tervening state of unconsciousness or sleep of the souls is really figurative. When the day of judgment is described, the inhabitants of the world are spoken of as sheep and goats. We know that the souls passing through the judgment are not sheep and goats, therefore the same allegorical or figurative form which cannot be denied to one part of our Lord's parable must be extended to the rest. Indeed, St. Paul's expressions of 'in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,' seem meant to convey the idea that the change is not to be deferred for an indefinite time after death, but takes place at once. The trumpet' of the angel probably conveys the same truth as the bell' of the receiving spirit.

If further proof is wanted that the change is effected at once and at the time of death, we shall find it in the words of Christ, when He speaks of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who is not the God of the dead, but of the living,' implying that the Patriarchs so often quoted by the Jews are living and conscious beings.

It has also been my aim to show that the spiritual body, or the soul, being an organisation embodying all those forces whose deposit is the material form, issues from its shell carrying with it into the next state all the energies it possessed in this, unincumbered by the trammels of the flesh. That among the vital elements which in every shade and degree of refinement

exist in every human being, is the nervous force, or the agency used in mesmerism, and that all the spiritual manifestations are thereby produced; the spirits most nearly allied to matter acting most easily on matter and on gross outward natures, while those of a higher degree impress the finer and more internal portions of the brain, and through them the soul. In the chapter on Inspiration we must consider the highest action of the highest influence, that on the most internal spirit, by the Holy Spirit of God.

The power of imparting vital or magnetic influence possessed by spirits seems to be referred to by St. Paul, when he says, 'The second heavenly man is a lifegiving spirit.'

Many instances might have been brought together, showing how a healing influence like that of an earthly mesmerism has been often felt in illness, procuring rest and relieving pain. I have drawn so largely on my readers' capacity for belief even while confining myself to facts in illustration of the usual spiritual phenomena, that I will not go further; but if ancient tradition and modern spiritual communications are to be trusted, every spirit, in or out of the flesh, exercises an influence for good or evil, for health or disease, on those spirits whose qualities fit them to imbibe that influence. From the beings whose wretched lives and mischievous statements evince the depravity of their nature comes a hurtful and weakening magnetism,

while from the loving friend who, passed away, tries to pour gladness into the sorrowing soul by an assurance of his presence and happiness from higher and still higher sources, through angels and archangels, streams the heavenly life, even from the Sun of Righteousness about to rise with healing on His wings.

CHAPTER X.

DAYBREAK.

THE apparent recognition by the dying of those who

have gone before, is a common and notorious fact. So very numerous, indeed, are instances of this kind, that each reader will probably be able to recall to his own mind incidents more convincing and better adapted to support my other assertions than a large collection of accounts received from strangers. I will, therefore, only mention a very few instances in illustration of all that has been, and remains to be, said on the process of death and the entrance into another

state.

A very complete description of the feelings of a dying person is given in a letter from Admiral (then Captain) Beaufort, to Dr. Wollaston. This may be

found, extracted from the autobiography of Sir John Barrow, in Haddock's Somnolism and Psycheism, to which work I have before referred, and to which I am indebted for more than one interesting extract.

'Many years ago, when I was a youngster on board

one of His Majesty's ships in Portsmouth harbour, after sculling about in a very small boat, I was endeavouring to fasten her alongside the ship to one of the scuttlings; in foolish eagerness I stepped upon the gunwale; the boat of course upset, and I fell into the water, and, not knowing how to swim, all my efforts to lay hold either of the boat or the floating sculls were fruitless. The transaction had not been observed by the sentinel on the gangway, and, therefore, it was not till the tide had drifted me some distance astern of the ship that a man in the foretop saw me splashing in the water, and gave the alarm. The first lieutenant instantly and gallantly jumped overboard, the carpenter followed his example, and the gunner hastened into a boat and pulled after them.

'With the violent but vain attempts to make myself heard, I had swallowed much water. I was soon exnausted by my struggles; and, before any relief reached me, I had sunk below the surface-all hope had fled, all exertion ceased, and I felt that I was drowning. So far these facts were either partially remembered after my recovery, or supplied by those who had latterly witnessed the scene; for during an interval of such agitation a drowning person is too much occupied in catching at every passing straw, or too much absorbed by alternate hope and despair, to mark the succession of events very accurately. Not so, however, with the fact which immediately ensued. My mind had then

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