as is evident from what is said in Gen. iii. 19, 23, where we read that the man was "cast out of the garden of Eden to till the ground."
346. Verse 3. And at the end of days it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to Jehovah. By the "end of days" is meant in process of time; by the "fruit of the ground," the works of faith without charity; and by "an offering to Jehovah," worship thence derived.
347. That by the "end of days" is signified in process of time, is evident to all. At first, and while there was simplicity in it, the doctrine here called "Cain" does not appear to have been so unacceptable as it became afterwards, as is evident from the fact that they called their offspring a "man Jehovah." Thus at first faith was not so far separated from love as at the "end of days," or in process of time; as is wont to be the case with every doctrine of true faith.
348. That by the "fruit of the ground" are meant the works of faith without charity, appears also from what follows; for the works of faith devoid of charity are works of no faith, being in themselves dead, for they are solely of the external man. Of such it is written in Jeremiah:—
Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Thou hast planted them, they also have taken root; they have gone on, they also bear fruit; Thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins; how long shall the land mourn, and the herb of every field wither? (xii. 1, 2, 4).
"Near in the mouth, but far from the reins," denotes those who are of faith separated from charity, concerning whom it is said that "the land mourns." In the same Prophet such works are called the "fruit of works:"—
The heart is deceitful (supplantativum) above all things, and it is desperate, who can know it? I Jehovah search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his works (Jer. xvii. 9, 10).
In Micah:—
The land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their works (vii. 13).
That such "fruit" is no fruit, or that the "work" is dead, and that both fruit and root perish, is thus declared in Amos:—
