Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-01-22
&eadiug fur the Sabbath.
CONDUCTED By
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
fOrlgInal.l

CONDUCTED By
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
lorlgInal.l
ADAM'S EXPULSION.
The fall of man and it's consequences, force
themselves upon the attention of all men who
are not degraded beneath the brutes that per-
ish. Even those who scott at religion and
practically live as if there is no God, cannot
so command their thoughts as to keep them
from dwelling, with painful intensity, upon
those two facts. No man can reason himself
into the belief that Adams race is not ruined.
The evidences of the fact stare him in the face
continually, and he feels the dreadful effects
of Adams fall in every member of his body;
and his soul also struggles beneath the con-
sciousness Of guilt.
The question has been asked, "Why was
Adam driven from the Garden Of Paradise :"
This is an important question, and one that
every individual should distinctly understand.
Like many other questions which maybe asked,
it admits of no answer but that contained in
of man, nor Of his fall, contained in any book
except the Bible. 1t is true, that countless
multitude of scientific men, falsely so called,
have given the world vague speculations on
this subject; but they are absolutely worthless.
They are nothing but wild conclusions de-
duced from suppositions. The theory that man
is the result of evolution is very old but
never has satisfied any one-not even those
who advocated it. No man who possesses a
Of c&rolr do ho r1IQ
with theory which makes him the descendant
of monkey, and this monkey the descendant
of something more ignoble The misfortune
of the evolution theory is, that it is contra
dicted by everything that has ever been seen
or heard There are no examples Of monkeys
turning to men. The facts in the case are,
that men are just the same to-day that they
were more than five thousand years ago.
If we reject the Bible account of the crea-
tion and fall of man, we are at liberty to de-
wise any theory we may see fit, and the theory
of the most ignorant will be just as worthy of
credence as that of the most learned. In other
words, all unscriptural theories are just as alb
surd as they can be.
That we may be enabled to give all answer
to the question, "Why was Adam driven from
Paradise % it is necessary that we examine
the facts in the case With regard to the crea-
ton of man, the Bible-our only authority
informs us that after everything else was crea-
ted, God made man. His body was formed
out of the dust of the ground. In other words,
the material selected out of which to form the
body of man, was the dust of the ground.
Into the nostrils of this creature the Lord
breathed, and man became living being. We
are not to suppose that an interval of time
elapsed between the forming of Adams body
and the breathing into him the breath Of life.
The whole was single act. Adam was made
perfect His body was fully developed and his
mind mature He was made man; not a
babe, nor boy. He had no infancy and no
boyhood {; but came from the hands Of the Al
mighty maker, mature in every respect, both
in soul and body.
1t should be borne in mind that of all the
inhabitants of this globe, man was the only
creature that was so endowed as to be respon-
sible. Adam was made person; not thing.
Of no other terrestrial creature can it be said
that it is person. It would be an unwarrant-
able use of language to call a horse, or mon
key, or any other earthly creature, except man,
person.. Adam was capable of doing right
and he was capable of doing wrong. He had
the power to obey law, and he had the power to
disobey law. This can be said of no other
earthly creature. They are driven on by
something which, for the want of better
word, we call instinct. Other creatures may
intict injuries but they cannot steal. They
may take life but they cannot commit muir
der. In few words, no other terrestrial crea-
ture can either obey or disobey any one Of the
ten commandments God made Adam capable
of both obeying and disobeying the moral law,
which is summarily comprehended in the ten
commandments.
Thus endowed, God placed Adam in the
Garden of Eden. He was given dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of
the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth" He was Lord of
the earth, with permission to appropriate eve
rything in Eden sto his own use, except the
fruit of the tree of the knowledge Of good and
evil. God positively and plainly commanded
him not to eat of this tree. In the Garden of
Eden, there was also another tree called the
tree of life. Of the fruit of this tree Adam
was permitted to eat. The tree of the knowl-
edge of good and evil was SO called because
Adam, by eating of it's fruit, would have
knowledge of both good and evil So long as
he abstained from eating of this tree, he would
have knowledge of good, but no knowledge
of evil. The tree of life was so called, be-
cause, by eating of it's fruit, the moral condi-
tion or state of the eater would be perpetuated
forever, or rendered Interchangeable.
1t is evident that the sin of eating the fruit
of the tree Of the knowledge of good and evil,
was not in the nature of the fruit; but in the
command of God. 1t was wrong, because God
forbid it. We are not warranted in concluding
that there was anything in the fruit itself that
was hurtful, either to the body or soul of man.
God simply forbade Adam to eat Of it. That
made it wrong. The foundation of right and
wrong is the command of God. What he COM
mands to be done is right, and what he COM
mandS not to be done is wrong.
We are now ready to give plain and posi-
tive answer to the question "Why was Adam
driven from the Garden Of Eden ?" 1t was
because he disobeyed the command of God.
The particular form in which his disobedience
manifested itself, was in eating the forbidden
fruit In no other way could he have disobey-
ed. Not because there was no other act which
would have been violation of the law Of God;
but because God left him to the freedom Of his
will on1v with reference to the eating or not