i Ife ■■:•■■& f' Ml sVp| |^)0| I 9 i ■!/-% (JB Mi iWcy'cl B WL^^^ - m 1> m IS I 1H Bt^J / £jf I- H iiiiH ■h LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Chap, Copyright JS r o. _. 8helf.____._" UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ti Bible Ibomes anb ^families. Gift from Heavfn BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES OPENING UP THE BOOK OF BEGINNINGS THE KEY TO THE WHOLE BIBLE BY JENNIE ANDERSON PIERSON INTRODUCTION BY ROBERT J. BURDETTE CHICAGO: JOHN W. ILIFF AND COMPANY, 1900. 76966 -6^ -S^ s ^?S5 Library of Congress Two Copies Received I NOV 171900 | Copyright entry SECOND COPY DeHvorw if ORDLH DIV.5ION NOV 19 19U0 No COPYRIGHT 1900 BY JENNIE ANDERSON PIERSON ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Cfyis book is louirtgly irtscribeb to tfye memory of my bear IHotfyer (now "rtumbereb unify tfyy saints, in glory eperlasting/'), rofyose cfyilb= like faitfy fyas blesseb me all tfye bays of my life. 3ennie Ctnberson Pierson. preface. HE purpose of this book is to group Bible characters and scenes before its readers, and to open up to them the book of beginnings, the key to the whole Bible. The home and the family, with all that emanates from them, marriage, life, death, sin, sacrifice, worship, nations and races are here portrayed. Most people can tell the story of a sacred character, here and there, or of scattered incidents of Bible history, but with the Bible, as a whole, and the relation of one family to another, they are un- familiar. It is my earnest desire that the perusal of this book may in- crease our reverence for the home, warn us of our responsibility in the institution of the family, and be helpful to the children of our Father's great family everywhere. Each statement herein made is founded upon the word of God. Instead of giving references, I have written quotations in full, that my readers may have before them my authority. I have prayed for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and, as I have studied and written, mine eyes have been opened, and I have beheld "wondrous things out of thy law/' I have consulted no helps save Brown's Family Bible, and the 14 PREFACE. S. S. edition of the Holy Bible, with concordance, as printed at the University Press, Oxford. To these I wish to acknowledge my in- debtedness. THE AUTHOR. "Oh, teach me, Lord, that I may teach The precious things Thou dost impart ;- And wing my words, that they may reach The hidden depths of many a heart. Oh, give Thine own sweet rest to me, That I may speak with soothing power A word in season, as from Thee, To weary ones in needful hour. Oh, fill me with Thy fullness, Lord, Until my very heart o'erflow In kindling thought and glowing word, Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show." Untrobuction. Small wonder that the Home-love glows like a celestial fire in human hearts when it dates back to Eden when the stars frescoed the blue dome that canopied the bower which the first man and woman called home. Small wonder that the best-known song in the world should be a song of home that first sang itself in the longing- heart of a homeless man. So often it is, that out of the byways of sorrow, in the loneliness of troubled and grief -burdened lives, break forth the songs with souls, the stories that are eternal. So Milton sang the glories of light, when the glowing splendor of midday and the rayless mystery of midnight were alike to his sightless eyes. So, John Bunyan, looking from his den in the prison of old Bedford town, saw the busy city of Destruction, with its crowded marts and its careless men; he saw the flying Christian, crying "Life — Life — Eternal Life!" He saw the dismal Slough and the distant shining wicket gate; he saw the hill of Difficulty and the House Beautiful, with its wonders of revelation; he saw the valley of Humiliation and watched the terrible battle with Apollyon; he saw the silent, darkly flowing river, and caught glimpses of the gleams of glory that streamed from the opening gates beyond that Jordan. And all that his free soul saw, his chained hand penned on pages that can never fade. And so, too, when the world asked for a song of home, it waited through the ages, and the centuries, and the years, until there came to sing it for all home-loving hearts, a man without a home. The pathetic numbers that welled up like sobs of homesick- ness in the longing heart of Payne, closing his eyes upon the twilight 16 INTRODUCTION. of his pilgrimage among strangers, and in a foreign land, will awaken tender and sympathetic responses in the sonls of men and women so long as they build homes for themselves. Only in the life of a homeless man, in the soul of a wanderer could such a love- song find birth and voice. He longed for home until his very life breathed itself into the passionate yearning. He dreamed, and his dreaming painted for him a picture of all that was fair, and pure, loving and beautiful, and this oasis in the wilderness of his life he called a home. And always, in every time and every land, when the singer sings of home, men will listen, with tender eyes and loving hearts. —ROBERT J. BURDETTE. Uable of Contents, CHAPTER I. Page - God's Preparation For Man's First Home , 23 CHAPTER II. The Home in the Garden 31 CHAPTER III. The First Family 39 CHAPTER IV. The Home in the Ark 59 CHAPTER V. The Home in the Tent 73 CHAPTER VI. The Home in Canaan 105 CHAPTER VII. The Home of the Shepherd 129 CHAPTER VIII. The Home in