whom to trust, a ground of hope whereon to rest. Faith exempted them from death; and faith shall at length redeem all the followers of the Lamb from the power of the grave. Enoch and Elijah ascended as solitary individuals; Christ as the first-fruits of them that sleep and "lifted up," is drawing an elect world unto him. They were admitted to regions unknown, and among society untried: he only returned to the place from whence he came.

poets, or orators, on the worthless and the wicked; and the solid, sterling praise conferred on the wise and good, by the Spirit of God, by whom actions are weighed, and who will at last "bring every secret thing into judgment?" And wo be unto them, who love the praise of men more than the praise of God.

Into what a little measure shrinks the whole history of mankind previous to the flood; though a period of no less than one We conclude the History of Enoch with thousand six hundred and fifty-six years! To this obvious, but we trust, not useless reflec- that great revolution of the world we are now tion-That those lives which deserve most brought; and the following Lecture, if God to be had in remembrance, are most easily permit, will contain the first part of the hisrecorded, and consist of fewest articles. The tory of Noah; in whose person, the old and new history of an Enoch is comprised in three worlds, through the vast chasm of the deluge, words, while the exploits of an Alexander, a were connected together; and who is exCæsar, or any other of the scourges and de-hibited in scripture as a type of Him, in whose stroyers of mankind, swell to many volumes. person heaven and earth are united, and by But what comparison is there between the whom all things are to be made new. May bubble reputation, bestowed by historians, God bless what has been spoken. Amen.

HISTORY OF NOAH.

LECTURE VII.

And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: and he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord had cursed.-GENESIS v. 28, 29.

THE fortunes and characters of men are corruption, and degeneracy. The natural various as their faces. What diversity has evils which flesh is heir to, were prodigiously appeared in the lives, and in the latter end, increased by irreligion and vice; so that the of those persons whose history has already earth groaned, as it were, under the curse of passed under our review, in the course of God, and the violence and impiety of men. these Exercises! Adam experienced a change Lamech, the father of Noah, with the fondmore bitter than death. Abel perished by ness and partiality of parental affection, flatthe hand of his brother. The murderer be- ters himself that his new-born son would comes a terror to himself, lives an exile, and prove a comfort to himself, and a blessing to dies unnoticed. Enoch is gloriously exempt-mankind; and, most probably directed by the ed from the stroke of death, and carried di- spirit of prophesy, bestows upon him a name rectly to heaven. Noah survives the whole significant of his future character and conhuman race, his own family excepted; lives duct; of the station which he was to fill, and to behold a world destroyed, a world restored. the purpose which he was to serve, in the We are now arrived at that memorable re-destination of Providence. He had the satisvolution, of which there exists so many strik-faction of living to see his expectations realing marks on the external appearance of the ized; and his eyes closed in peace, at a good globe; of which there are such frequent and old age, five years before that great calamity distinct intimations in the traditional monu- | which overwhelmed the human race-the ments and records of all the learned nations deluge. of antiquity; and of which it has pleased God to give such an ample and circumstantial detail in scripture.

Concerning Noah, great expectations were formed, from the moment of his birth. The orld was arrived at an uncommon pitch of

Scripture accounts for the universal depravity of that awful period, in these words; "And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were

"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord."*

Of no character does scripture speak more highly than of Noah's; "he was a just man, and perfect in his generations, and walked with God." In general calamities, it must needs happen that the innocent sufler with the guilty. But in some cases, Providence is pleased specially to interpose for the deliverance of good men. Rather than one worthy family should perish in the deluge, a whole world of transgressors is respited, till the means of safety for that family are provided. Is a sinful city or nation spared? We may rest assured there are some valuable, pious persons among them. According to the idea suggested by our blessed Lord, the righteous are "the salt of the earth," that which seasons the whole mass, and preserves it from putrefaction and corruption. The apostle Peter styles Noah "a preacher of righteousness." He was not carried away by the prevailing profligacy of his day. He preached by a holy descent from the prevailing maxims and practices of the times. He preached by an open and bold remonstrance against the general dissoluteness and impiety. And he preached at length by his works; by the construction and fitting up of the ark for the preservation of himself and family, and for saving alive a breed of the various sorts of fowls and animals.

