he great Thomas Aquinas is reported to have
prayed for the Devil's conversion through a whole long night. Robert
Burns concludes his "Address to the Deil" with a wish that he "wad tak
a thought an' men'." And Sterne, in one of his wonderful strokes of
pathos, makes Corporal Trim say of the Devil, "He is damned already,
your honor;" whereupon, "I am sorry for it," quoth Uncle Toby. Why, oh
why, we repeat, does not God convert the Devil, and thus put a stop for
ever to the damnation of mankind? Why do not the clergy pray without
cease for that one object? Because they dare not. The Devil is their
best friend. Abolish him, and disestablish hell, and their occupation
would be gone. They must stick to their dear Devil, as their most
precious possession, their stock-in-trade, their talisman of power,
without whom they were worse than nothing.

The Devil's adventures in the Book of Job are very amusing. One day
there was a drawing-room or _levee_ held in heaven. The sons of God
attended, and Satan came also among them. He seems to have so closely
resembled the rest of the company that only God detected the difference.
This is not surprising, for the world has seen some very godly sons of
God, so very much like the Devil, that if he met one of them in a dark
lane by night, he might almost suspect it to be his own ghost. God, who
knows everything, as usual asked a number of questions. Where had Satan
been, and what had he been doing? Satan replied, like a gentleman of
independent means, that he had been going to and fro in the earth, and
walking up and down in it. "Well," said the Lord, "have you observed my
servant Job? What a good man! perfect and upright I'm proud of him."
Oh yes, Satan had observed him. He keeps a sharp eye on all men. As old
Bishop Latimer said, whatever parson is out of his parish the Devil
is always in his. "Doth Job fear God for nought?" said Satan. "He is
wealthy, prosperous, happy, and respected; you fence him about from
evil; but just let trouble come upon him, and he will curse thee to thy
face." This was a new view of the subject; the Lord had never seen it
in this light before. So he determined to make an experiment. With God's
sanction Satan went forth to afflict Job. He despoiled his substance,
slaughtered his children, covered him with sore boils from head to foot,
and then set on his wife to "nag" him. But Job triumphed; he did not
curse God, and thus Satan was foiled. Subsequently Job became ri