John Cuningham

“ Know that thy thought is vain, that the passions of the body—of the earth—are here in some riper and heaven-ized existence, and that their indulgence is but enhanced in pleasurable degree. Here there is attraction—affinity—but it is of the soul. ”

“ The past may declare His nature, but never wholly His purposes. The Future is His own. But as His [30] laws are unchangeable, inferences may be drawn by any being in proportion to his faculties and knowledge. Their gradations are as numerous as the stars. Nor is it permitted to me to declare to you in your mortal status, all I know in my immortal status. But the unity or variety of human origin is of no present importance. The differences of the human races, in language, color and structure, give assurance against their amalgamation and homogeneity on earth.”
The dream assumes a new phase. ”

“ They are seated in a small ice-crystal [B] salon, glistening on all sides except the carpeted floor, with the Emperor and his prime minister alone, all exhilarant with wine, and now sipping the potent subtlety of China’s most famed and fragrant tea, priced at its weight in gold. The philosophy of government, from a republican standpoint, rushes upon the soul of the American, and he exclaims to the mighty potentate of all the Russias:
“How can your humanity conscientiously hold and wield the power of imperial despotism?” ”

“ Great Britain, at last, although a monarchy in name and form, is a republic in fact. Its government combines the more of [46] the advantages and the less of the disadvantages of the one-man power and of the many-power, than that of any other nation does. Hence it is, that the rights of the citizen equal those of even America, and are more practically protected and left in undisturbed satisfaction, politically and socially, than in any country in the world. ”

“ Confucius.—“I had no revelation!”
Immortal.—“Creation itself suggests and proves a Creator; it is His greatest revelation. The dual-elements in man (mind and matter,) should recognize His existence and essence.”
Confucius.—“I dimly perceived that there were two principles, but not precisely those of good and evil. I did not reason sufficiently at large. I thought only of earth, not of religion; of the material, not the divine. Zoroaster surpassed me in these regards.”
American.—“Emperor, the hand-writing of destroying Fate is on your wall. The hands of hundred of millions will pull it down. ”

“ Disembodied American.—“But, oh, I would see more of her whom I met to-night.”
Mahomet.—“She is your affinity; and when you are both freed from the earthly, you will abide together on some Olympus in the Illimitable. Let us to the Seventh Heaven!”
They sweep upward and onward, and on their passage see a vast and bright globe, (a star or sun,) many times larger than the Earth. There they see the souls of the most ignorant and obtuse of the dead, in their second stage of existence or ordeal of improvement. ”

“ They reach the Arctic along the vast Siberian coast. There the cold is most intense, and of the frozen regions it is the wildest and grandest. A shimmering light seems to permeate it ever, even in its darkest periods. The ice presents plains, abysses, mountains. Everywhere are the débris of long-frozen animals. Over its dry waste of congealed waters, the fierce blasts, as if by frictional action on its rugged surfaces, ever generate electrical phenomena. In midwinter and darkness, scintillating flashes gleam along them in the nether air. ”

“ What glorious types of the mental and physical—what exemplars of education and refinement, character and tone! It is in Great Britain that industry, honesty and intellect have acquired gold; and gold has not debased but elevated humanity—has not disintegrated but cemented the social elements. ”

“ The preconceived ideas and prejudices of the American were greatly modified. The former Turk and Mohammedan of haughty bigotry, fierceness and the sword, had subsided into tolerance for the Christian, amity with the European, and deference to the civilization, learning and powers of the Caucasian race. Once the chief guardian and lookout on the ramparts of the ignorance, despotism and superstitions of the East, he now would open its portals to the more active spirit and mightier enlightenment of the West. ”

“ Among other matters you wonder at the apparently inconsistent decrees I made in regard to wine and women, for my followers on earth. The inhibition of wine was for [35] the masses, who are largely composed of the inconsiderate and craving. Its use will induce the habit and disease of intoxication, which is fatal to mankind, especially in warm climates. Temperance should ever be a moral duty, and abstinence alone can secure it among the many. ‘The joys of wine’ are only for the prudent and thoughtful, and its healthful quality for the ill. ”

