Life is a sore
burden to many, and a scene of unmixed happiness to none. It is useless
to inquire whether on the whole the good or the evil is the more
abundant, or to decide whether to make such an inquiry be any thing else
than to ask whether the world has been, on the whole, arranged to suit
our tastes. The problem thus presented is utterly inscrutable on every
hypothesis. Theology is as impotent in presence of it as science.
Science, indeed, withdraws at once from such questions; whilst theology
asks us to believe that this "sorry scheme of things" is the work of
omnipotence guided by infinite benevolence. This certainly makes the
matter no clearer, if it does not raise additional difficulties; and,
accordingly, we are told that the existence of evil is a mystery. In any
case, we are brought to a stand: and the only moral which either science
or theology can give is that we should make the best of our position.
Theology, however, though it cannot explain, or can only give verbal
explanations, can offer a consolation. This world, we are told, is not
all; there is a beyond and a hereafter; we may hope for an eternal life
under conditions utterly inconceivable, though popular theology has made
a good many attempts to conceive them.
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