the minister of the gospel says, if you will not repent, and have faith, and be a disciple of Christ, when your friends urge you to do it, you are like the sinners that lived in the days of Noah. They would not hear the warnings of God, and turn unto him, and you will not. Are you not, then, like them? О, be like them no longer! Hear the warning now, and fly to Jesus Christ, who is the true ark of safety.

The building of the ark, as well as Noah's preaching, should have awakened the attention of the people of those days. This work was a constant warning to them, and they ought to have been alarmed by it, and to have repented, and turned unto the Lord. Noah, by all the labor he performed in building that great vessel, showed the strength of his faith, and his firm belief that the flood would come. His neighbors, when they saw him, with so much toil and expense, preparing an ark for the saving of his house, ought to have inquired whether they were not in danger. They, no doubt, saw him engaged in the work. They knew him to be a good man, and his conduct was abundant proof to them that he sincerely believed a flood was coming. Why, then, did they not feel alarmed? Why did they not prepare for the coming of the awful judgement? Alas! it was because they were unbelieving and wicked. They loved their sinful pleasures and worldly pursuits, and after them they would go. The Saviour says "They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away." What folly! What madness! What slaves they were to sin!

But such conduct was very much like the conduct of sinners at the present day. Even now, under the clear light of the blessed gospel, careless sinners can see their pious friend or neighbor earnestly preparing himself for the judgement of the great day, and remain thoughtless and unconcerned themselves. They can see the Christian watching, and praying, and denying himself, and laying up his treasure in heaven, and yet feel no alarm at their own dreadful danger. I fear that

some who read this little book, are thus heedless and impenitent. How is it with you, young reader? When you see your father or mother, or some Christian neighbor, preparing for death and judgement, are you not careless? Does it alarm you any to see others preparing an ark for the saving of their souls, while you have none? While others are afraid to disobey God, and live without religion, do not you disobey him and live carelessly, without fear? How much this looks like the conduct of those who lived in the time of Noah. Let me entreat you to live in this careless and dangerous state no longer. Strive to enter into the ark of safety.

When the ark was done, Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives, entered into it. And the Bible says-The Lord shut him in. Now they were safe, and all the rest of the world were shut out. It was now too late for any to ask to be admitted into the ark. All without must perish.-Soon the rain began to descend in torrents. The windows of heaven were opened, and the fountains of the great deep were broken up

Now, we may suppose, many wanted to be received into the ark. They ran to it, in hopes that the door would be opened. Perhaps they cried aloud unto Noah, and earnestly besought him to let them in. But this could not be, The Lord had shut him in, and, by doing so, had shut all others out. It was too late to seek refuge there. As the vallies became filled with water, these frightened sinners ran to the hills and mountains. But they could not be safe there. The waters continued to rise. The lowest hills were covered first, and the men, women and children who had collected there, were drowned. Then the higher hills, and at last the highest mountains were covered with the waters. The miserable people struggled a little while in the waves, and then sunk to the bottom. All were drowned. Not one of all that wicked race remained alive. The Lord was offended with them; he made all the earth one vast ocean, and they all perished. O, what an awful scene was this! Who will not fear the judgements of the Lord? Who will not tremble, when he comes to take vengeance on his enemies?

But amidst all this desolation and death, Noah and his family were safe. The ark bore them up on the top of the flood, and God preserved them. Soon the waters began to abate. The ark rested on mount Ararat. In a few days the dry land began to appear. And shortly after, the waters having departed, and the ground become dry, Noah and his family came forth out of the ark. They found themselves alone on earth, and began the world anew.

In this example, my young reader sees what faith is, and what it does. Noah owed his safety, under God, to his faith. He believed God-he believed what God said respecting the coming flood, and he acted as though he believed it. This was true faith. And if you, my reader, will believe God-if you will fully believe what God says in the Bible, what he says about himself and about his laws, what he says about the Saviour and about yourself, what he says about eternity, heaven