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up to the Temple to pray. In the open ing scene in a cursed earth we have a Pharisee and a Publican. There are only two kinds of men in the Bible and they are the representatives of the two classes of men found in the world. The title of the lesson is the “First Murder," but the lesson itself is of far deeper significance. We are looking into the heart of the natural man and beholding the depths of its sinfulness. We see what is the fruit of sin, when harvest is ripe. Cain is a murderer even when he is giving through the performance of worship. Out of the abundance of his heart he both spake and acted. The words of our Lord, uttered when the Jews sought his life, are appropriate here. “Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye do—he was a murderer from the beginning.” Cain was a Unitarian. He was unwilling to acknowledge God’s right to dictate the method of worship. He was a will wor shipper. He came in his own way, would brook no interference, would not sub mit to God’s way or will. The murder of Abel was the practical outcome of a heart opposed to God. He evinced his hatred of God by slaying one of God’s children. The action of Cain finds the counterpart in the persecution and death of the Son of God. The lesson instructs us in the way of God, and the waywardness of the human heart. LESSON 5 February 2, 1913. Golden Text—Romans 5:25 The heart of this lesson lies in the heart of wicked men, it is Sin —a little word with tremendous meaning. The golden text tells us that sin’s wage -is death. The sin of Adam separated him from God and the great gulf grew wider and wider. Men did not become better as the years passed, but rather grew worse. The sixth of Genesis is a bird’s- eye view of God’s vision of a sin-cursed earth. God does not see with men’s eyes. He sees clearly and truly. We are led to believe that the people who lived in Noah’s day congratulated themselves up on the splendid progress of the century. The Lord tells us that they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Things were moving along in the usual way; they were buying and selling, drinking and gambling; they were seeking the world’s pleasures and treas ures. The rich were getting richer, and the poor wTere getting poorer, and they were all becoming more wicked, without any realization of the fact. There were
giants in intellect and industry in those days, but the fear of the Lord was not before them; “God was not in all their thoughts.” Enoch, a type of the right eous prophets, had lived and was taken away. The Spirit of God had sought to stay the tide of iniquity and sin, but the hearts of men were stubborn and un yielding. A full description of the con dition of the hearts of men can be found in the third of Romans. Sin was slay ing, by slow degrees, the children of men. God must act. What could He do? He was grieved at heart; in jus tice to Himself and in the interest of righteousness He must do something. God did act. He did the inevitable thing. Sin not only deserves but demands pun ishment. Judgment is taking place every day; here it became universal. The world had become one great red light district of sin, and God cleaned it out with the flood of waters. There must be an everlasting distinction between the wicked and the righteous and God clearly defines His purpose. Noah finds favor or grace with God, and is saved out of the wreck of a ruined world. Judgment upon sin is essential to a righteous God and punish ment of wrong-doers is essential to a righteous government. The lesson is terrible, but true. It is not a question of whether there was a flood—the Bible declares it—but the con ditions demanded it. LESSON 6 February 9, 1913. Golden Text—Gen. 9:13 The theme of the lesson is “The bow in the cloud.” God says, “I do set my bow in the cloud.” The back-ground of the picture is a ruined world rising from its watery grave. When Noah and his fam ily came forth from the ark, there was a solemn hush in all nature; gone were the busy throngs; gone was the music and the mirth; no voice broke the abso lute stillness; an awesome sense of God’s power pervaded all space. In the midst of such a scene God communicates to Noah His new covenant with the earth, and puts his finger upon the rainbow, as the seal to His covenant. There are many things involved in the covenant. We can, here, speak only of the heart of this agreement of God. “There shall never be another flood of waters to des troy the earth.” The covenant is world wide, and in all the world and through all the ages the bow speaks out of the cloud and tells of judgment and mercy. A cloud is the symbol of God’s presence. He appeared to Moses in a cloud; the
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