The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-10-01

manage TO pluck up heart enough 70 re-
7 turn to Try the power OF the tree OF HE
1 You would say To keep any man from
winning Immortality must be a crael disas
her Shall a man who was iirst created Il
the image Of God be refused the chance OF
Immortality for one act OF d.sohedlencef
\ The statement OF the Scripture is almost
as IL God struck down the outstretehed
hand of the poor man who had fallen
into sin and so lost his chance wpen
| in his despair he tried by DESPERATE
effort to pluck inlmirtality from toe
tree Of life Tina, IN that hour
lof his despair God struck down
his hand. Did I not look as II God meant
to fling man down to the low level Of tn
brute creation when he refused him the
opportunity TO become immortal by eating
of the tree OF life? To refuse man im-
! mortality what could seem crueler
blow? However hard an aspect the face
I OF thai Providence may wear which block
mans approach to the tree Of life and
hndered his sc cure Of Immortality. thoTe
is another aspect of 1t which gives 1t the
undouhted air Of benehcence. You Will
remember that man is not said 10 have
eaten OF the tree OF life inst He ate Of
the tree OF knowledge OF good and evil
| first and came to know sin and wrong
and then stood in danger OF eating OF the
\ tree Of fe. II eating of the trsc of lifa
I conferred immortality Ii conferred Il
upon that character OF life which ate o.
tits fruit. Had man eaten of the tree o,
I life before ne had soled the
innocence OF his nature with the knowl-
edge Of evil and before he had arrayei
himself sgainst God by disobedence, he
! S0ul5 have perpetusted his Innocence.
And however less admirable and worthy
innocence may be than that virtue which
is wrought out Under temptation and fiery
trial as was the moral supremacy Of Jesus
Christ, il is infinitely TO be preferred %
an existence which has fallen .nto knowl-
edge Of evil. So there would have been
Ivalue to an eternally perpstuated and
I immortal innocence that man light have
secured in his state of innocence by eat
Iing OF the tree of life. But that was not
the thing he essayed to do He was in
danger of eating OF the tree OF lfe after
he had eaten OF the tree of knowledge of
good and EVIL; was therefore in danger
OF perpetuating that life into an un-
changeable immortality by eating OF ths
tree of life after he had lost his limo
cence and fallen under knowledge of evil.
SO, IL we regard IL as a disaster for
him to have been estopped from eating
OF the tree OF life and winning tmm3r-
tally, we must regard thar providence
a henehccnt dis1ster which prevented his
eating 81 the tree Of life after his fan
and thus securing immortality for an eX-
istenco which had fallen under knoNl
edge OF evil. To permit him TO perpet-
uaio that existence in the form given
after the fall must have been to permi,
him ia iN hm3elf In an endless existence
Of hopeless evil
Then to drive man from the possibi ity
OF eating OF the tree, disastrous as 1t may
seem, was in reality most beneicent
disaster, for II prevented the possibility
Of bis hardening the form of his life mt
Interchangeable hopelessness. The angel
that kept the gate of paradise with hi.
haming sword was tho angel OF mercy
ami the angel of hope
That seems a strange combination OF
words-a benefcent disaster | have M
doubt that to the FIRST pair driven out
of the garden where no weeds grew. init
the necessity Of working out their des.
tiny in world full OF weeds and brier
ana thorns, the decree which sent then
forth and the angel with the flaming
sword which kept them from returning
seemed a most forbiddlng and unloytul
and cruel providence. But could they
have realized what it must have b Ell
TO them and to their race had they be,l
yermitted to snatch from the tree of lif
, immortality for an existence OF hopeles
l evil and could they have known even
taiutly the Significance of the prom 3
that gave them the new opportunity /
work out under the providence of Go.
an existence Of well established virtue
' which no temptation could seducc, the
would have thought not only that drivin
them from the possibility Of snatchinl
immortality from the tree OF life at tn
a moment they were in danger Of doing s
Z wes a 'Aeneheance, but that that wa,
I also possibly benelccnt disaster wallet
d wrong as IL was, opened to them the pos
j. sibility OF working out a higher existenc
r. and securing Immortality for that-eve
e their transgression might have ilsol
seemed to them benehcent disaster be
70 cause only by means of It did tho on
portunity TO develop the higher value an
Of enter the higher life come TO them.
In one OF his most imnassioned argu
ments the great Apostle Paul encounter
&c the same moral difficulty when he ask
i the startling question. What then
i Shall we sin that grace may abound
!, God forbid. For how can we who are dea
=, TO Sin live any longer therein?" Mo- ma
!, ter what high end may be wrought o,
of evil by reason OF the Astounding mere
IA OF God. that does not mitigate the wron
Al nor sweeten tho poison OF the sin CON
itted. of the evil done. Because IN
in aster may be made. by The sheer goodne
4 o; God. TO shed neficence that do
"A not take away the guilt OF him who
~ responsible for the Disaster.
We In the revolt of the Spanish Nethe,
OF lands many centuries ago. which. afge
az much sorrow and suffering, eliminated
H. the splendid state called the Dutch r,
or public, "a state chat was the bulwark
so Professionalism on the continent at
az time when the Did church in its wore
fury was about to regain it's original al
ga disastrous power-in the revolt OF Ii
"a Spanish Netherlands there was one gui
.re ing hand, one great brave indomitnbl
he nvincible soul--Wiliiam OF Orange, ealiC
he the Great. He never despsired. he W
- always ready, DO inspired the PATRIOTS
N, OF his countrymen, he formed Que coal
~ tion after another. be never knew VIII
~ he was beaten. Finally Spain realize
~ that so long "a William lived there W
az no hope of reconquering the revolt,
~ provinces. and Philip the Second put
wv price upon the great leaders hoad.
. was Published 10 the world and excit
~, tho cupidity OF every assassin An EuroI
- Many attempts werS snade upon his J
- until. on the 10th day OF July. l5I
IN Gerard shot him down under bis ov
o. root. The different provinces which b
y been so difficult to hold together No
ar saw that all minor differences must
ne forgotten and one united effort be ma