48 BOYS OF TAE BIBLE.

mother’s knee. It is quite evident that Cain and Abel were:
brought up in the fear of God. Worship was as truly a
part of that early home life in the desert, as work. How-
ever imperfectly the training may have been, they were at
least trained in the nurture and fear of God.

Naturally enough, Cain became a farmer, and ‘as.
naturally Abel became a shepherd; and it is very clear that
from their earliest days these boys were taught to offer
praise and sacrifice to God; not of that which cost them
nothing, but of that which was most precious. Cain was to:
offer the first fruits of the field and Abel the firstlings of
his flocks and folds.

It is sad to think that all the trouble of this early home:
turned on the question of religious duties. We must  not,,
therefore, conclude that religious duties were the causes of
this trouble. They were only the occasion of the sad
conflict. The probabilities are, that if there had been no:
religious training in that home, no religious duties to
perform, the trouble would have come much sooner, and for
anything we know, might have been much more disastrous..

The envious, wicked spirit of Cain would have found.
some excuse. And a very poor excuse is all an envious.
wicked spirit needs. Nay, it is easy for such a spirit to:
make excuses when no reasonable excuse exists.

How early in life Cain began to manifest his unhappy
disposition we are not told, but it is quite fair to conclude:
that he did not leap all at once into a murderer. Wicked-.
ness, like everything else, takes time to grow. The man
who is in the state’s prison for stealing thousands of dollars,,
did not begin by stealing thousands, or even dollars; he most
likely began by stealing dimes, or even cents. And perhaps
even then he did not really mean to steal. He meant to