Page:Divine Selection or The Survival of the Useful.djvu/115

 be said that wrong is the opposite of truth or right, and evil is the opposite of good. As right is the way good does, wrong is the way evil acts.

The question may here arise, If goodness and truth are absolute in God, they being His substance and form, have evil and falsity an absolute existence? Certainly they could not exist as qualities unless there is something substantial of which they are qualities. Yet their origin is far different from that of goodness and truth. While goodness and truth are absolute, eternal, and infinite, because God is, evil and falsity are finite, and have their beginning in time. For they are not absolute in themselves, but derive their existence from the perversion of goodness and truth from God. They now have their permanent existence in the substance and form of perverted human nature. The essence of evil and wrong is therefore the substance and