Page:The Faith as Unfolded by Many Prophets.djvu/139

 thy virtue, far be it from me to compare myself with thee.

As Havilah approached with the child, Aza repeated his last words.

Havilah, replied, I believe as thou, that it is ordained already what the faith of the child shall be when he is a man; for it is certain that all things are known to God, and determined by him from the beginning of time to the end. But since the same thing is not known to myself, I would not bid the boy listen to Eber, unless the words of Eber were pure.

Why else, said Eber, is the boy forbidden to talk with the ignorant and the idle among the servants, while his father is ever pleased to see him at the feet of Aza?

But said Aza, if the event is already certain, how matters it whether it be known or unknown to thyself? In either case thou canst not alter the decree.

It is true, replied Havilah; for the decrees of God have never been changed by the weak will of man: but this ignorance of the future is ordained by God, as the chief method by which the spirit of man is to be exercised, and his heart enlarged, and his holiness to be