man for food, as herbs were before; Gen. ix. 2, 3. Blood was forbidden to be eaten, the blood of man was expressly forbid to be shed, and murder was to be punished with death; Gen. ix. 4, 5, 6.

Note, The religion of Noah was the same with that of Adam after the fall, in Chapter I. Question 30. with these few additions here mentioned. And this was the noachical dispensation of the covenant of grace, whereby all men from Noah to Abraham were to seek salvation, and whereby all besides the family of Abraham were to be saved, even all the heathen world, till they hear of Christ?

7 Q. What promise did God make to Noah?

A. That the world should never be drowned again, and it pleased God to appoint the rainbow to be a token of it; Gen. ix. 13—15.

8 Q. Was there no rainbow before the flood?

A. It is probable that there was no rain before the flood, for the earth was watered daily by a thick mist; Gen. ii. 5, 6 and then there could be naturally no rainbow, for it is made by the sunbeams shining upon falling rain.

9 Q. Who were Noah's three sons?

A. Shem, Ham, and Japhet; and they were the fathers of all mankind after the flood; Gen. ix. 18, 19. and x. 32.

10 Q. Who were the offspring or posterity of Shem?

A. The Persians, who came from Elam their father, the Syrians from Aram, the Hebrews from Eber, as is supposed, and particularly the Jews, with other inhabitants of Asia; Gen. x. 21.

11 Q. Who were the posterity of Ham?

A. The Canaanites, the Philistines, and others in Asia, and the Egyptians, with other inhabitants of Africa; Gen. x. 6-20.

12 Q. Who were the posterity of Japhet?

A. Gomer, supposed to be the father of the Germans, Javan, of the Greeks, Meshech, of the Muscovites, and other families that dwelt in Europe; Gen. x. 2.

13 Q. Wherein did Ham, the father of the Canaanites, do amiss?

A. He saw his father Noah naked, and made sport with him, and he was cursed under the name of his son Canaan; Gen. ix. 21, 25.

Note, It is probable that Canaan joined with his father Ham, in the mockery of his grandfather Noah, and therefore he was cursed: And besides, this gave early notice to the Israelites, that the Canaanites, whose land God gave them to possess, were a people under an ancient curse.

14 Q. What did Shem and Japhet do on this occasion?

A. They covered their father with a garment, and concealed his shame, and were blessed; Gen. ix. 23, 26, 27.

15 Q. Did mankind freely divide themselves after the flood into several nations?

A. No; but being all of one language, they agreed rather to build a chief city with a tower, that all men might be joined in one nation or kingdom; Gen. xi. 4.

16 Q. How did God scatter them abroad into different nations?

A. By making them speak different languages, and then they ceased to build their tower, which was called Babylon, or confusion; Gen. xi. 7-9.

17 Q. Did God preserve the true religion in any of their families?

A. It is supposed to have been chiefly preserved in the family of Shem, for God is called the Lord God of Shem; Gen. ix. 26.

Note, Though the knowledge of the true God and religion were chiefly preserved in the family of Shem, yet it is evident that some branches of Ham's family, and probably of Japhet's too, preserved it for some hundreds of years; for Melchisedeck, a king of the Canaanites in Abraham's time, was a priest of the Most High God, and Abimelech, a king of the Philistines, feared God, and had a sense of religion, and both these are derived from Ham.

SECTION II.

OF ABRAHAM AND LOT, ISHMAEL AND ISAAC.

18 Q. Who was the most famous man of Shem's posterity in these early ages?

A. Abraham, the son of Terah, of the posterity of Eber; Gen. xi. 27.

19 Q. What was the first remarkable thing recorded of Abraham?

A. He left his own native country to go wheresoever God called him; Gen. xii. 1, 4.

20 Q. Whence did Abraham come, and whither did he go?

A. He came first from Chaldea, then from Haran, and he went to dwell among strangers in the land of Canaan; Gen. xi. 31. and xii. 5. Heb. xi. 8, 9.

21 Q. Who came with Abraham into Canaan?

A. Lot, his brother's son; and they brought with them all their substance and their household; Gen. xii. 5.

22 Q. Did they continue to dwell together?

A. Their cattle and servants grew so numerous, that they parted for fear of quarrelling, and Abraham gave Lot his choice to go to the east or the west; Gen. xiii. 1—9. 23 Q. Where did Lot sojourn?

A. He chose the east, and pitched his tent towards Sodom, because it was a wellwatered and fruitful country; verse 10—12.

