CHAPTER VI.

THE ANTEDILUVIANS.

WITHIN 130 years from the creation of the world, we have an account of the building of a city by Cain; and that he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch; at which time his posterity must have been greatly increased.

Josephus says, that "the punishment inflicted upon Cain, was so far from effecting any amendment in him, that he grew worse, and became a reprobate to all sense of goodness; indulging himself in all manner of pleasures, though he wronged his neighbours to procure them; that he got together abundance of wealth by rapine and violence ;—encouraging his followers in luxury and robbery, and becoming their instructor in evil courses; and that he walled the city which he had built, the better to secure their ill gotten wealth."

H

b Moses, confining himself chiefly to the line of of Seth, whence Noah was descended, has acquainted us with but very few particulars relating to that of Cain; insomuch that we cannot form any conjecture how long he, or any of his descendants lived b.

It is recorded that Lamech, the fifth in descent from him, married two wives, Adah and Zillah; which is observed to be the first known instance of polygamy. By Adah he had two sons; Jabal, the elder, was the father of such as dwell in tents, and feed cattle; and Jubal, his brother, was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. By Zillah, the other wife, he had a son named Tubal Cain; an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron.

This account, brief as it is, suggests such an idea of discovery and invention of mechanical arts, as, in those early annals of time, appears extraordinary.

We are assured by other historians, and it is highly probable, that the posterity of Cain were enormously wicked; exceeding their fa ther if possible in all manner of villanies; every

Josephus's Antiq. lib. 1st. 2d Eutych, page 25. Ebor al

amid, &c.

succeeding generation growing worse than the former.

This wicked race is supposed to be represented by Moses, under the designation of men, and the daughters of men;" and the righteous family of Seth, by the appellation of "the sons of God."

The scripture account is: "To Seth there was born son, and he called his name Enos ;" about which time it is thought that his descendants, who were as eminent for virtue as those of Cain were for the reverse, were denominated as already mentioned; for it is conceived that those words which in our translation are rendered, "then began men to call upon the name of the Lord," properly signify then men began to be called by or after the name of the Lord, as indeed the margin has it.

Of the three next descendants of Seth, Cainan, Mahaleel, and Jared; and of Methuselah, and Lamech, the grandfather, and father of Noah, Moses has recorded no more than their several ages. The Oriental authors commend them as they do Seth and Enos, for their piety, and the salutary injunctions they left behind them; forbidding their children all intercourse with the wicked race of Cain.

The extraordinary piety of Enoch, the son of Jared and father of Methuselah, is represented by the scripture phrase, of walking with God; as a reward for which exemplary deportment in so corrupt an age, he was taken up into heaven, as it is presumed, without tasting death..

"The history of Enoch," says Hunter, is comprised in three words, while the exploits of an Alexander, a Cæsar, and other destroyers of mankind, swell to many volumes. But what comparison is there between the bubble reputation bestowed by historians, poets, and orators, on the worthless and the wicked; and the solid praise conferred on the wise and good, by the Spirit of God: by whom actions are weighed, and who will at last bring every secret thing into judgment."

That Enoch was a prophet, and that some prophecy of his was preserved, either in writing or by tradition, even to our Saviour's time, appears from the passage quoted thence, in the general epistle of Jude. That there was a book under the name of Enoch, in the hands of the Jews, appears from its being referred to in their ancient book Zohar. How long the

Vide Heidegg Hist. Patr. tom. 1, p. 176.

descendants of Seth continued to be religious, and to imitate their father's virtues, is uncertain. Moses says: "When men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose." Hence it appears, that the beginning of their corruption, was marrying into the wicked family of Cain; for, by that imprudent alliance, they became infected with the contagion of general profaneness and immorality.

Mankind running thus headlong into all manner of vice, wickedness increased until at length it overspread the earth: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, was only evil continually." Great indeed must have been the depravity, and very affecting, to excite language so strong as was used on this occasion: "And it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them." Gen. vi. 5, 6, 7.