Moreover, if sin and suffering are only like the
figures seen in sleep, then everything good as well
as everything bad is a dream, and civilization, pro-
gress, literature, art, the achievements of science,
love, aspiration, and beneficence are also parts of



SIN 179

one long, bewildering dream. Few thoughtful
people will give much heed to such puerile specu-
lations. They do not relieve the difficulty. If
suffering and sin are dreams, then how shall we
account for the fact that those who are best fitted
for splendid activity and growth are condemned to
threescore and ten years of hideous and uninter-
rupted nightmare ?

Another attempt to solve this difficulty is more
harmonious with reason and the moral sminthe

x t « -r Be9t Moral

sense. It is somewhat as follows : It System.
was a necessity that there should be some order
in the universe. The Almighty had before his
mind an infinite series of systems from which He
could choose. Since He is God and good, He must
choose that which is best. The one which is best,
because it is the one chosen, provides for the free-
dom of the individual. If men are free, then of
course they must be able to choose, and able, there-
fore, to make a wrong choice as well as a right
choice. The best moral system, therefore, has in it
the possibility of wrong-doing. This is something
very different from the necessity of wrong-doing.
