a Matt. xxiv. 37 — 39.
b ver. 5, 11, 12, 13. The words themselves are strong; but the frequent repetition of them greatly increases their energy.
c How ready are men to embark their property and risk their lives in privateering expeditions, when they can obtain a licence to rob and plunder their unoffending neighbours! And how terrible are the atrocities committed by victorious armies !
<l 1 Pet. in. 19, 20. e Heb. xi. 7.
his precautions as absurd and visionary ; and the longer the judgment was delayed, the more bold was their confidence, and the more bitter their derision f. Amongst us, the Gospel, though generally, is not universally, despised : some are brought to listen to its benign overtures : but to such a degree did the contemporaries of Noah harden themselves against the gracious messages of Heaven, that in that whole space of time there was not (as far as we know) one single person awakened to a sense of his guilt and danger.]
Fearful indeed must have been their state, when we consider,
II. The regret which it excited in the bosom of Jehovah —
We must understand the language of the text, not in a literal, but figurative sense —
[We are not to suppose that God did not foresee what wovdd happen ; for prescience is an essential perfection of His nature : take away his foreknowledge, and you deny him to be God. Nor must we suppose that his happiness was really in- terrupted by what he saw in his creatures ; for he is as immu- table in his happiness, as in his nature. The language of the text is accommodated to our feeble apprehensions : it is taken from what passes among men, when they are disappointed in their expectations and endeavours. As a potter, finding that a vessel which he has formed with the utmost care does not answer the desired purpose, regrets his labour, and casts out of his sight the worthless object with indignation and grief; so God represents himself as " repenting that he had made man, and as grieved at his heart " that he had bestowed upon him so much labour in vain.]
Nevertheless the figure conveys to us much plain and solid instruction —
[The same figure occurs in various other parts of holy writ: sometimes it imports a change from anger to pityg, and sometimes the reverse11. In the text, it is intended to inti- mate, that God is not an unconcerned spectator of human
actions that he expects men to answer the end of their
creation, by seeking his glory and their own happiness
and that he will manifest against sin his heavy displeasure, making all who practise it the objects of his fiery indigna- tion ]
f 2 Pet. iii. 3— G. 8 Jonah iii. 10.
h 1 Sam. xv, 11. It is used in both senses, and in connexion with the foregoing illustration. Jer. xviii. 3 — 10.
14.1 god's determination to destroy man. 73
The feelings of our Creator on account of man's apostasy are more plainly shewn by,
III. The resolution he adopted in consequence of it —
To destroy all the human race was indeed a terrible
resolve —
[We can form little conception of the distress occasioned through the habitable globe, when once the flood began to rise above its accustomed limits. Every contrivance would be resorted to, and every eminence be made a refuge, in hopes that the waters would subside, and that a premature death might be avoided. When one place was covered, happy would they feel themselves who could flee to some lofty mountain, and carry with them provision for their support. But they would soon find that they indulged a vain hope : a suspense, more painful than death itself, would soon occupy their minds ; and the waves, fast approaching, would at last terminate their lives, which fear and terror had already half destroyed. It is probable that many would seek admittance into the ark, and cling to it, when every other refuge had failed. Many too would, doubtless, betake themselves to prayer in the midst of their distress : but the time of judgment was come; and mercy, whether exercised or not in the eternal world, could not be extended to them1. Children in vain solicited their parents' aid ; in vain did the fond mother clasp them in her arms, or the affrighted husband strive to succour his beloved wife : all, in quick succession, were swept away ; and neither man nor beast (those only in the ark excepted) were permitted to sur- vive the wreck of nature.]