What lesson did the Deluge teach relative to God?

No moral lesson can be more awfully impressive than that which the preceding representation of the deluge conveys. What can be a more affecting manifestation of the divine holiness, to every age and generation of man than this; that such was the unappeasable abhorrence in which sin was held by the Omnipotent Creator, that the very earth which had been the scene of the wickedness of the Antediluvians, as though polluted and contaminated, and rendered detestable by their crimes, was hurled away for ever from view, and buried beneath the waters of the ocean?

Was this lesson enforced by the attendant circumstances of the Deluge?

To the unhappy rebels themselves, this lesson must have been fearfully exhibited by the circumstances which immediately attended the catastrophe itself. It has been well observed by an author just quoted, that "they were to witness the progress of the vast scheme of destruction, which their wickedness had provoked. They were to be taught experimentally, that their place of habitation was passing away from them, and was no longer to remain a dwelling accommodated for the service of animal life. They were to be terrified by the sight of the various instruments of vengeance, by which the power of God could execute his curse; and they were to foretaste destruction in every stage of its advance until its actual and ultimate arrival." Great therefore was the purpose, and equal must have been the effect of the terrific prelude of a rain of forty days, and of all the accompaniments of horror which attended it, which are thus awfully represented by the learned Jew, Philo, either by reasonable inference or from national tradition. "The vast ocean, being raised to an height which it had never before attained, rushed with a sudden inroad upon the islands and continents. The springs, rivers, and cataracts, confusedly mingling their streams, contributed to elevate the waters. Neither was the air quiet. Dense and continuous clouds, covered the whole heavens; violent hurri

canes, thunders and lightnings, were blended with unintermitting torrents of rain, so that it seemed, as if all parts of the universe were resolving themselves into the single element of water, until the fluid mass, having at length accumulated from the waters from above and from below, not only the lower lands, but even the summits of the highest mountains were submerged and disappeared. For every part of the earth sank beneath the water, and the entire and perfect system of the world, became what it is not lawful either to speak or think, mutilated and deformed by a vast amputation."

Have any commemorative traditions been preserved of the Deluge?

In almost every country under heaven, have been discovered symbolical representations of that great event, in which all mankind were interested through the medium of Noah, and traditions corroborative of the Mosaic account of the deluge. It is plainly impossible within the limits of this work, to present to the reader an account of all these traditions, however great their intrinsic interest, and corroborative impor tance. One of these accounts, however we shall quote from Lucian. He says "that the story related of Deucalion the Scythian, is as follows. The present race of men is not the first, for they totally perished; but is of a second generation, which being descended from Deucalion, has increased to a great multitude. Now of the former race of men, they relate this story. They were insolent and were addicted to unjust actions; for they neither kept their oaths, nor were hospitable to strangers, nor gave ear to suppliants, for which reason this great calamity befel them. On a sudden the earth poured forth a vast quantity of water, great showers fell, the rivers overflowed, and the sea rose to a prodigious height, so that all things became water, and all men were destroyed; only Deucalion was left to a second generation. On account of his prudence and piety, he was saved in this manner. He went into a large ark or chest, which he had fabricated, together with his sons and their wives; and when he was in, there entered swine, and horses, and lions, and serpents, and all

