flash of lightning.
But you do not send murder out of the world. To do that you must reach
and change the heart of Cain. You put the thief in prison, but when he
comes out he will be ready to steal again, unless you can purify his
conscience and control his will. You assault and overthrow some system
of misgovernment, and "turn the rascals out." But unless you have
something better to substitute, all you have done is to make room for a
new set of rascals,--a new swarm of mosquitoes with fresh appetites and
larger capacities.

Third, the method of fighting evil with force on its own ground often
has a bad effect on those who follow it. Wrestle with a chimney-sweep
and you will need a bath. Throw back the mud that is thrown at you, and
you will have dirty hands. Answer Shimei when he curses you and you will
echo his profanity. Many a man has entered a crusade against
intemperance and proved himself as intemperate in his language as other
men are in their potations. Many a man has attacked a bad cause with
righteous indignation and ended in a personal squabble with most
unrighteous anger.

No, my brother-men, the best way to fight against evil is not to meet it
on its own ground with its own weapons. There is a nobler method of
warfare, a divine plan of campaign given to us in the religion of
Christ. Overcome evil with good. This is the secret of the battle of
life.

Evil is potent not so much because it has command of money and the "big
battalions," but because it has control of the hearts of men. It spreads
because human hearts are lying fallow and ready to welcome the seeds of
all kinds of weeds. It persists because too much of what we call virtue
is negative, and selfish, and frost-bound,--cold storage virtue,--the
poor piety which terminates in a trembling anxiety to save our own
souls.

The way to counteract and conquer evil in the world is to give our own
hearts to the dominion of good, and work the works of God while it is
day. The strongest of all obstacles to the advance of evil is a clean
and generous man, doing his duty from day to day, and winning others, by
his cheerful fidelity, to serve the same Master. Diseases are not the
only things that are contagious. Courage is contagious. Kindness is
contagious. Manly integrity is contagious. All the positive virtues,
with red blood in their veins, are contagious. The heaviest blow that
you can strike at the kingdom of evil is just to follow the advice which
th