nses which have hitherto been in vogue
in religion. But when men live so together that they disregard both
State and home, when huge covetousness, graft of every description and
manifold iniquity have waxed strong, does it not become clear to every
man that God is compelled, as it were, to punish, yea to overturn
Germany?

239. It is the fullness of his mercy and love that prompts God rather
to make complaint concerning the wrongs inflicted upon his members
than those inflicted upon himself. We observe he maintains silence
respecting the latter, while he threatens punishment, not to man
alone, but even to the very earth itself.

240. A twofold effect is traceable to the flood; a weakening of man's
powers and an impairment of his wealth and that of the earth. The
latter-day fruit of trees is in nowise to be compared with that in the
days before the flood. The antediluvian turnips were better than
afterward the melons, oranges or pomegranates. The pear was finer than
the spices of today. So it is likely that a man's finger possessed
more strength than today his whole arm. Likewise man's reason and
understanding were far superior. But God, because of sin, has brought
punishment to bear, not alone upon man, but also upon his property and
domain, as witness to posterity also of his wrath.

But how is the destruction to be effected? Assuredly, by his seizing
the watery element and blotting out everything. The force with which
this element is wont to rage is common knowledge. Though the
atmosphere be pestilential, it does not always infect trees and roots.
But water not only overturns everything, not only does it tear out
trees and roots, but it also lifts the very surface of the earth. It
alters the soil, so that the most fertile fields are marred by the
overflow of salty earth and sand (Ps 107, 34). This was therefore
equal to the downfall of the primitive world.

241. The penalty of the present world, however, will be different, as
the color of the rainbow shows. The lowest color the extent of which
is well defined, is that of water. For the fury of the water in the
deluge was so great that limits were set to its havoc, and the earth
was restored to the remnant of the godly after the destruction of the
evil-doers. But the other arch of the rainbow, the outer, which has no
clearly defined bounds, is of the color of fire, the element which
shall consume the whole world. This destruction shall be succeeded by
a better wor