[ 2i l and his Corruption of the divine Inflitution of Sacri- fice.* And indeed it is not improbable, that Cain, if he was not the firft Pagan himfelf (though Bp. Cum- berland, t upon the Authority of the Phoenician Hif- tory, feems to think he was) laid the Foundation of the fubfequent Herefies, in offering the ProduEts of Na- ture, railed by his own Culture, inftead of a Sacrifice for Sin, or a Memorial of his Dependence upon the great Propitiation which íhould come into the World. We have remarked, that the Inftitution of this Rite feems not obfcurely hinted in the Covering ofSkins (fuppofed of facrificed Beafts) which GOD put upon and cloathed our firft Parents with. If GOD cloathed them, they were fheltered from the Vengeance due to their Sins, and from the Wrath to come. However, 7ofephus is of Opinion, that Cain's immediate Defcendants fwerved from all Goodnefs and Truthwith their Father : § And it is more than probable (becaufe it is ufually the Cafe) that this Corruption of Manners was but the natural Effeft and Confequence of a prior Corruption of Prin- ciples. Tertullian Rates, from the (apocryphal) Book of Enoch, that, in the Time of that Favourite of Hea- ven, the Apoftacy from the true Religion had defcend- ed fo low as to the Petting up of Idols ; and that he foretold all the Abominations which fucceeded, in ef- teeming the Elements and all the Subftances found in the Air, in the Sea, and upon Earth, as Objefts of Worfhip, inftead of the LORD H. Enoch, as Selden ob- ferves, was tranflated about feven hundred Years before the Flood ; If or about eight hundred and fixty Years after the Apoftacy ofCain and Murder of Abel. Abp. J/her feems to be of the fame Opinion, and fays, that ff in the Time of Enoch the Worfhip of GOD wás SPANH. FIi(I. Eccles. Y. P. 279. } COMB. Sant-h. p. 222, 236. Ì Gen. iii. 21. § Ant. 7ud. 1, i. c. z. TERTUL. C. iv. de Idol. init. &c. Q Proleg% de cult. extran. prionord. C. 3. C 3 wretchedly
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