ou!" To whom does he say
it? To all sinners; that is, to all men. And why does he say it? Because
he is wroth with them. And why is he wroth with them? Because they are
sinners. And why are they sinners? Because they are men. And why are
they men? Because they cannot help it. They were born in sin and shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did their mothers conceive them.

Every Christian admits this--theoretically. He goes to church and
confesses himself a "miserable sinner," but if you called him so as he
came out of church he would call you something stronger.

A sinner may be damned here, apparently, without being damned hereafter.
He is liable to hell until he dies, but after that event he is sometimes
reprieved and sent to heaven. But the vast majority of the human race
have no share in the atoning blood of Christ. They were "damned sinners"
_in posse_ before they were born, they are "damned sinners" _in esse_
while they live, and they will be "damned sinners" for ever when they
leap from this life into eternity, and join the immortal fry Of almost
everybody born to die.

This is a very comfortable doctrine for the narrow, conceited, selfish
elect. For other people--all the rest of us--it is calculated to provoke
unparliamentary language. Why should God "damn" men? And how can men be
"sinners"? Certainly they can sin against each other, because they can
injure each other. But how can they sin against God? Can they injure
him? He is unchangeable. Can they rob him? He is infinite. Can they
deceive him? He is omniscient.

Can they limit his happiness? He is omnipotent. No, they _cannot_ sin
against him, but he _can_ sin against them. And if he exists he _has_
sinned against every one of them. Not one human being has ever been as
strong, healthy, wise, noble, and happy as God might have made him. Nor
is man indebted to God for his creation. There cannot be a debt where
there is no contract. It is the creator and not the creature who is
responsible, and the theological doctrine of responsibility is the truth
turned upside down.

Suppose a man had the power of creating another thinking and feeling
being. Suppose he could endow him with any qualities he chose. Suppose
he created him sickly, foolish, and vicious. Would he not be responsible
for the curse of that being's existence?

Man is what he is because he is. He is practically without choice. The
cards are dealt out to him, and he must take them as they come. Is it
ju