Works of John Bunyan Volume II Part 102

Answ. Not so: For though it be true among men, that the gift makes way for the acceptance of the person, yet in the order of grace it is after another manner; for if the person be not first accepted, the offering must be abominable; for it is not a good work that makes a good man, but a good man makes a good work. The fruit doth not make a good tree, but "a good tree bringeth forth good fruit." Make (saith Christ) the tree good, and his fruit good; or the tree evil, and his fruit evil: Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Had Abel been a thorn, he had not brought forth grapes; had he been a thistle, he had not brought forth figs. So then, Abel's person must be first accepted, and after that his works.

Object. But G.o.d accepteth no man while he remains a sinner, but all men are sinners before they do good works, how then could the person of Abel be accepted first?

Answ. Abel was JUST before he did offer sacrifice. Just, I say, in the sight of G.o.d. This G.o.d witnessed by testifying of his gift: "By faith Abel offered unto G.o.d a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous": That is, G.o.d by accepting of the gift of Abel, did testify that Abel was a righteous man; for we know G.o.d "heareth not sinners": "The prayers of the wicked are an abomination unto G.o.d." But Abel was accepted, therefore he was righteous first.

Hence observe, That a man must be righteous before he can do any good work.

Quest. Righteous! "With what righteousness?"

Answ. With the righteousness of faith. And therefore it is said, that Abel had faith before he offered sacrifice. "By faith he offered" (Heb 11:4). Where faith is made to precede or go before the work which by faith he offered unto G.o.d.

Quest. But are not good works the righteousness of faith?

Answ. They are the fruits of faith: As here in the case of Abel; his faith produced an offering; but before he gave his offering, his faith had made him righteous; for faith respects a promise of grace, not a work of mine: Now the promise of grace, being this, that the seed of the woman, which is Christ, should destroy the power of the devil; by this Abel saw that it was Christ that should abolish sin and death by himself, and bring in "everlasting righteousness" for sinners. Thus believing, he had accepted of Christ for righteousness, which because he had done, G.o.d in truth proclaims him righteous, by accepting of his person and performances when offered.

Abel then presented his person and offering, as shrouding both, by faith, under the righteousness of Christ, which lay wrapped up in the promise; but Cain stands upon his own legs, and so presents his offering. Abel therefore is accepted, both his person and his offering, while Cain remains accursed.

Ver. 5. "But unto Cain, and to his offering, he [the Lord] had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell."

Mark: As first Abel's person is accepted, and then his offering; so first Cain's person is rejected, and afterwards his offering: For G.o.d seeth not sin in his own inst.i.tutions, unless they be defiled by them that worship him; and that they needs must, when persons by[18] themselves offer sacrifice to G.o.d, because then they want the righteousness of faith.

This then made the difference betwixt Abel and his brother; Abel had faith, but Cain had none. Abel's faith covered him with Jesus Christ, therefore he stood righteous in his person before G.o.d: This being so, his offering was accepted, because it was the offering of one that was righteous.

"But unto Cain, and to his offering, the Lord had not respect."

Hence note, That a Christless man is a wicked man, let him be never so full of actions that be righteous; for righteous actions make not a righteous man, the man himself must first be righteous.[19]

Wherefore, though Cain was the eldest, and first in the worship; yet Abel was the wisest, and the most acceptable therein.

"And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell." From these words it may be gathered, that Cain had some evident token from the observation of G.o.d's carriage towards both himself and brother; that his brother was smiled upon, but he rejected: He was wroth: wroth with G.o.d, and wroth with his brother. And indeed, before the world hate us, they must needs hate Jesus Christ: "It hated me [saith he] before it hated you" (John 15:18). He was wroth: and why? Wroth because his sacrifice was not accepted of G.o.d: And yet the fault was not in the Lord, but Cain: He came not before the Lord, as already made righteous with the righteousness of Christ, which indeed had been doing well, but as a cursed wicked wretch, he thought that by his own good works he must be just before the Lord.

