The horror of such a fate!

Can anyone hear of it and not shudder to think what the bitter weariness and discontent of life and a reckless desire to be free of it at any cost may plunge the soul into.

If those on earth would be truly merciful to the suicide they would cremate his body―not bury it―that the soul may―by the speedy dispersal of the particles―be the sooner freed from such a prison.

The soul of a suicide is not ready to leave the body―

It is like an unripe fruit and does not fall readily from the material tree, which is nourishing it.

A great shock has cast it forth, but it still remains attached until the sustaining link should wither away.

―Spirit Franchezzo

I am the Truth.

Spirit Franchezzo is speculating what his next adventure will be when a couple of spirit-lives hurry to him.  

They ask if he is not a member of the Brotherhood of Hope since―if so―they have a message for him from a dearly loved friend on earth, and one of his guides has sent them to deliver it.  

At first, Spirit Franchezzo was very pleased as he thought it was his darling, and that they were sent from her, since they did not have the appearance of most of the dark spirits around. 

Their robes shone with a peculiar blue grey light that was almost like a mist clothing them and Spirit Franchezzo had some trouble to make out their faces.  

When he did so, he could not help starting, and a feeling of distrust crept over him, for the flickering veil of grey blue gauze that interposed between them became so thin that he could see a couple of most repulsive dark spirits under it. 

Faithful Friend quietly pressed his arm as a warning. 

Spirit Franchezzo addressed them with caution and asked what was their message.

In the name of the Prophet, began one, we are to tell you that your love is very ill and prays that you return to earth to see her without delay, lest her spirit will have passed before you arrive to the realms where you cannot follow her.  

We are to show you the way to reach her quickly.

How long, he asked eagerly, is it since you left her?

Not two days, was the reply, and we are to bring you immediately. 

Your Eastern guide is with her and has sent us specially.

Then Spirit Franchezzo knew they were lying, for his Eastern guide had just left them and he had said no word of his beloved being ill.  

But he temporised with them, and said―

Give me the secret sign of our brotherhood since unless you do so, I am unable to go with you.

The veil of gauzy mist was fast fading from them and he could see their dark forms growing more distinct beneath.  

Spirit Franchezzo did not, however, show them that he saw this. 

They did not answer immediately, but were whispering to each other. 

Spirit Franchezzo continued―

If our guide has sent you, you will surely give me the countersign of our order?

Surely yes. Certainly I can. Here it is―Hope is Eternal―and he smiled with an air of great frankness.

Good, said Spirit Franchezzo, go on―finish it.

Finish it! Is there more you want? and he stood puzzled.

The other nudged him and whispered something―

Hope is Eternal and Truth is ―and Truth is―ha―hum―what, amico?

Inevitable, said the other.

Spirit Franchezzo smiled most blandly on them both―

You are so clever, friends―no doubt you can now give me the symbol?

Symbol? Diavolo! There was no symbol we were to give.

Was there not?  said Spirit Franchezzo.  

Then I must be the one to give it to you.

They both raised their arms to make a grab at him. 

Spirit Franchezzo saw one had a withered hand and he knew directly to whom he was indebted for this little plot. 

As they rush at him, he stepped back and made the sign of the sacred symbol of Truth in all ages and all worlds.

At this they cowered down on the ground as though he had struck them and rendered them unconscious. 

They left them there to ruminate at their leisure.

Spirit Franchezzo asked Faithful Friend as they moved away what he thought they would do now.

In a short time, he said, they will recover.  

You have given them a shock, and for the moment stunned them, but they will be up after us again before long with some fresh devilment they will have hatched.  

If you had gone with them they would have led you into the morass beyond and left you to wander about half-choked if they did you no more serious harm. 

You must always remember that they have great power in their own sphere if you give yourself up to their guidance in any sense.

What, amico?

Hope is Eternal and Truth is―and Truth is―ha―hum―what, amico?

You can win.

Dear Sir

The deadly foe is on our own shores as well as abroad. 

This country in its drastic action will have to strike the enemy with a double-edged sword, for the common foe is here as well as abroad. 

The struggle looks like an extended one as to time, but victory comes at the price of vigilance. 

