Whether they had laws and governors is not known, but there were good and bad men then as at all times, and there was religious worship among them.

5. Religious worship was probably first taught by God to his creatures. It is said that God spoke to Adam and Eve, but it is also said in another part of the Scripture, that “no man hath seen God at any time," so we must believe that God taught men his will and their duty to him, by informing them in some other way than by appearing and speaking to them. He made some whom hé appointed for this purpose to feel and understand his designs in their minds. This instruction from God is called Inspiration. Persons so taught are said to be inspired men. God does not teach men so in these days, though it appears from the Bible that he once used to teach them in this manner.

6. The first worship mentioned in the Bible is sacrifices. Those who believed that all the good things they possessed were gifts of a gracious father and friend, used to take some of the best things they had, and offer them to God; and though every thing that grows and lives is God's without being offered to him, he was willing to accept, as an expression of thanks for his bounty, whatever should be presented to him by his creatures. But God did not value these offerings unless they were presented with a sincere and humble heart.

7. Adam's two sons, Cain and Abel, each made a sacrifice, one brought fruits of the ground, and the other "firstlings of his flock," but God accepted Abel's offering, while he had not respect

to Cain's, is a lesson never to be forgotten-that God is not pleased with the wicked even if they pretend to be religious. Those who do well only will he accept and bless.

6. The more men increased, and the older the world became, the worse they grew. "The earth was filled with violence," "with quarrels,

God

and vices that make men unfit to live. therefore determined to destroy the whole human race, except Noah and his family-that good man found grace, or favour with God on account of his goodness, and God chose to preserve him and his children from the flood.

7. God informed Noah of his intention to drown the world, and instructed him to prepare a vessel that would float upon the waters where his family and a multitude of animals might be kept in safety. Noah obeyed the divine command, and was accordingly saved when all his fellowmen were drowned.

S. After the deluge was over, and plants had begun to vegetate again, the earth had become in a manner new: Noah and his family were its only human inhabitants. How grateful and happy must they all have felt for this great deliverancehow deeply affected by this wonderful display of God's providence, who in the midst of judgment remembers mercy, and who spares even while he punishes his creatures!

9. Noah knew that destruction had been brought upon the former inhabitants of the earth on account of their wickedness, and he knew that to enjoy God's favour men must be pious and good, therefore he resolved to keep up the true religion and to worship the Maker and Father of men.

His first act on leaving the ara was tu acalow ledge the mercy of God.

Noah's Sacrifice.

10. When Noah made this offering, Gou sig fied to him his intention never more to destroy mankind by a flood, and at the same time the rainhow first appeared in the sky. It has since often been called the bow of promise and of hope, be cause it reminds men of the gracious promise of God, and because it appeared when God encouraged them by his covenant with Noah that he would be the eternal friend of the human race.

11. Noah's three sons were Shem, Japhet, and Ham; of these Ham is memorable for showing disrespect to his father, and for the prophecy uttered by Noah concerning him. To prophecy is to foretel what is to happen in future times.

Inspired men only are prophets. The only proof that a man is a prophet, is that what he has foretold really comes to pass afterwards.

12. Noah foretold that the descendants of Ham should become servants to the posterity of his brothers. It is believed that Ham was the first ancestor of the Africans, and that his brothers were the first ancestors of the Asiatics and Europeans. The present white inhabitants of America are descended from Europeans. The Africans have always been a barbarous people except on the north coast of Africa; and they have been, for a long time, and in great numbers, slaves to the Americans, and in the European colonies of the West Indies. Thus have the posterity of Han. become servants to the posterity of Noah's other sons.

13. For some years after the flood mankind continued together, probably about mount Ararat, a mountain near the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates. Between these rivers is Mesopotamia or Shinar. In time this country became populous, and here was erected the Tower of Babel.

14. A great multitude of people joined to build a tower of immense height, and they had made considerable progress in their work, when it pleased God to put a stop to it. Till then all mez had spoken one language, but now God confounded their language, that is, he caused some to speak in one, and others to speak another language, so that they could no better understand each other, than a number of persons speaking French, Spanish, and Italian, each understanding only his own language, could now be understood

by one another. Therefore this tower was called Babel or confusion.

15. Soon after the confounding of language men spread over the eastern continent in various directions, but many of them forgot the true God, and imagined there might be other gods, or that men had the power of God, or that things without life or sense were gods; so they made images of these false gods, and built temples for them, and worshipped them in groves or on hills, which the Scripture calls "high places," Among the things worshipped were the sun, moon, and stars; afterwards fire, and the elements; and lastly the passions and vices of men. "They made a god of wine for the drunkards, of gold for the covetous, of thieves for the dishonest, &c." The history of these false gods is Mythology. The images of the gods were Idols, and the worship Idolatry.

THE RAINBOW.

The following passage from the book of Genesis relates the declaration of God to Noah on the first recorded appearance of the rainbow.

"I will establish my covenant with you: neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the