The theology of an evolutionist Author:Lyman Abbott Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III THE GENESIS OF SIN The problem of sin is not to be confounded with the fact of sin. As to the fact, there is no room for question. All the grea... more »t dramatists have recognized it in their portrayal of remorse, indignation, penalty, repentance, forgiveness, restoration. The great historians have recognized it, in depicting the struggle of righteousness with moral evil. Religious worship is largely founded upon it; for religious worship is largely an endeavor of the worshiper to rid himself of the present burden and the future penalty of sin. All government recognizes it; for certainly the first if not also the chief function of government is to protect the innocent from the sins of the sinful. He who denies the fact of sin denies the police and the prison, the temple and the priest, the battle-field and the martyrdom, Shakespeare and .ZEschylus. The problem is not, Is there sin ? but, Whence comes it ? If we are to cure a disease, we must know its nature and origin. What is the nature andorigin of sin, the cure of which is alike the prob lem of government, education, and religion,— of the courts, the school, and the church ? To this question there are two answers, — the theological and the evolutionary. The theological is that God created man perfect, that man fell by voluntary transgression of the law which God imposed upon him, and that in consequence of that fall sin entered the world and poisoned the entire race, in one of three ways, — for on this point theologians are not agreed : either because the whole race was in Adam as the oak is in the acorn, and sinned with him; or because the whole race was represented by Adam and is held responsible for his act, much as a nation is held responsible for the acts of its representatives ; or because the whole race desc...« less