when the nation of Israel having gained possession of the land of Canaan, the Mosaic and typical economy was instated in all its honours, and the promise to Abraham fulfilled.

One thing will be very obvious, that as the great extent of human life, when the race of Adam was in its infancy, was wisely adapted to the unpeopled state of the world, and to the great law first promulged"Increase, and multiply, and replenish the earth;" so, in the re-peopling of the world after Noah, the same would, to some extent, be necessary. The gradual shortening of life, therefore, exactly fell in with this exigency, inasmuch as no fewer than thirteen generations passed away before life was reduced from its primitive standard to that of Moses and Joshua. The length of life gradually decreased, as the population increased.

It is probable, however, the curtailment of human life was rendered necessary by moral causes. The capabilities of our globe, considered in relation to the means of sustenance, are far from being exhausted. When we consider the boundless forests of the earth, where the productions of nature flourish and perish in the most astonishing abundance, without an eye to admire their beauty, or a hand to gather them; the almost interminable tracts of our globe, now arid wastes, with here and there a green oasis, rising like islands in the ocean, which yet are many of them capable of culture; the as yet almost untried capacity of the earth's soil, when brought under the influence of scientific agriculture; together with the countless myriads of living creatures in the waters of the ocean, which might yield food to man; we shall be convinced, that under a proper system of wise human government, with the divine blessing giving rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, the earth would be able to support a population inconceivably greater than it has ever sustained. Look at the land of Palestine, now almost a desert. That country once teemed with population, as is manifest from numerous ruins which have been discovered. Scores, and even hundreds of ruins, the sites of populous towns and villages, may be seen from almost any of the hills of Judea. Why does the earth remain a comparative desert? Why was human life so prodigiously shortened? The reason is to be found in the fallen state of our race. It was the wickedness of man which caused both the flood and the abridgment of the period allotted to our earthly existence. It is impossible to read the narrative, short and simple as it is, without feeling that there is an awfulness of import in the language, which no lengthened description could increase, no elaborate detail of crime enhance : "God saw the wickedness of man, that it was great in the earth; and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have made from the face of the earth, for it repenteth me that I have made them. All flesh hath corrupted his way; the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them from the earth." What must have been the wickedness of the world, when every imagination, every purpose and desire, every project and device of man's heart was only evil from his youth? What must have been the state-the moral state-of man, to have called forth

such language as this from the lips of eternal mercy, and to have sent from the foot of the divine throne that mighty flood which arose and took them all away? The great extent of human life, in ages preceding the deluge, encouraged bad men in their vices, promised them impunity in crime, gave them, as it were, a long lease of sin. Wickedness was then cumulative. It rolled on like a river, receiving many tributary streams, passing through divers kingdoms, and becoming, at length, an irresistible weight and flood of waters that bears down everything before it. The antediluvian longevity removed the day of final audit to such an immense distance, that men could scarcely believe it would ever come. And thus they became hardened, reckless, and audacious in their sins. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walked through the earth. They said, there is no God. Their neck was as an iron sinew, and their brow a brow of brass. They made a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell. They strengthened themselves, and encouraged one another in a career of open and unabashed rebellion against the divine authority. Cuncta prius tentata; all things must first be tried. The goodness of Providence, the enjoyment of health, the fruitfulness of the seasons, the preaching of Noah, and the examples of the sons of God, who, seeing the increase of wickedness-the fearful state of things in the world around thembegan to call publicly on the name of the Lord. All means were first tried, and tried for a long period with unwearied patience. Sed immedicabile vulnus ense recidendum—what is past remedy must be destroyed the diseased member must be amputated. The evil can be checked only by means the most awful. How wonderfully impressive the lesson read to the new world by the deluge! How striking the traditions respecting that appalling event which would for a long time be preserved among men!

