Doct. 3. That only the works of persons who are righteous are accepted with God.
It is clear from the apostle's argument - He obtained witness that he was righteous. Why? God testified of his gifts. If God accept of his gift, he was a righteous person; for God accepts the services of none but those that are righteous. First God accepts the person, and then the performance; so Gen. iv. 4, 'God had respect to Abel, and to his offering;' first to Abel, and then to his offering. The person pleased him in Christ, and then his sacrifice. It is said, Judges xiii. 23, by Manoah's wife to him, 'If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering, nor a meat-offering at our hands.' She builds the acceptance of the person upon the acceptance of the service; for God accepts the gifts and offerings of none but those whose persons please him in Christ. So the Lord himself says, Mal. i. 10, 'I have no pleasure in you,' no delight in their persons; then it follows presently, 'I will not accept of an offering at your hand.' Before the person pleaseth God, the work cannot, for these reasons -
1. Because this is the method of the covenant of grace, not to accept the person for the work's sake, but to accept of the work for the person's sake. God doth not accept us for our prayers and good duties; that was the tenor of the first covenant, whereby our justification depended upon the worth and value of our works. It is not now, Do and live, but, Believe and live; it is not according to the work that we are accepted, but according to our interest in Christ, Eph. i. 6, 'He hath made us accepted in the beloved.' Alas! when a man is out of Christ, it is not enough for him to do his best; the law is not relaxed; it requires duty without abatement, or else it enforceth punishment without any mitigation. Do and live, sin and die. It doth not accept of our prayers, our tears, and our best, for the least failing renders us guilty of transgressing the whole law; so that, upon that supposition, 'if it were possible to keep the whole law, and offend in one point, he is guilty of all,' James ii. 10. That rule brooks no exception, until we change our copy; till we be in Christ, one failing is enough to provoke God's displeasure. If a natural man could be supposed to keep the whole law and break but in one point, he is undone.
2. Because otherwise our duties receive defilement from our persons; like precious liquor in a tainted and unsavoury vessel, or like that jewel put into a dead man's mouth, that loseth all its virtue: Prov. xxi. 27, 'The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord;' mark, 'how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?' When it is represented to God with all the advantages imaginable, yet it is abominable because it is a wicked man's prayer; but usually there is some foul defect, that their very persons taint their services.
Obj. 1. Is not God then a respecter of persons? will not this infringe the justice of God? I might answer thus - If he should, he is under no rule; the moral law is a rule to us, but not to God; and he may do with his own creature as pleaseth him, and with his own grace as pleaseth him; Mat. xx. 15, 'Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own?'
But I answer rather, Respecting of persons, when it is sinful, is this, when in any cause we give more or less than is meet to any other person, because of something that hath no relation to the cause, as in judgment. When we wink at moral excesses, and acquit a man from the sentence of the law for his greatness, or when we deny right to a poor man because of his poverty. Now such a respect of persons cannot be imagined in God; for -
[1.] There is a cause why God should accept the services of justified persons, because he hath received a satisfaction in Jesus Christ. We are made comely in his comeliness; Christ hath paid down a valuable consideration why all your persons and services should be accepted, though accompanied with weakness: Heb. x. 19, 'Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus;' this acceptance is purchased for us by the blood of Jesus. It was God's bargain with Christ, that he would love, bless, and justify all his seed, if he would lay down his soul as an offering for sin. Isa. liii. 10. There is the solemn bargain, 'When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.'
[2.] There is great reason why God should refuse the services of wicked men, because besides the state of their persons, there are gross defects in their services; if he sacrifice, it is 'with an evil mind,' Prov. xxi. 27. For the principle, it is not out of obedience but custom; for the manner, it is not with the affection of a child but with bondage; for the end, it is not for God's glory but to promote secular interest. So that, a posteriori, these circumstances clear the justice of God; their most devotional aim is to please God, that they may the better quiet themselves in their vanity and excess; but the reason why they are not accepted is because they have no interest in Christ.
