PART I. GENERATION, MARRIAGE, BIRTH AND EDUCATION OF CAIN AND ABEL.

I. Thus have we at length waded through that mighty sea of matter, in doing which, all who have made the attempt have so greatly sweated and toiled, and this sweat we also have fully experienced. To us however the whole way was much more direct and plain, because, throwing aside all allegories, we have followed throughout the historical and proper sense of every passage. Whereas, the most commentators have not regarded that proper sense, but have made Origen, Dionysius and others their teachers, rather than Moses himself; and so have deservedly wandered out of the way. The things which now follow in the divine record are plainer than the preceding and admit of less dispute; and therefore they tend more to support my view of the sacred narrative; because every one must plainly say that the intent of Moses was not to put forth a host of allegories, but simply to write a history of the primitive world.

V. 1a. And the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain.

When Adam had fallen into death by sin, he had the promise given him, as we have heard, that from his flesh, thus made subject to death, there would surely arise unto him a Branch of life. He fully understood therefore that he must propagate his seed; and especially so, since the blessing pronounced on him and his wife, "Be fruitful and multiply," was not only not taken away, but afterwards confirmed by the divine promise concerning the Seed of the woman, which should bruise the serpent's head. Therefore Adam did not know his wife Eve from the mere inclination of the flesh, as we generally judge; but it was the necessity of that salvation, which was to come unto him through the blessed Seed of the woman that constrained him to do so.

No one therefore ought to be offended with the relation of this circumstance by Moses that Adam "knew his wife." For although, on account of original sin, this divine act of generation is considered to be one of turpitude, by which we find pure ears to be generally offended; yet spiritual men ought always to distinguish between original sin and the creature or the appointment of God. The act of generation, as a creation-appointment of God, is good and holy, for it is the very blessing pronounced of God upon male and female when they were created. And if man had not fallen this act of generation would have been most pure, most holy and most honorable. For as no one blushes to converse, eat and drink with his wife, because all these things are honorable among all men, so, had it not been for the fall of Adam, the act of generation would also have been most honorable and void of all "shame!"

Generation has indeed been left to us, even in this state of fallen and corrupted nature. But there has adhered to it that poison of the devil, an impure lust and prurient concupiscence, which is the cause of numberless sins and evils; from all of which, nature in its unfallen state was perfectly free. Now however we find by experience that the flesh is filled with inordinate and unsatisfied desires; so much so that even marriage is not for many a sufficient remedy. If it were, there would be no adulteries nor fornications. Whereas these, to our shame and pain, everywhere abound. Nay, in how many and various ways does this infirmity of the flesh discover itself, even in married persons? These infinite evils are not the consequences of the creation nor of the blessing pronounced on male and female. These latter proceeded from God. But they are the consequences of sin and of the curse, which proceeded from the sin of Adam. Therefore, the creation-appointment of God ought to be separated from all these evils; for that is a good creature of God, concerning which even the holy spirit himself we see is not ashamed to speak.

But further. Not only is there no idea of impurity to be attached to this mention of the creation-command and "blessing" of God made by Moses, when he says, "and Adam knew Eve his wife;" it was even necessary that Moses should write and teach these things on account of the heresies which were in later times to arise; such as those of Nicolaus, Tatian, etc.; and, above all, on account of the papacy. For we see the Papists were not the least moved by that which is written above, that the Lord created man "male and female." They so live and so bind and fetter themselves by vows, that they seem to be utterly ignorant that there are any such beings as the male and female sexes. They are not at all moved by what is also above written, that Jehovah God "Brought Eve unto Adam." and that Adam said "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh." They are not moved by the promise and blessing of God, "Be fruitful and multiply." The Decalogue touches them not, when it commandeth, "Honor thy father and thy mother!" Yea, they disregard their very origin; born as they are from the union of male and female, commanded and blessed of God. Passing by, despising and casting away all these things, they compel their contemptible priests, monks and nuns to devote themselves to perpetual celibacy; as if the married life, of which Moses here speaks, were a life reprobate and damnable!

The Holy Ghost however hath a purer mouth and purer eyes than the Pope! The Holy Spirit himself therefore blushes not to mention the act of generation, or the union of husband and wife; though these great saints condemn it as impure and base. Nor does that Holy Spirit mention this marriage union in one place only of the sacred record. The whole Scriptures are filled with such histories; so much so, that on that very account some popes have prohibited young monks and nuns from reading the holy Bible. But I need not enlarge. Suffice to say, that such has been the rage of the devil against this institution of God, holy matrimony, that the Papists have compelled men to abjure marriage, to the very end that they might institute their orders of a celibate life; and they have condemned the commandment of God, married life, as polluted in comparison with the life of celibacy, which they themselves have set up!

This wickedness however has not been left without its own just punishments. For there are continually before our own eyes examples of the fruits which impure celibacy brings forth, and there are extant in books, record of most horrible crimes, of which it has been the cause. That holy man Udalric, an Augustan bishop, testifies that after Pope Gregory had determined on establishing celibacy, and had forbidden even those to live with their wives, who had been married before the decree concerning celibacy had gone forth, the Pope had a mind on one occasion to fish in a pond which he had in his park at Rome; and that when he did so it led to the discovery, that the fish-pond contained more than six thousand heads of infants! The same Udalric also writes that Pope Gregory, being struck with awe and consternation at such a sight, revoked his sanction of the impious decree concerning celibacy. The successors of Gregory however easily swamped the foulness of this discovery, and the pious abolition of the decree by Gregory also; for they also, like their predecessors, considered that celibacy was adapted not only to increase their wealth, but to support their dignity.

A similar example presented itself also in my time, when some nuns at Neumburg were compelled to leave the place, on account of their flagitious lives, and the monastery was given to the Franciscans; and when these latter, for their convenience, caused some alterations to be made in the building; in laying these new foundations, there were discovered twelve pots, each one of which contained the dead body of an infant! An infinite number of similar instances have occurred at other places in every direction.

Rightly therefore did Gregory act in revoking his decree, by which, as Bishop Udalric remarks, he made a very beautiful application of the word of the Apostle Paul, who says, "It is better to marry than to burn," to which, I also add, "It is better to marry, than to incur the peril of eternal death by sin."

At Rome itself also on account of the great numbers of infants who are exposed monasteries are erected, of whom the Pope is nominated "the father!" And the near relatives of the infants, which have been so exposed, precede him in the public processions! I forbear to testify of an infinite number of other kindred enormities, which are too bad to mention.

Wherefore, it behooves us all to guard against such doctrines of devils as these, and to learn to hold marriage in all reverence; and with all reverence to speak of that holy life, which we see God himself has instituted; and which we hear is commended of him in the Decalogue, where he says, "Honor thy father and thy mother," to which holy matrimony, is also added the blessing, "Be fruitful and multiply." And concerning this holy marriage it is, that the Holy Ghost is here speaking, whose mouth is holy and chaste. But all those sins and vices, and all that turpitude which have entered into the originally pure creation of God by sin, we ought not to agitate, or deride, or touch, when speaking of holy marriage, but rather carefully to cover them; just in the same way as we see that God covered the originally naked Adam and Eve with coats of skin after their sin. For marriage ought to be treated and spoken of by all as honorable, being the holy union from which we all are born; and which is, as it were, the seminary not only of each nation but of the Church and kingdom of Christ unto the end of the world.

This high glory of marriage however the heathen and profane men do not understand. Therefore, all they can do is to collect the vices which exist in the marriage life itself, and in the abandoned female sex. And thus, separating the unclean things from the clean, they retain the unclean only; and the clean they see not at all. Hence also, certain profane lawyers so irreverently judge and speak of this book of Genesis as to affirm that it contains nothing more than the marriage doings of the Jews. Are not then such men as these, I ask you, worthy of living to see marriage despised and unclean celibacy introduced, and themselves, subjected to its crimes and punishments, which exceed even those of Sodom?

The Holy Spirit however thought it not enough to say here "And Adam knew Eve;" but he also adds, "his wife!" For the Holy Spirit approves not wandering lusts and promiscuous intercourse! He wills that every man should live content with his own wife. And although, alas! even that union of married people itself is very far from being pure, as it would have been had man continued in his state of innocency; nevertheless even in the midst of the vices of lust and of all the other calamities of the fall of Adam, the "blessing" of God on marriage still stands unaltered. For the fact of Adam knowing Eve his wife, which Moses records, was not written for Adam and Eve's sake. When Moses penned these words, Adam and Eve had long been reduced to their original dust. It was for our sakes therefore that this was written; "That those who cannot contain might marry," 1 Cor. 7:9, "live content each with his Eve, and not desire strange women."

This expression, "knew his wife," is a phrase peculiar to the Hebrews; for neither the Latins nor the Greeks so expressed themselves. It is a form of speech particularly beautiful; not only on account of the modesty and reverence it preserves, but on account of the peculiarity of signification it conveys. For the verb YADA has a much more extensive meaning than the verb "to know" in our language. Thus, when Job says, concerning the wicked, "They shall know what it is to act against God" he means that they shall feel and experience the consequences of such actions. So, when David says, "For I acknowledge my sin," Ps. 51:3, his meaning is, I feel and experience what it is to sin. Again, when the angel of the Lord says to Abraham, "For now I know that thou fearest God," Gen. 22:12, his meaning is, "I know by sense and experience." And again, when the Virgin Mary said unto the angel, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man," Luke 1:34, her meaning is the same as that of Job, David, etc. For, it is evident that Mary knew many men, but she had neither known nor experienced any man, as man or the male of God's creation. It was in this manner therefore that Adam "knew Eve his wife," as it is expressed in the present passage. Adam did not know his Eve as an object of sight or of a speculative knowledge, but he experienced in reality what she was as the "woman," whom God had created such.

That which follows, "And Eve conceived, and bare Cain," is sure evidence that the human nature was more excellent and perfect then than it is now. For there were originally no unfruitful embraces, as there are now in this old age of the world. As soon as Eve was known by her Adam, she was immediately impregnated and conceived.

II. Here a question may arise, why Moses says, "And bare Cain!" Why he does not say, And bare a son, Cain; as below, verse 25, where his expression is, "And she bare a son, and called his name Seth." Both Cain and Seth were sons. Why, then, are they not both called "sons"? The answer to this question is, that these different expressions of Moses were so ordered on account of the posterities. For, Abel being murdered by his brother, perished corporally; but Cain by his sin perished spiritually. And yet the generation or seed-bed of the Church was not propagated from Cain, though he was still alive corporally; for all his posterity perished in the flood. Therefore neither the blessed Abel, nor the accursed Cain, has in the Scriptures the name of "son." But Seth was the one from whose posterity Christ, that promised Seed, was ordained to be born. Seth therefore is the first of the children of Adam and Eve, who is counted worthy the name of "son."

V. 1b. And Eve said, I have gotten a man with the help of (from) Jehovah.

From this expression of Eve there may be gathered another reason why she did not call Cain a "son." It was the greatness of her joy and of her reverential awe, which prevented her from calling Cain a "son." For she thought something greater concerning Cain than a natural son. She considered Cain would be that man who should bruise the serpent's head. And therefore she does not say simply, "a man;" but, "a man of Jehovah," implying that he would be that man concerning whom the Lord God had promised her that her Seed should bruise the serpent's head. And although Eve was deceived in this her hope, yet it plainly appears that she was a holy woman, and that she believed in the salvation that was to come by the blessed Seed. And it was because she believed this, that she so greatly rejoiced in the son which she had borne, and that she spoke of him in the exalted terms contained in the text before us. It was as if she had said, "I have gotten a man of God, who will conduct himself more righteously and happily than I and my Adam conducted ourselves in paradise. Therefore I call him not my 'son.' He is a man of God, promised to me and shown to me of God." It might have been for this latter reason also, as well as for the former, that Eve did not call Cain "a son."

With respect therefore to Eve's adhering so closely to the divine promise and believing so firmly in the deliverance that should surely come through her Seed, in all this she did rightly. For, by the same faith in the "Seed" that was to come, all the saints of old were justified and sanctified. But with respect to the individual intended by the promise, she erred. She believed that it was Cain who should put an end to all those calamities into which Satan had hurled man by sin. This faith of Eve however rested on a certain opinion of her own, without any sure sign and without the sure Word. The promise indeed was true, and certain, and sure; but nothing was said or signified definitely, whether it was Cain or Abel who should be that great conqueror of the serpent.

In the matter therefore of determining the individual, Eve was deceived; and consequently her giving to her son so proud and joyous a name was all in vain. For the text shows that Cain was so called from the verb KANAH, which signifies "to possess," or "to acquire." So that by this name Eve consoled herself against the evils she had brought upon herself, and set against them the acquisition of eternal life and salvation, which she should obtain by her Seed, against that loss of life and salvation which she had incurred by sin and Satan. It was as if she had said to her Adam, "I remember with sorrow what we have lost by our sin; but now, let us speak of and hope for nothing but recovery and acquisition. I have gotten a man of God, who will acquire and recover for us that glory which we have lost." It was this certainty of the promise therefore and her sure faith in it, which drew Eve into this haste and caused her to think that this her first son was the Seed concerning whom the Lord had made the promise.

But Eve, poor miserable woman, was deceived in this. She did not yet see the extent of her calamity. She did not yet know that from the flesh nothing but flesh can be born, or proceed, John 3:6, that sin and death cannot be overcome by flesh and blood. Moreover she knew not as yet the point of time in which that blessed Seed, concerning whom the promise spoke, should be conceived of the Holy Ghost and be born of a virgin into the world. Just in the same manner the patriarch after Eve knew not this point of time, although the promise of the Seed to come was gradually made clearer and clearer by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. In the same manner also, we in our day know assuredly that there shall be a final judgment, but the day and the hour we know not. Just as Christ says, even unto his apostles, Math. 24:36.

V. 2a. And again she bare his brother Abel.

It cannot be known for a certainty whether Cain and Abel were twins or not, although it is very probable indeed that they were twins. But be that as it may, it is certain that our first parents had various thoughts concerning these two sons, and that they imagined that their redemption was at the door. Cain was doubtless held in the highest honor and made the object of their chief delight; while Abel on the other hand was not an object of so much pleasure nor of so much hope, as the names themselves of the two sons show. Cain was so called, as we have said, because they considered that it was he who should acquire or restore all things. On the contrary Abel signifies "vanity" or "that which is nothing or of no value or abject." Some interpreters have rendered the name in our Bible "mourning" or "sorrow;" but the Hebrew term for sorrow is EBEL not HABEL. Moreover the expression HEBEL is of very frequent use in the sacred Scriptures. How often is it repeated in Ecclesiastes? "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," Eccles. 1:2, and also in the Psalm, "Therefore their days did he consume in vanity," Ps. 78:33; that is, they attained not the "promised land" of Canaan.

Abel therefore was so called, as being considered one concerning whom there was no hope, or one respecting whom all hope was vain. But Cain was so named, as one of whom all things were hoped. These very names given to these two sons therefore plainly manifest the thoughts and feelings of the parents concerning them; that, as the promise was made concerning the Seed of the woman, Adam and Eve thought that the divine promise thus made was to be fulfilled through Cain, their first son; but that Abel would effect nothing, seeing that everything was to be successfully accomplished as they thought through Cain. Therefore they called him Abel. And this hope which Adam and Eve entertained concerning Cain was undoubtedly the reason why these two brothers were not brought up with the same care and concern. For to Abel was committed the charge of the cattle; but Cain was trained in the pursuits of his father, and to the cultivation of the earth, as being the superior and nobler employment. Abel was a shepherd; Cain was a king and a priest, being the first-born and destined by his birth to fulfil those high hopes and expectations of the recovery of all his parents entertained concerning him.

But here ponder the wonderful counsel of God! From the beginning of the world, primogeniture has always held a very high privilege, not only among the people of God, with whom the right attached to primogeniture was an institution of God himself, and by him highly commended, but among the Gentile nations also. And yet facts and experiences prove, especially among the holy people, that the first-born have often disappointed the hopes of their parents and that the after-born have often attained to the condition and dignity of the first-born.

Thus were not our first parents miserably deceived in their hopes concerning their first-born, Cain, the murderer? So also Abraham, the exalted, was not the first-born, but Haran. So again Esau was the first-born; but he had to yield his birth-right and its blessing to Jacob. Again, David was the youngest of all his brethren, and yet he was anointed king. And the same wonderful counsel of God may be seen in many other instances in the Scriptures. For although the first-born had by divine right the prerogatives of the kingship and the priesthood, yet they frequently lost them, and the after-born were appointed to them in their stead.

And whence in most instances arose this perversion of things? Both from the fault of the parents and from the pride of the first-born themselves. The parents gave to their first-born greater liberty and indulgence; and then the first-born themselves thus corrupted by the indulgence of their parents despised and oppressed, through this pride in their birth-right, the rest of their brethren. But God is the God of the "humble." He "giveth grace to the humble, and resisteth the proud." Those first-born therefore, who exalt themselves in pride God puts down from their right and their seat; not because such do not inherit the right of their primogeniture, but because they grow proud of their gifts and privileges, and carry themselves with insolence and oppression; and such God cannot endure.

Thus when the angels, who had been endowed with gifts the most noble and the most bright, above all other beings, began to grow proud in heaven and to despise the humility of the son of God, they were cast down into hell and became the most hideous devils. For God cannot endure pride and he will have his majesty preserved and held inviolate everywhere, as the prophet says, "And my glory will I not give to another," Is. 42:8, 48:11.

