Part II The Existence of Natural Evil, or Suffering, Consistent With the Goodness of God
The path of sorrow, and that path alone,
Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown.
But He, who knew what human hearts would prove,
How slow to learn the dictates of his love,
That, hard by nature and of stubborn will,
A life of ease would make them harder still,
In pity to the souls his grace design’d
For rescue from the ruin of mankind,
Call’d forth a cloud to darken all their years,
And said,
“Go, spend them in the vale of tears.”
—
Cowper.