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07 - Commentary on The Book of Genesis · Commentary on The Book of Genesis

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Chapter four, Part two, Cain's punishment b c. Thirty eight seventy five.
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And the Lord said, unto Cain, where is able thy brother?
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And he said, I know not, am I my brother's keeper? And
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he said, what hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth
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unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth which
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hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou
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tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength, a
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fugitive and a vagabond. Shalt thou be of the earth. We have here
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a full account of the trial and condemnation of the first murder, civil courts
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of judicature not being yet erected for this purpose, as they were afterwards.
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Chapter nine, verse six. God himself sits judge, for he is the
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god to whom vengeance belongs, and who will be sure to make inquisition for
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blood, especially the blood of saints. Observe numeral one. The arraignment of
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Cain, the Lord said, unto Cain, where is able thy brother?
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Some think Kin was thus examined the next Sabbath after the murder was admitted when
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the sons of God came as usual to present themselves before the Lord in a
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religious assembly, and Abel was missing, whose place did not use to be
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empty. For the God of Heaven takes notice who is present at and who
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is absent from public ordinances. Kin is asked not only because there is just
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cause to suspect him, he having discovered a malice against Abel and having been
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last with him, but because God knew him to be guilty. Yet he
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asks him that he may draw from him a confession of his crime. For
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those whould be justified before God must accuse themselves, and the penitent will do
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so numeral too. Cain's plea, he pleads not guilty and adds rebellion to
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his sin. For number one, he endeavors to cover a deliberate murder with
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a deliberate lie. I know not he knew well enough what had become of
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able, and yet had the impudence to deny it. Thus in Kin the
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devil was both a murderer and a liar from the beginning. See how sinner's
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minds are blinded and their hearts hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Those are
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strangely blind that think it possible to conceal their sins from a God that sees
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all, and those are strangely hard that think it desirable to conceal them from
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a God who pardons those only that confess. Number two. He impudently charges
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his judge with folly and injustice in putting this question to him, Am I
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my brother's keeper? He should have humbled himself and have said, am not
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I my brother's murderer. But he flies in the face of God himself,
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as if he had asked him an impertinent question to which he was no way
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obliged to give an answer. Am I my brother's keeper? Surely he is
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old enough to take care of himself, nor did I ever take any charge
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of him. Some think he reflects on God and his providence, as if
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he had said, art not thou his keeper? If he be missing,
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on thee be the blame, and not on me, who never undertook to
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keep him. Note. A charitable concern for our brethren as their keepers is
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a great duty which is strictly required of us, but is generally neglected by
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us. Those who are unconcerned in the affairs of their brethren and take no
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care when they have opportunity to prevent their hurt in their body's goods or good
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name, especially in their souls, do in effect speak Kin's language. See
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Leviticus nineteen seventeen, Philippians two four, numeral three, The Conviction of Cain,
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verse ten. God gave no direct answer to his question, but rejected
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his plea as false and frivolous. What hast thou done. Thou makest a
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light matter of it, But hast thou considered what an evil thing it is,
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How deep the stain, how heavy the burden of this guilt is.
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Thou thinkest to conceal it, But it is to no purpose. The evidence
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against thee is clear and incontestable. The voice of thy brother's blood cries.
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He speaks as if the blood itself were both witness and prosecutor, because God's
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own knowledge testified against him, and God's own justice demated satisfaction. Observe here
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number one. Murder is a crying sin. None more so blood calls for
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blood, the blood of the murdered, for the blood of the murderer.
