rightful
inheritance.

That our future destiny is to actually take an individual part, however
small, in guiding the great work of Evolution, may not be evident to us
in the earlier stages of our awakening; but what is clear as a matter
of feeling, but not yet intellectually, is, that in some way or other we
have been cutting ourselves off from the Great Source of Light, and that
what we therefore want, is to be re-united to it. What is wanted, then,
is something which will give us a firm ground of assurance that we _are_
re-united to it, and that that something must be of such a nature as
never to lose anything of its efficiency at any stage of our
progress--it must cover the whole ground.

Now, if we think deeply upon this question, we shall gradually come to
see that this expansive quality is to be found in the doctrine of the
Atonement. It meets all the needs of our spiritual nature in a way that
no other theory does, and responds to every stage of our progress. There
is only one thing that will prevent it working, and that is, saying that
we have no need of it. That is why St. John said, that if we say we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John i, 8).
But the more we come into the light of Truth, and realize that sin is
everything that is not in accordance with the Law of our own essential
being as related to the Eternal Life, the more we shall see, not only
that we have transgressed the Law in the past, but also that even now
we are very far from completely fulfiling it; and the more light we get
the more clearly we shall see this to be the case. Therefore, whatever
may be the stage of our mental development, the assurance which we all
need for the basis of our new life is that of the removal of sin--the
sins of the past, and the daily errors of the present. We may form
various theories, each to our own satisfaction, as to _how_ this takes
place. For instance we may argue that, since "the Word" is the
undifferentiated potential of Humanity, every human soul is included in
the Self-offering of Christ, and that in Him we ourselves suffered on
the Cross. Or we may say that our confession that such an offering is
needed amounts to our participation in it. Or we may say with St. Paul
that, as in Adam all are sinners, so in Christ all are made free from
sin (1 Cor. xv, 22). That is, taking Adam and Christ as the
representatives of two orders of men. Or we may fall back on the
statement "