Gen. 4. 25.

Januar, 27: 599.

Cognovit autem denuo Adam uxorem fuam, quæ peperit filium, & vocavit nomen ejus Schethum: nam repofuit mihi Deus, inquit, femen alterum pro Hebelo, quum ipfum interfecit Kajin.

HIS verfe containeth the birth of Seth; and it is as the Sunne comming out of a thick cloud, or as a fair day after a ftorm: For in the eight former verses, there hath not been any mention made of God or godliness, but marriage upon marriage, murther upon murther, vaunting of finne paft and to come, deriding of God, and his holy word, as if he were a perfon that favoured wicked men; and not contenting himself with the punishmeat which God inflicted, but a devifing a new kinde of revenge, as we see in Lamech, who not contented with the punishment which God appointed for murtherers, that is, feven times, would challenge to himself feventy times feven times.

Now at laft we come to a verfe that hath the mention and name of God, and of a good man, of whom a fucceffion of good men fhould be raised. And it was fit that the Man of God, Mofes, fhould keep this order, because the faith of Adam and Eve might quail, and they might think God not true of his promife, in regard of that which they faw: For as for the threatning which God denounced against Cain, wee see it is not performed; but Cain and his pofteritie, in ftead of being plagued for his wickedneffe, grow to be great men, rich Grafyers, such as have all things that tend either to delight or defenfe: As for Adams promife, which was, That the feed of the woman should bruife the Serpents head, it fell out clean contrary: for we fee to what a great number the fpawne of the Serpent was growns when as there was none of the Womans feed: And whereas God promised the Womans feed fhould bruise the head of the Serpent, wee see the fpawne of the Serpent bruifeth the head of the Womans feed: For Abel who was the Womans feed, is flain by Cain, who was of the Serpents feed, which falls out many times in the world. The promife made to Noah was, That Cham should be a fervant, Genefis the ninth chapter, and yet we fee it fell out clean contrary; for, Genefis the tenth chapter, Nimrod, who was of Chams race, was the first Emperour upon earth. And in the new Teftament, the people of God when Christ was born, were in that state, that Herod an Edomite was become their King, Matthew the feoond chapter. That wee may fee, that as the Prophet fpeakes, in the one hundred and ninteenth Pfalm, and the hundred twenty fixt verse, Then it is time for God to lay to his hand, when mankinde looking into his word, and feeing that it is not fulfilled which God hath spoken, doe decay in

faith, that he may fhew himself a true God, and able to accomplish that which he doth either promile or threaten, that fo the faith that was yet left upon earth, might revive and take breath again.

The verse it felt confifteth of two parts: First, Adams knowledge of his Wife. Secondly, The nativity of Seth.

For the first: Not to fay anything of the term which Mofes useth which is Adams knowledge, for that we have handled it heretofore, we will confider the word iterum, which gives us plainly to know that for a great while Adam gave over that A&t, being ftricken and amazed with this confideration, that one brather should kill another; that is, in bewailing Abel that was flin, and Cain that was cut off from the Church: Adam and Eve were in this ftate of minde, that they were as it were dead, fecing their firft Offpring fped fo unhappily, that the one was flain bodily, the other was under the fentence of death both of body and foul when I fay they confi dered that they should either beget children to be murthered, which was Abels cafe, or elfe to be caft into hell in refpe&t of Cain it made them fay with Rebecca, Genefis thatwenty fift chapter and the twenty fecond verfe, fi mihi fic futurum eft quia neceffe eft parere, for these confiderations they had clean given over. Out of which example of Adam and Eve,we learn to conform our felves to croffes and heavy accidents as God layeth upon us, that is, to forbear,and give over matters of pleasure when God calls us to mourning, for it is a thing agreeable to Gods will: If when the Lord God of hofts fhall call to weeping and mourning, there be nothing but joy and gladness, flaying of oxen, &c. the Lord himself fayeth, that is a finne which fhall not be pardoned, or purged with any facrifice, till they die, Ifaiah the twenty fecond chapter and the twelfth verfe: It is that which Chrift teacheth, Matthew the ninth chapter and the fifteenth verfe, When the Bridegrome shall be taken away, then shall they mourn and fast; that is, when either he shall be taken from us, or when men fhall drive him from them by their finnes, then there is cause of mourning and forrow Therefore we see albeit it was Gods will, that Aaron and his Children fhould eat the offerings of the Children of Ifrael, yet he refused to eat them in regard of the Judgments of God upon Nadab and Abihu his Sonnes, faying, Thou knoweft fuch and fuch things have come to me this day; and if I had eaten the fin-offering, should it have been accepted in the fight of the Lord? Leviticus the tenth chapter and the ninteenth verfe: Therefore David mourned fo for the death of Abner, that he said, God doe fo to me, and more, if I eat bread, or ought elfe, till the Sun be down, in the fecond of Samuel, the third chapter, and the thirty fift verfe.

