Burial Service

DURING the course of some previous writings, I discussed with you certain aspects of the customary methods of disposing of the physical body after its 'death'. Briefly, I told you how that all the religious ceremonials and mournful trappings which usually accompany the whole procedure of burial are in themselves bad; bad alike for the individual who has passed into these lands, and bad for those who are left behind upon earth.

Sorrow occasioned by the passing from earth of a cherished friend or relative is bound to exist as long as human affections themselves endure. That is but natural as things are at present. Ignorance or lack of knowledge of spiritual truths and of conditions of life in the spirit world will serve to intensify that sorrow.

This ignorance is not only upon the part of the individual; the Churches of most denominations share in it. It is to them, as supposed spiritual mentors, that the finger must be pointed for adding to the burden of sorrow which bereavement brings with it.

To perceive this ignorance of spiritual knowledge at its worst one needs but to examine the order of the Church's burial services. Here, indeed, is displayed ignorance of a monumental description. The so-called prayers of which these services are composed amply reveal just how out of touch are the Churches with spiritual realities. Instead of the prayers being a rich source of comfort to the mourners, and what is still more important, of sound practical help to the person who has 'died', they are, both to the former and the latter, utterly valueless.

Let us examine some of the prayers together, and you will see the force of my words.

A large number of the prayers are simply biblical quotations, with generous extractions from the Psalms.

Here I must emphasise that what both the mourners and the 'departed' need is practical help. The mourner needs comfort in his trouble; the person who has just left the earth for all time needs assistance of a material kind. He may be in trouble of various sorts and degrees. He may require a great deal of purely spiritual help; he may want aid merely in the process of finding out what has taken place with him, where he is, what he is to do, how he is to do it, and a score of similar matters.

While we who are resident here do all we can upon this side, a direct appeal through prayer upon the part of the officiating minister will add to the power which is given to us in affording assistance to others. But they must be prayers of the right kind. Long quotations from some psalm or other, beautiful as they may be in their content and in their language, are wholly ineffective if those quotations have no bearing upon what is so urgently wanted, namely, direct assistance and guidance.

Here is another most important circumstance for which the Churches in their ignorance make no disposition. Burial services in the more temperate climes usually take place some days after the actual moment of passing. The 'dead' person, in reality, has by then passed and gone. But it is at the actual moment of transition when the proper assistance can be of great value. I fully acknowledge that in every case it would not be possible to provide it then as circumstances of transition vary so widely.

But where the dissolution is about to take place with full warning of its imminence, that is the moment to send forth earnest prayers for help. Thus, you will see clearly that Church burial services, as they are at present constituted both as to time of performance and spiritual content, are mostly too late to be of any practical spiritual value to the departed person.

If, then, you will recall these few remarks as we discuss the order of the burial service you will see plainly just how far is Orthodoxy removed from any knowledge of spiritual truths.

I should mention that under the designation burial service, I include all that takes place both in the Church and at the place of burial.

How many of the prayers are understood by the folk who are saying them, or supposed to be saying them? Words are framed into strange sentences which do not seem to have any application, direct or indirect, to the matter in hand, except in one way—they are guaranteed to make things infinitely worse for the mourners by the dismal and hopeless sentiments which they embody.

For a prayer to be successful, it must have force and direction behind it. A disinterested muttering and mumbling of some prayerful formula is of no earthly use whatever, nor of any heavenly use either. When, in addition, the words convey no possible meaning to the half-hearted reciter of them, an already bad case is rendered completely hopeless.

Prayers that incorporate appeals which are in direct opposition to spiritual laws are similarly ineffective. Of what use to cry out against a natural law? Would anyone in his sane senses pray that the law of gravity might be suspended, or qualified in some way, or dispensed with altogether? In similar case are all those pleas for mercy for the departed one. You will recall what I have told you upon the subject of the 'mercy' of God.

Regarded as a whole, the principal theme running through the prayers of the burial services is that of uncertainty, of hopelessness almost. The Church is entirely in the dark regarding conditions of 'life after death': It knows literally nothing. The prayers liberally reveal that ignorance.

I would ask you to keep well in mind what I have just mentioned to you concerning prayers for the departed person: how that they must be direct to the point by asking for help in clear terms, in terms, that is, which are fully understood by all the persons who are saying them.

