The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-06-30
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
He Declares Woman's First. Sin Was
Carbohydrates Fatal Inquisitiveness
in the Garden of Eden and It's Awful
Results to Succeeding Generations.

Results to Succeeding Generations
TEXT: "And when the woman saw that
the tree was good for food, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be de-
sired to make one wise, she took of the
fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also
unto her husband with her, and he did eat. "
Genesis ill.,, 6.
It Is the first Saturday afternoon in the
worlds existence. Ever since sunrise Adam
has been watching the brilliant pageantry
of wings and scales and clouds, and In his
first lessons in zoology and ornithology
and ichthyology he has noticed that the
robins fly the air in twos, and that the fish
swim the waters in twos, and that the lions
walk the fields in twos, and in the warm
redolence OF that Saturday afternoon he
falls of into slumber, and, as II by allegory
to teach all ages that the greatest Of earth
ly blessings Is sound sleep, this paradisai-
cal somnolence ends with the discovery on
the part of Adam Of a corresponding in
~telligence just landed on a new planet. OF
the mother OF all the living I speak-Eve,
the first, the fairest and the best.
make me a garden. inlay the paths
with mountain moss, and I border them
with pearls from Ceylon and diamonds from
Golconda. Here and there are fountains
tossing in the sunlight that ripple under
the padding Of the swans. I gather me
lilies from the Amazon, and orange groves
from the tropics and tamar:nds from Goyaz.
There are woodbine and honeysuckle climb
ing over the wall and starred spaniels
sprawling themselves on the grass. I in
vite 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 compared 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 Gihon and the Hiddekel, even
the pebbles being bdellium and onyx stone.
What fruits, with no curculio to sting the
rindl 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. Per
fume in the air. Music in the sky. Great
scene Of gladness and love 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 pronounced the cere-
mony when he said, "Bone Of my bone, and
flesh of my flesh" A forbidden tree stood
in the midst Of that exquisite park. Eve.
sauntering out one day alone, looks up at
Luo Tree anu secs Iuc pcduIilul lIulI duU
wonders II 1t Is sweet and wonders If 1t is
sour. and standing there says: 81 think I
will just put my hand upon the fruit. 1t
will do no harm to the tree. I will not
take the fruit to eat, but I will Just take it
down to examine it," She examined the
fruit. She said, II do not think there can
be any harm In my just breaking the rind
Of it." She put the fruit to her teeth, she
tasted, she allowed Adam also to taste the
frr,if Tho lonr ~ tho r-nrlI NnanAI onI
the monster sin entered. Let the heavens
gather blackness, and 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 world is
lost"
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 soft grass. Blastings
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 a path
of sorrow the broken hearted myriads of q
ruined race.
Do you not see, in the first place, the dan
ger OF a poorly regulated inquisitiveness?
She wanted to know how the fruit tasted.
She found out, but 5000 years have deplored
that unhealthful curiosity. Healthful curl
osity has done a great dea for letters, for
art, for science and for religion. It has
gone down into the depths Of the earth
with the geologist and seen the first chap
ter of Genesis written in the book of nature
illustrated with engraving on rock, and it
stood with the antiquarian while he blew
the trumpet of resurrection over buried
Herculaneum and Pompeii, until from their
sepulcher there came up shaft and terrace
M amphitheater. Healthful curiosity has
enlarged the telescope vision OF the as
tronomer, until worlds hidden in the dis
tant heavens have trooped forth and have
Joined the choir praising the Lord; planet
weighed against planet and widest comet
lassooed with Respondent law. Healthful
tracks OF the eternal God in the polypi
and the starfsh under the sea and the
majesty OF the great Jehovah encamped
under the orgeous curtains Of the dahlia.
It has studied the spots on the sun, and
the larya In a beech leaf, and the light I'M
der a frefy's wing, and the terrible eye
glance Of a condor pitching from CHM
borazo. 1t has studied the myriads Of ami
malcula that make up the phosphorescence
in a ships wake, and the mighty maze of
suns and spheres and consultations and
galaxies that blaze on In the march Of God.
Healthful curiosity has stood by the inven-
tor, until forces that were hidden for ages
come to wheels and levers and shafts and
shuttles-forces that fly the air or swim
the sea or cleave the mountain until the
earth jars and roars and rings and crackles
and booms with strange mechanism, and
ships with nostrilS Of hot steam and yokeS
Of fire draw the continents together.
I say nothing against healthful curl
osity. May it have other Leyden jars, and
other electric batteries. and other voltaic
piles, and other magnifying glasses, with
which to storm the barred castles Of the
natural world until it shall surrender it's
last secret. We thank God for the geological
curiosity Of Professor Hitchcock, and the
mechanical curiosity Of Liebig, and the
geological curiosity Of Culver, and the in
ventive curiosity of Edison, but we must
admit that unhealthful and irregular in
quisitiveness has rushed thousands and
tens of thousands into ruin.
Eve just tasted the fruit. She was
curious to find out how it tasted, and that
curiosity blasted her and blasted all
nations. So there are clergymen in this
day, inspired bp unhealthtul inquisitive-
ness, who have tried to look through the
keyhole OF Gods mysteries-mysteries that
were barred and bolted from all human in
~spection-and they have wrenched their
whole moral nature out ~ofjoint by trying
to pluck fruit from branches beyond their
reach, or have come out on limbs Of the
tree from which they have tumbled into
ruin without remedy. Athousand trees Of
religious knowledge from which We may
eat and get advantage, but from certain
trees Of mystery how many have plucked
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 the kingdom Of
heaven because they could not understand
who Melchisedec was not.
Oh, how many have been destroyed by
an unhealthful inuuisitiyeneSS! It is seen