"
Milton's idea of the Almighty was frankly that of a Power who had
undertaken more than he could manage, and who had allowed things to
go too far. But it is a puerile conception of God; and to allow
ourselves to think or speak of God as a Power that has to take
precautions, or that has anything to fear from the exercise of
human volition, is to cloud the whole horizon at once.
But we ought rather to think of God as a Power which for some
reason works through imperfection. The battle of the world is that
of force against inertness: and our fears are the shadow of that
combat.
Fear should then rather show us that we are being confronted with
experience; and that our duty is to disregard it, to march forward
through it, to come out on the other side of it. It is all an
adventure, in fact! The disaster in which we are involved is not
sent to show us that the Eternal Power which created us is vexed at
our failures, or bent on crushing us. It is exactly the opposite;
it is to show us that we are worth testing, worth developing, and
that we are to have the glory of going on; the very fear of death
is the last test of our belief in Love.
Pages:
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211