And, then, with what profound interest should we mark the unfolding of the divine purposes! Scripture sheds its light upon these things; and such a light, too, that we need not, as another has said, "vacantly stare on passing events, as those who know not where they are, and whither they are going." We should accurately know our bearings. We should fully understand the direct tendency of all the principles now at work. We should be well aware of the vortex, toward which all the tributary streams are rapidly flowing on. Men dream of a golden age; they promise themselves a millennium of the arts and sciences; they feed upon the thought, that "to-morrow shall be as this day, and more abundant." But, oh! how utterly vain are all those thoughts, dreams, and promises. Faith can see the clouds gathering thickly around the world's horizon. Judgment is coming. The day of wrath is at hand. The door will soon be shut. The "strong delusion" will soon set in with terrible intensity. How needful, then, it is to raise a warning voice,--to seek, by faithful testimony, to counteract man's pitiable self-complacency. True, in so doing, we shall be exposed to the charge which Ahab brought against Micaiah, of always prophesying evil: but no matter for that. Let us prophesy what the word of God prophesies, and let us do this simply for the purpose of "persuading men." The word of God only removes from beneath our feet a hollow foundation, for the purpose of placing instead thereof a foundation which never can be moved. It only takes away from us a delusive hope, to give us, instead, "a hope which maketh not ashamed." It takes away "a broken reed," to give us the "Rock of ages." It sets aside "a broken cistern, which can hold no water," to set in its place "the Fountain of living waters." This is true love. It is God's love. He will not cry "peace, peace," when there is no peace; nor "daub with untempered mortar." He would have the sinner's heart resting sweetly in his own eternal Ark of safety, enjoying present communion with himself, and fondly cherishing the hope, that, when all the ruin, the desolation, and the judgment have passed away, it shall rest with him in a restored creation.
We shall now return to Noah, and contemplate him in a new position. We have seen him building the ark, we have seen him in the ark, and we shall now view him going forth of the ark, and taking his place in the new world.[13] "And God remembered Noah." The strange work of judgment being over, the saved family, and all in association with them, come into remembrance. "God made a wind to pass over the earth; and the waters assuaged; the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained." The beams of the sun now begin to act upon a world that had been baptized with a baptism of judgment. Judgment is God's "strange work." He delights not in, though he is glorified by, it. Blessed be his name, he is ever ready to leave the place of judgment, and enter that of mercy, because he delights in mercy.