Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

MORAL INFLUENCE OP SPIRITUALISM. 13771G. Another, after having suggested to his in(|uiring brother somemeasures rchiting to his surviving wife's temporal concerns, spontaneouslyacUled the following words :" 1 am not hapci/." The inquiry being madefor the cause of his misery, the resulting reply was, "I did not do ritewhen I was in this world."717. Another admitted (hat he was drowned, in consequence of gettingdead drunk. On being asked if he were happy, he answered, "Damnedhappy." In reply to an inquiry whether he was sorry to have quittedthis life,he replied in the affirmative.718. Having evidently been a seaman, who had sailed under an officerwho was present, he had preserved the usual fondness of sailors for tobaccoand grog.This propensity he could not avoid displaying, notwithstandinghis having passed death's dread portal, and the obvious inutilityof expressing to mortals his craving for those pernicious stimulants.719. Thus it appears that in the spirit world one means of retributionfor the indulgence of bad propensities in this life, is subjugation to theirungratified cravings.is720. Of course, the more of these a spirit carries with him, the greaterhis misery; while the more he founds his happiness on the indulgence ofgood propensities, the greater his power and opportunities of enjoyment.721. As an illustration of the manner in which happiness may arisefrom the indulgence of good propensities, one of the enjoyments of a spiritof the fifth sphere is, as I am informed, in looking after children ofrelatives and friends, who have not as yet followed them to the spirit world.722. Believing in the existence of a spirit world, where there are thirtysixgrades of existence, corresponding to degrees of purity and intellectualacquirement,— purity alone giving exaltation merely, while cultivation ofmind secures breadth of consideration,—we have, in the first place, to adherestrictly to truth, honesty, justice, benevolence, and doing as we wouldbe done by, to reach a sphere higher in proportion as we are more successful.Yet, among those on the same plane, superiority in mental attributesgives precedence.723. Nothing is better known than " while precepts may lead, examplesdraw," and thatsubjection t^ bad examples, even when checked by goodprecepts, is generally irresistible by the young. But when there are noprecepts to check, but, on the contrary, ill counsel as well as bad example,few human beings, however well constituted organically^, could resistthe tendency of such educational evil.Let bad hereditary propensities besuperadded, and what can ensue but a climax of wickedness ?Manifestly,however, all this is independent of any choice on the part of the victim.A high degree of virtue may consistently be inferred to result if all theseconditions be inverted, and good precepts, good examples, co-operatve inimproving a mind of the oppositegoodness of heart and high intellectual capacity.kind, one which owes to its progenitors