W. S. Harris

“ Confined as we are to our little dark world, we know by sight of only one way in which the brain conveys its messages and serves its ends, namely, through a body of one hundred pounds or more of flesh and bone, formed erect, and capable of rendering service upon a moment's notice. Therefore some of us are conceited enough to believe that we are the most perfect and beautiful beings of the universe, the highest expression of creative art, and that all other creatures in a million orbs take a secondary place. ”

“ In our world we have before us a most humiliating spectacle. If an effort is made to extirpate some form of sin that has taken audacious root in the soil of our moral life, one reform element or denomination fights with the other until the hoe is so broken that there is nothing left wherewith to dig out the miserable roots of the obnoxious weed. Thus do we spend our energies opposing one another instead of fighting the Devil.
O, for the Plasden power of unity, before which any species of corruption can be crushed out that is opposed by the forces of righteousness! ”

“ Then I saw, as “through a glass darkly,” the whole panorama of human life, with its painful pictures of sadness and sin, and its blessed scenes of peace and righteousness. I also heard the unmistakable wails of a suffering humanity and the turmoils of myriad contentions, all strangely mingling with the songs of glory and the shouts of spiritual triumph.
In deep silence I continued looking upon these endless confusions of the church and the world as they still played their perplexing parts in the fitful drama before me. ”

“ What wireless telegraphy is to our world, this mental conversation is to the world of Mute, and it is possible that we may reach a higher degree of proficiency in this direction after we become still better acquainted with the laws of the human mind.
When I think of the many unaccountable heart-thrills that send their emotions of joy and hatred into our passing life, I am somewhat persuaded that we speak this tongueless language more than we imagine. Some day we may learn the secrets that are now so heavily veiled and thereby put to naught the glory of our present modes of communication. ”

“ Then his voice pealed forth the logic of Hell as Satan had spoken it centuries before: “Have ye heard, my noble comrades, how that Heaven flings insults into our teeth? Not satisfied that we grovel on these remains of empire, we are further threatened with being cast miserably under his feet. Whose feet I ask? The feet of our direst foe, whom to worship, as he desireth, means serfdom worse than ours. Is there one of you who will surrender his native dignity in such a fashion?”
Millions of voices rendered the air hideous with their cries, so accurately did Blackana reproduce it all. ”

“ 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. ”

“ They lingered mostly on the wide intervening space between the two paths which was known in this part of the valley as “The Midway.” Here they saw a large number of pilgrims from the King’s Highway who were engaging in one or another of the endless amusements which can be enjoyed without stepping altogether on the Broad Highway.
On this long Midway humanity swarmed by millions. Some, forgetful of their vows, or regardless of their honor, stepped into the lower haunts of vice, and offered sweet flowers of purity and fragrance in exchange for dry and filthy husks from the floor of the stall. ”

“ Thus the dark shadows fell on this huge world. The captured educated classes made a heroic effort to continue their cultured manners and religious life, but the prejudice against them and their ways was so great that they were compelled to live in the lower strata or suffer the pain of death. In process of time, the wild woods flourished where once the temples of science and pure religion reared their imposing pillars.
What can we expect of such a race of people who have drifted from the light of civilization for so long a period? ”

“ In the darker shadows of this same panorama I saw the Broad Highway with its thronging multitudes. Some, with deliberate step, scrutinizing the objects along the way; others, in mad haste, rushing on toward an awful destruction whose wreck and ruin loomed up dimly in the glare of an eternal burning.
Among the happy pilgrims of the King’s Highway was one named Miss Church-Member, who had left the Broad Way of death, and entered, through Christ, into that marvelous light wherein she was now walking. ”

“ I was thrilled with delight when I saw their telescopes with the marvelous lenses that opened the locked doors of the Milky Way. No wonder the astronomers of Jupiter have a more comprehensive view of the universe than we have. Their lenses are so powerful that they have seen the outlines of our rugged mountains, and have discovered on our world unmistakable signs of human life. During my visit thither the experts were working on a much larger lens, and it is claimed that when this is finished human forms can be discerned on the Earth and can be seen with more accuracy on Mars. ”

“ When the trolley car reached this height Miss Church-Member at once fixed her eyes on the ponderous pillars on each side of the converging corridors, for she knew that more than four thousand feet of the tower’s amazing weight rested on these defiant granites.
Mr. World and his pleasing friend meandered amongst the multitude from one to another of the hanging gardens, drinking in all the vain glories that this aerial world afforded. ”

