Men have made little progress in knowledge of life and immortality, though looking through the history of Egypt, Greece, Rome and all Anglo-Saxon annals we may discover a slow increase in the number of evidences. Spiritualism was known to the most ancient races, to the Indians of East and West. While whole races have rested solely on external sources of knowledge concerning immortality, as soon as intellect gains predominance, and conscience is liberated from the thraldom of prejudice, the externally convinced mind begins to reconsider these evidences—for the most part with scepticism as a first result. If it be asked how much positive intellectual evidence we have on the question of immortality we shall be surprised at the small amount.2 What appears to be positive and conclusive turns out inferential and
uncertain. Natural religion suggests that there is an adequate supply for all the needs of man and infers herefrom that as the soul demands immortality it will not be deprived thereof. But there is the sceptic's question whether this demand is innate and natural or acquired and artificial. Clairvoyance itself is at best but an inferential evidence because it is not a matter of universal human experience. As much may be said respecting spiritual manifestations: they are local, special and mostly private, albeit those who have received such evidence can affirm that immortality is proved. Now, it is possible for every man and woman, after coming under spirit culture, to feel through all their being the sublime truth that the perfected human soul can never be extinguished, but the evidences which are worth anything are not outside. Man's immortality, to be of any practical service, must be felt in his religious nature, not merely understood by his intellectual faculties. True evidences come through the two inward sources of wisdom—intuition and reflection. Those who dare to be truthful to inward sources of knowledge will feel positive evidences of immortality, and by such the manifestations of Spiritualism will not be sought as evidences but as illustrations only. The manifestations—as to their variety—will gradually retire from the world, but now—as then—we must look within for that principle which causes all effects in the external. When you find an internal conviction of immortality which no sophistry can invalidate you have found a treasure: secure this, then add the illustrations.
The other world is as natural, astronomically considered, as the globe which we now inhabit. The Spirit Land has laws, days, nights, stars, suns, firmaments. In that world are treasured up, not the artificial facts of earthly society but all elementary facts of mankind. Begin with the stones at your feet, and see them ascend through all gradations of refinement, till they become a
physical part of the vast second sphere. The finest particles of all things not absorbed by this world go to form a spiritual globe.1 The existence of such a world is not less demonstrable than any proposition in astronomical science. It requires only an intellectual ascension, step by step, through the material evidences that lead thereto. Mind can be brought to see that there is a spiritual world as readily as that earth revolves—a fact of which men have no ocular demonstration. There are also facts in Nature which astronomy explains by laws of planetary revolution, and you accept this explanation because it covers those facts adequately. So also there are facts in human experience which cannot be solved on any hypothesis save that which affirms the existence of spiritual globes. The phenomena of human consciousness, the spiritual experiences of all races can be explained only on principles which lead inferentially, yet positively, to the existence of such worlds.
The interior clairvoyant senses can gaze upon higher worlds and reveal others within that sphere where we now dwell. These senses address man's inward sources of knowledge, speaking to his intuition and reason. As microscopic and telescopic worlds are hidden from the penetration of corporeal sense, so are concealed the magnificences of the spiritual universe, the kindling
skies and indescribable beauties of eternal spheres. But all these worlds are visible to the interior senses. Men and things, planets and angels, future states and vital laws of the Father God—all appear in that consistent order and with that philosophical precision which distinguish truth from the chaos of mythic theology. To the interior senses the changes of Mother Nature are indications of the ceaseless operations of principles which are themselves unchanging—steps from lower to higher, from matter to spirit. A birth, a fleeting existence, a death—these are manifestations of the beautiful laws of progression and development. When the fair foliage with which summer adorns forests, when flowers which garnish earth are changed by the breath of rude autumnal winds, when rose and violet shed their leaves, the philosophical heart is not saddened. These things mean that a brief period of rest has arrived, preparatory to the resurrection of kindred elements, when Mother Nature's domain will be decked again with foliage and beautiful garlands.1
The true philosopher sees a form of internal truth—which is full of unfailing consolation—in every outward process and every object. The sun disappears behind the western hills and a dark curtain is drawn over the earth; but darkness reveals stars. Robed in garments of essential light, these royal orbs are visible only when the sun is unseen. The clouds indeed may conceal the distant spheres ever and again, a gloom may settle upon our minds and dreamy slumber may succeed it; yet—ere we are awake—the sun has risen in the East, tingeing
the distant clouds with auroral splendour, converting weeping dews into rays of golden light, bathing mountains and valleys, gardens and fields of Mother Nature, with fresher and lovelier radiance.
It is no part of the Harmonial Philosophy to depend solely on outward evidence—perception and testimony; on the contrary, its students are referred to the fixed principles of universal Nature. Now, the physical organisation of man is designed by the system of Nature to manufacture the form and structure of the spiritual principle—or, in other words, man's spirit is a product of his organisation.1 Man's body is the fruition of all organic Nature, and the spirit body is formed by the outer body. The physical body is the focal concentration of all substances; the spirit is the organic combination of all forces. The representation of every particle of matter is ultimately made by man. The body of the spirit is a result brought out by the physical organisation. I do not mean that the spirit is created but that its structure is formed by means of the external body. Mind itself is not a creation or ultimation of matter, but mental organisation is a result of material refinement. The use of a physical bone is to make a spiritual bone, of the physical muscle to make a spiritual muscle2—not the essence but the form. The use of the cerebrum is to make a spiritual front brain out of the cerebellum or spiritual back brain. Inside the visible spine is the spiritual spine invisible. The physical ear is animated by a spiritual ear. In a word, the whole outward body
is a representation of that which is imperishable. Mind, essentially different from matter, is eternal, and so also is matter, essentially distinct from mind.1 These principles, as male and female, live in unchangeable wedlock: one is what I term Father God, the other is Mother Nature. Matter, on reaching its highest point of unparticled attenuation, becomes a celestial magnetism. The spiritual essence takes hold of this material magnetism; the two are married, and a succession of elaborations commences until the whole spiritual structure is completed. Spirit is substance and, although not unlike matter, it obeys a law higher than gravitation. Every person's experience is a complete demonstration that spirit is a substance, because in each of us it moves the body from place to place. It can even move without thinking, because the hidden spirit-principle is composed of all vital forces. Man's spirit demonstrates its own substantiality by means of its own normal manifestations. Although the spirit of man has substance and weight, has elasticity, divisibility2 and the several ultimate qualifications and properties of matter; yet—as just indicated—it obeys laws which are superior to ordinary gravitation and the known physical forces. The proof is that man's being is duplex. He has two eyes, two brains, two hands, two feet, two sides to the lungs; the human heart is double, and so is each part of the system. The double visible structures come from dual invisible principles, and these are male and female. They operate reciprocally and regulate all action, all animation. One contracts, the other expands. These principles together form a
unit, imparting one action to the twofold system. Water has weight and in consequence runs downhill; but in man's body water runs uphill. The heart is constantly sending blood to the brain. The visible heart performs this function because there is a corresponding spiritual heart within it. The spirit, unlike inanimate bodies, operates upon a positive and negative principle, by virtue of which the spirit holds up the body and the body holds up the spirit.1 If the spirit's organism is substance, then—as substance—it weighs something. When it escapes the material body, the spiritual body does not weigh more than the sixteenth of a pound, but it continues to absorb the elements of the invisible air until it becomes comparatively weighty, acquiring not only a power of gravitation but also a power to overcome it.2