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But, to return to the consideration of Genesis vi. 3. The opinion to which we have referred may be supported by plausible arguments. The words may be thus paraphrased: "My spirit shall not always strive with man," by the bounties of providence conferred on him, to overcome him with gratitude; nor by the faithful ministry of the preachers of righteousness whom I have sent among them; for they are flesh"-they are fallen and depraved beings. "Yet their days shall be a hundred and twenty years." I will shorten the lives of men to that limited period, in order that they may not have the opportunity of sinning so long with impunity. The language, as it stands in the narrative, is somewhat doubtful. It is obscure by its brevity. The interpretation we have given does not seem at variance with the context, for the wickedness of man was certainly a reason for the curtailment of human life. "I will shorten the period of his earthly existence because he is flesh-because he is corrupt and depraved.' We have seen, also, that after the flood, human life was actually reduced by regular stages, until it reached the period here stated. That it so continued for five or six generations is certain. We have no means of ascertaining how much longer it continued. In the days of David, and the kings of the Davidic dynasty, it is certain human life was much shorter. Though the ages of the several successive kings from David to the captivity is not given in the sacred Chronicles, yet, from

the length of their reigns, which is frequently mentioned, this circumstance may be inferred. It may, however, be alleged that this was the effect of the change in the mode of life, of the increasing vices of men, the luxuries of the upper classes, and the oppressions endured by the lower, both of which would tend to the abbreviation of human life. Diseases, too, as time advanced, would become hereditary, which, added to the actual vices or sufferings of individuals, like two streams uniting their forces in one, would gradually sap the human constitution, and reduce its capacity for longevity. These views will receive strength from particular facts. Jehoiadah the high priest, who lived in the reign of Joash, was one hundred and thirty years old when he died (2 Chron. xxiv. 15)—ten years older than Moses, and twenty years older than Joseph. Many of the Grecian philosophers and poets, who lived several centuries before the commencement of the Christian era, whose habits of life were natural, peaceful, and temperate, and therefore conducive to health, were examples of longevitytheir lives being extended to one hundred years, and their faculties preserved clear and unclouded, and of an almost juvenile vivacity, to the last. Their contemporaries, whose habits of life were as irregular, and their vices as great, as those of the present time, did not exceed what we consider to be the ordinary age of man. Even in our own times, persons whose mode of living has been somewhat similar to that of the celebrated Grecians to whom we have alluded, have lived and enjoyed the most vigorous exercise of intellect and of imagination to a late period. Goethe, Crabbe, and many others, might be mentioned as instances.

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The days of our years are threescore years and ten" (Ps. xc. 10) will naturally occur on this subject to the recollection of the reader. On this passage it is but fair to observe that it is only a statement of matter of fact. Such was the length of man's life at that time and among that people. It certainly is not said that it was the extent at which God had fixed the years of human existence. It is evident, too, that the Psalm was written in the captivity, and describes things as they then were, when the people of Israel endured affliction and oppression, and their life was made bitter by rigorous servitude and want. It does by no means determine the question as to what was the period at which the Divine Being fixed the measure of life after the flood. But, while this passage does not decide the point, it must also be confessed, that the words, Gen. vi. 3, will admit of an interpretation different from that which is maintained by certain dietetical authors. The meaning might be this-that as man had become corrupt, God would destroy the human race by an overflowing flood. But God is long-suffering and patient. He will yet bear with them, and give them further space for repentance. The period of their probation shall be extended one hundred and twenty years longer; during which time, Noah shall continue to preach righteousness, and probably other means be employed to effect their reformation. If, after that extension of their probation, they shall remain incorrigible, then will he send the flood to reveal his righteousness and execute his wrath. We read (chap. v. 32) that Noah was five hundred years old; meaning, probably, that that was his age when the communication stated

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in the next chapter was made. Afterwards we are informed that Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came (chap. vii. 6). It seems, though the narrative is very brief, that a century was occupied in the building of the ark. And this might be one of those means whereby God would warn the men of that generation. The difference of twenty years may be adduced in order to set aside this interpretation. But the language of Scripture is popular and brief; the twenty years may have been understood (chap. vii. 6); Noah was six hundred years old—that is, he was about that age: it does not positively say that he was no more. When we express any large number, we are not particular to specify it exactly, unless there be some reason for such speciality. We often use a round number, when, perhaps, the real number was a few more or a few less. The phrase, therefore, may, consistently with the well-known usages of language, be, that Noah was about six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth; his exact age being six hundred and twenty. Upon the whole, the latter interpretation seems more probable than the former.

The question respecting the real length of human life is undetermined by Scripture. But one thing is very certain, that by vice, by hereditary disease, by inattention to diet and regimen, by the unnatural, overstimulated, artificial condition of society, the length of man's life is very much abridged, and reduced far below its proper and natural standard. Olney.

J. S.

ENDEAVOURS AFTER TRUTH.

THE SECOND DEATH.

