The Song of Solomon : and the Lamentations of Jeremiah

37-9-]
GOD AND EVIL
way. In such cases theirs is the language of unfailing
faith, even when faith is strained almost to breaking.
The unquestionable fact that good and evil both
come from the mouth of the Most High is based on the
certain conviction that He is the Most High. Since it
cannot be believed that His decrees should be thwarted,
it cannot be supposed that there is any rival to His
power. To speak of evil as independent of God is to
deny that He is God. This is what a system of pure
dualism must come to. If there are two mutually independent
principles in the universe neither of them
can be God. Dualism is as essentially opposed to the
idea we attach to the name *' God " as polytheism.
The gods of the heathen are no gods, and so also are
the imaginary twin divinities that divide the universe
between them, or contend in a vain endeavour to sup-
press one another. "God," as we understand the title,
is the name of the Supreme, the Almighty, the King of
kings and Lord of lords. The Zend-Avesta escapes
the logical conclusion of atheism by regarding its two
principles, Ormuzd and Ahriman, as two streams
issuing from a common fountain, or as two phases of
one existence. But then it saves its theism at the
expense of its dualism. In practice, however, this is
not done. The dualism, the mutual antagonism of the
two powers, is the central idea of the Parsee system ;
and being so, it stands in glaring contrast to the lofty
monism of the Bible.
Nevertheless, it may be said, although it is thus
necessary to attribute evil as well as good to God if
v/e would not abandon the thought of His supremacy,
a thought that is essential to our conception of His
very nature, this is a perplexing necessity, and not one
to be accepted with any sense of satisfaction. How