Strange Visitors Part 28

Nature, or G.o.d, has ordained that existence should depend upon effort; that a state of inactivity should produce dissolution; and much the same means are taken there to enforce activity as in the material world.

True, some men possess natural gifts, by which knowledge is acquired without labor. The power of seeing before the demonstration belongs to all humanity. It is the negative form of knowledge; but combined with that power is the positive, which compels man to desire a visible representation or demonstration of the knowledge he has received by intuition.

The astronomer thus, before he constructs his telescope, perceives intuitively the very stars which his telescope proves as existing, where none are visible to the eye.

It was this active-positive principle, that made him construct the instrument; and in the spirit world, as on earth, that active-positive principle acts in conjunction with the negative-intuitive one, in impelling him to exertion, and forcing him to acquire knowledge in every department of science, art, philosophy and religion. As well expect this earth to rest in her revolution and still retain her place in the solar system, as to suppose that the spirit of man can lose its activity and sink to rest eternal.

Man is not only active in constructing and exploring in the spirit world, but he is also engaged in inventions. Most of the discoveries that have lessened manual labor and made gross matter subservient to man's use originated in the land of spirits. The inventor finds full field for his talents in the superior state.

Man naturally delights in knowledge, and the individual who knows how to construct a steam locomotive finds a thrill of satisfaction in the possession of that ability. So does he who can arrange and construct any piece of mechanism, any domestic tool. That feeling of gratification at the accomplishment of his plans accompanies man to the spirit life.

All persons do not follow the same pursuits in which they were engaged on earth, yet they adopt a kindred and congenial employment. The clergyman thinks his work done when he leaves the earth; but in the next state, also, he will find beings who need to have their spiritual and moral natures instructed--men who desire to be led--who cannot think for themselves, but lean upon the thoughts and inferences of others.

So with almost every pursuit--there is opportunity to exercise it in the world of spirits. The painter finds n.o.bler themes for his pencil, more angelic faces for his canvas; and the desire to reproduce them as they appear is as intense there as it is here. Although a spirit can impress his form in color and raiment upon the sensitive plate in the spirit world, and the image remains fixed and permanent (for the photographic art is essentially spiritual in its origin), that result though definite, is as unsatisfactory to some minds in the spirit world as it is in the natural. And thus, while persons differ in their desires and perceptions, there will be the same varied modes of expressing thought in the superior life as in this.

The question is often asked, "Why should immortals walk, when they can move with greater velocity than light?"

In return I would inquire, "Why, when men can travel by the steam-engine, do they prefer the slow movements of the horse?"

Again, it is asked, "Why, if spirits can converse by thought-language--if they can express with their eyes, or impress magnetically their wishes, or the words they desire to utter--why should they employ their vocal organs?"

But I rejoin that the deaf and dumb on earth converse by signs with great celerity, yet would gladly express their thoughts with voice also.

Many trancendentalists and idealists fancy that the inhabitants of the spirit world do not converse audibly; yet they would be greatly shocked if told that in that world there reigned one vast silence; that sound was unknown; and yet such a condition would exist, if their mode of reasoning were correct.

No unbiased person would suppose for a moment, that song was unheard in this land of the immortals; that the voices of the spirit maidens never burst forth into melody; and that they could not give utterance to their feelings and sentiments, in the warbling notes of music!

Spirits can read each other's thoughts, although possessing a universal spoken language, and also retaining in many sections the native dialect they used on earth.

Though the spirit world is a world of marvels and miracles, and things unutterable, which the tongue cannot express, yet it is a world similar to the natural one; a glorified body of the old earth.

The soul visiting that new country will not feel itself an utter stranger on its sh.o.r.e, but will find that it can a.s.similate with the thoughts and feelings of the residents of that land, and the knowledge and experience which it developed on earth will be useful to it there.

If the teachers on your planet, and those who instruct concerning the condition of the soul after death, would employ the same reason and intelligence that they exercise in investigating any other obscure subjects--either chemistry, astronomy, or natural philosophy,--they would arrive at more truthful data respecting the spirit globe which ultimately they are all destined to inhabit.

H.T. BUCKLE.

_THE MORMONS_.

Looking upon the world, the voyager through s.p.a.ce discerns vast tracts of land, uninhabited barren wastes, and immense forests echoing only the tread of the wild beast and the cries of birds of prey.

It becomes the duty of the political economist to reclaim these lands and place them in the hands of civilization.

How is this to be done? Shall it be by following in the beaten track of custom? No: it can only be accomplished by the zeal of the enthusiast.