Thus also, the people of Israel were God's peculiar people, and the holy city of Jerusalem was the habitation of God. But when they cast off the fear of God and grew proud, through a confidence in their high gifts and privileges, the whole people was cut off and their city laid waste by the Gentile nations. And this indeed is the common pestilence of our nature. We rest not content with the gifts which God has bestowed upon us, but abuse them through pride and insult our bountiful Creator and giver. God, for example, bestows empires, kingdoms, peace and other large blessings, that kings and princes might acknowledge him, worship him and give him thanks. But kings and princes so abuse these great gifts and favors, as if they were bestowed upon them for the very end that they might insult and trample under foot their Creator, who has been to them so bountiful a giver.

The very same evil of pride also is found in private and domestic life. God gives sound health, wife, children, and personal property; not that through these things we should offend him, but that in all such things we might acknowledge his mercy and render him continual thanks. And for this same end also, that we might always give him thanks, he has bestowed upon us the use of and the "dominion" over all his creatures. But how few are there who render unto God the thanks which are thus due to him! Do not almost all of us live in the continual and most shameful abuse of the gifts of God? God therefore is compelled to use in our case the same remedy which the Roman Emperor Vespasian adopted. He used to suffer his citizens to grow rich. For he was accustomed to say, that such rich ones were like a sponge, which when filled with water, if well squeezed, will give back the water in abundance. So when God has enriched certain ones with his bountiful gifts, if they grow ungrateful and abuse the bounty of their God, he squeezes them till they are empty again; as the blessed Virgin says, "And the rich he hath sent empty away."

It was for this reason that God did not spare the first-born, Cain. He did not give the first birth-right to Cain, that he might grow proud of it and despise his God; but that he might adorn it, and reverence and fear his God; and when he did not this, God cast him off. And in this matter the sin belonged even to the parents also. They fostered this pride in their first-born as the names they gave their two sons plainly prove. For Adam and Eve placed all their hope in their first-born only. They called him "their treasure," as his name indicates. But Abel they looked upon as nothing and considered that he could do nothing; while they adorned Cain as a king and held him to be the "blessed Seed." From him therefore they promised to themselves great things, and of him they speak great things; and he on his part became filled with pride. But Abel they despised all the time as a man of naught.

God however in due time reverses all things. He casts away Cain and makes Abel an angel, and the "first of all the saints." For Abel, when murdered by his brother, was the "first" who was delivered from his sin and from all the calamities of this world, and he shines throughout the whole church to the end of the world as a distinguished star, through that illustrious testimony of "righteousness," which the whole Scriptures bear to his honor.

In this manner therefore was Abel, whom Adam, Eve and Cain despised as a man of naught, made in the sight of God a lord of heaven and earth. For after death Abel is placed in a higher state and condition than if he possessed a thousand earthly worlds with all their riches.

Such is the end of pride and presumption against God! Cain trusted in his birth-right and despised his brother in comparison with himself, and believed not the promise concerning Christ; Abel on the contrary took fast hold by faith of the promise made unto Adam concerning the Seed of the woman. And this faith was also the reason he offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, as the Epistle to the Hebrews expresses it, Heb. 11:4.

V. 2b. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

According therefore to the names given to the two sons by Adam and Eve, such was the condition of life to which each son was appointed by his parents; and the difference of these appointments manifests that exalted hope which the parents entertained concerning Cain above his brother. For although each "calling" of life is honorable, yet that of Abel is domestic only, while that of Cain is rather political or public in the nation. As Adam was himself a tiller of the ground, he trained Cain, whom he more greatly loved, to his father's higher calling; while to Abel is committed the more leisure care of the flock. So that it plainly appears that the one son was looked upon as the lord and the other as a servant by his parents.

V. 3. And in process of time after the end of days, it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto Jehovah.

"After the end of days," that is, after a certain number of years had been fulfilled or accomplished. It is here that we are first informed that the godly parents, Adam and Eve, preached to their children often and much concerning the will and the worship of God. For we here find that both the sons brought unto God their offering. But you will inquire perhaps what, and concerning what, did Adam and Eve preach unto their children. They certainly had most glorious subjects for all their sermons and conversations. They remembered well their original condition, and what paradise then was; and without doubt they frequently pointed out to their children the place, now guarded by the prohibiting angels, and warned their children to beware of sin, by which they had been deprived of so many blessings and shut out from them.

On the other hand there is no doubt that they exhorted their children to live in the fear of God, that they might console themselves with the confidence of his goodness toward them; assuring them that if they did so, they would attain to a better state after this present life. And who could enumerate all the blessings of that former life, which they had originally enjoyed! To all their teaching was added that other branch of doctrine concerning the promise of the Seed of the woman, and of the great deliverance from all calamities to come. And most probably these God-fearing parents preached all these things to their children in a certain place, and especially on the Sabbath days. And it was doubtless by being stirred to do so by these sermons, that the children came to offer their sacrifices and to render unto God his worship.

PART II. OFFERINGS IN GENERAL, OF OUR FIRST PARENTS, AND OF CAIN AND ABEL.

I. Now this is the first passage of the Scripture in which mention is made of MINCHA, or "an offering," from which it plainly appears that the custom of sacrificing and offering victims is no recent thing, but a practice which has existed from the beginning of the world. It is no wonder therefore that the offering of sacrifices, which had been a custom handed down from Adam to Moses, as from hand to hand, should at length have been reduced by Moses into its own peculiar forms and into a certain order; all those things being rejected and repudiated, doubtless many, which the vain superstition of men had added to the original manner of sacrificing. Such additions are seen in the examples furnished by the heathen sacrifices, contained in Homer and Virgil, which sacrifices the heathen nations no doubt received from the primeval fathers, but which they multiplied and encumbered with many things through their superstition.

And while I am dwelling on the present passage, let the reader first of all consider with me that Adam and Eve are not parents only, nor is it their sole care to feed their children and to rear them for this present life. They hold the offices and perform the duties of priests also. And because they are filled with the Holy Ghost and illuminated with the knowledge of Christ who was to come, they set this great hope of their future deliverance before their children also, and exhort them to show forth their gratitude to the God of such infinite mercy. For it is to be received as a sure fact, that the end of all the sacrifices which have been handed down to us from the beginning was none other than to set forth this great hope!

And now consider with me next, what kind of hearers there were to listen to this good and holy doctrine from the lips of Adam and Eve. These hearers and scholars were two. Cain, the first-born who appeared as a saint and was believed to be the lord of all, was a wicked man and believed not the divine promise. On the other hand, Abel, whose authority was as nothing and was thrust aside to take care of the cattle, was a godly man and believed the promise. And yet the ungodly Cain so concealed his ungodliness, that he heard his parents when teaching him and his brother, as if he solemnly reverenced the Word; and he also brought his offering, as his godly brother did. Here we have an example of the twofold church; the true Church and the hypocritical church, as we shall more fully explain hereafter. For although, in the passage now before us, mention is made of the sacrifice offered only, and not of preaching also, yet we are to rest fully assured that Cain and Abel did not bring their offerings without the preaching of the Word. For God is not worshipped with a mere dumb work. Here must also be the Word, sounding both in the hearts of men and in the ears of God. And in the same way also calling upon the name of the Lord was added to this original sacrifice.

Some may here inquire, whether Cain and Abel had any word or command of God for offering their sacrifice. My answer is, as all sacred histories confirm, that the great and merciful God of his superabounding grace always appointed together with his Word some certain and visible sign of his grace; in order that men being admonished and kept in remembrance by means of the certain signs or works of the sacraments may the more surely believe that God is favorable and merciful unto them.

In the same manner after the Flood, God set his bow in the heavens, that it might be a sure sign and proof that he would not again visit the world with a like punishment. After the same manner also, circumcision was given unto Abraham, as we shall hear in order that he might hold fast the assurance that God would be to him a God, and that he would give him a Seed in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed. To us under the New Testament are given Baptism and the Supper of our Lord, as ordained visible signs of grace, that we might be the more fully assured that our sins are all taken away by the suffering of Christ for us and that we are redeemed by his death. Hence the Church was never left so destitute of external signs, that men were suffered to remain in ignorance as to where God might be found without fail.

And although the world for the most part follows in the steps of Cain and abuses those external signs of the grace of God, turning them into hypocrisy, it is nevertheless evidently an unspeakable mercy that God represents himself unto us in so many ways. And this very great gift of God is that which is intended to be lauded by those high commendations contained in Proverbs, "I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in his habitable earth," Prov. 8:30, 31. But the Hebrew word SACHAK is not translated into German, "to play;" for wisdom here declares that her regard was always directed toward men, to the intent that she might reveal herself to men. The meaning is, as if God had said, "I have always so walked before the eyes and in the hearing of men, that they may always understand me to be present in their sacrifices, in circumcision, in their offering of incense, in the cloud by day, in the Red Sea, in the manna, in the brazen serpent, in the tabernacle of Moses, in the temple of Solomon, and in the cloud over the mercy-seat, and all these things were my delight; that by means of them I might present myself before the eyes of the sons of men and reveal myself unto them."

And it was also a great consolation to Adam, that after paradise had been lost and the tree of life also, and those other blessings of paradise which had been outward signs of the grace of God, God gave unto him another sign of his grace; namely, that of offering sacrifices; in order that by this given sign he might understand that he was not cast off by God, but was still the care of his maker, and the concern of his Creator. And this is what God intended to be understood by Adam, when he had lighted his sacrifices and oblations with the heavenly fire, and when the flame which consumed them ascended to heaven; as we read concerning the sacrifices of Moses and of Elijah. For all these sacrifices were true symbols and representations of the divine mercy; of all these signs, miserable men had need, that they might not be without some continual light and indication of the grace of God.

In the same manner also the Word itself Baptism and the Lord's Supper are our morning stars, upon which we look as sure indications and representations of the Sun of grace. For we can definitely affirm, that where the Lord's Supper, Baptism and the Word are, there is Christ, the remission of sins and eternal life. On the contrary, where these signs of grace are not, or where they are despised by men, there, not only is there not grace, but also foul errors abound: so much so that men make to themselves other signs and appoint other modes of worship. Thus the Greeks worshipped their Apollo, and other heathen nations their demons. The Egyptians worshipped their Anubis, their Serapis, and crocodiles, garlic, onions, etc., etc. The Romans adored as their gods Jupiter Quirinus, and the abominable statues of Priapus, Venus, etc.

The very same thing has occurred also in the papacy. For after those true signs of grace began to sink in men's esteem and to be despised, superstition could not remain quiet. It sought out for itself other signs, such as vows, orders of monks, pilgrimages to the tombs of the saints, intercessions of the saints, and other superstitions. All these things are full of errors, and joined with ungodliness; and yet miserable mortals embrace them as certain signs of divine grace. And amidst all this you hear of no bishop who condemns, no school which exclaims against such blasphemies as these, nor which teaches sounder things. For where the light of the Word is lost and these signs of grace also, which God has given unto men, people necessarily run after the desires of their own hearts. So also the Jews, when they had despised the tabernacle and the temple, sacrificed under trees and in groves, even until parents became so cruel as to sacrifice their own children.

All this idolatry, so various and so widely wandering out of the way, plainly shows how great a gift of God it is to possess the Word and those signs of divine grace, which God himself set forth and commanded. And if the Gentiles had been willing to follow in the footsteps of the Jews, they would never have fallen away into those monstrous idolatries under which they were sunk. And so also with respect to ourselves; had we held Baptism and the holy Supper of our Lord in that esteem in which we ought to have held them, we should never have become monks. Nothing concerning purgatory, nothing concerning the sacrifice of the mass, nothing about those other like iniquities, would ever have been taught and handed down to us in the Church. But after the light of the Word had been put out by the wicked Popes, it was easy enough to thrust upon men all these abominations.

Unspeakable therefore is this gift, that God not only condescended to speak unto men by his Word, but added also to the Word these visible signs of his grace; as in the New Testament, Baptism and the Supper of our Lord. Are not those therefore who use these signs in a manner beneath their dignity, or who treat them with contempt, worthy of being left as they are to purchase the Pope's dung, as the richest balsam, and to worship it, and to pray to it? For why dared they despise such goodness of the divine majesty? They might have had, if they pleased, these sure signs of the grace of God at their own houses without any expense and without any labor. But despising these, they travel to Rome and to Compostella, etc.; and thus spend their money and afflict their bodies, and at length most justly lose their souls. God be blessed forevermore, that he has in this our day recalled us by his Word from these mighty errors and idolatries, and has so enriched us with the signs of his divine grace, that we may have them before our doors and in our home and even on our beds.

It was in this manner that God at first and from the very beginning of the world, in order to confirm his promise concerning our salvation, took this care that men might always have signs by which they might comfort themselves under their sins, and might lift up their heads by a confidence in the divine grace. For it is not the dignity of the work or act itself, but the mercy of God and the efficacy of the divine promise in the sacrifice, which are availing unto the worshipper. It is because God hath ordained these acts of worship, and because he hath promised that they shall be well-pleasing unto him, that Baptism and the Supper of our Lord are to us, what the sacrifice and offering after the promise were to Adam. For God in those sacrifices revealed his grace; and he approved those same sacrifices by himself igniting them and consuming them by fire from heaven.

II. And it was to these acts of worship that the first father brought up his sons; that they might in this manner render their thanks unto God, might bless God, and might conceive a sure hope in the mercy of God. But the wicked Cain, inflated with the dignity of his first birth-right, despised all these most blessed preachings of his parent. He brought his offering indeed as his father had commanded him; but, puffed up with the high opinion of his own sanctity, he imagined that God would approve the act of the worship itself, because of the dignity of the person, the worshipper. And Abel, who, according to the name given him, was nothing in his own eyes, also brought his offering; but he worships God thereby through faith in the divine promise; as it is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb. 11:4.

V. 4a. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.

Here, if you look at the acts of their worship themselves, you can see no reason for preferring Abel to Cain. For the Jews expose their absurdity by their dreams when they say that Cain did not offer chosen wheat, but chaff only; and that was the reason why he was rejected of God. But the Jews are self-righteous worshippers and cleave unto the works themselves. The judgment of the Epistle to the Hebrews however is quite different; the testimony of which is, that it was "By faith that Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain," Heb. 11:4. The fault of the offering therefore did not lie in the things which were offered, but in the person who offered them. And it was the faith of the person and its weight, which gave the value to the offering made by Abel! But Cain, by the state of his person, rendered the offering which he made of no avail. Abel believed that God was good and merciful, and it was this faith that rendered his offering acceptable to God. Cain on the contrary trusted in the dignity of his first birth-right and despised his brother as a man of naught in comparison with himself. What therefore in the end was proved to be the judgment of God? God made the first-born to be as the after-born, and the after-born to be as the first-born. For he had respect unto the offering of Abel, and showed that the offering of this priest was acceptable unto himself; and, on the other hand, he declared that Cain was not acceptable to him and that he was not a true priest in his sight.

The Hebrew expression, SCHAAH, has a very wide signification; and I have carefully explained its full meaning in my paper against Latomus; and also, its like signification, as found in the prophet Isaiah. "In that day shall men look to their Maker, and their eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel; and they shall not look to the altars, the work of their hands," Is. 17:7, 8, and likewise, Is. 66:12, "And ye shall suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees." The full meaning of the original expression therefore and its allusion are, that when a mother cherishes her babe in her bosom and looks upon it, she views it with a glad and delighted eye. This is the meaning, the allusion and the figure, which the original expression conveys. Its signification therefore is much more extensive than that of the common verb, "to see," or "to behold." For when a mother looks at her babe, she smiles upon it with delight and carries in her countenance a peculiar expression of love. The modern expressions of our language do not contain a term by which the full import of this original word can be conveyed; nor does the Latin language, as far as I know, contain any expression adequate to its satisfactory translation.

Quite similar is that which Moses says in Exodus 33:15, "If thy presence (facies tuae) go not with me, carry us not up hence," that is, grant that we may ever have thy signs with us in our midst, by which thou appearest always before us, and makest manifest thy presence with us and thy favor unto us. And these signs, as I have said, were the pillar of fire and the cloud, etc. And though Moses does not, in this portion of the divine history explain what that sign was, by which God showed that the offerings of Abel were acceptable unto him; yet it is very probable that his acceptance and pleasure were manifested by fire sent down from heaven, by which the offering and the victim were ignited and consumed before the eyes of all present, by which it was plainly shown that God was delighted with the sacrifice Abel offered. For by this divine manifestation God showed that he judgeth the heart and the reins; because, in these two offerings, he "had not respect" unto the glory of the first birth-right of Cain; but, on the other hand, he "had respect" unto the mind of the despised Abel.

And here the whole Church first begins to be divided into that church, which is "the church" in name only, but which in reality is the church of hypocrisy and the church of blood; and into that other church, which is barren and desolate in appearance, and subject to sufferings and to the cross, and which, before the world and in the estimation of that church of hypocrisy, is really the Abel; that is, vanity and nothing. But Christ himself, who also makes this division and difference, calls Abel the "righteous" one and makes him the beginning of the Church of the godly, which shall continue even unto the end of the world. While Cain is the beginning of that church of enmity and blood, which also shall continue unto the end of the world; as Augustine also setteth forth this history in his book, "The City of God."

A great doctrine therefore and a great consolation are set before us, while we trace both these churches to these their original fountains, as it were, and when we mark that wonderful counsel, with which God has ever ruled and overruled these things; ordaining that the true Church should at one time be greater and at another time less; yet, so that the hypocritical and the bloody church should always have the glory before the world and should crucify the true Church, which is the beloved of her God. For even thus at the beginning did commence the practical fulfilment of that divine prediction, that the seed of the serpent should bite the heel of the blessed Seed. And this same enmity and biting we experience to this very day. Therefore we ought not to be affrighted by this our appointed lot. It ought rather to be unto us a great consolation that we learn by our own experience to suffer those very things at the hands of our enemies, which the bloody Cain inflicted on the "righteous" Abel.

