among them, and afterwards, when he was speaking with such individuals as were under concern about their souls, the Spirit of God appeared to descend on the whole assembly, and, with astonishing energy, overpowered all opposition, like a mighty torrent which, with irresistible force, sweeps before it whatever comes in its way. Almost the whole congregation, the old, the middle-aged, and the young, were overwhelmed with its influence. Even the most stubborn hearts were made to bow. One of the principal Indians, who previously had felt secure in the armour of self-righteousness, because he possessed more knowledge than most of his countrymen, and who, only the day before, had asserted, with the utmost assurance, that he had been a Christian for upwards of ten years, was now impressed with deep concern on account of his sinful miserable state; his tears flowed in streams down his cheeks; his self-confidence vanished like a vision of the night. There was also a young woman who was so thoughtless and ignorant, that she seemed scarcely to know she had a soul, but who having heard of something strange among the Indians, came to see what was the matter. she called at Mr. Brainerd's lodgings by the way, he informed her of his design to preach immediately, at which she laughed and seemed to mock. She came, however, to hear him, and before he had concluded his discourse, not only felt she had a soul, but was so impressed with her sinfulness and misery, that she seemed like one pierced through with a dart; she could neither walk, nor sit, nor stand, without being supported. When public worship was over, she lay prostrate on the ground, praying in the most fervent manner, and neither took notice of others, nor returned them any

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answer when they spoke to her. The burden of her cry was, " Have mercy on me, O God, and help me to give thee my heart." In this manner she continued most importunate in supplication for several hours together; thus she 'who came to mock returned to pray.'

The whole assembly, indeed, appeared as it were transfixed to the heart with concern for their souls. Almost all of them were crying for mercy, either within or without the house. So overwhelmed were they with a sense of sin, so absorbed in serious reflection, that none appeared to observe another; but each prayed as freely, and, probably, in his own apprehension, as secretly, as if he had been in the midst of a desert, far removed from every human eye. Such as had been awakened for some time, it was observed, complained chiefly of the corruption of their heart; those who were newly impressed, of the wickedness of their life. It is also worthy of notice, that they who had lately obtained relief, appeared, on this occasion, calm and composed, rejoicing in Christ Jesus as their God and Saviour. Some of them took their weeping friends by the hand, telling them of the love of Christ, and of the comfort which is enjoyed in him; and on this ground invited them to come and give him their hearts. The whole scene, in short, presented a striking and interesting illustration of that prediction of the prophet Zechariah, "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born." Zech. xii. 10.

FIRST, then, let us speak of LAMECH'S PROPHECY, which is brief, but exceedingly wonderful. It is recorded in these few words: (Gen. v. 28, 29.)

"And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: And he called his name NOAH, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed."

These patriarchs, who "walked with God," learnt, from that high converse, things which mortals of the present day conclude to be far beyond human ken. Lamech, when he received his first-born son, received also a divine intimation, that this child would be made a special blessing to the earth. Not Not knowing, probably, either the time or the manner of the fulfilment of this blessing, he yet believed and acted upon the intimation, and named the child Noah, a name signifying Rest, or Comfort.

It is also recorded that Lamech was made aware of the nature of the rest or comfort which he expected to be vouchsafed through the medium of this child. He said, "This same shall comfort us concerning (or give us rest from) our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed."

He expected, it is clear, that in the days of this child rest would be vouchsafed from the labours and toil to which mankind were then subjected, from the barrenness of the ground then suffering under the curse pronounced in Paradise. He looked, doubtless, for a remission of this curse, during the life of this his infant son.

And without doubt this most important and wondrous prediction was exactly fulfilled. We know not the express operation of the curse inflicted upon the ground for Adam's sin, which curse remained in full force during the whole antediluvian age; but it appears very

clear that the fruitfulness of the earth was very different after the deluge from what it had been before it. It was declared unto Adam that "in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee, and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." This language clearly intimates that, considering the small number of persons to be subsisted, and the entire choice of land which they had before them, there must have existed some supernatural barrenness, to have rendered such labour and sorrow needful to the production of the mere necessaries of life.

Unless we believe this, we shall run the hazard of secretly conjecturing that the sacred writers used language too strong and over-coloured. We apprehend that a few families, like those of Adam and his sons, possessing all the fertile plains of Syria, would not now find it necessary, strictly speaking, to gain their daily bread by the sweat of their brow. Nor would they lament, like Lamech, over "the work and toil of their hands, because of the ground which the Lord had cursed." Except, therefore, we conclude that some special curse, with which we are in later times unacquainted, rested upon the earth in the antediluvian days, we shall, as we have already said, be tempted to suppose that the language used in Scripture on this subject is strained and hyperbolicala supposition from which the mind ought to shrink back with dread.

