A. M. 128. A. C. 3876; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 200. A. C. 5211. GEN. CH. 4. TO VER. 25. fice for his sins, as God had appointed to be offered, until the seed should come. bers as CHAP. IV. Patriarchal Dispensation. (SUPPLEMENTAL BY THE EDITOR.) SCRIPTURE assures us that Christ was 'the Lamb slain He is described as 'the In order to offer a sacrifice by faith then, there are three things requisite. 1st, That the person who offers On the Design of Sacrifice :-On the Sacrifices of the should do it upon the previous appointment and direction of God. 2dly, That he should consider it as a sign and token of the promise of God made in Christ, and of remission of sins through his blood; and 3dly, That, while he is offering, he should be mindful withal (in the phrase of St Paul) to present himself a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable unto God.' In the first of these qualifications Cain was right enough, because he had learned from his father, that, as God had appointed sacrifices, it was his duty to offer them: but herein was his great defect, that while he was offering, he gave no attention to what he was about; nor once reflected on the promnise of God, made in paradise, nor placed any confidence in the merits of a Saviour, to recommend his services; but, vainly imagining that his bare oblation was all that was required to his justification, he took no care to preserve his soul pure and unpolluted, or to constitute his mem'instruments of righteousness unto God.' In short, his oblation was the service of an hypocrite, lying unto God, and using the external symbols of grace' for a cloak of maliciousness;' whereas Abel's sacrifice was In the first promise there is allusion to the sufferings attended with awful meditations on that seed of the of the Mighty Deliverer. In order that the great truths woman' which was to become the world's Redeemer, comprehended in this promise might be more clearly unwith warm applications to him for mercy and forgiveness, derstood and deeply felt, we have every reason to beand with holy resolutions of better obedience, of aban-lieve that sacrifice was immediately and divinely instinoning all sin, and always abounding in the work of tuted as an explanatory ordinance. Though the words the Lord;' and therefore there is no wonder, that their of the institution are not recorded, the fact cannot be services met with so different a reception. For, how-questioned; because sacrifice constituted a part of the ever sacrificing was an external rite, yet the rite itself worship of God from the fall of man; and we must feel would by no means do, unless the attention of the mind, assured that it could not be acceptably used in his worand the integrity of the heart went along with it, he ship but in consequence of divine appointment. We that killed an ox was as if he slew a man; and he that know that the inferior animals were not used as food, at sacrificed a lamb as if he cut off a dog's neck;' so de- least with the divine permission, till after the flood; and, testable in the sight of God was a the richest oblation, consequently, there could be no occasion for slaying when the sacrificer was not a good man; nay, so ready them, unless it were for sacrifice, till after that period. was he to pass by all observances of this kind, if the Our first parents having been clothed at the worshipper came but, in other respects, qualified: 3 For life, and by the special interposition of God, had a he that keepeth the law bringeth offerings enough; he striking representation given them of the mode in which that taketh heed to the law offereth a peace-offering; he forfeited happiness should be restored, and of that perthat requiteth a good turn offereth fine flour; and he that fect righteousness by which they were justified before giveth alms sacrificeth praise. To depart from wicked- God. It was an intimation to them that the Deliverer, ness is a thing pleasing to the Lord; and to forsake un-denominated the Seed of the woman, should redeem righteousness is a propitiation.' them by his sufferings. expense of Thus have we presented to our view immediately after the fall, and before the first transgressors were expelled from paradise, the two principal methods in which God unfolded to mankind the way of salvation, namely, prophecy and typical sacrifice. Both these methods of divine revelation were continued in the church with increasing clearness and precision till the coming of Christ; and both were intended to direct the faith of the people to the Substitute and Surety of sinners, who by the one offering up of himself was to obtain eternal redemption. In the first promise we have the foundation of that series of prophecies which was delivered from age to age, which announced the divine nature, the incarnation, the sufferings, death, and subsequent glories of the Redeemer. In the first