Esoteric V10: July 1896 - Iapsop.com

18H7.] 29!1
conseience which condemns cet·tain actions; and under this law
such actions pass through the stages, firat of disapproval of tht'
finer souls, then of condemnation by the ordinary conscience,
arul, at la...e, nuder the law of evulntion, is advancing
slowly towards righteousness, and condemns first as sin and
then as 1 Mnflict of freeclom
and conscienne is pt·tmisely wha.t i>1 rel~ted as " The Fall "
snh speoie histm·ire. It tell>~ of the fa.ll of a creature from un·
t!onsciuus innocence to oonsciuns guilt, expressing itself in hicliug
ft·um the presence of Gml. Bnt thiM fall ft·om innucence
was in another sAnse a. ri>~e to a. higher gra.cle of being. It is in
t.his sense that the thent·y of evolntion te.whes u!l to interpret
the Rtot·y of the Fall. It gives a deeper· meaning to the tt·uth
that sin is lawlesRness.
REDJo:lfPTION ANO THE ,\TONEMENT.
\Vher~>, however, with this th~ot·y of sin, are the cloctrine!l of
.Redemption ami of the Atonement; of the Incamation, and of
the Trinity,-the characteristically Uht·illtiao d11otrineR'? At·~
we lu~rA on Kolicl grcutn•l '! ot• does the expre~sion of these doctt•itws
ne~>tl Rimilar transformation before they can be barmoniz.
~·I with the tht~m·y of evolution'? In bl'ief, ancl aa far as at
prHMent I nnclet•>~tancl the matter, evt~n if the theory of evo.
lution a111l of continuity wcwe the tina.! wot·d of sdence,-and
Mcientific re!!nlt!! at•tJ met·ely prnvisional,-1 do nut think that it
make!! these cloctt•ines, except in their crnde11t 11tatement, otbet··
wiae than more uatUt·al than before, and even inevitable. To
the evolntionist with the preconception of theism- to my mincl
the only rea11onahle preconception-the worl,i is instinct, alive
with God. To sndt an evolutionist the world is destined to unfold
perfect rea.~on and perfect righteousness, of which we
have at pt·eRent only the fm·eta.