PART VI. NAME ADAM GAVE HIS WIFE. GOD REMINDS MAN OF THE FALL. THE

CHERUBIM.

I. V. 20. _And the man called his wife's name Eve; because she is the

mother of all living._

We have heard above that it was inflicted as a punishment upon the

woman, that she should be under the power of the man. That power to

which she is thus made subject is here described anew. It is not God

who here gives to Eve her name, but Adam, her lord; just in the same

manner as before he gave to all the animals their names, as creatures

put under his dominion. No animal devised its name for itself. Every

one received its appellation, and the dignity and glory of its name,

from its lord, Adam. So to this day, when a woman marries a man, she

loses the name of her own family and is called after the name of her

husband. On the other hand it would be a thing quite monstrous, if the

husband should wish to be called by the name of his wife. This

therefore is a sign and further confirmation of that punishment of

subjection which the woman procured by her sin. In the same manner

also, if the husband changes his place of residence the woman is

compelled to follow him as her lord. So various are the traces in

nature which put us in mind of original sin and of our numerous

calamities on its account.

And the name which Adam gave to his wife is a name full of joy and

delight. For what is better, or more precious, or more delightful,

than life? There is a well-known poetic line--

_Num tu bona cuncta_

_Ut redimas vitam recuses?_

To save thy life, what wouldst thou not resign?

The world, with all its wealth, if they were thine!

For neither gold, nor gems nor the glory of the whole world can be

compared with the preciousness of life. This Christ intimates, Math.

6:25; 16:26. Hence the Jews generally give their children names taken

from roses, flowers, jewels, etc. The name of Eve however was not

taken from the preciousness of anything worldly, but from life itself,

which in value exceeds all things. But Adam adds also his reason for

giving this name to his wife. "Because she is the mother of all

living." It is evident therefore from this passage that Adam, by

receiving the Holy Spirit, was wonderfully enlightened; and that he

believed and understood the word spoken by God concerning the Seed of

the woman, which should bruise the head of the serpent; and that he

therefore wished to signalize his faith, and to adorn it by the name

which he gave his wife, the name the like of which he had not given to

any other creature. It is equally evident also that he moreover

wished, by this name given to his wife, to cherish his own hope of a

future Seed, to confirm his own faith and to comfort himself by the

belief of a future and eternal life, even at the very time when all

nature had been rendered subject to death.

For if Adam had not apprehended all this by the faith of the life to

come, his mind could not have been raised to such an assurance of it,

as to give his wife a name so full of joy. As therefore he did give

such a name to his wife, it is perfectly evident that his mind was

lifted up by the Holy Ghost to this confidence in the remission of

sins by the Seed of Eve, whom he therefore named Eve, in order that

the name might be a memorial of that divine promise by which he

himself was raised anew unto life and by which he left the hope of an

eternal life to his posterity. This hope and this faith he imprinted

as it were on the forehead of his wife in the brightest colors by the

name Eve which he gave her; just in the same manner as those who are

delivered from their enemies erect trophies and other glad memorials

to commemorate the victory which they have gained.

But perhaps you will inquire, how Adam called Eve the mother of all

living, when she was as yet a virgin and had never borne a child.

Adam, we here again see, did this to testify his faith in the divine

promise; because he believed that the human race would not be cast

away nor destroyed, but would be saved. This same name Eve therefore

embraces also a prophecy of the grace that should come; and it

indicates that consolation, which is necessary under the perpetual

trials of this human life and against all the temptations of Satan. It

is very possible also that the joyful giving of this name to Eve,

which as we have said is a most beautiful proof of the faith of Adam

and of the recreation of his spirit unto a new life, formed a reason

why the holy fathers in after ages held that day, on which their

children were circumcised and received their names as a more glad and

joyful festival than the day they were born; to the intent that such

festival might forever commemorate this giving of the first name by

Adam, when he called his wife Eve. But now follows another kind of

memorial quite the contrary to this; a memorial of sorrow, not of joy.

V. 21. _And Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins,

and clothed them._

This is by no means so joyful and delightful information as was that

of Adam giving to his wife the name of Eve. For, although the Lord had

said, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die;" yet

Adam consoled himself by this name which he gave to his wife that the

life which he had lost should be restored by the promised Seed of the

woman, which should bruise the serpent's head and destroy the

destroyer.

II. Here Adam and Eve are clothed with garments by the Lord God

himself, in order that, being perpetually reminded by this clothing as

a lasting memorial, they might reflect, as often as they looked at

their garments, upon their awful and miserable fall from the highest

felicity into the extremest calamity and wretchedness; to the intent

that they might ever afterwards fear to sin and exercise continual

repentance; yet looking for the remission of sins by the promised

Seed. And this is the reason no doubt the Lord God did not cover them

with leaves nor with that wool which grows on trees, but clothed them

with the skins of slaughtered animals to remind them that they were

now mortal and subject to certain death.

As therefore the name Eve contained in it the joyful hope of life,

even of eternal life; so these skins were a memorial of sin passed and

sin to come; but a memorial also of all those calamities present and

future, which that sin deserved. And indeed our nature has need of

such memorials and perpetual admonitions. For we easily forget both

past evils and past blessings. Hence it is that Peter says, "For he

that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having

forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. Wherefore I shall be ready

always to put you in remembrance of these things, though ye know them,

and are established in the truth which is with you," 2 Pet. 1:9, 12.

For it is truly an awful expression of the apostle when he here

intimates that some forget the remission of their sins, and after they

have well believed draw back from their faith, and adorn not

themselves with the most beautiful chain of Christian virtues which he

enumerates, but indulge in covetousness, pride, envy, lust, etc. We in

our day also have great need of this admonition, who experience all

these burdens of these calamities under the papacy, lest we become

ungrateful to our merciful God, as, alas! the greater part of the

world do.

As a remedy therefore against this forgetfulness these skins were

added as clothings for Adam and Eve, that they might be forever a sure

sign, or memorial or admonition, whereby both they and all their

posterity might be reminded of their most wretched condition. But in

after ages, marvelous to say, the world began to grow mad in the

matter of this very memorial of their calamity! For who can possibly

describe the amount of study and expense men and women give to dress!

Indeed it is so great that it can no longer be properly termed

pleasure nor luxury, but madness; because, like asses created for

bearing burdens of gold they seem rather to consider with how much

gold they can load themselves, than with how much they can best adorn

themselves. A superior kind of dress may be justly commended in

certain cases; especially in more illustrious persons. But that rage

for dress in all classes, which now prevails, cannot but offend the

eyes of all good men. And if Adam himself could rise from his grave

and behold this madness for raiment in all circles of society, I

believe he would stand petrified with astonishment at the sight. For

the clothing of skins, which Adam daily wore, daily reminded him of

his sin and his lost felicity. Whereas we, on the contrary, clothe

ourselves with splendid garments and indulge in luxury of dress, that

we may testify to all men that we have not only forgotten the evils of

the fall, from which we have been saved by the Seed of the woman, but

the blessings also which we have received through him. We next find

that the admonition which the Lord had given by the sign of the

garments, he gave also in word.

V. 22. _And Jehovah God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us,

to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take

also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:_

These words contain sarcasm and most bitter derision. Some inquire

therefore why it is that God here deals so harshly with miserable

Adam? How it is that, after he had been robbed of all his glory and

had fallen into sin and death, he is goaded in addition to all this by

his Maker with this most bitter reflection passed upon him. Was it not

enough, they ask, that he should wear this visible sign which should

perpetually remind him of his lost glory and his present calamity, but

he must hear also in addition this audible word of the Lord God?

To this I reply, Adam had the promise of mercy given him, and with

that he ought to have lived content. But in order that he might more

deeply fear, and more carefully guard against all future sin, there is

spoken to him this bitter memorial word also. For God foresaw what

kind of men Adam's posterity would be; and therefore he puts this word

into his mouth that he might preach it to his posterity, and might

teach them as a warning that by wishing to become like God, he became

like unto the devil; in order that they also, being thus warned, might

not add to that sin of their first parents their own sins, and so

depart still farther from God.

As before, by the clothing of skins, so now, by his word itself, God

reminds our first parents both concerning their past and their future

calamities. Not that God is delighted with Adam's sad case, for had it

been so he would have given him no such admonition at all; but would

have remained silent. But God willed that man should sigh after the

restoration of that "image of God" which he had lost; and should

therefore the more hate sin, which had been the cause of this awful

calamity; and that Adam should admonish his posterity of what had been

the consequence of his sin; that when, having been plundered of his

reason by Satan, he thought he should become like God, he became like

Satan himself.

On this passage also that great question is raised, why God, who is

one, here speaks in the plural number? And whether there are more gods

than one? And Nicholas of Lyra, with others, considers that these

words are either spoken in the person of an angel or addressed to

angels, "Is become as one of us;" that is, "Is become an angel." But

this comment is too cold. For God does not here call himself an angel.

Nor does the force of the expression lie in the word "one;" but rather

in the pronoun "us." Wherefore we repudiate altogether this cold

comment. For if these words are spoken in the person of an angel, it

is certain that God did not speak them; but God did speak them. For

the assertion of the text is, "And Jehovah God said."

Wherefore here again let us have recourse to the light of the Gospel.

For this light as I have above observed illumines all these obscure

passages of the Old Testament. And indeed if you will explain these

words as having reference to the angels, such interpretations will not

accord with that portion of the sacred narrative which precedes. For

Satan above said, verse 5, "And ye shall be as gods, knowing good and

evil." From this it is manifest that Adam and Eve really endeavored to

become like God, not like an angel. Wherefore this passage cannot

rightly be understood in any other way than as meaning equality with

God!

This error of the Jews therefore concerning the reference of the

present passage to angels, which Lyra also follows in his

interpretation, is exploded; and from this text, according to the

letter, the doctrine is established that there is a _plurality_ in the

_Godhead_, which doctrine was also determined above, Gen. 1:26, where

God said, "Let _us_ make man in our image." All these passages argue,

in the first place, for the unity of the divine essence. For the

uniform expression in them all is, "And God said." And in the next

place, they argue also for the plurality, or according to the general

term used, a _Trinity_ of persons in the Godhead. All these mysteries

however are more fully revealed in the New Testament. As for instance,

when Christ commands believers to be baptized in the name of the

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The Three Divine

Persons in the Godhead therefore were thus at once shadowed forth at

the very beginning of the world, and were afterwards clearly

understood by the prophets, and at length fully revealed in the

Gospel.

The meaning of this passage therefore stands perfectly plain, that the

intent of Adam and Eve was to become like God or to secure his image.

Now the image of the invisible God is the Son, "by whom all things

consist," Col. 1:17. Wherefore Adam by his sin dashed against the very

person of Christ, who is the true image of God. These great things are

but briefly and obscurely set before us in this divine narrative.

There is no doubt however that Adam himself drew from them numberless

sermons for his family and posterity; in the same way as the prophets

after him evidently contain various allusions to these mysteries and

wrap them up in marvelous indications, which the Gospel finally

reveals in open and bright manifestation.

It makes also for our interpretation of the present passage that the

name of God used is Jehovah, which cannot signify any creature, being

a name which is applied absolutely and only to the Creator himself.

And what does the Creator here say? "Adam is become as one of _us_."

Now here most assuredly neither our profession nor our faith will

tolerate receiving these words as being spoken or as having reference

to angels. For who will dare to say that God is one of the angels, or

that an angel is one of the _us_, the ELOHIM? The glorious God is

above all angels and over all creatures! How therefore can God make

himself only equal to the angels!

