undone helpless, damned sinner."
—John Wesley, Sermon on "Justification1 by Faith."
Polite ears, which are often the longest, will be shocked at the title of this article. This is an age in which it is accounted vulgar to express plain doctrines3 in plain language. Spurgeon was the last doctor of a good old school. Their theology was hateful: an insult to man and a blasphemy4 against God—if such a being exists; but they did not beat about the bush, and if they thought you were booked for hell, as was most likely, they took care to let you know it. They called a spade a spade, not a common implement5 of agricultural industry. They were steeped in Bible English, and did not scruple6 to use its striking substantives8 and adjectives. When they pronounced "hell" they aspirated the "h" and gave the full weight of the two "l's." "Damn" and "damnation" shot from their mouths full and round, like a cannon9 ball sped with a full blast of gunpowder10.
But, alas11, how are the mighty12 fallen! No longer do the men of God indulge in thunderous Saxon. They latinise their sermons and diminish the effect of terrible teaching. You shall hear them designate "hell" with twenty roundabout euphemisms13, and spin "damnation" into "condemnation14" and "damned" into "condemned15," until it has not force enough to frighten a cat off a garden wall.
Let us not be blamed, however, if we emulate16 the plain speech of the honest old theologians, and of the English Bible which is still used in our public schools. We despise the hypocritical cry of "vulgar!" We are going to write, not on "condemned transgressors," but on "damned sinners." Yes, DAMNED SINNERS.
Now, beloved reader, it behoves us to define and distinguish, as well as amplify17 and expatiate18. We must therefore separate the "damned" from the "sinners." Not indeed in fact, for they are inseparable, being in truth one and the same thing; for the adjective is the substantive7, and the substantive is the adjective, and the "damned" are "sinners" and "sinners" are the "damned." The separation is merely mental, for reasons of convenience; just as we separate the inseparable, length from breadth, in our definition of a line. This is necessary to clear and coherent thought; man's mind being finite, and incapable19 of operating in all directions at once.
What then are sinners? A simple question, but not so easy to answer. All men are sinners. But what is a man? A featherless biped? So was the plucked fowl20 of Diogenes. A man is—well a man; and a sinner is—well a sinner. And this is near enough for most people. But it does not satisfy a rational investigator21, to say nothing of your born critic, who will go on splitting hairs till his head is as bare as a plate, and then borrow materials from his neighbor's cranium.
In ancient Egypt it was a sin to kill a cat; in England cats are slain22 in myriads23 without a tremor24 of compunction. Among the Jews it is a sin to eat pork, but an English humorist writes you a delicious essay on Roast Pig. Bigamy is a sin in the whole of Europe but the south-eastern corner, and there it is a virtue25, sanctioned by the laws of religion. Marrying your deceased wife's sister is a sin in England; four thousand years ago, in another part of the world, it was no sin at all; in fact, a gentleman of remarkable26 piety27, whom God is said to have loved, married his wife's sister without waiting for a funeral. Did not Jacob take Rachel and Leah together, and walk out with them, one on each arm?
Sin as a fact changes with time and place. Sin as an idea is disobedience to the law of God; that is, to the doctrines of religion; that is, to the teaching of priests. Crime is quite another thing. It is far less heinous28, and far more easily forgiven. Of course crime and sin may overlap29; they may often be the same thing practically; but this is an accident, for there are crimes that are no sins, and sins that are no crimes. It is a crime, but not a sin, to torture a heretic; it is a sin, but not a crime, to eat meat on a Friday.
A sinner is a person on bad terms with his God. But who, it may be asked, is on good terms with him? No one. According to Christianity, at any rate, we have all sinned; nay31, we are all full of original sin; we derived32 it from our parents, who derived it from Adam, who caught it from Old Nick, who picked it up God knows where. Now every sinner is a damned sinner. He may not know it, but he is so; and the great John Wesley advises him to recognise it, and come as a "damned sinner" to God, to be sprinkled or washed with the blood of Christ.
What is damned then? We take it that "damned sinners," that is all sinners, are persons to whom God says "Damn you!" 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 iniquity33, and in sin did their mothers conceive them.
Every Christian30 admits this—theoretically. He goes to church and confesses himself a "miserable34 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, apparently35, without being damned hereafter. He is liable to hell until he dies, but after that event he is sometimes reprieved36 and sent to heaven. But the vast majority of the human race have no share in the atoning37 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 eternity38, and join the immortal39 fry Of almost everybody born to die.
This is a very comfortable doctrine2 for the narrow, conceited40, 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 omniscient41.
Can they limit his happiness? He is omnipotent42. 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 just to damn him for holding a bad hand? Is it honest to give him hell for not winning the game?
Let us use for a moment the cant43 language of theology. Let us imagine the vilest44 of "damned sinners" in Gehenna. Does not every scientist, and every philosopher, know that the orb45 of his fate was predetermined? Would not that "lost soul" have the right to curse his maker46? Might he not justly exclaim "I am holier than thou"?
Do not imagine, reader, that this new reading of the book of fate has no practical significance. When we get rid of the idea of "damned sinners," when we abolish the idea of "sin" altogether and its correlative "punishment," and learn to regard man as a complicated effect in a universe of causation, we shall bring wisdom and humanity into our treatment of the "criminal classes," we shall look upon them as moral lunatics and deal with them accordingly. And this spirit will extend itself to all human relations. It will make us less impatient and angry with each other. We shall see that "to know all is to pardon all." Thus will the overthrow47 of theology be the preparation for a new moral development. Another link of the old serpent of superstition48 will be uncoiled from the life of humanity, leaving it freer to learn the splendid truth, taught by that divine man Socrates, that wisdom and virtue are one and indivisible.
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1
justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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blasphemy
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| n.亵渎，渎神 | |
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implement
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| n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行 | |
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scruple
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| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
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substantive
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| adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体 | |
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substantives
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| n.作名词用的词或词组（substantive的复数形式） | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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euphemisms
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| n.委婉语，委婉说法( euphemism的名词复数 ) | |
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condemnation
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| n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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emulate
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| v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿 | |
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amplify
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| vt.放大，增强；详述，详加解说 | |
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expatiate
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| v.细说，详述 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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investigator
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| n.研究者，调查者，审查者 | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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heinous
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| adj.可憎的，十恶不赦的 | |
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overlap
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| v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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iniquity
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| n.邪恶；不公正 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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reprieved
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| v.缓期执行（死刑）( reprieve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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atoning
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| v.补偿，赎（罪）( atone的现在分词 )；补偿，弥补，赎回 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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conceited
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| adj.自负的，骄傲自满的 | |
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omniscient
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| adj.无所不知的；博识的 | |
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omnipotent
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| adj.全能的，万能的 | |
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cant
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| n.斜穿，黑话，猛扔 | |
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vilest
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| adj.卑鄙的( vile的最高级 )；可耻的；极坏的；非常讨厌的 | |
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45
orb
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| n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形 | |
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maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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47
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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48
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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