Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-08-28
The Solidarity of Evil
And the Solidarity Of
Good-W. A. Gambler

ION Oh our LOIu we Tedu tic lOlAO"AhS
statement concerning herod anu PLATE:
"Herod with his men OF war set nm at
naught and Knocked him. and arrayed
him in a gorgeous robe and sent him
again to Plate. And the same day Pl-
late and Herod were made friends TO-
i gether; for before they had been at en-
nifty between themselves"
This is most striking and instruc-
tive statement. 1t shows how two bit
ter foes of Christ became friends to one
another In common hostility to our
Lord 1t reveals the solidarity of evil,
with which the good cause of Christ
must always contend
i In the age-long contest for faith
with unbelief, of right with wrong, 1t
ever has been. is now and ever will be,
that the whole world of evil unites
against Christ.
i In the prayer of the Primitive
Church under persecution are these
| words: THE kings of the earth stood
up. and the rulers were gathered to-
gether against the Lord, and against the
Christ. For of truth against thy
Holy Child, Jesus, whom thou hast
anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pr
late, with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel were gathered together.
(Acts Nv, &c and 27). What heterO-
geneous mass of opponents thus united
and the people of Israel there was no
common ground of agreement and SYM
pathy, but they combined against the
Son of God Among the people of Israel
there were various sects such as the
Pharisees and Sadducees, and these
sects were at war with one another; but
they forgot all their differences in a
common antagonism to the Saviour.
The Pharisees were ritualists, and the
Sadducees were rationalists, the Sad
ducees denying the resurrection and the
Pharisees affirming it; but though they
were thus antagonistic in their tenets
they ignored their divergences in doc
trine and united to prosecute Jesus.
i We observe in our own day this same
solidarity of evil. Ritualism and ra-
tionalism. materialism and spiritualism
skepticism and superstition unite to
combat spiritual christianity And in
fields not strictly religious we observe
the same solidarity of evil. Saloons
and gambling houses herd together;
theaters and dance halls become com
panions in worldliness and wickedness;
all forms of wrong are gregarious and
fall into f1ocks
The philosophy of the solidarity OF
evil is obvious. The moral law is one
J and when 1t is violated at any point ii
: is virtually set aside at all points
Hence there is sympathy between
wrong-doers, although the forms OF
their wrong-doing may vary greatly.
=. In view of the solidarity of evil, there
ought to be some sort of solidarity OF
good. or at least cooperation between
the forces Of good This does not mean
the effacing of the individual character
istics, or the merging of all organiza-
lions for good into one body; but ii
does mean that the good should unite
| in common that yyhi &c,
But whether there be a union OF
forces of good or not the solidarity of
evil does not present any reason for
hopelessness with reference to it's de.
struction Evil is weak thing ever
when 1t is most united, and Christ and
his salvation are powerful when they
seem most helpless. The confedera-
ton or foes against the Son of God Sc.
cured his crucifixion, but it could not
prevent his resurrection. And the con.
federates of evil who prosecuted the
primitive church were able to infijct
many pains and penalties upon the early
christians, but the blood of the mar.
tyrs became the seed of the church, and
persecution was powerless to prevent
the spread of christianity
Sooner or later evil forces fall out
with one another. They are bound to.
gether by the cohesive power of com.
mon interests, but sooner or later thei,
3 interests become antagonistic, and then
, they fall to fighting. Such has beer
the case in recent years with the brew.
ers and the distillers. For a long time
thelr interests were common but al
last they became antagonistic and thew
fell to lighting one another The re.
E suits are well known, and are full OF
instruction.
With the progress of the cause of
| md
try new situation has been brought to
pass and in this situation the brewers
ana dlstillers have found themselves
uhuer the necessity of pursuing antag-
onlstlc courses to one another. Twenty
years ago they anticipated no such sit
uatlon, and, indeed, nobody anticipated
the condition of things which has now
come 10 pass. The progress of the
moral sentiment of the country has
been more rapid than was expected.
4 And moEal progress we may expect
will continue. unless we are to give nm
nope Tor the race. Evil doers however
sohdly allied, must reckon with this
sure and certain progress. The con-
| current forces of the divine Providence
and the Holy Spirit insure this progress
and these forces will constantly create
4 conditions in which the long established
! evils VIII perish. Through the CONVEX
ness and the solidarity of evil will con-
stantly suffer loss of power
! Such was the case with the Primitive
church When the persecution of the
CHURCH as recorded in the Acts, began.
saul of Tarsus was one of the leading
prosecutors; but in few years he was
I converted and became the most potent
factor in the propagation Of christian
i ity In the first century. The historian
OF the Acts gives us this striking refer
ence to him.. "All that heard him were
amazed, and said. rs not this he that
| destroyed them which called on this
| name in Jerusalem? The cruel per-
secutor had become the consecrated
i preacher of the Gospel. How little did
the Pharisees and Sadducees, who COM
! missioned and sent him forth, antici-
pate that such would be the case!
In like manner the great revival of
religion in England during the Eight
zenith Century overthrow such ministers
as Walpole, and made their corrupt
methods disreputable. When the reYiv-
| al began it seemed that Walpole and his
corruptionists had such a grip on the