We receive this passage therefore as a sure testimony of that article

of our faith concerning the holy Trinity; that there is One God, and

Three Divine Persons in the Godhead. Moses indeed seems here

obscurely, but plainly and purposely, to intimate concerning the sin

of Adam that his aim was to become like, not unto angels, but unto

God. For if he had sinned against angels only, he would not have been

condemned to death for such a sin. But because his sin was directly

against the majesty of the Creator, by aiming to become like unto him

and to do as that divine majesty did, therefore it was that so awful a

punishment followed so awful a sin.

And as when a man is delivered from crucifixion every one will

naturally remind him of the danger in which he was placed and will

exhort him to guard against a like danger ever afterward; so, after

Adam is restored to the hope of life through the divine promise, God

admonishes him by the bitter irony contained in the text, not to

forget his horrible fall nor ever again to attempt to equal God, in

which he so awfully failed; but to humble himself before the divine

Majesty and ever afterwards to guard with all his posterity against

such a sin. For these things were not spoken to Adam only; they apply

to us also, who, after being baptized and renewed by grace, ought to

take heed with all watchfulness that we fall not back into our former

ungodliness.

In like manner there is equally bitter sarcasm in the words, when God

says, "And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take of the tree of

life, and eat, and live forever." As if God could not by one mere nod

prohibit Adam from touching the tree and also prevent him ever doing

so! Moses next adds those terrible and terrifying words,

Vs. 23, 24. _Therefore Jehovah God sent him forth from the garden of

Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the

man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim, and

the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the

tree of life._

The contents of this text are intended also for our rebuke and

admonition; as Paul says, Rom. 15:4, "For whatsoever things were

written aforetime were written for our sakes also." For there is great

peril, lest forgetting our former sins we should be plunged into them

again; as Christ also gives us warning, when he says, "Behold, thou

art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee," John

5:14. Peter also speaks in the spirit of warning, when he says, "It

has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turning

to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in

the mire," 2 Pet. 2:22. The same admonition and warning are given by

the same apostle elsewhere, when he says, "Having forgotten the

cleansing from his old sins," 2 Pet. 1:9.

These and other passages of Scripture are all admonitions concerning

guarding against future sin; because, as in diseases so in sins, the

relapse is more difficult of cure than the original. Hence therefore

Adam and his whole posterity are warned in so many various forms by

the present portion of the sacred record of Moses! All is written in

order that, after they have received the hope of eternal life by means

of the promise given through the Seed of the woman, they might beware

that they lose not that hope by sinning again; according to that

remarkable parable of the house which was swept and garnished after

Satan was cast out, which Satan again occupied, taking with him seven

other spirits more wicked than himself.

It is to this end that the Lord uses so much bitterness in his address

to our first parents. It is as if, in explaining himself, he should

say, "I before forbade Adam and Eve to touch the tree of death;" but

such was their impudent self-will, that they would not abstain from

doing so even to their own destruction. Now, therefore, I must take

all care that they approach not the "tree of life" also; for it may be

they will not refrain from putting forth their hand on that also.

Therefore I will so effectually prevent them from eating of this tree,

that I will prohibit them from the use of any of the trees of paradise

whatsoever. Wherefore I say unto them, "Go ye forth from the garden

altogether, and eat the herb of the field, and whatsoever else of the

kind the earth produceth. Ye shall hereafter not only eat no more of

the tree of life, but ye shall not taste any other tree of paradise,"

etc.

This passage further shows that the trees of paradise were in no

manner like those which the other part of the earth brought forth.

Wherefore, even the food which Adam and Eve ate, after their ejection

from paradise, reminded them, and still reminds their posterity, of

their sin and of their most miserable condition, into which they have

been hurled by their sin. In so many and various ways are our

calamities depicted before our very eyes that even our clothing,

independently of our destitution by nature of those spiritual gifts,

the knowledge and worship of God, etc., perpetually remind us of those

great calamities.

Here a question presents itself, whether, if God had permitted Adam to

eat of the tree of life, Adam would by this food have overcome death

in the same manner as by eating of the tree of death, he became

subject to death; for the reasoning in each case seems to be parallel.

The tree of death killed; and that by the Word, which said, "In the

day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." The tree of

life, therefore, by the power also of the same Word, gave life and

preserved from death.

Lyra and others in their reply to this question say that this tree of

life had indeed the power of preserving life for a length of time, but

not forever; and therefore it could not have restored that life which

was lost by sin. For Adam was not created with the design of his

remaining in this corporal life forever; but he was designed to be

translated from this corporal life and from this corporal nourishing

of it into that spiritual life, for which he was ultimately designed

and into which he would have been translated, if he had not sinned.

Just in the same way as when a man is created a consul from his former

private life, no death is taken into consideration in his being

created to that office, but his glory and dignity alone are increased;

so Adam, had not death intervened by his sin, would have changed his

mortality for an immortality without any death at all; being

translated from the life corporal to the life spiritual and eternal.

This "tree of life" however, according to the view of Lyra, served

only for the preservation of the corporal life. And therefore he

interprets the present text, "Lest he should live an age;" that is, a

life of long duration. Such is Lyra's opinion.

My understanding of the text however is different. My belief is, that

if Adam had been admitted to eat of the tree of life he would have

been restored to that life which he lost; so that he would not have

afterwards died, but would have been simply translated from the life

corporal to the life spiritual and eternal; for the text contains both

these statements most clearly; that Adam was prohibited from eating of

"the tree of life," that he might not be restored to the life which he

had lost; and also, that if he had eaten of that tree he would have

lived LEOLAM; that is, for an age or a length of time.

My rejection of the opinion of Lyra, however, is especially on the

ground that he attributes the power of giving life to the nature of

the tree itself simply; whereas it is quite certain that the tree

possessed not this property of its own nature, but from the power of

the Word absolutely. Just in the same manner as the tree of the

knowledge of good and evil had its peculiar property from the same

Word. It did not kill, because its fruits themselves were deadly,

poisonous or pestiferous; but because the Word, as a certain paper,

was added to it; on which paper God had written, "In the day that thou

eatest of this tree, thou shalt surely die," Gen. 2:17.

Wherefore, in the first place, to this tree of death there was

attached spiritual death or the death of the soul; that is,

disobedience. For after Adam and Eve had violated this commandment of

God by sin, which commandment had continued effectual in them up to

that time, they began to think thus, "Behold, God has forbidden us to

eat of this tree; but what is that to us?" This contempt of the

commandment was that poisoned hook, by which being firmly fixed in

their throats Adam and Eve were utterly destroyed. For since the

divine threatening was added to the commandment, therefore after

eating it the fruit wrought in them death on account of their

disobedience. The tree of death itself was not poisoned; but, as I

have copiously explained before under the second chapter, it was the

tree of divine worship, where man might testify, by his obedience in

that worship, that he acknowledged, reverenced and feared his God. For

God saw everything which he had made, and behold it was very good,

Gen. 1:31. Wherefore, I have no doubt that this tree of life in the

present passage derived its efficacy, as did the tree of death, from

the Word. Therefore, since the Word rested in its power on that tree,

if Adam had eaten of it, he would have been restored to the life which

he possessed before his fall.

It was just thus also with the serpent, which Moses raised in the

desert. It did not give or cause life by its own nature; for it was

made of brass, as any other serpent might be made of the same metal to

this day. But it was the Word, added to that serpent, which made it

effectual to give life; because God commanded that serpent to be

lifted up, and because he added this Word to it when lifted up, "Every

one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live," Num. 21:8.

Now, if thou shouldst make a serpent of brass at his day, thou couldst

not have this Word to add to it. Moreover, the cause of the healing

did not lie in the act of the looking, but that cause was contained in

the Word, by which God had commanded that those who were bitten should

look to the serpent, to which commandment was also added the promise

of healing to those who should look. But because the Rabbins

understand not the nature of the Word, therefore they shamefully err

and fail in their interpretation and declare the meaning to be, that

the nature itself of these trees was death-giving or life-giving. For

they understand not that all things therefore take place, _because_

God by his Word either _promises_ or _threatens_ that they shall so

take place.

Our sophistic human reasoners trifle in the same way, when they argue

upon the manner in which baptism justifies. For Thomas Aquinas and

Bonaventura consider that there is a certain power of effecting

justification infused by God into the water when the infant is

baptized; so that the water of the baptism, by its own virtue thus

communicated, creates justification. We, on the contrary, affirm that

the water of baptism is water, nothing else or better than that water

which the cow drinks. But we affirm, that to this water, natural and

simple in itself, is added the Word, "He that believeth, and is

baptized, shall be saved," Mark 16:16. And again, "Except a man be

born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of

God," John 3:5. Now, if any one is inclined to call this Word, or this

Promise, the power communicated to the water of baptism, I will not

resist such a view of the sacred matter. But the mind of our sophists

is quite different from this; for they will not assign this power to

the Word; they argue concerning the element only; and they affirm that

the water itself contains a peculiar power communicated to it of God.

Scotus has expressed the matter more correctly in his definition of

it, when he says that baptism is "a divine compact or covenant,

resting on the element."

The Word therefore is in every case to be regarded and honored, that

Word by which God holds and endues his creatures with efficacy; and a

difference is ever to be made between the creature and the Word. In

the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there are bread and wine; in

baptism there is water. These are the mere creatures. But they are

held in God's hand by the Word, and as long as the creature is thus

apprehended by the Word, so long also doth it effect that which the

Word promises.

And yet we would by no means be understood as favoring by these views

the Sacramentarians, when we thus join together baptism and the Supper

of the Lord. Baptism hath annexed to it the promise, that with the

Holy Spirit it regenerates. In the Supper of the Lord, in addition to

the promise of the remission of sins annexed to it, it has also this

excellency: that with the bread and the wine there is also truly set

forth the body and blood of Christ, as Christ himself says, "This is

my body which is given for you;" and also, "This cup is the New

Testament in my blood," Luke 22:19, 20. In the same manner it might

also be said that the human nature itself in Christ does not redeem

us. But because the human nature was corporally held fast by the

divine nature, and Christ is both God and man in one person, therefore

his redemption is all-availing; and therefore Christ is called the

"Son of Man" and the Saviour.

The Pope has invented the "blessed water," "extreme unction" and

numberless other like things, to which he has attributed the remission

of sins. In all these cases ever think thus with thyself: Has God ever

added to these things his Word of Command and his Word of Promise? And

if the promise and the precept of God are not attached to them,

immediately judge that they are idolatry and profaning of the name of

God. But they will tell you that the prayers of the pious are added to

them and that there exist holy examples, in imitation of which these

things were constituted. But do thou regard neither the pious prayers,

nor the holy examples, nor the intentions of those who invented or

established these things. Look only at whether the precept and promise

of God are attached to them; for the divine command and promise alone

can endue creatures with a new power beyond that power which they of

their own mere nature possess.

Thus "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" was of its own

nature good as a creature; but by means of the Word of God, added and

attached to it, it became to man through his sin the poison not of his

body only but of his soul. And in like manner, on the contrary, "the

tree of life" had by means of the Word of God attached to it the power

of preserving life, and it would have restored and preserved the life

of Adam had God so permitted. But God being angry with Adam did not

permit him to return to eat of that tree after his fall. And this

repulsion from "the tree of life" and from paradise was not only

intended to keep Adam under the continual memory of the sin which he

had committed, but also because Adam had now a better promise given

him, that the Seed of the woman should bruise the seed of the serpent;

so that, although Adam was subjected to corporeal death, he yet

retained the hope of an immortality through the Son of God. Just as an

angry father, though he does not deprive his son of the right of his

inheritance, yet chastises him and turns him out of doors.

