Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-06-18
TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME ny TUR
WASHINGTON PREACHER.

He Declares Woman. FIRST Sin Wa.
Curiosity-ENe's Fatal InquisitIven...
In the Garden Of Eden and It, Awfu,
Results TO Succeeding Generations.
TIKI: And when the woman saw that
the tree was good for food, and that ID was
pleasant 10 the ewes. and tree 10 be- de-
sired TO make one wise she took % the
fruit thereof, and did eat. and gave also
unto her husband with her. and he did eat.
-Genesis ill.,. 6.
Il is the first SATURDAY afternoon in the
world existence. Ever since sunris" Adam
has been watching the brilliant PaCeantry
oi wings and scales and clouds. aud In his
first lessons In zoology and urnithology
and ichthyolocy he has noticed that the
robins ny the air in tw0s, and that In" fish
swim the waters in twos and that the lions
walk the fields In twos. and in the warm
redolehee ot that Saturday afternoon he
falls on into slumher and as II 10y allogory
20 teach all ages that the greatest Of earth
. ~ dressings l. sound sleep this paraii~ai-
. cal somnOlence ends with the discovery on
the part OF Adam of "a corresponding in
tellc'nce Just landed on a new planet. OF
the mother Of all the living / speak Eve.
the trst. the iairrst and the hest
/ ! make me a garden. inlay the laths
with mountain moss and / 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. ] gather me-
I lilies from the Amazon, and orange groves
from the tropics and tamar.nds from Goyaz.
4 There are woodhine and honeysuckle climb
Ing over the wall and starred sugnieIs
sprawlinG themselves on the grass IN
4 vite amid these trees the larks. and the
t brown thrushes, and the robins aud all the
brightest birds of heaven, and they stir the
. air with infinite chirp and carol. And vet
the place is a desert filed 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 look ed
down through such leaves into such waters
Never has river wave had such curve and
sheen and bank as adorned the Pisou. the
Havilah, the GihOn and the Hiddekel even
the pebbles being bdellium and ONYX stone.
What fruits with no curculi0 to sting the
rind! What flowers, with no slug to cnaw
the root! What atmosphere, with no frost
70 chill and with no heat 10 consume,
Bright colors tangled in the grass. Per
fume in the air. Music in the skv Great
scene Of cladness and love and j0v.
] Right there under a bower Of leaf and
vine and shrub occurred the first marriage.
Adam took the hand Of this immaculate
I daughter Of God and pronounced the cere-
mony when he said, Bone Of nv bone. aud
flesh Of my flesh A forbidden tree stood
/ in the midst Of that exquisite park Eve.
sauntering out one dav alone looks NJ, nj
the tree and sees the beautiful fruit and
wonders if it " sweet and wonders if it is
: sour, and standing there SAYS: Il think
. will just put my hand upon the fruit. Ii
VIII do no harm to the tree will not
take the fruit to eat. but l will Just take it
. down TO examine il. She examined the
/ fruit She said. Il do not think there can
/ be any harm in my Just breaking the rind
/ OF II. She put the fruit to her teeth. she
I tasted, she allowed Adam also to taste the
fruit the door Of the world opened. and
the monster sin entered. Let the heavens
gather blarkncss. and the winds sigh on
I the bosom Of the hills, and cavern. and
desert, and earth, and sky join in one long.
deep, hell-rending howl. The world j.
. LOST
Beasts that before were harmless aud full
of play put forth claw and sting and tooth
and tusk. Birds whet their beak for prey.
! Clouds troop in the -kv. sharp thorns
shoot up through the soft grass. Hastings
on the leaves. All the chords Of that great
harmony are snapped. Uponthe brightest
nome this world ever saw our first parents
turned their back and led forth on a path
/ OF sorrow the broken hearted myriads Of a
. ruined race.
Do you not see in the first place. the dan
ger OF poorly regulated inquisitivenesss
She wanted to know how the fruit tasted
/ She found out but COCO years have deplorel
that unhealthful curiosity. Healthful curl
osity has done a great deal for letters for
I art, for science and for religion IL has
gone down into the depths Of the earth
with the geolugist and seen the first chan
terof 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 barred
Herculaneum and PompoU until from their
SepuIch"r there came up shaft and terrace
and amphitheatcr. Healthful curiosity has
enlarged the telescope vision Of the as-
tron0mer until worlds hidden In the dis
,ant heavens have troopod forth and have
Joined the choir praising the Lord: planet
weighed against planet and widest comet
lasSnoed with Respondent law. Healthful
curiosity has gone down and found the
tracks Of the eternal God in the polvpi
and the starish under the sea and the
majesty Of the great Jehovah encamped
auder the gorgeous curtains Of the dahlia
II has studied the spots on the sun and
me larva in beech leaf and the light un-
der irehy's wing and the terrible eve
glance OF condor pitching from Chin
poraZo. II has studied the myriads Of ami
malcul2 that make up the phOSphOrcscoucp
'+A q NAl : Nhhf. anu the mighty nuHf OF
suns and spheres and consultations and
CalaXies that blaze on in the march of God,
Healthtui curiosity has stood blythe inyeu-
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 Blooms with strange mechanism, and
ships with nostrils Of hot steam and yokes
Of fire draw the continents together
| say nothing against healthful curl
osity May it have other Leyden Jars. and
other electric batteries. and other vOltaic
piles, ana other magnifyng glasses with
which to storm the barred castles Of the
natural world until ii shall surrender its
last secret. We thank God for the geological
curiosity of Professor Hitchcock. and the
mechanical curiosity of Liehig, 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 il tasted and that
curiosity blasted her and blasted all
nations. So there are clergymen in this
day, inspired bp unhealthful 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 theil
whole moral nature out of joint by tryinl
to pluck fruit from branches beyond thei
reach. or have come out on limbs of tn,
tree from which they have tumbled into
> ruin without remedy. AthOusand trees o
religious knowledge from which we ma.
eat and get advantage but from certail
trees of mystery how many have plucke,
their ruin Election, free agency, trinity
resurrection-in the discussion of thes
subjects hundreds and thousands of peopl
ruin the soul. There are men who actual
have been kept out of the kingdom Q
heaven because they could not understan
who Melchisedec was not.
Oh, how many have been destroyed b
an unhealthful inquisitiveness! 1t is see
in all directions There are those VIII
stand with the eye stare and mouth cape