Mr. World and Miss Church-Member Part 33

"Here," said Mr. World, "let us take a long rest. If you have your gla.s.ses properly adjusted you can see new beauty behind magnificent walls."

She looked at first doubtfully. "Ah! I never frequented such places before. I would not as much as look at them."

"I doubt not your word, Miss Church-Member, but remember you are growing older and wiser. You are no more a narrow-minded creature influenced by prejudice and sophistry."

She was now in a condition to imagine that much of her earlier instruction was erroneous. She had not forgotten the teaching of the sermon in Mr. World's church. Subsequently she reasoned that the only way to learn the taste of forbidden fruit was to eat of it.

"I will enter these buildings as a student," she soliloquized. "I will be cautious. Surely I have sufficiently clear judgment to discern between good and evil."

The crafty Mr. World, having won her confidence, escorted her all through the Wicked Valley. By a continual palliation she yielded one point after another until her virtue was sacrificed on a cursed altar.

Satan a.s.sisted her in solving many perplexing problems when she reeled in the realm of doubt.

At the conclusion of their protracted visit I heard the wicked Mr.

World say to his beloved friend: "Your eyes are completely cured. You may now with safety lay aside the gla.s.ses. I hope you will never have occasion to use them again."

Of the mult.i.tudes that tarried here from the Narrow Way very few went out at the front door. Having stultified themselves, they pa.s.sed from the rooms at the rear, and thenceforth traveled on the other path more suited to their changed natures.

The two congenial companions, proceeding on their way, soon overtook a company of church-members.

In the social intercourse which ensued each one resented the criticisms of those who refused to leave the Old Path.

"Verily," said one, "I now enjoy more liberty. I believe the road to Heaven should be as broad-gauged as possible."

"Certainly it should," said another. "Those who want to climb hills and continually suffer inconveniences may do so. As for me, I want to reach Heaven on the easiest road. I believe this course leads to Paradise just as directly as the other."

These utterances were highly complimented by Mr. World, and he said that he was to be congratulated on meeting and a.s.sociating with such congenial people. "On the way on which we are now traveling one can reach his reward as certainly and as speedily as on any other route.

In addition, one can here enjoy natural and graceful pleasures which of course are not tolerated under the eyes of selfish and narrow-minded bigots."

I saw Mr. World and Miss Church-Member, now more intimate than ever, pa.s.s on alone, ever walking more hastily. Satan had told them, during their stay in the Wicked Valley, that the faster they journeyed the sooner and the more certainly would they reach their reward.

Not far from the Wicked Valley there is a section called the Place of Warning. It has been maintained for thousands of years by virtuous workers from the King's Highway. It is the last warning-station that travelers pa.s.s before reaching the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and here with tearful earnestness do the s.h.i.+ning Pilgrims of the cross speak their words of last caution, sing their sweet hymns of warning, and put forth every other loving endeavor in the hope of s.n.a.t.c.hing some from the thoughtless throngs that go rus.h.i.+ng by toward the Dark Valley.

I listened and heard a voice from the Place of Warning speak to a motley crowd that were pa.s.sing.

"Whither go ye, whither go ye?"

"We go to a better place called Heaven," answered one of the company.

"Then come hither and go on the Path of Life. The way on which ye are now traveling leadeth unto everlasting death."

"Aha! Aha! Aha!" cried they all. "We are well informed about the way and need no foreign voice to give direction."

Then came the solemn hymn of warning in words so tender and clear that each one could hear every sentence:

"There's a sad day coming, A sad day coming.

There's a sad coming by and by; When the sinner shall hear his doom: 'Depart, I know you not.'

Are you ready for that day to come?"

CHORUS:

"Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready for the judgment day?"

The words had not yet died on the air when a young man ran hastily from the company toward the Way of Life. His companions then gave vent to their ridicule, some even going after him and endeavoring to pull him back, but without avail.

Some sang an idle song to drown the hymn of warning that still rang in their ears. Others engaged in boisterous conversation, and still others mocked with foul profanity. They pa.s.sed on, and as far as I could see them they were pus.h.i.+ng on to the Valley of Death.

I saw another man who was heavily burdened with pieces of timber on which was written: "Faults of Church-Members." He also came to the Place of Warning.

"Throw off the c.u.mbersome weight you are carrying on your back, and travel on the way where your burden ill be light," came a friendly voice from the Rescue Station.

"I am not so foolish as to throw away my only hope," he answered with unthankfulness in his tone.

"'Your only hope,'" repeated the voice of warning, "how can you explain such foolish words?"

"With pa.s.sing ease. I will soon come to the River of Death and with these boards I can make myself a raft whereon I can pa.s.s over safely."

Then spoke the voice of warning clearer than before:

"O, foolish man! Knowest thou not that the River of Death, toward which thou art rapidly moving, cannot be crossed in a bark so frail? I have seen millions who tried in vain to ride its angry currents, but they sank beneath its dark waters. Come, O mortal man, if thou hast nothing better on which to depend, listen to the voice of wisdom and come, without delay, to the Path of Glory."

But the man pa.s.sed on. I watched him till he reached the river, and saw him go from the sh.o.r.e in his self-constructed raft.

"I sink! I sink! Save me!" he, cried in utmost agony of terror as his little raft whirled about, leaving the poor self-deceived fellow to the mercy of the waves.

I saw others as they pa.s.sed the Place of Warning. Thousands and tens of thousands, some now totally deaf to every voice of warning, some with cotton-filled ears, and others with instruments of music with which they drowned the calls of warning.

Many more pa.s.sed by who carried little balloons of self-righteousness with which they expected to rise above the murky River of Death.

A young woman, who moved more cautiously, stopped at the Place of Warning and listened attentively.

Directly a voice spoke to her: "Not far hence, O mortal woman, there is a wide river. It surges on forever. No one who goes this way can escape its waters. Listen now to the voice of Wisdom. Leave this blood-marked way of misery and woe, and come to these happier dominions where 'her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.'"

"Surely I will not be lost," she replied. "I am depending on the mercy of G.o.d who is too kind to be unjust. I will come out all right in the end."

"Take heed, my friend," pleaded the warning voice. "You are hoping for mercy at the dividing line between time and eternity. Better forget not what the Scripture saith. 'He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy let him be filthy still.' So thou canst not wilfully neglect so great salvation and hope that G.o.d will cover at last all thy folly. 'Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.' 'To-day, if ye hear his voice, harden not your hearts'"

"You have said nothing new to me. They are the old thread-bare pa.s.sages that I have heard from my youth up, and I am minded to accept a broader view of these statements than you seem to take of them."

At this she tossed her head haughtily and continued her journey, resolving more firmly than ever that she would not spend eternity outside the Gates of Heaven.

When she came to the Dark Valley and to the angry swelling currents, her pitiful prayer broke out from the long-covered depth of her soul.

"Mercy, O mercy, to a wretch like me!" But no hand came to her rescue.

I saw Mr. World and Miss Church-Member as they approached the Place of Warning. They heard the sweet music, rendered so excellently, but gave no attention to the sentiment expressed by the words. They listened only to the harmony of sounds.

"O, Miss Church-Member!" pleaded a voice, "you who were once so earnestly engaged on the King's Highway, will you not, before you reach the River of Death, forsake your perilous course and walk on the path of life eternal?"

These words, which would have once brought conviction to her heart, only brought vanity to her head. "'Judge not, that ye be not judged,'