AFTER the murder of Abel, another son was born, whom Eve named Seth. “For God,” said she, “hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.”MEDM August 26, 1908, page 675.1

“And to Seth, to him also, there was born a son; and he called his name Enos.” Seth was indeed “instead of Abel;” for he, as had been Abel, was a worshiper of the Lord in truth. And Seth’s son Enos was also one who walked in the Lord’s way. And the influence of these two was so remarkable for good that it is written, “Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.” Genesis 4:26.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 675.2

Another translation is that “then began men to proclaim the name of the Lord.” Both thoughts are correct, for when men called upon the name of the Lord, they did it in a way to let it be known by others; to persuade them also to call upon the name of the Lord. And the results of this gospel preaching were then such as always—men were born again, and so became sons of God.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 675.3

And the distinction was so clear between those who worshiped the Lord and those who did not that these were called “by the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26, margin) and so were called “the sons of God,” the people of the Lord, etc., as distinguished from those who were only the children of men and of natural birth.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 675.4

Through nine generations this genuine gospel work prevailed; and in such sincerity and power that by it one man was brought to such height of divine living that he never died, but actually passed alive from this world into the world of eternity. “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him.”MEDM August 26, 1908, page 675.5

But gradually the people of God forgot their high calling, loosed down their integrity and stepped down from the high estate of the sons of God and mingled themselves with the seed of men in the ways of the flesh. “The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took themselves wives of all which they chose.” Genesis 6:2.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 675.6

Note that it was not that they took themselves wives of only such as they chose, as if each one had taken him a wife from the daughters of men. “They took themselves wives of all which they chose;” they entered upon the polygamous practice of the sons of Cain. If they had maintained their integrity, then the sons of God taking from the daughters of men, bringing in from the descendants of Cain, each of them only a wife, would have been bad enough. For, such numbers of unconverted women, caring nothing for the way of God, and knowing only the wild ways of the descendants of Cain, could have had no other effect than to wipe out the clear distinction between the children of God and the children of this world.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 676.1

That, we say, would have been bad enough if only that had been done. But that is not what was done. It was not that the sons of God brought the daughters of men across the line and over into the field of the children of God; it was the far worse thing of the sons of God crossing the line and going over into the field of the daughters of men, the field of the descendants of Cain, and adopting their polygamous practices. And the effect of this was as a mighty tide to sweep the world into the very depths. So long as the sons of God kept themselves on their own side of the line of the gospel distinction, their life of the righteousness of faith was through conscience and the presence of the Spirit a restraint upon the evil tendencies of the descendants of Cain. But when they abandoned their own native ground of the sons of God, and went over to that of the descendants of Cain, this was only to encourage the descendants of Cain by putting the fullest seal of approval upon their evil courses. It was to say that the Gospel distinction that had been made was a mistake from the beginning, and that the descendants of Cain had been right all the time.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 676.2

Of course the only effect of this was to encourage a perfect abandon to every kind of excess without restraint. And so in the tenth generation from Adam, and only the third from Enoch, the wickedness of man had become so great in the earth that “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” The spring of every thought, the spontaneous impulse of every purpose, the deepest depth of every desire, was only evil continually; and all of this continually manifesting itself in excessive and unrestrained eating and giving in marriage, till “the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence; ... for all flesh had corrupted His way upon the earth.”MEDM August 26, 1908, page 676.3

But lo! there was one man in the world who in the midst of it all and in spite of it all stood true to God and thus true to the right. “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” Literally, “Noah set himself to walk with God.” And when Noah set himself to walk with God, God responded with the assurance, and was certified, that “Noah walked with God.”MEDM August 26, 1908, page 676.4

But how could Noah do this! How could he be “a just man” and “perfect in is generation,” and “walk with God,” when all the world beside, and all round him everywhere, was so entirely and continually evil. He could do this just as truly with the world all this way as with all the other way; for it was all outside of him. And it is never what is outside us, but what is inside of us, that decides our cause and makes the way of right easy or otherwise to us. Noah was son of God by birth. He had made God his portion. God was his king, ruling in him and reigning over him. This is Noah’s fixed choice; and whatever others might choose, made no difference to him, and could not affect has course. And so “Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generation’s; and Noah walked with God.”MEDM August 26, 1908, page 676.5

