The Wonder-Working Magician | Page 6

subject of your study,?And then let us argue on it;?I not knowing your opinion,?Even although it be the right,?Shall the opposite view insist on.
CYPRIAN. I am greatly gratified?That you make this proposition.?Here in Plinius is a passage?Which much anxious thought doth give me?How to understand, to know?Who's the God of whom he has written.
DEMON. 'Tis that passage which declares?(Well I know the words) this dictum:?"God is one supremest good,?One pure essence, one existence,?Self-sustained, all sight, all hands."
CYPRIAN. Yes, 'tis true.
DEMON. And what is in it?So abstruse?
CYPRIAN. I cannot find?Such a god as Plinius figures.?If he be the highest good,?Then is Jupiter deficient?In that attribute; we see him?Acting like a mortal sinner?Many a time,-- this, Danae,?This, Europa, too, doth witness.?Can then, by the Highest Good,?All whose actions, all whose instincts,?Should be sacred and divine,?Human frailty be committed?
DEMON. These are fables which the learned?First made use of, to exhibit?Underneath the names of gods?What in truth was but a hidden?System of philosophy.
CYPRIAN. This reply is not sufficient,?Since such awe is due to God,?None should dare to Him attribute,?None should stain His name with sins,?Though these sins should be fictitious.?And considering well the case,?If the highest good is figured?By the gods, of course, they must?Will what is the best and fittest;?How, then, can some gods wish one thing,?Some another? This we witness?In the dubious responses?Which are by their statues given.?Here you cannot say I speak of?Learned abstractions of the ideal.?To two armies, if two shrines?Promise give of being victors,?One, of course, must lose the battle:?The conclusion is so simple,--?Need I say it? that two wills,?Mutually antagonistic,?Cannot lead unto one end.?They being thus in opposition,?One we must consider good,?One as bad we must consider.?But an evil will in God?Would imply a contradiction:?Then the highest good can dwell not?Among gods who know division.
DEMON. I deny your major, since?These responses may be given,?By the oracles, for ends?Which our intellectual vision?Cannot reach: 'tis providence.?Thus more good may have arisen?To the loser in that battle?Than its gain could bring the winner.
CYPRIAN. Granted; but that god ought not,?For the gods are not malicious,?To have promised victory;--?It would have been quite sufficient,?Without this most false assurance,?The defeat to have permitted.?Then if God must be all sight,?Every god should see distinctly?With clear vision to the end;?Seeing THAT, he erred in fixing?On a false conclusion; then?Though the deity may with fitness?Be divided into persons,?Yet His essence must be single?In the smallest circumstance.
DEMON. It was needful for this business,?That the oracle should rouse?The two hosts alike.
CYPRIAN. If fitting,?There were genii that could rouse them?(Good and bad, as they're distinguished?By the learned), who are, in fact,?Spirits who among us mingle,?And who good and evil acts,?Evil thoughts, suggest and whisper,?A convincing argument?For the immortal soul's existence:?Of these ministers could God?Have made use, nor thus exhibit?He was capable of a lie?To effect his ends?
DEMON. Consider,?That these seeming contradictions?Cannot our firm faith diminish?In the oneness of the gods,?If in things of higher import?They know naught of dissonance.?Take man's wondrous frame, for instance,?Surely that majestic structure?Once conception doth exhibit.
CYPRIAN. If man's maker then were one?He some vantage must have given him?O'er the others; and if they?All are equal,--'tis admitted?That they are so, from the fact?Of their mutual opposition?To each other,-- when the thought?Of creating man was hinted?By one god, another could?Say, "No, no, I do not wish it."?Then if God must be all hands,?Time might come when they would differ,?One creating, one undoing,?Ere the other's work was finished,?Since the power of each was equal,?But unequal were their wishes.?Which of these two powers would conquer?
DEMON. On impossible and false issues?There can be no argument;--?But your premises admitting,?Say what then?
CYPRIAN. That there must be?One sole God, all hands, all vision,?Good Supreme, supreme in grace,?One who cannot err, omniscient,?One the highest, none can equal,?Not beginning, yet the Beginner,?One pure essence, one sole substance,?One wise worker, ozone sole willer;--?And though He in one or two?Or more persons be distinguished,?Yet the sovereign Deity?Must be one, sublime and single,?The first cause of every cause,?The first germ of all existence.
DEMON. How can I deny so clear,?[They rise.?So conclusive a position?
CYPRIAN. Do you feel it?
DEMON. Who would not?Feel to find another quicker?In the rivalry of wit?--?And though I am not deficient?In an answer, I restrain it,?Hearing steps approaching hither?Through the wood; besides 'tis time?I proceeded to the city.
CYPRIAN. Go in peace.
DEMON. Remain in peace.--?[Aside.?So involved in study IS he,?That I now must wean him from it,?Weaving round him the bewitchment?Of rare beauty. Since I have leave?To attempt my fires to kindle?In Justina's breast, one stroke,?Thus, two vengeances shall give me.?[Exit.
CYPRIAN. Never saw I such a man.?But since still my people linger,?I, the cause of so much doubt,?Will now strive to reconsider.?[He resumes his reading, without perceiving the approach of those who enter.

SCENE IV.
Enter LELIUS and FLORUS.-- CYPRIAN.
LELIUS. Further let us not proceed;?For these rocks, these boughs so