ptist first sent forth, and which the Nazarene with
emphasis took up. This watchword, Repent ye, repent ye! means, as
_metanoia_ always meant, _newness and rightness of thought_, and
consequently a thorough and abiding betterment of motive, character,
disposition and habit, in every department and relation of individual
and social human life. To effect this transformation from ignorance to
knowledge, from selfishness to its opposite, is eternally the mission
of that principle of truth personified as Jesus. We recognize its
saving power only as it is set up within us as a rule of thought and
action. When we pattern after it, we then realize all sin to be just
what the Hebrew _chattah_ and the Greek _amartia_ indicate, _i. e._, a
missing of the mark, a lack of conformity to type, the type being man
finished in his creation, harmoniously developed, physically,
intellectually, morally, spiritually. And we learn that sins are not
forgiven by the setting aside of any law, or the amelioration of the
consequences of the violation of law, knowingly, or unknowingly; but
by the ordination in the nature of things of those agencies that tend,
even though it be through the penalty of pain, to bring us to the
knowledge of, and obedience to, every law written in the body and mind
of man and governing his environment seen or unseen. Sin is
incompletion, immaturity, unwholeness, ignorance, as well as the
violation of some understood and accepted moral code. As the green
fruit on the tree is forgiven for its unripeness by the baptism of
sunlight, moisture, and all other forces needed to mature it, so man
forgives and is forgiven by the impartation of strength where weakness
is in body or in mind, by the diffusion of science to take the place
of superstition, and by every other sure though slow, as we count
time, redemptive evolutionary trend. The only sin unpardonable in this
aeon or the next is _non-receptivity_ to the spirit that in every age
impels to righteousness. So long as man keeps his eyes closed, he
cannot be forgiven for being in a state of darkness. But it is an
utterly unthinkable as well as unscriptural idea that there be any so
perverse as to refuse throughout an endless time, to look upon the
glory of a world of light and color, when by opening the windows of
the soul they can exchange their trouble and unrest for peace that
will not pass away.

As for the babe of Bethlehem there was no other birthplace than a
manger, so