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the brothers going to the sacrifice together. You mark the black scowl upon the brow of Cain, when Abel's sacrifice is accepted, while his remains untouched by the sacred fire. You note how they begin to talk together-how quietly Abel argues the question, and how ferociously Cain denounces him. You note again how God speaks to Cain, and warns him of the evil which he knew was in his heart; and you see Cain, as he goes from the presence chamber of the Most High, warned and forewarned, but yet with the dreadful thought in his heart that he will imbrue his hands in his brother's blood. He meets his brother; he talks friendly with him; he gives him, as it were, the kiss of Judas; he entices him into the field where he is alone; he takes him unawares; he smites him, and smites him yet again, till there lies the murdered, bleeding corpse of his brother. O earth! earth! earth! cover not his blood. This is the first murder thou hast ever seen, the first blood of man that ever stained thy soil. Hark! there is a cry heard in heaven; the angels are astonished; they rise up from their golden seats, and they inquire, "What is that cry?" God looketh upon them, and he saith, "It is the cry of blood; a man hath been slain by his fellow; a brother by him who came from the bowels of the self-same mother has been murdered in cold blood, through malice. been murdered, and here he comes.” heaven, blood-red, the first of God's elect who had entered Paradise, and the first of God's children who had worn the blood-red crown of martyrdom. And then the cry was heard, loud and clear and strong; and thus it spake "Revenge! revenge! revenge!" And God himself, upstarting from his throne, summoned the culprit to his presence; questioned him, condemned him out of his own mouth, and made him henceforth a fugitive and a vagabond, to wander over the surface of the earth, which was to be sterile henceforth to his plow.

One of my saints has And Abel entered into

And now, beloved, just contrast with this the blood of Christ. That is Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God; he hangs upon a tree; he is murdered-murdered by his own brethren. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not, but his own led him out to death." He bleeds; he dies;

and then is heard a cry in heaven. The astonished angels
again start from their seats, and they say, "What is this?
What is this cry that we hear ?" And the mighty Maker
answers yet again, "It is the cry of blood; it is the cry of the
blood of my only-begotten and well-beloved Son!" And
God, uprising from his throne, looks down from heaven and
listens to the cry. And what is the cry? It is not revenge;
but the voice crieth, "Mercy! mercy! mercy!" Did you
not hear it? It said, "Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do." Herein, the blood of Christ "speaketh
better things than that of Abel;" for Abel's blood said,
"Re-
venge!" and made the sword of God start from its scabbard;
but Christ's blood cried “ Mercy!" and sent the sword back
again, and bade it sleep for ever.

"Blood hath a voice to pierce the skies;
'Revenge!' the blood of Abel cries;
But the rich blood of Jesus slain,

Breathes peace as loud from every vein."

You will note too that Abel's blood cried for revenge upon one man only-upon Cain; it required the death of but one man to satisfy for it, namely, the death of the murderer. "Blood for blood!" The murderer must die the death. But what saith Christ's blood in heaven? Does it speak for only one ? Ah! no, beloved; "the free gift hath come upon many." Christ's blood cries mercy! mercy! mercy! not on one, but upon a multitude whom no man can number-ten thousand times ten thousand.

Again; Abel's blood cried to heaven for revenge, for one transgression of Cain; that for aught that Cain had done, worthless and vile before, the blood of Abel did not demand any revenge; it was for the one sin that blood clamored at the throne of God, and not for many sins. Not so the voice of the blood of Christ. It is "for many offenses unto justification." Oh! could ye hear that cry, that all-prevailing cry, as now it comes up from Calvary's summit-"Father, forgive them!" not one, but many. "Father, forgive them." And not only forgive them this offense, but forgive them all their

sins, and blot out all their iniquities. Ah! beloved, we might have thought that the blood of Christ would have demanded vengeance at the hands of God. Surely, if Abel be revenged sevenfold, then must Christ be revenged seventy times seven. If the earth would not swallow up the blood of Abel till it had had its fill, surely we might have thought that the earth never would have covered the corpse of Christ, until God had struck the world with fire and sword, and banished all men to destruction. But, O precious blood! thou sayest not one word of vengeance! All that this blood cries is peace! pardon! forgiveness! mercy! acceptance! Truly it "speaketh better things than that of Abel."

