Preface

ID
!oo
CO
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2010 with funding from
University of Toronto
http://www.archive.org/details/romanceoftwoworOOcore
"^
A FACE FAR LOVELIER THAN THE LOVEUKST FA(;k OK WOMAN SMII.KI) RADIANTLY
AT MK. I'UK«' 174.
A Romance of Two Worlds.
A
ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS.
By MARIE CORELLI,
Author of "Thelma," "Wormwood," ete., eto.
3. A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS: 52-58 DuAj^D Sti^eeTjiKew York,,M^^
y
SEP 1 4 1967
^5/r
V OF TO'
A
0
A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS.
INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW EDITION.
When this "Romance" was first published a little more than a year ago, I had no expectation that it would meet with any special favour or attention. I wrote it simply because I strongly felt the force of the spiritual suggestions I have sought to convey in its pages ; but I never hoped to awaken any response from the vast Public I strove to reach. I accepted in silence and resignation the rebuffs, both hot and cold, freely bestowed on me by the Sir Oracles of the Press, the critics. The books was a first effort, and naturally they could, and can still, find many faults in it. Contrary to their anticipations and my own, however, it has been and is being very widely read ; and more than all, it is not only read, but loved. This is proved to me by the numbers of letters I daily receive from persons in all parts of the United Kingdom — utter strangers — who write in touching and seemingly sincere language of the consolation and hope they have derived from its unpretending pages. I take the opportunity here and now to thank them one and all for a sympathy of which I never dreamed — sympathy which is a far greater reward to the heart of an author than either wealth or fame. Some of these letters are quoted in the Appendix to the present volume — not in a boastful spirit of literary adver-
M A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS.
tisement, but merely as evidence to show that in spite of the doctrines of agnostics and materialists, there is a per- petual, passionate craving in the souls of many for that in- ward peace and absolute content which can only be ob- tained by a perfect faith in God and the coming Life Eternal. Materialism does not and can never still the hunger of the Immortal Spirit in man for those things di- vine, which are, by right, its heritage. Nothing on earth can soothe or console — nothing temporal can long delight it — in time the best gifts the world can offer seem value- less; while one spark of God's own essence remains alit within us, it is impossible that here, on this limited plane of thought and action, we should ever be satisfied. I do not address myself to those who have forsaken all spiritu- ality— who have made their cold adieux to God, and who, of their own free will and choice, lie down in dust and ashes, with foolish faces turned earthwards, and hidden from the light— to them I say pitifully, '* Requiescat in pace ! " for they are as though they were not. It is to those who feel the quick stirrings of a larger, grander life within them — who realize with love and eagerness the wonders of the world to come, and who gaze appealingly across the darkness of present things, striving to see, no matter how distantly, the first faint glimmer of the bright- ness that glitters beyond the grave — to these I speak, in- adequately and feebly I know, yet with all my soul desir- ing to cheer them, as they climb from steep to steep of high thought and noble endeavour, onward and up- ward.
The *' Romance " has since its appearance been made the subject of much discussion ; and I, as its author, have had to submit to a great deal of cross-questioning concerning its theories. I have been brought into con- tact with many peculiar phases of thought and feeling; relating to occultism and clairvoyance, and people of all siiades of opinion seek my acquaintance in the ex-
A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS. 5
pectation of being initiated into something very strange and mysterious — let me say, something vulgarly melo- dramatic— concerning the spiritual world. Their disap- pointment is always extreme when they learn that my creed has its foundation in Christ alone, and that I date my spiritual growth in this world from that one Light, containing in itself both the divine and human essence of absolute power, wisdom, and purity. " Only Christ !" is the look plainly expressed in their faces ; and they turn from me altogether puzzled and dissatisfied. Were I to initiate them — or rather pretend to initiate them — into some new or old form of Buddhism — could I show them some poor trickery such as the vanishing of a box in the air, the turning of a red flower to white, or white to red, or any of the optical illusions practised with such skill by native conjurers, I might easily be surrounded by disci- ples of '* Occultism " — persons who are generally ready, nay, even eager to be deceived. But " Only Christ !" — only the old, old story of Divine Love and Sacrifice ! — how tame and trivial! No skipping about of chairs and tables — no «* dematerialization of matter" — no jumping through a ceiling without making a hole in it — not even a sideboard possessed of voluntary volition — no excitement — no incipient madness — nothing but the well-worn doc- trines of Christ which have been dinned into our ears from childhood — how shall anything new come of these ? Many have eagerly asked me : " How can we perform miracles ?" " Can we see visions ?" ** How are we to cultivate the electric Spirit within us ?" I have only one reply to make to these " searchers after the unseen ;" it is this — " With God all things are possible." Without Him, nothing is possible. The power of performing miracles, the gifts of healing and prophecy, and the ability to see beyond the things of this world, are all obtainable, but only through absolute faith in Christ. The smallest hesi- tation, the least grain of that insolent and foolish pride