Now let us proceed to a closer examination of the subject. Here, as an example, is part of a prayer taken from one form of burial service:

Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord; Lord hear my voice.
Let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.
If Thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities; Lord who shall stand it?
For with Thee there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of Thy law I have waited for Thee, O Lord.
From morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord.
Because with the Lord there is mercy: and with Him plentiful redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
Eternal rest give unto him, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon him.

Can you, my friend, detect one word which you honestly and truly believe would be of service to a fellow mortal who has recently left the earth-plane for any region whatever of the spirit world? I am sure you cannot.

There is one—just one—sentence which could possibly be of the slightest use:—'Let perpetual light shine upon him.' That is the one solitary gleam of sense in this otherwise perfectly inept recitation. Of what earthly use can it be to introduce references to Israel into any prayer for a person in need of spiritual assistance? Most folk will not have the remotest notion what Israel has to do with the dissolution of their friend or relative. The mourners have lost a dear one, and the Church comes forward magnificently and provides them with prayers about Israel. What of the departed one? Is he concerned in any way with Israel?

My friends will understand that I am approaching this psalm-prayer solely from the practical point of view of the matter in hand, namely, to help a soul upon his advent into spirit lands.

Upon the plea for eternal rest, I have already made elsewhere a number of remarks. The whole conception which it embodies is another glowing example of the remoteness of the Churches from spiritual realities and truths.

This psalm, which has been treated as a prayer, is frigidly formal throughout. Its language has no application to anyone who is called upon to say it either upon his own behalf or upon that of another. It is sombre and dismal, and guaranteed to deepen the gloom which has already settled upon the mourners.

Death, the Church will aver, is a horrifying and terrible business. The soul has returned to its Maker to be judged, and no man on earth knows what will be the fate of the individual departed person. It is therefore no time for other than the most dreadfully solemn thoughts and expressions. What a world of difference the possession of real spiritual knowledge would make to all these lugubrious recitations!

Another psalm is also introduced which is similarly converted into a prayer, and is known under its familiar name of the Miserere.

It commences with these words: Have mercy upon me, O Lord, according to Thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity. It continues throughout in the first person, and the main theme is pursued upon almost the same lines as those indicated in the two verses I have just set down for you. Now this is introduced as a prayer for a departed soul, but the person who recites it is unequivocally pleading for himself. Of what use, then, is it to the departed soul, we must ask again? A hopeless plea, in any case, having regard to the falsities with which the prayer is loaded.

Orthodoxy can offer nothing to its members but the mercy of God. To what a sorry state, in good truth, is Orthodoxy reduced.

Then, to pray that God may blot out one's iniquities. If God were to do that, what would become of justice, for later in the psalm the individual who uses this prayer promises that his 'tongue shall extol Thy justice'? Wherein lies the justice if an iniquity is blotted out?

But surely the absolute summit of senseless pleading is reached when, further on, these words occur, Deal favourably, O Lord, in Thy good will with Sion, that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up. These are prayers, my dear friend, for a soul who has left the earth-plane at his dissolution for the spirit world, and most probably has been in need of help and guidance of a severely practical nature. The ineffectiveness of such prayers is of a twofold order: by their content they are of no help to the 'dead' person, and they are recited days after that person has left the earth world for the spirit world.

Let me tell you of my own experiences in this connection. My passing was in every respect uneventful and perfectly straightforward. During those last moments which I spent upon earth, and when it was obvious that I lay 'a -dying', those who were present began reciting prayers for me. I cannot say that I was conscious of any spiritual reaction consequent upon their endeavours, but that is scarcely surprising for more reasons than one. Their prayers for me were of like nature to those which I have already quoted for you. I can truthfully say that I was not the least bit concerned either with Israel or Sion, in whatever religious or poetical sense those two words were used.

When I had at last left my physical body in 'death' and stood there in the same room wherein my friends had witnessed my transition, what I needed in my ignorance was plain, simple, and unambiguous instruction upon what was to happen next. That help was instantly forthcoming, but it did not come in response to the prayers that were being said. Indeed, by their very nature it could not.

An old friend and colleague, Edwin by name, came to my assistance, and presented himself to me in that room. He assured me that he did not come in answer to any prayers that were being offered up. Indeed, he affirmed that there was nothing in any of them that would bring him, or cause him to be sent, to my aid. He came because he was acquainted of my pending transition through the perfect organisation which exists in the spirit world. He knew, therefore, that my dissolution was imminent some time before those on earth had any hint of it. When the precise moment came, he was there to greet me and help me, when help was so urgently needed.

