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A. M. 1. A. C. 4004; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, 5411. GEN. CH. 3.

This, say they, the very heathens complain of; this the Scriptures every where testify; and therefore they conclude that since man was not originally made in this condition, (for God created him after his own image,) he must have contracted all this from his fall; and that therefore the threatening of death had an higher signification than the dissolution of the soul and body, namely, the loss of the divine favour, of all supernatural gifts and graces, and a total defection of the mind from God, which immediately ensued upon the transgression.

their opinions, and the latter so abstruse in their arguments upon this subject, that an honest inquirer will find himself bewildered, rather than instructed; and therefore our safest recourse will be to the declarations of God's will, explained in a manner comporting with his attri|butes.

These are some of the principal opinions, (for the little singularities are innumerable,) and, in the midst of so many intricacies, to find out a proper path for us to pursue, we may resolve the whole controversy into this one question:-" Whether human nature be so far cor-right so far as they stand in defence of God's immacurupted, and the guilt of our first parents' transgression so far imputed to their posterity, that every person, from the mother's womb, must necessarily go astray, and must certainly fall into everlasting perdition, without the means appointed in the new covenant for his preservation?" And in searching into this, the sentiments of the fathers, much more the alterations of the schoolmen, will help us very little. The former are so divided in

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St Austin, in his fourth book against Julian, brings in Cicero, on Repub. b. 3., complaining That nature, in bringing forth man to existence, had behaved like a stepmother, and not a mother, he possessing a body naked, weak, and soon subject to decay; with a mind, harassed by troubles, crushed by fears, and sinking under oppressions; in which, however, there exists a latent divine flame of intellect." Whereupon the holy father makes this remark, That author saw the effect, but was ignorant of the cause, for he knew not there was a heavy yoke laid on the sons of Adam; he was not enlightened with the light of revelation, and consequently original transgression was to him a thing totally unknown.”

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The Scriptures state the corruption of human nature in such terms as these, namely, that 'by one man sin entered into the world' by whose 'disobedience many were made sinners,' Rom, I 19., that by nature' therefore we are the children of wrath,' Eph. ii. 3., and unable to receive the things of the Spirit, or to know them because they are spiritually discerned,' 1 Cor. ii. 14., for what is born of flesh, is flesh,' John iii. 6.; and who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?' Job xiv. 4. The royal Psalmist therefore makes, in his own person, this confession of our natural depravity; Behold I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin did my mother conceive me,' Ps. li. 5., and St Paul makes this public declaration of our inability to do good; 'I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to perform that which is good, I find net; for though I delight in the law of God after the inward man, yet I see another law in my members, warring against the law in my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shail deliver me from the body of this death?' Rom. vii. 18., &c. e Vossius, in his history of Pelagianism, assures us, that the whole Catholic church was always of opinion, that the guilt of Adam's sin was imputed to his posterity to their condemnation; so that children dying therein were consigned to everlasting punishment, at least to an everlasting separation from God: and, to confirm this assertion, he quotes a multitude of passages out of almost all the doctors of the Greek church. Taylor and Whitby, and some other writers upon this argument, produce the testimony of the same fathers to evince the very contrary position; so that there is no depending upon any thing where authors are so inconsistent with themselves, and so repugnant to one another. The truth is, before Pelagius appeared in the world, most of the ancient writers of the church were very inaccurate, both in what they thought and wrote concerning original sin and free-will; and it seems as if the providence of God permitted that heretic to arise, that thereby he might engage the maintainers of orthodoxy to study those points more maturely. Whitaker on Original Sin, b. 2.

That God, who is the fountain of our being, is infinitely pure and holy, and can therefore be neither the author nor promoter of any sin in us, is obvious to our first conceptions of him; and therefore, if the corruption of our nature be supposed to be such as necessarily and unavoidably determines us to wickedness, without the least tendency to good, to give it a counterpoise, those who maintain the negative of the question, are in the late purity, and are known to be asserters of the freedom of human choice, without which the common distinctions of virtue and vice, and the certain prospects of rewards and punishments, are entirely lost. But when they carry the point so far as to deny any alteration in human nature now, from what it was at its first creation; as to deny, that Adam, in his state of uprightness, had any gifts and graces supernatural, any clearness in his understanding, any strength in his will, any regularity in his affections, more than every man of maturity and competent faculties has at this day; when they adventure to affirm, that there is no necessity of grace in our present condition, to assist our hereditary weakness, to enlighten our minds, and incline our wills, and conduct our affections to the purposes of holiness, but that every man may do what is good and acceptable to God by the power of his own natural abilities, they then run counter to the common experience of human infirmity; they overlook the declarations of God's word concerning his gracious assistance; and seem to despise the kind overture of that blessed agent, whereby we are renewed and sanctified in the spirit of our minds.'

