Genesis 4:23-26

And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

Enos signifying wretchedness; in allusion, perhaps. to the fallen state ()f nature, which even the children of gracious parents are born to, as well as others. Psalms 51:5; Ephesians 2:2. By men calling upon the name of the Lord, is, perhaps, meant, calling themselves by his name. And if so, hence begun that distinction of character, which hath, ever since, marked the precious from the vile, in the character of the Lord's people; they, who, in the first ages, lived in the faithful expectation of the Lord's coming, and such as now are counted to the Lord for a generation. Psalms 22:30

REFLECTIONS.

THE honest employment of our fathers, in the patriarchal age, gives the highest sanction, both of antiquity, and right order, to the different labours of life. It was the saying of a good old saint, now with God. "Give your children a Bible, and an honest calling, and then leave them with God, for his blessing." From the offerings of the Sons of Adam, of their first-fruits to God, we learn how early the practice hath been, and how becoming it is to acknowledge the Lord, as the original Giver of all we have or enjoy. And is it not right that, as we are but tenants at will, we should be always ready to pay our rents, by way of acknowledging our holding. But what a sweet thought it is, that amidst all God's gifts, of which we are only stewards, he hath given us the Lord Jesus, to have and to hold forever! - Contemplate, my soul, with due self-abasement, the awful effects of our fallen nature, in the horrible view of the murder of Abel. Alas! what crime is there, that man is not capable of committing unless restrained by Almighty grace. Lord, keep me in the hour, and from the power, of temptation! Reader! remark, with me, that the first who tasted death, in consequence of the fall, died in the faith of Jesus. Blessed Redeemer! as thou art, thyself, the first-fruits in resurrection, so the first-fruits of the dust of the earth are thine! But, do I not see in Abel, a type of the blessed Jesus? Was not Jesus hated, and, at length, murdered by his brethren, when, as the great Shepherd of his fathers sheep, he came to seek and save that which was lost? But, Oh! how infinitely short, Abel falls, in comparison of Jesus. The blood of Abel cries for vengeance. The blood of Jesus pleads for mercy. Dearest Lord! in all things it behoves thee to have the pre-eminence. May it be my happiness, like Abel, to offer all my poor offerings, in faith, with an eye to thy blood and righteousness; then will God my Father have respect unto them, and I myself shall be accepted in the beloved.