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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Genesis, Chapter IV].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1></center>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1706)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<A NAME="Page36"> </A>
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>G E N E S I S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. IV.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter we have both the world and the church in a family,
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in a little family, in Adam's family, and a specimen given of the
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character and state of both in after-ages, nay, in all ages, to the
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end of time. As all mankind were represented in Adam, so that
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great distinction of mankind into saints and sinners, godly and
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wicked, the children of God and the children of the wicked one,
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was here represented in Cain and Abel, and an early instance is
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given of the enmity which was lately put between the seed of
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the woman and the seed of the serpent. We have here,
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I. The
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birth, names, and callings, of Cain and Abel,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>.
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II. Their
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religion, and different success in it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:3,4">ver. 3, 4</A>,
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and part of
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:5">ver. 5</A>.
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III. Cain's anger at God and the reproof of him for that anger,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:5-7">ver. 5-7</A>.
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IV. Cain's murder of his brother, and the process
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against him for that murder. The murder committed,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:8">ver. 8</A>.
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The proceedings against him.
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1. His arraignment,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:9">ver. 9</A>,
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former part.
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2. His plea,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:9">ver. 9</A>,
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latter part.
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3. His conviction,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:10">ver. 10</A>.
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4. The sentence passed upon him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:11,12">ver. 11, 12</A>.
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5. His complaint
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against the sentence,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:13,14">ver. 13, 14</A>.
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6. The ratification of the sentence,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:15">ver. 15</A>.
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7. The execution of the sentence,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:15,16">ver. 15, 16</A>.
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V. The family and posterity of Cain,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:17-24">ver. 17-24</A>.
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VI. The birth of
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another son and grandson of Adam,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:25,26">ver. 25, 26</A>.</P></FONT>
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<A NAME="Ge4_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge4_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Cain and Abel.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 3875.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 And Adam knew Eve his wife;
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and she conceived, and bare
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Cain, and said, I have gotten a man
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from the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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2 And she again
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bare his brother Abel. And Abel was
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a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a
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tiller of the ground.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+5:4"><I>ch.</I> v. 4</A>.
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But Cain and Abel seem to
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have been the two eldest. Some think they
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were twins, and, as Esau and Jacob, the
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elder hated and the younger loved. Though
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God had cast our first parents out of paradise,
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he did not write them childless; but, to show
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that he had other blessings in store for them,
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he preserved to them the benefit of that first
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blessing of increase. Though they were
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sinners, nay, though they felt the humiliation
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and sorrow of penitents, they did not write
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themselves comfortless, having the promise
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of a Saviour to support themselves with. We
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have here,</P>
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<P>
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I. The names of their two sons.
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1. <I>Cain</I>
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signifies <I>possession;</I> for Eve, when she bore
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him, said with joy, and thankfulness, and
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great expectation, <I>I have gotten a man from
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the</I> L<FONT SIZE=-1>ORD</FONT>. Observe, Children are God's
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gifts, and he must be acknowledged in the
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building up of our families. It doubles and
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sanctifies our comfort in them when we see
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them coming to us from the hand of God,
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who will not forsake the works and gifts of
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his own hand. Though Eve bore him with
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the sorrows that were the consequence of sin,
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yet she did not lose the sense of the mercy in
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her pains. Comforts, though alloyed, are
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more than we deserve; and therefore our
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complaints must not drown our thanksgivings.
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Many suppose that Eve had a conceit
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that this son was the promised seed, and
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that therefore she thus triumphed in him, as
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her words may be read, <I>I have gotten a man,
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the</I> L<FONT SIZE=-1>ORD</FONT>, God-man. If so, she was wretchedly
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mistaken, as Samuel, when he said,
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<I>Surely the</I> L<FONT SIZE=-1>ORD</FONT>'s <I>anointed is before me,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+16:6">1 Sam. xvi. 6</A>.
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When children are born, who
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can foresee what they will prove? He that
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was thought to be <I>a man, the</I> L<FONT SIZE=-1>ORD</FONT>, or at
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least a man from the L<FONT SIZE=-1>ORD</FONT>, and for his
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service as priest of the family, became an
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enemy to the L<FONT SIZE=-1>ORD</FONT>. The less we expect
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from creature s, the more tolerable will disappointments
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be.
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2. <I>Abel</I> signifies <I>vanity.</I>
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When she thought she had obtained the promised
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seed in Cain, she was so taken up with
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that possession that another son was as vanity
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to her. To those who have an interest in
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Christ, and make him their all, other things
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are as nothing at all. It intimates likewise
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that the longer we live in this world the more
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we may see of the vanity of it. What, at
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first, we are fond of, as a possession, afterwards
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we see cause to be dead to, as a trifle.
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The name given to this son is put upon the
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whole race,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+39:5">Ps. xxxix. 5</A>.
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Every man is at
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his best estate <I>Abel--vanity.</I> Let us labour
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to see both ourselves and others so. <I>Childhood
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and youth are vanity.</I></P>
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<P>
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II. The employments of Cain and Abel.
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Observe,
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1. They both had a calling.
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Though they were heirs apparent to the
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world, their birth noble and their possessions
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large, yet they were not brought up in
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idleness. God gave their father a calling,
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even in innocency, and he gave them one.
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Note, It is the will of God that we should
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every one of us have something to do in this
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world. Parents ought to bring up their
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children to business. "Give them a Bible
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and a calling (said good Mr. Dod), and God
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be with them."
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2. Their employments were
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different, that they might trade and exchange
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with one another, as there was occasion.
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The members of the body politic have need
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one of another, and mutual love is helped by
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mutual commerce.
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3. Their employments
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belonged to the husbandman's calling, their
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father's profession--a needful calling, for <I>the
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king himself is served of the field,</I> but a
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laborious calling, which required constant
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care and attendance. It is now looked
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upon as a mean calling; the <I>poor of the land</I>
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serve for <I>vine-dressers and husbandmen,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+52:16">Jer. lii. 16</A>.
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But the calling was far from being a
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dishonour to them; rather, they were an
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<A NAME="Page37"> </A>
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honour to it.
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4. It should seem, by the order
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of the story, that Abel, though the younger
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brother, yet entered first into his calling, and
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probably his example drew in Cain.
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5. Abel
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chose that employment which most befriended
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contemplation and devotion, for to these a
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pastoral life has been looked upon as being
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peculiarly favourable. Moses and David kept
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sheep, and in their solitudes conversed with
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God. Note, That calling or condition of
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life is best for us, and to be chosen by us,
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which is best for our souls, that which least
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exposes us to sin and gives us most opportunity
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of serving and enjoying God.</P>
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<A NAME="Ge4_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge4_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge4_5"> </A>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>3 And in process of time it came
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to pass, that Cain brought of the
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fruit of the ground an offering unto
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the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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4 And Abel, he also
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brought of the firstlings of his flock
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and of the fat thereof. And the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> had respect unto Abel and to
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his offering:
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5 But unto Cain and
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to his offering he had not respect.
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And Cain was very wroth, and his
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countenance fell.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here we have,
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I. The devotions of Cain
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and Abel. <I>In process of time,</I> when they
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had made some improvement in their respective
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callings (Heb. <I>At the end of days,</I>
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either at the end of the year, when they kept
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their feast of in-gathering or perhaps an
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annual fast in remembrance of the fall, or
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at the end of the days of the week, the
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seventh day, which was the sabbath)--at
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some set time, Cain and Abel brought to
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Adam, as the priest of the family, each of
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them <I>an offering to the Lord,</I> for the doing of
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which we have reason to think there was a
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divine appointment given to Adam, as a
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token of God's favour to him and his thoughts
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of love towards him and his, notwithstanding
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their apostasy. God would thus try Adam's
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faith in the promise and his obedience to the
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remedial law; he would thus settle a correspondence
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again between heaven and earth,
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and give <I>shadows of good things to come.</I>
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Observe here,
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1. That the religious worship
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of God is no novel invention, but an ancient
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institution. It is that which was <I>from the
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beginning</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+1:1">1 John i. 1</A>);
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it is the <I>good old
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way,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+6:16">Jer. vi. 16</A>.
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The city of our God is indeed
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that joyous city whose antiquity is of
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ancient days,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+23:7">Isa. xxiii. 7</A>.
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Truth got the
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start of error, and piety of profaneness.
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2. That is a good thing for children to be
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well taught when they are young, and trained
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up betimes in religious services, that when
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they come to be capable of acting for themselves
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they may, of their own accord, <I>bring
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an offering to God.</I> In this <I>nurture of the
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Lord</I> parents must bring up their children,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+18:19,Eph+6:4"><I>ch.</I> xviii. 19; Eph. vi. 4</A>.
