502. “Our spheres are types of yours; but we do not have to provide for the casket which contains the spiritual jewel.”
SPIRITUAL BIRTH OF MARIA.
503. If the reader will turn to my narrative, 192 to 200, he will learn under what circumstances I became acquainted with Maria, the being of whose spiritual birth it will, in the next place, be my object to give her own account.
504. My acquaintance with this truly angelic creature has awakened in me lively friendship and esteem. These sentiments have been induced by her devotion to her parents, her affectionate recollection of her children, and gracious demeanour to others.
The Spirit Maria’s Narrative, as given through the Mediumship of Mrs. M. B. Gourlay.
505. Dear Father: I promised to give you an account of my entrance into, and life in the spheres. As I said to you on a former occasion, I felt like one just awaking from a deep sleep induced by the deadening influence of an opiate. It was some time before I could collect my scattered senses. On partially regaining my consciousness, I recollected having been sick, and the anxiety of my friends for my restoration to health; and I wondered at the sudden change in my feelings. Those racking pains I experienced had all fled, and I felt a newness of life which was truly delightful. Indistinct and shadowy forms flitted before me. On closely inspecting them, I perceived that they were my departed friends. It was then that I fully realized the change in my condition. My first and greatest concern was for those who seemed so inconsolable at my loss, and for whom I still entertained the most devoted love and affection. My vision becoming gradually clearer, I perceived, among the group, my brother William ready to receive me. He was clothed in a garment of living light, and closely resembles you, dear father, in form and features. He addressed me in the following language:—“Welcome, thrice welcome, my beloved sister, to the regions of immortality! I have been your guardian angel through life, and have looked forward with pleasure to this happy reunion.” I was now informed by him that I must leave my treasures on earth. This gave me some uneasiness, but being assured that I should visit them again, I cheerfully accompanied him in his upward flight.
506. Surprise and delight pervaded my existence when I beheld those friends bound to me by the ties of consanguinity ready to receive me and fold me to their hearts.
507. Gliding swiftly upward, on gaining an elevation of some sixty miles from the earth’s surface, we passed into the second sphere;[15] on entering which a tremor seized me. A moral darkness pervades the atmosphere, which renders it gloomy and uncomfortable in the extreme. The inhabitants are dark and dismal in their appearance, and are continually tortured with the pangs of a guilty conscience. Here disorder and confusion reign supreme, each spirit vieing with the other in rendering discord more discordant. We passed on rapidly, leaving the second sphere and its undeveloped inhabitants behind.
508. On approaching the third sphere, we were met by a company of angels from the seventh sphere, among whom I recognised my brothers who died in infancy. They had attained the stature of men. I now felt that law of affinity which binds us so closely together, drawing me toward them, and I was enabled at once to single them out from the multitude which accompanied them. With smiles they greeted me, saying, “Welcome, dear sister; another link is added to the chain of love which binds us together. One by one they shall be removed from earth till the chain is completed here.”