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he was thereby removed from the World before that difmal Overthrow, fince if he had lived, and been preferved therefrom along with his Son Noah, &c. it must have caufed a great deal of Uneainefs and Reluctancy to him in his old Age, to have feen fuch a numerous Progeny of his own, &c. to have fuffer'd; it must therefore be wifely order'd by Providence, even by this natural Caufe, to remove him from the beholding of fuch a Calamity inflicted upon them, which the younger Years of Noah, not being much decay'd, cou'd better bear. And that notwithftanding his Father Methuselah lived the longeft of any of these Patriarchs, yet as it cou'd' be of no Service to the Post-diluvian World for him to furvive the Deluge, he was also taken away by Death, in the very Year of the Deluge; and as he is faid to die in that Year, he muft therefore die a common Death, and not be deftroy'd by the Deluge.

And tho' his Son Lamech died five Years before him, they were both taken away from the Evil to come, and only Noah and three of his Sons, whom he begat after he was 500 Years old, with his and their Wives, were preferv'd to people the World again.

§. 10. It may also be obferved from the 3d Verse of the 6th Chapter of Genefis, that' Noah had a particular Revelation of God's Purpose to deftroy the World by a Deluge, 20 Years before his having his three Sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet; wherein we are told,

"And

"And the LORD faid, my Spirit fhall not "always ftrive with Man, for that he alfo "is Flesh: yet his Days fhall be an hundred " and twenty Years.

So that Noah had an hundred and twenty Years Warning particularly given him of this fatal Overthrow, to confirm the former Relations which his Fore-fathers had given of it, but who, perhaps, had never any Account of the fatal Period before.

In which 120 Years, Noah had timely No.. tice to preach Repentance to the Antediluvian World, and alfo to make Provifion, as directed by God, for his own Safety, and such of his own Family as wou'd hearken to his prophetic Declarations and Inftructions.

But the irreclaimable Wickedness of the Antediluvian World, which brought this Judgment upon them, I fhall confider in my next Chapter, from the Account we have of it in the 6th Chapter of Genefis.

§. I.

IN

CHAP. VI.

N the 6th Chapter of Genefis, Mofes gives us an Account of the Greatnefs of the Wickedness that prevailed upon the Earth 120 Years before the Flood, upon which God determin'd to put a Stop thereto, by an univerfal Overthrow of them, and only to preferve Noah, his three Sons, and their Wives, who had kept themfelves from engaging

ging in the common Degeneracy and Infidelity, and who were then the only Perfons to be diftinguished from fuffering amongst the reft, there then being Hopes, that their Offfpring wou'd probably continue in Virtue and Religion, and teach the Obfervation thereof to their Pofterity, which together with God's Purpose to shorten Men's Lives by Degrees in future Ages, wou'd either occafion them to fet themselves to the Practice of fuch Duties enjoined them, in order to obtain future Happiness; or that fuch as wou'd not be thereby moved to it, their Time fhou'd be fo much lefs, that they fhou'd not have the Opportunity of executing their wicked Defigns and Purposes with fo long-concerted Schemes, as the others had had the Opportunity to do: And hereby the Righteous wou'd be fooner deliver'd from the Toil and Labour of this Life, and be received to an inexpreffibly glorious Estate of Bleffednefs, and a thorough Reft from their Labours; and alfo those whofe Lives were corrupt, fhou'd foon be removed from afflicting the Righteous here, and have a lefs Score of Sins to anfwer for, when they were fo much fooner called to Account.

In the Beginning of this Chapter, Verse the ift and 2d, Mofes tells us, "And it came to pafs, when Men began to multiply upon the Face of the Earth, and Daughters were born unto them, That the Sons of God "faw the Daughters of Men that they were "fair: And they took them Wives of alt "that they chofe.”

§. 2. By this Account we may obferve, that from the Time that Men began to multiply upon the Face of the Earth, then alfo began a Difregard to Religion and Godliness; and this must be many hundred Years before Noah was born; for by. the former Accounts it will appear more than probable, that Men foon multiplied upon the Face of the Earth, and fpread upon it accordingly.

Cain, after his Banifhment from his firft Establishment, foon built a City for his own Progeny, and called it by the Name of his firft Son, which he begat in Exile, and, no doubt, but his Off-fpring with his Children's he took with him in their Minority, in two or three hundred Years, wou'd fill both Cities, Towns, and Villages; and in the fame Time his Brothers, younger than him, that were born before Seth, and many others after Seth, might most of them be allow'd a very numerous Progeny.

So that at least in 3 or 400 Years after the Creation, Men might be most properly faid to multiply upon the Face of the Earth.

§ 3. But here appears a Diftinction between two Parties; the one of which were called Men, who had Daughters born unto them; and the other, the Sons of God, who chose them Wives of their Daughters.

And it was now, that that Party called Men, were multiplied upon the Face of the Earth, very probably, more than those who are diftinguished by the Character of the Sons of God.

E

The

The Party called Men, must be fuch, who if any of their Fore-fathers had ever received the Restoration of Religion by Seth, that they had relinquished it; and the other that are under the Denomination of the Sons of God, were those whofe Progenitors had not only embraced it themselves, but had taken Care and Pains to inftruct their Children therein, and in which they might continue for several Years of their Manhood.

But, in Process of Time, many of the Children and Defcendants of these religious Fathers began to degenerate, and to make Marriages with the Daughters of Men, who had relinquished all Regard of Duty to GoD and their Neighbours; and were therefore looked upon by the Parents of thofe Sons of God, who married their Daughters, as fuch with whom they ought to have had no Communion: But thefe Children growing from under their immediate Infpections and Government, and becoming fmitten with the Beauties of thefe Daughters of Men, and without farther Thought or Enquiry, chuse them Wives from amongst them, without. making their different Educations and Notions of God and Religion, any Barriers to decline it, and instead of these Wives being brought to a Regard for the Religion of their Hufbands, their Husbands are perfuaded by these Wives to relinquish that Share of Religion, which might have before remained in them from their Education; for their chufing them