Dreams and visions attended and guided them, more or less, in their whole ministry and sojourn on the earth.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE WORLD OF SPIRITS.
Ye worlds of light and life, beyond our sphere;
Mysterious country! let your light appear.
Ye angels, lift the vail, the truth unfold,
And give our Seers a glimpse of that bright world;
Tell where ye live, and what are your employ,
Your present blessing, and your future joy.
Say, have you learn'd the name, and tun'd the lyre,
And hymn'd the praise of him—the great Messiah?
Have love's emotions kindl'd in your breast,
And hope enraptur'd seiz'd the promis'd rest?
Or wait ye still the resurrection day,
That higher promise of Millennial sway?
When Saints and angels come to earth again,
And in the Mesh with King Messiah reign?
The spirits answer'd as they soar'd away—
"We're happy now, but wait a greater day,
When sin and death, and hell, shall conquer'd be,
And earth, with heaven, enjoy the victory."
The spirit of man consists of an organization, or embodiment of the elements of spiritual matter, in the likeness and after the pattern of the fleshly tabernacle. It possesses, in fact, all the organs and parts exactly corresponding to the outward tabernacle.
The entrance of this spirit into its embryo tabernacle of flesh, is called quickening. The infallible evidence of its presence is voluntary motion, which implies a degree of independent agency, or inherent will, which individual identity alone possesses.
When this spirit departs, the outward tabernacle is said to be dead, that is, the individual who quickened and imparted voluntary motion to the said tabernacle is no longer there. This individual, on departing from its earthly house, repasses the dark vale of forgetfulness, and awakes in the spirit world.
The spirit world is not the heaven where Jesus Christ, his Father, and other beings dwell, who have, by resurrection or translation, ascended to eternal mansions, and been crowned and seated on thrones of power; but it is an intermediate state, a probation, a place of preparation, improvement, instruction, or education, where spirits are chastened and improved, and where, if found worthy, they may be taught a knowledge of the Gospel. In short, it is a place where the Gospel is preached, and where faith, repentance, hope and charity may be exercised; a place of waiting for the resurrection or redemption of the body; while, to those who deserve it, it is a place of punishment, a purgatory or hell, where spirits are buffetted till the day of redemption.
As to its location, it is here on the very planet where we were born; or, in other words, the earth and other planets of a like sphere, have their inward or spiritual spheres, as well as their outward, or temporal. The one is peopled by temporal tabernacles, and the other by spirits. A vail is drawn between the one sphere and the other, whereby all the objects in the spiritual sphere are rendered invisible to those in the temporal.
To discern beings or things in the spirit world, a person in the flesh must be quickened by spiritual element, the vail must be withdrawn, or the organs of sight, or of hearing, must be transformed, so as to be adapted to the spiritual sphere. This state is called vision, trance, second sight, clairvoyance, &c.