Then Twain cuts to the heart of the problem of a created universe that develops by evolution, that of pain and suffering: Using the pretext of animals as a created in order to teach a moral lesson, Twain establishes a “nature” to each species, so the tiger is morally blameless for ferociousness, and the rabbit blameless for lacking courage. “Ah, how should I know? How should any of us know? It is a new word.” “Yes,” said Satan, “I heard Him, but did not understand. “Also,” said Gabriel, “He said He would by and by create animals, and place them, likewise, under the authority of that Law.” “Yes,” said Michael, “and He said He would establish Natural Law - the Law of God - throughout His dominions, and its authority should be supreme and inviolable.” Here is part of the set up to the letters, a discussion between Gabriel, Michael, and Satan after a heavenly committee meeting: We see moments of this well-applied wit at play. His incisive intelligence and wit are just the tools needed to frame up a demonic view that could cut to the heart of the skeptical critique of faith in an entertaining way. If anyone could write an atheist Screwtape or become a new Voltaire for a generation trying to seek liberty from religion, Mark Twain would be the man. When I heard about this book I hunted for it immediately. Satan has taken a kind of backpacker’s tour of Earth’s history, curious about this beast called human who has been granted-really, cursed with-the faculty of moral judgment and relational responsibility. This little book, incomplete I think, contains a series of notes from Satan to his best friends Michael and Gabriel back in heaven. Letters from Earth was written in 1909 but not published until long after his death in 1962. None of the three seemed to want to begin, though all wanted somebody to do it.One of the readers of A Pilgrim in Narnia tipped me off to a lost-but-found work by Mark Twain. They left the Presence impressed and thoughtful, and retired to a private place, where they might talk with freedom. At the end of an hour the Grand Council was dismissed.
Behold!" He lifted His hand, and from it burst a fountain-spray of fire, a million stupendous suns, which clove the blackness and soared, away and away and away, diminishing in magnitude and intensity as they pierced the far frontiers of Space, until at last they were but as diamond nailheads sparkling under the domed vast roof of the universe. When the Creator had finished thinking, He said, "I have thought. At His feet stood three colossal figures, diminished to extinction, almost, by contrast - archangels - their heads level with His ankle-bone. His mighty bulk towered rugged and mountain-like into the zenith, and His divine head blazed there like a distant sun. Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color before him rose the black night of Space, like a wall. The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking.
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