"Why!" he said, "any school boy could account for that."
"Well, how was the first rock made?"
"Out of sand."
"How was the first sand made?"
"Out of rock."
You see he had it all arranged so nicely. Sand and rock, rock and sand. I have no doubt but that Noah had these men to contend with.
Then there was a cla.s.s called agnostics, and there are a good many of their grandchildren, alive to-day. Then there was another cla.s.s who said they believed there was a G.o.d; they couldn"t make themselves believe that the world happened by chance; but G.o.d was too merciful to punish sin. He was so full of compa.s.sion and love that He couldn"t punish sin. The drunkard, the harlot, the gambler, the murderer, the thief and the libertine would all share alike with the saints at the end. Supposing the governor of your state was so tender-hearted that he could not bear to have a man suffer, could not bear to see a man put in jail, and he should go and set all the prisoners free. How long would he be governor? You would have him out of office before the sun set. These very men that talk about G.o.d"s mercy, would be the first to raise a cry against a governor who would not have a man put in prison when he had done wrong.
Then another cla.s.s took the ground that G.o.d could not destroy the world anyway. They might have a great flood which would rise up to the meadowlands and lowlands, but all it would be necessary to do would be to go up on the hills and mountains. That would be a hundred times better than Noah"s ark. Or if it should come to that, they could build rafts, which would be a good deal better than that ark. They had never seen such an ugly looking thing. It was about five hundred feet long, and about eighty feet wide, and fifty feet high. It had three stories, and only one small window.
And then, I suppose there was a large cla.s.s who took the ground that Noah must be wrong because he was in such a minority. That is a great argument now, you know. Noah was greatly in the minority. But he went on working.
If they had saloons then, and I don"t doubt but that they had, for we read that there was "violence in the land," and wherever you have alcohol you have violence. We read also that Noah planted a vineyard and fell into the sin of intemperance. He was a righteous man, and if he did that, what must the others have done? Well, if they had saloons, no doubt they sang ribald songs about Noah and his ark, and if they had theaters they likely acted it out, and mothers took their children to see it.
And if they had the press in those days, every now and then there would appear a skit about "Noah and his folly." Reporters would come and interview him, and if they had an a.s.sociated Press, every few days a dispatch would be sent out telling how the work on the ark was progressing.
And perhaps they had excursions, and offered as an inducement that people could go through the ark. And if Noah happened to be around they would nudge each other and say:
"That"s Noah. Don"t you think there is a strange look in his eye?"
As a Scotchman would say, they thought him a little daft. Thank G.o.d a man can afford to be mad. A mad man thinks everyone else mad but himself A drunkard does not call himself mad when he is drinking up all his means. Those men who stand and deal out death and d.a.m.nation to men are not called mad; but a man is called mad when he gets into the ark, and is saved for time and eternity. And I expect if the word crank was in use, they called Noah "an old crank."
And so all manner of sport was made of Noah and his ark. And the business men went on buying and selling, while Noah went on preaching and toiling. They perhaps had some astronomers, and they were gazing up at the stars, and saying, "Don"t you be concerned. There is no sign of a coming storm in the heavens. We are very wise men, and if there was a storm coming, we should read it in the heavens." And they had geologists digging away, and they said, "There is no sign in the earth." Even the carpenters who helped build the ark might have made fun of him, but they were like lots of people at the present day, who will help build a church, and perhaps give money for its support, but will never enter it themselves.
Well, things went on as usual. Little lambs skipped on the hillsides each spring. Men sought after wealth, and if they had leases, I expect they ran for longer periods than ours do. We think ninety-nine years a long time, but I don"t doubt but that theirs ran for nine hundred and ninety nine years. And when they came to sign a lease they would say with a twinkle in their eyes:
"Why, this old Noah says the world is coming to an end in one hundred and twenty years, and it"s twenty years since he started the story.
But I guess I will sign the lease and risk it."
Someone has said that Noah must have been deaf, or he could not have stood the jeers and sneers of his countrymen. But if he was deaf to the voice of men, he heard the voice of G.o.d when He told him to build the ark.
I can imagine one hundred years have rolled away, and the work on the ark ceases. Men say, "What has he stopped work for?" He has gone on a preaching tour, to tell the people of the coming storm--that G.o.d is going to sweep every man from the face of the earth unless he is in the ark. But he cannot get a man to believe him except his own family.
Some of the old men have pa.s.sed away, and they died saying: "Noah is wrong." Poor Noah! He must have had a hard time of it. I don"t think I should have had the grace to work for one hundred and twenty years without a convert. But he just toiled on, believing the word of G.o.d.
And now the hundred and twenty years are up. In the spring of the year Noah did not plant anything, for he knew the flood was coming, and the people say: "Every year before he has planted, but this year he thinks the world is going to be destroyed, and he hasn"t planted anything."
Moving in.
But I can imagine one beautiful morning, not a cloud to be seen, Noah has got his communication. He has heard the voice that he heard one hundred and twenty years before--the same old voice. Perhaps there had been silence for one hundred and twenty years. But the voice rang through his soul once again, "Noah, come thou and all thy house into the ark."
The word "come" occurs about nineteen hundred times in the Bible, it is said, and this is the first time. It meant salvation. You can see Noah and all his family moving into the ark. They are bringing the household furniture.
