ONE day in course of a conversation about God, Mathur Babu observed, “God too must abide by his own laws, He has no power to transcend them.” “What an absurd proposition!”, I exclaimed,”One who has made a law can repeal it at pleasure or make a new law in its place.”
“How can that be?” said Mathur. “A plant that produces only red flowers cannot produce flowers of any other colour, — white, for instance, for such is the law.
I should like to see God produce white flowers from a plant bearing only red flowers,” “That too He can do,” answered I “for everything depends on His will.” Mathur was not convinced. The next day, while taking a stroll in the temple garden I came across a china-rose plant with two flowers on the same stalk, one of which was red and the other snow-white. I broke off the branch to show it to Mathur, who felt highly surprised at the sight of it and exclaimed, “Father, I will never more argue a point with thee!” (137)