Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-10-02

liable in the at
tempted cure Of any malady. This Is
as true of sin-sickness, depravity, as of
any other ailpent Of humanity. The
better we understand the origin of sin
and the methods Of its operation in
ourselves and in others, the more sue
cessful we shall be In combating 1t.
We must know what helps to feed the
allment and what tends to destroy it.
Our forefathers erred, evidently, in
their declaration Of total depravity.
None of us ever met a human being
entirely epraved-entirely devoid Of
sympathy for righteousness and truth
dead to all good influences. Expert
ence. however, does corroborate the
Bible statement that there is none
righteous, no, not one'-all are sin
ners. Moreover the Bible goes to the
root Of the matter; and experience cor
roborates its statement in our text
that we and all humanity were born
In state Of sin. with the prediction
or inclination toward sin.
We are not, however, to conclude
that God made us sinners for the Bi-
BILE contradicts that thought. and as
sures us that "all His work is perfect" :"
According to the Bible, we received
our lives from our parents; and they
theirs from their parents; and so back
to Father Adam. The Bible tells us
that our parents sinned, and came un-
der the Divine sentence Of death; and
that this meant mental and moral, as
well as physical, degeneracy. The
Apostle declares, by one mans dis
obedience sin entered into the world,
and death by sin. "-Romans 512.
This curse Of death which came upon
the race. and which affects us from
the moment of birth, is a terrible
blight. Even though 1t is much more
reasonable than the curse declared by
our mistaken creeds-the curse Of eter-
nal torment-neverth the curse
of God is sufficiently terrible, and
worldwide. The penalty, Dying, thou
shalt die" is much less horrible than
II 1t had read, Living, thou shalt live
I'm eternal torment"
When therefore, we find In ourselves
and others wayward, sinful tendencies,
we reflect that these are evidences Of
the fall, the curse, and that all who
are under such influences are to be
pltied, True pity, however, must not
be sympathy with sin, but with the
sinner, who is handicapped by the
predispositlon to sin Sin calls for
radical measures for its determination
for the release of the sinner; but our
best efforts for them and for others
will be attained through a knowledge
OF the facts, and through the exercise
OF the proper sympathy. There are
probably more people injured through
lack OF sympathetic help than are help
ed by the administration Of cold
blooded justice without tenderness OF
sympathy, We have been slow tc
learn this lesson,
Parental Sympathy Needed,
Undoubtedly us human sympathy
expands through knowledge Of the
facts, both parents and children Will
be blessed by that increase Of knowl
edge. Parents need to learn that theft
own mental moods and sympathief
with right or wrong serve to stamp
TO blrth-mark their children, either IA
vornhly or unfavorably. The parents
OF a vicious child should reflect that
they had much to do with that vicious
ness. Properly informed and right
wllled. they might have. produced tn,
child with a much more favorable or
ganlsm. II requires great deal oi
training to work out Of the chllds dis
Npositlon that which was Inbred Mt III
birth. Indeed, the probability is tina
only small portion OF II will ever b,
.eradlcated IN this life.
We are not forgetting the scriptur,
which says, "Who can bring a clear
thing ont OF an unclean9 We remem
her this, and merely suggest that th
imperfect sinuer.chld, shapen In In
iquity and conceived In sin, may hav
more or less OF sinful disposition. w
ARE suggesting that welghty respon
siblllty rests upon parents In respec
to the prenatal Influences exercised
as well as to their parental obligation
SITTER their children are born.
with what care, what loyalty to Co
and righteousness, what desire I
maintain purity OF heart and lovelines
OF character, the provocative power
should be e1erclSedl with what car
ehe fathor should surround the moths