In like manner, when the maintainers of absolute depravation contend, that man, in his present condition, is far departed from original righteousness, and, of his own accord, very much inclined to evil; that the order of his faculties is destroyed, and those graces which constituted the image of God, departed from him; that in this state he is now unable to raise himself from the level of common impotence, but requires the intervention of some superior principle to aid and assist him in his progress towards heaven; they say no more than what experience teaches us, and what the sacred records, which acquaint us with the dispensation of grace, are known to authorize. But when they carry their positions to a greater extent than they will justly bear; when they affirm, that ever since the first defection, the mind of man is not only much impaired, but grievously vitiated in all its faculties, having a strong aversion to every thing that is good, and an invincible propensity to what is evil; not one thought, word, or wish, that tends towards God, but the seeds and principles of every vice that bears the image and lineaments of the devil, inherent in it: when they advance such doctrines as these, I say, they debase human nature too low, and seem to impute such iniquity to its Maker as can hardly be wiped off, if every human soul be naturally inclined to all kind of wickedness when it comes from the hand of his creating power.

A. M. 1. A. C. 4004; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, 5411. GEN. CH. 3.

There is certainly therefore another way of account- | unrelenting cruelty. Hell certainly is not so easy a ing for these difficulties, without any prejudice to the pain, nor are the souls of children of so cheap and so divine attributes, and that is this:-Not by ascribing any contemptible a price, as that God should snatch them positive malignity to human nature, but only the loss of from their mother's womb, and throw them into perdition the image of God; because a mere privation of recti- without any manner of concern; and therefore, when men tude, in an active subject, will sufficiently answer all the argue against such positions as these, they are certainly purposes for which a positive corruption is pleaded. to be commended, because therein they vindicate the 1 The soul of man, we know, is a busy creature: by the sacred attributes of God: but when they carry their opforce of its own nature it must be in action; but then, position to a greater length than it will justly go, so as without grace, and the image of God assisting and to affirm-that there was no such thing as a covenant adorning it, it cannot act regularly and well. So that between God and Adam, or if there was, that Adam the difference between Adam and us, is not that we have contracted for himself only; that his guilt consequently violent inclinations to all manner of wickedness im- was personal, and cannot in justice, be imputed to us; planted in our nature, any more than he, in his inno- that since we had no share in the transgression, there is cence, had in his; but that we, in our present condition, no reason why we should bear any part in the punishwant sundry advantages which he, in the height of his ment: that we are all born, in short, in the same state perfection, was not without. He had the free power of of innocence, and are under the same favour and acceptobedience; he had the perfect image of his Maker in all ance with Almighty God, that Adam, before the first the divine qualities of knowledge and holiness, which transgression, was: when they advance such positions we have not; and therefore, when we say, that he com- as these, in maintenance of their opposition, they sadly municated to his posterity a corrupted nature, it must forget, that while they would seem advocates for the not be understood, as if that nature, which we receive, mercy and goodness of God, they are taking away the was infected with any vicious inclinations or habits, to foundation of the second covenant; destroying the nesway and determine our mind to what is evil; but the cessity of a divine mediator; and overlooking those meaning is, that he communicated to us a nature, which declarations in Scripture, which affirm, that all the has indeed a power to incline, and act variously, but world is become guilty before God;' that all men, both that he did not, withal, communicate to us the image of Jews and Gentiles, are under sin; have come short of God, nor that fulness of knowledge and power of obe- the glory of God, and are by nature the children of dience, which were requisite to make all its actions and wrath.' inclinations holy and regular: and our nature is therefore said to be corrupted, because it is comparatively bad; because it is reduced to its mere natural state, which at the best is a state of imperfection, and deprived of that grace which should have restrained it from sin, and of those other high endowments wherewith at first it was invested.

