Books: Mr. World and Miss Church Member
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W. S. Harris >> Mr. World and Miss Church Member
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"Twice have I yielded to you since we entered into companionship. You
well remember the solemn promise you made, but at each time you deferred
its fulfillment, and now I must again hear your vain excuses. I have
suffered much for your sake, and have now the enmity of many a former
friend, and even my pilgrim robe is becoming stained with the filth
of this way."
"Come, come, my friend, be a woman and not a sickly suppliant. The
portion of the King's Highway which we would reach from this point is
too rough for my feet to travel. We will shortly come to a more
convenient place; then I can think more seriously of leaving this way."
"Ah!" sighed Miss Church-Member, "you say that in your folly. I can
testify, from knowledge, that the way is most delightful and leads to
mansions incorruptible in the Celestial City." "Let us cease debating,"
interrupted Mr. World, with ill-concealed impatience. "If you have
sacrificed so much through my fellowship and imagine that you can find
better company, you may leave, but you cannot expect me to accompany
you on so thorny and rough a path as this which you have so foolishly
proposed."
Strengthened by the remnants of Christian virtue yet within her, she
sprang to her feet and was about to execute her noble purpose of leaving
him. But a number of Mr. World's friends quickly rallied and
complimented Miss Church-Member on the good she had already done. "Mr.
World is a better man since he has known you," said one. "If you will
continue walking with him on his own level, no one can estimate the
amount of good you will yet do for him," hopefully spoke another.
These unexpected testimonies aroused anew her missionary spirit and
changed her thoughts to these yielding sentences:
"No sacrifice is too great, if victory but comes at last. If there is
hope that Mr. World will cease deceiving me and walk in the path of
truth, I will consent to be his companion still a little farther."
"There is every hope of that," smilingly returned Mr. World as he
suavely bowed to her and to the little group of companions who had
given him such timely help.
As I saw Mr. World and Miss Church-Member moving on, in closer
fellowship than ever, I waxed warm with indignation, and addressed
Blackana who was still lying at my side as motionless as the strata
of the rock-ribbed earth:
"Will you explain to me this folly of Miss Church-Member, who has not
only disgraced her cause before the fiendish Mr. World, but who also
continues with him in such unseemly intimacy?"
"Miss Church-Member is not walking in folly. She is engaged in a noble
work, endeavoring to elevate Mr. World to a higher Christian life,"
was the answer from the lips of Blackana in a low, heavy voice.
"Ah," said I, with a feeling of suspicion, "she is shining from the
wrong lighthouse. The rays of truth will never reach him as long as
she is in that position.
"Perhaps they might in a miraculous way," suggested Blackana.
"No good miracle is ever done in the steps of the Devil or in his
dominions," I answered with boldness.
Then did Blackana enlarge himself, and as he replied he looked down
upon me significantly. "O puny mortal, instruct me not in the miracles
of my master. More great things are done under the canopies of Hell
than mortals ever know."
At first I was filled with alarm, but under the voice of One invisible
I rose as with superhuman strength, and I looked at him unflinchingly.
"O horrible creature! I fear you not in any of your passions. You would
even destroy me if you could, but you are forever restrained by the
Power that holds authority over all!"
There was a sudden rustling, unlike anything I had ever heard. The
uncanny creature dashed toward me in his awful fury. But I moved not,
neither was I touched. Then I stretched forth my hand and commanded
him, in the name of One who is supreme, to cease his foolish ragings,
else would he be instantly flung through the wastes of Hell.
Blackana, knowing his limit, as all foul fiends do, dared to venture
no further in his rage, but calmed himself and, with unexpected
civility, he addressed me. He told me, in close detail, how Mr. World,
by his binding promises to his companion, had played the part of folly
rather than Miss Church-Member who did nothing more than enter upon
a more convenient and a Broader Way to heaven, and that, too, in good
company.
"And what think you,--will Mr. World ever fulfill his binding promises?"
"Do not doubt it, sir. Mr. World is an honorable gentleman. His promises
are always fulfilled.
"A lie! A lie! Can you not speak the truth?"
