The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1894-01-19
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
international Lesson for January FL. 1894
Cain and Abel-Gen. A:3.l3

Especially Arranged from Peloubet's NoteA1
| GOLDEN TExE-By faith Abel offered unto
God more excellent sacrifice than Cain
| deb liza
THE SECTION OF HISTORY includes Gen
| l:l-s6
TIMk-According to Csher's Chronology, b
| : 3Ss5. one hundred and twenty-five to one
aundred and thirty years after the expulsion
| rom Paradise, our last lesson Adam was one
! aundred and thirty years old when Seth was
| Dorm which event Is represented as not long
| after the death o! Abel Again, Gains COM
plaint w. lD implies that there WAS quite .
| population At that time, and this would REQUIRE
/ considerable period
PLACK-Outside Of tie Garden of Eden, but
probably In the same region, which whole 10.
yion was called Eden. near the Tigrts and Eu-
pirates rivers
THE POPULATION OF THE woRLD-At this
time. 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 a. early IS Is
the modern custom. IT was probably much
less than this but We can easily see how there
might have been remote people with whom
Cain could come in contact
LESSON NOTES.
The First Two Brothers.-Cain and
Abel were probably the first two boys
that ever were born. l. Their Names
Cain means possession" or off
spring." We understand Ewes ex-
clamation: II 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 protevaugel-
lum recorded in chap. S: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
I'd with Cain, or she was feeling the
;rials of her life outside of Paradise.
2. Their Age.-Probably about one
hundred and twenty-five years at the
time of the murder
3. Marriage. 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 for 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 only
within very few years, even since l
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 first. With
out doubt everything was of the rudest,
and these men used such stone imple-
ments as are found now in connection
with the remains of early man. It
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
nan; and the earliest bones of men,
the tall Cromagnon men, agree with
he giants of Genesis.
6. Their Characters.-Tkey doubt
less had natural differences of DISPOSE
ton, and yet not SO great as to &C
count for the results. They had similar
training and home influences, but
gradually, by their early choices, by
the working out of natural tendencies,
they must have grown very far apart
in character. The only explanation
IF the difference between them lies in
their freedom of choice.
The Difference Between the Offer
ings.-There must have been some es-
sential difference between the two Of
ferings or the Lord would not have
made so marked a difference in his |
treatment of them.
This fundamental difference was
expressed in various ways, as, for in
stance, Abel offered the best of his |
dock; but Gains offering is not spoken
IF in that way. He did not give his
choicest things to God.
9. The offerings themselves may have
expressed different feelings toward
God. The burnt sacrifice expressed sor-
row for sin, repentance, a prayer for for
giveness, while Gains may have been
q mere formal act of worship. giving
of something according to custom. but
without repentance or faith in God.
8 If, 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