As to the existence of ritual laws, that cannot be doubted, when the circumstances attendant upon the event are closely considered. The offering of sacrifice at all is inexplicable except upon the supposition of a law or laws requiring it. Then, moreover, the sacrifices were made at a prescribed time. "In process of time," or more correctly "at the end of the days," that is at the expiration of some prescribed period, perhaps at the end of six days, or upon the Sabbath, Cain and Abel, and as we may fairly suppose, all the then inhabitants of the world brought their offerings to the Lord, Cain "of the fruit of the ground," and Abel "of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof." The time was manifestly pre-appointed; as appears from the fact that both Cain and Abel, and not one only were found engaged in the same act and at the same time. Then again the kind of offering had evidently been predetermined. There was no appearance of anything like individual caprice in the selection of the sacrifice. Each brought his appropriate minchah;—the one the bloody, the other the unbloody sacrifice. Nay more, it is added of Abel that he "brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof." The ritual was evidently minute. Milton thus describes the act of Abel :

*

More meek, came with the firstlings of his flock,
Choicest and best: then sacrificing, laid
The inwards and their fat, with incense strewed,
On the cleft wood, and all due rites performed."+

Mêgits yâmim. Gen. iv. 7; LXX. μeľ’ημépas.
Paradise Lost, Book xi.

But then again as to the quantity of the sacrifice, the regulation was equally explicit. The brothers, as is evident, were presenting their tenths or tithes. The case of Cain proves this. His were unaccepted; and why? Partly because of his insincerity-his faithlessness; but partly also because of his sacrilege. He had robbed God. He had not offered in proper quantity. The LXX. translate the seventh verse—Ουκ εάν ̓ορθῶς προσενεγκῃς, ̓ορθῶς δὲ μὴ διέλης, ἥμαρτες ;*—“If thou hast not offered aright, if thou has not divided aright (distributed a true tenth), hast thou not sinned?" Here the guilt of Cain, in part at least, is clearly put. His sin was the sin of sacrilege. Nor can there be any reasonable objection to the version of the Seventy. It was from this version that our Saviour, and his apostles invariably made their citations, and after them most of the apostolic and later fathers. With this rendering of the passage agree both the Samaritan and the Syriac versions. Clemens Romanus + so understood it, as did Philo Judæus, Irenæus und Tertullian. St. Paul seems to have accepted this interpretation, when he wrote-" By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent λeiova Ovolav-literally, a fuller sacrifice-than Cain."‡

So

* Dr. Nolta, (in Scheiner etc. Zeitschrift für Kath. Theologie, Tom. VI. p. 119,) conjicit legendum esse :-'opoŵs dè μǹ dialys scil. Tò πрoopeрóμevov, i.e.—si sacrificium, non recte divisisti, optimam partem tibi retinuisti. Vide Annotat. SS. Patres Apost. Prof. C. J. Hefele, D.D., Tübing.

+ Clementis Epist. ad Corinthios, I., cap. iv.

"plurimam

Heb. xi. 4. The Vulgate translates it victimam." Luther," ein grösseres Opfer." Theodore Beza takes

also St Jude who clearly indicates that the sin of Cain was that of avarice.* It is manifest, therefore, that the antediluvian Church, was in as far as was then possible, brought into organic connexion with the secular powers. It was supported out of the public wealth, or, which is the same thing, by the compulsory exaction of tithes. Had the payment of tenths been purely voluntary, as some

the same view, and thus interprets the text "Abelus, per fidem, majoris pretii sacrificium obtulit Deo quam Cain." And both Tindal and Wycliffe regard the words, πλείονα θυσίαν, as having reference to the quantity of the sacrifice rather than the quality of the act. The former's rendering is-"a more plenteous sacrifice." Nor would this view weaken the Apostle's argument. For it is easy to see how it may happen that by faith one man may surrender to the cause of God a larger amount of his property than another, or how, in the absence of such faith, a man naturally avaricious and selfish may actually fall into the sin only too frequently committed of "withholding more than is meet."

Then too it must be remembered that no stress can be laid upon the employment of the word-θυσία. For θυσία in the Greek and sacrificium in the Latin are the common translation of minchah in Hebrew, which is the name applied in the original text to the offerings both of Cain and Abel. The LXX. call Cain's oblation of fruits a sacrifice—θυσίαν τῷ κυρῷ Hence the term applies equally to bloody and unbloody offerings.

The truth probably then is, that Cain kept back a portion of the tithes; a view which is incidentally supported by the use of the word chattath, in the phrase "sin lieth at the door," which means literally a default, a coming-short, from châtâ, to come-short. Other words might have been used as reshă, or rishâh, ăvôn, pěshă, etc.; but the propriety of the term selected, is instantly apparent, if the view herein advocated be accepted.

* "Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward."-Jude 11 verse.

imagine, Cain would most probably have made no oblation whatsoever; and were it not a tenth that was exacted, it would be impossible to explain how he could have "divided" other than "aright." The tithes were therefore a legal exaction.

And here, let it be observed, that without the correlative fact of an ecclesiastical structure the tithe-system is a glaring absurdity. The usufruct of tithes presupposes usufructuaries. As a divine institution, it was intended for the maintenance of a priesthood. In the absence of such priesthood,—in the absence of such ministerial or sacerdotal class, the institution is valueless,-nay even preposterous. That a tenth of all the wealth of the whole population, in sheep, goats, oxen, corn, wine, oil, and fruit should be required, where there was no church, no priesthood, is a folly-an absurdity too gross to be tenable even for a moment. Hence therefore, we are conducted to the conclusion that thus early in the history of the world, there existed a church-organization, with its sacerdotal, sabbatic, ritual, and fiscal institutions. If, as is probable, the patriarchs Cain and Abel themselves discharged the priestly functions, then our principle is established; for in that case the same individuals are found fulfilling the duties on the one hand of a pastoral prince, and on the other of a spiritual hierarch. If not, as is barely possible, still our principle, the principle of church and state is established; for in such a case these secular chieftains were found taxing their several revenues for the support of the then existing

I

ecclesiastical organization; and this they must be understood to have done, in their public and official capacity.

But to proceed. The Noachian catastrophe inaugurated a new epoch in the history of mankind. All things were ordered de novo. Although one fell disaster-one dire and stupendous deluge had swept with terrific, and devastating, and depopulating fury over the face of the then known world until that in the graphic words of the immortal epic,

Sea without shore, and in their palaces,

Where luxury late reign'd, sea-monsters whelp'd

And stabl'd :-"

yet withal it was with the benign intent that out of the shattered ruins of

"A world devote to universal wrack,"

there might arise a fairer fabric,-a holier constitution-a statelier and more majestic superstructure ! Destruction was but the prelude of reformation ! All was entombed beneath the seething waters; but only that from this diluvian sepulchre there might start forth a renovated earth! The hissing deluge had swept apace! But it was the world's baptism! The laver of its regeneration-its palingenesia! Henceforth there dated a new era in mundane history. It was, so to say, a second genesis. The race commenced a new career. Life received a fresh impulse. Society was re-constructed! Human institutions remodelled!