“Price’s Hill,August 19, 1881.“Dear Mr. Helleberg: Your communication with your pamphlet came to me to-day. I hardly know what to say in reply, for I fear that nothing I can say will be of any use. I have no doubt in the world that there is such a thing as communication with spirits, nor has any intelligent and well informed New Churchman. Nor have I any doubt whatever that they are a very low order of spirits, and scarcely ever those whom they personate. It is clear that Swedenborg never sent any such communications as these. To believe otherwise would be to believe that intelligent men in the other world lose their wits instead of increasing in wisdom. Doubtless this is permitted as a forcible and compelling offset to the tremendous and increasing materialism of the day. I can not conceive of any use in it to those who desire to be led bythe Lord in freedom and reason. Not only Swedenborg declares the thing disorderly, but all experience coincides with his repeated warnings and emphasises the need of our keeping close to the Lord in his divine word. I say to you frankly that I do not feel warranted in putting this pamphlet before the society, for knowing as I do the seductive and tremendously persuasive power of this influence and realizing the evil in it, I should be doing violence to my sense of duty in bringing the matter to their notice. To those capable of better things it is a delusion and a snare. With kind personal feelings to you and all your family, and deploring your connection with this dreadful sphere, I remain sincerely yours in truth,“John Goddard.”
“Price’s Hill,August 19, 1881.
“Dear Mr. Helleberg: Your communication with your pamphlet came to me to-day. I hardly know what to say in reply, for I fear that nothing I can say will be of any use. I have no doubt in the world that there is such a thing as communication with spirits, nor has any intelligent and well informed New Churchman. Nor have I any doubt whatever that they are a very low order of spirits, and scarcely ever those whom they personate. It is clear that Swedenborg never sent any such communications as these. To believe otherwise would be to believe that intelligent men in the other world lose their wits instead of increasing in wisdom. Doubtless this is permitted as a forcible and compelling offset to the tremendous and increasing materialism of the day. I can not conceive of any use in it to those who desire to be led bythe Lord in freedom and reason. Not only Swedenborg declares the thing disorderly, but all experience coincides with his repeated warnings and emphasises the need of our keeping close to the Lord in his divine word. I say to you frankly that I do not feel warranted in putting this pamphlet before the society, for knowing as I do the seductive and tremendously persuasive power of this influence and realizing the evil in it, I should be doing violence to my sense of duty in bringing the matter to their notice. To those capable of better things it is a delusion and a snare. With kind personal feelings to you and all your family, and deploring your connection with this dreadful sphere, I remain sincerely yours in truth,
“John Goddard.”
On November the 7th I repaired to Mrs. Green’s, taking with me Mr. Goddard’s letter, which I did not allow Mrs. Green to see, nor did I speak to her any thing in regard to its contents. I had also prepared a communication to Mr. Swedenborg, which I took along with me, in words as follows:
“To my exalted spirit friend, Emanuel Swedenborg: For conferring on me the honor of receiving your communications for the people who you seek to bless with the truth, I appreciate in the highest degree, and my only hope and wish is that I may be able to do this work in a proper and efficient way. The letter before you from the Rev. John Goddard, minister of the Church of the New Jerusalem here, in answer to my pamphlet containing your three first letters to me, is a sample of what may be expected from that class. I have had the opinion that thepreachers of every denomination will be the very last to accept this most beautiful truth, and, therefore, I have concluded to send the pamphlet only to free, advanced minds, and to the individual members of the different churches of the New Jerusalem, if it receives your approval. With love and sincere affection, I am your willing and obedient servant,
“C. G. Helleberg.”
Placing Goddard’s letter with mine on the stand, the following communication came on the slate:
“In the adorable name of the Lord I salute you good morning. The course you have pursued in regard to my communications to you meets my hearty approval. In the future be governed by the directions of your immediate guides, in whom I have the utmost confidence, for they are constantly with you, and are more intimately related to your sphere, and know best how and what to direct. I am advised of the purport of the letter to you from our good brother, Mr. Goddard, and have lately visited him for the purpose of observing his surroundings and perceiving his mental operations. As the result, I believe him honest and nearer your platform than he is willing to make known. He certainly concedes enough in his letter to fortify your faith, and to satisfy those under his influence that modern spiritualism, so called, sprang from the great store house of the father’s love, and is in his keeping. May the good brother become so illuminated as to reach the grander conclusion fully in consonance with the truth, that his religion emanated not from the Lord direct, but from the writer hereof under thespiritualinstruction suited to thatage, and that in lifting the veil between the two worlds of embodied and disembodied man, and permitting, yea compelling, the intercommunion between their denizens, the heavenly father has not made an assortment of evil only for you, for this would be malevolence under whatever pretext, but that all may, if they desire, hold intercourse with the terrestrial sphere. I have neither lost my wits nor retrograded in wisdom, but since I left the body I have lost much of my arrogance and pride, and am now more interested in imparting plain, simple truth, than in the construction of embellished sentences and high sounding and beautifully rounded periods. The humility taught by Jesus and others anterior to his day and since embodies a sublime law of the spiritual spheres, underlying all true progression, to which I cheerfully bow in reverential adoration. If my dear brother will only humble himself as a little child, forgetting for awhile his books, and casting aside the imperious demands of his system of belle-lettres, he will then from that truly spiritually elevated altitude begin to perceive and to drink in the beauties of spiritual truth and the glories of the Lord.
“Emanuel Swedenborg.”
COMMUNICATIONS FROM PRESIDENT GARFIELD, MADAMEHRENBORG, GOVERNOR J. D. WILLIAMS, PRESIDENTABRAHAM LINCOLN, JUDGE EDMONDS.
Nov. 21. Among other things during this sitting with Mrs. Green I received the following:
“Good morning friends of truth. On passing out of the physical form and awakening to the consciousness of the perpetuity of my being, and a realization of my continued individuality, I was overwhelmed with the triumph of the spirit over the empire of crude matter, and as I gazed upon the worn, shattered and emaciated body, and in the presence of many kindred and other loving spirit friends, the first thought that occupied my mind was, is it possible that I have lived so long in the presence of this great truth and have known so little about it? Then followed a feeling of self-chiding, yea remorse, that I had neglected so many opportunities to learn that wisdom so much needed by the newly arisen spirit, and how much I had really missed by not acquiring knowledge of the spirit world, the future of the spirit, and the laws of spiritual government. Resulting from reflections like these came the impelling desire to return through whatever avenue I might find to speak to a fond mother, devoted wife, loving children, and sympathizing friends, to announce, if no more, that I not only still lived, but was fully conscious of and keenly alive to their grief and sorrow. But I would do more. Having passed safely andgloriously the ordeal of so-called death, and crossed the dreaded rubicon, I am now employing my best energies in learning the initial and rudimentary laws appertaining to spirit life and spirit growth, which I ought to have learned on earth, in the fervent hope and desire that I may be of service to my country and countrymen. If I have a friend who would hear and heed me, I would say to him as my best counsel, see to it that you learn more of the spiritual side of life while here in the body, that when you pass to the higher life your spirit may be accelerated in its onward march along the highways of progress in the heavenly spheres.
