The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-07
THE VOICE OF THE PULPIT
TRAGEDY or EDENss IT'S SHIFTING
SCENES AND ADROIT PLANNING.
short Sermon by Rev. J. A. Chamber
lin, President school of Christian
Sociology, Waseca, Mimi.

ana the man ana MS wire ma themselves
from the presence OF the Lord.-Genesis
iii, 8
The story of Eden is stumbling block
TO modern readers. Some believe X TO be
history; some call it poetry; some allegory;
some myth.
We shall treat it as a drama. Within
It there is action, shifting scenes, quiet
transitions, shrewd movements, adroit
plannings. It is tragedy. The dramatis
personae are man. woman, Satan, God.
There is plot none so diabolical ever
crossed playwrights mind.
The first scene is rapturous. Natures
glorious beauty lies everywhere in divine
profusion. Beasts of the forest and field,
in sweet concord living; birds of heaven
blending their voices with waterfall and
insects hum to make orchestral accom-
paniment. while over all is settled the per-
fume of fresh nature and the mellow light
Of newborn day. Innocence and purity
walk forth in the simple life of Adam and
Eve enjoying each others sweet compan-
ionship. unblushing yet unmantled, for they
knew no reason for guilty pain. God, at
once supreme creator and ruler, yet kindest
friend. walks and talks with those whom
He had made for companions. Heavens
simplicity and sweetest enjoyment marks
the entire scene.
Pure woman, unconscious of her role,
with no lines to recite no form to make
up. comes forth in sweet innocence Satan
meets her, his voice we'll tuned, his words
we'll chosen. His first work is to give
truth the lie. God had told them all things
We're theirs except the fruit of one for
hidden tree; of this they shall not eat, on
pain Of death. Satan tells them: I'm the
day thou eatest thereof thou shalt not
surely die" God has lied, God is jealous
if you will eat you will be as God
Eve consents then Adam falls. No play
wright could form acts and words more to
his hand than are given in this record. The
classic lines of Milton do not furnish new
strength, and avail no more to set forth the
terrible act than the simple words: "She
took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and
gave also to her husband and he did eat
Here we are introduced to the final move
ment picturing indeed the sad fate of a
sin-cursed world. Adam and Eve, conscious
of guilt, in new Pigment of dress, stand in
the foreground showing in their very move
ments the slavery of sim Unhappy and
uncouth, despoied of beauty and hampered
by dress. they hide behind trees as the
Lord of the Garden passes by; and when
at last in contact with the Supreme Creator,
they make ignominious confession and in
ungenerous and unheroic ways seek freedom
from the blame
Then follows the grand finale. The gates
of paradise fly open. The Shiny serpent
worms his length away to hide and hiss in
crevice of rock and shadow of cave, to be
hated and bruised of all. Fair Eve and
glorious Adam, once lords of paradise,
preme in natures joys and holy bliss-dis-
truth and light and purity-pass beyond the
gates, he to toll in WEAKNESS, she to bear
in pain. Even the very stage itself and all
its glories must forever be disarranged.
Nature must bear it's curse; land bring
forth its weeds. lions devour lambs, and
war and strife reign supreme
In literature there is scarce anything more
realistic than the tragedy of Eden, where
earth furnished theater and subject; heaven,
truth; hell, temptation.
That this drama was written to set forth
in realistic terms the work and results of
sin IS my contention. 1 note three great
laws of sins working on human innocence
and working. too, with an aim and GER
tainty as accurate and absolute as the work.
ings OF the law of gravitation. Human
transgressions are no sooner passed than
sins effect is visible. When Adam and
Eve have eaten, the first law of sins work
ing is apparent. namely:
Innocence is unconscious of self 1t moves
about with easy form and grace of bearing,
neither boastful nor intruding and not I'M
duly shy. Adam and Eve. before the ter
rible day. though leased of these trouble
come guises which we wear" with each
other and with God communed in innocent
simplicity. never dreaming it a thing i'm
proper. They were as God made them;
they were enjoying Gods daily favor; they
were in constant joy; they were in the
sweet state of childlike simplicity that
knows no awkwardness, neither painful
self-consciousness Sin enters, then how
changed They become conscious of imper-
fiction Something must be done to hide
their imperfection. Herein we find the
first sequence of sin. Lost innocence mani
fest in a self-consciousness of imperfec-
ton
When a man is just right he is not really
conscious of existence; activities become
automatic. time passes unnoted, emotions
play unresisted. There is no wear, no
friction, no embarrassment. He is in the
eternal way. When sin enters all Is differ
ent. The machinery of life binds in the
bearings: the sands of time cut traces of
IficlOn III most QeuCdIe JOtiltSs anu Sln
wreckage obstructs the power house of
human activities. Guilty self-consciousness
as inevitably follows the first willful trans
erosion as pain follows sword wound. That
beautiful simplicity of spirit and freedom
of action, that trust, confidence. expect
ancy, hope, love, which accompanies inno-
cent youth, is dashed numerically from
the person who first lets sin lay hand on
the heart.
The law that steps out to human gaze
first in Eden is a fundamental law IN the
psychology of sin. 1t is as true to-day as
at Eden 1t is involved in sin itself. 1t is
not a punishment imposed from without.
It is the first tightening of the serpent's
coil. 1t paves the way for continued sin
ming. Man begins at orce to prepare fig
leaf garments, for he knows he is not right,
and grasps at every excuse, though within
It there be no reason. Mark, then. this
first law of sin in Eden is q law for all
time and place.
But sin works rapidly. In the drama God
walks in the garden. The guilty pair,
though covered with new-made garments.
seek the shelter of the bush. See here thus
dramatized second law of sins working.
Adam and Eve could not endure the gaze
Of God, for they then knew that they had
sinned So IL is 10 this day-the guilty man
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