Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-12-14
.eaaiua fpr the Sabbath.
coNDUcTEp By
REV. ROBERT LATH AN.
l0rlginn.
THE FALL.


cur9" Suppose some one informs US that all
individual has met with some sad misfortune,
we instinctively inquire how and when it hap
pened. 1t is evident that great calamity has
befallen the whole of the human family. Not
only 50, but everything with which man, in
any way, stands connected, has suffered a very
great change. Either this is the case, or man
together with everything in any way connect
ed with the world in which he lives, always
was exceedingly imperfect or defective. This
world is full of misery. The whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain. Every sen.
tient being is the subject of innumerable ills.
The beasts of the field, the fowls of the air,
and the fish of the sea, suffer pain, and finally
die More than this, the inanimate and sense
less earth upon which we tread and out Of
which grows our bread, is not exempt from
woe. 1t is parched with burning suns, or
washed into glllies by torrents of rain. There
is something wrong. \ terrible calamity has
befallen everything within the range Of our OBJ
servation. Things are contrary to each other.
This is not a world of peace Now the qses-
tion suggests itself, "ITow was this brought
about ?"
To this important inquiry unassisted reason
can give no satisfactory answer. The FACT
st;.res us in the face at all times, and under
all circumstances, but what produced it, or
brought it about, reason cannot decipher. To
the Scriptures, and the Scriptures alone, we
are indebted for any knowledge we may possess
of the sad state Of things which exists in our
world. If that account is not credible, none
other IS. If the Bible account of the fall of
man is not the correct account, then we nave
no account of it. Everything about tt. in
volved in inscrutable mystery. 1t is 4 prob
lem which the finite mind cannot understand,
| much less satisfactorily explain. According
to the Scriptures, all the ruin in which the hui
man family are involved, was brought about
| Ivy the sin of Adam. The language of the
Scriptures is, ''sn entered into the world by
one man, and death by SIM" The sin of
| Adam consisted in eating the fruit Of a tree
which is called in the Scriptures THE tree of
the knowledge Of good and evil" 1t is proba-
BILE that the tree was so called because Of the
results which would follow the obedience of
Adam, with reference to it. If he was obedi-
ent in faithfully refraining from eating Of its
fruit, it would have been to him the tree Of the
knowledge of good in higher and fuller sense
than he naturally possessed of good but if he
tisobeyed, it would, as the event fully proved,
be tree of the knowledge of evil from actual
| experience.
! No matter why the tree was called the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam
Sinned by eating the fruit which it bore. 1t
was thus that he dsobeyed the command of
God. In other words, Adam, by eating the
forbidden fruit broke the law of God
The inquiry may properly be raised: "What
law of God was It that Adam violated by eat
ing the fruit of the tree of the knowledge OF
good and evil Was it the moral law or Il
positive command? If it was the moral law,
then the sin of Adam was in it's nature simi-
lar to violating any one of the Ten Command
ments. Or to express it differently, if it was
the moral law which Adam violated, then
the sin which he committed was forbidden by
! the holiness of God. Such being the case,
Adam would have known without any ad-
ditiOnal command that it was a sin to eat Of
the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good
his heart when he was created. This law,
defaced by the fall, was again given to man
and is summarily comprehended in the ten
commandments. When first given, it was
written on man s heart when repeated, it was
written on tables of stone. Its requirements
and prohibitions spring spontaneously from
| the holiness of God. Such was not the case
with regard to eating the fruit of the know
ledge of good and evil. 1t was a sin because
it was violation of positive command Of
| God. This command did not spring spon-
taneously from the holiness of God, but from
his sovereign will. Had the eating of the fruit
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
been violation of the moral law, Adam
would have known intuitively that it was a
sin. This he did not know only from the
command of God. Adam under the moral
law. was simply servant placed under the
positive law which forbid him to eat of the
! tree of knowledge of good and evil. 1t was
designed by God to raise him to the position
of son. The history of the preliminary
events which led to the fall is very brief, but
still very minute. The command not to eat
of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge OF
good and evil seems to have been given prior
to the actual creation of Eve. In fact, Eve
was created in Adam, and before she had an
individual personal existence, we are told, that
"God created man in his own image. in the
image of God created he him; male and fe-
male created he them" Unless we conclude
that the inspired writer made grammatical
blunder there is no other way to explain the
plural pronoun "them," except by saying that
Adam included Eve or that Eve was repre-
sented in Adam After the creation of Eve,
it is certain that she learned that the fruit
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
was forbidden. This she learned, not direct
ly from God, nor did she know it from the law
of God which was written upon her heart, but
from Adam. 1t is admitted that we are not
informed in so many words how Eve became
apprized of the prohibition, but we are war
ranted in concluding that God only dealt with
Eve through Adam. Eve sustained to Adam
the relation of a 'help meet for him." In ad-
dition to this she was bone of his bone and
flesh of his flesh. Eve was as near Adam as
it was possible for her to be, and for her Adam
cherished unadulterated love.
The serpent seems to have had knowledge
of all these facts and relations He made his
attack upon the woman andnot upon the man.
The management of the diabolical work was
cunningly conducted. Apparently, Adam and
Eve were pprmitted to he separated at least