Obj. 2. Will it not open a gap to looseness? If wicked men be not accepted, why do they pray and hear? had they not as good do nothing? I answer, No.
[1.] Because this would be a way to increase their sin, wholly to neglect them. There is no reason why God should lose his right because we have lost our power. Inky water will never wash the hands clean, and our sinfulness doth not take off our obligation; God hath required it, and a wicked man is still under an obligation; a drunken servant is not exempted from obedience though he be disabled for work. The command of God is absolute and peremptory, that all the sons of men should worship and fear him; therefore to leave off duty would make the state more sinful. One sin cannot cure another; there is more sin in the total defect than in the bare performance of duty.
[2.] Because duties are the means God hath appointed to break off their sin, and come out of this miserable condition. If none of their works can please God, yet it is good to stand in the road of mercy, and to lie at the pool, John v. 7; though God doth not accept us for these things, yet these are the means God hath appointed for us to use. Simon Magus was bid to pray, 'if perhaps the thoughts of his heart might be forgiven him,' Acts viii. 22; but the man that neglects the means cuts off himself from all hope, he reprobates himself and becomes his own judge; he doth as it were say, I will never be saved. When men give over praying, and hearing, and reading, as the apostle saith, 'you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life,' Acts xiii. 46.
Obj. 3. From experience God doth reward many wicked men, therefore how can it be said their duties are not accepted? 1 Kings xxi. 29, Ahab's humiliation kept off the judgment, and Nebuchadnezzar had the land of Egypt for his service against Tyre, Ezek. xxix. 18 - 20; that is nothing but a prophetical prediction. He did not think of accomplishing God's decrees, and the expression 'of giving him the land of Egypt for his labour' is taken from the manner of men; when a servant doth his work, he hath his reward. But for God's rewarding of wicked men, I answer -
[1.] This is ex largitate donantis, out of the overflow of his own love and mercy; they can claim and look for nothing: James i. 7, 'Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.' Though something may be given him, yet there is nothing theirs by way of promise; all the promises being made and made good in Christ; that is to them that have an interest in him: 2 Cor. i. 20, 'For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him, amen.'
[2.] These mercies are not given for their sakes, but to give the world a document of God's bounty. Saith Calvin, Deus saepe rependit mercedem umbris virtutum, ut ostendat sibi placere virtutes ipsas - God doth often reward the shadow of virtue that he might show that grace itself is very pleasing and acceptable to him; when Ahab doth but counterfeitly humble himself, God will suspend the judgment to show how he prizeth true repentance.
[3.] All the blessings that wicked men have are but temporal, and salted with a curse; there is nothing of acceptance to life. Ahab's humiliation gained but a delay of wrath, and that increased his sin. Children have the bread of life, dogs have but the crumbs and offals of providence. Wicked men do not serve God with all their heart, therefore their mercies are defective as well as their duties.
Use 1. It serves for terror to wicked men. A natural man is in a wretched estate; his most glorious acts, his very prayers, that are dressed up with a fair pretence of devotion, are abominable before God. Prov. xv. 8, 'The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord - not only his sins, but his duties. It is the greatest despite that can be done to a man, that when he hath set himself to please, yet he is still hated. So it is with wicked men; though they may preach, pray, and prophesy in Christ's name, yet nothing is well taken from them. Cain was punished for his murder, but was not accepted for his sacrifice. Echthroon doora adoora - the gifts of enemies are giftiess gifts; wicked men are God's enemies, and so nothing is pleasing that comes from them. It is true, Jesus Christ saith, Isa. xlix. 4, 'I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain;' but this was his comfort, 'his judgment was with the Lord, and his work with his God. But with wicked men it is otherwise, they labour and toil, but all in vain. It may be they may have their penny of profit in the world and that their gifts may be useful in the church and they may hate temporal reward, but it is salted with a curse, their sacrifice is but carrion, their prayer but babbling, and their table of the Lord is but the table of devils. Titus i. 15. 'To the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled.'
