Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1873-04-26
SE IA Hn ON
Preached By Rev. ID. L. Hlckok Jr the |
Presbyterian Church, Kiagsv lie, Ohio, !
Jan. 40, 1873.

Presbyterian Church, KIagsv lie, Ohio, !
Jan. 20, 1873.
Blood Of Add
The voice of thy brothers blood crletb unto me .
from the grOund-Gen. Iy:lU.
The evil fruits Of Adams disobedience
matured very rapidly. His iirst-born is
guilty of murder. SO quickly does sin
hasten to its depths. The course of sin
dcsceIHls not by gentle grades, but it
leaps and plungcs like the mountain tor
rents. 1t seemed hut IL small matter for
Adam to cat of that fruit. Ii was lust
a taste. In doing this, he did no one
any harm. lie simply tasted of some
fruit handed him by his wife it express
ed no malice, no cruelty, no revenge. 1t
was indeed dis,'bc'liclicc it was directly
contrary tn the express will OF God.
1t was clearli li-lmnnislakably, sin yet,
it was sin in itS slightest form possible
it was sin-sharpy defined sin. There
was no hazincss about it. The line of
separation between obedience and diso-
bediencc was clean cut, yet the evil of it
seemed like "r;Iin uf mustard seed.
There was evil in it, yet il was only the
germ "f 1.-THE incipicncy of il. Ii was
like the beginning "f IL mountain stream
away up III the Alpine heights. Ii starts
as Il few drops of water which the sun
forces from the ice. but nlt how rap
idly it gathered to itself power and vol
ume III it's downward course. The ,lisn-
bediencc "f .A,l;m in the nattrr of the
forbidden fruit, develops in his iirst-boin
as murder. Cain, in the spirit of envy,
kills his brother. So rapidly does evil
grow and multiply When once il gains a
foot-h"ll in the human heart.
We are net worse at once the course
of evil begins :" slowly and from such
SLIGHT source IN, infants hand c.ull stem
its breach with clay hut let the stream
grow deeper and Philosophy, aye, Re
, ligiom, too, shall strive in vain t. stem
the hcad-l"n. torrent.
-Ad;i, was Il pure and holy being. In
the beginning, he was not pra'c to evil,
as the sparks 10 fly upward. When the
temptation came, il w:is simply t" cat, or
not to cat. There WAS no uncuntrolla-
i bic appetite already within for that kind
of fruit. There w;,s M previous bent or
inclination to dis,l,c,iciice. Ii would
seem that away back in the beginning of
| evil, the mattcr WIS small, the qucs-
tion whether Ia eat or not to cat was sn
easily determined, that In infants power
might have t,unel the scalc--that an III
faIlt's hand might have shut the door
against the approaching evil-that it
might have damned up the little stream
! with clay, that Satan was trying to di-
rect down upon the human soul. But
the lcavcu OF ,lisohclicncc was actually
introduced into the heart of man and
how quickly WAS the whole leavencd.
How soon the heart became full of envy,
murder, and strife how quickly was the
whole head sick-thc whole heart faint
and covered with wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. How quickly tn,
"thrat hccanic an open scpulcher," viii
the "poisml of asl's under the lips :
how quickly the mouth became full o
cursing and bitterness and the ''fcc
swift TO she'd hloWl.n That after n few
generations, thc evil of sin should hav,
become so far developed as to culminat,
in murder, would not seem So strange
but that the .f,,@ chill born i,to til,
world should lie II murlcrer-tl, t h,
should lift his fratricidal haml agains
his innocent, unofrcnding brother, that Ii
should strike him down to the earth frOn
: pure envy, seems almost unaccountaLlt
What an evidence have we here of til
fearful power ofsil to corrupt and destroy
The broad way to sin is not an cas-
: gradient, but an almost pen.en,licula
descent. 1t plmges from depth t
: depth. Ii is perpendicular dcscendin
! from the lowest, to still lower dceps-
bottomless pit. There is no end to il
o iquity in its downward progress its aw
n full rush is never stayed for IN instant
a Its first step is eating forbidden fruit, it
"a next step is Draining brother in col
blood. If evil moves with such giganti
strides as this, where will it he in ctcrn
& ty? What must BE- the guilt and wickcc
a ness, of Satan, who has been pluneiI
Il from deep to deep for thousands {
h. years and who is still sinking into "
more awful depths-for hell has no bo
t. tom Where is Cain to-day III this plunl
ing, maddcning race after the Serpen
&c 5000 years ago lie would decay Ii
brotheriilto the field and then sE,y hil
in cold blood, in the very sight of Edel
ID with the traditions of Paradise fresh
4. his soul-with the fcarfilrstory of u
al first sin blazing as red light across h
path? Ii he so quickly reached SUI
=, depths, where is he to-day, and VIII
deed of wickedness would he do no'
after so many years of increasing guilt
Is he not ready for crime as much blac
q er than that of midnight assassin, |
"a thousand fold, as that of the midnig
lis assassin, is blacker than that of lit
-, child, who eats green apples contrary
: the command of its parents? Oh! Il
s' depths.o of sin that awaits him who will N
bring unacceptable sacrifice to God. ID
obedience to God leads the soul to env