And, man produced, all has its end thus far:
But in completed man begins anew
A tendency to God.”
We are essential and active agents in the terrestrial order of things, analogous to the white corpuscles in the human body. The body may be regarded as a colony of cells, some of which are living and moving on their own account; in complete ignorance of the feelings and perceptions of the larger whole of which they are microscopic units, towards whose health and comfort nevertheless they unconsciously but very really contribute; it is in fact by their activity that the health of the body is maintained against adverse influences. So it is with the health of the body politic, to which our wise activity is necessary and essential; we are to be a corporate portion of the whole, effective servants of the guiding and controlling Spirit. But in our case it is not merely unconscious service that is called for: we are privileged not only to be servants, but friends; not only to work, but to sympathise; to give not only dutiful but affectionate service. This is required of the humblest, and no more is required of the noblest:
“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
VII
THE NATURE OF EVIL
Q. 7. How comes it that evil exists?
A. Evil is not an absolute thing, but has reference to a standard of attainment. The possibility of evil is the necessary consequence of a rise in the scale of moral existence; just as an organism whose normal temperature is far above “absolute zero” is necessarily liable to damaging and deadly cold. But cold is not in itself a positive or created thing.