Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 13.djvu/167

 And here is how this goodness is confirmed:

“Goodness is the chief cause of creation and providence; God has existed and continued in bliss since eternity, without having any need of any one; but only of his infinite goodness he wanted to make other beings. the copartners of his bliss, and so he gave them existence, adorned them with various perfections, and did not stop lavishing upon them all benefits which are necessary for existence and bliss.” (p. 138.)

From eternity, that is, an endless number of years, God lived in bliss by himself and with all his all-wisdom had not thought before of creating the world. Thus goodness, which is to be taken in the sense that the idea of evil cannot be connected with the idea of God, is mutilated in this conception and debased to the lowest, blasphemous representation.

“(4) Completest truth and verity. We profess God as being true and veracious (ἀληθινός, πιστός, verax, fidelis), because whatever he reveals to creatures he reveals correctly and exactly, and in particular, no matter what promises or threats he utters, he always carries out what he says.”

True to whom? The idea of threat and punishment, the idea of evil, connected with God! And then texts which confirm the statement that God cannot lie!

“(5) Infinite justice. Under the name of justice, or truth (δικαιοσύνη, justicia), we here understand the property in God by which he metes out the due to all moral creatures, namely, he rewards the good and punishes the bad.” (p. 140.)

The all-good God metes out eternal punishment to people for a sin committed in the temporal life. And that is confirmed by texts: “And the unrighteous will hear the heavy doom of the unbiased judge: Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. xxv.