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258 astray, and thus could not pervert the order of their natures.

But now, the question may be asked, why did the Creator put such an obstacle in man's path, and dig for him such a seeming pitfall? Why did He permit any appearances to exist in His creation, different from realities? and especially, such an appearance as could so lead man astray? To these inquiries, it may be replied, in the first place, that such appearances could not but be, in the very nature of things. That things appear differently from what they are, is an effect of man's having a finite, not an infinite, mind. The great Creator, being Infinite, produced all things from His own infinite Mind: they therefore exist according to an infinite order and plan, which only such a Mind can see and exactly comprehend. Man's mind, being finite, can take in, with its survey, only a small part of the creation, and consequently cannot see things in their due relation to each other, and consequently cannot have a complete understanding of their true nature and state. Thus, nothing can appear to him just as it appears to the Divine Mind, or, in other words, just as it is. Every thing, in fact, which man sees, either with the eye of the body or with the eye of the mind, is in some degree an appearance, different from the realty: God alone sees the perfect reality of things,—God alone knows or can know absolute truth.

But, secondly,—in regard to the particular appearance or fallacy, which has been described as leading man astray and originating evil, namely, the appearance that man lives of himself,—it is to be observed, that this appearance was permitted to man, for a most wise and necessary end, namely, that he might be man, and not