TWENTIETH HOMILY. "And Cain said to his brother Abel, Let's go out into the country. (Gen. IV, 8.)

ANALYSIS.

1. The speaker summarizes his teaching on the history of Cain and Abel. - 2. Continuing the explanation of the text, he arrives at Lamech, of which he comments on the confession. He brings out the merit of this confession to which Lamech submitted himself by the sole impulse of his conscience. 3. He takes occasion to speak of confession in general, of its necessity, of its efficiency, of its facility as a means of healing.  4. Interpretation of the text concerning the birth of Seth.  5. Eloquent exhortation to the practice of almsgiving.

1. The rest of the text explained yesterday will still provide us with the subject of today's instruction; we will continue to talk to you about the books of Moses, or rather the oracles of the Holy Spirit, oracles which divine grace has communicated to us through the organ of his prophet. But for the sake of clarity, it will not be out of place to remind your charity of what we have already expounded, and where our teaching has remained; in this way we can resume it where we have left it, and the sequence of the doctrine will not be broken. We have therefore treated the subject of Abel and Cain; we have shown (120) by their history, as by the sacrifices they offered to the Lord, that the knowledge of the good we must do and of the evil that we must avoid doing is inherent in our nature; that the Divine Worker, the one who did everything, has endowed us with free will; that it is the disposition of our heart which brings us condemnation or crown; that it was, indeed, the reason why the sacrifice of Abel was accepted and that of Cain rejected; that the jealousy which Cain conceived led him to the murder of his brother; that after this execrable crime, God provoked him to confess his sin, that the patient rejected this divine remedy, that he finally drew upon his head the severe punishment which you know, for having added the lie to the murder; that he thus deprived himself of all help from on high, became an example capable of holding in duty those who would come after him; that by the sentence against him he instructs the whole human race, as though he were saying to him aloud, 'No man among you commits the same crime, unless he wishes to suffer the same punishment.' On this subject I have pointed out to you the goodness of the Lord, who desired, by the pain he inflicted, not only to correct Cain, but also to teach all who would be born after him, to guard himself from a similar crime. .

Let us now see what is going on, and consider what the blessed prophet is saying today through the virtue of the Holy Spirit. After he heard his sentence, Cain went out from before the face of God. What does this word mean: went out from before the face of God? It means that he was deprived of divine assistance because of his abominable action. And he dwelt in the land of Naid, opposite Eden. The sacred writer tells us the place where Cain made his home, and he teaches us that he lived not far from paradise, so that he would perpetually remember and what had happened to his father after his prevarication and the enormity of his own crime, and the punishment inflicted on him, because he had not been able to take advantage of his father's example to behave wisely. The place he himself inhabited, reminded him continually by his name of his and his descendants, the agitation and the trembling, the torment of his terrestrial life, for the name of Naid is a Hebrew word which signifies agitation. So God established it there, so that the place itself would not cease to reproach it for its crime, as if it were engraved on a column of brass.

The Holy Scripture continues: And Cain knew his wife, and having conceived, she bore Enoch. Since men had become mortal, they were right to perpetuate themselves through the procreation of children. But, perhaps someone will tell me, where Cain had a wife, since at this age of. less, does not the Scripture mention any other than Eve? Do not be surprised, my dear listener; nowhere does Scripture give exactly the genealogy of women; always careful to avoid the superfluous, she mentions only men and not all men, because she often says in an abbreviative form that such a father begot sons and daughters. We must therefore believe that Eve gave birth, after Cain and Abel, to a girl whom Cain took for a wife. In these early beginnings of the world, the necessity of propagating the race made it possible for men to marry their sisters. So leaving us to make these conjectures, besides some, the holy Scripture itself. It is hard to tell that Cain knew his wife, who conceived, gave birth to Enoch. And he built a city named after his son Enoch. See how they become little by little ingenious and wise. Mortals, they want to at least immortalize their memory, either by generating children, or by building cities to which they give the names of their children. One could rightly say that all these things were so many monuments to their sins and their decay of that primitive glory which Adam and Eve enjoyed, in which they had no need of all these precautions, since then they were in a state where could not. to reach them none of the accidents against which they were now guarding themselves.

