The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-05-23
THE MYSTERY OF EVIL.
Professor Fiske Describes the Deity as
aNever-Eesting Creative Energy.


John Fiske occupied the pulpit yester-
day morning at the Unitarian church, the
subject of his discourse being the "Mys-
terry of Evil" He began with an allusion
TO the fall of man in Eden, which he
called 1.-THE Christian myth" He then
reviewed the various solutions of the
problem of evil. 1t had usually been
found necessary to represent the Creator
as finite in either power or goodness, al
though the limitation is seldom avowed
except by writers. such as Auguste Comte,
who lean towards atheism. Leibnitz argued
that in the nature of things a perfect
world is impossible, but that this is the
best of possible worlds, and the Patonic
idea is closely akin to this, though
lending itself more readily to
myth-making Gnostcism holds the
world to be the creation of an inferior
spirit opposed by rival diabolical power.
The one may be regarded as infinite in
goodness and the other as infinite in bad
ness, and the world is product of the
everlast ng conflict between them. This
has always had mighty influence on
Christian theology but it cannot be said
that there has been any coherent. closely
reasoned and generally-accepted Christian
has simply played fast and loose with
these conceptions. John Stuart Mill did
not imagine n personitied principle of evil
and regarded the Deity as creative energy
perpetuaIlv at work in eliminating evil
from the universe. lie distinctly prefers
to sacrifice the attribute of omnipotence in
the Deity 10 that of goodness.
Mr.. Fiske then explained the fact that
1.
the universe as the mutitorm manifesto
ton of single. all-pervading deity, man
becomes for the first time a pure mono
theists. Modern science, too, so often
decrjed by the bats and owls of orthodoxy,
iusdtcs this course. The speaker then
showed that the grand lesson of the won
derful discoveries of modern science was
the unity of nature. Whatever exists is q
part Of the dramatic whole. If there were
no such thing as evil. how could there I've
such a thing as goodness? The funda-
mental truth of the human mind is that
Consciousness exists only by virtue of in
cessant change; therefore we cannot know
ANYTHING except by contrasts. If there
were no color but red, no color would be
known at all. II we never felt pain we
should not know pleasure. So, too. it is
~ 'tt Niissb NAhHPAN htlONl NIX NhSt 10
morally evil, we could not recognize
the morally good. In the absence
o. evil we might he more perfect
than any saint, but We could not know it.
Therefore il lies in the constitution of the
human mind that but for the knowledge
OF evil. there could be no knowledge Of
goodness. What then would have been
the moral value of a race of human beings
ignorant OF sin and doing good without
Knowing it7 Clearly for strong men and
Women. the Garden OF Eden would be a
FOOLS paradise.
In his concluding remarks, the speaker
touched upon the question As to when and
Wherefore morality begins i'll the evo.u-
ton OF the man from the orders of life. IL
Is because of the intervals between the
highest and lowest degrees Of complete
TESS Of living that are compatible with
mere maintenance of life that men can he
distinguished as morally good or bad.
Morality comes upon the scene when there
Is an alternative offered Of leading better
or worse lives. The existence OF evil is
purely relative TO the state of develop
hent Of the being, yet in the process Of
perpetual spiritual evolution il must be