_HOW TO FIGHT EVIL_
"_Overcome evil with good._"
--ROMANS xii. 9-21.
For how else can we cast out evil? Satan cannot cast out Satan. No one can
clean a room with a filthy duster. The surgeon cannot cut out the disease
if his instruments are defiled. While he removed one ill-growth he would
sow the seed of another. It must be health which fights disease. It will
demand a good temper to overcome the bad temper in my brother.
And therefore I must cultivate a virtue if I would eradicate a vice. That
applies to the state of my own soul. If there be some immoral habit in my
life, the best way to destroy it is by cultivating a good one. Take the
mind away from the evil one. Deprive it of thought-food. Give the thought
to the nobler mood, and the ignoble mood will die. And this also applies
to the faults and vices of my brother. I must fight them with their
opposites. If he is harsh and cruel, I must be considerate and gentle. If
he is grasping, I must be generous. If he is loud and presumptuous, I must
be soft-mannered and self-restrained. If he is devilish, I must be a
Christian. This is the warfare which tells upon the empire of sin. I can
overcome evil with good.