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NOT since the betrayal of the Son of God by the hypocritical kiss of Judas Iscariot has evil been set in sharper contrast with good than in the foul assassination of President McKinley. The hideous villainy of this unnameable scoundrel stands out in all its native blackness against the background of the pure whiteness of the victim’s character and record. We cannot fully comprehend the divine intent in the permission of such a deed. To say that it was decreed for the sake of the good that will ultimately come out of it, is too much like saying that evil has been done that good may come. However, it is our business to get good out of what has happened. And in the light from heaven that has suddenly streamed with full effulgence upon a spotless character and a blameless life, men everywhere have gained a fresh view of the beauty of sincerity, fidelity, private and official incorruptability, and absolute unselfishness. We knew the beauty of these qualities before, but we are made to realize them anew. The lesson is of infinite value though purchased at such fearful cost. These qualities, in public and private life, are the greatest need of humanity today. Throughout the world there will be a new striving for true nobility of character, real trustworthiness, incorruptible fidelity to public and civic responsibilities on the part of those in authority and in private life, because of the life and tragic end of President McKinley. And not only will there be a more strenuous care to guard against the admission of evil-minded foreigners into our country, and stricter enactments of law concerning public utterances of a seditious character; but far more effective and radical will be the reform that will come from the perception of the intrinsic badness of evil. This misguided young man who has done a deed that brings upon him the execrations of mankind is a product of countless evil influences that by force of circumstances have focused in him. It is men’s greed for gain, their lust for power leading to the century-long oppressions and injustices of the old world, their passions indulged in wars of conquest, their unfaithfulness and unbrotherliness and godlessness through ages that has led up to this horrid deed. When we see that all unfaithfulness to responsibility and trust in the private walks of life as well as in public places, is a part of this same great force and manifestation of evil which has now concentrated itself in a single deed that shocks the race, we have learned a great lesson. This awful assassination becomes a tremendously powerful educative [114][115] force. If it helps root out insubordination, disorder, and all forms of lawlessness from school, and home and state, it will not be exactly justified, but it will be easily seen to have been overruled by a wise and good “Power that makes for righteousness,” for humanity’s good. May God grant that we may so learn our hard lesson.