NOVEMBER 1. Offerings of Cain and Abel. "And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect."-Gen. iv. 4, 5. How ow interesting is the first recorded account of religious worship! As an example of right and wrong, the materials may be scanty, but they are all important. The record implies that offerings were divinely appointed-that Cain and Abel brought offerings unto the Lord and that the Lord regarded them differently. Offerings were divinely appointed.-Adam and Eve, though fallen and expelled from paradise, were cared for and instructed; and doubtless they instructed their children. It is said that God clothed them with coats of skins; and as they had as yet received no command to eat animal food, it is probable that these coats of skins were made from the skins of animals offered in sacrifice. Besides, there was probably a stated time for offerings. "In process of time "—that is, at the end of the days, the days of the week, the Sabbath-"Cain and Abel offered unto the Lord." An apostle corroborates all this when he says, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." Now, the faith of Abel being genuine and saving, could not rest on a human invention, but on a divine institution. Sacrifice and offering were thus prescribed to Cain and Abel as the only acceptable worship. Cain and Abel brought offerings unto the Lord.-Cain OFFERINGS OF CAIN AND ABEL. 497 brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord. This was a mere thank-offering, presented by a man who thought himself innocent, and who felt no need of an atonement. He did not recognize a satisfaction to offended justice for sin, and it was manifestly not according to divine appointment; hence Cain may be viewed as the first deist, not requiring a propitiated God, and the first type of self-righteous worshippers. How different was Abel! He brought of the firstlings of his flock, probably a lamb. He saw himself a sinner before God; he felt himself in need of an atonement; he presented a sacrifice such as God required, and looked through it to Jesus, the great antitype. Blessed Abel, whose sins were forgiven through the shedding of blood! Let my worship in spirit resemble his, and let the eye of my faith look back on the blood of Jesus, as he looked forward to it. Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed. The Lord regarded these offerings differently.-He rejected Cain's. "Unto Cain and his offering he had not respect." It could not be otherwise, for his offering was neither dutiful to himself, nor glorifying to God. The rejection was manifest, and Cain knew it. He never thinks of blaming himself, but God; and hence he is wroth, and his countenance falls. He meditates vengeance, and enmity fills his soul-enmity to God, and enmity to God's true worshippers. God accepted Abel's offering: "The Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering." Probably fire came out of the ground, as in the case of Gideon-or it descended from heaven, as in the case of Elijah—and consumed his sacrifice. God accepted it, and Cain and Abel knew it ; and this filled Cain's wicked heart with envy and malice. O my soul, it is not enough to worship God; he must be worshipped in a right way; and if thou art to be accepted and saved, thou must worship and serve him through the propitiation of Christ. 498 CHRIST'S FIRST COMING. NOVEMBER 2. Christ's First Coming. "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world."-John, xii. 47. HERE we have Christ's visit to our world-the negative design-and the positive design. Christ's visit to our world.--"I came." This implies his pre-existence. "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." "His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." Long before our world was created, Jesus existed, and designed to appear for our benefit. He came in our nature. When the fullness of time came, Jesus appeared; and as he had important work to do for man, he appeared in man's nature, to obey the law, to instruct the ignorant, to heal the diseased, to suffer and die, and to leave an example worthy of our imitation. He came of his own accord: "Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me." When proclamation was made in heaven, "Whom shall I send?" he replied, "Here am I, send me." When a victim was required to bleed and die, he exclaimed, "I am ready to be offered up." "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished?" The negative design.-" Not to judge the world." He was to be the Judge of all; but the time had not yet arrived. "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." Yes, the babe of Bethlehem shall sit on the throne of the universe. He who stood at the bar of Pilate, shall have Pilate and all men standing before his bar; he who had an unjust sentence of condemnation passed against him, shall judge and sentence every man according to his works. He shall judge the world. All the living, and all the dead, small and great, shall stand before his judgment-seat. His eye shall detect CHRIST'S FIRST COMING. 499 every sin, and his fiat shall fix every one's doom. This work of judging did not belong to his first coming, but is reserved for the second. When his disciples desired him to call down fire from heaven, and destroy the Samaritans, he rebuked them, and would not; and when he might have summoned his murderers to a throne of judgment, and condemned them, he interceded for them at a throne of grace, and prayed for their forgiveness. The positive design." I came to save the world." The world needed salvation. Sin and Satan had long, long held sway, but sin must be checked, and Satan must be overcome; and who could achieve a victory over these but Christ? Christ desires to save the world. His heart is full of love, and his arms are as wide as the shores of the ocean, and ready to embrace the whole human race. He has provided ample means of salvation. This atonement for sin is large as our wishes, and free as the air we breathe; so that no man need perish for want of atonement. "He gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." He invites and commands all to believe and be saved. "Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish." "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." The provision is ample, the invitation is sincere, the encouragement is great, and the consequences of neglect are dreadful. Shall Jesus come to save the world, and to save me, and shall I inflict starvation on my soul, with such abundance within my reach? NOVEMBER 3. The Blessedness of Beliebing. "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."-John, xx. 29. LET us think of the testimony believed-the belief of that testimony and the happiness resulting. 500 THE BLESSEDNESS OF BELIEVING. How few, We cannot, We must The testimony believed.-This is the truth which God has revealed to us in his word, especially the truth concerning Christ. So hardened in unbelief was Thomas, that he would not credit the testimony of the other ten apostles regarding the resurrection of Christ; yet Christ had great compassion on him, and shewed him his once bleeding hands, and his once pierced side. comparatively, could enjoy such a privilege! but we can believe the testimony of others. believe that testimony, confirmed by miracles, established by prophecy, evidenced by the excellence of the truths, and rendered sure by the remarkable effects which they produce. Shall we believe the testimony of men who work no miracles, regarding India, and China, and Australia, while we have never visited these countries; and shall we not believe the testimony of Christ and his apostles, who wrought astonishing miracles, endured all kinds of losses for the truth, and at last sealed their testimony with their blood? Divine testimony-enduring testimony-thou art the life of my soul! The belief of that testimony.-We must believe the testimony, because Jesus invites and commands us. The great requirement of the gospel is, "Believe ;" and if, on any pretence whatever, this requirement is neglected, happiness is impossible. We believe the truth when we credit it, as revealed to us, and for us. But lest our belief should be merely speculative and philosophical, let us receive and appropriate Jesus as our Saviour. Jesus shewed Thomas his hands and his side, and said, “Be not faithless, but believing;" and Thomas believed, and claimed, and confessed, "My Lord and my God." Now, while Thomas believed because he saw, let us believe because we read and hear the testimony of sure and credible witnesses. How many have so believed, and shall not we? Do all men believe other truths on the testimony of their |