St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1897-07-17
TALMAGE'S SERMON,
Practical Lessons Taught by Ewes
Dieobedience.

019OO0O100C0.
A Poorly Regulated Inquisitiveness Dan
gerous-The Sweetest Of Fruits some
times Productive OF the
Greatest Agony.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, in the fol
lowing sermon. gives new interpre
probation of the Calamity in Paradise
1t is based on the text:
And when the woman saw that the tree v q
good for food and that 1t was pleasant to tn,
eyes, and tree to be desired to make o ne wise
gave also unto her husband with her, and h,
did eat-Genesis ill.,. &
1t is the first Saturday afternoon in
the worlds existence. Ever since sun
rise Adam has been watching the bril-
liant pageantry of wings and scale.
and clouds, and in his first lessons in
zoology and ornithology and ichthology
he has noticed that the robins fly 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 il 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 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 me . garden. l inlay the
paths with mountain moss, and bor-
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 desert
filed 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
Gihon, and the Hiddekel. even the peb-
bles being bdellium and onyx stone!
What fruits, with no curcuiio 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 q bower of leaf
and vine and shrub occurred the first
Adam took the hand of this
immaculate daughter of God and pro-
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
out alone one day looks up
at the tree and sees the beautiful fruit,
and wonders If it is sweet, and won
ders If it is sour, and standing there,
says: II 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
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 lost"
Beasts that before were harmless and
full of play put forth claw, and sting,
and tooth, and tush. Birds whet their
beak for prey. Clouds troop in the
sky. Sharp thorns shoot up through
The short tgrass. 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
of ruined race.
Do you not see, IN the first place, the
danger of . poorly-regulated inquisi-
tiveness? She wanted to know how
the fruit tasted. She found out, but
!, 900 years have deplored that un-
healthful curiosity. Healthful cur
losity has done . great deal for letters.
Tor art, for science, and for religion.
It has gone down into the depths of
he earth with the geologist and seen
The first chapter of Genesis written in
the book Of nature illustrated with en-
craving on rock, and it stood with the
while he blew the trumpet
u resurrection over buried Hercu-
laneum and Pompeii. until from their
sepulcher there came up shaft and ter
race and amphitheater. Healthful
has enlarged the telescope
vision Of the astronomer until worlds
hidden in the distant heavens have
Erooped forth and have joined the choir
praising the Lord. Planet weighed
against planet and widest comet las
sooed with resplendent law. Healthful
has gone down and found the
tracks of the eternal God in the polypi
md the starfish under the sea and the
majesty of the great Jehovah encamp-
ed under the gorgeous curtains of the
dahlia. It has studied the spots ON the
sun, and the larvs ON . beech Leaf, and
the light under . drehy's wing. and
the terrible eye-glance Of condor
pitching from ChimboraSo. It has
studied the myriads Of animaculae that
make mp the phosphoreseence Of .
Ihip's wake, and the mighty maze of
suns, and spheres. and constellations
and 1alaxies that blaze on in the march
Of God. Healthful curiosity has stood
hv the inyentor until forces that Xera