The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-04-22
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Prepared Especially For The Repub-
LEANS Readers by Rev. U. S.
Wright, DID,.
SUNDAY, APRIL rs, 1926.
THE STORY OF CAIN AND


SUNDAY, APRIL rs, 1926.
THE STORY OF CAIN AND
ABEL.
Genesis 4.
Am | my brothers keeper?-Gen. 40.
THE CHURCH.
Out into the open country sin drove
Adam and his wife. There another
home was reared and the work of liv-
ing began under harder circumstances
than before. Presently the world
knew new joy for it heard the cry of
its first baby. Eve smiled thru tears,
Adam laughed and God rejoiced.
Earth and heaven found new bonds in
the life that belonged to both and not
since the night that settled over the
garden had Jehovah seemed so near
Big, lusty chunk he was; so much so
that Eve cried, 81 have gotten a man
from the Lord" But work was hard,
conditions difficult, Cain exacting and
the next baby was so frail that it
seemed breath might blow him away
so he was named Abel. Years sped
swiftly under the stern conditions of
The primitive world in which mems
bare hands were pitted against nature
in the raw. Little leisure was there
but in home there was the joy of
growth and the nurture of the re-
ligious. For they had family altar
and prayed and CROPPED dimly. for the
old intimacy of the Garden. 1t was
the church in the home that gave the
earliest shaping to the life of the
boys. And it was in that same church
that the first tragedy of their lives
was wrought.
Cain despised his brothers frailty.
Big and brawny, he fought the re-
luctant earth and compelled obedience
to his will. His tolerance toward Abel
often cloaked a sheer and, in thinking
if not in fact, he lorded the household
that he fed with the fruits of his
mastery of the soil. He felt himself
las following the injunction of Jehovah
to subdue the earth, Abel cared for
pets about the house while his brother
ran afield and, as he grew to manhood,
found that the animal he had fostered
had become a flock with which he
might wander over the hillside and
rest with them under the trees while
they furnished milk and meat for the
appetite keen from the open air. They
were both of them religious. The
home altar called equally in their ears
land they would have been shocked had
any one suggested any other course
than it's filling with their gifts. But
one brought his offering warm with
gratitude for a chance given him in
his weakness, joyous with his sense
Cof dependence upon the strength that
was impaired by Jehovah. There he
would go singing to his task from
the fire kindled in his soul. Cain came
with the swagger of power. He need
s0 III liSlp IL OlIl dOu anu Ills Ily
muscles fairly rippled with energy as
he deposited his observance of custom.
NHow hardly shall they that have
riches (mind, muscle or money! enter
into the Kingdom of God" Gains
glow was self-appreciation while he
glowered at the singing Abel's weak
ness
THE STREET
The street is the test of the church.
What follows worship determine its
worth-ship. And singular train of
events followed the use of that old
altar in Adams house. Under print
tive conditions the herd will inevitably
'outrank the farm. A bent stick spells
poor husbandry while the flock ranges
to any pasturage and thrives beside
any stream. Cain would come in hot
and dusty from the field that was
baked by the drought to listen to
Abel singing in from some water
course, depleted but still sufficient to
supply the increasing flock. Again he
would come in wet and draggled from
a freshet that had torn his land from
its place to hear Abel drive his sheep
from the uplands unhurt, rejoicing
over the lambs new-foaled. Meat for
the family pot gave Abel new stand
ing in the home and Cain saw himself
being dispossessed by the weakling.
To be beaten by superior holds no
sting, to be beaten by an equal holds
only passing smart, but to be beaten
by weaker rival leaves a ranking
sore. Unless he be a real sport his
altar gets its supreme test here. And
Cain was no sport. The challenge of
God concerning the crouching sin tells
of his persistent petting of it. ."Rule
over it" said God. But Cain was mar
ried to it-note the same phrase in
Gen. 3:16-hugged his sense of un-
fairness and determined to take mat
tiers into his own hands. God was
unfair, the family was unfair,-all
right; and his face was never uplifted.
THE COURT
Months passed with the slowly ma
turing determination to take things
i,+o o,,,x, 1o,J, as.oz.1