After a moment or two of conversation, I set off upon my journey to these realms under the able care of my old friend. I have already recounted to you most of what took place upon my arrival here. In fact, my small adventures with Edwin during my voyage of discovery in these realms formed the subject of my first breaking the silence to earth since I left it.

Upon Edwin's advice I took a brief rest before commencing my travels. While I was actually therefore upon those delightful wanderings, the Church on earth was performing a most solemn requiem for the repose of my soul!

Whatever reputation I had gained for myself both as preacher and writer, the ecclesiastical authorities considered it sufficiently prominent that my obsequies should be the best that could be provided.

Is it not strange that the greater one's material—and ecclesiastical—position may be upon earth, the greater will be the requiem or memorial service when the time comes. Equally, the better one is presumed to be on earth, that is, spiritually better, with sufficient material prominence, the more elaborate will be the burial service and rites. Presumably, if it were possible to point to any one individual as a veritable, indisputable saint, most assuredly that person would have such obsequies as the earth has not yet witnessed!

Logically, that individual would be the one person on earth least in need of such powerful 'intercession' as the Church deems itself able to make! The poor soul who needs it most, who is in dire need of spiritual help because his life on earth has not come within a thousand leagues of the 'great' and 'illustrious' personage for whom such solemn and ornate ceremonial is provided, that poor soul is usually fobbed off with a few words muttered in a perfunctory fashion as though the person were of no account—which, indeed, he is not in the eyes of authority. He is, in fact, left to shift for himself as far as the Church interests itself.

How do such terms as 'giving a man Christian burial' come into being? There are certain circumstances where this so-called Christian burial will be denied a person. His physical body, in such cases, will be tumbled into the ground unceremoniously, while the Church will keep a stern spiritual silence. The spirit world, however, thinks differently upon such matters, very differently, and in no event will a soul be left to his own devices.

Help is always forthcoming, abundant help. It naturally rests with the person concerned whether that help will be accepted, deliberately rejected, or merely ignored. It rests entirely with him. We do not, we cannot, force our services upon folk who are not willing to receive them.

It is the great ones of the earth who are accorded the most imposing burial rites; the greater the personage, the greater the rites. But for all the religious splendour, the great one can easily find himself in a position in the spirit world sorely out of keeping with the ritualistic ceremonial that accompanied his sepulture. Material greatness is so often thought to connote spiritual greatness as well.

Of course, it may be argued that if the great one is really not so great after all, then the elaborate and impressive obsequies, the solemn requiem, is needed in his case. From which, in turn, it might be further argued that as no person's spiritual status is ascertainable upon the earthly side of life, then all people should have equality in the order of their burial service, and that the service in every case should be the most solemn and devout and comprehensive as it is possible for ecclesiastical minds to devise. Just so.

But what is wanted in all cases is a complete reconstruction of the whole of the burial service as performed by any denomination. The ritualistic observances that accompany some of them are mere outward display. They are vastly impressive to the beholder of them. If they do nothing else, they would appear to add to the prestige of the Church. The simple-minded folk are duped by such displays; others are harrowed in their grief by the direful solemnity of the black vestments, and the lights, and the lugubrious music. 'Death' and 'Judgement' are brought forcefully to the minds of all those present.

Even while such religious pageantry was being gone through on my behalf, performed, with the full weight of the Church's power, by no less than a prince of the Church himself, and with full choral support, even while this was going on, I was already in the spirit realms.

I was experiencing the thrill of my life. With the genial companionship of my old friend, Edwin, I was revelling in the glories of these realms. In simple, plain language, I was enjoying myself to my heart's content, as I had never enjoyed myself before! And what was the Church literally doing for me on earth? The Church, through one of its princes, was praying: From the gate of hell, deliver his soul, O Lord!—A porta inferi, erue Domine animam ejus.

In view of my reputation as preacher and writer, and the ecclesiastical title to which I had been elevated, to suggest that I should need delivering from the gate of hell was not a very complimentary notion, to say the least.

