February 22

2 Peter ii.—1. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

5. And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

6. And, turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensauple unto those that after should live ungodly;

7. And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked;

8. (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds:)

9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.

Genesis vi.—1. And it came pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

2. That the sons of God saw the daughters of

men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

3. And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

4. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown.

5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

7. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

The posterity of Cain appear to have inherited the evil passions of their father: for, though they displayed much energy in material civilization, they neglected religion; and, in the days of Lamech, deeds of violence and blood were rite among them. The descendants of Seth, on the contrary, are described as men who "called on the name of the Lord:" they showed their piety in the public worship of God. In the course of time, however, these "sons of God" were betrayed into alliances with the worldly, irreligious daughters of the lineage of Cain; and the consequence was a universal apostasy from true religion: a race having strong physical qualities, devoted to war and the chase, and fond of sensual

pleasures, addicted themselves to every device of evil; until, their reformation being hopeless, their Maker resolved upon their destruction.

Speaking after the manner of men, the Lord is said to have been so grieved and disappointed at the downward career of mankind, that it repented him that he had made man in the earth. Yet, even amid this widespread apostasy, some solitary seeds of virtue and piety were found; and to these was owing the preservation of the earth from that utter destruction to which the wickedness of men had justly exposed it. So has it been again and again with a degenerate nation: the "holy seed" has proved its redeeming "substance."

APPROPRIATE HYMNS.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 5, 22, 155, 172.

Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord! and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth. Thou turnest man to destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children of men. Thou carriest them away as with a flood. Yet, Lord, thou wilt not cast off forever: thou dost not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. We bless thee that thou hast spared us the punishment that we deserve for our sins; and we beseech thee, for Christ's sake, to forgive and save us.

We awake this morning to the light of thy love, to the sense of thy gracious protection, and the joy of thy presence; and we would bring to thee our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Oh! keep us this day from sin; bless us in our home, in our labors, in our studies; bless all our friends with

both temporal and spiritual good; and remember all men in mercy. May we be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises!

O Lord, who hast taught us not only to pray, but to give thanks for all men! we beseech thee to accept our unfeigned thanks and praises for the grace thou hast wrought in thy saints, and through them bestowed on thy holy Church from the beginning of the world. For all those thy servants who have departed this life with the seal of faith, we praise and magnify thy glorious name: most humbly desiring, of thy mercy and goodness, that we may continue in their holy communion; and that, following with all diligence their holy examples, we may together with them attain to the resurrection of the just, and have our perfect consummation and bliss, in body and soul, in thine eternal and everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.