Life in a Thousand Worlds Part 13

As the perfectly formed flower, blus.h.i.+ng in its wealth of color, is called beautiful, so we would designate these symmetrical spirit-creatures, moving in the glory of their higher endowment and shaded with the living tints of Heaven.

2. These inhabitants know nothing of fatigue. Their strength of body and vitality of mind are unabating. What a contrast between the creatures of our Earth and those of the Millennial world on whom the pa.s.sing of centuries has no ill effect.

3. There is nothing on this purified world to generate disease; hence these favored people never suffer any pain of body or of mind. The long line of sin-shadows has all vanished from this redeemed planet, and the atmosphere is all aglow with the mellowed light of peace and love.

4. Jealousy and all kindred feelings are unknown. These roots were all destroyed by the fire at the beginning of the Millennium. No one can imagine how enrapturing life is in the absence of stings of malice and thorns of envy.

5. The social and spiritual relations.h.i.+ps are all harmoniously blended.

No one feels himself beneath or above another, and no one feels embarra.s.sed in the presence of a superior human intelligence.

6. Thus it follows that the fellows.h.i.+p is inexpressibly sweet. You can only imagine the dignity and glory one must feel as he mingles with the righteous dead of all ages, and gathers from them a glimpse of the trials and triumphs of ten thousand years under the old reign.

7. Some of the spirits are employed in dressing and keeping the gardens in which grow the luxurious food on which redeemed creatures subsist: not cereals, fruits, or nuts, but the kind that creates the most heavenly sensations as it wastes away in perfume at the will of the user. The nearest imitation of this food ever known on earth was eaten by Christ's spirit when Mary broke the alabaster box of ointment on his head.

8. Some spirits of this Millennial life seemed to be more rapturously happy than the others. I learned that they had pa.s.sed through the darkness of continual disappointments or suffered under the mis-mating of matrimonial union. Others fought through the fires of persecution and torture, and still others pa.s.sed through martyrdom for their Master's sake. All of these patiently endured all hards.h.i.+ps leading down to the end of their mortal days.

9. The affinity between s.e.xes is clearly marked. No love but pure love burns on the altar of any soul, and any one who wishes may stop to kindle the fires or warm himself thereat. There is no bodily contact, no decay, no weakening. This love is enrapturing, uplifting, ever drawing the lover and the loved nearer to the fountain.

In language most intelligible to us, I would say that the intercourse between s.e.xes is one of refined telepathy, soul-connection by thought transmission, a thousand-fold more charming than the low plane of intercourse in the flesh life, with none of its attendant weakening results. This strange felicity is as indescribable as it is glorious.

Each nature seeks its real complement, and enjoys the most absolute liberty, for there is not a single barrier to prevent it, as no one desires to do wrong.

This most inviting life had its charms for me, but I well knew that I could not tarry. I lingered at a thousand fountains to catch the life-giving spray and studied, as far as I possibly could, the faces of these favored creatures.

The whole vegetable world is a long extended floral garden. Where formerly deserts lay waste and wild, now the blooming roses and expansive lawns can be seen. Is it possible to picture to your mind's eye a line of lofty mountains whose sides are dressed in living colors and trimmed with rare flowers? If you cannot paint this picture, then you must not endeavor to form the faintest conception of the natural features of this Millennial world.

Being still filled with the lingering memories of this happy sphere, and looking forward to the coming golden age of our own world, I read with pleasure a few stanzas contemplating Christ's second coming.

"A SONG OF HIS COMING."

See the virgins at midnight yearning, To behold the face of the Groom.

Their lamps are all trimmed and burning, As they peer through the misty gloom.

"He will come," is the shout of voices, Which have sung in a thousand ways; For the heart of the saint rejoices, At the thought of the coming days.

When the war of creeds will be over, And our King descends from above, Only they shall witness His crowning, Who have lived in the light of love.

Then the Christ shall reign in his glory On the throne of his sovereign might: And the theme of Redemption's story Will be sung with perfect delight.

And our minds will dazzle with brightness, As our thoughts forever aspire, For a mantle of perfect whiteness, Shall cover the youth and the sire;

Then we know that none will be jealous, And no one will envy our lot.

For against the one who is zealous, Not a soul will contrive or plot.

And our actions will chime in pleasure, All refined from malice and sting.

We shall all reach the perfect measure, In the reign of this conquering King.

We will have everything we can use, In those beautiful realms of light; There the people will do as they choose, For each one will choose to do right.

We will sail through the seas of beauty, And return to the sh.o.r.es we please; Far away from the callings of duty, In the shade of undying trees.

All the riches of Christ will be ours, 'Tis a wealth without guilt or pain.

There will be no 'Contention of Powers', Nor the marks of official stain.

As I look from this earthly station, I exclaim again and again-- O what an eternal vacation!

Come quickly, Lord Jesus, Amen.

CHAPTER XIII.

A World of High Medical Knowledge.

I spent a long and profitable season in the vicinity of the Great Dipper, witnessing the almost infinite variations of human life as found from world to world, and looking upon the wild wastes of the many planets that are not inhabited.