This is a fair account of our original corruption: it stands clear of the difficulties that attend the other opinions, and is not inconsistent with the notions we have of the divine attributes. For barely to withdraw those extraordinary gifts, which were not essential to man's nature, but such as God additionally had bestowed upon him; and he, by his transgression, unworthily forfeited, is what agrees very well with the wisdom and justice, and holiness of God to do; though to infuse a positive malignity, or such a strong inclination to wickedness in us, as induces a necessity of sinning, most certainly does not.

That the Judge of all the world cannot but do right,' and he,' who keepeth mercy from generation to generation,' can have no hand in any cruel action, is a certain truth, and what our first reflections on the divine nature teach us. Those therefore who maintain, that Adam's sin is not imputed to us to our damnation, or that children unbaptized, are not the objects of divine vengeance, nor shall be condemned to hell, or an eternal expulsion from God's presence, for what was done many thousand years before they were born, are so far in the right, as they oppose an opinion which clouds the amiable attributes of God, and represents him in a dress of horror, and engaged in acts of extreme severity at least, if not

Hopkins on the Two Covenants.

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To make an agreement then between the word of God, and his attributes in this particular, we may fairly allow, that there really was a covenant between God and Adam at the first creation; that in making that covenant, Adam, as their head and common representative, stipulated for all mankind, as well as for himself; and that, in his transgression of it, the guilt and the punishment due thereupon, were imputed to all his posterity. This we may allow was the state and condition wherein Adam left us; but then we must remember, that the whole scheme of man's salvation was laid in the divine counsel and decree from all eternity; that God, foreseeing man would fall, determined to send his Son to redeem him, and determined to do this long before the transgression happened: so that the wisdom and goodness of God had effectually provided beforehand against all the ill consequences of the fall, and made it impossible, that Adam's posterity should become eternally miserable, and be condemned to the flames and pains of hell, any other way than through their own personal guilt and transgressions. The redemption of the world was decreed, I say, from eternity, and was actually promised before any child of Adam was born, even before the sentence was pronounced upon our first parents; and as soon as it was pronounced, its benefits, without all controversy did commence. So that, upon this hypothesis, every infant that comes into the world, as it brings along with it the guilt of Adam's sin, brings along with it likewise the benefits of Christ's meritorious death, which God hath set forth, as a' standing 'propitiation for the sins of the whole world.' Nor can the want of baptism

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A. M. 128. A. C. 3876; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 100. A. C. 5311, GEN. CH. 4. TO VER. 25.

be any obstruction to this remedy, since the remedy was exhibited long before the rite was instituted; and since that rite, when instituted, (according to the sense of some learned fathers, was more a pledge of good things to come, a type of our future resurrection, a form of adoption into the heavenly family, and of admission to those rich promises of God, which are hid in Jesus Christ,' than any ordinance appointed for the mystical washing away of sin.'

In short, as long as St Paul's epistles are read, the original compact between God and man, the depravation of human nature, and the imputation of Adam's guilt, must be received as standing doctrines of the church of Christ: but then we are to take great care, in our manner of explaining them, to preserve the divine attributes sacred and inviolate: and this may happily be effected, if we will but suppose, that our hereditary corruption is occasioned, not by the infusion of any positive malignity into us, but by the subduction of supernatural gifts from us; that the covenant of grace commenced immediately after the covenant of works was broken, and has included all mankind ever since; that the blood of Christ shields his children from the wrath of God; and that the imputation of Adam's guilt, and obnoxiousness to punishment, is effectually taken away, by the meritorious oblation of that Lamb of God which was slain from the foundation of the world.'

SECT. IV.

the pardon and forgiveness of God; and yet the corruption, which their sin introduced, remained upon human nature, and began to discover itself in that impious fact which Cain committed on his brother Abel. Cain was the first child that was ever born into the world; and his mother Eve was so fully persuaded, that the promised seed would immediately descend from her, that she supposed him to be the person who was to subdue the power of the great enemy of mankind; and therefore upon her delivery, she cried out, in a transport of joy, I have gotten a man from the Lord,' and accordingly gave him the name of Cain, which signifies possession or acquisition: never suspecting, that as soon as he grew up, he would occasion her no small sorrow and disconsolation.

The next son that she bore, (which was the year following,) was called Abel, denoting sorrow and mourning; but very probably he might not receive that name, until his tragical end, which caused great grief to his parents, verifying the meaning of it. Other children, we may presume, were all along born to our first parents; but these are the two, who, for some time, made the principal figure; and as they had the whole world before them, there was small reason (one would think) for those feuds and contentions, which, in after ages, embroiled mankind. But the misfortune was, they were persons of quite different tempers; and accordingly, when they grew up, betook themselves to different employments; Cain, who was of a surly, sordid, and avaricious temper, to the tilling of the ground; and Abel, who was more gentle and ingenuous in his disposition, to the keeping of sheep.

