ing, the genealogy of Cain is totally blotted out from the sacred history: thus showing that the name of the wicked shall be blotted out, according to Psalm lxix. 28, "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous." Which brings me now to the twenty-fifth verse, where the genealogy of Adam is resumed.

"And Adam knew his wife again, and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: for God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him also was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord."

The last sentence, at first sight, seems to imply, that previous to the birth of Seth, the service of God had so far declined, that the name of God had been almost forgotten, but, that when Seth had a son born unto him, the worship of God revived again. But when I come to look more minutely into it, the subject bears a different aspect, for the following reasons: Adam, no doubt, acted as priest to his own family whilst his sons were in their minority, but when they grew up to manhood, and became fathers of children themselves, then they each one became, priests to their own households, when not only Adam, but men began to call upon the name of the Lord, that is, separated themselves from the wicked race of Cain, despised the vanities of the world, and acknowledged themselves to be the sons of God, by living closely to him. And, as it is written of Enoch, the sixth from Adam, (5 c. 24 v.) that he "walked with God and he was not; for God took him"

we may reasonably infer from that, that the Church of God at that time was peculiarly spiritual, and had arrived to an eminent degree of sanctity; but from the birth of his son Methuselah to the birth of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah, there appears to have been in the Church a gradual declension from God.

THE CHURCH'S DECLENSION from God.

The sixth chapter commenceth thus—“ And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose."

I am aware that some very foolish deductions have been drawn from the above quotation, by men of fanatical and superstitious minds, who have tried to prove therefrom, that the sons of God to which the text alludes, were a peculiar holy race of beings, of angelic conception, and not according to the ordinary generation of mankind; but such an hypothesis is false, and has no foundation in the text; as the sons of God there spoken of were such as had respect unto the worship of God, and were obedient unto him, and thereby separated themselves from the wicked descendants of Cain, who rejected it altogether, whose daughters it appears were fair and beautiful; and, as Eve looked upon the forbidden fruit, and saw that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, so they, the sons of God, looked upon the daughters of men, and found them pleasant to their eyes, and desirable to make them happy, as they fondly supposed. Therefore "they

took them wives of all which they chose." Thus by giving their hearts to lust after those who despised the ways and service of God, they, like thousands in the present day, sold themselves to commit sin, and so fixed logs to their own souls which eventually sank them down into a state of moral guilt, in which they were too vile to live: consequently the Almighty determined to sweep the cursed race from off the earth.

THE DELUGE THREATENED.

Verse 3. "And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh." There appears in this last quotation a little defection in the translation; in fact, the sentence, "for that he also is flesh," seems nonsense, when I refer to the original; and when I take it in connection with the context, I feel confirmed in my opinion, for the word Daw bashagam (translated, for that) is compound, composed of a to loiter, delay, &c. and to abound, be copious, &c.; shewing, that, although mankind had lingered upon the earth by long generations, and by that means had multiplied to excess, and abounded to almost overflowing measure, in consequence of the protracted length of human life-that, although that had hitherto been the case, yet his Spirit should not always so strive with, or in (DN) man, though he hath multiplied so greatly upon the earth. Yet my Spirit shall not always so strive with man— -his life shall not be so prolonged for the future; yet his days shall not be utterly cut off, but his age shall be diminished upon the earth, to an hundred and twenty years. And this, to me, appears a true paraphrase upon the

text, which literally may be truly rendered thus, And, said Jehovah, my Spirit shall not strive in or with man for ever, prolonging and multiplying his flesh-yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Thus was man's life upon the earth to be diminished to a shorter lease after the flood. And, not only were the lives of the antediluvians protracted to a great length, but they were likewise men of great stature. "There were giants in the earth in those days; 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, which were of old, men of renown." But what were they renowned for? Why, nothing but wickedness. Behold, ye foolish professors of Christianity, who, through wickedness or (I am afraid in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred) covetousness, encourage your sons and daughters to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for worldly interest; behold, and tremble at the vortex of destruction ye plunge them into. Ye foolishly listen to the lie of Satan, which tells you that your offspring may be a means of drawing the worldlings they are about to be united to, to love the things of God; but, take warning from the awful example of the antediluvians-see how it fell out with them-it was the very fruits of their unholy alliance, the very offspring of the sons of God, which became renowned for wickedness. O, ye worldly-minded professors, who practise these things, the blood of your own children is upon you, and God will require it at your hands. Well may the Church be neither cold nor hot, when it abounds with such professors.

"It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah at the day of judgment, than for you."

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Verse 5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth; and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will 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. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord."

Thus we may learn, that men may go on in wickedness until they lose their day of grace. And if once God declare that his Spirit shall no longer strive with them, then do they become reprobates, and "vessels of wrath fitted for destruction" and "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful looking for of fiery indignation." For, if conscience, God's witness in man, be seared and completely silenced, then Christ standeth no longer knocking at his heart, with tokens of mercy, seeing that conscience, the voice of his Spirit, the witness of Christ, the porter that was within, is not there to open-he is silenced, until he shall awake to condemn them, and increase their torment. O, the hardening nature of sin— it must gravitate to its centre, damnation. Men think they can return to God and repent when they please, but they are mistaken, for repentance is the gift of God. A popish penance they may perform, without the Holy Ghost, and be damned; but, to repent unto life eternal, it must be by the Holy Spirit of God, through Christ, "working in