“J. A. Garfield.”
At the seance the 7th of November, 1881, I placed a sealed letter, with no address on the envelope, on the stand, and no one in the body except myself knew the contents, as I had written it early in the morning at my home, on Mt. Auburn. I deem it best to give my letter and the answer to it in full, as it demonstrates beyond all possible controversy the ability of spirits to read and understand written matter effectually concealed from mortal view by being securely sealed up.
“To my dear exalted spirit friend, Madam Fredrika Ehrenborg: You always was on earth a valued friend of mine. Since your entrance into the spirit world I have been lead to appreciate more fully your good qualities of head and heart; and your kind spiritual ministrations to me I fear I can never repay. They have made me very happy indeed. You brought the highly exalted Swedenborg, and your angel husband tomake God’s truths clearer to us, and we know we can not return this loving kindness in any other way than in by trying to live up to them in our daily lives, and in making them known to others. During my whole life I have had so very few real friends outside of my family, but I now know that my good spirit friends have more than restored the loss of earthly friends, who I may have lamented. For a long time I have been thinking to send you a special offering of my sincere, heartfelt thanks, which I now do. Your sincere and humble earth friend,
“C. J. Helleberg.”
The answer soon came in the following words on the insides of the double slate:
“To my highly respected earth friend, C. J. Helleberg: I know since my entrance upon a higher life more than before that you value my friendship to a very high degree, which I have tried with my spirit to reciprocate. You need not feel yourself under obligations to me or mine, for I take great pleasure in administering to your wants, and I am exceedingly happy to be able to do so, and that you appreciate we know. We are aware that our communications to you have made you and yours happy, and it rejoices us to know that we have been the instruments in doing good, and as you say, ‘You can not return our loving kindness in any other way than by trying with all your might to live up to them in your daily lives, and in making them known to others.’ That is just what your spirit friends wish you to do. You need not grieve for earthly friendship; those ties have soon to be broken, but haveyour thoughtsonspirit life and friends? My noble husband and Mr. Swedenborg are here with us. Accept my heartfelt thanks for your good wishes toward me, and for your kind allusion to my noble companion. Love to your dear companion, and believe me ever your friend and guide. This is in answer to your sealed letters.
“Fredrika Ehrenborg.”
The 23d of January, 1882, came the following from the former Governor of Indiana: “Good morning my dear friend in the cause of truth. I have been present at many of your sittings, and this morning I feel the power strong enough to write and give expressions to a few humble thoughts in regard to what I have done since my entrance to the spirit world. My battles here were to put down aristocracy and the expenses of our government. I fought hard for that. I did not believe in drinking ice tea at the expense of the government. I was satisfied with a good old fashion tea like my mother made, and a suit of blue jeans. I am still at work in our spiritual congress to that end. If there is not something done speedily our government of our forefathers is gone, and instead a stronger one, or monarchy. Capitalists gnawing at its vitals, and it must inevitably succumb. Spirit world is constantly at work to change the influence. We are coming to every channel we can to speak, and our prayers are that we may be heard and heeded. With my blessing on you both, I bid you good day.
“J. D. Williams.”
“A. Lincoln, J. A. Garfield, O. P. Morton, A. P. Willard, Emanuel Swedenborg, Fredrika Ehrenborg,Madam Amalia de Frese, Polheim, Wilberforce and Otto Jacob Natt-och-Dag are present.
“Emil.”
December 12th came the following:
“Kind friends: I am with you this morning to encourage you by the utterance of a few thoughts. The authority of the priesthood over the consciences and judgments of men is fast losing its hold, and creeds are in the course of ultimate extinction. The overthrow of the institution of slavery in the United States was precipitated by war, and I shudder to contemplate even the possibility that the final conflict between the prevalent creeds predicated on false theology, and succored by superstition on the one hand, and an enlightenedrationalism, etc.on the other, may unhappily eventuate in bloody issues. Creeds are doomed to perish. God grant they may pass away without the costly sacrifice of blood. The pages of both sacred and profane history record crimes of the darkest and deepest magnitude enacted in the holy name of religion. In her fair name the soil of the earth has been crimsoned with the precious blood of martyrs, and the ghastly horrors of the inquisition have been feebly and imperfectly told. The real truth of those horrid deeds has been faithfully chronicled in the archives of the spirit world. Without malice, and in all charity, I speak of them to-day, but the truth must be boldly stated. The history of the Christian system of religion is, in part, a history of foul assassination, bloodshed and rapine, and all under the impious pretext of advancing the kingdom of heaven and magnifying the glory of the Lord. Not only have the brave souls who dared to lift voice orhand against the hideous monster of religious fanaticism and tyranny been sacrificed as heretics, but noble and queenly women—yea, innocent and unoffending children—have fallen victims to its merciless cruelty and gluttonous rapacity for greed and power. Religion and tyranny have marched hand in hand together along the highways of the past, and with the stake, the javelin, the executioner’s ax, and every conceivable instrument of torture, have left behind them ruin, desolation and death as fitting and enduring monuments of their utter unrighteousness. Does this terrible history, so replete with evil, offer us evidences of Godlike excellence? Can such a religious system, founded in falsehood, fostered by superstition, nourished by the blood of innocence, and pre-eminently distinguished by so frightful a history, much longer command the tolerant and kindly consideration of the advanced intelligence of the world, or continue to inspire the conviction that it emanated from God, and has been sustained all these centuries by the fostering care of his goodness and love? In view of all this, is it surprising to any one that He who taketh cognizance of the minutest details of human conduct has commissioned his angels and the spirits who have escaped the environments and passed beyond the limitations of the flesh to return to those in mortal on the redemptive mission of demonstrating a continued life beyond the grave, and revolutionizing the religious thought, moral tendencies and spiritual conceptions of mankind. I repeat, creeds are doomed to perish, and this angel ministry, fraught with freedom, truth andrighteousness, will erect her gorgeous temples over their buried ruins. Thanksbe to God that I obeyed the majestic voices wafted from the spirit world, inducing, as they did, the liberation in our land of four millions of the enslaved children of chattel bondage. Enjoying the communion with spirits, and learning of them and their bright homes, the heritage of the father’s love, I was, while yet inhabiting the tabernacle of clay, made glad and filled with superhuman joy, and in consequence was the recipient of strength and happiness in this glorious land of the spirit. Go ye, therefore, and do likewise. Good day.