For it is not now the first time that the name of the Church is torn from us, and that we are called heretics, and that those who kill us glory that they are the only true Church, and maintain that assumed name by fire and sword, and by every kind of cruelty. The same thing befell righteous Abel. The same thing befell Christ our Lord, who was not a priest nor a king of Jerusalem before the people; and yet he was dragged by the priests and by the kings to the cross! And we all, as the apostle says, must be made conformable to Christ. And thus it is that the true Church is ever hidden and unknown, and is cast out, and its members held as heretics, and slain; while Cain alone has the glorious name and is held in estimation, and alone possesses the hope of doing great things; and therefore it is that he rushes on his brother with hostile enmity of mind and slays him.

Now these things were not political nor domestic, but truly ecclesiastical in the highest degree. Abel was not slain on any political or domestic account, but alone on account of the worship of God. For it was not enough for Cain that he was the lord of the family, he wishes to be the son of God; he will be the pope and father of the church. And therefore he takes upon himself the judgment of sacrifices, and condemns and slays his brother as a heretic.

Hence is the prophecy of Christ that the Church should be subject to various perils and that the time should come when those who should slay the godly should think that they were thereby worshipping God and doing him service. Therefore those who will consider themselves the most righteous among us, these are the pestilences and the persecutors of the Church. On the other hand, the true Church is that church which is never judged to be "the Church." But she is, according to her name, the Abel who was not only a figure of the true Church but the very beginning of it; that is, she is accounted as naught, so that when she is slain, her slayers think that God will care nothing about her, because Cain, they think, as being lord of all and king, may do and is able to do anything.

Now this is the offense of the cross, against which we have ever to fight by faith. For we are not to think that we are not the Church, because our adversaries condemn us and persecute us with every kind of cruelty thus securely. But, on the contrary, we are ever to consider that this cross and these judgments of the wicked are the sure and infallible signs of the true Church, as the tenth Psalm shows, also Psalm 72:14, "And precious shall their blood be in his sight;" and Psalm 116:15, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." In these Psalms therefore you hear that those who are slaughtered in this manner by the Cainites are so far from being from the care of God that their death is precious in his sight. Those therefore who are thus the care of God are the true people of God.

Wherefore, let us endure the cruelty of our adversaries and let us joyfully give thanks unto God that we are not in the number of those who are the slayers; and who, because of their name and title, persecute "the Church," seize upon the property of others, and rush with cruelty and violence upon their bodies also. And indeed the histories of all ages and times testify that the true Church was ever a suffering Church, that the false Church was ever an evil and violent Church; and that the true Church was ever condemned by the church of hypocrisy and blood. Hence there can be no doubt among us of the present day that the Church of the Pope is the Cainite Church, and that we are the true, the Abel Church; and as Abel harmed not Cain, so we not only do no harm to the Church of the Pope, but suffer ourselves to be harassed, condemned and slaughtered by them.

Nor do we record these things falsely. It is well known to the whole world how often we are subjected to anathemas, distressed by subscriptions, and condemned by various denunciations. Nor have there ever ceased to be found men in almost every corner or Europe ready to offer themselves as the fierce executors of cruelest decrees. Neither Spain, nor France, nor England, nor Belgium, nor Bohemia, nor Poland, nor Hungary, nor Austria, nor Bavaria, has been free from witnessing this unjust cruelty and savage rage. And yet, what were they persecuting all the while? What, but godly doctrine, a doctrine perfectly agreeing with the writings of the apostles and prophets? Can there be any doubt or obscurity then in forming a judgment concerning the true Church? For can you possibly judge that to be the true Church where nothing sound is taught, where unjust tyranny is practiced, and where the highest power is joined with the greatest wealth? Is not that rather the true Church where there is sound and holy doctrine, healing to afflicted consciences? And where, for the sake of that doctrine, there are endured the cross, contempt, poverty, ignominy, and all those things of the same kind which the poor little helpless flock of Christ is recorded ever and everywhere to have suffered?

It is not only most useful therefore, but also most consoling, to have ever before our eyes this most certain demonstration, which carries with it so plain a distinction between the two Churches, that Church which is filled with men of enmity and malignity, such as that purple harlot, bearing the name of the true Church; and that other Church, which is accounted as naught, which suffers, which hungers and thirsts, and lies prostrate under oppression. For Christ records that he and his disciples both hunger and thirst in this world, Math. 25:35-46. But the judgment shall one day come which shall judge between the full and the hungry, between the goats and the sheep, between Cain and Abel. At this judgment God shall declare that he approves this suffering and hungering Church, and condemns the Church of hypocrisy and blood. These are our consolations and this is that sugar as it were, by which our present calamities must be sweetened and overcome. Such then is the theological part of this divine matter. Now let us come to the political part of it, and consider the judgment of God concerning that.

We doubtless may justly wonder why it was that God permitted the first son of Adam, to whom the honor of the first birth-right was always due throughout the whole human race, to fall so horribly that his whole posterity should afterwards be destroyed. But the cause was the very same as that on account of which God spoke with such bitter derision to Adam when he said, "Lest he also become as one of us," Gen. 3:22. The reason was the same as that for which the Lord guarded the garden by the cherubim. For God will crush all presumption and pride, which are implanted as it were in the heart of man by original sin. And such is our nature that we can endure anything else better than this crushing of our pride. We see what insolence and pride there are in all our nobles of the court, on account of the vain nobility of their descent. For truly vain is that nobility, which real worth and illustrious services to his country have not procured for a man.

It is said of Plato, the philosopher, that he also was accustomed to give thanks to God for three things; first, that he was born a man and not a beast; secondly, that he was born a Greek at Athens, and not a barbarian; and thirdly, that he was born a man and not a woman. The fatuity of the Jews is just like this. They glory that they were born men, and not beasts; Jews, and not Gentiles; males, and not females. But to what, I pray you, does all this glory of origin amount? What vanity is it to see a certain ass in a palace with his gold chains on, not only thinking himself better than every one of the people, but also growing proud and insolent against God himself. Just so it was with the Romans. They prided themselves in the course of years on the glory of their nation's mighty deeds, always carefully thrusting from them the degrading term "barbarian." In a word, the greater any nation has ever grown in its own eyes, the more proud and insolent it has ever become. And the same is the nature of us all by sin.

But look at the judgment of God in this matter. Cain could truly and justly boast in the highest of all nobility, for he was the first-born of all mankind. But the greater and more glorious his origin was, by so much the more horribly did he fall. Hence general experience has also given place to the well-known proverb, which says, "The sons of the great are great evils."

Nor are these evils peculiar to private families only, mighty empires suffer the same. The nation of the Greeks was most glorious. They excelled all other nations in their learning and in the greatness of their illustrious deeds. But into what extremes of turpitude did they fall? And how miserably was their nation destroyed at last? And you may see the very same things fulfilled in all nations. Good therefore was God in permitting Cain thus to fall, that he might be an example to the whole world, that no one might ever glory in the nobleness of his blood, as the Jews boasted of their father Abraham and as the Greeks boasted of their wisdom. For God will have himself to be feared and us to be humbled. But this his will, though known to us, is for the most part known to us in vain. For we are not moved by all these terrible instances of his wrath nor by the perditions and destructions of the first men and the first nations.

Universal experience therefore testifies, that the sentiment of the Virgin Mary is true, "He hath put down the mighty from their seats," Luke 1:52. For those things which are the first and the best become the most damnable, not from anything in themselves that is evil, but on account of the diabolical presumption and pride of men. This sad result the Gentiles also saw, as the well-known saying of one of their philosophers testifies, who being asked what God was doing replied, "Exalting the humble, and humbling the exalted." But the heathen philosophers saw not the cause of all these things.

Thus also the flesh judges it to be great glory to be born a male, and not a female. We see however that God has taken especial care that man, so great, should not be born of man, and so also Christ would have himself to be called "the Seed of the woman," not the "Seed of the man." O what would have been the pride of men had God willed Christ to be born of a man! No! all this glory is transferred from the men to the women, subject to the rule of the men. And all this was done that men might not glory in themselves, but be humbled. Nay, since the woman cannot bring forth without the man, God has therefore especially ordained that the men also should not bring forth of themselves without the woman. For such is human nature, that man cannot rightly use his glory, but ever abuses it with pride and rises up against him from whom he receives such gifts. It was for this reason therefore that Cain so awfully fell and lost the right of his first birthship, that we might be thereby taught to fear God and to give him thanks, and might be warned against abusing his gifts in arrogance and pride.

Vs. 4b, 5a. And Jehovah had respect unto Abel and to his offering; but unto Cain and his offering he had not respect.

This is an important portion of Scripture, and therefore it is to be most carefully observed and most strongly enforced. For it would be sufficient for all doctrine if under the New Testament trust in the mercy of God were set before men against all trust in works with so clear a testimony and in such plain words as it was thus set forth at the very beginning of the world. For when Moses says that the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and his offering he had not respect, does he not clearly show that God ever respects the person before the work, and that he first looks at the person who performs the work? And does not the sacred historian make it perfectly plain, that if the person be good, his work also pleaseth God; but that, if the person be evil, the work also of such an one does not please God?

Now this is the sum of our doctrine, which we profess and teach, that the person is accepted of God before the work! And that the person is not made righteous by the righteous work, but on the contrary that the work is rendered righteous and good by the good and righteous person, as the text now before us clearly proves. For because God, as here shown, had respect unto the person of Abel, he had respect also unto his offering. But on the other hand, because God had not respect unto the person of Cain, therefore unto his offering also he had not respect. This doctrine the text before us plainly proves, nor can our adversaries deny it. From the words of that text therefore follows this most clear and most evident consequence: that Abel was "righteous" before the work of his "offering," and that his work pleased God, because of his person; not his person, because of his work. Yet it is for the latter doctrine that our adversaries contend, who teach that the man is justified by his works, and not by his faith alone.

And it is in this manner that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews looks at this text with clear and pure eyes, when he says, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it, he being dead, yet speaketh," Heb. 11:4. Cain also offered, and also before Abel brought his offering; but the former offered, inflated with the glory of his birth, expecting that his gift would please God, because it was offered by the first-born. Cain therefore comes to offer without faith, without the confession of sin, without imploring the grace of God, without trust in the mercy of God, and without prayer for the remission of sins, having no other ground for his hope that he shall please God, than because he was the first-born; and this is what all self-justifiers do at this day. They look intently on their works alone and hope that they shall please God on account of their works. They trust not in the mercy of God only, nor hope in God that he will pardon their sins for Christ's sake. And such was Cain. But it would have been impossible for him to have displeased God, if he had possessed faith.

Abel, on the contrary, acknowledged himself to be an unworthy and miserable sinner; and therefore he fled unto the mercy of God and believed that God was favorable unto him, and that he was willing to have mercy upon him. God therefore who looks into the heart judged between the two brothers, who alike brought their offering. He condemned Cain, not on account of the offerings themselves, as if they were less good than those of Abel, for if he had offered even a nutshell in faith, it would have been accepted of God, but because his person was evil, without faith and filled with pride and arrogance. While, on the contrary, God had respect unto the offering of Abel, because his person pleased him. Hence it is that the text so clearly and particularly expresses it, that the Lord had respect first to Abel, and afterwards to his offering. For, when the person first pleases you, then also the things which that person does please you. But, on the contrary, all things are unpleasing to you, which that person does whom you hate.

The passage before us therefore is remarkable and important; for it is thereby clearly proved that God regards neither the magnitude, nor the multitude, nor even the price of the works done; but simply and only the faith of the person who does them. And that God despises neither the fewness, nor the meanness, nor the worthlessness of the works done, but the absence of faith only, in the person who does them.

Of what avail is it therefore that the Jews glory and exclaim, "The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord!" Jer. 7:4. What avails it that the Papists boast of their masses, their sackcloth, their horse-hair blankets, their hard labors, their sweats, and the magnitude, the multitude and even the price of their works? For God regardeth not works, not even those commanded by himself, when they are not done as the passage of Jeremiah just mentioned shows. Much less does God regard those works which are invented of men without his Word. He regards faith alone; that is, a trust in his mercy through Christ. It is by this faith and this trust that the persons begin to please God; then after this their works also please him. Hence it was that the offering of Cain did not please God, because Cain having no faith did not please him. On the contrary, the offering of Abel did please God and that because of his faith; because he trusted neither in his dignity, nor in his sacrifices themselves, nor in the work which he performed; but trusted alone in the promise given of God concerning the Seed of the woman.

The text before us therefore exactly applies to our doctrine concerning justification, that a man must be righteous before all works and be accepted of God without any works, through that grace alone which his faith believes and apprehends. Nor does even faith justify, as a work, but because it apprehends the mercy shown forth in Christ. It is in this trust in the mercy of God that the true Church walks, with a humble confession of her sins and unworthiness, while she believes that God will pardon her through Christ.

And now the works which follow upon this trust in God's mercy are as it were evidences and testimonies of the man's faith; and they please God, not on account of themselves, but on account of the faith of the person who offers them; or because he believes in the mercy of God toward him. This faith the other church, the Cainite church, not only has not, but ever persecutes it where she finds it. For she on the contrary, like Cain, sets it down for a certainty that she shall please God on account of her works. But God hates this pride; for he can not endure such contempt of his grace and mercy, etc. This passage of Scripture therefore is worthy our most careful consideration.

PART III. CAIN'S CONDUCT UPON THE REJECTION OF HIS OFFERING AND HIS PUNISHMENT.

I. V. 5b. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

This and the few following clauses will give us a little grammatical trouble. But I hope we shall make our way out of the difficulty successfully. We have heard that Cain was disappointed in his hope. He had despised his brother in comparison with himself, and had judged that on account of the right of his primogeniture he should hold the first place with God as he had done with his parents. The judgment of God however was quite different from that of men. He showed that he approved Abel, but rejected Cain.

The result was therefore that Cain was violently enraged against his brother. For he could not endure with any patience that he should be thus rejected and excommunicated, and deprived also at the same time of his rule and priesthood. Just in the same manner also we see kings and princes to be utterly impatient of the judgment of the Church. For they are not satisfied with being kings and princes, they want to be accounted also righteous and saints before God; and they will take to themselves the name of "the Church." Exactly like these, Cain was filled with indignation when he saw that the honor of righteousness and grace before God was taken from him. For what else was this than being cast out of the Church and excommunicated? And his indignation at this dishonor was the greater in proportion to the measure in which he judged himself degraded beneath his brother. For his thoughts were these: "My brother will assuredly aspire to the headship and rule, since he sees me thus despised and disregarded of God." And hence it is that Moses uses the adverb "very wroth," by which form of expression he would signify that Cain was vehemently offended because he was thus ignominiously confounded in public before his whole family; whereas he had always wished to appear the first among them.

This Cain-like wrath is just that rage which we see also in the Cain-like Church of the pope. For what is there which gives the pope, the cardinals, the kings and the princes greater offense than that I, a poor beggar, set the authority of God above the authority of them all, and that I condemn in the name of the Lord all those things which are worthy such condemnation. They themselves also acknowledge that there are many things which need rigid reformation. But that I, a poor, obscure person, coming into public out of some obscure corner, should presume to do this, is a thing which they consider to be beyond all endurance. And therefore they put forth all their authority against me and by the weight of that authority they attempt to crush us.

And most certainly there is not in the whole world a wrath more cruel than that of this Church of hypocrisy and blood. For in all political or civil rage there is some degree of humanity still left. No assassin is led to execution, however savage his nature may be, with pity for whom men are not in some measure touched. But when that false and blood-thirsting Church falls upon a poor son of the true Church, she is not satisfied with shedding his blood; she loads him also with her curses and execrations, and devotes him to every ignominy and insult, and even vents her rage upon his miserable, breathless corpse. Just like the Jews, who were not content with having nailed Christ to the cross, with the full purpose of not taking him down till he was dead, but even while he was breathing out the last breath of his soul they gave him in his thirst vinegar to drink mingled with gall. Such fury as this is never found in political wrath!

The wrath therefore and the pharasaic fury of the false Church is a fury in its very nature diabolical. This wrath began in Cain, and it continues in all Cainites to this very day. And we can most truly glory that we also have to endure with godly Abel, just such wrath as this in our day. For who entertains a doubt, that if our bishops and certain furious princes could do it, they would slaughter us all in one moment? Who doubts that, if according to the prayers of the notorious Roman emperor, we all together had but one neck, they would with the greatest delight rush upon us sword in hand and cut off our head? Only look at the councils of these later years and their designs, and you will say that my testimony is true.

That which Moses adds, "And his countenance (vultus) 'appearances,' 'looks,' 'whole aspect,' fell," is a Hebrew expression; an expression which not only represents the deed done, or the fact, but also implies that the mind also was in such a state of commotion that it could not rest; and that although Cain could do no further harm, yet his wrathful will to do so was manifested by his countenance. He did not lift up his fallen brow nor speak in a friendly voice to his parents as before. And every answer he made them was rather a sullen murmur than a natural utterance. He was struck pale at the first sight of his brother after his offering, which God had accepted. And he showed by the threatening looks of his eyes that his mind was burning with the desire of revenge.