6 A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS.
which dares to deny the very existence of the Creator, the faintest shadow of self-seeking or self-love, and the inner spiritual force is instantly paralyzed. It cannot be too strongly impressed on the minds of those interested in this high question, that nothing temporal, however pleas- ant, brings any gratification or advantage to the Soul. While pent up in clay it is a cramped and prisoned creat- ure, and unless fed with the divine and heating influences of unselfish love, unswerving faith, high aspiration and pure devotion, it starves and dwindles down to so feeble a flame that, when the body in which it has passed such a miserable existence perishes, it is forced to seek elsewhere for some fresh chance of development. I have explained this fully in the " Electric Creed," which, I may here ob- serve, has been much commented upon, and by some deemed blasphemous — I know not why. Its tenets are completely borne out by the New Testament, which sacred little book, however, has much of its mystical and true meaning obscured nowadays through the indiffer- ence of those who read, and the apathy of those who hear. Sunday after Sunday its noble passages are drawled or droned forth by clergymen who have ceased to put any life or soul into their manner of utterance, and most of whom look upon their sacred vocation merely as a means of livelihood. Their congregations appear to listen, but in truth their thoughts are far away — they have "heard it so often," they murmur, with an apologetic yawn. The words, " Because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold," fall on dull and inattentive ears ; the people are unconscious that in themselves they are fulfilling that prophecy as well as this : "Seeing, they shall not see ; and hearing, they shall not understand." And on the inspired pages they have all grown weary of, stands the perpetual solemn inquiry: "When the Son of Man Cometh, shall He find faith on the earth ?"
I find, however, that the majority of persons who pro-
A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS. f
fess eagerness to know something of the higher forms of
spiritual progress, would rather believe in anything but the too-familiar doctrine of Christianity. They will pin their faith on table-turning, magnetic slate-writing, and other illusive phenomena ; but when it is suggested that, instead of all these things, they shall try to live such a care- ful, self-denying life as shall successfully foster the germ of Divinity within them, f/ius makins^ it capable of the high- est clairvoyance and spiritual ability^ they are vaguely vexed and bewildered. Indeed, a South-Sea Islander of impos- ing aspect, who pretended to magic powers, and who could talk gibberish with sufficient impressiveness and mystery, would, I doubt not, secure a larger number of followers in our civilized London of to-day during the present "craze" for spiritualism — a "craze" which condemns itself at the outset by the manner in which its victims fall easy dupes to the merest charlatanism. True spiritual progress and knowledge are shown in the cheerful, sincere, and whole- some life of the person possessing it, and in the encourag- ing and ennobling influence that life has on the lives of others. Moreover it is displayed in the buoyancy and tireless energy of the body in which the beautiful, expand- ing, highly destined Spirit is for a time bidden to work — in the brightness and serenity of the eye, the absence of all depression, the contentment and tranquillity of the dis- position and temper. Hypnotism, which is merely animal magnetism called by a new name, and which is nothing but the physical attraction of strong bodies brought to bear on weakly, diseased, or passive ones, has nothing whatever in common with what I may designate spiritual electric force. The professor of hypnotism is able on cer- tain occasions to instil a thought into the mind of his patient, and force him (or her — it is generally a feeble woman who is the subject practised upon) to act upon it; pain may be soothed, and long trances may ensue, but this power is only temporary. The trance of hypnotism
