Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. That is, he forsook that place where the symbols of the Divine presence were manifested, and with his descendants probably neglected the public worship of God entirely. This fact will readily account for much of that vice and prodigious wickedness which prevailed, and which went on increasing from year to year. To see this in a strong light, let us for a moment imagine a similar case. Let us suppose that here, among ourselves, all public recognition of God, all public worship were abandoned. Let the temples erected to Jehovah be desecrated, or thrown down; let the voice of prayer cease, and the melody of thanksgiving be unheard; blot out the Sabbath as a day of rest and devotion. Carry the revolution still further. Let no more incense ascend from the family altar, and suppose every head of a family, like Cain, to depart from the presence of the Lord, to throw off all fear, to restrain prayer, and to neglect to teach the rising generation that there is a God. What, let us ask, in five hundred, or even in fifty years, would be our moral condition? Is it not evident that, as in the case before us, the wickedness of man would become great, and ere long every imagination of the thoughts of his heart would be evil, only evil continually? Nor need we depend merely on supposition for an answer to this question. The pages of modern history answer it, and present a spectacle rivaling, though on a smaller scale, that which the whole earth presented at the time referred to. I allude to France in those days when God's appointed Sabbath gave place to the Decades instituted by the wisdom of men; when the sanctuaries of Jehovah were converted into stables; the Bible paraded through the streets upon an ass and consumed in a bonfire; the immortality of the soul ridiculed and denied; death declared to be an eternal sleep; and that sentence inscribed upon the entrance to their cemeteries and their graveyards. How does the soul sicken at the contemplation of the scene then presented! Fraud and violence, obscenity, blasphemy, rapine, lust, and blood -a thick cloud darkening the heavens and portending vengeance! The world gazed with awe ; and if angels beheld the scene, it must have been with increased wonder at the forbearance of the Almighty. This Again, the matrimonial connections between the righteous and the wicked was another prominent cause of the extreme degeneracy of mankind. We have been considering hitherto the descendants of Cain only. But while they had abandoned altogether the worship of the true God, by Seth, the third son of Adam and his posterity, the worship of God was maintained; and in the days of his son Enos, it is said, men began to call upon the name of the Lord. The meaning of the inspired writer is, that in his days the first separation was made between the true worshipers and the profane descendants of Cain and his associates. The family of Seth, on account of their adherence to the true religion, were called the sons of God; while the descendants of Cain and the other branches of the family who united with them, were styled the sons of men. gives a clear and consistent interpretation to a passage which has had a very fanciful exposition by those who have imagined that by the sons of God here spoken of, the angels are intended. It came to pass, says the historian, when men began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all that they chose. An allusion is here made to those matrimonial connections between the righteous and the wicked, to which I have adverted, as a second cause of the abounding wickedness of mankind. While the descendants of Seth, the children of God, as they were called, kept themselves apart and declined to unite with the apostate stock, religion continued in its purity, the overflowings of vice were restrained, and they were as the salt of the earth. In process of time, however, this separating barrier was broken down, alliances and connections were formed between them, and, as has generally been the case under similar circumstances, the good degenerated and the bad became worse. Alluding to the almost necessary effects of such unions, the Israelites, in a subsequent age, were, by God's positive law, prohibited from contracting marriages with the Canaanites and the surrounding nations. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. In the same spirit, and for the same reason, the apostle on joins upon Christians the avoiding of such matrimonial alliances: "Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath Christ with Belial? or what communion hath light with darkness? or what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" Another cause of the abounding wickedness of mankind at this early age, seems to be indicated by the sacred writer when he says, There were giants in those days. A difference of opinion on this subject has, indeed, prevailed among those who have professed to interpret the inspired record. Some contend, that by the phrase rendered giants, we are not to understand men of greater stature and strength than ordinary; while others present equally plausible arguments for the contrary opinion. One thing is certain, that there have been individuals of more than ordinary height and strength in various parts of the world is confirmed by the writers of profane as well as sacred history. The Israelites who were sent to view the promised land reported, on their return, that there they saw the sons of Anak, which came