SCHOOLS OF LITERATURE. FIRST AND SECOND DIVISIONS.
1. The schools described.
2. The literature of the world tainted by the teachers of darkness.
3. Satan’s rules for the winning author.
The College of Literature, in three grand divisions, occupied one of
the most attractive sites of all the territory covered by the University
of the World. It was owned and controlled by Satan, and was visited
by the children of the human family from every portion of the earth.
Mr. World and Miss Church-Member came thither in a conveyance. They
stood before the massive structure which comprised the first division
of the College. Around them were the living fountains which, like
pearls in billows of green, played upon the expansive lawn. While they
strolled along the pebbled paths they were lost in admiration as they
continued looking upon the stupendous building which towered far into
the air and extended as far as the eye could reach. In breathless
silence they noted first its size, then its durability, and marveled
most at the splendid symmetry of the parts, each blending into a perfect
whole.
“Heaven must have inspired so great and beautiful a design,” was the
first comment of Miss Church-Member. “Those porticos hanging in mid-air,
those domes and pillars, dreamlike, stand before me more like a hundred
fabled castles than aught real to sight or touch.”
“Indeed the world affords rich and delightful privileges to all who
will but walk in her ways,” said Mr. World just as they arrived at one
of the large entrances, over which these words were written:
DEPOSITORY OF THE WORLD’S LITERATURE, WELCOME TO ALL!
As Miss Church-Member viewed the weighty pillars on each side of the
entrance, she exclaimed: “This is indeed a rare opportunity. Methinks
I could revel, with delight, forever in fields of literature. Come,
Mr. World, let us at once pass through the massive doors and learn
what we can from so great a source.”
Although the literary tastes of Mr. World were not strongly developed,
yet he offered no objections to her request. He seemed willing to
suffer any inconvenience for her sake so long as she traveled on the
Broad Highway. As they were entering the building I saw that many from
the church and the world were also pushing their way into the interior
that they might get a glimpse of the inner halls, and visit the ones
that were best suited to their fancies.
Miss Church-Member was surprised when she saw the unique arrangement
of the interior. There were twenty-eight magnificent halls so
constructed that they converged toward a large central office into
which I saw Mr. World and his companion enter, profoundly impressed
with the smallness of the single human mind.
After answering the stipulated questions, they registered under the
rules and regulations and were given certificates entitling them to
all the privileges which this first division of the College accorded
to visitors.
In the commodious office they learned that each of the twenty-eight
halls contained a distinctive line of literature, systematically
arranged in numerous sub-departments; and that competent librarians
superintended the literature of each hall and of each department.
Miss Church-Member ascertained also that each hall was centrally
supplied with a lecture room having an immense seating capacity, and
that learned professors, each in their turn, occupied the platform and
constantly gave lectures which were intended to describe and illustrate
the class of literature represented in their faculties.
After considerable time spent in the office, they passed through the
long and wide circular lobby, reading the beautifully emblazoned
inscriptions over each entrance door, but they could not immediately
decide into which hall they would first enter.
At length after a pleasant loitering, Mr. World led his charming comrade
into the fourth hall, over whose entrance, in plain words, this
inscription appeared:
ALL THAT WAS EVER WRITTEN CONCERNING JESUS CHRIST.
They first chose to enter a sub-department where ancient scrolls,
parchments, and papyri could be seen in tiresome variety. Miss
Church-Member scanned most carefully some of the manuscripts which had
never been published.
In other sections of the hall there were books and pamphlets of all
descriptions, each one referring to Jesus Christ in a favorable or an
unfavorable manner.
During these visitations the attendants extended unusual courtesies
to Mr. World and his faithful friend, and also to the endless procession
of visitors and students who were constantly moving through these
departments. Finally the two companions proceeded to the lecture room
of this hall and listened to an address entitled: “The Divinity of
Christ,” by one of Satan’s ablest advocates a professor with
ecclesiastical titles. His gestures were unique and his style altogether
persuasive.
I heard his words with great displeasure, for they taught the philosophy
of Hell, with Heaven on the face of it.
“I must congratulate myself,” commenced he, “on having the privilege
of addressing so intelligent a class of people. I only hope that I may
be helpful to you in your quest of knowledge.
