The case of moral ignorance due to atrophy of conscience caused
by persistent sin is considered. This state is to be pronounced
sinful, but acts performed in this state are guiltless in propor-
tion to the degree of demoralisation.

Sin, it is concluded, is not outward incongruity with an objective
standard, but rather rejection of God's claim. This claim is
not a demand for compliance with the highest ideal, but with
our highest possible ideal. No more do we owe, and no more
does God expect.

WE may remind ourselves at this stage that our
purpose is to determine what elements are essential to
a logically perfect concept of actual sin such as shall
be based on the knowledge of human nature that is
available to us at the present day, and shall at the
same time satisfy the requirements of distinctively
Christian theology and ethics. This work of positive
construction has been interrupted, however, almost at
the outset, as it is destined to be interrupted again, by
a critical examination ending as much in negative as
in positive conclusions. But "all determination is
negation"; and purely positive statements alone would
assuredly be somewhat pointless at this stage in the
course of theological thought, when it seems of the
highest importance to rid ourselves of certain alien
and disturbing elements which there is still some
tendency to regard as rightly comprehended by the
concept of Sin. Negation perhaps never merely ex-
punges; it points the way towards the positive: and
the negative criticism which it has already been found

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