The herald., 1896-02-02
WHAT is sINs
BY LADY COOK, NEE cLAFLIN

l
great Gassendous kissed when ne read
saying, "This treatise is indeed spal
in bulk, but in my judgment the very
marrow of SCIENCE" the Malmesbury
philosopher 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 q
| judge, nor a witness, nor any man can
take notice; but crime is such sin
as consists in an action against the
law of which action he can be accused
and tried by judge and be cleared OF
convicted by witnesses. Further, that
which is no sin in itself, but indiffer.
ent, may be made sin by a positive
law"
We labor under a multitude of sins
of the last description. Mankind has
fabricated them with out number. As
The Preacher said long centuries ago
| God hath made man upright bat
they have sought out many inventions"
Politicians have baen very guilty
in this respect, but the priests
OF all ages have been the
chief delinquents. And they have so
blinded the judgment and warped the
| consciences of mankind that compara-
lively few aro able to distinguish at all
times what really is or is not sir, or in
what way an act truly becomes sinful.
From tens of thousands of pulpits
theologians thunder forth their heb
domadaI denunciations against sim
ners, and terrify their hearers with i'm
aeinary crimes and fictitious penish-
ments. Things indifferent" in them
selves are magnified to huge impor-
tance, and those of most consequence
are diminished to a vanishing point,
| until at length truth and falsehood are
confounded. Those, too, who are the
most ignorant of the character of sin,
are those who reel off the sins of others
| most glibly and copiously. To omit
minor ofenscs, 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 moral and physical i'm
possibility, whereas the latter is of con-
stant and universal occurrence. Now,
If there is no sin against God, good
many other ideas are at once exploded;
and if sin against ourselves is always
taking place, it behooves US TO look in
to the matter.
Etymologists are not half 80 sure as
the theologians as to what sin primar-
lily meane. 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 ''syndian," to go asun-
der. Therefore it means to hurt, or
something 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 for
leads only ourselves astray. Whatever
wrong we do can never be undone. We
may do new right, but cannot recall
past wrong, 80 that moral expiation
ia 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
il we look little farther we shall see
that we cannot even sin against others
unless we have first sinned against our
selves.
The impulse which urges me to hurt
or wrong my neighbor is beforehand
wrong or hurt to my own nature.
If this be true, as it unquestionably
is, what then should be the duty of our
"pastors and ministsrs?" First to ap-
ply the maxim of the old Greek sage:
"Know thyself," from start to finish,
from embryo to finality. Next, to point
out how each should abstain from in
jury to himself, and, paradoxical as it
may appear, this would become equiv
alent to, "Love thyself."
This is the first and chief duty Of
man-to love himself, to cherish him
self, to reverence and worship his own
being, When he shall have succeeded
in doing this, he will love others; he
will love, reverence and worship his
fellow-beings; he will intensely rev.
erencs and worship his God. So far as
he comes short of these to himself, 80
far will he hurt or wrong others, and
so far will he be wanting in
due appreciation of his maker.
'To thine own self be true
And it must follow as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Seeing that mans nature is three
fold-physical, intellectual and moral;
that the fret is the basis of the second,
and the second of the third, it becomes
his duty to study and inform himself
OF each in its order, and to seek the
highest development of them all. We
cannot be perfect, and SO we cannot be
sinless, but we can aim at the greatest
possible perfectibility which involves
the minimizing of sin, and this is our
bounden duty. Oar bodies are not sim
full, although we make them instru-
ments Of sin. So far as we know they
are the perfection of Gods physical
hsndiwork. Those are false to
nature, traitors to human dignity and
slanderers of the most high-blind
leaders of the blind-who assert that
there is in item anything obscene or
unclean. From the germ of life to the
moment of death they are beautifully
and wonderfully made. We should
cherish and preserve them carefully,
honouring all our organs in just meas
ure, bringing our best intellectual
faculties to the work by careful study
of their right functions and require
ments, and making body and mind
assist in the production of moral ex-
cellence. 1t is not in artificial laws
that progress must be sought, but
in observing and utilizing natural
laws. Whatever opposes nature,
b.