Page:Artabanzanus (Ferrar, 1896).djvu/263

Rh gigantic gateways that led from the different departments of the city we saw fresh, and apparently infuriated, crowds pouring forth like flooded rivers into the sea.

The Doctor noticed my anxiety and consternation, and strove to divert my attention from the fearful prospect. We spoke in whispers, being in the demon's presence. He told me that the people who inhabited the hidden recesses of that city were once men like myself, but they lived in the world by robbing and defrauding others, and were guilty of rapine and cruelty, of drunkenness and debauchery of all kinds; men who studied themselves and their pleasures above all other things, and who prided themselves on their lofty station, their superior abilities, and the magnificence of their wealth. Some of them had been the devisers of wicked schemes, and plotters of the ruin—moral, financial, or religious—of other men. What a vast concourse is here!—men without conscience, with hearts like the cold and rugged rock, vain, stern, uncompromising; political agitators; promoters of turbulence and war; extortioners, hypocrites, systematic liars, swindlers, and those who could see no pleasure in forgiveness or in paying debts. What deep misery is their portion! How they must weep sometimes and gnash their teeth!

'Is there no escape for them?' I inquired, with the deepest grief.

'Time will tell,' he answered, and relapsed into silence.

I had learned some useful lessons during my short stay in that wonderful city. The luxurious couch of Astoragus taught me that I must not settle myself down in careless, self-satisfied ease and inactivity while there is work to be done in the blessed service of my Heavenly Father, or abandon myself to the enjoyment of the good things and pleasures of this life without counting the cost.

The visions of blood, and the part I took in the great