in some way held them back. At all events, the Creator does not forsake the damaged work of His own hands: He does not allow His masterpiece to be wholly ruined. So Adam and Eve "heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day" (Gen. iii. 8). What a fine touch of mercy in that! According to the proverb of the Jews, Michael, the messenger of wrath, flies with but one wing, while Gabriel, the angel of mercy, flies with two. When the Prodigal Son was nearing home the father ran. He did not wait for the cool of the day, and then only walk leisurely in the heat of the day he ran a great way," and his kisses did not allow his boy to tell the half of his shame. But when He had to punish That was His strange work,

in Eden He did not run. and He did it as if with an unwilling willingness, as if He were slow and loth to do it, speaking after the manner of men. He began to show mercy before He was asked. And He gave them these words of the blessed Gospel, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. iii. 15). Even on the day of their fall, Adam and Eve were thus told of a God-given Saviour, a Saviour in human form, a suffering Saviour, and a triumphant Saviour. You know His name. Heartily make Him your Saviour, and He shall guide you all the way to a better paradise than Adam lost. Amen.

CHAPTER II.

ABEL'S ALTAR.

A NEW YEAR SERMON.

"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain."-HEB. xi. 4; GEN. iv.

WALKING home the other evening, I noticed that light from above and light from below, star-light and gaslight, made my path plain. So your path in life should be cheered by two lights consenting to shed their united radiance upon you. These sister-lights are Scripture and experience. As gas-light and star-light both come from the sun, so Scripture and experience are both given us by God. As the ships coming up our river by night are welcomed by light after light, so, if only we use it well, we have light enough to guide us through earth and into the desired haven.

We are all thinking just now about life and a happy life, and I want to tell you once more that the happiest life is that which, like Abel's, is given to God, and pleases God. You should have a real ambition to be not among the best of the bad, or the worst of the good, but to have such a grand life as Abel's. Let us draw close to his altar, and get at the secret of his beautiful life. We find it in

I. Abel's Offerings.

II. Abel's Firstlings.

III. Abel's Fatlings.

Study

I. Abel's Offerings.

Living faith

Yet the two

They were the offerings of true faith. makes an Abel; the want of it, a Cain. professed the very same faith. The other day, a little boy at breakfast offered me an egg. I took it, and broke it; and what a merry laugh arose at my expense. It was only an empty shell turned upside down. It had the form and fair outside of a real egg, and nothing more: it was a cheating formalist. Cain had the form; Abel had the form and the heart of faith. By this faith he believed God's Word; he received God's gifts; he trusted in God; he yielded himself to God; he lived the life God wanted him to live; and in all things he took God's will for his own. Faith thus made him the man he was. Though dead, he yet speaks to us of the true faith, without which we cannot please God. This faith is first a receiver, and then a giver. Abel, having received from God all but his sin, made an offering of himself-soul and body-to God; and then brought his offerings to God's altar. For every true offerer begins by offering himself. Abel, having begun with the whole, came to the parts, his gifts. He brought these gifts, not as a sordid bribe to his Creator-that is what the heathens do; nor as a sin-offering to take away his guilt that is what self-righteous folk do; but

all his gifts were thank-offerings to show his gratitude to the God of his salvation. Now, watch him standing between the altar and his fat lambs. He takes things that are his own-he lifts them up, and lays them upon the altar. The moment they touch the altar they are not his but God's, or rather his only that he may make them God's: they are sacred to God.

What of my very own am I in Abel's style laying upon God's altar at this New Year? I am receiving millions of gifts from God. What gifts am I giving back to God? Is there any fairness between what I get and what I give back? It would take a very big book to explain all the offerings you might bring to God. Take care that they are not like the offerings God so often complains of in the Old Testament-defiled, maimed, halt, and blind. You should bring some of your own money. Abel's offerings were worth rauch money. "Apportion your charity to your estate," says an old writer, "or God may apportion your estate to your charity." Better to live richly than to die rich. Praise is an offering you can easily give, and which God greatly prizes when it springs from free grateful love.

Raphael paints St. Cecilia, the patroness of music, as listening to the singing of angels, which has suddenly burst her ear. upon Her musical instruments (as you see in the picture on page 17) lie broken at her feet, and her organ is slipping from her hands: she feels earth's music to be a poor jarring thing compared with the heavenly strains. It is well to have a love for all good music, for it has power to soothe the mind and

sweeten life, but its best praise is that it can be turned into true worship. Be sure that you feel the charms of the music that celebrates God's love to men. Of all our offerings, praise is most like the offerings of the saints in heaven; and it will help to make your earthly life heavenly. Say, then, with the returning Israelites, "So will we render the calves of our lips" (Hosea xiv. 2).

But all good works for Christ and man are true offerings, and every Christian wishes to bring them to God's altar every day of his life. God asks you and yours: the offerer first, then his offerings. Though your offerings may be very poor and cold, if you bring them in simple faith, they will burst into flame when touched by the coals of this altar.

Abel's offerings were

II. Firstlings.

That is, first ones, the first-born of his flock. He brought offerings as early as he could, for he hated delay. Abel-like, bring you

The firstlings of life. Bring the first you can give. Why put off? You can never have a really happy life till you come to Christ. He gives you only what is good, and takes from you only what is vile. He hates nothing in your nature but your sin. Will you miss all this, or be willing to go without it for years? Christmas cards and boxes have been coming to you. Do you say when they arrive, "Oh, there's no hurry; they can stand for a little after a while I'll open them