CHAPTER VII.
THE SPIRIT'S SECOND VISIT.
Accordingly, the next morning they concentrated their mindssimultaneously on the spirit, wishing with all their strengththat he should reappear.
"Whether he be far or near," said Ayrault, "he must feel that,for we are using the entire force of ourminds."
Shadows began to form, and dancing prismatic colours appeared,but as yet there was no sign of the deceased bishop, whensuddenly he took shape among them, his appearance anddisappearance being much like that of stereopticon views on thesheet before a lantern. He held himself erect, and histhoughtful, dignified face had the same calm expression it hadworn before.
"We attracted your attention," said Ayrault, "in the way you saidwe might, because we longed so to see you."
"Yes," added Bearwarden and Cortlandt, "we felt we MUST see youagain."
"I am always at your service," replied the spirit, "and willanswer your questions. With regard to my visibility andinvisibility"--he continued, with a smile, "for I will not waitfor you to ask the explanation of what is in your minds--it isvery simple. A man's soul can never die; a manifestation of thesoul is the spirit; this has entity, consciousness, and will, andthese also live forever. As in the natural or material life, asI shall call it, will affects the material first. Thus, a childhas power to move its hand or a material object, as a toy, beforeit can become the medium in a psychological seance. So it ishere. Before becoming visible to your eyes, I, by my will, drawcertain material substances in the form of gases from the ground,water, or air around me. These take any shape I wish--notnecessarily that of man, though it is more natural to appear aswe did on earth--and may absorb a portion of light, and so beable to cast a shadow or break up the white rays into prismaticcolours, or they may be wholly invisible. By an effort of thewill, then, I combine and condense these gases--which consistprincipally of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon--intoflesh, blood, water, or anything else. You have already learnedon earth that, by the application of heat, every solid and everyliquid substance, which is solid or liquid simply because of thetemperature at which you find it, can be expanded into gas orgases; and that by cold and pressure every gas can be reduced toa liquid or a solid. On earth the state of a substance, whethersolid, liquid, or gaseous, depends simply upon those twoconditions. Here neither thermal nor barometric changes arerequired, for, by mastering the new natural laws that at deathbecome patent to our senses, we have all the necessary control.It requires but an effort of my will to be almost instantlyclothed in human form, and but another effort to rearrange themolecules in such a way as to make the envelope visible. Somewho have been dead longer, or had a greater natural aptitude thanI, have advanced further, and all are learning; but thedifference in the rate at which spirits acquire control ofpreviously unknown natural laws varies far more than amongindividuals on earth.
"These forms of organic life do not disintegrate till afterdeath; here in the natural state they break down and dissolveinto their structural elements in full bloom, as was done by thefungi. The poisonous element in the deadly gust, against which Iwarned you, came from the gaseous ingredients of toadstools,which but seldom, and then only when the atmosphere has thegreatest affinity for them, dissolve automatically, producing adeath-spreading wave, against which your meteorologicalinstruments in future can warn you. The slight fall you noticedin temperature was because the specific heat of these gases ishigh, and to become gas while in the solid state they had towithdraw some warmth from the air. The fatal breath of thewinged lizards--or dragons, as you call them--results from thesame cause, the action of their digestion breaking up the fungus,which does not kill them, because they exhale the poisonous partin gaseous form with their breath. The mushrooms dissolve moreeasily; the natural separation that takes place as they reach acertain stage in their development being precipitated byconcussion or shock.
"Having seen that, as on earth, we gain control of the materialfirst, our acquisitiveness then extends to a better understandingand appreciation of our new senses, and we are continuallyfinding new objects of beauty, and new beauties in things wesupposed we already understood. We were accustomed on earth tothe marvellous variety that Nature produced from apparentlysimple means and presented to our very limited senses; here thereis an indescribably greater variety to be examined by vastlykeener senses. The souls in hell have an equally keen butdistorted counterpart of our senses, so that they see in amagnified form everything vile in themselves and in each other.To their senses only the ugly and hateful side is visible, sothat the beauty and perfume of a flower are to them as loathsomeas the appearance and fumes of a toadstool. As evolution and thetendency of everything to perpetuate itself and intensify itspeculiarities are invariable throughout the universe, theseunhappy souls and ourselves seem destined to diverge more andmore as time goes on; and while we constantly become happier asour capacity for happiness increases, their sharpening senseswill give them a worse and worse idea of each other, till theirmutual repugnance will know no bounds, and of everythingconcerning which they obtain knowledge through their senses.Thus these poor creatures seem to be the victims of circumstancesand the unalterable laws of fate, and were there such a thing asdeath, their misery would unquestionably finally break theirhearts. That there will be final forgiveness for the condemned,has long been a human hope; but as yet they have experiencednone, and there is no analogy for it in Nature.