“ Architectural greatness here finds its unmatched examples. Seven-mile diamond arches are common-places, and towers of two thousand miles in height and one thousand miles in diameter, as the corner stone of a city, are nothing unusual, although many cities are built on a smaller plan. Nothing needs repairing, and nothing is mortgaged. The wealth of unnumbered trillions is easily represented in one orb of Heaven's empire.
I now saw a thousand-fold more clearly than ever before the absolute folly of fixing our affections on the perishing things of the mortal life in our dark and dusty world. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Thou permittest water crystals to give the rainbow hues, whilst thou in thy own modest way, continuest to yield sustenance for man and bird and beast.
"O instructive soil! Wilt thou not, in thy own wise way, speak to the thoughtless man who feels content to grovel with the miserable diamond, who takes his lessons from the dead, dead rock, and feeds his soul upon such flinty food. Open his ears to hear thy words of life and light, and may he see in thee the brighter mirror reflecting the God of all." ”

“ Impossible, my heroes! for we will live in glorious triumph to the end of time. On to your tasks, listening multitudes, and he who most successfully counteracts the so-called ‘Truth’ shall be a ruler in my kingdom, and shine more brightly than the radiance of all this region.”
Thus was the speech suddenly ended, and I heard the unearthly reverberations of the fiendish cheering by the mighty host, while the form of Satan vanished; but from his waning shadows Blackana came forth and in death-like silence again resumed his sullen attitude at my side. ”

“ The most picturesque sight of all the Solar System is seen as you stand on Saturn, and watch the rings and the eight moons chasing one another in the heavens above you.
The inhabitants of this beautiful world believe that the soul of each God-adorer at death passes out into the spirit life on the rings where it will continue in a blissful existence until the final judgment.
The religious life of Saturn is officially controlled by men. There are many creeds, each with its own devoted followers. ”

“ As Blackana continued, I was struck with shuddering terror at his awful gestures; but conscious that no harm could befall me, I continued listening to his flaming oratory.
“We must arise and seize our opportunities. Go forth, under cover of night, and sow the seed of our own growing; this will flourish in the very soil that Christ would bring to highest cultivation. The germs of our literature, rooted in human soil and growing secretly beneath the surface, shall spread throughout the world and come to fruitage in the light of every clime. ”

“ To imagine and believe that fertility can be possible in a seething world-furnace, is too far beyond our philosophy to be conceivable. Alpha Centaurus is so large a sun that although it has a population ten times greater than our globe, yet its surface is sparsely settled.
The oceans of fire occupy the greater part of the surface of this wonderful sphere. In these great red-hot seas live the monsters of the deep, as well as a motley variety of other species, veritable salamanders, some grotesquely hideous, others surpassingly beautiful in form and hue. ”

“ I saw that Mr. World spent a long time in viewing the endless proportions of the noted Observatory, and finally stood on the lofty viewpoint with an interpreter at his side.
He was then directed to a seat on a mechanical device that moved in a circle; and as he sat there he looked through the powerful glasses of the immense telescope.
He first beheld the Schools of the Fine Arts, with their myriad students who swarmed through a group of buildings so large that it covered the first sweep of the telescope. ”

“ Human beings, charmingly beautiful, moved over the face of the planet or on wings through the air at pleasure and with great ease. These creatures are about three-fourths of our size, and are most gracefully formed. Their whole physical appearance is more similar to a bird than to a human being of our Earth. They are relatively much lighter than we, and are covered with nothing akin to feathers.
If you were to see them standing in their erect posture and walking with man-like dignity, you would at once feel that they are the lords of the creation on their world, and so indeed they are. ”

“ The speaker was keen-eyed and shrewd, and well knew how to use sophistry in pathos and wit. She expounded to the audience the doctrine of Satan under whose service she was pledged to loyalty.
“We are all missionaries,” she commenced, “and cannot escape the responsibility which is imposed upon us. Our duty is imperative. We stand at the open door of opportunity and enter so slowly into the fields of work all around us. When one sees rank bigotry and narrow-mindedness on every hand, he feels like blushing that he ever sent money to convert the heathen in far-away lands. ”

“ Although each one of the vast companies carries the distinctive impress and the spiritual peculiarities of his own planet, yet they are all now fashioned after the symmetry of the Heaven life, and no one bears a single repellant feature, but rather each spiritual body is beautiful to the eyes of all the others, and each one breathes the same atmosphere of purity and converses in the self-same language of love. ”

“ I saw certain men and women of the King’s Highway who became so inflated with their own vanity and imaginations that they rose head and shoulder above their humbler comrades, thus enabling the lasso of Pride to get hold of them. Some, by heeding advice, escaped; others submitted to the drawing power and landed in the kingdoms of the World where they could worship their new god with increasing ardor. ”