other creatures which live on the earth, by pairs. He received them all, and they did him no harm, for the Gods created a great amity among them, so that they all sailed in one chest or ark, while the waters prevailed. These things the Greeks say of Deucalion." -Passing over other accounts, equally applicable to the subject, it may be affirmed, that similar traditions have been preserved among the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Mahommedans, the Chinese, the Hindoos, the Druidical inhabitants of Britain, and in fact wherever tradition has been maintained, or commemorative rites have been instituted. Nor is this extraordinary fact to be lightly regarded; nor are the labours of those eminent and learned men by whom it has been ascertained, to be despised as useless and trivial; for it furnishes the strongest possible proof of the credibility of the Mosaic narrative, and thus gives energy to our confidence in the truth of all the histories contained in the books written by the same great author. Whatever may be the sneers, or the sophis try, or the malignity, of a wretched and impious ́infidelity, which, with respect to this subject, is completely baffled on its own ground, and confuted on its own principles, here, at any rate, there can be no doubt, here there can be no dispute. By the united testimony of all mankind, in every country, of every religion; where there are no "prejudices" derived either from Hebrew institutions, or the influences of Christianity; by the testimony of savage and of sage, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, from the North to the South, our credence in the history of the deluge, and therefore our belief in the Inspiration of the Sacred Volume is confirmed. Here A DIVINE REVELATION WAS IMPARTED, here THE PURPOSE OF THE ETERNAL BY HIMSELF WAS MADE KNOWN.-" By faith 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."

SECTION III.

THE IMMEDIATE POSTERITY OF NOAH.

WHAT was the history of Noah subsequent to the Deluge?

THE mighty revolution which the deluge effected upon the globe having been completed, the earth having again been clothed with fertility and verdure by the same almighty power which at the creation prepared it for the habitation of man, so that the dove which Noah sent from the ark brought him back an olive leaf as a token that the waters were assuaged, the venerable patriarch, with his family, and the animals which had so long been confined upon the bosom the deep, abandoned the ark and went abroad into the world. The first act of Noah was to present a sacrifice to the Lord as an expression of gratitude for his wonderful deliverance; his offering was accepted; a covenant was made with him, in which it was promised that the world should no more be overwhelmed with the waters, in which all the animals of the field, as well as the fruits of the earth, were freely bestowed upon man for his support, and the rainbow was exhibited as the perpetual evidence of the mercy and faithfulness of God. With the impartiality which distinguishes the Sacred Writings, and upon which in a subsequent part of this volume some observations will be found, the incaution, or the guilt of the aged Noah, is related, in permitting himself to be intoxicated by indulgence in wine. The unnatural and indecent ridicule of Ham, who scoffed at the melancholy condition of his father, formed a dark contrast with the modesty and filial piety of Shem and Japhet his brothers, who concealed the shame and infirmity of their parent. When Noah recovered from the effects of his intemperance, and discovered the conduct of his sons, he pronounced a heavy curse upon Ham, the effects of which were entailed upon his posterity, while Shem and Japhet received the

blessing of his paternal gratitude and love. Noah survived the deluge three centuries and a half; he lived to see a new race of men proceeding to populate the globe; and he died, the last example of patriarchal dignity and longevity, at the age of nine hundred and fifty years.

Did the posterity of Noah rapidly increase?

The posterity of Noah rapidly increased, they soon employed themselves in those pursuits which occupy the attention of man in every age, they began at a deplorably early period to exemplify the effects of pride, avarice, and ambition, and to form schemes of aggrandizement and plans of empire. From the mountainous country where the ark had rested, they soon descended to the fertile plains, which are watered by the Tigris and the Euphrates. Melancholy must have been the reflections of Noah, when he saw his descendants, almost rivalling in profligacy the generation which had been destroyed by the flood, and commencing an enterprise the most absurd, the most presumptuous, and the most impious, in which the children of men ever engaged.

What design did the children of Noah attempt to accomplish on the plain of Shinar?

The infatuation and folly, and at the same time the superstition and unbelief of the de- A. M. 1775. scendants of Noah, when they arrived upon the plain of Shinar, was strikingly displayed in the almost insane enterprise in which they engaged. "They said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." By this wicked proposition, they not only virtually affirmed that God might violate the positive promise which he made to Noah, but by the extravagant pride which dictated their intention, they threw off all allegiance to their King and their God. That they made considerable progress in the construction of the city and tower is evident; and perhaps the effects of the labour were afterwards seen in that stupendous fabric, the tower of Belus in Babylon; which, however contradictory may be the statements and calcula