Use 2. To represent the privilege of persons justified: their persons please God, and so do all their works. You may improve it for comfort and thankfulness.
1. For comfort. When you are discouraged with your infirmities, your many failings in every duty, Christ will accept you, Ps. xxxiv. 15, 'The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry.' Consider, thou art troubled about the imperfection of thy works, they cannot be worse than thy person when God took thee into grace. God that pitied thee when thou wert in thy blood and perfectly evil, he will accept and love thee when thou art in thy person sanctified; though there be abundance of dross, he can see there is some gold; though abundance of wax, yet there is some honey: Cant. v. 1, 'I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey.'
2. For thankfulness. Oh! what a mercy is this, that God should testify concerning our gifts, such worthless duties so tainted and defiled by the adherency of corruption! There are many considerations to stir up our thankfulness.
[1.] That which is good is rather his own than ours, yet God will put it upon our account: 1 Chron. xxix. 14, 'Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.' When you come to God with the best enlargement and quickness of affection, it is the Lord that made us thus willing; yet God counts them as our duties, though they may be fruits of his own Spirit. Then
- [2.] They are mingled with a great deal of weakness and defilement - Partus sequitur ventrem; our duties have more of us than of the Spirit, therefore they are filthy and defiled. Observe the practice of the saints, their remarkable blemishes: Jacob seeks the blessing with a lie; Rahab entertains the spies, but makes a lie about dismissing them; Sarah calls her husband 'lord,' but her words are full of discontent and murmuring and distrust of God's promise. Moses smote the rock twice; once in obedience and once in indignation. Who would think of such weak services, that God should accept of them? nay, not only accept of them, but delight in them: Prov. xv. 8, 'The prayer of the upright is his delight;' that the holy God should delight in such creatures as we are! We have imperfect conceits of God's holiness, otherwise we would wonder that he should accept of our faulty performances; that the holy and pure God should not only accept, but delight in the prayer of a worthless creature. Then - .
[3.] There is no profit redounds to God for all this, the advantage is ours: Prov. ix. 12, 'If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself;' Ps. xvi. 2, ' My goodness extendeth not to thee.' God is blessed for ever, sufficiently happy without the service of the creature. Job xxii. 2, there is a question propounded, 'Can a man be profitable to God, as he that is wise may be profitable to himself?' God is eternally and everlastingly happy; he is incapable of improvement; all the comfort and profit is ours, yet that he should delight in them!
Use 3. Direction to teach us what to do in our preparation to duties and holy exercises. If God accept the person, and then the performance, look to your state, as well as to the frame of your hearts. Many men heap up duties upon duties, go round in a circle of religious exercises, as if they would work out their salvation that way, but do not regard the interest of their persons. Consider, examination is one of the preparative duties, as well as purgation of sin and excitation of the affections: 2 Cor. xiii. 5, 'Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith.' Ye must prove our state still, otherwise we shall be disallowed. It is not necessary only to examine ourselves before the Lord's supper, but before other solemn ordinances. God would fain draw the creatures to a certainty, therefore he hath required often trial to look into their state. This is the method of God's acceptance; first the Lord cleanseth, fits, and consecrates the person to be a spiritual priest, and then he is to offer: Mal. iii. 3, 4, 'He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.' Where God speaks of worship in the times of the gospel, first we must be purified and set apart for the priesthood, then offer up our gift; first there is a 'purging of the conscience from dead works,' then we are meet 'to serve the living God,' Heb. ix. 14; first we are 'washed from our sins in his blood;' and then 'made kings and priests to God,' Rev. i. 5, 6. There must be an interest founded, and a ground of acceptance for our persons. God will accept nothing at the hands of an enemy; duties are but varnished sins. This should stir you up to the trial of yourselves, whether you are justified and reconciled to God.
But you will say, What shall men do that have no assurance, that cannot discern the interest of their persons in Christ? -
I answer, by distinguishing - The case concerneth either persons that have lost assurance, or those that have never gained it.