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3. That we should
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every one of us honour God with what we
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have, according as he has prospered us. According
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as their employments and possessions
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were, so they brought their offering.
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See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+16:1,2">1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2</A>.
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<I>Our merchandize and
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our hire,</I> whatever they are, must be <I>holiness
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to the Lord,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+23:18">Isa. xxiii. 18</A>.
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He must have
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his dues of it in works of piety and charity,
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the support of religion and the relief of the
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poor. Thus we must now bring our offering
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with an upright heart; <I>and with such sacrifices
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God is well pleased.</I>
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4. That hypocrites
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and evil doers may be found going as far as
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the best of God's people in the external services
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of religion. Cain brought an offering
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with Abel; nay, Cain's offering is mentioned
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first, as if he were the more forward of the
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two. A hypocrite may possibly hear as many
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sermons, say as many prayers, and give as
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much alms, as a good Christian, and yet,
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for want of sincerity, come short of acceptance
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with God. The Pharisee and the
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publican went to the temple to pray,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+18:10">Luke xviii. 10</A>.</P>
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<P>
|
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II. The different success of their devotions.
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That which is to be aimed at in all
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acts of religion is God's acceptance: we
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speed well if we attain this, but in vain do
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we worship if we miss of it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+5:9">2 Cor. v. 9</A>.
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|
Perhaps, to a stander-by, the sacrifices of
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Cain and Abel would have seemed both
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alike good. Adam accepted them both, but
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God, <I>who sees not as man sees,</I> did not. God
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had <I>respect to Abel and to his offering,</I> and
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showed his acceptance of it, probably by
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fire from heaven; but to <I>Cain and his offering
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he had not respect.</I> We are sure there
|
|
was a good reason for this difference; the
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Governor of the world, though an absolute
|
|
sovereign, does not act arbitrarily in dispensing
|
|
his smiles and frowns.</P>
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<P>
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1. There was a difference in the characters
|
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of the persons offering. Cain was a wicked
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man, led a bad life, under the reigning
|
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power of the world and the flesh; and therefore
|
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his sacrifice was an <I>abomination to the
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Lord</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+15:8">Prov. xv. 8</A>);
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<I>a vain oblation,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:13">Isa. i. 13</A>.
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God had no respect to Cain himself, and
|
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therefore no respect to his offering, as the
|
|
manner of the expression intimates. But
|
|
Abel was a righteous man; he is called <I>righteous
|
|
Abel</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:35">Matt. xxiii. 35</A>);
|
|
his heart was
|
|
upright and his life was pious; he was one
|
|
of those whom God's countenance beholds
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:7">Ps. xi. 7</A>)
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|
and whose prayer is therefore his
|
|
delight,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+15:8">Prov. xv. 8</A>.
|
|
God had respect to
|
|
him as a holy man, and therefore to his
|
|
offering as a holy offering. The tree must
|
|
be good, else the fruit cannot be pleasing to
|
|
the heart-searching God.</P>
|
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<P>
|
|
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|
2. There was a difference in the offerings
|
|
they brought. It is expressly said
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:4">Heb. xi. 4</A>),
|
|
Abel's was a <I>more excellent sacrifice</I> than
|
|
Cain's: either,
|
|
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|
(1.) In the nature of it. Cain's
|
|
was only a sacrifice of acknowledgment offered
|
|
to the Creator; the meat-offerings of
|
|
the fruit of the ground were no more, and,
|
|
for aught I know, they might be offered
|
|
in innocency. But Abel brought a sacrifice
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page38"> </A>
|
|
|
|
of atonement, the blood whereof was shed in
|
|
order to remission, thereby owning himself a
|
|
sinner, deprecating God's wrath, and imploring
|
|
his favour in a Mediator. Or,
|
|
|
|
(2.) In the qualities of the offering. Cain brought
|
|
<I>of the fruit of the ground,</I> any thing that came
|
|
next to hand, what he had not occasion for
|
|
himself or what was not marketable. But
|
|
Abel was curious in the choice of his offering:
|
|
not the lame, nor the lean, nor the refuse,
|
|
but the <I>firstlings of the flock</I>--the best
|
|
he had, <I>and the fat thereof</I>--the best of those
|
|
best. Hence the Hebrew doctors give it
|
|
for a general rule that every thing that is
|
|
for the name of the good God must be the
|
|
goodliest and best. It is fit that he who is
|
|
the first and best should have the first and
|
|
best of our time, strength, and service.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The great difference was this, that Abel
|
|
offered in faith, and Cain did not. There
|
|
was a difference in the principle upon which
|
|
they went. Abel offered with an eye to
|
|
God's will as his rule, and God's glory as his
|
|
end, and in dependence upon the promise of a
|
|
Redeemer; but Cain did what he did only for
|
|
company's sake, or to save his credit, not in
|
|
faith, and so it turned into sin to him. Abel
|
|
was a penitent believer, like the publican that
|
|
went away justified: Cain was unhumbled;
|
|
his confidence was within himself; he was like
|
|
the Pharisee who glorified himself, but
|
|
was not so much as justified before God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. Cain's displeasure at the difference
|
|
God made between his sacrifice and Abel's.
|
|
Cain was very wroth, which presently appeared
|
|
in his very looks, for his countenance
|
|
fell, which bespeaks not so much his grief
|
|
and discontent as his malice and rage. His
|
|
sullen churlish countenance, and a down-look,
|
|
betrayed his passionate resentments:
|
|
he carried ill-nature in his face, and <I>the show
|
|
of his countenance witnessed against him.</I>
|
|
This anger bespeaks,
|
|
|
|
1. His enmity to God,
|
|
and the indignation he had conceived against
|
|
him for making such a difference between his
|
|
offering and his brother's. He should have
|
|
been angry at himself for his own infidelity
|
|
and hypocrisy, by which he had forfeited
|
|
God's acceptance; and his countenance
|
|
should have fallen in repentance and holy
|
|
shame, as the publican's, who <I>would not lift
|
|
up so much as his eyes to heaven,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+18:13">Luke xviii. 13</A>.
|
|
But, instead of this, he flies out against
|
|
God, as if he were partial and unfair in distributing
|
|
his smiles and frowns, and as if he
|
|
had done him a deal of wrong. Note, It is
|
|
a certain sign of an unhumbled heart to
|
|
quarrel with those rebukes which we have,
|
|
by our own sin, brought upon ourselves.
|
|
<I>The foolishness of man perverteth his way,</I>
|
|
and then, to make bad worse, <I>his heart fretteth
|
|
against the Lord,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+19:3">Prov. xix. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. His
|
|
envy of his brother, who had the honour to
|
|
be publicly owned. Though his brother
|
|
had no thought of having any slur put upon
|
|
him, nor did now insult over him to provoke
|
|
him, yet he conceived a hatred of him as an
|
|
enemy, or, which is equivalent, a rival.
|
|
Note,
|
|
|
|
(1.) It is common for those who have
|
|
rendered themselves unworthy of God's favour
|
|
by their presumptuous sins to have indignation
|
|
against those who are dignified
|
|
and distinguished by it. The Pharisees
|
|
walked in this way of Cain, when they <I>neither
|
|
entered into the kingdom of God themselves</I>
|
|
nor <I>suffered those that were entering to go in,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+11:52">Luke xi. 52</A>.
|
|
Their eye is evil, because
|
|
their master's eye and the eye of their fellow-servants
|
|
are good.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Envy is a sin that
|
|
commonly carries with it both its own discovery,
|
|
in the paleness of the looks, and its own
|
|
punishment, in the rottenness of the bones.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_6"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_7"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>6 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> said unto Cain,
|
|
Why art thou wroth? and why is thy
|
|
countenance fallen?
|
|
7 If thou doest
|
|
well, shalt thou not be accepted? and
|
|
if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the
|
|
door. And unto thee <I>shall be</I> his desire,
|
|
and thou shalt rule over him.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
God is here reasoning with Cain, to convince
|
|
him of the sin and folly of his anger
|
|
and discontent, and to bring him into a good
|
|
temper again, that further mischief might be
|
|
prevented. It is an instance of God's patience
|
|
and condescending goodness that he
|
|
would deal thus tenderly with so bad a man,
|
|
in so bad an affair. <I>He is not willing that
|
|
any should perish, but that all should come to
|
|
repentance.</I> Thus the father of the prodigal
|
|
argued the case with the elder son
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+15:28-32">Luke xv. 28</A>,
|
|
&c.), and God with those Israelites who
|
|
said, <I>The way of the Lord is not equal,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:25">Ezek. xviii. 25</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. God puts Cain himself upon enquiring
|
|
into the cause of his discontent, and considering
|
|
whether it were indeed a just cause:
|
|
<I>Why is thy countenance fallen?</I> Observe,
|
|
|
|
1. That God takes notice of all our sinful passions
|
|
and discontents. There is not an angry
|
|
look, an envious look, nor a fretful look, that
|
|
escapes his observing eye.