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It cries. In the dying words of Zechariah, Second Chronicles, twenty four,
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verse twenty two. The Lord, look upon it and require it,
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or in those of the souls under the altar. Revelations six Verse ten,
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How long, Lord, Holy and True, The patient sufferers cried for pardon,
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Father, forgive them, But their blood cries for vengeance. Though they
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hold their peace, their blood has a loud and constant cry, to which
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the ear of the Righteous God is always open. Number two. The blood
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is said to cry from the ground, the earth, which is said to
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open her mouth to receive his brother's blood from his hand Verse eleven. The
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earth did, as it were, blushed to see her own face stained with
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such blood, and therefore opened her mouth to hide that which she could not
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hinder. When the heaven revealed Kan's iniquity, the earth also rose up against
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him Job twenty twenty seven, and groaned on being thus made subject to vanity
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Romans eight twenty and twenty two. Kin, it is likely buried the blood
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and the body to conceal his crime, but murder will out. He did
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not bury them so deep, but the cry of them reached heaven. Number
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three. In the origin, the word is plural. Thy brother's bloods not
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only his blood, but the blood of all those that might have descended from
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him, or the blood of all the seed of the woman, who should,
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in like manner seal the truth with their blood. Christ puts all in
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one score Matthew twenty three thirty five. Or because account was kept of every
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drop of blood shed. How well it is for us that the blood of
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Christ speaks better things than that of Abel Hebrews twelve, twenty four. Abel's
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blood cried for vengeance. Christ's blood cries for pardon Numeral four. The sentence
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passed upon Cain, and now art Thou cursed from the earth Verse eleven.
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Observe here number one. He is cursed, separated to all evil laid under
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the wrath of God, as it is revealed from Heaven, against all ungodliness
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and unrighteousness of men Romans one eighteen. Who knows the extent and weight of
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a divine curse, how far it reaches, how deep it pierces. God's
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pronouncing a man cursed makes him so, for those whom he curses are cursed.
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Indeed, a curse for Adam's disobedience terminated on the ground cursed is the
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ground for thy sake, But that for Kin's rebellion fell immediately upon himself.
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Thou art cursed, for God had mercy in store for Adam, but none
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for Cain. We have all deserved this curse, and it is only in
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Christ that believers are saved from it, and inherit the blessing Galatians three,
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ten and thirteen number two. He is cursed from the earth. Thence the
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cry came up to God, and thence the curse came up to Cain.
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God could have taken vengeance by an immediate stroke from heaven, by the sword
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of an angel, or by a thunderbolt. But he chose to make the
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earth the avenger of blood, to continue him upon the earth, and not
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immediately to cut him off, and yet to make even this his curse.
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The earth is always near us, we cannot fly from it, so that
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if this is made the executioner of divine wrath, our punishment is unavoidable.
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It is sin, that is the punishment of sin. Lying at the door,
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Cain found his punishment, where he chose his portion and set his heart.
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Two things we expect from the earth, and by the this curse,
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both are denied to Cain and taken from him, sustenance and settlement. Subscript
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One sustenance out of the earth is here withheld from him. It is a
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curse upon him in his enjoyments, and particularly in his calling. When thou
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tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its strength. Note
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every creature is to us what God makes it, a comfort or a cross,
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a blessing or a curse. If the earth yield not her strength to
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us, we must therein acknowledge God's righteousness, for we have not yielded our
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strength to him. The ground was cursed before to Adam, but it was
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now doubly cursed to Cain. That part of it which fell to his share,
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and of which he had the occupation, was made unfruitful and uncomfortable to
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him by the blood of Abel. Note the wickedness of the wicked brings a
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curse upon all they do and all they have Deuteronomy twenty eight fifteen in following.
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And this curse embitters all they have and disappoints them in all they do.