Enoch himself was born Gaidad, and Gaidad begot Maleleal, and Maleleael begat Mathusala, and Mathusala begat Lamech. You see how the sacred writer passes by on genealogies, mentioning only men, and leaving women without naming them. Likewise, concerning Cain, he said that he knew his wife, without telling us where he had been from; in the same way, concerning Lamech, he says: and Lamech married two women; the first was named Ada, and the second (121) was named Sella. And Ada bore Jobel; he was the father of those who live in tents and feed herds. And the name of his brother was Jubal: he invented the psaltery and the zither.

2. Note here the accuracy of Scripture. She teaches us the names of the children (the wife of Lamech and their occupations: one was grazing herds, the other invented the psaltery and the zither Sella gave birth to Tobel, who worked metals, copper Here again, the Holy Scripture makes us aware of the kind of occupation of the son of Sella, he was a blacksmith, and notice in what way the arts that are useful to the life of men are gradually being born.First, Cain gives the name from his son to the city he founded, then the sons of Lamech, one to feed herds, the other to work the metals, the third discovers the psaltery and the zither, and the sister of Tobel was Noema, here is the name of a girl in a genealogy, it is a new thing, but it has its reason, secret and mysterious reason that we reserve for another time, so as not to interrupt the thread of our history The passage which follows is indeed very important, it requires all no s efforts and the most serious review to be well explained and to provide us with the most valuable lessons.

Lamech said to his wives, Ada and Sella listen to my voice, women of Lamech, listen to my words: I killed a man who wounded me, and a young man who wounded me. Cain's death seven times, and Lamech's seventy-seven times. Lend me, I pray you, all your attention, and rejecting all secular thought and distraction, scrutinize these words carefully; we must descend to the full depth we can, so that we may collect, without losing anything, all the treasure that is buried in this narrow space. And Lamech said to his wives Ada and Sella listen to my voice, Lamech women, lend an ear to my words. And first notice how useful Cain's punishment was to Lamech. He does not wait for another to convince him of his crime, but, without anyone accusing him or reproaching him, he reveals himself, he confesses what he did, he reveals to his wives the greatness of his crime, he almost fulfills the word of the Prophet: The righteous himself is his accuser in the first place. (Prov.xviii, 17.) For the correction of sins, there is no better remedy than confession. It is something more serious than sin itself, than to deny it after it has been committed: the fratricide Cain has experienced it, he who, questioned by the good God, not only He did not admit his crime, but dared to lie to God, and was therefore condemned to drag a long and miserable life on earth. Falling into the same sin, Lamech understood that what had aggravated Cain's punishment was to have denied his fault; that is why he calls his wives, and, without any one compelling him or testifying against him, he himself makes his own confession of his sins, and comparing his crime with that of Cain, he determines himself his sentence.

Do you see the solicitude of God, as he spares occasions to show his mercy, even in the punishments he inflicts, as the effects of this mercy do not stop at the one who receives punishment, but extend, as salutary remedies, to all those who have the good will to enjoy it? What other motive could have led Lamech to make this confession, except the memory that he had of the evils suffered by Cain, a memory which upset his soul? And he said, Hear my voice, and listen to my words. It is like a tribunal which he draws against himself, and the thing seems so serious to him that he wants to be listened to with a great deal of attention. For these words: Listen to my voice, lend ear to my speeches, equivalent to these: Make your mind attentive, apply yourself, listen carefully what I am about to say. It is not indifferent things that I have to talk to you about; I have to reveal to you hidden facts, facts that no one knows except me, and that eye that never closes; it is the fear that this witness gives me, which presses me and forces me today to. to discover what I had the misfortune to do, and to tell you to what revenge I exposed myself by my criminal works; for I killed a man who hurt me, and a young man who wounded me. And if seven revenges of Cain have been fired, Lamech will be fired seven times seven. Great, and even very great, and denoting in this man a soul of the best disposition. Not only does he confess (122) what he did, and reveal the murder he committed, but he imposes a penalty by comparing his crime to that of Cain. What pardon does he seem to say is worthy of him who has not profited from the example of others to become better, he who has constantly in mind the memory of the punishment inflicted on the first murderer, not left nevertheless that to commit two murders? I killed, said he, a man who wounded me, and a young man who wounded me. It is as if he said: I did less harm to those whom I killed than I did to myself. Because I incurred an inevitable punishment, since I committed crimes that were too big to be forgiven. If Cain, for one murder, deserved seven revenges, I incurred seventy-seven times. Why, by what reason? In fact, although he was homicidal and even fratricidal, however, he did not have before his eyes the example of a man who would have dared such a crime, which would have been punished, which would have attracted him the weight of God's wrath; two aggravating circumstances for me, since I had before me the double example of crime and punishment, and that I have not been better. That is why, even if I had seven revenges seven times, I would not have paid enough for what I did.

