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His righteousness in punishing it. While the keen votaries of knowledge amuse themselves with contemplating the traces and proofs of the Deluge as a physical fact, the serious and right-minded Christian will contemplate in the fact itself, and in every proof of it, the direful nature of sin; and fervently pray that he may hate and renounce that which is so displeasing to the Holy God.

But in the midst of judgment, we see here the clearest manifestation of mercy. We look to the ark, to Noah and his family, to the animals that were preserved; we see the immense vessel, freighted with the living elements or rudiments of a new world, floating in safety on the wide-spread waters; we see it moored at length on the summit of a hill in Armenia; we see the windows of heaven closed, the fountains of the deep stopped; we see the sun shine forth again in his glory, while a wind passes over the earth, and the waters assuage; we see the tops of the mountains appear, and the dove returning to the ark with an olive leaf in her beak. At last the face of the ground is dry, and those who had been prisoners so long are set at liberty, and enter, as it were, upon life again.

In all this we see the Divine goodness. It is as much a proof of the faithfulness of God as the Deluge itself is a proof of His righteousness. We might, perhaps, say

that the Deluge was the mildest form of destruction. But what we particularly notice is, the preservation of Noah for the fulfilment of the promise given in paradise. This world was to be the theatre of our redemption by one born of woman. God had an especial purpose to accomplish upon earth, for the discovery of His perfections as the moral ruler of the universe. Hence we find that amidst the convulsions of the world, a righteous family is preserved the elements of that church which is diffused through all lands, which exists through all ages, and which shall be perpetuated, in its purer form, through all eternity.

More than four thousand years have passed away since the flood; and we look forward to the end of all things; to a destruction, not by the milder element of water, but by the more formidable and awful element of fire. In each case the Creator of all things, and the Judge of all men, makes the surrounding elements the instruments of His vengeance. A world buried in whelming waters is a most affecting object to think of; but what shall we say of a world in flames, when "the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up?"

We ought, as Christians, to solemnize our minds, and that frequently, with contemplations of this sort-God's

miracles in judgment, God's miracles in mercy. And well may we rejoice that, as we know His power and justice to destroy, so we likewise know His power and goodness to save. Of the end of all things we shall ourselves be spectators, and shall we behold it with terror or with composure? This depends upon our present faith and conduct. It was well with righteous Noah, and it will be well with us-we shall be safe and blessed, if we believe as he believed, and obey as he obeyed. One judgment is past-another is at hand. Shall we not, then, be "diligent, that we may be found of Christ in peace, without spot, and blameless?"

J. J.

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