Sooner or later everyone who has character enough to make any sort of a
test worth while, has to have a regular bout with his "evil genius."
Christ said: "The devil hath desired thee that he may sift thee as
wheat." The form which the test takes depends entirely upon the
organization of the individual. But it is in every case the same
thing. The thorough arousal of the latent powers of the nature, and
the suffering which ensues from the results of its unbalanced actions,
constitute the discipline of this life. We can no more escape it, or
subvert the action of this law of evolution than we can put a stop to
any of the upheavals of nature. The volcano and the earthquake are but
the expressions of power in the globe which we inhabit to throw off her
old, and ascend through violent agitation to higher conditions. There
is a natural correspondence in the experience of her inhabitants and
that of our old, old mother!
* * * * * *
Back of protoplasm, back of organic human form is the soul--a thought
of God, a spark of divine, eternal life; imperishable, immutable as God
himself.