eption and knowledge to another in
regular gradation, to the climax of its revelation.

Reader, did you ever come suddenly from a darkened room into the full
blaze of noonday? In such a case the eye is dazzled, blinded for a
moment, and must gradually accommodate itself to the unaccustomed light
before its gaze can be clear and steady. So, too, the ear long shut up
in profound silence is deafened by an ordinary sound. Even so the soul,
suddenly entering upon the unaccustomed and stupendous sights and sounds
of the spiritual world, would be blinded, dazzled, as I have said, to
annihilation. It is necessary that its newly awakened faculties, which
during its long earthly life have lain in a comatose state, should not
be too suddenly called into action, lest they be overpowered by the
awful revelation. Like the bodily senses, they require time and gentle
though steadily increasing action to develop them, and assimilate them
to their new surroundings in their new field of action.

And this is my theory. The soul, when freed from the body, floats gently
upward, _deaf_, _dumb_, and _blind_--paralyzed, as it were, into a state
of neutral existence. Splendid sights may spread around it, wave after
wave of eternal sound may roll in upon it, but it sees not, hears not,
feels not, not having yet acquired the new faculties of perception.
After a certain space of time--which may be days or weeks or months in
duration--through its secret chambers steals a thrill of sentient
emotion; it recognizes its own existence, and the dawn of that eternal
life for which it was created. Slowly one sight after another begins
faintly to glimmer before it, as objects emerge from the gloom of some
darkened cell to eyes that are becoming accustomed to the darkness.
Anon, low, faint murmurs of sound steal in upon it, far distant at
first, but gradually swelling as it approaches, till at last, around the
freed spirit peals the full orchestral glory of eternity. And so it goes
on, passing slowly from stage to stage, apprehending new sights, new
sounds, and comprehending new truths. And so it shall go on, through all
the cycles of eternity, constantly approaching nearer to the Godhead,
yet never to become God.

Do you ask me how can these things be? Let us draw an illustration from
nature. The science of acoustics tells us that an organ pipe of a
certain length gives forth the deepest, or as musicians would say, the
_lowest_ sound that art can produce;