C. H. Hinton's Scientific Romances,

vol. i., pp. 18 to 24.
Truly, as our third great truth tells us, absolute justice is meted out to all, and so, in whatever circumstances a man finds himself, he knows that he himself and none other has provided them ; but he may also know much more than this. He may rest assured that under the action of evolutionary law matters are so arranged as to give him the best possible opportunity for devel- oping within himself those qualities which he most needs. His circum- stances are by no means necessarily those that he would have chosen for himself, but they are exactly what he has deserved; and, subject only to that consideration of his deserts (which fre- quently impose serious limitations), they are those best adapted for his
The Deity. 29
progress. They may provide him with all sorts of difficulties, but these are offered only in order that he may learn to surmount them, and thereby develope within himself courage, determination, patience, perseverance, or whatever other quality he may lack. Men often speak as though the forces of Nature were conspiring against them, whereas as a matter of fact everything about them is carefully calculated to assist them on their upward way.
That, since there is a Divine scheme, it is man's part to try to understand it, is a proposition which surely needs no argument. Even were it only from motives of self-interest, those who have to live under a certain set of conditions wrould do well to familiarize them- selves with them; and when a man's objects in life become altruistic it is still more necessary for him to compre- hend, in order that he may help the more effectually.
It is undoubtedly part of this plan for man's evolution that he himself
SO An Outline of TheosopHy.
should intelligently co-operate in it as soon as he has developed sufficient intel- ligence to grasp it and sufficient good feeling to wish to aid. But indeed this Divine scheme is so wonderful and so beautiful that, when once a man sees it, nothing else is possible for him than to throw all his energies into the effort to become a worker in it, no matter how humble may be the part which he has to sustain.
For fuller information on the sub- jects of this chapter the reader is re- ferred to Mrs. Besant's Esoteric Chris- tianity and Ancient Wisdom, and to my own little book on The Christian Creed. Much light is also thrown on these conceptions from the Greek standpoint in Mr. G. R. S. Mead's Orpheus, and from the Gnostic-Christian in his Frag- ments of a Faith Forgotten.
The Deity. 31
I know, as my life grows older
And mine eyes have clearer sight, That undej each rank wrong somewhere
There lies the root of right ; That each sorrow has its purpose,
By the sorrowing oft unguessed ; That, as sure as the sun brings morning,
Whatever is, is best.
I know that each sinful action,
As sure as the night brings shade, Is somewhere, some time punished,
Though the hour be long delayed I know that the soul is aided
Sometimes by the heart's unrest, And to grow means oft to suffer ;
But whatever is, is best.
I know that there are no errors
In the great eternal plan, And that all things work together
For the final good of man. And I know when my soul speeds on- ward
In its grand eternal quest I shall say, as I look back earthward,
Whatever is, is best.
[The above appeared anonymously in an American newspaper.]