stantly cease, just as the Scriptures say of man, "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish" (Ps. 146:4). For instance, if you destroy the eye, you instantly precipitate the man into darkness; if you destroy the ear, you instantly reduce a man's condition to the silence of the grave; so if you destroy the brain, the mind immediately becomes extinct, and herein is where true science agrees with God's revelation. Memory is a faculty of the mind, and without memory the mind becomes a blank, and the Scripture declares that "In death there is no remembrance" (Ps. 6:5). Again, "The dead know not anything" (Eccles. 9:5). The brain is therefore the thinking substance of the body, and as the brain, like all other parts of the human body, is made of the earth, it logically follows. that the thinking of the brain must of necessity be of an earthy nature, and is spoken of in God's revelation as wisdom which is from beneath and is earthly, sensual and devilish" (Jas. 3: 15). When the natural man, therefore, draws near to his end, he tries to reconcile himself to the inevitable, to bow his head and profess to yield obedience to what he calls the "law of nature" but alas! this law of nature is a very cruel law, for it kills its victim and then leaves him, as the Scripture says, to utterly perish in his own corruption" (II Pet. 2:12). So that to his associates which are for the time left behind, he soon becomes an object of loathing and abhorrence, and they are glad to dig a hole in the ground and bury him out of sight.

The law of nature also is exceedingly unkind to its victims after that, for after killing them, it leaves them to return to their native dust, and has never been known to bring one of them back again and restore him to the plane of even his present existence, much less to a higher one. But the philosophers of the Old Man of the Earth speculate about the nature and origin of man, and they hope and trust that the present estate and condition of man at the present time is but one of the stages of human existence, and so they study the various forms of life from the oyster and polliwog and like things, up to the monkey tribes, and seek in this way to find the missing link between the lower forms of existence and man, and some of them flatter themselves that in this way they can decipher the origin of man, and see exactly where he came from, and that he has through ages past travelled up through the different stages of existence to what he is now, but he looks askance at death as he sees the king of terrors approaching, and he begins to wonder as to how he will evolve after that. He hopes that death will prove a blessing in disguise; but what a delusion! Death is not a blessing, but a curse. It is not the reward of obedience, but the wages of transgression; it is not life, but death; scripturally defined, it is a total wreck of all the powers of mind and body. Thus the natural man is born under a veil, lives under it, and goes out of the world not knowing the great calamity which has befallen him.

But there is another and a far more important class of people in the world under the veil that is spread over all nations, who profess to believe the revelations which God has given to men by the hand of the prophets, Jesus Christ and his apostles, together with the doctrines, covenants, promises and threatenings contained therein; but who, "while they profess that they know God, but in works deny him," who indeed "have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge" (Titus 1: 16 and Rom. 10: 2), and who, while

they profess great reverence for the Holy Scriptures, and make great efforts and sacrifices to distribute them throughout the world, yet render these very Scriptures void by their traditions and false doctrines which they claim are. found and taught therein.

Concerning this class Paul says in his letter to the Roman Christians (1: 18-20), "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."

But what are the invisible things of God that are so clearly seen from the creation of the world, that men are without excuse "because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened"? This important question Paul himself answers in his letters to the church at Corinth and there shows plainly that it consists of immortality manifested in a material body of flesh and bones, either by resurrection or translation. This constitutes the invisible things of God, as he also shows in his second letter, chapter 4, where he speaks of the life of Jesus being manifested in our body, which he after emphasizes by the expression, “in our mortal flesh." The life of Christ is eternal life; it is immortality, and this immortality he says is to be manifested in our mortal flesh; again he says (verse 18), "We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Now the invisible and eternal things he brings plainly in sight in the next passage where he says (II Cor. 5: 1), "For we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven." The immortal body, the house from heaven, is therefore the unseen and invisible things of God which he has shown and set before to men from the creation of the world. This was practically illustrated before the flood in the person of Enoch, of whom Paul says (Heb. 11:5), "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him." Enoch being clothed upon with his house from heaven in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, was not found by his friends who sought to find him, because he had come into possession of the invisible things of God, and disappeared from among mortal men.

Enoch must have had a perfect knowledge of the invisible things of God, or he would never have come into possession of them, for Paul says, "By faith he was translated." And his faith would be his belief of what God had shown in that day concerning these very things, for it is written that "Faith comes by hearing" and believing the word of God (Rom. 10: 14-18). It is not an ignorant, blind impulse at all, but on the contrary, an intelligent and hearty belief and endorsement of the promises and word of God.

