Once I saw a Devil in a flame of fire, who arose before an Angel thatsat on a cloud, and the Devil uttered these words: "The worship of Godis, honouring His gifts in other men each according to his genius, andloving the greatest men best. Those who envy or calumniate great menhate God, for there is no other God."
The Angel hearing this became almost blue, but mastering himself hegrew yellow, and at last white-pink and smiling, and then replied:"Thou idolater, is not God One? and is not He visible in JesusChrist? and has not Jesus Christ given His sanction to the law of tencommandments? and are not all other men fools, sinners, and nothings?"
The Devil answered: "Bray a fool in a mortar with wheat, yet shall nothis folly be beaten out of him. If Jesus Christ is the greatest man,you ought to love Him in the greatest degree. Now hear how He has givenHis sanction to the law of ten commandments. Did He not mock at theSabbath, and so mock the Sabbath's God? murder those who were murderedbecause of Him? turn away the law from the woman taken in adultery,steal the labour of others to support Him? bear false witness whenHe omitted making a defence before Pilate? covet when He prayed forHis disciples, and when He bid them shake off the dust of their feetagainst such as refused to lodge them? I tell you, no virtue can existwithout breaking these ten commandments. Jesus was all virtue, andacted from impulse, not from rules."
When he had so spoken, I beheld the Angel, who stretched out his armsembracing the flame of fire, and he was consumed, and arose as Elijah.
Note.—This Angel, who is now become a Devil, is my particularfriend; we often read the Bible together in its infernal or diabolicalsense, which the world shall have if they behave well.
I have also the Bible of Hell, which the world shall have whether theywill or no.
One law for the lion and ox is Oppression.