The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-16

corrupted the very body and the soul of q man as
that he could not, until he was absolutely
changed by the grace of God, do q single thing
chat was agreeable to God. They mistook the
road. They were right as to the fact of uni
versal sinfulness; they were wrong as to the
cause of it and the nature OF 1t. The capacity
of duty, the capacity of unfolding feom the AMI,
NAL to the spiritual state-that has been held
almost without contradiction. The universal
presence Of God, in which was that stimulating
bower needed by man to unfold him from the
animal to the spiritual-this universal presence
of the Divine Being laid a foundation
ing Providence, for such a control
of inferior laws as shall produce what are coarse
Iy called miracles, which in their nature are put
the ascendency of mind over matter-mlracies
eithor msdiately or Immediately; this doctrine
of the uniyersality of the Divine Presence ana OF
the power given to the human will and, reason
by reason, of it, by a participation in it, laid the
foundation for beliefs in providence, In personal
providence in particular, for prayer, Tor com
munion in God, and for the power OF working oy
natural laws something higher than we can by
ordinary attainments In laws.
Now. what is there in the doctrine of evolution
that contests these sublime disclosures OF mans
nature and Of his relations to Code Is not the
whole flow of facts as revealed by the new light
OF Gods method of creation in favor of this noble
theology? Man was born at the bottom on pur-
pose. 1t was the creative organic decree of God
that he should begin at the bottom and work his
W0Y AVt 2tEp Wy tGl W thO wy dC ~ ~
until his life mingled with the Divine Life.
Sin is generically called in Scripture the trans
gression of the law, but all transgression of the
law is not sin. A man may break 10000 laws
and not sin once. Your little child breaks laws
before he knows how to keep his fingers out OF
the fire; and before he knows anything whatever
Of the doctrine of grayitation, he tumbles out of
bed or down stairs, and he violates whole
punches Of laws every day. You don't punish
him or consider it punishable. We know per-
fnefir vva11 that vvhi1a wronO consists in fha viz
1ation of religious commands, yet all violation OF
religious commands is not b~lameworthy. There
are other dement's TO come in. BY creation men
began at the bottom, whatever theory of origin
may be adopted. IL you say that he is q being
that in the regular order of nature was ascend
ant from the lower stages OF creation, and l in
cline to that view as a hypothesis, not rs a thing
proved, nor in one sense exactly provable, but as
throwing SO much light upon many of the ques-
tions of human life, that | incline to that view
nevertheless / don't insist upon it.
There be men that say they never descended
from monkeys, and many OF them l think are
right. Laughter. But whatever may be your
theory, whether it is that or whether men were
created at the bottom by special creation of the
human race, one or other of these is to be held
by every one, and either Of them leads to like re-
suits. He began at the bottom, whichever the
DRY of origin you may adopt. He is and has al
ways been an unfolding creature, beginning at
simple, going toward complex, beginning at little
and gathering and gaining more and more. And
in this evolution of the human family each step
higher leaves him inferior to the station above
that. It is not until he comes to the very last
that he comes 10 anything like completion in
action, in so far as ascent IS concerned
in that system of ascent by which man,
doubles aud quadruples, and goes on. At
every ascending step which he gains he is con-
demned by all that is above, as measured by the
ideal. He is measured by what he has done, but
is becoming superior. The doctrine of sinful
ness belongs to the human race. 1t does not
stand simply in the history of theology, nor in
hyper philosophy, but in the organic structure
of mankind They must begin at the bottom
and take the successive steps of ascent
The creative idea makes what theology has
called sin inevitable. One school of old theo-
logians had long debates whether sin was not
the means of greatest good on the whole. They
were feeling for a fact. Where their mistake
was was in calling relative imperfection or non
attainment sin. They called it sin, but it is part
of the creative design that men should pass
through these stages. They can't help it; it is
compulsory. BY far the greatest amount of sin
in all ages has been infirmity. The deliberate
and purposed violation of known duty is crilni-
nal sin. for which men are responsible-both
body and soul. But Q vast field of infrmity re-
mains. and where men either through ignorance
or by a twilight knowledge and by inexpertness
i'm the use of powers and faculties have tumbled
and suffered.
OUR APPRENTICESHIP.
No man would ever say to an apprentice. put,
ting q large chest Of tools before him, setting
him upon a great building: ''There, you will be
held responsible for the right use Of every tbol
there is in this chest" Every rational 1han
says: ssYou have got to be taught, and you are
not responsible for not using them until you
have learned how Thirty different tools go to
make up the human constitution-the mind; at
beast thirty different faculties. If a man is not
h~lameworthy who does rot know, off hand, how
to use a chest of tools, material and simple. is he
blameworthy who doesn't understand how to
manage every one of these invisible and interior
faculties in the brain7 He has got to learn his
trade. His knowledge of how to live is learning
a trade, the most complicated and difficult that
ever was learned. No man learns it except by
institutions, by public sentiment, by direct
moral influence brought to bear upon him; the
education of man, how to unfold his nature in
accordance with harmony in himself, with his
fellows. with God; the knowledge of how a
man shall ascend from the compulsion of
animal instincts is a trade which is net
learned In a day and never was learned by the race
in a day, but by slow creeping centuries. Every
household is an illustration of these facts. How
much Of that which is evil is the result of igno-
rance and of unframed sinfulness? Suppose you
should deal with your children according to the
idea that every man is responsible for the per-
Torrance of his whole duty from the very begin
ming. 1t would extinguish the household. You
can't afford to treat your children on that theory.
They are responsible just according to the line
of their unfolding. not a step beyond that. Every
school is obliged to 60 on that theory.
The old theology makes sin spring from a cor
rupt nature. / make it spring from nature, but
not corrupt. only not unfolded nor developed
vet. They made it spring from corruption inn
puted from Adam. ] will save up Adam for a
special time; let him rest for the present.
Iiaughter.l But that is the old theology, that
mankind have had imputed TO them his sin, and
that it has utterly eaten out, destroyed all power
of good. both in body and in soul. You would
not believe it, but I shall read before I get
through these sermons some extracts that will
make your ears tingle.
Evolution says that sin springs from the
struggle for asce ndency of a double nature,
animal and spiritual; that the conflicts of life
are simply the conflicts between the under and