ve of God towards us is authority or the right to
command. Our first obligation as well as our highest honor as creatures
is to obey. And until we understand this sort of liberty, we live in a
world of enigmas and know not the first letter of the alphabet of
creation. We are not free to sin.

Liberty rightly understood, true liberty of the children of God, is the
right of choice within the law, the right to embrace what is good and
to avoid what is evil. This policy no man can take from us; and far
from infringing upon this right, the law aids it to a fuller
development. A person reading by candlelight would not complain that
his vision was obscured if an arc light were substituted for the
candle. A traveler who takes notice of the signposts along his way
telling the direction and distance, and pointing out pitfalls and
dangers, would not consider his rights contested or his liberty
restricted by these things. And the law, as it becomes more clearly
known to us, defines exactly the sphere of our action and shows plainly
where dangers lurk and evil is to be apprehended. And we gladly avail
ourselves of this information that enables us to walk straight and
secure. The law becomes a godsend to our liberty, and obedience to it,
our salvation.

He who goes beyond the bounds of true moral liberty, breaks the law of
God and sins. He thereby refuses to God the obedience which to Him is
due. Disobedience involves contempt of authority and of him who
commands. Sin is therefore an offense against God, and that offense is
proportionate to the dignity of the person offended.

The sinner, by his act of disobedience, not only sets at naught the
will of his Maker, but by the same act, in a greater or lesser degree,
turns away from his appointed destiny; and in this he is imitated by
nothing else in creation. Every other created thing obeys. The heavens
follow their designated course. Beasts and birds and fish are intent
upon one thing, and that is to work out the divine plan. Man alone sows
disorder and confusion therein. He shows irreverence for God's presence
and contempt for His friendship; ingratitude for His goodness and
supreme indifference for the penalty that follows his sin as surely as
the shadow follows its object. So that, taken all in all, such a
creature might fitly be said to be one part criminal and two parts
fool. Folly and sin are synonymous in Holy Writ. "The fool saith in his
heart there is no God."

Sin is ess