50 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.

his sacrifice, and Abel offers his. One is pleasing in the
sight of God, the other is not. Why this was so is not diffi-
cult to tell. All the real value of sacrifice lies in the spirit
in which it is given. The sacrifice God delights in is not
the offering that is laid upon the altar, but the spirit in
which it is given. A man who has come by his wealth in
a cruel way—and that is quite as bad, and often much worse
than a dishonest way—may give ten thousand dollars to
God’s cause by way of a religious offering, and God will not
care as much for all those thousands as he will for the five-
cent piece some poor widow, or some hard-working boy
puts on the collection plate on Sunday morning. The true
worth of all offerings is not in thé amount given, but in
the spirit of the giver. The sacrifices of God are not in
the lambs, and goats, and doves, the first fruits of flock
or field. The sacrifices of God are a lowly and a contrite
heart.

But Cain’s heart was lofty, not lowly; it was proud,
and envious, and arrogant, not contrite. And because this
spirit was in Cain, and a gentle, lowly, contrite spirit was in
Abel, therefore, and not because of the kind, or character,
or amount of either sacrifice, God had more regard to the
sacrifice of Abel than to that of Cain.

‘And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.”

How simply this story is told! Cain was angry, very
angry, and his countenance fell. What a wonderful thing is
the human face! ‘Your face is like a book,” said the wicked
queen to Macbeth. A face is almost always'a good index
to the mind and heart. It may be like Stephen’s, lustrous
as ‘the face of angel,” or like Cain’s, dark as a night full of -
storm and tempest.

 

Be you sure the sad mother of that early home read the