Egypt 159 5Lt8t of Ullustrations. Page. Gift from Heaven. Frontispiece Creation — First and Second Days 22 Creation — Third and Fourth Days 20 Creation — Fifth and Sixth Days 30 Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden 38 Adam and Eve Driven From Paradise 48 The Murder of Abel 52 Noah and His Family Entering the Ark 58 The Flood Destroying the Earth 64 Abraham Departing From Haran 72 The Separation of Abram and Lot 78 Map of Genesis 80 Abimelech Restoring Sarah to Abraham 90 Abraham Sending Away Hagar and Ishmael 94 Abraham Offering Up Isaac 100 Canaan in the Patriarchal Ages 104 Abraham's Servant and Rebecca at the Well 110 Esau Selling His Birthright For Pottage 116 Jacob Obtaining the Blessing From Issac 122 Jacob's Vision of the Angels 128 Jacob Wrestling With the Angel 138 Meeting of Esau and Jacob 142 Joseph Sold By His Brethren 150 Jacob Mourning the Loss of Joseph 154 Jacob's Arrival in Egypt 158 Joseph Interpreting Pharaoh's Dreams . 164 Jacob's Sons Imprisoned By Joseph As Spies 168 Joseph Becoming Known to His Brethren 176 Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph 182 (Bob's preparation for flfcan's jftrst Ibome. Bible Ibomes anb families . CHAPTER I. (Sob's Preparation for ^Hart's ^jtrst fiomc. f"\ URING six long periods of time, which God calls days, He 1 was busy creating and preparing the earth for man's first I / home. 4**^ "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." This first creation was simply a mass of earth, covered by water; a great deep, "without form, and void;" that is, shapeless, bare, empty and dark, until the spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, moved upon the face of the waters. This manifestation, or presence of the third person in the Trinity, brought the light, which God com- manded "to shine out of darkness." "God is light and in him is no darkness at all." This light of God He called day; "The day is thine, the night also is thine; thou hast prepared the light and the sun." The withdrawal of this light caused the darkness, which God called night. The sun, moon and stars were not created until the fourth period of time; and this light of God was the same as that which Isaiah tells us shall be ours again, when we need no more the light of the sun and the moon. "I form the light and create darkness." You remember when Moses came doAvn from Mount Sinai, with the tables of stone, where he had been forty days and nights with God; how his face shone, so that the children of Israel were afraid to come near him. "God is light." And as Jesus is now the light of the spiritual world, so God was then the light of the mate- rial world ; and I believe is the source of all light. 23 24 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. How long this first day and night lasted we do not know, but the earth bears record that it was thousands of years. In His own good time God appeared upon the earth again, and created the firmament or sky. He also divided the waters which were under the sky from those above it; and He called this firma- ment, or expansion of air, heaven. Job says "He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them." During the long night which followed this period, the earth was still covered with water, like one vast ocean, over which was now suspended the beautiful sky which God had created in the second day. But in the third day, when God's presence again shone out of darkness, He called the waters on the earth together into one place. a He shut up the sea with doors." He said, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." "And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas." "The sea, is His and He made it, and His hands formed the dry land." Now our earth was all barren and brown. Just picture to your- self, if you can, how desolate everything must have looked, during this third day or interval of time, in which God was preparing for man this home; no green grass, or herbs, no trees or fruit or flow- ers, no living thing; just one vast stretch of earth and air and sky. Yet God was well pleased with the progress of His work, for we are told at this time that God saw "that it was good." But behold, now, how the scene was changed! God spoke, and the earth was covered with grass. He created "every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew." That is, there were no seeds planted; nothing from which vegetation could grow. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." Thus you see every variety of herb and tree was created perfect in itself, "the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after its kind," and the seed of each was there, that the plant might be propagated throughout all the future. Now as the earth stood per- fect before the Lord, covered with grass, and every variety of plant 'And the earth brought forth grass." "And God said. Let there be lights to divide the day from the night." GOD'S PREPARATION FOR MAX'S FIRST HOME. 27 and herb and tree, "there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground." Thus ended the third day. The fourth day dawned, as had the others, with no sun in the sky. But now all plant life, as it stood, needed the solar system, with which we are familiar; the regular rotation of "seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night." As yet there had been no growth; for God had not pro- vided for it. The vegetable world stood complete in itself, ready for the next step in