Page:Studies in the Scriptures - Series I - The Plan of the Ages (1909).djvu/316

 The Plan of &*

The carnal or depraved mind, so far from loving its neighbor as itself, has always been selfish and grasping often leading even te violence and murder to get for self the things possessed by others. However exercised, the selfish principle is always the same, except as governed by circumstances of birth, education and surroundings. It has been the same in every age of the world, and will be, until, by the force of the iron rule of Messiah, not might nor greed, but love, will decide what is RIGHT, and enforce it, until all may have opportunity to learn the superior bene- fits of the rule of righteousness and love as compared with that of selfishness and might ; until, under the influence of the sunlight of truth and righteousness, the selfish, stony heart of man will become once more as when God pro- nounced it "very good" a heart of flesh. Ezek. 36 : 26.

Looking back, we can see without difficulty how the change from Godlike love and kindness to hard selfishness came about. The circumstances tending to promote selfish- ness were encountered as soon as man, through disobedi- ence, lost the divine favor and was exiled from his Eden home, where his every want had been bountifully supplied. As our condemned parents went forth and began the battle of life, seeking to prolong existence to its farthest limit, they were met at once with thorns and briers and thistles and sterile ground 5 and the contending with these pro- duced weariness and the sweat of face which the Lord had declared. Gradually the mental and moral qualities began to dwarf from lack of exercise, while the lower qualities retained fuller scope* from constant exercise. Sustenance became the principal aim and interest of life ; and its cost in kbor became the standard by which all other interests were estimated, and Mammon became master of men. Can we wonder that under such circumstances mankind be- came selfish, greedy and grasping, each striving for most

�� �