  Noah and the Deluge. Methuselah, Son of Promise.—God, having shown to Enoch the approaching utter destruction of Earth's wicked inhabitants, covenanted with the founder of the Sacred City that the repeopler of the devastated globe should be of his lineage. In order that this promise might not fail, Enoch's son, Methuselah, distinguished among men as the one who attained to the greatest age in mortality,[ Earth's Baptism.—The Deluge was Earth's baptism. Baptism symbolizes birth or creation. In a certain sense, our planet was "born of water and of the Spirit" at the very beginning.[ Like Unto Adam.—It devolved upon Noah to recommence, after the Flood, the work begun by the great sire of the race under God's original command—the command to "multiply and replenish the earth." Noah's time, therefore, typified the period of the Creation. He, like Adam, "was the father of all living in his day, and to him was given the dominion."[ The Flood Foretold.—Blest and ordained by Methusaleh when but ten years old, Noah, like his predecessors in the patriarchal line, was a prophet and a preacher of righteousness. The word of the Lord came to him, saying: "My spirit shall not always strive with man; . . . . yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years; and if men do not repent, I will send in the floods upon them." They hearkened not, and God then decreed: "The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence, and behold I will destroy all flesh from off the earth."[ Shem, Ham and Japheth.—Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth—naming them in the order usually given. Japheth, however, was the eldest, and Ham the youngest, of these brothers.[ Noah's blessing upon Shem and Japheth, and his curse upon Canaan, son of Ham, are thus recorded: "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. "God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant."[ The Curse upon Canaan.—Part of the curse upon Canaan was "a blackness," similar to that which had been placed upon "the seed of Cain."[ Ham's sin, which brought the curse upon Canaan—a sin vaguely hinted at in the sacred narrative—may not be fully known; but even if it were, there would still remain the unsolved problem of the punishment of a whole race for an offense committed by one of its ancestors. It seems reasonable to infer that there was a larger cause, that the sin in question was not the main issue. Tradition has handed down something to that effect, but nothing conclusive of the question is to be found in the standard works of the Church. Of one thing we may rest assured: Canaan was not unjustly cursed, nor were the spirits who came through his lineage wrongly assigned. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Or, putting it inversely: Whatsoever a man reaps, that hath he sown. This rule applies to spirit life, as well as to life in the flesh. Israel and the Gentiles.—From Shem came Abraham and the House of Israel; from Japheth, the Gentiles, founders of the most civilized and enlightened nations of modern times, including Great Britain, France, and the United States of America. How wonderfully God has "enlarged Japheth," the original Gentile! Israel wields the powers of the Priesthood, and administers the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. These are his prerogatives. But the children of Japheth also have their mission—a mission in statecraft and commerce, in science and art, in discovery, invention, and kindred activities. It was the Gentiles who discovered and peopled America; who fought for and won the freedom and independence of this chosen land, an event preparatory—though they knew it not—to the founding of a government under which Christ's work might come forth and not be crushed out by the tyranny of man. The God of Israel was with Columbus, with Washington, with the Pilgrim Fathers, with the patriots who founded this republic[ Ham's Descendants.—The descendants of Ham became eminent, wealthy, wise and powerful in Egypt, "the cradle of civilization;" reaping "the blessings of the earth" and the blessings "of wisdom," richly realizing the heaven-inspired promises made to their forbears. They have prospered also in other African countries. But in Europe, America, and other lands, they were long held in slavery. Nor are the days of their bondage even now at end in Africa and some parts of Asia. The Ethiopian has served the Gentile and the Semite, just as Noah predicted. Japheth and "The Tents of Shem."—What are "the tents of Shem?" In the Scriptures "tent" is a term used figuratively as well as literally. The canopy of heaven is compared to a tent; as is also the Church of Christ and the city of Jerusalem.[ Japheth's remarkable blessing has also been realized in America, the Land of Joseph, which the Gentiles now possess, and where, according to the Book of Mormon, they are to assist in gathering Israel and in building the New Jerusalem. It is their privilege to share, if they will, in all the blessings of the chosen people, and to be even as the seed of Abraham.[ The Asiatic, and especially the Israelitish countries, with North and South America—homes of God's people, ancient and modern, now inhabited by the children of Japheth—these I think, may be properly regarded as among "the tents of Shem." As it Was, So it Shall Be.—Noah's period had a twofold significance. Pointing backward as well as forward, it symbolized both the Beginning and the End. The reminiscent pointing has already been indicated. The prophetic import is made plain by the words of the Savior, when weeping over Jerusalem and predicting the downfall of the Jewish commonwealth, an event also typical of the final destruction of the wicked: "As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." [ In Noah's day "a veil of darkness" covered the earth. A like condition is to characterize the Last Day, thus foretokened.[ Footnotes |
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