"But while you have still your earthly bodies and theopportunities they give you of serving God, you need not beconcerned about hell; no one on earth, knowing how things reallyare, would ever again forsake His ways. The earthly state is themost precious opportunity of securing that for which a man wouldgive his all. Even from the most worldly point of view, a man isan unspeakable fool not to improve his talents and do good. Whatwould those in sheol not give now for but one day in the flesh onearth, of which you unappreciatives may still have so many? Thewell-used opportunities of even one hour might bring joy to thosein paradise forever, and greatly ease the lot of those in hell.In doing acts of philanthropy, however, you must remember thetext of the sermon the doctor of divinity preached to Craninerand Ridley just before they perished at the stake: 'Though Igive my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth menothing'--which shows that even good deeds must be performed inthe proper spirit.
"A new era is soon to dawn on earth. Notwithstanding your greatmaterial progress, the future will exceed all the past. Man willfind every substance's maximum use, thereby vastly increasing hiscomfort. Then, when advanced in science and reason, with thepower of his senses increased by the delicate instruments thatyou, as the forerunners of the coming man, are already learningto make, may he cease to be a groveller, like our progenitors thequadrupeds, and may his thoughts rise to his Creator, who hasbrought him to such heights through all the intricacies of theway. Your preparation for the life to come can also be greatlyaided by intercourse with those who have already died. When youreally want to associate spiritually with us, you can do so; for,though perhaps only one in a hundred million can, like me, soclothe himself as to be again visible to mortal eyes, many of uscould affect gelatine or extremely sensitive plates that wouldshow interruptions in the ultra-violet chemical rays that, likethe thermal red beyond the visible spectroscope, you know existthough you can neither see nor feel them. Spirits could notaffect the magnetic eye, because magnetism, though immaterialitself, is induced and affected only by a material substance.The impression on the plate, however, like the prismatic coloursyou have already noticed, can be produced by a slight rarefactionof the hydrogen in the air, so that, though no spirit could bephotographed as such, a code and language might be established bymeans of the effect produced on the air by the spirit's mind. Iam so interested in the subject of my disquisition that I hadalmost forgotten that your spirits are still subject to therequirements of the body. Last time I dined with you; let me nowplay the host."
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nbsp; "We shall be charmed to dine with you," said Ayrault, "and shallbe only too glad of anything that will keep you with us."
"Then," said the spirit, "as the tablecloth is laid, we need onlyto have something on it. Let each please hold a corner," hecontinued, taking one himself with his left hand, while he passedhis right to his brow. Soon flakes as of snow began to form inthe air above, and slowly descended upon the cloth; and, glancingup, the three men saw that for a considerable height this processwas going on, the flakes increasing in size as they fell tillthey attained a length of several inches. When there was enoughfor them all on the table-cloth the shower ceased. Sitting downon the ground, they began to eat this manna, which had adelicious flavour and marvellous purity and freshness.
