After his creation man was placed by his Maker in the beautiful and pleasant garden of Eden, or Delight (probably either in Babylonia or Armenia). He was not to live in dreamy indolence or luxurious enjoyment; but, as work of some kind is necessary for his well-being while on earth, he was placed in a garden, to dress and keep it--the easiest way of life. He was surrounded by his beneficent Creator with all the joys of an earthly , with everything his heart could wish--fruits and flowers, groves and streams, inoffensive animals, perfect health of soul and body, a lovely wife, and the frequent companionship of his kind and omnipotent Maker, who delighted to minister to his happiness. But man must be taught the all-important truth that he is under obligations to, and dependent upon, his Divine, Sovereign Creator, Preserver and Benefactor.

    It was the prerogative and pleasure of God to give law for the government of all things created by Him, whether in relation to the motion of the planets or the creeping of an insect, and therefore man could not be exempt from that universal rule. Adam had a law given him which he must obey or forfeit the approbation of his Maker. It was given to him before Eve was formed and presented to him as his wife; but as she was virtually in him when he received the law, it was equally binding on her. He was the head of his wife and whole human race, and represented both her and them. He was as innocent and pure as an angel in heaven, and stood forth, in the image of God, the admiration of the angelic throng as well as of the immense multitude of living creatures around him, all of which belonged to him and were obedient to his commands. In the midst or centre of the garden were two peculiar trees, called "the tree of life" and "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." The exact species or nature of these two trees is now unknown to man. It is supposed that "the tree of life" was an evergreen tree of unremitting productiveness, the fruit of which when eaten tended to preserve the natural health and life of man forever (Gen. iii. 22), and that it was a symbol or type of the true "tree of life," or Christ, in the heavenly (Revelation ii. 7; xxii. 9). The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" is thought to have been of an intoxicating, or morally poisonous nature, the prohibition of whose fruit was a mercy, as well as a test of man’s obedience and fidelity to God. In man's unfallen and happycondition we cannot think of a more appropriate or a more benevolent test. This arrangement was the covenant of works (Hosea vi. 7; Isaiah i. 19, 20; Romans x. 5; Gal. iii. 12).

    God said to Adam this: "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. ii. 16, 17). We discover the love of God to Adam in this enlarged liberty bestowed on him, and the small restraint imposed. Yet he could not willingly bear the restraint, however small. He was made able to stand, but liable to fall; and in the hour of temptation he fell, and great was that fall. This was a notable epoch in his history; it changed the whole course of his conduct, and involved himself and posterity * in guilt and ruin. He was assailed through the weaker vessel, his wife. It was human nature, unaided by the power of God's grace, that was assailed and captured. This temptation was no fancy sketch, figure or allegory. It was a reality, and penned down in the Book of God by the Holy Ghost, and frequently mentioned in the sacred volume (John viii. 44; 2 Cor. xi. 8; 1 Tim. ii. 14; Rev. xii. 9; Romans v. 12-19; xvi. 20).