of, or were descended from, the giants, and we were, they say, in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. Goliath of Gath, who defied the armies of the living God, must have been at least nine feet high. In the army of Frederic the Great there was a Swede eight feet and a half, and Maximinian, the Roman emperor, was of the same stature. History tells us also that in the reign of Claudius, a giant named Galbara was brought to Rome from the coast of Africa, who was ten feet high, and an instance is cited by Goropius of a female who was of equal stature. Whether, however, we agree with those who favor the literal interpretation of the word, or incline to the opinion that the giants alluded to were men celebrated for violence and crime rather than for bodily strength or stature, is comparatively of little moment so far as concerns the argument before us. It has been well observed that the consciousness of superior or supernatural strength in persons who have not the fear of God, naturally disposes to a degree of violence and oppression; and that those giants of whom Moses speaks abused their powers to these purposes is evidently im plied in the sacred history. The strong oppressed the weak, and made their superiority an instrument for establishing unjust domination and tyranny, until the whole earth became a scene of rapine, injustice, and cruelty. The earth, says the sacred writer, was filled with violence, presenting, in all probability, a scene of which a faint resemblance is found in those regions where man claims despotic power over the bodies and souls of his fellows, "Devotes his brother and destroys; And worse than all, and most to be deplored As human nature's broadest, foulest blot, Chains him, and tasks him, and exacts his sweat With stripes, that Mercy, with a bleeding heart, Weeps when she sees inflicted on a beast." I observe, in the next place, as a cause of the abounding iniquity of the human race at the period referred to, the duration of human life. As we have seen, in those days men lived to an extreme age. They numbered their years by centuries. The hour of death and the retributions of eternity were to them afar off. In our own time, when the ordinary average of human life is not one tenth what it then was, and when men are perhaps tenfold more exposed to sudden death, how seldom do men pause in their career to meditate upon the grave! How feeble is the warning that a funeral gives! how unheeded the last sound that comes up from the coffin, when pattering upon its lid earth is consigned to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Much fainter, doubtless, were such impressions among the antediluvians. If men can now shake off so easily all thoughts of death when, at the most, a hundred years will wind up their destiny, how comparatively inefficient must such thoughts have been when the probability extended to nine hundred or a thousand years. Then, again, evil habits invariably tend to become more and more permanent with the lapse of time. As years rolled on in the history of the wicked before the flood vice took a firmer and still firmer hold, just as "The tree of deepest root is found When man at the present time reaches his sixtieth or seventieth year, not only does the infirmity of age palsy, to a great extent, his bodily powers, but in great measure he loses the faculty of receiving pleas ure and gratification from those vices in which he once indulged. With the antediluvians, as we have seen, the case was otherwise. Century after century rolled on, and still they retained the vigor of manhood. They became giants in iniquity and monsters in wickedness. For an illustration, suppose that the men who, by their crimes, and thirst for blood, have been able, in the short space of ten or twenty years, to convert the region around them into a hell-the actors in the hideous drama of the French revolution, for instance; suppose the lives of such men to have been prolonged to that of those who lived before the flood, and that they should have gone on, for all this length of time, continually increasing in wickedness, and you have some idea of the meaning of the sacred writer, and sufficient to account for their amazing wickedness. We shall see in a future essay the vengeance of God let loose upon these pristine inhabitants of earth when the cup of their iniquity was full. In the meantime let us bear in mind that we dwell in the midst of much greater light and of far higher privileges than they enjoyed, and that just in proportion to our advantages is our responsibility to our God. Are we in the midst of sin and iniquity abounding on every hand? Do we meet everywhere with vice and the contagion of evil example? Let us remember that there is no necessity laid upon us to follow such examples, and that upon our own heads will rest forever our own guilt and our own condemnation. Look at Enoch, the father of a family, with all the cares and anxieties of life resting upon him; alone in the midst of this mass of corruption, with none to aid him in his efforts to gain the crown of endless life. See, he walks with God. "Still faithful found, Faithful among the faithless-faithful only he Unmoved, unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, His loyalty he keeps, his love, his zeal, Nor numbers, nor example with him move To swerve from truth, or change his constant Mind, though single and alone." Let a century pass on; look again, there is Enoch with his eye still fixed on heaven, his hope still