creation. "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years. . . . And God made two great lights, the greater light (or sun) to rule the day and the lesser light (or moon) to rule the night; he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day, and over the night, and'to divide the night from the darkness. . . . And the evening and the morning were the fourth day." You see this day and night, measured by God's presence or absence, had nothing whatever to do with the day of twenty-four hours, which He instituted during this fourth visit to the earth. As yet no living thing had appeared upon the earth. There were the wood-covered hills with their purpling shadows; there were green pastures and still waters, mighty forests of oak and pine, deep glens and pleasant valleys and towering mountains, great orchards filled with luscious fruits, and beautiful gardens of fairest flowers; all overhung with light, fleecy clouds of rarest tints. But, O the loneliness of it all ! Earth, air and water were void of life. But now God spoke, and sky and water were inhabited by the creatures for which He had prepared them. First the waters brought forth abundantly, swimming creatures and fowl, that is, fish and birds, to live in the water, and to fly in the sky. "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winded fowl after his kind." And God commanded them to be 28 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. fruitful and fill the seas, and the fowl to multiply in the earth. "And the evening and the morning were the fifth day." In the sixth and last period, God made the cattle and beasts, and everything that creepeth upon the earth. Last of all, he created man in his own image, forming him of the dust of the ground, and breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. Thus man became a living soul. These words explain all the wonders pertaining to man; the distinction between him and all other life. "The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Unlike all other life, man is a part of the breath of God. He was the crowning work of God's creation, and to him God gave dominion "over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air," over the cattle and over everything that creepeth upon the earth, and over all the earth, to subdue it. "And God said, 'Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree ; to you it shall be for meat.' " "Thou hast made man a little lower than the angels, and has crowned him with glory and honor." "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Thus you see that all the work which God had done, in the cre- ation and preparation of this earth, was that it might be a fit and beautiful and comfortable home for man. Look abroad over this "Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful world, With the wonderful water around it curled, And the wonderful grass upon its breast," — and you will gain a faint idea of God's love for man. O, that man had measured up to this mighty love! Zhe Ibome in tbe (3ar6en. "And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly." "And God said. Let us make man in our image and let him have dominion over all the earth." CHAPTER II. Cfye ^ome in tfye (5arben. THE sweet idea of home, as we know and love it, came to us from God Himself, and was a part of that first Adam, which name means, the man. Immediately upon his creation, we are told, that in earth's fairest spot, eastward in Eden, the Lord God planted a garden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. How pleasant must have been the planning and the planting of that fair old garden. Where no weeds, no rank growth, no decay; could mar or destroy its beauty. Where sin had not yet entered in, and where "out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food." There in its perfection grew the fig tree; and Ezekiel tells us of the cedars, the fir trees and the chestnut trees in the garden of God. And in another place he describes the cedar: "It shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar; and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell." And the following description of Ezekiel we may apply to the other trees of Eden. "By the river upon the bank thereof shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade; neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed." Daniel tells us also of a tree "whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and on it was meat for all; the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the air dwelt in the branches thereof." We know by name two wonderful trees that God planted in Eden: "The tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." Although these trees are the only ones mentioned by name as being in Eden, yet, as we are told that God planted there "every tree that was good for food and pleasant to sight," we may, in imagina- tion, call to mind the beautiful descriptions in the Songs of Solo- mon and apply them to the garden of Eden. Even then we shall 31 32 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. come far short of the reality. O Eden, "thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits, cypress with spikenard, and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, with all the chief spices. A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon." "Awake, O north wind; and come thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out." Think of the luxuriance and beauty of tropical gardens, bereft of the intense