Page:The Garden of Eden (Doughty).djvu/158

152 obey the Lord's commands, or to live the life that He has taught us in his Word.

Is it true that we cannot keep the commandments? We cannot, indeed, keep them of ourselves, or in our own strength. But it is ours to make the effort, and it is the Lord's to furnish the power. If we make the effort in earnest, the power is always sure to be supplied. If we lift no hand, make no exertion, raise no prayer, no strength comes. The Lord flows always into active, never into passive agencies. Man is like the flowers. As they hold up their modest cups to receive the refreshing dew and the light of the morning sun, so must he look up, open his heart to the sweet influence of heaven, will to do the right as of himself, and then the Lord flows in with invigorating power. We can keep the commandments; yet not in our own strength, for we have none. But we can if we seek the Lord's strength; for He is the fullness of strength, and is ever ready and waiting to give us all we ask or really need.

Briefly to sum up what has been said in these discourses about the Garden of Eden, as viewed in its true spirit and interpreted by the science of correspondences:

When the Lord created man at the first. He raised him up into a condition of love, purity, innocence, spiritual intelligence and happiness.