A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future

by John Jacob Astor

  CHAPTER IX.

  DOCTOR CORTLANDT SEES HIS GRAVE.

  "Is it not distasteful to you," Cortlandt asked, "to live so nearthese loathsome dragons?"

  "Not in the least," replied the spirit. "They affect us no morethan the smallest micro-organism, for we see both with equalclearness. Since we are not obliged to breathe, they cannotinjure us; and, besides, they serve to illustrate the working ofGod's laws, and there is beauty in everything for those that havethe senses required for perceiving it. A feature of thespiritual world is, that it does not interfere with the natural,and the natural, except through faith, is not aware of itspresence."

  "Then why," asked Cortlandt, "was it necessary for the Almightyto bring your souls to Saturn, since there would have been noovercrowding if you had remained on the earth?"

  "That," replied the spirit, "was part of His wisdom; for thespirit, being able at once to look back into the natural world,if in it, would be troubled at the mistakes and tribulations ofhis friends. Now, as a rule, before a spirit can return toearth, his or her relatives and friends have also died; or, if hecan return before that happens, he is so advanced that he seesthe ulterior purpose, and therefore the wisdom of God's ways, andis not distressed thereby. Lastly, as their expanding sensesgrew, it would be painful for the blessed and condemned spiritsto be together. Therefore we are brought here, where God revealsHimself to us more and more, and the flight of the othersouls--those unhappy ones--does not cease till they reachCassandra."

  "Can the souls on Cassandra also leave it in time and roam atwill?" asked Cortlandt.

  "I have seen none of them myself in my journeys to other planets;but as the sun shines upon the just and the unjust, and there isno exception to Nature's laws, I can reply that in time they do,and with equal powers their incentive to roam would be greater;for we are drawn together by common sympathy and pure, requitedlove, while they are mutually repelled. Of course, some obtain ameasure of freedom before the rest, and these naturally roam thefarthest, and the more they see and the farther they go, thestronger becomes their abhorrence for everything they meet."

  "Cannot you spirits help us, and the mortals now on earth, toescape this fate?"

  "The greatest hope for your bodies and souls lies in thecommunion with those that have passed through death; for theleast of them can tell you more than the wisest man on earth; andcould you all come or send representatives to the multitudes herewho cannot as yet return to you, but few on earth would be soquixotically sinful as to refuse our advice. Since, however, thegreatest good comes to men from the learning that they make aneffort to secure, it is for you to strive to reach us, who canact as go-betweens from God to you."

  "It seems to me," said Bearwarden, "that people are better nowthan formerly. The sin of idolatry, for instance, hasdisappeared--has it not?"

  "Men still set up idols of wealth, passion, or ambition in theirhearts. These they worship as in days gone by, only the form haschanged."

  "Could the souls on Cassandra do us bodily or mental injury, ifwe could ever reach their planet?" asked Bearwarden.

  "They might oppress and distress you, but your faith wouldprotect you wherever you might go."

  "Can you give us a taste of your sense of prescience?" askedBearwarden again; "for, since it is not clear in what degree thecondemned receive this, and neither is it by any means sure thatI shall be saved, I should like for once in my history toexperience this sense of divinity, before my entity ends instone."

  "I will transfer to you my sense of prescience," replied thespirit, "that you may foresee as prophets have. In so doing, Ishall but anticipate, since you will yourselves in time obtainthis sense in a greater or less degree. Is there any event inthe future you would like to see, in order that, when the visionis fulfilled, it may tend to stablish your faith?"

  "Since I am the oldest," replied the doctor, "and shall probablydie before my friends, reveal to us, I pray you, the manner of mydeath and the events immediately following. This may prove anobject-lesson to them, and will greatly interest me."

  "Your death will be caused by blood-poisoning, brought on by anaccident," began the spirit. "Some daybreak will find you weak,after a troubled night, with your bodily resources at a low ebb.Sunset will see you weaker, with your power of resistance almostgone. Midnight will find you weaker still, and but littleremoved from the point of death. A few hours later a kind handwill close the lids of your half-shut eyes, which never againwill behold the light. The coffin will inclose your body, andthe last earthly journey begin. Now," the spirit continued, "youshall all use my sight instead of your own."

  The walls of the cave seemed to expand, till they resembled thoseof a great cathedral, while the stalactites appeared to bemetamorphosed into Gothic columns. They found themselves among alarge congregation that had come to attend the last sad rites,while the great organ played Chopin's "Funeral March." The highvault and arches received the organ's tone, and a sombre lightpervaded the interior. There was a slight flutter and a craningof necks among those in the pews, as the procession began toascend the aisle. While the slow step of the pallbearers andthose carrying the coffin sounded on the stone floor, the clearvoice of the clergyman that headed the procession sounded thesewords through the cathedral: "I know that my Redeemer liveth,and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." Asthe bier advanced, Bearwarden and Ayrault recognized themselvesamong the pallbearers--the former with grey mustache and hair,the latter considerably aged. The hermetically sealed leadcoffin was inclosed in a wooden case, and the whole was drapedand covered with flowers.

  "Oh, my faith!" cried Cortlandt, "I see my face within, yet it isbut a decomposing mass that I once described as I."

  Then again did the minister's voice proclaim, "I am theresurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that believeth inme, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever livethand believeth in me shall never die."

  The bearers gently set down their burden; the minister read theever-impressive chapter of St. Paul to the Corinthians; a bishopsolemnly and silently sprinkled earth on the coffin; and thechoir sang the 398th hymn, beginning with the words, "Hark, harkmy soul! angelic songs are swelling," which had always beenCortlandt's favourite and the service was at an end. The bearersagain shouldered all that was left of Henry Cortlandt, and hisrelatives accompanied this to the cemetery.

