a beneficent strength disposed of them also, as they deserved. But shall we submit our arguments to the shock of mutual collision?—it may be from the impact some fair spark of truth may be struck out.'
'If it be thy good pleasure,' said I.
'No one can doubt that God is all-powerful.'
'No one at all can question it who thinks consistently.'
'Now, there is nothing which One who is all-powerful cannot do.'
'Nothing.'
'But can God do evil, then?'
'Nay; by no means.'
'Then, evil is nothing,' said she, 'since He to whom nothing is impossible is unable to do evil.'
'Art thou mocking me,' said I, 'weaving a labyrinth of tangled arguments, now seeming to begin where thou didst end, and now to end where thou didst begin, or dost thou build up some wondrous circle of Divine