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every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually," that "the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence," and that this corruption had arrived to so desperate a height, that "it even repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved HIм at His heart." Now that the wickedness of man, thus fearfully described, consisted in fact in the indulgence of a worldly spirit, and forgetfulness of GOD and His devout service-in one word, in want of faith, we find from looking to those places in the New Testament where the same evil times are referred to: For it is a thing much to be observed, that in those places, it is not altogether the prevalence of gross and heinous crimes which is mentioned, as constituting the guilt and danger of the men of that generation, but habits and practices, wrong, not in themselves, but in the degree they were indulged in. Thus, in the well-known prophecies of our LORD, detailed by St. Matthew and also by St. Luke, the account given of the moral condition of the world at that period is this:

"In the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, down to the very day in which Noah entered into the ark; and yet they knew not (that is, had no sense of their condition) until the flood came, and took them all away." In the eleventh chapter to the Hebrews, it is said that "Noah, being warned of GOD of things not seen as yet,❞—that must mean, of the impending judgments of God on a wicked world, of the approach of which judgments, however, there was as yet no evident symptom, he nevertheless, "moved with fear" and reverence of the Divine warnings, "prepared an ark for the saving of his house" and family, "by which he condemned the world," that is, by building the ark he gave the strongest proof of his own faith in the Divine warnings, and at the same time he bore open testimony against the faithless worldly spirit by which people in general were influenced in those evil days.

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This seems to be confirmed by what St. Peter says in his Second Epistle, where, calling to mind the ALMIGHTY's heavy judgments on sinners, whether angels or men, in times past, he says, that "GOD spared not the old world, but saved only Noah, that preacher or herald of righteousness, with seven others, bringing in a flood on

a world of ungodly men"-ungodly, that is, according to the force of the original word, irreligious, leading lives quite inconsistent with devoted piety and holiness.

In which passage, where Noah is designated as "a preacher or herald of righteousness" to an ungodly world, it seems implied that his messages and warnings, though supported by Divine authority, were only treated with neglect and contempt, and this even to the last, to the very hour when he entered into the ark.

Thus then "the days of Noah were,"―men's minds were given up to earthly cares and earthly enjoyments-true piety and holiness were set aside as impertinencies, and what people had something else to do than attend to; and if a person with authority from heaven preached righteousness to them, warned them by his life and doctrine of the dangerous course they were pursuing, he was only met with scorn, or at the best with disregard.

Such was the state of mankind about 4200 years ago. But what (it may be asked) does this concern us? if it is our chief and only business to attend to ourselves, why need we trouble ourselves to look back and inquire how people lived and died in ages so long past?

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An answer to this question is provided in our LORD's own solemn, prophetic words. Because, (said he) exactly as the days of Noah were, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be." Therefore it evidently greatly concerns us; it is no matter of useless inquiry or speculation for us to look back to that remote period, to ascertain what symptoms there are now of a state of things similar to that which prevailed before the first destruction of the world by water, and also whether we each of us personally are in earnest preparing for that final judgment by fire, when the wicked world shall be for ever swept away, and there shall be no safety but in the ark of CHRIST's Churchwhen none but those who have "watched and prayed always," that is, have in earnest endeavoured to lead a life of watchfulness and prayer, "shall be accounted worthy to escape all those things which shall come to pass, and to stand before the SON of Man."

"As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man." How, it may be asked, is it in our days? Must not the person who wishes to see things in the most cheerful light, and to put the most favourable construction on people's conduct and professions, must he not confess that in many respects the condition of the world now is not very different from that in which the sacred records describe it to have been "in the days that were before the flood?"

In those days, it appears, men's minds, almost universally, were given up to earthly cares and earthly enjoyments.

Can it be said with truth that the great majority of people in Christian countries, and much more in others, do not answer this description in these our times?

This our nation of England, for instance, is a nation professedly Christian, and it is called a religious nation, and the knowledge of pure evangelical truth is confidently said to be more general and more fruitful here than in other countries professing Christianity. Whether this be indeed the case or not, may perhaps be a question. At all events it is certain, that a knowledge of the great truths of the Gospel is within the reach of all inquiring persons amongst us, and that in all ordinary cases it must be a person's own fault if he lives and dies in ignorance of these truths.