1. To those that have lost assurance by turning to folly, or tasting of the forbidden fruit of sin. By scandalous falls conscience is weakened, and prayer is interrupted; as the apostle speaketh of family jars: 1 Peter iii. 7, 'Likewise ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.' By allowance of passion, and wrath, and domestical disorder, the heart is discomposed, and we cannot with such a holy boldness and confidence call God father. The like may be said of many foul falls, by which conscience is wounded, and men have lost the peace and calmness of their spirits. Now, in such a case, men are not to come reeking from their sins and rush upon duty; that would argue little reverence of God, and will find little acceptance with him: Isa. i. 15, 16, 'When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash ye, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes,' &c. Neither are they wholly to decline worship and restrain prayer; that would increase the distemper, and add sin to sin. David got nothing by his silence: Ps. xxxii. 3, 'When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long;' Ps. li. 3, 'I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me.' However, the main care of the next duty must be to get the person reconciled by these solemn acts.
[1.] There must be serious acknowledgment of sin with shame and sorrow. This is God's established way for fallen saints: 1 John i. 9, 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' This is the saint's practice: Ps. li. 3, 'I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me;' and this is the most rational course. It is impossible it should be otherwise, either on God's part or ours. We are under a sequestration till we make suit to God: Num. xii. 14, 'If her father had spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days?' Tender hearts will melt and mourn.
[2.] They must run to the old fountain opened for their uncleanness. There is no reconciling ourselves to God, but by Christ: Mat. iii. 17, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' We must come with Christ in our arms: 1 John ii. 1, 'If any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous.' Duties are not our atonement, but Christ's intercession, which is the renewed application of his merit.
[3.] They must earnestly sue out their former estate, and the wonted effects of his favour: Ps. xxv. 6, 'Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies, and thy loving-kindnesses, for they have been ever of old;' Ps. ii. 12, 'Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.' Christ doth not only intercede, but the believer must also, the earnest motions of the Spirit being the copy of his intercession.
2. It concerneth those that never got assurance. To those, I answer in several propositions: -
[1.] Assurance is very necessary and comfortable in our approaches to God; - such addresses do most become his grace. Christ hath taught us to begin our prayers with 'Our Father;' Heb. x. 21, 22, 'Having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.' Having such free offers, such an abundant merit, such sweet experiences, God looketh that we should draw nigh in the assurance of faith: 1 Tim. ii. 8, 'I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.' -
[2.] Every suppliant cannot sail with such full sails into the haven of grace, nor all persons at all times; there is a weak faith as well as the faith of Abraham, and yet a weak faith is faith. David and Heman, two choice spirits, sometimes wanted comforts, and it is God's usual course still with many of his dear children; they have less peace, that they may have more grace; and God withholdeth comfort out of wise dispensation to engage them in the more duty: every one hath not an abundant entrance into heaven, 2 Peter i. 11.
[3.] When we cannot reflect upon our actual interest, the direct and dutiful acts of faith must be more solemnly exerted and put forth.
(1.) You must disclaim earnestly your own personal righteousness. This complieth with God's end; for therefore do his respects begin with the person, that the work may not be the ground of acceptance: Dan. ix. 18, 'We do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.' Every one cannot go to the highway of comfort; there is safety in going the low way of humiliation, and in the sense of your own unworthiness for all acceptance with God in Christ.
(2.) You must adhere to God in Christ the more closely; faith giveth safety, though assurance giveth comfort. There may be a dependence and renewing of confidence, and a waiting with hope, in every duty; and a christian, though he be without comfort, yet he is not without encouragement; there are invitations to wait upon God, and they cast themselves upon God in this hope: Ps. xxii. 8, 'He trusted on the Lord, that he would deliver him.' it is good when you can refer yourselves to God's acceptance upon the hopes of the gospel.
(3.) There must be consecration when you cannot make application. It is sweet when we can say, mutually 'I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine,' Cant. ii. 16; but it is safe to say, 'I am my beloved's,' and he is mine by choice, though I cannot say he is mine by gift. A christian resigneth up himself to God:. Ps. cxix. 94, 'I am thine, save me.' David pleadeth his choice; he taketh Christ as a Lord, though he cannot apply him as a saviour.
