Does this teach no lesson on the resurrection of the dead?  Of the ‘blown away part’ which decays in a few days or weeks?—­of the ‘Radia’ or ‘Radiance’ of the Soul, rising in strength again at the same rate that the other, the Body, or ’grown portion of the activity,’ decays?  Of the ‘new form of matter’ and the ’radio-activity as a concomitant of the change of form’?  Does not Science here almost unwittingly verify the words of St. Paul:—­“It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.  There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body”?  There is nothing impossible or ‘miraculous’ in such a consummation, even according to modern material science,—­it is merely the natural action of pure radio-activity or that etherical composition for which we have no name, but which we have vaguely called the soul for countless ages.

To multitudes of people this expression ‘the Soul’ has become overfamiliar by constant repetition, and conveys little more than the suggestion of a myth, or the hint of an Imaginary Existence.  Now there is nothing in the whole Universe so real as the Vital Germ of the actual Form and Being of the living, radiant, active Creature within each one of us,—­the creature who, impressed and guided by our Free Will, works out its own delight or doom.  The will of each man or woman is like the compass of a ship,—­where it points, the ship goes.  If the needle directs it to the rocks, there is wreck and disaster,—­if to the open sea, there is clear sailing.  God leaves the will of man at perfect liberty.  His Divine Love neither constrains nor compels.  We must Ourselves learn the ways of Right and Wrong, and having learned, we must choose.  We must injure Ourselves.  God will not injure us.  We invite our own miseries.  God does not send them.  The evils and sorrows that afflict mankind are of mankind’s own making.  Even in natural catastrophes, which ruin cities and devastate countries, it is well to remember that Nature, which is the material expression of the mind of God, will not tolerate too long a burden of human iniquity.  Nature destroys what is putrescent; she covers it up with fresh earth on which healthier things may find place to grow.

I tried to convey some hint of these truths in my “Romance of Two Worlds.”  Some few gave heed,—­others wrote to me from all parts of the world concerning what they called my ‘views’ on the subjects treated of,—­some asked to be ‘initiated’ into my ‘experience’ of the Unseen,—­but many of my correspondents (I say it with regret) were moved by purely selfish considerations for their own private and particular advancement, and showed, by the very tone of their letters, not only an astounding hypocrisy, but also the good opinion they entertained of their own worthiness, their own capabilities, and their own great intellectuality, forgetful of the words:—­ “Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”