Hebrews 11:4 - Wesley's Explanatory Notes

By faith — In the future Redeemer. Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice — The firstlings of his flock, implying both a confession of what his own sins deserved, and a desire of sharing in the great atonement. Than Cain — Whose offering testified no such faith, but a bare acknowledgment of God the Creator. By which faith he obtained both righteousness and a testimony of it: God testifying — Visibly that his gifts were accepted; probably by sending fire from heaven to consume his sacrifice, a token that justice seized on the sacrifice instead of the sinner who offered it. And by it — By this faith. Being dead, he yet speaketh — That a sinner is accepted only through faith in the great sacrifice.