The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1913-01-17

Temptation w. 1-5; II. The Fall. VI
g., 7; III. The Trial, w. 8-13; Nv. m.
Sentence w. 1924.
L The Temptation w. Is. y.
vironment certainly did not cause i,
parents in the garden, to fall. Bos
hong after the creation of man M,
event occurred no one knows. W.,
1t a real serpent? Why not? Did NJ
Adam name all the animals? 1t ia "a
stretch Of imagination to believe m
tradition that he conversed with them
till driven from the garden. True Nm.
ton and not Genesis says this was Il.
tan, yet Milton had Scripture autho,
ity, Rev. 1879. We are also taught
that Satan can assume disgulses. n
Cor. 11:14, etc.
The point of attack was to question
the word Of God; this is always tia
open doorway to all sin. False the
ology always leads in the end to falss
conduct. God had forbidden to eat Of
but one tree, chapter 2;17, but hers
Satan takes q partial truth to make
a lie. "Ye shall not eat of the fruit
Of all the trees" Y. 1 (R W Eve did
what Jesus did when he was tempted
replied with the words of God w,
and g., But though she saw through
Satan's misrepresentation, she made
the collosal mistake Of parleylng,
Gaining that much ground Satan goes
a step further. 1t is not death she
need to be fearful of; God would rath.
er prevent her becoming like himself
hence the prohibition not to partaks
Of the fruit Of the tree.
Ewes Mistake.
Your eyes shall be opened
the woman saw" Human CURIOSITY
and a wrong ambition for a clearer
knowledge have w been fruitful
sources Of failure. Eve made the mis-
take of adding to Gods words (2;t)
and Of allowing herself to see the one
prohibition of the garden rather than
the myriads of privileges.
II. The Fall, w. 6, 7. The net
step was but the entering wedge. The
appeal was to the eyes, ut was a do
light to the eyes" v. 6 R. ", she took
Of It," see 1 John 2:16. When God
gave command not to eat, he knew
the danger Of touching, 2 Cor. Gil
There was of course a possible escape,
l Cor. 1913, even yet, but scarcely
so. Eve had gone too far, hence she,
and then Adam partook. The result
was death ". 10 and Rom. 5:12-14), but
not immediate death. That sentence
was carried out when Adam died. In
that day" rather, in his day, just as
we speak of the days of Lincoln OF
Washington. a
But physical death was not all.
Death means separation. Adam and
Eve were separated from God because
of this disobedience. Death in every
n is the result of sin, Rom. 6:23
and came upon the entire race because
of the sin of one man, Rom. SIP r. v
But Christ the second Adam brought
back life l Cor. 1922.
Adams Fault.
Adams fault was that he listened to
his wife's persuasion ". ~. Their
desire for q present advantage, be
come like God" overcame the fear Of
a future displeasure and illustrates
the Hebrew word for sin, missing the
mark" Immediately their eyes were
opened. What they saw now was not
desirable to look upon" and they
made themselves girdles from the
leaves of the fig trees. Man has eyeI
since been seeking to cover his owl
shame.
III. The Trial w. S:13. Commi
~iniquity and human nature seeks con
cealment. Innocence never seeks GOV
er. Sin makes towards of US all. A
the cool of the day approaches Co
walks In the garden. OF course h
misses Adam and calls Where ar
thou?" From that day on his call ha
resounded but man heeds not the cal
Sometimes the call comes In the COG
quiet of the evening and sometime
the fierce blare of the tempests Of life
Let us like Adams answer. There II
however, no JOY now in Adams IT
Spouse v. 10, the Joy Of life is all gon
once we yield to sin. Adams confe:
sion is worthy Of study e. g.. that hi
fear arose from his nakedness. Whei
will men realize that In the sight O
God they are naked, and that no eloaI
of self righteousness, nor any othe
garment Of mans philanthropy cal
cover his sin. Notice how each sough
to pass responsibility on to another
Rom. 14:12. God, however, drew iron
each a statement of their own person
al participation in this entire affai
and judged each accordingly. Rom
14:10.
~. The Sentence w. 1924. Adar
sought to throw the blame upon TV
end indirectly upon God who had civ
en- him Eve. No excuse but seeks
evade responsibility, We see. how
ever, In the words of this section thre
great facts presented. First, the n
lation between the human race an
the race of serpents. Everything tina
is evil, repulsive and vile is summ'
rized in that phrase that old serpent
Rev. 1879. The trickery of a serpen
its venom, It's noiselessness, its n
sort to dark places, and mans natur'
Instinct to kill a snake, all put togetl
er, is but q summary Of the curse O
recorded in verses IA and Is.
Second, the everlasting conflict b
tween mar and the powers of evI
One reason we know this garden stor
Ia true is that 1t squares with our e
cry day experience. It Is as true
life as the laws of mathematics. II
power of sin, its appeal to pride,
lust, to ambition, to the pleasure
the eyes, to any and all OF the EN-