"I should be most wretched, could I think it possible."
"But suppose I should kill you this instant?"
"Dear father, this is horrid! You are incapable of entertaining a thought of evil towards me."
"You are right, Faith, but only suppose it."
"I cannot have such a thought of my own father! It is impossible. I would sooner die than admit it into my mind."
"I am satisfied. Under no circumstances can you conceive a thought of evil of me. But this is a strange world, and the strangest things happen in it. I speak in this way because I do not know what may come to pass next. I have always loved my fellow-men, and desired their good opinion, and the idea of forfeiting it, either through my own fault or theirs, is painful to me. But men judge so absurdly! They look only at the outside. They are so easily deceived by appearances! Do you know, that of late I have thought there was a great deal of confusion in the ordinary way of men's thinking? But I see clearly the cause of the errors into which they are perpetually falling. All the discord arises from having wills of their own. Do you not think so?"
"Religion teaches, father, that our wills are sources of unhappiness only when opposed to the Divine will."
"I knew you would agree with me. And then think of the folly of it. The resistance must be ineffectual. That is a sweet song you sung, but it seems to me the theology of it is not altogether correct. It celebrates only the love of God, and is, therefore, partial and one-sided. He is also a consuming fire."
"A consuming fire to destroy what is evil."
"I hope it is so. But do you know that I have been a good deal troubled lest there might be truth in the doctrine, that Necessity, an iron Necessity, you understand, might control God himself?"