one of His children, and that, too, without condition on their part."

"There! He, and you with him, talk about your rights to think and act as
you please. Have you not that right? Have you not used it freely in
refusing to listen to Father's counsel? Do not I exercise it in that I
listen and agree with Him? But let me tell you, brother, what your
reasoning will lead to."

"I know it--but go on."

"No, you do not; you do not seem to understand."

"Perhaps you will explain," said the other haughtily.

"Brother, be not angry. It is because of my love for you that I speak
thus. It is evident that we, in that future world of experience and
trial, will retain our agencies to choose between the opposites that
will be presented to us. Without that privilege, we should cease to be
intelligences, and become as inanimate things. How could we be proved
without this power? How could we make any progress without it?"

"I grant it all."

"Then, what would Lucifer do? He would save you from the dangers of the
world, whether you would or not. He would take away any need of volition
or choice on our part. Do what we would, sink as deep into sin as we
could, he would save us notwithstanding, without a trial, without a
purging process, with all our sins upon us; and in this condition we are
expected to go on to perfection, and become kings and priests unto God
our Father, exercising power and dominion over our fellow creatures.