8 A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS.
is a stupor, — in it the patient sees nothing worth remem- bering, even if he could remember, which he never does. This is a positive sign that hypnotism pertains to the ma- terial side of existence, and has nothing to do with the spiritual. Many persons — particularly women — who are highly nervous and in a debilitated condition of mind and body, imagine their state of chronic hysteria to be one of supernatural inspiration ; and several such overwrought beings have been introduced to me as "wonderful spiritu- alists," whereas they are only sickly and morbid. True spiritualism is above all things healthy j it place the human being in a fearless, noble attitude towards both God and Man, and nothing but benefits can accrue from it. I feel the most profound pity for those excited ladies who grave- ly assure me that the "spirits " throw them their necklaces and other trinkets through the ceiling without making a hole in it. It is quite useless for me to tell them that spirits can touch nothing corporeal ; what little remaining belief they have in God would be far more easily shaken than their obstinate credence in these most vulgar tricks and delusions. When an old gentleman of staid and re- spectable demeanour, though somewhat wild about the eyes, declares that under " certain conditions " (what con- ditions they are he does not explain), a dog can be " de- materialized " into invisible atoms, and can pass like blown dust through a keyhole, picking up his own bits and coming together again in proper form on the other side, can I or any one else persuade him to return to sanity be- fore it is too late, and avoid the asylum that looms for him in the distance ; No ; and I most earnestly desire those who read the " Romance " to understand quite clearly that the " spiritualism " treated of in its pages is an entirely different thing to what is generally understood by the word. I merely endeavour to slightly shadow forth the miraculous powers which I knoiv are bestowed on those who truly love and understand the teachings of Christ,
A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS. ^
and, who, with adoring faith in Ilim, strive after the high- est spirituality of a pure and perfect life. There is only this one way in which miracles may be performed — only this one means by which true visions of the worlds beyond this one may be seen — only this one connecting ray of communication between us and heaven, on which the de- scending and ascending angels may become familiar ob- jects to our earthly eyes. The so called '* signs and won- ders " of modern self-styled " spiritualists " are always con- temptibly trivial in character, and vulgar, when not abso- lutely ridiculous, in display ; and, moreover, they have never been of the least service or advantage to humanity. Ask the "spiritualists" of to-day to feed a multitude of five thousand persons on seven loaves and a few fishes — to calm the enraged waters of the sea — to stay, by their ** occult " power, the ravages of a plague — or to raise the dead, and their skill avails them nothing. Moreover, the very fact that they are not above taking money for the practice of their conjuring art is sufficient to condemn them; for what, after all, is their principal aim ? To gain a certain notoriety by which they can serve themselves and their own personal worldly interests. In this there is neither Christianity nor spiritualism. The miracles of Christ were emanations of pitying love and entire unselfish- ness, performed solely for the benefit or relief of others, without ostentation or pretence at mystery. But the nine- teenth-century expounders of " occult " doctrine reject Christ's miracles altogether — they will even declare them to be mere inventions of the Apostles ; and yet they de- liberately presume to try and persuade their weak-minded followers that there is spiritual truth in their trumpery tricks of magnetic attraction and sleight of hand, which they know perfectly well in their own hearts are nothing but deceptions. I once asked an ardent Buddhist the reason of his preference for Buddhism to Christianity.
