righteous and to walk humbly with his God was man's vocation. He could have repeated the words of the poet,1

Lord! I am not proud hearted,

And mine eyes are not lifted in pride;

I have not conversed with things too high and too wonderful for me.
Truly, I have brought my soul to rest and quietness;

As a weaned child, without desire, lies on his mother's breast,
So my soul is passionless in me.

And certainly there is something enviable in this rest of the soul. Nay, it may even be the glorious reward of the conquest over the earthly inclinations, and the subjection of our desires to the will of God. But there is also a humility of disposition, a freedom from passion, which is bought at far too dear a price, and springs from an unhallowed source. For if we do not long to go onward, — if we do not strain all our powers in the struggle for knowledge and blessedness, if we allow needless ignorance and misery to exist in ourselves or in others, - then this contentment is the fruit, not of humility, but of idleness, which brings moral death in its train. The psalm of submission must be no lullaby.

It was not unnatural for an Israelite who saw how many woes, how hard a struggle fell to the lot of man, saw too that they were the result of the pressing claims of society, and that wants were increased by civilization, to look back sometimes Iwith a kind of homesickness towards the state of nature in which men did not feel these wants and life was simpler. Any one who knows something of life can understand this well enough, for sometimes it is very weary work. We agree with the poet of the story of paradise, as he perceives and describes how the raising of man's rank brings with it a greater task to perform, and how he has to pay a heavy price for his noble privilege of being like God, and knowing good from evil. But we can by no means allow with him that this is contrary to the will of God. No, we are more at one with the poets of the first chapter of Genesis and of the eighth Psalm, who glory in the thought that God has made man after his image, has crowned him with glory, and has therefore given him dominion over all creation.

And so, however sweet that murmuring song may sound, "I have brought my soul to rest and quietness," the rousing war-cry of the sons of God rings back upon our ears: "No rest for us! work, search, learn, for that alone is life!" The state of innocence is lost, the state of simplicity and

1 Psalm cxxxi.

ignorance. We are no longer children. Are we to mourn over it? No. This condition cannot and must not last. But, whenever, as stained by many a sin and broken by many a sorrow we pursue our way, the state of childhood seems enviable in our eyes, then let us listen to the words of him who urges us indeed to become children once more,1 but, also, to be perfect even as God is perfect.2

CHAPTER IV.

CAIN AND HIS POSTERITY.

GEN. IV.

BUT

UT though paradise was lost so we are told by the same writer- the first human pair still dwelt in the land of Eden. It soon appeared that the man had good reason to call his wife Eve, that is the life-waker, for she presented him with two sons, the elder of whom she called Cain, that is, the gained, "for," said she, "with Yahweh's help, I have gained a son, a man.” The second was called Abel, that is, evanescence. The younger chose the shepherd's life, while Cain became a husbandman. Once on a time they both determined to bring some of their possessions as an offering to Yahweh. They gave of the produce of their labor, -Cain of the fruits of the field, Abel of the first-born of his sheep and goats, especially the fat of these animals; and with this last offering Yahweh was pleased, but not with that of Cain. We are not told how this fact was made known to the two sacrificers, but the idea probably is that Yahweh, who was with them in person, told it to them by word of mouth. Now, Cain could not endure being placed below his brother; and his sullen countenance, fixed on the ground, betrayed clearly enough how he was eaten up by anger. So Yahweh came to give him a warning. "Cain," said he, "why do you hang down your head in anger? Can you not lift up your face boldly if you do well?3 But be careful! If you enter upon the crooked way, sin lies in wait for you, as a beast of prey crouching at the door of your house; but you must master it." Cain, however, 1 Matthew xviii. 1-3. 2 Matthew v. 48. 3 After an amended version.

far from attending to this good advice, dogged the footsteps of his brother,1 and as soon as ever they were in the field together, struck him dead.

Then Yahweh came again to Cain and asked: "Where is Abel, your brother?" And Cain answered: "I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?" But Yahweh replied: "What have you done? The blood of your brother cries to me from out of the ground. Now, listen: Be thou cursed, and cast out from the land which has opened its mouth to take up the brother's blood which you have spilt. When you work upon it, it shall not put forth its strength to serve you. For you it shall be unfruitful, and so you shall roam and wander up and down the earth."

Then Cain, terrified by this curse, cried out: "The punishment is too hard to bear! See, you have banished me from this land, and will never think of me again; and likely enough as I roam and wander over the earth, any one that happens to meet me will kill me." But Yahweh answered him : "Yes! but to avert that danger, Cain shall be avenged sevenfold." Moreover, to protect him as far as possible, Yahweh fixed upon a sign by which any one who was about to raise his hand against Cain should be warned.

