Five Questions
W. Jay. Genesis 4:9 And the LORD said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? 1. The first question is this: Is there no one who stands related to you as a brother? — (1) By kindred. (2) By religion. (3) By civil community. (4) By the common claims of nature.Have we not all, says Malachi, "one father," Adam? and have we not all one mother, Eve? Have we not all the same animal wants? Are we not all exposed to the same infirmities and diseases? Are we not all capable of the same improvements? Are we not all to turn to the same dust? Are we not all heirs of the same immortality? Are we not all redeemed by the same blood of the Lamb? Nothing, therefore, that is human should ever be deemed or felt alien with regard to you. 2. The second question: If you were asked, Where is thy brother? what would truth compel you now to answer? We know what truth would have constrained Cain to answer — "Oh! I hated him, I envied him; I drew him into a field, and I murdered him; and he lies there dead." What would you say, if you spoke truth, in answer to this question, Where is thy brother? Perhaps you would be constrained to say, "Living a few doors off from the subject of want and indigence and hunger, and I having all this world's goods, and more than heart could wish, I never send him any supplies." Or perhaps you would say, "I have calumniated, I have run down his religion; I have called him a hypocrite, or an enthusiast, or a mercenary." Or perhaps you would say, "Oh! I have poisoned his mind with error"; or, "I have seduced him by my wicked example." Or perhaps you would say, "He hath sinned, and instead of reproving him, I have 'suffered sin upon him'"; "Hellas been a stranger to the advantages of religion, while I was well acquainted with it; and I have never gone to him and said, 'Oh! taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him'"; "Oh! he is ignorant, and I have not been trying to enlighten him." Where is he? Why, living in such and such a dark village, where they are perishing for lack of knowledge; or living in the sister island, enslaved by a vile superstition. 3. The third question: Will not your conduct towards your fellow creatures be inquired into as well as Cain's? Can you imagine that you are to live as you please even with regard to your fellow creatures? Is not God your Governor as well as your Maker? Are you not God's subjects as well as God's creatures? 4. The fourth question: If you are guilty, will not your guilt be followed by punishment? Why should God deal with Cain, and suffer you to escape? 5. The last question we have to ask is, If you are guilty and exposed to all this, what should be your concern now? Should it be to seek to deny or to palliate your transgressions? Should you not rather confess your sin, and exclaim with Joseph's brethren, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother"? (W. Jay.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? WEB: Yahweh said to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?" He said, "I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?"