Course 1, Chapter 22: The Messiah promised and prefigured. — Noah the third figure, A. C. 2348

1. What is the name of the son whom God gave to our first parents in place of Abel?

The son whom God gave to our first parents to replace Abel, was named Seth. He it was that preeerved the true worship of God on earth.

2. How were the descendants of Seth called?

The descendants of Seth were called the children of God, because they lived according to the spirit of

78 CATECHISM OF PERSEVERANCE.

religion — the descendants of Cain, on the contrary, were called the children of men, because they abandoned themselves to all the corrupt propensities of the heart.

3. Did God send any one to recall the children of men to repentance?

To recall the children of men to repentance God sent Enoch. He never ceased to exhort them to be converted to God. God afterwards took him up to heaven alive, whence he will return before the end of the world to exhort sinners to repentance.

4. Did the children of God remain always faithful to the Lord?

The children of God did not remain always faithful to the Lord. They formed alliances with the children of men who corrupted them, and the earth was soon sullied with crimes.

5. How did God punish mankind?

God punished mankind by the deluge. The earth and the highest mountains were covered with water during one hundred and forty days.

6. Did all men perish in the deluge t

Noah and his family, in all eight persons, were saved in the ark, together with animals of each kind, to re-people the earth.

7. What was the ark?

The ark was a large vessel which Noah constructed by the order of God, and which he entered at the moment of the deluge. He was one hundred and twenty years building it; God wishing thereby to give sinners time for repentance.

8. What did Noah do on leaving the ark?

Noah on leaving the ark testified his gratitude to the Lord by offering up a sacrifice to him. The Lord promised him never again to destroy the world by a deluge.

9. Was Noah a figure of our Lord?

Noah was the third figure of our Lord. Noah

signifies Consoler; Jesus signifies Saviour. Noah alone finds grace before God; our Lord alone finds grace before his Father. Noah builds an ark which saves him and his family from the universal deluge. Our Lord builds his church to save from eternal death all who are willing to enter it. The higher the waters rose, the nearer to heaven the ark mounted; the more the church experiences tribulations, the more she elevates herself to God. Noah was chosen to be the father of a new world; our Lord was chosen to people the earth with the just and heaven with saints.