lightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever, and that the judgments of the Lord are pure and righteous altogether." Psalm xix. 8, 9.

He began this great work in the year of the world one thousand five hundred and thirty seven, and in the four hundred and eightieth year of his age. It took up one hundred and twenty years in building; whence some have objected to the truth of the story, on the ground that part of the ark must have decayed before the finishing of the whole work. But as the ark, in all probability, was made of cypresswood, which will endure for many ages, and as it was pitched with a bituminous substance impenetrable by the worm or water, this objection is completely answered.

Allowing the cubit to be eighteen inches, it will make the ark to contain one million seven hundred and eighty-one thousand three hundred and forty-six cubical feet, or forty-two thousand four hundred and thirteen tons. The figure of this vast structure was not like that of modern vessels, but a long square, with a flat bottom, that it might be less liable to be tossed about by the violence of the wind and waves, and that it might rest firmly upon the land at the expiration of the flood.

A great number of persons must have been employed in this prodigious work, the greatest part of whom perished in the deluge. Thus many are engaged in promoting the interests of the church of GOD, and serve in various respects to advance the purposes of Divine providence, without knowing what they are doing, or having any desire to do good in their hearts. Many will be found wanting at the last day, who now enjoy the privilege of belonging to an apostolic church, and who acknowledge, in profession at least, their need of salvation by the merits of a Mediator.

The project of Noah, doubtless, excited much observation and various conjectures. By the trifling

and impertinent he was ridiculed as a dotard; and by those who pretended to superior judgment and wisdom he was considered as an extravagant visionary, and pitied for his superstitious folly; many of his acquaintance, no doubt, regarded his labour with contempt, and earnestly advised him to desist from his ruinous enterprize; but finding their remonstrances ineffectual, they left him to his work, and returned to their companions in sin and infidelity. The patriarch, steady to his purpose, and faithful to the Divine order, completed the ark, and covered it with cloths, or the skins of animals, fastened together in such a manner that they might be drawn close, as a shelter against storms of winds and rain, and be easily removed on the restoration of fair weather.

When every thing was prepared, all the animals destined for preservation moved by instinct to take shelter in the ark: the wild and ferocious became tame and obedient; while the timid and weak lost their fears and took their allotted places, as if conscious of the desolation which was coming upon the earth.

But while the brute creation were eager to take refuge with Noah, the great body of mankind continued deaf to his warnings, and inattentive to their danger. The ark and its builder were still the objects of mirth and derision; and we learn from the highest authority, that till the day when the patriarch and his family entered their new habitation, the rest of the world were immersed in sensual pleasures. Matthew xxiv. 38.

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But their season of festivity is short, judgment is at hand, and ready to sweep off the miserable sinners in the midst of their mad and impious career. day of grace, though long, will have its close, and men may harden their hearts till no redemption is left for them. No sooner is the valuable cargo placed in the ark, and Noah with his wife and children entered, but the Almighty with a tender care is said to "shut them in." Genesis vii. 16. All access to

the only place of refuge is from that moment closed for ever. The clouds of heaven begin now to gather thick, and the darkened atmosphere to threaten a most tremendous storm. The winds howl with impetuous rage, and torrents of water are poured down from on high, while the fountains of the great deep are broken up from beneath. All now is horror and desolation. They who yesterday scoffed at the righteous Noah, and ridiculed the miraculous procession of animals to the ark, lament their folly, and are anxious to save themselves from the raging element. Many climb about the sides of the ark, in hopes of being taken in; but their prayers are disregarded. Others hasten to the house-tops, which soon sink away beneath the undermining waters. Some climb the highest trees, and others ascend the lofty hills, from which they behold with painful anxiety the dismal wreck of nature, mixed perhaps with a faint degree of hope that their own refuge is secure. But their confidence is vain. There is no abatement in the fury of the storm. Rushing cataracts soon sweep down the wretched fugitives from their last retreat, and the lofty mountains themselves yield to the overwhelming element; so that nothing can be seen but one mighty sheet of water, from the solitary ark floating thereon.

While we contemplate this awful scene, let us pause, and in the sublime language of revelation exclaim; "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints! Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thy judgments are made manifest!" Revelations xv. 3, 4.

The waters were at the highest in forty days, but the abatement was much slower; for had the fall been rapid, the whole surface of the earth would have exhibited the most forbidden aspect of inaccessible precipices, tremendous rocks, and unfathomable depths, instead of the present moderately varied scene of hill and valley.

Noah entered the ark with his wife, his three sons and their wives, on Saturday, November the twentyseventh, in the year of the world one thousand six hundred and fifty-seven; and either then, or more probably the day following, the flood began. On Monday, the eleventh of July, when the days were at the longest, and just before the entrance of the sun into the tropical sign of Cancer, "the tops of the mountains" became visible from the ark. At the end o forty days, or on Saturday the twentieth of August. Noah sent out the raven, a bird of quick scent, to discover whether the earth was become dry. But this bird, according to the Hebrew, spent its time "in going forth and returning :" Genesis viii. 1. that is, finding nothing but water, it hovered about the ark, till at length, according to Jewish tradition observing some carcasses upon the top of a mountain, it returned no more.

At the end of seven days, or on the next Saturday Noah "sent forth a dove," a bird of strong flight, which loves to feed upon the ground, and to pick up seeds, and constantly returns from the greatest distance to its customary resting-place. But the dove not finding any footing, returned again to the ark. Noah then waited with patience yet seven days longer, and then sent out the same messenger, which returned with an olive branch in its mouth; and thus the patriarch knew that the waters were gone off even from the vallies, though, as the dove could not rest there, it was evident that the earth still remained cold and moist. At the end of seven days he again sent forth the dove, which returned no more; a proof that it neither wanted food nor a nest to repose itself, so that Noah concluded from this, that the earth was become both firm and fruitful.

On the fifth day of the first month, or on the second day of October, one thousand six hundred and fifty-eight, Noah removed the covering of the ark, and ascended to the roof, that he might take a view of the land, which he found clear of the water, and affording a delightful prospect.

The sensations of the patriarch after so long a confinement, and the experience of such a wonderful deliverance, must have been both affecting and delightful. To look back upon the old world, and reflect that in so short a space all his contemporaries were swept away into eternity by the avenging hand of GOD; to see the face of the creation materially changed, and no trace of former scenes remaining, could not but produce a sentiment of tender concern in the mind of a benevolent man. But the idea of what he owed to the goodness of the Almighty, in miraculously preserving him and his family in the midst of such an awful revolution, soon converted his melancholy reflections into lively gratitude, and the sigh of tender recollection into a song of thanksgiving.

Noah was not impatient to enter upon the possession of the world, though he had been so long in close confinement. As he had entered the ark by Divine appointment, so he waited for special direction from above, before he would venture to depart from it. Happy are those persons who commit their concerns nto the hands of Providence, and who consult the will of the Almighty as their only director in the affairs of life!

On Sunday, November the twenty-seventh, GOD commanded Noah to leave the ark, with all the creatures that were therein. The disembarkation took up no less than six days, and the day following was set apart for rest and the public worship of GOD. Noah accordingly erected an altar, and having taken of every clean beast and every clean fowl, he made an offering of thanksgiving for the deliverance he had experienced, and of atonement for the sins of himself and his people.

Thus the rites of religion, which had been observed before the flood, were renewed by Noah, and transmitted by him to his sons, that they and their posterity might keep the same till the Divine will should be more clearly revealed.