fair; and they took them wives of all which | vour.
they chose." These expressions the most
respectable and judicious interpreters explain,
as descriptive of unhallowed and imprudent
intermarriages between the posterity of pious
Seth, here called the "sons of God," and the
female descendants of wicked Cain, denomi-
nated "the daughters of men." Attracted
by external and transitory charms, they form
alliances inconsistent with wisdom, and dis-
allowed of Heaven. The invention of the
fine arts being in the family of Cain, it is not
absurd to suppose, that these were called in
aid to personal beauty; and that the allure-
ments of music and dress in particular, were
employed by the daughters of Jubal, "the
father of all such as handle the harp and or-
gan," and of Tubal-Cain, "the instructer of
every artificer in brass and iron," to support the
impression already made by their fair looks.
What ensued? That which will always hap-
pen to piety unwisely and unequally yoking it-
self with irreligion and profanity; the evil
principle being much more powerful to per-
vert the good, than the good to reform the evil.
Giants are said to have been the issue of
those unfortunate marriages; literally, per-
haps, men of huge stature, like the sons of
Anak in latter times: certainly, men of lofty,
aspiring, haughty minds: the heirs to the
pride, vanity, and presumption of their mo-
thers, more than to the decency, wisdom, and
piety, of their male ancestors. That corrup-
tion must have been general indeed, which
comprehended all, save Noah and his house-
hold; and it must have been very grievous,
to constrain the Spirit of God to employ lan-
guage so strong and expressive as this, on the
occasion: "And it repented the Lord that
he had made man on the earth, and it grieved
him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will
destroy man, whom I have created, from the
face of the earth, both man and beast, and the
creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for
it repenteth me that I have made them."
When the whole head is sick, and the whole
heart faint, dissolution and destruction cannot
be at a great distance. "But Noah was a
just man, and perfect in his generations: and
Noah walked with God." How honourable
for Noah to stand thus single, thus distin-
guished! Goodness supported and kept in
countenance by the mode, and by multitudes,
is amiable and praiseworthy; but goodness
single and alone; goodness stemming the
torrent, resisting the contagion of example,
despising the universal sneer, braving univer-
sal opposition, such goodness is superior to
all praise and such was the goodness of
Noah. He distinguished himself in the midst
of an adulterous and sinful generation, by
his piety, righteousness, and zeal; and God,
who suffers none to lose at his hand, dis-
tinguishes him by special marks of his fa-

It is with pleasure we once more refer you to the sacred expositor of the antediluvian history: "by faith," says he, "Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark, to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." Here a crowd of ideas rush upon us at once. Behold the great God in the midst of judgment remembering mercy. He will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. But God will not vouchsafe to perform that immediately by a miracle, which may be effected by the blessing of his providence upon human foresight, industry, and diligence. He who was pleased to save Enoch, by translating him to heaven without tasting death, thought fit to preserve Noah by means of an ark of his own building. The design and contrivance is God's; the execution is man's. He who could have transported Noah to a different sphere, and have lodged him there in safety, till the waters of the flood had abated, kept him alive and in safety, rolling in the ark, upon the face of the mighty waters. He, who in the morning of the sixth day, by the almighty fiat, created at first the whole anımal world, and though lost, could have in a moment replaced it, by the word of his power, thought proper to preserve alive the race of animals, by providing a place of refuge, and † Heb. xi. 7.

