of the Almighty devised a plan by which these poor guilty unhappy beings might still be forgiven, they would for ever have been driven from his presence. He gave his own Son to die for them, and for his sake, forgave them. They were no longer worthy to come before him, but Jesus Christ, in his great love and pity, undertook the office of Mediator and pleaded for them: "For my sake, my Father, receive the prayers of these unhappy people; for my sake, forgive them."

Caroline.-A mediator-I do not understand what a mediator is.

Mamma.-I will endeavour to make it plain to you. Suppose you had been in your papa's room, and he had given you leave to play there, on condition that you did not touch something to which he attached a value. For a time you might be happy, and not think of disobeying ; but we will suppose you forgot to pray for God's help to keep you from tempta

tion, and papa leaving the room, you thought you might unseen disobey him. He returns and finds you touching what he had told you not to touch, and very justly says, "You must not play in my room again. Go, you are a disobedient little girl." With sorrow and shame you go away. By and by, Amelia says, "Let us go and play in papa's room." "I cannot go," you reply, "I have been disobedient, and papa will not allow me to go there again." Your sister says, "I will go and tell papa that you are sorry, and then he will perhaps let you come." Amelia would thus be a mediator between papa and you.

Caroline.-I understand now, mamma. Mamma. The first thing then that we learn from the Bible is this, that, from the time that Adam and Eve by their disobedience brought sin and death into the world, there has been but one way, by which we can come before God. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life:

2

no man cometh to the Father but by me;"1 and in the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews, we have it beautifully explained to us, that it was because Abel offered his sacrifice to the Lord, through faith in Jesus, that God accepted his offering, and that "he being dead yet speaketh :" that means, his example tells us what we ought to do to be also accepted; we must, as he did, and all the other holy men whom St. Paul tells us, "obtained a better country, even a heavenly," and whom he calls "a cloud of witnesses," "look unto Jesus" as "the author and finisher of our faith." Now, my dear child, what is the first thing we learn from the Bible, as to the manner in which we are to come to God?

4

Caroline. That we should come as Abel did?

Mamma.-Yes, my love, and it is in this, that though he is dead he yet speaks

1 John xiv. 6.

2 Heb. xi. 4.

3 Heb. xi. 16.

4 Heb. xii. 1, 2.

to us, saying, "Go and do thou likeWe should indeed as St. Paul

wise." tells us,

"Draw near to God with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, through Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, whose blood speaketh better things than that of Abel."

Caroline.-I do not quite understand what that means, mamma.

Mamma.-I dare say it does appear to you difficult to understand, and I am not sure that I can explain it to you properly, but I will endeavour to do so. The Bible tells us that God had been pleased to show Abel that he accepted of "his offering;" and St. Paul, in the eleventh chapter to the Hebrews, reminds us, that it was because it was offered through "faith" in that blood, of which Abel's sacrifice of the lamb was only a type or figure. If, therefore, the blood which Abel offered had power to "sanctify him," and obtain for him "a witness

5 Heb. x. 22.

6 Heb. xii. 24.

that he was righteous," how much more shall the blood of Jesus, who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, "speak better things" to us. I was talking to your dear brother Frederick one day, upon this subject, and he says, he thinks this text may be explained as also meaning the blood of Abel called, as we are told, for vengeance: "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground, and now art thou cursed from the earth" -but the blood of Jesus, "speaketh to us better things," it calls for mercy. "Ye are not come to the mount that burned with fire, when so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: but ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God

7 Heb. xi. 4. 8 Heb. ix. 14. 9 Gen. iv. 10, 11.