LOOKING UNTO JESUS OR CHRIST IN TYPE AND ANTITYPE. BY ...

vengeful and abominable; deceiving them as to the end to be
accomplished by sacrifices; loading the service with cruelty,
and fouling it with lust, how has the enemy turned
into a dark and appalling curse, what was first given to
men to meet a necessity of their nature, and open a channel
through which faith could lay hold upon a living Saviour!
p. 52, Para. 1, [LOOKING].
It was in such faith as this that sacrifices were offered
in the beginning. Of the first offerings of which a record
remains, we read these words: "By faith Abel offered unto
God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his
gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh." Heb. 11:4.
Turning back to the original record in Gen. 4:3-9, we learn
at once in what respect Abel's sacrifice was more excellent
than Cain's. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground; but
Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock. What Cain
brought may have been, in itself considered, of as much
value, and as beautiful, as the offering of Abel. But an
essential feature of a true offering, such as God could accept,
was lacking: there was no blood in it; it was but the
fruit of the ground. But Abel offered blood which alone
could typify a Redeemer who was to come and shed his blood
for mankind; for "without shedding of blood is no remission."
p. 52, Para. 2, [LOOKING].
Abel's sacrifice showed faith in such a Redeemer, and was
pleasing to God. Cain's did not; for it was a bloodless offering,
and God could not, therefore, accept it. In Cain's
offering, faith, which was the soul and essence of the
whole sacrificial system, did not appear; and hence that
offering had no merit. Where faith was wanting, the service
became a hollow mockery. And because God accepted Abel's
service, presented in his own prescribed way, and did not
accept the wilful and faithless ceremony of Cain, Cain was
angry and turned his wrath against Abel, and slew him. Here
was the beginning of the controversy between the followers
of truth and the slaves of error; and it has gone forward
ever since on the same line: all who have been persecuted
for the truth's sake have been represented by Abel; while
all persecutors have been the children of Cain, and will be
so to the end of time. p. 53, Para. 1, [LOOKING].
And the principle involved always has been, and always
will be, the same. It is clearly set forth by the apostle
John in these words: "Not as Cain, who was of that wicked