reason; things are so
different from former ideas."--_Id., p. 111._

Spirits are not allowed to tell too much about their condition, as the
following question and answer show:--

"_Ques._--Can't you tell us what makes it pleasanter,--describe so
we can understand?

"_Ans._--You'll find out as I did--_'gainst the rules here to
tell_.... Just be patient--it's all easy enough when you learn how.
I was puzzled, but it all seems straight enough now."--_Id., p.
115._

They teach the pre-existence of souls, and the old pagan doctrines of the
reincarnation of souls, and the final absorption of all into Nirvana. A
spirit having answered that all had been asserted in some other form,
questions and answers followed from which we quote:--

"_Q._--Is that statement an intimation of the truth of
reincarnation?

"_A._--Souls of all who have preceded you are centered in you in
spite of your childish protests. Ask not of those predecessors;
for they yet live in you, and you in them.... Long ago you and I
went over the ground under eminent names.... Were not we together
when Socrates and Aspasia talked?"--_Id., pp. 151, 152._

"_Q._--Can you tell us, at least, whether spirit, as a whole or in
its individual atoms, exists eternally?

"_A._--Yes; spirit as a whole is eternal--exists--did exist--by force
of Powers you cannot understand. But you as individual,
self-conscious, atomistic particles of spirit wholeness, are not
eternal, and must return to the Primal Source."--_Id., p. 133._

Spirits Cannot Be Identified.

Having now sufficiently examined the teaching of the spirits, a final
question arises in regard to them, whether it is possible to identify
them, and determine with any absolute certainty whether they are the
spirits of the particular individuals they claim to be, or even spirits of
the dead at all, or not. It should be distinctly borne in mind, always,
that evil angels, whose existence has been proved from the Bible, whose
nature and delight is to deceive, can walk the earth unseen, imitate and
personate any individual, and reveal their characteristics of thought,
writing, acts, form, and features, and make so perfect a counterfeit as to
defy detection. How, then, can it be told what spirit it is, even though
it shows the face and features of some well-known friend? On this topic,
as on preceding questions, Spir