Moses expresses all this, when he says, "And his countenance fell;" for he does not mean his countenance or visage only, nor merely one part of his countenance; but he intends all his appearances, his whole appearance; his every look, gesture and motion; in the same manner as the apostle uses a Hebrew expression, when he says concerning charity that it "doth not behave itself unseemly;" that is, doth not carry an unseemly countenance, doth not contract its brow, doth not look with anger or disdain, doth not wear a threatening aspect; but is of a free and open visage, expressing with its eyes kindness and affection. For the latter are becoming, but the former are unbecoming and indicative of vice within. This clause therefore, "And his countenance fell," contains a particular description of the anger and hypocrisy of Cain. He could neither look at his brother Abel, nor hear his voice, nor speak to him, nor eat nor drink with him in rest or quietude of mind.

If any one desires to witness an example of this Cain-like wrath, let him put himself in the presence of some Papist, who is seeking distinguished praise for doctrine or piety in his day and generation; and he will find that such an one is the subject of a rage against the truth, perfectly diabolical; to which fury, if you compare the anger of a judge, the latter will appear in comparison to be the greatest kindness, mercy and open candor. For in the judge anger is merely a duty; he is not angry with the person of the prisoner, but with his crime. But the Cainite wrath fires and distorts the eyes, scowls the brow, swells the cheeks with rage, and arms the hands. In a word, it is evident in every part of the body and in its every gesture, and that unceasingly. For it does not die away by time, as political or domestic wrath does.

Next follows the fatherly and most grave admonition of Adam, who would willingly have healed and saved his son if he could have done so. But this wrath knows no medicine or cure. Neither Cain nor any Cainite will hear either father or mother, or God Himself!

V. 6. And Jehovah said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen?

All these circumstances plainly prove that the present was not the first time that Cain had been confounded in this offering of his sacrifice; but that from the hour of this sacrifice he had gone in perturbation of mind, filled with sadness and gnashing his teeth; and looking neither upon his father nor upon his mother without an evil eye; affected just as we have already said that pharasaic rage affects the whole man, and changes the whole visage and gesture. For Cain considered it to be a great indignity that at a public sacrifice, and in the midst of divine worship, and before the eyes of his father and his mother, Abel whom he had always despised and whom even his parents themselves had accounted a child of naught, should be preferred of God to himself; and thus pronounced of God worthy the glory of the kingship and the priesthood.

II. As soon therefore as he had fully shown that he was of a hostile mind towards his brother, he receives from his father Adam the admonition in our text. For my belief is, that these words are spoken by Adam himself, and that Moses says they were spoken "by the Lord," because Adam had now been justified and had been gifted with the Holy Spirit; and therefore those things which he now spoke by the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God are rightly said by Moses to have been spoken by God himself. Just as at the present day those who preach the Gospel are not in reality themselves the preachers and teachers, but Christ, who speaks and teaches in them and by them. And most certainly these words are spoken by Adam with peculiar gravity and intent; for he saw that his son could not patiently endure the indignity put upon him; he saw him grieve over his lost superiority; and he felt what havoc the Tempter might make in the corrupt nature of his son, who had done such evil to himself and Eve, when in a state of innocency and perfection. Adam therefore was filled with deep anxiety and addressed his son with that solemn gravity of language, which Moses records in the text. And although no one of the fathers has explained that speech of Adam to his son Cain in a manner worthy its gravity and importance; because perhaps none of them had sufficient leisure from their ecclesiastical engagements; yet I will attempt to move this stone of difficulty out of the way; and, as I hope and think, not without some advantage to the truth.

V. 7a. If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted up, (shall there not be a remission,) and if thou doest not well, sin coucheth (lieth) at the door.

I cannot sufficiently wonder how Moses was able to condense so mighty a subject in so few words. Our translation does not properly express the sense. And although Augustine was not altogether unacquainted with the Hebrew language, yet his knowledge of it was not thorough; for he renders this important text thus, "If thou offerest aright, and yet dost not rightly divide the offering, thou hast sinned. Rest, and be quiet." What such sins are those well acquainted with the Hebrew know. Though the doctrine which Augustine deduces from his rendering of the passage is theologically correct and good, the Septuagint translators of the Hebrew seem also not to have been duly qualified for the magnitude of the work they undertook. Wherefore, leaving for the present both the translations and the opinions of all other commentators, we will now strictly follow the proper sense of the Hebrew in the text before us. That sense is the following, "If thou doest well, there shall be remission, or alleviation; if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door," etc.

Moreover it is ordained by nature, as even the philosopher testifies, that words should be made to serve things, and not things made subservient to words. The sentiment of Hilary is well known, which a certain master of sound opinions also thus cites: "Words ought ever to be understood according to the matter contained in them, and intended to be expressed by them." In every exposition or explanation of the Scriptures therefore the subject-matter is first to be considered; that is, we are first clearly to see the thing spoken of in each case. When this is strictly done, then the words are to be brought to a due application to the thing, if the grammatical laws of the language will permit; but the things are never to be made to bend to the words. And it is because the Rabbins and those who follow them do not this, for they have lost the things, and so cleave hard to the words only, that they often fall into the most absurd sentiments and opinions. For, as they possess not thoughts worthy of those spiritual things, of which the sacred Scriptures speak, they err from the subject-matter treated in each case by the Word and draw the words after them into vain and carnal cogitations.

But it is certain that the Jews have lost Christ; how then can they possibly understand aright either the things of the Gospel or the things of the Law? They know not what sin is, nor what grace is, nor what righteousness is. How then should they be able to explain successfully such passages of the Scriptures? Just so the Jews are in general the "wise" or sophists of our day. For what sound knowledge have they of such divine and mighty things as these! Being ignorant therefore of the thing itself, how is it possible that they should rightly understand the words of the Scriptures in which it is expressed? And although a knowledge of the words is prior in order; yet the knowledge of the things is better and more important. For if you alter the things, the words also will be changed into another sense to correspond with the altered things, and a new grammatical construction altogether is the sure result.

Thus the great grammarian of Gerunda possesses an excellent knowledge of the words, and indeed there are many in our day who far surpass me in a critical knowledge of the Hebrew language, but because he understands not the divine theme, he miserably corrupts this passage; for he explains it thus: "If thou doest well thy offering shall be more acceptable than that of thy brother, because thou art the first-born." You here see that Gerundensis understands what the names of the things are, but not the things themselves; what the term is, but not what the matter is. For the very design of God in this text is to show that he will have no regard to first birthship at all. How then could the offering of Cain ever have been more acceptable to God than that of Abel on account of his primogeniture? The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews knew what the thing was, and therefore he gives a very different statement of the sacred matter, namely, that it was "by faith that Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." The rendering of Jerome is much better than that of Gerundensis. The version of the former is, "If thou doest well, thou shalt receive; if thou doest ill, sin (he adds the pronoun 'thine own sin') will lie at the door." Yet, even thus Jerome does not reach the true sense. For when he explains the verb SEETH as meaning "to receive," which really signifies "to relieve," or "to alleviate," no one I think will approve his rendering. But all this Jerome has from the Jews, who have always been of the opinion that God would have rewarded Cain if he had offered liberally. Now therefore I will simply state what my view of this important passage is.

First of all then it is necessary, as I have said, that we hold fast the divine matter in question. The divine matter then involved is that which cannot deceive, as being the foundation of the whole divine cause, that nothing pleases God unless it be done in faith, according to that universally applicable and well known sentence of the Apostle Paul, "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin," Rom. 14:23. And Solomon also says, "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord," Prov. 15:8. The other great foundation of the cause of God is, that sin is so mighty that it can be put away by no sacrifices, nor by any works whatever, but by the mercy of God alone, which mercy must be apprehended and received by faith. And all this is manifested and shown to have been the good pleasure of God by the first promise concerning the Seed of the woman, without which Seed there is no redemption. Now these foundations the Rabbins possess not, for this knowledge comes by the Spirit of Christ alone, who like the mid-sun illumines all the darkness of nature and sin. Whatsoever therefore militates against, or is contrary to, these foundations, we at once reject as false and impious.

And although for myself I have no objection whether you understand "sin" here as referring to the past sin, or to the future sin of Cain, yet it seems to me better to understand it as referring to sin in general. The force of the whole passage therefore lies in the Hebrew verb SEETH from NASA, "be alleviated," or "lifted up," or "relieved." And in this very case we have a remarkable example of the difference between the name or term of the thing and the thing itself. For if you apply the term to "lift up," or to "lift off," to a corporeal or solid substance, it signifies "to elevate" or "to lift up on high;" as in Isaiah, "I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up," Is. 6:1. But this is a very different signification of the Hebrew verb from that which it expresses in the Psalm, "Blessed is the man whose sins are 'lifted up' or 'lifted out,'" Ps. 32:1, and yet the Hebrew verb is the same in each instance. Now, a common grammarian of the Hebrew language understands the former meaning of the original verb, but he is ignorant of its latter signification. For, "to lift up a throne on high," is quite another thing from lifting up or lifting off, sin from the conscience; that is, remitting or taking away sin.

Wherefore, the meaning is, "If thou hadst done well or if thou hadst been good; that is, if thou hadst believed, thou wouldst have had God favorable and merciful toward thee, and there would have been a true alleviation to thee; that is, a remission of sin. But since I see that God had not respect unto thee, it evidently follows that thou wert not good in his sight; and that therefore thou wast not relieved from thy sin; wherefore, thy sin remaineth."

However it is a most beautiful and striking similitude to make use of the verb "to lift up" or "to lift off" in order to compare sin to a heavy burden, under which Cain was so oppressed and prostrated, so that unless it were taken off he could not draw his breath. And the epistle to the Hebrews shows the manner in which we are released from this burden, when it says, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain," Heb. 11:4.

By this mode of interpreting this important passage the words or the grammatical construction perfectly agree with the matter contained in them, which is, that God has respect unto faith only, and judges those alone to be good who believe. And these words of Adam contain also a most severe rebuke. Their meaning is, as if Adam had said to Cain, "Thy pride has destroyed thee. Thou camest before God inflated with the glory of thy primogeniture, and thoughtest that God would accept thee on that account. But I clearly perceive by this judgment and reprobation of God that thou art destitute of faith, for God rejects none but the unbelieving."

Not one of the Rabbins explains the passage before us in this manner. For they see not that Adam is here inculcating in his son, after the manner of the Apostle Paul, that word of Christ in the Gospel, "He that believeth shall be saved," Mark 16:16; and also that word of the apostle himself, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law," Rom. 3:28. For what else does Adam here say to Cain, than that God is merciful to those who believe in the blessed Seed, and who cast away all trust in their own works, and all ideas of their own merit? For his meaning is, "If thou shalt do this, thy sin shall not lie thus as a heavy burden upon thee. Thou shalt be relieved of that load, nor shalt thou thus roar with rage; for God has promised that he will not impute sin to any one that believeth."

If therefore you refer these words to the past sin of Cain, they contain also a most grave fatherly admonition. Their import is, as if Adam had said, "Hitherto thou hast not believed and therefore thou art thus rejected; and if thou shalt still go on thus, thou wilt be cast off utterly. But if thou shalt do well or become good, that is, if thou shalt believe in the promised Seed, I take upon myself to assure thee that the result will be that thou shalt be relieved of thy burden of sin;" that is, as the Psalm interprets this expression of Adam, "sin shall not be imputed unto thee," Ps. 32:2.

The clause which follows, thy "sin lieth at the door," is a figurative description of sin, which for my part I should prefer understanding as being used as a proverb. For this figure exactly describes the real nature of sin, showing that, while in the act, it lies like a beast dead asleep; it does not bite, nor terrify, nor torment, but rather fawns and pleases. Thus when Eve first and afterwards Adam ate the forbidden apple in paradise they did not think that God had seen it, much less did they think that both should be so bitterly punished for what they had done. So also ferocious beasts, when they are just satisfied with food, are more tractable and more inclined to sleep than to harm. In the same manner also sin, while it is in the act, is delightful, nor is its poison or pain felt; it rather lies down and goes to sleep. For whoever saw a miser to be racked with pain while an opportunity of great gain stood before him? Whoever knew an adulterer to grieve at the opportunity given him of gratifying his wishes? If thou hadst at that moment torn his skin with a scourge, or beaten his head with a mallet, the temptation would have vanished. But while sin is asleep and its punishment unfelt and unseen, it is the height of pleasure to the miser to rush upon his gain, and to the adulterer to possess the object of his sinful desires; nor does there seem to be, nor does he wish for, any end or any bound to his pleasure.

Adam is speaking therefore in this passage not only of the sin of Cain, but of sin in general; showing what the real nature of sin is. For that which was the state of Cain is the state of all men. Before he offered his sacrifice Cain proudly boasted of the privileges of his primogeniture; he despised his brother and assumed to himself the first place in all things. Sin was then lying still and asleep; but it was "lying at the door;" that is, in a place or state in which it was likely to be disturbed. For it is by "the door" that we go in and out, and therefore a place by no means adapted for a long sleep. And this is also the very nature of sin. Although it does lie asleep, yet it lies in a place where it is not likely to sleep long, for Christ says, "There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed," Math. 10:26. The wicked man thinks indeed that his sin is asleep and hidden; but it lieth asleep at "the door," and at length it is awakened by conviction, brought to light, and made known: for "at the door," and rest and sleep are things directly opposed to each other. For as darkness is opposite to light, so is sleep to an unquiet place; they are things contradictory to each other in their very nature. In this manner therefore may the present passage be interpreted in its reference to Cain's past sin.

And if you explain these same words in their reference to the future sin of Cain, their meaning is this, "If thou shalt harm thy brother, and indulge the wrath conceived in thy mind, I tell thee that thy sin will indeed lie asleep; but it will lie asleep at the door; that is, in a place where it will surely be disturbed; and therefore, it is impossible but that it must be awoke and roused up, when as a furious beast it will lay hold upon thee." And so the event proved. For after Cain had committed the murder, while he was burying his brother alone, his sin was asleep. But how long? No longer than until the sound of that voice of God reached his ears, "Where is Abel, thy brother?" The present words of Adam therefore are a true description of all sin. It always "lieth at the door." For such is the nature of the minds of men, that as long as they escape the eyes of men, they think their sin will lie hidden and unknown. But unless they do well; that is, unless they believe that God will pardon their sin through Christ, it will surely be awakened and revealed to their torment and destruction.

The figurative proverb therefore which lies in these words of Adam contains the most solemn truth, that nothing remains hidden, but that all things are revealed and made known, as the Apostle Paul also says, "Some men's sins are evident, going before unto judgment," 1 Tim. 5:24. Hence we see the judgment of God in an especial manner in the cases of criminals. How many persons are murdered in secret and yet the authors of those unnatural and horrible crimes are brought to light by means the most wonderful. The grave admonition therefore of Adam to his son Cain is that he would guard against indulging in sin, resting fully assured that it would not remain hidden, but that God would certainly bring it to light and punish it. The poets of old did not wander far from this great truth when they represented Cupid, the god of lustful desire, naked but blind also. For as our sin seems to us to be hidden, we think that it is hidden from all others also. But God at length brings to light and reveals things the most deeply concealed.

I believe therefore the meaning of these words of Adam, which I have thus given, is their true and simple sense. By them the father is admonishing the son to believe in God and in the promised Seed; assuring him that if he does so, God will show himself merciful unto him. But, says the father, if thou follow the lusts of thy heart, thy sin will indeed lie at rest in thy soul; that is, it will appear to thee to be concealed and hidden, but it will be lying all the time "at the door;" that is, in a place where it cannot lie long asleep or out of sight. For that which "lieth at the door" is beheld by all who enter in and by all who go out.

Let us not forget however, as I before observed, the grand and principal truth taught by this portion of the Holy Scriptures, that God from the very beginning of the world is One who judgeth between the flesh and the spirit, and who respecteth not the dignity of the person or his works. For God hath here respect unto Abel, not moved by any work which he performed, but simply by his faith in which he offered his sacrifice. But unto Cain God had not respect; not because the offering of Cain was less splendid or sumptuous than that of Abel, but because he had not faith, and therefore his primogeniture profited him nothing.

And this is a very powerful argument against the Jews, who, as John tells us, gloried in their race and descent, boasting that they were the children of Abraham, John 8:33. If therefore the honor and prerogative were anything in God's sight, Cain certainly had wherein to glory. And what avails also the glorying of the Jews that God spoke unto them by Moses? Are we to conclude, think you, that Adam, the first teacher, was a teacher less than Moses? No! Adam was greater than Moses and superior to him in many respects. He did not teach like Moses circumcision, nor the other legal ceremonies, which were necessary to a stiff-necked people to prevent them from superstition, but Adam taught faith in the promised Seed, which should bruise the serpent's head. All the primogeniture of Cain therefore and all his other privileges and his works profited him nothing; for God had respect only to faith in the promised Seed. Hence it is that Paul plainly says to the Jews in the New Testament, "Know therefore that they that are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham," Gal. 3:7. And Evangelist John says the same things concerning the Jewish people, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," John 1:12, 13.

I believe therefore that the above interpretation of the words of Adam is their original and true meaning. For, first of all, it is in perfect accord with the fundamental truth of the holy Scripture and with the sacred matter itself spoken of. And secondly, it does not violate any law of grammar, and it moreover tends to illustrate beautifully and variously by its figures the divine things contained in the words used by Adam. But the Rabbins, being ignorant of the things spoken of by Adam, are not at all helped out of the difficulty by all their knowledge of the terms employed in the patriarch's speech. How absurd for instance is the opinion of some, who apply the expression, There shall be a "lifting up" to the "fallen countenance" of Cain. As if Adam had said, "Then thou shalt be able again to lift up thy countenance, which is now wholly changed and fallen." These absurdities are indeed properly noticed by all our more recent commentators, to whom also our thanks are due, for their faithful labor in translating the original text grammatically. But true theology is indispensable, which alone can rightly judge of and rightly teach the things spoken of in the Holy Scripture.