“A. Lincoln.”
NEW YEARS’ GREETINGS FROM MANY OF MYDEAR SPIRIT FRIENDS AND NEAR RELATIVES.
The 29th of December, 1881, I received with many others the following communication:
“Good morning, my dear friends, for such I will call you, although I have never had the pleasure of seeing you in the body, but as magnetic attraction seems to be the topic, I will write a few lines to you. Some years ago I corresponded with this medium’s husband, and I had the pleasure of calling her my pupil, because her mediumship was so much like that of mine and my daughter Laura. I took so much interest in her and her future success, and predicted that she would be a wonderful medium in time, and now I come as her teacher to congratulate her on her success and to give her words of cheer, and to tell her that she has only ascended half way up the ladder of fame as a spirit medium; and, also, that I have come to-day by magnetic attraction, and will be here often to aid her in her development. With my prayers for you both and for your success, I bid you good morning.
“Judge Edmonds.”
The 2d of January, 1882, in the forenoon, came on the slate the following:
“Good morning, dear papa. We are all here with our happy New Year’s greetings—Emil, Charles, Gustaf, Mary, Julia, Grandpa and Grandma Helleberg,Grandpa Natt-och-Dag, Swedenborg, Madam Ehrenborg, Madam de Frese, and a host of others. Dear Emil forgot me; I am last, but I hope not the least, in sending you a happy New Year’s greeting. He says I am able to do that myself, and so I am, and happy to do so. Nothing affords me more real pleasure than to communicate to you. Wishing you many beautiful spirit communications this coming year, I bid you good day.
“Jennie.”
After this came the following from a highly esteemed noble lady, who recently passed to the higher life, leaving an only daughter remaining in the form. Madam de Frese was distinguished in her native land—Sweden—for her literary tastes and labors and the purity of her character. It was a great surprise by reason of her having passed on so recently:
“Good morning, my dear friend. With the assistance of Mr. Swedenborg and our kind friend Madam Ehrenborg, and with the aid of this medium’s very highly gifted and intelligent band, I am able to write a few more lines to those I love who are yet in the body.” (At this moment I said to the medium, “It is my impression that this communication is from my friend, Amelia de Frese, and it may be a help to convince the New Church people in Sweden, and her daughter, of the spiritual truth and power.”)
And then came:
“Yes, that is my object, to send them a New Year’s greeting from my beautiful spirit home, and to tell my dear daughter that I am not far from her, but able to advise her and control affairs mundane, and that by impression. She will be directed in the right way,and although she does not imagine that I am with her, still it is a reality. Tell her to have no fear, she will be directed to do my will, and now that the dark pall is before her, and that to penetrate through it seems an impossibility, but ’ere long she will get glimpses of the summer land and of the loved ones gone before. Though the clouds may lower and thicken fast and the mutterings of the storm king is heard, fear not, mother is near to ward off danger. She will know my meaning. She is in mental trouble, the weight is almost overpowering. This will help to remove it somewhat, and what she longs for. She thinks, ‘Oh, if mother could tell me what to do.’ As a parting word, tell her that the sunshine of Spiritualism will scatter the clouds and mists that now surround her, and that she will be made doubly happy by its introduction into her troubled heart, and every pulsation of that member of the body will beat with joy. With the blessings of Swedenborg and Madam Ehrenborg, and with my heart full of love for her and highest regards for yourself and companion, and thanks for this privilege of communicating, I bid you adieu.
“Madam Amalia de Frese,of Stockholm, Sweden.”
January 9th I received the following from the same spirit:
“Thanks, my dear old friend, Mr. Helleberg, for sending the communication to my daughter. I will be there when she reads it, and make her feel my presence. I am your friend,
“Amalia de Frese.”
A PRAYER FROM MADAM EHRENBORG.
Jan. 26, 1882. And the following came on the slate, which I then copied word for word, and herewith reproduceverbatim et literatum:
“My dear old friend. According to promise I am here, and I will endeavor to write you a prayer:
“Oh, thou Infinite Spirit of Truth, soul of all things, we humbly approach Thee at this hour. We know our praises can not exalt Thee for Thou art already infinitely exalted. We know how vain are our adulations of Thee, and that we can not change or make Thee other than what Thou art, a being permeating all things, ever pure and changeless. We know Thou hast existed in all the past, and for Thee and Thine there is no ending in all the measureless immensity of future time. Thou art infinite and perfect in all Thy great attributes of love, wisdom, and power, the true and everlasting trinity. We know we serve Thee best when we seek and labor for the good of Thy children, whether they be in realms of spirit being or in mortal life. We feel the inspiration of Thy words—‘Do good to all’—wafted to our anxious ears on every breeze, and we bow in reverence before the eternal words written on all the works of Thy mighty creation, ‘Love one another even as I love all.’ We look not for Thee in temples of human construction, or inbuildings vainly dedicated to Thy worship, but we discover Thee in all that Thou hast brought into being by the creative energies of Thy almighty power. We hear Thy majestic voice in themightyroar of old ocean and in the gentle murmurings of the brooklet. We hear Thy voice in the thunderings of the storm king and in the soft whisperings of the zephyrs. We behold Thee in the stately form of the oak and in the sweet blossoming and blooming flowers. Wherever we go, wherever we look, and in whatever we behold there Thou art ever present. Oh, Thou mighty master spirit of the universe, bless Thy children every-where. Strengthen Thy messengers, ministering spirits from the land immortal, to teach those still in the bonds of the flesh the sublime and eternal truths of immortality. May Thy children in mortal learn that wisdom which teaches righteous living, heroic dying, life-unending and eternal progression. Shower divine blessings on this aged brother who is seeking to know of Thee through Thy ministering angels. Strengthen his faith, increase his knowledge, cheer his heart, and as he nears the end of the journey of mortal life fill his soul with that joy that can only be bestowed by the spirits of dear ones who have passed to the better land. Bless, oh Father, this noble medium, a chosen instrument of the spirit world, through whom to transmit messages of love. Bless all such instruments. Encourage and invest with continually increasing powers this noble band of spirits, and enable them through their chosen and beloved medium to bless and cheer the hearts of many by the impartation of light divine, and may that light radiatethroughtheir souls as the sunbeams descending from the golden orb of day illuminates the physical world. Accept, oh Lord, from the fulness of our souls this our earnest prayer. Amen.”
