erefore, Adam and Eve had not been helped from above, they
could never have been equal to this disaster in their home; for there
is nothing like it in all the world. Adam and Eve were without that
consolation which we may have in sudden and unexpected calamities,
namely, that like evils have befallen others and have not come upon us
alone. Our first parents had only two sons, though I believe that they
had daughters also; and therefore they lacked such instances of grief
in the human family as we have before our eyes.

147. Who can doubt, moreover, that Satan by this new species of
temptation increased greatly the grief of our first parents? They no
doubt thought, Behold, this is all our sin. We, in paradise, wished to
become like God; but by our sin we have become like the devil. This is
the case also with our son. We loved only this son, and made
everything of him! Our other son, Abel, was righteous before us, above
this son; but of his righteousness we made nothing! This elder son we
hoped would be he who should crush the serpent's head; but behold, he
himself is crushed by the serpent! Nay, he himself has become like the
serpent, for he is now a murderer. And whence is this? Is it not
because he was born of us, and because we, through our sin, are what
we are? Therefore it is to our flesh; therefore it is to our sin, that
this calamity must be traced.

148. It is very probable, accordingly, and the events of the series of
years which followed strengthen this probability, that the sorrowing
parents, shaken to the core by their calamity, abstained for a long
time from connubial intercourse. For it appears that when Cain
committed this murder he was about thirty years of age. During this
period some daughters were born unto Adam. In view of the subsequent
statements, verse 17, that "Cain knew his wife," he no doubt married a
sister. Moreover, since Cain himself says in verse 14, "It shall come
to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me", and as it is
further said in verse 15, "The Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any
finding him should kill him"--it appears most probable from all these
circumstances that Adam had many children besides Cain and Abel, but
these two only are mentioned, on account of their important and
memorable history, and because these two were their first and most
remarkable children. It is my full belief that the marriage of our
first parents was most fruitful during the first thirty years o