seeing such proofs of the Divine veracity, we will not believe, we shall be constrained to believe when our own bitter expe- rience shall leave no room for a possibility of doubt. The judgments may be delayed, even as the deluge was : but at the appointed season the vengeance shall come, and shall not tarry.]
But from the forementioned dispensations we are taught, that,
II. He knows also how to deliver and to save his tempted people —
Wonderfully did God interpose in behalf of Noah and of Lot —
[Noah was a righteous man, and " a preacher of right- eousness" to others. For the space of one hundred and twenty years he ceased not to warn and to exhort the world around him : but in all that time we read not of one whom he was the means of converting unto God. He however main- tained his steadfastness amidst all the aboundings of iniquity : and God instructed him how to build an ark, for the saving of himself and his household. Of his family there were seven given to him ; and he was " the eighth ;" not the eighth lineal descendant from Adam; (for he was the tenth;) but one of eight, or the eighth of those who were saved in the ark. Be- sides him and those embarked in the same vessel with him, not a creature upon earth was saved : but he was brought forth to the new world in perfect safety.
Nor was the deliverance of Lot less wonderful. He also was " a righteous man :" and his piety was made evident, by the deep interest which he took in the welfare of his fellow- citizens, and by the grief with which the iniquities of all around him oppressed his soul. And, till this righteous man was placed beyond the reach of harm, God himself could not proceed to execute his threatened vengeance. Two angels were sent from heaven to bring him forth, and by a holy vio- lence, as it were, to urge him forward, that he might not be overwhelmed by the impending storm.]
And is he less concerned about his people now ?
[Your temptations and trials may be such as no human wisdom could foresee or avoid. But such were the calamities from which Lot and Noah were delivered. You may be a poor despised creature, derided as an enthusiast by all around you, and accounted either conceited or mad, on account of your hope and confidence in God : but such was the light in which those holy men were viewed by their contemporaries ;