Finally I again spread my swift wings, reached the beautiful star Arcturus and noticed among the worlds that revolve around it a few that are sinless. I was tempted to pause at one or another of these exceptional stations, but I knew that I could not tarry until I had reached the far distant constellation of Scorpio.

In this wide flight I traveled a distance so great that I will not weary the mind with mentioning the trillions of miles. Now I was in the direct path of the Milky Way and my imagination staggered as I saw the endlessness of stars and solar systems, as far out beyond me as my a.s.sisted eyes could reach.

The star at which I arrived is one of the largest suns that blaze in the depths of immensity. It is so wonderfully great that if twelve hundred million worlds as large as ours were all crushed into one great ball, it would not make one sphere as immense as this star or sun, around which revolve about five hundred worlds or planets, many of which are greater than our Jupiter. With abounding interest I visited all the inhabited worlds of this vast system. How long it took I have no way of knowing. I did not count time by hours or heart throbs, for I was so wrapt in my observations that all else was as nothing to me.

Some of these worlds sustain a low order of human creatures, while on others there are races that have reached a high degree in the scale of advancement. Of these five hundred worlds nearly one-half are barren of all life, and of those that are inhabited some twenty are sinless worlds and thirty are now pa.s.sing through an intermediate period between the probationary life and the final judgment, a period toward which we are anxiously looking and which we designate as the Millennium.

Of all this ponderous solar system there is one world that excels all the others in its medical attainments, and of this one first I will give a flying notice.

I have named this world Dore-lyn. It is fifty times as large as our Earth and of greater specific gravity.

Its human creatures are delightfully formed and are in ruddy health and refined happiness. In shape these Dore-lynites differ somewhat from us, but long before I had reached this planet I learned something of the universal standards of symmetry and ascertained that creatures could be beautiful without resembling us whatever.

Here I found four billions of people and there is room for twenty billions more. So if you are in ill health, and have run the round of our medical fraternity without success, I would advise you to go to Dore-lyn, if you know how to reach it.

These Dore-lynites are almost three times our size and they are subject to most of our ills and many more. From an early date the head government of this world paid particular attention to hygiene, keeping all medical work under its own care.

The government controls the whole field of medical science just as we do the post-office department.

There are no conflicting schools of medicines such as Allopathic, Homeopathic, Hydropathic, Eclectic and Osteopathic. The government gives handsome rewards to any one who furnishes a new discovery or gives additional light. Everything is duly tested and proved to be a success by a corps of experts before it is given to the practicing fraternity.

The government holds certain rights in experimenting that no physician or medical school would think of having in our world. The government medical schools of Dore-lyn are marvels indeed. Nothing is spared that money or talent can furnish. The full graduates of these schools are only "the survival of the fittest." Others take a secondary degree and can act as a.s.sistants or retire from the list. The government has a series of inst.i.tutions that do a work similar to our hospitals and have a corps of full graduates supplying the stations. This entire system is so arranged that every family or individual receives all necessary treatment free.

The cost of carrying on this vast system is one of the items of national expense. I will now mention some of the medical achievements of these Dore-lynites.

When a physician suspects that the blood is poisoned he at once proceeds to a chemical a.n.a.lysis, and if certain kinds of poison are found, the blood is filtered by the use of a fine instrument. A blood vessel is exposed and cut, and the two ends fastened to the delicate filter. Thus the blood is cleansed by pa.s.sing through this instrument. Those acquainted with the manner in which the blood circulates can readily see how all the blood of the body can be reached in a short time. This method is very successful in the treatment of all bites of poisonous insects and reptiles, and all types of hydrophobia, which are ten-fold more numerous in Dore-lyn than in our world.

There are no patent medicines in Dore-lyn. The few medicines they have are manufactured only by government authority and everybody receives the purest that can be compounded, no distinction being made between rich and poor. One thousand years ago the medical aspects of Dore-lyn were similar to those which are seen in our world to-day. People were compelled to take all manner of poisons and opiates even from skilled hands. But in Dore-lyn those days of darkness and misery are past and the people enjoy the benefit of a medical skill one thousand years ahead of us. They look back to the practice of the old physicians with ludicrous feelings just as we do when reading the prescriptions that were used in the first century of our dispensation.

We call your attention to some of the antiquated remedies of our world as related by Geike and copied from a medical journal of our own country. Following is a list:

"Ashes of wolf's skull, stag's horn, the heads of mice, the eyes of crabs, owl's brains, liver of frogs, viper's fat, gra.s.shoppers, bats, etc., these supplied the alkalis which were prescribed. Physicians were accustomed to order doses of the gall of wild swine. It is presumed the tame hog was not sufficiently efficacious. There were other choice prescriptions such as horse's foam, woman's milk, laying a serpent on the afflicted part, urine of cows, bear fat, still recommended as a hair restorative, juice of boiled buck horn, etc. For colic, powdered horse's teeth, dung of swine, a.s.ses' kidneys, mice excretion made into a plaster, and other equally vile and unsavory compounds. Colds in the head were cured by kissing the nose of a mule. For sore throat, snail slime was a favorite prescription, and mouse flesh was considered excellent for disease of the lungs. Boiled snails and powdered bats were prescribed for intestinal disorders."