"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," whether divinely
inspired or not, is as eternally true, certain, and unescapable in the
moral world as are the stars in their courses. Man sins against
society in transgressing those natural laws of social relations that
bind society together. But even in this, while society suffers from
his sins, the sinner himself must ultimately suffer for his own sins
above all others.

The question has often been asked me, "If a man cannot sin against God,
but only against himself and society, by what standard, gauge, or
measure am I to determine what is right or wrong?" I think the Golden
Rule answers that question completely. All sins are either personal or
social or both. A man may, by some sort of self-indulgence or abuse or
by his own secret thoughts sin against himself _only_, from which he
alone must suffer. He may also sin against society by doing some evil
to or against some one else or against society as a whole, from which
both he and others may suffer. A simple rule of conduct may be this:
In view of any proposed course of conduct, word or act, these questions
may be asked: "What may be the result? Will it in any way injure me,
or any one else? Is any possible evil consequence, either to myself or
any one else, likely to come of it?" If the answer is in the
affirmative, it is wrong; otherwise not. These are my simple views of
sin.

_SALVATION_

What is salvation? Almost the universal answer of Christendom has been
for eighteen centuries, escape from hell hereafter and the assurance of
heaven. Yet, according to the record we have of him, Jesus never
taught any such doctrine. It is true that he refers several times to
the Gehena of the Jews, "where their worm dieth not and the fire is not
quenched," but always as a natural consequence of some failure to do,
or perform certain things that they should do; but never does he appeal
to any one to do or perform anything _for the purpose of escaping it_.

Did the reader ever notice that in all the record we have of the
sayings of Jesus, he is nowhere quoted as having ever said one word
about the great, fundamental doctrines of Christianity, over which
pagans and Christians wrangled for four centuries; and over which
Christians have wrangled and fought with each other for fourteen
centuries? Do we find where Jesus ever said one word about the Garden
of Eden, the fall of Adam, original sin, total depravity