A WONDERFUL REVELATION.
There was no way by which we could learn so much and so rapidly about
that wonderful world as by conversation, so at every opportunity we
tried to get Thorwald and the others to give us portions of their
history. From time to time my companion and myself compared our
impressions, and expressed to each other the pleasure we anticipated in
relating all the amazing things we had seen and heard to our friends on
the earth. The exceedingly doubtful problem of our ever getting back to
our home again did not trouble us then.
We said to each other that the most startling things had probably all
been told us, and that we could not be much surprised by anything that
they could tell us further. And yet there was that to follow which, if
we could fully enter into its significance, would make us forget much of
what we had already heard, or at least care but little to recall it. In
truth, the new revelation which we were about to receive from the lips
of our friend was of so much value, and so different in character from
the other subjects Thorwald had spoken of, that we afterward came to
look upon all that had gone before as an introduction, perhaps intended
to prepare our minds for a much grander truth. Yet it was brought out
by a question from me, a question of whose importance I had little
conception.
When Thorwald was ready to talk one day I said to him:
“We have heard you several times speak reverently of a God. Will you
tell us definitely what your religion is?”
“With pleasure,” he replied. “We worship one God, the maker of all
things, and his Son, Jesus Christ, who gave his life for us.”
“Why, how did you hear of his death, Thorwald?”
“I might better ask how you heard of it. Many centuries ago God saw fit
to reveal himself more fully to us by sending his only Son, who came in
the likeness of our flesh, dwelt among us, and by cruel hands was slain.
He gave himself a sacrifice for our sins, but rose again from the dead,
as we, too, shall rise. He ascended into heaven and through him we now
have access unto the Father.”
“But Jesus died on the earth too, and you but describe his relations to
us.”
“I rejoice greatly to hear it,” answered Thorwald, “and I know now why
you were sent to us. This information is of inestimable value to us, for
we have spent much thought on the question of the moral government of
other worlds that we knew were inhabited. In God’s dealings with Mars,
lifting up our souls and preparing us for his service and glory, we
believed he was working in the very best way. There can be but one best
way; and so, considering that there might be many other races of sinful
beings needing a saviour, we wondered how God’s mercy was revealed
to them. This bright news which you bring is worth more to us at the
present time than all other possible information about the earth or its
people. The fact that the earth is inhabited was no great surprise to
us after what we had learned of our larger neighbors, but this--this is
news indeed.
“As an example of what our interest in this subject has prompted us
to do, let me tell you that in our extremely laborious and limited
intercourse with Saturn and Uranus we made the form of the cross. We all
feared our work might be in vain and many doubted seriously the wisdom
of proceeding with the undertaking, which occupied many years, when it
was so probable that those distant people would not know what the sign
meant. But we labored on, and before the form was fairly finished it was
with the keenest pleasure that we saw the answer growing on the rounded
surface of each planet. They worked, they stopped, and then we realized
that both had replied to our question with the short straight line
which, in our communications, has come to be the affirmative sign, or
the ‘yes’ in the new universal language.
“We interpreted this answer to mean that the great redemption signified
by the cross was known to the highly intelligent races that peopled
these rolling worlds. But how did that knowledge reach them? To that
question we never hoped to get an answer. Did a troop of bright angels
issue forth from the gates of heaven and wing their way from one planet
to another, as each race was ready for the joyful tidings, and make
this glad announcement?--‘Peace from heaven to this world! On Mars,
your sister planet, a child was born, the Son of God, the Saviour of the
universe. He lived a perfect life for your example, he died on the cross
for your salvation. Believe in him, love him, follow him!’
“We thought much on this point, wondering reverently how God had
wrought. And now you have come to explain all the mystery, to answer all
questions. One simple sentence tells it all: ‘Jesus died on the earth
too.’