V. 7b. And unto thee shall be its desire, but do thou rule over it.

Some men have most absurdly wrested this passage to prove by it free will. But it is perfectly evident that Adam does not here really affirm that Cain could do what he advised him to do. He is only admonishing or entreating him to do it. For it by no means follows that we can do what we are commanded to do. "The desire of sin," Adam here says to Cain, "shall be toward thee;" that is, as Paul expresses it, "Sin is in thy members," Rom. 7:5. Again, "The flesh lusteth against the spirit," Gal. 5:17. "But thou shalt not be eternally condemned, because thou feelest this motion of sin in thy members. If sin entice thee, do thou rule over it by faith. Suffer it not to rule over thee, or thou shalt perish for ever." Likewise Paul commands in Rom. 8:13, "By the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body."

This part of Adam's speech therefore is intended to bring us to acknowledge what the life of the godly in the flesh is: namely, that it is a perpetual struggle of the spirit against sin. Those therefore who sleep and snore, and prepare themselves not for this fight, are easily vanquished. Adam however appears to wish, by this his speech not only to admonish his son to guard against sin in the future, but also to comfort and lift him up from his distress on account of the past; for he beholds his son both filled with anguish on account of the divine rejection and now also tempted to revenge. But says Adam to his son, "Rule over thy sin, and thou shalt find God merciful. Believe in him, and he will pardon thy sin."

The Hebrew verb in this passage is MASCHAL; the same as that which the Lord used above when he said unto the woman, 3:16, "And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." In these words the meaning of the Lord is, that the wife should obey the husband and listen to her husband, and that she should not take upon herself the judgment in all things; and that if she did so, the husband in his authority as the man, should rebuke and prevent her. It is in the same manner that Adam here speaks to Cain, saying to him, "Sin will entice thee and prompt thee to revenge." This is the father's meaning, when he says, "And its desire shall be toward thee; but do thou say unto sin, I will not obey thee. Refrain thyself and rule over it." These words of Adam therefore contain an admonition full of consolation, showing that on account of the blessed Seed we are no longer under sin, and that therefore we ought to rule over it. For Adam's speech embraces both doctrines; the doctrine of the fear of the Lord and the doctrine of faith. We ought to fear God, because "sin lieth at the door," and we ought to have faith in God because he is merciful.

PART IV. HOW CAIN MURDERED HIS BROTHER AND WAS REQUIRED TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT, AND HOW HE CONDUCTED HIMSELF.

I. V. 8a. And Cain told (talked with) Abel his brother.

Our translation has it, "And Cain said to Abel, his brother," adding the words, "Let us go out doors." But this is one of the inventions of the Rabbins, to whom how much credit is to be given, I have fully shown. Lyra, following the invention of Eben Ezra, relates that Cain told his brother how severely he had been rebuked of the Lord. But who would believe that for which there is no authority in the Scriptures? We hold therefore to that meaning of the text which the Scriptures plainly show to be its true sense, that Cain, being reprobated or rejected of God, indulged his wrath, and that he now added to his former sins, contempt of his parents and of the Word, thinking thus within himself, "The promised Seed of the woman belongs to me as the first-born. But my brother, Abel, that contemptible one and that one of naught, is evidently preferred to me by the divine authority itself, manifested by the fire from heaven consuming his sacrifice. What shall I do, therefore? I will dissemble my wrath until an opportunity of taking vengeance shall occur."

The words therefore, "And Cain spoke to Abel his brother," I understand as meaning that Cain, dissembling his anger, conducted himself toward Abel as toward a brother, and that he spoke to him and conversed with him, as if he bore with a quiet mind the divine rejection he had just experienced, and the sentence of God thus pronounced against him. It was in this manner also that Saul dissembled his wrath, who likewise pretended a benevolent mind and good-will toward David. "I know well," said Saul, "that thou shalt surely be king," 1 Sam. 24:20; and yet he was all the while thinking of the way in which, having killed David, he might prevent his being king. Just in the same way did Cain now converse in dissimulation with Abel his brother, saying to him, I see that thou art chosen of the Lord. I envy thee not this divine blessing, etc., etc. This is the very manner of hypocrites. They pretend friendship until an opportunity of doing the harm they intend presents itself.

That such is the true sense of the passage all the circumstances clearly show. For if Adam and Eve could have gathered the least suspicion of the intended murder, think you not that they would either have restrained Cain or removed Abel, and placed the latter out of danger? But as Cain had altered his countenance and his carriage toward his brother, and had talked with him in a brotherly manner they thought all was safe, and the son had bowed to and acquiesced in the admonition of his father. This outward appearance and carriage deceived Abel also, who, if he had feared anything like murder from his brother, would doubtless have fled from him, as Jacob fled from Esau when he feared his brother's wrath. What therefore could possibly have come into the mind of Jerome, when he believed the Rabbins, who say that Cain was here expostulating with his brother?

Wherefore Cain is here the image and the picture of all hypocrites and murderers, who under the show of godliness slaughter the good. For Cain thus being besieged by Satan covers his wrath, waiting the opportunity to slay his brother Abel; meanwhile he converses with him, as a brother beloved, that he might the sooner lay his hands upon him unawares.

This passage therefore is intended for our instruction; that we may learn to understand the ways of murderers and hypocrites. For thus it truly always comes to pass that every Cain talks with his brother, as Cain of old talked brotherly with Abel; and on the other hand also, every Abel trusts in every Cain, as a brother would trust a brother; and thus he is murdered, and the pious parents meanwhile are deceived.

Just so the Pope and the bishops of this day talk and consult much concerning the peace and the concord of the Church. But he is most assuredly deceived who does not understand all these councils directly the contrary. For true is that word of the Psalm, "The workers of iniquity speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts," Ps. 28:3. For the very nature of all hypocrites is, that they carry an appearance of goodness, speak friendly to you, pretend humility, patience, and charity, and give alms, etc.; and yet, they are all the while planning slaughter in their heart.

Let us learn therefore by this history to know a Cain, and to guard best against him when he speaks the most friendly, and as a brother to a brother. For it is in this way that our adversaries, the bishops and the Pope, talk with us in our day, while they pretend a desire for concord and peace, and seek reconciliation of doctrines; whereas if an opportunity of seizing us and executing their rage upon us should present itself, you would soon hear them speak in a very different tone. For all the time there is death in the pot, 2 Kings 4:40; and under the best and sweetest words there lies concealed a deadly poison.

V. 8b. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

Here then you see the deceptiveness under the above dissembled conversation of Cain with his brother. Cain had been admonished by his father with divine authority to guard against sin in the future and to expect pardon for the past through the promised Seed. But Cain despises both admonitions and indulges in his sin, as all the wicked do. For true is the saying of Solomon, "When the wicked cometh, there cometh also contempt, and with ignominy cometh reproach," Prov. 18:3.

Just in the same manner our ministry of the Word at the present day deserves no blame. We teach, we exhort, we rebuke, we turn ourselves every way, that we may recall the multitude from the security of sin to the fear of God. But the world, like an untamed beast, still goes on and follows not the Word, but its own lusts, which it strives to palliate under the appearance of what is honest and right. The prophets and the apostles also stand before us as examples of the same labor in vain, and we also are taught the same by our own experience. Our adversaries being so often admonished and convicted know they are doing wrong, and yet they lay not aside their murderous hatred against us.

From the case of Cain therefore learn what a hypocrite is; namely, one who pretends to the worship of God and charity, and yet at the very same time destroys the worship of God and slaughters his brother. And all this semblance of good-will is only intended to create the better opportunities of doing the harm designed. For if Abel had foreseen the implacable wrath and the truly diabolical fury of his brother, he might have saved his life by flight. But as Cain betrayed nothing of this kind while he talked with his brother in seeming affection and put on the appearance of his usual good-will, Abel perished before he felt the fear of danger.

There is no doubt that Abel, when he saw his brother rising up against him, entreated and implored him not to pollute himself with this awful sin. But a mind thus beset by sin pays no regard to prayers, nor heeds uplifted hands. Just as Cain therefore had despised the admonition of his father; so now also he equally despises his brother, fallen on his knees before him.

These things instruct us in that cruel tyranny of Satan, under which our nature when involved in sins is bound. Hence Paul calls such, "The children of wrath," Eph. 2:3; and declares that such are "taken captive by Satan at his will," 2 Tim. 2:26. For when we are mere men; that is, when we apprehend not the blessed Seed by faith, we are all like Cain, and nothing is wanting but an opportunity to murder our brother. For nature, destitute of the Holy Spirit, is driven by that same evil spirit by which Cain was driven to murder. Whereas if there were in any one those sufficient powers or that free-will of which men talk, by which a man might defend himself against the assaults of Satan, these gifts of nature would most assuredly have existed in Cain, to whom belonged the first birth-right and the promise of the blessed Seed. But it was not so. And the condition of all men is the same. Unless nature be helped by the Spirit of God, it cannot uphold itself nor stand. Then why do we vainly and absurdly boast of free-will? Now follows another remarkable passage.

II. V. 9. And Jehovah said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

Good God! into what depth of sin does our miserable nature fall, when driven onward by the devil. At last murder was committed on a brother. And perhaps murdered Abel lay for days unburied. When therefore Cain returned to his parents at the accustomed time, and Abel returned not with him, the anxious parents said to him, Cain, thou art here, but where is Abel? Thou art returned home, but Abel is not returned. The flock is without their shepherd. Tell us therefore where thy brother is? Upon this, Cain, growing indignant, makes answer to his parents, by no means with due reverence, "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?"

But it happened to Cain as to all the wicked, that by excusing he accused himself. Agreeably also to the words of Christ our Lord, "From thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant," Math. 18:32. The heathen had also a striking proverb among them, "A liar ought to have a good memory." Such was the judgment of heathen men, though they knew nothing of the judgment of God and of conscience, and were capable of judgment and giving admonition concerning natural and civil things only. And true it is that liars expose themselves to many dangers of detection, and betray many facts, by which they may be convicted and refuted. Hence the Germans have this proverb, "A lie is a very fruitful thing." For one lie begets seven other lies, which become necessary to establish the first lie, and to make it wear the face of truth. And yet it is impossible after all to prevent conscience from betraying itself at times, if not in words then in countenance and gesture. This will be proved by numberless examples hereafter. I will cite one example here.

In Thuringia there is a small town in the district of Orla, called Neustadt. In this town a harlot had murdered her infant, to which she had secretly given birth, and had thrown it, after the murder, into a neighboring fish-pond. By a singular occurrence a portion of the linen in which she had wrapped the infant brought the horrid deed to light, and the case was brought before the magistrate; and as the simple men of the place knew no better means of investigating the crime in order to discover its author, they called all the young women of the town into the town-hall and closely examined them all, one by one. The judgment concerning all the rest was quite manifest, and it was evident that they were all innocent. But when they came to her who was the real perpetrator of the deed she did not wait for the questions to be put to her, but immediately declared aloud that she was not the guilty person. This declaration at once caused the magistrate to suspect that she really was the author of the deed, because she was more anxious than all the rest to clear herself from any suspicion. Therefore she was seized by the constables and forthwith suffered death.

Indeed examples of the same kind are infinite and occur daily, showing that where persons are most anxious to excuse themselves, they most effectually accuse and betray themselves. So true is that word which we have just before heard that sin does indeed lie asleep and concealed, but it lies "at the door."

Just so in the present case. Cain thinks that he has made an effectual excuse for himself, by saying that he was not his brother's keeper; whereas, by the very mention of his brother's name, he at once confesses that he ought to have been his younger brother's keeper. And then again does he not, by the same admitted confession, that he ought to have been his brother's keeper, accuse himself of being of a hostile mind towards his brother? And does he not moreover strike into the mind of his parents a surmise of the murder committed? For Abel nowhere appears and is not to be found. Just so also Adam excuses himself in paradise, and lays all the blame on Eve. But this excuse of Cain is far more idle and absurd; for while he excuses his sin he doubles it. Whereas on the contrary, the free confession of sin finds mercy and appeases wrath. It is recorded in the history of St. Martin that when he was pronouncing to some notorious sinners the pardon of their sins, he was rebuked by Satan, who asked him why he did so; to whom St. Martin is said to have replied, "Why I would pronounce the pardon even of thy sins, if thou wouldst say from thy heart, I repent that I have sinned against the Son of God, and I pray to God to pardon me for the same." But the devil never does this. For he persists in and defends his sin.

All liars and hypocrites imitate Cain their father in his lie, by either denying their sin, or excusing it. Hence they cannot find pardon of their sins from God. And we see the same in domestic life. By the defense of wrong doing, anger is increased. For whenever the wife, or the children, or the servants have done wrong, and deny or excuse their wrong doing, the father of the family is the more moved to wrath; whereas, on the contrary, plain confession always meets pardon or a lighter punishment. But it is the very nature of hypocrites to excuse and palliate their sin, or to deny it altogether, and under the show of religion to slay the innocent.

But here let us take a view of the manner in which sins follow each other and increase more and more. First of all Cain sins by presumption and unbelief. When priding himself on the privilege of his first birth-right, he takes it for granted that he shall be accepted of God on the ground of his high merit as the eldest son. Upon this pride and this glory of self-righteousness immediately follow the envy and hatred of his brother, whom he sees preferred before himself by a certain sign from heaven. Upon this envy and hatred follow hypocrisy and lying. He talks with his brother in dissembled affection, whom he all the while designs to murder, and whom by his affectionate conversation he throws the more effectually off his guard. Upon this hypocrisy follows murder. Upon this murder follows a lying excuse to cover his awful sin. And the last stage of the whole sin is despair and desperation; and this last step is the fall from heaven to hell!

And although Adam and Eve in paradise did not deny their sin, yet they confessed it quite coldly, and shifted it from the one to the other. Adam laid it on Eve, and Eve laid it on the serpent. But Cain went further than them both, for he not only did not confess the murder he had committed, but declared that he had nothing to do with the care of his brother. And did not this speech at once prove that his mind was in a state of hostility against his brother? Though therefore Adam and Eve confessed their sin with only half their hearts, yet they had some claim to pardon, and they were punished with less severity accordingly. But Cain, because he denied his sin determinately, was rejected, and fell into despair.

And the same judgment awaits all our Cainite popes, cardinals and bishops, who although they plan in their minds plots of murder against us, yet say like Cain their father, "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?"

There was a common proverb of old, "What is it to the Romans that the Greeks die?" So we think that our dangers and calamities only belong to ourselves. But how does this principle agree with the commandment of God? For his will is, that we should all live together, and be to each other as brethren? Cain therefore by this very saying of his heavily accuses himself when he makes the excuse that the custody of his brother was no matter of his. Whereas if he had said to his father, "Alas, my father, I have slain Abel, my brother. I repent of the deed I have done. Return upon me what punishment thou wilt." Had he thus spoken, there might have been room for a remedy; but as he denied his sin and contrary to the will of God cast off the charge of his brother altogether, there was no place left for mercy or favor.

Moreover Moses has arranged all this narrative thus particularly and remarkably on purpose that it might be a testimony and memorial of all hypocrites, that he might, by his peculiar manner of recording the solemn facts, graphically paint forth what hypocrites really are, and that he might show how awfully they are seized upon by Satan as his instruments, and inflamed by him against God and against his Word and his Church. It was not enough for his murderer that he had killed his brother contrary to the command of God, but he adds to that sin the further sin that, when God inquires of him concerning his brother, he becomes filled with indignation and rage. I say when God inquires of him, because, although it was Adam who spoke these words to his son Cain, yet he spoke them by the authority of God and by the Holy Spirit. In so awful a sin therefore was it not a most kind and gentle manner of expression to inquire, "Where is Abel thy brother?" And yet to this voice, which contained in it nothing severe, the hypocrite and the murderer grows so ferocious and proud that he replies, "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?" And he is fired with indignation that he should be called to an account concerning the matter at all. For the reply of Cain is the reply of a spirit of resistance and indignation against God.

But to this sin Cain adds a worse sin still. For when he ought to have fallen under this accusation of having committed the murder, he himself at once turns round and accuses God and expostulates with him: "Am I my brother's keeper?" He prefaces his reply with no expression of reverence or honor, though due both to God and to his father. He did not say, "Lord, I know not." He did not say, "My Father, didst thou make me the keeper of my brother?" Such expressions as these would have indicated feeling of reverence towards God or towards his parent. But he answers as being Lord himself and plainly manifests that he felt indignant at being called to account even by him who had the high right even to call him to that account.

And this is a true picture of all hypocrites. When standing in the most manifest sins they grow full of insolence and pride, and aim all the while at appearing most righteous persons. They will not believe even God himself when rebuking them by his Word. Nay, they set themselves against God, contend with him and excuse their sin. Thus David says, "that God is judged of men, but that at length he clears and justifies himself, and prevails," Ps. 51:4. This is that insolence of hypocrites which Moses here paints.

But how does this attempt of Cain succeed. Thus while he uses every means to excuse himself, he most powerfully accuses himself. Thus Christ says, "Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant," Luke 19:22. Now, this servant wished to appear without guilt, saying, "For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: Thou takest up that which thou layest not down, and reapest that which thou didst not sow: therefore I hid thy talent in a napkin," verses 20 and 21. Now, what excuses more plausible than these could the wicked servant adopt? Yet by what means more effectual could he accuse himself? For Christ at once uses his own very words against this wicked servant, and condemns him out of his own mouth. And this is the very way and wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

Such examples are profitable to us that we may learn not to contend with God. On the contrary therefore when thou feelest in thine own conscience that thou art guilty, take heed with all thy soul that thou contend neither with God nor with men by defending or excusing thy sin. Rather do this, When thou seest God points his spear at thee, flee not from him; but on the contrary flee to him with humble confession of thy sin, and with prayer for his pardon. Then will God draw back his spear and spare thee. But when by the denial and excuse of thy sin thou fleest farther and farther from him, the nearer is God to thee as an enemy and the more closely and hotly does he pursue thee as such. Nothing therefore is better or safer for thee than to come to him at once with the confession of thy fault. For thus it comes to pass that, when God conquers us, we also conquer by him.