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Subscript two. Settlement on the earth is here denied him a fugitive and
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a vagabond, Thou shalt be in the earth. By this he was condemned
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sub point one to perpetual disgrace and reproach among men, It should ever be
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looked upon as a scandalous thing to harbor him, converse with him, or
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show him any countenance. And justly was a man that had divested himself of
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all humanity, abhorred and abandoned by all mankind, and made infamous sub point
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two to perpetual disquietude and horror in his own mind. His own guilty conscience
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should haunt him wherever he went, and make him magor missabib a terror round
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about? What rest can those find? What settlement that carry their own disturbance
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with them in their bosoms wherever they go? Those must needs be fugitives that
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are thus tossed. There is not a more restless fugitive upon earth than he
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that is continually pursued by his own guilt, nor a viler vagabond than he
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that is at the beck of his own lusts. This was the sentence passed
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upon Cain. And even in this there was mercy mixed, inasmuch as he
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was not immediately cut off, but had space given him to repent. For
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God is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish. Cain's
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complaint b c. Thirty eight seventy five, and Cain said, unto the
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Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast
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driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy
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face shall I be hid. And I shall be a fugitive and the vagabond
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in the earth. And it shall come to pass that every one that findeth
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me shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him, Therefore, whoever
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slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set
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a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. We have
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here a further account of the proceedings against Cain Numeral one. Here is Kain's
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complaint of the sentence passed upon him as hard and severe. Some make him
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to speak the language of despair and read it. My iniquity is greater than
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that it may be forgiven. And so what he says is a reproach,
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an affront to the mercy of God, which those only shall have the benefit
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of that hope in it. There is forgiveness with the God of pardons for
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the greatest sins and sinners, But those forfeit it, who despair of it
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just now Cain made nothing of his sin, but now he is in the
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other extreme. Satan drives his vassals from presumption to despair. We cannot think
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too ill of sin, provided we do not think it unpardonable. But Kain
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seems rather to speak the language of indignation. My punishment is greater than I
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can bear, and so what he says is a reproach and affront to the
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justice of God, and a complaint not of the greatness of his sin,
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but of the extremity of his punishment, as if this were disproportionable to his
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merits. Instead of justifying God in the sentence, he condemns him, not
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accepting the punishment of his iniquity, but quarreling with it. Note impenitent,
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unhumbled hearts are therefore not reclaimed by God's rebukes, because they think themselves wronged
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by them. And it is an evidence of great hardness to be more concerned
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about our sufferings than about our sins. Pharaoh's care was concerning this death only,
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not this sin Exodus ten seventeen. So was Cain's. Here he is
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a living man and yet complain of the punishment of his sin. The imitations
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three thirty nine. He thinks himself rigorously dealt with when he really is favorably
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treated, and he cries out of wrong when he has more reason to wonder
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that he is out of hell. Woe unto him that thus strives with his
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maker and enters into judgment with his judge. Now to justify this complaint can
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descants upon the sentence. Number one. He sees himself excluded by it from
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the favor of his God, and concludes that being cursed, he is hidden
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from God's face, which is indeed the true nature of God's curse. Damned
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sinners find it so to whom it is said, depart from me, you
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cursed, those are cursed, indeed that are forever shut out from God's love
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and care and from all hopes of his grace. Number two he sees himself
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expelled from all the comforts of this life, and concludes that, being a
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fugitive, he is in effect driven out this day from the face of the
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earth, as good have no place on earth, as not have a settled
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place, better rests in the grave than not rest at all. Number three
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he sees himself excommunicated by it and cut off from the church, and forbidden
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to attend on public ordinances. His hands being full of blood, he must
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bring no more vain oblations Isaiah one thirteen and fifteen. Perhaps this he means
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when he complains that he is driven out from the face of the earth for
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being shut out of the church, which none had yet deserted. He was
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hidden from God's face, being not admitted to come with the sons of God
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to present himself before the Lord. Number four. He seen himself exposed by
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it to the hatred and ill will of all mankind. It shall come to
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pass that every one that finds me shall slay me. Wherever he wanders,
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he goes in peril of his life. At least he thinks so, and
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like a man in debt, thinks every one he meets a bailiff. There
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were none alive but his near relations. Yet even of them he is justly
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afraid, who had himself been so barbarous to his brother? Some read it,
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whatsoever finds me shall slay me, not only whosoever among men, but
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whatsoever among all creatures. Seeing himself thrown out of God's protection, he sees
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the whole creation armed against him. Note unpardoned guilt fills men with continual terrors.
