having an Iffue of an uncommon and out of Size Proportion.

So alfo when the Sons of God took to them Wives of the Daughters of Men, it appear'd to be thro' an uncommon Affectation, which they had to their Beauties, by which they loft the Maftery of that regular Love, which Virtue is the Procurer of; for where Beauty only is the Inducement, it only raises a more than ordinary Propenfity after the Fruition of their Embraces, whereby their Off-spring became mighty Men, or Fierce, and Commanders of Submiffion; and perhaps too of uncommon Sizes, and were thereupon honoured and fubmitted to by fuch who had not the Strength, nor were of fo violent Tempers as themselves, and fo were at leaft, by Flattery, honoured as Men of Renown, not for their Virtues (because we have no Account of any belonging to them) but from the Terror that their arbitrary Injunctions brought upon those who were obliged to comply therewith *.

§. 9. For,

* The whole Earth being now filled with Violence, without the Restraint of Law or Juftice exercifed amongst Mankind, Rapin and Murders daily encreafe, and nothing but exorbitant Power prevails, in which Juftice has no Hand; fo that fo much Violence and murdering of one another occafions the Divine Power to put a Stop to fuch ungovernable Proceedings: As the firft Sin of Man's Pofterity we have Account of was the heinous Sin of Murder, fo it appears thet this Sin at last became fo predominantly prevailing, that the whole Earth was filled with Violence: But as no Law had been given for Men to execute Death upon Murderers before the Deluge, fo when

the

§. 9. For, Verfe 5. "God faw that the "Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth, " and that every Imagination of the Thoughts "of his Heart was only Evil continually.

Verse 6. "And it repented the Lord that " he had made Man on the Earth, and it grieved him at his Heart.

Now here are Expreffions exactly corresponding to our prefent Objects of Sense and natural Faculties and Paffions, which tho' they are not in God fo as in us, yet that it may appear to our Capacities according to our Apprehenfions of Things, we have it thus reprefented in our own Dialect.

" And

the whole were probably become Murderers, either in Act or Defire, Death was, by God's Mercy and fuftice, executed upon all together to put a stop to the tragical, malicious, and tyrannical Violences and Murderings of one another without Law or Juftice. And this appears to be the Reason why the first Law God gave to Man after the Flood was, That whofoever (hereafter) fhould fhed Man's Blood, by Man fhould his Blood be fhed, being convicted thereof in an appointed Court of Judicature, to prevent the spreading of that Contagion in the After-Race of Mankind; for, before, God had only referved the Lives of all Men in his own Hands, and had left it only to his own Power and Juftice to punish thofe as he thought proper, who fhould make Infringements upon his Rights; and now as he had punished the whole by a general Deluge for their Crimes, either in Act or Defign, fo hereafter he made it an Act of Juftice amongst Mankind, to execute fuch Malefactors who fhould hereafter be guilty of such Acts of Violence, which had then occafion'd the common Destruction of the whole together.

་

"And God faw that the Wickednefs of "Man was great in the Earth," &c. As if he should take a natural Profpect or Survey to inform himself of the Ways and Manners of Mankind, and from thence to confider how to proportion Rewards or Punishments, according as he obferved their Deserts; and indeed the common Methods which he has appointed, in ordering the Course of Nature, do always fo far correfpond to reward Virtue and punish Vice, that it may be said to be done by the immediate Appointment of his providential Difpenfations; as is most particularly vifible in all Communities, Commonwealths, and Kingdoms, which are generally profperous and flourishing, or ruinous and in Bondage, according as they have Regard to Religion and Virtue, or become Slaves to Irreligion and Vice: So that it is equally the fame to us as if God fhould, at all Times, interpofe to bring it about by an immediate Power, fince, in his ordering the Courfe of Nature, he has providentially appointed fuch Effects to fucceed fuch Causes.

But where the Caufes call for an immediate Interpofition beyond what the Effects will naturally produce, any ways tending to reclaim the Vicioufnefs of either City, Nation, Kingdom, or World; then, as before noted, it must be a Mercy by an immediate Interpofition to remove the Caufe that would produce fuch fatal Effects.

Thus

Thus when the Wickedness of Men became unfufferable, and, it is faid, that "it repented "the Lord that he had made Man," &c. fo this represented Repentance in God is very correfpondent to our Way of reafoning: For, as at this Time, Man's Wickedness was grown unfufferable, fo God determines to destroy the whole human Race, except Noah and fome of his Family, as the Effects of his Repentance of making Man: Just as if we should make a Work which we expect Satisfaction from, but, contrary to our Expectations, it proves reverse therefrom, upon this Difapprobation of our own Work, we prefently determine to destroy it, or to turn it to fome other Purpose, and relinquish the Hopes we first framed of receiving that Satisfaction therefrom, which at first we might flatter our felves with the Hopes of.

This, I fay, we may take as a Metaphor fpoke to our prefent Conceptions, because agreeable to our Ways of proceeding with one another: But the just and equitable Ways of God, we must wait to fee into more fully in a future State; for here we may be fatisfied that they will then appear to be all transacted with the utmost Justice, Mercy, and Goodnefs, whether in his Difpenfations of temporal Favors or Judgments, and that they have all been proportion'd as they would beft anfwer the Welfare of his Creatures in Common.

The

The Substance of the 7th, and to the 12th Verse of this Chapter, being fynonymous with what has been before, and will hereafter be confidered from the two next Verfes, I fhall proceed to

§. 10. Ver. 12, and 13. "And God looked upon the Earth, and behold it was corrupt: "For all Flesh had corrupted hisWay upon the "Earth: And God faid unto Noah, The End "of all Flesh is come before me; for the "Earth is filled with Violence thro' them : "And behold I will deftroy them with the "Earth." Or, as it is in the Margin of the Bible, from the Earth.

But it is to be obferved, as in Verse the 8th, That Noah found Grace in the Eyes of the LORD, because, Verse 9. "He was a juft "Man and perfect (or upright) in his Gene"ration, and walked with God.

Therefore God established a Covenant with him, to preserve him, with three of his Sons and their Wives, from that fatal Destruction, which he foretold him he would bring upon the whole human Race befides; and that neither Man, Beaft, nor Fowl should efcape, because of the Wickedness of Mankind, but only thofe that he should appoint him to take into his own Habitation, which he should direct him to make for his and their Security.

And now the religious Patriarchs were all dead, and all their Progeny, except the above excepted, were drawn into the common CurF

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