woman whom thou gavest to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said to the woman, Why hast thou done this? And she answered, The serpent deceived me and I did eat. And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the earth; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and between her seed and thy seed; it shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for his heel.*To the woman also he said, I will multiply thy sorrows and thy conceptions; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee. And to Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee, that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the ground for thy sake; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken; for dust thou art, and into dust shalt thou return. And Adam called the name of his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. And the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the earth from which he was taken. And he cast out Adam, and placed before the Paradise of delight Cherubims and a flaming sword,

* It shall crush, &c. ipsa, she, the woman; so divers of the fathers read this place conformably to the Latin; others read it ipsum, viz. the seed. The sense is the same; for it is by her seed Jesus Christ, that the woman crushes the serpent's head.-Note to the Douay Version on Gen. iii. 15.

turning every way, to keep the way to the tree of life.

[The history of the fall of Adam and Eve, is thus commented upon by the Apostle Paul :—]

Wherefore by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:-As by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners; so also by the obedience of one, many shall be justified.*-For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive; but every one in his own order, Christ the first fruits, then they that are Christ's at his coming. The first Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man from heaven, heavenly.† Such as is the earthly, such also are the earthly; and such as is the heavenly, such are they that are heavenly. Therefore as we have borne the image of the earthly; let us bear also the image of the heavenly.+

WORDS, &C. TO BE EXPLAINED IN LESSON IV.

QUESTIONS ON LESSON TV.

WHAT is the subject of this Lesson ?

What is the character given of the serpent?

What did the serpent say to Eve?

What answer did she give him?

What reason did the serpent give for God's forbidding Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit of this tree?

Did Eve take of the fruit?

How did Adam get the fruit?

Why did they hide themselves among the trees?
What did God say to Adam?

What excuse did he make?

What did Eve say?

What did God say to the serpent?

What is meant by the seed of the woman?

What was the seed of the woman to do?
What was Eve's punishment?

What was Adam's ?

What do you mean by returning to dust?

How was Adam prevented from approaching the tree of life?

Why has death passed upon all men?

Who is this one by whom many shall be justified?
What do you mean by Christ being the first fruits?

LESSON V.

Cain and Abel.

B. C. 3875.

FROM GENESIS IV.

[Cain was the first born son of Adam, and Abel hi second son.] Abel was a shepherd, and Cain a tiller of ground. And it came to pass, at the end of days, that Cain brought of the fruits of the earth, gifts to the Lord. Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat. And the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings. But to Cain and to his offerings, he had not respect. And Cain was exceedingly angry, and his countenance fell. And Cain said to Abel his brother, Let us go forth abroad. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the Lord said to Cain, Where is thy brother Abel? And he answered, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? The voice

of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth. Now therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the earth, which hath opened her mouth, and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand. When thou shalt till the ground, it shall not yield to thee its fruit; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be upon the earth. And Cain said, My iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven. Behold, thou dost cast me out this day, from the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from thy face, and I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth; every one, therefore, that findeth me shall kill me.* And the Lord said to him, Therefore, whosoever shall kill Cain, shall be punished seven fold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, that whosoever found him should not kill him.

And Cain went out from the face of the Lord, and dwelt as a fugitivef on the earth, at the east side of Eden. Cain then built a city and called it after the name of his son Enoch.

Among the descendants of Cain was Jabal, the father of such as dwell in tents, and of herdsinen also Jubal, who was the father of them that play upon the harp and the organ also Tubal Cain, who was a sharpener and artificer of every instrument of brass and iron.

[Referring to the history of Cain and Abel, the New Testament says:]

*

Every one that findeth me shall kill me.-His guilty conscience made him fear his brothers and nephews, of whom, by this time, there might be a good number upon the earth; which had now endured nearly 130 years, as may be gathered from Gen. v. 3. compared with chap. iv. 25, though in the compendious account given in the Scriptures, only Cain and Abel are mentioned.

tDwelt as a fugitive on the earth.-The Authorised Version of Scripture, instead of these words, says, dwelt in the land of Nod. Nod signifies fugitive, and is the same word that is so rendered in Gen. iv. 14.

*

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained the testimony that he was just, God giving testimony to his gifts; and by it he being dead yet speaketh. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever is not just (or righteous) is not of God, nor he that loveth not his brother. For this is the declaration which ye heard from the beginning, that ye should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and killed his brother. And wherefore did he kill him? Because his own works were wicked, and his brother's just.†

QUESTIONS ON LESSON v.

Who was Adam's first son?

Tell me the name of the second?

How did these two employ themselves?
What did Cain offer to the Lord?

What was Abel's offering?

Which of the offerings did God accept?

What effect did this produce on Cain?

What did Cain do?

What question did God put to Cain?
What was Cain's answer?

How was Cain to be punished?

What did he say of his punishment?

What means did God take to prevent Cain being killed? Where did Cain go to?

What was the name of the city that he built?

Who were his sons? and for what were they distinguished? What does the apostle John say concerning the history of Cain and Abel?