*As the remedy is determined by the disease, one's whole system of theology is decided by his view of original sin. Pelagianism (so called from Pelagius, a British monk of the fifth century), which is a form, not of Christianity, but of Rationalism. asserts that Adam's sin injured only himself; that men are born into the world in the same unfallen state in which Adam was created; that men may, and sometimes do, live without sin: that the law is as good a system of salvation as the gospel: that men have no need of divine assistance in order to be holy: and that Christianity has no essential superiority over heathenism or natural religion. But it is the plain testimony of Scripture, as well as of all known experience and history, and it has always been the doctrine of both the Jewish and the Christian Church, that the sin and guilt of Adam were imputed to all his posterity. Adam was the natural and federal head and representative of his race. Everything said or granted or promised or threatened to him had as much reference to his posterity, as to himself. They, like him, have dominion over the lower animals: their law of marriage is like his; the penalty of transgression pronounced upon him has fallen upon them; the earth is cursed to them, as to him; they too have to earn their bread in the sweat of their face; the daughters of Eve suffer the same peculiar pains as their mother; all mankind, even unborn infants, die, and their bodies return to dust. Since the fall our first parents, all their posterity have been born outside of Eden, away from the favor of God, and with the sinful natures of the first fallen pair (Eph. ii. 1-3). It seemed good (Matt. xi. 26) to our wise and holy Creator that our race should have its probation or trial in Adam. Adam, when created, was surrounded with a multiplicity of the most exquisite means of innocent enjoyment: he had no natural inclination to evil; he had no known bad company; he was not a child, but a man in the maturity of his powers; he had the noblest possible motives to stand; there is absolutely no reason to believe that any one of his descendants would have done better. Had he stood, we should have enjoyed all the benefits of his obedience. Just as Christ, the second Adam, is the federal head and representative of all His people, and they are made alive and righteous by His obedience, so the first Adam was the federal head and representative of all his children, and, by his disobedience, they were all made unrighteous and spiritually dead (Rom. v. 19; 1 Cor. xv. 22, 45; Eph. ii. 1). The inborn depravity of human nature is proved by the early manifestation, the universality, and the incorrigibility of sin, by the abundant testimony of both the Old and New Testament Scriptures (Gen. vi. 5; viii. 21; Job xiv. 4; xxv. 4; Psalms xiv. 3; Ii. v; Isaiah i. 5, 6: Jer. xvii. 9: Matt. vii. 16-20; xv. 19; John iii. 6: Rom. iii. 9-20, etc.) by the necessity of redemption by the death of Christ, and of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, by the experience of all Christians, by the whole course of human history_, and by the universality of death. The Wesleyans, while admitting the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity, maintain that such imputation was Just in God only on condition that He should give every individual of the human family sufficient grace in Christ to enable him, if he chooses, to attain salvation--thus taking back with the left hand what they give us with the right, and making themselves semi-Pelagians, and contradicting the whole tenor of the Scriptures, which everywhere affirm or imply that God’s gift of Christ was an act of pure and unmerited mercy.

    The mysterious principle of representation pervades both Scriptures and nature (Gen. ix. 22, 25; xxv. 34, compared with Obadiah 19; Ex. xx. 5; xxxiv. 6, 7; Num. xvi. 32, 33; Josh. vi. 25; vii. 24, 25; 1 Sam. iii.14; xv. 2, 3; 2 Sam. xii.10; xxi. 1-9; 1 Kings v. 27; Jer. xxxii; 18; Matt. xxiii. 35, etc.) The God of nature visits the crimes and vices of individuals in many ways upon their posterity. By finite minds God’s "judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out" (Rom. xi. 33). But, though "clouds and darkness are round about Him," his children know that "justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne." (Psalm xcvii. 2). We cannot understand the doctrine of representation or imputation, any more than we can understand why an infinitely wise, powerful,, holy and benevolent Being should gave ever permitted the existence of sin and misery in the universe.

    "Now the serpent* was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise [see I John ii. 16], she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat" (Gen. iii. 1-6). Thus we see that the citadel was stormed and carried. Man was left to his own free choice to partake or not. No grace was there--no power of God to restrain him, and he fell an easy prey to the wiles of Satan. "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And He said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee .that thou shouldest not eat ? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.** And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.** And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat, all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shalt bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception: in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field: in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."--Gen, iii. 1-19.

*In the early rites, symbols and legends of all the most ancient nations is found the tradition that the serpent was somehow associated with the ruin of the human family, and that he was, when thus employed, the vehicle of the Evil Spirit. We are told in the New Testament that a legion of devils, on one occasion, entered a herd of swine (Mark v. 9-13), and that, after the last supper, Satan entered into Judas (John xiii. 27). So the chief of the fallen angels, who may once have been before his fall, the vicegerent of God on earth, and who is now "the prince of the power of the air." (Eph. ii. 2), hating God, and envying man's happiness, plotted to mar this fairest object of God's terrestrial creation. To accomplish his malignant purpose, he selects the serpent, the subtlest or craftiest of all the animal tribes, and inspires him to tempt Eve, the weaker of the human pair (2 Cor. xi. 3; Rev. vii. 9; xx. 2).

**We see thus the mean, selfish and ungodly tendency of sin, which is to cast the blame upon some one else, whether it be an inferior animal, or another human being, or even upon God, our Maker, who "cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man" (James i. 12-15), though He tries or proves His people (Psalm vii. 9; Jer. xx. 12; Zech. xiii. 9).

Thus we have the fall of man depicted, his arraignment and condemnation. God drove him out of the garden; and to prevent his returning to it, and eating of the tree of life, and living forever, God placed at the east of the garden cherubim*** and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.--Gen. iii. 24. Man could corrupt or destroy himself, but could not purify his own heart or restore himself to the favor and image of God. That had to be done by another.

