St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-03-14
The GARDEN OF EDEN.
A Story Which Is Either a
Myth Or an Historical
Fact.
Rev. w. S. Vail Tackles An
other Disputed Scriptural
Passage.
An Instructive Hope Of a
Paradise Yet to
Come.
A Religion That Is in Touch
With All Forward Move
mentS.

Rev. w. S. Vail. in his sermon yeSter-
day morning before the Universallst
society at the Grand. discussed the
text: "And the Lord planted garden
to the eastward i'll Edeu." The belief
III garden of Eden might be memory
or it might be a hope. The preacher,
on this point, said:
The story is either myth or histori-
cal fact. In either case, there will be
found an amount of evidence that shows
in favor of one or the other side. Fifty
years ago all believers IN the Bible be-
lieved it was a fact of history. Two
hundred years ago a clergyman sat in
solemn state, and told exactly what
time-high noon. as | remeber-Adam
ate the apple. Another explained the
exact date of all the events. prior and
subsequent. giving the hours in detail.
! Now, men who are leaders, like the
ablest of editors and preachers Of the
orthodox churches, show, by the GIN
gerly way in which they touch the sub
ject, that they doubt the story as fact.
and believe that it is legend containing
a truth. The fact Oh which it is based
is a truth, attested not only in the Bible
but in
All Religious EXP erience.
1t is found everywhere. 1t is the re-
aliZation in us Of 4 hope for something
better. and belief in something prom
iSed that we have never yet attained.
My theory is that instead OF being the
memory of a lost paradise. this is the
faint, instructive hope of man for par
adise of peace and purity yet 10 come;
and to come with the publication of
man. with the blessed consummation
promised in=the religion of Christ.
And this theory brings into touch
with the intellectual progress of our
age. There is weakness and pathos if
we lack this. There is pathos in the
picture of the old man i'll Alabama"
whose life practically closed with 1865.
All that was dear to him belonged to a
period prior to that time. White of
hair as the driven snow. weak of limbs
and tottering, living in the present, but
living as man of the past; even the
songs
Sung by the Fisherman
on the bayou at night-enchanted and
charmed night-had for him no joy. al
though they sung the glorieS of South
ern home. Improvements. railroads,
all the marks of busy modern life were
to him only grievance. And it is just
as sad to hold theory that needs con-
sistant defense. The man who feels
that modern scholarship is mars haling
forces TO strike down his defenses; who
feels that he must be on guard all the
time, vino feels that he cannot but eX-
pect that the whole force of science will
keep him all the time reeoncilIng
things, is in an uncomfortable position.
And all the evidence that comes from the
study of the scholar now shows that the
world is old. Muller traces his Ian
guage back to the simplest ideas, and
shows that there has been constant
though a rising progress. 1t all says
plainly that the golden age lies in the
future and not
In the Past.
And it welcomes all the advance that
science ana scholarship are able to
make. 1t does not stand in fear of what
scholars may find i'll ruins or biologists
dig from tile earth. 1t is in touch with
all that is best III our progress and in
sympathy with all forward move
ments."
After showing that all religions must
have in them power to appeal to mans
deepest nature, the preacher claimed
that this fact of an instructive hope in
the human endowment was most i'm
portant influence in the practical life of
man. He proceeded:
''And then L want to tell you that
men have always been believing against
apparent evidence. In all other things
we follow evidence, and in most cases
apparent evidence. we believed i'll the
Rising and Setting
sun because that seemed to be the nat
uraI way to think of it. We believed
the world was flat because that seemed
apparently the way it should be. 1t took
many generations to get these ideas out
of the minds of the people. The man
who has seen the cyclone and watched
its terrible form moving like black
demon, sees it strike the evil and the
breast, the old man lettering to the
graveand the child whose dimpled, smil-
ing face as yet has never known care,
pauseS sometimes when lie comes to
talk of Providence. When the erevasse
eleayeS the leyee and deSolation sweeps
in the wild rush of waters we pause
again. When we are preaching Prov
idencn and paternal care and see the
inhumanity of man to man and the ley
islation of the state that often diScrlm-
mates
Against tiae weak
and in favor of the strong. the evidence
seems all on the other side. And still
If the facts have alleged be facts, we
believe on other evidence than outward
appearances. And out of the depths
the soul, moved by its instincts that are
stronger than either sorrow and mis-
fortune, we cry out: ."When MY soul
is overwhelmed with grief, and the enc
my comes i'm like flood from the ends
of the earth [ cry unto Thee, lead me to
the rock that is higher than ~ And if
we have been faithful. though miSfort-
une may have been with us, we are
moved by that inner feeling to say II
have fought good fight" And this
life which is strongly attached to its
ideal and meets with all manner of dis
appointment. does in some way carry
its own reward; it carries within itself
all that it needs, is sufficient because it
feels its klnship to that Man of Sorrow,
who said: BE of good cheer, have
overcometh the world" And so we
believe that Eden is in the future; that
men will feel the breadth of its glory in
the future, ana not mourn the past: and
we believe in the hope that this gives to
the heart of man.