heat, and the usual, disagreeable accompaniments of venomous animal life! "There the fig tree putteth forth her green figs, the vines with the tender grape give a good smell; and there are apple trees among the trees of the wood." The apple tree of Palestine is described: As affording a grateful shade, its fruit was enticing to the eye and sweet to the taste. It imparted fragrance and was of a golden color, amid sil- very leaves. By the water-courses of Eden, the sweet bay-tree spread itself, and the drooping willow grew up out of the river with the bul- rushes and the flags. There were found great forests of balm, box, ash and gopher; the last named being the wood used in the construction of the ark. There were also hemlock, hazel, walnut, oak, poplar, pine, elm and ebony trees; and orchards of almond, anise, apple, olive and pome- granates, with oil-trees and grape-vines. Besides these were the spice-gardens in which were the cinna- mon trees ; described as growing thirty feet high, with long, lance- shaped leaves, and white blossoms. Among the flowers were the historic rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley. What a rich and well favored land it was, for "a river went out of Eden to water the garden." You see, the garden did not comprise the whole land of Eden; it was planted there; and this river that rose in Eden was parted into four heads, which flowed around Paradise, one on each side of it. They were Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel and Euphrates, Moses compares the plain of Jordan to Eden, saying of it, "It was well watered everywhere, THE HOME IN THE GARDEN. 33 even as the garden of the Lord." Eden was rich also in gold and precious stones, for in this second chapter of Genesis, Moses says of the river Pison, the first boundary of the garden, "that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good;" there is beryl and the onyx stone. Ezekiel, speaking of the beauty and wisdom of the King of Ty- rus says: "Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every pre- cious stone was thy covering, the ruby, topaz and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald and the carbuncle and gold." Thus you see that the foundations of this gar- den, like those of that other Paradise, whose gates, we pray, may not be closed against us, were garnished with all manner of precious stones; that it contained also the tree of life, and that in it there w T as, as yet, no sin and no death. And the four rivers which flowed around the garden remind one of "the river of water of life, pure as crystal." To continue the description of these rivers — the second boundary of this fair and spacious garden, the river Gihon compassed the whole land of Ethiopia. Hiddekel, the third river, went toward the east of As- syria, and the fourth border, the river Euphrates, sometimes called "the Flood," was the river which Abraham crossed to enter Canaan, the promised land. God gave this garden with everything it contained to Adam, placing upon him only one restriction. "And the Lord God com- manded the man saying: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the clay that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die;" that is, be a dying man. As yet it was his privilege to eat of the tree of life, that he might never know death. Adam was placed in the garden to dress it and to keep it; that is, to enjoy his home; not to till the ground; not to weed it; thorns and thistles were not yet known. There was nothing to offend the eye. He was simply to do w T hat pleased him, in the way of arrang- ing, trimming and training; to be thoroughly at home in the gar- den, with its flowing waters, its choice fruit and flowers, its glitter- 34 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. ing gold and sparkling stones. Adam was to name the beautiful fish that filled the waters, and to the wonderful birds of Paradise, with their gay plumage, he gave their names. "And God brought all the animals unto Adam, and whatsoever he called every living creature that was the name thereof." Among the animals which Adam named were "The lion, which is strongest of beasts and turneth not away for any." The greyhound and the goat also. The fallow deer with its red or brown coat; and "the swift dromedary, traversing her ways," The scarlet-coated goat, and the wild goat, whose flesh was the venison which Esau brought to his old father Isaac. There was the timid, fleet-footed hart, to which King David makes such beautiful reference. "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so pant- eth my soul after thee, O God." Then there was also the "loving hind and the pleasant roe." Think you not that many, many happy hours could be spent with these innocent companions? In the song of Deborah are these words: "Speak ye that ride on white asses." Seven thousand of these returned with the captives from Babylon. So they were first in Eden. In the garden were also the bear and the roe buck, the camels and the chamois, and the flocks of sheep. Also the tiny creatures of which Solomon speaks: "The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks," "The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands," "The spider taketh hold with her hands and is in kings' pal- aces." "The ants are a people not wise, yet prepare they their meat in summer." These are only a few of all those that God brought into the gar- den for Adam to name, but in order to consider wisely the beauty and loveliness of this animal kingdom, we must not forget that its char- acter was such as is described by Isaiah, "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the THE HOME IN THE GARDEN. 