became a mother; but far inferior expectations appear to have been formed on this than on the former occasion she called her second son Abel, which signifies Vanity; probably so completely satisfied in the value of her first possession, as to look with comparative indifference on any new acquisition. As the children advanced in years, suitable employments were assigned them, dictated either by their own preference, or the general advantage of the family.-Employment is always desirable; and however ample their possessions, and flattering their prospects, all young persons should be habituated to it.

Much of the information which the Bible affords is communicated incidentally. We have no express account of the institution of sacrifices; but from the few verses containing the history of Cain and Abel, we gather that sacrifices both of gratitude and atonement were already offered and accepted: probably even in a state of innocency man was permitted to offer of the fruits of the earth, as an expression of gratitude to his Creator; and immediately on man's becoming a sinner, both the necessity and the efficacy of an atonement were displayed to him in the sacrifice of innocent victims, as typical substitutes for the guilty; but this must have been a matter of divine direction, for such an idea would never have entered the mind of man, as that the killing and burning of God's living creatures could have any connexion with atoning for man's transgression, and obtaining his Maker's favour; on the

contrary, the practice would naturally be considered cruel, useless, and even displeasing to God. Therefore, that sacrifices were offered, of itself proves that they must have been originally instituted; which is further confirmed by their being accepted of God. It is worthy of remark, that all the nations we ever heard of, have, from the earliest ages, made a practice of sacrificing, in hope of making themselves acceptable to God; but no nation except the Jews can give any clear account of the matter.

It is probable that Adam and Eve had many more children beside Cain and Abel-certain that they had some female children, one of whom became the wife of Cain; but the sacred historian confines the early narrative to these two. [3876.] The brothers had probably attained the age of twenty-five or thirty years, when, on occasion of their each presenting an offering before the Lord, according to their respective occupations, the offering of Cain being rejected, and that of Abel accepted, Cain's heart rankled with malignity and hatred against his unoffending brother, and he rose up and slew him. Thus death began his march in his most horrible form; man became the murderer of his brother, and the hearts of the original transgressors were rent with the bitterest anguish, envenomed by self-reproach. “Oh, Adam," exclaims an excellent writer, "thou didst murder an unborn world; and now thou shalt see the first-fruits of it in thine own family! Thou hast never before witnessed a human death,-go see the