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Proverbs twenty eight one, Job fifteen twenty and twenty one, Psalm fifty
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three five. It is better to fear and not sin, than to sin
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and then fear. Doctor Lightfoot thinks this word of Cain should be read as
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a wish. Now, therefore, let it be that any that find me
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may kill me. Being bitter in soul, he longs for death, but
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it comes not Job three twenty through twenty two, as those under spiritual torments
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do. Revelation nine five and six Numeral two. Here is God's confirmation of
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the sentence, for when he judges, he will overcome Verse fifteen. Observe
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number one. How Cain is protected in wrath by this declaration notified. We
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may suppose to all that little world which was then in being, whosoever slayeth
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Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold, because thereby the sentence he
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was under, that he should be a fugitive in a vagabond, would be
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defeated. Condemned prisoners are under the special protection of the law. Those that
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are appointed sacrifices to public justice must not be sacrificed to private revenge. God
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having said in Cain's case, vengeance is mine. I will repay. It
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would have been a daring usurpation for any man to take the sword out of
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God's hand. The contempt put upon an expressed declaration of God's mind, and
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therefore avenged sevenfold. Note. God has wise and holy ends in protecting and
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prolonging the lives, even of very wicked men. God deals with some according
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to that prayer. Slay them not lest my people forget to scatter them by
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Thy power, Psalm fifty nine eleven. Had Cain been slain immediately, he
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would have been forgotten Ecclesiastes eight ten. But now he lives a more fearful
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and lasting monument of God's justice, hanged in chains as it were. Number
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two. How he is marked in wrath. The Lord set a mark upon
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Cain to distinguish him from the rest of mankind, and to notify that he
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was the man that murdered his brother, whom nobody must hurt, but everybody
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must hoot at. God stigmatized him as some malefactors are burnt in the cheek,
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and put upon him such a visible and indelible mark of infamy and disgrace
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as would make all wise people shun him, so that he could not be
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otherwise than a fugitive and a vagabond, and the offscouring of all things the
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family of Cain b. C. Thirty eight seventy five. And Cain went
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out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on
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the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and
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bare Enoch. And he builded a city and called the name of the city
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after the name of his son, Enoch. And unto Enoch was born Irad
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An Irad begat Mehujael, and Mehujael beget Methusael, and Methusael begat Lamk.
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We have here a further account of Cain and what became of him after he
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was rejected of God numeral I. He tamely submitted to that part of his
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sentence by which he was hidden from God's four verse sixteen, He went out
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from the presence of the Lord, that is, he willingly renounced God and
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religion, and was content to forego its privileges so that he might not be
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under its precepts. He forsook Adam's family and Altar. He cast off all
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pretensions to the fear of God, and never came among good people, nor
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attended on God's ordinances any more. Note, hypocritical professors that have dissembled and
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trifled with God Almighty are justly left to themselves to do something that is grossly
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scandalous, and so to throw off that form of Godliness to which they have
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been a reproach, and under color of which they have denied the power of
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it. Kin went out now from the presence of the Lord, and we
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never find that he came into it again to his comfort. Hell is destruction
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from the presence of the Lord. Second Thessalonians one nine. It is a
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perpetual banishment from the fountain of all good. This is the choice of sinners,
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and so shall their doom be to their eternal confusion. Numeral two.
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He endeavored to confront that part of the sentence by which he was made a
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fugitive and a vagabond. For number one, he chose his land. He
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went and dwelt on the east of Eden, somewhere distant from the place where
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Adam and his religious family resided, distinguishing himself in his accursed generation from the
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Holy seed. His camp from the camp of the saints in the Beloved City
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Revelation twenty nine. On the east of Eden, the Cherubim were with a
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flaming sword Chapter three, verse twenty four. There he chose his lot as
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if to defy the terrors of the Lord. But his attempt to settle was
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in vain, for the land he dwelt in was to him the land of
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nod, that is, of shaking or trembling, because of the continual restlessness
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and uneasiness of his own spirit. Note, those that depart from God cannot
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find rest anywhere else. After Kin went out from the presence of the Lord,
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he never rested. Those that shut themselves out of Heaven abandoned themselves to
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a perpetual trembling. Return therefore to Thy rest, o my soul, to
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thy rest in God, Else thou art forever restless. Number two he built
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a city for habitation for seventeen He was building a city, so some read
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it, ever building it, but a curse being upon him in the work
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of his hands, he could not finish it. Or as we read it,
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he built a city in token of a fixed separation from the Church of
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God, to which he had no thoughts of ever returning. This city was
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to be the headquarters of the apostasy. Observe here subscript I gains defiance of
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the divine sentence God said he should be a fugitive and a vagabond. Had
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he repented and humbled himself, this curse might have been turned into a blessing,
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as that of the tribe of Levi was that they should be divided in
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Jacob and scattered in Israel. But his impenitent, unhumbled heart, walking contrary
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to God and resolving to fix in spite of Heaven, that which might have
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been a blessing was turned into a curse. Subscript too. See what was
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Kin's choice after he had forsaken God. He pitched upon a settlement in this
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world as his rest forever. Those who looked for the heavenly city chose while
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on earth to dwell in tabernacles. But Cain, as one that minded not
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that city, built himself one on earth. Those that are cursed of God
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are apt to seek their settlement and satisfaction here below Psalm seventeen, verse fourteen.