But hence there appears another thing unto us, which is, that naturall and earthly forrow in a naturall man, is a thing stronger than any worldly pleasure, that in regard of the naturall man, there is more ftrength in grief than in pleasure or joy; for if a man have lived in never so much pleasure all his life, yet if he come to a little ficknefs, it takes away all remembrance of his former pleasure. And

this

this is a means to make a man think of fuch an estate, Wherein he may have that pleasure and joy, which shall not be taken from him, as Chrift fpeaketh, Fohn the fixteenth chapter and the twenty fecond verfe. Now when Adam had relieved himself with this cogitation, that as the Prophet fpeaks, Pfalm the eighty ninth, God hath not made all men for nought, it made him to return, whereupon there followed by Gods blefling, not only a feed, but a chofen and holy feed, that is Seth.

Concerning whom, firft we will speak of his birth, wherein we have this to obferve, that thofe Children whom God gives to Parents upon a plentifull contrition and repentance, doe ufually prove men excellent in all fpirituall graces. The firft example hereof is Seth, who is not only the foundation of the Church, but of mankinde; for fince the flood all the Sons of men are called the Children of Seth. It is alfo fhewed in Fofeph, whom God gave to Rachel, having opened her wombe which before was fhut up, fo as she was barren, Genefis the thirtieth chapter, and the twenty fecond verfe: It alfo appeared in Hannah, who having bewailed her own cafe in the bitterness of her foul, received from the Lord a bleffed feed, that was Samuel, who reftored religion, and fetled the state of the Kingdome, in the firft of Samuel, the fift chapter, and the fixteenth verfe; but it is most plain in the birth of Solomon, for after Davids great fall, and the grievous punishment that God laid upon him, upon his great repentance, which followed, whereof, the fifty firft Pfalm, is a perpetuall monument, God gave him a Sonne, that was Solomon, the like whereof was never before, nor hath been fince, in the second of Samuel, the twelfth chapter. As on the other fide, they that are born according to the flesh, and begotten in the ftrength of nature, prove wilde and rebellious, as Ifrael and Abfolom, and of a contrary difpofition to them that are born to them that are in the state of grace.

Secondly, For his name, and that little Sermon which Eve makes touching his name, that is, fhe called him Seth, and renders a reafon, quia pofuit eum Deus femen aliud pro Abele, quem occidit Cain.

In which Sermon there is no one word, which hath not its feve rall fenfe. It is faid, Firft, He is pofitus. Secondly, By God. Thirdly, As a feed. Fourthly, Another feed. Fiftly, instead of bel. Sixthly, Of Abel whom Cain flew.

For the term of putting or setting, we have it in the third chapter of Genefis, and the fifteenth verfe; where God faith, I will put enmity; Pfalm the hundred fourty eighth, Hefets them a law; Proverbs the twenty fecond chapter and the twenty eighth verfe, Remove not the ancient bounds which thy Fathers have fis; in the first epistle of Fohn the fifth chapter, The whole world is fet on mifcheif: By which fetting. or putting is added itedineffe and permanency: But we shall fee the nature of the word moft plainly, in the twenty eigth chapter of Ifaiah, Pono in Zion lapidem, where it is ufed for laying a foundation, or for the letting of a rift, or graffe, or root, which, as we know, is fet

to

to grows, and not to be pulled up by and by there is the fenfe of the word fet or put: In which fenfe it is not only referred aptly to -Abel, who, as we know, was a transitory, and no permanent feed, for he was no fooner fhewed to the world, but preiently he was ta ken away, as one of whom the world was unworthy, Hebrews the eleventh chapter; But alfo to Cain, whofe land was the land of Nod: To teach us, That in the felicity of Gods Saints, there is stedineffe and continuance, but as for the pleafures of the wicked, they continue not one hour, but are uncertain. So that it is in effect as if God fhould fay, before indeed I gave Abel,but it was not my minde to have him continue; but this feed, whom I will give Adam, fhall ftay, fo as neither Cain, nor Lamech, nor the gates of hell shall prevail a gainst him, Matthew the fixteenth chapter That is the meaning of the word (fet or put) which was the first observation,

And this feting or putting receives great strength from the fetter, that is God; whole weakneffe is ftronger than the strength of man! And therefore look what he fets fhall continue; to teach us, that al beit the firft Saint was taken away, yet now he will have Saints to continue: They fhall not only be thewed to the world, but shall have a foundation, and take root, being fet by God.

