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Chapter 7—Seth and Enoch
This chapter is based on
Genesis 4:25, 26
;
5:3-8
,
18-24
;
Jude 14, 15
.
Seth was a worthy character, and was to take the place of Abel
in right doing. Yet he was a son of Adam, like sinful Cain, and
inherited from the nature of Adam no more natural goodness than
did Cain. He was born in sin, but by the grace of God, in receiving
the faithful instructions of his father Adam, he honored God in doing
His will. He separated himself from the corrupt descendants of Cain
and labored, as Abel would have done had he lived, to turn the minds
of sinful men to revere and obey God.
Enoch was a holy man. He served God with singleness of heart.
He realized the corruptions of the human family and separated him-
self from the descendants of Cain and reproved them for their great
wickedness. There were those upon the earth who acknowledged
God, who feared and worshiped Him. Yet righteous Enoch was so
distressed with the increasing wickedness of the ungodly, that he
would not daily associate with them, fearing that he should be af-
fected by their infidelity and that his thoughts might not ever regard
God with that holy reverence which was due His exalted character.
His soul was vexed as he daily witnessed their trampling upon the
authority of God. He chose to be separate from them, and spent
much of his time in solitude, which he devoted to reflection and
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prayer. He waited before God and prayed to know His will more
perfectly, that he might perform it. God communed with Enoch
through His angels and gave him divine instruction. He made known
to him that He would not always bear with man in his rebellion—that
His purpose was to destroy the sinful race by bringing a flood of
waters upon the earth.
The pure and lovely Garden of Eden, from which our first parents
were driven, remained until God purposed to destroy the earth by a
flood. God had planted that garden and specially blessed it, and in
His wonderful providence He withdrew it from the earth, and will
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