cian, whose skill has saved others, and who he believes can yet rescue him from death.

Go to Christ, feeling as Peter did, when he was sinking in the waters, and was near drowning, and felt that he had no strength in himself, and cried out " Lord, save me, or I perish."

Go to Christ, feeling as the repenting publican did, when he "smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner."

Go to Christ, feeling that you are indeed a sinner, and that the law of God justly sentences you to punishment, as it did Adam and Eve.

Go to Christ, feeling that lost in yourself, without any goodness, and without any strength of your own, you come to be saved by him, and to receive this salvation as a free gift which you do not at all deserve.

Go thus to Christ, looking up to God, and beseeching him to give you his Holy Spirit to aid you in doing it. He has said, "Ask and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

STORY V.

CAIN AND ABEL-THE TWO OFFERINGS.

Not long after Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden of Eden, they had two sons. They called the eldest Cain, and his younger brother Abel.

As there were no other boys in the whole world, only these two, we should think they would be with each other a great deal, and love each other very much. How often they must have played together, and, as they grew older, gone out with their father to assist him in his work. Two such brothers, living as they did, without any other boy for a companion, ought to be very kind to each other, and to do all they could to make each other happy. A very strong attachment, we should think, would be formed between them, to increase as they grew older and to last as long as they lived. But, alas! sin had found its way into the world. Their father and mother had become sinners by disobeying God, and the children, like the parents, had evil thoughts and feelings within

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them. They were not inclined to love and obey God, and to love others as they did themselves And it was absolutely necessary that the Holy Spirit should lead them to get rid of their evil thoughts and feelings, and to have better ones, or they would keep on sinning, and become more and more sinful.

Did Cain and Abel feel that they were sinners, and beseech God to forgive them? Did they pray earnestly for his Holy Spirit to help them to overcome their sins, and to feel and do right?

I think, Abel did, (as what I am going to tell you will shew,) and that very early in life, we cannot tell how early, he became a child of God, desiring, above every thing else, to love and obey him. If Cain had done so too, what a pair of happy brothers they would, indeed, have been! Then the affectionate attachment which we think ought to have existed between them, would really have been felt by both. They would have lived to do each other good, and to make each other happy, and their parents also, by their kind, brotherly conduct.

That Abel was such a kind and affection

ate brother, there is strong reason to believe; and he must have suffered a great deal from the very different disposition of Cain. The latter, I have no doubt, was often overbearing and cruel, in his treatment of his peaceable and unoffending brother. His temper, in this respect, kept growing worse and worse, till, at length, it broke out into an act of wickedness of the most horrible kind. The account of it which the Bible gives us, is a very affecting and instructive one.

Cain, it seems, was a tiller of the ground. He dug it, and planted different kinds of seeds in it which grew up, and brought forth things that were good to eat.

God had revealed to Adam, that the Lord Jesus Christ should come into our world. and make atonement for sin by the shedding of his blood on the cross,—and, to foreshow this event, had directed that innocent animals should be slain, and offered up in sacrifice. In this way, the great truth would be constantly held forth and illustrated, that without shedding of blood is no remission, or forgiveness of sin. But Cain disregarded this injunction. He took only some vegetables, or fruits, and brought them as an

offering unto the Lord. Probably he put some stones together, and made of them a sort of solid table, which is called an altar, and kindled a fire on it, and laid the vegetables or fruits on the fire, so that they were burned, and the smoke ascended towards heaven.

If Cain had had right feelings; if he had felt that he was a sinner against God, and that his sins could be pardoned only through the blood of Christ, he would have brought such an offering as God commanded.

He ought to have loved God, and obeyed him perfectly. All that he possessed and enjoyed had been given to him by God. God had sent sunshine and rain, and caused the fruits of the earth to grow, and kept Cain in life and health while he was cultivating them. He ought to have made the offering, feeling that God not only had a right to it, but to himself also, and to all that he possessed,-to do with both just as he pleased. He ought to have made the offering with the warmest gratitude and love to God for all the blessings so bountifully bestowed upon him. He ought to have made it just as God commanded him, con