when the blood of the lamb had been shed, then to offer up the lamb by fire on the altar, as a sacrifice to God. When Adam did this, he showed that he looked to the blood and the death of the Lord Jesus, as the only way by which he could draw near to God.

Cain and Abel were born with sinful hearts, because they were the children of sinful parents. When they were young, they stood by the altar their father built, and he offered up a sacrifice for them and for himself: but when they grew older they must each of them show that they fel. their own sin, and believed the PROMISE of God, by offering up a lamb each for himself. But Cain did not feel his sin, he did not think upon the PROMISE God had given he thought he could go to the Holy Lord God without the blood of Christ; he took some fruit in his hand as an offering to the Lord; but the Lord would not accept him nor his offering. Abel felt his sin-Abel went through the blood of the Lord Jesus to God, he believed the PROMISE of God, he obeyed the Command of God. He went to the flock, and

took from it a lamb, the firstling of the flock, and he offered it up as a sacrifice to God, and the Lord accepted Abel and his offering.

When Cain saw that his brother was accepted by God, and that he was not; instead of following his brother's good example, he was angry, and his countenance fell-he looked gloomy and sullen. There was no Bible then, therefore God in mercy talked with Cain, and asked him why his countenance was fallen; and encouraged him now to do well, as Abel had done, and that then he also should be accepted. But Cain had opened his heart to the wicked Tempter, and he would not listen to the holy words of God's mercy.

Cain would not listen to the words of God, he would not go to the blood of Jesus; therefore sin grew stronger and stronger within him, until Satan the wicked Tempter filled his heart, and when he was in the field with Abel his brother, he rose up and killed him. Abel fell dead upon the ground, killed by his brother's hand; his blood was spilt upon the earth, but his happy spirit, washed in the

blood of Jesus, rose up to God, and stood holy and without blame before Him in love. Happy Abel! he was the first to enter Heaven; he found the blood of Jesus a safe and blessed way straight to the throne of God. God has made Abel to speak to us in the Bible, and to teach us that the only way to God is through the blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanseth from all sin.

Then the Lord God spoke again to Cain, but it was in wrath, and not in mercy now. The Curse of God came down on Cain. That dreadful Curse which God had lifted up from sinful man, and laid on His own beloved Son, Cain pulled back again upon his guilty head. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous hath hope in his death.

Cain had rooted up the thorns and thistles from the ground all his life; but he had not rooted up the evil tempers from his heart. You can root up weeds from the garden, you could root up thistles from the field; but if

you

do nothing more than this, you are only doing what Cain did. Cain did nothing in his own heart, he let evil thoughts grow there, until they proved his destruction. When a disobedient thought rises in your heart, or a thought of pride, or an unkind thought, oh! go at once to your Saviour, speak in your heart to Him, and ask Him to wash you in His precious blood, and take the sinful thought away. If you are washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus, you will be like the blessed Abel, whose hope was in his Saviour, and who is now with God in Heaven.

These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God.-REV. vii. 14, 15.

V. THE ARK.

WHAT grief and anguish must have filled the hearts of Adam and Eve when they stood mourning over their dead son, killed by his brother's hand! All God's commandments are for our good, but Adam and Eve had believed Satan's lie, they would eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which God had told them not to touch-and they found that all the knowledge it could give them, was the knowledge of how all good may be lost, and the knowledge of how all evil may be brought upon

us.

Abel lay dead before them, he could not speak to them, nor hear their voice, nor feel their love and sorrow; they must bury him out of their sight: and Cain had fled away with the dreadful curse of God upon him, that curse which they dreaded more than death. But