[The Lord] himself made man from the beginning and left
him in the hand of his own counsel. If thou wilt, thou shalt
keep the commandments; and to perform faithfulness is of
thine own good pleasure. He hath set fire and water before
thee: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand unto whichsoever
thou wilt. Before man is life and death; and whichsoever he
liketh, it shall be given him.
(Ecclesiasticus 15: 14-170)

God will seek to provide all the good things and none of the bad
things described in Part II. But he cannot -- for reasons of logic.
For, as simple non-religious examples will make evident, some
good states are logically incompatible with each other. It is good for
John to be married monogamously to Mary for all his married life
and good for John to be married monogamously to her sister Ann
for all his married life, but it is not logically possible that he be in
both these good states. It is good for Bill to be the President of the
United States in AD 2000, to have the great responsibility of gov-
ernment; and good for Bob to be President of the United States in
AD 2000. But they cannot both be President of the United States at
the same time. And some good states are not compatible with the
absence of certain bad states. It is good to have games of football,
in which teams develop their ball skill and team skill in such a way
as to defeat other teams. And it is good that all the teams want to
win, and so are enthusiastic, and happy when they win. But if
a winning team is happy because its desire to win is being fulfilled,
a losing team will be unhappy because its desire to win is being

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