The difference therefore that was between these worshippers, it lay not in that they worshipped divers G.o.ds, but in that they worshipped the same G.o.d after a diverse manner: The one in faith, the other without; the one as righteous, the other as wicked.

And even thus it is between us and our adversaries: We worship not divers G.o.ds, but the same G.o.d in a diverse manner: We according to faith; and they according to their OWN INVENTIONS.[20]

"And Cain was wroth." This further shows us the force of the law, and the end of those that would be just by the same; namely, That in conclusion they will quarrel with G.o.d; for when the soul in its best performances, and acts of righteousness, shall yet be rejected and cast off by G.o.d, it will fret and wrangle, and in its spirit let fly against G.o.d. For thus it judgeth, That G.o.d is austere and exacting; it hath done what it could to please him, and he is not pleased therewith. This again offendeth G.o.d, and makes his justice curse and condemn the soul. Condemn it, I say, for imagining that the righteousness of a poor, sinful, wretched creature, should be sufficient to appease eternal justice for sin. Thus the law worketh wrath, because it always bindeth our transgression to us, and still reckoneth us sinners, and accursed, when we have done our utmost to answer and fulfil it (Rom 4:15).

"And his countenance fell." However, an hypocrite, while G.o.d forbeareth to smite him, may triumph and joy in his goodness; yet when G.o.d shall p.r.o.nounce his judgment according as he approve of his act, he needs must lower and fall in his countenance; for his person and gift are rejected, and he still counted a sinner.

Ver. 6. "And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?"

These words are applied to Cain, for a further conviction of his state to be miserable. "Why art thou wroth?" Is it because I have not accepted thy offering? This is without ground, thy person is yet an abomination to me: Must I be made by thy gift, which is polluted, for and by thy person, to justify thee as righteous? Thou hast not yet done well. Wherefore, Cain had no cause to be wroth; For G.o.d rejected only that which was sinful, as was both his person, and gift for the sake thereof: Neither had he grounds to lift up his looks on high, when he came to offer his sacrifice; because he came not as a man in a justify'd state. But "there is a generation that are pure in their ow eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation,--O how lofty are their eyes!

and their eyelids are lifted up" (Pro 30:12,13). Such an one, or the father of these, was Cain; he counted himself clean, and yet was not washed; he lifted up his looks on high, before he was changed from his iniquity.

Ver. 7. "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." "If thou do well."

Why, is not worshipping of G.o.d, well-doing? It may, and may not, even as the person that worships is found. If he be found righteous at his coming to worship, and if he worship according to rule, then he does well, then he is accepted of G.o.d; but if he be not found righteous before, be you sure he cannot do well, let the matter with which he worshippeth be wrong or right. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" (John 14:4). Let Cain be clean, and his offering will be clean, because brought to G.o.d in a vessel that is clean; but if Cain be unclean, all the holy things he toucheth, or layeth up in his skirt, it is made unclean by the uncleanness of his person: "And so is this nation before me, saith the Lord; and so is every work of their hands, and that which they offer there is unclean" (Haggai 2:11-14).[21]

Men therefore ought to distinguish between doing and well-doing, even in the worship of G.o.d. All that worship do not do well, though the matter of worship be good in itself. Cain's offering you find not blamed, as if it had been of a superst.i.tious complexion; but he came not aright to worship. Why? he came not as one made righteous before. Wherefore, as I have already touched, the difference that lay between the gifts of Abel and Cain, was not in the gifts themselves, but the qualifications of the persons. Abel's faith, and Cain's works, made G.o.d approve and reject the offering: "by faith Abel offered to G.o.d a more excellent sacrifice than Cain": For, as I said, Faith in Christ, as promised to come, made him righteous, because thereby he obtained "the righteousness of G.o.d"; for so was Christ in himself, and so to be to him that by faith received and accepted of him: This, I say, Abel did; wherefore now he is righteous or just before G.o.d. This being so, his offering is found to be an offering of Abel the just, and is here said to obtain witness even of G.o.d, that he was righteous, because he accepted his gift.