(4.) These direct acts may be pleaded to God in prayer: Phil. iii. 9, 'And be found in him, not having my own righteousness,' &c., and so casting ourselves upon God: Ps. cxix. 49, 'Remember thy word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.'
Secondly, 'By it he, being dead, yet speaketh.'
The words are enigmatical, a holy riddle; and they include a seeming contradiction, that a man should speak, and yet dead; therefore the words, as all dark places, are liable to several constructions.
In the general, we are certain it must be some privilege and consequent of his faith; for the apostle saith, 'By it.' Some take the word's speaking, sunekdochoos, for living, as if it intimated the resurrection; though slain by Cain, he yet speaketli, converseth with the glorious saints above, to the praise and glory of the Lamb for evermore, upon whom he had pitched his faith. Certain it is that the Jewish doctors make it to be one of the great arguments of life after death, the crying of Abel's blood. Again, some translate laleitas, passively; he is yet spoken of, as if it implied nothing but his name living; yet in the church that is the usual recompense of faith. God perpetuates the names of the godly when the names of the wicked shall rot; but this the apostle had spoken of already, 'By which he obtained witness that he was righteous;' he is famous for his righteousness through all ages. Again, others take it as a metaphor, 'speaks;' that is, doth as it were speak, and it may be by way of exhortation or clamour.
1. By way of exhortation: though he be dead, yet still by his example, he preacheth to the church. Thus dead persons may be said to speak by their example; and voice is often in scripture given to inanimate things; the creature is said 'to groan,' Rom. viii. 22, and the heavens 'to declare the glory of God,' Ps. xix. 1, 2. Abel, the first martyr that died for the service of God, is a speaking instance and example for all ages. He speaks several lessons - (1.) That duty is not to be declined though we get hatred by it. (2.) That we must be obedient even to the death; and when we are called to it, we must seal our faith and profession with our blood. (3.) That the rage of the wicked against the righteous is very great. (4.) That God will call wicked men to an account for our blood, as he did Cain for Abel's blood. But this cannot be the meaning, because this is no peculiar privilege of faith. All examples have a voice, the creation hath a voice; but -
2. I suppose another speaking is intended; the crying of his blood, a clamorous speaking for vengeance upon Cain. Two reasons for this -
[1.] Because it suits best with the expression of Moses : Gen. iv. 10, 'The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.' Now the apostle's design is to abridge the history in Genesis.
[2.] Because it suits with the other expression of the apostle. Abel's speaking is mentioned: Heb. xii. 24, 'The blood of sprinkling speaketh better things than the blood of Abel;' the blood of Abel speaketh after he was dead punishment, but the blood of Christ speaketh pardon.
Obj. An objection maybe framed against this in the text - 'He being dead, yet speaketh;' eti, yet, or to this day.
I may answer, The present tense is put for the preterperfect tense - change of tenses is usual in scripture; or 'yet,' that is, after his death, though not till the apostle's days. But I rather pitch upon another answer, because there is a special emphasis in the expression, Abel's blood is still crying. There are Cains alive to this day: some that walk in the way of Cain, as Jude speaks, ver. 11; he was the patriarch of persecutors, therefore Abel's blood is not fully revenged to this day, but cries for vengeance still. Those that inherit the rage of former persecutors do always inherit their guilt; for imitation is a kind of consent, as if we had been by and consented to the fact: Mat. xxiii. 35, 'That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zecharias, the son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.' The blood of Abel was revenged upon the Jews that killed Christ. These two are mentioned because of two remarkable circumstances at their death. Of Abel it is said, Gen. iv. 10, 'His blood cried from the ground.' Zecharias, when he died, said, 2 Chron. xxiv. 22, 'The Lord look upon it, and require it.' All the martyrs join in one common cry against the persecutors of all ages: Rev. vi. 9, 10, 'I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony that they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?' That is to be understood metaphorically. Passions of revenge being not proper to the glorified saints, the meaning is, their blood is as it were newly shed, and cries to God afresh, requiring vengeance; so that Abel and all the saints still cry, though some succession of ages are passed since their blood was shed. Many things notable are implied in this clause. I shall despatch all in some brief hints.