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Subscript three. See what method Cain took to defend himself against the terrors
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with which he was perpetually haunted. He undertook this building to divert his thoughts
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from the consideration of his own misery, and to drown the clamors of a
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guilty conscience with the noise of axes and hammers. Thus many baffle their convictions
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by thrusting themselves into a hurry of worldly business. Subscript four. See how
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wicked people often get the start of God's people and outgo them in outward prosperity.
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Cain and his cursed race dwell in the city, while Adam and his
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blessed family dwell intense. We cannot judge of love or hatred by all that
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is before us Ecclesiastes nine one and two, number three. His family also
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was built up. Here is an account of his posterity, at least the
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heirs of his family for seven generations. His son was Enoch, of the
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same name, but not of the same character with that holy man that walked
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with God Chapter five, verse twenty two. Good men and bad may bear
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the same names, but God can distinguish between Judas Iscariot and Judas not Iscariot.
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John fourteen, verse twenty two. The names of more of his posterity
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are mentioned and but just mentioned not as those of the Holy Seed. Chapter
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five, where we have three verses concerning each, whereas here we have three
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or four in one verse. They are numbered in haste as not valued or
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delighted in in comparison with God's chosen. The family of Lamek b. C.
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Thirty eight seventy five. And Lameik took unto him two wives. The
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name of one was Aida, and the name of the other Zillah. And
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Ada bore Jabel. He was the father of such as dwell in tens,
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and of such as have cattle, and his brother's name was Jubal. He
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was the father of all such as handle the heart, an organ, and
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Zillah. She also bare Tubulcane, an instructor of every artificer in brass and
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iron. And the sister of Tubulcane was Nama. We have here some particulars
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concerning Lamik the seventh for Adam and the line of Kine observe numeral one his
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marrying two wives. It was one of the degenerate race of Cain who first
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transgressed that original law of marriage that two only should be one flesh. Hitherto
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one man had but one wife at a time, but Lamek took two from
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the beginning. It was not so Malachi two, verse fifteen and Matthew nineteen,
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verse five see here Number one. Those who desert God's church and ordinances
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lay themselves open to all manner of temptation. Number two. When a bad
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custom is begun by bad men, sometimes men of better characters are, through
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unwariness, drawn in to follow them. Jacob David and many others who were
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otherwise good men, were afterwards ensnared in this sin which Lameik begun. Numeral
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two. His happiness in his children. Notwithstanding this, though he sinned in
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marrying two wives, yet he was blessed with children by both. And those
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such as lived to be famous in their generation. Not for their piety,
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no mention is made of this for aught that appears they were the heathen of
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that age, but for their ingenuity. They were not only themselves men of
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business, but men that were serviceable to the world, and eminent for the
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invention or at least the improvement of some useful arts. Number One. Jabel
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was a famous shepherd. He delighted much in keeping cattle himself, and was
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so happy in devising methods of doing it to the best advantage, and instructing
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others in them that the shepherds of those times, nay, the shepherds of
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after times called him father, or perhaps his children, after him being brought
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up to the same employment, the family was a family of shepherds. Number
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two Jubell was a famous musician and particularly an organist, and the first that
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gave rules for the noble art or science of music. When Jabel had at
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them in a way to be rich, Jubell put them in a way to
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be merry. Those that spend their days in wealth will not be without the
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timbrel and the harp job twenty one twelve thirteen from his name, Jubill,
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probably the Jubilee trumpet, was so called for the best music was that which
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proclaimed liberty and redemption. Jabel was their pan, and Jubil their apollo.
