imagine that either Cain's Punifhment or Repentance here were at all inferior, but, feemingly to me, fuperior to David's.

So that I cannot but look upon Cain to undergo those Punishments here, the Views of which produced in him that due Sense and Weight of his Guilt, as could hardly fail to work up his Mind to a true Contrition and hearty Sorrow; which, from this Account, I think, will appear to all unprejudiced Perfons: And why he should not be Partaker of future Mercy upon the fame Terms, whereby it is univerfally offered to all, I could never yet discover: But it being generally deny'd to Cain by both ancient and modern Predeftinarians, gave Reve and Muggleton the Opportunity to go a Step farther, and to broach that wild Notion, that Cain was the Seed of the Devil, tho' this can fcarcely be a more extravagant Flight than what might be expected to attend that Doctrine of Predeftination, or a fatal Neceffity, tho' ftill in Vogue to carry on fome finifter Designs of new Prophets and mad Enthufiafts, whose Errors, I think, I have fufficiently confuted in several of my former Works, wherein I have treated on that Subject, as in my Philof. Med. my Journey thro' the World, my Divine Authority of the Scriptures philofophically proved, and my Survey of the Six Days Works of the Creation: In which I have treated upon that Subject, but had not a proper Opportunity before to treat upon the Cafe of Cain particularly. . §. 3. Now

§. 3. Now in the 16th Verfe of this Chapter, Mofes gives us an Account of Cain's Banishment from the Prefence of the LOPD, or of his being drove out of the Prefence of the LORD; that is, his being drove out of thofe Parts of the Earth that were then inhabited, and from fuch Societies which were mutually ferviceable to one another; and therefore for Cain to be drove from fuch mutual Society, he is faid to be drove from the Prefence of the LORD, and must therefore now become as an uncomfortable Fugitive and Vagabond; in which State he would naturally regret his vile Action, having no way left but Solitude, to wash out the Stains of his guilty and ter'rify'd Mind; fo that he could only now wear it off by Degrees, as he should hereafter encrease his own Family, by which Time his Repentance might again entitle him to enjoy fuch Pleasures as might arife from the Affiftance of fuch of his own Progeny that he be got in Exile, and thofe he might take with him in their Minority; and of fome of his af ter Progeny's various Ingenuities we have an Account in the fucceeding Verfes.

§. 4. Ver. 8.4.

17. "And Cain knew his Wife, " and the conceived and bare Enoch: And he "builded a City, and called the Name of "the City after the Name of his Son Enoch."

Now we may obferve, that upon Cain's Banishment from the then habitable Parts of the Earth, that the first Act of Cain in his new Setlement, was, that he knew his Wife: From

C

From whence it is plain that he had a Wife before this A&t of Murder and Banishment for it, and this Wife of Cain's accompanied him in his Exile and Solitude. And tho' he had numerous Children before, and they branched into numerous Families; yet as this Act of Cain's had excluded even thofe fprung from his own Loins, except fuch of his Children as might be in their Minority, whom, with his Wife, he might alfo take along with him to this Land of Nod, Mofes makes no Mention of them, but proceeds to tell us, that in this new Abode Cain knew his Wife, and the conceived and bare Enoch, being the first Son born .to Cain in his Exile.

Now Cain, upon fettling here, finds that the only Society he could hereafter expect, must be amongst his own future Progeny; and tho' Mofes is filent in taking notice of the juvenile Years of his Son Enoch, yet he tells us, that Cain builded a City, and called it by the Name of that Son whom he first begot in this new Plantation; and which City, no doubt, was enlarged as Inhabitants from Cain's Pofterity encreased, which, in all Probability, would be anfwerable to their Encrease, as before obferved, from the Beginning of the Encreafe of the World by Adam and Eve, tho' Mofes confines his Account only to a few of Cain's Line, and a few of his lineal Defcendants to the feventh Generation from Adam..

Verfe 18. And unto Enoch was born "Irad: And Irad begat Mabujael, and Ma"bujael

1

ર

*bujael begat Methufael, and Methufael begat Lamech. And we may reasonably conclude, that by the Birth of this Lamech, the City of Enoch would be very much replenished and enlarged with Families and Inhabitants, and alfo that there would be adjacent Towns and Villages, and that then, even thofe of Cain's new Race, in his Exile, would form themselves into Societies, and begin to improve themselves in useful, delightful, and profitable Arts and Sciences; of which Mofes gives a fhort Account in the next Generation of the Children of Lamech, feveral of whom he mentions by Name, as, lo im

་

5. Verfen9. "And Lamech took unto "him two Wives, Adab and Zillah+Ver. 20. And Adab bare Jabal; he was the Father of fuch as dwell in Tents, and of fuch as have "Cattle. Ver. 21. And his Brother's Name was Jubal; he was the Father of all fuch as "handle the Harp and Organ..

Verfe:22. And Zillah, fhe alfo bare Tubal-Cain, an Inftructor of every Artificer in Brafs and Iron; and the Sister of Tubal-Eain was Naamah.??...

Here are three: Sons mentioned of Lameck, with the particular Branches of their Arts and Occupations in which, no Doubt, they had made Improvements of what had been before projected, fince they are mentioned as fuch,

ho excelled in those Performances, as being filed the Fathers of fuch as fhould hereafter fucceed in the Profecution of the faid Arts and Occupations.

It is obfervable, that with the third Son mentioned of Lamech, Mofes takes notice of a Sifter belonging to him; which being particularly mentioned as his Sifter, I think, plainly intimates that she was born with that Brother at one Birth, and that they were Twins, and that there were fcarcely any of them called Brothers and Sifters, but fuch as were fo born.

§. 6. Thus Mofes having given us a fhort Account of the Pofterity of Cain, so far that we may gather from it, that by the Time of Lamech, there was a vaft Encreafe of Cain's Progeny in his Exile: He proceeds to give us an Account of Lamech's Boafting to his two Wives, as in Verse 23. "And Lamech faid

unto his Wives, Adab and Zillah, Hear "my Voice, ye Wives of Lamech, hearken

unto my Speech: For I have flain a Man "to my Wounding, and a young Man to my "Hurt: If Cain thall be avenged feven-fold, "truly Lamech seventy and feven-fold. "

Now this Account of Lamech having two Wives, is the first Account that we have in the Mofaic Hiftory of any fuch Tranfaction amongst the Antediluvians, particularly, but we may have Reason, from that Hiftory, to believe that Polygamy was practifed in that State of the World, as well as it was afterwards, as i fhall take notice in its proper Place: But, as I obferved, this is the first Account of fuch a Tranfaction then, and which we may reasonably fuppofe was not before common: For, as I obferved in my Survey of the fix

Days