] No- no!
P. Are you pleased with the prospect?
V. If I were awake I should like to die, but now it is no matter.
The mesmeric condition is so near death as to content me.
P. I wish you would explain yourself, Mr. Vankirk.
V. I am willing to do so, but it requires more effort than I feel
able to make. You do not question me properly.
P. What then shall I ask?
V. You must begin at the beginning.
P. The beginning! But where is the beginning?
V. You know that the beginning is GOD. [This was said in a low,
fluctuating tone, and with every sign of the most profound
veneration.]
P. What, then, is God?
V. [Hesitating for many minutes.] I cannot tell.
P. Is not God spirit?
V. While I was awake I knew what you meant by "spirit," but now it
seems only a word- such, for instance, as truth, beauty- a quality,
I mean.
P. Is not God immaterial?
V. There is no immateriality- it is a mere word. That which is not
matter, is not at all- unless qualities are things.
P. Is God, then, material?
V. No. [This reply startled me very much.]
P. What, then, is he?
V. [After a long pause, and mutteringly.
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