NATURAL VERSUS SUPERNATURAL 55 



sight can never fathom them. Dying that others 

 may live is truly the order of this universe, its natu- 

 ral order. But what examples history affords of its 

 having been in so many instances the conscious hu- 

 man order — the order which makes heroes ! Even 

 in our selfish and materialistic age, as it is called, 

 not a year passes hut our pulse is quickened by the 

 recital of some act of heroism during disaster upon 

 the sea or in the mines or in burning cities, wherein 

 men have calmly faced death that others might have 

 a chance to live. But there is no analogy here to 

 the popular theory of the sufferings and death of 

 Christ. All men have to suffer the pangs of mor- 

 tality just the same, and the consequences of sin just 

 the same. When our theologians say that " Christ 

 suffered for our sins, and that, because he suffered, 

 our sins are forgiven," they make a statement that 

 cannot be rationally conceived ; they use a language 

 not comprehensible by human sense — the language 

 of mysticism. 



When we regard sin disinterestedly and in the 

 light of our real knowledge, we find it but a relative 

 term. It is not a positive thing as electricity is, 

 but the absence of a thing, as cold is the absence of 

 heat, or as darkness is the absence of light. It is 

 the imperfection of human nature when tried by its 

 highest possibilities. The theological conception of 

 sin as imputed guilt has no more place in rational 

 knowledge than sorcery has. The deeper our in- 

 sight into the method of nature, or the more we are 

 impressed with the order and consistency of the 



