Editorial September 19, 1903 Issue

Evil not Necessary to Good

It is rather astonishing, as one comes to think of it, that we should find those who, for years, perchance, have been praying and laboring for the overcoming of evil, but who nevertheless cling persistently to the assertion of its necessity in the formation of character and the education of the race.

Every necessary thing in the providential ordering and government of men must be a good thing by virtue of its necessity, and quite regardless of its possible discomfort.

From beginning to end, however, the Scriptures denounce evil as an abomination, and Jesus not only expressed himself very definitely both as to its non-desirability and non-necessity, but he devoted his entire ministry to its overthrow and annihilation, thus indicating in both word and deed that evil has no legitimate place, function, or right to be; and it is the more surprising, therefore, that any of his would-be followers should put forth painstaking effort to prove that the will of God; viz., our sanctification, the realization of spiritual oneness with Him, has involved the necessity of the resistance of evil from the beginning; hence its existence, and persistence.

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