Again he was about to rise into terrible proportions when a great hand moved the door on its hinges. Blackana, interpreting that movement better than I, continued in dread restraint. I looked again upon the Broad Highway, and saw how Mr. World had so completely won the confidence of Miss Church-Member that she now frequently expressed her sense of obligation to him, and declared that he was not so mean a fellow as some alleged, and as she had been inclined to believe.
“Pray, tell me who seeks to injure my good reputation?” he courteously asked.
“It has long been current talk on the King’s Highway that you are deceitful and treacherous, and that you aim to lead people to ruin. You well know that I hoped, by mutual association, to win you to a better path. I find, even after some painful errors on my part, that you are not so much in need of reformation as I imagined. You are a very considerate and clever fellow, doubtless under the sway of a moral evolution, and whether I stay with you, or you go with me, it is now, to my mind, quite evident that you will soon reach a perfect condition.”
The wily Mr. World chuckled. “You are newly endowed with the gift of a wisdom whose inward glory has lent its brightness to your eye, and has given savor to your very words. If you continue in your present state of liberality and broad-mindedness, you will not only share all that I possess, but will wear a crown set with gems of truth.”
CHAPTER III.
THE DEVIL’S OPTICAL COLLEGE.
1. The college described.
2. Mr. World and Miss Church-Member have their eyes examined, and Miss Church-Member is supplied with lenses which warp her spiritual vision.
3. The allegory shows how Satan supplies every conceivable kind of lenses to suit the people of the world and the church.
4. Blackana, with deceptive words, attempts to defend Satan’s course.
This institution of Satan has been in operation since the creation of man, having been remodeled as often as advancement in style or skill demanded.