nant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee," ver. 5-18. The ark was made-it took "one hundred and twenty years" in making, ver. 3-God sent forth Noah as "a preacher of righteousness," for all that space, to warn "the world of the ungodly," 2 Pet. ii. 5-Noah preached of the vengeance-floodthe building of the ark preached of the vengeance-flood-the "120 years" of warning and preaching passed away-seven souls only (Noah was the "eighth person," 2 Pet. ii. 5), out of the whole world, believed the preached word, and knew the "bringing in of the flood."-O hearken. The Spirit of the Lord strove with man no longer-ver. 3, "And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens (pairs) and of beasts that are not clean by two

(a pair) (pairs).

of fowls also of the air by sevens

seven

for yet seven days". days longer, the ark and its believing inhabitants shall preach seven more days —“and I will (then) 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; and Noah did accord

ing unto all that the Lord commanded him," vii. 1-5.-Noah entered into the ark "by faith," Heb. xi. 7-all his house entered-the beasts, clean and unclean, entered-the fowls of the air entered. The "world of the ungodly" saw it saw Noah and his house enter-saw "two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life," enter-saw the miracle of man and beast, wolf and lamb, leopard and kid, calf and lion, cow and bear, enter into one common building, and lie down together with the asp and the cockatrice, and all earth's living tribes-saw the miracle of beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowl, understanding and obeying the bidding of man, and entering in "by faith”—saw it for seven days-saw and heard the "preacher of righteousness," Noah, and his fellow-preachers, the beasts and the fowls, preach on for the seven days of the coming flood-saw for seven days the ark prepared for miraculous preservation-saw "the Lord shut" them "in," ver. 16;—and yet-awful and mysterious word!" KNEW NOT until the flood came, and took them all away." O! Hearken unto the end of it; "and it came to pass

*The ark is a clear type of the day of the Lord, and of the "restitution of all things" in the Millennial dispensation. See Is. xi. 6--8.

after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth . . . . the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened .. . . and the waters prevailed .... and the ark went upon the face of the waters and all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle, and of beast and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and EVERY and every living substance was

MAN

destroyed

.. and Noah only remained ALIVE, and they that were with him in the ark," ver. 10-23.

"SO ALSO SHALL THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN BE." The children of God find grace in his sight. They shall "know perfectly." An ark shall be provided, a refuge, a sanctuary, a deliverance, a catching up in the clouds, 1 Thess. 4, 17, a hiding "under the shadow of God's wings," Psalms xvii. 8, lvii. 1, a shutting in of God, Gen. vi. 16—some safety shall be provided. But for the world of the ungodly!" They shall know not. They "shall say, peace and safety." Warnings of the Lord's coming day, preachings of his coming judgment, signs of the coming Jesus, shall be given, but they shall all be derided, and cast from them. Preachers of righteousness shall be sent to prepare

the last trumpet shall send forth a note of preparation; but men shall be shut up in selfrighteousness and self-love, in sin and unbelief, in thinking the world and themselves too good for the wrath of God, in the "cunningly devised fables" of false Gospels and smooth prophesiers, in eating and drinking, in marrying and giving in marriage, until it all gathers into a head of proud and wilful ignorance of God's word, into one mad and hardened conspiracy of NOT KNOWING, until the Son of Man comes upon them as a thief in the night. Poor, wretched, infatuated world! thou SHALT know, in that day when SUDDEN DESTRUCTION Cometh upon thee, as travail upon a woman with

child.

Brethren, we are, as of old, "fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken," Luke xxiv. 25. In mercy to this our foolishness, Scripture truth is told and re-told to us. Turn to the corresponding passage in the 17th of Luke, which would appear to look with a single eye to THIS DAY of the Lord's coming to judge the quick--ver. 20, "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come,

he answered them"-they were carnal, and expected nothing but an outward and earthly kingdom, and expected it then-" and said, the kingdom"- the present kingdom-" of God cometh not with observation"-is for the present spiritual, secret, inward, God reigning in the hearts of his people, and coming without outward observation*" neither shall they say"-as yet -"Lo here, or lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you; and he said unto the disciples" (unto whom "it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven," while to others" it is not given," Matt. xiii. 11), "the days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man"-when ye shall earnestly long and expect to see one day, the first or any "of the days" of the coming of Christ in his future and other kingdom, the kingdom of glory" and ye shall not see it"at the time you expect-" and they shall say to you, See here, or see there, go not after them, nor follow them"-for that other and future kingdom, the kingdom of glory, indeed "cometh with observation”- "for as the LIGHTNING that lighteneth out of the one part under hea

* "My kingdom is not" now" of this world, is my kingdom not from hence," John xviii. 36.

... • now