第81章 BOOK III.(21)

"But you men of finite understanding will ask,as I myself should have asked,How,by the law of hydrostatics,can liquids flow on a plane?Remember that,though these divisions are astronomical or geometrical planes,their surfaces undulate;but the moving cause is this:At the centre of these planes is a pole,the analogue,we will say,of the magnetic pole on earth,that has a more effective attraction for a gas than for a liquid.When liquids approach the periphery of the circle,the rapid rotation and decreased pressure cause them to break up,whereupon the elementary gases return to the centre in the atmosphere,if near the surface,forming a gentle breeze.On nearing the centre,the cause of the separation being removed,the gases reunite to form a liquid,and the centrifugal force again sends this on its journey.""Is there no way,"asked Bearwarden,"by which a man may retrieve himself,if he has lost or misused his opportunities on earth?""The way a man lays up treasures in heaven,when on earth,"replied the spirit,"is by gladly doing something for some one else,usually in some form sacrificing self.In hell no one can do anything for any one else,because every one can have the semblance of anything he wishes by merely concentrating his mind upon it,though,when he has it,it is but a shadow and gives him no pleasure.Thus no one can give any one else anything he cannot obtain himself;and if he could,since it would be no sacrifice on his part,he would derive no great moral comfort from it.Neither can any one comfort any one else by putting his acts or offences in a new light,for every one knows the whole truth about himself and everybody else,so that nothing can be made to appear favourably or unfavourably.All this,however,is supposing there is the desire to be kind;but how can spirits that were selfish and ill-disposed on earth,where there are so many softening influences,have good inclinations in hell,where they loathe one another with constantly increasing strength?

"Inasmuch as both the good and the bad continue on the lines on which they started when on earth,we are continually drawing nearer to God,while they are departing.The gulf may be only one of feeling,but that is enough.It follows,then,that with God as our limit,which we of course can never reach,their limit,in the geometrical sense,must be total separation from Him.Though all spirits,we are told,live forever,it occurs to me that in God's mercy there may be a gradual end;for though to the happy souls in heaven a thousand years may seem as nothing,existence in hell must drag along with leaden limbs,and a single hour seem like a lifetime of regret.Since it is dreadful to think that such unsoothed anguish should continue forever,I have often pondered whether it might not be that,by a form of involution and reversal of the past law,the spirit that came to life evolved from the,mineral,plant,and animal worlds,may mercifully retrace its steps one by one,till finally the soul shall penetrate the solid rock and hide itself by becoming part of the planet.Many people in my day believed that after death their souls would enter stately trees,and spread abroad great branches,dropping dead leaves over the places on which they had stood while on earth.This might be the last step in the awful tragedy of the fall and involution of a human soul.In this way,those who had wasted the priceless opportunities given them by God might be mercifully obliterated,for it seems as if they would not be needed in the economy of the universe.The Bible,however,mentions no such end,and says unmistakably that hell will last forever;so that in this supposition,as in many others,the wish is probably father of the thought.""But,"persisted Bearwarden,"how about death-bed repentances?""Those,"replied the spirit,"are few and far between.The pains of death at the last hour leave but little room for aught but vain regret.A man dies suddenly,or may be unconscious some time before the end.But they do occur.The question is,How much credit is it to be good when you can do no more harm?The time to resist evil and do that which is right is while the temptation is on and in its strength.While life lasts there is hope,but the books are sealed by death.The tree must fall to one side or the other--there is no middle ground--and as the tree falleth,so it lieth.

"This,however,is a gloomy subject,and one that in your heart of hearts you understand.I would rather tell you more of the beauties and splendours of space--of the orange,red,and blue stars,and of the tremendous cyclonic movements going on within them,which are even more violent than the storms that rage in the sun.The clouds,as the spectroscope has already shown,consist of iron,gold,and platinum in the form of vapour,while the openings revealed by sun-spots,or rather star-spots,are so tremendous that a comparatively small one would contain many dozen such globes as the earth.I could tell you also of the mysteries of the great dark companions of some of the stars,and of the stars that are themselves dark and cold,with naught but the faraway constellations to cheer them,on which night reigns eternally,and that far outnumber the stars you can see.Also of the multiplicity of sex and extraordinary forms of life that exist there,though on none of them are there mortal men like those on the earth.