LIFE AND LABOR
IN THE
SPIRIT WORLD.
BEING A DESCRIPTION OF LOCALITIES, EMPLOYMENTS, SURROUNDINGS, AND CONDITIONS IN THE SPHERES.

When the thought of publishing this volume was first suggestedto me by my spirit guides, I was led to ask, what goodwill it accomplish? and they replied: It will teach mortalsthat which it is impossible for them to obtain from any othersource, but of which they are supremely desirous of beinginformed,—the conditions and surroundings, and the pleasuresand pursuits of and influence exerted upon the denizens ofearth by the inhabitants of the spirit world; it will revealsomewhat of the life their departed relatives and friends live,and to which they themselves are rapidly approaching; it willshow that that life is a tangible reality, that it is, in fact, thesubstance, this being but the shadow,—the eternal, while this isbut transitory; that while the joys they may there possess surpassall human power of conception, they are attained only bypurity of thought, and a faithful performance of duty, and thatevery advance made in those essentials in this life places themin a correspondingly advanced state when they enter the spiritualrealm. I had no desire to further question; the accomplishmentof such a work seemed every way desirable; I cheerfullyacceded to their wishes, and the result is here presented.

I believe that all herein given has emanated from the mindsof spiritual intelligences, that even the words employed havebeen chosen by them as most befitting the thoughts they wishedto express. They have come to me in times of quiet seclusion,when there was nothing to disturb the harmony absolutelyrequired for the transmission of the truths they wished toconvey.