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without shore; and save that ark now floating on its surface, a small and moving speck, nothing was discernible over all the watery waste from one end of heaven even to the other. Seven months it continued at its utmost height; for seven long months this mighty ball presented the silence as well as stillness of universal death. No dashing of the waters, for they found no shore against which to aim their shock; no rippling of the surge, for the winds of heaven were chained. It was universal silence over the universal waste; a still but awful lecture on the justice of high heaven, on the sure and certain retribution of impenitence.

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That ark alone remained above the waters. Like a little casket containing things most precious, the eye of him who inherits all the nations was bent stedfastly upon it. For there floated the germ of all the various nations since famous in the annals of the world. There, pent up that little circuit, were the pledges of all that animate the landscape, or make the forest vocal, or glance their variant plumage before the mid-day sun. But we note not now the dangers they encountered, the tumults that swelled the bosoms of the rational part of this great cargo of life, or the faithful superintendance of that Almighty Providence that landed them in safety in a world restored.

On next Lord's day we celebrate a deliverance of which the ark with all its blessings was but a feeble type. And it is fit that you should then accompany this favoured family through a voyage so eventful, to a termination so auspicious, that you may regard with more intentness a more complete deliverance from a greater ill. Till then we leave this faithful patriarch sailing on the bosom of the deep.

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We will not detain you now with the many busy inqui ries that have been urged upon this theme. We satisfy no man's question, "how did God provide sufficient water to deluge all the world?" We point to that same hand that first dug the channels of the deep, and that threw around our globe its attenuated air. We point to the fact that he dissolved the frame of nature, as almost all the vallies and all the mountain-tops will witness at this hour. nough that the bible assigns a cause most adequate. Om nipotence interfered, Omnipotence did the thing. And we pretend not to fathom the resources of Omnipotence when it brings a flood of waters, or when it makes a world. All nations, all nature bears witness that it was done. How Omnipotence did it, Omniscience must unfold. But it is well that he did it by a flood of waters. The horrors of that scene strike horror to human sense; and the traces as well as traditions of the dreadful visitations prolong to mankind the advantage of the lesson by giving them un questionable assurance of the fact. To trace out this assurance would be to display the early records of all nations, or with modern geologists to scale the lofty mountains and to dive deep into the plains. It would be a work of hours, of days, of weeks. In multitudes of volumes these evidences are enfolded, there you must consult them.

We assume the fact as unquestionably authentic: we point it out as a declared visitation of a world's transgressions: we note it as the accomplishment of predictions warmly urged for 120 years upon the improvident and unbelieving. And finally, we now repeat to you another prediction of much longer standing and of much more fearful import, which the same mouth has uttered, which the same arm shall execute-"Knowing this first, that there shall

tome 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 they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willing ly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up."-2 Peter iii. 3-7. 10. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."-1 Thess. iv. 16. 17. "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God: and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in

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the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."-Rev. xx 11-15. Finally, hear the assurances of the Saviour himself: "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all the nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked and clothed thee? or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or a thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, verily, I say un

to you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."-Matthew xxv. 31-46.

"Consider this, ye that forget God, fest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver." We point you to the deluge, as the pledge of heaven's fixed purpose in the judgment here denounced. Before the bar of judgment a bickering flame shall dart, it shall swathe the earth in one interminable sheet of flame. But we have an ark in which to plough this deluge, an ark now safely moored before the mercy seat of God, where the cherubim of glory spread over it their wings. We have it in commandment to declare to all the nations that there is none other name given under heaven by which you can be saved. We have it in commandment to bid the nations enter in. On next Lord's day we minister to you the seals of this assurance. We will say that so certainly as we break to you that bread, the Saviour was broken for all who will receive him. We say to you that so really as you receive and drink that cup, he will minister salvation to all who now confess him. Who is there among you that sighs for God's salvation? Who desires to seek it in God's appointed way? Let them take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Yet 1300 years and I, even I do bring a tempest on the earth, "hailstones and coals of fire."-"Oh that ye were wise! that ye understood this! that ye would consider your latter end."

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