A DANGEROUS ERROR by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 15, 1881

A DANGEROUS ERROR.

By Editor

ALL errors are dangerous. But the one to which reference is here made is becoming popular with popular men, and it is correspondingly dangerous. It has been asserted, substantially, by H. W. Beecher, and is fairly the "stock in trade" of Spiritualists. The following is the form of expression given to it by Professor Burgess, of the "First Christian Church" of Chicago, in a recent sermon, as we find it reported in the Tribune:-

"Before Adam ate the apple there was not a moral quality in the world. It may not be very orthodox, and I may startle you to say it, but I had much rather Eve ate the apple than not. Better even sin than nothing. In sinning she possessed a moral quality. Before that she was a nothing, a nonentity, and it was a step forward to act, even though that act was one of disobedience."

It must be evident to every one that before the giving of law to Adam there could be no moral quality in his action. It is not at all supposable, however, that the giving of rules of action was long delayed after his creation. As soon as law was made known to him, that moment his actions began to be measured by the law given. And it must be evident to all that before the time of his disobedience he was only obedient. Now the question arises, Is there no moral quality in obedience? Or, Must a human being sin in order to give moral tone to his actions?

Well might the Professor forewarn his hearers that his theology was not very orthodox. It is absurd in its logic, and highly immoral in its tendency. It is exalting sin and offering a premium on iniquity. We would that eulogies on the sin of Eve might be left to the Spiritualists who have so freely indulged in them. They openly claim that God was the enemy of man, imposing upon him a restriction calculated to keep him in ignorance and imbecility. And what better than this is the doctrine of this learned Disciple Professor? If man had never sinned he would always have remained "a nothing, a nonentity." Shame on such ministers! they strengthen the hands and cheer the hearts of evil-doers, causing them to indulge the vain conceit that they must sin in order to be somebody. This philosophy is about as high-toned as that of the "street gamin," who smokes filthy cigars "to be a man."

When a man preaches such theology as this quoted from Professor B., it is a merit in him to be inconsistent with himself. Mr. Burgess gives a very gloomy representation of the present standing of the race, as follows:-

"For my own part, the greatest puzzle about the whole matter is this: What can God find in the average man worth saving? What is there in man of so much value that he should be willing to give his only begotten Son to die for him? In looking the race over, and in my experience with it, I find the great majority but little raised above the brute creation. Its history is a struggle to get something to eat. Work and strive, and sweat and toil to get a little to eat, and then eat and sleep to get strength to begin the toil again for a little more to eat, and then die. Sin, and sorrow, and shame, evil propensities and passions, and but little good in any. I tell you the outlook is very, very bad. If ever the race gets rid of sin, which is interwoven in its very constitution, it must be created anew, and Christ Jesus alone can do it. This is the only way he can get rid of the guilt of sin already acquired."

Why Mr. Burgess should deplore the present condition of the race, or consider the outlook bad, we cannot imagine, that is, from his own stand-point. If sin is necessary to the development and progress and culture of the race, the outlook is very encouraging, indeed. The race is well-developed in that direction; its progress is almost worthy of a demons, with not one so free from sin as to be classed as "a nothing, a nonentity."

But every Bible reader ought to be able to discover that sin, introduced into the world by our first parents, is the cause of this terrible and disheartening condition of the human family. The disobedience of Eve is not to be commended except by those who are enamored of evil. Sin is always wrong; always insulting and dishonoring to God, and always attended with dire consequences. "The wages of sin is death." This is always and everywhere true. This declaration of justice has had no intermission from Eve clear down to Professor Burgess. And it will stand as a truth to meet the sinner when he has to appear in the Judgment with his heart unreconciled to God, and his sin unforgiven. Happy are they who "fear God and keep his commandments." Happy had it been for Eve and for her posterity if she had never had the experience of disobedience.