s of Noah. These utterances of our Lord are indeed
most awful. But the world, in its security and ingratitude, is a
despiser of all the threats as well as all the promises of God. It
abounds in iniquities of every kind and becomes daily more corrupt.
From the time that the popes ceased to rule among us, who had ruled
the whole world by means of the mere dread of their vengeance, sound
doctrine has been despised, and men have degenerated into all but
brutes and beasts. The number of holy and godly preachers of the Word
is becoming less and all men are indulging their desires. The last
day, however, shall assuredly come upon the world as a thief, and will
overtake these men in all their security, and in the indulgence of
their ambition, tyranny, lust, avarice, and vices of every kind.

18. And let it be remembered that it is Christ himself who has
foretold these things, and we can not possibly imagine that he would
lie. If the primitive world, which contained so mighty a multitude of
the greatest patriarchs, was so wholly corrupted, what may we not have
cause to dread in the weakness of our nature? May the Lord our God
grant that we may be gathered, as soon as possible, in the faith and
confession of his Son Jesus Christ, unto these our fathers; yea, if it
please him, that we may die within the next twenty years, and not live
to see the miseries and calamities, both temporal and spiritual, of
the last time! Amen!

II. ADAM AND HIS SON SETH.

1. The name Adam, and why given to the first man 19.

2. The Jews' fables of Adam's cohabitation with Eve 20.

* Purity of doctrine cannot be expected from the Jews 20.

3. Why Moses so carefully describes the times of Adam 21.

4. Why it is said of Adam that he was created in the likeness of
God 21-23.

* The likeness of God.

a. The difference between "Zelem" and "Demuth" 22-23.

b. How the likeness of God was lost and how it is restored 24.

c. Whether it can be fully restored in this life 25.

5. The prating of the rabbins about the name Adam 26.

* Why Moses here mentions the blessing 27.

* Why he did not refer to the blessing in the descriptions of Cain
and Abel 28.

6. How long it was before Adam begat Seth 29.

* Abel's age when murdered 29.

7. How and why Adam mourned so long for his son Abel, and therefore
refrained from bearing children 29-30.

8. The Jews' fable of Ada