* Gen vi. 8.

by a special instinct of his providence, warn- | admonition of Heaven, undertaking his great
ing them of their approaching danger and work. The foundation is laid: the fabric
conducting them to shelter.
advances; and every stroke of the axe or ham-
mer summons a thoughtless and a guilty world
to repentance: but "they will not hear, they
will not lay it to heart." I see the good man,
maligned, derided, insulted. In their gayety
of heart, they scornfully style the ark, Noah's
folly. The work is finished, but they con-
tinue to sing, dance, and play; and many, it
is probable, have an active hand in the con-
struction of that machine, to which they
scorn to resort for shelter from the impend-
ing danger. Noah is not to be diverted from
his purpose. Neither the immensity of the
undertaking, nor the length of time which it
required, nor the opposition which he meets
with from an unbelieving generation, dis-
courage him in the prosecution of a design,
planned by infinite wisdom, and recommend-
ed by divine mercy.

Behold, dreadful to think! the patience of
God at last exhausted and the decree goes
forth. "The earth also was corrupt before
God and the earth was filled with violence.
And God looked upon the earth, and behold
it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted
his way upon the earth. And God said unto
Noah, The end of all flesh is come before
me; for the earth is filled with violence
through them; and behold I will destroy
them with the earth."* God has warned,
threatened, borne with men in vain, and
Noah has preached to them'in vain. The day
of the Lord is come, and who shall be able
to stand? And who hath seen, heard of, or
is able to conceive a calamity so dreadful?
"The end of all flesh is come. I will destroy
them with the earth." Immediately upon
the fall, universal nature underwent a change.
How the whole tribe of commentators
The mild influences of the heavens were have gone into the opinion, that the space of
changed or withheld; the earth refused to one hundred and twenty years were em-
yield her increase to the hand of the culti-ployed in building the ark, is strange and un-
vator, but the full extent and awful import accountable. It appears not on the face of
of the curse was never felt till now. By the the history: it is irreconcilable to reason
deluge, the whole face of nature was to be and experience: as without a miracle, the
altered; the solid globe dissolved and dis- parts first constructed must have failed and
jointed; its parts torn asunder from each decayed before the latter parts were finished:
other: its fertility diminished; that it might and it expressly contradicts the chronologi-
present to all future generations, a magnifi- cal detail of the facts, as delivered to us in
cent palace, but in ruins: the mere skeleton scripture. For Noah was five hundred years
of ancient splendour.
old at the birth of his eldest son. When the
order for building the ark was given, all his
three sons were married, as we learn from
the following passage: "But with thee will
I establish my covenant: and thou shalt come
into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy
wife, and thy sons' wives with thee."
* The
youngest, therefore, may reasonably be sup-
posed to have seen his fiftieth year; and the
flood came upon the earth in the six hun-
dredth year of Noah's life; there is left, then,
a period considerably less than fifty years,
for the execution of the work; and it most
probably occupied a much shorter space than
even that.

Some ingenious men have supposed, that at this period, the position and motion of our earth, with respect to the sun, were changed: that till then it was so situated in relation to the heavenly bodies, as to possess an equal and universal temperature of air! that hitherto a perpetual spring went hand in hand with an abundant autumn: but that then it was placed in the slanting and oblique situation, which occasions diversity of climates and seasons; which exposes one part to the burning and direct rays of the sun binds another up in perpetual chains of darkness and ice; gives birth to volcanos, earthquakes, tempests, hurricanes, and all that tribe of na- Some minute inquirers have taken the tural evils which afflict the wretched children trouble to calculate the solid contents, and of men. The effects, undoubtedly, must thence to estimate the burthen of this wonhave been wonderful, as the event itself is derful vessel. A cubit is the distance in a altogether preternatural. I have no inten- full grown man, from the elbow to the tip of tion of going at present into a discussion of the middle finger; for the convenienty of calthe question, whether the extent of the flood culation, it has been fixed at a foot and a half was universally over all the earth; nor into of common measure. Upon this supposition, a philosophical investigation of the means the ark contained one million, seven hunemployed in producing a phenomenon so sin-dred and eighty-one thousand, three hundred gular. Taking the Bible account of the mat- and forty-six cubical feet; which, according ter in its literal import, we will rather make to the usual allowance of forty-two feet to a such reflections upon it as may, by the bless-ton, or two thousand pounds weight, makes ing of God, promote the interests of faith and of holiness in our hearts and lives. Behold then, the venerable sage, at the

* Gen. vi. 11-13.

the whole burthen to be forty-two thousand
four hundred and thirteen tons; which is
considerably more than the burthen of forty

Gen. vi. 18

ships of one thousand tons each. Such was the vast, unwieldy fabric, entrusted, without mast, sail, rudder, or compass, to the mercy of the waves; and which contained the saved remnant of the human race, and of the animal creation, with all necessary accommodation and provision for the space of more than a year.

