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to the destinations of Providence, and the discoveries which time brings to light! "And she again bare his brother Abel." The word denotes vanity, or a breath of air. Was this name given him through the unreasonable prejudice and unjust preference of a partial mother? Or was it an unintentional prediction of the brevity of his life, and of the lamentable manner of his death? But the materials of which life is composed, are not so much its days, and months, and years, as works of piety, and mercy, and justice, or their opposites. He dies in full maturity, who has lived to God and eternity, at whatever period, and in whatever manner he is cut off. That life is short, though extended to a thousand years, which is disfigured with vice, devoted to the pursuits of time merely, and at the close of which the unhappy man is found unreconciled to God.

Behold this pair of brothers, then, growing in wisdom and in stature; gladdening their parents' hearts. They arrive at the age of reason, of vigour, of activity; they feel the law of God and nature upon them. Though the heirs of empire, they must labour for their subsistence"Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground."* The earth will no longer spontaneously yield ner increase. The clods must be turned up, and the seed must be cast into the furrow, through the care, foresight, and industry of man, else in vain will the heavens shed their influence; and in vain will the blessing of the Most High be expected. That cattle may furnish either the fleece for clothing, or milk for food, they must be protected from inclement seasons, and ravenous beasts; they must be conducted to proper pasture, and provided with water from the brook. And this is the origin of the first employments which occupied our elder brethren in a state of nature. And here it is observable, that the different dispositions of the brothers may be traced in the occupations which they followed. Pious and contemplative, Abel tends his flock; his profession affords more retirement, and more leisure, for meditation; and he very nature of his charge forms him to vigilance, to providence, and to sympathy. His prosperity and success seem to flow immediately, and only, from the hand of God. Cain, more worldly, and selfish, betakes himself to husbandry; a work of greater industry and art; the necessary implements of which, suppose the prior invention of sundry branches of manufacture; and in whose operations, and their effects, art blending with nature, would claim at least her full proportion of merit and importance. But it is not the occupation which has merit or demerit; the man who exercises it, is the object of censure or of praise. It is not the husbandry of Cain, but wicked Cain the husbandman that

Genesis iv. 2.

we blame; it is not the shepherd's life, but good Abel the shepherd that we esteem. "And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof; and the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering:"* What is any condition, any employment, unconnected with, unsupported, unadorned by religion! How wretched a creature is the mere citizen of this world, whose views, pursuits, and enjoyments, all terminate in time! The man who sees not his comforts and his successes as coming from the hand of God; and whose heart rises not in gratitude to the Giver of all good, is a stranger to the choicest ingredient in the cup of prosperity. But can God, the great God, stand in need of such things as these? "Is not every beast of the forest his, and the cattle upon a thousand hills?" Yes, verily religion was not instituted for the sake of God, but of man: for man cannot be profitable to his Maker, as he that is wise, and good, and pious, may be unto himself. Religion is pressed upon us by the very law of our nature; and it is absolutely necessary to human happiness.

Cain observes the fruits of the earth arrive at their maturity. He knows that all his care and skill, without the interposition of Heaven, could not have produced a single grain of corn. He had observed the seed which he cast into the ground, dying, in order to be quickened; he saw from putrefaction a fresh stem springing up, and bearing thirty, sixty, an hundred fold; and a power more than human conducting this wonderful progress. Of the first and best, therefore, he brings an offering unto the Lord; not to en rich his Maker, but to do honour to himself. Abel's flocks and herds likewise, through the blessing of the Almighty, increase and mul tiply; he adores the hand that makes his wealth; and presents the firstlings of his flock to the Lord. But, alas! his offering, in order to be accepted, must bleed and die. The innocent lamb which he had tended with so much care, had fed from his hand, had carried in his bosom, must by his hand be slain, must find no compassion from the tender shepherd's heart, when piety demands him-must be consumed to ashes before his eyes. "And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering. But unto Cain, and to his offering, he had not respect." What made the difference? Not the nature and quality of the things offered, but the disposition of the offerers. Our text illustrates and explains the passage in Genesis, "By FAITH Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." Cain came before God as a righteous man; Abel as a sinner. Cain brought an offering of acknowledgment;

* Genesis iv. 3, 4.