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Number three Tubulcane was a famous smith who greatly improved the art of working in
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brass and iron for the service both of war and husbandry. He was their
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vulcan. See here subscript one that worldly things are the only things that carnal
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wicked people set their hearts upon, and are most ingenious and industrious about so
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it was with this impious race of cursed Cain. Here were a father of
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shepherds and a father of musicians, but not a father of the faithful.
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Here was one to teach in brass and iron, but none to teach the
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good knowledge of the Lord. Here were devices how to be rich, and
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how to be mighty, and how to be merry, but nothing of God
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nor of his fear and service among them. Present things fill the heads of
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most people. Subscript too, that even those who are destitute of the knowledge
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and grace of God may be endued with many excellent and useful accomplishments, which
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may make them famous and serviceable in their generation. Common gifts are given to
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bad men, while God chooses to himself the foolish things of the world.
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And Lamik said, unto his wives Ada and Zillah, hear my voice,
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Ye, wives of Lamik, hearken unto my speech. For I have slain
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a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt. If kin
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shall be avenged sevenfold, truly, lamiks seventy and sevenfold. By this speech
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of Lamech, which is here recorded and probably was much talked of in those
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times, he further appears to have been a wicked man, as Cain's accursed
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race generally were observe. Number One, how haughtily and imperiously he speaks to
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his wives as one that expected a mighty regard and observance. Here my voice,
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ye wives of Lamik, No marvel that he who had broken one law
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of marriage by taking two wives, broke another, which obliged him to be
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kind and tender to those he had taken, and to give honor to the
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wife. As to the weaker vessel, those are not always the most careful
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to do their duty, that are highest in their demands of respect from others,
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and most frequent in calling upon their relations to know their place and do
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their duty. Number Two, how bloody and barbarous he was to all about
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him. I have slain, or, as it is in the margin,
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I would slay a man in my wound and a young man in my hurt.
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He owns himself a man of fierce and cruel disposition, that would lay
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about him without mercy, and kill all that stood in his way, be
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a man or young man, Nay, though he himself were in danger to
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be wounded and hurt in the conflict some think because verse twenty four, he
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compares himself with Cain, that he had murdered some of the Holy Seed,
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the true worshippers of God, and that he acknowledged this to be the wounding
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of his conscience and the hurt of his soul. And yet that like Cain,
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he continued impenitent trembling, and yet unhumbled or his wives, knowing what
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manner of spirit he was, of how apt both to give and to resent
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provocation, were afraid lest somebody or other would be the death of him,
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Never fear, says he, I defy any man to set upon me.
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Whosoever does let me alone to make my part good with him, I will
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slay him, be he a man or a young man. Note it is
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a common thing for fierce and bloody men to glory in their shame Philippians three
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nineteen, as if it were both their safety and their honor, that they
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care not how many lives are sacrificed to their angry resentments, nor how much
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they are hated, provided they may be feared. O Darrant dum metuant let
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them hate, provided they feared. Number three, how impiously he presumes,
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even upon God's protection in his wicked way verse twenty four. He had heard
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that Cain should be avenged sevenfold verse fifteen, that is that if any man
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should dare to kill Kin, he should be severely reckoned with and punished for
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so doing. Though Kain deserved to die a thousand deaths for the murder of
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his brother, and hence he inverted that if anyone should kill him for the
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murders he had committed, God would much more avenge his death, as if
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the special care God took to prolong and secure the life of Cain for special
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reasons peculiar to his case, and indeed for his sore punishment, as the
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beings of the damned are continued, were designed as a protection to all murderers.
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Thus, Lamik perversely argues, if God provided for the safety of Cain,
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much more for mine, who, though I have slain many, yet
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never slew my own brother, and upon no provocation, as he did.
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Note, the reprieve of some sinners and the patience God exercises towards them,
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are often abused to the hardening of others in the like sinful ways Ecclesiastes eight,
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verse eleven. But though justice strikes some slowly. Others cannot therefore be
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sure, but that they may be taken away with a swift destruction, Or
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if God should bear long with those who thus presume upon His forbearance, they
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do but hereby treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath. Now
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this is all we have upon record in scripture concerning the family and posterity of
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cursed Cain, till we find them all cut off and perishing in the universal
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deluge. The birth of Seth b. C. Thirty eight seventy four.