Joe Smith was an inspired man; even as Columbus was he inspired. Through his agency a colony was started near the dismal Salt Lake. Through his agency, and by the aid of his apostles or followers, the hardy men and women from the overcrowded population of Europe, cramped by man, and priest-ridden, have been brought across the ocean into republican America. They have been placed in this seemingly unpropitious Salt Lake country. There they have founded a city; they have erected factories and mills. The steam engine, the plow, and the sewing machine have aided them; and now, in place of a company of barbarous peasants, ignorant and benighted, and steeped in poverty, you find them transformed into energetic, intelligent citizens, surrounded with comforts and luxuries.

And all this has been brought about by a religious enthusiast; by an enthusiast whose religion is believed to be inferior to the religion of Protestants.

Imagine for a moment what result would ensue from a movement of this kind set on foot by the followers of the Protestant religion as it is taught by the churches of the present day. No theatres or places of amus.e.m.e.nt would add gayety to the sombre city. The dance and the sound of mirth would be hushed. The inhabitants would walk ever in solemn fear of the awful future that might await them; they would despise their physical frames, crucify their pa.s.sions, and trample under foot the most divine attributes of their nature.

But the religion of the Mormons is a natural religion; it is primitive.

They people the world even as G.o.d peopled it in the time of Abraham and Isaac.

They enrich the state by their t.i.thes. They bring in their corn, their wine, and their fruits, as offerings, and the state pays them back by improving their roads and building houses for instruction and pleasure for them.

Their domestic system, which has been so much despised and ridiculed, does not greatly differ from the custom of the civilized world. Such as are wives with them become with you the neglected women of the town. What with you is considered dishonorable, with them becomes honorable.

The man of wealth in Utah does not concentrate his riches on a few relatives; he distributes it among his many wives and numerous children.

In all times, nations which have grown rapidly and have been developed in arts and sciences have been peopled in the same manner. The female element introduces into a community taste, ornament, and grace. Look at California previous to the emigration of women to that land! Misrule and misery reigned. It is a law of nature that men and women should be united. In the present form of civilization, a large proportion of women are compelled to remain single, and their usefulness to community and humanity is dissipated. The Mormon system eradicates this evil.

The progress of civilization points to a time when a magnetic relation shall be established between all the inhabitants of earth; when the globe shall form one vast circle of mind as it does now of matter. At present the chain is broken; the intermediate s.p.a.ces are not filled up by population. The spirit world is using all its skill to bring about this magnetic connection, but till this is complete the magnetic relation between the spirit world and earth cannot be perfect.

Wise intelligences in the world of spirits have originated and guided the Mormon movement, and these intelligences will develop new communities under similar auspices. The legislators of the land, the Napoleons of the day, would do well to investigate the policy of the leaders of Utah.

The crimes common in your large cities are not known among the Mormons.

They live on friendly terms with the red men of the plains, and are just in their dealings.

Each citizen is taught that the public welfare is his own welfare. In your own large towns the citizens shirk public duties; but in Utah there is a oneness of feeling, which it would be well for those who consider themselves superior in the scale of civilization to imitate.

W. E. BURTON.

_DRAMA IN SPIRIT LIFE_.

"Honor p.r.i.c.ks me on. Yea; but how if honor p.r.i.c.ks me off when I come on?

How then? Can honor set-to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honor hath no skill in surgery, then? No. What is honor? A word. What is that word, honor? Air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No.

Is it insensible, then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it."

What is honor? A mere word. What is Heaven? A word--a phantasy. A vaporish place, too delicate and subtle for such fun-loving, corpulent specimens of the Creator's wisdom as old Jack Falstaff.

O rare Jack Falstaff! He was a child of nature, and to my thinking, his homely phrases displayed more intuitive knowledge of the laws of nature than the finest transcendental imaginings ever discovered.

We shock the feelings of a thousand playwrights and play-goers by a.s.serting that in this impalpable land of souls we are guilty of encouraging the playhouse! But so it is; we cannot live on "honors;" the fame and glory which has been awarded to us by our fellow-men on earth is like chaff to us.

It was with hardly an emotion of surprise that I beheld theatres in the spirit land, though I have seen many who, having been fed on the false system of religion, and pampered on glittering imaginings, start back with alarm on beholding the magnificent buildings we have erected to the drama, thinking, that by some strange turning, they had entered through the wrong gate.

The drama with us is a source of both enjoyment and instruction. The history of past ages in the spirit world is enacted with thrilling interest, and each new spirit from earth has an opportunity thus to become acquainted with the transactions of the past in the land of spirits.

The gay and brilliant theatre of which I have been induced to take the management, is original in its structure, and of a light and beautiful style of architecture. The balconies are suspended and movable. Outside the building, and overlooking a placid sheet of water, are galleries connected with and corresponding to those within, where persons who desire may pa.s.s out during intermission, and regale themselves with the fresh fruit and the fine prospect.

The part.i.tions are constructed of light frames with ornamented pillars, covered with a fabric resembling parchment. As the climate is warm, the part.i.tions on the outside of the gallery are merely trellis-screens, and the whole building is open in structure and perfectly ventilated.