Exodus 8:3

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"If thou refuse... I will smite." Exodus 8:3 .

Thus the parts of life are linked together. Disobedience is not a self-contained act Man must not imagine that he has no correspondence in heaven. what man does is important as bearing moral consequences. Man has undoubtedly the liberty to refuse, but he has no liberty in the region of law. Law follows in its own consequences whatever man may do. This is not to be regarded as an arbitrary infliction. The law tells equally in both ways: obedience is blessed as certainly as disobedience is punished. Man must not therefore excuse himself on account of the supposed arbitrariness of the Divine law. It is not arbitrary: it is rational in its foundations and equal in its operations. This is no mere threatening: it is simply the announcement of a settled ordinance of nature. It belongs as much to the physical world in degree as to the spiritual world. If a man refuse to sow seed he will reap no harvest; if a man refuse to open his windows he will receive no sunlight into his house; if a man refuse to take proper food and exercise his health will be smitten. All this is not severe: it is really the active and protective side of beneficence.