evequence of, his fm. But it was the high and glorious purpofe of God, that his beloved Son, the feed of the woman, having, in our fleth, per1-3 formed the most perfect and complete obedience, fhould be invefted with dominion and power to raise all men from the dead, and to give eternal to life to all them that tread in the fteps of his obedience. Thus, as by man came death, by man came alfo the refurrection from the dead; for, as in Adam all die, fo in Chrift fball all be made alive. 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22. Thus, or by the offence of ane, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even fo, by the righteoufnefs of one, the free gift came upon all men unto juftification. For as by one man's disobedience the many were made finners, fa by the obedi ence of one shall the many be made righteous. Rom, v. 18, 19.] ERE Cain and Abel perform an act of religious devotion, by Hwayofoblation The kind of worship was of divine or human inftitution. They who are of the latter opinion alledge," that we read of no command from "God for facrificing; therefore men did it of their own heads, out of a grateful inclination to return unto God fome of his own bleffings, and to acknowledge him the abfolute proprietor of all their "enjoyments; though they had no directions from him about it." Anfwer. This feems highly improbable. For how came Abel to offer his Sacrifice in faith of God's acceptance, (Heb. xi. 4.) if his faith had nothing to warrant it but his own imagination? Human imagination, or opinion, never was, or ever can be, either the ground or object of faith. It is faid, Gen. iv. 4. that God had refpect to, or fhewed his approbation of, both Abel and his offering; or in the Apoftle's words, he obtained witness, that himself was righteous, God teftifying of his gifts, that they were right, and offered in a right manner. On the other hand, he cenfured Cain as having prefented his Oblation in fuch manner as was not pleafing to God; which evidently fuppofes a previous infti tution, and a rule which Cain was, or might have been, acquainted with. For, had there not been fuch a rule given, how could he have been blamed for not obferving it? It is abfurd to fay, he tranfgreffed a rule of his own imagination and invention. The inftitution not being mentioned in a history fo concife, argues nothing. Other things are alfo omitted, as religious affemblies, Enoch's prophecy, Noah's preaching, the peopling of the world, or the increase of Adam's family. Things well known, or generally supposed, when the the hiftorian wrote, needed not to be mentioned, but might be taken for granted. The only proper and conclufive argument would be to prove, that in thofe early days they had no communication with, or revelation from God; and therefore, having no way of knowing what the "mind of the Lord was, were under a neceffity of inventing fomething "of their own." But this is far from being the cafe. God, in fome vifible form, frequently appeared, and made his mind known to Adam, and to all the fucceeding Patriarchs mentioned in the book of Genefis, for the fpace of 2315 years; yea, he converfed and reafoned with and inftructed Cain himfelf. When therefore Adam, and all the other Patriarchs, had the fulleft opportunity of knowing from God himself, what kind of worship was most acceptable to him, there was no need of their own invention; and it is abfurd to fuppofe that they followed no other guide. In the infancy of the church they wanted direction, and without doubt were directed in every thing relating to religion especially, fo far as was agreeable to that difpenfation. Doubtlefs Adam was inftructed by God to facrifice; and it is not improbable that those beafts, with the fkins of which Adam and Eve were clothed, Gen. iii. 21. were flain as Sacrifices. God certainly inftructed our first parents in the faith and worship which the alteration in their circumftances required. Having made a moft gracious covenant with them, (ver. 15 ) it is not unreafonable to fuppofe, that he alfo fignified to them, that they fhould, for a perpetual ratification and affurance of it to their faith, offer to him Sacrifices; for by the blood of Sacrifices covenants were ratified in aftertimes. The eating of the tree of life, was a covenanting action, (affuring immortality to their continued obedience) fuitable to a ftate of innocence. But the mactation of a living creature, (expreffing the deadly nature of fin, at the fame time that it affured them of eternal life through a facrificed Redeemer) was more fuitable to a state of guilt. Ver. 3. