"Matter, being fecund in all attributes, is able also to engender evil. I put aside, therefore, O Asclepios and Ammon, the question asked by many: "Could not God hinder evil in the nature of things?" There is absolutely nothing to say to them; but for you I will pursue the discourse begun, and I will give the explanation. They affirm that God ought to have preserved the world from evil; now, evil is in the world as an integral part of it. The sovereign God indeed provided against it inasmuch as was reasonable and possible, when He bestowed upon humanity sentiment, knowledge, and intelligence. By these faculties solely, which place us above other animals, we may escape the snares of evil and vice."
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Hermes Trismegistus: A Treatise on Initiations; or, Asclepios, part VII. In the Hermetica, as translated by Anna Kingsford. Books on Demand (2018). .
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil
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Problem of evil
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