upon, and very good to eat." The command of God not to eat of it, went out of her mind as she gazed on the tree; and the more she looked at the tree, the more beautiful the fruit appeared to her. At last she put out her hand, gathered it, and began to eat of it. She then went away and brought some to Adam, who in like manner ate of it; and thus even in Paradise the law of God was broken.

§ 6. The Punishment of their Sin.

Adam and Eve soon found out to their sorrow, what it was that they had done. They were overwhelmed with shame, and tried to make coverings for themselves of the leaves of the trees. Their holy state of divine grace was forfeited. Their innocence and peace of mind were gone, and the beautiful garden seemed to them no longer the place that it was before; the thought of the wicked thing they had done seemed to follow them wherever they went; and what would they not have given to have been able to undo their fatal deed! "In the cool air of the evening, they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in Paradise;" and Adam and Eve, conscious of their sin, instead of running joyfully as before at the gracious call to come into the presence of God, now tried to hide themselves in the trees of the garden. God, however, called Adam, and said to him: "Where art thou?" Adam at last came trembling, and said: "I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." God answered: "Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree

THE BANISHMENT FROM PARADISE.

7

Adam,

of which I commanded you not to eat?" trying to throw the blame off himself, answered: "Eve, whom Thou gavest me for a companion, gave me of the fruit of the tree, and I did eat." God called Eve, and said to her: "Why didst thou do this?" Eve, in like manner trying to throw the blame off herself upon the serpent, said: "The serpent deceived me, and I did eat." God now called the serpent before Him, and said to him: "Because thou hast done this thing, thou shalt be cursed amongst all the beasts and cattle of the earth; upon thy belly shalt thou g'o, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. Of the daughters of Eve, one shall crush thy head, and thou shalt bruise her heel." To Eve God said: "Thou shalt have many sorrows with thy children; and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall be lord over thee." And to Adain God said: "Cursed is the earth for thy sake; with sorrow and toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns and thistles shall be its produce; and in the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread, until thou returnest to the earth out of which thou wast taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

§ 7. The Banishment from Paradise.

The Lord God now made for Adam and Eve garments of skins to clothe them; but the beautiful garden was no longer to be their abode. From this time forth they were to labour hard to till the earth, out of which they were taken. So God sent them out of

Paradise, and placed cherubim, with a flaming sword turning every way, to guard the entrance of the garden and to keep the tree of life.

Adam and Eve knew, when it was too late, what a sad change they had made, from the beautiful flowers and fruit-trees of their former happy abode, to the rude and hard labour of sowing and planting the rough soil, that had now to be cleared from its thorns and briers. However, God had been very merciful to them, and had promised them the birth of a Redeemer, who at some future time should crush the serpent's head, whose envy and deceit had now caused them to be banished out of Paradise.

WORSHIP OF GOD BY SACRIFICE.

9

vated the ground; and Abel became a shepherd and looked after the flocks of sheep and goats, the firstfruits of which he offered in sacrifice to God.

§ 8. Worship of God by Sacrifice.

Almighty God continued His mercy to Adam and Eve after their banishment from Paradise. As a comfort in the midst of their labour, He taught them to keep holy the seventh day, and to enjoy it as a day of rest from the toils and hard work of the other days of the week; and more than this, He taught them also the manner how they were to spend it. We shall often have occasion, in the course of our history, to read of sacrifices being offered to God, and of animals beng slain upon the altar. It will be very interesting to know that these sacrifices were what God Himself first taught Adam to offer, in order to sanctify the holy seventh or sabbath day, on which God Himself rested from the work that He had made.

You have often read of poor people, when they come into the court of a king or of some other great person, to beg a favour from him, how they try to find something or other of as much value as they can, to offer him as a present, in order to dispose the great man to listen favourably to them, and to do for them what they want to have done. Great people are usually pleased to see the poor doing their best to show them honour; and when they ask any thing that is reasonable, their request is generally granted. Though God had taken Paradise away from Adam

and Eve on account of their sin, still He had given them the rest of the earth to cultivate, and by their labour they were still able to grow rich with the produce of their husbandry and of their flocks and herds. God therefore was pleased that Adam should show by some token, that all that he got by his labour was the gift of God. He therefore taught him to cease from labour, and to keep holy each seventh or sabbath day, and also to offer in sacrifice to God some part of the

EARLY SACRIFICES.

produce of the earth

he

or of the increase of
his flocks. For this
purpose God showed
him the manner of the
sacrifice, - how
was to build an altar,
and how the gift that
he offered upon it was
to be burnt with fire.
The reason of this
was, to show that af-
ter it had been given to
God it was no longer
to be turned to any
use for Adam himself,
but to be consumed
whole and entire, in
token of the supreme

dominion of God over all His creatures.

In the sacrifice of victims from the flocks, Almighty God had also a further intention, that the