24 Q. What calamity befel Lot here?

A. He was carried away captive, together with other inhabitants of Sodom, when the king of Sodom was routed in battle by his enemies; Gen. xiv. 12.

25 Q. What did Abraham do on this occasion?

A. He armed his own servants, three hundred and eighteen men, who pursued the conquerors and routed them, and brought back Lot and the other captives with their goods; Gen. xiv. 14-16.

26 Q. When Abraham returned from the slaughter of the kings, what honour was done him?

A. Melchisedeck, the king of Salem, and the priest of the Most High God, met him, and pronounced a blessing upon him; Gen. xiv, 18—20.

27 Q. What civility did the king of Sodom shew Abraham?

A. He offered him all the goods that Abraham had recovered from the former conquerors, but Abraham refused to accept them; verse 21-24.

28 Q. What became of Sodom afterward?

A. It was burned by fire and brimstone from heaven, together with Gomorrah and other cities, because of the abominable wickedness of their inhabitants; Gen. xix. 24.

29 Q. Was there nobody to plead with God to spare them?

A. Yes; Abraham pleaded with God to spare Sodom, and God would have done it, had there been but ten righteous men in all the city; Gen. xviii. 23—33.

30 Q. How did Lot escape?

A. The two angels which were sent to destroy Sodom persuaded him to fly away his family first; Gen. xix. 15.

with

31 Q. How many of his family escaped this judgment?

A. Only himself and his two daughters, for his two sons-in-law refused to remove; Gen. xix. 14.

32 Q. What became of Lot's wife?

A. She went with him part of the way, but when she looked back, hankering after Sodom, she was struck dead immediately, perhaps with a blast of that lightning which burned Sodom, and she stood like a pillar of salt; Gen. xix. 26.

33 Q. Was Lot a religious man?

A. Yes; and his righteous soul was daily vexed with the wicked conversation of the men of Sodom; 2 Peter ii. 7, 8.

34 Q. Did he maintain this righteous character ever afterwards?

A. He once was enticed into the sin of drunkenness, and then he let his two daughters lie with him and abuse him; Gen. xix. 30-36.

35 Q. Had Lot any children by this sinful action?

A. Yes; Moab was the son of one daughter, and Benammi of the other; and they were afterward the fathers of the Moabites and the Ammonites, who proved to be the sore enemies of God's people; Gen. xix. 37, 38.

36 Q. Thus ends the history of Lot and Sodom: Let us return now to Abraham: In what part of the country did he dwell?

A. When he removed from Lot he went toward the west, and travelling on toward the south-west, he sojourned in the land of Abimelech; Gen. xx. 1.

37 Q. Who was Abimelech ?

A. He was king of Gerar, in the country of the Philistines; Gen. xx. 2. and xxi. 32. 38 Q. What did Abimelech do at Abraham's coming?

A. He took Sarah, Abraham's wife, into his house; but being warned of God, he restored her again; Gen. xx. 2, 6, 14.

39 Q. How came Abimelech to take Abraham's wife?

A. Because she was a beautiful woman, and Abraham did not call her his wife, but his sister; and by this means he exposed her to be taken by other men; Gen. xx. 2.

40 Q. What sons had Abraham?

A. The two chief were Ishmael and Isaac; Gen. xxv. 9.

41 Q. What was Ishmael?

A. He was the son of Abraham by Hagar, his servant-maid; Gen. xvi. 15.

42 Q How came Abraham to take his maid to be his concubine?

A. God had promised him a son, and he thought his wife Sarah was too old to have a child, and therefore by her advice he took Hagar; Gen. xvi. 1, 2.

43 Q. What became of Ishmael?

A. Abraham, by the command of God, turned Ishmael and his mother out of his

house into the wilderness, because they mocked and abused his younger son Isaac; Gen. xxi. 9-21.

44 Q. Did Ishmael perish in the wilderness?

A. The angel of God appeared to Hagar, and shewed her a spring of water when they were dying with thirst; and Ishmael grew up to be a great man, and the father of a large nation; Gen. xxi. 16—20. and xxv. 16.

45 Q. Who was Isaac's mother?

A. Isaac was the son of Abraham by Sarah his wife, according to the promise of God when they were both grown old; Gen. xxi. 1—8. Rom. ix. 7, 8.

46 Q. Why is Abraham called the father of the faithful, that is, of the believers ? A. Because he believed the promises of God against all probable appearance, and was a pattern to other believers in all ages? Gen. xv. 16. Rom. iv. 11, 12.