“I see it perfectly now. Christ, the Lord of heaven, came to us in the
fullness of time, took upon him the likeness of our flesh, lived nobly,
was slain, rose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven to prepare
blessed mansions for all his followers. So, too, in the fullness of your
time, when the earth was ready for the great sacrifice, Christ offered
himself again. He appeared in human form and lived among men as he had
lived with us, pointing your race, also, to a home of peace and joy
above.
“Better than any announcement of angels of what had taken place in
some other world was his actual life among you, going about doing good,
shedding around him the spirit of love and self-denial, showing you the
way to live, the way to die.
“Among the vast multitude of peopled worlds which God has made, there
is doubtless great variety in nature and condition. But if there are any
others whose inhabitants were ever in our lost condition, let us hope
and believe that the same great act of mercy has been shown to them
which has so greatly blessed the planets of our own system.”
Here, at Thorwald’s request, I told him briefly of the Saviour’s advent
on the earth in the fulfillment of prophecy, of his beautiful life, and
then of the marvelous improvement his religion had brought about as it
spread in the world.
Thorwald appeared intensely interested, and exclaimed: “Oh! how this
truth you have told us does make brothers of us all, and how it will
enhance the pleasure of our intercourse. Now in our future conversation
we shall be in full sympathy, knowing that, though born so far apart, we
are all followers of the same dear Master.
“Zenith,” said Thorwald to his wife, who was sitting with us, “this is
a happy day for us all. These earth-dwellers, these men who have come to
visit our world, are not strangers; they are Christians. Think of it.”
At this juncture I could not help studying the doctor’s face, for I knew
this was the first time he had ever been called a Christian. In spite
of the seriousness of the situation, I was obliged to indulge in a quiet
smile to think he had to go all the way to Mars to be recognized in his
true character. For although he would not acknowledge the divine source
of it, he had imbibed a great deal of the real Christian spirit. But
he had spent his life in seeking for scientific knowledge in various
directions and was content, as he often said, to leave the unknowable
without investigation. I wondered whether, in these novel circumstances,
he would care to give voice to his agnosticism. But the doctor was
honest or he was nothing, and he could not endure that Thorwald should
rest under the false impression implied by his closing words. So with
some effort, as I could see, he said:
“I dislike exceedingly, Thorwald, to destroy the least particle of the
effect of your eloquence, but I feel compelled to say that, as for me, I
have never called myself a Christian.”
“Not a Christian!” said Thorwald. “I do not understand you. But perhaps
you use some other name. You surely do not mean that you turn aside from
that divine being who came to the earth to save you.”
“I do not know that such a being did come to the earth.”
“What!” exclaimed Thorwald, “is there any doubt of it? Has your
companion here been deceived? Must we give up our new-found joy?”
“Oh, no, no,” answered the doctor hurriedly. “I suppose it is true that
a good man named Jesus once lived on the earth and taught, and died a
shameful death.”
“A good man! Nothing more?”
“I don’t know,” answered the doctor.
“What do you believe?”
“I do not allow myself to have any belief.”
“Well, now, Doctor, you are a thinking being. Considering all you know
about Jesus--his noble life, his character and the character of his
teachings, and then the claims he made for himself--what do you think of
him?”
“Before such mysteries, and in answer to all questions relating to what
is called the supernatural, I always say, ‘I do not know.’”
“Well,” continued Thorwald, “do you think the life and death of a good
man could set in motion forces that would so transform the world and
give it such a start toward a higher and more perfect state?”
To this the doctor replied:
“In the early part of this conversation my companion told you he thought
the condition of man on the earth was improving, or, in other words,
that the earth was growing better. In that opinion he has many
supporters, but it is only fair that you should know that some of us
hold just the opposite view. We see so much evil in the world, evil that
is unrebuked and growing stronger from year to year, so many forces at
work dragging men downward and such fearful clouds ahead, that it seems
to us that the good is overmatched, and that there is but little hope of
a happy future for our race. I will also say, in order to be perfectly
frank, that even if we should admit that our civilization was advancing,
we should not attribute it to the influence of the Jewish reformer.”
