Connecticut western news., 1897-06-17

they have wrenched their whole moral nature out of joint 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. A thousand trees of religious knowledge from which we may eat and get advantage, but~from certain trees of mystery how many have plucked their ruinl 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 be- cause they could not understand who Melchisedec was not.
 Forbidden Fruit.
 Oh, how many have been destroyed by an unhealthful inquisitiveness! It is seen in all directions. There are those who stand with the eye stare and mouth gape of curiosity. They are the first to hear falsehood, build it another story high and two wings to it About other peoples apparel, about other peoples business, about other peoples financial condition, about other peoples affairs, they are overanxious. Every nice piece of gossip stops at their door, and they fatten and luxuriate in the endless round of the great world of little tattle. They invite and sumptuously entertain at their house Colonel Twaddle and Es- quire Chitchat and Governor Smalltalk. Whoever hath an innuendo, whoever hath scandal, whoever hath valuable secret, let him come and sacrifice it to this goddess of splutter. Thousands of Adams and Eyes do nothing but eat fruit that does not belong to them. Men quite well known as mathematicians failing in this computation of moral algebra: Good sense plus good breeding, minus curiosity, equals minding your own affairs.
 Then, how many young men through curiosity go through the whole realm of French novels, to see whether they are really as bad as moralists have pro- nounced them. They come near the verge of the precipice just to look off. They want to see how far 1t really is down, but they lose their balance while they look and fall into remediless ruin, or, catching themselves, chamber up, bleeding and ghastly, on the rock, gib- bering with curses or grooming ineffec- tual prayer. By all means encourage healthful inquisitiveness, by all means discourage i'll regulated curiosity.
 This subject also impresses me with the fact that fruits that are sweet to the taste may afterward produce great ago. ny. Forbidden fruit for Eve was so pleasant she invited her husband also to take of it. but her banishment from paradise and 5000 years of sorrow, and wretchedness, and war, and woe paid for that luxury. Sin may be very sweet at the start, and it may induce great wretchedness afterward The cup of sin is sparkling at the top, but there is death at the bottom. Intoxication has great exhilaration for awhile, and it fillips the blood, and it makes man see five stars where others can see only one star, and it makes the poor man rich, and turns cheeks which are white red as roses; but what about the dreams that come after, when he seems falling from great heights, or is prostrated by other fancied disasters, and the perspi ration stands on the forehead-the night dew of everlasting darkness-and he is ground under the horrible hoof of nightmares shrieking with lips that srackle with all consuming torture?
 Rejoice, o young man, ill thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee in- to judgment. Sweet at the start, hor- rible at the last. Go into that hall of revelry, where ungodly mirth staggers and blasphemes. Listen to the senseless gabble. See the last trace of intelligence dashed dit from faces made in God s own image. "Aha, ahap' says the roist- ering inebriate. "This is joy for you. Fill high your cups, my boys. drink to my wife's miEery and my children's rags and my Gods defiance" And he knows not that fend stirs the goblet in his hand and that adders uncoil from the dregs and thrust their forked tongues missing through the froth on the rim. The Philistines ieered and laughed and shouted at Samson. Oh, they wanted him to make sport for them. and he made sport for them. How bright and gay was the scene for lit tie while. After awhile the giant puts one hand against this pillar and the other hand against that pillar and bows himself, and 5000 merrymakers are mashed like grapes in a wine press. Sin rapturous at the start, awful at the last.
 A Great Transgression.
 That one Edenic transgression did not seem to be much, but it struck blow | which to this day makes the earth stag ger. To find out the consequences of that one sin you would have to compel | the world to throw open all its prison doors and display the crime, and throw open all its hospitals and display the | disease, and throw open all the insane asylums and show the wretchedness, | and open all the sepulchers and show | the dead, and open all the doors of the | lost world and show the damned. That one Edenic transgression stretched chords of misery across the heart of the world and struck them with dolorous wailing. and it has seated the plaques | upon the air and the shipw recks upon | the tempest and fastened, like leech, | famine to the heart of tLe sick and dy. 1 ing nations. Beautiful at the start, hor>
 rible at the last. Oh, how many have
 experienced it!
 Are there here those who are yotaries I of pleasuref Let me warn you, my
 brother. Your pleasure boat is far from
 shore, and your summer day is ending
 roughly, for the winds and the waves
 are loud voiced, and the overcoming
 clouds are all awrithe and agleam with
 terror. You are past the Narrows and
 almost outside the Hook, and if the At
 lantic take thee, frail mortal, thou shalt
 never get to shore again. Put back; TOW
 swiftly, swifter, swifterl Jesus from