Collected Works of Martin Luther

by Martin Luther

  When Abel therefore had been from home a longer time than he had been accustomed to be, the Holy Spirit inspires Adam to utter the words of the text and to inquire of Cain concerning Abel saying, “Where is Abel thy brother?” Here therefore the sermon and the prophecy of Adam, of which we have heard before, begins to be fulfilled; where he had said, “If not, sin lieth at the door.” For Cain thought that he had concealed his sin and had laid it to rest, and that all would thus be hidden. And true it was that his sin did lie at rest; but it lay at rest “at the door.” And who now openeth the door? None other than the Lord himself. He rouses up and wakens the sleeping sin. He brings the hidden sin to light.

  And the same thing must be fulfilled in all sinners. For unless by repentance thou first come to God, and thyself confess thy sin to God, God will surely come to thee, awake thy sin and discover it to thee. For God cannot endure that any one should deny the sin that he has committed; as the psalmist also testifies, “When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture was changed as with the drought of summer,” Ps. 32:3, 4. For although sin hath its sleep and its security; yet that sleep is “at the door,” which cannot long remain unawakened or hidden.

  When Moses here says, “And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?” I understand Moses to mean, as above, that it was Adam who spoke by the Holy Spirit in the person or place of God; and that God there assumed the person of a father speaking to his son. This sacred phraseology therefore, “And the Lord said,” etc., is intended as thus used by the Holy Spirit to commend the high authority of parents; whom when children dutifully hear and dutifully obey, they hear God and obey God. And I believe that Adam knew by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, that Abel had been slain by his brother; for he spoke at once concerning the murder, “What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground;” although Cain all the time endeavored to conceal the deed.

  PART V. HOW CAIN WAS PUNISHED FOR HIS MURDER.

  I. AND IF Eve heard these words spoken to Cain by his father; what do we think must have been the grief and horror of her mind! They must indeed have been beyond all description. But the calamity fell still nearer and heavier upon Adam himself. For as he was the father, he was compelled as his duty thus to rebuke his son and to excommunicate him from his family and from the Church of God for his sin. And although he did not slay him, for the law concerning punishing a murderer by death, which is pronounced hereafter in the ninth chapter, was given after the patriarchs saw murders becoming frequent; and though inspired by the Holy Spirit so to do, he even “set a mark upon his son, lest anyone finding him should kill him;” yet it was an awful punishment which was inflicted on Cain and upon all his posterity. For in addition to the personal curse of bearing about this mark of a murderer he was excommunicated from his family, driven from the sight of his parents and from the society of his brothers and sisters, who still continued with their parents, as in the Church of God.

  Now Adam could not have performed all this awful duty without the deepest pain; nor could Eve have heard all that Adam said without the same indescribable anguish. For a father is a father, and a son is a son. Adam therefore would willingly have spared his son and would willingly have retained him at home. And we do now sometimes see murderers reconciled to the brothers of those whom they have murdered. But in this terrible case no place was left for reconciliation. Cain is bidden at once to be a vagabond upon the face of the earth. The pain therefore of the parents was doubled. They see one of their sons slain by the other; and now they see the slayer excommunicated by the judgment of God and cut off forever from the society of the rest of his brethren.

  Moreover when we here speak of excommunication from the Church, you are not to have in mind our present Churches, magnificent structures superbly built with carved stones. The temple or Church of Adam was a certain tree, as in paradise; or a certain little hill under the open heaven, at which they assembled together to hear the Word of God and to offer their sacrifices, for which purpose they had altars erected, and God was present with them when they thus offered their sacrifices and heard his Word, as is manifest from the divine presence at the offering of Abel.

  And other portions of sacred history testify that altars were erected in the open air and that sacrifices were there offered. And indeed the same practice for many reasons would be useful even now; that we might assemble together in the open air, pray with bended knees, preach the Word, give thanks to God and bless each other, etc. It was from a temple of this kind and from such a Church, not a conspicuous and magnificent Church in a certain place, that Cain was ejected or excommunicated. He was thus doubly punished; first, by a corporal punishment, because he was cursed as a vagabond in the earth with the mark of a murderer set upon him; and secondly, by a spiritual punishment, because he was cast out by excommunication, as from another paradise, and ejected from the temple and Church of God.

  Lawyers also have made much use of this passage of the holy Scriptures, and have treated it with becoming dignity, seeing, as they did, that the Lord inquired into the matter before he passed condemnation upon the murderer. The Scripture therefore the framers of laws have so applied, as to determine thereby, that no man should be condemned until his cause had been fully known; nor until he had first been called to the bar of judgment, had been convicted, and had confessed his guilt. We have seen the same also before in the case of Adam. “And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?” Gen. 3:9. And again further on, “I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know,” Gen. 11:5; 18:21.

