ich these evils prevail. And yet, even governments which, as far
as mere reason can succeed, are especially well established, possess
nothing beyond these temporal promises.

227. The Church, however, possesses the promises of grace, even the
eternal promises. And although Cain was left utterly destitute of
these promises, yet it was a great favor that the temporal mercies
were left him: that he was not immediately killed, that a wife was
given him, that children were born unto him, that he built a city,
that he cultivated the earth, that he fed his cattle and had
possessions, and that he was not utterly ejected from the society and
fellowship of men. For God could not only have deprived Cain of all
these blessings, but he could have added pestilence, epilepsy,
apoplexy, the stone, the gout, and any other disease. And yet there
are men disposed curiously to argue in what manner God could possibly
have multiplied the curse of Cain sevenfold on himself or on any
other.

As God above deprives Cain of all the divine blessings, both
spiritual--or those pertaining to the Church--and civil, so here he
mitigates that sentence by commanding that no one shall slay Cain. But
God does not promise at the same time that all men shall surely obey
his command. Therefore Cain, even possessing this promise in reference
to his body, is still a fugitive and a wanderer. And it might be that
if he continued in his wickedness, he was liable to be slain at any
moment; whereas, if he did well, he might live a long time. But
nothing is promised him with certainty, for although these corporal or
legal promises are great and important, yet they are positively
uncertain and uncovenanted.

228. Whether, therefore, Cain was killed or not, I cannot with any
certainty say, for the Scriptures afford no plain information upon
that point. This one thing, however, evidently can be proved from the
present text, that Cain had no certain promise of the preservation of
his life; but God left him to a life of uncertainty, doubt and
restless wandering, and did no more than protect the life of Cain by a
command and a threat which might restrain the wicked from killing him,
on account of the certain awful punishment which would follow such
destruction of the murderer. But a promise that he should not be
murdered was withheld. We know, moreover, what is the nature of the
law, or a legal command, and that there are always very few who obey
it. Therefore, althoug