line of facts, linking together the chief events of the history, and that each succeeding gradation embraces a larger proportion of details. The effect on a school would be something like the following. The lowest class learn from the first gradation that, "God blessed Joseph." This fact is thus stated to the class above them in the second gradation; "God was with Joseph in prison and blessed him." While in the third gradation, for the next class higher, the fact is given almost in the words of the Bible, "God was with Joseph and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison." It is added in this gradation that "Pharaoh's chief butler and chief baker were in prison also, and Joseph interpreted their dreams." Thus throughout the lessons of the whole series gradual advances are made, suitable for children of different ages or degrees of progress. To call attention to all the points in this portion of the history which are mentioned in the second, and not included in the first gradation— and those mentioned in the third which are unnoticed in the second, would be to lengthen these observations unnecessarily, but the reader is requested to compare the three thus placed before him, and to observe their fitness for pupils in different stages of progress. The working of this method on the children of one family at the same school has also happy results; a young child learns the outline of the history, one a little more advanced obtains more information, and one older still, gains still more knowledge. If children talk to their parents of what they learn at school the result must be satisfactory. In order to complete the series of comparisons it seems desirable to refer also to the author's "BIBLE EXERCISES," originally framed to accompany his "TABULAR VIEW." In using these exercises the Bible is the Text-Book for the pupils. By its means, with the aid of the questions and references, the most advanced classes are expected to prepare themselves for a searching examination. It will be observed that the geographical names occurring in Gradation I, to which the attention of the youngest should be called, are given in Italics. The situation of the places should be pointed out on maps. In Gradations II, and III, the names of places are accompanied by a short description. The entire series of lessons should be taught with maps, and may be used either with or without the author's "Tabular View of the Old Testament." BIBLE HISTORY. GRADATION III. PERIOD I. FROM THE CREATION TO THE DELUGE. LESSON 1. GENESIS i-iii. The Creation and the Fall of Man. the In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon face of the deep. On the first day God created light. On the second day God made the firmament. On the third day God divided the waters from the land, and created plants. On the fourth day God made the sun, moon, and stars. On the fifth day God created the fishes and the birds. On the sixth day God created the cattle, the beasts, and creeping things; and last of all he made man, in his own image. God having created all things in six days, pronounced them to be very good. He rested on the seventh day, and blessed it. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and out of the ground he made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And the Lord God put the man whom he had formed into the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it. And God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him ;" so he formed a woman, and brought her unto the man. God permitted Adam and Eve to eat of all the fruits that grew in Eden, except the fruit of the tree of knowledge. The serpent PERIOD 1.] CAIN, ABEL, AND SETH. deceived Eve, and tempted her to sin. She ate of the fruit which God had forbidden and gave also to her husband; thus they both disobeyed God. God cursed the serpent, and promised a Saviour to redeem man from his power. He said to the woman that her sorrow should be increased with the increase of children; and to the man he said, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. 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." When God had thus sentenced Adam and Eve to suffering and to death, he expelled them from the garden of Eden. Eden-is supposed to have been situated near the head of the Persian gulf, where the rivers Euphrates and Tigris empty their waters; but several other situations have been assigned to the garden of Eden. The name, Eden, means pleasure or delight, thus indicating the great beauty and richness of Adam's first inheritance; hence it was not uncommon for pleasant and fruitful localities to be called Eden. LESSON 2. Cain, Abel, and Seth. GENESIS iv-v. 5. Cain was the eldest son of Adam and Eve. His brother Abel ; was their second son. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. They both brought offerings to God. Cain's offering was of the fruits of the earth. Abel's offering was of the firstlings of his flock. God accepted Abel and his offering, but unto Cain and his offering he had not respect. Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord reproved Cain, and said, "Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?" And Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his ENOCH. METHUSELAH. [4004-2348 B.C. brother, and slew him. The Lord then said unto Cain, "What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground; 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 henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth." Cain feared that some one would slay him, but the Lord said unto him, "Whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod. Here he built a city, and he had many descendants. One of his descendants, named Jabal, invented tents; another, Jubal, invented musical instruments; another, Tubal, was an artificer in brass and iron. God gave Adam and Eve a son who was called Seth. He was a good man. His descendants were called the children of God. The descendants of Cain were called the children of men. was one-hundred-and-thirty years old at the birth of Seth. and Eve had many other sons and daughters. Mankind increased very fast because they lived so long. Adam lived nine-hundredand-thirty years. Adam Nod-land of wandering,' was a country east of Eden. It was so named because Cain the "fugitive" dwelt there, when he fled from the presence of his bereaved and sorrowing parents, after he had murdered his brother. LESSON 3. GENESIS v. 6-vii. Enoch. Methuselah. Noah. The Deluge. Enoch was a descendant of Seth; he walked with, or pleased God, and God took him to heaven when he was three-hundredand-sixty-five years old. Seth died some years after, being ninehundred-and-twelve years old. Enoch had a son named Methuselah. He was the oldest man that we read of; he lived nine PERIOD 1.] NOAH. THE DELUGE. hundred-and-sixty-nine years. Methuselah had a son named Lamech. Lamech was the father of Noah. When Noah was born Lamech said he should comfort them: Noah became the father of three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The wickedness of men increased on the earth. God said he would destroy mankind by a flood, but he would save Noah and his family. God commanded Noah to make an ark of wood. He said, "Behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them." Noah obeyed God by building the ark; while it was being built he warned mankind of the approaching flood. He then went into the ark, as God had commanded him; the rain began to fall, and the fountains of the great deep were also broken up. The waters increased on the earth forty days and forty nights, and rose above the highest mountains. All flesh died, except Noah and his family, and the living things that were with them in the ark. The waters prevailed on the earth one-hundred-and-fifty days. |