Such we may well conceive to be the strains in which Abel would now address you : and I pray God that they may sink down into our ears, and produce a saving effect upon our souls. Are there any here who are " going in the way of Cain"," and " hating those who are more righteous than themselves ^ ? " Ah ! think what misery attaches to such a state of mind, both in this world and the next. Even here, as God has said, " there is no peace to the wicked ; but they are like the troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt ^ :" and what will they be hereafter ? What does Cain now think of that piety that he despised, and of that enmity with which he persecuted it even unto death ? Now he knows who was right: and so will ye ere long, whether ye will now learn it or not. But O ! stop ere it be too late : and have recourse to that sacrifice which will avail for all who trust in it. And ye who are suffering for righteousness' sake, " marvel not as though some strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Abel's sufferings and of Christ's also, that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy ^."]
* Rev. ii. 10. If this be the subject of a Funeral Sermon, it may be proper here to shew what the deceased person did say, or would say.
u Jude, ver. 11. ^ \ John iii. 11, 12.
y Isai. Ivii. 20, 21. ^1 Pet. iv. 12, 13.