Chapter
13.—There Can Be No Evil Where There is No Good; And an Evil Man
is an Evil Good.
Accordingly, there is nothing of
what we call evil, if there be nothing good. But a good which is
wholly without evil is a perfect good. A good, on the other hand,
which contains evil is a faulty or imperfect good; and there can be
no evil where there is no good. From all this we arrive at the
curious result: that since every being, so far as it is a being, is
good, when we say that a faulty being is an evil being, we just
seem to say that what is good is evil, and that nothing but what is
good can be evil, seeing that every being is good, and that no evil
can exist except in a being. Nothing, then, can be evil except
something which is good. And although this, when stated, seems to
be a contradiction, yet the strictness of reasoning leaves us no
escape from the conclusion. We must, however, beware of incurring
the prophetic condemnation: “Woe unto them that call evil good,
and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness:
that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.”
1104
And yet
our Lord says: “An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart
bringeth forth that which is evil.”
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Now, what is evil man but an evil
being? for a man is a being. Now, if a man is a good thing because
he is a being, what is an evil man but an evil good? Yet, when we
accurately distinguish these two things, we find that it is not
because he is a man that he is an evil, or because he is wicked
that he is a good; but that he is a good because he is a man, and
an evil because he is wicked. Whoever, then, says, “To be a man
is an evil,” or, “To be wicked is a good,” falls under the
prophetic denunciation: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and
good evil!” For he condemns the work of God, which is the man,
and praises the defect of man, which is the wickedness. Therefore
every being, even if it be a defective one, in so far as it is a
being is good, and in so far as it is defective is
evil.
1104
Isa. v. 20
1105
Luke vi. 45