  Let us however, leaving for the present all civil and political doctrine, look at the all-blessed theological or divine doctrine and consolation, contained in this, when it is recorded that the Lord inquired for Abel after his death. For in this fact we have made manifest unto us the resurrection of the dead. Because God by this inquiry testified that he was the God of Abel, though now dead; for he inquired after him though now slain and no more. From this passage therefore we may frame this most immovable argument; that if there were no one who had the care of us after this life, Abel would not have been inquired for after he was slain. But God does here inquire after Abel, even after he is taken away out of this life, he has not a will to forget him, he still retains the remembrance of him; he asks “Where he is.” God therefore we see is the God of the dead. My meaning is that even the dead, as we here see, still live in the memory of God and have a God who cares for them, and saves them in another life beyond and different from this corporal life in which saints are thus afflicted.

  This passage therefore we repeat is most worthy our observation, in which we see that God had great care of Abel, even when dead; and that on account of Abel though dead he excommunicated Cain, and visited him with destruction even while living, though he was the first-born. This therefore is great and glorious indeed, that Abel though dead was still alive and canonized, as we call it, in another life; a canonization far more blessed and more really divine than is the state of any of those whom the Pope has ever canonized! The death of Abel was indeed horrible; for he did not suffer death without excruciating torment nor without many agonies of tears. And yet his death was a goodly death; for now he lives a better and more blessed life than he did before. For this corporal life of ours is lived in sins and is ever in danger of death. But that life which is to come is eternal and perfectly free from all trials and troubles, both of the body and of the soul.

  No! God does not inquire after the sheep and the oxen that are slain, but he does inquire after the men who are slain. Men therefore have the hope of a resurrection. They have a God who inquires after them, even after their death in the flesh, and who brings them back from that death unto eternal life, a God who inquires after their blood as most “precious” to him, as the Psalmist also says, “Precious in the si
ght of Jehovah is the death of his saints,” Ps. 116:15.

  This inquiry for the saints after their death and this their resurrection, are the glory of the human race, obtained for it by the Seed of the woman, which bruised the serpent’s head. And the case of Abel is the first example of this promise which was made to Adam and Eve; and by this example God showed that the serpent harmed not Abel, although he caused him to be thus murdered by his brother. This was indeed an instance of the serpent’s “bruising the heel” of the woman’s Seed. But when he attempted to bite his head, that is, his life, he himself was crushed. For God, in answer to Abel’s faith in the promised Seed, required his blood after his death and proved himself thereby to be Abel’s God still. This is all proved by what follows.

  V. 10. And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

  Cain’s sin hath hitherto lain “at the door.” And the preceding circumstances plainly show how hard he struggled to keep his sin asleep. For, being interrogated by his father concerning his brother Abel, and his father having asked him where he was, he adds to his murder absolute falsehood. And this answer of Cain moreover shows that the words of the inquiry were spoken by Adam in his own person, and not in the person of the divine Majesty. For Cain considers that the deed was hidden from his father, of course as being mere man, but he could not have so thought concerning the divine Majesty. Therefore had it been God who had spoken to him in his own proper divine Person, he would have returned a different answer. But as he thought that he was speaking to a man only he denied the deed he had done altogether, saying, “I know not.” As if he had added, There are numerous perils by which a man may perish. He may be destroyed by wild beasts; he may be drowned in some river; or he may lose his life by some other death.

  And Cain no doubt thought that his father would imagine any other death of Abel than that his own brother had perpetrated such a deed as to murder him. But Cain could not deceive the Holy Spirit in Adam. Adam therefore then speaks openly in the person of God and at once convicts him of the murder, saying, “What hast thou done?” As if he had said, “Why dost thou persist in denying the deed; be assured that thou canst not deceive God, who hath revealed to me all. Thou thinkest that the blood of thy brother is hidden by the earth with which thou hast concealed it. But it is not so absorbed by the earth and concealed by it as to prevent its crying aloud unto God.” Thus did Adam by the Spirit of God indeed wake in Cain his sin lying asleep “at the door,” and drag it forth to light.

  The text now before us therefore is full of consolation to the saints to support them against the enemies and murderers of the Church; for it teaches us that our afflictions and sufferings, and the shedding of our blood, fill heaven and earth with their cries. I believe therefore that Cain was so terror-struck in his mind by these words of his father and that he was so confused and astounded that he knew not what to say nor what to do. For no doubt his thoughts were, “If my father Adam thus knows all the circumstances of the murder which I have committed, how can I any longer doubt that the whole is known unto God, unto angels, and unto heaven and earth. Whither therefore can I flee? Which way can I turn, wretched man that I am?”

  It is exactly the same with murderers to this day. They are so harassed with the stings of conscience, after the crime of murder has been committed, that they are always in a state of alarm. It seems to them that heaven and earth have put on a changed aspect toward them and they know not whither to flee, so awful a thing is this crying of blood that has been shed and so horrible an agony is an accusing conscience.

  But it is just the same also under all other atrocious sins. Those who commit them experience the same distresses of mind, when sorrow of spirit lays hold of them for what they have done. The whole creation seems changed toward them, and even when they speak to persons with whom they have been familiar, and when they hear the answers which they make, the very sound of their voice appears to them altogether changed and their countenances seem to wear an altered aspect. Whichever way they turn their eyes, all things are clothed as it were with mourning and horror. So fierce and destroying a monster is a guilty conscience. Unless therefore such great sinners are succored and upheld from above, they must put an end to their existence from anguish and intolerable pain and despair.

