it bringeth
forth sin.'[6] The essence of sin is selfishness. It is the
deliberate choice of self in preference to God--personal and wilful
rebellion against the known law of righteousness and truth. There are,
of course, degrees of wrongdoing and undoubtedly extenuating
circumstances which must be taken into account in estimating the
significance and enormity of guilt, but in the last resort Christian
Ethics is compelled to postulate the fact of sin, and to regard it as a
personal rebellion against the holy will of God, the deliberate choice
of self and the wilful perversion of the powers of man into instruments
of unrighteousness.

3. A third postulate, which is a corollary of the Christian view of
God and of sin, is the _Responsibility of Man_. Christian Ethics
treats every man as accountable for his thoughts and actions, and
therefore, as capable of choosing the good as revealed in Christ.
While not denying the sovereignty of God, nor minimising the mystery of
evil, Christianity firmly maintains the doctrine of human freedom. An
Ethic would be impossible if, on the one side, grace were absolutely
{30} irresistible; or, on the other, sin were unalterably necessitated.
Whatever be the doctrine we formulate on these subjects, Ethics demands
that what we call freedom be safeguarded. An interesting question
emerges at this point as to the possibility, apart from a knowledge of
Christ, of choosing the good. Difficult as this question is, and
though it was answered by Augustine and many of the early Fathers in
the negative, the modern, and probably the more just view, is that we
cannot hold mankind responsible unless we allow to all men the larger
freedom and judge them according to their light and opportunity. If
non-Christians are fated to do evil, then no guilt can be imputed.
History shows that a love of goodness has sometimes existed, and that
many isolated acts of purity and kindness have been done, among people
who have known nothing of the historical Christ. The New Testament
recognises degrees of depravity in nations and individuals, and a
measure of noble aspiration and honest endeavour in ordinary human
nature. St. Paul plainly assumes some knowledge and performance on the
part of the heathen, and though he denounces their immorality in
unsparing terms, he does not affirm that pagan society was so corrupt
that it had lost all knowledge of moral good.

IV

Before concluding this chapter some rem