blooming with immortality. And yet another hundred years have passed, and where is Enoch? I see him still; that is his voice that rises above the surging blasphemies around him; that warns the ungodly of their impending doom, and invites them to leave the vanities of earth and to share his overflowing cup of bliss. Shall we look again? yes, the third century has passed away, and where is Enoch? See, the heavens open; he ascends, he enters the mansions of rest while the cherubic host shout him welcome, into the immediate presence of his Father and his God. Blessed Enoch! may we imitate thy conduct here, that we may share in thy joys hereafter. A LADRONE ADVENTURE IN THE CANTON RIVER. OFTE FTEN has our youthful imagination gloated over the daring deeds and hairbreadth escapes of bandits and pirates, traced in glowing colors by the pen of the poet or the novelist. Fascinated by the halo of romance thrown around their career, their deeds rose up before us as the achievements of the purest heroism-their failure or fall, as an unmitigated evil, the more to be deplored on account of the nobility of the victim. These ideas, however, have been thoroughly dispelled. Practical experience has broken the colored glass through which the deeds and the men were seen; and pirates on the seas, robbers on the highway, banditti among romantic mountains, and others of a similar class, now stand much on a level with housebreakers, pickpockets, and garotters at home. For the benefit of those readers whose imaginations are still spell-bound in the toils of romance, we propose to narrate the incident which first opened our eyes wide enough to see these things in their true light. It was on a dull day in October, 1852, that four of us—namely, our three friends, Jackson, Whymper, Lee, and ourself, who am Jones, at your service-made up a party for an excursion from Canton down the river. Two of the party were on business, and of course they paid expenses. The others were glad to accept of the two remaining berths in the fast boat, in order to enjoy a couple of days' relaxation from the dull routine of business-life in Canton. We each carried a double-barreled fowling-piece, as snipe and other wild fowl were to be found down the river, and we anticipated that our leisurely sail might be en livened with good sport. As for personal danger, that was out of the question. Occasional murders, it is true, had been committed on foreigners by the native fishermen down the river, but these were rare; and nobody had ever heard of an attack when more than a couple of Englishmen or Americans had to be met. A fast boat, which was to be our means of conveyance, is a large decked boat, with a house or cabin half sunk in the deck. At each end of the cabin there is a door, which leads up by two or three steps to the level of the deck, and inside there are two beds or berths, ranged on each side, and a dining-table in the center. Besides this cabin, there is another in the forepart of the vessel, entirely below deck, in which the Chinese crew, who man the boat, find narrow quarters. We also provided ourselves with a pair of punts, each capable of carrying two people, which are useful in landing, crossing creeks, and other coast service. Late in the afternoon we dropped gently down the river, now and again trying our fortune on some unhappy victim, whose flight brought it within reach. The sky was dull, and threatened rain. A dinner, as comfortable as could be enjoyed on board a fast boat, and a social evening passed rapidly away, and we turned in for the night. Next morning we found ourselves at our destination, the Bogue Forts, where Jackson and Lee had business to transact, which occupied them during the greater part of the day; while Whymper and ourself found what sport we could. Toward evening we anchored off Tiger Island, to await the turning of the tide, and a favorable wind, to carry us back to Canton. As night drew on, it became intensely dark and cold, and we were fain to shut out the chill air, by closing both doors and windows all round the cabin. We were our crew, but the truth at once flashed across our minds that we were boarded by a gang of Chinese pirates, and should have to fight for our lives. Whymper, who sat nearest the door leading to the front deck, immediately jumped out to reconnoiter; but he had no sooner shown his head above board than he was assailed by half a dozen fire-pots, thrown by as many men, who had scrambled over the stern of our boat, and who were followed by as many more. In a moment he was back to the cabin for his gun; but he had looked long enough to see, by the light of the missiles which had been thrown at him, that our assailants numbered from thirty to forty men, and that they had lashed their boat at right angles across the stern of ours, in the evident expectation that we should be a certain, if not an easy prize. Whymper was again on deck, and had his attention at once arrested by a stout fellow who was coming over the cabin roof, within six yards of where he stood. The pirate held a lighted fire-pot in his hand ready to discharge, which revealed the dim outline of his figure as he advanced; and Whymper, who was now joined by Lee and ourself, took aim and fired. Owing to the dampness of the powder, the piece missed fire, and the Chinese was within three paces of where we stood, with his arm uplifted to launch his abominable missile, when the second barrel fortunately did its duty, and the man fell heavily on the cabin roof. Five or