Abel a propitiatory sacrifice. Cain's gift be- | disobedience a slight evil, which introduced speaks a grateful heart: Abel's a contrite such desperate wickedness into the world; spirit. Cain eyes the goodness of God; Abel which transformed man into the most savage his mercy and long-suffering. Cain says, of beasts! "He rose up against Abel his “Lord, I thank thee for all thy benefits to- brother, and slew him." Now was death for ward me; Abel, "Lord I am unworthy of the first time seen; and seen in his ghastlithe least of thy favours." Cain rejoices in est form! Death before the time! The the world as a goodly portion; Abel, by death of piety and goodness! Death inflictfaith, discerns and expects a better inhe-ed by violence, and preceded by pain! Death ritance. Cain approaches, trusting in an imperfect righteousness of his own, and departs unjustified; Abel draws nigh, depending on the perfect righteousness of a Mediator, and goes away righteous in the sight of God.

At

embittered to the sufferer by reflecting on
the hand from which it came; the hand of a
brother, the hand which should have sup-
ported and protected him, which should
have barred the door against the murderer,
not borne the fatal instrument itself!
length the feeble eyes close in peace; and
the pain of bleeding wounds, and the pangs
of fraternal cruelty are feit no more.
"The
dust returns to the earth as it was, and the
spirit unto God who gave it." The spirit
returns to God, to see his unclouded face,
formerly seen through the medium of natural

stand, and to enjoy the great mystery of the
atonement, hitherto known only in a figure.
Happy Abel, thus early delivered from the
sins and sorrows of a vain world! And
thus death, at whatever season, in whatever
form, and from whatever quarter it comes,
is always unspeakably great gain to a good
man.

Such was the life, and such the untimely end of "righteous Abel ;" for so our blessed Lord styles him, who fell a martyr to religion. The remainder of Cain's history; the short view given us of the character of his descendants, together with the birth of Seth, given and appointed of God to preserve the sacred line, to propagate the holy seed, in place of Abel, whom Cain slew; will, with the permission of God, furnish matter for another Lecture. Let us conclude the present, by setting up the character of Abel as an object of esteem, and a pattern for imitation.

In what manner the divine approbation and displeasure were expressed, we are not informed; whether by a celestial fire seizing and consuming the one offering and leaving the other untouched; or by a voice from heaven, declaratory of the mind of God. But we are assured that it was sufficiently notified to the parties themselves. On Abel, un-objects, and of religious services; to underdoubtedly, it had the effect which a sense of the favour of God will always produce upon a good mind, a mind which esteems the loving-kindness of the Most High more than life; sweet complacency and composure of spirit, "the peace of God which passeth all understanding." On Cain it produceth a very different effect; he was very wroth, "and his countenance fell." Men are often angry when they ought to be grieved; and remorse for their own unworthiness frequently becomes resentment against their innocent neighbours; and not seldom it changes into sullenness, insolence, and rebellion against God himself. Observe the goodness and condescension of God; he vouchsafes to reason with, to warn, and to admonish this peevish, petulant man; and gives encouragement to a better temper and behaviour. "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?" He promises to support him in his right of primogeniture, unworthy as he was-"To thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him;" but at the same time, he points out the danger of persevering in impiety, and of prosecuting his resentments-" If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." But the soul, of which envy, malice, and revenge, have taken possession, is lost to the better feelings of human nature; is deaf to remon-after we are dead. But reputation is the gift strance, and insensible of kindness. The innocent are simple and unsuspicious; intending no evil, they fear none. Cain, it would appear from the letter of the narration, and the scene where the action is laid, decoyed his brother into solitude, under the mask of familiarity and friendship; "he talked with him," they were in the field. What a horrid aggravation of his guilt! A deed of violence! Murder! a good man's, a brother's murder! Deliberately resolved on, craftily conducted, remorselessly executed! Was man's first

Faith in God, and in a Saviour to come; and the righteousness which is of God by faith, are the leading and striking features of this portrait; and by these, "being dead, he yet speaketh;" or if you choose to adopt the mar ginal reading, "is yet spoken of." It is a desirable thing to enjoy a good name while we live, and to be remembered with kindness

of others: it is often gained without merit, and lost without a crime. Whereas true goodness is a real, unalienable possession; it cleaves to us in death; it accompanies us to the world of spirits; it instructs the world while we live; it speaks from the grave; it shines in the presence of God in heaven. Here, my friends, it is lawful and honourable to aspire. Permit others to get before you in wealth or in fame; grudge not to your neighbour the superiority in wit, or strength, or beauty; but yield to none in piety, in purity

in faith, in charity; aim at the highest honours of the Christian name; be humble, and be every thing.

