Books: Mr. World and Miss Church Member
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W. S. Harris >> Mr. World and Miss Church Member
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"Does this never cease?" I questioned.
"It continues through the days and nights of earth forever," came the
reply.
I was looking at the intricate system of wires and the stupendous
proportions of the place, when suddenly I heard some one mention a
name with which I was familiar. I was attracted close to the side of
the operator that I might hear at least the one side of the
conversation.
"That bill should never become a law," said the operator, but I could
not hear the reply.
"Fight hard to defeat it. You will get heaps of gold if you succeed,"
were the next words I heard at the lower 'phone.
"Never mind them. I'll take care of that crowd. I will try once more
to get their ear. I failed the last time, but I hope to succeed at my
next endeavor." These words were spoken very plainly, but still I could
hear no reply.
"Suppose the other element has chances to win. Get ready at once and
meet the situation. Go and speak to the chairman of the committee and
early influence his mind in our favor. Offer any bribe you wish, for
we have unlimited resources at our command."
"If only I could hear the answer," thought I.
Then the operator listened a long time, and I almost envied his
privilege, wishing that I might also hear the human voice from the
earth's surface.
Blackana conducted me to other parts of the building, and I saw the
fiendish program carried out at each point. Thousands of demons were
in league with the law-makers of the world!
"Oh! that I could cut these wires and restrict Satan's laws to these
underground dominions," I said with rising boldness,
"Silence, puny mortal! Know you not that others can hear you speak?
Would you here be crushed to death so far from the light of day?"
Superhuman strength moved me to answer thus: "Though all these hosts
should hear me, I fear nothing. I am invincible, and should you take
me to the deepest depths, amidst foul crawling imps, not one can harm
me. Neither can you, Blackana.
"Come on," he sneered, "cease your senseless sentences and follow me."
I saw that Blackana endeavored to conceal the counter-currents of his
heart, but nevertheless his agitation did not escape my notice.
Back to the elevators we went, and with a throng of evil spirits we
entered the central car and fell another thousand furlongs into the
depth of the earth.
We stopped at the second grand level into which I was ushered. I looked
out over what seemed to be a new world with more light and more
animation than was manifest on the first level.
Boisterous demonstrations were heard on every hand, all made more
hideous by the variety of evil spirits who added their din to the
general bedlam. "What furious world is this?" I shouted.
"This is Satan's political headquarters, and the place where his state
laws are made. We are here connected with every state or divisional
government in the world, and with every political movement that can
be influenced by these underground voices."
My indignation leaped over all bounds as the vileness of these
iniquitous schemes pressed upon me. I heard the bands of music from
those who had prostituted their talent to the second level.
Blackana pushed me on through all the demonstrations, and then led me
into a great structure more secluded than the electrical stations.
Here the state laws are hatched, but, thanks to a higher sanctum, not
all the brood see daylight.
The plotters of Hell sat in this underground legislative centre, and
I saw, to my horror, some state legislators occupying seats in this
infamous quarter.
Then said I to Blackana: "It is no more a mystery to me how so much
of Hell is incorporated into the laws of the states in the country
where I hold residence, as well as in all other parts of the world.
How long have these things been?"
"Since the beginning of law," was his indifferent reply.
"It will not be so forever," I prophesied under a sudden spell of
inspiration. "The time must come when the power of this level will be
blasted forever. The owner of the tree will burn the worms and their
nests from every branch."
Then said Blackana tauntingly: "Neither flood, poison, fire, nor knife
can ever destroy this section." Just as he spoke these words the whole
edifice shook, and I heard a noise as if a shower of great stones had
crashed into the roof and sides of the building. The legislators quaked
with fear and all looked toward the ceiling. All of this instantly
reminded me of the thousand lords who looked at the ominous handwriting
on the wall at the feast of Belshazzar.
"Explain it to me," I asked as I looked wonderingly at Blackana.
"Urge it not, urge it not! Be content to dwell in ignorance!"
"I am here to learn, and I would know what force or power can so
well-nigh destroy this wretched center. Tell me the truth. I demand
it."
Then did Blackana move himself in his startling attitudes, as if loath
to speak. He rolled his heavy eyes as his discordant voice yielded the
unwilling explanation.
