d by
and waited for the newcomer, he drifts to his own surprise through all
solid obstacles and out upon his new life.

This is a definite statement, and this is the story told by one after
the other with a consistency which impels belief. It is already very
different from any old theology. The Spirit is not a glorified angel
or goblin damned, but it is simply the person himself, containing all
his strength and weakness, his wisdom and his folly, exactly as he has
retained his personal appearance. We can well believe that the most
frivolous and foolish would be awed into decency by so tremendous an
experience, but impressions soon become blunted, the old nature may
soon reassert itself in new surroundings, and the frivolous still
survive, as our seance rooms can testify.

And now, before entering upon his new life, the new Spirit has a period
of sleep which varies in its length, sometimes hardly existing at all,
at others extending for weeks or months. Raymond said that his lasted
for six days. That was the period also in a case of which I had some
personal evidence. Mr. Myers, on the other hand, said that he had a
very prolonged period of unconsciousness. I could imagine that the
length is regulated by the amount of trouble or mental preoccupation of
this life, the longer rest giving the better means of wiping this out.
Probably the little child would need no such interval at all. This, of
course, is pure speculation, but there is a considerable consensus of
opinion as to the existence of a period of oblivion after the first
impression of the new life and before entering upon its duties.

Having wakened from this sleep, the spirit is weak, as the child is
weak after earth birth. Soon, however, strength returns and the new
life begins. This leads us to the consideration of heaven and hell.
Hell, I may say, drops out altogether, as it has long dropped out of
the thoughts of every reasonable man. This odious conception, so
blasphemous in its view of the Creator, arose from the exaggerations of
Oriental phrases, and may perhaps have been of service in a coarse age
where men were frightened by fires, as wild beasts are seared by the
travellers. Hell as a permanent place does not exist. But the idea of
punishment, of purifying chastisement, in fact of Purgatory, is
justified by the reports from the other side. Without such punishment
there could be no justice in the Universe, for how impossible it would
be t