Behold the four-footed and the feathered tribes, each according to his kind, by a peculiar instinct of Heaven, flocking to Noah, for protection from the threatening tempest, as formerly to Adam, to receive their names. The beasts take warning and hide themselves, but men, more stupid than the brutes, sin on, till they are destroyed. Every thing announced a storm gathering. Noah preaches to the last hour; admonishes, entreats, threatens, and invites. What means that preternatural gathering together of the brute creation to one place? How come they in a moment to change their nature; to seek what before they shunned; to forget all animosity towards each other? Whence is it that "the wolf dwells with the lamb, the leopard lies down with the kid, and the young lion and the fatling together?" What so brutish and incorrigible as men given up to their own lusts!

overtaken and overwhelmed. To have lengthened their miserable existence so long by vain efforts, is only to have lengthened out anguish. To fill up the measure of their misery, they perish in sight of a place of security which they cannot reach; they perish with the bitter remorse of having despised and rejected the means of escape, when they had them in their power; like the rich man in hell, whose torment was grievously augmented, by the sight of Lazarus afar off in the bosom of Abraham.

Compare with these, the feelings of Noah and his little family within the ark. They enjoy a refuge of God's providing. They have full assurance of the divine protection. Ample provision for the evil day is made. O what gratitude to their Almighty Friend! O what fervent love among themselves! O what holy composure and rest in God! O what awful reflections on the justice and severity of the great Jehovah! O what sweet and satisfying meditations on his mercy!

The sequel of Noah's history, and the comparison between him and Adam, and between him and Christ, will, if God permit, be the subject of the next Lecture. We cannot conclude the present without reflecting

On the danger and mischief which arises from forming graceless connexions. It administers a solemn and suitable admonition to the male part of my audience, who have not already contracted alliances for life, to consi

votion, as among the leading qualities to be sought after in the female character, and the only sure foundation of honourable and lasting friendship; as the basis of, and the prompter to every domestic duty.

It administers a just, and, I am sorry to add, a seasonable reproof, to that spirit of avarice and selfishness, together with that criminal love of pleasure, which too much characterise the young men of the present day, and to which the higher considerations of piety, modesty, and accomplishments really useful and ornamental, are daily sacrificed.

At length all is safely housed, from the dove to the raven, and God shuts in Noah with his charge. When lo! the face of heaven is covered with blackness. Nature shudders at the frown of an angry God-the win-der a principle of religion, and a taste for dedows of heaven are opened; the rain descends amain: the barriers that confined the ocean to its appointed bed are removed, and the waters from beneath start up to meet the waters coming down from above, and join their streams to avenge a holy and righteous God of his adversaries. The gradual increase of the calamity is a dreadful aggravation of its horror. Thick clouds first gave the alarm. Rain uncommonly heavy, and of longer than ordinary continuance, increases the growing surprise and consternation. The voice of mirth is heard no more, and "all the daughters of music are brought low." By degrees the rivers swelling over their banks, and seas forgetting their shores, render the plains and the valleys no places of safety. But the lofty mountains will afford a refuge from the growing plague. Thither, in trembling hope, the wretches fly. The gathered tempest will surely spend itself, and serenity return. Ah, vain hope! the swelling surge gains continually upon them; all is become sea; the foundations of the hills are shaken by the tide; it advances upon them. As their last resource they climb the trees which cover the mountain tops, and cling to them in despair. Their neighbours and friends sink in the gulf before their eyes! their ears are filled with the shrieks of them that perish. All is amazement and wo. At length they are all

