The First Hereditary Transmission

“Cain was of that wicked one; his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous.” — i John hi. 12.

Cain and Abel illustrate the first operation of the law of heredity. The two brothers represent the men of the second generation. They are described as the first children of fallen humanity, and as born after its fall. In these circumstances we should expect both to be bad. But they are not; one is bad and the other is good. Why is this? The parents are both fallen — equally fallen. Where does Abel come from? We have no difficulty with the pedigree of Cain. He is the fruit proper to the tree — the fruit of sin. But what is Abel’s pedigree? He cannot be the fruit of sin; he is righteous, holy. Where did he get his holiness? Is he not a violation of that principle by which like produces like? No: the old narrative is beautifully consistent. You forget that according to the story, the parents had lived in two worlds — heaven and earth. Before they tasted the tree of sin they had gazed on the tree of life. And because they had lived in two worlds they transmitted two worlds; they transmitted earth to Cain, heaven to Abel. They transmitted heaven though they had lost it, forgotten it. We transmit a thousand things which we have lost and forgotten; and, thank God, they are not all bad! A man may live well for years, and then forget all his virtues; Nero did. Yet the good years will not count for nothing with his posterity, even though that posterity should have come after his forgetfulness. There will be Abels among them — men of the first tree, the good tree. If Adam has ever been in Eden his progeny will reap the fruit of it though they be born long after the cherubim and the flaming sword have barred the way to the tree of life.

My soul, I have heard thy complainings; I have heard thee murmuring against the cruelty of thine environment. I have heard thee say, “Am I not a child of Adam and have I not received from Adam a fallen nature?” Yes, and an unfallen nature, too. Never forget in thy complainings that thou art the heir to two worlds — not one! Doubtless there has been transmitted to thee the life of the sinful Cain — but not that alone. Abel also has come down to thee — the life of Paradise is in thy blood. Not alone the sweat of the brow is thy heritage; not alone the degradation of the dark is thy portion. One half thy heredity is from Eden. Thine eye has been kindled by the ancestral gaze at the tree of life. Thine ear has been tuned by the ancestral hearing of the Voice in the garden. Thy taste has been ennobled by the ancestral sight of the rivers of Paradise. Thy sense of God has been quickened by the ancestral communings with Nature in the cool of the day. Thy friendships have been deepened by the ancestral marriage tie. Thy hope has been helped to soar by the ancestral listening to the Sabbath bells. The image of thy God was born with thee; it was only broken by an accident. Why should the accident be more transmittable than the germ!