"These are the votes that just fell in favor of reform in a campaign
on earth. Such votes, under the panoply of prayer, strike more terror
to these kingdoms than all else combined, and the most disastrous
feature is that they go bounding from the buildings of this level ever
downward and work their ruin from kingdom to kingdom, until they have
wrought their havoc even to the lowest level. If we only knew the way
to break the power of these votes, our comrades would not then dwell
in constant dread of what might happen."
"May you never learn that power, and may the votes of good citizenship
ever increase in number until these legislative halls shall be broken
to rise no more, and their inmates driven from their secret machinations
to the abode prepared for the Devil and his angels."
Blackana sprang at me in great rage.
"Silence, you contemptible mortal! You have not such liberty of speech
here! Why fling insults into the face of one more powerful than
yourself?"
"_Ho, ye ten thousand!_" I shouted with all my power, and Blackana
fell backward at my very words. Sullen, but cowed, he arose to his
feet and took me to the elevators.
"Where next?" he gruffly asked.
"What is on the next level below?" I inquired.
"Greater proceedings than on this one. It is devoted to the government
of counties, cities, boroughs, and villages, and their political work."
"Pass it by and take me to the lowest level."
"You do not know what you ask. The lowest level is very, very deep,
and takes us where things have no weight. It is the lowest haunt outside
of Hell, inhabited by the vilest imps. How can you live or move in
such a realm?"
"Not by the futile force of human power, but by the strength of Him
who bids me go. I fear not, O Blackana; conduct me thither."
What an awful experience followed! I was taken down at an amazing
speed, held under the great hand of Blackana. We passed region after
region of infernal lights, each one existing for the purpose of carrying
out its part of Satan's fiendish plan.
At length we stopped in the red glare of an awful burning amidst a
company of hobgoblins out of harmony with all human shape or symmetry.
"This must be the bed of Hell, indeed," I said, after I had conquered
my rising fears. "Far from it, far from it!" answered Blackana. "We
are now in the lowest legislative center _where foul fiends invent the
horrible laws of personal pollution in the mortal body, and political
bribery in the civil body._"
Blackana held me by the hand. I seemed not to walk but rather to move
along without effort, seeing the pictures of lowest life and ill-shaped
spirits, some of monster size.
Into an immense auditorium I was wafted, a building without foundations
or floor. Here, amidst uncanny noises, hovered a vast throng of Satan's
lowest legislators.
The dreadful suggestions here given, and the terrible debates that
followed, beggar human description. From all parts of the great hall
the busy wires were communicating with every section of the earth's
surface.
Blackana, still holding me by the hand, spoke! thus in a derisive
strain:
"O mortal, now comes my glorious revenge I have tasted your insults
until their galling bitterness grinds me still. I have craved for this
hour when I might leave you to the mercy of the lowest, and bring you
under my feet for ever."
Then, turning to the chairman of the great assemblage, Blackana
attracted his attention, and at once the attention of all the spectral
monsters of the place.
"Here," commenced he, "is a piece of mortal flesh, fresh from the
surface. I have been forced, by some strange power, to conduct this
mortal man through these nether levels until he has seen the workings
of our underground plans and schemes. He must never see the light of
day, lest the world above may know the true inwardness and source of
such laws as are called cursed, and rise in hosts against our surface
operations."
At this Blackana thrust me forward, and I went straightway to the
chairman who seized me by the back and held me aloft in his right hand,
while a deafening roar of strident voices was measuring my doom.
"_Ho, ye ten thousand!_" I cried aloud, at which the horrid chairman
fell backward, and I dropped unharmed to his own chair as the whole
host were rushing at me en masse.
The chairman sprang to his feet and waved a wand. "Silence and order!"
he commanded.
Thousands of brandishing weapons were brought to a stand, and quietness
reigned in a moment.
"Why say you 'ten thousand'? What power lives in those words?" asked
the chairman with a show of boldness, but in secret quaking. "Power
unlimited, even over death, hell, and the grave. My flesh is not food
for such as these."
"Who can you be to talk thus boldly to your superiors?"
"I am one who is sealed by the blood of Jesus, and have no superiors
outside the gates of Heaven."
"Why came you here?" he impatiently and furiously demanded. "Tell me
while yet you have opportunity to speak."
