The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-10-01
THE GALVESTON STORM
Taken ss q Topic By Rev. William iiayne
LeaveII Yesterday Morning.
il NAY PROVE a BESfFIetsr DISASTER
Number of Seeming Calnmities TINT
Have Brought About Improved
Conditions Recalled.


bytcrian church yesterday morning, -
Benencent Disaster" with reference to
the recent storm at Galveston. Following
Is the sermon in full;
Gen. S:22-Lest he put forth his hand,
and take also Of the tree of life.
Somewhere in the distant past man
lived in innocence and without the sense
OF shame. Sometime that innocence
destroyed BY catastrophe which en-
tailed disaster upon the human race. 1t
has been a long time since man was
innocent In this WORLD Of ours, long
time since he came to know the sense OF
shame--for it is only to the pure that
all things are pure, and it has been
long time since to men all things were
pure. The story Of that disaster S told
us in terms that have ever been OF inter-
est to the human mind. No man has
read the story OF creation. Of mans in
nocence and temptation and fail, as re-
corded In the first chapter OF GeneSs,
without wondering what t must have
been to be there wondering what man
must have been like when he knew no
sin, when he was innocent OF evil aud
had no sense of shame Today when we
say man has no sense OF shame we mean
to condemn him as coarse and vulgar
brute who can not be moved by the COM
mon influences that affect the arerag
man. But when we say that the first
human pair mad no sense of shame we
mean that nothing had come to them
which could suggest prurience aud evil
that their minds were free from stain,
gNs.tv- lion, tfufa y
anything unclean, This innocent pair We
are told were placed in a garden which
they were to tend and which, with what
ever other trees had two o. special char
acteT--one vas the tree OF knowledge Of
good and evil; the other was the tree
OF life. To eat OF the fruit of he first
tree was to come to know that there are
such tn ngs as good and evil in the world;
and they were forbidden to eat OF tn 5
tree because no man can come to know
the difference In the moral character
O. things without losing that innocence
az mind which can not receive an I'M
preston from what is evil and unclean.
To eat Of the tree OF life was to per-
To wate that existence which ate OF the
fruit of the tree. 1t was to secure inn
mortality. II we are 70 press unduly the
significance Of thai symbol We must sup
pose that man was not created an I'M
esquire immortality. AZ any rate the tree
Of lie we are Told stood in the center
Of the same garden that held the tree
cf knowledge of good and evil, and that
II one ate Of is fruit he would by hat
sci acquire immortality for the existence
which partook Of the fruit
Well, the human PAIR was placed In the
garden Of Innocence where no sin had
ever marred the beauty OF thought aud
memory. They were placed there under
tie obligation Of obedience and warnel
not to touch the tree OF the knowledgt
Of good and eyil--not to come 70 know
evil and so lose tine first fragrance Of
their innocence
Under temptation OF that subtle power
which can with apparent ease seduce I
man into believing that he knows wha
is best FOR HIM. better than anybody hui
himself can possibly know better thar
God knows-under temptation OF tina
subtle power the woman and man stretch
ed forth their hands and plucked and at
the forbidden fruit.
Earth felt the wound; and nature from
Signing through her works, gave signs Q
wee
That all was lost"
The frst fruit of their disobedence wa
that they came 10 know that there
such a thing as sin and evil In the world
and their first evidence OF their conscious
ness of evil was the awakened sense G
shame which displaced the pure-eye
blindness OF their hst innocence.
Some neil have thought that man coul
not possibly have wrought out his morj
redemption with age-long effort had h
never come 10 know what would hei
and what would hinder his degelopmon
They think that the knowledge Of good an
evil was by moral necessity the AR
knowledge any human pair should hay
on whose hearts was laid the burden
working out moral destiny; that It vi
not possible for man to work out his ~
walton unless ne knew what would fav
and what would prevent his success.
they have been pleased to call the fan
man q fall upwards"
However that may be--and many thin
after the fact come to be capable OF b
Ing turned into benehcence which befo
the fact would seem better TO
left undisturbed 1T Is not to
doubted that to expose man to the ds
ger OF perpetuating sonditirn fro
which Innocence has been seductive
withdrawn and into which virtue al
moral power have not grown would
worse disaster than even that by viii
they lost their innocence and fell in
stn.
SO We ere told that the Creator spoE
saying behold man has become as G.
in this one thing. the knowledge Of 40
and evil, and now lest ne stretch for
his hand and partake also Of the tree
ffe he must be put beyond that pos
b lily. After equipping the fallen pa
with full counsel for their lie In t
world and planting hope in their hear
they were sent forth to work out tn,
destiny and achieve an immortality
which all hope and no despair lay II
tired of the toll OF their new existen
they should essay to return to the gard
and partake OF the tree OF life in the no
OF lettering their condition the gstew
was guarded by an angel with a fam
sword which turned in every direct
and kept all trespAssers out, coming fire.
whatever corner OF heaven or earth. NJ
this is the story OF Eden. Its innocent
dts temptation. and It's fall, With all I
sorrows that 1t eDtailed upon the hum
race. And whatever may be the infallit
interpretation of its form. one thing I
mains an uncontested fact. man Is
more innocent and must work out
moral redemption under circumstances
toll and shame and sorrow and sin.
II has a hard look at hrst glimpse, III
4 4 -.