“ As I was thus darting through immensity I glanced toward our own Solar System and could see nothing but a flickering star which was our Sun. Not the faintest sign could I see of our world or of Jupiter.
A strange feeling passed over me when I began to realize how far I was from home. I sped onward until I reached the North Star. It is a burning sun, but not inhabited.
Polaris is the center of a magnificent system. If a certain few of its worlds could be seen through a telescope, they would be picturesque in the extreme, somewhat resembling our beautiful Saturn. ”

“ I wish to inform you that the manuscripts and parchments, in sub- department number six of this hall, all point to the fact that Jesus Christ was born like any other babe and that his father was Joseph. Dishonest, indeed, is any one who would rob Joseph of this honor. ‘Honor to whom honor is due.’ While Christ was a great man, he never had in him the elements of Divinity. Let millions in the world glory in their imaginary theology, yet that is no reason why scholarly research should be put to naught, or why it should be sacrificed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.”
The armies of righteousness will some day triumph over the black hordes of civil iniquity. ”

“ Some of the Moonites declare that it is a huge lantern, hung solely for their benefit, and scoff at the idea that it might be a world inhabited by civilized beings. More intelligent Moonites venture the theory that human life could exist on the great wagon-wheel, but declare that this is quite improbable, as the whole planet is enveloped by some thick, smoky substance in which they believe it would be impossible for human life to exist. Some look upon the Earth as the mother of the Moon, and regard the Sun as the father. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ These ethereal creatures have the loveliest eyes of any human beings I ever beheld in any world. They sparkle with the brilliancy of a diamond and move with the quickness of electricity. The head is small but symmetrical and all physical proportions are most harmoniously adapted even to a nicety that would be pleasing to the most refined tastes of our world.
At first I could not understand how these people of Swift could travel so conveniently in the air, for their wings are very small and the exertion when flying is very limited. ”

“ The downward course of the deluded soul is followed, step by step; the snares and delusions of sin are exposed; the mask of vice is relentlessly torn away, and church-members can here see what fellowship with the world really means and whither it leads.
The religious tone of the book throughout is excellent. The delusive character of sin is plainly pointed out. The devices of Satan are laid bare with unsparing hand. The abominations of vice are not concealed. All this is done in language well chosen and unexceptionable. The Christian life is pictured without cant or exaggeration. ”

“ In regard to our own solar system much speculation is rife as to the existence of human creatures on the several larger planets. Theories of all kinds have been advanced; some speculative or absurd, others so plausible as to give rise to interesting questions, such as communicating with Mars, and perhaps of taking a journey to the Moon. These suggestions, while fanciful, awaken our interest and excite our curiosity. Can any one predict the excitement that would prevail in our world if a human creature from some other planet were suddenly to set foot upon our soil? ”

“ There had just come from the King’s Highway a group of church-members upon whom the scenery had a doleful effect. Some were filled with melancholy, and some were sullen, while despondency sent germs of slow death into other minds.
These conditions enabled Satan to destroy more easily all hope within them of ever succeeding on a way that appeared more rugged than ever, and also made them more desirous to taste the joys of this present life which now lay before them in such a winning way. ”

“ You cannot imagine my surprise when I reached Alpha Centaurus and found that it was inhabited by a class of human creatures who were created to live and flourish in fire. Their customs and habits are so strange that I am not capable of giving an intelligent description of them. I know that it is inconceivable to us how life can be developed and sustained in the midst of a burning sun, and I found that these beings in turn could not conceive how life can exist in a cold world like ours. ”

“ The Devil’s Auction.
As Mr. World and Miss Church-Member proceeded on their journey they were frightened by a man who, with his hands uplifted and agony pictured on his face, came running toward them, shouting: “Let good sense control you and go no farther! Enchantment, spirits, witches, and unnamed hobgoblins dwell in every part of this hideous valley!”
“Oh, terror! What can this mean?” nervously asked Mr. World, as the stranger stood panting for breath.
“All a mystery! Even the air is filled with poison and weird music. I am thankful that I have escaped with my life.” ”

“ They are whiter than snow and shine with a luster not dazzling, but restful to the eye capable of seeing them.
How this glimpse put to naught all my former crude conceptions of Heaven, and if I found myself unable to describe the wonders of many a dark world which I have visited, how much less could I portray the vastly superior beauties of Heaven which are so far beyond the glory of dark, rugged worlds that I felt an inexpressible desire to take up my abode there at once and to remain forever. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But I learned that the inhabitants of Saturn do not appreciate all this wealth of beauty, in its atmosphere or on its earth, a whit more than the people of our world appreciate the sin cursed scenery which greets their eyes. ”