us to face the facts. No man
can come into touch with the Divine personality of Jesus Christ, no man
can listen to His teaching, without feeling that the distinction between
good and evil to Him is vital and everlasting. The choice between them
is to Him the great choice. The conflict between them is to Him the
great conflict. Evil is the one thing that God has never willed. Good is
the one thing that He wills forever. Evil is first and last a rebellion
against His will. He is altogether on the side of good. Much that is,
is contrary to His will. There is a mighty strife going on, a battle
with eternal issues, but not an eternal battle. The evil that is against
Him shall be cast out and shall perish. The good that overcomes the evil
shall live forever. And those who yield their lives to God and receive
His righteousness in Christ are made partakers of everlasting life.

This is the teaching of Jesus: and I thank God for the honesty and
virility of His religion which makes us face the facts and calls us to
take a man's part in the real battle of life.

II. But what is the plan of campaign which Christianity sets before us?
In what spirit and with what weapons are we to enter the great conflict
against the evil that is in the world?

The natural feeling of the heart in the presence of evil is wrath, and
the natural weapon of wrath is force. To punish crime, to avenge wrong,
to put down wickedness with a strong hand,--that is the first impulse of
every one who has the instincts of manhood.

And as this is natural, so it is, also, within a certain sphere
needful, and to a certain extent useful. Armies and navies exist, at
least in theory, to prevent injustice among nations. Laws are made to
punish wrong-doers. Courts, police-forces, and prisons are maintained to
suppress evil with power.

But while we recognize this method of dealing with evil as useful to a
certain extent and necessary within a certain sphere, we must remember
that it has its strict limitations.

First, it belongs to the state and not to the individual. When the
private man assumes to punish evil with force he sanctions lynch-law,
which is a terror to the innocent as well as to the guilty. Then we have
the blood-feud and the vendetta, mob-rule and anarchy.

Second, the suppression of evil by force is only a temporary relief, a
protection for the moment. It does not touch the root of the matter. You
send the murderer out of the world by a regulated