16 A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS
He hesitated a little, then said: "Oh, I don't know ! Any- thing for a change ! "
After this, who could doubt the sincerity of his convic- tions ? Certainly, if ever there was a time for a new apos- tle of Christ to arise and preach His grandly simple mes- sage anew, that time is now. Such an one should belong to no Church, for in the multitude of churches and their differing and, unhappily, quarrelsome sects, Christ is cruci- fied over and over again, and made to die a thousand shameful deaths. The old forms of preaching do not move the minds of the present generation. There needs fresh fire, more touching eloquence, more earnestness of purpose. And the light of Science must be brought to bear on the New Testament, in which its glorious pages will grow bright with hitherto unguessed mystical mean- ings if humbly and prayerfully studied. I have often wondered at the density of preachers who, in accordance with the established rule of their order, keep on telling their congregations to " save their souls," without making the slightest attempt to explain what the Soul is. The people taken en masse are never brought to realize the fact of the imperishable inner Self within each one of them — that actual Self which claims as much and more sustenance than the outer body on which we spend such a superabundance of care — care which avails nothing at death, while the attention bestowed on the deathless part of us avails everything. The world is growing surely tired of monotonous sermons on the old Jewish doctrine of original sin and necessary sacrifice. Most truly did Christ declare, " In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.
And, as has been set forth in the " Electric Creed," Christ did not come to us as a Sacrifice, but as a means of close communication wiih God. I consider it both horrible and sacrilegious to imagine that God, the Creator of Love and Beauty, could desire a bleeding
A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS. 11
victim as a sacrifice to appease His anger, and that Victim part of Himself imprisoned in human form — as if God could feel such an unworthy passion as anger ! Sorrow, pity, desire to draw the love of even so small a part of His creation as this earth nearer to His Infinite Protection — these emotions are God-like, and are all dis- played in the person of His Christ. This is why I ven- ture to say that the time has come for a new form of preaching, that shall show the Gospel to be one of Love, not Fear. Not because, coward-like, we are afraid to displease God, should we endeavor to purify our lives, but because we know and feel we have a spark of His essence in ourselves that attracts us to Him (and there- fore to all goodness) by the force of pure Love alone. Not because we would shun future punishment or desire future joy, but because we know we are akin to Him and He to us, and in that marvelous affinity feel that we would rather perish forever than wrong by so much as a thought the Supremely Beloved. This, it seems to me, is Christianity as Christ meant it : Unselfish love for the Creator, the corresponding chord of which must be un- selfish love for all He has created ; love radiating like broad sunbeams everywhere without grudge or stint; love for one's fellow-creatures ; love for the birds and flowers and all the wise and wonderful workings of nature ; love, the first and best nourishment of the spirit within us, which, fed thus, responds like a vibrating harp string to the smallest hint from the Divine master-hand; love which looks beyond the veil of temporal things, and see clearly with most bright and undazzled eyes ; love which is en- dowed with perfect faith, because, being part of God, it cannot doubt God's existence. And to the immortal spirit possessed of this love, all things are possible — all miracles, all gifts of healing and high influence. But without it all spiritual research is utterly useiess. Though I am but the humblest of students in these mys-
t± A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS,
tic matters, I cannot be deceived in the attributes that should distinguish those who are in the right track from those who are deluding themselves with the shadows of false appearances. Quite recently I met a lady of whom I was told that she was '* full of psychic force." The very day after our introduction she sent me a leaflet (hundreds of which she had for distribution) reprinted from an American paper, which described in the most glowing and exaggerated terms the multitude and bril- liancy of her physical charms ! It was easy for me then to take her measure. No one endowed with the true psychic insight would condescend to advertise her bodily beauty thus among her acquaintances : no one possessing the least knowledge of heavenly things would stoop to such a level for the sake of earthly flattery. For the dis- tinguishing mark of the true Spiritualist is what I may call Self-rejection. Self stands on one side, as it were, and is no longer allowed to obscure the Soul's view of the splendid universe to which it belongs. And I affirm, and will most ardently maintain, that in the teachings of Christ will be found all the secrets of occult science, all the key- notes of the myriad, upward-sounding scales of the highest active spirituality — spirituality that has nothing to do with a morbid imagination and a debilitated or dis- eased physical frame, but that, on the contrary, is stronjf and calm, useful and beneficial wherever it works ; cheer- ing, strengthening, encouraging, and ennobling all with whom it is brought in contact, and leaving men and women better, happier, and purer for its influence. Such spirituality, the outcome of the electric spirit of Divinity in man, corresponding to the supreme centre of Divinity in the Creator, can see and converse with angels — can heal the sick and console the afflicted — c?.n preserve health in the body and beauty in the face and form — can even retain youth much longer than materialists dream of — can meet misfortune as though it were joy, and ca^
A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS. I3
triumph in death, knowing Death to be but this world's name for Life.
