An Intellectual Belief

Truth, in its universality, is God
In manifest operation round about:
And in so far, in our apportioned sphere,
As we evince or vindicate the Truth,
The Parent of all good, do we serve God.
And also, in so far as we endeavor
To champion or educe it, but fall short
Of our intent through thwarting circumstances
Superior to our measure of control;
Then the mere Will must represent the Deed
To the advantage of our souls, beyond
The passage of the Grave; and with the amount
Of actual Good attained to in the Past,
Conduce to advance them on their starry march
Of infinite progression. This believing,
I must believe as well, that in so far
As we abet, perpetuate, or induce
Error, the Parent of all wrong, that just
So far we serve the Devil;—or that principle
Which, through the Spirit of Humanity,
Opposes Truth; and for which dereliction
From the straight purposes of benevolence,
There must in justice be some penalty
Here or Hereafter—yea, a penalty
Proportioned in its wrath to the Offence;
And for so long as this, in its effects,
Refers to its occasion. Wherefore Virtue
Is Happiness;—not here? then elsewhere; through
That everlasting harmony which attests
The final fitness, as a complex whole,
Of this grand Universe of the Living God.
For that, in its infinitude, it must
Be perfect, His almightiness affords
Assurance ample as itself, because
To be supreme is to be equal thence
To All the world; and since He is supreme
Omnipotence, and omniscience, being each
Essentially an attribute of each,
Evil in his eternal Plan can be
Such partial discord only, as may give
The ascending Creature step by step to scale
That which were else Incomprehensible
To aught created, Man or Angel;—yea
The ultimate harmony of Almighty Truth.