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And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

Of the firstlings of his flock. — He brought the best of the best; See Numbers 18:12 ; Numbers 18:29 . "Fat" taken for the best of all things. not anything that came next to hand, as Cain seems to have done, holding anything good enough, as did those rich wretches that cast brass-money χαλκον . Mark 12:41 into the treasury. "But cursed be that cheat who has a male in his flock, and offers to God a corrupt thing." "Offer it now to thy Prince," will he be content with thy refuse stuff? Behold, "I am a great King," saith God. Malachi 1:8 ; Malachi 1:14 He stands upon his seniority, and looks to be honoured with the best of our substance. Mary that loved much, thought nothing too much for her sweet Saviour. She brought an alabaster box of ointment of great price, and poured it upon him, and he defends her in it against those that held it waste. John 12:7 Among the Papists, their Lady of Loretto hath her churches so stuffed with vowed presents of the best, as they are fain to hang their cloisters and churchyards with them. Sir Edward Sandy’s Relation of West. Relig . Shall not their superstition rise up and condemn our irreligion, our slubbering service, and doughbaked duties? The Turks build their private houses low and homely, but their mosques or temples stately and magnificent. Turk. Hist ., fol. 342.

Had respect to Abel and his offering. — "The eyes of the Lord are still upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers": 1 Peter 3:11 he "looks" Isaiah 66:2 upon such with singular delight, with special intimation of his love; he is "ravished with one of their eyes," lifted up in prayer, "with one chain of their graces"; Song of Solomon 4:9 whenas he was no whit affected with the offer of all the world’s glory. Matthew 4:8-10 He saith of such to the wicked, as the prophet said of Jehoshaphat to the king of Israel, "Surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee," - Cain 2 Kings 3:14 here, for instance.

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But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

But to Cain and his offering, … — Because he brought not the person but the work of a person non personam, sed opus personae, as Luther Luth., in Decal hath it; who also calls those Cainists that offer to God the work done, but do not offer themselves to God. Works materially good may never prove so, formally and eventually. That which is fair to men, is abomination to God. Luke 16:15 He rejected the swan for sacrifice, Leviticus 11:18 because under a white feather it hath black skin. Sordet in conspectu Iudicis quod fulget in conspectu operantis, saith Gregory. A thing may shine in the night from its rottenness.

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And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

Why is thy countenance fallen? — Why dost lour and look so like a dog under a door? Vultu saepe loeditur pietas: Difficile est animum non prodere vultu Cicer. Orat. pro Amer . He was discontented at God, and displeased at his brother. He looks but sour and sullen upon him, and God takes him up for it. He so loves his little ones, that he cannot abide the cold wind should blow upon them. The sun must not smite them by day, nor the moon by night Psalms 121:6 The north and south must both blow good to them Song of Solomon 4:16 "Better a millstone," …, than "offend one of these little ones," Matthew 18:6 be it but by a frown or a frump. Better anger all the witches in the world, than one of God’s zealous witnesses: "For there goeth a fire out of their mouths to devour their enemies." Revelation 11:5

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If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee [shall be] his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Sin lies at the door. — Like a great bandog, ready to pull out the throat of thy soul, if thou but look over the hatch. Say this dog lie asleep for a while, yet the door is for continual pass and repass, and so no fit place for any long sleep. Your sin will surely find you out, saith Moses, as a bloodhound, and haunt you like a hell hag, as the heathen could say, Nemo crimen gerit in pectore, qui non idem Nemesin a in tergo. A late divine D. Lightfoot. by sin here understandeth a sin offering, and telleth us, that as God had read the first lecture of faith to Adam, Genesis 3:15 so here he reads the first lecture of repentance to Cain, under the doctrine of a sin offering; telling him, that if he did well, he should certainly be accepted; and though he did not well, yet a sin offering lies at the door; if he repented, there was hope of pardon. Resipiscenti remissio, pertinaci supplicium imminet, idque proximum et praesentissimum. - Jun .

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And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

And Cain talked with Abel. — What talk they had is not set down. The Septuagint and vulgar versions tell us, Cain said, Let us go out into the field. The Chaldee adds, that he should say, There was no judgment, nor judge, nor world to come, nor reward for justice, nor vengeance for wickedness, … Certain it is that those that are set to go on in sin do lay hold upon all the principles in their heads, and "imprison them in unrighteousness," Romans 1:18 that they may sin more freely. They muzzle the mouths of their consciences, that they may satisfy their lusts without control. But had Zimri peace that slew his master? or Cain that slew his brother? hath any ever waxed fierce against God and prospered? Job 9:4

Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew. — So Cain was the devil’s patriarch, and Abel the Church’s protomartyr. It is not long since Alphonsus Diazius, a Spaniard, an advocate to the Court of Rome, came from Rome to Neoberg, in Germany, to kill his own brother, John Diazius, a faithful professor of the Reformed religion, and a familiar friend to Bucer, who gives him an excellent commendation. Act. and Mon ., fol. 814. But it is worth the observing, says one, Bucholeer. that the first quarrel about religion arose propemodum inter media sacrificia, in the midst of the sacrifices almost. These theological hatreds (as I may call them) are most bitter hatreds, and are carried on, for most part, with Cain-like rage and bloody opposition. No fire sooner breaks forth, none goes out more slowly, than that which is kindled about matters of religion; and the nearer any come to other, the more deadly are their differences, and the more desperate their designs one against another. The Persians and Turks are both Mohammedans, and yet disagreeing about some small points in the interpretation of their Alkoran, the Persians burn whatsoever books they find of the Turkish sect. And the Turks hold it more meritorious to kill one Persian, than seventy Christians. Turk. Hist . x. The Jew can better brook a heathen than a Christian; they curse us in their daily devotions, concluding them with a Maledic Domine Nazaraeis. The Pope will dispense with Jews, but not with Protestants. Lutherans will sooner join hands with a Papist than a Calvinist. And what a spirit had he, that in a sermon at Norwich, not long since, inveighing against Puritans, said, If a cup of cold water had a reward, much more a cup of such men’s blood! See D. Day on 1 Corinthians 16:9 . Mortuus est Cain sed utinam ille non viveret in suis filiis, qui clavum eius, sanguine Abelis rubentem, ut rem sacrum, circumferunt, adorant et venerantur. The place where Cain slew Abel is by some thought to be Damascus in Syria, called therefore Damesec, that is, a bag of blood, Bucholeer

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And the LORD said unto Cain, Where [is] Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: [Am] I my brother’s keeper?

I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? — As if he had bid God, Go look. Let us not think much to receive dogged answers and disdainful speeches from profane persons. When they have learned to think better, they will speak better. As till then, pity and pray for them. These churlish dogs will be barking.

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And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

What hast thou done? — Here God appeals to the murderer’s conscience, which is instead of a thousand witnesses. As oft as we feel the secret smitings of our own hearts for sin, think we hear him that is greater than our hearts, saying to us as here, What havae you done? And that there is no good to be done by denying or dawbing, for he knows all things, 1 John 3:20 and requires that we should see our sins to confession, or we shall see them to our confusion.

The voice of thy brother’s blood. — The blood of one Abel had so many tongues as drops, and every drop a voice to cry for vengeance. "Give them blood to drink, for they are worthy." Revelation 16:6 Charles IX. of France, author of that bloody massacre of Paris, died of exceeding bleeding. Richard III. of this kingdom, and Queen Mary, had the shortest reigns of any since the Conquest; according to that, "Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days," Psalms 55:23 anno 1586. Mr Camden’s Elisab ., p. 165. Walsh, Bishop of Ossery, in Ireland, a man of honest life, with his two servants, were stabbed to death by one Dulland, an Irish old soldier, while he gravely admonished him of his foul adulteries; and the wicked murderer escaped away, who had now committed forty-five murders with his own hand. At length, revenge pursuing him, he was by another bloody fellow, Donald Spaniah, shortly after slain himself, and his head presented to the Lord Deputy of Ireland. Mr Camden’s Elisab. , p. 241.

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And now [art] thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;

And now thou art cursed. — The Pope contrarily blesses and saints traitors to their country, and murderers of their natural sovereigns; as Ravilliac, and others his assassins, those sworn swordsmen of the devil. Aphonsus Diazius, who killed his own brother for the cause of religion, as above said, fled to Rome, and was there highly commended for his zeal, and largely rewarded, as Bucer reports Bucer in Praefat. ad Senarclaei Histor. de Morte Diaz. - Lonicer . But, driven thereto by the terrors of his own guilty conscience, like another Judas, he afterwards hanged himself upon the neck of his own mule, for want of a better gallows.

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