第76章 BOOK III.(16)

"But while you have still your earthly bodies and the opportunities they give you of serving God,you need not be concerned about hell;no one on earth,knowing how things really are,would ever again forsake His ways.The earthly state is the most precious opportunity of securing that for which a man would give his all.Even from the most worldly point of view,a man is an unspeakable fool not to improve his talents and do good.What would those in sheol not give now for but one day in the flesh on earth,of which you unappreciatives may still have so many?The well-used opportunities of even one hour might bring joy to those in paradise forever,and greatly ease the lot of those in hell.

In doing acts of philanthropy,however,you must remember the text of the sermon the doctor of divinity preached to Craniner and Ridley just before they perished at the stake:'Though Igive my body to be burned,and have not charity,it profiteth me nothing'--which shows that even good deeds must be performed in the proper spirit.

"A new era is soon to dawn on earth.Notwithstanding your great material progress,the future will exceed all the past.Man will find every substance's maximum use,thereby vastly increasing his comfort.Then,when advanced in science and reason,with the power of his senses increased by the delicate instruments that you,as the forerunners of the coming man,are already learning to make,may he cease to be a groveller,like our progenitors the quadrupeds,and may his thoughts rise to his Creator,who has brought him to such heights through all the intricacies of the way.Your preparation for the life to come can also be greatly aided by intercourse with those who have already died.When you really want to associate spiritually with us,you can do so;for,though perhaps only one in a hundred million can,like me,so clothe himself as to be again visible to mortal eyes,many of us could affect gelatine or extremely sensitive plates that would show interruptions in the ultra-violet chemical rays that,like the thermal red beyond the visible spectroscope,you know exist though you can neither see nor feel them.Spirits could not affect the magnetic eye,because magnetism,though immaterial itself,is induced and affected only by a material substance.

The impression on the plate,however,like the prismatic colours you have already noticed,can be produced by a slight rarefaction of the hydrogen in the air,so that,though no spirit could be photographed as such,a code and language might be established by means of the effect produced on the air by the spirit's mind.Iam so interested in the subject of my disquisition that I had almost forgotten that your spirits are still subject to the requirements of the body.Last time I dined with you;let me now play the host.""We shall be charmed to dine with you,"said Ayrault,"and shall be only too glad of anything that will keep you with us.""Then,"said the spirit,"as the tablecloth is laid,we need only to have something on it.Let each please hold a corner,"he continued,taking one himself with his left hand,while he passed his right to his brow.Soon flakes as of snow began to form in the air above,and slowly descended upon the cloth;and,glancing up,the three men saw that for a considerable height this process was going on,the flakes increasing in size as they fell till they attained a length of several inches.When there was enough for them all on the table-cloth the shower ceased.Sitting down on the ground,they began to eat this manna,which had a delicious flavour and marvellous purity and freshness.

"As you doubtless have already suspected,"said the spirit,"the basis of this in every case is carbon,combined with nitrogen in its solid form,and with the other gases the atmosphere here contains.You may notice that the flakes vary in colour as well as in taste,both of which are of course governed by the gas with which the carbon,also in its visible form,is combined.It is almost the same process as that performed by every plant in withdrawing carbon from the air and storing it in its trunk in the form of wood,which,as charcoal,is again almost pure carbon,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 produced the manna that fed the Israelites in the desert;while apergy came in play in the case of the stream that Moses called from the rock in the wilderness,which followed the descendants of Abraham over the rough country through which they passed.In examining miracles with the utmost deference,as we have a right to,we see one law running through all.Even in Christ's miracle of changing the water to wine,there was a natural law,though only one has dwelt on earth who could make that change,which,from a chemist's standpoint,was peculiarly difficult on account of the required fermentation,which is the result of a developed and matured germ.Many of His miracles,however,are as far beyond my small power as heaven is above the earth.Much of the substance of the loaves and fishes with which He fed the multitude--the carbon and nitrogenous products--also came from the air,though He could have taken them from many other sources.