 We can win.

—Truly, A. Lincoln

What also has treasures for you?

You have not taken the last redoubt of electricity.

That also has treasures for you. 

When you can draw that from the air where it hides from you and laughs, you will have little need of coal, and the miners can leave the bowels of the earth and play in the sunshine of the heights.

―The Judge [Last Letters from a Living Dead Man]

What attests positively?

No two souls can tell precisely the same story, but on one point individual experience after the dissolution of the body attests positively that you are an immortal being.

Quoting God

I choose to re-create myself anew in every single moment. 

I choose to experience the grandest version of the greatest vision ever I had about who I am. 

I have created you, so that you might re-create me. 

This is your holy work. 

This is your greatest joy. 

This is your very reason for being.

Neale Donald Walsh, Conversations with God, Book 3, An Uncommon Dialogue, Chapter 15, page 258, Hodder & Stoughton, 1998

What is the keynote of power?

The joy of the struggle! 

That is the keynote of immortality―the keynote of power. 

Let this be my final message to the world. 

Tell them to enjoy their struggles―to thrill at the endless possibilities of combination and creation―to live in the moment while preparing for long hence, and not to exaggerate the importance of momentary failures and disappointments.

―The Judge

What is always found in the inner world of the soul?

It is a rosy world that inner world of the soul, and the heart’s desire is always found there.

―The Judge

What is the forgiveness of sin?

There is no forgiveness of sin either in this world―or the next. 

There is no forgiveness. 

If you sin against the law of your own reason, there is no forgiveness until you have paid the uttermost farthing for your wrongdoing.

What become intensified in the spiritual condition?

Thought and desire become intensified in the spiritual condition.

What is one of the sweetest proofs you have?

One of the sweetest proofs you have of the Father’s loving care for you is that you so often find in the next life the things, which gave you great happiness below. 

The more unexpected this is, the greater joy it brings.

A story is recounted when once seeing a beautiful little girl enter heaven, the very first to come of a large and affectionate family, the sorrowful cry of her mother was—

If only we had someone there to meet her—to care for her!

She came, lovingly nestled in the Master’s own arms, and as He sat, still caressing and talking to her, a remarkably fine Angora kitten of which the child had been very fond, and which had sickened and died some weeks before to her great sorrow, came running across the grass and sprang directly into her arms, where it lay contentedly. 

Such a glad cry, as she recognised her little favourite, such a hugging and kissing, as that kitten received, made joy even in heaven! 

Who, but our loving Father, would have thought of such comfort for a little child?

Suffice it to say that no joy you know on earth—however rare, however sacred—can be more than the faintest shadow of the joy you find here—no dreams of rapture here unrealised approach the bliss of one moment even in this divine world. 

No sorrow—no pain—no sickness—no death—no partings—no disappointments—no tears, but those of joy—no broken hopes—no mislaid plans—no night—nor storm—nor shadows even, but light and joy and love and peace and rest, forever and forever.

What constitutes the soul's individuality?

The individuality of each soul-germ is indestructible―it is a minute unit in the vast ocean of soul-life, but it is still a distinct unit with its own personality―or ego. 

It is this very individuality, which constitutes its immortality, for it is impossible to disperse―or destroy the soul. 

Imagine a body so light that the most etherealised vapour is heavy beside it―a body possessing such power of cohesion that it is utterly impossible to disintegrate its particles and the less it is bound by any element―its power of resistance against all material―or spiritual forms of matter is equal to that which a bar of steel offers to a cloud of vapour.

Imagine this and you will realise how it is that a spirit can pass with ease through solid doors and walls of earthly matter. 

It is not the soul essence, but its dense envelope, which imprisons the spirit on earth―or in the spheres. 

The walls of earthly houses offer no impediment to free ingress―or egress to the spirit, and it passes through them as easily as your earthly body passes through fog. 

Moreover, no vacuum is left to show your passage through it because its elements are attracted together again too quickly for you to perceive their dispersion. 

This is what happens when a spirit passes through a material door―or wall.

Immortality suggests a home.

The spiritual body also requires space to occupy and rest, creating the necessity for a home.