Perhaps, again, the devil finds the wilful sinner another excuse, and
the man says to himself, as the Jews did in Ezekiel's time: "The
fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on
edge. It is not my own fault that I am living a bad life, but other
people's. My parents ought to have brought me up better. I have had
no chance. My companions taught me too much harm. I have too much
trouble to get my living; or, I was born with a bad temper; or, I
can't help running after pleasure. Why did God make me the sort of
man I am, and put me where I am? God is hard upon me; He is unfair
to me. His ways are unequal; He expects as much of me as He does of
people who have more opportunities. He threatens to punish me for
other people's sins."
And then comes another and a darker temptation over the man, and the
devil whispers to him such thoughts as these: "God does not care for
me; God hates me. Luck, and everything else is against me. There
seems to be some curse upon me. Why should I change? Let God change
first to me, and then I will change toward Him. But God will not
change; He is determined to have no mercy on me. I can see that; for
everything goes wrong with me. Then what use in my repenting? I
will just go my own way, and what must be must.
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