sacrifice we have the basis of that series of typical observances, which prefigured the mediation and atonement of the Son of God. A. M. 128. A. C. 3876; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 200. A. C. 5211. GEN. CH. 4. TO VER. 25. Prophecy was the annunciation of what was future, ex- | But, as it had also an immediate, and most apposite, pressed not by words but by signs. These signs were application to that important event in the condition of indefinitely varied; and, accordingly, the rites appointed man, which, as being the occasion of, was essentially to be observed in the worship of God, and the vicissitudes connected with, the work of redemption; that likewise, of the church in its trials and triumphs, recorded in the we have reason to think, was included in its significaOld Testament, were emblematical. They served unto tion. And thus, upon the whole, sacrifice appears to the example and shadow of good things to come. But have been ordained, as a standing memorial of the death the most prominent of these emblems was sacrifice, which introduced by sin, and of that death which was to be by its direct reference to the atonement of Christ, aided suffered by the Redeemer." the faith and hope of believers, and which by its universal use, even when its original design was forgotten, may have prepared mankind for that message of salvation which, in the fulness of time, was sent to them through a crucified Redeemer. First, then, it is evident, that the offering of Abel was different in its nature from that which was presented by Cain; and that this difference constituted the principal ground for the acceptance of the one, and the rejection of the other. It was a more full, a more ample sacrifice, that is, it partook more essentially of the nature of sacrifice, than the offering of Cain. It was of the firstlings of his flock,' an animal slain in solemn sacrifice unto God, in obedience to a known divine command, whereas Cain offered merely of the fruit of the ground, as an expression of thankfulness to the bounty of God. Hence, These views are confirmed by the circumstances recorded in Scripture regarding the sacrifice of Abel. By faith we are told that Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord: and Abel, he brought of the firstlings of his flock. Secondly, Abel is said to have offered his more exIf we bear in mind the observations already made, we cellent sacrifice by faith. On this circumstance there is shall readily perceive the ground on which the sacrifice much stress laid by the apostle, as he adduces it in the of Abel was accepted, while that of Cain was rejected. eleventh chapter of the Hebrews, as an example illustraAbel offered his sacrifice in faith, in strict accordance tive of the power and efficacy of faith. But what was with the command of God, and in firm reliance on his the object of this faith? Unquestionably a divine revepromise: he acknowledged by the death inflicted on an lation, the promise of the Messiah, to which such frequent innocent animal his own desert as a sinner, and his trust allusion is made in Scripture, and in firm reliance on in the way of redemption and recovery which God had which the patriarchs lived and died. 'These all,' Abel mercifully provided: he thus as a true penitent ap- and all the others whom the apostle had named, 'not proached God in worship, looking for pardon and re- having received the fulfilment of the promises, but havconciliation, renewing and sanctifying grace, through ing seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and an atonement. But Cain, viewing God merely as his embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers Creator and Preserver, offered the fruits of the earth as and pilgrims on the earth.' This could not be the proan acknowledgment of his goodness, entirely overlook-mise of entering the land of Canaan, because to Abel, ing his own character as a sinner, and disregarding the Enoch, and Noah, no such promise was given, and bedivinely instituted sacrificial rite, the appointed emblem cause that even in regard to Abraham, the evangelist of the new and living way of access to God. "In (John viii. 56.) explains the expression of his seeing the short, Cain, the first-born of the fall, exhibits the first-promises afar off, and embracing them, as signifying his fruits of his parents' disobedience, in the arrogance and seeing the day of Christ and rejoicing. To the compleself-sufficiency of reason, rejecting the aids of revelation of the great promise of the coming of the Seed of tion, because they fell not within its apprehension of the woman, to accomplish the redemption of mankind, right. He takes the first place in the annals of deism, Abel looked with firm reliance on the truth of God. In and displays, in his proud rejection of the ordinance of the faith of this promise he offered unto God the kind of sacrifice, the