|
|
|
|
2. That most of
|
|
our sinful heats and disquietudes would soon
|
|
vanish before a strict and impartial enquiry
|
|
into the cause of them. "<I>Why am I wroth?</I>
|
|
Is there a re al cause, a just cause, a proportionable
|
|
cause for it? Why am I so soon
|
|
angry? Why so very angry, and so implacable?"</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. To reduce Cain to his right mind
|
|
again, it is here made evident to him,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. That he had no reason to be angry at
|
|
God, for that he had proceeded according to
|
|
the settled and invariable rules of government
|
|
suited to a state of probation. He sets
|
|
before men life and death, the blessing and
|
|
the curse, and then <I>renders to them according
|
|
to their works,</I> and differences them according
|
|
as they difference themselves--so shall
|
|
their doom be. The rules are just, and
|
|
therefore his ways, according to those rules,
|
|
must needs be equal, and he will be justified
|
|
when he speaks.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page39"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) God sets before Cain life and a blessing:
|
|
"<I>If thou doest well, shalt thou not be
|
|
accepted?</I> No doubt thou shalt, nay, thou
|
|
knowest thou shalt;" either,
|
|
|
|
[1.] "If thou
|
|
hadst done well, as thy brother did, thou
|
|
shouldst have been accepted, as he was."
|
|
<I>God is no respecter of persons,</I> hates nothing
|
|
that he had made, denies his favour to none
|
|
but those who have forfeited it, and is an
|
|
enemy to none but those who by sin have
|
|
made him their enemy: so that if we come
|
|
short of acceptance with him we must thank
|
|
ourselves, the fault is wholly our own; if we
|
|
had done our duty, we should not have
|
|
missed of his mercy. This will justify God
|
|
in the destruction of sinners, and will aggravate
|
|
their ruin; there is not a damned sinner
|
|
in hell, but, if he had done well, as he might
|
|
have done, had been a glorious saint in
|
|
heaven. Every mouth will shortly be stopped
|
|
with this. Or,
|
|
|
|
[2.] "If now thou do well,
|
|
if thou repent of thy sin, reform thy heart
|
|
and life, and bring thy sacrifice in a better
|
|
manner, if thou not only do that which is
|
|
good but do it well, thou shalt yet be accepted,
|
|
thy sin shall be pardoned, thy comfort and
|
|
honour restored, and all shall be well." See
|
|
here the effect of a Mediator's interposal between
|
|
God and man; we do not stand upon
|
|
the footing of the first covenant, which left
|
|
no room for repentance, but God had come
|
|
upon new terms with us. Though we have
|
|
offended, if we repent and return, we shall
|
|
find mercy. See how early the gospel was
|
|
preached, and the benefit of it here offered
|
|
even to one of the chief of sinners.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) He sets before him death and a curse:
|
|
But <I>if not well,</I> that is, "Seeing thou didst
|
|
not do well, didst not offer in faith and in a
|
|
right manner, <I>sin lies at the door,</I>" that is,
|
|
"sin was imputed to thee, and thou wast
|
|
frowned upon and rejected as a sinner. So
|
|
high a charge had not been laid at thy door,
|
|
if thou hadst not brought it upon thyself,
|
|
by not doing well." Or, as it is commonly
|
|
taken, "If now thou wilt not do well, if thou
|
|
persist in this wrath, and, instead of humbling
|
|
thyself before God, harden thyself against
|
|
him, <I>sin lies at the door,</I>" that is,
|
|
|
|
[1.] Further
|
|
sin. "Now that anger is in thy heart,
|
|
murder is at the door." The way of sin is
|
|
down-hill, and men go from bad to worse.
|
|
Those who do not sacrifice well, but are careless
|
|
and remiss in their devotion to God,
|
|
expose themselves to the worst temptations;
|
|
and perhaps the most scandalous sin lies at
|
|
the door. Those who do not keep God's ordinances
|
|
are in danger of committing all
|
|
abominations,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+18:30">Lev. xviii. 30</A>.
|
|
Or,
|
|
|
|
[2.] The
|
|
punishment of sin. So near akin are sin and
|
|
punishment that the same word in Hebrew
|
|
signifies both. If sin be harboured in the
|
|
house, the curse waits at the door, like a
|
|
bailiff, ready to arrest the sinner whenever he
|
|
looks out. It lies as if it slept, but it lies at
|
|
the door where it will be soon awaked, and
|
|
then it will appear that the damnation slumbered
|
|
not. Sin will <I>find thee out,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+32:23">Num. xxxii. 23</A>.
|
|
Yet some choose to understand this also
|
|
as an intimation of mercy. "If thou doest
|
|
not well, <I>sin</I> (that is, <I>the sin-offering</I>), lies at
|
|
the door, and thou mayest take the benefit
|
|
of it." The same word signifies <I>sin</I> and <I>a
|
|
sacrifice for sin.</I> "Though thou hast not
|
|
done well, yet do not despair; the remedy is
|
|
at hand; the propitiation is not far to seek;
|
|
lay hold on it, and the iniquity of thy holy
|
|
things shall be forgiven thee." Christ, the
|
|
great sin-offering, is said to <I>stand at the door,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+3:20">Rev. iii. 20</A>.
|
|
And those well deserve to
|
|
perish in their sins that will not go to the
|
|
door for an interest in the sin-offering. All
|
|
this considered, Cain had no reason to be
|
|
angry at God, but at himself only.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. That he had no reason to be angry at
|
|
his brother: "<I>Unto thee shall be his desire,</I>
|
|
he shall continue his respect to thee as an
|
|
elder brother, and thou, as the first-born,
|
|
shalt rule over him as much as ever." God's
|
|
acceptance of Abel's offering did not transfer
|
|
the birth-right to him (which Cain was jealous
|
|
of), nor put upon him that excellency of
|
|
dignity and of power which is said to belong
|
|
to it,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+49:3"><I>ch.</I> xlix. 3</A>.
|
|
God did not so intend it;
|
|
Abel did not so interpret it; there was no
|
|
danger of its being improved to Cain's
|
|
prejudice; why then should he be so much
|
|
exasperated? Observe here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That the
|
|
difference which God's grace makes does not
|
|
alter the distinctions which God's providence
|
|
makes, but preserves them, and obliges us
|
|
to do the duty which results from them: believing
|
|
servants must be obedient to unbelieving
|
|
masters. Dominion is not founded
|
|
in grace, nor will religion warrant disloyalty
|
|
or disrespect in any relation.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That the
|
|
jealousies which civil powers have sometimes
|
|
conceived of the true worshippers of God as
|
|
dangerous to their government, enemies to
|
|
Cæsar, and hurtful to kings and provinces (on
|
|
which suspicion persecutors have grounded
|
|
their rage against them) are very unjust and
|
|
unreasonable. Whatever may be the case
|
|
with some who call themselves Christians, it
|
|
is certain that <I>Christians indeed</I> are the best
|
|
subjects, and the quiet in the land; their
|
|
desire is towards their governors, and these
|
|
shall rule over them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_8"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>8 And Cain talked with Abel his
|
|
brother: and it came to pass, when
|
|
they were in the field, that Cain rose
|
|
up against Abel his brother, and slew
|
|
him.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here the progress of Cain's anger,
|
|
and the issue of it in Abel's murder, which
|
|
may be considered two ways:--</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. As Cain's sin; and a scarlet, crimson,
|
|
sin it was, a sin of the first magnitude, a sin
|
|
against the light and law of nature, and
|
|
which the consciences even of bad men have
|
|
startled at. See in it,
|
|
|
|
1. The sad effects of
|
|
sin's entrance into the world and into the
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page39"> </A>
|
|
|
|
hearts of men. See what a root of bitterness
|
|
the corrupt nature is, which bears this gall
|
|
and wormwood. Adam's eating forbidden
|
|
fruit seemed but a little sin, but it opened
|
|
the door to the greatest.
|
|
|
|
2. A fruit of the
|
|
enmity which is in the seed of the serpent
|
|
against the seed of the woman. As Abel
|
|
leads the van in the <I>noble army of martyrs</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:35">Matt. xxiii. 35</A>),
|
|
so Cain stand in the front
|
|
of the ignoble army of persecutors,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jude+1:11">Jude 11</A>.
|
|
So early did he that was after the flesh <I>persecute
|
|
him that was after the Spirit; and so
|
|
it is now,</I> more or less
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+4:29">Gal. iv. 29</A>),
|
|
and so it
|
|
will be till the war shall end in the eternal
|
|
salvation of all the saints and the eternal
|
|
perdition of all that hate them.
