e murder committed by their husband. The wicked
murderer, therefore, to appear equally safe with Cain, endeavored in
this way to reassure his wives concerning his safety from death. This
is what the wicked church is accustomed to do; it prophesies out of
its own head. But all such prophecies are vain. This one thing,
however, we can gather from the present text, that Lamech did not
utter the contents of his prophecy from the Word of God, but out of
his own brain.

278. In respect to Cain, I do not think that he was killed by Lamech,
but that he died long before the time of Lamech. And as there were
continual animosities between the Cainite church and the Church of
Adam--for the Cainites could not brook their being treated as outside
of the true communion--my opinion is, that Lamech killed some eminent
man and some distinguished youth of the generation of the righteous,
just as Cain, his father, had killed Abel. And I believe that, having
committed such murders, he wished to protect himself from being killed
by uttering the words of the text, after the manner of the protection
vouchsafed by God to his father Cain. For Lamech was no doubt a man of
very great abilities and the chief man in his day and State. He had
also strengthened his cause by a novel venture, for he was the first
man who married two wives. And he harassed the Church of the godly in
various ways, as men are wont to do who combine talent with malice.
Therefore he furnished his men with arms, riches, and pleasures, that
he might overcome the true Church on every side, which alone held the
holy faith, the pure Word, and the pure worship of God. To all else he
paid little attention.

279. It is very probable that the patriarch Adam died about this time,
this being the first patriarchal death; and there is no doubt that
Lamech seized this opportunity of transferring the whole government of
the world at that time to himself, that he might have all things under
his own rule. This is the manner in which the world acts to this day.
The Church of God, therefore, placed as it were in the midst, is
oppressed on either side; by tyrants and blood-thirsty men on the one
hand, and by those who are devoted to the concerns and pleasures of
this world on the other. As tyrants use violence and the sword to
destroy the Church, so the latter entice her by their allurements.

280. Hence it is that Moses makes a special point of recording that
the blood-thirsty seed of the C