the private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner summary

He could be a religious maniac or mentally ill. Robert could be telling the truth in part, the rest being madness. So it was 'either dreaming or madness' - because 'It is certainly impossible that these scenes could have ever occurred.' It could be a religious parable or allegory, he suggests, or a work of madness. He finishes saying that either he was 'not only the greatest fool, but the greatest wretch' or he was 'a religious maniac, who write and wrote about a deluded creature, till he arrived at the height of madness'. The editor goes to the dead body himself and that is where he finds the manuscript. He advocates its authenticity by the letter of James Hogg to a magazine about a mysterious suicide. Auld John may dee a beggar in a hay barn, or at the back of a dike, but he sall aye be master o' his ain thoughts, an' gie them vent or no, as he likes.Inset narrative structure: -The editor's narrative: which then includes Bell Calvert's narrative that she tells to Mrs Logan -The editor then introduces the Sinner's memoir and confession, the 'original document', he says he is 'leaving everyone to judge for himself', but notes that no other document records such a 'RAGE OF FANATICISM' -The Sinner's narrative, finished with 'cursed be he who trieth to alter or amend!' -ends with the editor's narrative again, discussing whether it is a true story or an allegory. Tak them again, an' gie them to wha you will, and muckle gude may he get o' them. I hae carried them this three an thretty year, but they hae aye been like to burn a hole i' my pouch sin' ever they were turned for your admittance. 'There are the keys o' your kirk, sir! I hae never had muckle mense o' them sin' ye entered the door o't. John pulled out the keys, and dashed them on the gravel at the reverend minister's feet. 'Hear then my determination, John: If you do not promise to me, in faith and honour, that you never will say, or insinuate such a thing again in your life, as that that boy is my natural son, I will take the keys of the church from you, and dismiss you my service.' I'm neither I'm neither gaun to say that I think he's your son, nor that I think he's no your son: sae ye needna pose me nae mair about it.' 'Man's thoughts are vanity, sir they come unasked, an' gang away without a dismissal, an' he canna help them.

'So, then, John, you positively think, from a casual likeness, that this boy is my son?'

The private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner summary