Again he was about to rise into terrible proportions when a great hand
moved the door on its hinges. Blackana, interpreting that movement
better than I, continued in dread restraint. I looked again upon the
Broad Highway, and saw how Mr. World had so completely won the
confidence of Miss Church-Member that she now frequently expressed her
sense of obligation to him, and declared that he was not so mean a
fellow as some alleged, and as she had been inclined to believe.
"Pray, tell me who seeks to injure my good reputation?" he courteously
asked.
"It has long been current talk on the King's Highway that you are
deceitful and treacherous, and that you aim to lead people to ruin.
You well know that I hoped, by mutual association, to win you to a
better path. I find, even after some painful errors on my part, that
you are not so much in need of reformation as I imagined. You are a
very considerate and clever fellow, doubtless under the sway of a moral
evolution, and whether I stay with you, or you go with me, it is now,
to my mind, quite evident that you will soon reach a perfect condition."
The wily Mr. World chuckled. "You are newly endowed with the gift of
a wisdom whose inward glory has lent its brightness to your eye, and
has given savor to your very words. If you continue in your present
state of liberality and broad-mindedness, you will not only share all
that I possess, but will wear a crown set with gems of truth."
CHAPTER III.
THE DEVIL'S OPTICAL COLLEGE.
1. The college described.
2. Mr. World and Miss Church-Member have their eyes examined, and Miss
Church-Member is supplied with lenses which warp her spiritual vision.
3. The allegory shows how Satan supplies every conceivable kind of
lenses to suit the people of the world and the church.
4. Blackana, with deceptive words, attempts to defend Satan's course.
This institution of Satan has been in operation since the creation of
man, having been remodeled as often as advancement in style or skill
demanded.
Each one of the fourteen massive buildings was a gem of architectural
beauty, and was devoted to a special line of study or practice. The
entire group worked harmoniously toward the same end.
In the course of their journey Mr. World and Miss Church-Member drew
nigh to this great college, but the shrewd and wicked Mr. World remained
silent, waiting for the first words of his companion. Miss
Church-Member, however, as she looked upon the stupendous edifices,
was so filled with wonder and admiration at the long stretches of
masonry, and the perfect symmetry of parts, that she offered no comment
until they were quite near the first building.
"For what purpose is this group of great structures used?" were her
words that broke the brief silence.
"All for the sake of the eyes," he carelessly answered, as he called
her attention to the King's Highway and the throngs of people that
were admiring and entering the college from those parts.
"It is indeed wonderful," she commented, "that so small a thing as the
eye should demand the service of such great edifices."
"The buildings are not too large nor too well equipped. Your surprise
would not be so great were you to witness the large number from the
two great highways that come here daily for treatment. You can see
them now moving by thousands to and from the buildings. It might be
wise for us to enter for consultation. My eyes, at least, may need
some expert attention."
She, being anxious to see the interior of at least one of the buildings,
offered no objection to his shrewd suggestion.
The building was so easy of access that there was not one step to
climb. An electric elevator served to carry them to the sixty-fourth
floor which formed a part of the huge dome into which the upper portion
of the great structure converged. This style of architecture not only
added to the beauty of the appearance, but also proved to be perfectly
adapted to the uses of the college.
The confidence of Miss Church-Member was fully won by the appearance
of the interior and the courteous attention she received from the
managers.
The consulting physician examined the eyes of Mr. World, then
congratulated him upon the clear vision he enjoyed, and informed him
that his eyes required no immediate treatment.
Turning to one side, Mr. World whispered to his companion: "While we
are here you had better improve this opportunity and also get the
benefit of an expert opinion."
"I have not come prepared financially," she blushingly and faintly
replied. "I did not even dream of seeking the service of a specialist."
"That obstacle is easily overcome, for the examination is free, and
if you should need further attention and would wish to receive it, I
would deem it only a great pleasure to bear all the expenses."
After a brief, thoughtful silence she consented to the preliminary
examination. "Will you examine the eyes of my friend?" requested Mr.
World as he stepped toward the chief oculist.
The expert accordingly tested her sight. First he held up, at a
distance, the "Delusion of the New Jerusalem," but she was totally
blind to it. Then he submitted the "Deceptions of the Holy Bible" of
which she could again see nothing.
"Look through these windows to the Broad Highway, far out into the
distance over rolling stretches of country. Can you see the gates of
Heaven, at the end of the way?"
