664. It will then be admitted by all who believe in the immortality of the soul that, as for every mortal that dies a spirit is born, innumerable spirits must exist. Is it not then reasonable to consider them as agents in producing phenomena which can only be ascribed to invisible, imponderable, rational, and affectionate beings, especially when they themselves sanction this inference by word and deed? 665. Were a tyrant to enclose a human being while alive within a cast-iron vessel, the aperture through which the introduction should be made being closed by a stopple soldered in air-tight, all the ponderable elements of the corporeal body would be retained; but can any one who believes the soul to survive the body, think that it would remain included in that vessel so long as it should endure? Cast-iron coats itself with a carbonated peroxide, vulgarly called rust, and then undergoes no farther change; so that the corporeal elements might be retained to an infinite time. But could the soul be thus imprisoned, perhaps to eternity? Could the tyranny of a man thus imprison an immortal soul? Does it not follow that the soul would not be confined by the air-tight and apparently impenetrable metallic vessel? _Invisibility of the Soul._ 666. The invisibility of the soul in leaving the body, must be admitted, since, however the dying may be surrounded by their friends and nurses, and vigilantly guarded after death by watches, as customary with many, the soul is not seen to leave the body. It must, therefore, be invisible, and capable of permeating cast-iron or any other material within which, while alive, an immortal being might be enclosed air-tight. _On the Whereabout of Heaven._ 667. The qualities of invisibility and penetrative power being necessarily conceded to the soul, is it unreasonable to extend this attribute to its habitation in the skies: to the country of spirits? 668. In communicating with a friendly spirit, I adverted to the difficulty of inducing people to conceive that in the clear azure space existing between the earth and moon, there should be scenery like ours, with plains, hills, mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, seas, and every variety of edifice in greater perfection than upon earth. “You do not see us,” said my friend; “then why should you wonder at not seeing our world?” 669. It is quite evident that no such obstacle stood in the way of belief in the existence of heaven among the Jews, as it is constantly referred to as being above; Noah’s deluge came through the windows of heaven; and this idea has been sustained in the language of Christ, as well as of the Hebrew prophets.