Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-05-12
SIN.
By DIR. FRANK CRANE.
Copyright. 1914. by Frank Crane.)
Sins are artificial. Sin is real.

Sins are artificial. Sin is real.
Sins change with times. countries.
forms of ecclesiastical government. de-
grees of intelligence. Sin is ever the
same.
Sins are rebellions against outward au-
thorities. Sin is rebellion against Inward
authority. Sins are offenses against
somebody else. Sin is an offense against
your own self-respect.
| For sin ir very simple plain and under
| standable. 1t is one thing. not many, II
| is precisely the same among the gnoran'
| and among the wise. In stupid and
| clever, slow and quick. supersttioua and
rational. it is Identical.
| Sin is an act of the will contrary TO tho
\ dictates of conscience. To sin is TO Will
something you feel YOU ought not.
| Sin is not an outgrown word. therefore,
1t will last as long as mankind.
| 1t will stand in human language as long
| as those other words to which il is re-
| lated Ought. should. wrong and con-
1 science.
| 1t may mean the breaking Of law is-
sued by another person or by an institu-
ton, but that is only when you believe
you ought to obey that law.
| Since the world began there has been
| in every human being sense of obi
CATION. Inside of every ones mind is
something that condemns this action and
calls it wrong. and commends that action.
and calls ii right.
People are both much alike and very
different. Like plants and animals. they
| show both unity and variety. Hence
| there are some acts of the will thar are
| almost universally felt to he wrong. The
| greatest and truest list of these is found
in the Ten Commandments of Moses.
| But these are not wrong because Moses
| and the Deity prohibited them: they were
prohibited because the general conviction
of mankind was that they were wrong.
Do not imagine that sin is something
invented by the priests or artificially
| created by anybody's opinion; that may
| be true of sins. but sin is something that
pertains to all humanity. Your feeling OF
oughtness is just as much a part of your
spirit as your hand is part of your
body.
| The Nan who has no such feeling is
monster, even as a man without hands s
| an abnormal creature.
There are two classes of human he
ings. One class We may call persons Of
honor. These are uncomfortable when
they diSobey conscience. They are nor
NAL persons. The other class have
| blunted conscience: they are the weak
lings, the criminals, whether reputable
mot found OUT, or disreputable Afound
touO.
| There are others who seem to have
lost all sense OF oughtness it has been
killed by selfishness and the continuous
yielding to desire These are inhuman
and are practically intellectual wild
BEASTS.
| Conscience itself may become over
sensitive, particularly when it is trained
to point to SINS and not to sin. Thus
men of deranged conscience have been
morbid, cruel, prosecuting, tyrannical
and narrow.
| For conscience is affected by reason
and the conscience of a person with no
common sense. who abandons reason and
| gives himself over to some non-ntelligent
belief. may become very terrible.
Think clearly, be honest with yourself
be unafraid to accept full responsibility
for your own opinions and acts. and i'm
plicitly obey what conscience you have.
Only so does your conscience grow
strong. reliable and helpful.
Only so you avoid sin. the mildew and
rot of the soul.
AS for sins, never mind them. Watch
out for sin.
Whatever lowers you in your own eyes,
| whatever makes You feel like a sneak.
| whatever causes you to hate yourself
whatever you would cringe to tell an
honest man or a good woman, whatever
alenates you from the infinite, and what
ever in the light of the best you know
strikes you as cowardly, that, to you, is
sin.
Avoid that Don't try to make it a rule
| for others. Mind your own business.
| And you will not founder in the bog of
casuistry.