Seth and Enoch
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the Flood, they would appear as greatly inferior in mental as in physical
strength. As the years of man have decreased, and his physical strength
has diminished, so his mental capacities have lessened. There are men
who now apply themselves to study during a period of from twenty to
fifty years, and the world is filled with admiration of their attainments.
But how limited are these acquirements in comparison with those of
men whose mental and physical powers were developing for centuries!
It is true that the people of modern times have the benefit of the
attainments of their predecessors. The men of masterly minds, who
planned and studied and wrote, have left their work for those who fol-
low. But even in this respect, and so far as merely human knowledge
is concerned, how much greater the advantages of the men of that
olden time! They had among them for hundreds of years him who
was formed in God’s image, whom the Creator Himself pronounced
“good”—the man whom God had instructed in all the wisdom per-
taining to the material world. Adam had learned from the Creator the
history of creation; he himself witnessed the events of nine centuries;
and he imparted his knowledge to his descendants. The antediluvians
were without books, they had no written records; but with their great
physical and mental vigor, they had strong memories, able to grasp
and to retain that which was communicated to them, and in turn to
transmit it unimpaired to their posterity. And for hundreds of years
there were seven generations living upon the earth contemporaneously,
having the opportunity of consulting together and profiting each by
the knowledge and experience of all.
The advantages enjoyed by men of that age to gain a knowledge
of God through His works have never been equaled since. And so far
from being an era of religious darkness, that was an age of great light.
All the world had opportunity to receive instruction from Adam, and
those who feared the Lord had also Christ and angels for their teachers.
And they had a silent witness to the truth, in the garden of God, which
for so many centuries remained among men. At the cherubim-guarded
gate of Paradise the glory of God was revealed, and hither came the
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first worshipers. Here their altars were reared, and their offerings
presented. It was here that Cain and Abel had brought their sacrifices,
and God had condescended to communicate with them.
Skepticism could not deny the existence of Eden while it stood just
in sight, its entrance barred by watching angels. The order of creation,