SATAN INTERPRETING SCRIPTURE.
1. Mr. World and Miss Church-Member now take an easier method of
traveling, for they ride on a strange vehicle down the gravity road.
2. Miss Church-Member reads her Bible by the aid of her new glasses.
3. She is assisted in understanding it by a minion of Satan who comes
robed as an angel of light.
4. Her glasses enable her to distinguish between the inspired and the
uninspired parts of the Bible; for this ability she is highly
complimented.
The Broad Highway, after leaving the Optical College, was especially
hard to travel. Here Mr. World secured a fashionable vehicle propelled
by some secret force. Into this carriage he assisted Miss Church-Member,
and each was delighted with the smooth descent down the gravity road.
“This is delightful traveling,” she said, as she reclined upon the
luxurious cushions of the conveyance. Aided by her new glasses she
enjoyed the scenery along the way more than ever. “I am glad you
appreciate it,” he smilingly returned. “According to my notion, riding
is indeed preferable to walking. From these elevated carriages one can
witness so much more of the world, and can also with more distinctness
see the King’s Highway with its trudging pilgrims seemingly unconscious
of this better mode of travel.”
Miss Church-Member took a mere casual glance at the Old Path and her
former associates, and seemed to feel thankful that she had risen from
bigotry to a more charitable view of things.
Her Bible, although closed altogether too long, had never been
surrendered. But she had received strict orders not to read it until
her eyes were fully adjusted to the new lenses.
Now, however, she opened it and was reading it under the new light,
lifting her eyes at close intervals so as to miss nothing of beauty
or interest along this way of the world.
Mr. World observed her careless manner,--how she turned from chapter
to chapter in brief succession and fixed but little attention on any
particular portion.
“I would urge you,” he kindly advised, “that if you feel aught of
headache or heartache, through excessive reading, to close the book
at once.”
[Illustration: Miss Church-member was reading the Bible to her companion
when there appeared to them an interpreter who was like unto an angel
of light.]
She made no reply, but to his surprise was now deeply engaged in the
perusal of the seventh chapter of Matthew.
“I have heard that some parts of that book are very interesting,” he
said in his good natured way. “Will you not read aloud to me?”
With a return of the old passion for his conversion she gladly complied
and read the whole chapter while they continued gliding smoothly along.
An interesting discussion ensued, during the course of which there
joined them one who was like unto an angel of light.
After hearing his smooth sentences of general Bible-knowledge, Miss
Church-Member exclaimed: “Who art thou, and how didst thou gain so
great a knowledge of this Book?”
“I am but a harmless creature of the air, going whither I will. I have
studied that Book through all the changes of time and understand every
part of it. I would, even now, make any sentence as clear as light to
thee.”
“And thinkest thou that this part is true?” hopefully asked Miss
Church-Member as she raised the open Bible and pointed to the chapter
she had just read.
“Every sentence is true, but in reading it there is grave danger of
misapprehension. Didst thou have difficulty with any particular part
of the chapter?”
“With verses thirteen and fourteen,” she replied.
The angelic interpreter then read them in a fine resonant voice.
“‘Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
hereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth
unto life, and few there be that find it.’”
“If these words are really true,” quickly commented Miss Church-Member,
“we must be traveling in the wrong way. Does it not appear so?” she
queried, as she looked with increasing interest at the angelic being.
“Naturally it does,” he shrewdly answered, “especially if you look
merely at the surface of the text; but the pearls of truth lie deeper.”
“I well know that the King’s Highway is called the ‘Narrow Way’ and
this, whereon we journey, the ‘Broad Way.’ Surely this part of Scripture
is against us,” insisted Miss Church-Member, as her countenance grew
more troubled.
“Thou needst not stumble at such easy Scripture; behold, the meaning
is quite clear! They who travel on the so-called King’s Highway are
continually exaggerating the _merits_ of the way, thereby making it
appear greater and broader than it really is. They go so far as to
claim that the way is broad enough to accommodate all the people of
the world, were they minded to travel thereon. Therefore those who
thus make the way broad by their own conceits will meet with
destruction. This is the meaning of verse thirteen.”
“It is certain, according to verse fourteen, that we have a strait
gate, and none, on this road, imagine or claim that the way is broader
than it is; so we are credited with having it called ‘narrow,’ for it
is as narrow as we claim it to be.”
“Notwithstanding your explanation and the relief these glasses have
given me, my conscience is still troubled, and methinks I hear a voice
from this Bible chiding me. This is the chief barrier to my real
happiness,” she boldly confessed.
“Thou shouldst not dwell in fear,” spoke the shining adviser. “Do not
allow the errors of any false teaching to mar the peace and happiness
of this way. Bid farewell to all thy inward doubting, and taste the
imperishable sweetness of the world, turning a deaf ear to the voice
that chides thee unkindly.”
“But the voice comes from my Bible,” she tremblingly declared.
“Truly said, Miss Church-Member; it comes far enough _from_ the Bible.
Why not listen to the voice that is the Bible. Thou art in harmony with
every part of Scripture. Let not false voices drive thee on to deeper
grief.”
She then looked at the shining form with more curiosity than ever
before.
“Who can this be?” she asked Mr. World in a passing whisper. “You have
seen how he urges me to perfect peace, and so unselfishly.”
“’Tis but a happy friend that comes in the hour of need. Should we not
give heed to his kindly voice? If the studying of that Bible gives you
pain, adding to the weight that already wearies your heart, why not
close the book and, continuing on this way of ease, look more carefully
on outward things again?”