GREETINGS FROM HORACE GREELEY, J. G. BENNETT, ANDHENRY J. RAYMOND, TO F. B. PLIMPTON, ASSOCIATE EDITOROF THE CINCINNATI “DAILY COMMERCIAL.”
During the visit of the celebrated medium, Henry Slade, to Cincinnati, recently, a reporter of the Cincinnati “Daily Enquirer” visited him and secured a sitting, during which Mr. F. B. Plimpton, associate editor of the Cincinnati “Daily Commercial,” by invitation was present. The day following, the “Enquirer” reporter, in speaking of the seance in the columns of his paper, referred to Mr. Plimpton in disparaging terms as being a believer in Spiritualism, etc. In the succeeding issue of the “Enquirer” Mr. Plimpton had published over his proper signature the following rejoinder:
DR. SLADE AND HIS “CONFEDERATE.”
To the Editor of the Enquirer.
Your reporter makes much of my accidental meeting with him at the rooms of Dr. Slade. I had called on the doctor’s general invitation (he being an entire stranger to me), not with the thought of witnessing any of the so-called manifestations, but to have a chat with him touching some points of his European experience.
In the course of our conversation he incidentally mentioned that he had an appointment with a pressrepresentative, and shortlyafterwardyour reporter came in, and was introduced to me as “Mr. Culbertson.” Having met the young gentleman on a recent social occasion, when he was introduced to me under his right name, his identity was not obscure to me, but it would have been the height of impoliteness on my part, an invited guest, to have interfered with any little plan he may have formed to entrap the magician. It is a trivial and common form of deception, and as Dr. Slade does not profess to be a mind-reader, it is as easy for a stranger to impose on him in that way as upon an ordinary person. So, as “Mr. Culbertson” your reporter remained from the beginning to the end of the sitting.
Why Dr. Slade changed his mind and allowed me to remain during the seance I do not know, and do not care to know. It seems, however, to have excited the suspicions of your acute reporter, who amusingly presents me to your readers in the light of a confidante of the doctor. This is too ridiculous to receive serious refutation. It was the sheerest accident that I was present at all.
Your reporter very fairly states the phenomena witnessed, except where his lively imagination charmingly interferes with strict accuracy, and tempts him to adorn his narrative with divers brass ornaments of his own invention. But he must pardon me if I decline to accept him as an expert at his own valuation, since by his own statement he stands condemned of practicing the only deception at all explicable, and then not telling the truth about it.
He is, however, entitled to his own conclusions, which must be very valuable, considering the time he has devoted to investigation. There is no accounting for the superior insight which a young man has into phenomena, that have baffled old heads after years of patient study. It may be remarked, however, that to denounce as trickery and fraud phenomena otherwise not easily explained is a ready way of ridding one’s self of the whole business.
Though not giving much attention of late years to the subject, I am a Spiritualist, and not ashamed to own it. The time has passed when it is necessary to doff one’s hat and apologize in this or any other intelligent community for being a Spiritualist. It is, at least, as creditable as to discourse without knowledge and condemn without investigation.
F. B. Plimpton.
On Thursday, February 2d, at Mrs. Green’s, among other matter received came the following:
“Respected Sir: We are here this morning to ask you to go and see Mr. Plimpton, of the “Commercial,” and say to him for us, that we not only thank but congratulate him for his recent bold and manly utterances in favor of truth. The time has arrived for those blessed with the knowledge presented by Spiritualism to bravely avow it, and we are glad that he has taken the initiative in the Queen City of the West. The time has truly passed when such avowal entails social ostracism or any kind of persecution. The banner of truth has been unfurled, and ye brave souls marshal the veteran hosts under it and onward to victory. You will find less obstruction than youthink, for believers in this much-abused gospel of light are more numerous than you conceive. Besides you have myriad hosts of heaven at your backs. Falter not, move onward with firm and confident step. Be steadfast and true and bright laurels await you. The victory is not always to the strong, but to the active, the vigilant, and the brave. The army of Spiritualism has already swollen into huge proportions, and its ranks are being daily augmented. The decree has gone forth and the triumph will come. Truth shall arise for the eternal years of God are her’s, and nothing can stay or retard the onward march to victory of the grand army of invisible hosts.
“Horace Greeley.“J. G. Bennett, Sr.“Henry J. Raymond.”
COMMUNICATIONS FROM HORACE GREELEY, GOVERNORO. P. MORTON, AND A. P. WILLARD.
On the 7th of April, among other things, I received the following:
“Unless some changes are made in the conduct of your government direful consequences are to be apprehended. Under the present mode of administration it is continually subjected to very heavy straining, and it can not much longer stand it. Many reforms are needed, and the requirements of patriotism demand that they be seriously considered and acted upon. Your civil service is entirely wrong, and can not be continued much longer without serious detriment to your form of government. The integrity and stability of your institutions are constantly menaced by it. You claim that you have an elective government. Is the claim true? Thousands of important public offices are not filled by the elective voice of the people. They are filled by appointment from purely partisan considerations—for partisan purposes and as a reward for party services and party zeal. Fitness and worthiness are secondary and minor considerations. Henceariseclamorings of party strife, and the engendering of the festering sore curses of corruption. The Presidential office had better be abolished than to continue it invested with such vast patronage in dispensing official appointments. There exists no valid reason why the people themselvesshould not select from their neighbors postmasters, revenue officers, etc., as well as state, county, and township officers. The Presidential office should either be dispensed with or its incumbent elected by a direct vote of the people without the intervention of the cumbersome and corrupting electoral machinery. The electing of men to elect other men to office is the dodging of a responsibility and the surrendering of a right of the people that can not be defended upon sound principles.
“Another danger confronts you menacingly and demands watchful attention. It is the startling aggregations of wealth among the few, and wrung from the sweat of labor. These immense accumulations find utilization in the creation of merciless monopolies which have already assumed gigantic and threatening proportions in the United States.
