A Journey in Other Worlds [106]
of heat, and seldom
reverse it. One of the first things we master here is the power
to freeze or boil water, by checking the motion of the molecules
in one case, and by increasing it, and their mutual repulsion, in
the other. This is by virtue of a simple law, though in this
case there is no natural manifestation of it on earth with which
to compare it. While knowledge must be acquired here through
study, as on earth, the new senses we receive with the awakening
from death render the doing so easy, though with only the senses
we had before it would have been next to impossible.
"At this moment snow is falling on the Callisto; but this you
could not know by seeing, and scarcely any degree of evolution
could develop your sight sufficiently, unassisted by death. With
your instruments, however, you could already perceive it,
notwithstanding the intervening rocks.
"Your research on earth is the best and most thorough in the
history of the race; and could we but give you suggestions as to
the direction in which to push it, the difference between
yourselves and angels might be but little more than that between
the number and intensity of the senses and the composition of the
body. By the combination of natural laws you have rid yourselves
of the impediment of material weight, and can roam through space
like spirits, or as Columbus, by virtue of the confidence that
came with the discovery of the mariner's compass, roamed upon and
explored the sea. You have made a good beginning, and were not
your lives so short, and their requirements so peremptory, you
might visit the distant stars.
"I will show you the working of evolution. Life sleeps in
minerals, dreams in plants, and wakes in you. The rock worn by
frost and age crumbles to earth and soil. This enters the
substance of the primordial plant, which, slowly rising; produces
the animal germ. After that the way is clear, and man is evolved
from protoplasm through the vertebrate and the ape. Here we have
the epitome of the struggle for life in the ages past, and the
analogue of the journey in the years to come. Does not the
Almighty Himself make this clear where He says through his
servant Isaiah, 'Behold of these stones will I raise up
children'?--and the name Adam means red earth. God, having
brought man so far, will not let evolution cease, and the next
stage of life must be the spiritual."
"Can you tell us anything," asked Ayrault, "concerning the bodies
that those surviving the final judgment will receive?"
"Notwithstanding the unfolding of knowledge that has come to us
here," replied the spirit, "there are still some subjects
concerning which we must look for information to the inspired
writers in the Bible, and every gain or discovery goes to prove
their veracity. We know that there are celestial bodies and
bodies terrestrial, and that the spiritual bodies we shall
receive in the resurrection will have power and will be
incorruptible and immortal. We also know by analogy and reason
that they will be unaffected by the cold and void of space, so
that their possessors can range through the universe for
non-nillions and decillions of miles, that they will have
marvellous capacities for enjoying what they find, and that no
undertaking or journey will be too difficult, though it be to the
centre of the sun. Though many of us can already visit the
remote regions of space as spirits, none can as yet see God; but
we know that as the sight we are to receive with our new bodies
sharpens, the pure in heart will see Him, though He is still as
invisible to the eyes of the most developed here as the ether of
space is to yours."
CHAPTER VIII.
CASSANDRA AND COSMOLOGY.
The water-jug being empty, Ayrault took it up, and, crossing the
ridge of a small hill, descended to a running-brook. He had
filled it, and was straightening himself, when the stone on which
he stood turned, and he might have fallen, had not the bishop, of
whose presence
reverse it. One of the first things we master here is the power
to freeze or boil water, by checking the motion of the molecules
in one case, and by increasing it, and their mutual repulsion, in
the other. This is by virtue of a simple law, though in this
case there is no natural manifestation of it on earth with which
to compare it. While knowledge must be acquired here through
study, as on earth, the new senses we receive with the awakening
from death render the doing so easy, though with only the senses
we had before it would have been next to impossible.
"At this moment snow is falling on the Callisto; but this you
could not know by seeing, and scarcely any degree of evolution
could develop your sight sufficiently, unassisted by death. With
your instruments, however, you could already perceive it,
notwithstanding the intervening rocks.
"Your research on earth is the best and most thorough in the
history of the race; and could we but give you suggestions as to
the direction in which to push it, the difference between
yourselves and angels might be but little more than that between
the number and intensity of the senses and the composition of the
body. By the combination of natural laws you have rid yourselves
of the impediment of material weight, and can roam through space
like spirits, or as Columbus, by virtue of the confidence that
came with the discovery of the mariner's compass, roamed upon and
explored the sea. You have made a good beginning, and were not
your lives so short, and their requirements so peremptory, you
might visit the distant stars.
"I will show you the working of evolution. Life sleeps in
minerals, dreams in plants, and wakes in you. The rock worn by
frost and age crumbles to earth and soil. This enters the
substance of the primordial plant, which, slowly rising; produces
the animal germ. After that the way is clear, and man is evolved
from protoplasm through the vertebrate and the ape. Here we have
the epitome of the struggle for life in the ages past, and the
analogue of the journey in the years to come. Does not the
Almighty Himself make this clear where He says through his
servant Isaiah, 'Behold of these stones will I raise up
children'?--and the name Adam means red earth. God, having
brought man so far, will not let evolution cease, and the next
stage of life must be the spiritual."
"Can you tell us anything," asked Ayrault, "concerning the bodies
that those surviving the final judgment will receive?"
"Notwithstanding the unfolding of knowledge that has come to us
here," replied the spirit, "there are still some subjects
concerning which we must look for information to the inspired
writers in the Bible, and every gain or discovery goes to prove
their veracity. We know that there are celestial bodies and
bodies terrestrial, and that the spiritual bodies we shall
receive in the resurrection will have power and will be
incorruptible and immortal. We also know by analogy and reason
that they will be unaffected by the cold and void of space, so
that their possessors can range through the universe for
non-nillions and decillions of miles, that they will have
marvellous capacities for enjoying what they find, and that no
undertaking or journey will be too difficult, though it be to the
centre of the sun. Though many of us can already visit the
remote regions of space as spirits, none can as yet see God; but
we know that as the sight we are to receive with our new bodies
sharpens, the pure in heart will see Him, though He is still as
invisible to the eyes of the most developed here as the ether of
space is to yours."
CHAPTER VIII.
CASSANDRA AND COSMOLOGY.
The water-jug being empty, Ayrault took it up, and, crossing the
ridge of a small hill, descended to a running-brook. He had
filled it, and was straightening himself, when the stone on which
he stood turned, and he might have fallen, had not the bishop, of
whose presence