PREFACE.
When the thought of publishing this volume was first suggested to me by my spirit guides, I was led to ask, what good will it accomplish? and they replied: It will teach mortals that which it is impossible for them to obtain from any other source, but of which they are supremely desirous of being informed,—the conditions and surroundings, and the pleasures and pursuits of and influence exerted upon the denizens of earth by the inhabitants of the spirit world; it will reveal somewhat of the life their departed relatives and friends live, and to which they themselves are rapidly approaching; it will show that that life is a tangible reality, that it is, in fact, the substance, this being but the shadow,—the eternal, while this is but transitory; that while the joys they may there possess surpass all human power of conception, they are attained only by purity of thought, and a faithful performance of duty, and that every advance made in those essentials in this life places them in a correspondingly advanced state when they enter the spiritual realm. I had no desire to further question; the accomplishment of such a work seemed every way desirable; I cheerfully acceded to their wishes, and the result is here presented.
I believe that all herein given has emanated from the minds of spiritual intelligences, that even the words employed have been chosen by them as most befitting the thoughts they wished to express. They have come to me in times of quiet seclusion, when there was nothing to disturb the harmony absolutely required for the transmission of the truths they wished to convey.
M. T. Shelhamer.
M. T. Shelhamer.
M. T. Shelhamer.
M. T. Shelhamer.