“Stock gambling is not a whit better in morals than any of the games of cards by which the unwary are fleeced out of their hard earnings. The participants and operators in the one are no better than in the other, and yet the one, under your Christian civilization is applauded while the other is denounced. How long yet will the people continue to be hoodwinked and handicapped by designing political tricksters. We have seen the star of hope, but now behold the star of promise rising in its refulgent splendor, and therefore we take heart.
“H. Greeley.”
HON. O. P. MORTON.
On the 13th of April the following communicationwas received, purporting to come from the late United States Senator from Indiana, Oliver P. Morton, viz:
“Amid the rancor and jealousies of party strife I came in for a full share of abuse and vituperation. I was denounced most bitterly as an ambitious man, wholly unconscionable and indifferent as to the means employed in the accomplishment of party ends. Now, I frankly confess that I was not a saint in politics, nor always, politically speaking, perfectly orthodox. I am free to admit that I was so constituted that when I once believed a certain view to be sound and right I never hesitated to use all the appliances and machinery of party to secure its triumph. I was called a bold man in politics. I am proud of this, for it is in contradistinction to all that is sneaking. I aimed to always be right, and believed, in a certain qualified and honorable sense, that the ends justified the means. Those who are vociferating so loudly and screaming so painfully about bad and corrupt men, are generally traveling in the same boat, with the same sails spread to the breeze. In my mind and heart the country’s good was always a paramount consideration, and I have as few regrets as most men who have devoted as long a period to public life. The man out of office feels himself called upon to denounce the man who is in, and affects to believe himself especially endowed with the requisite qualities to purify the public service, but when safely ensconced in the incumbency he too soon finds himself a Barkis, who “is willing.” There are many good and true men engaged in public political life, but none perfect, and you would be as successful in ransackinghadesfor an angel of light in your efforts to find aperfect politician. Whatever is wrong and corrupt in your public service and political life will never be corrected andpurifiedby the politicians alone. As well might you hope for a deadly eating cancer to eradicate itself, or the upas tree, with its deadly emanations, to give forth health-breeding and life-sustaining exhalations. The remedy rests alone and wholly with the great masses of the people. The prostitution of office to the debasing influences of bribery and corruption must be made odious by fixing austere penalties against the offender, and the prompt and indiscriminate enforcement of them. Misfeasance and malfeasance in public office ought to be considered an unpardonable crime, and the guilty dealt with accordingly. Let the people teach their officials the doctrine that a continuation of political existence depends wholly on fidelity to the public interests, and the honest, faithful and efficient administration of their official trusts. When there is willful dereliction of duty, or a failure by grossly reprehensible conduct to meet the just public expectations, not only relegate the offender to the walks of private life, but impose such punishment as shall be deemed adequate to the enormity of the crime, and will deter others from the commission of like offenses.
“O. P. Morton.”
GOV. A. P. WILLARD.
May 19, 1882, I received the following from Ashbel P. Willard, who I learn was at one time Governor of the State of Indiana, viz.:
“Good morning, sir. I was, during my earth life, a politician, and, to a certain extent, a successful one,if success may be measured and determined by captivating the masses, and thereby securing elevation to office. I was in early life surrounded by poverty, and arose from humble conditions to the chief magistracy of the great commonwealth of Indiana. I was of the common people, always kept myself closely allied to them and their interests, and if you will excuse the egotism, always felt that I was near their hearts. I was called an orator, and probably to some extent this was true, for nature had favored me highly in that direction by organization, and I have occasion to be thankful that whatever gifts I may have possessed, they were aimed to be exercised for the promotion of the public good and the happiness and prosperity of the people. In youth I obtained a common education and taught school, and by teaching the young the rudiments of education I was enabled to study and observe the different tendencies and characteristics of mind. While engaged in this pursuit I discovered some properties of my own mind and some gifts of speech, which, in public utterance, subsequently distinguished me—not so much in the forum as on the “hustings” during periodical political excitements. I soon discovered that the power I was enabled to wield in political disputations was attracting the people to me, and their voices at the ballot-box soon called me into official position andconsequentprominence.
“Whatever faults I may have had, it is a proud satisfaction for me to know that it was never charged that I ever betrayed either a private or public trust. But in my day things were quite different from what they are now. The politicians in my day were imbued with a different and a higher patriotic sense ofobligation to the public interests and the general public weal. The great war of the rebellion seems to have poisoned the divine streams of patriotism, and the politicians of to-day seem to have drank too freely therefrom. You have passed through evil times, and they are still upon you.
“The best minds of the spirit world are hard at work seeking to purify the waters of political life. It must begin at the fountain head. The people, the great masses who constitute the fountain of all political power, must be awakened to a realization of the wretched condition into which they have permitted public affairs to drift. There must be a quickening of the public conscience and a revivifying of the patriotism of the early fathers of the republic. The sanctifying influences of the patriotism of the revolution must again permeate the hearts of the people. The politicians, always cunning and watchful of the tendencies and driftings of the public mind, will either fall in with the new order of things, or be forced to retire and subside from public notice. The great minds and patriotic hearts of Washington, Lafayette, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Hancock, Paine, Webster, Clay, Douglas, Lincoln, Garfield, and hosts of others, are coming from the skies, leaving for awhile the glorious pursuits and joys of spirit unfoldments to speak to the people, and to lead them away from the demoralizing and corrupting influences of the partisanship of the day into better channels and loftier patriotism.
“How shall the work of purifying the public service, restimulation of patriotism, and the placing of the waning fortunes of the country upon the highroad of prosperity be done?First.What is needed to be done?Second.How shall it be done? These questions, so pregnant with mighty results, should engage your earnest and prayerful consideration. These matters may be discussed and presented to you, and I am glad that the means will be furnished to lay them before the people.
“If what I have said will be the means of arousing one patriotic citizen to the necessity of the governmental reformation now in contemplation by our spiritual congress, I shall feel then supremely happy that the little effort in writing these feeble lines was not in vain.
“I was known when in the form, and am still, as
“Ashbel P. Willard.”
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE DRUNKARD, A MISER, WILLIAM GAILARD,WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, WILBERFORCE, TECUMSEH, A SUICIDE.
On May 25, 1882, came the following communication from a spirit, who declined to give his name, for reasons which he claimed to be prudential and personal to himself. It is here given in his own words:
“The band of spirits who have this medium in charge, together with other exalted ones and one who is co-operating with them temporarily, have not only allowed, but invited me, unworthy as I am, to come and tell my story. It is a short and terrible one, and in deep sorrow and humiliation I proceed to tell it.
