The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1894-01-18
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
International Lesson for January FL, 1894
Cain and Abel-Gen. 4:3.13.

| Heb liza Ht
| THE SECTION OF HISTORY includes Gen
| 4I-2S
| TIME-According to Usher's Chronology, b.
| C. 3S15, one hundred and twenty-five to one
| hundred and thirty years after the expulsion
from Paradise, our last lesson. Adam was one
| hundred and thirty years old when Seth was
| born which event is represented as not long
! after the death Of Abel Again, Gains COM
| plaint ". l4) implies that there was quite a
| population at that time, and this would require
| considerable period.
| PLACE--Outside of tie Garden of Eden, but
| probably in the same region which whole re-
| glon was called Eden, near the Tigris and Eu-
| pirates rivers.
THE POPULATION OF THE WoRLD.-At this
| June, one hundred and twenty-five years after
| the creation of Adam and Eve, their descend.
ants might easily have numbered half mil.
| lion, had their children married as early as is
the modern custom. 1t was probably much
ltss than this, but we can easily see how there
might hive been remote people with whom
Cain could come in contact
LESSON NoTEs.
The First Two Brothers.-Cain and
Abel we're probably the first two boys
that ever were horn. l. Their Names
Cain means possession" or "off-
spring" We understand Ewes ex-
clamation: Il have gotten a man from
the Lord" as 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. 3:15. 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
given either after his death, or as ex-
PRESSING her disappointment connect
cd 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.
g. 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 were 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 it's consequences.
the hope of Gods mercy and the prom
Use that accompanied the punishment,
the longing tor renewed communion
with God, holiness, and paradise re-
gained, must have been fruitful themes
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 onlv
within very few years, even since
entered the ministry, that the scien-
tific proofs of the unity of God were
complete.
5. Their business.-In this early per-
iod began division of labor according
to natural tastes. Cain was a farmer
and Abel was shepherd. Food and
clothing, implements for tilling the
SOIL and for some kind of home. must
have been needed from the frs. With
out doubt everything was of the rudest.
and these men used such stone imple-
ments as are found now in COM. .ection
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 earlv
man; and the earliest bones of men.
the tall Cromagnon men, agree with
the giants of Genesis.
g.. Their Characters.-T doubt
less had natural differences of disposi-
ton, and yet not SO great as to ac- |
count for the results. They had similar
training and home influences, but
by their early choices, by
the working out of natural tendencies, |
they must 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
ings.-There must have been some cs-
sential difference between the two Of
ferings or the Lord would not have
made so marked difference in his
treatment of them.
l This fundamental difference was
expressed in various ways, as, for in
stance, Abel offered the best of his
lock; but Gains offering is not spoken
# in that way. He did not give his
choicest things to God
2. The offerings themselves may have
different feelings toward
iod. The burnt sacrifice expressed sor-
'ow for sin, repentance "a prayer for for
giveness, while Gains may have been
A mere formal act of worship, giving
of something according to custom, but
without repentance or faith in God.
3 IT, as seems probable, animal sac
rifices were appointed by God, then
Abel showed his faith by making the
offering in Gods way, while Cain seems
to have shown his want of faith by dis
obedience to Gods appointment.
LESSONS FROM THE STORY OF CAIN
AND ABEL.-From the first there
1as been some communication be-
,ween God and his earthly chill
iren, and this even after the
TALL. Every soul needs az divine
LOT