“The central theme of this hall is ‘Jesus Christ’ and I shall now
proceed to speak of his so-called ‘Divinity.’ I cannot question that
there is a supreme hand in the works of nature, but after careful
research I am compelled to doubt the genuineness of the Divinity which
is ascribed to Christ. True enough, his childhood was blameless, and
he possessed exceptional wisdom so that many of his countrymen believed
him to be more than human. In this manner the idea of his Divinity
originated, and this fallacy grew as the man grew.
“He was shrewd, and possessed a great amount of magnetic force which
was trained and used with remarkable skill, all of which made him pose
as a god before a credulous and unsuspecting public. The ignorance and
gross superstition of that age made a fit soil for the spread of
Christ’s doctrine and the idea that he was Divine.
“When Jesus discerned that his claims were more readily accepted by
the poorer and more ignorant class of people, he lauded them in his
teachings, while the learned and more respectable classes were subjected
to his abuse and sarcasm.
“By his unusual tactics overcame the prejudices of his enemies and,
for a long time, escaped punishment. But finally he was arrested and
convicted and, notwithstanding his so-called Divine power, he came to
an inglorious end by death on a cross. His friends, unable to prevent
his cursed death, quickly formed a plot to perpetuate his doctrines.
They carried out their plot by stealthily robbing Christ’s body from
the grave and secretly burying it elsewhere, and then spreading the
news that he, of his own power, came forth from the grave. To complete
the fraud they also claimed, a little later, that he had ascended into
Heaven. What was the purpose of all this? It was to prove that Christ
was Divine and thereby to make his teachings authoritative and eternal.
“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. We
are living in the morning twilight of a better day when God shall be
worshiped and Jesus Christ ignored when all thought of Divinity will
center at the true focus and a man will no longer receive the glory
that belongs to God.”
The vigorous applause which followed the remarks of this speaker fell
with grating horror on my ears. “Can it be possible,” thought I, “that
any one can publicly teach such doctrines of Hell, and be thus
applauded? Whither are so many of the church and the world drifting
that they should give ear to such theology as it comes from the mouth
of the Devil?”
Miss Church-Member and her escort left the lecture room and visited
a few more of the sub-departments where they saw many objects of
literary interest and, with the aid of experts, examined some of the
old manuscripts dating back to the time of Christ. They left the hall
and were next attracted by the words over the entrance of Hall No. 9
appearing thus:
LITERATURE ON LIFE.
1. Vegetable Life. 2. Animal Life. 3. Mental Life. 4. Spiritual Life.
At the suggestion of Miss Church-Member they entered, and could readily
see that the attendants and lecturers of this hall were also of a very
high class. One of the speakers elaborated on the theory that life is
the result of spontaneous generation.
Another, in speaking on spiritual life, made special reference to the
fact that Jesus Christ claimed to be the “Life,” and then proceeded
to refute this claim by a series of arguments which were altogether
too philosophical to be understood by the two companions.
Finding no pleasure in this metaphysical atmosphere, Mr. World conducted
his companion to the adjoining hall devoted to the “Literature of
Fiction.”
Here they spent a season delightfully, perusing works of fiction and
listening to addresses, all of which advocated the views of Satan.
I heard one of the lecturers, in a discussion on “The License of Pure
Fiction” make these dangerous remarks: “The highest fiction of the
world is that in which human life is pictured in ideal colors, even
though it be done at the expense of truth.
“There can be no harm if the reader should gain a false view of life.
The very charm of such a view will act as a stimulus to a wider
experience and to a higher culture.
“In our real life, as we come in daily contact with the world, we see
and suffer enough. Therefore it cannot be harmful if fiction carries
us into strange worlds of morality or into any mythical realm. I give
you but the result of long and careful study, and I advise you to read
the wildest and most exciting forms of fiction, and thereby get the
healthful and exhilarating effect that comes from total mental
absorption. All this will tend to the development of your nature so
that you will, by contrast, better appreciate the substantial things
of life.”
I saw that Mr. World and Miss Church-Member next visited the hall
devoted to the “Literature of the Passions.” After they had entered,
Miss Church-Member, at first, felt embarrassed, and her sense of modesty
would not have allowed her to remain had it not been that her conscience
was eased by these conditions:
1. She saw that among the moving thousands that were present in the
massive hall many belonged to the higher classes of society.
2. She was also informed that not a few of the throng held good
membership in various branches of the visible church.
