which our parents were taught the two grand lessons comprising the perfect redemption of ruined mankind. In the blood, which flowed from the slaughtered victim, we see how the penitent believer can have all his "past sins" removed; for," without shedding of blood is no remission ;" and, in the clothing our parents with garments not their own, we are taught our spiritual nakedness, by nature; and that, when clothed, it is not a robe, wrought from, or by us, but is derived from another. The hymn you have often sung is quite to the point:

"Jesus, thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress :
'Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.

Bold shall I stand in that great day;
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully absolved, through thee, I am,

From sin and fear, from guilt and shame."

Annie. Well, how strange it is, that I

should have so frequently sung that hymn,

and never, till now, saw how beautifully it explains the important facts, to which you have just referred.

Mother. Older persons than you, my love, are accustomed to read, hear, and sing the greatest truths, without understanding -ay, without even wishing to understand -them. But, I proceed. We are next informed, that Abel came with "the firstlings of his flock," and presented it to the Lord as a sacrifice; and we find that the eye of his mind was directed to an object far beyond, with regard to both time and excellence, the lamb he then brought. He had heard something, and he believed what he had heard, and proved his reliance thereon by the act he performed. "By faith (says Paul) Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous (or right), God testifying of his gifts; and by it he being dead yet speaketh." "Yet speaketh"-that is, he proclaimed, does still, and

will ever proclaim, how God can be just, and the justifier also, of every sinner, who seeks reconciliation in the same manner.

Annie. I am sorry to interrupt you, my dear mother, but I should like you to inform me, why it is written of Abel, that he "offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than his brother Cain;" for, it appears, that the one brought a sacrifice as well as the other.

Mother. I have no objection, Annie, to your asking me, at any time, to explain what you cannot comprehend. My object, in these addresses, is to instruct your mind; but, if you hear without understanding what you hear, my labour will be lost. Now to your question: Why is it stated that Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain? The apostle precedes these words by two other little words, which you have overlooked, and which contain a solution of the difficulty.

are.

Annie. Pray tell me what those words

Mother. They are these "By faith." Now, I imagine, you are disposed to inquire, How could faith make so great a difference? The apostle, in the same eleventh chapter of the Hebrews, has prepared an answer: "Without faith it is impossible to please God." Perhaps you are ready to ask again, How can we know that Cain did not exercise faith as well as Abel? I reply, the nature of the offerings shew the state of both their minds. "Cain (it is said) brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof." Not to dwell too long upon this part, I will only remark, that the character of Cain's offering was, indeed, an acknowledgment of God, as a creator, and testified his admission, that the Being, whom he professed to worship, was the God of nature-but nothing further. Abel's offering embraced the same acknowledgment, and much more.

He brought the "firstlings of

his flock"-the youngest-" and of the fat thereof "-the healthiest, the most unblemished of the lambs. Oh, how much is seen in these few words, if we look at them with the light afforded us by the New Testament: "Forasmuch (writes Peter) as ye know, that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot," &c. How clear, then, is it, that Abel came to God, under a conviction of sin, and sin's desert, and by faith in that propitiatory Lamb, which God would hereafter provide "for the sins of the whole world." Abel, enlightened by the Spirit, whose office it is to take of the things of Christ, and shew them to us, was a true believer in the Saviour: Cain, on the contrary, was a Deist, and, like all of that class, a rejecter of the Saviour. We are next informed, that "Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that