same spirit, which, in later days, has ac-sacrifice which had been enjoined as the evidence of detuated his enlightened followers, in rejecting the sacri- pendence on divine mercy, and as the typical expression fice of Christ." of that atonement which was to be made in the fulness of time. And, therefore, The terms in which God expostulates with Cain convey a rebuke for his not offering an animal sacrifice like his brother Abel: If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, a sin-offering lieth even at the door.' There is here a reference to sin-offering as a known institution, the neglect of which in Cain incurred the divine displeasure, and the observance of animal sacrifice is anew enforced. The sacrifice which Abel presented unto God was of this description. The reason of its acceptance, according to the apostle Paul, was the faith in which it was offered; faith in the Redeemer promised under the appellation of the seed of the woman. "Of this faith, the offering of an animal in sacrifice, appears to have been the legitimate, and consequently the instituted, expression. The institution of animal sacrifice, then, was coeval with the fall, and had a reference to the sacrifice of our redemption. In the third place, he obtained the testimony of God to the acceptableness of his sacrifice, and to his own personal justification before God. By which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it, he being dead, yet speaketh.' He thus became heir of the righteousness of God which is by faith, ' even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe.' It was declared by God himself, that he was righteous before him, by his visibly attesting the excellency and acceptableness of his oblation. We thus discover the reason for the difference in the divine reception of the sacrifices of Cain and Abel. This cannot be accounted for by those who deny the divine origin of sacrifice. Abel's sacrifice, as our author remarks, was more excellent than his brother's, because A. M. 130. A. C. 3874; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 230. A. C. 5181. GEN. CH. 5. AND 6. TO VER. 13. or 1122. it was offered with faith in the great atonement, which he | A. M. 622, SECT. V. CHAP. I. Of the General Corruption of Mankind. : THE HISTORY. GREAT a was the grief, no doubt, which our first parents felt upon the loss of the righteous Abel, and the expulsion of their wicked son Cain; but, to alleviate, in some measure, this heavy load of sorrow, God was pleased to promise them another son, whose fate should be different, and himself a lasting comfort and consolation to them and therefore, as soon as Eve was delivered of the child, she called his name Seth, which signifies substitute, because God had been so good as to send him in the room of his brother Abel, whom Cain slew. Adam, when he had Seth, was 130 years old; he lived after that 800 years, and begat several other children (though Moses makes no mention of them.) So that the b whole of his life was 930 years. a The Jewish, and some Christian doctors, say, that Adam and Eve mourned for Abel one hundred years, during which time they lived separate, Adam particularly, in a valley near Hebron thence named the valley of tears. And the inhabitants of Ceylon pretend, that the salt lake on the mountain of Columbo, was formed by the tears which Eve shed on this occasion. All fiction.-Calmet's Dictionary. b If it be asked, how it came to pass, that Adam, who was immediately created by God, and, consequently, more perfect than any of his kind, did not outlive Methuselah, who was the eighth from him? the answer which some have given, namely, that his grief and affliction of mind for the loss of paradise, and the misery which, by his transgression, he had entailed upon his offspring, might affect his constitution, and by degrees, impair his strength, is not much amiss: but there is another reason which seems to me better founded, namely, that, whereas Adam was created in the full perfection of his nature, and all his descendants, being born infants, did gradually proceed to maturity; subducting the time from their infancy to their manhood, we shall find, that Adam outlived them all. For we must not compute, as we do now, (when the extent of man's life is usually no more that seventy) that his complete manhood was at thirty, or thereabouts. In the very catalogue now before us, we read of none (except Enoch, and two others, who begat children before they were ninety or upwards;) and therefore, subtracting those years (which we may suppose interfered between his birth and his manhood) from the age of Methuselah, we may perceive, that Adam surpassed him to the number of almost sixty.