***Or, as the original Hebrew means, "At the gate of the garden God tabernacled, or set as the dwelling place of His shekinah glory, cherubim and a sword-like flame which turned every way, to keep the way to the tree of life." The pointed flame, darting its resplendent beams around on every side, so as to present an effectual bar to all access by the old approach to the garden, symbolized God's unchangeable holiness and justice; while the cherubim symbolized his mercy. The name and the cherubim at the front of Eden seem to have constituted the antediluvian local tabernacle (Gen. iv. 3, 4, 14-16), and were the forerunners of the sanctuary, where the cherubim on either side of the shekinah cloud represented the meeting together of God's mercy and Justice in man's redemption. The cherubim, as sculptured or wrought figures in the Tabernacle or the Temple, seem to have had human forms and faces with angelic wings, representing that redeemed men are to be equal to angels (Luke xx. 26); and in the visions of Isaiah, Ezekiel and John, they. are living creatures, having four or six wings apiece and having (as in Ezekiel) each four faces, or a lion, an ox, a man and an angel, or each having (as in John) only one of these faces--the four leading forms of animal life being used to represent the perfected life in glory of those redeemed from all the world (Rev. iv. 7; v. 8, 9).

God had already provided a ransom, and makes it known. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Here is a promise of Christ, a Savior, "the seed of the woman," who was to bruise the head of Satan, while Satan could only bruise the heel of Christ. Christ is the seed of the woman, and his elect children are his seed. The seed of the devil are his angels and wicked men who die without repentance; the term SEED here being understood, not in a physical, but in a spiritual sense. He is a fallen angel, and led his comrades in rebellion, and through the medium of the serpent seduced man also from his allegiance to God. The contest is to be between Satan and Christ; so that while Satan is to bruise the heel or the church of Christ, Christ is to bruise the head or the Power of Satan. Satan may annoy, but Christ overcomes, by destroying him that had the power of death.--Heb, ii. 14; Rom. xvi. 20; 1 John iii. 8.

Salvation through Christ was no doubt proclaimed by the Almighty to Adam and Eve; sacrifices were ordained to typify the crucifixion of the Savior. Skins of beasts, probably slain in sacrifice, taken by God and placed around the bodies of Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness, were figurative of the righteousness of Christ, which was to be imputed and placed as a robe around all the saints of God. The system is revealed, and the warfare soon began. The offspring of Adam and Eve, having been born after the fall, of course were brought forth in a state of sin and death, so that those without faith persecuted those who had faith. The first man born was named Cain, and the second was named Abel. Each brought a sacrifice to God. Cain's was without faith, being of the fruit of the ground. Abel's was with fait_h, and was of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof, typifying the offering of the Lamb of God in the fullness of the time (Heb. xi. 4). "Cain in unbelieving self-righteousness presented, like the Pharisee in the temple (Luke xviii. 11), merely a pretended thank-offering, not like Abel and the publican, feeling his need of the propitiatory sacrifice appointed for sin. God had respect (first) unto Abel, and (then) to his offering (Gen. iv. 4); and so our works are not accepted of God, until ourselves have been so, through faith His work of grace."–A.. R.. -Fausset.. Abel's offering was accepted and Cain's rejected. This displeased Cain so that he slew his brother; and wherefore slew he him? because he was of that wicked one and his works were evil, while Abel's were righteous (1 John iii. 12). Hence began the warfare between the children of men. The enmity between the seed of Satan and the seed of the woman grows out of the very nature of Holiness and Sin. Satan and his seed or servants, being sinful, will forever hate and rebel against a holy God; and God, being immutably holy, can never tolerate, but will forever express His hatred against their sin. Satan and his seed give expression to their enmity in every form of opposition and ill-will which their ingenious wickedness can devise and their circumstances permit; and there is no work against the glory, happiness, or even the existence of God and His people, which, if unrestrained, they would not exert themselves to accomplish. Cain now stands as a representative of that portion of the human race who persecute the children of God, and Abel represents that portion who are persecuted by men, often unto death. Figuratively speaking, Cain has always been killing Abel, and Abel has all along fallen by the hands of Cain. To Eve another son was given, and she called his name Seth (appointed). "For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed, instead of Abel, whom Cain slew" (Gen. iv. 25.)

From these two, therefore, we trace to some extent the divergent lines of the race--the one servants of God and the other the servants of Satan. Faith is the great distinguishing feature. "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh." (Heb. xi. 4).