3. See, my dear listener, how God has created our free will and mistress of his determinations; how, when we fall, it is our negligence that is the cause, and how, when we want to be vigilant, we clearly distinguish between the duty? Who, tell me, pushed this man to make such a confession? Nobody, if not conscience, this incorruptible judge. After, according to the inclination of bad nature, he executed a culpable design, immediately the conscience rose in him raising his voice against the enormity of the crimes committed and denouncing to him how many punishments he had rendered punishable. Such is the sin before it is done and done, it obscures the reasoning and deceives the mind. But when it is consumed, it is then that we clearly see its absurdity; and this rapid and absurd pleasure flies away, leaving us with a lasting pain; he flies away, taking with him that noble assurance which was the joy of conscience, after having substituted for it the shame in which the unfortunate sinner remains. The good God has attached to us this intimate accuser, with orders never to leave us, to shout incessantly, asking us for our prevarications. To convince oneself of this, one must only consult the experience. The fornicator, adultery, may well have not been surprised, they are no more tranquil; thanks to this energetic and indefatigable accuser, they are afraid of suspicion, they tremble for a shadow, they fear those who know, those who do not know, it is in their soul an incessant storm, waves succeeding the waves. Sleep, for such a man, has no more sweetness, he has only fears and terrors. There is nothing to restore it, nothing calms its inner turmoil: neither the sweetness of the food, nor the charm of a friendly conversation. After this bad action, however, made without witness, it is as if he carried everywhere in himself an executioner who would always flog him. Such are the pains he endures without any other judge, without any other accuser than himself.

If, however, the guilty party wishes to profit by the warnings of his conscience, resort to the confession of his faults, show his wound to the spiritual doctor who awaits him to heal him, and not to reproach him, if he wishes to receive his remedies, to maintain alone with him without witness and to say everything without dissimulating anything, he will obtain quickly and easily the absolution of his sins. The confession of the evil we have done is the abolition of the sins committed. If Lamech did not refuse to accuse his women of the murders committed by him; What pardon will we be worthy of ourselves, if we do not want to accuse our sins before Him who knows exactly the least of our faults? Because he knows nothing and it is not for education that he wants us to confess, since he knows all things before they even arrive. He commands the confession so that we ourselves have the feeling of our faults, and so that we show good will towards him. Is it a question of great expenses to be made, long journeys to undertake? Is the treatment to undergo painful and painful? On the contrary, healing takes place at no cost, without pain and promptly. The Divine Physician appropriates his remedies to the degree of good will of him who comes to him to be healed of his wounds. Let the man who wants to recover his health quickly and heal the wounds of his soul, come to the doctor, the sober and vigilant soul, and free from all the secular preoccupations, let it shed many tears, he gives marks of great assiduity, that he brings a firm faith and a complete confidence in the science of the doctor, and he will not be long in recovering his health. O doctor whose goodness erases that of the most tender father! Is it nothing less painful and less harsh than the conditions he demands of us, the contrition of the heart, the compunction of the soul, the admission of the fault, a constant assiduity? And he not only gives us the grace to heal our wounds, but he erases them to the slightest trace. We were previously overwhelmed with the weight of a thousand sins and He makes us righteous. O infinite mercy, incomparable goodness! A sinner comes, he confesses his sins, he asks for forgiveness, he shows a firm resolve not to sin in the future, and here he is. And so that you do not doubt this miracle, listen to this word of the prophet: Say your sins first, that you may be justified. (Isaiah XLIII, 26.) He does not simply say, say your sins, but he adds: the first; that is to say, do not wait for another to accuse you and convince you; warn the prosecution, hasten to speak, close that strange mouth that will speak against you.

4. Do you see the clemency of the judge? Before the human courts, if an accused followed this conduct; if, warning the proofs, he confessed all that he had done, he might save himself the question with his trials and his tortures, if, however, he had to deal with a lenient judge; but the sentence which condemns the last punishment, he certainly would not avoid it. As for our God, this charitable physician of our souls, his goodness is infinite, and his mercy ineffable. If we take the lead on our adversary, on the devil who will make our accuser to. the last day and who is already in this life, if we make our confession before appearing before the tribunal, if we ourselves speak to accuse us, we will excite the mercy of the Sovereign Judge, to the point that no pleased to absolve us from our faults, he will still inscribe our name among those of the just.

