The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-06-25
EYES DISOBEDIENCE.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Dresses an Old
Story in New Colors.
Practical Lessons Drawn From the Story
of Eve and the Forbidden Fruit
New Interpretation of the
Calamity In Paradise,

eOod TOT food and that 1t was pleasant to TIL
eyes. ard a tree to be desired TO make OF e wise
she took OF the fruit thereof and did eat an,
gave also unto her husband with her, and h
did eat-Genesis iii. g.
1t is the first Saturday afternoon il
the worlds existence, Ever since sim
rise Adam has been watching the bril-
liant pageantry of wings and scale:
and clouds, and in his first lessons il
zoology and ornithology and technology
he has noticed that the robins f1y the
air in twos, and that the fish swim the
waters in two, and that the lions walk
the fields in twOs, and in the warm
redolence of that Saturday afternoon
he falls off into slumber; and as if by
allegory to teach all ages that the
greatest of earthly blessings is sound
sleep, this paradisaical somnolence
ends with the discovery on the part OF
Adam of a corresponding intelligence
just landed on a new planet. OF the
mother of all the living l speak-Eve,
the first, the fairest, and the best
| make Inc garden. l inlay the
paths with mountain moss, and Dor
der them with pearls from Ceylon and
diamonds from Golconda. Here and
there are fountains tossing in the sun
light and ponds that ripple under the
padding of the swans. l gather lilies
from the Amazon, and orange groves
from the tropics, and tamarids from
Goyaz. There are woodbine and
honeysuckles climbing over the wall,
and starred spaniels sprawling them
selves on the grass. l invite amid
these trees the larks, and the brown
thrushes, and the robins, and all the
brightest birds of heaven, and they
stir the air with infinite chirp and
carol And yet the place is a desert
filled with darkness and death as COM
pared with the residence of the woman
Of the text, the subject of my story.
Never since have such skies looked
down through such leaves into such
waters! Never has river wave had
such curve and sheen and bank as
adorned the Pison, the Havilah, the
Iihon, and the Hiddekel, even the peb-
bles being bdellium and onyx stone!
What fruits, with no curculio to sting
the rind, What flowers, with no slug
to gnaw the root! What atmosphere,
with no frost to chill and with no heat
to consume! Bright colors tangled in
the grass. Perfume in the air. Music
in the sky. Great scene of gladness
and joy.
Right there under a bower of leaf
and vine and shrub occurred the first
marriage. Adam took the hand of this
immaculate daughter of God and pro-
nounced the ceremony when he said:
Bone of my bone, and flesh of my
flesh" A forbidden tree stood up in
the midst of that exquisite park. Eve
sauntering out alone one day looks up
at the tree and sees the beautiful fruit,
and wonders if it is sweet, and won
1ers if it is sour, and standing there,
says: Il think will just put my hand
upon the fruit; it will do no damage to
the tree; will not take the fruit to
eat, but l will just take it down to ex-
anime it." She put the fruit to her
teeth, she tasted, she allowed Adam
also to taste the fruit, the door of the
world opened, and the monster Sin
entered. Let the heavens gather black
ness, let the winds sigh on the bosom of
the hills, and cavern, and desert, and
earth, and sky join in one long, deep,
hell-rending howl-"The word is lostr'
Beasts that before were harmless and
full of play put forth claw, and sting,
and tooth, and tusk. Birds whet their
beak for prey. Clouds troop in the |
sky. Sharp thorns shoot up through !
the short grass. Blasting on the leaves. !
All the chords of that great harmony |
are snapped. Upon the brightest home |
this world ever saw our first parents |
turned their back and led forth on |
path of sorrow the broken-hearted |
nyriads of ruined race.
Do you not see, In the first place, the /
danger of a poorly-regulated inquisi-
Iiveness? She wanted to know how |
the fruit tasted. She found out, but |
1000 years have deplored that I'M
1ealthful curiosity. Healthful cur
osity has done great deal for letters,
Tor art, for science, and for religion.
1t has gone down into the depths of !
The earth with the geOlogist and seen
he first chapter of Genesis written in
he book of nature illustrated with en-
craving on rock, and it stood with the
while he blew the trumpet
# resurrection over buried Hercu-
aneum and Pompeii, until from their
'epulcher there came up shaft and ter
-ace and amphitheater. Healthful
has enlarged the telescope
Vision of the astronomer until worlds
hidden in the distant heavens have
.rooped forth and have joined the choir
1raising the Lord. Planet weighed
against planet and widest comet las
,oOed with Respondent law. Healthful
has gone down aud found the
racks of the eternal God in the polypi
md the starfish under the sea and the
majesty of the great Jehovah encamp-
ID under the gorgeous curtains of the
lahlia. 1t has studied the spots on the
un, and the larva on a beech leaf, and
he light under a firehy's wing, and
he terrible eye-glance of a condor
pitching from Chimbora5o. 1t has
studied the myriads of animaculae that
make up the phosphorescence of a
hips wake, and the mighty maze of
uns, and spheres, and consultations
md galaXies that blaze on in the march
If God. Healthful curiosity has stood
~ the inventor until forces that were
hidden for ages came to wheels, and
evers. and shafts and shuttles-forces
hat fly the air, or swim the sea, or
leve the mountain, until the earth
ars, and roars, and rings, and crack
es, and booms, with strange mechan-
SIN, and ships with nostrils of hot
team and yokes of fire, draw the con-
inents together.
l say nothing against heathful curl
'sity. May it have other Leyden jars,
md other electric batteries, and other
-oltaic piles, and other rnagnifying
glasses, with which to storm the barred
.astles of the natural world until it
hall surrender its last secret. We
hank God for the geological curiosity
# Prof. Hitchcock, and the mechanical
of Liebig, and the geological
of Cuvier, and the inventive