The answer to such as might feel wickedly emboldened to make any query upon the matter would be that it is impossible for one to know the spiritual position of any individual, and that it is therefore best to be on the safe side by presuming the worst, praying against the worst, and hoping for the best. In any case, the words are part of the order of the service; there can be no deviation from it; there can be no individual discrimination or favouritism.

As to the effect all this had upon me, I can only say that I was not aware of any effect at all! While my physical body was being interred with becoming solemnity—as it is deemed on earth—I was somewhere in these realms, I cannot state precisely where, completely unconscious of what was taking place upon earth on my behalf.

In company with Edwin, who was acting as my cicerone, I may have been gazing spellbound at some magnificent view, admiring the heavenly flowers for the hundredth time, or chatting with some new-found friends, or being shown over some one or other of the wonderful halls of learning. I might have been doing any of these pleasant and most enjoyable things, while a high dignitary of the Church was actually praying that my soul might be delivered from the gate of hell.

That same prince of the Church is now with us in these realms. He is my good friend. Many are the occasions when we have discussed this very subject. He asked me, 'What were you doing when I was performing all those rites for you?' I told him, just as I have here set it down for you. He was greatly amused—he could not be otherwise. He thought, he said, he was rendering me such a great service with all the power of the Church's intercession. He honestly felt that, for he was genuinely grieved at my departure from earth. As he can plainly see now, it would have been of great benefit to me had the words of the service possessed some sound practical application to the real purpose in hand, and had those words been said at the actual time of my passing, and not days after.

There is another prayer in particular which was also said for the 'repose of my soul'. It forms part of the usual service, but it is, I am persuaded, the most horrifying of all prayers. Here I give it to you, that you may judge for yourself. You will note that once again the person who says this prayer is pleading for himself, while he should be praying for the 'departed':

Deliver me, O Lord, from everlasting death on that dreadful day: when the heavens and the earth shall be moved: when Thou shall come to judge the world by fire.
I quake with fear and I tremble, awaiting the day of account and the wrath to come.
When the heavens and the earth shall be moved.
That day, the day of anger, of calamity, of misery, that great day and most bitter.
When Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.

There is sound reason to believe that anyone would quake with fear, and tremble, at such a terrifying prospect.

Here, indeed, is a wordy weapon of fear sharpened to its keenest to frighten honest folk, and fill them with gloom and despair.

How the churchmen of old delighted in dwelling upon the end of the world! The end of the earth world was the 'last day'. Then would God judge all men; a separation of the sheep from the goats. To heaven, or to hell, for all eternity was to be the lot of all mankind—and still is, of course. The day of anger, of calamity, of misery—and the rest of the dreadful catalogue of horrors.

Here again we have the wrath of God brought into the life of man, the same pagan idea that has been handed down through the ages, transferred from a plurality of gods to the One God. Could there be a more infamous libel upon the Father of the universe, with whom wrath is an utter and complete and fantastic impossibility?

The world was to be judged by fire, according to the enlightened contriver of this choice prayer. Why by fire? Conceivably, those churchmen regarded fire as a mysterious element in which they tried to detect the 'hand of God', a purger and a purifier, and an irresistible annihilator.

Certain it is that fire can inflict the most excruciating pains and tortures. It is consonant with the churchmen's outrageous conceptions of the Father that they should predict that He would, at the 'last day', inflict in judgement upon all men who had 'sinned', the most devastating of all forms of punishment—burning by fire in some form or other, a fire that burns but does not consume its victims.

What a delectable prayer is this to place in the mouths of people who are mourning the passing of a loved one. What comfort it must bring them; of what inestimable service it must be to him or to her who has passed into spirit realms.

When I reflect upon the various details of my own passing, and recall my experiences of witnessing the arrival of so many, many folk into these lands, I feel almost overwhelmed by the enormous divergence between the teachings of a Church that can concoct such prayers as this and the real truth of spirit life. Do you wonder, my friend, that we heartily condemn all such wicked, mischievous effusions as this, the more so as they are employed at a time and upon an occasion, namely, in the burial service when they can do no good upon the one hand, and a great deal of damage upon the other. For no soul can derive one spark of benefit from such outrageous prayers. They can cause infinite fear and pain to sensitive folk in mourning.

