“But,” says he again, “if God much stronger, much might as the wicked devil, why God no kill the devil, so make him no more do wicked?” I was strangely surprised at this question; and, after all, though I was now an old man, yet I was but a young doctor, and ill qualified for a casuist or a solver of difficulties; and at first I could not tell what to say; so I pretended not to hear him, and asked him what he said; but he was too earnest for an answer to forget his question, so that he repeated it in the very same broken words as above.
"Maar," zeide Vrijdag, "gij zegt, dat God zoo groot en zoo magtig is, is hij niet veel magtiger dan de duivel?"—"Ja, ja, Vrijdag," zeide ik, "God is veel magtiger dan de duivel, en daarom bidden wij God, dat hij ons toelaat hem te vertreden, en ons zijne verzoekingen doet wederstaan en zijn arglist teleurstellen."—"Maar," voerde hij weder aan, "als God zooveel magtiger en sterker is dan de duivel, waarom slaat Hij dan den duivel niet dood, en belet hem meer kwaad te doen?"