and coming forth to the new regenerate life, and sealed by GoD's own covenant and promise. So each time we look upon the rainbow, and remember how it seals God's promise that the earth shall not again be destroyed, we should also remember that other covenant we have made with GOD in our Baptism, and how by that new birth we are saved in the Ark of CHRIST'S Church from the deluge of sin out of which we were taken. And as Noah built an altar and thanked GOD for his safety; so we must very often thank Him for having so mercifully brought us to this "state of salvation," and pray that we may be kept in it by His Grace.

THE TOWER OF BABEL.

AFTER the Flood, Noah's sons had a great many more children, and their families spread very widely in all parts of the earth. Up to this time they all were as one people, and spoke the same language, so that every one understood the other.

As time went on, these men began once more to forget God's word, and the promise He had made, that never again a flood should destroy

D

the earth; and they began to think that they must take care of themselves, and provide for their own safety. They might have learnt that

Except the LORD build the house, their labour is but lost that build it; and except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." They did not trust thus in the LORD however; and so they proposed to one another to build a great City and Tower, the top of which should reach unto Heaven-so strong, and so powerful, and so high, that no flood, no force could touch it. They wanted, too, to indulge their pride, and to be famous; for they said, "Let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." So they chose out a place they thought suitable, a great plain in the Land of Shinar; and they made bricks, and mortar, and began to build."

But, "Except the LORD build the city, their labour is but lost that build it ;" and this city was not of God's building, and their labour was literally lost. We are told that "the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded." Then GOD saw the pride and wilfulness of heart in which they worked, and how they fancied they could do

whatever they would, and so that their wilfulness and sin would go on becoming greater and greater. So He said He would show them that they could not prosper without seeking the LORD in their work; and whereas hitherto they could understand one another, all speaking the same language, He now "confounded the language of all the earth," so that they all began to speak different tongues, and they could not understand each other, or take counsel together. Then great confusion came among them, and the work they were so proud of came to an end because of the confusion, and they left off building, and went hither and thither, scattering themselves all over the face of the earth. the city and tower which were thus hindered by GOD'S Power, were called Babel, which means confusion.

And

Once more, then, as Adam's descendants separated, and formed new nations, so Noah's did, and they were scattered abroad on the face of the earth, and peopled the world far and wide, never more to be one nation and have one language until the chosen people of GOD, His real servants, His Jewels, as He graciously calls them, are gathered together in Heaven for

ever.

ABRAHAM.

NINE generations of men, the descendants of Shem, had succeeded one another, when it pleased God to bring into the world a man to whom He later gave the name of Father of the Faithful-one who by his own great faith was most beloved of GOD, and pleasing in His Sight. This was Abram, the son of Terah, who with his two brothers, Nahor and Haran, lived in Mesopotamia-Ur of the Chaldees.

Abram had a wife called Sarai, but he had no child. GOD, Who sees men's hearts, saw that Abram's was a very faithful heart, and He chose him to be His friend (Isa. xli. 8.) But when God loves any man, He for the most part tries him very much, to see whether he is worthy to be the friend of GOD; and so it was in Abram's case. During the lifetime of his father Terah, Abram and Sarai, and Lot the son of Haran (Terah's youngest son, who was dead) went with Terah into the land of Haran, and there Terah died. Probably Abram meant to live in Haran, among his relations, and near to his father's grave. But the LORD spake to him, saying, "Get thee out of thy country, and from

thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Now, we know how it was that all the whole earth should be blessed in Abram, because many many years after, CHRIST was born "of the seed of Abraham;" but at this time Abram did not know how it was to be; he did not know why he was to leave his home and his friends, and go forth into strange countries, not even knowing whither he went, (Acts xi. 8.) But he was a good man, loving GOD, and seeking to serve and please Him; and in faith, that is, trusting God, although unable to understand His Orders, Abram quietly and simply obeyed. He took his wife, and his nephew Lot, and his servants, who were very numerous (many being almost like his own children, as they were born in his house) and they departed, and came, led by GoD, into the land of Canaan. At this time all Canaan was in the hands of the people who had long dwelt there,-and there seemed no place at all for Abram; but