Genesis 4:9 And the LORD said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? Such was the answer of the first Deist, the first infidel, and the first murderer, to God's inquiry, "Where is thy brother?" It was not only a lie (for the father of Cain was a liar from the beginning), but it was a daring jest upon his brother's employment. "Am I his shepherd? Am I answerable for his life? Am I to take care of him as he does of his sheep?" Such is infidelity. It is sin that makes the infidel. He does not believe, not because he cannot, but because he will not. He may talk of morality, and sport himself in his own deceiving, when, like Cain, he says he can worship God as well with the flowers of the field and the fruits of the earth as through the blood of atonement; but when we cut into the core of his heart, we shall find the worm of all rottenness still there, the love of self — we shall find that the only principle of true morality is wanting, the love of God and our brother — we shall find the very element of murder there, the dislike of God and those who love and are like Him. And is not the truth he denied and the principle he rejected this: that man is answerable for his brother's life and his brother's soul. as far as his positive acts can injure, or his neglect destroy? I will not stay to prove this. Cain's rejection of it is a proof. Parents, how nearly does this principle affect you in your important relation! — the very relation in which God Himself is pleased to place Himself with regard to His own obedient people, His redeemed ones from earth; for while the angels are called "the sons of God," "the Father hath bestowed on us" this wonderful love, "that we should be called the sons of God" also; and His Spirit — the Spirit of His Son — teaches us to cry, "Abba, Father." God has made you parents. Beings who can never die are entrusted to your care. Your children's character is greatly in your hands. Their eternal destiny hangs on your discharge of duty. Watch for their souls as those who must give account. Masters and mistresses, the principle of which we have spoken bears powerfully on your relation. (W. W. Champney.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? |
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