XXI WHY LIVE A MORAL LIFE ? 379 



for the new life we shall enter on. The Spiritualist who, 

 by repeated experiences, becomes convinced of the absolute 

 reality and the complete reasonableness of these facts 

 regarding the future state — who knows that, just in pro- 

 portion as he indulges in passion, or selfishness or the 

 reckless pursuit of wealth, and neglects to cultivate his 

 moral and intellectual nature, so does he inevitably pre- 

 pare for himself misery in a world in which there are no 

 physical wants to be provided for, no struggle to maintain 

 mere existence, no sensual enjoyments except those directly 

 associated with sympathy and affection, no occupations 

 but those having for their object social, moral, and 

 intellectual progress — is impelled towards a pure and 

 moral life by motives far stronger than any which either 

 philosophy or religion can supply. He dreads to give 

 way to passion or to falsehood, to selfishness, or to a life of 

 mere luxurious physical enjoyment, because he knows that 

 the natural and inevitable consequences of such a life are 

 future misery. He will be deterred from crime by the 

 knowledge that its unforeseen consequences may cause 

 him ages of remorse; while the bad p&ssions which it 

 encourages will be a long-enduring torment to himself in a 

 state of being in which mental emotions cannot be put 

 aside and forgotten amid the fierce struggles and sensual 

 excitements of a physical existence. 



Again, the Spiritualist not only believes, but often 

 obtains direct evidence of the fact, that his dearest friends 

 and relations, who have gone to the higher life, are' 

 anxiously watching his career, and themselves suffer when- 

 ever he gives way to temptation. An American Spirit- 

 ualist writes : 



" To the son or daughter that has been deprived of parents' care, 

 and perhaps has strayed from the paths of rectitude and purity, will 

 not the knowledge that loving hearts are cognisant of every depart- 

 ure from the right way be an incentive for them to retrace their 

 steps, to strive to so live as to deserve the approval of the angelic 

 ministers ?. . . The knowledge that the loving eyes of a mother or 

 father, a beloved child or companion, are watching us with tender 

 solicitude will be a restraining influence from evil courses, and 

 an incentive to a higher and purer life, when all other influences 

 fail." 