-On the more Dificult Passages or 1287. A. M. 874, or 1474. A. M. 1056, or 1656. A. M. 1556, or 2256. lah Jared, when 162, had a son named Enoch: after which he lived 800 years; in all 962. Enoch, when 65, had a son named Methuseafter which he lived 300: in all 365. Methuselah, when 187, had a son named Lamech after which he lived 782; in all 969. Lamech, when 182, had a son named Noah: after which he lived 595; in all 777 : and Noah, when he was 500 years old, had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, from whom the world, after the deluge, was replenished. d This is the genealogy which Moses gives us of the posterity of Adam, in the line of Seth, until the time of the deluge; but we must observe, that these are far from being all his progeny. In the case of our great progen 16 itor Adam, he informs us, that after the birth of Seth, 'he had several sons and daughters,' though he does not so much as record their names; and the like we may suppose of the rest of the antediluvian patriarchs. For 1 Gen. v. 4. c Of these three sons, the eldest was Japhet, as appears from Gen. x. 21., the second was Shem, from Gen. x. 21., and the youngest Ham, from Gen. ix. 24. Nevertheless, both here, and a little lower, Shem is named first; whether it was, that the rights of primogeniture were transferred to him (though the sacred historian says nothing of it,) or God was minded, thus early, to show that he would not be confined to the order of nature, in the disposal of his favours, which he frequently bestowed upon the younger children; or (what I think the most likely) because the nation of the Jews were to descend from him, and he, and his posterity, were to be the principal subject of this whole history.-Patrick and Le Clerc's Commentary, and Pool's Annota. d From this catalogue we may farther observe, that the custom in those times was, to give children their names according to the occurrences in life, or expectations of their parents. Thus Seth, being a good man, was grieved to see the great degeneracy in other parts, though he endeavoured to preserve his own family from the contagion; and therefore called his son Enos, which signifies sorrowful. Enos, perceiving the posterity of Cain to grow every day worse and worse, was concerned for their iniquity, and began to dread the consequences of it; and therefore called his son Cainan, which denotes lamentation. Though Cainan had his name from the wickedness of Cain's family, yet he himself was resolved to maintain the true worship of God in his own; and therefore called his son Mahalaleel, that is, a praiser and worshipper of God. In the days of Mahalaleel (as the tradition tells us) a defection happened among the sons of Seth, who went down from the mountains where they inhabited, and adjoined themselves to the daughters of Cain: and therefore he called his son's name Jared, which signifies descending. Jared, to guard against the general corruption, devoted himself and his descendants, more zealously to the service of God, and, accordingly, called his son Enoch, which means a dedication. Enoch, by the spirit of prophecy, foreseeing the destruction which would come upon the earth, immediately after the death of his son, called his name Methuselah, which imports as much; for the first part of the word, Methu, signifies he dies, and Selah, the sending forth of water. Methuselah, perceiving the wickedness of the world, in the family of Seth, as well as that of Cain, to grow every day worse and worse, called his son Lamech, which intimates a poor man, humbled, and afflicted with grief, for the present corruption and fear of future punishment. And Lamech conceiving better hopes of his son (as some imagine) that he should be the promised seed, the restorer of mankind after the deluge, or a notable improver of the art of agriculture, called his name Noah, which denotes a comforter.-Bedford's Scripture Chronology. We may observe, from this catalogue, however, that the patriarchs, in those days, were not so superstitious, as to think any thing ominous in names; and therefore we find, that Jared feared not to call his son Enoch, by the very name of Cain's eldest son, Gen. iv. 17., even a Methuselah called his son Lamech, by the name of one of Cain's grandchildren, ch. iv. ver. 18.-Patrick's Commentary. A. M. 130. A. C. 3874; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, it is incongruous to think, that Lamech was 181, and Methuselah, 187, before they ever had a child, when it so plainly appears that his father Enoch had one at 65. The true reason then of this omission is,—that the historian never intended to give us a catalogue of the collateral branches (which doubtless were many) but only of the principal persons by whom, in a right line, the succession was continued down to Noah, and thence to Abraham, the founder of the Jewish nation. Not long after the departure of Cain, the whole world was divided into two families, or opposite nations: the family of Seth, which adhered to the service of God, a became more frequent in religious offices; and, as their number increased, met in larger