The punishment of it.

of redemption.

The consequence of the first sin in Adam
80. and Eve was its being immediately followed

by shame, the result of remorse of con-
science, and the threatened punishment fol-
lowed as quickly. For they were driven
from Paradise, that is, from their happy state
of innocent joys, the tree of life or immorta-
lity was taken from them, (Gen. iii. 24,) and
they became mortal and liable to all the

miseries attendant on that state which has
81. been transmitted to us, their posterity. But

in the midst of his judgments, God, who is The promise ever merciful, promised that “ the seed of

the woman should bruise the head of the
serpent.” (Gen. iii. 15.) That is, that the
day would come, (which prophecy has since
been accomplished,) that a Saviour, which is
even Christ the Son of God, should restore
mankind to the favour of their Maker, and
to that everlasting life which they had for-
feited.

The next result of the sinfulness of our
first parents, was soon manifested in the wick-
edness of Cain their first-born son, who mur.
dered his brother Abel, because he was ac-
counted by God to be a righteous man.
Both Cain and his posterity were punished

for this crime as we read (Gen. iv. 8, 16.)
But God to mark the difference he made be-
tween evil doers and the just, distinguished
Enoch, who descended from Seth a son of 83.
Adam, and who walked with God, (that is
followed his commandments,) by translating
him to heaven without his seeing death.
Thus not only showing that reward attended
obedience to his commands, but that eternal
life was that reward. For though there is
no revelation to this effect recorded, yet we
may infer, from the attribute of mercy and
goodness of God, that such was the intent of
his taking Enoch to heaven. (See Note to
Mant's Bible, Gen. v. 24.)

After this time, mankind increased so in B. C. 2349. wickedness, that God threatened them with some signal vengeance, should they not in 84. the space of one hundred and twenty years return from their evil ways. None were found at the end of that period to serve and obey God, save Noah and his family; God therefore destroyed the world by a deluge of waters, which covered the world above the highest mountains for one hundred and fifty days, and which did not entirely subside before the end of a year. Mankind were all

The Deluge.

.

involved in one ruin-they were all drowned, 85. excepting Noah and his family, who were

saved in the ark that they had built by God's order, and in which not only they took refuge through faith, but also a certain number of pairs of each kind of animals with which God intended afterward to replenish the earth.

Of this tremendous event, did we need any other proofs than the word of God, we might find them in the bowels of the earth, and on the tops of the highest mountains, where deposits of marine matter are constantly to be met with. The Deluge happened in the 1656th

year

of the creation. From the circumstances detailed by the sacred historian of this event, we may take occasion to admire and praise the goodness of God in giving the warning which he did for the space of one hundred and twenty years, to the people of the earth, that they should turn from their wicked practices; whilst at the same time we are furnished with the most awful example that his justice will be satisfied, though his forbearance is great.

The first thought of Noah, (as it ought to be that of every pious man on like occasion,)

was to return thanks to God for his preservation in the midst of the universal destruction which overtook the rest of mankind. And God, who received with favour, as he always does the humble and sincere service of his true servants, gave him the rainbow as 87. a token that the world should not again be destroyed by a deluge of waters.

The three sons of Noah, from whom the 88. earth was replenished with inhabitants, were Shem, Ham, and Japhet. It was not long, however, before their posterity were guilty of a presumptuous attempt to set themselves above God, by the building of the Tower of Babel. It is said (Gen. xi. 4) that they wished thereby to make them a name, or to erect themselves into a powerful state, in opposition to the will of God, whose intention was, that they should scatter themselves, and so people the earth. But what they dreaded, they brought about by their vain attempt to avoid ; for the power of God confounded their language, so that they did not understand one another: they consequently dispersed and left off building the tower. 89. From this confusion of tongues, and the dispersion of the people which followed it, arose

the different nations that peopled the earth. Many fell into idolatry, and God, in order to preserve the true faith, resolved to choose a people of his own, who should worship Him

alone in truth and in faith. It may here be 90. proper to remark, that the privilege of a

long life which was granted to the Patriarchs and others before the Deluge, for the purpose of peopling the earth, and especially of transmitting to their posterity authentic accounts of the creation and of the worship of the true God, was withdrawn as soon as it was no longer wanted, after the Deluge.

For the purpose just mentioned, he chose Abraham (who sprung from Shem) of Ur, in Chaldea, and blessed him, and commanded him to go into the land of Canaan, in order that, by separating himself from the idolaters, he should not be seduced by their bad example. Abraham was accompanied by his father Terah, (who died on the way,) his wife Sarah, and Lot his nephew. But the servants of the latter and those of Abraham not agreeing together, Abraham remained in the land of Canaan, and Lot (Gen. xii. xiii.)