Page:Studies in the Scriptures - Series I - The Plan of the Ages (1909).djvu/130

 flan of the Ages-,

shows (Rom. 3:14; *Tim. 2:14)* But Adam and Eve were one and not "twain;" hence Eve shared the sentence which her conduct helped to bringupon Adam. Rom. 5: 1 2, 1 7-19, God not only foresaw that, having given man freedom of choice, he would, through lack of full appreciation of sin and its results, accept it, but he also saw that, becoming ac quainted with it, he would still choose it, because that ac quaintance would so impair his moral nature that evil would gradually become more agreeable and more desirable to him than good* Still, God designed to permit evil, because, having the remedy provided for man's release from itsconse* quences, he saw that the result would be to lead him, through experience, to a full appreciation of "the exceeding sinful- ness of sin" and of the matchless brilliancy of virtue in con- trast with it thus teaching him the more to love and honor his Creator, who is the source and fountain of all goodness, and forever to shun that which brought so much woe and misery. So the final result will be greater love for God, and greater hatred of all that is opposed to his will, and con- sequently the firm establishment in everlasting righteousness of all such as shall profit by the lessons God is now teach- ing through the permission of sin and correlative evils. How- ever, a wide distinction should be observed between the in- disputable fa<ft that God has permitted sin, and the serious error of some which charges God with being the author and instigator of sin* The ktter view is both blasphemous and contradi&ory to the fafls presented in the Scriptures. Those who fall into this error generally do so in an attempt to find another plan of salvation than that which God has provided through the sacrifice of Christ as our ransom- price. If they succeed in convincing themselves and others that God is responsible for all sin and wickedness and crime,*

^n this theory, twj* by ?, mifate7prr,ttipx of *fe word tvtt fa both terti,,
 * Two texts of Scripture (Isa. 45 n 7 and Amos 3s 6) are used tosus.

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