the mountain ridge for the eagle the streamlet for the minnow, the ocean for the whale the earth for the body, and Heaven for the Spirit. In the light of the spiritual phenomena transpiring on every hand around us, we have every logical evidence to form the conclusion, that Heaven is not far off.

If any of my readers would rather locate Heaven at the antipodes of creation, somewhere beyond the star ray, which takes 50,000 years to reach this earth, or stop half way amongst the constellations, I will not hinder him in his flight; but for my part, I would rather it were near my fellow men in the flesh, and that my employment be as a messenger of divine love, wisdom, and comfort, to my kinsmen, countrymen, and species; leading them in the order of divine will onward and UPWARD.

Heaven is for Nobles-the noble in thought, noble in heart, noble in "doing to others as we would that they do unto us." HE the great I AM has provided that which will augment the happiness of the mind or spirit, and enable it to revel in the abundance of those proofs of divine Wisdom which have been created by divine Power; and which divine Love has given to man as a SPIRIT for his happiness, and it requires not distance to find such a Heaven.

If in the sacred books we are told that on this earth" we are to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks;" how much more easy will that privilege be, when ever and anon the congregated throngs of anthem chorus singers,-thousands upon thousands, and dome skyed by

space; lift up their æolian voices, full swelled by love and adoration, in vibrations of the heart song of heaven, “Halleluia: salvation, and glory, and honour, and power unto the Lord our God."

Throng upon throng are yearly fleeing out of time into eternity; the mighty flock of one hundred millions of men, women, and children, every thirty years; add to the myriads upon myriads already there: they have gone to the land of mystery, and every pulse we beat, sends another there. Countless throng! glorious hosts! ye ministers of his, who do his pleasure; would I could hear your songs, even if they were only the echoes-the reverberations of those symphonies of joy!

SECTION XIV.

ANGELS-DEVILS.

It will clear the path, if we can hew down, and throw on either side, the brushwood of misconception, of education, and of fear; let us really face the subject in the light of heathenism, and Christianity; and so come to a rational conclusion on a subject which is sneered at by the materialist, and feared by the Christian; but which the Deity has sufficiently manifested to man, to enable him to not only decide on the existence of those beings, but the part they play on the theatre of this world; and the part man has to play in connection with them. To effect this, there is no need for going into the subtleties of angelic and devilish life before the creation of man let us examine history, be it Jewish, Christian, or Classic. I frankly state my confidence in the sacred books, Jewish and Christian; because of the intense care taken of the rolls of parchment, the punishments prophesied on those men and their descendants who altered the sacred texts, and the verification of the historical incidents in the Jewish division of the Scriptures by the recent Babylonish excavations by Layard and others; and as to the Christian portion, the men who received the law, "Blessed are the pure, for they shall see God," and whose purity of life was a standing protest against the habits of the people they lived amongst; whose firmness of faith, and refusal to deny "The Christ," and live as their neighbours, caused them to be hunted, roasted, boiled, sawn asunder, tormented, and flung to the lions; were not likely to lie. Pliny, the classic author of antiquity, and Roman Consul, in his letter to the Emperor Trajan, states :—

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"In the meantime, the method I have observed towards those who have been brought before me as Christians, is this: I interrogated them whether they were Christians; if they confessed, I repeated the question twice, again adding threats. at the same time; when if they still persevered, I ordered

them to be immediately punished, for I was persuaded, whatever the nature of their opinions might be, a contumacious and inflexible obstinacy certainly deserved correction. There were others also brought before me, possessed with the same infatuation, but being citizens of Rome; I directed them to be carried thither. But this crime spreading, as is usually the case, while it was actually under prosecution, several instances of the same nature occurred. An information was presented to me without any name subscribed, containing a charge against several persons, who, upon examination, denied they were Christians, or had ever been so. They repeated after me an invocation to the Gods, and offered religious rites with wine and frankincense before your statue, (which for this purpose, I had ordered to be brought with those of the gods, and even reviled the name of Christ, whereas there is no forcing, it is said, those who are really Christians, into a compliance with any of these articles, I thought proper, therefore, to discharge them.

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They affirmed the whole of their guilt, or their error, was that they met on a certain stated day before it was light, and addressed themselves in a form of prayer to Christ as to some God; binding themselves by a solemn oath, not for the purposes of any wicked design, but never to commit any fraud, theft, or adultery; never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to eat in common a harmless meal. From this custom, however, they desisted after the publication of my edict, by which, according to your orders, I forbad the meeting of any assemblies. After receiving this account, I judged it so much the more necessary to endeavour to extort the real truth by putting two female slaves to the torture, who were said to administer in their religious functions: but I could discover nothing more than an absurd and excessive superstition. I thought proper, therefore, to adjourn all further proceedings in this affair, in order to consult with you."

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