sons in one day, his original breach of the Divine command.

By our acquaintance with the laws and the transactions of the Jews; and also with the history of different Pagan nations, we are made so familiar with the practice of sacrifices, that it does not strike our minds as singular. Yet if we regard it as a human invention, scarcely any thing can appear less capable of an easy explanation. How could any man think that to take away the life of an unoffending animal, and to consume its slesh in the fire, would be a deed calculated to procure for him the favour of God? If it be disficult to answer this question in the case of a heathen, much more disficult is it in the case of Abel. For, as the use of flesh for food was not permitted before the deluge, to slaughter an harmless animal was an act to which Abel would be unaccustomed; and one which, unless it were commanded by the Almighty, he would probably estimate as a crime. These considerations lead us to believe that sacrifices were of divine institution; and that they were enjoined on the family of Adam and on his individual descendents, as we know that they were afterwards made a part of the religious worship of the Jewish people, principally with a view to raise thJr thoughts and expectations habitually to that esilc"ual atonement, which was to be accomplished in the fulness of time by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. The use of sacrifices thus introduced would gradually extend itself among heathen nations.

When

'When the third generation of men had arisen npon earth, we may conclude that iniquity had. spread far and wide: for then the family of Seth, joined in all probability by others of a similar disposition, appear to have been distinguished from the rest of men, on account of their adherence to true religion, by being called "by the name of the "- Lord (/>);" being styled according to the He« brew idiom, the " sons," that is to fay, the followers and servants, of God (7)." sn process of time, however, the general corruption overwhelmed them also. The sons of God took to themselves wives of "the daughters of men ;'* the daughters of the un^ righteous offspring of Cain. In consequence of these intermarriages the contagion of iniquity became universal. Husband and wife, parent and child, relation, friend, acquaintance, became the victims of "evil communication," which from those days to the days of St. Paul, and from the days of St. Paul to the present hour, has corrupted and "corrupts good manners e* (r) ," and seldom more fatally than in the case of persons, who unite themselves by marriage with others whose hearts are devoid of true religion. The consequences of these most rash and dangerous connections are emphatically stated in few words by the saeved historian: "God saw that the wickedness "of man was great in the earth; and that every "imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only

"evil

(.p) Gen. iv. 26. "Then began men to call themselves by ** the name of the Lord"—as tlu verse ^is rightly translated in l&e margin of the Bible.

(g) Gen. vi. 2. (r) I Cor. xv. 23.

it

"evil continually.—And the Lord said, I will de"stroy man, whom I have created, from off the

face of the earth (s)." Yet here again the Divine justice was tempered with mercy. The execution of the sentence was delayed. God declared that the days of man upon earth, the period of trial during which the universal destruilion should be postponed that opportunity might be afforded for repentance, should be one hundred and twenty years. But trial was granted in vain. The fatal period drew to its close. *'• God looked upon the earth, "and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corw rupted his way upon the earth. And God said "unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before "me (J)."

Though the Divine Wisdom reserves for a future life the great distribution of rewards and punishments between the righteous aud the wicked; yet it frequently distinguishes even in this world the faithful servant of the Almighty by signal mercies and blessings, while it crushes the workers of iniquity with exemplary vengeance. Thus it was on the approach of the deluge: " Noah found grace "in the eyes of the Lord." The cause is assigned in the next verse: "Noah was a just man, and per"sect in his generations, and Noah walked with "God (11)." So likewise when God afterwards said unto Noah, "Come thou, and all thy house ** into the ark;" he immediately subjoins the reason of this gracious deliverance: *: for thee have I

"seen

(s) Gen. vi. 5—7. (/) Gen. vi. 12, 13. (a) Gen. vi. 8, 9.

** seen righteous before me in this generation (v)." St. Peter, speaking of the old world, char .cterises Noah by the appellation of " a preacher of right"eousness (w)." From that expression we may conclude that he was not only an example of religion in his own private conduct, but that he publicly protested against the abandoned depravity of the human race; strenuously laboured to rouse the sinners to a conviction of their guilt; and denounced against the unrepenting world the impending judgments of God. Confiding in the merciful protection of that Power whom he loved and obeyed, he entered the ark with his family; and with those individuals of the animal race, which God had brought to him that they might be preserved to replenish the earth: and "the Lord shut "him in." Then "were all the fountains of the "great deep broken up;" the ocean was heaved out of its bed by convulsions and earthquakes; and "the windows of heaven were opened:" floods of rain rushed from the sky: " the waters prevailed "exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high "hills that were under the whole heaven were co"vered." The ark, containing the sole remnants of the human race and of the animated world, floated on the boundless deluge.

This awful testimony of the Divine indignation against sin took place, as the Scriptures expressly affirm, when Noah was six hundred years old; and, according to the common computation, one thousand six hundred and fifty seven years after the creation

(u) Gen. vii. I. (w) z Peter, ii. 5.

ation of the world, and two thousand three hundred and forty seven years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

At the expiration of one hundred and fifty days the waters were so far abated, that the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat, in Armenia. At the end often weeks more the summits of the mountains appeared above the surface of the flood. At length, on the first day of the succeeding new year, Noah, after having successively sent forth a raven and a dove, that he might judge, accordingly as they should return to him or not, of the state of the ground, removed the covering of the ark; and perceived that the surface of the earth was dried. And on the twenty-seventh day of the second month, after having resided in the ark one year and some days, he and all its inhabitants, by Divine command, descended from the frail fabric, in which Omnipotence had preserved them amid the universal destruction of their fellow-creatures.

On this second father of mankind, and on his family, the Supreme Being conferred blessings and privileges in most respects similar to those which he had bestowed on their first parents: confirming to them the sovereignty of the earth and of the inferior animated creation; and in one point enlarging the original grant, by permitting to them the use of animal food. To remove the apprehensions of another deluge, by which it might not be unnatural for them or their descendants to be harrassed; he solemnly declared, that there never should again be a flood to destroy the earth. And with the most benignant