Abel's sacrifice, and the rejection of Cain's; for how could the former know that his was accepted, or the latter, that his was rejected, without some supernatural sign or token? Cain thus having, by the atrocious crime he committed, forfeited the privilege of approaching the place of divine audience; and going into a remote part where no such symbol of the divine presence was possessed, fell, in all probability, into total neglect of the public worship of God, and abandoned himself entirely to an irreligious and worldly life. Supposing this to be the case, it will readily account for much of that prodigious vice and impiety for when once the worship of God is abandoned, a great restraint upon wickedness is removed out of the way. Conceive only to what a dreadful degeneracy of morals would this nation speedily advance, if no attention were paid to the sabbath, and public worship universally abandoned. The extreme importance of this duty, as a chief preservative of all religion and virtue, may be learnt from one remarkable passage in the writings of Paul: "Forget not the assembling of yourselves together," says he, "as the manner of some is: "for if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin."* Whence we may infer, that to forsake public worship is either precisely the same thing as absolute apostasy, or is the very next step to it.

*Heb. x. 25, 26.

II. The intermarriages betwixt the "seed of the righteous and the seed of the wicked," were, undoubtedly, another principal cause of the extreme corruption under consideration. "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all that they chose."* To understand the meaning of this passage, which at first sight appears obscure, we must look a little further back in the narrative. We are there informed, that to Seth, the third son of Adam, was born a son, named Enos; it is added, "Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord."+ The meaning of the inspired writer is, that in the days of Enos, the son of Seth, the first separation was made betwixt the true worshippers of God and the profane descendants of Cain and his associates. Adam, we learn, had sons and daughters born to him after the birth of Seth; but their names are not mentioned, partly because the true religion was preserved in the line of Seth, and partly because from him was continued the succession of patriarchs till Noah. The family of Seth, on account of its adherence to the true religion, were styled "the sons of God;" the descendants of Cain, and the other branches of the family, who united with him in his impiety," the sons of men," denoting, that they were a carnal, irreligious race. † Gen. iv. 26.

* Gen. vi. 1, 2.

The words rendered, "then began men to call upon the name of the Lord," may with equal propriety be rendered, "then began men to be called by the name of the Lord." Those, then, were the persons whom the sacred writer denominates "the sons of God;" a race of men descended from Seth, who kept themselves apart, and refused affinity or connexion with the apostates from the religious worship of God. Among them was found the true church; the holy seed, whence the New World was to spring up after the flood; the sacred stock, out of which Christ himself was to arise.

While they kept themselves apart, and declined to unite with the apostate stock, religion continued in its purity, the overflowings of vice were restrained, and they were as "the salt of the earth." In process of time they yielded to the suggestions of carnal appetite, broke through the restraints of piety and prudence, and joined in affinity with the descendants of Cain and the other branches of the family, who followed his apostasy. Tracing the almost necessary effects of such a proceeding, the children of Israel at a subsequent period were strictly forbidden to contract marriages with the Canaanitish and surrounding nations. "Take heed to thyself lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their

gods." In the same spirit, and for the same reason, the apostle enjoins upon christians the avoiding of such unequal marriages: "Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath Christ with Belial? or what communion hath light with darkness? or what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?"†

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III. The pride arising from the possession of great bodily strength, and great mental acquisitions and endowments, may be assigned as another cause of the remarkable corruption of men's manners in the times immediately preceding the flood. "There were giants in those days," says the sacred text; "and, moreover, when the sons of God, allying themselves to the daughters of men, had children born unto them, the same became mighty men, even men of renown." The consciousness of superior or supernatural strength, in persons who are not tinctured with the fear of God, naturally disposes to a degree of violence and oppression; and that those giants, of whom Moses spoke, abused their prodigious strength to those purposes, is evidently [implied] in the sacred story. The strong oppressed the weak, and made the superiority of bodily force an instrument for establishing unjust domination and tyranny, until the whole earth became a scene of rapine, cruelty, and injustice. But, besides these, it is evident, from the narrative, that the descendants of Cain distinguished *Exod. xxxiv. 12, 16. † 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15. Gen. vi. 4.

themselves very early by the discovery and cultivation of arts and sciences; both these took their first rise among that godless race. Tubal Cain instructed in every artifice of iron and brass, and, probably, was the first inventor of warlike instruments. Jubal was the inventor of musical instruments, or, to speak in the language of scripture, "the father of all them that handled the harp and the organ." Naamah, from the manner in which she is introduced, was, probably, the inventress of some [perhaps] of the more exquisite kinds of needle-work. The first thing we are informed of respecting Cain, after the murder of his brother, is, his building a city, which he called Enoch, after the name of his son. From the whole narrative it may be confidently inferred that the descendants of Cain were endowed with a superior genius, and were the first who made themselves celebrated by the discovery and improvements of arts and sciences. Superior genius, united with extraordinary attainments, are, in themselves, valuable gifts; but when they are dissevered from the fear of God, nothing tends more powerfully to intoxicate and corrupt the heart. These envenom it with pride, these supply the sophistry which supports impiety, and extend the means and enlarge the capacity of doing mischief. They have a peculiar tendency to produce that confidence in human reason, that reliance on arms of flesh, which indisposes man to seek after God. "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance,