Between Night and Morn Read Online Free PDF Page B

pestilence upon us and our cattle. The people shall learn all that I have comprehended now, and La Wiss will be blessed, honoured and glorified for revealing to them the mystery of their powerful enemy, and directing them away from the road of evil.’
    â€œAnd La Wiss left the Chief of the tribe and went to his retiring place, happy over his ingenuity, and intoxicated with the wine of his pleasure and fancy. For the first time, the Chief and all of the tribe, except La Wiss, spent the night slumbering in beds surrounded by horrible ghosts, fearful spectres, and disturbing dreams.”

    Satan ceased talking for a moment, while Father Samaan stared at him as one bewildered, and upon the Father’s lips appeared the sickly laughter of Death. Then Satan continued, “Thus divination came to this earth, and thus was my existence the cause for its appearance. La Wiss was the first who adopted my cruelty as a vocation. After the death of La Wiss, this occupation circulated through his children and prospered until it became a perfect and divine profession, pursued by those whose minds are ripe with knowledge, and whose souls are noble, and whose hearts are pure, and whose fancy is vast.
    â€œIn Babylon, the people bowed seven times in worshipping before a priest who fought me with his chantings.… In Nineveh, they looked upon a man, who claimed to have known my inner secrets, as a golden link between God and man.… In Tibet, they called the person who wrestled with me The Son of the Sun and Moon.… In Byblus, Ephesus and Antioch, they offered their children’s lives in sacrifice to my opponents.… In Jerusalem and Rome, they placed their lives in the hands of those who claimed they hated me and fought me with all their might.
    â€œIn every city under the sun my name was the axis of the educational circle of religion, arts, and philosophy. Had it not been for me, no temples would have been built, no towers or palaces would have been erected. I am the courage that creates resolution in man.… I am the source that provokes originality of thought.… I am the hand that moves man’s hands.… I am Satan everlasting. I am Satan whom the people fight in order to keep themselves alive. If they cease struggling against me, slothfulness will deaden their minds and hearts and souls, in accordance with the weird penalties of their tremendous myth.
    â€œI am the enraged and mute tempest who agitates the minds of man and the hearts of women. And in fear of me, they will travel to places of worship to condemn me, or to places of vice to make me happy by surrendering to my will. The monk who prays in the silence of the night to keep me away from his bed is like the prostitute who invites me to her chamber. I am Satan everlasting and eternal.
    â€œI am the builder of convents and monasteries upon the foundation of fear. I build wine shops and wicked houses upon the foundations of lust and self-gratification. If I cease to exist, fear and enjoyment will be abolished from the world, and through their disappearance, desires and hopes will cease to exist in the human heart. Life will become empty and cold, like a harp with broken strings. I am Satan everlasting.
    â€œI am the inspiration for Falsehood, Slander, Treachery, Deceit and Mockery, and if these elements were to be removed from this world, human society would become like a deserted field in which naught would thrive but thorns of virtue. I am Satan everlasting.
    â€œI am the father and mother of sin, and if sin were to vanish, the fighters of sin would vanish with it, along with their families and structures.
    â€œI am the heart of all evil. Would you wish for human motion to stop through cessation of my heartbeats? Would you accept the result after destroying the cause? I am the cause! Would you allow me to die in this deserted wilderness? Do you desire to sever the bond that exists between you and me? Answer me, clergyman!”
    And