A moment ago I mentioned Christian burial to you. One of the necessary conditions of such burial is that it shall take place in 'consecrated' ground. This means that the ground must be 'blessed', theologically speaking, by a minister of the Church before interment takes place. There is one prayer, used in this connection, which clearly reflects the wild notions which Orthodoxy harbours upon the functions, purposes, and organisations of the spirit world. It even suggests, by the specific request that it makes, that Orthodoxy knows how at least some of us spend our lives in these lands. Here is the first part of a prayer used for 'blessing' a grave:

O God, by whose mercy the souls of the faithful find rest, vouchsafe to bless this grave, and depute Thy holy angel to guard it...

What a heavenly reward for a 'holy angel' to spend his time in eternity guarding a grave! From what, it might be asked, is the angel to guard the grave?

Again you will perceive the major importance which is placed upon the physical body after all life has left it, when it is literally dead. As such it is of no consequence or significance whatever. The real person who once owned it has gone. As it is, it is perfectly useless. Nothing can be done with it, except finally to dispose of it in some way. It is of even less value than a cast-off garment that once covered your physical body. It has no spiritual value; it is neither 'sacred' nor 'holy'. The former owner of it has abandoned it for all time by the operation of a natural law. In due time it will become a mass of corruption, of evil-smelling and evil-looking putrefaction. It is upon this that a 'holy angel', a dweller in these lands, is requested to mount guard!

I would ask your indulgence for bringing this matter forward in such unpleasant terms as these, but I am placing the truth before you in the most forthright way possible.

Perhaps someone will ask me: 'Why are you using so many words, as well as so much time and energy, upon what is, after all, a matter of very little account? Burial services have been going on for centuries. In other words, what does it matter? There are far more important things'.

But, my dear friend, it does matter, and it matters very much indeed. As to there being more important things, what could be of greater importance than your advent, and the advent of millions of other people, into the spirit world?

I have spoken to you upon this topic before, but you will not object, I am certain, if I recall to your mind the fact that a considerable part of my work in the spirit world consists, with others, in helping people who are newly arrived in these realms. I therefore speak to you from personal experience, experience at first hand, to be even more precise, of witnessing the hopelessly befogged state in which such huge numbers of people arrive here.

They know nothing of what has befallen them, or knowing or guessing what has already taken place, are in a condition of palsied fear as to what is to happen next. They have been taught by their religious preceptors on earth all about the supposed horrors of Judgement or Judgement Day.

At the very least they believe that a frightful ordeal of some nature, unspecified and of unknown outcome, must be undergone sooner or later. It is our work to calm the fears of these unhappy, tormented folk, and try to bring peace and tranquillity to their tortured minds. We have to deny, as the worst of all falsifications, the wicked things that have been attributed to the Father of the universe, among the chief of which we have to deny that any man ever has been, ever is, or ever will be, judged by the Father, and to affirm with all possible emphasis that He has not relegated that power or right to do so to any person or persons whatsoever.

We have to tell such folk that, by their life on earth, so have they earned for themselves whatever region or place of abode in the spirit world in which they will at first find themselves, and that they will find themselves there because that is the region with which they will be in complete attunement.

We have to tell them that no person is obliged to remain where he is but that by working he may progress out his present condition ever onwards and upwards, and that there is no discoverable limit to the heights to which he can spiritually rise if he himself chooses and determines to do so. Spiritual advancement is for all, equal and alike; there is no such thing as privilege or favouritism, no catching the eye of authority and so gaining an advantage over one's neighbour. Spiritual progression comes by merit, and by merit alone. There is no privileged short cut.

That, in brief, and many other things, is what we have to tell our friends in distress because they have been so abominably misled by Orthodoxy on earth. We have to expend our energies upon setting right the Church's spurious teachings, if such wild departures from the truth can be dignified by the name of teachings. We have to put right the Church's mistakes.

Instead of sending their 'faithful' into the spirit world adequately equipped and fortified with sound knowledge, with facts, with generous information upon conditions of life in these lands, they arrive in a lamentable state of entire ignorance. Do not think that I am exaggerating the mental state of folk as they arrive, for I am not. Whatever brave actions of which a man or woman may be capable upon earth, he or she is faced with a dreadful reality (so they both believe) and that is enough to make the stoutest heart quiver a little.

These are, of course, mental fears, and the greatest of all fears—fear of the unknown. Until we can enlighten them, that fear remains. That is why, my dear friends, we take unqualified exception to anything that the Church teaches which is in direct contradiction and opposition to the truth as we know it here. Not the least among these falsities must be included the vicious fabrications which are contained within the burial service such as I have exemplified.