|
|
|
|
3. See also
|
|
what comes of <I>envy, hatred, malice, and all
|
|
uncharitableness;</I> if they be indulged and
|
|
cherished in the soul, they are in danger of
|
|
involving men in the horrid guilt of murder
|
|
itself. Rash anger is heart-murder,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+5:21,22">Matt. v. 21, 22</A>.
|
|
Much more is malice so; he that
|
|
hates his brother is already a murderer before
|
|
God; and, if God leave him to himself, he
|
|
wants nothing but an opportunity to render
|
|
him a murderer before the world. Many
|
|
were the aggravations of Cain's sin.
|
|
|
|
(1.) It
|
|
was his brother, his own brother, that he
|
|
murdered, his own mother's son
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+50:20">Ps. l. 20</A>),
|
|
whom he ought to have loved, his younger
|
|
brother, whom he ought to have protected.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He was a good brother, one who had
|
|
never done him any wrong, nor given him the
|
|
least provocation in word or deed, but one
|
|
whose desire had been always towards him,
|
|
and who had been, in all instances, dutiful
|
|
and respectful to him.
|
|
|
|
(3.) He had fair
|
|
warning given him, before, of this. God
|
|
himself had told him what would come of it,
|
|
yet he persisted in his barbarous design.
|
|
|
|
(4.) It should seem that he covered it with a
|
|
show of friendship and kindness: <I>He talked
|
|
with Abel his brother,</I> freely and familiarly,
|
|
lest Abel should suspect danger, and keep
|
|
out of his reach. Thus Joab kissed Abner,
|
|
and then killed him. Thus Absalom feasted
|
|
his brother Amnon and then killed him.
|
|
According to the Septuagint [a Greek version
|
|
of the Old Testament, supposed to have
|
|
been translated by seventy-two Jews, at the
|
|
desire of Ptolemy Philadelphus, above 200
|
|
years before Christ], Cain said to Abel, <I>Let
|
|
us go into the field;</I> if so, we are sure Abel
|
|
did not understand it (according to the modern
|
|
sense) as a challenge, else he would not
|
|
have accepted it, but as a brotherly invitation
|
|
to go together to their work. The Chaldee
|
|
paraphrast adds that Cain, when they were
|
|
in discourse in the field, maintained that
|
|
there was no judgment to come, no future
|
|
state, no rewards and punishments in the
|
|
other world, and that when Abel spoke in
|
|
defence of the truth Cain took that occasion
|
|
to fall upon him. However,
|
|
|
|
(5.) That which
|
|
the scripture tells us was the reason why
|
|
he slew him was a sufficient aggravation of
|
|
the murder; it was <I>because his own works
|
|
were evil and his brother's righteous,</I> so that
|
|
herein he showed himself to be <I>of that wicked
|
|
one</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+3:12">1 John iii. 12</A>),
|
|
a <I>child of the devil,</I> as
|
|
being <I>an enemy to all righteousness,</I> even in
|
|
his own brother, and, in this, employed
|
|
immediately by the destroyer. Nay,
|
|
|
|
(6.) In
|
|
killing his brother, he directly struck at God
|
|
himself; for God's accepting Abel was the
|
|
provocation pretended, and for this very
|
|
reason he hated Abel, because God loved
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
(7.) The murder of Abel was the more
|
|
inhuman because there were now so few men
|
|
in the world to replenish it. The life of a
|
|
man is precious at any time; but it was in a
|
|
special manner precious now, and could ill
|
|
be spared.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. As Abel's suffering. Death reigned
|
|
ever since Adam sinned, but we read not of
|
|
any taken captive by him till now; and now,
|
|
|
|
1. The first that dies is a saint, one that was
|
|
accepted and beloved of God, to show that,
|
|
though the promised seed was so far to destroy
|
|
him that had the power of death as to
|
|
save believers from its sting, yet still they
|
|
should be exposed to its stroke. The first that
|
|
went to the grave went to heaven. God
|
|
would secure to himself the first-fruits, the
|
|
first-born to the dead, that first opened the
|
|
womb into another world. Let this take off
|
|
the terror of death, that it was betimes the
|
|
lot of God's chosen, which alters the property
|
|
of it. Nay,
|
|
|
|
2. The first that dies is a
|
|
martyr, and dies for his religion; and of such
|
|
it may more truly be said than of soldiers
|
|
that they die on the bed of honour. Abel's
|
|
death has not only no curse in it, but it has
|
|
a crown in it; so admirably well is the property
|
|
of death altered that it is not only rendered
|
|
innocent and inoffensive to those that
|
|
die in Christ, but honourable and glorious to
|
|
those that die for him. Let us not think it
|
|
strange concerning the fiery trial, nor shrink
|
|
if we be called to resist unto blood; for we
|
|
know there is a crown of life for all that are
|
|
faithful unto death.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_9"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_12"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Cain's Punishment.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 3875.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>9 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> said unto Cain,
|
|
Where <I>is</I> Abel thy brother? And he
|
|
said, I know not: <I>Am</I> I my brother's
|
|
keeper?
|
|
10 And he said, What hast thou
|
|
done? the voice of thy brother's blood
|
|
crieth unto me from the ground.
|
|
11 And now <I>art</I> thou cursed from the
|
|
earth, which hath opened her mouth
|
|
to receive thy brother's blood from
|
|
thy hand;
|
|
12 When thou tillest the
|
|
ground, it shall not henceforth yield
|
|
unto thee her strength; a fugitive and
|
|
a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here a full account of the trial
|
|
and condemnation of the first murderer. Civil
|
|
courts of judicature not being yet erected for
|
|
this purpose, as they were afterwards
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+9:6"><I>ch.</I> ix. 6</A>),
|
|
God himself sits Judge; for he is the
|
|
God to whom vengeance belongs, and who
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page41"> </A>
|
|
|
|
will be sure to make inquisition for blood,
|
|
especially the blood of saints. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The arraignment of Cain: <I>The Lord
|
|
said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?</I>
|
|
Some think Cain was thus examined the next
|
|
sabbath after the murder was committed,
|
|
when <I>the sons of God came,</I> as usual, <I>to present
|
|
themselves before the Lord,</I> in a religious
|
|
assembly, and Abel was missing, whose place
|
|
did not use to be empty; for the God of
|
|
heaven takes notice who is present at and
|
|
who is absent from public ordinances. Cain
|
|
is asked, not only because there is just cause
|
|
to suspect him, he having discovered a malice
|
|
against Abel and having been last with him,
|
|
but because God knew him to be guilty; yet
|
|
he asks him, that he may draw from him a
|
|
confession of his crime, for those who would
|
|
be justified before God must accuse themselves,
|
|
and the penitent will do so.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Cain's plea: he pleads <I>not guilty,</I> and
|
|
adds rebellion to his sin. For,
|
|
|
|
1. He endeavours
|
|
to cover a deliberate murder with a
|
|
deliberate lie: <I>I know not.</I> He knew well
|
|
enough what had become of Abel, and yet
|
|
had the impudence to deny it. Thus, in
|
|
Cain, the devil was both a murderer and a
|
|
liar from the beginning. See how sinners'
|
|
minds are blinded, and their hearts hardened
|
|
by the deceitfulness of sin: those are strangely
|
|
blind that think it possible to conceal their
|
|
sins from a God that sees all, and those are
|
|
strangely hard that think it desirable to conceal
|
|
them from a God who pardons those
|
|
only that confess.
|
|
|
|
2. He impudently charges
|
|
his Judge with folly and injustice, in putting
|
|
this question to him: <I>Am I my brother's
|
|
keeper?</I> He should have humbled himself,
|
|
and have said, <I>Am not I my brother's murderer?</I>
|
|
But he flies in the face of God himself,
|
|
as if he had asked him an impertinent
|
|
question, to which he was no way obliged
|
|
to give an answer: "<I>Am I my brother's
|
|
keeper?</I> Surely he is old enough to take care
|
|
of himself, nor did I ever take any charge of
|
|
him." Some think he reflects on God and
|
|
his providence, as if he had said, "Art not
|
|
thou his keeper? If he be missing, on thee
|
|
be the blame, and not on me, who never
|
|
undertook to keep him." Note, A charitable
|
|
concern for our brethren, as their keepers,
|
|
is a great duty, which is strictly required of
|
|
us, but is generally neglected by us. Those
|
|
who are unconcerned in the affairs of their
|
|
brethren, and take no care, when they have
|
|
opportunity, to prevent their hurt in their
|
|
bodies, goods, or good name, especially in
|
|
their souls, do, in effect, speak Cain's language.