It instructs my female hearers, too, in the knowledge of what constitutes their real worth and excellence. "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised."* General declaimers against the female sex have got excellent topics for their spleen, in the seduction of the first man by Eve, and the corruption of the old world by the daughters of Cain. I would make a kinder use of these sad events, by considering them as instances of the great power which women have over men; and hence earnestly call upon Christian women, to cultivate with care and dilįgence the graces of that character, and to employ their influence, according to their different relations and opportunities, to dif Proverbs xxxi. 30. •

HISTORY OF NOAH.

fuse a taste for what is decent, pious, and | ever shall confess me before men, him will I
[LECT. VIII.
praiseworthy; and they may rest assured that confess also before my Father which is in
their friends of the other sex will at least heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before
study to appear, what they would have them men, him will I also deny before my Father
to be.
which is in heaven."

You have heard of the destruction of the old world by water; your eyes shall behold that which now is, destroyed by fire. The preservation of Noah, by means which God appointed, is a striking type of the method of salvation from sin, death, and hell, by Jesus Christ. The present day of merciful visitation, is the precious season of resorting to that stronghold and place of defence; and to you the call is once more given, “look to me and be saved;"" labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give come to me, all ye that

The example of Noah is a loud call to aim at singular goodness. The multitude of offenders lessens neither the criminality, nor the danger of any one. Let none then think of "following a multitude to do evil." Community in vice may seem to diminish the guilt of sin, but community in suffering, is a bitter aggravation of it. Dare to stand, though alone, in the cause of God and truth; knowing that wicked men themselves revere that goodness which they do not love, and secretly approve the virtue which they will not cultivate. Remember who hath said, "Whoso- | you rest."

HISTORY OF NOAH.

LECTURE VIII.

And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged.-GENESIS viii. 1.

and effects, are, upon the whole, and in the end, unspeakable blessings. The wrath of man, and judgments of which men are the authors, like the uncontrolled rage of devouring flames, spare nothing; they consume root and branch together. But divine justice, like the refiner's fire, lays hold only of the dross, and bestows on the remaining ore greater purity and value.

THE word and the providence of God are the only infallible interpreters of his nature. The existence, and the order of the visible creation, evince the being of one Eternal Cause of all things, infinite in wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, mercy, and truth. But the harmony, the extent and limits of the divine attributes and perfections, are to be discovered only by observing what comes to pass; and by reading and understanding what God has been pleased to commit to writing, other instances which might be adduced, is a The history of the deluge, among many for our instruction. The light of nature is plain and a striking illustration of these obsufficient, for example, to instruct as, that servations. The last Lecture exhibited the God is righteous; and experience assures us, fearful triumph of divine justice. We beheld that he is merciful; but without the help of heaven from above, the earth and ocean from revelation, and the history of providence, we beneath, uniting their forces in their Maker's could not, we durst not say, where justice cause; "the windows of heaven opened," the would stop, and when the tide of mercy would "fountains of the great deep broken up,' begin to flow. And is it not pleasant and en-blending their waters, to overwhelm a world couraging to reflect, upon the authority of of ungodly men. both scripture and experience, that justice, globe then present to the surrounding spheres; What a prospect did this the awful and formidable perfection of the Involved in gross darkness for forty days tomost high God, has its bounds; whereas good-gether: and when the light returns, no dry ness and tender mercy swell over all limits, land appears, for even "all the high hills possessing a height and depth, a length and which were under the whole heaven were breadth, which surpass knowledge? Justice, covered:" And O, tremendous object of diis the river confined within its banks, and vine vengeance!" All flesh died, that moved terminating its course in the sea; mercy, the upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, unconfined, immeasurable ocean, in survey- and of beasts, and of every creeping thing ing the vast extent of which, the eye fails, that creepeth upon the earth, and every man. and thought itself is lost. It is, moreover, de- | All, in whose nostrils was the breath of life, lightful to consider, that the very judgments of all that was in the dry land, died. And of Heaven, however dreadful in their nature every living substance was destroyed which