SIR, I am anxious to direct your attention, and that of your intelligent readers and correspondents, to the publication and progress of certain opinions on the subject of future punishment, which demand the serious consideration of all who, in opposition to the unfounded theological novelties of the age, desire to maintain the truth as it is in Jesus. By some it may be supposed, that to bring these opinions before the public, is to give them a notoriety, to which, on the ground of their intrinsic merit, they are not entitled; but I am convinced that they are so rapidly extending, that they can only be eradicated from the minds of multitudes by demonstrating their inconsistency with the revelations of inspired Scripture. Hoping that some of your able and learned correspondents may be induced to undertake the task of refutation, I desire, in a few sentences, to explain the nature of the opinions advocated, and to point out their variance with the doctrines commonly received as orthodox. On such subjects as that of future punishment, opinions often pass current in conversation and confidential intercourse amongst inquiring minds, which are not easily to be met with in that matured and precise form in which the press so rapidly circulates thoughts and feelings in modern times. Two pamphlets, however, on the subject before us, have already appeared; both of which, it may be safely said, are of an order certainly to escape the contempt of the most acute and learned, and demanding calm and judicious refutation from the advocates of the orthodox faith. The one is entitled "Notes of Lectures on Future Punishment, by H. H. Dobney," and is published by Ward. The other, which is anonymous, is entitled,

"What was the Fall? or, a Brief Statement of the Doctrine of Divines on the First and Second Death, with observations, in which it is attempted to be shown that the two deaths are to be literally understood." The latter is published by Jackson and Walford. The readers of the "Baptist Record" will not fail to recognise the author of the first pamphlet as a minister of the Baptist denomination in the town of Maidstone; and I have been given to understand, that the author of the second pamphlet is a pædobaptist minister of some eminence. Mr Dobney, in his pamphlet, is exposed to the inconvenience of addressing a promiscuous assembly on a subject requiring the exercise of prolonged thought and rational inquiry. It is hardly, therefore, sufficiently popular to excite general interest, and scarcely so definite and compressed as to be adapted for the studious. The subject of future punishment generally, is treated of by him rather than that of its duration; but the principles explained throughout, are all brought skilfully to bear on this last topic, as considered in the last two lectures.

The principal fault in the anonymous pamphlet, as an exposition of the views it advocates, is that it is too brief and compressed. The writer endeavours, by showing the disagreement in the opinions of many most learned and celebrated divines, to remove prejudice against his own. He divides the discordant opinions into four classes. The first two relate to the condition in which man was created. The last two, to the nature of the death threatened to Adam.

The first class of opinions represents "that man was created immortal in body and soul," in accordance with which, Faber, Richard Watson, and Isaac Taylor are cited. The second class is "that man was created mortal, body and soul;" and here we have quotations from Jeremy Taylor and Warburton. The third is, "that the curse of death signifies destruction of the body and eternal misery of the soul." This, as the commonly received opinion, is sustained by the advocacy of Faber, Doddridge, Watson, Wesley, Edwards, Wardlaw, Hodges, Tholuck, and a host of others whose names are mentioned. The fourth opinion is that in which the author on this subject coincides, "that the death threatened to Adam was a literal destruction both of body and soul." And here we have Locke, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, Bishop Law, Jortin, and Earberry. After the examination of these witnesses, our author sums up, in his opinion, the worth of the evidence under several observations, which are, however, compressed within a very few pages. The substance of them is, "the entire system for affixing a moral, metaphorical signification to the terms death and life, seems to be without any foundation in Scripture or reason. The plain meaning of words is to be taken until a clear necessity appears for using the metaphorical; and there is not one of the forecited texts in which life is employed in relation to the prospects of the righteous, and death in relation to those of the wicked, in which the literal sense will not afford an excellent and satisfactory meaning." Then follows an elaborate and learned appendix, containing an examination of the meaning of scriptural texts, in which our author asserts, that "every great doctrine of the gospel is received upon the authority of the plain signification of the majority of scriptural expressions;" and that, "if the same principles of interpretation which are commonly applied to the Scripture language on future punishments, were brought to bear upon the doctrines of the deity of Christ, and of the life-giving atonement, the whole of the gospel revelation might be undermined and exploded." An attempt is then made to show the harmony of the author's view of future punishment with the system of salvation generally; to account for the rise of orthodox opinions in the superstitious terror of man's heart, in conjunction with the Platonism of the Pharisees and Alexandrian Christians; and, by a reference to the apostolic fathers, to enlist their authority, as early Christians, in favour of the literal signification of the term death. The preface is written in a firm, independent,