|
|
See
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+19:17,Php+2:4">Lev. xix. 17; Phil. ii. 4</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The conviction of Cain,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
God gave no direct answer to his question, but
|
|
rejected his plea as false and frivolous:
|
|
"<I>What hast thou done?</I> Thou makest a light
|
|
matter of it; but hast thou considered what
|
|
an evil thing it is, how deep the stain, how
|
|
heavy the burden, of this guilt is? Thou
|
|
thinkest to conceal it, but it is to no purpose,
|
|
the evidence against thee is clear and
|
|
incontestable: <I>The voice of thy brother's blood
|
|
cries.</I>" He speaks as if the blood itself were
|
|
both witness and prosecutor, because God's
|
|
own knowledge testified against him and
|
|
God's own justice demanded satisfaction.
|
|
Observe here,
|
|
|
|
1. Murder is a crying sin,
|
|
none more so. Blood calls for blood, the
|
|
blood of the murdered for the blood of the
|
|
murderer; it cries in the dying words of
|
|
Zechariah
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+24:22">2 Chron. xxiv. 22</A>),
|
|
<I>The Lord look
|
|
upon it and require it;</I> or in those of the
|
|
souls under the altar
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+6:10">Rev. vi. 10</A>),
|
|
<I>How long,
|
|
Lord, holy, and true?</I> The patient sufferers
|
|
cried for pardon (<I>Father, forgive them</I>), but
|
|
their blood cries for vengeance. Though
|
|
they hold their peace, their blood has a loud
|
|
and constant cry, to which the ear of the
|
|
righteous God is always open.
|
|
|
|
2. The blood
|
|
is said to cry from the ground, the earth,
|
|
which is said <I>to open her mouth to receive his
|
|
brother's blood from his hand,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
The earth did, as it were, blush to see her own
|
|
face stained with such blood, and therefore
|
|
opened her mouth to hide that which she
|
|
could not hinder. When the heaven revealed
|
|
Cain's iniquity, the earth also rose up against
|
|
him
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:27">Job xx. 27</A>),
|
|
and groaned on being thus
|
|
made <I>subject to vanity,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+8:20,22">Rom. viii. 20, 22</A>.
|
|
Cain, it is likely, buried the blood and the
|
|
body, to conceal his crime; but "murder
|
|
will out." He did not bury them so deep
|
|
but the cry of them reached heaven.
|
|
|
|
3. In
|
|
the original the word is plural, thy brother's
|
|
<I>bloods,</I> not only his blood, but the blood of
|
|
all those that might have descended from
|
|
him; or the blood of all the seed of the
|
|
woman, who should, in like manner, seal the
|
|
truth with their blood. Christ puts all on one
|
|
score
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:35">Matt. xxiii. 35</A>);
|
|
or because account
|
|
was kept of every drop of blood shed. How
|
|
well is it for us that the blood of Christ
|
|
speaks better things than that of Abel!
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+12:24">Heb. xii. 24</A>.
|
|
Abel's blood cried for vengeance,
|
|
Christ's blood cries for pardon.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. The sentence passed upon Cain: <I>And
|
|
now art thou cursed from the earth,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
Observe here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He is cursed, separated to all evil, laid
|
|
under the wrath of God, as it is revealed from
|
|
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
|
|
of men,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+1:18">Rom. i. 18</A>.
|
|
Who knows
|
|
the extent and weight of a divine curse, how
|
|
far it reaches, how deep it pierces? God's
|
|
pronouncing a man cursed makes him so;
|
|
for those whom he curses are cursed indeed.
|
|
The curse for Adam's disobedience terminated
|
|
on the ground: <I>Cursed is the ground for thy
|
|
sake;</I> but that for Cain's rebellion fell immediately
|
|
upon himself: <I>Thou art cursed;</I>
|
|
for God had mercy in store for Adam, but
|
|
none for Cain. We have all deserved this
|
|
curse, and it is only in Christ that believers
|
|
are saved from it and inherit the blessing,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+3:10,13">Gal. iii. 10, 13</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. He is cursed from the earth. Thence
|
|
the cry came up to God, thence the curse
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page42"> </A>
|
|
|
|
came up to Cain. God could have taken
|
|
vengeance by an immediate stroke from
|
|
heaven, by the sword of an angel, or by a
|
|
thunderbolt; but he chose to make the earth
|
|
the avenger of blood, to continue him upon
|
|
the earth, and not immediately to cut him
|
|
off, and yet to make even this his curse. The
|
|
earth is always near us, we cannot fly from
|
|
it; so that, if this is made the executioner of
|
|
divine wrath, our punishment is unavoidable:
|
|
it is sin, that is, the punishment of sin, lying
|
|
at the door. Cain found his punishment
|
|
where he chose his portion and set his heart.
|
|
Two things we expect from the earth, and
|
|
by this curse both are denied to Cain and
|
|
taken from him: <I>sustenance</I> and <I>settlement.</I>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Sustenance out of the earth is here withheld
|
|
from him. It is a curse upon him in his
|
|
enjoyments, and particularly in his calling:
|
|
<I>When thou tillest the ground, it shall not
|
|
henceforth yield unto thee its strength.</I> Note,
|
|
Every creature is to us what God makes it,
|
|
a comfort or a cross, a blessing or a curse.
|
|
If the earth yield not her strength to us, we
|
|
must therein acknowledge God's righteousness;
|
|
for we have not yielded our strength
|
|
to him. The ground was cursed before to
|
|
Adam, but it was now doubly cursed to Cain.
|
|
That part of it which fell to his share, and of
|
|
which he had the occupation, was made unfruitful
|
|
and uncomfortable to him by the
|
|
blood of Abel. Note, The wickedness of the
|
|
wicked brings a curse upon all they do and
|
|
all they have
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:15-68">Deut. xxviii. 15</A>,
|
|
&c.), and this
|
|
curse embitters all they have and disappoints
|
|
them in all they do.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Settlement on the
|
|
earth is here denied him: <I>A fugitive and a
|
|
vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.</I> By this
|
|
he was condemned,
|
|
|
|
[1.] To perpetual disgrace
|
|
and reproach among men. It should
|
|
be ever looked upon as a scandalous thing to
|
|
harbour him, converse with him, or show him
|
|
any countenance. And justly was a man
|
|
that had divested himself of all humanity
|
|
abhorred and abandoned by all mankind,
|
|
and made infamous.
|
|
|
|
[2.] To perpetual disquietude
|
|
and horror in his own mind. His
|
|
own guilty conscience should haunt him
|
|
wherever he went, and make him <I>Magormissabib,</I>
|
|
a <I>terror round about.</I> What rest
|
|
can those find, what settlement, that carry
|
|
their own disturbance with them in their
|
|
bosoms wherever they go? Those must needs
|
|
be fugitives that are thus tossed. There is
|
|
not a more restless fugitive upon earth than
|
|
he that is continually pursued by his own
|
|
guilt, nor a viler vagabond than he that is at
|
|
the beck of his own lusts.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
This was the sentence passed upon Cain;
|
|
and even in this there was mercy mixed, inasmuch
|
|
as he was not immediately cut off,
|
|
but had space given him to repent; for God
|
|
is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that
|
|
any should perish.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_15"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Cain's Complaint.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 3875.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>13 And Cain said unto the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>,
|
|
My punishment <I>is</I> greater than I can
|
|
bear.
|
|
14 Behold, thou hast driven
|
|
me out this day from the face of the
|
|
earth; and from thy face shall I be
|
|
hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a
|
|
vagabond in the earth; and it shall
|
|
come to pass, <I>that</I> every one that
|
|
findeth me shall slay me.
|
|
15 And
|
|
the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> said unto him, Therefore
|
|
whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance
|
|
shall be taken on him sevenfold.
|
|
And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> set a mark upon Cain,
|
|
lest any finding him should kill him.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here a further account of the proceedings
|
|
against Cain.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Here is Cain's complaint of the sentence
|
|
passed upon him, as hard and severe.
|
|
Some make him to speak the language of
|
|
despair, and read it, <I>My iniquity is greater
|
|
than that it may be forgiven;</I> and so what he
|
|
says is a reproach and affront to the mercy of
|
|
God, which those only shall have the benefit
|
|
of that hope in it. There is forgiveness with
|
|
the God of pardons for the greatest sins and
|
|
sinners; but those forfeit it who despair of
|
|
it. Just now Cain made nothing of his sin,
|
|
but now he is in the other extreme: Satan
|
|
drives his vassals from presumption to despair.