“I was called, and justly so, a drunkard. By nature I was blessed with a strong and robust constitution, and I was, what is too often a curse, the child of wealthy parents. My father was rich, and this circumstance proved my ruin. I was nursed in the lap of luxury, never knew what it was to want, and consequently had no sympathy for those that suffered, or those immersed in the fierce struggles of poverty. I disdained to work with my hands for bread, and knew not the hardships and sorrows of thetoilingmillions. My brow was never moistened by the sweat of labor, and I grew up in the belief that the poor were intended and purposely created to serve the rich, and were deserving of naught but a bare scantysubsistence. My life of indolence and ease, my uninterrupted hours of leisure, produced their inevitable fruit in their accompaniments of vice and immorality. Idleness, as I now know, is the parent of vice, and riches too frequently constitute the propagating life germs of wickedness. It was sadly true in my unhappy case. Oh, fathers, mothers, heed my warning counsel: Train your children to labor—to work, work, work. Allow but few idle hours for dissipation and vice. Keep them away, if possible, from the club room, where intoxicating beverages are indulged in and made inviting by temptation, and where lascivious conversations only tend to stimulate and develop the lower passions and propensities of their natures. Wine, fair to look upon and with frequent imbibations exhilarating, contains within its alluring embrace a terrible lurking serpent whose venomous sting is fatal to all that is noble, grand, and holy. It strikes, figuratively speaking, its poisoned teeth into the very vitals of our being, and the effect follows us to the other life with its terrible retributive vengeance. Oh, pity the poor inebriate, and erect all possible barriers against the terrible ravages of the fell destroyer.
“The Drunkard.”
A MISER.
April 24, 1882, came the following:
“I am permitted to come to you to-day to relate something of my history. There is a twofold purpose in my visit. I am told that this will greatly benefit me as a spirit still bound to my idol—gold—and that I may be instrumental in warning others to avoid my condition.
“I lived in the flesh more than three score years and ten, and when I laid down to die the only thing I regretted leaving was my gold and hoarded wealth. Oh, I thought, if I could only take it all with me how happy I would be. The world said I was a noble man, because being avaricious and greedy, I was successful in acquiring riches. My nobility of character was measured entirely by my ability to accumulate money and property. I want to publish it to the world that money, stocks, and landed estates, are poor capital to bank on in the spirit world. They will do here, and as the world goes, will make you respectable, your society and influence coveted and all that, but you need a different kind of capital on this side of life. Gold here has great purchasing power. It buys the luxuries of life, it even buys honor, virtue, and innocence, at a fearful sacrifice and cost to others, but its power, except its terrible evil following, ends with your life in the body. Nothing but good deeds, noble charities, and upright living pass current in the land of souls. I was a miserable, soulless miser, and my occupation and delight consisted in adding to my coffers, and in this endeavor I forgot and ignored conscience and every thing in the pathway of the pursuit of my idol.
“I belonged to a fashionable church, owned a pew, attended the services, and flattered myself that this was all that was needful to prepare my soul for happiness in the other world. No appeals of charity were ever strong enough to touch my sympathies or open my purse strings. The tears of the widow, the wails of the orphan, or the cries of the suffering, however piteous, never touched my heart or obtained from mea single penny. I stinted myself and family and contributed nothing towards the relief of want and suffering, for I was so completely enslaved by the accursed love of and passion for money. This is a humiliating confession to make, but it is, alas, for my happiness, too true. I tell you money has been my curse, and oh, how terribly have I suffered. Years upon years have rolled by, and I have only partially paid the penalty of my folly. No wonder the rich man wanted some one to go back and tell his brethren of his fate. I hope I may hereby be the humble instrument in warning others against the pitfall into which I have fallen. My gold came up before me here to greet my fond gaze, and when I would joyously reach out for it, behold it would elude my grasp, thus teaching me that it had no real existence except as the haunting specter of my unholy life struggle for its possession. The light of redemption now begins to beam upon me, flooding my soul with its bright rays of hope. I feel this will do me good, and I am very thankful for the opportunity. Let me be simply known as
“The Miser.”
WILLIAM GAILARD.
William Gailard was an old personal friend, and the first one who called my attention to the subject of Spiritualism. He had been a Swedenborgian, and at times had officiated as a preacher in England before he came to the States. At a sitting with Mrs. Green, June 2, 1882, I was pleased to receive the following communication from him:
“My old friend, Mr. Helleberg. I know you have been waiting and wanting to hear from me, and I have been just as anxious to respond. Here in the spiritworld we have order and system, and each one must bide his time. My time has come to speak a few words to you, and I assure you, my dear old friend, I seize the opportunity with pleasure I can not fully express.
“I remember that the new light of spiritual truth came to me first, and I was the humble instrument in the hands of higher intelligences to assist you in obtaining it. I was a medium for exalted spirits to lead you and others into the light, and that for a great and noble purpose, for way back to that time the plans were laid for the work in which you are now engaged so nobly and fearlessly. You are also, my dear friend, a medium, for it is true that all persons whom spirits can influence, however unconscious it may be to themselves, are mediums in the true sense of the word.
“You are helping others to grow and expand in spiritual knowledge, and you will be astonished when you come over to look back and see the work you have done, and to receive the plaudit, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ I have been blessed beyond measure for the little I was enabled to do, but your reward will be greater than mine. Your opportunities were greater and you cheerfully yielded your energies, time, and means, to the work.
“If Spiritualists could only realize the treasures they are laying up for themselves by advancing the banner of truth, and the joys in consequence that await them on the golden shore, they would spare no pains or means and omit no effort in spreading the gospel of glad tidings. Oh, how I would exult with joy if the New Church people would see and preach this beautiful and blessed truth. They will yet get their eyes open, and step out of their little creed-boundnarrowness, and stand upon the broad and heavenly platform of the Lord and this spiritual truth, for they are one and the same. Swedenborg will speak to them from the higher life, and I pray they may heed him. Your old friend,
“William Gailard.”
WM. LLOYD GARRISON.
