re due, not to its essential constitution, but to
man's wilfulness and its results; that the disordering force in human
nature has been moral, the force of sin; that human history represents
in one aspect a fall from a divine purpose, a fall constantly
reiterated and renewed in acts of disobedience. These constant acts of
disobedience are in part caused by an evil heart in human nature, and
this in its turn exhibits the fruits of past sins. Granted this, {232}
the story in Genesis iii, whether it be historical or whether (as not
only many modern Christians, but some of the greatest of early
Christians, have thought) it be not an historical account of a single
event, but a generalized account of what is continually happening, has,
at any rate, vital spiritual truth. The character of its inspiration
is apparent. Teach a child what sin is, first of all on the ground of
general Christian experience and the teaching of Christ, and then read
to it the story of Genesis iii, and the child must perforce recognize
the truth in a form in which it cannot be forgotten. There in that
story all the main points of truth as to the meaning of sin are
suggested, and the main sources of error precluded. Sin is not our
nature, but wilfulness; sin is disobedience to the divine law, the
refusal of trust in God; there is such a thing as being tempted to sin,
and yielding to it, and then finding that we have been deceived, being
conscience-stricken and fearing to face God; and the curse of our
manhood springs from nowhere ultimately but our own evil heart. And if
our sins lay us under an outward discipline, which is God's punishment,
yet in the very discipline lies the hope of our recovery. God the
destroyer is also the God who promises redemption. Thus all that we
most need to know about God and man, about obedience and disobedience,
about temptation, about the blessing and the cursing of human nature,
about conscience good and bad, is to be found in the story of Genesis
iii, written in language suitable to the childhood of the individual
and of the race.

VI.--But once more, and for the last time, the biologist will reply,
'You are not going to get off so easily. The fact of physical death is
inextricably interwoven into the structural growth of the world long
before men appeared. But Christianity regards it as a mere consequence
of human sin.' This is not the case. Long before science {233} had
investigated the early history of