"And I sought, whence is evil: I set before the eye of my spirit the whole creation: whatsoever we see therein,— sea, earth, air, stars, trees, mortal creatures,—yea, whatsoever there is we do not see,—angels and spiritual powers. Where is evil, and whence comes it, since God the good hath created all things? Why made He anything at all of evil, and not rather by His almightiness cause it not to be? These thoughts I turned in my miserable heart, overcharged with most annoying cares." "And admonished to return to myself, I entered even into my inmost soul. Thou being my guide, and beheld even beyond my soul and mind the Light unchangeable. He who knows the truth knows what that Light is; and he that knows it, knows Eternity! O Truth, who art Eternity! Love, who art Truth! Eternity, who art Love! And I beheld that Thou madest all things good, and to Thee is nothing whatsoever evil. From the angel to the worm, from the first motion to the last, Thou settest each in its place, and everything is good in its kind. Woe is me! How high art Thou in the highest, how deep in the deepest, and Thou never departest from us, and we scarcely return to Thee."
Augustine's "Soliloquies," Book VII.
