THE PATH OF EVOLUTION 



clan, and sacreligious by the Theologian. By most 

 of them it is to-day still so considered. 



The orthodox teaching of the Church has been, 

 and is to-day, that Death entered the world in con- 

 sequence of Sin. Even those that do not adhere to 

 the acceptance, literally, of the myth of the temptation 

 and fall of man, yet look upon Sin as an absolute ex- 

 istence that in some shape needs expiation, and 

 upon Death as an unmeasurable evil that unneces- 

 sarily enters the world that betrays a defect in the 

 plan of creation, at least so far as man is concerned, 

 They dream of a life that should have been here oil 

 earth, wherein Sin and Death might never enter. To 

 them, and to most men, the existence of evil is in- 

 comprehensible. Why should the God of Love, Jus- 

 tice and Mercy permit pain and suffering to those 

 who do no wrong, and why should sin, depravity and 

 wickedness, riot through the world, rejoice and pros- 

 per at the expense of the innocent, rob them of their 

 ownings and often of their life ? If Omniscient, does 

 He not know it? If Omnipotent, can He not pre- 

 vent it? The Hebrew prophets and poets asked 

 these questions. Their only answer was : It was the 

 will of God ; do good and avoid evil ! The Zoroas- 

 trians believed in the dual principals ; Ahura Mazda, 

 the author of all good ; Ahriman, the author of all 

 evil. Early and Mediaeval Christianity : in Original 



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