It was a customary thing, even in the infancy of the

CHAP. I.-Of the Murder of Abel, and the Banish-world, to make acknowledgments to God, by way of

ment of Cain.

THE HISTORY.

OUR first parents, we may suppose, after a course of penance and humiliation for their transgression, obtained

• According to Chrysostom and Theodoret, infants are baptized in order that that sacred rite may be to them an ark of future benefits-a type of a coming resurrection-a communication of our Lord's suffering, and that being born again from on high and sanctified, they may be brought to the right of adoption, and become co-heirs of grace by their participation in these sacred mysteries.-Whitby on Original Sin.

6 The oriental writers are very full of Adam's sorrows and lamentations upon this occasion. They have recorded the seveni forms of prayer wherein he addressed God for pardon and forgiveness; and some of the Jewish doctors are of opinion, that the thirty-second psalm, wherein we meet with these expresions, I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not bid; I said I will confess my transgression unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin,' was of his composing. Our excellent Milton, to the same purpose, introduces Adam, after a melancholy soliloquy with himself, and some hasty alterons with Eve, proposing at length this wholesome advice to

What better can we do, than to the place
Repairing where he judg'd us, prostrate fall
Before him reverent; and there confess
Humbly our faults, and pardon beg; with tears
Watring the ground, and with our sighs the air
Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign
Of sorrow unfeign'd, and humiliation meek?
Undoubtedly he will relent, and turn
From his displeasure: in whose looks serene,
When angry most he seem'd, and most severe,
What else but favour, grace, and mercy shone?

oblation, for the bountiful supply of all his creatures; and accordingly these two brothers were wont to bring

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c Ish eth Jehovah, which our translation makes a man from the Lord,' should rather be rendered the man, the Lord,' Helvicus has shown, in so many instances in Scripture, that eth is an article of the accusative case, that it seems indeed to be the Hebrew idiom; besides, that it is a demonstrative, or emphatic particle, which points at some thing or person, in a particular manner; and therefore several, both Jewish and Christian doctors, have taken the words in this sense:-That our grandmother Eve, when delivered of Cain, thought she had brought forth the Messias, the God-man, who was to bruise the serpent's head,' or destroy Satan's power and dominion according to the promise which God had made her.-Edward's Survey of Keligion, vol. 1.

d On this point, commentators differ, several suppose Abel to be the twin brother of Cain.—ED.

e Others derive the name from a word which signifies vanity, and are of opinion, that Eve intended thereby, either to declaro the little esteem she had of him, in comparison of her first born; or to show the vanity of her hopes, in taking Cain for the Messiah; or to denote, that all things in the world, into which he was now come, were mere vanity and vexation of spirit.'Patrick's Commentary, and Saurin's Dissertation.

f In the last verse of this chapter we read, that it was in the days of Enos, when men first began to call on the name of the Lord' and yet, in the third and fourth verses thereof, we find that Cain and Abel brought their respective offerings to the place (as we may suppose) of divine worship. Now, if the beginning of divine worship was in the days of Enos, what worship was this in the days of Cain and Abel? To have two beginnings for the same worship, is a thing incongruous, unless we can suppose, that the two brothers, when they came with their oblations, did not worship at all; neither opening their lips in the divine benefactor's praise, nor invocating a blessing upon what his bounty had sent them, which is highly inconsistent

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A. M. 128. A. C. 3876; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 200. A. C. 5211. GEN. CH. 4. TO VER. 25.

offerings, suitable to their respective callings: Cain, as an husbandman, the fruits of the ground; and Abel, as a shepherd, the firstlings, or (as some will have it) the a milk of his flock. Upon some set and solemn occasion then (and not improbably at the end of harvest,) as they were presenting their respective offerings, God, who estimates the sincerity of the heart more than the value of the oblation, gave a visible token of his acceptance of Abel's sacrifice, preferable to that of Cain, which so enraged, and transported him with envy against his brother, that he could not help showing it in his countenance.d

'Heidegger's History of the Patriarchs.

