V
GOODNESS AND BEAUTY AND GOD
Q. 5. What is meant by good and evil?
A. Good is that which promotes development, and is in harmony with the will of God. It is akin to health and beauty and happiness.
Evil is that which retards or frustrates development, and injures some part of the universe. It is akin to disease and ugliness and misery.
CLAUSE V
“Development” means unfolding of latent possibilities; as a bud unfolds into a flower, or as a chicken develops from an egg.
The idea controlling this answer is that growth and development are in accordance with the law of the universe, and that destruction and decay are features which are only good in so far as they may be on the way to something better; as leaf-mould assists the growth of flowers, or as discords in their proper place conduce to, or prepare for, harmony. In the same way conditions and practices which once were good become in process of time corrupt; yet out of them must grow the better future.
“The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils Himself in many ways,