At the sitting June 9, 1882, came the following:
“For long years before the emancipation of the slaves I waged a fierce and bitter warfare against the institution of African slavery in the United States. The overthrow of that accursed institution became the absorbing and central idea of my soul from my early manhood. All other themes, questions, and subjects, I subordinated to that one dominant purpose of my life. When I had lived to see that institution swept out of existence, equal civil rights secured, and manhood suffrage conferred, irrespective of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, I felt a sweet heavenly calm rest upon my soul, accompanied by the consciousness that I had not lived in vain. I felt that my efforts, however feeble, had helped to forward to a glorious consummation that long eventful struggle, and that by aiding in pushing along the car of progress and freedom, the world had not suffered by my having lived in it. When the victory had been achieved I had advanced far ‘into the vale of years,’ and realized that my life forces were well nigh exhausted. They had been mainly expended in my life work as editor, lecturer, etc., in a warfare upon an unholy condition in which upward of four millions of human beings, with God-given souls, had been placed by sheer force and without their own consent. I sawand still see needed reforms that call aloud for help, willing souls, and ready hands. Reform in the currency, reform in the tariff, reform in the civil service, a complete overhauling and reconstruction of government, the overthrow of rum, and the enfranchisement of women. God will and is raising up noble souls for this noble work, and you may be assured that the spirit world is neither indifferent nor inactive. Spirit bands are forming every-where, instrumentalities are being chosen, and agencies are being arranged for the work. The millions of high and exalted souls of the higher life will, ere long, descend upon the children of earth with their inspiring and propelling influence, and a revolution in the realm of mind will be inaugurated that shall eventuate in the accomplishment of needed reforms. I shall be among the number with all my strength and soul.
“Wm. Lloyd Garrison.”
WILBERFORCE.
July 7, 1882, at a sitting this day the following came:
“The main struggle of my life was to secure the liberation of the enslaved in the dominions under the authority and jurisdiction of the British government. I lived to witness the glorious success of my labors and to rejoice thereat and therein. I fought human slavery; I mean that slavery which is recognized by law—the right of one man to own another as a chattel, and to either transfer that ownership to another for a pecuniary or other consideration, or to transmit it as an inheritance. In doing so I had to combatwealth, prejudice, and biblical religion, for the bible recognizes this right. The struggle was long, eventful, and bitter, but victory finally crowned the effort. The civilized world concedes now the justness of my cause and the value to mankind of its success. And yet you are now fastening upon yourselves a slavery more appalling and degrading than African slavery ever was, or the slavery of the heathen and strangers of the olden time. (See Leviticus, 25th chapter, 44, 45 and 46th verses.)
“The slavery to which I refer now is the slavery of labor to capital. If I were back again in the body, with my present light on the subject, I would fight this accursed slavery more bitterly than I did that other species of slavery, which was bad enough, but infinitely less reprehensible than that which I am now discussing.
“No oppression is so utterly merciless and unconscionable as that of capital upon labor, and no other form of oppression can be so serious and hurtful in its consequences. Here we behold a mighty conflict between capital and labor. Capital making cruel and unreasonable exactions, seeking to obtain labor for an almost starvation pittance, while labor, unequal in the struggle, seeks to wrest from its adversary a decent and honorable requitement for its sweat. Capital triumphs and labor suffers. Let me tell you to-day, sir, and I would have the capitalists hear me, this contest will not always continue thus. Unless a spirit of justice and fair dealing shall speedily characterize the treatment of the poor toilers by their wealthy employers a mighty crash will come, an outburst of indignation in revolution that will render the bloodyscenes of the past of trivial moment in comparison. The elements are generating, the storm clouds are surely gathering, and at a moment when least expected they will burst upon the country and the world in proportions only equaled by the fierceness of the conflict and its bloody issues. Let those whom it concerns beware. I beseech them, beware in time.
“Wilberforce.”
TECUMSEH.
On the 4th day of August, 1882, between the hours of 9 and 11A. M., came the following, which can not fail to be of interest to all who feel that our Indian policy has been either wrong or ineffective, and that the Indians have not been rightly treated. The eloquent simplicity of the communication can not fail to be observed:
“A large delegation of Indians are here and wish to be heard. We have concluded to let them speak. I will write what their leader says in as nearly his own words as possible.
“Nettie,the Control.”
“We come to speak to palefaces at Washington. Me talk for my people—the redfaces in the hunting-grounds in the Far West where the sun goes down. Poor redfaces, nearly all gone. Paleface kill many and drive them from their old and much loved hunting grounds. You tell them to go on reservation, and the big father at Washington take good care of them. They go. Big chief at big city send paleface agents to give them blankets, ponies, guns, and bread to eat. Paleface agent start big store in wigwam and cheat redface, and give him fire-water to make him madand crazy. When my people see how they are cheated they get mad, and put on war paint and kill much. Big paleface chief say to blue-coat warriors, go and kill redface and make them come back, and let paleface agent swindle much more. Now this is all wrong, and if wrong, why not make wrong right. Redface only handful, paleface mighty—like the leaves on trees. If redface mighty and paleface weak, how then you like it? You then like redface be honest and not cheat, and do as big preach say about golden rule. Me no like you give my people fire-water or guns. Me much like better if you give red braves horses and plows, and build school-houses for little papooses. Teach them how to read and make big scratch (writings) and let them learn other papooses. Don’t cheat. Put paleface clothes on redface, especially redface papooses, and learn them how to build big houses and how to raise big much to eat and sell. Then soon redface no more like hunting ground, but will love paleface and paleface ways. This much better than kill. Great Spirit no like paleface to kill redface or redface kill paleface. All die soon enough anyhow. Upper hunting grounds are full of redfaced spirits, and they all feel bad and sorry for redface in your land. Me no talk much more. Me sorry—me could cry. Poor redface few—soon all be gone. Be good to few left, and Great Spirit and redfaced spirits love you much. Spirit chiefs Ouray and Black Hawk and many more are here, and all plead for their people in lower hunting grounds. They all feel much bad. Good bye, chief and squaw. Me thank much for this big scratch.
“Tecumseh.”
AN UNKNOWN SUICIDE.
August 28, 1882, the following was received, viz:
“I lived in the body thirty-five years and eight months. I went out by my own hand into the great beyond. I was a singularly constituted man, and a very unfortunate one. Self-love is said to be a great ruling passion, but I never loved myself, and of course could not be expected to love anybody else. My parents were in no way assimilated and lived very unhappily together. They quarreled and wrangled constantly, and this embodies my earliest recollection when a child, and it made an impression upon me from the influence of which I never recovered. They seemed to hate each other, and I was created and grew up under the same influence of hate, and hate accompanied by a feeling of vengeance and revenge became a predominating trait of my character. My parents both belonged to church, and I have seen them both shout in church (they were Methodists) and go home, quarrel and fight for hours afterwards. Father would get drunk and mother would eat opium. I tell you this disgusted me with religion, and I concluded it was all a farce. I believed death ended all, and that religion was either a delusion or downright hypocrisy. Besides I had a very delicate and feeble physical organization which made me more morose and sullen. Melancholy finally seized me as a victim, and in a moment of utter despondency I blew out my brains and ended life in the body. But I could not get away from life—death I found to be but the commencement of another life, and I had made the great blunder and committed the foul deed of taking my life into myown hands. Seventy-seven years have passed since, and the terrible shadow of the act of suicide still hovers over me and gives me pain and anguish. But thank God, I begin to climb up the mount of progression—but the summit is still far away. Oh, people of earth, I pray you become not the suicide. Wait with patience until nature’s laws calls thee hence. Remember the fate of the suicide is terrible and hard to overcome. And in my sad history fathers and mothers may learn an instructive and profitable lesson, for my father and mother have suffered more than I. Thanks for your goodness. Good bye.
