1. The college described.
2. Mr. World and Miss Church-Member have their eyes examined, and Miss Church-Member is supplied with lenses which warp her spiritual vision.
3. The allegory shows how Satan supplies every conceivable kind of lenses to suit the people of the world and the church.
4. Blackana, with deceptive words, attempts to defend Satan’s course.
This institution of Satan has been in operation since the creation of man, having been remodeled as often as advancement in style or skill demanded.
Each one of the fourteen massive buildings was a gem of architectural beauty, and was devoted to a special line of study or practice. The entire group worked harmoniously toward the same end.
In the course of their journey Mr. World and Miss Church-Member drew nigh to this great college, but the shrewd and wicked Mr. World remained silent, waiting for the first words of his companion. Miss Church-Member, however, as she looked upon the stupendous edifices, was so filled with wonder and admiration at the long stretches of masonry, and the perfect symmetry of parts, that she offered no comment until they were quite near the first building.
“For what purpose is this group of great structures used?” were her words that broke the brief silence.
“All for the sake of the eyes,” he carelessly answered, as he called her attention to the King’s Highway and the throngs of people that were admiring and entering the college from those parts.
“It is indeed wonderful,” she commented, “that so small a thing as the eye should demand the service of such great edifices.”
“The buildings are not too large nor too well equipped. Your surprise would not be so great were you to witness the large number from the two great highways that come here daily for treatment. You can see them now moving by thousands to and from the buildings. It might be wise for us to enter for consultation. My eyes, at least, may need some expert attention.”
She, being anxious to see the interior of at least one of the buildings, offered no objection to his shrewd suggestion.
The building was so easy of access that there was not one step to climb. An electric elevator served to carry them to the sixty-fourth floor which formed a part of the huge dome into which the upper portion of the great structure converged. This style of architecture not only added to the beauty of the appearance, but also proved to be perfectly adapted to the uses of the college.
The confidence of Miss Church-Member was fully won by the appearance of the interior and the courteous attention she received from the managers.
The consulting physician examined the eyes of Mr. World, then congratulated him upon the clear vision he enjoyed, and informed him that his eyes required no immediate treatment.
Turning to one side, Mr. World whispered to his companion: “While we are here you had better improve this opportunity and also get the benefit of an expert opinion.”
“I have not come prepared financially,” she blushingly and faintly replied. “I did not even dream of seeking the service of a specialist.”
“That obstacle is easily overcome, for the examination is free, and if you should need further attention and would wish to receive it, I would deem it only a great pleasure to bear all the expenses.”
After a brief, thoughtful silence she consented to the preliminary examination. “Will you examine the eyes of my friend?” requested Mr. World as he stepped toward the chief oculist.
The expert accordingly tested her sight. First he held up, at a distance, the “Delusion of the New Jerusalem,” but she was totally blind to it. Then he submitted the “Deceptions of the Holy Bible” of which she could again see nothing.
“Look through these windows to the Broad Highway, far out into the distance over rolling stretches of country. Can you see the gates of Heaven, at the end of the way?”
Miss Church-Member looked carefully, but declared that she could not see anything that appeared like Heaven or the gates thereof.
“Can you see that place called ‘Perfect Peace’ along the Broad Highway,” continued the oculist as he pointed to a far-off region.
“I can see nothing that looks like it,” she honestly confessed, quite surprised to discover the existence of these apparent defects of her vision.
“A very sad and extreme case,” murmured the examiner as he requested her to open her Bible.
“Can you see, in that book, that all people shall be saved, and none perish?”
“I am surely blind to that and always have been,” she readily admitted with a little more boldness.
“Perhaps you can see the justice of God in punishing the sinner?” he continued with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
“Plainly visible.”
“So I expected.”
He then proceeded to a more minute examination, after which he wrote a brief diagnosis and commended her to a specialist in the next building.
She hesitated somewhat, but Mr. World, handing her, confidentially, a handsome sum of yellow coin from his bag of gold, brought words of deep thankfulness from her lips, and gave decision to her steps in the direction he desired.
From the great dome they were taken in a closed car over the high suspension bridge to the adjoining building which was of still greater magnitude.