But Cain and hypocrites do not this. God points his spear at them, but they do not humble themselves before him nor pray to him for pardon. Nay, they even point their spear at God, just as Cain did on this occasion. Cain does not say, "Lord, I confess that I have killed my brother; forgive me." On the contrary, though being the accused, he himself accuses God by replying, "Am I my brother's keeper?" And what was the effect of his pride? By it he openly confessed that he cared naught for the divine laws, which say, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," Lev. 19:18. And again, "Do not unto another that which you would not have another do unto you," Math. 7:12. These laws were not first written, nor only written, in the Decalogue, but they were inscribed in the minds of all men by nature. Yet Cain not only acted directly against these laws, but showed that he cared naught for them, nay, that he absolutely despised them.

In this way therefore Cain stands the picture, as we have said, not only of a wicked man, but of a man the most wicked, who, though a murderer, is yet a hypocrite wishing to appear a saint; being all the time one more prepared to accuse God than to appear worthy of accusation. And this is what all hypocrites do. They blaspheme God and crucify his Son, and yet wish to appear righteous. For after their murders, blasphemies and all other sins their whole aim is to seek means whereby to excuse and palliate the great sins they have committed. But the result always is that they only betray themselves and are condemned out of their own mouths.

While Cain here studies to render himself quite pure in appearance, he most effectually and foully defiles himself. He thinks he has made a most plausible excuse, when he says, "Am I my brother's keeper?" But this very excuse becomes his most effectual accusation. And thus according to the saying of Hilary, "Wickedness is ever closely accompanied by folly." And so it was in the case of Cain. Had he been as wise as he was wicked, he would have excused himself in quite a different manner. But since God has ordained that wickedness should thus be ever accompanied by folly, Cain's excuse becomes his plain accusation. And for this very reason: The defense of truth against her adversaries is always easy. For Cain thus testified, both by his words and by his gestures, that he cared not for his brother, but hated him; so all wicked men by various means ever betray their wickedness. By the example of Cain therefore things the most important and the most instructive are set before us; all of them tending to show that God suffers not hypocrites to remain long undiscovered, but that he compels them to convict themselves by those very means by which they craftily strive to conceal their hypocrisy and their sin.

Moses does not in this description use a multitude of words, according to the practice of the world in general; for these in setting forth a subject embellish it with various striking ornaments of figure and speech. But we know by experience, that the real feelings of the mind cannot be fully described by the paintings of any human eloquence. And indeed an abundance of words only makes the affection of the mind described to appear less than it is in reality. Moses therefore acts quite differently. By the use of a very few words he discloses a great abundance of subject-matter.

The divine historian above used the expression, "And when they were in the field." Here Moses indicates that the murderer Cain had watched his opportunity; that when alone he might attack his brother, when also alone. And all the connected circumstances plainly show that Abel was not then unemployed, for he was in the field, where he had to do the things his father had given him to do. Here Moses moreover shows that Abel's parents were free from all fear of danger. For although from the beginning they had feared that the wrath of Cain would eventually break out into some still greater sin; yet, by his compliance and kindness, and by his pretended affection, he prevented all suspicion of evil from remaining in the minds of his parents. For had there been the least apprehension of evil still existing, they certainly would not have permitted Abel to go from their presence with Cain alone. They would have caused his sisters to go with him as companions, for some sisters he no doubt had. Or his parents themselves would have prevented by their presence and authority the perpetration of so great a wickedness. And as I said, the mind of Abel was perfectly free from all suspicion. For had he suspected evil at the hand of his brother in the least degree, he would doubtless have sought safety by flight. But after he had heard and seen, as he thought, that Cain bore the judgment of God patiently and did not envy his brother the high honor which God had bestowed upon him, he pursued his work in the field with all security.

What orator could describe with eloquence equal to its importance the real nature of that act of Cain, which Moses expresses in these few words? "And Cain rose up against his brother." Many descriptions of awful cruelty exist in books on every side, but no description of cruelty could paint it in a more atrocious and execrable light than the picture drawn by the few words of Moses, when he simply says, Cain "rose up against" his brother Abel. As if he had said, Cain rose up against Abel, the only brother he had, with whom he had been brought up and with whom he had lived in the one only family upon earth up to that day; all which family communion he utterly forgot, and not only so, but he forgot their common parents also. The greatness of the grief which he would cause his parents by such a grave crime never entered his mind. He never thought that Abel was a brother, from whom he had never received any offense whatever. For Cain knew that the honor of the more acceptable sacrifice which Abel had offered, proceeded not from any intent or ambition in him, but from the will and doing of God himself. In a word Cain did not consider in what position he himself would be; that by this wicked deed, he who had hitherto stood in the highest favor with his parents would lose that favor altogether and would fall under their deepest indignation.

It is recorded in history that when a painter, who was painting the story of Iphigenia, on the point of being sacrificed to Diana by her father, had given to each one of the surrounding spectators his appropriate countenance, with a latitude of art which might best express his pain and sorrow, he at length came to the father himself, who was also a spectator; but feeling convinced that no art of the painter could adequately represent his feelings and countenance, he covered his head with a mantle.

Moses I think does the same thing in the present passage, when he uses the verb YAKAM, "Rose up against." What tragical pictures would the eloquence of Cicero or Livy have here drawn, while they were strikingly portraying the wrath of the one brother, and the dread, the cries, the prayers, the tears, the uplifted hands, and all the horrors of the other; applying to the description all the power of their mind and language? But such feelings cannot be fully described by all these powers of eloquence. Moses therefore writes most appropriately, when he sets forth things so inexpressible by mere dots, as it were, in order that by his few words the feelings of the reader may be engaged to meditate on the facts the more closely and deeply for himself. For the vain attraction of words is like paint applied to natural beauty; it only mars and spoils the force of the reality.

Of the same expressive character are the few words which he next adds, "And slew him." He does not by those few words represent a common murder, such as we see committed by men in general; for they sometimes kindle quarrels from the most trifling causes and commit murders in the end. Such murderers however immediately after the murder is committed are filled with distress; they grieve for the deed they have done and acknowledge those delusions of the devil by which he blinded their minds. But Cain felt no distress; he expressed no grief, but denied the deed he had done. This satanic and insatiable hatred in hypocrites is described by Christ by saying, "When they kill you, they will think that they do God service," John 16:2. So the priests and the kings filled Jerusalem with the blood of the prophets and gloried in what they did, as if their deeds were great and successful exploits; for they considered such murders as proofs of their zeal for the law and the house of God.

And the furious cruelty of the popes and the bishops in our day is just the same. They are not satisfied with having excommunicated us again and again, and with having shed our blood, but they wish to blot out our memory from the land of the living; according to the description of such hatred expressed in the words of the Psalm, "Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof," Ps. 137:7. These instances of hatred are satanic, not human; for all forms of human hatred grow into mildness by time; and after we have avenged the offense and pain given, the hatred at length ceases. But these instances of pharisaic hatred increase in virulence day by day; and for this very reason, because they are justified under the cloak of religion and godly zeal. Cain therefore is the father of all murderers, who slaughter the saints and whose wrath knows no end, as long as there remains one saint for them to kill. All this is proved by the example even of the crucified Christ himself. For as to Cain, there is no doubt of his having hoped that by putting Abel to death, he should still hold the high honor of his first birth-right. And in the same way the ungodly always think that their cruelty will profit them in some way. But when they find that their hope is vain they at once fall like Cain into despair.

Now when the fact of this atrocious murder was made known to the parents, what do we think must have been the dreadful feelings which it excited? What the lamentation? What sighs and groans it caused? But I dwell not on these things; they are rather scenes for the eloquent and able orator to describe. I will only observe that it was a marvel that both parents were not struck lifeless with pain and grief. For the calamity was rendered the greater by the fact that their first-born, who had created in them such large hopes concerning himself, was the perpetrator of such a horrible murder. If therefore Adam and Eve had not been helped from above, they could never have surmounted this family calamity; for it was a catastrophe exceeding all catastrophes the world has ever known. And hence Adam and Eve were without that consolation which we may have under sudden and unexpected calamities, which consolation is that like evils have befallen others and have not come upon us alone. But our first parents had two sons only, though I believe that they had daughters also; and therefore they had not the many examples before them which are always before our eyes.

Who can doubt however that Satan by this new kind of temptation in Cain increased greatly the grief and trial of our first parents? For they no doubt thought, Behold this is all our sin. We, when in paradise, wished to become like God; but by our sin we are become like the devil. The very same thing has befallen us, in the case of our son. We loved this son alone, and made everything of him. Our other son Abel was righteous before us, above this son; but of his righteousness we made nothing. This elder son we hoped would be he who should crush the serpent's head; but behold! he himself is crushed by the serpent! Nay, he himself is become like the serpent, for he is now a murderer. And whence is this? Is it not because he was born of us, and because we through our sin are what we are? Therefore it is from our flesh, therefore it is from our sin, that this calamity has broken forth!

It is very probable therefore, and the events of the series of years which followed confirm this probability, that the sorrowing parents, struck with the awfulness of this calamity, abstained for a long time from connubial intercourse. For it appears that when Cain committed this murder he was about thirty years of age, more or less. During this period some daughters were born unto Adam. For since it is said below, V. 17, that "Cain knew his wife," there is no doubt that he married a sister. Moreover since Cain himself says, V. 14, "And it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me;" and as it is further said, V. 15, "And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him;" it appears most probable from all these circumstances that Adam had many more children than Cain and Abel, but these two only are mentioned on account of the important and memorable history concerning them and because those two were their first and principal children. For it is my full belief that the marriage of our first parents, during the first thirty years of their union, was most fruitful. In some books the names Calmana and Dibora are found as being daughters of Adam; but I know not whether such authors are worthy of any credit. As therefore Seth is recorded as having been begotten a long time after this awful murder, it seems to me very probable that the parents, distressed beyond measure at this monstrous family crime, refrained for a long time from marriage communion. Moses does not indeed touch upon all these things in his narrative; he intimates them only in order that he might excite, as we have said, the reader to a deep consideration of this memorable history, the circumstances of which he records in the fewest possible words, as if presenting them to be seen as through a lattice.

But I return to the text now immediately before us. Cain is an evil and a wicked man, and yet in the eyes of his parents he is a divine possession and a divine gift. Abel on the contrary is in the eyes of his parents and in their estimation as nothing, according to the signification of his name; but in the eyes of God he is truly a righteous man; hence it is that Christ himself honors him with this exalted appellation, when he calls him, "Righteous Abel!" Math. 23:35. This was the divine judgment concerning Abel, which Cain could not endure, and therefore he thought that the only manner in which his hatred of his brother could be satisfied was by murder. And he moreover thought that by this awful means he could still retain the high honor of his primogeniture. But he was far from thinking that he committed a great sin by this murder; because as being the first-born he thought he had a right to do this. He killed him therefore as I think, not with a sword, for I conclude that there were, as yet, no iron weapons, but with a club or with some kind of stone.

And after the murder, Cain remained quiet and unconcerned, for he thought that the deed would be concealed by hiding the body, which he buried, or perhaps he cast it into a river, considering that by such means he could rest the more sure that the body could not be found by his parents.

When Abel therefore had been from home a longer time than he had been accustomed to be, the Holy Spirit inspires Adam to utter the words of the text and to inquire of Cain concerning Abel saying, "Where is Abel thy brother?" Here therefore the sermon and the prophecy of Adam, of which we have heard before, begins to be fulfilled; where he had said, "If not, sin lieth at the door." For Cain thought that he had concealed his sin and had laid it to rest, and that all would thus be hidden. And true it was that his sin did lie at rest; but it lay at rest "at the door." And who now openeth the door? None other than the Lord himself. He rouses up and wakens the sleeping sin. He brings the hidden sin to light.

And the same thing must be fulfilled in all sinners. For unless by repentance thou first come to God, and thyself confess thy sin to God, God will surely come to thee, awake thy sin and discover it to thee. For God cannot endure that any one should deny the sin that he has committed; as the psalmist also testifies, "When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture was changed as with the drought of summer," Ps. 32:3, 4. For although sin hath its sleep and its security; yet that sleep is "at the door," which cannot long remain unawakened or hidden.

When Moses here says, "And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?" I understand Moses to mean, as above, that it was Adam who spoke by the Holy Spirit in the person or place of God; and that God there assumed the person of a father speaking to his son. This sacred phraseology therefore, "And the Lord said," etc., is intended as thus used by the Holy Spirit to commend the high authority of parents; whom when children dutifully hear and dutifully obey, they hear God and obey God. And I believe that Adam knew by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, that Abel had been slain by his brother; for he spoke at once concerning the murder, "What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground;" although Cain all the time endeavored to conceal the deed.

PART V. HOW CAIN WAS PUNISHED FOR HIS MURDER.

I. And if Eve heard these words spoken to Cain by his father; what do we think must have been the grief and horror of her mind! They must indeed have been beyond all description. But the calamity fell still nearer and heavier upon Adam himself. For as he was the father, he was compelled as his duty thus to rebuke his son and to excommunicate him from his family and from the Church of God for his sin. And although he did not slay him, for the law concerning punishing a murderer by death, which is pronounced hereafter in the ninth chapter, was given after the patriarchs saw murders becoming frequent; and though inspired by the Holy Spirit so to do, he even "set a mark upon his son, lest anyone finding him should kill him;" yet it was an awful punishment which was inflicted on Cain and upon all his posterity. For in addition to the personal curse of bearing about this mark of a murderer he was excommunicated from his family, driven from the sight of his parents and from the society of his brothers and sisters, who still continued with their parents, as in the Church of God.

Now Adam could not have performed all this awful duty without the deepest pain; nor could Eve have heard all that Adam said without the same indescribable anguish. For a father is a father, and a son is a son. Adam therefore would willingly have spared his son and would willingly have retained him at home. And we do now sometimes see murderers reconciled to the brothers of those whom they have murdered. But in this terrible case no place was left for reconciliation. Cain is bidden at once to be a vagabond upon the face of the earth. The pain therefore of the parents was doubled. They see one of their sons slain by the other; and now they see the slayer excommunicated by the judgment of God and cut off forever from the society of the rest of his brethren.

Moreover when we here speak of excommunication from the Church, you are not to have in mind our present Churches, magnificent structures superbly built with carved stones. The temple or Church of Adam was a certain tree, as in paradise; or a certain little hill under the open heaven, at which they assembled together to hear the Word of God and to offer their sacrifices, for which purpose they had altars erected, and God was present with them when they thus offered their sacrifices and heard his Word, as is manifest from the divine presence at the offering of Abel.

And other portions of sacred history testify that altars were erected in the open air and that sacrifices were there offered. And indeed the same practice for many reasons would be useful even now; that we might assemble together in the open air, pray with bended knees, preach the Word, give thanks to God and bless each other, etc. It was from a temple of this kind and from such a Church, not a conspicuous and magnificent Church in a certain place, that Cain was ejected or excommunicated. He was thus doubly punished; first, by a corporal punishment, because he was cursed as a vagabond in the earth with the mark of a murderer set upon him; and secondly, by a spiritual punishment, because he was cast out by excommunication, as from another paradise, and ejected from the temple and Church of God.

Lawyers also have made much use of this passage of the holy Scriptures, and have treated it with becoming dignity, seeing, as they did, that the Lord inquired into the matter before he passed condemnation upon the murderer. The Scripture therefore the framers of laws have so applied, as to determine thereby, that no man should be condemned until his cause had been fully known; nor until he had first been called to the bar of judgment, had been convicted, and had confessed his guilt. We have seen the same also before in the case of Adam. "And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?" Gen. 3:9. And again further on, "I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know," Gen. 11:5; 18:21.

Let us however, leaving for the present all civil and political doctrine, look at the all-blessed theological or divine doctrine and consolation, contained in this, when it is recorded that the Lord inquired for Abel after his death. For in this fact we have made manifest unto us the resurrection of the dead. Because God by this inquiry testified that he was the God of Abel, though now dead; for he inquired after him though now slain and no more. From this passage therefore we may frame this most immovable argument; that if there were no one who had the care of us after this life, Abel would not have been inquired for after he was slain. But God does here inquire after Abel, even after he is taken away out of this life, he has not a will to forget him, he still retains the remembrance of him; he asks "Where he is." God therefore we see is the God of the dead. My meaning is that even the dead, as we here see, still live in the memory of God and have a God who cares for them, and saves them in another life beyond and different from this corporal life in which saints are thus afflicted.

This passage therefore we repeat is most worthy our observation, in which we see that God had great care of Abel, even when dead; and that on account of Abel though dead he excommunicated Cain, and visited him with destruction even while living, though he was the first-born. This therefore is great and glorious indeed, that Abel though dead was still alive and canonized, as we call it, in another life; a canonization far more blessed and more really divine than is the state of any of those whom the Pope has ever canonized! The death of Abel was indeed horrible; for he did not suffer death without excruciating torment nor without many agonies of tears. And yet his death was a goodly death; for now he lives a better and more blessed life than he did before. For this corporal life of ours is lived in sins and is ever in danger of death. But that life which is to come is eternal and perfectly free from all trials and troubles, both of the body and of the soul.

