Page:The Faith as Unfolded by Many Prophets.djvu/144

 to his father or to his friends. They know, however, that if from this day he dwelt among Christians, so as never again to hear the Prophet's name, it is not to be supposed that he would call upon that name in his last hour; and therefore, if I were to take the boy with me to my own land, and be careful that he should not henceforth see the Book, or be told of any later prophet than Jesus, — what hope could his father have that he would retain the faith of his country?

No more, answered Havilah, than that he could be wise if he dwelt alone among the ignorant, or pure if his abode were with the vile, or earthly if he should henceforth converse with none but angels.

Now, said Aza to Havilah, tell me what is thy assurance respecting the absolute decrees of the Creator. Was Moses wrong in blaming Adam, or was the fate of Adam determined by himself?

The fate of Adam was fixed, like the fate of every other man, replied Havilah, by Him to whom time is as nothing. To Him one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day; so that the sentence of the judgment-day was pronounced by Him in the moment