Far
be it from me to betray you; indeed, I would rather endeavour to
palliate the offences; for, though adverse to nature, I can prove
them not to be so to the cause of pure Christianity, by the mode
of which we have approved of it, and which we wish to
promulgate."
"If this that you tell me be true," said I, "then is it as true that I
have two souls, which take possession of my bodily frame by
turns, the one being all unconscious of what the other performs;
for as sure as I have at this moment a spirit within me, fashioned
and destined to eternal felicity, as sure am I utterly ignorant of the
crimes you now lay to my charge."
"Your supposition may be true in effect," said he. "We are all
subjected to two distinct natures in the same person. I myself
have suffered grievously in that way. The spirit that now directs
my energies is not that with which I was endowed at my creation.
It is changed within me, and so is my whole nature. My former
days were those of grandeur and felicity. But, would you believe
it? I was not then a Christian. Now I am. I have been converted to
its truths by passing through the fire, and, since my final
conversion, my misery has been extreme.
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