380 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL CHAP. 



Some of the highest teachings of Modern Spiritualism 

 have been given through the automatic writings of the late 

 Mr. Stainton Moses, and are to be found in his work en- 

 titled Spirit Teachings. His perfect integrity is guaran- 

 teed by Mr. F. W. H. Myers, and there is the very strongest 

 internal evidence that the substance of the writings 

 emanated from some intelligence other than his own. 

 But, however this may be, these teachings are perfectly 

 consistent with those of Spiritualism generally, and the 

 following short extracts will illustrate their bearing on the 

 question we are here discussing: 



"As the soul lives in the earth -life, so it goes to the spirit- 

 life. . . The soul's character has been a daily, hourly growth. It has 

 not been an overlaying of the soul with that which can be thrown 

 off ; rather it has been a weaving into the nature of the spirit that 

 which becomes part of itself, identified with its nature, inseparable 

 from its character." 



And again : 



1 1 We know of no hell save that within the soul a hell which is 

 fed by the flame of unpurified and untamed lust and passion, which 

 is kept alive by remorse and agony of sorrow, which is fraught with 

 the pangs that spring unbidden from the results of past misdeeds, 

 and from which the only escape lies in retracing the steps and culti- 

 vating the qualities which bear fruit in love and knowledge of God." 



And, as a final epitome of this spiritual teaching, we 

 have the following : 



" We may sum up man's highest duty as a spiritual entity in the 

 word ' Progress ' in knowledge of himself, and of all that makes 

 for spiritual development. The duty of man, considered as an 

 intellectual being possessed of mind and intelligence, is summed up 

 in the word ' Culture ' in all its infinite ramifications, not in one 

 direction only, but in all ; not for earthly aims alone, but for the 

 grand purpose of developing the faculties which are to be perpetuated 

 in endless development. Man's duty to himself, as a spirit 

 incarnated in a body of flesh, is purity in thought, word, and act. 

 In these three words, ' Progress/ ' Culture,' l Purity,' we roughly 

 sum up man's duty to himself as a spiritual, an intellectual, and a 

 corporeal being." 



The same teaching is embodied in the following lines, 

 forming part of a long poem purporting to come from the 

 late Edgar Allen Poe : 



