The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1896-11-27
Written for the Jasper COURIER.
WHAT is SIN?

By Lady Cook, nee Tennessee G. Clafn.
In that little work by Hobbies OF
the Common Laws Of England,
which the great Cassendus kissec
when he had read, saying, ct il
treatise is indeed small IN bulk, but
i'm my judgment the very marrow o.
'lof science, }" the Malmesbury phil
osopher says of sin: "All crimes
are indeed sins, but not all sins
;crimes. A sin may be in the
Thought or secret purpose OF a man,
of which neither Judge, nor q
witness, nor any man can take no
-Itice; bat a crime is such sin a.
consists in an action against the law
lof which action he can be accused
and tried by a Judge, and be con
victed or cleared by witnesses.
Farther. that which is no sin in it.
self, but Indifferent, may be made
sin by positive law"
We labor under a multitude OF
sins of the last description. Man
kind has fabricated them without
number. AS "The Preacher" said
long centuries ago: "God hath
made man upright; but they sought
out many inventions. Politicians
have been very guilty in this re-
spect, but the priests of all ages
have been the chief delinquents
And they have so blinded the judg-
ment and warped the consciences
of mankind that comparatively few
are able to distinguish at all times
what really is or is not sin, or in
what way an act truly becomes sin
Iful. From tens of thousands OF
Ipulpits theologians thunder forth
their hebdomadal denunciations
against sinners, and terrify Their
hearers with imaginary crimes and
fictitious punishments. Things
indifferent in themselves are
magnified to huge importance, ard
those of most consequence are di-
minished TO a vanishing point, un-
til at length truth and falsehood are
confounded. Those, too, who are
the most ignorant of the character
of sin, are those who reel of the
sins of others most glibly and copi-
ously. To omit minor offences
we hear very much for instance
Of sin against God. We are told
over and over to beware of this
but we rarely, if ever, hear a man
warned not to sin against himself.
Yet the former is a moral and phys
ical impossibility, whereasth latter
lis of constant and universal occur
renee. Now, if there is no sin
against God, good many ideas are
at once exploded; and if sin against
ourselves is always taking place, it
behooves us to look into the matter.
Etymologists are not half SO sure
as the theologians as to what sin
primarily means. Two derivations
Of the word have been suggested by
various learned men: from the
Greek "sinein, to hurt, and from
the German "sunen," to expiate,
or possibly it is allied to the Anglo
Saxon "syndrian," to 90 asunder.
Therefore it means to hurt, or some
thing to be atoned for, or to go
wrong and thus to do wrong. Our
readers can select which they
please; we prefer the first because
it is the simplest Of comprehension
and is not tainted by priestcraft.
Now we cannot hurt or injure
God nor do Him any wrong. His
nature forbids it. What ever false
step we take leads only ourselves
astray. What ever wrong we do
can never be undone. We may do
a new right, but cannot recall a
past wrong, 50 that moral expiation
lis absolutely impossible. So far
as God is concerned we can do him
neither good nor evil. We cannot
sin against Him, therefore. But
we can do injury to ourselves or to
others; and if we look little far
ther, we shall see that we cannot
even sin against Others unless we
have first sinned against ourselves.
The impulse which urges me toI
hurt or wrong my neighbor is be-
forehand wrong or hurt to my
own nature.
II this be true, as it unquestion
ably is, what then should be the
duty Of our 'pastors and masters?'|
First to apply the maxim Of the old
Greek sage: "Know thyself, u
from start to finish, from embryo to|
6nality. Next, to point out how
each should abstain from injury toI
himself, and, paradoxical as it may
...~,,1l ha,,,,,a anrrtva.