First, Let us take notice of his dying - 'He being dead.' The history is in Genesis. There were probably two causes of the murder; one plainly expressed in scripture, the envy of Cain; the other implied - that is, indignation against the reproof of AbeL
First, One cause is plainly expressed. God accepted Abel; he had a better offering, and therefore Cain slew him: 1 John iii. 12, 'Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother; and wherefore slew he him? because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.' The note is this -
Doct. 1. Persecution usually ariseth from envy.
Men malign what they will not imitate; when others are holier than their interest and vile affections will give them leave, therefore they hate them. Our Lord himself was delivered for envy: Mat. xxvii. 18, 'Pilate knew that for envy they had delivered him;' his disciples sold him out of covetousness, and his enemies persecuted him out of envy.
To apply this let us hate this sin with the more indignation. Alas! we are apt to envy each other's gifts, esteem sancity, and grace; from thence arise contentions and quarrels, and they end in blood. The first man that ever died in the world was slain and murdered by envy. Pride gave us the first merit of death, and envy the first instance of it: Gen. xxxvii. 11, 'His brethren envied him;' they envied Joseph, and then conspired his death. Envy may be impeached as the cause of most of the blood that hath been spilt in the world; that is the reason why envying and murder are so often joined together, Gal. iv. 21.
Secondly, The second cause is implied - viz., indignation at reproof: Gen. iv. 8, 'And Cain talked with Abel his brother;' what their talk was we find not. The hint is -
Doct. 2. Another cause of persecution is indignation at reproofs. The world would fain sleep quietly in sin, and complain that these bawling preachers trouble their sinful rest. When a man holds out the testimony of Jesus, he torments and troubles them: Rev. xi. 10, 'The witnesses tormented the dwellers upon earth;' their testimony was the world's torment.
Use 1. It teacheth us to bear it the more patiently: James v. 10, 'Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction and of patience.' Did you ever hear of any that spake in the name of the Lord, and the world not hate them? The cross is very kindly to our rank and order; Abel, that is but now a priest, presently is made a martyr.
Use 2. Bear reproof patiently. Storming at reproof is the cause of that hatred that is against the ministry: Jer. vi. 10, 'The word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; when he came to reprove, they thought he had railed.'
From the murder itself - ' He slew his brother.'
Doct. 1. Hatred of the power of godliness began betimes.
There is an old prediction: Gen. iii. 15, 'I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.' There are two parties that will never be reconciled. And here are two brothers, one of them the seed of the woman, and the other the seed of the serpent; though they were brothers, came of the same womb, and brothers of the same birth as is conceived. The apostle speaks of two other brothers of the same father, one persecuted the other: Gal. iv. 29, 'As then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, so it is now.' And in all ages of the world we may say, 'So it is now;' and so it will be for ever: this is the old hatred.
Then consider Abel's death, not only as the death of a saint, but as the death of a brother. The note will be -
Doct. 2. The strife of brethren usually ends in blood, or in sad and dreadful accidents.
Solomon saith, Prov. xviii. 19, 'A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city; and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.' You may as soon surprise a strong city barred, as gain an offended brother. It is a hint useful to those families where discord ariseth by reason of difference in religion. Difference in brothers is like a rent made in the whole cloth; a seam may easily be sewn, but a rent in the whole cloth cannot; the nearer the union, usually the greater rent. A Spanish preacher that embraced the Reformation was slain by his own brother. Some may be restrained by the severity of laws; but in times of public tumult there have been many such sad instances among nearest relations.
It followeth, 'yet speaketh.' Consider it under a twofold regard, as the common murder of a man, or as the murder of a saint.
