Q. What followed their union? A. The children, the offspring of these marriages, became mighty men,-men of renown, and filled the earth with violence. Q. What was the consequence of this depravity? A. The Lord resolved to destroy all mankind by a flood, the family of Noah excepted; because "Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations." Q. How was the deliverance of this family to be effected? A. By means of an ark of gopher wood, which Noah was commanded to prepare. Q. What were the dimensions of this vessel ? A. Its length was three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty, and its height thirty cubits.* Q. What precautions were taken to preserve alive the various tribes of the animal creation. A. "Of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort-male and female" were, by the immediate interference of God, brought to Noah, who received them into the ark, which he had stored with provision for their sustenance.t Q. Was there not a different arrangement made relative to clean animals, that is, such as were offered in sacrifice? A. Yes; Noah was commanded to take of every clean beast by sevens, the male and his female.‡ * See Appendix B. + Gen. vi. 19. + Gen. vii. 2. Q. Had mankind any warning of the impending judgment? A. Yes; Noah, who was a preacher of righteousness, warned them for many years, while the ark was preparing. Q. Had his preaching any good effect? A. Not so as to produce any seasonable repentance. Regardless of every admonition, "they were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark." Q. Of what persons did Noah's family consist? A. Of his wife, his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, and their wives; making in all, with Noah, eight persons. Q. What may we notice in the marriages of Noah, and of his sons?.... A. That notwithstanding the introduction of polygamy, they adhered strictly to the original institution. CHAPTER II. From the Deluge to the Call of Abraham, A. M. 1656. Q. WHEN did Noah enter into the ark? B. C. 2348. A. In the six hundredth year of his life, in the second month, and the seventeenth day of the month.* Q. What happened on that day?t A. All the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened: and the rain which then commenced, lasted forty days and forty nights.‡ *The Antediluvian Patriarchs lived before the births of their recorded Sons, according to the + It is evident, from Gen. vii. 11-13. and Matt. xxiv. 38, 39. that the flood came suddenly. "If the immersion of a continent under an ocean, as a mere physical effect, was the whole design of the revolution of the deluge, a rain of forty days was a very superfluous agent. But, since the chief end to be attained by the operation, was not a physical, but a moral end; and since the physical effect was wholly subservient to that moral end; the rain of forty days was a necessary, and a most efficient agent. The condemned race of mankind was to witness the progress of the vast scheme of destruction which their wickedness had provoked. They were to be taught, experimentally, that their place of habitation was passing away from them, and was no longer to remain a Q. In what state was the earth at the end of the forty days? A. It was entirely submerged: "all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered," and every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground. Q. What became of the ark? A. Preserved by Divine Providence, it rested, after a voyage of five months, on the mountains of Ararat.* Q. When were the tops of the mountains first seen? A. On the first day of the tenth month. Q. How did Noah ascertain the decrease of the waters ? A. He sent forth a raven, which went to and fro until the earth was dried. He also sent out a dove, which at the second time brought an olive leaft that she had plucked; but being sent out a third time, returned no more. Q. How long did Noah remain in the ark? dwelling accommodated for the service of animal life; that it was at length to receive the consummation of the curse pronounced at the disobedience of their first parent, and confirmed by their own incorrigible wickedness. They were to be terrified by the sight of the various instruments of ven. geance by which the power of God could execute His curse; and they were to foretaste destruction in every stage of its advance, until its actual and ultimate arrival."-PENN'S Geology. * This name is usually applied to a chain of mountains in Armenia, where, according to ancient tradition, the ark rested. + This has been, from time immemorial, an emblem of peace among all nations. A. Until the twenty-seventh day of the second month in the following year.* Q. Is the narrative of the Deluge generally believed in the present day? A. No it is doubted by many, as was foreseen by the Apostle Peter: "There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water, and in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." Q. Had the ancient nations any traditions concerning the deluge ? A. Yes; every eminent nation of antiquity possessed some account of this awful visitation.† * As the ancient Hebrew year consisted of three hundred and fifty four days, the period in question, one year and eleven days, is exactly a modern solar year. The narrative of this tremendous catastrophe may be found, in a more or less mutilated form, among the records or traditions of almost every nation. According to the Hindu Scriptures, the whole human family was destroyed by a flood, except Satyavrata, a very holy man, and seven Brahmins. These persons, and pairs of all living animals, were preserved from destruction in a vessel prepared for the purpose.-See ASIAT. RESEARCH. Xisuthrus, the tenth king of the Chaldeans, with his family, and a great number of birds and beasts, escaped a similar |