There is a self-propagating power in evil, and the man, woman, or child who pursues a wrong course in any line, becomes through his influence a propagator of evil, a parent to a line of misdoings.—Letter 39, 1896, p. 1. (To S. N. Haskell, April 26, 1896.)
(10MR 63.1)
The intrigues of sin surpass infinite conception. Every calamity, every suffering and death is an evidence, not only of the power of evil, but of the truth of the living God. [Man] having known the truth, the word of the living God, which abideth forever, and which through obedience gives life, his weakness in conforming to Satan’s ingenuity is surpassingly strange.—Manuscript 139, 1903, 11 (“The Message of Revelation,” October 23, 1903.)
(10MR 63.2)
Evil had been accumulating for centuries, and could only be restrained and resisted by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power. Another spirit must be met; for the essence of evil was working in all ways, and the submission of man to this satanic captivity was amazing.—Letter 8, 1896, p. 1 (To “My Brethren in America,” February 6, 1896.)
(10MR 63.3)