that these were his last words to Noah, his
grandson, who heard his words and accepted them as the Word of God.

6. The Jews' peculiar idea concerning these seven days is that they
were added to the one hundred and twenty years in honor of Methuselah,
that therein his posterity might bewail his death. This is a harmless
interpretation, for the patriarch's descendants did not fail to do
their duty, particularly his pious children.

7. But the first view concerning the ministry of the Word, is not only
plausible, but also practical. God does not habitually speak
miraculously and by revelation, particularly where, he has instituted
the ministry for this very purpose of speaking to men, teaching,
instructing, consoling and entreating them.

8. In the first place, God entrusts the Word to parents. Moses often
says: "Thou shalt tell it to thy children." Then to the teachers of
the Church is it entrusted. Abraham says (Lk 16, 29): "They have Moses
and the prophets; let them hear them." We must expect no revelation,
be it inward or outward, where the ministry is established; otherwise
all ranks of human society would be disturbed. Let the pastor preach
in Church; let the magistrate rule the State; let parents control the
house or family. Such are the ministries of men instituted by God. We
should make use of them and not look for new revelations.

9. Still I do not deny that Noah heard God speak after Methuselah's
death. God speaks ordinarily through the public ministry--through
parents and the teachers of the Church--and in rare cases by inward
revelation, through the Holy Spirit. It is well that we remember not
to overlook the Word in vain expectation of new revelations, as the
fanatics do. Such a course gives rise to spirits of error, a source of
disturbance to the whole world, as the example of the Anabaptists
proves.

V. 1b. _For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation._

10. This is truly a picture of the primitive, ancient world, as Peter
calls it. 2 Pet 2, 5. His appellation carries the thought of a
peculiarity of that particular age, which is foreign to the people of
our own. Could words be more appalling than these, that Noah alone was
righteous before the Lord? The world is similarly pictured in Ps 14,
2-3, where we read that the Lord looked down from heaven to see if
there were any that did understand, that did seek God. But he says:
"They are all gone aside; they are together become filthy; th