Published in 1922 | 483 pages | PDF reader required
INTRODUCTION
This book contains, in part, the story of my early life; some of the many experiences I have had with spirits from my boyhood; a partial record of my being led by the spirit through the spirit world while out of my body; many convincing instances in proof of spirit return; some of my correspondence on various subjects, with the different Spiritualist and other papers; reports and announcements of my meetings and lectures; and my Reports of Societies for the last thirty years. Space in the different papers in which my correspondence appeared was limited and did not permit my going into full detail on the subjects taken up; I hope, however, that enough has been said for your enlightenment on the subjects contained herein to make it worth your while to read this book.
When I began to write articles for Spiritualist and other papers, it did not occur to me to save those articles and have them compiled into book form. If it had, then all the articles I have ever written would have been saved for this work. Nor have I all the Church Notices or reports of meetings I have conducted, or in which I have taken part.
When I was first impressed and commenced to write, I had not the least idea that in later years I should become an author, and that my name (if I may be pardoned for mentioning the fact), would be known all over the world; or that there would ever be a call from my friends or the public for my writings and the suggestion to have them brought together in book form.
I am proud to have been one of the pioneer workers in the Spiritualistic field, and have suffered much for the cause of Spiritualism, in upholding its purity and promulgating its truth. I am writing this in defence of the glorious truth I love so well-that which I know to be the truth, and which I am confident is vastly for the betterment of mankind.
My aim in writing the articles which are now brought together in this book was to make plain to the public the eternal truths of Spiritualism and the verities it teaches. I believe in the Phenomena as well as the Philosophy of Spiritualism. I should advise you to study and understand the Philosophy; then you will be ready to perceive the Phenomena and to understand how it is possible for a friend who has passed into the spirit world to send a spirit message through a spirit medium to mortals on the earth plane. You are in no condition to receive a spirit message until you understand the Philosophy, which will enable you to help the spirits that are attracted to you to manifest, or to give you the spirit message they have for you. You cannot understand the Phenomena if you do not understand the Philosophy.
The Philosophy teaches that we have both material and spiritual bodies and material and spiritual eyes to use while living on the earth plane. It teaches that it is possible for mor-tals, while living, to communicate with those who have gone into the spirit world, if those mortals have their spiritual eyes opened. The Philosophy teaches that our spirit eyes are given us to use while living in the body, so that we may be able to protect our spiritual bodies against so-called evil spirits, and so carry on our spiritual work while on earth and be happier here and when we pass into the spirit world.
It must be remembered that as there are good, bad, and indifferent kinds of people living, so when they pass into the spirit world their spirits will be of the same character as when those persons lived in the body, that is, either good, bad, or indifferent, as the case may be; and each will try to find some one still living whom it can impress to do what it did, or wanted to do, while living in the body. The spirit world and the spirits are all around us. We who are living in the body are in the spirit world today, as completely as are those whose spirits have left their bodies and gone to the spirit world; for there are only two places, Heaven and earth, and we must be in either the one of the other. We are not in the earth, therefore we must be in Heaven.
The Phenomena of Spiritualism prove that spirits can communicate with mortals, but do not teach you how this is done; neither do those phenomena teach you how to live so as to be happy here, or in the spirit world; nor do they inform you that the spirit messages you may receive from your spirit friends do not depend upon the spirit mediums but upon yourself. No medium can call spirits around you. Mediums can only describe the spirits that you have attracted to you, or that you bring with you, that they can see.
Remember, dear friend, that if, every day of your life you were to receive through a spirit medium, spirit messages from the spirit of a loved one who has passed into the spirit world, that fact would not save you or make you any happier when you pass into the spirit world. The only thing that will make you happy here and now, and when you pass into the spirit world, is what you do yourself—not what someone else may do, but what you do. You are responsible, and you will be held responsible, for what you do; and if you will allow yourself to be influenced or led astray by some spirit or mortal, you will be held responsible for all your wrong doings.
