84 SIX THEOSOPHIC POINTS
19. This result waits not upon any external ordi-
nance, upon the delusion of the outer man; but
as soon as a soul is born from the principle, it is
in the result of the testament, so far as the divine
life is moving in it. But not in godless souls;
in/them the divine life must first be born. God's
wrath swallows up many a soul still in essence,
before it attains the principle ; because it is from
false essence, from evil seed of the parents.
20. Reason says: What can a child do to this,
that the parents are wicked ? Nay, what can even
God do ? It is in the parents5 power to get a child.
What can God do to this, that whores and profli-
' gates creep together ? Though the false tree springs
not thus from this line only, but also in marriage.
Man is free; if he awaken no life, his seed remains
an essence. Shall God, because of the child's
innocency, cast pearls before swine ? The king-
dom of heaven confronts it; let it enter, God closes
the kingdom of heaven to none.
21. But a bad man is shut up in body and soul,
why not also in the seed ? The seed is truly the
fruit of his body. If we would reap good wheat,
we of right sow wheat; but if thistle seed be sown,
a thistle grows from it. Must God then change
that into wheat ? Has not the sower power to
sow in his field what he pleases ? Or wilt thou
say: What can the thistle do to this, that it is
^'v o v* rt v\t»i/"*lro r % iHh VwAi/^r^/n'O fi/1^" r» vv\/-vv*/•*» -f-K/^