It is thus the will of the Lord God therefore that man should be

content with the hope of a better life than that in which Adam was

first created. For even though Adam had eaten of the tree of life and

had been restored thereby to his former life, he would not even then

have been safe from Satan nor from the danger of falling again from

that life by his temptation. God therefore hath prepared for man that

state of hope in which we may live assured that through the blessed

Seed of the woman we never can die an eternal death, although this

corporeal life thus appointed for us may be filled with various

afflictions. The words of the passage are the words of God, spoken

ironically and in anger to Adam now justified, warning him to be more

cautious of sin in the future and not to forget his past sins and

calamities.

Moses moreover beautifully inverts the order of his words to the

intent that he might more effectually admonish man of the things he

had related before, where he said, "Jehovah God placed man in the

garden of Eden that he might till it and guard it," Gen. 2:15. Here on

the contrary, he says, "The Lord God sent man forth from the garden of

Eden to till the ground from which he was taken." For God by Moses

would have man to reflect that he was formed of the ground and was

stationed in a most delightful place; but that by means of his sin he

was cast out of that most delightful place and carried back to the

ground from which he was first created. By this striking inversion of

the facts of his record, Moses indicates the manner in which God not

only warned Adam and all his posterity against all future sin, but

reminded them also of their great sins past. Now therefore Adam, whose

appointed station before was in paradise, a place separate from all

the beasts of the earth and in which peculiar food was prepared for

him, is cast out into a place in common with the beasts and also has

his general food in common with them.

Nor is Adam cast out of paradise only, but a guard also is set at the

entrance of the place that he might not by any means be able to enter

it again. Just as watches are set to guard citadels and armies. Moses

therefore by the copiousness and variety of speech he here uses would

show, that this expulsion of Adam from paradise was in the highest

degree necessary unto our salvation; that, being warned thereby

against sin, we might live in the fear of God, ever watching against

temptations from Satan, who worked so much evil to our nature by the

sin of our first parents.

Concerning the original word, MIKKEDEM, we have spoken above and have

shown that it signifies "from the east" or "in the eastern quarter."

The meaning of Moses is, that paradise had a way or gate on the

eastern side, by which there was an entrance into this garden. Thus

also, in the building of the temple described by Ezekiel, mention is

made of a gate of the sanctuary, which looked toward the east, so that

we may conclude that this temple was a certain form of paradise; for

paradise, had nature remained innocent, would have been as it were the

temple of the whole world. At this entrance therefore toward the east,

which alone led to paradise, Cherubim were placed or angels which

might guard this way, that neither Adam nor any of his posterity might

ever enter paradise again. The Lord did these things after the manner

of men as a terror, in order that there might thus exist a lasting

memorial of so awful a fall.

Moreover these Cherubim had not iron wherewith to drive back those who

should approach, but LAHAT, that is, "the blaze," or "the flame" of a

turning or brandished sword; a flame like the flash of lightning which

is uncertain in its motion and dazzles the eyes. This flame or flash

of fire has the form of a sword, continually waved or brandished.

Just, for instance, as we have it represented that cloven tongues like

as of fire appeared resting upon each of the apostles on the day of

Pentecost, Acts 2:3. The same appearance do flying dragons also

exhibit. In this manner it was also that the angels here spoken of

unceasingly emitted flames, which flashed in all directions so that no

one might by any possibility approach.

The absurdities of Origen on this passage we utterly reject, nor are

we at all more pleased with the triflings of Lyra, who will have it,

that by the "flaming sword" we are to understand the sinner, who for a

sin unto death has ceased to be meritoriously, though not numerically

one of the church militant. And he says, that the "flaming sword"

being represented as "turning every way" signifies that if true

repentance follow such sins a man is deservedly recalled into the

church. For ourselves however, as we have all along maintained that

paradise was a real and visible garden in a certain spot of the earth,

so we explain the present text in a simple and historical sense; that

this "sword" was a real and visible "flame" or "a flash of fire" in

the form of a sword, by the turnings or brandishings of which every

way the Cherubim or angels terrified and drove away Adam and his

posterity, so that they dared not approach this garden.

And paradise was kept closed by this guard of angels until the Deluge,

to the end that there might exist a sure memorial of this miserable

and calamitous fall of Adam to all his posterity; in the same manner

as in after ages the Lake of Sodom and the pillar of salt remained as

memorials throughout the posterity of those generations. And indeed

our insensibility and unconcern need such monuments of the wrath of

God. After the Deluge however paradise, together with its angels and

these brandishings of their sword, disappeared. For each rising

generation had its monuments of the divine wrath, which were nearer to

them and the better calculated to alarm the self-secure, although even

this avails nothing with the wicked.

III. Thus have we in our Commentary on these first three chapters of

the book of Genesis gone through the history of the whole creation. In

what manner the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and all things that

are in them, were created; in what manner paradise was created of God,

that it might be the palace of man, the lord of the whole world, who

had dominion over all things therein; in what manner God instituted a

temple for man in paradise, which was appointed for acts of divine

worship; namely, the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil," by his

conduct concerning which Adam might testify his obedience to his God.

We have also heard in these three chapters the history of those things

which were done by man in paradise; how woefully he fell and sinned

against God and lost all this glory of his innocence and natural

immortality.

All these subjects I have treated with plainness and simplicity,

according to the measure of my gift; giving them their plain

historical sense, which is the true and genuine meaning. For the

principal thing we have to do in interpreting the holy Scriptures is

to gather from them, to some degree of certainty, their plain and

simple sense; especially, surrounded as we are with such a variety of

interpreters, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. For nearly all these not only

pay no regard to the plain historical sense of the Scripture, but even

confound it by foolish allegories and bury it under the confusion they

themselves cause.

The absurd system of Origen and Jerome, which these commentators have

followed in these chapters of the book of Genesis, is well known. They

have throughout departed from the plain history, which they call "the

mere letter that killeth," and "the flesh;" and have magnificently

displayed the spiritual sense, as they term it, of which they know

nothing. And Jerome has followed Origen as his great teacher.

Precisely the same thing also has taken place in our time. For as men

gifted and eloquent, have bent their powers to persuade their hearers

and readers that histories are mere dead facts, which profit nothing

to the edification of the churches, it has thereby come to pass that

we have all run headlong in our common study into allegories. And I

myself also, when a youth, found wonderful success in this my attempt

at allegorizing. For I found a license here to invent the greatest

absurdities; seeing as I did that such great doctors of the churches

as Jerome and Origen sometimes gave open field to their ingenuities.

Indeed, to such an extent was this indulgence in allegories carried,

that he who was the greatest adept at inventing them was accounted the

greatest theologian. Augustine also, carried away by this false

opinion, often disregards the historical sense of the Scriptures,

especially in the Psalms, and has recourse to allegory. In fact, all

were filled with the false persuasion that the allegorical meaning was

the spiritual and true sense; especially with reference to the

histories of the Old Testament; but that the historical or literal

sense was the mere carnal interpretation.

But is not this, I pray you, the positive profaning of sacred things?

Thus Origen, out of paradise, makes heaven, and out of the trees,

angels. If this be so, where is the article of the creed concerning

creation? It is highly necessary therefore, especially in young

students of the holy Scriptures, that when they come to read the old

divines they condemn, with good judgment or rather with fixed

determination, all those things in their writings which they find at

all improbable or unsound, lest they be led astray by the authority

that lies in the name of the fathers and doctors of the Church; for in

this way was I deceived, as were all the schools of the professors of

divinity. For myself, ever since I thus began to abide by the

historical sense of the Scriptures, I have cautiously shunned all

allegorizing; nor have I ever adopted allegories unless the text

itself evidently furnished them or the interpretations derivable from

the New Testament justified them.

I found it very difficult however to give up entirely my long

indulgence in allegorizing, although I saw that these allegories were

vain speculations and the mere froth, as it were, of the holy

Scriptures. For it is the plain historical sense of Scripture that

truly and solidly teaches. After the plain sense of the Word has been

rightly understood and mastered, then allegories may be used as

certain ornaments by which the plain historical sense may be

illustrated and strikingly depicted. But naked allegories which

respond not at all to the historical realities nor tend to paint them

forth more impressively, are at once to be rejected as idle dreams;

for instance, from what part of the Scriptures can it be proved that

paradise signifies heaven, and the trees of paradise the angels? Are

not these pure follies, and mere creatures of the brain without fruit

or profit?

Let those therefore who would adopt allegories, seek the justification

of them from the history itself in question; for it is history which,

like sound logic, teaches true and indubitable realities. On the other

hand allegory, like oratory, ought to adorn history only; but to prove

facts, it avails nothing. Allegory is useful in this way, as when we

say that the heavens represent the Church, and the earth the empires

and the political government. Thus Christ himself calls the Church

"the kingdom of heaven" and the "kingdom of God." And the earth is

called in the Scriptures the "land of the living," where men live and

kings and princes rule, Job 28:13. The Apostle Paul uses the same kind

of allegory, when he represents Adam and Eve, or marriage itself, to

be a type of Christ and his Church. This is an allegory full of divine

instruction and consolation indeed. For, what could be uttered more

deep or sweet than that the Church is the spouse and Christ the

bridegroom? For, by this figure is signified both that conjugal

fellowship and that most joyful communication of all those gifts which

the bridegroom has to bestow, and by which gifts are buried in

oblivion both all the sins and all the calamities with which the

spouse is loaded. Wherefore that is a most delightful word where Paul

says, "For I have espoused you to one husband, that I might present

you as a pure virgin to Christ," 2 Cor. 11:2.

In like manner the same apostle says, Rom. 5:14, that Adam was "the

figure of him that was to come." And how? The apostle himself gives

the explanation: "For if by the trespass of the one the many died,

much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one

man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many," V. 15. Does not this

allegory, used by the apostle, beautifully refer to the historical

facts recorded by Moses as its foundation? Exactly after the same

manner does the apostle make out the history of Sarah and Hagar, an

allegory whereby to represent the two Testaments, Gal. 4:24. Let all

therefore, who are inclined to introduce allegories, seek their

foundation of them and justifications for them from the divine history

itself.

Moreover we have heard above the sacred record of "the seed of the

woman" and "the seed of the serpent." And to this history Christ

refers in his parable or allegory concerning the enemy who sowed in

the night the evil seed, that is, wicked doctrine and evil inventions,

Math. 13:28. Who does not at once see that such allegories as these

are more appropriate, more illustrative, more useful and far superior

to those allegories which Augustine, Lyra and others have introduced

concerning the inferior power and the superior power of reason, on

which we have dwelt in their place?

In like manner the closing of paradise and the stationing of a guard

of Cherubim, with brandished swords of fire to prevent any one from

re-entering, evidently signify nothing more or less than that man

while living in the world "without," and destitute of faith in Christ,

can endure neither the light of the law nor the light of the Gospel.

And hence it is that Paul says concerning the Jews, "that they could

not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, and that Moses was obliged

to put a veil over his face on that account," 2 Cor. 3:7, 13.

"The tree of death" in paradise represents the law, and "the tree of

life" the Gospel or Christ. And to neither of these trees can any

approach who have not faith in Christ. For they are prevented by the

sword of the angels on guard, who cannot endure hypocrisy or poisonous

self-righteousness. But who so acknowledges his sin and believes in

Christ, to him the gate of paradise stands open, because he brings

with him, not his own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ,

which righteousness the Gospel therefore preaches unto all men, in

order that all might rest upon it and be saved.

But there is no need that we should pursue this subject of allegories

further. Let it suffice that we have offered these admonitions, that

we might thereby direct those who use allegories to adopt those

allegories alone, which the apostles have indicated and justified, and

which have their sure foundation in the very letter and in the

historical facts of the Scriptures.

But we must offer a word concerning the cherubim. Frequent mention is

made of them throughout the holy Scriptures. In the Latin authors we

find nothing stated concerning them. They merely observe that the term

CHERUB signifies a plentitude of knowledge. Among the Greek authors

Dionysius speaks of the cherubim. There is a boasting report that

Dionysius was a disciple of the Apostle Paul, but that is not true.

