“Christ, your master, did not doubt it.”
“I am less than the disciples whom he addressed; and they answered, ‘Increase our faith.’”
“You did not pray for me this morning.”
“I never neglect my promises. Why do you doubt that I fulfilled them this morning?”
“This has been one of my sinful days, when Satan runs rough-shod over all my good intentions, and drags me through the mire that I was trying to hold my soul far above. I tell you, sir, that the ‘unclean spirit’ that vexed the daughter of the Syrophœnician woman was mild, and harmless, and well-mannered, in comparison with the demon that takes bodily possession of me, and whose name is not ‘Suset’! but a fearful Ruach demanding the ban Cherem. I once thought all that part of Scripture which referred to the casting out of devils was metaphorical; but I know better now; for the one that Luther assaulted with his inkstand was not more palpable than that which enters into my heart every now and then, and overturns the altars of the ‘true, good, and beautiful,’ and sets up instead a small hall of Eblis, as full of horrible, mis-shapen things as that hideous ‘Last Judgment’ of Orcagna, in the Campo Santo at Pisa, which you once showed me in a portfolio of engravings. Oh, Dr. Grey! you ought to be merciful to me; for indeed God gave me a fearfully wicked and cunning spirit for a perpetual companion and tempter. Even Christ had Lucifer and Quarantina.”
“Yes, and conquered both, and promised assistance to all who earnestly desire and resolve to follow his example.”
“You cannot forgive my rudeness?”
“The act of incivility was very slight; but, my young friend, the unaccountable perversity of your character certainly fills my mind with serious apprehension concerning your future. Of course, I can very readily forgive the occasion 163 that displayed it, but I cannot entirely forget the spirit that distresses me when I least expect it.”
“If you will dismiss this afternoon from your mind, I will never—”
“Stop! Make me no more promises till you are strong enough to keep them inviolate. Promise less and pray more; I am not angry, but I am disappointed.”