up Seth, among whose descendants He preserved the light, and they began to call upon the name of the Lord. This period terminates with the translation of Enoch, after he had prophesied of the last days, saying, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 14, 15.)

The second period begins with the birth of Noah, during which the sons of God corrupted themselves by ungodly marriages with the daughters of men, and the earth was filled with violence. God then made a moral firmament, causing a wide separation between the ungodly and the godly, showing His abhorrence of the one, and His care of the other. God chose Noah and his

figure of the great and

family as His church; and as a final redemption through Jesus Christ, they were saved alive in the ark when the world of ungodly men was destroyed by a flood of water. "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened." (Gen. vii. 11.) This period terminates with the death of Noah.

The second section commences with the birth of Abraham, and terminates with the birth of Christ. Midway, or in the three thousandth year of the world's history, Solomon completes the building of the temple at Jerusalem. The period had now come in which God had purposed to make a still more marked separation between his church and the world. "Now the Lord

said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him." (Gen. xii. 1-4.) God thus gathered together the waters unto one place, and the dry land appeared. The nation descending from Abraham being the earth, and all other nations the sea. To the Israelites pertain the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises. (Rom. ix. 4.) God thus saying, during this period, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth: and it was so." (Gen. i. 11.)

God called Abraham 1921 years before Christ, and appeared to him on several subsequent occasions, and confirmed the promise originally made him. "The Lord appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre, (1897 years before Christ,) and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me: and if not, I will know." (Gen. xviii. 1, 20, 21.) "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven: and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and

that which grew upon the ground." (Gen. xix. 24, 25.)

1896 years before Christ. "The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him." (Gen. xxi. 1, 2.) Some time previously, "Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And Hagar bare Abram a son and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.” (Gen. xvi. 2, 3, 15.)

This improper connection and its fruit, were the cause of great trouble and sorrow in Abraham's household: at length, 1894 years before Christ, "Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking; wherefore she said unto Abraham, cast out this bond-woman and her son: for the son of this bond-woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of the bond-woman: in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice: for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and sent her away." (Gen. xxi. 9—12, 14.)

"And it came to pass, (1863 years before Christ,)

that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And they (Abraham and Isaac) came to the place which God had told him of: and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham And he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." (Gen. xxii. 1, 2; xxxiv. 9-12.)

"So Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs. And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt, and all his house. Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no

sustenance.

But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. So Jacob went down into Egypt." 1706 years before Christ. (Acts vii. 8-15.)

"But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. The same dealt subtilely with our kindred, and evil-entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end that they might not live. In which time (1571 years before Christ,) Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months: and when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. And when he was full forty years old, (1531 years before Christ,) it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them; but they understood not. And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, thee a ruler and a judge over us? as thou didest the Egyptian yesterday? Then fled Moses

saying, Who made Wilt thou kill me,