The idea of Eternity, as depicted in the " Electric Ring encompassing God's World " contained in that part of the " Romance " called a ** A Miniature Creation," has been for the most part passed over by those who have reviewed my book in the columns of the press, and it is to this I wish briefly to draw the attention of my readers. The Ring is described as perpetually creative and perpetu- ally absorbent. Planets are from time to time drawn with- in it and again cast forth from it, and of this tremendous electric Force there can be no end, inasmuch as it is the outer circle or atmosphere of the Central Planet of all planets wherein the Creator has His being. The theory is simple, yet by it, all the gigantic and minute marvels of the universe are made easy of comprehension — as easy as the explanation of the main-spring of a watch, though an untutored savage would find a watch most difficult to understand. But to the mechanician who has put the watch together and knows how to wind it up, there is no mystery in the seemingly intricate work ; and we, who consider ourselves wise, especially when we are called scientists — we who, in the insolent littleness of our limited thought, sometimes presume to dismiss the Creator as no part of His creation — we shall in the hereafter wake up from the troubled dream we call living, to the fact that the great Chronometer of the Universe is quite a simple thing — so simple that we shall wonder at ourselves for not reading its apparent secret before. As the wise king wrote : " The thoughts of mortal men are miserable, and their devices are but uncertain. For the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things. And hardly do we guess aright the things that are upon earth, and with labour do we find the things that are before our eyes ; but the things that are in heaven who
14 A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS.
hath searched out? Except Thou give wisdom and send Thy Holy Spirit from above'*
I have lately been accused by a leading critic of ** imagining a new heaven and earth, and passionately flinging them in the teeth of an obstinate reality that will not conform to them." But I have imagined no theory of which the starting-point cannot be found in the Script- ures, and the only " obstinate reality " I am aware of in this world is death, to which, undoubtedly, all things/ must conform. Therefore I hope I do " passionately fling into the teeth of that obstinate reality " my glad, grateful, and full belief in the future existence — the com- ing life of perfect joy, love, and beauty — a life which alone is worth working for, hoping for, praying for, — and compared to which, in my eyes at least, this earth seems but a sort of eclipse — a black disc, obscuring for a time the desired and desirable sunlight — a passing cloud, the movement of which I note with a certain impatience, accepting its shadow, as it falls on my soul, not as an ** obstinate reality," but simply as shadow through which sometimes — by the way of the Cross — the light of the veiled Glory shines. MARIE CORELLI.
July 1887.
^
A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS.
PROLOGUE.
We live in an age of universal inquiry, ergo of universal scepticism. The prophecies of the poet, the dreams of the philosopher and scientist, are being daily realized — things formerly considered mere fairy-tales have become facts yet, in spite of the marvels of learning and science that are hourly accomplished among us, the attitude of mankind is one of disbelief. " There is no God ! " cries one theorist; "or if there be one, /can obtain no proof of His existence!'* " There is no Creator ! " exclaims another. The Universe is simply a rushing together of atoms." ** There can be no Immortality," asserts a third. "We are but dust, and to dust we shall return." " What is called by idealists the Soul," argues another, "is simply the vital principle com- posed of heat and air, which escapes from the body at death, and mingles again with its native element. A can- dle when lit emits flame ; blow out the light, the flame vanishes — where ? Would it not be madness to assert the flame immortal ? Yet the soul, or, vital principle of human existence, is no more than the flame of a candle."
