The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-30
Ignorance. Selected for The Advertiser.

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 If soul shall sin through ignor- | ance against any of the command ments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done. and shall do any of them:-'Lev. iv: 2-3.
 The expression, If soul sin through ignorance" opens very wide region of
 Is not a sin wilful action? Is not it's wiltulness the. very essence of it's guilt So we would think. Yet again and again in this ritual given, we md that ignorance is sin, and 1t Is death with as such.
 The sense of mystery which. we may feel in regard to this matter can only be relieved. partly understood. by conI-i pairing the Bible with Nature. Sup- pose it were possible for anyone not to, know the nature of fire, and in that state expose himself to its .sction. Would the ire cease to operate beca use, the man Is ignorant7 Nothing of that kind occurs Tn Nature. Nature IS full of healing, always seeking to comfort pain; yet Nature makes no effort to ex- cuse any who misunderstood or misan- ply her laws.
 Suppose man should exclude all living air from his hanitatioa. VIII Nature suspend its laws for him' Ea- ture. like her Lord, teaches through suffering. In q bold clear hand, Ma ture writes its law; Sin Is followed
 
 exclude vitality. shut out all light. and you impoverish the life. Doom yourself to solitude. and you drown yourself by the same flat to extinction. It is in vain to plead that we did not know the nature of air. or the utility on things that are low. We must be taught the depth of our ignorance and its guilt by the intensity and contin- uanes of our personal suffering.
 A <r1 dwells on the fact to his culprits. Ig- norance of the law excuses no one And again and again is this shown to be the case The law has been vio lated by neglect, or through ignorance or wantonly; and. whether one way or the other there 1t stands in an offended attitude: and nothing can cause 1t to change its posture. It insists upon the compensation of suffering on the part of the offender
 A man Is not excused from the con- sequence of ill-behavior on the ground society. He may be pitied. he may be held in a kind of mild contempt; but at the root of the whole matter lies the law that he is tresspasser, and ignors cuse. This canon of judgment has wide bearing upon human affairs Were 1t to be justly and completely applied. t would alter many arrangements and
 There are many things which we ought to know. and which we ought to be. Insetad of axcusing ourselves by our ignorance. we should be stimulated 5y t I to ksener Inquiry and n"re. dils-
 Life Is not abroad surface which any eye can read. any mind c5mpre- hend. Life is mystery, complication. the life of fool who imaEiTes that life Is simple affair, lying between visi. bla and measurable points. There is ss n %sfs wesh Ss and weighed In, common Scales But life. as inspired and 4frscted by the Holy Ghost, IS 3 snplinas gystery. ignorancs.s we begin to zee the mean. ing of the mystery of thefdivine nature Of man What watchfainpss Is imposed upon. us by the thought
 If sin were . mere act or violence. there might be iittfe danger of its repetition. But 1t Is more. and other than this. 1t is comniittsd when we think little of 1t. We inflet wounds all weapons or instruments. We dis- honor God when we suppose we are merely silent about Him. The sin may De in look. a far-oR suggestion. in . tempting tone. in attitudes that suggest but have no name.
 But. glory to God, his ever present and abounding mercy Is shown by the ract that special offering was pro- vided for this very sin of Ignorance
 It was recognized as a speciality, and provided for as such. It is not our place to provide the sacrifice. God has already done that. We have simply 10 act In response to a Divine enactment
 Our business should never be to find the excuse. but rather to confess the sin. The great and gracious law has pro- vided for Us what we could never do for ourselves, for. 'If we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."