A Theodicy: Or, Vindication of the Divine Glory, as Manifested in the Constitution and Government of the Moral World

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Nelson and Phillips, 1853 - God - 414 pages
"How, under the government of an infinitely perfect Being, evil could have proceeded from a creature of his own, has ever been regarded as the great difficulty pertaining to the intellectual system of the universe. It has never ceased to puzzle and perplex the human mind. Indeed, so great and so obstinate has it seemed, that it is usually supposed to He beyond the reach of the human faculties. We shall, however, examine the grounds of this opinion, before we exchange the bright illusions of hope, if such indeed they be, for the gloomy forebodings of despair"--Introduction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

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Page 20 - To ask or search, I blame thee not ; for heaven Is as the book of God before thee set, Wherein to read his wondrous works...
Page 29 - Him were laid asleep, then straight arose a wicked race of deceivers, who, as that story goes of the Egyptian Typhon, i with his conspirators, how they dealt with the good Osiris, took the virgin Truth, hewed her lovely form into a thousand pieces, and scattered them to the four winds. From that time ever since, the sad friends of...
Page 113 - By nature free, not overruled by fate Inextricable, or strict necessity: Our voluntary service he requires, Not our necessitated; such with him Finds no acceptance, nor can find ; for how Can hearts, not free, be tried whether they serve Willing or no, who will but what the'y must By destiny, and can no other choose?
Page 30 - The light which we have gained, was given us, not to be ever staring on, but by it to discover onward things more remote from our knowledge.
Page 204 - For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell ; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Page 132 - All he could have; I made him just and right, Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. Such I created all the ethereal Powers And Spirits, both them who stood, and them who fail'd; Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.
Page 232 - But He, who knew what human hearts would prove, How slow to learn the dictates of his love, That, hard by nature and of stubborn will, A life of ease would make them harder still, In pity to the souls his grace design'd To rescue from the ruins of mankind, Call'd for a cloud to darken all their years, And said, ' Go spend them in the vale of tears.
Page 20 - Imports not, if thou reckon right; the rest From man or angel the great Architect Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge His secrets to be scanned by them who ought Rather admire; or if they list to try Conjecture, he his fabric of the Heavens Hath left to their disputes, perhaps to move His laughter at their quaint opinions wide...
Page 241 - How long, speaking to those who are passing through it, how long, ye simple ones, will ye love folly, and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge ? Turn ye at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you, I will make known my words unto you.
Page 298 - But endless punishment! hopeless misery, through a duration to which the enormous terms above imagined, will be absolutely nothing ! I acknowledge my inability (I would say it reverently) to admit this belief, together with a belief in the divine goodness — the belief that " God is love," that his tender mercies are over all his works.

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