Perhaps no problem has caused greater perplexity to thinking people than the problem of the origin of sin and suffering. Why were they permitted to introduce themselves into the world? To this important problem we shall address our attention in this volume, with the hope that cheer may be afforded to burdened souls. While the method we shall employ is frankly argumentative, the end in view is not to win a polemical victory. That would, indeed, be an unworthy motive, of which we hope that we cannot be truthfully accused. Is the biblical teaching on the origin of sin and suffering adequate and reasonable? is the chief subject dealt with in this work. - Preface.