cestor of the inventors of iron instruments and of weapons of
destruction."

Cain and Abel had to get their own living. Being born after the Fall,
they were of course debarred from the felicities of Eden, and were
compelled to earn their bread by the sweat of their brows, in accordance
with God's wide-reaching curse. Both, so to speak, were forced to deal
in provisions. Abel went in for meat, and Cain for vegetables. This was
an admirable division of labor, and they ought to have got on very well
together; one finding beef and mutton for dinner, and the other potatoes
and greens. They might even have paid each other handsome compliments
across the table. Abel might have said "My dear Cain, these vegetables
are first-rate," and Cain might have replied, "My dear Abel, I never
tasted a better cut."

Delitzsch, whose criticisms are huge jokes, frowns on this picture of
fraternal peace. He opines that Cain and Abel were vegetarians and never
enjoyed a beef-steak or a mutton-chop. Abel kept only small domestic
cattle, such as sheep and goats, whose woolly skin might be used to
cover "their sinful nakedness." The utmost Delitzsch allows is that they
perhaps drank milk, which, although animal nutriment, is not obtained
through the destruction of animal life. But, as Colenso observes,
animals were slain for sacrifices, and they may have been killed also
for eating. Besides, even a vegetable diet involves infinite destruction
of minute animal life. On the whole we prefer to disregard Delitzsch
in this matter, and to stand by our pleasant picture of the two first
brothers at dinner.

Their admirable arrangement, however, brought mischief in the end. It
was right enough so far as they were concerned, but it worked badly
in relation to God. They liked a mixed diet, but the Lord was purely
carnivorous and liked all meat. He devoured Abel's provisions with
great relish, but turned up his nose at Cain's vegetables. The mealiest
potatoes, the tenderest green peas, had no charm for him; and even the
leeks, the garlic, the onions, and the cucumbers, which were afterwards
so beloved by his Jewish favorites, were quite unattractive. In the
language of Scripture, "Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an
offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of
his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and
to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had no respect"
Elsewhere in the Bible