XIII

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"For whosoever hath, to him shall be given ; and whosoever hath not, even what he hath shall be taken from him. " Mark iv. 25.

What a man has made part of his character remains with him and grows to eternity ; but what he has not made part of himself, be it good or evil, is taken away from him in the eternal life. He outgrows it, even as a man outgrows the fancies of his childhood fairy days.

"What, therefore, God hath joined together let not man put asunder. " Mark x. 9.

Man may interrupt man-made laws and go free ; he may change man-made arrangements and no great harm come of it ; but a divine law cannot be overstepped or set aside. Man may change the political surface of the earth, but he cannot stop the globe. He may change all the reckonings of time, if so be it pleaseth him, but he cannot blow out the sun. He may wake in the night and sleep in the day, dress naturally or unnaturally, have a polished surface to cover a whole cemetery of dead bones, or a rough shell to cover the costliest of pearls, but he cannot pluck the stars from the sky, nor a soul out of the hands of God.

''And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curses thee.” Genesis xii. 3.

That is a blessing to man which by the Lord's help he makes a blessing to himself, and early recognizes as such. That is a curse to him which against all sense and law and order he has made a curse to himself.

''And a sword of flame, turning hither and thither, to keep the way of the tree of life.'' Genesis m. 24.

The Lord allows man to turn the literal sense of the Word to his own desires, lest man should pervert the internal sense and thus destroy himself spiritually.

Author: A. Roeder (1900)