Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-06-19

- / u St-'0
yoltaic pics, ;ind other magnifyiEg
glasses, with which to storm the barred
castles of the natural world until il
shall surrender lis last secret We thank
God for tie geological curiosity OF Pro-
fessor Hitchccci, ard the mechanical
curiosity OF Lieaig, and the geological
curiosity of Cuyier, aud the inventive
curiosity OF Edison, bat we must admit
that unhea!lilful and irregular inquisi-
tiveness has rushed thousands and tens
OF thousands into ruin.
Eve just tasted the fruit. She was
curious TO find ont how ii tasted, and
that curiosity Blasted her and Blasted
all nations. So there arc clergymen il
this day, inspired iiy unhealthful III
quisitiyencss, who have tried to look
through the keyhcle of Gods myster-
ies-mysterics that were barred and
bolted from ull human inspection-and
they have wrencbed their whole moral
nature out Of joint By trying to pluck
fruit from branches beyond their reach,
or have come out oil limLs of the tree
FROM which lhey have tulnbled into
ruin without remedy. a thousand trees
Of religious knowledge from which we
may eat and get advantage, but from
certain trees Of lnystely how many
have plucled their ruin! Election, free
agency, trinity, resurrection in the
discussion Of these subjects hundreds
and thousands Of people ruin the soul
There are men who actually have been
kept out OF tie kingdom OF heaven be-
cause they could not understand who
MclchiSedec vas not.
I'orhiddcn Eruit.
Oh, how many have been destroyed
by IN unhealthtul inquisitivenessl 1t is
seen III all directions. There a1e those
who stand with the eye stare and mouth
cape of curiosity They are the first to
hear Il falsehocd. tuild it another story
high and two Wings TO it. About other
peoples apparel, abcnt other peoples
business, about other peoples financial
condition, about other peoples aiiails.
they are ovcranxions Every nice piece
of gossip stops Mt their door, and they
fatten ard luxnriate i'll the endless
round of tie great world Of little tattle
They invite and sumptuously entertain
ut their house Colonel TwaddIe and Is
quirc Chitchat and Governor Smalltalk.
Whoever hath an innuendo, whoever
hath scandal, whoever hath /. valuable
secret, let him GENE and sacrifice it 10
this goddess of splutter Thousands OF
Adams and Ewes do nothing but eat
fruit that does not belong TO them. Man
quite well known as nathelEaticians
falling III this computation Of neral
algebra: Good SENSE plus good breeding,
minus curiosity, equals mindine your
own affairs.
Then, how many young men through
curiosity go through the whole realm
of French novels, to see whether they
are really as had as moralists have pro-
nounced them. They ccIne near the
verge of the precipice just to ico! or.
They want to see how far it really is
down, but they lose their balance while
they look and fall into remedies ruin,
or, catching themselves, CHAMBER up,
bleeding and CHASTITY, on the rock, GLIB
bcring with curses Or grooming inetfec-
tual prayer. BY all means encourage
healthful inquisitiyencss, by all means
discourage i'll regulated curiosity.
This subject also impresses me with
the fact that fruits that are sweetto the
taste may aftcrward produce great ago
nv Forbidden fruit for Eve was so
pleasant she invited her husband also to
take of it, but her punishment from
paradise and 5000 years of sorrow, and
wrctchedness, and war, and woe paid
for that luxury. Sin may be very sweet
at the start and it may induce great
wretchedness afterward. The cup Of sin
is sparkling at the top, but there Is
death at the bottom. IntoXicarion has
great exllilaration for awhile, and 1T
fillips the blood, and it-makes man
see five stars where others can see only
one star, and it makes tie Peer man
rich, and turns cheeks which are white
red as roses; but what about tie dreams
that come after, when he seems falling
from great heights, or is Frustrated by
other fancied disasters, and tho pcrspl-
ration stands on the forcEe@G-the
night dew Of everlasting darkness-and
he is ground under the horrible hoof OF
Nightmares shrieEinS With lips that
crackle with all consuming torture:
'.Reioice, 0 young man, in thy youth,
and let thy heart cheer thee i'll the days
of thy youth, but know thou that for
all these things God will trirs thee III
to Judgment. Sweet at the start, hor-
rible at the last Go into that hall Of
revelry, where ungodly mirth staggers
and blasphenes Listen 10 the senseless
gabble. See the last trace Of intelligence
dashed out from faces made Ill God s
own image. Aha, anal" says the roist-
ering inebriate. This is joy for YOU
Fill high your cups, my boys. drink
TO my wife's misery and my children's
rags and my God's defiance. +" And he
knows not CHAT tiend stirs the goblet
in his hard and that Gdders uncoil
from the dregs and thrust their forked
tongues Kissing through the roth on
the rim. The Philisrires jeefed and
laughed and shouted at Samson. Oh,
they wanted him to make sport for
them. and lie made srortfo them. How
bright and gay was tie scene for u lit
tie while. After awhile the gia-.t pays
che hand against this pillar and the
other hand against that pillar and bows
himself, and 5000 merlymakers are
mashed Ike grapes i'll wine press.
Sin rapturons at the start, awful at the
last.
a Great Transsression.
That one Edeuic transgression did not
seem to be much. but it struck blow
which to this day makes the earth stag
ger. To find out the consequences Of
that one sin you would have TO compel
the world 10 tl.rcs ci:n all its prison