not originally subject to death and when it became so because of his
sin, the process of decay may have been less rapid. And, besides, the
effect of hereditary disease had not begun to effect and weaken the
race.

The Great Wickedness. As indicated above, this Wickedness seemed to
arise from the intermarriage of the descendants of Seth and those of
Cain. The descendants of Seth were called "the song of God," because
they were the religious seed. When they looked upon the beautiful
daughters of Cain (called the daughters of man because they
represented the irreligious portion of the race), they married them
and thereby brought the whole race into such corruption that "every
imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually"
(Gen. 6:5). God therefore declared "My Spirit shall not always strive
with man" and set the limit when he should quit thus striving with him
at one-hundred and twenty years (Gen. 6:3). After that God proposed to
destroy the whole wicked race from off the face of the earth (Gen.
6:7).

Noah God's Chosen Man. The narrative tells us (Gen. 6:8) that "Noah
found favor in the eyes of Jehovah." This was no doubt because his
character and acts were acceptable to Him. He was the tenth and last
in the Sethic line. He was the son of Lamech (Gen. 5:28), a godly man,
who had felt the weight of burden because of the curse which God had
pronounced upon the ground because of Adam's sin. He was called Noah
by his father, because he said the child would be a source of comfort
concerning their toil growing out of that curse (Gen. 5:39). He was a
just and perfect man and walked with God (Gen. 6:9; 7:1). Compare also
I Peter 3:20 and Heb. 11:7. He is also called a preacher of
righteousness (II Peter 2:5) and it is probable that, during the