Yet now, with all these advantages, let it only be considered how many, many persons suffer their minds to be distracted and torn in pieces with various cares,- -cares of business, family cares, -fretting, anxious, and full of thoughts for the morrow, as if they could manage better for themselves than God could manage for them! How many to whom Sunday is no day of rest, no season of refreshment from low-born anxieties and toils, no sabbath of soothing hope and peaceful anticipation of an eternal home!

How many, again, who make ease and pleasure their idol, who desire to live what is called a comfortable life, nor will let any thing interfere with this their desire, no, not the voice of natural feeling, or of the world's opinion, much less of religion and conscience!

So it was in the days before the flood, and so evidently it is

now in the days of the Son of Man, in the midst of the light and knowledge of the Gospel of CHrist Jesus.

In the old world, too, it appears that true piety and holiness were set aside as impertinencies, and what people had something else to do than to attend to.

Will any considerate, unprejudiced person deny that this kind of "ungodliness" is but too prevalent in these latter days? For let such things as these only be considered—

How little care people, even religious people, have about ascertaining the truth in matters of religion, but follow habit, or fancy, or feeling, or the custom of others, all of which, in a matter so important as our eternal interests, are nothing whatever to depend

on.

Again, how apt people are to make religion a matter of personal disputes, or of worldly politics, and in these respects to treat it as a subject of importance; putting aside entirely, or in a great degree, its real value, namely, its reference to our condition throughout eternity, in happiness without fear of change, or in misery without hope of it.

And if what is called the religious world amongst us is thus debased by worldly and carnal politics, what are we to think of the state of society wherein so many of all ranks, from the highest to the lowest, not merely in practice, but openly and avowedly, care for none of these things," but (if the truth must be confessed) can scarcely be described as other than infidels and atheists?

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So it was in the days of Noah, and so we see it to be also in the days of the Son of Man.

Finally, when in those days an authorized herald of GOD, "a preacher of righteousness," warned men of their dangerous courses, he was met with scorn, or, at best, with neglect.

So it was in the days of Noah, and so it is now.

The authorized ministers of the Gospel, as such, are notoriously disregarded; that is, respect is had rather to the person than to the office. I need not say how the voice of the Church is scorned, or, as one may say, hooted down, and her authority cast off; and this, alas! not merely by "the world of the ungodly," but even

by multitudes who make great pretensions to religious light and knowledge.

Many no doubt scorned and ridiculed righteous Noah, while he was preparing the ark in obedience to the Divine warning. In like manner do Christians receive with a smile of scorn our warnings, when we caution them against trusting to the opinions and practices, however plausible, of the world around them, and intreat them to take refuge in the ark of CHRIST's Church, that so (as the Prayer-book says, with its usual exquisite beauty of expression,) “being stedfast in faith, joyful through hope, and rooted in charity, they may so pass the waves of this troublesome world, that finally they may come to the land of everlasting life."

But, alas! it is too certain, and confirmed by all experience, that where prejudice or sensuality have taken possession of the mind and heart, the voice of truth cannot be listened to. According to the wonderfully energetic description which we find in Scripture of this kind of ungodliness—

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Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely."

Such then, and so dangerous, being the condition in which we are placed, and warnings so plain and decisive having been given us, let it be our earnest care and constant prayer that the last coming of the Son of Man may not find us unprepared.

Let us think of that world of the ungodly which was cut off by the flood, when they thought themselves secure, when they had no expectation of any such calamity, nay, when they had scorned and despised God's warnings by his authorized messenger and herald.

Let us think that though but few particulars are told us concerning the day of final judgment, yet this is plainly pressed on our thoughts that as the great deluge did formerly, so the great fire will hereafter, find the world of the ungodly, thoughtless and unprepared.

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And then can we doubt that we are living in a world of the ungodly, in a wicked world, as the Catechism taught us?

And if so, how can we be but full of fear and trembling, how

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