k of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she
gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat. And the eyes
of them both were opened and they beard the voice of Jehovah God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and the man and his
wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the
trees of the garden.--_Gen. 3:6-8_.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been
approved, he shall receive a crown of life, which the Lord promised
to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am
tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself
tempteth no man; but each man is tempted when he is drawn away by
his own lust and enticed. Then the lust, when it hath conceived,
beareth sin: and the sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth
death.--_James 1:12-15_.

For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of man's mind,
And the heart of the eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.--_Frederick W. Faber_.

None could enter into life but those who were in downright earnest
and unless they left the wicked world behind them; for there was
only room for body and soul, but not for body and soul and
sin.--_John Bunyan_.

I.

THE NATURE OF SIN.

Henry Drummond has said that sin is a little word that has wandered
out of theology into life.

Members of a secret organization known as the Thugs of India feel
at times that it is their solemn duty to strangle certain of their
fellow men. Do they thereby commit a sin? A Parsee believes that
it is wrong to light a cigar, for it is a desecration of his emblem
of purity--fire. Others in the western world for very different
reasons regard the same act as wrong. Is the lighting or smoking
of a cigar a sin for these classes? Is the act necessarily wrong
in itself?

When a trained dog fails to obey his master, does he sin? Is man
alone capable of sinning?

II.

THE DIFFERENT THEORIES REGARDING THE ORIGIN OF SIN.

Many and various have been the definitions of sin and the
explanations of its origin. Most primitive peoples defined it as
failure to perform certain ceremonial acts, or to bring tribute to
the gods. Morality and religion were rarely combined. The Hebrew
people were the first to define right and wrong in terms of
personal life and service. Sin as represented in Genesis 3 was the
result of individual choice. It was yielding to the common rather
than the nobler impulses, to desire rat