Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1875-05-10

for his disobedienee not the threatened
penalty of death. but pain and labor,
and as being expelled from Paradise lest
be should eat Of the tree Of life and
seize Immortality.
The third chapter of Genesis, even
when taken literally and accepted as
direct revelation from God, does not
teach the ideas which are based upon it
/ BY the sacri6cial Theology. 1t neither
declares nor insinuates that the great
Prince of Evil was incarnate in the gift
ed snake. that Adam stood on trial for
all his race, or that it incurred eternal
ruin through his disobedienee. Ii rep
resents the fall as gain rather than
: loss. Is gain in knowledge, in moral
discrimination and consequently in pow
er and spiritual life. Ignorance and
idIeness alone were lost. There is absO-
lutely 10 basis here on which to rest the
common theological doguas with all
their tremendous consequences The cor
ner-stone Of the sacri6eial system disap-
pears and it remains like the famous
turtle of the Indian mythology standing
on nothing. and with what q world Of
doctrine and inference resting on its
back
Even accepting the story in Genesis
a. 4 strictly literal narrative. just in-
terpretation Of it affords not the slight
est grounds for the common theory of
Adams fall. But We cannot accept this
story as . record Of fact. Our knowl-
edge Of the world and Of human exis-
tenee thereon will not permit Us to cred
it Its fabulous statements But If it is
not inspired history. what IS it? 1t is
fragment Of tradition. or bit Of an
eient spe culatiOn- Possibly It was in
tended as a poetic guess at the expert
enee Of the first man; but more proba-
bly, 1t was written as . parable. embod-
ying the authors idea Of the way in
which evil. labor, and pain came into
the world The story IS possibly Of Per-
sian origin. as traces Of it are found in
the Zorastrian literature, and hardly
formed part Of the Hebrew scriptures
until their latest period, for it IS never
in any way referred to by any Old les
lament writer, nor do Its ideas enter in
to early Jewish theology, or the teach
ing Of the prophets The first referen-
ees to It appear in the Apoerypha, and
it Is familiar to the writers Of the New
T>sE2nsnt- Hence 1t most probably
was unknown in the earlier days.
suppose this parable to be bit OF
early Oriental. possibly Magian. specu-
latlon- The writer looking out into the
world. diseerns there labor, pain and
sorrow. He sees that through gateways
Of pain man enters and departs from life
while here be must eat his bread in the
. sweat Of his brow. All this, which Is
. Gods discipline for souls His high
road to eternal life. the writer misunder.
stands and misinterprets- In his eyes
It IS all evil and only evil He asks how
it comes to pass Not willing to charge
evil upon God he seeks its. source II
. man The trouble results from man:
. free choice. from his ability to do both
. right and wrong, from his knowledge Oi
; good and evil But how comes man BY
. this fatal capacity Did God give 1t u
him. ? Then Is not God responsible fol
i all the consequences To avoid thii
! implicating Deity he declares that mai
: was originally non-noral that his high
: est and most Distinguishing quality wa
. not his Creators gift, but was stolen b.
! him IN defiance Of that Creators express
command All the woe Of the world i
the penalty Of that theft
7 Apart from myth and parable Their
: remains this fundamental question Dis
Adam faIl2 By what process and a
. whatever period dld mankind ever ex
. change state Of primal innocence ana
bliss for one Of degradation and woe
Outside the assertions Of theology ther'
Is no proof that such has been the histo
) ~ Of the race Neither research int
/ antiquity nor the revelations Of scienc'
! point to such a catastrophe There ar,
j no traces Of Eden, 10 evidence either Il
: nature or human nature Of an earth
: shaking. man-ruining fall. 10 evidene
? Of mans wandering farther and faFthe
: from God sinking deeper and deeper IN
! % ruin On the contEzrT, eyerythin:
: points the ether war. shows him imPr0y
ing his physieal cundition- charging bl
Intellectual conceptions, gaining IN mo
, ralIty. virtue and religion There ar
! occasional back-sets, occzsionzlIy dzrI
: ages, a. there are occasional eddies IN
{ rIVer, o. .-eoId waves" IN the coming d
sPEng- bot the great current sweeps II
rssissIbly forward zad the sunshine an<
: sumner steadily draw near There Ia
E been 10 disastrous eclipse Of human Il
/. sure. bat Its star has been slowly risinc
: oGt of darkness and through 1zists dur
: I1g al The long eentaries-
: B1r here arg sin and pain aud sorrow
~Ez-- -. - :. i LII N -.