with the character of worshippers. But in answer to this, we must observe that the worship of God is of two kinds, public and private; that the worship wherein these brothers were concerned, was of the latter sort; for Cain is mentioned by himself, and Abel by himself. They came to the place of worship severally their sacrifices were not the same: neither were the offerers of the same mind. But the worship which was instituted in the time of Enos, was of a public nature, when several families, under their respective heads, met together in the same place, and joined in one common service, whether of prayers, praises, or sacrifices. Though the phrase of men's beginning to call upon the name of the Lord,' may possibly bear another construction, as we shall show when we come to examine the place itself. Street's Dividing of the Hoof.

a It is a pretty common opinion, that the eating of flesh was not permitted before the flood: and it is the position of Grotius, that no carnal sacrifices were at that time, offered; because no- | thing, but what was of use to man, was to be consecrated to God. The scarcity of cattle might very well excuse their being slain in the worship of God; and therefore since the same word in Hebrew, Hhalab, or Hheleb, according to its different punctuation, signifies both fat and milk, and accordingly is rendered both ways by the Seventy, many learned men seem rather to favour the latter, as finding it a custom among the ancient Egyptians, to sacrifice milk to their deities, as a token and acknowledgment of the fecundity of their cattle.-Le Clerc's Commentary, and Saurin's Dissertation. But the learned Heidegger is of an opinion quite the contrary.-See Essay 15, on the Food of the Antediluvians.

6 The Jews are generally of opinion, that this visible token of God's accepting Abel's sacrifice, was a fire, or lightning, which came from heaven, and consumed it. The footsteps of this we meet with in a short time after, Gen. xv. 17., and the examples of it were many in future ages, namely, when Moses offered the first burnt-offering according to the law, Lev. ix. 24.; when Gideon offered upon the rock, Jud. vi. 21.; when David stayed the plague, 1 Chron. xxi. 26.; when Solomon consecrated the temple, 2 Chron. vii. 1.; and when Elijah contended with the Baalites, 1 Kings xviii. 38, &c. And accordingly, we find the Israelites, (when they wish all prosperity to their king,) praying, that God would be pleased to accept (in the Hebrew, 'turn into ashes) his burnt sacrifice,' Ps. xx. 3.—Patrick and Le Clerc's Commentary.

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God, however, in great kindness, condescended to expostulate the matter with him, telling him, That his respect to true goodness was impartial, wherever he found it, and that therefore it was purely his own fault, that his offering was not equally accepted, that piety was the proper disposition for a sacrificer; and that, if herein he would emulate his brother, the same tokens of divine approbation should attend his oblations; that it was folly and madness in him to harbour any revengeful thoughts against his brother; because, if he proceeded to put them in execution, fa dreadful punishment would

up,

2 Patrick's Commentary.

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Poole's Annotations.

fire miraculously descended from heaven, and consumed it; and when this primitive ordinance was renewed under the Levitical priesthood, two circumstances are particularly worthy of observation-that the victim should be a firstling-and that the oblation should be made by the instrumentality of fire. It is remarkable that both these primitive customs have been faithfully preserved in the heathen world. The Canaanites caused their first born to pass through the fire, with a view of appeasing the anger of their false deities; and one of the kings of Moab is said to have offered up his eldest son as a burnt-offering, when in danger from the superior prowess of the Edomites, 2 Kings iii. 27. Nor was the belief, that the gods were rendered propitious by this particular mode of sacrifice, confined to the nations which were more immediately contiguous to the territories of Israel. We learn from Homer, that a whole hecatomb of firstling lambs was no uncommon offering among his countrymen. Iliad, iv. ver. 202. And the ancient Goths, having laid it down as a principle, that the effusion of the blood of animals appeased the anger of the gods, and that their justice turned aside upon the victims those strokes which were destined for men," (Mallet's North. Antiq. vol. 1. chap. 7.) soon proceeded to greater lengths, and adopted the horrid practice of devoting human victims. In honour of the mystical number three, a number deemed particularly dear to heaven, every ninth month witnessed the groans and dying struggles of nine unfortunate victims. The fatal blow being struck, the lifeless bodies were consumed in the sacred fire, which was kept perpetually burning; while the blood, in singular conformity with the Levitical ordinances, was sprinkled partly upon the surrounding multitude, partly upon the trees of the hallowed grove, and partly upon the images of their idols. (Mallet's North. Antiq. vol. 1. chap. 7.) Even the remote inhabitants of America have retained similar customs, and for similar reasons.