The names of the chosen line from Adam to Noah are about as follows, viz.: Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah.

The names of the rejected line are about as follows, some of their names being like those of the chosen line, viz.: Cain, Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, Methusael, Lamech, and by Lamech's wife Adah, Jabal and Jubal, and by his wife Zillah, Tubal-Cain.

"The resemblances in the names of the two families seems a natural consequence of the use of significant names, at a time when language acquired no great variety; and in both cases several of the names have sense natural at that age, increase and possession. The different number of generations suggests that the period between the children of Lamech and the flood was occupied with the development of the inventions ascribed to them, by their unnamed descendants. The only personal facts of their history are, the foundation by Cain of the first city, which he named after his son Enoch; the polygamy of Lamech; and the occupations of his sons, of whom Jabal was the first nomad herdsman, Jubal the inventor of musical instruments, both stringed and wind, and Tubal-Cain the first smith. The great contrast, however, between the two races, is in their social and moral condition." "It is remarkable that corruption of religion and morals advanced most rapidly in the line of Cain, where the greatest progress had been made in art and in science; thus showing that knowledge and civilization, apart from religion, have no power to purify the heart, or to preserve society from corruption."--W. G. Blaikie.

As the arts and sciences advanced, and population and civilization increased, wickedness also increased. The "sons of God," the Sethite professors of religion, intermarried with the "daughters of men," the irreligious Cainites; the selfish, worldly, licentious and warlike offspring of these wicked marriages filled the earth with profligacy and bloodshed. Enoch and Noah, and perhaps other prophets, preached righteousness, and predicted the coming terrible judgment of God upon the ungodly race, but in vain. Enoch walked with God, and, about a thousand years after the creation of Adam, was translated to heaven without dying; just as, about two thousand years afterwards, during the rampant idolatry of the kingdom of Israel, the Prophet Elijah was similarly favored--these two witnesses, before the coming of Christ, thus being divinely enabled to demonstrate to an unbelieving world the doctrine of the resurrection of the body and its existence with the soul in glory. In the same manner, the bodies of the saints who are living on the earth at the second or last personal coming of Christ, shall be changed, in a moment, without dying, from a mortal to an immortal state, and be caught up with their spirits to dwell forever with the Lord (1 Thess. iv. 15-17).

The wicked race cared nothing for the solemn and faithful warnings of the prophets; and God's Spirit in His servants would not always strive with corrupt and rebellious flesh (Neh. ix. 30; Acts vii. 51, 52). His sparing mercy, extended to them 120 years, was equally contemned; every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart become only evil continually. Noah was the only righteous man left, and he, being warned of God, and believing the warning, prepared an ark to the saving of his house. But the ungodly race continued eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah and his family, with two each of unclean and seven each of clean animals, entered into the ark, and the Lord shut them in, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the foundations of the great deep were broken up, and God, in awful majesty, justice and power, brought in the flood, and destroyed them all* (2 Peter iii. 5, 6; Job xii. 15; Psalm civ. 57).

*God's purpose was to destroy the entire wicked race of man, except the family of Noah, and to show the world's need of divine purification (Gen. xi. 13; 1 Peter iii. 20, 21; John iii. 5). The flood was no doubt universal, so far as the occupants of the Ark could see (Gen. vii. 19), and so far as the human race was concerned; but the word "all," both in Scripture and in popular language, frequently means only a large part (see Gen. xli. 57; Ex. ix. 6, 19; Deut. ii. 25; Matt. iii. 5: xxi. 26: and Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, last edition). These and similar passages of Scripture, together with numerous scientific considerations, have led some of the ablest Bible scholars to believe that the region submerged covered only about a million square miles in Western Asia, where man first dwelt--the object of God being to destroy the corrupt human race. Reckoning 21 inches for the sacred cubit, the ark was only 525 feet long, 87 1/2 broad and 52 1/2 high, and these two-and-a-half million cubic feet could have held, it is said, only one-fourth of the clean animals alone, taking in seven of each kind. The steamship Great Eastern is one-third larger than was the Ark, but it would have been far too small to have held a million living creatures, with twelve months provisions for them, as it must have done, it is said, if the flood had been universal, and two of every unclean and seven of every clean animal had been taken on board. Besides, it is computed that it would have required three times as much water as there is on the globe to have covered the entire earth to the depth of five miles, the altitude of the highest mountains; and Moses does not tell us that any water was created for the purpose, but he does say that the material creation ceased with the creation of Adam (Gen. ii. 2). Like most of the historical descriptions in Scripture, the account of the deluge is probably the truthful statement of an eye-witness, perhaps Shem, handed down to Moses. As far as his eye could reach, everything on earth was submerged beneath the waters. How forcible an emblem was the deluge of baptism (1 Peter iii. 20, 21), and the Ark an emblem of Christ (Gen. vii. 23; Acts iv. 12). The Assyrian Deluge Tablet, 4000 years old, but recently exhumed and deciphered, states thirty of the very same facts as are mentioned by Moses in his narrative of the deluge.

