THE CHILD AS GIVEN BY NATURE 53 



humanness which proceeds from the Everlasting 

 Father; permit nothing to make us forget that 

 every life born of a woman is a visible expression 

 of the life of God. Whatever in our race is up- 

 lifting and most worthy, its strength, its peren- 

 nial honor, its divine likeness and growth, depend 

 alike on childhood." (Dr. S. P. Cadman in Brook- 

 lyn Eagle.) 



But one replies, "The child has a sinful na- 

 ture." 



This word "nature" is made to do large work 

 in the world. Upon its very vague and indefinite 

 corporosity are piled many a burden of logic, 

 theology, and philosophy. "What do people mean 

 by a sinful nature or fallen nature, which latter 

 term is used to convey the same meaning? Is a 

 sinful nature a nature that sins T No ; it can not 

 be that : for we have seen that the infant can not 

 sin. Well, then, it may be said that a sinful na- 

 ture is one that will develop into a nature that 

 will sin. This puts sinfulness back in the order 

 of nature where there is no volition, no moral 

 choosing; back into the causal order of things 

 where there are no alternatives ; back in the iron 

 grip of powers that can not be other than they 

 are, and for which no one but God, who made 

 them so, is responsible. If there is one heresy 

 in the world more heretical than another, it is 

 the heresy that makes God the author of sin. 

 Moreover, there is absolutely no logical necessity 

 for this assumption of the sinfulness of human 