“ There is more nominal but less real personal liberty in the United States than in England. Yet in these regards it is the just and proud boast and boon of these two nations, that their peoples alone can be called free.”
American.—“Is it because popular opinion in America is a tyrant toward each individual, that Great Britain has the advantage in practical, if not theoretical liberty?”
Immortal.—“Yes. Settled law and not fluctuating opinion should govern and protect.” ”

“ Yet he and his mandarins, alike with his subjects, are constrained, by the dominancy of twenty-four centuries of veneration for the great Chinese philosopher and moralist, Koong-Foo-tse, (latinized, Confucius,) to worship in the temples dedicated to that extraordinary statesman and expounder. This pagoda is one of these temples, which have been reared in all chief cities and towns. His ‘nine books’ constitute the creed and code—the bible—of the ‘Celestial Empire,’ and you will deem it a singular fact that they contain no mention of a Creator—no allusion to God. ”

“ Immortal.—“Blessed is the person or nation, who has a Faith, however crude! But, in truth, the French have no faith of any stable or guiding kind. Nor do they permit themselves to be either calm enough to study or rational enough to understand the mission of Reason. They do not truly apply it to either religion or government. Their women are practically wiser than their men; in their domain of society the former have instituted a system of mere life. ”

“ The American conceived the mortal wish to view a scene from the highest mountains in the world. They were near the Himmalayas, and flew to their most commanding peak. It appeared to be a bright day, and all the sensations of sublime awe and admiration which a man could feel under such circumstances were realized. ”

“ He maintained that the universe was generated by the union of two material principles—a heavenly and an earthly—Yang and Yn—but there is no mention of a Creator in his system. Man, he asserted, fell from purity and happiness by his own act; and by his own act he can or must recover them. His political [21] system, which is one of pure despotism, has been give by the Emperor. Spirit of Koong-Foo-tse, come forth!”
The apparition of Confucius here takes visible shape, and startles the assembly. The other or American immaterialized human, addresses him:
“Confucius, thy soul has now learned wisdom. ”

“ At the instance of the Spirit of Morphine, who suggested that they had time for a swoop to south of the Equator, and for a view of the constellation of the Southern Cross, the American, who affected astronomy, readily assented. They whirl southward, see it, and repass “the Line.” They enter the United States at Savannah, and soon reach the abode of the sleeper in the upper part of South Carolina. His spirit enters his chamber through the window and glides into his body, when he experiences a sense of relief as to its safety, and of satisfaction in his wondrous trip. ”

“ The seventh Heaven is the first abode of achieved Goodness and translucent Reason in the initial state of perfection. After and beyond that, these become identical with Knowledge, which I believe is eternally acquisitive and expansive. Here is my attainment through centuries. I began my after-death career in the third Heaven. Zoroaster his in the fourth. Confucius was permitted to pass the first, because of his great mind and good intent; but he was assigned to the second to learn there was a God and a Creator. ”

“ Immortal.—“No! Self-government is the eventual prize of intelligence and virtue. The ignorant or vicious are incapable of it. In the meantime, it is the privilege of the human race to secure it by attempered wisdom, and to guard it against the passions and ignorance of the many, the few, or the one. Goodness in the use of power, more than the form of government, is the great desideratum. Seek most to elevate the mind and heart of man!”
American to Emperor.—“Sire! ”

“ The sexes are essentially complements of each other; but these complements may differ in their substance and proportions. When they are counterparts of each other, then affinity is perfect. This affinity is heavenly Love and unalloyed happiness. Such a pair are the [39] Bride and Bridegroom of Eternity. Their children are the heavenly thoughts which spring from such affinity.”
The startled brain of the visionist caused him to awake into his dream, and he saw his Immortal companion bending over him with a smile. ”

“ Extremes meet and have a singular affinity; it is the secret of the growing friendship between Russia and the United States.”
American.—“Ha! Our American people are not a mass democracy. The United States are republics federated under a Constitution—a system which excludes both your extremes.”
Prime Minister.—“Indeed!”
Immortal.—“There is a golden mean for all finite governments. Uncontrolled power is only for the Infinite.”
Emperor.—“Is even political self-government a right?”
[14] American.—“Surely mankind is entitled to it and should possess it.” ”