e The words in our translation are, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?' ver. 7. which some render, shalt thou not receive,' namely, a reward? others shalt thou not be pardoned?' and others again, thou shalt be elevated to dignity." But if we consider, what God says to Cain in the two foregoing verses, that his countenance was fallen,' we cannot but perceive, that in this he promises him, that if he did well, he should have his face lifted up,' and that he should have no more reason to be sad; for so the Scripture frequently expresses a fearless and cheerful state: If iniquity be in thine hand,' says one of Job's friends, put it away from thee, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles; for then thou shalt lift up thy face without spot,' Job xi. 15.—Essay for a New Translation.

f The words in our translation are, Sin lieth at thy door:" where, by sin,' the generality of interpreters mean, the pun

e Dr Hales is of opinion that these sacrifices were not offered till Cain and Abel were each about 100 years old. If so, they were offered, according to his computation, about the year of the world, 200 or 201; and 5210 or 5211 before Christ.-ED. d Gen. iv. 4. Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock.'ishment of sin, which is hard at hand, and ready to overtake the The universality of sacrificial rites will naturally produce an inquiry into the source, from which such a custom so inexplicable upon any principles of mere natural reason could have been derived. And here we are involuntarily led to the first institution of this ordinance, which is so particularly recorded in Scripture. When it pleased God to reveal his gracious purpose of redeeming lost mankind by the blood of the Messiah, it would doubtless be highly expedient to institute some visible sign, some external representation, by which the mysterious sacrifice of Mount Calvary might be prophetically exhibited to all the posterity of Adam. With this view, a pure and immaculate victim, the firstling of the flock, was carefully selected; and after its blood had been shed, was solemnly appointed to blaze upon the altar of Jehovah. When the first typical sacrifice was offered

wicked. But our learned Lightfoot observes that God does not here present himself to Cain, in order to threaten, but to encourage him, as the first words of his speech to him do import; and that therefore the bare description of lying at the door," does plainly enough insinuate, that the text does not speak either of errors or punishment, but of a sacrifice for sin,' which the Scripture often calls by the Hebrew word here, and which was commonly placed before the door of the sanctuary, as may be seen in several passages of Scripture. So that, according to this sense, God is here comforting Cain, even though he did amiss in maligning his brother, and referring him to the propitiation of Christ, which, even then, was of standing force for the remission of sin.-Essay for a New Translation. But this sense of the word seems a little too far-fetched.

A. M. 128. A. C. 3876; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 201. A. C. 5210. GEN. CH. 4. TO VER. 25.

immediately overtake him; and that least of all he had reason to be angry with him whose preference was only a token of his superior virtue, and not intended to supplant him of his birthright, which should always be inviolate, and his brother be obliged to a pay him the respect and homage that was due to his primogeniture; which, if he was minded to preserve, his wisest way would be to be quiet, and not proceed one step farther in any wicked design."

directly charged him with his murder; and then representing it, in its proper aggravations, as a crime unpardonable, and what cried aloud to Heaven for vengeance, he proceeded immediately to pass sentence upon him.

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This was a kind admonition from God; but so little effect had it upon Cain, that instead of being sensible of his fault, and endeavouring to amend, he grew more and more incensed against his brother; insomuch that at last | be took a resolution to kill him; but dissembled his de-bandry and tillage: instead of enjoying God's favour sign, until he should find a proper opportunity.

And, to this purpose, coming to his brother one day, and pretending great kindness to him, he asked him very friendly to take a walk with him in the fields, where, having got him alone, upon some pretence or other, he picked a quarrel with him, and so fell upon him, and slew him, and afterward buried him in the ground; to prevent all discovery: but it was not long before he was called to an account for this horrid fact. God appeared to him, and having questioned him about his brother, and received some sullen and evasive answers from him,

'Le Clerc's Commentary. 2 Josephus's Antiq., b. 1. c. 3.
a The words in the text are unto thee shall be his desire,'
Gen. iii. 16., which (however some expositors have clouded
them) will appear to be plain and easy enough, if we do but con-
sider, that there are two expressions, in the Hebrew tongue, to
signify the readiness of one person to serve and respect another.
The one is (aine el yad) or our eyes are to his hand;' the other
(teshukah el) or our desire is to him.' The former expresses
our outward attendance, and the latter the inward temper and
readiness of our mind to pay respect. Of the former we have
an instance in Ps. cxxiii. The eyes of servants are to the
hand of their masters, and the eyes of a maiden are to the hand
of her mistress,' that is, they stand ready with a vigilant ob-
servance to execute their orders. We meet the other expression
in the place before us, and it imports an inward temper and
disposition of mind to pay respect and honour. His desire will
be to thee,' that is, he will be heartily devoted (as we say in
English) to honour and respect you. And thou shalt (or may-
est) rule over him,' that is, you may have any service from him
you can desire.-Shuckford's Connexion, vol. 1.