First, As the murder of. a man; this was a murder done in secret, yet Abel's blood speaks to God, that is, God took notice of the fact though past human cognisance. The note is -
Doct. 3. That murder is a crying sin.
It will out one way or other, God cannot want witnesses. We have seen in providence strange ways for the discovering of murder. Remember that is God's office, to be inquisitive for blood: Ps. ix. 12, 'When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them.'
Use 1. It is terror to them that are secretly guilty of murder. Many times wicked men act at a distance, nobody can tell who hath done the harm, yet God will find them out. Or if men should occasion public changes or confusions merely to promote their private interest, to build up a name to themselves, 'the stone out of the wall shall cry, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it,' Hab. ii. 11. Or if a man hath plotted the death of any merely to enrich himself, the Lord takes notice of it.
Secondly, Or look upon it as holy blood that was shed, as the blood of a martyr. The note is -
Doct. 4. The blood of a martyr hath a loud voice in the ears of God. It implies two things - God's love to his oppressed children, and a certainty of vengeance to the oppressors.
1. God's love to his oppressed children. Vengeance is quick-sighted on their behalf. Though the children of God are dumb, like sheep before their shearers, yet their blood cries. Christ spake no words of revenge, but rather prayed for his enemies; yet for shedding his blood, 'Wrath came to the uttermost upon the Jews,' 1 Thes. ii. 16; Gen. iv. 10, it is, 'The voice of thy brother's blood cries unto me.' Every drop was precious, and every wound hath a mouth open to God: Ps. cxvi. 15, 'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.' God hath a precious account of them after death. God's love lasteth after death. He is in covenant with their blood and with their dust when it is in their grave, therefore he will know what is become of them. Nay, he doth not only take notice of their blood but of their tears: Ps. lvi. 8, 'Thou tellest my wanderings; put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?' Men may burn their bodies, but they cannot blot their blood and tears out of God's register.
Use, This is comfort to the children of God. He doth not only take notice after their death of the cry of their blood, to avenge it on their enemies, but to recompense the innocent, to reward them; for that is one effect of its crying. God doth not only take notice of Cain, but vindicates innocent Abel; therefore is he slain, that he may live forever; slain, that God may bestow upon him a happy life. When your blood is shed for the testimony of God, treasure up this comfort; God will not be wanting to reward it. The two first martyrs in the old testament and the new were Abel and Stephen. What doth Abel signify, but vanity and mourning? and Stephen signifies a crown. Your mourning in the world doth but make way for a crown of glory: James i. 12; 'Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life.'
2. It implies certainty of vengeance to the oppressors; when the parents did not accuse, yet the blood cried. The children of God may not know who harms them, yet their wrongs cry loud in the ears of God. Abel's blood did not only cry in God's ears, Gen. iv. 10, but cried in Cain's conscience, ver. 13. How many cries are there? The affliction itself that cries; God hath an ear for affliction. He heard the affliction of Hagar, Gen. xvi. 11. Then your tears have a voice: Lam. ii. 18, 'Their heart cried unto the Lord, Let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.' Then the prayers of saints have a voice: Luke xviii. 7, 'Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him?' The martyrs under the altar cry: Rev. vi. 9, 'The souls under the altar cried with a loud voice, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?' Persecutors' consciences, they cry, O thou bloody Julian! thou hast murdered the children of God, and hast been guilty of oppression! As is storied of the king of France, that was author of that bloody massacre, he could never sleep afterward, but was haunted with terrors in his conscience, and at his death blood issued out at all the pores of his body.
Use. What terror and astonishment should this be to the enemies of the church, be they secret or open! Oppressed innocency will cry aloud; they may forgive, but the Lord forgets not. The Lord will not only take notice of their blood, but bottle their tears: Ps. lvi. 8, ' Thou tellest my wanderings; put thou my tears into.thy bottle: are they not in thy book?' God kept a register of David's sufferings; every weary step was recorded in God's book; it is but folly and madness to think to hide your practices, or to escape punishment.
Hebrews
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