OBJECTIONS by Joseph Clark

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 8, 1877

OBJECTIONS

By Joseph Clark

It is a frequent occurrence for people to ask how it happens that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, when the Bible says that God is in all places of his dominion by his Spirit, that he is omnipotent.

Jacob said, when he saw in his dream a ladder with angels ascending and descending upon it from earth to Heaven, “Surely the Lord is in this place”; and the same view of God’s especial presence is often alluded to in the Bible.

No doubt the family of Adam maintained the closest and nearest relation to God they were able to do; and not having yet apostatized from God, the family of Adam were beloved of their Creator, and daily enjoyed

the comforting and sustaining influences of the Holy Spirit; and in their family devotions and in their sacrificial offerings God’s presence was seen and felt to a great degree not at present considered possible or desirable by most of the Christian world.

Now Cain, by leaving his father’s vicinity and influence, was in fact banished from the presence of God in this practical sense; and he became an alien from God, not because God had cast him off; but because he had cast off fear and restrained prayer. He fled from God’s presence.

Joseph Clark.