Lamech was not instructed by any positive law; he had not heard of prophets, he did not obey any exhortation from the. Outside, he had only his conscience to make him feel the seriousness of his faults, and yet this inner voice is enough to snatch him the confession and condemnation of what he had done, and we would be excusable do not show our wounds carefully to the charitable doctor who only needs that to heal them! And this confession, if we did not do it now that the time of fasting offers us a favorable occasion, by the calm which he has put in our thoughts, by the exclusion which he has given to all kinds of voluptuousness, when, then, could we enter into ourselves in such a way as to bring order to the affairs of our conscience? Let us be sober and vigilant, I entreat you, let us devote ourselves entirely to this important matter, and by dint of diligence and care avoid a punishment that will be so severe, save us from the fire of hell. Now is the time to work, now that the time of fasting offers you more resources by the frequent instructions you receive.

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she, having conceived, bore a son, and she called him Seth, saying, God hath given me another seed in the place of Abel, whom Cain slew. Stopping the genealogical list at Lamech, the holy Scripture goes back to Adam and his wife, and says: Now Adam knew his wife, and the latter conceived, and bare a son, and she called him Seth, saying, God bless me. has created another posterity and the place of Abel killed by Cain. She bore, is it written, a son, and she named him Seth. Not content to have given a name to his newborn, the mother adds: God has given me another posterity and the place of Abel killed by Cain. Notice the care taken by this mother, by the name she gives to her son, of perpetuating the memory of this abominable crime; it is so that future generations learn the murder committed by Cain, which she says: instead of Abel killed by Cain. The word of a mother afflicted by grief, troubled by the memory of a sad event, a word of thanksgiving for the son whom God sends, but a word which, in the name of the newborn, imprints in a way . ineffaceable the crime of another son. And indeed, what bitter mourning Cain had not caused to his parents, when he had armed his hand against his brother, when he had made them see that child so tenderly loved, lying on the ground, dead, deprived of movement. Adam had of course pronounced his judgment: You are earth and you will return to the earth; and again: The day you eat it, you will die of death; but until then the sentence had remained in words, and our first parents had not yet seen what death was; Cain, driven by his hatred against his brother, and the envy that gnawed at him, threw himself upon Abel and killed him, and he showed his parents a horrible sight. That is why the mother, to whom the birth of a new child helped to lift a little the weight of her mourning, gives thanks to the Lord for the consolation he gives her, but at the same time she wants to perpetuate the memory of the fratricide, thus punishing in turn the culprit of a new and severe punishment.

Do you see what evil is sin? as it inflicts a public mark of shame and infamy on those who commit it; as after depriving Cain of help from above, he made it the toy of the world? Do you see how, by his detestable sin, he has become odious even to his parents, whom nature, however, inclines so much to tenderness for their children. Let us flee, I conjure you, that sin which surrounds us with so many evils, and embrace virtue, which will procure us celestial favor, and remove punishment from us.

And there was born a son to Seth: and he gave him the name of Enos; he trusted to invoke the name of the Lord. Notice here how men are gradually becoming accustomed. to testify to God's gratitude in the names they give to their children. So Seth had a son and he named him Enos, tells the Holy Scripture; then, to interpret the meaning of this name, she adds: He trusted to invoke the name of the Lord. So it is through Seth, and by Enos and their descendants, that the blessed Prophet will establish his genealogy; now he leaves Cain and his offspring behind from Lamech. Cain lost his birth privilege, I mean his firstborn privilege: he lost it freely by his wickedness, and he and his posterity are excluded from the list. On the contrary, Seth obtains by virtue a prerogative that nature has refused him: primogeniture rights are transferred to him in spite of nature, because his will turned to good, and his descendants are called to honor to form the genealogy of the first ancestors of humanity. Enos was so called because of his confidence in invoking the name of the Lord God, and those born of him will bear the same name. Here our blessed Prophet suspends his narration, and goes back once again to begin another story.