Again; Abel's blood had a second voice. It spoke to the whole world. "He being dead yet speaketh"-not only in heaven, but on earth. God's prophets are a speaking people. They speak by their acts and by their words as long as they live, and when they are buried they speak by their example which they have left behind. Abel speaks by his blood to us. And what does it say? When Abel offered up his victim upon the altar he said to us, "I believe in a sacrifice that is to be offered for the sins of men;" but when Abel's own blood was sprinkled on the altar he seemed to say, "Here is the ratification of my faith; I seal my testimony with my own blood; you have now the evidence of my sincerity, for I was prepared to die for the defense of this truth which I now witness unto you." It was a great thing for Abel thus to ratify his testimony with his blood. We should not have believed the martyrs half so easily if they had not been ready to die for their profession. The gospel in ancient times would never have spread at such a marvelous rate, if it had not been that all the preachers of the gospel were ready at any time to attest their message with their own blood. But Christ's blood speaketh better things than that of Abel." Abel's blood ratified his testimony, and Christ's blood has ratified his testimony too; but Christ's testimony is better than that of Abel. For what is the testimony of Christ? The covenant of grace -that everlasting covenant. He came into this world to tell us that God had from the beginning chosen his people-that

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he had ordained them to eternal life, and that he had made a covenant with his Son Jesus Christ that if he would pay the price they should go free-if he would suffer in their stead they should be delivered. And Christ cried-'ere he "bowed his head and gave up the ghost”—“It is finished." The covenant purpose is finished. That purpose was to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousSuch was the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ, as his own blood gushed from his heart, to be the die-stamp and seal that the covenant was ratified. When I see Abel die I know that his testimony was true; but when I see Christ die I know that the covenant is true.

ness."

"This covenant, O believer, stands

Thy rising fears to quell;

'Tis signed and sealed and ratified,
In all things ordered well."

When he bowed his head and gave up the ghost, he did as much as say, “All things are made sure unto the seed by my giving myself a victim." Come, saint, and see the covenant all blood-bestained, and know that it is sure. He is "the faithful and true witness, the prince of the kings of the earth." First of martyrs, my Lord Jesus, thou hadst a better testimony to witness than they all, for thou hast witnessed to the everlasting covenant; thou hast witnessed that thou art the shepherd and bishop of souls; thou hast witnessed to the putting away of sin by the sacrifice of thyself. Again: I say, come, ye people of God, and read over the golden roll. It begins in election-it ends in everlasting life, and all this the blood of Christ crieth in your ears. All this is true; for Christ's blood proves it to be true, and to be sure to all the seed. It "speaketh better things than that of Abel."

Now we come to the third voice; for the blood of Abel had a threefold sound. It spoke in the conscience of Cain. Hard-' ened though he was, and like a very devil in his sin, yet he was not so deaf in his conscience that he could not hear the voice of blood. The first thing that Abel's blood said to Cain was

this: "Ah! guilty wretch, to spill thy brother's blood!" As he saw it trickling from the wound and flowing down in streams, he looked at it, and as the sun shone on it, and the red glare came into his eye, it seemed to say, "Ah! cursed wretch, for the son of thine own mother thou hast slain. Thy wrath was vile enough, when thy countenance fell, but to rise up against thy brother and take away his life, oh! how vile !" It seemed to say to him, "What had he done that thou shouldst take his life? Wherein had he offended thee? Was not his conduct blameless, and his conversation pure? If thou hadst smitten a villain or a thief, men might not have blamed thee; but this blood is pure, clean, perfect blood; how couldst thou kill such a man as this ?" And Cain put his hand across his brow, and felt there was a sense of guilt there that he had never felt before. And then the blood said to him again, "Why, whither wilt thou go? Thou shalt be a vagabond as long as thou livest." A cold chill ran through him, and he said, "Whosoever findeth me will kill me." And though God promised him he should live, no doubt he was always afraid. If he saw a company of men together, he would hide himself in a thicket, or if in his solitary wanderings he saw a man at a distance, he started back, and sought to bury his head, so that none should observe him. In the stillness of the night he started up in his dreams. It was but his wife that slept by his side; but he thought he felt some one's hands griping his throat, and about to take away his life. Then he would sit up in his bed and look around at the grim shadows, thinking some fiend was haunting him and seeking after him. Then, as he rose to go about his business, he trembled. He trembled to be alone, he trembled to be in company. When he was alone he seemed not to be alone; the ghost of his brother seemed staring him in the face; and when he was in company he dreaded the voice of men, for he seemed to think every one cursed him, and he thought every one knew the crime he had committed, and no doubt they did, and every man shunned him. No one would take his hand, for it was red with blood, and his very child upon his knee was afraid to look up into his father's face, for there was the mark which

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