Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/76

 lived nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years. The people  became  very numerous. Some were  herdsmen  and  lived  in  tents;  others  built cities and  became  mechanics  and  musicians. The descendants of the  pious  Seth,  whom  God  had  given  to  Adam  instead  of Abel,  were  good,  feared  God,  and  hence  were  called  the  children of God. The descendants  of  Cain,  however,  turned  away  from God, were  wicked,  and  were  called  the  children  of  men.

Henoch, one  of  the  children  of  God,  was  noted  for  his  faith and piety,  and  was  taken  up alive  to  heaven. Unhappily, the children of  God  began  to  associate  with  the  children  of  men, and soon  they  themselves  became  wicked. Then God  said:  “My spirit shall  not  remain  in  man  for  ever,  because  he  is  flesh,  and his days  shall  be  one  hundred  and  twenty  years.”

“And seeing  that  the  wickedness  of  men  was  great  on  the earth and  that  all  the  thought  of  their  heart  was  bent  upon  evil at all  times,  God  repented that  He  had  made  man  on  earth,  and He said: I will  destroy  man,  whom  I have  created,  from  the  face of the  earth."