Page:Studies in the Scriptures - Series I - The Plan of the Ages (1909).djvu/132

 flan tf the Ages.

wfcida a&s only as it is a<ted upon. If this were the case,, man, instead of being the lord of earth, would be inferior even to insects ; for they undoubtedly have a will or power of choice. Even the little ant has been given a power of will which man, though by his greater power he may op- pose and thwart, cannot destroy.

True, God has power to force man into either sin or righteousness, but his Word declares that he has no such purpose. He could not consistently force man into sin for the same reason that "he cannot deny himself." Such a course would be inconsistent with his righteous chara&er, and therefore an impossibility. And he seeks the worship and love of only such as worship him in spirit and in truth. To this end he has given roan a liberty of will like unto his own, and desires him to choose righteousness. Permitting man to choose for himself led to his fall from divine fellow- ship and favor and blessings, into death. By his experience in sin and death, man learns practically what God offered to teach him theoretically, without his experiencing sin and its results. God's foreknowledge of what man would do is not used against him, as an excuse for degrading him to a mere machine-being : on the contrary, it is used in mail's favor ; for God, foreseeing the course man would take if left free to choose for himself, did not hinder him from tasting sin and its bitter results experimentally, but he began at once to provide a means for his recovery from his first transgression by providing a Redeemer, a great Savior, able to save to the uttermost all who would return unto God through him. To this endthat man might have a free will and yet be enabled to profit by his first failure in its misuse, in disobedience to the Lord's will God has pro* vided not only a ransom for all, but also that a, knowledge of the opportunity thus offered of reconciliation with himself shall be testified to all in due time. i Titn. 2 : 3-6,

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