If I felt that,
says the reluctant heart, I should abandon myself to despair. No,
says sterner reason, you would bear it because you cannot escape
from it. Into whatever depths of despair you fell, you would still
be upheld by the law that bids you be.
Where, then, is the hope to be found? It is here. One is tempted to
think of God through human analogies and symbols. We think of Him
as of a potter moulding the clay to his will; as of a statesman
that sways a state; as of an artist that traces a fair design. But
all similitudes and comparisons break down, for no man can create
anything; he can but modify matter to his ends, and when he fails,
it is because of some natural law that cuts across his design and
thwarts him relentlessly. But the essence of God's omnipotence is
that both law and matter are His and originate from Him; so that,
if a single fibre of what we know to be evil can be found in the
world, either God is responsible for that, or He is dealing with
something He did not originate and cannot overcome.
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