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And Adam knew his wife again, and she bare a son and called his
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name Seth. For God said she hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel,
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whom Cain slew, and to Seth to him also there was born a
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son, and he called his name Enos. Then began men to call upon
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the name of the Lord. This is the first mention of Adam in the
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story of this chapter. No question, the murder of Abel and the impenitence
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and apostasy of Cain were a very great grief to him and Eve, and
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the more because their own wickedness did now correct them, and their backs lightings
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did reprove them their folly. Had given sin and death entrance into the world,
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and now they smarted by it, feeling by means thereof deprived of both
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their sons. In one day, Chapter twenty seven, verse forty five,
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when parents are grieved by their children's wickedness, they should take occasion, thence
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to lament that corruption of nature which was derived from them, and which is
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the root of bitterness. But here we have that which was a relief to
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our first parents in their affliction Numeral one. God gave them to see the
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rebuilding of their family, which was sorely shaken and weakened by that sad event.
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For number one, they saw their seed another seed instead of Able Verse
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twenty five. Observe God's kindness and tenderness towards his people in his providential dealings
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with them. When he takes away one comfort from them, he gives them
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another instead of it, which may prove a greater blessing to them than that
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was in which they thought their lives were bound up. This other seed was
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he in whom the church was to be built up and perpetuated, And he
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comes instead of Able. For the succession of confessors is the revival of the
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martyrs. And as it were the resurrection of God's slain witnesses. Thus we
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are baptized for the dead First Corinthians fifteen twenty nine. That is, we
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are by baptism admitted into the church for or instead of, those who,
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by death, especially by martyrdom, are removed out of it, and we
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fill up their room. Those who slay God's servants hope by this means to
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wear out the saints of the most high, but they will be deceived.
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Christ shall still see his seed. God can out of stones raise up children
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for him and make the blood of the martyrs the seed of the Church,
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whose lands we are sure shall never be lost for want of heirs. This
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sun by a prophetic spirit they called Seth, that is set settled or placed,
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because in his seed mankind should continue to the end of time, and
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from him the Messiah should descend. While Cain, the head of the apostasy,
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is made a wanderer. Seth, from whom the true church was to
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come, is one fixed in Christ, and his church is the only true
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settlement. Number two. They saw their seed seed Verse twenty six to Seth
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was born a son called Enos, that general name for all men which bespeaks
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the weakness, frailty, and misery of man's state. The best men are
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most sensible of these, both in themselves and their children. We are never
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so settled, but we must remind ourselves though we are frail numeral too.
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God gave them to see the reviving of religion in their family. Then began
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men to call upon the name of the Lord verse twenty six. It is
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small comfort to a good man to see his children's children if he do not
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with all see peace upon Israel and those that come of him walking in the
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truth. Doubtless God's name was called upon before, but now number one,
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the worshippers of God began to stir up themselves to do more in religion than
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they had done. Perhaps not more than had been done at first, but
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more than had been done of late since the defection of Cain. Now men
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began to worship God not only in their closets and families, but in public
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and solemn assemblies. Or now there was so great a reformation in religion that
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it was, as it were, a new beginning of it. Then may
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refer not to the birth of Enos, but to the whole foregoing story.
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Then, when men saw in Cain and Lamak the sad effects of sin by
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the workings of natural conscience. When they saw God's judgments upon sin and sinners,
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then they were so much. The more lively and resolute in religion,
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the worse others are, the better we should be, and the more zealous.
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Number two, the worshippers of God began to distinguish themselves. The margin
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reads it then began men to be called by the name of the Lord,
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or to call themselves by it. Now that kin and those that had deserted
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religion had built a city and begun to declare for impiety and irreligion, and
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called themselves the sons of men. Those that adhered to God began to declare
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for Him and his worship, and called themselves the sons of God. Now
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began the distinction between professors and profane, which has been kept up ever since,
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and will be while the world stands. End of Chapter four, Part two,