It is in direct opposition to the dispensation of the universe that men's minds should be misguided and misled by such monstrous untruths as those that are contained, by implication, in the prayers that I have quoted to you. The Church fails a man at the last moments of his life on earth, just as it failed him so much and so often before that part of his life ended. It fails him even after he has departed from earth, because it does not know how to pray for him after he has gone.

It is incapable, through its colossal ignorance, of offering one syllable of help either to the supposed dead people, who are in reality in the spirit world very much alive, or to those who are left upon earth in mourning. The Church has such a grand conception of our lives and the conditions of life in these lands that it veritably believes 'holy angels' are appointed by the Father to guard graves wherein are masses of corruption.

The Church concentrates a vast deal of energy upon a useless corpse, mounts it upon a catafalque, prays over it, places lighted candles around it, blesses it even, while the soul of that departed person might cry out to that Church in vain for the real help he so sorely needs. But the Church is, meanwhile, far too preoccupied with its burial rites and ceremonies, centring all its attention upon a dead body.

Orthodoxy lives a hazy life of speculation upon spiritual possibilities and probabilities—and most of them, in good truth, are wide of the mark. We in the spirit world live a life of absolute reality and truth.

Those, then, are my reasons—in answer to that question of a moment ago—for devoting so many words to this particular subject of the burial service, for the latter is the culminating event in an earthly life; an occasion when the Church, did it possess the truth, could render such sterling aid to humanity.

Very well, I hear it objected; you have made unreserved criticism upon this service of the Church; you have, in fact, demolished it as being worthless. What, pray, would you put in its place? You have been destructive. Now be constructive.

Precisely. Let me be so, by all means. But whatever I do, it is not my intention to set out in detail a new order for the service of burial. What I will venture upon is to present a suggestion or two, for until a great deal more enlightenment comes upon the earth, that is really all one can do.

You will appreciate the fact that for a burial service to be as it ought to be, that is, regarded in the light of spiritual truths, people on earth must themselves have acquaintanceship with those spiritual truths. The truth will thrust out what is false.

No person or organisation with a knowledge of the truths of the spirit world, of the conditions of life here, could ever give full sanction to the form of burial service as it is at present performed upon earth by the various religious denominations. The few suggestions I make to you are from the standpoint that the basis of any reformed service of interment must be that of spiritual truth.

Moreover, I would not offer any formula of prayers, but merely outline a framework upon which to construct. What I have to say may be regarded as of little moment, but I can assure my friends that were some such reformed burial order adopted, as I shall propose to you, it would make a vast difference to the person concerned, and an equivalent difference to us whose lives in the spirit world are closely associated with the distress of so many newly arrived people here.

This is what I would suggest—and I set down this proposition of reform as coming from a great company of folk in the spirit world who have been, or are, actively interested.

In the first place, the most valuable help can be given to a person at the moment of departure from the earth plane. That is when power from the high realms is most needed. With this great accretion of force coming so opportunely, we can work wonders with the soul who is stepping into another world.

Assuming the normal conditions of transition, where the individual is closely attended by friends or relatives, and where perhaps there may also be present a minister of the Church, then prayers should be said asking for the assistance of those in the spirit world who undertake such work to take the departing one under their care and guidance, and that power be granted to aid their efforts.

Naturally, if the world were so enlightened as I am now supposing, it is reasonable to assume that the departing one would also have some knowledge of the truth. A brief prayer earnestly spoken and properly directed, will positively do all that is asked. As things are, such a prayer, even though the recital of it occupied but five minutes of earthly time, or even less, would be productive of immediate results, where the elaborate requiem is productive of none.

If my friends would wish to know what would be a counsel of perfection, I should say this: that immediately death of the physical body has taken place, the body should be removed to a proper place set aside for the purpose, away from private dwellings of any sort and where it would be seen no more by any relative or friend whatever. There it should wait for all the necessary formalities to be complied with, after which it should be hygienically disposed of by those who are constituted to do so. Unquestionably, there is only one method of disposal which commends itself to all of us here in the spirit world, and that is, cremation. Let the Churches quench the fires of hell they have so fantastically lighted, and use real flames for an excellent purpose.

