is a god, but by nature there is only one God, but there may be many by participation." "The sum,
origin, and cause of all that is sought after is rightly thought to be goodness." "The substance of
God consisteth in nothing else but in goodness." Can God do evil? No. Therefore evil is nothing,
since God can do everything. Virtuous men are always powerful, and bad men always weak; for
both desire the good, but only the virtuous get it. The wicked are more unfortunate if they escape
punishment than if they suffer it. (Note that this could not be said of punishment in hell.) "In wise
men there is no place for hatred."
The tone of the book is more like that of Plato than that of Plotinus. There is no trace of the
superstition or morbidness of the age, no obsession with sin, no excessive straining after the
unattainable. There is perfect philosophic calm--so much that, if the book had been written in
prosperity, it might almost have been called smug. Written when it was, in prison under sentence
of death, it is as admirable as the last moments of the Platonic Socrates.
One does not find a similar outlook until after Newton. I will quote in extenso one poem from the
book, which, in its philosophy, is not unlike Pope Essay on Man.
If Thou wouldst see God's laws with purest mind, Thy sight on heaven must fixed be, Whose
settled course the stars in peace doth bind. The sun's bright fire Stops not his sister's team, Nor
doth the northern bear desire Within the ocean's wave to hide her beam. Though she behold The
other stars there couching, Yet she incessantly is rolled About high heaven, the ocean never
touching. The evening light With certain course doth show The coming of the shady night, And
Lucifer before the day doth go. This mutual love Courses eternal makes,
-371-And from the starry spheres above All cause of war and dangerous discord takes. This sweet
consent In equal bands doth tie The nature of each element So that the moist things yield unto the
dry. The piercing cold With flames doth friendship heap The trembling fire the highest place doth
hold, And the gross earth sinks down into the deep. The flowery year Breathes odours in the
spring, The scorching summer corn doth bear The autumn fruit from laden trees doth bring. The
falling rain Doth winter's moisture give. These rules thus nourish and maintain All creatures
which we see on earth to live. And when they die, These bring them to their end, While their
Creator sits on high, Whose hand the reins of the whole world doth bend. He as their king Rules
them with lordly might. From Him they rise, flourish, and spring, He as their law and judge
decides their right. Those things whose course Most swiftly glides away His might doth often
backward force, And suddenly their wandering motion stay. Unless his strength Their violence
should bound, And them which else would run at length, Should bring within the compass of a
round, That firm decree Which now doth all adorn Would soon destroyed and broken be, Things
being far from their beginning borne. This powerful love Is common unto all.