The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-01-29

burden :" Looking for an answer Il
these questions he thought he had iount
In The superstition that the Deity, an
gEy with the serpent and with mankind
had brought these woes upon them Il
punish them for their aims, and that thI
ain especially which had drawn all these
EVILS UPON MANKIND
was the search alter knowledge. TIL,
state Of nature, he thought, was lar mort
simple and happy than was the condition
Of man, for In the earliest day., the In
liant danced naked on It's moiher's lal
without sense Of shame, and Of the grown
up people some lived with no CLOTHING
upon them, while others were content
with buta scsnty covering. True, thiI
Condition Of innocence was, n some re
spects, In the Judgment Of this writer
lower than was that In which man after.
wards existed when possessed Of mora
knowledge and cultivation, but yet 1t was
really happier; and, therefore, God surely
had not intended that man should grow
out Of II. Why, then, had he not been
content with his humble position and
joys Whyha heiot left the knowl.
edge Of good and evil unto God, % whom
alone iG belonged ? Alas for man that
he has striven after things which are too
high for him, and, having actually reach.
ed that higher position, the price he has
had 70 pay for his elevation has been the
los3 Of his own peace, Increase Of dig.
nifty brought along With Il an inhefitance
OF pain, for much sorrow Is ever the &C.
compartment Of wisdom, and the para.
disc OF the childlike state Is lost and gone
forever. -3,5...-~.-''. a
Mr.. Powers then pointedo the moral
and Intellectual deleclS Ii the story at
length, and said that 1t was evident its
author supposed that TO be righteous and
to walk humbly with his God, asking no
questions and making no progress In ex-
cellence, was the whole duty Of man.
II we do not long togo onward, II we
do not strain all our faculties in the strug.
gle for knowledge and blessedness, II we
allow instead needless ignorance and
misery TO exist In ourselves and In Others,
then this inward content Is the fruit not
q humility but Of idleness, and II brings
IN its train not blessedness, @D 9
BUT MORAL DEATH,
for the true psalm Of submission Is no in.
tellectual or spiritual lullaby 10 the aspira.
lions Of men. E5s32 4I'NgFtf
Man falls from his childish state Of I'm.
conscious innocence-falls from the sim
plicity Of his primal nature-into self
OF sin. We are Adam and
Eve, each one Of US, and herei Eden 10.
day In every house into which q child Is |
born; and the old trial, with like result,
repeats itself in the case Of every one that
comes into the world. Every man Is an
Adam, made In the likeness Of God, sim
ming against that likeness and suffering
loss and pain. Into every Guilds para
disc the serpent comesEsome insidious
Of moral mischief.
We need TO complement this story in
The beginning OF the Old Testament, and
according to which the natural man en-.
counters temp tation and yields 10 1t, with
The story at the beginning Of the New
Testament, according to which the spir-
Itual man encounters like temptation
and oyercomes it. The last trial Is com.
pensatlon for the first. The spiritual man
8 not less human than the natural, but
more 80 Christ is a truer representative |
u man than was Adam; and if in the |
likeness oil Adam all men fall and die, 50
n the likeness Of Jesus Christ shall all |
men rise again and live.
MIR. Powers, before Diminishing his |
heme, had good deal 10 say OF practi.
'al character upon one or two OF its |
aspects, First was the TACT that there is |
certain moral aud Spiritual as well as |
Intellectual and physical unity Of the hu.
nan race. There Is no doubt that sin be. |
IAN with the historic Adam-with the |
irst two or more Of the human race that
.ame up out Of state Of infancy and in.
llvidualism into conscious and RESPONSE
DE social lie, and so far the story Of the |
all Is true; but It lis also true what there
s Tor us no misfortune really in the fact,
,r occasion for sorrow and discourage.
nent., On. the contrary, tho life OF Adam
md Eve out Of Eden was better than their
lie within It. And the strength which
hey acquire and the progress they made
n all good things after. they were driven
rom the Garden. through their valiant |
md hopeful conflict with evil, are richer
nhetitancelto us than all the Joys of their
home. 50