Dionysius was a man full of the most vain absurdities, in which he

abounds in his disputations concerning the heavenly and the

ecclesiastical hierarchy. His imaginations make nine choirs, as so

many ranks or spheres of heavenly beings. In the supreme hierarchy he

places first the seraphim; next, the cherubim; next, thrones; next,

dominions; next, powers; and lastly, principalities. And then in the

lower or inferior hierarchy, he places first potentates; next,

archangels; and last of all, angels. Now, who does not see that all

these representations are nothing more nor less than idle and futile

human inventions?

After all this he says there are in the ecclesiastical hierarchy,

first bishops, then deacons, then sub-deacons, then readers, then

exorcists. In such absurdities as these that great man, the disciple

of the chief of the apostles, the great teacher of the Gentiles, was

exercised! And yet, such is the boasted authority of this supposed

great man, that inflated hypocrites set down all these, his foolish

inventions, as if handed down to them by oracles from heaven. Whereas

in all these follies there is not one word to be found concerning

faith, nor one word of useful instruction in the holy Scriptures. And

who after all told him that there were nine choirs of heavenly beings

and potentates? And why moreover did the Franciscans afterward add a

tenth sphere, as a sort of palace, in which the holy mother Mary might

dwell? In a word, these are follies and absurdities adapted only for

Papists to learn and admire, as a just punishment for their

pertinacious war against all sound doctrine.

With respect therefore to the _Cherub_ I will offer my opinion as far

as I have been enabled to form it from reading. The name Cherub

appears to me to signify that florid countenance which we see in girls

and young men in the blossom of their age. For this reason angels are

represented in pictures as infants. So that by cherubim you may

understand angels, as heavenly beings, appearing with a blooming

countenance, and with brow free from wrinkle or sign of sorrow, and

smoothly extended with joy, wearing a face plump and full with

gladness, whether it be a human face or any other. The name Cherub

therefore is a general appellation, a term which does not apply to any

order of angels in particular, as Dionysius dreams, but has reference

only to their general appearance, because they present themselves to

men with a juvenile and florid aspect.

And this indeed is the opinion of the Jews themselves, who assert that

KERUB is a Chaldaic term and that the letter _Kappa_ is a servile

letter, and that RUB signifies a beautiful youth, who has a full and

florid face; and they affirm that the angels are called KERUBIM, as

representing their florid and joyful and delightful countenance or

appearance; and thus they are generally represented in paintings.

In like manner the name Seraphim is a general appellation of angels; a

name derived from fire or burning on account of the quality of their

form, as is shown in Numbers 21:6, where Moses says, "And the Lord

sent HANNECHASCHIM HASSERAPHIM, 'fiery serpents' among the people;"

or, "serpent Seraphim" (_serpentes Seraphim_); that is, "serpents

burning or on fire." So that we may here understand _Seraphim_ or

fiery angels; that is, angels not only beautiful in their full and

florid face, as are _Cherubim_, but also fiery or shining as the angel

is represented in the Gospel to have been, which sat on the stone at

the tomb of our Lord, of whom Matthew says, "His countenance was like

lightning," Math. 28:3; and as angels are also described by the

Psalmist, when he says, "Who maketh his angels spirits, and his

ministers a flaming fire," Ps. 104:4. And again, it is said, Luke 2:9,

"That when the angel of the Lord came to the shepherds, the glory of

the Lord shone round about them." Of the same description also was the

countenance of Christ at his transfiguration on Mount Tabor, of whom

it is said, "And his face did shine as the sun," Math. 17:2. The same

also shall be our countenances, when we shall be raised again at the

last day to enter into the glory Christ hath prepared for us.

With respect to what is written in the Books of Kings concerning "the

Cherubims overlaid with gold," _Cherubici certini_, we are there to

understand these full and blooming countenances of angels, together

with their wings, 1 Kings 6:28. Not that angels really have wings, but

because they cannot otherwise be described. Hence it is that we find,

Is. 6:6, that the angel, who comes flying with a joyous and beautiful

countenance, such as angels are described on pictures of tapestry, is

called CHERUB. And if to this full and florid countenance there be

added also brightness, such as was the shining countenance of Stephen,

full of joy and delight, so that nothing but rays of joy dart from the

eyes, such angels are called _Seraphim_.

Such as these shall we also be. Our countenances shall shine as bright

as the mid-day sun. There shall be no wrinkle, no contracted brow, no

watery eyes; but as it is written, Rev. 21:4, "and God shall wipe all

tears from our eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,

nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." Let us therefore

hold fast this hope and live in the fear of God, until, being

delivered from this life of affliction, we shall live that angelic and

eternal life which is to come. Amen! Amen!

CHAPTER IV.

PART I. GENERATION, MARRIAGE, BIRTH AND EDUCATION OF CAIN AND ABEL.

I. Thus have we at length waded through that mighty sea of matter, in

doing which, all who have made the attempt have so greatly sweated and

toiled, and this sweat we also have fully experienced. To us however

the whole way was much more direct and plain, because, throwing aside

all allegories, we have followed throughout the historical and proper

sense of every passage. Whereas, the most commentators have not

regarded that proper sense, but have made Origen, Dionysius and others

their teachers, rather than Moses himself; and so have deservedly

wandered out of the way. The things which now follow in the divine

record are plainer than the preceding and admit of less dispute; and

therefore they tend more to support my view of the sacred narrative;

because every one must plainly say that the intent of Moses was not to

put forth a host of allegories, but simply to write a history of the

primitive world.

V. 1a. _And the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare

Cain._

When Adam had fallen into death by sin, he had the promise given him,

as we have heard, that from his flesh, thus made subject to death,

there would surely arise unto him a _Branch_ of life. He fully

understood therefore that he must propagate his seed; and especially

so, since the blessing pronounced on him and his wife, "Be fruitful

and multiply," was not only not taken away, but afterwards confirmed

by the divine _promise_ concerning the _Seed_ of the woman, which

should bruise the serpent's head. Therefore Adam did not know his wife

Eve from the mere inclination of the flesh, as we generally judge; but

it was the necessity of that salvation, which was to come unto him

through the blessed Seed of the woman that constrained him to do so.

No one therefore ought to be offended with the relation of this

circumstance by Moses that Adam "knew his wife." For although, on

account of original sin, this divine act of generation is considered

to be one of turpitude, by which we find pure ears to be generally

offended; yet spiritual men ought always to distinguish between

original sin and the creature or the appointment of God. The act of

generation, as a creation-appointment of God, is good and holy, for it

is the very blessing pronounced of God upon male and female when they

were created. And if man had not fallen this act of generation would

have been most pure, most holy and most honorable. For as no one

blushes to converse, eat and drink with his wife, because all these

things are honorable among all men, so, had it not been for the fall

of Adam, the act of generation would also have been most honorable and

void of all "shame!"

Generation has indeed been left to us, even in this state of fallen

and corrupted nature. But there has adhered to it that poison of the

devil, an impure lust and prurient concupiscence, which is the cause

of numberless sins and evils; from all of which, nature in its

unfallen state was perfectly free. Now however we find by experience

that the flesh is filled with inordinate and unsatisfied desires; so

much so that even marriage is not for many a sufficient remedy. If it

were, there would be no adulteries nor fornications. Whereas these, to

our shame and pain, everywhere abound. Nay, in how many and various

ways does this infirmity of the flesh discover itself, even in married

persons? These infinite evils are not the consequences of the creation

nor of the blessing pronounced on male and female. These latter

proceeded from God. But they are the consequences of sin and of the

curse, which proceeded from the sin of Adam. Therefore, the

creation-appointment of God ought to be separated from all these

evils; for that is a good creature of God, concerning which even the

holy spirit himself we see is not ashamed to speak.

But further. Not only is there no idea of impurity to be attached to

this mention of the creation-command and "blessing" of God made by

Moses, when he says, "and Adam knew Eve his wife;" it was even

necessary that Moses should write and teach these things on account of

the heresies which were in later times to arise; such as those of

Nicolaus, Tatian, etc.; and, above all, on account of the papacy. For

we see the Papists were not the least moved by that which is written

above, that the Lord created man "male and female." They so live and

so bind and fetter themselves by vows, that they seem to be utterly

ignorant that there are any such beings as the male and female sexes.

They are not at all moved by what is also above written, that Jehovah

God "Brought Eve unto Adam." and that Adam said "This is now bone of

my bones, and flesh of my flesh." They are not moved by the promise

and blessing of God, "Be fruitful and multiply." The Decalogue touches

them not, when it commandeth, "Honor thy father and thy mother!" Yea,

they disregard their very origin; born as they are from the union of

male and female, commanded and blessed of God. Passing by, despising

and casting away all these things, they compel their contemptible

priests, monks and nuns to devote themselves to perpetual celibacy; as

if the married life, of which Moses here speaks, were a life reprobate

and damnable!

The Holy Ghost however hath a purer mouth and purer eyes than the

Pope! The Holy Spirit himself therefore blushes not to mention the act

of generation, or the union of husband and wife; though these great

saints condemn it as impure and base. Nor does that Holy Spirit

mention this marriage union in one place only of the sacred record.

The whole Scriptures are filled with such histories; so much so, that

on that very account some popes have prohibited young monks and nuns

from reading the holy Bible. But I need not enlarge. Suffice to say,

that such has been the rage of the devil against this institution of

God, holy matrimony, that the Papists have compelled men to abjure

marriage, to the very end that they might institute their orders of a

celibate life; and they have condemned the commandment of God, married

life, as polluted in comparison with the life of celibacy, which they

themselves have set up!

This wickedness however has not been left without its own just

punishments. For there are continually before our own eyes examples of

the fruits which impure celibacy brings forth, and there are extant in

books, record of most horrible crimes, of which it has been the cause.

That holy man Udalric, an Augustan bishop, testifies that after Pope

Gregory had determined on establishing celibacy, and had forbidden

even those to live with their wives, who had been married before the

decree concerning celibacy had gone forth, the Pope had a mind on one

occasion to fish in a pond which he had in his park at Rome; and that

when he did so it led to the discovery, that the fish-pond contained

more than six thousand heads of infants! The same Udalric also writes

that Pope Gregory, being struck with awe and consternation at such a

sight, revoked his sanction of the impious decree concerning celibacy.

The successors of Gregory however easily swamped the foulness of this

discovery, and the pious abolition of the decree by Gregory also; for

they also, like their predecessors, considered that celibacy was

adapted not only to increase their wealth, but to support their

dignity.

A similar example presented itself also in my time, when some nuns at

Neumburg were compelled to leave the place, on account of their

flagitious lives, and the monastery was given to the Franciscans; and

when these latter, for their convenience, caused some alterations to

be made in the building; in laying these new foundations, there were

discovered twelve pots, each one of which contained the dead body of

an infant! An infinite number of similar instances have occurred at

other places in every direction.

Rightly therefore did Gregory act in revoking his decree, by which, as

Bishop Udalric remarks, he made a very beautiful application of the

word of the Apostle Paul, who says, "It is better to marry than to

burn," to which, I also add, "It is better to marry, than to incur the

peril of eternal death by sin."

At Rome itself also on account of the great numbers of infants who are

exposed monasteries are erected, of whom the Pope is nominated "the

father!" And the near relatives of the infants, which have been so

exposed, precede him in the public processions! I forbear to testify

of an infinite number of other kindred enormities, which are too bad

to mention.