Salvation, men and brethren, has, from the beginning, flowed in one and the same channel. There was not one gospel to the antediluvian, and another to the postdiluvian world; one method of redemption to the Jews, and another to the Gentiles; but "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Abel, Abraham, Moses, David, Simeon, Paul, and all who have been, or shall be saved, lived and died in the faith of Christ. "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."* This, therefore, is the great commandment of God to us in these days of meridian light and glory, namely, "that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another."

Was Abel a type of Christ, as well as a believer in him? The scripture indeed saith it not expressly; but surely, without straining, we may discern some striking marks of resemblance. What saith Moses? "Abel was a keeper of sheep." What saith Christ? "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." What did Abel? "He, through faith, brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof, an offering unto the Lord." What did Christ?

*Acts iv. 12,

"Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself without spot to God." Were Abel's days cut short by the hand of violence? So "Messiah the Prince, was cut off, but not for himself." Was Abel hated of, and slain by his brother? Christ" was despised and rejected" of his own, and died by the treachery of a familiar friend in whom he trusted, and by the cruelty of those who were his brethren according to the flesh. Did the blood of Abel cry to God from the ground, for vengeance on the head of him who shed it? O, with what oppressive weight has the blood of Jesus fallen, and how heavily does it still lie on the heads of them, and of their chil dren, who with wicked hands crucified and slew him! Could the blood of Abel atone for his sin? No: but the blood of Christ cleanseth him, and every believer, from all sin. Yet Abel died as a righteous man, Christ as a sinner. Abel, a guilty creature, was justified and accepted through an imputed righteousness; Christ, who was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separated from sin ners," was condemned and suffered, because

The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all." Abel suffered death once for all; the body of Christ was " offered once for all," and by that one sacrifice, "he hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified." But we pursue the similitude and the contrast no farther. May God bless what has been said. Amen. And to his holy name be praise.

HISTORY OF CAIN.

LECTURE V.

For this is the message that ye neard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.-1 JOHN iii. 11, 12.

Ir is a pleasant task to attend the footsteps | be placed before the eyes of men; that sin of the wise and good, through the thorny maze of human life: to draw nigh with the devout, to the altar of God: to learn patience of the meek, compassion of the merciful, and kindness of the generous: to love and admire them in life, and to regret them in death. But ah! how painful to trace the progress, and to mark the appearances of "the carnal mind, which is enmity against God," and hatred to man from the first conception of an ill design, to the final execution of a deed of horror! "Lust, having conceived, bringeth forth sin, and sin when finished, bringeth forth death." Nevertheless, it is highly important, that even objects of detestation should

should be viewed in her native loathsomeness and deformity, to excite, if possible, aversion and disgust. To direct men in the journey of life, it is necessary to erect beacons, the admonition of hidden dangers and death; as well as to set up indexes, to point out the right path. The two first men who were born into the world, are designed of Providence to answer this valuable purpose, to those who should come after them. Abel, though dead, continues to instruct men in the excellency, amiableness, and importance of true religion; Cain stands to all generations, a fearful example of ungovernable passion, hurrying a man on to blood, and plunging

him into despair. Having considered the former as a pattern for imitation, we are now to consider the history of the latter, as affording an useful and seasonable warning to look to ourselves, "lest we also be hardened, through the deceitfulness of sin."