But, in fact, there is little room to doubt that a different state of things took place after the deluge. We read in Genesis xxvi. 12, that "Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold." And the descriptions given of Canaan, even when occupied by a sinful race, as "a land flowing with milk and honey," plainly point out an altered state of things.

And not only do the facts them

selves prove this change to have taken place, but the Scripture is not silent as to the time and manner in which God was pleased to remove the curse.

It has been conjectured by geologists that the surface of the earth, or at least that portion of it to which the first patriarchs were of necessity limited, was at that period little but a naked platform of stone; requiring obviously the most severe labour to produce even a scanty subsistence. The deluge, however, had its errand of mercy as well as of justice. It broke up the existing form and strata of the earth; reduced an immense mass of animal and vegetable matter into the condition of mud or slime, and then, on subsiding, deposited all this, as a new and rich soil, in the bosoms of all the vallies and low places of the earth.

The natural consequences of this great convulsion, then, tended to alleviate the operation of the original curse. Supposing the laws of nature to have been the same that they now are, it is plain that fertility would begin to visit many parts of the earth, heretofore unfruitful, and that this new soil, this rich alluvial deposit, would speedily yield to the hand of man a much more generous return than that which was heretofore characterised as ' sorrow.' At the same time it is clear, that all this immense collection of mud, the result of the destruction of all animated and vegetable existences, might have been swept to the bottom of the ocean, and might have left the earth with its former hard and barren surface. The decision rested with him alone, who "weigheth the mountains with scales, and the hills in a balance, and who taketh up the isles as a little thing." very

But this decision had been taken long before, and Lamech's prophecy had proclaimed it. It was the Lord's gracious intention to

remove this curse. The prediction uttered under heavenly inspiration on the birth of Noah, was now to be accomplished. Six hundred years had passed away; Lamech himself had been gathered to his fathers, and nothing had yet been seen of that rest or comfort which was promised at the birth of his son. But it was now to be vouchsafed. The flood had done its work, first of judgment, then of mercy; and the earth, newly covered with a rich deposit of that productive soil which had been previously unknown, was teeming with life on every side. Noah went forth out of the ark, builded an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar. "And the Lord smelled a sweet savour: and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done." Gen. viii. 21.

Thus was this important prediction fulfilled. Thus was the rest from their previously severe toil vouchsafed. Thus was comfort granted where sorrow had unceasingly reigned, and the curse of barrenness, which had been felt for more than sixteen hundred years, was finally and for ever removed.

We are aware that many commentators of high and deserved reputation, ave found no such meaning in these passages. But, then, unfortunately, missing this meaning, they supply us with no other. They do not give us the least explanation of the rest promised, through the mouth of Lamech, on the birth of Noah. Nor do they admit the plain and obvious meaning of the answer of God to the prayers and thanksgivings of the patriarch. They merge the whole of the latter passage in a promise never again to bring a flood upon the earth; whereas nothing can be clearer than two

distinct and separate pledges of mercy. "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; neither will I again smite any more every thing living." The latter clause obviously refers to the judgment then passing away; but the former is even couched in the very terms of the original denunciation. The Lord had said unto Adam, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake." By the mouth of Lamech it had been declared, that, "This child shall comfort us, concerning the work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed." And God now says to Noah himself, "I will no more curse the ground for man's sake." How these words can be construed

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into a reference to the deluge, which is never called a curse upon the ground, and which, in fact, was not a curse upon the ground, but upon every thing living,” it is not easy to understand. It is true that the data afforded us by Scripture are scanty, and the interpretation we have adopted may be called a mere hypothesis; but on the whole we cannot but prefer that view which throws light upon Lamech's otherwise dark prediction, and also develops the real intent of the name given to his son.

But we must proceed to consider,

SECONDLY, THE PROPHECY OF NOAH, concerning the characters and destinies of his sons and their descendants. It is found in the ninth chapter of Genesis, and is full of matter for deep thought and admiring contemplation.

"Noah awoke from his sleep, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

"And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren,

"And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.

"God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of

Shem; and Canaan shall be his

servant.'

Two difficulties present themselves, on entering upon the consideration of this prophecy. The first is, why Canaan only is mentioned as being subjected to the curse, although Ham his father is expressly named as the transgressor, in the matter upon which the curse was founded. The second, whether the dwelling in the tents of Shem" refers to Japheth or to God-that is, whether we should read the passage, "God shall enlarge Japheth, and he, (Japheth) shall dwell in the tents of Shem," or "God shall enlarge Japheth, and shall dwell in the tents of Shem."