Wherefore, it behooves us all to guard against such doctrines of

devils as these, and to learn to hold marriage in all reverence; and

with all reverence to speak of that holy life, which we see God

himself has instituted; and which we hear is commended of him in the

Decalogue, where he says, "Honor thy father and thy mother," to which

holy matrimony, is also added the blessing, "Be fruitful and

multiply." And concerning this holy marriage it is, that the Holy

Ghost is here speaking, whose mouth is holy and chaste. But all those

sins and vices, and all that turpitude which have entered into the

originally pure creation of God by sin, we ought not to agitate, or

deride, or touch, when speaking of holy marriage, but rather carefully

to cover them; just in the same way as we see that God covered the

originally naked Adam and Eve with coats of skin after their sin. For

marriage ought to be treated and spoken of by all as honorable, being

the holy union from which we all are born; and which is, as it were,

the seminary not only of each nation but of the Church and kingdom of

Christ unto the end of the world.

This high glory of marriage however the heathen and profane men do not

understand. Therefore, all they can do is to collect the vices which

exist in the marriage life itself, and in the abandoned female sex.

And thus, separating the unclean things from the clean, they retain

the unclean only; and the clean they see not at all. Hence also,

certain profane lawyers so irreverently judge and speak of this book

of Genesis as to affirm that it contains nothing more than the

marriage doings of the Jews. Are not then such men as these, I ask

you, worthy of living to see marriage despised and unclean celibacy

introduced, and themselves, subjected to its crimes and punishments,

which exceed even those of Sodom?

The Holy Spirit however thought it not enough to say here "And Adam

knew Eve;" but he also adds, "his wife!" For the Holy Spirit approves

not wandering lusts and promiscuous intercourse! He wills that every

man should live content with his own wife. And although, alas! even

that union of married people itself is very far from being pure, as it

would have been had man continued in his state of innocency;

nevertheless even in the midst of the vices of lust and of all the

other calamities of the fall of Adam, the "blessing" of God on

marriage still stands unaltered. For the fact of Adam knowing Eve his

wife, which Moses records, was not written for Adam and Eve's sake.

When Moses penned these words, Adam and Eve had long been reduced to

their original dust. It was for our sakes therefore that this was

written; "That those who cannot contain might marry," 1 Cor. 7:9,

"live content each with his Eve, and not desire strange women."

This expression, "knew his wife," is a phrase peculiar to the Hebrews;

for neither the Latins nor the Greeks so expressed themselves. It is a

form of speech particularly beautiful; not only on account of the

modesty and reverence it preserves, but on account of the peculiarity

of signification it conveys. For the verb YADA has a much more

extensive meaning than the verb "to know" in our language. Thus, when

Job says, concerning the wicked, "They shall know what it is to act

against God" he means that they shall feel and experience the

consequences of such actions. So, when David says, "For I acknowledge

my sin," Ps. 51:3, his meaning is, I feel and experience what it is to

sin. Again, when the angel of the Lord says to Abraham, "For now I

know that thou fearest God," Gen. 22:12, his meaning is, "I know by

sense and experience." And again, when the Virgin Mary said unto the

angel, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man," Luke 1:34, her

meaning is the same as that of Job, David, etc. For, it is evident

that Mary knew many men, but she had neither known nor experienced any

man, as man or the male of God's creation. It was in this manner

therefore that Adam "knew Eve his wife," as it is expressed in the

present passage. Adam did not know his Eve as an object of sight or of

a speculative knowledge, but he experienced in reality what she was as

the "woman," whom God had created such.

That which follows, "And Eve conceived, and bare Cain," is sure

evidence that the human nature was more excellent and perfect then

than it is now. For there were originally no unfruitful embraces, as

there are now in this old age of the world. As soon as Eve was known

by her Adam, she was immediately impregnated and conceived.

II. Here a question may arise, why Moses says, "And bare Cain!" Why he

does not say, And bare a son, Cain; as below, verse 25, where his

expression is, "And she bare a son, and called his name Seth." Both

Cain and Seth were sons. Why, then, are they not both called "sons"?

The answer to this question is, that these different expressions of

Moses were so ordered on account of the posterities. For, Abel being

murdered by his brother, perished corporally; but Cain by his sin

perished spiritually. And yet the generation or seed-bed of the Church

was not propagated from Cain, though he was still alive corporally;

for all his posterity perished in the flood. Therefore neither the

blessed Abel, nor the accursed Cain, has in the Scriptures the name of

"son." But Seth was the one from whose posterity Christ, that promised

Seed, was ordained to be born. Seth therefore is the first of the

children of Adam and Eve, who is counted worthy the name of "son."

V. 1b. _And Eve said, I have gotten a man with the help of (from)

Jehovah._

From this expression of Eve there may be gathered another reason why

she did not call Cain a "son." It was the greatness of her joy and of

her reverential awe, which prevented her from calling Cain a "son."

For she thought something greater concerning Cain than a natural son.

She considered Cain would be that man who should bruise the serpent's

head. And therefore she does not say simply, "a man;" but, "a man of

Jehovah," implying that he would be that man concerning whom the Lord

God had promised her that her Seed should bruise the serpent's head.

And although Eve was deceived in this her hope, yet it plainly appears

that she was a holy woman, and that she believed in the salvation that

was to come by the blessed Seed. And it was because she believed this,

that she so greatly rejoiced in the son which she had borne, and that

she spoke of him in the exalted terms contained in the text before us.

It was as if she had said, "I have gotten a man of God, who will

conduct himself more righteously and happily than I and my Adam

conducted ourselves in paradise. Therefore I call him not my 'son.' He

is a man of God, promised to me and shown to me of God." It might have

been for this latter reason also, as well as for the former, that Eve

did not call Cain "a son."

With respect therefore to Eve's adhering so closely to the divine

promise and believing so firmly in the deliverance that should surely

come through her Seed, in all this she did rightly. For, by the same

faith in the "Seed" that was to come, all the saints of old were

justified and sanctified. But with respect to the individual intended

by the promise, she erred. She believed that it was Cain who should

put an end to all those calamities into which Satan had hurled man by

sin. This faith of Eve however rested on a certain opinion of her own,

without any sure sign and without the sure Word. The promise indeed

was true, and certain, and sure; but nothing was said or signified

definitely, whether it was Cain or Abel who should be that great

conqueror of the serpent.

In the matter therefore of determining the individual, Eve was

deceived; and consequently her giving to her son so proud and joyous a

name was all in vain. For the text shows that Cain was so called from

the verb KANAH, which signifies "to possess," or "to acquire." So that

by this name Eve consoled herself against the evils she had brought

upon herself, and set against them the acquisition of eternal life and

salvation, which she should obtain by her Seed, against that loss of

life and salvation which she had incurred by sin and Satan. It was as

if she had said to her Adam, "I remember with sorrow what we have lost

by our sin; but now, let us speak of and hope for nothing but recovery

and acquisition. I have gotten a man of God, who will acquire and

recover for us that glory which we have lost." It was this certainty

of the promise therefore and her sure faith in it, which drew Eve into

this haste and caused her to think that this her first son was the

Seed concerning whom the Lord had made the promise.

But Eve, poor miserable woman, was deceived in this. She did not yet

see the extent of her calamity. She did not yet know that from the

flesh nothing but flesh can be born, or proceed, John 3:6, that sin

and death cannot be overcome by flesh and blood. Moreover she knew not

as yet the point of time in which that blessed Seed, concerning whom

the promise spoke, should be conceived of the Holy Ghost and be born

of a virgin into the world. Just in the same manner the patriarch

after Eve knew not this point of time, although the promise of the

Seed to come was gradually made clearer and clearer by the revelation

of the Holy Spirit. In the same manner also, we in our day know

assuredly that there shall be a final judgment, but the day and the

hour we know not. Just as Christ says, even unto his apostles, Math.

24:36.

V. 2a. _And again she bare his brother Abel._

It cannot be known for a certainty whether Cain and Abel were twins or

not, although it is very probable indeed that they were twins. But be

that as it may, it is certain that our first parents had various

thoughts concerning these two sons, and that they imagined that their

redemption was at the door. Cain was doubtless held in the highest

honor and made the object of their chief delight; while Abel on the

other hand was not an object of so much pleasure nor of so much hope,

as the names themselves of the two sons show. Cain was so called, as

we have said, because they considered that it was he who should

acquire or restore all things. On the contrary Abel signifies "vanity"

or "that which is nothing or of no value or abject." Some interpreters

have rendered the name in our Bible "mourning" or "sorrow;" but the

Hebrew term for sorrow is EBEL not HABEL. Moreover the expression

HEBEL is of very frequent use in the sacred Scriptures. How often is

it repeated in Ecclesiastes? "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,"

Eccles. 1:2, and also in the Psalm, "Therefore their days did he

consume in vanity," Ps. 78:33; that is, they attained not the

"promised land" of Canaan.

Abel therefore was so called, as being considered one concerning whom

there was no hope, or one respecting whom all hope was vain. But Cain

was so named, as one of whom all things were hoped. These very names

given to these two sons therefore plainly manifest the thoughts and

feelings of the parents concerning them; that, as the promise was made

concerning the Seed of the woman, Adam and Eve thought that the divine

promise thus made was to be fulfilled through Cain, their first son;

but that Abel would effect nothing, seeing that everything was to be

successfully accomplished as they thought through Cain. Therefore they

called him Abel. And this hope which Adam and Eve entertained

concerning Cain was undoubtedly the reason why these two brothers were

not brought up with the same care and concern. For to Abel was

committed the charge of the cattle; but Cain was trained in the

pursuits of his father, and to the cultivation of the earth, as being

the superior and nobler employment. Abel was a shepherd; Cain was a

king and a priest, being the first-born and destined by his birth to

fulfil those high hopes and expectations of the recovery of all his

parents entertained concerning him.

But here ponder the wonderful counsel of God! From the beginning of

the world, primogeniture has always held a very high privilege, not

only among the people of God, with whom the right attached to

primogeniture was an institution of God himself, and by him highly

commended, but among the Gentile nations also. And yet facts and

experiences prove, especially among the holy people, that the

first-born have often disappointed the hopes of their parents and that

the after-born have often attained to the condition and dignity of the

first-born.

Thus were not our first parents miserably deceived in their hopes

concerning their first-born, Cain, the murderer? So also Abraham, the

exalted, was not the first-born, but Haran. So again Esau was the

first-born; but he had to yield his birth-right and its blessing to

Jacob. Again, David was the youngest of all his brethren, and yet he

was anointed king. And the same wonderful counsel of God may be seen

in many other instances in the Scriptures. For although the first-born

had by divine right the prerogatives of the kingship and the

priesthood, yet they frequently lost them, and the after-born were

appointed to them in their stead.

And whence in most instances arose this perversion of things? Both

from the fault of the parents and from the pride of the first-born

themselves. The parents gave to their first-born greater liberty and

indulgence; and then the first-born themselves thus corrupted by the

indulgence of their parents despised and oppressed, through this pride

in their birth-right, the rest of their brethren. But God is the God

of the "humble." He "giveth grace to the humble, and resisteth the

proud." Those first-born therefore, who exalt themselves in pride God

puts down from their right and their seat; not because such do not

inherit the right of their primogeniture, but because they grow proud

of their gifts and privileges, and carry themselves with insolence and

oppression; and such God cannot endure.

Thus when the angels, who had been endowed with gifts the most noble

and the most bright, above all other beings, began to grow proud in

heaven and to despise the humility of the son of God, they were cast

down into hell and became the most hideous devils. For God cannot

endure pride and he will have his majesty preserved and held inviolate

everywhere, as the prophet says, "And my glory will I not give to

another," Is. 42:8, 48:11.

