Kansas City daily journal., 1897-01-25
ANCIENT DOGMAS ATTACKED.
REV. CHARLES II. EAST DISCUSSES
THE GALL OF MAN"
Discredits the Story of Eve, the For
hidden Apple and the Serpent
An Interesting Discourse
by Rev. j. VI. CrOmer.

THE Fan Of Man-Did He FaIl?" was the
subject of yesterday mornings sermon by
Rev. Charles K. East, delivered in the First
ITniversalist church. 1910 East Ninth street
His text was from Corinthians xv:22. AS
in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all
be made alive" Rev. East said:
About 5000 years ago. We are told, God
created the heavens and the earth. Five
days were spent in giving the earth 1orm'
separating the light from darkness, Great
ing the vegetable kingdom, creating lumi-
narles and ordaining the seasons. and Gre
ating the fowl Of the air and fish OF the
sea. The sixth day was spent in making
the animal creation and male and female
man. Man was then placed in a paradise,
with orders TO eat of every fruit except the
fruit Of the tree OF knowledge OF good and
evil. The serpent, strolling about the gar
den on his tail soon persuaded the woman
10 try the fruit, especially since IL would
make them like gods. As soon as they had
eaten Of the tree of the forbidden fruit
their eyes were opened ard they knew that
they were naked. They then sewed them
aprons and thus enacted the first scene in
the history of modesty.
when God called the guilty culprits
from hiding and wrung from them lhelr
confession, He cursed the serpent hence
forth to go on his belly, man TO TIL the
ground and the woman to propagate after
her kind The consequence OF this sin is
mortal death Both Adam and Eve were
immortals before they sinned.
This much of the fall of man is in the
Bible. This much is known to Josephus,
10 Oregon, TO Justin Myster, Totian, Ter
tullian, Athanasius and Others. But to-
wards the close of the fourth century, A
D., the great inventor Of arbitrary theology
appeared and made several additions TO the
Bible account of the first transgression.
Addition No. ] reads: By sin man fell
from a state of perfection Addition No 2
is This sin and its consequences are in
herited by every child of man. Addition
No. reads, The inheritance of this sin
makes man by nature thoroughly bad. He
IS born totally depraved. The fourth addi-
tion tells us because of this depravity man
is unable of himself 10 do any good thing.
My friends desire this morning TO test
the soundness of this idea of mans fall. in
the light of Scripture, the facts, heredtty
and the constitution of human nature.
Before We proceed with our task. let us
ask where the story of the Garden of Eden
originated, and whether il is the kind of
Scripture upon which a theology should
be based. 1t has generally been thought
Moses wrote 1t under the direct inspiration
of God. But the, story was in existence
over thousand years before Moses was
born. The story, illustrating the snake
walking on his tail, appears on very an
cient Chaldean monuments. Then again,
II the story is to be taken literally, 1t in
wolves several errors that cannot be eX-
planned away. The story says the snake
talked with the woman. Science says The
snake never had any powers Of speech.
The narrative also says the man was
cursed 10 toll and the woman to propagate
after her kind.
History demonstrates that no two func-
fions of human life have done more for the
progress of the race than toll AMI HroI,a-
cation. The former introduced into the
world the history of industry and attain
ment; the latter begins the history OF the
finest affection and noblest aspirations that
ever entered the human soul. 1t even IRE
figures. the Kingdom of heaven for Us in
the life OF the little child, and in parentage
gives us the only true symbol whereby we
may think of our Father who art in heav.
en-. There are only two views of this Eden
story above criticism. The first Is to MAN
tain that the III rratiVe is an allegorica
representation OF how sin entered The
world; the other is to hold that IL is The
Chaldean tradition of the creation OF mar
and the beginning of sin. According to thi.
the Garden of Eden story is no proper ba.
sis of theology. We might as well ln1in,
tain the Hindoo theory that the earl
rests upon the back of Il huge turtle
but aside from these facts, can the ides
OF the fall of man be proven? From wha
dad man fall? 1t is said he fell from perfec
ton and holiness. To be holy mems to bt
whole, complete Perfection means with
out defect. If Adam had been perfect h,
would have been without the weakness.
that made him sin. He sinned. thereb!
showing that he was neither holy nor per
feet He was innocent.
Into what did man fall? Theology tell
us man fell into total wickedness and de
prnyity; i 50 that his sin has become a ma
every generation of the race.
''Rut is it possible to inherit sin? How
much can u human being inherit? ON
may inherit a bad temper so that he vii
be as iraseible as his grandfather, or eyel
more so. He may inherit bad disposition
so that several generations may becom
fnmous for their unsociability and tyranny
Bad habits have been known to run
through several generations like certain
colors in n carpet which disappear at Ger
tain points. only TO reappear in all thei
Vigor in another part of the diagram.
A school teacher once punished n bo,
catching
limb from limb and mutilating them unit
they We're dead. Upon complaint TO tn
boys parent, she was told his great-grand
father did the same thing. The habit. afte
going through two families. appeared i
the third generation in all its original cru
city. Insanity and mental weaknesses ar
also hereditary. People inherit Certai
tendencies to do evil deeds that keep ther
out of the Kingdoms life and peace. A
long as this evil is with them they canno
raise themselves into the highest life.
But man inherits good as well as ev
characteristics. Many daughter has bee
known 10 inherit the sanity character G
her mother. and many a son has testifie
by his leaning 10 religion and righteous
ness the integrity and devotion of his an
cestor. We are born in to the world a SUI
total OF the physical, nervous, mental, sc
Cial and religious forces that have give
us birth. Among all the fnheritanceS tina
come TO us. does IL anywhere appear tina
we can inherit another's act2 Acts orig
mate and end with us. They are not II
herited. since we cannot choose for ar
other.
''Can we inherit sin? That depends O
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