No! God does not inquire after the sheep and the oxen that are slain, but he does inquire after the men who are slain. Men therefore have the hope of a resurrection. They have a God who inquires after them, even after their death in the flesh, and who brings them back from that death unto eternal life, a God who inquires after their blood as most "precious" to him, as the Psalmist also says, "Precious in the sight of Jehovah is the death of his saints," Ps. 116:15.

This inquiry for the saints after their death and this their resurrection, are the glory of the human race, obtained for it by the Seed of the woman, which bruised the serpent's head. And the case of Abel is the first example of this promise which was made to Adam and Eve; and by this example God showed that the serpent harmed not Abel, although he caused him to be thus murdered by his brother. This was indeed an instance of the serpent's "bruising the heel" of the woman's Seed. But when he attempted to bite his head, that is, his life, he himself was crushed. For God, in answer to Abel's faith in the promised Seed, required his blood after his death and proved himself thereby to be Abel's God still. This is all proved by what follows.

V. 10. And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Cain's sin hath hitherto lain "at the door." And the preceding circumstances plainly show how hard he struggled to keep his sin asleep. For, being interrogated by his father concerning his brother Abel, and his father having asked him where he was, he adds to his murder absolute falsehood. And this answer of Cain moreover shows that the words of the inquiry were spoken by Adam in his own person, and not in the person of the divine Majesty. For Cain considers that the deed was hidden from his father, of course as being mere man, but he could not have so thought concerning the divine Majesty. Therefore had it been God who had spoken to him in his own proper divine Person, he would have returned a different answer. But as he thought that he was speaking to a man only he denied the deed he had done altogether, saying, "I know not." As if he had added, There are numerous perils by which a man may perish. He may be destroyed by wild beasts; he may be drowned in some river; or he may lose his life by some other death.

And Cain no doubt thought that his father would imagine any other death of Abel than that his own brother had perpetrated such a deed as to murder him. But Cain could not deceive the Holy Spirit in Adam. Adam therefore then speaks openly in the person of God and at once convicts him of the murder, saying, "What hast thou done?" As if he had said, "Why dost thou persist in denying the deed; be assured that thou canst not deceive God, who hath revealed to me all. Thou thinkest that the blood of thy brother is hidden by the earth with which thou hast concealed it. But it is not so absorbed by the earth and concealed by it as to prevent its crying aloud unto God." Thus did Adam by the Spirit of God indeed wake in Cain his sin lying asleep "at the door," and drag it forth to light.

The text now before us therefore is full of consolation to the saints to support them against the enemies and murderers of the Church; for it teaches us that our afflictions and sufferings, and the shedding of our blood, fill heaven and earth with their cries. I believe therefore that Cain was so terror-struck in his mind by these words of his father and that he was so confused and astounded that he knew not what to say nor what to do. For no doubt his thoughts were, "If my father Adam thus knows all the circumstances of the murder which I have committed, how can I any longer doubt that the whole is known unto God, unto angels, and unto heaven and earth. Whither therefore can I flee? Which way can I turn, wretched man that I am?"

It is exactly the same with murderers to this day. They are so harassed with the stings of conscience, after the crime of murder has been committed, that they are always in a state of alarm. It seems to them that heaven and earth have put on a changed aspect toward them and they know not whither to flee, so awful a thing is this crying of blood that has been shed and so horrible an agony is an accusing conscience.

But it is just the same also under all other atrocious sins. Those who commit them experience the same distresses of mind, when sorrow of spirit lays hold of them for what they have done. The whole creation seems changed toward them, and even when they speak to persons with whom they have been familiar, and when they hear the answers which they make, the very sound of their voice appears to them altogether changed and their countenances seem to wear an altered aspect. Whichever way they turn their eyes, all things are clothed as it were with mourning and horror. So fierce and destroying a monster is a guilty conscience. Unless therefore such great sinners are succored and upheld from above, they must put an end to their existence from anguish and intolerable pain and despair.

In this place also Moses adopts his usual brevity, which however exceeds in force all words. In the first place, he makes use of a very striking figure of speech when he attributes to the shed blood of Abel the cry of a voice which fills heaven and earth. For how can that voice be small or weak which is uttered from earth and fills the ears of God in heaven. Abel therefore who when alive was patient under injuries, gentle and placid of spirit, now, when dead and buried in the earth, is utterly unable to endure the injury he has received. He who before dared not utter a syllable of complaint against his brother, now cries aloud and so engages the attention of God by his cry that God himself descends from heaven and charges the murderer with his crime. Moses therefore here uses the strongest term. He does not say, "The voice of thy brother's blood speaketh unto me from the ground," but "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me" etc., as heralds proclaim their intelligence aloud, when with exerted voice they call men together to a public assembly.

And all these things are thus written, as I have observed, to cause us to see that our God is merciful and that he loves his saints, has a peculiar care of them, and inquires about them, and searches them out; and that on the contrary he is angry with the murderers of his saints, hates them and will assuredly punish them. And this consolation is most necessary for us; for, when we are oppressed by our enemies and murderers, we are apt to conclude that our God has forgotten us and has thrown off all care of us. For we think within ourselves that if God did care for us, he would not permit such things to come upon us. And Abel might also have thought the same, saying to himself, God surely cares nothing for me; for if he did, he would not suffer me thus to be murdered by my brother.

But only look at what follows, and see whether God had not all the while a greater care of Abel than Abel could possibly have had of himself. For how could Abel, had it been possible for him to have survived the murder, have inflicted on his brother such vengeance as God here inflicts upon him, after his death, by his brother's hands? How could he, if alive, execute such awful judgment on his brother as God here executes? For now Abel's blood cries aloud unto God, who while alive was of a spirit the most gentle and meek. Abel, now dead, accuses his brother before God of being a murderer; whereas if alive he would bear all the injuries of his brother in silence, and would even conceal all his feelings under them. For who was it that betrayed Cain and accused him of having slain his brother? Does not the text here tell us that the accuser was the blood of the murdered Abel? Yes! that blood still fills the ears of God and of men with its cries which have not yet ceased.

These things, I say, are all full of consolation; especially unto us who now suffer persecution from the Popes and wicked princes on account of our doctrine. They have exercised toward us the utmost cruelty and have vented their rage against godly men, not in Germany only, but in other parts of Europe also. And all this sin is disregarded by the papacy, as if it were nothing but a joke. Nay, the Papists really consider it to be the "service" of God, John 16:2. All this sin therefore as yet "lieth at the door." But it will be awaked and made manifest in its time. For the blood of that best and most faithful of martyrs, Leonard Caizer, which was shed in Bavaria, cries aloud still. Nor has the cry of the blood of Henry of Zutphan, shed by his own countrymen, ceased; nor the blood of our brother Anthony of England, poured out by his English enemies. Not to mention a thousand others, who although their names are not so prominent and renowned were yet fellow-sufferers with confessors and martyrs. The blood of all these, I say, cries aloud still, and that cry will in its time cause God to descend from heaven and execute judgment in the earth, a judgment which will be awful and intolerable to the enemies of the Gospel.

Let us not think therefore that our blood is disregarded of God. Let us not imagine for a moment that God regardeth not our afflictions. No! he collects all our tears, and puts them into his bottle, Ps. 56:8. The cry of the blood of all the godly who have thus been slain penetrates the clouds, enters the heavens, and comes even unto the throne of God, and moves him to come forth and vindicate the blood of the righteous that has been shed, Ps. 79:10. And in the same manner as these things are written for our consolation, so are they also written for the terror of our adversaries. For what think you can be more awe-striking to our tyrants to hear than that the blood of all they have slain continually cries aloud and accuses them before God? God is indeed long-suffering, especially now toward the end of the world; and therefore sin lieth the longer "at the door." Vengeance does not immediately follow. But it is sure and certain that God is most righteously offended with all this sin, and that he will never suffer it to pass away unpunished.

Such is the judgment of God on Cain. But I believe that this judgment was not executed on the first day of the murder, but that some time intervened between the murder and this terror on Cain. For God is in his nature long-suffering, because he waits for the returning of sinners to himself. But he does not on that account omit or forget to punish them. For he is the righteous judge both of the living and of the dead, as we confess in the creed of our faith. God therefore exercised this his judgment in the very beginning of the world, memorable in the case of these two brothers. He judged and condemned the living murderer, and justified the slain righteous Abel. And he excommunicated Cain and drove him into those agonies of soul that the space of the whole creation seemed too narrow to contain him. For from the moment he saw that God would be the avenger of his brother's "crying blood," he found safety nowhere. While to Abel on the contrary the space both of earth and of heaven gives an unbounded latitude of security.

Why should we ever doubt therefore that God ponders and numbers in his heart the afflictions of his people, and that he measures our tears and inscribes them all on adamantine tablets? These tears the enemies of the Church of Christ can never erase by any device of theirs, but by their repentance alone for what they have done to his saints. Manasses was a terrible tyrant and a most inhuman persecutor of the godly. And his banishment and captivity would never have sufficed to have blotted out these sins. But when he acknowledged his sin and repented in truth, then the Lord showed him mercy.

So Paul had, and so the Pope and the bishops have now only one way left them, to acknowledge their sin and to supplicate the forgiveness of God. But as they do not this God will surely require at their hands in his fury the blood of the godly. Let no one be doubtful of this. So here Abel is dead, but Cain is still alive. But O! good God! what a life of misery does he live! For his wishes are that he had never been born. Because he ever hears the voice of his excommunication and expects every moment death and the vengeance of God upon his sin. And the awful case of our adversaries and of the Church's tyrants shall in its time be exactly the same.

II. V. 11. And now cursed art thou from the ground, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

Thus far have we heard how the sin of Cain was revealed by the crying blood of his brother Abel; and that he was hereby convicted of the murder by his father Adam, and that the judgment of God concerning the two brothers was, that the one should not only be justified but canonized, as we say, and declared to be a saint, and the first fruits as it were of this blessed Seed of the righteous, but that the other brother the first-born should be condemned and excommunicated or cast out as the following sacred narrative now shows. For Moses now proceeds to record the punishments which were inflicted of God on this fratricide.

And here in the first place the carefulness and discrimination of the Holy Spirit, even "from the beginning," is most worthy of our observation. For above, when the punishment was inflicted on Adam for his sin, the person of Adam was not cursed, but the earth only. And even the earth was not cursed absolutely in itself, but a certain excuse, as it were, was made for it. For the curse was pronounced thus: "Cursed is the ground for thy sake," Gen. 3:17. Hence it is that Paul says, Rom. 8:20, "For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly," that is, not of its own will or fault. But because the earth instrumentally caused man to become a sinner; therefore also the earth was compelled to bear the curse as the instrument, in the same manner as gold, the sword, etc., are cursed, not in themselves, but because men sin by their means. This is a most beautiful reasoning as it were in the Holy Spirit, when he thus distinguishes between the earth and Adam. He makes the curse fall on the earth, but preserves the person of Adam.

But in the instance before us the Holy Spirit speaks of Cain otherwise. He curses the person of Cain. And why is this? Is it because the sin of Cain, as a murderer, was greater than the sin of Adam and Eve? Not so. But because Adam was that root from whose flesh and loins Christ, that blessed Seed, should be born. This Seed therefore is that which was spared. For the sake of this blessed Seed, the fruit of the loins of Adam, the curse is transferred from the person of Adam to the earth, the very instrument. So that Adam bears the curse of the earth, but his person is not cursed; because from his posterity Christ was to be born.

But because Cain by his sin fell from this glory of being the root of the blessed Seed; therefore his person is cursed. And the Holy Spirit says to him, "Cursed art thou," that we might understand that he was cut off from the glory of the promised Seed and was condemned never to have in his posterity such a seed as that Seed, through which the blessing should come. This was Cain's rejection from all that stupendous glory of the promised Seed. For Abel was now slain; therefore there could now be no posterity from him. But Adam was appointed still to serve God by his generating children. In Adam alone therefore, Abel being slain, and Cain being accursed and rejected, the hope of the blessed Seed rested until Seth was born unto him.

The words of the Holy Spirit here are indeed few, when he says to Cain, "Cursed art thou." But they are words worthy the deepest and most diligent consideration. The words are in their import, as if the Holy Spirit had said to Cain, "Thou art no longer he from whom the blessed Seed can be hoped for." By these few words therefore Cain is rejected forever and is cut off as a branch from its stem; so that he can no longer hope for that glory which he so much strove to hold fast. For Cain's great desire was that the glory of this future blessing should be propagated from his loins and proceed from his posterity. But the more he strove to secure this glory, the further he was from obtaining it. And just so it is with all the wicked; for the more they labor to accomplish their purposes, the more surely they fail and fall.

And here begin, as we observed on the offerings of Cain and Abel, the two churches, which are ever at perfect enmity with each other; the Church of Adam and the godly which possesses the hope and promise of the blessed Seed; and the church of Cain, which lost this hope and promise by sin and never could recover it. For in the Deluge the whole posterity of Cain was utterly destroyed, so that no prophet nor saint, nor any head of a church of the posterity of Cain was left in existence; so utterly were all things denied to Cain and taken from him by this one word, when the Holy Spirit said to him, "Cursed art thou."

But the expression "From the earth" is added. This is as it were a tempering of the awful wrath of God upon Cain. For if the Holy Spirit had said "From heaven," it would have taken away the hope of salvation from the whole posterity of Cain forever. But since the expression is, "From the earth," the fall of Cain's posterity from the promise and glory of the blessed Seed is threatened and determined; and yet a door was left open by which it might come to pass that some private persons of the generation of Cain might, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, join themselves to the posterity and Church of Adam, and be saved; as indeed in after ages it came to pass. For although the Jews alone retained the glory of giving birth to this blessed Seed and possessed the promise which was in him, according to the Psalm, "He hath not dealt so with any nation, and as for his ordinances, they have not known them," Ps. 147:20; yet the Gentiles had the right of beggars, if I may so express it; and by begging they obtained the same blessing through the divine mercy, which the Jews possessed through the true posterity of Adam or the promise of God.

In like manner also all rule in the Church was absolutely denied to the Moabites and Amorites, and yet many private individuals among them embraced the religion of the Jews. It was thus also that all right in the Church was taken away from Cain and his posterity absolutely. Yet so that permission was left them to beg as it were for this grace. This right of being beggars was not taken from them. For Cain, because of his sin, was cast out from the right of sitting at the family table of Adam. But the right was left him in his posterity to beg and gather up as dogs the crumbs that fell from his father's table, Math. 15:26, 27. This is signified by the Hebrew expression, MIN HAADAMA, "From the earth."

I make these observations because there is a great probability that many of the posterity of Cain, in the earliest ages of the world, joined themselves to the holy patriarchs. But they abode in the Church as private persons only and without any office in it, as those who had utterly lost the promise of the blessed Seed being born from their body and posterity. And the loss of this promise was a serious matter to them. And yet this great curse was so mitigated toward them, that there was granted to them, as we have said, the right of being beggars for it as it were. Heaven was not absolutely denied them, provided they would join the true Church; as it is written, and particularly described in Is. 56:3-8.

But this joining the true Church among his posterity Cain strove to hinder in various ways. For he set up new forms of worship and invented numerous ceremonies; that thereby he also might appear to be the Church. Those however who departed from him and joined the true Church were saved; although they were compelled to despair of the glory of Christ being born from their body or posterity. But let us now return to the sacred text.

Moses here uses a very striking personification. He represents the earth as being a dreaded beast, when he speaks of her as having opened her mouth and swallowed the innocent blood of Abel. But why does he speak of the earth in terms so terrible, when all these horrid things were transacted without her will or knowledge? Nay, since the earth is a good creature of God and these things were done against her will, and her struggle to prevent them? For Paul, as we have just observed, says, "The creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly," etc., Rom. 8:20. My reply is, this was done, and the Spirit thus spoke, according to Moses, as a terror to Adam and to all his posterity, that they might live in the fear of God and dread the sin of murder. For the words of Adam mean and are as if he had said, "Behold the earth hath opened her mouth and swallowed the blood of thy brother; but she ought to have swallowed thee, the murderer. The earth indeed is a good creature, and is good to the good and the godly; but to the wicked she is full of yawnings and loud cries." It is to this end that Moses records the Holy Spirit as having used these terrible expressions in reference to the earth through the mouth of Adam. It was to strike terror and confusion into murderers. Nor is there any doubt that Cain, after he heard these things from the mouth of his angry father, was terror-struck in his soul like Judas and overwhelmed with confusion, so that he knew not which way to turn. The expressions, "Which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand," are indeed full of terror; and they point out the awfulness of this murder, in deeper colors than any pictures could represent it.

V. 12a. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its strength.

The Lord above said unto Adam, "Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee." But here the Holy Spirit speaks to Cain otherwise. His words before us are as if he had said, "Thou hast watered and manured the earth, not with enriching dung and reviving rain, but with thy brother's blood. Therefore the earth shall be to thee less productive than to others. For the blood which thou hast shed shall hinder the strength and the fruitfulness of the earth to thee." And this is the second part of the punishment; namely, the bodily curse on Cain: that, although the earth should be just alike cultivated by Adam and by Cain, yet it should be more fruitful to Adam than to Cain, and should yield its return to the former for his labors; but that to the labors of Cain it should not yield any such returns of fruitfulness on account of the blood shed; which should hinder it, though by nature desirous to return her fruitfulness and strength for all labors of men.

