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rest, or refreshing; saying, This [same] shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed; that is, he shall free us from a great deal of toil, by inventing or improving the art of husband30 ry, and such instruments as made it more easy. And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, 31 and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. 32 And Noah was five hundred years old and after that age Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Japheth was the eldest, ch. x. 12. and Ham the youngest, ch. ix. 24. but Shem is put first, because he was one of Christ's forefathers, and because his progeny is the principal subject of this history.

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REFLECTIONS.

ET us be humble, as bearing the image of the earthy Adam, 1 Cor. xv. 49. and mourn that we have lost the image and likeness of God: that we are so like fallen Adam and his descendants in weakness and infirmities, in sin and death. It should grieve and shame us to think how sin hath debased our nature; and should make us peculiarly thankful for Jesus Christ, the Lord from heaven, who restores the image of God in some degree here, and will perfect it hereafter in a better world.

What

2. We see the vanity of human life when prolonged to its ut-
most bounds. Those patriarchs, who lived so many ages, at
length died; the sentence was executed at last, though so long
delayed; Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return.
great opportunities had they for improvement in knowledge and
goodness, in arts and sciences! yet they died, and all their glory
was buried in the dust; and those of Adam's descendants, who
were wicked, though they lived many hundred years, were ac-
cursed. Many days will not insure to us either holiness or hap-
piness.

3. Let us be reconciled to that providence which shortens our
continuance here. The days of our years are now threescore years
and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet are
they labour and sorrow. What then would they be if prolonged to
many centuries? It is a blessing that life is so short, consider-
ing how full of trouble and sorrow, sin and corruption, it is. Let
us rejoice in the prospect of an eternal world, and live as those
who look for that rest which remaineth for the people of God in

heaven.

4. Let us observe and acknowledge the goodness of God in
translating Enoch. It was a reward for distinguished piety in the
midst of a crooked and perverse generation, and a strong proof
of a future state and world; for none could think so good
would perish: it is a proof of the happiness both of soul and body
in another state; and (as a prophet) if he wrought no miracles,

this would be proof sufficient of his divine mission. This was one of the most instructive circumstances that could happen to the patriarchal age. Adam, who had such intercourse with God, was dead; Noah, who was to have those favours renewed, was not yet born; in the middle age, when men were growing corrupt, Enoch was taken to heaven; a circumstance that answers such noble ends, as were worthy of God to go out of the common way to accomplish.

5. Let us learn, like Enoch, to walk with God. This is the very essence of religion; it establishes a friendly intercourse between God and his creatures, especially in and through Jesus Christ. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, then have we fellowship with him. He conversed with God in a friendly, grateful, and dutiful manner, and God with him. This is the most honourable, comfortable, and pleasant life we can live; and. if this be our temper and conduct, we shall share in Enoch's happiness; and though we shall not be taken to heaven in so remarkable a way, yet his angels shall carry us to Abraham's bosom, and we shall dwell with God, both body and soul, for ever.

CHAP. VI.

Gives an account of the general corruption of the world; God's determination to destroy the earth; and the character and hap piness of Noah.

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ND it came to pass, when men, the posterity of Cain, began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daugh2 ters were born unto them, That the sons of God, the posterity of Seth, who were members of the church, and professors of the true religion, but began to degenerate, saw the daughters of men, the female descendants of Cain, that they [were] fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose, without any regard to their religious characters. The sad consequence of this was, that religion declined, and the spirit of it was almost 3 banished from the earth. And the LORD, beholding this growing degeneracy, said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, as it hath long done, by good motions, checks of conscience, good counsel and warnings from those few good men that then lived, and especially from Noah, † for that he also, that is, all mankind, [is] flesh, corrupt, and wholly carnal: and though he deserves a speedy destruction, yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years; so much longer ▲ space will I allow him for trial and repentance. Now There were giants in the earth in those days; men, who in the

Such unequal matches are every where condemned in scripture, ch. xxvi. 35. 1 Kings Ai. 2, 3. Erra ix. 12. Neh. xiii. 23, &c. Mal.ii. 11. 1 Cor. vii. 39. a Cor. vi, 14. † Neh. ix. 30. 1 Peter iii. 19, 20. 2 Peter ii. 5.

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pride and confidence of their bodily stature, became despisers of God and goodness, and oppressors of men; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare [children] to them, the same [became] mighty men, like their fathers which were] of old, men of renown, much admired and applauded for their stature and strength, but tyrannical persons, who filled the earth with violence and rapine, 5 and were apostates from true religion. And God saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, all the motions and 6 inclinations of his soul, [was] only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart: he acted as men do when they repent, who alter the course of their actions; so God changed the method of his proceedings, and the disposal of affairs and events. 7 And the LORD said, I will surely 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.**

8 But Noah, who continued pure amidst this crooked generation, found grace in the eyes of the LORD, so as to be eminently dis9 tinguished by him. These [are] the generations of Noah, his posterity and the events that befel him and them: as to Noah himself, he was a just man [and] perfect, upright, and unblameable, in his generations, [and] Noah, like his ancestor Enoch, 10 walked with God. And Noah, as was before observed, begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; of whom a more particular account will afterwards be given. And now the time for exe11 cuting the divine threatenings drew near. The earth also was exceedingly corrupt before God, sinning openly and presumptuously, without any fear of him; and the earth was filled with 12 violence, injustice and oppression. And God looked upon the earth with pity; unwilling to proceed to severity till there was absolute necessity; and, behold it was now universally corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth, 13 except Noah and his family. And God at length revealed his awful but righteous purpose, and said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me, the time of their destruction is at hand; for the earth is filled with violence through them who inhabit it; and, behold, I will destroy them with the beasts and fruits of the earth, and all things made for man's use.