35 calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their voune. . "Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks; thy hair is as a flock of goats Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bare twins, and none are barren among them. Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet; and thy speech is comely; thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate within thy locks. . . . Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. Thou art all fair, my love ; there is no spot in thee. .... Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb ; honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up; a garden sealed I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gath- ered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb, with my honey ; I have drunk my wine with my milk, O beloved. ...... I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded. THE FIRST FAMILY. 41 How beautiful are thy feet, thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thy head like purple How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love for delights. This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts like clus- ters of grapes, the smell of thy nose like apples, and the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak. I am my beloved's, and her desire is toward me. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us get up early to the A T ineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth ; there will I give thee my loves. The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved." (£r>e's Song to Ctbam. "As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my be- loved among the sons, I sat down under his shadow with great de- light, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love The voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart, behold he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice. My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rocks, let 42 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely My beloved is mine, and I am his ; he feedeth among the lilies. Until the day break and the shadows flee away, turn, my be- loved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the moun- tains. • • • • . . . . I sleep, but my heart waketh; it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, 'Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled ; for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.' I rose to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock My beloved is white and ruddy, his head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers; his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl; his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold; his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars, His mouth is most sweet; yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend." How fittingly these beautiful songs of Solomon portray to us the joyous and innocent natures of Adam and Eve, as they were before their fall. Alas, that the scene should be so soon changed. In order to understand how anything but good could be in Eden, the home which God had created, we must remember the words of St. John: "And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole THE FIRST FAMILY. 43 world; he was cast out into the earth." So though we may wonder much, and never know how evil came to be in heaven, its presence here on the earth is fully explained to us. The old, old struggle for the ascendancy between good and evil was waged first in heaven. Thank God that Michael and his an- gels prevailed there, and that that old serpent called the Devil and Satan was cast out into the earth, where the war began again. Thus is explained to us the mystery of Evil. There is no doubt about it, that morality comes with the coming of choice. Thus it was necessary that Adam and Eve should choose between obedi- ence and disobedience, for until they were tried and had resisted they were innocent, but not good; but it was not necessary that they should choose evil. Had humanity been victorious, in the struggle here, Satan would have been banished from earth, as he was from heaven. Immortality would have been won, and the whole earth would have been as Eden. That God regretted that the eyes of our first parents were opened to know good and evil is told to us most forcibly in His question to Eve: "What is this that thou has done?" Do you wonder that as God looked down the ages, and saw the sin and suffering which this victory of the dragon's was to bring upon the children of Eve, that "he repented that he had made man on the earth, and that it grieved him at his heart?" We are told by St. John in Revelation that the dragon was wroth with the woman, which explains why he went into the gar- den, where he first appeared to Eve, in the form of a serpent, and tempted her thus : 'Yea, because God hath forbidden you, do you not eat of every tree of the garden?' "And the woman said unto the serpent: 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, O 7 God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.' And the serpent said unto the woman, 'Ye shall not surelv 44 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil/ " You see how Satan then, just