rom
Adam, extend to every one of the whole human race. We must, indeed,
suffer death because we are sinners. But we shall not abide in death.
We rather have a hope in a divine purpose and providence whereby God
designs our deliverance from death. This deliverance has begun with
the promise of the blessed seed, and has been demonstrated by Abel and
Enoch as object lessons. Wherefore we possess the first fruits of
immortality. The Apostle Paul says, "For in hope were we saved," Rom
8, 24. Hope saves us until the fullness of immortality shall be
brought unto us at the last day, when we shall see and feel that
eternal life which we possessed here in faith and hope.

6. Now, the flesh does not understand this. The flesh judges that man
dies like a beast. Men, occupying the front rank of philosophers have
felt accordingly that by death the soul is separated and delivered
from the prison of the body, to mingle, free from all bodily
infirmities, in the assembly of the gods. Such was the immortality
dreamed of by the philosophers, though steadfastness of grasp and of
vision was out of the question. The Holy Scriptures, however, teach
differently concerning the resurrection and eternal life; they place
this hope so plainly before our eyes as to leave no room for doubt.

7. Next in order, we find in this chapter a reflection of the
condition of the primitive world. The ten antediluvian patriarchs
belonging to the lineage of Christ, with their descendants, are
enumerated. Nor is it a useless study to put these data before one's
eyes on paper, according to the directions given by Moses, to see who
the patriarchs were, who were their contemporaries, and how old they
became, as I have taken the time to do. Cain also has his line, as
Moses has shown in the preceding chapter, and I have no doubt that the
posterity of Cain was far more numerous than that of righteous Seth.

8. From these two families, as from roots, was the world peopled, down
to the deluge, in which both branches, with their two classes of
descendants (that is, the posterity of the wicked and that of the
righteous) were rooted out of the earth, eight souls only being left,
and even among them one was wicked. Accordingly, as in this chapter a
magnificent picture of the primeval world is presented to our view, so
we behold also the incalculable wrath of God, and the horrible event
of the reduction of the total offspring of these patriarchs to eight
souls.

9. We will