M But I will preserve thee and thy family; therefore Make
thee an ark of gopher wood, cedar, or rather cypress ;t rooms,
or apartments of several stories for different purposes, shalt

Jution to punish it, after that man had made himself quite another thing than God made
An expression adapted to our capacity, to note God's detestation of sin, and his reso-

this wood is incorruptible; so that the remains of the ark might have been seen in Josephus's
↑ Of this great quantities grew about Babylon, near which place the ark was built:
Nose, as he and others say it was. Bp. Wilsom

thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch; with bitumen, a kind of liquid pitch common in the 15 east, to make it water proof and swim the easier. And this [is the fashion] and size which thou shalt make it (of:] The length of the ark [shall be] three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits; about one hundred and fifty yards long, twenty five broad, and fifteen yards

16 high. A window shalt thou make to the ark, probably the whole length of it, and in a cubit thou shalt finish it above, making the covering to rise on the top half a yard, to throw off the rain; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; [with] lower, second, and third [stories] shalt thou make 17 it. And, behold, I, even I, the maker and ruler of the world, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein [is] the breath of life, from under heaven; [and] every thing that [is] in the earth shall die, but what is 18 preserved in the ark. But with thee, my faithful servant, will I establish my covenant for thy preservation; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and 19 thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every [sort] at least, shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep [them] alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind; and I will order it so, that two of every [sort] shall, by a kind of instinct, come 21 unto thee, to keep [them] alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather [it] to thee in sufficient quantities; and it shall be for food for thee, and for 22 them. Thus did Noah, who exercised faith in the divine threatenings; according to all that God commanded him, so did he, notwithstanding the scoffs of a wicked and unbelieving world.

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REFLECTIONS.

Sbrought these dreadful unutmariages,

E E the fatal consequence of unequal marriages, which

would have thought these sons of God, these descendants of pious ancestors, should have minded something more than beauty in the face that they would have been solicitous about grace in the heart; but it was not so. This is one great cause why corruption so much prevails in the world at this day; and there is, perhaps, no instance in which good men and women have shown

their weakness and imprudence more, than in choosing those for
companions in life who are only fair or rich, while they have over-
looked the ornaments of wisdom and grace; nothing by which
parents have more discovered their love of the world, and little
regard for the true welfare of their children, than in contriving and
encouraging such matches only, as are founded on external en-
dowments. The lesson from the whole is, be not unequally
yoked; choose such as fear God; and form alliances with none
but the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.

2. Let us admire the patience of God, which bore so long with
a wicked world, namely, one hundred and twenty years. He had
given them warning before, by Enoch and others; yet he renews
it, and retracts the sentence so many years. How unwilling was
he to execute vengeance! He bore long, gave them space to
repent, and sent Noah to preach to them and warn them of their
ruin. The building of the ark was a continued sermon; yet they
remained incorrigible.

3. See what a dreadful thing it is to grieve the spirit of God, which will not always strive with men; there is a limited time; if its motions are checked and its kind influences despised, it will withdraw; and, if it withdraws, then men are sealed up under wrath and a curse. Therefore quench not the spirit; attend to its sacred motions, seek its influences, follow its leadings, that you may be the children of God, and sealed by it, not to wrath, but to the day of redemption:

4. Let us be humbled under the present degeneracy of human nature, and grieved to think that this character so well suits us, and that our imaginations are so often evil. Perhaps there never was a time when it might more justly be said of the christian world, that it was corrupt before God, and filled with violence. Let us be humbled that there is such pride, lust, and carnality in the minds of men, and guard against those passions in our own.

5. Let us thankfully acknowledge God's grace and mercy in saving a remnant from intended destruction: that he did not destroy every inhabitant of the earth, and blot it out from among the works of his hands. This is a mercy we should be thankful for, and especially that in the new world where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Once more,

6. God's singular favour to Noah is a strong argument in favour of singular piety in a degenerate day. His building the ark was an instance of his piety, and a proof of the sincerity of his faith; thus he became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. He had truth on his side, though numbers were on the other side. He not only was good, but did good. He did not confine his truth and goodness to himself, but showed it to others. It is the sign of a great soul, for a man to retain his integrity in the midst of public corruption. Thus did Noah. Let us do likewise; not follow multitudes to do evil, but distinguish ourselves by picty and goodness; and God will remarkably distinguish us by his

VOL. I.

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