The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1882-09-09
A Lay Sermon.
Gen. Il, =, IS, l6, Il,

| slxnt anu EOpu tuS lItt VI A'N "SO
in the midst OF the garden, and the tree OF
knowledge Of good and evil.
And the Lord God took the man, and put
Inn, into the garden OF Eden TO dress Hand
10 keep IL.
And the I.srd God commanded tho msa,
ssying, or every tree of the garden thou
msyest freely eat:
Blu. OF the tree OF the knowledge OF good
and evil thou shalt not eat OF 1t; for in the
day that thou catcst thereof thou shalt sure
ly die.
Dearly BeloUed Brethren! As the Lord
never does anything without an object, no
must have had an object IN planting the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil in
the garden OF Eden and IN commanding
Agam not to eat of 1t. What was that OBJ
jecty Let us inquire, Notwithstanding
the command we find that Adam did eat
of 1t and thereby los, eternal terrestrial life,
and became mortal like unto the beasts,
the birds and the fishes. We must not
conclude however, that the result was
Gods object in planting the tree and en-
Joining upon Adam not to eat thereof, Tor
he never thought Of such thing. On the
contrary, be earnestly desired that Adam
should not eat of it, and was heartily sorry
when he discovered that his command had
been disregarded. Yes, beloved brethren,
he wss not only sorry, but highly dis
pleased about it, for he censured Adam Tor
yielding to the entreaues of the woman,
and the woman for permitting the serpent
to tempt her, and the serpent tor mislead-
ing the woman. HIS dlspleasare was so
great that he imposed Il special punish
ment on the woman and on the serpent.
! Ne, my beloved brethren, God did net
plant the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil in the garden of Eden for any
such object. True, Adam might have
lived until this day without having tasted
OF II had not the Lord excited his curiosity
as to the quality OF its fruit; besides, If he
/ had eaten OF it without the knowledge OF
doing evil, he woald have been an lnno-
cent party, and God, who is just in all
things, could not consistently hold HIM
responsible. SO it became necessary for
| God to point out the tree to Adam, and no.
t,fy HIM of its character and the cOnse-
quence there must follow his yielding to
the temptation of eating thereof. God
made Adam in his own image and like
ness, and lett HIM perfectly free TO do rs
he pleased He told HIM so, only remind
ing him mildly at the same time of his
obligations to his God for having created
the earth and all things therein out of
nothing and having made him adam
lord over all. In return for all of which
hc only asked that Adam should not eat Of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
1t was only reasonable for God to ask OF
Adam some evidence OF his appreciation
Of the favors conferred upon him. So God
created the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil and placed 1t in the garden Of
Eden, the simple object being to test
Adams appreciation of the favors con
farred upon him. True, if he desired, God
could have looked into the future for mil
liens OF years and seen everything that
would occur; but IN this instance he did
net look ahead at all, because he desired
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Adam would use his liberty, his free
agency, to crafty his own desires or to
please his God.
Beloved brethren, Gods ministers should
in all things, and under all circumstances,
follow his example. In the case of Adam
. | hot - al, ia
temptation, but on the contrary. he Gre
ated one and pointed 1t out to Adam, that
he might know 1t and avoid II tor Gods
glory and his own good The true minister
Of God will not, therefore, advocate re
course to civil law TO remove from man
temptations to evil, but will point out the
evils and supplicate God, his master, to
bless his people and fortfy them with
christian strength to avoid them and keep
in the path of virtue, thus recognizing the
power, the goodness and justice of God,
and gratifying his desire as clearly exem-
plified IN the case of Adam, that man 5
gratitudCe aud love for his creator should
I uC tSstIu W WV Ni"NNA Va t'hiPbosiNh.
From the foregoing remarks you can ap-
preclate the inconsistency of ministers
who would appeal to civil authority to re-
move from man all temptation to evil.
Such ministers are unable to comprehend
that by removing temptation they would
leave man without hope of future reward
or fear of future punishment and them
selves without employment. For If there
was no evil there would be no need for
ministers. Such policy is excusable only
in men whose minds are IN their nature so
aerial that they are incapable OF descend
ing to the plane of common sense. The
true christian minister will not NEEDLE
with the business of Caesar; he will loave
the making and enforcement of the civil
laws to the proper authorities and attend
strictly to exhorting and preaching the
Word of God.
For politics the pulpit is no place:
For mixing up the holy with the base
| Is tolerable III no case.
| -
The Kansas City times shouts exultDg
| w. "jhcre lsn,t ANYTHING that can beat the