But here also we must offer a remark concerning the grammatical peculiarity of the original language. In the present passage, Moses terms the earth, HAADAMA. But in the passage which follows, "A fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth," he uses the term AREZ. Now ADAMA signifies, according to grammatical interpreters, "that part of the earth which is cultivated," in which trees grow and other fruits of the earth which are adapted for food. But AREZ signifies "the whole earth," whether cultivated or uncultivated. This curse of God therefore properly has reference to that part of the earth which is cultivated for food. And the curse implies that where one ear of wheat should bring forth three hundred grains for Adam, it should bring forth scarcely ten grains for Cain the murderer; and for the end, that Cain might behold on every side of him proofs that God hates and punishes the shedding of blood.

V. 12b. A fugitive and a wanderer (vagabond) shalt thou be in the earth.

And this was a third punishment contained in the divine curse on Cain, which continues to rest on murderers to this day. For unless they find reconciliation they wander about, having no fixed abode or certain dwelling-place.

We have here two original terms, NO VANOD, "a vagabond," and "a fugitive," but my manner is to distinguish them thus. I consider NO to signify, "the uncertainty of the place in which you are or dwell;" that is, how long you can remain there. In the same manner as the Jews at this day are "vagabonds" or wanderers; because they have no certain or fixed dwelling-place and are in hourly fear lest they should be compelled to go forth from where they may be dwelling. But NOD signifies, the "uncertainty of the place to which you can go;" that is, the not knowing where to go; so that, while on the one hand you have no certain place in which to dwell, to that misery is added the further misery, that when you must leave your present uncertain place of abode, you know not whither to go. The original NO VANOD therefore contains in it a double punishment: the not being able to remain with any certainty in any place, and the not knowing whither to go, when you are driven from your present uncertain place of abode; as we find it also in Psalm 109:10, "Let his children be continually vagabonds." VENOA IANUU BANAV, that is "let them, by wandering, wander;" or, "let them be wanderers indeed, or utter wanderers;" that is, let them never find a place in which they can dwell with certainty or safety. If they are this year in Greece let them be compelled the next year to wander into Italy; and so on perpetually.

Just such is evidently the miserable state of the Jews at the present day. They can fix their dwelling-place nowhere permanently. And to this calamity of the Jews of the present day God adds another misery in the case of Cain that, when he is driven from one place of abode, he should not know where to find another, and thus should live suspended as it were between heaven and earth, not knowing where to stop nor where to find any continuing place of rest or refuge. And in this manner was the sin of Cain visited with a threefold punishment. In the first place he is deprived of all spiritual or Church glory, for the promise concerning the blessed Seed being born from his posterity is taken away from him. In the second place the earth is cursed to him in her fruitfulness, which is a domestic punishment reaching to all his provision for this life. And thirdly the punishment of a political or civil calamity is inflicted on him, in his being made a vagabond and never able to find any certain place of abode or rest.

But still a way of joining the true Church is left him, but without the promise! For as I have said, if any of Cain's posterity did join themselves to the true Church and to the holy fathers they were saved. And thus there was left them the domestic privilege, but without the blessing. And so the political privilege was preserved to them that they might build a city and dwell there, but for how long was still left uncertain. Cain therefore in his posterity is still a beggar as it were in the Church, in the domestic household, and in the civil state.

And moreover with these punishments of Cain there was joined as an alleviation that he should not be slain immediately on account of the murder which he had committed; as also afterwards a like Levitical law was ordained concerning man-slayers. But Cain was preserved alive as an example to others that they might fear God and flee from the sins of murder. Let these observations suffice therefore concerning the sin of Cain and the judgment and vengeance of God on the same.

But there are some who here reply and indeed the saints themselves often so argue to themselves that the godly also sometimes endure these same curses, while the wicked on the contrary are free from them. They look at the Apostle Paul as an instance, where he says that he also "wandered about and had no certain dwelling-place." And verily our own condition is precisely the same at the present day. We preach to the Churches and have either no certain dwelling-places at all or are driven into banishment or are in fear of banishment every hour. And the same was the condition of Christ, of his apostles and prophets, and of the patriarchs of old.

In the same manner the Scriptures say concerning Jacob, "The elder shall serve the younger," Gen. 25:23. But does not Jacob become a servant when we see him a most distressed supplicant? Does he not from fear of his brother haste away into exile? Does he not on his return home supplicate his brother and fall on his knees before him? Is not Isaac also seen to be a most miserable beggar? Gen. 6:1-35. Abraham his father also goes into exile among the nations and possesses not in all the world a place to set his foot, as Stephen says, Acts 7:1-5. On the other hand, the mocking and wicked Ishmael is a king and from him are born the dukes of the land of Midian, Gen. 25:16, before Israel entered into the land of promise. In the same manner it will be seen in the 17th verse of the present chapter that Cain first built the city Enoch, and from him were born shepherds, workers in metals, and inventors of music. All these things seem to the world to prove that the curses of God are wrongly confined to Cain and his posterity, seeing that these same curses frequently rest on the true Church; while on the contrary it is well with the wicked, and they flourish.

These things are often a stumbling block, not to the world only, but to the saints themselves as the Psalms in many places testify. And the prophets also are frequently found to grow indignant, as does Jeremiah, when they see the wicked possess freedom as it were from the evils of life, while they are oppressed and afflicted in various ways. Men may therefore naturally inquire, Where is the curse of the wicked? Where is the blessing of the godly? Is not rather the contrary the truth? Cain is a vagabond and settled nowhere; and yet Cain is the first man that builds a city and has a certain place to dwell in. But we will reply to these inquiries more fully hereafter. We will now proceed with the text of Moses.

PART VI. CAIN'S CONDUCT UPON BEING PUNISHED.

V. 13. And Cain said unto Jehovah, My punishment (iniquity) is greater than I can bear (than can be remitted).

Here Moses seems to have fixed a cross for the grammarians and the Rabbins. For they crucify this passage in various ways. Lyra recites the opinions of some who explain this passage affirmatively, considering it to mean that Cain said in his despair that his sin was greater than could be pardoned; and it is thus that we have rendered this expression of Cain. Augustine also retained this view of the passage, for he says, "Thou liest, Cain; for the mercy of God is greater than the misery of all the sinners of the whole world put together."

The Rabbins however expound the passage as being a negative interrogation, making Cain to say, "Is my iniquity greater than can be remitted?" But if this rendering be the true one, Cain not only does not acknowledge his sin, but excuses it and moreover insults God for laying upon him a punishment greater than he deserved. But it is just in this way that the Rabbins almost everywhere corrupt the sense of the Scriptures. Consequently I begin to hate them and I admonish all who read them, to read them with great caution and judgment. For although they did possess the knowledge of some things, by tradition as it were from the fathers, yet they corrupted them in various ways; and therefore they often deceived by those corruptions, even Jerome himself. Nor did the poets of old ever so fill the world with their fables as the wicked Jews did the Scriptures with their absurd opinions. A great labor therefore is thereby thrown in our way to get hold of the pure text and to clear it from their false opinions and comments.

The cause of all this error is that some are grammarians only, but know nothing of the divine things concerned; that is, they are not divines also; therefore they are compelled to dream and to guess, and thereby to crucify both themselves and the Scriptures. For how is it possible that such persons should be right judges of things which they do not understand? Now, the divine subject matter in the present passage is that Cain is accused in his own conscience. And no one, not only no wicked man, but not even the devil himself can endure this judgment of his own conscience; as James also witnesses, "The devils also believe and tremble before God," James 2:19. And Peter also says, "Whereas angels which are greater in power and might cannot endure that judgment which the Lord will exercise upon blasphemers," 2 Pet. 2:11. So also Manasses in his prayer, Vs. 4, 5, confesses that all men tremble before the face of the Lord's anger.

All these things therefore fully prove that there was not in Cain under his judgment enough spirit left to enable him to set himself against God and to expostulate with him. For God is an almighty adversary to contend with, and he always makes his first attack upon the heart and fastens his grip on the conscience. Now of this matter the Rabbins know nothing, nor have any understanding of it whatever; and therefore they speak on this judgment of God as if it were a matter transacted before men, in judgment where a fact is either falsely denied or vainly excused before the judge. The judgment of God however is quite a different matter. For there, as Christ says, "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned," Math. 12:37. Cain therefore does acknowledge his sin in the present passage, but he does not grieve so much concerning his sin as concerning his punishment for it. Cain's words therefore are here to be understood affirmatively, and they show the horribleness of his despair.

A further proof of Cain's entire despair is, that he does not utter one word of reverence. He never mentions the name of God or of his father. His conscience is so confused and so overwhelmed with terror and despondency that he is not able to think of any hope of pardon. So the Epistle to the Hebrews gives the same description of Esau, saying, "Who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright. For ye know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for change of mind, though he sought it diligently with tears," Heb. 12:16, 17. Thus in the present instance Cain feels his punishment, but he grieves more for his punishment than for his sin. And all persons in like despair do just the same.

The two original words of this passage, MINNESO and AVON, again form two crosses for grammarians. Jerome translates the clause, "My iniquity is greater than can be pardoned." Sanctes, the grammarian of Pagnum, a man of no mean erudition and evidently a diligent scholar, renders the passage, "My punishment is greater than I can bear." But by such a rendering, we shall make of Cain a martyr and of Abel a sinner. And concerning the original word NOSA, I have before observed, that when it is applied to sin, it signifies "to lift sin up, or off, on high;" that is, "to take it out of the way." Just as we by the use of a common figure say, "to remit sin," or "the remission of sins," as we have in, Ps. 32, ASCHRE NESU PESCHA, which, when rendered literally, means, "being made happy by having been relieved from crime or sin." We render it, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven;" that is, whose sin is taken away. As we have it also again, "The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity," NESU AVON, that is, "shall be relieved from their crime or sin," Is. 33:24.

The other original term AVONI, grammarians derive from the verb ANAH, which signifies "to be afflicted," as in Zacharia, "Behold thy king cometh unto thee poor or afflicted," Zach. 9:9. Our translation renders it "meek," etc., as we find it also Ps. 132:10, "Lord remember David and all his meekness, or lowliness;" that is, "all his afflictions." From this same original root is derived the expression, "low estate," or "lowliness," of his handmaiden, used by the Virgin Mary in her song, Luke 1:48. It is the meaning of the original word AVONI which induced Sanctes to render it, in the present passage, punishment.

But here the original AVONI signifies "iniquity," or "sin," as it does also in many other passages of the Holy Scriptures, which appears more plainly from the verb to "lift up" or "to lift off," which stands connected with it. Hence it is that grammarians, who are nothing more than grammarians, and who know nothing of divine things, find their crosses in all such passages; and crucify, not only the Scriptures, but themselves and their hearers. But in the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures the subject or divine matter and sense are first to be determined; and when that appears in all respects consistent with itself, then the grammatical propriety is to be explained. The Rabbins however take a directly contrary course. And hence it grieves me much that divines and the holy fathers so frequently follow them.

V. 14. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the ground; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth; and it will come to pass, that whosoever findeth me will slay me.

From these words it still more plainly appears that the sentence and curse on Cain were pronounced by Jehovah through the mouth of Adam. Cain here acknowledges first that he is driven out from the domestic and political communion; and secondly that he was excommunicated from the Church.

Of the difference of the meaning of the original words ADAMAH and EREZ we spoke above. We have shown that EREZ signifies the whole earth generally; but that ADAMAH means the cultivated part of the earth in particular. The meaning therefore of these words of Cain is, "I am now compelled to flee from thy presence and from that place of the earth which I have cultivated. The whole world indeed lies before me, but I must be a fugitive and a vagabond upon the earth; that is, I shall have no certain dwelling place." In the same way murderers among us are punished with exile and become vagabonds in the earth. These words therefore afford a further evidence of the manner in which the words, which Adam said above are to be understood, "Cursed art thou upon earth." They refer to Cain's being driven away into banishment. This part of Cain's punishment therefore is a civil or political punishment, by which he is shut out from the whole civil community.

But that which Cain next adds, "And from thy face shall I be hid," is an ecclesiastical or Church punishment. It is an excommunication from the true Church of God. For as the priesthood and the kingdom rested with Adam, and Cain on account of his sin was excommunicated from Adam, he was thereby also deprived of the glory both of the priesthood and of the kingdom. But why Adam adopted this punishment of expelling his son from him and excommunicating him from his presence, is explained by the words which we just before heard from the father's mouth, "When thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength;" as if he had said, "Thou art cursed and thy labors are cursed also. Therefore if thou shalt remain with us upon earth it cannot be but that both thou and we also must perish with hunger. For thou hast stained the earth with thy brother's blood, and wherever thou art thou must bear about the blood of thy brother with thee, and even the earth herself will exact of thee the punishment of that blood by not yielding to thee her strength."

There is a sentence almost the same as this pronounced on Cain by Adam in 1 Kings 2:29-33, where Solomon gives commandment to Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, saying, "Slay Joab, and thou shalt take away the innocent blood which was shed by Joab from me and my father's house. And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head. But unto David, and unto his seed, and unto his house, and unto his throne, shall there be peace for ever from Jehovah." As if he had said, "If Joab suffer not this punishment of his unjust murder, the whole kingdom must suffer that punishment and be shaken from one end to the other by wars." It is just thus Adam speaks in the present passage. As if he had said, "If thou shalt remain on the earth here with us God will bring punishments upon us for thy sake, so that the earth will not yield to us her fruit."

But now let us offer our reply to the question above raised concerning Cain and his posterity not being the only persons subject to the curse of wandering and affliction, seeing that the saints also, it is argued, are subject to the same; and that Cain though thus cursed was yet the first who built a city, etc. It was said to Cain as his curse, "A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be upon earth." And yet Cain is the first man who builds a city, and his posterity from that time so increased that they seduced, oppressed, and so utterly overthrew the Church of God, as not to leave more than eight persons from the posterity of Seth remaining. The whole of the other multitude of mankind, who perished in the Flood, had followed Cain as the sacred text plainly declares, "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all that they chose," Gen. 6:1, 2. And it is also said that these sons of God, when they came unto the daughters of men, begat giants and mighty men, which were of old, men of renown, verse 4. As therefore Cain had so great and mighty a posterity and as he built the first city, how can it be true, men ask, that he was a fugitive and vagabond upon earth, according to the curse pronounced upon him?

We will reply therefore to the literal facts before us. For what we have said above in reference to the New Testament, concerning Paul and the apostles, and Christ himself, and the prophets, that is altogether a different subject. When Adam here says to Cain, "A fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be upon earth," he speaks these words to him to send him away; designedly joining no precept or direction therewith. He does not say to him, "Go to the east;" he does not say, "Go to the south;" he does not mention any one place to which he should go. He gives him no direction what to do. He simply sends him away, but as to whither he should go or what he should do, he expresses no concern. As to what the will and the way of his son may be hereafter, the father takes no care whatever. He adds no promise of protection. He does not say, "God will take care of thee;" nor, "God will defend thee." But as the whole wide heaven lies open to the bird, leaving him the liberty to fly where he will, but giving him a sight of no place in that heaven, to which he might flee in safety for protection from the attack of the other birds, so does Adam dismiss Cain. This Cain fully feels; and therefore it is that he adds the utterance, "And it shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me."

Now the condition of Adam in paradise was different from that of Cain, and better. Adam had sinned, and by his sin he had sunk under death. But when he was driven out of paradise God appointed to him by his command a certain employment, that he should till the earth in a fixed and certain place. God also clothed him with a covering of skins. This, as we have said above, was a sign that God would take care of him and defend him. And that which exceeded all things else, a glorious promise was made to the woman concerning her Seed, which should "bruise the serpent's head." But no one thing like these mercies was left to Cain. He was sent away absolutely without the mention of any certain place or any certain employment. No command was given him nor any promise made him. He was like a bird set loose in the wide heavens, as we have said, to wander in its flight where it may. Such was the state and meaning of Cain's being truly and properly "a vagabond," "a wanderer" without any fixed dwelling-place.

And thus unsettled and wandering are all who have not the Word and the command of God, by which a certain place of worship and a certain ministry are vouchsafed unto them. And just such were we under the papacy. There were plenty of ceremonies of worship, and of works and exercises. But all these were undertaken and done without any command of God. This was truly a Cain-like trial, to have no Word of God; not to know what to believe, nor what to hope, nor what to think; but to do all things and to undertake all things without any knowledge or hope concerning the event. For what monk ever existed who could affirm or know that he did any one thing rightly? For all things were mere human traditions and the inventions of mere human reason, without the Word. And in the midst of these things we all wandered about, fluctuating in our minds, like the wandering Cain; not knowing anything of what the judgment of God would be concerning us; whether he would look upon us with love or with hatred. And in this uncertainty were we all at that time taught and trained.

And in this same way were the whole posterity of Cain wanderers and unsettled. For they had no promise nor command of God and were without any certain rule either to live by or to die by. And if any of these did come to the knowledge of Christ and joined the true Church, this did not come to them through any promise of God, but through his pure mercy.

But Seth, who was born afterwards, had together with his posterity the certain promise, certain dwelling-places, a certain worship of God, and certain rites of worship. But Cain on the contrary was always essentially "a vagabond." For although Cain did build a city, yet he was ever in uncertainty how long he should retain it as a dwelling place; for he had no promise of God on which to depend. And whatever things we possess without the promise of God, how long we shall possess them is always an uncertainty. For Satan can either disturb them or take them away in a moment. On the other hand, when we move, fortified on every side by the command and promise of God, Satan's strivings against us are all in vain, for God fortifies and secures by his command all that we possess. Although therefore Cain was the great lord as it were of the whole world and possessed all the riches of the world; yet because he was without the promise of the help of God and was thereby deprived of the guardianship of angels, he had nothing else to depend on, but human counsel and human reason. He was therefore truly "a vagabond" and unsettled wanderer.