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, &c. ver. 4. And Abel alfo brought of the firflings of the flock, &c. "As there were some "folemn times of making their devout acknowledgments to God; fo, "I doubt not, there was fome fet place, where they affembled for that "purpose. For the Hebrew word for brought, is never ufed in rela❝tion to domeftic, or private Sacrifices; but always in relation to "thofe public Sacrifices which were brought to the door of the taber"nacle of the congregation. As Lev. iv. 4. He fhall bring Nam "the bullock to the door, &c. Which occurs all along, efpecially in "the ninth chapter of that book. "And therefore, I fuppofe, they brought thefe Sacrifices, here men❝tioned, to fome fixed [public] place, where the Shechinah, or glorious "prefence of God appeared. For, as they must have fome fettled place, "where they [publicly] performed facred offices, it is moft reasonable "to think it had, in thofe early days, refpect to the Shechinah, or Di"vine prefence, as well as afterwards under the Mofaic difpenfation, "[when the Divine Prefence refided] in the tabernacle and temple. "And therefore they are faid to appear before God, [Exod. xxiii. 17. ‹‹ xxxiv. 24. "xxxiv. 24. Pfal. xlii. 2,.&c. or to prefent themselves before the Lord, "Job. i. 6."*] That fome vifible token of the prefence of God appeared in their religious affemblies in thofe earliest days of the church, and fpake and converfed with them, as occafion required, is evident enough. So the Lord God appeared frequently and familiarly to Adam. He held a conference with Cain in fuch a manner as plainly fhews it was no extraordinary thing. And when the fons, or children, of God came together to prefent themselves before the Lord, the Lord is reprefented as difcourfing with Satan about the character and circumftances of Job. Job i. 6-12. ii. I-7. While men were not fo numerous, but that they might all affemble together at one place, probably the Shechinah ftatedly appeared among them every fabbath. But when they were fo numerous, that they could not ordinarily meet together once a week, and therefore were under a neceffity of performing their worship in feparate and remote places; yet the Shechinah, or token of the Divine Prefence, might fill remain and appear as ufual in that original place, where Adam and his immediate defcendents had firft attended upon divine fervice, and where the Patriarchs, in a right line defcended from Adam, had their place of refidence. There, probably, Noah builded his altar, and there the Lord converfed with him. Gen. viii. 20, &c. ix. 1—18. There Rebekah went to inquire of the Lord, Gen. xxv. 22, 23; and fhe received an answer, probably, from the Shechinah or Divine Prefence. From all this it feems not unlikely, that Cain and Abel's Offerings were performed before the whole affembly of Adam's family (which then must have been confiderably increased), and that the divine acceptance of the one, and rejection of the other, was fignified by fome vifible mark, which appeared and was obferved by the whole congregation. It would add very much to Cain's difguft to find himself fo openly difparaged, and funk fo much in the favour of God, and the efteem of the whole family, below his younger brother; over whom, on that fole account, as he was the first-born, he claimed pre-eminence, and expected, whatever his character was, pious or impious, to have been preferred before him. The mark by which the Lord God teftified his acceptance of Abel and his Sacrifice, was, probably, a ftream of fire iffuing from the Shechinah, which confumed his Sacrifice. So Gen. xv. 17. A fmoking furnace and burning lamp, i. e. the Shechinah, paffed between the pieces of the Sacrifice, and confumed them, in confirmation of the covenant. And we have many other examples of this kind in facred Hiftory; as when Mofes offered the firft great burnt-offering, Lev. ix. 24; when Gidean offered upon the rock, Judg. vi. 21; when David stayed the plague, I Chron. xxi. 26; and Solomon confecrated the temple, 2 Chron. vii. 13; and when Elijah contended with the Baalites, 1 Kings xviii. 38, . whence the Ifraelites, Pfal. xx. 3. wifhing all profperity to their king, pray that God would accept [w turn into afhes] his burnt-offering. Ver. 6, 7 Bishop Patrick's Comment. in loco. Ver. 6, 7. The Lord God reproved Cain for the difguft and indignation he had conceived against his brother, inftructing him in terms of divine acceptance. If thou doft well, shalt thou not be accepted? Moft certainly For I have an impartial regard to true piety, where foevet I find it. But if thou dost not well, fin (i. e. the punishment of fin, as ver. 13, and chap. xix. 15, and feveral other places,) eth couching at the door, ready to fall upon thee; and unto thee shall be his defire, and ibsa fbalt rule over him. Three things are here fuggefted to appease his refentment. 1. That the reafon of his not being refpected was not in his brother, but in himself; for, if he had done well, he would have been as much refpected. 2. That, if he did ill, he had no reason to expect the Divine favour, but the revetfe. 