CAIN AND ABEL.

Gen. 4. 2. And Abel was a keeper of Sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the Ground.

THESE were Adam's first born sons, they

were two brothers. Come then all ye who are brothers and sisters and hear the his tory of these two brothers. As they are the first children that ever lived in the world, it is natural to think that they lived very happily together, loved each other very much, and as being the first, were the best Children in the world. Their history will declare that it was quite the contrary. Thus it is often the case that where we expect most, our expectations are disappointed. Let us not expect to find many persons happy. Sin which has entered the world has brought with it every kind of evil. Unhappiness is one of those evils. Sin Las made all mankind unhappy. Holiness a one can make them happy. While you are ginners you are under the curse and wrath of God. But when you are made holy by his Holy Spirit, then you will be reconciled to him

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and obtain thro' Christ his favor and the pardon of sin. When your sins are pardoned thro' the merits of Christ, then you will be happy and not before. You have been told that you are all by Nature the children of wrath. Cain and Abel were the children of wrath. God made one a child of grace, and the other for any thing we know, continued to live and die under the marks of God's displeasure. He was a child of wrath. It may be well to consider their history apart, and to notice their employments, offerings and characters.

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I. I shall begin with the HISTORY of the eldest, whose name was CAIN. He was born a short time after the world was created, which is now nearly 6000 years ago. His mother rejoiced greatly at his birth, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Thinking that God had given her a valuable gift, therefore she called his name Cain, which signifies possession. It was a common practice in ancient times to give `children names, by which their characters on some circumstances connected with their birth might be commemorated. Eve thought that God had given her the promised seed. But

it was not so, he was the son of the wicked one. Some say that Cain and Abel were twins, but we are not told that they were, therefore cannot be certain. We are not informed of any particulars respecting their childhood. This only we know that they were both instructed in their duty to God, and that they were not brought up in idleness.

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1. The EMPLOYMENT of CAIN He was a tiller of the ground, that is, an husbandman or cultivator of land. It was a laborious employment, but it was also a useful one. It was also a profitable one, for the Earth yielded her increase and brought forth fruits in due It was an employment that was very much calculated to promote health, and at the same time to fill the heart with gratitude to him who causeth the grass to grow for the cattle and herbs for the service of man. Adam was a gardener and Cain was a husbandman. His employment seemed to have been something like that of his father. There are some parents who do not wish their children to follow the same employment, on account of the snares and dangers that attend it. This

is good, especially if it be one that is likely lend them into temptation and the commission of evil. Some children likewise are not willing to follow the trade of their father to be brought up to the same business. Still aff children should have some employment, they must not be brought up in idleness. It was a maxim among the Jews always to give their children some trade or employment. The Is sa Kites were chiefly husbandmen and shep herds.

2. We shall notice the OFFERING of Cain. "And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an of fering unto the Lord." This offering it app are was merely a thank offering, and not a sin of fering. Cain must have been a very bad young man indeed, if he had not felt some kind of gratitude or thankfulness for the goodness of God. Hereby Cain acknowledged God an the giver of what the earth had brought forth, but he did not acknowledge or confess him

If a sinner. This offering not being accep table to God, he refused it. "But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect." He shewed no token of acceptance. God who seeth

seeth the hearts of all and who knoweth every thought, saw that the motives of Cain in bring ing this offering were not good. Perhaps Cain thought that any thing was good enough to burn on the altar, but God who had given him the best fruits, did not think so.

He had a right to the best of the fruits which the Earth had produced. The sacri fice of Cain was an abomination to the Lord. « And Cain was very wroth and his counte nance fell." When Cain saw that his offering was not acceptable to God, he should have inquired the reason why it was refused. He should have examin d his own heart, to know whether the motives with which he had brought his offering were pure. Whether it was a willing and cheerful offering, or whether it was a forced or constrained one; probably he knew that if he had brought no offering, Adam and Eve would have taken notice of it. He ought to have sincerely repented of his sin, and to have made an immediate atonement by bringing a sin offering. This was not the case, he was very much displeased with the holy God for refusing his off ring. His count:4 nance fell. What a remarkable expression.