tion in space; and hence, the Kingdom of Heaven may be and often is on this earth, and the departed souls of our beloved ones may, as spirits, be in our very midst.

But as "God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity," so pure spirits, if we are sensual, may be incapable of seeing us.

As men and women on this earth congregate in congenial societies, whether their nature be frivolous, vicious, selfish, or thoughtful, or holy, so in the spirit world we shall be in societies, in relation to our affections for good or evil.

Those who, while on this earth, give themselves to "the world, the flesh, and the devil," are fed by these; but those who give themselves to truth and love and God, are ministered unto by angels.

Spiritualism, by the phenomena which come through mediums, demonstrates that there is a force connected with human beings unrecognised by what is called Science.

It claims to demonstrate the existence of the soul after death, by producing messages and visible forms, asserting that they are those of our departed friends.

Regarding the question of identity, I speak in another place, but here I would say that just as a Professor Owen, from the discovery of a single fossilbone of an unknown animal can postulate the entire animal, so the philosopher from a single spiritual fact, be it only a single instance of clairvoyance, or only the moving of a chair in obedience to volition, say one yard, can construct an entire spiritual science.

The Theosophist therefore does not so much interest himself in the insatiable accumulation of spiritual phenomena as in that philosophy of spirit which is built on spiritual facts, his absorbing interest being in the nature, capabilities, and development of his own personal soul and spirit, in their relation to himself, to external nature, and to God.

The Oriental Adept is one who has devoted himself to Theosophy, and who by a long and severe training, described in another place, commands, by means of soul force, his own spirit, and acts as if he were a demi-God.

I briefly elsewhere describe how this power is achieved, but here, I may say that a long course of training, having for its object the subjugation of the body to the will of the soul, or, in other words, a long training in self-denial, constitutes the essence of the adept life.

The food of the adept is eaten slowly and with sacrifice, and consists of cereals and fruits and milk. Alcohol is strictly forbidden, and the flesh of animals, and, especially, blood is also forbidden.

But a

Absolute chastity is also a sine quâ non. man may devote himself to adeptship from his youth, or he may do so as the father of a family, if he so far retires from the family circle and lives apart, and in this manner the earth may be peopled, and yet the order of adeptship be maintained.

Marriage signifies the union of the positive soul with the pure, beautiful, and intuitional spirit.

When, then, men and women unite as one in this

perfect accord, marriage is the happiest of all earthly conditions, and is, moreover, not only consistent with the perfect earthly life, but may be regarded as essential to that life.

Nevertheless and notwithstanding this, it is not the less true that the highest spiritual gifts and powers have, in all ages of the world and of the Church, been recognised as the special inheritance of the virgin and celibate.

So also Magnetic and Psychic and Pneumic healers know that their power over disease is in direct relationship to their continence.

This is a mystery of which I have not found any satisfactory explanation, either in the teachings of occultists, or in the lives of the saints, and I submit the following as that which comes to my mind.

The sexual instinct in man has for its end the procreation of the human race, in order that man may increase and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it.

Thus, man has the power of creating a new being possessed of an immortal spirit, and hence this power should be regarded as a responsibility of the most secret, sacred, and solemn nature.

It is a remarkable fact that among the lower animals, the female who generally becomes pregnant by a single act, so long as she is pregnant, rejects all further approaches of the male with anger and indignation. Does nature not in this wonderful fact teach man?

Excess of the sexual instinct is antagonistic to

love, and is generally accompanied by treachery and cruelty.

Irregularity in the sexual instinct is truly termed dissipation, that is, it dissipates or scatters the soul force, and is thus directly antagonistic to that soul force, which as unity, is remembrance, and by which man so controls his body as to rise to true manhood, or to that concentration by which true spiritual powers are obtained. Hence, all such dissipation is directly opposed to the obtaining of the occult or saintly power of spirit miracles.

As spiritual powers are obtained by the subjugation of the bodily desires, by the will power of the soul; and as the sexual is the strongest of all bodily instincts, its subjugation to the will of the soul, more than any other discipline, is rewarded by spiritual gifts.

As animal power is the reverse of spiritual power, the two cannot co-exist at one and the same time.

There are those whose natures cannot be entirely controlled. Such beings should be judged with discrimination, but such, so long as they continue so, cannot enter that "Kingdom of Heaven, where there is neither marriage nor giving in marriage."

Marriage I have said signifies that union of soul and spirit, which constitutes the perfect Duad. But if it ends in the physical union of man and woman, then woman as a form is worshipped in the place of spirit, the essential, and this leads to the idolatry of matter.

Thus the love towards the woman is the substitution

of external for internal delights, and calls forth the jealousy of that "Divine Sophia," with whom those who, with profound reverence, worship God as a spirit, and thus evoke their spiritual centre and find the Logos, are united. These know that there is a spiritual marriage incompatible with that of the flesh,

Returning to adeptship, let us consider wherein lies the distinction between the adept and the spirit medium.

A spirit medium is one whose soul is easily detached. from the body, and generally because that body is in a state of weakness.

This detached soul of the medium entering the world of spirit, sees and associates with other departed souls, and by their help moves tables and writes in closed spaces, or reads the mind of those present, or associates with other spirits, or as the double, not only acts at a distance from the body but manifests itself as a visible body, or ghost, or double, at a distance.

The soul of the medium being thus absent from the body, that body may become occupied by a wandering or foreign soul who makes use of that body for its own ends.

It will be seen that thus the medium is in a negative position, a mere body in the possession of strangers, and hence professional mediums who give promiscuous séances, becoming possessed by spirits of a nature analogous to the surrounding company, may on certain occasions act wisely, but too often foolishly, ignorantly, or falsely.