Then, fully confiding in my unseen Guard, I stood erect and said with
boldness of speech: "I have come to learn the secrets of this
underground legislation which is sending its blighting curse throughout
the world. Having witnessed the wide extent of these secret operations,
I will now return to the brotherhood of man and sound the alarm of a
coming reformation. O, beware ye multitudes that now rise against me!
I am not alone, nor forsaken. By faith I see armies of the living God.
I declare, at this moment, that earth will not forever receive her
laws from such a depth. The hour must come when these million wires
will be broken beyond repair, and all you fiends go groveling under
penal chains in darkness eternal."
[Illustration: The armies of righteousness will some day triumph over
the black hordes of civil iniquity.]
No more could I speak, for the air was thickening all around me with
a rush of wild demons whose threatening weapons thirsted for my blood.
I stood motionless, glorying in the power of the Unseen, for I saw,
shining far above me, a beautiful star of hope with peace and purity
in its rays.
In the same instant I again shouted, "_Ho, ye ten thousand!_" Oh, what
a transformation took place! Regiment upon regiment of Heaven's military
hosts, converging as from infinite depth of space, burst into sudden
view, revealed by a dazzling light which filled the whole region arid
dazed the infernal hosts as with blindness, while their weapons broke
and fell beneath them in futile fragments.
CHAPTER VII.
THE HILL OF REMORSE.
1. While climbing a steep hill Miss Church-Member is touched by Remorse.
2. Satan's strategy in keeping her away from the Narrow Path.
3. All her trouble is lost in company with Mr. World on the Mountain Top
of Apathy.
Returning to my former post of observation, and looking again through
the open door, I beheld Mr. World and Miss Church-Member still riding
on the gravity road. They were approaching the Shadowy Vale, and Mr.
World was desirous that his friend should close her eyes until they
had passed through the shadows.
She reclined her head, and soon was resting so comfortably that she
fell fast asleep and opened not her eyes until they had passed beyond
the darker scenes of the miserable valley.
Then did Mr. World engage her with artful and pleasant conversation,
so that she might not fully observe the features that constantly make
this part of the Broad Highway dark and dreary.
Satan, unseen, hovered around them during their conversation which was
well pleasing to him. At length, in partial disguise, he made himself
visible, much to the terror of Miss Church-Member.
"Fear not; no harm will befall you," said Mr. World re-assuringly as
he laid his hand upon her shoulder.
Satan smiled complaisantly, and spoke in soft tones: "Tremble not at
my presence. I have come only to render you such assistance as may be
especially helpful to you in your journey, and to disabuse your mind
of such false impressions as you have evidently entertained concerning
my character."
So affable was his manner and so pleasing his address that, to her
mind, he soon lost that shocking hideousness which characterized his
first appearance, and evoked from Miss Church-Member this apology born
of her guilty conscience: "You would not have seen me now on this path
had Mr. World adhered strictly to his promises."
"Indeed, Miss Church-Member," replied Satan, "you need have no regret
for being here. You are to be congratulated upon the good judgment
which led you into fellowship with Mr. World. It is your happy fortune
that he has succeeded in preventing you from leaving him. You are an
exception to a host of cranks, who, without investigation, are
prejudiced by what they hear. You are broad-minded, independent, and
will be found wiser and happier than the army of fools you have left."
These words brought a mixture of pride and shame to her heart, and
threw her mind into a state of great confusion.
But by this time they had come to a long and steep hill called Remorse
up which all pilgrims walked. Mr. World assisted his companion in
alighting, and promised to give her all possible help in her efforts
to climb the hill.
Satan remained with them, and Miss Church-Member, under deepening
remorse of conscience, loitered a few steps in the rear. Her bowed
head indicated the warring of her thoughts. Then I saw that she cast
a longing glance over the rough hills toward the King's Highway, and
looked for some path by which she might go thither.
Her two wily companions endeavored to allay her fears by offering all
manner of cajolements, none of which either diverted or quieted her
mind.
"O ye friends of mine!" cried Miss Church-Member, "I can find rest
only on yonder King's Highway. Can you show me the shortest path leading
thereto? I cannot go to the summit of this hill."
[Illustration: On the Hill of Remorse. Miss Church-Member cast a longing
glance toward the King's Highway, and looked for some way by which she
might go thither.]