|
|
We cannot think too ill of sin, provided
|
|
we do not think it unpardonable. But
|
|
Cain seems rather to speak the language of
|
|
indignation: <I>My punishment is greater than
|
|
I can bear;</I> and so what he says is a reproach
|
|
and affront to the justice of God, and a complaint,
|
|
not of the greatness of his sin, but of
|
|
the extremity of his punishment, as if this
|
|
were disproportionable to his merits. Instead
|
|
of justifying God in the sentence, he
|
|
condemns him, not accepting the punishment
|
|
of his iniquity, but quarrelling with it.
|
|
Note, Impenitent unhumbled hearts are therefore
|
|
not reclaimed by God's rebukes because
|
|
they think themselves wronged by them; and
|
|
it is an evidence of great hardness to be more
|
|
concerned about our sufferings than about
|
|
our sins. Pharaoh's care was concerning this
|
|
death only, not this sin
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+10:17">Exod. x. 17</A>);
|
|
so was
|
|
Cain's here. He is a living man, and yet
|
|
complains of the punishment of his sin,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:39">Lam. iii. 39</A>.
|
|
He thinks himself rigorously dealt
|
|
with when really he is favourably treated;
|
|
and he cries out of wrong when he has more
|
|
reason to wonder that he is out of hell. Woe
|
|
unto him that thus strives with his Maker,
|
|
and enters into judgment with his Judge.
|
|
Now, to justify this complaint, Cain descants
|
|
upon the sentence.
|
|
|
|
1. He sees himself excluded
|
|
by it from the favour of his God,
|
|
and concludes that, being cursed, he is hidden
|
|
from God's face, which is indeed the
|
|
true nature of God's curse; damned sinners
|
|
find it so, to whom it is said, <I>Depart from me
|
|
you cursed.</I> Those are cursed indeed that
|
|
are forever shut out from God's love and
|
|
care and from all hopes of his grace.
|
|
|
|
2. He
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page43"> </A>
|
|
|
|
sees himself expelled from all the comforts of
|
|
this life, and concludes that, being a fugitive,
|
|
he is, in effect, <I>driven out this day from the
|
|
face of the earth.</I> As good have no place on
|
|
earth as not have a settled place. Better rest
|
|
in the grave than not rest at all.
|
|
|
|
3. He sees
|
|
himself excommunicated by it, and cut off
|
|
from the church, and forbidden to attend on
|
|
public ordinances. His hands being full of
|
|
blood, he must <I>bring no more vain oblations,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:13,15">Isa. i. 13, 15</A>.
|
|
Perhaps this he means when
|
|
he complains that he is <I>driven out from the
|
|
face of the earth;</I> for being shut out of the
|
|
church, which none had yet deserted, he was
|
|
<I>hidden from God's face,</I> being not admitted to
|
|
come <I>with the sons of God to present himself
|
|
before the Lord.</I>
|
|
|
|
4. He seen himself exposed
|
|
by it to the hatred and ill-will of all mankind:
|
|
<I>It shall come to pass that every one that
|
|
finds me shall slay me.</I> Wherever he wanders,
|
|
he goes in peril of his life, at least he
|
|
thinks so; and, like a man in debt, thinks
|
|
every one he meets a bailiff. There were
|
|
none alive but his near relations; yet even of
|
|
them he is justly afraid who had himself been
|
|
so barbarous to his brother. Some read it,
|
|
<I>Whatsoever</I> finds me shall slay me; not only,
|
|
"Whosoever among men," but, "Whatsoever
|
|
among all the creatures." Seeing himself
|
|
thrown out of God's protection, he sees
|
|
the whole creation armed against him. Note,
|
|
Unpardoned guilt fills men with continual
|
|
terrors,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+28:1,Job+15:20-21,Ps+53:5">Prov. xxviii. 1; Job xv. 20, 21; Ps. liii. 5</A>.
|
|
It is better to fear and not sin than to
|
|
sin and then fear. Dr. Lightfoot thinks this
|
|
word of Cain should be read as a wish: <I>Now,
|
|
therefore, let it be that any that find me may
|
|
kill me.</I> Being bitter in soul, he <I>longs for
|
|
death, but it comes not</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:20-22">Job iii. 20-22</A>),
|
|
as those under spiritual torments do,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+9:5-6">Rev. ix. 5, 6</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Here is God's confirmation of the sentence;
|
|
for when he judges he will overcome,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
Observe,
|
|
|
|
1. How Cain is protected
|
|
in wrath by this declaration, notified, we may
|
|
suppose, to all that little world which was
|
|
then in being: <I>Whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance
|
|
shall be taken on him seven-fold,</I> because
|
|
thereby the sentence he was under
|
|
(that he should be a fugitive and a vagabond)
|
|
would be defeated. Condemned prisoners
|
|
are under the special protection of the law;
|
|
those that are appointed sacrifices to public
|
|
justice must not be sacrificed to private revenge.
|
|
God having said in Cain's case, <I>Vengeance
|
|
is mine, I will repay,</I> it would have
|
|
been a daring usurpation for any man to
|
|
take the sword out of God's hand, a contempt
|
|
put upon an express declaration of
|
|
God's mind, and therefore avenged seven-fold.
|
|
Note, God has wise and holy ends in
|
|
protecting and prolonging the lives even of
|
|
very wicked men. God deals with some according
|
|
to that prayer, <I>Slay them not, lest my
|
|
people forget; scatter them by thy power,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+59:11">Ps. lix. 11</A>.
|
|
Had Cain been slain immediately,
|
|
he would have been forgotten
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+8:10">Eccl. viii. 10</A>);
|
|
but now he lives a more fearful and lasting
|
|
monument of God's justice, hanged in chains,
|
|
as it were.
|
|
|
|
2. How he is marked in wrath:
|
|
<I>The Lord set a mark upon Cain,</I> to distinguish
|
|
him from the rest of mankind and to notify
|
|
that he was the man that murdered his brother,
|
|
whom nobody must hurt, but every
|
|
body must hoot at. God stigmatized him
|
|
(as some malefactors are burnt in the cheek),
|
|
and put upon him such a visible and indelible
|
|
mark of infamy and disgrace as would make
|
|
all wise people shun him, so that he could
|
|
not be otherwise than a fugitive and a vagabond,
|
|
and the off-scouring of all things.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_18"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Family of Cain.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 3875.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>16 And Cain went out from the
|
|
presence of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and dwelt in
|
|
the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
|
|
17 And Cain knew his wife; and she
|
|
conceived, and bare Enoch: and he
|
|
builded a city, and called the name of
|
|
the city, after the name of his son,
|
|
Enoch.
|
|
18 And unto Enoch was
|
|
born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael:
|
|
and Mehujael begat Methusael: and
|
|
Methusael begat Lamech.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here a further account of Cain,
|
|
and what became of him after he was rejected
|
|
of God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He tamely submitted to that part of his
|
|
sentence by which he was hidden from God's
|
|
face; for
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>)
|
|
<I>he went out from the presence
|
|
of the Lord,</I> that is, he willingly renounced
|
|
God and religion, and was content to forego
|
|
its privileges, so that he might not be under
|
|
its precepts. He forsook Adam's family and
|
|
altar, and cast off all pretensions to the fear
|
|
of God, and never came among good people,
|
|
nor attended on God's ordinances, any more.
|
|
Note, Hypocritical professors, that have dissembled
|
|
and trifled with God Almighty, are
|
|
justly left to themselves, to do something
|
|
that is grossly scandalous, and so to throw off
|
|
that form of godliness to which they have
|
|
been a reproach, and under colour of which
|
|
they have denied the power of it. Cain went
|
|
out now from the presence of the Lord, and
|
|
we never find that he came into it again, to
|
|
his comfort. Hell is <I>destruction from the
|
|
presence of the Lord,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Th+1:9">2 Thess. i. 9</A>.
|
|
It is a
|
|
perpetual banishment from the fountain of all
|
|
good. This is the choice of sinners; and so
|
|
shall their doom be, to their eternal confusion.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He endeavoured to confront that part
|
|
of the sentence by which he was made a fugitive
|
|
and a vagabond; for,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He chose his land. He went and <I>dwelt
|
|
on the east of Eden,</I> somewhere distant from
|
|
the place where Adam and his religious
|
|
family resided, distinguishing himself and
|
|
his accursed generation from the holy seed,
|
|
his camp from the <I>camp of the saints and the
|
|
beloved city,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+20:9">Rev. xx. 9</A>.
|
|
On the east of Eden,
|
|
the cherubim were, with the flaming sword,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+3:24"><I>ch.</I> iii. 24</A>.