As soon as his sentence was pronounced he left Eden, where Yahweh dwelt, and, after journeying eastwards, settled in the land of wandering (Nod). There his wife presented him with a son, after whom he called the town which he founded Enoch. Enoch had a son Irad, and Irad a son Mehujael, who was the father of Methusael and the grandfather of Lamech.

Now Lamech took two wives, called Adah and Zillah, whose children were very celebrated men. Adah's sons were Jabal and Jubal, the first of whom instituted the wandering shepherd life, while the second was the discoverer of various musical instruments, such as the lyre and the pipe. Zillah gave birth to Tubal-cain, the copper and iron smith, and his sister, Naamah.

Then Lamech, proud of his metal weapons, said to his wives:

Adah and Zillah! hear my voice,

Ye wives of Lamech hearken to my speech!
Truly I slew a man for a wound,

And a lad for a stripe he had given me!

If Cain is avenged sevenfold,

Then Lamech seven and seventy.

1 After an amended version.

After Abel's death, and Cain's banishment from Eden, Eve had a third son there, and she gave him the name of Seth, that is the given, "because," said she, "God has given me a compensation for Abel." Seth's son was called Enos, and in his days the worship of Yahweh began.

This story is not only from the same hand as the previous one, but is so closely connected with it that the same idea plays a chief part in both. As we have seen, the writer of the story of paradise considered the state of nature, that is, the condition of ignorance and of the innocence which goes along with it, as the state of man which God willed, and he explained man's struggle for something higher as a consequence of sin. In the story of Cain and his posterity he worked out this notion further. He pointed out the progress made by men in every direction; how they had invented musical instruments and discovered the art of forging copper and iron; how towns had been built by them, and the wandering shepherd life established too. But what men had invented all this? The Cainites, the posterity of the murderer of his brother, the exiles from Eden, where the worship of Yahweh was not introduced till their connection with that

land of paradise had been severed. And what advantage had this progress of the Cainites brought with it? What fruit had they gathered from this art of bending the hard metals into the form that pleased them? None. Surely it had taught them how to make a sword, and to tip their arrows and spears? Yes; and the discovery made them all the more savage and overweening. Strong in the possession of copper and iron, Lamech could swear sevenfold vengeance on any one who should kill him, for his sons would avenge him. And woe to the man who wounded him, for even that offence would meet the penalty of death! That is what comes of all this progress and knowledge, thought the writer. Such was the course of man after the loss of his innocence. The history of Adam's eldest son and of his race begins with a murder and ends with a wild song of vengeance.

This is the main idea of the story which we are now to examine in detail. It would be an important addition to our knowledge of antiquity if we knew the source from which the writer took the names with which he connected the various inventions of which he speaks, and the original meaning of these names, which are met with in the following

story in quite a different order. The writer treats them as men, but it does not follow that that is what they really were.

If asked: What else can they have been? we might answer: Perhaps they were the names of gods, to whose teaching the origin of these occupations or the knowledge of these arts was ascribed. This is not unlikely. Several of the names are to be found amongst other nations as well as amongst the Israelites. Thus Jabal is a good deal like the name of the Greek and Roman god, Apol (lo), and Tubalcain is the Hebrew pronunciation of the name pronounced Vulcan by the Romans, and used by them for the smith of the gods; while Set was an Egyptian god. Moreover, it quite agrees with the ancient usage, which we find among all kinds of nations, to attribute the earliest discoveries and inventions, and everything that brought about a great change in human life, to the immediate revelation of a deity. No wonder! Who first built a town it was surely impossible to say; for necessity must gradually have forced people to hedge or wall-in their dwelling-places as a defence against their enemies, whether beasts or men. Gradually some of them would begin to wander round about to look for pastures for the beasts which they had tamed and used as domestic animals. The possibility of producing various sounds by striking or blowing upon strings under tension, and upon the horns of animals or lengths of reed, was certainly often noticed before, step by step, man learned to make musical instruments. The case is the same with forging. Since it is natural to men who are at a low stage of development, and have not been accustomed to think much, to deify all the powers and gifts of nature, and even individual objects, it is not unnatural that they should worship a god "Coppersmith," or "Shepherd-life," or "City-building." And it is very natural that they should attribute to the revelation of the Sun, or of some other god, their knowledge of all kinds of useful arts.

We ought, however, to be very cautious in venturing upon guesses such as these; for it is almost like groping about in the dark to speak of such ancient times, and the thoughts of the men who lived in them. There are many other ways in which these names may have become connected with such inventions and social changes. They may have been names of men or tribes which were afterwards deified by certain peoples. We must be all the more cautious, as the meaning of the names is generally unknown to us, nor can we even