would not punish them as he had said he would. So they dis-o-bey-ed God!

(4.) God was ve-ry much of-fend-ed with them, and drove them out of the beau-ti-ful gar-den which he had made for them, and told them they nev-er should

re-turn.

(5.) He told them, too, that for their sin, they should have trou-ble and sor-row while they liv-ed, and then they should die, and re-turn to the dust of which they were made.

(6.) All their chil-dren were wick-ed and di-ed, and all that have liv-ed since have been like them. O, who can tell how much sin costs?

(7.) All the sick-ness, and pain, and death that are in the world are brought in-to it by sin. And it was to re-deem men from their sins that the Lord Je-sus Christ came into the world, and di-ed up-on the cross.

(1.) That man with a club is Cain; the old-est son of Ad-am and Eve; the first child that was ev-er born in-to the world.

(2.) The man who lies on the ground is his own and on-ly broth-er, A-bel; and he has raised his hand to kill him.

(3.) What a dread-ful sight! The on-ly two broth-ers in the wide world, and yet one mur-ders the oth-er!

(4.) But why did he do this blood-y deed? Had A-bel struck him, or a-bus-ed him? O, no. And e-ven if he had, it would have been ve-ry wick-ed to strike back.

(5.) It was be-cause A-bel was a good man, and God lov-ed him; but he could not love Cain.

(6.) The wick-ed Cain could not bear to have his own broth-er live and be happy, and so he kil-led him!

(1.) Ad-am and Eve had oth-er children be-sides Cain and A-bel, and by and by they had grand-chil-dren. In a few

hun-dred years there were a great ma-ny peo-ple, but they were ve-ry wick-ed.

(2.) There was on-ly one man that real-ly lov-ed God. This was No-ah. God told him to build an ark, or great ves-sel, that would float on the wa-ter, for he meant to de-stroy the peo-ple of the earth with a flood.

(3.) No-ah did just as God told him to do, and then the flood came. The rain pours down in streams. The wa-ter ris-es high-er and high-er. It sweeps the peo-ple from the rocks, and the trees, and the high moun-tains, where they hope to be safe.

(4.) And now the whole earth was under wat-er, no trees, no rocks, no mountains to be seen.

(5.) No-ah and his lit-tle fam-i-ly, and a few of all the crea-tures on the earth, were sav-ed in the ark.

(6.) But all the rest of the world, men, and wo-men, and chil-dren, and all beasts, and ev-e-ry crea-ture up-on the earth, were drown-ed, and di-ed.

READING LESSON XXI.
The Birth of Jesus Christ.

(1.) Je-sus Christ came in-to the world to save sin-ners. He was born of the Virgin Ma-ry, a-bout two thou-sand years ago; and be-ing the e-ter-nal Son of God, he thus be-came man, and liv-ed on the earth like oth-er men, though he nev-er sin-ned, as all oth-er men do.

(2.) Je-sus Christ was born at Beth-lehem, in Ju-de-a, a coun-try four or five thous-and miles east of this coun-try.

(3.) The most won-der-ful things were