Deut. xxxii. 7—9.

God made man upright,—made him in his own image; and he was equally happy as he was holy. His will was in unison with that of the Framer and Sustainer of all things; and being in harmony thus with universal nature, suffered not those painful collisions, to which it is now so constantly exposed in consequence of sin. As man became alienated from God—from the true good—the light of Jehovah's countenance, so did he become subject to that wretchedness, which results from his possessing active powers, adapted for communion with the spiritual world, without these having anything proper upon which to fix themselves. In this low estate man was not left by Him who alone could help him. God manifested himself unto Adam in a manner fitted to man's fallen condition. Salvation through the great atoning sacrifice was then revealed. It was promised that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head; and, in place of the insufficient

B

covering of his own workmanship, with which man, in his first emotions of shame, had covered himself, he was clothed with skins—as we suppose, with the skins of the animals slain in sacrifice, in the first institution of that new mode of worship, which was now given to man, as requiring to be redeemed by the blood-shedding of the Lamb of God ;—as requiring to be clothed with the righteousness of Him in whose name alone we may approach the Father.

The good seed being thus sown in the first family of mankind, they were allowed to multiply and replenish the earth. But, even in that early period of our world, there was a distinction of races. The descendants of Cain were emphatically wicked; whilst the sons of Seth (see Gen. vi. 22) are called "the sons of God." In process of time these two races intermingled, and the result was a most powerful progeny; but their power was not consecrated to the Lord. Men, as they

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grew mighty, became monsters in wickedness; and as they replenished the earth, they equally filled it with violence. Their enormities called for vengeance from Heaven; and the waters of the flood were sent to quench the fire of their lust; and to sweep them, with their works of wickedness, from the face of the earth.

Of all the families of mankind, only one was spared, the family of Noah; which, together with the individuals that had intermarried therewith, was preserved in the ark, which Noah was directed to prepare, during the hundred and twenty years in which he testified against that ungodly generation, and preached righteousness, pointing to that rest that remaineth for the people of God, and of which the ark was a type.

It has been remarked that God was preaching righteousness from the very beginning; and had been writing his Gospel in the very names of Noah and his progenitors, even from the creation of man upon the earth. Thus the name of Adam may either mean red earth, out of which man was formed, or it may be from the Hebrew word signifying image; and, made of earth, man was formed after the image of God; which image we lost in the first Adam, who is of the earth earthy; and we have it restored in the second Adam, who is the Lord from heaven. Seth, the son of Adam, hath his name, meaning placed; man, made of earth, and in the image of God, was placed in Eden by his Maker; but, by his sin, he placed himself in a wilderness of thorns and briers. And then Enos means mortal, referring to the deathful state into which man was precipitated by his fall into sin. Cainan means miserable, the character of that state of spiritual death, in which man is now found. But Mahalaleel brings into view the Lord, the Saviour; this name meaning the Blessed God, or, God who is worthy of all praise,— which the Word was, even before He came down to earth to accomplish our redemption. His humbling himself is in the next name expressed, Jared,

[LEC. I.

meaning he shall descend: He humbled himself, to take upon him the form of a servant, and to become a Messenger to those who received his message with the utmost despite. This service is expressed in the next name, Enoch, which means teaching. The ministry which he fulfilled, until the time of his being offered up, was that of a Teacher, sent from God. Never man spake like this man; and the subject of his teaching to his chosen disciples, much related to the decease he should accomplish at Jerusalem. And this seems to be the object pointed at by the next name, Methuselah, meaning, He who died shall send. He died for our sins, and rose again for our justification. And then did He who said, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," send forth his apostles, with power, on the same blessed errand. Lamech means, to the afflicted; and to the afflicted, the "tossed with tempest and not comforted". -the desolate woman the lost house of Israel, which had gone into the north country, was the Gospel more especially sent. The name Noah, describes the character of the message, which hath proceeded from Jerusalem, through Judea, through Samaria, through Asia Minor, through Greece, and still more and more north-westward, until, having reached these "isles afar off," it is being spread unto the uttermost ends of the earth. It is rest, or consolation. It is "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God." It is an invitation to enter into rest; into the enjoyment of perfect peace, whatever troubles may outwardly abound: to take refuge in that ark, which was faintly shadowed forth by the ark that was built by Noah.

Thus, in the first names of mankind, the ten between Adam and Noah, we have, most distinctly written, the great purpose of Jehovah with regard to Israel in particular, and mankind generally. The names, together, as given 1 Chron. i. 1—4, without the assistance of any interposing word, read," Man—placed—mortal—miser