The Sultan and Satan

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jan 27, 1876

The Sultan and Satan.

There is an eastern story of a Sultan who overslept himself so as not to awaken at the hour of prayer. So the devil came and woke him and told him to pray. “Who are you?” said the Sultan. “O no matter,” replied the other; “my act is good, is it not? No matter who does the good action, so long as it is good.” “Yes,” replied the Sultan, “but I think you are Satan. I know your face; you have some bad motive.” “But,” says the other, “I am not so bad as I am painted. I am a pretty good fellow, after all. I was an angel once, and I still keep some of my original goodness.” “That’s all very well,” replied the sagacious and prudent Caliph “but you are the tempter; that’s your business; and I wish to know why you want me to get up and pray.” “Well,” said the devil, with a flirt of impatience, “if you must know, I will tell you. If you had slept and forgotten your prayers, you would have been sorry for it afterward and penitent; but if you go on now, and do not neglect a single prayer for ten years, you will be so satisfied with yourself that it will be worse for you than if you had missed one sometime and repented of it. God loves your fault mixed with penitence, more than your virtue seasoned with pride.”