was one of pronounced energizing as well as tranquility. Another noticeable quality was the entire absence of any idea of an institution with its inevitable officialdom. There was no question of patronage, nor did I feel the least shade of being among strangers. Those in attendance upon the sleepers did so, not in the attitude of a certain task to be done willy-nilly, but as though they were performing a labor of love in the sheer joy of doing it. Such, indeed, was precisely the case. The glad awakening of these sleeping souls was an ever- recurrent joy to them, no less than to the people who had come to witness it.
I learned that all the 'patients' in this particular hall had gone through lingering illnesses before passing over. Immediately after their dissolution they are sent gently into a deep sleep. In some cases, the sleep follows instantly - or practically without break - upon the physical death. Long illness prior to passing into the Spirit world has a debilitating effect upon the mind, which in turn has its influence upon the Spirit body.
The latter is not serious, but the mind requires absolute rest of varying duration. Each case is treated individually, and eventually responds perfectly to its treatment. During this sleep-state the mind is completely resting. There are no unpleasant dreams, or fevers of delirium.
While gazing upon this perfect manifestation of Divine Providence, the thought came to me of those absurd Earthly notions of 'eternal rest,' 'everlasting sleep', and the many other equally foolish Earthly conceptions, and I wondered if, by some chance or other, this sleep I was now beholding had been distorted by Earthly minds into a state of eternal slumber, whither all souls pass at dissolution, there to await, in countless years' time, the awful 'last day' - the dread 'Day of Judgment'. Here was the visible refutation of such a senseless belief.
Neither of my two friends had awakened in this - or other - hall of rest, so they told me. Like myself, they had suffered no lengthy illness, and the end of their Earth lives had come quite quickly and quite pleasantly.
The patients resting upon their couches looked very peaceful. Constant watch is kept upon them, and at the first fluttering of returning consciousness, others are summoned, and all is ready for the full awakening. Some will wake up partially, and then sink back again into slumber. Others will shake off their sleep at once, and it is then that those experienced souls in attendance will have, perhaps, their most difficult task. Until that moment, in fact, it has been mostly a matter of watching and waiting. In so many cases it has to be explained to the newly awakened soul that he has 'died' and is alive. They will remember usually their long illness, but some are quite unaware that they have passed over into Spirit, and when the true state of affairs has been gently and quietly explained to them, they often have an urgent desire to go back to the Earth, perhaps to those who are sorrowing, perhaps to those for whose care and welfare they were responsible. They are told that nothing can be done by their going back, and that others of experience will take care of those circumstances that are so distressing them. Such awakenings are not happy ones by comparison with those who wake up with the full realization of what has taken place. Were the Earth more enlightened, this would be the more often the case, and there would be a great deal less distress to the newly awakened soul.
The Earth world thinks itself very advanced, very 'civilized'. Such estimation is begotten of blind ignorance. The Earth world, with all things appertaining thereto, is looked upon as of the very first importance, and the Spirit world is regarded as something dim and distant. When a soul finally arrives there, it is quite time enough to begin thinking about it. Until that time comes there is no need even to bother about it. That is the attitude of mind of thousands upon thousands of incarnate souls, and here, in this hall of rest, we witnessed people awakening from their Spirit sleep. We saw kind and patient Spirits trying so hard to convince these same people that they had really 'died'. And this hall of rest is but one place out of many where the same service is being carried on unceasingly, and all because the Earth world is so very superior in knowledge!
We were shown another large hall similarly appointed, where those whose passing had been sudden and violent were also in their temporary sleep. These cases were usually more difficult to manage than those we had just seen. The suddenness of their departure added far greater confusion to the mind. Instead of a steady transition, the Spirit body had in many cases been forcibly elected from the physical body, and precipitated into the Spirit world. The passing over had been so sudden that there seemed to them to be no break in their lives. Such people are taken in hand quickly by bands of souls who devote all their time and the whole of their energies to such work. And in the hall of rest we could now see the results of their labors. Had so many of these souls had but a small knowledge of Spirit matters, these awakenings would have been so much the happier.
I do assure you it is not a pleasant sight to see these gentle, patient helpers wrestling mentally - and sometimes almost physically - with people who are wholly ignorant of the fact that they are 'dead'. It is a most saddening sight, which I can vouch for from first hand evidence, for have I not seen it? And who is to blame for this state of affairs? Most of these souls blame themselves when they have been here long enough to appreciate their new condition, or alternatively, they blame the world they have but recently left for tolerating such blindness and stupidity.
Edwin hinted that perhaps we had seen all that we wished, and truth to tell, both Ruth and I were not sorry to leave. For it must be recalled that we were both comparatively new arrivals, and we had not yet sufficient experience to be able to withstand sights that were in themselves distressing. So we passed out into the open again, and we took a path that skirted a large orchard of fruit trees, similar to, though much more extensive than, that wherein I had had my first taste of celestial fruit. It was close at hand for the use of the newly awakened - and, of course, for anyone else who wished to partake of the stimulating fruit.
It occurred to me that Edwin was expending a good deal of his time upon us, perhaps at the expense of his own work. But he told us that what he was now doing, was, in many respects, his usual work - not only to help people to become accustomed to their new surroundings, but to help those who were just beginning to shake off their old religious ideas, and break away from the stifling of their minds as members of orthodox communities here. I was glad to know this, because it meant that he would continue to be our guide.
Now that we were again in the open, the question arose: should we continue to wear our Spirit dress, or should we go back to our old attire? As far as Ruth was concerned, she would not hear of any changing back. She declared her perfect satisfaction with what she was wearing, and demanded of us to know what possible Earthly costume could ever improve upon it. In the face of such a powerful argument, we were bound to submit. But what of Edwin and me? My friend had only reverted to his Earthly cassock to keep me company and to help me feel at home. And so I decided that I would stay as I now was - in my Spirit apparel.
As we walked along we fell to chatting about the various Earthly notions touching the personal appearance of Spirit people. Ruth mentioned 'wings' in connection with 'Angelic beings,' and we were all at once agreed that such an idea was nothing less than preposterous. Could any means of locomotion be more clumsy or ponderous, or thoroughly impracticable? We supposed that artists of ancient days must have been largely responsible for this wide departure from actuality. One presumes they thought that some means of personal locomotion was essential for Spirit people, and that the ordinary mundane method of using one's legs was far too Earthly to be admitted, even as a remote possibility, into the heavenly realms. Having no knowledge whatever of the power of thought here, and its direct application in the literal movement of ourselves through these realms, they were thrown back upon the only means of movement through space known to them - the use of wings. One wonders if there are still Earth people who really believe that we are only partly removed from some form of large bird! Among the thinking, modern science has managed to dispel some of the absurd conceptions so long prevalent.
We had not gone very far when Edwin bethought him that we might like to make our way to the city which we could see plainly not too far away. I say, 'not too far away', but that should not be misunderstood into meaning that distance here is of any account.