"As you doubtless have already suspected," said the spirit, "thebasis of this in every case is carbon, combined with nitrogen inits solid form, and with the other gases the atmosphere herecontains. You may notice that the flakes vary in colour as wellas in taste, both of which are of course governed by the gas withwhich the carbon, also in its visible form, is combined. It isalmost the same process as that performed by every plant inwithdrawing carbon from the air and storing it in its trunk inthe form of wood, which, as charcoal, is again almost purecarbon, only in this case the metamorphosis is far more rapid.This is perhaps the natural law that Elijah, by God's aid,invoked in the miracle of the widow's cruse, and that producedthe manna that fed the Israelites in the desert; while apergycame in play in the case of the stream that Moses called from therock in the wilderness, which followed the descendants of Abrahamover the rough country through which they passed. In examiningmiracles with the utmost deference, as we have a right to, we seeone law running through all. Even in Christ's miracle ofchanging the water to wine, there was a natural law, though onlyone has dwelt on earth who could make that change, which, from achemist's standpoint, was peculiarly difficult on account of therequired fermentation, which is the result of a developed andmatured germ. Many of His miracles, however, are as far beyondmy small power as heaven is above the earth. Much of thesubstance of the loaves and fishes with which He fed themultitude--the carbon and nitrogenous products--also came fromthe air, though He could have taken them from many other sources.The combination and building up of these in the ordinary waywould have taken weeks or months, but was performedinstantaneously by His mighty power."
"What natural laws are known to you," asked Bearwarden, "that wedo not understand, or concerning the existence of which we areignorant?"
"Most of the laws in the invisible world," said the spirit, "arethe counterpart or extension of laws that appear on earth, thoughyou as yet understand but a small part of those, many not havingcome to your notice. You, for instance, know that light, heat,and motion are analogous, and either of the last two can beconverted into the other; but in practice you produce motion ofthe water molecules by the application of heat, and seldomreverse it. One of the first things we master here is the powerto freeze or boil water, by checking the motion of the moleculesin one case, and by increasing it, and their mutual repulsion, inthe other. This is by virtue of a simple law, though in thiscase there is no natural manifestation of it on earth with whichto compare it. While knowledge must be acquired here throughstudy, as on earth, the new senses we receive with the awakeningfrom death render the doing so easy, though with only the senseswe had before it would have been next to impossible.
"At this moment snow is falling on the Callisto; but this youcould not know by seeing, and scarcely any degree of evolutioncould develop your sight sufficiently, unassisted by death. Withyour instruments, however, you could already perceive it,notwithstanding the intervening rocks.
"Your research on earth is the best and most thorough in thehistory of the race; and could we but give you suggestions as tothe direction in which to push it, the difference betweenyourselves and angels might be but little more than that betweenthe number and intensity of the senses and the composition of thebody. By the combination of natural laws you have rid yourselvesof the impediment of material weight, and can roam through spacelike spirits, or as Columbus, by virtue of the confidence thatcame with the discovery of the mariner's compass, roamed upon andexplored the sea. You have made a good beginning, and were notyour lives so short, and their requirements so peremptory, youmight visit the distant stars.
"I will show you the working of evolution. Life sleeps inminerals, dreams in plants, and wakes in you. The rock worn byfrost and age crumbles to earth and soil. This enters thesubstance of the primordial plant, which, slowly rising; producesthe animal germ. After that the way is clear, and man is evolvedfrom protoplasm through the vertebrate and the ape. Here we havethe epitome of the struggle for life in the ages past, and theanalogue of the journey in the years to come. Does not theAlmighty Himself make this clear where He says through hisservant Isaiah, 'Behold of these stones will I raise upchildren'?--and the name Adam means red earth. God, havingbrought man so far, will not let evolution cease, and the nextstage of life must be the spiritual."
"Can you tell us anything," asked Ayrault, "concerning the bodiesthat those surviving the final judgment will receive?"
"Notwithstanding the unfolding of knowledge that has come to ushere," replied the spirit, "there are still some subjectsconcerning which we must look for information to the inspiredwriters in the Bible, and every gain or discovery goes to provetheir veracity. We know that there are celestial bodies andbodies terrestrial, and that the spiritual bodies we shallreceive in the resurrection will have power and will beincorruptible and immortal. We also know by analogy and reasonthat they will be unaffected by the cold and void of space, sothat their possessors can range through the universe fornon-nillions and decillions of miles, that they will havemarvellous capacities for enjoying what they find, and that noundertaking or journey will be too difficult, though it be to thecentre of the sun. Though many of us can already visit theremote regions of space as spirits, none can as yet see God; butwe know that as the sight we are to receive with our new bodiessharpens, the pure in heart will see Him, though He is still asinvisible to the eyes of the most developed here as the ether ofspace is to yours."
A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future Page 24