After all that may be said, we know that God is omnipotent, and that there are no physical difficulties with Him, and the deluge that He sent upon the wicked race may have been literally as well as optically universal.

From the period when man became a living soul to the day when the waters of the deluge began to fall on the earth, time’s duration probably numbered about 1,656 years. About 1,500 years of this time, it may be supposed, there was antagonism between the chosen people of God and the children of the wicked one,--the Spirit of God in His elect on the one side, and the spirit of the devil in his children on the other, warring against each other. The weapons of warfare, on the part of true worshipers, were not carnal, but spiritual; while those used by the enemies of God and truth were carnal and fatal to the bodies of the saints.

Witness the murder of righteous Abel, and the design no doubt to take the life of Enoch, also, who prophesied of the coming of the "Lord with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." But God delivered him out of their hands by translating him directly to Heaven. Truth has ever made slow progress in this world, and the antediluvian age, of all, in this respect, is the most remarkable. The number of true worshipers appeared to decrease as time rolled on, until but one man and his family were to be found on earth serving God. Methuselah, the grandfather of Noah, it is thought, died the very year of the deluge, and Lamech, the father of Noah, died five years before; so that Noah was the only patriarch left on earth, the only preacher of righteousness in the world, and the only man who with his house served God truly.

The children of God in this nineteenth century of the Christian era think that they have a hard time of it, while enduring the scoff, derisions and hatred of a gainsaying world; but what is this when compared with the cruel mockings and scourgings endured by their brethren before the flood? While we now write, the visible number of God's people is on the increase; some few are being added to the churches. The churches are scattered over the land, but sparsely, of course, in comparison with the number of other religious organizations. There is nearly one minister for every two churches, and appointments by many are published in their periodicals for itinerant preaching, by Elders and licentiates going in almost every direction, preaching the everlasting gospel of the kingdom. Congregations to hear preaching are large and frequently come together. They are protected in their gatherings and devotional exercises by the laws of the land, so that none dare molest or make them afraid while thus worshiping--while thus defending the faith that Abel, Enoch and Noah had, and at the same time preaching Christ and him crucified as the only way of salvation.

God's people now expect a further increase of their numbers before the day comes that shall burn as an oven, but then they had no such expectation. They were persecuted by fearful odds against them, with their numbers constantly diminishing, and every prospect before them of being overrun by an ungodly world and completely exterminated, according to all human appearances. Yet they boldly fought on, believed in and feared God, daily making their altars smoke with the victims offered up as typical of the great offering afterward to be made by the Lamb of God for the sins of His people; and counted not their lives dear unto themselves, so that they might finish their course with joy and gain the approbation of their God.

These were thought to be very stubborn people, no doubt, by their enemies, and to be worthy of death for their stern and uncompromising spirit. Do we see anything like it in the world now? Can we not readily find a people now who are equally stubborn, equally inflexible, equally steadfast and immovable on the foundation which God has laid in Zion? a people who would yield their lives rather than yield their faith, and will have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness?

Look at the Baptists of the present day and see if they can respond to the call, or if the measure will fit them. (Rev. xi. 1, 2). We do not mean Baptists merely, so called, for their name is legion; but we mean genuine BIBLE BAPTISTS, those called "Primitive" or "Predestinarian," by way of distinction from others, and "Hardshells" by way of reproach. These people, who are opposed and abused by all other sects and societies in the world--these who have been hunted in dens and caves of the earth by Mystery Babylon and her daughters for centuries past, and put to death for their faith in Christ, and have only had a respite of about one hundred years from the tyranny of the magistrate and religious despotism. And we ask these people to read carefully and see if they cannot find the counterpart of their own history in the lives of their brethren before the flood. When they look at them and see their unpopularity, their firm faith, their peculiarity, their steadfastness to the end, notwithstanding that nearly the combined world was against them, do they not see themselves reflected as in a mirror, and feel willing to call them brethren? God's people must be the same in all ages, for He never had but one way of saving them. There has never been but one Savior for them. All are saved by grace, through faith, and that not of themselves, it is the gift of God (Eph. ii. 8).