“A Suicide.”
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THOMAS PAINE, MARGARET FULLER,AND THANKS OF SPIRITS.
Aug. 31, 1882. The following from the spirit of Thomas Paine, on capital punishment, was received:
“I am here to-day, sir, to say a few words in opposition to capital punishment. What is the argument in its favor? One citizen has taken the life of another citizen, and you say he has thereby forfeited his right to live. From whence do you get this doctrine? Does it belong to and is it a reflex of your boasted Christian civilization? The Mosaic law demanded an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but is this the doctrine of Jesus, the assumed founder of Christianity? If you think so, you certainly have not read him attentively, and it may be profitable to you in considering the subject to read the Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in the fifth chapter of Matthew, especially the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth verses.
“You coolly and with the utmost deliberation usher these imperfectly developed souls out of one life into another, thereby ridding yourselves of human monsters and fiends by sending them to be cares, pests, and annoyances to the people of another world. And this you callChristiancharity, benevolence, and fair dealing. But you say they can repent before they are shuffled off by the hangman, and thus be saved. If this be true, the best service you can render all villains and evil disposed persons is to hang them as thesurest means of saving their souls in heaven, for if they are permitted to live and die natural deaths the chances are that they will never repent, and all consequently go to hell. But this is a subterfuge. It is the unholy spirit of revenge thatactuatesyou, and you consider not the victim’s good. Certainly heaven is not yearning for these cutthroats and outlaws, and hell, according to orthodoxy, is already crowded and overpopulated. One man, either through ungovernable passion or malice prepense, takes the life of another. Now, he generally has some real or imaginary grievance, but without even this excuse your courts take the other life, just as if one wrong justified another. Your plea that protection to society demands this course is untenable. Is it true that no adequate protection can be afforded except by judicial murder? Would not the confinement of the culprit subserve the same purpose, with the additional humane advantage of allowing the opportunity to reform and become better, and best of all, to let the voice of God, through natural law, call him from time to eternity.
“Christians can not rise up to the sublime altitude ofadopting, in practical life, the ennobling teachings of the Nazarene including love and forgiveness, as long as they believe the God of their worship to be a vindictive and passionate being full of spleen and vengeance. To believe in such a God naturally inspires the effort to imitate his characteristics, and hence they become spiteful and vengeful, and in favor of taking human life on the scaffold, because a badly organized mortal in a fit of rage or in the pursuit of revenge for, perhaps, an imaginary wrong done him, slays his neighbor. The killing of one man byanother is no worse than judicial murder, and both are relics of barbarism and a past heathen age, and you ought to have done with them. To-morrow, Margaret Fuller on prayer.
“Thomas Paine.”
MARGARET FULLER.
Sept. 1, 1882, came the following writing from the spirit of Margaret Fuller:
“True prayer is the yearning of the soul for something it feels the need of. It need not be expressed in silent words or oral declamation. Every aspiration is in the true sense a prayer. Every aspiration, though silent, has its potencies, reaches out and attracts its kindred spiritual affinities. If your soul-yearnings and aspirations are of a sordid and purely earthly nature, they affect and attract corresponding influences in the invisible realm of being, permeate your soul and limit it to that sphere. If, on the other hand, your aspirations pertain to the realm of the lofty and beautiful, you render yourself thereby receptive to the grand and ennobling influences of the pure and heavenly. If you pray for riches in a worldly sense you prepare the mental, moral, and spiritual conditions to attract the spirit misers and the selfish. If you pray for spiritual illumination and aspire to moral excellence, you bring to your sphere and aid the noble and unselfish children of the more exalted spiritual spheres. If you meditate a wrong deed or action you will besuccessfulin drawing to your assistance those unfortunates of the spirit world who have not outgrown the tendencies, inclinations, and imperfections, of their earthly careers and conditions. Hence the very great importance of being mindful forwhat you pray. The spiritual influences that you attract and which thereby become associated with you, exert a powerful influence in directing your footsteps, molding your actions, and in the construction of your spiritual temple in the new life just before you. Would you desire the companionship of spirit paupers and spirit tramps, become one yourself, and you may depend on success. Would you prefer rather to be attended by good and noble spirit and spiritual influences, aspire to be good and noble yourself, and your success is assured. Of one thing be enlightened, your spirit attendants during your mortal journey will be no worse than you are yourself. It is yourself that prepares the conditions and not they. If your actions are upright, your aspirations noble, and your thoughts elevated toward the divine, you thereby exert a positive repellant power that no evil can overcome, and in such a generated atmosphere an evil influence can no more dwell than oil can mix with water. Bear this great law in mind, and take advantage of it and you are safe and all will be well. Heed it not in conduct and thought and it will rebound upon you with damaging effect.
“Hesitate not to invite undeveloped spirits to your seances if your purpose be to benefit them. For such a motive on your part will draw around you the encircling influences of angels and the divine protecting love, and no harm can befall you, but much good to the poor spiritual wanderers in spiritual darkness. They must be lifted up, and you can be of great service as auxiliaries to the advanced spirits who labor for their redemption. By such a course you are prayingsuch prayers as will bring upon you blessings from the angelic spheres
“Margaret Fuller.”
At the same sitting came the following closing remarks by the medium’s immediate control:
“I am requested to state that with this ends the present book, and to express to you, Mr. Helleberg, the thanks of the spirits who have communicated for your attentiveness, painstaking, and honest purposes. The band of the medium have done all they could to assist them and from them have received benedictions. Besides it has been a labor of love on our part to be, in any sense, assistants to so many exalted spirits.
“We also thank you for your gentlemanly deportment towards our medium, and for the earnest and honest interest you take in her welfare. I speak for the entire band.
“Nettie,the Control.”
[APPENDIX.]