If you propound to these theorists the eternal question WHY ? — why is the world in existence ? why is there a uni- verse ? why do we live ? why do we think and plan ? why do we perish at the last ? — their grandiose reply is, " Be- cause of the Law of Universal Necessity." They cannot explain this mysterious Law to themselves, nor can they probe deep enough to find the answer to a still more tre- mendous WHY — namely, Why is there a Law of Universal Necessity ? — but they are satisfied with the result of their reasonings, if not wholly, yet in part, and seldom try to search beyond that great vague vast Necessity, lest their finite brains should reel into madness worse than death. Recognising, therefore, that in this cultivated age a wall
X6 A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS.
of scepticism and cynicism is gradually being built up by intellectual thinkers of every nation against all that treats of the Supernatural and Unseen, I am aware that my nar- ration of the events I have recently experienced will be read with incredulity. At a time when the great empire of the Christian Religion is being assailed or politely ig- nored by governments and public speakers and teach- ers, I realize to the fullest extent how daring is any attempt to prove, even by a plain history of strange occur- rences happening to one's self, the actual existence of the Supernatural around us ; and the absolute certainty of a future state of being, after the passage through that brief soul-torpor in which the body perishes, known to us as Death.
In the present narration, which I have purposely called a " romance," I do not expect to be believed, as I can only relate what I myself have experienced. I know that men and women of to-day must have proofs, or what they are willing to accept as proofs, before they will credit any- thing that purports to be of a spiritual tendency ; — some- thing startling — some miracle of a stupendous nature, such as according to prophecy they are all unfit to receive. Few will admit the subtle influence and incontestible, though mysterious, authority exercised upon their lives by higher intelligences than their own — intelligences unseen, un- known, but felt. Yes ! felt by the most careless, the most cynical; in the uncomfortable prescience of danger, the inner foreboding of guilt — the moral and mental torture endured by those who fight a protracted battle to gain the hardly-won victory in themselves of right over wrong — in the thousand and one sudden appeals made without warn- ing to that compass of a man's life, Conscience — and in those brilliant and startling impulses of generosity, bravery, and self-sacrifice which carry us on, heedless of conse- quences, to the performance of great and noble deeds, whose fame makes the whole world one resounding echo
A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS. I'J
of glory — deeds that we wonder at ourselves even In the performance of them — acts of heroism in which mere life goes for nothing, and the Soul for a brief space is pre- eminent, obeying blindly the guiding influence of a something akin to itself, yet higher in the realms of Thought.
There are no proofs as to why such things should be ; but that they are, is indubitable. The miracles enacted now are silent ones, and are worked in the heart and mind of man alone. Unbelief is nearly supreme in the world to-day Were an angel to descend from heaven in the middle of a great square, the crowd would think he had got himself up on pulleys and wires, and would try to dis- cover his apparatus. Were he, in wrath, to cast destruc- tion upon them, and with fire blazing from his wings, slay a thousand of them with the mere shaking of a pinion, those who were left rlive would either say that a tremend- ous dynamite explosion had occurred, or that the square was built on an extinct volcano which had suddenly broken out into frightful activity. Anything rather than believe in angels — the nineteenth century protests against the pos- sibility of their existence. It sees no miracles — it pooh- poohs the very enthusiasm that might work them.
** Give a positive sign," it says: " prove clearly that what you say is true, and I, in spite of my Progress and Atom Theory, will believe." The answer to such a request was spoken eighteen hundred years and more ago. * A faith- less and perverse generation asketh for a sign, and no sign shall be given unto them.'
Were I now to assert that a sign had been given to me — to me, as one out of the thousands who demand it — such daring assurance on my part would meet with the most strenuous opposition from all who peruse the follow- ing pages, each person who reads having his own ideas on all subjects, and naturally considering them to be ihe best if not the on/y ideas worth anything. Therefore I wish it to
iS A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS,
be plainly understood that in this book I personally advo- cate no new theory oj either religion or philosophy ; nor do I hold myself answerable for the opinions expressed by any of my characters. My aim throughout is to let facts speak for themselves. If they seem strange, unreal, even impossible, I can only say that the things of the invisible world must always appear so to those whose thoughts and desires are centred on this life only.