. The training of the Chosen people. theflood, of course,raise many interest-ing- questions, but itsmoral features aremuch more impor-tant. Three greattruths especially de-mand our attention:the fruitage of sin,the new start ofthe race, and thenew tutelage. Are the forces for righteousness that are symbol-ized in the declaration that man was made in theimage of God sufficient to overcome the power of thesin which our first parents admitted into their hearts ?Antecedently, perhaps, we might say that they as the Biblical narrative declares, the early his-tory of the race was a story of
. The training of the Chosen people. theflood, of course,raise many interest-ing- questions, but itsmoral features aremuch more impor-tant. Three greattruths especially de-mand our attention:the fruitage of sin,the new start ofthe race, and thenew tutelage. Are the forces for righteousness that are symbol-ized in the declaration that man was made in theimage of God sufficient to overcome the power of thesin which our first parents admitted into their hearts ?Antecedently, perhaps, we might say that they as the Biblical narrative declares, the early his-tory of the race was a story of progressive deteriora-tion. And the Lord saw that the wickedness of manwas great in the earth, and that every imagination ofthe thoughts of his heart was only evil an exceptional man, like Noah, the inherent forcesof goodness are strong enough to overcome bad ten-dencies, for a time; but, taking the race as a whole,the evil bent is overwhelming. And, as we shall seelater, even Noah, the exceptional man, is not immune. Babylonian Flood Tablet. 8 Old Testament History from the common taint. The deluge was Gods judg-ment upon the self-corruption of the race. It wit-nesses to the need of other forces than those involvedin mans original endowment, if the race is to comeinto fellowship with God. The result of the deluge was that human life madea new start in the earth on the basis of the very bestthat had been previously developed. A divinely or-dered catastrophe, rather than an evolutionary processbrought about a survival of the fittest. Noah standsfor a new humanity starting from a new center. At this point one naturally asks why God did notcompletely annihilate the race, and by another creativeact repeople the earth with beings who would berighteous. The answer to that question is plain. Ifthe new beings were endowed with the majestic pre-rogative of_free-will they would be as much exposedto the peril of an evil choice as the race of we touch some of the u
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