3. She readily observed that Mr. World was so much delighted that she
offered no protest, and that he seemed to take an interest in the
endless program as carried out in one department or another.
In this poisonous hall Miss Church-Member stultified herself more than
in any other place which she had ever before visited, and thereby added
one more decisive step in her downward course. She tarried longest in
one of the sub-departments where Satan’s expert doctors of literature
delivered their special lectures on the writings of each author as far
as they related directly or indirectly to the passions.
These avowed experts carried on their fiendish work under the cover
of a pleasing dignity. After their crafty manner they quoted or read
the fine sentences of an author, preferably those of a sensual cast,
and then placed a premium on the passionate by describing the fine
style of the author and showing how true to nature was the language
he employed.
Thus I saw that the leaders of this department were using the choicest
and the foulest productions of the pen, gathered from the authors of
all lands, languages and ages, and Miss Church-Member, by degrees
almost imperceptible, voluntarily sacrificed her finer moral taste on
a popular and polluted altar.
To a pure heart there was an unclean cast and a withering effect
prevalent throughout all the departments of this hall, and my heart
burned as I continued observing how the agents of Satan plied their
subtle influences so as to popularize this cosmopolitan resort. So
effectually has Satan entrenched his views that some of the strong
defenders of this hall of literature are connected with the church,
and types of this same teaching have found their way into some of the
Christian schools of the world.
After this protracted visit Mr. World and Miss Church-Member left this
hall and continued their studies in hall after hall, until more than
one half of the twenty-eight halls were visited. Their next objective
point was the second grand division of this College devoted to “_The
Elements of Success in Authorship._”
My heart trembled at what my eyes saw. The great army of writers who
studied in this department came from all countries of the earth. “Can
it be true,” thought I, “that so large a portion of our authors get
at least a part of their training in the schools of the Devil?”
“O Blackana!” I sighed, “how long have these things been?”
“Since the beginning of literature,” was his cold and brief reply.
“Always so large a percentage of the world’s authors found at that
school?”
“It has never been on the decrease,” he continued. “So many have visited
these halls that it has been a veritable meeting-place of almost all
authors of all lands and all ages at some stage in their careers. Some
who came tarried long; others, not satisfied, foolishly drifted to the
schools of the King’s Highway which ever carry on their work in
opposition to the University of the World.”
Here also, in this second grand division, the subtlest kind of teaching
was prevalent. In one sub-division Mr. World and Miss Church-Member
read these general laws written in bold letters where all who desired
could read:
RULES FOR THE WINNING AUTHOR.
1. Give quality rather than quantity.
2. If you will not compose your best, compose nothing. The world is
heavily overstocked with inferior compositions.
3. Write nothing that will cause regret on your death-bed.
4. Do not follow in the rut. Go by some path untraveled before, over
land or sea, and tell the world of your new discoveries.
5. To be acceptable, in the highest sense, you must teach differently
than others, even though it be at the expense of what is commonly
called “truth.” Novelty is the winning feature.
6. In any one composition strive first to arouse the curiosity of your
intended readers; then keep the curiosity suspended and finally give
it satisfaction in accordance with the aim in view.
7. You may be influenced by religion, but not by religious nonsense.
If your writings win, you are a teacher of millions. So, in order to
reach the public ear, you may cater to the tastes and wishes of the
majority.
8. If you see some vile conditions of humanity, send out, in your
writings, vials of vileness. “Like cures like.” If any part of the
church cries, “poison, poison!” you may justify yourself by the fact
that the so-called “poison” in your productions will only neutralize
the poison so prevalent in society, on the same principle that poison
is administered to a sickly body in order to effect a cure.
9. You are always safest when you are true to nature, even though some
sentimental people may charge you with being vulgar.
10. Words of profanity are not allowable if they are the mere expression
of the author, but any foul or profane expression may be quoted. An
author should not be charged with the impropriety of his characters
who are merely taken from actual life.
The above ten commandments, if properly interpreted and obeyed, will
surely lead to literary success.
Then Mr. World escorted his confiding friend from hall to hall of this
second grand division, and at many intervals they could be seen spending
a quiet season on the lawns which surrounded the entire structure.
Their tastes were now more in harmony than ever, and their friendship
was fast reaching that intimacy where each one was searching for pearls
in the deep ocean of the other’s love.