as he does now, mixed the truth with falsehood. God meant that in the day they ate of it they should be mortal — dying humanity. a And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Thus did she fall short of that for which she was created — a A helpmeet for her husband." "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked." No good thing ever came to them from the knowledge which they had thus gained. They were made not like unto God, but like unto Satan, knowing and desiring evil. "And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons," or things to gird them about with. "And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day." How pleasant is this picture of their friend and companion! Yet, "Adam and his wife hid them- selves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden." To them everything was changed; the pleasant air blew chill. The rustling leaves made them start with guilty fear; every sound, even the crowing of the cock or the lowing of the herds, seemed to warn them of impending danger. "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord." "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" "And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them." Alas, that they should desire to hide themselves from one who had always been their friend. "For if our heart condemn us; God is greater than our heart; and knoweth all things." THE FIRST FAMILY. 45 "And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?" And he said, "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." And God said, '"Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I com- manded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" Already Eve's punishment began to come upon her, for Ad- am's love and praise were turned into upbraiding. He said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat." And the Lord God turned to her and said, "What is this that thou hast done?" She did not and could not realize all the fearful consequences that were to follow this dreadful act of disobedience, but life al- ready was so changed, so full of terror and dismay, so shorn of love and happiness, that she dared not look into the future. "And she said, 'The serpent beguiled me and I did eat.' " And the Lord God punished them according to the degree of their guilt. The serpent, into which Satan entered, was "cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life;" the very name serpent is synonymous with all that is vilest in the earth. God also told Satan that he should put enmity between him and the woman, and between his seed and her seed. Of his seed St. John savs : "Ye are of vour father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth. When he speaketh a lie he speaks of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it." In this dark and apparently hopeless tragedy, there is one ray of light; we find it in the latter part of the curse which God pro- nounces upon Satan. Although the war, which is here begun between Satan and hu- manity, is to be waged for long ages, God promises that the seed of the woman shall finally bruise the serpent's head. "And when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his 46 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. own son, made of a woman, to redeem them that were under the law." "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet." "That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil." "Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light." God's curse upon the woman was to come to her through her husband and children; those whom she had irreparably wronged; her children should be brought forth with much suffering; the great joy of dawning motherhood should always be alloyed with physical pain. And her husband should rule over her. And unto Adam He said, "Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I com- manded thee, saying 'thou shalt not eat of it'; cursed be the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field." Hitherto growth had been spon- taneous, now it should be secured only through hard labor. In- stead of eating the choicest fruits of Eden, they should eat the herb of the field. Man had taken a long step downward — nearer the cattle of the field, farther away from the angels. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." In these words God pronounced the first burial service; for although Adam and his wife lived many years after this, upon the earth, yet the time when they should lie down in the ground was ever before them, for they had chosen the tree of death, although the tree of life was in the garden, and they might freely have eaten of it. Just here there are a few words thrown in; sort of remarks by the way. "And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living." Alas, that she became the mother of mortals, when immortality had been hers to give. ADAM AND EVE DRIVEN FROM PARADISE. THE FIRST FAMILY. 