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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
a bit too soon. Neither do the facts speak much in favour of the quality of omnipotence supposed to be enjoyed by this Supreme Ruler of worlds. For what should we think of an ordinary police officer if he fail to stretch his hand to protect a man knowing that a robber is going to kill him with the sword ? To punish the guilty is certainly just, but should we justify the constable who stands by and does nothing to save the victim ? And, if it would be unpardonably wrong in an ordinary constable to behave in this manner, how much worse would it be in a being who is all-knowing and omnipotent to allow such an outrage to be perpetrated ? If we do not wilfully refuse to look at the facts, we shall perceive that life is only too full of calamities and catastrophes, most of which could certainly be avoided if nature were under the guidance of an all-knowing, all-powerful and merciful God. As Mr. Joseph McCabe tersely puts it in his Bankruptcy of Religion (p. 34),
“What would you think of the parent who would stand by and see his daughter grossly outraged, while fully able to prevent it? And would you be reconciled if the father proved to you that his daughter had offended his dignity in some way?"
Torrential downpours in oceans and deserts when a timely drop is elsewhere needed to avert a widespread famine, wholesale destruction of life, regardless of age, sex and innocence, by pestilence and sword, extensive devastations by earthquake and flood, causing untold suffering to living beings--all bear powerful witness to their causation being determined by natural law, but not by a Supreme Merciful Intelligence, able to crush all opposition, of any kind whatsoever, from his path.
Our conclusion, then, is that the notion of the Supreme
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