"It so happens," pleasantly replied the Devil, "that there is no way
of reaching the so-called King's Highway from this part of our route,
but, if you will have patience, we will conduct you safely to a point
a little farther on where you can conveniently leave this way with all
honor to yourself. In the meantime we will give you all the assistance
that you may need, and every convenience that science can afford."
Miss Church-Member wept tears of gratitude at this proffered kindness,
and began to feel that this dark intruder was a friend with a rough
exterior but a warm and congenial heart.
"It is quite evident that you have been grossly misrepresented to me,"
she faltered as her voice trembled with emotion. "I was told that you
are the embodiment of envy, malice, and hatred, and vigorously opposed
to everything religious."
Satan looked at her in well-counterfeited amazement. "How wrongly I
am judged by my enemies! How can I be opposed to all religion when I
attend church and prayer-meeting regularly, and sedulously listen to
the sermons and prayers while many sleep who claim to be better than
I? You will pardon me, Miss Church-Member," he continued, "but allow
me to bear the light burden you are carrying under your arm, and let
us hasten from this sickly atmosphere to the refreshing air beyond the
summit of the hill."
"You are very kind, indeed," she said. "Please carry these books
carefully, as I prize them very highly."
As they pushed their way up the hill, I looked at Blackana who, with
his eyes fixed upon me, sat as cold and motionless as a statue.
"Tell me," I asked, "why Satan has falsified so greatly to Miss
Church-Member."
Blackana, with a show of uneasiness, answered interrogatively: "Wherein
has he falsified?"
"Did he not just inform Miss Church-Member that there is no way of
reaching the King's Highway from the place where she had been standing?
He well knew that there is a way opened by the Prince of the House of
David. Why did he not tell her?"
Blackana again grinned horribly while my indignation waxed stronger.
Then came his pertinent reply: "My master is about his own business;
that is why he is so successful in his work. It is not his business
to point people away from his kingdom; his delight is rather in leading
them upon his own Highway."
"Oh! for the voice of a thousand trumpets, that I might reach the ear
of Miss Church-Member, and break unto her the words of truth and life.
See how she walks on between those two fiends, ever nearing an awful
destruction, yet vainly imagining, through the deceitfulness of her
advisers, that she is nearing the place where she can, with greater
ease, leave her present course and join her comrades on the Shining
Path. Oh, that I could send a messenger, good and swift, in her
pursuit!"
"Rest in ease, anxious mortal; she will get all necessary advice from
her two friends," replied Blackana with a sardonic grin.
I could no longer look into his face, for I was filled with contempt.
I turned my eyes to see poor Miss Church-Member still struggling up
the Hill of Remorse.
When the top was finally reached I heard Mr. World congratulating her:
"Well done, noble woman! You have fought Remorse until you have mastered
it. The pains and pangs incident to this climbing are over, and if you
should come to another hill you will ascend it with more ease. Look
about you at these cool mountain resorts called Apathy, and join me
in a needed recreation as we mingle with the merry multitudes amongst
these shady bowers."
She needed no second invitation, being glad to seek relief in
forgetfulness of her guilt.
As they went to their pleasures, Satan vanished to give attention to
others who were ascending the same Hill of Remorse, some in a sullen
mood and some with wails of anguish on their lips.
The delightful resorts of Apathy were now quieting the mind of Miss
Church-Member, for the attractions on the mountain top were so numerous
and so ingeniously arranged that, as she gave full attention to them,
she no longer suffered any pangs of remorse.
On this plateau, so full of charms for every sense, I saw bands of
music; gardens of shady retreat where one might while away the weary
hours in gentle dalliance; and cooling fountains throwing forth their
busy sprays.
Artists were painting the scenes of worldly ease, and poets were writing
sweet verses for the singers of the place.
Miss Church-Member, who was a lover of the fine arts, asked Mr. World
to tarry in one of the gardens of the poets where they might hear the
songs of the season just from the pens of their authors.
This was a novel privilege; so he readily consented and accompanied
her into a garden near by. They were greeted by sounds of instrumental
music and charming voices raised in song.
After these harmonies died away a soloist sang a hymn that had been
composed that same day. Her voice rendered each word distinctly:
Remorse is but the foe of all,
The rich and poor, the slave and free
Unfriendly comes its bitter call--
Perchance it comes this day to thee.