5. But let us not go into this new chapter, so as not to prolong our instruction beyond the bounds; on the example of the sacred author, let us stop here and, if God permits, give another explanation of the result. Now I would like to urge your charity to profit more and more from our teaching, to examine you every day, asking you for yourself what fruit you have derived from such instruction, what fruit of another; not to be content to receive our words in your ears without making them penetrate further, but to open their hearts to them so that they dwell there permanently, strengthened and strongly implanted by the meditation. I would also like that; Not content with teaching you for yourselves, you became masters for others, to warn and guide them in the path of virtue, not only by your words, but especially by your examples. Remember that if you wanted to come up with some fruit, to correct anything of the bad passions that torment you, think of how soon you could reach the very fact of virtue. Indeed, we never forget in our instructions to inculcate the principles of the perfect life, in order to lead you to extirpate from your souls those passions that give them death, such as anger, jealousy, envy. These suppressed ones, your disordered love of riches will be corrected more easily, and when you have finally extinguished it, it will be much easier for you to get rid of your dishonest thoughts, your impure imaginations.

The root of all evils is the love of money. (I Tim vii, 10.) If, then, we cut off the root, if we tear it out entirely, we will then easily come to the end of the twigs. Yes, I will say in my turn, the fortress of evils, the citadel of all sins, it is the rage of riches, and if we wanted to triumph, we would have (125) nice game to get rid of all the fatalities passions that depend on it. And do not think that it is a very big and difficult thing to despise wealth. When I consider that so many men who, for a frivolous satisfaction to give to their vanity, sacrifice so much money for nothing, to win the favor of this vile multitude, this ragged populace that clutters the squares of a city a favor which ends with the evening, which does not even wait often for the evening to dissipate, a favor which sometimes produces so many disappointments even before the day ends; when I also consider those others who, among the Gentiles, conceive such a passion for glory that they renounce all they possess to acquire it, reserving for themselves only an old coat with a stick, which they resign themselves to spend all their lives in this way, to bear all this pain and misery because they hope to acquire a certain renown among men; when I think about these things, I do not know what excuse, what forgiveness we can count on, we who do not have the courage to impose the slightest sacrifices to fulfill the commandments of God, to acquire an immortal and imperishable glory. Yes, we do less than these men, and yet what a difference between the rewards to conquer! It is for the gain of a vain renown among men their fellow men that they make these great sacrifices, instead of us being for our Master, for Him from whom we hold everything, for Him who promises us. still ineffable goods, that we do not even want to give the smallest alms to a poor man!

And whose eyes will we look at our Judge after neglecting such an easy command? I am not asking you to give up all your belongings. Enjoy greatly your abundance, and when your needs are satisfied, use to a necessary use what you have superfluous and useless; distribute it, this superfluity, to those who suffer from hunger, to those who shiver with cold, and, by their means, send it to your country where you will soon find it. These unfortunates will serve you very well in transporting your wealth to the other world; and when you succeed, you will find them perfectly preserved, so that you will live in abundance, thanks to these goods thus transported, and even multiplied by the goodness of God. Is this a very difficult thing, very laborious, very thorny? This transport is done without a pack animal, without escort, without any device. No thief frequentes this road and can not steal what you ship as well. What you put in the hands of the poor, you deposit it in a safe place; since you deposit it in the hand of God. It will keep your deposit intact, this divine hand and when you enter your homeland it will return it to you; it will reward you with praise, with crowns, with the fullness of a happiness without limit or decline. So pour, pour your riches and your savings into the bosom of the poor; sow while it is time for us to reap when the season is come; do not let the opportune time pass, our negligence would be followed by useless regrets.

If God has divested you of the goods of this world more than others, is it that, so that for your sole use part of what he gives you, you will pile the rest in your coffers and your attics? No, it is not so; but according to the word of the Apostle, he wants your abundance to be a source of indigence to your brothers. (II Corinthians vii., 14.) And perhaps you use these goods more than is permissible, spending your money on sensuality, clothing, luxuries of all kinds, slaves, animals of all kinds. species? The poor do not ask for anything of this; what he expects of you is that you appease his hunger, that you give him the daily bread, that you give him the other things necessary for him to live, that he does not perish, and you do not deign to do it! and yet you should think that most of the time, suddenly taken away, you abandon all that you have amassed, sometimes to strangers, to enemies; and you, what are you left of? your sins that you have committed to amass these goods, that's all you take with you. And what will you say on this terrible day? how will you excuse yourself for treating so negligently the business of your salvation? So listen to my advice, and while there is still time, distribute your superfluous wealth to the poor, it is the way to ensure your salvation in the other world and to obtain, in exchange for your perishable goods, immortal goods that I wish you all, (126) by the grace and charity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, with whomsoever, to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, glory, power and honor, now and forever, and for centuries. So be it.