You ask any dozen individuals a question similar to that which people are accustomed to ask the spirits, (assuming that all spirits know everything,) and these dozen people will answer you in a dozen different ways, and you do not necessarily think they have told you a falsehood if they are mistaken.

Spirits are limited to their own intelligence in the answering of questions. If you go to your father, and say: "Father, shall I be successful in this business enterprise?" He says: "Well, my son, I don't know, but I think so and so." Now, that thought may not be a falsehood, because it is the expression of his conviction, while he is very liable to be mistaken. You frequently meet people in daily life who will tell you positively that such and such will be the result of your venture, so positive is their conviction of it, yet they are mistaken. Spirits are liable to be mistaken, but are liable to be honest in their mistake. But it does not place them in the catalogue of falsifiers. If spirits who are accustomed to tell untruths pass into spirit life and return again, probably the same thought or the same condition would be expressed for the purpose of acquainting- you with the fact that they take their own condition with them. But such spirits are not liable to be your guides, and are only permitted to come and illustrate the condition in which they themselves exist. Perhaps, also, you may be a source of benefit to them; by their coming in contact with earthly states that are above them, spiritually, they break the chain of darkness and struggle toward the light. We do not know a single Spiritualist who has not had this experience. Some unfortunate spirit has come to them, revealing, perhaps, vileness or profanity, or degradation of every kind, and at last has thanked the Spiritualist for allowing them to come, since it has helped them.

Surely there is nothing to fear in this, for if you are truthful no falsehood of the spirit can affect you; and if you are wise enough not to be guided in material affairs by those who are in spiritual states who are not appointed as your guides, you will avoid many of the difficulties into which Spiritualists plunge; for straightway when the knowledge of spiritual life comes to man, instead of seeking it for spiritual unfold-rnent and benefit, the almost universal inquiry is, " How can we utilize this to become wealthy?" and the almost universal result of failure to do so, proves the triumph of spiritual conditions over mortal. For if you could summon the spirit world to do your work for you, or to aid you in those enter-prises which border, at least, upon injury to your fellow-men, the spiritual quality of your association with the spirit world would be such that you could by no means rely upon that which would come to you under those circumstances. Seek the knowledge of the spiritual part, and wisdom and love flow in upon you proportionally; but seek it in material ways, and it must still be on the border of the shadow-land, for as yet the commercial transactions of the earth are not in strict keeping with the Golden Rule, and until they are, you could not invoke your sainted mother to aid you in cheating your neighbors.

This is the realm, therefore, which so many fear and yet has no potency in spirit life; this shadow which so many dread, yet which is powerless, is only potent, aggressive and powerful in this world; the fear and dread and immorality that lurks in your own natures, are made positive by your relationship to material life, and that which is within you must he your greatest foe; not that which is without you. To conquer this evil one must conquer pride, and selfishness, and appetites of one's own; to overcome this, one must overcome all within one's self that makes shadowy the life which is theirs. There is no foe to fight outside of that condition, and in the realm of the spirit there is freedom, and love, and joy to those who have vanquished not only the state of fear, but the state of selfishness.

We have said thus much concerning the spiritual states near the earth, because we perceive the tendency to a sort of dogma that must impinge upon man's moral nature. There is no positiveness in this; the spiritual thought hinges upon the goodness of God, and the purity of the soul of man, and the power of goodness to conquer evil. Without this you are at sea. We, therefore, caution you against placing any image up to worship or to fear that will stand between you and the clear, pure light of affection in your own souls.

One little child who has passed from your fireside to the world of spirits is more potent to influence your lives than all the demons that have passed from earth. One sainted friend, wife, husband, sister, mother, or father, to whom the ties of affection still bind you in thought and feeling, has more force and influence of a positive kind to govern your lives than all the imps of Hades; for by the law of love their positive interest in you overcomes the shadows, and they cannot enter or come near. Just as in the midst of violence we have known a child to quell the tempest of human passion, so in the midst of your shadows, and sorrows, and cares of earth, the presence of those sweet children gives a halo of light around you. To love those who are your guardians, to call upon those who are your counsellors and friends in spirit life, is in the finite sense what the infinite is to the whole universe - a light, and radiance, and splendor, vocal with immortal songs and praises No one need fear in passing out into the darkness of the world if sheltered around with these guarding lights; none need fear, if trusting the higher powers, that they will forsake. It is only the half-trusting, only the fearful, only those that are in the shadow of darkness, whom misfortune overtakes in that direction.

The whole Soul trusts the whole Love of the Universe, and the spiritual affection trusts the affection that is just beyond, knowing in its light, guidance, and wisdom, and power, that all spiritual needs will be answered and all hearts uplifted. But for this you might well turn a listening ear to the cry of the theologian, who says: "Why, there are millions of evil spirits let loose upon humanity, and drawing them down to darkness." I beg pardon, Mr. Theologian; there are thousands of millions of good spirits also let loose, and the power of good, I know, is greater than the power of evil, and man can trust it.