assemblies, and in communion, to perform the divine worship by way of public liturgy; and,' for this their piety and zeal, were styled the sons or servants of God, in distinction to the family of Cain, which now became profligate and profane, renouncing the service of God, and addicting themselves to all manner of impiety and lasciviousness; from whence they had the name of the 'sons and daughters of men.' In this period of time, Enoch, one of the family of Seth, and the seventh in a direct line from Adam, a per ს A. M. 230. A. C. 5181. GEN. CH. 5. AND 6. TO VER. 13. In this period of time, Adam, who (according to the sentence denounced against him at the fall) was to return to his native dust, departed this life, and (as the tradition is) having called his son Seth, and the other branches of his numerous family about him, he gave them strict charge, that they should always live separate, This seems to be the natural sense of the expression of walking with God; and excellent to this purpose is this passage of Seneca, if we take what he tells us of the presence of God in a Christian sense :— Verily we must so conduct ourselves as if we lived in God's into the recesses of our hearts, and there is one who can, for presence, we must so think as if some one could look what availeth it that any thing be kept hid from man? nothing is concealed from God; he is present in our minds, and knoweth our thoughts."-B. 1. Epist. $3; Le Clerc's Commentary. But, considering how usual a thing it was, in these early ages of the world, for angels to be conversant with good men, it may not improperly be said of Enoch, and of Noah both, that they walked with God in this sense, namely, that they had oftentimes familiar converse with these messengers, who might be sent with instructions from him how they were to behave upon several occasions: for this answers the traditions of the heathens, namely, that in the golden age, their gods had frequent intercourse with men : An endless life shall be his gift, and he, More oft of old th' inhabitants of heaven, 1 Heidegger's History of the Patriarchs. a The words in our translation are,-Then,' that is, in the days of Enos, began men to call upon the name of the Lord,' ch. iv. 26.; but, it being very probable, that public assemblies for religious offices, were held long before this time, and that even when Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices, their families joined with them in the worship of God; some men of great note, such as, Bertram, Hackspan, and Heidegger, take them in the same sense with our marginal translation; then began men,' that is, the children of Seth, to call themselves by the name of the Lord,' that is, the servants and worshippers of the Lord, in contradistinction to the Cainites, and such profane persons as had forsaken him. It must not be dissembled, however, that the word Hochal, which we translate began, in several places of Scrip- And to the same purpose:ture signifies to profane; and upon this presumption many of the Jewish writers, and some of no obscure fame among us, have taken the words so, as if Moses intended to intimate to us, that men began now to apostatize from the worship of God, to fall into idolatry, and to apply the most holy name, which alone belongs c Where Adam was buried cannot be collected from Scripto the great Creator of heaven and earth, to created beings, and ture. St Jerome, in Matt. xxvii. seems to approve of the opin especially to the sun. But, considering that Moses is here speak-ion of those who imagine that he was buried at Hebron, in the ing of the pious family of Seth, and not of that of Cain; that when the Hebrew word signifies to profane, it has always a noun following it; but when an affirmative mood follows, (as in the passage before us,) it always signifies to begin ; and withal, that the eastern writers represent this Enos as an excellent governor, who, while he lived, preserved his family in good order, and, when he died, called them all together, and gave them a charge to keep all God's commandments, and not to associate themselves with the children of Cain: considering all this, I say, we can hardly suppose that Moses is here pointing out the origin of idolatry, but rather the invention of some religious rites and ceremonies in the external worship of God at this time, or the distinction which good men began to put between themselves and such as were openly wicked and profane. For that the true meaning of the expression Karabeshem, according to our marginal translation, is to call or nominate by, or after the name of any one, is manifest from several instances in Scripture. Thus, Gen. iv. 17, Jikra, he called the name of the city Beshem, by, or after the name of his son, Numb. xxxii. 