THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S The first effect of conscience was to m ake man a coward. Some th ink th a t conscience will bring us to God. How can the sense of w h at we are ever bring us to God, ft no t accompanied by the faith of w hat God is?— C. H. M. v. 9. W here a r t th o u ? To create man out of the dust of th e ground was power, hu t to seek man in his lost estate was grace.— Sel. v. 12. The woman th o u gavest to me. As th e woman had been given him for his companion and help, he had eaten of th e tree from love to her, and perceiving she was ruined, was d eter m ined no t to survive her.— McKnight. A frightened conscience ever m istru sts itself the worst. Man never, God always has th e blame. Satan always convicts us of o ther people’s sins. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our own.-^- Dixon. v. 13. The serpen t beguiled me. The sin of th e first p air was no t simply the eating of an apple, b u t th e love of self, dishonor to God, in g ratitud e to a Bene factor, disobedience to th e best of Mas ters, a preference of th e creatu re to the C reator.— F ausset. “ Sin is a transgression of th e law ,” (1 John 3 :4 )—-an overstepping of the law which is th e divine boundary be tween good and evil, and “ all have sinned and come sh o rt MX CLASS of the glory of God” OF GIRLS (Rom. 3 :2 3 ), “ th ere C lara Silliman is none righteous, no, no t one” (Rom. 3 :1 0 ). There can be no doubt in th e m inds of any of us th a t we are sinners, afte r reading these verses, and so we ought to be especially interested in the lesson before us. The B eginning of Sin. • i A fter God had made man in His own image, He placed him in Eden, a beau tifu l garden. In th e m idst of th is gar-
452 the m aterial p a rt of the tru th , viz., th a t they should know good w ithout the power to do it, and th a t they should know evil w ithout th e power to avoid it.-—C. H. M. v. 6. When th e woman saw. The Satanic prom ise drove th e divine th re a t ening out of her thoughts.— Hofman. A tre e desired to m ake one wise. The conceits of opened eyes and of some strang e wisdom are th e snares whereby Satan especially seeks to stum ble th e learned.— Lange. Untimely curiosity brings commonly g reat sorrow of h eart. —Sel. She took of th e fru it. The history of every tem ptation and every sin is the same. The outw ard object of a ttra c tion, th e inw ard commendation of m ind, th e increase and trium ph of pas sionate desire, ending in th e degrada tion and ru in of th e soul (Jam es 1 :1 5 ). — Jam ieson. In o rder to choose th e good, man m ust have in him power also to choose evil.— Peloubet. Gave un to h e r husband. Sin perverts hum an relations. I t makes of th e obedient wife a direct curse to th e husband, out of th e helper a tem ptress, ou t of m ar riag e a fountain of m ischief.— Gosman. v. 7. • They knew they w ere naked. They have lost the unconscious dom in ion of the sp irit over th e bodily and sensuous, and henceforth th e re en ters into the conscience th e world’s h isto ri cal strife between th e sp irit and th e flesh.—Lewis. They sewed fig leaves tog eth er. Mans effort to remedy his condition by his own m oral efforts is always based on th e sense of his n aked ness. All of his efforts to clothe him self only prove th a t he knows he is naked. Salvation cannot be procured th is way. We m ust first be clothed before we can have peace, and only Christ can clothe us.— K. B. v. 8. They h id themselves. A b rittle th ing is our earth ly happiness. Though n eith er anguish nor death can b reak it, if it is placed under th e care of God, sin can b reak it a t a touch.— F a rra r.
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter