thou not be accepted!" God told Cain, if he would do his duty, Abel should not be preferred before him; but that the desire of his brother should be to him and he should be treated with esteem and affection. Even after Cain had slain Abel and had lied unto God, he was favored with divine forbearance and secured against a hasty and violent death. In view of the wickedness, enmity and madness of Cain against God, he felt and expressed towards him the highest degree of kindness; yet he did not accept him in his worship. And for his rejection of Cain, he must have had the most evident and decisive reasons.

1. Cain had no respect to God when he professed to honor and exalt him, though he was worthy of his highest reverence and affection. He neither believed what God taught, nor obeyed his commands, nor feared his threatenings, nor trusted his promises, nor submitted to his justice, nor accepted his mercy, nor rejoiced in his holiness and happiness. He had the same spirit towards God, when he came before him in his acts of worship, that he had when he was angry against him for his mercy in the acceptance of his brother and his justice in the rejection of himself. Ought God to have approved and accepted Cain in the hatred and murder of his brother? But Cain had the same wicked character, when he professed to worship him. How could God accept Cain for his wickedness, when he rejected God for his goodness?

2. When Cain came before God he opposed and transgressed the divine law. This law requires pure and perfect holiness and forbids and condemns every unholy affection and action. This law can never be destroyed, nor relaxed, in its requirements and prohibitions. The Lord Jesus Christ says, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." But Cain had "the carnal mind, which is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." God was obliged to try Cain by the law, so long as he trusted in his own works for his favor. And by the law

he was condemned. God could not have respect to Cain against the law, which he opposed and transgressed; and which is holy, just and good.

3. Cain rejected the mercy and salvation, which are revealed in the gospel. God revealed his design of mercy to Adam. This design was declared to Cain and it was believed and accepted by Abel. In the purpose and offer of salvation, God reveals and manifests his wisdom and power, his justice and grace in their exceeding greatness and glory. By the gospel God opens the way for sinners to return and come to him and receive all the blessings which his almighty power and infinite goodness can bestow. Yet sinners reject the grace and glory of his gospel so long as they refuse to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Cain rejected the mercy and salvation that were offered to him, at the very time he professed to worship God. How then could God accept of Cain, when he rejected the very mercy through which alone he could obtain forgiveness and acceptance with him?

4. In his professed worship of God, Cain abused the means of grace. He confided in his attendance on the means of grace, when he despised and rejected the grace which these means were designed and suited to instruct and induce him to accept. In this way he substituted his self-righteous and impenitent performances for the mercy of God and the salvation of the gospel, which he ought in his acts of worship to have asked and received through faith in the divine Redeemer. But he preferred his own sinful and unwise conduct, in the external duties of religion, above the boundless mercy and compassion of God and before the precious and atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He exalted himself in his sin and guilt, against the holiness and majesty of his Creator, Sovereign and Judge. By such conduct he opposed and abused the means of grace and life, so that they became the means of vengeance and death to his soul. He opposed the very offer of forgiveness and salvation, so as to increase his condemnation and punishment. How could God approve and accept the conduct of Cain, when he abused the very means of repentance and mercy to aggravate his wickedness and form himself into a vessel of wrath?

5. In his professed acts of worship Cain sinned against himself. He might have had the same blessings, which Abel received on the same plain and easy conditions. But he would not perform the least act for this purpose. He would not ask for the mercy of God. He would not accept the infinite and eternal blessings of the gospel, when they were freely offered unto him and urged upon him by the most affecting and solemn motives. He chose to reject the counsel of God against himself. He chose to persist in his impenitence and unbelief, though he must suffer for his conduct present rejection from God and his most righteous and terrible displeasure forever. God could not bestow his acceptance and favor upon Cain, while he sinned against his own soul and treasured unto himself wrath against the day of wrath.

The character of Cain and his rejection from God offer the following reflections.

1. Mankind are as sinful, as they are represented to be in the Scriptures. Their sinfulness is a principal subject in the instructions of divine truth. According to the Bible, they are by nature entirely depraved and sinful in their moral affections and actions. Though they possess the mental faculties that are necessary to the perception of truth and the performance of duty; though they have the most powerful inducements to be wise and holy; though they suffer the evil and bitter effects of their unholy conduct; and though they sometimes have clear and powerful convictions of their sinfulness, misery and ill-desert; yet they will persist in the ways of error and wickedness and provoke the anger of God against themselves. Such was the conduct of Cain, in the situation and circumstances which were suited to try and show his heart. And who can say that he was not a correct example of the native depravity and sinfulness of mankind? In his wickedness he was not influenced and corrupted by the example of other persons. The world was not then filled with error and delusion. He had the benefits of religious instruction and worship. God spake to him with affection and kindness. Yet he showed that he had a heart that was full of evil; and that enmity and madness were in his heart. So depraved

and sinful according to the Scriptures are all mankind by nature. So depraved and sinful have they shown themselves to be by their conduct in all ages and nations. And who does not know, by observation and experience, that mankind are by nature selfish creatures? And selfishness, according to the law and the gospel, is the sum and essence of moral depravity and sinfulness.

2. Mankind are naturally disposed to deceive themselves respecting their moral character. By their proud and selfish feelings, they are disposed to believe and love what seems to favor themselves. Cain, no doubt, thought highly of himself, on account of his external appearances of goodness and his religious performances. There is reason to believe, that he had no suspicion his heart was enmity against God and his brother, at the time and in the act of religious worship. And who has not flattered and deceived himself with a false notion of his own goodness and worthiness, while he was wholly sinful, guilty and hateful? It is written, "He that trusteth his own heart is a fool. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Paul says, "I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died." He once thought himself blameless; but he was shown that he was the chief of sinners. And he says, "If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." Well may we exclaim, "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults." "Search me, O God and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting."

3. We may see why mankind are so unhappy. They say, "Who will show us any good?" After all their labors, pursuits, possessions and enjoyments, they obtain nothing but vanity and suffer vexation of spirit. They are like the troubled sea that cannot rest. They have lost the true knowledge and enjoyment of real good, because they turn from God and sin against him; they deprive themselves of his favor and suffer his displeasure. Well may we exclaim, "The crown is fallen from our head! Wo unto us that we have sinned."

4. They whom God shall reject and punish forever, will

not be able to say one word against him, nor in favor of themselves. They will be sensible of his holiness, justice and goodness in their condemnation; and of their wickedness, ill-desert, madness and folly in their transgression of his law and rejection of his mercy. To every sinner God now says by the prophet, "What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee?" Again he says, "Can thy heart endure, or thy hands be strong, in the day that I shall deal with thee?" Well may the apostle exclaim, "What, if God, willing to show his wrath and make his power known, endure with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?" And again, "O man, who art thou, that repliest against God?"

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5. To whom, but God, will they who are saved, ascribe their salvation? Were they not by nature children of wrath? Have they not broken the law? and will they not forever deserve its curse? Yet they have attempted to justify themselves and rejected the offer of mercy and salvation. Why then did they not persist in sin and destroy themselves forever? God saith to Moses," I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy; and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." They who are saved, will ascribe their salvation in respect to its design, foundation and accomplishment to the purpose of the Father, the atonement of the Son and the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, What, if God "make known the riches of his glory in the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory?" The Lord Jesus Christ rejoices in spirit and says, " Even so Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight."

6. Which way, then, do our hearts turn? Do we, like Abel, turn to God with self-abasement and confide in his mercy and accept salvation through the name and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Or do we, like Cain, exalt ourselves against his justice, reject his mercy and contend against his sovereignty? Ö, let us hear him who says, "Be still; and know that I am God."