49 "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord make coats of skins and clothed them." "And the Lord God said, behold the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil" — knowing good and evil was very different from and being as God, in whom was no evil. "And now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken." Thank God, that in His infinite wisdom and love, He prevented our father Adam from partaking of the tree of life, after he became a sinner, and thereby entailing upon his descendants the untold misery of immortality, in this sorrowing and suffering world. "So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the gar- den of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." "Who maketh his angels spirits, his ministers a flaming fire." Although this day, when our mother Eve beheld for the last time the gay gardens, the towering forests, the smiling rivers, and the jeweled foundations of her first home must have been a sad one, yet there was a sadder day still in store for her. Poor old Eve; how much trouble she brought upon us all! And yet we cannot but sorrow for her. By and by, when her little son was laid in her arms, we mothers know, that her first thrill of exultation: "I have gotten a man from the Lord," was choked by the remembrance that it was be- cause of her sin that he was a mortal — a dying, sinful man. Eve called this first boy Cain, and when some time after his little brother was born to them, she called him Abel. Years elapse be- tween this event and the next one related of the family of Adam. This was when these boys were grown to manhood, and had chosen their trades or occupations. Cain, like his father, is a tiller of the ground; you remember that God Himself chose Adam's occupation for him, and what more natural than that the first son should choose the same; but "Abel was a keeper of sheep." 50 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. "And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord," — a thank offer- ing. "And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof," — a sin offering. You see thus early in the history of our race was our Redeemer, Christ, typified — although this com- mand was given later. "Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors; the first born of thy sons shalt thou give unto me. Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and with thy sheep." "And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect." Many people wonder over this, and think that the first fruits of the ground were not as acceptable to God as the firstlings of the flock, but this was not the case; it was because of the difference of the spirit in which each one made his offering. "By faith Abel offered unto God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it, he being dead yet speaketk." "And Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain: Why are thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." Such a wise and gentle warning. If Cain could only have mas- tered his jealous, angry feelings, and have realized that the trouble was with himself. But as he cherished his anger and hatred in his heart, he met his brother and talked with him. "And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against his brother, and slew him." Do you not think that Eve now, if never before, remembered the words of the Lord: "In sorrow thou shalt bring forth chil- dren." This was the first blood shed upon the earth; the blood of righteous Abel. Alas, that blood has been flowing on the earth ever since, and from the same cause. St. John says: "For this is the message that we heard from the beginning, that we love one another; not as Cain, who was THE MURDER OF ABEL. THE FIRST FAMILY. 53 of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's right- eous." But the Lord, then as now, made inquisition for blood. Imme- diately He said to Cain, "Where is Abel, thy brother?" And he said: "I know not; am I my brother's keeper?" And now God confronted Cain with the same old question, with which He had confronted his mother: "What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." And that God has not forgotten this cry, we know by the vision which St. John gives us in his Revelation: And I saw "the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, say- ing, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" And for an- swer they are told, "That they should rest yet for a little season" until "the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" And God said to Cain: "And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground it shall not hence- forth yield unto thee her strength." The ground was cursed for Adam's sake, and Cain was cursed from the ground. Adam's punishment was to till the ground, but from Cain was withheld even its natural increase. And God said to Cain: "A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid." In these last words Cain realized negatively one of the truths which Christ preached in His sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." And St. Paul warns us also of the same truth: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Cain feared greatly that, as a wanderer upon the earth, he 54 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. should be slain as he had slain his brother; so "the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him." What this mark was, we cannot tell, but we know it could not have been the same seal as that of which St. John speaks so many times as being in the foreheads of the servants of God. Tradition says that Cain's tongue turned white, or that a red star shone in his fore- head. "And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden." "From the presence of the Lord." Does this mean forever? What he so dreaded, being hidden from the face of God, had come to pass, but was there no hope for him? Thus were Adam and Eve bereft of both these sons, Then was added another son unto them, who was a great comfort to Eve. She