where evil lurks

Discarding the ideas of wild and pervasive divine supervision,of animals with the souls of men and women, and how evil and villainy can exist in the world under such scrutiny, has long troubled humanity. The world may be short of many things such as great politicians, ecological wetlands, saints,tigers, and unicorns, but the supply of evil and the villains who execute the deed seem endless…

…Truth is, in the sub-lunar realm the only individuals to which God’s providence  could possibly extend to  are human beings. For all other creatures, providence covers only the species and their preservation.Everything else is left to chance, as the Aristotelian view asserts. Moreover, all of the events and activities of a human life, without exception, are a matter of divine justice and therefore fall under providence. Hence, in our lowly world, divine providence watches only over individuals belonging to the human species; the good and evil that befall them as a kind of consequent upon the just desserts, somewhat severe from the Biblical “for all his ways are judgement.

To put this into context and place the circumstances of terra firma, if a boat ion the ocean is sunk in a bad storm, or a hurricane knocks a house down, it can be attributed to pure chance. Your Porsche happened to be carried off by a tornado; a  regular but ,from the vantage point of human expectations, an unforeseen and uncontrollable causal order of nature—no less than the fact that a particular mosquito has taken a bite out of you elbow at a given moment. The catch is, the fact that certain people had voluntarily, of their own volition gone on board the ship that sunk, like the Titanic, or had been sitting in the home  that was blown away is, however,  not to chance but to a form of divine will in accordance with the deserts of those people as decided  in “His judgments,” according to this view….

From Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell Tale Heart, 1843:

If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.

I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye –not even his –could have detected any thing wrong. There was nothing to wash out –no stain of any kind –no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all –ha! ha!

When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o’clock –still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street door. I went down to open it with a light heart, –for what had I now to fear? There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as officers of the police. A shriek had been heard by a neighbour during the night; suspicion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the police office, and they (the officers) had been deputed to search the premises.

I smiled, –for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search –search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.

The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct: –It continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definiteness –until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears.

No doubt I now grew very pale; –but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased –and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound –much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath –and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly –more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men –but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed –I raved –I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder –louder –louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! –no, no! They heard! –they

pected! –they knew! –they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now –again! –hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!

“Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed! –tear up the planks! here, here! –It is the beating of his hideous heart!”