first victim of the king of terrors in the mangled corpse of Abel thy son!" (it might have been added) and turn with tenfold horror to see the hands of Cain, thy first-born, stained with the blood of his brother.

It is probable that the first parents had previously suffered much uneasiness, at the development of evil in their offspring in general, and especially in their first-born Cain. No man becomes grossly wicked at once. Cain's childhood probably discovered some traces of those malignant dispositions, which grew to awful maturity in the murder of his brother; succeeded by sullen, hardened impenitence. Let Christian parents watch with holy anxiety the opening minds and dispositions of their rising offspring; prudently correcting what is amiss, fostering and encouraging what is amiable and excellent; and constantly imploring the renovating influence of divine grace, without which, evil has no adequate counterpoise, and good no solid foundation, no abiding source. Let children especially guard against the first risings of evil tempers in their breasts. See to what awful guilt they may at length lead on the individual; and in what misery they may involve his family, and society. Perhaps Cain thought as lightly. of his first act of disobedience, violence, and passion, as you, children, think of yours; reflect on this, and pray for a meek and lowly heart-a mind like that of Christ Jesus.

The forfeited life of the murderer was, by the

divine sentence, reprieved; probably in tenderness to his aged parent, on whom, as the head and magistrate of the human family, must have devolved the dreadful office of becoming the executioner of his son. An awful mark of the Divine displeasure was, however, set upon Cain; he was sentenced to become a fugitive, and a vagabond in the earth; which, placed under an additional curse for his sake, should shut her bosom against him, and refuse the support and succour she was wont to bestow,-or at least afford to his hard exertions but a scanty subsistence. Cain received his sentence, not with humble penitence, but with rebellious murmurings and sullen despair, and withdrew from the presence of the Lord; that is, in all probability, entirely forsook the worship of God, and the society of his people, and lived in an open state of alienation and hostility; an enemy to God by wicked works. We cannot pass over this part of the sacred narrative without requesting our young readers to compare this finished picture of impenitent misery, with the beautiful display of genuine penitence embodied in the fifty-first Psalm. Cain went out in the true spirit of sullenness. Rejecting all hope of mercy, and determined if possible to forget his misery, he reared a family, and built a city, and engaged in various secular pursuits; lawful in themselves, and truly good to him who acknowledges and serves God in them; but to him whọ forgets God, and rebels against him, all is under a curse. Many inquiries have been made concerning

the scene of Cain's wretched wandering, called "the land of Nod ;" but it cannot be pronounced upon with any certainty. It was to the east of the pleasant and fruitful fields of Eden; but the name of Nod was perhaps not properly the name of a country, but merely an appellative, signifying "wandering," given to the tract of country which became the scene of Cain's wandering and residence. On the account of Cain's generation, it has been justly observed, that nothing good is said of any of them, but, heathen-like, they appear to have lost all fear of God, and all regard to men. Some, indeed, became famous for arts; one was a shepherd, another a musician, another a smith; but these things, however profitable to mankind, are such as the worst of men may excel in. One of Cain's descendants, Lamech, was infamous for his wickedness: he was the first who violated the law of marriage by a plurality of wives, and, among other evils, he followed the murderous example of his ancestor Cain, and seems to have presumed upon the divine forbearance being extended to him in a still greater degree. Thus, in different ways, sinners harden themselves in their iniquity; but sooner or later it is found to be hateful. We have no farther account of Cain and his posterity until we find them becoming tempters to the sons of God, and at length involving the world in awful desolation.

§ 2. Of Seth and his Posterity. GEN. iv. 25, 26. v.

B. C. 3874.

After the grievous things that Adam had seen in his family, it pleased God at length to visit him in mercy; and about 120 years after the creation, Eve became the mother of another son, to whom she gave the name of Seth, or Appointed, in token of her receiving him by the appointment of God, instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. It is an affecting remark, that Adam's sons were born in his own likeness; doubtless his sinful fallen likeness; for he no longer retained the image of God, in which he was originally created; or, if that image were restored by renewing grace, yet could he not communicate it; he received it as an individual, not as the representative of his race. Let the children of pious parents remember, that godliness is a personal thing, and be concerned to seek a personal interest in that by which their pious ancestors have been enriched, dignified, and made happy. Eve hoped to find in Seth a successor to righteous Abel, and so it proved; for in him and in his family true religion was preserved in those degenerate times.

It is an affecting thought, that the section of Scripture now under consideration, consisting of only a few verses, contains nearly all the history that God hath pleased to transmit to us of the antediluvian world, which subsisted for the space of 1656 years.