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The Spirit World, It's
Inhabitants, Nature and Philosophy by Eugene Crowell M.D. 1879
SPIRITS IN RELATION TO ANIMALS.
Spirits in Relation to Animals. Do
they Interest Themselves in our Business Affairs? There is Room in
God's Universe for All.
Spirits are
capable of influencing certain animals in their feelings and movements.
We know that with us animals are sometimes psychologized, or mesmerized
by persons highly endowed with mesmeric power, and to one who believes
in the power of spirits to influence mortals there should be no
difficulty in believing that they are, at least sometimes, capable of
influencing animals. In the Bible instances are recorded of the exercise
of this power by spirits, as in 1 Kings xvii. 6, where the ravens brought
Elijah bread and flesh; in
Dan. vii. 22, where the angel, or spirit, shut the lion's mouth, and in Mark v. 13, where the unclean, or low spirits, influenced
the swine to rush into the
sea.
Also
certain domestic animals are capable, at least at times, of perceiving
spirits, and as spirits in
their natural state can only be perceived by spiritual vision these
animals must be endowed with spiritual organs of vision, and if with
these, doubtless with other spiritual senses, and consequently with
spiritual organisms. Thus, animals should possess spiritual bodies, and
my instructors have no doubt of the fact, but as stated in another part
of this work, they deny to the spirits of animals continued existence,
these perishing with their material bodies. Horses, dogs, and cats,
possess the faculty of discerning spirits, under certain circumstances,
and sometimes Indian spirits, and others, amuse themselves by mounting
horses when grazing in the open field, and by violent gestures impelling
them to their utmost speed, and to strange, and sometimes frantic
movements and efforts to dismount their ghostly riders, who are visible
to them alone. I am also informed that sometimes, when vicious and
revengeful spirits entertain grudges against certain persons, they will
seize opportunities when the latter are riding, or driving, to suddenly
appear before their animals, perhaps at dangerous points on the roads,
and by violent gestures frighten them so that mischief may ensue. Idle
and frolicsome spirits frequently amuse themselves with dogs and cats,
availing themselves of the animals' inability to distinguish between
them and mortals to bewilder and deceive them, and ill-disposed spirits
sometimes succeed in inciting dogs to attack certain persons whom they
dislike. A notable instance of clairvoyant vision in an animal is
recorded in Numb. xxii. 23 to 27.
DO SPIRITS INTEREST
THEMSELVES IN OUR BUSINESS AFFAIRS?
The question is sometimes asked; Do spirits interest themselves in the
business affairs of this life? Some of them do, but a person who
receives advice or information in respect to business matters from them
should be guided by it only
when his own judgment, or knowledge confirms it. There have been instances, well attested,
certain of them within my own experience, in which worldly advantage has
accrued from information and advice given by spirits, but, as a rule, it
is much safer to rely alone upon one's own judgment and exertions. If
we have a relative, or dear
friend in spirit-life, who, when here was actively engaged in business
pursuits, and who possessed an indisputable capacity for them, and if
through a reliable medium we can readily enter into communication with
him, and should find him still interested in worldly affairs, and
especially in our own, it may be well if counsel is needed to consult
him, always subjecting his information or advice to the crucible of our
reason, and adopting or rejecting it accordingly, precisely as we would
if it were received from an earthly friend. Persons who are so credulous
as to rely solely upon spirit direction in their earthly affairs, almost
invariably suffer for their folly in failing to exercise and be guided
by their own reason, and for attempting to evade their own
responsibility by transferring it to invisible, and most frequently,
irresponsible shoulders. It is the mission of our unseen friends, as far as they
are able, to assist, protect, and guide us in the right, not to assume
and perform our duties for us; these we alone must discharge, or Suffer
the consequences.
Spirits who
have left property to their heirs are often present at its distribution,
and many times, when it carries no blessing with it, they are gratified
to see it wasted, and sometimes are successful in their efforts to
scatter the wealth in the pursuit of which they had sacrificed their
earthly health, comfort, time, and possibly honor.
THERE IS ROOM IN GOD'S
UNIVERSE FOR ALL.
Where
can the departed spirits of the countless ages of the past, together
with the myriads of yet uncreated spirits, find space in which to exist?
This
is a problem which presents itself to the minds of many thoughtful
persons who believe in the
eternal existence of the soul, and at the first view it seems difficult to
satisfactorily solve it, but when we call figures to our assistance it
will be found that much of if
not all the difficulty disappears.
Thus, a square
of fifteen miles contains 225 square miles. Multiply 5,280, the number
of feet in a lineal mile, by itself, and the product is 27,878,400, being the number of
square feet in a square mile. Multiply this number by 225 and we have
6,272,640,000, being the Dumber of square feet in the square of fifteen miles,
and dividing this sum by 1,400,000,000, the present estimated population of
our globe, and we have, (within a fraction,) 41 square feet for each
person. If the present site of London, with its 700 square miles, were
an open plane it would suffice to furnish comfortable standing room for
three times the present population of the earth.
