and the church-the body, (Colos. i. 18,) were to come. So that in putting Shem first, Christ was in effect put first, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence.

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CHAPTER VI.

The blessed Spirit having, in the foregoing chapter, given us a brief history of the old world, and intending a more large account of the final ruin and destruction of it, doth in this chapter set forth the preparatives to that ruin, the performance whereof we have in the next chapter. Three things in general offer themselves to our consideration in this chapter. I. The abounding iniquity of the wicked world; II. The righteous God's resentment of that abounding iniquity; III. The special favour of God showed to his servant Noah. And all these things concerning the old world were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the new world are come. 1 Cor. x. 11.

ND it came to pass, when men

A began to multiply on the face of

the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

2 That the sons of God saw the

daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

The abounding iniquity and prevailing wickedness of the old world was the procuring, provoking cause of the destruction of it. God would never have destroyed the world, if he had not found wickedness in it. The flood would not have been sent to wash the world, if God had not seen it very filthy. Sin brings ruin. That which goes up in a vapour of sin, will certainly come down in a shower of wrath, sooner or later. How many famous persons, great families, magnificent cities, flourishing churches, mighty nations, hath sin, in all ages, been the ruin of! And the Lord is known by these judgments which he executeth. Ps. ix. 16.

Now concerning this abounding iniquity, observe, 1. In general, it was when men began to multiply. "Increase and multiply" was the blessing pronounced by God upon our first parents in the day of their creation, which included a promise that they should so increase and multiply; and now they did multiply, iniquity multiplied with them. Sin oftentimes takes occasion by the mercies of God to be more exceeding sinful, as the phrase is, Rom. vii. 13. How many continue in sin, not only that grace may

abound, (Rom. vi. 1,) but because grace (the gracious dealing of God towards them) hath abounded. The better God is to man, the worse many times man is to God. While men were few, and the world thinly peopled, they did well enough. Though there was a generation of Cain, wicked and vile; yet there was a generation of Seth, who did not only begin, but no doubt continued, to call upon the name of the Lord. When they began to increase, things went wrong. Just so it was in the beginning of the gospel world. They were of one heart, and of one soul, Acts iv. 32; but when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring; Acts vi. 1; and we read, (Is. ix. 3,) thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast not increased the joy. He that follows the multitude, usually follows them to do evil. Ex. xxiii. 2. The more sinners, the more sin. A multitude of offenders usually gives encouragement to hope for impunity; and sin is such a spreading leprosy, that one sinner infects a great many.

2. The particular sins that abounded were, lasciviousness and wantonness. The sons of God saw. By the sons of God are not meant, as some fancy, the angels; for the evil angels are never called the sons of God, and the holy angels neither marry nor are given in marriage; Matt. xxii. 30; not the sons of God, that is, noblemen, married the daughters

of men, that is, women of mean extraction, as others expound it; for what sin was there in that?-but the sons of God, that is, the posterity of Seth, professors of religion, who were so called as having a covenant interest in God, as their God, by being members of the visible church. Many are the sons of God by profession, that are not so by grace and adoption. Such are bastards and not sons. Heb. xii. 8. Now these professing sons of God married the daughters of men, that is, the posterity of Cain, that were profane; out of the pale of the visible church; strangers to God and goodness: not daughters of God; they had no knowledge of him, no interest in him, were not given to him. Took them wives. And what harm in that? Was that the worst? Is marriage, which was once graced by God's own institution in innocency, become such a crime? Cannot the sons of God marry, but the wine of their marriage feast must be turned into water, and that not to purify, but to drown them? John ii. 6. Surely there was nothing amiss in taking wives; and of whom should they take them, but of the daughters of men? Yes, there was much amiss. (1.) The marriage of professors with the profane was an evil. Sons of God should marry with daughters of God; ay, and daughters of God with sons of God too; and when it is otherwise, what is it but being unequally yoked toge