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that Cain talked with Abel his brother. The words strictly

Cain's chief design and ambition was, to make himself great and powerful, in favour with God, and in credit with men, without any one to stand in competition with him; but in every thing he intended, he found himself disappointed, for attempting to accomplish his ends in so wicked a manner. Instead of growing great and opulent, the ground was sentenced not to yield him her strength,' that is, he was to be unprosperous in his huswithout a rival, he was banished from his presence, and for ever excluded from that happy converse with the Deity, which, in these first ages of the world, it was customary for good men to enjoy and instead of being a man of renown among his family, he became a fugitive and vagabond:' was banished from his native country, and compelled to withdraw into some distant and desolate part of the earth, as an abominable person, not worthy to live, nor fit to be endured in any civil community.

The same principle, which leads wicked men to the commission of crimes, in hopes of impunity, throws them into despair, upon the denunciation of punishment. This sentence of Cain, though infinitely short of the heinousness of his guilt, made him believe, c that he was to undergo much greater evils than it really imported; and that not only the miseries of banishment, but the danger likewise of being slain by every one that came near him, was ensuant upon it. But, to satisfy him in this respect, God was pleased to declare, that his providence should protect him from all outward violence: and, to remove the uneasy apprehension from his mind, vouchsafed to give him a sign (very probably by some sensible miracle) that no creature whatever should be permitted to take away his life; but, that whoever attempted it should incur a very severe punishment; because God was minded to prolong his days in this wretched estate, as a monument of his vengeance, to deter future ages from committing the like murder.

Thus, by the force of the divine sentence, Cain left his parents and relations, and went into a strange country. He was banished from that sacred place where

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Shuckford's Introduction, vol. 1. ⚫ Universal History, No. 2
Patrick's Commentary.

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signify, Cain said unto Abel his brother;' after which there is a blank space left in the Hebrew copies, as if something was wanting. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuag. version supply this, by adding the words,-'Let us go into the fields;' at the Jerusalem Targum, and that of Jonathan, have supplied us with their whole conversation: "As they went along, I know, says Cain, that the world was created by the mercy of e The words in our translation are, My punishment is greater God, but it is not governed according to the fruit of our good than I can bear;' but as the Hebrew word (Aven) signifies 'iniworks, and there is respect of persons in judgment. Why was quity,' rather than punishment, and the verb (Nasha) signifies thy oblation favourably accepted, when mine was rejected? to be forgiven,' as well as to bear,' it seems to agree better Abel answered and said unto Cain, The world was created in with the context, if the verse be rendered either positively, mercy, and is governed according to the fruits of our goodMy iniquity is too great to be forgiven,' or (as the Hebrew exworks. There is no respect of persons in judgment; for my positors take it) by way of interrogation, 'Is my iniquity too oblation was more favourably received, because the fruit of my great to be forgiven?' which seems to be the better of the two. works was better, and more precious, than thine. Hereupon-Shuckford's Connexion, vol. 1. A learned annotator has obCain in a fury breaks out, There is no judgment, nor judge, nor served, that as there are seven abominations in the heart of him any other world; neither shall good men receive any reward, that loveth not his brother, Prov. xxvi, 25., there were the like nor wicked men be punished. To which Abel replied, There is number of transgressions in Cain's whole conduct; for, 1. he a judgment and a judge, and another world, in which good men sacrificed without faith; 2. was displeased that God respected shall receive a reward, and wicked men be punished." Upon him not: 3. hearkened not to God's admonition; 4. spake diswhich there ensued a quarrel, which ended in Abel's death. Sosemblingly to his brother; 5. killed him in the field; 6. denied that, according to this account, Abel suffered for the vindication of the truth, and was, in reality, the first martyr.-Esthius on the more Difficult Passages.

that he knew where he was; and, 7. neither asked, nor hoped for mercy from God, but despaired and so fell into the condemnation of the devil.-Ainsworth's Annotations.

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