The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-01-14
RELIGIOUS
WORLD
PRESENT PROBLEMS AND THEIR
ROOT.
The international Sunday School Les
son for January 10 Is, "Man's First
Sim" Genesis :.

sVss W.
Sin" Genesis 3.
CBy WILLIAM r. ELLIS.t
This Is the problem era. Mankind
has never been conscious Of 50 many
definite problems demanding OF him
a solution, as in this Year or our
Lord 1913. We have analysed. in
terpreted and labelled u problems,
ranging them in long and forial1aDie
array. There is the comprehensive
social problem, the vice problem. the
liquor problem, the housing problem,
tho baby-saving problem. the prison
rroblem, the drug problem, or d hun
dred more. Each has its specialists,
and each its own legion or SerN ants.
When we run to the root OF all
the problems. we find that the great
est and the least of them are alike
spelled clementally in three letters
Gin. Sometimes this root BIN Is
black and gross; sometimes it is in
thu potter garb Of ~selfishness. AL
ways and everywhere the problem OF
problems is this fundamental one OF
the moral obliQuity called sin.
OF course 1t Is very old fashioned
To talk about SIN. That little word
was Oftener used in an older day.
The modern mode is to speak OF
Tendencies and environment and
error and "heredity" n def
cheney and "abnormality." We nave
. new lingo: but the thing itself re-
mains as Of yOre. In his heart OF
hearts every honest person knows that
SIN Is a real n present and basic
fact in the life OF u time, as Of all
times. and hat all other problems
wait for their solution upon this n
underlying problem OF sin.
The Test In the Garden.
"a myth" "a fable" cries one con-
corning the story Of the first tempta-
ton. Whatever the literary on
struction of the old story, we know
II to be the history Of a great reality.
Whether the temptation was enact
ed thousands of years ago In an
actual garden. with an actual SER
pent speaking. matters little when
we realize that the same tragedy was
enacted only yesterday within our
w circle: and that it Is the most
real and present experience of many
a person who reads these words.
In the garden Of life there needs
must be a tree OF which man may
not eat. That Is the test of his man
hood. The ability to deny himself.
and to obey a higher Law than mere
desire is the proof Of mans descent
from a sovereign God. The animals
take what they want, if they can get
it. Man alone remembers in his hour
Of power n liberty, Thou shalt
not"
Without a moral law paradise
would be a garden Of death. The
highest tribute paid by the Creator
to mortal is that He has implanted
within him the divine quality of SOW.
ereign will. Only the silly and thu
shallow sigh for q sinless man in s
temptationless world. Such a lif'
would be "as idle as a painted shil
upon a painted ocean" 1t Woult
make of man a mere automaton,
manikin. such as we buy at holida,
season in the toy stores. For tn
image of the divine in the human i
revealed by the ability to choose be
tween good and evil. That is tn
highest truth about man. lie ca,
fall to lowest depths: he can rise t
ioftiest heights.
The Devil In Paradise.
The ogu OF our day curis its Ii
at the thought of the devil in tn
Garden of Eden. 1t is distinctly ba
form to believe In Satan-worse ba
form. h cynic might observe, tina
to obey him. "A personal devil
odious to some Of us, who nevertht
less find ourselves capable of vel
devilish thinking and doing. We d
not realize that we are impaled upo
the ether horn Of the dilemma, whic
Is that il there is not a power gu
~ ofhiA q
life n making for whatsoev,
things are evil, then we humans mu
in our own nature possess a diabol
cal capacity or aspect. Given
choice between a devil apart fro
humanity and a humanity that
potentially devilish, l vote for Il
old-fashioned Scripture teaching. tn
there Is an actual a~rch-enemy Of m;
n OF God. who has urged his b
setments upon the human race sin
the beginning.
Social service of the world, to
ultimately and ~constructively effe
tive, must needs strike at breaki
the power Of that old per Sata
\ few days ago we read in the new
papers that in a revival In a we
crn Pennsylvania city, the mayor h
become converted, and had und,
taken to break the power Of crime
his community. The evidence is +,
disputed that here. as in hundreds
other communities, q revival Of rig
eOusness and a cleansing Of the hea
CT individual men and m q
the creation of enmity between II
and Satan. has done more for