1. Miss Church-Member is now induced to frequent the haunts of vice in the “Wicked Valley.”
2. The blessed work of Warning as given by rescue bands from the King’s Highway.
3. The heedless throngs passing by.
4. The experiences at this place of Mr. World and Miss Church-Member.
There was a joyful meeting in the reception room of the Hospital when Mr. World, returning from his underground experiences, met his beloved friend Miss Church-Member who had recovered sufficiently to resume the journey.
In joyful spirits they sauntered forth on the wide and pleasant path, away from the Hospital and toward their imaginary Heaven.
Miss Church-Member’s face was more cheerful and her footsteps more buoyant than at any time since she left the Valley of Conviction.
Mr. World, observing her favorable condition, complimented her with these words: “Blessed be the memory of that Hospital, for I can see that your face is no more covered with the cloud of care that once robbed you of so many joys. The unkind intruder has drifted away, and now the light radiates from your every feature. It is also plainly evident that you are no more tormented by a troubled conscience.”
“I am glad that my sufferings have not been in vain,” she modestly declared. “May the new light which you so readily notice in my face add to the pleasantness of our journey and the profit of our lives.” Their conversation grew more and more pleasant as they passed through a long stretch of woodland. They could see beyond, them, and in the rear, the legions that were traveling the same path and in the same direction.
Emerging from the woodland they saw that their path came again in close proximity to the King’s Highway.
The intervening space between the two paths, called the Wicked Valley, was all astir with every form of evil as practiced in the world of sin. In this vale nearly every traveler on the Broad Highway tarries awhile, and many are lured away from the Highway of the King here to mingle with the servants of Mammon.
Mr. World and his friend paused opposite a cluster of magnificent buildings with frontage toward the Heavenly Way. Some were used by vulgar theatricals; some devoted to the sensual dance; some were occupied by the Devil’s maid-servants in prostitution, and many others were used as haunts of intemperance and personal pollution.
All along the road to perdition at thousands of places stand such clusters of buildings, each under the command of one of Satan’s most efficient leaders.
“Here,” said Mr. World, “let us take a long rest. If you have your glasses 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 assisted 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 glasses. I hope you will never have occasion to use them again.”
Of the multitudes that tarried here from the Narrow Way very few went out at the front door. Having stultified themselves, they passed 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 associating 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, pass 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 pass before reaching the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and here with tearful earnestness do the Shining 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 snatching some from the thoughtless throngs that go rushing by toward the Dark Valley.
I listened and heard a voice from the Place of Warning speak to a motley crowd that were passing.
“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 passed on, and as far as I could see them they were pushing 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 cumbersome weight you are carrying on your back, and travel on the way where your burden will 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 passing ease. I will soon come to the River of Death and with these boards I can make myself a raft whereon I can pass 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 passed on. I watched him till he reached the river, and saw him go from the shore 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 passed 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 passed 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 God 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 God 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 passages 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,’ and go speak to the lost, not to me so well equipped to meet the direst foe. Turn your words to those on the other path, who go hobbling along in misery, not fit to live or die.”
trampled under foot. Forget not so quickly the teachings of our Lord.”As they passed on, in a self-righteous manner, she cheerily looked into his face and said: “It was kind in you to come so promptly to my rescue. I might have prattled there a whole day and yet not have shown them half their folly.”
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