Touching the wicked, Elipha laith, Their foundation is as an overflowing of water, for they fhall be carried away, as Cains poflerity was, with a flood, fob the twenty fecond chapter, and the fixteenth verfe: But the righteous fhall have an everlafting foundation, Proverbs the tenth chapter: For as when God will have a thing crocked, no man can it make ftreight, Ecclefiaftesthe feventh chapter and the fifteenth verfe; fo what God will set, and have to take root, it cannot be pulled up or removed; Pofiti funt ad hoc, faith the Apcftle, in the first epiftle of Peter, the fourth chapter and the fecond verie, and in the eighth verfe, They were ordained to stumble at the word. Therefore being appointed by God to that end, it is impoffible they fhould be otherwife: That is for the wicked.

On the other fide, Whom Chrift taketh to his cuftody, be faith of them, in the tenth chapter of St. John, No man fhall take them out of mine hand; and as the Apoftle faith, in the fecond to Timothie, The fecond chapter and the nineteenth verfe, The foundation of God abideth fure and ftedfast, Novis Dominus qui funt fui neer unto this is that which the Apoft le calls depofition, that is, a thing committed to truft, in the second to Timothy, the first chapter, and the fourteenth verle, for even so God will have Saints, and the feed of the godly, to continue in the world, till he come to call them out of it.

Thirdly, it is faid of Seth he is pofitus in femen, for there is a perfon that is no feed, that was Abel, before God gave a man to dam, but he gave no feed to him; for that is called feed of which there growes fomething: But of Abel there came no. pofterity or feed carnally, but as it is faid of Chrift, that when he shall lay down his dife, videbit femen longevum, Ifaiah the fifty third chapter, that is a feed, though not iffuing out of his loyns, yet iffing from his fpirit

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So we are to understand that ipiritually there came a feed ot Abel, for there is a fpirituall generation as well as a carnall, fo fpiritually Elifba was the Childe of Elis, because the spirit of Elias was doubled upon him, in the fecond of Kings, the lecond chapter; and Fohn Baptift is called Elias, Matthew the feventeenth chapter, because in these graces of the fpirit that was in Elias, he refembled him, as the Child doth the Father. It is the faying of the Prophet, Ifaiah the fixt chapter, femen fanitum eft fubftantia mundi, and therefore Seth is appointed and fet by God to be the fpirituall feed of the Church, as the feed of mankinde by carnall generation.

Fourthly, But why should God need to give Adam and Eve feed, he had feed enough already, that was Cain and his pofterity, which were come to seventy feven perfons, yea, but they are not content with that feed, but would have another. Cains feed pleaseth them not, therefore they are carneft Suters to God, for a holy feed. As God promifed Abraham first a feed that should be ficut pulvis terra, Genefis the thirteenth chapter and the fixteenth verte, that is such as fhould grow in the earth, and set their affe&tions therein; and after another that fhould be ficut ftella cæli, Genefis the eighteenth chapter, that is such a feed as should set their mindes in heaven, and feek for a heavenly country, Hebrews the eleventh chapter; So Adams two seeds, first Cain and his pofterity, which were like the duft of the earth, fuch as were earthly affected; and therefore they would have another feed like the starres of heaven, fuch as fhould have their converfation in heaven; it is that which the Prophet tells us, there is femen nequam, Ifaiab the first chapter, that is, a naughty and corrupt feed, fuch was the feed of Cain: and there is femen fančtum, Ifalah the fixt chapter, fuch a feed was it that Adam defired: Cain was a naughty feed, but they would have a holy feed, for there is not only good feed, but tares as Chrift fheweth, Matthew the thirteenth chapter. Such is the difference that is in feeds: A holy feed is fuch as fhall finne, but yet fhall not doe finne, in the first epiftle of Fohn the third chapter, that is not operarius iniquitatis, Matthew the seventh chapter, because the feed of God is in them; but they that fell themselves to all manner of finne, are the corrupt feed, fuch as power out themselves to all wickedness, because they have not the feed of God in them, but the Serpents feed, of whom it may be faid, verò ex patre Diabile eftis, Fohn the eighth chapter.

Fiftly, This other feed might be another feed, yet not like Abel, that is a feed more civill and temperate in the courle of this life than Cain was, and his pofterity, but they defire a feed for Abel, that is, fuch another feed as Abel was: They desire a Child not finde fimply, but pro Abele, that is, fuch a Child in whom they may the fpirit of Abel, that they might lay here is another Abel, that though Abel be taken off, yet there might another like Abel be ingraffed.

The last point is in thefe words, For Abel (whom Cain Alew.) There were many things that Cain could endure well enough in

Abel,