80. We bear a great load of hatred, being accused of having deserted the ancient Church. The Papists, on the other hand, boast that they have remained true to the Church, and they want to leave everything to the judgment of the Church. But we are accused falsely. To speak the truth, we must say that we departed from the Word when we were still in their Church and now we have returned to the Word and have ceased to be apostates from the Word. 81. Therefore though in their judgment they rob us of the title of the Church, still we retain the Word, and through the Word we have all ornaments of the true Church. For whoever has the Creator of all, must needs also possess the creatures themselves. In this sense Noah remained master of the world, though the waters prevailed, and the earth perished. Though he lost his property, yet, because he retained the Word by which everything was created, it may truly be said he retained everything. CHAPTER VIII. I. NOAH'S CONDITION IN THE ARK; THE WATERS ABATE. A. NOAH'S CONDITION IN THE ARK. 1. How Noah and his family anxiously waited for God's promise, and lived in faith, which is a hard life 1-3. 2. He had a hard time in the ark. What sustained him 2-4. 3. How he suffered in two ways 5. * Whether God can forget his saints 6. * Severest temptations are when man thinks he is forsaken by God 7. 4. Noah's condition became more miserable because of his family's distress 8-10. 5. Noah and family with difficulty overcame their temptation 11. * Christians need steadfastness 12. * Why God for a time conceals himself from his faithful ones 13. * Temptations severe when saints imagine God has forsaken them 14. B. THE WATERS ABATE. 1. The time the waters abated 15. 2. How the wind blew upon the earth and dried it. 16-17. 3. The abating of the waters was a sign by which God comforted Noah 18. * Noah's Ark. a. When it began to float, how long it floated and when it rested 19. b. On what mountain did it rest 20. c. What to think of Josephus' testimony 21. 4. When the mountain tops first seen 22. 5. How Noah learned the deluge had ceased. a. Why Noah sent forth the raven, and how the error arose the raven never returned 23-24. * The Jews' unclean thoughts of the raven 24. b. Noah sent forth a dove, and if at the same time with the raven 25. c. Noah sent out a second dove, which assured him that the flood had ceased 26. (1) Dove returned with an olive leaf 26. (2) Whether it did this of its own impulse, and what God thereby wished to indicate 27-28. (3) The Jews' ideas on where the dove got the olive leaf 27. (4) Why an olive leaf 28.