And now the Lord acts as a Judge, and passes sentence upon them for their crime. A curse is pronounced on the very ground for Adam's sake; and man is henceforth to labour on it, and eat his bread by the sweat of his brow. And pain and sorrow are to be the woman's portion.

This was not all. They were to be outcasts from Eden. They were "driven away in their wickedness," having lost the favour of God, and forfeited their rich and glorious inheritance. And there, away from the garden of Eden, began that fallen life which has ever since been the lot of man.

From that time too they became dying creatures. They did not drop down dead at once. No, God in mercy stayed his heavy hand. But from the moment they sinned they became liable to death. They became subject to weakness and weariness of body, pain, suffering, and sickness. Their life henceforth was to be a short life of sorrow, instead of an endless life of bliss.

But mark "the goodness and severity of God"-His severity, in carrying out the threatened punishment; but his goodness, in

not leaving his poor fallen creature in the darkness of despair. God loved him even in his fall. He loved him with so warm a love, that even sin could not quench it. Whilst he hated the transgression, He pitied the transgressor. He provided a way for his return to His favour. He opened a door, by which he who had shut himself out might yet enter in. He promised a Saviour, who was to bruise the serpent's head-a Saviour who has since come, and has wrought out a blessed deliverance for us.

We know not whether Adam and his fallen partner accepted this offer of mercy. The little that is told us of their after life leads us to hope that they did accept it. We trust that, although driven out of the earthly paradise, they sought and found that new and better inheritance which Christ purchased for them, and were restored once more to their heavenly Father's favour.

But stop, Reader, and draw off your eyes from Adam, and fix them on your own sinful self. You, like him have fallen. You have lost your paradise. You have forfeited your

inheritance. In Adam all die. But, thank God, there is in Christ more than enough to repair the evil which Adam brought upon us. He has paid a price, which more than meets all our debt. There is for every humble, penitent, believing sinner, a present pardon, and an everlasting life.

Have you ever felt your misery and your ruin? Have you ever felt what it is to be afar off from God? And, what is more, have you welcomed the salvation provided for you in the gospel? Have you thankfully accepted it, and pressed it to your heart? Oh! what love is that which says, "Believe and live "-which throws open the door, as it were, to the poor sinner, and says, "Enter in there is pardon for you; there is peace for you; there is life for you. The wages of sin is death-that is your desert; but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Thank God, there is a better Eden, than Adam ever lived in, prepared for us-a Paradise, where sin can never enter, where we shall eat of the Tree of Life, and go no more out for ever.

CAIN AND ABEL;

OR, THE INFIDEL AND THE TRUE

BELIEVER.

AFTER the fall, Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden, the spot where they had been so happy. And they had now to live a life of labour, toil, and sorrow. They must indeed have passed some sad and solitary hours together, though God still granted them many a blessing.

It was doubtless a great joy when Cain their firstborn was given to them, and soon after Abel. But there must also have been some feelings of sadness at their birth. For very soon they must have plainly seen that these children were born, not after God's blessed image and likeness, but after their own corrupt nature. They were, as David says of himself, shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin. They saw now the sad effects

of their own trangression, for its stain reached even to their children.

Adam had other sons and daughters; but the two I am going to speak about were probably nearly of an age-were brought up together—had most likely the same advantages to help them-the same trials and temptations to struggle against-and the same promises and hopes to cheer them on.

Cain was the eldest. To till the ground was his pursuit. Day by day he toiled in cultivating it; and no doubt his labour was repaid by an ample return. And happy might he have been, if only his heart had been right with God. For if we have His favour, and the light of His countenance, then are we happy indeed, whatever be our toil, and whatever be our station in life. This will sweeten all our labours; this will make us contented even in our poverty.

But Cain was far from happy. He did not love God. Like many others, he went through the outward form of worship, but nothing more. He did not with his heart draw near to God; and therefore he could