Some of his neighbors say, "Noah, what is your hurry? you will have plenty of time to get into that old ark. What is your hurry? There are no windows and you cannot look out to see when the storm is coming."
But he heard the voice and obeyed.
Some of his relatives might have said, "What are you going to do with the old homestead?"
Noah says, "I don"t want it. The storm is coming." He tells them the day of grace is closing, that worldly wealth is of no value, and that the ark is the only place of safety. We must bear in mind that these railroads that we think so much of, will soon go down; they only run for time, not for eternity. The heavens will be on fire, and then what will property, honor, and position in society be worth?
The first thing that alarms them is, they rise one morning, and lo!
the heavens are filled with the fowls of the air. They are flying into the ark, two by two. They come from the desert; they come from the mountain; they come from all parts of the world. They are going into the ark. It must have been a strange sight. I can hear the people cry, "Great G.o.d! what is the meaning of this?" And they look down on the earth; and, with great alarm and surprise, they see little insects creeping up two by two, coming from all parts of the world. Then behold! there come cattle and beasts, two by two. The neighbors cry out, "What does this mean?" They run to their statesmen and wise men, who have told them there was no sign of a coming storm, and ask them why it is that those birds, animals, and creeping things go toward the ark, as if guided by some unseen hand.
"Well," the statesmen and wise men say, "We cannot explain it; but give yourselves no trouble; G.o.d is not going to destroy the world.
Business was never better than it is now. Do you think if G.o.d was going to destroy the world, He would let us go on so prosperously as He has? There is no sign of a coming storm. What has made these creeping insects and these wild beasts of the forest go into the ark, we do not know. We cannot understand it; it is very strange. But there is no sign of anything going to happen. The stars are bright, and the sun shines as bright as ever it did. Everything moves on as it has been moving for all time past. You can hear the children playing in the street. You can hear the voice of the bride and bridegroom in the land, and all is merry as ever."
I imagine the alarm pa.s.sed away, and they fell into their regular courses. Noah comes out and says: "The door is going to be shut. Come in. G.o.d is going to destroy the world. See the animals, how they have come up. The communication has come to them direct from heaven." But the people only mocked on.
Do you know, when the hundred and twenty years were up, G.o.d gave the world seven days" grace? Did you ever notice that? If there had been a cry during those seven days, I believe it would have been heard. But there was none.
At length the last day had come, the last hour, the last minute, ay!
the last second. G.o.d Almighty came down and shut the door of that ark.
No angel, no man, but G.o.d Himself shut that door, and when once the master of the house has risen and shut to the door, the doom of the world is sealed; and the doom of that old world was forever sealed.
The sun had gone down upon the glory of that old world for the last time. You can hear away off in the distance the mutterings of the storm. You can hear the thunder rolling. The lightning begins to flash, and the old world reels. The storm bursts upon them, and that old ark of Noah"s would have been worth more than the whole world to them.
I want to say to any scoffer who reads this, that you can laugh at the Bible, you can scoff at your mother"s G.o.d, you can laugh at ministers and Christians, but the hour is coming when one promise in that old Book will be worth more to you than ten thousand worlds like this.
The windows of heaven are opened and the fountains of the great deep are broken up. The waters come bubbling up, and the sea bursts its bounds and leaps over its walls. The rivers begin to swell. The people living in the lowlands flee to the mountains and highlands. They flee up the hillsides. And there is a wail going up:
"Noah! Noah! Noah! Let us in."
They leave their homes and come to the ark now. They pound on the ark.
Hear them cry:
"Noah! Let us in. Noah! Have mercy on us."
"I am your nephew."
"I am your niece."
"I am your uncle."
Ah, there is a voice inside, saying: "I would like to let you in; but G.o.d has shut the door, and I cannot open it!"
G.o.d shut that door! When the door is shut, there is no hope. Their cry for mercy was too late; their day of grace was closed. Their last hour had come. G.o.d had plead with them; G.o.d had invited them to come in; but they had mocked at the invitation. They scoffed and ridiculed the idea of a deluge. Now it is too late.
G.o.d did not permit anyone to survive to tell us how they perished.
When Job lost his family, there came a messenger to him: but there came no messenger from the antediluvians; not even Noah himself could see the world perish. If he could, he would have seen men and women and children dashing against that ark; the waves rising higher and higher, while those outside were perishing, dying in unbelief. Some think to escape by climbing the trees, and think the storm will soon go down; but it rains on, day and night, for forty days and forty nights, and they are swept away as the waves dash against them. The statesmen and astronomers and great men call for mercy; but it is too late. They had disobeyed the G.o.d of mercy. He had called, and they refused. He had plead with them, but they had laughed and mocked. But now the time is come for judgment instead of mercy.
Judgment.
The time is coming again when G.o.d will deal in judgment with the world. It is but a little while; we know not when, but it is sure to come. G.o.d"s word has gone forth that this world shall be rolled together like a scroll, and shall be on fire. What then will become of your soul? It is a loving call, "Now come, thou and all thy house, into the ark." Twenty four hours before the rain began to fall, Noah"s ark, if it had been sold at auction, would not have brought as much as it would be worth for kindling wood. But twenty four hours after the rain began to fall, Noah"s ark was worth more than all the world.
There was not then a man living but would have given all he was worth for a seat in the ark. You may turn away and laugh.
"I believe in Christ!" you say; "I would rather be without Him than have Him."