Pike now adds to one of his previous lessons about God; this time he states, “No, no! God is not thus amused with and prodigal of human suffering,” which clearly means he takes no joy in our suffering. You see, the word prodigal means wasteful. Therefore, according to Pike, mankinds suffering is a waste. And this belief is further confirmed by another quote from Pike, “We are subjected to suffering, both because we are sensible, and because we ought to be virtuous.” Upon first reading this sentence I was taken back. The first part used the word sensible, which conflicted with the last part, “ought to be virtuous.” However, after looking for several meanings for the word, I discovered that sensible could mean, “capable of being apprehended by the senses,” which changed my understanding appreciably. Therefore, it may in fact be our own senses that leads us away from being virtuous? Enjoy my friends:
No, no! God is not thus amused with and prodigal of human suffering. The world is neither a Here without a Hereafter, a body without a soul, a chaos with no God; nor a body blasted by a soul, a Here with a worse Hereafter, a world with a God that hates more than half the creatures He has made. There is no Savage, Revengeful, and Evil God: but there is an Infinite God, seen everywhere as Perfect Cause, everywhere as Perfect Providence, transcending all, yet in-dwelling everywhere, with perfect power, wisdom, justice, holiness, and love, providing for the future welfare of each and all, foreseeing and forecaring for every bubble that breaks on the great stream of human life and human history.
The end of man and the object of existence in this world, being not only happiness, but happiness in virtue and through virtue, virtue in this world is the condition of happiness in another life, and the condition of virtue in this world is suffering, more or less frequent, briefer or longer continued, more or less intense. Take away suffering, and there is no longer any resignation or humanity, no more self-sacrifice, no more devotedness, no more heroic virtues, no more sublime morality. We are subjected to suffering, both because we are sensible, and because we ought to be virtuous. If there were no physical evil, there would be no possible virtue, and the world would be badly adapted to the destiny of man.
The apparent disorders of the physical world, and the evils that result from them, are not disorders and evils that occur despite the power and goodness of God. God not only allows, but wills them. It is His will that there shall be in the physical world causes enough of pain for man, to afford him occasions for resignation and courage (Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma, 1871, p. 716-717).
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PIKE QUOTES: Redeeming Pike One Post At A Time 