Thus also, the people of Israel were God's peculiar people, and the

holy city of Jerusalem was the habitation of God. But when they cast

off the fear of God and grew proud, through a confidence in their high

gifts and privileges, the whole people was cut off and their city laid

waste by the Gentile nations. And this indeed is the common pestilence

of our nature. We rest not content with the gifts which God has

bestowed upon us, but abuse them through pride and insult our

bountiful Creator and giver. God, for example, bestows empires,

kingdoms, peace and other large blessings, that kings and princes

might acknowledge him, worship him and give him thanks. But kings and

princes so abuse these great gifts and favors, as if they were

bestowed upon them for the very end that they might insult and trample

under foot their Creator, who has been to them so bountiful a giver.

The very same evil of pride also is found in private and domestic

life. God gives sound health, wife, children, and personal property;

not that through these things we should offend him, but that in all

such things we might acknowledge his mercy and render him continual

thanks. And for this same end also, that we might always give him

thanks, he has bestowed upon us the use of and the "dominion" over all

his creatures. But how few are there who render unto God the thanks

which are thus due to him! Do not almost all of us live in the

continual and most shameful abuse of the gifts of God? God therefore

is compelled to use in our case the same remedy which the Roman

Emperor Vespasian adopted. He used to suffer his citizens to grow

rich. For he was accustomed to say, that such rich ones were like a

sponge, which when filled with water, if well squeezed, will give back

the water in abundance. So when God has enriched certain ones with his

bountiful gifts, if they grow ungrateful and abuse the bounty of their

God, he squeezes them till they are empty again; as the blessed Virgin

says, "And the rich he hath sent empty away."

It was for this reason that God did not spare the first-born, Cain. He

did not give the first birth-right to Cain, that he might grow proud

of it and despise his God; but that he might adorn it, and reverence

and fear his God; and when he did not this, God cast him off. And in

this matter the sin belonged even to the parents also. They fostered

this pride in their first-born as the names they gave their two sons

plainly prove. For Adam and Eve placed all their hope in their

first-born only. They called him "their treasure," as his name

indicates. But Abel they looked upon as nothing and considered that he

could do nothing; while they adorned Cain as a king and held him to be

the "blessed Seed." From him therefore they promised to themselves

great things, and of him they speak great things; and he on his part

became filled with pride. But Abel they despised all the time as a man

of naught.

God however in due time reverses all things. He casts away Cain and

makes Abel an angel, and the "first of all the saints." For Abel, when

murdered by his brother, was the "first" who was delivered from his

sin and from all the calamities of this world, and he shines

throughout the whole church to the end of the world as a distinguished

star, through that illustrious testimony of "righteousness," which the

whole Scriptures bear to his honor.

In this manner therefore was Abel, whom Adam, Eve and Cain despised as

a man of naught, made in the sight of God a lord of heaven and earth.

For after death Abel is placed in a higher state and condition than if

he possessed a thousand earthly worlds with all their riches.

Such is the end of pride and presumption against God! Cain trusted in

his birth-right and despised his brother in comparison with himself,

and believed not the promise concerning Christ; Abel on the contrary

took fast hold by faith of the promise made unto Adam concerning the

Seed of the woman. And this faith was also the reason he offered a

more excellent sacrifice than Cain, as the Epistle to the Hebrews

expresses it, Heb. 11:4.

V. 2b. _And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the

ground._

According therefore to the names given to the two sons by Adam and

Eve, such was the condition of life to which each son was appointed by

his parents; and the difference of these appointments manifests that

exalted hope which the parents entertained concerning Cain above his

brother. For although each "calling" of life is honorable, yet that of

Abel is domestic only, while that of Cain is rather political or

public in the nation. As Adam was himself a tiller of the ground, he

trained Cain, whom he more greatly loved, to his father's higher

calling; while to Abel is committed the more leisure care of the

flock. So that it plainly appears that the one son was looked upon as

the lord and the other as a servant by his parents.

V. 3. _And in process of time after the end of days, it came to pass,

that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto

Jehovah._

"After the end of days," that is, after a certain number of years had

been fulfilled or accomplished. It is here that we are first informed

that the godly parents, Adam and Eve, preached to their children often

and much concerning the will and the worship of God. For we here find

that both the sons brought unto God their offering. But you will

inquire perhaps what, and concerning what, did Adam and Eve preach

unto their children. They certainly had most glorious subjects for all

their sermons and conversations. They remembered well their original

condition, and what paradise then was; and without doubt they

frequently pointed out to their children the place, now guarded by the

prohibiting angels, and warned their children to beware of sin, by

which they had been deprived of so many blessings and shut out from

them.

On the other hand there is no doubt that they exhorted their children

to live in the fear of God, that they might console themselves with

the confidence of his goodness toward them; assuring them that if they

did so, they would attain to a better state after this present life.

And who could enumerate all the blessings of that former life, which

they had originally enjoyed! To all their teaching was added that

other branch of doctrine concerning the promise of the Seed of the

woman, and of the great deliverance from all calamities to come. And

most probably these God-fearing parents preached all these things to

their children in a certain place, and especially on the Sabbath days.

And it was doubtless by being stirred to do so by these sermons, that

the children came to offer their sacrifices and to render unto God his

worship.

PART II. OFFERINGS IN GENERAL, OF OUR FIRST PARENTS, AND OF CAIN AND

ABEL.

I. Now this is the first passage of the Scripture in which mention is

made of MINCHA, _or_ "an offering," from which it plainly appears that

the custom of sacrificing and offering victims is no recent thing, but

a practice which has existed from the beginning of the world. It is no

wonder therefore that the offering of sacrifices, which had been a

custom handed down from Adam to Moses, as from hand to hand, should at

length have been reduced by Moses into its own peculiar forms and into

a certain order; all those things being rejected and repudiated,

doubtless many, which the vain superstition of men had added to the

original manner of sacrificing. Such additions are seen in the

examples furnished by the heathen sacrifices, contained in Homer and

Virgil, which sacrifices the heathen nations no doubt received from

the primeval fathers, but which they multiplied and encumbered with

many things through their superstition.

And while I am dwelling on the present passage, let the reader first

of all consider with me that Adam and Eve are not parents only, nor is

it their sole care to feed their children and to rear them for this

present life. They hold the offices and perform the duties of priests

also. And because they are filled with the Holy Ghost and illuminated

with the knowledge of Christ who was to come, they set this great hope

of their future deliverance before their children also, and exhort

them to show forth their gratitude to the God of such infinite mercy.

For it is to be received as a sure fact, that the end of all the

sacrifices which have been handed down to us from the beginning was

none other than to set forth this _great hope!_

And now consider with me next, what kind of hearers there were to

listen to this good and holy doctrine from the lips of Adam and Eve.

These hearers and scholars were two. Cain, the first-born who appeared

as a saint and was believed to be the lord of all, was a wicked man

and believed not the divine promise. On the other hand, Abel, whose

authority was as nothing and was thrust aside to take care of the

cattle, was a godly man and believed the promise. And yet the ungodly

Cain so concealed his ungodliness, that he heard his parents when

teaching him and his brother, as if he solemnly reverenced the Word;

and he also brought his offering, as his godly brother did. Here we

have an example of the twofold church; the true Church and the

hypocritical church, as we shall more fully explain hereafter. For

although, in the passage now before us, mention is made of the

sacrifice offered only, and not of preaching also, yet we are to rest

fully assured that Cain and Abel did not bring their offerings without

the preaching of the Word. For God is not worshipped with a mere dumb

work. Here must also be the Word, sounding both in the hearts of men

and in the ears of God. And in the same way also calling upon the name

of the Lord was added to this original sacrifice.

Some may here inquire, whether Cain and Abel had any word or command

of God for offering their sacrifice. My answer is, as all sacred

histories confirm, that the great and merciful God of his

superabounding grace always appointed together with his Word some

certain and visible sign of his grace; in order that men being

admonished and kept in remembrance by means of the certain signs or

works of the sacraments may the more surely believe that God is

favorable and merciful unto them.

In the same manner after the Flood, God set his bow in the heavens,

that it might be a sure sign and proof that he would not again visit

the world with a like punishment. After the same manner also,

circumcision was given unto Abraham, as we shall hear in order that he

might hold fast the assurance that God would be to him a God, and that

he would give him a Seed in whom all the nations of the earth should

be blessed. To us under the New Testament are given Baptism and the

Supper of our Lord, as ordained visible signs of grace, that we might

be the more fully assured that our sins are all taken away by the

suffering of Christ for us and that we are redeemed by his death.

Hence the Church was never left so destitute of external signs, that

men were suffered to remain in ignorance as to where God might be

found without fail.

And although the world for the most part follows in the steps of Cain

and abuses those external signs of the grace of God, turning them into

hypocrisy, it is nevertheless evidently an unspeakable mercy that God

represents himself unto us in so many ways. And this very great gift

of God is that which is intended to be lauded by those high

commendations contained in Proverbs, "I was daily his delight,

rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in his habitable earth," Prov.

8:30, 31. But the Hebrew word SACHAK is not translated into German,

"to play;" for wisdom here declares that her regard was always

directed toward men, to the intent that she might reveal herself to

men. The meaning is, as if God had said, "I have always so walked

before the eyes and in the hearing of men, that they may always

understand me to be present in their sacrifices, in circumcision, in

their offering of incense, in the cloud by day, in the Red Sea, in the

manna, in the brazen serpent, in the tabernacle of Moses, in the

temple of Solomon, and in the cloud over the mercy-seat, and all these

things were my delight; that by means of them I might present myself

before the eyes of the sons of men and reveal myself unto them."

And it was also a great consolation to Adam, that after paradise had

been lost and the tree of life also, and those other blessings of

paradise which had been outward signs of the grace of God, God gave

unto him another sign of his grace; namely, that of offering

sacrifices; in order that by this given sign he might understand that

he was not cast off by God, but was still the care of his maker, and

the concern of his Creator. And this is what God intended to be

understood by Adam, when he had lighted his sacrifices and oblations

with the heavenly fire, and when the flame which consumed them

ascended to heaven; as we read concerning the sacrifices of Moses and

of Elijah. For all these sacrifices were true symbols and

representations of the divine mercy; of all these signs, miserable men

had need, that they might not be without some continual light and

indication of the grace of God.

In the same manner also the Word itself Baptism and the Lord's Supper

are our morning stars, upon which we look as sure indications and

representations of the Sun of grace. For we can definitely affirm,

that where the Lord's Supper, Baptism and the Word are, there is

Christ, the remission of sins and eternal life. On the contrary, where

these signs of grace are not, or where they are despised by men,

there, not only is there not grace, but also foul errors abound: so

much so that men make to themselves other signs and appoint other

modes of worship. Thus the Greeks worshipped their Apollo, and other

heathen nations their demons. The Egyptians worshipped their Anubis,

their Serapis, and crocodiles, garlic, onions, etc., etc. The Romans

adored as their gods Jupiter Quirinus, and the abominable statues of

Priapus, Venus, etc.

The very same thing has occurred also in the papacy. For after those

true signs of grace began to sink in men's esteem and to be despised,

superstition could not remain quiet. It sought out for itself other

signs, such as vows, orders of monks, pilgrimages to the tombs of the

saints, intercessions of the saints, and other superstitions. All

these things are full of errors, and joined with ungodliness; and yet

miserable mortals embrace them as certain signs of divine grace. And

amidst all this you hear of no bishop who condemns, no school which

exclaims against such blasphemies as these, nor which teaches sounder

things. For where the light of the Word is lost and these signs of

grace also, which God has given unto men, people necessarily run after

the desires of their own hearts. So also the Jews, when they had

despised the tabernacle and the temple, sacrificed under trees and in

groves, even until parents became so cruel as to sacrifice their own

children.