And again, if the truth of God made such slow progress among the antediluvians, coming immediately from Adam and the patriarchs, is it any wonder that it did not make a greater progress under the Mosaic dispensation, or that it does not now under the Christian dispensation?

If success and numbers prove the truth of a creed or party, then the antediluvians who killed the patriarchs and filled the earth with violence, had the best of the argument; and so had the 850 prophets of Baal in the days of Elijah; and so had the whole nation of Israel, also, in his day, as against the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal; and so had the Jews when they crucified the Savior; and so had the Gentiles when they destroyed Christians by thousands; and so has Rome now, as against the balance of what is called Christendom; and so has the pagan world as against the rest of mankind; and last, though not of least importance to us, so have the so-called Missionaries, as against the Primitive Baptists of the United States; the former are twenty times as numerous. But if numbers and success do not prove the truth and justice of any cause whatever, but rather the contrary, in all the history of the Adamic race, then we may expect to find the minority in the right in all ages of the world, especially in religious matters. Such was the case before the flood, all must agree; such was the case under the legal dispensation, and such is the case under the new dispensation, according to the language of our blessed Savior Himself, who says there are few that be saved: "Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom," etc., etc. (Matt. vii. 14; Luke xii. 32).*

*The above argument does not prove that, in religious matters, every minority is right; but it does completely destroy, the force of every argument that bases the defense of any religious party upon the great numbers of that party.

Another reflection arises here, which is this: If God Almighty destroyed the old world with a flood as a punishment for the crimes of its inhabitants, and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone for the crimes of their inhabitants, and Jerusalem and the nationality of the Hebrews as a punishment for their crimes, what will He burn up this world for in the last great day? Will it be because earth's inhabitants will have become so civil, so truthful, so honest, so upright, so loving, so tender-hearted, so unselfish, so Christianized, so evangelized, that the Lord must forsooth send down fire and burn up their beautiful dwelling place? Or will it be because men will wax worse and worse, iniquity abound more and more, generation after generation become deeper and deeper steeped in sin as the ages roll on, until every principle of morality, justice, judgment and equity be swept away from the minds of men, and cruelty, rapine and murder cover the earth, so as to induce the Almighty to purify it with fire, cause time to cease, and appropriate the planet to some other use?

It was crime that caused the destruction of the old world, the cities of the plain, and the Hebrew nationality; and by a parity of reasoning we may safely conclude that crime will be the cause of the final conflagration and the destruction of this mundane system.

The rain poured down forty days (forty being the number significant of judgment), and the whole known or visible world was covered, and every living creature that had existed on the dry land died. After one hundred and fifty days the waters abated, and the ark rested "upon the mountains of Ararat," or "the hills of Armenia," as otherwise rendered; and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains (or hills) were seen. Forty days afterward Noah, to ascertain the state of the earth, opened the window of the ark and sent forth a raven, which went to and fro, satisfied to feed on the floating carcasses, and never reentering the ark--"emblem of the restless carnal mind." Then he sent forth a dove, which, finding no rest for the sole of her foot, returned into the ark--"emblem of the soul drawn from the world by Christ to Himself." Seven days afterward he sends out the dove again, and, as a sign that even the low trees were uncovered, she returns with a fresh olive leaf, the olive being a tree which can live under a flood better than most trees--"emblem of the Spirit of peace, the earnest of the saints’ inheritance." Sent forth again, after seven days, the dove returns no more'' emblem of the new heavens and earth which shall be after the fiery deluge, when the ark of the church to separate us from the world shall be needed no more." One year after he entered the ark Noah, on the first day of the first month, removed the covering of the ark, and saw that the earth was dry; and on the twenty-seventh day of the second month, at God’s command, he and his family and all the living creatures went forth from the ark. Building an altar unto the Lord, he made burnt offerings of every clean beast and fowl, as a sacrifice of thanksgiving and consecration to God; and the Lord graciously accepted the offering, and promised that He would no more curse the ground for man’s sake, "for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth;" neither would He again smite every living thing, as He had done, but that, "while the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and Winter, and day and night, shall not cease." God blessed Noah, and gave him and his posterity the right to eat animal as well as vegetable food; and as a token of His covenant with all flesh, that he would no more destroy the earth with a watery flood, He appoints the rainbow in the cloud--this beautiful and universally visible phenomenon being a most appropriate sign of His natural mercy to all His creatures on earth; clearly indicating the early cessation of rain because, in order to its formation, the clouds must be broken and the sun must be shining through them. Of the same

absolute unconditional nature as this natural covenant with Noah and all flesh, God declares His new covenant with spiritual Israel to be (Isa. liv. 4-10, 17; Jer. xxxi. 31-37).*

