CHAPTER II.

THE DELUGE, AND HISTORY OF NOAH.

ALL the history of the first 1656 years after the Creation is comprised in a very few chapters of the Book of Genesis. And the principal thing told us is, that soon there were far more wicked men on the earth than good ones, and that the former so overran the world, that God determined to show his indignation against sin, by destroying the world with a flood. But he gave the inhabitants ample notice of his intention; for we read that God said, "His days shall be one hundred and twenty years," that is, he would spare man for one hundred and twenty years longer before he sent the flood; and Noah was for a long time building the ark openly before men's eyes; and its progress would of course be a constant warning to the world. Indeed he is

called by St. Peter, "a preacher of righteousness."

So God gave Noah very full and particular directions how he was to make the ark; and directed him to place in it all his family, consisting of himself and his wife, and his three sons and their wives, with a sufficient number of animals to repeople the earth after the Flood.

We are told that the waters prevailed, that is, the rain continued to fall, forty days and nights; also that the fountains of the great deep were broken up,-though we cannot be sure what that expression means,-and that the tops of the highest mountains were covered with the flood, so that all the people and the cattle died, save those which Noah had with him in the ark. Noah twice sent out a dove, so that he might ascertain the state of the earth's surface; and since, after one hundred and fifty days, the dove returned no more, he concluded that the ground was dry; but he waited until God gave him a command to go out of the ark.

As such a calamity as this would naturally inspire terror in the minds of Noah and his family, God gave them a promise that he would. never so destroy the world again: and in testi

mony of this promise, and as an assurance to Noah, and all mankind, God appointed the bow in the clouds to be a perpetual witness of his promise; so that when rain falls, the bow should be visible. He gave also this additional promise, that there should be a continuous succession of seasons; or, as it is described in Scripture, seedtime and harvest, summer and winter, should

never cease.

Noah then built an altar, and so commenced his life in the new world with a solemn act of worship and dedication of himself and his family to the service of God.

It does not appear, however, that the posterity of Noah long continued faithful to God, for they desired to be, as they thought, independent of God, by building a lofty tower for refuge in case of a similar flood. But this impious and absurd design was soon put an end to by God's confounding the language of the men, and so causing them to separate, and spread themselves over the earth, and form different nations. And the great leading divisions of the families were these: Shem was to be the father of the Asiatics, Ham of the Africans, and Japhet of the Europeans. The descendants of Ham

were to be an inferior race; and there was a remarkable prophecy that Japhet should dwell in the tents of Shem, which is being most plainly fulfilled in the constant migration of Europeans into the countries peopled by the descendants of Shem, as Asia, America, and Australia, all of which doubtless sprung from one stock.

Some few fresh laws were given to Noah, and were applicable to all, both Jews and Gentiles; and they are therefore binding upon all men now. They principally relate to the value of human life, and declare that, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made he man." And again it is very forcibly stated that in eating flesh, we are not to eat the blood, because it is the life.

CONVERSATION ON CHAPTER II.

Daughter. It is said that God repented that he had made man upon the earth. But I remember reading in Scripture that "God is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent." How am I to understand this?

Father. In many Scriptural expressions concerning the Almighty, we find words used which cannot be strictly applied to him; as the use of hands, and arms, and other parts of a human body; whereas we know that God is a Spirit. Hence we conclude that such expressions have been used solely to give us some idea of God's exerting his power, and to suit the comprehension of mankind, especially in early times, when men were little instructed in the nature of spiritual things. And so we believe that the word "repent" is used to indicate what would seem to human eyes an alteration of purpose, and such a change of mind as we should consider a man would show, who, after having spent much pains in producing an excellent work, was then to destroy it. But all Scripture forbids us to believe that the Almighty was disappointed in his work, and did not know what would be the result when he made man. As St. James says (Acts xv. 18), "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world."

D. Have we any reason to think that the Deluge extended over the whole world?

F. Yes; more than one reason; for, since