Then come, thou troubled seeking peace
From this unkind, intruding foe;
Let anxious cares no more increase;
Go bury all thy pangs of woe.
Forget the things that wake thy mind
To fleeting sorrows of the day;
Oh! come and be forever blind
To all except this Broader Way.
Then followed a fiendish woman, in guise of a light-crowned angel, who
delivered an address entitled "The True Peace of the World." While the
applause which followed her remarks was dying away, an authoritative
old gentleman arose. After standing a moment in dignified silence, he
continued to carry out the program of the Devil by speaking on "False
Lights from the so-called 'King's Highway.'"
Next a quartette beautifully rendered a love song of the world; this
also had been quite recently composed.
Sweet world, so bright and fair,
We would thy pleasures share
While days pass on.
Thou art our truest friend,
On thee our souls depend
Till life is gone.
In life's perplexing days,
Thou wilt, in every phase,
Be ever near.
While thy sweet, placid charms
Dispel our dread alarms
In times of fear.
Who else can give relief,
When bowed in heavy grief?
No one like thee.
Thou sendest rays of light,
Into our darkest night
Till shadows flee.
The melody of this song and the sentiment of its words had a very
decisive effect on Miss Church-Member. She looked into the eyes of Mr.
World with more than poetry in her glance, for her heart was now
thrilled with the first touches of true love for him.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE VALLEY OF TEMPTATION.
1. In this valley the two great Highways run almost parallel.
2. The intervening ground is all alive with Satan's schemes to entice,
entrap and discourage Christians.
3. The operation of Christian forces in this valley.
After leaving the Hill of Remorse and the pleasure grounds of Apathy, Mr.
World and Miss Church-Member proceeded on the Broad Highway which now
gradually sloped toward a deep valley.
"What is the name of the valley which we are now entering?" inquired
Miss Church-Member.
"'Tis but the Valley of Temptation," he carelessly answered.
"Ah! I have heard of this valley," she replied. "Whenever I was tempted
or tried on the King's Highway some one would caution: 'Be courageous,
for you must go through the Valley of Temptation.' I am thankful, as
I come to it, that I am on a Broader Way."
"Many call this valley 'Entanglement,'" further continued Mr. World,
"because of the large numbers who are here caught by the devices all
along the way." I saw the whole valley in one view. It was very wide
and more than a thousand experiences long and, from one end to the
other, there were constant scenes of activity. The King's Highway and
the Broad Highway ran almost parallel throughout the whole length of
the valley.
The entire space between the two paths was occupied by the agents of
Satan, and by numerous rescue bands and missionary organizations of
the King's Highway Church.
I was informed that no traveler, who knows the experiences of life,
ever escaped this valley. But the King of Glory gives his children
assurance of no harm if they will heed his words and step not from the
path upon any pretence. He has also placed, in plain view, countless
signs of warning to keep his pilgrims from yielding to temptation, as
it presents itself, with or without mask; and they who pass these
testing-places in triumph are counted stable in their ways.
I saw in the first part of the valley some of Satan's shrewdest agents
at work. They were stationed along the Narrow Path at close intervals,
and were endeavoring, by all kinds of schemes, to attract the attention
of Christians as they journeyed through the valley.
From one point they threw a hook baited with wealth over to the edge
of the King's Highway way. I saw an ambitious Christian, contrary to
the signs of warning and all advice, eagerly grasp this bait. Then did
the agents of Satan pull gently. The man seeing a clue to wealth in
his hand would not let it go, and so was drawn slowly and unconsciously
over into the territory of the World. He did not see the strand that
drew him, for it was invisible, nor was he conscious of being thus
drawn, having his mind so fixed upon the object of his earnest pursuit.
Thus do these agents ply their nefarious skill without ceasing, and
so have drawn large numbers away from their original faith.
Another agent I saw near-by throwing out a hook baited with fame. An
ambitious youth let go all he had and seized the baited hook with
singular avidity. It inspired him with inward hope, and he became so
engaged in thinking of his golden future that he followed whither the
gentle drawing led him, until he also reached the questionable ground
of the World. There he became still further entangled until he was
utterly under the sway of the tempter.
Close by I saw an agent of the Devil fastening a book to a line and
throwing it to the edge of the King's Highway. In bold letters it bore
the title, "Forbidden Fruit," and under this title there was an impure
picture.
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