INTRODUCTION.

IN the history of the Patriarchs, so beautifully related in the Bible, there is much that can be understood very easily. But as they lived in a country and climate very different from those of England, and observed customs quite unlike ours, we can enjoy their simple story (as it is told in the Word of God) very much more when we have learned something of their habits. It so happens that though the European nations have much changed their way of living in the course of centuries, many of the people

b

of the East have the same manners and mode of life, as they had in the very earliest times. Since travelling has become much easier than it was formerly, numerous accounts of Eastern manners have been written. It is hoped that this little work, which unites illustrations of manners with the historical narrative contained in the book of Genesis, may prepare some (who have neither time nor opportunity to study larger works on the same subject) to read with more intelligence and delight the Holy Word of God.

STATE OF THE WORLD BEFORE THE FLOOD. THE FLOOD. -MANNER OF INSTRUCTING CHILDREN IN EARLY TIMES. -THE ARTS OF LIFE.- BABEL. THE DISPERSION OF MANKIND.

THE only account of the state of the world before the flood is contained in the Bible. There we are told that men lived to a very great age. The oldest man was nearly 1000 years old before he died. After Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, and brought sin into the

B

world, Satan was successful in tempting their descendants to sin. So that most men and women spent their lives not in trying to serve God better every day, but in following their own natural will, which was now contrary to God's will; and thus they became exceedingly wicked. If bad habits are practised but for a few years, it is very difficult to give them up. How deeply rooted they must have been when they were practised by bad men for hundreds of years!

From the beginning, there were a few who, though they had, like all Adam's descendants, bad inclinations derived from him, yet strove against them; and, by praying to God, gained help to serve Him. Abel was one of these; and when, by the wickedness of his brother Cain, he was murdered, God blessed Adam

with another good son, whose name was Seth. Enoch, who descended from Seth, spent his long life in God's service, and by prayer and obedience during more than three hundred years, he became so holy, that God did not suffer him to undergo the punishment of death, and he was taken to Heaven without dying.

About 1655 years after the Creation, there was but one family in all the world who honoured their Maker. This was the family of Noah. God revealed to Noah that He intended to destroy all the inhabitants of the earth by bringing water over the dry land to such a depth as to drown all. You well know that God's word came true, and that only eight persons were saved from drowning. No doubt when Noah came out upon green earth and gave thanks for his

the