Part 2 (1/2)

CYPRIAN. Yes, 'tis true.

DEMON. And what is in it So abstruse?

CYPRIAN. I cannot find Such a G.o.d as Plinius figures.

If he be the highest good, Then is Jupiter deficient In that attribute; we see him Acting like a mortal sinner Many a time,--this, Danae, This, Europa, too, doth witness.

Can then, by the Highest Good, All whose actions, all whose instincts, Should be sacred and divine, Human frailty be committed?

DEMON. These are fables which the learned First made use of, to exhibit Underneath the names of G.o.ds What in truth was but a hidden System of philosophy.

CYPRIAN. This reply is not sufficient, Since such awe is due to G.o.d, None should dare to Him attribute, None should stain His name with sins, Though these sins should be fict.i.tious.

And considering well the case, If the highest good is figured By the G.o.ds, of course, they must Will what is the best and fittest; How, then, can some G.o.ds wish one thing, Some another? This we witness In the dubious responses Which are by their statues given.

Here you cannot say I speak of Learned abstractions of the ideal.

To two armies, if two shrines Promise give of being victors, One, of course, must lose the battle: The conclusion is so simple,-- Need I say it? that two wills, Mutually antagonistic, Cannot lead unto one end.

They being thus in opposition, One we must consider good, One as bad we must consider.

But an evil will in G.o.d Would imply a contradiction: Then the highest good can dwell not Among G.o.ds who know division.

DEMON. I deny your major, since These responses may be given, By the oracles, for ends Which our intellectual vision Cannot reach: 'tis providence.

Thus more good may have arisen To the loser in that battle Than its gain could bring the winner.

CYPRIAN. Granted; but that G.o.d ought not, For the G.o.ds are not malicious, To have promised victory;-- It would have been quite sufficient, Without this most false a.s.surance, The defeat to have permitted.

Then if G.o.d must be all sight, Every G.o.d should see distinctly With clear vision to the end; Seeing THAT, he erred in fixing On a false conclusion; then Though the deity may with fitness Be divided into persons, Yet His essence must be single In the smallest circ.u.mstance.

DEMON. It was needful for this business, That the oracle should rouse The two hosts alike.

CYPRIAN. If fitting, There were genii that could rouse them (Good and bad, as they're distinguished By the learned), who are, in fact, Spirits who among us mingle, And who good and evil acts, Evil thoughts, suggest and whisper, A convincing argument For the immortal soul's existence: Of these ministers could G.o.d Have made use, nor thus exhibit He was capable of a lie To effect his ends?

DEMON. Consider, That these seeming contradictions Cannot our firm faith diminish In the oneness of the G.o.ds, If in things of higher import They know naught of dissonance.

Take man's wondrous frame, for instance, Surely that majestic structure Once conception doth exhibit.

CYPRIAN. If man's maker then were one He some vantage must have given him O'er the others; and if they All are equal,--'tis admitted That they are so, from the fact Of their mutual opposition To each other,--when the thought Of creating man was hinted By one G.o.d, another could Say, ”No, no, I do not wish it.”

Then if G.o.d must be all hands, Time might come when they would differ, One creating, one undoing, Ere the other's work was finished, Since the power of each was equal, But unequal were their wishes.

Which of these two powers would conquer?

DEMON. On impossible and false issues There can be no argument;-- But your premises admitting, Say what then?

CYPRIAN. That there must be One sole G.o.d, all hands, all vision, Good Supreme, supreme in grace, One who cannot err, omniscient, One the highest, none can equal, Not beginning, yet the Beginner, One pure essence, one sole substance, One wise worker, ozone sole willer;-- And though He in one or two Or more persons be distinguished, Yet the sovereign Deity Must be one, sublime and single, The first cause of every cause, The first germ of all existence.

DEMON. How can I deny so clear, [They rise.

So conclusive a position?

CYPRIAN. Do you feel it?