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just, and the justifier of him that believeth." (Rom. iii. 26.) Cain had unequivocally rejected that way, and chosen one for himself; and because God, "willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel" (Heb. vi. 17), could have "no respect" to any offering which set at nought that counsel, "Cain was wroth, and his countenance fell."-Yet the way of reconciliation was still left open to him by faith and repentance-and with the tender forbearance of a father, the Lord asked, Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted" (or, according to the margin, have the excellency)? that is, If thou wilt come to me in my own appointed way shalt not thou, as well as Abel, partake in the excellency of that "propitiation” which is “set forth for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God?" (Rom. iii. 25.) "And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door: and unto thee shall be his desire (or, according to the margin, his desire shall be subject unto thee), and thou shalt rule over him." In other words: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (1 Cor. x. 13.)

In most beautiful harmony with his address to Cain, is Jehovah's address to the Israelites: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isai. i. 18.) And these records of the Lord's gracious dealings with his rebellious children of old, are full of comfort and encouragement to us. Whatever may be our consciousness of "sins that are past," if we truly "repent and believe the gospel" (Mark i. 15), we shall be "accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the

forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;" (Eph. i. 6, 7) for it is written, that "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world:" (1 John ii. 1, 2) and our blessed Lord Himself declares: "Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." (John vi. 37.) Sin may, and will, indeed, "lie at the door" of our hearts, and tempt us continually, not only by the subtilties of unbelief, but also by "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life;" (1 John ii. 16) but if, according to our blessed Lord's exhortation, we "watch and pray that we enter not into temptation,' (Matt. xxvi. 41) God will vouchsafe to us the aid of his Holy Spirit: "His strength shall be made perfect in our weakness: (2 Cor. xii. 9) "Sin shall not reign in our mortal bodies that we should obey it in the lusts thereof:" "Sin shall not have dominion over us;" (Rom. vi. 12. 14) and to ourselves we may be permitted, humbly, but fervently, to apply the blessed assurance, "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them because, greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." (1 John iv. 4.)

Q. How does St. John instructively and warningly refer to the crime of Cain in murdering his brother?

A. "This is the message that ye have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." (1 John iii. 11, 12.) The Apostle goes on to tell us that "whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer;" and, throughout the whole chapter, he dwells emphatically upon the duty of brotherly love, as the test and evidence of our love towards God, applying it not merely to those near and dear ties of kindred which are especially recognized among the children of especial families, but

also to that universal bond of brotherhood which, in the sight of God, unites all the families of the earth.

CHAPTER V.

Q. Verses 1-3.-What doctrine may be learned, and what instruction may be gained from a comparison of these two verses?

A. In the one we are told that " In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;" and in the other it is said that Adam "begat a son in his own likeness after his image." By a comparison of these two statements we may gain a confirmation of the doctrine which we have already gathered from the preceding chapters. Notwithstanding their similarity of expression, the difference in their signification is so great that our imperfect faculties can never fully define it. Adam by his transgression defaced, if he did not utterly destroy, the image of God in which he was created: he could not therefore transmit it to his posterity, who are all born with the taint of a sinful nature, which constitutes in them the image of Adam. The practical instruction which may be gained from this doctrine is, that it is not in our nature to offer a sinless obedience unto God, and that therefore we can only "joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." (Rom. v. 11.) This, though a humiliating, is by no means a discouraging conviction, since we have our Blessed Lord's own gracious assurance that "whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John iii. 15.) "By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Heb. x. 14.) And therefore, however imperfect may now be the image of God within us, we have but to submit ourselves prayerfully and faithfully to the sanctifying

influences of his Spirit, and we shall surely "be transformed by the renewing of our minds;" and being thus enabled to "prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God," (Rom. xii. 2) we shall be "changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor. iii. 18.)

Q. Who were the two persons whose lives were the shortest of any mentioned in this and the preceding chapter, and what may we learn from these facts?

A. It appears that to Abel and Enoch were allotted the shortest lives of any of the patriarchs before the flood. The exact age of Abel is not recorded, but as his death preceded the birth of Seth, at which time Adam himself was no more than one hundred and thirty years old, we know that he could not have attained to half the age of Enoch, of whom it is written that "all the days of Enoch were three hundred and thirty years." It is the simple and apposite remark of Bishop Hall, that "Death was denounced to man as a curse, yet behold it first lights upon a saint! How soon was it altered by the mercy of the just hand that inflicted it! If death had been evil and life good, Cain had been slain and Abel had survived; now that it begins with one that God loves, O, Death! where is thy victory ? ""

Of Enoch we read, not that "he died," but that "Enoch walked with God; and he was not: for God took him." Without "intruding into those things which he hath not seen;" (Col. ii. 18) may not the believer regard this wonderful record as a most gracious and direct intimation of the immortality of the soul, together with the future_glorified existence of the body? The place of Enoch's existence was changed: but the penalty of temporal death was, in his case, remitted: and St. Paul tells us, that "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." (Heb. xi. 5.) St. Jude (in

verses 14, 15 of his Epistle) mentions Enoch as having prophesied of a judgment to come, and this mention of him, in strict accordance with that of St. Paul, shows, that "in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, Enoch shone as a light in the world; Holding forth the word of life." (Phil. ii. 15, 16.)

From the facts then of Abel's death and Enoch's translation after a comparatively short experience of this probationary life, we may learn, first, to be devoutly thankful for the strong evidence of another life which is given to comfort us under the bereavements of this, and more especially under those which remove from our daily path the youngest or the dearest, the most pure and holy, the most bright and beautiful objects of our regard. And, secondly, we may learn not to desire for ourselves a lengthened term upon earth for any other purpose than to perfect our "walk with God." To walk with God is to have Him always in our thoughts, to dedicate ourselves to Him every morning; to go in the path of his commandments all the day long; to commend ourselves to his protection every night; to commit our way unto Him in all things, and at all times, looking for his guidance and depending upon his word, which is evermore sounding in our ears, "This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." (Isa. xxx. 21.)

Q. Show in what manner an oral account of the creation may have been transmitted from Adam to Abraham, who was especially called by God to be "the Father of all them that believe." (See Rom. iv. 11.)

A. "When Adam died, Methuselah was about 260 years old; when Methuselah died, Shem was nearly 100; when Shem died, Abraham was about 150: so that a tradition need pass only through two hands from Adam to Abraham." Such is the calculation deduced by Bishop Newton from the genealogical tables of this and other chapters. "And yet," he immediately adds, "within this period, the tradition