City, which, though distant, I could yet see under the dazzling light
radiating from the central throne of glory as from untold suns.
In the darker shadows of this same panorama I saw the Broad Highway
with its thronging multitudes. Some, with deliberate step, scrutinizing
the objects along the way; others, in mad haste, rushing on toward an
awful destruction whose wreck and ruin loomed up dimly in the glare
of an eternal burning.
Among the happy pilgrims of the King's Highway was one named Miss
Church-Member, who had left the Broad Way of death, and entered, through
Christ, into that marvelous light wherein she was now walking. Her
tread was in sweet harmony with the footsteps of her Master, and her
beautiful face was all aglow with the passion of pure love.
A pilgrim's robe added beauty to her form; a Bible, carried under her
arm, gave some evidence of her spiritual character; and a religious
emblem, worn over her heart, told that she was a member of some
Christian organization.
Miss Church-Member, in traveling her chosen path, tarried at a place
called Fellowship which occupied a pleasing site close by the King's
Highway. Here one could readily speak and associate with the travelers
who moved in gay companies along the Broad Highway.
At this visiting place she met a certain Mr. World--a good, jolly
fellow, of corpulent build, who was attired in the fashion of the day,
and bore himself with more than usual jauntiness in the presence of
Miss Church-Member.
After a pleasing conversation, in which Mr. World plied his Satanic
shrewdness and sophistry, he was emboldened to give this brief
invitation: "Will you journey a short distance with me on this Broader
Way that I may prepare myself, with more facility, to accompany you
where you wish, even on a path as narrow as the one you seem to love?"
"Ah, Mr. World," she said, with a tolerant smile, "do you not know
that you are walking on the way of danger and death? Why would you
have me share your folly? It were a thousand times better for you to
join me at once on a path that leads to everlasting happiness. Here
|