called his name Seth., "For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." This is the last time that Eve is mentioned by name. According to the words which God had spoken, her individual life is lost in that of her husband's. The sacred Eecord says, "All the days of Adam, after he had begotten Seth, were eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters," and we have every reason to believe that Eve also lived to great age. Seth was like his brother Abel in disposition. The Bible says of him, "Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image." Adam lived to the ripe old age of nine hundred and thirty years, and saw his children of the ninth generation around him. In the seventh generation was born a man named Enoch, who walked with God three hundred years, "and he was not, for God took him" — the first man who went to heaven without dying, as did Elijah. And Jude tells us that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints." Enoch's son, Methuselah, lived to be nine hundred and sixty- nine years old, and was the oldest man who ever lived, although he was only thirty-nine years older than Adam, who lived long THE FIRST FAMILY. 55 enough to see the wickedness he had brought upon the earth, for he lived until the time of Lantech, the father of Noah. Thus closes the record of earth's first family. "And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died." "It is appointed unto men once to die." "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power." Zbe 1bome in tbe Hrfc. l iujujjiiiuiiaiaii i ^^ NOAH AND HIS FAMILY ENTERING THE ARK. CHAPTER IV. Cfye bomc in tfye CLxk. • IN ORDER to understand the condition of mankind at this period of the world, we must know that there were two distinct races, descended from Adam — the children of Cain and the children of Seth. Cain was of his father the devil, choosing evil rather than good. A murderer, God sent him forth from his home, branded: "A fugitive and a vagabond in the earth." And vet he became the father of a race of men. At the time of his murderino- Abel, he was about one hundred and twentv-eiii'ht years old, and already married. It is probable that a band of men and women from his father's house went out with him into exile. Shortly after this a son was born unto him, and he called his name Enoch, which means to consecrate. We cannot but hope from this that Cain did repent of his wickedness, and that he consecrated this son to God. He also builded a city and called it Enoch after his son. His son of the sixth generation, Lainech, was a murderer like himself. These are his words: "I have slain a man to mv wounding, and a voting man to mv hurt. If Cain shall be avenged seven fold, truly Lantech seventy and seven fold." Lantech's son Jabal was a shepherd like Abel; for we are told that "He was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle," while his brother, Jubal, was the father of musicians, "of all such as handle the harp and organ." Another son, Tubal Cain, was a smith, '"an instructor of every artificer, in brass and iron." You see how mighty was this race descended from Cain, for these children of Lamech, the murderer, only one thousand years from the creation, were shepherds, musi- cians, inventors. It was probably they who invented the plough, but, alas! also the sword came from their hands. Cain's descendants were worldly-wise, but wicked. 59 60 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. On the other hand, we have an account of the race descended from Seth, who was appointed by God to take the place of "right- eous Abel, whom Cain slew." Seth's son of the sixth generation, Enoch, instead of being a murderer like Lamech, "walked with God." It was Enoch's grandson, another Lamech, who said of his son, Noah,: "This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed." It was owing to the difference in the character of these two races that the children of Cain were called "sons of men," and the descendants of Seth were called "the sons of God." Now, when Noah was five hundred years old, it came to pass that the descendants of Cain began to multiply greatly in the earth, "and their daughters were very fair to look upon, so that 'the sons of God' took them wives of all which they chose." God, seeing this, said: "My spirit shall not always strive with man; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years," or I shall give him an hundred and twenty years wherein to repent. From this union of "the sons of God" with "the daughters of men" were born giants in the earth, "mighty men which were of old, men of renown." But the wickedness in the earth was great. "Every imagina- tion of the thoughts of man's heart" and his purposes and desires "were only evil continually." "And it repented the Lord, that he had made man in the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man and beast and the creeping thing and the fowl of the air." "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. . . . Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generation, and Noah walked with God," as did his grandfather Enoch before him. "And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth." And as God looked abroad over the earth, once so fair and peaceful, and saw it so cor- rupt and so full of wickedness, He said to Noah : "The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them ; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth." THE HOME IN THE ARK. 61 "O thou that dw