The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-26
INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL
 LESSON
First Quarter. Lesson W. Genesis ",
 S-15. January 27, 1907.
The story of Gaia and Abel.


 s-15. January 27, 1907. The story of Cain and Abel. The next picture Mashed upon the inimitable canvas of Genesis shows the seed of God and the seed of the ser bent in that mortal combat which had l just been foretold The tragic scene holds the eye. The stream of human | life seems there to part On the one hand 1t flows in larger volume, casting up mire and dirt, foaming out It's own shame sending forth its omfnous de- | tonations. falling at length with a NJ agara roar into the abyss of hell. The smaller stream has q gentle How. | Heaven Is mirrowed on it's surface. It empties at length into the sea or Siass before the throne %
 The eldest of the race. at the close | of a heptade, approach the gate or the lost paradise. where there was a per manent theophany, pre-Mosaic she- inefs cherubim. They build their re- spective altars: 1t is possibly the very | first instance of sacrifice.
 Cain, in his perversity, chose to make eucharistic offering, an obiationl sig nifying our gratitude. He was not even particular that his fruits should be the first of their kind. He present. | ed his own works. There was no con- I fession, contrition. or faith. The only motive was to keep on good terms with God" Cain was the progenitor of the long line of Pharisees, unhappiiy not yet extinct. who go to the temple | to make an exhibition or tnemsetXes an dtheir good works.
 ] Abel makes a piacular sacrifice. as | well as a eucharistic one. That he or fered both Is sufficiently indicated py the expression in Hebrews, God test- | flying to his gifts. But the expiatory offering is the most conspicuous. was choice: the fattest of the firstlings | In it there was a confession of sin, an | expression of faith. Abel Is first or the | long line of publicans who have since | gone down to their homes Justihed ar 1 ter having laid all their deadly doing l down. and cried, God be merctfnl to | me- a sinner" There was no arbitrary election of Abel, or reproduction, or even preteri- | tfon of Cain. The case was decioeu py 1 the subjective state of the intent CT | the worshiper's heart. The form ano quality of the gift was the matsriaI | ana objective expression of this. AbePs l offering compsied exactly with the form no doubt explicitly prescribed. It was | therefore an expression of obedience So by faith Abel offered greater uit- erally) sacrifice than Cain. God turn ed the light of His countenance upon AbeIS iamO WiLH iL5 eHsahSNt Nt"Su --~S' That moment another, hateful flame, sprung up in Gains heart--malicious 1 envyi murderous jealousyf Ills loIty nride in himself and the fruits of his l industry was cut to the quick. l have never seen 1t hinted anywhere, put why l should it be thought improbable that i this whole scheme. evidently exemp- | lary and educative. should nave ran l sutred in full view of a large congre- gation? That there was already a considerable population Is indicated m this very chapter. This affords addi- tionai explanation of the superlatfve degree of Gains disappointmeht ana ah- ger.
 The long suffering patience of God! He Is not willing that any should per ish. To the disappointed man stand ing beside his hameless altar and re- fjected offering. himself all aname Wltn murderous passion. his downcast face indicating that he was breeding deed never done before. God spoke from the shekinah, persuastvely. but nrm: ''rf you had brought the prescribed of- fering, and in the right spirit yours would have been as certainly accepted as your brothers. It is not too late for you yet to go and get a lamb. sin offering. It is just to your hand. You have not quite lost your right or prl- moeeniture. Your brother will still submit to your rule.' But Cain is ob- durate. To all intents he Is damned before he Is dead.
 He beruiles his brother into the open. He mockingIy breaches to him there. He blasphemously rails against Gods impartiality, until his fiery speech. like intoxicating liquor, has nerved him to his deed. He strikes the fratricidal blow.
 tribution follow the sinner! There Is neither escape nor appeal from the Great White Throne. The cumulative and defiant power of sin manifests It. self. Adam fled. Cain dared not ap- proach the Theophany after his deed Adam confessed. Cain denied with lh- solent additions.
 Gains repentance was judicial. It was the groan of the villain who feels the hatIer draw. Like all murderers, "he sees the earth full of avengers" and Is in terror.
 Tn the first great contest between the serpent seed and the seed of God, the latter, as in many a subsequent en- counter seems to be in defeat. But. After all. 1t is only the heel that is wounded. Abel survives in those who initiate him. Though dead. he speaks. Jesus ranks him head of all the holy martyrs.
 Analysis and Key. 1. Seed of God and Devil in conflict. 2. Gains unacceptable offering.
 Oblation not sacrifice.
 No confession in It. 3. Abels in contrast.
 What made 1t acceptable? 4. Gains jealousy.
 Source and nature of it. G. The first murder.
 Adam and Cain in contrast, 6. Abel's survival.
 The Teachers Lantern.
 utn asUk tfal hlackest silhouette in this paragraph. Adam and Eve realize the hateful stream. How poignant the first moth CTS disappointment when she discovers that he. whom with "womanly precip- ,tanov" she had called the Gotten One" turned out to be not a ''erusher of the serrent," but one of the serpent's seed That motherly foreboding which led her