42. Jikra, he called it Nobahbeshem, by, or after his own name; and in Psal. xlix. 11. Kareau, they call their lands Bishmotham, by, or after their own names; and the name here intimated is afterwards expressly given them by Moses himself, Gen. vi. when he tells us, that the sens of God saw the daughters of men.'-Patrick's Commentary; and Calmet's Dictionary on the word Enos, and Shuckford's Connection, vol. 1. b. 1. cave of Machpelah, or the double cave, which Abraham, many ages after, bought for a burying place for himself and family, Gen. xxiii. 3. &c. The oriental Christians say, that when Adam saw death approaching, he called his son Seth, and the rest of his family to him, and ordered them to embalm his body with myrrh, frankincense, and cassia, and deposit it in a certain cave, on the top of a mountain, which he had chosen for the repository of his remains, and which was thence called the cave of All-Konuz, a word derived from the Arabian Kanaza, which signifies to lay up privately. And this precaution (as the Jews will have it) was ordered by Adam to be taken, lest his posterity should make his relics the object of idolatry. Several of the primitive fathers believe, that he died in the place where Jerusalem was afterwards built, and that he was interred on Mount Calvary, in the very spot where Christ was crucified; but others are of opinion, that (though he did not die at Jerusalem,) yet Noah, at the time of the deluge, put his body into the ark, and took care to have it buried there by Melchisedec, the son of Shem, his grandson. The Mahometans will have his sepulchre to have been on a mountain near Mecca; and the ancient Persians, in Serendil, or Ceylon: so ambitious is every nation to have the father of all mankind reposited with them. When Eve, the mother of all living, died is nowhere expressed in Scripture; but there are some who venture to tell us, that she outlived her husband ten years.-See the Universal History; and Calmet's Dictionary on the word Adam. A. M. 1042. A. C. 2962; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 1070. A. C. 4341. GEN. CH. 5. AND 6. TO VER. 13. and have no manner of intercourse with the impious | their father's will) removed from the plain where they family of the murderer Cain. fines of the hill-country, where he had fixed his abode, and there they lived in all kind of riot, luxury, and licentiousness. had lived, to the mountains over against paradise, where In this period of time, Noah, the great-grandson of Adam is said to have been buried; and for some time Enoch, and a person of equal virtue and piety, was lived there in the fear of God, and in the strictest rules born: and as it was discovered to Enoch at the birth of of piety and virtue. But as the family of Cain, daily Methuselah, that soon after that child's death, the whole increased, they came at length to spread themselves race of mankind should be destroyed for their wicked-over all the plain which Seth had left, even to the conness; so was it revealed to Lamech, at the birth of his son, 'that he and his family should be preserved from the common destruction, and so become the father of the new world; and for this reason " he called him Noah, which signifies a comforter: though others imagine, that the name was therefore given him, because his father, by the spirit of prophecy, foreknew, that God, in his days, would remove the curse of barrenness from off the face of the earth, and, after the time of the deluge, restore it to its original fertility. After the death of Adam, the family of Seth (to fulfil 1 Bedford's Scripture Chronology. a The substance of Lamech's prophecy, according to our translation, is this:-'He called his son Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us, concerning the work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed;' and the sense of learned men upon it hath been very different. Some are of opinion, that there is nothing prophetical in this declaration of Lamech's, and that the only cause of his rejoicing was, to see a son born, who might in time be assisting to him in the toil of cultivating the ground. But in this there is nothing particular: in this sense Lamech's words may be applied by every father at the birth of every son; nor can we conceive why a peculiar name should be given Noah, if there was no particular reason for it. The Jewish interpreters generally expound it thus: 'He shall make our labour in tilling the ground more easy to us,' in that he shall be the inventor of several proper tools and instruments of husbandry, to abate the toil and labour of tillage; and some will tell us, that he therefore received his name, because he first invented the art of making wine, a liquor that cheers the heart, and makes man forget sorrow and trouble. But the invention of fit tools for tillage, after that Tubal-Cain had become so great an artificer in brass and silver, seems to belong to one of his descendants, rather than Noah; and as Noah was not the first husbandman in the world, so neither can it be concluded