The Portland daily press., 1897-11-08
LECTURE BY DR.. WORCESTER.
"The Talking Serpent and the Forbidden
Fruit" His Subject.

An interesting lecture was given by
Rev. Samuel Worcester at the New Jeru-
salem church last evening. The subject
was. 1.-THE Talking Serpent and the For
hidden Fruit" He said in substance:
In our previous talks we have learned
that the first chapters of Genesis are a
divine allegory treating of the childhood
of the race, and the gradual develop
ment of its spiritual life up to that stage
in the worlds history known as the Gold
en- Age. The six days of creation
eliminating in the birth of Adam SYM
boliZe six successive stages of spiritual
growth and development. Men and wo-
men were created such from the begin
ming, for it is said that in the day when
they were created God made them male
and female, and called their name Adam,
which is the Hebrew word for man in
general. The account of the garden Of
Eden. and of the primitive life of Adam
and Eve there, describes the pure and
exalted state of that most ancient
church. The temptations of the serpent
and the eating OF the forbidding fruit
tells in the Bible language the way in
which the first church left its childhood
state of innocence and peace. The crea-
ton of Eve in distinction of Adam de-
scribes that state which comes to all
when, instead of regarding the Lord as
All in All, and resting in Him, we begin
to think of self, and become self-cou-
scious. The one self in our dual nature
becomes conscious of the other self and
| admires and loves it; and man is no
longer alone with His Maker, for self is
| with him. This change is produced in
every child by it's contact with the world
| and the experience gained from it. How
true it is that we are all,-both men and
| women, young and ole, -s'wedded to that
other self;' it is truly bone of our bone
and flesh of our f1esh.''
In order to be clearly understood, the
whole of this allegory must be studied
as taking place in the human mind; there
| is the scene of the drama laid. The
scriptures mentioned gardens, vineyards,
fields. All denote man. The cultivated
soul is called garden by the prophets.
Isaiah and jeremiah declare that the
soul tended and filled by God is like to
a watered garden and of the King of
| up the sum, full of wisdom. and perfect
in beauty; thou hast been in Eden the
garden of God'' The garden of Eden is
man in the primitive state of cultivation.
| 1t was eastward because eastward is
sunward, and the sunward is toward the
Divine Sun, the Lord. 1t was IN Eden,
because Eden signifies happiness. That
| the Lord God planted garden eastward
in Eden then must mean that the Divine
Love and Wisdom of God-the Perfect
Whole-so flowed into the human mind
| as to arrange it in order and beauty, and
| to dispose it toward God and fit it in
happiness; and man was simply to dress
and to keep this garden. Such was the
first state of the human race, male and
female; such the Golden Age of Love.
The trees pleasant to the sight and good
for food in the garden, represent beauti-
full and useful knowledge planted by
God in the mind of man. Man himself
is compared to tree, and to "a green
olive tree in the house of God.' The
Tree of Life is the symbol of the highest
| and noblest of all the Divine qualities.
1t is in the midst of Eden. 1t is in the
| midst of the Paradise of God. 1t is to be
| in the midst of the Holy City. the New
Jerusalem, on either side of the river OF
the water of life. In each case it means
the same thing. 1t is that virtue which
God has planted in the soul and which is
the only source of life. That is pure
LOFS, lJIVlue 0OOuHcSS. GFoly oOul
which keeps as it's central truth the
knowledge that all love, and life, and
goodness is from God, is in Eden. Every
soul which has Gods love as its con-
scious central force is an Eden with the
tree of life in the midst of the garden.
The state of that first people was one of
primal, childlike innocence, and love to
God and to the neighbor was their ruling
and ending power the central life and
quickening force of all their thoughts,
words and deeds. Every one of that
church was thus garden with the tree
of life in the midst and every tree pleas
ant to the sight and good for food around
it.
What now is the tree of knowledge OF
good and evil? 1t must be some other
principle in the mind; some other kind
of knowledge; a knowledge that is good
in its proper place, and when rightly
used, for God planted it in Eden. AS ii
is mentioned in contrast with the
tree that stood in the midst, it must have