Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1894-01-17
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
international Lesson for January FL. Isas
Gain and AbeI-Gen. A:3-I3.

offered
Heb liza
SIe6
IIsE-According TO Ushers Chronology, ID
=. Se'o. one hundred and twenty-five TO on,
hundred and thirty years after the expulsion
from Paradise. our last lesson Adam was on,
hundred and thirty years old when Seth Wa
porn. which event Is represented as not Ions
aiHr the death Of Abel Again. Gains com
paint ". ~ implies that there WAS quite Q
population at that time. and this would require
. considerable period.
PLAcE-Outside OF TIE Garden OF Eden bui
probably In the same region. which whole re.
pirates rivers
| THE POPULATION or Tux woRID-At thi,
time one hundred and twenty-five years after
| the creation OF Adam and Eve, their descend
| ants might easily have numbered half a mil.
| lion, had their children married as early a. Is
| the modern custom II was probably rnuct
| less than this. but we can easily see how Their,
/ might have been remote people with whom
Cain could come IN contact
| LESSON NOTES.
The First Two Brothers-Caina and
| Abel were probably the first two boys
that ever were born. 1. Their Names
Gain means possession" or of
| spring" We understand Ewes eX-
| clamation: IL have gotten a man from
the Lord, as "a kind of joyful eureka
over the. firstborn Of the race, as if in
| this seed of the woman was TO be rea-
lied the promise of the protevangel-
ium recorded in chap. 1915. With each
child that comes into the world some
fresh hope is brought The name
Cain expressed this hope. Abel means
breath" transformers, and was
| a. nf Ia -
/ pressing her disappointment connect
ed with Cain, or she was feeling the
, trials of her life outside of Paradise.
>. Their Age.-Probably about one
hundred and twenty-five years at the
time of the murder.
3. Marriage Brothers and sisters
must have married in this first age.
There is an old tradition that Cain
and Abel had respectively twin sisters.
and that the twin of Cain became the
bride of Abel, and the twin of Abel the
bride of Cain.
4. Their Religious Training That
they We're trained religiously is evil
dent from the fact that they worshipped
God by offerings. 1t is not possible
that their parents could have forgotten
paradise, and their communion with
/ God, and all of his teachings: or that
they could have failed to teach their
children from their own experience.
Creation and the Creator. innocence.
temptation. sin and its consequences.
the hope of Gods mercy and the prom
Use that accompanied the punishment.
the longing for renewed communion
with God. holiness. and paradise re-
gained, must have been fruitful theme.
in their home training. Their bring
ing offerings implied some place and
mode of public worship. ! cannot see
how these early men could have learn.
ed that there was only one God. unless
God himself had revealed it. 1t is only
within very few years, even since |
entered the ministry, that the scien-
titic proofs Of the unity OF God were
complete.
.. Their busincss.-In this early per
iod began division OF labor according
to natural tastes. Cain was farmer
and Abel was a shepherd. Food and
clothing, implements for tilling the
soil, and for some kind OF home. must
have been needed from the first. With
out doubt everything was of the rudcst.
and these men used such stone imple-
ments as are found now in connection
with the remains of early man. 1t
must have been some centuries before
metals were discovered and used (4:22).
The Bible account thus exactly agrees
with the modern discoveries of early
man; and the earliest bones of men.
the tall Cromagnon men, agree with
the giants of Genesis.
Is. Their Chara cterS They doubt-
less had natural differences of disposi-
ton, and yet not so great rs to ac-
count for the results. They had similar
training and home Influences. but
gradually. by their early choices. bv
tn working out oi natural tendencies.
they mu have grown very far apart
in character The only explanation
of the difference between them lies in
their freedom of choice
The Difference between the Offer
ing. There must have been some cs-
scntial difference between the two Of
fcrings or the Lord would not have
made so marked a difference in his
treatment of them.
/ This fundamental difference was
expressed in various wave. as. for in
stance. Abel offered the best Of his
hocH; but Cain $ Offering is not spoken
Of in that way. He did not give his
choiceat things to God.
:. The offerings themselves may have
expressed different feelings toward
God. The burnt sacrifice expressed sor.
row for sin. repentance, a prayer for for.
giycncsS, while Gains may have been
"a mere formal act Of worship. a giving
of something according TO custom. but
without repentance or faith i'm God.
If, as seems probable. animal sac.
ritices were appointed by God, then
Abel showed his faitn 10y making the
Offering in Gods way, while Cain seems
TO have shown his want OF faith bv dis.
obedience TO Gods appointment.
LESSONS PRoM THE Story or CAIN
AND AnEL..--From the first there
has been some communication be
tween God and his earthly chill.
drcn. and this even after the
fall Every soul needs divine
revelation. Otherwise man is an or
phan in Gods world.