Status Updates From The Private Memoirs and Con...

“There are the keys of your kirk, sir! I have carried them, but they have always been like to burn a hole in my pouch since ever they were turned for your admittance. Give them to wha you will, and muckle gude may he get of them. Old John may die a beggar in a hay barn, or at the back of a dike, but he sall always be master of his own thoughts, and give them vent or no, as he likes.”

"Man's thoughts are vanity, sir; they come unasked, and go away without a dismissal, and he canna help them. (…)”

“Ye canna hinder me to think whatever I like, sir, nor can I hinder myself”

'— A body canna help his thoughts, sir.
— No, but a man's thoughts are generally formed from observation.'

'A body canna help his thoughts, sir.'

“While we are in the world, we must mix with the inhabitants thereof, said he; and the stains which adhere to us by reason of this ixture, which is unavoidable, shall all be washed away. It is our duty however, to shun the society of wicked men as much as possible, est we partake of their sins, and become sharers with them in punishment.”

“…thou who art a worm, and no man in his sight?(…) and how can a being like thee judge between good and evil, that are both subjected to the workings of his hand; or of the opposing principles in the soul of man, correcting, modifying, and refining one another?”

“But O what a wretched state this unregenerated state is in which every effort after righteousness only aggravates our offences! (…) In particular, I felt great indignation against all the wicked of this world, and often wished for the means of ridding it of such a noxious burden.”

“I prayed three times every day, and seven times on the Sabbath; but the more frequently and fervently that I prayed, I sinned still the more.”

“Therefore, in the might of heaven I will sit down and write: I will let the wicked of this world know what I have done in the faith of the promises, and justification by grace, that they may read and tremble, and bless their gods of silver and of gold, that the minister of heaven was removed from their sphere before their blood was mingled with their sacrifices.”

“My life has been a life of trouble and turmoil; of change and vicissirude; of anger and exultation; of sorrow and of vengeance. My sorrows have all been for a slighted gospel, and my vengeance has been wreaked on its adversaries.”

“but yet I know him to be so puffed up with spiritual pride, that I believe he weens every one of his actions justified before God, and instead of having stings of conscience for these, he takes great merit to himself in having effected them.”

“If a demon could inherit flesh and blood, that youth is precisely such a being as I could conceive that demon to be. The depth and the malignity of his eye is hideous. His breath is like the airs from a charnel house, and his flesh seems fading from his bones, as if the worm that never dies were gnawing it away already?”

"We could easily put an end to thy sinful life, but our hands shall be free of thy blood.”

“We have nothing on earth but our senses to depend upon: if these deceive us, what are we to do.”

“My crimes have been great, but my sufferings have been greater.”

“the guilty must not always be suffered to escape, or what a world must we be doomed to live in!”

“It is the controller of Nature alone, that can bring light out of darkness, and order out of confusion.”

'some would despise, but I pity thee. If thou art not a limb of Satan, I never saw one.'

“— Then, wretch, confess that the devil was that friend who told you I was here, and who came here with you? None else could possibly know of my being here.
— Ah! how little you know of him! Would you argue that there is neither man nor spirit endowed with so much foresight as to deduce natural conclusions from previous actions and incidents but the devil?”

“But the better all the works of nature are understood, the more they will be ever admired.”

“The hope was a relief that could not be calculated”

“As cursing he like clothes put on,
Into his bowels so,
Like water, and into his bones
Like oil, down let it go.”

Set thou the wicked over him,
And upon his right hand
Give thou his greatest enemy,
Even Satan, leave to stand.

And, when by thee he shall be judged,
Let him remembered be;
And let his prayer be turned to sin
When he shall call on thee.

Few be his days; and in his room
His charge another take;
His children let be fatherless;
His wife a widow make
(…)