  Then came a sweeping change of scene. A host of monuments andgravestones reflected the sunlight, while a broad river ebbed andflowed between high banks. A sexton and a watchman stood by agranite vault, the heavy door of which they had opened with alarge key. Hard by were some gardeners and labourers, and also acrowd of curiosity-seekers who had come to witness the last sadrites. Presently a funeral procession appeared. The hearsestopped near the open vault, over the door of which stood out thename of CORTLANDT, and the accompanying minister said a shortprayer, while all present uncovered their heads. After this thecoffin was borne within and set at rest upon a slab, among manygenerations of Cortlandts. In the hearts of the relatives andfriends was genuine sorrow, but the curiosity-seekers went theirway and gave little thought. "To-morrow will be like to-day,"they said, "and more great men will die."

  Then came another change of scene, though it was comparativelyslight. The sun slowly sank beyond the farther bank of the broadriver, and the moon and stars shone softly on the gravestones andcrosses. Two gardeners smoked their short clay pipes on a benchbefore the Cortlandt vault, and talked in a slow manner.

  "He was a great man," said one, "and if his soul blooms like theflowers on his grave, he must be in paradise, which we know is afiner park than this."

  "He was expert for the Government when the earth's axis was setright," said the second gardener, "and he must have been ascholar, for his calculations have all come true. He was one ofthe first three men to visit the other planets, while theobituaries in the papers say his history will be read hereafterlike the books of Caesar
. After burying all these great people,I sometimes wish I could do the same for myself, for the people Ibury seem to be remembered." After this they relapsed into theirmeditations, the silence being broken only by an occasionalmurmur from the river's steady flow.

  Hereupon the voyagers found they were once more in the cave. Thefire had burned low, and the dawn was already in the east.Cortlandt wiped his forehead, shivered, and looked extremelypale.

  "Thank Heaven," he cried, "we cannot ordinarily foresee our end;for but few would attain their predestined ending could they seeit in advance. May the veil not again be raised, lest I faintbefore it! I looked in vain for my soul," he continued, "butcould see it nowhere."

  "The souls of those dying young," replied the spirit, "sometimeswish to hover near their ashes as if regretting an unfinishedlife, or the opportunities that have departed; but those dyingafter middle age are usually glad to be free from their bodies,and seldom think of them again."

  "I shall append the lines now in my head to my history," saidCortlandt, "that where it goes they may go also. They canscarcely fail to be instructive as the conclusions of a man whohas seen beyond his grave." Whereupon be wrote a stanza in hisnote-book, and closed it without showing his companions what hehad written.

  "May they do all the good you hope, and much more!" replied thespirit, "for the reward in the resurrection morning will vastlyexceed all your labours now.

  "O, my friends," the spirit continued most earnestly, addressingthe three, "are you prepared for your death-beds? When your eyesglaze in their last sleep, and you lose that temporal world andwhat you perhaps considered all, as in a haze, your dim visionwill then be displaced by the true creation that will be eternal.Your unattained ambitions, your hopes, and your ideals will beswallowed in the grave. Your works will secure you a place inhistory, and many will remember your names until, in time,oblivion covers your memory as the grass conceals your tombs.Are you prepared for the time when your eyes become blind, andyour trusted senses fail? Your sorrowing friends will mourn, andthe flags of your clubs will fly at half-mast, but no earthlything can help you then. In what condition will the resurrectionmorning find you, when your sins of neglect and commission pleadfor vengeance, as Abel's blood from the ground? After that therecan be no change. The classification, as I have already toldyou, is now going on; it will then be finished."

  "We are the most utterly wretched sinners!" cried Ayrault. "Showus how we can be saved."

  "As an inhabitant of spirit-land, I will give you worldlycounsel," replied the bishop. "During my earthly administration,as I told you, people came from far to hear me preach. This wasbecause I had eloquence and earnestness, both gifts of God. ButI was a miserably weak sinner myself. That which I would, I didnot, and that which I would not that I did; and I often prayed mycongregation to follow my sermons rather than my ways. I seemedto do my followers good, and Daniel thus commends my way in hislast chapter: 'They that turn many to righteousness shall shineas the stars forever and ever,' and the explanation is clear.There is no surer way of learning than trying to teach. Inteaching my several flocks I was also improved myself. I wassown in weakness, but was raised in power, strength being madeperfect in weakness. Therefore improve your fellows, thoughyourself you cannot raise. The knowledge that you have sent manysouls to heaven, though you are yourself a castaway, will giveyou unspeakable joy, and place you in heaven wherever you may be.Yet remember this: none of us can win heaven; salvation is thegift of God. I have said as much now as you can remember.Farewell. Improve time while you can. Fear God and keep Hiscommandments. This is the whole duty of man."

  So saying, the spirit vanished in a cloud that for atime emitted light.

  "I am not surprised," said Bearwarden, "that people took longjourneys to hear him. I would do so myself."

  "I have never had much fear of death," said Cortlandt, "but themere thought of it now makes my knees shake, and fills my heartwith dread. I thought I saw the most hateful forms about mycoffin, and imagined that they might be the personification ofdoubt, coldness, and my other shortcomings, which had comeperhaps from sympathy, in invisible form. I was almost afraid toask the spirit for the explanation."

  "I saw them also," replied Bearwarden, "but took them to beswarms of microbes waiting to destroy your body, or perhapstrying in vain to penetrate your hermetically sealed coffin."

  Cortlandt seemed much upset, and spent the rest of the day inwriting out the facts and trying to assign a cause. Towardsevening Bearwarden, who had recovered his spirits, preparedsupper, after which they sat in the entrance to the cave.