“I don’t see,” said the doctor, “that you have in the least affected my argument that evil could never have been permitted by an all-wise, omnipotent, and good Creator. Its existence proves the Creator not to have been all these, at any rate.”
“A great deal of man’s ill may be removed,” said Elsworth; “indeed, amelioration is the dominant note of nature. If you will forgive me quoting my favourite poet Browning again—
“‘Dragons were, and serpents are, and blindworms will be,
Ne’er emerged
And new created python for man’s plague
Since earth was purged,’
you will see what I mean. There is a general onward movement; the prospect brightens for mankind. But there will always be evil, because without it there can be no good. Where would be patience without trials; where sympathy and charity without suffering? Do you think the virtues and nobility of Gordon, of Sakya Muni, of St. Francis, would have been evolved had there been no evil and suffering in the world?”
“In a perfect world there would have been no occasion for them,” said Linda.
“I cannot conceive,” Elsworth replied,“ of a perfect world without love for one’s neighbour, sacrifice of self, devotion to high and noble efforts for the good of others. Fancy the hideous selfishness of a world of wealthy, luxurious aristocrats, such as helped to precipitate the French Revolution; the gratification of their own pleasures and passions the sole object of their existence! Contrast this state of things in your ideal perfect world—where every one would have all he wanted, and would have no occasion to think of others,—no opportunity to exercise charity, pity, long-suffering, or altruism in any form—with the burning love of a St. Paul, who was willing himself to be accursed if he could thereby save others; with Christian heroes who have sold themselves into slavery; have entered lazar-houses from which they could never return; have cheerfully embraced martyrdom, and undertaken every form of danger and suffering, to help their brother men. Or to come to every-day affairs, contrast the selfishness of the rich, and those who are elevated above the grosser cares and difficulties of life, with the charity and devotedness practised by the poor of our great cities towards each other; and say if the existence of pain, sorrow, and suffering is not actually necessary for the evolution of the highest man? And so ‘upon men’s own account must evil stay.’”
“But here we are at your diggings, Elsworth. You will get rid of these cobwebs of the brain before you have done with St. Bernard’s,” laughed Devaux.