The entire
surface of our globe comprises about 197,000,000, square miles. Of
these, about 54,000,000, are land, and allowing 4 1/2 square feet for each person 331,540,800,000,000,
individuals could find standing room upon its surface, this being 238,957
times the present population of the earth. Assuming thirty-three years
as the term of life of a generation, and that the population of the
earth has always been the same as now, all the people who have existed
upon it for 7,885,581 years could, if now living, find standing room on
the dry land of our globe, but as the population anterior to one thousand years ago,
probably, was not one-half its present number we may properly double the
above number of years, making it 15,771,162.
If
the entire surface of our globe were dry land it would furnish 871,753,
times the present population
with standing room, or all the human beings that have existed upon it
for 28,767,849 years. This presumes that at no time were there a less
number of people existing on the earth than at present.
The foregoing calculations will serve
the purpose of Showing the vast numbers of persons who can find standing
room on a comparatively
limited surface, and a calculation of the Dumber of cubic miles
contained in a sphere equal in diameter to that of the orbit of the
moon, or space included in a radius of 240,000 miles from the earth in
every direction, will show what myriads of souls could find ample room
therein to exist.
In
this space there are 57,905,971,200,000,000 cubic miles. This number
divided by 1,400,000,000, the
present population of the earth, gives 41,361,405 cubic miles to each
person, and is equal to one cubic mile for every human being who has
existed on our globe for 1,364,926,464 years, estimating the average number of its
inhabitants the same as at present.
This estimate,
as just said, is only of the space included in a radius of 240,000 miles
from the earth in every direction. A railway train starting from our
earth and travelling in a direct line, night and day, at the rate of
fifty miles an hour, would traverse the radius of this space and reach
the moon in less than seven
months, while travelling at the same rate of speed it would require more than two
hundred years to reach the sun.
To fully
realize the vastness of the space described by the orbit of the moon,
and the myriads of human souls it is capable of containing, with ample
room for all, is beyond the capacity of most minds, and to even
approximately realize the immensity of the space of which the sun is the
centre, and the earth a point
in the circumference, not to mention the entire space of the solar system, is an impossibility to any finite mind. Yet,
inconceivable as the dimensions of this space are they dwindle into
insignificance when compared
with the immensity, to us infinity, of space represented by the distance
from our speck of earth of the
nearest fixed star, Alpha Centauri, which the supposititious railway
train running at its speed of fifty miles an hour would not reach in
less than 42,000,000 years.
And yet this star, as just said, is the nearest to our earth of the
fixed stars.
It
is thus seen that while vast multitudes of human beings may be
represented by figures in a greater or less degree apprehensible by our
understanding, the immensity of even a comparatively limited space, like
that of the orbit of the moon, is inconceivable, the figures
representing it bearing to our minds Comparatively little relation to
its vast dimensions.
The description of the heavens, and
their inhabitants, contained in this work, is but partial and
fragmentary, for while a comparatively few things are described the far
greater number remain unnoticed. The things described compare with those
unnoticed, and yet unknown, as the recorded observations of a traveller
on a railway compare with a comprehensive history of the country, in
which its varied features and the characteristics of its inhabitants are
accurately noted. It remains for other explorers of this partially
comprehended, and invisible realm, to add to this description, and each
successive future generation will learn new and important truths, and better
comprehend their philosophy.
This is the
child-life of the spirit, and this world the primary school of the race,
in which we are taught, principally, by observation and experience. None
truly become men and women until they are developed in spirit-life. The
oldest and wisest of us are only approaching real man and womanhood. Who, among us, can truly say he has
passed the period when he can be "pleased with a rattle, and tickled
with a straw."
Man,
while in the flesh is bound to the earth, and the creeping thing may
call him brother, but when his
immortal spirit becomes liberated from the tenement of clay he enters on
a new and glorious existence, soars in boundless freedom through realms
of celestial beauty and brightness, drinks in wisdom and knowledge with
every breath, while every movement, every thought, every aspiration, is
tributary to his happiness, and he is amazed that he ever could have
been so blind, so groveling, as to seek his highest gratification in
things of sense. The spirit-world is peopled by men and women who here
lived, enjoyed, suffered, and died as we are now doing, or destined to do,
who resembled us in all respects, and whatever possibilities have been or
are yet to be realized by them in their present existence, will be
realized by us when we have followed them to that world. Every lofty
aspiration, every noble thought, every rational hope will there be
realized, and every prophecy of the soul will there find its fulfillment. No conception of
the poet's mind ever equaled in sublimity and grandeur the reality of that life, in its highest estate, and no
oriental ecstatic in his wildest flights of fancy ever dreamed of such
beauty and perfection as
characterize the higher heavens.
Hope on, O
weary heart, heaven's glory shines,
Earth fades, and soon we shall
rejoice together; Night hastes, and death its drowsy wreath entwines; into our realm from earth's Decembral
weather We bid you welcome. Gently as drops the feather From the swan's breast, your dust, ye weary hearted, Shall from you fall, and none shall
ask you whether Ye feared or hoped; each rankling wound that smarted
Shall pain no more, for
peace dwells with the world's departed.
Crowned with rose-blooms, on thy my banks reposing, Sweet lovers wait
you; O one fond embrace, One
loving smile, from eyes their love disclosing, Shall compensate you for this mortal race, And every sorrow from the
heart erase. Love God in man, and thus on earth obtain The victor's
wreath; So, death shall not efface Aught from the soul save
disappointment's pain;
All shall be yours in heaven the
young heart hoped to gain.
—Harris. |
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