“If I can read, it says that.”
“You are like a great many other people,” said the Doctor, “who find fault with the Confession, and jump to conclusions, without really knowing what it does say. Now, if you please, open the book, and read on—read it all—that is the whole paragraph; for you paused in the middle of a sentence.”
Ernest read:
“God from all eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin; nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.”
“Now, that makes a considerable difference, does it not?” asked the Doctor.
“But it does say, Doctor, that God ordains whatsoever comes to pass. The exceptional clause does not deny this, but simply affirms that God is not the author of sin. But does it not say that God ordains whatsoever comes to pass?”
“Certainly, it does.”
“Every event?”
“Undoubtedly. There is no exception.”
“Well,” said Ernest with a triumphant air, “last week Mr. Jones killed Tom Smith in cold blood. It was deliberate assassination—murder in the first degree. Now, did God ordain that or not?”