Cain has now accomplished his bloody purpose. His envied, hated rival is now removed out of sight: the virtues of his brother no longer reproach him: Abel stands no more in the way, to intercept the rays of the favour of God, or of man. Is he not now then at rest? No eye saw him commit the murder. And if it were known, who shall call him to account? No eye saw him! Yes, the eye of Cain saw him: yes, the eye of God saw him: hence the whole earth becomes all eye to behold him, all tongue to accuse him. Who shall call him to account? That shall Cain; his own conscience shall avenge the murder: that shall the hand of every man, fly whither he will; for every man is concerned to destroy him, who makes light of the life of another: that shall God, from whom he cannot fly. Revenge, like "a devilish engine," recoils on him that employs it; or, like the flame of Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace, catches hold of, and destroys the ministers of vengeance, not the objects of it. The mournful tidings must soon reach the ears of the afflicted parents. What were now thy feelings, Eve, when he, who was expected to be a Saviour, turns out a destroyer? Which is the heavier affliction, a son prematurely and violently cut off; or a son living to present an object of horror and detestation to their eyes? Å pious child dead, is beyond all controversy, a possession infinitely preferable to a profligate alive. Alas! what shall they do? To overlook the murder, is to become partakers in the guilt of it; to punish the murderer, as justice demands, is to render themselves childless. Ah! how do the difficulties and distresses of their fallen estate increase upon guilty men every day! The cause, which was too hard for Adam to determine, God takes into his own hand. "And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?" Offences committed in secret, and offenders, whose power and station bid defiance to earthly tribunals, fall properly under the immediate cognizance of heaven. Behold the throne is set, and the judgment opened. How meek and gentle is God with this murderer! He would draw confession from his mouth, not as a snare, but as an indication of contrition. The end which God has in view, in making inquiry after blood, is, not the conviction and punishment; but the conviction, pardon, and recovery of the criminal. What a question. "Where is thy brother?" put by God himself to the wretch whose hands were yet reeking with his blood. What heart, liar

Genesis iv. 9.

dened through sin, dictated the reply, "I know not, am I my brother's keeper ?" Is this the eldest hope of the first human pair? Is he not rather the first born of that accursed being, who is a liar and a murderer from the beginning? "I know not:" Falsehood must be called in to cover that wickedness which we are ashamed or afraid to avow. "Am I my brother's keeper?" How dreadful is the progress of vice! How crime leads on to crime! Envy begets malice; malice inspires revenge; revenge hurries on to blood; bloodguiltiness seeks shelter under untruth, and untruth attempts to support itself by insolence, assurance, and pride: and haughtiness of spirit is but one step from destruction. Ah, little do men know, when they indulge one evil thought, or venture on one unwarrantable action, what the issue is to be! They vainly flatter themselves it is in their power to stop when they please. But passion, like a fiery unmanageable steed in the hands of an unskilful rider, by one inconsiderate stroke of the spur, may be excited to such a pitch of fury, as no skill can tame, no force restrain; but both horse and rider are hurried together down the precipice, and perish in their rage.

The milder, and more indirect admonitions and reproofs of God's word and providence being misunderstood, slighted or defied, justice is concerned, and necessity requires, to speak in plainer language, and to bring the charge directly home: and that severity is most awful, which was preceded by gentleness, patience, and long-suffering. God at length awakes to vengeance; "and he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground."* And mark how every creature arms itself in the cause of God. The dead earth is represented as acquiring sensibility, and refusing to cover blood: the silent ground becomes vocal, and loudly accuses the criminal; the stones of the field are at war with him who has made God his foe: nay, the earth is made not only the accuser, but the punisher of the guilty; for this new transgression it falls under a heavier curse. Adam for his offence, was doomed to eat bread with the sweat of his brow; was doomed to labour, yet to labour in hope of increase; but Cain shall spend his strength for nought and in vain. The ground shall present greater rigidity to the hand of cultivation : shall cast out the seed thrown into it, or consume and destroy it; or at best produce a lean and scanty crop. Cain and the earth are to be mutually cursed to each other. It seems to tremble under, and shrink from the feet of a murderer; it refuses henceforth to yield unto him her strength, and considers him as a monstrous misshapen birth, of which she is ashamed, and which she wishes to destrov.

* Genesis iv. 10.

