Historical characters are placed in the same category. All praise or blame only has meaning as we regard these historical characters as free moral agents: "All this praising and blaming is based on the assumption that the person praised or blamed is the originator of his own actions, and not a mere transmitter of forces. Man's significance for men in the whole category of human experiences 'resides primarily in what he makes of himself, not in what he has been made by an organism derived from his parents, and the various external stimuli to which it has automatically responded." ("The Reconstruction of Religious Belief," W. H. Mallock.) _5. The Fact of Free Agency Assumed in the Jewish Scripture:_ It will be matter of surprise perhaps to the student that in the scriptural references upon the subject of free agency of intelligencies no references are cited in either the Old or the New Testament. The reason is that so far as the writer knows there is no explicit text in either covering the exact point. The "freedom" of man, however, free agency, power to obey or disobey the law of God, is everywhere pre-supposed throughout both the Old and New Testaments. It is a doctrine nowhere in doubt from the first commandment in Genesis to the last in the Book of Revelation. Of what significance is the commandment in Genesis: "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die"--of what significance, I say, is this law to man if he possesses not the power within himself to obey it or disobey it? Then in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible (as now arranged) it is written: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. * * * And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely"--of what significance to man is this scripture if he has not the power of his own volition to keep the commandments of God that he may have right to the tree of life; or to accept the invitation of the Lamb and the Bride to come and "take of the water of life freely?" "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely!" What a mockery is here if man cannot "will" to take of the waters of life! Is it thinkable that the "Lamb," the loving Christ, would issue an invitation to man in a matter so important as partaking of the water of life, if man has no power to accept such invitation? Is the Christ capable of such mockery? One could think it of some malicious demon; but of Messiah, never!