Wherefore, he that does well must first be good: "He that doeth righteousness is [must first be] righteous" (1 John 3:7). He is righteous first; he is righteous even as Christ is righteous, because Christ himself is the righteousness of such a person.

And so on the contrary; the reason why some men's good deeds are accursed of G.o.d, it is because in truth, and according to the law, the Lord finds sin in them; which sins he cannot pardon, because he finds them not in Christ. Thus they being evil for want of the righteousness of the Son of G.o.d, they worship G.o.d as sinners, according to that of the apostle, Because they are not good, therefore they do not good, no, not one of them (Rom 3:10-12).

The way therefore to do well, it is first to receive the mercy of G.o.d in Christ; which act of thine will be more pleasing to the Divine Majesty, than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices: "I will have mercy [saith G.o.d] I will have mercy, and not sacrifice"

(Matt 9:13; 12:7). This Cain did not understand, therefore he goes to G.o.d in his sins, and without faith in the mercy of G.o.d through Christ, he offereth his sacrifice. Wherefore because his sacrifice could not take away his sin, therefore it still abode upon him.

But "if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." This reasoning therefore was much to Cain's condition; he would be wroth, because G.o.d did not accept his offering, and yet he did not well: Now, if he had done well, G.o.d, by receiving of his brother's sacrifice, shows, he would have accepted him; for this is evident, they were both alike by nature; their offerings also were in themselves one as holy as the other: How then comes it to pa.s.s that both were not accepted, they both offered to G.o.d? Why, Abel only sacrificed well, because he first by faith in Christ was righteous: This because Cain wanted, "sin abideth at his door."

"And to thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him."

That is if sin abideth at thy door still, to thee shall be his desire; he shall love, pity, pray for thee, and endeavour thy conversions; but thou shalt be lord over him, and shalt put thy yoke upon his neck. This was Jacob's portion also; for after Esau had got head, he broke Jacob's yoke from off his neck, and reigned by nineteen or twenty dukes and princes, before there was any king in Israel (Gen 27:40).

It is the lot of Cain's brood, to be lords and rulers first, while Abel and his generation have their necks under persecution; yet while they lord it, and thus tyrannically afflict and persecute, our very desire is towards them, wishing their salvation: While they curse, we bless; and while they persecute, we pray.

Ver. 8. "And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pa.s.s, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him."

When Cain saw that by G.o.d's judgment Abel was the better worshipper, and that himself must by no means be admitted for well-doing, his heart began to be more obdurate and hard, and to grow into that height of desperateness, as to endeavour the extirpating of all true religion out of the world; which it seems he did, by killing his brother, mightily accomplish, until the days of Enos; for "then began men [again] to call upon the name of the Lord" (v 26).

Hence see the spite of the children of h.e.l.l against G.o.d: They have slain thy prophets, and digged down thine altars (1 Kings 19:10).

If they may have their wills, G.o.d must be content with their religion, or none; other they will not endure should have show within their reach, but with Cain, will rather kill their brother; or with the Pharisees, kill their Lord; and with the evil kings of old, will rather kill their sons and subjects. That the truth, I say, may fall to the ground, and their own inventions stand for acceptable sacrifices, they will not only envy, but endeavour to invalidate all the true worship and worshippers of G.o.d in the world; the which if they cannot without blood accomplish, they will slay and kill till their cruelty hath destroyed many ten thousands, even as Cain, who slew his brother Abel.[22]

And Cain talked with his brother. He had not a law whereby to arraign him, but malice enough, and a tongue to set all on fire, of which no doubt, by the goodly replies of his brother, was easily blown up into choler and madness, the end of which was the blood of his brother.

"And Cain talked with Abel," &c. To wit, about the goodness and truth of his religion. For that the New Testament seems to import, he slew him "because his works were righteous" (1 John 3:12); which Abel, no doubt, had justified before his brother, even then when he most set himself to oppose him. Besides this, the connection of the relation importeth, he talked with him, he slew him; he talked with him and slew him, purely upon a religious account, because his works were righteous.