Miss Church-Member looked carefully, but declared that she could not
see anything that appeared like Heaven or the gates thereof.
"Can you see that place called 'Perfect Peace' along the Broad Highway,"
continued the oculist as he pointed to a far-off region.
"I can see nothing that looks like it," she honestly confessed, quite
surprised to discover the existence of these apparent defects of her
vision.
"A very sad and extreme case," murmured the examiner as he requested
her to open her Bible.
"Can you see, in that book, that all people shall be saved, and none
perish?"
"I am surely blind to that and always have been," she readily admitted
with a little more boldness.
"Perhaps you can see the justice of God in punishing the sinner?" he
continued with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
"Plainly visible."
"So I expected."
He then proceeded to a more minute examination, after which he wrote
a brief diagnosis and commended her to a specialist in the next
building.
She hesitated somewhat, but Mr. World, handing her, confidentially,
a handsome sum of yellow coin from his bag of gold, brought words of
deep thankfulness from her lips, and gave decision to her steps in the
direction he desired.
From the great dome they were taken in a closed car over the high
suspension bridge to the adjoining building which was of still greater
magnitude.
The room into which they entered, at such a dizzy height, surpassed,
in its unique arrangement, anything of the kind that they had thus far
seen. In long and high glass cases lay all the modern appliances used
by the most skillful hands. The furnishings blended harmoniously with
the general environments. All this won the utter confidence of the new
and unsuspecting visitor. "With pleasure," politely began Mr. World,
"I present my friend, Miss Church-Member, who comes hither with
defective eyes and a duly subscribed diagnosis from the chief of the
oculists."
The specialist whom he thus addressed made an additional examination,
plying his craft with all the ingenuity he had learned from his master.
At the conclusion he delivered himself in this wise:
"I find, Miss Church-Member, that your eyes are very much out of order.
A complex case, indeed. I have discovered ametropia in the particular
form of irregular astigmatism. The pupil, covered by the unabsorbed
remains of the pupillary membrane, is occluded by a deposition of
inflammatory substance, occasioned by inflammation of the ciliary body.
"I have also noticed a severe type of hemianopsia, which, I presume,
had its origin in congeniture. Minor defects are also apparent, but
it is unnecessary for me to give further details,"
Miss Church-Member could not refrain from weeping bitterly at this sad
announcement. "Is it possible to effect a cure?" she sobbed.
"Ah! you need not thus lament," said the specialist in a tone of
sympathy. "Millions have been altogether cured whose eyes were more
diseased than are yours. Forget your tears and be at perfect peace.
Calmly confide in our skill."
She consented to their method, and was first subjected to a course of
preliminary treatment. Many an hour she lay while her eyes were covered
with cloths saturated with strange liquids. And when her eyes were
uncovered she was compelled to sit in darkness, for the physician told
her that her eyes had already suffered much on account of light. At
times the pain was well nigh intolerable, but she endured it all
heroically, hoping to gain thereby the boon of a complete cure.
After this preparatory work one who was skilled in the best methods
of the age performed the operation, and Miss Church-Member was comforted
by the assurance that her eyes would be fitted with special lenses,
and soon she could again behold the natural light of day.
Mr. World was busily engaged during the treatment of Miss Church-
Member, but he came repeatedly to her side and spoke words of cheer
and urged her strict obedience to all directions.
Finally her new lenses were pub to service, and Mr. World proffered
his compliments profusely until the first impulses of vanity moved
within her. _To be admired, on account of her appearance, seemed never
so attractive as now!_
What a new world opened to her view! She looked down upon the Broad
Highway with a degree of pleasure hitherto unsuspected, and also upon
the King's Highway, but only to see that the path was indeed a rough
one and beset with trials and difficulties which, to her mind, now
seemed unnecessary to a Christian life.
In the same manner I looked into all the apartments of each building,
and was astonished at the presence of so large a number from the King's
Highway, and a still greater throng from the way of the world.
"O Blackana!" I cried, "how long will this continue? Is there no end
to deception? With such a changed view of things, how can Miss
Church-Member crave for the King's Highway or urge Mr. World thither?"
"Miss Church-Member will be happier where she is," answered my uncanny
companion as he grinned horribly. "By the aid of her glasses she can
both see and enjoy the wonderful scenes along the way." I knew that
Blackana was covering the truth, but hesitated to insinuate as much.
"Can you explain," I questioned in a half hopeful mood, "how those
specialists can do their deceptive work so brazenly? Poor Miss
Church-Member, deluded and defrauded, now stumbles rapidly onward with
the fiendish Mr. World. Tell me, O agent of the Devil, do those
creatures find delight in such horrible deeds?"
"It is not a matter of pleasure or delight with them, but rather one
of loyalty to their king, whom you call 'Devil.' To serve him poorly
means a more bitter hell, but to serve him well brings honor from his
hand."
"But such honor!" I exclaimed, and then said: "I observe that Miss
Church-Member wears colored lenses--tell me the meaning of this; and
you, Blackana, hereafter deal no more in falsehood with me!" I demanded.
Blackana shifted his position, and with marked reluctance proceeded
to answer:
"The Devil, my master, uses in his work all imaginable kinds of glasses,
invented in the Wizard City. Every conceivable shade of color is made,
each for its particular use. Through his agents Satan selects the lens
for the patient's eye, and if it is worn as selected and directed, he
has won a decisive victory."
"Foul and fiendish plots of Hell," I involuntarily muttered; but
Blackana listened in silence.
CHAPTER IV.
SATAN INTERPRETING SCRIPTURE.
1. Mr. World and Miss Church-Member now take an easier method of
traveling, for they ride on a strange vehicle down the gravity road.
2. Miss Church-Member reads her Bible by the aid of her new glasses.
3. She is assisted in understanding it by a minion of Satan who comes
robed as an angel of light.
4. Her glasses enable her to distinguish between the inspired and the
uninspired parts of the Bible; for this ability she is highly
complimented.
The Broad Highway, after leaving the Optical College, was especially
hard to travel. Here Mr. World secured a fashionable vehicle propelled
by some secret force. Into this carriage he assisted Miss Church-Member,
and each was delighted with the smooth descent down the gravity road.
"This is delightful traveling," she said, as she reclined upon the
luxurious cushions of the conveyance. Aided by her new glasses she
enjoyed the scenery along the way more than ever. "I am glad you
appreciate it," he smilingly returned. "According to my notion, riding
is indeed preferable to walking. From these elevated carriages one can
witness so much more of the world, and can also with more distinctness
see the King's Highway with its trudging pilgrims seemingly unconscious
of this better mode of travel."
Miss Church-Member took a mere casual glance at the Old Path and her
former associates, and seemed to feel thankful that she had risen from
bigotry to a more charitable view of things.
Her Bible, although closed altogether too long, had never been
surrendered. But she had received strict orders not to read it until
her eyes were fully adjusted to the new lenses.
Now, however, she opened it and was reading it under the new light,
lifting her eyes at close intervals so as to miss nothing of beauty
or interest along this way of the world.
Mr. World observed her careless manner,--how she turned from chapter
to chapter in brief succession and fixed but little attention on any
particular portion.
"I would urge you," he kindly advised, "that if you feel aught of
headache or heartache, through excessive reading, to close the book
at once."
[Illustration: Miss Church-member was reading the Bible to her companion
when there appeared to them an interpreter who was like unto an angel
of light.]
She made no reply, but to his surprise was now deeply engaged in the
perusal of the seventh chapter of Matthew.
"I have heard that some parts of that book are very interesting," he
said in his good natured way. "Will you not read aloud to me?"
With a return of the old passion for his conversion she gladly complied
and read the whole chapter while they continued gliding smoothly along.
An interesting discussion ensued, during the course of which there
joined them one who was like unto an angel of light.
After hearing his smooth sentences of general Bible-knowledge, Miss
Church-Member exclaimed: "Who art thou, and how didst thou gain so
great a knowledge of this Book?"
"I am but a harmless creature of the air, going whither I will. I have
studied that Book through all the changes of time and understand every
part of it. I would, even now, make any sentence as clear as light to
thee."
"And thinkest thou that this part is true?" hopefully asked Miss
Church-Member as she raised the open Bible and pointed to the chapter
she had just read.
"Every sentence is true, but in reading it there is grave danger of
misapprehension. Didst thou have difficulty with any particular part
of the chapter?"
"With verses thirteen and fourteen," she replied.
