Mozley: A Treatise on the Augustinian Doctrine of

258 Scholastic Theory of Necessity. CHAP. ix.
Power, the vague abstract idea of omnipotence prevailed
as if it were a known premiss in the argument, entailing
these struggles with the fact of evil as the consequences
of it for with absolute ; power in God to prevent it, how
could evil exist ? Hence these vain efforts of reason, these
blind explanations ; for it was necessary to reconcile a
known premiss with facts. As an unknown premiss, the
Divine Power is in no contradiction to the fact of evil, for
we must know what a truth is before we see a contra
diction in it to another truth and with no contradic
;
tion, no solution would have been wanted. But the
schoolman vaguely fancied that he knew his premiss, and
therefore involved himself in these elaborate and futile
explanations. We may admire indeed an obstinate intel
lectual energy, which struggles against insuperable diffi
culties, and tries to beat down by force what it cannot
disentangle, and lay down a path which must be stopped
at last. We admire his resolution, as we would that of
some strong animal caught in a net, the thin meshes of
which it would burst any moment with the least part
of that blind force which it exerts, were it not that their
multiplicity and intricacy baffle it. But the resignation
of the philosopher is to be admired more, who has one great
difficulty at starting, and a tranquil path after it, who sees
to begin with the inexplicableness of things, and is saved
by the admission from the trouble of subsequent solution.
The clear perception by the mind of its own ignorance is
the secret of all true success in philosophy ;
while explana
tions which assume that the constitution of things can
really be explained, can only be a fruitless waste of strength.
The fault of the schoolman throughout this whole argu
ment is, that he vaguely imagines, that he really can
explain the origin of evil ;
that he sets out with that aim ;
that he really fancies himself in a line of discovery while
he argues, and thinks that he has in his conclusion some
thing of the nature of a true solution. He does not actu
ally profess so much, but his general argument betrays
the latent assumption in his mind. His fault then was a
want of a clear and acute perception of his own ignorance ;