The term selfhood does not fully express the idea intended to be conveyed, but it is the best English word at hand. The Latin word proprium, or the French le propre, would exactly express it. The idea is that man has an individuality of his own. Then he has also that which is the Lord's in him. Somewhat as the earth has a material of its own—its soil and rock and sand. But the sun flows to earth with its light and heat, and gives it vitality. The earth has its own separate existence; but let the sun cease to permeate its atmospheres, waters, and soils, and it were a mere dead thing. So the soul of man has its own personality; but let the Lord and his life cease to flow in, and there would be no flowers of intelligence or fruits of use to make beautiful the garden of his mind. With the sun, the earth blossoms as a rose; without the sun it were a desert. With the Lord, man's mind is a Garden of Eden; without Him it is a wilderness of self, sensuality and sin. Therefore it was a beautiful thing when man lived in the sunlight of the conscious presence of the Lord; it was a sad step when he descended into his selfhood or proprium. When this affection for proprium was added to his Eden life—when the woman, by his own desire, was brought to the man, it was a step downward.
This state of decline is represented by the deep
