adds some strength, I cannot but confess, to what belief I had before. I
trust you have yet more that you can impart. Do not fear that we shall be
dull listeners.'

'I sit here a willing and patient learner,' said Zenobia, 'of any one who
will pour new light into my mind. Go on, Longinus.'

'To such a school,' said he, 'how can I refuse to speak? Let me ask you
then, if you have never been perplexed by the evils of life, such as
either you have yourselves experienced, or such as you have witnessed?'

'I have, indeed,' said Fausta, 'and have deeply deplored them. But how
are they connected with a future existence?'

'Thus,' replied Longinus. 'As in the last case, the benevolence of the
Supreme God cannot be sustained without the admission of the reality of a
future life. Nor only that, but it seems to me direct proof may be adduced
from the existence and universality of these evils to establish the
blackest malignity. So that to me, belief in a future existence is in
proportion to the difficulty of admitting the idea of divine malignity,
and it cannot therefore be much stronger than it is.'

'How can you make that clear to us?' said Fausta; 'I should truly rejoice
if out of the evils which so darken the earth, any thing good or beautiful
could be drawn.'

'As this dark mould,' rejoined the philosopher, 'sends upwards, and out of
its very heart, this rare Persian rose, so does hope grow out of evil, and
the darker the evil the brighter the hope, as from a richer and fouler
soil comes the more vigorous plant and larger flower. Take a particular