1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Hebrews 11:4 | *By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice exceeding that of Cain, *by which he obtained a testimony that he was just, God giving testimony to his gifts; and by it he being dead, yet speaketh. Genesis 4:4.; Matthew 23:35. | A sacrifice.{ Ver. 4. Plurimam hostiam, pleiona thusian, majorem.|} Literally, a greater sacrifice than his brother Cain, offering to God the best and fattest cattle he had, by which he obtained a testimony (a mark of God's approbation) that he was just, and his piety pleasing to God. St. Jerome, from a tradition among the Hebrews, thinks that this mark was, that fire descended from heaven upon Abel's sacrifice and not upon that of Cain. --- And by it, he being dead, yet speaketh. By it, in construction, may be either referred to his faith or to his sacrifice. Some expound it, that by reason of his faith, or of his sacrifice, his memory still lives after his death, and he is commended by all good men. Others think that the apostle alludes to the words which God spoke to Cain, (Genesis 4:10) "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth," and that in this manner he is said to have spoken after his death. (Witham) --- Men of all religions, whether true or false, have offered sacrifices, as being the supreme act of religion; and therefore we may conclude, that what is so general and universal, must have come from the instinct and light of our nature, and be a kind of first principle implanted in us by God himself. |