*Isaiah liv. 7-10 was the first text ever taken by the Junior author of this work in his public ministry, December 10, 1871, at Skewarkey meeting-house, near Williamston, Martin Co.,

N.C.

God gave Noah three new precepts--the abstinence from blood as a food (the blood being the life, and being typical of the cleansing efficacy of the shed blood of Christ), the prohibition of murder (on the grounds that man was made in the image of God, and that all men are brothers), and the recognition of the civil authority (" he that sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed").

From the flood to the calling of Abraham was about 400 years, and during this period idolatry arose and then increased greatly. "Noah lived 350 years after the flood, and died at the age of 950; just half-way according to the common chronology between the creation and the Christian era. He survived the fifth and sixth of his descendants, Peleg and Reu; he was 128 years contemporary with Terah, the father of Abraham; and died only two years before the birth of Abraham himself (A.M. 2006; B.C. 1998). Looking back we find that he was born only 126 years after the death of Adam, and 14 years after that of Seth. He was contemporary with Enos for 84 years, and with the remaining six antediluvian patriarchs (except Enoch) for centuries. We give these computations, not as a matter of curiosity, but to show by how few steps, and yet by how many contemporary teachers, the traditions of primeval history may have been handed down--from Adam to Noah, and from Noah to Abraham, and we might add, from Abraham to Moses."--Old Testament History, by Wm. Smith.**

**Between Adam and Isaac were only two links, Methuselah and Shem. According to the Hebrew numbers, Adam and Methuselah were contemporaneous 243 years. Methuselah and Shem 98 years; and Shem and Isaac 49 years.

The world was to some extent divided between Noah's three sons, so that we may in general reckon Asia to Shem, Africa to Ham, and Europe to Japheth*** though of course there was some crossing of these lines by each.

***The names of Noah's sons were prophetic. Shem signifies name or renown (the Scriptures

have been given to us through the family of Shem, and Christ was of that family); Ham signifies hot or black (his descendants mainly peopled Africa); and Japheth signifies either fair or enlarged (his descendants are the white-faced Europeans, who have gone forth and established colonies in all the other grand divisions of the globe).

The greatest saints, while on earth, are sinners; and the inspired writers are terribly faithful in recording the vices, as well as the virtues, of Scripture characters. Noah planted a vineyard and became intoxicated with the fruit of the vine, and, while in this condition, Ham discovered his nakedness and reported it to his other brothers in an improper spirit --without sorrow and without respect either to his person or character. "Shem and Japheth" upon this report "took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger* son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant" (Gen. ix. 20-27). The curse did not fall upon Ham directly, but what is often the sorest point with a father, he was cursed in his youngest son. In the brief language of Noah, as recorded, Ham's other sons are not mentioned; Canaan is thought to be especially named, because of the future historical relations between the Canaanites and Israelites. But the other sons of Ham (Gen. x. 6-14) may also have been indirectly intended. Egypt and Babylon, as well as Canaan, were settled by Hamite races, which at first were the most brilliant and civilized, but, because of their irreligion and profligacy, became the most degraded. In saying, "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem," Noah pronounces the highest possible blessing upon Shem, as he thus declares the Lord God peculiarly the God of Shem; this language was especially verified in the descendants of Shem--Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their posterity, the Israelites. Japheth was, by his expansive energy and God's providence, to overpass his own bounds (Europe) and dwell in the tents of Shem, as the ancient Greek and Roman, and the modern European and American nationalities, exemplify. And gradually Japheth was to dwell in Shem's tents spiritually, that is, he should be brought to believe in and worship the God of Shem.

*Qatan, in the twenty-fourth verse, translated "younger," is elsewhere rendered "'youngest" (1Samuel xvi.11; xvii.14), and its literal meaning is "little." "Little son," or "young son,"