Olympas. Read the passage, Reuben.

Reuben. "Christ has loved us, and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God —for a sweet smelling savor.

Olympas. Yes, and let me tell you, Reuben, Paul quotes from the Septuagint Greek the very words found in this passage. These significant words are, osmen euoodias-a "sweet smelling savor." Let us, then, sum up the whole:

1. The first building reared on the new earth was an altar.

2. The first blood that was shed was sacrificial. 3. The first smoke that ascended from the turf was that of a burnt offering.

4. It was offered to the Lord, and accepted by him.

5. It superinduced new promises, and secured a new covenant with man.

6. It was certainly a type of Christ's sacrifice for sin, which also was offered to God, and was perfectly acceptable to him, and secured to us a new and better covenant, established on better promises than any before vouchsafed to man. From all of which considerations, and others which may afterwards appear, we learn that, without sacrifice-without bloody sin offerings, there is no access to God by sinful men, nor any communication from God to him. All religion is, therefore, founded on justice; for Paul says, God set forth his Son, a mercy seat, or propitiatory through faith in his blood, to exhibit his justice or moral righteousness in forgiving sin. Learn, then, this great lesson, that sinful man can approach God in religion only by sacrifice express or implied.

No man can approach God but through the slain Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. Do you, William, remember any passage in the visions of heavenly things which corroborates this view?

William. In the Apocalypse, fifth chapter, we read of a Lamb that stood between the throne and the four living creatures, as if it had been slain. To this SLAIN LIVING LAMB the mysterious four and the twenty-four celestial senators fall prostrate, shouting, "Worthy art thou; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood."

Το these were added myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, in chorus repeating, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour, and glory, and blessing!"

Olympas. He is, then, a most worshipful personage! Is he not, William ?

William. Yes, for the universe in acclamation shout, "To Him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing, and honour, and glory, and strength for ever and ever!

Olympas. He is the Alpha and the Omega, then; he is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world in promise and in type, and he is the slain Lamb in heaven worshipped for ever and ever. Do you not love such a Saviour as this, my dear children? One who is the ALPHA and the OMEGA, the BEGINNING and the ENDING, the FIRST and the LAST-One whom all in heaven worship in equal strains with the Father that sent him. "To Him that sits upon the throne, even to the Lamb, be ALL glory, &c. He is the brightness of his

Father's glory and the express image of his person, He upholds all things by the word of his power; he made expiation for our sins; he is the Son of God, the Son of Man, Emanuel, Messiah the Lord, our Saviour!

Mrs. Olympas. Some of the family asked me the other day touching that fourth person seen walking in the fiery furnace, into which were cast Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, by order of the Chaldean chief. The pagan king is represented as saying, "I see one like the Son of God walking with them in the midst of the fire." "How," said they, did the wicked king know the Son of God in those days?"

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Olympas. Had our translators been a little better accomplished for the task given them by King James, the question would not have been asked. It reads exactly as follows:-"A son of the gods"-a superhuman or angelic being. Bar Elohim, without an article, in the Chaldee, as in the Septuagint, Huios Theou, can indicate no more than what the Pagan centurion exclaimed, "Truly this was an extraordinary person―a son of a god."

We have not yet finished the egress of Noah, nor the incidents of that memorable era. There is the covenant with Noah, and certain family incidents, worthy of your attention, O tell me, Susan, are the names of Noah's wife and daughtersin-law given by Moses?

Do

Susan. I asked mother the other day, and she could not tell me the name of Mrs. Noah. you know, father?

Olympas. Her name was Naamah, the daughter of Enoch, who had been translated.

Thomas. Where shall we find that information? Olympas. In the book of Jasher.

Thomas. I thought that book was lost. Olympas.. It was; but it is said to be found, and here is a copy of it recently translated. I will read the passage:-"And Noah went and took a wife, and he chose Naamah the daughter of Enoch, and she was five hundred and eighty years old. And Noah was four hundred and ninety-eight years old when he took Naamah for a wife. And Naamah conceived and bare a son, and he called his name Japhet, saying, God has enlarged me in the earth; and she conceived again and bare a son, and he called his name Shem, saying, God has made me a remnant, to raise up seed in the midst of the earth. And Noah was five hundred and two years old when Naamah bare Shem, and the boys grew up and went in the ways of the Lord, in all that Methuselah and Noah their father taught them." Concerning the pretensions of this work, we may say something again. It is at best only of traditionary authority, and is not entitled to our homage only so far as it corresponds with one who certainly spake as moved by the Holy Spirit.

CONVERSATION IX.

ON COVENANTS.

AFTER reading the covenant with Noah and flesh, Olympas made the subject of Covenants the burthen of the conversation for the day.

Olympas. Can any of you give me a scriptural name for this transaction between God and Noah after his devotion at the altar?

William. It is called a covenant.

Olympas. Has any of you met this word before? William. It has not occurred before this time in the writings of Moses. It is, indeed, often

used after this date.

Olympas. But when I asked for a name for this transaction with Noah, I asked for more than the title found in Genesis ix. Has it no other name than a covenant?

Reuben. I think you told us that the Lord alluded to this transaction by Jeremiah when he said, "If you can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season."

Olympas. Yes; in Jeremiah xxxiii. 20, 25, the Lord speaks of day and night as covenanted matters never to be changed; and we know of no other instance in which they are solemnly guarantied, except this one. We therefore regard this Noahic Covenant as a "Covenant of Day and Night," guarantying their continuance while the earth endureth. What is a covenant, Reuben?