“ The deprivation of wine, too, rendered it more salutary; man will have one, and if he can, both. My system was, also, designed to diminish promiscuous prostitution.”
Disembodied.—“Clever excuse! But how will you defend the propagation of your creed by the sword?”
Mahomet.—“Mankind, so generally stolid or perverse in untoward ignorance or selfishness, will usually require more or less coercion in some shape, to be aroused into useful animation [36] and effort, and to the pursuit of good and happiness. The sword, like necessity, stimulates; it is at times a great vivifier. ”

“ The nation is my family, and I am its father. I am sole entitled ruler, and I am—holy and sacred! Nor will I have contact with strangers and barbarians.”
American.—“What means he? What of Confucius?”
Immortal.—“Confucius was a Chinaman, who lived 550 years before Christ. He was a teacher of morals, rather than a founder of religion. For those dark ages, he was an extraordinary man; he was great as a philosopher, a moralist and a statesman. He made no pretence to inspiration. He inculcated the training of the physical system. ”

“ His creed maintains that from the operation of this ‘infinite Time,’ the two active principles of the universe were produced from all eternity, Ormuzd (representing good) and Ahriman, (representing evil,) each disposed to exercise his powers of creation in different ways. The first formed man capable of virtue; the latter, changed into darkness from light, introduced evil.”
[26] “Zurdusht taught that, at the last day, Ormuzd would triumph.”
American.—“I see. Zoroaster compared the two principles to Light and Darkness, and to each attributed creative power. ”

“ Paul’s and in London, he ruminated on the religion of civilization, and on the new speculations of infidel philosophy. In the Coliseum he reflected upon the impulses and ways of the populace. In the Forum he analyzed the systems of law and the subtleties of eloquence. [42] In Senate halls he eliminated the science, the experiments, the élan of statesmanship, in both State and Church matters. Within the classic area of the Seven Hills, Man had exhibited every phase of his nature, inclination and power. ”

“ In permitting polygamy and even concubinage to some, I reflected that as marriage would not be suitable or convenient or possible to a number of men, I would be making a needful, wise and saving provision for surplus women. ”

“ It is written that a drama occurred below, which, it appears to me, is as mysterious in its meaning as it is wonderful in its happening. The Divine frustration of the building of the Tower of Babel, as a rebuke to the presumption of man, in the light of an allegory, finds analogies in every-day life. ”

“ Necessity has stimulated their cunning, but precludes their reflection; it has pinched their faculties, as the ‘iron shoe’ has their feet. Their mental contraction has been rendered more compressive by their moral and spiritual defects. ”

“ American.—“Will they hold conversations as if in a tête-à-tête?”
Immortal.—“Yes. Without using language, Americans will thus converse with Chinese.”
They visited in the Invalides the Tomb of Napoléon le Grand. Before it the American was irresistibly affected by the awe, wonder and curiosity, which may be felt for the majesty of mind.
The travellers now proceed to Bordeaux; where, seated in a salon, and the American being thirsty, the best brandy and claret are set [50] before them. They taste them with relish, and discuss their merits. ”

“ American.—“Now for the dear old cliffs of Albion. Oh, Great Britain and Ireland, land of my fathers, let me see thee!” Stretching their wings in full sympathy and in joyous flight across the Channel, they scan with loving and careful eye England, Scotland and Ireland. They take in their all and every part and place ”

“ They wheel southward—anon traverse Chinese Tartary—sweep over the Chinese wall, and alight in Pekin. They poise themselves on a lofty pagoda.
Mortal.—“These Chinese are a mysterious people. I am curious about them. That wall was a great enterprise in its day, and a singular one.”
Immortal.—“They are a swarm from an ancient [17] human hive, and have long been numerous and astute. They have been, and are superior to the average of mankind, but inferior to the more illumined and most cultivated. Their numbers and limited geographic sphere have made them feel want ”