from his having planted a vineyard, that he was the first vine-dresser. Another opinion, not altogether unlike this, is,-that Lamech, being probably informed by God, that his son Noah should obtain a grant of the creatures for food, Gen. ix. 5. and knowing the labour and inconveniences they were under, rejoiced in foreseeing what ease and comfort they should have, when they obtained a large supply of food from the creatures, besides what they could produce from the ground by tillage. The restoration of mankind by Noah, and his sons surviving the flood, is thought by many to answer the comfort which Lamech promised himself and his posterity: but the learned Heidegger, after an examination of all these, and some other opinions, supposeth that Lamech, having in mind the promise of God, expected that his son should prove the blessed seed, the Saviour of the world, who was to bruise the serpent's head, and, by his atonement, expiate our sins, which are the works of our own hands, and remove the curse which lay upon sinners. But this, in my opinion, is too forced an exposition. Lamech, it is certain, in virtue of God's promise, expected a deliverance from the curse of the earth, and foresaw that that deliverance would come through his son: but how came it through his son, unless it came in his son's days? And in what instance could it appear, unless it were something subsequent to the flood? And what could that possibly be, unless the removal of the sterility of the earth, and restoring it to its original fruitfulness? For which reason we find God, after the flood, declaring, that he will not curse the earth for man's sake;' and solemnly promising, that while the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest shall not cease,' Gen. viii. 22. Heidegger's History of the Patriarchs; Patrick and Le Clerc's Commentary; Poole's Annotations; Shuckford's Connection; and Bishop Sherlock's Use and Intent of Prophecy, Dissertation 4. See The noise of their revellings might possibly reach the holy mountain where the Sethites dwelt; whereupon some of them might be tempted to go down, merely to gratify their curiosity perhaps at first, but being taken with their deluding pleasures, and intoxicated with the charms of their women, (who were extremely beautiful,) they forgot the charge which their forefathers had given them, and so took to themselves wives of the daughters of Cain; from which criminal mixture were born men of vast gigantic stature, who for some time infested the earth: and, in a few generations after, the whole family of Seth (very probably after the death of their pious ancestor) followed the like example, and, forgetting their obligations to the contrary, entered into society with the Cainites, and made intermarriages with them; from whence arose another race of men, no less remarkable for their daring wickedness than for their bold undertakings and adventurous actions. Evil communications naturally corrupt good manners; and so the example of the wicked family prevailed, and, by degrees, eat out all remains of religion in the posterity of Seth. Noah indeed, who was a good and pious man, endeavoured what he could, both by his counsel and authority, to bring them to a reformation of their manners, and to restore the true religion among them; *Josephus's Antiquities, b. 1. c. 4. b Some of the oriental writers have given us a large account of their manner of living. "As to the posterity of Cain," say they, "the men did violently burn in lust towards the women, and, in like manner, the women, without any shame, committed fornication with the men; so that they were guilty of all manner of filthy crimes with one another, and, meeting together in public places for this purpose, two or three men were concerned with the same woman, the ancient women, if possible, being more lustful and brutish than the young. Nay, fathers lived promiscuously with their daughters, and the young men with their mothers; so that neither the children could distinguish their own parents, nor the parents know their own children. So detestable were the deeds of the Cainites, who spent their days in lust and wantonness, in singing and dancing, and all kinds of music, until some of the sons of Seth, hearing the noise of their music and riotous mirth, agreed to go down to them from the holy mountain, and, upon their arrival, were so captivated with the beauty of their women, (who were naked) that they imme diately defiled themselves with them, and so were undone. For when they offered to return again to their former abodes, the stones of the mountain became like fire, and permitted them to pass no farther."—Eutych. Annals, p. 27. c Our excellent Milton describes the manner of their being captivated with the daughters of Cain in these words: -They on the plain In gems, and wanton dress: to th' harp they sung The men, though grave, eyed them; and let their eyes |