The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-12-16
HOW TO SUPPLANT EVIL. 3

Cling to and Encourage the Good. and All
That Is Ungodly Will BE Starved and
Crowded Out.
A careful study of the world within
shows many things we would gladly be
rid OF. Our souls, like a bit of land we
buy, are seeded down with forms of life
we shrink from, but know not how best
to rid ourselves Of There are two
ways of killing weeds. We can. by con-
slant pulling, tearing, burning, per-
sistent work along destructive lines at
last root ont the crop we hate: but at
the end we have no harvest of any kind.
The other way is to add new life to the
soil. put in kinds Of seeds we do want
to sec come to harvest, spend the time
and strength nourishing what we want,
neglect what we do not want; and we
shall find in the end that addition has
been better than subtraction, that in
deed we have destroyed what we
dreaded, by adding what we wanted.
The best way to kill evil is to plan
good. Good is more positive, more
vital than evil; when given chance in
the same soul it will drive evil out.
The Master tells of man out of whom
an unclean spirit went; returning he
found the house swept and garnished,
but empty. He then took seven other
spirits more wicked than himself, and
they entered in and dwelt there. His
Last state was worse than the first This
yoor man attempted reformation by
subtraction. If he had admitted one
good spirit at the beginning of his at
tempt to do better, the evil would have
departed and the good would have held
the house.
The most successful fight with evil
simply leaves vacancy. What man
needs is more fulluess.
'Tis life whereof the nerves ere scant
More lite. and fuller that men want.
Christ came that we might have life,
and have it more abundantly.
THE law came by Moses, but grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ" The
law was negative. exclusives; is always
telling people what not to do; it is a
great Nay. Men are not to have other
gods, not to make craven images, not
TO take Gods name in vain, not to
work on the Sabbath, not to kill, nor
to commit adultery, steal, bear false
witness, covet., Christ casts the law
into two positive precepts. Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy might mind and strength; and thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"
Doing these two positive things one has
no trouble in not doing forbidden
things.
When man awalxens to the degrade
ton of the slavery of sin, he begins, as
the Hebrews did, with the negative side
The struggle is not to do, but as the
law leads him to Christ he learns that
life is an everlasting Yea.
In the developing of Christian char
acter we lay too much emphasis on
what is to be denied, too little on what
is to be done. "This do and thou shalt
live" is the Great Physicians pre-
scription for health of soul Christians
are likened to salt and light; both are
positive forces. The truth He likened
to good seed, a positive force. In calling
His disciples from the net and ship, He
promised to make them fishers of men;
He did not tell them not to spend their
time by Galilee, but did put them at
something positive. Christ and not
Moses; the positive and not the mega
tive side of life, is to be insisted on.
What we do, not what we avoid doing,
builds up character, and wins success.
If you would subtract evil from your
life, add good to your life. Young Peo-
ple's Union.