Thus we shall find, that "faith which worketh by love," is the condition, throughout, on which the fountain which is opened for sin and for uncleanness will be applied to wash away the accompanying pollutions of fallen imperfection. God had appointed the skins of beasts to cover the shame of the first transgressors. He had set a marked preference upon an animal rather than a vegetable material for that purpose. It was no unmeaning preference. He now exhibited another remarkable selection of the two sons of Adam. He distinguished the younger with peculiar favour; and we see the adoption of animal objects, rather than those of the earth, as marking the prerogative of divine approval, which was extended to Abel over his elder brother Cain. "Abel

was a keeper of sheep," He was the first direct type of the "good Shepherd" who "laid down his life for the sheep." This great sacrifice he also foreshewed by offering the firstlings of his flock on the altar of God. "Cain," also, "brought of the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the Lord." "And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering; but unto Cain, and his offering, he had not respect." Abel offered" of the firstlings of his flock "—he offered of his lambs. This was the first sacrifice of a" lamb" as a burnt-offering, and it prefigured the same great sacrificial atonement which was typified by all the similar offerings which were instituted in after days. God, therefore, had respect to it. The

offering of the elder brother was of the fruits of the ground. It had only a temporal and earthly character. To this offering, God had not respect.

We see in these two brothers the first dawn of the future dispensations of the "promise," and of the "law." The spiritual offering was accepted. The earthly offering was rejected. The first was made by the younger son. In like manner the children of the promise were the younger sons of Abraham. The second was made by the elder son. So also the seed of Abraham after the flesh; the Israelites under the law; were his first-born. Cain, the eldest son, slew his brother Abel; so the elder sons of Abraham under the covenant of the law, slew Him who was the very seed of the promise; the very paschal lamb, whom Abel's offering had prefigured. God "said to Cain, what hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." The elder sons of Abraham, when about to murder the blessed seed of the promise, exclaimed, "his blood be upon us and upon our children." The sentence pronounced upon Adam's eldest son was, "a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth." The eldest sons of Abraham are to this day dispersed as fugitives and vagabonds over all countries. Cain perceived that, in consequence of his fratricidal act, he should be an object of aversion to all people. "It shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me." The children of Israel were the

objects of contempt and persecution throughout the period of the middle ages, and are still debarred from an admission to many civil privileges. But "the Lord said unto him, whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven-fold." Thus Jeremiah says of those who should spitefully entreat God's chosen people: "All they that devour thee, shall be devoured and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity, and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey." "Because they called thee an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after." (Jer. xxx. 16, 17.) Lastly, "the Lord set a mark upon Cain," and the elder sons of Abraham to this day have a mark, a character so striking, that one of their nation can never be mistaken.

But the type of Abraham's younger children of the promise was not to perish with Abel. Amid the corruptions of Adam's progeny, though Lamech might incur the vengeance of God by "slaying a man to his wounding, and a young man to his hurt," (Gen. iv. 23.) yet the faith which worketh by love was not to be utterly extirpated. Eve bare another son, and called his name Seth: for God, said she, "hath appointed me another seed, instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." Seth was born in "the likeness of his father Adam, after his image." Nevertheless, he was endowed with some portion of the original

principle of good which God had bestowed on his Father. He possessed faith which worketh by love, and through that faith, righteousness was graciously imputed to him by God. By his example and that of his son Enos, "men began," again, "to call upon the name of the Lord." The same precious gift was also conferred on Enoch, the son of Jared, the fifth generation in a direct line from Seth. The faith and piety of Enoch was rewarded by the peculiar acceptance of his Creator, "Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him." (Gen. v. 24.) Throughout the generations of men, from the days of Adam to the period of the Deluge, the free grace of God was never entirely withdrawn. In the midst of general corruption we find it constantly revived in the person of some chosen servant, who still adhered to the faith which worketh by love. Thus "when the wickedness of man was great in the earth; and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually ;" still, "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." He " He was a just man and perfect in his generation, and Noah walked with God." Apparently with a prophetic direction, if not a prophetic design, Lamech bestowed on him the name of "Noah "-("rest," "consolation")-"This same," he said, "shall comfort us concerning our work, and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord God hath cursed." The true rest and consolation, which the name of Noah signified, was the spiritual

consolation and rest from the evil works of man's hand, by the exercise of faith, which worketh obedience by love and piety towards God. Though "the earth was filled with violence," and "the end of all flesh" was at hand, "with thee," said God, "I will establish my covenant" "for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. (Gen. vi. and vii.)

The distinction of these chosen men was, that they walked with God." (See Appendix, note A.) They did not participate in that forgetfulness of his holy name, which seems to have prevailed in proportion as mankind increased in numbers. They walked with God through the obedience of faith, which worketh by love. They had faith in the evidence of things as yet dimly seen; they had faith in the substance of those promises, which, as yet, were faintly hinted, as it were, in the predicted seed of the woman, and in the several types, to which we have referred. They observed sacrificial animal offerings, with a confiding view to the final purport for which they were appointed. The faith which they thus exhibited became more fully developed in Abraham, and has been perfected under the gospel. Our Fathers, and they in the old time before them, embraced and practised that one and the same "faith," which we profess. This is clearly explained by St. Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews, (chap. xi). "By faith," he says, "the elders obtained a good report. By faith,