: beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him and the Lord shut him in. And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man : all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days." 9. THE WATERS ASSUAGE." 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. The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; and the waters returned from off the earth continually, and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: on the first day of the month, in the tenth month, were the tops of the mountains seen. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: and he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark; for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; and the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove; which returned not unto him any more. And it came to pass in the sixth hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him: Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar.-Those that have received mercies from God, should be forward in returning thanks, and do it not of constraint, but willingly. We are not now to express our thankfulness by burnt-offerings, but by the sacrifices of praise, pious devotions, and a pious conversation.'-And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. 10. GOD BLESSETH NOAH.-"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso shed deth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloudand I will look upon it, that I may remember my covenant-and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 'Here is the establishment of God's covenant with the new world. Its seal was the rainbow, which it is likely was seen in the clouds before, when second causes concurred, but was never a seal of the covenant till now it was made so by divine institution.' : And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.-And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died." "God prolonged the life of Noah to a great age twenty years more than Adam's, and but nineteen less than Methuselah's. Shem reached six hundred years, which yet fell short of the age of the patriarchs who lived before the flood. The three next came short of five hundred; the three next did not reach three hundred; and after that, we read not of any that attained two hundred but Terah; and not many ages after this, Moses reckoned seventy or eighty to be the utmost men ordinarily arrive at.-Ps. xc. 10. When the earth began to be replenished, men's lives began to shorten; so that the decrease is to be imputed to the wise disposal of Providence, rather than to any decay of nature." EXERCISES. 1. With what disadvantages are the researches of the antiquary attended? How is it otherwise with the student of Scripture? For what are the initial chapters of the book of Genesis remarkable? 2. Who created the heaven and the earth? How was the light brought into existence? What was done on the second day of creation? On the third? On which of the days was man made? 3. What did God on the seventh day? Of what was Adam made? Where did God put him? Was he forbidden to eat of the fruit of any particular tree which was in the garden? Of what was Eve made? Why was she called woman? 4. Did our first parents keep the commandment which God gave them concerning the fruit of the tree that was in the midst of the garden? By whom were they tempted to eat of it? Were they allowed to remain in the garden after they had eaten the forbidden fruit? Of what did the religion of man consist after the fall and sin of Adam? What was that dispensation called? To what did it reach? 5. What account can you give of Cain and Abel? What is said concerning the sin of murder? 6. What are the names of the three oldest patriarchs? What became of Enoch? 7. What was the cause of the flood? Who were saved from that great destruction? Give a description of the ark--its length, breadth, and height? 8. How old was Noah when he entered into the ark? In what year of the world was it? How long did the waters prevail upon the earth? that the ark rested upon the Can you tell what became of ark? What of the dove? By whom was Noah desired 9. On what day of the month was it mountains of Ararat? In what month? the raven which Noah sent forth of the Whether was the dove male or female? to go out of the ark? How long had he been in it? What did he do when he had come out of it? 10. Did God bless Noah and his sons when they had come out of the ark? Did he make a covenant with them? What was the token or seal of the covenant? Will the earth ever again be destroyed by water? How long did Noah live after the flood? How old was he when he died? How old was the world then? CHAPTER II. FROM THE FLOOD TO THE CALL Of Abram, a. m. 1656—2083. The Great Charter of the New Kingdom of Nature-The Posterity of Japheth and Ham-An Attempt to Build a City and a Tower-The Posterity of Shem-Abram and Nahor take Wives. 1. In the close of the last chapter, we find that after Noah and his family, and all that were with him, had gone forth of the ark, God sets the whole earth before them-tells them it is all their own while it remains, to them and to their heirs. He also gives them a blessing, by virtue of which mankind should be both multiplied and perpetuated on the earth, which should never again be destroyed by water. 2. In the 10th chapter of Genesis we have a brief account of the posterity of Noah's three sons-the sacred historian beginning with the family of JAPHETH, who were allotted to the isles of the Gentiles, of whom we form a part. Japheth had the blessing of the earth beneath. "God shall enlarge Japheth' -enlarge his seed-enlarge his border. Japheth's posterity peopled all Europe, great part of Asia, and perhaps America. All places beyond the sea from Judea are called isles-Jer. xxv. 22, which directs us to understand that promise in Isa. iv. 2-4, "The isles shall wait for his law," or the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ.-Isa. xlii. 4. 3. OF THE POSTERITY OF HAM.-Nimrod is represented as a great man in his day-"Wherefore, it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord." Some think he served his country by ridding it of wild beasts, and so insinuated himself into the affections of his neighbours, and got to be their prince. Others think, that, under pretence of hunting, he gathered men under his command, and thus made himself master of his country. He was a great ruler: he laid the foundations of a monarchy, which was afterwards a head of gold, and the terror of the mighty.-Dan. ii. 38. He is allowed to have been the founder of the first Assyrian empire, which lasted, in some degree, upwards of 1450 years, viz., from the year of the world 1800, to the year 3257. Most of the profane historians ascribe the founding of Babylon to Semiramis, others to Belus. It is evident that both the one and the other are mistaken, if they speak of the first founder of that city; for it owes its beginning neither to Semiramis nor to Nimrod, but to the foolish vanity of those persons yet to be mentioned from Scripture, who desired to build a tower and a city that should render their name immortal. We are not to wonder if we find the founding of a city ascribed to different persons. It is common even among the profane writers to say, Such a prince built such a city, whether he was the person that first founded it, or that only embellished or enlarged it. 4. At this time, we find it recorded in the 11th chapter of |