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Ps. lix. 11. So God would not have Cain slain, lest the world that then was should forget. If he had been put to death, the warning might have lasted a while, but would soon have worn off. Therefore God did preserve him for a terror to all, as long as he lived, which, we know in those ages was a great while.

16 And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

He was banished from his father's house and family; cast out of the communion of the faithful, and parted for ever from the society of the saints. Ps. v. 5,6. Cain did now go out from the presence of the Lord, and I believe never came into it again to his comfort. He went into the land of Nod,-of shaking, so the word signifies; the place, 'tis likely, taking its name from the unsettled, unquiet condition of Cain there. Through a sense of past guilt, and a fear of future wrath, he had no rest in his spirit; but was continually hurried to and fro by the terrors of a guilty conscience. See what they get that go away from God; no rest, you may be sure. Turn the magnetic needle from the pole, and you'll see it ever quivering, but never resting till it return

thither. Those that go from the presence of the Lord, are sure to go to a restless place, both in this world and the next. Therefore, return unto the Lord, and, in so doing, thou wilt return unto thy rest, O my soul. Ps. cxvi. 7.

17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and, bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

Cain, that wicked Cain that slew his brother, and was cursed for it by God himself, did yet enjoy the blessing of a numerous offspring; a blessing which, like other temporal blessings, we often see the worst of men partakers of. Cursed Cain peoples nations, whilst blessed Abel (as many think) dies childless. The curse of Cain being chiefly a curse upon his soul, (which is the worst of curses,) was not to operate this way, and therefore no wonder if he and his prosper in the world, at least till the seventh generation, which did perhaps extend to the universal flood, and then vengeance came; for though it be slow, yet it is sure. Though sentence against an evil work be not executed speedily, (Eccles. viii. 11,) yet it shall certainly be executed, first or last, sooner or later. Ps. xxxvii. 9, 38. lxxiii. 17, 18.

The name of Cain's eldest son was Enoch; not that holy, good Enoch that walked with God, and was not, for God took him; but another of that name for names do not necessarily make natures. There was Judas a saint, as well as Judas a traitor, amongst Christ's disciples. John. xiv. 22.

Cain builded a city; 1. For defence. Concluding that every one that found him would slay him; and perhaps not trusting to the mark that God had put upon him for security, he falls a building, that he might lodge himself in safety within the walls of a city, which doubtless were made strong enough for that purpose. 2. For diversion; that when he was filled with terror about his sin, the business and employment of that undertaking might turn his thoughts another way; that, having that to think of, he might not think of his sin; that the noises of axes and hammers might drown the cries, and quiet the clamours of a guilty conscience. 'Tis a common thing for men in Cain's condition, to think to baffle their convictions by the hurry of business. A head full of cares is a common remedy for a heart full of But in hell there will be no city to build, and then the worm that dies not will gnaw undisturbed. Cain and his wicked race, though under the curse, dwell in a city, compact together; whilst Adam and his godly family dwell in tents. 'Tis no

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new thing for sinners to get the start of saints in outward prosperity. The dynasty of Eden's kings bears date long before that of Israel's. Gen. xxxvi. 31.

18 And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.

'Tis observable how Cain's generation is numbered in haste; three or four in one verse; written as it were in short-hand, as if God had no care at all about them, and delights not to record their names in the book of the Scriptures, whose names were not written in the book of the Lamb. Rev. xxi. 27. No notice is taken how long they lived, that lived in sin; and the recording of their names seems to be only to bring in the following passage about Lamech. The wicked of the world are but lumber, compared with the saints, which are God's jewels. Mal. iii. 17.

19 And Lamech took unto him two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

This Lamech, one of the wicked branches that sprung from Cain the cursed root, was the first we

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read of that transgressed the institution of marriage by taking two wives. For though, after Lamech had broken the ice, many of God's own people fell into this snare, yet from the beginning it was not so. Mal. ii. 15. Matt. xix. 4. The latter wife of Lamech is called Zillah, which signifies her shadow. The former was his true wife, the latter was but the shadow of one.

20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.

Though Lamech sinned in having two wives, yet God, who sometimes suffers wicked men to prosper even in a sinful way, blessed him with children by both; and such children as lived to be famous in their generation, men of renown; not for piety, but for ingenuity, which are too often parted. Jabal was the father of such as dwell in tents; that is, in shepherd's tents; he was the inventor, or rather, the improver, of the art of tending and managing cattle. Abel is said to be a keeper of sheep, but perhaps the business died with him; or Cain, out of hatred to his memory, would let none of his practice it, till Jabal, having an eye to the profit of it, revived it, and became a famous shepherd, and thence was called by the shepherds of those times, their father.

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