CHAPTER SIX
THE LESSONS OF THE AGES FROM ADAM TO ABRAHAM

Whatever lessons we can learn in the Bible from the Pre-Adamic Ages of the earth had to be learned afresh by Adam and his progeny, for no account of the ruined past was available to them. But history repeated itself, and the sin of Cain spread such violence through the earth that once again the Lord sent a flood, which swept away a whole civilisation. Yet even after such a tremendous lesson and the kindly promises and warnings of God to Noah and his family, a corrupt society again rose up. Men preferred their own handiwork to the loving provision of the Almighty, and simple country life degenerated into the dangerous pleasures of city life, which proved so alluring that not even the memories of the flood were sufficient to deter men from their selfishness and cruelty. They built the Tower of Babel to reach unto Heaven and so save themselves from another flood, and God was obliged (by the confusion of tongues) to separate them into mutually hostile camps lest together they should exceed in evil. Thus it again became apparent that men could turn a Paradise into a nightmare of fear and cruelty, if they so desired, and that free will had its dangers!

It was, however, in this gross darkness that God lit a small candle which, though dim at first, was to blaze into the full glory of Calvary. Thus began at God's behest a system of sacrifice for sin (Genesis 4:4-7 and 8:20). True that at first