He considers it as an unnatural mother, I say, are on the side of truth, and virtue, and whom no pains can molify, no submission religion: his opinions, he has no inclination reconcile. "A fugitive and a vagabond shalt dogmatically to propose; he neither wishes thou be in the earth." When the mind is to make a secret of them, nor expects any changed, every thing changes with it: when one, much less the world, implicitly to adopt a man is at discord with himself, he is eter- them. He is conscious of a desire to do nally from home. The spacious world, good; not over anxious about fame; happy Cain's hereditary domain, is become a vast in the affection of many friends, and unsolitude; of a home is turned into a place of conscious of having given cause to any good exile. The person whom all men shun is man to be his enemy. Forgive a digression, every where a stranger; he who is smitten suggested by the occasion, not rambled into of his own conscience, is continually sur-through design; proceeding not from the derounded with enemies.

The same principle which engages men in criminal enterprises, in the hope of impunity, throws them into despair, upon the denunciation of punishment. As they formerly expected much higher satisfaction from the execution of their wicked purposes, than the most successful villany ever could bestow; so now their own guilty minds outrun the awards of justice itself; and the awakened conscience does ample vengeance upon the offender at length, amply vindicates the cause both of God and man. This is strikingly exemplified in the case of Cain. His recent boldness and insolence are a strong contrast to his present dejection and terror. He now sinks under the apprehension of intolerable chastisements, and forebodes greater evils than his sentence denounced. His banishment he considers as far from being the greatest of the calamities of his condition; he feels himself excluded, hidden from the gracious presence of God; and deserted of his Maker, liable to fall by the hand of every assailant. But God remembers mercy in the midst of anger; and the life which he himself was graciously pleased to spare, no one else must, on any pretence whatever, presume to take away. He only who can bestow life, has a right to dispose of it.

Ye over curious inquirers, who must needs be informed of every thing, what does it concern you to know, by what mark God distinguished Cain, to prevent his being killed by any one who might take upon himself to be the avenger of blood? Speculation and conjecture, which with some pass for illustration and knowledge, are not the objects of these exercises; but whatever assists faith, whatever supports a sound morality, whatever conveys real information, inspires a taste for goodness, represses inordinate and sinful desire; whatever teaches gratitude and love to God, and good will to men, that we would carefully observe, and earnestly inculcate. As it is no part of our intention to wander into the regions of speculation, under a pretence of elucidating the sacred history, it is still less so, to enter the lists of controversy. Your Lecturer has, no doubt, his opinions and prejudices, like other men: his prejudices, however, he is confident to

sire a man has to speak of himself, but from a wish, by doing it once for all, to cut off all future occasion of speaking, in or of the first person. We return to the history.

"It shall come to pass," says guilty, trembling Cain, "that every one that findeth me shall slay me." This is one of the many passages of scripture, which the enemies of religion have laid hold of, and held forth as contradictory to other parts of revelation, in the view of invalidating and destroying the whole. Here, they allege, Moses is inconsistent with himself; in deriving the whole human race from the common root of Adam, and at the same time supposing the world so populous at the time of Abel's murder, as to excite in Cain a well grounded apprehension of the public resentment and punishment of his crimes. Either, say they, there were other men and women created at the same time with, or before Adam and Eve; or else Cain's fears were groundless and absurd. A learned and ingenious critic has taken the trouble to refute this objection, by instituting a calculation founded on obvious probabilities at least, by which it appears, that at the time of Abel's murder the world was sufficiently peopled, on the Mosaic supposition, that all mankind descended from Adam, to render the public justice an object of well grounded apprehension to guilty Cain. We pretend not to assert that the calculation of a modern au thor is a demonstration of a fact so remote: if it be probable, it is sufficient for our purpose, that of doing away one of the cavils of infidelity.

The birth of Seth is fixed, by the history, in the one hundred and thirtieth year of Adam: it is therefore reasonable to place the death of Abel two years earlier, or near it; that is, in the one hundred and twenty-eighth year of the world. "Now, though we should * 66 that Adain suppose," says the calculator,* and Eve had no other sons in the year of the world one hundred and twenty-eight but Cain and Abel, it must be allowed that they had daughters, who might early marry with those two sons. I require no more than the descendants of these two, to make a very considerable number of men upon the earth, in the said year one hundred and twenty-eight.

*Dissert, Chronol. Geogr. Critiq. sur la Bible. 1 me.

Dissert. Journal de Paris, Jan. 1712, tom. li. p. 6.

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