Expositions of Holy Scripture | Page 7

blessed presence of God--the fulfilment of all desires--the
service which is _blessed_, not toil--the changelessness which is
progress, not stagnation.
3. Heaven surpasses the lost Eden.
(1) Garden--City.
The perfection of association--the nations of the saved. Here 'we mortal
millions live alone,' even when united with dearest. Like Egyptian
monks of old, each dwelling in his own cave, though all were a
community.
(2) The richer experience.
The memory of past sorrows which are understood at last.
Heaven's bliss in contrast with earthly joys.
Sinlessness of those who have been sinners will be more intensely
lustrous for its dark background in the past. Redeemed men will be
brighter than angels.
The impossibility of a fall.
Death behind us.
The former things shall no more come to mind, being lost in blaze of
present transcendent experience, but yet shall be remembered as having
led to that perfect state.
Christ not only repairs the 'tabernacle which was fallen,' but builds a
fairer temple. He brings 'a statelier Eden,' and makes us dwell for ever
in a Garden City.

THE GROWTH AND POWER OF SIN
'And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of
the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the
firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect
unto Abel, and to his offering: But unto Cain, and to his offering, he
had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy
countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and
if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his
desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his
brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose
up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I my brother's
keeper? And He said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's
blood crieth unto Me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from
the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood
from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth
yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in
the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I
can bear. 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 a
vagabond in the earth: and it shall come to pass, that every one that
findeth me shall slay me. 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. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the
land of Nod, on the east of Eden.' GENESIS iv. 3-16.
Many lessons crowd on us from this section. Its general purport is to
show the growth of sin, and its power to part man from man even as it
has parted man from God. We may call the whole 'The beginning of the
fatal operations of sin on human society.'
1. The first recorded act of worship occasions the first murder. Is not
that only too correct a forecast of the oceans of blood which have been
shed in the name of religion, and a striking proof of the subtle power of
sin to corrupt even the best, and out of it to make the worst? What a
lesson against the bitter hatred which has too often sprung up on

so-called religious grounds! No malice is so venomous, no hate so
fierce, no cruelty so fiendish, as those which are fed and fanned by
religion. Here is the first triumph of sin, that it poisons the very springs
of worship, and makes what should be the great uniter of men in sweet
and holy bonds their great separator.
2. Sin here appears as having power to bar men's way to God. Much
ingenuity has been spent on the question why Abel's offering was
accepted and Cain's rejected. But the narrative itself shows in the words
of Jehovah, 'If thou doest well, is there not acceptance?' that the reason
lay in Cain's evil deeds. So, in 1 John iii. 12, the fratricide is put down
to the fact that 'his works were evil, and his brother's righteous'; and
Hebrews xi. 4 differs from this view only