_Answer_. Certainly. But he gave them freedom of choice between good and evil. _Question_. Did he know exactly how they would use that freedom? _Answer_. Yes. _Question_. Did he know that billions would use it wrong? _Answer_. Yes. _Question_. Was it optional with him whether he should make such people or not? _Answer_. Certainly. _Question_. Had these people any option as to whether they would be made or not? _Answer_, No. 402 _Question_. Would it not have been far better to leave them unconscious dust? _Answer_. These questions show how foolish it is to judge God according to a human standard. What to us seems just and merciful, God may regard in an exactly opposite light; and we may hereafter be developed to such a degree that we will regard the agonies of the damned as the highest possible evi- dence of the goodness and mercy of God. _Question_. How do you account for the fact that God did not make himself known except to Abra- ham and his descendants? Why did he fail to reveal himself to the other nations--nations that, compared with the Jews, were learned, cultivated and powerful? Would you regard a revelation now made to the Esquimaux as intended for us; and would it be a revelation of which we would be obliged to take notice? _Answer_. Of course, God could have revealed him- self, not only to all the great nations, but to each individual. He could have had the Ten Command- ments engraved on every heart and brain; or he could have raised up prophets in every land; but he chose, rather, to allow countless millions of his children to wander in the darkness and blackness of 403 Nature; chose, rather, that they should redden their hands in each other's blood; chose, rather, that they should live without light, and die without hope; chose, rather, that they should suffer, not only in this world, but forever in the next. Of course we have no right to find fault with the choice of God. _Question_. Now you can tell a sinner to "believe "on the Lord Jesus Christ;" what could a sinner have been told in Egypt, three thousand years ago; and in what language would you have addressed a Hindu in the days of Buddha--the "divine scheme" at that time being a secret in the divine breast? _Answer_. It is not for us to think upon these questions. The moment we examine the Christian system, we begin to doubt. In a little while, we shall be infidels, and shall lose the respect of those who refuse to think. It is better to go with the majority. These doctrines are too sacred to be touched. You should be satisfied with the religion of your father and your mother. "You want some book on the "centre-table," in the parlor; it is extremely handy to have a Family Record; and what book, other than the Bible, could a mother give a son as he leaves the old homestead? _Question_. Is it not wonderful that all the writers 404 of the four gospels do not give an account of the ascension of Jesus Christ?