which it records as subservient to the advent of the Messiah, and the introduction of the Christian dispensation, we shall now view it as interweaving in its texture, all the doctrines and duties that are enjoined by the Lord and his Apostles. That this history is designed to convey, along with particular facts, both moral and typical instruction, is not left to human ingenuity to discover; it is the repeated testimony of Apostolic teaching. The facts it records not only adumbrate what was future, but inculcate lessons both of faith and practice, which exactly correspond with those that are more fully and clearly developed in the New Testament. It is in this latter point of view that we are now to attend to it, reserving till afterwards the consideration of the numerous types which refer more particularly to the Messiah. In both of them the truth of the Apostle's declarations will be manifest, that," whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we, through patience, and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope;" and that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

At the opening of the History of the Old Testament, the formation of Eve from a rib of Adam is related. This fact teaches all the duties of marriage. If it shows that, by the divine appointment, the husband and the wife are one body, every duty resulting from the marriage relation follows as a consequence. That this is the import of the fact, Adam himself understood at the time." And Adam said, this is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a

a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh." On this principle, the matrimonial duties are inculcated by the Apostle. And it is very remarkable that the force of this divine appointment, constituting husband and wife one flesh, is generally felt, notwithstanding all the corruption of sin. Millions who have no knowledge of this fact, and others who regard not the authority of God in it, though they are acquainted with the history, feel the influence of this original divine institution. That a man and a woman, strangers to each other during the former part of their lives, should, by becoming husband and wife, possess feelings of kindred and attachment stronger than those of all the other nearest relations of life, and find themselves in heart, as well as in word, one body, is a fact that cannot be accounted for on any other principle, than the constant working of the divine hand, giving effect to this original constitution.

In this fact, also, we are taught that a man should have but one wife, as well as that the wife should have but one husband. God made but one of each sex at first, which the Lord himself interprets as bearing this import. Polygamy, with all its evils, are excluded by the nature of this relation, as seen in the marriage of the first pair. We have here also the most solid refutation of the unholy tenet of celibacy inculcated by the man of sin. Marriage was the appointment of God for man even in the Garden of Eden. How daring then is it to preclude any order of men from this appointment under pretence of greater purity! Whatever advantages, in some points of view, and in certain states of society, celibacy may possess, yet it can never, consistently with the original institution of God, be urged on

the ground of greater holiness. Can the holy and honourable nature of this relation be more fully declared than by the fact, that it is a figure of Christ and the Church, and took place in the Garden of Eden in the state of innocence at the very formation of man?

The historical relation of the common descent of all mankind from one pair, is eminently calculated, as it was undoubtedly intended from the first, to promote brotherly love among men. To suffer the poor to want is, according to Isaiah, lviii. 7, to hide ourselves from our own flesh. What is better calculated to repress arrogance, pride, and contempt of inferiors in station, than the consideration that God "hath made of one blood all nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth." Acts, xvii. 26. Even in primitive innocence, the constitution of man taught him humility, as being formed of the dust of the earth, as to his body. The remembrance of this should have kept man humble in paradise, but as a fallen creature, with the seeds of mortality in him, it teaches the lesson still more forcibly.

From all that we find in the Scriptures respecting the formation of Adam and Eve, it follows, by a necessary consequence, that the redemption of sinners through Jesus Christ, was not a thing planned after the ruin of the human race, or the best expedient of disappointment; but that it was the eternal purpose of Jehovah, intimated in his works, even before sin entered into the world. The incarnation of Jesus Christ, and all its glorious results, were, in the counsels of eternal wisdom, contemplated in the formation of man. Adam in his representative headship to his posterity, and in the covenant, by the breach of which he and his race were ruined, was a figure of Christ in the redemption of his people. Thus, we see, that " known unto God are all

his works from the beginning of the world." Throughout eternity there is nothing new to him. In all things he follows the eternal counsels of his own wisdom.

In the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, we have in epitome the history of all the persecutors of Christians-the origin of the hatred of the world towards them, and the vehemence of that hatred overcoming the strongest ties of nature. 1 John, iii. 12.

The destruction of the world by the flood, and the ruin of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire from heaven, are designed to represent the destruction of the world at the last day, and the state of things at that period. Matth. xxiv. 38. 2 Peter, ii. 5. Jude, 7.

That God is so very compassionate that he will not execute his threatenings against the wicked, and that it is uncharitable to man, as well as dishonourable to God, to suppose that the bulk of the world are objects of future punishment, is a very general sentiment of mankind. Their chief hope of escaping the vengeance of divine justice is founded, partly on vague notions of the mercy of God, and partly on the very great number of those who are obnoxious to his displeasure. A great portion of the history of the Old Testament is designed to sweep away these refuges of lies; and of this the history of the flood is a remarkable example. Among all the children of men at that period, there was not found an individual who served God, except in the family of Noah, and even that all of them were spiritual worshippers, does not appear. Let those who brand others as uncharitable, who regulate their opinion on that subject by the word of God, consider this fact. If the world was so generally corrupt in the days of Noah, does charity oblige us to suppose that in our own day, the great body of mankind must be among

the heirs of immortality? In the fate, then, of the world at the flood, let men be undeceived as to the compassion of God. He bears long, but in the end he will punish the impenitent. We see in this fact that God will keep his word, and execute threatened vengeance on all the workers of iniquity. The flood came and sweeped them all away. Did mercy then interfere to deliver? Mercy spoke by Noah for a hundred and twenty years; but when God arose to execute his threatened judgment, mercy spoke not a word. So shall it be in the end of the world. Mercy now calls aloud, through Jesus Christ, to all sinners, even to the guiltiest of the guilty; but when the time of the execution of threatened punishment shall arrive, mercy will not interpose for their deliverance, more than justice.

The destruction of the nations of Canaan speaks the same language. They were universally corrupt, and were doomed to destruction without mercy. How many plausible things might modern liberality allege to show that these nations should not be viewed in such an uncharitable light! That charity of sentiment, which is so generally approved, would allege that a merciful God would not treat them in the manner represented. Indeed the justice of the Most High in their punishment has unreservedly been termed cruelty, and as such denounced as unworthy of God. But in the terrible nature of the punishment of these nations, we see God's determination to execute wrath upon the wicked in the most dreadful manner. It is the same God who will execute the judgment denounced against the wicked in the end of the world. In the punishment of the Canaanites let all despisers of divine truth behold the God to whom they must give account. Can we believe their vain speculations, teaching that God will not be