God,
but
they
do
not
possess
God
Himself
in
ex-change.
In
this
degree
the
soul
has
not
learned
to
let
itself
be
stripped,
emptied,
impoverished,
killed
;
and
all
its
efforts
to
sustain
itself
will
but
be
its
irreparable
loss,
for
it
is
seeking
to
preserve
a
life
which
must
be
lost.
As
a
person
wishing
to
cause
a
lamp
to
die
out
without
extinguishing
it,
would
only
have
to
cease
to
supply
it
with
oil,
and
it
would
die
out
of
itself;
but
if
this
person,
while
persistently
expressing
a
wish
that
the
lamp
should
go
out,
continued
replenishing
it
with
oil
from
time
to
time,
the
lamp
would
never
go
out
:
it
is
the
same
with
the
soul
in
this
degree,
which
holds
on,
however
feebly,
to
life.
If
it
consoles
itself,
does
not
suffer
itself
to
be
killed,
in
a
word,
if
it
per-forms
any
actions
of
life
whatever,
it
will
thereby
retard
its
death.
O
poor
soul
!
fight
no
longer
against
death,
and
you
will
live
by
your
death.
I
seem
to
see
a
drowning
man
before
me;
he
makes
every
effort
to
rise
to
the
surface
of
the
water;
he
holds
on
to
anything
that
offers
itself
to
his
grasp
;
he
preserves
his
life
so
long
as
his
strength
holds