six men, each with a lighted fire-pot, were now advancing over the cabin roof, while many more were tumbling over the stern into our boat. One, two, three of our pieces were fired in rapid succession among them; each brought down its man, and effected a momentary check; but we only now discovered that in our hurry to face our antagonists, we had omitted to furnish ourselves with ammunition beyond what our artillery was charged with. We had, therefore, to make a hasty expedition into the cabin for our flasks and shotpouches, and there found, to our dismay, that several fire-pots had been thrown into it and exploded, and were now showering sparks in all directions, and emitting their odorous smoke in volumes. Fortunately, the berths had previously been prepared for immediate occupation; and the woolen coverlets spread over them, protected the wooden frames from the burning sparks, or we should probably have had our citadel burned under our feet. In the midst of this smoke and fire, we groped our way to the further end of the cabin, where our supply of ammunition was deposited, and there a spear-thrust, aimed at Jackson, made us aware that the door at that end had been burst open, and thus exposed us to the danger of a double attack. Jackson was accordingly deputed to defend this point, and, as we afterward found, he received a very severe burn on the back of his hand in the discharge of this duty. Having furnished ourselves with fresh supplies, which we carried through the cabin with the agreeable idea that a single unlucky spark might send us through the roof, we regained our first position on the front deck, and were immediately greeted with a perfect shower of fire-pots, shot, and spears. These, with the help of a little dodging, we fortunately escaped, the only effect being the lodgment of a spearhead in the stock of the gun we carried; but we found the odds fearfully increased, and the rascals, taking courage from the temporary lull in our fire, were coming in numbers over the cabin roof to attack us. If they should get near enough to grapple, our lives were not worth an hour's purchase, and, even as it was, the chances seemed tremendously against us; but we knew well that surrender was as hopeless as defeat, and our blood boiled at the bare idea of succumbing to a crew of Chinese ladrones. It only remained, therefore, to fight it out; and with redoubled energy we poured upon them round after round in quick succession, with as much precision as the fitful glare of their fire-pots would allow. The short screams and heavy falls which followed each discharge informed us that our practice was not without effect; and after ten or fifteen minutes of uninterrupted firing, a partial clearance was effected of the roof of the cabin. At this juncture, and ere we had yet ventured to breathe freely, we observed a man on board the ladrone boat passing a lantern forward to a group of five or six others, who stood in the bow, and whose figures were momentarily shown in dim relief by the light thus thrown on them. In an instant Lee's piece was at his shoulder, and the next moment a piercing scream from the direction where the light had appeared, made it evident that the shot had told. Whether it was their lead er or some other person of consequence that Lee had brought down, we never could ascertain; but within half a minute after the shriek which announced his fall, our cabin roof was clear of intruders, and the whole crew of pirates were in full retreat, bearing with them those of their dead and wounded whom, in their haste, they could conveniently pick up. We then for the first time relaxed our fire, as we had no desire for unnecessary carnage; but their loss had already been severe, amounting, as we afterward learned, to seven or eight killed, besides several wounded, of whom we could get no exact account. As soon as they were all once more on board their own boat, they pushed off, exclaiming in their own language that they would come back ere long, and murder the whole of us. They then dropped down the river, and anchored beside two other large boats, about four hundred yards off, which had been lying there for some time, and which, as they never either attempted to render us assistance, or even to raise an alarm, we naturally took for accomplices, the crews of which had been drafted out of them to increase the attacking force. The pirates were no sooner out of the way than our discreet Chinese crew began slowly to emerge from the hatchway of the forecabin, where they had concealed themselves the moment they saw the approach of danger, leaving us unaided to defend their boat from plunder. Of the three native boys whom we had with us, one jumped overboard in terror at the very first alarm, another crept down to the forehold beside the crew, and the remaining one, who, by the way, was Lee's servant, alone behaved like a trump, handing charges when required, loading a spare gun, and performing other little pieces of service which considerably facilitated our operations. The threat uttered by the ladrones as they retired might or might not be a mere bravado; but it seemed not at all unlikely that there might be a sufficient number of reserved men in the two other boats to form a powerful reënforcement; and we were therefore rather disinclined to await a renewal of the fray. The tide, however, had not yet turned; the wind was not in our favor; and the idea of rowing a fast boat against wind, steam, and tide, was out of the question. We had the |