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“Evil is unnatural and a contradiction of the law of our being” (Whichcote).
“All evil is done with the object of gaining some good, and no one does evil as evil.” No sensible man with his eyes open, however bad or wicked he may be, seeks to injure himself. Evil is not an inherent attribute of anything that God has created. It destroys man, and its poisonous effect, which encompasses the destruction of others, will itself destroy it eternally. Eternal permanence is essentially connected with goodness, which is one of the attributes of the Eternal God. Only if Evil were the attribute of an eternal being could it have been eternal. If we say that Evil is an attribute of Satan then this is also false, because he was also created in a state of innocence, and his present state of evil arose in him through the exercise of his own free will. Now as Evil is not eternal—it has had a beginning, and it must also have an end—we must conclude that Evil will come to an end, and especially can we say this because it is self-destructive.
A Chinese philosopher, Chu Fu Tsu, writes that “at birth man is like a spring of clear water, which, on its course through mountains and plains picks up earth and mud, and becomes dirty, but if it is dammed at any place the mud settles, and it becomes clear again.” Mencius has said the spirit is like a grain of wheat, which is by nature not evil, but when sown it is dependent on soil, water, and manure, and on the conditions of its environment. In other words, man is good by nature and birth, but environment makes him bad.
From one point of view this is entirely correct, but we cannot deny the hereditary taint of sin, and the inclination of our natures towards evil. Let us take, for example, the case of children whom we call innocent. Herbert Spencer has said: “The popular idea that children are innocent, while it is true with respect to evil knowledge, is totally false with respect to evil impulses, as half an hour’s observation in the nursery will prove to any one.”
When a man feels hunger and thirst of soul, and in his ignorance tries to satisfy himself by unlawful participation in sin, the end he reaches is that, in disobeying God, he destroys both his appetite and himself, and fails to get the satisfaction he seeks. Once it happened in the Himalayas that a famished traveller found a beautiful and tempting fruit. He ravenously ate it up, but it was poisonous, and both the hungry one, who thus sought to satisfy himself, and the hunger which tormented him were ended for ever by death.
In any wound or disease in the body a struggle goes on between the two kinds of minute germs which are the responsible cause of bodily health or disease; and those win in the contest that increase most in number and strength. If the germs of disease are defeated, then there is a victory for those of health. So is it in the conflict between good and evil thoughts in men, and between good and evil men in the world. If in the hour of temptation good thoughts are victorious over the evil ones the result is spiritual health and true happiness.
The time will surely come when, through the grace of God, men will gain an absolute and eternal victory over sin, and evil will be wiped out for ever.