Many theists, pressed by these difficulties, have attempted to evade them by endeavouring to reduce the amount of moral evil in the universe, the existence of which they cannot deny, to indefinitely small proportions, and then affirming that it will be ultimately [pg 226] swallowed up in the ocean of universal good. But the mere diminishing of its amount by no means solves the difficulty. The real question is, how has it come even into temporary existence? But there is also a still more grave objection to this course of reasoning. It renders it necessary that we should close our eyes to the most obvious facts. So far is it from being the case that the amount of moral evil in the world is small, that it is very large. This fact is indisputable. The whole course of history tells us that it has existed in all past ages and in very aggravated forms. To try to get rid of the difficulty in this manner is simply to close our eyes, and refuse to see it.
But not only does moral, but physical evil exist. This is another unquestionable fact, and its existence bears directly on my argument. Many and vain have been the attempts to explain it away. It has been affirmed that pain after all is no such great matter. I strongly suspect that those who have asserted this, have experienced but little of it. It is true that it may ultimately result in good under God's government, but taken by itself, it is undeniably an evil. Do not frightful sufferings abound? Do not most painful diseases afflict our frames? Is it not possible to suffer terribly from causes quite independent of our own conduct? Is not a great earthquake a terrible calamity to those who suffer from its effects, although it may be attended with beneficial results to those who do not? Pains may be said to be useful warnings; but surely the warning might have been given without the extremity of the suffering. They are also affirmed to be the penalties of ignorance, and this may be partially true: but the ignorance is in a vast majority of cases unavoidable. It is a simple fact, that a great amount of physical suffering exists, the reason of which we are wholly unable to explain.
But further: moral evil propagates itself, and inflicts calamities on those who are not implicated in its guilt. Is it not true that men have existed both in the ancient and modern world, whose actions have inflicted the greatest evils on mankind for generation after generation? Can any one doubt that descendants suffer for the sins of remote ancestors, and children for those of their parents? Facts are facts, and they will not become less so by our refusing to look at them. The evil wrought by such a man as Philip II. of Spain, is a fact, and it has extended its baneful influence to our own times. Is not a large portion of the evils under which France has groaned, traceable to the misdeeds of two of her sovereigns? These were quietly sleeping in their graves, when the evils they had occasioned burst on the head of their guiltless successor. But it is needless to quote examples. History is one long succession of them. Whether we like it or not, the old saying is an accurate account of the moral order of the universe as it exists, “Visiting the sins of the fathers on the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” These are facts which the theist equally with the Christian must face, for they exist in the universe of that God, in whose moral perfections both believe. I repeat, therefore, that the only way of escaping from them is by rushing into the far greater difficulties of pantheism or atheism.
These reasonings might be indefinitely extended. The result which follows from them is clear, that if we attempt to reason from abstract principles to the constitution of a universe, we shall produce one utterly unlike that which actually exists. It follows, that as they cannot account for the facts of the universe, as [pg 228] they come under our observation, they are unsafe guides on all similar questions. Consequently they are unable to show that the existence of evil beings possessed of superhuman powers, is inconsistent with the perfections of God.
Nor is there any greater force in the objection, that if such beings exist at all, it is inconsistent with our conceptions of the divine government, that they should be allowed to interfere in the affairs of men. I reply, that it is equally inconceivable, that God should have allowed a man, to whom he has imparted the greatest mental endowments, and whom he has placed in an elevated position in society, who lived centuries ago, to exert an evil influence on the present generation. The difficulty that a powerful influence for evil can be exerted by men on those who have never seen them, and of whose existence they have never heard, is just as great as the one under consideration. Yet it is one of the most undeniable of facts, that men do exert the most powerful influence on one another, and that such influence can be exerted by generations long since passed away on those who live ages afterwards; and that it can be exerted unconsciously.
I am far from wishing to deny, that the difficulty is a real one. On the contrary, I fully admit it; and that it is one which our present faculties are unable to explain. But it is one which is not peculiar to Christianity, nor has it originated in it. The interference of superhuman beings in human affairs for the purposes of evil, would be only another form of the same difficulty.
Precisely similar reasonings to those which have been employed to prove that the existence of a being like Satan is impossible, when they are applied to other subjects, bring us into direct collision with realities. [pg 229] There can be no doubt, that if the constitution of the universe had been placed in our hands, its phenomena would have been very different. But our function is a far humbler one. It is not to erect a universe according to our conceptions of what is best, but to learn the order of that in which we live, and to accept facts on sufficient evidence, however strongly they may conflict with abstract theories.
I now proceed to consider the real difficulty connected with this subject, and which has been very strongly urged by the author of “Supernatural Religion.” It is this. “If it is conceivable that beings exist who possess superhuman knowledge and power; and that they are capable of interfering as the New Testament affirms, in the affairs of men, how can the performance of a miracle be the guarantee of a divine commission? May not inferior agents, who possess superhuman knowledge and power, be able to produce results which would to all outward appearance be miraculous? Might not an evil being, who was possessed of the highest intelligence like Satan, perform such actions as would be equivalent to miracles, for the purpose of authenticating falsehoods? All that such actions prove is the presence of superhuman knowledge and power; but they would leave it quite uncertain whether the power was divine or Satanic.” Such is the objection, and it demands an adequate solution.
I reply, that if we view the question merely as an abstract one, it is quite possible, if a superhuman being of high intelligence is permitted to interfere in the affairs of men, that he should be able to perform actions which might have all the appearance of being supernatural. Such results might be even brought about by a superior acquaintance with the existing forces of nature, and by a successful combination of [pg 230] them, without the introduction of any new force whatever. For such results we need not invoke the aid of a supernatural being. They have been frequently effected by a superior human intelligence acting on an inferior one. We all know how Columbus used his superior knowledge of astronomy, to predict an eclipse, and the ignorant natives of America mistook this as denoting the presence of a superhuman being. Such results may be always produced, when superior knowledge acts on ignorance; and such is the origin of no inconsiderable number of impositions which have been practised on mankind. It is therefore quite conceivable, as an abstract question, that as men who possess a very superior intelligence, are capable of producing results which to an inferior intelligence would have the appearance of being supernatural, without really being so, in the same manner, if Satan is supposed to possess an intelligence greater than that of the wisest of mankind, and if his interference in human affairs is permitted, he may be able to perform actions which would have the appearance of being supernatural, by a skilful use of the existing forces of nature.
But to such power there must be a limit. There are certain results which plainly lie beyond the power of any mere combination of the forces of nature to produce. Of these, many of the miracles recorded in the Gospels are instances, such as the cure of blind or leprous men by no other visible instrumentality than a word or a touch. Actions of this kind differ wholly in character from those which we are now considering. If a miracle was a more objective fact taking place in external nature, and nothing more, it might be open to question whether its performance was owing to supernatural agency, or to some combination of known or unknown forces. But the miracles with which we are [pg 231] concerned in this controversy, involve a great deal more than more objective facts in material nature.