“Think you, Mr. World, that I would lay down my Bible? This is the
book that mother loved. It has always been my Book of books. It contains
the code of laws that controls the whole spiritual world, and it is
the only lamp that leads to light and to the gates of Heaven. You need
it as much as I. Why ask me to lay it down?”
“_Nay, nay,_” spoke the angel of light, “_urge her not to discard her
Bible, but rather to get a true understanding of it._ Perhaps,” he
continued, turning again to Miss Church-Member, “thou hast met with
other mysterious verses in this chapter. If so, I will gladly serve
thee, for I love to give light to an honest heart.”
“I see nothing more now that gives me trouble. These glasses, which
I got through the kindness of Mr. World, have helped me to understand
your interpretation so that the rest of the chapter is quite clear to
me.”
“And how does the whole Bible appear since thy sight is so improved
by those fortunate lenses?”
“It certainly appears vastly different,” she confessed. “It is so much
more liberal in its teachings than I ever before imagined.”
“_Hast thou become so far advanced that thou canst, with thy more
comprehensive view, distinguish between the inspired and the uninspired
parts?_” asked the shining one with an air of dignity.
“Not clearly so, although I have recently doubted the genuineness of
some parts which still hold their place in the book.”
“Thou art coming to the true light,” he flatteringly replied. “Blessed
is the event that ever changed thine eyes to see so great a truth. Oh,
that all the world might thus drink from the fountain of knowledge!”
“When will the time ever come that the Bible will be rid of its errors?”
impatiently broke in Mr. World.
“In that happy day when the mists of superstition shall vanish before
the true light of personal liberty and free thinking,” came the answer
from the bright-robed angel who was none else than a minion of the
Devil in disguise.
“How could such a glorious work best be accomplished?” asked Mr. World
whose interest now was more intensely aroused.
“Only by Christians who ought to appoint a committee from their own
number,--persons like our friend Miss Church-Member. This committee
could decide, by a majority vote, what parts of the Bible to expunge.
Then the church and the world would have a Bible reasonably free from
errors. Our present Bible has so many objectionable parts which, of
course, could not have been inspired, and any person who has the courage
to correct it will be doing the world an incalculable service.”
“Amen and amen!” enthusiastically spoke Mr. World. “The Bible is
certainly a great book, but it would be vastly improved if once rid
of its interpolations and errors of translation. Any preacher who would
use in his pulpit such an abridged Bible would have my profoundest
respect, and I hereby pledge half my fortune to the first minister who
will do himself the honor of taking such a step.”
“That will have its desired effect,” smilingly commented Miss
Church-Member, “for there are some gentlemen of the cloth who would
quickly sacrifice any conviction for such a sum of money.”
“And here,” added the angel of light, “I hold in my hand a crown of
fame set with the gems of honor. I hereby engage to place a crown like
this on the head of each minister who will, in preaching and teaching,
abridge the Bible and ridicule its weaknesses. Of course he must not
cast reflection upon the real Word of God. He must only denounce and
destroy the errors that have crept into it.”
With these words the bright messenger disappeared, and Miss
Church-Member endeavored again to know more about his identity, but
Mr. World did not altogether satisfy her curiosity.
Then, as they sped onward in their well-devised vehicle down the gravity
road to Hell, Miss Church-Member continued reading her Bible quietly.
“How changed the teachings of this book appear,” she soliloquized. “I
can now see how foolish I once was in taking so narrow a view of its
truths.”
I took a passing glance at the King’s Highway, and saw a virtuous and
holy woman on her knees in prayer, with a Bible opened before her.
She read from the Book, doubting not its words, and was pleading
earnestly with God for a better understanding of them, until flash
after flash of heavenly light filled her soul, making her face shine
with more than human glory.
To her the Devil, robed as an angel of light, made no appearance so
long as I looked.
Then I asked Blackana, and he told me that Satan feared that which was
sharper than a two-edged sword more than a large number of professing
Christians not filled with the word of God.
“And what think you of Miss Church-Member?” I continued.
“She is a fine character,” spoke Blackana as a hideous grin spread
over his face.
Then I was moved with indignation, and I spoke with fire in my voice:
“Give me no more deceptive words of Hell! Tell the naked truth. What
is the estimate that Satan places on one who acts like Miss
Church-Member?”
Blackana moved not a feature at my changed attitude, but spoke calmly
within the bounds of truth: “Satan considers such a one as a valuable
ally to his cause, for she is now working against Jesus Christ on her
imaginary road to Heaven. Nothing is more helpful to Satan than when
members of the church believe that parts of the Bible are untrue. It
is indeed gratifying to us,” continued Blackana with a fiendish smile,
“to see the twentieth century of the so-called Christian era opening
with the church wrangling over her Bible more desperately than ever,
and some of the learned leaders, and those of lesser light, laying the
lash on him who believes that the regularly revised version of Scripture
is of sufficient authority and approved of God.”
Thus Blackana, in dread reluctant tones, and with his tongue still
unfriendly to Christ’s cause, was continuing, when a voice from above
gave this startling and silencing testimony.
“_Such Scripture is an impregnable rock; and they, who by faith stand
thereon, cannot be poisoned by the fiery darts which are hurled even
by the latest invented guns from the Wizard City. All Hell secretly
acknowledges the strength of this foundation, even though part of the
church on earth refuses to do as much._”