the name of Methuselahi* to his son; and he prophesied of Christ's second coming.† Jude 14, 15.

Q. How was his piety rewarded?

A. He was translated to heaven. Heb. xi. 5.
Q. Who was the oldest man?

A. Methuselah, son of Enoch: he lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years. Gen. v. 27.

Q. How long was Lamech, Noah's father, contemporary with Adam ?

A. Fifty-six years.‡

Q. How does Moses describe the two principal lines of Adam's posterity?

A. He describes the posterity of Seth as sons of God; and the posterity of Cain as sons of men.

Q. Had these tribes any intercourse?

Gen. vi. 2.

A. They appear for some time to have kept apart, but at length intermarried.

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. Gen. vi. 4-11.

Q. What was the consequence of this depravity?
A. The Lord resolved to destroy all mankind by a

* Methuselah, he dieth, and then it is sent. He died in the year of the deluge.

+ This prophecy occurs in a MS. found by Mr. Bruce in Abyssinia; but was probably placed there, to give the other parts of the work an air of authenticity.

How easy, at such a period, to transmit history from generation to generation, by oral tradition!-See Chronological Table, No. 1.

flood, the family of Noah excepted; because " Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations." Gen. vi. 7, 8.

Q. How was his family delivered?

A. By means of an ark of gopher-wood, which Noah had been commanded to prepare. Gen. vi. 14.

Q. What were its dimensions?

A. Its length was three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty, and its height thirty cubits.* Gen. vi. 15.

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. Gen. vi. 19-21.

* "The dimensions of the ark were 300 cubits in length, 50 in breadth, and 30 in height; and it consisted of three stories or floors. Reckoning the cubit at eighteen inches, it will be found that it must have been of the burden of 42,413 tons. A first rate man of war is between 2,200, and 2,300 tons; and, consequently, the ark had the capacity or stowage of eighteen of such ships, the largest in present use, and might carry 20,000 men, with provisions for six months, besides the weight of 1,800 cannons, and of all military stores. It was then by much the largest ship ever built. Can we doubt of its being sufficient to contain eight persons, and about two hundred or two hundred and fifty pairs of four-footed animals ? a number to which, according to Mr. Buffon, all the various distinct species may be reduced, together with all the subsistence necessary for a twelvemonth.". Dr. HALES's New Analysis, vol. i. p. 328.

Q. Was not a different arrangement made with regard to such animals as were offered in sacrifice?

A. Yes; Noah was commanded to take of every clean beast by sevens, the male and his female. Gen. vii. 2. Q. Had mankind any warning of the impending judgment?

A. Yes; Noah, a preacher of righteousness, warned them for many years, while the ark was preparing. Gen. vi. 3; 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20; 2 Pet. ii. 5.

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." Matt. xxiv. 38. 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 perGen. vii. 3.

sons.

Q. What may we notice in the marriages of Noah, and of his sons?

A. That notwithstanding the introduction of polygamy, they adhered 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 sixth hundredth year of his life,

in the second month, and the seventeenth day of the month.* Gen. vii. 11.

Q. What happened on that day?

4. All the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven opened: and the rain which then commenced, lasted forty days and forty nights. Gen. vii. 12.

Q. In what state was the earth after that period?

A. It was entirely submerged: "all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered," and every living substance upon the face of the ground was destroyed. Gen. vii. 19.

* See Observations on Hebrew Chronology in the Appendix.

+ "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 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 vengeance 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.

Q. What became of the ark?

A. Preserved by Divine Providence, it rested, after a voyage of five months, on the mountains of Ararat.* Gen. viii. 4.

Q. When were the tops of the mountains first seen? A. On "the first of the tenth month." Gen. viii. 5. 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. Gen. viii. 7-12.

Q. How long did Noah remain in the ark?

A. Until the twenty-seventh day of the second month in the following year. Gen. viii. 14.

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 are willingly ignorant of,

*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.

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.