The manner in which he communicated his reproofs of their doings, was, no doubt, at their public assemblies of riot, confusion and idolatrous worship; where he, in some commanding situation, harangued and fore-warned them of impending judgments, and said, "The Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, for their ungodly speeches, which they have spoken against Him:" namely, against the Lord God of Adam. For there is

scarcely a doubt, but they constantly reproached and reviled his name, for what they might erroniously esteem severe in his conduct toward Adam and Eve, because he drove them out from Eden, for their sin.

The local situation of Eden, was, most certainly, well known to the antediluvians, for they must have frequently conversed with their great progenitor, Adam, concerning it, who had informed them of its delights; which might have inflamed them with a spirit of covetousness to possess it again; but this being impossible, they raged against the Lord, and spake injurious words against him on that account.

Of their works, therefore, the holy Enoch reproved them, and perhaps told them, that if God had so severely judged Adam, they might not expect to escape some signal punishment.

At which rebukes they were, unquestionably, enraged, and no doubt proceeded to lay violent hands upon bim, to take away his life; but in the midst of their fury, God caught him up from their sight.

He was a man in the prime of life, being three hundred and sixty-five years old when he was translated;

but had walked with God three hundred years, consequently, was born again at the age of sixty-five.

This holy man, who had been among them a preacher of righteousness, as Noah was, in after years, was no doubt translated in open sight, as was Elijah, near the fords of Jordan.

This circumstance should therefore have been received of them, as an evident sign, that God sanctioned Enoch, and consequently condemned them.

But what avails the signs of Heaven with the ungodly-the translation of Enoch should have been to them as a voice from the ETERNAL, informing them that they were in imminent danger, since God had so suddenly and miraculously removed that good man from among them.

Not many years after the translation of Enoch, there was given to the antediluvians another sign from Heaven, which was the preaching of Noah, who declared to them that God had determined to destroy the earth by water; for God had said to Noah, "The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth."

This surely was a novel doctrine, which was by no means worthy of the attention of the wise ones of that day, who, probably, began to philosophize upon the subject, and to say, how can this thing be, since the waters every where cleave to the lower parts of the earth, and cannot, therefore, climb the hills, and from thence overflow the globe.

Neither is there water sufficient in the clouds of hea

ven, if every drop were drained, to flood a globe like this: they were not willing to suppose, that God, who out of nothing made the globe with all its seas, could as easily create an addition of wat, sufficient to drown the world.

And again, why should he do so? they might say; surely we have done nothing to offend him-he is far from us, and cares not what we do-it is beneath the notice of a God. But if he does, how can he find fault? are we not as he would have us? did he not create us? we have done only as we listed, and acted in accordance with the passions he implanted in us himself-therefore, he must be pleased, instead of being offended with us, when we live as we list.

There are many of the same sect at the present day, who do not wish to confess that they are fallen from original innocence, who will, if they continue in that fatal error, fall into, not a flood of water, but of fire, according to the Scriptures.

Therefore, Noah and his preaching were rejected, who no doubt, notwithstanding, took all opportunities to reform them, and to bring them to repentance, as Enoch had done before him, but without success.

The people of that age, are they to whom Christ preached by Noah, in spirit, while they were in prison; which prison is to be understood as relating to the fact, that they were under condemnation; for God had said, "The end of all flesh is come before me.” And the one hundred and twenty years in which Noah was building the Ark, is to be considered only as a respite of their lives from immediate death; therefore, during this time,

they are spoken of as prisoners, or spirits in prison, and under the divine arrest. This idea is beautifully corroborated in Genesis, where it is written "My spirit shall not always strive with man, for as much as he is flesh, yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”—Gen. vi. 3, in which Christ, by his spirit, in Noah preached repentence to those nations, precisely as Christ, by his spirit, preaches to the people by his ministers at the present day.

The strange news, concerning a man, whose name was Noah, had probably spread far and near, that he was, in fact, building a large vessel upon dry land, to save himself and family from drowning, excited, no doubt, a general curiosity to visit so strange a person, and to see his vessel, and to converse with him about it, and to ridicule his work of needless precaution.

Upon this principle, it is reasonable to suppose, that immense assemblies, from time to time, visited him du ring the one hundred and twenty years, at which opportunities this great preacher of righteousness endeavoured to convince them of their sins, and assured them that he was not building this vast vessel but at the express command of God, for the saving of his house and every species of beasts, that the earth should not be desolated when the flood should be dried up.

In this way, therefore, they were all warned of their danger, for God is just, and gives to every soul time and opportunity, according to his day and ability, to secure a place at his right hand.

But suppose the antideluvians had all repented, or a half of them only, at the preaching of Noah, then

God would not have drowned the world, but would have saved them from that destruction, as he did the great city of Nineveh,when they repented at the preaching of Jonah, though he had said, in an unqualified manner, "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown :" the threatenings and promises of God, relating to men, are always to be understood as conditional, while man is a probationer.

But the building of the Ark continued to progress, and the time drew nigh when the prophecies of this singular character were to be fulfilled, to his honour and everlasting renown; or to fall to the ground, to his great shame and confusion.

No doubt, he had suffered abundance of ridicule, for his strange preaching and his stranger work, and perhaps, added to that, persecution, for they of his generation were a violent race of rebels against God; and had not his special providence protected the Ark, it is very probable they would have burned it, as often as Noah, with all his power, could have built it.

The Ark at length was finished, and six days were allowed to Noah and his family to remove into it, and to bring the several kinds of animals, and put them in their places, and to store away food for man and beast, for on the seventh, God would pour out his rains from Heaven, for God had said, "Yet seven days, and 1 will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth."-Gen.

vii. 3.

How wonderful a sign was this-the huge vehicle