Lincoln and his assassin.

(Analysis of a communication from Abraham Lincoln through a medium of Ravenswood.)

“When Lincoln came out of his daze and awoke in the world of the Spirits, he was greatly surprised and disturbed, because he had not the slightest idea that he was dead. The blow that struck him instantly suspended all sensation, and he did not understand what had happened to him. This confusion and this disturbance, however, did not last long. He was enough of a spiritualist to understand what death is and, like many others, was not astonished at the new existence to which he had been transported. He found himself surrounded by many persons whom he knew to have been dead for quite some time, and he soon learned the cause of his death. He was cordially received by many people for whom he had sympathy. He understood their affection for him and, in a single glance, was able to take in the blessed world into which he had entered. “At the same instant he experienced a sentiment of anguish for the grief that his family must undergo, and a great anxiety regarding the consequences that his death might bring upon the country. These thoughts brought him violently back to Earth.

“Having learned that William Booth n was mortally wounded, he came to him and bent over his deathbed. At that moment, Lincoln had recovered the perfect consciousness and tranquility of his Spirit, and he waited calmly for Booth's awakening to the spiritual life.

“Booth was not astonished upon awakening, because he was expecting death. The first Spirit he encountered was Lincoln; he looked at him with much insolence, as if glorying in the act he had committed. Lincoln's sentiment regarding him, however, breathed no idea of vengeance, quite the contrary; he showed himself gentle and good and without the slightest animosity. Booth could not bear this state of things, and left him full of emotion. “The act that he committed had several motives; first, his lack of reasoning, which made him regard this act as meritorious and, then, his inordinate love of praise, which had convinced him that he would be showered with eulogies and looked upon as a martyr.

“After having wandered, he felt himself once more drawn toward Lincoln. Sometimes he was filled with repentance, at other times his pride prevented him from amending himself.

Meanwhile he understood how vain his pride was, knowing above all that he could not conceal, as in life, any of the sentiments that stirred him, and that his thoughts of pride, of shame, or of remorse are known to those who surround him. Always in the presence of his victim, and receiving from her nothing but marks of kindness, such is his present state and his punishment. As for Lincoln, his happiness surpasses what he could have hoped for.” [i.e.

Ghost of Abraham Lincoln.]

Remark. – The situation of these two Spirits is, in every point, in conformity with that of which we daily see examples in the accounts from beyond the tomb. It is perfectly rational and in relation with the character of the two individuals.

[1] [John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 - April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, DC, on April 14, 1865.]