“And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of be.”MEDM August 26, 1908, page 676.6

In the days, and at the time of the coming of the Son of man the earth will be corrupt, and filled with violence, as in the days of Noah. Also, thank the Lord, there will be those who in the midst of it all and in spite of it all will be just men and perfect in their generation,and will walk with God.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 676.7

And in that day Noah’s righteous example and instruction carried with him his as whole family. In the presence of universal polygamy it held his three sons true to the way of the true sons of God in the marriage bond as established by the Lord, when all the professed sons of God had gone in the way of the children of men in taking to themselves “wives of all which they chose.” And this shows what could have been done, if all the professed sons of God had been true sons of God as was Noah—each a just men and perfect in his generation and walking with God.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 677.1

And this in turn tells that it was not so much the wickedness of the confessedly wicked, as it was the sheer formalism and denial of the power of godliness—of the general looseness—of the professedly righteous that brought the Flood.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 677.2

In this also, also it was in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. As it is written, “In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.”MEDM August 26, 1908, page 677.3

Yet let it never be forgotten that still, “as it was in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be;” “and Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”MEDM August 26, 1908, page 677.4

“The Northwestern Sanitarium” The Medical Missionary, 17, 34, pp. 684, 685.

ATJ

THE Northwestern Sanitarium is at Port Townsend, Wash. Port Townsend is on the western shore of Puget Sound, at the point where that shore of the Sound turns to the westward along the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Ocean.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 684.1

The Sanitarium is a well-built four-story structure of two hundred finished rooms, one hundred and twenty-five of which are nicely furnished and invitingly fitted up singly and en suite for the use of guests and patients.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 684.2

The institution is conducted by Dr. and Mrs. W. R. Simmons as an agency in the blessing of mankind through the knowledge and application of the principles of physiological therapeutics. Good success is attending them, and has been from the day that they opened it. Not only is the building well fitted up for the work to which it is devoted, but it is ideally located for a sanitarium. Let us take a look out and around and see what lies open to the view.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 684.3

Suppose yourself to be sitting on the front porch, or in one of the front rooms of the second story, as I am while writing this. Immediately in front of you, to the east, lies a beautiful lawn extending about five hundred feet to the water of the harbor. This harbor is three miles wide and seven miles long, and stand as one of the best anchorage harbors in the world. Even as I write these lines there are lying at anchor on the water so close as to seem almost in speaking distance, fifteen great ocean-going sailing ships. Beyond these in plain view can be seen sound and ocean steamers passing in or out to or from Seattle and other ports of Puget Sound. To your left about a half a mile away lies the town of Port Townsend, a place of about five thousand inhabitants.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 684.4

Beyond the harbor are a number of evergreen wooded, islands, and beyond these is the mainland, which stretches away in the distance, to the Cascade range of mountains, where in plain view there stand like mighty sentinels many lofty snow-clad peaks.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 685.1

Leaving this view point, and going to the west or to the south side of the building, the beautiful evergreen wooded hills are seen stretching away to the westward to the Olympic range of mountains, with its peaks standing up so many, so sharp, and so well-aligned that it looks like a great crosscut saw lying teeth upward. Directly to the southward lie thickly the islands of the Sound, and the hills of the mainland, clad everywhere in their beautiful evergreen, and Mt. Rainier in the distance furnishes the finishing of the picture.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 685.2

To the northward lies the town of Port Townsend, more islands of the Sound, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 685.3

These beautiful views are had as one sits on the front porch, or in the front rooms above, or by walking to the ends of the building. But when you ascend the stairs to the top of the building, you see it all at once in one grand and glorious panorama of lofty peaks, snowy mountains, hilly mainland, wooded islands, nestling town, floating shipping, and silvery waters; and any of it an inspiration and an enjoyment that of itself is an inducement to health.MEDM August 26, 1908, page 685.4

ALONZO T. JONES.

August 19, 1908

September 9, 1908