Hence note, That when wicked men have the head in the world, professors had need be resolved to hazard the worst, before they do enter debate with unG.o.dly men about the things that pertain to the kingdom of G.o.d. For behold here, words did not end in words, but from words came blows, and from blows blood. The counsel therefore is, "That you sit down first, and count up the cost,"

before ye talk with Cain of religion (Luke 14:27-33). "They make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought" (Isa 29:21).

"And Cain talked with Abel his brother." With Abel his only brother, who also was a third part of the world. But tyrants matter nothing, neither nearness of kin, nor how much they destroy: "The brother shall betray the brother to death," &c.

"And it came to pa.s.s, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him." When they were in the field, from home, out of the sight, and far from the help of his father: Subtle persecutors love not to bite, till they can make their teeth to meet; for which they observe their time and place.

Joseph was also hated of his brethren, but they durst not meddle till they found him in the field (Gen 37:15). Here it is also that the holy virgin falleth: He found her in the field,--and there was none to save her (Deut 22:27).

Hence observe again, That be the danger never so imminent, and the advantage of the adversary never so great, the sincere professor of the truth stands his ground against wind and weather. b.l.o.o.d.y Cain daunted not holy Abel; no, though now he have his advantage of him (Dan 3:16-18). He rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. "And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil,"

&c. (1 John 3:12). It is therefore hence to be observed, That it is a sign of an evil way, be it covered with the name of the worship of G.o.d, when it cannot stand without the shedding of innocent blood. "Wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil."

Had his works been good, they had been accepted of G.o.d: He had also had the joy thereof in his conscience, as doubtless Abel had; which joy and peace would have produced love and pity to his brother, as it was with his brother towards him; but his works being evil, they minister to him no heavenly joy, neither do they beget in him love to his brother; but contrariwise, his heart fill his eye with evil also; which again provoketh (while it beholdeth the G.o.dly carriage of Abel) the heart to more desperate resolutions, even to set upon him with all his might, and to cut him off from the earth. Thus the goodness of G.o.d's people provoketh to envy the wicked heart of the hypocrite. As it was betwixt Saul and David; for after Saul had seen that G.o.d had rejected him for his wickedness, the more he hated the goodness of David: "And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David" (1 Sam 18:8-15). "And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul became David's enemy continually"

(v 29).

Ver. 9. "And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?

And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?"

Cain thought it had been no more but to kill his brother, and his intentions and desires must needs be accomplished, and that himself should then be the only man. "Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours" (Mark 12:7). But stay, Abel was beloved of his G.o.d, who had also justified his offering, and accepted it as a service more excellent than his brother's. So then, because the quarrel arose between them upon this very account, therefore Abel's G.o.d doth reckon himself as engaged (seeing he is not) to take up his servant's cause himself.

"And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?" A question not grounded on uncertainty, but proposed as a beginning of further reasoning; and also to make way to this wicked wretch, to discover the desperate wickedness of his b.l.o.o.d.y heart the more.

For questions that stand at first afar off, do draw out more of the heart of another: and also do minister more occasion for matter, than if they had been placed more near to the matter.

"Where is Abel?" G.o.d missed the acceptable sacrifices of Abel; Abel was dead, and his sacrifices ceased, which had wont to be savoury in the nostrils of G.o.d; Cain could not supply them; his sacrifices were deficient, they were not of faith. Hence note, that if tyrants should have their will, even to the destroying of all the remnant of G.o.d, their sacrifices and worship would be yet before G.o.d as abominable as they were before.

"And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel?" O dreadful question!

The beginning of Cain's h.e.l.l, for now G.o.d entereth into judgment with him. Wherefore, however this wretch endeavoured at first to stifle and choke his conscience, yet this was to him the arrow of death: Abel crieth, but his brother would not hear him while alive, and now being dead G.o.d hears the cry of his blood. "When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble" (Psa 9:12). Blood that is shed for the sake of G.o.d's word, shall not be forgotten or disregarded of G.o.d: "Precious in his sight is the death of his saints" (Psa 116:15).

"And precious shall their blood be in his sight" (Psa 72:14).