47 Q. What were the three chief promises which God gave Abraham?

A. 1. That he should have a son when he was a hundred years old. 2. That his children should possess the land of Canaan, when he had not ground enough to set his foot on there. And 3. That all the families of the earth should be blessed in him and his offspring, when he was but a private person; Gen. xvii. 8, 16, 17. and xii. 3. Acts vii. 5.

48 Q. What did this last promise mean?

A. That Jesus Christ, the Saviour of men, should come from his family; Gal. iii. 8, 16. 49 Q. What did God appoint to Abraham for a token of these promises and this covenant, and of his own acceptance with God?

A. He commanded him and all his sons to be circumcised in all generations; Gen. xvii. 7-10. Rom. iv. 11.

50 Q. What was the religion of Abraham?

A. The same with the religion of Adam after the fall in Chapter I. Question 30. and the religion of Noah under Chapter II. Question 6. with the addition of circumcision, and the expectation of Canaan to be given to his seed as a type of heaven, and a trust in the promise of the Saviour who should spring from him and bless all nations.·

Note, This was called the abrahamical dispensation; but it was confined to the family of Abraham in the literal sense of it, with those temporal precepts and promises of circumcision and the inheritance of Canaan; though in the spiritual sense of it it reaches to every good man, and thus Abraham is their father; Rom. iv. 16, 17.

51 Q. How did Abraham further and most eminently shew his obedience to God? A. In his readiness to offer up his son Isaac at God's command; Gen. xxii. 12.:

52 Q. And did he offer him in sacrifice?

A. No, God withheld his hand, and sent a ram to be sacrificed in his stead; Gen. xxii. 13.

53 Q. What further favours did Abraham receive from God?

A. God visited him, and conversed with him as a friend several times in a visible manner, and changed his name from Abram to Abraham; Gen. xv. and xvii. and xviii. James ii. 23.

54 Q. What is written concerning Sarah, Abraham's wife? toeval to

A. She believed God's promise, and had a son at ninety years old, and her name also was changed from Sarai to Sarah; Gen. xvii. 15, 17. Heb. xi. 11.

Note, Some learned men have supposed that the addition of the Hebrew letter H to the names of Abram and Sarai, signifies a new relation to God whose name is Jah: Others think it to be a part of the word Hamon, which signifies a multitude, because God promised many nations to spring from them when he changed their names; Gen. xvii. 5, 16.

55 Q. What is recorded concerning Isaac their son?

A. He feared the God of his father Abraham, he had frequent visions of God, and went out into the fields to meditate or pray, and offered sacrifices to God; Gen. xxiv. 63. and xxvi. 2, 24, 25.

56 Q. Who was Isaac's wife?

A. His father Abraham sent afar, and took a wife for him, even Rebecca, out of his own family in Mesopotamia, because he was unwilling he should marry among the wicked Canaanites, whom God had doomed to destruction; Gen. xxiv. 3, 4, 51–59. 57 Q. What children had Isaac?

A. Two sons, Esau and Jacob; Gen. xxv. 25, 26.

SECTION III.

OF ESAU AND JACOB, AND THEIR POSTERITY.

58 Q. What was Esau?

A. He was Isaac's eldest son, bred up to hunting rather than husbandry, who sold his birthright to his brother for a mess of pottage when he was faint with hunting; Gen. xxv. 31, 33.

59 Q. Who was Jacob?

A. The youngest son of Isaac, who by his mother's contrivance obtained his father's blessing, though not in a right way; Gen. xxvii. 27.

60 Q. By what treachery did he obtain the blessing?

A. When his father Isaac was old and his eyes dim, by order of his mother he put on Esau's clothes, and told his father he was Esau his eldest son; Gen. xxvii, 15—19. 61 Q. How did Esau take this?

A. Esau threatened to kill him, and therefore he left his father's house; Gen. xxvii. 41, 43.

62 Q. Whither did Jacob go?

A. To Laban the Syrian, who was his mother's brother? Gen. xxviii. 2, 5.

63 Q. What did he meet with in going thither?

A. He lay down to sleep on a stone at Bethel, and had a holy dream of God, and of angels there ascending and descending between heaven and earth; Gen. xxviii. 12, 13, 14. 64 Q. What did he do in Laban's house?

A. He kept his uncle Laban's cattle, and he married his two daughters Rachel and Leah; Gen. xxix. 15-30.

65 Q. How long did he live there?

A. Twenty years, till he had got a large family of children and servants, much cattle, and great riches; Gen. xxx. and xxxi. 41.

66 Q. What did Jacob meet with in his return to Canaan ?

A. He had a vision of God as of a man wrestling with him; Gen. xxxii. 24-30.