|
|
There he chose his lot, as if to
|
|
defy the terrors of the Lord. But his
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page44"> </A>
|
|
|
|
attempt to settle was in vain; for the land he
|
|
dwelt in was to him <I>the land of Nod</I> (that is,
|
|
of <I>shaking</I> or <I>trembling</I>), because of the continual
|
|
restlessness and uneasiness of his own
|
|
spirit. Note, Those that depart from God
|
|
cannot find rest any where else. After Cain
|
|
went out from the presence of the Lord, he
|
|
never rested. Those that shut themselves
|
|
out of heaven abandon themselves to a perpetual
|
|
trembling. "<I>Return therefore to thy
|
|
rest, O my soul,</I> to thy rest in God; else thou
|
|
art for ever restless."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. He built a city for a habitation,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
|
|
<I>He was building a city,</I> so some read it, ever
|
|
building it, but, a curse being upon him and
|
|
the work of his hands, he could not finish it.
|
|
Or, as we read it, he <I>built a city,</I> in token of
|
|
a fixed separation from the church of God, to
|
|
which he had no thoughts of ever returning.
|
|
This city was to be the head-quarters of the
|
|
apostasy. Observe here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Cain's defiance
|
|
of the divine sentence. God said he should
|
|
be a <I>fugitive and a vagabond.</I> Had he repented
|
|
and humbled himself, this curse might
|
|
have been turned into a blessing, as that of
|
|
the tribe of Levi was, that they should be
|
|
<I>divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel;</I> but
|
|
his impenitent unhumbled heart walking contrary
|
|
to God, and resolving to fix in spite of
|
|
heaven, that which might have been a blessing
|
|
was turned into a curse.
|
|
|
|
(2.) See what
|
|
was Cain's choice, after he had forsaken God;
|
|
he pitched upon a settlement in this world,
|
|
as his rest for ever. Those who looked for
|
|
the heavenly city chose, while on earth, to
|
|
dwell in tabernacles; but Cain, as one that
|
|
minded not <I>that</I> city, built himself one on
|
|
earth. Those that are cursed of God are
|
|
apt to seek their settlement and satisfaction
|
|
here below,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+17:14">Ps. xvii. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
(3.) See what method
|
|
Cain took to defend himself against
|
|
the terrors with which he was perpetually
|
|
haunted. He undertook this building, to
|
|
divert his thoughts from the consideration of
|
|
his own misery, and to drown the clamours
|
|
of a guilty conscience with the noise of axes
|
|
and hammers. Thus many baffle their convictions
|
|
by thrusting themselves into a hurry
|
|
of worldly business.
|
|
|
|
(4.) See how wicked
|
|
people often get the start of God's people,
|
|
and out-go them in outward prosperity. Cain
|
|
and his cursed race dwell in a city, while
|
|
Adam and his blessed family dwell in tents.
|
|
We cannot judge of <I>love or hatred by all that
|
|
is before us,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+9:1,2">Eccl. ix. 1, 2</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. His family also was built up. Here is
|
|
an account of his posterity, at least the heirs
|
|
of his family, for seven generations. His
|
|
son was <I>Enoch,</I> of the same name, but not
|
|
of the same character, with that holy man
|
|
that <I>walked with God,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+5:22"><I>ch.</I> v. 22</A>.
|
|
Good men
|
|
and bad may bear the same names: but God
|
|
can distinguish between Judas Iscariot and
|
|
Judas <I>not</I> Iscariot,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+14:22">John xiv. 22</A>.
|
|
The names
|
|
of more of his posterity are mentioned, and
|
|
but just mentioned; not as those of the holy
|
|
seed
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+5:1-32"><I>ch.</I> v.</A>),
|
|
where we have three verses concerning
|
|
each, whereas here we have three or
|
|
four in one verse. They are numbered in
|
|
haste, as not valued or delighted in, in comparison
|
|
with God's chosen.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_22"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec5"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Family of Lamech.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 3875.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>19 And Lamech took unto him
|
|
two wives: the name of the one <I>was</I>
|
|
Adah, and the name of the other
|
|
Zillah.
|
|
20 And Adah bare Jabal:
|
|
he was the father of such as dwell
|
|
in tents, and <I>of such as have</I> cattle.
|
|
21 And his brother's name <I>was</I> Jubal:
|
|
he was the father of all such as handle
|
|
the harp and organ.
|
|
22 And Zillah,
|
|
she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructor
|
|
of every artificer in brass and
|
|
iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain
|
|
<I>was</I> Naamah.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here some particulars concerning
|
|
Lamech, the seventh from Adam in the
|
|
line of Cain. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. His marrying two wives. It was one of
|
|
the degenerate race of Cain who first transgressed
|
|
that original law of marriage that
|
|
two only should be one flesh. Hitherto one
|
|
man had but one wife at a time; but Lamech
|
|
took two. <I>From the beginning it was not so.</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+2:15,Mt+19:5">Mal. ii. 15; Matt. xix. 5</A>.
|
|
See here,
|
|
|
|
1. Those who desert God's church and ordinances
|
|
lay themselves open to all manner of
|
|
temptation.
|
|
|
|
2. When a bad custom is begun
|
|
by bad men sometimes men of better characters
|
|
are, through unwariness, drawn in to
|
|
follow them. Jacob, David, and many
|
|
others, who were otherwise good men, were
|
|
afterwards ensnared in this sin which Lamech
|
|
begun.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. His happiness in his children, notwithstanding
|
|
this. Though he sinned, in marrying
|
|
two wives, yet he was blessed with
|
|
children by both, and those such as lived to
|
|
be famous in their generation, not for their
|
|
piety, no mention is made of this (for aught
|
|
that appears they were the heathen of that
|
|
age), but for their ingenuity. They were not
|
|
only themselves men of business, but men
|
|
that were serviceable to the world, and eminent
|
|
for the invention, or at least the improvement,
|
|
of some useful arts.
|
|
|
|
1. Jabal was a
|
|
famous shepherd; he delighted much in
|
|
keeping cattle himself, and was so happy in
|
|
devising methods of doing it to the best advantage,
|
|
and instructing others in them, that
|
|
the shepherds of those times, nay, the shepherds
|
|
of after-times, called him <I>father;</I> or
|
|
perhaps, his children after him being brought
|
|
up to the same employment, the family was a
|
|
family of shepherds.
|
|
|
|
2. Jubal was a famous
|
|
musician, and particularly an organist, and
|
|
the first that gave rules for the noble art or
|
|
science of music. When Jabal had set them
|
|
in a way to be rich, Jubal put them in a way
|
|
to be merry. Those that spend their days in
|
|
wealth will not be without the timbrel and
|
|
harp,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+21:12,13">Job xxi. 12, 13</A>.
|
|
From his name, <I>Jubal,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page45"> </A>
|
|
|
|
probably the jubilee-trumpet was so called;
|
|
for the best music was that which proclaimed
|
|
liberty and redemption. Jabal was their Pan
|
|
and Jubal their Apollo.
|
|
|
|
3. Tubal Cain was
|
|
a famous smith, who greatly improved the
|
|
art of working in brass and iron, for the service
|
|
both of war and husbandry. He was
|
|
their Vulcan. See here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That worldly
|
|
things are the only things that carnal wicked
|
|
people set their hearts upon and are most ingenious
|
|
and industrious about. So it was
|
|
with this impious race of cursed Cain. Here
|
|
were a father of shepherds and a father of
|
|
musicians, but not a father of the faithful.
|
|
Here was one to teach in brass and iron, but
|
|
none to teach the good knowledge of the
|
|
Lord. Here were devices how to be rich,
|
|
and how to be mighty, and how to be merry,
|
|
but nothing of God, nor of his fear and service,
|
|
among them. Present things fill the
|
|
heads of most people.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That even those
|
|
who are destitute of the knowledge and grace
|
|
of God may be endued with many excellent
|
|
and useful accomplishments, which may make
|
|
them famous and serviceable in their generation.
|
|
Common gifts are given to bad men,
|
|
while God chooses to himself the foolish
|
|
things of the world.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_24"> </A>
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>23 And Lamech said unto his wives,
|
|
Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye
|
|
wives of Lamech, hearken unto my
|
|
speech: for I have slain a man to my
|
|
wounding, and a young man to my
|
|
hurt.
|
|
24 If Cain shall be avenged
|
|
sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and
|
|
sevenfold.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
By this speech of Lamech, which is here
|
|
recorded, and probably was much talked of
|
|
in those times, he further appears to have
|
|
been a wicked man, as Cain's accursed race
|
|
generally were. Observe,
|
|
|
|
1. How haughtily
|
|
and imperiously he speaks to his wives, as
|
|
one that expected a mighty regard and observance:
|
|
<I>Hear my voice, you wives of Lamech.</I>
|
|
No marvel that he who had broken one law
|
|
of marriage, by taking two wives, broke another,
|
|
which obliged him to be kind and
|
|
tender to those he had taken, and to give
|
|
honour to the wife as to the weaker vessel.
