Gen. iv. 8 — 10. And Cain talked ivith Abel his brother : and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slezv him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brothers keeper? And He said, What hast thou done ? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
IT is scarcely to be conceived how much iniquity there is in the heart of fallen man. That we have passions which incline us occasionally to deviate from the path of duty, is nothing more than what all feel and confess : but that we are ready to perpetrate all manner of evil, not excepting even murder itself, few are sufficiently candid or intelligent to acknowledge. This seems an excess of wickedness, of which human nature, unless in very extraordinary circumstances, is not capable. To such a charge most men would be ready to reply, " Is thy servant a dog, that I should do this thing?" But we may behold in Cain a just picture of ourselves. What he was by nature, that are we also. The first-born of Adam, begotten after his own fallen image, shews what all are, till renewed by grace : " they live in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another :" and their contempt of God is equal to all the other odious qualities that defile their souls. We cannot but be struck with this in the history of Cain, who having murdered his brother Abel, presumed even to insult his God. His conduct will come properly under our review, if we consider,
I. The Murder- In this awful transaction, there are two things to
be inquired into :
1. The manner in which it was perpetrated —
[Satan, in his assaults on man, can exert himself only by wiles and stratagems, not being permitted to exercise his power against us in any other way. But when he employs human agents in his service, he stirs them up to combine in ' their attacks " deceit and violence." Such were the weapons with which the blood-thirsty Cain sought the destruction of his