3. That this should not alter his civil tight, nor give Adel any authority over him, but he should ftill retain the privilege of his birth-right. Note This fhews, that the privileges of his birth-right had been previously fettled, either by divinė appointment, or approbation. But the rancour of Cain's mind could not thus be cured. Being of the Wicked One, the murtherer, who had lately attempted to destroy all mankind, he took an opportunity, and flew his brother. Poffibly the next fabbath, Abel's place being empty in the affembly of Adam's family, the Lord addreffed himself to Cain, charged him with his crime, and, in punishment of it, banifhed him from the country where Adam and his family refided; by rendering the ground barren to him, infomuch that, notwithstanding all his endeavours, it fhould not yield him any increase. This would neceffarily oblige him to go seek a subsistence in fome other place. To this fentence Cain remonftrates as too fevere, [and by the Bye, his familiar, indeed too familiar, manner of anfwering the Shechinah, fhews, that fuch appearances of the Divine Prefence were common and cuftomary] apprehending he fhould thereby be hid from the face of the Lord, (ver. 14.) or deprived of his care and infpection, and confidered by all mankind as a strolling brute, expofed to their hatred, and in continual danger of being deftroyed. But God, who for wife and holy ends often protects and prolongs the lives even of very wicked men, intended that Cain fhould live; either that he might have space to repent, or, being impenitent, might remain a monument of Divine Juftice; and therefore, before the whole affembly, threatened a worfe punishment than Cain's to the man who fhould, by killing him, defeat the divine fentence, or fruftrate his grace. And the Lord fet a mark upon Cain, &c. In the Hebrew it is, And the Lord fet, or exhibited, a true token to Cain, that no one who mit him, should kill him; i. e. gave him fome pledge or affurance, declared either in words, as by an oath, or by fome outward token, that his life fhould be preferved. So the fpies gave Rahab a token, ns ns, that her life, and the lives of all her relations, fhould be préserved. Joshua ii. 12-14. This token to Rabab feems to have been a folemn oath; for the fearlet cord was not a token to Rahab, but to the fpies, to diftinguish her house. N. B. I do not find in Scripture, that never fignifies a mark, or brand, impreffed upon a man's body, but always fome external afsurance, or pledge given by God. Gen. ix. 13. xvii. 11. 1 Sam. ii. 34. xiv. 10. 2 King. xix. 28. Ifai. xxxviii. 7,8. Jer. xliv. 29, &c. &c. Ver. 16. And Cain, by force of the divine curfe, went out from the prefence of the Lord, i. e. out of the affembly where the Lord appeared, and was worshipped, and never enjoyed the bleffings and advantages which attended the affembly any more. H СНА Р. XV. Of the SHECHINAH, and Divine APPEARANCES. AVING had occafion, in the foregoing chapter, to mention the Shechinah, (a rabbinical word from 1 to dzwell,) which is ufed to fignify a glorious Appearance, covered, or attended with a cloud, denoting the extraordinary prefence of God, who is neceffarily every where prefent; this may be a proper place to examine the Scripture upon the point of Divine Appearances. They are mentioned in both parts of the holy Scripture; fometimes without taking any notice of a vifible glory,and often exprefsly mentioning it; as in the following places. Gen. xv. 17. The fmcking furnace and lamp of fire, RTDI, are justly fuppofed to correfpond to the cloud and pillar of fire, afterwards mentioned, as reprefenting the Divine Prefence. Probably, in a vifible glory the Lord appeared to Abraham, Gen. xvii. 13 and to Ifaac, chap. xxvi. 2; and certainly to Mofes in the bufh, Exod. iii. 2. The Shechinah was alfo in the cloud and pillar of fire, Exod. xiii. 21. For it was the fame cloud that afterward refted upon the tabernacle, when it was fet up, and is called the Cloud of the Lord. Exod. xI. 38. Numb. x. 34. For the glory of the Lord was within the tabernacle upon mercy-feat, as the cloud was on the outfide of it. Exod. xl. 34. 35. And it is there defcribed, as in Exod. xiii. 21. that it appeared as a cloud upon the tabernacle by day, and as a fire by night. Exod. xl. 38. Numb. ix. 15, 16. the Thus it conducted and guarded them in their journeys, [and then alone was ordinarily feen by the whole congregation] Exod. xl. 36. Numb. ix. 17, 18, &c. [Ifaiah alludes to this chap. iv. 5, 6.1 And, as thus the token of the Divine Prefence went before them, the Lord is faid to go before them, and to lead them by this cloud. And out of this cloud, or rather from the glory of the Lord, within the tabernacle, the Lord fpake unto Mofes what he fpake and delivered in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. Numb. vii. 89. And when Mofes went into the tabernacle of the congregation, to speak with him [God], then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy-feat, that was upon the ark of the teftimony, between the two Cherubims, and he spake unto him; agree ably |