THE CHILD AS GIVEN BY NATURE 57 



for the elimination of passion and appetite, usu- 

 ally prejudged by being called "sinful appetites 

 and passions," arises probably from the assump- 

 tion that animal appetites and passions are in 

 themselves sinful. But this throws the burden of 

 sinfulness back on to God, who alone is respon- 

 sible for human nature in this form, and who in 

 the beginning pronounced them good. 



A little reflection will bring the conviction that 

 sin is a moral thing; a something where choice 

 is involved; something which pertains to the will 

 and the spirit; something which is not grounded 

 in a nature ; not an unavoidable, normal impulse ; 

 not a thing for the elminiation of which no pro- 

 vision is made by grace through faith in Jesus. 

 Sin has a moral remedy; but appetite and pas- 

 sion have none except drugs and the surgeon's 

 knife. 



Have we, then, merely substituted one term for 

 another the term animalism for sin! Is this all 

 a discussion about words? I think that can 

 hardly be said. The whole conception has been 

 changed. The traditional view had a sin on its 

 hand for which there was no rational cause, either 

 human or divine. The human causation, Adam's 

 primeval sin, always involved injustice, confusion 

 of moral conceptions, and an irrational philoso- 

 phy. It has long been rejected by scientific minds. 

 The assumed divine causation reflected on the 

 goodness and equity of God, and should be given 

 up in the interest of divine honor, even if we 