The angelic interpreter then read them in a fine resonant voice.
"'Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
hereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth
unto life, and few there be that find it.'"
"If these words are really true," quickly commented Miss Church-Member,
"we must be traveling in the wrong way. Does it not appear so?" she
queried, as she looked with increasing interest at the angelic being.
"Naturally it does," he shrewdly answered, "especially if you look
merely at the surface of the text; but the pearls of truth lie deeper."
"I well know that the King's Highway is called the 'Narrow Way' and
this, whereon we journey, the 'Broad Way.' Surely this part of Scripture
is against us," insisted Miss Church-Member, as her countenance grew
more troubled.
"Thou needst not stumble at such easy Scripture; behold, the meaning
is quite clear! They who travel on the so-called King's Highway are
continually exaggerating the _merits_ of the way, thereby making it
appear greater and broader than it really is. They go so far as to
claim that the way is broad enough to accommodate all the people of
the world, were they minded to travel thereon. Therefore those who
thus make the way broad by their own conceits will meet with
destruction. This is the meaning of verse thirteen."
"It is certain, according to verse fourteen, that we have a strait
gate, and none, on this road, imagine or claim that the way is broader
than it is; so we are credited with having it called 'narrow,' for it
is as narrow as we claim it to be."
"Notwithstanding your explanation and the relief these glasses have
given me, my conscience is still troubled, and methinks I hear a voice
from this Bible chiding me. This is the chief barrier to my real
happiness," she boldly confessed.
"Thou shouldst not dwell in fear," spoke the shining adviser. "Do not
allow the errors of any false teaching to mar the peace and happiness
of this way. Bid farewell to all thy inward doubting, and taste the
imperishable sweetness of the world, turning a deaf ear to the voice
that chides thee unkindly."
"But the voice comes from my Bible," she tremblingly declared.
"Truly said, Miss Church-Member; it comes far enough _from_ the Bible.
Why not listen to the voice that is the Bible. Thou art in harmony with
every part of Scripture. Let not false voices drive thee on to deeper
grief."
She then looked at the shining form with more curiosity than ever
before.
"Who can this be?" she asked Mr. World in a passing whisper. "You have
seen how he urges me to perfect peace, and so unselfishly."
"'Tis but a happy friend that comes in the hour of need. Should we not
give heed to his kindly voice? If the studying of that Bible gives you
pain, adding to the weight that already wearies your heart, why not
close the book and, continuing on this way of ease, look more carefully
on outward things again?"
"Think you, Mr. World, that I would lay down my Bible? This is the
book that mother loved. It has always been my Book of books. It contains
the code of laws that controls the whole spiritual world, and it is
the only lamp that leads to light and to the gates of Heaven. You need
it as much as I. Why ask me to lay it down?"
"_Nay, nay,_" spoke the angel of light, "_urge her not to discard her
Bible, but rather to get a true understanding of it._ Perhaps," he
continued, turning again to Miss Church-Member, "thou hast met with
other mysterious verses in this chapter. If so, I will gladly serve
thee, for I love to give light to an honest heart."
"I see nothing more now that gives me trouble. These glasses, which
I got through the kindness of Mr. World, have helped me to understand
your interpretation so that the rest of the chapter is quite clear to
me."
"And how does the whole Bible appear since thy sight is so improved
by those fortunate lenses?"
"It certainly appears vastly different," she confessed. "It is so much
more liberal in its teachings than I ever before imagined."
"_Hast thou become so far advanced that thou canst, with thy more
comprehensive view, distinguish between the inspired and the uninspired
parts?_" asked the shining one with an air of dignity.
"Not clearly so, although I have recently doubted the genuineness of
some parts which still hold their place in the book."
"Thou art coming to the true light," he flatteringly replied. "Blessed
is the event that ever changed thine eyes to see so great a truth. Oh,
that all the world might thus drink from the fountain of knowledge!"
"When will the time ever come that the Bible will be rid of its errors?"
impatiently broke in Mr. World.
"In that happy day when the mists of superstition shall vanish before
the true light of personal liberty and free thinking," came the answer
from the bright-robed angel who was none else than a minion of the
Devil in disguise.
"How could such a glorious work best be accomplished?" asked Mr. World
whose interest now was more intensely aroused.
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