THE VEIL BEFORE THE FLOOD

After the creation, when man transgressed and was driven out of the Garden of Eden, cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life, were placed at the east of the Garden of Eden. Subsequently, Cain and Abel, his brother, were born, and in course of time they each brought offerings to the Lord. Abel and his offering were accepted, but Cain and his offering were rejected. Cain was very angry and rose up and slew his brother; but God gave them another son, Seth, instead of Abel whom Cain slew. Cain, after being sentenced, was driven out of the land of Eden, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. Cain married a sister (for Paul says, "God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth ") and settled in the land of Nod and begat children and became the father of a people. Seth appears to have dwelled in the land of Eden. His posterity were known in the Scriptures as the "Sons of God," while the posterity of Cain were simply called "Sons of men." And these two peoples appear to have been just as separate and distinct from each other, as the Jew and Gentile in after ages.

The way of life as revealed before the flood was with the descendants of Seth, but it came to pass as days and years rolled by, and man began to multiply upon the earth, that the sons of God became enamored of the things of the "present evil world," and began to lose sight of the way of life, and the invisible things of God began to fade away from their minds. For Paul says "that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." And the veil that should in after ages cover all nations began, like the shades of the evening, to spread over the antediluvian world. The posterity of Cain, from the narrative, appear to have excelled the descendants of Seth in the things of this world, for it is said (Gen. 4), And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other was Zillah. And Adah bare Jabal: . . . And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron." Now as Abel was a shepherd, and as Seth came in the place of Abel, whom Cain slew, the probability is that Seth and his posterity were shepherds likewise, so we can readily imagine how these staid, plain people, when they heard the charming and lively music of the harp and organ, as executed by the skilful hands of the children of men, and beheld their skill in the manufacture of all kinds of bright and shining vessels and instruments of polished brass and iron, would begin to feel within themselves a degree of inferiority; but when they came to look upon their beautiful daughters, the entrancement was complete; they lost sight of the invisible things of God, cast his commands behind their backs, and took them wives from among the vagabond posterity of Cain of all which they chose, after which God said (Gen. 6:3), "My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years."

From this it is evident that it was contrary to God's law in that day for the sons of God to intermarry with the posterity of Cain, and no doubt

from the same reason that was after given why the children of Israel should not marry among other nations, lest they should entice them to leave the ways of the Lord, and serve other gods. Therefore, when they began to intermarry with the sons of men, there was no more hope: God gave them up to their hearts' desires, as Paul says of them, that God gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and unto vile affections." Again he says, And even

as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind (that is, a mind void of judgment), to do those things which are not convenient" (Rom. 1). This is the way that God does with those who weary of him and turn aside after the imaginations of their own evil hearts; he fills them with their own ways and gives them over to believe a lie, that they may perish.

It is written (Gen. 6:5-7), “ And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them." And when the people of that age were given over to their own hearts' lust, see what is said of them (verses 11-13), "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them: and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth." (Verse 17) "And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die."

But in the midst of all this wickedness, it is said of Noah that he was a just man, and perfect in his generations and Noah walked with God, and God said unto him (7:1), "Thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." Paul also testifies of him and says (Heb. 11:7), "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."

After God had executed this righteous judgment upon the wicked inhabitants of the old world, and reduced the posterity of Adam to only eight persons, and when the fountains of the great deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven restrained, and the earth was dried, then Noah at the command of God came out of the ark, himself and his wife, his sons and his sons' wives, and every living thing which had been preserved alive with Noah in the ark. Noah then (Gen. 8: 20-22) "builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, 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 living thing as I have done. While the earth remaineth (or as the margin has it, 'Or as yet all the days

of the earth'), seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease."

DURATION OF THE WORLD

There is one important point in these Scriptures to which I wish to call very especial attention. When Noah offered this sacrifice to the Lord, he smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, "I will not again curse the ground any more, for man's sake; though (marginal reading) the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; As yet all the days of the earth (margin), I will not again destroy the earth with a flood on that account.' When the Lord said this, he had before him the works and doings of the children of men for a period of more than sixteen centuries, and the Lord saw that the children of men were prone continually to evil, and although the way of life and the invisible things of God were set before them, yet if they were left free to act, they would soon cast his ways behind their backs and walk on after the vain imaginations of their own evil hearts as they had already done before the flood. And it is worthy of note the strength of the language employed in the sixth chapter of Genesis, speaking of the wickedness of men before the flood. Especially the marginal reading of verse 5 where it is said, "The whole imagination." The Hebrew word signifies not only the imaginations, but also the purposes and desires, or as contained in the text, Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, was only evil continually." Therefore, if the Lord were to destroy the inhabitants of the earth with a flood every time that all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth, then the waters of Noah would have frequently gone over the earth before the present age of the world. And if this course were continually pursued, how then would the original command of God to Adam and afterwards repeated to Noah, ever be carried into execution, where he said to them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it "?

Therefore, although the Lord knew that the nations of the earth which should arise after the flood, from Noah's posterity, would soon forget him and walk after the vain imagination of their own evil hearts as the antediluvian world had done before, yet the Lord sware (for he elsewhere in the prophecies of Isaiah [54:9] calls this covenant an oath, saying, “I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth,") and said, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth: and 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 cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, that when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be in the cloud and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will