CAIN was the eldest eon of Adam. Ilia history, with that of his brother Abel, is contained in the fourth chapter of Oenesis. Cain, we are told, was a tiller of the ground, while Abel was a keeper of sheep. The brothers offered sacrifices together. Cain's offering being the fruit of the earth, and that of Abel the firstlings of his flock. The offering of Abel alone was accepted, as being an act of faith [Ann], and Cain being very wroth, when they were together in the field, "rose up against Abel his brother and slew him." For this, the first shedding of human blood, Cain was driven forth "a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth." But on his crying out to the Lord that his punishment was greater than he could bear, "the Lord set, a mark upon him, lest any finding him should kill him,"—or, as it is perhaps to be understood, gave him a token or assurance that none who found him should kill him. Cain went and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden, and had a son, Enoch, after whom ho named a city or settlement which he subsequently built. Of the remainder of Cain's
life, or of its length, nothing is told in Scripture: the Talmudista and some early Christian writers have related many absurd fables and traditions respecting his future career and the manner of his death, which however it would serve no good purpose to repeat here. It will also be enough to mention that in the 2nd century of the Christian era, a sect of heretics, who called themselves, or were called, Caiuites, is said by ancient writers to have sprung up and numbered many adherents. They are stated to have held the person of Cain in great veneration, and to have adopted many very abominable practices as well as opinions : they are regarded as a minor sect of Gnostics. Lardner gives an account of them in his ' History of Heretics,' but at the same time questions the existence of any such sect.