ing, perhaps, that he was the first who raised several houses near one another, the earliest abodes being more scattered and far apart. Another descendant of Cain, Jabel, is called the father of such as dwell in tents and of herdsmen, from which we gather that he and his family began the migratory life of those tribes in the East who possess vast flocks of sheep, goats, and cattle, and move from one part of the country to another in search of pasture, living always in tents instead of fixed houses. Many such still remain in eastern countries, and a life not very dissimilar is led by settlers in lands where, as in the earliest ages of the world, there are very few inhabitants, and the soil is not divided into the property of separate individuals. Jubal, the brother of Jabel, cultivated with success the art of making and playing upon musical instruments; and another brother, Tubalcain, was a worker in brass and iron. Perhaps the beginnings of these and other arts were first taught to Adam and his children by God Himself; but nothing is recorded on the subject in the Scriptures. It appears certain, however, that all such knowledge was gained gradually by the human race as it increased in numbers.

One of Adam's posterity, Henoch, who came in the sixth generation, was exempted from the ordinary laws of mortality. He never died the death of other men. He devoted himself with such fervent piety to the love and service of God, that after a life of 365 years, which in those times was a short life, God took him from this world to Himself.

CHAP. VI. The Deluge.

FOR 1500 years the course of the world went on as it had begun. The population increased with rapidity, and all the arts of life were cultivated. It is not known how far the people of those days had spread over the earth, or whether they had penetrated into Europe. If, however, we may judge from what took place in the time of Noah, at this period men had acquired no little

skill in ship-building, and were accustomed to lengthened voyages.

With art and science, however, sin had also increased. Every generation added to the knowledge of wickedness of that which preceded it; while every year the recollection of the knowledge of God which Adam had retained after his expulsion from Paradise was growing fainter and fainter, and becoming mingled with all kinds of absurdities and superstitions. It seems that, from the days of Cain, there had been a marked difference between his posterity and those of the other children of Adam; Cain's descendants excelling most in skill and energy of character, and those of his brothers and sisters retaining more of the knowledge of God, and more love and obedience to His will. At last, the two races began to intermingle in marriage, the great beauty of the women of the more ungodly families attracting the regards of those who were born of a purer stock; until the whole human race was given up to worldliness and sin, and in one family alone was God served and honoured. This was the household of Noah; though even here, as it afterwards appeared, there was one son out of three who was of unholy character.

At this point in the history of the world, a terrible punishment was sent upon mankind. God gave a command to Noah to prepare a large vessel, or ark, resem bling the hull or body of one of our largest ships of modern times, to contain himself and some of all living creatures during a deluge which was about to drown the whole world. It was to be divided into three stages, or decks; and as it was not designed for moving from one place to another, but merely to float on the top of the waves, and to protect those who were within it, it was roofed-in like a house, in order to bear the violence of the storms of rain which were about to descend upon the earth. Its length (at the smallest measurement) was about 450 feet; its width about 70 or 80; its height between 40 and 50. In size it was. therefore, about as long and as wide as one of the old English cathedrals, and rather more than half their usual height.

Into this immense ark Noah took seven of every kind of clean beasts, and two of every kind of unclean. The distinction between clean and unclean animals had been made by God, as a figure of the difference which exists in His sight between souls that are defiled with sin, and those that are cleansed. Noah took also his wife and his three sons, with their wives and families. Seven days after he had entered the ark, the waters began to fall, and for forty days and forty nights it rained upon the earth. At length the floods rose so high, that nothing was left alive in the world; man and beast perished together; one overwhelming deluge destroyed them all. For nearly half a year the deluge remained upon the earth, when the waters began sensibly to subside. At length the tops of the mountains were dry, and the ark was lodged upon a high land in the country of Armenia, now called Mount Ararat. There Noah waited forty days longer; and in order to ascertain whether the earth was yet habitable again, he sent out a raven, which never returned. After the raven, he sent out a dove, which found no rest nor food, and soon came back to the ark. A week afterwards he sent the dove forth again, and in the evening she returned with a branch of an olive-tree in her beak, the green leaves shewing that vegetation was begun. Waiting another seven days, Noah sent her forth once more, and she never returned.

Noah thus understanding that the earth must now be dried, and fit for him to dwell upon, came forth with his family, and the animals which he had taken in with him, and beheld the world all lovely and fertile as before. Filled with gratitude to his almighty Protector for his wonderful preservation amid the wreck of all mankind, he immediately raised an altar, and offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving. And the wrath of God was appeased by the awful vengeance that He had taken, and He revealed to Noah that such a deluge as was now passed should never again destroy the world, bidding him look to the rainbow which follows upon the passing storm as a pledge that the earth should no more be