ST MAN

... glad to get back ... damn tired ...

THE SECOND MAN.

... damn ...!

THE FIRST MAN.

... _damn_ ...!

_VII.--FROM THE MEMOIRS OF THE DEVIL_

_VII.--From the Memoirs of the Devil_

January 6.

And yet, and yet--is not all this contumely a part of my punishment? To
be reviled by the righteous as the author of all evil; worse still, to
be venerated by the wicked as the accomplice, nay, the instigator, of
their sins! A harsh, hard fate! But should I not rejoice that I have
been vouchsafed the strength to bear it, that the ultimate mercy is
mine? Should I not be full of calm, deep delight that I am blessed with
the resignation of the Psalmist (II Samuel XV, 26), the sublime grace of
the pious Hezekiah (II Kings XX, 19)? If Hezekiah could bear the cruel
visitation of his erring upon his sons, why should I, poor worm that I
am, repine?

January 8.

All afternoon I watched the damned filing in. With what horror that
spectacle must fill every right-thinking man! Sometimes I think that
the worst of all penalties of sin is this: that the sinful actually seem
to be glad of their sins (Psalms X, 4). I looked long and earnestly into
that endless procession of faces. In not one of them did I see any sign
of sorrow or repentance. They marched in defiantly, almost proudly. Ever
and anon I heard a snicker, sometimes a downright laugh: there was a
coarse buffoonery in the ranks. I turned aside at last, unable to bear
it longer. Here they will learn what their laughter is worth! (Eccl. II,
2.)

Among them I marked a female, young and fair. How true the words of
Solomon: "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain!" (Proverbs XXXI, 30.)
I could not bring myself to put down upon these pages the whole record
of that wicked creature's shameless life. Truly it has been said that
"the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is
smoother than oil." (Proverbs V, 3.) One hears of such careers of
evil-doing and can scarcely credit them. Can it be that the children of
men are so deaf to all the warnings given them, so blind to the vast
certainty of their punishment, so ardent in seeking temptation, so
lacking in holy fire to resist it? Such thoughts fill me with the
utmost distress. Is not the command to a moral life plain enough? Are we
not told to "live soberly, righteously, and godly?" (Titus II, 11.) Are
we not solemnly warned to avoid the invitation of evil? (Proverbs I,
10.)

Januar