STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL.

WE read in the Bible that Adam and Eve had two sons, named Cain and Abel. Cain, the eldest, was a farmer, or tiller of the ground, and Abel, his younger brother, was a shepherd, or keeper of sheep. They each made an offering to God; the one, with the fruit of the earth, the other, with the best of his flock.

We find that Cain's offering was not accepted; but the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering; from which we conclude that Cain's actions were not pleasing in the sight of God.

But instead of being properly sorry for it, and trying to find out what he had done amiss, he was very angry, and suffered his passion and jealousy, at seeing his brother liked better than himself, to rise so high, that one day, when they were in the fields together, he killed Abel.

And when the Lord asked Cain where his brother was, he added to his great crime by denying it, and said, 'I know not; am I my brother's keeper?' Then God was displeased with him, and told him that he should be a fugitive

and vagabond on the face of the earth: and that when he tilled the ground, it should give him no fruit.

After this, we read that 'Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.'

Now perhaps you have all heard this sad story before, but I did not like to pass over it without reminding you of it. You, very likely, may have read it, and thought Cain a very wicked man, which he certainly was; but did the thought never strike you, I too am very passionate, and apt to lose my temper-suppose I should one day be guilty of as great

a crime?'

There is no knowing what people may do when they give way to passion. But you may think that it is impossible for you ever to do such a thing as this; you feel frightened at the idea of such wickedness; you feel that you love your brothers and sisters too much even to hurt them..

It would be sad indeed if you did not feel thus, but, perhaps, if Cain had been told, when he was a little boy, that he would have killed his brother, he might not have believed it.

You may suppose there is little harm in being rather cross and passionate; you feel very sorry for it at the time, and think you will try not to fall into the same error again. But do you not often go away and forget your good

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resolutions, until something happens, rather against your will, to remind you of them afresh?

I hope you may be persuaded to think of it more seriously, and correct these little faults in your tempers before they become great ones; for the same evil dispositions that lead you to quarrel with, and be cross to your play-fellows now you are young, would, if uncorrected, lead to consequences as dreadful as in the case now before us, and, at all events, make you miserable as men and women.

On the contrary, you will find a real pleasure in giving up your own wishes to those of your companions; and the more you practise it, the easier it will become.

But you must not expect to do this of yourselves; you must learn to pray to your Father who is in heaven, and He will help you to become what is most pleasing in His sight, humble, and lowly in mind, gentle and forgiving one to another.

OF NOAH AND THE FLOOD.

SOME years after the death of Abel, men became numerous on the earth; they also grew so wicked that the Almignty determined to destroy them.

But there was one man who found favor in his sight, whose name was Noah; the Lord, therefore, told Noah to build an ark, that is, a wooden house, which should float upon the waters-large enough to hold himself, his children, and such of the birds and beasts as were to be saved.

He was commanded to take some of all kinds of living things with him into the ark, and some of all food that was eaten both for himself and for them; and God declared that as a punishment for the sin of the world, He would bring a flood of waters upon the earth that should destroy every other living thing.

Noah did as he was commanded, and he was six hundred years old when he entered the ark with all his family; and as soon as they were safely shut in, the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened..

The rain poured down in torrents for forty days and forty nights, and the flood was so great that the tops of the highest mountains were covered.

Oh! how dreadful it is to disobey such a powerful God, who can destroy us in a moment if he please! But this mighty God is also called, in the Bible, the God of love; and the same Being who commanded the waters to destroy the earth, condescends to love little children, if they do but wish and try, to please Him.

At the end of one hundred and fifty days, it did not rain so much; and after Noah had been some time in the ark, he sent out a dove, because he thought, if the waters were gone, she would not return; but she could find no place to rest upon, and returned to him again.

In a few days, he sent the dove out once more, and she brought back a small olive branch in her mouth. By this Noah knew that the waters were partly dried up; and when he sent her out the third time, she returned to him no more. After this, the Lord told Noah to come out of the ark with his family, and all the birds, beasts, and creeping things; and, when they were all once more on the earth, Noah built an altar, and offered burnt offerings to that God who had so wonderfully preserved him.

And God promised Noah that he would no more destroy the earth with a flood: and He said, 'This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you, and every uving creature that is with you, for perpetual generations; I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.'