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the musical porilleum. He next invited them to visit the voralia as
they bloomed beneath the gandulea. Afterward they journeyed
over the Appilobeda, and meditated among the fragrant pantrello
A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 205
And when they returned to the temple, they believed that the term
'Lily Siona' was of no value in the philosophy of eternity.
"About two years ago, as I was walking in another wing of this
wondrous Palace of Antiquities, my Apozea illustrated a lesson by
some (artificial) stone hammers and flint knives, which he said
had been long cherished as sacred relies by the Shoshonees, a tribe
of earthly Indians. The imitations were fading away like
mountain mist in the morning, and I inquired if such would be the
fate of everything within the temple. He answered: 'The useful is
eternal. But things are temporary.' To my further inquiries, he
said: 'Memory is frequently loaded with love for many things
which do not exalt the spirit. Yet those things or images remain
until the spirit hath outgrown the temple of the Antiquities. When
morning dawns, the night and its shadows depart; so the evil is no
longer evil to the good.' We stood near the central fountain of
Andromont. Many-tinted flowers grew lovingly on the rounded
margin. I touched one, and lo! it shrivelled and seemed to die in a
moment! 'Behold, my baskatella!' said my teacher, affectionately;
'your touch is poison to the mimosa sensitiva of the spirit-land.
The damp shade of the fountain is life to the plant compared with
thy deadly touch. On earth the asphodels grow upon graves to
feed the manes of the departed. Here the rose blooms to instruct
and exalt the living. The Arabula [divine Guest or God] is within
thee. Live true to that, every moment of thy progress, and no
flower will shrink from thy approach.'
"With much sadness, I inquired to know what it was
206 A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND.
in me that had poisoned the mimosa, and he replied, 'You are yet
impatient to mount higher than you can see, and hasty to hold
more wisdom than your spirit can comprehend. This aspiration is
poisoned with ambition, and this ambition is the tempter which
prompts thee to appear to be more than you are, and to seem to
know what you do not. Rid thee of all this, else the flowers of
Akropanamede will shrink from thy touch, and the arabula, will
steal the sunshine from thy heart.
"All this happened some two years since; and, at lengthened
intervals, my apozea has repeated his lesson During all this time, I
have labored with the opeathaleta of the Isle. Among them are
some of the mightyminded of the earth; nobles in government;
preachers in religion; authors of self-aggrandizing books;
adherents to antiquated forms of thoughts; but the merry dancers
and the sweet singers are multiplying, and sun beams from the
eternal sun shine through many hearts. At first, it seemed that the
universe had been narrowed down to an Isle of sad and gloomy
experience. Birds, trees, rivers, hills, sky, my fellow-beings,
seemed wretched and unpoetic. The Aggamede, with its
multitudinous thickets of resplendent beauties, appeared
unspiritual. Now, my brother, I come to tell that all is changed
The Isle of Akropanamede is heaven. Every object is consecrated
to good. Birds no longer sing sadly on the gandulea; trees no more
shed a melancholy light upon the flowing appilobeda; the temple
is no longer a palace of sorrow; for hope and faith and truth and
wisdom shine out from every door and dome. All who dwell here
are divine lovers, friends, sisters, brothers: 'Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will
A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 207
dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself
shall be with them, and be their God.' Here, the mother's calm
bosom veils the young child; the flying hours bring progress to its
mind; and the warm wisdom of the apozea improves the restless
spirit. Ignorance and discord are no more to those who crave for
and partake of the granted blessings. God is hid in the flower and
in the fountain; and I now know, my brother, which exalts my
feelings most 'the voralia or the porilleum.' The fountain is my
greatest teacher. GOD IS IN IT, and it ever floweth, giving waters
of life which all may drink if they have sufficient thirst and
wisdom."
Friend Wilson appeared beautifully luminous, like an angel of
the highest degree, when he spoke these last words. He was
evidently very happy, and, as be turned to depart, I asked: "Can
you give me some information respecting the Spiritual Congress
which I beheld at High-Rock Tower?"
"You can mark me in the group of 'spiritual wisdom,'" he
replied, with a beautiful smile; "for I am now counted in the class
of Solon, the Athenian, who, with hosts, is a lover of the Isle, a
zangorilla. The delegations have discharged sublime duties since
the sessions you witnessed, They have exerted influence upon
almost every kingdom. Russia is opening like a blighted empire,
revived by the principles of justice. The stars of the night and the
morning of her people are brighter now. Her slaves are less in
bondage. But still greater changes are breaking over the hills of
her destiny. Austria is growing less cold at her heart; her weary
sons will weep less in her fields; and the shadow of pitiless
208 A VOICE FROM THE SPlRIT-LAND.
pride will lift from the throne of the empire. Japan pillows her
head no longer on the bosom of her pale kingdom. She has felt our
forewarning. Ignorance was her terrible foe, and she bore the cross
without a crown. Her (rates are open to the stranger. Angels have
crowned the emperor, and the star of a better career is twinkling in
her sky. And the other nations and powers, which have not yielded
to justice we are yet laboring to affect."
"Can you tell me whether the twelve teachers mentioned by
Galen have been found?" (I asked this question because it has
many times been put to me, and I have wondered much upon that
point.) And he replied: "Part of that number are this day at work in
the vineyard of spiritual truth and progress."
"May I know who they are?" I inquired. And he responded:
"Wisdom denies even that they themselves should know the
cause and extent of their individual efforts. Such vain knowledge
possessed by any one of them would be a serious disqualification.
The spiritual mimosa sensitiva would shrink from them, and the
pure truth would pale and depart before them, if they privately
knew what and who they are." He now appeared mice more
disposed to bid me an adieu, and said: "Arabula, my brother!" I
asked whether he had not something more for me or the world,
and his valedictory words, as he was passing outward, were: "Tell
mankind, my brother, that the Universe is a volume of holy
writing, the title-page whereof not even the highest seraph has
altogether read. Tell them that the Centre
HAS THE SPIRIT A FUTURE LOCALITY? 209
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