May 19

"Behold, all souls are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine."—Ezekiel 18:4.

A MARVELLOUS freedom and a momentous independence are mine. I am not hopelessly entangled in the destiny of my fathers or of my people. No, and my own past life does not weave an inexorable fate round me, from which there is no escape. Issues that are very sad may indeed descend to me from those who have gone before, or may come to me from my own folly. But not an irrevocable doom. Not a death necessary and unavoidable.

"While Kings of eternal evil Yet darken the hills about, Thy part is with broken sabre To rise on the last redoubt."

I must never allow myself to be bound by shackles of despair, and sunk in dungeons of darkness.

For my spirit stands itself immediately related, to God, and will be judged by its own demeanour towards Him. And my spirit is morally free, and can if it choose break with its saddening and miserable past—can repent and turn from all its transgressions—can find in God's breast its own abode, where it lays itself down in penitence and restfulness and hope. And this God, with whom my spirit deals so personally and intimately, in spite of dark clouds of judgment behind which He may seem hidden, is Love—Love unfathomable, everlasting, infinite. His prevailing will is that men should live. He calls me to his side. He offers me His friendship.

If there is a solidarity on which the Bible lays stress, there is an individuality too—an individuality which has its message not only of awful responsibility but of glorious promise and of undying blessedness.