he built the first city, how can it be true, men ask, that he was a fugitive and vagabond upon earth, according to the curse pronounced upon him?
We will reply therefore to the literal facts before us. For what we have said above in reference to the New Testament, concerning Paul and the apostles, and Christ himself, and the prophets, that is altogether a different subject. When Adam here says to Cain, “A fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be upon earth,” he speaks these words to him to send him away; designedly joining no precept or direction therewith. He does not say to him, “Go to the east;” he does not say, “Go to the south;” he does not mention any one place to which he should go. He gives him no direction what to do. He simply sends him away, but as to whither he should go or what he should do, he expresses no concern. As to what the will and the way of his son may be hereafter, the father takes no care whatever. He adds no promise of protection. He does not say, “God will take care of thee;” nor, “God will defend thee.” But as the whole wide heaven lies open to the bird, leaving him the liberty to fly where he will, but giving him a sight of no place in that heaven, to which he might flee in safety for protection from the attack of the other birds, so does Adam dismiss Cain. This Cain fully feels; and therefore it is that he adds the utterance, “And it shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me.”
Now the condition of Adam in paradise was different from that of Cain, and better. Adam had sinned, and by his sin he had sunk under death. But when he was driven out of paradise God appointed to him by his command a certain employment, that he should till the earth in a fixed and certain place. God also clothed him with a covering of skins. This, as we have said above, was a sign that God would take care of him and defend him. And that which exceeded all things else, a glorious promise was made to the woman concerning her Seed, which should “bruise the serpent’s head.” But no one thing like these mercies was left to Cain. He was sent away absolutely without the mention of any certain place or any certain employment. No command was given him nor any promise made him. He was like a bird set loose in the wide heavens, as we have said, to wander in its flight where it may. Such was the state and meaning of Cain’s being truly and properly “a vagabond,” “a wanderer” without any fixed dwelling-place.
And thus unsettled and wandering are all who have not the Word and the command of God, by which a certain place of worship and a certain ministry are vouchsafed unto them. And just such were we under the papacy. There were plenty of ceremonies of worship, and of works and exercises. But all these were undertaken and done without any command of God. This was truly a Cain-like trial, to have no Word of God; not to know what to believe, nor what to hope, nor what to think; but to do all things and to undertake all things without any knowledge or hope concerning the event. For what monk ever existed who could affirm or know that he did any one thing rightly? For all things were mere human traditions and the inventions of mere human reason, without the Word. And in the midst of these things we all wandered about, fluctuating in our minds, like the wandering Cain; not knowing anything of what the judgment of God would be concerning us; whether he would look upon us with love or with hatred. And in this uncertainty were we all at that time taught and trained.
And in this same way were the whole posterity of Cain wanderers and unsettled. For they had no promise nor command of God and were without any certain rule either to live by or to die by. And if any of these did come to the knowledge of Christ and joined the true Church, this did not come to them through any promise of God, but through his pure mercy.
But Seth, who was born afterwards, had together with his posterity the certain promise, certain dwelling-places, a certain worship of God, and certain rites of worship. But Cain on the contrary was always essentially “a vagabond.” For although Cain did build a city, yet he was ever in uncertainty how long he should retain it as a dwelling place; for he had no promise of God on which to depend. And whatever things we possess without the promise of God, how long we shall possess them is always an uncertainty. For Satan can either disturb them or take them away in a moment. On the other hand, when we move, fortified on every side by the command and promise of God, Satan’s strivings against us are all in vain, for God fortifies and secures by his command all that we possess. Although therefore Cain was the great lord as it were of the whole world and possessed all the riches of the world; yet because he was without the promise of the help of God and was thereby deprived of the guardianship of angels, he had nothing else to depend on, but human counsel and human reason. He was therefore truly “a vagabond” and unsettled wanderer.
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