.(37) EXERCISE 19TH. Do not content yourself with the mere outward forms of devotion, but lift up your heart and your hands to the Lord. Guard carefully against the first approaches of hatred and malice, lest they increase upon you by degrees, and hurry you, like Cain, into the most shocking crimes. காக்கிறது To watch, to provide against. Approaches GiAdvances, drawing near. To guard Hatred எரிப்பு Ill-will, malignity. To augment, to grow (38) EXERCISE 21ST. An angry man stirreth up strife and a furious man aboundeth in transgression. CAIN was the first son of Adam and Eve: he was a tiller of the ground. Abel was the second son, and he was a keeper of sheep: and their family gradually increased. Their tempers were as different as their occupations. Abel was a lover of righteousness, and obedient to his parents: but Cain was obstinate and It was wicked, neither fearing God nor loving man. usual, in the infancy of the world, to present oblations to God, the giver of every good and perfect gift. These two brothers brought their offerings; Abel offered of the firstlings of his flock, and Cain of the fruit of the ground. But the sacrifice of Abel, on account of his goodness, was more acceptable to God than the offering of Cain; and God bore witness to his gifts, by some visible token of His favour. The Lord also condescended to reason with Cain, and to assure him, ( 39 ) that if he would be good and righteous, he and his of fering should likewise be accepted. But, instead of reforming his behaviour and temper, he grew worse and worse he hated his brother more and more; and at length his malice and anger grew so violent, that he rose up against Abel and slew him. He thought there was no evidence of his crime, and that no one would know it: but there is no safety, except in innocence and virtue. Wherever we are, and whatever we do, we are under the eye of God. The almighty Judge was a spectator of his crime, and afterwards expostulated with him ; " Where is Abel thy brother? What "hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth from the ground." He then pronounced judgment on the murderer: in consequence of which Cain removed with his wife and family from his habitation: and having wandered from place to place, as a fugitive and a vagabond, at length settled in the land of Nod. He however still carried the mark of his guilt with him. He was vexed with the horror of conscience within, and calamities without. He walked upon earth a woeful spectacle, labouring under the distemper of a wounded spirit, which no medicine can cure. Learn from the wickedness and misery of Cain, to correct and regulate your own life. Do not content yourself with the mere outward forms of devotion, but lift up your heart and your hands to the Lord. Guard carefully against the first approaches of hatred and malice, lest they increase upon you by degrees, and hurry you, like Cain, into the most shocking crimes. An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression. END OF THE FIRST PART. |