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Letter 27] in your own heart. It would be tedious if I were to give you a scheme of Pauline theology and then shew you the naturalness of each part of the scheme. For me it would be long and wearisome; and you too would be inclined to stop me at the end of every other sentence and say "I know that St. Paul says this or that, but how is it natural?" I will therefore begin at the other end, that is to say, with Nature, and endeavour to shew you that the natural history of a child, under favourable circumstances, exhibits the general features of St. Paul's theology, the scheme of Redemption by which the Apostle believed mankind to have been led to God.

We begin then with a baby—a creature wholly selfish (in no bad sense), say, "self-regarding." He is of course "in the flesh," or "walks according to the flesh;" that is to say, he obeys every impulse of the moment, and these impulses are what we call animal impulses. He is conscious of no Law, and therefore of no error: being "without the Law" he "knows not sin." As he grows up, he finds himself making mistakes, trespassing against Nature's rules, playing with fire, for example: and Nature's punishment makes him conscious of mistake, and desirous of avoiding mistake for fear of being punished; that is to say, he learns to avoid playing with fire because he has been burned for it. This is his first introduction to "the Law;" and if he obeys Nature's Law, through fear of Nature's punishment, or hope of Nature's reward, so much the better for him. Hitherto, however, there is no question of sin, only of mistake. But now comes in the parental Law, saying "Do this," "Do not do that." Sometimes he obeys: sometimes, when "the flesh" is too strong, he disobeys. In the latter case he is punished. This new kind of Law is not a machine-like reward or punishment like that of Nature: it is connected with a Will, which is dimly felt by the child to be higher and