also." If it were not for the warmth of the sun nothing would grow, and if it were not for the moon we should always be in darkness during the night. The stars are useful to guide a traveller in the right way, for their names and their places in the sky are well known to those who watch them. They seem very small to us, because they are so very far off, but many of them are much larger than this world on which we live.

Then we read that God created the fishes in the sea, and the birds that fly in the air, and cattle, and creeping things (such as insects), and the beasts of the field, and it is said that "God saw that it was good"—that is, they were all perfect. Last of all, God made man in His own image, "male and female created He them, and God blessed them," and gave them "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

If

Dominion means power. Man can rule animals because he has sense, and animals have not. a horse knew how much stronger he is than a man, he never would allow himself to be harnessed and driven about. But though God said that we might have dominion over animals, He never meant that we might ill-use them. Just because they are at our mercy, we should treat them kindly, and not, like some cruel children, take pleasure in seeing them suffer.

On the seventh day "God ended His work which He had made, and rested," and He "sanctified" that day-He made it holy, set it apart. You all know that Sunday is different from other days, and what

a blessing it is to us! If people worked equally hard every day, they would soon be quite worn out. It has been found that even horses must have one day in seven for rest, if they are to be kept in good condition. Poor people who dig in their gardens, and wash, and iron, and do needle-work, all Sunday, will find that they do not gain anything in the end. All God's commandments are meant to make us good and happy, especially this one. We know by what our Lord said in the New Testament, that we are allowed to do works of necessity and mercy on the seventh day. We may light fires and cook our food, and clean ourselves and our houses; we may nurse the sick, and go on errands for them, and do whatever they require to be done. But those who really wish to keep their Sundays rightly, never want opportunities for so doing. It is a good thing in this hard-working world to have one day of rest and peace in each week, in which we may enjoy the fresh air, and the sweet flowers, and the beautiful trees. It is good that those relations, or old friends, who never have time to see each other during the week, should have one day when they may meet. And surely we ought to be glad to have one day set apart, in which we may think of something beyond this world of trouble, in which we may join with our fellow-Christians in entering into "His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise," in which we may be taught how, when we come to die, we may look forward to meeting again those friends who have gone before us, in the faith of Christ, and in the sure and certain hope of a blessed resurrection,

ADAM AND EVE.

GOD had placed Adam, the first man, and Eve, the first woman, in a beautiful garden, and told them they might eat of the fruit of every tree in it except one. We should have expected that they would have been very happy there. There was only one thing that was forbidden them, the fruit of one tree. I am sure that you all think you would not have touched it for the world, And yet I fear that many children who blame Adam and Eve, do very much as they did; that is, if a great deal is given them, while one thing is forbidden, that one thing is exactly what they want to have. Even in very little things in your daily life, this happens. Now surely there is no such very great temptation to talk to each other during school hours. You may have as much conversation as you like at all other times. You know that you cannot learn, while you are chattering to the boy or girl who sits next to you, and yet how difficult it is to make you keep silence! Talking, I suppose, seems to you such a very small fault. Perhaps Adam and Eve thought there was nothing very wrong in eating that one bit of fruit.

Your father and mother, who give you all they can, sometimes more than they can afford, may be obliged to refuse you some small thing, and on that you set your heart. The next time this happens, think of Adam and Eve, and how wrong you thought the same fault in them.

We are told in the 3rd chapter of Genesis that

"the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field," and that he tempted Eve to take the forbidden fruit, and then Eve in her turn tempted Adam, "and he did eat." When they heard the voice of the Lord calling to them, they felt frightened, as all people must do, when they know that they have done wrong, and have disobeyed God. And then they began to lay the blame on others. Adam said, "The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." Eve said, "the serpent beguiled" (that is, persuaded) “me, and I did eat.”

But God did not consider this as any excuse, for He turned them both out of their beautiful home, and said unto Adam, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground (that is, die). But even when punishing them for their sin, He did not forget mercy. Even then He gave them a promise of a Saviour to come hereafter. By the seed of the woman-who would bruise the serpent's head, He meant our Lord Jesus Christ, who was to be "born of a woman,' "who would 66 come to seek and to save that which was lost."

In throwing the blame on each other, our first parents acted as many of you do now. If you are asked whether you have done a wrong thing, how seldom is a boy or girl to be found who will boldly own the fault! It does not mend matters if you are accused of having played truant, to say that some other children persuaded you to go with them, or if you have taken what does not belong to you, to excuse yourself by saying some one

asked you to steal it. Such excuses are false; but if they were true, it is not right to throw your share of blame on other people. Adam and Eve were both punished, and they could not have felt any happier for having tried to lay their faults on others. Remember, then, when you have done wrong, to own it in a straightforward, manly way. It is the best proof you can give that you do not intend to do it again.

CAIN AND ABEL.

Abel

ADAM and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground, that is, he dug up the earth and sowed seed for food. Both offered sacrifices to God; one gave Him of the "fruit of the ground," the other "the firstlings of his flock." Abel was much the better man of the two, and we are told that "the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect." This made Cain angry. Two people may offer the sacrifice of prayer and praise unto God, they may use the very same words, go to the very same place of worship, and kneel side by side, and yet God may "have respect," that is, He may listen, to the words of the one, and not of the other, if the one is really trying to love and serve Him with all his heart, while the other prays only because other people pray, caring nothing, and thinking nothing, about the meaning of the words he is using.