The room into which they entered, at such a dizzy height, surpassed, in its unique arrangement, anything of the kind that they had thus far seen. In long and high glass cases lay all the modern appliances used by the most skillful hands. The furnishings blended harmoniously with the general environments. All this won the utter confidence of the new and unsuspecting visitor. “With pleasure,” politely began Mr. World, “I present my friend, Miss Church-Member, who comes hither with defective eyes and a duly subscribed diagnosis from the chief of the oculists.”
The specialist whom he thus addressed made an additional examination, plying his craft with all the ingenuity he had learned from his master. At the conclusion he delivered himself in this wise:
“I find, Miss Church-Member, that your eyes are very much out of order. A complex case, indeed. I have discovered ametropia in the particular form of irregular astigmatism. The pupil, covered by the unabsorbed remains of the pupillary membrane, is occluded by a deposition of inflammatory substance, occasioned by inflammation of the ciliary body.
“I have also noticed a severe type of hemianopsia, which, I presume, had its origin in congeniture. Minor defects are also apparent, but it is unnecessary for me to give further details,”
Miss Church-Member could not refrain from weeping bitterly at this sad announcement. “Is it possible to effect a cure?” she sobbed.
“Ah! you need not thus lament,” said the specialist in a tone of sympathy. “Millions have been altogether cured whose eyes were more diseased than are yours. Forget your tears and be at perfect peace. Calmly confide in our skill.”
She consented to their method, and was first subjected to a course of preliminary treatment. Many an hour she lay while her eyes were covered with cloths saturated with strange liquids. And when her eyes were uncovered she was compelled to sit in darkness, for the physician told her that her eyes had already suffered much on account of light. At times the pain was well nigh intolerable, but she endured it all heroically, hoping to gain thereby the boon of a complete cure.
After this preparatory work one who was skilled in the best methods of the age performed the operation, and Miss Church-Member was comforted by the assurance that her eyes would be fitted with special lenses, and soon she could again behold the natural light of day.
Mr. World was busily engaged during the treatment of Miss Church-Member, but he came repeatedly to her side and spoke words of cheer and urged her strict obedience to all directions.
Finally her new lenses were put to service, and Mr. World proffered his compliments profusely until the first impulses of vanity moved within her. _To be admired, on account of her appearance, seemed never so attractive as now!_
What a new world opened to her view! She looked down upon the Broad Highway with a degree of pleasure hitherto unsuspected, and also upon the King’s Highway, but only to see that the path was indeed a rough one and beset with trials and difficulties which, to her mind, now seemed unnecessary to a Christian life.
In the same manner I looked into all the apartments of each building, and was astonished at the presence of so large a number from the King’s Highway, and a still greater throng from the way of the world.
“O Blackana!” I cried, “how long will this continue? Is there no end to deception? With such a changed view of things, how can Miss Church-Member crave for the King’s Highway or urge Mr. World thither?”
“Miss Church-Member will be happier where she is,” answered my uncanny companion as he grinned horribly. “By the aid of her glasses she can both see and enjoy the wonderful scenes along the way.” I knew that Blackana was covering the truth, but hesitated to insinuate as much. “Can you explain,” I questioned in a half hopeful mood, “how those specialists can do their deceptive work so brazenly? Poor Miss Church-Member, deluded and defrauded, now stumbles rapidly onward with the fiendish Mr. World. Tell me, O agent of the Devil, do those creatures find delight in such horrible deeds?”
“It is not a matter of pleasure or delight with them, but rather one of loyalty to their king, whom you call ‘Devil.’ To serve him poorly means a more bitter hell, but to serve him well brings honor from his hand.”
“But such honor!” I exclaimed, and then said: “I observe that Miss Church-Member wears colored lenses—tell me the meaning of this; and you, Blackana, hereafter deal no more in falsehood with me!” I demanded.
Blackana shifted his position, and with marked reluctance proceeded to answer:
“The Devil, my master, uses in his work all imaginable kinds of glasses, each for its particular use. Through his agents Satan selects the lens for the patient’s eye, and if it is worn as selected and directed, he has won a decisive victory.”
“Foul and fiendish plots of Hell,” I involuntarily muttered; but Blackana listened in silence.
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