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Seth: When Men Turned to God
This chapter is based on Genesis 4:25 to 6:2.
Another son was given to Adam to be the heir of the spiritual
birthright. The name Seth, given to this son, signified “appointed,”
or “compensation,” because, said the mother, “God has appointed
another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” Seth resem-
bled Adam more closely than did his other sons, a worthy character
following in the steps of Abel. Yet he inherited no more natural
goodness than did Cain. Seth, like Cain, inherited the fallen nature
of his parents, but he also received the knowledge of the Redeemer
and instruction in righteousness. He worked hard, as Abel would
have done, to turn the minds of sinners to honor and obey their
Creator.
“As for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him
Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.” The dis-
tinction between the two classes became more marked—an open
profession of loyalty to God on the part of one, contempt and dis-
obedience on the part of the other.
Before the Fall our first parents had kept the Sabbath, which
was instituted in Eden, and after their expulsion from Paradise they
continued to observe it. They had learned what everyone will sooner
or later learn, that the divine laws are sacred and unchangeable and
that the penalty of transgression will surely follow. The Sabbath
was honored by all who remained loyal to God, but Cain and his
descendants did not respect the day upon which God had rested.
Cain now founded a city and called it by the name of his eldest
son. He had gone out from the presence of the Lord to seek posses-
sions and enjoyment in the earth, standing at the head of that great
class of people who worship the god of this world. His descendants
became distinguished in things were relate to mere earthly and ma-
terial progress, but they were against the purposes of God for the
human race. To the crime of murder, Lamech, the fifth generation
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