E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me.”
MY HOME; ITS LIFE AND ASSOCIATIONS.
The home I inhabit in the Celestial Sphere would appear to mortals as a large, spacious, white mansion, surrounded by porticoes, verandas, and the like, the doorways opening upon a scene of surpassing loveliness; for there Nature wears her richest robes to beautify external life.
The interior of this habitation you would observe to be divided into various apartments, each furnished with appropriate furniture and hangings, the whole designed to harmonize in a perfect blending of form, color, and texture, pleasing to the eye and restful to every sense of the beholder.
We have private apartments of our own, where, when in need of mental repose, silent study, or deep meditation, the spirit may retire, apart from all companionship save that which breathes through every breadth of space—the presence of its God.
There are times in every life when it is best to be alone, when the spirit requires silent, undisturbed self-communion, when outward presence is an intrusion upon the soul; and at such times we are privileged to retire to our own private sanctum, unquestioned and not misunderstood by others.
In my pleasant spirit home there is a quiet nook, where I love to retire and ponder over the great problems of life constantly unfolding themselves before me; and there, surrounded by the beautiful in nature and art, natural flowers climbing over marble statuary, singing birds making music beneath some exquisite painting, I strive to unravel the seeming mysteries of existence; and not in vain, for to the earnest seeker after truth there comes a flood of light, illuminating the dark places and answering all silent questioning.
But my home contains apartments where sociability reigns, and there a happy band of spirits daily congregate to amuse, instruct, and bless each other; there, social converse, mingling with the recital of some experience, lesson, or advice, pleasant faces and loving hearts, fill the place with that harmony and peace only to be found where spirit meets spirit in sympathy and appreciative kindness. Eight of us, all young souls, meet together hour after hour, bringing each one his or her store of acquired knowledge, or displaying his or her ignorance upon any theme, only to have it dissipated by some new truth revealed to our understandings by others. We are never unhappy, never restless, never idle. In earthly experience others are far younger than myself; but in spiritual love and life I am the youngest of them all, and it refreshes my soul to partake of what those I love have to offer in the way of acquired knowledge.
This is a sample of group-home-life in the spirit world; a band of loving, earnest spirits, whose highest ambition is to become great in knowledge, that they may understand the laws of life, and thereby be able to avoid mistakes, and competent to transmit a light and knowledge of life to poor, darkened, misguided souls, who moil in sorrow and pain. The members of these groups or bands are guarded and protected, instructed and upheld, by wisdom spirits, who, having dwelt in mortal until the physical ripened naturally for the change, passed on to enjoy the fruits of their experience, and, having dwelt long in the spiritual, are competent to guide and instruct these young souls bound to their own by the ties of soul-affinity, as well as those of consanguinity, yet confined by no arbitrary laws that chain and restrain the higher emotions; thus our lives flow smoothly on, and each moment of existence brings us some new lesson, or some new opportunity of being of use to some one of the many spirits who walk the paths of sin or suffering.