Page:Dealings with the dead.djvu/27

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DEALINGS WITH THE DEAD
21

diamonds of supernal truth; but which, no sooner had I entered the portals of the vast temple of Eternity, than I found to be the most useless rubbish; and nearly all my treasures proved to be the merest paste and tinsel. The first thing, therefore, which the soul desirous of attaining real proficiency in knowledge, has to do, is to unlearn its follies as quick as possible.

This process is called by a term signifying vastation, or throwing off. Some do this at once and with ease; others linger a long time in error, and only attain the great end through great trial and perseverance, just as persons on earth. My desire was ever to, and for the truth; hence the process, to me was one of comparative ease. The ideas which I had imbibed, and given my heart to, concerning matters spiritual, were the same that are still current amongst those who accept that which is known as modern Spiritualism. Succinctly stated, they were these: first, The spirit of a human being is the product of the physical body; the human being is a triplicate, composed of soul, or the thinking principle, the body, and an intermediate link, called spirit; possessing all the organs of, and shaped like the body, and which serves to connect this last with the soul, while on earth, and being its eternal casket after death. The soul, spirit and body are called into being at one time, and that upon the earth.

The spiritual body, like the physical, is subject both to waste and want, for which ample and due provision has by God been made. It has thirst, hunger, and amatory love, all of which have their appropriate gratifications in the Spirit-world. This spiritual world itself is on the surface of a zone surrounding the earth, at a