No beast will have to give an account of itself to God; for to these
creatures of a day, He has given their bodies, so wonderful and beautiful,
and the breath by which they live; but not that deathless part, the spirit,
because of which every man is responsible to God, and knows that he is,
even though he may never have read in God's Word that "every one of us
shall give account of himself to God."
Let me tell you how a missionary explained this, not long ago, to a king
far away in the heart of Africa.
He had been talking to him about the stars and the sun; and the king
presently asked where God, who had made the sun, dwelt, and what He did
with people after they were dead.
The missionary says, "I answered that God was not confined to one place as
we are; that when man's body died, the spirit of him who was a child of
God went above, and dwelt for ever in the presence of God, and those whom
God knew not here in this life were cast out into a place of sorrow and
burning."
"But why does God do so?" the king asked. "What reason has He for putting
man from Him?"
The missionary explained that God is righteous, and must punish those who
are guilty in His sight.
"But," said the king, "_we_ did not know the laws of God _here_. How can He
punish _us_ for not keeping them?"
[Illustration: KAFFIRS OF VARIOUS TRIBES.]
The missionary answered that God had put His law in their hearts, so that
they all knew what was right and what was wrong.
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