The Washington herald., 1915-10-13
The Meaning Of Sin.
BY JOHN ID. BARRY.

BY JOHN d. BARRY.
There is great. difference among people in
the capacity to feel the effects of sin Where one
| may quickly recover and become apparently
! sound again, another, after committing perhaps
the same sin, will be corrupted or made morbid
for the rest Of his life The best can acquire
from SHINING IS the power to understand the
meaning OF the moral law and the Importance of
living in harmony with its workings
From either remorse or shame there is little
gained The healthy consciousness quickly re-
acts For this reason we ought to be slow to CON
denim those who go on shining lightly and incon-
sequently. Theirs may be only superficial blunder-
ing. On the other hand, of course, their indf-
ference may be the result Of hardness. Even here
they deserve sympathy. Through repeated sim
ring they may have lost the meaning of life
! Some of the saddest consequences OF sin are
! experienced by those children who before they
acquire the capacity to understand and to resist
through unhappy circumstances. fall victims Their
sins may establish themselves as lifelong vices.
Many of them arc inevitably started on the road
to crminality. With the conviction that VIC are
serving the ends OF justice give them terrible
punishment. And yet they may be crippled by the
very social organization that righteously
uphold Their presence among ought to be one
OF the most potent means of teaching to be
slow to judge and to punish.
No matter how may safeguard ourselves
there is not one of who is free from those sud-
den rushes of temptation, which at times seem
almost uncomfortable well incxplicable.
Perhaps they revots of nature, scorning re-
straint and violently self-asserting. Nearly al
ways they arc related to the egotism that in its
subordinaton to social law, often feels itself linn
tied and irritated.
They ought to make more patient with one
another. Each day they give lessons in hui
mility. 1t is perhaps due to our egotsm that so
many OF these lessons lost We cannot
fleet too often on the speech that moved Wesley
to say as a prisoner passed him bearing the in
sigma of his disgrace: There, but for the grace
OF God. goes John Wesley.
SO long have we been told we arc all sinners
that the phrase has lost most OF its meaning. Per-
haps VIC can give it reality by rejecting that we
are all potential criminals. The evil qualities that
bctray themselves to our consciousness might,
under favorable circumstances. easily have led us
into crime.
When we look back on our lives we can
that VIC have passed through situations where but
for chance, might have committed offenscs
destructive OF our peace & 91 mind tor ,hn, the re res.
moment OF wrath he has. at heart. never commit
ted murder? As matter of fact, nearly every
one of is directly related to all the murdcrers
of the world.
We all recognize the vast difference between
consciousness OF sin and consciousness OF being
found out And yet the two are often confused
They are really not related at all. There can
surely be no moral value in regard for rep
utation. 1t may be low form OF SclfShncSs. Con-
sequently there is direct gain to sinners as
result OF exposure and OF punishment Though
they may say they have learned their lesson, they
have really learned to dread, not sin, but some OF
its consequences. What is most important they
have not learned at all
There are certain kinds OF remorSe and re-
form that are more ignoblc than shining express
ing fear and cunning Indeed, this attitude may
be noted among people highly esteemed. Though
they may lead what we call good lives, there is
really nothing cstmable in their springs of action
They have real character. With them conduct
is simply means OF securing advantage.
Inability to turn away from the memory Of
sin, to forget. instead of being a merit, is likely
to be a morbid condition OF consciousness. Like
the body. the soul ought to be able to throw Oft
anv unwhole somenesS. Just now many cults arc
reaching out to those afflicted with this kind OF
sickness.
What is it that they undertake to do: Is it
not to restore the screspect that to every human
being is necessary for the resolutc meeting of
life Its loss may be either through the soul or
the body.
Through it many a woman is sent to death or
to DEGRADATION Feeling herself abandoned to
sin, she really becomes abandoned. She either
goes into the depths she offers herself to an
ideal of punishment. In such we find
curious bond between seli-respcct and reputation.
Perhaps after all this kind OF morbidness is men
tai weakness The rcproach OF the world becomes
self-reproach.
Among men we can trace similar process
Whatever may be the OF the loss in self
respect it works havoc. OF such we some.
times say: "He has lost his grip His moral
muscles have become habby He is in the state
where he may easily become the prey to any one
OF MANY disasters. Though these seem to come
from without they really come from his own con-
sciousncsS