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“/ Am 7he Way, The Truth, ana The Life." Origin of Things as Revealed in Genesis. By DR. A. C. DIXON. IV. SIN. I stood last summer on a hilltop in the suburbs of Geneva and looked down upon the continence of the livers Rhone and Arve. The Rhone, as it comes out of the lake, is as clear as crystal. The Arve, flowing from the Alpine glaciers, is turbid. The battle begins at once between clearness and turbid ity, and you can see the line of cleavage between the two rivers, until by and by the whole river is tur bid. The first two chapters of Genesis are like the Rhone, clear as crystal; there is no trace of sin. Into the third chapter the turbid Arve of sin flows, and there begins the conflict between good and evil, until by and by the whole river becomes tur bid. This conflict continues through the entire Bi ble, until in the last chapters of Genesis we find the river 1 ‘clear as crystal,” proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Sin enters first of all through Satan’s calling in question the fact of a revelation from God. “Yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” He does not deny it; he simply questions the fact that God has ever spoken. In the second chapter we have what God said; a per mission and a prohibition: “Thou shalt,” and “Thon shalt not.” And now Satan suggests the question as to whether God has ever spoken to man. “Yea, hath God said?” “Are you certain that he spoke to you at all?” Does God give a revelation directly to man, or does He leave him to find his own standard of right and wrong with in himself? If Satan can convince the world that God has given no direct revelation, that He has left man simply to take care of himself and find his own standard of righteousness, the first step to ward permission, to sin is taken. And this first question of Satan is to-day one of the fundamental principles of religious infidelity, which questions whether God has ever spoken directly to man; whether, indeed, this story in Genesis has any his toric basis; whether it did not come out of man’s inner consciousness, so that the story must be read from the earth upward, and not from God down ward. Look for a standard in man, and not for a reve lation from God. And when you have denied that God speaks at all to man, or that God in speaking to man gives a revelation of the standard of right and wrong, you have really given men permission to do as they please. Again, after calling in question the fact of reve lation, Satan flatly denies the threat of revelation. “Thou shalt not surely die.” The God of grace is a God of love, mercy, and kindness. Accept the revelation of God, but reject His threatening. Do not believe the Bible when it speaks of retribution for sin, when it declares there is a hell. Accept the revelation of God’s goodness, mercy and kind ness, but deny His threatening. Tn other words, accept all that pleases, and reject all that dis pleases you. It is plain that Satan is the author of this method of interpretation. The third step is an intimation against the be nevolence of God. “God doth know that in the day " "gall MbCT PIQI The Golden Age for June 21, 1906* ye eat thereof your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil.” Now that Satan has called in question the fact of revelation, and has induced Eve to reject the threat of revelation, he goes a step further and in timates against the benevolence of God, by saying, in effect, “He does not have in view your good. He knows that you will be as gods, knowing good and evil, and He wans to keep you in ignorance.” If Satan succeeds in inducing you to call in question the fact of revelation, and then to deny the threat of revelation, it will be easy to convince you that God is not loving and kind, for the authority which reveals His severity also reveals His goodness, and to doubt one is to doubt the other. Sin works out, first, through man’s physical na ture; second, through his esthetic nature, and third, through his intellectual nature. Eve saw that “the tree was good to eat,” and whatever is good to eat it must be right to eat. Whatever satisfies the taste must be permissible. Whatever I enjoy, of course, is right. Scores of people defend their course of action on the ground that it pleases them. They like it; it panders to their sensual tastes and phy sical appetites, and hence they indulge. More subtle still is the second temptation. “She saw that the tree was pleasant to look upon.” Not only was the fruit luscious, but the tree and the fruit were beautiful. It is through the beautiful in music, painting, form, and movement that Satan appeals to the esthetic nature and often pollutes the soul. Just as subtle was the third temptation through the intellect: “A tree to be desired to make one wise,” and, of course, there can be no harm in knowing more. Young men come to the great city, and they decide that they must know. They are ignorant. They have been raised on the farm. They know the right and true and pure, but they do not know the world. They justify themselves in going to the theatre and “doing the town,” that they may learn what they do not know. It is this desire for the knowledge of evil which has damned more young people, doubtless, than any other one thing. In Heaven they know only good, and in hell only the bad. Halfway between Heaven and hell we have on earth the knowledge of good and evil. What Satan desires, that he may make this earth a hell, is that we learn the evil; and what God desires, that He may make this earth a heaven, is that we know only the good. The first result of sin is shame, and sin always brings shame. Linked with shame is a fear which amounts to terror. “I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid.” If you are in harmony with God, His voice gives peace. If you are living in sin, the voice of God fills you with fear. This may be the reason you do not like to read the Bible. It is God’s voice speaking to you and filling you with fear, because you are living in sin. With shame and fear is developed selfishness. Eve at once shifts the blame for her sin to Satan. “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” Adam blames Eve. When you find people blaming others for their sins, you may know that hey are under Satan’s dominion. When a man is willing to con fess his own sin, it is evident that God is at work in his soul. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin; Satan convicts of other people’s sins. With shame, fear and selfishness comes wilful separation from God. “Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden.” They seek to separate themselves from God. This is death. And the foretaste of hell is expressed in the words “These shall go away into everlasting punishment.” The smoke of torment begins to ascend even from among the trees of the garden. Conscience and im agination are on fire with shame and fear and sel fishness. But there is salvation. The serpent’s doom is that he shall crawl in the dust, and the seed of the woman shall bruise his head. The eye of faith can see an Eden without a serpent, in which men, reconciled to God and redeemed from sin, fear and selfishness, shall be forever with the Lord. Opening of Second Canadian Campaign. By GEORGE T. B. DAVIS. The closing revival campaign of Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander before their summer period of rest opened most successfully in Ottawa yesterday. Scores of people stood up to accept Christ at the first evangelistic meeting last night, while in the afternoon the hearts of hundreds were stirred by Dr. Torrey’s address on soul winning as the business of every Christian. The opening meetings were attended by unusually large crowds considering the size of the city. About 3,000 were present at the afternoon meeting, while at night the big structure was crowded with an au dience of nearly or quite 6,000, with many unable to obtain admission. The building in which the meet ings were held is called Dey’s Rink, and is ordina rily used as a skating rink or for hockey matches. It is considerably larger than the rink in Atlanta, and in both exterior and interior appearances it closely resembles the armory used by the evangel ists for their meetings in Plymouth, England. Among those present at the afternoon meeting were several from Government House, including Lady Sybil Grey, daughter of Earl Grey, Governor General of Canada. Tn his first address to the people of Ottawa, Dr. Torrey told them that he had found, after wide ex perience, that soul-winning was the only thing worth living for. He said: “I have traveled the world over. I have been right around it. I have been from Labrador on the north to the sonthermost town south of the equator; I have been in every latitude that is inhabited by man, and I have been in every longitude there is. And after all this search I have only found one thing in the world that is worth living for—that is soul winning. Thank God that is worth living for. I wish I could live two hundred years to win souls. I don’t know that I would care to live two years for anything else.” Large preparations have been made for many weeks past for the meetings. The choir numbers 700, while there are nearly 200 personal workers. As was the ease in Toronto, there has been much fervent prayer. One prominent physician and his wife spent the entire night in prayer that God would re move certain difficulties which threatened to mar the success of the meetings. “The Entrance of Thy\ Words Giveth Light." 3