verse itself, as a product of the self-development of the infinite and absolute Being, involving a separation or difference from the pure and simple one in which was no distinction, is evil. It comes into existence by a fall or apostasy. Thus, as Professor Miiller in his work on " Sin," says, Instead of Pantheism we have a system which nearly approaches Pansatanism. Apart however from this dreadful extreme of the doctrine, in any form it destroys the very nature of sin. What is so called is the universal law of all finite existence. There cannot be action without reaction. There can- not be life without diversity and antagonism of operations. And if good cannot exist without evil, evil ceases to be something to be abhorred and condemned. Men cease to be responsible for what is inseparable from their very nature as creatures, and therefore there is nothing which the conscience can condemn or wliich God can punish. Our whole moral nature, on this theory, is a delu- sion, and all the denunciations of Scripture against sin are the rav- ings of fanaticism.
Schleiermacher' s Theory of Sin.
Schleiermacher's doctrine of sin is so related to his whole philo- sophical and theological system that one cannot be understood without some knowledge of the other. His philosophy is pantheistic. His theology is simply the interpretation of human consciousness in accordance with the fundamental principles of his philosophy. It is called Christian theology because it is the interpretation of the religious consciousness of Christians ; i. e., of those who know and believe the facts recorded concerning Christ. The leading princi- ples of his system are the following : —
1. God is the absolute Infinity (die einfache und absolute Unendlichkeit), not a person, but simple being with the single attribute of omnipotence. Other attributes which we ascribe to the Infinite Being express not what is in Him (or rather in It), but the effects produced in us. Wisdom, goodness, holiness in God, mean simply the causality in Him which produces those attributes in us.
2. Absolute power means all power. God, or the absolutely powerful being, is the only cause. Everything that is and every- thing that occurs are due to his efficiency.
3. This infinite power produces the world. Whatever the relation between the two, whether it is the substance of which the world is the phenomenon, or whether the world is the substance of svhich God is the life, the world in some sense is. There is a finite as well as an infinite.