ed the evil as well as the good. Who, then, is responsible
for good and evil? Only God, for he made them. He who creates all is
responsible for all. God created all: God is responsible for all. He
who creates nothing is responsible for nothing. Man created nothing:
man is responsible for nothing. Therefore man is not responsible for
his nature, nor for the acts prompted by that nature. Therefore God
cannot justly punish man for his acts. Therefore the Divine law, with
its code of rewards and punishments, is not a just law and cannot have
emanated from a just God."[1003]

"I do not pretend to say whether there is, or is not, _a_ God, but I
deny that there is a loving Heavenly Father who answers prayer. I deny
the existence of Free Will and possibility of man's sinning against
God. I deny that Christ is necessary to man's salvation from Hell or
from Sin. I do not assert or deny the immortality of the soul. I know
nothing about the soul, and no man is, or ever was, able to tell me
more than I know."[1004] "I do seriously mean that no man can, under
any circumstances, be justly blamed for anything he may say or do.
That is one of my deepest convictions."[1005]

Mr. Blatchford's philosophy excuses, and therefore encourages, every
action based upon a bad impulse, every vice and every crime, and his
creed should find the unqualified approval of habitual criminals and
loafers.

Views similar to those of Mr. Blatchford are expressed by many other
Socialists. We read, for instance: "It was pleasant to believe that a
benevolent hand was guiding the steps of society; overruling all evil
appearances for good; and making poverty here the earnest of a great
blessedness and reward hereafter. It was pleasant to lose the sense of
worldly inequality in the contemplation of our equality before God.
But utilitarian questioning and scientific answering turned all this
tranquil optimism into the blackest pessimism. Nature was shown to us
as 'red in tooth and claw': if the guiding hand were indeed
benevolent, then it could not be omnipotent, so that our trust in it
was broken: if it were omnipotent, it could not be benevolent; so that
our love in it turned to fear and hatred."[1006]

As long as childhood pines in City slum;
As long as Landlords steal their racking rent;
As long as Love and Faith to gold succumb;
As long as human life in war is spent;
While false religion teaches men to pray
To a false Tyrant