The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-08-17

11IG1Lw Lev. 40. 9-l41. 44G A1Nk6G4 AC4A
is. 'TsVherefore He Ia Able to Save
Them TO the utt@rmost That Come
Unto God by Him. Heb 7: 20.
(BT WILLIAM T. ELLLS.)
Beneath all the diversity of news IN
the daily papers. there is one grim, ugly
undercurrent which is never absent for
a day; namely, the existence In the
days events OF the thing called sin. De-
bates and books and conventions and
speeches upon the great social questions
of the time are multiplying at g. rapid
rate; but where is the churet's clear
declarmtion that the very genius and
core OF these is that terrible factor In
human society which the Bible desig-
mates as sin? All the modern terms Tor
the roots Of undesirable social conditions
are nothing less than synonyms Tor the
Bible-ald curse Of Etn.
President woodrow Wilson recently
attracted wide attention by his declara-
tien at the Jamestown Exposition that
the heads Of law-brea king corporations
should be sent to Jail. His idea was TO
make responsibility particular and IN
dividual. Similarly, If we Wer TO STOP
talking about the ills OF our time as II
they were abstract things, and talk
more about the fact or 1ndlvadua s1n-
ming, we might hope for an carrier sodu-
ton OF some of our problems Fnt up
TO the man responsible his accountable
aty, and he viii be nkelier to mend his
ways. But so long as conditions, and
not persons, are accused. ne VIII olsre-
gard clamor and agitation
The Man at the Top.
The present day has wandered far
from the concrete conception OF sin
4e:.ght to the early Israelites In the
fscrfnture which is the Sunday school
lesson under discussion The shert ugly
word sssin" has rather gone out or lash
Son, even in the pulpit The speech on
the day abounds. instead, IN nigh-souna-
fine innate
bility of man, the divinity or humanity
and so forth.
All this poetfzing and painting of
mans noble nature does not after the
plain fact that, left to itself, outside OF
the powerful influences Of law and re-
ngfon man becomes a beast. Give this
same zlorifed human nature haIf an
opportunity, and IT speedily Is in untir-
ing alliance with all me lowest Iorees
of the neither regions. Whoever knows
human nature as it is must shudder AT
contemplation of the depths TO winch
man can descend
The plain truth is that man does not
~evolute'' out of siB-else so many
gross sins would not be found at the
ton of society, where birth, breeding.
education and wealth have presumably
done their best AS Or. Gharies a
Parkhurst cnce foroeifully pointed OUT,
New York city never more thoroughly
resembles the internal regions than on
the night of some great intercoIleglate
frequently make the public poignantly
aware of the heinous sins OF men ana
women of eminent social position; SO
that the question has been T 5s nof
really low society" Evolution Is not
the remedy for sin; for, given chance
man reverts to type
sharp difference between the cid
Hebrews and the idolatrous people by
whom they were surrounded was the
emphasis which the Hebrew ritual laid
upon sin AS the lesson story SHOWS
the high priest, after ceremonial cleans
ing and clothing, offered a goat on the
great day of atonement, as saerince
for the peoples sin, and another goat,
erness to bear away the peoples sins.
AS the Epistle to the Hebrews SHOWS
these were merely forms ana Tore
5hadoFrings of the bearing away OF
mems sins upon the cross by Jesus
s'thc Lamb of God that taketh away the
sin Of the world"
Says the inspired writer: But Christ
having come a high priest of the GOOD
things to come, through the greater ana
more perfect tabernacle, not made with
hands, that is to say, not of this erea-
zion, nor yet through the blood OF
goats and calves, but through his own
blood, entered in once for all into the
holy mace having obtained eternal re-
demption. For If the blood OF goats and
bulls and the ashes OF a heller sprink-
ling them that have been denied, sane
fify unto the cleansing Of the flesh,
how much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without blemish unto
God, cleanse your conscience from dead
Yworks to serve the living God?"
This emphasis upon the fact OF sin,
and its deadliness. is peculiar TO
Judaism and Christianity. The non
Christian religions do not have It In
sa tour of the heather world failed to
lind any evidences OF It. Contrition for
sin seems to be consequence OF ac-
quaintanoe with the spirit OF Nnrlst-
The ido1ater often makes his very wor-
ship a carnival of gross sin. There Is
apparently nothing in the teachings of
heathen creeds to forbid a man from
andulging IN certain forms OF sin until
he Is glHtted-
The Seven Deadly Sins.
It win be said that sins depend upon
as a great sin that which lower stand
ards would not adjudge IS a sin at all.
The finer our spiritual life the keener
ones sense of sin Thus IL comes about,
paradoxically, that they who are least
sinful sometimes account themselves the
chief of sinners. Indeed. it may be
safely said that a sense of sin Is one
neyer-absent proof of spirituality. They
who are nearest to the spotless Christ
best realize their own impurity. He
who removes sin first makes plain its
odiousness.
Undoubtedly. there has often existed
a strange confusion Of mind concerning
the relative magnitude Of sins. The
Church has created too many IMAM
made SINS" and has put this black
brand upon some practices which may
be harmless In themselves. It is no part
of true religion to go about manufac-
turing sins. The Purttanical conception
of Christianity wan neither lovely nor
communicable. and happily. it has been
outgrown.