no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. Jer. ii. 25. There is hope for the worst of sinners, upon their repentance. Cain himself was mistaken when he said mine iniquity is greater than can be forgiven.

14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

This verse seems to intimate that it was the greatness of the punishment that troubled Cain, more than the greatness of the sin.

Behold; let every body take notice how severely I am handled. Behold, thou hast driven me out; is not this hard? Ishall be a fugitive and vagabond; is not this unjust? Can it be a righteous thing that for one single sin, I should thus incur a complicated sentence? Behold and see, was ever sorrow like unto my sorrow? was ever wrong like unto my wrong? Such was the language of Cain's unhumbled heart. And for the greater agravation of the case, he reckons up the particulars of his sentence, which may seem more severe than his father's when he

had sinned. To Adam God was pleased to give a signal token of his love in the promise he made him. But not a word of this to Cain; no mercy in store for him; no door of hope opened to him. To Adam the cup was mixed, but Cain must wring out the dregs and drink them. And forasmuch as no evidence appears for him in the word of God, the verdict is generally (by divines) brought against him as to his eternal state.

One part of Cain's complaint is, from thy face shall I be hid. Did he think he could go from God's common presence? No: I suppose he was better taught. Or was he troubled that he should want the light of God's countenance shining upon his soul? No: he knew not what that meant, having never experimentally tasted the sweetness of it. But that which troubled him was, that being hid from God's face, he should want that protection and supply, that plenty and prosperity, which he had been taught to count the fruit and effect of God's love and favour. Or, from thy face shall I be hid; that is, from the ordinances of worship. I shall be excommunicated; I must come no more to the altar, bring no more sacrifices, be cut off from my father's family, and continue no longer a member of the visible church. And this will certainly turn to my everlasting reproach. Nay, worse yet;

Now I lie

every one that finds me shall slay me. under the curse of God, I shall be sure to lie under the hatred of all the world, which will certainly cost me my life one time or other; and is not that hard? Observe,

1. He takes it for granted that blood calls for blood; which it seems was a principle which the world, in its very infancy, was no stranger to. He that doth violence to the blood of any person, let him flee to the pit; let no man stay him, was a rule written in the hearts of men by nature, long before Solomon wrote it in the book of Proverbs. Chap. xxviii. 17. Cain, seeing himself thrown out of God's protection, saw the whole creation armed against him to destroy him. He was like a vineyard when the hedge is gone; exposed to dangers and enemies on all sides. He that is hid from the face of God, lies at the mercy of a thousand deaths every moment. Every one. Some read it as a wish: Now therefore let it be that any that finds me may kill me. So Dr. Lightfoot: Begging for death, that he might be shut out of that sad condition to which God had doomed him.

2. Though there were none at this time in the world but Cain's own relations, none of whom, one would think, would attempt to kill him; yet even of them he is afraid. By this we may see the nature

of a guilty conscience. It makes afraid even where no fear is; like a man in debt, who thinks every one he meets, a bailiff. That which Solomon gives as the language of a sleepy sluggard, is sometimes the language of an awakened conscience: there is a lion in the way, a lion is in the streets. Prov. xxvi. 13. So Cain here: Every one (though it were my own father) that finds me, will slay me. The wicked flee when no man pursueth. Prov. xxviii. 1. Lev. xxvi. 17, 36. Job. xv. 20, 21. Therefore stand in awe, and sin not. Ps. iv. 4.

15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

The sentence was that Cain should be a fugitive and a vagabond; and lest any one should kill him, and so put a stop to that, God takes care that nobody shall kill him, upon pain of no less than sevenfold vengeance.

God, to show that he himself is sovereign Lord of life, will not have Cain slain without special order from himself. After the flood, (whether before or not doth not appear,) he committed this power to

man.

Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man (that is, by the public magistrate, not by every private person) shall his blood be shed. Gen. ix. 6. Cain was afraid of being killed; but saith God, though thou art out of the care of my mercy, thou shalt continue under the protection of my justice. God would have the first murderer to remain to succeeding ages, as a standing monument of divine vengeance, that when people saw him a fugitive and a vagabond, they might say, this comes of sin; and so not only hear and fear, but see and fear, and do no more presumptuously. Deut. xvii. 13. God having made Cain the monument of his wrath against all murderers, he that would kill him, would sin in the face of an express warning, which is certainly a very great aggravation of any sin, as that of Belshazzar: Though thou knewest all this. Dan. v. 22.

God set a mark upon Cain. What this mark was, is uncertain. The Jews have many wild conceits about it. What it was is not material, since we know it was some visible mark of infamy and disgrace, so that let him go where he would, people might point at him and say, yonder goes the man that murdered his brother. But nobody durst kill him, for fear of the threatened vengeance. Slay them not, saith the Psalmist, lest my people forget.