SERMON XIII.

THE ARK A TYPE OF THE SAVIOUR.

GENESIS, CHAP. VII. VER. 18.

"And the Ark went upon the face of the waters."

THIS portion of the sacred narrative, gives a melancholy recital of human depravity, and of the tremendous consequences which ensued. These consequences are always, and must be always, sad; because evil can be followed by nothing but evil. This is testified by our experience, and is an irreversible law.

At the period to which the words of the sacred historian direct us, vice had already overspread the face of the globe. This had become a spiritual wilderness. It might then have been truly said, as it was long subse

quently-"mischief and sorrow are in the midst of it." God was forgotten, disobeyed, despised. His altars were profaned, His worship degraded, His commands disobeyed. There was only a single family among the descendants of Adam, towards whom an angered Deity thought fit to extend His preserving hand. "Wrath went out from the Lord" and fell upon the offenders. Millions were involved in one common doom, no less sudden than awful. "And 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 continually; and it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at the 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."

The Creator was true to His determination, for "He is not a man that He should lie." Noah was consequently ordered to prepare a vessel upon a construction dictated by the Divine artificer. When it was completed, the holy man, together with his whole family, entered into it" and the ark went upon the face of the waters." Nothing righteous now remaining upon earth, the threatened vengeanceand it was truly and indeed terrible-was poured out upon the rebellious descendants of an erring forefather. The floodgates of the

skies were unloosed. "The fountains of the great deep were broken up; the windows of heaven were opened" and the land was overwhelmed. The inundation was complete. Not

a living thing, save the inmates of the ark, was spared. God's insulted majesty was avenged, and terrible was the desolation. There was nothing visible, beneath the frowning and tumultuous skies, but one vast expanse of agitated waters. Upon these the ark of refuge floated, in solitary majesty, the only object to be distinguished, under the protecting guidance of Almighty love. Over this, Divine mercy spread its assuaging wings. It rested upon the liquid surface of a submerged world. It contained the objects by which that world was to be restored to life and fruitfulness. The instruments of future replenishment were within it. From it was shortly to proceed the "preacher of righteousness," destined to re-people the earth, and with whom God subsequently entered into a new covenant, in favour of the race to spring from the loins of that holy man. Around it, and beneath it, during this signal manifestation of omnipotent anger, was one trackless waste of universal ruin. It glided over multitudes of mortal bodies drowned in that prodigious Flood. Frightful indeed was the result of human temerity. The arm of Divine justice was extended from pole to pole, and upon every child of Adam, save the family in God's ark, fell the sword which it had bared for retribution.

But for this ark, the human race must have become extinct. It must have perished everlastingly. But for this ark, Christ would not have taken upon Him our flesh, to end His life in ignominy and torture. Thus no sufficient expiation could have been made for human guilt. But for this ark, the first malediction must have been visited upon mankind in all its tremendous severity of infliction. There could have been no refuge,

no exception, no escape.

Thus was the ark, in a secondary sense, the salvation of man. No sooner, however, was it launched than death reigned supreme. supreme. This ought to be so written upon our memories as never to be effaced. How notably was the Divine chastisement inflicted! The pall of sorrow overspread the globe. Silence maintained her mute, but gloomy, empire among the lately busy haunts of men. Corruption was active underneath the waters. It was every where felt, because every spot of earth attested this direful agency. The words of inspiration were most awfully illustrated-" the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."

The ark has been considered, and with sufficient reason, as the observations just addressed to you will, I trust, show-a type of the Redeemer. It was a refuge from guilt. So was Christ. It was a means of salvation. So was He. It was the only security of those who survived the deluge of waters. So likewise is He the only security of those who survive the