THE PROBLEM OF SUFFERING. 36 1 



suffering, even the birds and the wild doe. But Nature 

 has not therefore altogether been depraved, because of 

 pain, caused, according to tradition, by the entrance of 

 a spirit alien to our world. Can we not interpret the 

 facts of Nature poetically, and shall we not find in them 

 spiritualizing influences instead of the mere brute 

 forces? I think we can. I think we do. For, whether 

 we will it or no, it is in the world that we live, and it 

 is from the world that we derive most of the qualities 

 of our better selves. 



Pain thus, we may say, after all, should become an 

 encouragement. It should be the constant reminder 

 that our liberation is not so far distant; is, indeed, 

 growing nearer day by day. And, if we have known 

 happiness even when evil has been about us, surely, 

 then, when pain shall have been banished, shall we es- 

 cape from the beclouded understanding of this life into 

 the blessedness of perfect peace, taking with us the 

 things that we love, and leaving behind forever the 

 things that have marred our progress. 



Isaiah prophesies of the reign of righteousness in a 

 beautiful passage (Isaiah xi, 6-9), which, while figu- 

 rative, may perhaps some day also (let us hope) see 

 some sort of a literal fulfillment: 



"And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard 

 shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion 

 and the fatling together; and a litde child shall lead them." 



And, again, among the passages in the Bible that 

 are the most stately, and that I hold closest to heart, 

 are two others also, the one from Paul to the Romans 