Here I might place before you a few observations upon the subject of burial places. The customary interment beneath the ground is a bad practice, for so surely as it takes place, the grave will always be an attraction to enormous numbers of people; it becomes the focus for thoughts and sentiments. People expend time and devotion caring for the small mound of earth, the stone that is erected upon it, and so on. These are wasted energies, for if the thoughts that accompany those attentions should have any effect upon the departed person, that effect will be a bad one, as I have elsewhere shown to be the case.

With complete and absolute elimination of the physical body so that nothing of it remains, this melancholy rallying place, the cemetery, could also be eliminated. Ponder upon what could be done with the many acres of ground represented by existing cemeteries today.

If it were felt that some place was desirable as a memorial to those in the district who had 'died', a spot to which folk could retire to seek peace and calm, what better than in pleasant gardens suitably planned and arranged? What better for the purpose than the sites of the existing cemeteries? Were such gardens to be made real havens of rest for the sorrowful, they would do immeasurably more good than the present dolorous burial grounds.

The same thing applies to the graveyards which surround churches. If these, too, were abolished, and the ground laid out tastefully with flowers and other growing things, framing the church, as it were, in colour and verdure, how much would the beauty of the structure itself be enhanced, and what a similarly useful purpose it would serve.

But in both cases, that is, with the cemeteries and the graveyards adjacent to churches, there must be no hint of tombs or tombstones. My experience of churchyards was that so many of them were a jungle of wild growth; a tangle of weeds; sadly neglected, and an eyesore.

It may be brought forward in opposition that if burial places were abolished, people would still find some focus, so to speak, for their grief; that if they did not carry their grief to the cemetery, and so find an outlet in tending the grave, they would retain their grief within their homes. They would, in fact, have no outlet which the attention given to the care of a grave affords some minds.

There is only one antidote, or better still, cure, for such minds, and that is a knowledge of the truth. When the truth becomes at length diffused among all peoples, then burial places of every kind will automatically disappear. For no one who is in direct communication with us here, and who enjoys the happiness of continued converse with relative or friend, ever bothers to think of such places as cemeteries. To such folk they represent just nothing at all in respect of their departed ones.

But they do know that they are bad places for anyone to visit unless one has knowledge of the truth, and so views such spots in their true light. For the mourner they are the worst places imaginable.

Our friends on earth who know us and speak with us do not deal in corpses. To make the matter clearer how could you, my friend, who are reading these words, think of me in terms of a corpse that is lying in the ground, when I am alive and speaking to you through these writings. The bare idea is absurd.

As to any particular form of the burial service itself, strictly speaking, that is, speaking from the point of view of us here in the spirit world, who once lived on earth and who have 'died', there is no need of any kind for prayers to be said over any corpse. They cannot affect it anyway because it is completely lifeless. As well pray for a stone or a brick.

Actual interment could be carried out without any religious formalities at all—and no harm would be done, nor would any good fail to be done. The prayers should be concentrated upon the living person, and not upon his lifeless body. For that reason it were better not to have the 'remains' in the church at any time. Inevitably, minds are led to dwell upon what is beneath the pall or other draperies which serve as a covering.

It aggravates the sorrow. If it be genuine and not spurious, that is, if the sorrow is felt for the departed one and the mourner is not just feeling sorry for himself, then it will reach the person who has gone, and cause him or her distress, thus increasing our difficulties here.

The substance of the prayers should contain nothing that is not based upon spiritual truths. One might enumerate subjects which should be resolutely and studiously avoided as being untrue. For example, any references to being judged or to the Day of Judgement; to the 'last day'; to eternal rest; to the resurrection, to pleading for mercy for the departed, with a few words thrown in on one's own behalf against the day when one's own time comes; any reference to the wrath of God; to the gate of hell...The catalogue could be extended almost without end!

But I have given sufficient, and someone may chide me upon choosing a subject to discuss which is far from cheerful. Of course it is not cheerful, because the Churches have made such a grim ogre of the whole subject of 'death'. Every man is entitled to feel sorrow at the departure of a friend, but that sorrow is increased a hundredfold by the ignorance of the facts of spirit life. Orthodoxy has harrowed the mourners' anguish by its wicked dealings in hell-fire and Judgement Day and mythical resurrections and vicarious atonement.

It is one of my ambitions to try to banish some of the sorrow and feeling of hopelessness in the presence of bereavement, and in their place to enthrone the truth and good news.

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