The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1894-01-11
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
International Lesson for January Ia
1894 Adams Sin and Gods q race Ger

Especially Arranged from Peloubers Notesl
GOLDEN TEXT For as in Adam all die even
so in Christ shall all be made alive.
REVIEW our last lesson we studied the
creation Of the world and of man made in the
image OF God The farl!l; was founded and
the sabbath orGGiucts through which institu
lions, rightly used, man would become like the
angels in character and blessedness and the
paradise garden become the city OF God
CONFIRMATION FROM THE EARLY TRADi.
| TloEs OF ANCIENT NATIONS. Almost every
nation, except the African, of which too little is
known TO be certain, has carly traditions of q
! golden age, Edenic blcssedness and innocence,
OF TIE serpent the tree and degeneracy There
Grc Chinese, Thitetan, Mongolan and Hindu
| trGGi tons, the Zoroastrian story of Mashya and
i.ashyana. the Egyptian tradition OF the reign of
! ia. the Greek Pandora, the Scandinavian
! A'Eard, III" sacred plant guarded by ce-
lestial genii on the AssyriSn bas-reliefs.
III csc traditions must have come from
some common source before the dis
! rcrsion Of men and point to some actual
i.1ct in :hc carly history of the race. And since
! 1t Is acknowledged that the Bible account is the
| simplest, most natural, most instructive free
from all that is grotesQue, there Is every reason
for believing that the Bible story is the true his.
| tory OF early man, from which the others di
| verged.
LESSON NOTES.
How Old Is the Human Race?-The
exact date is unknown. No one now
would attempt to fix the time with as
cheerful confidence as the great chron-
ologer determined by his system that
the world was created on certain
day in September, at six o'clock in the
, afternoon. The most conservative
scholars. such as Prof. William II.
Green, of Princeton, are inclined to
lcngthen the dates given on the mar
/ gins of our Bibles. On the other hand
science is greatly shortening the time
since the first appearance of man in
the glacial period, from the wild cal
culations of many former geologists.
The Garden of Eden, Mans First
llome.-Q) The garden of Eden was
but a small portion of the region
called Eden. The garden or paradise
is place fenced round; hence park,
plcasure-ground with trees, streams,
flowers and fruits.
i2) 1t is impossible to tell precisely
where Eden was situated. Delitzsch
says that Paradise is LOST We only
know that it must be somewhere on the
Euphrates.
(3) The most probable site is on the
lower Euphrates, near where the Tigris
(HiddekeD unites with it. Into the
united stream flows the Kerkha (Gi-
hon), and the karun (Pison). Sir Will
liam Lotus, of the Turco-Persan from
tier commission, equally distinguished
as a geologist and an archeologist, has
shown by his explorations that this re-
gion eminently fits the description in
Genesis. LOTUS geological map, pre-
william Dawson, shows that the top |
ographical geology of Genesis is more
accurate than most of the maps in our
modern aliases"
The Condition of Man in Paradise
Two opposite errors are frequently
held in regard to the Bible account of
the first man. One, that he was a tvp-
1cal savage, cave-dwcller. lower than
the inhabitants of darkest Africa. zen.
tertaining the most gross and anthro-
pomorphic conceptions of Deity"
The other, that ''he was the most
splendid specimen of the race the world
ever saw, fair as an angel, holy as
seraph:" that ''an Aristotle was but
the rubbish of an Adam, and Athens
but the rudiments of Paradise" He
SIMPLY was perfect as man complete
with all the possibilities of manhood.
He was innocent but inexperienced.
He was happy, at peace, and living in
with God
He was not cultured and did not
possess the arts and outward appli-
ances OF civilization. The skins for
and stone implements do not
prove that the first man was savage
at heart. Plato and Socrates and
raul are as great in the humblest hut
and meanest attire as they would
have been living like Solomon in all
his glory.
The Tree of Life.-The tree of life
IN the midst of the garden was proba-
oly tree which, by Divine endow-
nent with medicinal qualities, would
ieep their bodies from decaying with
lge, and would heal any accidental
INJURIES. Spencer says that
From 1t flowed as from well. trickling
stream of balm
Life and long health that gracious ointment
gave, and deadly wounds could heal"
The Tempter in Paradise.-V. 1.
10 the first man, as to every man
'lnce, the tempter came at the very
entrance to the path of life and com
,elled him to decide which way he
would go and whom he would serve.
50 Christ at the very beginning of the
Divine mission was tempted of the
levil.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.
Man perished in Eden even while it
lad tree of life in it. So men perish
low within sight of the Redeemer's
ross, because they will not believe
nd obey.
No place or character of employment
an free us from the assaults of temp
alton. The innocent Adam was as
allied in Paradise, and the holy Jesus {
n the wilderness.
God has done all possible for the {
appiness of man; He gave him a para
Use full of all that could minister to {
lis joy and good. God still gives us
he best possible world for such beings ]
S we are.
We are not responsible for heip0 as {