|
|
Those are not always the most careful to do
|
|
their own duty that are highest in their demands
|
|
of respect from others, and most frequent
|
|
in calling upon their relations to know
|
|
their place and do their duty.
|
|
|
|
2. How
|
|
bloody and barbarous he was to all about
|
|
him: <I>I have slain,</I> or (as it is in the margin)
|
|
<I>I would slay a man in my wound, and a young
|
|
man in my hurt.</I> He owns himself a man of
|
|
a fierce and cruel disposition, that would lay
|
|
about him without mercy, and kill all that
|
|
stood in his way; be it a man, or a young
|
|
man, nay, though he himself were in danger
|
|
to be wounded and hurt in the conflict.
|
|
Some think, because
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>)
|
|
he compares himself
|
|
with Cain, that he had murdered some
|
|
of the holy seed, the true worshippers of
|
|
God, and that he acknowledged this to be the
|
|
wounding of his conscience and the hurt of
|
|
his soul; and yet that, like Cain, he continued
|
|
impenitent, trembling and yet unhumbled.
|
|
Or his wives, knowing what
|
|
manner of spirit he was of, how apt both to
|
|
give and to resent provocation, were afraid
|
|
lest somebody or other would be the death
|
|
of him. "Never fear," says he, "I defy any
|
|
man to set upon me; whosoever does, let me
|
|
alone to make my part good with him; I will
|
|
slay him, be he a man or a young man."
|
|
Note, It is a common thing for fierce and
|
|
bloody men to <I>glory in their shame</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+3:19">Phil. iii. 19</A>),
|
|
as if it were both their safety and their
|
|
honour that they care not how many lives
|
|
are sacrificed to their angry resentments, nor
|
|
how much they are hated, provided they
|
|
may be feared. <I>Oderint, dum metuant--Let
|
|
them hate, provided they fear.</I>
|
|
|
|
3. How impiously
|
|
he presumes even upon God's protection
|
|
in his wicked way,
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>.
|
|
He had
|
|
heard that <I>Cain should be avenged seven-fold</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
|
|
that is, that if any man should dare
|
|
to kill Cain he should be severely reckoned
|
|
with and punished for so doing, though Cain
|
|
deserved to die a thousand deaths for the
|
|
murder of his brother, and hence he infers
|
|
that if any one should kill him for the
|
|
murders he had committed God would much
|
|
more avenge his death. As if the special
|
|
care God took to prolong and secure the life
|
|
of Cain, for special reasons peculiar to his
|
|
case (and indeed for his sorer punishment, as
|
|
the beings of the damned are continued) were
|
|
designed as a protection to all murderers.
|
|
Thus Lamech perversely argues, "If God
|
|
provided for the safety of Cain, much more
|
|
for mine, who, though I have slain many, yet
|
|
never slew my own brother, and upon no
|
|
provocation, as he did." Note, The reprieve
|
|
of some sinners, and the patience God exercises
|
|
towards them, are often abused to the
|
|
hardening of others in the like sinful ways,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+8:11">Eccl. viii. 11</A>.
|
|
But, though justice strike
|
|
some slowly, others cannot therefore be sure
|
|
but that they may be taken away with a swift
|
|
destruction. Or, if God should bear long
|
|
with those who thus presume upon his forbearance,
|
|
they do but hereby treasure up unto
|
|
themselves <I>wrath against the day of wrath.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Now this is all we have upon record in
|
|
scripture concerning the family and posterity
|
|
of cursed Cain, till we find them all cut off
|
|
and perishing in the universal deluge.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge4_26"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec6"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Birth of Seth.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 3874.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>25 And Adam knew his wife again;
|
|
and she bare a son, and called his
|
|
name Seth: For God, <I>said she,</I> hath
|
|
appointed me another seed instead of Abel,
|
|
whom Cain slew.
|
|
26 And to
|
|
Seth, to him also there was born a
|
|
son; and he called his name Enos:
|
|
then began men to call upon the
|
|
name of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page46"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
This is the first mention of Adam in the
|
|
story of this chapter. No question, the murder
|
|
of Abel, and the impenitence and apostasy
|
|
of Cain, were a very great grief to him
|
|
and Eve, and the more because their own
|
|
wickedness did now correct them and their
|
|
backslidings did reprove them. Their folly
|
|
had given sin and death entrance into the
|
|
world; and now they smarted by it, being,
|
|
by means thereof, deprived of <I>both their sons
|
|
in one day,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+27:45"><I>ch.</I> xxvii. 45</A>.
|
|
When parents are
|
|
grieved by their children's wickedness they
|
|
should take occasion thence to lament that
|
|
corruption of nature which was derived from
|
|
them, and which is the root of bitterness.
|
|
But here we have that which was a relief to
|
|
our first parents in their affliction.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. God gave them to see the re-building of
|
|
their family, which was sorely shaken and
|
|
weakened by that sad event. For,
|
|
|
|
1. They
|
|
saw their seed, <I>another seed instead of Abel,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
Observe God's kindness and tenderness
|
|
towards his people, in his providential
|
|
dealings with them; when he takes away one
|
|
comfort from them, he gives them another
|
|
instead of it, which may prove a greater
|
|
blessing to them than that was in which they
|
|
thought their lives were bound up. This
|
|
other seed was he in whom the church was to
|
|
be built up and perpetuated, and he comes
|
|
instead of Abel, for the succession of confessors
|
|
is the revival of the martyrs and as it
|
|
were the resurrection of God's slain witnesses.
|
|
Thus we are <I>baptized for the dead</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:29">1 Cor. xv. 29</A>),
|
|
that is, we are, by baptism,
|
|
admitted into the church, for or instead of
|
|
those who by death, especially by martyrdom,
|
|
are removed out of it; and we fill up their
|
|
room. Those who slay God's servants hope
|
|
by this means to wear out the saints of the
|
|
Most High; but they will be deceived.
|
|
Christ shall still see his seed; God can out
|
|
of stones raise up children for him, and make
|
|
the blood of the martyrs the seed of the
|
|
church, whose lands, we are sure, shall never
|
|
be lost for want of heirs. This son, by a
|
|
prophetic spirit, they called <I>Seth</I> (that is, <I>set,
|
|
settled,</I> or <I>placed</I>), because, in his seed, mankind
|
|
should continue to the end of time, and
|
|
from him the Messiah should descend. While
|
|
Cain, the head of the apostasy, is made a
|
|
wanderer, Seth, from whom the true church
|
|
was to come, is one fixed. In Christ and his
|
|
church is the only true settlement.
|
|
|
|
2. They
|
|
saw their seed's seed,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>.
|
|
<I>To Seth was
|
|
born a son called Enos,</I> that general name for
|
|
all men, which bespeaks the weakness, frailty,
|
|
and misery, of man's state. The best men are
|
|
most sensible of these, both in themselves and
|
|
their children. We are never so settled but
|
|
we must remind ourselves that we are frail.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. God gave them to see the reviving of
|
|
religion in their family: <I>Then began men to
|
|
call upon the name of the Lord,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>.
|
|
It is
|
|
small comfort to a good man to see his children's
|
|
children, if he do not, withal, see peace
|
|
upon Israel, and those that come of him
|
|
walking in the truth. Doubtless God's name
|
|
was called upon before, but now,
|
|
|
|
1. The worshippers
|
|
of God began to stir up themselves
|
|
to do more in religion than they had done;
|
|
perhaps not more than had been done at first,
|
|
but more than had been done of late, since
|
|
the defection of Cain. Now men began to
|
|
worship God, not only in their closets and
|
|
families, but in public and solemn assemblies.
|
|
Or now there was so great a reformation in
|
|
religion that it was, as it were, a new beginning
|
|
of it. <I>Then</I> may refer, not to the birth
|
|
of Enos, but to the whole foregoing story:
|
|
<I>then,</I> when men saw in Cain and Lamech the
|
|
sad effects of sin by the workings of natural
|
|
conscience,--when they saw God's judgments
|
|
upon sin and sinners,--<I>then</I> they were so
|
|
much the more lively and resolute in religion.
|
|
The worse others are the better we should
|
|
be, and the more zealous.
|
|
|
|
2. The worshippers
|
|
of God began to distinguish themselves.
|
|
The margin reads it, <I>Then began men to be
|
|
called by the name of the Lord,</I> or to call themselves
|
|
by it. Now that Cain and those that
|
|
had deserted religion had built a city, and
|
|
begun to declare for impiety and irreligion,
|
|
and called themselves the <I>sons of men,</I> those
|
|
that adhered to God began to declare for him
|
|
and his worship, and called themselves the
|
|
<I>sons of God.</I> Now began the distinction between
|
|
professors and profane, which has been
|
|
kept up ever since, and will be while the
|
|
world stands.</P>
|
|
|
|
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