Moreover we have heard above the sacred record of "the seed of the woman" and "the seed of the serpent." And to this history Christ refers in his parable or allegory concerning the enemy who sowed in the night the evil seed, that is, wicked doctrine and evil inventions, Math. 13:28. Who does not at once see that such allegories as these are more appropriate, more illustrative, more useful and far superior to those allegories which Augustine, Lyra and others have introduced concerning the inferior power and the superior power of reason, on which we have dwelt in their place?
In like manner the closing of paradise and the stationing of a guard of Cherubim, with brandished swords of fire to prevent any one from re-entering, evidently signify nothing more or less than that man while living in the world "without," and destitute of faith in Christ, can endure neither the light of the law nor the light of the Gospel. And hence it is that Paul says concerning the Jews, "that they could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, and that Moses was obliged to put a veil over his face on that account," 2 Cor. 3:7, 13.
"The tree of death" in paradise represents the law, and "the tree of life" the Gospel or Christ. And to neither of these trees can any approach who have not faith in Christ. For they are prevented by the sword of the angels on guard, who cannot endure hypocrisy or poisonous self-righteousness. But who so acknowledges his sin and believes in Christ, to him the gate of paradise stands open, because he brings with him, not his own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ, which righteousness the Gospel therefore preaches unto all men, in order that all might rest upon it and be saved.
But there is no need that we should pursue this subject of allegories further. Let it suffice that we have offered these admonitions, that we might thereby direct those who use allegories to adopt those allegories alone, which the apostles have indicated and justified, and which have their sure foundation in the very letter and in the historical facts of the Scriptures.
But we must offer a word concerning the cherubim. Frequent mention is made of them throughout the holy Scriptures. In the Latin authors we find nothing stated concerning them. They merely observe that the termCHERUBsignifies a plentitude of knowledge. Among the Greek authors Dionysius speaks of the cherubim. There is a boasting report that Dionysius was a disciple of the Apostle Paul, but that is not true. Dionysius was a man full of the most vain absurdities, in which he abounds in his disputations concerning the heavenly and the ecclesiastical hierarchy. His imaginations make nine choirs, as so many ranks or spheres of heavenly beings. In the supreme hierarchy he places first the seraphim; next, the cherubim; next, thrones; next, dominions; next, powers; and lastly, principalities. And then in the lower or inferior hierarchy, he places first potentates; next, archangels; and last of all, angels. Now, who does not see that all these representations are nothing more nor less than idle and futile human inventions?
After all this he says there are in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, first bishops, then deacons, then sub-deacons, then readers, then exorcists. In such absurdities as these that great man, the disciple of the chief of the apostles, the great teacher of the Gentiles, was exercised! And yet, such is the boasted authority of this supposed great man, that inflated hypocrites set down all these, his foolish inventions, as if handed down to them by oracles from heaven. Whereas in all these follies there is not one word to be found concerning faith, nor one word of useful instruction in the holy Scriptures. And who after all told him that there were nine choirs of heavenly beings and potentates? And why moreover did the Franciscans afterward add a tenth sphere, as a sort of palace, in which the holy mother Mary might dwell? In a word, these are follies and absurdities adapted only for Papists to learn and admire, as a just punishment for their pertinacious war against all sound doctrine.
With respect therefore to theCherubI will offer my opinion as far as I have been enabled to form it from reading. The name Cherub appears to me to signify that florid countenance which we see in girls and young men in the blossom of their age. For this reason angels are represented in pictures as infants. So that by cherubim you may understand angels, as heavenly beings, appearing with a blooming countenance, and with brow free from wrinkle or sign of sorrow, and smoothly extended with joy, wearing a face plump and full with gladness, whether it be a human face or any other. The name Cherub therefore is a general appellation, a term which does not apply to any order of angels in particular, as Dionysius dreams, but has reference only to their general appearance, because they present themselves to men with a juvenile and florid aspect.
And this indeed is the opinion of the Jews themselves, who assert thatKERUBis a Chaldaic term and that the letterKappais a servile letter, and thatRUBsignifies a beautiful youth, who has a full and florid face; and they affirm that the angels are calledKERUBIM, as representing their florid and joyful and delightful countenance or appearance; and thus they are generally represented in paintings.
In like manner the name Seraphim is a general appellation of angels; a name derived from fire or burning on account of the quality of their form, as is shown in Numbers 21:6, where Moses says, "And the Lord sentHANNECHASCHIM HASSERAPHIM, 'fiery serpents' among the people;" or, "serpent Seraphim" (serpentes Seraphim); that is, "serpents burning or on fire." So that we may here understandSeraphimor fiery angels; that is, angels not only beautiful in their full and florid face, as areCherubim, but also fiery or shining as the angel is represented in the Gospel to have been, which sat on the stone at the tomb of our Lord, of whom Matthew says, "His countenance was like lightning," Math. 28:3; and as angels are also described by the Psalmist, when he says, "Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire," Ps. 104:4. And again, it is said, Luke 2:9, "That when the angel of the Lord came to the shepherds, the glory of the Lord shone round about them." Of the same description also was the countenance of Christ at his transfiguration on Mount Tabor, of whom it is said, "And his face did shine as the sun," Math. 17:2. The same also shall be our countenances, when we shall be raised again at the last day to enter into the glory Christ hath prepared for us.
With respect to what is written in the Books of Kings concerning "the Cherubims overlaid with gold,"Cherubici certini, we are there to understand these full and blooming countenances of angels, together with their wings, 1 Kings 6:28. Not that angels really have wings, but because they cannot otherwise be described. Hence it is that we find, Is. 6:6, that the angel, who comes flying with a joyous and beautiful countenance, such as angels are described on pictures of tapestry, is calledCHERUB. And if to this full and florid countenance there be added also brightness, such as was the shining countenance of Stephen, full of joy and delight, so that nothing but rays of joy dart from the eyes, such angels are calledSeraphim.
Such as these shall we also be. Our countenances shall shine as bright as the mid-day sun. There shall be no wrinkle, no contracted brow, no watery eyes; but as it is written, Rev. 21:4, "and God shall wipe all tears from our eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." Let us therefore hold fast this hope and live in the fear of God, until, being delivered from this life of affliction, we shall live that angelic and eternal life which is to come. Amen! Amen!
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 aBranchof 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 divinepromiseconcerning theSeedof 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 verbYADAhas 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 verbKANAH, 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 isEBELnotHABEL. Moreover the expressionHEBELis 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.
I. Now this is the first passage of the Scripture in which mention is made ofMINCHA,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 thisgreat 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 wordSACHAKis 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.