All this idolatry, so various and so widely wandering out of the way,

plainly shows how great a gift of God it is to possess the Word and

those signs of divine grace, which God himself set forth and

commanded. And if the Gentiles had been willing to follow in the

footsteps of the Jews, they would never have fallen away into those

monstrous idolatries under which they were sunk. And so also with

respect to ourselves; had we held Baptism and the holy Supper of our

Lord in that esteem in which we ought to have held them, we should

never have become monks. Nothing concerning purgatory, nothing

concerning the sacrifice of the mass, nothing about those other like

iniquities, would ever have been taught and handed down to us in the

Church. But after the light of the Word had been put out by the wicked

Popes, it was easy enough to thrust upon men all these abominations.

Unspeakable therefore is this gift, that God not only condescended to

speak unto men by his Word, but added also to the Word these visible

signs of his grace; as in the New Testament, Baptism and the Supper of

our Lord. Are not those therefore who use these signs in a manner

beneath their dignity, or who treat them with contempt, worthy of

being left as they are to purchase the Pope's dung, as the richest

balsam, and to worship it, and to pray to it? For why dared they

despise such goodness of the divine majesty? They might have had, if

they pleased, these sure signs of the grace of God at their own houses

without any expense and without any labor. But despising these, they

travel to Rome and to Compostella, etc.; and thus spend their money

and afflict their bodies, and at length most justly lose their souls.

God be blessed forevermore, that he has in this our day recalled us by

his Word from these mighty errors and idolatries, and has so enriched

us with the signs of his divine grace, that we may have them before

our doors and in our home and even on our beds.

It was in this manner that God at first and from the very beginning of

the world, in order to confirm his promise concerning our salvation,

took this care that men might always have signs by which they might

comfort themselves under their sins, and might lift up their heads by

a confidence in the divine grace. For it is not the dignity of the

work or act itself, but the mercy of God and the efficacy of the

divine promise in the sacrifice, which are availing unto the

worshipper. It is because God hath ordained these acts of worship, and

because he hath promised that they shall be well-pleasing unto him,

that Baptism and the Supper of our Lord are to us, what the sacrifice

and offering after the promise were to Adam. For God in those

sacrifices revealed his grace; and he approved those same sacrifices

by himself igniting them and consuming them by fire from heaven.

II. And it was to these acts of worship that the first father brought

up his sons; that they might in this manner render their thanks unto

God, might bless God, and might conceive a sure hope in the mercy of

God. But the wicked Cain, inflated with the dignity of his first

birth-right, despised all these most blessed preachings of his parent.

He brought his offering indeed as his father had commanded him; but,

puffed up with the high opinion of his own sanctity, he imagined that

God would approve the act of the worship itself, because of the

dignity of the person, the worshipper. And Abel, who, according to the

name given him, was nothing in his own eyes, also brought his

offering; but he worships God thereby through faith in the divine

promise; as it is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb. 11:4.

V. 4a. _And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and

of the fat thereof._

Here, if you look at the acts of their worship themselves, you can see

no reason for preferring Abel to Cain. For the Jews expose their

absurdity by their dreams when they say that Cain did not offer chosen

wheat, but chaff only; and that was the reason why he was rejected of

God. But the Jews are self-righteous worshippers and cleave unto the

works themselves. The judgment of the Epistle to the Hebrews however

is quite different; the testimony of which is, that it was "By faith

that Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain," Heb.

11:4. The fault of the offering therefore did not lie in the things

which were offered, but in the person who offered them. And it was the

faith of the person and its weight, which gave the value to the

offering made by Abel! But Cain, by the state of his person, rendered

the offering which he made of no avail. Abel believed that God was

good and merciful, and it was this faith that rendered his offering

acceptable to God. Cain on the contrary trusted in the dignity of his

first birth-right and despised his brother as a man of naught in

comparison with himself. What therefore in the end was proved to be

the judgment of God? God made the first-born to be as the after-born,

and the after-born to be as the first-born. For he had respect unto

the offering of Abel, and showed that the offering of this priest was

acceptable unto himself; and, on the other hand, he declared that Cain

was not acceptable to him and that he was not a true priest in his

sight.

The Hebrew expression, SCHAAH, has a very wide signification; and I

have carefully explained its full meaning in my paper against Latomus;

and also, its like signification, as found in the prophet Isaiah. "In

that day shall men look to their Maker, and their eyes shall have

respect to the Holy One of Israel; and they shall not look to the

altars, the work of their hands," Is. 17:7, 8, and likewise, Is.

66:12, "And ye shall suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the side,

and shall be dandled upon the knees." The full meaning of the original

expression therefore and its allusion are, that when a mother

cherishes her babe in her bosom and looks upon it, she views it with a

glad and delighted eye. This is the meaning, the allusion and the

figure, which the original expression conveys. Its signification

therefore is much more extensive than that of the common verb, "to

see," or "to behold." For when a mother looks at her babe, she smiles

upon it with delight and carries in her countenance a peculiar

expression of love. The modern expressions of our language do not

contain a term by which the full import of this original word can be

conveyed; nor does the Latin language, as far as I know, contain any

expression adequate to its satisfactory translation.

Quite similar is that which Moses says in Exodus 33:15, "If thy

presence (_facies tuae_) go not with me, carry us not up hence," that

is, grant that we may ever have thy signs with us in our midst, by

which thou appearest always before us, and makest manifest thy

presence with us and thy favor unto us. And these signs, as I have

said, were the pillar of fire and the cloud, etc. And though Moses

does not, in this portion of the divine history explain what that sign

was, by which God showed that the offerings of Abel were acceptable

unto him; yet it is very probable that his acceptance and pleasure

were manifested by fire sent down from heaven, by which the offering

and the victim were ignited and consumed before the eyes of all

present, by which it was plainly shown that God was delighted with the

sacrifice Abel offered. For by this divine manifestation God showed

that he judgeth the heart and the reins; because, in these two

offerings, he "had not respect" unto the glory of the first

birth-right of Cain; but, on the other hand, he "had respect" unto the

mind of the despised Abel.

And here the whole Church first begins to be divided into that church,

which is "the church" in name only, but which in reality is the church

of hypocrisy and the church of blood; and into that other church,

which is barren and desolate in appearance, and subject to sufferings

and to the cross, and which, before the world and in the estimation of

that church of hypocrisy, is really the Abel; that is, vanity and

nothing. But Christ himself, who also makes this division and

difference, calls Abel the "righteous" one and makes him the beginning

of the Church of the godly, which shall continue even unto the end of

the world. While Cain is the beginning of that church of enmity and

blood, which also shall continue unto the end of the world; as

Augustine also setteth forth this history in his book, "The City of

God."

A great doctrine therefore and a great consolation are set before us,

while we trace both these churches to these their original fountains,

as it were, and when we mark that wonderful counsel, with which God

has ever ruled and overruled these things; ordaining that the true

Church should at one time be greater and at another time less; yet, so

that the hypocritical and the bloody church should always have the

glory before the world and should crucify the true Church, which is

the beloved of her God. For even thus at the beginning did commence

the practical fulfilment of that divine prediction, that the seed of

the serpent should bite the heel of the blessed Seed. And this same

enmity and biting we experience to this very day. Therefore we ought

not to be affrighted by this our appointed lot. It ought rather to be

unto us a great consolation that we learn by our own experience to

suffer those very things at the hands of our enemies, which the bloody

Cain inflicted on the "righteous" Abel.

For it is not now the first time that the name of the Church is torn

from us, and that we are called heretics, and that those who kill us

glory that they are the only true Church, and maintain that assumed

name by fire and sword, and by every kind of cruelty. The same thing

befell righteous Abel. The same thing befell Christ our Lord, who was

not a priest nor a king of Jerusalem before the people; and yet he was

dragged by the priests and by the kings to the cross! And we all, as

the apostle says, must be made conformable to Christ. And thus it is

that the true Church is ever hidden and unknown, and is cast out, and

its members held as heretics, and slain; while Cain alone has the

glorious name and is held in estimation, and alone possesses the hope

of doing great things; and therefore it is that he rushes on his

brother with hostile enmity of mind and slays him.

Now these things were not political nor domestic, but truly

ecclesiastical in the highest degree. Abel was not slain on any

political or domestic account, but alone on account of the worship of

God. For it was not enough for Cain that he was the lord of the

family, he wishes to be the son of God; he will be the pope and father

of the church. And therefore he takes upon himself the judgment of

sacrifices, and condemns and slays his brother as a heretic.

Hence is the prophecy of Christ that the Church should be subject to

various perils and that the time should come when those who should

slay the godly should think that they were thereby worshipping God and

doing him service. Therefore those who will consider themselves the

most righteous among us, these are the pestilences and the persecutors

of the Church. On the other hand, the true Church is that church which

is never judged to be "the Church." But she is, according to her name,

the Abel who was not only a figure of the true Church but the very

beginning of it; that is, she is accounted as naught, so that when she

is slain, her slayers think that God will care nothing about her,

because Cain, they think, as being lord of all and king, may do and is

able to do anything.

Now this is the offense of the cross, against which we have ever to

fight by faith. For we are not to think that we are not the Church,

because our adversaries condemn us and persecute us with every kind of

cruelty thus securely. But, on the contrary, we are ever to consider

that this cross and these judgments of the wicked are the sure and

infallible signs of the true Church, as the tenth Psalm shows, also

Psalm 72:14, "And precious shall their blood be in his sight;" and

Psalm 116:15, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his

saints." In these Psalms therefore you hear that those who are

slaughtered in this manner by the Cainites are so far from being from

the care of God that their death is precious in his sight. Those

therefore who are thus the care of God are the true people of God.

Wherefore, let us endure the cruelty of our adversaries and let us

joyfully give thanks unto God that we are not in the number of those

who are the slayers; and who, because of their name and title,

persecute "the Church," seize upon the property of others, and rush

with cruelty and violence upon their bodies also. And indeed the

histories of all ages and times testify that the true Church was ever

a suffering Church, that the false Church was ever an evil and violent

Church; and that the true Church was ever condemned by the church of

hypocrisy and blood. Hence there can be no doubt among us of the

present day that the Church of the Pope is the Cainite Church, and

that we are the true, the Abel Church; and as Abel harmed not Cain, so

we not only do no harm to the Church of the Pope, but suffer ourselves

to be harassed, condemned and slaughtered by them.

Nor do we record these things falsely. It is well known to the whole

world how often we are subjected to anathemas, distressed by

subscriptions, and condemned by various denunciations. Nor have there

ever ceased to be found men in almost every corner or Europe ready to

offer themselves as the fierce executors of cruelest decrees. Neither

Spain, nor France, nor England, nor Belgium, nor Bohemia, nor Poland,

nor Hungary, nor Austria, nor Bavaria, has been free from witnessing

this unjust cruelty and savage rage. And yet, what were they

persecuting all the while? What, but godly doctrine, a doctrine

perfectly agreeing with the writings of the apostles and prophets? Can

there be any doubt or obscurity then in forming a judgment concerning

the true Church? For can you possibly judge that to be the true Church

where nothing sound is taught, where unjust tyranny is practiced, and

where the highest power is joined with the greatest wealth? Is not

that rather the true Church where there is sound and holy doctrine,

healing to afflicted consciences? And where, for the sake of that

doctrine, there are endured the cross, contempt, poverty, ignominy,

and all those things of the same kind which the poor little helpless

flock of Christ is recorded ever and everywhere to have suffered?

It is not only most useful therefore, but also most consoling, to have

ever before our eyes this most certain demonstration, which carries

with it so plain a distinction between the two Churches, that Church

which is filled with men of enmity and malignity, such as that purple

harlot, bearing the name of the true Church; and that other Church,

which is accounted as naught, which suffers, which hungers and

thirsts, and lies prostrate under oppression. For Christ records that

he and his disciples both hunger and thirst in this world, Math.

