THE UNIVERSAL BENEFICENCE 



it is not in business with rivals and competitors; 

 bankruptcy is not one of its dangers, it can always 

 meet its obligations; all the goods and all the gold 

 and silver in the universe belong to it. Its methods 

 are too vast and complex for our ideas of prudence 

 and economy. We cannot deal with the whole, but 

 only with its parts. There are no lines and bound- 

 aries to the sphere, and no well-defined cleavage 

 between the good and the evil in nature and in life. 

 The broad margin of needless misery and waste in 

 the life of a man as of a nation is a part of the in- 

 exactitude and indifference that pervades the whole 

 of nature. From the point of view of the Natural 

 Providence it does not matter, the result is sure; 

 but from our point of view — victims of cyclones, 

 earthquakes, wars, famines, pestilence as we are — 

 it matters a great deal. The streams and rivers 

 throughout the land are bearers of many blessings; 

 the evils they bring are minor and are soon for- 

 gotten. 



The whole living world is so interrelated and inter- 

 dependent, and hinges so completely upon the non- 

 living, that our analysis and interpretation of it 

 must of necessity be very imperfect. But the crea- 

 tive energy works to no specific ends, or rather it 

 works to all ends. As every point on the surface of 

 the globe is equally on the top at all times, so the 

 whole system of living nature balances on any given 

 object. I saw a book of poems recently, called "The 



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