“Then,” said Thorwald, “if I understand your feeling, you have no love,
no thanks even, for him who gave his life for you, and no sense of
gratitude for the loving Father who sent his Son to die for your sins.”
“I think you are hardly just,” replied the doctor, “for I am not
conscious of living a life of ingratitude. Your words imply a great deal
that I know nothing about. I am not aware that anyone was ever sent from
heaven to die for me, and I do not even know there is a heaven and a
God.”
“Did it ever occur to you, Doctor, that your attitude does not alter the
facts? In spite of your unbelief, or indifference if you will, there is
a God whose steps are heard throughout the universe, whose hand upholds
all worlds, and who looks with loving eyes upon all created beings, even
upon those who have the intelligence but not the heart to acknowledge
him. Oh! it is amazing to me that there can be one such being in all
God’s dominions.”
“Why, are there not any in Mars?”
“In Mars? Not one. Let me tell you, Doctor, that here you will be
unique, if that is any consolation to you. When this talk is made public
and the facts in your case are spread abroad everybody will want a share
in bringing you to your right mind, and we shall see what the result
will be with a world full of missionaries to one heathen.”
“Please do not use that word, Thorwald. I was born in Boston--you must
know where Boston is--of good old Puritan stock, and I am not a heathen
because I don’t know about some matters that I cannot, in the nature
of things, know anything about. You found a while ago that I wanted
imagination, and you now see that I am deficient also in faith, which it
seems to me is a product of the imagination.”
“No,” broke in Thorwald, “faith might rather be called the product of
reason and of the conscience, enlightened by every revelation which
God has made. But with us faith is an instinct. We believe in God as
naturally as we trust our parents. Our souls reach after divine things
to satisfy their longings, just as our bodies seek the food that shall
nourish them. In all this world there is not a heart devoid of love to
God, not one that does not own a personal and joyful allegiance to the
divine Saviour.
“But I forget that the earth is still young, and that, very long ago,
when Mars was in your condition, representatives of our race actually
walked the surface of this planet with no more thought of its Maker than
you exhibit. Forgive me if, in this talk, I have seemed too positive of
things which you claim cannot be known. But here there is no uncertainty
in these matters. There is now no open question in regard to the
existence of God and his loving care of us.”
“But, Thorwald,” asked the doctor, “how can you be sure? Help me to
see these things as you do. In the matter of the habitability of other
worlds you brought me over to your opinion by producing evidence which
took away all uncertainty and left me no room to doubt. Is it so in this
case?”
“No, my friend,” answered Thorwald, “it is not so. The evidence in this
case is of an entirely different character. Your companion has told me
how God has dealt with men, by what means he has made known his will,
and how he has revealed his love and mercy to your race. So has it been
with us, only here we have had more time to acquaint ourselves with
these blessed truths. If you ask for proofs, I can only say they are the
same which have no doubt been reiterated many times in your ears. The
voices that come to us from the invisible world are not tuned to the
coarse fiber of our physical nature, but are addressed to our spirits,
our very selves, and he who does not heed those voices would not be
persuaded even though one should rise from the dead.
“Let me induce you, Doctor, to cultivate the spiritual part of your
being, evidently undeveloped as yet, for only then will you begin to
realize that the evidence in support of these divine truths is more
convincing than any possible proofs that could be presented to our
outward senses.”
“Under your instruction,” said the doctor, “and with the example of a
world full of spirits of your faith and practice, I will do my best
to follow your advice, and try to catch some faint strain from those
heavenly voices. If I cannot believe, it shall no longer be because I
will not. But now, Thorwald, you have given too much time to me and have
been drawn away from your purpose of enlightening us in regard to your
wonderful planet.”
“Yes, Thorwald,” said I, “we must hear more of your interesting history,
and I think an account of what the religion of Jesus has done for Mars
will help to win the doctor to right views.”
“I shall take much pleasure in doing the best I can whenever you are
good enough to listen,” Thorwald answered. “But we shall now be still
more anxious to hear further about the earth.”