25:35-46. But the judgment shall one day come which shall judge

between the full and the hungry, between the goats and the sheep,

between Cain and Abel. At this judgment God shall declare that he

approves this suffering and hungering Church, and condemns the Church

of hypocrisy and blood. These are our consolations and this is that

sugar as it were, by which our present calamities must be sweetened

and overcome. Such then is the theological part of this divine matter.

Now let us come to the political part of it, and consider the judgment

of God concerning that.

We doubtless may justly wonder why it was that God permitted the first

son of Adam, to whom the honor of the first birth-right was always due

throughout the whole human race, to fall so horribly that his whole

posterity should afterwards be destroyed. But the cause was the very

same as that on account of which God spoke with such bitter derision

to Adam when he said, "Lest he also become as one of us," Gen. 3:22.

The reason was the same as that for which the Lord guarded the garden

by the cherubim. For God will crush all presumption and pride, which

are implanted as it were in the heart of man by original sin. And such

is our nature that we can endure anything else better than this

crushing of our pride. We see what insolence and pride there are in

all our nobles of the court, on account of the vain nobility of their

descent. For truly vain is that nobility, which real worth and

illustrious services to his country have not procured for a man.

It is said of Plato, the philosopher, that he also was accustomed to

give thanks to God for three things; first, that he was born a man and

not a beast; secondly, that he was born a Greek at Athens, and not a

barbarian; and thirdly, that he was born a man and not a woman. The

fatuity of the Jews is just like this. They glory that they were born

men, and not beasts; Jews, and not Gentiles; males, and not females.

But to what, I pray you, does all this glory of origin amount? What

vanity is it to see a certain ass in a palace with his gold chains on,

not only thinking himself better than every one of the people, but

also growing proud and insolent against God himself. Just so it was

with the Romans. They prided themselves in the course of years on the

glory of their nation's mighty deeds, always carefully thrusting from

them the degrading term "barbarian." In a word, the greater any nation

has ever grown in its own eyes, the more proud and insolent it has

ever become. And the same is the nature of us all by sin.

But look at the judgment of God in this matter. Cain could truly and

justly boast in the highest of all nobility, for he was the first-born

of all mankind. But the greater and more glorious his origin was, by

so much the more horribly did he fall. Hence general experience has

also given place to the well-known proverb, which says, "The sons of

the great are great evils."

Nor are these evils peculiar to private families only, mighty empires

suffer the same. The nation of the Greeks was most glorious. They

excelled all other nations in their learning and in the greatness of

their illustrious deeds. But into what extremes of turpitude did they

fall? And how miserably was their nation destroyed at last? And you

may see the very same things fulfilled in all nations. Good therefore

was God in permitting Cain thus to fall, that he might be an example

to the whole world, that no one might ever glory in the nobleness of

his blood, as the Jews boasted of their father Abraham and as the

Greeks boasted of their wisdom. For God will have himself to be feared

and us to be humbled. But this his will, though known to us, is for

the most part known to us in vain. For we are not moved by all these

terrible instances of his wrath nor by the perditions and destructions

of the first men and the first nations.

Universal experience therefore testifies, that the sentiment of the

Virgin Mary is true, "He hath put down the mighty from their seats,"

Luke 1:52. For those things which are the first and the best become

the most damnable, not from anything in themselves that is evil, but

on account of the diabolical presumption and pride of men. This sad

result the Gentiles also saw, as the well-known saying of one of their

philosophers testifies, who being asked what God was doing replied,

"Exalting the humble, and humbling the exalted." But the heathen

philosophers saw not the cause of all these things.

Thus also the flesh judges it to be great glory to be born a male, and

not a female. We see however that God has taken especial care that

man, so great, should not be born of man, and so also Christ would

have himself to be called "the Seed of the woman," not the "Seed of

the man." O what would have been the pride of men had God willed

Christ to be born of a man! No! all this glory is transferred from the

men to the women, subject to the rule of the men. And all this was

done that men might not glory in themselves, but be humbled. Nay,

since the woman cannot bring forth without the man, God has therefore

especially ordained that the men also should not bring forth of

themselves without the woman. For such is human nature, that man

cannot rightly use his glory, but ever abuses it with pride and rises

up against him from whom he receives such gifts. It was for this

reason therefore that Cain so awfully fell and lost the right of his

first birthship, that we might be thereby taught to fear God and to

give him thanks, and might be warned against abusing his gifts in

arrogance and pride.

Vs. 4b, 5a. _And Jehovah had respect unto Abel and to his offering;

but unto Cain and his offering he had not respect._

This is an important portion of Scripture, and therefore it is to be

most carefully observed and most strongly enforced. For it would be

sufficient for all doctrine if under the New Testament trust in the

mercy of God were set before men against all trust in works with so

clear a testimony and in such plain words as it was thus set forth at

the very beginning of the world. For when Moses says that the Lord had

respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and his offering

he had not respect, does he not clearly show that God ever respects

the person before the work, and that he first looks at the person who

performs the work? And does not the sacred historian make it perfectly

plain, that if the person be good, his work also pleaseth God; but

that, if the person be evil, the work also of such an one does not

please God?

Now this is the sum of our doctrine, which we profess and teach, that

the person is accepted of God before the work! And that the person is

not made righteous by the righteous work, but on the contrary that the

work is rendered righteous and good by the good and righteous person,

as the text now before us clearly proves. For because God, as here

shown, had respect unto the person of Abel, he had respect also unto

his offering. But on the other hand, because God had not respect unto

the person of Cain, therefore unto his offering also he had not

respect. This doctrine the text before us plainly proves, nor can our

adversaries deny it. From the words of that text therefore follows

this most clear and most evident consequence: that Abel was

"righteous" before the work of his "offering," and that his work

pleased God, because of his person; not his person, because of his

work. Yet it is for the latter doctrine that our adversaries contend,

who teach that the man is justified by his works, and not by his faith

alone.

And it is in this manner that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews

looks at this text with clear and pure eyes, when he says, "By faith

Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which

he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his

gifts; and by it, he being dead, yet speaketh," Heb. 11:4. Cain also

offered, and also before Abel brought his offering; but the former

offered, inflated with the glory of his birth, expecting that his gift

would please God, because it was offered by the first-born. Cain

therefore comes to offer without faith, without the confession of sin,

without imploring the grace of God, without trust in the mercy of God,

and without prayer for the remission of sins, having no other ground

for his hope that he shall please God, than because he was the

first-born; and this is what all self-justifiers do at this day. They

look intently on their works alone and hope that they shall please God

on account of their works. They trust not in the mercy of God only,

nor hope in God that he will pardon their sins for Christ's sake. And

such was Cain. But it would have been impossible for him to have

displeased God, if he had possessed faith.

Abel, on the contrary, acknowledged himself to be an unworthy and

miserable sinner; and therefore he fled unto the mercy of God and

believed that God was favorable unto him, and that he was willing to

have mercy upon him. God therefore who looks into the heart judged

between the two brothers, who alike brought their offering. He

condemned Cain, not on account of the offerings themselves, as if they

were less good than those of Abel, for if he had offered even a

nutshell in faith, it would have been accepted of God, but because his

person was evil, without faith and filled with pride and arrogance.

While, on the contrary, God had respect unto the offering of Abel,

because his person pleased him. Hence it is that the text so clearly

and particularly expresses it, that the Lord had respect first to

Abel, and afterwards to his offering. For, when the person first

pleases you, then also the things which that person does please you.

But, on the contrary, all things are unpleasing to you, which that

person does whom you hate.

The passage before us therefore is remarkable and important; for it is

thereby clearly proved that God regards neither the magnitude, nor the

multitude, nor even the price of the works done; but simply and only

the faith of the person who does them. And that God despises neither

the fewness, nor the meanness, nor the worthlessness of the works

done, but the absence of faith only, in the person who does them.

Of what avail is it therefore that the Jews glory and exclaim, "The

Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord!" Jer. 7:4. What avails it

that the Papists boast of their masses, their sackcloth, their

horse-hair blankets, their hard labors, their sweats, and the

magnitude, the multitude and even the price of their works? For God

regardeth not works, not even those commanded by himself, when they

are not done as the passage of Jeremiah just mentioned shows. Much

less does God regard those works which are invented of men without his

Word. He regards faith alone; that is, a trust in his mercy through

Christ. It is by this faith and this trust that the persons begin to

please God; then after this their works also please him. Hence it was

that the offering of Cain did not please God, because Cain having no

faith did not please him. On the contrary, the offering of Abel did

please God and that because of his faith; because he trusted neither

in his dignity, nor in his sacrifices themselves, nor in the work

which he performed; but trusted alone in the promise given of God

concerning the Seed of the woman.

The text before us therefore exactly applies to our doctrine

concerning justification, that a man must be righteous before all

works and be accepted of God without any works, through that grace

alone which his faith believes and apprehends. Nor does even faith

justify, as a work, but because it apprehends the mercy shown forth in

Christ. It is in this trust in the mercy of God that the true Church

walks, with a humble confession of her sins and unworthiness, while

she believes that God will pardon her through Christ.

And now the works which follow upon this trust in God's mercy are as

it were evidences and testimonies of the man's faith; and they please

God, not on account of themselves, but on account of the faith of the

person who offers them; or because he believes in the mercy of God

toward him. This faith the other church, the Cainite church, not only

has not, but ever persecutes it where she finds it. For she on the

contrary, like Cain, sets it down for a certainty that she shall

please God on account of her works. But God hates this pride; for he

can not endure such contempt of his grace and mercy, etc. This passage

of Scripture therefore is worthy our most careful consideration.

PART III. CAIN'S CONDUCT UPON THE REJECTION OF HIS OFFERING AND HIS

PUNISHMENT.

I. V. 5b. _And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell._

This and the few following clauses will give us a little grammatical

trouble. But I hope we shall make our way out of the difficulty

successfully. We have heard that Cain was disappointed in his hope. He

had despised his brother in comparison with himself, and had judged

that on account of the right of his primogeniture he should hold the

first place with God as he had done with his parents. The judgment of

God however was quite different from that of men. He showed that he

approved Abel, but rejected Cain.

The result was therefore that Cain was violently enraged against his

brother. For he could not endure with any patience that he should be

thus rejected and excommunicated, and deprived also at the same time

of his rule and priesthood. Just in the same manner also we see kings

and princes to be utterly impatient of the judgment of the Church. For

they are not satisfied with being kings and princes, they want to be

accounted also righteous and saints before God; and they will take to

themselves the name of "the Church." Exactly like these, Cain was

filled with indignation when he saw that the honor of righteousness

and grace before God was taken from him. For what else was this than

being cast out of the Church and excommunicated? And his indignation

at this dishonor was the greater in proportion to the measure in which

he judged himself degraded beneath his brother. For his thoughts were

these: "My brother will assuredly aspire to the headship and rule,

since he sees me thus despised and disregarded of God." And hence it

is that Moses uses the adverb "very wroth," by which form of

expression he would signify that Cain was vehemently offended because

he was thus ignominiously confounded in public before his whole

family; whereas he had always wished to appear the first among them.

This Cain-like wrath is just that rage which we see also in the

Cain-like Church of the pope. For what is there which gives the pope,

the cardinals, the kings and the princes greater offense than that I,

a poor beggar, set the authority of God above the authority of them

all, and that I condemn in the name of the Lord all those things which

are worthy such condemnation. They themselves also acknowledge that

there are many things which need rigid reformation. But that I, a

poor, obscure person, coming into public out of some obscure corner,

should presume to do this, is a thing which they consider to be beyond

all endurance. And therefore they put forth all their authority

against me and by the weight of that authority they attempt to crush

us.