THE ARK.
WHEN God first made the earth, it was very much more beautiful than it is now. The trees were a great deal taller the flowers prettier, and the people larger and nobler looking. At first the people prayed to God, and tried to do just right; but by and by they grew wicked, and worshiped idols instead of the true God, and did many other things that were very wrong.
This displeased the Lord so much that he was sorry he had made any people at all; and he said he would destroy in a great flood all those who had done so wickedly. But among all these bad people there were a few who had not forgotten God, but tried to serve him just as he wanted them to. There was one good man whose name was Noah. He had a wife, and three sons that were married. The Lord told him what he meant to do, and that he would save him from the flood of water, because he had been faithful to him. He told Noah that the flood would not come for one hundred and twenty years; but that while he was waiting, he must build a great boat to ride in when the flood came, and he must also tell the people how the Lord was going to punish them for their wicked deeds.
So Noah set to work to build the great ark, for he believed every word that the Lord had said. The Lord had told him just how to make it; it was to be five hundred and fifty feet long, and three stories high, with a window in the top, and a door in the side. Noah brought the wood together, and the tools, and everything he needed to use in his work. And while he and the men he had to help him were hammering and pounding away on the great boat, he talked to the people, and tried to get them from their evil ways. No matter how much the people laughed at him, he kept right on building this great boat on the dry ground, thus showing the people that he believed what he preached to them.
We can imagine how anxiously the people watched for a little time, for fear the rain would come. But when for seven days the sun shone as Noah brought the wood together, and the tools, and everything he needed to use in his work. And while he and the men he had to help him were hammering and pounding away on the great boat, he talked to the people, and tried to get them to turn from their evil ways. No matter how much the people laughed at him, he kept right on building this great boat on the dry ground, thus showing the people that he believed what he preached to them. By and by the ark was finished; and then the people saw a very strange sight. The animals, seven of every clean kind, and two of every unclean kind, and the birds of the air in pairs, came and entered the ark. It would have taken Noah a long while to collect all these animals. Indeed, he could hardly have done it at all, so the Lord caused them to go to the ark, without any help from man.
Then, after they were all in, and food enough was stored away to last a long time, Noah's family of just eight persons entered their new home, and the Lord shut the door.
We can imagine how anxiously the people watched for a little time, for fear the rain would come. But when for seven days the sun shone as brightly as it ever did, the sky was as blue, and the grass as green, the people made great sport of the good man, and probably thought him crazy for spending all his time and money in building such a large boat. No doubt Noah could hear the tumult and the shouting and dancing going on all around outside the ark. But he knew that he was right, and so patiently waited for the Lord to fulfill his word. At the end of the week the flood came. Then how bitterly the people mourned because they had not heeded the message that the Lord had sent them. But it was now too late. Higher and higher rose the waters, till the highest mountains were covered. By and by it stopped raining, though it was nearly a year before Noah could go out from the ark.
How thankful he was that the Lord had kept them safely through the great rain storm, and that he could once more go about on the earth! He built an altar the first thing, and offered up sacrifices, and prayed and praised God. Then the Lord put a rainbow in the clouds, and told Noah that it was to be a sign that as long as the earth remained, he would never again send such a flood. Is it not comforting to think, every time we see a rainbow in the clouds, that the great Creator remembers the promise he made to Noah so many thousand years ago, and that he will safely protect those who put their trust in him.
W. E. L