  In this place also Moses adopts his usual brevity, which however exceeds in force all words. In the first place, he makes use of a very striking figure of speech when he attributes to the shed blood of Abel the cry of a voice which fills heaven and earth. For how can that voice be small or weak which is uttered from earth and fills the ears of God in heaven. Abel therefore who when alive was patient under injuries, gentle and placid of spirit, now, when dead and buried in the earth, is utterly unable to endure the injury he has received. He who before dared not utter a syllable of complaint against his brother, now cries aloud and so engages the attention of God by his cry that God himself descends from heaven and charges the murderer with his crime. Moses therefore here uses the strongest term. He does not say, “The voice of thy brother’s blood speaketh unto me from the ground,” but “The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me” etc., as heralds proclaim their intelligence aloud, when with exerted voice they call men together to a public assembly.

  And all these things are thus written, as I have observed, to cause us to see that our God is merciful and that he loves his saints, has a peculiar care of them, and inquires about them, and searches them out; and that on the contrary he is angry with the murderers of his saints, hates them and will assuredly punish them. And this consolation is most necessary for us; for, when we are oppressed by our enemies and murderers, we are apt to conclude that our God has forgotten us and has thrown off all care of us. For we think within ourselves that if God did care for us, he would not permit such things to come upon us. And Abel might also have thought the same, saying to himself, God surely cares nothing for me; for if he did, he would not suffer me thus to be murdered by my brother.

  But only look at what follows, and see whether God had not all the while a greater care of Abel than Abel could possibly have had of himself. For how could Abel, had it been possible for him to have survived the murder, have inflicted on his brother such vengeance as God here inflicts upon him, after his death, by his brother’s hands? How could he, if alive, execute such awful judgment on his brother as God here executes? For now Abel’s blood cries aloud unto God, who while alive was of a spirit the most gentle and meek. Abel, now dead, accuses his brother before God of being a murderer; whereas if alive he would bear all the injuries of his brother in silence, and would even conceal all his feelings under them. For who was it that betrayed Cain and accused him of having slain his brother? Does not the text here tell us that the accuser was the blood of the murdered Abel? Yes! that blood still fills the ears of God and of men with its cries which have not yet ceased.

  These things, I say, are all full of consolation; especially unto us who now suffer persecution from the Popes and wicked princes on account of our doctrine. They have exercised toward us the utmost cruelty and have vented their rage against godly men, not in Germany only, but in other parts of Europe also. And all this sin is disregarded by the papacy, as if it were nothing but a joke. Nay, the Papists really consider it to be the “service” of God, John 16:2. All this sin therefore as yet “lieth at the door.” But it will be awaked and made manifest in its time. For the blood of that best and most faithful of martyrs, Leonard Caizer, which was shed in Bavaria, cries aloud still. Nor has the cry of the blood of Henry of Zutphan, shed by his own countrymen, ceased; nor the blood of our brother Anthony of England, poured out by his English enemies. Not to mention a thousand others, who although their names are not so prominent and renowned were yet fellow-sufferers with confessors and martyrs. The blood of all these, I say, cries aloud still, and that cry will in its time cause God to descend from heaven and execute judgment in the earth, a judgment which will be awful and intolerable to the enemi
es of the Gospel.

  Let us not think therefore that our blood is disregarded of God. Let us not imagine for a moment that God regardeth not our afflictions. No! he collects all our tears, and puts them into his bottle, Ps. 56:8. The cry of the blood of all the godly who have thus been slain penetrates the clouds, enters the heavens, and comes even unto the throne of God, and moves him to come forth and vindicate the blood of the righteous that has been shed, Ps. 79:10. And in the same manner as these things are written for our consolation, so are they also written for the terror of our adversaries. For what think you can be more awe-striking to our tyrants to hear than that the blood of all they have slain continually cries aloud and accuses them before God? God is indeed long-suffering, especially now toward the end of the world; and therefore sin lieth the longer “at the door.” Vengeance does not immediately follow. But it is sure and certain that God is most righteously offended with all this sin, and that he will never suffer it to pass away unpunished.

  Such is the judgment of God on Cain. But I believe that this judgment was not executed on the first day of the murder, but that some time intervened between the murder and this terror on Cain. For God is in his nature long-suffering, because he waits for the returning of sinners to himself. But he does not on that account omit or forget to punish them. For he is the righteous judge both of the living and of the dead, as we confess in the creed of our faith. God therefore exercised this his judgment in the very beginning of the world, memorable in the case of these two brothers. He judged and condemned the living murderer, and justified the slain righteous Abel. And he excommunicated Cain and drove him into those agonies of soul that the space of the whole creation seemed too narrow to contain him. For from the moment he saw that God would be the avenger of his brother’s “crying blood,” he found safety nowhere. While to Abel on the contrary the space both of earth and of heaven gives an unbounded latitude of security.