"The infinity of the universe of worlds is but a faint reflection
of the Infinite Power that created them. By His will they were
called into existence. By His will they, and all that they contain,
could be swept away in an instant!"
"Not even in thought can ye grasp the boundlessness of His works.
How then can ye measure the infinite might of their Creator?"
My palace stands on the highest ground in the uppermost city in
Montalluyah. It is of circular shape, and has twenty floors and terraces
raised one above the other, the circumference of each gradually
diminishing from the lowest to the highest. There are no stairs, in your
sense of the word, but we are raised from one story to the other with
ease by electric power. Besides the internal communication, there is
another circular tower of considerably smaller dimensions contiguous to
the palace, with each floor of which it communicates by a species of
temporary bridge, so that persons can be moved at once to the floor they
desire to reach, without the necessity of entering the palace by a lower
floor. This communication can be suspended instantaneously by stopping
the electric generating power which acts from within the palace, and
communicates subterraneously with the "Lift" Tower.
On the highest terrace of the palace, and dominating every part of the
upper cities, and many of the other cities of Montalluyah, is erected my
Observatory, whence I could observe the various worlds suspended in
space.
We had for a long time possessed instruments through which we could see
many of the most distant stars, but with none of these was electric
power combined, and their scope was not sufficient to solve certain
problems of great interest.
Electricity, chemistry, the knowledge of sun electricity and of the
sciences generally, had, under my system, made such marvellous strides
as to convince me that an instrument might be made not only to see the
stars more plainly, but to view, in some cases, their interior.
As was my wont on such occasions, I assembled together all the great
electricians, scientific sun-attractors, mathematicians, oculists,
opticians, and the heads of science generally; and, after many years, my
own particular Star Instrument was constructed.
Although this instrument is circular, and has numerous glasses, it
differs materially from your telescopes. Electrical combinations play an
important part in its operations, and for the minute examination of
different worlds, a different diffusion of electricities is necessary.
The variation is regulated not by the distance, but by the difference in
the attracting power of the star, and often, through the peculiar nature
of its electricity, greater power is required to view minutely a planet
much nearer to Montalluyah than is needed for one more distant.
The secrets revealed to me were so great, that when I first looked
through the instrument in all its power I fainted.
With the aid of the Star Instrument I discovered the constitution of the
sun, and of many of the stars and their inhabitants. Numbers of the
stars have atmospheres different from that of the earth and Montalluyah.
Many are inhabited by beings, of whom some partake of our nature; some
are of a nature and consistency entirely different to ours; some can
only give effect to their will through a material medium; some possess
creative powers, and can, by the sole exercise of will, invent the most
lovely forms of beauty, and transmit themselves to immeasurable
distances with the rapidity of thought.
The superiority of these in power and intelligence over man in his
present state is far greater than is the superiority of man over the
insect, which can as little understand the human soul as man with
unaided powers can comprehend the Beings of whom I have spoken.
My Star Instrument, however, can only bring to light those Beings who,
to a certain extent at least, possess a material form, though of a
consistency as subtle as electricity. But the instrument does not
possess the power of rendering visible those Superior Beings, whom no
man in his ordinary state is permitted to see through a material medium.
He only can see them even in visions who is blessed with a superior
order of light--light in power and beauty far excelling the concentrated
light known to us--a light like that which was sometimes vouchsafed to
your Holy Prophets! And unless a person be inspired with a portion at
least of that immortal light, the brightness, power, and glory of these
orders of Beings, or their ways, can neither be seen, understood, nor
even imagined.
The discoveries made through the Star Instrument, however, are too
numerous to relate at present. I must limit myself now to little more
than a few particulars relating to the sun.